So it turned out that I suck at making armor. Swords are no problem, bows are easy as pie, tools of the trade are made as easily as scarfing down oxygen after somepony challenged you to see who could hold their breath longer under water and you won. Armor was in a league all its own for some reason.

I asked Com about making armor when he returned from telling the trio what was going to happen tonight.

All he said was “You can make everything else and armor is your weak point?”

“Well excuse me but it’s a lot harder than it seems,” I said back to him while trying to figure a way to make some that would fit me. I could see how making it for him would be easy; the design for Player armor was pretty simple to understand for some reason. Armor for me, a changeling who never was supposed to be here in the first place, seemed to be a more difficult task.

I sighed, “How did you guys figure out how to make armor?”

“I guess we already knew since we had to do it before we came here. Seems pretty natural now in this world, even for me. Before coming here, I hadn’t even practiced metalworking but now it’s second nature to me.”

“I never had to do it before either and I don’t think we ever needed any with our chitin protecting us from attacks.”

We sat in silence for a minute. I went ahead and made a couple iron swords for later, in case things got dicey with the prince and his inevitable gaggle of guards. As I made them I thought about how armor should be. The armor that the guard ponies always wore seemed to protect their vital parts. The armor the Players wore seemed to be the same. Maybe I should just make armor like the ponies? That may work since our builds are similar enough.

With that I began making the blueprints in my head and when I was sure I had it more or less accurate to my body shape I struck the iron with the tools provided by the table.

It felt like an eternity, but with Com letting me work in peace while he made armor of his own, I was able to come up with a design all my own.

A sleek and closefitting helm that ended right before my...mane, my face would have to be exposed but I managed to cover the center of it up to my muzzle. My body armor was made in two separate pieces tied together by leather straps that I’d have to have Com tie and fix up so that it wouldn’t come apart during combat if it came down to that. I wasn’t sure if covering my hooves would be the best of ideas since I need to hold stuff with them so instead of boots like the Players I made plated armor to cover my legs. Not really sure how well my amateur armor set would actually hold up in combat so I really hoped it wouldn’t come down to that.

After I had help from Com getting in my armor, which came after he told me how impressed he was with my original design, I looked outside and saw that the sun was getting close to setting.

“It’s getting close to the deadline for when we’ll meet with the prince,” Com said to me, “How ya feeling?”

More nervous than a dragon handler in a museum full of shiny things, “Not bad, but I really hope this doesn’t end up in a fight. I don’t want to have to take down anyone else.”

“With any luck you won’t have to.”

“What about you, Com?”

“What about what?” he asked, seemingly confused.

“He’s your prince, isn’t he? You betrayed him and your race by siding with me. Hell, I killed your brother and you’re still with me. Why?” I wanted to understand. Before he just seemed tired of everything, like it was just another thing that happened, but I couldn’t stand the idea of him suffering should the meeting end badly for us.

“He stopped being my prince when we crossed over. Now he’s just the leader of New Hope, master of those who stayed behind.”

“What does that mean?”

He sighed, “You’ll probably find out soon enough.”

With that we walked out of my house and were greeted by a soldier saying the meeting was to take place in a short while. After we were sure he left, we headed toward the cave real quick to say hi to the trio before leaving for the meeting.

“Craft, Com, I hope your meeting with the Players goes well,” Creeper said as we prepared to leave.

“Yes, be safe and survive. Both of you,” Skeleton said after a moment of silence.

“Relax guys; we’re not marching off to our deaths or anything. We will be back, I can guarantee that,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

That would happen to be much less than I had when I decided to make my armor earlier since realizing they have an army and we have...well, me and Com. Technically we had a never ending army of monsters since the meeting’s at night but I’d rather not have to involve the trio if I didn’t have to. They, on the other hoof, have an army already at their disposal that is well equipped and could likely take us out without too much effort. Our escape from their village was a sheer stroke of luck and I knew it.

Zombie moved forward and spoke up, “Good...bye.”

I looked away, wiping a tear away from my face before turning back with a smile, “Don’t say goodbye Zombie, I hate goodbyes. After all, if you don’t say goodbye then we’re not really gone, are we?”

“If that is the case then I shall say it correctly. We will see you when you return,” Creeper said with a somewhat forced lighthearted tone.

With that we left and headed toward the village at a moderate pace that took us about ten minutes.

