But all is not well in Hoofington (A MLP FiM Rp, 3 slots open, PM GM if interested.)

[Korak the Mad]

Gearwork nodded and put away the scrolls he had been studying into his saddlebags. He was somewhat glad that they were going to go train, but he was even more so that they were going to be going near the mines. He remembered that during the storm, before any of them had even really joined together, he had noticed that there was a strange light emanating from the mines, and Gearwork wanted to see what had been going on in there during the storm.

As he and the others headed towards the place where they were to train, Gearwork started to feel a little uneasy about them all going in at once. But when he saw where Midnight was leading them, he felt more at ease. It was a spot that was incredibly well-hidden, even though Gearwork often came up to the mines to check on his machines, to see if anything needed repairing, as well as to just be alone, he had never spotted the place they were about to enter.

After they entered the cave, Gearwork took out several lightcrystals and sent them towards the edges of the cave. To his surprise it was much larger than he expected and that the crystals he took out were not sufficient enough to light to area. He was about to take a few more out when he heard Aznoth make a noise that sounded like gurgling growl, and the cave suddenly lit up with such a radiance that temporarily blinded him, it was mainly due that his eyes had already adjusted to the dark. After his eyes recovered a few moments later he saw where the light was coming from the rocks themselves. 'Spell-activated lightstones' Gearwork thought 'that is something that could come in useful later on.'

Gearwork then returned back to the group, and put down his things except the scrolls that he found that taught a spell to reflect and return another spell back at its caster. He quickly went over it and put it down back with the rest of his things. He then waited for the training to begin.

 

[Orinon]

Midnight prepared a few notes,
"alright we're going to split into teams, me and Aznoth shall go against Trixie, Gearworks, Twilight and Rarity."
"But Midnight your proposing to face off against all of us with only your beholder to help you."
"yes now remember the color spell i taught you on the way here, you'll need it for this round.
The rules are simple if you get color changed twice your out, if i get color changed once I'm out, same for Aznoth."
Midnight smiled then began to 'blink' rapidly he'd teleport all over the cave making him a difficult target.
"Argh, just- hold
STILL"
shouted Twilight trying to get midnight, he eventually held still but she forgot that Midnight had other trick and he reflected the spell

Spoiler: If curious how it turned out

http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=mlp+creator#/d47efz4
and enter this into the pony code
2S2S000100FF8200FEE4D40010164007CUN1837004000000P1320072FE00AE0N117F3FCC004CB2
sadly it may not work, if it doesn't twilight was turned orange

 

[Korak the Mad]

Gearwork watched as Twilight's color changed after her spell was reflected back at her. Twilight, who was now very annoyed, collected herself and cast another spell, this time at Aznoth. The spell was about to hit Aznoth, but it was suddenly deflected by one of its tentacles, and was sent back at Twilight at a much greater speed. Twilight barely had enough time to react and was able deflect it, but was hit by another spell before she even realized it. "You're out, Twilight." Gearwork said "You'll be better next time. Of that I'm sure."

Trixie was the next one up and she lasted a little longer than Twilight, but she was out for the same reason why Twilight was out. She was hit be another spell before she could react to it.

Gearwork decided to work with Rarity with this match, because he knew that she was dreading having to get dirty, and he didn't want to hear her complain more than she ought to. Gearwork watched as Midnight, teleport all over the cave and make himself a difficult target, but Gearwork had already familiarized his pattern of teleporting. Gearwork located the next spot to where he was going to be and started to cast the spell, when he saw Aznoth cast a spell directly at him, and he was forced to change his spell, and deflected it back. When he cast the spell and deflected it he immediately moved his body just as another spell whisked by his face. Gearwork then started teleporting all over the cave to avoid getting hit, and he then saw Rarity cast a spell, and then cast a deflecting spell and keep it going. He saw Aznoth suddenly cast eight spells at them, two for Gearwork and six for Rarity. Gearwork was able to dodge a spell and deflect the other towards where Midnight was about to appear. Rarity was able to successfully deflect all the spells directed towards her but was not able to land a spell on Aznoth.

