//------------------------------// // The Gala Sucks // Story: Night Patrol 2: Awakening // by Foxgear //------------------------------// Night Patrol Ch 3 By Foxgear “Hmm, this is not it either. Damn, time to move on to the next one.” Luna disposes of the book she had just finished with a quick flick of the horn and summons another to take its place. She was reading through Equestria’s extensive genealogical records looking for the descendants of the three key bearers, Applejack, Allure, and Nightingale. Applejack had made it easy for her. From the Apple family record, she discovered every first born daughter was given the name Applejack. The current Applejack that had helped free her from the bonds of Nightmare Moon would be Applejack Apple the ninth. Though she doubts the current Applejack ever referred to herself as such as it was a bit of a mouth full. Hopefully, this will be the last time the Apple family will need to confine themselves to the name, but that too was doubtful, even if they didn’t know the reason behind it, the name was a family tradition by now. Also there was no harm in letting it continue, it was actually kind of nice to know there would always be a Applejack around to befriend. Opening the book Luna began searching through the list of names. She was searching for Allure’s bloodline now, something that was bound to be much more difficult than Applejack’s. She found Allure’s name and began to follow the bloodlines. The tip of her hoof ran down the extensive family tree to the present finding that Allure’s family had changed locations many times over the centuries moving to a new location every hundred years or so, from Canterlot to Las Pegasus to Manehatten back to Canterlot and then to Ponyville. “That’s ironic.” She said making a note of the living family member’s names and locations. From below Celestia’s voice calls out, “Luna? Luna are you in here?” “Where else would I be, sister?” Luna lazily calls back as she continues with her note taking. She would need to visit them all in order to find Allure’s earrings. Celestia approaches the mess that was Luna’s desk, her face scrunching up at the sight of a dry piece of vanilla cake; she would mourn the waste of cake later. “I was hoping you would be outside, maybe getting to know your subjects again?” Celestia implored, hoping for a favorable reaction from her sister, but only getting a casual wave. “I already had my daily spar with Spitfire. That should suffice. I have more important matters to attend to.” Luna said keeping her attention on her work, fully expecting Celestia to leave like she always did, but she didn’t. Her sister continued to stand there as the minutes slowly passed by. A surprising thing for her sister, since such an action would cause Time Keeper to throw a royal fit. “Is there something else?” “I worry for you, Luna. You’re not your usual self.” That made something spark inside Luna, a feeling that she couldn’t describe, but she was certain it wasn’t a happy one. Carefully Luna set her book aside, being sure to bookmark the page and turns to give her sister her full attention. “Not my usual self? May I dare ask what thy usual self is? For I certainly do not, at least not in these new times I find myself in. Usually, I would be inspecting the soldiers under my command and preparing them for the night’s hunt or I would be teaching the foals of the castle, or reviewing policy. But there are no monsters to hunt, all the foals go to their schools, and my opinion on policy seems to be out of date according to today’s mindset. So tell me dear sister, what is my usual self?” There was a lot of heat in Luna’s tone. Heat Celestia hadn’t been expecting. She had given her sister space to adjust to the new era, but Celestia wondered if she failed again to understand Luna's feelings. Luna’s words played in her mind over and over till finally, she had the answer. “Those are things you did, but they are not you, you were happy, charismatic, and determined to do whatever you set your mind to. You complain about the royal guard, and I’ll admit they are not what they should be, but what’s stopping you from training them yourself? Why not just train them like you trained the night patrollers? I certainly wouldn’t stop you. As for teaching, if you want to teach take on a student like I have and policy too, you just need to ask! You don’t need to seal yourself away Luna!” Silence filled the air between the two sisters. Celestia stood firm, determination etched on her face, while Luna… smiled? “What’s so funny?” Luna’s grin threaten to split her face in