Knights of Iron

Fluttershy’s cottage left her in a state of worry today. Earlier in the morning, the animals all seemed nervous of something as they would not leave their homes for anything, not even food. She asked Rainbow Dash if a thunderstorm was planned, but the cyan mare said that there wouldn’t be any form of rain for another couple of days. After seeing the state of the cottage, she figured they needed to ask around, see if anything was going on. Their first stop was the workshop, where Iron had the doors drawn open on one side and a curtain around his latest project. He said it wasn’t even close to ready yet, but the bags under his eyes suggested he pulled an all-nighter.

Next was Rarity, if she had any theories. She figured Pinkie would cause an unrest but even she’s been acting a bit strange. That set alarm bells off in their heads before they skipped to the top of the list, Twilight and Natah, the latter having spent the night at her place to learn about the various sources and methods of what constitutes magic. Twilight said she was writing notes for a magic algorithm but that it was just to diffuse light and dimensions after seeing Suda bend space. A little something she asked Natah about, who had been intentionally secretive and misleading just to be a bit of a troll. Fluttershy then said her animals had been scared of something all morning, enough they hadn't touched their food.

Twilight, knowing a bit of animal nature, looked to Rainbow Dash, who shook her head and said they heard from Rarity that even Pinkie is acting like something wrong is about to happen. Natah, hearing this, knew damn well that when even the pink, hyperactive party pony is acting out of character, something is most certainly wrong. He put down the book he was reading, his interest in terran magic methods cut short as he went to the sky before looking around the town.

While the alicorn did not see anything, at first, he caught movement from the Everfree forest before keeping his gaze fixed on it. He turned his body and saw the trees past the tree line moving. This made him bolt to the city hall as he started to hammer the bell in its clock tower. The rapid ringing, from the history books Twilight read, meant one thing. She instructed Rainbow to start evacuating everyone and for Fluttershy to open all the pens in her cottage so the animals could get somewhere safe. Pinkie, who’d been frightened witless from the energies coming from the forest, jumped from hearing the bell before getting an idea, evacuate the foals from town.

Everywhere anyone looked, ponies were running about in a panic before Rainbow and AJ helped to funnel them a bit, moving them to safe places away from the town while Natah continued to hammer away at the bell, which had gotten the guards stationed in town to suit up and head out just seconds after hearing the thing in that manner. They split into teams to help move citizens away from the forest and allow the guard to advance to the front lines.

From the tree line came the monsters, an army of various creatures ranging from the small and fierce gremlin to the mighty and lumbering cyclops. Leading the pack was some robed creature who gave the monsters a gesture before they charged in. The guards in front, who were already trained in some capacity by Iron, began to harness their mana and power their armor and weapons as the metal surface seemed to shine while the blades were wrapped in corona of various lights. One gremlin, confident in its agility, lept up as several others stayed on the ground. Sadly, for the charging horde, the guard kept their gaze downward and ran their spears forward, the blades going clean through before swiping upward, sending the blood of the creatures to the air as an arrow pierced the airborne gremlin at roughly the same time.

Iron, proud of his lessons, did not stop long. He’d already closed and locked the shop after hearing the bell being pounded like crazy. Iro, who’d been helping him work on the new armor, looked concerned as the armor was supposed to be tested first. Fearing for secrets being leaked, Iron had to do something stupid. “Iro, sleep mode.” The forge protested, concerned for the terran’s safety as the armor was not done. “Now!” The urgency in Iron’s voice made the golem nod solemnly. The stallion owed Iro an apology after this, assuming the armor survived what is essentially a rush job.

Back in town, the ponies were being ushered away from the advancing as something shook the ground beneath their feet. The trembling made many lose their balance while the guard managed to stay upright. The source of the shaking soon came up, making everyone present freeze in fear. The beast was covered in segmented chitin plating, two massive pincers in front in tandem with grasping claws and long antennae that seemed to use scent and sound to see. Even with the bell ringing still, the beast used that for the clear picture. Seeing the scene and finally stopping, Natah dropped the hammer he took to beat the bell and flew in, his wing lit ablaze with mana before firing off three intense blasts, one from each hand and one from his horn at three of the elongated monsters.

The girls, unsure of what to do, looked at the beasts in front and the army in back. Natah, calling on strange emotions and memories from timelines divorced from him, soon started to issue commands. “Epsilon company, arrow formations to guard the populace. Archers, I want you working with Rarity for range attacks, setting an overwatch on our flanks. Rainbow, the skies are yours, I want a report on the rear army every thirty seconds. Pinkie Pie, Twilight, we need an alternate escape route planned and executed.” Seeing Natah take command like that was startling for a moment before the creatures’ chittering reminded everyone that now is not the time for questions.

