Chapters

Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII

Chapter I
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Rivalry Of The Gods

Chapter I

“And so, the two deities ascended into the heavens, the very center of the world splitting into two, a sign of their power and of their wisdom. The Ominous ones taking respective protection of half of the world, a sign of their compassion and love for the people residing in each half.
The luscious south claimed by the one blessed by fire, and the stalwart north under the eye of the one blessed by ice. May they forever rule our lands and keep us safe.”

Unknown Prophet, BtS

o.O.o

The chill hung heavy in the air, as tiny crystal danced upon the grey-robed figure’s body laying still on the snow-covered ground. Slowly stirring, the man opened his eyes. Silently, albeit unsteady, he rose to his feet, and took a moment to inspect himself. Nothing broken it seemed. His head throbbed with an inkling of pain, and he moved his hands to massage his temples. The pain didn’t subside however much he tried to make it go away.

The man sighed and yielded, instead taking a look at his surroundings. Something wasn’t quite right. The area felt unfamiliar to him, which wasn’t surprising since he was much closer to ground level than he had been before. He could smell the rich scent of pine penetrating his nostrils, and while he pondered on the matter, he ascertained that if he had fallen down, he would still be sleeping, but with the dead. The trees around him looked like they were much brighter and healthier than he remembered as well.

He tried to recollect what had happened to him. It had only been a couple of weeks since he had to leave his benefactor in the village.

Poor, old Dave, whatever had he done to deserve such a fate. He could only hope he had been taken care of and was now recovering.

It’s not like I could have stayed forever anyway, he thought to himself, and it might have been for the better that I left.

The man thought back to the stronghold in the icy mountains of Skyshard where he had spent majority of his youth. He couldn’t go back to that place either, it was set in stone that, if you break the rules and left, you weren’t allowed in again. It was impossible for him either way, because of what he had done. The shame hung over him as a black shadow, reminding him of his deeds. He hadn’t meant to disobey or escape, but it’s like something was egging him on from his very core during his supervised training, telling him to break his limits and tap into more power. And he had paid the price for giving in to it, his first real home was no more, the man that had cared for him and which he looked up to as a father, would probably never once again want to look him in the eyes.

A bellowing growl in his abdomen made itself clear that he hadn’t eaten for quite a while either. He looked out over the slope he was standing on, the trees in the surrounding clumping up more and more further down to create a dense forest. He was going to have find something to eat very soon, and preferably shelter. While determining that it was around noon, he felt his pockets and belt, finding his small pouch of money, and better yet, his trusty knife.

The knife itself was a simple, yet sharp blade, without any decorations. Dave had gifted it to him while they were still living together. The old hunter had made it clear that practicality would always triumph over esthetics, and had made the lad promise to always carry it with him in the wilds.

Dear old Dave, even though he was as rough as an angry badger, with a mouth to make mothers close their children's’ ears, he still cared for the young one. Not even asking where he had come from the day he had woken up in the old man’s hut, still shaking with fever, or any other day for that matter.

The young man clutched his chest, his heart aching with worry, but he was conflicted of what Dave would think of him if he returned. Interrupted again by his stomach, he sheathed his blade and started to make his way down the hill.

After a while of searching for food in the forest, he came across some bushes with berries on them, which he recognized as blueberries, which in itself was very odd, since it should be the winter season. It had also gotten a bit warmer, snow almost nowhere to be found. The lad was not one to complain however, popping some of the berries into his mouth. Sure, blueberries it was, yet they seemed to have a richer taste than he remembered. Greedily he proceeded to empty the bushes and fill his yearning stomach with the delicious goods.

His gluttony was cut short however, as a piercing howl filled the air. The man turned around to see a small pack of grey wolves closing in on him from a distance.

“Shit!” he cursed loudly. He stood up quickly and bolted in the opposite direction of his pursuers.

Being bipedal in this case was not in the man’s favour however, and the wolves rapidly gained on him. Panting heavily he knew it was just a matter of time before the predators would surround him, he searched frantically for any climbable trees, but came up short.

With them barely hundred meters away, he decided that he wouldn’t go down without a fight, and with a swift turn he stomped into the ground with his knife drawn.

The hungry wolves all slowed to a halt when they had strategically surrounded their prey, licking their mouths in triumph, but not making any unnecessary moves.

The lad still breathed heavily after the sprint, but didn’t show signs of giving in just yet. He had to try and look as fearsome as the wolves, to show them that he wasn’t afraid, making them hesitate to strike him down. Luckily he only counted to three wolves, two in front with one lurking from behind. He held his stance and slowed his breathing, instead focusing on the incoming fight.

One famished-looking wolf in the front finally lost his patience and dashed to tear the lad’s throat out.

With a swift side-step the young man dodged the incoming attack, quickly jabbing his knife in a soft spot of the attackers side in the process, while still standing to watch them their movements.

The wolf let out a painful yelp, and crashed into the ground, clearly wounded. However it soon got up once again, but with a strained effort, snarling at the man as it got to its paws.

I won’t get another shot like this, he thought to himself, sorry for this, little wolves, but I’m not going to be your supper today. He closed his eyes and concentrated, his hair, grey as silver, flowed wildly as he tapped into his body’s energies.

The other wolves eyed the young one with rage and made a dash for him, to end his life.

“I’m truly sorry for this,” he said, and opened his eyes and released the mana he had gathered.

What followed was not the man’s demise, which the wolves thought they had secured in their blood-filled assault, instead they crashed head first into an icy barrier, they also yelping out in pain and falling to the ground, stunned.

The man grinned to himself, he had managed to avoid becoming dog food, at least for today. Dispelling his barrier, he stepped forward towards the wolves, who were still recovering on the ground, trying to focus on what just had happened.

He got close enough to make his point, he roared as fearsome as he could at the pack, to make them realise the mistake they had made.

It went home, the two wolves that had charged him quickly fled with their tails in between their legs.

At this point, the man’s head started to ache again, this time even more intensely. He grabbed his head and gave out a small groan of pain. He remembered the lesson that his superior had hammered into his brain under the five years in the stronghold.

All things have a balance, remember this, since this is especially true in your case. While utilizing your powers, you always have to take from the other source as well, you cannot channel only one, or the other source will grow too potent, throwing off the balance in your body. You rule over your powers, do not let them rule you.

Yes, he thought to himself, and what a pain that is. The lesson had burned into his consciousness, always reminding him that he had to double his effort whenever he wanted to use only a part of his potential.
He rubbed his temple again, but he knew what he had to do. He noticed that the last of the wolves, the one he had wounded first, had tried to get away when his comrades ran off, but had only managed a few steps, before collapsing, a pool of blood forming under his body.

The grey wolf was still alive, but very near death as it took a few haggard breaths. The lad went over to the dying wolf, his knife still in his hand, and still palpable headache. He offered a silent prayer to his foe, and sunk the blade into its skull, ending its misery. Then he went to gather twigs and rocks for a fire. When he had the appropriate setup, he started skinning and gutting the emaciated animal. Granted there wasn’t much flesh to be had, but another lesson had entered the man’s mind, this one from Dave.

When in the wilds, never waste anything that you can find a use for. That’s an insult to nature, kid. Remember that, or I’ll make sure to beat it into your sorry ass.

He grinned as he remembered. After about twenty minutes, the wolf’s flesh was laid bare to him, so he cut off what little he could find, and pierced it on a thicker twig, that he had sharpened a bit. Now came the fire part. He didn’t possess any flint of any sort, but it was hardly a problem for the young man. He once again tapped into his mana, yet this time for a different source in his body. Soon, the twigs started to burn as the man willed embers into existence unto the fireplace. He could also feel the headache subside as the two sources started to balance out. Sighing, he sat down while roasting a wolf kabob slowly over the small fire. When it got the right colour he blew on it and greedily ate the meat, it didn’t taste too bad, all things considered.

Eyeing the carcass as he ate, he pondered what he should do with the skin of the wolf. Dave would surely had berated him if he left it to rot, but he had no tools to clean it with, even less to turn it into a decent leather-piece. Dave’s not here though, he thought as he took another bite of his meal.

He finally decided to bury it with the wolf, since he wouldn’t carry around smelly wolf-skin with him as he tried to find his way back to civilisation.

Yes, he had made up his mind since, he didn’t have his old equipment anymore, he would have to scrounge up something in a nearby village. Going back to Dave was out of the question, he just couldn’t face the man right now, and he wasn’t welcome in the stronghold.

He slowed his eating for awhile as he thought back to almost six months ago, one small mistake, and he had been cast out. For five year had it been his home, arriving as an undernourished street rat who begged and stole for a living, and losing said living as the older kids decided to beat him for his scraps. He had endured however, and he had been rewarded when that black-caped man with his entourage had entered his old town. Hand-picked by the leader himself, he now had, not only shelter and food, but guidance and a chance of life.

He sighed loudly again, that time was way past however, he had risked it all in strange moment of weakness and had given in to what he thought was the allure of his own powers. He remembered a weird tugging at his soul, almost whispering, begging him to release more, promising that it would be worth his effort. And he had given in to it, the fool that he was, and now he was here.

The man stood up and brushed off whatever dirt had stuck to his tattered clothing. He had no time to dwell on the past, he needed to find shelter, and by the looks of his surrounding, there weren’t any nearby ranger huts that he could use. He started to make his way in what he thought would be closest to civilization, which was just any general direction facing away from the mountain range, in his defense, he was not a ranger.

He continued down a path through the forest, which he hoped would take him to open fields, or even better an open road to ask any passersby for direction to the nearest village or city. After walking for what seemed several hours, the forest finally started to get less dense and uninviting, which was good. He was lucky he didn’t run into any more dangerous predators on his way, and he prefered to keep it that way.

It was getting dark, however, the further down he went, the warmer it had become, by this rate, he could probably sleep with minimal shelter to cover him in the chill of the night. It was strange though, it was supposed to be the second month of winter, why was it this warm? It made little sense to him, unless he had been sleepwalking to the other side of the Sundering, it should be close to freezing. Also, when he thought back, the wolves had been on the small side, but he had brushed it off as them being malnourished. The forest was also still a lot greener than he was used to, even though it still smell like the pines near Dave’s cottage, albeit more palpable. Something didn’t add up, whether it was some sort of spell, or he had gotten majorly lost, it still was pretty weird.

He had stopped in his tracks, the night was now almost upon him. He looked around to see if he could possibly gather some vegetation to use as temporary covers. Just as the night hit, and the moon beamed with its silvery light, he had managed to scrounge up enough moss, that he carefully tucked between and over him. It wasn’t much but it would have to do, he probably wouldn’t freeze to death, but it was nice to have some kind of comfort.

As he laid upon his moss-bed, he watched the moon’s course in the night-sky, and the lovely stars decorating it as well. He started fiddling with his hair out of boredom, his shoulder- length, silvery hair, which matched the moon in some way, while pondering again how odd his day had begun.

Well, Vess, it seems like your bad luck finally caught up with you again….he sighed and turned away from the sky. Perhaps tomorrow would yield some answers. Sleep managed to grasp him eventually, and he drifted off to walk in the dreamlands.

Chapter II
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Rivalry Of The Gods

Chapter II

“And so, our Lord ascended into the celestial plane, casting off his earthly essence to guide us in our time of need. Shattering the center of the world, to protect us against the threat of the north, that had always plagued our lands. Their jealousy becoming their downfall, as the one blessed by fire, purged the heathens from our lands, casting them back into the north. May we forever walk in the light of our deity.”

-Arch-prophet Vanaris, Year 1 AtS, during the Summer Solstice, The Holy City Of Emberstone

o.O.o

The Dreamlands were where all those who were magically apt went after falling asleep. The realm was considered a conundrum to many scholars and mages. Why did one connect with this realm when one went to sleep? A question that had eluded many clever minds throughout the years. Theories talk about it being the foundation of magic, where mana originated, and was renewed when used. No hard evidence have ever been provided for such a claim though. Possibly because there were never any interactions between sleeping magic-users, the Dreamlands functioned separately from each other. Many advanced mages used it as a means to repeat what they had learned over the day, as form of studying while resting. Others who were not as skilled, used it as means of relaxation, forming their own dreams, with mixed results sometimes.

