ARMOR PONY: Armor for Answer! [Closed]

[elementofloyalty]

"Heh heh heh."

Rainbow zipped from back to front of the pile of robot-parts that friendly... well, not exactly friendly, but helpful wolf-death-knight-person had helped her gather up and stack near the forge of a blacksmith who'd apparently be willing to help out. Satisfied that it was all there and still looking good, she dropped onto the top of the pile like a queen onto a throne, grinning broadly.

Oh, when Applejack got here, she was gonna get such a surprise!

Comments

[appletastic]

"I know." Applejack didn't sound entirely sure of herself, but...she was going to try. Really. No other choice. There'd be a chance to clean their hooves later, maybe.

Rainbow Dash's question had her looking confused, though. "Why? Not thinking of turning into another Rarity, are ya?"

[boobhat]

"Little bit different," answered Hiccup as he took measurements. "Armor's a bit thicker and less flexible so you have to measure more than you would for clothes, to try to figure out how the pieces will go together without bumping into each other and limiting movement."

Hiccup wasn't going to pick at the subject of war and death and all that unless they wanted to talk about it, because 1) depressing, 2) they might not want to talk about it, and 3) depressing, but the expression on his face made it quite clear he was one of those kindly sorts of people that were willing to talk about things with his customers if they needed an ear.

[elementofloyalty]

"Well I have been thinking about how to protect myself. I can't get by JUST on speed and sheer awesomeness. So I figure, either I need to go the classic route and get a breastplate and helmet like the pre-Equestrian route, or get something less protective but more flexible, maybe have Rarity enchant it. But I don't know what armor is like."

She moved over to poke a hoof at Applejack's shoulder. "Can't try on yours, though, if it's that fiddly. You're not built THAT much more powerful than me, but I get the impression even a little bit counts."

[appletastic]

Applejack stood tall---partially to allow Hiccup to measure, of course, and partially to display her pride. She was quite proud of the family business.

"Well, that's farm work for you. Gotta knock all the apples from a tree in one buck. But that's not all we're training for anymore."

She thought back on their last battle, how afraid they'd been. And there was no more magic to protect them the next time war broke out. "So I can get 'em with this, right? Hit hard?"

Start slow. Small.

[boobhat]

"I could actually make you something pretty lightweight," Hiccup said to Rainbow Dash, "but if you're a flier and need flexibility, you might want to talk to the engineers about something a bit more high-tech. Kevlar or something."

Starting slow, starting small, it was how a lot of people had to handle it.

"You'll be able to hit hard. I'll even see if I can get one of the magic guys to enchant to be even more durable if I can."

[elementofloyalty]

"What's a kevlar?" Of course she didn't know the term. "Whatever it is, I'd need something that can stand up to my top speed and power," she said boastfully, hoof to her chest.

[appletastic]

"Top speed, maybe," Applejack muttered, fondly rolling her eyes. Hey, there was enough pride around for them to share.

She imagined the finished armor then, picturing how it will be used. "And...er, how easy will it be to give it a scrub after a fight?"

[boobhat]

"Kevlar's a sort of...oh boy, you might not know what 'synthetic' means, I know I didn't."

How did he explain it?

"It's a synthetic fiber--a sort of material that doesn't occur naturally anywhere, but can be made by people? It's very light material that still manages to be very hard to puncture and disperses the force of something hitting it. Has some heat resistance, too. You can have something very bad hitting it that would normally go right through your body, hurting you, and it'll block it and disperse some of the force of the blow. But it's not as heavy as metal armor. There's other types of materials like that, too, that they could work with for you."

"As for your armor," Hiccup said to Applejack, "it should be very easy to clean. I put a special protective coating of stuff on it that helps make it more durable and easy to scrub and the alloy I use doesn't rust."

[elementofloyalty]

"So it's basically armor that's not quite as good as AJ's is gonna be, but still pretty good." Twilight would love this guy, with all his talk about the physics behind it. "Not as cool-looking, though. I gotta have something cooler than AJ's. No offense," she added, dropping down just enough to nudge AJ with a forehoof, grinning, "but cool is my thing."

[appletastic]

"You're still fussing about what's cool? Shouldn't you be worried about getting through everything?"

Come on, Rainbow Dash. Priorities. Survival is of utmost importance!

