//------------------------------//
// A Fitting End With A Wonderful Twist 
// Story: Book 1: A New Element of Friendship 
// by Medley of MLP 
//------------------------------//


A New Element of Harmony



A Fitting End With A Wonderful Twist


Today was finally the day everypony had been waiting for. The event that was talked about non-stop since a week ago. The one where it sent Rarity into a tailspin making sure everything was put together. Especially today, since now it was time for us to put on the outfits she made for us so long ago. I was especially excited to go, seeing as this would be one of the first major events I attended with all of the friends I had made in Ponyville.

My thoughts kept on drifting back to Twily though as I crashed out of bed, wondering what she would think of tonight. I quickly tried to stop any and all train of thought related to that as I got my saddlebags and headed outside. Along the way, I met up with almost everypony else that was going, which consisted of AJ, Dash and Shy.

“Heya Med. Excited fer tanight?” AJ asked with a small grin.

“Of course I am. Not only will I be at a fun little upper class party, but it’ll be with my friends.” I grinned back.

“Yeah. That, and Twilight’s going too, which means you’ll have even more fun.” Dash snickered at me.

I huffed as we approached the rest of the group, with Rarity complaining about how long we were taking. Considering that it was only just turning noon, I don’t see how we could’ve been any earlier unless we were camped out right beside her place the night before.

“Hold yer horses girls, we’re here.” AJ called out to Twily, Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike, now making it a complete group of 8.

“Perfect! I’m ready.” Twily chirped as she put down her book and got up.

“For what?” Dash eagerly asked.

“Alright Spike.” Twily asked Spike, ignoring Dash’s question for now. Spike, in turn, had brought out an apple, and set it on the ground.

“Oooo! An apple! Are we gonna have a cake?” Pinkie randomly questioned.

“Shush! Just watch!” Spike spoke in awe as we all turned to watch.

Twily concentrated for a moment on the apple, her magic building up in her horn. She had this intense look about her, as though she was putting every thought into the spell she wanted to do. She looked so focused and persistent on her task and… sorry, trailed off for a moment there. Where was I? Oh, right, transforming the apple. Well, after a small moment, the apple grew and transformed into a carriage, straight out of Cinderella.

We all gave our compliments as Twily gave a light smile. “Thanks. But that’s just the start. Fluttershy, did you bring your friends?”

Shy smiled as some white mice popped out from the top of her head. “Yes… Will they be safe, Twilight?” She looked concerned as she let the mice scamper down onto the ground.

Twily waved off her concerns as she replied back. “You have my word.”

She then, with the same spell as before, turned the mice into… very… odd… horses. Like they were still mice, with whiskers and some sort of frame, but was as tall as a normal horse. It was… quite the experience. Twily beamed as we gave our opinions on the matter.

“Neat, huh? Don’t worry, they’ll be mice again by midnight!” Twily gave a large smile.

Of course, since things had to go wrong on an important day like today, Rarity’s cat Opal attacked the mice-horsey hybrids, making them flee off into the Everfree. Twily tried to call them back, but to no avail.

“Those horses were supposed to pull our carriage! Now what are we supposed to do?” Twily looked downtrodden, her head hanging a little.

“Well… maybe Spike and I could pull the carriage up?” I offered up to the group.

“Yeah. A baby dragon can totally pull a cart with 5 horses in it like a pegasus can.” Dash deadpanned.

I rolled my eyes a little. “Fine then, I can-”

“Oh no you don’t!” Rarity vehemently denied. “I will not have you being dirtied and sweaty when putting on the outfit!”

I raised my hooves in surrender. “OK, OK, I was just suggesting.”

“That still leaves what we need to do!” Pinkie panicked, maybe a little too dramatically.

“Whatever shall we do?” Rarity seemed to follow along as she looked over at some stallions that were nearby.

Rarity strutted over to a couple of stallions that were by each other. “Excuse me, dear stallions. Would you perhaps mind pulling our carriage to the Gala?” She batted her eyelashes at the two.

