The pounding in the back of the colts’ head rustled him awake from his slumber, as he tossed and turned in his own bed. Hearing the distinctive bell of his alarm, Iron reached across to slap the clock before it would beckon him any more to get up. Finally resting on his target, with a single flick of the wrist, the clock was knocked unceremoniously off the nightstand and on to the floor with a dull thud. Leaning over the beds edge with one eye open, Iron looked at the casualty of his hangover.

“Serves you right,” he remarked to the inanimate object, noticing the battery rolling across the floor from the fall. “Though I could have sworn I didn’t-”

Another volley of ringing in his ears was set off, and after already confirming his kill, Iron knew full well the clock shouldn’t have been the target of his aggression. ‘Doorbell…’ he groaned in the back of his head, before putting hoof to floor and casually walking his way down the stairs. As the colt made his way to the door, through the few glass panes on the overhead, he could make out the sight of a few royal guard helmet crests peaking over the top. Not an uncommon thing, after all the guards delivered many types of news to ponies all over.

“Somepony better be dead…” He hissed at his guests before even laying eyes on them.

Slinging the door open with a single hoof, Iron stood there with bouts of steam pouring from is nostrils. “You woke me up from a hangover…” he grumbled while scratching his eyes from the onslaught of the sun entering his pupils, “This better be-”

As he cleared his vision, Iron instantly shuts his mouth at seeing who exactly came knocking at his door. Princess Grace stood there, barely meeting him at chin level, with several guards there in tow on his own front porch, as a single drake stood by her side. All of which, from princess to guard alike, stood there in some state of shock from the brazen outburst of a colt emerging from his sleep. Though, being the ever humble one, Grace was the first to open her mouth.

“Good morning, Mister Knight,” she said with a warmth that almost pushed away the chill in the colts’ tone, “I'm-”

“Nope.”

With that single word, Iron slammed the door in front of all of them. Leaving the royalty and her guards standing there in bewilderment at the actions of a so called teacher. “Well that could have gone better,” Grace muttered, taking more interest in the ground below as she scratched it with a hoof.

“Your majesty,” Silvertongue piped up, “This colt seems a little on edge… are you sure you want to meet with him.”

“From what I have heard of him, yes,” she mentally went over all that she learned of Iron from his friend back in the capital, “I do need all the help I can get, even if that means going door to door to get it… beside you heard him, he’s sleeping off a hangover from the previous night. We can’t really blame him for the way he’s acted so far.”

With the exit of her last words, the door started to slowly creep, as Iron once again pulled it open to those at his door step. Shaking his head once more, mostly to get the stars out of his eyes, Iron eyed the young princess, “Well then I guess I’m not seeing things,” he realized.

“It would seem not,” she mused with simple smile, gesturing past him with an outstretched hoof, “Would it trouble you for us to come in?”

“Oh of course not,” he steps aside as she and a couple of the guards came in to his quaint home.
Looking around Grace got a quick feel for who she was dealing with. Items in disarray, a few components to machines on a coffee table left in pieces, while a couple tools lay close by, all with notes of some kind scattered everywhere for the eye to see.

“A messy colt, aint he?” a guard in their mists questioned.

“Hmm…” she pondered while looking past the mess for what it really is, “Not without his reasons,” Grace answered back under her breath as Iron closes the door and moved back in front of them. “It’s a lovely home you have here, Mr. Knight,” she said, “quite off the beaten path I have to say.”

“Meh, I like my privacy,” Iron shrugged, “though I doubt you came all the way out here to look at some random teachers’ home.”

“Straight to the point kind of colt, aren’t you?” Grace commented, simply raising a brow to the stallion.

“You bet your sweet ass I am,” he shot back in an instant with a wink. All the guards around her froze, and Silver bit down on his own tongue if only to hold his own piece. All of them watched only in silence as he pulled a single glass out of the liquor cabinet, “so… to what do I owe the pleasure, Saving Grace?”

Tapping the handle of his spear to the ground, a guard cleared his throat as he addressed the colt before him, “Sir, this is the princess of your own nation and she commands respect where ever she may go. Whether it is in her own castle, or your own home,” his eyes narrowed at Irons’ own, “You will address her as such.”

“Oh come now…” Iron rolled his eyes, watching the guard get ever flustered from every move he made, “I know the rules of how to address royalty, probably better than you do, Sargent.” He remarked to the rank emblem on his armor, “Personally though I don’t give a damn, after all you are on private property and without just cause, I could order you to leave. After all those are the rules that she herself has outlined in section forty-five tac B, paragraph A, line five…”

“Excuse me-!” the guard blurted out, before a single hoof silenced him.

