Second Hoofsteps

by Mocha

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 2184

The second instalment in the 'Number of Hoofsteps' series

As life in Equestria goes on, Comet Trails realises that he doesn't have any money, or at least no bits. He sets up shop as a spellwriter, with Spike the Dragon working for him as a part-time badge inscriber. Their work is only popular with Unicorns since they're the only ones who can use the spells, so they devise a way of allowing other races to use them.
Of course, not everything goes swimmingly.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-01-09 17:21:54 UTC

Story Première - Spellweaver

Comet lay awake in bed at around midnight, fretting. He was certain he was missing something, like he had forgotten some major thing, but he hadn't the first clue as to what. He sighed as he got up and went to the bathroom for a drink and to wash his face in cool water, then settled back down and turned the light back off.

The next morning, he woke up and stretched, easing out the cramp in his right foreleg. He went back into the bathroom and used his magic to pick up the hairbrush and brush his hair with it. He titivated the scruffier parts of his coat as well, to make him look presentable for when he went out for breakfast at the café. He couldn't wait to try out those delicious-looking blueberry and oat muffins, and he'd heard that the coffee there was legendary. He went downstairs and looked around for his bag of money. He found it and checked for any bits.

There weren't any. That was what he was missing. He had never made any money here and nobody had given him any.

Comet raced to the Golden Oak Library and knocked on the door, which was answered by Spike.

“Oh, hi,” the dragon greeted.

“I just realised that I don't have any money. Could you...?”

“Sorry, can't. Twilight wouldn't let me. What d'ya need it for?”

“Breakfast.”

Spike didn't look impressed. He went back inside and Comet followed, making hypothetical situations in which Spike gave him some money then he worked at the library to earn it back, and when that didn't work he tried bargaining and even flat-out pleading. Spike didn't stop shaking his head in both declination and disappointment until about five minutes later, when Comet gave up and hung his head.

“You could get a job to earn your own money,” Spike suggested. Comet perked up.

“Of course! Why didn't I think of that?”

“Because of a plot contrivance.”

Comet stared at him blankly and Spike dismissed the notion with a casual wave of his hand, deeming it “not important”. He then started listing the possible jobs the unicorn could partake in, but Comet didn't like any of them. He pondered for a moment.

“How about if I write spells? Helpful spells, of course. I'd ask what they want, then make a spell for it.”

“What would you need?”

“Lots of parchment, a few quills and a few ink vials. Oh, and can the quills be those fancy phoenix-feather ones, please?”

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes. He walked over to the desk and rummaged through the various drawers, getting out a thick wad of parchment, a handful of ink vials and two phoenix-feather quills.

“You'll need Celestia's approval for each spell you make before you sell it, of course. You can't just inconspicuously write a spell that could harm other ponies.”

“Oh, but of course. Now, where should I set up business?”

“I'd say have an extension built into the back of your house, let's say a low wall and an awning. The back of your house faces a small town square, right? Lots of business without faffing about with a new building.”

“Gosh, you're full of bright ideas, aren't you?”

“I live with a librarian mastermind, I think I know a thing or two about literally everything.”

Comet trotted over to the building firm Walk in the Park House Repair and Extensions, bobbing his head to the song he was humming cheerfully. He pushed the door open and was greeted to a glamorously steel and glass foyer, with a blue carpet that perfectly matched the blue desk with steel top. At this desk sat a rather relaxed-looking Earth pony with pastel-green coat and darker green hair. His back hooves were kicked up on the desk and his forelegs were behind his head, the typical not-caring sitting position. He was gently rocking back and forth on his chair.

“I, um, excuse me,” Comet hesitated, approaching tentatively, “sorry to bother you, and I'd hate to make you move, since you look so comfortable, but could you... could you possibly consider maybe thinking about making an extension in the back of my house?”

“I'll consider it.”

“Thank you very much sir.”

“Got the money?”

Oops.

Comet chuckled nervously, trying to airily wave the remark away with a hoof and dismissing the subject, but the manager squinted at him irritably.

“Well, y'know, I'd absolutely love to pay you, but with the inflation these days... yeah...”

He cleared his throat and put on a brave smile. The manager smirked and kicked his hooves up again, returning to his original position. He proposed that he build the extension anyway, on the condition that he be given a certain percentage of the profits Comet earned until the extension was fully paid for. Say, 20%. Comet agreed enthusiastically and shook hooves with him before skipping out hurriedly before he gave him any reason to take back his generous offer. After a while, the businesspony followed him to his house, accompanied by a grey Unicorn with spiky blue hair and a blueprint cutiemark. When Comet indicated what needed doing, the blueprint pony used his magic to take a 'snapshot' of the back wall and paste it on a sheet of gridded blueprint paper. It deconstructed itself into the simplest shapes and added dimension lines, just like an actual blueprint.

“At most it'll take a few hours,” the manager informed Comet.

“Thank you very much – again.”

After a couple of hours, the manager, the blueprint pony and the work-ponies walked away and Comet surveyed the new extension. The low wall was made of cobblestone and was half his height, so more like an outside countertop. The awning supplied sufficient shade from the sun, which blazed mercilessly down on him, heating his back. He looked at the blank sign hanging from the frills of the red- and white-striped awning, trying to think of a name.

Comet's Spells? Nah, too simple.

The Apothecary? Nope, wrong job entirely.

Spellweaver – Spells How You Like Them? Yeah, actually, that might work.

Now to fit it on the sign.

