My little oc a blacksmiths viewby blazingforgeChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 1”So, you got everything that you need” a voice from behind me asked. “I sure do”, I said as I turned around to meet my former boss. Clonk. An anvil landed on the ground besides him. He grinned at me. “I remember when you first started working here” he chuckled “you said that you always wanted a anvil” he slapped a hoof on the anvil “well here you go, lets call it a parting gift”. I gave the old stallion a firm hoof bump and attempted to lift the anvil. It took some effort and the help of my boss, but soon the anvil was on my wagon. Afterwards I strapped myself to the wagon and wished the others a good day and a happy future. One day I was wandering, on my way to a small town called Ponyville. I stopped to look at the town from a hill, it looked like a nice and quiet town, one of those towns trouble rarely finds. An orange mare came walking up from behind me, she had a yellow mane and a brown hat on, she seemed friendly. “Heya, can I help ya” she asked. I nodded “yeah, I was wondering if there was a blacksmith in this town, I’m looking for work”. The orange mare placed a hoof to her chin. “no, I can’t remember when or if Ponyville have had a blacksmith, we usually use wood for just about everything”. She looked me up and down, examining me from head to hoof. “You look mighty strong for an earth pony” she said, “I could use a strong stallion like you on my farm”. I looked down at her, “uh you are probably stronger then I am, I’m not an earth pony”. The friendly mare looked at me with obvious confusion plastered on her face. “I’m a unicorn; my horn is just, well, short”. I moved my mane to show my horn. She still looked confused “huh, but unicorns usually aren’t that big, why are you so tall and sturdy”, she poked me with a hoof while she talked. “I have worked hard, my magic is weak, so I have to move metal by hoof and back”. The orange mare nodded. “Aha, I’m Applejack by the way do you want me to follow you down to the town”. I shook my head “thanks but no thanks”. Applejack started walking the other way, and I realized that I had no idea where to go. “Hold up” I yelled after her “is there some pony I can talk to about setting up shop here” I asked her. “Sure, go to the town hall, mayor mare can help ya” Applejack said with a smile. After she had given me directions on how to get there, I thanked her and trotted down the hill and towards the town. The door to the town hall creaked open. “Uh hallo” I asked. The town hall was dark, the only light came from a small window in the roof. “How can I help you” a voice called from the shadows. The voice sounded mildly depressed, or at least sad. A gray-haired mare stepped out from the shadows. “Uh, I was wondering if you could help me, you see I would like to set up shop in Ponyville”. The mare hang her head “talk to princess twilight” she said. A single tear rolling from her eye. I stood still, uncomfortable with the situation. “But Applejack said that you could help me” I said with my best not-feeling-awkward voice. The mare walked past me “I can but the princess has more authority then me”. I looked at the sad mare “remind me, who is this princess, are you talking about, Celestia?”. The mare looked up at me as if I was stupid. “You don’t know who Twilight Sparkle is, she is the newest princess?” she asked with mild announce. My ears lay down on my head. “I haven’t been following the happenings in Cantorlot, I have focused on learning for years” I said hoping to be rid of the awkwardness. I followed the mare to a shack. She told me that I could rent it for 30 bits a month. I put out my hoof to shake on it, but the mare just looked at me. “so it’s a deal then” I said. She hesitated “sure”. The shack was small, just each room for a forge and a bed. I sighed. “My own little kingdom” I said smiling. As I walked out I felt something rub against me, it felt like cotton candy and as I looked down I saw that it in fact looked like cotton candy. The pink cotton suddenly shot to the side to reveal a face. “Who are you” the face asked in a loud and high pithed voice. I flew up in the air and landed on my side with a thumb. I looked in shock as the cotton candy and face turned into a pink pony with a glee filled face. I was laying on my side too scared to move. I had to force my brain to come up with an answer “wh-what the” I stammered. “My name is Pinkie Pie, I want to be your bestest friend in the whole wide world” she jumped as she talked making a “duing” sound with every jump. I rose from the ground trying to process what had just happened. Pinkie suddenly stood beside me. “Boy you are the biggest pony I have seen in a long time, are you as strong as Big Mac, uhh I know you can…“ I shot my ears, the pink pony was making a mess of my brain, she continued talking about a party she had to plan. There after, she bombarded me with questions about me, but they came to fast for me to answer. I stepped back little by little, but the pink blabber machine followed me step, by step. Soon I found myself back in the middle of Ponyville. “Leave the poor stallion alone, can’t you see that he is overwhelmed” a feminine voice called out from behind me. The voice belonged to a white mare with a purplish blue mane and tail. Pinkie stopped suddenly. “But he is new here and I want him to be my friend” Pinkie cried, tears running like waterfalls from her eyes. The white mare walked closer to me. “I am sorry, Pinkie can be a bit much for some ponies, she has the best intentions I assure you”. I nodded. “You seem familiar, have we met before” the white mare asked. I shook my head “I don’t think so, I have been traveling for most of my life”. The white mare put a hoof to her cheek, “hmm, but your features look so familiar, oh where are my manners, I’m Rarity I run the carousel boutique here in Ponyville”. I bowed my head lightly, “I’m Blazing Forge, I’m from Manehatten”. Her face lit up with glee as if she had been my filly friend and I had just asked her to marry me. “Manehatten!” she asked “oh tell me more”, she fluttered her eyelashes. “Well, my real name is Clinking bits, I had it change after I got my cutiemark” I said. Rarity almost fainted “you are from the Bits family?” she asked with her face close to mine, to close in fact. “Uhh yeah”. I couldn’t move, what was it with these ponies and overreacting, well apart from Applejack. The White mare probably sensed that she had invaded my personal space “oh I’m terribly sorry dear, I haven’t met somepony from the bits family before, they usually keep to themselves”. I nodded sadly “yeah, but I’m not a Bit anymore”. I looked towards the spot that the pink hyperactive party machine had been occupying, but she was gone. “Uh is Pinkie going to be okay” I asked with concern. “Oh yes, Pinkie just overreacts, it’s just how she is dear” Rarity assured me. “Would you care to follow me for tea in the park, I think that my friends would love to meet you,” she asked. Wow that was fast I thought, “uh sorry maybe another day, I have to move in to my shack”. Rarity’s ears dropped “oh, well I’ll see you later then”. A few minutes later, I was wrestling with my anvil, when it floated into the shack. “uh” I exclaimed. The anvil was suddenly, and unexpectedly surrounded in a purple aura, as it floated to the ground. I turned to see a purple unicorn with her horn active. “Uh thank you” I said as I rubbed my neck. The purple unicorn smiled and stood aside, to reveal five other ponies, they were all carrying tools and supplies. “Rarity told us that you were moving in and we wanted to help you” she said in a calm yet assertive voice. I smiled and thanked them “you don’t have to” I said keeping my smile and a slight blush. “That’s what friends are for” the purple unicorn said. As things were brought into the shack, I noticed that the purple Unicorn had wings. “By Celestias mane” I gasped and fell to the floor in a deep bow. “I’m so sorry princess, I didn’t know” I begged, as the purple mare just stood there. “You must be princess Twilight Sparkle” I asked keeping my head on the wooden floor. The princesses face looked like she was in distress “no, don’t bow” she said. I sprung up hitting my head on a big hammer that had been hung from the sealing. I landed on the ground, head spinning. A yellow Pegasus pony came to my aid in getting me on my hooves. The six ponies looked around at the swords, hammers and armors that I’ve had, had in my wagon, that now hung on the walls. “What a cool blade” the rainbow haired mare yelled. She held a huge blade I had made when I had been taught by a griffon blacksmith. “yeah, it’s one I made after master sword smith Sparrow had taught me all that he knew”. The blue furred and rainbow maned pony held the sword with both her hooves. “Come at me you beastly dragon” she yelled as she swung the massive blade. “I say, ya got talent” Applejack said, lowering the blade from her throat, that the blue mare still held. I blushed “yeah, but I still have a lot to learn”, I paused “thank you, all of you, I’m Blazing Forge”. The alicorn stepped forward “I’m Twilight, this is Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash” she pointed around as she spoke. After a bit of chatting they invited me for tea, again, but this time I couldn’t refuse. We had tea by a pond near Applejacks farm, the grass was soft, so I just sat on the ground, but Rarity insisted that I should sit on the blanket. “So, do you always invite newcomers for tea” I asked looking around the six mares. They all smiled, “yeah, well we doesn’t get many newcomers, so we do it in order to keep the town alive” Applejack said. “And it’s always nice to meet new friends” Pinkie said. The next few seconds felt like minutes, it felt awkward, to be surrounded by six friendly mares that I only met that day. I was saved by Pinkie who suddenly steered at me and asked “lemonade or cider”. I felt a cold shiver crawl down my back from the sudden outburst from Pinkie. “Uh, I, I prefer cider” I stammered. “okie dokie” she said grinning, before she was pulled back by Twilight. “Easy Pinkie” she said with a light frown, “you are making him uncomfortable” she said as she levitated two sandwiches from a basket, one for her and one for me. She levitated it in the air in front of me, probably expecting me to grab it, so I did, with my mouth. Twilight tilted her head. “Rarity said that you are a unicorn, so why aren’t you using your magic to levitate the sandwich,” she asked with a curios facial expiration. I put the sandwich down and began to explain, “well, you see, I am neither unicorn or earth pony, I’m sort of a hybrid. I don’t have the strength of an earth pony, or the magical properties of a unicorn, well I can use magic, but I draw from a finite pool of magic, if I use it too often I will drain it, and then I can’t work as effectively as if my magic is fully replenished”. Twilight steered at me “amazing” she whispered in a tone that made me concerned for my health. I took a bite out of the sandwich and looking around at the mares as I chewed. Was this an all mare herd, it wasn’t unheard of. What was Ponyvilles mare to stallion ratio, I decided to ask. Applejack pulled her head back, Pinkie looked up from a checklist that she was writing, Rainbow fell over laughing, twilight turned her head, Fluttershy blushed and Rarity seemed unfazed. “Uh, I’d say it’s about seven to eight mares per stallion” Rarity said “why do you want to know” she said lifting an eyebrow. It felt like I was shrinking, it felt awkward and it didn’t help that Rainbow was heaving for air in between laughter. “Well I was just wondering” I said as I forced a smile. Rainbow wiped a tear from her eyes “oh, you are as random as Pinkie” she said. The pink pony looked up “is that so” she said in a slightly disturbing voice. I backed away, “no I just thought you were an all mare herd, and then I wondered how many mares and stallions there is in Ponyville”. Applejack lay a hoof on my shoulder, “calm down, no we aren’t an all-mare-herd, we’re just friends, we don’t belong to any herd,” she said, not looking at me. I sat, “I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you”. The six shook their heads, “not in the slightest” Rarity said flinging her hair back. The rest of the picnic went fine, Pinkie asked me more questions about how I wanted my party, Rainbow kept asking about blades and swords, Rarity was mostly quiet, so was Fluttershy and twilight and I talked about what magic I could do. The day of the party rolled around and I stood in my shack trying to make myself presentable and failing, my cloths was too