//------------------------------// // Ch11: The Gala // Story: Arvak's new home // by mild hotsauce //------------------------------// Ch11: the Gala Twilight slowly opened her eyes as she left the world of dreams, and what an odd dream she had. It was similar to the one where she met Arvak, but instead she was in an Ashland with a flying jellyfish. She sighed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her hooves. Judging by how she feels nothing next to her, or near her except for Spike, the dream was just a dream. She looked at the position of the sun in the sky. “Almost time to go to Canterlot. Might as well wake Arvak up and get the dresses from Rarity.” She said sleepily to herself. She got out of bed and drearily walked past a sleeping baby dragon to wake up the purple undead and start her day. ------------------------------------------- About a mile up the mountain Canterlot rests on, an odd creature awoke. It slightly resembled an armored jellyfish as its underside glowed a pale blue. Its six tentacles hung loosely underneath its belly. Unlike jellyfish though, this one seemed to float above the ground and have what looked like a tail. It made a confused gurgling noise as it ‘looked’ around at its surroundings. It opened its maw and yawned, but it closed it sharply as it tasted something familiar in the air. It turned towards the sent and opened its maw again, tasting the air like a snake would to track prey. It smelled something sweat, which made it stomach rumble. The floating creature happily hovered to the source of the smell, humming a low tune to itself. ---------------------------------------------- Arvak looked at Rarity like she had two heads. What was offered to him was a blatant sign of disrespect and humility, a crime against masculinity itself! “I’m not wearing a dress.” He said sternly to the fashionista after taking his eyes off the dress. It was a lighter red than his disguised coat would be, it also had designs going around it that resembled wisps of fire. “Well, I do apologize for this, but maybe we can come to some sort of agreement?” she asked, looking towards Trixie for help. Trixie just smiled evil at the idea that came to her. “Trixie believes she has just the thing.” Arvak looked at her glowing horn and then back at the dress. “Rarity, make me a vest, in the meantime, I'm going to run for my life.” And with that final word, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke; the distinct slam of a door could be heard. “Come back here!” Trixie yelled running after him. “This I gotta see.” Rainbow said with a mischievous smile as she followed the blue mare out the door. Four other mares joined her soon after while Rarity began to work on a vest that would go well with red. ------------------------------------------------------- “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” Arvak yelled as Trixie sent magic blast after magic blast at him while running after his skeletal butt. “Trixie promises that this spell will only hurt your pride and nothing more!” she yelled back. “Run Arvak Run!” Rainbow yelled as she, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie watched in amusement. Pinkie took a hoof-full of popcorn and popped it in her mouth, “Yea go Arvak!” she yelled, pieces of popcorn falling out of her mouth as she did so. The door to the boutique opened up and Arvak rushed for it, almost getting hit a few times. He dove through the door and slammed it shut behind him. Trixie was going too fast to slow down, and with a loud yelp, she slid face first into the waiting door. Arvak opened the door, to which Trixie was plastered on, “Hi girls! Rarity finished the vest and said to come in to get your dresses.” He said cheerfully and then looked around. “Anyone see Trixie?” Rainbow snickered, “Nope, but when we do we will let her know.” “Okay then!” he went back inside, closing the door behind him. When the door clicked, Trixie fell off and onto her flank. “Trixie is going to take a nap now.” She said shakily as she fell backwards and promptly passed out. Rainbow and Pinkie nearly split their sides laughing at Trixie while the others ran to her aid. --------------------------------------------------------------- The vest was simple: black with white buttons. It complimented the shade of red that Arvak’s fur was at the moment… well… black would go well with red no matter what. The more he thinks about it, the more tired he is of the combination, but that is of no importance right now. Apparently the girls grew since last Gala, and Rarity for some reason or another, had to remake the dresses… Arvak was definitely impressed by the looks of the gowns that the six mares adorned. “Close your mouth you simpleton, unless you want to attract flies.” Trixie stated as she noticed Arvak’s particularly long lasting gaze at Twilight. “Oh hush Trixie; he just knows good fashion when he sees it.” Rarity said, throwing the