Chapter 5 - This is how a dragon smiths, part 1: Sourcing Materials
Smolder caught more than one pony shooting curious looks her way as she and Spike walked through town with their escorts. For once, she couldn't blame them. Over the last few weeks she'd started to pick up on a few things from Spike and Counselor Starlight about how daily life went in Ponyville. Enough to know that a pair of dragons hauling a red wagon full of rocks and charcoal though town was something they didn't exactly see every day. Having the counselor and Professor Applejack with them was the garnet on the steak.
“Thanks again for getting this set up for us, Applejack,” Spike said.
“Aw, it weren't no trouble, sugarcube. Iron Billet's been a friend of the family goin' back decades, ever since his family first set up shop here in Ponyville. All I had to do was ask.”
Smolder frowned at her teacher suspiciously. “And why do we have to go see this guy again? I'm the one who's doing the teaching here.”
“Safety,” Starlight answered. “A blacksmith's workshop is probably the safest place in Ponyville for today's lesson.”
“Eeyup! Old Iron's been workin' with metal since before I was born. If there's anypony in town who will know what to do if there's an accident, it's him.”
“We've been working with lava for a couple of weeks now without burning down the town,” Smolder retorted. “Right, Spike?”
“I guess… but that's really only because we were doing out in the middle of nowhere with Maud.”
“'Sides, weren't y'all havin' some trouble findin' any iron out there? Billet said he's got a whole heap of scrap for you to use. I reckon him and Oil are mighty curious to see how dragons do things.”
“Plus, he'll have all sorts of tools and stuff we can use,” Spike added.
Smolder waved her free claw over her shoulder at their wagonload of cargo. “We've brought plenty of tools! We've got hammer stones, claw axes, awls, crucibles, and molds. All we need and then some.”
Spike sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck while he glanced back at the mound of stone behind them. It was a lot more than they really needed, but Smolder hadn't felt like telling Spike that even if it looked like he'd figured it out on his own. Whatever weird feelings he'd had about using stone tools at the start of their lessons had faded quick once they'd started working with lava and clay. Turned out the kid was really good with his claws. In no time at all he was making crucibles and molds right alongside her and having a blast. Headmare Twilight had gotten all teary-eyed when he gave her that sculpted lava mug with “#1 Sister” inlaid on the side in amethyst.
So, yeah, they might have had a few spare crucibles to work with.
Spike straightened up quick though. “Okay, we've got tools, but if there's one thing I've learned about being a dragon, it's that we'll use whatever we can get our claws on to get the job done. If we've got ponies willing to let us use their stuff and spare metal, shouldn't we take the opportunity?”
“I, uh… guess so…”
Spike nudged her in the side with his wing. “Come on trust me, it'll be fun! Maud was pretty cool once you got to know her right?”
Smolder groaned and threw up her claws in surrender. “Fine! We'll do the lesson at the smith-pony's place. Might as well since we're going there anyway,” she grumbled.
“That's the spirit! Sorta,” the counselor said.
Smolder hunched her wings over her shoulders and kept walking.
The ringing of the bell hanging over the smithy's front door hadn't even stopped before a deep voice called out to the group.
“Well howdy there, Applejack. C'mon in! These must be them students y'all were tellin' me about.”
Smolder hung back a little to let the others go in first, including Spike and his wagon, before cautiously sticking her head in after them. At first glance there wasn't a lot to see. It was a pretty typical pony store, if a little less colorful than most. Wood floors, plaster walls, and lots of shelves and racks full of metal stuff for sale. Once she was reasonably confident that the stuff inside was mostly farming tools (and that she wasn't walking into an armory full of spears and harpoons) she followed the group up to the counter where the owner was talking to the professor and counselor with Spike hovering alongside. She stopped a few paces back to wait with her arms folded across her chest.
Smolder's first impression of Iron Billet was that ponies were weirdly good at naming their kids. His coat, eyes, and short-cut mane were all shades of steely grays that probably would have let him camouflage himself perfectly against his wares. He was built big, maybe just a little shorter than the professor's brother, but just as bulky and with practically the same sort of accent. The really odd thing about him was that he was wearing clothing, and plenty of it. Big brown boots made of thick looking fabric ran all the way up to his body on all four legs, high enough to vanish under the heavy, black apron thing he had draped over his back. A set of pitch black goggles sat perched just above his eyes to round off whatever look he was going for. They pretty much had to be just for looks because there was no way he was going to see anything through those.
