Chapter 8: The Carousel Boutique

"Come on Sparrow, I've been away from my shop for far too long today, and I wouldn't want to disappoint any customers by staying away for too long" Rarity said as she began to move towards the door of the library. Sparrow was confused, first the orange pony, Applejack, wanted him to see the purple pony and now the purple pony wanted him to go with Rarity. He decided against throwing a fit and walked out into th-"Agh! Why is it so bright out here?!?!?" Rarity did a 180 and caught him from falling over.

"Sparrow, darling, You have to go out doors slowly, Your eyes probably aren't used to light." She said as she lifted him up

Sparrow tried to get his bearings "Th-thanks R-Rarity" He adjusted himself and looked around at all the ponies. He started to shiver. He wasn't so sure he should have gone with Rarity. The crowds were scaring him. As he was backing up, he felt an invisible, scratch that, light blue, start pulling him along. He struggled against it for a minute, then he decided to give in and walk towards the source of the magic. It was Rarity "Sparrow, you need to stay with me, after all, I'm responsible for you"

"Wh-where are we going, Ms. Rarity?"

"Like I said, to my shop." She looked Sparrow straight in the eyes "You're afraid. . .of me. . . .of everypony in the crowds. . .I have a friend like that" she said as she cast a glamour spell on him. "That should fix it"

"Wh-where did everypony g-go? H-how come I can only see you?" Sparrow managed to stutter out while he was shivering with fear.

"I made it so you can only see me and not the crowds, is that better?"

Sparrow stopped shivering and his heart rate began to return to normal "Y-yes, i-it's much b-better" He managed to keep pace with Rarity throughout the entire walk to The Carousel Boutique. On the way, he found a small, black, rock that seemed to some of itself when he picked it up.

Rarity opened the door to the fashion shop and made sure Sparrow got through the door. She closed the door behind her and turned to see Sparrow fiddling with a lump of coal. "Sparrow, where did you find that?"

"On th-the street"

"Um, You'll need to take it outside, it could ruin the dresses I'm working on"

"O-okay Ms. Rarity"

"Darling, don't call me Ms., it's just Rarity"

"Okay" Sparrow said as he got up. The coal slipped from his hoof and fell towards the floor. Sparrow tried to catch it, but ended up stomping on the coal instead due to his lack of coordination. Rarity looked shocked at first, then she realized that the coal hadn't shattered and gotten everywhere. She sensed something strange from Sparrow, almost. . .something she couldn't put her hoof on. Sparrow's eyes were tearing up, there he was, on the verge of a breakdown.

"Sparrow, it's okay y-"

Then he started bawling his heart out. "I-I'm so sorry! I-I j-just saw this strange r-rock and I *hic* I thought it w-was *hic* something u-useful. . ."

"Sparrow, lift up the forehoof that stepped on the coal"

"*hic* O-okay R-Rarity" he said as he lifted up his forehoof, under it was a gemstone instead of coal.

"Sparrow, you see? It's alright, no mess" she said as she picked up a handkerchief from the sewing table and wiped away Sparrow's tears.

Canterlot Archives

Cadence flipped through a list of students that belonged to Celestia. The records were supposed to be forbidden, sealed, cursed etc. but that didn't stop Cadence from using a scroll of unlocking to bypass the entire setup of magic. The book itself was massive and contained over 1,000 names, all the way up to Twilight Sparkle. The name of each student was followed by any of the following; Missing, Deceased, Success, Failure. Cadence looked through and saw large amounts of the missing and deceased. The most she saw though, was failure. That was extremely distressing, although that explained 85% of the ponies in the statue garden Celestia had.

She even recognized a couple of names, like Butterscotch, whose daughter was the element of kindness, marked: Failure. Or Spectrum Flash, Cadence knew Spectrum very well, he could use magic very well and sometimes dropped by to see her when she was in the tower, although she never really learned what happened to the rainbow maned pegasus, marked: Success. She let out a sigh of relief. Then she saw a photo of a white unicorn with a turquoise mane; Greater Noble Chysalia, Cadence knew exactly who that was, Chrysalis, marked: Missing. Queen-in-waiting Caliphora, Cadence saw a picture of a changeling queen with a grey mane and red eyes, there was something otherworldly about her gaze, marked: Special Case. She kept flipping through the pages, she stopped on one of the two earth ponies in the book; Gilgamesh of Arcadia, white earth pony with a blonde mane, noted as the only earth pony that could use magic from the Aetherial plane, marked: Missing, Deceased. The last earthpony in the book was Dulcis Victoria, an earth pony with a silver coat and a golden mane, marked: Failure.

Cadence finally found the name she was looking for; Lychinus. She looked through the history for him, it noticeably marked him as missing, but still alive. That couldn't have been possible unless he was immortal. Cadence chuckled, only Alicorns and Changelings were truly immortal beings, but she considered that some unicorns could attain immortality through channeling the Aetherial plane. The book said Lychinus's last known residence was the tower. Cadence shuddered, she spent most her childhood in that terrible place, she would have to go back to it. It was where some of the failed students spent the rest of their lives, some of the residents were 'little experiments'. Prince Blueblood was lucky he ever got out of that tower and into the public eye. There was the loud sound of the door to the archives opening. Cadence decided it was high time to put the book back and get gone before Celestia realized she moved it. The tower was now on her list of places to visit. Her to do list kept growing longer and longer. . .

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, I've had MAS dormwork to do, plus I'm having to set up a tabletop game for my friends

Anyhow. . .this just took time, I needed to re-watch episodes to try and remember how much character development Rarity got

Uh oh. . .Is the Carousel Boutique also Rarity's house? EDIT: it is