last of her luggage on top of the carriage the girls were using. “Gee Rarity, seems like you packed everything but the kitchen sink.” Arvak commented. “Really, I better check… I'm sure I packed that too…” she thought out loud as she went up to scan the suitcases she brought. The girls groaned and face-hoofed while Arvak snickered quietly to himself. “Let’s go Arvak, don’t want to keep potential fans waiting!” Trixie exclaimed, levitating him over to her trailer and hooking him up to it. “Why am I pulling this again?” he asked. “Does it look like I can hire anypony else to pull this carriage?” she asked. Arvak thought for a moment. “Yes?” “It was a rhetorical question genius.” “Thank you for the compliment!” Trixie slapped her hoof to her face when he said this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The floating creature took in all the scents of what may have been a city in front of it. The air felt cool, meaning it was close to night time, and the many scents of food, which meant a party was going on. Either Sanguine decided to party with mortals, or the Dunmer were celebrating a holiday. He could also smell something… different… various flavors permeated the air, it intoxicated the beast. It hummed happily and floated down towards the party. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Twilight, I love you, but that is possibly the craziest thing I have ever heard you say.” Shining Armor said when his sister told him about Arvak. “One because skeletons are dead, therefore unable to do the various things you mentioned, and two because the pony is standing right next to you.” Admittedly, Twilight could have thought it through when she decided to introduce Arvak to her brother. He was still in Trixie’s illusion shell, so he was fooling all the Canterlot ponies, and now definitely, her brother. “I’ll take off his spell then.” She told Shining Armor. “What?” was all he got out before Twilights horn lit up and showed her brother the skeleton that Arvak is. He stared at Arvak, his mind failing to process the fact that he is a living skeleton, so he did what any sane pony would do. “Okay nice trick, now change him back.” “It’s no trick” Twilight said as she removed Arvak’s head with her magic. “Um… Twilight, you know I need my head attached to my body to do stuff, right?” Arvak asked. Shining Armor stared at the skeleton with a confused expression. He took the head from his sister’s magical grasp and put it back on the skeleton. He then proceeded to prod the different areas around Arvak’s body to see if this was some really complex illusion, when he confirmed that Arvak was indeed a skeleton, he turned back to his sister with a surprisingly calm look on his face. “Not once have I ever thought that in my lifetime I would see something like this. Twilight, did you take up necromancy?” he asked. Twilight gave him a questioning look. “No, I haven’t.” “Forgive me if I don’t believe you right now sis…” “I could tell you how he got here if you want.” she offered. “Sure, go ahead.” He said curiously.. “Well it happened one night while I was asleep-” “WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME IS THAT MONSTROSITY!?!?” a shrill yet somehow masculine voice rang out. “Oh I do not need this right now.” Twilight sighed. “You there, guard! Dispose of this refuse at once!” a familiar white coated stallion with a blond mane demanded. “Twilight?” Shining asked, looking at his sister with a concerned look. “Um…” Twilight was coming up blank. “Why do you hesitate? Dispose of this… thing so the Gala can go on prop- wait… I remember you. You and your delinquent friends ruined last year’s Gala! Guard, I order you to arrest this mare and the rest of those in her group at once!” he demanded. Arvak stepped forward. “Look Blondie-” “My name is Prince Blueblood.” Arvak gave the stallion a blank look. “Blondie, if you’re going to do any harm to my friends then you will have to go through me!” He taunted. “So you wish to fight me in a duel? Then I accept your challenge! But do something about… all this… you wouldn’t want to frighten the good upstanding ponies of Canterlot with your hideous look now do you?” he laughed as he started to walk past. “We shall duel tonight at eight! Be there, and lose like a stallion, or run like a coward.” As Blueblood trotted away, Arvak took one last look at his future opponent. “That guy’s rude you know that?” “Arvak you do know that he challenged you at the same time you and Trixie are supposed to perform right?” Twilight said. Arvak put a hoof to his chin in thought. “Idea~” Twilight hit him with a newspaper. “No, never do that again!” she ordered. “Okay.” He conceded. “But I do have an idea… where did you get that?” he asked looking at the front page. The headline was ‘Photo Finish: new line slacking in “Da Magicz.”’ “They couldn’t have thought of a better headline couldn’t they?” he asked. “Yea… wait, we got sidetracked, you were saying?” “Oh yea, my idea… no time Twilight, I need my disguise up pronto!” he said with a determined expression. Twilight sighed, but did as she was asked. When Arvak was… looking like a proper pony, he ran off to who knows where. “You do realize he doesn’t know his way around?” Shining asked. “Oh sweet Celestia.” Twilight said before running off after Arvak. Shining just shook his head and walked back to his room in the castle, eager to relieve some stress with his wife. ------------------------------------------------------------ “That went well, if I do say so myself.” Arvak said happily as he and Twilight made it to the courtyard of the castle where the first few guests started to arrive. “Arvak, you knocked over a bust, ran into a cake, nearly gave Luna a heart attack when you fell on top of her in the library, knocked a bust of Celestia on top of a maid, and then finally, without me even knowing how, you got stuck hanging from the chandelier in the princesses throne room from your tail!” Twilight exclaimed. “Yea, but it was fun right?” he asked cheerfully, licking the last bit of cake from his teeth. Twilight’s eye just twitched when he said this. “Let’s just, get you ready for when you duel Blueblood in…” she looked at the sundial Trixie’s trailer was parked next to. “Two… wait; this is a sun dial, the moons out! The duel could start any minute!” she yelled. “Well hello Twilight and Arvak. Arvak, are you ready for the show, ponies from all over the area are coming to see you and The Great an Powerful Trixie perform!” she squealed. “Um, about that Trixie…” Twilight started. Arvak spoke up, “some stallion named Blueballs-” “Blueblood.” Twilight corrected. “Blueblood, challenged me to a duel and I need your stage for it.” he finished. Trixie just stared at him for a moment, gears turning in her head. “When is your duel?” “The same time as our show.” He said, still smiling. Now it was Trixie’s turn to be slightly aggravated. “What do you expect me to do with the show then!?” “Why not have the duel be the show?” Arvak suggested. Both mares stared at him in shock. “Arvak… that-that’s the first thing I ever heard you say that might actually be smart…” Trixie said. “Thank you for the compli- hey wait a minute…” both mares laughed at him. “So how do you plan on doing this?” Trixie asked. “Oh you know, background music, some sound effects, maybe you could set off some fireworks when one of us wins.” He replied. “Hmm… I'll see what I can do. Maybe I can get that mare Vinyl to do something…” she continued to mutter as she went back into her trailer. “Okay… so we have that taken care of… what now?” Arvak asked. “Come up with a plan that doesn’t involve you getting skewered.” Twilight replied. “I won’t get skewered, no meat, can’t make a kebab with me if you tried.” He chirped. “You know what I meant.” She said, shoving him playfully. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The crowd gathered in front of Trixie’s trailer, waiting for the show to start like a good audience. In a puff of smoke, their hostess appeared. “Welcome mares and gentlecolts of Canterlot.” She said in a regal tone. “You have come here to see the magic of The Great and Powerful Trixie! But I regret to inform you that I will not be performing any magic for you, as my idiot assistant has got himself in some hot water. Instead, you will be greeted by a duel, between Blueblood and the Magnificent Firebolt!” Just then, Blueblood trotted onto stage with his head held high. The crowd stomped their hooves lightly, which made him smirk. Arvak on the other hoof chose a different approach: backstage, he disappeared in a ball of fire and then snaked around the trailer. He used thin tendrils of fire to make his way onto stage. Several of the ponies thought the stage was on fire as he brought them all together. The fire bulged off the stage and took the form of a pony, then dispersed, showing Arvak in his Firebolt disguise. The crowd positively loved this, Blueblood however didn’t. “Are you done playing? Good, you there, peasant.” “Who, me?” Trixie asked. “Yes you, explain the rules to this fool.” He demanded. “Be lucky Trixie doesn’t hurt you, Firebolt will do it himself. So assistant, the rules are simple; you will use a sword that is only sharp at the point… I think it’s called a rapier. You two will duel till one of you concedes, do be dears and humiliate each other as much as possible.” She walked back a bit and stood next to Vinyl. “Alright you two, the rules have been explained; let’s get this started!” Vinyl yelled into the mic as she started up some music. It had steady beats that kept the blood flowing during activities like fights. It had some guitar flow too, but it wouldn’t be this music the crowd would remember…. “Really? No matter, you will still lose.” Blueblood said as he lunged, his sword forward with his magic. Only to find Arvak had disappeared. “Where did you go?” he heard