"'Cause if you brought me here all worried about me, I've gotta keep an eye on you too."

[boobhat]

"Cool doesn't stop a laser beam," was all Hiccup had to say, as he knelt to measure Applejack's legs.

"Or shrapnel. That's more of a problem than anything, from all the explosions. Some of them are powerful enough it'll shred right through the Thorn Armor. Just about any armor, really."

It wasn't so much that he wanted to scare or upset them as being so used to the war now he sometimes forgot how scary and upsetting things could sound.

[elementofloyalty]

"If you go in thinking you're gonna lose, Applejack... you're gonna lose." She had plenty experience with what nerves, frustration, and pessimism could do to a pony's head, and consequently, their performance. "So I'm not gonna think, 'how am I going to get through this.' I'm gonna think, 'I'm going to get through this, so how can I do it Rainbow Dash style?'.

"And that means..." She held up one forehoof. "I want something that can stop lasers and explosions and all that nasty stuff..." She held up the other forehoof. "That also looks cool. Why settle for just one when you can have both?"

[appletastic]

"I'm not thinkin' I'm gonna lose, I'm being careful. Something you could learn," Applejack insisted. When she heard Hiccup's descriptions of what could happen, she became even more convinced that she was right, cringing. Ouch.

"Well sometimes you can't have both," she added. "I'd rather have you live to fight again."

...It was a badly kept secret that Applejack cared.

[boobhat]

"You know, you're both sort of right," Hiccup said quietly, stopping his measuring to jot down notes and measurements in his omnicom.

"You have to be careful with all this, but you've still gotta be you. You still have to try to live your lives the way that makes you happy, even in spite of all this."

He wasn't the best at doing it anymore, but he had, for instance, never stopped flying with Toothless at least once a day. The things he needed most, that mattered most to him, were things he still tried to do.

[elementofloyalty]

"See, he gets it!" Rainbow said, gesturing at Hiccup. "There's a difference between 'living' and 'being alive'. If I turned into some fraidy-cat pony who always worried about getting hurt, then I wouldn't be Rainbow Dash any more! And that's no way to live." No offense to everyone who wasn't Rainbow Dash, right?

She touched down next to Applejack, reaching out to put a comforting hoof on the other pony's shoulder. "But I won't do any reckless stuff. I promise. I don't have time to be injured and I definitely can't leave all of YOU ponies alone without me."

She tried to make it sound like she didn't trust them to be alone, but... well, Rainbow wasn't any better about keeping secrets about caring and all that mushy stuff than AJ was, just more obnoxious in the course of covering it up.

[appletastic]

"We'd sure be at a loss without you," Applejack whispered, gently butting her head against her friend's.

"And I won't be a silly old chicken, you hear? Just gotta be...careful!"

[boobhat]

Hiccup just smiled lightly to himself as he tapped away on his omnicom.

What? They were adorable.

"Okay, I think I've got enough."

[elementofloyalty]

"So what now?" Rainbow turned to face him and at the same time took to the air again. She just naturally moved in three dimensions. "Do you need her to come back for fittings, or how's this work?"

[appletastic]

"Great! Take your time, we'll be here in a jiffy when you're all ready." Applejack backed up and dropped to the ground, sweeping her hat in a sort of bow. "Thanks again for all this. I know it's a mite tricky."

[boobhat]

"Glad to be of service. This is pretty much my thing," said Hiccup, bustling around, gathering up papers and all that so he could settle down to draw out his plans for the armor. "My one way of being really useful to the crew and the war effort. I don't mind doing it knowing it helps keep other people safe."

[elementofloyalty]

"It's really awesome of you to help out like this. Don't hesitate to call on us if you need anything at all, okay?" Rainbow said brightly. She might be lazy, but she wouldn't hesitate to do a favor for a friend who did a favor for a friend!

[appletastic]

"That goes double for me," Applejack called over her shoulder. There wasn't much she appreciated more than somepony who really pulled their weight to help out. "Means a lot to us. And you'll get your barrel soon enough!"

She wasn't going to take no for an answer.

[boobhat]

"Much appreciated."

It was what they should be doing, wasn't it? All working together, helping each other out? Even though it was just another bit of work to do, somehow the ponies stopping by left Hiccup feeling better than he had before they showed up.