This is probably the most nervous I’ve been in years. The fact that it’s because I’m about to talk to a magical pony doesn’t really help. Ugh, alright, now or never! Never would probably be better though.

Opening the door to the Carousel Boutique I hear a small bell ring above the door frame. Looking into the Carousel Boutique I see Rarity coming over to greet me. Guess I’m past the point of no return.

“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique!” Rarity announced. “And what can I do for a fine stallion like yourself today?”

“I was uh, wondering if I could sell these gems and you were the first pony that came to mind.” I say, pulling one out of my saddlebags with a hoof and almost stumbling. I still haven’t fully mastered the whole 4 legs thing.

“I'm absolutely flattered that the first pony you came to was moi, but whatever do you mean by sell your gems? Do you mean to have them appraised perchance?” Rarity responds with a nearly insulting amount of confusion on their face. I wonder if that’s a result of the larger eyes or that ponies are just more expressive. Or maybe it's just Rarity being Rarity. I’m leaning more towards the former because Rarity immediately picked up on my confusion too.

“Darling, you are aware that gems are used as currency, right?”

Gems are used as currency? What? How does that even work?! Wouldn’t inflation be a massive issue? From what I’ve seen in the show they can be dug out of practically anywhere! How are the prices even decided?! Gems come in all sorts of sizes! No wait, she mentioned getting them appraised. But wouldn’t prices vary depending on who appraises them? What if a pony was in cahoots with an appraiser? Wouldn’t they-

“Sir?” Rarity says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, sorry, I kind of forgot about that…” I spectacularly recover. “My rent is due tomorrow and I’ve been stressing about getting enough money to pay it off.”

“Oh that’s terrible! Sadly I cannot appraise your gems myself, however I do know a pony who should be able to help you. Their shop is a bit… drab, but they are one of the best appraisers I know. They run a small establishment down near Quills and Sofas. There’s a large sign of a spyglass out front, you can’t miss it.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a map handy- hoo- on hoof?”

“Oh darling, surely you jest!” Rarity laughs, but after seeing my stilted smile she quickly collects herself and apologizes. “It’s just across from Herbal Balm’s Tea Emporium, on Bridleway Boulevard. I can take you there if you’d like.”

“Oh no, thank you for the offer though.”

“Think nothing of it, it’s only natural to help a pony in need. Anyway, it was nice getting to know you….”

“Lilac, sorry, Lilac Brooch.” I introduce myself, almost missing the social que.

Rarity poses in a way that I think is supposed to be regal. “And I am Rarity, but I’m sure you already knew that with me being oh so fabulous.”

“Well, uh, see you later. Rarity.” I say with an absolute abundance of tact.

“Farewell, and do come again!”

Well that was… Surreal. Especially that last part when I actually said her name. Have you ever been about to say something only for it to be so foreign and strange that you actually have to mentally push yourself to say it? Just me? Well it was that. I guess the gravity of the whole situation is starting to catch up with me. Can’t have that happen can we though, or else there’ll be rent to pay… Would have been rent to pay? Rent I was supposed to pay? Or maybe… Actually, you know what, forget it.

After about an hour of just walking around Ponyville, I finally found Bridleway Boulevard. Once I found the street it was easy to find the store Rarity was talking about. It looked like one of those old antique shops that sold cursed stuff. They might actually have cursed stuff, magic does exist after all.

Unlike the Carousel Boutique there was no little bell that rang when the door opened. However it was made up for by the loud creak the door made when it opened.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” I look around the store and take in all the old pots, paintings and weird decorative pieces on display. I think the thing that caught my eye the most was this black necklace with a ruby set in the middle and a depiction of… an alicorn. That’s the Alicorn Amulet isn’t it?

“Welcome to Ancient Relics, how can I help you?” A cream orange pegasus with a cyan, slicked back mane calls out from behind the counter at the back of the store, taking my attention away from the Alicorn Amulet.

“I’m looking for somepony to appraise these gems.” I call back and gesture to my bags, making my way over to the counter. A small amount of pride fills me when I manage to put my hoof back on the floor without stumbling.

“Well you came to the right place! I’m Stellar Sights, what’s your name?” Getting closer I try to peek at his cutie mark but his wing covers up most of it. Looking up to face them, I see a large golden monocle resting on his snout and through it a comically enlarged cyan eye.

