Part 2: Chapter 8: Fire
Alpha stirred before waking up and looked around. He was in Charlie's room. He felt something nudge him on his left, and when he looked down, he smiled. Beside him slept Charlie, who had moved around a bit when Alpha woke up.
"Nova must've teleported us here when I went back to sleep." Beta whispered.
"You're awake." Alpha replied groggily. "Sleep well?"
"I didn't sleep as I was pretty much talking to Nova the whole night."
"About what?"
"Mostly on life before Celestia. Quite interesting. Found out that Nova is Celestia's and Luna's Father and that Nova was pro-mutant."
"Meaning?" Alpha replied, still half asleep.
"Meaning he was for mutants, not against them."
Alpha yawned and stretched before pushing himself off of the bed and walked to the door. He opened the door so he could barely get through before closing it behind him, trying to not wake up Charlie. Alpha walked to his bedroom, took off his brace and stretched his limb. Although he loved the replacement, his original wing needed to be free of it once in a while. Almost wingless, Alpha made his way to his nightstand and picked up his old welding torch before leaving the room for the Metal-Work room.
"What are you going to do?"
"I want to modify my old torch so I can use it to repair my wing and/or use it as an improvised weapon, seeing how much it damaged Celestia."
"Right." Beta replied as the two made their way into the Metal-Work room. "The torch cannot get to the right temperature to modify the Dragon Metal, let alone bend it. It took us three years, and the hottest furnace in the factory to create the metal."
"I know. I was wondering if your magic could help with that." Alpha entered the room and found an empty work bench. He placed the torch on the table then walked to the side to grab a Heat-mask, gloves for hoofs and his left wing, and some tools.
"How so?"
Alpha walked back to his welding torch, dragging a chair behind him before sitting on the chair and reaching for his tool.
"Currently, this welding torch uses a type of propane."
"Propane will not burn hot enough, neither will hydrogen nor any other gas/liquid."
"I understand that. Which is why I want to know if there is a spell that creates fire."
"There is, and I use it to light the torches in the morning here."
"What is it called?"
"I have no idea."
Alpha blinked in amazement and confusion. "How do you use the spell if you don't know the name of it."
"Old-magic, like the type I use is much more powerful than magic that is normally used now-days. Because it is so powerful, to learn an Old-Magic spell, you do not say a specific phrase. Instead you think of the effect of the spell. For example if I see an unlit torch, instead of saying a phrase to light it, I just imagine the torch aflame. If it's Offense Magic, I think of the color of the bolt/beam. If its teleportation, I concentrate on where I want to go, imagining the place in my mind as if I was already there."
"That easy?!" Alpha said in disbelief.
"It's harder than it sounds."
"I bet. Could you create a Bolt of fire that can be used like a gas?"
"What are you trying to do?"
"I am trying to use a bolt of fire as a substitute of propane or hydrogen. If I can do it right, I should be able to control how hot the flame is."
"It is possible, but it's incredibly hard."
Alpha reached for the torch and begun to take it apart. The welding torch was a brace that was worn on either the right or left front hoof. Straps on the brace secured it to the leg as the nozzle ended at the tip of end of the hoof. The hose for the nozzle ended halfway up the brace and connected with a rectangular tank that would be filled with propane or hydrogen.
Alpha, with the help of Beta, carefully unscrewed the tank that held the fuel and put it aside. Alpha watched as a bolt of fire appeared at the end of the hose and slowly entered the hose.
"We need something to seal the end from flaring out both sides and harming your chest."
Alpha looked around then looked down at the fuel tank. He grabbed it then grabbed a hammer and nail before moving to another bench. He placed the fuel tank down then placed a nail on the tank's opening.
"What are you doing?"
Alpha reached for the hammer, grabbed it, then raised it above his head.
"Fire in the hole!" He screamed as he brought down the hammer onto the nail, which punctured the propane fuel tank. The tank violently hissed as the gasses within escaped through the nail-sized hole. Eventually the hissing stopped and Alpha recovered from under the table and looked at the empty fuel tank.
"You are such a scaredy-cat."
"I'm sorry, but which one of us is still alive?" Alpha snapped back.
Beta fell silent.
He picked up the empty tank and walked back to his bench and placed it at the end of the hose. "Can you fill the tank up with the bolt of flame?"
Beta didn't respond.
"Beta?"
No response, everything was silent.
"Beta, what's wrong?"
"I'm dead."
Alpha slowly nodded.
Beta sighed. "Sorry, it's just…it's hard to explain."
Alpha spun around in his chair. "How so?"
"It's just that… I know I am dead, that I am not living anymore. I have known that for a very long time and yet just realizing that I am dead….it's like a wave of depression."
Alpha stopped spinning around in his chair and nodded. "Well, technically you are still alive through me."
"How so?"
"You talk, watch, learn, breath, sleep, eat, laugh, play, work, fight, teach, help, and save others to name just a few."
"Yes, but that's because I bonded with you. You are doing that, I just control."
"Yes, but you control. And when you control, it's YOU who do things, my body just does what it is told. You are as much as alive as any other pony right now."
Beta nodded as he tried to accept the fact that although he was dead, he was still alive.
"No offense, can we get back to work?"
"Sure," Beta said, still slightly depressed but none the less relieved after being proved wrong for once. The tank started to glow slightly red as the flame within heated up the metal. Alpha quickly sealed the tank onto the hose and watched as the nozzle came alive with fire.
"So far so good…" He twisted the gas valve clockwise and watched as both the tank and the nozzle slowly returned to its black color. With another twist, this time counter-clockwise, the valve opened and the nozzle came back to life. "Right…" Alpha turned the welding torch off before carefully strapping on the torch to his right front leg, the glove still on in case of burns. It fit perfectly.
"Take off the glove, Magic Fire cools down quite fast."
Hesitantly but trusting Beta, Alpha did as he was instructed and removed the torch and the glove then strapping the torch on again without the glove. As Beta said, the metal was cold. Alpha carefully turned on the torch before shutting it off quickly as the metal began to burn.
"Sorry 'bout that, didn't realize it would heat up so quickly."
Alpha rubbed his leg as the pain subsided, leaving only a red spot where the burn was. "Is there a way to gain resistance to fire?"
"Yeah, but it's extremely rare and hard to gain."
"How do you get it?"
"You don't get it, you gain it. Resistance to fire is a skill, not some potion you can buy and drink. It is gained by being taught by the only living creature known to be fire resistant and create fire on its own without the need of magic or another source of flame."
"Which would be…?"
"A dragon."
"Where are the nearest dragons? Wait, do dragons actually exist?!"
"They exist, yes." Luna said as she walked into the room. "They are very aggressive, which is why learning Fire Resistance is nearly impossible. The closest near here is still in his teenage years, about 15 years old. His name is Spike, and he is a VERY close friend of Princess-"
"Twilight Sparkle, one of the 5 elements of Harmony, specifically Magic. Defeated Tirek after you, your sister, and Princess Candance transferred your magic into her, also defeated Discord and countless others. I am aware of Sparkle." Beta interrupted. "Last time we saw her was in the hospital the night Alpha met Charlie. She claimed to be on another assignment from Celestia, studying the pony brain." Beta frowned. "I always hated therapists and phycologists."
"Where does he live?" Alpha asked.
"He currently lives in Twilight's castle." Luna replied.
"Then that's where we are headed."