They readily agreed to the task as Twily looked slightly embarrassed. “Oh. Hehe… Right.”

I gave a small chuckle. “Well… at least we found a way. That was a pretty inventive way though, and we still have a carriage at least.”

Twilight gave a light giggle before looking at me. Strangely enough, all she did was give a small blush and quickly look away. I was a little bit confused, and also blushing lightly if the small snickering was anything to go by.

“Alright girls. Time to get ready for the Gala starting now!” Rarity beamed as she gathered everyone but me and Spike.

“W-Wait, you forgot us!” Spike exclaimed.

Rarity gave a small smile as she looked back. “I believe it will not take as much time for you two to be perfect. Therefore, you have 1 hour to do what you want before you return.” She then looked a little creepy as she stared us down. “NO later than 1 hour. Understand?”

We both rapidly shook our heads as Rarity happily brought the girls into her boutique, leaving me and Spike alone with the small group of stallions. It was an awkward couple of minutes before I spoke up.

“Arcade?” I hesitated a little on that.

“Yeah… arcade works…” Spike gave an awkward nod as we made our way over.

It took me a moment before I realized that this was the first time I actually ever spent some time alone with Spike. The closest we ever got included Big Mac in our game of Ogres & Oubliettes. Which is in no way, shape, or form connected to any other popular franchises of table-top RPG’s that involve dice and character sheets. Not in the slightest.

In any case, I tried to strike up a conversation with Spike. “So… um… how’s it going with Twily- er… Twilight?”

Spike gave me a look for an uncomfortable amount of time before shrugging a little, looking as uncomfortable as I was. “It’s fine. Lots of reading for sure.”

I gave a nod as we walked along before making another attempt. “How often does she reshelve those books? It feels like once a week.”

Spike shook his head. “Nah. About twice a month. She has a list for what order to do all the books in too.”

“That… sounds so very much like her.” I nodded my head as we made it to the arcade.

Before we went in though, I was stopped by a comment made by Spike. “OK, what is up with you and Twilight?”

I turned around, looking confused and hopefully not at all flustered. “Um… er… no comment? Y-Yeah, no comment, nothing to say.”

“Wow. Just like Applejack in your lying skills.” Spike deadpanned.

“And it looks like you got your snarkiness from Dash, so it’s even.” I grinned, trying to avoid the earlier conversation entirely.

“Ha ha. Still haven’t answered my question, Medley.” Spike spoke in such a serious tone that sounded like he wasn’t backing down from this.

I gave an awkward smile before sighing, giving in as I knew this was serious. Given that he usually called me by the group nickname for me, using the full first name gave it some weight.

“I honestly don’t know, Spike. I’m not sure I can be in a relationship with her at all. What with her being Celestia’s student, and from Canterlot. Besides, I’m sure there’s plenty of mares and even a few stallions she has her eyes on, and I’m alright with being a good friend.” I laid out, grateful we were now at least away from the main entrance.

Spike simply raised an eyebrow as he went for the jugular quickly. “She seems to spend a lot of time fantasizing about somepony, and she usually mentions being able to “soar and explore the sky”. That doesn’t sound anything like you at all?”

“Oh please. There’s a bunch of Factory ponies that’d love to be with Twily- *cough cough* Twilight.” I stumbled a bit, reflexively saying the nickname I had for her out of habit.

“Which ones have ‘fur as pure as a perfect cloud’ again?” Spike argued.

I actually had to think about that before starting to sweat a little bit. “Um… er… a few… sh-she could still be talking about anypony else!”

“Oh, and I almost forgot ‘singing clear through my heart and making me forget everything I knew except for the wonderous song’. Still anypony there?” Spike snickered a slight bit.

Now I was starting to really sweat, as that pretty much brought it down to only a few. And she wouldn’t even know the other two, so all that left was… me? I was about to say such a thing, but apparently all I could muster were some sputters. Spike was wearing a very wide grin before looking dead serious. And what was it with everyone making very good scary faces, LaurFastia damn it!