The guards set up fast and met pincer with blade as the recoil canceled the attacks in a stalemate. Archers were set up on the flanks in the rear so Rarity can enchant their arrows quickly. While both sets were dug in, Fluttershy returned in time to see the set up with Natah throwing spears of magic at the strange monsters in front of them. She landed with little issue as she met up with Applejack for answers, hearing that Natah seemed to settle for a bit before issuing orders with respect and urgency. “Do not extend, victory is not the objective! Focus on safety until the citizens can evacuate!”

Seeing Natah like that made Fluttershy see the alicorn differently, as if he were changed yet… the same. Even Rainbow would find it difficult to stay cool around Natah’s current mannerisms. Speaking of, she came back before the thirty second mark to make her report. “We got a massive army as seen, counted roughly fifteen hundred units but the bulk is in smaller creatures. Heavy hitters are in the low double to the mid single digits.” Natah nodded as he noted that this could be an attrition style tactic, using the smaller numbers to exhaust the guard before sending in the heavy hitters. “I should note the guards are holding the line, but there is a form of commander. It hasn’t moved.”

Natah fired another spell as the worms, or bugs, were getting impatient. “Worry about that later. Collaborate with Pinkie and Twilight on an escape route. We need these civilians out of town yesterday.” As Fluttershy predicted, this action from Natah, taking charge like this, she’d be hot and steamy if the town wasn’t in danger. Though she wasn’t entirely okay with this change, feeling that it would cause her to hurt is all he knew was war. Taking his word, she flew to the party and book mare and said she needed to fly up every few seconds so details would need to be brief.

As the six were handling the civilian crowds, the monsters were slowly advancing on the town center and the hospital. They wanted no chances for the ponies to regroup, so some of the monsters were sent to the hospital to handle their medical aid. The guard at the front lines saw this and weighed their options based on what the detachment group had. This siege force included a couple cyclops and several quadruped monsters with faces of a cephalopod called octo-bulls, both supported by a hoard of gremlins and a pack of satyrs. They look to an archer and the guard launches an arrow into the sky that whistles loudly, catching Rainbow’s attention as she sees the route of the force.

Getting back to the ground, she practically tumbles in a panic as she gets Natah’s attention. “We have a problem! A detachment is heading for the hospital!” This news caught everyone in dread as Natah looked through the time flow. The guards would start moving before he could tell them to keep their post and reinforcement would not be possible without a teleport. “Ideas?”

“A dumb one.” He fired a concussive blast at one of the burrowers and went to Twilight. “Send me to the front lines at Everfree. The guards are moving to intercept a detachment heading for the hospital.” She fired up the spell as she quickly locked in the location as Natah looked at the others. “Do you girls think you can handle this for now?” They each gave him a thumbs up and he nodded as the teleport sent him away.

The first thing the robed commander saw was Natah being teleported in. A stern look crossed the alicorn’s face as the being pointed at the alicorn. Satyr’s started shooting arrows that were blocked with magic and a small detachment of gremlins got in close before blades of mana sliced through them. The mutilated bodies fell to the ground while the satyrs kept firing volleys of arrows. The commander raised a hand, a wand grasped in its fingers as the end of it, a crystal, lit up before the arrow heads were imbued with magic. The resulting spells created a blast that diffused the barrier, a mid level spell mixing air and fire. The alicorn already noted that who or whatever this was received education.

The being chuckled as the eyes under the robe seemed to glow. “It would seem we have something useful in our midst. What say we offer you a hand in ruling this-”

“Kindly kiss my striped tail and eat my ass while you’re at it. You invaded my home so you have nothing to offer.” The being growled at Natah’s defiance and fowl addressment before firing a spell directly. The spell was deflected by Natah back handing it with mana in his palm and scowling. “I am only going to tell you this once…and one time only. Call off your forces and leave…” The being simply laughed as it chose to partake in violence with an alicorn. It fired a small barrage of wind spells which were easily countered by lightning spells that destabilized the air. A fire spell was launched which was blocked by earth, showing the limit of this thing’s magic before the ground began to shake. More of the burrowers came up and forced the alicorn to go airborne before the satyrs fired more magic infused arrows, putting a strain on Natah’s talent. There was one certain outcome to the fight, letting him put the skill to bed as he smiled, whispering to himself. “Show them your best promises, you magnificent terran.”

