//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 - Soul Carnival // Story: The Darkness among the Stars // by Haseo //------------------------------// Chapter 16 Soul Carnival Everything around Twilight was wrapped in darkness. Only a quiet knocking noise disturbed the absolute silence inside her head. While the noise got slowly louder, she could feel the warmth of the sun stroking her cheek. A smile formed upon her lips. She pulled the blanket away from her face to feel the warmth in it's full extent. Her imagination showed her wonderful meadows filled with butterflies and flowers. Birds were sitting inside the tree tops singing beautiful melodies. Twilight walked through the grass while the butterflies danced around her, but the melodies of the birds faded and were replaced with a dull noise. It became clearer and louder every second and sounded like somepony was knocking at a wooden door. Twilight rocketed from her bed, and ripped her eyes wide open. A muted voice rang through the door. “Darling? It's really time to stand up. It's already noon and you have to get ready for the gala.” Still dazzled, Twilight looked around the room, her gaze falling upon the still opened balcony doors. A thin sun beam crossed the whole room. She scratched her head a few seconds and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. “Oh, by Celestia's sun! I've slept in!” Twilight jumped out of her bed and stumbled clumsily to the door. She opened it with her magic and stretched her head outside to meet her guest. Rarity stood in front of her already fully dressed and levitated Twilight's dark blue gala-dress next to her. “Oh, my dear! You look like you really had a hard night. Come on, I will help you get ready.” She pushed Twilight into the bathroom. In midway, she laid the dress neatly at Twilight's bed and closed the door behind them. “Your mane is a mess! A fine mare like you should always wear hair curlier, just like me.” Twilight giggled and tried to correct her mane hastily with her hooves, but Rarity pushed her hooves away and levitated a brush to them and began to comb through Twilight's mane. Twilight relaxed and let Rarity sit behind her. “Where do you get our dresses?” Rarity didn't pause with her combing and straightened her friends mane. “The guards returned from their search through the forests and villages around Ponyville. They brought them along with some other goods. The others are already in the ballroom helping with the preparations. Pinkie and Rainbow are decorating the main hall while Fluttershy sets up a choir with the birds around the castle.” Twilight stared at the ground and seconds passed until she collected enough courage to speak. “How is Applejack doing?” Rarity sighed and halted the brush in the air. “I brought her dress and made her mane as well, but she didn't want to speak to me.” The brush began to move again and silence turned in for a short time. “So they didn't find him?” The faces of the two friends turned darker and a sad frown formed itself. Rarity began to put a little bit of makeup on Twilight's face. “No, they didn't… neither these awful creatures. They searched the whole night; they didn't find a single hint of him.” Twilight turned around to face Rarity. “We should accompany her, her heart is broken and she really needs to talk to somepony.” Rarity laid the make-up aside, opened the door and levitated the dress inside. “I think we should leave her alone, she sat the whole day at her balcony and starred into the sky. I told her that she just need to come down to the gala.” Twilight’s ears perked up and she turned around to take a look at the clock. “It's already 6pm? Why didn't somepony wake me up!” Rarity showed her a friendly and caring smile while she tried to help Twilight inside her dress. “We let you sleep because you had such a hard time the last few days. Think about it, a stranger appeared inside your home and lived since with you and somehow got Applejack to hit on him.” Twilight's ears lied back down and she avoided eye-contact with Rarity. “I don't think he did something to her. I believe that they're really sharing something from their past, even if it is a sad thing. Maybe they really do have something in common. Before, I've ask him if he is our friend or our enemy and they seemed to be so happy. Maybe they really are a good couple.” Rarity walked outside the bathroom and onto the balcony, she pointed next to her to offer Twilight a seat. Twilight followed her and sat down. They watched as the sky slowly turned crimson and the solar orb vanished behind the horizon until Twilight broke the silence. “Do you know what happened to Applejack's parents?” The white unicorn turned shocked to Twilight, needing a moment to understand the question. She just starred at her for a few seconds, without blinking. “I'm not sure … I was too young when they ... left. My parents didn't want to tell me, but I saw several ponies of the royal guards looking for something around Sweet Apple Acres, so I always assumed that they were lost or something. Applejack left Ponyville and tried to begin a new life in Manehatten. She was gone for months and we were so happy when she returned. We wanted to comfort her, but something was wrong.” Twilight tilted her head and raised again her eyebrow. “What do you mean with ‘wrong’?” Rarity turned her gaze away and pawed her hoof on the ground. “Well … When she returned... she was