It was late at night, and the Carne Den was closed. Everything was put away and cleaned up, and nearly everyone had gone home. The only one who hadn’t left was Gilda, and I was sitting with her at the bar. “So, got something on your mind, Gilda?” I asked her over a glass of apple juice.

“Yeah” she said. “I’ve been thinking a bit about my home back in the Griffon Empire, and I remembered something that could net us some more business.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible, but continue.” Things had been slowing down, but nobody was complaining.

“There were these rare types of meat cookers back there called smokers that were used to flavor meat with smoke from burning wood in the bottom. I’ve only seen three in my life, one of them as it was being taken away by the king’s soldiers.”

“Smokers? I’m not too familiar with them, but I like the idea. Do you know how they’re designed?”

“Roughly. I could work out the design with a blacksmith.”

I thought for a moment on that and sipped on the apple juice. Memories of a blacksmith I met drifted up, and I tried to recall more information, but with how tired I was from the day of work, it wasn’t easy. “I think I might know one who could help. I just need to think of her name.”

“Her? Then it’s not any of the local smiths. They’re all stallions. I’ve never talked with them, though. Did you meet her in Canterlot?”

“Canterlot, yeah, it was there. She came from the Crystal Empire. Oh, it’s on the tip of my tongue. What was her name?”

“Something related to blacksmithing, I’d guess.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s closer. Ah, Smithy Dreamkeeper! That’s her name! She might be the best one to do this. But she’s all the way in the Crystal Empire.”

“That’s, what, four days of train travel there and back?”

“Yeah, but she’s really good, or so I heard when I met her. She can apparently apply really good enchantments to what she makes, so if we wanted to smoke some cheese, it wouldn’t melt.” In that moment, I made a decision. “Gilda, I’m going to task you with this mission: head to the Crystal Empire in my stead and get her down here. I want at least a rough sketch of the design done by the time you get back with her.”

“Well, I guess I could do it. I’m getting this feeling you really don’t want to go there, though.”

“It’s really far north and it’s cold. I hate the cold, and it hurts me.”

“Ah yes, that little issue. I’ll head out tomorrow then, I suppose.”

“Next week. Just take next week to go there, maybe vacation a bit, and come back with her by Saturday. Sound good?”

“Yeah, it does. I guess I could take a vacation.”

“All of us have earned some vacation time.” With how busy things often got, it wasn’t hard to see why and how that time was earned. “Go ahead and take yours.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Just over a week later, Gilda came back. “Hey Yang, guess who I’ve got?”

“Gilda, why are you here at this hour?” It was fifteen minutes until closing and it had not been a good day in the dining area. I was more tired than usual because of that, but at least the kitchen was cleaned up early.

“Hello again, Yang” Smithy Dreamkeeper said.

I looked at her. “Ah. I’m glad to see you, Smithy.” I turned back to the cleaning task at hand. Somepony had spilled a drink involving orange juice on a table, and it had happened on multiple tables. It was sticky, and I wondered if it was some kind of plot to annoy me from the 28 nobles. “I guess you’ve got some sketches?”

“Yep. And I’ve even figured out the enchantments I’ll need to put on it. I just need to see if any of the local smiths will let me borrow their space.”

“If you let them help, they probably will. I haven’t talked to them, so it’ll be up to you. Anyways, I have to get back to this. Gilda, can you show her to the guest room upstairs?”

“No problem, Yang.” Gilda lead Smithy up the stairs. Twenty minutes later, Gilda came back down. “Need my help with anything?”

“No, you’re good. Go home, get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The next day, I spent some time outside with Smithy a few hours before opening, figuring out where to put the smoker. It had to be close to the door from the kitchen, which kept the possible area fairly small.

We decided on a spot that was both a straight shot from the kitchen and, after looking around a bit, realized was visible from my room. Once that was done, we went back inside, away from the cold.

“So, here’s what I’ve got planned” Smithy said as she floated the plans over to me.

Naturally, I looked them over. “Alright, I don’t have much of an idea on what I’m looking at or how it works. How does it work?”

Smithy pointed to the box towards the bottom. “This is where the wood goes. When it burns, the smoke will go up through a grate that I will enchant to double the amount of smoke before it splits off into two smoke chambers, where you will place the meat and whatever else you decide to smoke. The heat will also cook it at the same time. You could even smoke cheese in there if you want, thanks to some anti-melting enchantments that I’ll be putting in.

“Considering the scale of this thing, we’re looking at around 3,000 bits for the labor, materials, space rental, assembly, and enchantments. Lowball estimate. Does that sound good?”

“It does sound like I can afford it, but let me go check with the bank first, okay?”

“Go ahead.”