small, to dirty or too torn up to attend a party. I sighed deeply, I wondered if it would be okay if I came as I were, all natural, it was my only option anyway. I walked up to Twilights castle, the entrance was empty, the floor felt cold and uncomfortable to walk on. “Hallo” no answer. I slowly ascended up the stairs, a cold feeling running down my back, this felt wrong, it didn’t help that the halls made me feel small and insignificant. I spotted a piece of candy wrapped in pink paper. I walked closer, picked it up and unwrapped it. The candy was green and tasted like apples. Soon after, I found more candy lying around the corner. I followed the trail. It lead me to a big door. Oh, I get it it’s a surprise party, they’ll jump out when I walk in, I thought. Well would Pinkie have asked me what I wanted if it was a surprise, well no, what is this then, I stood for a while pondering Pinkies logic and mental stability. Finally I desisted to walk in. the room was empty. Black and only black filled the room. A purple light startled me. It came from one side of the room. The light came closer. I looked to the other side, a similar light, but blue. “Oh what is this” I thought As the lights got closer, a million thoughts spun around in my head, varies scenarios played in my panicked mind. They were not having a party for me, the party was after they had sacrificed me, and they would sacrifice me to the two entities floating towards me. I fell to the floor with my front hooves covering my head. I looked to my left and saw the purple light, it seemed stronger then the blue light. Little by little I could make out a muzzle, it was smiling. Oh buck, it was the princess, she was the one I would be sacrificed to. Where were my hidden dagger when I needed it. A tear formed from my defenselessness, rolled from my eye and landed on the cold hard floor. At this point I had accepted my fate, well accepted probably wasn’t the right word, more a knowing that I wouldn’t be able to protect myself from her, so why fight. I looked up again. Her hoof almost touched my muzzle, I looked further up, she was frowning. It made me hide my face. I didn’t want to see what she would do to end my existence. “Uh, you okay, somepony turn on the lights”. The lights flickered to life and I could see a large horde of ponies against the wall in the circular room, most looked chocked, others giggled and some tried to shut up the giggling ponies. Twilight reached a hoof towards me “I’m sorry, hope we didn’t scare you too much”. I took her hoof and tried to get on my hooves, but they were shacking, so I fell to the floor again. I caught a glint of Rainbow Dash, she tried desperately to hold in her laughter, she only made occasional grunts, when air escaped her mouth that was covered with her hoof. I finally got to my hooves. So that the party could begin. I sat on a couch when the blue Pegasus Rainbow Dash flew over and reached a hoof forward holding a mug of cider. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it, you looked so silly on the floor” she said bluntly. I raised an eyebrow “thanks” I said as dryly as I could. “Oh come on, you’d think It’d be funny too if you could see yourself”. She still held the cider mug in front of me, I slowly reached for it, grabbed it and slowly pulled it back. She sat beside me with a mug of her own. She took a swig and exhaled in sheer bliss. I looked at the cider swirling it around with a flick of my hoof, finally I brought it to my mouth. The first mouthful was orgasmic; my tongue had a party in my mouth, and all tastebuds were invited. After bringing the mug down, I smiled down at the cider. “Good, hah” Rainbow was grinning “you almost can’t taste the alcohol” I smiled back at her “wow, it’s amazing, thanks” I said licking my lips. “Did you make it”, I asked. “Nah, applejack and her family made it”. The party slowly lost velocity and little by little everypony left, but the six mares I had met and me. We sat around a table, to my left lay three empty barrels. I had a good buzz going, I couldn’t stop smiling at the three mares. My drunk mind convinced me that I could score them, but from a corner of my brain a single brain cell objected, the single brain cell was right. “Oh I could go for a flagon of mead now” I said flowing down the chair. The yellow Pegasus winced “did he say meat” she shrieked. “No, no, mead, with a d instead of a t, is an alcoholic drink brewed with honey” I said hastily. “it was the drink of choice for the Viking ponies” I grinned pointing to my goat beard. “Oh so you think of yourself as a Viking” Rarity winked. I blushed and tried to hide it, “well sort of”. I looked around the trashed room, wondering how Pinkie and the others had put a party together and invited the whole town. I decided to ask. “Well Pinkie did all of it” Twilight said, her answer puzzled me. “Uh, by herself” I asked. “yup, yup, yup” Pinkie squeaked. I tilted my head “but, how” I asked. “Because of Pinkie” Rainbow said, “she is faster than me”. I nodded. “Okay, so you are fast” a hiccup made me pause “as well” I asked. Rainbow grinned. “Here we go” Applejack said. “Have you ever heard about the sonic rain boom” Rainbow asked. I put a hoof to my chin, “isn’t that the flight stunt, where a pony have to fly five times the speed of sound, causing the visible spectrum to shatter into a rainbow ring and the doubling the Pegasus speed?” Rainbow and Twilights jaws hung to the floor. “How could you possibly know that”, Twilight asked. “I’ve done it and I didn’t even know that” Rainbow added. I sighed, “well just because I’m a work pony, doesn’t mean I’m not well-read” I scoffed. “She didn’t mean it like that darling” Rarity defended. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just” Twilight paused “most work ponies aren’t that well-read”. I nodded “I know” I said looking at my empty mug, “I’m just faster to take offence when I’m drunk”. After a bit more chatting, we decided to call it a night. I declined the offer of sleeping in one of the guestrooms and headed home. As I left the others waved at me wishing me a good night’s rest. Chapter 2The next morning was filled with regret. My head was spinning, my stomach was upset and my eyes were blurry. I sure couldn’t drink like a work pony. I cursed Applejacks sweet cider, why did it have to be that good, why didn’t she make an aftertaste, so that one would slow down. I must had drank at least one or two mugs with soft cider and eight mugs of hard cider. “I sure could go for a pick-me-up-beer right about now” I mumbled to myself. I stumbled out of my bed, threw a saddlebag over my back and headed out into the town. I met Pinkie at the marked as I was buying breakfast. “Wasn’t it an amazing party” she asked, with a voice, feeling like a rusted rack, being scratched down a blackboard. “It sure was" i said in a raspy voice. "could you keep your voice down a bit, I have a hangover”. Pinkie grinned from ear to ear as she pulled out a bottle of something out from absolutely nothing. “I think you need this then”. I uncorked the bottle with my magic, I wasn’t going to work today anyway. I had things to prepare before I could forge anything. The liquid had an offensive odor that burned my nose. I put it to my mouth hesitating for a bit. Pinkie saw my hesitation and almost jammed the bottle down my throat. “No hesitating, just down the hatch”. I gaged as the liquid rushed down. To Pinkies defense it didn’t taste that bad, it was sweet, almost too much so and after a second or two, I could taste alcohol. “What was that” I asked coughing. “oh, it’s just redbull, monster energy and vodka” she smiled “the best pick-me-up I know”. I looked at her like I had just dropped down from mars. “Redbull, monster?” I asked. She nodded “how do you think I’m so hyper all the time”. I coughed ones more “never heard of it”. Pinkie giggled “it doesn’t exist silly”. After that she jump off, leaving me with more questions than answers. She truly was something else that Pinkie, a tornado of pink party fury. Back at the shack, after breakfast, I set to work placing rocks to form an old-school forge. The forge took shape piece by piece and soon, it was finished. Then I had to install the bellows and they fit perfectly. I sighed in relief of finally being done, than I turned to the anvil. “My backs nemesis” I thought. Lifting the heavy heap of metal was an enormous strain on my magic and back; I would have to be resting for the rest of the day just to get ready to forge after moving it with magic. The anvil landed on the wooden floor with a crash, I prayed to Celestia that the floor wasn’t broken. Celestia must have heard me, the floor prevailed, against my expectation. I looked around to see, if there were anything that needed to be done, when I looked at the door I saw that it was open and three little fillies was standing looking in. One little filly with yellow fur and a red mane stepped forward. “Hiya there stranger” she said nodding at me, “do ya need any help, we a looking to earn our cutiemarks”. I looked at them “uh, sure you could buy some hard coal for me” I said searching for bits in a bag close to me. “Sure thing mister” the little Pegasus said and they all speeded towards the town center. However a few minutes later they returned “you need some bits” I winked at them and threw a small coin purse at their hooves. “Oh and if there’s money left for an ice-cream you can buy one each as a thank you”. As soon I said ice-cream their faces lit up more than they were before. I sorted my files by roughness, when the fillies returned. They were hauling a handcart each, filled with coal. “Here you are mister”, the Pegasus said sweat streaming down her face. I walked closer smiling. I thanked the fillies dragging the carts into the shack. The fillies looked at their flanks and sighed, then walked into the shack as well. The orange Pegasus walked over to the same sword that Rainbow had picked up. “Wow, did you make this” she asked, her voice full of aw. I picked up the sword “yeah, I did, I have a passion for sharp objects”. I immediately wished I hadn’t said that, it sounded really creepy and wasn’t appropriate in front of the fillies, or anypony for that matter. “Uh I mean, I like the elegance of a blade, or the brute of a war axe” I said hoping I could save it. The fillies apparently didn’t pick up on my creepy statement or maybe they didn’t care. “Have you ever used one of them” the white filly asked. I nodded “yeah, but I do not take pride in killing, it was either me or the tundra-wolf” I said in a slightly sad tone. The fillies all sat around me, probably expecting a story of heroic proportions. I walked to a shelf containing the swords that held a special place in my heart. I drew one from its sheath. It was a medieval sword with a golden hoof-guard and pommel. “It was this sword I used, you can still see a bit of the blue blood on it” I said, holding the sword and walking closer. I lay the sword on the floor in front of them, making their jaws hang open. Fillies and colts were so easy to impress, if it were mares or stallions, they would think I was crazy, with my fascination of sharp objects. “How did you manage to slay the wolf” the red maned filly asked. “Well I saw them from the snowy trees, tracking me” the fillies nodded. “Just to be safe I drew my sword, and hoped that they wouldn’t attack” I picked up the sword and held it as if I was about to get attacked. “I waited for them to make the first move, the worst thing you can do when faced with wolf is to run away, they want you to run, so I just stood my ground”. The fillies’ eyes seem to be popping out at any second now. “I saw one of the wolfs emerge from the dark forest and got ready to defend myself”. “Wow” they said scooting closer. “Suddenly it sat into a sprint running past me, trying to get me to run” I said as I held the sword as if I was about to attack the air. “How big was it” the Pegasus asked her eyes still as big as before. “Uh about my size I think” I said thinking that I never really thought about that. “Well, then another attacked from behind and bit me”. I showed them my scar as I spoke. “I kicked back, trying to rid myself of the beast but it wouldn’t budge so I had to swing my sword” I swung the sword over my back. “Man was that a bad idea, the sword hit the wolfs nose and got stuck in the wooden wagon” I acted as if the sword was stuck. “When I had gotten the wolf of me and the sword back in my hooves a third wolf jumped right for me”. I thrust my sword forward as if I was attacking a taller enemy. “When the wolfs saw the one I had just impaled on my sword, they decided that I wasn’t worth the effort and