This is the story of The Hero Forge. Forge was not Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, or Applejack. He was Forge. And that meant his journey was…a little unorthodox…
When Forge's parents named him they had NO idea why they did...A lot of ponies think names instantaneously define a pony's future...they are wrong but its an uncanny coincidence most of the time. They lived in Valleytown. Named so because of it being the entrance to a valley. Forge's parents were Business Savvy, a unicorn with a brown coat and a trim cut mane, and Charisma, also a unicorn had purple coat with a black mane that flowed very well. Business Savvy was a businessman who managed a group of traders with a white shine meaning how he lit up with charm. Cutie marks are symbols that show up on a pony's flank when they realize their special talent. Their picture usually symbolizes their talent and in most cases themselves. Charisma was a mom and a social worker. She helped ponies out and was a bit of a know-it-all. Very proud and a bit...what’s the word...fashion savvy. She had a brain with arrows pointing to various spots for a cutie mark. Forge was well...different. Forge himself had a reddish coat with a messy short black mane and orange eyes. He hadn't discovered his cutie mark yet. They were fit and had loads of common sense. Forge...was the exact opposite. Sharp as a tack when he could focus but uncoordinated and stupid. He had a hard time fitting in and he secretly collected comics. He couldn't really relate to anypony. This is an example of a day in his life...
Forge had just ran out the door...EARLY for school. He only thought he was late. Forge in his panic thought it would be fun to take the shortcut through town...He got lost. After asking for directions several times over the course of an hour, he wound up at school twenty minutes early..."I’m early again." He lamented to his teacher. "That’s alright. It gives me time to look over your homework." His teacher was Miss Globetrotter. Her cutie mark was a globe and she used to be quite the traveler before settling down as a teacher. Forge handed her it. She quickly graded it. He got 4 out of 20 right. Then the teacher would explain what he did wrong and had to repeat it several thousand times before he got it. This was his routine. Except for when he took then long way and was 20 minutes late. Or one time he got lost and they had to come find him...
Anyway this particular day when recess hit it was time to play baseball. Forge was outfield...way outfield. He was in the tall grass. He waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...Until a pop fly! A home run! Well...almost. Forge focused and raised his mitt with his magic and...CAUGHT IT! HE CAUGHT IT! THE CROWD WENT WILD! OH AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT FORGE GO OH HE WAS SO HAPPY AND YEAH YOU GUESSED IT, IT WAS HIS TEAMS BALL! When he got sent away to play by himself he started swinging a stick around. He did that mind numbingly boring task with a smile on his face for 15 minutes. He had actually given "Sticky" a name and took it home with him. But before he left some of the other students whose names and descriptions aren't even worth writing decided to follow him up on his baseball folly. But he was saved by some classmates of his. They weren't his friends. He knew it. Forge knew a lot of things from his stories, how people looked down on the odd colt out. He knew what pity was. He knew the hypocrisy of social pity (He read a LOOOOOT of fiction.) He knew what real friendship was like. He also knew pity didn't stop the other ponies from taking his stick and snapping it in half. They ran off as Forge lay at the stick's broken branch. "STICKY NOOOOOO!" He gave the stick a burial (I know right. He even gave it a eulogy.) Then cried all the way home.
He managed to calm himself down before entering. "Hey Mom. Hey Dad." They looked at him and could tell he had been crying. Business Savvy spoke up. "Why were you crying?" Forge said the total and honest truth. Business Savvy facehooved himself. Charisma looked embarrassed but shot Business Savvy a quick glare for facehooving when Forge was obviously distraught. She spoke up. "Sweetheart that stick wasn't your friend. It was just a stick. There are plenty more." Forge starting sobbing. "But it was MY stick!" Business Savvy sighed. "C’mon Forge just colt up. By Celestia crying over a stick...Look we love you but you can't get so overemotional. That’s why those other kids tease you. You bring it on yourself. You understand what I’m saying?" Forge nodded. "Yes sir." And he went upstairs to do his homework and start the day anew tomorrow.
