"Wow, your first Gala! That's so exciting!" Twilight said with a smile, eager to see if she and her mentor shared any of the same experiences regarding this event. "At least I can be sure that it was not nearly as horrible as my first... It was a complete and utter fiasco!"
Celestia laughed. "Yes, yours definitely did not go according to plan. But Donut Joe always makes the most delicious donuts!"
"That he does," she agreed. "So, was it better than mine?"
"Definitely not, Twilight." Twilight's eyes widened in horror. "It was far worse."
~ ~
For the week leading up to the start of the Gala, we were informed that we would be refraining from our usual lessons to instead focus on learning the etiquette and manner of behaving while under the watchful eyes of the elite citizens. Not only would this time allow us to potentially learn these skills, but it would also allow the Professor time to clean up the magical mess than had once been the Room of Fears, as I had decided to call it.
I was looking forward to the opportunity to perfect my social skills, but the other two only saw it as a prime mocking opportunity.
"Ah, yes, Sir Discord, how is your tea?" Luna said with an exaggerated elite accent.
"Oh, quite excellent, Madam Luna. But I do believe that I require more candy of the cotton variety, yes," Discord replied in a similarly pompous manner, magically endowing both he and Luna with top hats and monocles.
Luna began to giggle, but then coughed to return to her accent. "Quite right, uh, you spiffy guy."
They continued in this way while en route to our first lesson with a unicorn we had not met yet who supposedly had written around twenty books all on the theory of manners. She certainly knew a lot about the subject, but whether she could turn the two oddballs next to me into proper members of royalty was another subject entirely.
When we reached the hall near the practice room, however, our group was interrupted by a guard. Maybe it was one we had seen before, but it was difficult to tell anymore.
"Miss Celestia, the Princess wishes to see you," the guard announced.
"Oh, but shouldn't it wait until the end of my etiquette lesson? It's just about to start."
"The Princess requests your presence immediately. She is not as interested in you taking the class as she is for these three," the guard responded, looking over at the group of two that became three with the sudden arrival of Sombra.
I glanced at Luna and Discord, who both had miniature tea cups in their hands, probably magically brought there by Discord. Sure, they were a bit silly, but why shouldn't I be taking the class as well? I did not want to deny a specific request from the Princess, though, so I convinced myself that whatever this was surely had to be important.
"Okay. I will come with you," I finally agreed.
Luna's eyes widened, knocking off her monocle. "What?! Why doesn't Celestia have to take this dumb class?"
"Now, now, Madam Luna," Discord said, taking a sip from his tiny teacup. "Celestia is simply not fancy enough to take this elite class."
He lit up his horn and suddenly I was wearing a clown wig. I glared at him. "Thanks..." I muttered sarcastically, pulling off the wig as I followed the guard down the hall.
~ ~
The guard escorted me down a long hallway until we arrived at the throne room. I had not had a chance to fully examine the throne room much during my time here, so it was easy to feel daunted by the high ceilings and the massive throne that commanded the attention of the entire room. I took a moment to admire a particularly stunning glass window with the image of the Princess standing triumphantly atop a bright green hill when I heard her say, "Ah, Celestia, how good it is to see you!"
I moved my eyes to the source of her voice and saw her standing in front of two tables that both had three-dimensional designs of different places. One I recognized as likely the plan for the upcoming Gala decorations, but the other was unfamiliar. It almost looked like a scale model of Canterlot, with a giant castle at its head, but it was also different somehow. It was definitely shinier.
"Admiring my models, are you? Yes, they are quite wonderful and detailed," the Princess said, gesturing for me to come take a closer look. "This one here has the design for our upcoming Gala. I knew it was going to be difficult to top the marvelous decorations from last time, but I believe we have. Don't you agree?"
I examined the designs more closely. Although I had nothing of the same quality to compare it to, other than the holiday festivals back home in my small town, it certainly seemed like the team that had designed it had spared no expense in ensuring that this Gala was the most impressive and regal Gala thus far. I could not even begin to notice all of the intricate details that seemed to range from the carefully shaped dance floor to the mats that were placed outside the doors that were works of art.
"It's...amazing! I cannot wait to see what the castle looks like when the day finally arrives," I complimented.
The Princess smiled at my approval. "Nor can I, dear Celestia." She turned to the other table. "Now this one here I am sure that you have never seen before."
She paused, so I said, "No, it doesn't look familiar. It does kind of look like Canterlot."
"So it does, but it is not Canterlot. This model is a complete map of the newly established Crystal Empire."
She seemed to have been expecting a gasp or something from me, but I did not know enough about what she was described to be surprised.
"The...Crystal Empire? What's that?"
Walking around to the other side of the table and across from me, she explained, "The Crystal Empire was very recently established as the royal land of the Crystal Ponies." I was about to interrupt, but she continued. "These Crystal Ponies, for the last few years at least, have been living in the North as little more than peasants for many years, keeping to the icy caves for protection, but recently they have acquired enough wealth and power to form their own empire. It is truly a wonderful place and, myself being the ruler of Equestria, I gave them these designs to help them construct their new empire. It certainly helps build foreign relations, don't you think?"
