My Little Viking: Steel Is Magic

by Laarsgaard

A Broken Thing

With the real Cadence now out and about the wedding needed another planning session. I was confined to my bed for the duration but I was still in charge of the security for the event and I made sure that she had at least a ten guard escort no matter where she went. Celestia came to visit me again and I explained to her that I did not care if the threat had passed there were to be twenty guards posted in the room where the ceremony was to held and that all of the princesses were going to have at least ten guards following them closely all day every day until the wedding was over. I even told the captain that he was subject to my will and put a retinue of eight guards to follow him. He objected but I told him that I was still technically in charge and that he had to deal with it or I would slap him with my good hand.

The planning went fine, or so Twitch informed me. This being the real Cadence she was actually a joy to have around and rather whimsical and fun loving. I would believe that when I saw it, then she came to visit me.

The pink princess stood over me with a smile on her face.

“I just wanted to thank you.” She told me. I smiled up at her partly due to another dose of painkillers that had been introduced into my blood.

“Just doing my job princess.” I told her. She set her hoof on my hand

“I know, but what you do was very courageous and you helped me get my lover back. If not for you…” she trailed off and looked away.

“You’re most welcome princess.” I told her. She smiled at me and left without another word. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as I previously thought.

I was allowed out of bed to attend the ceremony. My nurse, who had named herself Redheart, had helped me stand. She then proceeded to give me a few different pills. One, she said, was so that I did not vomit and the rest were a series of painkillers that would allow me to stay on my feet for a few hours if I didn’t pass out first. The nurse then attended me as I walked about the palace for various appointments I had never made.

First we went to see Rarity who measured me for a new set of clothing that would be deemed suitable enough for a wedding. When she needed to measure my bad arm she had to ask nurse Redheart. The nurse gingerly helped Rarity extend my arm to its full length. Thanks to their careful efforts and the magic of these painkillers I could feel very little of my strained and damaged muscles.

After we finished our visit to Rarity I was escorted to an armored carriage and taken to a discreet part of the city where I met with the captain.

“Good day captain!” I said heartily as I disembarked from the carriage with the nurse just behind me. The captain stood from his seat at a nice outdoor table with a large umbrella overhead.

“Good day Ol.” He greeted me. I walked up to him and he saluted me. I saluted him back somewhat confused by his gesture.

“Please take a seat.” The captain offered me. I sat down heavily in a comfortably padded chair. A large mug of cider was placed in front of both the captain and me. Redheart stepped forward and swiped the mug before I could drink any.

“No alcohol while you’re on your painkillers.” She stated adamantly. I nodded.

“I’ll have tea captain if you would please.” I told Shining Armor. The stallion nodded to a nearby servant. I looked about at our surroundings and noticed that there was no foot traffic even though we appeared to be sitting in a café of some sort and there were numerous guards posted up establishing a perimeter of some sort. A large cup of tea was placed before me on a saucer. I picked up the cup and took a sip. It was delicious and warm. I smiled shifting somewhat in my seat.

“This is a pleasant surprise sir.” I told the captain quietly sipping on my tea. The captain raised an eyebrow over his mug as he drank deeply.

“Why is that?” he asked me.

“I thought you would be recovering as I am.” I indicated my arm in a sling. The captain snorted.

“If it weren’t for the orders you handed out I wouldn’t be.” He said indicating the guards surrounding us with his hoof. I chuckled some causing the pain in my ribs to flare up a bit. I winced and shifted slightly. I looked at nurse Redheart and she shook her head denying me my silent request for more painkillers. I shrugged which caused more pain in my ribs and turned back to the captain.

“It needed to be done. I don’t care if the threat is passed,” I paused to sip my tea. “And don’t worry you’re not special in that regard when it comes to overprotection.” Shining laughed aloud.

“Cadence’s only complaint about you is that you’re more overprotective than I am.” I chuckled quietly trying to keep the pain in my ribs down.