The village was surrounded by soldiers, some in towers, not previously there, with bows while the rest were spread on the ground with swords of varying types. None of them were wearing diamond but they all looked ready to take us if necessary and I didn’t doubt they all had the training of a soldier. The sheer number of guards, however, seemed odd. I know for a fact the prince wore diamond armor and had diamond weapons so why were there so many guards?

“Halt!” the first guard looked at us and nodded, “Go in.”

We did and another guard began escorting us to the house that we’d be meeting in. Honestly the houses were rather small but they looked like they would hold enough space for us. Some looked like they were missing a piece here or there though. It’s almost like they were taken at random. Another thing, where were the villagers?

*BAM*

I groaned and looked up only to see- “OH CRAP BASKETS!” I promptly shouted and backed up a few steps. The iron golem was still here. Don’t really know how I could’ve forgotten about it but I suspected it had something to do with the meeting and the guards and... you get the point.

I nearly wet myself and tried to run away, but the guard escorting us stopped me from getting much further than a couple feet while the golem ignored me and kept walking.

“Still afraid of the golem, monster?” the guard with an oh-so familiar voice said to me. I looked at him and shook his grip off. “Be lucky the golem won’t attack even you monsters without orders.”

“Hey, back off jerk,” Com said, putting himself between the two of us.

“Oh look, the younger of two failures wants to say something? How about telling us why you teamed up with your sad excuse for a soldier brother’s murderer?” the guard said with an arrogant tone.

“How about you tell me why you stuck around for our sad excuse for a prince?” I didn’t understand what that was about but the guard pulled out his sword and prepared to attack Com. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t move due to shock and he was only halted by the sound of a cough that came from behind me.

“Private Tael, would you be so kind as to explain why you were about to harm my guests?” the leader, Prince Kaile, spoke with absolute authority, paralyzing the soldier into place.

“My apologies, leader. They were talking badly about you and I couldn’t bare their insolent words.”

“Their words mean nothing, remember that,” the prince said before looking at me, “As for you, follow me or I’ll slay you in his place.”

The remaining five feet or so was covered in less than ten seconds and we went inside a small building reminiscent of a small church, only smaller. I mean, it had three floors by the looks of it but it was still really small.

“It’s a little small in here for a talk isn’t it, Prince Kaile?” I said to him, watching as he stopped at the mention of his name.

“You’ve learned of my name? I assume Com told you. Yes I am the prince of my people. I am our rightful ruler,” the Player’s leader spoke, losing himself in the feeling of having so many titles for himself.

“You may have been our prince at one time, but not anymore,” Com spoke up, defying the prince’s claims.

The prince turned around and stared at Com, “I am still your leader Com. It was due to his kind that we are here in the first place!”

“We wouldn’t have been stuck in this situation if you hadn’t ordered those unnecessary portals conjured!” Com spat back with equal force.

“How dare you speak to your leader with such a tone!” the prince spoke, his voice filled with indignation.

“Shut up!” I shouted, tired of this.

“Know your place, monster.”

“From the sounds of it your people don’t seem to know that piece of information. How about you tell me what it is?” I could tell he was getting riled up from this.

“You are a creature who lives only to destroy! Slaying you wouldn’t bring back the one you took away from me, but it would make me feel much better.”

“You you you, it’s always about you isn’t it? All you royals are the same,” I said, thinking back to my world. Sure the queen did what she had to to keep us alive, but wasn’t that just so she would be able to live on while we continued to perish over time?

“And what would you know about royalty, creature of the night?” the prince asked.

“I know that they get upset when even one little thing goes wrong. It could be something as simple as their food being just slightly overcooked one time and they’d act like it was the biggest tragedy to befall them in their whole life. You who live in the life of luxury could only know these first world problems.”

“You know nothing of my life! I had to fight-“ he stopped himself and turned away, “Com, do you remember those friends of your brother?”

Caught off guard, he responded slowly, “Yeah, Iron Maxx and his brother Strong Arm, what about them?”

“You know they made it, and my scouting team is incomplete without a third member. The loss of your brother was a heavy price for them.”

“Don’t talk about them like you know them, leader,” Com spoke with a surprising amount of hate.

“I do know them though. Sons of a blacksmith, lovers of climbing tall trees,” he turned to us and spoke with what I assume was accompanied by a grin, “champions of holding their breath underwater.”