“All I can say is… if you ever make her cry… you’ll be toast.” Spike foreboding me with a crackling glare.

It was at times like these where I questioned my life, and wondered how it got to the point where I’d be talking to a baby dragon. Then being scared by said baby dragon, who was intelligent enough to know how to work Twily’s ever-changing library and her tendencies. I quickly nodded as Spike gave a small nod back.

“Alright, just wanted to be clear. Anyways, let’s hit up some of the machines. Hey, I bet you’d make all the highscores on the karaoke machine!” Spike laughed as he ran inside.

It took me a bit to recover from the emotional whiplash, but soon enough, I dashed in with him, wanting to forget that entire conversation ever took place. Yet, as I started playing, my mind still drifted back to the conversation that Spike and I had just moments ago. What were my feelings towards Twily? I knew that I liked her a lot, but was that as a friend or as something a little more romantic?

It seems as though I was wrestling with the question longer than I thought, because soon enough, Spike was getting me for our own preparations for the Gala. I didn’t even realize an hour had passed me by. Nevertheless, I went along with Spike back to Rarity’s place. On the way back, we had another conversation, this one at least a little less confusing.

“I still can’t believe we’re going to the Gala tonight!” Spike started off in an excited voice. “The best part is, we all get to hang out together all night long!”

“While I admire the enthusiasm… we all want to do separate things. Well, in the ladies cases, they want to do completely opposite things. I need to be elsewhere, as I have some noble ponies that wanted me to perform especially for them, and paid a fair amount of bits in order to see me do just that. They all have their tickets, so it’s up to me to give them a show that was worth the ticket.” I explained calmly, even as I felt bad about doing so.

Spike had this downtrodden expression on his face as his head was down. “Oh… OK…”

I sighed a little before giving a small smile. “Hey now. We’ll all still be able to spend some time together as a group. Just not the whole night.”

This cheered up Spike considerably, and it probably helped that we were nearly at the Carousel Boutique. I rolled my eyes with a light smile as Spike picked up his pace a bit, eager to see Twily, but probably more so Rarity. I still had no idea why she wanted to meet Prince Blueballs… Blueblood… so badly, even after she had been warned. But since she could be as stubborn as AJ in some cases, I figured it’d be best to let her learn from experience, as no amount of convincing on my part was going to change her mind.

Soon enough, we were escorted into a smaller room by Rarity that had both our outfits on, and a small shower to wash off in. It reminded me of the few times I was in acting, and how the guy’s dressing rooms were usually smaller and more barren.

“Do please hurry with your outfits, darlings. We don’t want to dilly-dally in the slightest. I want to have as much time as we can at the Gala, and we need to leave very soon.” Rarity commanded of us before closing the door on us.

Since we didn’t have any time to try and talk with her, we both kinda shrugged as Spike went in first, quickly rinsing off and drying before struggling with his suit. I went in right after, and repeated the same process as Spike did, albeit with a little more difficulty, seeing as I lacked any active magic or opposable digits like Spike’s claws. Soon enough though, with a little bit of help from Spike, I was in my complete outfit for the Gala, as was Spike. All that was needed was the approval of Rarity and that would be the last thing to do before getting in and heading off to Canterlot for the Gala.

After waiting another 15 minutes, Spike looked fed up and was impatiently marching in circles. “Aw come on! How long does it take for them to be ready??”

“Hey now Spike. Remember now, this is them we’re talking about. While AJ or Dash may not care a lot, I’m sure Rarity and even Twily… Twi, are making sure everything’s perfect. Plus, you also gotta remember that for guys like us, we’re expected to wait for them. So, just relax a bit and-” I was cut off by the sound of hooves coming down from upstairs.

