Heart of Steel: A Colts Tale
Chapter 2: Little knight in a new town.
The moment Rune stepped off the train and onto the wooden platform, the noon sunlight beamed into his eyes, causing the young colt to give a small yelp of distress. "Princess Celestia wasn't holding anything back today," thought Rune as he quickly moved into the shade of the station canopy. The colt let out a small sigh as he could finally take a peek around the station without the glare of the sun interfering. Rune would notice several ponies enter and exiting the train carriages while others walked along the platform. So far, everything seemed like it was the same as in Canterlot Station, except being smaller until he noticed something strange. To the far end of the station was a normal looking shrub except for the fact it had a pair of binoculars extruding out of its leaves, looking directly at him. He started to slowly move towards the strange plant but before he could go any closer...
“Rune I need your help getting all our bags loaded onto the cart.” called the familiar voice of his mother, who had already started to unload their bags into a nearby cart. He turned his head to face his mother, then back to the shrub only to find that it had mysteriously disappeared, leaving him confused. With another call from his mother, the little foal would dash over and start to help by attempting to carry the heaviest bag first, trying to forget about the mystery shrub. Rune's mother couldn't help but notice her son as she took over, taking the bag using her magic. "I think you better stick to the smaller bags dear.” she smiled with a giggle.
It didn't take them long to load up their belongings before they were off, Rune slowly trotting alongside his mother as she pulled the cart. He consistently looked around at all the different shops and houses; Ponyville was so different compared to Canterlot. The houses seem to be more spaced rather than squished together and most of the ponies gave a rather calm, friendly vibe. This made Rune want to get straight to having an awesome adventure but wasn't able to because his mother made him promise to stay close.
Rune and his mother trotted around the main streets until they reached the busy and crowded Ponyville Marketplace, filled with ponies doing their late noon shopping. Rune's mother had pulled out a map of the surrounding area using her magic, but had a puzzled looked and sighed, rolling up the small piece of a paper. ”Well it's official, we are lost, Rune...” she took a deep breath and slowly started to trot away until a voice broke the atmosphere.
“Howdy! Might I offer y'all a sample o'Sweet Apple Acres famous apples?” spoke a orange Earth Pony with a southern accent. She had a blonde mane and tail, a cutie mark of three red apples, and a cowboy hat that sat atop her head, fitting her accent. The mare stood in front a small cart, filled to the brim with apples.
“Oh, no thank you. While your apples do look great, we're having a little bit of a problem at the moment.” said Rune's mother as another sigh came out of her breath. While The little colt's mother would talk to the stall owner, Rune caught sight of something from the corner of his eye. It was the same odd shrub that was at the train station and it still had those binoculars sticking out of its side.
The adventurous little colt wanted to take a closer look but promised his mother not to do anything that would make trouble, including wandering off. Rune would take a quick look at his mother while she was distracted. It would only be for a minute...she'd never know he was gone as he started to slowly made his way towards the strange plant.
“Ah, so ah take it y'all'r new t'Ponyville an' gotten yerselves lost?” spoke the orange pony as she took a bite out of a apple from her cart.
“How? I mean... How could you possible know that?” stuttered Rune's mother as the orange pony simply pointed to the cart of luggage she was carrying hearing as a nervous chuckle at the mistake she had made, ”Oh... Right.”
“S'okay, if'n y'all want, Ah c'n help y'all with which way t'go.”Smiled the orange pony as she held out a hoof. ”Names Applejack, an' Ah work down on Sweet Apple Arces.”
“My name is Morning Star, and this is my son Rune...” she would point beside her, at thin air. Letting out a gasp as she saw he was gone, slowly sneaking away and almost out of her field of view, ”Steel Rune! What did I say about wandering off! Come back here this instant!” yelled Morning Star as Rune just froze in his tracks. If there was anything that scared the little knight, it was his mother when she got angry. He would look at the shrub for a split second before quickly running back to his mother side, his ears splayed backwards, ”This is my son. Rune, please introduce yourself to Ms. Applejack.”
Rune would look up at Applejack as his nerves got the best of him, slowly retreating behind his mother as he peered with a bit of a shy expression. ”Umm H-hello miss Applejack, a pleasure to meet you...” he would squeak.
