2. An Unexpected Pleasure
My Farrier Lady, Sunspot
An Unexpected Pleasure
A farrier’s forge room is a noisy place, hot enough to singe hair and just as precisely arranged as a surgeon’s collection of tools. The electric blower was keeping the coal-fired working surface at just the right temperature, one set of shoes was ‘warming’ for the next customer in the set, and the last shoe in the current order had just been pulled out, all hot and glowing red.
With precise blows, Golden Hammer adjusted the last of four prepped factory-forged shoe blanks, bending and trimming it to the dimensions of the paper hoofprint that Specialist Windy Gears had left as a template. There were a lot of sheets of ink-stained paper to catch up on before the new platoon of Royal Guards could be admitted to their scheduled shoeing next week, and in the next room, Silver Nails was just as hard at work putting the primary enchantments on the finished products. It looked to be a late night but a profitable one for the new business and the two proprietors, which would have filled his father’s heart with glee. Unfortunately, Sledge Hammer could not see all the way to Canterlot from his Pollyneighsian retirement shack, where everypony was barehoof and not a shoe to be seen.
Golden Hammer enjoyed the weekly postcards from his retired parents, particularly the ones that pictured his mother in the native fashions. Somepony had to keep the old geezer from chasing the local mares, after all.
“Hello? I knocked, but nopony said anything.” Hammer did not see the young mare very well because he was still tapping one last corner of the shoe into place, but once he quenched the finished product and tossed it into Windy Gears’ equipment box for Nails to enchant, he turned to address the unauthorized visitor.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we’re closed due to— Spot?” Hammer pushed his goggles up on his forehead and blinked away a few flecks of floating ash, taking a good long look at the bright pink mare standing in the open doorway that led inside to the main office.
“Ah, Mister Golden Hammer,” said Sunspot, trying but failing to conceal a pleased smile of her own. “I wouldn't normally bother you while you’re working on a contract, but Celestia’s student is something of a special…”
“Problem?” asked Hammer, wincing when the small earth pony mare cringed.
“She’s not a problem,” said Sunspot fairly rapidly. “She’s… special. Twilight Sparkle, I’d like you to meet Golden Hammer. Gold—” The young mare looked down and to the side, then started to scan around the other room. “She was right here.”
“I really don’t like to shoe foals,” said Hammer. “They’re too much trouble.”
“Twilight certainly fits that definition,” said Sunspot, who had turned around in the doorway and was looking for her young ward. It gave Hammer a look at the other end of the young mare with her flowing magenta tail and her smiling sun cutie mark, which was not that bad at all, and very distracting. He moved away from the forge before he scorched something important and headed to Sunspot, also looking around for the missing student.
“Do you think she went back out into the street?” asked Hammer. “Sometimes, foals get all stressed about visiting the farrier and bolt. It takes forever to track them down, and they scream while getting their hooves trimmed. I mean I’ll do it,” he added at Sunspot’s frustrated glance over her shoulder. “It’s just that I scare them a little since I’m so tall.”
“That’s not going to be a problem with Twilight Sparkle,” said Sunspot as if she were remarking on the inevitability of the sunrise. “You’re more likely to be—”
There was a noise much like somepony talking inside the insulated and locked enchanting room, followed by a stentorian whump of an explosion and the door flinging open with a mighty crash. Smoke billowed out, mostly being sucked up into the vent system that Sledge Hammer had grumbled about being unnecessary, followed by two unicorns stumbling out of the door and into the fresh air.
The larger unicorn was of course Silver Nails, who looked oddly racoon-like with his goggles pushed up onto his forehead and the dark smoke stains over all of his silvery coat except just around his eyes. By default, that left the smaller unicorn, who was dark all over, as the missing student.
“I’m sorry!” she bleated while blinking furiously up at Golden Hammer. “Please don’t tell Princess Celestia! I didn’t mean to make the enchantment blow up, but I wanted to see what he was doing and I was tracing along with the Stemwinder’s Strenuous Stride runes when he moved to the Hawthorne’s Hefty Countercharm and our magics got mixed up and everything— Princess Celestia?”