half as she tries to suppress her giggles, Celestia’s firm posture changed from standing firm to looking befuddled. “I’m sorry, I’m truly am,” giggles Luna. “I am certain anypony else would be terrified of you looking so serious, but to me, you just look so funny! Did you know you still pucker up your lip when you try to look serious?” “Well, I tried to mimic your war face,” Celestia pouts, wondering when she went from the scary older sister to silly face maker. “And do not pucker my lips!” “Yes, you do!” Luna laughs hysterically, “Remember when you made that face to Discord and he put lipstick on you? Saying if you wanted to kiss him you should at least put in some effort.” The two of them share a laugh as they remember the lighter moments of their epic battle with the god of chaos. “I did kiss his statue after the battle. Left a big red mark right on his check! It stayed there for weeks remember?” “I do, I do,” Luna wipes a tear from her eye as her laughter finally died down. It was fun remembering the past, but she supposed it was time to address the present problems. Starting with the ones Celestia just listed, “Serious time okay? Celestia finished her own giggles and nods, her face stiff as stone. Luna took a deep breath and spoke, “Look Celestia. I’m well aware I could do the things you said. I could train the new guards and I’ve tried, I’ve tried to go to your school to teach, and I’ve tried to think of policies that would be of aid to you, but the truth is… I don’t want to go back to being a princess again.” Silence fill the air as Celestia stared wide eyed at her sister. “At least not right away,” she quickly clarifies before Celestia could speak up. “I’ve been away for a thousand years, there's a whole new world to explore and then there’s Sixes message and my powers not being restored yet. I know it sounds like I’m making excuses, but I really just want to find out what Sixes left behind and maybe go see the changes in the world for a bit. Be an adventurer again, like in the old days.” “I understand your feelings Luna, but Starswirl…” “Starswirl is dead!” Snaps Luna. “He’s was the one that forced this role upon us, saying that once things settled down we could return to our lives once the tribes could take care of themselves again. Well, that never really happened did it? But he got to do what he wanted. He was a candidate for the throne, but he pawned it off on us so he could go off and do his research. Never minding what happened to anypony else, including you or me!” If there was a rebuttal to Luna’s words regarding Starswirl, Celestia did not know it. Despite having much respect for the unicorn still, she harbored feelings of betrayal against him for what he did. But that was just the way friendship was to Starswirl, a one-way street. “Will you leave me to rule alone then?” Luna looked away, but then quickly met her sister’s eyes, “Not forever, just for now, I ask that you please tolerate my wonder lust for just a short while longer.” “I suppose I was foolish to think things could go back to the way things were before right away. Your right, you have the right to lead your own life. I’ll leave you alone.” Celestia turns and began to walk away, but stops midway out the door. “Will you at least consider going to the Grand Galloping Gala? You might enjoy it this year for once, Twilight and her friends will be in attendance.” “I will consider it,” Luna answers neutrally, and adds, “You have the right to lead your own life to Celestia.” Celestia looked gratefully up to her sister with a big smile, “I know, and I am.” Goodnight sat staring at his drink. He has not taken one sip since ordering it, the foam off his beer having long since disappeared. In all honestly, it was really killing the mood of the room in Spitfire’s opinion as she orders up her second drink, it was just another off-duty night at the Rusty Horseshoe, except tonight the atmosphere was much more depressing. “Goody, I bought you that drink because you seemed down, and now you wasted it. Rest of the night is on you.” Spitfire grumbles with mild annoyance about having her bits wasted. She didn’t order cheap drinks. “Sorry, Spits. I’m just…” “Disappointed that you disappointed Luna, yes I know, I’ve been here listening to you wallow in your superficial crap for weeks now. Look you did what you thought was right at the time and that’s all anypony can do. It’s not like Luna kicked you off her guard detail.” Goodnight shook his head, “No, she didn’t. Still, it’s not easy getting the cold shoulder from Princess Luna.” Spitfire’s mouth pressed into a thin