the crowd giggle and he turned towards them. “What’s so funny? Is there something in my ma-” he shrieked in surprise to find Arvak standing on his head, grinning like a fool. “Hey there buddy.” He said. Blueblood swatted at him and only managed to trim his mane as Arvak deftly dodged the attack. “Stop moving!” he yelled in frustration as he chased Arvak around the stage. Vinyl chose this moment to use some comedic chase music. The crowd sure liked it, because they couldn’t stop laughing when Blueblood tripped and fell on his face. While that happened, Trixie used her horn to make the sound of china breaking; sending the crowd into hysterics. Blueblood’s previously white face was now red in anger. The silly music kept playing as he and Arvak stared each other off, but Arvak instead had a stupid smile on his face. “Ha! Now I have you!” Blueblood swung his sword. Arvak jumped over it. “Wrong.” He said. “Grrr. Now I have you!” he swung again. Arvak ducked under this one. “Wrong again.” “Grah! I will get you this time!” he gave a heavy overhead swing. Arvak sidestepped it. “You sure are wrong a lot.” Blueblood growled menacingly and tried to cut and stab the red pony he was facing. Much to his annoyance, the pony just dodged each attack, until they got to the edge of the stage. “Ha-ha! Now you’re mine!” he yelled. He stabbed forward, only to have Arvak jump on his head. “Aren’t you tired of being wrong?” he said, and then used the royal pains head as a springboard and leapt farther onstage. This caused Blueblood to fall forward off the stage and face first into a puddle of mud. The crowd lost it, if they were in hysterics before; they just split their sides laughing at the now muddy royal pony. He looked up from the mud, his mane in a mess and looked around at the laughing crowd in front of him. He panicked and ran off towards the castle, yelling something about the princesses and dungeons. “How was that folks!” Vinyl yelled as she turned off the music. The crowd just cheered for the victor. Trixie took this moment to set off a few fireworks to celebrate Arvak’s victory. He struck a heroic pose as a camera flashed in the audience. “Thank you for coming out tonight! It has been a pleasure, but sadly Trixie must pack up.” the crowd made a united noise of disappointment. “If you wish to see more, my assistant and I may be persuaded to play, we will stay around Ponyville if you require our services.” ---------------------------------------------------------------- “Yeehaw! That was some mighty fine fighten there Arvak!” Applejack yelled at Doughnut Joes café. “He sure was wrong a lot during the duel though, makes you wonder if he is as smart as he acts.” Arvak said, putting his still disguised red hoof to his chin in thought. “Yeah that was amazing! When we get back to Ponyville we should have a ‘Just beat a royal snob in a duel’ Party!” Pinkie yelled excitedly. “YEAH!” Arvak agreed. Suddenly, a giant bag of bits hit the table the six mares and one dragon were sitting at. The owner, a blue unicorn standing beside a white unicorn, both grinning widely. “You will not believe how many bits we racked up from that duel” Trixie yelled. “The publicity from this will make us rich!” Vinyl agreed. “Holy hay that’s a lot of bits.” Spike said while staring wide eyed at the bag. “How in Eq-” Twilight started. “MONSTER!” somepony outside yelled. Twilight sighed. “Well, no rest for the wicked as they always say.” --------------------------------------------------------- The creature floated about the plaza as small equines ran about him, screaming for their lives. You’d think someone was running around naked brandishing a scimitar again. It contemplated on its time near Raven Rock, and remembered the first time alcohol ran along its tongue, just thinking about that pleasurable experience made him hum happily as he tried to locate the nearest alcoholic beverage. Some white horses flew down around him brandishing spears, trying to corral it, but it had none of that. The creature used its tentacles to disarm each guard around him as it made its way to the refreshment table. It quickly ate up anything that smelled good, and picked up all their tastes in his mouth. ‘Apple, grape, some sort of cake…’ its mind kept going on until it got to some purple liquid. The guards just stared at as the creature drank up the liquid. When it finished with the bowl, it floated backwards and started to tilt to the right, and then to the left. One of the guards became brave and flew over and poked the creature in the tail. In response, he drunkenly spun in a circle for one rotation. Seeing the floating jellyfish as no threat, the guards relaxed slightly and even laughed as it roamed around the courtyard. Eight mares, a stallion, and a baby dragon galloped over to where the guards were watching the creature chase its tail drunkenly next to the statue of Celestia. “What is that thing?” Twilight asked. “I