Chapter 32.5: Research and Development
What does a Hero Truly Need?
By: Zelkova48
Chapter 32.5 Research and Development
In the workshop area of the Canterlot armory, the deafening sound of clanging metal and errant shouting could be heard from a mile away. The roaring heat of the raging blast furnaces felt unbearable to withstand whilst glowing so brightly that it was almost too blinding to watch. Blacksmiths and artificers alike could be seen wildly scrambling around their work stations bending, welding, and smelting metal at a psychopathic pace.
Big chunky machinery churned and whirred all around the workshop. Forming a cacophony of loud, obnoxious noise that was bizarrely into tune alongside the constant clink sounds heard by the anvil. Clink, clink, clink went the glowingly orange metal as it was rhythmically struck by the hammer. When the desired shape of the metal was acquired, it was quickly quenched in a bath of oil where it elicited a hiss like an enraged snake.
At the helm of this whole operation, with his fur soaked all the way down to his hooves in sweat, was Forge. The master smith stood by the railings of the workshop up on the second floor, where he oversaw anything and everything that went on there. Not a piece of armor gets worked on without his approval, and not a single weapon leaves the workshop until it had been thoroughly inspected by his trained eye.
“You there!” Forge shouted with his right foreleg extended outwards. “Those parts go on to the left side! Not the right, you dolt! Get a move on!”
“Y-yes sir!” his co-workers replied back. “Right away sir!”
“Ugh, I’m surrounded by imbeciles...” Forge groaned as he rubbed the side of his temples.
He was stressed out from having to work around the clock for days on end, and it was starting to show in his demeanor. He was cranky, irritable, and more harsh on his co-workers whenever they screwed up. Too bad he didn’t actually have the luxury to be so agitated right now. Sighing heavily, he moved away from the railing and descended down onto the work floor to resume his routine inspection.
On his way down, however, he took notice that many of the workers were trying to peer towards the hallway on the opposite end of the room. A few seconds later, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna emerged into the room with a small entourage of guards right behind them, much to their surprise. Dropping everything that they were doing, everypony in the room respectfully bowed to their rulers before promptly returning back to work. All at the drop of a hat.
It wasn’t that it was rare to see the princesses drop by the armory every so often. Rather, it was quite the opposite. It was just that there would usually be a memo about their scheduled visits detailing when they would show up. But regardless of whether or not they had sent out some sort of velvet letter informing everypony about their appearances, whenever they came to the armory it was always about business.
“Greetings your majesty,” Forge greeted as he simmered down. “What brings you to the armory this fine day?”
“Hello, Forge. It’s good to see you again,” replied Celestia. “My sister and I are here to check up on your progress about that little assignment we’d given you. I assume that it’s going well?”
“Ah... that project,” Forge cracked a weak grin. “The first prototypes are complete. If you would be as so kind as to follow, I can lead you to them.”
“Then by all means, please. Lead on ahead,” replied Celestia.
Forge then led both princesses and their guards out of the noisy workshop and into the main testing facility of the armory. With each hoofstep, everypony past by various isolated room that could only be viewed through a small porthole roughly the size of a honeydew melon. Standing between the group and the ponies inside the rooms was a stone barrier about two feet thick, with a half an inch of glass used for the portholes.
Each of the rooms had something different being tested within them. Some had ponies attempting to utilize natural flora to add to the integrity of their armor. Others were testing strange weapons that appeared to have jumped from straight out of a foal’s active imagination. Then there were also rooms that had unicorn scientist trying to figure out alternative uses for deceptively simple spells. All in all, they were relatively standard sights that could be seen here.
As they slowly approached their designated testing room, Luna could see the terrible condition that Forge was in. His footsteps felt forced, he had unnecessary twitching motions in his neck, and frankly, he looked a little out of it.
“Excuse me, Forge. But are you alright?” Princess Luna asked. “You don’t look all that well.”
