There was a banging at the front door. I heard Ebony get up and drag himself through the bedroom, past the kitchen and up to the door.

I groaned, squeezed my eyes shut and turned over, pulling most of the sheets with me as I tried to get back to sleep.

"Yes?" Ebony yawned, sounding almost impatient. That guy was almost unrecognizable in the early hours, he was not a morning person.

"Delivery. From the princess." A stallion said in a skeptical voice, I guessed that he was either a guard or one of those servant-like guys.

Upon hearing what he said; I sat up in my bed and glared in his general direction, despite there being no one in the room to see it. "Which one?" I yelled through the closed bedroom door, irritated. "There's two, you know!" I hated it when they use the term 'the princess'.

There was a short silence, I assume Ebony and him shared an awkward glance.

"Celestia..." The guy said slowly. I heard a little shuffling and the door played on its hinges, swaying to and fro for a couple of seconds

After the door had closed, Ebony said "T- thank you!" through it. The stallion probably didn't even hear him. After another couple of seconds, Ebony opened the bedroom door a little and stuck his head through the crack horizontally... somehow. He would have had to distort and/or balance his body in a very strange way to do that. This immediately tipped me off that 'cartoon mode', as I had come to call it, was active right then.

And knowing that basically anything could happen made me a little nervous, since the laws of physics and logic were momentarily disabled.

"You want to come see what we got? It's a pretty big box." Ebony said excitedly.

I rolled my eyes and clambered out of bed. Now I know how my parents must have felt on Christmas. "Any idea what it is?" I asked as I upgraded myself from 'barely presentable' to 'kinda presentable' with the addition of a shirt, which was the only thing I had taken off before sleeping. I could put fresh clothes on later. The ones I had on were a little torn here and there, but they were reasonably clean.

Ebony's head retracted into the room as I got to the door.

On the floor in front of the front door was a box sealed with tape. It was just over the size of a regular shoe-box. Ebony was sat next to it, glancing between me and the box like a dog expecting a meal.

"Ebony..." I said, looking at the box. "I think your definition of 'pretty big' differs from mine." Well, it did make sense for him to think that way, since he was only a little over half my height.

Ebony shrugged slightly, finally looking at me for more than a second. "Well... It's free so..."

"Damn right. Free stuff is the best kind of stuff." I said, kneeling in front of the box. Ebony scooted up next to me, staring intently at the box. I pried at the tape with my fingers, but to no avail. Where's a key when you need one... I looked to Ebony and got an idea. "Hey, Eb, could I borrow your mouth for a second?"

He blinked a for a couple of seconds. I figured he wouldn't mind, so I grabbed his nose and pushed it down to the box. Ebony finally realized what I meant and put on the most unimpressed face I had seen in a very long time... as I used this fangs like a letter-opener, tearing the tape lining the box. They made easy work of the tape and some of the cardboard I accidentally hit.

Once the box was amply cut, I released his nose. He quickly sat back up and attempted to clean the, probably horrible, feeling from his teeth with a series of futile mouth movements. He looked like a horse with peanut butter on the roof of its mouth.

Ignoring his adorable convulsions, I opened the top of the box.

Ebony gave up trying to clean his teeth and peered into the box with me, his excited expression returning.

Inside the box was an ornate wooden box, similar to a jewelry box. It took up most of the space inside the cardboard box. There was also a very thick letter... a very drab, boring, off-white enveloped letter.

"I call the box!" I yelled as I pulled the wooden box out, setting it on my lap as I shifted into a sitting position. Ebony slowly turned to me. A stoic expression on his face. "What?" I asked in mock-concern. He glanced to the box, then to the floor in front of him. I rolled my eyes, "Fiiine, you can have box. I'll take this boring-ass letter." I said as I slid the smaller box to him and took the letter from the bottom of the cardboard box.

The letter was very heavy for its size.

I ignored whatever Ebony was doing with the box and opened the letter, hoping that whatever was in it was better than what Ebony had in the box. I gently poured the letter's contents onto the floor.

There was a lot of paper.

A lot.

Luckily, before I could groan about 'nonsensical paperwork' I noticed a small note that had placed itself all-to-perfectly on top of the pile of paper.

