OCT 11 Wednesday.

I take a few deep breaths and start to recover from Stone's onslaught. "Not bad Colt, you got a few decent hits in. And I was actually trying a bit this time." Stone's steady and gruff voice calls out to me while he puts away his wooden practice weapon.

I huff and stand up with slightly wobbly legs. Stone just got finished kicking my ass again and we're finally done for the day. "I'll get you to be serious one day, and I will sorely regret that day." I joke a bit and walk over to put my own practice weapons away. "See you next week, and enjoy the date," I say happily as he throws a water bolt spell at me as I quickly make my way out of the room.

I chuckle a bit and make my way out into Canterlot's busy streets and the cold snowy weather. The trees have lost all their remaining leaves and winter has fallen again just like every other year. I've been spending my time focused on a very important task, improving my equipment.

I don't feel like walking through the snow so I put on my scarf before casting a spell and getting myself into the air to fly home in the afternoon sun. I changed my schedule a bit last week and now me and Stone will meet in the afternoon instead of the evening, it lets me do more after training with him and volunteering in the morning.

I touch down on my apartment's roof soon enough and head down the stairs to get out of the cold. Once I'm in my apartment Entropy leaves my shadow with a stretch of her wings and flies off quickly to continue to sleep somewhere else leaving me alone like normal.

I ignore her and quickly take off my saddlebags to get back to what I've been working on for more than a week now. With the Changeling situation as it is and me getting involved, I need better equipment so that's what I've been working on. I open the door and see a loose pile of wooden armor scattered around my work desk, I sit down and move over the box containing my staff to take it out to continue my work.

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking about how involved I want to get in this Changeling situation, and also what role I'll try to play in it all. I've figured it out and have a decent plan that I think will work well, I still haven't answered Celestia but I plan to next time we meet up, which should be around the end of this month.

After a lot of thought, I decided to get as involved as I could, to be in the middle with Celestia. But to do that effectively I need many safety precautions, above all else I need to protect my identity. I have several options like using spells, but illusions are temperamental and can be broken easily.

But what if I could hide myself by standing out in a different way? A pony in full plate armor may be very eye-catching at any meeting we may have, but it would be very effective at hiding me, especially with the things I have planned. And a unique but strong-looking guard makes sense for any meeting we might have with Queen Chrysalis.

Plus being able to constantly be in my armor and carry weapons will make me much more secure, and I can actually help defend others if need be. With all this in mind and my need for better equipment I've been overhauling my armor in several ways, it's also why I wasn't wearing it for training with Stone for the last two weeks.

I did that under the excuse of wanting to focus on my fighting style instead of my armor and movement, which is half true as I'm more than proficient enough in moving and fighting with my armor on. The armor laid out in front of me is almost done and I just need to work on one last piece.

I hold my staff and start to dump large amounts of life magic into the Steel Wood armor to enhance its strength even further by saturating it. Much like with Entropy's band, I've been able to enhance the Steel Wood further to be what I've come to call Mithril Wood.

Mithril is a magical form of iron so it being the next tier of the Iron Oak seemed fitting to me. Mithril Wood is enhanced Steel Wood and that just makes it stronger, and also a bit better at conducting magic. Nothing really crazy though, just an improvement of what was there. The armor plates themselves now make a slightly metallic noise when hit against something.

I slowly breathe out having fully improved the last piece of armor to Mithril wood after more than a week of work. To get this done I've been regularly draining the Live Gem on my staff and filling it by using Mana Mimicry and drinking tea while keeping my staff with me throughout the day to refill it. I look over the armor and start on the next part of my work.

Beyond converting the armor to Mithril Wood I've also made several changes to the armor. On the upper back, there are two armor plates that have been changed slightly to have smaller sections that can be removed at will. I can remove these two small plates of armor with my field or space magic and form wings out of the hole when I need to fly.

Flying in the armor means I also need to cast a lightening spell to not weigh too much, but it works well enough and gives me the option. Two other changes were made to the helmet of the armor, specifically the mouthpiece and the forehead. The eyeless face plate now hangs down a bit over my jaw to cover my mouth up somewhat.

