A few chunks of gem stone laid across Irons’ work bench as he stood in the production area. Separated from the others in his own work zone, the colt set about shaping each and every stone to a fine measurement to ensure a proper fit in to what he had planned. Behind him, his armor stood up on the mannequin, already having been repaired and buffed to remove all showings of damage from its’ yet another test trial.

Charging up one of the stones, the glowing emerald blended well with the dull steel coat of the metal that Iron left bare around its’ form, as it cooled down the from the process. Locking the tongs around the gem in the reinforced joint on his bracer, the housing he custom designed held the stone firmly in place so that it wouldn’t fall out in battle, and could be used for its’ intended purpose.

“Splendid,” he cheered.

“Looks nice,” Free said as he walked in on the colt. Looking around the room though, Free saw several scattered pieces of metal sheeting, along with what looked to be the notes from their mission that they found, “now… what do you have yourself working on?”

“Actually a couple things,” Iron pointed out. Bringing out a few of the bombs he made earlier, the colt had improved the design it seemed.

No longer were they cobbled together from what pieces and nick knacks he could get his hooves on. These ones were precision made, and fitted inside of a metal tube that he had form fitted for this purpose. The only thing exposed on them was the trigger gem, a simple ruby, that sat at the tip of the pipe.

Holding the device in his horns’ grasp, Iron brought it over to the armor, as it slid neatly in to a holster on the side that had been tack welded in place, “now, I have no more need for the satchel,” he smiled to himself.

“Interesting addition, should you need to take the suit out for another ride that is…” Free mentioned, clearly not having heard Graces’ previous remarks from last night, “and what of these gems?” he pointed to the ones in the joint.

“Those…” he paused for a moment to summarize the thoughts in his head, “I have a possible theory on how our mare could do what she did with her own ‘limbs’…”

Using his horn to remove one of the bracers, Iron guided it across his own hoof as it fitted over him and strapped itself on.
Once it was fully locked on, he took aim with the limb and swung it with all he could muster at the sheet of metal.

Although the sheet wasn’t as thick as some of the other pieces, no more than an eighth of an inch, the colt surely made his mark. With a loud clank from the metal striking another, the indent of a hoof marked Irons’ territory, as he withdrew his hoof without even a scratch.

Freefalls’ head cocked to the side as he tried to process what he had just witnessed, though as his mind tried to remember the days past of when he took magic theory (if only to understand what went through Irons’ head better). His brain still drew a blank, “Okay… I don’t know what to say to that one…”

“It’s an interesting concept, though not all that hard to do really…” Iron held the hoof up as the gem that resided in the armors’ joint glowed a tad brighter, from the energy of his horn activating it, “a simple telekinesis spell, imbued in to the armor, and forcing it to go where I want it to… with clearly more force than the average hoof could ever have mustered.”

“So you used the spell to increase the strength of your punch basically?” Free waited for the nod from his friend before he looked over the rest of the armor. Seeing that a gem resided in all of the knee joints that Iron had installed to give the suit more rigidity, now upgraded to make him punch like a train. “It’s moments like these that I ask myself what you must be teaching some of your students…”

“Oh don’t worry, I make sure they aren’t learning anything that might get them in trouble while at school…” he said with a sheepish grin, “now what they choose to do with this knowledge after school, that’s out of my hooves.”

“Now aren’t you a responsible colt…”

“Damn Skippy.”

Looking up at the work bench, Free could see that there was a far larger pipe laid out ready to be worked on, while right next to it were some of Irons’ own drawings and designs. Free may have not been the most technical pony out of the two of them. Though he understood far more of how Irons’ head worked than any other did, and sometimes better than Iron himself. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for him to figure out what he was planning on making next.

“Are you going to try and hook up that rocket thing that the mare had to your suit?” he asked bluntly.

Iron walked up to the pipe, and cross referenced with his drawings, “I was thinking about it, I mean you saw how effective it was.”

“At nearly killing us and spreading our remains like fertilizer, yes, yes I saw that…” Free stood next to his friend. Even
though he had seen better drawings on cocktail napkins, the Pegasus knew all too well that Iron understood them enough to make it all possible. “Do you really think that’s a good idea though?”

“No,” Iron admitted, “I think it’s a great one…”

“There’s just no getting through to you sometimes, is there?” he watched his friend nod in agreement again, as Iron went about in his own little world for a few minutes cutting the pipe out to the shape he would need with his horn acting as a torch.

Silently, Free admired him. The colt had always been fascinated on how his counterpart could become enveloped in what he was doing to the point of ignoring the entire world around him. If there was a will, Iron would make a way. For in order for him to do great things, he needed all the time in the world, and no plan what so ever… yet somehow it always turned out to either work, or blow up in his face, sometimes more literally than metaphorically.