“This here's Spike, though I figure y'all probably recognize him well enough.”
“Sure do.” Billet reached over the counter to bump his hoof against Spike's fist. “Helped out Ponyville a fair few times with the Princess and all that. Glad to have ya.”
Spike waved off the compliment but went ahead and puffed out his chest anyway. “Aw, it was nothing.”
The professor smiled and shook her head before picking up where she left off. “And this is Smolder, our visiting student from the Dragon Lands.”
Billet raised a hoof in greeting. “Good to meet you, Smolder.”
Smolder stayed put. “Uh huh. So, where are we doing this?”
Smolder caught the counselor's frown in the corner of her eye but Billet didn't miss a beat. He stepped away from the counter and beckoned them to follow him to a half-open door on the back wall.
“Come on 'round the counter. Workshop's out back through here. My apprentice'll show ya around while your teachers and I have ourselves a chat.”
Following him to the shop ended up being easier said than done thanks to their wagon. After a few awkward minutes of trying (and failing) to figure out how to get the heavy hunk of overloaded metal around or over the counter without spilling it or breaking something, Smolder finally admitted defeat and let the counselor zap it through the door. She locked her jaw to stop from grinding her teeth and tried not to storm her way through to the back. Things were annoying enough without making the ponies start panicking.
The workshop she wound up in was unlike any pony room she'd ever seen. The walls were ordinary enough rock and timber, but the floor was a solid slab of some sorta smooth gray stone she didn't recognize at all. Work benches and tool racks lined the edges of the room, all loaded and fitted with weird metal things she had no names for. The squat, metal stove she figured quickly enough as being a forge, even if the ones she was used to were all made of stone or clay instead of metal. The other machines were a complete blank to her.
The hammer stuck in some kind of wood frame on a pivot? No idea. The big, top-heavy iron block with a flat top and a thick spike sticking out one end? Not a clue. The towering contraption of wheels, belts, springs, and chunks of metal? Even less of clue. The whole thing looked like some crazy pony had just stuck together whatever bits of metal they had laying around. She wouldn't have guessed that this was were ponies came to make metal stuff if it weren't for the big pile of scrap in the back.
“Welp, this here's the shop,” Billet said. He stuck a hoof in the direction of an earth pony mare standing over by the forge. “Oil Quench here'll get you set up with some stock and whatever tools ya need. Just give me a holler when you're ready to fire things up.”
Quench approached with an eager smile and an outstretched hoof while Billet doubled back into the storefront. She was a lot smaller, a lot younger (around Sandbar's age if Smolder had to guess), and a lot more cream colored than Billet. Her glossy black mane and tail were probably a lot longer too, but they were all wrapped up in some sort of complicated knots instead of cut short like Billet's. She was also wearing an almost perfectly matching set of clothes to the big stallion, which was confusing. The only things Smolder could remember ponies wearing matching outfits for were all sports related.
“Hi! It's great to meet you!”
Spike grinned and bumped her hoof. “Same here! Thanks for offering to help, Oil Quench.”
“Just call me Oil,” she said, offering her hoof to Smolder next. Her smile drooped a little when Smolder kept her arms crossed. She dropped her hoof after a couple of awkward seconds. “It's, uh, I've been looking forward to seeing how dragons work with metal.”
Smolder avoided eye contact by craning her neck to look past the pony. “The other guy said you had metal for us.”
“Right! Yes, it's just back here.” Oil Quench beckoned them to follow her to the back of the workshop. Smolder hadn't gotten two steps before she was stopped by an elbow to the ribs.
“Hey, what was that for!?” she hissed.
“I know you're not happy, but would it really hurt to be friendly?” Spike whispered back.
“Whatever…”
“If you're just gonna spend all day being mean to Oil Quench then I'm gonna call this whole thing off.”
Smolder gritted her teeth. “Fine, fine, I get it, I'll be nice.”
They followed Oil over to a squat bin heaped high with metal scraps. Mostly iron and steel by the looks of it, none of it especially shiny. Good material to start them off.