retreaded”. The three little fillies looked at me as if I were a hero, but in reality I was no better than the wolfs that had attacked me. I placed the blade on the shelf again and sat down in front of them. “Oh wow” the white one said “Would you help us forge something” the red Pegasus asked. I thought about it for a second “sure, why not, just not today, I haven’t got that big of a stock of materials yet”. After a couple of minutes past chatting, the fillies stood. “Well we best be of”, the yellow filly said. I nodded at them, “well you are welcome any time, oh I didn’t get your names”. The fillies looked back at me. “I’m Applebloom” “I’m Sweetiebell” “and I’m Scootaloo” they said one after the other. “And I’m Blazing Forge” I said. I wandered around the town, hoping to find something of interest, when I saw the princess walking down the street. She was talking to somepony. somepony I couldn’t see for the other ponies. “Huh, must be a filly or a colt” I thought out loud. As they got closer, I saw that it defiantly wasn’t a pony, but rather some kind of bipedal lizard. As they walked past, I could see that the creature was writing something on a piece of parchment. Did princess Twilight have a dragon, a dragon assistant? I had never seen a baby dragon up close before and without really noticing, I followed them. Suddenly the dragon turned around to meet my face, just a few inches from his. Well at least I thought it was male. “Yeah” the dragon said lifting an eyebrow. I was stunned, “uh, hi there fella” I stammered, making the dragon frown. I pulled my head back expecting a fireball to the face, but he just stood there, arms crossed. I looked at Twilight as if to ask for help. “This is Spike, he is my assistant” she lay a hoof on his back, easing his frown. “And Spike, this is Blazing Forge, he just moved here”. I had to say something, but what “uh, sorry Spike, it’s just that I have never seen a baby dragon before” I smiled nervously, hoping that he wasn’t angry with me. Spike just sighed and extended a clawed arm. Twilight had offered me to take me to dinner, we sat at a café called the golden dandelion. Twilight sipped on her tea and asked me “so, are you settling in alright”. I nodded as I had my mouth full at that moment. “That’s good, got any orders yet”. I shook my head and swallowed the bite of sandwich I had in my mouth. “No, I just got ready, well there was three fillies that wanted my help in making something”, I said smiling widely. “Oh, that must be the cutiemark crusaders” she said “Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetiebell” she continued. I nodded “yeah, they are really sweet, I told them about my travels and my swords and they seemed really interested”. Spike belched loudly, “sorry” he said blushing a bit. “Uh, Spike, I don’t mean to be rude” I said pausing, “do you breath fire” I asked. He looked at me with a mixture of annoyance and “well duh” on his face. “Well yeah, I’m a dragon”. It was painfully obvious that he hadn’t taking a liking to me. “I was wondering if you could help me forge a dragon blade" i asked "I bought some kind of metal, that had been mined from a dragons nest and I was told that only dragon fire could heat it”. The little dragon raised an eyebrow in interest. “I’ve got the forge ready if you want”. The dragon nodded slightly. “Sure why not, well if Twilight doesn’t need me” he looked at Twilight. “Maybe tomorrow Spike, I need your assistance for the rest of the day” she said smiling at Spike and then at me. Later that day I saw that Ponyville had a pub, a small establishment about the size of my shack. I made a mental note that I should go there in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day walking around the town, meeting new ponies and saying hi to the ones I knew. After a hardy dinner at home I trotted into town with a smile on my face. The pub was mostly empty, say for three stallions playing a card game at a table. “What’s ya poison” the bartender asked sharply. “Uh, a dark ale” I said. The glass was filled to the brim with a thick ale. It felt more like a some kind of smoothie then a beer, but it was good non the less. I sat down, one table over from the stallions. One of the stallions stood and walked over to me. “Ah haven’t seen ya before” he said in a deep and scary voice. I knew I could take him, if we were to fight, I was bigger than him, but he made me feel as small as a preschool filly. “Ya play cards” he asked not letting any emotion out. I shook my head rapidly. “Oh come now a work pony like ya’ll need to be able to play cards” another said. I felt my body stand up and walk to their table and sit down, against my will. The first few hands was won by me, still to this day I had no idea why, however after half an hour I kept losing, so I had to get the next round of beer, and the next, and the next. I had a good hand, well to the best of my knowledge anyway, five, six, seven, eight and nine of hearts. After that hand I remembered that I was supposed to forge with Spike the next day, so I stood and told the other stallions goodnight, seen as it had turned dark. The way home seemed far longer than the way there, maybe because I kept going the wrong way. I had a good sense of direction, in the daytime, at night I almost couldn’t tell where I was, at to that, that I was drunk of my flank and that it was as dark as Nightmare Moons heart. I stumbled into something hard as I was concentrating on placing my hooves on the ground properly, falling backwards and landing on my rump. I looked up and saw a mostly light purple building, with a sign saying “carousel boutique”. My drunk brain said “hey mate, this would be a great place to sleep” but the rest of me yelled “no dude, you’ll freeze, you better knock on the door”. I was about to knock when a white stallion yelled “hey what are you doing” and galloped over. I turned just as he stopped just half a meter from me. “Well my good sir” I said in my best not-drunk-of-my-ass voice. “It seem to me that I have lost my way in this here town, could you direct me to my shack, you will be rewarded handsomely”. The white stallion sighed and helped me across the town. I almost broke the door down when I knocked on the door. “Honey, could you let me in” then I looked back at the stallion expecting a laugh. Well, he didn’t know that I didn’t have a mare friend. I came back out of the shack with a silvery dagger. “Here you go sir, this is for your troubles” I said and walked back inside. Chapter 3I had always been better with beer. I didn’t get hangovers from beer like I did with ciders or wine. Spike woke me up, he stood at the head end of the bed poking me with his claws. I woke up and without thinking drew a sword that hung over the bed. “wow, wow easy” spike said as he backed away. Spike held a dagger “uh I found this outside” spike said “are there ninjas after you” he asked. After I stood I shook my head. “No I made that” I smiled down at spike. “Wow” he said as he turned the dagger around looking over my work. I sat to work getting ready to forge. “Hammer, anvil and water, check” I said to myself. “Ready to begin” I asked, spike nodded enthusiastically. Spikes flames felt more intense than normal flames. The metal took shape little by little and soon it had the shape I wanted. I thanked spike for his help and sent him home to Twilight. With my magic I made the belt-grinder turn so I could smooth the blade. After I had added a pommel and a crossgaurd I set to work on a handle. I thought that spike should have this dagger, it would be a sword fitting for a dragon his size. The dagger looked great, the scaly texture of the metal could still be seen, even after it had been smoothed and sharpened, the handle was made from rosewood, that might have been a design flaw, the dark green and red clashed and made it inharmonic. I picked up a piece of wood to try out the blade. With minimal force, it cut through the wood. I grinned “oh sweet Celestia” it felt as if I was getting aroused from the sharpness, well I kind of was, but at least nopony was around to see it. After wrapping the dagger in a cloth and putting it in my saddlebag I walked to Twilights castle. Spike answered the door. “yeah, oh hi Blaze” he said looking out the door. I opened the saddlebag to reveal the cloth. “this is for you” I said as I smiled at him “you are the best assistant I have ever had” I said. In truth I had never had an assistant, but he didn’t need to know. “wow” he said as he unwrapped the dagger. “thank you” he said. The handle was slightly bigger than one of his clawed hands and the blade fit his size perfectly. Twilight came to the door and saw the dagger and then looked at me. “are you sure that’s a good idea” she asked. I nodded “there aren’t any lows against fillies and colts having knives, so why should a dragon be any deferent” I asked with a smile. Twilight looked worried but accepted. Spike looked up at Twilight “can I hang with Blazing Forge, you are just reading today right” he asked. Twilight put a hoof to her mouth “uh, I would prefer that you stayed here” she finally said. Spike sighed, “well we could hang here” I said smiling at them both. “Agreed” Twilight said and turned to walk in again. “Could you make a set of armor to go with the sword” Spike asked big eyed as a puppy. I shook my head “no that was the only dragon metal I had” I said smiling at him. “You are quite the little knight aren’t you” I teased “who’s your princess, it’s not Twilight I can tell that much” I continued smirking. Spike looked at me, then down at the dagger “you do realize that I have a sharp object in my claws right” he asked jokingly. “Not that Twilight isn’t a good looking mare” I said blushing. I put a hoof to my chin, “Pinkie seem to be able to bend the world to her will, so she wouldn’t need rescuing, the same with Applejack and Rainbow” I said, in deep thought, “so that leaves Fluttershy and Rarity” I looked down at him. “hmm it must me Fluttershy, Rarity is to obvious” I said, making Spike blush. “No it’s not Fluttershy, it’s Rarity” he said grinding his foot in the ground. A spoon with wings flew past us and towards the nearest door “stop that spoon” Twilight yelled and charged after it. I stood and looked down at spike “uh aren’t you going to help her” spike just smiled slightly. “nah, she has got it under control, usually she and her friends take care of things. Most of us just carry on with the day as if nothing happened, it might seem strange, and it properly is, but it how things work here,” he said shrugging. Soon after Twilight returned, her mane looked like Pinkies and she looked exhausted. After Twilight had made herself presentable again, she asked Spike what he had planned for dinner. “uh well I thought about making hey fries and dandelion salad” he said. That felt like my que to leave but Spike stopped me “I’ll make extra” he said smiling at me and then looking at the dagger. Spike was quite the cook, the fries were perfect and the salad was amazing. Later that afternoon I decided to turn in early, but first I wanted to read a story, so I found “the complete works of Slender Pencil”. He was my favorite author. His universes were very deferent then ours, he wrote about bipedal beings engaged in war with each other, over religions of all things. I started where I had left of last time, the hero had just meet a female and he had taken her to a ruin and was about to undress her. Oh this will be good I thought, but I was soon disappointed as a squared of soldiers stormed the ruin and shot the female, the hero barely saved his own life and presided to run as fast he could. “Damn you Slender Pencil” I yelled and let the book fall to the floor and rolled my eyes. He could be such a tease, building up to something and then ripping it apart. I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes. I dreamt that I was walking besides a slender mare who I recognized immediately, it was my former crush, I met in Canterlot. She brushed her tail against me and flashed a seductive smile at me. She put a hoof on my back and asked, “why didn’t you ask me out”. “uh well, you see”, I was never great with mares or fillies for that matter. “I have always wanted you” she whispered into my ear, making it twitch. She brushed her tail against me and bumping my flank with hers, I laughed nervously. She then pushed me to the floor, “oh Blazing Forge, I need you”. Her hips rubbed against my exposed belly. My eyes opened to be greeted by three little fillies on my stomach. I blushed. “hiya there mister” Applebloom said “we are looking for our cutiemark” Sweetiebell said “and we wondered if metal was our special