Sure enough, all the ladies were done as a set, and were ready to head out now. It was around twilight hours that things were finally in place for everypony. And I had to behoove it to Rarity. She really knew how to bring out the best in everyone there. While she kept it simple and manageable for me and Spike, the ladies themselves were done up in an incredible fashion, showing off every bit of their charm, and their beauty. I was especially blown away though by Twily. I know I had seen her in her outfit before, for the little presentation put on for Hoity Toity. But now that there was no pressure on any of us at the moment, I could take a moment to look at her in full detail.

Twily looked over at me after wrapping up a small conversation she was having with Shy, and started to blush. I guess I had been staring way longer than I thought I did as I shook myself out of it. Now my mind was either concentrating on the image of Twily or it was panicking that now I looked like a creep.

“So… um… all good to go?” I awkwardly squeaked out.

“Of course! One quick moment though darlings.” Rarity spoke up, giving us a look over as she made minute adjustments and applied some basic make-up on me as well. “There we are! Absolutely dashing figures!”

We all then got into the carriage, with Spike at the reins on the outside. While on our way up, we started having multiple conversations. And I had to admit, I got sucked into a couple of them as well. For the most part though, I just kept to myself and looked out at the beautiful sky outside the window. It was only after I heard my name being called a few times did I look back at the ladies, looking a little sheepish.

“Hey, y’all right there, Med? Seem kinda quiet, even by Shy’s standards.” AJ asked, looking a little concerned.

“No, no, I’m all good. Just drifting off, that’s all.” I waved a hoof off… er… handedly.

“If you say so. We wanna make sure you don’t bail out or somethin last minute.” Dash grinned as she lightly hit my shoulder.

I gave a small wince and wide grin. “No worries, ladies. I’m completely and utterly fine.”

“Oh, glad to hear it! We totally don’t want you to bomb for your special show, in front of dozens of high-class ponies. Who all paid a lot of money in order to see it for themselves too!” Pinkie beamed innocently.

...OK, now that’s when I started to panic a little. What if I did make myself look like an utter idiot on front of them? Not only would my reputation be dragged through the mud, but Twily would also be disappointed in me. I probably looked only a little terrified to the others, but I think I hid it so well.

“Um… Medley?” I could hear Shy faintly as she… did something. I don’t know for sure, it didn’t register with me.

“Oh fer cryin out-” AJ poked me on the nose hard.

This definitely brought me back out from the horrible visions. Like… the ones I had of me epically bombing my small solo concert for tonight. Just as an example, of course.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Med?” Twily asked me in concern.

I turned to her for a moment, lightly blushing as I gave a small smile and chuckle. “D-Don’t worry! Perfectly fine!”

Everypony else didn’t look so convinced, but were stopped as we saw ourselves getting very close to the castle. The ladies all looked pretty excited, and aside from any fears that I had of losing it, I was actually kinda excited myself. After all, the last time I was in Canterlot was… my… erm… Anyways!

It was night time when we finally arrived. But the view was so… breathtaking. The way the castle was lit up against the dark backdrop. The collection of ponies actually looking like they were enjoying themselves. And of course… the ladies that were with me to make it the best night ever!

Soon enough, we stopped as Spike, being a gentledrake, opened the door for us. We all started filling out, with me being the last out of the carriage. Spike quickly caught up with us, making a total of 7 ponies, plus one young dragon, anxious and excited.

“I can't believe we're finally here. With all that we've imagined, the reality of this night is sure to make this... The Best Night Ever!” Twily yelled out happily as fireworks flew overhead.

I could feel music building up, and as though I was transported to another dimension… we all started to sing. First up was Shy, who was still eager to meet the creatures that were here, and admittedly, there were probably there for that night only. And Shy would need a ticket in order to go see them.

Next up was AJ, who had the smarter idea of making a few connections in high society. And there were so many possibilities open at the Gala, that her ticket could prove that they weren’t “backwater country ponies”. I hoped she found at least one or two nobles she could stand long enough to make a business deal with, but the chances were pretty low.

The next to sing was Rarity, who sung about, what else, her “Prince Charming”. Who was anything but charming, or even remotely interested in someone from Ponyville like Rarity. I’m not saying that to mean, that’s just the impression he gave off. Nevertheless, her having a ticket could possibly make him appreciate her as the wonderful mare she is.

