Chapter 446: Everyone Gets A Horseshoe!

By the time Luca and Mavis came trotting back through the gate, half the settlement was already waiting in the square, and the other half was on the way.

"We’re making horseshoes!"

Luca announced, before anyone could even ask.

"And every single one of you gets one!"

The square went up like a bonfire catching.

Cheers rose into the evening sky, hooves stamped against the ground, and voices overlapped in excited celebration.

But above the chaos, one name kept rising, repeated again and again like a prayer of gratitude.

"Mavis! Thank the heavens for Mavis!"

"As expected of our own blacksmith!"

"We always knew we could count on you!"

"Without Mavis, we’d all be helpless!"

Mavis lifted her chin in pride, her smirk stretching across her face as she basked in the adoration.

"Of course, of course!" She waved a dismissive hand, as though their praise was merely her due. "There’s no need to fear while I’m around. I am, after all, the greatest blacksmith in the entire world. The finest craftswoman who has ever lived!"

She placed a hand over her heart dramatically.

"Leave everything to me!"

The centaurs cheered even louder, and Mavis basked in the attention like a cat in sunlight.

Sigrid watched from the edge of the crowd, a proud smile tugging at her lips. She wanted to join in and tell her sister how amazing she was.

But the awkwardness between them was still too thick, the words from earlier still too fresh. So she remained silent, watching from a distance.

Luca clapped his hands together.

"Alright, everyone! Let’s get started. We need to take measurements of everyone’s hooves."

A small pedestal was set up, and the centaurs formed an orderly line. Luca and Mavis worked side by side, taking turns examining each hoof and noting the measurements in a ledger.

Mavis handled one of the mothers first, carefully running the ruler along the hoof’s edges while muttering the numbers under her breath.

"Thirty-two across...twenty-eight in length...seventeen at the widest point..."

"Wait, what?" The centaur’s face fell. "That can’t be right. Take it again."

Mavis sighed. "It’s correct."

"There has to be something wrong! My hooves aren’t that big!"

The centaur looked genuinely distressed, almost as if she stood on a scale and it doubled her weight.

"Please, can’t you reduce the size? Just a little? It would be so embarrassing to be the only one wearing such a large size."

Mavis rolled her eyes and patted her horse body reassuringly.

"If I make them smaller, you’ll have aching pains for the rest of your life. The hoof needs room to breathe. Do you want to suffer because of your vanity?"

The mother’s shoulders slumped in defeat. She walked away, muttering something about unfair measuring tools, while the next centaur quickly stepped up to take her place.

Luca meanwhile was dealing with a very different kind of challenge.

The little ponies had gathered in a small cluster, their eyes wide with terror. They had heard what was going to happen—that nails would be driven into their hooves and they were absolutely terrified.

"I don’t want to do this!"

"Please, Evil Hero, don’t hurt us!"

"I’d rather go barefoot forever!"

"I’ll never walk again if it means getting nails in my hooves!"

Even Nella, the bravest of the bunch, was trembling.

"Evil Hero..." She looked up at him with watery eyes. "My hooves are so tiny. Look."

She pointed at them, and indeed, they were adorably small—barely larger than coins.

"Just one nail would go through my entire hoof! There’d be nothing left!"

She then squinted at him with sudden suspicion.

"This is your revenge on me for teasing you, isn’t it? It’s not fair! You can’t do something like this!"

Luca crouched down to her level and gently pulled at her cheek.

"Of course not, Nella. I would never think of harming someone as adorable and cute as you."

Nella’s cheeks flushed slightly.

"And I’m not going to use those massive nails you’re imagining." He took her hoof gently in his hand, examining it with care. "Your hooves are small and delicate, so I’ll use small, delicate nails. Tiny ones, just like your hooves."

He placed a hand over his heart. "I promise you, it won’t hurt. Not even a little bit."

"But what if it does?" Nella whispered. "What if it hurts and I can’t take it?"

Luca met her eyes with absolute sincerity.