It read:

"Dear Dan (And Ebony)

"I write this as I cannot be with you right now, me and my sister are very busy sorting out the preparations for our defenses. (By the way, the changelings are now due to arrive in just over 24 hours, so be ready and rested by then).

"Included inside this envelope are two Armory Permits, one addressed to Dan, one to Ebony. Take those to the armory to exchange them for access to a small amount of armor and weapons, if you need them. Ebony, I have heard from Lance Corporal Flame about some armor that you two discussed last night, that set has already been made, and is waiting for you at the armory. Just show them the permit, they'll direct you to it.

"As for Dan, since you already have two weapons and we are short on supplies as it is, you will not be supplied with any additional weaponry. But, also included inside this letter is a document, representing a small portion of the country's wealth. Give it to any of the armory staff and they will be able to create you some custom-fit armor, since we do not have any that would fit your requirements." Something tells me there was a pause there. "I won't bother trying to suggest anything to you, since you'd likely go against my judgement just to spite me. But, seriously, get some armor that's functional. Don't just get the one that looks coo-"

My eyes began to drift shut in boredom due to the new topic. Shut up Celestia, you can't tell me what to do... I skipped down the page slightly.

"-was made! Now, as to the rest of this envelopes contents; other than the two permits and Dan's armor funding, there is a large amount of paperwork that, to put it simply, makes it legal for Dan to carry around those daggers of his. Keep those papers somewhere, they'll be useful if Dan gets in any more trouble. Which he won't. Right D-"

I sighed and moved my eyes down the page again.

"-skipping through my carefully written advice, I know you. Either way, be careful out there. - Princess Your friend Celestia. Ps; On second thought, don't bother with your Armory Permit Dan, they won't let you have weapons since you already have some, and none of the armor would fit you. Try giving it to Ebony, maybe he can get a little extra if he gives them both."

I sighed as I placed the letter into my journal and slid the two permits along the ground, towards Ebony. "These are both for you Ebony." I said, standing with the paperwork in hand, leaving Celestia's cheque on the floor. I quickly placed the paperwork on my pillow in the bedroom, so I wouldn't forget to put those somewhere.

When I walked back in, I noticed the permits were still where I had left them. I looked to Ebony to ask him something and found him frozen, a look of wonder on his face as he stared into the, now open, wooden box. Instead of making an inquiry, I slowly walked around behind him to take a look for myself.

Once I was peering down at the contents of the box, I completely understood his expression.

There were my knives, sitting in the box, on a blue velvet lining molded to fit them perfectly, small dents were placed on the box's interior allowing access to the handles. The blades were ornately placed, curves inter-locking, and facing in opposite directions. The blades themselves seemed to have a slightly different hue to them and must have been cleaned and sharpened to perfection, they were like mirrors.

Inside the roof of the box was a blank metal plaque with a small note taped to it. "(Whatever you want to call them here.)" It read.

Ebony shut his gaping mouth and composed himself. "You know what she did right?" He asked, turning around to look at me, his voice quiet and shocked.

I shook my head. "Not really. They look a little different... definitely cleaner."

Ebony turned back to the box and placed a hoof on one of its edges. He slowly applied and removed pressure, rocking the box back and forth. "Look." He said, nodding towards the blades. As the light danced over the polished metal it became highlighted with faint bands of color, mainly consisting of pink, blue and yellow hues. The effect was similar to that of spilled oil or a very complicated pearlescent paint-job. The effect was particularly intense around the sharp edge of each blade. "That's a crystal coating right there." He said with a hint of excitement.

I stared, somewhat mesmerized by the patterns and colors being projected. "What... what does that mean?" I asked.

Ebony turned to me, a slightly surprised look on his face. "A crystal coating?" He asked. I nodded. "It's a thin layer of crystal that protects the blade from damage. I heard about them while in the guard... looks like she crystal tipped them too..." He sighed enviously. "Those things are going to be..."

"Hella-sharp?" I asked, finishing off his sentence. He nodded. "Awesome." I said as I knelt next to him and tore the note from the roof of the wooden box, before closing it. "Dawn's gunna be all-over these..." I mumbled as I picked up the box and set it on the table between the sofas.

