Magical Harmony Spec Ops Friendship

by totallynotabrony

CH13: Smith

“Twilight,” Cadance said slowly, “put down the hammer.”

Startled, even though Cadance had been trying not to, Twilight jerked back from the forge. She raised the dark goggles she had been wearing, sweat and soot on her face.

“What are you even doing at the castle blacksmith?” said Cadance. “If you needed a new pair of shoes, you didn’t have to forge them yourself!”

“That’s what I told her,” the Guard smith said, coming over. “She told me to mind my own business.”

Twilight waved him away again. “I’ve almost got this figured out,” she said to Cadance. She put the hammer down and the two of them walked out of the blacksmith shop. “We need to get Princess Celestia down here. Rarity, probably, too. Not to mention Fluttershy and Tempest herself.”

“Slow down, backtrack, what are you doing?” Cadance said.

Twilight took a deep breath. “I’m going to get rid of the Alicorn Amulet by stripping its powers and using the metal to make a new horn for Tempest.”

Cadance took a moment to consider it. If it had come from anypony else, she would have protested immediately. Instead, she asked, “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I’ve considered that question myself. I’m pretty sure it’ll work.”

“Remind me why you’re helping Tempest at all.”

“Another good question.” Twilight paused. “I want to believe in second chances. I want to maybe hope that karma will give me one. In addition to that, Tempest already knows about the group. She has valuable information about the Commander. After capturing her, we’d have to neutralize her somehow. Or...we could use her.”

“I read your report,” said Cadance. “Do you trust her?”

Twilight considered that for a long moment. “I’m willing to let her earn it.”

Cadance looked at her. “You’re sure about this?”

“Yes.”

“Alright,” moving on. “What do you need?”

Twilight gave her the list. Most of the tools were already found in the blacksmith shop or Fluttershy’s kit. There was one item that needed further explanation.

“What’s the plaster for?” Cadance asked.

“Um.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “We need a horn model to make the cast. I think you’re probably closest in size.”

If anypony but Twilight had asked, Cadance probably would have said no. She still didn’t enjoy it, but let Twilight grease her horn so the plaster wouldn’t stick and set up the mold.

“Thanks again,” said Twilight. “I need to go get everything else ready. I’ll need you and the rest back down at the blacksmith soon. Oh, and bring the Alicorn Amulet.”

She left Cadance with the hardening mold still on and trotted off to find Fluttershy and explained the plan to her. She went along more willingly than Cadance, but still had her reservations. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Nopony’s ever done anything like this before, as far as I know.” Twilight took a deep breath. “If it works, though, I’m definitely going to get a paper out of this. I haven’t published anything since...before.” She shook her head and looked back at Fluttershy. “It’s going to work.”

Twilight made a trip around the castle, rounding up everypony else she needed. Celestia managed to find some time to come to the blacksmith, seeming more amused at Twilight’s enthusiasm than anything. Rarity was put off by the thought of manual labor, but was interested to see the result.

That just left Tempest herself. She’d been given...well, it wasn’t a bedroom, it was still the dungeon, but there was a bed in the room. Spitfire and Soarin’ still guarded the door.

“Come with me,” said Twilight. “I think I’ve figured it out.”

“My horn?”

“That’s right.”

She’d never seen Tempest look excited before. It was strange, but it amused Twilight.

Everypony met at the blacksmith. Princess Celestia told the smiths to take a break. They had the place to themselves.

Cadance had gotten her horn cleaned up and the plaster had set. As requested, she’d also brought the Alicorn Amulet.

“Okay,” said Twilight. “Here’s how this is going to work.”

“The group of us, working together, can overpower the magic of the Alicorn Amulet and change it. We’ll focus our magic on completely melting it down. Throw the jewel and the other material away, we just need the metal to carry magic. We’re going to mold the metal into the shape of a horn.”

She turned to Tempest. “This is the invasive part. We’re going to have to dig into the scar tissue of your horn to get at the nerves that interface with magic. It’s probably going to require some cutting. On top of that, we’re going to have to mold the metal to match the broken edges. We probably aren’t going to be able to use anesthetic because we need you to be able to tell us what you feel.”

“I don’t care,” said Tempest. “Do it.”

