//------------------------------// // The "Best" Night Ever // Story: The Impact of Humans on Ponies // by the koopanater //------------------------------// "I can't believe it's almost time!" Tonight was the night everyone was waiting for, the Grand Galloping Gala. There has been a lot of things that have happened, but after months of waiting, the Gala would finally happen. At this moment, the three humans were walking over to Rarity's to get ready for the big night, with Jasmine leading the pack with bright eyes. Cali and Xavier were following behind, amused by her excitement. "Yep, I really can't believe it either." Xavier said. "After all we've been through, I think we can finally have a night go right." "I'll say." Cali agreed. "Things have been crazy, and I can only imagine what you and Jasmine have been through before me." "Yeah, it's been pretty exciting. But I'm happy for a normal event tonight." Jasmine said as she began to walk backwards to talk to face them. "So any of you have plans tonight?" "Well, not really. I think I'm just going to make sure the girls have their plans go smoothly." Xavier explained. "What does that mean?" Cali asked. "Well, the first week I was here, Twilight got two tickets and not eight for all of us. It turned into a big mess where the girls were trying to get the spare ticket. Each of them had their reason for going, and Twilight was getting stressed from them. After I talked to them all, Twilight sent the two tickets back and the Princess gave her six for her and the girls and later two more for me and Spike." "Huh, that sounds like an interesting story." Jasmine said in reaction. "Yeah, it was." "So what were their reasons?" Cali asked. "Well, Applejack wants to go to set up an apple stand to make money for the farm. Rainbow wants to go to see her idols, the Wonderbolts." "Wonderbolts?" The girls asked. "They're basically this aerial stunt team." The girls nodded in understanding. "Anyway, Rarity wants to go to meet a prince that lives there. Fluttershy wants to because of the royal gardens filled with flora and animals. And Pinkie-" "Wants to go because it's a party?" Cali asked knowingly. "Yep. As for Twilight, I guess she would either want to see her home or the princess." Hearing home caught the two girl's attention. "Wait, home?" "Yeah, believe it or not. She used to live in Canterlot, but she came down to Ponyville to check the preparations to a special event. Ironically, it was the same day that I woke up here. After... things happened, she and the Princess decided that she should live here with her friends." "Wow, there is a lot of history with you all, isn't there?" Cali inquired. "Yep, but I can tell you later, right now we're here." The group looked to see that they indeed made it. As they were approaching, they saw a very familiar pink pony bouncing high. Curious, they went to see what was going on, only to see that Pinkie was jumping on a trampoline and Twilight nearby reading a book. "Hey Twilight, Pinkie!" Looking up from her book, Twilight smiled. "Oh good, you're here. Perfect." Twilight greeted. "Now we just need the others." As they were coming over, they heard the boutique's door open and saw that Rarity was in it. "Pinkie Pie! Stop that right now." Instead of greeting them, Rarity immediately began to run over to them and scold Pinkie. "It's time to prepare for the Gala, and I refuse to let you put on your new dress when you're all sweaty." Pinkie listened and stopped hopping on the trampoline, but she somehow halted her movement midair and walked on invisible stairs upset, confusing the humans as to how she did that. "Where are the others? It's getting late." Rarity asked rhetorically, getting impatient. "Hold your horses, girl. We're here." Everyone looked over to see Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy walking over. As they were saying hello to them, Twilight closed her book. "Perfect. I'm ready!" She said, getting everyone's attention. "For what?" "Spike." Upon Twilight's call, Spike ran to a flat area and put an apple down. "An apple? What's that for?" Cali asked. "Is it for a pie?" Pinkie asked, getting a deadpan stare from Cali. before she could talk however, Twilight began to charge her magic and focus it onto the apple. The apple began to shake until a bright flash erupted from it. When everyone opened their eyes from the flash, they were all surprised to see that the apple turned into a large carriage. "Whoa..." The entire group was impressed at the display, seeing how much power Twilight has. "“Thanks, but that’s just the start.” Twilight then walked towards Fluttershy. “So did you bring what I asked?” "Yes." As she said that, four white mice came out of her