Those big violet eyes looked up into Golden Hammer’s face as if he were the rising sun and the little unicorn was a starving plant. The awestruck expression only lasted a heartbeat before Twilight Sparkle blinked away the last of the smoke and switched back to her panicked babbling. “I’m sorry, Mister Hammer! I didn’t mean to call you by Princess Celestia’s name but you looked like her for a second and I knew she had a lot of things to take care of back at the palace but I thought she might have slipped out and saw what a mess I made of your partner’s workroom and I might get expelled and sent back to Magic Kindergarten and fined and have to work as a—”
Hammer placed one large hoof gently across the student’s mouth, which cut off her babbling instantly. He turned to look at Sunspot, who seemed to be suppressing a snicker at his expense, then back to the small unicorn. “Young lady, this is a dangerous business, and you could be hurt if you don’t follow the rules. Didn’t you read the sign on the door before you went into Silver’s workroom?”
“Enchanting in process. Stay out.” Twilight cringed inwardly, making her look much like a small slumping scoop of smokey ice cream in the sunshine pouring in through the office windows. “I just wanted to see what he was working on, since I’m going to be Princess Celestia’s student and I don’t know what she’s going to have me study. I have to be prepared for anything. And the locking charm needs to be better if you really want to keep anypony out,” she added in a rush.
“Ask before you assume,” said Hammer, feeling very much like his father at the moment because that same line had been used on Young Golden Hammer many, many times.
The little unicorn’s unshod forehoof shot up and she waved it slightly back and forth as if she were trying to gain attention in her class of one. The sight brought a subject up that Hammer had been wondering about, and he turned to Sunspot with an upraised eyebrow and a question. “What happened to her shoe?”
“Shoes,” clarified Sunspot, whose cheeks had crinkled in an attempt to hide her smile. “She blew them off during testing today. And yes, all of them.”
Nails, who had been mopping the smudges out of his coat with a towel, scoffed quietly. “That happens sometimes to students in Celestia’s school. Dad made sure I had a full set of Silver Band Henweigh and Stickers before I even set hoof in there. Those generic thaumopedic jobs are disasters waiting to happen.”
“Mine were Henweigh and Stickers,” said Twilight quietly. “Gold band.”
“Gold band?” Silver Nails took an involuntary step backward and cast a plaintive look at Hammer.
“That’s why I brought her here,” said Sunspot. “Princess Celestia wants her to have the finest shoes available. Cost is no object.”
“Our job with the Royal Guard has us booked solid,” said Hammer in defense. “Schedule slippage will cost us a penalty.”
“No penalty. Princess Celestia said this is the highest priority,” countered Sunspot, looking very insistent and intimidating despite being somewhat on the small side and very pink.
“Gold band,” repeated Silver Nails under his breath. “Celestia’s shoes are gold band.”
“Your father enchanted them,” said Sunspot firmly before turning her dangerous violet eyes on Golden Hammer. “And your father put them on her hooves.” Ignoring the sucking sound of Twilight inhaling while visions of hero worship filled the young student’s eyes, Sunspot strolled over to the inventory taking up most of a nearby wall, by a collection marked with an ornate script H&S. She traced down the sizes of factory blanks, from 4XL down to F4 until she pulled open a box and evaluated the silver shoes inside. “You even stock the raw Henweigh and Stickers shoes in Twilight’s size.”
“I didn’t say we couldn’t do it,” said Hammer. “Just that it will be difficult.”
“Gold band,” murmured Nails.
“First,” said Hammer, leaning on his words and lowering his eyes to the student, “she will have to be examined and sized properly. My partner Silver Nails will take you into the display room, check your hooves for any damage the—ahem— removal of your last shoes might have caused, and ink out four templates. Then I’ll use those templates to customize the factory-forged blanks to match your needs before Mister Silver enchants them with various unicorn grounding spells and protective runes. Last, we will both install the finished product, test them to make sure they’ll function as designed, and make any last-minute adjustments. Since you’re a student of the princess, we will bend the rules and let you watch the enchanting process, provided you keep your magic to yourself and only ask questions when we say it is time. Do you have any questions?”
