Steel Strong Adventuring Company.

(POV: Twilight)

I sat there at the table thinking of everything that had just happened, when we entered the fort, I never expected to find anypony inside. Then the… creatures reasoned with us. None of the new creatures have shown any intelligence other than what Princess Celestia went to go handle, But they’re more insane than intelligent from what I hear. Then they offer to...kill the creatures, for a price lower than most guards get paid. On top of all that, they have magical items that are completely new to me, something that hasn’t happened since I was a filly.

‘Twilight, are you ok?’ Luna asks me through a telepathic link.

‘I’m fine, Luna. Just… Thinking. Do you really think we can trust them?’ I think back at her.

‘I don't know Twilight, but if they can solve our current predicament then we must take that chance.’ she replies.

“Now then.” I hear Master Belkas say from across the table. “I’d suppose you’d like to meet the group that will be assigned to this mission. You’ve already met Zurug, but there will be two others you have not met that will be going with. I’ll fetch them shortly, in the meantime Fredrich will show you the door.”

I watch as he gets up from his seat and head out a side door, then I hear something drop behind me. I turn around and there stands a stallion clad in black clothing from head to toe. The stallion identified as Fredrich walks to the doors we came in and opens them, turning to look at us for a second. “Follow.” is all he says as he steps out.

Me and the rest of my friends look at eachother for a quick moment before hurriedly getting up from our seats and going after him. When we catch up to him, he is already waiting for us at the main doors. He simply opens one door, the sound of the smith’s work fills our ears. Fredrich just points outside then walks away to somewhere deeper into the keep.

As we made our way outside we saw Zurug off to the side sitting cross legged on the ground with a vase in his hands, the giant seemed to be… painting it? Perhaps there is more to these being than meets the eyes. I stare at the giant for a good minute before I hear a polite cough from behind me.

When I turn around I see Master Belkas and two more of his companions.

“To my right is our sorceress Kasula, she is an expert in all things magical around the fort here.” He gestures to her, she is wearing some type of deep red dress, she is also carrying a messenger bag.

‘Perhaps she can answer a bunch of my questions about the magic here!’ I think to myself.

“And to my left is our huntress, Thalia.” She is carrying a large bow and quiver with a sword at her waist. “These two, along with Zurug will be going on the mission you have just requested. They are masters at their trade and they shall not let you down.” He assures me.

Zurug sets the vase down gently along with his painting equipment before heading inside the forge, only a few moments later he comes out with a MASSIVE hammer which is slung over his shoulder. Where he then stands next to the gate, the other two, Thalia and Kasula, both walk past our group and stand next to him.

“They are ready to depart, however they will need a guide as we don’t have an exact location of the infestation site.” He tells us.

“I’ll have a group of guards escort them to the beach the creatures have taken a liking to.” Luna says and nods to two of her pegasus guards, they both salute and head to the gate where the three adventurers are waiting.

“Then that looks to be everything for now, how shall we contact you to know when we have completed the job?” Belkas asks.

“I will send word to my sister, she is on her way there currently and can give you the rewards on completion” Luna replies.

He nods and looks to his companions gathered. “You have your job, now go do it.” The three of them along with the two guards head out the gate without looking back.

“Is there anything else you require?” Belkas asks, looking each one of us over.

“Nay, that shall be all for now. Come along girls, we must head back to Canterlot for now.” Luna says to us.

(POV: Belkas the Monk)

I watch as the royals and their escort leave after looking around the fort one last time, internally smiling at the thought of our little fort impressing royalty to such a degree.

After they make their way out to the other side of the gate, Gralon closing it after them with a well aimed hammer I turn to speak to the branches of the tree by my side.

“Fredrich, I want you to follow them to wherever it is that they mentioned. See if you can’t gather some more information on our surroundings and maybe, if possible, set up an information network. You do this and you can forget about all the dusting, the carpets too.”

I turn back to the keep fully knowing he is going to go through with what I just said. On another note, Kasula actually planned for something like all of her barriers and wards breaking. She had prepared a number of scrolls and a book on how to use them. Granted she was still upset that she will need to make another copy of all the scrolls, but at least we will have our defences up again in a relatively short while. Not that me and Gralon couldn't handle anything that came our way, but it’s better to minimize damage to the property as much as possible.

