The Story of Silver Steel
Night had fallen upon the far eastern market town of Stella Star, and in one of the many homes belonging to a local merchant family a mother was reading her daughter a story.
"With her mind made up, and her resolve steeled there sword and struck there once friend now turned foe." The mare spoke, and the daughter sniffles.
"Why did they have to die mama? Why couldn't they make up?" The filly asked.
The mare rubs her daughters hair "Dear sometimes things aren't so simple. There was to many differences between them to set things right." The mother said.
The filly looked down as she couldn't see herself doing that to any of her friends. The mother seeing her daughters distress runs her hoof through the filly's mane "Now now Silver. That was just a story. It will never happen." She says.
Tucking the filly in the mother left the room and left her daughter Silver Steel to sleep. Her dreams though were of epic battles and fighting villains in the name of her home.
"The Hero's Journey is your average kind of story you'd expect and know by now. It involves a hero or heroine going on an adventure, and emerging victorious in a time of crisis. They then would return home changed or transformed from there time. Yet that is the only kind of journey that exists, and the kind of one that I started on. I have always known what I am, but not who I truly am or what it is I want to do. It took a huge change to set me on the path of my own journey. A journey to discover myself."
Many years passed and Silver Steel woke to aid her parents in the normal day to day events running there market stall. She looked into the mirror to check herself over and see if there was any scares from her daily training.
Her coat was snow white and she actually seemed to have a bit of muscle to her which usually caused many to look at her strange. She had a sparkling silver mane that faded to an off white at the tips, but was normally cut a bit short with bangs on either side of her face. She had matching silver eyes, and atop her head was a horn. Their was a few faded scars on her body, but they were many years old.
Yes she was in fact a unicorn. Did she know magic? Yes. If you asked her how much she'd say she knew very little which was true. She knew a minor heating/fire spell that she used quite often with her profession, a cooling/ice spell that was shaky at best and she's still working on improving it, and her bread and butter was telekinesis.
She had a few other spells she was trying to work out and formulate, but they were more pet projects of hers.
"Mom, dad. I'm off to work. Boss is probably going to need me soon." Silver said to her parents.
"Then be off dear. Just don't go getting yourself hurt again." Her mother said.
Her father approached and passes her a small bag "This is for Zero. Payment for the repairs he made to our stalls." He says.
Silver nods "Got it dad. I'll give it to him as soon as I get there." She says and heads off to work.
As she did she couldn't help thinking back and cracks a smile "I hate to admit it, but I'm glad mom and dad couldn't send me to that magic school. I mean sure the first few years of my apprenticeship was tough, but I like where I am." She thought, and couldn't believe it was nearing eight years since her apprenticeship had begun.
When she was young her parents believed that Silver had great magic potential, but that it needed practiced and refined. Though unfortunately her parents couldn't pay to get her into the best place that could foster her magic. That had been when her parents were approached by the town's blacksmith, and the rest has been history.
She moved quickly dodging others as she headed towards the town's outskirts. The building a single story, but long and big enough for a number of people. There was the sounds of instructions being shouted, and sounds of something being struck. Fire could be seen from a window as Silver walked in.
As she entered she spotted the usual crew was there as she waves at them headed for the pony shouting instructions.
Gathered at some completed blades and at the forge were Icarus, Falcon, and Tempest. A trio of male griffons who help start the blacksmith shop alongside her boss. They focused on making sure the sheath, hilt, and handguard of every blade was up to standard.
At another part of the shop one mare was using something they improvised to sharpen the swords, and another mare was polishing the blades so they shined to perfection. They're names are Ivory, and Chrome. They hadn't been there as long as Silver herself, but within the time they had been at the shop they had proven themselves quite helpful.
And next to last pounding away with a hammer via shaky telekinesis was a young unicorn mare. She had deep pink skin and a cherry red mane that was pulled back out of her face. Her name is Cherry Rose and she was the workshop's junior apprentice right below Silver herself.
"Hurry it up Ivory! We got three more blades that need sharpening! Chrome stop admiring yourself in the blades reflection!" An older male pony called out after glancing back before going back to pounding away at the rough shape of what would be a blade.
This was her boss Zero Azure a stallion that was a good head taller than her, and he was quite large his skin the color of ashes with even darker charcoal gray eyes. He had a short cut black mane, and he was incredibly well built and had small a number of small scars, and each scar had a story he would claim.
"Silver set the bag down, and get to work helping your junior." He instructs.
Silver nearly yelped, but nods setting the bag of coins down and rushes over "Good morning teacher." Cherry greets shooting her smile, and Silver ruffles the younger mare's mane.
