//------------------------------//
// The Best Night Ever 
// Story: Twilight Sparkle the Dragon 
// by PlutoMilo 
//------------------------------//

“I can’t believe the Grand Galloping Gala is tonight!” Pinky Pie whooped while springing up and down on the trampoline she dragged along with her.
Twilight expertly tuned the bouncing mare out as she read. Her friends deserved to at least have some of the night be fun. She would perfect this spell by tonight. Nothing would stop her from doing so.
“Spike! Come bounce with me!”
Ok, maybe something would.
“Remember your helmet,” Spike frowned unhappily as Twilight magicked his helmet out from who knew where.
Right as Spike finished buckling it on, Rarity poked her head out of her boutique and gasped loudly.
“Pinky Pie! You stop that right now. I refuse to let you wear your dress if you are all sweaty,”
Twilight glanced up from her book just in time to see Pinky defy the laws of gravity by slowing down mid-air. She felt her eye twitch as per usual whenever Pinky did something so ‘Pinky’. 
Even after so many months, Twilight didn’t know how Pinky did it. After the whole situation with the hydra, Twilight wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know anymore.
Seeing as she wouldn’t get anymore studying done for the moment, Twilight’s claws slammed the book shut with enough force for Rarity to wince. Out of the corner of her eye, she carefully watched Spike as he bounced on the trampoline.
“Where is every pony? It’s getting late,” Rarity complained right as the rest of their friends came into view.
“Hold your horses, we’re here,” Applejack placated.
“Sorry girls, I lost track of time helping a bunny family,” Fluttershy said sheepishly.
“Quite alright dear,” Rarity soothed, “Now let’s get a move on!”
Rarity guided her friends into the lower levels of her boutique where she had set up a mini salon to help them get ready. 
As the others carefully began to groom their manes, Twilight settled on the floor near the open door, waiting for Spike to finish his fun.
“Twilight. Aren’t you going to wash your mane?” Rarity asked.
Twilight shrugged, opening her book, “It’ll look the same whether I wash it or not. My hair doesn’t like listening to reason,”
“Well you could at least style it darling,” Rarity implored, “First you didn’t let me make you a fabulous outfit, and now your hair?”
“I let you design the bow tie I’m wearing, and pick out the earring,” Twilight didn’t hear Rarity’s response since she was already immersed in her book once more.
She was dragged out of her thoughts by her son’s voice, “I can’t believe we’re going to be in Canterlot tonight. It’s our hometown!”
Twilight smiled and draped a wing over Spike’s excited form, “That it is, Spike,”
“And the best part is, we all get to hang out together all night long!” Spike was practically vibrating with joy by that point.
“Err, I dunno Spike,” Rainbow hedged, “We’ll see,”
“We’re going to be might busy,” Applejack agreed, spitting on Fluttershy’s hoof to ‘get a better shine’ as she put it.
Twilight grimaced at the action and sympathetically looked at Fluttershy who held her hoof out despondently.
“Busy having fun!” Pinky proclaimed as she pulled her head from the dryer.
Twilight silently counted down from ten in her head. Right when she reached zero, Pinky’s mane, which had been flat and freshly washed, popped back to its prior poofy-ness.
Spike visibly wilted and the wing around him tightened, “Don’t worry Spike. I’m sure we’ll all spend some time together,”
Spike brightened up considerably, “Great! I could give a tour around Canterlot! There’s Donut Joe’s, the-”
Twilight chuckled and nuzzled Spike’s head, “Why don’t you wait until we get there? Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise now would you?”
As the night drew closer and the rest of her friends began to don their dresses, Twilight stepped outside. She put one of Applejack’s prized apples on the ground and began her spell.
The apple twitched and began to expand, looking as if some creature were trying to break out from it. Her focus nearly wavered when her friends exclaimed loudly at her magic, having followed her out the door. The apple grew to the size of Twilight and then some.
Twilight shook her head when the spell finished and breathed a sigh of relief, “It worked!”
The new apple carriage glittered in the sunset and Rarity couldn’t help but squeal at the attention to detail. Spike happily jumped to the driver’s seat, his new top hat nearly flying off in his eagerness.
“Alright, everyone in. If we start now, we’ll get there half an hour early,” Twilight promised.
