Twilight Gets a Puppy
By TDR
Beast Night Ever,
part 4
[ Grand Galloping Gala Ballroom]
She could feel it, there was something in the air, a charged sort of excitement that she knew was going to be here. There were swirls of love and red strings and desire, the glimmers of a crush here and there. But best of all there was potential. Potential pure love felt like you were standing on the edge of something, ready to teeter over with a thrill of fear and excitement that you wouldn't know what would happen, but you hoped it would be good.
This was the strongest she had ever sensed that. It was though there was a lighthouse shining through a foggy sea of the dull 'love of money' or 'self' that clung in the air like spiderwebs, pretty to look at sometimes, but not something you wanted to walk into.
She needed to find out where that potential was and send it tipping over the brink. This was so exciting she could use her talent to to help so many tonight, but first to find the source of the potential.
And so Cadence slipped off deeper into the crowd, not even noticing that she had left Shining Armor behind.
Silver Platter tensed up like a deer in headlights as the small white rabbit shoved the gray furred noble under the table and dropped the table cloth over him to hide the body from view.
No one else seemed to notice what the little white rabbit had done with that spoon, but the image would haunt Silver Platter's dreams for months.
To be fair, the noble had instigated it by trying to shove both the rabbit and his plate of food off the table to the floor, with protests of vermin and rats in the food.
The rabbit had been less than amused at the loss of his food and now that the nobles unconscious and battered form was hidden, the white rabbit was looking over the destruction of his meal with annoyance.
Clearly having more of a self preservation instinct than any other pony in the Gala it seemed, Silver Platter quickly put together another plate of food and placed it before the irate rabbit with his magic, staying as far from the bunny as he could.
The rabbit looked at the food, looked at the unicorn who placed it there, gave a nod and started eating it like he was starving.
Silver Platter decided at that moment keeping the rabbit happy and fed was his top priority for the night.
Pinkie Pie was in a quandary.
Which was nothing like a quarry despite the spelling.
This wasn't a party.
There was no pin the tail on the pony, no festive music or dancing. The food and decorations were good , but that was about all she could say so far. Everyone seemed to busy being snooty and trying to one up one another with their frilly dresses and suits to really enjoy the party.
Rarity was flirting with some stallion who clearly wasn't interested in her. With how high his nose was in the air Pinkie wondered if he had sinus problems and was trying not to drip snot from his nose. Oddly it didn't seem he was trying to be snooty like the others with sinus issues as he kept staring up at the rafters as if looking for something, or someone flying.
She was tempted to ask him what he was doing , but Rarity had made it quite clear that Pinkie was not to come near the stallion, especially if she had gotten to him first.
Still the problem was no pony was having any fun.
There was a bunny having fun sure, but Pinkie was leery of Angel Bunny's idea of fun. Though currently he was stuffing his face at the table.
How was this a party?
This wouldn't do.
Shining Armor cursed lightly to himself. How the heck did he lose some pony who was practically neon pink ?
It didn't help matters that every noble and their entourage called him to the side to discuss some inane opinion of theirs or their take on the way the Guard should be run. The ideas were always stupid, and sometimes detrimental if not dangerous. Nearly all of them gained the noble some sort of cut of the crown taxes however.
Some ponies who knew more of him and his family asked about his sister and brothers, though most focused more on what he could do for them rather than anything else.
It was times like this he couldn't help but feel like Luna's idea to strip all titles and give them to ponies who were more than just their names appealed to him.
The game of houses sucked. It was little more than a constant state of one upping, back stabbing, and backroom deals that never ended and was always played from birth til death in some cases.
There were only three winning moves.
Out play them all, as Celestia did. Not really an option for him, given he couldn't wait out an entire generation or two until the moment was more favorable.
Terrify them as Luna did. Tempting, but that had its own issues. The Guard was supposed to serve and protect, not bludgeon and scare, despite his current feelings.
Or simply not play, as Cadence did.
The latter was what he was trying to do, and he made sure he agreed to nothing and said nothing that could be construed either way.
Sadly saying nothing meant that he was often reduced to a few nonverbal sounds or grunts as the conversations went on, but if the nobles thought him a simple minded brute, than so be it. Their opinions of him mattered about as much to him as a first level reflex save to a twentieth level rogue.
Let them think he was just a pretty face that had caught Cadence's eye. He could probably recite Parthanax's theorem to the forty second power if he needed to. Granted Twily could do it to the three hundredth power, but still, he was far from stupid. His focus was more on strategy and tactics than academic pursuits.
And right now he was doing his best to strategize the best place to propose to Cadence. The balcony would be a good spot, as would the dance floor if he could convince the band to play something other than chamber music.
Granted he still needed to find her first, and that was easier said than done.
Princess Luna was not having a good time.