For Vess, it was a pain in the ass. In the Dreamlands you couldn’t escape your bad memories, even if you wanted to forget. Just thinking about it brought them upon. Like there, he was being ten, getting beat up by Gilbert again for not giving the big bully a share of what he managed to steal from a shopkeeper the other day. Ah, and there, he was punished by the so called patron of the little shack all the orphans in town had to share. For not tying his shoelaces, properly.

Vess laughed out loud. He didn’t even remember having shoes back then, freaking piece of alcoholic trash.

And then, there was that day. It had started like every other day, except for two things.

One, Gilbert had finally crossed the line, and was going at Vess with the intent of actually killing, over some minor detail where Vess mentioned Gilbert was the equivalent of rat shit something or the other. The two boys, Vess barely fourteen years old, Gilbert sixteen, fought it out in the streets of the village. Fights between orphans was nothing new in the small town, so no one even batted an eyelid when Gilbert pummeled Vess into a pulp nearby the town well. Vess tried to fight back, but Gilbert’s two years of maturation, really tipped the scales in his favour.

Two, as the bully proceeded to tear Vess a new one, an entourage of men, clad in black cloaks, riding on horses had entered their little village. This was not at all interesting to Vess, or Gilbert at the moment, they were far too absorbed in greeting each other with their fists.

Young Vess, realising he was actually in really deep shit for the first time in his life, not counting the one he almost fell down in town’s well when he was out for a night stroll taking a pi...but that’s not important. Anyway, Vess realising that he might actually die, started to hyperventilate, his head burning as if he had a fever. With the last of his strength he grasped Gilbert’s hands, that had started to go for Vess’s throat, digged into them with his nails, and proceeded to burn their skin off.
Full of adrenaline,

Gilbert didn’t notice straight away, but even in his rage, he could soon smell something cooking, and it wasn’t chicken. With a scream, the bully had released Vess, who was now gasping for air, his head throbbing with a sharp pain.

The commotion had caught the attention of the entourage, and when the leader approached the two boys, he immediately dismounted from his horse. He went over to the confused Vess, who at this point was staring at his hands, while Gilbert was still roaring in pain on the ground.

The leader asked Vess, what had happened, and brightened up when Vess told him he had somehow had set Gilbert’s appendages on fire. He enquired if Vess had any parents that he could have a talk to, Vess only shook his head, still confused over the situation.

If he had smiled before, he grinned now. The man in the black cloak bent over to Vess and asked him, if he wanted an opportunity out of this dunghole. Vess had nodded ever so slightly. “Excellent”, the man had replied, you’ll do well with me, my boy. Do as I tell you to, and you’ll be living a far better life than scrounging for breadcrumbs in the streets.

The memory faded as the man helped Vess up on his horse, and the dreaming Vess started stirring, meaning it was probably time to wake up.

The sunlight shone brightly in Vess’ eyes as he awoke well-rested from his slumber, thankful that he managed to make it through the night without any mishaps.

His stomach growled once again for food, and he got up from his improvised bed to remedy the problem. While he continued walking in the direction he set for himself, he was at a constant vigilance for any kind of edible berries and roots, luckily managing to find some along the way that sated his hunger for the time-being.

Finally, after walking for almost two more hours, it seemed like the forest started to thin out, and Vess could soon make out the end of it. He let out a sigh of relief. Even though he had started to like the wilderness from his stay with the retired hunter, it was nice to know he wasn’t trapped in it entirely.

By the end of the forest, he saw a road stretching far across the land, not far from where he was standing. Not seeing any specific signs or landmarks, only flat terrain until another mountain range towered way off in the distance. Eagerly, he picked up his pace until he got on the road. As he planted his feet on the dirt-road, he took a moment to stretch his whole body. When he finished he spoke up loudly.

“Alright! Now, where in the two hells am I?”

The road was just like any other dirt-covered route he had travelled on in the past and didn’t really tell him about his location, his attention however was soon drawn to the fresh wheel marks in the ground. Looking around, squinting, he could make out some form of carriage further down to the road, which seemed to be driven by animals, presumably horses.

Excited to see a sign of intelligent life he started running to catch up to the carriage.

When he came into earshot of the wagon Vess called out to the ones inside it, asking for them to stop and for directions, hoping that he could tag along to the closest village.

The carriage did stop, however Vess couldn’t believe his eyes as when one of the horses dragging it, turned around to get a look of what had called out to them.

It was certainly horse-like, but it seemed ridiculous small to be pulling anything big like the wagon, and its features was, well, wrong. Its eyes too big for its head, and with a buzz-cut for a mane. It looked like some bad joke the old town-fool would try and pull to get attention on a boring day.

What in the Gods are that? he thought to himself.

He couldn’t ponder the question however, the horse that had met his gaze, had turned seemingly pale, and whinnied loudly, and the wagon picked up speed as the animal ran away.

“Wha..? Wait!” Vess shouted after them, taken aback by the situation. He tried running after the carriage, pleading for it to slow down, but to no avail. Soon the wagon was far away on the road.

Vess halted to catch his breath, his lungs burning as fiercely as wild-fire.

Why...why did they just take off? And what in the name of the Two Deities was that...thing…? He played it off as his eyes playing tricks on him. Pissed off now, because he had been ditched by the persons driving the wagon, he angrily continued down the road. Even if the driver didn’t want him on board, he figured that it should still head for a town. He only wished that it wouldn’t be too far to travel on foot there.

It wasn’t quite yet noon, but Vess already felt hunger creeping up on him again. Ever since he had made his home in the stronghold, he had been accustomed to three to four large meals a day. Spellcasting did take a toll on the body’s reserves after all, and he had to eat a lot, since he had had obligatory training every day.

Gritting his teeth, he quelled his basic need for the time being, and walked towards what he hoped would be civilization, while sulkily kicking small rocks on the way.

o.O.o

“Is he finally on his move?”

“It would seem that way….”

“Took him long enough, didn’t it?”

“Agreed. What do you think he’ll do next?”

“I don’t know, personally I hope he will have a run in with the locals. That would be so deliciously chaotic.”

“Careful there, chaos isn’t your domain.”

“Hah! Like I care about that mishmash of a creature.”

“Still, it isn’t something you should delve too deep into.”

“You think I’m scared of that buffon, huh? You wanna fight? I’ll beat you to a pulp, bitch!”

“....whatever, idiot.”

o.O.o

As Vess traveled the road with his head hung down, clutching his aching abdomen, he thought how lucky he was, despite the situation. Because he had managed to find all kinds of different pebbles on the ground. Small pebbles, big pebbles, medium-sized pebbles, flat, thick, round, squared, triangular, his feet never got any rest, as he continued to show them the tip of his shoes with great vigor. How lucky he was indeed.

Taking a break from the booting, he looked up into the sky. It was early evening, and the sun had just set on the horizon. He had gone almost a full day without food.

I wish I could just conjure up food whenever I wanted to, now that would be useful magic! he thought to himself. Not that he completely abhorred his combat magic, but it wasn’t completely practical in this situation.

It was now almost utterly dark, the moon not gracing him with its light as much as yesterday. Sighing at his diminished vision, he pulled out his dagger. Concentrated on it for awhile, while uttering a few words.

The weapon soon started glowing with a comfortable light, and Vess held it in front of him, like a torch. Now, that is practical, however, he thought, while smirking. He really enjoyed these little cantrips. They didn’t take any serious toll on his mind and he could cast them without having to balance two different sources of power. It was something he had learned in secrecy while coming over a book in the stronghold’s library. Just a few small spells that could help him on his way, when training was just a little bit too tough. It kind of baffled him why they wouldn’t teach those spells to the initiates, they were ever so useful.

Now with his improvised night-light, he continued walking down the road, until he thought his eyes played tricks on him.
In the distance there were definitely something that was lit up, and that definitely something could surely only mean one thing. A village!

Vess sighed with relief. He would finally be able to: get to sleep at an inn, get some supper into his stomach, and then the next morning start searching for some traveling equipment.

He reached for his pouch he kept secured at his belt, the gold coins jingling inside as he shook it. It wasn’t much, but as long as he wasn’t screwed over, he could surely afford what he needed.

Dave had really helped him out with the value of money, something the organisation never thought to do, but Vess hadn’t questioned their decision. He had been saved from a life as a street rat after all. The old hunter had thought it was odd though, and had quickly bashed his own knowledge into the kid, so that he would have a chance to survive in the world, as the old man had said. Vess did admit, haggling could be kind of fun, when you got good at it.

Putting back his pouch into his pocket, Vess picked his pace up and continued walking towards the town.
Thirty minutes later, he arrived, almost at its gates. Or would be gates, if there had been any. He judged the town to be quite big actually, way too big for it not to have gates and stationed guards.

He shrugged. Well, at least he didn’t have to speak to any boring soldier, asking him what his business was so late at night.

Vess went on his way into the town. There were some street-lights lit up every here and there, courtesy of the town’s local mage, probably.

He dispelled his own magic and put his knife away into its sheath. Wouldn’t want to be known as someone who waves around glowing weapons in the middle of the night.

The streets were all but empty, Vess could hear faint voices that sounded like someone laughing. Hopefully at a tavern, he thought, as his stomach reminded him of his plight, while walking the on the paved ground.

He tried to localize the voices, and was a little surprised when he noticed something further down the road. It didn’t look like a person. He rubbed his eyes, thinking it was the fatigue, but there it sat. One of those weird horse-like creatures that he had encountered earlier, was now laying on a bench by a streetlight, seemingly laughing out loud.

One of Vess’ first thoughts were something in the way of, who let their horse out? His other thoughts were dedicated to deduce where the hell he was, where horses seemingly roamed freely during the night, while laughing to themselves.

You didn’t prepare me for anything like this, Dave, he thought as he continued to stare at the laughing equine from the shadows. Also, is that a freaking bottle beside him?

Vess’ suspicions came true as the horse actually lifted a bottle with its hooves to its mouth, and drank from it, audibly.

Yepp, that’s it, totally got it now. I’m either delirious from all the food, or I’ve hit my head so hard that I’m making stuff up, or I’m in the Dreamlands and haven’t woken up yet!

He pinched himself hard. Ehh, nope, alright, I’ve pretty much ended up being a vegetable then, lovely.

Now it was his belly that argued for the opposite. I guess technically you wouldn’t feel hunger like this if you’re delirious. But then it would mean…

He continued to observe the creature as it drank from its bottle, which clearly by this point must be an alcoholic beverage, since the horse swayed very familiarly to Vess.

Heh, how nostalgic. Reminds me of Ol’ Greg, he used to have the same obnoxious laugh when he had really hit the liquor. As much as Vess delighted in remembering his old patron, his full attention was still on the horse on the bench, who now had opened its eyes.

They were way too large for its head, Vess confirmed. If it really wasn’t a dream or some joke, then it still felt like it was very unproportional in comparison to regular horses. And he was pretty sure as well, that their legs don't bend that way normally, or their hooves being able to pick stuff up either for that matter.

Also the fact that, since its behaviour resembles that of a person, it can’t just be a simple horse. It has to be intelligent, if you can call any drunkard intelligent that is. That was beside the point however. If this horse here acted like a person, then that should also lay claim that there be more, probably them also sporting some higher brain-activity.

So, horses that acts like humanoids, fancy that! He knew by the history lessons he had to take, that his wasn’t the only sapient race. There were tales of short and crafty men once living in the mountains of his homeland, renowned for their excellent craftsmanship, but not much was seen of them since the Sundering.
Also, the Emerald Forest which stretch far and wide across the two borders, also had tales about them of mythical beings, called dryads, that would help lost travellers on to the right path.

So conceivably, it wasn’t impossible for horses to be sapient then, right? It just seemed to be quite silly though. It also raised a previous question he had asked himself.

Where the hell am I? I must have wandered off quite far in my sleep if not...wait, that could be it. He remembered a lesson from his magic teacher, that, before the sundering, there were a lot more variations of magic that welled up from the land’s core, which in turn was used by sorcerers and druids of old. After the Sundering such practice of magic was deemed heathenous and banned by the followers of Riful and Vayne, the elemental gods of ice and fire, and it was lost to time. One could still find such magic, where it was the strongest, presumably near old ritual grounds. He could accidentally have stepped into an area particularly filled with old magic, and been perhaps transported somewhere else? That could potentially mean that he was very, very far from home.

