Chapter 10 - Destiny's Mark (Part 3)
“I’m back,” Sweetie Belle called from the top of the stairs.
“Welcome back,” Barrier replied while waiting by the table.
“So, now that we’re all together again,” Apple Bloom drawled. “Y’all were in the Crystal Empire when that nasty son of a gun Sombra was attackin’, right?”
“Aye ...” the cadets all answered with varying degrees of hesitation.
“Well,” Apple Bloom continued, “did any of yah manage to hit him?”
Swiftsword, Hat Trick, Iron Forge, and Winter Gem all shook their heads.
Verdant was the only one that said otherwise. “I suppose I hit him. I shot him in the face with an exploding arrow.”
Scootaloo jumped into the air and squealed a bit, fluttering her wings hard. “That’s too cool! That’s almost Rainbow Dash levels of awesome!”
“Yeah!” Sweetie added as the three fillies pushed close to the earth pony. “You must have an awesome cutie mark story!”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo pressed close to Verdant’s flank, causing him to backpedal a bit on reflex.
Sweetie Belle pushed forward with him. “Like, maybe you made a type of exploding water, or maybe you use water to affect the weight of your shots!”
Verdant Range chuckled and shook his head. “I’m afraid my cutie mark story is nothing of the sort…” Verdant carefully sat down on his belly and tucked his legs underneath to be at eye-height with his audience.
“Things were rather busy at home, for me and my family. The mares were all working long hours to make enough bits to support us. My father stayed at home to take care of my youngest sisters, a quartet of two year-old fillies. That left my older sisters, Star Hopper and Gold Leaf, Faust rest their souls, to help around the house whilst father was running himself ragged to try and keep everything going smoothly…”
***
Star Hopper, a turquoise-colored teenaged pegasus with a blue mane and tail stood up from the table, having finished her meal. “I shall try to clean the house.” She glanced at Gold Leaf, a yellow earth pony filly with a gold-colored mane and the cutie-mark of a golden leaf on her flank. “I suggest thou start preparing for dinner.”
“But we just finished lunch.” Gold Leaf frowned but stood up from the table as well.
“Aye, and we shall be lucky to have a large enough meal cooked for when everyone gets home.” Star sighed.
A pint-sized Verdant Range dropped from his chair to the floor and glanced up at Star Hopper. “What shall I do, sister?”
Star Hopper hummed and thought for a moment before looking down at her brother. “Mayhaps thou should tend to father’s plants. Somepony must ensure we have some fresh vegetables and herbs to aid in making the family’s meals.”
“Aye!” Verdant answered dutifully and ran out of the backdoor of their home as fast as his tiny legs could take him. The young colt skidded to a halt just before he could crash into a collection of gardening tools.
Tending to the plants came naturally to young Verdant Range. He couldn’t explain how, but he instinctively knew not only when to water each of the plants, but also exactly how much water each plant needed. The family kept an extensive garden, growing as much or more of their own food as they bought, so it was no surprise to the young colt that he spent most of the afternoon weeding and watering. Finally, after a fair bit of time had passed, Star Hopper appeared at the backdoor.
“Verdant!” Her voice was loud and clear. “Dinner shall be ready shortly! Come wash up!”
Verdant Range yelled out an affirmative and jogged tiredly towards the house and inside.
His father, sharp-eyed as ever, stopped him, pressing a hoof to his son’s barrel. “Slow down, my boy.”
Verdant looked up at his father with the barest hints of confusion.
Viridian smiled and explained himself. “Before you wash up, you may wish to gaze upon thy flank.”
“Why?” Verdant’s confusion spread as he began to tilt his head. “Hast a bird p-” His words were forgotten as a sharp intake of air replaced them. “My cutie mark!”
His father chuckled and nodded. “Aye. Now, go wash up. Gold Leaf and I will make a nice treat to celebrate for thee.”
“Oh! May we use some of those blue roses from the garden? They smelled wonderful.”
It was Viridian’s turn to frown in confusion. “Verdant… we do not have blue roses...” He thought in silence for a moment before groaning. “I believe that was poison joke. Stay here and whatever happens, do not move until I return from the garden.”
***
“At any rate, that’s how I attained my cutie mark.” Verdant finished dully. “I doubt you’d be too interested in what happened afterwards.”
The fillies’ disinterest was clear when Scootaloo groaned. “I was hoping for cool battle stories that got ponies cutie marks, but so far all we’ve got are gym-class, a fast writer, and a gardener.” She pointed at each of the ponies in turn. “The only one interesting was his,” she pointed at Barrier. “And he sounded bored the whole time he told it.”
