Princess and the Salamander

Chapter Two: Blacksmithing and Trouble

The Mane Six waited outside of Rarity’s home, after Twilight took Nyx home to rest after her near death experience, while the unicorn worked her magic on the metal giant. When around two hours passed, Rarity opened her doors, with a proud look on her face.

“Ladies! I present to you, the new and improved, Zu’hal!” She moved out of the way, allowing Zu’hal to walk out of her boutique.

He was wearing strange black baggie pants, which came up to where they seemed more like half overalls. His top was a dark green vest, matching his armor, while it had the symbol of a dragon sewn over his left chest. “…. She tried another outfit but I voiced my opinion rather thoroughly.” Zu’hal said… But what caught everyone’s attention, wasn’t the basic outfit Rarity decided to go with… But the fact his entire skin color was charcoal black. His body, from what Twilight remembered from the human world, was extremely well toned by comparison.

“The measurements were mostly the problem, never have I worked with such… Definition.” Rarity said, thinking for a moment and actually making Zu’hal blush a bit. “I’ll have to design more outfits for him, later.”

“I… Think this one will do for now.” Zu’hal said, keeping his eyes away from the white unicorn’s own strange gaze that made him feel really uncomfortable. “Now then! Time for me to get to work on that building!” He said, Twilight having the tools float up to him, the giant taking them and walking towards the very building he destroyed during their battle.

Twilight leaned in, so she could whisper to Rarity. “Where… Is his armor?” She asked, watching as the giant was sizing the building up in the distance.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Pah-lease, Twilight. I have to work on it as well, the paint has been damaged, the symbol looks like it was in a brawl with some Timberwolf, and the chest piece looks like a dragon breathed on to it.” She gave a sigh, eyeing the giant in the distance as well. “I can’t wait to make him seem like the jewel of Ponyville, making us seem like the greatest town in all of Equestria.”

“Uh… Rarity, we don’t know how long he’ll be staying here.” Twilight reminded, looking to the daydreaming unicorn.

The statement suddenly broke her concentration. “Then I best get to work! Ta ta, girls!” Rarity said, going back into her boutique.

The group watched, as Zu’hal tap his chin. Twilight slowly walked up to the giant, looking up at him. “What are you pondering, um… Brother Zu’hal?” She asked him, breaking the Salamander’s concentration.

“Hm? Oh, how I can improve this building some…. Granted, if I restored it to the way it was, with a picture of it, I can get it done in one day. However, I was thinking of making it more sturdy, allowing it to take a harder hit.” He answered, looking at the alicorn.

“It is getting late, though… Shouldn’t you wait until tomorrow morning?” She asked, tilting her head while also thinking of where he could possibly stay.

“Oh, that isn’t a problem, I have another day and a half before I need any sleep.” Zu’hal said, walking up to where the tower fell, feeling the stone itself. “Space Marines can stay up for a whole week without sleep.” He grabbed some tools and went straight to work on the building, a smile on his face.

“A-A week!? How is that even possible? I’ve seen Humans that could barely go a single day without sleep.” Twilight asked, awe struck at how long Zu’hal was able to stay awake.

“We are engineered to withstand such things. Space Marines are designed to help lead mortal men through battles, like demi gods of war. So, to ensure this, we need to withstand long periods of time without sleep, and keep fighting.” Zu’hal explained, taking a stone at a time, recreating the stones that were broken, with new ones. “Or, in this case, get a damaged building rebuilt in a day.”

“But how can you rebuild this portion of the house? Usually, this will take us ponies around a week.” Twilight asked, watching as the warrior worked.

“Another trivial matter… I’m used to building hasty fortification within an hour, after landing on to a battlefield… Then have a fully functional metal fortification ready within a week.” He looked back at her. “You have any idea how hard it is to set up a trench and bunker by hand?” He asked.

Twilight slowly shook her head, “I… Never had to.” She said, eyes staying wide.

“It is a difficult thing to do. Granted, if I had the proper building equipment…” He went back to setting the stones right, even going inside to reset a few fallen support beams. “I would have his done within under thirty minutes.”

“I never saw any of that technology when I went to the human world!” Twilight said, becoming extremely interested. “They were just like us, granted their buildings were more suited to them and what not. But their earth was still interesting.”

That statement made Zu’hal suddenly stop. “E-Earth?” He said, going wide eyed at the name.

“Yeah… Isn’t that what you call your world?” She asked, the warrior suddenly slouching.

“Holy Terra hasn’t been called that in over thirty five thousand years.” He turned to face her, a serious look. “Not to mention, the way things were ran in that time, was nothing like this….. I fear that I may have…” He instantly went back to work.

