//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Casting // Story: Crystal Wings // by Witching Hour //------------------------------// Witching Hour sighed as she entered the pre-op room, noting a green unicorn with silvery-yellow mane already in the room. Deciding something on the fly, Witching Hour summoned her notepad from a pocket - a dark blue cover and her cutie mark (a black silhouette flying across a full golden moon upon a broom) on it, varied only slightly as a crescent of the moon was stark white as it had been a gift from Princess Luna - and levitated it over to the stranger. “I hope this isn’t an inconvenience, but I would like it if you could stay to observe the spell and take notes for me. I’m going to be rather occupied with the casting, and since it’s a new spell, I need to have documentation to either tell me where it went wrong, or how to do it again,” she requested, bowing her head slightly. “I would love to stay and observe, Doctor Witching Hour,” the unicorn replied, smiling brightly. “I’d hoped I would be able to see the spell that required crystal iron and could possibly restore a pegasus’ wings,” she continued. “I’m Doctor Emerald Charmer, from the Crystal Empire…” she finished, finally giving Witching Hour a name to put with her face, as her green magical halo took the offered notepad. “Thank you very much, Emerald Charmer,” Witching Hour responded, releasing her magic from the notepad. “Oh… The magical halation might get rather bright , so if you can find some protective eyewear, it would protect your sight…” “So I won’t get blinded and be unable to take notes?” Emerald Charmer suggested before nodding. “Good idea. I’ll do that now.” Entering the procedure room after passing through the sterilization magic screen, Witching Hour cast a glance around to see if all her materials were in place. She breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Princess Luna had come through for her and sent the crystal-iron she needed for this spell to work from Princess Cadence. Obvious to her now, Emerald Charmer had been the one to deliver the precious ore to Canterlot. Witching Hour made a mental note to thank her for that afterwards. The nurses - one a green-maned brown earth pony named Natural Remedy and the other a gray-maned pink unicorn named Poppy Field, both of whom regularly worked with Witching Hour - soon joined her in the room with Monkey Wrench and began gingerly removing the bandages from the mangled wings. Witching Hour couldn’t help but cringe at their state. Seeing pictures of the damage had not prepared her for the stark reality. Most of the yellow primary and secondary feathers were stripped away, leaving only the covert feathers. Where the secondary feathers were missing, she could see severe damage to the ulna, radius and humerus. She knew the long tendon was still intact (miraculously), and the muscles were only torn, not ruptured. A third nurse arrived with a box containing the wing feathers that had been salvaged from the accident and Cloudsdale General’s attempts to fix the damage and set the box on a tray before departing quickly. Witching Hour had needed as much of the ‘original’ wings as possible so the wings would remain natural to Monkey Wrench, so that, too, was a necessary component. Once the nurses backed away from Monkey Wrench, and Emerald Charmer joined them and took a seat close by, Witching Hour stood next to the operating table with the crystal iron on a tray to her left, and the box of feathers on another tray to her right. She nervously nudged her glasses further up on her nose before taking a shaky breath and closing her eyes. The pale blue light from her horn surrounded her and the materials, floating the crystal iron and feathers to hover over Monkey Wrench’s lax wings. In her mind’s eye, as though seeing through the magic, Witching Hour envisioned the end result - wings that were still fairly normal, but the edges lined with the crystal iron, replacing the mangled bones. Witching Hour’s eyes snap open, glowing with the same pale blue as her magic so that her irises were completely obscured, and the light in the room flared to almost blinding brightness as the feathers and crystal iron moved together as the magic bid. Emerald Charmer quickly put on protective shades, allowing her to watch and take notes on the process. She almost forgot to take notes as she caught sight of the crystal iron being shaped like clay in the magic’s grip. Sent from the Crystal Empire’s own hospital to deliver the ore, and then tapped to observe, Emerald Charmer watched with awe as the feathers slid back into place, stuck into the crystal iron coating the wings. The ore took on an inexplicable green sheen, clearly visible along the front edges of the wing. Her own pen flew across the notepad, mentally dictating the notes through her own magical aura, a mere candle compared to the sun-like radiance that Witching Hour gave off. The magic finally faded, retreating back into Witching Hour’s horn. The grey unicorn slumped down, breathing hard as her eyes closed. The other two nurses returned and went about  checking Monkey Wrench’s wings and heartbeat. Feebly, Witching Hour opened her eyes a narrow slit, working through the magical exhaustion to see the results of her experimental spell. Through bleary eyes, she made out the restored shape of Monkey Wrench’s wings, noting the crystalline structure forming the front edges. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards in a smile of pleased accomplishment as Emerald Charmer approached her cautiously, notepad and pen held in her green halo of power. “That was quite impressive, Doctor Witching Hour!” Emerald Charmer exclaimed, pleasure clear in her voice. “I’m honored you asked me to stay and take notes!” she added, floating the notepad over to Witching Hour while her pen was placed in a pocket of her own lab coat. Witching Hour saw her notepad, and smiled in relief. “Thank you for that, Emerald Charmer… and for presumably delivering the crystal-iron as well,” Witching Hour said wearily. The magic faded away, and Witching Hour took the notepad in her own hooves, flipping through to the pages where Emerald Charmer started writing. “It was no trouble. The Crystal Empire hospital keeps a stock on hoof for our own purposes…” Emerald Charmer hesitated briefly before continuing. “I hope you’ll forgive me, Doctor, but I went through your notations on the spell before the procedure, and your work is inspirational to say the least,” she beamed in praise, causing Witching Hour’s face to heat unpleasantly in embarrassment. “I-... I just followed the theories…” she stammered, giving the nod to the nurses to take the sleeping Monkey Wrench back to her room. As they wheeled the patient from the room, Emerald Chaser shook her head at her colleague. “I’m afraid I have to disagree, Doctor. In the Empire, we use the crystal iron to make bone replacements, no doubt, but we don’t have many pegasi,” the green unicorn said firmly. “There was no reason to believe that the ore would help restore bones so badly damaged - let alone a pegasus’ wings! And the way your magic worked with it… Did you see the patient’s wings before the nurses left with her? Clearly, Princess Luna has chosen her student quite well!” At the end of Emerald Charmer’s impassioned speech, Witching Hour’s face and neck were burning from the heat of her blood gathering in her skin. Witching Hour was certain her coat had been seared red in her self-effacement. She stammered a thanks to Emerald Charmer, before quickly excusing herself and galloping from the room. She barely made it to Monkey Wrench’s room before the exhaustion from the intense spellwork caught up her again. Cautiously, she entered, unwilling to wake the pegasus if she were still out. The spell was a handy one she’d picked up working at the hospital, and made delicate procedures (though more often not magic related) easier. It wore off sooner or later, and generally left the patients feeling refreshed mentally - even if their bodies still needed more time to recover. Witching Hour hesitated just as the room opened up, seeing her patient stirring out of her magically induced slumber. “Doctor Witching Hour?” Monkey Wrench queried sleepily, barely managing to lift her head from her pillow and blinking tired green eyes at the doorway. Heaving a tired sigh, Witching Hour stepped further into the room, her steps slow to keep the appearance of any fatigue from Monkey Wrench. “I’m here, Miss Wrench…” she responded upon making it to the stool next to the bed. Monkey Wrench smiled at the unicorn as her eyes drifted closed and her head fell gently back onto the pillow. “Good… I’m glad it’s you…” Despite the weariness that now seeped into her very bones, Witching Hour smiled back and leaned against the bed, resting her head next to Monkey Wrench’s forehoof. “I’m glad to be here…” she replied softly, and in spite of her best efforts, Witching Hour joined her patient in sleep.