Of Love and Hammers

Apple bloom sat with her legs hanging over the perimeter fence of Sweet Apple Acres that sat along the dirt road that lead to their homestead . The sun shone brightly over head, and they hadn't had much to do today, mostly just barn repairs that Aj and Big Mac could do alone, so she decided to just relax for now. She flexed her fingers from the two hours of apple picking that they had just completed. She with fidgeted the bow that tied her hair in place as she watched the ponies carrying along their days in the street.

She offered to help them repair the barn, since her special talent was building things, but they insisted she go off and enjoy herself. Applebloom had asked Sweetie Belle to hang out, but she was working on her music. Scootaloo was also out of the picture, helping Sweetie Belle with her choreography.

Up the road came her friend Dinky Do, a short lanky unicorn with a pale purple coat and a medium length blonde mane, she was wearing a blue top and jeans, Derpy’s daughter. "Hey Dinky, whatcha' doin?" She called. Dinky was still in school, having only another year till graduation, she would sometimes call on Apple Bloom and her friends for advice and tutoring when she couldn’t quite get the subject.

"I was actually coming to ask you a question." Said the young unicorn. "My mom has to make a big delivery outside of town and I was wondering if you could help us move it." Jumping up Apple Bloom motioned for her to lead on.

"Any idea what this big delivery is?" She asked. Her companion just shrugged. "Well what could be so heavy it requires three of us to move it?"

"Mom said something about a blacksmith so it might be some metal." Seemed reasonable. There were plenty of blacksmiths in Ponyville, though most were on the outskirts of town, not outside of town completely.

They reached Derpy outside the Post Office just as the large crate was dropped by a group of crystal pegasi "This is pure crystal iron from the heart of the Crystal mountains, be very careful, until it is heat treated by dragons fire, or the core of the sun," he said with a small chuckle. "It is highly fragile, one small bump and it could be smashed into millions of tiny pieces, making it only dust."

His warning was all they needed to make sure to be extra careful. Slowly they picked it up and began toward the smithy outside of town. It was a slow trip, one in which they had to stop many times to keep from dropping the heavy ore. Once they were halfway there, a familiar voice spoke from behind them. "Hey ladies!"

Carefully setting down the crate and turning around they spotted Spike walking up, his long tail dragging the ground and his long legs carrying him up the road in a few steps. He wore a green shirt that matched the scales along his head, and purple trousers that matched his abdominal scales.   "Hey Spike, what ya doin' out this way?" Applebloom asked him.

"I got a job with the blacksmith out here, he pays me to help around the forge and start a fire. Need any help? Looks like this is going to the boss anyway." He said motioning toward the large box.

“Another helping hand couldn’t hurt.” Said Derpy, lifting her side of the box slightly so Spike could get a good grip.

They nodded and continued on toward the smithy. With an extra set of arms they progressed much faster than before. Within another ten minutes they had reached the forge, it was a run down old building that tilted to one side slightly. The wooden planks making up the outside seemed rotten and craggly. Multiple large chimneys sprouted from corners of the building, oddly for a forge, no smoke found its way from the chimneys. It seemed like a frontier ponies old home, abandoned and eerie.  "Are ya sure he's even home?" Applebloom asked unsurely.

Spike nodded and walked over to the front doors of the building, two metal doors that seemed like they would fall off at the slightest nudge. "Boss I’m here, you have a package." As he finished his statement a loud clanging was heard from inside the building, followed by what sounded like glass dropping and a cat having its’ tail stepped on.

After a moment a black unicorn with what seemed to be an odd grey patch of hair starting at the corner of its mouth burst through the double doors, his black mane ruffled slightly. "Is it really here? Has it finally arrived? Oh by Discords pubes this is amazing!" He yelled before running over to the box.

Spike snickered at the stallion. "Boss you got a little something... everywhere." Giving him a strange look the stallion looked himself over before his horn lit up and a puff air blew the soot from his coat. He was a pale grey, with a rustic brown mane that held streaks of black and still seemed rather, if not more, unkempt. He wore an oceanic blue shirt and a pair of thick wool pants that had faded from a clean grey color to a black and brown color, presumably from getting slightly too close to a flame.

"Iron Horn?!" Asked Apple Bloom slackjawed; a blush creeping onto her face.

"The one and only." He said before running up and kicking the crate. The girls all collectively gasped as he pulled out the dust with his magic, defeating the purpose of their slow and careful walk here. Running his hand through the dust he muttered to himself. "It's beautiful!"

"It's dust." Said Dinky.

"It's more than dust!” He exclaimed to the girl. “ The Samurai ponies of Neighpon used this exact kind of dust to create the finest swords to ever grace that half of the world. The sword smiths of edo Neighpon used diamond iron dust pulled from the mountain of the gods to forge the weapons that would be made for the aristocracy to combat rebellion and the growing threat of armed civilians in their villages. This dust was a revolution!"

He carried a large amount of the dust inside the forge with his magic and slammed the doors behind him with a loud thud, leaving the rest for his assistant to get later. Spike smiled sheepishly at the trio before speaking. “So uh… he’s kinda excited about this stuff. I’ll see you guys later.” He turned and entered the workshop.

“Applebloom are you okay?” Asked Dinky, looking at her friend who was trying to hide her blush behind a yellow hand.

Applebloom shook her head and turned to her friend. “Yeah, ah was just a little shocked. Ain’t no pony seen Iron Horn since we graduated.” She said staring at the door. She had always wanted to be friends with Iron Horn; he always seemed lonely, surrounding himself with drawings small gadgets than actual ponies. He was very secluded, never really talking to the other ponies, just sitting alone in his little corner of the class.

The day he got his cutie mark he opened up slightly, mostly because he knew he could make money off of the talent. Even Diamond Tiara’s father asked him to make DIamond’s tiara. He got payed a 100 bits for the act, not nearly enough for the craftsmanship that went into the jewelry.

The day they graduated he didn’t attend the ceremony, instead having the diploma mailed to him. His parents said he was taking a trip to Trottingham to serve as an apprentice under a renowned blacksmith in the area, but after six months of hearing nothing, ponies just assumed he couldn’t take the work and ran off, becoming a jeweler's assistant in Manehatten or elsewhere instead.

Now here he was, this strange colt, living  just outside of town.

“Well regardless, how about muffins on me?” Asked Derpy, breaking the silence between them.

Spike looked around the cluttered shop, just like it was when he first saw it. “Spike, get your scaly tail in here!” Yep, nothing had changed since he started working here. “This fire needs to be about 800 degrees celsius, so really give it your all.” Spike nodded and took a deep breath. He let out a long, intense flame from his maw. The flames roared through the strange furnace, catching the coal dust and the rest of the contents a blaze.

“So…” Spike began when the fire was properly lit. “Applebloom seemed happy to see you.” He said looking at his boss. Iron Horn just nodded and shoveled the dust inside the furnace.  “I bet she likes you.”

The stallion just shoveled more dust into the flames. “Look Spike, I’m not exactly a pony who goes outside his boundaries. Dating isn’t exactly my, forte, nor mares. I’d rather be in here anyways, with my beautiful metal.” Scooping the last of the metal dust into the forge.

“Ya sure? Because I’m pretty good friends with Bloom, I could always put in a good word…”

Iron Horn looked at his companion with a deadpan look. “I’m sure, now get ready. For the next three days we’ll be working this forge.” Spike groaned and grabbed his apron’ it was gonna be a long three days.