Pinky let out a tiny squee, “I can’t believe we’re actually going!”
Applejack went in first with her special briefcase. Rarity stayed behind to properly tie up Twilight’s bow tie, tisking as she did so. Twilight grinned and let Rarity’s magic run up along the tie, straightening it. She strapped herself to the carriage and took a step forward, testing the weight and straps.
Her wings were pinned uncomfortably around her body, but not overly so. Twilight shook her hair out a little and began to walk down the path. The journey there took a couple of hours, but from the lively chatter coming from inside the carriage, Twilight knew none of them were bored.
Spike constantly leaned through the window to answer a question and Twilight had to tell him multiple times to be careful. By the time they passed through the Canterlot city limits, Twilight had chastised him a grand total of nine times.
Twilight unharnessed herself when they neared the bridge and she reversed the spell once everyone had disembarked. She let her friends marvel at the castle before taking the lead across the bridge.
The guards at the entrance caught her eyes and discreetly winked. Twilight let out a long suffered but good-natured sigh. The bet pools were still going despite her not even being there anymore, wonderful. One of the guards let out a suspicious-sounding cough that sounded like a disguised guffaw.
“What ever is the matter darling?” Rarity inquired as they followed the red carpet leading to her mentor.
“Nothing nothing,” Twilight waved a wing dismissively.
Celestia’s eyes glittered mischievously when she spotted her student. Twilight felt slight dread pool in her stomach as Celestia opened her mouth.
“Welcome back to Canterlot and to the Grand Galloping Gala my faithful student,” Celestia declared it loud enough for the entire entrance hall to hear.
“Good to be back, Princess,” Twilight ground out between gritted teeth.
She could feel the stares boring into her scales. It made her hair stand on end and her hackle plates raise. She was sure that if she turned around, she would see Rarity horrifyingly transfixed at the state of her hair.
Celestia’s eyes danced with mirth and bent down to whisper, “Good luck, Twilight,”
“No thanks to you,” Twilight whispered back, “You know that’s cheating right?”
Celestia rose back up and haughtily proclaimed, “A princess doesn’t cheat,”
Twilight snorted so violently a smoke ring floated up toward the ceiling, “Have a great night, Princess,”
She made a point to turn away and walk into the ballroom, only stopping to wait for Spike. Twilight could tell Celestia rolled her regal eyes, and she could practically taste the envy rolling off the alicorn since she was stuck at greeting duty.
One by one, her friends broke off from the group, heading to their desired locations until it was just her and Spike. Twilight claimed a small table near the middle of the room knowing it was futile to hide in the corner.
Spike was oblivious, eagerly taking a drink from a passing waiter. He only noticed something was amiss when they were approached by a grizzled unicorn stallion that had a hard edge to his eyes.
“Oh no, is that-” Spike didn’t get to finish his question as the stallion in question invited himself to their table.
“Greetings Sparkle,” the stallion said pompously.
“Hello Copper,” Twilight answered dully, “How are you?”
“Superb, thank you for asking. And how are you little Spike? Potty trained yet?” Copper asked snidely.
“I- I’m going to get food,” Spike sputtered angrily before trotting as politely as he could to the table laden with food.
“It would do you well to remember your manners, Copper,” Twilight snarled.
The stallion lit his horn to take a small cucumber sandwich from a waiter. He took a bite before talking, completely ignoring Twilight’s threat, “How go your studies? I heard you no longer live in Canterlot,”
“Not bad. The rumors are true, I have taken up residence in Ponyville,” Twilight was hardpressed to not blast the stallion in the face with her flames, “Yours?”
“Absolutely delightful. Why I recently published an article describing the properties of sigils and how they-” Twilight tuned the old stallion out.
Clearly, Copper was still attempting to gain the Archmage title even after years of failing. So far, Twilight, despite only being a mere twenty-two summers old, was his only competition for the title. Obviously, Twilight had no interest in becoming the Archmage of Canterlot seeing as she was only a mediocre mage at best by her standards, not to mention the fact that she didn’t even live in Canterlot anymore.
“That’s great Copper,” Twilight interrupted, staving off the urge to yawn, “I’ve been studying about how emotional states can impact spell casting,”
In reality, Twilight really wasn’t. It was just something she was interested in and had put on her mental checklist.
