Fires spewed out the top of relief stacks peppered all along a factory, each gout lit up the sky as it would burst and then quickly die back down once the fumes no longer were present. It’s a pleasant sight for Rhorkin to behold from his own castle, for the factories steamrolling his war effort are only a stone’s throw away from his own home.

While several production plants dot the country side of his own nation, they all pale in comparison to this one. Is it a tactical disadvantage to have so much of your own war effort put in to one place? Probably, even the king admits that, though with it being tucked in his own capital and close to the castle, it has the ability to be defended with ease. With each flash of progress that he sees, he knows that he’s one step closer to being able to put Grace in a strangle hold, something that is driven home as his own council reads off productions for that month.

“The factory is producing these new weapons with great ease it seems,” one of his generals calls out to his king, “they are of simple design, and even with the few resources, we are making them still in large numbers.”

Rhorkin turned around to face all those present. With his own military advisors filling him in on his army, and his ally taking care of production, there is little for the king to do. “Have they still been tested while being made?” He asked to them, “After all it would be pointless to make all this new weapons of war only to have them blow up in our face.”

“Product testing is still being done randomly,” the admiral answers, looking over the reports from the tests, “And they are surprisingly effective… gruesome, but effective.”

“Excellent…” Rhorkin almost purred at hearing that news. It wasn’t often they would find use for the prisoners of the nation, especially those waiting to be put to death. Though with new tech needing to be tested, “BB” could think of no better test subjects than those still alive and kicking.

‘BB…’ the king repeats in his mind, still recalling the letter that he got from the DDR’s chief about him striking a deal with this mysterious pony. The chill that ran up his spine after reading what she was capable of still returned, after hearing the first reports of what she brought to the table against Grace.

“My king?” his attention is grabbed by another gryphon, in charge of stockpiling those supplies till they are built up enough to be used for effect.

“Yes Rankburn? What is it?” he asked to the gryphon that has seldom said anything during these sorts of meetings.

“It has been brought to my obvious attention that with these new weapons we stand to have an obvious advantage over those that reside under the princess rule…” Rankburn opened up with, checking the results from some of the latest tests, “so it would stand to reason that given the right push, Princess Grace would probably be willing to further negotiations with both us and the DDR… for the sake of her own of course.”

While they have been building up an arsenal the likes of which most of the inhabited world has never seen. Between Chief Reinhart and King Rhorkin, the king was the one that tried to look for a more diplomatic solution… at first. The more he thought about it, the more the king realized that Grace was right. She wouldn’t be able to spare any more resources for either him or the DDR, her country was being stretched thin, and she would fight to keep what they had.

A noble effort he admits, after all he would have done the same for his own country had they switched roles… plus having another whispering in his ear only helped to further solidify the path that he was already on.

“Rankburn while I have always respected your decision and opinion on matters closest to home, it goes without saying that this mare will be unmoved,” Rhorkin acknowledged while he strode across the tile floor, allowing only the sound of his talons hitting the ground to fill the air, “the princess will not give up what she has without a fight…”

“But perhaps after a show of force she would,” he tried to reason, “seeing the devastating effects of this new tech may sway her mind in our favor. No one here wants a war after all…”

“That I can even agree on,” the king admitted, “Though if you’ve ever seen the fire in this mares eyes, you would know moving a mountain would be a far easier feet.”

“So we could simply-” a dagger landing on the table in front of him silenced the gryphon, leaving him to only watch as it swayed back and forth from sticking itself in to the hard wood top.

“I might be incline to agree with you,” Rhorkin watched as the cloaked figure made its way from down the rafters on a curtain, “though it would seem that my colleague here has her own opinions, that even I must admit, are far more interesting than peace right now.”

BB calmly walks up Rankburn as she watched him only stare wide eyed with every step she took. Wrapping a metal talon around the handle, in one tug she pulled it clean of the table and placed the blade right back in its holder under her cloak, “make no mistake… Grace will not be so easily swayed when it comes to her own citizens,” her attention fell to those at the table, while she addressed each and every one of them with a glare from under the hood, “she will have them fight until the last breath, in to their own slaughter, before she gives up an ounce of what she can’t promise.”