"If it hurts—even a tiny bit, even just a little sting—then I’ll take the same nail and hammer it straight through my own foot. That’s my promise to you."

Nella gasped. "But you don’t have hooves! It would go straight through your feet!"

"That’s why I’m making this promise. If you experience real pain, I’ll experience it too."

Nella stared at him and something shifted in her expression. The fear didn’t disappear entirely, but it was replaced by something stronger—determination.

She turned to face her friends.

"Everyone! We should trust the Evil Hero! He’s not going to hurt us!" She struck a brave pose. "In fact, I’ll go first! I’ll be the test dummy and see if it really hurts!"

The other little ponies gasped.

"No, Nella! Don’t!"

"What if you get hurt?!"

"You can’t!"

Nella shook her head firmly. "As a future leader of the Galloping Brigade, this is something I must do. I’m willing to make the sacrifice!"

"Oi, Nella!"

The voice came from behind them—familiar, teasing, slightly exasperated.

Everyone turned. Riley was sitting nearby, her injured hoof wrapped in bandages.

Luca had treated it earlier by applying medicine to prevent infection and given her something to numb the pain—but she still couldn’t stand properly.

"You’re what, ten? And you’re already planning to take over the Commander’s job?" She snorted. "Laughable."

"Riley!"

"I’m just saying. You’re not even a hundred yet."

"Shut up!" Nella went red. "I was being brave!"

"You were being a drama queen." Riley said. "And anyway, it doesn’t matter." She held up her hoof. "Because I’m going first."

The whole clearing went quiet.

Luca raised an eyebrow. "You?"

"Yep. After all—" Riley smirked, trying to look arrogant. "—I’m the bravest one here. A little pipsqueak like Nella can’t handle something like this."

But the truth was, Riley was scared. Terrified, even. The thought of nails going into her hooves made her stomach churn with anxiety.

But the thought of Nella going through that fear and her niece potentially experiencing pain was even worse.

So she would take that burden herself.

Claudia, sitting beside her, chuckled knowingly.

"Oh, Riley." She said sweetly, from three feet away. "You can just say you love her, you know. You don’t have to do it through a nail."

"What? No. No. I’m just—" Riley went scarlet. "I’m making a point. About strength. It has nothing to do with—with that—"

"Mm-hm." Claudia walked away.

"Big Sis!"

Luca stood up and dusted off his hands.

"Alright, alright. Listen up." He raised his voice toward the crowd of little ponies. "Everyone who lets me measure and fit them without any complaining gets candy. Two pieces for the first five."

The children froze. Then they came at him like a tide.

"ME FIRST!"

"No, me! I have the cutest hooves in the whole village, look, look at them—"

"I’ll go first and I won’t even blink—"

"I want the red candy—"

And Luca, laughing with his whole chest, crouched back down and started measuring tiny little hooves one by one, and the terror of the morning dissolved into a stampede of small children who all wanted sweets.

—

It took the rest of the afternoon. By the time they finished the last set of measurements, the sun had gone long and orange, and the square was full of centaurs all comparing their numbers with each other like a crowd of tailors.

And the last one in line was Sigrid.

She came up quietly, after everyone else, and put her front hooves on the pedestal without saying anything.

"Sir Luca. Could you measure mine?"

But to her surprise, Luca stood up, stretched and shook his head.

"Actually, I’m finished with my measurements. My page is full." He gestured toward his notebook, which indeed was crammed with numbers. "You’ll have to ask Mavis."

Sigrid’s face fell.

"Wait—Sir Luca, please. Just one more measurement. It won’t take long—"

But Luca was already walking away, disappearing into the crowd.

Sigrid stood frozen, her heart sinking.

’He did that on purpose.’ She realized. ’He’s giving us a chance to talk.’

She turned slowly toward her sister.

Mavis was looking at her notebook, deliberately not meeting her eyes. The silence between them stretched, heavy with all the things that had been said and all the things that hadn’t.

Finally, Sigrid stepped forward and placed her hooves on the pedestal.

"Could you...help me as well?"

"Sure." Mavis nodded without looking up.