The spell that Gearwork earlier deflected towards Midnight was deflected towards Rarity and she was just able to deflect it at Aznoth. Aznoth was almost able to avoid it, but was struck on the very end of his foot. Rarity then sighed and lowered her defenses and was struck by a spell by Midnight. Midnight started to teleport across the cavern at a greater speed, all the while sending out color spells in rapid succession. Gearwork was able to deflect and dodge most of them, but Rarity wasn't so lucky, shortly after getting hit by the spell from Midnight she was hit by another spell, and was out. Gearwork was hit by a spell shortly afterwards, but he became more determined not to get hit, and started deflecting many more spells at him, and was able to cast a few of his own. He was then struck by a spell, in the middle of him dodging another, and he knew he was out.

 

[Orinon]

Midnight and Aznoth surveyed the effects they hadn't gotten hit once, they had some close calls but no effect, Trixie seemed to feel worse
"All this time studying after you, I- I thought I stood a chance."
"none of you should feel bad, Aznoth and I have spent a long time practicing our magic, Also I have mastered a spell that only a few older unicorns know of, I refer to it as Blinking, I can do it very rapidly, but as Gearworks noticed when I do it so quickly I very quickly form a pattern, lets rest, I want to take notes to establish a baseline."

 

[Korak the Mad]

Gearwork walked over to Twilight who was in a bitter mood, over her being beaten so quickly. She was already surrounded by Spike, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, who were trying to cheer her up. As he approached, Twilight looked at him with a look of anger and jealousy, and looked away.

"Try to cheer up, darling. It was only practice." said Rarity in a sincere tone.

"There's no need to fret, sugarcube. We all know that you'll do better next time." Applejack said.

"That's for certain." Spike responded. "Pretty soon, you'll be able to beat them without even trying."

Gearwork then said "I have a piece of advice that will definitely help you out next time. Observe how your opponent moves, and always be aware of your surroundings. If you want to train some more, I will gladly help you. That goes for you as well, Rarity."

He smiled slightly and started to head out towards the entrance of the cave. He was about half-way there when Twilight suddenly teleported in front of him. She opened her mouth to speak when Gearwork, knowing what she going to say, cut her off "--I will train with you, but not in here, and not right now. I will in a little while, but I would like to head over to my home first. I want to put the things I brought me away, and maybe grab something to eat." Twilight nodded and headed back towards the others.

As he neared the entrance he saw Rainbow Dash talking with his old friend Foxfire. They were just outside the cave entrance discussing how cool it was to watch the unicorns spar with each other, as well other things such as flight maneuvers and little tricks they've learned.

Pinkie was nowhere to be found.

It was mid-morning when Gearwork and the others headed towards town. As they entered the town Gearwork noticed that everything seemed the same as it was before the storm, everypony was doing their own thing. The group decided to stop and get some breakfast at one of the town's better known restaurants called "The Saltlick Lounge". When he and the others entered, they were greeted by the sudden heard "SURPRISE!!" followed by the sound of what sounded like an exploding squeak, and they were showered in confetti.

Gearwork looked to where it came from and saw Pinkie lunging towards him and the others ready to give them hugs. He stepped out of the way just she was about to hug him and instead landed face-first into the doorframe, hard. In less than a second after it happened, Pinkie was already up and hugging the others, including Midnight and Trixie, who seemed a little caught off-guard by her enthusiasm and peppy attitude.

They soon were able to sit down and order breakfast. While they waited, Gearwork apologized to Pinkie about avoiding her hug, but was quite impressed by her latent disregard of being affected from slamming head-first into things. Twilight asked him as to when and where they would be training, and Gearwork said it would be after they ate, and would be near his workshop. Satisfied with his answer she decided to talk to Midnight about the spells he knew and his knowledge of ancient pony history. Rarity on the other hoof, decided to talk to Gearwork about gems and their hidden abilities as well as his designs of machinery, especially the mechanical wings.

