Just A Slice

The ringing peals of a hammer flooded throughout the smithy. Several unicorn ponies watched a pegasus in awe and admiration. How this hornless pony could even match, much less surpass their skills in the forge was beyond them. Yet another flawless sword was dropped on the growing pile of various weapons from intricately sculpted ceremonial swords, to elaborate maces, to long poleaxes crafted to, literal perfection.

As the next hunk of steel inevitably began to take on the exact desired shape of the one striking it wished, it was thrust into the heart of the forge to be reheated and tempered. Flare took a break to rest her tired hooves, sitting on a bench next to the bellows. One of the unicorn apprentices asked to take the mound of steel to the weapon racks.
She nodded her consent and the unicorn began sorting through the numerous blades and edges, trying not to scratch their tempers as Scorch walked over to Flare and the watching unicorns returned to their work. The grizzled forge-master lumbered over with a hiccup in his stride, the result of a long past battle. “Where in the world did you learn to smith so well?” He asked, still astonished by how adept her hooves were with metal and hammer.

She attempted a flattered smile and failed. The smile being more of a grimace than an expression of happiness. It was trying to craft the wingblades for her new warrior coltfriend that she had learned the nuances of steel and metal, whilst honing her skills at art by forging intricate patterns into the blades as she made them.
She had wanted them to be perfect for Aero on their first Hearths Warming day together.

But as the day came and she gave them to an ecstatic pony, she was not satisfied. She set to work making an even better set. Flare spent countless nights working until she collapsed from sheer exhaustion, or the rays of the dawn broke though the smithy windows. It was always Aeroslash who had saved her. Picking up her tired body and taking her to her room with the unfinished wingblades in tow, Doing her homework and taking up for her when she missed morning classes. That entire year Aero worked hard to keep her afloat in school when all she cared for was the forge day in and day out.

She found a metal that she didn’t know in the storeroom one day during the summer and tried to smelt it together with the steel wings she was making. The result was a grey blob of weak metal that was about as strong as lead. She got more and began experimenting with several different kinds of metals. Failure followed failure until she placed the unknown metal with some aluminum in hopes of getting something light. The two metals stuck together like magnets and formed a shiny golden metal much harder than steel and was just as light as aluminum if not lighter. It was easy to forge but harder to bend when than anything she had ever seen when cooled.

With this new steel she called Adamant, after it’s resoluteness, she crafted the perfect wingblades that he wore even to this day. There was nothing that could match the joy or happiness of Aero when she presented them to him, or of the one who had made them, finally satisfied with her work.
She dwelt on the memories as the old unicorn remained silent, knowing better than to disturb a pony during their musings. Flare got up and headed to the storeroom. Rummaging around the back, amongst old and rusty iron, tarnished bronze, and grayed silver, she found it. The familiar dull red sat forlorn under troves of discarded metal. Smiling she picked it up pleased to find its weight so heavy. She knew she had found some more of the unknown metal. She brought it to the forge and placed it in some of the duller coals at the edge of the fires. She returned to the storeroom and pulled out a block of aluminum. There was only one product that would satisfy her. And that she was about to make.

Bringing the aluminum to the billowing flames she set it on top of the red ore and asked a unicorn to move the bundle about so she could smelt it. The unicorn agreed and a yellow aura surrounded the two metals and brought them to the spots Flare dictated. As at Cloudsdale, the metals seemed to soak into one another, smelting in a matter of seconds. Flare asked the unicorn to split the metal into a section enough for a large weapon and leave the rest somewhere where it could cool. She didn’t want anypony to find her product and seek to duplicate it. The adamant was hers and hers alone. Once the metal cooled, there was no reshaping it. He complied and handed her the glowing adamant.

Normally when you pull a metal from the furnace, you hit it a few times to seal the heat and then dunk it. She knew better. With adamant, you do not let it cool. She continued to shape it and reheated it when its glow lessened.

“You will damage the temper if you don’t cool it after beating it.” The forge-master advised. “Watch and learn.” Was all she said as she pulled it from the fire and began striking it once more.

Before long it was shaped right and she decided to make it look beautiful. It was strong enough that you could do more to shape it and it still retain its functionality. She thought of a flamberge that she had made yesterday and made a similar blade, but without its second handle. She gave it a two-handed grip starred with a teardrop pommel. When she had finished, the blade looked like a tall flame. The tip was sharp enough to cut steel and its edge was the finest she had ever made. She turned to the barrel of brine behind her and plunged the adamant into the heart of the water for the first time. A huge cloud of steam erupted from the water, flooding into her face like an ocean.

