//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: MLP: Starswirl of Solaris // by Evident Disaster //------------------------------// CH5 The Soul, the Heart, and Mind XXXXX (You wanted an update, well here it is. Still having some trouble with Zecora’s speech and I don’t know how to approach it.) XXXXX Another week passed since the letter from Twilight and Starswirl was still reeling from the sudden appearance of the doppelganger’s interaction. Starswirl had about a few hundred questions swirling about the pony who now claimed to be her. Inquisitively she wanted to learn of the circumstances about the sudden intelligence of what was supposed to be a simple clone of her. But Starswirl decided to leave the idea for later; she had a meeting with her parents coming up. She had a feeling that things were going to only snowball, from this sudden revelation that her clone was now acting like Twilight; it was only getting more and more confusing. At the rate that they were going, Starswirl felt like her life was going down into its most hectic stage. Spike kept trying to reassure her that everything would be fine, she just needed to talk to her grandparents and then she’d have a reunion with her mother, and everything would be fine. Or so he assumed, meanwhile AJ and Rarity offered her time to join them in some work, AJ needed the assistance with some apples, and Rarity asked about Starswirl helping with some modelling. Starswirl knew that they were trying to help by keeping her occupied with work; she appreciated the offers, and accepted to help when they needed her. Starswirl put on her clothes and headed out the front door, the morning moonlight illuminating the street outside her home. It seemed that ponies were finally accepting the changes, or were just tired of sitting around in their homes. But it wasn’t just the presence of the town ponies which made an impact, there were many more ponies that seemed to be from out of town, dozens seemed to be present in the street before her. It seemed that they all had different markings, such as one with a blacksmith anvil and hammer, others with brief cases or scrolls as cutie marks; they all seemed to be here for similar reasons. Since the news of the change in capitals, the ponies of Equestria were moving closer to the new capital, many of them workers who were here for the expansion project that Luna had come up with or were just here to move in. It seemed that the town was becoming more and more crowded, but there was also the fact that Ponyville would soon be expanded. It was then that Starswirl’s train of thought was interrupted by the appearance of 3 large armoured guards, or what seemed like guards. They paused and saluted with their hooves and said in a modest tone. “Greetings Princess Starswirl, how are you this day?” “Fine, um… who are you?” Starswirl inquired into the 3 navy armoured guards. “We are the Lunar Knights, we have arrived from our hold in the far northern lands of Arcadia, our apologies if we have surprised you, but we were asked by Queen Luna to introduce ourselves before patrolling the city to you.” The guard replied. “Okay, so are you here as guards for the town?” She asked. “Yes, as an order from the queen, she wished that the town be protected by us until the old guards of Celestia could be adjusted to the new reign. They haven’t entirely responded well to the change and have been stubborn in remaining in Canterlot. Thus we have been asked to perform regular duties until the new guard can be assigned.” He answered. Starswirl nodded and then said her farewell. “It’s been nice speaking to you sir, thank you for informing me.” She said respectively and headed off. She made sure to make a mental note that instability is now very present in Equestria if the royal guard and regular guards were on strike or opposing the rule of Luna. She strode through the night streets as per usual, making sure not to be noticed, and keeping her ears open to the talk of the ponies around her. She strode onwards hearing of the news from Canterlot and from Manehattan and Trottingham, ponies were speaking of rebellion, and some arguing about the fundamentals of having a tyrant like Luna rule the kingdom, it was understandable that there was an air of tension and apprehension to the new monarch, especially since she had removed their beloved Celestia and the sun itself. It was around the corner past the Sofa and Quill shop that Starswirl found it the hardest to move around, ponies were crowding the whole area. It was too much of a hassle to try and go through, so she decided to take the path around through the market street, and past the flower shop. Even though her mind said not to, Starswirl couldn’t make AJ wait any longer, and teleporting would only get her unwarranted attention. She carefully went around Sofa and Quills and through a couple of alleys till she reached the side of the gardens of Daisy, she made sure not to be noticed and headed on through, but as she just cleared the front of the fence, she bumped into a light magenta coloured rear. She backed up and noticed who it was, Daisy of the flower trio. The mare turned about and looked a little annoyed saying with a bundle of flowers in her mouth. “Hey, could you look where you’re walking?” “Sorry.” Starswirl replied hoping that the mare doesn’t identify her. She faced away keeping her head under the cloak and making sure not to raise her head up any higher. It was then that the other 2 mares of the group appeared and asked inquisitively. “What’s going on?” “Oh don’t worry it’s just one of those ponies from out of town.” Daisy replied. Roseluck or Rose was a