“Hold on, I wasn’t finished… fun fact though,” Iron started to point out. Moving closer and closer to the colt with every word he spoke, “sense you crossed my little fence and walked up to my door. You have made your way in to neutral territory. My home resides just outside of Seren’s boarders, ergo… as common sense should tell you. I don’t have to abide by those rules.”

Cautiously Silver and Grace exchange their own momentary glances with one another. While the little exchange between the colts was rather amusing to the princess, Grace just hoped this didn’t result in a fight. After all, it’s kind of hard to ask of ones help, after one of your own guards just picked a fight with you. Thankfully though, Iron Knight decided against it and stepped off. Plopping himself down in the chair across from them all, while levitating the glass and a bottle of scotch to him, he sat calmly while pouring himself a drink.

“So I’ll say this as politely as possible,” he remarked while taking a single sip of the drink, and winked at the guard, “Buck off, Sarge.”

“Why you little-!” the guard shouted out, before a wing in his face shushed him up instantly once again.

“Easy there Argo,” Grace eased him down from a fight, while she addressed her other guards, “Do me a favor and let me speak to the colt by myself…”

The several faces of disgust already spoke volumes to the princess of what they were already thinking, “Are you sure about that?” Silver questioned, peering an eye over at the stallion, “he is an odd one.”

“Trust me, I’ll be fine,” she assured them, before booting them out the door. Once the door was latched, she turned her attention to the colt before her, sitting calmly before her with his legs crossed.

“I know this is very short notice, if none at all,” she allowed herself to relax some of her regalia while it was just the two of them, and placed her tiara atop the coffee table, “though could I trouble you for a drink?” Grace motioned to the one in his own grasp.

Not to be one to deny a mare something to quench her thirst, Iron gladly brought out another glass and filled it for her, passing it off to the mare as she grasped it in a wing. Bringing the glass up to her lips, she lightly closed her eyes while allowing the liquid to slither its way down her throat. ‘It’s been a while sense I’ve had anything this strong,’ she noted to herself, before casually holding the glass in her wing and took a seat across from him, “So Mister Knight… now that I have them out of here,” she took a deep breath, “We have some business to discuss.”

“Obviously the kind that doesn’t require too many ears to be listening…” Iron made note, while Grace simply nodded at him.

“Well like you have… I’ll cut to the chase,” She paused for a moment to take another sip, “My nation is in jeopardy by a few others, and I’ve been trying to get as prepared as I possibly could for a fight that may not happen, but the cards are still in the deck for it to.”

“And yet you have come to the home of a teacher…” Iron pointed out, before getting up and setting his empty glass on the table next to the chair, “How that pertains to me, I couldn’t guess.”

“I need one’s in your craft,” she answered simply, “After all you of all ponies should know what it takes to repair a suit of armor…”

That last comment made his ears stand straight up and flicker for a moment, “Who have you been talking to?” He asked out of sheer curiosity, though he doesn’t even wait for the princess to get up before walking away in to the kitchen. With her in tow, she followed to explain herself.

“Your friend still at the castle,” she answered, watching Iron reach in to the fridge to pull out an apple, “Freefall? Ring a bell?”

“Oh Free?” Iron brightened up upon hearing the name, taking a bite out of the crisp fruit, “I forgot to mail him back when he sent me a letter last. Glad to hear he hasn’t gotten himself in any trouble lately… how do you know him?”

“Freefall’s a guard back in my castle,” Grace explained, if only to satisfy the colts’ curiosity, “I saw him every so often till he was temporarily assigned to me, after he was relieved though we remained friends… it wasn’t until recently that he mentioned you though.”

“And why would Free bring me up?”

“As I said, because of your craft,” Grace worked herself to the other side of the counter, resting her fore hooves on the surface while she explained some of her predicament to the colt before her, “With this threat looming over my nation, I have been trying to gather any and all available hooves, claws, or talons I could to help with the effort… even now it seems, if that means going to ones’ own door to ask personally,” she pointed out the obvious, “you know you can’t make a good suit of armor with just magic.”

“You should come explain that to my class…” Iron remarked to her, drawing only a confused glare, “I apologize, you have no idea what I’m talking about… still doesn’t explain why I would help… or even care,” he motioned as his eyes rolled at even the prospect of assisting the crown, and took another bite from his breakfast.

The pail expression across her sky blue coat on her face, spelled it out for him almost as clear as day, while Iron just sucked it all in. ‘This uncouth little son of a-!’ she screamed at him in her mind. Though before she snapped back at the colt for his heartless words, Grace composed herself, “hmm… I see he was right about you then…”

“Ohh… do enlighten me then.”

