Dark as Chitin

Chapter Music

"Money, money, gifts for my buddy," I chirped as I walked down a dirt path toward the castle.

Chrysalis sighed. "You're awfully chipper."

Of course, I was, I just made 10,000 bits in less than five hours.

As I walked, I noticed a small magical presence fast approaching from behind. Stepping out the way, something fast zipped by, crashing into my bad of money, knocking it out of my magical grasp. Before any of my money hit the ground, I cast a reconstruction spell, returning all of the money to the bag, and recapturing it in my magic.

Whatever hit my bag, ricocheted off of it, crashing into the dirt path and kicking up a large cloud of dust.

The figure in the cloud of dust yelped in pain. "My wing..."

As the dust cleared, I was able to see more clearly who it was that crashed. It was a mare with a light brilliant gamboge coat, a moderate cerise mane, and grayish-purple eyes. She wore goggles which now had a cracked lens. On the ground was a metallic board of sorts. Looking more closely, I noticed that the board wasn't actually on the ground, it was floating just inches above it. The board seemed to emanate a light blue magical glow.

I walked over to the mare to check on her. Obviously, she was injured, so I cast a quick healing spell on her wing. It didn't heal it completely, but it definitely did something. The wing was now mildly bruised and crooked, whereas before, it was completely bent in all the wrong ways. Casting the healing spell again, the contusions went away, but it still looked crooked. Guess that's as far as my spell goes for now.

"Are you alright?" I asked, offering a hoof.

Chrysalis gasped. "Adultery!?"

Ignoring my mother's absurdity, I extended my hoof out further.

She coughed a little, swiping away some dust, before she took my hoof. Lifting her back onto her hooves, I cast a reconstruction spell on her goggles, restoring them to their previous state. Looking at her now, you can hardly tell that she crashed.

The mare looked herself over, feeling very confused. "I could have sworn I crashed. Did you use magic?"

"Yeah, a little bit."

"Say, what's in that bag anyway? Felt like I hit a brick wall..."

"The bag? Just a few bits."

She looked at me in utter disbelief. "You're kidding me..."

Jumping in the air, she began using her wings to hover, getting a look at the contents of the bag.

"What in Equestria!? What are you doing walking around with all these bits!?"

I raised a hoof to my chin, thinking over my answer. "I'm going to acquire a gift for a friend."

"Even so, isn't this a little too much? You buying them an apartment or somethin'?"

"Nope, at least, I don't think so. I was actually on my way home to put some of this away."

The mare fell back to the ground, landing on her board. "Well, you're in luck because Scootaloo has something for you." The mare said as she whipped a small sack out from seemingly nowhere. The bag felt strange, I could feel traces of magic coming from it, although feint. On the bag was a large S and T embroidered on the front. A royal red ribbon to tie it off.

"Introducing the bottomless bag, courtesy of Scootaloo and The Great and Powerful Trixie™." The mare said as she took her hoverboard, dropping it inside.

Despite the board being significantly larger than the bag itself, the board sank into the bag completely, the dimensions of the bag not changing at all. The mare, I assumed was Scootaloo, then reach inside the bad, pulling the board back out.

"Woah."

She smiled proudly. "It's not actually bottomless, it's just bigger on the inside than on the outside."

How would something like that even work? I guess their title isn't just for show.

"And it's all yours for the small price of 50 bits!" Scootaloo said, dangling the bag in front of me.

Wait, did I just run into a sales pony? Oh well, looks like it worked out for the best. Only 50 bits for an item like this? That's a steal in my eyes.

"Deal, take what you need," I said, lowering the bag to her level.

"Pleasure doin' business with you," Scootaloo said as she stood upright on her board.

I nodded in return. "Definitely."

With that, she took off on her board, the initial kick-off causing a small gale storm to start up. That's pretty cool, I might have to get one sometime.

Turning to my large sack of bits, I began tilting it into the bottomless bag. It's true, it's way bigger on the inside, I was able to fit all 9,950 bits inside, and it's still not overflowing. In the motion of tieing off the bag, I wondered what I should do with the other sack. Finding that there was nowhere else to dispose of it, I opted to throw it inside the bottomless bag.

Alright, looks like I don't have to head back to the castle yet. That saves me the risk of ruining the surprise for Dawn. To Ponyville we go!