Dash came in next, and to no one’s surprise, she wanted to spend time with the Wonderbolts. She already had done some amazing feats worthy of the Wonderbolts themselves, including saving them on a few occasions. Unfortunately, now she’d have to endure the more social aspect of a team like the Wonderbolts as well, and getting a ticket to the Gala was one way to prove it.

Pinkie cheerfully sung the next verse of the song, about the Gala itself, and the great time she would have. If I had to admit, Pinkie going in the first place wouldn’t have been so bad, but now she could be here with her friends as well with her own ticket. I was just slightly worried that Pinkie would try to… Pinkie the Gala up. She wasn’t exactly used to a toned-down party after all.

After that, I know I sang next about how eager I was to perform again. Even if nerves were a little high-strung, this was a great opportunity to try and re-establish myself as a professional singer, and my ticket would show that I was still a good a star as ever. Still, the thought of messing up in front of ponies who paid extra for a private performance was a little heavy on my mind, but for now, I decided to just enjoy myself a little at the Gala.

Finally, Twily was the one to round us off with wanting to talk with Princess Celestia herself. I honestly wish that she would be able to get that wish, especially since it required a ticket. But the more I thought about it, I wondered just how long Princess Celestia would be greeting other ponies who entered. After all, she was the de facto princess, as other ponies were getting used to the idea of the Royal Sisters. I had high hopes for Twily’s success though.

In summary, it looked like this:

Fluttershy: To meet!

Applejack: To sell!

Rarity: To find!

Rainbow Dash: To prove!

Pinkie Pie: To whoop!

Medley: To sing!

Twilight Sparkle: To talk!

After the song had ended, Spike slid on in. “Yeah! This is going to be the best night ever? You know why? Because we’ll all be-”

I didn’t hear what he had to say, as I quickly made a run for the rehearsal room. I had to go over my routine. I also made sure all of my instruments that I had requested for and the sheet music I had were all in perfect working order. Plus, I wanted to go over the routine oooone last time.

Soon enough though, the crowd had filled up completely. It seems that this was a sold-out show, a surprise for me. Then again, there were very few seats, and for nobles, the price was rather cheap. Nevertheless, I steeled myself for the job and came out to applause after a small introduction.

“Greetings, ponies of Canterlot.” I waved to the crowd as I readied myself on the piano. “I would like to take a small bit of your time to thank you for coming to this performance. As such, when you all took the survey, a fair majority of you asked for a more classical piece, which I agree wholeheartedly with. But you decided to make me step up my challenge and do an original composition. As such, I would like to sing a piece I have titled, Luna’s Aria.” I then started to play for the small crowd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zm91n76dfA

As I wrapped up my song, I could hear them politely clapping, and started to feel a little stung by this. They asked for me to perform for them, didn’t they? For once, I thought that my talents weren’t actually being recognized. And I was determined to make this my best night ever! So, with that in mind, I pulled out my violin instead.

“Thank you, everypony. Now, for my next song that I will perform for everyone, it is a classic as well, but this one's from the history books. Revived by Princess Celestia and verified by numerous professional musicians, I give you… Lullaby for a Princess.” I then started to play for everypony once more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFL0Kb7OIa4

Soon after I finished, the crowd looked a little more pleased. Finally, it looked like I was getting somewhere with this. Just as I was about to announce my third song though, who else would crash through into the private room, but Pinkie Pie. It seemed time had passed along farther than I thought if she was already starting to get bored at the Gala.

“Oh boy! Hiya Med!” Pinkie waved obliviously at me as she was given looks of annoyance.

