//------------------------------// // Chapter XXIII - Old forms and old friends. // Story: The Adventures of Damon Lipton // by Mr101 //------------------------------// The Adventures of Damon Lipton Chapter XXIII - Old forms and old friends. As everyone chatted away in Sugarcube corner, Celestia sighed, taking a seat and closed her eyes, letting her thoughts drift. She felt the spot beside her be sat in and opened her eye to see Kalanar sitting beside her. “Everything alright, your majesty?” he asked. Celestia smiled, “Kalanar, you are a friend of mine. Please just call me Celestia.” “Very well, Miss Celestia,” the elf replied. “You’re not going to address me like I want you to, even if I ordered it. Are you?” Celestia asked, raising her eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss Celestia,” Kalanar smiled. Celestia just shook her head and tittered as the elf chuckled. “But back to my question, everything alright?” Celestia sighed, “To a degree… we’re coming up to the hard part about yours and Damon’s arrival.” “Which is?” “Introducing you to our ponies, well, the rest of them. So far, only rumors of Damon have surfaced whilst there is little of you as you haven’t been here as long. The plan was to introduce him at the Grand Galloping Gala that is to take place in a couple of days time.” Kalanar nodded as she continued. “Now, I’m just hoping everything will go according to plan. Given today’s incidents,” Celestia finished. Kalanar smiled and gave her a reassuring pat on the back, “I give you my word, me and my student will give our best impressions to the public. You won’t have to worry about a single thing, your highness.” Celestia smiled back and the elf, “Thank you, Kalanar.” The bell to the shop opened and a batmare walked in, wearing the armor of Luna. To say Princess Celestia hadn’t already anticipated what the consequences of Dorian’s little punishment were was an understatement. So when the lunar mare entered sugarcube corner with a scroll in her pouch carrying Blueblood’s personal seal, she was ready. “Your highness?” Moon Dancer saluted. “I have an urgent message from your nephew.” “Thank you, Moon Dancer,” Celestia replied, levitating the scroll over to her. “Please help yourself to a drink and something to eat before you return to Canterlot.” “Thank you,” Moon smiled before trotting over to the counter. Celestia opened the scroll carefully read the contents. With a heavy sigh, she rolled the parchment up and made it vanish before turning to Moon Dance. “Please inform my nephew that me and Luna—” “Sister, perhaps I should return? Give Blueblood some reassurance if he needs it?” Luna said, interrupting her. “Okay, Lulu. Thank you,” Celestia smiled. “Moon Dancer, please escort my sister home. And please inform the press that there will be a formal conference first thing tomorrow morning.” “Right away, your highness,” Moon Dancer replied with a salute. “I’ll— The mare stopped mid sentence as they looked back over at the others who were all watching Trixie argue with Damon. Again. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie appeared from behind the counter, pushing a large trolley with a larger than average hamper on it. “I have an idea! Let’s all go to the park and have a picnic to celebrate!” Luna turned to her sister and pouted, making Celestia giggle. “I think we can stay for a bit longer, don’t you Lulu?” Luna grinned as she escorted Pinkie and the hampers, followed by the rest of the group. Celestia looked over at Moon Dancer and smiled. “Won’t you join us?” she asked. “I’d love to… but I kind of want to get back to Prince Blueblood…” the mare looked away to hide her light blush, making Celestia hold back a titter. “Oh, I see. I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting then. Safe travel,” the alicorn said. Moon Dancer saluted her with a smile, “Thank you, your highness.” As the bat mare exited the shop, Celestia giggled, “Enjoy your ‘date’.” The mare said nothing, instead, taking off as quickly as she could and hiding her blush. The sun alicorn giggled as she exited the shop and trotted quickly to the others as they headed towards the town park. Celestia sighed in contentment as she lay on the grass beside Luna, levitating a cup of tea to her lips and taking a long sip..Luna smiled and sipped from her own cup, closing her eyes and enjoying the light summer breeze. Kalanar sat cross legged in between the two siblings, watching the festivities in front of them with a warm smile from the rim of the book he was reading. The elements, Damon, Berry, Pinchy, Colgate, Trixie and the cutie mark crusaders were tossing a frisbee between them. “Go long!” Applejack cried. The earth pony picked the disc of the ground with her teeth and craned her head back and grunted as she tossed it into the air, watching it sail over towards Fluttershy. The mare squeaked and hid behind her mane as the dsic whizzed towards her. At the last second, Rainbow Dash swooped down and scooped up the disc before flinging it away, smirking to herself as it