Spike came back to the table, plate heaped high with pasta, salad, and hay fries. As Twilight took her cursory look over his plate, she absentmindedly noted to add some more vegetables to his diet when they got home.
Copper excused himself snootily and Twilight finally allowed herself to roll her eyes.
“Old coot,” She muttered as Spike giggled, “Sorry about him,”
Spike didn’t get the chance to respond since Pinky’s voice rang out through the ballroom.
“Come on every pony! I know what will make you shake those hoofed thangs!”
Twilight coughed into her fist, fighting the urge to laugh at the incredulous faces around the ballroom as Pinky started her own rendition to Pony Pokey. Spike snickered into his forehooves as Pinky bounced about.
No one moved as Pinky unabashedly got into the orchestra’s personal space. When the song finished, there were several beats of silence before one of Canterlot’s sector officials huffed.
“Young mare! This is not that kind of party!”
Spike laughed harder when Pinky completely misunderstood what was said. Twilight rolled her eyes once more before urging Spike to finish his meal.
“I’ll go get us some of Applejack’s fritters. How’s that sound?”
Spike nodded so quickly, Twilight worried for his neck. Twilight walked out to the castle gardens, spotting Rarity and Blueblood by Applejack’s cart.
Right as Twilight opened her snout to greet her friends, Blueblood spat out the bite of fritter he had eaten. Due to her usual amount of luck, most of the half-chewed fritter ended up in her hair. Blueblood was too busy ranting about the ‘common carnival fare’ to notice who he just essentially spat on.
She interrupted his spiel with the most sardonic tone she could muster, fritter still dripping off her scales, “Well this has got to be a new record Blue,”
Blueblood stuttered to a halt, face paling as his brain recognized the voice, “Mi-Miss Sparkle!”
Twilight’s snout had tendrils of smoke rising from it, “Well?”
As Blueblood sputtered out an excuse, Twilight pointedly rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.
“I am this close,” Twilight held up two talons, both touching each other, “To dragging you to Celestia,”
“No need Miss Sparkle, I assure you,” Blueblood said with false bravado, “I promise not to do that again,”
“It better be,” Twilight growled, flashing her teeth.
“Yes, Miss Sparkle! I will head over to the buffet for some hor’derves,” he quickly scampered away, Rarity following with an annoyed face.
“Well, no wonder no pony is buying! They’re filling up on all those fancy-schmancy meals.” Applejack grumbled unhappily.
Twilight smiled sympathetically, spelling herself clean, “Two fritters please,”
Applejack sullenly put two fritters on a plate and passed it over before saying in monotone, “No charge,”
“Thanks, Applejack,” Twilight turned away, the plate held in her magic. However, later on, Applejack would find four bits extra in her pouch.
“Good luck with the rest of your sales,”
As Twilight walked back to their table, Pinky Pie started up what sounded like club music. Again, Twilight had to fake a small coughing fit to hide her laughter.
“I think this might be the funnest Gala we’ve been to,” Spike proclaimed happily, snatching his fritter the moment the plate hit the table. He munched on it thoughtfully, “Well my first Gala was pretty fun. But I think this one is funner!”
“You only found the first one fun because you were the only one that didn’t get set on fire,” Twilight jested.
Spike grinned and said in a sing-song, “Maybe. It was still funny,”
Ponies began to fly up into the air as Pinky pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, trying to get them to dance. Twilight’s attention was stolen away when Applejack came through the main doors with a large cake on a cart.
Pinky, not seeing the cart, slammed into it, sending the cake soaring through the air. The cake reminded Twilight of a bomb and had to bite her tongue to stay quiet when the cake splattered all over an unsuspecting Blueblood, who’d been talking with Rarity.
The spoiled stallion screamed at his state of uncleanliness, backing away so quickly from the mess that he tripped and fell backward. Spike’s laughter dissolved into wheezing and Twilight patted his back to make sure he didn’t pass out.
Unfortunately, Blueblood chose the worst spot to trip, since he tripped and fell into the statue of Princess Luna. The entire statue listed to the side with a groan and Twilight watched in horror as it fell toward a part of the crowd.
