The Refining Fire

Forge wandered for what felt like an hour to him, before giving up on finding an exit before he sat down on one of the few decorated benches that lined the majestic hall. He sat with both hooves pressed against his face, trying to process his anger into a well-designed argument that he could use to convince the Crowned Sisters that Mokosh was no longer a good member of the Iron Order. Maybe if he could remove her from the group--and Swift Song and Svarog were better--than he could continue with his training unhindered.

There was the sound of approaching hooves. Forge didn’t want to look to who it was, fearing who it could be.

“Forge!” Mokosh called out irritably, “Who are you to storm off?!”

Forge was now the one who didn’t respond, not even trying to hide his anger with her at this point… if it was even hidden to begin with.

“Forge!” The colt’s head snapped to one side, completely caught off guard as he now cowered under the fiery gaze of Mokosh, “Now you’re not going to listen to me, huh?”

Forge tried to whip his head away, before realising he was caught in Mokosh’s magical aura.

“Answer me!”

“You never want me to talk!” Forge spat, “So I do what you want me to do and you’re still angry?!”

“Shape up! You’re in the royal palace, and I’ll be damned if I let a child… act like a child in here!”

“You wanted me to give up!”

Mokosh sat silently. Her magical aura dissipating before she turned away from Forge, the colt turned his head away too. The two awkwardly looked away from each other for a long time, Forge still feeling his features burn with rage… but then it all seemed wrong. Mokosh wasn’t walking away, she wasn’t yelling him nor was she challenging his questions with intentional silence. Slowly he turned his head to look at the mare he hated the most, seeing that she was just staring out of the window longingly.

“What?” Forge asked, “Not going to tell me to?”

“I don’t care…” Mokosh said with a remarkably soft voice, “you want to go? Go. When the Princesses come back, tell them to have Svarog help you… but that’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

Forge sat silently.

“It’s not supposed to be easy, and yeah… I might’ve been a bit too difficult to handle, I get that, but if you want me to say ‘sorry…’ then I’m sorry. You can have the hall, I’m going to head back to the garden… don’t bother interrupting me, but if you want to come join me then what’s the use stopping you?”

“Mokosh…” Forge weakly replied, trying to get a hold of this confusing turn of events, “why… why did you apologise?”

Mokosh was now the one to ignore him. She walked away without saying anything more, her entire demeanour having transformed from being what seemed to Forge to be vicious and cruel to something almost… sad and pitiful. But why? He couldn’t understand why she would change all of a sudden, especially after having not indicated anything for the past several hours. It just didn’t seem reasonable to Forge… but at the same time it also felt realistic.

Maybe--just maybe--she understood what he had felt?

Forge shook that thought away, trying his best to keep a hold of the anger that was faltering… no matter how angry he tried to be with the mare, that sad and pitiful demeanour reappeared in his already frenzied and tired mind. He didn’t know what to do, or what to say other than just sit there and say nothing. It didn’t feel like a victory to him to see Mokosh defeated… but was it a defeat?

Why did he think of that word? Forge… no, he wasn’t angry anymore. He didn’t want to be angry, but he didn’t know how to approach the mare. He didn’t know what to do.

Forge watched Mokosh before she disappeared through a set of doors, sitting on his own before looking toward one of the stained glass windows of the castle.

And he waited.

Night had come, as Forge wrestled to open his groggy eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to determine whether or not he was in a dream before he snapped violently to attention before the four figures that stood before him. The two Princesses had returned, alongside a pegasus and earth pony that just looked at him. The colt attempted to sputter a response, before realising he was speechless and shouldn’t try to say anything.

“Comfortable, eh?” The earth pony chuckled, “Yer’ right… he is just a colt.”

“Young Forge,” Celestia said, “it looks as if it has been quite the tiring day.”

Forge blinked and looked down to the floor in disappointment. His chance was now to lay down Mokosh and perhaps have the Crowned Sister reprimand her for her rudeness to him, and set his direction under what appeared to be the much more capable Svarog. But he couldn’t say anything… he didn’t know if it was because he didn’t want to, but he didn’t speak.

“Little one?” Luna inquired, “Is everything alright?”

“I…” Forge sighed, “no… I think I really made Mokosh mad, and now she just… she told me to just…”

There was a silence while the colt tried to finish his sentence, but it soon became clear to everypony in attendance that the sentence would never be finished. It was quiet for a long time as the four seemed to council between themselves what they should do without saying a word. Forge couldn’t decipher what they were telling each other with their expressions, but soon fear that he would be dismissed and labelled a failure anyways slowly crept into the back of his mind.
“Take a walk with us, young Forge.” Celestia eventually said, “Swift Song and Svarog, I recommend you go and speak with Mokosh. We will meet you back here when we are all ready.”

The pegasus and earth pony bowed their heads, before walking away without another word. Forge sat there confused, watching as the two Princesses waited for him with a patience he hadn’t really seen anywhere else that day. Slowly he lifted himself up from the bench, and joined the two alicorns as they started a delicate and deliberately slow pace down the hall. It was quiet for some time, as Forge tried desperately to piece together what was happening.

Was he being kicked out of the castle? To lead a life that Mokosh told him he should’ve lived? Fear and anxiety manifested itself in his chest, as he tried to convince himself that it wasn’t true.

“We invite you to speak your mind, little one.” Luna said, “It concerns us whenever one is so quiet.”

