The Second Millennium: Beginning
Black Steel rose from his bed, as he had done countless times before. Frist, he checked he was fine, all good. Then he looked himself over in the mirror. Same black mane, same black tail, overall "fluffy" appearance with such logn hair and such a long coat.
He needed a good grooming, and soon.
As he left the small house, the door slammed behind him, and once again, he approached the much used forge, firing the pit up with a strike of magic. Long years have been put into this here. It runs on his magic, it is a magical forge. This can't be replicated. His magic cut the forge from the ground and for the last time, the forge rose, quickly making it to the cloud level where it was stationed with pegasus technology, keepign it stiff in the cloud.
"Welcome back, Steel!", his apprentice greeted him.
"Hello again. Rick, I've got something that you need to know."
"Yes, sir?"
"I'm leaving."
"Wh-what? But I haven't finished training!"
"I know. You're a unicorn though. You live a short life, so I can't teach you everything. Thats why I've taught you the msot of the best. Now, today is your final day as my apprentice. After this, you have to take over."
"The forge?!"
"No, with your own forge. Unfortunately, if you tried to use this forge, you'd end up turning this cloud city into a fog within seconds. It's got that much magic in it. Now. Your lesson. Let's not waste any time."
"Y-yes master....", teh young grey stallion answered.
Steel got to work first, tossing old blades into his forge, and letting them sit for a moment before he wrencehd them free of the magic flames, and held one to the anvil.
"Now, I'm giving you the secret of my creation. Magic."
"Oh. So, how does this work."
Black Steel cast a sound barrier around himself and the young stallion, going over the details in the only private way possible. After a few moments, Rick nodded, and Steel gave him the hammer. His first strike, he hit lightly, forging the blade perfectly in one go. Steel scowled and tossed the blade back into the flames.
"No! If you forge the whole thign at once, it finishes too quickly, and the metal warps!"
"Sorry master!"
"Again!"
After another try, he did forge the blade slower, but nto slow enough, and this time, Steel through the blade off the side of the cloud, then scolded the aprpentice he ahd, even worse.
"Blacksmithing is about the hammer, sword, and anvil! Blacksmithing is about takign time! Blacksmithing is about putting soul into your blade!"
"Yes sir! Yes sir!"
"Tehn freeze!"
Teh young stallion did so, holding the blade with one quickly burning hoof. It faltered over the anvil, and Steel took the hammer from his other hoof.
"Make your own hammer, hit it with magic."
The stallion did so, and the yellow magic flashed over the red blade, numbing the pain in his burning hoof, and makign the shape look a tad cleaner. He did so again, and the process repeated until he finished with a no longer malleable blade. Taking his hoof off of the handle, he felt his foreleg stiffen hard, painfully stretching as he forced it to extend.
"Good. You did well. Unfortunately, I have to cut this lesson short. I'm on a rush to meet a lady."
The stallion turned abruptly towards Steel, anger holding his finished blade on the anvil, ready to strike.
"You can't!"
"Unfortunately, Rick, I can, and have to. She's no ordinary mare, as every stallion says, but she is someone whom if doesn't get her way, makes ponies go to jail. You want to stop me, then you cna live in a mossy dungeon for a month. Remember, a forger's anger is one key. His soul another, and his mind, the greatest."
Steel sighed heavily and returned the hammer.
"Listen. This forge runs on magic. Just push some of your own into the flames, and she'll do the rest. I'm leaving her, but will be back to retrieve her. I hope you will not mess this up."
"I don't think I can't. I don't think I can without you."
"You can and will. I've got to make it to canterlot within minutes. I guess I'll see you 'round Ricky."
The stallion let out a long breath and nodded, then accepted Steel's held out hoof.
"I thank you...for taking me in, too...."
"Well, at least I can say I had a son. If you ever see your real dad, do something for me?"
"What?"
"Punch him in the throat.", Steel said plainly.
Rick smiled, chuckling once, "Will do. I just might break his neck."
"Just make sure you do it right. Now. I'm off for good, Rick."
Steel held his hoof out again, and as Rick took it, he pulled the oyung stallion into a hug.
"I'll miss you Ricky."
"You too, Steel."
After Steel parted, he flapped his wings hartily and turned back to the edge of the forge, "Don't pour too much magic into the forge, she can overflow."
"Will do!", Rick said as Steel leaped off the edge.
He went into a nose dive, wings folded tightly to his back. As the ground came up, he fanned those huge majestic beauties and the updraft not only carried him back up, but as he made that curved, he rocketed forward like a jet. Af ew wingbeats, and he doubled that speed, bringing him ten times as fast as an eagle.Nearly breaking that well known soudn barrier.
He needed to. That barrier exudes a massive amount of magic. With that, he could ride on the sonic ripple to canterlot at more than fifty times it's regular speed.
Logic of magic, freak yeah.
As he flapped his wings as great a she could, that simple barrier seemed to become tougher and tougher, slowing him down, almost. A few more flaps, and that barrier had been pulling on him. It snapped back and erupted as he coated himself in his own magic. Like a slingshot, he was rocketed forth by the sonic ripple, riding with the magic. He would have looked like a ball of blue flames as he seared the skies with amgic. Normall,y this would have killed a pegasus using this much magic, and put a unicorn trying this ina coma. He's done it once before, and it was to try and save someone he lsot.
Now, the landscape was but a green blur, static that stayed as it looked until that mountain he knew came into view. A sonic boom erupted as he came out of the jump flight. The sound echoed from the mountain back, and he heard it within a moment. Though, it was scary enough to get the guard to quickly put a shield over Canterlot.
Odd. They weren't as jumpy last time he visited.