Ebony picked up the papers I had left on the ground with his magic. He mumbled to himself. "Huh... armor and weapon permit... armor and weapon permit... cheque for five-" Ebony's eyes widened as the amount of air in his lungs tripled. The papers began fluttering down towards the ground before he regained his concentration and caught them. He read over the cheque a couple of times, as if to make sure what he was reading was real. "Dan... this is... this is..."

I walked over and peered down at the page. It was formatted in a very strange way, a lot more convoluted than any of the cheques I had ever seen while on Earth. It took up an entire page. Eventually, my eyes landed on a number.

While I wasn't as surprised as he must have been, I certainly got a figurative nosebleed from seeing that many consecutive zeroes in one place.

"Fifty thousand... Fifty thousand bits..." I said under my breath before looking down to Ebony, who craned his head back to look up at me. "As far as I know, bits are pretty valuable... But... What's that worth? Fifty thousand?" I asked. We were both in a state of mild shock.

He looked to the ground in thought. "...With fifty thousand you could... You could buy a high-end house up here in Canterlot. And I mean buy. You'd be able to pay of the entire mortgage immediately."

I blinked, impressed, then slouched slightly. "Celestia'll probably force me to spend it all on the armor." I thought for a second as I leant down and took the cheque out of Ebony's magical grasp. "Actually, I'm spending it all on the armor even if she lets me keep it. There is no way in hell I'm getting some shabby armor."

Ebony nodded. "Yes... I've always heard that protection is key... And I don't want you to get hurt, Dan." He said as he stood, picking up and crushing the cardboard box with his magic. The cardboard floated next to him as he walked over to the front door, brushing against my leg as he walked. I could tell he did it on purpose. Probably some sort of body-language thing I don't know about... Still need to find out what ear-flicks are...

He leaned the bunch of cardboard against the wall nearest the front door. Before picking up the two armor and weapon permits from across the room with his magic. "You trying to use your magic more, huh?" I asked, noticing he'd been using it almost all morning.

He nodded as he placed some saddlebags over his back. He must have conjured them from wherever things come from during cartoon-mode. I didn't ask where they came from, I didn't want to tear the universe apart or anything. "Yeah, kinda. I don't want to mess up any spells when it really matters..." He placed the permits in one of the bags before looking to the door and pushing it open, he remained in the doorway for a second. "I'm going to give in these permits now, so I have time to practice with whatever I get." His voice was slightly pained, he didn't like leaving me. He never did.

We shared a wave as he walked out of the room.

I looked down to the cheque in my hand, sighed and tossed it over to the table the knife-box was on. It fluttered in the air and floated back towards me, landing at my feet. I rolled my eyes and walked away, into the kitchen area.

I made myself a quick breakfast, avoiding some of the food that was from Hearths Warming, I was fairly certain most of it was either stale or down-right rotten.

After a couple of minutes, and pancakes, I picked up the cheque and began making my way to the armory. Wherever that was.

Luckily, along my aimless wanderings, I saw a hurried-looking guard making his way down the halls.

"Hey! Hey guard dude!" I called as I caught up to him. He slowed his canter to a brisk trot so I could walk alongside him. "You know where the armory is?" I asked, making sure to check that his eyes were normal. Luckily, they were.

He gave me a glance and smiled. "As it turns out, I was just heading there now." He said in a voice as low and manly as his armor was polished. Which was to say; very. "I remember you, by the way. You had a little meeting with Luna and her sister a couple months back."

I nodded, finding it only slightly difficult to keep up with his pace. "Yep, that's me. But... 'her sister'? That's unbecoming of a royal guard, let alone one of the day ones." I said, in a slightly sarcastic manner.

He looked down to his armor and sighed, before looking back up to where he was going. "I used to be a night guard. But I got booted. So now I have the same job, but with the day guards. It's... not the same. But it's still what I love doing. And most of all; it pays."

I gave an understanding shrug to his logic. I remember searching for jobs, so I remember that, by the end of it, you don't care what job you get, you just need the money. "Wait, you were kicked out of the night guard? Why?" I asked after reviewing his words for a second.