“Huh? Oh, I’m fine.” Forge weakly replied. “I just haven’t had enough sleep. Me and the others have spent the last few days glued to the workbenches making new armor and weapons for the royal guards.”
“Really?” Luna raised one of her eyebrows. “All of the old arms looked fine to me. Why would everyone need new armor and weapons?” just as she finished, the few guards that tailed her and her sister traded worried glances amongst themselves.
“Because!” Forge stopped and scowled. “Ever since the Yellow Devil showed up here, rumors had began to circulate about how faulty my work is!” he stamped his hoof on the floor. “The way he pointed out all the flaws was picked up by the royal guards and it made them paranoid about the performance of their equipment! Since then, they’d petitioned to have everything recalled, reevaluated and remade to avoid equipment failure! The nerve of them!”
“Calm down, Forge,” said Luna. “While I do believe that Gondar’s negative comments about your work was uncalled for, think about the learning aspect of all this. You can now create better, more efficient equipment now because of him. Your skill will only keep on growing.”
“I suppose. But where did that yellow runt get the idea that he can just run his mouth off like that, especially to a master smith like me?” Forge bitterly replied. “Do you have any idea of the humiliation that I had to face from my peers! My apprentice was thinking about leaving and going down to the old iron mill by the other side of the city! My reputation, along with the reputation of the armory, had been tarnished because of him!”
“Well, he did expose all the shortcomings in the original elite royal guard’s armor. Not to mention he proved that your sword was more of a display piece than an actual weapon. Um, well, you see. What I meant to say was, uh...” Luna struck an awkward smile. “Strive to improve your skills!” she concluded as best she could.
“With all due respect your majesty, you’re not helping,” Forge deadpanned. “ *Sigh* Let’s just get on with the prototype testing.”
* * *
“Ah, here we are. Testing room Z-forty eight ,” said Forge as he and a few others led everypony inside. The testing room itself was really nothing spectacular. Four walls, ceiling and a floor. One window, one firing range, and only three straw dummies to test out weapons on. Mundane, but practical.
“Here, this is where we’ve been testing out the weapons designs that you supplied to me,” Forge frowned. “Designs that scream ‘gardening tools’ rather than they do weapons,” he tossed a folder containing many rough sketches of all of Gondar’s current armaments. “What is this? Are you insulting my intelligence, or is this some sort of test? I can’t believe that I’d actually had to do this.”
“I can say with utmost certainty, Forge, that we are not testing you, nor are we insulting anypony’s intelligence. And I apologize in advance if we gave you that wrong impression,” Celestia replied coolly. “We just wanted you to replicate Gondar’s tools for us. Since he was so adamant on keeping them to himself, most of the sketches were drawn out of memory. Although I presume it wasn’t difficult to actually create them?”
“It wasn’t. I did it all under an hour. While I was eating lunch in the break room,” Forge replied flatly. “Honestly, I would’ve had more trouble trying to replicate a chef’s pepper grinder for Faust sake. Just what in Equestria was that yellow runt trying to stop with these things? Weeds? We have something for that already. It’s called a shovel.”
“These so called gardening tools are going to be the newest line of nonlethal weaponry that we could use to outfit the guards with,” said Celestia as she ruffled through the sketches with her magic. “Based on the demonstration that Gondar provided for us, it was clear that he understood what it took to capture somepony, and subdue them unharmed. For you see, Gondar’s special talent is bounty hunting.”
“Bounty hunting?” Forge raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize that that was an actual profession. Let alone one that pays well.”
“While we too were surprised when we first heard about his talents, he did prove that he was fully capable of subduing his opponent without injuring them... much,” she quickly added. “According to Gondar, preserving the life of your target is a crucial skill that is a necessity in his line of work. Skill that reflects upon the tools of his trade. Tools that he made out of junk form groundskeeper Greenhoove’s shed.”
“And you’re telling me that he can stop a runaway pony with these? With weapons made out of scrap metal?” Forge asked with an incredulous tone to his voice. He pointed to the sketches. The sketches of Gondar’s bolas, ponycatcher, and chain linked spear. “Please tell me that this is somepony’s idea of a sick joke.”