I enter Kasula’s room, the whole place is lined with bookshelves and stacks of scrolls up to almost waist height. This is more of an office than a bedroom, seeing as she used her bed as a place to stack several dozen books. Off to the side is a single desk where Kasula said all the scrolls that were needed to restore the defences of the fort were.

I sigh as I look over the two dozen scrolls and a single tome. “This is going to be a long day.”

(POV: Kasula the Sorceress)

I looked around the grassy field as we marched east from our home. In all honesty to myself, I want to wring the neck of whoever broke all of the wards I placed on the walls and doors. Thankfully, Belkas is going to have a wonderful time spending all day and almost all night doing the preparations and casting for those spells. Although it is a lot faster than the old world where I spent a little over a month gathering all sorts of ingredients to cast the needed wards, another bonus to this place.

“So,” I ask the guards who are leading us. “How long should it take to get to our destination?”

“Just a little over two days ma’am.” The one on the left answers, not so much as looking at me, or even moving his face more than necessary.

I hear both Zurug and Thalia grunt with approval as we continue our trek to the east.

(POV: Fredrich the Rogue)

I watched from a shady spot on the battlements as our guests get into some sort of large carriage before several of their guard hook themselves up to the front of it and start to pull it away. Before they could actually gain some distance I take out an enchanted tracking dart and the collapsable blowgun that goes with it. I fire the dart which makes contact into one of the wheels of the carriage.

With that job done I pull out my compass and start to follow them North. Unfortunately for me, the direction they are going is all grassland for as far as the eye can see, minus the singular mountain in the distance. Meaning, to stay hidden, I’d either need to follow directly beneath them, an impossibility at the speed they’re going, or follow at a distance, which I hate doing with a passion. There are just too many things that can go wrong, none of which you have any control over when you’re that far away from your mark.

I am forced to follow them from a good distance away, the carriage quickly making its way further ahead however, they don't seem to be turning off the path of the mountain and if I recall correctly, Thalia said there was some sort of city there. Perhaps that’s where they’re going.

I continue to jog in the general direction of the mountain for several hours, by now the carriage is well out of sight, likely parked and waiting by now, although the tracker does still respond so it confirms that they have not found the small metal dart. I’ll have to find the carriage and grab it while I’m there to make sure no trace of my involvement is found. That would be bad for business.

However, before that I have to reach the base of the mountain, which only took me a couple more hours of boredom. What stopped that boredom in its tracks was the view I suddenly got an eyeful of as I passed over a hillock, there, seemingly close enough to reach out and touch, was the mountain, the city, complete with a gold and white palace I could distinguish from the rest being so close, gleamed in the setting sun, sending motes of light dancing across the horizon and over the plains. Below the architectural light show, at the base of the mountain and sitting on the edge of a lake was smaller village, not as flashy as the palace, but just as entrancing in its own way. An entrancement that was broken by the sound of a whistle in the distance, the familiar chugging of machinery coming soon after from a hill a bit off to my left.

As I watched, curious of what would make that noise, I was filled with a kind of fear, one that got worse the louder the noises got, until finally the thing passed over the hill, and the sight of candy colored steel, baby blue wheels rolling smoothly across the track, and decoration made to make it look edible filled me with a mess of rage and sorrow, and a moment more was all it took for me to recognize my fear. The fear of death, something I was so used to giving rather than receiving. If one thing is for certain, I am never going anywhere near that thing for as long as I can help it. I shake myself back to reality from the mechanical abomination and proceed to make my way to the smaller village, I’ll probably find more common information from these people than the aristocrats in the palace, though that is my next stop.

As I make my way into the village I start to notice several things, such as guard patrols, what vendors are out in the streets, alleyways and other such things. After getting halfway through the area, I notice that there is a library off to the side. I should probably ‘borrow’ a few for the library back home.

I head into the library and I just glance at the librarian sitting behind a desk with a stack of books she seems to be looking through and stamping.