He became a little uncomfortable. "I got caught making..." He cleared his throat, then said in a hushed tone. "...transactions. Substance transactions."

I blinked. "Wait... Are you talking about drugs?"

Oh man, if a glare could kill... "Keep yer voice down!" He hushed. "Don't need the whole palace knowing. And yes, of course I meant drugs. What else could I have been talking about?" He sighed. "I just wanted a little extra money is all."

I shrugged. "I didn't even know they existed here. So what are we talking? E? Coke? Heroine?" I tried to act like I had experience, mainly for sarcasm's sake. The key words being 'act' and 'tried'.

He stared at me for a good couple seconds before saying, "I have literally no idea what you're on about. All I sold was some 'erbs I found growin' in a forest. They're still there I think, but if I want to keep my job this time, I'd better not go back. What were those names you listed? I've never heard of those ones."

"Ach." I groaned dramatically. "This world's got none of the fun stuff. Well, at least it has good old-fashioned grass, by the sounds of it anyway."

As we approached a hallway teeming with guards, which I presumed was the armory since they were hauling everything from money to hunks of metal from room to room, I only had one question on my brain. How much weed could I get for fifty thousand bits?

Unfortunately, the responsible, no fun allowed, side of my brain suppressed these thoughts as I said my goodbyes to the guard, who headed into the bustle of other guards, where I lost sight of him immediately. I wonder how they tell each other apart.

I walked down the hallway, looking into each of the side rooms until I found a room with armor lining the walls. There was a short line of guards infront of a desk, which had another guard behind it. Having all these guards in one place was getting confusing. After only about a minute the line had diminished and I was next up.

The guard gave me a strange look. "Armour and/or weapon permit please." He said robotically.

I looked down at my cheque. "Oh, I've got a cheque for some custom armor?" I said, unsure as to what to say.

The guard groaned slightly. But his tone was caring. "Yeah, you're in the wrong place. You want the forgery, that's five doors down." He said, pointing to the door then to the right. "They'll get you your armor."

I gave him a swift nod. "Sweet. Thanks dude."

He gave a sluggish lift of a hoof. "No problem... dude." He said, unsure. I forget I completely out-rank these guys, I was probably terrifying them behind their tough exteriors.

I walked down the hallway a little further, and sure enough, there was a room with a cast-iron door. Luckily, it was slightly ajar, so I didn't have to break my hand trying to knock on that thing.

I pushed the heavy door open as a blast of dry, hot air greeted me on the other side. The room was large and filled with metal tools and objects I could not even recognize. The whole place danced with shadows in the orange glow of the fire in the center of the room. It was contained with a ring of stone, and had many metal rods half submerged in the glowing mixture of embers and ash. A pony wearing a thick apron and an iron mask stood behind an anvil, hammering a plate of glowing-hot metal into shape with what looked like a very thick, weighted horse-shoe. A good substitute to an actual hammer, since handles must be rather hard to use without... well, they're called handles for a reason.

He swung his hoof down onto the metal in time with a piece of music being played by the gramophone-looking device in the corner of the room. It sounded like poetry being read out over an orchestral backing, there were no drums in the song, so the fact he was able to keep a rhythm with his hoof was actually quite impressive.

He didn't seem to notice me come in, so I just watched him work for a bit, appreciating the fact that behind the spotless exterior of the palace and Canterlot itself, there are still places like this. Gritty. Functional.

After a couple of minutes, the pony lifted the partially cooled metal from the anvil with a pair of blacksmith tongs that he held in his mouth. He then used them to dunk the hunk of metal into a small pool of water that was hidden from my vision by the anvil. Steam rose and hissing chimed as he held it in place for a while. Once he was satisfied, he lifted the metal out and walked over to a large workbench, it was covered in many other pieces of metal that looked similar in design to the one he had just made. He placed the metal plate onto the desk and shuffled it next to another piece, only then did I realize what was being made. The two pieces of metal next to each other formed two halves of what looked like a guard helmet, only without the shine and glamour. Looks like they're finally making their armor more functional.