“And how would you know this?” another gryphon at the table challenges, “How do you know how she will act… if it means preserving her citizens’ lives, she may bend to ones will greater.”

BB looked over to the gryphon. A stout male, clean kept with his brown feathers preened to perfection, as his tan coat shined a shade higher than the rest against the light of the room. Only further showing off the several brands he had seared in to his coat and skin. If only for the sake of decorating his body in the art that was trademarks of warriors of days past.

With a single claw raised, she called him out, “What is your name?”

“Egyes,” the male answered without hesitation.

“And do you sympathize with Grace and her nation?”

Egyes merely shrugged his shoulders, “I simply am looking to that which will benefit all of those. War is costly, after all…”

“I know…” BB responded, lowering her voice and allowing the ice to run through her veins, “I know how costly war can be, and it’s was at the hooves of those in charge that I saw from first hoof experience what it can do to families.”

“So then why would you try and push for a fight then?”

BB froze in place, allowing all the vivid images to dance in her eyes while they replayed the events that created her. If it wasn’t for the hood atop her head, those present may actually have seen a tear fall from her face, “To prevent future wars over the same resource…” she stated as if it were rehearsed, “a fight now would level the playing field, and ensure that each nation could get what it needs without her interference.”

Most of those at the table never thought of it like that, they merely saw a chance to get what they wanted for centuries. But now as they think about it even more, they realize that this cloaked figure’s right. A fight now would cripple Grace and her nation, allowing them to take what they needed when they needed it, without having to go through negotiations to barter. Sure Seren as a result would wither away, but her citizens would find other places to dwell… it wasn’t their concern.

With the steady nodding of all of those present, Egyes looked at each of them with a mild face of disgust. ‘Single minded featherbrains…’ he spat in his mind while taking a seat, ‘they know they are damning an entire country to the grave, and they just don’t care.’ He watched as BB walked up to the king and chatted for a moment by themselves.

Though their attention was drawn back as their king tapped his claw to the ground, “That will be it for this meeting, you’re all dismissed.” With that each of the councilors got up and made their way out of the room.

With only one looking back at both his king, and the mysterious mare.

With the exit of the final member in attendance for the meeting, Rhorkin looked back at his guest, calmly standing there beneath her cloak while she looked out to the factory just as he did minutes ago.

“It’s a wondrous sight, isn't it?” he asked, having seldom the chance to really talk to this ever odd equine.

BB simply stood there in silence for a few minutes, letting the flames that burst forth to dance in her vision, literally watching her visions come to life, “It’s quite the sight… one I had only dreamed of, until now.”

“I must ask, if you would be inclined to answer…” the king opened up with, feeling like one of his subjects as if they were addressing him.

“I believe you have earned my respect, king,” the mare added on with a tinge of gratitude in her voice.

“Well, where ever did you get the idea for some of these weapons?” Rhorkin’s wondered that question for the longest of times, though when they first started their dealings it was all for the most part in simple letters. It wasn’t until recently that BB, as she called herself, made it out to his kingdom to ‘inspect’ the work as she put it. “Surely you must have been a great engineer where ever you resided prior to this. I would even go to guess that you came straight out of Equestrias’ Canterlot…”

In the second of silence between them, the mare filled the void with a soft, almost school filly giggle. “You flatter me, Rhorkin,” she laid on with as much of a sultry tongue as she could, “Though I can't take that complement… I simply was a mare that understood machines of our time, better than she understood most others her kind,” she admitted, dropping her head slightly, “What I did wasn’t all that hard. Throw in a few chemicals, pressures, and minerals and you can get quite a volatile reaction… with rather remarkable results.”

“I’ll say…” he said while taking a place next to his partner, both of them looking out in awe and respect of the work being done, “I heard what you did when you first met Chief Reinhart, quite impressive putting down one of his own to get his attention.”