“Lilac Brooch. Cool store by the way.” I say taking another look around. All this ancient stuff is way cooler when magic is thrown into the mix, I wonder what else is in this place? Hell, the Alicorn Amulet is just sitting there! Actually isn’t that kind of dangerous? I should probably let him know that it’s cursed, right? Or should I buy it? That would be cool, having a genuine cursed artifact.

“Thank you! Now, if you can place your gems on the counter I will start the appraisal.”

This looks like it will take a while. I guess I finally get some time to think. There’s so much I haven’t had time to stop and think about. Like why I had to come to an antique store to get these gems appraised. Are there no places dedicated to gem appraisal? I wonder if it’s because the cutiemarks for appraising and antiquing overlap? I couldn’t get a good look at Stellar’s cutiemark but I’m willing to bet it matches the sign out front, a wooden spyglass with golden caps. That would make sense I guess. A spyglass itself could be considered an antique, but isn’t it a bit of a stretch to say they could be used for appraising? Hell, he’s not even using a spyglass! He’s using a monocle! What do monocles even do?!

“Sir are you okay? You’re looking pretty intense over there.”

“Oh, I was just thinking.”

“What about? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Your monocle.” I reply, thinking it would be weird to say I was thinking about his cutiemark.

“My monocle?” A look of confusion crosses his face.

“Yeah, I’ve never really known what monocles are for. Are they like 1 eyed glasses or are they a fashion thing? Or are they just to keep an eye propped open?”

“Huh, guess I never put that much thought into it. But this one here is enchanted, it sort of sticks one eye’s vision to an object. It gets pretty tedious having to hold things up to one eye or hover over them just to get a good look at them. It’s pretty clever how it works too, you see there’s no room for the gem in the monocle itself so the enchant is channeled through the chain here.” He follows the chain up the side of his face with a hoof, stopping at his ear where a circle of chain is wrapped around it. A small sapphire gem hangs from a separate chain.

“Woah, thats awesome!” Think of all the cool stuff you could make! Just slap a gem onto anything and it gets magical properties! Who needs science when you’ve got pony magic!

“Heheh thanks, I got it from an enchanter buddy of mine. If you’re interested you could pay them a visit. Anyway, your gems are worth 320 bits, I just need to stamp them real quick.” He says, pulling out a bronze stamping tool.

“Stamp them?” I guess that makes sense. How else would you label how much a gem is? A sticker?

“Yeah, like this.” He presses the stamp down onto one of the gems and a small glow emanates from the gem. He then holds it up and shows it to me.

“Oh yeah, forgot about that.” I lie.

It took only about a minute to have all my gems stamped. Kind of weird to think about gems being stamped. Can you even stamp a gem? Normally this would be the part where I look it up but I can’t really access the internet here. Guess that’s one downside to being sent to Equestria. No more Google.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. How much is that amulet over there?” I point over to the Alicorn Amulet with the tip of my hoof.

“The black and red one? I was planning on selling it to some collector, but it’s an open secret that they just resell antiques with a thrilling story and boosted price. I’ll sell it to you for, lets say, 50 bits?”

50 bits? I’ll have what? 270 bits left? Rent is 200 so that’s another 200 off. I’ll only have 70 bits left after all this. Is it worth it? Buying the Alicorn Amulet could interfere with the plot, but do I really care? It just means Trixie won’t be able to take over Ponyville for a day, right?

“That seems fine.” I grab the Alicorn Amulet and bring it up to the table. I hand him 2 gems, one being worth 20 and the other 30.

“Alright then. Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Thanks. You too.” I say as I walk out of the store.

The walk home was as uneventful as every other time I’ve gone anywhere in Ponyville. It’s kind of eerie actually. I keep expecting something weird to happen, or for something to start attacking the village. I'm honestly surprised at how calm my first day in Ponyville was.

Well actually I can’t really say that it was completely calm. The whole rent scare and actually meeting a main character from the show was pretty insane. Also I did get to buy the Alicorn Amulet so that’s another crazy thing. But all those crazy things are easily topped by this crazy thing.

There’s a pony standing in my living room, staring at me.

Author's Note

School has started back up. Chapters will take longer to complete. Sorry.