Chapter 7

The castle’s massive grand ball room had been divided into several smaller rooms, made from fabric. Amber followed silently as he was led down the long narrow aisle created down the middle, peeking into several of the open rooms as he went. Each was occupied by a unicorn or pegasus, fillies and colts alike, being groomed by one or more ponies.

“Here we are.” The unicorn mare said, stopping in front of one of the rooms, a number 48 painted on the curtain. Amber stepped inside more out of curiosity than anything else as the unicorn pulled the sheet aside with her magic. “Some pony will be by to help you in a minute.”

“Help with what?” Amber asked confused. “What is this?”

“This is the introductory round.” The unicorn answered as if it were obvious. “We can’t have you looking like that in front of the princess and her guests now can we.” A knowing smile crossed her lips as he stepped into the room, the unicorn poking her head in behind. “Perhaps you should have let me finish explaining before kicking me out.”

Introductory round!? Amber wondered silently. He hadn’t realized an expose had trials, though he should have expected it given there were categories and prizes.

The colt tapped his hooves impatiently for a time before deciding he’d had enough waiting. Gripping the thick curtain in his mouth he pulled it aside slamming into a pale white unicorn, who at that moment had the same thought, only she had used magic.

“Hello number 48.” She said pleasantly, a light smile on her face, despite the fact that she was sitting on her haunches in the center aisle. Amber ran a hoof across his mane embarrassed by his impatience. She had gotten to her feet by the time he thought to offer a helping hoof.

“Sorry.” He apologized before stepping back into the fabric room. “And my name is Amber, not 48.”

“Well Amber I hope you weren’t planning on leaving. I’m afraid they’ve locked the doors.” The unicorn explained. She was pretty in a made up sort of way, her white coat glistening despite the dullness of the room. Her deep purple mane and tail were styled quite nicely, if a bit frizzled, and bags were visible under her dolled up eyes as if she hadn't had a good nights sleep. He felt an allusion of familiarity as he watched the mare examine him but shoved it to the back of his mind.

“Have you been sleeping on the ground?” The unicorn wondered as she circled him, her nose wrinkling. His coat was scruffy and coated in dirt so thick it made him appear brown rather than his natural rusty orange hue. She levitated several strips of colored paper from his mane inspecting them suspiciously. “And why do you smell like…apples?”

“It’s been a long week.” He answered as she continued scrutinizing him.

“Well then, let’s get started shall we?” The unicorn said suddenly, a blazing determination reflecting in her blue eyes. “There’s nothing like a little challenge to perk a girl up!”

Amber nearly collapsed as a torrent of freezing cold ice water fell from above. He looked up, through the mane in his eyes, finding three sniggering pegasus pony’s holding upside down buckets.

“That will be all girls thank you!” The unicorn said. Amber looked back down as they flew away, finding the unicorn stepping carefully around the mud seeping outward from his hooves. She levitated a bar of soap and a shower poof, combining the two into a ridiculous amount of pink bubbles. The mare quickly got to work scrubbing every last bit of dirt from his coat, mane, and tail, using a pail of water sitting in the corner of the fabric room to rinse off the excess.

Despite the many uncomfortable moments Amber couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt so… sparkling. The unicorn smiled, her eyes lighting up as she marveled at the clean and dapper stallion standing before her.

“You are a looker aren’t you?” She said clapping her hooves together with a squeal of delight. Amber shifted uncomfortably on his hooves.

“Um…thanks?” The colt said unsure what to think of her statement. He had never thought so highly of himself before and all the attention he’d been getting from mares lately had him a little on edge, not to mention confused. The kiss from Fluttershy briefly came to mind.

“Don’t be so modest dear.” The mare went on as she began measuring his flank, his withers, his hooves, and his chest with a roll of tape she’d pulled from a satchel of supplies hanging near the entrance. A frown marred her lips as she moved around to his head noticing the ugly scar on his muzzle. “Oh that simply won’t do.”

Amber made to turn away embarrassed by the blemish. The pale unicorn used her magic to turn his head back, covering it up with a thick liquid substance, the smell of which made the colt wrinkle his nose in displeasure. “It’s only a temporary solution.” The mare said a bit sadly. “We cannot erase scars but we can hide them and that’s just as well don’t you think?”

The unicorn levitated a mirror so Amber could get a look. Had he not know exactly where it was he may have forgotten it existed, she had hidden it so well. “Wow.”

”Thank you darling.” The unicorn smiled approvingly. “A very good friend of mine knows a pony who happens to be a master at creating such abnormal concoctions. That particular salve should last a month given you don’t try removing it yourself, though I cannot imagine why you’d ever think of doing so.”

After several more minutes of primping, combing his mane and tail into proper gentlecolt style, and taking the final measurements, the chatty unicorn declared she was finished. “I don’t want you letting any other mare or stallion in this room lay a hoof on you. You are my project and I will make you fabulous.”

Amber wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but if she was as hard set on it as she looked, he at least had to know one thing. “Um…who are you?”

