A Clandestine Attempt at Adventure [Closed]

[Halide]

It was, all in all, a fairly cool August afternoon in Stalliongrad - not that this meant much, it was still warm enough for clothes to be entirely optional, depending on one's trade and social standing. A bit of a quiet day, though, but such was reasonably normal for a Thursday afternoon this time of the year. After all, one tended to get armor in the spring or the fall, and leave the adventuring for the warmth of summer or the chill of winter. There were a number of trades-mares and stallions open for business - one business in particular, though, stood out. A smithy, a somewhat small one, in the merchant district - a bit out of place, but it had done well enough there, for the time being. From the outside, it seemed sturdier than most of the shops, a fairly stocky-looking stone wood and metal affair, centred around a thick stone chimney. A bit out of place, perhaps, as most of the forges were in the somewhat distant Kuznitza district, but nevertheless there. Outside, a small and empty cart waited next to the doorway, nearly hiding the sign that proudly announced, in both Stallian and Equestrian, 'Metalhoof Smithy - Made-to-order and custom armour, jewelry and more available here'. A fairly reputable establishment, if anypony thought to check, though it was in the hooves of a relatively new owner, passed from father to son upon the former's retirement.

But, for all of its outer appearances, the interior of the smithy held an altogether different atmosphere...

"Stolen? AGAIN!?" A heavy sigh, and a deep breath. "This is being, what, second shipment where you are bringing no silver, no gold, no gems, and only half of iron or steel I have ordered! What am I supposed to be forging with this?" The budding blacksmith shook his head, pacing slowly about behind the counter, his prosthetic metal hoof clanking with every fourth step he took. "I ran out of precious metals before start of last week, was telling customers I would to be starting on their orders as soon as I had shipment. But, nyet, at this rate going to have to melt down money for precious metals!" Indeed, things were not all well at the Metalhoof smithy, and given by the fact that the deep, somewhat raspy voice of the blacksmith working there, it was starting to get on somepony's nerves.

It had indeed been some time since precious metals had been in stock at the smithy, and it was starting to have serious impacts on Hammerhoof's ability to make anything that required the special bit of shine that silver and gold offered. Robberies weren't really the fault of the delivery-pony, he'd just been taking the routes into Stalliongrad that were available, and it so happened that a pack of Diamond Dogs decided to mug him for everything they felt like carrying. The first time, he'd let it slide, simply complaining about the loss at the quick-footed, dark-green pony who'd been mugged - after all, it made sense that the delivery-pony would learn from the mistake and change habits accordingly. Second time, though... this was a problem. He advertised armour, utensils, weapons, tools and simple jewelry for sale in his shop, and ye he lacked the materials to fill the most expensive orders, which meant that his most profitable work was all on hold.

The brown, somewhat sooty blacksmith simply sighed. He knew the shipment was important, he knew the delivery-pony knew the shipment was important. Getting overly cross wouldn't solve anything, so he lowered his voice, nodding slowly. "I can't even use these gems yet. Is not often somepony wants gems set in iron, copper or steel. I will take them, da, and you will still be receiving some pay, but... I am not sure what to be doing. A third time of this, and you will be costing me enough to put me back in apprenticeship. I do not want for this. Am already going to have to dig into own savings to keep from being broke..." For all that this was causing him difficulty, Hammerhoof didn't really feel like foregoing the payment of somepony else over conditions that were likely out of their control. After all, the delivery-pony had to eat and sleep somewhere - the blacksmith wasn't going to scrooge him out of that.

The fact of the matter was simple – somewhere, there were a pack of diamond-dogs that were responsible for a rather harrowing predicament. He had a lot of missing materials to try and work around, a reputation teetering between success and a lack thereof, and he wasn't entirely sure of how to solve this issue. Yes, it was a theft, but through official channels, solving his issue might not come soon enough for him to stay in business. What he needed was a plan, and volunteers. That, or for the majority of his customers to suddenly be overwhelmingly happy with steel and iron in place of silver and gold for their jewelry – no, that was a silly and entirely improbable thing to hope for. So, with the delivery-pony half-paid and on his way out the door, the blacksmith began to ponder.

He'd put up a few notices of his need for help on the larger advertisement boards, more of a desparate hope that he might recover his first lost shipment. "Blacksmith in need of expert treasure-recovery, adventurers, or trackers re : stolen shipments. See Metalhoof Smithy", written in slightly clumsy Stallian and Equestrian. It was all well and good to use the native tongue, but this was a big city, with enough trade and travel through it that being bilingual was nearly a must.

But now, more than ever, the hope that somepony might come to his aid felt like a rather despnate wish, whimsical and as uncertain as a shooting star. Peraps this was how the gambler felt when buying his last lottery ticket? What a depressing situation. Though he held hope for perhaps somepony to come by looking to aid him, he started trying to figure out best to hold out financially. Maybe, just maybe, he could work through this regardless. Only time would tell.

