Steel Strong Adventuring Company.

(POV: Twilight)

Me and the girls along with Spike walk past the crowds jamming the station over to where Princess Luna is waiting.

“Princess Luna.” I say, greeting her with a bow.

“Twilight, you are also a princess.Please refer to me as ‘Luna’” She says

“Sorry, force of habit.” I reply.

“Come along, we have much to discuss.” She motions for us to follow her.

We walk along the path heading up to the palace, when we finally get there the guards all leave us at the front door. From there on is just us eight.

“So prin- er, Luna. What did you want to discuss.” I ask.

“Well, for starters, the fort itself. As well, what may or may not be hiding inside, how many guards to deem necessary for the expedition, and what should be done with the fort when we have finished.”

“Well as for what may be hiding inside, we won't know until we get there, As for the number of guards, what can we spare at the moment?”

“Canterlot can spare about 10 guards at the moment, if we were not stretched so thin I would bring more with.”

“Sounds reasonable, as for what we should do with the fort… maybe the royal guard could use it?”

“That will be something to look into Twilight. Now, I’ll have the guest rooms prepared for you all, we’ll leave for the fort in the morning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must prepare to raise the moon” Luna says before walking off.

(The next morning at fort Shatter-Shield...)

(POV: Fredrich the Rogue)

“Gods above be dammed! Why am I stuck with dusting this shitty library, all I wanted to do was take a damn nap after dinner but no~” I angrily dust off the top of this stupid book shelf

“All this just because I skipped out on cleaning the dishes, it’s not my fault that I finished before everyone else.” He kicks the shelf to push the ladder over to the next shelf.

“Kasula just HAD to find me with her magic, I was having a nice nap on the bookshelf, I was sure she wouldn't find me. I should have listened before I got locked in here.” I groaned.

“This is stupid! Me! The best thief in the realm was caught sleeping on a shelf! Master Xaemarra would wring my neck if she caught me doing something as stupid as that.” I stop for a moment.”Now that I think about it, I’m rather glad she's’ not here.” I shudder from all the memories of how I got punished when I was caught during my training with her.

“Uhg, bad thoughts. I don't need nightmares right now.” I climb down from the ladder and look around the library when I see the door open and in walks Thalia with her bow across her back.

“Hey Fred, Kasula sent me down to see how it’s going.” She waves to me from the door.

“Oh, hey Thalia. You can tell her she can quit using her dirty cheating magic to find me.

“Hmm, I thought you couldn't be found by magical means.”

“I can’t, I think she used Zurug’s stupidly strong sense of smell to find me. But that’s only me looking for an excuse. I was caught, and you know any good rogue worth his weight in gold is very hard to catch.” I point my index finger at her.

“Yeah, well you are also the laziest rogue I’ve had to meet so far. How you even get the jobs assigned to you done is still beyond me.”

“Hey! You know when I’m on a job I’ll get it done, granted I piss and moan throughout the whole thing, but incase you didn't happen to notice.” I gesture to the library window “I seem to be lacking my usual clientele.”

“I know, and that is why we are having a meeting in the war room in a couple of hours to go over all the parchment you brought back from your scouting mission.” She crosses her arms.

I wave her off “Yeah, yeah. That’s probably how long it will take me to finish dusting this stupid place.”

“Alright, I’ll let Belkas know. See you around.” and with that she walks off, closing the door behind her.

I walk over to the small library window and look out the window at the peaceful morning sky for several moments. “I think I could use a quick break, the others won't mind as long as the stupid dusting gets done in the end.”

“...Maybe there’s something interesting to read, It's been awhile since I last indulged in a good book.” I look to the nearest shelf and start scanning the books for anything interesting, and of course there’s nothing interesting on this shelf after looking through it for a few minutes.

I start walking to a shelf across the room when I notice a brown leather bound book on the podium, no title just something that looks like someone's personal diary or something I would use to keep a log of all my dealings.

“Huh, maybe this’ll be a good read.” I pick up the book and walk back to my seat, sitting down and kicking up my leg. “Right, let’s see what we got here.” I open the book and begin to read.

I am surprised at the first pages, this book, mentioned me and several others in the group, I continue to page through the book until I can't take it anymore and slam it shut.

“The others need to know of this. Fuck the dusting.” with that I jump out of my chair and race out of the library to find Belkas.

(POV: Belkas the Monk)

’I am like the wind.
Ever moving without restraint
Somedays the wind shall be calm
Others, shall be destructive
I hold the choices in my palms
The path I choose is filled with obstacles
But I am free to-’

“BELKAS!”