mane and scurried down to get into a formation. "Will they be safe, Twilight?" "You have my word." Twilight promised as she began to use her magic again, this time on the mice. Once Twilight was finished with her magic, a flash occurred again. When the group looked at the mice, they saw that the mice were changed into horses, not like ponies since they actually looked like horses the humans knew. It was almost impressive, if it wasn't for the fact the heads still had aspects of the mice like whiskers, ears, and nose. "Ta-da!" The group had no idea how to react. "Neat, huh?" "They're disturbing to look at." As the group were trying to think of a good way to tell her, Cali decided to not beat around the bush and just told Twilight her thoughts, getting the rest of them to look at her. "What, you were all thinking that." "But Twilight was so proud." Jasmine told her. "Hey, she wanted out opinions." The two began to argue to each other, the rest looking at them with sweat drops. "Erm, while they are arguing, the spell is impressive." Xavier admitted. "It's just that..." "*sigh* I know." Twilight sighed. "At least they look the part, right?" "Right." As they were talking, a loud meow could be heard. "Opalescence, no!” The group looked over and saw that Rarity's cat just landed onto one of the mouse horses, clinging onto it. They all began to panic and ran off, never to be seen again. "Gah, rust-oil!" Xavier exclaimed as they ran out of sight. "Will they be okay?" "Don't worry, they will turn back by midnight. But now what do we do, they were supposed to pull our carriage, how are we supposed to get to the Gala." As Twilight was worrying about how to get there, Rarity noticed something and smiled. "Whatever shall we do?" She said dramatically before walking over to four stallions that were talking amongst themselves. "Uh... ahem. Excuse me. Uh, would you boys mind pulling our carriage to the Gala?" She asked sweetly. The four of them looked at each other and nodded, and in a few minutes the four were strapped and ready to pull the carriage. "Oh. Yeah. Right." After the group figured out transportation, they were now getting dressed and making themselves presentable. Xavier was finished first, and being the only guy there along with Spike, he was forced to wait outside. He was wearing a simple black tuxedo and bowtie. He was also wearing some black shoes along with a belt. As he was waiting for the girls to finish, he began a conversation with Spike. "So Spike, what's it like up in Canterlot?" "Well, it's a very rich and prestigious city. Many of the ponies that live there are quite wealthy. The other ponies that live there have connections there like Twilight." "Sounds like a bunch of rich snobs." The two looked up to see Cali and Jasmine walking over, who got ready somewhere else. Jasmine was wearing the dress that she wore when she was a model that one time, And Cali was wearing a special outfit that was requested by Jasmine (Cali was happy to know Jasmine cared so much, though it was a bit overwhelming). She was still wearing her hat and vest, but now she was wearing a very nice blue dress shirt underneath. She was also wearing nice jeans and some white gloves. It wasn't as fancy as Rarity wanted, but it was like Applejack's who didn't want too much, just something to look nice. "Well, kind of. There are those types of ponies there, but there are also a lot of kind ponies who live there." "I'll take your word for it, kid." Cali said as she as she and Jasmine went over to sit with them. "So, anything we should know about before we get going?" "Mmm, I don't think so." "So I guess we just wait for the others then." Xavier suggested, the rest agreeing and began to talk between each other, waiting to leave and have a night to remember. Later After the ponies were done and ready to go, the group headed off in the carriage with Xavier and Spike driving the carriage. As they were driving, the girls were talking about things that they would be doing there, with Spike and Xavier staying mostly quiet. Xavier was thinking to himself however, thinking about some things. After a bit of thinking, he decided to have a chat with Spike. "Hey Spike?" He looked at him. "Yeah?" "What exactly are your plans for the gala?" "Oh, I wanted to tell someone!" Spike announced. "I'm so glad someone asked! As someone who lived in Canterlot, I was planning on an insider's tour for everyone. I was going to show Rarity the crown jewels, and Applejack the princess's golden apple tree, and for Pinkie, there's this donut shop that is the best that we have to go." He was talking quite loudly about his ideas in hopes that the others inside would be interested, but it was hard to tell with all