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// Chapter eight: Princess Celestia's school of etiquette part three: How to dance like a princess 
// Story: How to train a Princess 
// by Foal Star 
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After a few more days of classes, the mares endured through the tediums of etiquette and decorum. Gleaming, Sunset Shimmer, and Winter were all rather swamped with the regal Celestia's studies. Gleaming Shield, however, became even more distant from Sunset Shimmer after she almost cheated with her, and the two now rarely spoke a word to each other. The two mares were at their final class before their final test, where they all stood in fancy ball gowns. Gleaming decided to go with a simple blue gown, and she was standing next to Sunset Shimmer and Winter nearby. Sunset was sporting a fiery red dress and seemed to be determined to get through this final class. 

Princess Celestia eventually shook her tush as she strutted over as she clapped her hooves together. "Attention, students! Please pay attention!"

Every student turned their attention to Celestia as she looked down at the students. "Now, after seeing you practice nearly all day, I think you all have the grasp of ball dancing. I believe it's time for me to watch you all perform. Now, you have all passed my expectations, so this should be relatively easy. Now please pick a partner, and let's begin." 

Gleaming Shield gulped as she looked about and turned to see Winter gallop over and asked, "would you be my partner?"

"Oh yes!" The mare squealed in delight as they took their positions on the dance floor, and they began to dance around the base. The two did their best to perform the ball dance. Gleaming had gotten used to wearing gowns, which wasn't that difficult; they just had to do the simple ball dance. She already had practice with her wife Princess Cadance before, so this entire course was merely a refresher. But as the dance went on, she noticed the goddess of Winter seeming to be bowing her head and looking rather shy. 

Gleaming shook her head, seeing that the mare had a crush on her. It's been rather obvious, but she didn't really have any feelings for the pegasus. So she decided to continue to dance with her to at least make Winter feel better.

Celestia watched over her students, dancing about the room like a hawk looking for any missteps. Still, overall it seemed every student was performing well. She then clapped her hooves together. "Alright, switch partners."

At that, Gleaming and Winter broke off, and then the white-coated alicorn gasped as she saw she was now partnered with Sunset Shimmer. The orange coated alicorn squeaked, looking somewhat flustered. "um...G..Gl...Gleaming...I didn't…"

The alicorn quickly placed a hoof over her partner's mouth. "Shhh, let's just dance; we don't want to fail."

"Right…" Sunset stammered as she looked down and tried not to look directly in Gleaming eyes as she turned her gaze away as they danced together. Gleaming sand Sunset moved their dance as far away from Celestia's gaze as they possibly can. She then nudged her partner and asked, "Hey...um...so you ready for the ball later this evening? Do you need any pointers later?"

The orange coated mare rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I got this; there's no way I'm failing." 

Gleaming smiled as they danced around the floor and couldn't pull her gaze from Sunset's eyes. They continued to twirl about the room as if it was a fairytale. Gleaming felt somewhat awkward about the whole situation; she still had feelings for Sunset, and she opened her mouth to say something. But Celestia then clapped her hooves twice and exclaimed, "switch partners!"

The white-coated mare had to shake these feelings off as they switched partners, and now she was dancing with Winter once again. The alicorn snickered as they twirled about and asked, "so you ready for the final test later?"

"Yeah, I hope you're ready...though I guess for you, you're going to turn back into a stallion."
The pegasus grumbled, seeming to be quite depressed. 

"So...have you decided yet? Are you going to stay a mare?" Winter asked as she seemed to have been reading Gleaming Shield's mind. The alicorn looked over the dancing mares and pondered things over from what she heard from the other students' gossip that this is the actual final class. The "class" after this will be a final test by some alternate version of Luna then she'll graduate. After that, she'll have to decide on whether or not she'll stay as a mare. Gleaming squeaked when she suddenly realized that she was thinking this over for far too long as she answered Winter's question. "As I said before, I am going to turn back to a stallion, and I'm still determined to do so. Though I would be lying if I didn't say being an alicorn princess was rather lovely.

"Well, it was fun being with you while it lasted," Winter whispered as she nuzzled into Gleaming's chest, making her squeal as the goddess laid her head over the alicorn's shoulder; Gleaming wanted to knock the pegasus off her. But decided instead to continue dancing with her back towards Celestia so she wouldn't see their "informal behavior."