“Metal is pretty easy to work with compared to rocks if you can get your claws on some. I can show you how to smelt it from ore some other time but, truth is, taking it from other creatures is usually a lot easier anyway for the rare stuff. Ponies especially.”
Spike gave her an unamused look. “You mean raids.”
“What? Ugh,” Smolder clapped a claw to her face, “this is why I wanted to have that lesson. Dragons raid for food, not junk. Do you really think I'd risk my life just to snag a few chunks of metal? Not a chance.”
Spike's expression lightened. “So… you don't steal metal?”
“No way. Raiding is all about risk versus reward. No chunk of metal is worth getting hurt over, so you take it by sneaking into the village at night while they're all asleep and won't notice you carrying it off.”
“Uh, Smolder? That's still stealing.”
She put her claws on her hips. “Oh yeah? Alright, let's ask the pony. Hey, er…”
The smith mare started and straightened up. “Oh! Uh, call me Oil, please.”
“Hey, Oil, do you care if somedragon takes stuff you've thrown away?”
Oil cocked her head to the side. “Thrown away?”
“Yeah, you know, the junk you guys leave outside to rust and stuff.”
Oil touched a hoof to her chin. “Well… I suppose it depends. Just because we leave it outside that doesn't always mean we're getting rid of it. But if it's actually just garbage then I guess it doesn't really matter who takes it.”
“There, see? Junk is outside, so it's really easy to grab and go at night. But they keep their food inside, and that makes getting it waaay more dangerous. If you sneak in then one of them might get the drop on you and there's no way to know what weird magic tricks they might have. So you go in when most ponies aren't home to start with. A few fires get the rest out and once they start panicking in the streets, the rest probably will too, and then there's nopony in the way until the pegasi show up. You don't need to worry about any of that with junk though." She jerked her thumb at the junk pile. "It's just like this stuff here. They don't care about it or else they wouldn't be giving it to us to practice with, right?”
Spike looked thoughtful, if a little unconvinced. “I guess that could be okay. Are you sure you guys don't need any of this metal?”
Oil stepped closer to the pile, a (slightly nervous) smile back on her face. “Oh, sure, this is all just scraps. The boss and I mostly use it for practice ourselves. Is there anything special you're looking for? I'm sure I can find just about any grade or quality you want in here.” She made to start rummaging until Smolder held up one claw to stop her while waving Spike closer with the other.
“Nope, that's the first part of the lesson. Start pulling this stuff out and laying it out on the floor. Set aside anything that looks like it's got some shine to it first and we'll sort from there.”
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IT LIVES
Nice to have another cool chapter Hasty! 😁❤️
Gotta admit I find myself intrigued by this Smithing lesson, even though Smolder was a bit *put off* by having to do it on a shop this time, then again these are places that made pointy weapons to fight/hunt her kind back in the day so I don't hold it against her by thinking that.
Also loved the bit with Spike making some progress at this with that gift he made for Twilight, that was adorable!
Looking forward to the second part of it when it comes out, keep up the awesome work Hasty!❤️
10504454
I thought this was an exaggeration until I checked how long it has been since my last upload. I... have no excuse for this.
10504467
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've re-written it (and what is now the second part) about five times so far, so I was worried it'd be an unintelligible mess. Thanks, as ever, for reading!
That'll be cement, Smolder, in which case you'd probably define it as a whole mixture of stones, gravel, and sand all smushed together, as well as probably other things I'm forgetting is in the composition of cement.
Honestly, this smithing lesson ought to be real interesting! Hopefully you work out how you want to write the rest here soon!
10504528
I'm glad you've enjoyed this part of the chapter so far. I worry that I'm making the lesson itself too dry or technical and getting bogged down in details that nobody cares about. I'm going to try to get something done, at least. Thanks for reading!
sure hope this continues
it's pretty great
10504593
Thank you, I will try to make sure it does.
Would you like a hug?
10504734
Probably not. I always feel incredibly awkward during the two hugs I get every alternate year.
Which I just realized I won't get this year because of pandemic. And didn't get last year because it was the off year. I haven't had a hug since 2018. Oh, how time flies!
10504781
How about a cookie? I make a mean soft ginger-molasses cookie.