“Well ain't he just th' cutest lil apple dumplin'.” Applejack chuckled at how shy the colt had gotten before she turned her attention back to his mother. ”Y'know, Ah have a lil sister around 'bout his age, named Applebloom. She was s'pose to help me with this here cart, but she went off with'her friends. mutterin' something 'bout... gettin' 'er cutiemark in hoofball er somethin'.” she sighed softly as another smile came over her, ”But ahm sure you two'll become the best uh friends.”
The words that Applejack spoke said made Rune feel a lot less nervous as he slowly came out from behind his mother, smiling happily at a thought that popped into his head, ”Are there any strange walking plants in this town? Because I've been seeing one follow us since the train station an-...” he asked as he looked down, kicking his hoof into the dirt.
Morning Star would interject before her son could say anything else, ”Oh sweetie, I told you. There are no such things. It's just part of your imagination...” She said, pulling out the small map once again, ”I'm sorry but my son can think of the craziest things and let them get the best of him. Also, I'm sorry we can't stay and chat more miss Applejack, but we really need to get going. So, could you point us in the right way?” she would ask as the orange Earth Pony looked at the map and gave them directions to their destination. It turns out they weren't very far from it after all.
Morning Star and Rune would wave goodbye to the Earth Pony as they continued on their way, heading in the correct direction. The rest of the journey was dull and boring as they finally arrived at a two story building with two big chimneys, one on the house itself and another coming from an unknown structure out back. Rune's eyes would widen at the sight of the house. It was a lot smaller than his home back in Canterlot but still looked quite cozy, ”Is this our new home?” he would speak with a hint of excitement in his voice as he started to dash towards the house. He wanted to explore this new home but was held back by his mother's magic.
Morning Star nodded and chuckled at her son's delight. ”Yes, this is our new home Rune, and soon, the Ponyville branch of the Royal Forge.” she smiled happily as she leaned down, ”and where you will continue your blacksmith training...” That last sentence seem to drain Rune's excited mood to a crawl as he looked back at his mother.
“But Mum, I don't want to be a blacksmith! I want to be a royal knight, the one that takes down evil dragons and save princess. I want to be like uncle-...” he was cut off by the abrupt sound of Morning Star's voice.
“Rune! How many times have I told you about mentioning your uncle!” she said with a hint of venom in her voice as it sliced through Rune like a hot knife through butter, leaving the small colt with his ears lowered and his body close to the ground, sniffling. Morning Star would see this and let out a small gasp, unhitching herself from her cart and laying down by her son's side, ”Oh sweetie, I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just... the memory of your uncle left us all a bit... stingy about the subject.” she said, reaching a hoof to stroke his ear, ”Come on, let's go inside and get our things unpacked.”
Rune's sniffles soon soften and a smile bloomed on his face as he gave a nod. He had completely forgotten that mention of his uncle was a bad thing...in fact he knew little to nothing about him since he died before Rune was even born. He only knew he was a knight and that something horrible had happened, but he didn't let that bother him as he got up off the dirt road. He would slowly walk up to his house with his mother close by his side.
While the two ponies entered the house, just on the other side of the road was a familiar shrub with a pair of binoculars watching as the mother and son disappeared within.
“Perfect...everything is going as planned.”
To be continued.
Author's Note
Anthors Notes: Hello once again, Thank you for reading my story and I hope it's atleast enjoyable. I would also like to apologize for the long wait for this update as I had a lot of things going on. I would also like to thank my proof reader and editor once again for helping me tidy up this chapter.It might be a little while untill the next chapter, it really depends if my time allows it. Enjoy!
Heart of Steel: A Colts Tale
Chapter 1: A long(very long) train ride.
Chapter 1: A long(very long) train ride.
The locomotive sped across the morning country side, crossing over the hills and lush meadows and was making great time on its way to its next destination; Ponyville, A small rural town in the middle of the hidden valleys of Equestria. Inside the carriages, ponies of all sorts, and even some non-ponies, carried on their own business and were safely seated...except for one colt. He was a grey earth pony with big lavender eyes, his mane was short and coloured two-toned with black with silver lining. The colt's flank was bare, void of any type of cutie mark. Steel Rune was his name and his dream is to become a famous knight of Equestria, defending princesses from fire breathing dragons and being a hero to all.
“Take that you evil fiend!” he yelled as he jumped all over the carriage with nearly everypony staring at him as he swung a toy wooden sword by his teeth. “You will not land a hoof on the princess!” he yelled as he ran up and down the carriage as a rather fancy dressed griffon in a top hat took notice and scoffed.
