Chapter 1 - Princess: The Interruption
“Hey, Princess? Get your flank out of my face!”
I never thought I’d say those words out loud, and mean them.
There I was, working on a custom order, when the door opens and kablam!
Before I could even think, I got sent flying faster than Wonderbolt on a sugar rush and smack into somepony, tumbling flank-over-hooves before landing on my back.
“Ugh… what happened?” the intruder asked.
“You screwed up my work, that’s what!” I tried to yell at her, though it was muffled since I was… well, under her furry, purple butt. And stuff.
Anyway.
“I am so sorry! I just heard noises from behind the door, an—”
By that point, I’d had enough. I lifted her off with my magic, quickly moved her a few feet to my right, and dropped her on the floor. Once I cleared my head, I stood up and glared at the Princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle.
Now that I think about it, she was kind of cute. I mean she’d ruined a week’s worth of work, and her mane looked like she’d just been blown up, but still.
Cute.
“Can’t you read? The sign on the counter said I’d be back in ten minutes! It even had a countdown clock.”
She tapped her hooves together. “Well, it was down to a minute when I came in. But when nopony showed up and it reached zero, it started going into the negatives.”
I was about to say something really snarky, but I stopped and looked over to the counter. Sure enough, it was still counting backwards. After a deep breath, I closed my eyes for a bit, before letting it out.
Telekinesis is a basic spell most unicorns learn, and its use is limited only by imagination. My imagination was repeatedly smashing the clock against the wall. The wall didn’t mind, though I don’t think the clock liked it too much, if all the crunches and snaps were any indication.
By the time I was done turning the clock into a broken jigsaw puzzle, I noticed the Princess staring at me. I dropped it, turned back, and helped her to her hooves.
“Welcome to Art’s Supplies for the Daily & Dangerous, Princess. What do you need?” I asked, a spring in my step and a business smile on my lips.
By the way, never smile when you’re ticked off. Ponies can tell when you’re faking it.
Like her.
She looked me up and down, raised an eyebrow. “Um, is everything alright...”
I dropped the act and rolled my eyes. “My name’s Artifice.”
“I’m sorry, Mr.—”
“Just Artifice, thanks. And don’t worry, that wasn’t the first time I’ve been blown up - this week - so! Like I said before, what do you need? I have weapons, armor, tools, magical enhancers, you name it, I have it. But, if you fancy what I don’t have, I can make one for you.”
The Princess tilted her head to the side. “Wait, how did you know I’m a Princess?”
I snorted. “You’re a unicorn with wings. Either you’re a Princess, or have some kind of powerful illusions going on. My glasses aren’t just for show, you know.”
She blinked a few times before leaning in and taking a good look at my specs. “Your glasses can see through illusions? Can they see through a changeling’s disguise? What sort of material did you use for the lenses? Can they do anything else?”
I held up a hoof and thank Celestia that got her to stop. “Yes, yes, mostly Saddle Arabian sand, and yes. Look, Princess—”
“Just Twilight, please.”
Scratch that. She’s cute without a smile. But with one she’s adorable. Still, can’t let a pretty face get in the way of business. Though maybe a discount wouldn’t hurt.
“Fine. Look, Twilight, as much as I’d like to stand here and chat about how amazing my bi-focals are, I need to get back to work. That little explosion’s set me back a week, and I have three days to catch up before my presentation’s due. So if you don’t mind, either put in an order, buy something, or get out. Feel free to browse while I clean up.”
I walked over to my workshop, and found that things were as bad as I’d feared. The enchantment process had been interrupted, and the crystal had shattered into countless little shards of hoof-stabbing goodness. With some luck, and no sleep, I might have it ready in time.
Took me a while to pick the clock-parts out of the wall, though.
The only bright side was that the splintered spear-shaft would speed up the repairs. Take my advice. If your line of work is paved with explosions, invest in self-repairing runes for your walls. And floors. And ceilings. And doors.
Thankfully, by the time I was done sweeping up the pieces, the Princess was standing at the counter and looking adorable.
I walked up and noticed she had nothing.
With a groan, I massaged the sides of my cap. “I’m guessing you want an order?”
She shook her head. “Actually, I was wondering if I could help you. To make up for ruining your progress.”
At that point, I really wanted to go back in time, and tell my past self to not get out of bed today.
But I don’t have enough talent or magic to even think about trying that kind of spell.
Instead, I opted to put my forelegs on the counter and look her in the eye. “Well, that’s not happening any time soon.”
One of her ears went up as the other went sideways. “Why not?”
“Because I need another crystal, since the last one went kerblooey. Speaking of which, I need to get going. I know a pony who’s got one, and… wait. What time is it?”