line as she glares at her friend, “So what?” “So what? That’s all you gotta say? Princess Luna probably hates me!” “I’ll say it again, so what?” Spitfire spat getting right in Goodnight’s face, the entire bar falling silent. “It’s not your job to be pining for the princess's favor or try to be her friend, your job is to throw yourself into harm’s way and be a pony meat shield! That’s your job! That’s what you chose to do, if you can’t do that because you think the princess might not think the kindest things about you right now, then either quit or transfer!” Goodnight’s ears flops down as he push Spitfire away. Leaning against the bar he held his head between his hooves muttering, “Maybe you're right.” It didn’t sit well with her to see her friend so depressed, maybe going drill sergeant on him wasn’t the answer, but it was how she was used to doing things. “Look, Goody,” Spitfire mumbles trying to find the right words to say. “What I’m trying to say is don’t take this personally. The princess is busy doing her own thing right now, heck she’ll hardly speak to me outside of our sparring routines since she started that personal research of hers. From the rumors I’ve heard not even Celestia can get through to her, so I doubt she even cares about what happened during the parade.” Goodnight scoffed, “So it’s ok for you to be friends with her, but not me?” “I didn’t go trying to be her friend, it just happened,” she said narrowing her eyes at him. “You don’t have feelings for Princess Luna, do you?” “What? No!” Everypony in the bar turned towards him. Goodnight lowers his voice and whispers, “No that’s not it. It’s just… I was in the same unit with one of Thrice’s kin, that old stallion that actually knew Luna. I used to visit their home and listen to the old stallion tell stories of her and well, I guess I just wanted to try and relive those stories. Fighting by the princess’s side and being a trusted comrade and all that. It’s one of the reason’s I wanted to be on Luna’s guard detail.” Spitfire stirs her drink with her hoof thinking back to when she first joined the guards before applying for the wonderbolts. She would be lying to say if she hadn’t had the same naïve thoughts about wanting to serve beside the princess. Her own father filling her head with his stories of heroic deeds and what not, but what he didn’t tell her and it may have been his intentions from the start, was that the royal guards almost never saw action. They hardly ever left the castle. Only on occasion when the princess was to visit someplace and only a select few were chosen for that job. If a pony wants to see action in the Equestrian Army, they had to join either the wonderbolts or PTB, the Pony's troopers’ battalion, which the wonderbolts were a subgroup of. The battalion only numbered in a hundred ponies or so and they were the ponies that Celestia sent out to deal with threats too major for the local ponies to deal with, but still too minor to warrant her attention. “I’m gonna go,” she told Goodnight, tonight was not the fun night she planned, maybe she could go somewhere else and salvage what she could of her last off-duty day till the Gala, but chances of that were slim as all the other wonderbolts were still on duty. “Try to cheer up, if it helps I’ll see what I can do with Princess Luna. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try and see how much she actually cares about your actions. Who knows maybe she’s already moved on?” Goodnight slumped, his chin resting on the bar, “Yeah, thanks.” Throwing her bits on the bar Spitfire left. Trotting out into the cool night she spread her wings and flew into the sky taking in the sight of Canterlot at night. Lazily she glides not really sure where she wants to go. She didn’t want to waste any more bits at some bar truthfully, but didn’t want to go home either. Her eyes wonders towards the castle. “I suppose, I could go see Luna.” Outside of sparring and that one night at the bar she had spent little time with the Princess of the Night. From their princess’s own words they were friends and by that extension her friend seems to be bothered by something. She could tell during their spars that something had Luna distracted. Spitfire had a feeling it had to do with recent events. Changing directions Spitfire glides over to the castle. Landing outside one of the main doors, as it was illegal to just fly in through the window, wonderbolt or not. After a quick inspection by the castle guards, she let herself in. “Let’s see I think Luna’s room was…” “Captain Spitfire?” The hair on the back of Spitfire’s