"Morning kid. So what's got boss acting like a dragon this morning?" She asks using her telekinesis to grab a hammer and start hammering away to draw out the blade they were making.
"I don't know. He was just like that when I came in. Even his lessons were a little much this morning." Cherry said, and Silver sighed.
The last few months had been something as they had received a mysterious request for replica versions of the armor and weapons that members of the Lumahina Empire are known for. Particularly one for a high ranked officer, and ten or so for the average solider.
"It's probably just the stress of the order getting to him. I mean it's quite a big one so we got a lot of money riding on it." Silver says.
"I know, but umm...isn't it kind of strange?" Cherry asks.
"Maybe, but you know what the boss says. We just make the weapons. Who uses them, and how they are used is not our concern, and in our line of work we got to be willing to work for anyone." Silver reminded her though knew that her boss had a few other rules and some grudges that he hangs on to.
A few hours passed as everyone continued there work, but partway through it Zero called for Silver to come outside to talk. After giving Scarlet some instructions Silver headed on out to talk to her boss.
He found him outside just staring out towards town "What's up boss?" Silver asked.
Zero let's out a sigh "It's about this order. Something about it doesn't feel right. Just a gut feeling." He says to her.
"Don't you think your being a little paranoid boss?" She asks him.
He shakes his head "Not a bit. Earlier today there was something I thought I saw...and it's not the first time. I thought it was a trick of the light, but my gut is telling me it's no such thing. Such a thing doesn't exist." He says to her.
Silver frowned at this "What was it?" She asked.
He shakes his head "Nothing you should be concerned about. Though we'll be making extra precautions for this delivery." He says.
"Oh. So then...everything is ready?" Silver asked him, and he nods to her.
"You'll be going, and you'll be taking Ivory and Chrome with you." He instructs.
Silver nods and turns ready to head in "Oh. One other thing." He then says and Silver looks back.
"Arm yourselves. I think this is going to be a special situation." He tells her.
Mentally Silver nods as it had been a common rule in these scenarios "When out on a risky delivery NEVER EVER go out anywhere without your weapon." She thought.
"What about you and the rest?" Silver asks.
"Me and the trio are going to see about getting the aid of the local militia. Cherry...I'm sending her home." He says.
"Without an explanation?" Silver asked.
Zero didn't move though the sigh was good enough to give her an answer "The kid isn't ready for any big jobs yet. Best to try and keep her innocence." He says.
Silver walks away, but understood cracking a small smile to herself. The stallion cared for everyone despite how he acts, and he treated all the younger ones there like they were his kids.
Walking back inside she whistled "Ivory, Chrome! Your with me." She calls out and the two walked over and Silver informed them of the situation.
Silver walked over to a small case she opened with her magic grabbing a blade she takes out in a beautiful ebony sheath. She draws the weapon revealing a polished black tachi with a silver edge, a deep blue hilt, and a silver curved out handguard. There was symbols engraved on the flat side of the blade near the bottom of each side that had been done by Zero years ago. This was Silver's own sword Illustrious.
She put it back into it's sheath, and using a belt along with her telekinesis she wrapped it around her waist. She then grabbed a scarf wrapped it around her neck the same way she did her belt and sword as her two companions joined her, and they were on there way out.
The three had set out with Chrome and Ivory hitching themselves to the delivery cart as they headed for where they'd be meeting the client. The air was thick and tense all three on edge the closer they got.
"So umm...do you two know anything about where we're meeting this client?" Chrome asked.
Ivory shakes her head "No. Nothing." Ivory tells her.
"Yeah. I don't know much about this Archmage's Spiral except for rumors." Silver said.
"Rumors? Like what?" Chrome asked.
"Well apparently the Spiral is the only remnant left of some battle that destroyed the town around it." Silver says.
Silver navigates them around some rocks trying to help them avoid tipping. "Another rumor is that Spiral was actually once the source of some kind of incredible power, but it can't be proven. No one's ever gotten in to the Spiral." She continues.
"Sounds a little far fetched." Chrome replied.
Silver glances back giving a smirk "Well while it is you never know. I mean there could be a grain of truth to the rumors." She says.
"Still why do you think they wanted to meet there?" Chrome asked her.
Ivory sighed "We'll find out once we get there. So stop worrying." Ivory says knowing that the constant questions was because Chrome was worried, and overthinking things.
The two then arrived at there location as the sun was close to setting and the two unhitched themselves. The place did indeed look like it had been the site of a battle as burn marks scorched the ground yet was unknown how old they were. There was bits of things scattered about, and then their was the odd looking spiral shaped hill.
