After the slog of Math, Magic, and Equish classes on the first day of seventh grade, it was time for the class I’d been waiting for: Artificing. Ever since I heard about it and what it was about towards the end of sixth grade, I couldn’t help but feel excited about it. I even went to the library to do my own reading and research during the summer months. The prospect of creating the many things I’d dreamed of and imagined kept me awake at night more times than I cared to admit.
The only obstacle that I had to overcome to get in was my magic proficiency. With all the difficulties I’d grown accustomed to, and despite the progress I’d made, it wasn’t easy to make the grade requirement for artificing. I managed to make it in with one point over the minimum score required for magic, and most of that score came from my understanding and comprehension of it.
Since magic was a required class for artificing, only those with horns could make it in. As a result, and without Skyla present (she easily made it into alchemy), I was the only pony in the class with wings.
“Hello class, I’m Mr. Forger,” the teacher said. “Who can tell me what artificing is?” I eagerly raised a forehoof. “Inova.”
“Artificing is the creation of enchanted items, whether it’s jewelry, clothes, or machines, in whole or in part,” I recited from my spot front and center. “It is not to be confused with normal crafting or building, and is not meant to be used directly on anything that gets consumed.”
“Very good. Artificing is how we have as many nice things as we do, and there are ponies here in the Crystal Empire that specialize in it. Some of the best cold storage components in the world are created here, and it’s thanks to artificing that they work at all. The humble flashlight is also a result of artificing.” He levitated a flashlight off his desk and clicked it on and off a few times. “If you are here for notoriety and fame, you will likely end up disappointed.” A few groans filled the classroom at that. I was not among them. I just wanted to make my own imagined items real. “The first building task of an artificing student in my class is to make a flashlight out of a gem. At least, the light part. The housing will come later. But before that, we will go over some simple enchantment diagrams.”
It didn’t take long for me to be the one that everypony turned to for help understanding the material. Just as with the academic sides of magic and flight, I understood it very well. And just as in magic and flight, I was far behind everypony else on the application and practice side.
Before the second week was over, I realized that I was basically becoming the class notepad. Everypony looked to me for the answers to the questions. Being relied on for guidance felt alright, but it just wasn’t the same as helping my friends.
The fact that I was in a position to affect my classmates’ grades did not escape me, nor did the idea of making their grades worse so mine would look better. I didn’t have to think about it for long before realizing how quickly sabotaging everypony would circle around and bite my flanks. After all, I hated liars, and I had no intention of becoming one.
“Inova? It’s your turn,” Brooke said. “What’s Queen Nova’s next move?”
I looked up and around. I was so focused on my schematics, I had no idea what had happened. “Uh. . . Tactical harem shielding for everyone!”
“We’re working on a puzzle,” Diamond said. “No fights here.”
“Oh. Uhm. . . What’s the puzzle again?”
“I’d like to make a narrative declaration,” Girder offered as he raised a forehoof. “Queen Nova’s harem trips a trap that teleports her out.”
Panic barged into my mind. “What?! No! I-”
“Inova, you’re distracted,” Soprano calmly explained. “You’re still our friend, but. . . If Hearthstone was distracted and slowing things down, wouldn’t you let him leave so the game could go on?”
“Well-”
“I’ll tell you what happened tomorrow,” Diamond offered. “Brooke’s written all of our characters out at some point, so it’s alright.”
“Wallace is the one I write in and out the most, and the literal Prince of the Crystal Empire plays him,” Brooke explained. “You know where to find us if you want to share your artificing designs.”
“Okay. . .” I gathered up my stuff and left. I didn’t like leaving the game early.
“You’re home earlier than usual,” mom noted before she actually looked at me. “Did something happen during your game?”
“I got kicked from the game because I was working on my artificing designs,” I glumly said. “They’re just jealous I was having more fun than they were.”
“Inova, that is not how you talk about your friends!” Mom chided, her tone firmly catching my attention. “Tell me, were you focused on the game or your artificing work?”
“Well. . . My artificing work. . . But I wanted to be with my friends too.”
“Do you really think they would want you gone just because you miss a few games to work on your own things? Didn’t Diamond skip a whole month of games just to become your friend in the first place?”
“Yeah, she did. So?”
“When you’re ready, they’ll welcome you back to the game. I think Twilight once compared it to putting a big rock in a river. It splits the water, but the water comes back together after it. You have good friends, Inova. Don’t let this rock get in the way.”
“Yes, mom. . .”
“That’s good. Now, why don’t you tell me about your schematics?” She levitated a pencil and my clearly labeled artificing folder out. “Use your levitation to point at things for me, okay?”
I saw the thinly disguised magic practice for what it was and rolled with it. “Well, I couldn’t really come up with anything really original, so I went with something I knew. . .” All I had was the final look I wanted and how I wanted it to work.
“How’s alchemy, sis?” I asked Skyla as we walked home.