cream coat mare with burgundy hair; she was also slightly more helpful to those who seemed to be new. She didn’t pay attention as she reached out over to Starswirl to help her up. “Well hello there, I suppose welcome.” “Yeah, thanks.” Starswirl replied. “So where are you off to that you bumped into me?” Daisy asked. “Oh the market, needed to go get something done.” Starswirl replied. The last of the mares appeared and by far the most over reactive and probably the nosiest of the three. Lily didn’t want to be left out of the conversation and then poked around and asked. “So who’s this?” “Oh she’s just coming from outside of town.” Rose answered. “Hmm, that seems to be happening a lot around here. So why are you wearing a cloak and all of that barding?” Lily asked. “That’s my clothes and I have had to travel far.” Starswirl replied. Lily wasn’t convinced and she then noted the blue horn of Starswirl’s just poking out, and then she noticed that the face of the unicorn was hidden underneath the cloak. It was then that a passing carriage of ponies with headlights illuminated the area around them that the face of Starswirl was just visible to Lily. Before Starswirl could do anything a shrill scream pierced the moonlit morning. “IT’S NIGHTMARES DAUGHTER STARSWIRL!!! RUN!” She screamed aloud and jumped into her home. Eveypony in the vicinity suddenly turned to the sound of the ruckus and saw the three flow ponies scatter leaving a rather heavy gust of wind to blow over the cloak and reveal an absolutely stunned Starswirl in plain sight. At that moment, Starswirl literally wished that she was invisible, but sadly that doesn’t happen until she learns how to use the spells that Nightmare gave her. Everypony in the streets went into a wide panic as mares from the town suddenly caused the other visiting ponies to go into panic at the confusion. Starswirl was left with little option, just run it for hay’s sake. She bolted through the streets as fast as she could and reached the market where other ponies were inquiring into the events and noticing the unicorn mare of Nightmare running into the market at top speeds. They cleared the way for her and jumped back as well. Starswirl raced over to AJs stand where the farm pony stared at the chaos around the market. She just stood there and then went. “What in the hay happened?” Starswirl huffed and breathed. “Flower trio…” AJ face hoofed and said optimistically. “Well at least now we can get out of the market without too much hassle.” AJ packed the first couple of buckets of remaining apples from that day’s sales and put them on her back and brought up a chest of bits and placed the harness over onto Starswirl. The two friends made a speedy departure from the market and onto the road to sweet apple acres; they sincerely hoped that they didn’t encounter anymore mishaps along the way. As they travelled over to the farm, Starswirl inquired into how business was and small talk, it was the best way to pass the time. As they closed the distance to the farmstead, a noticeable shadow began to quickly chase after them, and then came down the grey figure of the mail mare. “Ditzy?” Starswirl perplexed. “Oh, Starswirl, I just got this from the office today, it said official and it’s from your mother.” Ditzy replied. The mail mare pulled out a single letter and smiled; she then gave the letter to Starswirl and flew off. Starswirl and AJ watched as the mail mare vanished off into the clouds. AJ inquired. “Is it from Twilight?” “No it’s from Luna, I wonder…” She telekinetically opened the letter and found herself reading. “To my dear Starswirl, I have decided that you and your friends deserve a chance to meet with me in person more often and have inclined upon giving out this official invitation to you to this year’s Grand Galloping Gala which is to be held at Shadow Star Castle (now official), you and 1 other friend may be allowed to attend the evening and I do hope that you can attend. Your mother Luna.” She finished. The two friends saw the two tickets and smiled, they shouted. “The Grand Galloping Gala!” They hoofed upright in excitement. XXXXX (There was an important part I was going to add for a filler from Luna and Twilight, but I have decided that wouldn’t suit this situation, so I will just be placing this break here.) The initial excitement passed as the two friends began jumping for joy about the Grand Galloping Gala, Starswirl then asked enthusiastically. “Oh great, I’ve never been to the gala, have you AJ?” AJ replied. “No, but I’d love to go, whoo wee, if I had an apple stand ponies would be trying out to get a taste till the cows came home. Do you have any idea how much business I could drum up for sweet apple acres?” She continued. “Why with all that money we could do a lot to fix up around here. We could replace that saggy old roof, and Big Macintosh could replace that saggy old plough. And Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip!” She stated dreamily. “I’d give my left hind leg to go to that gala.” AJ finished with a feeling of euphoria. Starswirl felt that Applejack had a good enough reason and then offered. “Well in that case, would you like to come along?” She asked. As AJ was about to respond a sharp cry from above caught the two’s attention. “Look out below!” A cyan blur shouted. The two friends of course didn’t get away and the cyan blue smacked into them scattering apples in a blast of dust and knocking the wind out of the two. The stars were swirling alright around the head of Starswirl, AJ felt as if she was seeing stars too, and of course it was eternal night time so nothing too surprising there. The form of Rainbow