Luckily for the two, Princess Celestia clapped her hooves and exclaimed, "everypony pay attention!"

Every mare all turned to face the Princess of the sun as she unfurled her wings and exclaimed, "my fellow students! I see you have been practicing well for your final test tonight! Now, if you do well and pass, this will be the last time we'll be seeing each other. Now, I'm letting you leave early to ready yourselves; you better be cleaned, scrubbed, preened, and beautified before the ball. If I see anything wrong, I'm going to fail you on the spot. Is that clear!"

"Yes, mam!" all the princesses in training cried out.

"Good, now move along," Celestia snapped as she clapped her hooves once again before everypony filled out of the classroom. They all went down the hall together with her friends. 







Gleaming and her friends were back in the bathroom; all taking one final soak in the hot bath together dipped in the hot tub soaking up the bath salts mixed in hot water that surrounded them. The three mares sighed in relief as they soaked in the bathwater as Sunset looked over at her friends. "Well, tonight is the last night we'll be together."

Winter curled up on her side of the tub where she had made the water on her side of the tub freeze over abit, and just gave a nod, then whispered, "yeah, sure…."

"Yeah…" Gleaming whispered the mare looked over to Sunset, seeing how sexy she looked in the hot tub, and asked, "do you wish to be preened?"

Sunset's cheeks flushed pink; she didn't answer with words but turned her back towards Gleaming as she unfurled her wings. The white-coated alicorn went about biting her wings and cleaning the dirt from them. She could hear Sunset moan as she hit sensitive parts of the wing, and it made her shiver and squeak with every pass, with her mouth removing bent feathers or scrubbing the dirt between them. Gleaming practiced with Winter a few times, so she actually got pretty good at this. The white-coated alicorn didn't notice right away, but she felt a pressure on her back as she felt Winter starting to preen her. Gleaming squeaked and cried out as she felt the goddess of Winter pulling out her bent feathers, and she squirmed about feeling rather uncomfortable. But it felt so good at the same time, and she didn't want the feeling to stop. So she let Winter continue to preen her as she did the same to Sunset. After an hour of preening. Sunset went over to Winter and began to groom her wings in return while Gleaming just sat relaxing in the tub. This might be the last time she'll be in a steaming hot tub as a mare. She had to admit the feelings she had with this body were things she never would've imagined feeling in her life. The sensations, the emotions, all of it were things she took in and embraced fully. She let her long mane soak in the water as she looked upward, wondering...maybe...she should…

But her thoughts were interrupted as Sunset took her by the hoof. "Come on, if you stay in there any longer, you'll shrivel up into a prune."

"Alright," Gleaming grumbled irritably as she was lifted from the hot tub and escorted to the towel rack; after drying up, they all went to the bathroom counter and started applying makeup and replacing their false eyelashes. Then they went about and started combing their manes and tails together all in relative silence.

It was all rather fun as they curled each other's manes. Winter sighed as she whispered, "you know...I don't think we need to beauty ourselves this much when we're actually princesses."

Sunset scoffed out loud. "you think!? This Celestia is insane! After this, I will never wear a dress again."

"Yeah, I...um...guess I won't need to wear a dress again." Gleaming sighed, feeling somewhat relieved of that fact, but she hinted a bit of regret in her tone. The alicorn shook her head and saw she had finished brushing and combing her mane again and, to her surprise, finished rather quickly.

Sunset rolled her eyes again and replied, "this isn't what being a mare is about, Gleaming; if you decide to stay...um...as an alicorn princess, I can show you how to have actual fun without all the fru fru crap."

Winter couldn't help but burst into laughter as Gleaming snickered behind a hoof.

The two other mares noticed and decided to drop the subject, and then they went to the dorm room as they saw their wardrobe was gone, and instead, there were three beautiful ball gowns. Gleaming blinked at what she saw and then took the golden dress and held it over her body. "Wow!? so...I guess Celestia had some of her servants bring these?"

"Yeah, they did, I guess…" Sunset murmured as she took out her fiery gown, looking like a fiery blaze of orange, yellow, and red.