She began measuring, her movements precise and professional. The tape stretched across Sigrid’s hooves, and she muttered numbers under her breath.

Neither sister spoke.

The awkwardness was palpable. They stood close enough to touch, yet the distance between them felt insurmountable.

From a distance, Luca watched with growing frustration.

’Goddamn it!’

He rubbed his forehead, watching the two sisters fumble through the interaction with all the grace of startled deer.

Both of them could be so bold, so fierce and confident when facing enemies or challenges.

But when it came to each other, they turned into awkward children who couldn’t manage a single conversation.

’But this is how it always works, isn’t it?’ He thought ruefully. ’The most difficult problems can be solved so easily. But when it comes to loved ones, everything becomes complicated.’

He sighed.

But he couldn’t force them to reconcile. That was something they had to figure out on their own.

—

Once the measurements were complete, Luca called for everyone’s attention.

"Alright! Now that we have all the measurements, Mavis and I are going to her workshop to start making the horseshoes. This is going to take some time, so you should all go home and rest."

Immediately, protests erupted from the ponies.

"I want to come!"

"Me too! I want to see my horseshoe being made!"

"Please let us watch, Evil Hero!"

Nella pushed her way to the front, her small body vibrating with determination. "I want to inspect the goods! I need to make sure everything is perfect so my hooves don’t go wrong in the future!"

The other little ponies nodded frantically. "Me too! Me too!"

Even Riley spoke up. "I want to see it as well. These horseshoes will be with me for the rest of my life. I should know how they’re made."

Luca smiled helplessly. "It’s not going to be a quick process. It will take many hours to finish so many horseshoes. You’ll be waiting a long time."

But no one cared.

"We don’t mind!"

"We’ll wait!"

"We want to watch!"

Two of Riley’s friends stepped forward to support her. "Come on, Riley. Let’s go."

The entire crowd began moving toward the path leading to Mavis’s workshop.

Mavis, however, was not pleased.

"Hey! Wait! You can’t all come to my workshop!" She hurried after them. "You’ll mess things up! You’ll make a mess of everything! Stop!"

Claudia smiled. "We’ll stay outside. You can focus on your work—there’s no need to worry about us."

Mavis looked at the crowd of eager, entirely-unrepentant faces, and knew with total certainty that she had lost.

"...Fine." She grumbled, turning back around. "But if one of you muscleheads breaks something, I’m making your shoes heavy. Extra heavy! You’ll drag your feet for the rest of your lives and I won’t feel bad about it once."

"Thank you, Mavis."

"Don’t thank me."

And they all started off down the path toward the forge—Mavis in front, grumbling, and about sixty centaurs behind her, chatting happily, and Luca whistling somewhere in the middle of it.

But then he suddenly looked around.

"Hold on. Where’s Poppy? And Thea?"

Sigrid appeared at his side, her expression rueful.

"Lady Poppy heard about the horseshoes. Specifically, she heard about the nails going into hooves."

"And?"

"She’s terrified. She’s hiding in the castle and refuses to come out."

Luca was confused. "Why is she scared? She doesn’t even need horseshoes. She has a human form."

"That’s what I told her. But she insisted that you’ll take revenge on her and make her wear horseshoes too." Sigrid sighed. "She said she’ll stay in the safety of her castle."

Luca scratched his head. He would need to work on Poppy later—she was still wary of him, apparently. But that was a problem for another time.

"Alright. Let’s go."

He climbed onto Sigrid’s back without hesitation, settling into his usual position.

Sigrid flinched slightly, her sister was watching, after all, but she didn’t protest. She simply began walking toward the workshop.

Mavis watched them go, a strange expression on her face.

’She didn’t resist at all.’ She thought. ’She let him get on her back like it was the most natural thing in the world.’

The bitter feeling returned—that strange, uncomfortable sensation she couldn’t quite identify.

’Stop it, Mavis.’ She told herself firmly. ’Focus. Focus on saving the village.’

She shook her head and followed after them, her small legs working overtime to keep up.