Perspective shift

Spike

“Having fun?” Spike asked.

“Shut up and help me or I’ll lock you in a room with Sweetie Belle next heat!” Twilight shouted just before she went flying out the window.

“Like you’ll even find me.” Spike mumbled and calmly walked outside where he found Pinkie Pie bouncing with Twilight.

“Wheeee! I told you this was fun Twilight!” Pinkie said as she bounced off the side of the tree and into Twilight who’s mark finally stopped glowing and let her settle.

“Spike, I swear to Celestia if I catch you during next year's heat. I will lock you in the library with every mare in Sweetie Belle’s class.” Twilight fumed.

“What did I do?!” Spike said.

“You DIDN’T help me.” Twilight huffed and looked at the mark. For the next fifteen minutes Twilight’s face went through a plethora of emotions from confusion to rage.

“Uuhhhh… Twilight?” Spike made the mistake of getting close to her, and payed with his left nut.

“I. AM. GOING. TO. KILL. HER.” Twilight said ignoring the drake writhing in pain at having a magic blast aimed at his crotch. She stormed back into the library and furiously wrote down everything she needed to tell the princess.

Twilight looked at the mark on her hand again and sighed. Trixie’s cutie mark was now stamped on her Familiar mark forever. She couldn’t believe that boastful bitch had actually managed to link with him, but there was nothing she could do about it now!

“Whyyy?” Spike wheezed as Pinkie Pie bounced over to him.

“You ok Spike?” She said helping him up.

“Let’s see you take a magic blast from Twilight to your boobs. Then ask me if I’m alright.” Spike deadpanned, the pain still evident in his face.

Celestia paced in her office. Her mother was vouching for the creature, er, Nick? There had to be more to this then she let on. She never did something without a reason. Celestia looked at the clock once more finding that her student should be sending a report any minute now. Normally she would be relaxed, but with a request from her mother, she was nervous beyond belief!! Whenever her mother got involved it was because it involved something that Celestia could NOT handle.

But what could it be? And what did Nick have to do with it? She needed answers and she needed them now. But it was never that easy. The way her mother played things often involved her not knowing every piece of the puzzle until the end. Suddenly a scroll appeared above her and she caught it with her magic. She read over the contents and her smile grew until she looked similar to Twilight during lesson zero.

“Well, looks like it’s time to nab a familiar.” Celestia said and teleported to her sister’s room.

“Aahaaaa!!!!” Luna screamed at her sister teleporting through the protective runes.

“We need to get to ponyville now.” Celestia said before teleporting them away. They arrived to see Spike with an Ice pack on his lap and Twilight pacing while Pinkie Pie had her head halfway through a bucket of ice cream..

“Twilight, we got your letter. How soon can you bring him back?” Celestia said.

“Thee couldn’t have waited until we got dressed?!” Luna said covering her bare chest.

“No time. We need to get him back here as soon as possible.” Celestia said.

“It will take a few days to prepare the spell, but once it’s done I’m going to need one of you to supply a lot of magic. The spell will take up more the further away he is, and since we have no idea where he is, we need to be prepared.” Twilight said.

“Then until then Luna, I need you to stay here with Twilight while I get everything ready. We cannot take any risks.” Celestia said before teleporting away.

“Why is it every time something like this happens she has to leave me somewhere topless.” Luna said as her eye twitched.

THUD

Luna and Twilight looked over to see a young brown stallion with a brownish orange mane passed out on the floor next to the door with a puddle of blood next to his head coming from his nose.

“Welp, looks like button mash is going to have some good dreams tonight.” Spike chuckled.

Nick sat on the top of Trixies cart as they looked over the damages. The entire smithy was destroyed. Thankfully most of Iron’s photos had survived the fire thanks to some fireproofing runes, but little else that wasn’t metal survived. Nick found his sword Iron had made him under some rubble untouched by the fire. Currently they were surveying what was salvageable and contemplating on what they should do with it.

The Smithy was little more than rubble and ash now. Trixie reluctantly suggested they collect what they could and sell it. Iron wasn’t fond of the idea, but knew there was little point in holding on to something that wasn’t there. The house had belonged to their family for generations, but now it was destroyed beyond repair.

“I know you don’t want to, but the whole reason we kept it was because of it’s value to the family. You don’t have to sell it to Steel, the duke of Kevil would give you a decent amount for it.” Nick said to Iron who stared at the pile of rubble that had been his home his entire life.