Seems highly unlikely, although it’s not like I have a better explanation. I mean, what are my options here? I’m either crazy, or very unlucky, judging by my guts, I would probably say the latter.

Vess decided that future speculations would have to wait, he had to think of the now instead. Alright, he thought, what should I do? He turned towards the horse, who he thought was a stallion by the looks of it. He was still on the bench, now singing some weird tune, Vess never heard of.

Alright, fuck it, here I go. With that, he casually strolled towards the colt sitting on the bench, and proceeded to sit next to the feller.

The stallion stirred as Vess sat down, stopped his merrily singing and opened his eyes to see who it was. The horse blinked a couple of times at him, then grinned and offered Vess to drink out of his flask.

Strange drunken horse offering me to drink from his pouch as soon as he saw me, yup, I have no idea what I’m getting into. Vess, with nothing better to do, took the pouch in his hands and lifted it up to drink.

He had expected it to be some kind of bitter ale, but it actually turned out to be very sweet, still alcohol though, and gosh was it potent, he still drank some more though.

The horse looked at him with hazy eyes, while talking to him in a way that seemed friendly.

Vess lowered the pouch from his mouth, “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“oO.oOO.o” the horse responded, but it came out as regular whinnying.

Vess blinked once, then twice, “oh, language barrier, huh? Well, I’m fucking screwed then, haha.” he laughed out loud, then he took another big swig of the sweet beverage.

Chapter III
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Rivalry Of The Gods

Chapter III

“And so, our Lord made the heavens his abode, leaving his earthly essence behind, to guide us in our endeavours. Shattering the center of the world, to protect us against the south-folk, that infested our lands. Their pride becoming their downfall, as the one blessed by ice, cast them into the Sundered Gorge. May we forever walk in the light of our deity”

Arch-prophet Isley, year 1 AtS, Winter Solstice, The Grand City Of Fayfall

o.O.o

In his quaint little house, Hoofington’s metalsmith, named Alloy, started to stir from his rest in his small bed, as a single beam of sunlight shone on his face.

He yawned widely and began stretching his legs out in a peaceful manner. He scratched his head, and ruffled his already messy grey hair even more in the process.

He had a slight headache, and his mouth was a little dry from last night, but he was mostly fit for today’s work. As he made his bed, he began thinking back to the previous evening’s events. Alloy knew he shouldn’t have been out with the boys late at night on a sunday, but he couldn’t help it when they had asked him to join them. He was usually swamped with so much work that he almost never got out anymore.

He and his friends had ventured to quite a lot of bars, had had some drinks, flirted with the cute barmaids, heh, it had really been an enjoyable evening. He was actually one of the few of his comrades that could actually hold his liqour quite well, but even he had succumbed to its embrace eventually.

One after another, his friends had made excuses to leave, as they clearly couldn’t keep up with his constitution, until only he had remained, a last bottle of cider in his hooves.

He decided he would enjoy said bottle outside, in the lovely starlit night, which their beloved princess had put her being into creating, and that he did.

Wasn’t there something else? Oh yeah! he thought, and grinned a little. After a little while, when he had finished singing his favourite song, he had had something like a lucid hallucination.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a creature came up to the bench he sat on, and well, just casually sat there, eyeing him. Alloy had never ever had an hallucination like that before, he thought it was kind of cool that his imagination could conjure up something so odd.

Clearly being a gracious host to his new creation, he offered the creature a drink, it had accepted it, and even emptied the rest of the bottle!

Well, it looked like he did, after all it wasn’t actually real, he mused. Nothing as weird like that exist, but it was a nice enough alcohol-induced dream either way.

The creature had chatted with him, but it sounded like some kind of noise a bird would make, so Alloy hadn’t understood a single thing what it had said to him. The friendly pony had smiled and nodded along anyway, just because things aren’t real, doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings, right? Right.

Alloy wasn’t even surprised when he sat up to take his leave, that the creature had risen as well, albeit unsteadily, as he swayed a little back and forth.

Hah! Alloy had thought, what a wuss. Half a bottle of apple cider, and he was already tipsy. Feeling bad for his imagined companion, he motioned for the creature to follow, as in he could come along to his house if it wanted.

It followed him, but he knew it would have anyway. Hallucinations aren’t bound to just disappear whenever you want them to, especially when you’re drunk as a skunk. Alloy led the way and soon they were at his workshop, that also was his house.

He opened the door to let them both in, and while inside, the creature’s belly growled. Alloy had chuckled at the display, but had nonetheless showed him to his pantry, where the creature quickly devoured some cheese, bread and vegetables lying around.

Satisfied, the being patted its stomach, and then let out a great yawn. Alloy showed him to a couch in the living-room, which the creature was grateful for. It nodded towards him, like offering thanks, and then laid down on the mattress. Sleep following it quickly as it started to snore.

Yeah, that was one crazy night alright, maybe I-, he was cut off as his stomach started to whimper. Well nevermind, breakfast first. He finished tidying himself up and opened his bedroom door to get some food.

What he didn’t expect was as soon as he walked outside the door, a loud snoring noise could be heard from his living-room. The pony stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening.

Wha-? What in Celestia’s name was that? It couldn’t surely be…

Sneakily, he went over to the room where the snoring came from, and he tilted his head to have a look. Yeah, in there was still the creature from yesterday, peacefully resting on his brown couch.

Alloy carefully rubbed his eyes with his hoof, blinked a couple of times, before continuing to stare at the one sleeping a couple of meters in front of him.

But, but-? he started, it was just supposed to be some silly hallucination!

Even so, the creature on the couch was still there, and it didn’t look like it was going to vanish into thin air.

Then yesterday was-? Oh, dear Luna! What was I thinking? he had unknowingly shared a drink with a creature, he’d never seen before, one that looked like it existed in some weird children’s fantasy-story. Also, he had invited said fable into his house and-

He turned and looked towards the open pantry in the kitchen. Nothing, nada, zilch, zip. Everything in there had been scarfed down by the creature last night.

Alloy facehooved. Son of a diamond dog! He really could only blame himself though.

The pony jumped a little as the snoring changed tone for a while, then went back to the regular pace.

Alloy had a bigger problem at hoof, he realized. If the one sleeping on his couch was real, which clearly the pantry spoke for, then what would happen when it woke up? Just because nothing bad occurred yesterday, it didn't mean that the weird creature would be as nice as it had appeared the night before.

He counted the possibilities. It could just be that, it ignored me because it ate so much food so that it got too full last night, if that’s the case...oh dear.

Nothing warranted that the creature would pass up the opportunity to eat some delicious pony-meat, Alloy clearly didn’t like his position right now.

I could just sneak out, and get some guardspony to relieve me of it, but what would I say? Oh, excuse me, sir, but there appears to be some sort of mythical creature sleeping in my living-room, could you come and get it? Not very likely, and there could also be the off-chance that it’s actually friendly, and didn’t want to hurt him at all. Alloy wasn’t a bigot after all, he thought even manticores deserved a chance, as long as they didn’t sink their teeth into him.

“Okay, think Alloy, think”, he grumbled quietly to himself.

His eyes wandered to corner where he kept a long pair of pliers he used in his profession. Silently he went and grabbed it with his mouth. He had to confirm something about the creature first.

Gently, he stepped forward, pliers still in his mouth, extended towards the creature’s face. Carefully, he put the tip of the pliers near the being’s lips and dragged them down slightly.

Alloy noticed the set of teeth in its mouth, there was definitely canines in there, but they didn’t appear to be very sharp, also it looked like it had molars in the back. So it wasn’t a herbivore, but neither was it a carnivore.

Thanks for teaching me at least that much about teeth, dear cousin. Your boring anecdotes were actually useful for something.

The creature stirred slightly at the touch, but didn’t wake up.

Alloy retracted his pair of pliers, and wiped away some sweat that had formed on his forehead. So, he had confirmed the possibility that the creature might just not eat him, should it wake up, No use beating around the bush.

Alright, he said, and gulped, here goes nothing. Alloy poked the animal gently in its side, and waited for it to awake.

o.O.o

Vess floated around in the Dreamlands, there wasn’t much to see really. The realm didn’t really function the same way when you had gone to bed drunk.

Fragments of his memories came and went by, only showing small snippets of his life prior to now.

If he tried, he could notice that he was in a large tunnel, the one that led to the stronghold in the mountains, where the cloaked man and his entourage had went ventured through to get to its gates.

Sapphire Keep, that was its name, and its massive black gates towered far and wide over any man standing before them.

Next, a flash, and he was inside. His new accommodations, which were basically just a room with a simple bed, a desk and candlelights. To Vess however, it was the equivalent to a noble’s quarters.

Then he met with his supervisors, or teachers that they prefered to be called. They were a mix of men, old and young; some who treated him fairly, others no better than his old patron, and beat him when he made a mistake during practice.

Vess never complained though, as long as he didn’t have to starve and wonder every night if he would make it the next day, he would endure any hardship they threw at him.

Once again his memories flashed, and were gone, but this time they didn’t reappear, which could only mean one thing, it was time to wake up, and was something poking at him?

Vess slowly opened his eyes, blinked twice as his gaze fell upon the brown roof over him. He put his left hand over his mouth and yawned loudly, then proceeded to scratch his chin, which he noticed had grown a stubble.

Well, not like I can shave or anything right now, heh, who knows, maybe I’ll look good in a beard, wonder what Lara would think, he mused to himself. Wait, a moment, it feels like I’m forgetting something...oh shit!

He quickly sat up in the couch as he remembered that he wasn’t actually in his old abodes anymore. The Dreamlands sometimes messed with your head a little, before you were completely awake, making it slightly hard to distinguish memory and reality.

Sitting up, he heard something breathing heavily in his vicinity. He gazed forward and locked eyes with a small, yellowish-coloured horse. Vess’ sudden actions must have scared it, as it stared at him with its big blue eyes, as if he was afraid.

Ah, yes. The jolly fellow I met yesterday, now I remember, he thought to himself as he looked around.

The room was kind of small, but not without furnitures and decorations. It sported a fireplace, some small paintings of landscapes, and some rugs.

I take it this is his place, well, how quaint, he thought, before looking back to the little animal.

The equine still stared at Vess, with a large pair of pliers in its mouth, almost like it was preparing for Vess to strike at him, if given the chance.

Oh dear, seems like someone has gotten to their senses. I take it he really didn’t know what he was getting into last night. Well drunken ignorance has its charm I guess, sure saved me the trouble of finding a place to crash in.

“It’s alright, my friend, I’m not here to harm you, I merely needed someplace to stay for the night. I have been traveling for quite some time now, and I was utterly exhausted.”

The horse continued to stare at him, until it let out a: ‘oOooOOoooO’.

Vess slapped himself for forgetting, right, language-barrier, whop the fucking do. Alright, new plan.

He started motioning to the horse, making himself as unimposing as possible. He sunk back into the couch, almost laying back, then he gestured with his hands, in what he thought would calm the little horse down.

The grey-maned horse cocked its head to the side as if in confusion, but seemed to be relaxing a little more than before.

Great, seems like certain gestures are universal, wouldn’t want to cause a misunderstanding where I accidentally insulted his mother or something, he thought while smirking to himself.

The little horse let out another neigh, that sounded like he was going to give Vess the benefit of the doubt, reinforced by him slowly getting closer.

Vess laid even more back in the couch, indicating that he wasn’t going to make any sudden moves.

He was now just in front of Vess, still eyeing him for good measure, but then nodded politely, put the pliers down and put one of his hooves up towards him.

Vess thought for a couple of seconds, until he recognized the gesture. He put out his own hand, and grasped the pony’s hoof, and they both greeted each other.

“oOooOOOo”, said the horse as it pointed to itself, and then back to Vess.

Again Vess had to think what the little horse tried to say, but it became clear that it was trying to tell him its name. Still sounded like gibberish nonetheless.