“It was a gamble I’ll admit, though it had the desired effect…”

“And now you have similar weapons being built to aid our own efforts…” the king walked over to his chair at the table, and slid open the built in drawer. The small space was never really used that much by the king for the purpose it was built, paperwork and such, instead he found a different use. Producing two glasses, the king popped the top off of a bottle of fine gin, and filled both with the pristine clear liquid.

Even under the cloak, BB heard the top of the bottle and the filling of the glasses, “Expensive stuff I hear…” she eyed the bottle, “though I thought gryphons preferred their barrel aged bourbons?”

“Gin has always been an acquired taste of mine, I got it from my father,” the king answered while stowing away the bottle, before he walked right back up to her with the glasses in claw.

“To what is the occasion?” the mare asked, churning the glass in her own metallic claws while she smelled the concoction.

“To our… partnership,” the king answered simply at first, “after all you have given both me and the chief the claw in the door that we would need, to best Grace and her own forces when this war goes hot,” they clanked the crystal together, toasting to his words, “I merely would like to know one simple thing…”

BB read the gryphons face while she took a sip, and unable to see and trace of dishonesty, she was inclined to push forward, “And what might that be?”

“…Your name, out of curiosity of course,” he responded while taking his own sip, “After all ‘BB’ can’t be what you were born with, and any hatchling could guess that those are simple initials…”

The mare stood there quietly, tapping a claw against the crystal. While at first it may have been her idea to keep her name secret, mostly for her own affairs, she has realized that even if her name were to get out it wouldn’t make a difference in the slightest.

‘The outcome will still be the same,’ she concluded as she laid her eyes on the king.

With a gentle claw, the mare set the glass on the window sill, before she turned her attention to her own cloak. Reaching up to her ears, she proceeded to pull the hood back and for the first time in a long time in front of another, the mare revealed herself to their eyes.

The short cut black mane rested just above her shoulders, while the metallic glint in her eyes sparkled against the light of the room, just as her coat picked up on the same trait and shined even brighter over the years. If it wasn’t for the past experiences of seeing the mare deal first hoof with insubordination of others trying to undermine her. Rhorkin would have looked at this mare and seen true wonder, as he started to lose himself in her features.

Though before his senses got too far ahead of themselves, the king looked higher up on her head, and it was then that his own eyes started to take in the full truth about this mare. A horn protruded itself from her head, but not one of natural formation. One of metal, fastened to her own skull as a series of rubies, opals, and topazes dotted along its surface. Leading down to the base that has healed over from years past, to the point that it would almost look normal in contrast to her coat.

‘What would bring a mare to do this to herself?’ He wondered silently. However, in that instance he not only grew more curious about her, but also grew in the respect he held. ‘Whatever she has gone through in life, I can only take pity on the one who will be on the receiving end of her wrath,’ Rhorkin muttered to himself, watching as the mare looked back to the glass next to the window.

With her train of thought well on its way to what she desired, BB allowed her mind to clear up. As a crude cut opal on her horn lit up, and produced a cool cobalt aura from it. In an instant the aura wrapped itself around the glass, and in one swift move she brought it to her lips as she allowed the liquid to break the ice between them and calm her nerves even more so.

“My name… Is Bronze Bolt,” she replied with an expression that rivaled that of her minds state, “I preferred spending my life around machinery more than other creatures, so in time, I allowed it to become a part of me…”

With his question of why still knocking back and forth in his head, Rhorkin snapped out of his daze and rested a pair of tranquil eyes on the still stunning mare. “Well, Ms. Bolt, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance for what I feel is the first time,” he cooed while taking one of her metallic talons in his own as he kissed it gingerly with his beak, “you are a mare of many secrets it would seem.”

With that simple but sweet gesture, Bronze allowed a slight tinge of crimson to fill her cheeks at she looked upon the king with a sincere smile, ‘More than you ever will know…’ she muttered to herself. Allowing certain thought to stay just with her.