“We could rebuild it.” Trixie suggested.

“There are several problems with that, number one we don’t have the funds to do so, and even if we did, whoever did this will do it again.” Iron scowled at the rubble. There was more than this then they knew. There had to be. He had only drank three glasses of wine, not anywhere near his limit.

The forge and Fire place had several runes in place so that even if he did leave them unattended, they would never be a fire hazard. Whoever did this knew what they were doing to. No matter how many tests they did, they could not find anything in his blood that would suggest he had been poisoned which lead him to the conclusion that whoever did this had either been a very skilled potions master that made one that was untraceable, or a magic user that had used a sleep spell.

It was abundantly clear who had done this. His birthday was little more than a week a week away and nicks skills in combat had improved tremendously. Steel Hands would be hard pressed to defeat him so he likely hired someone to do his dirty work for him. He was to young to select a champion, and until Iron officially claimed Nick as his champion at Steel’s challenge, the only heir he possessed was his son.

If Iron were to die with his son banished before Nick defeated Steel in the Arena his property would be up for grabs. Steel had been persistent on trying to buy the smithy for years. He tried the courts, but Iron’s former military rank made any judges or lawyers think twice about accepting bribes. It was an unspoken law that you do not under any circumstances be dishonorable to someone who had obtained such a high rank, as they were considered nobles themselves. Many of them were nobles, but nobility was a choice for them, one that Iron had turned down.

Steel had tried threatening him, but that was met with a quick kick to the balls and many many crippled assassins. He had tried vast offers of wealth just for his smithy, but every time Iron turned him down. The last ditch effort was that he couldn’t select a champion with his son gone, but that went out the window when Nick showed up.

So he burned down the smithy hoping Iron would go down with it. Iron had looked over every inch of the place, but no matter where he looked, there was nothing that he could use to link it to Steel. Whoever had done this was good, too good.

Thankfully Iron had survived the fire and could choose what happened to what was left. He could rebuild, but not only would that take months and a lot of gold, but the longer they stayed in the city the longer the assassin had to finish the job or try burning the place down again. He had gotten lucky with Nick pulling him out of the fire, and he would never forgive himself if Trixie had died in the fire. He needed to play this safe.

“Why is he so damn bent on getting his hands on the smithy?” Nick said deep in thought.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked.

“Think about it, this is just an average smithy, the only reason it produces such high quality gear is because of Iron. Without him it’s little more than a house with a small smithy attached. It isn’t a matter of money, there are many other ways to make money aside from a smithy, and he could build a much larger one that produced lower quality gear, but in much higher quantity.” Nick said.

“It’s not the smithy, but what lies beneath it.” Iron said simply.

“Huh?” Nick and Trixie said in unison.

“Iron house is one of the oldest houses in Minotauria. The founder of our clan was one of the original sentinels of the labyrinth and possessed one of the fragments of Gaia.” Iron said.

“Can someone please fill me in on what Gaia is?” Nick asked.

“Gaia was originally lord gold horns hammar that he used to forge the earth. When he finished Gaia was barely able to hold together. He no longer had need of it as his task in our world's creation was done, and the power of the hamar could be used to shatter the earth if it ever fell into the wrong hands. So he broke it into seven fragments, that were forged into weapons given to himself, and six sentinels to protect the labyrinth” Trixie explained.

“I love it when you get nerdy on me.” Nick said making her blush.

“In any event, the fragment that was given to my ancestor has been protected by our family ever since. Roughly two thousand years ago it was moved here, specifically deep beneath the house.” Iron said.

“So that’s it. Steel Hands must want it. But why exactly? Aside from it being a powerful weapon what could he achieve with it.” Nick said.

“If he managed to get his hands on one, nothing. At first. If he were to tell anyone he had obtained one they would go straight to the duke or lord Golden Horn himself. It would be less than a week before he was arrested and the fragment returned to me.” Iron said.

“So then why would he try to take it if it would be returned to you?” Nick asked.

“The fragments combined make one of three weapons that even the pantheon fears.” Iron said darkly, “should he somehow obtain six of the seven fragments he could easily make a weapon that could slay lord Golden Horn.”

“And if he obtained all seven?” Nick asked.

