Phoenix heaved on the bellows and sent a fresh wave of heat scorching across the stuffy and smoky atmosphere that was the workshop. Phoenix heaved again and his sweat rolled over his eyebrow and dripped onto his cheek. He reached up and brushed away the little droplet and left behind a coating of soot and ash. Phoenix continued his labor and got the forge to the proper heat, almost unbearable.
Flash burn, Phoenix's father, reached inside the forge with a pair of metal tongs, drawing out the glowing white piece of steel they had been shaping for the past three hours. Flash burn didn't hesitate to place the piece of steel on the cast iron anvil and start hammering it into the desired shape. Phoenix would have watched his father go through the motions of shaping a piece of steel, but today was the day he got to help. He had never been allowed to help before.
Phoenix quickly took the barrel of water that was near the forge and positioned it beside his father. He then went over to the dark corner of the workshop and dug out more wood for the forge, almost getting bit by a Centipede for his troubles. Phoenix quickly returned to the forge and dumped the logs of wood into the fire, sending up a shower of sparks into the air.
"Careful..."
Phoenix silently scolded himself for rushing around and forgetting to slowly place the wood in so that the fuel wouldn't burn out as fast. Phoenix turned his head to apologize to his father for his mistake but Flash burn had never broken his gaze away from his work. Phoenix allowed himself a break to watch as his father sprinkled ash and soot onto the metal and continued to hammer away at it. He still didn't understand what the purpose for that was.
Flash burn quickly dunked the piece of metal into the barrel of water sending steam spewing around his blackened and scarred face. Flash burn then placed the metal onto the grate in the forge and moved to the other set of bellows on the other side of Phoenix. Together they heaved on the bellows and brought the forge back up to heat. At his father's signal, Phoenix stood back from his bellows and went to get more wood for the fire.
This time, Phoenix dropped each log in carefully and more evenly, spreading the heat around so the metal was properly fired. They only had a few minutes for break until they had to go back to work, Phoenix took this time to ask questions.
"Hey pops? Why do you put ash and soot onto the metal while you hammer it?"
Phoenix had to raise his voice slightly because of the roaring coming from the forge.
"Well, it makes it stronger."
Phoenix could tell he wasn't going to get anymore answers out of his father so he let it drop for another time.
Phoenix stretched his soar limbs and stepped out into the night air, it felt like eight in the afternoon. Phoenix's father was still in the workshop, adding finishing touches to the metal. Phoenix had been dismissed to go inside the house and wash up before heading to bed. He had school tomorrow.
Phoenix groaned as he thought about the torment of a new hear in school. At least his teacher seemed nice. In school, Phoenix wasn't as popular as he could be, A lot of people tried to make friends with him because his dad was famous and wanted the attention. The only problem was, that Phoenix had noticed a group of Ponies that split off from the main crowd of Ponies and kept to themselves. On the first day of school Phoenix had made two new friends, real friends, and had lost all the attention that had been offered to him. A win, win in his books.
However, this was a new year, that meant that he may not be able to see his friends as often for one reason or another. Phoenix brushed the dark thought off as he approached the front door into the house. The Burn family had been given a lot of property because they had been recruited as one of the leading Blacksmiths for the royal guard. So the Work shop had been built away from the house and made from stone, to prevent it from burning down. The house on the other hoof, was built out of wood and stone combined. The house was old but it was as durable as any of the metal his father crafted. It wasn't too big either, the Burn family had been known as the ponies made of Iron with hearts of Gold, Phoenix prided himself with knowing that he wasn't spoiled as he could have been, instead his parents gave money away to research and places that needed food and such.
Phoenix opened the door into the house and smelt the wonderful smell of something baking in the oven.
"I'm back mom!" He called
Phoenix dusted himself off as best he could but only managed to make himself even dustier. Phoenix raised his head as he heard hoof steps coming from the kitchen and heard the familiar chirp of his mother.
"Hello! Did you have fun? Was it exciting?" Phoenix couldn't see his mom due to the wall blocking his view.