“We were there when he tested out the bolas,” Luna joined in. “And might I say that it is an impressive feat that he managed to snare Applejack when she was galloping at full speed from several meters away.”
“...That’s a load of manure,” Forge denied the claim. “Now, I’d get it if he was a unicorn or even a pegasus, but he’s not. He’s an earth pony. There’s no way in Tartarus that he is capable of catching a charging earth pony with some string and a couple rocks if they were, A, galloping at full speeds, and B, several meters away.” he motioned for the group to follow him down to the range. “Here, come with me.”
Down by the shooting range, three testers of each different pony subspecies were currently by the platform. Each were armed with a bola. They were using the bolas over and over again in a controlled test, and so far, the unicorn tester was the only one doing the best out of all three. The pegasus tester was mostly decent while the earth pony was having trouble actually trying to use the darn thing.
“As you can all clearly see, this weapon is very effective in the hooves of a unicorn only because of magic,” Forge explained. “I don’t doubt that entangling an escaping foe is an effective way to subdue an enemy, but this thing is far too unwieldy to properly use. Especially during a chase. Not to mention that it’s just some string and a couple of rocks, folks! A simple net could do better, jeez...” he then pointed over to the pegasus.
“Ahem. Please note that the pegasus can only use this weapon because of the unrestricted freedom he has with flight,” Forge turned to the tester. “Go on ahead.”
The pegasus nodded back to him and then swiftly launched himself into the air. With bola in hoof, the pegasus circled one of the straw dummies as he prepared to strike. Readying the bola, the pegasus then flung it right at the dummy where it entangled the target the way that it was meant to be. However, it was clear that when the bola was being readied, it nearly caught itself around the wings of the pegasus and threatened to ground him.
“Here we have an example of risk versus reward,” Forge stated. “Once again, the bola did entangle the target to the point where they could’ve tripped and stumbled over themselves, but we can see that it also endangered the user. Not a very good variable if you ask me.” Forge then pointed over to the earth pony. “lastly, we hav- Gearhead!” he cried out. “Did you get tied up again?”
“Yes,” Gearhead replied nonchalantly as he laid on the group tied up like a hog. “It’s uh... I think the fiftieth time that this has happened today? I don’t know, I lost count. Sorry boss, but this just ain’t working out. Maybe we should try something else.”
“And this is exactly why I don’t believe that Gondar could catch an earth pony with one of these gimmicky toys. Their ‘coolness factor’ outweighs their actual effectiveness,” Forge rebuked with air quotes. “And to think he complained about my armor.”
“Gondar has been using bolas for who knows how many years? Your testers have only been using them for a few days.” Celestia rebutted. “We’re telling the truth. He really did catch an earth pony with one of the bolas. And with a bit practice and some slight modifications I believe that the royal guard could make use of them as well.”
“How do you expect me to modify three rocks held together by some string?” Forge stared at the princesses questioningly.
“You’re a master smith,” Luna encouraged. “I’m sure you can come up with something.”
“I work with metal most of the time. Not rocks, your majesty,” Forge retorted. “ *Sigh* I suppose I could use metal balls and some chains to replace the rope and rocks. But this is a weapon that is doomed for failure. I strongly disagree that this should be mass produced for the guards to use.”
“Oh, don’t be like that Forge. Pessimism is the enemy of all innovators,” Celestia gently stated. “Keep that in mind.”
“I will, your majesty,” replied Forge in a dejected tone of voice. “Maybe we should move on,” he turned around. “Everypony, break out the next prototype!”
* * *
The next weapon prototype was wheeled into testing room Z-forty eight on a small cart. On top of the cart was several variations of the ponycatcher. Each looking more oblong than the last. There were three in total. With absolutely none of them resembling the same one that Gondar had used in combat.
“This is, as you had it named, your majesty, the ponycatcher. Prototype numbers one, two, and three,” said Forge.