Unsure as to why she was asking my opinion, I replied, "Well, I think so. It was a nice thing to do, that's for sure."
"Definitely. So, why do you think I called you in here to show this all to you?" the Princess asked, pausing to give me a chance to think.
I had been looking for the opportunity to ask her the same question, but I hadn't been expecting her to turn the question back to me. "Maybe...because there will be representatives from the Crystal Empire at the Gala and you wanted one of us to have specific knowledge about them?"
The Princess smiled. "Well...I suppose that is part of it, yes. And I wanted to show you that I value your input and would like to see how you react to seeing the duties of the Princess."
That seemed a bit suspicious to me and vaguely reminded me of my vision of fear. "But why just me?" I asked, even if I thought it might be speaking out of turn. "Why not invite the others to see this as well? You know I'll tell them all about what happened. Even if I don't bring it up, they are sure to ask what I've been doing."
If this surprised the Princess, she didn't show it. "Ah, the others. Perhaps I will invite them later, assuming they learn something from that manners class. I assumed that class would be a bit menial for you, don't you agree?"
There she was again, turning the questions back towards me. "Umm...I suppose," I reluctantly responded. I still was not entirely convinced, but I decided to see how the Princess acted in the coming days. Maybe she really did believe that I would be more useful here since I already knew how to behave myself. The more I went over this in my mind, the more I convinced myself it was true.
For the duration of their class, I spent the time with the Princess going over the layout of the Crystal Empire, discovering where the castle was located, where she had decided to place the library, and where it was located in reference to Canterlot. Eventually, a guard entered to inform the Princess that the etiquette tutor had had enough for the day, so I was released to join my friends.
When I exited the throne room, the two were already standing there with no sign of Sombra. I was about to mention how it seemed that he was more absent than usual when I was shocked by the state of their appearances. They were both still wearing their top hats and monocles but somehow had embellished their costumes to the point that they were in full on, over the top "fancy" clothes. Luna was in a sparkly, bright pink dress that was so poofy that her body seemed to be at least twice her normal size. Her mane had been curled so much that it was even fuller than the hideous clown wig Discord had bestowed upon me earlier.
Speaking of Discord, he was just as horrifyingly dressed, wearing a giant purple overcoat with tails that extended onto the floor behind him. Underneath that, he wore bright green, striped pants and shoes that were so pointy they would have popped a balloon. The entire sight was too much for me to take in.
"What...are you?"
"Celestia! Thank goodness we have found you. Luna and I have become proper gentleponies now!" Discord said with an even more obnoxious accent than earlier, if that was even possible.
"What did you two do in there?" I asked, unsure if I really wanted the answer.
"It was a lot of fun!" Luna coughed. "I mean, it was indeed rather fancy, I say."
"...And the instructor?" I said, not sure what I wanted to ask.
"Umm..." the two both said, turning back towards the room.
Down the corridor next to us walked a pony wearing a dress that was as awful as Luna's who seemed to have an expression that was both seething with rage and welling up with tears. I did not want to know what had happened in that class, but I felt pity for the poor manners instructor.
"Anyway," Discord said as their outfits magically disappeared. "What were you up to with the Princess? Talking about secret crushes and gushing over each others' manes?"
"Well, she showed me a model of what the Gala is going to look like, and then she taught me about the Crystal Empire," I mentioned.
"The Crystal Empire? Is that anything like the Rock Candy Empire?" Discord asked.
"Ooh, what is that?" Luna asked at the same time.
As we walked back to our rooms, I explained what I could remember regarding what the Princess had taught me.
"Wow, I didn't know that there was another place like Canterlot. I wonder why the Princess wanted to tell you about it..." Luna pondered.
"Is it up by the Crystal Mountains? I think I've been up there before... Oh, that's right! I got kicked out after I really did turn one of the mountains into rock candy. That was a fun trip..." Discord reminisced.
"I'm not sure why the Princess wanted me to know about all this, but it was interesting, at least."
We all nodded and then Discord continued describing how he had gone about transforming the mountain, even until long after we had stopped listening.
~ ~
The next few days were the same; Discord, Luna, and Sombra would attend the etiquette class while I spent time with the Princess. I was allowed in on some of her diplomatic meetings, was introduced to some of the visitors, and even had a chance one day to lead the court where ponies would come to make requests of the Princess. It was engaging and interesting work, but as each day passed, I became more guilty that my friends were not here with me. I had attempted a few times toward the beginning of the week to convince the Princess to allow them to join me, but to no avail. She insisted that the etiquette class was necessary, even if each instructor had to be replaced by another at the end of each day because of the terror that was Discord and Luna.
Still, I managed to convince myself that I would continue these learning experiences until after the Gala, since then the Princess could not use the lessons as an excuse. Until then, however, I would allow myself to enjoy the feeling as acting of the Princess of Equestria...even if that meant doing so alone.