The horse noticed his confusion, then pointed to himself, his tattoo on his flank, then back to himself, uttering the same neigh.

The young mage looked at the pony’s side, only now noticing the strange mark that was upon its behind, two metals that seemed to come together via smelting.

Huh? Is he telling me that mark represents his name? Why would someone tattoo their own name on their ass? he thought to himself. Nah, it has to do with his profession, he did carry some metal pliers after all. So he’s kind of like a smith, then? Still, seems weird to advertise what you work with on your butt...

“Vess”, he said after a while, and pointed to himself, but not gaining any more understanding from the horse as he with it. He considered to actually perform some magic in front of the horse, but wasn’t sure he would have a positive reaction to it, probably not.

The greeting was cut short, as Vess’ stomach growled again, just to make sure its owner wasn’t forgetting about it.

Vess sighed, and looked pleadingly towards the pony, which just shook its head at him.

He motioned Vess to follow him into another room, and the man complied, rising slowly from the sofa.

The pony pointed to a pantry, that was all but empty, some dried up breadcrumbs laying in the middle, then pointed at Vess, with a seemingly sour look.

Uh, oh, did I eat all of his food yesterday, well bummer, must have been starving, he thought, as he raised his hands up, like he didn’t know how to remedy the situation.

The little horse put its right hoof to its forehead, and rubbed it slightly, like he was contemplating the situation, but soon he gestured for Vess to stay put where he was.

It went off to a drawer, pulled out a small sack from within and went back to him. It then revealed the contents of the sack, small golden coins jingled as he dropped it on the floor.

It then motioned for Vess to sit down, as it picked the pouch up again, pointed to itself, and then outside, then back at Vess, and made a cross sign with its front hooves and frowned.

I’m going out to buy breakfast, you sit tight, don’t let anyone see you, don’t go outside, he thought. Makes sense, I guess? Not going to complain if it means I can get something to eat!

Vess nodded towards the horse, and took a seat at one of the chairs in the kitchen, which in all fairness was way too low for him, so he wasn’t very comfortable.

With that the little equine creature trotted up to the front door, strapped a saddlebag on its back, and proceeded to go shopping for food, at least that’s what Vess hoped he would.

o.O.o

Alloy trotted quickly through the streets of Hoofington, which were now filled with many of its inhabitants. He shuddered a little as he walked. Winter hadn’t quite made its presence to the town yet, but he could still feel the morning chill hanging in the air.

He felt relieved that the creature seemed friendly enough, but clearly it was hungry, and well, so was he. So he had no choice but to leave it there in the meantime, he couldn’t in Celestia’s name ever bring that out in the open just like that. The less understanding ponies would freak out if they saw an unknown creature walking the streets, and he would most certainly have a messy situation on his hooves.

Obviously, the creature was intelligent, it had its own speech, but nothing that seemed to make sense. It was just gibberish to him, which only reinforced the issue that it couldn’t be allowed to go out alone.

Alloy pondered if there was any way for the creature to appear inconspicuous, it was fairly long, and kind of lanky, its appendages reminded him of that of a monkey.

The pony halted abruptly, why was he so eager to help this creature anyway? It given him quite the scare, eaten up all of his food, and not given anything back to him in return.

Then again, they had shared drinks together, and even though Alloy could sometimes be quite brass and crude, if you had shared a drink with somepony, you were practically buddies, at least that’s where Alloy’s moral fibres were.

Heh, maybe it’ll come back to me, in a karma sort of way, he thought, while he picked up the pace again. Alloy also considered to stop calling the creature ‘it’, since it most probably was male, it just felt right for the pony to do so.

Not very long thereafter he arrived at the market. He went up to the usual stands, where he knew he could get a fair deal, bits changed owners, and after visiting a bakery, he proceeded to return to his house.

On the way back, he looked towards one of his friend’s shop that now had recently opened, which was an antique store.

A thought crossed Alloy’s mind, who turned and made his way for the boutique.

o.O.o

Vess had gone back to lay on the sofa, the kitchen chair really not doing wonders for his back at all. He lazily played around with his magic, conjuring up a tiny ice shard, that he manipulated into different forms. It was good practice to be honest, and as long as he kept it simple, the two sources were kept in balance.

He abruptly stopped when he could hear the front door open up. Quickly, he dispelled the figure, sat up in the couch, eagerly awaiting the pony’s return, who hopefully carried food with him.

His wish were granted, as the yellow-coloured pony, which at closer inspection had a grey-ish tint in its coat, appeared. In his saddlebags, loaves of bread stuck out, and Vess could definitely smell some cheese in there as well.

Vess licked his lips at the prospect of food, he had worked up an appetite now that he had practised his magic.

Luckily, the horse didn’t see this, as it could probably given him the wrong idea, he trotted to the kitchen, with Vess in tow, and laid his saddlebag down on the kitchen table.

Vess wanted nothing else than to devour whatever was inside those bags, but he knew he had to play the humble guest, he was at the little horse’s mercy, in a way. So he gently sat down at a chair, and waited patiently.

The horse noticing his longing blick, rolled his eyes and pulled out some bread and cheese from the bags, and gave it to Vess.

Vess grinned widely, took out his skinning knife and proceeded to slice the bread, and the cheese up, cutting to a sizeable snack, and popped it into his mouth.

The freshly baked bread almost melted in his palate, the wonderful cheese tickled his taste buds. Soon there was nothing left of the delectable treat, and he patted his stomach, which seemed content, for now.

Then the grey-maned equine pulled something else out of his saddlebag, a pair of large horns, that he also placed on the table.

Vess eyed the stallion, peculiarly, and picked them up in his hands. He shrugged at the horse, not knowing what he should do with them.

The grey equine pointed first to his mark, then on the horns, lastly at what seemed to be Vess’ head.

Err, come again, he thought, looking confused.

The horse sighed, took the horns back, then motioned for Vess to follow. They both stopped at the fireplace, where the stallion grabbed a picture from the top of it, and gave it to Vess.

Looking at it, he could make out the grey horse, standing next to a large burly creature, with a bull’s face and horns sticking out of its head. It took awhile for it to click for the mage. The horse wanted to disguise him, possibly crafting a helmet of some sort that would look like he was a resemblance of the creature in the picture.

Vess frowned, would it actually fool the locals? It did seem by the horse’s intention, that the other inhabitants of the town, might not look at him with as much understanding as this one did, but could they really be fooled that easily?

Noticing his frown, the little horse pointed towards the mage’s hood, while making hoof- gestures of him putting it on.

Oh, make holes in the hood, and wear the horns under! he thought triumphantly, that’s so silly, it may actually work, and the hood could probably hide some of my facial features, well if it can give me some leeway through the town, who am I to complain?

He grinned towards the stallion and nodded in compliance.

The horse, relieved that he understood motioned for him to follow him once more, this time they arrived in the little horse’s workshop.

A metallic smell embraced the room, and Vess almost felt like he was back at his old village, where he used to watch the smith repair horseshoes. It was almost a little odd, that he horse this time, was the smith. Regardless, Vess pulled out a chair for himself, as the horse started the procedure of making him an improvised disguise.

o.O.o

Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna sat down in the sun goddess' chamber, the two rulers eyed one another, both with a worrying face.

They had both felt a slight disturbance in the magic veil that surrounded their world yesterday, but had shrugged it off as an overreaction, or plain stress. It wasn’t until they had conversed during breakfast, that they both had had the same foreboding feeling.

“So, dearest sister, what art thou thoughts? What is this intrusion that hast plagued our minds?” Luna asked.

Celestia only shook her head. “It was too vague for me to get a proper look at, dear sister. I’m not sure whatever could have caused us this uncomfort, but for some reason it felt familiar, and definitely not in a good way.”

Luna frowned to herself. “Mayhaps, tis’ merely superstition then, Tia. I for one, only felt it for a brief moment as well.

The sun goddess sighed. “I truly wish it would be only that, Lulu, yet I can’t shake it off as that, considering our past endeavours.

“Ah, yes. Our kingdom has certainly had its fair share of dark hours,” the moon goddess looked down in her teacup.

“Lulu, I didn’t mean it like that, you know that.”

“Yes, sister. I know. I have long forgiven you for your actions, as you have done with mine.” she said, slipping into a more casual way of speaking. “I agree with you on the point that the disturbance felt familiar, something even further back than the fall of our brother, Harmony.”

The sun goddess' eyes widened in fear “By any slight chance, do you think that-?” Celestia started.

“I-I cannot say, my hopes lies with it being untrue and false,” she said, as she quivered at the thought. “However, if it turns out to have a hint of truthfulness to it, Equestria, nay all of Equus, might heave with the torment of the consequences.”

Through the balcony in Celestia’s royal quarters, the chill of winter danced upon a roguish wind at its own desire. The sun and the moon goddesses worried that, outside of the castle walls, somewhere in the world, the first seed of evil might have been sowed, a seed that could easily shake the foundation of the land.

Author's Note

Phew, this chapter was a bitch to edit. I hope the progress isn't too slow-paced. I really want to develop the characters before jumping into action.

Also, if there are some kind soul that would want to act as an editor, give me a holler.

//ZergPony

Chapter IV
View Online

Rivalry Of The Gods

Chapter IV

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?

Chapter V
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Rivalry Of The Gods

Chapter V

The cold streets of Hoofington were now even more filled with ponies running about their business.

Vess was quite in awe at all the different colours passing him by as he carefully tread through the stony paths of the town. Needlessly to say, he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself. Even so, he couldn’t resist staring at the colourful equines.

An even weirder center of his attention was at the horses’ backs.

Oh dear, he thought, and rubbed the thin bridge of his nose. “Everyone has a butt mark,” he mumbled quietly to himself, as a brown horse with a pastry mark on its ass passed him by.

What’s up with the freaking tattoos here?! he thought. Why would anyone submit to having their butts decorated like that? It would perhaps make sense if they were tribal marks, but it just feels like they’ve picked whatever they fancied at the moment. Alloy’s mark at least made a little bit of sense in comparison.

Suddenly, something very fast swooshed beside him. He quickly turned around and looked at what almost had collided with him. A white horse with a yellow mane had flown with great speed towards a house further away in the distance, landing safely at its doorstep.

What in the good names of the Elements is that? A horse with wings? Now I’ve probably seen it all, he thought to himself, as he pondered how exactly it could possibly stay aloft with such small appendages.

He didn’t dwell on this matter for very long however. His attention had solely become focused on a different horse a couple of meters in front of him. Vess stared at the little equine, who was a blue mare with long, black hair. It would have been any regular horse, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was clearly performing magic. She had a short horn on her forehead which glowed with a dim bluish hue. She trotted happily as she levitated a couple of books in front of her, making her way into another building further down the streets.

That was-? his brain took some time before it had processed what he had witnessed. When he came to the conclusion, he could barely breath because of the excitement.

“Hah...hah... ahahahaha!” Vess started laughing uncontrollably. There was no doubt in his mind, he had just witnessed a display of ancient magic, and the mare in question had accomplished the feat as if she has always been able to use it.

Amazing, simply amazing, he thought as he started to calm down. Wherever in the world he had ended up in, this was just too good to be true. Horses with wings, and others who performed magic, it was simply marvelous.

He grinned to himself, maybe if he stayed here long enough he could learn even more old magic, maybe even something that could help him get back to where he came from.

“There’s so much knowledge here, this is great,” he mumbled, until he noticed that some of the locals stared at him, whispering quietly to each other.

Oh crap, time to move for now. He picked up the pace, his angry stomach also reminding him that he hadn’t eaten yet. Well, food first, ultimate arcane knowledge later, he thought.

It would probably not be quite as easy as just walk into a store and throw money on the counter, no some observation was in order.

Vess had already made a mental note of not trying the market stalls, remembering that those were more likely to see an opportunity, and would probably rip him off given the chance.

All of a sudden, an alluring aroma filled the mage’s nostrils, it smelled like nothing he had ever encountered, its pleasant essence filling his senses.

Looking frantically around, he noticed a shop with a hanging sign that had a picture of a pastry on it, which seemed to exude the aroma

Mother of the Elements! It smells like something only a god could create, he thought. His body moved almost with an invisible force towards the pastry shop.

