Rivalry Of The Gods

As far as helmets went, this one was pretty simple. Alloy had fit the two horns on a oval iron piece, which he had adjusted slightly to match the creature’s head. The tall guy had sat down as Alloy went on his business to make him a passable disguise.

As the pony went on however, the creature had tapped his feet impatiently, then had proceeded to fiddle with his hooded robes.

Alloy hadn’t noticed anything in particular, but when the guy stopped, his hood had two holes in it, which matched the size of the horns.

Well at least he’s making himself useful. Considering I’m doing most of the job, he thought.

As he worked on the disguise he thought back to the shop where he had made his purchase. The shopkeeper had raised an eyebrow at his peculiar request, but nonetheless provided him with the necessary goods.

Alloy had thought that he could maybe pass the creature off as a teenaged minotaur, which wouldn’t be an unlikely story to weave, considering his circle of friends. He had always been on a good hoof with a tribe residing in the northern part of Equestria , called ‘The Winter Steel Tribe’.

The horns weren’t in fact horns from a minotaur, no self-respecting child of the Minotaurus would ever part willingly from his horns for monetary gain.

Instead, the shopkeeper had insisted they were the spoils of an epic fight between a fearless knight and a chimera, and had been passed down from generation to generation in his family.

Alloy had scoffed at the notion, had then offered a more than enough sum for the so called black ‘chimera’ horns, and then had become the owner of said horns. No pony short of an expert on mythical creatures would be able to tell the two apart anyway.

Again, Alloy had gone to some drastic measures for this one, but he couldn’t help but to believe that the consequences would be higher should he report him to the authorities.

Someponies are still vexed about the royal wedding, they see monsters everywhere they go, he thought while he sighed audibly. I can’t risk him being lynched by the town, just because I feel a tad insecure.

The tall one let out one of his ‘bird noises’, making Alloy turn around. He looked worried for the smith.

Alloy just shook his head in a casual fashion, to let him know everything was fine.

Content, the guy just shrugged and continued to observe the pony in his actions.

Can’t say he looks troubled by his situation, Alloy thought while he hammered away. Almost like he’s used to be a stranger, if it were me I wouldn’t be so calm. I mean, it seems like he’s very far away from home. I don’t think I’ve ever come across something that looks like he does. A hairless, bipedal monkey with robed clothes, a simple knife, and its own speech…

He had now properly attached the horns to the iron piece, and also made two holes in it at the bottom of the sides, for string to come through. Wouldn’t be much of a disguise if it didn’t sit still on his head.

Alloy showed the guy the finished result, earning a grin and a nod from the creature. He took it carefully from the smith’s hooves and place it on his head, his hood following after.

In a bright light aimed directly at him, the disguise would probably not fool many a pony, but as long as he kept his head a little bowed and avoided too much eye contact, it would probably work.

Well, it’s probably the best I can do. The question is, what should we do about the tail?

Alloy pondered this for awhile, but acknowledged that it would be better to say that he had lost it.

That could also be the reason he doesn’t want to look anypony in the eyes, he could ashamed that it’s gone, he thought and smirked to himself.

The guy looked at Alloy like he wanted to say something. He pointed at himself and uttered a short word in his own language, that probably was his name again.

The pony thought that it wouldn’t do any good to try, but he also pointed to himself and said: ‘Alloy’.

The creature went silent, but after a little while, his mouth started moving. “Aaaaaaa….loooooooooy?”

Alloy’s eyes went wide, which was a feat in itself. He started nodding at the guy, and kept repeating his name.

Again the creature spoke. “Alloooooooooooy? Allooooy, Alloy?”

When the guy had sounded his name the last time, Alloy nodded vigorously and pointed to his muzzle.

The creature smiled and pointed to himself, “Vee…...sssssssss”.

Alloy frowned for a bit, until he understood, “Vess?”

Now it was the creature’s time to nod energetically.

“Vess? Is that your name?” Alloy asked.

He still nodded where he sat at the small chair, his grin getting wider.

“Well then,” the pony chuckled. “Welcome to Hoofington, Vess!”

o.O.o

“.......I hate you…”

“Oh come now, it was getting really boring dancing around like that.”

“....It could have been hilarious still…”

“You’re such a whiner, you know that?”

“Piss off, Blue.”

“No wonder your guys are always sore losers, they have the perfect role model.”

“I’ll fucking kill you.”

“...Sure you will….”

o.O.o

Vess sat on the living-room couch once again, carefully touching the horns on the helmet now resting on his head, his hands moving down to secure the light strap once again. Not that he needed to, but it made him feel a little more confident that it wouldn’t come off at a bad time.