My armor has a jaw piece letting me open my mouth to eat, drink, and speak. Now I can just tilt my head down a bit to prevent anypony from sending a spell down my throat when my mouth is open, I did this because Stone started throwing stones into my mouth during practice. This also makes it harder to tell when I'm talking and covers up even more of my body.

The other visual change to the helmet is a fake horn, it is a bit larger than normal to make it look like it's covering a horn that isn't there. This makes it harder to find out I'm an earth pony and should throw others off more, plus it's nice and sharp so I can literally ram myself into somepony as an attack now.

The final two non-magical changes were made with the armor as a whole and the chest plate. The armor used to look like it was made from tree bark after I grafted Fire Blossom Bark onto the armor, but that stood out too much. I also haven't completed my crossbreeding project with the Fire Blossom and Iron Oak tree so I haven't gotten to improve the bark yet.

With no way to directly improve the bark, I instead increased the thickness of the bark slightly while improving the Steel Wood and focused on the visual problem. I spent some time sanding it all down so the entire armor had a smooth appearance while the Fire Blossom bark still worked fine. I'm also thinking of painting it black so it doesn't look like wood.

The final thing is I've embedded two half-inch pure diamonds into the chest plate. I didn't want to because gems are fragile but I needed them for my upgrades to the enchantments. One diamond just protects both diamonds from breaking so easily with a protection spell.

The other hasn't been fully enchanted yet but I'm about to fix that. I start to go over my notes while bringing the chest plate over to me and flipping it to see the inside. There both diamonds can be seen inside holes that I will grow over with more Mithril Wood when I'm done.

While practicing with Stone today I had an idea for my armor, specifically with silence spells. I settle in and start working on a simple spell in theory, it ends up taking a full hour in the end to get it working properly though, and takes more runes than I would have liked. That is mostly because I have a very specific idea and getting the spell to work as I want took time.

My past silence spells worked by making a shield to block out sounds, this spell was made with the idea to prevent sounds from happening at all. It causes anything enchanted to be unable to make any noise, either from other objects touching it or the object itself. This effect comes from a rune of spreading and the Silence rune.

After writing down several notes on the spell and possible other uses I move over a small ruby and enchant it before taking a hoof and tapping it against the gem, only to hear no sound at all. I tap harder and harder until I crack the gem a small bit, but still there is no sound from the effort. I try to scratch the gem with my hooves and a knife, but still, no sound is made.

I smile at my success and celebrate internally at another spell being made before getting to work on the armor again. This new silence spell works by preventing anything with the spell on it from making noise at all, either from something hitting it or it hitting something, the spell prevents sounds from being produced to begin with.

The spell costs more magic than a normal silencing spell but it should work great for my armor and the diamond embedded inside will have more than enough magic to power it. I'll need to enchant every piece of armor and link it to the diamond before linking the pure diamond to an activation method.

I spend some minutes enchanting each piece of armor before snapping it all in place on my body with the sticking enchantments to keep it together. Once it's all on I fold my ears back and slip my helmet over my head, I tap my chest plate three times and the silence enchantment activates.

I raise a hoof and stomp down, but there is no noise, just silence. I walk around the room and the normal sounds of my armor clinking against itself and rubbing against my body are absent. And after a little testing, everything seems to be working properly.

I added a rune for voice and hearing to the spell which made it cost more magic, but it allows me to hear and speak while under the spell. Although I'll need to make sure I don't cough or speak in any way when trying to be stealthy. I test a few more things but take off all my armor as I still have something else I want to do today.

I put everything away and put on my saddlebags before gathering a few needed things and leaving with Entropy in my shadow. I only have an hour or two of sunlight left so I quickly make my way through the city with my wings and fly right to the smithing guild I've used before.

After landing I go through my saddlebags and take out a small simple card with a hammer and some writing on it. Metal Quake, Rusted Hammers Canterlot branch. I need more than just armor for what's coming, I need some actual quality weapons, and with a little luck I might know just the pony for that.

She did send me her card, but what to do with it? I guess just ask the receptionist? I shrug a little and dismiss my wings before walking into the smithing guild with my cloak hood up. I don't look around and just get into the line for commissions, seeing a stallion behind the counter.