the chatter inside. As he was talking about his plan for a tour, Xavier noticed something. "Erm, Spike. What about the Gala?" At Xavier's observation, Spike frowned. "*sigh* It's just that I thought I would save the girls some trouble." "How so?" "Their plans aren't going to be like they wanted." Spike explained. "Everything that the girls thought would happen isn't going to be like they thought. The animals in the garden are shyer than Fluttershy, Applejack's stand won't draw in customers because of the buffet line of fancy food, the Wonderbolts are always busy with all their fans, so Rainbow will barely get an opportunity to talk to them, Twilight's idea of talking to the princess is going to be slow since she is going to be greeting all the delegates and such, and her nephew is a piece of work, so Rarity might not be attracted to him after a while of being with him, thankfully. As for Pinkie, well..." "It's a calmer party, so her idea of a party will clash with their idea, right?" Spike nodded. "Hmm, that does sound pretty bad." Xavier said. "But you can't tell them what to do, can you?" "I guess not." "I say just let them spread their wings for a while. They can find their way around and learn things don't go the way they always want." Spike looked at him for a moment before sighing. "I guess you're right." "Plus, this place is full of high class, rich ponies, right." Spike nodded. "Well, they haven't interacted much with these types of ponies yet, so they'll learn about different ponies here. You just have to put faith in them to understand that, right." Spike sighed again. "Yeah, I'll not worry too much about it." Spike then looked at him curiously. "How do you know what to say in these situations?" Xavier, for a split second, gave a shocked look before looking away with a sad face. "I-I would rather not say." Spike took the que to not press further. "Well, we're almost there, so let's get going. Hyah!" He snapped the leads of the ponies, getting them all to glare at him. Their glares were strong enough to get Xavier to look a bit scared. "“Hey!” One of them exclaimed angrily. “Um...sorry?” Spike smiled nervously at them. “If you weren’t friends with our neighbor, Rarity…” The second stallion added, shaking his hoof. “Hmph!” They turned back around to continue to walk, getting sighs from the two as they continued forward. Unbeknownst to them, a certain human was listening to the two talk from the inside of the carriage. After a while of strolling, the two guys saw the lights of the city and were happy to finally be there. Once they parked, Xaveir and Spike got down and opened the door for them. After they all got out, they took a moment to look at them all in their dresses. "Whoa! You all look... amazing!" Spike complimented. Xavier's eyes were on Jasmine however, as the lights of the city, in his eyes, made her look like a beauty. "Y-yeah, you all look great." "Aww, thank you. You look good too." Jasmine said, making Xavier red and a bit of smoke to puff out of his ears. As he was recovering, the rest looked at the city lights in dazzlement. "I can't believe we're finally here. With all that we've imagined, the reality of this night is sure to make this... The Best Night Ever!" At the Gala At the Gala At the Gala In the garden I'm going to see them all All the creatures I'll befriend them at the Gala At the Gala All the birdies And the critters They will love me big and small We'll become good friends forever Right here at the Gala! All our dreams will come true Right here at the Gala At the Gala At the Gala (It's amazing) I will sell them (Better hurry) All my appletastic treats (Yummy yummy) Hungry ponies (They'll be snacking) They will buy them (Bring your money) Caramel apples, apple sweets (Gimme some) And I'll earn a lot of money for the Apple family! All our dreams and our hopes from now until hereafter All that we've been wishing for will happen at the Gala At the Gala At the Gala All the royals They will meet fair Rarity They will see I'm just as regal at the Gala At the Gala I will find him My Prince Charming And how gallant he will be He will treat me like a lady Tonight at the Gala! This is what we've waited for to have the best night ever Each of us will live our dreams Tonight at the Gala At the Gala Soon, a group of pegasi flew by with storm clouds behind them like a trail flew by. While the two girl humans didn't know them, Xavier did know them, the Wonderbolts. Rainbow saw them too and became excited. Been dreamin' I've been waitin' To fly with those great ponies The Wonderbolts, their daring tricks Spinning round and having kicks Perform for crowds of thousands They'll shower us with diamonds The Wonderbolts will see me