"Odd...they were suppose to..." Silver started, but there was a quick and intense pain as she blacked out falling to the ground.
There were voices, pain, and an intense headache as Silver started to slowly wake up. She realized she was tied up "I-I'm sorry ma'am. The stuff isn't here. It's just...gah!" A male voice started then stops as there body falls to the ground near Silver. They were dead, and blood poured from the stab wound in there neck.
"Fools." A female voice muttered and Silver glances at her. Her coat a deep crimson red her mane a pitch black and long, and her eyes were a yellow-gold. Silver could just barely make out a horn on the mare's head from her angle on the ground.
As if feeling eyes on her the crimson mare looked at Silver "Well well. Looks like someone finally woke." She says approaching Silver.
"Who are you?" Silver says evenly.
"The one who hired you, and you failed to deliver." She replied.
Silver eyed her "Not our fault. Boss probably is the one who figured out you were bad news." She retorts slowly using her magic to grab for the knife she had seen on the dead pony. She had also seen Ivory and Chrome and hoped they were trying to work themselves out of there bonds.
Silver was slapped and winced "You don't know who your dealing with kid. Crimson Ogre isn't someone you..." One of the others spoke before said mare turned and gave a hard glare silencing him.
Crimson then looked down at Silver "Now then. Where is what I requested?" She asked.
Silver huffed "I don't know. Me and my partners were simply told to bring this here." Silver said.
"You see I find that hard to believe. So I suppose I'll just have to deal..." Crimson started, but then screamed. Silver had grabbed the knife with her telekinesis and used it to stab Crimson in the side, and twisted the knife.
"Why you little!" One of the others say, and was about to attack when a few arrows came flying out and hit a few of Crimson's group.
It was revealed that Azure, Icarus, Flacon, and Tempest had caught up and had brought the Stella Star militia with them.
Silver removed the knife and cut away at the rope bonds with said bloody knife. As for Crimson she was limping a bit now, but her expression was a mix of anger and delight.
"I had a feeling it was you I saw Ogre." Zero says as he had his weapon ready.
Crimson glared "Zero. Ha...hahaha...hahahahaha!" She started laughing.
"I thought my informant was pulling my hoof when revealed you were that towns blacksmith. Makes me regret killing them now." Crimson says and gives a dark smile.
"It's good to see you...brother." She then says.
"What!" Silver shouts as Zero just huffed.
"I stopped considering you family after what you did." He retorts images of a town destroyed, and many slaughtered floated through his mind. He then signals to his group as he magically draws his blade.
And with that battle broke out as Silver made her way towards Ivory, and Chrome to check on the two. Both were a bit bruised and had a nasty head wound like herself, but otherwise was relatively unharmed.
"Alright you two. Let's go." Silver says to them, and the trio dove into the fray grabbing what they could with there telekinesis. Silver side stepped one that came at her, and stabbed her knife into a joint.
Chrome stayed close to Silver and sliced at whoever tried to get close, and Ivory just hung back trying not to get as involved. Though at most Ivory would ram into the smaller ponies giving the other two an opportunity to handle them.
"Damn it...where is boss at?" Silver muttered worried as the fighting got more intense. Some creatures flew from above, there were blasts of magic being thrown, sounds of steel hitting steel as weapons clashed, and screams of pain as creatures were hit and fell.
Her senses were feeling overwhelmed as it was getting hard to distinguish friend from foe as the ground was being colored red with blood.
"Gahh!" Ivory cried in pain snapping Silver out of her haze, and she slashes the unicorn that attacked Ivory in the throat. Chrome removed the weapon as Ivory lets out a small hiss of pain.
"You two fall back. I'll take it from here." Silver says.
"What! Silver you know..." Chrome started.
Silver glared "Ivory is hurt, and it's more than just the one wound. She's not as good with a blade as the rest of us. Get her away from the battle and treat her." Silver said.
"Tch...fine. Just don't get yourself hurt." Chrome says and manages to get Ivory on her back and ran off.
Silver continued her way through the battle, and stopped. For a second she caught a glimpse of a crimson coat and an ash grey coat. Worried she ran towards them and rammed her way through anyone in her way.
What she saw was Zero and Crimson clashing blade to blade, and Zero had a few deep cuts as he was letting out heavy breaths "You've...gotten a bit better." He comments.
Crimson was still bleeding from a back leg, and she had a few fresh wounds as well. "And your still stubborn as always." She retorts.
The two charged one another as they attacked, block, countered, and hammered away at each other. Silver grit her teeth and aiming with with her telekinesis she threw the knife hoping to hit Crimson.