“Mokosh was right…” Forge gave in, “I shouldn’t be here! I think I really made her angry, but…”

“But?” Celestia asked.

“She was being really mean to me… and I got really mad, and then… I took it out on her, and I stormed off.” Forge felt guilt pull at him, “She said she was sorry, but I didn’t say that I was sorry to her… I feel awful.”

“That is good.” Celestia responded.

Forge stopped before he looked up, puzzled by what the Princess of the Sun had said. The two sisters stopped walking and turned to look at their confused subject. Celestia bore an expression of goodwill, but of hard honesty. He tried to figure out what she had meant, before he slowly understood what she meant: it was good that he felt awful for what he had done.

“B-but why?” Forge stuttered, “I thought we’re always supposed to feel happy! That we’re always supposed to be nice!”

“That is the ideal,” Luna responded, “but that is something we must all practice for. It is not meant to be easy, but unfortunately we learn best when we learn from our mistakes. If you feel awful for having done something that was not nice, then that is the best mentor for you to become better.”

Become better.

“Mokosh is a difficult mare to handle, but please trust us when we say that she is precisely the mare for the task, young Forge.” Celestia continued, “She has a temper, and she can be difficult to handle… but that stubbornness has proved to be the very thing that Equestria needed during one very dark time. It is important to realise that all of that is not born out of bad will, though… she means to do what is best for everypony. Even you.”

“Then why would she push me away?” Forge asked.

“That is not our place to tell, little one…” Luna sighed, “but please understand that she is perhaps the one that understands how you feel the best. We are convinced she feels inadequate to do what she is doing, but sometimes that is a good thing. When we feel as if we cannot do it alone, that is a sign that we must come to rely on others for strength.”

“That is what makes this little group so unique, young Forge.” Celestia turned to look at the stars, “They recognised that they could not do it alone, and that all of them had pains and holes that they could not fill on their own. It is what helped them realise that sometimes, even when we are sad, we need to help others be happy.”

“Why?” Forge asked.

“Because that is what makes us better, when we learn to let others stand on our shoulders. When we let them have the last apple, when we give them our bread to eat. When we listen to the young and the old, to the kind and the mean, and do what we can to let them live better lives.”

“That is…”

“What Mokosh said?” Celestia laughed lightly, “She never wanted to be recognised for her actions, she wanted to be forgotten. And the stubborn mare will do everything in her power so that she could just disappear. Even if that means that she looks mean, young Forge.”

“Why would she want to look mean if she is nice?” Forge didn’t understand, it didn’t make sense. Who would want to be forgotten?

“You will have to speak with her and learn to trust her.” Luna responded, “In time she will come to trust you, and we are certain of it. But that comes with a difficult part, little one.”

“Apologizing?” Forge asked.

The Princesses nodded their heads.

“You need to say you are sorry. Once you do, we want you to start learning how to manage your anger. We do not want this to repeat itself.” Celestia warned, “Learn to take control of what makes you react in a bad way, rather than in a helpful way. You must learn to balance those things, and though it may take time, we know in the end it is what will make you who Equestria needs you to be.”

Forge closed his eyes and sighed, “Alright… I will.”

As the Princesses and Forge made their way into the hall once more, the three ponies were already waiting for their return. Forge tensed up as he walked to meet the three ponies of the Iron Order, the one in the centre glaring at him with a frustration he knew all too well. He couldn’t tell if she was legitimately angry with him again, or whether Celestia and Luna were right and she was putting on a show.

Eventually the group of six met in the centre of the hall, as the tense silence loomed over them. Forge could feel everypony look at him, trying to shake off his nervousness and whatever remained of his anger. He gulped drily before he weakly spoke: “Mokosh, I’m… I’m sorry that I’ve been hard to work with…”

Mokosh only raised an eyebrow.

“I’m…” The colt paused, “I’m hoping that you’ll continue to help me… I know that I’ve not listened to you, or done what you’ve asked me to do… but I want to help other ponies be happier, and be better. And from what you’ve told me, that’s what you want to do… no matter how hard it is.”

Mokosh raised both eyebrows.

“I know I haven’t acted like it… but I’m hoping that we can be…” Forge drew in a deep breath, trying to conjure whatever courage he had before steadying his wavy tone: “I hope we can be friends.”

There was a brim of something that resembled a smile that broke across Mokosh’s stone cold expression. All attention turned toward the mare, as the same trouble that conquered Forge didn’t appear to hold the mare back at all. It was remarkable to him that she managed to control her nerve and temper, whatever she may have had in reserves and dedicate it to a simple but affirmative statement: “Forge, you’re a stubborn colt… but one I’d be more than happy to apologise to. I’m sorry, I let my frustrations get the better of me… I thought that by humiliating you, I’d teach you something, and it looks like you learned something else.

“I won’t again, Forge… unless it’s absolutely deserved. But anypony who is willing to admit they are wrong and try to make amends is good in my books.”

Forge blinked. He was confused by what she was saying, before he slowly realised that she was indeed implying that she was genuinely sorry. Tears ran down his cheeks before he managed to ask: “Friends?”

“Well,” Mokosh smiled, “yeah. Friends.”

“We are glad that this managed to resolve itself.” Celestia announced, “Once again, we are humbled by your example Mokosh and are glad for your willingness to learn, Forge. But the night grows on us, and we all know what the coming days will have in mind for us… it would be best if you all get some rest. There will be plenty to learn in the morning.”