talent”. After getting footing on the floor and rubbing sleep from my eyes I looked at the three fillies, “uh, so what do you want to make” I asked with sleep in my voice. The crusaders took a long while to come up with their answer, “we, don’t know, we figure we could help with something” Scootaloo said smiling up at me. I looked around my shack, “uhh, I don’t have anything right now” looking back at them and seeing the sadness in their eyes. I decided to make a deal with them. “when I get the first job you can help me, all right?” I asked, “thanks mister” Applebloom said smiling at me. After that the fillies darted out of the shack and towards the town. Sitting down on the floor I noticed my saddleback had fallen from a table, “well, I might as well see how many bits I’ve got left” I thought and pulled it closer, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, “hmm, I need costumers, quick” I whispered to myself. “I could sell the sword that doesn’t have to much sentimental value”. I picked up the swords from the shelves and placed them on the ground, “well, I don’t know if I’m even allowed to sell them here, I guess it’s okay, it’s close to the everfree, so, we need to be able to protect ourselves”. I decided to make a stand at the marked, I found old pieces of wood from an old wagon behind the shack and fashioned a stand. A lot of young colt came and asked about the blades and armor pieces, but nothing were sold that day, bummer. When I packed the stand together and put it on my wagon I saw that Twilight were walking with Spike, I waved at them trying to get her attention, I didn’t. A light furred and red purple-ish mare with a rose cutiemark saw me waving and walked over to me. “don’t bother, they almost never interact with the other ponies of this town, those six stay together and doesn’t let others into their little click” she said with a sweet and yet strangely dry voice. “uh, I don’t understand, they seemed so nice when they welcomed me” I said. she looked at me with something resambling pitty “oh, don’t worry, it’s not you, they are the element bearers, that’s what binds them so closely, maybe it’s hard for them to have a friend that can’t come on dangerous missions” she said. I frowned “isn’t Twilight the princess of friendship” I asked “yeah but try to imagine having to be friends with hundreds of ponies, I don’t think it’s an easy task” she said smiling at me. I could see her point, but the least thing she, or they could do, was to acknowledge other ponies. I knew she saw me, we had eye contact. After putting the swords and stand back in my shack, I thought of going to the town hall, maybe I could track down a temporary job there, just to earn some bits for the future. However I ran into Applebloom, or rather, she ran into me. “Hi there Applebloom, you wouldn’t happen to know where I could find a job would you”, she looked at me funny, “uhh, don’t you have a shop and a stand” she asked tilting her head, “yeah, well it’s not going so well”. With a hoof to her mouth she stood thinking, “ya could ask Applejack or Big Mac, at our farm” I shook her hoof rapidly “thank you” I said and walked of. At the farm, I saw a big red stallion plowing the fields, “that has to be Big Mac”, I thought out loud and proceeded to walk towards the big stallion. “Hey there, Applebloom said that you might have a job for me, here at the farm, you are Big Mac right” I said hoping that I was right, “eeyup”, “uhh, so what can I do”, Big Mac flung his head as to say “follow me”. We ended up in a corner of the apple fields, where the trees with yellow apples and a small field of strawberries. Big Mac pointed to the trees and then to a stack of wooden buckets, to the strawberry field and a crate. “okay then, I’ll return when it’s done”, Big Mac just nodded and trotted away. Turns out, it was harder to buck a tree, then I had expected. The first couple of tries, made me plant my face in the ground, next buck made a single apple fall. Soon after I had gotten the hang of it and bucked and bucked. Apple after apple fell and some even fell into the buckets, but most fell on the ground for me to pick up. Bic Mac returned when I had filled the wooden buckets, with a new set of buckets and a cart. After I had hauled the cart into the barn, emptied the buckets and put them back in the cart I returned to the corner of the field. It took me most of the day, but I finished. Bic Mac saw me pulling the last of the apples and strawberries, and nodded in satisfaction. A older looking mare came across my path as I was heading home, expecting to be paid by the end of the week, “heya sonny” she said in a high and shacky voice, “you were the one helping Big Mac right”. I nodded “yeah” I said smiling at her, “gibers, ya are almost as big as Big Mac too”. I tilted my head, not knowing what to say, turns out I didn’t need to say anything. “Come on let’s get inside to get some to eat”. I was flattered at the hospitality, not only her, but the whole town I general. “I’d like that” I said. At the table I sat between Applebloom and Big Mac, it felt kind of weird to not be the biggest stallion, well to be fair he wasn’t that much taller, a couple of centimeters or so, but still. “More mashed potatoes”, Applejack asked, after my third helping, “oh, no thank you, I couldn’t eat another bite” I said gasping afterwards. Suddenly, out of the blue, a pie was put in front of me, “time for apple pie” Granny Smith said, “uh Granny, he said he couldn’t eat another bite” Big Mac said. Wow, it was the first time I had heard him talk, besides the occasional “eeyup” or “nope”. I must have steered at him for a while, because the others were looking at me. I closed my mouth that had hung open and smiled sheepishly. A moment later Granny broke the silence, “uh what were we talking about” she said while rubbing her head. Her age were showing, I thought she had aged gracefully, I had seen some pictures of her when she was younger hanging on a wall, a picture of Applejack when she had been a young filly in diapers and a picture of Big Mac as a teenage colt eating a juicy apple. The apple family seemed to be a family in harmony, and then. “He said he couldn’t eat another bite” Applejack yelled, “I’m not deaf you know” Granny yelled back and frowned. Oh on second thought maybe not. After the two mares had cooled of, we decided to go look at the setting sun with a pot of coffee. Applebloom had brought the pie and diches for the four of us. Slam, my body fell onto the my hay bed, with a lazy thud, my rear hooves hurt, how Big Mac and Applejack do that all day. I sighed and picked up a ingot from the floor, hmm, maybe they could use some horseshoes, some click-on horseshoes, with spikes or grooves. It didn’t take me long to draw a blueprint, I was suddenly full of energy, I would present them tomorrow after the bucking. The warm rays of the sun tickled my muzzle, waking me gently and after stretching, I felt ready for the day, well that, and the coffee and a sandwich helped, Celestia surely knew how to wake her little ponies. The road to Applejacks farm felt faster than the day before, maybe it was my happy trotting or the fresh air. I greeted Applejack and asked her where I should start, she pointed me toward the barn, “I need you to build a hay shelter for my apples” she said in a cheery voice. Thump, thump, thump, the hay bales fell hard onto the ground, I probably didn’t need as many as I threw down, but better safe than sorry. Applejack had stacked crates in the barn, ready for the hay. One, two, three, the hay bales didn’t feel all that heavy and not long after, I had covered the crates. Well that was easy, I thought frowning, what now. Applebloom was walking off to school, but when she saw me she ran over. “hi” she squeaked, “hi Applebloom, off to school I see” I said smiling at the little sweet filly, “yeah, I just wanted to tell you to have a good day”, I snickered “you too”, after that she took off galloping down the road, leaving a smoke trail. I shook my head, if only I had been that enthusiastic about school when I was her age, instead of working on my magic, that never really improved. Applejack and Big Mac returned shortly after with three wagons filled with apples, Applejack drove one and Big Mac had two. “What now” I said cracking my neck and forelegs, “wow eager to work I see, well, nothing right now, most of the apples are bucked and we have our winter reserve” she smiled “so why don’t you just take the rest of the day off”. I shrugged my shoulders “sure, oh there were something I wanted to show you two” I said pulling the blueprints from my saddlebag. “Seem mighty complicated” Applejack said, Big Mac nodded, “eeyup”. Looking down on the blueprints I noticed that I could make it simpler by removing a spring. “Yeah, probably, but it’s not impossible” I said with a confident smile. After a long while Applejack looked up at me and said “if ya can make a pair, ya know for a demo, I would be glad to try it out” After I had wished Applejack and Big Mac a good day I walked back to town, to my surprise the whole town was buzzing with ecstatic energy. My eyes caught Rose at her flower stand and decided to ask her what the fuzz was about. “oh haven’t you heard, the princesses are coming to town in a couple of days, they are having a slumber party at Twilights house”. Slumber party, princesses, huh, this was weird I thought, shouldn’t they be ruling the land, well perhaps there were nothing on their agenda. Maybe they needed some down time, well in any case, this was the perfect opportunity, I could show Celestia my craft, I could make a celestial sword for her, to prove that I had what it would take to be a royal swordsmith. “uh, are you listening” rose asked “huh” I exclaimed, a little louder than I would have liked. “what I was saying was; since you are new here, and that you probably don’t know that many around town, we would like to invite you to a slumber party, so that we can get to know you and you, us”. I could swear I saw a hint of a blush, but didn’t pay much mind to it, “we being?” I asked in a curios tone, “oh, my sisters and I” she said smiling. Thinking it through, I agreed. I didn’t know anypony that well and this would be a great opportunity to get to know somepony in Ponyville. Back in my shack I started work on a sword for Celestia. I had a special material tugged away for such an ovation. It was a special, magic enhancing, metal like crystal, used by mages and sorceress. Strike after strike, I shaped the crystal. To my surprise the crystal almost knew what I wanted it to do, it shaped itself as I strug it with my hammer and soon the blade was done. I admired the shape, a long blade with a thickened tip. After I had policed the blade I accidently turned the flat of the blade towards the sun, blinding me and sending my flank to the floor. “Damn it” I muttered, it was worse than the time I had welded without a helmet. Several days later, I had the blade ready, it was long, far longer than the two hoofed swords I had seen or made before. I took a swing with it. Clank, crash, bang, all of my hammers flew onto the floor. I should really think before doing something like that, I sighed. After making a sheath for the blade I trotted towards Raritys home. I had heard that she had lots of fabric lying around, and with a small sum of bits on hoof I knocked on the door. “Oh what a mess you are”. Sigh, not even a good day, this was a weird town, Rarity held a hoof to her muzzle, probably in chock, well to her defense I was messy, my coat was darkened by the ash from the forge and the metal dust from sawing and welding. “uh, hi, Rarity right” I asked, “I was wandering if I could buy some fabric, to wrap around a sword”. The white unicorn pulled me in and almost flung me into her bathroom, this was weird, too weird. Turning on the water she almost drowned me as she scrubbed me with a spung, grasped with her magic. “oh it’s not coming off” she muttered. A towel wrapped itself around me and almost squished the water from my coat and mane, letting all of the air out of me. When the towel attacked again I countered with a simple ward and tried to get her attention. “HEY” I yelled stopping her, “oh dear” she muttered “I think I stepped over the line” she blushed shamefully, “what can I help with”. “As I said” I started explaining what I needed the fabric for. “oh of cause” she said in a singsong voice “what color”, “uh, something fitting Celestia” I said. Rarity found a roll of light pink, well more white, with a hint of pink really, and cut a piece that wound fit the sword after my specifications. “No, no it’s free, take it” she said after I had handed her a hoof full of bits and lead me to the door.