There was a feminine scream, and she had in fact hit Crimson...in the eye. This drew the attention of her men who immediately went to rescue there leader, and went on the defensive as they retreated.
There was cheers as they ran, but Silver was more concerned for her boss and went to him "Nice job kid. You...you did good." Zero said, and then collapsed.
Those that saw this moved to help out, and thankfully since the cart was still in good condition they could put him in and take him back to town to hopefully get treated.
Silver stared out at the star filled sky both admiring the stars, and thinking to herself. It had been almost a week since the events that happened, and six days since Zero had died.
They had done there best to treat him, but besides the new wounds the stress of the battle had opened some old ones. He had been losing to much blood to quickly so he couldn't be saved.
The shock of losing her long time mentor had really gotten to Silver. She hadn't been doing much besides what she was doing now. Chrome and Ivory while still productive felt really down and the loss weighed heavy on them. Ivory especially was blaming herself thinking if she knew more she could of helped.
Icarus, Falcon, and Tempest were working out who took charge of the shop now. While it wasn't messy they weren't sure how to handle it felt wrong that they were trying to take his place.
Cherry after finding out had cried for days, and was still sniffling even days later now. She still worked hard, and did her training exercises, but they were half hearted and little effort was truly put in.
Silver continued staring out at the stars as if they had the answer to all her woes. She then lets out a sigh, and walks back into the shop to close it up for the night. She didn't see a can on the ground, and tripped falling flat on her stomach.
She groans as the can bounced away and hit a wall that...echoed? Getting up and hearing the echo Silver approached the wall and knocked on it a few times.
"It's...hollow?" She questions, and while hesitant at first Silver turned around, rears back, and kicks the wall with enough force to put a hole in it as dust went flying.
Silver lets out a few coughs as she turns back around and peeks into the hole. She see's a few scraps of paper and uses her telekinesis to grab them.
What she saw caused her to smile as it looked like possibly letters and notes from Zero to each different member of the workshop. She quickly glanced at each before setting them aside to look at the one directly addressed to her.
Hey Silver,
I'd imagine your probably the one who found the hollow space in the wall. Then again I'm not surprised as your the one who made it.
Silver blinked a moment confused before finally chuckling as she remembered. It had been an accident when she was younger and cleaning the shop.
Still if your reading this guess it means I kicked the big one. Now I'm not a mushy person, but I thought I'd take some time to let you know a few things. First off is that I'm proud of you kid. You've been a remarkable apprentice, and you've grown into a remarkable mare.
Silver smiles to herself as she thought.
Yet you never seem sure of exactly who you are. You know your are Silver Steel a mare who walks the path of the sword. Yet is that all you are?
Silver read this line a few times and bit her lip.
We all have that moment when we need to figure things out for ourselves. Including ourselves. Silver I also want to let you know that in the coming days you'll have to be strong not just for yourself, but for the others to.
Silver kept reading "How? How can I be strong with you gone?" She muttered.
I know this seems like an impossible request, but you must. I'm gone, but you, all of you are still there, and can still do something. Don't let whatever happened to me make you stop. Live life to the fullest, and have no regrets.
Reading that she tears up, and nearly jumped as she swore she felt a hoof on her shoulder.
Everything will be okay. Well then...I guess this is it.
Farewell from your eternal friend, mentor, and boss
Zero Azure.
Silver put the letter up, and...she actually felt lighter. She was still in pain from the loss, but reading his last letter felt like it was what she needed.
"...Who I am huh?" Silver asked herself closing her eyes in thought.
The sun was barely rising as Falcon, Icarus, Tempest, Ivory, Chrome, and Cherry were gathered around the table with the letters and notes from Zero. There was one other letter there to which was from Zero.
To Everyone,
I'm sorry if this comes as a surprise, but I've decided I'm leaving. I know it seems like a decision I'm making out of grief, but it's not. I've never felt this free in a long time, and...I felt it was my time to figure out who I am as a pony, and not just Silver Steel the mare who walks the path of the sword. I want to see more of this world, experience things I haven't been able to, and maybe...maybe avenge boss if I can. You guys take care of the shop, and I promise that I'll be back, and I'll be ready to keep going. I just feel that I need to do this for myself.
Love you all,
Silver Steel.
Many many miles away Silver walked with Illustrious secured around her waist, and a pale blue scarf around her neck.
Dawn broke as Silver Steel spotted a new town, and she smiles. She could resuply there, and then begin her journey. She'd be alone, but as it was Silver prefered it that way for now.
[Silver Steel, Solitary Sword]
[FIN]