“I must say sir,” I began. “This Cadence is much more pleasant than the last one. She is quite the opposite of a bitch.” I stated. The stallion burst into laughter again.

“So I’ve heard.” We shared a chuckled and went back to quietly sipping our drinks. My tea ran out and the servant came up and refilled my tea from a silver teapot.

The object brought back memories of when I first saw a teapot. Being strapped to the bed covered in dry blood and unable to understand a word of what these horses were telling me. I smiled at the thought. My mind cleared as the captain spoke.

“Ol, I believe you might be curious as to why I brought you out here for?” he asked me. I nodded in response sipping more of my tea. “Well,” Shining Armor sighed and turned his head to stare off into the distance. “I wanted to thank you.” He stated. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“Really?” I said in mock surprise. “You’re a little late you know.” I scolded him in a mocking tone. The captain was not amused.

“I’m serious Ol.” He told me. I held up my good hand in defense.

“Please continue.” I told him. He nodded and drank from his mug.

“I couldn’t act in there and my mind was so clouded I don’t even really remember what happened. Then Twilight described to me what you did, she spared some of the details.” He cringed some. My smile turned feral at the memory.

Shining Armor reached into his front pocket on his uniform and pulled something out of it. He then placed the object on the table and slid it across to me.

“I wanted you to have this as a token of my gratitude. It was something that my uncle had given me before he passed.” The stallion told me. He lifted his hoof to reveal a small brass coin. I reached for the coin and picked it up and studied it. There was very little of not on the coin except a quote written on one side.

“’Duty and honor are endeavors for those whose hearts are lacking in will and pride but are expectations for those who know the worth of their soul.’” I read off of the coin. Shining Armor nodded.

“It’s part of our creed as guardians of the city and the palace.” He told me. I nodded and set the coin back on the table.

“Why give this to me?” I asked him. “I am no guard, just a stranger who can use a sword.” The captain finished his mug and set it.

“You’ve become more than that here.” He said while looking off into the distance again. “In my eyes you’re an honorary member of Celestia’s personal guard now and maybe even a friend.” I sipped from my teacup and set it down carefully.

“Danke mein freund.” I said quietly. Shining Armor looked at me.

“Pardon?”

“Thank you.” I told him. He nodded and looked back off in the distance. I picked the coin up again and slipped it into the pocket of my trousers. I then proceeded to finish my tea in silence and Captain Shining Armor and I sat in silence on a rather nice day.

Soon the captain and I said our farewells and I stepped back onto the armored carriage to be taken to my last meeting for the day. I was surprised the most by this one when we came back to the palace. I stepped down from the carriage and I was greeted with the sight of both Luna and Celestia standing on the castle steps waiting for me.

I stepped before the ruling body of Equestria and bowed my head respectfully, the first time I had ever done so. The pain in my ribs had grown rather bothersome and I held up a finger before either princess could speak. I turned to nurse Redheart.

“May I have another round of painkillers?” I asked her politely. She shook her head.

“You should be back in bed.” She said. “Besides you have another hour at least until your next dose.” I harrumphed. As the pain came back I felt my mind begin to clear some. Celestia stepped forward.

“If you need to rest Ol this can wait, it’s not necessary and we should wait until you’re feeling better to do this.” She said. I looked up at her confused.

“What is it that you require of me princess?” I asked her unsteadily. I moved my hand to my ribs trying to steady the pain some.

“Take him back to the infirmary.” Luna ordered the nurse. Redheart set her hoof on my shoulder.

“Come on now, heard the princesses, let’s get you back into bed.” I nodded as I breathed out slowly.

We quickly made our way back to the infirmary without any distraction and the nurse put me in bed. I thanked her as the pain began to ease some. The nurse left to go call a doctor she had something about my pain being abnormal for the injury I had. The nurse came back with the doctor who had some papers. He looked at the papers and back to me. He then came to the side where my ribs were broken and his horn lit up.

His face darkened. He looked up to Redheart.

