Forged of Gold

     When Twilight told Gold to be careful in the Everfree, she wasn't kidding.  The winding paths and the local wildlife didn't exactly make things easy for Gold.  "AAAAAHHHH! WHY DID I AGREE TO DO THIS!"  Gold's current problem?  He took a right when he should have went left, then end result being upsetting a rather ill-tempered jungle cat.  "GO AWAY GO AWAY! I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"  He was in a full sprint, but his pursuer wasn't exactly too keen on giving up the chase just yet.

ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRR

     "SWEET CELESTIA HELP ME! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"  He yelped as he ducked and weaved through the shrubbery.  "IS  ANYPONY OUT THE-"  His plea for help abruptly ended as he noticed a light yellow pegasus through the trees, "HEY! HEY YOU! HELP!"

     The pegasus stiffened and turned to face Gold's direction.  "H-huh...?"

     "HELP ME!"  Gold shrieked as he dove into shrub a few feet away from the pegasus.

     But by now the ferocious feline was already within a few feet of him, claws and teeth beared in agitation.  Gold closed his eyes and mumbled, "Why... why does it have to end like this..."  And with a final gulp, he waited for his demise...

__________

     No more than five minutes had passed before a small voice beckoned to Gold.  "U-Uhm... e-excuse me...?  Y-you can come out now... I-If that's a-alright with you... that is..."

     Gold's ears stood on end, If somepony was talking to him, wouldn't that mean he isn't dead?  But then again, he could've been mortally wounded and an angel is trying to coax him out of the land of the living.  Nonetheless, it didn't stop him from questioning the voice, "Wait... I'm not dead...?"

     "U-uhm... n-no..."  The voice replied.

     "Then what happened to that thing that was chasing me?"

     "O-oh... s-she was just a little grumpy...t-that's all... ...A-are you alright...?"

     Gold poked his head out of the shrubbery.  "Then that was probably my fault... and yes I'm fi-"  He was about to finish his sentence when a pair of light blue eyes froze him in his tracks.  "U-uhh... u-uhh..."  He felt a deep blush rise in his cheeks, and his words escaping his mind.  "A-ah... U-uhh..."  He couldn't finish at all, the voice was a little too quiet at first for him to identify, but after getting untangled from the shrubbery, he discovered the voice belonged to a mare, a rather cute one at that. Nonetheless, the voice belonged to a mare.

     "E-excuse me...?"  She squeaked, "A-are you sure you're a-alright...?"

     "U-uh... y-yeah... I-I'm fine..."

     "...U-uhm..."

     "Y-you wouldn't happen to have seen a... uhh... pony running a-around here with a h-harness of some kind... h-have you?" He asked meekly.

     The mare simply nodded and pointed in the direction going deeper into the woods.

     "T-thanks..." Was Gold's only reply before heading off in the direction he was shown.

__________

     Gold used to be sent on errands to fetch materials from the surrounding areas around Canterlot, but he was never sent off alone for one simple reason.  Gold has no sense of direction.  If you give him verbal instructions, he'll most likely forget them within the hour or so.  That's why his master would either send him off with another apprentice, or give him a map and written instructions.

     But at the current moment, Gold is lost in an unknown forest, no map, and only a direction pointed out by a shy mare to guide him to the thief.  "Why... Why do I always seem to get lost... I should've asked for a map..."  He sighed.  The leaves crunched underneath his hooves, and there was a pleasant breeze flowing in from the north, if he could remember which way north was.  "He's gotta be around here somewhere... C'mon Celestia... give me a sign... anything..."  Luckily for Gold, his prayer was almost immediately answered as he heard some voices up the road.  Gold's ears perked and he quickly hid up aside a tree.  "What's this...?" he murmured.

     "Are you nuts!? I gave you a simple order, and you come back with some harness!? I said 'Zap Apples'! Not 'Harness'!"

     "S-sorry boss..."

     "Ugh... you're useless you know that!?  The Apple family is probably going to send somepony after you! Did you think of that!?"

     "N-no... s-sorry boss..."

     "The Apple family...?" Gold muttered, "That must be the family that owns Sweet Apple Acres..."  Upon closer thought, he facehoofed.  The Apple family. Sweet Apple Acres.  It made perfect sense.  He let out a chuckle at his own revelation, but that soon backfired.

     "You hear that boss?"

     "Yeah, go check it out."

     Gold swallowed, he knew he had to make a move, so he did what he saw another apprentice do.  He jumped out from behind the tree and stood proudly.  "Ah ha! I found you thief! Return what you stole or face the consequences!"

     The pair of thieves started laughing, "You bloody serious? Hey boss! I think this guy is serious! Bwahahah!"

     "Listen kid, you really expect us to listen to somepony like you? You don't even have a weapon! Hahahah!"

     Gold frowned and retrieved his forging hammer from his satchel, "I do have a weapon! And I will be forced to use it if you fail to return the stolen harness!"

     The expressions of the thieves grew serious for a second, but they then returned to laughing.  "You really think that a hammer scares us?  You're just a weak little foal hiding behind a hammer that does nothing!  Why don't you run along and go play before you get hurt?"

     Gold scowled and swung the hammer, surprisingly, it connected with the face of the lackey.

     "ARGH" The lackey cried out before hitting the ground motionless.

     The other pony stared in shock, "Y-you... you knocked out my lackey!"  He then drew his sword and pointed it at Gold, "Prepare to meet your demise!"  He made a jab at Gold, who then quickly deflected it with his hammer.  This dance of jabbing and deflecting continued for a lengthy amount of time and by now Gold was getting a little tired.

     "You're pretty good kid... but you'll never beat me with just a hammer!"

     Gold took a step back, the thief was right, Gold hadn't landed a single blow on him.  He rubbed a cut on his cheek and thought for a second.  "If I want to beat him... I'll have to use magic..."  Gold squinted at the thief, "Fireball... that should do it... now... just gotta remember how to do it..."

     The thief took a stab at Gold.  Gold moved to the side to dodge it, but it connected, leaving a nice gash in his shoulder.  He hissed in pain as he took the blow, but that didn't stop him from beginning the steps he remembered reading in a book.

     "Step one... focus..."

     Gold's assailant began to slash repeatedly at him.  Gold was able to deflect most of the blows with his hammer, leaving only a few cuts from the attacks that he couldn't react to.

     "Step two... pool the magic to your horn and imagine an inferno..."

     The onslaught continued, Gold was fighting back with an exhausted determination that was quickly fading.  "Give up kid! There's no way you can use magic to get yourself out of this one!  Just give up and die!"

     "Step three..." He let out with a sigh, "Release!"  Aiming his horn at the thief, Gold released the fiery cauldron of magic he was building up.  The surrounding area lit up as an explosion erupted from Gold's body.  The thief stared in terror as the light quickly blinding both his and Gold's vision.  Everything went white for them both.

__________

     Gold opened his eyes for a second, his vision completely blurred.  His body stung, whatever he used, it wasn't fireball.  He blinked a couple times, eventually making out a couple figures in his vision.  They looked familiar, but he couldn't place them.

     Voices...  He heard voices.  Frantic voices.  Like the voices you'd hear in the movies, when the hero receives a fatal wound and is on the verge of death.  "Could this really be it?  Did I really overdo it this time?" Gold thought to himself.  As his eyelids lazily drooped, he felt himself get lifted up off the ground and carried off.  The rest fades as does his consciousness.