The mare’s eyes went wide realizing she had spent all this time coddling him and she hadn’t so much as introduced herself. “Forgive me darling! You may call me Rarity.”

--

The curtains fell to the floor shortly after Rarity left revealing every pony in the room to the scrutinizing eyes of an ebony black mare standing on a balcony over looking the ball room below. She wore a sheer black outfit glittering with diamond sequins, a similar styled cloth tiara on her head settling just behind her ears.

“My name is Prism Shine!” The ebony black mare said loudly, the volume alone carrying her voice easily around the room. Several ponies began to murmur excitedly as they recognized her. “From this point forward I will be your maître d’hôtel!”

Amber glanced around nervously, hoping and failing to find any pony he could share his anxiety with. His heart thudded inside his chest, and he was beginning to feel light headed.

“You are all here because you are the best at what you do!” The mare went on. “This is not a mere talent show my little pony’s! This is above all else a contest! Though you may now be friends, you will all soon become rivals.”

A smirk came to the mare’s face, unseen by all but those ponies near enough to the balcony. Amber was not one of those ponies. Another murmur went through the crowd. The colt swallowed nervously feeling the familiar quake in his withers. The pony beside him let out a cough, or was it a laugh, startling the rusty colt. “Are you okay mate?”

“Just nerves.” Amber answered taking a minute to study the unicorn stallion. His silvery mane and tail melded seamlessly into his ashen grey coat, his deep set brown eyes only adding to his ghostlike appearance. The cutie mark on his flank was a mortar and pestle. Around his neck he wore a black bowtie leaving Amber to wonder why Rarity hadn’t given him one.

“Each of you has been given a scroll.” Prism Shine said attracting Amber’s attention once more, moments before a scroll appeared at the hooves of every pony. More than he was startled the earth pony was impressed. It took a lot of magic to send one scroll let alone nearly fifty at once. Though he could not see her he knew of only two ponies that had the magical prowess to complete such a strenuous feat.

“Everything you need to know is contained within it! You need only to look!” The mare went on, the last bit said as a mother pony might address a relentless foal. “Do not lose this scroll as you will not be given a replacement!”

She cast a long look across the faces of the gathered ponies. Her eyes, for a fraction of a moment, seemed to hang on Amber far longer than he was comfortable.

“You are dismissed!” She said slamming a hoof onto the floor, the sound reverberating around the grand ballroom. Amber disentangled his legs from the sheet wrapped around them and followed the other ponies out.

--

The younger alicorn princess stood behind Prism Shine, hidden in the shadows at the back of the balcony. Her mane and tail, sparkling with the light of a million stars, floated freely in the still air. It was she who had transported the scrolls before the dozens of ponies gathered below.

“Do they meet your approval princess?”

This new voice caused the princess to turn her ears back while her gaze remained on the ponies filing out of the grand ballroom. Several of them had already formed groups, finding old friends and making new ones in the span of a few minutes.

“You have done well Lexis but…” The moon princess hesitated, her eyes narrowing sadly.

“Is it not to your liking?” Celestia’s voice rang out. She moved to stand beside her sister while Prism Shine excused herself from their presence. The green eyed unicorn did the same at a nod from the darker alicorn. Luna stole a glance at her sister finding her gaze pensive as she glanced at the now empty ballroom below.

The lesser princess bit her lip worriedly, her thoughts no longer on the coming events. Having only recently returned from her thousand year exile she wouldn’t have known what went on all those years ago to cause her sister’s unusual mood as of late.

The shimmering white alicorn waited only a moment longer before retreating into the hall, Luna close behind. Their conversation continued, as the dark alicorn’s gaze trailed out the tall windows, taking in the sky that in a week’s time would again be partially hers.

“For a thousand years you have carried my burden, and it has begun to show.” The younger princess said. “I cannot enjoy this gift so long as I believe you are not well.”

Celestia smiled at her sibling. “You have learned much compassion little sister and I am glad of it but I did not do this for you alone. I did this so that one day they would come to know you as I have always known you.”

Celestia had stopped at a window much larger than the other windows lining either side of the great hall. From it she could see beyond the castle walls into Canterlot proper. The ponies, who not minutes before had been gathered in the grand ballroom, now spilled out into the streets, which were lit by the soft glow of another of Celestia’s sunsets. Luna couldn’t help but admire her sister’s ability to raise and lower the sun without as much as a thought. It had become as near to her as breathing, just as raising the moon and setting the stars had once been to Luna.

“They shall know you as Luna once again and they shall love as I do.” The white alicorn said softly wiping away the tears that had formed in her younger sibling’s eyes. “I promise.”

Luna smiled as Celestia wrapped her in a tight hug. It had been too long since they had shared such a bonding moment. The moon princess wouldn’t have known how just how afraid Celestia was of losing her again, once the truth emerged. In time all would come to light but for now the sun goddess chose to savor the moment and keep her secrets hidden.