back to normal like nothing had happened. Nopony wanted to ask her. Nopony wanted to pull her mood down again. So we just let her be, although I always thought that it is unhealthy to let the pain eat you from the inside. I asked her once but she said nothing was wrong with her and since we know that she is the Element of Honesty, I really never questioned that.” Twilight nudged Rarity's shoulder and pulled her gaze back to her. “It isn't your fault, don't let it bother you. If Applejack doesn't want to talk about her parents then we shouldn't nag her with the question. We are her friends, she will tell us when she feels like it.” Rarity's eyes got watery and she began to smile shyly. “You're right. You're always right, Twilight.” The attention of the fashioner left Twilight as she turned her head around and starred into the empty room behind them. Twilight nudged her again and tilted her head even further than before. “What's wrong?” The white unicorn slowly returned her gaze to her friend and blinked a few times in confusion. “Nothing, I just thought that somepony was looking at us. It must have been my imagination.” Twilight flashed her a smile and looked outside the balcony. She ran to the railing and pointed her hoof at the castle's entrance. “Rarity! Look, the first guests are arriving! It's time to go down and have fun!” She grabbed her hoof and dragged her across the room. She opened the door and both Ponies walked gracefully out of the room. They went down the huge marble stairs that connected the tower with the main castle complex. It was decorated with giant flower blossoms and fine silken ornaments in every colour that a pony could imagine. Even the blue stars on the guards armour were decorated with smaller versions of the flowers. A fine red carpet led the guests through the castle inside the ball room. Twilight and Rarity entered the room and were greeted by two royal guards. They bowed to the two mares and pointed inside the room. Both of them were quite surprised about the decoration. There were no balloons, no streamers or candy. It was more than elegant. Above every single window hung a huge flower, connected by a seemingly endless piece of red silken fabric. Everything in the room sparkled slightly like there was fairy dust in the air. The hall was already filled with all sorts of ponies. It was much more filled than last time. The disaster of last year seemed to attract even more ponies. Twilight had to giggle a little bit as she remembered last year. “Hey, Rarity do you remember the last Gala?” She would have to wait an eternity for an answer. Rarity was already mingling between the upper class of Canterlot. Twilight could see her talking to them like she was born in Canterlot. She looked through the room in hope to find familiar faces. At the other end off the room was a long table. Behind it were three huge wooden chairs. The left one boasted a carved crystal heart, the middle one was decorated with a huge sun and the right one had a moon engraved, obviously the seats for Princess Cadence, Celestia and Luna. Her teacher was already inside the room talking to important looking ponies. The princess flashed her a quick smile and turned her gaze to her conversation partner again. Princess Cadence and Princess Luna didn't seem to be there, yet. Neither were one of the girls except of Rarity. The flow of ponies that were entering the room didn't stop. The hall became more and more crowded. But Twilight couldn't feel real happiness right now, she still knew that Applejack is somewhere, alone and sad. Slowly, she walked to one of the balconies. Leaning over the railing so she could look down into the royal gardens. It looked empty and bare but beautiful at the same time. The sun had already set and the moon stood in its full grace. The moon illuminated the sky in a wonderful light-blue light. Nine bright stars were placed around the moon in form of one huge star. They shined in a brilliant red light. “It is beautiful isn't it?” Twilight spun around to face the unexpected guest. A white stallion with a light blue mane and dressed in a suit approached her. She recognized the voice immediately. “Phalanx! I hardly recognized you without your armour, you're looking fantastic.” The stallion slightly blushed and turned his gaze upwards to the moon. “You don't have to say that. The real beauty here is you. You even surpass this fabulous moon tonight.” Twilight looked away in embarrassment, an awkward silence reigned until Phalanx had built up enough courage to speak up. His ears were pressed against his head and he couldn't look directly at her. “I took my day off today. I'm only here because I hoped to meet you here.” Her face reddened even further but she laid her gaze, nevertheless, upon the guard. “I'm happy that you're here, too. We didn't really have time to talk before and since you're off-duty today, we can talk frankly.” Phalanx's tail swept over the ground back and forth. The usual so stoic and disciplined guard seemed to be more nervous than ever before in his life. His eyes rocked back and forth while he thought what he could say to Twilight. “There are many ponies today here aren't they?” Twilight giggled at his casual comment. “Yes, it's quite crowed. I'm eager to see what the Princesses are planning today, but can you tell me what all these guards mean? There are guards at every entrances and windows.” Phalanx was caught off-guard by this question. He scratched his neck and looked around the balcony. “Her majesty wanted to be sure that nothing goes wrong today. If you know what I mean...” She blushed even more when she realized that he meant herself and the other girls. An awkward silence turned in again. Twilight looked at the stars again, her face still red. Phalanx placed himself next to her. Both of them watched the moon and it's surrounding stars. His eyes casually turned away from the lunar orb and changed to Twilight. The moonshine reflected in her eyes, letting her purple eyes shine like stars. He couldn't turn his gaze away from the pretty little unicorn beside him. