The Moonlit Road

It was a Monday morning when I got ready to open up shop for the day. “Harmony’s Shards: Gemstones and Jewelry,” open from noon till sunset. It’s a somewhat tight window, but those do tend to be the most active hours of the day anyways, so I’m not missing out on much.

I was just finishing up getting everything ready; heading back into my workroom, the door to which was plastered with my cutie mark; a shard of emerald. I entered, picked up the two gems in my magic, and turned back towards the door. On my way out, I took a quick look at the reflective side of one of my backup gem-cutting blades I had mounted on the wall. Coat is a nice, clean white, my lavender mane is smooth and flowing, and my deep violet eyes stared back at me with confidence. Something told me today would be an interesting day.

I returned back to the main floor of the store, putting my newly acquired gems into cases alongside all the others—rubies, opals, amethysts, some on their own, others parts of necklaces, amulets, or other pieces of jewelry. It’s something one would expect to see in big, high-class cities like Kadaes or Azura, the two closest neighbors of the town of Mirrorside. They’re part of how I make a living, selling expensive gems in a small town, rich ponies will often travel between the two and make pit stops here. We receive a lot of other traffic as well, from weary travelers looking for rest or drinks or to enjoy the view of the almost mirror-smooth Lake Reflection, which Mirrorside sat next to. I had just finished making a custom peridot for a repeat customer from Azura, who should be picking it up soon. Once I was satisfied with the layout of all the displays, I went to the front, flipped the sign around, and returned back to my spot behind the counter. It’s only a few minutes before I hear the Ding ding of the front door opening.

“Ah, Antiquity!” I greeted the bronze-colored pegasus, “come to pick up your peridot?”

“Hey, Harmony Shard! Indeed I did, and I’ve got the remaining 300 bits,” the pegasus said, pulling a bag of bits out of his saddlebag as she approached the counter, setting it down.

“Final inspection?” I levitate the gemstone over for them to see, setting it on the counter. On the surface it’s a relatively simple triangular shape with rounded edges, but it had some detailed engravings, which is what validated the 600 bit price tag associated with it. A few moments later, Antiquity placed his hoof on the gemstone.

“Wonderful!” he happily took the gem and slid it the rest of the way across the counter and into his saddlebags. “It’s a fine addition to my collection!”

“You always say that,” I joked,

“Well it’s true! You make some good things, that’s why I come through here so often!”

“So how long are you staying this time?”

“About three days is all, I want to enjoy the lakeside for a little bit before I head back home,” he paused for a moment, “and perhaps spend a little time drinking at the tavern, it’s been a good while since I’ve had any.” He chuckled.

“Well, I hope you enjoy your stay here, maybe I could join you as long as it’s not late at night.” I shuddered at the thought of the creeping darkness. Even closing at sunset felt a little too close for comfort, but I needed something more solid to consider closing time.

“Heh, well unfortunately unless you intend to close for the day I don’t think our schedules would line up, and I’m not staying all the way until sunday.” Antiquity turned around, “well I should probably get going now. Until next time!”

“Alright, see you later!” I said as the pegasus walked out the front door, the bell dinging once more as the door opened and shut.

I looked out the window. Sunset was growing near. I started tapping my hoof on the ground as I hoped ponies would start to file out soon, and luckily, the store was almost empty. Then a unicorn approached, wearing a dark hooded cloak that prevented me from seeing their face. They approached the counter silently.

“Hello,” I said as politely as I could to the mysterious figure, “what can I help you with?” the strange unicorn was silent, simply levitating a scroll over in front of me. I took the scroll in my magic and opened it. It featured an image of a moon-shaped amulet. No, not an image, this had measurements and views from multiple angles, it was practically a blueprint with how detailed it was.

“Sir… Sir?” they nodded in confirmation. “Alright. Sir, while this isn’t the most complex request I’ve ever gotten, it is highly detailed. While some of my most complex designs have gone to about a thousand bits, if you want me to be as exact as is on this scroll, it’ll probably be closer to two thousand. If you really want this, my policy for custom cuts is that the client pays half of the price in advance, so unless you’re carrying a thousand bits…”

I was interrupted by two large bags being sat on the counter, both labeled “1K.” I didn’t know how to respond.

“Sir, you… you only need to pay half in advance,” I recollected myself, “and Sunday is when I close to do customs, so you’d need to come in a week from now to pick it up.” He pointed at the calendar behind me, to tuesday.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t just close down to do a commission. It may be two thousand bits, but that’s still a business-” another thump of a bag, labeled “500.” this stallion really wanted his amulet, and he wanted it now. “Alright, fine, I’ll work on it tomorrow. You can come near the end of the day to pick it up. Happy now?” The stallion nodded politely and, without another word, turned and made their way to the door.

