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The Diamond Dog's Guide to Engineering

by Tolerance

Chapter 12: Lousy Lots in Life

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Aaron had gathered the dogs that had helped him with the crucible project. Once he had their undivided attention, he started his lecture. "Alright, so, it didn't quite go as expected, but we didn't expect it to be perfect on our first try. Nobody got hurt, so we just have to try again and again until we get it right. So as far as lessons learned go, the stone we used worked perfectly so long as we kept the whole thing hot. Once we poured about half of the iron out, The change in temperature from the top to the bottom, the temperature gradient, became too much for the rock, and it broke in a fairly neat circle around where the iron was still molten. We'll keep on the lookout for a good clay mix to try at some point, but the stone should be good for single pourings if we can make enough of them. Either that or switch to a metal that is easier to melt, I haven't decided yet."

"Second, the cast mold itself was carved into the floor. Which, while it did seem to work out for the trial, we had to tear up the floor pretty bad to get the rail out after it cooled. Our next attempt will be using fine, wet sand in the same shape. We'll either set this into the floor where the last form was, or just use wood frames to make the mold above floor level. Either way, we've got a lot more work ahead of us, so I'm making the crucible team start back up on the next set of containers, can you guys do that?"

The dogs in questions snapped their reply in immediate unison, "Yes, Aaron sir!" Before darting back off towards the staging area.

"While they're off doing that, anyone else have any questions?"

"There more type of metals?"

"Yes, I'm sure some of you have seen the uniforms that the ponies were wearing?"

A few of the gathered canines nodded their heads.

"Well the metal on their armor is a different kind than what you're used too. I think it's bronze or something. That's actually a combination of two metals that supposed to make the metal stronger. It's a little more advanced than what we can work with at the moment, but once we get things going we can come back and try to make our own alloys. Any other questions?"

The crowd had none.

"Alright, you all have your duties, get those done so that the forge is ready for the next set. Diamond dogs, dismissed!" As the gathering dispersed, Chaser pushed his way through them to Aaron "What do you have for me today, Speedy?"

"Magic pony is back. Want me to fetch him for you?"

"Yeah, bring him to the gardens, I'll be right over."

~~~~~

"Hello again, Starswirl. Any good news?" Aaron asked as he poured out portions of tea.

"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest." Came Starswirl's honest reply.

"What do you mean?"

Starswirl inhaled the scent of the beverage before taking a sip. "Well, the magical scan was supposed to trace if any remnant magic remained on you, but even after I double checked the amount of magic remaining in those gems, the results were the same. As far as I can tell there's never been a magic spell used on or by you, or if there was, then it's something I've never encountered before."

Aaron laughed earning him a 'what's so funny look' from the stallion. " Sorry, it's just that I suspected as much. Until I came here, I was certain that magic only existed in fiction."

"Regardless, I don't think I can help you return to wherever it is that you came from. Without trace of a spell for me to work with, there's simply nothing I can do."

Aaron sighed."Sounds about right. Thanks for taking the time to tell me anyway. Are you headed back to the Capitol right away, or are you staying for a bit?"

"Well I've exhausted my research opportunities here. None of the locals have any proprietary spells that I haven't seen before, anyway. So I'll probably head out in the morning."

"Actually, before you do, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"I'd say that you just did," Starswirl said as he sipped some more tea, "but go ahead, I'm listening."

"Alright then, I know that the three pony subspecies have their own magics, but what about other races?"

"Well, sure they do, for the most part, with yours being the obvious exception. Dragons, for example, are known to have magical fire that is difficult to extinguish. It's also suspected that their fire is key to hatching their eggs, but that's probably just a rumor. Dragons, as you can imagine, aren't very easy to work with. Anyway, I take it you're wondering if Diamond Dogs have their own inherent magic?"

"Yeah. I've had my suspicions for a while now. Whenever they dig a tunnel, the structure doesn't seem to need the supports to keep it from collapsing. There are a few other things that they can do that don't seem to match up with physics as I understand them."

"Now that you mention it, I have noticed a distinct lack of support structures in my short time here. But you mentioned something about physics, the study of motion and force? I'd say that the study of those topics can safely be ignored when magic enters into the equation. While not quite as disused as, say, alchemy, the concepts involved can't be calculated in any useful way once magic is involved, at least not with current mathematics. Levitation, for example, seems to acts as a force opposite of gravity, in the simplest of systems, but it shouldn't really be simplified into a single force. In reality it's just altering the properties of the object in such a way that the basic assumptions of a system are altered enough to change the end result."

Aaron thought about that for a bit. "Alright then, what about those gems you used earlier, how do those work?"

"That's a little bit different. The gems themselves are just acting as a magic battery for a specific type of magic. I'm still messing with the basic theories behind it, but different stones absorb different alignments of magic spell. I then just take them and compare the gems to a baseline set of stones that weren't used in the scan spell. In your case, there wasn't any change between the enchantments here and the ones back at the inn."

"Okay, so gemstones can absorb magic, but what do they do with it. Could the gems be doing more than simple storage? In physics, there is no perfect system that allows for a zero-loss transfer of energy."

Now it was Starswirl's turn to mentally digest something. "Hmm, I'd say your lack of magical knowledge might have given you a substantially better grasp of physics than I'll probably ever encounter, but to answer your question, I don't really know. Was there something you had in mind?"

"Well, I suspect, and this is just a suspicion at the moment, but I believe that the gemstones in the mine actually grow in size."

"Interesting. Well, they do absorb ambient magic to a degree. I suppose, if left in the correct conditions, sufficient environmental magic supply would eventually have to go somewhere. But, with such low levels of ambient energy, it would take a tremendous amount of time for a physical change to occur."

"Again, I'm just going off of my observations of the Diamond Dogs' behavior. They seem to know that they can return to cleared part of the mine and manage to find more gems there." Aaron stated.

"Any idea about the time between such occasions?" Starswirl thought back to the Stone Family's mine. They hadn't seemed to encounter anything like this particular phenomenon.

"Not a clue. The dogs can't give me a straight answer either, but they don't exactly keep track of time beyond day and night."

"Well then, if you really want an answer to your quarry, you'll have to design an experiment that can prove whether or not such a thing is possible. If it is, and gems do grow like some sort of magical flora over time, then it's likely that you can maximize your yield, as it were."

"Guess that's just one more mystery whose solution is going back on my growing 'to do' list." Aaron admitted.

"Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. But I think it's time I head back. You've given me quite a bit to think about on my end of things. If your theory about gems is true, then I may even be able to increase the effectiveness of my own enchantments." The stallion declared.

"At least something good may still come out of this, then." Aaron admitted before he motioned for Chaser. "I'll make sure that you don't get lost on your way back."

"Yes, it's been an interesting event, to say the least. I wish you luck on your endeavors, Sir Aaron."

"Same to you, Starswirl." Aaron waved his eccentric guest goodbye.

Next Chapter: March of Misplaced Mania Estimated time remaining: 37 Minutes
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