”Why don't you go and fight your fake fiends elsewhere...” he spoke in a rather elitist voice as Rune took notice and pointed his toy at the griffon.
”Where is the princess you evil winged beast?!” he proclaimed.
“Well, aren't you a rude little colt... now go away before I get the conductor to throw you and your plaything off this train.” he spoke in that rather posh and highly elite tone as the dark grey pony just stared at him.
“I'm Sir Rune, and I will NOT back down you turkey!” he announced as the griffon's expression exploded from the insult by the little colt. He would stand up on his hind legs, overshadowing the small offender.
“Why you little... H-How dare you call me a turkey! I'm going to teach you a lesson on how to treat your elders with respect!” he growled at the little foal. The train carriage went quiet as everypony just stared. The tension was running high as they waited to see what would happen next. Before any more words could be said, a light blue aura encased the colt's tail and levitated him up, a blue unicorn with a long silver mane and a cutie mark of a multi-coloured star being the one responsible.
“Please forgive my son. He...ate too much sugar today. Now, say you're sorry to the nice griffon, Rune.” she would speak rather politely as she used her magic to also remove the toy sword from her son's mouth. The little colt would look to the side and puff out his cheeks before finally speaking.
“I'm sorry mister...I didn't mean to call you a turkey... I'm truly sorry.” he would bow his head, his apology sounding half-hearted as the griffon would just resume his seat and regained a snobby aura about him.
“You should really kept that colt on a leash, he's a cannon waiting to explode and I'd rather not be in the line of fire...Good day!” he would huff and hold his head up high. Rune quickly poked out his tongue when the griffon wasn't looking before being levitated to his mother's side.
“Honestly Rune... What I'm I going to do with you?” the motherly unicorn would reach her hoof over to him and Rune would brace himself for a scolding. Instead, he got his ear tips stroked, soothing and calming down the little foal.
“I...just want to be a knight, a hero...It's my dream...to be the greatest hero in Equestria.” he would give a soft yawn, his seemly boundless energy starting to fade as his mother kept stroking his ear.
”I know sweetie, but try to take it easy my little hero, we have a big vacation ahead. Now, rest your eyes and try to sleep.” she would hum softly as her little foal simply nodded off next to her. Rune's mother levitated a blanket out from her saddle bag and tucked him in by her side as she drew in a deep breath and sighed, looking out the window as the scenery passed by. It was so peaceful as she herself gave a slight yawn before drifting off to sleep.
The train continued to glide across the landscape as morning slowly turned to noon, the sun shining brilliantly in the sky with very few clouds to block its light. The rest of the ride was pretty normal; Rune slept peacefully as his mother watched over him, when suddenly a small dinging sound echo throughout the carriage.
“Attention passengers, next stop; Ponyville Station. We will be arriving at our next stop in 10 minutes. I repeat: next stop Ponyville Station where we will be arriving in 10 minutes, so please have your luggage ready and your ticket available for the conductor.” said a voice coming from a speaker located in the corner of the compartment.
Rune actually manage to sleep through the whole announcement as he just nuzzled himself closer to his mother side. She used her magic to pull out their boarding pass as the pony conductor slowly made his way up the train car, punching everyone's ticket who was getting off. Rune's mother used her magic to float them over as the conductor punched their ticket and bowed his head in thanks.
When the train finally came to a halt, steam hissed everywhere as the familiar dinging echoed again. ”We have now arrived at Ponyville station, thank you for travelling with Pony Rails.” said the announcement before clicking off.
Rune's mother would gently nudge her foal, trying to wake him up from his slumber.”Come on Rune, time to get up.” she would smile as the little colt just grumbled before giving a loud yawn.
”I-I'm up!”he would let out a groan as he finally woke up, stretching in his seat before jumping down and collecting his small saddlebag and wooden sword. He secured it on his back and was ready...ready for adventure in this exciting new land as he trotted off towards the exit, his mother close behind him. He jumped off the carriage and onto the platform, into the wondrous new place.
[Authors note: Hello there, Thank you for reading the first chapter of what I hope to be many. I can only hope this fanfiction is up to par and isn't hated on. If you have any advice, criticism and such please feel free to tell me since I really want to improve and make this story atleast enjoyable to read. Once again, Thank you for reading. Also thank you to a very special friend for helping me proof read this story.]