Steel was easily spotted, and the night guard were quick to act, sniping him out of the sky with magic that was in no way a weapon. He was pulled into the night halls, and immediately, Luna wrapped her hooves around him tightly, suppressing a scream of happiness.
Steel immediately embraced her, hugging her closely. Everything seemed to slow down there.
"I can't believe you're back....", he said softly.
Luna didn't really say anything. She jsut nuzzled into his neck and let out a few soft sighs, parting from him.
"knowing you were still here, waiting for me, it only fueled my mallice more...", she admitted sadly.
"Luna, it's the past.", he said abruptly, "Luna, I can't stay in the past, not anymore. Life's easy enough that we can forget what happened before, and just move on. I don't want to think about it, and neitehr do you."
"You're right...", Luna hugged him once more.
"Black steel?", Celestia made ehrself known.
Both Luna and Steel looked towards the door she had entered, and she smiled to the two of them.
"Yes. I've made my way back.", Steel smiled, saying as-a-matter-of-fact-ly.
"It's been a long time since I banned you from castle grounds."
Steel's expression changed to something more serious.
"But as you said, you don't want to remember, and neither do I. So everything shall be forgotten.", Celestia recalled.
"So I'm no longer wanted..."
"No.", Celestia admitted, "I had your documents of times old all burned the year after. I grew to think too hastily, worried it might have happened to me."
Silence fell over the room as the three were left with nothing else to say. Luna smiled and turned to Steel, nudging him to get his attention.
"Since you've not been here just as long as I, I figured that now wouldbe a good time to introduce you to...uhm...my pupil."
"Hmm?", Steel rose an eyebrow.
"He's accelling wonderfully.Already, he can create basic transmutations in alchemy."
"Ah, you're specialty was potions making."
"I'm flattered you remember."
"Why would I forget?"
Luna giggled, excited, "Let's go!"
It was almost like a dream had come true for him. Everythign was working so easily! The day was completely perfect, and as it wrapped up, he settled nicely back into his old forge. One blackened and crumbled by time.
"Luna.", He addressed the princess of the night.
"Yes, love?"
"I have my own forge I'd like to bring here. Can you give me amoment to replace this old construct?"
"Go ahead. I'm eager to see."
Steel smiled and approached the old forge, cutting it out of the ground with quick flashes of magic. After rising the solid slab of stone out of it's resting place, he set it aside, focusing his magic to open a rift. Through it, his own forge stood, and within moments, he had replaced the two with ease, settlign the purple stained forge in it's new place.
"Somethign about this forge is....", Luna trailed off.
"Magical? Well, I've imbued it with enough magic over the past nineteen hundred years."
"Really? May I see?"
Steel set off a psark of magic that brought the forge to life, casting hot blue light over it's interior, and even setting a blade in the flames.
"I can barely remember when you worked here.", Luna admitted.
"It was two thousand years ago. I wouldn't care if you shunned it."
"Do you think you could do something special for me tonight?", she asked heartily.
Steel gave the blue alicorn a warm smile and nodded, "I think I can guess what it would be. Actually, there are several things it could be."
"Just meet me in my bedchambers."
"I have business to take care of in Canterlot first.", Steel admitted.
"Oh...Well, I'll be waiting in my bed chambers."
"I won't make you wait long, lvoe. Just a quick trip, and thanks to magic and wings, it's going to be quick enough."
Luna giggled with glee and galloped off, the two guards at her side keeping at pace with ease.
After Luna was out of sight, Black Steel turned to the guards that Celestia had assigned to him. A night guard and a day guard, each with the normal features of each. One was with a black coat, bat wings, fangs, and dragon-like eyes. The other, a normal joe wearing gold armor, sporting a pristine white coat, and golden locks.
"So, you two are to accompany me...Well, I hope you can keep up.", Steel smiled.
Each saluted him and feel in behind him. Steel decided he wouldn't play with them. He had actual, financial business to attend to.
Flight was easy, and all but one could fly, but as Steel took off, not realizign this, he foudn out that that royal guard did have wings. After that, he swooped down from the canterlot gardens, down into the streets, soaring along the empty streets. At this time, every civil pony was asleep. But he wasn't sticking around the rich district.
Passing by old, tattered roads, he came into a part of Canterlot that looked much like Manehatten in it's olden times. A lot of broken roads and homes, and very few ponies on the streets. They cleared out almsot as fast as Steel landed. It was jsut chance. Then the slow walk began.
"Pike, I'm not feeling to good, maybe I should go home...."
Steel turned his head slightly to see the weak looking night mare behind him. She was indeed looking abit under the weather. A green flash enveloped her head, and she cringed for a moment, and that eerie green glow stayed in her eyes.
"Better?", the royal guard asked.
"Yeah...", she panted, "I can go on."
Steel felt suspicious. But not enough to worry. As they approached the second bend, a thud sounded from behind as something big took it's landing. Steel stopped and turned in tim to raise a partial shield, but th emagic still hit him full force, throwing him against the building wall.
Black steel's magic had been strengthened over the years. He could take down a mountain giant with a single magical blow. He'd not stand for this. As he rose with magic ready to nearly obliterate whoever had attacked him, he froze.
"Luna?"
"Oh, I'm sorry! I couldn't wait!", she replied.
"Oh, it's alright. I wasn't going to be but another few minutes."
"Steel, please jsut come back to the castle, it can wait till tomorrow.", Luna said warmly.
As Steel tooka breath to talk, he noticed that ehr guards were missing, and was rewarded with teh same blast of magic from before, but this time, full force. The impact with the wall had to have cracked it. He could feel several bones in his back popping, the bursae pressured to burst.
His visioned was blur, and he felt a bit woozy, but he could still fight with magic! And even then, the massive strike he readied before flew out as a tiny spark. He fell forward, and was finally embraced by sleep's darkness.
