Forged of Gold

(I want to apologize for not getting this chapter out sooner, I've been super busy and havent had a good chance to sit and write. So for your reading pleasure, This chapter will be a bit longer than the other two. Enjoy!)

     Gold had made a valid point to himself, Chief Grandforge didnt give him any instructions on where he was supposed to go to begin forging in Ponyville.  And on top that, Gold had no where to stay in Ponyville either.  "Great... now what am I supposed to do?  I could try wandering around till I find a forge... but then again... I could just end up getting lost..." He mumbled to himself.  "Well, It's a good thing I grabbed that map from the station earlier... or I would be totally in a ditch" Snickering at what he thought was funny, he levitated a map out of his saddlebags and began to examine it.  His focus was entirely on finding a forge until his eyes met with the building-er-tree labled "Library".  Golds eyes shone, "A library..." He said aloud, "I wonder if they have any books on magic..."  With a determined nod, he folded the map and placed it back into his bag before trotting towards the library.

     It was strange, Gold had just arrived in Ponyville, yet he already felt like he lived here.  "Everypony here has a different vibe than the ones in Canterlot," He thought aloud.  "Much more inviting and warm..."  Wandering about, his thoughts drifted as the atmosphere of Ponyville and the ideas what the library might have on magic captivated him.  The forge could definitely wait, Gold was never able to really study magic when he was at the Silver Guild, so a chance like this was almost impossible for him to pass up.

     "Oof!" Caught up in his thoughts, he walked straight into somepony else, "Oh, umm... sorry miss, I uhh... didn't see you there."  Gold was used to running into ponies when he was on a project so it didn't bother him much.  This wavy, blue-maned mare that he bumped into seem to be mortified by the contact.

     "OH...MY...WORD..." She exclaimed.  Gold tilted his head, there was a small dark patch of ash on the mare's otherwise pristine white coat.

     He raised an eyebrow, "Um... Excuse me?"

     Turning to face Gold, her eyes shrunk and her jaw dropped as she saw him. "...You're..."

     Gold took a step forward, "...Uhh ...What?" What was this mare's problem? He thought to himself.

     She took a step back, "...You're so..."

     Gold was defineably confused by now and made it evident with a sigh, "...I'm sorry... I uhh... don't quite understand...What are you talking about miss?"

     The mare gulped and screamed at the top of her lungs, "YOU'RE SO FILTHY!!!!" And with that outburst, she galloped away as fast as she could in the opposite direction.  Gold stood there dumbfounded, "What...?" He looked down at his hooves and craned his head to look at the rest of his body.  "I'm filthy...?"  It didn't bother him much, he normally went a couple days without bathing due to constantly working at the forge.  "Why bother cleaning up when you're just gonna get dirty in a matter of moments?" was the common excuse amongst the others at the Guild.  Gold couldn't help but wonder If he should clean up a bit...  "Maybe, But I have more pressing matters to attend to," He said with a smirk as he continued his trek towards the library.

__________

     After wandering around for a bit, Gold finally made it to his destination.  "The library!" He grinned, "I hope they have a lot of materials on magic!"  Containing his excitement, he trotted up to the door of the library and knocked on it.  "Hello? Are you open today?"  He waited for a few moments before realizing the door was unlocked.  "Oh... heheh... whoops..."  Gold walked into the library and looked about.

     His eyes were wide as he gazed upon the contents of the library.  The shelves were jam packed to the holding capacity of books.  "Of Mice and Stallions", "Derpy's guide to Equestria", and "Huckleberry Hooves", the variety of the novels all seemed very interesting, but there was one book that caught his eye.  A thick, black covered book on the top shelf labled "Mastery of Magic".  Gold giddily hopped up and down as he saw it, "Alright! Perfect!" He began to lift the book out of the shelf, "I can't wait to-huh...?"

     The book wouldn't budge. "H-hey...whats going on?"  The book wouldn't come off the shelf, it was almost as If somepony, or even worse, something was keeping the book in place.  Gold growled in annoyance as he magnified his magical intensity to move the book.  The book gave way a little, "Yes!"  But as soon as he spoke, the intensity at which the book was being pulled back magnified hundred-fold, yanking the book through the bookshelf and Gold up and over it.  "AHHHHGG!!!!"  He screamed as he sailed over the bookshelf and hit the floor.

CRAAAASSSHHHH

     "Owwww..." Gold grunted as he rubbed his head, "What the hay was tha-" His words were cut off as a pair of lavender eyes stared back at him.  "Oh...uh..." He mumbled as he fumbled up to his hooves, "I-I'm really sorry miss... If I knew that somepony else was trying to grab the book I would've let go..."

     She stood upright and faced Gold, "Oh no no no! It was my bad, I shouldn't have yanked it that hard" She said as she reorganized some books that had fallen out of the shelf when the book was yanked through.

     There was something about this mare that Gold liked.  He found his eyes wandering down the lavender mares figure, he kinda lost all thought for a moment, but he quickly snapped back upright to attention when she shifted her eyes to his.  Clearing her throat, she spoke, "I haven't seen you around here before, You new to Ponyville?"

     "O-ohh...U-uhh...yeah," Gold responded nervously.  Mares, Gold was always awkward around mares.  Every once and a while a mare would drop by the Guild to check up on an order, but other than that, Gold was always surrounded by stallions.  So the fact that he just practically knocked this lass over, and that she caught him gazing at her just made the entire situation twenty percent more awkward than usual for him.

