Clastic Glow

by Rocinante

Dreams and Promises

It is not the words that matter, they evoke emotions; emotions bring intent

It is not the movements that matter, they evoke the soul; the soul brings purpose

It is not the materials that matter, they evoke the mind; the mind brings reason

- - -

Scootaloo pushed the shop door open, it was the start of another four hour day. It was work, but it was fun and she liked having a little money to call her own.

“Hi Scoots,” Swage greeted her as the door closed behind her.

He had started using the family nickname a few weeks ago. Ever since the day with the cloud, he had been riding a manic high. He spent untold hours in his study working out his ‘new theory’. Much to the detriment of his sleep. He looked to be in a good mood. But, she doubted he got more that a few hours of sleep last night. Her efforts to convince him to pace himself were all rebuked with variations of “I’m too close. This can answer both our problems!”

“Where’s Quench?” she asked, realizing the the Unicorn was absent from the room. “How’s the research going?”

The smithy put down his work and dusted himself off a bit, “He took the cart down to the train station, picking up an order of bar-stock that came in.” Walking towards the study, he beckoned for her to follow him. “I’m making progress. Quench has been a lot of help. I can’t actually see the magic like a Unicorn can.”

Scootaloo trailed into the arcane workspace that the enchanter used, it still gave her a sense of awe being in the room. She realized the Crusaders had not tried enchanting yet, or any ritual magic. Wondering what a cutie mark in such arts would look like she looked to Swage’s. It was such a simple one, yet rather expressive; a flying anvil. “Your cutie mark is in enchanting, right?” she blurted out in a sudden change of topic.

The smithy blinked at the question. Looking at his flank as if expecting the answer to be written there. “No, actually.” Ignoring the confused look from the filly he walked over to a bookshelf. He gently took up a well-loved teapot in his mouth and presented it to her. “I got my cutie mark making this.” he said proudly.

“You’re special talent is making teapots?” she exclaimed.

The smithy laughed at the filly's balk. “White-smithing. Which yes, includes making teapots, cups, plates, pots, pans. Anything made from copper, tin, or silver sheet.”

“Really?” the filly held the confused look. “Then how’d you end up learning enchanting?”

“Desperation.” the smithy sighed. “I knew I could hone my talent enough to be able to make a metal wing both strong and light enough to work. But I needed magic to animate it. So, I taught myself ritual enchanting. I just thought of it like cloud shaping, but with metal.”

“So you were a natural at it?” she beamed.

“No,” Swage chuckled, “I was horrible. But I practiced for hours every day. I tried to add some minor enhancement to everything I made.”

The filly lit up with an optimism that only foals can express. “Can you teach me how to do magic?” Even if it wasn’t to be her special talent, it would be really cool the know a little magic.

“I don’t know” the enchanter blurted with a surprised look. “I’ve never tried to teach that. But what the hay, let me finish up a few things and I’ll walk you through it.”

Scootaloo danced a little circle, chanting “Yesyesyes.”

“But first” Swage interrupted her, placing a hoof in her head. “I need to take a few measurements from you. Go stand in the middle of the room like you did the first day.”

Several esoteric devices were positioned around her, after she took her position. “Just relax. Don’t focus on anything particular, and let me know if you feel anything.” he instructed.

It was hard to be bored while all the devices clicked and whined around her. Swage’s constant attention to them was no less interesting. She had just noticed his attention rhythmically switching between herself and a new device, when a shiver ran down her spine. It was that, still new, sensation of feeling the wind. She had learned to tune into the scene over the past weeks, but this had come to her unbidden. Her body twitched a bit at the sensation. She was about to say something, but Swage had seen her reaction.

“Good.” he mused. He made a few notes before disengaging the devices. “All right. we’re done in here.”

Leading her to the forge, the smithy stopped and considered his student. “Can you dance?” he asked.

“Ugh... yea,” the filly responded “Why?”

“Enchanting, or ritual magic, the kind of magic that any pony can do; it’s like dancing. The oldest Pegasus and Earth pony magic was done through dancing you know.” The Swage picked up a small hammer and mimed the basic motions of his craft. “It’s you, the tool, and the piece you’re working on. Nothing else exists, and you have to blur the lines between the three. the tool is not an extension of yourself: it is just you.” Trading the hammer for some tongs he plucked up a half finished pot and examined it. “Love the thing you are working on like you would a dance partner; feel it, move with it.”

