What Aaron wouldn't give to have access to an X-ray machine. But with what he knew of Pony society, they had yet to discover proper alloys yet, let alone anything that might required electricity. An obvious flaw had been discovered on the first crucible, a vein of dissimilar material that would guarantee a failure, and it had since been abandoned. The dogs assigned to the remaining crucible were taking extra care whilst carving the second container from its own piece of rock. Their claws could cleave through stone fairly easily, so the extra caution was certainly warranted.

Once the manufacture of the crucible was complete, Aaron hoped to begin testing it with iron ore that had been gathered by the pack miners for just such a purpose. If the crucible held, then they'd pour the molten metal from the container and into some track molds that had been cut into the floor. Imperfections in the mold could be taken care of after the metal had cooled, which wouldn't be a problem. Aaron was just worried about the crucible breaking after it was full of molten metal.

In the meantime though, he could only plan for a worst-case scenario, build a cofferdam around the project, and make sure no dogs would be in any danger of getting too close.

But all of that could wait until later, as Mint had returned with some more seeds he wanted to plant in the garden. 'It seems as though Ponies haven't discovered greenhouses yet, either.' Aaron mused.

"I heard you guys had a visitor earlier. Is that true?"

"Some unicorn that goes by the name Starswirl came by. You know him?"

"I've only ran into him in town once or twice. I hear he's considered a hero in some parts. Some even say he's an heir to the Star Clan."

"Is that so? I had no idea he was so important."

"Yeah, he's saved some folks with his magic once or twice. Not so sure about the Unicorn family though, if he is then he'd be powerful enough to move the sun and moon."

"I find that hard to believe, seeing as how most celestial objects don't work that way."

"Of course they do, the Sun rises at the same time everyday and sets at the same time everyday. Same goes for the moon. The Star Clan is the Unicorn family that moves them everyday. They've been doing it for centuries, everypony knows that."

Aaron wanted to argue that such things were impossible but decided to let it go for the moment. "If you say so. What do I know? I live under a rock."

"So what did Starswirl want with you guys."

"Heck if I know. He said he was interested in how the dogs changed their behavior so suddenly, I guess. Then he performed some analyzing spell on me to see if he could figure out how I got here."

"What did he find out?"

"Don't know yet, he said it would take a few days for him to piece anything together." Aaron finished as they reached the gardens. "Anyway, Chaser said something about some new seeds you wanted to try?"

"Oh right, you said something about needing protein or something? I don't know what that is, but I did manage to bring those beans you asked for. You said they had protein in them, right?"

"Yeah they should be enough. Oh, and thanks for all the help by the way. You've been a great help around the garden."

"No problem. If helping you means that nopony gets captured again, then what kind of pony would I be to turn you down? Besides, you're paying more than Hayseed ever did, even if it is in gems."

"That's good to hear. Any other news from town other than that Starswirl showing up?"

"Not really. Town's been pretty quiet ever since Cirrus went back to her folk's place. You remember Cirrus, Right?"

"Was that the name of that Pegasus that was down here with us?"

"Yep, she had to go back to Pegasopolis and let her parents know that she's all right. With any luck, she'll get bored and fly back here before harvest season starts back up."

"Miss her already do you?" Aaron teased.

"Hey, it's not like that. The town could just use all the help it can get during harvest, is all." Mint sounded indignant.

"Well if everything goes smoothly here, I might be able to send some dogs up to help."

"I don't know. The merchants in town are okay with them being there, so long as they make some coin off of it. But Hayseed runs the harvest operations around here, and he still isn't too fond of you, or the Diamond Dogs."

"I'm sure we can figure something out."

Mint planted the beans in the row that had been recently furrowed, and fed a little water to them from the pond. Planting done, the Earth pony reared up and stomped his hooves into the ground next to the row. One by one, tiny little green shoots sprung from the ground fast enough to throw little specks of loose dirt everywhere.

"No matter how many times I've seen it, I'm still amazed that you can do that." Aaron stated in awe.

"Any Earth pony with the training can do it." Mint beamed. "We've got an innate connection with the earth that gives us both strength, and the ability to help plants thrive."

"Starswirl was saying something about how every pony race had some sort of magic in them. You've got that connection to the earth thing, Unicorns have spell-casting, I guess. Can the Pegasi do more than just fly around, or is that it?"

Mint paused for a moment. "Well, They can manipulate weather, for one. And the clouds they make are solid to them. Cirrus said that Pegasopolis was made almost entirely out of clouds. Oh, and Unicorn can levitate things too. Although, I heard that most magic spells are considered family secrets, and that they are usually closely guarded."

"What about the spell Starswirl used on me? Was that one of his family's spells?"

"How should I know? I mean, it's possible, but I don't know enough Unicorn ponies to know for sure."

Aaron thought for a moment. "Not even the ones that were held hostage?"

"Nope. Most Unicorn like to keep to themselves, even in dire situations, apparently." Mint admitted.

"Except Starswirl?"

"Except Starswirl." Mint replied simply as he tended the last few plants.

"Hmm, learn something new everyday..."

"You're telling me. Until you showed me this place, I never would have thought that you could grow plants underground!" Mint declared excitedly.

Aaron swept his arms towards the individual components that made up the garden. "Yep. As long as they're properly cared for, with proper amounts of light and water, I should be able to grow stuff here year round,even in winter. That should give me plenty of time to work out a better way to keep the pack fed."

"Yeah, having to go farther and farther away from home for your next meal doesn't sound very appealing. I wonder how other packs do it? I mean, I don't hear about too many Diamond Dogs roaming around looking for their next meal, you know?"

"I've wondered about that myself. It could just be that this pack is larger than normal, and outgrew the closest food supply, but it still doesn't explain why a pack wouldn't eventually have to move on. Gatherer societies need a steady, replenishing supply of food if they're going to stick around for very long. I know that the pack can return to an abandoned mine after some time and start digging again, but none of the dogs seem to know why they can find new gems in old locations."

"Do you think that the gems grow back after a while? Like rock-weeds or something?" Mint wondered aloud.

"You're the one with the 'connection to the earth', you tell me." Aaron asked in feigned mockery.

"Oh, hardy har har. Just because I'm an Earth Pony, doesn't mean I'm into rocks. Plants are more my thing."

"Fair enough. It's just one of those mysteries I'm going to have to work out later. So, any ideas about what the garden still needs?"

"The carrots are just about ready, I think. Another tending and they should be ready for harvest."

Aaron was impressed. "Already? That was pretty fast. Do your farm crops normally reach maturity so quickly?"

"What? No, not really. Normally it's enough to just use our magic to keep blight and pests away. Growing things like this takes a lot of energy, there just aren't enough Earth ponies working the fields to make that worth it. But you are paying me pretty well here, so I think I can work a little harder than normal, if that's what your're thinking."

"Well then, I'll say it again. Thanks for the help, Mint."

"No problem!"