//------------------------------// // Chapter XXVI - At The Gala Part III // Story: The Adventures of Damon Lipton // by Mr101 //------------------------------// The Adventures of Damon Lipton Chapter XXVI - At The Gala Part III Silence. That was what was currently reigning over the whole of the gala at the moment Damon showed his face. The crowd simply stared at him, a mixture of emotions and feelings running madly through each and everyone of them as they tried to comprehend what it was exactly they were lookin at. Some, thought it was a trick. Somehow a trick of the light. Others, thought it was an amusing little joke from the princess to liven up the evening's’ festivities. Some simply thought that the reaper had rising into the form of a bipedal creature and had come to claim their very souls, despite its attire. Celestia nervously glanced at the crowd’s faces and was about to speak when Kalanar placed a reassuring hand on her back. But just as he was about to speak to the crowd, Damon spoke up first. “Mares and gentlecolts, please do not be alarmed at my appearance. For you see, during the battle with the nefarious monster. I was sadly, mortally wounded. Nearly beyond saving.” The crowd murmured to themselves as Celestia thought she saw a vein throb in Kalanar’s forehead. “And during the battle, I took a direct blast of magic in order to prevent the deaths of… uh… some fillies that were unfortunately nearby. Luckily, before I died, I was able to erm… perform a spell that enabled me to remain alive. However, it came with the cost of becoming a lich.” Celestia, Luna, Blueblood, the elements, Berry, Colgate and Trixie all resisted the urge to facehoof themselves as Pinchy and Spike held back a fit of giggles. For the love of tits, please let this work… Damon thought as he smiled to the crowd. What seemed like an eternity passed as the silence hung in the air before the crowd burst into a round of applause and cheering. Damon exhaled the breath he didn’t notice he was holding and grinned, bowing to the crowd. Celestia let out a sigh of relief as she once again addressed the crowd. “And now, without further adu. I declare that the Grand Galloping Gala has officially begun!” As the crowd started to disperse and mingle, with music provided by the Royal Canterlot Orchestra starting to play, Celestia turned back to the small group. “I think that went rather—” Damon was interrupted by Kalanar smacking the back of his head. “Hey! What was that for?” “What have I told you about talking to nobility before I do?!” Kalanar hissed, “You know what happened last time!” Damon winced but waved his hand dismissively, “Ahh, I learned my lesson on that. But hey, least this time it worked.” “You’re hopeless…” Kalanar sighed. Damon sighed loudly for what seemed like the fifth time as in many minutes. He had recently remember why he hated these kind of occasions. They were just so, so boring. He looked around as he drummed his bony fingers on the table and scanned the crowd. At first, he had several nobles coming up to him and chatting away to him about being a lich as well as what Cyrium was like. Whilst Kalanar had enjoyed lecturing the nobles on their homeland, Damon had hated it and was thankful when the Princess shooed the nobles away to allow him to have some time to himself. But Damon had grown up around tavern music, lively music. Well, by grown up, he had slipped out with his friends on more than one occasion to go to the local tavern to get utterly wankered. As he tapped his fingers, he spotted Berry, Colgate and Pinchy approaching him. “Enjoying yourself, Damon?” Berry asked. “No,” Damon grumbled. “I forgot how boring these things are.” “But, Uncle Bones!” Pinchy gasped. “It’s the Grand Galloping Gala!” “And?” Damon asked, an amused look on his face. Pinchy hopped onto his lap and placed her front hooves on his chest, staring into his eyes for more effect, “The. Grand. Galloping. Gala!” Damon smirked, shrugging before poking her nose making her scrunch her face, “Still don’t get it.” Before Pinchy could get more wound up, Berry bopped him on the back of his skull and shook her head, “Stop winding her up, Damon.” “Sorry, couldn’t help it,” Damon snickered. “Want me to keep an eye on her for a bit? Let you and Colgate have some alone time.” Pinchy grinned, knowing what Damon was doing, “Yeah, mummy. Can I stay with Uncle Bones for a bit?” Berry was about to say something, but face hoofed seeing the two giving her puppy dog eyes. Colgate giggled and placed a hoof on her friends shoulder. “Ah, let the kids have fun, Berry. We can go look at that painting you’ve always wanted to come see, you know, the one of the Royal winemaker back when Princess Celestia’s mother was the