In retrospect, it was a dumb question. It would have been easier to ask if there was anything in the world Twilight Sparkle did not have a question about. It took forever before Hammer could get Nails and the new customer discussing enchantments next door in the more formal display and measuring room with various products under glass cases and sizing guides for even the most distinguished customers. Once the forge door was closed, he let out a deep breath and turned to Sunspot, who seemed on the edge of breaking out into laughter.
“Miss Sunspot,” he started, only to be cut off.
“That’s going to cost you a round at the bar,” she said with a smile.
“We’re in my office,” countered Hammer with a sweep of his hoof around the forge room in all of its informal and smokey glory. “Here, you are Miss Sunspot and I am Mister Hammer, or just Golden Hammer if we’re being informal. Besides, I haven’t seen you in the bar in months.”
“It’s been… busy.” The smile faded from Sunspot’s face, then came back with reinforcements in the form of dimples. “You should have seen the way Twilight passed her entrance exam. Hatched the dragon’s egg, actually grew him up through the ceiling, turned her parents into potted plants, and sent the teachers flying through the air. She’s going to be the most powerful student in the school since… well, she’s going to do great things in her life. I just know it.”
Hammer scratched his mane and picked out a loose cinder from the forge. “Nails said he just made a self-sustaining paper rune rhombus for his entrance exam. Dad was a lot tougher on me for my apprenticeship. I had to make a shoe he approved of. If all the students are hatching dragons in Celestia’s school, sounds like we’ll be hip-deep in flaming lizards before long.”
“It was only one dragon,” chided Sunspot. “I’ll tell you all about it at the bar tonight.”
“Can’t.” Hammer waved a hoof at the stack of inked hoof imprints he had not gotten to yet. “Gonna be working until way past dark to meet our deadlines. The graduating Royal Guard cadets get shod in three days, then we have a breather. Generally we try to avoid the bar that night, because that’s where the guards go to drink after their new shoes. They buy us a round or two or twelve, and we lose most of the next day to hangovers. The night after that should be better.”
“It’s a date.” Sunspot promptly blushed a brighter pink and added, “Not really a date, of course. Just a chance to get away. With Celestia’s new student, she’s going to be busier than ever, so my job will get exponentially more difficult.” She looked at Hammer with a wistful smile that went all the way up to the sparkles in her dangerous violet eyes. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Golden Hammer started slightly when a quiet explosion sounded from the fitting room, but with unicorns being fitted for shoes, it was not an unusual occurrence. By the time his eyes returned to the beautiful young mare, she had regained her composure, although most of the smile was still there. “You know, we’ve missed having Spot with us. It just isn’t Away without you.”
“I know.” Sunspot glanced around, then moved up to Hammer’s cheek by standing on her hind hooves and stretching. “I’ve missed you too,” she whispered, her cool breath tickling the hairs inside his ears. “I was a little afraid of getting too close, but I’ve given it some thought, and maybe—” she kissed him gently on the cheek “—I should just take a chance instead of playing it safe all the time. Not too much of a chance,” she added in a rush. “I mean I barely know you, and if you say something like that at the palace it always gets misinterpreted and the rumors get started and before you know it everypony thinks there's some sort of giant orgy going on every night.”
“There’s not?” asked Hammer with a raised eyebrow and a quirk of a sardonic smile at the corner of his lips. “Nails will be terribly disappointed. He’s always wanting to romance a noble lady, and now I know why.”
Sunspot gaped, then snorted in laughter and hit him gently on one shoulder. “Oh, you pill. For two bits, I’d set him up with a noble lady who could make him swear an oath of celibacy.”
“I don’t know.” Hammer scratched his chin. “He may surprise you. Wind up Lord Nails of some distant duchy or barony with a dozen foals. And the Royal Guard would need a new supplier to enchant their shoes.”
“We can’t have that.” Sunspot put on a more serious expression and stood back up. “Look, I need to get back to the palace and get to work on some issues if I’m going to be able to make it to our not-date. Keep Twilight entertained and informed until she’s shod, and I’ll send a guard to escort her back home. And I’ll buy the first round at the bar when you’re done with the Academy graduates’ order. Sound good?”
“It’ll be good if you’ll be there,” said Hammer. “Until later.”