“Still trying to make armor, to protect what isn’t on the outside…” Free commented as he watched Iron work.

Iron froze where he stood, shards of metal still hovering in midair as he tried to work. Though his friends’ words struck a particular nerve in the colts’ mind, one that he had buried a long time ago, ‘At least I thought I had…’ he remarked to himself, “In a way, I suppose I am… everypony needs a hobby. Mine are just a little more out there than some…”

“Whelp, you aren’t nearly as bad as when you and I first met,” Free pointed out as Iron slowly started to work again, “Besides, it is a healthier release, as opposed to our usual sorts…”

“Speaking of the drink…” Iron dropped the metal where he needed, while his horn went to work and fused it together, “have you ever heard of Cloud Mist Vodka?”

Thinking back a for a moment, Free drew a blank at first, before the name finally rung a bell, “Actually yes, I have… rather expensive for my tastes, but none the less, if you have the chance to get a glass, you need to take it.” The rolling of Irons’ eyes prompted that there was a little more to it than he had let on to begin with, “I assume that’s what Grace had to offer you?”

“Well she learned I prefer Vodka from somepony…” he glared at Free, whose expression never changed a shade, “But alas, yes. Tasted expensive, but I’d buy a cooler of it if I had the chance… the mare certainly knows her stuff.”

Free watched as a small smile began to grow across the colts’ face, without him even realizing it. Leaning in from where he stood, the Pegasus waited for Iron to notice before prying a little more, “So… how was last night then?”

“Well…” Iron started to let the smile grow voluntarily, as he replayed the brief, but rather pleasant talk he had with Grace from the previous night. “I have to say, you’re right…”

“On what account?”

“Grace…” Iron said unpretentiously, “she isn’t all that bad actually…”

“Grace?” his ears perked up at the sound of her actual name, “Hmm…”

“What?” Iron wondered for a second.

“Oh nothing,” Free smirked at him, “You just didn’t add any sort of insult to her name or make fun of her title or anything for the first time sense you’ve been here.”

“She’s…” Iron stumbled for a moment as he tried to put words in mouth, instead of his hoof, “earned, a bit of my respect. We had a nice chat about some of the report, that’s it.”

“That much I can see clear as day,” Free rolled his eyes. Though decided to change the subject, slightly, “So then what did you two discuss while you were there? I mean you don’t seem hungover, so I imagine that it was more of a casual drink than anything.”

“Whelp, I explained some of the tech to her, breaking it down so she would understand how it worked and how I saw it. Told her that the gryphons had enough of an arsenal to take over a small country… no pun intended,” Iron waved his hoof about as he spoke, moving chunks of supplies as he went about and fused them together to make the barrel of his weapon, “and, I showed her what I needed the chemicals for,” he held up one of his bombs in hoof. Before sliding it in to the clamp on the armor, “note to self by the way, never bring a bomb in a princess’s chambers…”

“You don’t say.”

“No, actually I did say that…” the colt sat down in his chair, before putting the finishing touches on his launcher. As he divided it in to two for either side of the armor, with several other smaller barrels settled in to the housing, “it was all just talk about work… and possibly going out on a few other missions as they come up.”

“She’s recruiting us again?” Free turned his head to face the colt as he asked.

“Not right now, maybe in the future though…” Iron looked back at his friend, only to see the paled expression of worry written across his face, “Oh come now, it wasn’t that bad.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Frees’ expression dropped a bit more, “I’m getting to old for this crap…”

“You aren’t even thirty.”

“You’re younger than me.”

“Only by a year and a day,” Iron pointed out, “If I can still do it, then so can you… and you bet that I’ll be signing up on the next go around to come through that door.”

The door to the workshop slammed open as both colts’ heads turned to greet whoever just walked in. Holding the door with a claw, Silvertongue stood there for a moment till he eyed the colt he had been looking for, “Freefall, your presence is requested by her majesty…”

“Oh crap,” Free groaned, “Already? Another one?”

“What?” the drake questioned at first, “another what?”

“Nothing, just nothing,” Iron cut in so they could all get to the point much faster, “What do you require of my friend, and will I be coming?” he started to beam.

“You, No. This is an official matter… unlike the last thing that she requested from the both of you,” Silver brushed off their black water mission, “the princess is heading out of the castle to a town on the edge of the country.”

“And I’m assuming she wants me there as part of her personal detail,” Free questioned.

“It would seem so…”

“Outstanding…” Free said as he started to head towards the door, “Why though are we headed out to this place?”

The drake held the door long enough for Free to get to the frame, as Iron went back to his own work and continued while they went along with their business, “It would seem that the gryphons made their first move…”