ruler.” “I suppose we could… alright, you two can go and have some fun,” Berry sighed and nuzzled her daughter. “Yay!” Pinchy grinned and hugged her mother’s neck, “See you later mummy! Bye Colgate!” The two mares giggled as Damon and Pinchy waved them off. The two waited until the two mares were out of sight before Damon cackled. “Time to put our complicated and convoluted plan into action, my dear Pinches!” Damon said. “Indeed!” Pinchy grinned. “The time has come! Operation love birds commencing!” Damon picked her up and plonked her on his head and was about to take a step when he blinked, “Wait… did Colgate call me a kid?” Twilight nervously watched as Kalanar stood beside Princess Celestia, greeting nobles that approached them. “Okay, Twilight. You can do this… just… remain… confident!” She said to herself softly. Taking a deep breath and exhaling softly, she levitated over two glasses of punch she had gotten her and Kalanar and made her way over with a confident smile. “H-here you go, Kalanar,” she said, her voice a little shaky. “Thank you, Miss Twilight,” Kalanar smiled as he took the drink from her magic aura. Twilight smiled as she stood beside him, she was about to speak when Celestia looked over to her. “Twilight? Did you get my drink as well?” The unicorn’s eyes widened as she began to panic, “O-oh my gosh! I-I’m so sorry, Princess. I forgot to—” She was interrupted as Celestia tittered softly and placed a reassuring wing on her back. “I’m only teasing, my dear student. I can fetch one for myself. Now, how about you take Master Kalanar here on a tour of the castle’s library?” “But what about meeting and greeting the nobles? Won’t you need some help?” Twilight asked. “I’ll be fine, Twilight. I’m certain both you and Master Kalanar would much prefer to have some time alone to explore the library,” Celestia smiled to her. “I think that’s a splendid idea, your Highness.” Kalanar agreed with a smile. “Shall we, Miss Twilight?” Twilight blushed softly and nodded with a smile. Twilight and Kalanar bid the princess farewell and the unicorn nervously lead the elf away towards a long corridor that led towards the palace’s vast library. Good luck, Twilight, Celestia thought as she smiled after them before turning to another noble approaching her. Damon and Pinchy peeked around the corner, watching Berry and Colgate walking side by side ahead of them before turning down a corner. The lich leaned back and tapped his chin with a bony finger as he looked up at Pinchy. “So, Pinches. How should we get this plan started?” Damon asked. “Hmm… well, mummy and Colgate said they were gunna go see the painting… maybe you could use your magic to make them head in the wrong direction when they head back?” Pinchy replied. “Okay… then what?” Damon nodded, stroking his chin. “Uhm…” Pinchy replied, tapping a hoof to her head, scrunching her face in concentration. Damon walked into the middle of the hallway as he stroked his chin in thoughts, snapping out of his thoughts as a voice called from behind him. “Perhaps I could be of some assistance?” Damon spun round, Pinchy clinging to his head as he did to see Luna approaching them. “Your Highness?” Damon blinked. “Please, Damon. No need for such formalities. Luna will do.” The night princess smiled. “Alright, Luna,” Damon said. “What did you mean by assistance? Shouldn’t you be doing Princess duty things with Princess Celestia?” “I should, but those things are awfully boring… I’d forgotten how much so,” Luna replied with a roll of her eyes. “I know what you mean, sister,” Damon snickered. “But back to my question, I want to offer my help getting Berry together with Colgate,” Luna smiled. “How… did you know what was our plan?” Damon asked, now holding Pinchy in his arms. “Because, this little one,“ Luna replied, lifting Pinchy into the air and tickling her belly, making the filly giggle and wiggle her legs, “Has been dreaming nothing but this plan for a few days now.” “You can see dreams?” Damon asked her as Pinchy was levitated onto his head again. “Mhm, part of my duties as the Princess of the Night. I won’t bore you with details at the moment, though,” Luna explained. “Do you want my help or not?” “Yes please, Luna!” Pinchy cried happily and bounced on Damon’s head before the lich could respond. Luna grinned and clapped her front hooves together in glee, “Huzzuh! Something fun to do at last! Now, this is the plan…” Prince Blueblood sighed as he walked over to a waiter carrying a tray with glasses of champagne on it, thanking the stallion as he levitated one of them as he continued to wonder almost aimlessly throughout the hall. After the group had disbanded following Damon’s fluke of  a lie, the prince had decided to go and