neck rose as she turns around coming face to face with a tired looking Princess Celestia. “What brings you here tonight?” The princess asked tilting her head in curiosity. “Nothing troublesome I hope?” Spitfire shook her head, “No, no, I was just flying by and thought I would come and see how Princess Luna is doing. It seemed like something is bothering her since that incident at the parade two weeks ago.” Celestia smiled, “I’m glad to see my sister has made such a good friend. She is over yonder in the study, I too have had my concerns, but I’m afraid despite leaving on good terms, things are still not well with her.” “Did you two fight? I mean none of my business of course, but…” Celestia stops her by covering Spitfire's mouth with her hoof, a smile still plastered on the princess’s face, though it was noticeably smaller. “Yes, we did fight, as sisters tend to do. In truth, I only desire her to take a break and relax. Hoping that perhaps the Gala might provide the chance, but Luna has a… bad history with the Gala. Perhaps you will be better up to the task.” As Celestia walked away Spitfire could not help but call out, “If she won’t listen to you, her sister, what chance to I have?” Celestia paused in her trot looking up at the moon in the starry night sky with a mournful expression, “It is because you are not me that you have a chance.” The Princess of the Sun left leaving Spitfire alone in the hallway with a feeling of uncertainty as she trots for the study. She hesitated at the door, wondering if Luna would even want to see her, but she gathers her courage and enters, knocking on the door as she opened it. “Luna? Are you still here? It’s me, Spitfire.” “Did Celestia send you?” Luna asks from her perch up above, giving a harsh glare at that wonderbolt captain that said to choose her words carefully. “No, I came here on my own, though I did speak to her in the hallway. If I’m intruding I’ll just leave and come back some other time.” “That will not be necessary. Perhaps it is time to take a break anyway.” Luna levitates Spitfire up to the second level and places her on an extra stool with a cup of coffee and a brownie. “Hast thou come to part take in mare talk?” “No, that’s not really my cup of tea, but should you be having coffee this late at night? It’s about one in the morning.” “That depends, should you be drinking so much when off duty?” Luna shot back taking a sip of coffee followed by a bite of her brownie. Spitfire shrugs, “Fair point I guess, and I don’t drink that much.” “Says the mare with alcohol still on her breath, another half a dozen rounds of fireball whiskey?” “That drink was named after my dad. Of course, I would order it, but…” Spitfire said as she meekly nimble on her treat. “Maybe three to five shots every weekend is a bit much, and weekdays, and after work when I’m not on long missions… ok, I might have a slight problem!” “The first step is admitting it,” Luna said smugly. Spitfire crossed her legs in a huff, “Fine, if that’s what you think, why don’t you admit you have a problem?” “I am not on the verge of becoming an alcoholic,” Luna rebukes. “No, but your practically a hermit since the parade, no pony outside of me and your sister hardly ever see you outside of this room! It’s not healthy!” “I fail to see how me researching Thrice’s message, that he fought death till the last second to tell me is a problem! If I am too believe Thrice’s message Sixes maybe be alive!” “I understand this is important to you and I’m not asking you to stop, no pony is, but can you at least slow down? Even if your right and this Sixes Thrice told you about is alive somewhere, would he really want you killing yourself because of malnourishment to find him? It’s not like Thrice actually said Sixes was alive right?” Luna hung her head, “You are correct, Thrice did not say Sixes was actually alive, only that something is resting under the castle for me, but if he is and he’s been waiting a thousand years…” “I think he can wait a little longer then as you research in a healthier manner,” Spitfire said, a huge gulp suddenly forming in her throat as Luna’s gaze fell upon her. “And with my help of course!” “Truly? You wish to aid me in my quest?” (There go my weekends.) but Spitfire nodded with determination, “You bet and Goodnight wants to help too. He’s been feeling down after the parade thing and really wants to make it up to you.” “Hmm, I had noticed he had seemed a little down lately. I assumed he caught a cold.” Luna said aloud, making Spitfire sweatdrop. “Neither the less I will heed your advice, so what do you advise