right here at the Gala! All we've longed for All we've dreamed Our happy ever after Finally will all come true Right here at the Grand Gala At the Gala I am here at the Grand Gala For it is the best party But the one thing it was missing was a pony named Pinkie For I am the best at parties, all the ponies will agree Ponies playing Ponies dancing With me at the Grand Gala! Happiness and laughter at the Gala At the Gala Flying up at the top of the central spire, Princess Celestia flew over as sparkles were left behind as she made an arch above her castle. Everyone was at awe, but Twilight knew that she would be able to talk to her. At the Gala (At the Gala) With the Princess (With the Princess) Is where I'm going to be (She will be) We will talk all about magic and what I've learned and seen (She will see) It is going to be so special As she takes time just for me (This will be the best night ever!) Into the Gala we must go We're ready now, we're all aglow Into the Gala, let's go in and have the best night ever Into the Gala, now's the time We're ready and we look divine! Into the Gala Meet new friends Into the Gala Sell some apples Into the Gala Find my Prince Prove I'm great as a Wonderbolt To meet! To sell! To find! To prove! To whoop! To talk! Into the Gala Into the Gala And we'll have the best night ever! At the Gala! Once the song finished, the three humans and dragon walked over to the ponies. "Erm, so do random songs randomly break out like this?" Cali asked. "Er, more or less." Xavier admitted. "I don't actually know why, but I sort of just accept it." "How? It's like we're on a kids show with these random musical numbers." "Eh, don't worry about it much. Right now, we have a Gala to look forward to." “Yeah, exactly! This is gonna be the best night ever!” Spike exclaimed excitedly as he hopped over excitedly. “You know why? Cause we’re all gonna spend time at the Gala to-” He never got to finish his sentence, as all of his pony friends ran off, leaving him and the humans at the gate. "Or not." He said disappointed. "Oh Spike, I'm sure it'll be fine." Xavier comforted. "Yeah, right- wait. Where's Jasmine?" The group looked around to realize that Jasmine wasn't there. "Where'd that girl go this time?" "She must have gone in with the girls." Xavier theorized. "Out of everyone, she was the most excited." "Well, have fun you two." Spike said as he began to walk away. "Huh, where are you going?" "I'm going to Joe's. I was really looking forward to giving that tour, but no one wanted to I guess. So I'm just going to go, have fun." As Spike was walking away, Cali walked over to him. "Huh, Cali?" Xavier questioned. "Go have fun bud, I'll take care of him." Cali said with a small smile. "I doubt that the party will go as smoothly as they thought, so make sure they stay out of trouble?" Xavier realized that she must have been listening to him and Spike talk about plans, so he nodded with his own small smile. "Give him a good night." Xavier turned to the gate and walked into the party. Cali sighed and jogged over to Spike. Once she reached him, she picked him up and put him onto her shoulder, startling and confusing him. "Huh, what are you doing?" "Asking you where this so-called golden apple tree is. And maybe those crown jewels?" Spike was surprised to see Cali interested, but that surprise turned into happiness quickly. "Well, let me tell you about it!" With Jasmine Xavier's theory was correct, as right now Jasmine was skipping along a path in the gardens. She was very excited to be in such a grand place, in a prestigious party, invited by a princess, it was so great to her. It was so exciting to her that she didn't even notice any of the ponies staring at her. "What in the world?" "Is that an ape of some kind?" "How did it get into such a party?" "Is it an ambassador of some kind?" To many, these words would be quite degrading to listen to. Jasmine however didn't pay any mind to them, mostly since she was in her own world again, not caring about anything. At least, not until she saw Rarity. "Huh, oh hey Rarity!" Rarity turned to see Jasmine waving at her. "Oh, hello there Jasmine. How are you?" Rarity asked as Jasmine walked over. "Great." She responded happily. "So are you looking for the prince?" "Oh of course, I just have to meet him." While Rarity's passion was admirable, Jasmine just had to ask. "Um, but why do you want to meet him?" "Because of true love." This caught Jasmine off guard. "Most would think that I would do this for money, or power, or even to join the royal family. But I want to meet him because of true love. I've always seen him in magazines, and every time he was always charming to me. I instantly fell in love with him, and I dream