Dash sat upon the two and then exclaimed. “Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?!” AJ recovered first and said. “Rainbow Dash, I thought you said you were on double night shifts and said that you were too busy to help me cart these apples back. What were you busy doin? Spyin?” She accused. Rainbow got off and said defensively. “No I was busy, napping.” She pointed at a tree where she had decided to take a rest in, a blanket and pillow decorating its branches. Of course with the weather being so chilly these days, Pegasus ponies took more breaks, and there wasn’t much to do anyway, the magic in the air made most of the clouds move away from many populated centres. Rainbow took off and then appeared in front of Starswirl who took a step back as she continued. “I just happened to overhear that you have an extra ‘ticket’?” She asked with a big grin on her face. Starswirl looked a little bit shy at the sudden intrusion of Rainbow and she then replied. “Umm, yes, but...” Rainbow never let Starswirl finish as she suddenly began zipping around over their heads with cheers and smiles happily yelling. “Yes, this is so awesome. The wonder bolts perform at the Grand Galloping Gala every year.” And of course RD went into her own dreamy imagination of what she wanted to do at the gala. Starswirl had a feeling that this was going to be a long explanation. “I can see it now. Everyone would be watching the skies and their eyes fixed on the wonder bolts. But then who would fly with them? Rainbow Dash! I’ll draw their attention with my awesome speeds and strut, then I’ll mesmerise them with my flying filly flash. And for my grand finale, the buccaneer blaze! The ponies would go wild… ‘Imaginary cheering from RD’. The wonder bolts would insist on me joining them for my awesome skills, and welcome me as their newest member.” Rainbow ended her dreamy imagination of becoming part of the wonder bolts and punctuated her comment with. “Don’t you see Starswirl? This could be my one chance to show em my stuff!” She flexed her fore legs. She ran right in front of Starswirl and said. “You gotta take me!!!” Before she could reply AJ pulled Rainbow away by the end of her tail and then interjected. “Hold on just one pony picking minute here!” She said through gritted teeth and then spat the rainbow tail from her mouth as she continued. “I asked for that ticket first!” She objected. Rainbow suddenly retorted. “So, that doesn’t mean you own it!” “Oh yeah? Well I challenge you to a hoof wrestle! Winner gets the tickets and Starswirl!” AJ replied. The scene suddenly paused as RD was about to respond and went. “Wait what was that last part?” “Nothin, just get on with the hoof wrestle.” She said sheepishly. Starswirl felt a migraine begin to form; this was going to be a lot harder now. Considering that her two friends were at each other’s face about this, she couldn’t get a word in until they went at it with a hoof wrestle. And then she jumped in and said. “Girls! These are my tickets, and I’ll decide who gets it thank you very much. Whoever has the best reason to go should get the ticket.” She told the two. And of course she should have seen in foresight that the two of her best friends would both have some sort of valid reasons, and that’s when they replied. “Drumming up business for the farm?” AJ said excitedly. “A chance to addition for the Wonderbolts?” RD countered. “Money to fix granny’s hip?” AJ added with puppy eyes. “Living the dream!” RD ended. And AJ went. “Getting a date with a mare I like?” “What?” RD and Starswirl perplexed. “Nothing...” AJ replied. Okay out of that awkwardness, the two pony friends had good points both of which were pretty much very good reasons for going. Starswirl was pondering what to do. “Wow those are pretty good reasons aren’t they?” She responded, but of course her stomach decided to interject, and save her flank from this going further. “Well listen to that, I don’t know about you but I can’t make decisions on an empty stomach…” She left the two friends standing there looking at her pleadingly. “So I’ll think about it over lunch and then get back to you.” The two friends were disappointed and she trotted off back to Ponyville and replied with a disheartened. “Okay.” And as soon as she was just about ears shot off from them, they went and got back to wrestling. To which Starswirl felt as if they had just ignored her. XXXXX After a trotting back to Ponyville, Starswirl had entered back into the town making sure that no pony saw her again in broad moonlight, it was bad enough that the flower trio almost caused a riot, but she needed to keep herself from frightened any other pony, and making sure that the tickets weren’t lost while she was on her way back. She was holding the tickets in her moth as she walked to her home, something at home would suffice for a meal, and also she doubted that Horte Cuisine would be able to serve her anything, the ponies around the town would see her if she was eating and she’d avoid another public debacle. As she passed Sugarcube Corner she didn’t see this coming. A pink blur moving at the speed of what could be possibly called sound smacked into her with comical force and knocked her to the ground. Starswirl saw stars above her head… no that would be the skies of the eternal night not the proverbial stars. Starswirl got back up as the pink sugar pony shouted. “Ahh, bats, bats on my face, help!!!” And as she ran around in such a manner she kicked one of the tickets without looking and stopped to look at one of the others and said. “Wait. Are these tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?” And before she