Twilight was ready to shoot across the hall, but a rainbow blur beat her to it. Only Rainbow Dash caught the entire statue on her back, rather than shove everyone out of the way like Twilight was planning on.
For a second, it looked like Rainbow had it under control. However, that illusion shattered when the statue, clearly too heavy for the single pegasus to hold by herself, knocked into one of ornate the pillars that were around the room, knocking it clean over.
The falling pillar knocked another one down as it fell and started a domino effect, all the pillars falling and crumbling as they hit the floor. The piece de resistance was when the top-heavy statue rolled off Rainbow’s back and broke cleanly in two when it hit the floor.
Princess Celestia chose that moment to walk into the ballroom. Her eyes widened as she surveyed the damage, but Twilight saw the barely concealed grin on her quirky mentor’s face.
Twilight thought it was over when the dust settled, internally celebrating the fact that this year’s situation hadn’t been caused by her this time around. Then, the door to the gardens busted open and a flood of exotic animals overtook the guests.
Right behind the animals was Fluttershy looking uncharacteristically aggressive. Her dress was torn up and looked downright dirty. She was even missing one of her slippers.
“You are going to love me!” Fluttershy demanded of the animals in such a way, Twilight shuddered in place.
Her tone was reminiscent of the time the group confronted the sleeping dragon near Ponyville.
Spike barely managed to climb onto Twilight’s shoulders before the first of the animals swarmed under-hoof. Guests screamed and ran as birds and small animals slammed into them like a large furry wave.
Twilight made her way over to her mentor, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible.
“I do believe you and the rest of the guard owe me quite a bit of bits,” Twilight’s face broke out in a grin.
Celestia sniffed, “There’s always next year, dear student. Always next year,”
“So what now?”
“Run,” Celestia took off as royally as possible after the rest of the fleeing guests, leaving Twilight to gather her friends.
“Of course,” Twilight muttered. She rolled her eyes and whistled sharply between her teeth, motioning the girls to follow her.
She led her friends to Donut Joe’s. It was out the way but not but too covert.
“Twilight Sparkle! Long time no see,” Joe said gruffly, from behind the counter, “Who was the unlucky pony this time?”
“No one I’m afraid,” Twilight said back, “Ol’ Copper was close though,”
Joe laughed heartily, “That old geezer’ll never give up,”
Twilight made a face and Joe laughed harder.
When they finally got a booth, Twilight took in the shredded dresses they all wore. The only outfit that hadn’t suffered any damage was Spike’s. Rainbow and Applejack were the only two ponies to retain both of their shoes.
Twilight chuckled a little and asked her friends, “So how was your ‘best night ever’?”
Her friends stared at her in disbelief. Spike smothered his giggles in Twilight’s hair.
“Do you even need to ask that question?” Applejack wondered, “Horrible. It was horrible,”
Twilight laughed again, “Hope Celestia isn’t too upset with her ballroom though,”
Her mentor’s mystical voice floated over from the shop’s entrance, “That was the best Grand Galloping Gala I’ve had in years!”
Twilight grinned at her friends’ flummoxed expressions, “The Grand Galloping Gala is always awful. Usually, because I set someone on fire,” she shrugged, “What was this year’s bet, Princess?”
“How long you would last. You’re going to be a very rich dragon in the next few days,” Celestia stood next to her student, seeing as both of them couldn’t fit into the pony-sized booth.
“Not one pony bet that I wouldn’t set fire to anyone? I am insulted,” Twilight huffed, “Marshal has betrayed me,”
Joe passed by and put Twilight’s usual order of donuts on the table. Extra sprinkles as always. Spike slid off of Twilight’s shoulders and sat in her lap, pouncing on a donut at first chance.
“So this wasn’t the first time you went to the Gala?” Rarity asked, “How come you did not tell us, darling?”
“What’s the fun in that?” Twilight nearly snorted her donut as she scoffed, “It’s part of the experience,”
“I wanna hear about the first time Twi went to the Gala!” Rainbow exclaimed, “I bet it was awesome!”
Twilight rolled her eyes but recounted it for her friends as Celestia laughed lightly in the background. After that, each of her friends wanted to hear the next time and the next time. The rest of the night was filled with laughter, coffee, and donuts.