“I need a surgical team now!” He said. Redheart galloped off shouting for a surgeon.

“Don’t worry sir,” the doctor told me. “We’ll fix you right up.” That was the last thing he said before I lost consciousness.

---

“It was ugly we almost lost him to internal bleeding.”

“How is he now?”

“He’s fine, but it was touch and go for a while there.”

“When will he be back on his feet?”

“Soon enough, before the wedding.”

“Good, we need him, something is coming and he’s going to be needed to help stop it.”

---

I awoke but refused to open my eyes. I could hear voices around me of my friends. They sounded worried.

“What are you all worrying about exactly?” I asked aloud. I knew that half of them would jump at the surprise. I chuckled internally at Fluttershy’s squeak of fright. The pain in my ribs was less intense but spread out over a farther area now. I tried not to breathe so deeply.

I opened my eyes to see six worried faces around me.

“How are you feeling?” Twilight asked me.

“I feel fine.” I told her. “What is wrong?” I asked her.

“They had to open you up to fix some damage to your organs.” Twilight told me.

“What was wrong?” I asked her.

“When your ribs broke they punctured some of your organs and fighting the changelings tore you up rather badly and there was a little difference between our anatomies that made it a bit more difficult but you are expected to make a full recovery.” She said. I nodded.

“Well, hopefully then I will be back on my feet soon.”

“You will.” Said nurse Redheart making her way through my friends with water. I sat up some and reached out for the large mug and drank deeply. The nurse went on. “You will be able to attend the wedding and afterwards you can return home with Miss Sparkle.” Twilight smiled at the announcement. “Now you all leave and let him rest.” Red Heart shooed my friends away. I smiled at the kindly nurse. She smiled at me and gave me a pill. I swallowed the little white thing and went to sleep.

---

The day of the wedding had arrived, again. This time I stood in my new clothing which was much frillier than I was normally comfortable with but I let it go. I was permitted to wear my weapons but only ceremonially as this time no one expected that I would have to kill anything.

I stood up on the dais by Twilight’s side. I watched as Cadence came in wearing the dress that Rarity had made for her. The ceremony was quite wonderful. Celestia spoke talking about the importance of love and eternal bonds. Both horses stated that they would take the other in a bond of eternity then placed rings upon each other’s horns, something I found quite odd but then again, this whole place was quite odd.

After the ceremony the party moved outside to celebrate. There was a large table surrounded by some odd looking black boxes.

“Speakers.” Twilight answered when I questioned her.

“What are speakers?” I asked her.

“You’ll see.” She answered with a coy smile. I did not like that smile, that smile meant something terrible was going to happen like getting on the train.

Pinkie appeared behind the table and reached down a pulled another white unicorn from seemingly nowhere. I didn’t question it as I had seen Pinkie Pie do things that made me question if I was really just dead and this was all some kind of odd afterlife due to the impossibility of the acts preformed. Then the giant black boxes began to bounce and move as sound began to emit from them. A small black, round thing was tossed through the air and Twilight caught it and began to sing into it. Her voice was quite beautiful even if the song was somewhat loud and annoying.

All of my friends to include the captain and princess Cadence began to dance on a large flat dance floor that had been fashioned of wood and painted quite gaily for the festivity. I laughed as they dance happily even so soon after such an incident as the attack.

The party outside was rather raucous and impressive as over half of the kingdom must have shown up for this wedding causing the noise level to increase immensely. I had gotten myself a large glass of juice as I was still not allowed to consume anything slightly alcoholic and nurse Redheart followed me like a hound.

I felt a touch on my good shoulder. I turned slowly to see both of the princesses standing behind me. I smiled to them.

“Good evening princess Celestia and Luna.” I said graciously. “This is quite the party. I’ve never seen its like before.” The two looked at each other.

“We’ve come to speak to you on a matter that is rather urgent.” Celestia said. I felt some of my joy drain away at the concern in her voice.