"It was great! I got really dirty though, I'm gonna go take a shower and go to bed." Phoenix answered
"Wow! You are heading to bed on your own? Dad must have tired you out more than I thought he would." Came his Mother's sarcastic yet happy reply.
Phoenix just rolled his eyes and head up the stairs to shower and get some sleep.
He stepped into his bathroom and turned the nobs on the shower to start up the hot water. Phoenix didn't think he would ever take a cold shower, even after a days work in the sweltering heat of the workshop. Phoenix walked over to the mirror that hung over his sink and stared at his sooty face. The blackish soot was smeared over the left half of his face where he had drew his hoof over it.
Underneath the soot was his deep red coat that seemed to absorb the black from the soot. Phoenix moved his eyes up towards the top of his head where he saw the sweaty tangle that had once been his mane, the black locks were most certainly in knots now. He sighed and leaned towards the mirror, looking himself in the eye. Phoenix was fascinated by his eye color and always had been, they were a light blue that contrasted the rest of his colors, they didn't even match his mother's or his father's. Shrugging, Phoenix turned back towards the shower and tested the water to make sure it was right. It was.
Phoenix stepped into the water and felt it slide across his sweat caked pelt, washing away the grime. Phoenix closed his eyes and smiled, he liked showers for some reason, it gave him time to think. Phoenix's mind wandered as it always did but it stopped a troubling subject of his. He hadn't gotten his Cutie mark yet. Phoenix knew that for his age that was perfectly fine, but he still felt as if he was pressured to be good at what his family had always been good at.
Phoenix shut off the water and dried himself off with a towel before stepping out of the tub and entering his room again. He glanced around before he yawned and flopped down on his bed and rested his aching muscles, tomorrow was going to be fun either way.
Phoenix woke up staring up at the ceiling and groaned as he heard his mother calling to him. "Get up honey! First day of school!" Phoenix groaned again when she reminded him that it was school, as if that was supposed to cheer him up. Phoenix untangled himself from his blanket and fell out of his bed with a thump.
"Everything all right?"
"Yeah! Sheesh."
Phoenix rubbed his head and staggered his way over to his bathroom. Once Phoenix had woken up he stumbled down the stairs and sat at the table alone.
"Where's Pops?" Phoenix asked still a little groggy.
"Your father came home after midnight, he was very tired so he probably won't be awake to send you off. I'm sorry." Came his Mother's reply as she set a steaming bowl of oatmeal in front of him, with just a tad of brown sugar in it.
Phoenix frowned slightly at the thought of his father sleeping in, but he didn't blame him, thats what he would be doing right now if he could. Phoenix scanned the dinning room of their house and felt like he was a fly inside of his bedroom. The room was bigger then it needed to be for a family of three, and its not like they had guests over often. Phoenix just kept eating his oatmeal.
Once Phoenix had finished he put his bowl in the sink in front of his mom so that she could wash it. His mom simply smiled at him and went back to washing dishes from last night. Phoenix felt a little guilty for not helping her but decided that he would make it up to her some how. Maybe he could make her a card in school? Yeah, he could do that!
Phoenix felt a little better and went back up stairs to retrieve his saddlebags for school. When Phoenix finally found them he sighed when he was reminded that he didn't have his cutie mark yet, he was getting kind of impatient. Phoenix stuffed his pencils and some paper into the bags and threw it over his back. He was ready to go.
Phoenix tromped down the stairs and walked towards the front door. However, his mom stopped him before he could leave.
"Hold it right there mister! You forgot your lunch and what about my kiss?"
Phoenix turned his beaming face to his mom and gave her a peck on the cheek before taking his lunch in his mouth.
"Thankf fom!" She just smiled.
"Have a great day!"
Phoenix nodded his head in answer and trotted out of the house heading to school.
Phoenix felt the usual nervousness of going to school after being gone for a while, everypony looked different! Phoenix frantically searched for his friends in the sea of Colts and Fillies. They weren't anywhere! Phoenix turned his head around when he heard a voice calling his name.