When she pulled it out, it shone with the brilliance of the sun. The sword was a gorgeous golden color just like the streak of gold in Aeroslash's mane. The unicorns stopped their work to see what she had wrought. The forge-master asked to hold the sword and Flare consented. He took it in his magic and looked it over.

“Never have I seen a steel such as this. What is it?”

“I invented it. I call it Adamant, because it stands up to anything.”

“Where did you get it?”

She didn’t answer, only took the magnificent sword from him and began polishing it on the bench by the bellows with a damp washcloth. Soon however, a servant came calling for her.

“There is a pony to see you miss.”

Flare nodded and told him that she will be a few minutes. She took the sword to her room and after laying it on the bed, took a cool bath. She had practically lived at the smithy for the past several days and it felt amazing to feel something cold on her hide. She washed her mane and tail to get all the grime out of it and dried herself off with a towel. Casting one more glance at the sword that lay on her bed, she left her room to go see her visitor.

She entered the guest lounge to see Rarity laying on the couch trying not to mess up her mane. “Oh great, what does she want?” she thought to herself. “Come to flirt with Aero again?” “Oh darling! It has been such a long while. What have you been up to? You look dreadful.”
Flare did not feel like playing her games. “What do you want Rarity?”

The unicorn seemed not to hear her. “And where is Aeroslash?” So that was what she was here for, “I brought somepony he might like to meet.”

“He is working right now Rarity.”

“Oh.” Rarity looked so crestfallen. “Oh well. Who needs stallions anyway? They get in the way and just ruin quality girl time.”

“Huh?”

At that moment, a cyan pony with a ruffled, rainbow-colored mane walked in and sat down heavily on the couch. “What’s up?”

Before Flare could respond, Rarity piped up, “Flare, I would like you to meet Rainbow Dash, the pony I was talking about earlier. I asked her to come to Canterlot to meet Aeroslash. I just hate to see somepony with a dream and be unable to meet it. But since he is not here, well we- .”

Rainbow Dash interrupted her, “You mean I flew all this way just to meet some stallion? Rarity, I’ve told you hundreds of times, I don’t need a stallion in my life. I am just fine being single.”

Flare was not going to let this pony think HER stallion was free game, “He is not single anyway. I am his marefriend.” Rarity helped for once, “Exactly. I just asked you to come so he could meet you and maybe you two could talk about the sonic rainboom. He almost did one the day I sent for you, but he didn’t quite make it and I thought you could give him some pointers or something.”

Rainbow Dash just looked at the unicorn, then at Flare. “Well, now that I’m here, and I don’t like the idea of flying back so soon, what are we gonna do? We might as well do something.”

“Good thinking Dashie. And I know just what to do.”

Rarity must have had a list hidden somewhere because the itinerary she had in mind was ridiculous: Makeovers that Rainbow Dash groaned over, a lunch at a high end restaurant, and all kinds of other things to do throughout the day.

Rarity looked at the two pegasi giddily, clearly pleased with her agenda. “And after that we can have a sleep over! We can stay in Flashfire’s room and talk about stallions and…” She babbled on and on about the things they could do as Rainbow Dash looked at Flare with a look of horror. Obviously she wasn’t the type of pony who was keen on girly things like makeovers and hooficures, and to be honest, neither was Flare. She grinned at the cyan Pegasus. She was sure they were going to get along very well.

“How does that sound, girls?”

“Sounds great Rarity.” Flash quipped.

Rarity grinned from ear to ear and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. Rarity didn’t seem to notice the joke on her, “Well then, enough of sitting around looking pretty, let’s go girls.” And with that, they trotted out of the palace to try and appease Rarity’s enormous agenda for the day.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Luna was rudely awakened by a servant long before sunset. But when she heard that it was a summons from her sister, her anger vanished and she hastened for the library. When she arrived, the door slammed shut behind he and locked itself. Luna went into instant defensive mode the moment she heard the click of the lock. She immediately teleported over to the other side of the library, fully expecting and attack. When it didn't happen, she charged her horn with magic,ready to fire a beam of energy at anypony that moved into her vision.

"Calm down Luna. I only wished to speak to you in private." The voice of her sister startled her and she stopped the flow of magic to her horn. Tia was sitting at the table in the middle of the room reading a book. When she saw Luna, she put the book down. Luna stood in front of Tia and waited. Her sister looked her over before she spoke, "Luna, I havent seen Aeroslash in a few days. Do you know where he is?"

Luna took in a sharp breath at the mention of his name. Celestia noticed, but her gaze did not waver. "He is not on duty right now."

"Luna, I could have figured that out just by looking to see that the sun is up. You didn't answer my question." Luna was getting nervous. Tia never missed anything, there was little chance she could wheedle her way out of this. She just looked at Tia hoping she would ask another question. But the princess of the sun did not even blink. The only part of her that moved was her extremely long mane. "Luna."