“Ok, but how do you actually make the spell?” the filly asked

Swage paused at the question. It was a good one and he didn’t have the answer. “By, force of will?” was the best response he could give her. It just occurred to him that there was too much of a knowledge gap between them for him to be a useful instructor on this topic. She either needed to be a passable smith or already familiar with ritual magic. She was neither and that robbed him of all his vocabulary.

With little smirk he placed the pot back in its resting place. “You’re meeting the crusaders after work today right?” An excited little nod confirmed the answer to his question. “I have an idea for all of you then. Go to to the library and ask for some books on ancient Earth pony and Pegasus dancing magic. Twilight will know what you’re looking for.

- - -

A little orange ball of specially alloyed gold and copper hovered about Swage. It shined in the light of lantern and magic. Dancing about the Smithy’s body, a careful eye could find a pattern in its movement. It held in the position where the elbow of the missing wing should be.

Swage’s air of concentration slowly faded into one of curiosity. Looking back at the golden mote, he gave it a satisfied grin as it’s movement blurred through a tight arc. Bringing a hoof up to it, he tugged at the orb. He’s whole body shuddered as sensation echoed through the invisible limb; the ball was firmly stuck within the ghost of his long lost wing.

A giddy smile streaked across his face. Needing one more good test he approached a wall and smacked the ball against it as hard as he could. “Ahh! Horseapples!” he yelped. Reflexively he cupped the orb in a hoof. Pain radiated from what had been eternal numbness. But, his little test was still there, still firmly in place.

The door next to him flung open “You alright!?” Quench blurted way too loud.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine” Swage grumbled.

The little orb drifted in front of Quench’s face. “What this?” He asked slipping into his sixth sense. He found the enchanted mote lodged in the knuckle of the phantom limb. A subtle energy resonated between it and the wing itself. “Did you make a breakthrough?”

“Nope!” the Pegasus chirped. He gave a little grin at the Unicorn’s sudden confused look. “Solved it!” he declared, raising a hoof to his friend, invoking a hoof bump.

“What? How?” Quench stammered through a grin.

“I was working on Scootaloo’s problem, when I realized we really had the same problem” the enchanter commented as he made a few notes on the wall turned blackboard. “But, I’ll give you the full theory later. First let me turn this thing off.”

The unicorn again slipped into his other-sight to watch his Master work. While he had seen the unorthodox method of thaumaturgy, he still didn’t fully understand how he did it. He knew it took a lot out of him though. While ritual enchanting was something Swage could do all day, he could only cast one or two spells before needing to rest. One of the first thing Swage had gotten him to do, after their reconciliation, was to learn the spells that had made up the second half of several of his products.

The enchanter took his poise of concentration to gather his inner magic. Quench noticed that his phantom limb was already glowing brighter than it normally did in its resting state. Though, that was expected with the magical-active object woven into it.

Swage focused his will into the missing limb, but it did not deform onto the grasping claw that the enchanter did his work with. Fidgeting a bit, he poured more magic into the wing. Quench was sure it was glowing even to normal sight now. Still, It’s shape held fast.

The enchanter broke his focus and looked at the Unicorn with a bit of panic “I can’t use my magic!” He felt claustrophobic all of a sudden. He had been able to peel away that stranger part of his self for so many years, now it was again trapped in physical bonds. “Quench, see what you can do.”

Lighting up his horn, he delved into the aura of the enchanted device. It was more complex than he expected. While he knew theory on enhancing, both ritual and spell based, it was never a focus of his studies. He was a quick learner, but he just hadn’t had time to practice. With a gentle thought, he tried to pull the spell thread out of the orb, but let the effort slip when the pegasus yelped in pain.

Quench shook his head and stepped back from the enchanter. “I’m just not familiar with this spell,” he warned.

“Watch the shop. I’ll be back in a bit. Just tell Scootaloo that I’m running errands when she comes in.” the Pegasus moaned.

- - -

Swage wandered into the library, looking for Twilight. If anypony could get this thing off him, it was her.

“Hi, Swage,” the librarian called out as he entered the room. “Anything I can help with?”