I sighed as I shook my head. “Anyways… for my next song, I-”

“Will be letting this pony right here do a fun and dancy song!” Pinkie chirped as she jumped up on stage and pulled out a set of… wait, were those bongos? “Listen up everypony! Time for some funky beats!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPTm-8YqJfw&t=82s

As she played, she pulled out more and more instruments from… wait a sec, those were my saddlebags! How did she get them from Ponyville at all, much less slip through and into the Gala without Rarity of all ponies noticing? Nevertheless, the crowd was both baffled and extremely annoyed now, since this was a surprise to even me. I quickly went up to Pinkie, wanting to know what exactly was going on.

“Pinkie? What the Tartarus are you doing??” I harshly whispered to her.

“Making this more of a party than it is right now!” Pinkie pushed back before grinning at the audience. “Let’s do another fun song!” She then started to play yet another familiar tune to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7QC6Bl_7E

When she was done with that song, some of the nobles had gotten up and were starting to leave with looks of disgust. Now I was really mad at Pinkie for possibly ruining the one chance I had at this, all to make it more of one of “her parties”. “That. Is. IT! I am challenging you to a musician’s duel!” I announced clearly, making the nobles hesitate before returning to their spots, seeing how this would turn out.

Pinkie gave a blink before giving a nervous smile. “U-Um… Medley? Maaaaaybe I went-”

“Oh, now you try and back out after crashing it. Well guess what? Now you have my full attention.” I snapped back angrily, positioning my violin.

Even in my anger, I still had to give Pinkie some credit. Since it looked like I wasn’t going to back down, she nodded as she pulled out the piano. Now she looked ready to fight me musically.

“Let’s do this!” Pinkie roared as she started it up, with me adding the back-up instrumental.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yIccPnhvy0

Once we hit the final note of the song, our instruments pretty much snapped as my voice gave out. We then heard a loud noise outside, which was something no one wanted to hear at a party like this. We practically abandoned the now broken instruments and the audience, who were too stunned to really cheer for anything. The scene Pinkie and I arrived to was… more than interesting.

It seemed like a cake had been launched at Rarity, ruining her outfit entirely. AJ looked like she had been through the wringer, which didn’t bode well on the business end. Dash looked a bit scuffed up and was surrounded by rubble of pillars and a statue. I’m very sure Pinkie and I looked like a hurricane had blown past us from our performance on stage. And it was that exact scene Twily arrived at with… Princess… Celestia…

“Well… It can’t get any worse…” Twily murmured to herself.

It was at that moment I realized Shy was still missing from the group, along with Spike. However, a large rumble outside told us that something huge was going down. And sure enough, the doors to the garden burst open, with critters of all kinds fleeing into the gala room.

And there, in full beaten and battered glory, was a very enraged Shy. It looked like she had no luck in getting any of them to come to her, and… wow… this was something not really seen in Shy.

“You… are going to LOVE ME!!” Shy roared as the animals fled away from her faster.

“Oh crap.” I whispered fearfully as animals started wrecking the place and causing a bigger commotion of chaos than before.

I then heard Twily whistle us over, and we all began to hustle out of the now completely ruined Great Galloping Gala. as we ran, I was thinking of how badly I screwed up tonight. Even with Pinkie’s involvement, I don’t know how it was going to get any better than what I was planning. I felt like such a complete idiot.

Soon enough though, we were out of the castle entirely and had ran to the first place Twily could lead us. Which, in this case, was a donut shop. Strange how they had one in Canterlot, but I wasn’t one to complain about donuts at all. As we walked in though, we saw a familiar face. One Spike, who looked like he had gotten rid of his outfit along the way so he could eat some donuts and drink some hot cocoa.

“Twilight Sparkle! Haha, long time no see.” The cashier, or from the looks of his cutie mark, the owner of the place, spoke up.

Spike came running over, looking happy that we came back. “Hey, how was the Gala? How was the Best Night Ever?”

We all gave each other looks before Twily sighed, pulling up chairs for all of us, plus some donuts and hot cocoa. She then went into explaining how her evening went, which sounded pretty boring now. All she really did was stand next to Celestia and greet nobles as they entered. After seeing how it had ended, I wouldn’t blame her for wondering what Celestia would say about this at all.