don’t know, but it flew over the wall and started eating from the table. When it drank the punch it started to fly about like Razor after a few drinks.” He laughed, the before mentioned Pegasus socked him in the shoulder. “Hey, I aint that much o’ a lightweight!” he said indignantly. “Um, guards?” Fluttershy asked. “Yes?” they both said in unison. “What should we-” she was cut off when the creature made a choking sound. It tilted to the sides a few times before throwing up glowing cyan blue bile onto the ground. “EW! That stuff smells disgusting!” Rainbow yelled, and frankly, everypony else agreed with her. “Wait, I know what that is!” Arvak yelled. “Well… don’t keep us waiting.” Applejack said. “It’s a Netch! A native to the province of Morrowind! What I can’t figure out is what it’s doing here.” he said, putting a hoof to his chin in thought. Pinkie on the other hoof, decided to do a more in depth investigation, and by that she casually trotted over to the glowing bile, picked some up with a hoof, and ate it. “Pinkie! How disgusting.” Rarity yelled. “What? It tastes delicious!” she chirped as she shoved another hoof full into her mouth. Everyone but Arvak, and Rainbow recoiled in disgust. The two decided to try this mystery puke for themselves, and even though it smelled bad, it tasted heavenly. “Oh my goddess!” Rainbow yelled. “Applejack this stuff is better than your Zap apples!” “T’aint possible.” AJ retorted as she tried a bit for herself. Her ears drooped in shame. “Ah can't believe ahm sayin this, but you’re actually right for once sugarcube.” Fluttershy made her way to the sick Netch. “Aw you poor thing, don’t worry, mama Fluttershy will make you feel all better.” She said while attempting to hug the armored creature. In response, the Netch nuzzled her, a little too forcefully, knocking her flight off balance and tumbling to the floor. It quickly picked her back up with a tentacle and placed her on its back. “Thanks big guy.” She said. “So… anypony know how this Netch got here?” a regal voice said behind the group. Only Rarity, Twilight, Trixie, Vinyl, the guards, the Netch and Fluttershy turned to see an amused looking Celestia and Luna. “Heh-heh-heh.” Twilight laughed shamefully. “Twilight, is there something you wish to share with the rest of us?” Celestia asked. “Yes, we wish to know how you are involved with this thing being here.” Luna agreed. “Well, you see, when Arvak came here, I saw him in a dream I had. I had a similar dream with this Netch here; the only difference was that it didn’t show up in my bed this morning.” Twilight replied. “So you’re basically a portal to another world? Awesome!” Rainbow yelled, startling the group. “No! Not awesome! I don’t want anything else making it into Equestria through my dreams Rainbow!” Twilight yelled. “We can fix that for you, it may take a bit, so you will have to stay in Canterlot while we work. You can meet up in Ponyville with you friends when we are done.” Luna offered. “Or I could remove the rune from the back of her head.” Arvak mentioned. The group just stared at him confused. He then moved Twilight's mane out of the way to reveal an imprint of the symbol of conjuration stamped on the back of her head. “Oh yea, look at that.” Razor said. “You can get rid of it?” Luna asked. “Low level rune, even a Nord can get rid of something like this.” He pressed a hoof to the rune, and then removed it. To everypony’s surprise and relief, the rune was gone. “Well, that saved us a lot of time and trouble.” Luna said. Celestia just smiled at Arvak and Twilight as they and their friends had went to have fun the Netch. The guards, seeing as there was no real threat, went back to the castle. “Does something amuse you sister?” Luna asked Celestia. “Oh nothing, but I believe Twilight made the right choice in taking a liking to Arvak.” “You realize he is undead?” “Yes, but crazier things have happened; remember you and the timber wolf?” Celestia said playfully. Luna gasped. “Sister, thou promised to never speak of that month again!” “Oh lighten up Luna; I'm just saying that stranger things have happened.” Luna sighed in defeat, but smiled as she looked at the group of ponies and their new friend. “Sister?” “Yes Luna?” “Who do you think put that rune on Twilight?” Luna asked, her smile turning into a slight frown. “I don’t know, it was magic I haven’t seen before, we should be cautious from now on in case the culprit decides to reveal themselves.” Celestia answered. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord gave an angry sigh. His trick was found out, he was sure that he would get something useful from that spell, not an idiot and a domestic jelly. He looked over the rest of Canterlot to find something to distract his now idle mind, and then came up with a grand idea. “Maybe that undead snot will be of use to me after all…” He said while rubbing his paw and talon together, laughing quietly to himself.