Not many are here at the moment so a minute later I'm at the front. "How may I help you, Sir?" They give me a slightly odd look for having my cloak up but still use a pleasant and professional tone.

I move the card across the desk with a hoof. "Is this pony free for a rushed consultation?" I don't care about paying the fee so being direct seems best.

The stallion raises a brow and reads the card for a moment, he's a bit surprised but not shocked. "Hmm, a moment please Sir." He takes out a book like last time and flips through it before reading through it. "It seems she is currently working on something else, but I would be able to send somepony to ask her if you wish, for a fee?" I just nod bluntly.

"Perfect, then she may agree to see you for a consultation, you'll still have to pay the fee of course. And if she refuses, can we schedule a meeting for you?" I can hear his greed in the sales pony tone he uses but could care less and just nod. "Perfect, I'll send somepony while we get payment sorted."

The fee is paid and I wait a minute or two before a pony approaches me. "Sir? She's agreed to meet you. Please follow me." I notice the mare leading me has a respectful tone, it seems that card was useful in the end though. I put the card away and follow the mare deeper into the building.

I'm led to the same forge as last time and when I enter I see Metal working at the anvil with a hammer. "I'm work'en, it'll be a bit." Her slightly gruff but relaxed tone says and I just nod while staying out of the way. I spend my time watching her work and quickly notice her hammer is enchanted to help forge the metal.

I think it's got a few smaller gems on it and it is beating the metal into shape easily. She stops at a point and casts a spell before concentrating on the hot metal intensively. The glowing metal shifts a bit and a sharp square indent is made without disturbing the rest of the work.

Metal manipulation spells are useful, but very magic-intensive and hard to learn and use. Once she's done with that she takes several deep breaths before moving the metal to the side to cool. "Ai'ght. You, the one with the fun work, got something else interesting for me?" Her heavy accent is odd but understandable.

I nod and take out some blueprints, these ones much more detailed than the last ones I gave her. "Thanks for seeing me, sorry if I interrupted. And yes, I do think this counts as interesting." I lower my hood and pass the papers to her. "If you have the time for such a thing."

She looks neutral about it. "It'fine, not often I get to mess around like that. Took me three days to get those hinges right." She says with a smirk and looks over the paper, I see her brow raise more and more as she reads. "What'in Celestia's flank? Ya, I think this counts." She says with a laugh before moving over to a desk and waving me to follow.

I try not to react to the humorous use of Celestia's name, I have to remember that one. She lays the papers out with a more focused look. "What are you need'en this for? No... Not important. Better question, you know how much something like this will cost?" She asks me with a raised brow.

I nod knowing damn well I don't. "Roughly, cost is no object here though. In fact, I'm willing to offer a five thousand bit bonus if you can get it done in a month." I say in a professional and level tone. "I presume I have your interest in this job then?" I add on to make sure she's even willing and able to do this.

Her eyes bug out and her normal relaxed but mostly calm face breaks into shock. "Five peeve'en thousand! You-" She exclaims and looks back at the papers much more intently with a laugh. "Yup, this is interesting. Hmmm, I think I can, the metal alone will take a bit to get but." She goes silent and nods slowly. "I can get this done within a month, it'll be a challenge though." She pauses to think about it.

She writes on a piece of paper and passes it to me. "This thing will cost ya a'lot, A LOT. Sixty percent up front, no arguing. And you get the gems needed. You got that on ya?" I look at the paper and nearly react at the amount stated. It is certainly a LOT, more than I've ever spent on a single thing before.

But the amount is still basically nothing to me. I glance at the papers and remember the decision I came to after a lot of thought. I've come to the guild to commission a mithril greatsword and dagger with matching mithril sheathes for both. It was always going to cost a lot.

That price doesn't even account for the gems I bought. I spent a lot of bits buying some jewelry for their pure diamonds, I actually got questioned about why I wanted them this time. I was half honest and said I wanted to have them embedded in something else.

The good news is I only needed to buy two pieces of very high-end diamond jewelry to get the gems needed so while the staff thought it odd others didn't even notice. But that's why I went there under an illusionary disguise to not be recognized, I even used my wings to improve my disguise.