After they had finished eating and left the restaurant Midnight and Trixie started heading towards the observatory, while Gearwork and the others headed towards his workshop near the edge of town.

 

[Orinon]

Midnight and Trixie made for the observatory, however once inside they shut the curtains and turned off all the lights.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Positive, now that I know Gearworks is descended from the makers of the vaults, then that means only his amulet can open them and he may have been told how to handle the guardians left there."
Midnight's horn began to glow, he Trixie and Aznoth Vanished.


In an Unknown tunnel of the Hoofington Mines.
the three reappeared, they were at a metal door, the metal was undoubtedly Dark Iron, now that he had seen Gearworks mold it perfectly it was without a doubt his ancestors had made these vaults.
"But Midnight You've never been able to open the door."
"Yes but I also didn't know anything about shouting, even my knowledge of Secondary words of power was poor." he walked to a strange device made of Dark Iron,
"I believe this Iron had another special quality."
"What was that?"
Midnight tapped the horn and it made a ringing sound.
"I suspect this iron was made for resonating, it had to be strong to resist the power of a shout."
the device resembled a large horn however the wide end faced midnight and the narrow end was aimed at the door.
Midnight began to shout, his voice building in power the horn focused the shout at a specific spot in the door which caused the door to tremble ad shake.
"Midnight what if you bring the cave down on our heads?"
Aznoth floated close to Trixie, in years of study it had grown fond of her and jad developed a sense of loyalty to her.

 

[Korak the Mad]

When Gearwork and the others arrived at his workshop, he turned around to them and said, "Wait here one minute, I have to grab a few things that will help Twilight and Rarity train." He then went inside and few minutes later he came back out with six tall silverish staff-like contraptions with three legs each. On the top part of them stood a whitish-blue crystal and just below it were three prongs that surrounded the crystal but were higher than it. Gearwork placed these contraptions around the others in a circle.

"Ooh. What does it do?" asked Pinkie as she approached it with enthusiasm.

"Pinkie, I wouldn't do that if I were y--" Gearwork said just as Pinkie got struck by a bolt electricity from the staff that she was near, causing her mane and tail to crackle with static for few minutes after being shocked.

Pinkie then opened her mouth with smoke coming out and said "Spicy!"

Rainbow Dash and Foxfire started laughing hysterically after seeing that, and even Gearwork couldn't help but laugh a little at Pinkie's reaction. He then helped her up and brought her over to the side of his workshop, while Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Foxfire and Spike followed him, Twilight and Rarity shortly followed. Gearwork then walked back into the circle and said "As what Pinkie just showed us, I figured that you now know what these things can do. These are actually charging stations for some of my first creations for the mines. My creations originally used electricity, but as you just saw, there were. . . incidents. Too many ponies got electricuted and were injured, so I had to change my designs, so that they wouldn't get hurt anymore. Pinkie was close enough to trigger its defense mechanism and got shocked. These stations had the nasty habit of malfunctioning and shocking anypony who got near."

"So you brought us out here, just to elecricute us?!" yelled Rainbow Dash and charged at him. Gearwork dodged her and then saw that he shouldn't have, she was heading right for the same station that shocked Pinkie. The station started charging and was just about to strike Rainbow, when all of a sudden, a blue-green blur slammed into her causing her to move out of the way just as bolt of elecricity was released. The bolt flew straight towards Gearwork, and struck him.

The others gasped as they saw it strike him, except Rainbow who was still stunned by how fast Foxfire had flown to intercept her and that she had almost been electricuted. She looked at Foxfire who was not looking at her but was looking it the direction of Gearwork. She then turned her gaze to what the others were looking at, and what she saw scared her a little, there stood Gearwork, but his expression was not his normally calm expression, but a face twisted in anger, but it was his eyes that scared her the most. They were no longer that light metallic grey, but black, black as the darkest abyss. His body crackled from the electricity, and he moved very jaggedly as if he were a puppet being pulled by strings. He then looked at the contraption that had electricuted him, and then roared, his horn then glowed and the station then was thrown into the air, and Gearwork then followed it already holding a ruby telekinetically. When he reached the contraption he let loose a jet of fire that engulfed the machine and it fell back to the ground and landed in a smoldering and crackling, jumble of molten metal.