He walked back over to his anvil and rested his top half on it, his front hooves draping over the edge. He made a flicking motion with his neck and his mask snapped back to the top of his head, revealing...

...another guard.

He wiped a trail of sweat from his brow as he rested on the warm metal. he noticed me mid-wipe, but didn't falter. He just smiled, remaining on his anvil. "Weren't you just with me a minute ago? In the hallways?"

I blinked. Looking him over. He looked just like every day guard did. I didn't get a look at the stallion's cutie-mark in the hallway due to his armor, and I couldn't see his due to his apron. "Sorry man, you all look the same to me." I paused. "I talked to you about heroine and sequencing right?"

He bared his teeth in a grin. "I remember you saying hero... whatever. But sequencing? You're just making sure I don't just say yes to whatever you say aren't you?"

I snorted. "You got me." I said as I walked up closer to the anvil. "So... you work in blacksmithing?"

He nodded proudly. "Yep. 's-my talent." He said, lifting his apron from one of his flanks with a hoof. His cutie-mark was a silhouette of a crane lifting a grey block which I assumed was meant to represent iron. I already liked this guy, even his cutie-mark promoted practicality over looks. "My name's Midnight, by the way. Midnight Ember." He held out his hoof towards me. Wow, he really is meant to be a night-guard, judging by that name, guess fate screwed him.

"Mine's Dan." I said, grabbing his hoof and shaking it firmly. "I'd love to keep talking, but I have a thingy I need you to do for me."

He tilted his head curiously as I let go of his hoof. His hoof returned to the anvil. "What do you need?"

I handed the cheque to him. "Here, I need you to make me some armor."

He widened his eyes and whistled upon reading the cheque. "A cheque from Celestia herself... Darn, aren't you a lucky one. What kind of armor we talking here?" He asked in a buisness-like manner, tucking the cheque into one of his apron's pockets.

I clapped my hands together slightly. "I need armor. Light armor. Something that won't hinder my mobility, but will protect me from spells and all that crap. I don't much care for physical protection, I can take a few knocks. Focus on making it light, mobile and spell-resistant. Wait... spell resistance is a thing right?" I asked, looking back down to Midnight to find he had produced a small piece of fabric.

"This," He said, holding the tightly woven cloth up to me, "Is an example of a magically resistant material. It's magically charged to the brim of its capacity, meaning no other magic can get in. Which basically means it can deflect most spells, but if an area is struck repetitively, or for an extended period, the effects will slowly wear off. It's light and fairly comfortable, but it is just fabric, a butter knife could cut this into ribbons."

I took the small piece of cloth. It was very soft, very fine. "So, what do you plan to do?" I asked, not getting where he was headed with his point.

He grimaced slightly. "I'm... not sure. That material is very expensive. And I mean very expensive. To add any physical protection to that fabric would be near to impossible without building an armor that has multiple layers."

I shrugged. "I'm okay with it taking twelve hours to put on, as long as it keeps me alive."

He nodded. "Okay, say we coat you in the stuff, then put a traditional armor over the top. How's that sound?"

"Yeah, sounds pretty sweet." I said.

"But there is also a problem with that too. You want a light armor." He looked around the room full of cast iron. "What do you suggest I make it out of?"

The words leapt from my mouth before I could think about what I was saying. "Leather?"

His eyes widened slightly. "Well...it's...possible..." He said slowly, visibly uncomfortable. Tensing his body against his anvil.

I put up my hands in an apologetic motion. "Sorry, sorry!" I pointed to myself. "From a different world, you know? Things were a little...well, different there." I said awkwardly. He seemed slightly relieved, but remained a little shocked.

He waved a hoof slightly. "No, no... It's fine. I've worked with... leather before. Just not to this scale."

Just not to this scale...

this scale...

scale...

A thought struck me. "Hey, what about scales?"

He tilted his head slightly. "Scale what?"

"Scale armor. Like... dragon scales or something."

He gave me a look that gave Ebony's look of disappointment that morning a run for its money. "No."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Leather it is."