“Well for starters…” Grace finished off her drink, turning the glass upside down on the counter, “he said that you could be stubborn to no end, a complete and utter prick, and an unbelievable ass sometimes.” She watched as Iron simply stood there in his own trance and mentally checked off everything she listed, completely ignoring the vile words coming from the mare.

“Okay well you’re three for three so far…” he remarked, “What else did he say about me?”

Taking a breath, Grace tried to prepare her own thoughts, instead of wanting to slap the colt and move on, “He also said… you could be incredibly loyal to a cause, if you wanted to be.”

“See there’s what you’re forgetting,” Iron pointed out to her, enjoying this little game that he got to play so early in the morning. To him it was a better pick-me-up than a shot of espresso, “Why would I want to come work for a system that I hated working for in the past?” he spat out back at her.

Grace stopped for a moment, knowing full well that he had a point. After all, from what Free had told her, the colt would rather go fight a dragon with a butter knife than enlist again to help her crown. And why was she trying to get him to join? There were probably dozens of other citizens just like him with the same level of talent… ‘Yes that’s true,’ Grace said to herself, ‘however, he’s skilled in the exact field I’m looking for, and all the help I can get, counts as him as well…’ standing her ground in the kitchen floor. Grace looked back up at the colt while he eagerly waited for her response, ready to pick it apart.

“You're right…” Grace muttered under her breath to him. Watching as his ears twitched, almost begging for a different response, “there's no reason I would expect you to come through and help this nation which has angered and stressed you so many times in the past…” she shifted through her thoughts looking for some edge. Yes, he had a tremendous loyalty when he was serving, even if it was to those that he worked with and not necessarily the crown, but that time has come and gone.

So the simple question was, who has his loyalty now?

It was after a moment of clarity that Grace realized what she needed to convince him, or at the very least get under his skin. “You, Mister Knight, owe nothing to the nation which you technically don’t reside in…” she watched while he took in all her words, waiting to see where she was going to with this, “… however, if you won’t help to assist your own country. Do it for those generations that you teach perhaps?”

An eerie silence took over the pair, to the point that one could hear the drip from the broken faucet of the sink, hitting the metal frame after every second that passed. Slowly Irons’ eyes narrowed down to near slits as he eyed the Pegasus, “What are you saying exactly?”

“It’s simple, Mister Knight,” Grace put her thoughts together, “when this country goes to war, we need more arms and armor than we can make, not for those who are already serving but those who will be serving,” she allowed that to sink in for a moment while continuing to drive a subtle knife in to his side, “a draft may have to be put in place, and when that happens, many of those still in school who can fight may be brought out to do so… some of which may be your own students.”

Like a waterfall, the thought crashed in to his own mind, filling it with the image of coming in to work and seeing less and less faces there in his class. All because they had to go fight a war that he wasn’t willing to help with. It was a cruel game the mare was coaching, one that played very close to his heart, though one that was none the less effective.

With a deep sigh, the colt nodded to her, “You play a hard game… Princess,” Iron allowed the word to slither off his tongue with every level of disgust he felt.

“War isn't a game…” she waited for his eyes to settle back on her, “though I hope that will give you the little loyalty you need in order to do what is right,” taking out a parchment from seemingly thin air, Grace jotted down a few notes on it before hoofing it over to Iron, “This is a message that will allow you passage to the production facility in Boralus, show it to a guard at the station, and they will be able to help you.”

“I really need this to get in to a factory?” he asked while looking over the document.

“As a matter of fact yes, the factory is built in to the base of my castle. A memento from days past when war was more frequent than not. Though with that paper, you will be allowed to pass,” she assured him, “that is, only if you choose to help in the first place.” With that Grace slowly walked away from the colt, allowing him a moment to consider her words.

Though as she left the kitchen and made way for the door, quickly Iron caught up to her, and grabbed the door for her.
“I thank you kindly, Mister Knight,” she nodded graciously at him, “For both the drink, and the talk… hopefully you’ll listen to what I have said.”

“Yea, yea… we’ll see about that,” Iron peered daggers at her, though all of that was hidden behind the smile he bore on his face. Holding it gently while the door was kept open for her as she walked out, leaving the colt to ponder a thought or two.

Grace followed her head guard down the path from the home as they made their way to the road not too far ahead. Even though it may have not been the most pleasant way to get a pony to help in her cause, if the mare was any judge of character, Grace was sure that Iron would see it through.

“Back to the castle now I assume, your majesty?” Silver asked.

“Not quite, it is nearly lunch already and I am quite hungry…” Grace noted as she felt her stomach growl with the yearnings of hunger from an empty morning, “…lets grab a bite to eat first in this little town, and then we shall be off...” ‘After all somepony has a few things to think about.’ She remarked to herself while continuing down the road under armed escort.