He then landed and walked over to Rainbow Dash and before he could get any closer Twilight let loose a spell that would stun him, but Gearwork saw it coming and deflected it with one of his dark iron wings. He approached Rainbow, who was now scared of what he would do but Foxfire seemed perfectly calm which frightened her even more. He opened his mouth and Rainbow expected him to roar and attack her, and closed her eyes, but instead he spoke in a calm voice if not somewhat annoyed tone saying "You're lucky that Foxfire saved you from being struck, it would have almost killed you, Rainbow Dash. I saw it coming and grounded myself and but still took quite a bit of damage. I'm sorry that all of you had to see that, I figure that you're quite frightened of me. There is no need for that, that reaction was quite unexpected even to me, but I only react like that if I get hurt, badly. That station had to be destroyed anyway, it was discharging electricity that was stronger than last and it would have killed one of us if it released another bolt and hit us."

Gearwork headed back into his workshop and brought out another station and placed it where the other once was. "I augmented these things to send out small bolts of electricity to help us learn how to deflect spells and other projectiles. They will only shock you, and it will feel like you've been struck by static elecricity, not lightning. Let's begin." Twilight and Rarity approached Gearwork cautiously, but when they saw the look in his eyes they relaxed. "Ready?" he asked. They nodded and Gearwork's horn started glowing and the stations started humming. The bolts started firing at a slow steady rate and were being deflected easily. Gearwork's horn glowed again and the machines started firing at a faster rate and at different intervals. He made the machines fire faster and faster and at random intervals over time and by the end of the day both Rarity and Twilight were deflecting the spells with ease and were able to predict were the spells were to be coming from and deflect or dodge the bolts of electricity.

It was near sunset that Gearwork ended the training session and started putting away the stations and again apologized about reacting like he did. The others excepted his apology and they started heading back into town to grab something to eat and try and find Midnight and Trixie. He knew Twilight wanted a rematch, but he was more interested in what he might have found out while they were training.

 

[Orinon]

as the group looked around they suddenly heard someone fast approaching, they turned and saw Trixie, she was running, in total panic
"Help help help." she stopped just short of hitting twilight.
"Trixie what's going on what happened to Midnight?"
"I don't know, we were at the door, Midnight said he knew how to open it now he knew about dark Iron, the an the door was opening he teleported me and Aznoth away, Aznoth won't let me go back. I think something happened but I don't know."
"What door? I never saw a door made of what did you say Dark Iron?"
"It's in a deep part of the caves Midnight used spells to hide it from all the ponies here even you Gearworks, He said your ancestors must have built it and you can get in and handle so,me sort of guardians, but I don't know for sure."
Trixie was Panicking she was behaving like she had lost her teacher, and her best friend.
"I don't know what to do, Midnight taught me how to reach the door through the caves but I don't know why he forced me and Aznoth away."

 

[Korak the Mad]

"What did he do? Enter one of the Vaults?!" Gearwork cried, while put a hoof to his face. "What was he thinking? I'm pretty sure that using a shout or other spell to open it would trigger any sort of defense mechanism that my ancestors created. Did you just say, guardians? That's even worse, why would he do that?" He looked at Trixie who was clearly freaking out and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I know your worried about him, I am too, but I need you to calm down and take us there. We still have time. We don't know what we're going to face, but we need stay calm and focused."

Trixie started to calm down and then said "I don't know what happened, he told me about how Dark Iron resonates and he started to perform a shout. The tunnel then started to shake, that was when Aznoth teleported me."