The spell on him was broken however, as he absentmindedly bumped into someone on his way, well, some stallion rather.

The equine turned towards the mage with a frown on his face, and it didn’t take a linguist to figure out that the horse wasn’t offering him to have tea with him.

Vess only nodded at the little, grey horse, apologetically raising his hands while making sure his face wasn’t properly seen.

The stallion let out a small snort of frustration, and made his way into the shop as well, Vess in tow, albeit treading lightly this time.

The inside of the shop was even more marvelous, decorated with sugary treats, a big counter with a see through glass, and the appealing aroma filling the air. Truly a place where gods resided.

Vess clutched his aching stomach, assuring it that they would soon eat their fill, as soon as he observed how much the gentleman in the front paid for the delicious goods.

He moved closer, and could easily see coins and pastries changing owners. For what seemed to be a couple of silver coins, the horse received a total of three baked delicacies, that looked like small, yellowish cakes with some kind of creamy topping.

The mage was lucky in the regard that they actually used silver, and the size of the coins were approximately the same, although if the coins were pure silver, he didn’t know. His belly was a demanding one however, and he saw no harm in going a little over the usual price.

Vess’ turn now came up. He strode up to the counter while untying his coin pouch on his belt, and looked the shopkeeper in the eyes.

He was greeted with a big smile by a, what he presumed, pale, female horse with long blond mane, and baby-blue eyes. She didn’t seemed too fazed by his strange appearances, but looked a little curious, as she seemingly inspected his choice of clothes.

Now, Vess hadn’t all of a sudden become an expert in horse-tongue, but he could very well recognize the usual friendly gestures. He bowed politely to her, then pointed at his throat and simulated a cough, which he hoped she would interpret as that he couldn’t speak because of sickness.

She shot him a worried look, but nevertheless, she got the point, and motioned for him to pick whatever he wanted.

The sensible choice and the one that would make him the least suspicious was to pick whatever the grumpy stallion had picked before. He pointed at the small cakes behind the glass, and held up three fingers.

She nodded, brought them up at the top of the counter, talked in her own language, what probably was the equivalent to ‘three silver, please’.

He slid the money over to her, she accounted for them all, and nodded. Vess had successfully acquired the pastries. He couldn’t help but to smile as she handed him the baked goods, almost like he wanted to raise them in the air, while a fitting tune played.

Huh, it really was as easy as just tossing money on the counter, who would have thought! he mused, while grinning.

The mage bowed again to the shopkeeper, and started to make his way out of the shop. He stopped however at the door, an idea springing to life within him.

Vess turned around, noting that the shopkeeper had gone into the kitchen in the back. He tapped into one of his two elemental sources in his body, conjuring a small crystal rose made out of ice. He then cast an enchantment that would hinder it from melting too quickly, enough that she could find it and keep it for a little while. Vess then placed the flower on the windowsill beside the door and walked out.

Outside, the town’s locals were still bustling about trying to haggle with the marketstand owners, some more successful than others.

Vess couldn’t care less for others at the moment, even the allure of the arcane faded to a mere footnote. He was going to consume the gods ambrosia, and wherever better to do so, than at a peaceful spot near nature.

He soon found what he wanted a little further away from all the market ruckus, a wooden bench near a park with a small fountain, which became his resting spot.

This was it, his stomach couldn’t take it anymore, with great passion he popped the first delightful pastry whole into his awaiting mouth.

Oh! Oh, this is-! Then everything went black.

o.O.o

Alloy quickly paced around his workshop, annoyed how he could barely raise the temperature of the forge to work with the platinum. He had given up several times, the metal cooling too fast for him to actually mold it like the noblepony wanted it done.

Pure Platinum had requested that the metals would become containers for the jewels he was going to have put into them.

Alloy only shook his head. Why does Platinum even want a cane at all? He’s fat. that’s for sure, but a walking stick wouldn’t help him to begin with, unless he’s planning to give it to someone. The smith paused in thoughts for a little while. Yeah, fat chance. He probably only wants to one up the other aristocrats with a new toy whenever they gather to brag about how wealthy and 'generous' they are…

The pony stopped trying to mold accursed metal once again, took off his protective mask, and massaged his temples. How many does that make? Ten, eleven? I-I need a break...I just can’t do this right now. He sighed audibly.

His thoughts were cut off as his stomach reminded him that lunch was way overdue. He sighed again, put his gear away, stowed the precious metal and the rod away in a chest inside the house. There was no use trying to work on an empty stomach anyway.

As he locked the door to the smithy, he couldn’t help but notice how quiet it was. Thankful that Vess had complied and stayed low, he made his way into the kitchen to whip up some food.

He hummed to himself as he diced up some large carrots he had bought from Carrot Stem at the markets. Once again he noted that the house was very quiet. He abruptly stopped at the realization. It was way too quiet. Something wasn’t right, and that something could only be his houseguest.

Alloy prayed upon Celestia and Luna that the guy was still in the house as he called out to him. “Vess? Vess, are you there?”

He searched the living room, no sign of the creature. He looked in his bedroom, almost like he expected him to jump out of the large, wooden wardrobe, but nope, wasn’t there either.

Alloy started to sweat. “This isn’t funny, you know!” he yelled out loud, but got no answer in return. Returning back to the small hallway, his eyes widened as he noticed that the front door was slightly ajar.

“No...no no no no!” he exclaimed, stomping his hooves angrily on the wooden floor when he realized that Vess had left the house. “How dare he go off on his own, if his disguise fails and gets caught then…”

He fumed in silence at Vess’ action. If that overgrown monkey gets in trouble it’s his own damn fault, I won’t even feel guilty if he gets captured...

However he soon realized that the town guards would probably recognize Alloy’s hoofwork, and could very well link it back to him. Alloy shuddered at the repercussions that could follow. He would be prosecuted for hiding a presumably unknown, and potentially dangerous animal. His house and smithy would be claimed by Platinum, and he would probably find himself new abodes, in the dim, murky cells of the town’s prison.

He gulped as his imagination spiraled out of control. My life would be over, everything I've struggled for, gone, just like that...just because of him..

Alloy cursed Vess in Luna’s name. What right did that creature have? To just come into his life and turn it upside down.That overgrown, unrespectful one...of...a kind...freak..of...nature.-

His angry ramblings ended abruptly as he realized the situation. If Vess got captured by the authorities, what would happen to him? His expression suddenly became panicked. T-they...they would most certainly lock him up in a Celestia damned cage somewhere, and...and..conduct..experiments on him, like he was some kind of dangerous beast….He could very well never see sunlight again…or..if Platinum gets hold of him...

“He would be put on display as some kind of exotic monstrosity...without a single friend in the world to hold him company or understand him,” Alloy said quietly. Even though he hadn’t known Vess for very long, he still felt that such a fate was too cruel and something he would never wish upon anypony.

The smith made his decision. He gritted his teeth, pushed the door to his house opened, and ran out to search for the troublemaker. Hoping that the damn monkey had had the common sense to stay out of the authorities way.

o.O.o

Vess floated around in the pseudo-world that was the Dreamlands. How he had managed to get here was beyond his understanding. He had been sure that it was still only afternoon. Nevertheless here he was, and his memories of old flowed freely.

He tried to settle on some of the more peaceful images together with Dave, and the time the retired ranger had taught him of the wilds. Yet they were blurry, not at all clear like they used to be. For some reason it was someone had put the memories through a filter, and only tiny snippets could come through.

It flashed to when he had first awoken at Dave’s hut. He had been feverish from collapsing after running mile after miles non-stop. He had been on the run from the Hold, yet when he tried to remember why, everything was just messed up. He knew he had disobeyed orders, people had been shouting at him. Lara had been crying, telling him to leave and not look back no matter what. He couldn’t stay there any longer. Why, she never said, but Vess was disheartened when he had noticed how fearful she had looked.

Lara…, he tried to think, yet the flickering visions made it hard to concentrate.

Back at the hut, he saw Dave as the old man smiled at him waking up, for the memories to flash abruptly again, turning the smile of the ranger into a ghastly look of terror, as Vess towered above him.

Something had happened to Vess back then, but he only remembered that he had to flee, to get away. One moment he had gathered whatever clothes and equipment he could find, and at the next one he was furiously running away, with tears streaming from his eyes.

Memories swirled around uncontrollably in his mind, no one of them staying for an extended period of time, except for one.

He was in an unknown mountain range, far from Dave’s hut, or so he believed. The Dreamland Vess observed his surrounding, only to stop and stare at what was closing in on him from the sky.

A giant, fluffy cake with a creamy topping descended upon him, and smashed his body into the cold, hard earth….

Vess awoke with a scream, cold sweat pouring from his body. He immediately sat up, and looked around. The mage was still on the same bench as before, but now a medium sized crowd had gathered near him, many of the them looking at him with concerned faces.

What in Hell’s Maw was that? he thought as he directed his gaze to the remaining pastries resting on the bench. Some of the horses let out a cough, as if they expected some kind of explanation to his outburst.

Knowing that he had attracted too much attention to himself, he quickly gathered the two remaining cakes and stood up, making his way through the crowd, without offering as much as a apologetic nod.

He picked up the pace when he passed them, considering breaking into a run, but decided against it. It would only make me look even more suspicious than I already am, he thought, as he paid no real heed to where he was going.

Also I can-, Vess’ inner dialogue got cut off, as he collided hard into another figure for the second time this day.

“Ah, fuck that hurt!” he said out loud, as his ass met stone pavement.

A familiar sound of pain also came from the one he had collided with, followed by a sense of dread from the mage, as the horse spoke,

“Vess!” a furious voice called out.

Looking up, he saw a fuming Alloy stare at him, who looked like he had every intent of murdering him.

Oh shit, he thought, as he tried to think of an escape plan. ‘Oh shit’ indeed.

Alloy would have none of that however. The horse closed in, and glared menacingly at him. Pointing at him with a hoof, uttering a short and angry sound, and then pointing towards the way he had come from.

This easily translated to: ‘You, me, back to the house, and now’.

Vess gulped and nodded at the angry horse, realizing he was busted. He hoped that the smith wouldn’t chew him out too much when they arrived. Not that he would understand much, but it was never fun when you got lectured.

Ah, fuck my life, he thought. He had hoped that Alloy wouldn’t had figured out that he was gone for a much longer time. He wanted to observe more of the arcane knowledge in this world already, and more importantly, eat more delicious food.

Vess noticed that he still held on to the small pastries. They had gotten a little crushed, but was probably still edible. Hmm, maybe he’ll forgive me if I share? he thought as he now followed the little horsesmith back to his house.

Back at the simple smith’s abode, Vess did indeed suffer a lecture of a lifetime, and did his best to alleviate the invoked wrath of the pony. After getting chewed out for approximately five minutes, Vess squirmed uncomfortably and offered up one of the small pastries to the angered smith.

Alloy simply looked at the delicacies for a while, until he sniffed at them with a frowning suspicion, followed by him smacking his own face with his hoof.

Doesn’t that hurt? the mage thought to himself, as the smith continued to berate him.

Dejectedly, Vess put the pastries down on the kitchen table, genuinely sorry that they hadn’t put Alloy into a better mood, genuinely sorry for himself, that is. He sighed out loud and plopped down on a chair, waiting for Alloy to be done.

o.O.o

To say that Alloy was merely angry at Vess, was the understatement of the year. The horsesmith could almost feel his blood boil as he spoke to the guy. He didn’t care that Vess couldn’t understand a tenth of it even.

“...And that’s just what the guards would have done! What in Celestia’s great name urged you to go out alone?” he exclaimed as he jabbed with his hoof as near Vess’ face as he could manage, “the gall you possess to actually put me, and yourself in danger like that is just darn right insensitive, you damn fool! What do you think the authorities, or Luna forbid, Platinum would have done, if they found out that an unknown creature roamed the streets of Hoofington, huh?”

As he continued to scold him, he noted that Vess was squirming where he stood, then revealing a pair of yellow cupcakes that he had held in his weird five-digited appendages, offering them to him.

What? Alloy observed the pastries, got closer and smelled them, then he facehoofed quite hard at Vess’ ignorance.

