//------------------------------//
// Party Time 
// Story: The Mask of Despair and the Face of Hope 
// by Wings of Black Glass 
//------------------------------//

Spike and I trotted up to the door of Sable’s hovel, holding the rain at bay with an umbrella spell, and knocked.  It was Pinkie who let us in, everyone else was already there, except for the notable absence of Sable Stardust himself.  Rarity and Fluttershy stood over by the shelves, where Pinkie had set up a record player, Rainbow Dash hovered in the air more or less at the peak of the ceiling, and Applejack was waiting over by the stove looking at some papers.  With all seven of us here it was a bit crowded, it was a good thing Pinkie Pie didn’t invite anyone else.
“Sable’s not here yet?”  Pinkie sounded disappointed.  “I’m starting to think he doesn’t want to show.”  The pink pony went back to pacing around the table at the center of the room, upon which a small cake sat next to a bowl of punch.  Several balloons were tied to whatever furniture was available.  As far as Pinkie’s parties go this was pretty subdued.
“Unless he ran off to avoid us, he’ll have to come home eventually.”  Dash sounded a little irritated.  “And here I thought Twilight would be the last one to show.”
“Hey!”
“Don’t take it like that, it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve gotten involved in some book or puzzle and lost track of the time.”  Rarity was right, and I knew it.
“I’ll keep an eye out for him.”  Spike positioned himself by the window to watch out into the rain for the missing pony.  A droplet of water dripped from the ceiling nearby the window, landing in a pot presumably left there by Sable for just that purpose.  If the rain continued like it was for much longer, or if he didn’t empty it soon, it was going to overflow.
“Hey Twilight, come take a look at this.”  Applejack waved me over to the papers and I went to examine them.  They appeared to be rough schematics of the hovel and the surrounding area, the drawings were very crude.  Several scribbles around the edges took note of the advice Applejack gave Sable regarding his home the other day.  The second page seemed to indicate a plan, or possibly several, to improve the foundations by driving posts underneath the building.  “Can you make sense of it?”  Along the side were a number of calculations I recognized as a magical formula for teleportation, along with a few I did not, they seemed to be partially completed or abandoned thoughts regarding weight and volume.  I noted that some of the formulae were incorrect.
“My educated guess is that he plans to lift the entire pond into the air and then drive several long logs directly into the ground underneath the house, or alternatively, to teleport the reinforcements directly into place.”  Applejack seemed incredulous.  “Those are both ambitious plans, it’s tricky to teleport things around when you can’t see where they are going, and holding that much water in the air while levitating big logs around can be taxing.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to rebuild?”
“Probably, judging by the work he’s putting into these plans he must be pretty attached to this place.  Where’d you find these?”
“I rescued them from under the punch, I didn’t think Stardust would like his stuff wrecked by a spill.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.”  I noticed Fluttershy looking a little apprehensive, and excused myself from Applejack.  “Is something wrong?”
“Not really, I’m just not sure Mr. Stardust will approve of us being here without him.  He seems to me to be a very private individual.”
“I know what you mean.  But don’t worry, I talked with him before, and was alright with a party.”  Fluttershy visibly relaxed, almost like letting out a held breath.  My shy friend looked up at the shelves of curiosities.  I noted the soldier figure had its leg repaired.
“What do you think these are for?”
“I don’t really know.  I suppose there must be a story to everything up there.  If you ask he’ll probably tell you.”
“I wouldn’t want to bother him.”  Always the considerate one.
“For once I think being bothered might be a good thing.  I found him out in the park the other day, and he really opened up to me with a little bit of prodding.”  Fluttershy contemplated my suggestion, eying the objects in sequence, and I turned towards Rarity.  The other Unicorn was judging the quilt hanging on the wall.
“This is outstanding work, such a shame it was never finished.”  She looked around, finding something missing.  “I don’t see any sewing needles or thread or fabric.  And look here.”  She lifted the bottom edge of the quilt from the wall to give me a closer look.  “This binding is hemmed poorly, nothing like the quality of the rest of it.”
“Maybe it was a gift?”
“I doubt that.  I know I would never give someone such an unfinished gift if I could avoid it.”
“I don’t know then.  You’ll just have to ask him yourself.”
“OK, that's it!”  Pinkie’s exclamation drew all our attention.  “This is now a surprise party!”  Eminently energetic, Pinkie Pie zipped around the room, snuffing out the lights.
“Hold up sugarcube, why the change in plan?”  Applejack beat me to the question.
“Because he’s late, obviously.”
“I said before, I don’t think he’ll enjoy a surprise party.”  Pinkie ignored my objections and the serious tone in my voice.
“Yeah!  I think he deserves this one, just a tiny little bit of revenge for before and then we’re even.”  Rainbow Dash looked to even the score, rallying to Pinkie’s side in the argument.
“I think he’s made of something a bit sterner than you think, judging from our conversation the other day.”  Applejack had no objection.  Rarity remained silent, allowing this to unfold without comment either way.
“You said it yourself Twilight, maybe he needs to be bothered a little.”
“Et tu, Fluttershy?”  I looked around to each of my friends, seeing nothing but approval for Pinkie’s new plan.
“Besides.”  Pinkie spoke again.  “It’s not really a surprise party, not if you told him about it already.”  Out-logic-ed, by Pinkie no less.  So, I sighed in defeat.  Pinkie Pie squeaked, and immediately set about getting everypony ready for the event.  “So everyone crouches down where he can’t see you, and we wait until he closes the door before springing the surprise!”  Near total darkness descended on the room as Pinkie snuffed out the remaining light.  “That way he can’t avoid us by running outside!”
“I know how surprise parties work, Pinkie.”  To no avail, Pinkie wasn’t listening anymore, giggling softly to herself.  I didn’t even get a chance to ask the obvious question about when Sable might arrive before Spike alerted us.
“Hey, I think he’s coming!”  He kept his voice low and crouched down so he couldn’t be seen through the window.  I allowed myself one more disapproving shake of my head before taking my place in Pinkie’s scheme, crouching behind the table.  The others were each hiding as best they could in the limited space.  Fluttershy was barely even bothering, just covering her eyes with her front hooves and lying low on the floor.
A few moments later the door opened, and I heard Sable sigh.  Then a swooshing sound mostly drowned out by the rain, which I took to be him shaking off the rain.  The door clicked shut.
“Surprise!”  I ignited all the lamps, and suddenly the room was awash in light.  Pinkie’s record started up, and Pinkie herself was already dancing.  Everypony else, however, was staring in silence and shock at the Unicorn standing at the door… without his coat.  His ragged old coat was draped over the mannequin, explaining its purpose.  The letters from the mailbox he had been looking at dropped to the floor, including a pink note clearly left by Pinkie he hadn’t had a chance to read.  Poor purple Sable looked like someone walked in on him in the shower, dripping wet and vulnerable.  But it was not his stunned expression that everyone was looking at, it was his Cutie-mark.