“Then it would take a miracle to stop him. The other two, the silver tempest and golden inferno were also fragmented in fear of their power. The only way to stop him if he obtained one of the three, would be with another of the three, and they have all been hidden away.” Iron answered.

“Than we need to check if it’s still there!” Nick said.

“No need. He would only have found a fake.” Iron said.

”What do you mean? I thought you said it was under the house.” Trixie said confused.

“It used to be, but after his little visit earlier this year I moved it.” Iron said.

“Where did you move it?” Nick asked.

“Somewhere safe.” Iron smirked.

“Not gonna say are you.” Trixes said. It was more of a statement than a question.

Steel Hands threw another vase at the wall causing the mare in the corner to whimper in fear. He was so close! He had obtained three of the fragments and had been so close to obtaining the forth! But what does his top assassin bring him? A FAKE! Oh don’t get him wrong, he could easily see how he had made the mistake. It was a perfect replica, and was in the exact location that Steel had said it was, but a fake was still a fake!

“I’m sorry my lord, I thought it was the real thing!” The assassin said cowering at Steel’s rage.

“I’m sorry isn’t good enough! This was more than just a fragment of Gaia. it was one of the three trinity weapons possessing a fragment of all three divine weapons!” Steel said and tossed the sword at his assassin.

“I swear I will find it!” The assassin said after dodging the sword.

“You fool! Do you have any idea how hard it will be to find it now? By now that miserable old oaf Iron Fist will have moved it!” Steel shouted.

“And I will find it no matter where he has moved it. I just need time.” The assassin said.

“You better, because if I don’t have it then everything we have worked for for the past twenty years will be for nothing!” Steel seethed grabbing the assassin’s shirt, “If I don’t have it by next year you can kiss any chance of ever seeing that little bitch of yours ever again.” He said before tossing the assassin aside and the mare onto his bed.

“At once my lord.” The assassin said before leaving.

“Now then, how high of a chance do you think you're son has of surviving his heart transplant?” Steel Hands said leering at the nude mare as she looked down in shame before raising his tail for him. She let her tears flow as he penetrated her.

“Sorry, but the fewer that know it’s location the better. Golden Horn only knows what would happen if it were to fall in the wrong hands.” Iron said before gripping the wheels of his wheelchair.

"I think it’s about time we fixed up your legs old man.” Nick said.

“Finally! Do you have any idea how hard it is to climb stairs without legs?!” Iron said pumping a fist into the air.

“I’m back..” Silk said before diving behind Iron when Nick glared at her.

“When are you going to let up on the poor girl? She just wants some love.” Iron sighed.

“I’m not big on forgiving rapists.” Nick said.

“I’m sorry, I just could help it.” Silk whimpered.

“I don’t care what you couldn’t help, what you tried to do is unforgivable.” Nick sneered before walking away.

“Just give him time, I’m sure everything will work out.” Trixie said to the depressed mare.

“Thanks.” Silk said giving her friend a hug.

“Don’t worry Silk, He’ll come around eventually.” Iron said before following to where Nick walked off to. He didn’t go far, only on the other side of the Smithy.

“Why?” Nick asked ambiguously.

“Why what?” Iron asked slightly confused.

“Why did you lie to me? Why did you trick me into gettinng close to that rapist?” Nick asked.

“That mare needs someone, and I don’t just mean in an emotional way. She's a changeling. Her kind literally eats emotional energy. Without someone to love her she has to survive on what her hive collects. She barely gets by on what she makes with her boutique and has not found any who she wanted as a mate. She is still the same mare as Nimble Fingers, just less furry.” Iron said. Nick sighed and gave his words some thought before speaking.

“I don’t know. I won’t make any promises, but I’ll try to give her a second chance.” Nick said.

“Thank you Nick. Now then! Let's get to getting my legs back shall we?” Iron clapped.

“Sure thing, remember this will hurt like a bitch.” Nick said.

“Oh it wasn’t that bad.” Iron chuckled. Nick channeled the magic he was able to build up and focused on the lumps of flesh attached to Iron’s stumps. They slowly reshaped until they were no different than Iron’s old legs. Nick kept the nerves disconnected until they were finished. The next part was the part that hurt, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as his torso and arms, but reconnecting the nerves sent a rather large bolt of pain through him.

“Well, that should do it, and I’m drained of most of my magic now.” Nick said rubbing the magic burn on his hands while healing it with the stone.