Winter took a sparkling white and blue gown looking like a bed of untouched snow and held it out with her hooves and squealed. "this is amazing! I never felt fabric like this before!"

Gleaming's cheeks flushed pink as she looked over her own golden gown and helped it out with her magic. It was quite professionally made with white trim around it and a rose pattern sewn in the dress's skirt. It was rather beautiful, and she could feel that a lot of work had gone into making it. But a chime of the clock nearby made her realize they had to get ready soon, so the three mares went about dressing themselves in their gowns, then clopping matching slippers, and all three were now prepared to go for the ball of the night.







The three walked with each other down the large flight of stairs once more and came down into the crowd with all the other dolled up alicorn princesses. Gleaming was still relatively embarrassed by her outfit, feeling the fabric swish around her body and still feeling rather uncomfortable wearing a dress. But luckily, every mare there could care less about how she looked; they were all in front of a giant golden mirror set the grand hall. There they were, all staring up at Celestia, who was looking over each and every mare. They were all standing at attention like soldiers as she inspected them one by one.

Gleaming gulped nervously as she waited for her turn to be looked over, which she was, and Celestia seemed to be rather impressed with a smile on her lips. "Well done despite being a stallion, you're probably the most gorgeous mare here, but keep that between you and I."

She winked and continued to look over her friends while Gleaming held her head high as then the Princess went back to the front of the group. "Now, I believe that it is time for us to proceed with the final test... in fact, you already passed. I think all of you have performed admirably and will all make fine princesses. So please enjoy yourselves at this fake grand galloping gala. However, be on your best behavior; if you act boarish or ill-mannered, I will fail you. Is that clear!"

"Yes, mam," Every Princess in training replied back.

At that, the giant mirror lit up and a portal swirled in front of them. Everypony went in line as they all started going through the portal one by one.

Sunset, Gleaming, and Winter all stood together and gulped in unison as they all trotted through the portal together. 







Gleaming Shield blinked in confusion as she found herself in the middle of the gala itself, already with hundreds of ponies like Princess Celestia surrounding her. She stood there like a deer in headlights with her heart going a hundred miles an hour. But she slowly calmed herself as she remembered what the Princess of the sun said; they were all constructs none of the nobles talking and gossiping were actually real. 

"Hey, shi- I mean Gleaming!" somepony yelled across the room where she saw her Cadance wearing her own cute frilly white and gold gown as she strolled over with a big smile on her face. "Hey! I was told we could hang out in this fake gala!? You were surprised!?"

"Hey, Cady! I can't believe you're here!" The white-coated alicorn cried out as she flew over and hugged her wife.

They held each other close while Sunset stood by and grumbled something as she left, taking Winter by the hoof. Gleaming just gave a small sigh and took Cadance by the hoof as they led off. They went to the buffet table, where they picked the horderves from the long table. After they got what they wanted, the two sat together at a small table. They started to enjoy themselves as they sat down across from each other at a table, and they drank wine and enjoyed their meal.

Things were relatively quiet with Gleaming Cadance was the first to say something as she asked, "so, why don't you go over what happened during your um...time at the academy?"

The white-coated alicorn gave another gulp and was starting to feel quite agitated as she began to eat. "Um...look...I..um yeah, everything was fine? Just doing all this um...girly stuff was... weird but also rather....um...delightful."

Princess Cadance couldn't help but snicker as she replied, "so um... how's wearing dresses?"

"Oh, you know I love them!" Gleaming exclaimed sarcastically as she placed another horderve into her mouth.

They both laughed as Gleaming started to blabber on. "You wouldn't believe what this alternate Celestia is like; she acts like we need to be damsels in distress twenty-four seven. I mean, when have you seen Celestia or Luna wear a dress?"

The Princess of love's cheeks flushed pink as she replied, "yeah...I think that this whole "princess in training" stuff was rather unnecessary. I mean, you already followed Celestia around. You got a lot of knowledge from her, and you seem to have gotten to know the ponies of the Crystal Empire."

Gleaming rolled her eyes once more as she laid back and looked upwards. "Yeah, I agree that these classes weren't that helpful. But still, my time here wasn't all that bad…"

"She must've daydreamed for quite a bit because she wasn't woken from the dream until her wife spoke up. "It must've been something you seem to have slipped off there," Cadance replied.