She looked at the clock behind me. “Four thirty.”
And that’s when my eyes almost popped out. “Gotta fly, bye!”
I didn’t see her face while rummaging underneath the counter. “What’s the rush?”
When I popped back up, her eyebrow was raised. “Her store closes in half an hour!”
“Is it that far away?”
“Even if you’re running!”
She pointed a hoof at me. “Then why’re you taking that rug with you?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a rug, it’s a carpet. A flying carpet! Gets me there in half the time.”
She looked even more confused. “Why don’t you just teleport?”
Out of all the questions she could’ve asked, it had to be that one. Every time somepony asks me why I don’t teleport somewhere, my left eye starts twitching. I hate that question, and I hate having to explain it. Especially since when I do, my volume gets cranked up to eleven.
“Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, if I could teleport there I’d have already done it?!”
Without waiting for answer, I rushed outside. I gave the carpet a quick magical flip to roll it open, before gently laying it on the ground. A small burst of magic into the center rune, and I was airborne in no time.
Wasn’t too long after when the sound of flapping wings starting catching up to me. Not surprising, since the carpet’s max speed is about half that of an average pegasus. By the time she’d caught up, I’d cooled down some.
“What do you want, Princess?”
I could barely see her rub the back of her head. “I… wanted to apologize. It was rude of me to ask that. Teleportation isn’t a rare spell, but not every unicorn knows how to, or even can, perform it. Since you’re an enchanter, I assumed you’d be able to. And for that, I’m sorry.”
I tried to avoid hitting any rooftops while we talked, but had to keep my eyes forward. Crashing into a chimney isn’t fun, no matter who you ask.
I spent a few seconds thinking over what she’d said, before letting out a grunt. “That’s a sincere enough apology. Guess I kind of owe you one, too. Teleportation’s always been one of my sore spots, and I suppose the stress just got to me. My work was ruined, I needed to rush for the chance to catch up for the lost time, and somepony I’d just met pressed one of my buttons. Sooo… yeah. Sorry.”
“Artifice?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Twilight’s smile. “Yeah?”
“Would it be okay if we started over?”
I brought a hoof up to my chin. “Hmmm. You sure you want to?”
“Yes, I do. Our first introduction wasn’t exactly under ideal conditions, and I’d still like for us to part ways on good terms. After I do what I can to help fix this, of course.”
I rolled my eyes before turning to look at her. “I don’t know how much you’d be able to help, but I suppose starting over would be okay. Do you want to go first?”
She nodded before clearing her throat. “Hi! My name is Twilight Sparkle, but you can just call me Twilight. What’s yours?”
“Hey there, Twilight. My name’s-”
Chimney.
Never look away when you’re flying.
Thankfully, it didn’t take her long to pull me out of the bricks. One apology, an explanation to the owner, and a small bag of bits later, we went back to flying. Made it to shop ten minutes before it closed, too. Wasn’t much there besides a little ramshackle hut next to a cave entrance, but the sign was new, though.
“Dusty Trails’ Expeditions?” Twilight asked, staring at the slapdash work of the green paint with a raised eyebrow.
I nodded. “She’s been meaning to get a sign for a while now. Guess Dusty got tired of looking for somepony to do it.”
“What did you expect, Artie? I can’t sit around waiting for miracles, you know.”
Twilight and I looked down to see a pony’s head poking out of the ground, an amused smile framing her dirty face.
The Princess, of course, freaked out a bit. But after she calmed down and got off the stalactite, I was able to do a proper introduction. Had to wait until Dusty got out of the ground, though.
“Twilight, this is Dusty Swan. Dusty-”
“I know who she is, Artie, I went to her coronation,” she said with a playful eyeroll.
“How can I forget? You put me in a headlock and screamed in my ear the whole time.”
“Don’t tell me you could hear with that hat covering your ears?” she smirked.
“Almost as well as I can now. Though every now and then they start ringing.”
Dusty stuck out her tongue. “And here I thought you just knew how to read lips.”
“I do, but that’s besides the point.” My ear flicked in annoyance. “I’m here because I need another quartz crystal.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I thought the presentation wasn’t for-”
“It blew up.”
Before I could say more, Twilight stepped up. “I’m partially to blame. I opened the door while he was working.”
Dusty shrugged. “At least he wasn’t working with a ruby or sapphire. And it’s a good thing most crystallogists stay clear of peridots, otherwise you two might not even be here.”
“How are peridots that dangerous?” Twilight asked, ears perked straight.
“I’ll let Artie explain it. Crystals may be my job, but magic’s not. Hey, mind closing up the shop for me? I was about to head home before you two showed up.”
