Celestia's bright sunlight shone through the palace window, shining into the eyes of the palace blacksmith. 'I swear, Celestia chose this room just because I 'dislike' her sun.' He thought as he rose from the bed. He rotated his head in one direction, until he heard a series of cricks, then repeated the process in the opposite direction. Looking over to the mirror, he saw himself, a light grey, silver eyed stallion with a silver mane and tail, and a pointier horn than most unicorns. His flank was adorned with a coat of arms that contained an anvil, a spear, a cuirass, and a fang. 'Time to go to work I 'spose.' Sparing a quick glance at the armoury that adorned his walls, he put on his quartermaster's badge, grabbed one of his sparring weapons, and left for the smithy.
The song of hammer on metal reverberated through the room as the smith repaired his hundredth and final guard's sword. Passing it back to the guard pony, he started, “Here you go, good as new, but you barely use it, remember what I told you 'bout treating your weapon like a partner, not a hunk o' metal! Misuse and disrespect are gonna lead to you breaking it in two!” The smith finished a bit angrily.
“Then I buy a new one, Gray,” The guard pony said, a bit disrespectfully. He then trotted off to the barracks, leaving Gray to himself.
“Foal, it's that kind of thinking that leads to someponies demise,” Gray muttered, as Celestia approached.
“Be easy on them, Gray, it takes time for them to take a new way of thinking into their life.” The sun deity said, approching the counter and looking past it. “Speaking of partners, how is 'she' doing?” She asked.
“Quite well, although I must admit, she was a bit testy, being forced into her old self, but I managed, though I believe she should be more willing to react to your commands after the way I dealt with her,” Gray answered as he went into the back room. When he emerged, he brought forth a long, golden bladed, white-gold shafted spear, with multiple runes engraved at the sides, and the blades arranged like a sun. He passed it to Celestia, his blackish aura being replaced by light blue as she received it. “I 'spose you wouldn't mind me coming along with you for the rest of the day? I'd rather not be roped into training those fillies again, they may be your guard, but they aren't really that worthy of my respect nor my teachings, Sunny,” Gray grumbled.
“I don't see a problem with it, though I wouldn't mind seeing my guard humbled, they are a bit too serious,” Celestia responded, giggling afterwards. “I have to ask though, why must you constantly harass my guard? You already humiliate them with a hoof mounted blade, why insult them?” Celestia asked, as they made way to the main hall.
“Two reasons your royal Sun-Butt; first, it's fun as all Tartarus! Lastly, they refuse to respect my craft, so I refuse to respect them. It's a simple trade, all they had to do is respect the blades, but nuuuuuu, blades are hunks of metal, they don't need respect, they need repairin'!” Gray said, “I apologize, but my art is a bit of a touchy subject.”
“No need, Gray, I feel the same about my sun,” Celestia said with a cheeky grin.
“I knew it!” Gray shouted, “I appreciate the night more and you don't like it, so you gave me the room closest to the sunrise!”
“Why, I would never do such a thing, especially to one of my little ponies!” Celestia rebuked in false astonishment.
“Sure, and I'm Santa Hooves,” Gray rolled his eyes. “Out of curiosity, how is your 'faithful student', I never got to meet her, considering what you said that she'll do for 'science',” Gray failed to hide a shudder, never been one for the science-y types.
“She's fine,” she said. “Though she is getting a bit more reclusive, I may need to send her somewhere where she would be forced to make friends.”
“You're really cutting it close, Sunshine. I know you are very confident in our combined abilities, but the best we could do is lock her away in Tartarus, and I don't know how long that would last. Grimm already warned me about the last time I locked something that powerful in there, though to be fair, he is a lot more powerful than she is,” Gray said, somewhat seriously. That night would be hectic, and one he hoped to not get involved in. The only thing more entertaining thing would be his return, but Celestia was still sore over that, despite only being a new alicorn at the time.
“You're right, for once,” Celestia smirked, and then stared right into Gray's silvery eyes. “I won't ask you to do that, but I do have a favour to ask.”
“What is it, your Royal Sun-Butt?” Gray asked.
“If my student does indeed figure it out, and a confrontation occurs, I want you to stall her if things look bleak.”
“And if she doesn't figure it out?”
“Then we are, as my little ponies say, bucked.”
“She is coming back, I can't believe it, after a full millennium, I may get one of my best friends back, but if this doesn't work, my friend will be trying to kill me. Buck, it would be less complicated if he was coming back, but nope, I may have to deal with hostility first. I'm excited, yet nervous, I'm... A-HA! I'm nervous-cited! I totally made that up, I did not steal it from a pink mare from a non-canon movie who breaks the same wall I am currently breaking!” Gray said to his... mirror. (Pinkie: WHO STOLE MY CUPCAKES! I meant word, yeah, a word from the future of an alternate dimension Pinkie Pie, that's me!) Putting his work gear up, he looked upon a specific blade on his wall. A blade as random as the emotions of the one who made it, and only a percentile as chaotic as the one who imbued an infinitesimal piece of his power into it. 'Sheogorath, you may be used yet...' With that thought, the blade shivered upon the wall, wanting to spread sweet, sweet chaos with each swing. The blade was pink, yep pink, cutlass with a violet handle and what appeared to be a chocolate ball pommel. It also had the proper attachments required to transfer it into a hoof mounted blade, but he would have to use his magic if the confrontation went sour. Taking the blade and wrapping it in a grey blanket, he flared his magic, and the wall turned, revealing a very well kept armour ensemble. The armour appeared to be made of mostly bone plates, with ebony chain mail covering the parts that plates couldn't be affixed. The helmet appeared to be fashioned from a dragon's skull, the two horns jutting out where Gray's ears would be.