Chapter 1”So, you got everything that you need” a voice from behind me asked. “I sure do”, I said as I turned around to meet my former boss. Clonk. An anvil landed on the ground besides him. He grinned at me. “I remember when you first started working here” he chuckled “you said that you always wanted a anvil” he slapped a hoof on the anvil “well here you go, lets call it a parting gift”. I gave the old stallion a firm hoof bump and attempted to lift the anvil. It took some effort and the help of my boss, but soon the anvil was on my wagon. Afterwards I strapped myself to the wagon and wished the others a good day and a happy future. One day I was wandering, on my way to a small town called Ponyville. I stopped to look at the town from a hill, it looked like a nice and quiet town, one of those towns trouble rarely finds. An orange mare came walking up from behind me, she had a yellow mane and a brown hat on, she seemed friendly. “Heya, can I help ya” she asked. I nodded “yeah, I was wondering if there was a blacksmith in this town, I’m looking for work”. The orange mare placed a hoof to her chin. “no, I can’t remember when or if Ponyville have had a blacksmith, we usually use wood for just about everything”. She looked me up and down, examining me from head to hoof. “You look mighty strong for an earth pony” she said, “I could use a strong stallion like you on my farm”. I looked down at her, “uh you are probably stronger then I am, I’m not an earth pony”. The friendly mare looked at me with obvious confusion plastered on her face. “I’m a unicorn; my horn is just, well, short”. I moved my mane to show my horn. She still looked confused “huh, but unicorns usually aren’t that big, why are you so tall and sturdy”, she poked me with a hoof while she talked. “I have worked hard, my magic is weak, so I have to move metal by hoof and back”. The orange mare nodded. “Aha, I’m Applejack by the way do you want me to follow you down to the town”. I shook my head “thanks but no thanks”. Applejack started walking the other way, and I realized that I had no idea where to go. “Hold up” I yelled after her “is there some pony I can talk to about setting up shop here” I asked her. “Sure, go to the town hall, mayor mare can help ya” Applejack said with a smile. After she had given me directions on how to get there, I thanked her and trotted down the hill and towards the town. The door to the town hall creaked open. “Uh hallo” I asked. The town hall was dark, the only light came from a small window in the roof. “How can I help you” a voice called from the shadows. The voice sounded mildly depressed, or at least sad. A gray-haired mare stepped out from the shadows. “Uh, I was wondering if you could help me, you see I would like to set up shop in Ponyville”. The mare hang her head “talk to princess twilight” she said. A single tear rolling from her eye. I stood still, uncomfortable with the situation. “But Applejack said that you could help me” I said with my best not-feeling-awkward voice. The mare walked past me “I can but the princess has more authority then me”. I looked at the sad mare “remind me, who is this princess, are you talking about, Celestia?”. The mare looked up at me as if I was stupid. “You don’t know who Twilight Sparkle is, she is the newest princess?” she asked with mild announce. My ears lay down on my head. “I haven’t been following the happenings in Cantorlot, I have focused on learning for years” I said hoping to be rid of the awkwardness. I followed the mare to a shack. She told me that I could rent it for 30 bits a month. I put out my hoof to shake on it, but the mare just looked at me. “so it’s a deal then” I said. She hesitated “sure”. The shack was small, just each room for a forge and a bed. I sighed. “My own little kingdom” I said smiling. As I walked out I felt something rub against me, it felt like cotton candy and as I looked down I saw that it in fact looked like cotton candy. The pink cotton suddenly shot to the side to reveal a face. “Who are you” the face asked in a loud and high pithed voice. I flew up in the air and landed on my side with a thumb. I looked in shock as the cotton candy and face turned into a pink pony with a glee filled face. I was laying on my side too scared to move. I had to force my brain to come up with an answer “wh-what the” I stammered. “My name is Pinkie Pie, I want to be your bestest friend in the whole wide world” she jumped as she talked making a “duing” sound with every jump. I rose from the ground trying to process what had just happened. Pinkie suddenly stood beside me. “Boy you are the biggest pony I have seen in a long time, are you as strong as Big Mac, uhh I know you can…“ I shot my ears, the pink pony was making a mess of my brain, she continued talking about a party she had to plan. There after, she bombarded me with questions about me, but they came to fast for me to answer. I stepped back little by little, but the pink blabber machine followed me step, by step. Soon I found myself back in the middle of Ponyville. “Leave the poor stallion alone, can’t you see that he is overwhelmed” a feminine voice called out from behind me. The voice belonged to a white mare with a purplish blue mane and tail. Pinkie stopped suddenly. “But he is new here and I want him to be my friend” Pinkie cried, tears running like waterfalls from her eyes. The white mare walked closer to me. “I am sorry, Pinkie can be a bit much for some ponies, she has the best intentions I assure you”. I nodded. “You seem familiar, have we met before” the white mare asked. I shook my head “I don’t think so, I have been traveling for most of my life”. The white mare put a hoof to her cheek, “hmm, but your features look so familiar, oh where are my manners, I’m Rarity I run the carousel boutique here in Ponyville”. I bowed my head lightly, “I’m Blazing Forge, I’m from Manehatten”. Her face lit up with glee as if she had been my filly friend and I had just asked her to marry me. “Manehatten!” she asked “oh tell me more”, she fluttered her eyelashes. “Well, my real name is Clinking bits, I had it change after I got my cutiemark” I said. Rarity almost fainted “you are from the Bits family?” she asked with her face close to mine, to close in fact. “Uhh yeah”. I couldn’t move, what was it with these ponies and overreacting, well apart from Applejack. The White mare probably sensed that she had invaded my personal space “oh I’m terribly sorry dear, I haven’t met somepony from the bits family before, they usually keep to themselves”. I nodded sadly “yeah, but I’m not a Bit anymore”. I looked towards the spot that the pink hyperactive party machine had been occupying, but she was gone. “Uh is Pinkie going to be okay” I asked with concern. “Oh yes, Pinkie just overreacts, it’s just how she is dear” Rarity assured me. “Would you care to follow me for tea in the park, I think that my friends would love to meet you,” she asked. Wow that was fast I thought, “uh sorry maybe another day, I have to move in to my shack”. Rarity’s ears dropped “oh, well I’ll see you later then”. A few minutes later, I was wrestling with my anvil, when it floated into the shack. “uh” I exclaimed. The anvil was suddenly, and unexpectedly surrounded in a purple aura, as it floated to the ground. I turned to see a purple unicorn with her horn active. “Uh thank you” I said as I rubbed my neck. The purple unicorn smiled and stood aside, to reveal five other ponies, they were all carrying tools and supplies. “Rarity told us that you were moving in and we wanted to help you” she said in a calm yet assertive voice. I smiled and thanked them “you don’t have to” I said keeping my smile and a slight blush. “That’s what friends are for” the purple unicorn said. As things were brought into the shack, I noticed that the purple Unicorn had wings. “By Celestias mane” I gasped and fell to the floor in a deep bow. “I’m so sorry princess, I didn’t know” I begged, as the purple mare just stood there. “You must be princess Twilight Sparkle” I asked keeping my head on the wooden floor. The princesses face looked like she was in distress “no, don’t bow” she said. I sprung up hitting my head on a big hammer that had been hung from the sealing. I landed on the ground, head spinning. A yellow Pegasus pony came to my aid in getting me on my hooves. The six ponies looked around at the swords, hammers and armors that I’ve had, had in my wagon, that now hung on the walls. “What a cool blade” the rainbow haired mare yelled. She held a huge blade I had made when I had been taught by a griffon blacksmith. “yeah, it’s one I made after master sword smith Sparrow had taught me all that he knew”. The blue furred and rainbow maned pony held the sword with both her hooves. “Come at me you beastly dragon” she yelled as she swung the massive blade. “I say, ya got talent” Applejack said, lowering the blade from her throat, that the blue mare still held. I blushed “yeah, but I still have a lot to learn”, I paused “thank you, all of you, I’m Blazing Forge”. The alicorn stepped forward “I’m Twilight, this is Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash” she pointed around as she spoke. After a bit of chatting they invited me for tea, again, but this time I couldn’t refuse. We had tea by a pond near Applejacks farm, the grass was soft, so I just sat on the ground, but Rarity insisted that I should sit on the blanket. “So, do you always invite newcomers for tea” I asked looking around the six mares. They all smiled, “yeah, well we doesn’t get many newcomers, so we do it in order to keep the town alive” Applejack said. “And it’s always nice to meet new friends” Pinkie said. The next few seconds felt like minutes, it felt awkward, to be surrounded by six friendly mares that I only met that day. I was saved by Pinkie who suddenly steered at me and asked “lemonade or cider”. I felt a cold shiver crawl down my back from the sudden outburst from Pinkie. “Uh, I, I prefer cider” I stammered. “okie dokie” she said grinning, before she was pulled back by Twilight. “Easy Pinkie” she said with a light frown, “you are making him uncomfortable” she said as she levitated two sandwiches from a basket, one for her and one for me. She levitated it in the air in front of me, probably expecting me to grab it, so I did, with my mouth. Twilight tilted her head. “Rarity said that you are a unicorn, so why aren’t you using your magic to levitate the sandwich,” she asked with a curios facial expiration. I put the sandwich down and began to explain, “well, you see, I am neither unicorn or earth pony, I’m sort of a hybrid. I don’t have the strength of an earth pony, or the magical properties of a unicorn, well I can use magic, but I draw from a finite pool of magic, if I use it too often I will drain it, and then I can’t work as effectively as if my magic is fully replenished”. Twilight steered at me “amazing” she whispered in a tone that made me concerned for my health. I took a bite out of the sandwich and looking around at the mares as I chewed. Was this an all mare herd, it wasn’t unheard of. What was Ponyvilles mare to stallion ratio, I decided to ask. Applejack pulled her head back, Pinkie looked up from a checklist that she was writing, Rainbow fell over laughing, twilight turned her head, Fluttershy blushed and Rarity seemed unfazed. “Uh, I’d say it’s about seven to eight mares per stallion” Rarity said “why do you want to know” she said lifting an eyebrow. It felt like I was shrinking, it felt awkward and it didn’t help that Rainbow was heaving for air in between laughter. “Well I was just wondering” I said as I forced a smile. Rainbow wiped a tear from her eyes “oh, you are as random as Pinkie” she said. The pink pony looked up “is that so” she said in a slightly disturbing voice. I backed away, “no I just thought you were an all mare herd, and then I wondered how many mares and stallions there is in Ponyville”. Applejack lay a hoof on my shoulder, “calm down, no we aren’t an all-mare-herd, we’re just friends, we don’t belong to any herd,” she said, not looking at me. I sat, “I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you”. The six shook their heads, “not in the slightest” Rarity said flinging her hair back. The rest of the picnic went fine, Pinkie asked me more questions about how I wanted my party, Rainbow kept asking about blades and swords, Rarity was mostly quiet, so was Fluttershy and twilight and I talked about what magic I could do. The day of the party rolled around and I stood in my shack trying to make myself presentable and failing, my cloths was too small, to dirty or too torn up to attend a party. I