The ponies at the Gala parted around her like a school of fish swimming away from a shark. The few she had managed to corner to speak with had made a multitude of excuses to be away from her. Everything from needing to use the bathroom, to having left the stove on back in their mansions, as if some of these fools even knew where the kitchen was.
Still the night had not been a total loss. There were a few who seemed interested in speaking with her, or at the very least not scared of her. Of course this had its own issue as ones like Fancy Pants were often caught in their own conversations they couldn't be away from. It would be rude to interrupt them.
Shining Armor had greeted her, though he was looking for Cadence with little luck. She had only seen her niece briefly and was of little help to him. Though it was fun to watch him wander off again in that dress uniform of his.
No, bad Luna, that ones taken.
Pinkie Pie had even stopped by to say hello and found out Luna was not having a good time either. The second pinkest mare Luna had ever seen then wandered off muttering something about fixing the problem. But not before taking a few dozen pictures of her.
She had spotted her nephew, thinking to speak to him at least, though as she approached she noticed a number of things.
One the swarm of mares around him seemed undeterred by her presence, some of them even going so far as to glare at her as if thinking her a rival. A few who did this realized what they had just done and quickly moved away lest the Princess of the Night take offense. A few didn't notice her at all, but she did notice one in particular.
Rarity Reignolds. One of Twilight's friends, one of the mares who had saved her from the nightmare and that she had spoken with numerous times.
This gave her pause. Wouldn't Twilight have told her about Prince's hunt for his love? Or at least Spike when he gave her the ticket?
Something was odd here and it took Luna a moment or two to piece things together when she recalled the Gala acceptance letter where Twilight had called her brothers 'completely evil', was this part of that?
After a moment's deliberation she turned and sought some pony else to speak with. Prince had expected things like this and was prepared to make a scene or three already. Rarity clearly didn't know how he would react and Luna was not about to end a prank before it's proper implementation.
“ ….. fat bottom mares you make the rocking world go roooooound!!!!” Granny Smith and Celestia sang horridly off key as the pair of them sat on the front steps of the Gala.
The two of them had spent a great deal time talking, an even greater deal of time flirting with the Guards stationed outside. A number of them were still red in the face from where Granny or Princess Celestia had muttered a some rather interesting things in their ears.
One was still passed out cold in a heap after reluctantly agreeing to a kiss from the solar princess. His lips would likely be a bit sunburned tomorrow, but he was otherwise fine. Though he would be teased mercilessly by the other Guards for a while about if the Princess used her tongue or not. The others around stuck to their training and did their best not to react to the pair.
Thankfully it didn't take long before the pair of old friends grew bored of that and wandered off into the wine cellar only to to return with a number of over priced and and gifted wines from the Princesses' personal collection.
They had proceeded to drink more than half of them before starting to sing every song they could think of terribly off key.
Thankfully for the Guards ears they seemed to be done with that now as well.
Celestia pondered draining the refilled flask she had been given as she looked up at the silvery moon high in the night sky.
“Hey G..... wanna see something neat.” Celestia giggled?
“Oh, What's that Sunny?” Granny questioned.
“Watch.” Celestia giggled again looking up at the night sky.
Twilight Sparkle, Rahs Sparkle, and Spike Sparkle stood just outside the Golden Oaks Library staring up at Canterlot on the Manterhorn far above them.
The rest of Ponyville was out as well and looking up at the mountain too.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash moved up to the Sparkle siblings as Mayor Mare stood nearby having roused the trio from their home along with the other available Element Bearers.
“So … ummm, is there anything you can do?” Mayor Mare asked hesitantly as the rest of the town looked at the trio expectantly.
Far above them, while still remaining pitch black night somehow, the moon and sun looked like the city itself was juggling the celestial orbs as they looped around the top of the mountain, the moon was it's usual silver, though the sun was glowing a interesting shade of wine purple.
Twilight pursed her lips watching, Rahs crossed his arms regarding it and Spike tapped his chin lost in thought. Applejack stared on wide eyed and Rainbow Dash's jaw was nearly on the ground.
As one the siblings turned and walked back into the tree home, with Rahs picking up Rainbow Dash and Applejack to carry them inside as well.
“Nope.” Twilight stated flatly before slamming the door closed behind her, leaving the towns ponies staring at the door in shock.
After a moment the door opened again and the Mayor let out a small sigh of relief.
“Oh good you are going to do something......” Mayor Mare nearly cheered, only to watch as Big Mac was grabbed in a aura of magic and yanked inside the library as well before the door slammed shut again and the towns ponies could hear the sound of hammering and heavy objects being moved in front of the doors and windows of the library.
Another flare of magic appeared and the sign on the door reading open was flipped to closed before everything went quiet.
They gathered ponies all stared at the door for a moment more, before the screaming and panic started.