Taking a breath, Xavier sat down on a chair in his new house. It has been a week since he found himself in a new world and he spent most of it getting his house all furnished. Well, "some" of it, since he felt guilty about having this size house (Who needs four bathrooms?!?). So the only places that were furnished was the living space, the kitchen, and a bedroom for him to sleep in. At first, he was worried that he would need to get a job in a foreign world just to get things to live, but his friends were kind and helped out. Applejack gave him some furniture, Rarity gave some décor like paintings and knick-knacks, Fluttershy gave him a bunch of plants, Twilight gave him some books and a shelf, Rainbow gave him some posters, and Pinkie... well she gave him an invitation to a party for him. Looking around, he sighed and began to think to himself.

"Well, I guess a week in and I managed to get a house for myself, a big one at that." Smiling to himself, he whispered to himself. "I bet you would like it if you were here..." When he said that, he frowned at the memories he gave himself. "No, stop that, you decided to start a new life, so don't let those thoughts in, just be happy..."

His thoughts were interrupted however when he heard arguing nearby. Confused, he went outside to investigate, and after a bit of looking he saw the source. It was his newfound friends, with all of them except Twilight yelling at each other over something, whilst she was cowering. Seeing all of this, Xavier stepped up to see what they were angry about.

"Hey, HEY!" Xavier yelled, getting the attention of nopony, so, he got in the middle of the circle. "HEY!" This got the attention of all of them as they looked at him with agitation. "There we go, now can you girls explain to me why you're arguing outside of my house?"

With that, Applejack stepped up, "Well Xavier, Twilight happens to have a ticket that she was about to give me until a certain pegasus decided to interrupt us!" She said as she gestured to Rainbow.

"Excuse me!" Rainbow yelled out, "It isn't yours's yet, and besides, I clearly deserve that ticket."

"You ruffian, That ticket was for me!" Rarity intervened, as the girls began to argue again. When this happened, Xavier backed into Twilight.

Looking at her, Xavier had hoped she knew some answers, so she sighed and began to explain. "Earlier today, me and Spike was at Sweet Apple Acres helping Applejack when Princess Celestia sent me a letter that I was invited to the Grand Galloping Gala, which is a big party in Canterlot. With the message she gave me two tickets, one for me and one for a guest. I was going to ask Applejack, but Rainbow crashed in when she overheard us, wanting to go too. Soon enough the others learned about it and well, you can see what happened."

Xavier took a second to look at the others before he asked another question. "Why are they arguing anyway? It's just a party, right, so why are they yelling at each other over a ticket?"

"Well that's because they each have their reason that they want to go. Applejack wants to set up a shop to earn money for the farm, Rainbow wants to talk to the Wonderbolts that are there every time, Pinkie wants to go because it's a party, Rarity wants to meet a prince that lives there, and Fluttershy wants to see the gardens near the party."

Xavier then realized what was wrong. "I get it now. All of your friends have a good reason to go there, and you are afraid of choosing one and disappointing the others." Twilight nodded at him, so he decided to help out. "Alright girls, quiet!" They all looked at him curiously. "Twilight is going through some turmoil about the decision and all of you yelling at each other is not helping. Why don't you all go home for a while, cool off, and meet us at the library for the decision later tonight, okay?" Despite their grumbling and looks of displeasure, they all walked away and left Twilight, Xavier, and Spike alone, leaving the place quiet.

With all of the girls going home, the three decided to grab some lunch at a nearby restaurant. While they were getting situated, Twilight decided to talk to him.

"Though I'm surprised that you thought of that solution so quickly." Looking at her, Xavier explained to her. "Well, I guess I got the idea from all the times that a gadget I was working on failed, I would go somewhere else to cool off."

"W-well, just a bit, I'm not exactly the best, but I dabble a bit in it." Xavier stammered, fidgeting in his seat. "So, Wanna talk about your problem? That's the topic anyway."

Looking down, Twilight gave a sad sigh. "Yeah, I know, and I don't know what I'm going to do. All five of our friends have a good reason to go, and if I give one of them the ticket, will the others get upset? I mean, I could give up my spot and give my ticket, but then there are still three of them that won't go. What am I going to do?"

Looking at her with empathy, Xavier tried to give some advice. "Um, I may not know much about friendship like you, but I don't think that a single ticket is going to end your relationships with each other. Who knows, maybe some of the girls are deciding to let others have the chance, and let you have an easier choice."