sighed deeply, I wondered if it would be okay if I came as I were, all natural, it was my only option anyway. I walked up to Twilights castle, the entrance was empty, the floor felt cold and uncomfortable to walk on. “Hallo” no answer. I slowly ascended up the stairs, a cold feeling running down my back, this felt wrong, it didn’t help that the halls made me feel small and insignificant. I spotted a piece of candy wrapped in pink paper. I walked closer, picked it up and unwrapped it. The candy was green and tasted like apples. Soon after, I found more candy lying around the corner. I followed the trail. It lead me to a big door. Oh, I get it it’s a surprise party, they’ll jump out when I walk in, I thought. Well would Pinkie have asked me what I wanted if it was a surprise, well no, what is this then, I stood for a while pondering Pinkies logic and mental stability. Finally I desisted to walk in. the room was empty. Black and only black filled the room. A purple light startled me. It came from one side of the room. The light came closer. I looked to the other side, a similar light, but blue. “Oh what is this” I thought As the lights got closer, a million thoughts spun around in my head, varies scenarios played in my panicked mind. They were not having a party for me, the party was after they had sacrificed me, and they would sacrifice me to the two entities floating towards me. I fell to the floor with my front hooves covering my head. I looked to my left and saw the purple light, it seemed stronger then the blue light. Little by little I could make out a muzzle, it was smiling. Oh buck, it was the princess, she was the one I would be sacrificed to. Where were my hidden dagger when I needed it. A tear formed from my defenselessness, rolled from my eye and landed on the cold hard floor. At this point I had accepted my fate, well accepted probably wasn’t the right word, more a knowing that I wouldn’t be able to protect myself from her, so why fight. I looked up again. Her hoof almost touched my muzzle, I looked further up, she was frowning. It made me hide my face. I didn’t want to see what she would do to end my existence. “Uh, you okay, somepony turn on the lights”. The lights flickered to life and I could see a large horde of ponies against the wall in the circular room, most looked chocked, others giggled and some tried to shut up the giggling ponies. Twilight reached a hoof towards me “I’m sorry, hope we didn’t scare you too much”. I took her hoof and tried to get on my hooves, but they were shacking, so I fell to the floor again. I caught a glint of Rainbow Dash, she tried desperately to hold in her laughter, she only made occasional grunts, when air escaped her mouth that was covered with her hoof. I finally got to my hooves. So that the party could begin. I sat on a couch when the blue Pegasus Rainbow Dash flew over and reached a hoof forward holding a mug of cider. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it, you looked so silly on the floor” she said bluntly. I raised an eyebrow “thanks” I said as dryly as I could. “Oh come on, you’d think It’d be funny too if you could see yourself”. She still held the cider mug in front of me, I slowly reached for it, grabbed it and slowly pulled it back. She sat beside me with a mug of her own. She took a swig and exhaled in sheer bliss. I looked at the cider swirling it around with a flick of my hoof, finally I brought it to my mouth. The first mouthful was orgasmic; my tongue had a party in my mouth, and all tastebuds were invited. After bringing the mug down, I smiled down at the cider. “Good, hah” Rainbow was grinning “you almost can’t taste the alcohol” I smiled back at her “wow, it’s amazing, thanks” I said licking my lips. “Did you make it”, I asked. “Nah, applejack and her family made it”. The party slowly lost velocity and little by little everypony left, but the six mares I had met and me. We sat around a table, to my left lay three empty barrels. I had a good buzz going, I couldn’t stop smiling at the three mares. My drunk mind convinced me that I could score them, but from a corner of my brain a single brain cell objected, the single brain cell was right. “Oh I could go for a flagon of mead now” I said flowing down the chair. The yellow Pegasus winced “did he say meat” she shrieked. “No, no, mead, with a d instead of a t, is an alcoholic drink brewed with honey” I said hastily. “it was the drink of choice for the Viking ponies” I grinned pointing to my goat beard. “Oh so you think of yourself as a Viking” Rarity winked. I blushed and tried to hide it, “well sort of”. I looked around the trashed room, wondering how Pinkie and the others had put a party together and invited the whole town. I decided to ask. “Well Pinkie did all of it” Twilight said, her answer puzzled me. “Uh, by herself” I asked. “yup, yup, yup” Pinkie squeaked. I tilted my head “but, how” I asked. “Because of Pinkie” Rainbow said, “she is faster than me”. I nodded. “Okay, so you are fast” a hiccup made me pause “as well” I asked. Rainbow grinned. “Here we go” Applejack said. “Have you ever heard about the sonic rain boom” Rainbow asked. I put a hoof to my chin, “isn’t that the flight stunt, where a pony have to fly five times the speed of sound, causing the visible spectrum to shatter into a rainbow ring and the doubling the Pegasus speed?” Rainbow and Twilights jaws hung to the floor. “How could you possibly know that”, Twilight asked. “I’ve done it and I didn’t even know that” Rainbow added. I sighed, “well just because I’m a work pony, doesn’t mean I’m not well-read” I scoffed. “She didn’t mean it like that darling” Rarity defended. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just” Twilight paused “most work ponies aren’t that well-read”. I nodded “I know” I said looking at my empty mug, “I’m just faster to take offence when I’m drunk”. After a bit more chatting, we decided to call it a night. I declined the offer of sleeping in one of the guestrooms and headed home. As I left the others waved at me wishing me a good night’s rest.
Chapter 2The next morning was filled with regret. My head was spinning, my stomach was upset and my eyes were blurry. I sure couldn’t drink like a work pony. I cursed Applejacks sweet cider, why did it have to be that good, why didn’t she make an aftertaste, so that one would slow down. I must had drank at least one or two mugs with soft cider and eight mugs of hard cider. “I sure could go for a pick-me-up-beer right about now” I mumbled to myself. I stumbled out of my bed, threw a saddlebag over my back and headed out into the town. I met Pinkie at the marked as I was buying breakfast. “Wasn’t it an amazing party” she asked, with a voice, feeling like a rusted rack, being scratched down a blackboard. “It sure was" i said in a raspy voice. "could you keep your voice down a bit, I have a hangover”. Pinkie grinned from ear to ear as she pulled out a bottle of something out from absolutely nothing. “I think you need this then”. I uncorked the bottle with my magic, I wasn’t going to work today anyway. I had things to prepare before I could forge anything. The liquid had an offensive odor that burned my nose. I put it to my mouth hesitating for a bit. Pinkie saw my hesitation and almost jammed the bottle down my throat. “No hesitating, just down the hatch”. I gaged as the liquid rushed down. To Pinkies defense it didn’t taste that bad, it was sweet, almost too much so and after a second or two, I could taste alcohol. “What was that” I asked coughing. “oh, it’s just redbull, monster energy and vodka” she smiled “the best pick-me-up I know”. I looked at her like I had just dropped down from mars. “Redbull, monster?” I asked. She nodded “how do you think I’m so hyper all the time”. I coughed ones more “never heard of it”. Pinkie giggled “it doesn’t exist silly”. After that she jump off, leaving me with more questions than answers. She truly was something else that Pinkie, a tornado of pink party fury. Back at the shack, after breakfast, I set to work placing rocks to form an old-school forge. The forge took shape piece by piece and soon, it was finished. Then I had to install the bellows and they fit perfectly. I sighed in relief of finally being done, than I turned to the anvil. “My backs nemesis” I thought. Lifting the heavy heap of metal was an enormous strain on my magic and back; I would have to be resting for the rest of the day just to get ready to forge after moving it with magic. The anvil landed on the wooden floor with a crash, I prayed to Celestia that the floor wasn’t broken. Celestia must have heard me, the floor prevailed, against my expectation. I looked around to see, if there were anything that needed to be done, when I looked at the door I saw that it was open and three little fillies was standing looking in. One little filly with yellow fur and a red mane stepped forward. “Hiya there stranger” she said nodding at me, “do ya need any help, we a looking to earn our cutiemarks”. I looked at them “uh, sure you could buy some hard coal for me” I said searching for bits in a bag close to me. “Sure thing mister” the little Pegasus said and they all speeded towards the town center. However a few minutes later they returned “you need some bits” I winked at them and threw a small coin purse at their hooves. “Oh and if there’s money left for an ice-cream you can buy one each as a thank you”. As soon I said ice-cream their faces lit up more than they were before. I sorted my files by roughness, when the fillies returned. They were hauling a handcart each, filled with coal. “Here you are mister”, the Pegasus said sweat streaming down her face. I walked closer smiling. I thanked the fillies dragging the carts into the shack. The fillies looked at their flanks and sighed, then walked into the shack as well. The orange Pegasus walked over to the same sword that Rainbow had picked up. “Wow, did you make this” she asked, her voice full of aw. I picked up the sword “yeah, I did, I have a passion for sharp objects”. I immediately wished I hadn’t said that, it sounded really creepy and wasn’t appropriate in front of the fillies, or anypony for that matter. “Uh I mean, I like the elegance of a blade, or the brute of a war axe” I said hoping I could save it. The fillies apparently didn’t pick up on my creepy statement or maybe they didn’t care. “Have you ever used one of them” the white filly asked. I nodded “yeah, but I do not take pride in killing, it was either me or the tundra-wolf” I said in a slightly sad tone. The fillies all sat around me, probably expecting a story of heroic proportions. I walked to a shelf containing the swords that held a special place in my heart. I drew one from its sheath. It was a medieval sword with a golden hoof-guard and pommel. “It was this sword I used, you can still see a bit of the blue blood on it” I said, holding the sword and walking closer. I lay the sword on the floor in front of them, making their jaws hang open. Fillies and colts were so easy to impress, if it were mares or stallions, they would think I was crazy, with my fascination of sharp objects. “How did you manage to slay the wolf” the red maned filly asked. “Well I saw them from the snowy trees, tracking me” the fillies nodded. “Just to be safe I drew my sword, and hoped that they wouldn’t attack” I picked up the sword and held it as if I was about to get attacked. “I waited for them to make the first move, the worst thing you can do when faced with wolf is to run away, they want you to run, so I just stood my ground”. The fillies’ eyes seem to be popping out at any second now. “I saw one of the wolfs emerge from the dark forest and got ready to defend myself”. “Wow” they said scooting closer. “Suddenly it sat into a sprint running past me, trying to get me to run” I said as I held the sword as if I was about to attack the air. “How big was it” the Pegasus asked her eyes still as big as before. “Uh about my size I think” I said thinking that I never really thought about that. “Well, then another attacked from behind and bit me”. I showed them my scar as I spoke. “I kicked back, trying to rid myself of the beast but it wouldn’t budge so I had to swing my sword” I swung the sword over my back. “Man was that a bad idea, the sword hit the wolfs nose and got stuck in the wooden wagon” I acted as if the sword was stuck. “When I had gotten the wolf of me and the sword back in my hooves a third wolf jumped right for me”. I thrust my sword forward as if I was attacking a taller enemy. “When the wolfs saw the one I had just impaled on my sword, they decided that I wasn’t worth the effort and retreaded”. The three little fillies looked