“You went to Lemon Dream’s shop, didn’t you? Luna give me strength,” he sighed and rubbed his temples, “that’s not your everyday shop, you ignorant dimwit, but what use is there in even explaining it to you? You don’t understand what I’m trying to say anyway. Hang on a minute, how did you get money in the first place?"

He looked up, and saw Vess sitting on his kitchen chair, partially looking disinterested in what Alloy had to convey, and started picking at his small claws instead.

The smith jabbed his hoof into the guy’s shin. “You could at least pretend that you listened!” he yelled.

This caused a very sudden reaction from Vess, and by sudden reaction, Vess immediately grabbed hold of his left leg, screaming out in pain like a banshee. Well if Alloy didn’t have the guy’s attention, he was probably more inclined to listen now. Served him right though, bastard.

If Alloy had looked intently at Vess’ mouth, he would maybe have been able to make out the word ‘motherfucker’, forming on his lips. Some things were just universal.

It was apparent however that Vess’ pain wouldn’t just pass as if he had been smacked lightly. He was now visibly crying his eyes out as he still held onto his shin for his life.

Alloy suddenly felt a chill going down his spine. What if he had broken something, who knows? The guy’s skeleton could be very fragile after all.

“U-umm, are you okay?” he quietly spoke to Vess, trying to get his attention. The creature shot him a look full of tears and anger, that Alloy interpreted as ‘does it look like I’m okay?’

“Shit,” he muttered. If Vess had indeed broken something, where would he go to get it fixed?

After a while, Vess’ wailing turned into a muffled sobbing, and the creature closed his eyes, looking like he tried to concentrate.

The smith’s eyes went wide as he saw a dim light illuminate from the guy’s dulled right claw. Vess touched the area where Alloy had landed his devastating blow, and winced a little as the light’s glow gently sank into the red area. He continued invoking this power, until the injured shin slowly got its natural colour back.

Alloy noticed the sweat that had formed on Vess’ forehead, and how excessively tired he now looked, yet couldn’t do anything other than gawk at what he just had done.

By the Sun and Moon, he just performed magic in front of my eyes! he finally thought as his brain finished processing the whole ordeal.

Vess slumped back into the chair, his leg looking visibly restored, albeit Vess himself was utterly exhausted, as was reinforced by his laboured breathing.

“Well, I’m not really sure how to respond to a situation like this,” the smith said out loud, “I mean, you just freaking healed your own leg, something not even the everyday unicorn could do without a lot of practice…”

Vess look at the pony hazily, while rubbing his own temples with his claws. He then glared at Alloy again, as if he dared the smith to try and repeat the action.

“Hey, look,” the earth pony started, “I’m sorry okay? I was just very frustrated and you were being a jerk, basically.”

Vess scowled at him, but nodded as well, perhaps noticing the tone and the worrying frown of the smith.

“I had no idea you could do magic though, have you always been able to do that?” he asked. Would have been useful to know prior to letting the guy stay, now Alloy’s headache only increased in its intensity. Vess was just a wonderful box of surprises, and trouble. In fact, Alloy paused for a second to let out a tired sigh, he was only trouble.

Vess only shrugged at what Alloy said, clearly not understanding the pony’s inquiry.

Alloy exhaled audibly again. “Yeah, stupid me, expecting you would actually understand me. But I mean all this time I-” he stopped and thought for a moment at the last word he had said.

Time? Wait a minute, wasn’t there-, his eyes widened and he turned quickly to look at his kitchen clock. “Oh..OH NO! No, no, no, no, no, oh fuck my life!” he exclaimed, and bolted for the other room which led to his workshop.

o.O.o

Vess cried out in surprise and pain, as he felt Alloy’s rockhard foreleg connect with his shin, fracturing his tibia. He doubled over, grasping his poor leg, while muttering swear words at the smith.

He heard some sort of concerned sounds coming from Alloy, and glared at him to make him shut up. He didn’t want his stupid apology.

Argh, motherfucker! It hurts so bad, this is worse than the time I almost got choked to death by Gilbert….Ah, fuck, I think the bone is partially broken, he thought, while he tried to hold back tears.

Okay, Vess concentrate, he encouraged himself. Just gotta stay calm, and focus to alleviate the pain, you can do it…

It took him a little while, but soon he could feel the familiar soothing touch of the healing spell, mixed in with a little bit of ice magic to cease the swelling.

He continued casting the spell to accelerate the healing process, until he could feel that his shin had been restored to its previous non-abused state.

Vess fell back into the chair, exhausted by prolongedly uttering the same incantation. It was a taxing spell if any, one that he seldom used anymore, since he mostly could dismiss close to any threat before they reached him nowadays. However, it had been great to heal bruises from his less patient instructors back at Skyshard’s Hold.

Alloy, the bastard however, had taken him by surprise. Vess never would have guessed the smith had it in him to actually jab at him like that, and thus had paid the price for trying to nonchalantly ignore his scolding.

Vess looked up and glared menacingly at the horse. He witnessed Alloy staring directly at him, his face a mix of wonder and worry, saying something in the process that the mage didn’t quite understand.

Heh, well. He didn’t expect that I presume, he thought as he rubbed his temples with his hands, and then continued to glare at the smith.

Alloy said something more in ‘horse’, which Vess only shrugged off, not even trying to grasp what the smith had tried to tell him.

What followed after was actually quite hilarious. The smith suddenly had some sort of epiphany, since he had looked up at the small clock on the wall and gotten a panicked look on his face. This was then followed by Alloy darting to the living room door, faster than a troll could pass gas in its sleep.

Vess could only mouth the words ‘the fuck?’ in response to the little horsesmith’s actions. He smirked as he realized what was going on. Looks like someone is in trouble, he mused, while he stood up to check if his leg would support him.

Finding it to be almost as good as new, he walked towards the door, and stepped out to ‘converse’ with the grey, little equine.

On his way out he noticed that the large chest near the door was now open, but empty of any content. He pushed the door open and stepped out in the chill of evening, his breath smoking from his mouth and nostrils, to see Alloy frantically working at the forge. The horse looked like he was trying to heat it up, but desperately so.

Vess could hear him panting heavily while muttering in his own language. He looked around to find the cane resting near the anvil of the workshop. It had now been expertly decorated with gold and silver, forming containers for small gems to be place inside, still missing the platinum.

He soon spotted it, resting near Alloy, looking like it had several dents in it, but remained a small ingot still. He can’t get the forge warm enough to work the metal, that’s why he’s panicking. He’s afraid he won’t be done in time, he thought.

Even though Vess was still pissed off at Alloy for almost breaking his shin in half, he couldn't help pitying the poor smith, whom forcefully tried to mold the metal. If noblemen were anything alike his home’s posh and stuck up lords and ladies, he knew that Alloy was in for hell.

Alloy sighed to himself. The things I do….

Changing his mind about taunting him, he strode up to the smith, who clearly had become frustrated with the fact that nothing he could do, would end up making the metal bend to his will.

Vess laid a hand on the horse’s shoulder, making him jump slightly, but then just brushed it off and sighed deeply, without turning around.

The mage contemplated the situation again, then smiled as he tapped into his resources. Alright, time to show him I’m not a complete ingrate, hope I still got some juice left in me for this.

Vess hummed melodically, while he focused on the flames in the forge. His fire-attuned magic always seemed easier to deal with while he was singing for some reason. Soon enough, they intensified and gradually got warmer.

Alloy's ears picked up the serene song coming from Vess, and a moment sooner became surprised as he felt the metal starting to groan and yield under his touch. He glanced around to see that Vess was in deep concentration, his hands glowing dimly with a fiery shine.

Vess opened an eye just at the time as Alloy turned his head. The mage made out a small ‘thank you’ from the horsesmith’s mouth, until the equine returned to the matter at hand.

Just finish what you started, you little dumbass, Vess thought, while containing a grin.
Throughout the chilling evening, almost long into night time, the echoes from the smithy sounded strongly in the town of Hoofington.

Author's Note

Sorry I took so long with this chapter, I've been busy battling a cold.
Well here it is anyway. Leave a comment if you'd like and tell me how you think of the story so far.

//ZergPony

Chapter VI
View Online

Rivalry Of The Gods

Chapter VI

Author's note: I'm a big liar. This should have been completed a week ago, as promised. Also, this was not meant to be two chapters, but the site wouldn't let me copy over the text when I was halfway through for some reason.

Princess Celestia The Undimmed, divine demigoddess and benevolent co-regent of Equestria, awoke abruptly from her sleep in the middle of the cold night of the first winter month, sticky sweat pouring from her body.

She had felt them again, the anomalies. They were dormant most of the time, but once in awhile they flared up, only to die down as fast as they appeared.

The princess hoped, oh how she hoped that there was no cause for alarm. She tapped into the world’s magical veil that surrounded it. Nothing, there weren’t any breaches, and if there were, they were insignificant at best. Everything was fine.

She sighed with relief while she also berated herself slightly for jumping to conclusions. Aside from what she and her sister felt almost two days ago, there had been nothing noteworthy in case of disturbances in the veil.

The reason to why they even felt it at the first place could very well be simple. They both shared a deep connection to the veil, and of course between themselves. The world was old, far older than any of the two alicorns or any of the other leaders of the realm. It could honestly just had been Equus ‘shedding’ excessive amount of magic, causing it to shudder with effort for a short time by the ordeal.

The anomalies she felt however, disturbed her wise mind greatly. They weren’t necessarily bad, but there was a certain familiarity to them. Like a reminder from a distant past.
The Undimmed one was not about to leave things to chance however. She would remain vigilant should there ever be a cause of concern for the wellbeing of the lands and her subjects.

Celestia sighed at this notion. My dear, loyal subjects. Long has it been since you’ve had faced a real imminent threat. I pray to the Creator that it will remain so. It breaks my heart that by even the slightest of chance, that you could end up being harmed.

Celestia was old, far older than any records described her to be. She, Luna and their brother Harmony, had long ruled the ponykind of Equestria, while other rulers came and went in the lands around them, an exception being the dragon matriarch. For millennia she and her siblings have observed the world and together repelled whatever evil that tried to seize the land for their own. And even though Harmony was no longer amongst them, Celestia and Luna would act as the ardent protectors of the realm for many more millennias to come.

As she got up from her bed, she felt the bond from her beloved sister tell her that it was time to start the day anew. Gently, she channeled her divine powers, greeting the moon on its way down, making room for her life-giving sun.
The night slowly turned into morning, her beloved subjects soon to awake from their peaceful slumbers. It would continue that way, this she sweared her life on. Her little ponies would continue to wake up, to slumber. To have their many firsts and their lasts. Alone, together, through joys and sorrows. They would have the right to continue on with their lives

This was however an idealist’s way, and while Celestia sweared upon protecting them, she knew she would be foolish to only rely on her and her sister’s powers. After finishing giving thanks to her sun and receiving its blessing, she went over to her ink and quill resting near a bundle of cushions, and started composing a letter.

o.O.o

Vess yawned as he looked at the tired smith from across the kitchen table, large, dark rings under his eyes. Truth be told, the mage was just as weary as Alloy, if not even more. Channeling his remaining strength into feeding the fire, while also burning his other source to maintain the balance between the two, had taken a heavy toll on him.

It had almost taken them what, six hours? Vess knew it was way past midnight anyway, when they had finally managed to complete the rod to satisfaction.

They had gotten some strange looks as some late night stragglers wandered about, but were left alone to their task. Thankfully, no form of patrol had stopped by to question them why they were up so late.

The smith slid over a cup towards Vess, something containing a familiar dark liquid, which made the mage smile.

Thank the Elements that they have kaffra here, I don’t know how I survived so long without it before. Dave never kept much of it around. He graciously took the cup, nodded in thanks towards Alloy and took a sip of the hot beverage,

Ah, yes. That definitely hit the spot. Alloy really knows his stuff, he thought, taking another sip, while also stuffing his face with a huge slice of bread and cheese. In fact, this was his fourth slice already.

Alloy was still too weary to actually notice his pantry’s supplies dwindling at an alarming rate.