The day after was a weekend. Forge decided to make a quick visit to Sticky's grave. He placed a marker on the grave the day before. Afterwards he went to the market to scrounge for free samples of food. This was an art form to him. A hunt for looking as pathetic as one could possibly look and being extremely polite. He walked along looking at all the stores. This was the shopping center and there was always something to do. It was rather busy on the weekends so he had to be careful he didn't get ran into by busy ponies.
He bobbed and weaved through the traffic and made it to a dessert vendor. Now it was time. He breathed in. Opened his orange eyes a bit wider and looked straight at the salescolt. "Excuse me sir do you give free samples?" The colt had two options. Either let the young colt down gently or give him a cookie. Luck was on Forge's side and he thanked the colt for the cookie and trotted away. He was about to go visit his father and noticed some classmates going down an alley. Now this was random enough to merit a look. Forge crept along as quietly as he could until he reached the end of the alley. It lead to a path of grass on top of a ledge. He couldn't jump high enough to reach. Now the kids before him lifted a pony to the top that then helped the others up as well. Forge on the other hand had to pace back and forth thinking of a way up. "Ok...what to do...How I get up there?" He thought for a while then decided to do it the hard way. He threw himself at the wall several times and kept falling. Forge tried to think of ways to get up the wall...eventually he just kept trying. He threw himself so hard that a bit of the ledge loosened up. Forge kicked at the ledge until the dirt created a slope that he could climb.
He climbed up and took a look around. In front of him he could see a mountainside. That was Cracked Mountain and it was said to be VERY dangerous. Ponies said monsters lived there with big eyes and sharp pointy wings and hooks to carry young ponies off into the night! Forge wondered why anyone would go there. He followed the trail of hoof prints he found and all the while he felt like he was being watched. He would hear a rustle and turn around but no one was there. It was still early in the morning when he set out but it must have been a good hour before he found the other ponies. He hid behind a bush and listened. A green pony he recognized as a boy from his school was arguing with a blue pony. All were classmates. They didn't look very happy. "Oh yeah!? Well I triple pony dare you to climb the Hill of Horror!" "No you do it!" the blue one shot back. It went on like this for a while. "Hey idiot!" A Brown pony grabbed Forge.
"Hey guys come here! I found a trespasser!" They dragged him to a pile of dirt and threw him in. "Why are you spying on the Irisian Slayer Patrol?" Forge looked confused. "What is an Irisian?" The green pony said while bulging his eyes for effect, "Monsters who eat stupid ponies! They go in their houses and snatch them away with their hook tails!" He grabbed Forge and shook him. "That sounds horrible..." Forge said. "Yeah it is." Said the blue one getting in his face. "We protect the town everyday...from the monsters so idiots like you don't get eaten! But since you found out...I guess you have to join us!" The brown pony spoke up. "What! Cmon Slugger! You can't be serious!" But then Slugger whispered something to him then to the green one. They all nodded in agreement of something. "Ok. Forge. You have what it takes to be an Irisian slayer?" Forge nodded. "What? We couldn't hear you." "YES SIR!" Forge yelled in reply. "Ok. You need to pass initiation! Take this stick and slay an Irisian!" Slugger handed him a stick. Forge used his magic to lift it afloat. They all saluted Forge and Forge saluted back. "Now turn around and climb the mountain till you kill an Irisian and bring it here. Good luck." Forge galloped up the hill and the other young colts just laughed and ran away leaving him all alone.
About 30 minutes later of searching Forge couldn't find an Irisian. He turned around and forgot the way down. He started to panic, then pace, and then talks to himself saying everything was ok, and then finally he buried his face in his front legs are started to cry. At about that time he started crying he heard a rustle. He perked up and grabbed his stick. "Who’s there?" He asked shaking out of nervousness. "Just me." Said a voice in the bushes. Forge without thinking lunged at the bush and with an "OW!" popped out a small red sphere about the size of your head. It had a big yellow eye with a black pupil and 4 wings two on each side perfectly aligned. It had a small tail with a small thorn growing out the tip. And it started to...cry? It was crying. Forge doubled checked. Yup. It was crying. Forge felt bad. He sat down beside it, whatever it was, and started to cry too. "I...I’m sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" The thing spoke even though it had no mouth. "Then why did you hit me? I was just saying hello!"