"Yes, Tia?"

"Answer my question."

"About Aeroslash?"

"Yes."

"Oh. What about him?"

"Luna, don't play games with me please."

"He's... training."

"Training?"

Luna nodded.

"He's not at the training grounds Luna."

"Have you looked in the barracks?"

"No. He is not there either."

"How do you know?"

Celestia sighed and rubbed her temple with a hoof. Luna was barely avoiding her and she was going to ask her direct questions that could not be avoided. Tia knew how to get information out of somepony. She had been doing that for a millineum. Luna was getting antsy, waiting for Celestia to ask a question. But there was only silence between them. The pressure seemed to build. building and building untill it threatened to pop.

"Have you tried-"

"Luna, Is Aeroslash in Canterlot? I know you know where he is. He is your personal guard and you are not that absentminded or that irresponsible. Just tell me where he is and we will be done here."

"Why does it matter where he is? Maybe he decided to go shopping for Flare or something."

"He has to ask you to go somewhere."

"Maybe he is in his room. He guards me all night, so he has to sleep during the day."

Celestia seemed to take that answer. Barely. "Ok. Tonight I will speak to him. I need to talk to him about something."

She dismissed Luna and Luna went back to her room. She didn't know what to do. For obvious reasons Celestia couldn't talk to Aeroslash. He wasn't even in Equestria, unless something had happened to him. She doubted that. Aero could handle himself and he was determined not to fail her. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." she said to nopony in particular. Her eyes had heavy lids, lids determined to fall on her and shut her out of the world. And soon she was asleep.

Luna was in a familiar city. The walls towered over her and the towers were carved in the shape of dragon heads, a very familiar sight. "Am I dreaming?" No, she told herself. Not a dream, a memory. She looked around. all about her ponies swarmed, carrying parcels, heading to work, all the hustle and bustle of a city flooded around her. A pony ran right through her and she realized that she wasn't really there physically.

Looking around, she saw a grey cloaked pony, taller than all the rest, but not so tall as to draw attention, duck into a secluded alleyway. She recognized the cloak and knew who it was without a thought. She immediately followed the figure through alleys and narrow passages between the cramped houses. The figure entered a black painted door in the side of a small shack, and Luna followed. Inside the shack was only the figure in the grey cloak. But there didn't seem to be anypony else.

Just then, a charcoal black colt emerged from the shadows. Even his mane and tail was black, his only color the pale grey in his eyes. "Do you know why you are here?"

"No." the hooded pony answered.

The black colt walked a few steps nearer and cast a spell from his almost invisible horn. A wave of black magic pulsed throughout the room. "There. Now nopony will over hear us."

"What do you want?"

"The throne of Equestria. And nothing will stop me. Not even you Princess."

The hood was thrown back by the black unicorn to reveal Luna, a sour expression on her face.

"Celestia will stop you."

"Then I will destroy Celestia. Along with anypony who stands in my way. Including you. Nothing will stop me from taking what I want."

"What can I do to stop you from doing this?"

"Nothing."

Such a simple answer, yet filled with meaning. But Luna knew what he was going to say next.

"Unless you help me."

"Help you"

"Get us past the walls and into the palace. Get Celestia to stand down from the throne and I will allow you and her to live, along with anypony who doesn't want to live under my rule. But don't help me and see what happens. I will butcher Celestia and make sure your death is slow and painful, while I take my pleasure from your helpless form. Or rather yet I will do that to Celestia, make you watch, and then after she dies, I will start to work on you."

"No!" Luna fired a blast of energy at the dark pony, but he quickly threw up a shield that absorbed it. He then picked Luna up in his magic and threw her against the wall, shaking the very foundations of the building. Luna struggled to get up after his attack.

"Help me and you can avoid this terrible fate, for both you, Celestia, and for your people. Think about it, slavery and death for your people, or freedom of choice for them. Your decision decides what kind of throne I sit in."

Luna thought for a long while, and eventually, her head bobbed and she left the building. The dark pony grinned, showing teeth filed down to a point.

And Luna woke up, the memory fading. Perhaps she had been wrong and should have at least tried to defeat him then and there. She could have ended it then and there, perhaps with her life or his. But the lives of the ponies of the land and that of Tia depended on her decision.
Perhaps she overestimated the pony and his boasting of the power he held. "Power to break the very surface of the world." He had said. Maybe she had been wrong. The package she had sent with Aero, held the final chapter of The dark pony's plans. When he got the package, He would march his army up from the south and attack Canterlot.

"Maybe I was wrong." She looked out the window to see the sun begin sinking below the horizon. She began her daily ritual to bring up the moon.