‘Alright, first thing on the shopping list should be… World history, followed by any lore, then the educational and scientific stuff. Thank the gods for bags of holding.’ I think while I look at the directory that is next to one of the many rows of shelves. For the first time, I notice that the writing here is written in common. The most basic language almost all intelligent species can read and speak. Although I wonder why I didn't notice it before when I was looking at all the shops.

I file that information away for later use and head further into the library,near the back where they keep their history books. Where I find myself grabbing several books such as Equus world history’ and ‘History of Equestria vol.1’ to name a few. All of which are deposited into my bag of holding which I emptied out earlier before going on this job.

Finding all the books in which I need took me roughly about 10 minutes before I head back to the door where I sneak out when I notice the librarian’s face stuck into a book. 'The first objective has been accomplished.' I announce to myself, wondering where the thought to do so came from. Which leads me to the more difficult part of my mission, getting that dart back and seeing what information I can grab from noble gossip.

After quickly avoiding a guard patrol by blending in with a nicely sized crowd around a market stand, I pull out my compass and it appears to be pointing directly at the mountain. I look up and stare at the oversized palace and the single, thankfully paved, pathway leading up to it. ‘Looks like I’ll be working a night shift’ I tell myself, seeing the only other path to the upper levels of the city occupied by the steel abomination.

After finding a decent inn where I haggled for the price and pickpocketed an unfortunate man for a few of his coins to pay for the room when I got the bill. I decided to settle down for the day until night befalls this place, thinking back and wondering why in the seven hells something as innocent looking as the thing on the tracks could scare me so badly.

(POV: Gralon the Paladin)

(An a few minutes earlier…)

As I wipe the sweat from my brow I look down at my creation. A fine specimen of a two hander if I ever saw one. 50 inches in length from point to pommel, the thing’s longer than I am tall, and giving it four inches between the blades made it just about as heavy as I am too. Along the flats of that blade, mirrored perfectly to each other, danced lines of runes glowing blue with the power flowing through them as they swirled and backtracked on themselves, seeming to move along the steel by themselves as I look at them.

The parrying hooks, defining where it was, and was not safe to grab the weapon were styled after dragons heads, open and roaring as the miniature steel teeth and spines presented themselves as a threat. The length of steel between the hooks and the guard, designed to act as a secondary grip was shaped to look like the intertwined bodies of the Drake heads as they perched on the branch of some great tree the steel bark and leaves forming the guard and the dragon’s tails flowing around and together to make the grip, and wrapping around a marble sized circular ruby as the pommel.

In all, worth a pretty bit of silver, though It’ll be impossible to tell if it’s worth half as much in a fight until Zurug gets back from wherever in the seven hells he ran off to. Some gods forsaken beach at the edge of civilization to take care of a fish problem by Belkas’ count.

After inspecting my newest creation, I carefully set it in one of the many empty weapons racks I have around the forge. With that completed, I walk out to see Belkas still at the walls performing all of the rituals needed for the wards. He’s been at it for almost the entire day now and I’m sure he’ll be forced to continue throughout the night. i

Eh’ not my problem anyway, anything that did come through the gate without an invitation would get my war axe to the face. Either way, it looks like I am fending for myself in the kitchens tonight. I always save a nice bottle of mead for myself during times like this, when everyone else is gone or busy, and I don’t have to look over my shoulder every two minutes for someone worried I’ll drink myself dead, even though we dwarves can drink three times our weight in alcohol and come out of it with nothing more than a hangover.

As I grab my bottle, I can’t help but picture the barrels of the stuff I keep in the keep’s basement, giving a smile at my plans for the night.

'Although I do wonder where that lazy guy Fredrich is off to now... Eh, not my problem.'

(POV: Fredrich the Rogue)

(Back at the inn…)

I look over my equipment one last time, several feet of climbing rope and grappling hook, plenty of smoke bombs should I get found, my trusty blowgun with the darts dipped in sedative which should knock someone out in seconds, and a single parrying dagger just incase. Combined with my black attire I should be able to quickly make it up the side of the mountain and into the palace to grab what I came here for and finally get this mission done with.