I stood still for a moment before looking out the window once more. The sun had just touched the horizon. I quickly ran back into my workroom and tossed the bags and scroll in there. Rushing back to the front, I grab a lantern and turn it on, heading to the front door, flipping the sign to closed, and shutting and locking it, not bothering to put away my wares. That conversation had taken longer than I’d thought and I’m not staying out at night, especially after someone as shady as that stallion had approached me. I trotted home quickly, staying close to the glow of my lantern. I had set up my shop near my home for just this reason, to minimize the amount of time it would take to get home should it get dark.

Upon entering my home, I pressed a button on my wall which set off a spell matrix to make all the crystal lights in my home glow. I can’t thank Light Etcher enough for helping me with this. More calmly now, I made my way to my kitchen, turning on the much brighter lantern inside as I started to prepare myself a small dinner, just some salad. It was quickly thrown together and eaten, I was functioning on autopilot here, and immediately after finishing, I got up and went to my room, deciding to have an early night, turning on all the lanterns in my room. Nice and bright. After I was comfortable, I flopped onto my bed, and as the tiredness of the day brought me swiftly to sleep.

I was surprisingly energized upon waking, earlier than usual, I might add. Perhaps it was the early night I had. Either way, I was ready to get to my shop and open up for the day. I got up and went to the kitchen, quickly poured and ate a bowl of cereal, made my mane and tail, and got my stuff together. It was a quick trot over and I unlocked my store and went inside, remembering how I forgot to put away my gems. Oops. Well, I went back to my workroom to grab some gems to fill the empty spots, and then saw the bags of bits and the scroll sitting on the ground. Ah, right. That.

I sighed and decided I’d better get to work on it. I approached my collection of rough gems to find a moonstone, the material requested, lighting up my mini forge for later. Taking it to my skeif I began to grind it down to a more appropriate size, the diameter about the size of my hoof, and flatten it to be half the diameter of a bit. This was the easy part. After I felt it was sufficiently sized and ready, I went to do the cut for the moon shape. I couldn’t use my saw for such a task though; sawblades and inside curves do not mix. So, instead of going to my saw, I made my way over to my mage cutter. It was a relatively simple device, it took magical energy from a crystal and converted it into a beam I could use for cutting.

I funneled magic into the crystal and flipped the connecting rune into place, starting up the beam. I marked the path to cut with a marker, placed the moonstone onto the plate where the beam sat, and slowly moved it through the beam, cutting along the line I marked. This was a much slower and more deliberate process than simply flattening a circle, as one wrong move could ruin the whole thing. About a minute of slow, careful movement and the cut was done. I shut off the mage cutter and lifted up the moon-shaped moonstone. I took the center piece and put it away in another storage bin for potential reuse. Waste not, want not, after all.

I placed the moon on my tool desk to do the fine detailing, and checked the heat of my forge before sitting down at my tool station, placing the scroll beside the gem to use as a reference. Taking a variety of tools in my magic, I go to work, smoothing out what little imperfections exist in my cuts. This is the most time consuming part of my work, due to the precision demanded by the client, each action requiring intense scrutiny before I made it to ensure no part of this was even a little bit off. Despite the strange stallion forcing me to close down today to do his commission, he paid the price of the gem—plus extra—up front for it, so it had to be flawless. I pulled over my magnifier and looked through it as I started my work. taking great care, I began to cut and chip any little bump I saw, polishing it smooth after each change to ensure no bumps would remain. This gem was going to be so smooth you’d think glass was rough by comparison.

About an hour of painstaking observation and careful modification, I carried the gem over to one of my clay boxes, where I pressed it in to make a mold for a socket. A little magic works to swifty dry it out so I can put it in my kiln for firing. And now the waiting game begins, as I wait for the forge to finish heating up and the mold to fire. I looked out the window, it’s almost noon. Have I really been working that long? Luckily that means that the forge should be heated up, so I can get started on that. I put some silver into the forge and let it heat while I waited for the socket cast to finish being fired.