I leave my thoughts and place down a heavy bag of bits and a much lighter bag of diamonds. "That's six, give me somewhere to send the rest and I'll get the bank to move it right after this." She looks surprised that I agree without care but smiles widely after opening both bags to look inside. "We have a deal then?" I ask, holding out a hoof.

She looks up at me from her much smaller height and doesn't look intimidated in the least. She watches my face for a moment more before shaking my hoof. "Ya, we do. Seems I made a good call giving you that card, let me grab the contract." She chuckles a bit and keeps her smile while pulling out a few papers. "Same as last time, and this is for the coin." She passes me a contract and a slip of paper.

I read the contract anyway as she looked over the papers again. "Hmm, this is a bit more strict, how much do you want me to meddle? Because this looks ok for a blade, but it could be better with a few changes. Ah, and you think'en of a style for this beauty?" She asks and I think for a moment before signing the contract.

"The size needs to be the same, but the style is not really important." The blueprint I gave her was one I used to make my wooden practice weapons, but it's very plain and basic in look. "I'll trust your judgment, as long as it works well and incorporates what's stated to make it."

I don't know much on this topic and I trust her to at least not make a decent weapon. "Just make sure it can actually be used, it needs to be practical, not fancy," I added after a moment. "That said, if you want to make it look nice in some way go ahead." I can see she wants some creative freedom here and I don't mind giving it.

She gains a look that shows a larger smile and a little respect. "Good, a shame for something like this to look so plain, or be a useless hunk. I'll get it to you in time, and thanks. I don't get to work on something like this nearly enough." She smiles up at me and copies our contract.

I take that as my cue to leave. I nod, "Thank you, Miss. Quake for your work, send it to the same place. Have a good day." I say and move to the door, she doesn't answer seemingly absorbed in the blueprints I left. After leaving I head straight to the bank to make the transfer.

Metal Quake shouldn't sell me out or cause me problems, she knows I have the money for this and that means I have the money to sue her into the grave. Plus she looked pretty happy to work on something like that and I can read her well enough to tell she's not the type to play politics.

Then again you can never be too careful, that's what the contract is for though. I whistle a bit along with my Shadow while walking through the evening streets.

POV shift Rarity.

I sip my cup of chamomile tea while slowly going through the snippets of news I've been sent.

It's a lovely little service that compiles and sends out all the interesting news from Canterlot's high society. I rather enjoy the... Entertaining and thrilling stories. But it can take a while for news to spread here, as much as I love this town it has some rather dreary culture.

But that's why I have this. "Oh, Noble Brick and his brother's second wife? How scandalous." I giggle a bit and drink more tea while flipping to the next page. "I should get another roll of that lovely gold trim from Canterlot, yes that will be perfect for spring," I say to myself and look down again.

I look at the front page of another addition of Canterlot Daily, only to blink not quite realizing what I'm seeing. I've seen the news cover The Princess dancing with others before, it always makes good small talk. But this time is different because I recognize something in the picture.

The picture lacks color and is not at the best angle, but it is of high quality. Good enough to recognize the patterns sewn into the large earth ponies suit as he stands hoof and hoof with The Princess. "I- what?" I mumble out and stare closer at the stallion's face.

"O-Oh, oh my." I hear the teacup slip from my magic and clatter to the floor. I feel a little lightheaded before fainting on my couch with one last thought. :IT'S HIM!:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 995

Ok I have a few things to say. First, I decided to add in Shade getting new weapons as he needs them and just having him improving his armor and the bit with Rarity seemed a bit light. So if you liked Metal Quake here you go.

Any suggestions for how Shade's weapons should look? You all have some pretty good ideas and I thought you might have some fun with suggestions. And it gives me some inspiration.

As for Rarity, I wasn't entirely sure how to write that part, but as cliche as it sounds I thought her fainting just fit too well not to do. So here something a bit out of the ordinary to be silly and fun.

Also, I didn't say it in the chapter but I'm going to have him add the voice changing spell to the Armor. And is just occurred to me while writing this that I've created a nightmare.

With the voice changer Shade is now some unholy mix of Dr. Strange, Batman, and Dare Devil. Oh God.

And yes I like comic books, how could you tell?