Whatever he was talking about set Com off, “Don’t you hurt them, you poor excuse for kalthite dung!”

“Com, what’s he talking about?” I had a feeling this had something to do with why he seemed to hate the prince.

“Oh it’s nothing, creature. I’m just talking about his friends is all.”

Com pushed past me and came within a few inches of the prince’s face, “I swear on the eleven gods, if you hurt them at all you will pay.”

“What’s it matter to you? You betrayed them and sided with their best friend’s murderer.”

Tired of everything, I simply shouted “ENOUGH!” catching not only their attention but the attention of the nearby guards, all of them looking as though they would raid the building in an instant if I said another word to the prince. A simple wave from the prince and they scattered back to their positions. Com and the prince separated again, putting what little distance they could between each other in this cramped building.

“We all know you called us for a reason. It’s time you told us why,” I demanded from him what this was about. I knew he knew the location of the trio and yet he stilled called this meeting. He could wipe us out with no real problem, and yet here we were. Why?

“The answer is simple. My people believe you that you are not a monster at all, regardless of how painfully obvious you are one. You came here from a portal and we know there is one that can be made. A portal such as that would be a gateway to a new world, maybe even one free from these wretched creatures that plague this one.”

“I heard about this portal.”

“Then even a monster such as yourself should be able to understand that-“

“Stop calling me a monster,” I interrupted him.

“Why should I? Should I stop calling the grass grass? Or perhaps should I stop calling a cow a cow? A rose by any other name is just as sweet and an herb for any medicine is just as bitter.” He stared in my direction while I returned his gaze. Com kept his weapon hidden but I knew if anything seemed like it was going to happen that he’d pull it on the prince, training or no training.

“Are we going to talk about the portal or not?” Com said, trying to bring the talk back to what seemed to be the topic of the night. This got the prince to break his gaze as he looked out the window.

“Yes, the portal. It’s made from a rare, and hard to transport, block called obsidian.”

“I know that. If you want to make this portal then why don’t you get the materials yourself?”

“I don’t because I know that you want it too to return to your home world. Why should I risk my own men when I can have you worthless monsters do it for me?”

“Typical royalty, avoiding the hard work,” I snorted and he rounded on me.

“If I didn’t need you alive, I’d kill you myself!”

“Need me? You have plenty of loyal followers already it seems so why am I needed for you to make a portal?”

“It’s because you can go into the darkness and none of these vicious creatures will harm you.”

I felt offended, “They aren’t vicious! If you would just give them a chance you would learn that yourself!”

“What if I have!?” the room grew silent for a few moments. “What if I gave them a chance and they blew it?”

“What are you talking about?” Com spoke up.

“Did you know, Com, that when we first came here that I was one of the first to come through?” the prince said. With silence following him, he continued, “While the portal keeping our worlds connected still worked, we were susceptible to death as your brother was due to his attack,” he pointed at me. “I witnessed the first meeting of the inhabitants of this world and the horrors we escaped from our own were fresh in everyone’s mind. I sent one of my guards to check if it was friendly and he exploded my man to pieces!

“The creature exploded and killed my man, Com. I don’t care if they can talk, I don’t care if they have emotions, I don’t care if they can be reasoned with, I don’t care if they can control the moon and sun! They are monsters and they deserve to die because we deserve to live.”

I sat there and took it all in. There was a minute of silence, filled only by the sound of the golem moving around the village and fires keeping the trio’s family from appearing.

“Do you regret any of it?” I asked suddenly.

“Regret what?” the prince asked back.

“Do you regret what you’ve had to do to survive? The horrors you’ve caused for those around you: do you regret it?” I stared him in the eyes, my body tensing.

He snorted, pulling his weapon out while Com mimicked the action, “Why would I regret survival?”

“Then you must be a monster.”

Author's Note

Looks like stuff about to happen. This was, for whatever reason hard to get going, I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to write the prince's character since all we had until now was that one encounter where he publicly tried to accuse Craft of stuff that wasn't entirely his fault. I knew I wanted him to be a jerk though so that helped. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the way I'm playing his character. Oh yeah, if my description for Craft's armor seems a little strange or anything, I apologize for my lack of creativity on that part. I wasn't entirely sure how I'd make his armor and that was more or less the best way I could describe it.