Gearwork looked at her thought of what could have happened. "We need to get to the mines, I need to grab a tunneler, just in case there's been a cave-in." Trixie started to shake, thinking that her mentor could be in grave danger caused her to almost collapse. "Trixie. Midnight will be fine, I promise you. I'll make sure of it." She nodded, and the group rushed towards the mines.

When they reached the entrance, Gearwork ran in and shortly came back out with a large drill on his back, and had many pieces of metal coming out of his saddlebags and said "I have what we need. Trixie can you take us to where you and Midnight were?" Trixie nodded and started walking towards the entrance to the tunnel, when she stopped she was standing by what looked like regular rock-face, but she walked right through it and disappeared. Gearwork quickly figured that it was a cloaking spell 'Smart move. One wouldn't normally think that the entrance would be cloaked' he thought to himself. He followed Trixie, but he noticed that Aznoth seemed quite apprehensive and was looking all around him. The group soon reached the gate and found Midnight, unconscious, and the gate sealed tight.

 

[Orinon]

Midnight stirred awake
"Oh that was a stupid idea."
he admitted rubbing his head.
"Midnight, what happened?"
"I had hoped opening the door would have been as simple as casting a spell, but apparently there are defenses in the way, My shout was turned onto me."he shook his head, the force had severely thrown off his balance.
"My only guess is that the door requires some sort of specific phrase, And some sort of key. oh, I am truly suffering the price of foolishness, many tales tell of a wizard being foolish with magic one story is my favorite, it shows how one should never be too bold."

 

[Korak the Mad]

Gearwork smiled as he saw Midnight stir himself awake, and smiled even wider when he heard Midnight express great humility. "Great spellcasters always know when to show humility, and they learn from their mistakes." Gearwork said calmly. "Let me take a look at this door, I might be able to figure it out." He then walked over to a small panel and closely looked at it. He took out everything that he grabbed earlier when they first arrived at the mines. He then took out the scope from his saddlebag that he had grabbed earlier before they even headed out to Canterlot and looked at the mechanisms of it. He then turned towards the others while moving the scope from his eye and said "This is the lock, not what Midnight used. That is a decoy in which is meant to distract most ponies. See how well hidden this is, barely noticable."

Gearwork then pulled out his amulet and placed it in the lock, and it conneted with and audible "Click". Gearwork's horn then glowed and the cavern started to rumble with the sounds of tumblers and gears moving within the walls. After a few minutes of this the gate started to slowly open, and after it fully opened the amulet dropped onto the ground. Gearwork picked it and put it back on and said "It takes both the key and an affinity to move metal to unlock these gates, or at least this one anyway. I suspect that opening the others might not be as easy as this one." Gearwork walked over to Midnight and asked "Are you all right?" Midnight nodded and Gearwork responded in kind.

With that the group headed inside.

 

[Orinon]