It had been about two hours since I started firing the new cast. I’d gone and done my casting of the chain links for the amulet and assembling them, just having the two ends open to attach the socket to, and checking the kiln the mold was finally done. I removed the mold from the kiln and turned it off, bringing it to my forge and pouring the silver into it. Just a little more waiting and everything will be ready. Looking outside it was getting close to sunset and the stallion should be arriving soon, but luckily the process was almost complete. When the casting was complete I’d just need to place the gem in the socket and hook it up to the chain, simple. After about two minutes I removed the socket from its mold, placed the gem inside and magically affixed it, then attached the chain to each side of the upper portion of the socket. This thing was really worth what he paid. I headed back to the counter, carrying the amulet with me, waiting for the arrival of the stallion. Luckily, it wasn’t long, ten minutes at most, before the hooded stallion came back to fetch his new jewelry.

“Ah, welcome back. I’ve got the amulet you requested, take a look,” I say as I levitated it over to him. My aura changed to his as he took the amulet and began his inspection. He spent about five minutes inspecting the necklace before nodding.

“Is it good?” I inquired, and he nodded his approval once more, sat the amulet on the counter, and turned towards the door. I grabbed the amulet, walking after him, “Sir, I’m pretty sure this is yours.” he stopped, shook his head, and then pointed at me before going through the exit door. I followed quickly behind him, calling “wait! Where are you… going…?” I trailed off as when I opened the door, the stallion was nowhere to be seen. I spent some time searching the local area before just calling it quits. Was this meant for me? If so, why? Why spend so much on this? And why rush it? It’s not like my birthday was coming up. I decided there was nothing much I could do. I went back inside, picked up the bags of bits from yesterday, locked the door, and then left to go home. On the way back, I decided that if this was a gift, I may as well wear it. I slipped it around my neck and when I returned home, I took a look in the mirror. It looked good on me. Surprising, given the mare I was.

I opened my eyes standing in the middle of Mirrorside, around noon, and yet there was nobody. I was deeply unsettled as I started to search around.

“Hello? Anypony there?” my calls were met with naught but silence. I looked out across the lake and noticed a big shadow, like day was rapidly turning to night. Looking up, I saw the sun start to fade, being blocked by the moon. Oh no. oh no oh no oh no. I started hyperventilating as I ran around looking for some sort of light to hide in before the darkness reached me, but there was nothing. It was daytime, so of course no external lights were on. I did the only thing I could think of and ran, ran towards my home where all my precious light was. As it came into view, a shadow fell across it, and then me. Then I saw faces. Not those of ponies, but white, evil faces glowing in the blackness, monsters out for me and my blood. Had they killed everyone? Is that why there’s nobody around? Am I the only pony still alive? I ran, ran like my life depended on it, because I’m pretty sure it did. I ran, but the darkness grew faster than I could run, and in my rush to flee the monsters, I tripped, falling over and sliding across the ground. When I opened my eyes I was faced with a completely eclipsed sun and a horde of terrible shadow monsters. My worst nightmares made manifest. I closed my eyes, ready to accept my fate…

And then I felt something. Something growing within me. I opened my eyes and stood up, the creatures laughing at the futility of my petty resistance. There was a glow from my chest. I looked down and saw I was still wearing the amulet from yesterday. I looked at it, and then at the monsters. Some of their expressions started to change. A few began backing away as my confidence rose. I smirked, feeling this new energy within me, this power, this will to overcome. I reared up and slammed my hooves into the ground, a shockwave rippling across the ground, a few shadow creatures instantly dissipating. Those creatures that were still feeling confident now showed fear themselves, the same fear I felt. One tried to attack me, though it was in vain as I took it in my magic and slammed it into the ground. The rest started to run, just as I did, but I wasn’t about to let them get away. My horn lit up with magical energy, and it started shining bright as the sun, piercing the shadows and turning them to nothing. The light from my horn died down, and I looked up at the sky. There was no longer an eclipsed sun, but instead a moon. The stars suddenly warped, forming into a sort of cloud that came down in front of me, and upon touching the ground, coalesced into a new form, that of a tall, black alicorn mare with leathery bat wings, wearing ornate blue armor. The cloud of stars now formed itself into her mane and tail, which flowed in a nonexistent wind. She looked at me with her slitted blue eyes and I yelped. No, it couldn’t be…

“N-Nightmare Moon?” I was about to run away, this isn’t something I was cut out to deal with, but then I took a deep breath, looked her in the eyes and said “Nightmare Moon, whatever pain you may wish to inflict on me, I will not go down without a fight!” I hoped and prayed that she was more intimidated than I was scared.

“I have no intentions of harming you, Harmony Shard. In fact, I came to congratulate you.”

“So be it,” I said, getting into the best battle stance I could… “Wait, what?”