curved low before curving up in a crescent pattern. Damon smirked before looking at Berry by his side, who was watching the frisbee shot towards them, “Grab it, Berry!” Before Berry could say anything, Damon grabbed her and flung her up into the air, making the amre screech in surprise. Just as it was about to hit her, Berry grabbed the frisbee in a split second reaction and fell into Damon’s arms. “Nice one! Okay, now—OW!” Damon cringed as Berry smacked the back of his head with the frisbee and scowled at him, “Don’t. Do. That!” “Point taken,” Damon chuckled, rubbing his skull. “Mummy! Throw it to me!” Pinchy called, sitting on top of Trixie’s head. Trixie kept her eyes looking up, biting her lip as she tried her best to keep Pinchy balanced on her head lest she face the wrath of the mother. The mare internally cursed Damon after he suggested making amends with Berry, further suggesting doing whatever Pinchy wanted to do after she had lost the argument in Sugarcube corner. The mare didn’t like being reduced to a glorified perch for a filly. Still, she let it slide. The days events were… more than anything she had ever experienced and right now, she just wanted to relax and she had to admit. The game of frisbee was relaxing her, despite the filly on her head. Berry giggled as she craned her head back and snapped it forwards to throw the frisbee, only to not let go in time and throw the frisbee into Damon’s face. The lich yelped in alarm and fell on his back. “Damon! Are you okay?” Berry asked in concern. Damon groaned as he sat up and rubbed his skull, “Okay. Now, we’re even.” The mare giggled as the frisbee had a light blue aura surround it and Colgate smirked at her. “You are useless at throwing these, you know that right?” the unicorn smirked. Berry rolled her eyes and playfully pushed her side, “Shush, it’s easier for a unicorn.” “Yeah, yeah,” Colgate giggled as she gently shot the frisbee towards Pinchy. Damon watched with curiosity as Berry smiled at Colgate, and smirked to himself mischievously. Pinchy leapt up and caught the frisbee with a giggle, making Trixie squeak as she caught the filly in her magic and let out a sigh of relief. “Who should we pass it to, Miss Trixie?” the filly asked. Trixie sniffed, “Trixie doesn't mind.” “Oh! Oh!” Pinkie cried, jumping up and down. “Me! Me!” Pinchy giggled and with a small grunt tossed the frisbee, albeit secretly assisted by Trixie’s magic towards the pink mare. Twilight looked over at her mentor and the other two and swallowed nervously, before sighing and making her way over to them. “Hello, Miss Twilight,” Kalanar started looking up from his book. “Something wrong?” “Oh, nothing. I just thought I’d join you, I mean… if that’s okay with you?” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Why would it not be?” the mage smiled, patting the ground beside him. Celestia watched with an intrigued smirk as Twilight grinned wide and nearly ran up to Kalanar, settling down beside the elf and Celestia. “So… reading anything interesting?” the unicorn asked. “It’s a book on the life of this, ‘Starswirl The Bearded’. Sounds like he was a very powerful and wise unicorn.” Twilight’s smile threatened to tear her face apart, “I know! He’s like, the greatest magic user ever! I doubt anypony could rival his power other than him.” “What about me?” Celestia asked with a teasing smile, “I thought I was fairly powerful.” Twilight’s eyes shrank and she chuckled nervously, “U-uh, aside from you, Princess…” “And what about me?” Luna asked with a mock frown, “I thought I too was fairly powerful!” “U-uh, I meant that he was the greatest unicorn ever?” Twilight said as she shrank down nervously. Celestia and Luna started to giggle madly as Celestia gently rested a wing over Twilight, “Relax, my dear student. We’re merely teasing.” “Oh…” Twilight replied, blushing softly. “From what I’ve read, you are correct, Miss Twilight. He is indeed powerful,” Kalanar said as he turned a page. Twilight beamed and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Kalanar. “But from what I can sense about you, and from what Celestia has told me. You are going to exceed him, ten fold.” Twilight looked up at the elf, “You… you really think that?” “I know that,” Kalanar smiled down, giving the unicorn a gently pat on her head. Twilight blushed and looked away, trying not to giggle to herself and smiled happily, scootching a little closer to the elf. Kalanar, oblivious to it, went back to reading his book with a smile. Celestia looked up to Luna and they both shared a knowing smirk about Twilight. “Kalanar?” Celestia asked. “Would you be willing to do me a favor...?” The large imposing ruined castle of the two sisters was quiet, save for the gentle sound of the wind blowing through many of the ruine tunnels and hallways. Suddenly, in the centre, a large flash of light illuminated the area and Dorian appeared in the middle of the old entrance hall. “Right…” he muttered, looking around. “Time to get some answers...” He started to walk towards the staircase in