of the day that I'd meet him. I'd always imagine us seeing each other and immediately falling in love. And now that I'm here, that dream is close to coming true." Rarity's explanation put the signature sparkles into Jasmine's eyes again since it was so romantic. Before she could comment however, Rarity spotted something. "Oh, I think that's him!" Jasmine turned to see what she was looking at, and immediately she saw a white unicorn with what appeared to be a tuxedo collar on him. Once again, before Jasmine could comment, Rarity went off in his direction in hopes to meet him. Jasmine simply smiled as she watched her run off. "I wonder if I can have that kind of affection to someone..." As she was wondering about how it would feel like to have a love, she began to hear whistling. Curious, she began to follow the sound. When she did find the source of the whistling, she saw that it was some sort of old custodian/gardener raking leaves. As she was approaching, she overheard a familiar voice. “My little meadowlark is right around this bend!” A moment later, Fluttershy turned the corner of a hedge, seeing the same pony whistling. "Was that you?" "Yup. I love whistling while I work!” He replied happily before he continued whistling and walked off to rake more. As Fluttershy was saddened by the dissapointment, Jasmine walked over to her. "Um, Fluttershy? Are you okay?" Fluttershy jumped in surprise. "Oops, sorry." "It's fine." "How are you doing tonight?" "Well, I-" Fluttershy looked up to see a large group of animals a short distance away. “Oh! I see a Toco Toucan!” Fluttershy pointed over to the group. “And a spider monkey! And, oh! Is that a wallaroo?” Fluttershy immediately flew towards them with her happy smile, but the moment they took notice of her, they immediately ran away from her, causing her to be depressed again. “Oh, Fluttershy...You’re such a loudmouth…” Jasmine looked at her with concern, worried about what would happen if the animals didn't come to her With Xavier When Xavier entered the castle to find the girls, he was immediately greeted by the sight of the Princess and Twilight on top of a flight of stairs. "Xavier. So glad to see you again." The Princess greeted him. Everypony looked at him, confused at what exactly he was and why he managed to get the princess' attention. Xavier, embarrassed and a bit worried, worked his way over to the two of them. "H-hello your majesty." He greeted. "How have you and the others been?" Princess Celestia asked. "We've all been good, princess. Have you been doing well?" "Yes, I have." She replied. "So are you enjoying the festivities right now?" "Erm, I just got here." Xavier said, trying not to offend the princess. "But I can see that it's quite grand." "That's good to know. I hope you enjoy yourself." "Thank you, your majesty." Xavier bowed before leaving her and Twilight. Once he left, he began to think to think. "Okay, Twilight is probably going to stick with the princess for a while, so I won't need to worry about her. Let's see..." Xavier then began to run off multiple situations for each of the girls with what Spike told him. As he was doing that, he couldn't think of any way that their plans could go horribly wrong, just disappointment. As he was walking, he managed to find himself in the gardens, but he wasn't paying attention as he bumped into something. "Gah, oops." When he looked at what he bumped into, he saw that he bumped into an apple stands that Applejack was running. "Oh, sorry AJ." "Don't worry about it." Applejack reassured. "Okay, is everything going well?" "Of course. I've made a sale to one of those Wonderbolt fellas as soon as I set up." "Huh, not bad AJ." "Yeah, but it has slowed down in all honesty. I haven't made a sale since then." When Applejack said that, Xavier took the time and saw that it hasn't been over ten minutes since she left. "Well, try to keep your hopes up. I'm sure ponies will come once they learn how good your stuff is." "Thanks Xavier." "No problem. So do you know where that Wonderbolt went?" Applejack looked at him confused. "Well, I want to check on Rainbow, and if I had to guess, where that Wonderbolt went is where Rainbow is." After getting some directions from Applejack, Xavier went to find Rainbow, wishing luck to Applejack's endeavors. After asking a few more ponies for directions for where the Wonderbolts were, he finally made it over to where the Wonderbolts were, a big pavilion. Xavier was about to enter when a bouncer blocked him out. "Oh, um. Hello there." The bouncer, unlike the guard when the princess visited Ponyville, was not going to budge. He was a bit worried about Rainbow, at least until... "Hey, aren't you that human?" Looking at the