“And she got you to agree to this… how?” Free asked his friend as they stood by in Iron’s work shop. The colt meanwhile made a few final adjustments to his suit, tweaking it just so.

“She made a few valid points on the matter, and eventually I mentally said ‘buck it’”, he replied. Charging a few of the enchanted stones with his own horn to top them off, “besides, cooping me up in here all day may sound fun at first. But a change of pace is always nice too.”

“You do realize what we are about to do right?” Free asked as he looked at his blade holstered on his side. Sliding it out just enough to touch the edge with his hoof, he tested it, carving a small piece out of the dead keratin. “We’re about to walk headlong in to an enemy country, just the two of us, go in to their own protected factories, and then try to get out with our tails still.”

Iron looked up from his suit for a moment to consider all that could possibly go wrong with this situation he found himself in. Most of the outcomes simply ended with the two of them being hung or beheaded. The more complex scenarios played out like a torture scene from a bad play. Iron grinned for a moment back at his friend, “then maybe I should have packed an extra bag.”

He pointed over to the satchel in the corner that’s been lying there sense Free walked in and got the word of their little side mission. Though he may wonder what it contains, Free knows that whatever it is will probably come in handy later and trust’s his friend’s judgement… for the most part.

“I take it she let you have full access to the armory?”

Greedily nodding like the little colt he is, Iron picked up the different parts of the armor with his magic, and started to piece it together around his whole frame. Belts tighten around his waist, straps wrap themselves in on his legs, only to lock in to place as the bolts he added connected themselves to the upper portions of the suit.

Tightening it all down with just a thought, Iron felt the helmet slide overtop his head, as he kept his eyes closed during the transformation. Pancaking his mane to the back of his scalp, the only thing left exposed was his horn, to better cast spells. With that, the colt popped the visor up with a hoof and looked over to his friend, as Free stood there for a moment in awe.

“Yeah… I know,” Iron deadpanned at him, “I have way too much time on my hooves.”

“Oh you don’t say?” Free rolled his eyes for a moment as the suits pieces came together to make one solid frame around Iron’s body. “Though I have to give it to you… you’re good at what you do.”

“And what I do is kinda off the wall…”

“You got that right,” the reptilian voice of Silvertongue echo’s the room as the drake walked in to greet them. Pausing for a moment, he even had to bite his own tongue, “I take that back…” he said admiring the work Iron has put in to his creation, “very impressive.”

“Why thank ya kindly,” Iron did a crude bow, or at least as much as one as his suit would let him. Looking over the drake’s shoulder though, a small frown crossed his face as he realized he would be missing one face for the time being, “though I was expecting Grace to walk us out…”

Silver smiled coyly at the colt, letting his slit eyes walk across the colt’s expression as he read him, “don’t worry, she wanted to but meetings got in the way… besides, this is still off the books for the most part,” he responded to bring Iron back in to them, “so needless to say, the princess didn’t want to tell her advisors that she was sending one of her guards and… well, a teacher, in to the Gryphon Kingdom.” The drake waved his claw through the air, as he monologued.

“Well when you say it like that, it sounds completely insane…” Freefall looked over to Iron, as he adjusted a few things on the side. “Right up your alley.”

“Hey now keep in mind, buddy,” Iron said back to him without missing a beat, “You’re coming with me.”

“The princess asked me to.”

“You could have said no.”

“She’s the princess, I don’t have that luxury.”

“And Grace is also your friend.”

“And she probably wanted me to go so you don’t burn down half their country.”

“That would make things easier on her end anyway…”

“If you two are done flirting with one another…” Silver cut the two bickering, and grabbed their attention, “you do have a schedule to keep, to some extent at least.”

Free perked his head up for a moment, “that’s right… you never really did explain how we’re going to get in to their country.”

“Well allow me to elaborate,” Silver chimed in, “there’s a river that cuts between our countries, and in days past was used as a route for trade… not so much now as you might expect.” The drake chucked for a moment to himself as the others simply shook their heads, “anyways, a boat will meet you down by the docks a few miles from here. From there they will run you down to the kingdom, and you will depart.”