Sinking into a defeated sigh, he moved the invisible wing so as the golden mote levitated above his head. “I’ve got a problem”

Twilight perked up at the sight of the enchanted ball. “What’s that?” she asked

“It’s stuck,” he complained as he rummaged through his saddlebag, producing a stack of notes. “Here’s my theory so far. I wanted to do a test run. It worked, but now I can’t separate my magic from my soft body. I’m trapped.” He gave the invisible wing a flap to illustrate the point.

Taking up the notes in her magic she gave them a quick once over, intending to properly study them in a moment. Turning her attention to the enchanter, she bared down the full weight of her magical scenes on the little object; Swage felt his body tingle as her magic enveloped him.

- - -

After an intensive investigation of the device and it’s notes, the Unicorn laid down a reference book that she had conscripted. “That’s quite a piece of work you got there” Twilight chimed.

“Why can’t I use my magic? Thanks.” he casually scanned one of the books she had brought over during the examination.

“Because that little thing is doing what you designed it to do” she replied. “It’s doing the same thing your flesh did. Holding your soft body into a defined shape.”

Swage blinked, lost in thought for a moment. “Oh wow. I didn’t think of that.” Taking the offending ball in hoof he pondered it for a moment before letting out a nervous laugh. “I’ll still be able to do ritual enchanting.” Swage paused a moment. His unique brand of spell casting was not his special talent; it was a hard-earned victory over his disability. ”But, once I have my wing back, I’ll never cast another spell.” Pausing again he gave Twilight a meek look “You can get this off... Right?”

Twilight gave him a confidant nod, “Yep.” Lavender energy gathered around her horn before reaching out to the target. Swage’s skin crawled at the strange sensations before hearing the metal orb hit the floor. He looked down at it to find it slowly rolling away from him. It suddenly struck him as rather morbid. Placing a hoof on it he arrested it’s movement and pondered the object for a moment.

The Pegasus rolled the artifact towards his rescuer. “Keep that and the notes if you want to study them for a bit. I owe you” Swage chewed his words for a moment. “You know, I spent years learning to shape spells, so that I could get my wing back. Now, I’m a little sad to know I’ll be losing some of my magic for the wing.”

“Swage,” the Unicorn prefaced, she was reading his notes and had a tone and posture that tattled on her years spent in the tutelage of the Princess. “I don’t think you really understand what you’ve done here.” Her voice trailed a bit as she read over the stack of papers again. “You can help ponies, a lot of ponies with this. If you can replace your wing, you can replace other’s wings, legs too. And with a little work, this could be modified for Unicorns and Earth ponies.”

The unicorn’s words staggered him for a moment. He had never thought past the moment when he would affix the metal surrogate to his severed stump. She was right though. This was bigger than him now. “My notes. I’ll publish my notes. Others can play healer. I’m just a smithy.”

The librarian gave him a motherly smile. “This is uniquely yours Swage. I could cast the spell portion, but it would take years for me to learn the ritual techniques you use to prepare the materials.”

“I learned at the hooves of far better enchanters than I. They could easily do this.” he rebutted.

Twilight held the firm but caring demeanor. “And it would take them years to learn the spell shaping portion required.” She laid a hoof on the visibly troubled enchanter. “I’m not asking you to give up on your dream. Just think about how you can do the greatest good.”

“Quench!” he blurted with a crooked smile. Earning him a confused look from the mare. “I can teach him the spell theory, and I can still prep the materials.”

A concerned frown snuck out from Twilights lips. “No offense Swage. But, that’s pretty advanced stuff you came up with. Not every Unicorn will be able to cast that.”

A mischievous cackle erupted from the smithy at her concern. “Oh! Remind me to introduce you to his parents. You three can lament about his wasted talents. He had a free ride to Canterlot Arts and Magic before he got his cutie mark in metalworking; heat-treating specifically.“

Twilight blinked. CAM scholarships were no small honor, to have simply walked away for a live-in apprenticeship was a serious level of commitment to his calling. “Well, if he needs any help, I’m here. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

- - -

“Scootaloo, Swage is drunk. Help me get him upstairs.” Quench called out across the shop.