He didn’t have one.


The music screeched to a halt as Fluttershy pushed the needle off the record, drawing Pinkie’s attention at last.  She stopped dancing to stare at Sable’s bare flank with mouth agape.
“You’re a blank-fl…?”  Pinkie Pie got no farther in her obvious question before she was forcibly teleported with a bang, an electric charge in the air from Sable’s spell standing my hair on end.  The balloons all popped.  “Woo!  I’m OK!”  I spotted Pinkie reappearing outside, she seemed stunned but otherwise alright.  I opened my mouth to speak, but when Sable glared at me like never before I decided against it.  The door violently swung open, crashing into the wall hard enough to leave marks in the wood and shake the entire house.
“Get.  Out.”  I thought he was angry when he shouted at Dash at the castle, I had thought him angry when he outright attacked Pinkie, but this… this was another level of fury entirely.  Sable’s body quivered with barely restrained rage, his glass wings cracking audibly with strain and his voice growled contemptuously.
We didn’t need to be told twice.  Dash was out first, followed quickly by Rarity and then Applejack.  Fluttershy moved gingerly towards the door, I could see tears already forming in her eyes.  Stardust shot an angry glare down at her, little bolts of lightning sparking from his eyes and horn as she stepped past slowly.  Spike sneaked out behind him, unseen by the Unicorn’s angry gaze as the enraged Unicorn turned his eyes on me.
I was the last to leave, I again prepared to apologize, to say something.  To say anything.  But there were no words for him now, in his expression I could only read betrayal.  I hung my head in shame and walked out into the rain, everyone else was huddled underneath the willow, Rarity was not even bothering with a simple umbrella spell.  The door smashed shut, swung open again due to its faulty latch and was then forced closed by something heavy being thrown against it.
Before I turned away, I looked in through the window, thanking Celestia that he wasn’t looking outside at that moment.  He’d put his coat back on.  Now drained of targets all the strength had left him.  He didn’t even manage to climb into his bed, and weakly curled up on the floor to shiver with heavy rasping breaths.  To my eyes, he looked… cold.  Cold, and in considerable pain.
I, at last, turned away, giving him the privacy we should have given before.  Slowly, and in silence, we withdraw.  Even Pinkie Pie had nothing to say, but her expression told enough.  She went too far this time, we all did.  I let the rain beat down on me, it was the least we deserved.