we do to relax?” “How about going to the Gala?” “If this is a joke, then I suggest you find better material.” “No, no hear me out! Remember when you changed your appearance and introduced yourself as Emerald Moon to the other wonderbolts?” Luna nodded, wondering where this was going. “Well, what if you do that again and you attend the Gala with me and the other wonderbolts? I guarantee it will be much more fun that way than getting all dressed up.” Luna tapped her chin in thought, trying to imagine such a thing as her enjoying the gala, but perhaps Spitfire was onto something. “Very well, I shall attend.” “Perfect now we just need to make you a wonderbolt in a week! I hope you're ready to study!” The hall was a lit with dazzling bright lights and the chatter of Canterlot’s most important ponies as they dance and made merry. For once she, Luna Princess of the Night, was not being hounded by said noble ponies as she casually sips her drink in the corner of the room, dressed not in a fancy dress or anything such as that, but in a wonderbolt uniform. Spitfire had loaned her spare uniform for the occasion, since her or Emerald Moon’s, uniform wouldn’t have been finished in time for the Gala. An unexpected twist to coming undercover to the event was the fact that Spitfire had made her take the Wonderbolt trials, which she passed, thus making her an official wonderbolt or at least her disguise Emerald Moon one. When she asks Spitfire about the fact that there could only be six wonderbolts, the captain could only stare disbelieving at her. Asking where she heard such a thing. When told from the official wonderbolt history book, the Captain groaned aloud in disbelief. “They still haven’t fixed that! That mistake was there when I first took the test! Of course, there are more than six wonderbolts! How else could we do shows and do missions for Princess Celestia at the same time? There are about fifty wonderbolts. Six of us just do the shows on the side to help fund the camps and stuff. Heck, only Soarin, Fleetfoot, and I are the only regular performers, the other three are always being switched out, but nopony notices, probably because I’m so good.” Spitfire finished with her patient smirk. Spitfire had continued to rave about her own skill for the rest of her celebration dinner, which had been held at the Rusty Horseshoe. Where Luna had eaten her first hayburger and fries and found she loved them to the point of ordering the castle staff to make them for her. That stopped after she found out how fattening they were. After the celebration, Luna spent the last week till the Gala going about her usual routine, with some exceptions. Seems many wonderbolts were eager to meet “Emerald Moon” since Spitfire has been so graciously singing her praises. Leading her to have to adopt her disguise more often than she had ever plan to. If Luna was being honest she loved the fact she got the chance to just “hang out” as the new term was and be a normal pony. What she didn’t like was she couldn’t do it as herself. She had once represented the element of honesty, it didn’t sit well with her to pretend to be somepony else. “Hey Emerald, why are you sitting in the corner, it’s a party out there!” boasted Fleetfoot with a deep red hue on her face, meaning she was drunk. “Spits is chatting up with the winner of the young fliers competition. Seems she scouting her next recruit, don’t get jealous now.” “I am hardly concerned. In fact, I welcome any new flier as long as they pass the standards,” Luna replies, knocking cups with Fleetfoot. “Ahem sister! Can’t have any snowflakes in the bolts! Wahoo!” Fleetfoot flew off into the crowd, snatching a dance partner from the mass of ponies. Luna could only shake her head at Fleetfoot’s antics. She was certainly an easy going mare when off duty. Kind of like Nightingale, actually Spitfire was a lot like Nightingale too. “Seems your spirit lives on my friend,” she said under her breath, thinking fondly of the metal winged pegasus. She would never forget what Nightingale did for her and Luna liked to think she would be proud of the wonderbolts that Firefly and her trained. They have truly restored her faith in Equestria’s new military. “There you are Emerald! Look who I go here,” Spitfire boasts presenting a star struck blue mare with rainbow hair. “Emerald Moon meet Rainbow Dash winner of the young flier competition, Rainbow Dash meet Emerald Moon our newest Wonderbolt. If you’re serious about joining the bolts look no further than the new recruit that got a hundred percent score!” “I only got a ninety-eight percent