Passing the workshop with the guards, they were closing in on the detachment and trying to pick off their numbers as best as possible, the gremlins jumping in front of arrows while the satyrs fired back, weakening the guards’ armor. They were mainly keeping the larger monsters guarded from anything severe until they could get to the hospital. Covering the distance for the monsters wasn’t much of an issue, but them falling over was. The smaller monsters and octo-bulls looked at the one cyclops that was laying on the ground. The guard took advantage of the confusion and fired at the satyrs to limit their range while a few troops moved in for the octo-bulls. The other cyclops, seeing this as a cowardly tactic, brought down the tree trunk it was using for a club, ready to smash the guards who were pinned from the tide of gremlins wearing them out earlier.

They braced themselves, ready for the impact that made contact with something, but not them. One of them dared to open their eyes as they felt even the gremlins stop, his eyes meeting a glorious sight that would be burned into their minds. Supporting the log, with green optic flashing to life as if awakened from slumber, was a ten foot unit of a soldier they had never seen. The plating was similar to their armor but the thickness was much greater in sections. The panels themselves were a plain silver luster with a few decorations of simple red. They could already guess who was moving this thing, and he flung the log upwards, throwing the cyclops off balance before vanishing in wind and taking its head clean off with a greatsword, explaining the first one falling over.

The unit, reinvigorated by this action, felt their mana surge through their bodies before they ripped their way from the gremlins’ grip, taking up formation next to Iron. “Orders?” They asked, regarding Iron as a commander, acting or not. The terran looked at the situation and the guards. They were at their limit and Natah was likely still holding the line. He didn’t want any casualties, but he knew these guards were pressed enough.

“Your orders are to regroup in the square and secure an evacuation route should it come to that.” The terran spoke with authority as if he never left the guard, determination shining in his eyes as he took out his mana-gun. “If you can’t move, rest there and defend yourselves as best you can.” The satyrs, hearing this, all armed their bows to line up some easy kills. Iron, seeing this, unholstered his gun and took aim, firing on the mark seconds between each shot as the noise startled the archers, making them fumble their shots and arrows, some hitting friendly fire.

The remaining octo-bulls, seeing this, charged in to grappled and trample the knight, writhing their tentacles all over to make the man miss his swings. He, instead, holstered the gun and stabbed one through the face before grabbing the tentacles of another, swinging the beast over him and colliding it onto the other. Viscera and green blood splattered all over the ground and armor as Iron made a note of the output. He’d have to be careful with his own movement if he wants to get out of the suit in one piece. Another bull flanks the terran with gremlins on its back and Iron gives the gremlins their quarry while the armor powers through their grasp, grabbing the octo-bull inside of the mouth and pulling the beast in two, spraying its insides over the area before he starts grabbing the gremlins by their heads, juicing their brains like oranges before throwing the bodies into the other gremlins with enough force to break their bones..

The otherwise futile attempt to kill this man is met with no results as the gremlins are simply unable to match. The knights that were resting, stable a few with their weapons outside of their armor. “Head for the square!” Iron demanded an explanation from them being out of their armor before shooting another satyr. “Forgive us sir but the hospital needs protecting and the bulk of their forces are more pressing than we can match!” Iron, seeing the logic, nodded solemnly as he prayed for the men to not die. They see the armor light up and hear a rapid thudding as the imposing armor vanishes. “We have our orders still, men.” They smiled and prepared themselves as the hoard, now to less than half its size, charged just for revenge at being handled in such a humiliating manner.

The guards in town, however, were slowly losing the stalemate and Rarity’s horn was hot. She had to swap places with Twilight but the mare was feeling the strain as well from enchanting the swords and shields for each strike. They were exhausted and Pinkie’s antics, while distracting, were not effective. Fluttershy’s method would not fare any better from how these creatures acted, as if they had no thoughts of their own. The burrowers came down again as the guards braced themselves for another strike and the ponies looked away. What they hear a second after is the sound of something crashing into another thing and something breaking, followed by one of the burrowers screeching in pain. The ponies look up and see this armored pony with a shield catching the broken piece of a borrower’s tusk.