they entered the Vault, Midnight took great caution, he knew of the older tales, The power of shouting was immense, it could control ponies, animals wind and weather.
the walls of the chamber were covered in pictures, carved into the walls.
"Amazing this is a record of their history told through elegant images, each image serves as multiple symbols." Midnight observed, he came to one, it depicted two of each tribe, and from the heavens were coming to ponies with horns and wings.
"The coming of Celestia and Luna, but it would seem a detail that many have neglected is intact."
Twilight, wasn't pleased at Midnight calling the many texts flawed
"What details? there's the council," she gestured at the six
"and around in the back is many subjects"
Midnight smiled
"Yes but notice these 5"
he gestured to 5 unicorns around the background, they all had simple hooded robes, midnight recognized them from the vision in his dreams.
"The masters of ancient magic, and look on of them looks like he's hiding something."
sure enough one of them had a scroll but was trying very hard to conceal it.
"This is the official welcoming of the sisters, so then that means."
he trotted along and soon found a massive portrait, this one showed what was definitely discord ruling over the ponies, Midnight was able to see the many pictures.
"As Discords cruelty continued the ponies became desperate, they begged for help," he pointed at the robed unicorns who were listening to several ponies,
"They likely knew that no shout existed that could stop discord, but these scrolls show the creation of, oh my."
"what's wrong?"
"The Shout needed to be tested, the council was of 5, unicorns have 4 legs and one head, and they have 5 sense, 5 seemed special."
they all nodded
"However does not every pony posses a tail? and aren't they're rumors of a supposed sixth sense?"
"ooh oooh like my pinkie sense."
"Yes there is a secret 6th member, a long running tradition, the council renews itself, and the master of the five becomes the new master of the new six. they live in seclusion contemplating their power."
"what does this have to do with Discord and the shout they made?"
"Everything, a Grand-master is highly gifted in the way of the voice, they alone in their mastery can create a shout, and proving your worthy to surpass them involves being able to surpass them, your only advantage being if you did make a shout they have no knowledge of it. Look here, the Master comes telling he needs to create a new shout to help, but the Grand-master refuses, the master could not surpass him in his power over shouting, as we see though, the Master soon learns the Grand-master's secret, this Grand-master hasn't been surpassed in centuries, he learned the grand-master's new shout was one that bestowed immortality."
"So it was created by a pony to stay in power." Gearworks said, he didn't approve of this grand-masters actions.
"Yes, The master practiced hard and put together the words of power, and when he used it the Grand-master's Immortality was taken away, the master, realizing his error made peace."
Midnight was pointing at a picture of one hooded pony shouting, the older unicorn was overpowered.

"They recorded their history, showing the rise and fall of shouting, They sealed the magic away.
Midnight came to an altar, statues of unicorns stood tall, their faces appearing stoic.
"The power of shouting has been sealed away, and sealed from those like Dusk-shadow who use their power for personal gain."
"So how do we get the scroll?" asked Trixie
"This vault hold history, it retells of the old ways. Back then they would share knowledge, words of power were shared, neither asking for anything in return."
Midnight sat, he was truly stumped.

 

[Korak the Mad]

"Altruism and generosity." Gearwork said. "It tells us that we must learn to overcome any sort of desire for power, knowledge, wealth, anything that could corrupt us. Look at Dusk-Shadow and Dark Eclipse, ponies that desired power and would do anything to achieve it. We must learn to give and not to recieve. Oh, I sound like a holiday card, but in all seriousness we must learn to do that." He took out the scrolls that he found in the canister and handed them to Midnight, Twilight, Trixie, and Rarity. "We must give knowledge and not ask nothing in return."

Gearwork looked at the statues, elegant and ancient, but he noticed something, more like sensed something about them. They weren't just statues, but in fact these were the guardians, the watchers of the vaults. He walked slowly past them and towards the scroll. Just as he was about to touch it, he saw one of the statues eyes flash.

The others saw Gearwork walk up to the scroll, and they saw the statues' eyes flash. Afterwards he was just standing there as though he were frozen in place. Gearwork found himself no longer in the cavern with the others, but instead in a large council hall and in front of a group of 5 unicorns. They were each wearing a different colored robe, and with different symbols on them.

Who are you? Why are you here? The middle pony bellowed. Gearwork noticed that this pony had the most decorated robe and realized that he was the groups leader.

Gearwork put his right hoof to his left shoulder and bowed slightly, as it was his way of greeting anypony, royal or otherwise. He then rose and said "My name is Gearwork Hastemaker," As soon as he said that the other members of the council started to murmur to each other. Gearwork continued "I've come with my friends to retrieve a scroll with words of power and a piece armor that will aid us in keeping Equestria free from tyranny."

Back in the cavern, Midnight decided to see what happened to Gearwork, and as soon as he approached, he too, was suddenly frozen as well.

The head unicorn face was no longer stoic, but instead had an expression of sheer annoyance. He then bellowed at Gearwork "Ignorant, arrogant, foolish pony! How dare you! You suddenly appear out of nowhere, and then claim that you and your friends, by the way I might add, nopony is with-- The head pony's face suddenly was no longer looking at him, but Midnight who had suddenly appeared behind him.