at me as if I were a hero, but in reality I was no better than the wolfs that had attacked me. I placed the blade on the shelf again and sat down in front of them. “Oh wow” the white one said “Would you help us forge something” the red Pegasus asked. I thought about it for a second “sure, why not, just not today, I haven’t got that big of a stock of materials yet”. After a couple of minutes past chatting, the fillies stood. “Well we best be of”, the yellow filly said. I nodded at them, “well you are welcome any time, oh I didn’t get your names”. The fillies looked back at me. “I’m Applebloom” “I’m Sweetiebell” “and I’m Scootaloo” they said one after the other. “And I’m Blazing Forge” I said. I wandered around the town, hoping to find something of interest, when I saw the princess walking down the street. She was talking to somepony. somepony I couldn’t see for the other ponies. “Huh, must be a filly or a colt” I thought out loud. As they got closer, I saw that it defiantly wasn’t a pony, but rather some kind of bipedal lizard. As they walked past, I could see that the creature was writing something on a piece of parchment. Did princess Twilight have a dragon, a dragon assistant? I had never seen a baby dragon up close before and without really noticing, I followed them. Suddenly the dragon turned around to meet my face, just a few inches from his. Well at least I thought it was male. “Yeah” the dragon said lifting an eyebrow. I was stunned, “uh, hi there fella” I stammered, making the dragon frown. I pulled my head back expecting a fireball to the face, but he just stood there, arms crossed. I looked at Twilight as if to ask for help. “This is Spike, he is my assistant” she lay a hoof on his back, easing his frown. “And Spike, this is Blazing Forge, he just moved here”. I had to say something, but what “uh, sorry Spike, it’s just that I have never seen a baby dragon before” I smiled nervously, hoping that he wasn’t angry with me. Spike just sighed and extended a clawed arm. Twilight had offered me to take me to dinner, we sat at a café called the golden dandelion. Twilight sipped on her tea and asked me “so, are you settling in alright”. I nodded as I had my mouth full at that moment. “That’s good, got any orders yet”. I shook my head and swallowed the bite of sandwich I had in my mouth. “No, I just got ready, well there was three fillies that wanted my help in making something”, I said smiling widely. “Oh, that must be the cutiemark crusaders” she said “Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetiebell” she continued. I nodded “yeah, they are really sweet, I told them about my travels and my swords and they seemed really interested”. Spike belched loudly, “sorry” he said blushing a bit. “Uh, Spike, I don’t mean to be rude” I said pausing, “do you breath fire” I asked. He looked at me with a mixture of annoyance and “well duh” on his face. “Well yeah, I’m a dragon”. It was painfully obvious that he hadn’t taking a liking to me. “I was wondering if you could help me forge a dragon blade" i asked "I bought some kind of metal, that had been mined from a dragons nest and I was told that only dragon fire could heat it”. The little dragon raised an eyebrow in interest. “I’ve got the forge ready if you want”. The dragon nodded slightly. “Sure why not, well if Twilight doesn’t need me” he looked at Twilight. “Maybe tomorrow Spike, I need your assistance for the rest of the day” she said smiling at Spike and then at me. Later that day I saw that Ponyville had a pub, a small establishment about the size of my shack. I made a mental note that I should go there in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day walking around the town, meeting new ponies and saying hi to the ones I knew. After a hardy dinner at home I trotted into town with a smile on my face. The pub was mostly empty, say for three stallions playing a card game at a table. “What’s ya poison” the bartender asked sharply. “Uh, a dark ale” I said. The glass was filled to the brim with a thick ale. It felt more like a some kind of smoothie then a beer, but it was good non the less. I sat down, one table over from the stallions. One of the stallions stood and walked over to me. “Ah haven’t seen ya before” he said in a deep and scary voice. I knew I could take him, if we were to fight, I was bigger than him, but he made me feel as small as a preschool filly. “Ya play cards” he asked not letting any emotion out. I shook my head rapidly. “Oh come now a work pony like ya’ll need to be able to play cards” another said. I felt my body stand up and walk to their table and sit down, against my will. The first few hands was won by me, still to this day I had no idea why, however after half an hour I kept losing, so I had to get the next round of beer, and the next, and the next. I had a good hand, well to the best of my knowledge anyway, five, six, seven, eight and nine of hearts. After that hand I remembered that I was supposed to forge with Spike the next day, so I stood and told the other stallions goodnight, seen as it had turned dark. The way home seemed far longer than the way there, maybe because I kept going the wrong way. I had a good sense of direction, in the daytime, at night I almost couldn’t tell where I was, at to that, that I was drunk of my flank and that it was as dark as Nightmare Moons heart. I stumbled into something hard as I was concentrating on placing my hooves on the ground properly, falling backwards and landing on my rump. I looked up and saw a mostly light purple building, with a sign saying “carousel boutique”. My drunk brain said “hey mate, this would be a great place to sleep” but the rest of me yelled “no dude, you’ll freeze, you better knock on the door”. I was about to knock when a white stallion yelled “hey what are you doing” and galloped over. I turned just as he stopped just half a meter from me. “Well my good sir” I said in my best not-drunk-of-my-ass voice. “It seem to me that I have lost my way in this here town, could you direct me to my shack, you will be rewarded handsomely”. The white stallion sighed and helped me across the town. I almost broke the door down when I knocked on the door. “Honey, could you let me in” then I looked back at the stallion expecting a laugh. Well, he didn’t know that I didn’t have a mare friend. I came back out of the shack with a silvery dagger. “Here you go sir, this is for your troubles” I said and walked back inside.
Chapter 3I had always been better with beer. I didn’t get hangovers from beer like I did with ciders or wine. Spike woke me up, he stood at the head end of the bed poking me with his claws. I woke up and without thinking drew a sword that hung over the bed. “wow, wow easy” spike said as he backed away. Spike held a dagger “uh I found this outside” spike said “are there ninjas after you” he asked. After I stood I shook my head. “No I made that” I smiled down at spike. “Wow” he said as he turned the dagger around looking over my work. I sat to work getting ready to forge. “Hammer, anvil and water, check” I said to myself. “Ready to begin” I asked, spike nodded enthusiastically. Spikes flames felt more intense than normal flames. The metal took shape little by little and soon it had the shape I wanted. I thanked spike for his help and sent him home to Twilight. With my magic I made the belt-grinder turn so I could smooth the blade. After I had added a pommel and a crossgaurd I set to work on a handle. I thought that spike should have this dagger, it would be a sword fitting for a dragon his size. The dagger looked great, the scaly texture of the metal could still be seen, even after it had been smoothed and sharpened, the handle was made from rosewood, that might have been a design flaw, the dark green and red clashed and made it inharmonic. I picked up a piece of wood to try out the blade. With minimal force, it cut through the wood. I grinned “oh sweet Celestia” it felt as if I was getting aroused from the sharpness, well I kind of was, but at least nopony was around to see it. After wrapping the dagger in a cloth and putting it in my saddlebag I walked to Twilights castle. Spike answered the door. “yeah, oh hi Blaze” he said looking out the door. I opened the saddlebag to reveal the cloth. “this is for you” I said as I smiled at him “you are the best assistant I have ever had” I said. In truth I had never had an assistant, but he didn’t need to know. “wow” he said as he unwrapped the dagger. “thank you” he said. The handle was slightly bigger than one of his clawed hands and the blade fit his size perfectly. Twilight came to the door and saw the dagger and then looked at me. “are you sure that’s a good idea” she asked. I nodded “there aren’t any lows against fillies and colts having knives, so why should a dragon be any deferent” I asked with a smile. Twilight looked worried but accepted. Spike looked up at Twilight “can I hang with Blazing Forge, you are just reading today right” he asked. Twilight put a hoof to her mouth “uh, I would prefer that you stayed here” she finally said. Spike sighed, “well we could hang here” I said smiling at them both. “Agreed” Twilight said and turned to walk in again. “Could you make a set of armor to go with the sword” Spike asked big eyed as a puppy. I shook my head “no that was the only dragon metal I had” I said smiling at him. “You are quite the little knight aren’t you” I teased “who’s your princess, it’s not Twilight I can tell that much” I continued smirking. Spike looked at me, then down at the dagger “you do realize that I have a sharp object in my claws right” he asked jokingly. “Not that Twilight isn’t a good looking mare” I said blushing. I put a hoof to my chin, “Pinkie seem to be able to bend the world to her will, so she wouldn’t need rescuing, the same with Applejack and Rainbow” I said, in deep thought, “so that leaves Fluttershy and Rarity” I looked down at him. “hmm it must me Fluttershy, Rarity is to obvious” I said, making Spike blush. “No it’s not Fluttershy, it’s Rarity” he said grinding his foot in the ground. A spoon with wings flew past us and towards the nearest door “stop that spoon” Twilight yelled and charged after it. I stood and looked down at spike “uh aren’t you going to help her” spike just smiled slightly. “nah, she has got it under control, usually she and her friends take care of things. Most of us just carry on with the day as if nothing happened, it might seem strange, and it properly is, but it how things work here,” he said shrugging. Soon after Twilight returned, her mane looked like Pinkies and she looked exhausted. After Twilight had made herself presentable again, she asked Spike what he had planned for dinner. “uh well I thought about making hey fries and dandelion salad” he said. That felt like my que to leave but Spike stopped me “I’ll make extra” he said smiling at me and then looking at the dagger. Spike was quite the cook, the fries were perfect and the salad was amazing. Later that afternoon I decided to turn in early, but first I wanted to read a story, so I found “the complete works of Slender Pencil”. He was my favorite author. His universes were very deferent then ours, he wrote about bipedal beings engaged in war with each other, over religions of all things. I started where I had left of last time, the hero had just meet a female and he had taken her to a ruin and was about to undress her. Oh this will be good I thought, but I was soon disappointed as a squared of soldiers stormed the ruin and shot the female, the hero barely saved his own life and presided to run as fast he could. “Damn you Slender Pencil” I yelled and let the book fall to the floor and rolled my eyes. He could be such a tease, building up to something and then ripping it apart. I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes. I dreamt that I was walking besides a slender mare who I recognized immediately, it was my former crush, I met in Canterlot. She brushed her tail against me and flashed a seductive smile at me. She put a hoof on my back and asked, “why didn’t you ask me out”. “uh well, you see”, I was never great with mares or fillies for that matter. “I have always wanted you” she whispered into my ear, making it twitch. She brushed her tail against me and bumping my flank with hers, I laughed nervously. She then pushed me to the floor, “oh Blazing Forge, I need you”. Her hips rubbed against my exposed belly. My eyes opened to be greeted by three little fillies on my stomach. I blushed. “hiya there mister” Applebloom said “we are looking for our cutiemark” Sweetiebell said “and we wondered if metal was our special talent”. After getting footing on the floor and rubbing