The new guard looks back to the townsfolk before looking ahead to the burrowers, throwing the tusk to the side. “You did well, now leave the rest of this riff raff to me.” Rarity and Applejack were stunned to hear Iron’s voice coming from this ten foot behemoth of armor. It was distorted a bit by the helmet but they know it’s him. Rarity, noticing the same thing Twilight did, was about to speak up. “I know. Should only take me a few seconds.” The armor vanished, causing everyone to jolt in shock before the head of one of the burrowers fell, the armored terran on top as this action caught their attention. They can smell the blood oozing from the collapsing creature and feel a sense of vengeance rise in them before they both try to strike, the uncoordinated attack making them crash into each other as Iron simply gets out of the way. He fed more mana into his sword and right arm, the resulting slash creating a wave that cut through the other two burrowers at the expense of his shoulder.

He lands safely on the ground before the exhaust to vent the head from the armor starts to melt. The build up was too much from the strain he was putting on the patch’s systems. He routed systems before opening and leaving the armor, the hot air inside rushing out as Iron quickly strips his top to let the cooler air over his sweating body. “Dammit. That went better than the test run for the first armor but that’s spent.” He goes to the armor and pulls a rod from a holster on the back. He came prepared in case the armor failed. Undoing the wrap, it looked simple, a strong handle frame with a crystal at the top.

As the tow was resting, Natah popped in from a teleport, his wing messed up but otherwise fine. Fluttershy and Rainbow rush over to check on him with Fluttershy’s confused as all hell, finally can’t contain her emotions, her wings glowing a bright jade and pink as the remaining monsters, reduced to just over half, strode in, the commander having an aura of anger coming off of it. “I’ve had it with this resistance. Give up the mares or face destruction for your arrogance.” The commander fumed before seeing Fluttershy in her current state, rage powering her internal magic and affecting the feathers greatly.

The butter yellow mare stood and turned to the army with fury in her eyes, nearly unnerving the commander as Iron put the staff away, his own curiosity superseding the importance of defense. “You first.” The mare’s venomous statement was met with her wings releasing a powerful force of magic in the form of butterflies that shined against the light of the sun. They flew around the monsters and the wings cut into them, making the creatures bleed profusely as the kaleidoscope danced around them. The cyclops and octo-bulls thrashed around while the gremlins died from the rapid blood loss and the satyrs followed closely behind. The commander pointed the rod at the mare, firing an explosion spell before it was wrapped in a barrier, courtesy of Iron with a scowl on his face.

The being scowled as mana poured off of it, enough the robes were blown off as the being underneath was exposed. It was a strange creature to be sure, similar to a chimera in composition but something was off. The right arm was a goat while the legs were a tiger. The left arm was a whole snake, fangs included, and the creature possessed wings like a manticore in addition to a scorpion tail. The unnerving part was the face. It was a mix between some manner of ape and tiger, with the goat’s horns on the top and snake scales over two right eyes. Iron looked at the burrowers and noticed a more stable chimerism from the traits it possessed. The bases all seemed to be derived from insects but the size is what’s worrying. This thing, however, seemed like either the first attempt of a mix of two naturally occurring types of chimera.

Fluttershy, who’d felt her worries were insulted, poured more of her emotions into the kaleidoscope, making a steel curtain of butterfly wings before she fell over, a bit exhausted from overuse, similar to mana fatigue for a unicorn. The chimera, seeing this, fired a wing spell before an opposing angel of ground was raised to deflect most of the blade away from her. The chimera looked at Iron and fumed as the terran shot a challenging glare. “You’re fight’s with me now.”

The chimera, feeling insulted from this terran raising a challenge at him, fired off multiple spells of fire and wind while Iron resorted to simple earth spells that acted as shields, deflecting blades and defusing the blasts. Those magic lessons were handy but now wasn’t the time to be practical. He looked at Natah, who was gathering magic of his own just by cycling the mana in his body, using what stability he had. As if sensing something wrong, the chimera aimed at Natah, firing a heat spell which was deflected by two countering spells from Rarity and Twilight, since they got a chance to rest. That distraction gave Iron enough time to try something reckless as he conjured an incantation to bind the chimera in chains of mana.

The beast, resorting to its basic instincts, began to thrash against the chains and scream profanities before Natah opened his eyes. There was no anger, no hatred, no vengeance. There was only pity for this suffering creature. “Find peace in the next life.” The alicorn brought a hand forward and Natah’s vision saw the time on the chimera, what it would go through and the pain it would endure. With a sad click of his fingers, Natah set the chimera’s time to zero with a magic beam to the head. A painless, instant death for a creature warring with itself, yet forced to follow the will of an unknown maker.