“So what is up with your hands exactly?” Iron asked as he tested out his new legs happy to finally walk around on his own.

“It’s magic burn. I don’t have any natural magic focusers like a unicorn’s horn, so the magic travels directly through my flesh. Normally the burn would be far less at this level of magic, if any. But with this damned familiar mark it makes creating and using magic difficult. I haven't had burns this bad in two years.” Nick said.

“Why don’t you just do that whole DNA thing you do and grow a horn?” Iron asked.

“The only ones that I know that have the appropriate DNA are Trixie and Silk. and I’m not sure if Trixie would be ok with the idea.” Nick said.

“What about silk?” Iron asked.

“No, her magic is too different from mine and would conflict with it too much. The DNA from your world is slightly different from mine. It seems to have an extra bit that produces it’s own form of magic. I’ve studied a few different samples to see what the effects are.” Nick said.

“Really? How so?” Trixie said walking around the corner.

“How long have you been listening?” Nick asked raising a brow.

"Just long enough to hear you could absorb DNA…” Trixie said sheepishly. There was a noise that sounded like a squeaky toy that Nick heard.

“Did anyone else hear that?” Nick asked looking around.

“Hear what?” Iron asked confused.

“....Never mind. Anyway yes, I can absorb DNA and when I do, I can use it to modify myself.” Nick said.

“So how different is DNA here then from your old world?” Trixie asked.

“Well, unlike the DNA from my world, the DNA from this world has an extra component that generates magic specific to each species. The only race I have found so far that have nearly identical magic types are ponies, though most mammals seem to have similar types of magic. My magic seems to be somewhere in between a mammals magic and a reptiles.” Nick said.

“So it’s similar to a Kirin?” Iron asked.

“Exactly! I could utilize magic belonging to a pony or even maybe a dragon as it would easily meld with my own. However Silk’s magic is neither that of a mammal or a reptile. If I were to use her DNA then her type of magic would conflict far too much with my own, like trying to mix water and oil. Having a source of magic like that would strain my body too much as both magics would be fighting for space.” Nick explained.

“So you could grow a horn like a unicorn?” Trixie asked fascinated at the possibilities this presented.

“Err, horns. I’d like to keep things symmetrical.” Nick said.

“What do you mean? My horn is completely symmetrical.” Trixie said.

“True, but I have a specific design in mind.” Nick said.

“What kind of design?” Trixie asked.

"Two horns coming out of either side of my head and pointed forward.” Nick said.

“That might work, so long as they focus into a tip and have a base as big as the base on my horn.” Trixie said.

“I just need the DNA to do it.” Nick said.

“Could you just use mine?” Trixie asked.

“I could, are you offering?” Nick asked.

“Sure, what do you need me to do?” Trixie asked.

“I just need a blood sample.” Nick said.

“Does it have to be blood?” Trixie squeaked.

"It could be a small chunk of horn if you want.” Nick said.

"I think I’ll just go with the blood.” Trixie said going slightly pale at option two. She felt like this could be an extremely intimate process, having a part of her become a part of him.

“Umm, this wouldn’t make us related would it?” Trixie asked.

"Not at all. When I collect DNA I store it in several different parts of me and as far away from my balls as possible if that’s what you're asking.” Nick said getting a sigh of relief from the mare.

“You don’t have to do this you know. It’s completely voluntary.” Nick said looking at the slightly paled mare.

“I know, just not a fan of… blood.” Trixie gulped.

"Don’t worry Trixie, I know a spell that will make it painless and quick.” Nick said.

"Just, be careful.” Trixie said and presented her arm to him. A quick numbing spell and a little body manipulation to grow a small mosquito proboscis on the tip of his finger to draw just a little blood before healing the miniscule wound.

"Just get it over with already!” Trixie said with her eyes clenched tight and looking away. Nick said nothing and let go of the still numb part and took several silent steps back and waited for about three minutes before trixie opened her eyes.

"It’s amazing just how much fear a mosquito bite can cause.” Nick chuckled at the Trixie’s pout.

“Not funny.” She grumbled.

"Hey where are you going Iron?” Nick asked as Iron chuckled and started walking away.

I’m headed to the castle. The longer we stay here the higher the chances of someone trying to get the fragment again. I’ll see you two love birds later.” Iron said and walked towards the castle.