Next up was Dash’s story of how her night turned out. Like Twily’s, it started off on a good note, as she managed to get into a small section that held the Wonderbolts team due to past actions they had seen her do. However, it also sounded like the Wonderbolts were just like Princess Celestia, in that they were too busy mingling with the crowd of admirers to really talk with Dash, In the end, she kept on doing more and more spectacular feats of recklessness before it ended with how I saw her, surrounded in a ring of rubble.

AJ took the story up next, and said that at first, things were going well. She had struck a chord with Fancy Pants, who was interested in expanding their current contract to a greater degree. He even pointed out a few other nobles who would be interested in a small deal with her. Unfortunately, things quickly died off from there, as her pretty honest and blunt way of handling things rapidly made the nobles scoff and not even consider a deal. It was made worse when Blueblood had made some snide comments about her products and that “no noble pony should be even near such common carnival fare.” Needless to say, it ended rather poorly for her.

It seemed the talk of the Prince only in name brought in Rarity’s night out. She described it as, as first, a “dream come true”. However, as the night went on, it was becoming clearer that he was not all that he was built up to be in her mind. Making her do things that, if it were any other normal pony, gotten him slapped for, if not outright beaten to a pulp. In the end though, after a flying cake had hit Rarity, with Blueblood using her as a shield to protect his outfit from any debris, Rarity was too fed up with him and sent him packing.

This now lead on to Shy’s night. After getting to meet a few critters, she had noticed that they all seemed to run away from her. This surprised me only a little, as even though Shy was good with animals, these animals weren’t used to Shy at all. It only got worse and worse, as she said how she kept on getting more and more frustrated by the animal’s behavior, that eventually the animals fleeing into the Gala was pretty much guaranteed.

Then it went on to Pinkie’s story, at least for the first part of it. She said that she was having a blast at first, dancing and jumping around excitedly. Soon enough though, the atmosphere of the party was starting to really get to her. After interrupting Octavia’s performance in the main area for a brief moment, she then had found which room I was performing in and decided to see what I was up to. She let me explain what had happened after that in my own story.

Sure enough, I was the last pony to tell of my own night. I whispered, if a bit embarrassingly, to Twily about getting my vocals back. Once applied, I thanked her as I told my story from when we had arrived. I was pretty much put up as soon as I could to perform for everypony as soon as I arrived at the Gala. It started out well enough, playing an original composition that I had written back when Luna had first appeared again in pony society, with some help of Princess Celestia. Unfortunately, after doing a second classical song, that was when Pinkie had shown up and played a couple of songs from some place that I KNOW I’ve heard them before. In any case, the finale was me and Pinkie duelling it out on stage, with our instruments snapped and my vocals blown out. I then left it to Twily to wrap everything up.

“That sounds like the WORST night ever.” Spike summarized as he started eating another donut.

“It was!” We all replied in unison before cracking up, both at what had happened in hindsight and at just how we all quickly and unanimously agreed.

Things quickly calmed down though when Twily looked pretty worried. “I just hope Princess Celestia isn’t upset with us for ruining the Gala.”

“That was the best Grand Galloping Gala ever!” We all quickly looked up and saw Princess Celestia… smiling at us?

“Princess Celestia!” Everyone spoke in surprise at bother her appearance and her current mood.

“Pardon me Princess,” Twily began. “But tonight was just… awful!”

“Oh Twilight. The Grand Galloping Gala is always awful! Especially since my sister has to work through it and Cadence couldn’t make it this year.” Celestia beamed as she joined us.

“It… is? And really?” Twily sounded confused, much like the rest of us were.

“That is why I was thrilled when you were all attending. I was hoping you could liven things up a bit. And while the evening may not have gone as you planned, I’m sure that you’ll agree that, in the end, it didn’t turn out so bad for this group of friends.” Celestia went on to explain.

“You’re right, Princess!” Twily looked like she had finally caught onto it. “Friends have a way of making the worst of times into something pretty great.”