front of him that once was were the sisters would greet their subjects at events and social gatherings, deciding to reveal in old memories and savor the walk rather than just teleport to where he was going. The mischief god closed his eyes and smiled, fondly remembering the days of old. How he and Discord would get up to pranks and generally annoying the populace, right up until he dared Discord to prove chaos was stronger than mischief. Then everything kind of went downhill. He sighed and shook his head as he ascended the staircase, looking up at the large tattered banner that was emblazoned with thee sun and moon emblems. He studied it for some time before taking a left and walking up another smaller flight of stairs and wandering down the dark corridors, the only light coming from the sun through cracks in the roof as it hung over the sky. As he continued to make his way through the halls, he would occasionally look left and right, re-imagining the days when the castle was in its splendor. Dorian caught himself sighing more than once and came to a stop at one point, rubbing his head as he looked up at the ceiling and frowned. “I hate feeling like this… why couldn’t things be like they used to be? It was more... fun back then.” With a shake of his head, he carried on walking down the lonely hallways, his hand in his pocket and the other summoning his cane that made a soft tap as it connected each time to the ground. Dorian made his way to a large imposing wooden door that when he opened, revealed a long and darkened staircase that descended into the lower regions of the castle. Wasting no time, he started his descent, his shoes and cane echoing as they came into contact with the stone floor. As it started to darken, Dorian snapped his fingers and a small glowing orb of light materialized beside him, illuminating the area. Nodding to himself, he continued his descent further into the darkness of the lower regions. After what seemed like a long time, he came to another large wooden door, one that was more decayed than the previous. With a careful push of his cane, the large door groaned as it creaked open, revealing a pitch black room. Dorian nodded to the orb and it floated inside, before expanding out and exploding into hundreds of mini-orbs, each one fully illuminating the room. Dorian stepped in and wasted no time walking straight to the centre where a large crystal orb stood. An orb he knew all too well. As he ran his hand over the orb, it shone brightly and he smiled. “Hello, Starswirl. It’s been a while,” he spoke to the orb that slowly created an image of a white unicorn. A cough came from the orb followed by an annoyed grunt, “Who in the blue blazes is disturbing me?” “It’s me… Dorian?” the god replied, tilting his head. “Dorian? You don’t look like him,” Starswirl said. “The Dorian I knew looked like a rejected scarecrow.” Dorian rolled his eyes before tapping his cane into the ground and his appearance changed dramatically. His skin turned black and his eyes became completely pure white. His hair drooped to his neck and spiked out at the bottom, changing into streaks of black and white the same as his eyes and skin. The colour of his trousers matched his skin and became baggier, his shoes disappearing and replacing themselves with white socks whose colour rivaled his eyes. His waist coat disappeared, leaving a pure white shirt and with a black collar, black spots running down the right arm and stripes down the left. Dorian’s tie loosened itself and dangled down from his neck, changing colours to black and white striped. The cane in his hand warped until it was black with white stripes, the pattern changing to zig-zags as the top with spots before stopping at the white head. A black mask appeared over his face, the mouth of it taking the appearance of a white, double ‘M’. Two white dots appearing where the eyes would be. a series of small dots twirled around the left eye and towards the forehead of the mask where it met two white swirls. Finally, a big, pointy hat plopped onto Dorian’s head. the rim was white, covered in black dots whilst a black and white stripe pattern ran up towards the point, with three white circles on the lowest circle. The parts of his outfit there were black were so dark, that, had Dorian stood in shadows. Those parts of his body would be invisible, blending in perfectly to the shadows. And the whites of his outfit were so bright, they cast no shadows of themselves, causing the form of the mischief god to look out of place with anything else. Dorian floated in the air softly as he looked at the orb, the mask’s mouth twisting into a smirk. “Now, do you remember?” he asked. Starswirl’s eyes went wide, recognising the form he had known all those years ago. And broke into a wide grin, “Ah, Dorian! And I see Lord Topenhat is with you.” The hat, lord Topenhat, on Dorian’s head grunted in response, a yawn escaping it. “Hello, old friend,” Dorian chuckled before he sighed and sat cross-legged in the air in front of the orb. “I need your advice…”