Forged of Gold

     Gold sat up and rubbed his head, "Ugh... Morning already?"  He looked at the clock on the wall "9 AM.  Great, perfect, now to get out of here..."  With a stretch Gold climbed out of the hospital bed, pulling off the wires and such that were connected to him.  "Wait a second, " He mumbled, "There's no pain... and the only thing I feel is a little stiffness... either I'm on some sort of pain medication... or the doc was right when he said my rate of recovery was high..."  As he finished his little revelation to himself, the door opened and Doc Harvard entered.

     "Oh? You're up and about already? Perfect, let me get your paperwork to sign then you can leave."  Gold nodded and waited for him to return with the paperwork.  "Alright, just sign here and you're free to go."  Gold levitated a pen to the board and signed the paperwork.  The doc looked a little wary for a second as Gold used his magic to move the pen.  "Just make sure the next time I see you, it's not for the same reason, okay?" he said with a chuckle.

     Gold laughed, "Alright, thanks doc." And with that, he gathered up his personal items and left the hospital, only to find himself hopelessly lost again.  "Great... lost again... why does this always happen... wait... what am I thinking... I have a map!"  He dug around in his satchel and pulled out his map, which then promptly disintegrated into ash.  His eyes widened and his jaw dropped, "Y-you gotta be kidding me... that was... my only map..."  Gold took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, "Okay... relax... no need to freak out... You can find your way back to the library... it can't be that hard, can it?"  With a puff of determination, Gold proceeded to wander the streets of Ponyville with the intent of finding the library again.

     The streets of Ponyville may be familiar to most ponies in Equestria, but not for Gold. It's a giant tree for Celestia's sake... Not a needle in a haystack... He thought as he rounded what looked like a gingerbread house for the sixth time.  And that gingerbread house isn't helping at all... I'm bloody hungry...  Everything looked so different, true the streets were not as winding as the streets of Canterlot, but the layout of the town was making it difficult for him just to remember which street he had gone down previously.  Maybe I should head back to the hospital... maybe they would know where I need to go to get to the library...  Gold stood still for a few moments before facehoofing, "I can't go back to the hospital... I don't even remember which way it was..." he groaned.

Growwwwllll

     Gold clutched his stomach, "I should've checked to make sure the map was in good shape... now I'm stuck out here... with no food... no map... and no idea where to go..."  He looked at the gingerbread house for the ninth time now, "I'll ask for directions... just once..."  Heaving a sigh, Gold was about to enter the house when a familiar smell began to drift into his nostrils.  "Wait... that smell... it's... ...iron... and the billows... it's done already?"  According to the doctor, it had only been 3 days, there's no way that the forge could have possibly been finished within that time.  Nonetheless, Gold's curiosity was peaked.  "Well, you know what they say, 'Where there's smoke, there's fire.'  And I haven't smelled that before in this town, so the forge must be finished."  He said with a chuckle as he followed the aroma through town.  "Either that, or I just need to take a shower, hehehe..."

__________

     In a matter of minutes, the library came within Gold's sight, "Alright! And, is that?"  There was another building near the library, it looked like a small shed with a large chimney jutting out the top.  And emitting from that chimney was the very smell Gold had grown up with for years.  "Ha ha! It is done!"  He quickly approached the shed and entered, the doors being wide open.

     "Eh? Who are you?"  There was a unicorn stallion in the shed, he looked rather worn but tough at the same time.  Like a stallion who has seen it all.

     "You Heart Gold?" The stallion asked with a gruff voice.

     Gold was a little weary of him, but he felt comfortable considering the stallion was a unicorn, "Yeah, I'm Gold. Who are you?"

     The stallion turned to face Gold, the blazing furnace behind him added an aura of intimidation.  "I am Shapestone.  The master who built this fine smithy.  I will be leaving, but first, I have one question. Do you think you are worthy to call yourself a blacksmith and use this forge?"

     Gold took a few steps forward and with a fiery glint in his eye he responded bravely, "No, I don't think I'm worthy.  I know I'm worthy!"

     Shapestone grinned, He's just like him..., "Alright.  Go for it.  I pray that Celestia and Luna will bless your projects.  If you have any questions or would like to expand, you can find me in the old refinery building at the base of the mountain in the horizon."

     "Canterlot?"

     "No no no!  The other one!  You know, the one that Ponyville was having dragon problems with?"

     "Oh, heheh, right, that one."  Gold facehoofed and Shapestone chuckled.

     "Don't worry about it.  Now I must be leaving.  I have a quota to meet."  And with a quick bow he left, leaving Gold to bask in the glory of his new playground.

     "This is gonna be great!" He chimed to himself.  "I'll definitely be able to get this request finished for Chief Grandforge before the Winter Wrap-up!"  Gold began to examine the forge more carefully.  The floor was reasonably clean, that was soon to change, as Gold planned to get it plenty dirty with soot and ash.  The tools were organized neatly on the wall and easily accessible.  The anvil was nice and weathered, just like the one back home he thought to himself.  Gold giggled like a young school-filly, "This is gonna be great!"

      "So this is where you've been?  I went to see you at the hospital... but they said you weren't there! Do you know how worried I was?"  Worried?  Twilight was worried about him?  Gold looked a little embarrassed, Does she care about me...? ...Wait... we just met... so that can't be possible... can it?

     Twilight let out a little sigh of annoyance, "Do you know how hard it is to find cooperative research subjects?"

     Gold shuffled his hooves, "S-sorry Twilight..."

     "It's okay, I found you, but don't do that again. Now what say we get to science, hmm?" She said while a box floated in and set itself neatly on the floor.  "In that box is everything you need to get started with a basic iron item, show me what you can do Gold!"

     "U-uhh..." I'm supposed to work on the Cheif's project... But I also made a deal with Twilight...  Gold heaved a sigh and levitated his hammer up with a meek smile.  "O-okay...!"