“What do you require of me?” I asked narrowing my eyes suspiciously.

“Come with us, I promise we shall return very soon. We just need to show this to you before you depart from the city.” Celestia answered turning and using her wing to beckon to me. I set down my glass and followed the sisters.

We left the party not undetected as a pack of guards broke off and followed us at some distance.

“May I ask what this is about?” I queried as we entered the palace through a side door.

“We have found something that we need your opinion on whether or not it should live or die.” Luna said impatiently.

“Luna!” Celestia scolded her sister.

“What?” Luna asked indignantly. “We should at least tell him before we get there so he’s somewhat prepared.” My heart began to speed up some.

“What is this thing?” I asked Celestia. Celestia ignored me and continued into the palace.

---

I had never seen this portion of the palace dungeon before. The stone walls were carved from odd black rock that shone and reflected the light impressively. The air was damp and chilly and my breath would mist in front of me as I took the steep and oddly spaced stones down deeper and deeper into the darkness that was hidden beneath the city.

Before me Celestia moved elegantly over the cold stone her horn shining off of the walls to light the way. Behind me her younger sister breathed raggedly in the chill.

“This portion of the dungeons has not been used for hundreds of years.” Celestia stated. This was one of the few usages of time that I could believe from the princess about either her age or that of the palace.

We came to the bottom of stairs. I tried to see into the distance but couldn’t make out any distance passed where the light stopped. Together the three of us moved slowly through the frighteningly cold corridor.

We moved for several minutes before Celestia stopped before me and turned to her right the light from her horn revealing a set of old iron bars set into the stone. There was a door hung on rotten hinges that squealed incredibly loudly as she pulled the door open. The hinges were so rusted that they had rotted through and broke as the door opened fully and the heavy iron fell to the cold stone floor with a loud clang.

Neither sister said a word but from within the cell I heard chains begin to shift and clink over each other. Celestia stepped into the cell and I followed her closely.

The light was bright as Celestia stepped to the side to allow me to see what exactly was chained up. I sniffed the air as the light moved forward towards the back of the cell. The air was thick with a familiar and sickening scent that I had spent with far too much time with. It brought back memories of a stinking eyeball popping out of the skull with my finger in it the sound of breaking bones filled my ears and I breathed the scent in deeply. I knew what was sitting at the back of the chamber before I saw her.

Chrysalis flinched away from the light her shackles clinking together. I looked down upon her broken form. Her face was utterly smashed and covered with scabs and dried blood. Her wickedly curved horn had been broken off leaving a jagged and ugly remainder. Patches of her shiny black skin were missing showing bone beneath. Her snout was gone leaving her head nearly perfectly round. I moved closer to her and she tried to push herself away from me. I could smell her. The stench was so thick I wanted to vomit. I reached down for one of my axes and pulled it from my belt.

I held the axe just beneath the head as I squatted down to my haunches and held the axe under my chin as I studied the changeling queen.

“I ordered teams to go searching as far as they might think to go making sure to exterminate any and all that they found. They found her near a small volcano struggling up to the edge. They believe she was trying to throw herself in.” Luna said. I nodded in approval. A bug crawled onto Chrysalis’s nose. I moved my axe blade near her face. She flinched away. I slowed my approach and used my axe to flick the bug into the darkness. I pulled my axe back and stood. I placed the weapon back in my belt.

“There is no fight left in this poor creature.”

Comments

[Kaldanor]

“Danke mein freund.”

Why is the viking speaking German mommy? I don't understand

[PegasusKlondike]

Yeah, shouldn't the viking be speaking Swedish or Finnish or Norwegian? Unless he's really a Saxon!

[sgtnolisten]

2372601 Aren't there some languages in Europe or even the world that share some words and phrases despite being different?

[Mänic]

hello people, Vikings, like most of Germania, likely spoke old Germanicwebspace.ship.edu/cgboer/germaniclanguages.gif a language which eventually developed into the 3 varieties that developed into the modern languages