Flurry stepped daintily down the stairs to meet her parents just outside of the main ballroom before the event began that night. She was wearing her dress and was ready, but appeared rather panicky. Her parents were waiting just behind a door with a pony servant applying a bit more makeup to Cadance’s face.
“Flurry, there you are.” said her father as she walked up to them.
“I’ve got the dress. Do I look okay?” Flurry asked, nervously.
“Better than we imagined dear. Oh, I almost forgot.” said Cadance as she used her magic to take out a small shimmering, periwinkle tiara. She untied Flurry’s bow from her hair and placed the tiara on top of her head, much to Flurry’s dismay.
“Mom, come on! I love my bow.” she whined.
“I know dear, but we want you to look ready for the occasion. Princesses wear tiaras at balls like this. It will make everyone in that room very pleased to see you. Plus, it’s the same color as Auntie Twilight’s tiara.”
Flurry rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.
“Okay. I’ll wear the tiara.”
“They’re about to open up. You ready, kid?” said Shining Armor.
“I’m ready.” Flurry responded, already sounding tired.
Through the door, the voice of one of the servants could be heard introducing the royal family.
“Presenting, the royal family: his and her majesty, King Shining Armor and Queen Cadance, joined by their daughter, Princess Flurry Heart!” he said.
The two large doors in front of them opened up and they all walked in gracefully. The crowd of high-class ponies before them tapped their hooves together or stomped them on the ground lightly in applause. Flurry forced a smile out but could not help but look nervous still. Her parents smiled and waved and she did the same. Her father then cleared his throat and spoke to the masses.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, thank you all for being here tonight. To start off an exciting summer, we welcome you all to the annual Crystal Empire Ball. We put this ball on every year to celebrate our unity and the peace we have had since the day my sister, Princess Twilight Sparkle, became the leader of Equestria…”
As Shining Armor was speaking, Flurry looked over the crowd and eventually saw Crystal Clear, Lavish Laurel, and Prism Blaze. They waved to her as she waved back, but the looks on their faces looked more like taunting smirks than genuine smiles. These three were the children of several representatives in the court and would usually act friendly to Flurry, but she could tell they were just doing it for attention. Flurry never really had the courage to tell them to stop. All the lessons of friendship she had learned from the Journal of Friendship kept her from stooping to their level so she just played it nice. She saw Lavish whispering into Crystal’s ear and then into Prism’s. Flurry could tell she was probably mocking her appearance and letting the others know what she thought of her dress. Flurry had forgotten how shiny and conspicuous her dress was, causing her to feel a bit embarrassed in front of all these ponies.
“…with that said, everypony enjoy our grand ball!” Shining Armor said, finishing his speech.
The ponies in the audience began to disperse and some started to make their way to the horderves while others sought out their acquaintances to make conversation with. Flurry rested her eyes from looking at the crowd for fear it would increase her anxiety. Seeing the audience not look in her general direction made her feel far less nervous and her heart started beating at a normal rate. Cadance put her hoof on Flurry’s left shoulder.
“You’re doing great so far, Flurry.” she told her.
“Thanks, Mom.” Flurry said, flatly.
“It looks like Crystal, Lavish, and Prism want to talk to you.” Shining said, pointing to them as they motioned for her to come over.
Flurry’s eyes opened wide and then they began to zoom back and forth. She gulped and smiled anxiously.
“Oh… um, yeah, I guess they are.” She said as she walked slowly towards them, trying to keep her balance and move as gracefully as possible and not make a fool of herself.
“Ah, Princess! How lovely you look!” said Lavish in her thick Trottingham accent.
“Yeah, you really are, how shall I put it…the belle of the ball!” Crystal added as she and Lavish both giggled to each other.
“Hey guys. Sorry if the dress looks a bit too attention-seeking. It was my parents’ idea.” Flurry said, smiling cautiously and looking through the top of her eyes.
“Oh, it looks absolutely stunning, Princess.” said Prism, the only boy in the group. “A royal like yourself deserves the best. After all, you wouldn’t want anyone at this ball to think you’re just another ordinary, country-dwelling, nopony now, would you?”
“Oh, well, like, of course she doesn’t, Prism!” Lavish added. “Flurry’s a princess and she’s here to let the whole world know, right, your highness?”
“Yeah, let’s not talk about me anymore, guys. How have you guys been doing?” Flurry said, wanting so much to change the subject as it was making her uncomfortable.
“Oh, well, you know us: same old, same old. Our parents just keep doing their work, we keep going to school, and we get richer by the minute. Nothing special or anything.” Crystal replied while smiling, rolling her eyes, and spinning her hoof around in front of her.
“Yeah, we’re nothing special. Right, Prism?” Lavish added.
“Oh of course not, Lavish. We’re not royalty.”
Flurry lowered her head and rolled her eyes.
“Geez, they’re not even being subtle anymore.” she said to herself. “Alright, I get it, you guys are jealous of me and want me to feel guilty or something. Gosh, I wish I could just light right up in their faces! Now, now, Flurry. Just be calm. What would Auntie Twilight do?”
“Oh, I say, Princess, are we making you uncomfortable at all?” Lavish asked, sarcastically. “Cause that just wouldn’t feel right.”
Flurry took a bit of a deep breath and then put on a smile.
“Look guys, there’s no need to compare ourselves to each other. This ball is meant to celebrate the Crystal Empire’s unity and love. We’re all equal here. You three are no different from me. We’re all ponies under one banner of harmony.”
The three of them paused and looked back and forth at each other momentarily as if they didn’t understand a word she just said. Finally, Prism spoke up.
“Why yes, Princess. You make a valid point. We apologize if we came across as condescending. We wouldn’t want to ruin your perfect night.”