He lowered the sign and produced a chisel and mallet from his personal pocket dimension before setting to work. While he was figuring out the size and spacing of the letters, Spike rounded the corner and approached him.

“How's it coming on?”

“Brilliantly, thank you. Hey, wanna help run the business? You could inscribe the badges!”

“Since when do scrolls need badges?”

“Since I came up with it just now. They'll essentially tell the customer what the spell does without having to test it out. Cool, right?”

“I don't know, I have enough trouble with Twilight as it is...”

“Don't worry, it'll only be part-time. And I could always give you a little something in return...”

Comet raised a cocky eyebrow and produced a jewel – a big, fat, juicy emerald – Spike's favourite. The little dragon slavered at the sight of it, his eyes glistening. He held out his hands and Comet gave it to him, officially sealing the deal. The unicorn continued to chisel out the letters for the word for the name for the shop.

After about half an hour to an hour later, he was done. He teleported the chisel and mallet back into the pocket dimension before walking into the shop through a wooden gate to the side. He beamed triumphantly and waited for the first ever customer.

And he waited some more.

Spike poked him in the ribs to get his attention, then told him that he hadn't actually advertised his shop yet. He was given instructions to design and hang posters around town to attract the attention, and that he did.

Within the first quarter of an hour, the first patron appeared. She was a unicorn with pale blue fur and white-silver hair that curled around her head as if it were a cloud. It took a moment for a particularly bored Comet to spring into action.

“Good afternoon,” he greeted, “what can I do for you?”

The customer gave him two bits to make her a spell that could spruce up some flowers ready for a garden party. She hadn't been taking care of them as much as she should have and they were now wilted. Comet nodded and lifted a piece of parchment and a quill, dipping the tip in the vial of ink before writing the spell.

O Goddess of Earth,

Lift the heads of these flowers

And allow them to see the glorious light of the sun.

Wilted and saddened they may be,

But they shall be revived by your golden touch.

He rolled up the parchment and kindly asked Spike to inscribe a badge with a flower insignia. While the dragon was busy doing that, Comet summoned a red ribbon, then threaded it through the badge once Spike had done. He tied the scroll together and asked Spike to send it to Celestia for approval.

“Give it about a minute or so,” Comet told the mare as Spike ignited the scroll, the grey and green smoke trailing off to Canterlot.

The smoke gathered itself in front of the princess and she opened the scroll to inspect its contents. She nodded and tied it back up, pinging it back to Comet, who handed the scroll to the customer.

“Have a nice day!” he chimed as she trotted away. He turned back to Spike. “Gosh, within the first half hour I got my first sale! Isn't that swell? Here, have another one.”

He gave Spike another emerald for his efforts.

“We'll have some teething problems at first, but we'll iron them out with practice,” Comet remarked, as if a commander confronting a soldier. He turned back to the counter when he heard hoofsteps. “Oh, hello there! What can I do for you?”

It was a cloaked pony, with the hood hiding his or her face. It was a unicorn, otherwise he or she wouldn't have come to the spell shop, Comet knew that much. He frowned uneasily at the figure. The customer produced a bag of money from the pockets of the cloak and dropped it on the counter. Comet marvelled at it, at how much money spilled over the counter. Spike's jaw dropped.

“Make me a spell that makes me grow wings.”

Comet looked at her (the voice was female) incredulously, wide-eyed. This amount of money, just for that? Not that he was complaining, of course. Anything for a few bits.

“Certainly. Just give me a minute.”

He handed Spike a pre-ribboned badge and they set to work, Comet devising the spell and Spike inscribing the golden badge to go with it. Comet was about to send the scroll away for inspection when he noticed the mare dropping another bag of bits on the table.

“I'll give you double if you don't let Celestia see it.”

“Why?” Comet demanded, “Why is that notion so important? Did you just ask me to write an illegal spell?”

“Just give it!”

The unicorn snatched the scroll from him with her magic and galloped off before he could take it back. He shot a blast of gripping magic which got hold of the scroll, sending the unicorn up and over it, as she was still holding on as well.

“I refuse to allow illegal spells to be distributed,” Comet growled, “who knows what kind of heinous crime you're about to commit with a pair of fancy wings!”

They struggled for control of the scroll before Spike found the initiative to send a blaze of green fire in its direction, sending it off to Celestia. The unicorn grunted in surprise then stamped her hoof angrily before skulking off.

“Good call,” Comet said, running his hoof through his mane in near-desperation, “but if Celestia finds out I wrote an illegal spell she'll quarantine it and discipline me, perhaps even shutting down my business!”

“She wouldn't do that, you only did it once.”

She hadn't quarantined it. It popped back into existence in front of Comet's nose, obviously meaning that the spell was not illegal and the mare would have been OK to use it. Comet banged his head on the counter in irritation.

“I'll catch up with that pony,” said Spike, before taking off after her with the scroll in hand.

He found her storming towards the Golden Oaks Library, and stopped her in her tracks by tugging on her cloak. She whipped around to see who it was and Spike gave her the scroll.

“Sorry for the confusion. Celestia gave the all-clear on it, so here you go.”

“Oh, thank you,” the mare replied, taking it from him. Her voice was high and sweet-sounding.

“No problem. Thank you for your generosity.”

They parted ways and Spike soon arrived back at the shop.

“Did she take it?” Comet asked anxiously

“Yeah, actually. She was pretty nice about it too.”

Comet breathed a sigh of relief, then slumped down onto the counter, his cheeks smushed up against his forelegs.