“What’s the actual target?” Iron asked as he rummages through a cabinet off to the side of the shop.

“A factory… one of the many that they have,” Silver answered, “granted it’s not the largest that we know they’re in control of. But it is the most accessible to us, it has a dock set up to take what raw materials they do have directly to their plant.” The drake looked through a small parchment that had a layout of the land they would be looking at, before he passed it off to Freefall.

“How are we getting out?” Iron asked, “assuming we are still in one piece to do so.”

“Simple, the merchant that is taking you in will also set you up with a smaller boat,” he nodded to them both as he explained, “river flows back to Seren, so all you’ll have to do is sit back and wait.”

“Whelp, splendid… now that we have those little formalities worked out,” Iron said as he pulled out his own sheathed blade. Rough cut from a chunk of metal, and pounded out by his own two hooves. He made it while he was still serving, though never really got to use it all that much. ‘And now, after getting out, I have need of you… irony,’ he snickered before turning to them, “shall we get started?”

With a grey overcast from the skies above. A small cargo boat chugged along the river as it headed upstream. The paddles on the side pushed their way through the water, while down below the steam engine cranked out the force needed to drive the entire contraption ahead as coal was fed in to the burn box to kick start the whole reaction. Producing steam from the heat, and using that pressure to crank a piston back and forth to drive the axils that connected to the paddle wheels on the side.

For one colt, the simplistic design was more than enough entertainment to pass the time as he waited for their drop off to come. For another however, needless to say. Somepony hadn’t gotten their sea-legs quite yet.

Freefall leaned over the side of the boat, spilling the small meal he had earlier that day all across the water’s surface. While the small fish underneath quickly picked up the bits of food left over. “Hope it taste’s good to y’all going back down…” Free grumbled over to them as he plopped himself back on the deck.

“Awe… poor colt not used to the water?” Iron mocked from over top his shoulder while he peered down in the engine room from a port hole.

“I’m a Pegasus… we were never meant to be on the water,” Free responded as he fell flat on his back next to his friend, “If we were going in the DDR then I would have flown in there myself, or even dropped you off. But no-o-o-o because the Gryphons have look outs in the sky, we had to take the sneaky way in…”

Iron rolled on to his own back next to Free, and propped his head up on his helmet, “Oh lighten up… could be worse, you would be on watch right now.”

“At least the castle wouldn’t be moving…” Free murmured.

“Stomach getting to ya I see?” they looked up to see the captain of the vessel standing there looking down on them from the railing above. The older gryphon stood there and winked his eye at the pair from across his aging beak, as he held a cigar on the other side, “he aint used to these water’s is he?”

“Not at all sir…” Iron answered for him.

“Eh no surprising, ponies don’t really pick up well on traveling the waters…” the gryphon mentioned as he riffled in his coat pockets. Producing a ginger root from one, he held it over top of Free and dropped it square on his chest, “Here, take a few bites out of that… it will help ya in the end.”

“Thank. You. Sir.” Free sounded off as he snapped off a small end and popped it in his mouth. Leaving the other two to talk.

“How did they managed to get you roped in on this mess Capt?” Iron asked straight away while the gryphon hung around.

“Oh that’s a simple story…” he took a puff off of his cigar, “I never really cared for the trade between our nations, I mostly dealt with the smaller customers anyway that did their own business. So as far as I’m concerned, if the coin is good,” he grinned at Iron from above him, “then I’ll take ya all the way to where the sea serpents call home if that’s what ya ask.”

“I’ll take dry land at this point…” Free motioned with one hoof held high while he relaxed, the envious green leaving his face as the oils in the ginger did their work.

“Don’t worry there colt, we aren’t that far off from port…” the captain looked up and around his surroundings once more to try and get his bearings, “At least I don’t think we are…”

“What do you mean by that?” Iron asked, perking up from his spot on the deck.