I hear the doors to the keep slam open and Fredrich yelling for me. I sigh and get off the ground from underneath the tree and proceed to walk to Fredrich who’s running to me with a book in his hand. It was such a nice morning to begin with too.

“Good morning Fredrich. I was in morning meditation just now and you know I hate being disturbed. As well, I doubt you’re done with the library this early. So this had better be good.” I say with a hint of anger in my voice.

“Belkas, this book. Read it, it’s definitely something we need to look at.”

I take the book from his hands and flip it open to the first few pages. What I start to read is so surreal, almost crazy. I continue to read for a few minutes and when I finally close the book I look back to Fredrich his eyes never leaving the book.

“Go get the others and inform them that the meeting has been pushed ahead.” I inform him before walking to the keep.

“When are we meeting?” he asks.

“Now.” is all I say before walking straight into the keep and up the two flights of stairs and down a narrow hallway. There’s only three doors in this hallway, to the left facing the front of the fort is the war room, and to the right is the lab. There is a ladder with a trap door going to the roof but besides that and the occasional lighting crystal.

I briskly enter the war room, once upon a time this room would have been useful with all of it’s maps. However, recently all of the maps have become useless and thus promptly thrown into a chest at the foot of one of the three big windows in this room.

There is a single large table in the room, and the map of this realm is pinned down in the center of it along with the scrolls that were in the satchel that was recovered. I had prepared everything for this afternoon, what had seemed like a normal meeting has now turned into something more mysterious.

The two elves, Thalia and Kasula, enter and walk to the table and stand opposite from me.

“Belkas, what is this about? I was about to go on a hunt.” Thalia says, clearly upset that I disturbed her preparations for her hunt.

“Well, it’s a good thing that we’re meeting before you head out. I was going to talk to you about our future food problem.”

“Oh, well in that case you should have just said something.” A small smile coming to her face.

“So” Kasula starts “Why is the meeting being called early?”

“I’ll explain once everyone gets here.” Is all I say before Zurug walks in. He simply grunts with a nod to the three of us already at the table before making his way to an open spot around the table next to Thalia.

After a few minutes of waiting around and the two girls starting up a conversation on alchemic ingredients that could be used into potions, Gralon and Fredrich both come in.

“What’s the big idea, I was havin’ at a nice bottle of mead.”

“Really, drinking before it’s even noon?” I raise an eyebrow at this.

“Kiss my axe.” He says in an annoyed tone standing next to Zurug. Fredrich just stands next to me, with everyone here I clear my throat to get their attention.

“Alright, now that everyone is here I’ll explain the situation.” I toss the book onto the center of the table where everyone but me and Fredrich stare at it.

“I suggest you all take a few minutes and read that to get a better understanding of what we are dealing with.”

Zurug is the first to pick it up and start reading, his expression goes from calm to confused in the span of a few second, and after of about a minute he passes it onto Gralon.

“Zurug doesn't get it, what does it mean?” he says in a surprisingly low tone.

Gralon looks through the book, quickly flipping page by page until he sets it back on the table and slides it across to Thalia who then promptly picks it up and just goes to a random page in it.

“You know, this sounds oddly familiar.” Gralon says, looking directly at me.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying, you asked me about something similar to this sometime yesterday when I was doing a patrol on the wall with Zurug.” Everyone looks between me and Gralon, in that time Thalia hands the book to Kasula.

I think back to yesterday and I can only remember bits and pieces of it, but nothing to where I confronted Gralon like it said in the book and asked if he was a short human.

“I’m sorry Gralon, but I don't remember ever talking to you about such a subject.”

“This is odd.” I hear Kasula say “This looks like my handwriting, but I don't remember ever writing something like this, also there’s only eight people who know our sigil and two of them are dead.” She looks up from the book to look at me and Gralon.

Gralon turns to her. “If I remember correctly, you were there also when Belkas asked me. Were you not?”

She thinks for a few moments before coming to a conclusion. “No, I can only remember bits and pieces of yesterday. Nothing related to the question that was posed.”

“Now that I think about it.” Thalia points out “The same can be said for me. I only remember you telling me to go on a scouting mission.”

“ZURUG REMEMBERS BEING ON WALL TELLING JOKES! THEN THE COOKING OF THE MEAT!” he says with a chuckle.

“Basicly the same as Thalia.” Fredrich says.

“Is it possible that a spell was cast on us to remove certain memories, Kasula?” I direct

She brings a hand up to her chin and says “It is possible, but it would have to take a high tier mage much like myself to be able to even imagine casting a spell as intricate as this one to pick and choose which memories we lose and which we get to keep.” She says returning the book to my side of the table.