“Alright, I’m back.” I set four crates on the table, each one containing 800 bits. I still needed to talk to Celestia or Luna about making a 5 bit piece. “And I have the money.”

“Wow. Just that easily?”

“Yeah. Also, I apparently have enough bits in my name that I can almost count as a minor noble. Almost. So, yeah.”

“Just from this restaurant alone?”

“Yeah. Imagine if I opened a few in some of the big cities.”

“You’d be set for life. Well then, I guess I’ll go ahead and get started?”

“If you don’t mind.” I handed one of the crates over. “I hope you don’t mind if I pay you as progress is made?”

“Not at all. This is a good start.”

Through the following two weeks, Smithy and one of the local smiths, and Earth pony stallion called Ferrier, built the smoker. For a few days at a time, they worked at the forge, assembled a section of it, and went back to the forge.

During that time, there were questions going on about what was happening back there. We weren’t hiding the smoker being built, but at the same time, we didn’t say what it was. Rumors started circulating, some of which were dark, others were positive, a few were right about it being for meat, and one said that it was a way to keep my clothes warm and fresh outside during winter.

I had no idea who started that last one, but I was suspecting either Rarity or Pinkie.

There was only one other pony who knew what was really going on, and that was Applejack. She had promised not to spill the secret of the smoker when I’d come to see about getting some apple wood for it.

The day before the smoker was done, we got a bigger than usual shipment of meat in. I knew right then that the smoked meat would be a big hit, since I was apparently going to send out the order for it later.

Any time delivery really was convenient, if a bit mind bending at times. Despite that, it did make things somewhat predictable, which was always nice.

“Ta-da!” Smithy said when I walked out to see the completed smoker about three hours before opening. Ferrier and Applejack were off to the side, busy offloading a bunch of apple wood and stacking it against the building. “So, what do you think?”

“I think winter needs to end in three days ago.” I said. “Sorry, I’m just sick of the cold. I think it looks nice. Can you give me the tour?”

“Of course.” Smithy took a few steps towards the center of the new smoker and I joined her. “Down here, of course, is the fire chamber. Simple enough. Slightly less simple is a set of three vents. The first one nearly doubles the amount of smoke that passes through it while the others push the smoke into the smoking chambers.” She opened one of the smoking chambers, revealing a double row of racks. “This is where you’ll put whatever it is you’re smoking. Cheese, vegetables, flowers, meat, or even barbecue baked potatoes, which I may have developed a taste for during the project.”

“I don’t blame you. Those things are good.” And it was a good idea too. Smokey barbecue baked potatoes. I made a note to have Spike be the first to try one.

“Yeah, they are.” Smithy moved back inwards. “Anyways, these levers will control how much smoke is in the chambers, which should change the amount of smoke flavor you get. Behind the levers are the vents to vent the smoke, and they’re designed to keep rain out.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Ah, but we’re not done yet. On top of the middle section is an enchanted plate. It will dry out any wood you put on it so it can be ready for the fire. Wet wood doesn’t really burn all that well after all. The walls around it are so you can stack wood on there more easily. Finally, there’s one more thing to show you.” Smithy lead me around to the back of the right smoking chamber. “Ferrier and I decided to put some placards on here. This one has his and my name on it, crediting us with the construction of Equestria’s first smoker.”

“No argument here.”

Smithy lead me around to the other side. “This one credits you as the first owner of an Equestrian smoker. Gilda didn’t want her name on it for some reason.”

“Hmm, alright.” I understood why my name was on it, but not why Gilda didn’t want hers on it. I figured it was because it was technically on my property. “Anything else I should know?”

“Just make sure it’s cleaned regularly. Oh, and we went over what you gave us by 300 bits, so we need that.”

I looked at the invoice when it was floated over to me. “So, where did you go over, if I may ask?”

“A few bits in every category. Sorry.”

“I’ll be right back.” I ran over to the bank, got the extra 300 bits, and ran back. The whole round trip took about ten minutes.

“I guess you take running to the bank seriously?” Smithy asked as I gave her the 300 bits.

“Yeah. Not fun, though.” Cold air on my face at running speeds hurt, but it was somewhat tolerable. “So, we’re cool on the money?”

“Yep. Quite cool. Now that that’s sorted out, I’m going to catch the trains to go back home. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” After a hand/hoofshake, Smithy gathered her things and took off.

Author's Notes:

Credit for the smoker idea goes to Voldine, along with a few other ideas I'm planning on using.

Smithy Dreamkeeper is from Goldspoon, and the Entrepreneur Award Ceremony.

The reason this chapter took so long to get out is because it was going to be a crossover chapter, but the collaborator kind of stopped responding to and communicating with me after a while.

I don't have a picture of the smoker available at the time of posting, but rest assured, there will be one.

Finally, abrupt ending is abrupt.