Having traveled these waters nearly his entire younger life up until now, the gryphon knew these river waters better than probably his own mother. So if something wasn’t right, it would stick out to him above any other eye watching. “I’ve stopped by a small town on my way to and from the kingdom on many occasions,” he searched back in to his memory to try and pick out landmarks to place them, though the fog laden across the waters from the sky getting ready to down pour little helped his olden eyes. “A backwoods sort, Riverton it went by, I marked as my half way point when traveling…”

“So what seems to be the issue?” Free piped up, feeling much better than he was minuets ago, “are we still on the right track?”

“Oh don’t worry there lad, we’re on our way to the kingdom, that’s for sure…” the captain looked around as best he could once more, before making his final call, “but I didn’t see hind or hair of Riverton while we passed…”

“So the whole town up and left?” Iron snickered at him, “you might want to consider retiring there…?”

“Captain Sturgis,” he remarked back, “and make no mistake… where the town was located, we passed it for sure. But where the town is, that I couldn’t tell ya.”

“Skies getting darker there Sturgis,” Iron answered back.

“He’s right,” Free threw his two cents in, “plus the fog rolling in probably blocked out any view you could have gotten…”

“Maybe there gents… maybe,” the gryphon yawned, gaping his beak wide open as he breathed in the moist air he so much loved. “Whelp I’m still positive that we passed it, I know that much… so there’s another few hours till we make dock. I’m going to do my captainly duties… why don’t you both get some shut eye, with a war on the horizon. I’m guessing whatever it is you’re headed here for, it isn’t going to be peaceful at all,” Sturgis chuckled over top his shoulder as he went back in to the cabin.

Taking his word for it, both colts decided he was right. If they got the time to do so, they might as well get some sleep while they can… it was going to be a long night when they pulled in.

This time of night, the dock that the steamboat pulled in to is dead on arrival. From down below a few of the deckhand’s grabbed line and toss them over to the pier, jumping a few feet, they went over to the bollards and tied down the rest of the boat. Though as the deckhands do their work, their captain is doing his own.

“Ya still alive down there?” Sturgis asks as he taps either colt on the end of their hoof.

Sprawled across the deck, Iron and Freefall come to life, each clutching their sword in hoof as they try to get their bearings from the short but rather restful sleep. Letting the hilt fall short, Iron wiped the sand from his eyes as he stretches out for a moment before coming to his hooves. “Well that was very much needed,” he looks around at the piles of cargo that have been stacked up around the weather deck, “so… are we in the clear?” Iron asked, hiking himself up on his hind hooves as he peered over top of the cargo to look at the surrounding area.

Few candle lights dotted the pier, giving the entire waterfront a dreary calm to it as the fog from before started to settle in around them in a thin whisper. Perfect place to slip in to an enemy territory, get some intel, and then slip back out. “Most of the dock workers are off duty at this time of night,” Sturgis filled him in as Freefall got up on his own, “and those that work here at night, well… let’s just say many of them used to work for me.” He winked at the pair of colts as Free grinned at him.

“Got your claws in them I see,” he kept his head low around the crates, “right under the king’s nose.”

“Oh a mutual respect of sorts…” he brushed off as they walked around the cargo, being sure to steer clear of the starboard side which was open to the rest of the docks, “I helped them get a job after the training and work ethic from my boat, and they turn a blind eye when I ask…”

“Under the table deals out the ass…” Iron perked as they reached the end of his ship, “I like it.”

“Great, then you’ll like this…” Sturgis flicked out a talon, slicing a rope on the side and dropping a smaller boat to the water with a dull splash. Both colt’s looked over the side, at the vessel there, “it aint much, but that’ll be your getaway. I’d love to take y’all back, but to have a boat show up, and then just leave like that would be rather suspicious…”

“Meh I get it… besides, we can get there on our own,” Free extended a hoof to the older gryphon, “it’s been a pleasure.”

“Likewise shipmate,” Sturgis tipped his hat to them both.

“Fair winds, and calm seas there Cap,” Iron slid his helmet over top of his brow as he shook his claw as well.

Sliding off the side of the ship and down to the small row boat, Iron and Free leap up and off the side. Grabbing on to the dock supports to keep their heads above water, the two spidered themselves along the walk way, closer and closer to shore. As the water became shallower, the colt’s plant their hooves on the soft sand beneath them and waded their way to the shore.