“I came to congratulate you,” she repeated, “for what you’ve done here. You faced your fears, and learned not to run from the night, but to conquer it.” I was confused, wasn’t this the embodiment of nightmares? Who brings fear and darkness all throughout the land?

“B-but I thought you were evil. Th-the stories-” she cut me off with a scoff.

“Tales of old, tales once true, but true no more. You see I once was exactly what you described: I brought fear and darkness everywhere I went. But things have changed. I have learned, I have grown, and that is no longer me.” she paused. “Princess Luna. We both share the same domain, the night and the moon, but we wish our ponies to treat it differently. Luna would encourage what you did—you ran and tried to avoid the wrath of the creatures of the night, but I encourage something different,” she looked me directly in the eyes “I encourage them to conquer it, to treat every problem as a challenge to overcome, to let opposition make you stronger.” I was too stunned to move as Nightmare Moon approached me. She leaned down to level her face with me, “I can teach you, like I’ve taught so many others. All I ask for in return is your service. Should you refuse, the only punishment is that of a missed opportunity.” The mare backed off “So, what do you say?”

My thoughts were racing. This is Nightmare Moon we’re talking about, she’s evil… but if what she said is true, is that really the case? Did she do this? She did, didn’t she? She brought these terrors, she created all this fear, she… made me stronger… It was a test. And I passed. Did she want to cause terror? Or did she just want to make me stronger? And the night? The dark? I’d have to… no, no I can face it. I defeated these specters that were actively out for my blood. I can face a little darkness. I’ve proven it.

“Yes,” I finally said, “I accept your offer.” She smiled a big, surprisingly caring smile.

“I’m glad to have you.” her horn lit up…

…and my eyes opened up. I was back in my room. It was the middle of the night and all my lanterns were off. I should be scared, and yet I wasn’t. I got out of bed and onto my hooves, making my way to the door, opening it up to a place I’d never seen before. Mirrorside was dark, illuminated only by the gentle glow of the moon. It was… beautiful. I stepped further out into the night, looking around at the beautiful place I’d never known before. Stars dotted the sky, the moon watching over them, over me, over the whole world. I continued to walk down the silver-bathed town, simply enjoying the peace and quiet of the night. Just me, my thoughts, and the moon. As the moon began to set, I took a seat at the edge of the mirror smooth surface of Lake Reflection, a second sky and a second moon to be seen in its waters. Peace. Tranquility. Beauty. I can hardly believe I’d been denying this my whole life.

“I take it that things went well?” I turned around to see the mysterious pony from yesterday, finally speaking. That voice, I recognized it…

“Light Etcher?” The stallion smiled as they threw their hood off, revealing their gray coat and light blue mane.

“How’s it going?” he said with a smile.

“But… Why did you choose me?” I inquired, “you chose me, the pony that could barely stand a dim room, to serve under Nightmare Moon?” he sighed.

“That was the exact reason. I hated seeing you scared of something so simple as the dark. You were more afraid than young foals,” he paused, “no offense.”

“None taken. It’s not like I ever denied it or anything.” he nodded in response and continued.

“I thought that making you face your fear would be a good way to help you get over them.” I interrupted with a shout.

“Wait a second! it was you who caused my nightmare, wasn’t it?! I was terrified! I thought I was-”

“You were scared, yes. That was the point. Well, not the whole point. The whole point was, as I said, to make you face, and more importantly, overcome your fear.” I raised my hoof to object, but nothing came out.

“I… you’re right…” I lowered my hoof. “Thanks, Light,” I said as I smiled at him.

“Glad to have been able to help. It’s also pretty nice to have someone who knows now.”

“Knows about what?” I asked, and then realized how stupid a question that was, “Oh, right. Nightmare Moon. This was… a decision I was unsure about, and I’m still not entirely sure.” Light Etcher came and sat next to me by the lake.

“Hey, remember that myth about the lake? If you look into the mirror smooth surface of Lake Reflection on a clear moonlit night, you’ll see your ideal self,” He looked towards me, “I think tonight fits the criteria. Wanna take a look?” I consider for a moment, before standing up and leaning over the lake, looking in. what I see is myself, but wearing a purple cloak alongside my amulet. Beside me stood the ghostly visage of Nightmare Moon. I sat back down.

“So this is what I’m destined for, then. This is my future, to stand beside and serve Nightmare Moon.” I take a deep breath. “This is my purpose. I’m ready. I’m ready to join you, and to walk the moonlit road.”