At the gala
Pinkie pie was shacking uncontrollably as Rarity was putting her dress on her all the while repeating
"We’re going to the gala! We’re going to the gala!" Rarity was surprised pinkie was keeping as still as she was but still huffed as the pink pony bounced knocking the piece of ribbon the unicorn was trying to fit onto the dress across the room.
"Pinkie could you please just stay still for 5 minutes!"
"But I'm too excited I mean come on we’re going to the grand galloping gala! The greatest party there is!" The pink mare must’ve forgotten about what had happened at the gala the previous year or that she even went before Rarity thought to herself. After much struggling and a few more choice words Rarity was satisfied with her work, calling for the next of her friends to come in to the room she had shut off so that she could fit the dresses in privacy. After some time and a long argument with Applejack saying she just wanted the dress she wore last year and with much resistance Rarity finally gave in not wanting to waste any more time.
As the ponies walked out fully dressed for the gala they were greeted by a very sick looking spike who had insisted on seeing them off. His jaw dropped at the very sight of them. Pinkie was wearing a frilly skirt incredibly similar to a tutu coloured pink, blue and white and had a small white beret atop her curly hair giving her the image of some form of incredibly sweet cake.
Fluttershy had green high heels on that had straps going most of the way up her legs giving the effect of vines. Along with this she had a long green flowing dress adorned with many flowers of different types and colours. Then in her hair was a lily acting as a hair clip. She was nuzzling Rainbow to her left who had a cape that was kept short at her request, being tired of standing on the ends of her previous outfit. It shimmered in the light and almost seemed to change colour as it was looked at going every single colour in the spectrum. Combined with this was a necklace made out of a fine cotton giving the look of clouds being around her neck hanging from it a beautiful ruby cut into a bolt of lightning the same as her cutie mark which Rarity was most proud of.
Applejack was to the far right of the group wearing the same clothes she had worn at last year’s gala but had let her hair out of its usual ponytail for once after a great deal of convincing letting it fall straight giving her a certain amount of grace with her trademark Stetson topping her head.
To her side Twilight was wearing a brilliant blue dress almost the same colour as Princess Luna’s mane with incredibly small diamonds sewn into it to give the effect of the night sky. Her mane had been puffed up a bit from its usual straight demeanour with all manner of hair products giving the impression there was more of it than there actually was.
In the centre of the group stood Rarity wearing a brilliant flowing dress in a deep purple with a glass tiara atop her head and wearing a pair of high heels the same colour as her dress. A simple wow was all that could escape the dragons mouth before he began coughing uncontrollably which made twilight give him a concerned look
“You should really be inside resting instead of out here in the cold” Spike spoke back to twilight through a blocked nose making his speech sound incredibly strained and quiet
“I plan on doing allot of resting Twi but I at least wanted to see your dresses before you leave tonight seeing as I won’t be able to come”
“Fine but you best get straight home after we leave” she said giving him the look of a mother worrying over a sick infant.
Pinkie cried out as she saw the royal carriage land just a few feet from them, Celestia had offered to send it to them to save trouble of having to get a carriage of their own. Each of them got into the carriage excitedly eager to spend the night with each other in Twilight’s home town. As Rarity climbed she spoke in her most regal voice
“Thank you so kindly gentlemen” as she addressed the Pegasus guards pulling the carriage.
“Always the flirt huh Rarity” Twilight said jokingly to her as she got into the carriage herself.
“What do you mean?! I wasn’t flirting I was merely giving my thanks to these fine gentlemen” her pure white cheeks went red as she spoke the words making Twilight giggle slightly.
As the carriage took off the purple unicorn looked over the side to see Spike wandering slowly in the direction of Ponyville library, coughing and spluttering all the way. She sighed as she realised it would be the first time she had been to Canterlot without him since she hatched him from an egg.
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The Royal city of Canterlot was a sight to behold on any night but it was even grander than usual with the castle lit up entirely. Fireworks were being set off from some of the many rooftops and the general commotion of the most exclusive night of the year with only the most rich, famous and well known ponies attending. Making Twilight and her friends stick out from the crowd due to their relative lack of fame. Even being the embodiment of the elements of harmony wasn’t enough to set them aside from most common ponies which they were glad for.
As the carriage landed gracefully outside the main entrance to the castle the crowds started cheering as they put their hooves onto the luxurious red carpet leading up to the door the 6 walked up with Fluttershy hiding in the middle of them, Rainbow Dash was lapping up the attention and Rarity was trying to look as glamorous as she could posing for the crowd. Pinkie was skipping all the way singing to herself excited at being at the ultimate party, Applejack merely kept walking not paying much attention to the crowds and Twilight was trying to take everything in noticing a few ponies like Sapphire shores. As she walked she looked into the crowd seeing a few ponies she recognised from the academy screaming as they saw their old acquaintance.