gate, he saw one of the Wonderbolts with a orange mane and yellow coat was standing there. After gesturing to the bouncer, the bouncer let him in to talk to her. "The one who was brave enough to try and save that flying unicorn at the best young flyer's competition?" "Erm, yep. That's me." Xavier admitted. "Well, you've got guts for doing that, I like that." The Wonderbolt said. "You can come in if you'd like. The name's Spitfire by the way." "Xavier. And I guess I can join." Xavier walked into the venue. "So, do you know where Rainbow Dash is?" "The pony that saved us and won the best young flyer's competition?" Spitfire asked. "She's here somewhere. I haven't seen her recently, but she's here." "Thanks. I'll catch up later, I need to find her." Xavier then walked off to find his friend. After a bit of walking around, he found his friend standing around. "There you are Dash." Getting closer, she turned to him, looking kind of upset. "Erm, is everything alright?" "Not really." Rainbow admitted. "I was trying to hang out with the Wonderbolts, but they are just busy with all of the other fans. *sigh* this isn't hanging out..." "Oh, I'm sorry..." "Don't be." Rainbow said. "I'm going to try and make this the best night ever, even if it's the last thing I do!" With that announcement, Rainbow entered the crowd to presumably look for the Wonderbolts, leaving Xavier alone. "Erm, alright then." A while later After Rainbow went off to look for the Wonderbolts, Xavier decided to leave the venue due to the extra-large crowd that was inside. After a while of walking and exploring, he finally decided to sit down for a break. "I would have thought that a pony gala would be different, but I guess not." Xavier began to think. "It's more or less the same as the ones from home. Home..." Xavier sighed and thought about life before. "I know that many would think that I would want to find a way home, but there isn't anything left for me. I guess I should- As he was thinking, he overheard music. This music was very out of place however since it was something you'd hear in a club. He got up and followed the music, right over to the main party hall. When he looked in the door to the place, his heart stopped as he saw something that should not be in a gala, a small DJ booth and Pinkie bouncing around. "Come on, everypony! You wanted a partay? Now it's paaartaaay!" Pinkie announced as she hopped around the room. As she was, she was tormenting other ponies by bumping into them and generally making a racket. Xavier was watching with panic in his eyes as he ran in. "PINKIE!! THIS ISN'T THAT KIND OF PARTY!!" As Xavier was trying to chase her down, a large double door slammed open. Looking over, Xavier's eyes grew wider as he saw an extra-large cake on a cart come into the room, piloted bu Applejack. "Okay, all you high-class ponies. Here's a highfalutin apple cake for your hoity-toity taste buds." Applejack announced. As Xaveir was panicking, he heard something else that was the worst thing to hear. "Stage dive!" Pinkie leapt from the stage, not caring about where she landed. Unfortunately, this ended badly as she landed onto the cart, sending the huge cake flying. Xavier's heart was about to stop when he saw where the cake would land, onto two ponies that just entered the room, one of them was Rarity. Xavier, wasting no time, dashed over with surprising speed due to the adrenaline in him and shoved the two out of the way as they just realized what was happening. The two were clean, but Xavier took the full blow of the cake. As he lay on the ground, Rarity ran over. "Xavier! Are you okay?!" She asked as she used her magic and levitated him to his feet and started to remove cake bits off him. "Yeah, but I'm not sure my heart can take much more." He said exhausted. "Hmp, serves you right." The two looked over to the pony Rarity entered the room with. "Look what you did, you ruined my hair. you ape." He said as he motioned to a single hair out of place. Rarity was practically red with anger. "You, sir, are the most uncharming prince I have ever met!" She yelled out in anger. "In fact, the only thing royal about you is that you are a royal pain!" "Well, you aren't as beautiful as I would like." This set Rarity off. "Oh that's IT!!" Rarity then threw the cake that she took off of Xavier and launched them at the prince. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't fast enough to react and was bombarded by the chunks of baked good. As Blueblood was backing up trying to escape, he bumped into a large statue of an alicorn a bit too hard. Him bumping into the statue broke it, sending the entire statue to the floor. As the room was gasping and in shock, Rainbow smirked. "Now's my chance!" She dashed to the statue, and just before it hit the ground, she caught it. "YES!" Unfortunately, the giant statue was too heavy for her, and soon she began to sway around. As she was stumbling, she accidentally bumped into a marble pillar, sending it down into another, and soon all the pillars went down like dominoes. Once the dust cleared, Xavier was pretty much in shock as he stared at the mess, only increasing when the statue cracked in half. As he stared, he only had one thing to say. "Well, it can't get any worse from here." Bad choice of words After he said that, Jasmine ran into the room. "XAVIER!!!" He turned to her along with the rest of the girls. "We have a problem!!" "Please, we don't need one more!!" As Xavier grew more upset, a rumbling could be heard, and it only grew louder. It all came to a head when another pair of double doors slammed open, releasing dozens of animals and a practically feral Fluttershy. "You’re...going to LOVE ME!" Chaos soon erupted as animals began chasing around other party members, leaving the entire place a mess. As Xavier and the others were panicking (Except Fluttershy who was still in the chaos), a whistle could be heard. Looking over, they saw Twilight next to the princess, the former waving over to get them to follow. The rest of the group complied, running out of the party room and out of the castle, all of them having a very bad night. With Cali Cali was having a very good night. Her and Spike went around the city to take in the sights, with Spike being the tour guide and Cali looking at everything. She may have found it all a bit too fancy, but it was calm and relaxing, something that Cali enjoyed. Now the two were sitting at a donut shop owned by sompony called Joe and clinked two mugs of milk together. "To a great night." The two said together as they took drinks from their mugs. After they finished their drinks, Cali began to talk. "Tonight was great, kid. Just the night I needed after all the craziness." "It was great for me too." Spike said. "I really enjoyed it." Spike's smile faded a bit. "I just wish the others joined..." His sad tirade was interrupted by a noggie from Cali. "Hey, their loss kid. Besides, I'm sure they had a good night too." As Cali said that, a bell rung. As the two looked to see who entered the shop, they were surprised to see the group, though they looked quite roughed up. "Ah, speak of the devil." "Hey, how was the Gala? How was your best night ever?” Spike asked as he ran up to the group, Cali following behind. After sitting down at a table, the group began telling the tale, leaving the two who didn't join shocked. "That sounds like the worst night ever!" "It was!" The group said sans for the two who weren't in the party, all of them laughing. Spike and Cali looked at them confused. "Um, why are y'all laughing?" "Because it's quite ridiculous when you think about it. After the fact at least." Xavier said. “I just hope Princess Celestia isn’t upset with us for ruining the Gala…” Twilight muttered sadly. As most of the group were feeling a bit guilty... “That was the best Grand Galloping Gala ever!” The group were surprised to see none other than Princess Celestia at the entrance of the donut shop. "Princess Celestia?!” The group yelled out. "Um, princess? No offence but that was a disaster." Xavier said. "Oh, Xavier. The Grand Galloping Gala is always awful." This shocked the group. "It is?" “That is why I was thrilled you were all attending. I was hoping you could liven things up a bit." This surprised the group even more, seeing as how their invite was to make the Gal more entertaining to a certain degree. "And while the evening may not have gone as you planned, I’m sure you’ll agree that in the end it didn’t turn out so bad for this group of friends.” “Yeah, I think you’re right.” Twilight nodded in agreement. “Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great.” “Yeah! Hanging out with friends!” Rainbow added. “Talking!” Fluttershy added as well. “Laughing!” Pinkie held her hooves out in joy. “You mean doing exactly what I wanted to do the whole time?” Spike and Cali smirked. "Yes, Spike. You were right.” Twilight smiled back while she rolled her eyes. "I guess this wasn't the worst night ever." Xavier admitted. "Yeah, in fact..." Jasmine started. "I think this was-" "THE BEST NIGHT EVER!!" Everyone joined into the announcement happily, all laughing at the end. As they all laughed, the humans each thought about life here in Equestria and how it was much better than where they were. They weren't concerned about going home that much, they were just happy to share moments with friends. Maybe they would return one day, but for now they were happy to be here.