I watch as the metal beast leaves form the mountain and heads off for some destination unknown. With that thing gone, I’ll use the tracks that it ran on to get me close to the palace since it hugs the cliff face, I’ll be easily able to blend in with the side of the mountain if someone is unlucky enough to come my way.

With that thought I walk over to the tracks and jump onto them where I cautiously follow the tracks up the mountain. To my luck, the tracks actually dig into and through the mountain at several points which I can use to hide out if I get spotted in the near future. Although I doubt that which, while convenient for my purposes, left me shuddering at the thought of being pressed between the abomination and the wall of carved stone.

After a grueling time following the tracks I finally make it to where that ‘thing’ parks near the palace. On the platform next to the tracks I can spot two guards lazily patrolling around. This shouldn't need more than a thrown rock to get their attention.

With that simple plan down I grab a small pebble from next to the track and I throw it at one of the many gas lamps that dot this area. Although I may have thrown it a bit too hard, the pebble hits its mark but it also breaks the glass and somehow puts out the flame inside. Granted it does the job of getting the guards attention.

I use the time they are freaking out to slip away from the tracks and into the palace grounds, to which is more or less like the higher class districts, with the palace at the back. Thankfully there are a few alleyways I can use to get close to the palace itself. Only having to dodge one patrol along the way, to which I just hid behind some trash cans until they moved on.

Which brings me to my next problem, there is a nice big wall protecting the palace which is guarded both on the ground and in the air. Granted, this precise scenario is why I brought the grappling hook, unfortunately, said hook is hard to miss when set against white marble and it’d take far too long to climb the height of the wall to do it without being spotted.

That’s when an idea hits my mind, although it might not be worth it if this goes downhill. I backpedal to the small alleyway where I had to dodge some guards earlier where I go back into my hiding spot. I didn’t have to wait long as a pair of guards comes from down the street.

As they pass by the mouth to the alley I kick over some garbage cans to grab their attention, and get them out of the streetlight. I watch as both guards stop, their ears perked and facing my way. One of them motions for his partner to stay there while he cautiously advances into the darkness. Not aware of the threat/non-threat that was hiding within as I pull my blowgun and a dart. This is where it gets tricky, when I knock this guy out, I’m not going to be in a position to catch him, he’s going to make noise, which means his partner will know something happened resulting in either A: He follows his partner into the dark and gets knocked out for his trouble, or B: He does the smart thing and marches his happy ass back to the castle to gather his friends, and when they find his partner here, effectively put a time limit on my operation and give them cause to suspect something amiss.

I wait a moment for the guard near me to present a good shot. It doesn't take long.

“Urk.” The guard urks as he drops, making a predictable racket, Now, for the moment defining the rest of my night.

“C-cloud? You okay in there?” I hear the other say, mentally celebrating as he creeps closer, decorative spear caught in a death grip. A newbie then.

It doesn’t take long for him to spot the lump on the ground, rushing forward to crouch by his friend and put a finger to his neck. Likely finding the dart along with the pulse he’s looking for. ‘Heh, nice kid’ I think to myself before I plant a dart in the kids neck, dropping him next to his friend.

I step out of the alleyway, decorative spear in hand, unfamiliar armor on my body, and a cookie cutter cut out of a stallions face overlapping my own. As I start making my way back to the palace, imitating the guards march as best as I could without hooves I mentally thank the pair that made my night, chuckling at the state I left them in.

Moving on, I quickly found my way to the front gate of the palace, quickly passing between the guards standing on either side of the entrance, finding myself on the edge of a pretty luxurious courtyard.

Marching forward without missing a beat, and subtly pulling out my compass, taking note of where the needle is facing, I turn myself towards a building separate from the castle proper I caught out of the corner of my eye likely used as storage for the carriages.

Making my way across the courtyard without any trouble I get on the other side of the doors, finding myself in pitch darkness and surrounded by shadows that were likely carriages sitting and gathering dust.

Finally nearing my objective, it feels like the moment is missing something but I’m not sure what it could be before a sudden thought struck.

“I’m in.” I say with a large grin across my face. Finding that that was exactly what the moment needed ‘for some reason’ I figure as I start making my way between the carriages, my eyes on my compass as I think of better times, specifically the ones of my laying in bed doing nothing.