"I draw the line at dragon-skin." He said. "I am sorry, but that stuff? No-pony's ever even touched the stuff, in terms of blacksmithing. That stuff's mad-powerful. Magic and all that, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah, magic's scary as hell." I thought for a second. "So... will you need to know how my body works or anything to make this armor?"

"Nope." He said, shaking his head. "Luna sent me X-rays plus your measurements just before you came in."

"Well," I said, freezing slightly. "That's not creepy at all." I made my way to the door. "Look. Spend all of that money. I don't care how, as long as it's on the armor. Remember this has got to be done by tomorrow. So er... you know... go fast." I said, pointing at him.

He gave a mock-salute. Thought for a second. Then gave a real salute as I left the room.

I pushed my way through the mass of guards still bustling outside in the hallway and made my way to my room.

I was met with a very spiky hug as I entered the room.

I looked down and found that Ebony had gotten back before I did. And he had some new things. Namely, the incredibly painful armor being pressed into my stomach. "Ebony. Armor. Armor." I wheezed as I pried him off of me, he let go once he realized he was practically stabbing me.

His armor reminded me of Viss. It had many small metal plates that overlapped, allowing him to move underneath them with relative ease. What had annoyed me about them however, was the fact that at the front of each section, there was a small spike, making each metal plate into a 'V' shape, and not very nice to be hugged by. His helmet was cute though, it was terrifying, but placed on Ebony... it was like seeing a marshmallow wielding a battleaxe. All of the metal that was now covering most of his body, excluding the back of his legs, was a very specific hue of dark, low saturation green-blue, making each plate look like an actual part of his body from a distance. There were small red bands around each of his hooves, on the lowest part of the armor. I assumed this was to make sure no-one mistook him for an enemy.

"Look what I got!" He said in excitement, holding out a leg and bending it, showing how the metal simply shifted to fit his new shape.

I snorted. "You look like a miniature Viss."

He stared at me, then quickly looked to the floor. "T-thanks."

He's acting strange. First the rubbing up against me thing, now this embarrassment... I need Cadence.

"You get anything else?" I asked, attempting to change the subject.

He snapped to attention, a grin forming on his face. "Look." He said lifting a hoof, and showing me its base. It had a small metal plate covering the whole thing.

"Oookay?"

He rolled his eyes. "Throw something at me" He said, keeping his hoof in the air.

I shrugged and threw the first thing that was within reach, which was what remained of the cardboard box still leaning by the doorway I was standing in. As the cardboard made contact with his hoof, a very bass-y thud vibrated the room as the cardboard flew back at me, luckily missing and hitting the door behind me.

"What the hell?" I asked as he lowered his hoof back to the floor.

He smirked. "They increase any impacts force by hundreds of times. So I could probably kick my way through solid rock if I wanted to. They are standard issue, so every guard has at least one. But I have four." He said, shuffling about on his hooves.

"Don't forget about your magic." I said, pointing to his horn.

He shrugged. "Just the regular laser spell. Nothing special."

"Huh, nothing better you could learn?" I asked.

He shook his head sadly. "No... not in the available time-frame anyway." He looked back up to me and his eyes lit up, as if remembering something. "Oh, and Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"I saw Steve, Dawn, Chrome, Feath-"

I put up my hands, stopping him. "Okay, okay I get it, you saw everyone."

Ebony nodded happily. "Yeah, they are all ready too. You should have seen the Viss and the princesses."

"Celestia and Luna are in armor?!" He nodded. "Oh my god... I bet that was badass."

"Yeah, you should have seen the others, they wer-"

"Wait." I said, cutting him off again. "Did you say Chrome?"

He blinked, looking slightly concerned. "Yeah? I saw him with the others."

"Hm. He must be trained in medical stuff or something. All the civilians should be gone by now."

There was a small pause.

"So..." Ebony said. "What now? Now that we're basically ready?"

I smiled. "How about you get that armor off and you can show me how you've been doing on that guitar of yours?"

Ebony mirrored my expression. "I'd like that."

FYI: The next chapter is going to be a monster. Like, it's going to take a while.

I'm trying to be a little more bulky on the descriptive side of things, let me know if you like it.

Sorry about the long wait guys, I have a lot on my plate right now.