As the six mares entered the castle the air changed. It was allot more calm and quiet compared to the outside but there was still a drone of voices from various ponies talking to each other and soft music was being played. But it was quiet enough to be heard without having to raise their voices that much. As they joined the queue to be greeted by the princess Twilight looked up and realised that it wasn't Celestia greeting the ponies but instead
“Princess Luna” she said to herself in the shock of seeing the night pony in such a high profile place considering how nervous she was at talking to all the ponies at the nightmare night celebration. The others looked up as Twilight said the words them too being shocked to see her with pinkie letting out an audible gasp similar to the one she did when she first met Twilight prompting a few looks from some of the many dignitaries. As they got to the top of the stairs Luna gave them a warm smile in seeing the ponies before her.
“Twilight sparkle it is good to see you” she spoke in a quieter voice than she had done when they last met making Twilight smile as they shook hoofs
“Princess it’s a pleasure and it is good to see you’ve been working on your speech as well” Luna giggled as Twilight spoke
“Yes we thought it be best to work on talking to other ponies in fact it is why we are in this position tonight so that we may help shake off more of the fear for us” she said this whilst shaking the others hoofs until she got to Pinkie remembering her from her visit to Ponyville.
“Ah the ringleader of the children” reaching out a hoof to the pink mare who was shaking out of nerves now remembering the trouble she caused for the princess and slowly raised her hoof out shaking the one held before her
“It appears we finally got the hoof shake that we tried to get on nightmare night” the princess chuckled easing Pinkie a bit and making a smile appear on her face
“Our sister is in the main hall we shall be along soon as there are not many other guests to greet” she spoke this realising that Twilight was looking around for her mentor
“Oh, thank you Luna” Twilight said blushing, they then all bowed and carried on into the main hall of the castle.
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“Ack Flootashy!” the unique accent of photo finish popped up as the strange looking pony corralled the extremely nervous Fluttershy making her squeak in fright at the sudden appearance of her photographer from when she was a model.
“Ah graceful as alvays ze best model I have ever vorked vith you must come back to ze modelling community” Fluttershy trembled remembering how bad things got living in the spotlight.
“Um…no thank you” the Pegasus squeaked making photo finish’s face droop into a depressed look.
“I vill never have as graceful a model as the great Flootashy” she said walking away solemnly Fluttershy didn’t have much time to think as she was given a massive hug and a kiss on the cheek from Rainbow causing her cheeks to go scarlet.
“I didn’t think you would be confident enough to tell her no” the Rainbow mare spoke with a huge grin on her face happy at how much confidence Fluttershy gained since they became mare-friends.
“I just thought back to when I did that before and remembered how much I hated all of it” Fluttershy spoke with an incredible softness but squeaked the final word as her eyes landed on a pegasus in the crowd she recognised. It was her father. Lance looked around as he heard the squeak against the drone of conversation around him and looked over to see that Rainbow mare and his daughter looking right at him one’s eyes were filled with disgust and the latter with fear. He immediately turned and walked into the crowd and joined the discussion not really paying attention to what they were talking about.
The two pegasi moved away from where they had spotted the doctor to the others who had inevitably found princess Celestia. She was engaged in conversation with an earth pony who Twilight recognised from the newspapers as a Young CEO of a company based in Manehattan. As the approached they overheard part of the conversation that he and the princess were engrossed in.
“So how is the orphanage your majesty? I hope the donation I made has helped with the running of things” he spoke with wisdom far beyond his years and a genuine concern for the Canterlot orphanage. Something Twilight thought that most ponies of this calibre didn’t care about except for publicity.
“Your donation has done allot more than just help 5 million bits is in no way a small amount to just give away” The princess spoke with the gentleness that she was infamous for.
“I’ve never seen of such a large contribution before. I thought you had gone mad”
“so did the board members” the pony laughed at the thought.
“Oh princess I believe you have some guests” Celestia turned and the smile on her face grew as she saw her student
“Twilight sparkle! I’m glad you could make it, I was just talking with Bruce here about a rather sizable contribution his company made to the Canterlot orphanage last month”
“Please your highness you treat me like I'm some sort of hero. He laughed as he pictured the princess erecting a statue of him
“I think the children deserve something to smile about. I mean my parents were murdered when I was just a little colt but I still had someone to look after me and compared to many foals was in a very privileged state. So the least I could do is donate some of the leftover funds to the orphanage after giving everyone in the company a bonus for their hard work. Oh if you will please excuse me I have a matter I must attend to.” At that he suddenly left picking up a drink from a nearby waiter and latched onto another smartly dressed pony and began discussing something with him that from the look on his face as he turned back was obviously already boring him.
“My faithful student how are you? You must simply tell me about your adventures in Ponyville and what you learnt about friendship. Its all well and good getting letters from you but there is nothing quite like talking about something in person wouldn’t you agree?”
As Twilight looked around she saw her friends had split off to each do their different things leaving her alone with the princess. Rainbow was talking with the wonderbolts with a very nervous Fluttershy next to her darting her gaze around the room. Rarity was conversing with Hoity Toity most likely about fashion, Pinkie was talking to her sister Octavia as she had gotten a break for a few minutes as another band was on the small stage playing music and Applejack was at the buffet table looking at most of the food with a confused look on her face.
“Well as it appears we have some free time then let’s talk” Twilight spoke with a sense of glee at being able to talk long into the night with her mentor.