“Later,” said Sunspot, trotting out of the side door of the forge room with a backwards wink before she vanished from sight into the street full of ponies beyond.
- - Ω - -
An hour later, it was the calm before the storm, the eye of the hurricane, and before Golden Hammer could get his workspace prepared, Twilight Sparkle returned to wreak terrible vengeance on his orderly forge. Thankfully, she could obey rules, provided they were crafted with great care and without loopholes small enough for mice or small filly horns. Also thankfully, Nails backed him up, standing beside the little unicorn’s shoulder and keeping a constant flow of answers, because with a hammer in his mouth, Golden Hammer would have needed to stop work for every response, and that would have stretched their session past midnight.
In the end, Hammer had chalked four small circles on the floor a safe distance away for Twilight Sparkle to keep her hooves inside while he was hammering away on her red-hot shoes, so her natural drift toward the fire could be damped somewhat. Normally, questions by the clients were stupid-simple, like “Is that the right size?” or “Are you done yet?”
Twilight had different questions, like asking about the specific carbon content of the steel guard shoes or how much nickel went into unicorn shoes to make them thaumatologically conductive to Lightning Rod’s General Grounding spell. Even Nails had the stressed look of a student trying to remember final exam questions by the time the last shoe had been shaped and he headed back to his workroom with Twilight Sparkle close behind.
“Just a moment.” Golden Hammer retrieved a notebook and a pencil from the front office and hoofed them over to Twilight Sparkle. “Something for you to write down your questions while Mister Silver works. He’s going to need his concentration, and for that—” Hammer popped a lollipop into Twilight’s mouth “—you will have to be quiet. Very quiet. You can ask all the questions you want out loud when he’s done, but not while he’s working. Understand?”
Twilight nodded, her short blue-striped mane bobbing a little with her vigor. A brisk toweling with one of the forge cloths had restored most of her purple coloring, although she still looked more like the ruddy dark reddish brown of Hammer after a brisk day’s work at the forge instead of Nails, who actually got his mane cut and styled weekly.
He let himself relax briefly when both unicorns had vanished into the workroom, visible only through the sooty double-thick armored glass window that let customers observe the enchanting process at a distance in relative safety. In hindsight, he would have to clean the window after this was all over. If the window survived..
Silver Nails normally worked fast, even though the job was about quality, not a race. On a good day working the Royal Guard contract, Golden Hammer could have the last set of cooling shoes pushed through the two-way flap between their workrooms, shut down the forge and clean the area, and still not beat Nails to the open doorway that kept the forge room livable during the summer. It was a heavy door, and rolled closed only with such significant effort that it warranted a trip to the bar and at least one beer to recover. For now, with the stack of Royal Guard shoes scheduled to be applied in three days, it was going to be very dark by the time they finished for the evening, and tomorrow night too.
Since he had some time before Twilight Sparkle’s shoes were ready, Hammer dug out two sets of factory blanks and tossed them in the forge to heat, along with a few scoops of coal and a sprinkle of water around the outside ring. The regular blower was not keeping the new coal stoked up, so he got a good grip on the ‘booster’ bellows and gave the fire a few strong strokes to get things started, then puttered around with the inked sheets of parchment so he could move from one shoe to another without stopping. There were a lot of things he did back when his father ran the forge and little Hammer kept the process flowing, which made him wish for an assistant at times. Perhaps a young mare with dangerous violet eyes who would grow frustrated with her exciting life of tending to Princess Celestia’s every whim and want a place where she could settle down with a big lug and raise a dozen young ponies just like them.
It was a nice thought and made the work go faster. Still, he went through shaping all eight shoes without Nails making an appearance. Hammer considered putting another set of blanks in to heat, except that would just about guarantee Twilight Sparkle’s shoes would be done with the enchantment process and ready to apply before he could get a good rhythm on another set of the Guard order. He had just decided to throw the shoes on anyway and darn the consequences when he heard a pleasant male voice calling through the back door to his forge.
“Hello. Mister Hammer, I presume?”
“Ah, Cadet Shining Armor,” said Hammer once he turned around and got a good look at his customer. “You’re early. The shoes for your graduating class won’t be ready for a few days.”