Bringing her head up, she gave a weak smile. "Yeah, I guess. Thank you Xavier for that." As she was speaking, their food came. Twilight had a daffodil and daisy sandwich, Spick had a pile of hay fries, and Xavier had a bowl of celery soup. As they were about to eat their food however, they noticed a bunch of ponies running around in a panic.

"Um, excuse me?" The trio looked over to the waiter that served them. "Are you going to eat your food in the rain?"

"Heh? What do you mean?" Xavier questioned before he noticed that there was indeed rain falling around them, just not on them. "Um, does this sort of thing happen often Twilight? I mean, I know different physics and all, but I doubt rain acts super different from where I come from."

"No, it doesn't. What's going on." Twilight said as she looked up, only to see a certain pegasus in the clouds.

"Huh, Rainbow?" Xavier exclaimed with a spoon in his mouth from a recent bite of soup. "Why are you here, I thought you were going home?"

"Oh I was, but then I saw two of my bestest friends about to get soaked so I decided to punch a hole in the clouds to keep them dry, that's all." Rainbow explained innocently.

"Rainbow," Twilight said sternly. " You're not trying to get extra consideration for the extra ticket by doing me extra special favors, are you?

"Then why don't you?" Xavier question as he gestured at other ponies running around in the rain, getting a sheepish look from her. "Look Rainbow, I told you to go home until tonight to get an answer, so please go home and wait, and please don't make it harder on Twilight. Any favors like this may make it harder on her."

Groaning, Rainbow responded grouchily, "Ugh, fine!" She departed, but not before closing up the hole that she made, causing rain to fall onto all of them, soaking them, and leading to a very angry Twilight with a very wet sandwich, and a very giggly Spike.

"It's ok, Xavier." Twilight sighed, "You didn't mean to. Thank you though for the help, though I feel like that isn't the only thing that Rainbow will do-" Suddenly, she was pulled away from him along with Spike.

Xavier was walking around town, hoping to find any evidence of where Twilight and Spike disappeared of to since he lost them a while ago. That's when he saw the mare in question running past him.

"Hey Twilight, Twilight! Slow down!" Hearing this, she slowed down for him to catch up. "There you are, what happened? You were suddenly pulled away from me and I was trying to catch up to you, but I lost you, what happened?"

Groaning, Twilight started to go over what happened. "Well, turns out it was Rarity who pulled me away, saying she was getting me out of the rain. When she got me to her shop, she gave me a dress that she claimed would look good on me at the Gala, so I gave it back and tried to leave, but then Applejack grabbed me and brought me over to a cart filled with apple treats. Seeing it, I ran away, leading us here. Of course now all of these favors are making things even more difficult on me on my decision."

"I can imagine that Twilight." Xavier spoke with empathy, "But even so, there is still a decision, and I still believe that no matter who you chose, the others will still be understanding and let it go. So while it may be hard, you need to make a choice."

Twilight sighed as the two approached the library. "I know, it's just that I don't know who to chose. Who do you think-"She was going to finish that sentence, but the duo was interrupted by a bunch of animals in the library cleaning it, with Fluttershy humming a little tune. "Oh no Fluttershy, not you too!"

"Oh, well, hello Twilight. I hope you don't mind, but we're all doing a little spring cleaning for you."

"But it's summer right?" Xavier wondered. "I mean, last week was that Summer Sun Celebration or what you call it, right."

Realizing this, Fluttershy blushed, "Oh, well, better late than never, right? It was Angel's idea." She gestured to a bunny on a table, who had a apron on and making a salad.

"Oh no, I'm doing this because you're my very best friend. Right, Angel?" Angel gave a glare of disagreement "Oh, yes, we are just doing this for the ticket."

"Well, at least you were kind enough to admit it." Xavier stated as Angel came up to Twilight with the salad in it's paws. Seeing it, Twilight snapped back.

"No, no, no! Well, this was all very nice of you and Angel, but I'm not accepting any extra favors until I've made my final decision, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"SUPRISE!!" Suddenly the door opened with confetti, and suddenly a group of hooves grabbed Twilight. When Xavier got outside, he saw a bunch of ponies throwing Twilight in the sky, with Pinkie singing.

Twilight is my bestest friend
Whoopie, whoopie!
She's the cutest, smartest, all around best pony, pony!
I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party!
She'll give her extra ticket to the Gala to me!

"PINKIE!!!!" Twilight yelled out, causing all the ponies to drop her onto the floor. "At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket." During Twilight's little rant, Xavier became more and more nervous about where this was going, and when she said ticket, he began to sweat nervously.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Xavier began to run to her, but too late to stop her. "Twilight has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!"

"THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA!" Soon, all the ponies that were nearby were crowding Twilight in hopes of getting the ticket. Spike tried to help, but there too many. Suddenly, Twilight jumped into the air and bolted, prompting all the ponies to chase her, leaving only Pinkie, Fluttershy and Xavier, the latter incredibly confused. Of course, his confusion turned to concern as he saw rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity approaching them.

"Oh hello Xavier darling, how are you? Do you know where Twilight is, she left her dress behind in my shop."

"Yeah, come on! She is totally going to give the ticket to me!" Rainbow stated as all of the girls began to argue once again, but this time Xavier had enough, so he decided to shut them up for good.

Alright Everypony, ENOUGH!" Xavier yelled out, his sword in his hand. The girls all stopped and looked at him as he spoke. "Thank you, now let's get to the point, you all are being ridiculous. You do realize Twilight has only been here for about a week, and only just allowed friendship into her heart? You all yelling at each other and doing favors for her just for a ticket is not exactly giving a good idea to friendship. If anything, I wouldn't put it past her to go alone, after all, all I'm seeing is ponies trying to use her just for a ticket and benefits!" While he was speaking, all of the girls began to feel extremely guilty, and by the end of his speech, they all were regretting their actions. there was a small time for quiet until Applejack spoke.

"I-I'm sorry..." The others voiced their agreements, to which Xavier let his expression soften slightly.

"If you're sorry, tell that to the pony you targeted." He said as he opened the library door, gesturing them all to enter.

When everyone entered the library, they sat in silence, with the girls perched up on a ledge and Xavier in a chair, awaiting Twilight's return. It was sundown when they saw her teleport in with spike, in a panic. They all looked at her in confusion as they watched her and Spike run around the library, turning out lights and closing windows and doors. They only stopped when Xavier decided to walk in front of her.

"GAH, Xavier! Don't scare me like that!" Twilight yelped as Xavier gave a apologetic look.

"Sorry about that Twilight, but that was the only way to get you to stop to let us talk to you." Twilight was confused as Xavier gestured to the others, giving Twilight a bit of anxiety. "Don't worry Twilight, there is a reason to them being here. Girls..."

Applejack leapt down to their level and approached her. "Twilight, sugar, I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you, and if it helps, I don't want the ticket anymore. You can give it to somepony else. I won't feel bad, I promise."

"Me too." Fluttershy started as she flew down "I feel just awful that I made you feel so awful."

"Twilight, it was unfair of me to try to force you as I did." Rarity spoke with an apologetic tone.

"We all got so gun-ho about going to the gala that we couldn't see how un-gun-ho we were making you." Applejack finished as all of the girls came close. "We're sorry, Twilight."

Looking around, Twilight smiled as she began to speak. "Spike, take down a note.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Yeah Twilight, you could have gone alone. Or invite somepony else you care for." Xavier spoke.

With that, Spike lit the scroll he was writing on with his breath, sending the message to the princess as Xavier looked with a blank look. "Welp, that's that. Now no one gets to go, including you Twilight."

"It's okay, girls. I couldn't possibly enjoy myself without my best friends there with me. So I would rather not go at all." With that, all the girls surrounded Twilight in a group hug with Xavier giving a warm smile and Spike making a face of disgust, at least before starting to gag.

"Well wallop my withers, Spike." Applejack poke to him in disappointment. "Isn't that just like a boy? Can't handle the least bit of sentiment."

"Oh, right..." At that moment, Spike belched out green flames, materializing into a scroll, startling them all.

"My faithful student Twilight, Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" As Spike was reading, he noticed something at the bottom of the scroll. "Six tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

Gasping, everypony cried out in joy in knowing that they could all go, at least until Twilight's stomach rumbled. Hearing this, Rarity suggested something. "How about we go out to get some food for you. It's the least we can do to apologize."

With that, the girls left the library with a ticket in their possession. Xavier looked at them with happiness before noticing Spike looking slightly down. "Hey Spike, something wrong?"

Hearing Spikes sad tone, Xavier kneeled down to comfort him. That's when Spike began to gag and belched out another scroll. Opening it, two more tickets fell out as Spike began to read. "And one for you two Spike and Xavier."

Spike was thrilled to get one as he ran out of the library, while Xavier looked at the ticket he was given with a look of confusion. "I got a ticket, maybe this will be a good time here in Equestria." Xavier thought as he started to smile. He pocketed the ticket and began to run up to catch up to his friends.

The Impact of Humans on Ponies

by the koopanater

The Ticket Master