The chimera, which had once been raging, now looked at peace, a sad expression crossed on its face. While the town wondered if it was finally over, there would still be cleanup of the other monsters. Iron, thinking he could go further, began to gather mana for another incantation. Wind kicked up around him as he began. “Heat of storms gather above as the cold of earth meets you in the sky. Arc of light and force of sound crash around to smite my foes.” The spells nature made the heat rise, changing the air density as cold fell to the ground, meeting again as the moisture began to form clouds, the white bases soon growing and darkening as they cover the town and reach into the forest, the intensity staying above the pony’s heads. Lightning arched within the dark plumes of nature’s fury and the colors in Iron’s eyes flashed. “Descend! Lighting Rain!” The arcs skittered in the clouds for a moment, collecting in the air before the strikes began, hitting one gremlin and killing it on the spot. This action dispersed the monsters, but that first strike was the start as lightning began to ‘downpour’ on the monsters, charring them and the ground they stood on for a few seconds before the released energy dissipated the clouds above.

While the spectacle was more than impressive, that last action left Iron drained as his knees shook just to keep him up, his staff acting as his cane just to keep him upright. Rarity and Applejack went to check on him as Fluttershy and Rainbow helped Natah up. The mares all looked around, wondering what to do with the bodies before Iron looked at the guards. “Gather all of these bodies to the shop!” He managed to get out before looking at his girlfriends. “Could you two help me to the shop as well? I need to wake Iro up.” While a little more concerned for his health, he does care for everyone. “I just need the key to open the crystal’s flow again.” They nodded as they were fine with that much. Natah, on the other hand, needed to head to the shop to get his wing replaced, which worked for the others for something else.

“You mind explaining what that was,” became the general question of the mares in the Iron Forge Workshop. Once Iro was awakened, he and Iron got to work making a new wing while the forge turned the monster bodies into raw materials for crystals, armor or weapons. The mares were not mad but they were not happy either. Worry would be the main emotion here as they never knew he had a background in being a commander, or captain or anything.

He lay on the table, stuck waiting for his replace ment wing, but even Natah didn’t know where that came from. With the fighting over, his mind gets to rest away from those intense feelings of duty. “I…really don’t know. It’s like something else was…guiding me. Not just my talent, but premonitions that were part of me yet not.” He didn’t have a better answer than that and it worried Fluttershy and Rainbow greatly since they thought they knew him the best, especially since the only thing wrong with him was something that could be managed. This was something new and out of observation. “Girls, I promise you I’m fine. It felt weird, yes, but it wasn’t like I blacked out. More like…a focus.”

Twilight, reading the room, really wanted to ask if he could replicate that sensation, but figured it wasn’t like flexing a muscle or walking without checking your balance. This was something that came out of nowhere, even for him. “Still, I’m sure even you are curious how or why that happened.” Twilight finally said something, getting everyone in the room on the same wavelength.

Natah, still coming up with theories, did present one possibility looking at Fluttershy. “Maybe…” She said in deep thought, drawing the gaze of the other mares from curiosity. This made her squeak in surprise as she began again. “He shared a dream with me where he was…another him? It sounded so strange but maybe it has something to do with his talent?” Twilight, ever the curious mare about magic, looked at Natah before the butter yellow mare’s eyes seemed to burn her direction like an ominous fire. The poor mare has been through enough worry, she would kindly like for Twilight to not add onto that.

Iron, after helping Iro with the new wing, began to socket the new limb after easing the mana flow off with a Magus Engine. The procedure wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, since it was just a replacement. If anything, Natah was happy with that. “What about your suit, Iron?” The alicorn questioned with a worried look.

“It may just have to be rebuilt. The installations were a damn rush job.” Iro hummed as he found the prospect amusing. It sounded like the armor only welded itself together rather than combust. The crystal core may be spent because of it, but this was good news. “I’m just happy it went as long as it did. It just needs some minor adjustments and a proper tuning. If I had that before the attack, I probably could have run the thing full speed the whole fight.” Natah, feeling a smile coming to his face, felt a chop on his head, making him yelp and recoil. “Don’t get any cute ideas Natah. You are healing and Iro’s going to have me rebuild the whole suit. Honestly that’s a small benefit. But, better to leave the building to the masters.”

The mares chuckled at how cute that was, Iron talking like a doctor as Natah pouted like a child. It was just precious to see. “Speaking of healing, how does the wing feel?” Rainbow asked, curious how the operation affects him and how it’ll affect Scootaloo.

