A soft bell chimed a greeting as the door was opened. The shop owner glanced up from his book as soft hoofsteps made their way towards him.
He peered over the counter at the small, cloaked figure. “May I help you?”
The figure nodded.
The stallion raised an eyebrow, taking a moment to further assess the pony who entered his shop. Had he been one to assume things, he would think them a foal, but learned long ago not to trust outward appearances.
“Very well. Is there anything in particular you are looking for?”
They did not move.
“Some books, perhaps? I have many on nearly every subject.”
The figure shook their head.
“Hmm, what about clothing? I do not run a boutique but I have some rather lovely second-hoof designs.”
The figure shook its head again.
“Well, how about-”
He stopped as they raised a hoof and pointed it at him.
“Me?”
A nod.
“I am afraid I don’t quite understand. I can understand anonymity, but you must give me something to work with. After all...” He paused, staring down at them. “...A night without the moon is dark indeed.”
A small object was tossed from beneath the cloak. The stallion caught it in hoof and looked it over. It was an old die made from a peculiar substance, its faces holding the barest hint of an imprint depicting six of the moon's phases; full, first quarter, waning crescent, new, waxing crescent, and third quarter.
“You are aware of the price then, the consequences for what you are asking?”
They nodded.
The stallion withdrew a nearly identical die from his waistcoat, this one printed with stages of a solar eclipse. He placed them on the counter with the full moon and full eclipse facing up.
“I will need a few minutes to close up the shop. Please, feel free to browse but don’t touch anything you aren’t prepared to pay the price for.”
The figure nodded and he bowed his head in return before walking out from behind the counter.
He glanced back at the figure as he flipped the sign over and locked the door, surprised they were standing in the same exact spot. Every customer before had walked off even before he was out from the counter, eager to explore and put truth to the endless rumors and speculation while they waited.
First time for everything I suppose. He mused, pulling the shutters down. He did a quick walk around to make sure everything was in its proper place, peeking back at the front when he could, but it seemed the figure was frozen.
Finally, he finished closing up and returned to the counter, grabbing the dice. “Follow me please.”
He led the figure across the store to a large bookshelf set against the wall. His horn lit as he spoke a quiet enchantment, a soft blue and glowing outline of a door appeared in the middle, opening inward with a push of his hoof.
“I will warn you only once, should you lie in this room, through words or action, your life is forfeit. Am I understood?”
The figure nodded.
“I am afraid I will need more than that. Stomp your hoof twice if you agree and understand.”
Stomp. Stomp.
“Very well.”
They stepped through to a small, softly lit room devoid of windows and with only a chandelier for light. A low, round table sat in the middle with cushions set around it and there was a large wooden box in the middle of the table.
The stallion walked around to the farther cushion and sat, motioning at the spot across from him. The figure sat and folded their hooves on the table, the stallion able to see their dark purple fur for the first time.
“Do you know all the rules of this engagement?”
The figure hesitated before shaking their head. The stallion nodded, “So you only heard enough to get you back here, but none would tell you the details?”
They nodded.
“Good. As cliche as it is, that was a test. I only speak the rules to my customers, and they only remember the rules as long as they are in this room. I need to make sure any who come back here are truly ready for what they think they want.”
The figure tilted their head at that.
The stallion chuckled. “I have many come who wish for trivial, materialistic things such as love and wealth, fame and fortune and think that is all they want from me. Of course, those are easily enough granted and I keep getting them, so ponies must think the risk is fair. But then there are others, who seek something they’ve lost, perhaps they want revenge or to forget. I am not quite sure of you yet, but I have a feeling you are not of the first group.”
The figure nodded.
The stallion opened the box and pulled out a white ribbon. “Now then, the first rule. I will need you to take the hood off, to tell me what you are seeking. However, this ribbon can be used in a binding ritual, to ensure I cannot ever expose who you truly are. Of course,” he chuckles again, “I am well renowned for my secret keeping, but if you need the assurance…”
The figure seemed to stare at the ribbon for a long moment before shaking their head. They took a deep breath before pulling their hood back, revealing a young unicorn filly. The stallion’s eyes raised in surprise. It was not the first time he had a young pony in his shop, but she appeared to still be a fairly young foal.