10504787
I will never say no to a free cookie, even if I probably should.
Sequel??! FAVE, FOLLOW and FULL STEAM AHEAD on principle.
Now to read this
10504869
Thank you for giving it a chance. I hope you enjoy what is available so far once you finish it.
Thanks for the new chapter, I liked it and now I can't wait to see what happens next or what they end up making lol Kepp up the good work
Hey, sometime it's better to publish something than nothing at all to get the creative juice flowing. Getting stuff out of the way is good once in a while.
10505164
You're quite welcome, and thank you for reading!
10505291
It certainly felt good to call something on the pile done, even if it's only a first part. Thanks for reading!
I am really hoping somecreature chews out the teachers & others who keep trying to alter Smolder's teachings & all the disrespect they keep showing her & the dragon culture. At this rate, I wouldn't blame Smolder if she decided to quit attending the school and return to the Dragon Lands.
10507461
Hm, perhaps I'm missing my mark then. I was going less for disrespect and more fear, particularly with this lesson. I'll keep your feedback in mind as I work on the next chapter. I'd already been planning a scene along these lines, so I'll put some more thought into it. Thank you for reading and for your feedback!
10507461 Yeah! Gotta respect the culture that sends Trogdor to burninate the villagers in their thatch-roofed huts!
Hey Hasty, hope you had a good holiday despite everything 2020 threw at us. Was wondering how's the next chapter of this cool story's coming along?
10628687
In a word: horribly. In more words: I'm completely and utterly blocked on it and have made no progress whatsoever since I posted the last chapter. I have nothing but a pile of disjointed paragraphs and ideas that don't fit together and no clue how to get something cohesive out of any of it.
Thanks for the well wishes, I hope your holidays went well.
I look forward to when this can update again someday. It is quite a fascinating read.
10641623
Thank you, I hope I'll manage to get something out eventually.
10805940
Plus, what dragon would care what someone who lost the gauntlet has to say about who won? Especially since there's no proof of anything beyond his word. Garble's just some guy to them.
Oh, and thanks for reading!
10805755
I haven't played D&D in years but I do still find reading up on it and the campaigns that people play to be entertaining. I'll give it a look later. :)
10816214
Oh, by all means, if inspiration strikes then feel free to write it.
As for the fallout, I'm really not sure. There's a lot of ways it could go depending on how the story is framed. It could be laid out like it's a lesson for Spike while the guard sneakily uses it to study dragons. Or it could be an officially sanctioned war-games exercise of some kind between Equestria and the Dragon Lands. You'd have a lot of latitude to explore anywhere in between those possibilities, and Ember's reaction would vary wildly depending which one you pick. Heck, it could even start out sneaky royal guards but then Ember keeps the training going so she can start studying the Equestrians instead. Now that'd be a heck of a backfire. Trying to learn how to fight dragons but accidentally teaching dragons how to use tactics instead.
Anyway, that's just me rambling at this point. I'm sure you have plenty of ideas of your own that are more interesting and/or amusing, depending what genre you're aiming for.
Gift for Twilight was incredibly sweet
I think Smoulder needs a nap she seemed rather kwanky in this chapter.
Teasing aside, hope things are going well for you. This will be an interesting story to keep tabs on.
10892682
I'm glad you're enjoying it. I've been pretty stuck, but I've had a few ideas in the last few days that might help me get back on track. No promises though. Thanks for reading!
Hey Hasty, hope you're doing ok & that we see some new chapter of this cool story soon. 😉
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Sorry for the lack of updates. I've not been in a great place lately, and what I've been writing reflects that. I can only apologize for leaving it hanging like this.
10968172
No worries, hope you'll be able to bounce back Hasty!
*sends out good vibes your way*
Most smiths would recycle their scrap I think? Then again Equestria is so skitzo-tech it is hard to say for sure how valuable iron is...
11039292
I figured these smiths hold onto scrap to use as odds and ends on projects, then occasionally recycle a bunch of it when they have too much laying around. Thanks for reading!
Nice chapter with good OCs. Like in the first section of this fic, "councilor" should be "counselor."
10892682
Smolder just wants this to be a pure dragon lesson, but Twilight and Starlight are just interfering with the whole point of Smolder's lessons.