Looking at this armour, one would think that another dragon would be offended, but that would be the furthest from the truth. This style of smithing is learnt from the dragons themselves, and would require bones selected from only the outlaws of the dragon tribe, because the bones of the righteous would not bend. Gray was one of the only ones to have been taught this craft, and kept in regular correspondence with the tribe. In return for some of the rarer gems he found during his travels, the dragons would send him some of the bones required for his craft. You didn't actually think Gray would use such a weak metal to make Celestia's spear, please, the blade is made from sharpened dragon bone, as is the shaft, with an ebony rod at the centre, to keep its structure, the runes are what gives it its appearance.
Grabbing a quill, Gray started a letter:
Dear Rose Thorne,
I really must thank you for the last shipment of dragon bones. For a medium sized fire ruby, I was actually expecting much less. I have gotten permission from Princess Celestia to warn you of 'her' return, and I feel I must, old friend. I have also been told to tell you to wait five hours after the time of the sunrise, and if the moon is still up, Celestia wanted you to... burn the Everfree forest. We all know that would be 'her' base of operations, and at least we would be able to start off this possible war with an advantage. I wouldn't dream of asking you to help any more than I asked already. I have asked Celestia about the egg I got from you, Spike(his name) is currently living with the mare who hatched him, Celestia's faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Spike seems to thrive more on knowledge than gems, though he still likes them for a snack, but does not need them for nutrition like you do. I have suspicions, and the fact that he has no wings only proves me right, but I need more info to be sure. Breath fire on the rune on the bottom of this letter to receive ten pounds of diamond dust. Hopefully that would cover the favour and some future shipments.
Your friend, The One in Between.
Putting the crate in his corner into the rune, he started towards the main hall again, to get Celestia to send the letter.
“Even I didn't think you would do that, Sunny.” Gray muttered as he got closer to the hall. Celestia was usually one for rational thought, and was almost extremely pacifistic, except under one condition. If a direct threat was laid bare to her little ponies. She would release a small solar flare on any nation that would dare the annihilation of her subjects. She couldn't do so now because the threat came from within her own nation, and a solar flare would no doubt wipe out half of Equestria. She needed something less destructive, but just as, or even more powerful than herself. 'She needs the Elements of Harmony. But she risks the Elements by not fetching them herself, for what? Because her students cutie mark is the very incarnation of magic. I get that, but to risk Equestria on the off chance that Twilight, a recluse, would make five friends who would just so happen represent the other elements?' Gray shook his head, 'I need to have more faith in her, Sun-Butt did choose her for a reason.' He arrived in the main hall shortly after that thought.
“Here you go, one fancily written request, surrounded with info, business, and payment for said business and request. Anything else before I leave for Ponyville, your Royal Sun-Butt?” Gray asked. Celestia rolled her eyes and smiled at his inability to be formal.
“Yes, make some friends, maybe you might get out more, staying cooped up in this castle is not good for one who has the freedom to do otherwise. Maybe I would transfer you if you made enough to miss Ponyville dearly.” Celestia grinned. Despite the teasing, she meant it. She couldn't be his only friend, especially since his only other friends are trapped in masses of stone, though he can still 'see' one of them.
“I'll... try, but even you know that I won't keep very many once they learn about that,” Gray sighed.
“Then you will treasure the ones that stay even more, and the bond of friendship would become even stronger. Maybe you'll even find the one,” Celestia said with a cheekier grin.
“Yes, because odds are that of all places, I would find a special somepony in a small town near the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria,” Gray rolled his eyes. “Well, I must be off, the help must be tired of carrying my armour, so I may as well hurry along, and, before I go, are you sure you want to send me? Because there won't be much left of the Everfree if they took over her mind completely.”
“You are also the only one who resisted them from the beginning, so you know how to stop them.”
“I had help, from a friend, but you know that it caused, this, to happen to me.”
“I know.” Celestia sighed, she had not meant to bring that up, but it was a valid point, no matter how sore a spot it hit. A few moments of awkward silence occurred after that.
“Well, see you at the Summer Sun Celebration.”
Author's Note
Authors Note: Well this is officially my first venture into the mlp fandom. I have been a brony for a while, but I never contributed until now. Hopefully it won't be my last contribution either, but that is up to you guys to decide. I know that an OC centric story is probably a bad way to start, but I hope it goes over well. If not, then I would probably move on to a new story. I just want to see what you guys want. I started off writing some Ahem, mature stuff. I was fourteen, didn't go over so well. Then I wrote some Naruto fanfiction. Pulled it out of my arse. Got to twelve chapters and a decent 20,000 words, before I ran out of ideas and did a crossover of half that length, hitting the same problem. I have a beginning, and an end, but I almost never have the trail planned out, and it is a problem I still have, so if it seems a bit rushed, I apologize. If you are wondering about my fanfictions, likely not though, I was on fanfiction.net, under the username William Lord of the Dark Flames. I was formerly known as Habs2013? I can't even remember anymore. I abandoned fanfiction a while ago over the crackdown on fics, and I only ever visit it to check out some of my favourite fics on there. And while I'm at it I may as well say that I'm learning to play ocarina and that I genuinely have an intrest in smithing.