“I’m actually picking up,” said the handsome young unicorn in his formal Royal Guard cadet uniform. “Princess Celestia sent me here to escort her new student back to the dorms. It’s my first Royal Command,” he added a little quieter. “Quite extraordinary.”
“Like her student,” said Hammer. He jerked his head in the direction of the enchanting office on the other side of the wall from the forge. “I understand she blew her shoes off during the school entry test while hatching a dragon’s egg.”
“Whoa.” Shining Armor clucked his tongue in the back of his throat. “Hatched a dragon’s egg? That’s extreme. All I needed to do was show off my shielding spell. So where is the little genius?”
“Supervising Nails. Probably giving him pointers. We’re giving her gold band shoes, and I don’t think Nails has ever tried enchantments that difficult on her size of shoes.”
Shining Armor let out a long whistle. “If she’s going to be Princess Celestia’s student, she’s going to need the best. She’s never taken a student since… well, not for a while now. Uncomfortable subject. Don’t bring it up around her new student, please.”
“All we’re doing is shoeing her. Just another customer.” Golden Hammer gave his words a little thought. “Well, we’ll probably have to re-shoe her a few years from now when she grows. She’s just a little thing, about this high—”
“Shiny!” A purple blur streaked from the forge door over to the smiling cadet, giving him a leaping hug around the neck that smeared black forge soot all over the bright white uniform. The following words moved too fast to be picked out individually, but in groups they made a little more sense. The word ‘Brother’ that he managed to pick out was a good clue to their relationship, although the geeky little unicorn and the tidy Royal Guard cadet bore little physical resemblance to each other.
The entirety of the school testing procedure came pouring out during the shoeing process. It gave little Twilight Sparkle something to do while Hammer worked, tapping and adjusting each shoe with care while she chattered along. The story climaxed at the third hoof with the unexplained burst of color across the sky and the resulting chaos, winding up at the fourth hoof with a detailed breakdown of Nails’ enchantments on the shoes and a refused request to remove the shoe being applied in order to show further specifics. The happy chatter did not slow as the two unicorn siblings began their trip back to the palace, but it did fade in volume until he and Nails found themselves standing beside each other in the resulting silence.
“Well.” Hammer cast a glance over his shoulder. “We’re still behind for the day.”
“I give her a week,” said Nails unexpectedly. “Max.”
“A week what?” Hammer strode back to the forge and added some more coal before giving the bellows a quick pump. “Spot’s going to meet us at the bar four days from now, by the way. We should be all the way done with the guard order by then and have a little free time.”
Nails shook his head and gave Hammer a long look while he was putting another set of shoe blanks into the forge. It bothered Hammer, since his partner was supposed to get back to work, but he continued to get his things set up until Nails cleared his throat.
“You’re whistling.”
“Me?” Hammer poked one of the warming shoe blanks. “You must be hearing things.”
Over the next several days, Nails would give a quiet whistle while walking by, which made them both break out in giggles. When he told Spot at the bar four days later, they all shared a laugh.
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There’s only one mare who uses the size 4xl shoes, but it’s a bad idea to bring that up in a conversation with her. You may get stepped on.
Twilight, if you really want to be a wizard, you've got to stop doing things like that. Passive examination only, until you've got total control of your magic. Mage sight is a wonderful spell, learn it.
Well that's good, because custom always costs.
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
10038491
And I suppose the one stallion that uses them is Troubleshoes
So their work includes being a shoe sales clerk, a cobbler and a podiatrist? Fascinating.
Filly Twilight remains a delight to read about (if perhaps a bit trying for those with a job to do.). The idea that she blew off all of her horseshoes in her test is a clever “in” to the tale, and the guard appearance at the end was an unexpected bonus. I love this time period of the show in Canterlot especially, as we have so many favorites coming together (and I appreciated the reference to a certain student’s departure...).
Sunspot seems to be contemplating letting loose a bit and pursuing a romance, which is a bit of a surprise with the theories about who she actually is, but then she would deserve a little happiness, and I suppose this of all days would have her being hopeful for the future.