“I’ll have to hear that story some time, Verdant.” Barrier chuckled drawing a half-hearted glare from Verdant which he disregarded just as Barrier and the others disregarded the crusaders’ rudeness. “So who shall go next, young ones?”
The three glanced up at their remaining options and their flanks until Sweetie Belle squealed in excitement. “This one!” She thrust a hoof at Iron Forge. “His cutie mark has fire on it!”
Apple Bloom frowned and leaned in closer to Scootaloo. “Ah think she’s startin’ to develop a thing fer fire.”
“Tell me about it.” Scootaloo sighed, not even trying to whisper. “It kinda scares me.”
“Very well,” Iron Forge spoke, drawing attention to himself. “Though mine is little better. I’ve not the flare for storytelling as my comrades, so bare with me. To begin, I grew up in the town you all may know as Trottingham. In my time, it was known as Gallopfrey. We were a small island town in the literal center of the ongoing conflict between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdom.”
Scootaloo whooped. “Oh, this one is gonna be good!”
Iron Forge shook his head in amusement. “Prepare to be disappointed. My mum needed new kitchen cutlery…”
***
Iron Forge moved along the beach, carefully digging holes here and there which went on for several long minutes until his hoof hit something amidst one of his digs. Spurred on by the prospect of a discovery, he began to dig fervently until he unearthed a hunk of metal. As he carefully excavated his find, he saw what he had: the upper half of a broken sword. He put it into the small cloth he tugged behind him, where it clanged noisily against the various other metal bits he’d discovered. Buckles, knives, other broken swords and various small pieces of ships washed ashore after every major clash. Often enough, intact blades would be found in the sand. These intact weapons were to be brought to the guard.
For the last week, he’d listened to his mother complain, albeit it sedately, about how dangerous her kitchen cutlery had become. In a word, her knives were old, having been inherited from her own mother who had inherited them from her mother. The handles were worn and the blades, while well-cared for, were just as worn as the rest of the tool.
With the rising intensity of the war, iron had grown far more valuable, making simple everyday tools and what many deemed a non-necessity far more expensive than they had any right being. Contrary to popular belief, being a blacksmith didn’t leave them particularly well off. Sure, they always had work, but like most other smiths, they sold their creations to the crown for the bare minimum. After all, if the crown didn’t have the weapons they desperately needed, Equestria as they knew it could be conquered.
Only a night ago, Iron Forge got to see his first ever ship-battle up close. The griffins had tried to rush Gallopfrey and the Equestrian navy had been ready. Forge could still remember the occasional scream reaching their home, close to the shore as they were. He could also remember the explosion as the victorious Equestrians sunk the griffin ships. He’d heard his parents mention how the griffins had refused to surrender.
Before daylight had broke, Forge had set to scavenging the shore first thing in the morning, before the other ponies could find anything valuable in the sand.
Glancing at his gathered scrap, he grinned. He had more than enough scrap for his project and today was his father’s day off. Taking off at as hard a gallop as his short legs and luggage would allow, he headed towards his father's forge.
***
Iron Forge spent the rest of his morning separating out the best of his finds and slowly heating them in his father’s forge, utilizing his fire magic to help maintain the furnace and speed up the process of heating the metal. By the time the sun had begun to make its ascent into the sky, the unicorn was ready to start. Horn flaring, Iron Forge took hold of his father's hammer and began, all but shutting out the world around him. All that mattered now was his metal.
***
“Forge, Wind, I’m home!” Coal Fire called out as he pushed open the door and tiredly made his way into the kitchen where he heard his wife working. The stallion had went into town shortly after sunrise and spent most of the day bartering for supplies and arranging an extra-large shipment of coal. It was high time he started truly teaching Iron Forge the craft rather than just letting his son observe.
A light gray pegasus poked her head out of the kitchen, her grey-and-silver mane bouncing as she supported herself on the doorframe. “Did Forge not go with you?”
Coal Fire met his wife’s amethyst eyes and appeared confused. “No. I assumed he was still in bed when I left.” The stallion scratched his blue-black mane and frowned. “Must be out playing in the forge again.” Coal arched his back drawing a series of pops before turning towards the back door. “The cart is full-up on supplies. I will get Iron Forge and we will unload it.”
Silver Wind hummed in affirmation and disappeared into the kitchen once more.
“Forge!” Coal Fire called out the back door at his forge. “Come help unload the cart!” Coal Fire waited for several moments before he departed the house. As he rounded the side of the building, what he saw surprised him. The forge looked as he had left it, with the exception of the cooling embers in the hearth.
Iron Forge sat in the corner of the forge at the grinding stone, carefully bouncing his hoof to keep the wheel going as he applied an edge to a knife, three more laid out on the bench, each as sharp as the last and each with a strip of cloth around the tang serving as the handle.
