Solid Slate had been a dealer for 27 years now, and all of the years of his life he had known no other trade. It was against the law to trade gems, they had been banned centuries ago, After the civil war ended, Celestia had wasted no time in instilling her absolute rule, she cast down the nobles and only her close student Twilight Sparkle and her friends were given any power. Celestia hadn’t wanted the common ponies to be able to grasp power, thus rare gems like Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, alexandrite and especially Chomium Obsidian (otherwise known as the “Devils stone" were prohibited to be owned by the general populace. Solid Slate never knew why they were banned, he didn’t need to, his father before him taught him his trade, Gem Dealing, as long as there is a warlock, or witch out there studying their respective craft, there was a demand for gems.
Solid Slate had just gotten back from Arania, one of the outlying, more excluded villages on the edge of the Badlands. He had a long standing contact there, Somber Spirit, she was interested in a class 2 emerald to conduct some “research” with. They had always met in the local pub to do business. As usual, the pub was nasty, loud and falling apart. Drunken ponies were being belligerent, some laying on the floor, some not moving at all. These 40 years were tough on the common-ponies, some can only turn to what makes them happy, or what makes the pain go away…
After Solid had found where Somber had sat down he trotted over and took a seat. The waitress was not far behind him and asked what he wanted.
“ill take the Manehattan Special”
After Solid was done ordering he looked across the table and saw Somber sitting there, trying to look ominous, and failing quite spectacularly.
“Just as lovely as ever I see.” Solid stated in a bored tone “let us get this over with, I’d rather not spend too much time dilly dallying.”
“It’s always business with you Solid, at least try to enjoy being away from Canterlot.”
“Not gonna happen.”
Right after that the waitress promptly delivered his drink, and scurried off straight after In quite a rush, because some pony was now trying to lift a nailed down table, and was succeeding quite spectacularly at it.
“Anyway, What are the prices nowadays for the class 2, Solid?” Somber inquired “you know I don’t get any news being out here and all.”
“178 bits is the guilds price, and you can’t complain about your location, I know as well as you do, you don’t like loud places at all.”
“178 bits!” “that is outrageous!”
“The guild makes the prices, I just sell the gems.”
“the only reason they drive up the prices so high is because they know people like me NEED them!” “How else could we ever do our research!”
“Are you going to buy it or not, I am already gonna be late for the Guild Meeting, and I don’t need Opal on my ass because I missed another meeting, she already threatened to take away my divining stone!”
“Any discount for old “friends”?”
“As said, Opal is already displeased with me, and you know how the guild does business, and they always find out. Standard price, or no “research”.
“Fine, you’re an asshole Solid Slate.”
“Don’t blame the seller, blame the economy.”
After Solids trip to Arania, he had to get his ass to Canterlot Industrial District, The guild meeting always moved around yearly, you can never be too cautious nowadays, Celestia had been growing more and more paranoid every month. She ramped up the search for the Guild members whereabouts every day, she was afraid of them. The black market had always protected itself well though, only the newest members with little to no experience got caught by the Guard, they didn’t understand the business and got punished for it. Celestia has had a few small victories in the past, and some members of the guild think that she is getting closer and closer to finding out where a meeting is held. One such victory of Celestia’s was the bust of a disguised caravan carrying 6000 bits worth of gems to the guild supplies. Solid watched the public execution of the two ponies in charge of the Caravan, but he didn’t know either of them.
Solid is a high ranking member of the Guild, an executive officer if you will, he doesn’t enjoy the “honor” and he doesn’t fulfill his duties at all, which mostly include Membership fee collecting, training the newbees, and answering higher level exchanges. The only reason he has the position is because he one of the oldest members of the guild, the only one older than himself is Amber, the guild leader, She is the one that makes sure they are safe, commands the officers, assigns them, assigns Trainees to dealers. She is basically the queen of the guild, and one of Celestias biggest targets.
Solid hopped on the Canterlot Express as it was just about to leave Dodge City, the meeting was in two days and it was one of the longest train rides to Canterlot, Solid didn’t like going to the meetings, but he had skipped out on the last two and Amber had threatened to revoke his membership, which was basically a death sentence.
The guild is what keeps people like Solid safe and connected, without it, you have no chance to get deals, the guild has a monopoly of connections plus the fact that the guild and its connections are the only thing that keep Celestia and her peacekeepers off of your tail, it’s a suicide wish to freelance.
The train ride was long and boring, Celestia barely kept the trains running, the seats were torn, the ticket prices were high just to keep the train running, A lot of the public benefits that in the olden times, when Solids grandfather used to live, were unsupported by the government now. Celestia spends every bit on her Military, with nothing left behind to support the commonponies.
After the rather horrible train ride, Solid arrived in Canterlot, it looked just as he remembered it, but why would it have changed? Maybe Solid deep down hoped it would, but Canterlot as always, struck fear into the hearts of ponies, it was Celestias seat of power, and she ruled with an iron fist. Solid had to present his i.d. to the first gate of canterlot, the guards shouted orders, which he obeyed, they patted him down and found nothing. Finally he was allowed to pass the first gate, the second gate is where you pay the 23 bit entrance fee, to “support the army!” and you were allowed to pass. Solid’s ride has brought him straight to the heart of canterlot, He checked his Official letter from Amber, the address was market in the secret code every dealer knew, and he started off towards the industrial district. Hopefully Amber wouldn’t be too mad at him for missing 2 hours of the meeting.