By now, the sun had set, and all of the nighttime vendors had come out. I still can't get over how different Ponyville looks at night. I would argue that it's probably more beautiful at night than during the day. Dawn doesn't need to know I said that though.

Trotting around Ponyville, I was surprised to see that just about every store was still open. As I idled in the middle of the plaza for a bit, I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

"Anon, darling, is that you?"

Turning around instantly, I was glad to see that it was Rarity.

"Rarity? You're out here too?"

"Actually, I was just on my way to the castle, I have a gift for you."

A gift? For me?

Rarity levitated a moderately sized box over to me, myself receiving it in my magical grasp.

"Thank you, Rarity."

Rarity waved a hoof dismissively. "It's no problem at all, darling. By the way, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm looking for a gift for Dawn, I upset her."

"Well, I won't get between you two, but you have to at least look presentable. Check inside the box when you have the chance," Rarity said as she walked away.

Presentable...

Moving behind a building, I opened the box, levitating the contents outside of it. It was what seemed to be a black notch lapel, pants not included. However, it did come with a red tie. Luckily, during my exploits at Sweet Apple Acres, I hadn't even worked up a sweat thanks to all my training, so I put the suit on without any worries. It was a bit difficult at first, figuring out which limb went where, but the suit was able to fit me perfectly.

Now, what would Dawn like? I hummed to myself as I walked from behind the building, looking at every store in sight. My eyes wandered over a far flashier sign than the rest that I hadn't noticed during the daytime. The sign was lined with vibrant white lights that seemed to dance around the wording.

"Silver Diamonds and Tiaras. Looks like a jewelry store. I wonder if they have anything Dawn might like." Bag in tow, I trotted up to the store, opening the door.

Stepping inside, I immediately noticed how expensive and clean everything looked. I would have felt extremely out of place were it not for this suit. Thanks, Rarity.

There were a few ponies inside, each of them looking pristine. A few of them looked at me, eyes widening a bit in surprise as they noticed my bag.

Immediately two ponies came from behind the counter, wearing some of the brightest smiles I had ever seen. The first to approach me was a pony with a pale magenta coat, a pale-light grayish violet mane with white streaks, and eyes the color of brilliant cornflower blue. Sitting atop her head was a silver tiara, her cutie mark matching it. The other pony had a cornflower bluish-gray coat, a mane two shades of light azureish gray, and eyes a shade of moderate violet. Around her neck was a pale opal necklace and on her muzzle were a pair of glasses with a light blue frame.

"Welcome to Silver Diamonds and Tiaras, I'm Diamond," The pony with a pale magenta coat said.

"And I'm Silver," the other mare chimed in.

Then in unison, they finished off their introduction. "How can we be of assistance to you, dear customer?"

Woah, this was a level of enthusiasm I hadn't seen before. I was a bit taken aback by it, to be honest. "Uh, I'm looking for a gift to give to somepony."

The two mares leaned in closer, the one named Diamond prodding further. "Would you say they're a special somepony?"

Special somepony? I suppose Dawn is special, she's like a genius, student of the princess, and her mother's the mayor after all.

My mother sighed. I don't know what for though.

"Yes?" I replied.

The two mares reeled back on their hind hooves, cheering with excitement.

"Follow us!" They said as they led me behind the counter, then behind a curtain.

In this back area, there were even more casings full of jewelry, in fact, the entire perimeter of the room seemed to be lined with jewelry. In the middle of the room though, I could sense a strong magical presence. Trotting over to it, I could see twelve pieces of jewelry lining the interior of a case, sitting on a layer of soft foam. I looked over the case, my eyes stopping on a single item in the middle.

In the middle sat a necklace emanating a powerful magical aura that almost completely overshadowed the other pieces of jewelry. The necklace itself was beautiful; the chain seemed to be made of pure gold, the crest was seemingly a hybrid of gold and silver. Those weren't the most interesting parts of the necklace though; it was the center stone in the prong. It was clear that this was the source of the magical energy, but what was it exactly? The center stone was perfectly crafted into the shape of a golden sun.

"It's one of our proudest works. We named it, Celestia's Embrace. It's enchanted with some of the strongest protection spells we could muster, to signify that the gifter will always watch over the receiver. When wearing it, the wearer should feel warm and safe," Silver stated from behind me.

Captivated by its beauty and promise, I said only one word. "Sold."