Cursed Dreams, Enchanted Nighmares

I

My name is Crystalline Electrostatic. I am a unicorn. My coat is a deep shade of teal, my mane golden with a single lime stripe. My Symbol, as I call it, is a cut and polished emerald with a runic circle on the face, with a bolt of lightning in the background. I have a slender build, and I am a bit taller than the average stallion.

I am quite skilled when it comes to enchanting, and I have an affinity for electrical magic. I actually went to the Canterlot Unicorn Academy for my magical education, and I took the enchantment and runic magic courses, as well as some elemental magic training. I graduated with less than stellar grades in my general education classes, but excelled in my specialized magic courses.

I run a shop that sells enchanted items. I had a contract with the royal guard at one point, but my shop was cut from their list of suppliers after Princess Luna returned. I barely make enough bits to get by in these somewhat difficult times…

I am an outcast, an oddity, an extremist, and I have no real place in society.

Behind the counter of the Enchanted Dreams curio shop sat Crystalline Electrostatic, looking over his wares. On the shelves there is everything from enchanted armor to enchanted spoons, and anything in between. As he was getting up to polish one of the more expensive objects, the he hears the chime on the door ring. "Welcome to Enchanted Dreams, where dreams are only an enchantment away. My name is Crystalline Electrostatic, how can I assist you?"

The beige coated unicorn mare started to glance around at the different wares before speaking up, "Yes, I am looking for a special kind of item, and I heard you are the best at what you do when it comes to enchanted items, so I would like to know what your rates are."

"May I ask what kind of enchanted item are you looking for? If I know what you need I can give you an estimate."

"I need something that you may find odd, I need an enchanted necklace that prevents dispel magic fields from affecting the wearer. It has to be small and inconspicuous, and if possible, I would like the gem you use to match my eyes."

Crystal's head turns upwards to his right in contemplation, "Hmm… I would need I high grade emerald, and I'm assuming you want it to be resistant to magical influence as well, so high-grade iron that has been plated with satin-gold… do you have any specific size requirements for pendant?"

"I would prefer a smaller pendant, but as long as it works, there shouldn't be too much difference in the size, as long as it isn't obvious."

"Well that is to be expected. So seventy-five bits for materials, fifty bits for labor, and a fifteen bit down payment. The final price will be one-hundred and twenty-five bits when you come to pick it up, and fifteen bits now before I can get started. Does that sound reasonable for you ma'am?"

"Actually, yes, your prices quite reasonable. Is there anything I have to sign?"

"One second, just let me go fetch the forms" Crystal trots over to the back room, some shuffling is heard, and he soon emerges with the forms in his aura, "Here you go miss…"

"Mirage Gemstone."

"Well if you can just fill out these forms, and give me the down payment, I will get to work right away."

"Very well then." Mirage takes the forms and starts filling them out. After a few minutes of pen scratching, she walks back up to the counter, "Here are the forms, and here is the down payment. When can I expect my necklace to be finished?"

"If you come back in about four days, it should be done by then ma'am."

"Thank you sir, I'll be back in next monday to pick up my order."

"You're welcome ma'am. And thank you for deciding to shop at Enchanted Dreams."

Mirage Gemstone takes her order receipt and trots out of the shop.

Crystal lets out a sigh, "Well so much for getting off early, but then again, I need the bits."

At the workbench in the back room of his shop, Crystal is piecing together the runic symbols for the pendant order. "Hmm, what if I use a reflection rune… wait, that would be problematic in it's own right… what if the user binds the spells that they are wanting to keep from being disrupted to the pendant and have the spells sustain from the gem? That could actually work!"

Returning to his mumbling as he writes out the runic symbols for binding a spell to the pendant, he doesn't hear the knock on the door to the shop. After a few more knocks, the pony at the door tries the knob and walks in, "Hello? Crystalline Electrostatic? I need to talk to you, it is important." After not receiving an answer, the mare nervously trots up to the backroom door and knocks. "Crystalline, are you in there?"

Being jolted from his work, he gets up to answer, "Yes, I will be right out, I am just working on a rune array." He writes down the last rune and trots over to the door, "Ah, Mirage Gemstone, what can I do for you? I was just working on your order."

"Crystalline, you are the only pony I know here, and I can't go back to where I was staying, I hate to ask this, but is there any way I could stay with you for a while? I can pay."

"First off, call me Crystal or Static, everypony else does. Secondly, why can't you go back to where you were staying? Sorry, I mean what's wrong?"

"I can't go back to the hotel I was staying in, the entire building was closed off by the guard. I barely got out of there with my one bag."

"Didn't the guard say why the hotel was closed?"

"They didn't say anything, but I thought I overheard one of them talking about a changeling sighting."

"What? That's preposterous, even if there was a changeling in the hotel, that doesn't mean they have to close the entire thing down!"

"They did, and they said that anypony trying to get through will be taken in for interrogation."

"That's pretty cold for the guard, but I guess you can stay here for a few nights until they sort that whole mess out, I do have a guest room upstairs you can use."

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! err… I mean, thank you for letting me stay here, I don't know what I would do if I had nowhere else to stay."

"It is no problem really, I don't want to force a nice mare like you to sleep on the streets. Anypony would have helped you."

"I really do appreciate it though. How about this? Since you are being so nice to me, I will take you out to dinner tomorrow night, my treat."

"I can't let you treat me to dinner, even if I haven't eaten out in a while."

"I won't back down from this. I will be taking you out to dinner tomorrow, and I will be paying for it."

"Well, since you are insisting, I guess we can. But I should probably show you where you will be sleeping, as well as where the bathroom is and all of that."

The two ponies trot up the stairs to the second floor of the shop, where Crystal is shows Mirage where her room will be. "This is the guest room, you can put your stuff in that chest over there, but stay out of the closet, I have personal stuff from my grandfather in there."

"Thanks again for doing this Crystal. I don't know what I would do if you weren't here."

"As I said before, its no problem. But I am kinda curious, why were you staying in a hotel of all places?"

"I actually just came to town the other day, and I was staying at the hotel until I could find someplace to live. I guess I didn't really think things through that well…"

"Actually, I don't see any of what you did as wrong. Most ponies who are moving into town usually stay at a hotel or inn while they look for a place to live. I guess it was just bad luck that the guard had to go and flubb it up for you. In fact, I think I may just let you stay here until you find a place to live, since guard investigations usually take a few weeks. It would save you a few bits as well."

"You don't have to do all that for me Crystal."

"But I want to. I can't in good conscience force a mare like yourself to hop between hotels like that. Plus it seems like it would be a nice change of pace for both of us, I would think."

"Well thank you for your kindness and hospitality."

"Its no problem really… Well anyways, I'm going to go so you can settle in, I have some work to do so I will be in the workshop if you need anything."

After Crystal left the room, Mirage trotted up to the large wall mirror in the room and gazed at her reflection. She scanned over her champagne colored coat and deep ruby mane, sighing over the fact that she appeared to be quite unkempt. "At least I only look a little ruffled, things could be much worse… I probably should clean myself up a bit before I do anything else…"

She trots over to the window, looking out at the setting sun before closing the curtains. As the sun sets, a bright flash could be seen through the closed curtains of the second story window.