The wind doused Canterlot in a freezing howl. The mountaintop city would be feeling the brunt of one of the last Autumn windstorms, and Winter's close approach was having its fair share of brutality. I remember that day to being as uneventful as any other.
Canterlot was a bore. I was born and raised here, in the most dull and pretentious city since Manehattan. I hated this place, and was more than willing to move, once my finances released their hold on me.
Until then, I would be forever shackled to be called one of its citizens, despite spending most of my days outside of its limits. I was hoping today would be one of those days, being able to excuse myself from the pompous indulgences this city harbored, and travel to somewhere with ponies I could actually get along with and like, maybe even form a expedition trip or something of the like. Nevertheless, I was hired, and had a job to do.
I was a sort of mutual business partner of a Ms. Rarity. She owned a dress shop named the Carousel Boutique in Ponyville, and was an avid gem hunter like myself. Whenever she was in the need of some, but her schedule grew too bloated, she would often hire me to acquire them.
It was rubies she sought this time. And just my luck, the mines had been the target of some investigation recently.
I had only heard rumors. Apparently, and this is according to Canterlot gossip mind you, several bodies were found somewhere near the main network hub, shortly after the Nightmare Moon attack. They were only rumors, and I knew those mines like the sapphire around my neck. I wasn’t about to let some gossip get in the way of business.
Apparently, the Royal Guard was also standing in the way. As I approached the massive maw in the side of the mountain, two guards had set their sights on me. They watched me with scrutinous eyes, as if knowing my plans, and daring me to carry them out. A small ward rested in between the two of them, and it too seemed to glare at me.
I feigned defeat, and dejectedly cantered away from the pair. After I was out of sight, I quickly changed course, and headed towards my second option.
Near the edge of the market district, there is a soft face of rock that connected to a small, yet able path. Years ago I had managed to blast a wide enough opening, permitting me to enter. I had to enlarge it several times, to accommodate my growing size, but it was on the outskirts of town. Any ponies who would notice it, I don’t would have the courage, or rather, the curiosity to explore.
The crevice was, thankfully not blocked off, and I could still enter, with moderate ease. My body managed to crawl inside, with some strained effort, and I found myself in the small chamber that I considered my second home. A whip of my horn elicited an indigo glow through the very small cave. Among the wall were the empty beds of gemstones and crystals long past, a conquest of my much earlier years. They all resided within my home, among the shelves and tables, in one form or another.
I was a practical collector. I loved capturing the elusive creatures, but I would not keep them as immobile trinkets, a slave to the scrutiny to the visiting eye. They all served, or had served, a greater purpose. They were tools of mine. My hammer for an anvil, or a brush for a canvas. I treated them with as much care, and as much respect, as any proper craftsman.
Any sort of matter that could produce a proper reflection of light was long gone, leaving only a dull refraction from the solid earth around me. As I traveled down the beaten path, the ceiling rose to better accommodate my height.
This place used to have such a brilliant sparkle to it all. I remember when my light would cause such a wonderful series of misshapen shadows, with all the colors of spectrum. They almost seemed to sing when they realized I had returned. As if they were greeting me, and welcoming me home from another challenging day.
But they were no longer here, a by product of my foalish greed and curiosity. I was so enraptured by my own selfish pursuits into what I had convinced myself to be my very own form of magic. I was wrong of course, gem enchantment is relatively common nowadays, but that didn’t stop the wonderfully ignorant notion that I was the most clever, and unique colt in all of Canterlot.
That I had proved those cynical professors wrong.
Before I had achieved my own identity, my mother attempted to enroll me into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. A massive waste of time and money. Not once, not twice, but thrice had I proven that my efforts to become a student were in vain.
I had grown sick of the incredibly sterile environment by then. The calm and stagnant realm of education did nothing to stimulate me, in my brief episodes of visiting. There was no interaction, no real learning there. I had witnessed a few classrooms on my way to the test, and saw the same thing from each of my visits.
Just young colts and fillies, forced to listen to an old pony ramble for an hour or so.
I simply couldn’t do it. I need to be out and about. I need interaction, hooves-on learning. Not lectures. The retention comes and goes like any other boorish conversation, and is completely forgotten within the next day. No, I need to experiment. I need to know if something will work by physically doing it. If I’m wrong, I would rather have an immediate explosion, as opposed to an unsolved hypothesis. I always opted to do the unknown, made things much more interesting.
I had reached the end of the path, and a small opening appeared before me. It lead down into the main mine cart track, that largest and most known tunnels in the mountain. I immediately trotted off towards the left path, leading further down into the depths.