overall,” Luna rebutted, not wanting to lie more than she had to. Especially to the mare that now bared one of her former elements, the element of loyalty. One of the ponies that freed her from Nightmare’s control, she would be more impressed if Rainbow’s cheeks didn’t look like they were about to explode from excitement. Spitfire shrugs off her comment, “I round up. Anyway, I’m gonna leave you two alone. I gotta go pull Soarin away from his pie. He owes me a dance.” (Did she just dump Rainbow Dash on me?) Luna wonders as she stood nervously under the blue mare’s excited gaze, it was the same look she got when she was the Princess, the look of somepony thinking you were a god or something. She didn’t like it. “Hi…” “Oh my gosh! It’s so great to meet you! I mean I never heard of you before, but Spitfire talks so highly of you, so that must mean you’re really, really, awesome! Please, please tell me how you became a wonderbolt? What it the greatest moment of your life or what?” (Ok… she’s excited…) Coughing into her hoof Luna took a moment to try and organize her thoughts. Did she tell the truth or tell an embellished lie? To be frank, she’s had enough dishonesty lately, so it was time for some truth. She hopes it doesn't sour the young pegasus’s mood too much. “Well… one day I was found wondering the Wonderbolt base by accident and I challenged Spitfire to spar, saying if I win she would let me go and I won and she later asked me to take the wonderbolt test and I passed and here I am.” Rainbow Dash only stared at her, unblinking with her jaw slacked. “Is that it? You weren’t training and dreaming for this your entire life and you didn’t have to go through the academy either?” “Nope.” “That is… AWESOME! You must be the greatest flier in all of Equestria! I gotta challenge you someday! Hey if I beat you does that mean I can bypass the academy too? That would be so awesome!” (Wow, she has an ego. Yet she has a charm to her too, another one that might have Nightingale’s spirit. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of them were descents of Nightingale.) As Luna opens her mouth to speak, but Spitfire came back with a swaying Fleetfoot underwing. Spitfire looking none too happy with her wing pony, if Luna was into making bets she would say Fleetfoot got in the way of Spitfire’s and Soarin’s dance. Most likely Fleetfoot was about to do something embarrassing and there was no way Spitfire could let it slide. As captain, it was her job to keep up the wonderbolts public image. “Hey, Emmy wanna help me with Fleetfoot here? She needs to lie down… um… Em….” “Do not call me that,” Luna snaps at her making everypony recoil at just how angry she sounded. Ponies turned to see what the fuss was about making Luna hide her face beneath her bangs as she walks away, leaving Spitfire stunned. “What was that about?” Asks Rainbow Dash, saddened she didn’t get to hear Emerald’s answer to her question. “I don’t know,” Spitfire replies dejectedly, “Here take care of her; just don’t let her end up with some stallion.” Spitfire didn’t stay for Rainbow’s gushing over being given custody over Fleetfoot’s wellbeing and quickly chased after Princess Luna. At one of the corridors that led to the bathrooms, she saw a trail of wet droplets. Great, she had made the princess cry. Tapping the bathroom door she got no reply, after making sure no pony else was around, she entered. Inside Spitfire found Luna still in disguise staring at the mirror with a river of tears falling from her cheeks. “Um… Luna… are you ok? I’m sorry if I said something I shouldn’t have,” Spitfire said gently, uncertain what was wrong with the princess. She wasn’t wailing, so that was good, but she wasn’t making any other sounds either except for breathing as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. “I shouldn’t have taken this face,” Luna said suddenly, touching her face with her hoof. “This face… a face of a friend. A friend I killed. Her name was Emerald Cutter, but her nickname was Emmy. She was one of my patrollers, a pony I trusted and wanted to protect. She was the first to try and stop me after I had become Nightmare Moon. Two times she rose up to stop me. The first time I hurt her, the second, I killed her. I blew her heart to pieces all over the castle walls. I watched her die as our friends surrounded her in shock of what I had just done.” Speechless Spitfire walks up and sat next to Luna and laid her wing on the princess’s back and held her close. The princess continued to cry in silence, mourning the friend she killed. Another year another boring