Gleaming squealed as she snapped back to reality. "Ye-yeah! It was actually kind of fun! I mean, we had a hot bath! We enjoyed each other's company and had a lot of fun, you know….being girly…"

Gleaming Shield going about each other as they finished their meal together. The Princess in training was also somewhat nervous as she spotted Sunset standing at a table just glaring at her with Winter, who seemed to be just trying to be invisible as the pegasus just sat there drinking a glass of wine. 

The Princess of love decided to finally break the silence as she rose up and took Gleaming's hoof. "Alright, come on, let's dance. I want to see if this school could teach you how to dance."

The white-coated alicorn snickered as she got up. "Oh, you're about to be surprised."

The two mares took to the dance floor, and they danced through the night with Cadance rather impressed as she commented, "wow, you've gotten really good; you're even better than me."

"Well, I did just learn ball dancing all day," Gleaming replied with a sigh of exhaustion. 

Cadance nuzzled into her special somepony, and they held each other in a tight wing hug as they bent their heads into each other's shoulders as they continued to dance around the hall. 







After an hour or two of dancing, the two mares being somewhat exhausted, went strolling through the garden in the moonlight. As the two eventually came to a bench, the two mares sawt down and looked at a giant statue of the pompous Celestia with water spouting from her mouth into a pool below. 

Gleaming rolled her eyes and spat, "ugh! I hope I never s-"

"Sshhh!" Cadance whispered as she looked around with a worried look. "You'll fail if you insult her."

"R...right…" Gleaming stammered as she bent her head down, realizing how close she was to failing and having to retake this entire course again!

However, something else was bothering Gleaming. She sighed as she had to confess that she almost cheated with Sunset or wouldn't be allowed to live with herself. 

"Cadance, listen...while I was away I...I sort of cheated on you. I was drunk...and...well...things got a little out of hoof with a mare named Sunset Shimmer….love you I still do...but I had feelings for Sunset, and we almost had sex...but I stopped before anything happened." 

Cadance looked at the statue, looking rather stoic for what felt like hours, with the only noises that echoed through the garden were the chirping of crickets and the water from the fountain's water splashing. The pink coated alicorn then sighed and whispered, "I was afraid this would happen…But I forgive you..."

"Huh?" Gleaming responded, somewhat confused.

Cadance looked up as she replied. "Look, I was explained by...um...some alicorn princess named Faust that my husband Shining Armor and Gleaming were different ponies, and she was right. I thought you would be the same just gender-swapped...but you're much different than my Shining...If it weren't for that, I would be quite angry with you."

The alicorn princess in training was rather confused. "Well, I wasn't expecting that….but...what do you mean that I'm not Shining anymore? Gleaming isn't another pony! I'm still…" 

Cadance held a hoof as she continued. "Don't worry, Luna, in your last class will explain things better. However, I won't stand by and just let you do whatever you want now….you need to come to terms on your own...will you stay with me? Or will you love this other mare?"

Gleaming looked up at the night sky as she realized she couldn't say right away whether or not her love for Cadance faltered, and with tears filling her eyes, she whispered. "I'm not sure…"

Cadance seemed to be disheartened by this as she got up and replied, "well….then you're going to have to...until then….I think it's best we go our separate ways."

Gleaming gave a nod as  Cadance left, and she sat there on the bench crying and balling her eyes out; she felt so horrible. She didn't even care if Celestia decided to fail her; she needed to cry. That was until she spotted Sunset slowly walked over from around the corner with her head down. "Sorry…this...this is all my fault."

"It's not your fault; I would be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you, and I didn't want to be with you too." Gleaming whispered. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked over at Sunset. "We still have the test with Luna, right? Maybe after that, I'll know where I'm at and what I truly want...because right now... I'm not even sure who I am anymore."

"Yeah, ok…" Sunset whispered, still feeling guilty as Gleaming got up and came over and kissed Sunset on the lips and held it for a bit before whispering. "Just in case if we don't meet again."

Sunset then took her hooves and dragged Gleaming into another kiss and they embraced under the moonlight with their wings sprouting from their backs.