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// Much Merriment and Cake 
// Story: Rebirth of Magic: Royal Approval 
// by The Blue EM2 
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I'll certainly say I think the serving staff outdid themselves that night.

In order to showcase true Pegasus hospitality, I had decided to organise something that the Royal Family does exceptionally well- a state banquet. Virtually every head of state worth their salt has the capabilities to marshall resources for a truly splendid event together, and I was determined to ensure that tonight's proceedings were simply as splendid as possible.

Whilst the kitchens were preparing all the dishes (and those concerned had decided on the menu), I went for further preparation and fitting, whilst Pipp and Zipp were sent to do the same. Though in a separate room, of course. It would hardly do to have all of it happening in the same room at once. This consisted of having my mane and tail adjusted to check for any stray hairs or any other faults in my appearance, and the acquisition of different other items. Medals were removed from boxes and polished until you could see your face in them, and ribbons were checked and ensured to be the correct colour. The standard colour in use for this sort of thing is red, by the way. A firm, solid colour. It goes surprisingly well with blue, I find, which you may not expect.

What then came next was an element I had a small bit of apprehension about. Having once been a human, I wasn't too sure on how pony clothes worked. I had noticed the dress code, so this meant I would be wearing a garment I had no familiarity with.

A dress.

The resulting gown was a blue number which kept my front legs free from entanglement and ensured I could walk properly. A small metal frame was attached to the back of my body to hold the skirt of the dress up and prevent my hooves from getting caught on the resulting fabric. This was also why the tail brace was important on my person, or pony I guess- it helped hold the skirt in the correct place and prevent the entire structure from falling down at an awkward moment. We wouldn't want that, would we?

I quickly checked everything was in order with the gown. "This feels excellent," I said, partly my honest opinion on wearing something like this for the first time. Whomever would have guessed the first ever time I wore a dress would be as a pony, eh?

Now all that was done, the various medals were fitted to the front. We receive medals through being members of the Royal Family, and Pipp and Zipp also wear regimental medals as part of their status of Honorary Colonels of various regiments. It does result in us wearing rather a lot of metal, but the weight isn't too bad once you get used to it.

I made my way back through the corridors to where the stylist was based (and where this journey had started about an hour ago). As I walked through the corridors to my destination, Pipp and Zipp suddenly emerged from the door to the stylist and stopped to look at me. They seemed a little confused.

I, on the other hand, could see that the stylist had managed to do an excellent job of styling their manes and tails, as I expected. "Ah!" I said. "You two are looking excellent! Remember to thank the stylists."

Zipp looked more confused than appreciative. In fairness I hadn't filled her in properly on my plan. "What's going on?" Zipp asked. "And why are we being decked out in... well, all that?"

On reflection it probably would have been a good idea to tell her what was going on, but in the heat of the moment I had forgotten to do so. Now was the chance to correct that error. "You suggested an act of kindness towards them, yes?" I asked, more rhetorically than anything else. I've organised a special banquet for them, which will allow us to break  the ice and introduce them to pegasus customs. Not to mention it allows us to showcase how splendid the palace can be!"

I'd already secured the use of one of the dining rooms as our primary place for hosting the banquet, which seemed to work fine with the others. I glanced at them again. "You'd best be going for gown fitting. We must look our best, after all."

Pipp and Zipp nodded, and set off down the hallway at speed. Their conversation was imperceptible to my ear thanks to all the metal clanking about on my chest, but it seemed to be about tonight. Hopefully they'd be on their best behaviour. We could ill afford a repeat of what had happened a few hours ago, after all. The last thing I wanted was the populace in a state of panic.





One of the benefits of formal events is it allows you to gauge the personalities of the people you are eating with. This can be based on a number of different factors. These include personal interests, the manner in which they speak, or simply the way in which they eat, which can tell you a remarkable amount about how they are feeling at the moment.

Take the blue unicorn seated further down the table, as an example. I could only assume the poor dear hadn't had anything to eat in a very long time based on the speed she was putting the food away. When she mixed it with water, it was like watching a cement mixer at a building site. I must admit it was both equally fascinating to watch and revolting to behold, but I could hardly express either sentiment as it would have been rather rude to do so.

"Somepony's hungry," I said, trying to jokingly make light of the situation.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Misty asked. She seemed legitimately confused at what she was doing wrong, suggesting she wasn't used to eating in polite company.

"Slow down a bit!" Pipp said. "It's not going to run away from you!"

"Besides,  you'll give yourself horrible indigestion," I added, speaking directly from personal experience. Part of the point of having a drink to go with a meal is to help wash it down. "Eat fine food like you would drink a wine- slowly, and savour it."

"I'm not really an expert on alcohol," Misty admitted. Truth be told I wasn't one either, but I went along with whatever suggestions the staff had.

I noticed Zipp glance over to Sunny. "Good thing we watered the wine down," she commented. She really isn't as good at whispering as she seems to think she is, as I could clearly hear what was said. Having said that, being drunk wouldn't have helped anypony that night.

I was about to make such a remark, but Pipp beat me to it. "Well, duh! It would be pretty pointless all of us getting drunk!"

None of us were going to argue with that. The evening continued through various courses of local delicacies (although the crab was apparently imported- Zephyr Heights is a considerable distance from the coast, after all).

The meal had served its primary purpose of breaking down barriers, however. I could tell from speaking to the others that they were not a threat, so to this end I turned to the group as the meal concluded. "I hope you all enjoyed that," I said.

"Sure!" Sunny smiled. "The food was great, Your Majesty."

"I hastily benediction for your most excellent for mercies, Your Spendiforousness," Izzy added.

"What?" I asked.

"She's like this, mom," Zipp explained. "Seems like it's a character quirk of hers that she has. Sometimes uses lots of big words in not entirely logical ways.

"So she's a hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophile?" I ventured.

Pipp's jaw dropped. "What does that mean?"

"A pony who loves long words," I replied. "Anyway. I am happy to say that none of you appear to be a threat, and as such you are hereby released from the cell."

"Hooray!" Misty said suddenly.

I looked to them sternly, though. "However, don't think you can just freely wander about. You are to remain on the palace grounds, although you can explore the palace gardens and the main building itself as you see fit. You are not, however, permitted to leave the palace grounds and go into the city. After all, your unexpected appearance on state media caused quite the panic. This restriction is mainly for your own safety, so it is in your best interests to follow it."

Not to mention it made keeping an eye on them a lot easier if there was a serious limit as to where they could go. This worked well for me, and as the others acknowledged this arrangement, happy to get a bit more room to walk about in, we retired to one of the drawing rooms for cheese and biscuits. It seemed that all was now well and peaceful in Zephyr Heights.

Unfortunately, this would soon prove to not be the case.