“Not that bad honestly.” He said, a surprised and relieved grin on his face. “It’s like your wings go numb and then the feeling comes back. It’s a little weird but pleasant. Better than I was expecting.” Rainbow sighed in relief, now knowing that the replacements won’t be so bad if Scoots needs them from now on. “Trust me, I know the fear you felt seeing what had to be done.”

“That reminds me, I have to write that down for the doctors so they don’t have to worry about numbing.” Iron said as he went to clean his hands, only for Twilight to beat him to it with an innocent smile on her face. The other girls chuckled as it was so like Twilight to carry quill and paper everywhere. “Mind readers aside, we have work to do. While the monsters didn’t manage to tear down the hospital…we should prepare to hear about casualties.” Everyone in the room knew what that would mean, either from the soldiers dying from their wounds or the patients dying from the stress which agitated their wounds.

“Would it help if I made something regarding that?” The group turned to Iro who seemed to have an interesting idea as he was smiling from ear to ear. The group pondered it for a moment before nodding to him. He smiled and drew the curtain before getting to work. As he worked, Twilight almost snuck the staff before Applejack stopped her. While the mare tried to pull a Fluttershy, the farm mare had practiced a stern scowl that bored through the book mare, making her relinquish the staff before returning it to the bench.

So repairs began with Twilight acting as a coordinator with several formans and Fluttershy working with Rainbow on relief. Natah and Iron were hauling monster corpses to the shop and even the CMC were contributing by getting a tally of everything important, from food to clothes while homes were being fixed. Twilight even felt it necessary to send a letter to Celestia detailing the attack, specifically the chimera. She’d never known there to be any chimera like that, theorizing them to be made rather than natural, even for the standards of mythic level magic.

Celestia, who was overseeing similar reports, read over the letter as the mention of the chimera caught her eye. It would seem that someone was deliberately making these creatures as her guards managed to report similar cases in other kingdoms. This worried her as their nation's treasure, the Elements of Harmony, may be seen as a weapon more than a tool. The Elements aren’t meant to kill unless a being is purely made of evil or malice. Chimera are not evil, but these are not natural. While she figured the Elements were viable, the best case scenario is just dividing the chimera into its component bases or doing nothing, at worst.

She’d left the letter on the table as she looked out to Ponyville, worrying in her mind as so many positive and negative variables exist in that town. She was then brought out of her thoughts when she heard, “when were you going to tell me?” She turned to see Suda, forgetting that because Natah lives there, it is as much her problem as Natah is. “An army of monsters, some artificial chimera and my brother’s wing-while I’m thankful for the process being painless-needing to be exchanged.”

Celestia, though she wanted to give a solid answer, didn’t know where to start, only massaging her temples. Suda, seeing the stress she put on Celestia right there, softened up a bit, looking remorseful. “Why is there so much happening? It feels like something is encroaching on us and I don’t know what answer to give to the masses when they start asking.” Suda wanted to tell her to just tell the truth, but if the truth is twisted for sensation, it’d make the situation worse than it really is.

Celestia received another letter, though it was from Natah and addressed to Suda. The confusion was seen on the mare before she passed the letter to the unicorn, who shared the confusion while she opened the letter. Suda, upon reading the contents, felt as though she were an alien in the room, as she read something she’d never seen before with the fluency of a native speaker.

[Sister, I am writing in this script to tell you what happened.
I had a dream the other day of being in strange positions.
In those dreams, I had command of armies.
That same authority came to me, and it scared me a bit.
It felt familiar yet it was so alien.
If you can read this, then we share something unknown.
Reply using this text, as this could be our way of keeping secrets.

Natah Chronus.

P.S. I think we should keep this from Twilight.](https://imgur.com/N9724VC)

Seeing this letter, and wanting to write back in the same script, Suda got a slip of parchment and began to write the reply letter while speaking with Celestia. “What does it say?” The mentioned alicorn asked, curiosity laced with concern.

“Something personal that Natah felt to bring up with me, so I want these letters to be private.” She’d finished the letter before looking at Celestia with a bemused expression, like the alicorn took something, making the princess squeak in confusion. “I’ll let you send this one but you really need to teach me how you do that.” She passed the letter to the princess as she sent it off. She didn’t think much about the letter as it was just a reply. Who would be startled by a reply letter?