“I will meditate on this and see if I can find any answers in the coming days, for now we should talk about more pressing issues.” I pick the book up and look at it for a few seconds before walking over to the chest with the old maps where I unlatch it and place the book inside then I return to my place at the table.

“Although Fredrich’s scouting mission was somewhat of a failure-” “HEY!” he interrupts. “-he did manage to bring back some invaluable information on this realm, the map and the scrolls. So Thalia, you said you saw a mountain with a city built into it?”

She nods. “Yep, although I would say we still are quite a distance away.”

I put a small tower model onto a section of the map..“Thanks to Thalia actually completing her mission, we now have a rough idea of where we are situated. We are assumed to be Southeast of that city.”

“Did it look like one of the dwarven fortresses that we occasionally build into the side of a mountain?” Gralon asks.

“You’ll have to look for yourself Gralon, I’m not very familiar with dwarven architecture.” Thalia responds.

“So, now that we have our location, we need to talk about our food problems. Specifically how we don’t have enough for the long term, and how to get more. I propose that we head towards the citadel and see if we can’t set up a long term trade agreement with whoever is in charge there, or, in the worst case scenario, sack the city for everything we need should they be slavers or some such.” I say, pausing to make room for the others to give their opinions.

“I see where you’re wanting to go with this. But,” Gralon states, a finger in the air. “If they’re peaceful, whadda we trade ‘em? Sure we have plenty of weapons, but we only have that many and they’d run out sooner rather than later ‘cause we don’t have a way to make more right now. We can’t trade food, ‘cause that’s what we’re gettin’ from them. We can’t trade the books ‘cause those aren’t exactly worth much, we only have so many, and despite that, they’re useful. We can’t trade gold, ‘cause, as far as I know, we don’t have any. So, What can we offer ‘em?” He finishes, crossing his arms grumpily.

“Our services.” Kasula states before I can say exactly that.

“Whadya’ mean ‘services’” Gralon responds, uncrossing his arms just long enough to do the air quotes.

“Simple.” I continue for Kasula, “We ask the mayor or constable if they’re having monster problems or anything like that, if they do, we have our usual short term employment for money or food. If they don’t we’ll ask around about someone that needs bodyguards, or hunters, or a particular unethical person killed, that way we still have short term employment, and thus, food.”

“ Fine! Have it yer way, we’ll just be gettin’ us a reputation as th’ kind that’ll do anything fer food, what next? Ye’ll bern a hospital fer a piece a’ silver?” Gralon spits back.

“Gralon. Your accent’s showing. Go to the forge and cool down.” I state calmly, watching as the dwarf sputters half formed insults at me for a full minute before stomping out the door and down the stairs, muttering the whole way.

“Alright, Gralon’s shown he doesn’t agree, though I suspect he may change his mind when he’s calmed. What do the rest of you think?” I say, addressing the rest of my friends as if nothing strange just happened. Mostly because it didn’t, it’s a well known and documented fact that the longer a dwarf is away from gems or metal, the more irritable they get, and Graylon had just gone a full day without either

“Where there’s a city, there’s nobles willing to off each other for a position of power. I’m in..” Fredrich responds, a cheesy grin accompanying his words.

“I do believe there can be some use of this world's knowledge, perhaps there’s more alchemical recipes that have been discovered and maybe an unknown magical spell. I’m all for this plan.” Kasula says giving me a nod.

“ZURUG GETS FOOD, ALL ZURUG NEEDS TO KNOW.” Zurug states plainly.

“... I’d rather hunt than go anywhere near a city. But I can see how this would work better for us in the long run. I’ll go.” Thalia says with a sigh.

“Alright, we’ll gather our things and head for the city at sunrise tomorrow. Zurug, make sure to check in on Gralon sometime today and see if he’s cooled off.”

“ZURUG WILL CHECK ON SHORT STACK IN A WHILE. NO WAY HE IS CALM RIGHT NOW.” Zurug said, walking out the door shortly after to do whatever he does around this time of day. He’s probably getting started on lunch now that I think on it.

(An hour earlier...)

(POV: Twilight)

I stood next to the runway waiting for the carriage Prin-.. Luna commandeered for our expedition, my friends standing in a group around me, as well as the four guards standing at attention next to our group, the other guards and the prince-.... Luna having gone to the hangar, where they’ve been for the past ten minutes.