Starting from the left, prototype number one, the ponycatcher vaguely resembled the lowercase letter ‘h’. Although the aperture of the letter was much smaller, and the stem was slightly elongated to look like some sort of staff. It was made entirely out of waxed wood, with the opened aperture section of the ponycatcher having three metal studs built into it. As it is, there are not additional handles or sharp edges.
Prototype number two was probably the closest tothe orignal ponycatcher’s design. This time, the ponycatcher took on the appearance of a pitchfork. Which was funny because that’s basically what it was. A pitchfork with two of its middle prongs removed while the remaining two on the sides had been straightened out. Again, it had no other additional handle than the shaft.
Lastly, prototype number three, which was by far the most bizarre looking thing there was. It looked like a blunt metal spear with the spearhead being a weird lightning bolt shaped hook. It was hard to tell if it was trying to be a sickle, a halberd, or some sort of accouterment for a wacky costume. Once again, no other handles.
“This is... not what we had in mind,” Luna blurted out. “Forgive me, but what is it exactly that I am looking at here?”
“I just told you. This is the pony catcher that you requested,” replied Forge. “It is not up to your specifications?” he flashed their design sheet at them. “You said that you wanted them to be slightly altered in the notes. So, I did just that.”
“I think you might have gone a little overboard with your creative freedom, Forge,” said Celestia. “Why are all of them so long, and where is the additional handle?” she asked.
“I had them removed. They were clearly a hindrance to the actual weapon itself,” Forge replied as if he knew what he was actually talking about. “The original design that you showed me looked like a rejected offspring that a field scythe had with a hoof trowel. It was inefficient, so I fixed this spear by lengthening it out and removing the unnecessary blade that was attached near the opposite end of the tip.”
“...But we never said that it was a spear,” Celestia retorted, causing Forge to do a double take.
“What? It isn’t? Then what is it suppose to be?” Forge asked in sheer befuddlement as he looked over the design sheet. “I assumed that this was supposed to be a spear that was meant to hold down ponies from afar to prevent escape and deadly contact.”
“The last part was correct. But the ponycatcher was, presumably, suppose to be used in close quarters as both a defensive weapon as well as an offensive one,” said Celestia. “It looked like it was meant to defend the user against strikes, and then when the aggressor tired themselves out they would get pinned down by the long end of the ponycatcher. At least to our knowledges that how it works.”
“How cumbersome,” Forge mumbled as he pointed to the sheet. “Then why is there a point and an edge on this damned thing? I thought it was suppose to pin targets down, not decapitate or maim them!”
“Heh heh. It’s purely user’s preference...” Celestia rubbed the back of her neck. “Gondar takes pleasure in his work. He made it quite clear during our first meeting that unnecessary roughness was a part of why he loved his job. That’s why we asked you to in the notes to make them blunted.”
“Of course, it all leads back to him,” Forge grunted. “Where did this guy train? In a remote cave miles away from civilization or something? What sane pony would use weapons that obviously belong in the stone age?”
“That’s what we would like to know ourselves...” Luna muttered beneath her breath, to which Celestia curtly shushed her. “I’m sorry, Forge, but I’m afraid that all of the prototypes will have to be remade to more closely follow the designs we gave you.
“Ugh, fine! You know what. I don’t even care anymore. I’ll do it. I’m getting so sick of hearing that runt’s name,” Forge grumbled. “Gearhead!” he boomed. “Gather all of the prototypes and have them sent back to the R&D department! I want them disassembled and repurposed by the end of the day, on the double!”
“Sure thing boss!” Gearhead shouted back before he wheeled all of the prototype
“And with that, I just added on even more to my workload,” said Forge as he sighed heavily. “Looks like I won’t be getting any sleep... again. L-let’s get onto the next weapon.”