Vess belched slightly after finishing his sandwich and patted his now full stomach, after leaving a tiny speck for Alloy to eat. In his defense, magic used up a lot of energy and he needed to replenish it in someway. Vess just prefered the eating-delicious-food-way of doing so.

So when the smith finally opened his eyes after having woken up enough by drinking his energizing beverage, he saw that Vess had more or less eaten all of his food...again.

He stared at the content mage with a vacant expression for awhile, until he let out an audible sigh and his hooves slowly met his temples.

A knock on the front door alerted both of them. Alloy straightened up and motioned for Vess to keep a low profile. The mage nodded and positioned himself away from the door as to not get spotted from the hallway.

Alloy trotted to the door and gently pushed it open, greeting however was waiting on the other side.

From the entrance, the mage could hear the two horses converse with one another. It was only a collection of whinnying sounds, albeit the stranger had a much ‘rougher’ sounding voice than the smith. The conversation was kept low-keyed and soon enough Vess could hear a sound of the entrance door closing.

Alloy returned to the kitchen, looking distressed from what Vess could tell, but not exactly at the point of freaking out. He beckoned for the smith’s attention.

Alloy looked at him, but just shook his head in a way that told the mage nothing.

Huh, keeping secrets are we? Fine for now, Alloy, but just you wait until I’ve figured out how to actually make sense of what half of what you horses say, he thought.

The smith then went on with tidying up after them both. Vess took a seat in the couch at the living room while waiting for the smith to be done. After a while, Alloy went over with a saddlebag to the large chest where he had stored the rod for safekeeping.

The cane was truly a masterpiece for the common eye. Alloy had truly made this one count. Golden and silvery containers were now masterly attached to the rod’s sides arching upwards. The largest one molded out of the hard platinum was etched into the rod’s top itself. Even without any gems in them, it was still a sight to behold.

The smith carefully placed the large rod in the bag and shut it tight. He then ventured over to Vess to get his attention on the sofa.

Time to deliver the rod to the snooty noble, ey? Well, have fun. Don’t trip on your way there, he thought and closed his eyes. However the smith poked at him and he opened them again.

“What?” he asked while looking quizzically at the horse.

Alloy pointed at himself, the rod and then at Vess, hoping the mage would understand what he meant.

“Wait, wait, wait. You want me to come with you?” he said and pointed to himself, Alloy and then outside.

The smith sighed and nodded reluctantly.

Alright, what’s the deal here? He lectures me for not staying inside yesterday, while that being understandable, but now he just wants me to follow him to a noble’s house?

“I don’t wanna,” Vess said, plumping down on the couch as to make his point.

Alloy wouldn’t give up however, still poking him at his side, each poke more irritating and harder than the one before.

“Hey, stop it Alloy! I don’t want to-” the mage stopped talking as he saw the expression on Alloy’s face. He looked very worried, almost like he pleaded for Vess to follow him.

“Hey, what gives, Alloy?”

“......follow..” Vess rubbed his ears for a while, like he couldn’t believe what he had heard. Did, did I just hear him say that? Odd, I don’t actually remember memorizing that sound, yet, it felt so...understandable. The mage’s thoughts were interrupted by even more poking from Alloy’s rock hard hooves.

“Alright, alright, I’ll come with you, geez, just stop touching me already,” he said and stood up, motioning for Alloy to lead the way.

The smith let out a sigh of relief, inspected Vess’ disguise, satisfied that the horns still seemed to be properly in place, and then headed for the doorway.

There’s something odd going around here though, and I just don’t mean about their weird language making perfect sense at some times, Vess pondered as he made his way behind the smith out of the front entrance.

o.O.o

Alloy trotted slowly through the streets with his ‘minotaur’ ward in tow. The smith didn’t care much for his surroundings, even ignoring the gawking sounds coming from Vess as he witnessed ponies levitating their belongings all over town. He was too busy being nervous, or ‘scared shitless’ might have been a more proper term.

The artificer didn’t feel right at all with the mage tagging along, but he had little choice in the matter. Platinum’s goons had, not surprisingly however, gotten a whiff of a new minotaur in town, whom seemed to have connections with Alloy. Being the perfect little snitches, they reported to their fat lord immediately.

The next morning, Platinum send one of his brutes to ‘inform’ Alloy, that the revered Lord Platinum wanted to see this new minotaur, as he had made quite an entrance for himself that day. Ponies were going on about the tailless, lanky bull going around laughing out loud, purchasing questionable treats from Lemon Dream’s shop.

Minotaurs were however famous for their proficiency in metalsmithing, so it made sense for the lord wanting to inspect this acquaintance of Alloy.

The muscular brute knocking on the artisan’s door did not express Platinum’s intentions in such a gentle way though. It was more along the line of ‘bring your freaky friend over to Lord Platinum’s place, or else’.

Alloy knew very well what ‘or else’ could mean, so even though he would definitely want to keep Vess as far away from the noblepony as possible, he couldn’t risk slighting Platinum.

The question was, could he play off Vess as being incapable of speaking? He really didn’t have any time to prepare this, he just prayed that whatever ties he once possessed would be enough to convince the lord.

And for Celestia’s and Luna’s sake that he doesn’t ask to see his face…, he thought while praying to the deities. That would be the most problematic thing of all.

Alloy looked back at the excited mage, who was still fascinated by little unicorn fillies and colts, not even old enough for their marks, magically moving their toys towards one another, making whooshing noises as they ran by. Vess’ hood covered a lot of his face, in fact, he almost seemed to blend in with the darkness it created, but in direct light, it likely wouldn’t fool anypony..

The smith sighed again. So many problems, and here he was, basically heading to certain doom. The thought of actually just taking off, abandoning his smithy and leaving town, did cross him. It had done so before as a matter of fact, but in the end, he was always brought back to the day where he had made a solemn promise to his deceased father, that he would continue the trade.

Never would he had thought that Platinum would still insist on Alloy’s family be in his service for as long as the fat bastard desired.

In all truth, it should have ended with Alloy’s father. The debt was supposed to have been wiped away, but surprisingly enough, Platinum’s accountant had ‘found’ some faulty calculations within the paperwork concerning said debt, and thus Alloy would also have to slave away at the affluent aristocrat’s whims.

While he begrudgingly remembered his past and his position in the world, he didn’t pay enough attention, and so smacked head first into a thin figure crossing his path.

“Ouch, what the-oh, hey Brass, fancy bumping into you here,” a chirpy, feminine voice called out to him as they both stopped in their tracks. Vess also stopped moving, seeing his chaperon staggering slightly, rubbing his head as if in pain.

“Ow, who? Oh, Dream, long time no see,” he lamely replied to the yellow mare that now stood before him.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling towards him, “way too long, if you ask me. Why don’t you visit me any more, Brass?”

“Dream, just Alloy’s fine, and to answer your question, I’ve been...busy as of late, way busier than usual” he said, not trying to make Vess too obvious.

“Heh, still don’t want to be called by your first name, huh? And what do you mean by-oh?” she said as she caught a glimpse of Vess, trying to act oblivious to the familiar mare.

“Well, hello there, sir!” she greeted him. “How’s your throat today?”

Vess sighed, poked at his throat and just grumbled.

“Still bad? Oh well, hope you get better soon,” she turned towards Alloy again. “Is this an acquaintance of yours, Brass?”

Ignoring Dream persisting in calling him by his first name, he responded a little nervously. “A-ah yeah, this is Ve..erm, Vektor, Ironfist's cousin, you remember my friend, Ironfist, right?

“Pfff, yeah, you two were inseparable when you were younger. Honestly, I used to hang around you guys as well, you really think I would forget?”

“O-oh, yeah, that’s right, you were,” he said as he recalled some less pleasant memories. “You used to feed us some of your err...interesting-tasting pastries while we were busy at the forge.”

“You mean, when you were playing by the forge?” she asked teasingly. “And be glad that I gave you anything at all, you ingrate!” Dream jokingly hit Alloy on the head, much to its aching dismay.

“Yeah..well..erm, anyway. This,” he said and pointed at Vess, “is Vektor, he’s a cousin of Ironfist’s that I’ve been asked to look after as he has never really mingled with anypony outside of his hometown.”

“Never mingled with anypony?” she asked quizzically. “He certainly did well enough, considering he came alone to my shop yesterday.

“Oh, yeah he’s quite the explorer, hahaha..ha..ha,” Alloy nervously exclaimed, trying to not look Dream in her eyes.

She pulled him closer, whispering in his ear, “Not to be rude, but why doesn’t he have a tail?”

“Lost it in a fight, doesn’t want to talk about it,” Alloy frankly claimed.

“Oh...right.” She released him from her grip and stepped back a little.

“So…what’s the deal with his throat? Does it maybe have to do something with the singing I heard when I happened to stroll by last night?”

Dream saw us at the smithy? And what singing? I don’t recall any singing...wait there was some melodious humming going on but I was in the ‘zone’ so I didn’t really pay much attention to it…shit, what to say?

“Err, yeah, that was Vektor, actually! The lad got a real talent there, sure made the hard work at the forge so much easier,” Alloy said, hoping that it would fool his childhood friend.

“Hrmmm.” Lemon Dream got closer to the smith, trying to catch whatever lie hidden in his eyes. “Really now?”

“Ah, yeah! Vektor sang beautifully last night,” he said, his best fake smile plastered on his face. “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!” he almost yelled, avoiding her penetrating gaze.

Dream eyed Alloy for quite a while, then she turned to ‘Vektor’, who was still trying to act as inconspicuous as he possibly could, which was laughable at best.

“You really shouldn’t sing if your throat’s bad, you know!” She berated him further about that he should care for his body, then handed Alloy some green herbs from her saddlebag, saying that they had a soothing effect on the vocal chords if applied in tea.

Vess only shrugged at her incoherent sounds, but offered a bow when he saw Alloy motioning for him to thank her.

She let them off after that, Alloy suddenly remembering his dilemma, quickened his pace with Vess hurrying after him from behind.

Lemon Dream watched as they both disappeared a couple of blocks away. She slowly reached for the other bag on her saddlepouch, pulling out a beautiful crystal rose, eyeing it closely, its mystical chill only lightly grazing her hoof.

“A singing, tailless minotaur huh…” she said and shook her head at Brass’ cute attempts at fooling her, “this day suddenly got more…interesting.” She tucked back the lovely crystal into her saddlebag and trotted in the direction towards her shop, smiling to herself as she walked.

Chapter VII
View Online

Rivalry Of The Gods

Chapter VII

Alloy and Vess stood outside of Pure Platinum’s extravagant mansion, waiting for one of the guardsponies to come back with words that they could enter through the massive golden gate.

Vess made it clear by impatiently tapping his ‘hooves’ on the ground, that he rather be somewhere else right now.

Soon enough they were given clearance to enter, trotting along on the pathway with the lush garden around the estate brimming with its grandeur.

At the large main entrance they were escorted by yet another pair of guards. Platinum didn’t spare when it came to protection it seemed. But seriously, whoever had more money than they could count would probably feel that nothing short of an army would be enough to watch for potential threats.

Describing the main hall in detail would take too much time for the smith, that’s how gaudy it was. The gold encrusted spiral stairs, the statues of famous athletes, original paintings made by famous artists, Pure Platinum had it all and more.

The two of them were made to wait in one of the rooms on the second floor. It, too, was heavily decorated, expensive sofas and armchairs and a table seemingly made out of precious stones.

The ponies escorting them, eyed Vess suspiciously, but had been given orders to let the minotaur in with the smith, so they never uttered a word of protest.

The palpable wealth of the place almost made Alloy physically sick to his stomach, as he thought of how many of the townsfolk that had a hard time scrunging up for scraps in the streets, barely getting by.

Vess didn’t look like he was any more comfortable here, than in Alloy’s smithy, Brass could almost see the guy looking as grossed out as he was by all this. His hood made it hard however, to distinguish any change in his facial expression.

After what seemed like hours, the lord of the estate entered with a small entourage of his toughest brutes. They were quite larger than the normal pony, scarred muscle-freaks with next to nothing in between their ears, but loyal as dogs to their master.

As they broke the silence by entering into the room, Alloy darted up from his seat in the couch, Vess mimicking his action a second later.