10038283
That would be Doctor Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, a web-based supervillain musical done by Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and (Pear Butter/Buttercup voice actor) Felicia Day back during the Hollywood writer’s strike. There has always been hope that they’d do a sequel , but schedules have never allowed it.
Okay, this Twilight is frigging adorable. And I love the two main characters!
*adds to follow list*
"I remember Sunset Shimmer, Miss Sunspot. She bit."
I wonder if Sunspot's niece had any impact on her decision to take a chance.
"Same thing, really."
Always fun to see Twilight when she was an adorable little firecracker. (These days, she's more of a reactor. More consistent output, though still prone to the occassional meltdown.) Though I imagine she will go through a ludicrous number of grounding shoes, and just because of growth spurts. At least Spot will have reasons to visit the smithy.
Looking forward to more.
10038491
This one perchance
Comment by Twilight when seeing Fluttershys mother for the first time
“...Is that a pegasus or a bulldozer?”
"I'm Barricade, of the Canterlot Royal Guard."
From Mothers
by KnightMysterio
10038544
A farrier is not so much someone who makes horse shoes as it is someone who specializes in horse hooves. They make shoes, apply shoes, inspect hooves, repair damage where they can, trim them, shape them, diagnose abnormal conditions and, when the situation calls for it, make determinations about what kind of corrective shoes and treatments are needed.
Whoo, filly Twilight enters the story, such an adorable ball of mayhem.
Probably a safe bet, Nails.
10038559
I'm farily sure you mean, and NOT just because of growth spurts.
Vi-o-let Eyes! They're watchin' you!
They see your eeeeeeevryyyyy mooooove...
-Excerpt from Violet Eyes by Haulin' Oats
*snerk* God, I love me some magi-technobabble nonsense. Whenever someone needs to label a magical macguffin, they just slap on "thaumatic" or "thaum-" to it. Not complaining. I do the exact same thing. Just funny to me is all.
Also, I like how you kept having Hammer describe Sunspot's eyes as "dangerous." Really gives an insight into his feelings on romance and pursuing a relationship. Like Vincent Vega once said, "It's the little things."
Lol, adorable Twilight is adorable
Easy there Icarus.
Little Twilight is going full on Elephant Child. Drawing circles she has to keep her hooves in, and closing loopholes... both annoying and endearing at once.
Wonder how Twilight is going to react when she realizes just who took her shoe shopping after the test.
Also, students literally blowing their shoes off is hilarious and feels like a serious concern.
Just in general I love how grounded you’ve gotten this to feel. Like it’s actually a forge where difficult work that could literally explode going on. And they’re busy. That helps sell how it’s a big deal Twilight needs gold band shoes: the experts are impressed.
10038590
Hah. I remember Barricade.
Filly Twilight EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
10038930 She'll soon graduate up to rhodium shoes!
But then Starlight shows up needing UNOBTANIUM SHOES!! Because she's TEH BESTEST EVAR!!
10038992
Aluminium shoes, surely.
10039005
Maybe for Pegasus to keep down wait, although I'm sure most never wear them. I'm not sure what Fluttershy wears. I'm sure Rainbow Hates anything to do with shoes given her hoof issues.
So I guess that'd make for the obvious Equestrian equivalent to the phrase "knock your socks off," wouldn't it?
"Now this next spell will be sure to knock your horseshoes off!"
"No, seriously, it will literally knock your horseshoes off. Are you wearing gold band shoes, by any chance?"
Also, that must make things interesting at the School of Gifted Unicorns, with being able to duck magically knocked-off horseshoes flying towards your head being a required skill to work there, I'm sure.
Oh, I dunno, they do share mane colors...though I suppose that might not be so easily visible under all the soot still no doubt covering Twilight. The familial relation is even more obvious when compared with their mother (both inherited obvious physical traits from her).
10038616
Just the podiatrist then, with a touch of those chaps who make special insoles for ski boots. Fair enough.
10039151
It occurs to me, I bet enchanted horseshoes don’t actually need nails.
10039253
Potentially. It certainly wouldn't be an unreasonable assumption. However, the chapter makes comment about how young colts and fillies tend to be very nervous about getting their hooves shod, and I'd think they likely wouldn't be as consistently nervous about it if the shoes just magically adhered to their hooves. So I reckon, at least for Georg's take on it, they still use nails, or some close equivalent.