Gala standing and greeting ponies, really she should outsource this job. Sure one of the perks of attending the Gala was to meet the princess, but did she have to greet everypony? At least this year she had someone to suffer alongside her, her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. That may sound mean, but watching her student's adorable antics were her only source of entertainment. Though she had feeling Twilight would rather be discussing spell mechanics then shaking hooves, which made two of them. Smiling at another faceless noble, not that he was faceless, she just stopped paying attention. She was almost like a machine at this point. Say ‘welcome to the Gala’ watch Twilight make a funny face as she was interrupted, shake a hoof and repeat. (I wonder if I could make a machine me to do this. No, the mirror pool! Make one mirror pool clone and teach only how to greet and shake. Hopefully, no pony else finds that. Also, I should probably try and find the last of the clone pony guards and dispel them. I like the Bison and Stronghold clones, but I suppose it’s time to get rid of them. I wish Shining armor hadn’t started dying everyponies coats white, I can’t tell which ones are the clones and who are the real ponies!) “Um… Princess Celestia… what are you talking about?” Celestia’s eyes widened, was she muttering her thoughts again? “Talking about what Twilight?” She smiled hoping her student didn’t overhear too much. “Um… something about clones…?” (Crap.) Celestia smiled and patting Twilight on the head while laughing, “Oh Twilight, I was simply thinking of… a book… I read recently… a fiction book about clones. Certainly, I would not suggest twenty-five percent of the royal guards are actually ponies I cloned using a magical pool of water.” Twilight blinks, “That’s… oddly… specific.” “I jest Twilight, I jest, I was merry testing your sense of humor. I was curious to see if your new friends have had any effect in that regard is all.” “Oh,” Twilight said suddenly beaming with excitement, “did I pass?” She managed to dig herself out a hole, time to fill it in, “Yes. You passed, let’s go get some refreshments.” “But what about the… oh… we’re done. We’re done! Yay!” (I feel her excitement) thought Celestia, usually she was greeting ponies till the Gala ended, but with Twilight’s help, she managed to get done in half the time. (I’m outsourcing that job next year. Maybe Fancy’s wife can sub, she’s beautiful mare. Put a crown on her head and ponies probably can’t tell the difference between her and me. Speaking of which, did I clone myself once?) As Celestia and Twilight enter the main hall they came upon a scene of chaos as animals ran rampant and ponies scurried about in a panic. A yellow mare, who Celestia recognized as Twilight’s friend come screaming in from the gardens, while a white mare screamed at Blueblood, both covered in cake, pillars were on the ground, it was just like the Gala her last… second to last student… attended when she brought her friends. Luckily for Twilight, who was looking ready to freak out, she knew the answer to the situation. Celestia whispered “Run” to her adorable student, who called her friends to her and together they all from the rolling dumpster fire that was the Gala, one of Twilight’s friends breaking a glass slipper on the stairs as they ran. Celestia picked up the shattered shoe and tossed into the trash as she followed the six mares to a local donut shop where Spike was eating his fill on the sugary pastries. It was here Celestia imparted some of her vast wisdom upon the young group of mares, “Oh Twilight, the Grand Galloping Gala is always awful. That’s why I was so glad you and your friends wanted to attend. I was hoping you could liven things up since Luna didn’t want to come.” “Princess Luna didn’t want to attend? I mean I can see why now, but still wouldn’t she want to meet everypony after getting back?” The question though innocent brought about much darker memories for the alicorn, but she put on her best smile to keep the lively atmosphere alive. “Luna and the Gala have never mixed well. She’s had… some really bad times there.” (Like getting cow manure dumped on her by Yellowblood) “Really I wanted her to come meet a certain pony tonight more than anything.” “Who is that if I may ask?” Asked the white mare, Rarity was her name if Celestia remembered correctly. “Must be somepony important?” “She’s important to us,” Celestia answers. “Though she may not know how much, she’s descendant of a friend we knew long ago, I was hoping to introduce them, but perhaps tonight was