The walls of these mines were even more bare than that of my own personal doorway. Of course, these empty nests were formed from long before I was born. It was a very eerie sight in some ways, as I could imagine the ponies who worked tirelessly to extract all of these crystalline treasures. The sense that this place had been abandoned seems to amplify, as the tracks become rusted, the deeper into the mines you go.
Any natural light from outside had disappeared awhile ago, replaced with my own artificial one. My isolation had become more apparent, as the darkness on the edge of my vision seemed to grow closer. The air was thinner, and hotter, as I traveled deeper into the earth. The road was soft, and predictable. Absolute darkness lingered on every side of me, and I couldn’t help but feel a sort of anxiety from it all.
Ponies supposedly died here, and the guards stationed outside the main entrance seemed to all but confirm this. If there really were corpses down here, what caused their creation? It could have simply been that they starved, or something of the like.
Starting to feel like Spellbound, I thought. I recollected myself, and pressed on, hiding what lingering fear I had behind the memories of my friend.
These walls used to seem so mystical to me, even without their previous loot. I would often roam around these mines for hours, even when I didn’t need to. I would memorize its layouts, certain paths to take, some spots that remained untouched and ripe for harvesting, and some streams that had managed to flow through these caverns.
Some of my fondest memories of this place were when I dragged Spellbound with me. She was always scared of what she couldn’t see, what she couldn’t understand. It was this vulnerable side of her that contrasted greatly to her otherwise brash and arrogant attitude.
Every time I would grow tired of her boasting, all it took was a quick trip underground to make her humble again, if a little bit frightened.
I had come across a clearing, as both a wave of light, and nostalgia, hit me. The shine from my horn had managed to hit a few gemstones amongst the wall. The chamber was vast, even now. I unconsciously began to survey the gemstones, as my mind was preoccupied with the most recent memory of the two of us.
I had brought her down on business for once, actually requiring her help. She still regarded it as torture, but I assured her that there was a just cause behind all of this. I had never managed to take her this deep into the mines, before she either broke down, or some other event prevented us from progressing. This normally wouldn’t stop me, as I would simply guide her to the exit, and continue on my own. That day, however, I wasn’t going to be so insensitive.
I calmed her down somewhat, telling her that we were only going as far as the next turn. It was then we came across this chamber. Back in those days, It was still brimming with the reflected lights of so many crystal stones. She was confused at first, and even disturbed by the sudden way my light seemed to vanish, with no walls to bounce off of. I expanded its radius, and the chamber exploded with light from every corner of the rainbow.
Her dread was overrun by her awe, as the light danced around her and everything around her. The shifted even more, as I went to remove an amethyst from the wall. She remained stunned as I produced a string from my bag.She gave me a confused look as I tied the piece of crystal around her neck, figuring the amethyst would contrast nicely with her coat. Little did she know, it would also help protect her from hostile magic.
She didn’t seem to care about that, more for the act of me giving her a gift. I told her to think of it as an apology for dragging her down there all the time, for me completely ignoring her feelings and frankly putting up with it.
Spellbound could be harsh, and even downright mean at times, but she was always there. And up until then, I never really showed my appreciation for that.
Outside of my reverie, I was lucky enough to spot a vein of ruby. It wasn’t exactly much to write about, but it was certainly enough for what Ms. Rarity was asking for. I quickly plucked it from the wall, and stored it away, safe and sound. I sighed, yet another job done. I missed those days with Spellbound. There were so much brighter, more vibrant, than the slow drag of the present. I missed it when I actually took pride in this, that the idea of diving into the earth filling me with excited glee.
As I turned to leave, I caught the sight of a most interesting sight. A thin vein of some very vibrant crystal displayed itself to me. As I drew closer, the bright kaleidoscope of color greeted me, as I could not believe what I had saw. All of the times I had been in this chamber, and even more when I had passed it, I had never seen these veins before.
It was opal.
The thought rang inside my head. I had found opal! The single type of gemstone I had been unable to find. The most vibrant and potent I have ever encountered. It took all of my concentration, but I was not leaving without it. With the precision of a surgeon, I weaved my magic in and out of the wall of rock, attempting to extract as much of the rare stone as I could acquire.
The rock I received from the earth was rough, and incredibly fragile. It would need to refined with even more care, but I had the most spectacular gem I have ever seen, and intended to use it with its utmost potential. Opals were the most priceless thing I could ever find. Rarity could have these rubies, and with how ecstatic I was, she could keep the bits too.
It wouldn’t be until a year later, that I would finally give it a proper home.