“I was hoping there wouldn’t be so much math,” she complained. “I get that it’s needed to make sure things come out right, but. . . Can’t it be done with less?”
“Cooking has lots of that. You need the right amount of stuff, the right temperature, and the right timing or it won’t come out right. Same with alchemy. Both have recipes to make sure things regularly come out right.”
“Yeah, but that’s cooking. You can make mistakes and have it come out okay. Except for dad. One wrong thing in alchemy, and kablooey!”
“You’ve actually got easier math there than I do. Artificing requires way more precise calculations to make sure things fit right. Otherwise, things can fall apart or just not fit in the first place.”
“You’ve got templates you can work with, though.”
“Not for new stuff. I’ve got to create a connection system that locks in and has some way to easily disengage as well. There’s no template available for it, so I’ve got to design that too. It’s harder than I thought it would be.” I sighed as a regular aspect of class came to mind. “I just wish everypony else could understand the material better so I could make more progress on my project.”
At Mr. Forger’s request, I stayed behind once class ended one day. “Yes, Mr. Forger?”
“I looked over your plans, and it’s incredibly ambitious for any artificer, let alone a beginner,” he said as he put my schematics and notes on his desk. “But I must suggest that you try your hoof at something simpler first.”
“Why?” I’d been lazy and just used the equipment I came up with for Queen Nova for my project. My notes were thorough, and my illustrations were a bit rough. Having to put the mechanisms on a yoke ruined the design and called for a redesign of some of the moving parts, but for an equine user, it had to be done that way. It felt off to me somehow, which I chalked up to imagining it on a human as often as I had.
“Because materiogenesis and biomanipulation are extremely advanced on their own, far beyond anything in this class, and you’re just beginning. Not to mention all of the. . . Expected issues you have.”
I groaned. It had taken me a full month just to get the flashlight gem done, and I was pretty sure part of that was done by accident. “I’ve been working on those.” The steady growth of my skills with magic felt like it had plateaued some time shortly after the start of sixth grade, and I still couldn’t quite use telekinesis casually. “It just feels like I’m banging my head against a wall with my practice going nowhere. Again!”
“Then figure out how you’re going to get to the end product. What steps do you need to take to get there? Nopony walks a mile without taking those individual steps, and you might notice unexpected things along the way as well. For now, come up with something else. You can make a different version of this your final project of the year, if you’d like.”
“Alright, Mr. Forger.” I accepted my schematics and went on towards my next class. As I walked, I wracked my brain for some kind of design or idea.
It was during a hoof coordination exercise after school with dad that an idea struck me for what I could do. “That’s it!” I happily exclaimed.
“What is it?” Dad asked.
“My new artificing project. I’ll make a sword with parts that symbolize each type of pony! An alicorn sword!”
“Is it going to be anything like Queen Nova’s gear?”
“Hmm. . . No. It’ll be something different. No external parts that get attached.”
“Well, keep thinking about it while you do your side hops.”
As I continued my exercises, different layouts and designs for the sword parts, how they would work, and what they would do played through my mind.
I looked at the diagram I’d painstakingly drawn out, then realized I was once again in over my skill level for what I wanted. In order for the sword to do what I wanted it to do, I would not only need an enchanted gem for each effect, but also a fourth one to provide the extra energy they needed.
The spell diagram for a basic energy gem enchantment was one I’d memorized, but I referred to the one in my textbook anyways. It was designed to work with gems of a common size and shape.
“Inova, here’s dinner,” dad set the full plate on my desk.
I started breaking down the diagram to try and figure out how I could get the energy enchantment into a narrower design so I could get that gem inside the handle. I kept the possibility of using multiple energy gems in mind, in case one wouldn’t provide the output I needed.
As the devastating potential of the sword dawned on me, and not wanting to break Dazzling Diamond with a single earth pony effect swing, I started a second enchantment schematic that would be more likely to be accepted.
“A sword with gimmicks,” Mr. Forger said as he looked over my new schematics after class. “Not the first time I’ve seen that idea, but this is a new design.”
“Swords are cool,” I said.
“Yes. This looks more suitable for a toy sword if you remove the combat effects. You do know why normal swords don’t have all these features, right?”
“Moving parts can jam, activated enchantments will wear down over time and with use, and energy sources can explode.” Behind my calm exterior, I was kicking myself for turning in the combat enchantment schematics instead of the simple light and sound ones.
“Exactly. It’s much more feasible than your other design, at least. You may start building it tomorrow after you replace the combat effects with nothing more potent than illusions.”
“Thank you.” I left artificing with a smile on my muzzle and visions of slashing through bad guys from the H&H games going through my head. An idea for a new character to wield a similar sword in the game started bubbling up as well.
With a goal and a vision in front of me, along with the motivation to achieve it, it felt like nothing could break my stride, and nothing was gonna slow me down.