 

[Orinon]

Midnight bowed low.
"Greeting ancient guardians, I come with little knowledge."
"And I suppose you believe we shall give it top you freely?"
"Those were the ancient ways but I shall in turn give you a gift
"A gift? and what would that be?"
Midnight focused he had studied one of the carved images, one that had depicted ancient unicorns sharing words of power.
Gearworks saw a stream of magic exit midnight horn and enter one of the statues eyes
"I give you the Clear Skies shout, freely."
the guardians bowed their heads low and before midnight a scroll appeared. whats more a dark black fluid covered Midnight's hoof, it formed into a piece of Armour and solidified. then they were back tin the vault.

 

[Korak the Mad]

Gearwork looked at Midnight, impressed and said "That piece of armor is yours, you earned it. I thought that I had to share knowledge with everyone that came with us, but it was knowledge that had to be shared with the guardians. There was something about that head unicorn that seemed familiar, I didn't like the way he looked at us. Also, when I told them my full name, the other guardians seemed converse positively amongst themselves. The head unicorn seemed to get hostile more towards me, afterwards." Midnight walked towards the group, but Gearwork couldn't help but turn back towards the guardians to get a closer look at them. "I have to check something out, the head unicorns face, there is something familiar about it and I can't quite place it."

Gearwork looked at the statues and memorized their faces, the four that were around the head unicorn had calm and stoic faces, clearly kind and wise ponies. But, the head unicorns statue's face had an annoyed if not angry look to it, this one was not kind whatsoever, and there was familiarity to it. He then placed it, and the answer made his blood run cold.

This was Dusk-Shadow's father or grandfather, possibly even her brother. It made sense now, how she was able to become immortal, how she knew shouts, and her magical ability. She was descended from one of these guardians.

 

[Orinon]

Midnight looked at the piece of armour and scroll, something in the back of his head was buzzing something was bothering him.
When Gearworks revealed the statues likeness and relation to these guardians Midnight began to ponder.
"These Guardians, they were keepers of words of power, Dusk mane, yes she may have been one of the guardian clans."
he was deep in thought, he observed the effigies, they had been carved thousands of years ago, but were still in fine detail.
"Let's move on, I feel like we shouldn't stay."
he walked at a brsik pace, Something was bothering him, he didn't know what though.

 

[Korak the Mad]

Gearwork followed Midnight out of the cave, but not without grabbing the pieces of the drill that he brought with him. He dropped the pieces back at the entrance of the mine, and rejoined the group shortly afterwards. He saw Twilight looking at one of the scrolls that he gave to her, before he met the guardians.

Gearwork looked at Midnight, who seemed troubled by something, but also had a look of puzzlement on his face. Gearwork walked up to him and heard a slight ringing noise and asked if he could see the piece of armor and the scroll quickly. Midnight obliged and handed him the scroll and then the piece of armor. The scroll was like any other, except it did radiate some magical energy. But when he touched the piece of armor, he immediately dropped it. It held a strange charge to it and it made his head ache. He then pulled out the original copy of "Elements and Armor" and quickly looked through it. He then found a passage that could explain why he felt that way when he touched it.

It read: "As crystals hold certain energies that are akin to some ponies and other beings, so are pieces of Dark Iron. Dark Iron is a metal that is created when metal is merged with the energies of gems, and as such retains those energies. Each piece has an energy that matches the personality of certain beings, and repels others that don't match it."

Gearwork knew immediately that even though Midnight passed the test to recieve it, it wasn't akin to his energies, nor was it akin to Gearwork's. Gearwork knew how some stones had vastly different energies, and he remembered how some gems would crack, break, and there were even a few that exploded when he tried to use them. Even though he carried many differnt gems with him, he had chosen each of them carefully.

He then saw Twilight, who was still reading the scroll that he gave her, step and kick it. But something odd occurred when she hit it, it didn't move very far and it seemed to be almost magnetically attracted to her. She looked away from the scroll and picked it up without any reaction and offered it back to Midnight.