"Because I’m alone and scared and have no friends! And if I slay an Irisian they let me in their club and ill have friends! But I don't wanna slay an Irisian! I don't wanna slay anything!" The creature calmed down. "They don't sound like they wanna be your friends. I wouldn't make someone do something like to be my friend." Forge wiped the tears from his eyes. "Your right. I’m sorry about hitting you." The creature flew above his head. "Meh its okay. I’m sorry for scaring you. So what do they have against Irisians?" Forge explained what HIS perception of an Irisian was. The thing just laughed. His pupil turned into a ^ when he laughed. "WE'D NEVER DO THAT! Dude IM an Irisian." Forge's eyes widened. "You’re an Irisian? You don't act like a monster." "Names Mag. It means Magic." "I’m Forge...I dunno what a Forge is..." Mag bowed. "What are you doing?" Forge asked. Mag replied. "Bowing. You do it when you meet someone new." Forge stared for a sec then awkwardly bowed back.
"I know you...wait...I was sneaking around your town and saw you talking to a stick. Then those ponies broke it and you gave it a burial." Forge looked afraid like he was gonna laugh. "I think the stick was happy. I mean you gave it a name and a burial. It must have been a lonely stick. No friends. No family. At least someone cared about him before he died." Forge nodded. "Y...yeah. He was a nice stick...I liked him. Good ol Sticky."
"I like that." Mag said to him. "It shows you have heart. Who else could have a stick for a friend? Anyway I wouldn't worry about those other ponies. Who needs friends like that? Seriously..."Hey Forge wanna be my friend? All you gotta do is jump on one leg, spin around three times, and commit homicide! Yes those are reasonable conditions!" Meh...hey how long does it take three idiots to screw in a light bulb?" "I dunno." "Neither do I those three are still going at it." Forge laughed. "That’s funny! But you shouldn't make fun of others." Mag looked at him funny. "OoooooKay."
"So...are we friends?" Mag shrugged. "What do you ponies do when you become friends?" Forge pondered and said at last. "We play hide and seek." Mag turned his head slightly. "What’s that?" Forge explained the game and asked Mag if he wanted to play. "Um okay...Ill count." As Mag counted Forge ran frantically. Finally he found a perfect place to hide. "18...19...20! I see you. You’re in the bushes." Forge came out disappointed. "How did you know?" "Your leg was sticking out." Forge facehooved. "Your turn."...."18...19...20." After looking for a bit he found Mag...In the bushes. "It was the last place id look for me." Mag joked. "Are we friends?" Mag nodded. "Sure why not? You seem nice. But don't tell any ponies we hung out. They'll get mad. I actually gotta go. Come back tomorrow ok?" Forge nodded in awe. "How do I get back to my house?" Mag pointed to the way Forge came. "Just follow the trail. Bye Forge." He flew away.
A slow smile grew on Forge's face. He had a friend. A secret friend. This was the first friend he ever had. He galloped home but was confronted by Slugger and his gang. "Hey idiot where’s the Irisian?" Forge remembered what Mag said. "Well...um...there was none." Slugger got in his face. "Well why did you come back?" Forge felt adventurous. "I don't need these jerks. I have a friend. I’m not a failure." He thought to himself. Slugger pushed his face but Forge sidestepped and Slugger fell on himself. Forge just walked away...then ran away when they decided to chase him. He managed to elude them. "Courage is dangerous! I need to take it easy."
Forge spent the rest of the day as normal although a bit more distant. He thought of Mag. He became curious of him. What was he like? What ARE Irisians anyway? Why would ponies get mad at him if he told them about Mag? Tomorrow was Sunday. He had to find some answers. A tingling in his belly would come whenever he thought about it from lunch to bedtime and when he laid in bed that night he could hardly sleep due to excitement. That was the first time Forge made a friend. And he hoped it meant thinks would look up. And when Forge met Mag. They had many more adventures and did many great things. But that’s a tale for another time.