“Well this is just great…” Iron muttered from underneath his helmet, “I spend nearly half my life making this armor and improving it, and the one time I really get to use it, I aint even being paid as a soldier…”

“Oh quit your yapping… could be worse,” Free answered, “we could be doing some off the books spy mission, that if we get caught, we’ll be thrown under the carriage and left for dead…”

Iron paused for a moment, and twisted his head around, “You little smartass…”

“I learned from the best…” Freefall chuckled as they made their way through the shore grass growing on the edge.

The dock area wasn’t much to look at during the night… though it probably wasn’t much better in the day. Only a few storehouses dotted around the docks, allowing the factory just over the hill to stock up on needed supplies to support it in times that the pier may not be able to get any boats in.

Working their way behind a few of the smaller buildings. Iron tightened the straps on the sack over his back as he and Free press themselves against the doorway to a warehouse, “Through here, just over the hill… that’s all we need,” he muttered under his breath.

“Get in, get out, then get home…” Free replied.

“…Just in time for happy hour,” Iron finished up as he turned the latch on the door and the two snuck in.

Under the dim lanterns set up in the warehouse, both colts rummaged past more and more crates, along with hoppers full of pure raw materials. Wool to make everything from blankets to coats for a long winter war. Cut timber to create whatever an army would need in terms of structure. Copper ore stored in carts to help make mess kits, right next to iron for likely armor and bins of… something else…

“Sulphur?...” Iron pondered as he smelled the air, and had his nostrils filled with the eggy stench.

“For… fireworks?” Free smirked up at him, as Iron dug his hoof in to the powdery yellow mixture, “Or do you have any other idea…”

“Explosives probably… I mean a firework isn’t all that different from a bomb,” Iron looked up from over top of the bins. Only to see hundreds more stretching across the floor of the storage bay. “though by the looks of things they have enough supplies here for the long war ahead of them…”

“Whelp… that’s what we’re here to find out,” Free tapped his hoof, as they reached the other side of the warehouse.

Making their way over the short clearing between the warehouse and the hill that separated it from the factory. The colts try their best to work quietly, muffling their armor as best they can with slow controlled steps. Though one things for sure as they reach the edge of the hillside, this factory is far different then what is back in Seren…

“That’s… that’s pretty impressive,” Iron remarked as they stood on the edge and watched as billows of fire and soot rose in to the air from the smoke stacks that towered over top the main structure. In one end, train cars brought in more and more supplies, and in the few minutes that they watched over the compound they noticed more cars leaving out the other side. Carrying whatever it is that that kingdom needed in a time of war.

Though to their surprise, few guards were positioned over top of the factory’s walls. There stood only a hoof full of gryphons that would make their way around the perimeter in due time, and then continue their rove.

“Don’t look like they’re really concerned with an attack do they?” Free pointed out the obvious.

“Not at all…” Iron stood up, and slowly crept closer to the structure, “shall we?”

Soon Freefall was in tow, close behind him, the pair of ponies moved as one like they had done in the past. Silently making their way to the compound, it wasn’t hard to gain entry at all, with many of the guards there having to watch over large areas. They didn’t have time to keep all places in sight. Which allowed the two to slip inside through a small window up on the roof. Slipping inside, the pair dropped to the middle of an open passage way, unseen and unheard.

“Rather modern looking building wouldn’t you say? Or almost… futurized?” Iron pointed out to him, noticing that the Gryphons seemed to trade in their buildings of wood, for this one built from stone, mortar, and metal.

“Is that even a word?” Free responded, noting the advanced setting. Even Boralus, the crown jewel of Seren, was still constructed of mostly wood.

“It is now…” Iron responded as they got back to business, “although they certainly leaped a few decades in tech…”

Hearing a few footsteps getting closer to them. Either colt laid low, peering ever so slightly around the corner only to see a loan guard getting closer and closer to them. Both colt’s looked at one another and nodded, without even a word, knowing exactly what the other was thinking.