Alloy, which was the smith’s name apparently, had started preparing his workshop for today’s business.

A fitting name for a smith indeed, Vess thought to himself, as he pondered the language of the pony.

For some reason, when Alloy had spoken, the pony’s point had kind of driven through to the mage. At first Vess thought of the smith’s language as just some sort of neighing, but soon picked up that it was more of a combination of sound and body-language.

A little hoof-tap here, an inclination of the head there. It seemed like given the time, he could perhaps learn to combine simple movements and sounds to get his thoughts across. To be fair, the mark on Alloy’s ass had helped him as well, in fact, it probably was the greatest factor, since it was actually the process of two metals merging.

Far from actual conversation, but still, there’s progress. Although I’m not entirely sure my mouth could possibly keep up with what my mind wants to convey. It’s a tricky one, that’s for sure.

Vess had actually studied some of his homeland’s more ancient languages. It was a prerequisite to read the older tomes in the old library, some which never were translated properly into the modern tongue. Kept one’s mind sharp as well, his dusty, old teacher had taught him, then had bashed Vess with vocabulary homework to last a lifetime.

By the elements, how he longed for that life back, when things weren’t as complicated. He’d wake up early, eat breakfast in his quarters which the servants provided for him, wait for his instructor to take him to whatever lesson he had for the day, be it magic theory, or elemental training.

..Lara…, he thought and sighed. She had been his all time favourite. With no other kids his own age, she had been his saving grace from all the old geezers. Children were separated from each other in the stronghold as casual frolicking, and socializing wasn’t allowed within the grounds. The reason being it held them back in their learning.

Being the youngest tutor in the hold by the age of twenty, she was the only one he could even closely relate to when he had arrived there. It also helped she was in charge of practical studies of elemental magic.

She had been the one that taught him how to easily concentrate and manipulate his mana, molding it to his will, and actually made him enjoy it. She had also been the one that encouraged him to pursue other means of magic than the standard ways.

He sighed again, knowing those time were in the past. He was now in some far off land, presumably by accident.

Damn those mages of old and their rituals, he thought. Yet he couldn’t help but feel fascinated by the prospect of ancient power.

Old magic didn’t rely on balance, it was merely something you exhausted from your own personal resources, and would recover as you rested. He knew this, since he had by Lara’s endorsement read some of the forbidden tomes in the old library, thus discovering cantrips and more simple incantations for him to use.

And master, he grinned. At first it had been difficult, he had always relied on keeping the balance in his body between the two elemental sources, but soon enough he was casting old magic as it was a part of him.

Still, old magic had trapped him here, in these lands, and contrary to what he believed earlier, it seemed that he might very well never see his own homelands again.

The mere thought angered him. Elements preserve me, I don’t even know if I’m on the same continent anymore! Everything just seems so silly, so weird, so just not normal. Horses aren’t supposed to talk, have intelligent thoughts or even work goddamn jobs!

Vess huffed with annoyance while grasping his now slightly aching forehead. He calmed down after a while, cooling his head with a little bit of ice magic. The seriousness of the situation had caught up to him, and even though he didn’t like it, he had little to no choice in the matter.

I’m a strange man, in a strange land. Here I could easily be branded as a threat, being different and barely speaking the language, he grimaced at the thought and massaged his temples. If push comes to shove, I can always defend myself, not that it would help in the long run.

He laid on his back on the small sofa, counting the thin creeks in the wood spreading in different ways all across the roof. Then he counted some dust particles gently moving in the stale air of the house. Time seemed to slow down for the mage.
……….....So bored.., he groaned to himself. He knew he was basically counting on Alloy’s good graces here, but he was just so utterly bored out of his mind.

Suddenly, Vess could hear some banter coming from the workshop, probably Alloy having his first customer of the day. As the banter got louder, Vess frowned and got up from the sofa, curiously making his way to the door, gently pushing it open. Hoping he could find some excitement.

o.O.o

“...And I expect it to be done by the morrow!” the posh-looking earth pony said, staring condescendingly at the smith. His beefy bodyguards beside him, snickering at the display.

“...Yes, Platinum.” Alloy said, his head hanging down.

“That’s lord Platinum to you, boy!” Platinum growled.

“...Yes, lord Platinum, it won’t happen again.” Alloy said, almost spitting out the word ‘lord’, like it was poison.

“See to it that it won’t. You’re only allowed to continue your little ‘hobby' here because of my good will. Your father certainly didn’t hold his part of the agreement, make sure you do not follow in his hoofsteps.”

Alloy grimaced and his whole body tensed at the mention of his late father, and the degrading insult of his profession, but he only nodded in compliance.