"Phoenix! Yo Phoenix! Is that you?" A brown unicorn colt with a white mane and tail came running up to him and stood in front of him smiling. The colt looked the same age as Phoenix but he already had his cutie mark which was displayed on his saddle bags. It was a green square with four orange squares branching off the corners of the red one. Phoenix had no clue who the colt was.
"Y-Yeah that's me. Why?"
The colt's smile grew bigger and he reached out a hoof towards Phoenix
"M'name's Color code, Your dad made my dad's armor and it saved his life, I wanted to meet you personally and hopefully make friends with you. Color code had a hopeful smile as he finished his introduction.
"Uuum, sure. I don't mind, you may not like my other friends though. No one else seems to." Phoenix's voice took a sullen mood as he mentioned his other friends.
"Aww, that's too bad. I'm sure I'll like them. Hey, does your dad really make all the armor for the royal guards!" Color code asked with an excited hop to emphasize his enthusiasm.
"No he doesn't make ALL the armor, but he does make a lot of it. There are a couple other Blacksmiths around Canterlot who help out with the process. He does make all the weapons though."
"Awesome! Can I have one?"
Phoenix looked at the excited colt that was bouncing up and down beside him.
"No."
Color code just shrugged and followed Phoenix as he head off to a section of grass that was away from the rest of the students. Some of the older students sat away from the rest of the group too. One particular Filly with a purple-ish coat and a very dark purple mane with a single highlight running through it, was laying against a tree with a stack of text books next to her and it looked like she was reading through them for every word. Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's Pupil.
Phoenix sat down with his new friend in a patch of grass and scanned the crowd of mingling ponies for his other friends. Color code just sat next to him and hummed quietly to himself. Phoenix didn't see Color code looking around for any friends and he wondered why.
"Hey, you have any friends?" Phoenix asked Color code without looking at him.
"Hm?"
"Friends. You have any?"
"No, we just moved to Canterlot a month ago didn't have much of a break." Color code replied before he laid down in the grass to stretch his front hooves.
"Where did you move from?" Phoenix asked.
"A place called Ponyville, ever heard of it?"
"Sorry, no."
"Eh, I'm not surprised, not a lot happens in Ponyville, it's a quiet town and everypony knows everypony."
Phoenix took one last look through the crowd of ponies before he gave up on trying to find his friends.
"You play any card games? I got a deck." Phoenix asked his new friend.
Phoenix met up with Color code outside of the school when they were dismissed for the last time that day. Thankfully they had the same teacher and were able to hang out at recess. Phoenix still felt troubled that he hadn't found his other friends, he had looked forward to seeing them.
"Hey Color."
"Wat up?"
Phoenix sighed before shrugging his shoulders and looking pointedly at his friend.
"School."
They both shared a laugh and trotted off in the same direction, fate was on his side because apparently Color's family had been the new neighbors that moved in near Phoenix's house. The two friends chatted about the subjects that they were going to be taking and the cute filly that sat in front of Color. Another new student.
"Did you hear about the Royal Guard Training Academy is looking for new students, they are having a presentation in front of the castle on Saturday night." Color said excitedly.
"Really? Thats kinda cool, you gonna go?" Phoenix asked.
"I hope so, but I don't think my parents will let me sign up." color looked at his hooves a little downcast. They trotted in silence for a few heart beats before Color spoke up again.
"You are so lucky that you don't have a horn." Color said
Phoenix blinked. "I thought it would be the other way around. I have always dreamed of having magic."
"Naw bro, You have to take an extra class on practicing magic on the week-ends. At least thats how they did it in Ponyville, it was horrible." Color visibly shuddered.
Phoenix winced at the thought of giving up your weekends to go to school, that was horrible. Both friends stopped at the intersection that split their respective streets up.
"Well see you tomorrow yeah?" Color asked as he held out his hoof.
"Yeah." Phoenix hoof bumped Color and trotted off towards his house, feeling happy.
