Chapter 5: The Gala part 2
Discord floated above the broken pieces of a chocolate fountain he had accidentally knocked over when he teleported himself into the dance. Pinkie flew over and wailed trying to scoop up the chocolate with her hooves. Nobles were already shouting for guards, but Celestia and Fluttershy soon flew above the crowd.
“My little ponies Discord was invited to the gala. He is a very dear friend of Princess Fluttershy, and he is a respected guest.” Celestia said sternly looking out on the crowd. Celestia didn’t notice Fluttershy using the stare on the nobles but even if she had she wouldn’t have stopped her. “Discord can you please fix the chocolate fountain you broke on your way in?” Celestia asked, turning to her old friend with an amused smile.
“Well of course I can,” and with a snap of his talons it was fixed. He then looked at the nobles and grinned. “Now now, there’s no need to worry! I am just here to have a good time just like the rest of you!” To emphasize this, he tripled the size of his purple and yellow spotted bowtie for a moment and then shrunk it back down to regular size. Fluttershy giggled at this as the nobles looked rather displeased and started to disperse. “Well, who stuck a stick up their plots” Discord huffed before snapping his fingers to bring flashing strobe lights into the ball room. DJ Pon3 looked very pleased by the development and cut the waltz music that had practically been forced down her throat by the nobles.
“LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED” Pinkie and Discord yelled in unison, Fluttershy grinning all the while, glad that the two were starting to get closer. They hadn’t spent too much time together before, but Fluttershy always knew that should the two give each other a chance they could be the best of friends. The two themselves looked surprised for a moment but grinned and practically blasted off to cause chaos.
Twilight watched on from the other side of the enormous room with a smile as she spoke with her parents, older brother, and sister-in-law. She had been thinking a lot about how, with their now expanded lifespans that Shining… They weren’t immune to sickness or death by injury, but ageing? Her and Celestia had worked on a spell together after her ascension, a modified version of the spell she had reworked from Starswirl’s. This spell would just sense the presence of an alicorn, or someone that had the ability to turn into one. She was supposed to help the others learn it after the Gala but- She lit her horn trying to sense ponies who had the potential to become alicorns. Her horn felt like a springy doorstop that had just been hit as soon as she turned the spell on. Shining could do it! His aura was so overwhelming she couldn’t even tell if anypony else in the room had the ability. Hope flowed through her immediately, she didn’t even want to think about what would happen in the future with Cadence watching him grow old. She didn’t think Cadence thought about it, or well maybe forced herself not to think about it.
Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted as loud music started blaring and Discord and Pinkie dragged Fluttershy into the air above the crowd of the Apple family and the young ponies the CMC had gathered. Discord whirled her around a giant grin and Fluttershy laughed. Pinkie watched the two with a big grin and then found her mother who she dragged up into the air with her. Much to Cloudy Quartz’s happiness that it was something she could do, but terror as she was left hanging onto her daughter for dear life as the excited brow and pink alicorn swung about.
Rarity was spending her time looking for Duke Blueblood and finally found him, he was in a group of nobles in the corner farthest from the chaos. Rarity trotted up under the guise of just socializing with the nobles. Blueblood became visibly uncomfortable as Rarity introduced herself around the circle of ponies before finally coming to Blueblood.
“Blueblood darling, it is so nice to see you again how have you been?” Blueblood gulped and the other nobles gave him confused looks. Some of them had seen him move from Rarity’s line then to Celestia, then finally to Fluttershy. They had tried to ask him what it was about, hinting maybe he had been too nervous to talk to Rarity because of her beauty. Blueblood had quickly tried to avoid these questions and deflect to something else. Fancy Pants trotted up having noticed Rarity come over. He knew what was about to happen.
“Blueblood my boy I didn’t know you had met Rarity before as well, where did you meet?” Fancy pants asked, giving Rarity a wink, Rarity had told him all about the incident with Blueblood at the last Gala she had been to. And Fancy pants was going to eat up whatever was going to come from this sniveling little bastards’ mouth with joy.
“Oh well I’m not quite sure, Princess Rarity did look quite familiar, but I cannot seem to place where it was that we met.” The duke said trying to play it off as if he only vaguely recognized the newly crowned princess, when she was already a nationally recognized hero along with her friends at this point. Having been awarded multiple medals. The nobles around looked even more confused. Everyone knew the group of friends that had defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, and had helped to save the Crystal Empire along with Princess Cadence.
“Oh well it was a couple Galas ago I guess you may have forgotten, But the Gala before last we were together the whole night, oh the night was ok, I guess. May have been better had my coat not been soaked.” Rarity let out a small laugh and Blueblood face somehow became whiter, as he tried to hide how horrified he was at what was about to happen.
“Ah yes I remember meeting you now! it was a very pleasant night.” Blueblood agreed trying to get Rarity to stop giving her pleading eyes.
“Oh yes it was, do you remember when you went to try Princess Applejack’s food and you spit it into her face because It was ‘poor food’ I think were your exact words” Rarity said with a face like she was trying to innocently remember the night. The other nobles around gasped. “Oh yes and then my coat being wet was because there was a puddle from a spilled drink and you insisted, I use my coat so you could cross it without slipping. Do you remember that as well Duke?” She asked, her eyes round with curiosity.