His voice still sounded sarcastic, almost as if he hadn’t changed his mind at all, despite what he said. Crystal and Lavish both exchanged glances with mischievous smirks. Flurry hadn’t convinced them of anything, but there was no sense in trying to anymore. She had to simply play it cool and not give in to what they were tempting her to do.
“Excellent!” Flurry replied, still smiling. “Well then I guess we can go about our business and enjoy the ball. I’m going to go speak to some of the other attendees and make the most of this event.”
Flurry walked off, still wearing a smile and behaving rather confidently to see if that would at least work.
“Sounds like a plan, Princess!” Crystal replied as she walked past them. “My, she’s so elegant. I’m sure nothing will go wrong for her tonight.”
“Totally! Hehehe!” Lavish said as she and Prism both joined Crystal in snickering as they walked off towards the punch bowl at the dinner table.
Flurry walked on, smiling and waving to the other ponies as they waved back and bowed politely as they complimented her.
“Good to see you, Princess!”
“Your highness, that dress becomes you!”
“Aw, doesn’t she look adorable!”
The comments they made were nothing but high praise and it was coming across as forced and disingenuous. All the attention she was getting made her want to be anywhere else. She continued to smile and wave as her throat got a little sore and her heart was beating faster. More of the aristocrats in the room directed their attention to her and the voices around her seemed to get louder. She was just about to run off until suddenly a familiar face she actually wanted to see walked right in front of her to block the view from the others. She looked up to see her favorite magic teacher: the renowned unicorn wizard, Starswirl the Bearded.
“Princess?” he said with a concerned look.
“Starswirl! Boy am I glad to see you!” Flurry replied.
“You look frightened. Is everything alright?”
“Eh, maybe we should talk somewhere else. You wanna go get some punch or something?”
Starswirl looked back at the crowd and then put his hoof around Flurry and walked her over to a nearby table where she poured herself a glass of fruit punch. She took a long sip of the punch and then exhaled deeply.
“Getting a little too much attention here, Princess?” Starswirl asked her.
“Yeah. I wish I didn’t need to be at this crazy ball. Crystal Clear, Lavish Laurel and Prism Blaze didn’t help either.” she replied.
“I had a fear the crowd would be a bit much for you. Maybe you should just stick with me the rest of the night. I’ll keep them away from you if too many gather around. Looks like some of them are already getting the message that you need to be left alone.”
“Thanks. It’s been only a few days since summer break started and I already feel like I can’t get a break at all. The older I get, the more these politicians and aristocrats treat me like they need me to do this or that to prove just how royal and special I am or something. I just wish I could-”
“Princess! There you are!”
Flurry jumped and her eyes widened at the sound of the voice of Principal Polished Hooves. He was the head of the education system in the royal school as well as all the other schools in the Crystal Empire. He used to be a staff member of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot, but had a promotion some time after Twilight was crowned leader of Equestria. While not nearly as gifted as Starswirl or Twilight, he knew a thing or two about magic and used his leadership to head the education in the Empire with poise and perfection. He was strict with how he handled the schooling system, but he also came across as far too high-class and voracious to Flurry. She wasn’t that fond of Polished Hooves and tried her best to avoid him at gatherings like this, but obviously she could not escape him in such an environment.
“Oh! Uh… Principal Polished Hooves! Good to see you, sir!” Flurry said, putting her fake smile back on and bowing politely.
“Princess, my have I been looking for you! I won’t say what exactly since I want for it to be a surprise, but when they make announcements later, I have a very special offer for you.” he told her.
“That… sounds great, sir! I mean I do love surprises. I…um…can’t wait to see what you’ve got for me!”
“Trust me, it will be a life-changing opportunity you can’t say ‘no’ to. Why, all the young fillies and colts in this empire would give anything to have what you are about to be offered, Princess. Well I best be off now. Just be sure to stay till the very end of the ceremony!”
“Thank you, sir!”
Flurry waved at him as he walked off to hobnob with other aristocrats in the room. After he was far enough and she had turned herself back towards Starswirl, she dropped her smile, covered her face with her hooves and groaned in disgust.
“I was about to warn you about him, Flurry.” Starswirl said, putting his hoof on her head. “I heard something about him giving you some special offer at the end during announcements.”
“What does he want this time? To give me more crystal fountain pens with his signature on them so my writing improves or something?” she grumbled.
“No, I think he’s thinking of giving you a scholarship.”
“A scholarship? To where? I do my own schooling in the palace with you and several other teachers, what more could I need than that?!”
“That’s never enough for Polished Hooves. He wants everyone in the most prestigious schools and if someone is gifted enough or belongs to a royal family, he sees them as a valuable asset.”
“Maybe I should just sneak off to avoid all this. Or pretend to be sick and get to go to bed early. I’d much rather be in bed.”
“That’s probably not a good idea, Flurry. Just stay close to me. I might try to see if I can convince him to skip out on making the announcement tonight and talk to you about it privately another time.”
“DO IT.” Flurry whispered loudly as Starswirl looked behind him to see only her snout sticking out from underneath the tablecloth. She zoomed back under and disappeared.
Starswirl sighed. He didn’t feel like trying to make her stay out in the open at this point. He could already see it was doing no good for her, so he let her hide away from it all. Suddenly, he heard Crystal, Lavish, and Prism as they walked by, talking about Flurry.
“Did you hear that, girls?” Prism said. “Principal Polished Hooves wants to give a very important offer for Princess Flurry Heart!”
“Oh gosh! Like, lucky her!” Crystal replied.
“It’s too bad she’s not around at the moment. Perhaps she’s hiding from all the attention. I’d be nervous if I was going through what she is right now. Hehehe!” Lavish added while giggling.
Starswirl rolled his eyes and began to rub his forehead with his hoof.
“I knew this was a bad idea.” he said.