* * *
It took some time for the next weapon to be brought into the room. Technical difficulties in the R&D department had delayed its arrival so the princesses decided to chat amongst themselves to pass the time while Forge prepared for the prototypes testing. He could be heard shouting at his co-workers more viciously than ever now. The stress was starting to build up, and it will soon reach its boiling point.
“Do you think he’s going to be alright?” Luna asked her sister.
“I certainly hope so,” replied Celestia. “I’ve never seen Forge so angry before. He’s usually not like this.”
“I do hope that his temper doesn’t get in the way of his work. After those last prototype I don’t think he can last through another testing phase.”
“It also looks like he harbors a grudge towards Gondar.”
“I don’t blame him. His reputation as a blacksmith took a big hit after we brought Gondar here. Not to mention that he’s been remaking every piece of armor for the royal guards since they’re so afraid of it failing on them. His anger towards him is justified.”
“I also didn’t realize how we could run into so much trouble over these weapons,” said Celestia. “Forge is practically over the wall because of them. I still find it hard to believe how rocks, string, and an oblong looking stave could have everypony stumped over their unique design. Is there some sort of secret to using them?”
“You’re overthinking it sister,” replied Luna with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “It’s just a small bump on the road. The weapons will be mastered soon enough. I’ll eat my own bed before I lose out to a crude amalgamation of metal and wood.”
“A crude amalgamation of metal and wood that managed to repel hundreds of changelings during the invasion,” Celestia pointed out. “That reminds me, the reports came back about the identities of the elites. We’ve hit another dead end.”
“Again? We’re beginning to run out of leads to follow,” said Luna. “Do you think that maybe we should let this slide, sister? I mean they could still work for us, even if we don’t know about their past.”
“Out of the question, Luna. You know that it is basic procedure for all members of the royal guard to be screened before joining.”
“Yet they’re still a part of the elites. Even after Shining Armor and Cadence officially got married. The commander of my night guard keeps bringing this up every time I speak with her. Something has to be done before they get sent off to the academy, and quick.”
“We’ll think of something. We always do,” replied Celestia. “By the way, we still have to figure out what to do with Rhasta. I think we’ll have trouble trying to find employment for him. What can a shaman do to benefit society?”
“See into the future?” said Luna, earning a queer look from Celestia. “As much as I’d hate to admit it, he did predict the invasion. Those bones of his could become very useful.”
“So, the circus then?” Celestia joked with a mischievous smile and a curt chuckle. “I kid, Luna. Though I doubt that having a seer in our royal court would do well for our image. I guess we’ll just have to keep trying then.”
“And Aiushtha? What about her?”
“We could schedule a session with her to explain how the deer folk disappeared. Maybe then we could even record fragments of her people’s culture and history for future preservation. And who knows? Maybe there’s a male deer out there for her.” Celestia cracked a wry grin.
“It’s too early to make a joke about repopulation, sister,” Luna deadpanned. “I’ll get to the session when I get to it. Besides, what’s taking Forge so long? I’m sure it doesn’t take that long to move a prototype over her-”
“YEEEOOOOUUUCH!” a loud cry came from inside the R&D department, cutting Luna off at the last moment. “GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT” the voice screamed in agony. “OH! FAUST THE PAIN IS UNBEARABLE!”
“Hold still! And quit moving around! I can’t take it out of your nose if you keep squirming around like that!” another voice shouted. “Didn't I tell you not to mess with the thing until we got down to the range?”
“Hey!” Forge’s voice yelled. “What happened here? I asked you to load the prototype into the cart, that’s all you had to do!”
“We were!” the other voice replied. “But then the genius over here thought that it’d be a good idea to try it out first before we actually got down to the testing range! And now look at him, he’s bawling his eyes out with a spearhead jammed up his nose!”
“Are you kidding me!? Help me move his flank to the infirmary, now!” Forge commanded. Eventually, the howling sounds of agonizing screaming could be heard slowly becoming muffled as the trio of ponies left the R&D department, and leaving behind two speechless alicorns with their mouths agape at the unseen tragedy that transpired.
“Um, Celestia. Maybe we should give them more time to perfect the prototypes.”