The lord’s entourage glared menacingly at the the little smith, just waiting for an excuse to teach him a lesson in obedience.

“Yes, my lord. I will make sure that your order is completed by the morrow, as per your request.”

“Good! Make sure you deliver it to my mansion before noon.” The rich noble turned around abruptly, snapping at his entourage to follow, and walked away, not even bothering with farewells.

When the noble was out of earshot, Alloy grumbled to himself. “Oh, I’ll be finished with it alright, but nothing would make me happier, than to shove it into your big, fat-”.

He calmed his anger, not that he regretted his words of course, but Platinum had ears all over town, which he basically owned, in a way. There wasn’t a single building project in the city, that didn’t associate with Platinum in some way, his fat, greasy hooves were everywhere.

A creaking sound came from the door behind him. He turned around to see Vess, standing there with a quizzical look on his face.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed at him. “Ponies could see you.”

Vess only tilted his head, but pointed to his disguise again, as if he could understand Alloy’s intentions.

“Yes, yes the horns are all well and such, but you shouldn’t come out here unnecessarily,” he said as he trotted up to him.

Alloy could see him roll his eyes, in what he perceived to be in annoyance, and sighed again.

“I can understand that you’d rather be out here with some company, but I’m just very busy right and I can’t deal with you right now, okay?”

Vess only grunted and shrugged in reply, but let the smith usher him inside the house again.

Before Alloy closed the door, he pointed to his work at the anvil. An unfinished cane laid there. It was the so called ‘lord’ Platinum’s order, which he had been tasked to adorn with precious metals.

One could argue that, why would the lord Platinum go to a humble smith to get his cane decorated? Well, Pure Platinum, which was his full name, was as greedy as he was fat, and if he could get something done expertly for a trifling sum he would. That and Alloy owed the man money, well his father did. Alloy was basically getting the short end of the stick.

“You see that?” he asked Vess. “That’s why I can’t possibly entertain you right now, so please be good and just stay in here for the remainder of the day.” The smith then closed the door with a bang.

Alloy regretted snapping at the poor guy, but he was just very pressed for time. Pure Platinum had just casually walked to his smithy, demanding an atrocious deal, with little to no compensation for his work.

He had graciously provided with him with the appropriate materials however. Gold, silver and of course, platinum, how vain could a pony get?

The gold and silver he could work with, the difficulty lied with the platinum. The metal had a higher melting point than even steel, which was usually the metal he worked with. Now it wouldn’t be much of a challenge once he had successfully weakened the metal enough to become malleable, but to get the furnace warm enough for the process was something else entirely.

He sighed again as he got back to work. He would deal with the easy stuff first, and worry about the platinum last, accursed precious metal as it was. He knew he would be making a much larger profit accepting small jobs from the locals around the day, but he also couldn’t just blow the rich noble off, even though he wished he could. Well, maybe he one or two small tasks could be accomplished while he worked on it, hopefully.

o.O.o

“Well, that wasn’t very exciting at all,” Vess said out loud as Alloy had shut the wooden door behind him.

He had caught a glimpse of some important-looking stallion, that quite frankly should consider cutting down on his calorie-intake, whom he immediately disliked with a passion.

He seemed to have been angry at Alloy for some reason, but that was probably just his way. All nobles were the same in Vess’ eyes: self-absorbed, nasty and condescending pricks.

The mage had almost acted as the rich pony’s bodyguard had glared Alloy down, while tensing their muscles. He refrained however, as he saw the posh noble turn around and leave.

Alloy had then spotted him, and apparently told him off from going outside.

And here I was actually worried for the guy, he thought while huffing to himself.

He was then ushered inside, but before that, he looked at the cane that was laying on the anvil which Alloy pointed to.

It wasn’t the cane that drew his attention however, it was the small bars of gold, silver and platinum at its side.

He appreciated them to be part of the order that Alloy had been given from the noble, which in turn probably made them quite valuable.

At least some of the metals are the same, he thought while reaching for his pouch.

In there he counted several silver coins, along with some golden ones. Memories from his time in the stronghold. It was Lara that gifted them to him of course. After the incident way back that had led him fleeing his old home, she had literally thrown the pouch to him, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she begged him to leave.

He shook his head in annoyance, not feeling like remembering the past at the moment.

He grasped the pouch in his hand tightly. The coins hadn’t served him yet, as he had been taught to provide for himself in the wilds by Dave, but perhaps now was the perfect time to use them. His belief was then reinforced by an angry growl from his stomach.

Well, that settles that! he grinned as he made his way to the front door, tucking his sack of coins back into his brown belt. Let's see if these are worth the locals while, shall we?