As the gryphon came in to view, Iron reached out with a single hoof and snared him from around the neck. Locking his fore hoof in to his wind pipe, the sentry didn’t even stand a chance. As the blood was cut off from his brain, he slumped down to nothing. Tilting his head over to one side while his tongue curled out.

“You missed doing this sort of thing, don’t you?” Free asked as he pushed the body further off to the side.

“Oh far more than you might think…” raising one hoof to the gryphon, Iron tapped an aqua stone on his bracer. The resulting glow from the stone released a clear mist from the suit. Blanketing the fallen gryphon in shadow as he all but seemed to disappear before Frees’ very eyes.

“Well I’ll be damned…” he looked to where the gryphon was, and then back to his friend, “you’ve put quite a few tricks up your sleeve, haven’t you?”

“Oh hush now, it’s not permanent…” Iron shrugged off, “besides, it doesn’t really help if another guard walked in to them, just a simple cloaking spell to hide him while we work.” He finished off as they stowed the soldier off to the side of the back hallway.

Moving through the factory as best as they could. Both colt’s relied on the skills they had each gained from prior years of service to the crown to avoid any and all encounters with guards and other gryphons patrolling the area. While their service for the most part may have been guard duty or the occasional back up to petty squabbles here and there, some of the more ‘off the books’ tasks that they were given got a little more… bloodier.

After all, their higher ups saw that the two worked rather well together, and were good at what they did… and what they did was find a way to cut corners and around issues that the nation was posed with. One’s that their superiors didn’t want to have on their own hooves, so when in doubt, many times the pair were taken aside and given the challenge to solve. It wasn’t pretty work sometimes, but then again, Iron enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than the simple duties outlined in his contract. And whether or not Freefall admitted it, so did he.

Climbing up a ladder well, the duo found themselves up in the rafters of the production floor. From here they could see all that stood in Seren’s way of survival. Large conveyor belts transported sheets of metal getting ready to be stamped out in to what Iron could only guess was rough armor plates, considering Boralus had the same thing going on in its basement. Further off in the distance kilns blazed away as raw ore was smelted in to them to create the sheets before them. Even at this distance the colts could feel the heat radiating off of the fires.

“You’re right at home, aren’t you?” Free asked as he looked to his friend, while even though this was the enemies war effort, Iron was still engrossed in to the sight.

“It’s a beautiful thing, industry,” he replied as a tear almost fell from his eye. Though as he batted it away, one thing he could not help is notice the end results of the stamping process several yards down the line. Whatever the shapes were, it wasn’t something that he was used to when it came to armor. “Odd design, don’t you think?”

Free looked closer and saw what his friend meant as he pointed it out to him. The shapes were far too narrow to be any sort of protection to a soldier, and even that, the sheets were just too thin to stop anything for that matter. “New designs perhaps?” Free inquired as him and Iron moved over top of the floor below along the rafter’s edge.

“Well whatever it is, we’ll find out soon enough,” he replied as they reached the other side of the production floor.

Troves of gryphons stood along the belts and the various cut outs of metal. Each armed with a different set up of tools to carry on the same function as an assembly plant that their Seren counterparts were using. Small mallets, pliers that their claws can manipulate easily, punches and files all loaded in to their work aprons with in claws reach. However, as Iron and Free watch as the various pieces went further and further down the line, one thing is clear… these aren’t suits of armor, it’s some sort of weapon.

“They do have something up their sleeves…” Free muttered while they watched various parts and pieces assembled at different points on the line.

Iron for the first time in a while though is silent, he just watched as the components are assembled. Even though he may be quiet, mentally he was screaming as his mind raced around, trying to put two and two together to figure out how this thing worked and what exactly it was.

“Let’s see what secrets they have to hide from us…” Iron said as he moved along the rafter, soon Free was right on his tail as they crossed over in to another part of the building.

This time though, all the weapons that had been produced, laid stored along racks and inside open cargo crates. Ready and waiting to be packed up and shipped out to the kingdom’s foot soldiers. Along the various aisles, gryphons worked to rack back the weapons, testing them. Before they went in to the boxes, and were carted off on to train cars. Though up above them all, two colts watched the entire process from start to finish unfold, in less than five minutes.