Chapter 32.5 End
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lol, he got a weapon stuck in his nose.
4648703
XD
Would love that!
4475797
Necrophos, Lich, Dark Seer, Magnus, Undying, Spirit Breaker, Invoker, Dazzle, Lycan, and a bunch of others would like to disagree on "In contrast, there are very few abilities on the Dire side that heal or buff allies; most of them either inflict damage, disable or debuff enemies, or improve their performance with little regard for their allies well-being."
4718237
He is an honorable warrior with a code. A Rogue's code, but I still would have loved to see him give that @$$hole a beat down.
4706724 Why am I not being notified of these replies?
The point I was making is that the Dire is more offensively oriented than the Radiant, which is more defensively oriented.
Necrophos' heal doubles as a small nuke, Lycan buffs offensive capabilities instead of defense, Lich is primarily a nuker and Frost Armor applies a debuff on attackers.
The list goes on.
4740115
Your main argument was that Dire is "selfish."
Radiant has lots of "offensive" heroes who don't help their allies: Zeus, Earthshaker, Tinker, Elder Titan, Windranger, Shadow Shaman, Disruptor, Skywrath Mage, Tiny, Timbersaw...
Drow, Troll, Ogre Magi, Io, BeastMaster etc... buff offense instead of defense.
Omniknight and Treant Protector have the same nuke and heal mechanic.
Dota is inherently a team game. In the original dota, if you picked a Scourge (Dire) hero, you were Scourge, Sentinel (Radiant) Hero, Sentinel (Radiant). If all the utility was given to 1 side, guess who had the inherent advantage?
4740523 Curse my scatterbrained tendencies...
Selfish was not the correct term.
The heroes that compose the Dire roster are largely apathetic in nature, if not downright evil.
Their focus is generally offensive in nature, being more concerned with crippling the enemy than their teammates own well-being. The heroes on the Dire that truly diverge from this trend, such as Dazzle, are relatively few and far between and their abilities in this regard are often eclipsed by their Radiant counterparts in some aspect, such as there being fewer devoted healers on the Dire side and those in the Radiant tending to be more effective in that regard.
There's more to it than just healing of course, but then I'd have to start going over every hero in detail and I'd really rather not.
Wish Nessaj himself(itself?) makes an appearance. I mean, his presence is in every plane, or is his physical "version" here is actually Discord?
Still...
before I start reading this who are the 5 heroes that are in equestria, plz I must know before reading the awesomeness
4954780 if you read the first chapter they're all there, but if you want to know it's Sven, Rubick, Bounty Hunter, Enchantress, and Shadow Shaman
4959469 oki thanks, now i will start reading this BRUTAL THING
Re: R and D department
I believe the term is: "you fail."
4954780 I know right?
5 weeks has pass...and no update..
I getting scare about this...umm...8 th re-read this story more than FLT story.
5423165 i should probably fix that
R.I.P story 3 months is no excuse for not even a short update . Everyone this s story is dead.
5820139 Maybe if I have time, I have almost none for the past year now
5820139
Discord and CK are not exactly comparable. One is a surrealist, and the other is more about mindless destruction.
This is very good please make some more!
*38 weeks*
1.bp.blogspot.com/-g4SuZTxPMwQ/UkyL6kVOTiI/AAAAAAAADBc/dWzqfvGQu4o/s1600/FinShaggy+(3).gif
such a shame this amazing story died.
6904361 Ya, I know
Awww, i really wanted to see what would happen at the court. Why was the story cancelled?
7110730 Things just slowed down for me after I entered college. After that my interest in the story slowly faded away, regrettable as it is
7130296
Ah ok, I understand. Still as you said it is unfortunate that the story was cancelled, I wish you luck with uni
Oh and, the story was great for the most part
7133039 It was.
Will you come back to this story in the future? This is an amazing story.
Well, the 'Battlefield friends' have been returned after being cancelled, so there's a hope this story will be revived too.