sleep from my eyes I looked at the three fillies, “uh, so what do you want to make” I asked with sleep in my voice. The crusaders took a long while to come up with their answer, “we, don’t know, we figure we could help with something” Scootaloo said smiling up at me. I looked around my shack, “uhh, I don’t have anything right now” looking back at them and seeing the sadness in their eyes. I decided to make a deal with them. “when I get the first job you can help me, all right?” I asked, “thanks mister” Applebloom said smiling at me. After that the fillies darted out of the shack and towards the town. Sitting down on the floor I noticed my saddleback had fallen from a table, “well, I might as well see how many bits I’ve got left” I thought and pulled it closer, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, “hmm, I need costumers, quick” I whispered to myself. “I could sell the sword that doesn’t have to much sentimental value”. I picked up the swords from the shelves and placed them on the ground, “well, I don’t know if I’m even allowed to sell them here, I guess it’s okay, it’s close to the everfree, so, we need to be able to protect ourselves”. I decided to make a stand at the marked, I found old pieces of wood from an old wagon behind the shack and fashioned a stand. A lot of young colt came and asked about the blades and armor pieces, but nothing were sold that day, bummer. When I packed the stand together and put it on my wagon I saw that Twilight were walking with Spike, I waved at them trying to get her attention, I didn’t. A light furred and red purple-ish mare with a rose cutiemark saw me waving and walked over to me. “don’t bother, they almost never interact with the other ponies of this town, those six stay together and doesn’t let others into their little click” she said with a sweet and yet strangely dry voice. “uh, I don’t understand, they seemed so nice when they welcomed me” I said. she looked at me with something resambling pitty “oh, don’t worry, it’s not you, they are the element bearers, that’s what binds them so closely, maybe it’s hard for them to have a friend that can’t come on dangerous missions” she said. I frowned “isn’t Twilight the princess of friendship” I asked “yeah but try to imagine having to be friends with hundreds of ponies, I don’t think it’s an easy task” she said smiling at me. I could see her point, but the least thing she, or they could do, was to acknowledge other ponies. I knew she saw me, we had eye contact. After putting the swords and stand back in my shack, I thought of going to the town hall, maybe I could track down a temporary job there, just to earn some bits for the future. However I ran into Applebloom, or rather, she ran into me. “Hi there Applebloom, you wouldn’t happen to know where I could find a job would you”, she looked at me funny, “uhh, don’t you have a shop and a stand” she asked tilting her head, “yeah, well it’s not going so well”. With a hoof to her mouth she stood thinking, “ya could ask Applejack or Big Mac, at our farm” I shook her hoof rapidly “thank you” I said and walked of. At the farm, I saw a big red stallion plowing the fields, “that has to be Big Mac”, I thought out loud and proceeded to walk towards the big stallion. “Hey there, Applebloom said that you might have a job for me, here at the farm, you are Big Mac right” I said hoping that I was right, “eeyup”, “uhh, so what can I do”, Big Mac flung his head as to say “follow me”. We ended up in a corner of the apple fields, where the trees with yellow apples and a small field of strawberries. Big Mac pointed to the trees and then to a stack of wooden buckets, to the strawberry field and a crate. “okay then, I’ll return when it’s done”, Big Mac just nodded and trotted away. Turns out, it was harder to buck a tree, then I had expected. The first couple of tries, made me plant my face in the ground, next buck made a single apple fall. Soon after I had gotten the hang of it and bucked and bucked. Apple after apple fell and some even fell into the buckets, but most fell on the ground for me to pick up. Bic Mac returned when I had filled the wooden buckets, with a new set of buckets and a cart. After I had hauled the cart into the barn, emptied the buckets and put them back in the cart I returned to the corner of the field. It took me most of the day, but I finished. Bic Mac saw me pulling the last of the apples and strawberries, and nodded in satisfaction. A older looking mare came across my path as I was heading home, expecting to be paid by the end of the week, “heya sonny” she said in a high and shacky voice, “you were the one helping Big Mac right”. I nodded “yeah” I said smiling at her, “gibers, ya are almost as big as Big Mac too”. I tilted my head, not knowing what to say, turns out I didn’t need to say anything. “Come on let’s get inside to get some to eat”. I was flattered at the hospitality, not only her, but the whole town I general. “I’d like that” I said. At the table I sat between Applebloom and Big Mac, it felt kind of weird to not be the biggest stallion, well to be fair he wasn’t that much taller, a couple of centimeters or so, but still. “More mashed potatoes”, Applejack asked, after my third helping, “oh, no thank you, I couldn’t eat another bite” I said gasping afterwards. Suddenly, out of the blue, a pie was put in front of me, “time for apple pie” Granny Smith said, “uh Granny, he said he couldn’t eat another bite” Big Mac said. Wow, it was the first time I had heard him talk, besides the occasional “eeyup” or “nope”. I must have steered at him for a while, because the others were looking at me. I closed my mouth that had hung open and smiled sheepishly. A moment later Granny broke the silence, “uh what were we talking about” she said while rubbing her head. Her age were showing, I thought she had aged gracefully, I had seen some pictures of her when she was younger hanging on a wall, a picture of Applejack when she had been a young filly in diapers and a picture of Big Mac as a teenage colt eating a juicy apple. The apple family seemed to be a family in harmony, and then. “He said he couldn’t eat another bite” Applejack yelled, “I’m not deaf you know” Granny yelled back and frowned. Oh on second thought maybe not. After the two mares had cooled of, we decided to go look at the setting sun with a pot of coffee. Applebloom had brought the pie and diches for the four of us. Slam, my body fell onto the my hay bed, with a lazy thud, my rear hooves hurt, how Big Mac and Applejack do that all day. I sighed and picked up a ingot from the floor, hmm, maybe they could use some horseshoes, some click-on horseshoes, with spikes or grooves. It didn’t take me long to draw a blueprint, I was suddenly full of energy, I would present them tomorrow after the bucking. The warm rays of the sun tickled my muzzle, waking me gently and after stretching, I felt ready for the day, well that, and the coffee and a sandwich helped, Celestia surely knew how to wake her little ponies. The road to Applejacks farm felt faster than the day before, maybe it was my happy trotting or the fresh air. I greeted Applejack and asked her where I should start, she pointed me toward the barn, “I need you to build a hay shelter for my apples” she said in a cheery voice. Thump, thump, thump, the hay bales fell hard onto the ground, I probably didn’t need as many as I threw down, but better safe than sorry. Applejack had stacked crates in the barn, ready for the hay. One, two, three, the hay bales didn’t feel all that heavy and not long after, I had covered the crates. Well that was easy, I thought frowning, what now. Applebloom was walking off to school, but when she saw me she ran over. “hi” she squeaked, “hi Applebloom, off to school I see” I said smiling at the little sweet filly, “yeah, I just wanted to tell you to have a good day”, I snickered “you too”, after that she took off galloping down the road, leaving a smoke trail. I shook my head, if only I had been that enthusiastic about school when I was her age, instead of working on my magic, that never really improved. Applejack and Big Mac returned shortly after with three wagons filled with apples, Applejack drove one and Big Mac had two. “What now” I said cracking my neck and forelegs, “wow eager to work I see, well, nothing right now, most of the apples are bucked and we have our winter reserve” she smiled “so why don’t you just take the rest of the day off”. I shrugged my shoulders “sure, oh there were something I wanted to show you two” I said pulling the blueprints from my saddlebag. “Seem mighty complicated” Applejack said, Big Mac nodded, “eeyup”. Looking down on the blueprints I noticed that I could make it simpler by removing a spring. “Yeah, probably, but it’s not impossible” I said with a confident smile. After a long while Applejack looked up at me and said “if ya can make a pair, ya know for a demo, I would be glad to try it out” After I had wished Applejack and Big Mac a good day I walked back to town, to my surprise the whole town was buzzing with ecstatic energy. My eyes caught Rose at her flower stand and decided to ask her what the fuzz was about. “oh haven’t you heard, the princesses are coming to town in a couple of days, they are having a slumber party at Twilights house”. Slumber party, princesses, huh, this was weird I thought, shouldn’t they be ruling the land, well perhaps there were nothing on their agenda. Maybe they needed some down time, well in any case, this was the perfect opportunity, I could show Celestia my craft, I could make a celestial sword for her, to prove that I had what it would take to be a royal swordsmith. “uh, are you listening” rose asked “huh” I exclaimed, a little louder than I would have liked. “what I was saying was; since you are new here, and that you probably don’t know that many around town, we would like to invite you to a slumber party, so that we can get to know you and you, us”. I could swear I saw a hint of a blush, but didn’t pay much mind to it, “we being?” I asked in a curios tone, “oh, my sisters and I” she said smiling. Thinking it through, I agreed. I didn’t know anypony that well and this would be a great opportunity to get to know somepony in Ponyville. Back in my shack I started work on a sword for Celestia. I had a special material tugged away for such an ovation. It was a special, magic enhancing, metal like crystal, used by mages and sorceress. Strike after strike, I shaped the crystal. To my surprise the crystal almost knew what I wanted it to do, it shaped itself as I strug it with my hammer and soon the blade was done. I admired the shape, a long blade with a thickened tip. After I had policed the blade I accidently turned the flat of the blade towards the sun, blinding me and sending my flank to the floor. “Damn it” I muttered, it was worse than the time I had welded without a helmet. Several days later, I had the blade ready, it was long, far longer than the two hoofed swords I had seen or made before. I took a swing with it. Clank, crash, bang, all of my hammers flew onto the floor. I should really think before doing something like that, I sighed. After making a sheath for the blade I trotted towards Raritys home. I had heard that she had lots of fabric lying around, and with a small sum of bits on hoof I knocked on the door. “Oh what a mess you are”. Sigh, not even a good day, this was a weird town, Rarity held a hoof to her muzzle, probably in chock, well to her defense I was messy, my coat was darkened by the ash from the forge and the metal dust from sawing and welding. “uh, hi, Rarity right” I asked, “I was wandering if I could buy some fabric, to wrap around a sword”. The white unicorn pulled me in and almost flung me into her bathroom, this was weird, too weird. Turning on the water she almost drowned me as she scrubbed me with a spung, grasped with her magic. “oh it’s not coming off” she muttered. A towel wrapped itself around me and almost squished the water from my coat and mane, letting all of the air out of me. When the towel attacked again I countered with a simple ward and tried to get her attention. “HEY” I yelled stopping her, “oh dear” she muttered “I think I stepped over the line” she blushed shamefully, “what can I help with”. “As I said” I started explaining what I needed the fabric for. “oh of cause” she said in a singsong voice “what color”, “uh, something fitting Celestia” I said. Rarity found a roll of light pink, well more white, with a hint of pink really, and cut a piece that wound fit the sword after my specifications. “No, no it’s free, take it” she said after I had handed her a hoof full of bits and lead me to the door.