“I got to give it to them though,” Free mumbled as Iron looked, waiting for him to finish, “they sure can build up a strong offence when they need to.”

“Now we just have to figure out how exactly these things work…” tapping the back of his armor. Free noted the gesture and locked his fore hooves around his friend’s waist, before the two of them leapt off the side of the support beam.

Trying to fly while oneself is in full combat armor is no easy feat, let alone if you’re trying to carry somepony who is in the same attire. Thankfully Iron didn’t need them to take to the sky and leave, all he needed was a gentle glide down to the floor so they could land without a sound.

“Hey! Who’s there?”

Well… almost no sound.

A random gryphon doing his job and storing the weapons took notice of the minor crunch from the armor hitting the stone floor as if reverberated through the room. Grabbing his own side arm, he pulled out from its holster what looked to be a smaller version of the weapons that were just made. Holding it steady at shoulder height, the worker paced around his space for a minute, making sure to check around every corner that the pile of crates helped to cover up.

Turning around one corner, a flicker of light above him from a lantern tricked his eye for but a moment. But that’s all that Iron needed. With an aqua pulse of energy, from his bracer shot an ice spike that took the gryphon by surprise, lodging itself deep in to the target’s neck and silencing any call of help from him. With all loss of motor control from the severing of his spine, the gryphon’s legs went limp and he collapsed to the ground, a still heap of flesh. Meanwhile the magical shard leftover, in the hot environment, already started to give way and melt.

With a light tap to a gem stone on his breast plate, Iron unshrouded himself mere feet from the fallen soldier. Looking up, Free hovered there gently next to the lantern, allowing the light to blind anybody trying to pick him out. Landing next to his friend, he looked over the corpse, noting the clean wound, “Cloaking enchantment I presume?”

“Damn straight…” Iron said proudly, “I enchanted it myself awhile back. Not perfect though, does leave a little distorted air effect around me…” walking over to the body himself, Iron picked up the side arm and examined it.

It was of similar construction from what he and Free just saw. Single handle, and what looked like a barrel of some sort attached at the top. Fiddling around with it though in the middle of an enemies’ fortress, a single press of a button on the side of the handle dropped a piece out of its base.

“Did you break it already?” Free asked as he kept an eye out for any others that might be looking around from the commotion.

“No… I don’t believe so…” looking inside the piece, all there were was what looked like little brass cylinders, each fitted with what looked to be a solid metal cap on one end. Putting the piece back in the handle, Iron stowed it away in his bag, “I don’t know how to explain it, but maybe I can figure it out when we get back…”

“Then maybe we could figure out how this one works as well,” Free said as he picked up one of its larger cousins. A heftier two clawed weapon, though this one was fitted with a stock, similar to the one on a gryphon’s crossbow.

“Screw it… take it with us…” Iron said as Free took the shoulder strap and threw it around his back.

Dumping the body in to one of the crates, a little gift for some gryphon down the road. Iron and Free made their way out of the production area, they already took out two gryphons after being here for an hour. It wouldn’t be long till one of them was found…

Going through the many corridors of the facility, the colt’s stalked their way step by step, making sure to avoid as many of the guards moving about. With Freefalls skill in hovering, and Iron’s armor enchantments, it was actually easier done than said.

“What are we looking around for now?” Free asked as Iron led the way.

“Nothing special… just whatever else we could possibly find interesting or-” an alarm rung out through the facility, cutting the colt off where he stood as they looked around for a moment.

“I’m going to guess that they found the guard you knocked out…” Free deadpanned to him, though before Iron could make any sort of snappy comeback. The sound of claws clanking against the wooden and metal floors of the upper levels silenced them both.

“And now we’re looking for a place to hide…” he started looking around, as his Pegasus friend pressed himself against the wall.

“Where would that be?”

Iron just looked at him for a moment, before smiling to himself. Frees’ eyebrow cocked up, wondering what was going through his friend’s mind. Though as he followed Iron’s eyes, they landed on the unassuming doorway that laid right next to him.