That answer would be Twilight, who found Natah’s bookmark about other ponies using magic. This came in the form of lesser and greater miracles for the pegasi and the alicorns with their wings and Sage or Druid arts with the Terrans for their internal mana. Twilight, thinking Iron was only going off of observation rather than training, education or practice, felt it prudent to teach the terran how to use his magic. This got her clapping her hands as she heard stories of other ponies using magic and she saw that today with Fluttershy. Teaching Iron magic would certainly make her giddy as she was already preparing note cards and criteria lists.

As Twilight was getting lost in the details, a familiar belch caught her ear as she took the letter and opened it out of habit. She tried to read it but her eyes turned fish eyes from confusion as she could not tell, for the life of her, what in Celestia’s name this was saying. She then started pouring over translation tomes and other language examples only to find nothing but her slipping sanity. The unicorn, desperate for an answer, started to make up translations that made no sense. AsTwilight was still futile deciphering the script, the door opened to Natah, who’s eyes met with Twilight’s making him flinch with fear.

“Uh…you okay Twilight?” The Alicron was pulled into the library before the door closed and Twilight loomed over him, one palm on the wall and the other holding the letter. Seeing the letter, Natah wanted to reprimand Twilight for snooping into other people’s mail but saw Celestia’s seal. He and Suda really need their own seals for each other. He took the letter from Twilight and read it aloud.

[Natah, I seem to share the disposition to the writing.
I am able to read the language as if I were a fluent native to it.
While I do agree we should keep this from Twilight, we both need answers.
I'll be in Canterlot Castle, as I've been, so we can figure this out.
To be honest on my part, I've been able to scry things I should not be able to see.
See me in town as early as possible.

P.S. Strut that wing when you get here little brother, and let the nobles see what they can't have.](https://imgur.com/gOMNUuc)

“The same what? You could write and read that language and you never told me?” She seemed to look even more demented over the fact she was denied any knowledge about something new over something being kept from her.

“Well, Twilight, we love you, just not enough to share all of our personal secrets.” Natah’s reason would have been countered by Twilight if Spike had not spoken up saying, “you tend to make people’s privacy your business when you think they are hiding knowledge over keeping secrets.” Spike knew to read the room though he sounded a bit sour about something unrelated to the situation. Natah even decided to press that truth on Twilight with an embarrassing question like, “what was the first piece of adult literature you read to bed?” That shut the mare down real quick as she really did not want to answer that and it just proved Natah’s point, making her pout as she did, ultimately, relent.

Natah took the time to read the letter, now that he could focus on the contents, and blushed a bit at his sister telling him to strut his wing and bling in Canterlot like the prince he is. While she isn’t wrong, that kind of thing may make him retreat to his room out of embarrassment.

Both Natah and Iron, however, ponder the same question: Who or what made those chimera, and for what purpose? While everyone had that same question, those two had that question at the front of their minds as they work, making it be something to revolve potential solutions around. Iro, having already thought of something, was working on a chimera of his own just for the fun of it while turning the raw materials into crystals and metals.

Fluttershy, having been bedridden from the use of a lesser miracle like that, leaving Rainbow to take care of her as much as she can. The CMC, hearing those details, came by to check on the mare, bringing her a few things the others had prepared. There were lotions and masks from Rarity, on top of some food and tonic she made with Twilight for mana restoration, some apple pies from AJ, and a small cake from Pinkie. “I hope you get better Fluttershy.” Applebloom said with a worried look as no pegasus had used magic like what she did in history. While there were stories, they were often treated as myth as very few were seen doing something like that.

Fluttershy gave each of the crusaders a patting with a smile on her lips. “I’ll be okay, girls. I’m just a little fatigued is all. A little rest should do me some wonders.” The three smile as their ears raise up again. They left soon after with Sweetie Belle running into Spike on her way home, the dragon moping about as he kicked a small pebble.

Curious to his mood this time, the filly could not help but follow the dragon around the town. First he went in front of city hall, then the market, then the park until Sweetie could tell he was just aimlessly wandering. She could tell it was about Rarity, as always. Always her sister, her older, beautiful sister. The poor dragon had the most hopeless crush on the mare with how much he fauns over her. Heh, like she can talk. She’s not much better, having seen how capable he is over all with cooking, social skills and what responsibilities he can handle. Seeing him like this, though, upsets her in many ways. She could tell he wanted to fight, but what could he do?