Coal Fire grinned widely and watched in silence as his son leaned back and let the grindstone slow to a halt, having finished.
As Iron Forge wrapped the last strip of cloth around the tang and placed it alongside the others, he finally became aware of his audience as his father cleared his throat.
“I see thou hast been busy.” Coal Fire grinned as his son turned to face him, his fur matted with sweat and exhaustion clear in his eyes.
“Um… well…” Forge started but had to stop to yawn before continuing. “I wanted to surprise Mother. She hast uttered many a curse about her old knives. I left before sunrise for the beach this morning and salvaged some scrap metal to make her these.” He pointed at the knives of varying size, made to match the set his mother had long used. “Dost thou think she will like them?”
Coal Fire lit his horn and held one of the knives up to his muzzle, carefully inspecting it from every angle and occasionally tapping the blade with a hoof. “I do not believe she will like these, my son.”
Iron Forge’s formerly pensive expression started to fall.
“I am certain that she’ll absolutely love them.” Coal added before his sons despair could set in. “For thy first time working a forge, thou did exceptionally well.” The older stallion set the knives down and smiled down at his son, noting the cutie mark on his flank. “I would go so far as to say you’ve found your true calling with the forge.”
Iron Forge’s expression did a complete one-eighty, the failing expression turning into a wide grin. “Dost thou really think so, Father?”
Coal Fire pointed at his son's flank and grinned. “I am absolutely positive. Now, what say we unload my cart and go inside to celebrate and show your mother your gift? Mayhaps after dinner, I shall help you make some nice wooden handles to truly complete the gift.”
***
What was becoming a trademark at this point resounded throughout the house once more; the crusaders groaned.
“Your stories suck.” Scootaloo stated eloquently.
“That is… bad, in modern context?” Iron Forge asked, somewhat confused.
“Kitchen knives.” Sweetie Belle sighed. “Great. Literally a story of just making kitchen knives.”
Apple Bloom also sighed. “What’s next? A plate making cutie mark?”
“Well, I can think of at least one more story that should interest you girls in some capacity. But first…” Barrier gazed pensively at the air above him, waiting for the tingle of magic he’d felt to appear in full. Finally, a letter materialized and fell on his head. “About time,” The unicorn huffed more to himself as he unfurled the letter.
“Dear Magic Barrier,” the unicorn read out loud for the benefit of those gathered. “I send this message to inform you of several things. The first is that Twilight received the message you forwarded to her and the families of the fillies left on the train to Vanhoover some time ago. They should hopefully arrive within a timely manner. The second issue at hoof is that I have finally set a date three weeks from now for you and your cadets to come to Canterlot to receive your owed medals and back pay. If you could arrive around noon it would be greatly appreciated. The third and final issue is that following this letter will be another letter containing several tickets to this year's Grand Galloping Gala, along with plus ones, save for Hat Trick and Winter Gem, who I assume will be going together, given what they did in my private bathroom all those years ago.”
Barrier snorted and glared at Winter Gem and Hat Trick who smiled sheepishly in return. It had taken more than a few favors for Celestia not to have them court martialed. “I hope you all have a wonderful time. Signed, Princess Celestia.”
Barrier rolled the letter just in time for the aforementioned second letter to materialize above him. Snagging it and opening it, the unicorn quickly distributed the tickets to his cadets before reading this letter as well.
“P.S. Your original message’s sudden appearance caused Luna to spill hot tea on herself. She says that if this happens again, she’ll turn you into a mare without Poison Joke. I saw her ask a guard about the location of the claymores moments later…” Barrier trailed off, his gaze narrowing slightly.
“Windy, go get me another of Miss Yearling’s ribbons. I’m in the mood to make an enemy.”
As the filly darted off to fulfill his request, Barrier turned back to the other three fillies. “So,” He rolled up the letters and placed them on the kitchen table. “Whose story would you like to hear next?”
Alticron: Hey there, everyone. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Five cutie mark stories down, three to go.
For this week's pic, since Verdant's family was fully seen in a couple chapters of APD:AP, here we'll have Forge's parents.
If you've got any questions, feel free to about what happened to any of the past characters, feel free to ask.
Until next time, see ya!
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The CMC shouldn't expect so much from Cutie Mark stories. I'm sure that the old soldiers will cause a lot of chaos at the Gala due to being unaccustomed with modern etiquette.
You know, for someone who lost family members to griffins, Iron Forge sure did seem to have a happy childhood during the moment he gained his cutie mark.
8718902
He didn't really know how things were until he was older.
a grate chapter that shows a good deal of back story's.
i fully find myself agreeing to this
Case in point, I'm 100% sure she knew you would do that, Barrie.