“I am no such thing!” the Pegasus retorted. “Look, I need a Unicorn, I need a talented Unicorn, and one that has a background in fabrication and enchanting. That’s you.” he said pointing a hoof at Quench.

“You’re better at enchanting than I’ll ever be.” Quench sighed. “It’s not that I have anything against becoming a full business partner with you. This is a lovely town and work is plentiful. But, I don’t get why I’m suddenly so invaluable to you.”

OK, he supposed he had burst into the room and started rambling out his plans without much preface. “My magic, where I use my phantom wing; that you always tell me looks creepy.” He waited for a nod of recognition from the Unicorn. “Once I bind the prosthetic wing, I’ll never be able to do that again. Only regular old ritual enchanting for me.”

“Oh,” Quench deadpanned. “So you need me to replace the wing... that you replaced.”

Swage tilted his head with an honest air of concern. “You make it sound like an insult. We have a chance to start a whole new profession here. We can take this technique and give ponies back their quality of life.”

“But you could do this by yourself” Quench replied.

“Yea, I could. I could just not undergo the process myself ,or maybe I could figure out a way even with getting my wing back.” Swage sat on his haunches and placed a hoof on his friends shoulder. “Either way, I don’t want to work alone and I think you and I do better work together.”

A crooked smile grew on Quench’s face. That was the answer he was looking for. He would be his friend's ally and partner, but he would not be another tool to hang on the wall. Reaching out he mirrored the hoof on his shoulder and drew the Pegasus in for a quick hug before grasping him in a hoofshake “Deal.” he pronounced.

“Awww!” Scootaloo cooed at them just a few feet away. The two stallions jolted from the unexpected comment; she giggled at their reaction. “So, you’re going to be able to fly again?”

Swave gave her a smiling nod. “Thanks to you” The filly just gave him a confused look. “I had my eureka moment while trying to fix your problem.” he continued.

“Oh” the little pegasus chirped, trying to look excited, but obviously a bit disappointed.

Scruffing her mane, “I haven’t forgotten my promise Scootaloo,” he said bending down a bit to get eye level with her. “You’re actually going to be a lot easier than myself, if not a bit dangerous. I still need a few weeks though. I have to get Quench up to speed and I need to make a set of talismans for you.”

“Really!?” the filly beamed

“Yep, two, maybe three weeks”

The confirmation sent Scootaloo into a skittering whirl of whoops and cheers.

Comments

[Kittuar]

More people should discover this story. It is amazingly written,has good descriptions of the characters,and this is leaving me wanting more. Thank you!

[Rocinante]

1928959 Aww shucks.

[sledge]

great story

[-Brutus]

I just added this story to bunch of related groups, I hope it shall bring you more views and likes/favorites which you rightly deserve!

[Kittuar]

1928976
Yeah! I beg you,MOAR!!!

[Shahrazad]

Loved this chapter. I thought earlier that Swage might actually be a better pony without his wing because the disability forced him to grow as a character. But this take on it is even better, it adds a moral dilemma that isn't so abstract to the mix.

This story is so good. So when I nitpick, it's out of love.

test was still there, still firm in place.

firmly

something Swage could do all day, the Pegasus could only do one or two spells before

unicorn, not pegasus

complained as he rummaged his saddlebag

rummaged through

[Rocinante]

1944948 Fix point 1 and 3. Point two I reworded slightly. Though I was referring to Swage. One of the harder things to illustrate in this story it my concept of ritual magic vs. "Unicorn" magic. The fact the Swage can "fake" unicorn magic only muddies things more.

[Shahrazad]

1945422
oh that makes more sense.

I wish I could give you more upvotes this should be in the feature box over yet another romance fic.

[Rocinante]

1945613 I'm working on a romance too

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/63772/the-meek-and-the-brave

Side note: Ch10 is well under way. I think It might see the lite of day around the 17th. It's going to be a short, colorful and intense chapter. Ch11 is in the oven, but well just have to see how it grows before I comment on it.

UPDATE: 10 is done, but I'm going to hold it till 11 is finished. 10 has an awkward ending that I don't want left hanging in the breeze.

[Themaskedferret]

This is a truly beautiful fic in the first chapter or two I was worried it was going to be a lot more trag/sad than it's become and I'm overjoyed for that. Can't wait for more.