<spoiler=Sorry if I'm going a little nuts>I know this sounds somewhat crazy, but it does make some sense in a metaphysical way.

 

[Orinon]

The ponies returned to Midnight's observatory, Midnight was intrigued by how the armour itself was particular to certain individuals this gave him reson to beleives the pieces of armour had a specific purpose much like the unrefined elements.
"There's an interting occurnce in shouting, as you learn words of power your shouts slowly gain in strength, Dusk-shadow, is likely only more powerful inshouting due to her ancestral training. she is one of the few with the ancient tribe in her blood line.
"What about you midnight?'
"I haven't found a shred of evidence towardsa my lineage, I was an orphan, My parents I never knew, I simply know about shouting by my research. My scroll was with me when I was put in the orphange, I remember getting angry and in doing so I unleashed the power of ancient magic, afterwards They made me promise to nevewr try it again."
Gearworks looked at midnight, he now realized Midnight was a lost soul, he had no parents to guide him.
"the only family I have is the family I made with Aznoth Trixie and you guys. Your all the family I need."

 

[Korak the Mad]

Gearwork smiled at what Midnight said. Gearwork very rarely ever had any friends growing up, and his family was small and scattered to the wind. He never had any siblings, but he was such good friends Foxfire that he had considered her his sister, and would look out for her.

"Midnight," Gearwork said "Before this storm showed up I never really knew much about you, and I considered you an acquaintance. Yet, as we traveled I truly saw your true self, and I became friends with you, so much so that I have considered you a brother."

Midnight started to do some research on the armor, and Gearwork was interested and researching on how to make Dark Iron. He took out the scroll on how to make it and saw that it would take more than one pony to create it. He asked Rarity to join him and see if she could help him try and create a piece of Dark Iron. Twilight decided to join and watch, to see something possibly be forged that hasn't for over a thousand years. Gearwork took out a few pieces of iron and steel and started to mold them. Rarity had different stones hovering above her, they started to glowing, and the energy merged with the molding metal. The metal changed color and Gearwork suddenly felt the energy of the raw Element of Harmony stone in his pocket surge. He took it out while still creating the Dark Iron, but he immediately stopped, Rarity did the same. The stone's energy was much stronger and glowed with an intense brightness, and it started to dim as soon as he stopped working on making the Dark Iron.

Gearwork put the stone between both him and Rarity, and started to work on creating the metal. As before the stone started to glow brighter and brighter, and Gearwork tossed a pair of tinted goggles towards Rarity, who put them on, he then did the same. After a little while Gearwork knew that he had created the metal but found it much easier to mold and shape with the stones giving energy to it, and he decided to create a chest plate based on the vision that he saw, slightly augmented, but almost the same.

As soon as it was almost complete, the unrefined Element, suddenly launched itself directly into the armor and lodged itself in the center of it. As it did, the stone itself started to change its shape and formed into the shape of a gear, and the area around the stone also changed color. Instead of the area being the color of Dark Iron, it had now turned silver.

Both Gearwork and Rarity looked at each other in silence, both knowing what had happened. Twilight was in puzzlement, unable to determine what had just happened, and beside her stood both Trixie and Aznoth.

 

[Orinon]

Midnight was looking through his books, He knew how to enter the many vaulkts and they had much knowlegde not just the shouts but their own hostory, this was important, using words of power required an understandiung of words, however one way to obtain this was to look at the context it was created in. this was what troubled him in Deus rend, he knew that this shout was made using hatred and fear, this was most dangerous to fill yourself with that kind of hatred was to risk closing your heart, the clear skies shoput was used to preserve the beuty oif the sky asnd bring joy, To use a word of power you filled youirself with the emotions in the shout.

Midnight readied his saddle bag filling it with neccesary supplies, he prpeared several extra bags, he knew his friends wouldn't let him go alone, besdies he would need the help of someone who knew the ever free forest.
sorry I've been away for so long Moving and getting internet up has been crazy