I nodded. “Sure thing. You remember what I’m looking for, right?”
“A small to mid-sized shard with fifty to seventy percent cloudiness.”
I blinked twice. “That was over a week ago. How much business have you had since then?”
“Forty special orders, ten tours, three expeditions, and twelve individual purchases, not counting the times I had to restock.” She grinned. “Can’t exactly run a business by myself if I don’t keep track of the little things, you know.”
I shook my head as Dusty walked over to her shop, climbing the stairs on its side. Twilight looked at me, confused. With a smile I whispered, “Just watch,” as Dusty stepped out onto the flagpole where her sign hung.
She gave us a grin and a wink before bouncing on it like a diving board, and made a graceful swan dive into the ground.
Twilight’s horn lit up, but Dusty was below the surface before she could get the spell off. I couldn’t help but snicker as her eyes tried in vain to pop out of her head.
Dusty’s head emerged a few seconds later, saw Twilight’s expression, and blew me a raspberry. “Artie, you broke my favorite Princess. Fix her before I get back, or no quartz for you!” With a deep breath, she dove down once more.
Since her jaw had hit the ground, I decided to stop laughing and tell Twilight what was going on. Had to poke a few times to stop the staring, though.
“Gah! Artifice, what’s going on?”
I grinned. “Well, long story short, Dusty can swim through rock like it was water.”
“How?”
“Unless you have a working knowledge of crystal earth pony magic - wow that’s a mouthful - I have no idea,” I said, shrugging. “She says it’s a family trait, going back six or more generations.”
Twilight almost said something, but stopped herself. Instead, she brought a hoof up to her chin, looking thoughtful. “Hmm. The Crystal Empire never has had very fertile soil. It could be that such an ability developed as a deviation from the typical Equestrian earth pony’s closer ties to nature. Instead of plants and animals, they’re more familiar with rocks and crystals.”
My ears twitched inside my cap. Forget adorable, she’d just graduated to adorkable. Had to wait a tic for my heart to slow down before I could speak normally. “Huh. You know I never thought about it that way before, but that makes a lot of sense. It also explains why Dusty grows crystals instead of flowers.”
“She grows crystals?”
“Yeah, they’re in the shop. Come on, I’ll show you.”
The door creaked as we went in, the smell of dust and old wood hit our noses and caused Twilight to let out a loud, very un-Princess-like sneeze. Counters covered with specimens of geodes, shards and chunks took up most of the room. Beneath the register was a glass display case, showcasing one of Dusty’s prized finds: an amethyst in the shape of a five-pointed star.
I motioned over to a set of shelves lined with pots, each one filled with dirt and a different type of crystal. Garnets, sapphires, rubies and at least half a dozen other species bloomed like geometric flowers, each with their own set of petals and thorns.
While Twilight marveled at the small variety of sights, I snagged the key from behind the main counter. She wasn’t too happy when I turned off the lantern, but followed me outside anyway. A couple of quick turns with the key, and the shop was officially closed.
Just when I thought I’d have some time to breathe, Twilight had to pipe up with a question.
“Artifice? If her name is Dusty Swan, why is the shop called Dusty Trails?”
I squinted at some rocks across the way. “Hmmm. You’d be better off asking her, but I’ll tell you what I know. Her dad used to run a similar business up in the Crystal Empire, before Sombra first appeared. Same name, same services, blah-blah-blah.”
“So why did she move here, to Canterlot?”
“... let’s just say he can’t run the business anymore, and leave it at that.”
Her hoof came up to cover her mouth. “O-oh.”
I lasted about five minutes without saying anything. But a stallion can only go so long seeing somepony looking like their puppy just died. After having decided to take Dusty up on her advice, I cleared my throat.
“Want to know about peridots?”
She looked up from the floor. “Huh?”
“You asked Dusty how peridots were dangerous, and she told you to ask me about it. Do you still want to know?”
One of her ears went up. “I… yes. Please.”
“How much do you know about crystallogy?”
“I don’t know much beyond that crystals are used for enchanting.”
“Good. Now I know where to start. In the simplest way, each type of gem or crystal bestows a specific enchantment. Sapphires can make icy weapons, rubies can make flaming weapons, and so on.”
“And peridots?”
I frowned at the floor. “Peridots… coat the weapon in acid.”
Twilight gasped.
“Before you say anything else, the use of peridots in any enchanting process has been outlawed in Equestria and nearly all of the other civilized nations. Not only are they dangerous as weapons, but the process itself is exponentially more dangerous than any other kind of crystal.”
“Wh-why?”
“Peridots are the most unstable crystals to date,” I sighed. “You’d have to be as talented as Starswirl the Bearded, or as lucky as Clover the Clever, to successfully do a peridot-enchantment.”