     Turning to face Gold, she smiled and offered her hoof, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, what's yours?"  Gold slowly raised his hoof to hers, "Umm...Heart Gold."  He shook her hoof firmly, but her response was gingerly made as she caught a glance at Gold's bandaged hooves.  "Umm...If you dont mind me asking... Why are your hooves bandaged?"  Gold looked down at his hooves then back at Twilight to see a concerned expression on her face.

     "Oh these?" Gold raised his hooves, "They're... uhh... nothing to worry about Miss Sparkl-"

     "Twilight," She interrupted, "Just Twilight is fine Mr. Gold."

     Gold let out a snicker, "Just Gold is fine, I dont normally go by my first name anyways."

     With honorifics out of the way, Twilight raised her previous question.  "So...Uhh... why are your hooves bandaged Gold?"

     He grinned "Well... uh... working with smoldering metals isn't exactly the safest thing to do... I guess you can say they're wrapped to protect them... I'm a blacksmith..."

     "Ohh, I see, the layer of ash on your coat" She began to say as she took a look at his cutie mark, "Your cutie mark speaks for itself too," She said with a giggle. Gold looked at his flank, a rough-shaped, golden heart with a hammer and anvil in the center was the mark he was blessed with at birth, it gave the excuse he was destined to work at the forge, but Gold couldn't help but think it meant more than that.  Twilight was ready to ask another question when Gold's stomach let out a deep growl.  Gold blushed, "Err...sorry... I haven't eaten since I left..."  Twilight giggled, "That's quite alright Gold, I was just about to whip something up to eat myself.  Would you care to join me?"

     Gold glanced at his stomach as it made another low gurgle before looking back up at Twilight, "Uhh...sure!  Thanks!"  Twilight nodded and smiled, "Alrighty, follow me then."  With that she trotted up the stairs and opened a door to the second floor.

     "So, you live here in the library?"  Gold spoke up as he followed her up the stairs and into the upper room.

     Twilight turned to face him as he entered the upper floor, "Why yes I do, I run this place with my assistant Spike."  As she spoke she motioned over to a chair by the table.  "Take a seat, please!" She said with a smile.  Gold quickly heeded her request and sat at the table as she trotted into the kitchen.  "What would you like to eat?

     "Anything that doesn't cause you much trouble to prepare would be fine," Gold was being rather modest with his request, normally he'd eat ten plate-fulls of whatever was at the table for dinner, and still be hungry for ten more!

     "Okay then... Daffodil sandwiches and hay-fries it is!" His stomach growled again.  Hay-fries, out of all the foods, hay-fries were Gold's favorite.  If there was any food he would be caught with eating while working, (Which was discouraged at the Silver Guild) It was hay-fries.

     Cozy, that was definitely the word Gold would use to describe Twilight's room.  The warm atmosphere and the smell of food cooking reminded him of his own room back at the Silver Guild, except with one main difference, how clean the room was.  Books were organized on the shelves by title, author, and subject.  The floor was immaculate, not a single spot of dust or a misplaced item was left laying about.  "Hmm...Somepony is quite the tidy one..."  He mumbled as he continued to gaze around the room.

     "Say, Gold?" Twilight chimed from the kitchen, "Where are you from again?"

     "Canterlot... I was sent from the Silver Guild," Gold responded quietly.

     Gold was suddenly taken aback as Twilight rushed out from the kitchen and right up next to him, "Wait, as in THE Silver Guild?"

     "Uhh, yeah?  There isn't any other Silver Guild that I know of so... That's the one."

     Twilight's face suddenly lit up, "So you're THE Heart Gold!?  Like the one who won that competition with the moonstone jewelry for Princess Luna!?"

     Gold started to shrink back, "Uhh... Yeah... that's me..."

     "Wow! That's amazing! I've always wanted to study how magic is used through the forging process!" She said while leaning in closer to Gold.

     Gold, however, wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Twilight was, "...I don't use magic during the forging process..."

     Twilight gained a sudden look of shock before reeling back, "You don't use magic!? But you're a unicorn! How can you NOT use magic!?"  Gold's ears went back as he cast his gaze to the table.

     "Other than telekinesis... I can't use magic during the forging process... My magic is unstable... so It always ends up rather... explosive..." This bit of information was rather embarrassing for Gold to admit, but it was true, despite his experience while forging, magic was an entirely different thing for him. "Besides, I don't think studying me is a good idea..."

     Twilight grinned, "Of course is! Here, let me make you a deal."

     "Okay...I'm listening..." Gold tilted his head inquisitively.

     "I'll order a forge to be added on to my house, you live here with me and let me study your process of forging. And I will teach you how to control your magic properly. Deal?"  She stuck her forehoof out to ensure that Gold was positive about this.

     Gold thought about her offer... It made sense... Gold had no place to stay, nor did he have a forge to work at.  And Twilight also seemed pretty capable of teaching him, especially considering she was the one who flung him up and over that bookshelf...  "Alright... I'll do it.  That's definitely a reasonable offer..."

     Her eyes shone, "Okay! I'll go place the order for the forge! *cough* Just *cough* What is that smoke!?"

     Gold craned his neck to look over into the kitchen, "Uhh... The food? Perhaps?"

     "OH NO!!!!!"