That’s when I notice Luna and the six of her guards coming out with a fairly large chariot, the separately blue and gold armored stallions marching in time pulling it behind them, and the pri-.. Luna walking alongside.
“Are you all ready to go?” Luna asks our group. “If so hurry up and get in. While we’re not exactly on a deadline I’m eager to see what lies ahead.” She says, opening the side door and seating herself inside. My friends and I quickly following, and the guards accompanying us waiting for us to get comfortable before making their own way in.

The ride to the fort itself wasn't too exciting, other than some small talk among the girls and the princess, the guards that were in a position to talk didn’t as they were on duty and were required to keep their responses as short and conversation killing as possible, no matter how much they wanted to talk about the latest fashions in Trottingham or what horn gloss went with what fur color.

Needless to say, the lot of them were regretting joining the guard and not going into cosmetology or tailoring at that moment.

As Rarity, Twilight and pinkie were inspiring jealousy in the guards with their conversation, Applejack had pulled her hat over her eyes and started doing her best to take a nap despite all the noise around her, Fluttershy was sat, cowering in her seat as the guards stared blankly ahead, and while she knew it was an illusion, she couldn’t help but think they were all staring right at her. Which left Luna and Rainbow to entertain themselves.

“So, Luna. Ho-”

“Rainbow Dash, as you are not a princess, I must ask that you use my title when addressing me.”

“Alright. So, Princess Selene ‘Luna’ Noctis, herald of the moon, Banisher of Nightmares and Demons alike and Mistress of Dreams. How are we gonna’ get this thing into the fort?”

‘Sigh’ “And just when you were showing intelligence.” Luna mutters under her breath.

“We aren’t going to land the carriage in the fort, Rainbow Dash, we are going to land outside of it, and make our way inside by wing and hoof.”

“Oh, okay. So princess Sel-”

And so the trip went, the guards lamenting their life choices, Rarity entertaining what she believed to be an enthralled audience, Twilight and Pinkie pretending to listen to her so as to not hurt her feelings, Applejack trying and failing to sleep, Fluttershy trying and failing to push herself through the floor to escape her imagined demons, and Luna resisting while Rainbow Dash did her best to commit Princessicide.

We eventually land in front of the fort and I get my first look at the fort. The dark grey stone walls of the fort tower at around 15 feet which is complimented by a sturdy iron and wood reinforced gate. Just behind the walls I can make out a keep which seems to be standing at around 30 feet in height, there also appears to be a banner hanging from the keep with a coat of arms I have not seen before, a red hammer striking an anvil on a white background.

“Guards, line and prepare to advance.” Luna ordered, the guards quickly getting in line in front of us, pegasi making up either end of the line, and a staggering or races making up the center.

“Come, my little ponies, it is time to see just what lies behind those gates.” The princess told us before we made our way behind the guards and they started walking forward.

As we approach the fort my ears perk up as I hear what sounds like someone is metalworking inside, specifically that they’re striking a piece of metal with a hammer.I turn to the girls.

“Does anyone else hear that?” I ask to confirm what I am hearing.

“Yes, I hear it as well. It seems as though somepony is inside.” Luna says.

“Helllo! Is anypony home!” Pinkie calls. Despite Luna just saying there was somepony in there.

There was no response, only the continued noise of metal striking metal inside.

“Welp, That’s good enough for me!” Pinkie.. Pinkies before running at the door. Before an aura of dark blue magic encases her and stops her in her tracks.

“PEOPLE OF THIS FORT! BE KNOWN TO PRINCESS LUNA OF EQUESTRIA, THE LAND IN WHICH YOU RESIDE. OPEN THE GATES FOR US IF YOU ARE ABLE!” Luna ‘says’ with the royal canterlot voice. After 10 seconds of nothing but the continuing pounding of a hammer Luna releases Pinkie.

“Do as you will, Pinky Pie. I doubt it will garner their attention.”

Pinky just walks up to the door and...opens it…

What was being held behind those doors, however, none of them were expecting. The power held behind what came from that opening enough to push Pinky back into the line of guards and pin her there, her normally poofy mane plastered to their leg guards.

“-dainty no good tool-snatchin’ plan of his! Ah’ aint no milk-drinkin girly who’ll do anything for some grub! That incompetent knife-eared ballet dancing tree bedder can shove it up his witless gas pore!”

Right next to the gate doors is where all the cursing is coming from, a brick red building with a wooden awning and fence jutting out in front of it where rows of weapons hang from their racks. As we approach the building, I can see it’s a forge as there’s a furnace and bellows and a rather, stocky, somepony operating them. Pinky just walks right up the the gentlecolt when he’s right in the middle of spewing his obscenities.

“Hiya mister!”

“SHITE!”