“Whelp, in to the conveniently placed door then… as if that’s not a cliché…” without another word, the two fell in to the room. Instantly grabbing their own weapons and pulling them out of the sheaths to the ready in case anything was inside.

Much to their relief though, when they barged in, all they find is an empty room…

A single bed laid in the corner, while a few dressers took up much of the wall space in the room. Underneath the window, a desk remained with several notes scattered across its surface, as a single picture frame laid face down. To both of them, it looked like nothing more than the average Sargent’s quarters that they would have found back in Seren’s own army barracks.

“Cozy little hiding place, don’t cha think?” Iron asked Free, as the Pegasus stayed at the door.

Listening in to the sounds of claws and armor going against the floor outside, Free kept his voice to that but a simple whisper. “On any other occasion, I would agree with you,” he paused for a moment, just as the noises started to die down a bit and pick back up over and over again, “though all things considered, I don’t think the décor of the room is all that important to us right now…”

Iron paid little attention to his friend, as he looked over the desk at some of the parchment strewn about. To anyone else, it would look like nothing more than chicken scratch, the sloppy writing almost incomparable to the average foals. Though the drawings that went with the notes written off to the side told him more than he ever needed to read. ‘What is it you’re building?’ he asked himself.

Whatever it was, it didn’t look like the weapons they saw out on the floor… no, these were some sort of, prosthetic.

Though the writing on it told him a child must have made them. Iron may have not had the best writing in the school, even when he used his magic to write out assignments. But his even looked lightyears ahead of whoever wrote this out.

“Let’s see here…” he started to put the pieces together from what he saw in the sketches, and what little he could get from the writing. A relatively simple design, nothing more than a few hinges and a solid hoof to take the place of one lost.

However, at its base from where it connected, rested an open cradle. “Hinges connect to rough cut and forged chunks of iron and brass, giving it structure,” he concluded, “with a semi-solid bronze hoof at the end for support, and to keep it light weight… but what goes here…?” Iron asked himself as he looked closer and closer at the vacant spot in the drawings. Each page brought to him a newer design of the hooves to replace one’s that were lost, and each one a little more complex than the last, as more and more vacant spots opened up across their design than previous model.

Taking what he could, Iron shoved the parchment in to his satchel on his side to look at it later. Before taking a hoof and picking the picture frame up. A simple family photo, a Pegasus mother sat against a tree as she cradled her foal, an earth pony mare. All the while, the unicorn, who Iron could only assume was the father, stood close by. Watching over the two from against the same trunk. ‘Lovely family…’ Iron thought for a moment, “why on earth would somepony tip this over, and with that much force?” he asked while noting the crack in the glass from the frame being slammed down.

Pulled out of his own questioning world sooner than expected by a hoof, Iron turned around to see Free standing there looking over his shoulders, “I think the coast is clear for now… we better get moving…”

Iron nodded, and put the frame back up. Huddling around the door, the two listened in to take heed in case anyone was waiting on the other side for them. Slowly turning the knob, Free pushed the door open, once the coast was clear. The two colts scurried out from their hiding place, while the alarm still trailed through the building.

“Whelp they’re still looking for us…” Iron pointed out. As he rummaged through the sack be brought.

“Duh… I certainly would be,” Free replied to him as they raced down the hallway and up a flight of stairs. By the fifth flight, both colts were heaving in their chests, from lugging around a suit of armor, and their not so healthy habit of nicotine. “Good lord… I need more cardio in my life…” he gasped out, forcing his legs to move from sheer will.

“Well on the bright side,” Iron said between gasps, “If they catch us we won’t have to worry about lung problems for too long.” Throwing caution to the wind as they hoped speed would get them out of this bind before they were discovered, both colts’ surged their legs with energy. Seeing that if they at least got to the roof, then they may stand a fair chance at getting out of here.

However, that idea shattered the moment they ran out of stairs in the same hallway they got in from. Meeting a group of Gryphon guards patrolling the area looking for whoever caused the alarm in their neck of the woods. “Nowhere to go there horsy!” the lead soldier called out, as they all drew duplicates of the weapons downstairs to the ready.