could stop Pinkie, she went into a wide rant of her dreams about the Gala which seemed to fill the moment with images of her jumping around enjoying a party of immense proportions, she might as well have just made a giant party cannon and fired it on the town. “It’s the most amazing, incredible, super fun party and most humungous party in all of Equestria! I always, always wanted to go!” Starswirl prayed to the heavens above that this wasn’t going to be what she thought was going to happen… And it was. “Oh the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me, oh the Grand Galloping Gala, is the best place for me, hip, hip hooray. It’s the best place for me, for Pinkie!!!” She sung out, it was enough to annoy the Ursa Minor who was resting in its cave, and pulled a pillow over its ears. “With decorations, streamers, pinwheels, piñatas with pin cushions, with goodies like sugar cubes, sugar canes, sundaes and sarsaparilla! And playing games like pin the tail on the pony…” Starswirl would have just jumped off into the local pool if she could, which did raise the question where did the other ticket go? (I’m trying to write this while listening to the dialogue people it’s not very accurate considering how fast she talks.) XXXXX One golden ticket flew lazily away through the breeze and landed in a small garden, it was suddenly picked up by a rake as a certain orange filly Pegasus cleared the leaves away in a rush regardless of how much damage to the ground she was doing. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Garden Rake Team was going at their job at trying to pick up leaves in a rush, not to mention earn a bit of gold along the way. The orange filly looked at the ticket in exasperation and cheered. “Hey girls look at what I found!” A small unicorn filly with pastel coat and a yellow coated earth pony with red mane jumped over to the Pegasus and made sounds of awe as they looked at the ticket. “Isn't that a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala?” Sweetie Belle said in excitement. “Yeah it is. I found it while raking the leaves…” Scootaloo explained. “This is great; I remember hearing Applejack talking about the Gala, how we can get a new roof an all that fancy new things for the farm. I’m gonna take this to big sis.” Applebloom said happily. She was halted as Sweetie Belle interjected. “Hang on, I want to take it for Rarity, she’s always wanted to go, and I’m sure she’d appreciate it if I helped her, not to mention she promised me that I got be her hoofmaiden if she ever found that prince at Canterlot.” The two butted heads and Scoots went. “Hey I have a better reason than the two of you, I want to take this for Rainbow Dash, she always wanted to go and she’d think I’d be cool for helping her, and she might even take me as her bigger sister!” Scoots daydreamed. She was smacked by a piled of leaves with Applebloom saying. “Like that’s ever gonna happen!” The Pegasus tackled the earth pony and suddenly all three little fillies were going at each other they didn’t realise that the ticket was knocked back into the breeze and off to wherever it needed to go. XXXXX To CanvasWolfDoll of FF.net for the OC and if he’s here on FIM then hi… just borrowing your character for a funny cameo. And yes this guy had his story about Sepia Tock on EqD and was rather interesting; I made him as a jump in and maybe more of a character later. And yes this is Doctor Whoof. The ticket drifted into the winds and landed near a certain clock making shop down the market in Ponyville, a mail mare was making a delivery when she noticed the ticket on the ground outside of the shop. She abruptly picked it up and took it inside to the clock makers. She placed the ticket on the counter and yelled out. “Package for the Doctor!” There was an abrupt crash in the back of the work shop and some muffled curses as the clock maker made his way out from the back and arrived at the front mumbling curses as he rubbed his head in pain. The brown coat slightly spiked mane pony with an hourglass as a cutie mark appeared rather peeved. “Ditzy please remember to tap the bell on the front, not yell my name out. And by the way, how did you get inside without setting off the front bell?” He asked perplexed. “I dunno, I guess it didn’t go off. Oh here’s the package.” She said happily forgetting about 2 things of what he just said and giving him a nice sized box which stated. “Caution, fragile.” The mail mare had Sepia sign the board on her deliveries, and then she hopped on by through the front door without setting off the bell again. Sepia had to remind himself to have the bell looked at before the week was finished. He put his package down and noticed something odd; a faint golden leaf of what he assumed was a token. He lifted the ticket up and read it before his heart suddenly stopped. “One admit to the Grand Galloping Gala!” He said in utter shock. If time ever stopped in the world, it would be right about now. “WHOOO!!!” He yelled in utter happiness as he had the ticket in his hoof. A blue mare came through the door setting off the bell and noticed her boss was laughing out loud like a maniac and cheering happily in such a fashion that made her stand there and then leave. The day she saw the doctor dance would be the day the world ended, so she left without a word in mute confusion. XXXXX Sorry guys we’re cutting it a little short here as I need to go deal with something for a bit, and yes this is going to be in 2 parts. And BTW, who would like to have other ponies show up from fandom? And OCs can be included in this, if they’re reasonable, I need background ponies for interaction anyways.