Purity Ebonshield

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Estelar Siete Pureza Ébanoscudo had drunk her fill of the oil of failure.

All of her plans had come to nought -- or the nearest thing to that, at the very least.

Defeated, she faced the colt whom she was sworn to protect, but had instead led into the deepest trouble.

To his credit, the Engineer Royal maintained his calm and collected stature, his hands resting just above his armored leather skirt on the crimped waist-rim of his cuirass. While the other members of his retinue looked at Ebonshield, each with wide-eyed surprise, furrowed-brow confusion, or what in the case of the Specialist Glamerspear appeared to be a fury most cold and righteous, their VIP spoke with a voice forceful yet dispassionate.

"What do you mean, disobeyed? Is that why she doesn't seem to like you?"

There was much to answer for; the orders of the Reverend Mother Superior were as good a place as any at which to begin. She bowed her head to the one who held her key to the surface world in his hands.

"Yes, Great Lord, partially this is so..." Remembering that his people's customs more closely resembled those of Equestrians rather than the Children, she rose back up again before continuing. "...You heard the Reverend Mother say that she advised the Princess Luna to select a Lunar instead of a Star to be the fourth member of your quaternion; this advice was given with the energy and forcefulness considerable."

She shrugged, and she couldn’t help but smile halfheartedly as she remembered the incident in question, having been present for the whole thing. "But, as the legends tell us, the Mother-of-Stars is headstrong, and not easily swayed from a chosen course of action. She refused the Reverend Mother, insisting that a Star, a soldier, must be found to match the Royal Guardsponies already in your service. And so, shortly after the Mother-of-Stars made her request for volunteers to the masters of the Stars, inviting them to present their finest from which she would select, Mother Carmen commanded them all in secret that none must be found willing, available, or able."

Anonymous nodded. "So that Her Majesty would be forced, in the end, to select a Lunar anyways."

Ebonshield gave a small bow in return. "Precisely, Great Lord."

Sighing, she looked wistfully off towards the entryway. "But, avaricious of the prospect for free access to the daylight surface, and also resentful of her attempt to thwart the Princess, I defied the command of the Reverend Mother. And thus, when the Mother-of-Stars returned to choose her candidate, she found only one presented to her: myself."

From just past the group of the VIP and his Equestrian bodyguards, the Balladeer of Ghosts angrily tapped his crutch on the sand for attention. "A display most shameful! The 'masters' of the Stars, feh! Stars ought to have the spine to stand up to her machinations!"

With that outburst complete, the Engineer Royal turned away from Ignacio and back to Ebonshield, and she nodded towards her admirer. "That they did not should tell you, O Great Lord, the power which wields the Reverend Mother. You handled her well, I think, and gave little ground, but beware if you should deny her anything of substance. She does not enjoy losing."

Anonymous stroked his chin with one hand. "You make it sound like a conflict is inevitable."

The Estelar shrugged and shook her head, remorseful. "I have known her long enough to say without a doubt that there will be, Great Lord, unless you are prepared to bow to her will completely. This was the reason that I wished to delay your introduction and give you time to habituate yourself to our ways. But in this, I have failed you completely and absolutely, and I must render to you the apologies profuse and sincere."

Getting down on her forelegs, she bowed, and this time, she brought her head all the way down, and remained there. "Please forgive my mistake, Great Lord Anonymous. Although I have come to serve you partially out of my own greed, I scheduled your entrance here out of altruism, to better fulfill the wish of the Mother-of-Stars that you may come to know the Children. I will understand, and will ensure that the Her Majesty the Princess will as well, if you wish no longer to employ my services as the result of this failure. I will also understand completely if you should wish to never again set foot inside the Rookery."

Surprisingly, Anonymous laughed. "Haha! Sorry -- I shouldn't laugh while you're apologizing, Sergeant. But I absolutely cannot dismiss you now and, especially since we have permission, we absolutely will be returning to the Rookery -- tonight, even."

Confused, she looked up at him, keeping her head down low. Corporal Bound and Specialist Glamerspear beheld him with silent incredulity, but the Royal Engineer just smiled down at the sergeant, beckoning her up with a wave of his arm.

"Come on, get back up. I accept your apology, and I want to get some training done so we can have a rest before coming back down in here tonight."

The batpony started to get back up to her hooves, when Specialist Glamerspear instantly snapped up at Anonymous. "You can't be serious, sir! They nearly tried to kill us when we came in this time!"

The Royal Engineer nodded. "Sure, but we have permission from the Reverend Mother, now -- and that means something, doesn't it, Sergeant?"