Slapping herself on the face, she manages to motivate herself and leaves her hiding spot, going up to the dragon and tapping him on the shoulder. The dragon turns and sees the filly, his mood brightening just a little. “You need a shoulder to lean on?” Spike just nodded, looking away sadly. The silence still resumed and Sweetie started poking. “I can’t be of help if you’re quiet.”

Spike, not sure how to say it to Sweetie Belle, just starts with, “It’s Rarity.” Sweetie nodded, already figuring out that reason faster than a breath. “She’s been around that Iron Wrought so much and…” He paused but Sweetie could already tell what it was. Her sister, who caught Spike’s eye, starts dating a stallion and Spike gets jealous over it. Then he comes to find out at some point that Rarity is sleeping with said stallion, so he’s more upset than mad.

“Well you can’t really blame my sister. While she’s used to stallions just wanting her for her looks, she does get many adults who stay for her.” Sweetie reasoned in a factual manner like if someone said the grass is green.

“But I stayed!” Spike’s mild outburst drew a bit of attention before he blushed, apologizing before the others went back to their business.

“You stayed because it’s a crush.” Sweetie countered.

Spike, huffing a bit of fire with a pout, crossed his arms. “Like that guy is so special fighting those monsters. I could fight too.”

“Spike,” Sweetie started, making the dragon look at her before saying, “We’re kids. What were we going to do about cyclops, octo-bulls and those chimera?”

Spike wanted to say something, he really wanted to, just to put on an act that he’s simply better than Iron, but the inner conflict had him sputtering before Sweetie stopped him with a hug and a smile. “You aren’t the only one with a crush you silly goof.” The filly pulled away with a blush on her cheeks before kissing his cheek. “And I’m not the only filly crushing on the same person.” The filly then danced a little as she walked away, singing in music notes as she managed to plant a seed in his head. She and her friend may have to take after their sisters a little, but Spike did prove to be surprisingly mature for his age. An attractive quality that made the three of him crush for him a little before they decided to make a move. It was a good thing Sweetie went first.

Spike, who was still stunned by Sweetie’s actions, tried to reason she was just being friendly, that he’d take Rarity from Iron as his. However, as he watched the filly walk away, he couldn’t help but wonder if Rarity would ever be proud of that. Yes Iron stayed, but he’s blunt and honest. Spike would stay but for selfish reasons, not the least of which being Rarity’s beauty. He then thought about how Natah acted, how Iron pushed himself, things Spike was beginning to doubt he could do, even if he wanted to just to look cool.

Finally walking home, the dragon was in tears as he opened the door. Twilight, who was sorting papers for repairs, heard the door before seeing her dragon in tears. She got up and rushed over before kneeling, asking if he’s already. “No, Twilight, I’m awful.” She didn’t know what to make of that. She asked a simple question and gave her a loaded response. “I’m awful for how I’ve been acting.” She just hugged him, letting him cry his heart out as he accepted the situation.

A few minutes later, Twilight got a tissue for Spike as he blew his nose. “Start from the top.” The unicorn listened intently as Spike laid out everything, his jealousy, his resentment, his greed and his ignorance. He treated Rarity as property over a crush, resented Iron when she practically clung to him and was jealous of the stallion for his acts of genuine heroism, even when he was exhausted and out of his armor. Spike just felt awful, and it took Sweetie Belle to show him that. Twilight, doing her best to not spoil the reasons, told Spike that she is at least proud of his growth today. She even hinted about spending time with Sweetie and the CMC in general. He nodded, a bit absent but thankful for the suggestion, heading out the door to do just that.

And from one upset to another, Natah came in. Twilight felt this one was a bit more personal as he just looked like he saw a ghost. “Okay I just got done with Spike, you look worse. What happened?” Natah, took a breath as he simply did not know where to begin with this one. He said that while he’s happy everyone is okay, if a bit startled from how he acted, he went to see Fluttershy and she’s just not herself. As in she was trying to act like it didn’t happen and that somehow hurts worse than when she screamed about his lack of cuteness.

Twilight, sort of knowing what Fluttershy means, also knows where Natah is coming from, as the pegasus is normally reserved but still bold at times. For her to scream and act like then and then try to act like it didn’t happen feels like she’s trying to bottle up her opinions and emotions of the incident rather than talk about it. “Do you…think your sister could be of some assistance with this? What you went through and the aftermath…I’m just out of my element here.” The mare scratched the back of her head in embarrassment as she wanted to help but Natah’s particular episode was a unique case. Taking in the mare’s words, Natah looked at Canterlot as he remembered the letter. He did have a rendezvous to keep.