“I-I do not remember it exactly like that, Oh I think I just heard someone calling me I must be off.” He said with an uncoordinated bow before trotting away quickly. Fancy Pants and Rarity started laughing and the other nobles did as well and started asking Rarity about what exactly happened. If Rarity was the best at something besides dressmaking it was gossip.
The night went on in this way. It was one of the best Galas in Celestia’s memory. Some of the more enjoyable nobles, like Fancy Pants had a good time as well; she hoped that galas like this would loosen up the nobles. Or at least have an influence on their children to not be so stuck up, so elitist. Although not as much of a disaster as the last Gala the mane six had come to it was still just as fun.
However, as the gala ended Twilight still had her earlier thoughts on her mind, she gathered her friends and told them the plan, Luna helped as well after hearing and distracted Cadence while Twilight ushered Shining Armor off to one of the many towers of the castle. Twilight didn’t want to get Cadences hopes up by telling her, what if it didn’t work? Dusk saw Twilight and Shining sneaking off, now that he looked, he didn’t see any of the new princesses. He narrowed his eyes. Why was Twilight so willing to still be close to Shining and make time for them to hang out, but didn’t do the same for him? He followed them, quietly slipping away from the group. Applebloom seemed to be the only one to notice but was quickly distracted by Scootaloo flying around with Willow.
As Dusk slowly followed his siblings, he heard Shining ask multiple times, sounding amused but annoyed, where they were going, and Twilight just kept saying it was a surprise. When they got to the top the two entered a doorway and Shining stopped.
“Twilight what’s going on? why is everyone up here?” Dusk peaked through the door, and he saw the rest of Twilight’s friends all in a circle and Twilight smiled.
“We haven’t done this yet, But I think we can turn you into an alicorn Shining. Celestia and me made a spell to detect ponies with the ability to ascend and I thought about Cadence, even if she has me, I could never fill in the space you would leave. I don’t know if it’s going to work, that’s why I didn’t say anything before, I don’t want to get her hopes up in case it doesn’t work…” Twilight trailed off “If you don’t want to that’s ok I just thought.” Twilight was cut off by Shining Armor hugging her tightly before pulling away to look at her.
“Let’s do this” He said simply, Twilight grinned and rushed into place the six of them began to recite the spell as their elements embedded in their crowns glowed. The beams of light all connected to each other once again but then all shot out towards Shining Armor who was standing in the middle of the circle. Dusk covered his eyes with a hoof till the light died down, when he looked again his older brother had a big pair of wings, a purple to pink gradient shimmering into existence on his primaries covering the stark white.
Dusk felt jealousy bubble up inside him, oh so now both his siblings were super special alicorns and he was left in the dust to be ignored by the both of them. His brother sent him letters at least but was never around always running the Crystal Empire with Cadence. Twilight wouldn’t even look at him for some reason. Well, that’s fine he didn’t need them. He walked away quietly to go rejoin the group of foals downstairs as Twilight and Shining hugged. Although Twilight saw the tip of his tail as he turned to stalk away.
Having all six of them there to turn one person may very well have been overkill, as after a moment Shining did feel sick. Luna brought Cadence up after getting a telepathic message from Twilight that they had done it.
“Luna where are we going? You’ve been stringing me along for the past half hour. If this is something stup-“ Cadence could be heard saying as she followed the princess of the night into the room before she stopped in her tracks as she saw her husband standing there with a brand new pair of wings.
“So uh, guess your stuck with me now huh?” The stallion weakly joked as he waggled on of his new wings. She galloped up to him and they fell to the floor, a mess of feathers, snot, and tears.
Twilight, now that this had been taken care of slipped away to find Dusk Stone. She hadn’t been able to talk to him much since she had been back in Canterlot. And when she did have a moment, she didn’t know what to say. She had been so caught up in her life in Ponyville she hadn’t really talked to either of her siblings. When she looked at Dusk, she just saw a version of her herself that she doesn’t wish Dusk to end up like. She found him in the halls, having yet to reach the dance hall once again.
“Dusk! I know you saw… can we talk?” Twilight called out as she quickly trotted forward wanting to catch up to him quickly.
“Why? You could have talked to me any of what? Three, four weeks you’ve been back in Canterlot. Now that you realize you did something you want to talk?” Dusk said, turning on a hoof to face his sister, eyes blazing. “I already know you pity me you don’t need to patronize me too.”
“Dusk it’s not like that. I’m sorry, I’ve been a bad sister to you. I just. When I look at you, I see my younger self, when I was your age, I was so sad. I told everyone and myself that I was fine, shoving myself into studies all day and never talking to anypony. But I wasn’t and I didn’t even realize it until after I left Canterlot. I so desperately want you to take a different path than I did, to have a good childhood and not be lonely. But I don’t know how to say that to you and for it to mean something. Because it didn’t mean anything to me when people said it.” Twilight said as she sat next to him, her voice echoing somberly through the hallways.
“It means more coming from you. I don’t know, it’s just been hard since you left. And now you and Shining are alicorns and I’m just. Me. It doesn’t feel fair. I know life isn’t fair and all but. I don’t know. I miss you, and school is just full of snobby nobles, I wouldn’t really want to be friends with any of them.” Dusk said softly. Pausing for a moment to think. “Maybe I could come to Ponyville or something. Applebloom and all of them are fun, and not stuck up.”
“I think I may have a better idea. Let’s go find mom and dad I got to get their permission even if I am a princess now.” She said as if a light bulb had been set off above her head. She quickly led Dusk off to go find their parents.