Still puzzled, she nodded. "Yes, having come to an agreement with the Mother Carmen, we shall receive no more than perhaps dirty looks from the Righteous Hatchets at the gates -- and I imagine that these will be directed at me exclusively."

At her answer, the Engineer Royal redoubled his smile. "Perfect. Because I want to know everything there is to know about this."

From behind, he pulled out her dagger -- the one which she had launched into his shadow-clone. He held the knife by the thin, cylindrical grip which attached the weapon to the spring mechanisms on her legs, and all three Equestrian ponies looked up at the dagger, scrunching up their faces in confusion, but they seemed unable to see anything of significance -- the same with Ebonshield.

After a brief inspection, Corporal Bound turned to him. "I don't understand, sir. It's just a polished iron dagger."

Smirking, he pointed at the blade. "Look closer, Corporal. See the minuscule, irregular bands of light and dark across the surface? Ever seen that in an iron weapon before?"

The corporal shook her head.

Anonymous looked at Ebonshield and raised an eyebrow. "That's because this is crucible steel -- and I want the recipe, Sergeant."

Ebonshield could not have been more confused than she was at this moment now. "No comprende-- pardon, I do not understand, Great Lord. While true that this is a weapon particularly fine, most of the blades of the Children have an appearance similar."

That just made him smile even wider, and he laughed from deep in his belly. "Haha, of course! Not much copper and tin on the moon, is there? But there's plenty of iron -- and carbon, too. And when your people got banished up there, they had to make do with what they had." Shaking the weapon in his hand, he looked down at everypony else. "While Equestria's never been forced to give up bronze, the batponies faced the same challenges as my people did when their favorite material ran short -- and came to the same conclusion: creating steel."

Chuckling to himself, he turned the blade over and admired the weapon, running his fingers along the narrow fuller from the guard up to the point. "Except, where my people still had enough bronze around for comparison, I bet you batponies are so deprived of the stuff, you don't even know how wondrous a material you've got."

Nodding at Specialist Sparkshower, he waved the blade in her direction. "Why, I bet you could gouge up her armor by slashing it with this dagger, and you wouldn't even chip the blade. Wootz steel! Damascus steel! My people crossed mountains and oceans to trade for the stuff; conquerors claimed it as a prize, preferring it to gold and silver."

After having mesmerized everyone with his story, the Royal Engineer crouched down and held the dagger up in front of Ebonshield’s face. "If there's someone in the Rookery here who knows how to make this from the raw ingredients, I want to meet them. Tonight, if possible. I need the formula and their expertise -- and, a bit like your Reverend Mother, I won't take 'no' for an answer."

Flicking the blade around, he presented the dagger grip-first to her, and she hesitantly reached up to take her weapon back. "There is a farrier -- a blacksmith -- in the Rookery, though they work from bars imported from the Moon which already have this pattern... But I am sure that by speaking with them we can find the additional contacts which you require."

The instant she lifted the blade from his grasp, Anonymous balled his hand up into a fist and jerked the appendage back towards his head. "Perfect! Sergeant, you're going to save me weeks -- or even months! -- of trial-and-error experimentation." Looking around, beaming with confidence and energy, he slammed that fist into his free hand.

As Ebonshield deftly reloaded her hoof-blade device, she was reminded of the power and the resilience of the shadow-creature which nearly bested her. No wonder Ignacio was able to conjure a beast so mighty, if the Great Lord was so energetic!

"A working steam-car, and a shortcut to steel in the same week! Fantastic, absolutely fantastic! Now, let's get to fighting! Forget building things for a moment, I want to smash some stuff!"

Still dazed from the most rapid shift in emotions, she looked up at her present employer. "You have no more questions for me, Great Lord? About the things which have happened just now?"

Smiling, he looked her over, then glanced at the rest of the quaternion. "Oh, I certainly do -- and I'm sure your comrades do, as well. But let's take care of those later. I've got too much energy to stand around and talk any more! Come on, have your apprentices bring those target dummies out here!"

Crouching down, he picked up his mace. "Bronze isn't dead quite yet, and I want to see what I can make it do!" Without waiting for a reply, he stepped away and pulled his shield off his back.

‘Shadows below!’

The batpony still felt deeply confused by what had happened. Still, it was as Master Draxon had told her: 'Life is never stagnation.'

‘Certainly there is no stagnation here!’

With her battle-sisters appearing just as perplexed, she regained her confidence and called out to her initiates to resume the training.

‘After all, when the music calls one to dance, one must dance!’

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Suggested reading: Wootz steel

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