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind. His heartbeat increased every second, pumping more and more blood inside his head. He had to gulp and looked away from Twilight, afraid of her reaction. He stretched his wing around the shoulders of his desired mare. He gently pulled her to his side, his heart still racing. Twilight didn't resist and leaned against the strong chest of the guard. No words were spoken. They sat there gazing inside the night. Distracted from their surroundings, they didn't noticed that they were being watched. [/hr] “I'm going to kill him.” The mare at his side began to laugh and threw her hooves around the neck of her husband. “Calm down, Shiny. Let your sister have fun for at least one time. It's not like your subordinate will go at her immediately. Moreover, will Auntie Tia make her speech. She will proclaim some new event.” The angry stallion looked away in displeasure. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Princess Cadence looking at him with huge pleading eyes. “Well, I won't do anything, yet. But if he tries any funny things with Twily, I will break his wings.” Princess Cadence clapped her hooves together with glee and pulled her husband away, heading for the banquet. Everypony looked so happy, so full of glee. No one seemed to frown, to be sad or seemed to carry worries with them. The only pony without a smile was Applejack. She made her way out of her room to attend the celebration. She watched through the room and saw Rarity talking to various fancy ponies, how Rainbow and Pinkie pulled pranks on innocent Gala guests. Cringing at Shining Armor and Princess Cadence feeding each other at the banquet, how Fluttershy led the birds inwards to prepare them for the choir and how Twilight cuddled with some stallion at the balcony. Her frown only grew in it's size, all of her friends were happy. Only she had to frown, only she had to be unhappy, only she had to cope with loss. Why shouldn't she just leave them behind... She shook her head violently as she realized what she was thinking about. She scratched her head with her hoof and closed her eyes forcefully. She didn't know where this thought had come from, she only knew that she would never let that happen. In the meantime Princess Cadence and Princess Celestia had taken their seats. Applejack slowly walked towards them to listen what they wanted to proclaim. The only ponies that didn't seem to notice the happening were Twilight and Phalanx. They were still outside the hall. They didn't notice that they were alone on the huge balcony. Neither of them noticed that something moved in one of the shadows. Slowly closing in to them. Reeking out of the dark. A dark hoof pointing directly at them. By the contact of the hoof Twilight was startled and jumped nearly a feet high in the air. They turned around to face the creature that was lurking at them. They couldn't believe who was standing behind them. A warm smile greeted both. “Well, good evening, Twilight Sparkle. So my sister dispatched a personal guard for you today?” Twilight and Phalanx looked at each other in confusion in appearance of Princess Luna. But Phalanx knew that it could end bad if Luna got the right hint. “Yes your highness, Princess Celestia gave me this undercover mission to protect Miss Sparkle.” He quickly bowed in front of the Princess, in hope she believed him. He didn't even dare to point his view upwards. The Princess raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, she just began to smile at Twilight, who just stared at her. Princess Luna pointed her hoof inwards. “My sister and I will proclaim some interesting things. I think you should attend.” Twilight nodded in confirmation and nudged Phalanx flank slightly. The Princess turned around and went into the room, followed by Twilight and Phalanx. Twilight closed the distance between her and the Princess. “You should stop creeping at other ponies. I don't think that this is very helpful for others to be less afraid of you.” Twilight just went on with Phalanx who bowed mid-walk to Princess Luna. The Princess looked rather confused and didn't understand what Twilight meant. She teleported to her seat and caused Princess Cadence fall of her seat by the sudden arrival. She slowly rose up and sat down again. Princess Celestia cleared her throat and amplified her voice with her magic, so it was clearly audible to the whole room. “Welcome everypony to the Grand Galloping Gala. I'm glad that so many of you could make it. I'm sure that every single of you is eager to know what I want to proclaim and I won't let you wait any longer.” For a second she turned to her sister who nodded in agreement. “Equestria will prepare for every imaginable threat. We will raise an army!”