not the best time.” “Oh, oh who is this pony? Do we know them?” The pink one, Pinkie was her name, shout excitedly. “You certainly met her, actually there were two ponies I wanted her to meet,” Celestia said looking right at Applejack, though the others didn’t seem to notice, “But perhaps another time would work better. I bid you fillies good night. I must retire.” “Goodnight Princess Celestia,” they all said, quickly falling back into their conversation. Outside Celestia orders the two guards that finally caught up to her to stand outside the donut shop and ordered them to make sure the group of friends made it home safe or if it was too late to make it back to Ponyville then to bring them to the castle. They had plenty of room there and it would be a long ride back to the little town by carriage. Flying up to the castle Celestia flew into Luna’s room, fully expecting to see her sister hard at work again, but instead found the room vacant. Doing a quick search spell she found her sister’s presence not far away within the castle bounds, but defiantly further than the kitchen or the bathroom. “Did she go to the Gala after all? How nice. I hope she enjoyed herself and at least got to hear Octavia play.” Celestia looked over the notes spread about the table, not really reading them as she was thinking of when Octavia’s next concert was, she was sure Luna would love to go see it. As she neared the end of the notes though a picture circled in red caught her attention. The picture was of the medal she gave Nightingale for her service during the Crystal War. Why would Luna be looking for that? The door to the study opened. Not wanting to be accused of spying Celestia quickly hid, which in hindsight would look like spying, but it was too late to change her mind now. Spitfire and Luna climb the stairs with both of them clad in wonderbolt uniforms. (Interesting. She went in disguise. How clever of her, I hope she got to enjoy… and those are tears on her face. Dammit! Can’t Luna ever just enjoy a night of dancing and merry making; was that so wrong for harmony’s sake?) Spitfire helped Luna to the stool, standing beside her sister and asking if she was ok. Luna, of course, answered she was fine because she didn’t like ponies worrying about her and urged Spitfire to go home. The wonderbolt captain did so, but clearly very reluctantly. “You can come out, I know your there Celestia,” Luna said aloud. She stepped out nervously, “Sorry I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” “I know,” Luna replied, “I sensed your presence just before we entered. If you’re gonna hide at least shield your magic.” “I’ll remember that for the future,” said Celestia walking up to stand beside Luna as her sister began to peer over her research. “So these are the keys you are searching for that will open the door beneath the old castle?” Luna nodded, “Correct. I have found one, but Allure’s Earrings and Nightingale’s badge are still from my grasp. I want to find all them as soon as possible.” “Perhaps, I could be of help.” Luna’s body went rigged as she slowly turned to stare at her, “You know the locations of one of the keys? Where and for how long?” That distrustful tone again, it saddens her to be reminded of the trust lost between them, “Only till now. Had you told me what you were looking for I would have told you right away,” Celestia points to Nightingale’s badge. “After she left to see the world Nightingale left her most treasured possessions to a certain pony.” “Who,” demanded Luna. “I will tell you, but I want you to do something for me first and before you ask it’s nothing political. I just want to spend time together and I know the moment I tell you, you will go rushing off. I want to spend just a little quantity time together before you go world trotting.” “So the location is outside of Equestria’s borders then, fine I will agree to your terms, what do you want to do?” “I wish for us to see a concert together. One of the performers is a pony I think you would like to meet.” Luna stares skeptically at her, which was fine, she didn’t like being so cryptic with her sister, but she also wants this to be a surprise. “Please, Luna?” Luna sighed in defeat, “No need to beg, I will attend thy concert wholeheartedly. The music of this new era has proven to have much appeal. Now the location and the pony I seek.” “Like I said Nightingale gave her badge to a certain pony in a faraway land in the east.” “A pony in the far east…Kira!” Luna shouts with excitement upon her realization, “Does that mean?” Celestia nods, “Nightingale’s badge is in Nippon.”