Twilight nodded and turned back to the group. “After we’ve got it custom fitted, it’s going to require some specific annealing to get the crystalline structure of the metal oriented to conduct magic, kind of like how the structure of a magnet makes it able to alter magnetic fields.”

“Darling, if Rainbow were here, she would call you an egghead and tell you to get to the point,” said Rarity lightly.

“Well, alright, that wasn’t even the long version, I just wanted everypony to understand what was going to be required. Anyway, let’s get started.”

Twilight passed out tinted goggles to them all. She used a sticking spell on a block of wood to make sure the plaster mold would stand upright.

Finally, Twilight picked up the Alicorn Amulet. “Ladies, I’m going to need your horns on this. Start low, and we’ll increase power slowly. Oh, and think happy thoughts.”

Twilight and Rarity transformed. The two of them, plus Cadance and Celestia, aimed their magic at the amulet. Each had a different level of relative power, though Twilight figured with four of them together they could overpower the Alicorn Amulet’s magic.

Twilight slowly called out increases in power. The four of them shifted position slightly to better keep the amulet between them with the vector force of their magic but still apply maximum power. Slowly, the metal began to glow a dull red, gradually getting brighter.

The gem in the center of the amulet shattered. The accoutrements began to slag off. By this point, the metal was practically glowing white with heat.

Rarity was sweating with the effort. Cadance had her jaw set in concentration. Twilight asked for more power. She said, “Tempest, get the mold ready.”

Tempest pushed the plaster mold under the glowing amulet with a piece of wood. The first drops of molten metal fell into it. It took careful coordination to keep holding the amulet up as it slowly melted away, until the last drop of white hot metal had fallen into the mold.

“Okay,” said Twilight. “We’ll give it a few minutes to cool. Stay with us, Rarity, we’ll need you again soon.”

She set up a few tools while they waited. The metal visible in the mold was already back down to a dull red color. It cooled further as Twilight picked up a hammer and chipped the plaster away, then grabbing a wire brush to get the final bits of material off.

“Fluttershy, if you could get started over there,” Twilight said as she worked.

“Sorry,” said Fluttershy preemptively as she turned to Tempest, pulling out a scalpel.

Tempest looked at the blade, and then away. She knelt to let Fluttershy work and kept perfectly still as the cutting began. The years-old wound had sealed roughly. Fluttershy peeled back skin and other tissue, dabbing blood as she worked, eventually exposing bare bone of the horn shell and the nerve tissue which she was careful not to disturb. It was the next thing to brain surgery, and one wrong move could make things worse than just a broken horn, particularly when operating on a conscious patient in a blacksmith shop.

Twilight heated the base of the metal prosthetic with a torch until it was glowing again. She came over, the item held protectively with her magic. “I’ve got the heat blocked, but I’m going to need to bring it down on your injury to get it sealed to everything.”

Tempest held still and Twilight did as she said. Twilight couldn’t imagine the sensation it must be causing, the molten metal squishing over her long-ago broken horn.

When Twilight was satisfied, she quenched the new horn and then brought it back to Tempest. The base had made an imprint of Tempest’s injury. “Okay, a mockup test. Fluttershy, do you have the sensation chemicals?”

Fluttershy squirted a substance meant to enhance feeling from a syringe into the open wound. Tempest squirmed, but stayed silent. Twilight brought the horn down and held it in place with her hooves. “Okay Tempest, try it out.”

Still bracing against the pain and other sensations she’d probably never experienced before, Tempest looked down at the workbench. A slow trickle of blue magic oozed out of the joint between her horn and the metal, but it seemed to defy gravity and drip upwards. It slowly dissolved, and had turned into an aura by the time it reached the tip.

The hammer on the table rose an inch. Tempest gasped.

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed. “As you get healed up and used to it, I’m sure it’ll come back to you. But the concept works! Let me just finish it off.”

She pulled the horn away. The hammer fell back to the table to Tempest’s disappointment. Twilight, meanwhile, was back working with the torch and her own magic, reheating the horn. The light of both reflected off her goggles and she was still grinning. She lightly quenched the horn a few times, alternating between close examination of the metal and a table of metallurgical figures from a book.