[Kite]

Stalliongrad, a massive industrial city broken into districts; a place of many ponies, and many problems. Still on her pilgrimage to become a true knight, the young and overly ambitious, if not slightly under confident Kite found herself travelling the mighty city's streets, effectively lost. Stalliongrad was very alien to the pegasus, but at the very least she stood out less here than in Ponyville. Or Hoofington. Or Manehattan. With the concentration of metal-workers, it was apparently not a strange sight to see a pony in armor walking the streets. Nevertheless, she kept her guard up; she was still young and small for a knight, and her particular suit of armor (quite visibly dented and scratched by this point) could still garner unwanted attention.

"Keep calm, and keep cool, Kite." She muttered to herself, as she clanked down a particularly smoggy street; at least it felt smoggy in comparison to back home in Canterlot. "You're here to help ponies in need, and as long as you do that, everypony'll believe you're a real knight, and not just some no-good thief..."

It was a tall order to fill for such a short knight; on the run from Royal Guards, who had since their last encounter, increased efforts to detain the filly, meant that Kite had to be incredibly cautious in her pursuit of justice. So far though, no wanted posters with her face made themselves known to her; in fact, the only posters she happened to notice were, well, HELP wanted posters! One in particular stood out:

"Blacksmith in need of expert treasure-recovery, adventurers, or trackers re : stolen shipments. See Metalhoof Smithy." She read aloud to herself, eyes peering out from behind her visor. The writing under it was incomprehensible to the little wannabe-knight - a native language perhaps? It didn't matter! There were thieves about, and an adventurer was needed! And on top of that, if they were robbing a smithy, there was a good chance they were armor thieves, the most heinous and villainous of thie- oh wait, maybe not. "Metalhoof Smithy... I can do this!" And with that, she was off, tearing down the roads in pursuit of this Metalhoof Smithy where a grand adventure was sure to begin!"

Of course, it would take a few wrong turns, some deciphering directions spoken in the native tongue, and some more wrong turns before the short metal encumbered pony found her destination. A few pangs of nerves, and maybe a hint of paranoia tugged at her brave knightly facade, but she was here, and there was little point in turning back; she needed a win, she NEEDED to do this. With a deep breath, she gave three short knocks on the door with a hoof, and pushed her way inside, calling out. "H-hello? I'm here about the notice...?"

[RarityDash]

Starless Shroud wore a lot of hats, both in the literal and the figurative sense. She was an unrepentant thief, a crafty con artist, an agent for hire, a seeker of fortune and currently a member of a certain sky pirate crew. However, at that moment she had a decent stretch of time before the Freedom Wing was to next set sail; as a result, the violet earth mare found herself with some down time on her hooves with which to shift through the streets of Stalliongrad looking for general mischief. She wasn't looking for anything too bold. She had been on the run from the authorities before; it was the very reason she had holed up with the cut-rate pirates she was flying with at the moment in the first place. The very last thing she was looking to do was get herself caught and end up locked behind bars like her father had.

No, Starless was looking for a good opportunity to line her pockets with bits without drawing so much unwanted attention. Robbery or anything else too aggressive was definitely off the table at the least. The mare had been busy wondering what exactly her next scheme should be when she happened upon what just might be exactly the sort of gig she was looking for. A smile crossed her face as her one good eye studied a certain document on an ad board she had nearly passed right on by. Reading it over, the mare was glad she hadn't done just that. Evidently, sometimes at least, luck was on her side.

"Blacksmith in need of expert treasure-recovery, adventurers, or trackers re : stolen shipments. See Metalhoof Smithy," Starless read aloud, still smirking.

Perfect. It was a nice little deal. She'd seek this blacksmith out, see how much he was offering, take his job, find his shipment, weigh the two and take whatever she deemed to be worth more. It seemed a simple task. Starless had nothing but confidence in her skill at taking things that didn't belong to her. Hunting down this stolen shipment and taking it from under the nose of whichever shoddy thief originally made the steal would be foal's play. She was gonna make out big on this one, she could just tell.

Starless wasted little time. Not very many moments after reading the ad, the mare found herself staring down the front door of the Metalhoof Smithy. Her eager smirk having yet faded, the shifty mare slipped almost silently into the building and scanned it. Her smile fell as she noticed there was not one, but two ponies present. She had wanted to avoid working with others if at all possible. It complicated things, and she really didn't like the idea of having to split the prize. One of the two was a young, muscular brown earth stallion, almost undoubtedly the blacksmith himself. The other was a young pegasus mare in armor. This might have raised some alarm in the career thief, but the armor didn't look to be standard issue for the Guard. This pony was likely just some kind of adventurer, looking for fortune just as she was. She had literally just arrived too; Starless could just make out her asking the blacksmith about the notice.

"As am I," the mare said in a low voice as she stepped out of the doorway and toward the stallion. "My services are all yours provided you make it worth my time..." she added, smirking and straightening her hat.