“You may have what, Brother Zu’hal?” Twilight asked, becoming concerned about the giant now.

“I remember some Adeptus Mechanicus talking about alternate realities… Where things happen differently.” He said, putting up one of the support beams, and hammering a few bolts to keep it in place. “At first, I thought I arrived on a different world, full of xenos. But, with what you just said…”

Twilight slowly listening, realizing what the conclusion that Zu’hal had come to. “You may have… Entered one of those realities….” She said, eyes wide. “H-How did it happen, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Zu’hal suddenly stopped, looking up at the sky. “To be honest, where I am from? There is no peace, there is only war…. I was on a battlefield, leading my battle brothers, and the world’s guardsmen, into battle against a hated traitor legion.” He walked over to the wall, and started to work again. “I did battle with a twisted sorcerer, who prayed to the Chaos Gods, evil daemon gods that want nothing more than the galaxy to burn. When he was preparing a spell to destroy me, and my brothers, I interrupted it by clashing my hammer against his sword. The opposite powers didn’t like each other too well, and this was the result.”

His explanation caught her off guard, Twilight never thought Magic could be turned to such evil deeds. “I-I’m guessing… Magic isn’t liked where you’re from?” She asked, watching the warrior work.

“No… It really isn’t. After all, there is a Chaos God of Sorcerery.” Zu’hal answered.

“But magic is used for good here… Especially the Magic of Friendship.” Twilight noted, flying over to him. “I’m also the representative of Magic, when it comes down the Spirits of Harmony… Well, I was.” Twilight looked off to her left, making Zu’hal stop.

“Did something happen?” He asked, becoming curious as to how this world worked.

“There was an incident, me and my friends had to give up our elements, which ended with us losing those.” She said, rubbing her right side. “But when an evil being, known as Tirek, came… We defeated him when we opened a chest that contained the very power of friendship.” She went on, making Zu’hal smile.

“Of course…” He said, going back to work. “Classic good versus evil, and good triumphs.” Zu’hal said, placing few stones down.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked.

“In my reality… The forces of good don’t always win.” Zu’hal simply said, this made Twilight stop herself, and remained quiet for a few moments.

“I-I’m going to… Check on Nyx.” She said, getting ready to fly away.

“Let me know if she’s ok? Her condition is was my fault.” Zu’hal asked, putting up another support beam.

“I-I will.” Twilight said, surprised at the humility that came from him… From what she remembers in books, beings like him were often less concerned about lesser beings… So, she flew off, as she said, back to her castle.

By the afternoon, of the next day, Zu’hal made good on his promise. The building was restored to the way it was, before he had wrecked it. When the giant asked if he could bed down somewhere, that had a smithy, everyone tried to get him to stay with him, but Twilight said that it would make more sense if he stayed at her castle. Rarity arranged for his armor to be sent straight to the castle’s armory.

“…. You stay at a castle? Are you a royal or something?” Zu’hal asked, following Twilight to her castle.

“Ehm… You can say that….” She said, floating next to the large giant, while he pulled the chart that carried his armor. “I’m kind of… A Princess of Equestria.”

The moment he heard that, Zu’hal suddenly stopped. “You’re… A what?” He asked, going wide eyed.

“A… Princess?” She said, feeling embarrassed about not telling him before.

“You mean… That whole time… I was fighting, and talking nonchalantly, with a Princess…” He said, face palming his forehead. “Well then, I feel stupider then a grox.”

“Whoa, now… Don’t go treating me like royalty! I only do it during formal occasions!” Twilight said, making Zu’hal raise an eyebrow. “I try to convince everyone not to really call me ‘Princess Twilight’ anyways. It feels weird, since I didn’t start that way. Wait, what is a grox?” She said, before going in depth about how she got the title, while taking Zu’hal to the castle. Allowing Zu’hal to also explain what a grox is, too.

After they arrived, Zu’hal was soon in an uproar about how empty her armory was. Even though he wasn’t of their world, nor really knew of their hierarchy, something inside of him hated the fact she had no armor, in case of invasion. He also made mention of having no real Royal Guard….

Before Twilight could retort his uproar, he went straight to the blacksmith wing of her castle, and got to work. The sounds of hammer hitting metal filling the nearby corridors.

“Twi? What is that sound?” A young voice asked, as a baby dragon walked up to his friend.

“Uh… Spike… It seems we’ll be having a guest. One you might want to stay away from.” She said, wanting to try and break the ice early for the small dragon.

“Why? A new friend is still a new friend.” He said, about to go and talk with the guest, but was stopped by Twilight.