After cooling it off again, she picked up a polishing wheel and worked on the surface for several minutes, knocking down the rough edges left by the mold and eventually producing an even, though matte finish.

Tempest had been growing visibly more excited. Twilight noticed, and smiled. “One last touch. I’ve been wanting to try this.”

The horn went back into the flame for a quick, measured surface heat and then Twilight quenched it one last time. It emerged case-hardened, leaving the smooth surface not silver, but dark and streaked with purples, browns, and blues. It wasn’t a match to Tempest’s natural color, but it was subdued and left a unique pattern.

“One last fitting,” said Twilight. “Rarity, I’ll need you.”

Working with some of the smaller, more intricate tools in the blacksmith shop, they did a final fit on the metal prosthetic and secured it to the bone of Tempest’s horn with small screws. Rarity’s experience with delicate magic was a help here.

Twilight stepped back, taking a look at her work. “I think that’s it.” She smiled.

Fluttershy applied one of her magic bandages, the skin that had been peeled back already beginning to reattach itself, securing the seam where metal met flesh. Given time, the bone should also bond itself more strongly to the new horn, and given practice with magic, the nerves that carried it should become accustomed to transmitting it up the metal.

Rarity took out her makeup compact and opened it. Tempest could do nothing but stare at herself. She reached up, touching her new horn.

“I can’t believe this,” she whispered.

She had a false start, but got her magic going, a blue glow that traveled all the way up her horn. She started touching everything in sight with magic: pieces of broken plaster from the floor, leftover screws, the ladle for the quench bucket. She giggled.

Twilight smiled. Maybe it was too early to tell, but it looked like smelting the evil out of the amulet had worked. If anything, Tempest’s mood had actually improved.

That was backed up when Tempest came over and hugged her. “Oh, um…!” Twilight exclaimed as she was lifted off the ground and had the breath squeezed out of her by powerful forelegs.

Tempest pulled back, though still holding Twilight by the shoulders. “I cannot thank you enough. Words are not enough. I…”

She put Twilight down and took a step back, bowing her head. “I owe you. I’m willing to do whatever you ask. I worked for the Commander on false promises, but you kept your word. You shall be my new master.”

“Um, I...I’m not really comfortable with that,” said Twilight, taken aback.

Tempest looked up. “Mistress?”

“Just call me Twilight.”

Tempest hesitated. “I took my name because I left my old life behind. I feel like I’ve turned a corner. It’s not really who I was anymore, but since I’m calling you by your name...you can call me Fizzlepop Berrytwist, if you want.”

“I’ll call you whatever you want to be called,” said Twilight. She paused. “So...what’s your special talent?”

Tempest reached back with a hoof, but then stopped herself. She instead unzipped her bodysuit with magic. It fell away to reveal an ice cream sundae on her hip.

Pinkie tore into the blacksmith shop. “That is so cool!” She gasped so deeply that she seemed to inflate and grabbed Twilight and Candance by their necks, pulling them close. “We need to open an ice cream parlor!”

Author's Note:

Case hardening

Comments

[terrycloth]

So if she's working for them, are they going to make her the element of air superiority?

[djthomp]

“Twilight,” Cadance said slowly, “put down the hammer.”

The No Fun police have arrived.

If anypony but Twilight had asked, Cadance probably would have said no. She still didn’t enjoy it, but let Twilight grease her horn so the plaster wouldn’t stick and set up the mold.

Lewd.

I like this plan.

She turned to Tempest. “This is the invasive part. We’re going to have to dig into the scar tissue of your horn to get at the nerves that interface with magic. It’s probably going to require some cutting. On top of that, we’re going to have to mold the metal to match the broken edges. We probably aren’t going to be able to use anesthetic because we need you to be able to tell us what you feel.”

That sounds like it'll be incredibly painful. Good thing Tempest is a badass.

Tempest reached back with a hoof, but then stopped herself. She instead unzipped her bodysuit with magic. It fell away to reveal an ice cream sundae on her hip.

Pinkie tore into the blacksmith shop. “That is so cool!” She gasped so deeply that she seemed to inflate and grabbed Twilight and Candance by their necks, pulling them close. “We need to open an ice cream parlor!”

Nice.