mingle with some of his noble friends, namely the noble stallion Fancypants. But now, the prince found himself on his own, Fancypants having to leave early due to an important meeting he had to attend the following day in the morning and needed to get his rest. Since then, Blueblood had been trying to avoid as many mares as he could that tried to approach him. It wasn’t for the fact he didn’t find them attractive, a lot of Canterlot’s noble elite were very fetching for any stallion, regardless of position. It was because of two reasons. The first reason was that, as a stallion with a high position as prince, he was constantly being fawned over by suitress’** who seemed to only to be interested in his position rather than himself. Blueblood was a romantic at heart and would honestly rather marry for love over wealth or power, but due to his position and social standing he dared not express this opinion. Less his image be tarnished with slander and vicious rumors, something he didn’t want to bring on himself or his aunts. The second reason was that he already had his eye on somepony, and unfortunately for them she wasn’t a noble mare but a guard. A Lunar guard that he had met the other day during the fiasco in Ponyville, somepony he had yearned to spend more time with. As he took a sip from his glass, he looked up and his eyes widened and a smile crept onto his lips. Just by one of the doorways was Moon Dancer, the mare he had his eye on. The guard noticed him as well and offered a friendly and bashful smile as he started to approach her, hoping to spend some time with her. “Ah, your highness!” A voice called from behind him. Drat, the prince thought. He looked back to see Rarity approaching him with a sultry gaze. Blueblood out of politeness smiled and bowed his head to her, making the unicorn titter. “Such a gentlestallion, may I have some of your time, my Prince?” She asked. “Of course,” Blueblood replied as he followed her. As the two started to walk away, Blueblood looked back to Moon Dancer and frowned seeing the Lunar guard looking down with a sad expression on her face. Twilight and Kalanar walked through the large and impressive halls of the Canterlot library, the elven mage looking around him in wonderment and awe at the sheer amount of tomes, books and scrolls the building had to offer. He smiled as he listened to Twilight as she told him important key parts of the library before the two approached a large doorway. With a gentle push, the door creaked open and Twilight extended a hoof into yet another large part of the library. “And this part of the library is the ‘Starswirl the Bearded’ wing,” Twilight said with pride. “Impressive…” Kalanar muttered as he gazed over the books, “I think I read about him in one of your books in the library.” “Probably, there are many books in the—” Twilight began before Kalanar interrupted her. “Oh, you misunderstood me, Miss Twilight. I meant your books. Forgive an old mage for prying, but young Master Spike showed me one of the unpublished works you’ve been writing about Starswirl and I must say, it was simply fascinating.” Twilight blushed softly, “D-do you mean it?” “Of course, why, I wish Damon was half the studious intellect you are,” Kalanar smiled down to her. “Do you wish to be a historical author? Or perhaps a teacher in a university?” Twilight beamed up at the elf, a happy blush on her face, “Thank you, Kalanar. That means a lot to me, and yeah I-I had this silly idea of being an author, writing about historical figures as well as the history of magic. But it’s just a silly notion…” Kalanar scoffed, “It most certainly is not a silly notion, Miss Twilight.” Twilight looked up at the mage as he knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly and smiled, his obsidian eyes looking directly into her violet eyes. “The people who make the world a better place are the dreamers who pursue their dreams, the ones who are willing to break the monotonous mold of normality in life and chase after what others have deemed impossible. If you want to be an author, Miss Twilight. The only one who is stopping you, is yourself. Believe in yourself, Miss Twilight, as your friends and I do.” Twilight felt her eyes water slightly as her lip quivered, she reached up and wrapped her hooves around Kalanar’s neck and hugged him, to which the elf happily returned. “Thank you…” she whispered with a soft sniffle. “You are most welcome, Miss Twilight,” Kalanar smiled as he wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes carefully. “Now, how about you finish the tour and we head back to our friends?” “Yes, I’d like that,” Twilight smiled softly as the two continued to walk. “The Starswirl wing was erected by the Princess…”