Pure Platinum eyed the two, especially Vess, with disgust and perhaps a little bit of interest.

“Your insolence astonishes me, young Alloy,” the fat pony started. Alloy looked questioningly at him in response.

“That you would have the gall to sit on one of my finer furnitures is beyond my understanding, but no matter, I feel gracious today, so I shall forgive you for this transgression,” he said while looking condescendingly at the smith.

Oh, that disgusting bastard! Alloy thought, but managed to contain any sign of anger on his face.

“I believe you have come here regarding the request I gave you yesterday, hmm?” The fat lord waddled closer to the two, while his brutes covered his sides.

More like demanded, but yes, I got it, you fat excuse for an earth pony.

“Yes, my ‘lord’, I have completed your request, behold,” Alloy pulled out the exquisite rod from his saddlebag, its luster dancing off of the rest of the room, “your new and improved scepter.”

Pure Platinum’s eyes widened for a little while, taking in the bedazzling sight, before returning to his senses. “Yes, excellent, that will do, little smith, that will do.” He licked his greedy lips before motioning for one of his goons to take it from Alloy.

The fat pony grabbed the rod and looked it over. “Yes, you have certainly done a fine job here, Brass Alloy.”

Well, at least he can see that much, a wonder really, since all that fat almost covers his eyes completely.

“I’m glad it is to your...liking, my lord,” the smith said, having to force the words out of his mouth, “maybe, we could discuss the issue of payment then.”

Platinum stopped adoring the scepter and looked at Alloy like he had struck him down. His expression was vacant for a little while, then he scoffed loudly. “Payment, hah! Consider this task a great way for you to pay off the remainder of your worthless father’s debt! Don’t forget your place, smith,” he said with a poisonous tongue.

Inside, Alloy raged heavily, resisting the urge to snatch the rod from his greedy hooves and beat him with it. His response was however: “My lord, a long time was invested in completing this task you set for me, I have not been able to work for a full day with any other requests.”

“I do not see that being any concern of mine, smith. It’s hardly my problem you slacked off during work, you should have tried harder if you wanted anything else done for the day, however,” he said and pondered for a while before continuing, “there might be something great I could give you should you manage to complete another task I’ve yet to reveal to you.”

Brass gritted his teeth. “And pray tell my lord, what is this task that you so graciously want to bestow upon me,” he said while trying to hide his sarcasm.

“Ah, my dear boy. It’s simple really. I want you to, by the end of this week, complete a whole set of these wonderful scepters you created yesterday.”

“A-a whole set? What does that mean?”

Platinum frowned. “Don’t forget your manners in my presence, boy, and it means I want a complete set of twenty scepters by Sunday.”

Twenty of those!? Alloy would scream if he didn’t know that it would probably earn him a cell in the dungeons.

“T-twenty?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Indeed, by Sunday, you’ll be provided with new materials every day, of course” the fat pony said again. “Now let me tell you what I would offer you for such a task.”

Alloy was silent, he didn’t know if he could just refuse Platinum, but what would happen if he did?

“Are you listening, boy, this is important. Don’t you dare waste my valuable time with your dawdling!” he yelled at Alloy.

The artificer quickly snapped to attention. “Y-yes?”

Ignoring Alloy’s lack of manners, Pure Platinum proceeded in explaining what he would gift the smith with, should he accept and finish the task.

“Your debt shall be completely wiped away, I shall personally issue a receipt with my seal, claiming you owe the house of Platinum nothing any more. We shall never bother you with requests of our own, and you’ll be free to work in Hoofington for as long as you like, as will your descendants for years to come,” he paused to catch his breath. “You shall also be handsomely rewarded for this feat with no less than five thousand gold bits, I take this is sufficient payment, my boy, hmm?”

Brass was baffled to say the least. The amount of bits Platinum was offering was enough to set the pony for a decade to come. He wouldn’t even have to work if he didn’t want to.

“I-I…” he tried to say.

“Heh, I suppose that it was to your liking then? So, do we have a deal?”

The smith calmed down enough to think about the offer. If I do this, I’m free from this guy’s grasp forever, on the other hand should I decline, he looked Platinum in the eye, they glowed evilly with promise that would follow, should he refuse him, then I don’t see myself ever working in smith ever again…

“I’ll do it,” he whispered.

“Speak up, boy, I didn’t hear you,” he said threateningly.

“I said, I’ll do it...my lord.”

“Excellent, I will see to it that the first set of materials are by your smithy this afternoon, you can start early.” The fat pony chuckled to himself, earning a laugh or two from his minions.

I can do it, Alloy told himself and looked towards his companion. With Vess’ help, it’s not impossible, I can do it if I work with minimal amount of sleep, but it can be done. Brass felt a sliver of hope for the first time in a long while in his life.

“Ah yes, that reminds me,” Platinum said, looking over the minotaur that he had requested to come with the artisan. “You there, who are you exactly?”

Vess got very stiff all of sudden, noticing the fat noble’s eyes were on him. He squirmed where he stood, looking to Alloy for help.

Oh crap, I forgot about that…

“M-my lord, if I may speak”? Alloy said nervously.

Platinum turned his gaze towards the artisan again, and motioned for him to make it quick.

Brass stepped a little closer to his ward, motioning towards his big stature. “This is Vektor, a cousin of a friend of mine, that I’ve been tasked to teach our ways while he’s staying here.”

“Interesting,” the noble said. “And pray tell, why doesn’t Vektor speak for himself?”

“He hurt his throat, my lord, he can barely whisper right now.”

“Unfortunate, I would really like to have heard the tale of why a robed, tailless minotaur disturbed the order of my town yesterday, a pity. Well, since he’s incapable of speaking, I guess there isn’t anything else I would keep you here for. You are both dismissed.” He nonchalantly waved them away with his right hoof.

A great sense of relief washed over Alloy, Platinum hadn’t been as interested in Vess as he had previously thought. He motioned for the mage to follow, Vess needed no incentive however and followed right behind him.

Before they got to the door, Platinum smiled maliciously. “Just a moment, ‘dear’ friends.” He turned towards Vess as he was now right in front of the noble.

“I can’t seem to see your face very properly, that hood you have certainly blocks out most of your features, it’s almost like it repels Celestia’s sun itself. Why don’t you take it off, just for me, hmm?”

Vess just stared at the noble that he towered over, failing to comply to Platinum’s request.

“Well, I’m waiting, boy. Don’t tell me that you’re deaf as well? Take. Off. Your. Hood,” he said, a large frown forming on the fat noble’s face.

The mage didn’t seem like he was doing anything, but Alloy could hear faint whisper coming from his breath. It sounded like the bird noises he made when he talked in his own language.

“What, what are you saying? SPEAK UP?!” The noblepony was now so angered that he motioned for his brutes to go and remove the hood for him.

Before they could even get to Vess however, he reached for his grey hood and slowly dragged it back. Alloy gasped as the mage’s disguise came undone as the horns followed with the hood, before stopping a little ways back.

Platinum stared at the tall figure, before letting out a disgusted sigh. “You’re just as ugly as your primitive kin up in the north, get out of my sight before I toss you in a cell for your impertinence.” He angrily waved at Vess and Alloy to be gone.

Vess pulled his tattered hood up again and arduously walked out, like he was depleted of energy, however, Brass was the one lagging behind.

The artisan was in shock as he trotted down the stairs to the main hall. They were both escorted out post haste out from the manor, the golden gate slamming shut with a loud noise as they exited.

Alloy couldn’t believe that Platinum had just dismissed them, after seeing Vess’ face no less.

After they had walked far beyond the noblepony’s estate, Vess got down on one knee, panting heavily as he had been running a marathon.

Quickly, Brass came to his aid, assisting him with what he could, letting the guy lean on him for support.

“What in the world are you?” he asked his companion as he helped him get up and going.

Vess responded only by shifting his hood back a little bit, a smirk on his lips.

o.O.o

In the large granite quarters of an otherwise cold and grey stone building, a middle-aged, dark-skinned man rested his head on his desk, his dark mantle laid across his chair. He glanced at the reports laying before him and sighed.

More failures...damnit.

He was not pleased with the alchemists and the mages, they had promised the utmost results in their new findings, yet when they were provided with the greatest of specimens, they had only led to disappointment.

How many more years do I have to wait for the promise to be fulfilled? Here I sit, rotting away at my desk, waiting for just a hint of what to do next, and the only thing I’m told, is to wait and see…

The man frowned, crumpled the reports in his muscular right hand and slumped back into his chair. Six months, he thought, six months ago, everything changed out of the blue. He had been promising, he had had potential. Then, by a whim, ‘it’ had decided to alter the playing field. Now we’re just told to wait for clarification on the next vessel…

He still couldn’t believe the day, where he had gotten the ‘orders’ of using the relics on his ward. Granted, he had been impatient for the day to come, but it had played out very differently from he had imagined. When the experiment had seemed to gone awry, he had almost stepped in to check on the specimen, only to be blasted into a wall, almost knocked unconscious.

If only that had been the case, he thought, as he hazily remembered the terrifying screams of men and women being boiled to death from the magical heat exuding from the vessel.

He also remembered the strict directive of ‘it’, forbidding the man to intervene further, that his role was not needed for this occasion. The dark-skinned man had fumed at this notion, as he thought he was going to get tricked. He was reassured however to be patient for just a while longer, that his efforts were not going to be in vain and that he would be properly rewarded in the end, as promised.

Normally he would have laughed at such assurance, and if it were a lesser man talking to him, he would have lopped his head off for such insolence. ‘It’ however, was not a lesser man, in fact, he was sure it wasn’t a man at all. After all, ‘It’ never made appeared in front of him, ‘It’ whispered into his mind.

Now, the first time he encountered the voice, decades ago when he was still young and virile, he thought he had gone mad, however every doctor he had asked had assured him that he was perfectly healthy.

First it was simple things like ‘It’ wanting to get to know him better, asking him what his goal was in life. Being the successor of a wealthy merchant dealing in precious gems, he had responded that he would expand the business and accumulate even more wealth and fame for himself. As months passed by, the man and his business growing at an surprising rate, the voice in his head started proposing deals to the man.

The voice proclaimed that it had laid foundation for the man’s wealth and his father before him, and that now, it had even greater plans it would set in motion, if the man was interested.

Driven by avaricious greed and the prospect of power greater than that of the rulers of the continent, the young man had accepted the voice’s deal, and soon the business would see itself relocated to the icy mountains of Skyshard.

Here he was now, decades later, a silver-streaked old man, and still he waited. Wealth he had, power as well, yet it still wasn’t enough, but he was at the voice’s mercy, like he had been his whole life.

Or was he? That day, six months ago, he had done something that he hadn’t considered before. He had disobeyed the voice, whilst indirectly, he had not fully heeded its words that time. When his ward had frantically fled the hold, he had sent words out to a close friend of his, one that, if coming across him, he could take the ward in, and perhaps look after him for the man.

A friend I expected word from sooner, he said while holding a crumpled letter in his left hand.

As by a wish, a familiar knocking came from the quarters thick, wooden doors. Not waiting for a reply they swung open a second later, revealing a rugged old man wearing tattered clothes, a bow on his and with a huge burnmark over the right side of his face.

The man in the chair looked at the figure at the door, and spoke to him, “So, I take it that is why your report was late?” he said and gestured towards the man’s scarred face.

The old man in the doorway only stared at him in reply, as if the question wasn’t relevant in the slightest.

“Either way, come in and have a seat,” he said, motioning for him to sit at the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

The figure complied and with heavy steps he went towards the chair and sat down, still meeting the man’s eyes.

“You look like you’ve been through hell and back.” The dark-skinned man grinned.

The figure continued to stare at him, but after a while he smirked, “He was a damn pain in the ass, that’s fer sure.”

“Yes, I can see that. Honestly, you look like something the wolves dragged in.”

“Hah!” the figure chuckled, “you should take a look in a mirror sometimes, might do ya some good.”

“Heh, well it’s good that you haven’t lost your sense of humour at least,” he said, then his expression became stern. “Now, on to more important matters. Let me hear what you have to report, David.”