“Yeah! Hanging out with friends!” Dash started to cheer on.

“Talking!” Shy awkwardly continued on.

“Laughing!” Pinkie interjected with a wide grin.

“You mean doing exactly what I thought we were gonna do the whole time?” Spike smirked at Twily.

“Yes Spike. You were right to think that.” Twily let him have his moment.

“As horrible as this night was…” AJ started, looking briefly over to Rarity with a small and heartfelt smile.

“Being together and here made it all the more better.” Rarity finished happily, standing very close to AJ.

“Yeah, gotta say, even if Pinkie came along unexpectedly during the night, we still got to do some fun stuff. I just wish we could’ve done some more fun stuff as a group.” I chipped in.

“Exactly! Which is why we should still call this…” Pinkie built up the dramatic tension.

“The Best Night Ever!” We all cheered happily and laughingly.

Soon enough though, we settled down into a round of conversations, with Twily and I being together. I’m sure we were both blushing pretty bad as the group collectively needed to be elsewhere. And urgently as well, if leaving me and Twily at the table was anything to go by.

“S-So… um…” I lamely tried to start a conversation, repeating almost exactly what I did earlier that day with Spike.

Twily gave a light giggle at my stumbling words and, hopefully, took a little pity on me. “Was there something you wanted to talk about with me? Especially since our friends decided to all leave for the exact same reason?”

We both took a chuckle at that before I nodded, looking even more flustered than I did before. “Y-Yeah… actually. I… I w-wanted to ask you a-a-a q-question…”

Twily looked a little concerned as she put a hoof on my shoulder, the blush becoming more pronounced on her beautiful face. “Don’t worry, Medley. You can ask me, alright?”

I gave a shaky nod before I moved right along. “I… I’ve been thinking about this for a while now… and… erm… y-you don’t have to accept or anything either! I…” I took a deep breath before rushing out the words. “Twilightsparklewillyoubemymarefriend?”

Twily looked… a little confused. I think I might’ve rushed a bit too much, but I did not want to repeat any of that, since my heart was pounding as it was from just saying it once. Slowly though, I could see Twily starting to understand the rushed sentence, and her blush began to grow. She looked down for a moment, which immediately made my heart sink. It looked like she didn’t want to at all. I was so stupid to have thought that I had a chance, even after what Spike had said earlier in the day.

So, it came to a complete shock to me when she quickly wrapped me in a hug before giving me a full kiss on the lips. Even as I write this down… I couldn’t tell you what it felt like to be kissed like that. All I knew was that it felt really good, and after getting over the shock… I never wanted to part from that kiss. Ever.

Unfortunately, what ruined the moment was both the collective cooing from the group of friends that had conveniently arrived just as we kissed, and the fact that we still needed air to breath. So with great reluctance, at least for sure on my end, Twily and I eventually parted our lips, but refused to be separated anymore than that.

“Finally! Took ya long enough!” AJ crowed with a small grin.

“We thought it would never happen! It was waaaaay too obvious!” Pinkie chimed in.

I looked pretty embarrassed as I hid a little behind my wings. Twily then gave me a nuzzle, which made me put the wings back down. I was glad this happened, but I really wanted to make sure, and this wasn’t her trying to take pity on me.

“S-So was that a…” I trailed off near the end, almost copying Shy for how she would talk to any normal pony.

“I think that was a yes. But, just to be clear… yes, Medley. I will be your marefriend.” Twily smiled happily.

You know what? I think I’ll end it there. Not much happened after finally asking her, other than us arriving back to our homes and anything else I didn’t think was important enough to mention. All I know was that now, I felt incredibly happy. Best Night Ever indeed. After a lot of sleepless and bad dreams from when the trial was held last, tonight would be the first night that I could finally rest easy, and dream peacefully. Goodnight, everypony. No questions to ponder this time, no mysteries that were rattling in my skull that were very pressing, just me and a wonderful dream, involving Twily.


End of A New Element of Harmony