“Well… The reason is… When he arrived, his armor had… The skins of Dragons, and even had the head of one on his belt.” She blurted out, feeling it wouldn’t help to dance around the matter. She soon regretted that…

“He… He… He had w-what on his armor…” The baby dragon soon fainted at the thought of seeing someone dressed in such things.

Oh boy… This’ll be fun to explain. She thought, before carrying the baby dragon off.

That night, Zu’hal had made five sets of battle ready armor. It wasn’t his best work, and all he had to work off of was a single set of base armor left in the armory. He used it as a drawing board, to help him decide the size of the next few. The armor will withstand the roar of battle, at the very least.

When he was working on the body portion of armor, he heard something behind him. “I hear you back there….” He said, as a quiet ‘eep’ sounded, and they hid behind a suit of finished armor. “Come out, no use in hiding.”

Nyx slowly walked out from behind the suit of armor, eyeing the black skinned warrior, as he stopped working on the armor. “U-Um… Hi...”

He just raised an eyebrow, before placing the hammer down, turning to face the filly, and smiled. “Greetings, little one… How are you feeling? I was concerned that harm came to you, after I was able to pull you from the rubble.”

Nyx jumped a little bit, hearing his rough voice and started to shake. “I… Um… I wanted to thank you, for saving me.” She said, nervously. Her mother told her about humans before, but did also tell her that this stranger wasn’t a normal human.

Zu’hal just looked at her, and suddenly frowned, before going back to work on the armor. “Please… Don’t thank me, little one.” He said, hammering away at the piece. “You wouldn’t have been in that situation, if it wasn’t for me.”

Nyx looked up at him, surprised he said that. “W-What? But… You saved me afterwards, didn’t that make up for it?” She asked, using her wings to flutter herself up beside him. “I mean, you did start that fight with my mom and aunts… But if it wasn’t for you, that building would have crushed me.” She stated, making Zu’hal stop.

“Yes… I know this, but still. I was the cause of that.” He said, placing the hammer down, realizing he shouldn’t draw the argument out. “Tell me, what is your name little one?” He asked, as she floated on to the nearby table.

“Um… I’m Nyx. My mom is Princess Twilight.” She said, slowly sitting down, before her glasses suddenly fell down, her horn started to glow before magic pushed them back up.

“Oh? Interesting. So, what brings you to the smithy?” He asked, walking over to her. “I highly doubt wanting to say thank you created that, you were nervous of me even noticing you.”

She nodded, looking up at the giant. “Um… I was curious… As to what you’re doing?” She asked, looking at the armor.

Zu’hal looked at it as well, before giving a soft smile. “It is known as the art of smithing. Or, blacksmithing.” He walked over to it, allowing the filly to float over and join him. “Before you ask, it isn’t just for war or battle… Blacksmithing can be used to create many things, including horseshoes.” He said, pointing at Nyx’s hooves.

“R-Really?” She asked, smiling at him.

This made Zu’hal chuckle a bit, he could tell learning was something this filly loved to do. “Yes. My armor, as you saw, is very old. Passed down from Space Marine to Space Marine, but looks brand new because every Salamander is an expert Blacksmith. We also take pride in our own works.” He said, slowly starting to work on the armor. “Would you like for me to teach you?” He asked, the filly nodded. “Alright then… First thing to learn.”

Zu’hal started to go into depth about how to blacksmith, stopping his work on the armor and getting out a sheet of metal for Nyx to work on. He explained that a fine piece of blacksmithing could take several months, or even a year, to do. It all depend on how detail the forger wanted to be.

Unknown to the two of them, Twilight was just outside of the door… Smiling at how her daughter was actually warming up to the giant warrior, and his knowledge of a rather difficult art. When Nyx started to try her hand, she watched anxiously as she swung the hammer. When it was too hard, Twilight was tempted to spring forward and catch the hammer from hitting her daughter, but Zu’hal did so for her… He never left Nyx’s side, making sure she was both concentrating and safe.

At some point, during the lessons, Nyx had fallen asleep, where Twilight made herself known to Zu’hal, and took Nyx to her bedroom… Thanking the warrior for showing her daughter a rather useful skill, in which he simply gave a nod to her, saying it was his pleasure to teach such things.

Far away, on top of a glacier outside of the Crystal Empire, a red armored sorcerer was moving across the ice, looking around the barren wasteland. He shivered some, before whispering a spell to ignite a flame, keeping himself warm.

As he was walking, the sorcerer came across a broken red horn, eyeing it carefully, before reaching down, and picking the object up “What is this? Some artifact of the Dark Gods?” He asked himself, smiling at the power that was just dwelling within it. “No, something else entirely…. I can sense the essence of something powerful, and old.” He gave an evil chuckle at what he found…. The demonic insignia of the Word Bearers Legion on his left shoulder pa