She gulped under his gaze, tears filling her eyes as he looked over the scar and broken horn. “P-please...Can, can you f-fix me?”
His face softened at the crack in her voice but he did his best not to let her see pity. If there was anything a young unicorn with a broken horn didn’t need, it was pity. He cleared his throat and looked down as he put the ribbon away. “Rule two is that there are no guarantees. I would ask if you had tried everything else, but I know I am the ‘end of the line’, so to speak, for cases like these. You are not the first broken horn I have seen, but, are you sure you wish to take that risk?”
He looked back at her. She had wiped away her tears and sat with a grim determination, one only the most desperate of ponies would wear. He found himself admiring her guts, even as he lamented her condition. Such a young thing, having to resort to him and his magic...
He was pulled from his thoughts as she spoke. “I, I have to take that chance. Please sir.”
He bowed his head and took out a wooden frame - essentially another box with one piece missing - and levitated it in the air as the larger box was closed and placed to the side. “Rule three is that once we start, we cannot stop. As soon as this dice box is on the table, you are playing; understood?”
She nodded.
“Good. Now, I would hope you were able to dig up some general information on the game at least?”
“A little. I know it’s a dice game, I roll the moon die, you roll the sun. I heard there was some sort of...point system?”
“Yes. If I roll the sun die and it comes up as, say, one quarter covered, and you roll a full moon, then I lose points. If you roll a first or third quarter moon and I roll a crescent covered, then you lose points. Essentially, whoever’s die has the most showing, sun or moon, wins that round.”
She nodded along to the rules. “Okay, that makes sense. It’s pretty much just pure luck then huh.”
Her lips twitch into a smile as she shrugs. “Well, I haven’t had much luck so far but maybe it’ll change tonight.”
The stallion smiled. “It just might. Now then, do you know the reward of winning and the punishment of losing?”
“If I win, you fix my horn. And...” She gulped, “If I lose, my soul is yours.”
The stallion couldn’t help but grin. “Correct. Now, I do not barbarically rip your soul out of your body and eat it or such nonsense, well, at least not anymore. The taste of souls can become rather dull after a few centuries, but I must admit I am rather interested in the taste of yours, so young yet with so much trauma already…”
He licked his lips, staring off in the distance. At her polite cough he shook his head, coming back to the present, “Ahem, instead, you could say I have modernized a little. If I win, you shall be my servant, helping around the shop and unable to step one hoof outside its boundaries. Know that should someone come along and wish to trade for you, if the deal is sweet enough, I will.”
He let his words sink in a minute before continuing. “Now, this isn’t to say you shall be treated badly. You will have your own room and I will tutor you in all I know. You are young enough to need to be in school and I won’t have an illiterate or stupid servant, especially if you may leave my company at some point. Are these terms acceptable?”
The filly took a deep breath, looking down at her hooves as she contemplated his offer. She closed her eyes, took another breath, and nodded. “Yes. I accept.”
His eyes flashed and he set the frame on the table. “Perfect.”
He offered her the moon die, the designs visible and glowing now. “We start with twenty points. Each partial covering is a deduction of two points. If one of us gets a complete covering, say the sun is completely eclipsed and you roll a full moon, it is five points. If we both roll a full, the full moon and the full sun, or a covered, a new moon and eclipsed sun, no points are deducted. Make sense?”
She nodded, looking over the die in hoof. “Yes it does, but what happens if you roll an eclipse and I don’t roll a full moon?”
“Technically, I still lose points, as there is no sun showing, but it is the normal two points.”
He shrugs, “It may sound unfair, but you have a new moon face, and if I roll anything but a total eclipse, then you lose points.”
“I think I get it. Do you have paper to keep score?”
“In a sense…”
He tapped on the frame and twenty suns and moons lit up on their respective sides. “They will fade by themselves depending on the roll.”
He held up his sun die, “Now then, shall we?”
Author's Note
I hope you guys enjoyed this, just wanted to leave some notes on what I intended for this story.
Now, it is up to you if you want to adopt this sort of head canon or not, but I didn’t want my intentions to influence your thoughts before you had a chance to read it.
My thinking was this is supposed to be Tempest’s origins and she loses the game, spends some years under the shop keepers tutelage before the Storm King comes and bargains for her servitude. Regardless of if you ‘accept’ this or not, I do hope you enjoyed this!