Twilight went silent for almost two minutes before finally speaking up. “Do Princess Celestia and Luna know about this?”
With a nod, I continued. “They’re the ones who outlawed the use of peridots in enchanting, as well as the selling of them to enchanters.”
She sighed in relief. “That’s good to know.”
“Hey Artie! Got that quartz yooou I’m interrupting something. What’s with the serious faces?”
I looked over to Dusty, who once again only had her head sticking out of the ground a few feet in front of her shop. One of her eyebrows was raised, questioningly.
“Just telling Twilight about peridots.”
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “Ugh. No wonder. Peridots are nasty and you two need cheering up.” For a moment, Dusty stared up at the sky, before looking back to us with a smile. “Ice cream’s on me. Let’s go! I want to get there before they run out of triple-berry chocolate dreamswirl.”
“Dusty before you go-”
With a deep breath she went underground again.
Twilight just watched as I facehoofed. “Does she do that often?”
“Every. Single. Time.”
***
Though my raspberry sorbet was delicious, it was well past sundown by the time I got back to my shop. Dusty had sold me the crystal before walking back home, and Twilight had decided to follow me, determined to help somehow.
While I was… pleased, that she was so willing, I was also getting frustrated at her dogged persistence. By then, I’d resigned myself to fate with a sigh, and explained to her precisely what I needed.
I held up a hoof to quiet her. “Just a minute, Twilight. I’ll be right back.”
At which point I stepped behind my counter, opened the trapdoor, and went down the stairs. Half a minute later, I returned with an amethyst bigger than my head and in my magical grasp. With careful attention, I placed it on a large metallic stand, and turned my attention back towards her.
“If you really, really want to help so badly, here’s what I need you to do. This is an amethyst. They’re typically used for magic enhancement, but that’s a gross overstatement.”
She looked at the different facets as she spoke, “Then what do they actually do?”
With a smile, I continued, “Simply put, they’re magic batteries. Magical energy can be stored in them to be retrieved later.”
“If that’s the case, why aren’t amethysts used more often?”
“Because of their delicate nature and drawbacks,” I said, dropping the smile. “It takes a fair amount of control to transfer the energy from an amethyst. If used to replenish your own magic, it happens all at once, which could result in-”
“-mana burn, of course! Too much magical energy can cause a feedback loop in unicorns, burning out the nerves in their horns.”
With a nod I continued, “Indeed, but only if the magic stored is more than you can normally handle. The only other way to safely use them is to channel the magic directly into a spell.”
Her smile went wide. “And a unicorn would have to have an above-average control over magic to pull off something like that.”
“The energy transfer is actually the basis for most enchanting. By filling up a crystal with raw magic, it allows the enchantment to shine through, in a somewhat simplified sense. What I need you to do is channel your own energy into this amethyst. I’ll create an energy funnel so it properly resonates with the crystal, as well as controlling the flow so it doesn’t fill up too quickly.”
One of her ears went up as the other went sideways. “What would happen if it overfilled?”
“The same thing that happened this morning but much, much bigger,” I deadpanned.
Twilight’s irises shrunk down to pinpricks. “Oh.”
Her expression caused me to snicker. “No worries. We’re only going to fill this thing up halfway. That should give me just enough magic to work with, along with my own, to finish my project in time. Now, have you ever tried an energy transfer spell before?”
“Um… no, not that I know of. Wait! Yes, yes I did. During my entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Although I didn’t have much control over it at the time, eh-heh.”
I rolled my eyes. “Good enough, I suppose. Just try to aim your magic at my funnel, and I’ll do the rest. Think you can handle that?”
Her eyebrows drew down to make a ‘v’ as she smiled. “Just watch me.”
***
It took nearly every bit of concentration I had to make sure Twilight’s magic wouldn’t blow us to the edge of the Everfree. But after five hours of grueling focus, the amethyst was halfway filled. After a quick snack of crackers and apple juice, we walked out of the shop.
“I still can’t believe nopony’s thought to use quartz crystals that way before. I mean, attaching them to a guardpony’s spear so they can launch signal flares? That’s a great idea!”
I locked up the door, then turned to smirk at her giddy self. “Well, I wouldn’t’ve gotten done as fast without your help, Twilight. So, thanks. Next time you come around, you get half-off your next purchase or custom order.”
She grinned. “I’m sure my friends would a love a chance to see your work, Artifice. I can’t wait to tell all of them about your store.”
For some weird reason, a lightning bolt decided to strike after she’d said that.
It was weird because a pegasus was sleeping on a nearby cloud, and his friend decided to wake him up with a real good buck.
What a jerk.