Besides, some days you still can't beat the simple, robust, reliability something like nailing something would have. Further, for storytelling purposes, it makes sense to keep the nailing in a fic that deals with its leading characters working in the farrier trade, otherwise you're removing a very iconic element of it.
But I suppose Georg will eventually see these comments and chip in to clarify too.
10039151
The FlimFlam brothers actually use the expression in their Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 song:
10039253
Considering that Silver Nails is the one who does the enchantments...
I just love the warning not to talk about...previous students.
10039253
I'd guess only really high-impact ones like those for hard-physical work use nailed shoes. And even then, it's the back shoes only. Don't want to do that to your griphoof.
10038992
I'd be worried about rhodium shoes, those things are actually the most conductive of the platinum group of metals. Maybe aluminium or a tungsten alloy.
(And before we figured out the industrial refinement of aluminum, it was considered a rather precious metal.)
10039548
True, its price was comparable to that of silver early on. The capstone of the Washington Monument was one of, if not the largest piece of refined aluminum at the time of its casting, and cost $225 in 1884 dollars -- about $6000 today.
This is a charming story so far. Darn if I didn't want to see some details on how Guard Shoe-ing day goes, or details on how the not-date with Sunspot went.
10039005
10039660
Lets get real, they’ll slap some rubber booties on her and call it a day. She doesn’t need conductivity, she needs insulation. Since Starlight self-levitates she would ground herself after an hour of flight and blow the curl in her horn straight.
Adorable and educational! Just like a chapter involving Filly Twilight should be.
10040123 I like to write educational stories. I learned to make proper tea from The Traveling Tutor series, how to make coffee from Her Royal Morning Coffee, how to write combat scenes from Diplomacy By Other Means, how to write historic stories from Equestria:1940, and how to... um... We'll leave Naughty Bits out of this for now. (No link, because... it's naughty and I understand we're not supposed to put links to that in comments)
10039982 True, a unicorn with a flying spell would have to learn how to self-ground, or landing would be impressive. In that regard, if you are ever in an emergency situation where a helicopter is lowering a rope/cable/harness to you, let it *TOUCH* the ground/water before you try to get it, or you're going to get zapped like God's own bugzapper.
10039853 I watched a bunch of videos while writing this. It's a horse-pedi.
10039660 10039548 The thing is aluminum bends at a lesser pressure than steel, and unlike steel does not return to its original shape after minor bending. There's a giant list of engineering terms involving using aluminum in ship construction regarding that problem. In short, aluminum shoes in high-pressure environments would have a very short lifespan.
10039415 In all odds, that's exactly how she would have been treated. Sunset returning to Canterlot would be subjected to a lot of unwarranted malice, curiosity, and more than a few social snubs, due to the rumors that had most likely spread.
10039398 I plan on using the concept in Sweetie Belle - Hogwarts Exchange Student at least *once*
10039302 10039253 Shoes would be enchanted for strength and various other characteristics. (Applejack wears shoes, for example, due to a number of the prints left after impact in the show) Nails to hold them on would be normal, because the hoof-nail is much like a fingernail. (see Horsie-Pedi video above)
10039219 that would be the hoof-boot manufacturers who make the 'it-goes-over-the-hoof-for-fashion-or-practicality' wear. It's a real-world thing too.
10038542 I can see him be chuffed because only one farrier shop stocks his size, and they're girl shoes.
10038503 An expert who does much the same thing every day can easily do that thing far better than a genius who has studied the process for some time and believes themself to be better than the best.
10040351
Dead chuffed because he has to wear pretty princess shoes?
Or chuffed pink because they're perfect for his drag persona: Cuddleshoes?
Might I ask if the shoes were nailed on? I'm not so sure given the text. (I'm in support of nailed-on horseshoes btw.)
10067490
I don't recall it specifically stated, but since the shop is run by Silver Nails, who grew up helping his father Tap Brad, I'd say it's a pretty good bet.
I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but I absolutely love your characterization of both Twilight Sparkle and of Celestia.