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// Preface: The Best Evening Ever 
// Story: Fallen Unicorns 
// by Flyer 
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PREFACE:
THE BEST EVENING EVER


The golden sun was finally setting, letting the once majestic red and orange sky give way to the midnight blue and black that is the night sky. A single firework exploded bright green in the foreground of the newly minted night sky. The green shimmered against the highest tower of the castle, and caused all of the ponies entering the majestic capital city to stop and gaze in a collective awe at the spectacle above them. More ponies continued to traverse the drawbridge as a second and third firework colorfully exploded in white and purple hues high above the castle walls.
Inside the castle ballroom, a place that housed such wonderful events as the Grand Galloping Gala, the Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant, and the Royal Wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, was set up and installed for a different staged event.
A number of chairs, estimated to be in the hundreds, maybe even a thousand, sat in front of the hulking, grand wooden stage, the same wooden stage that played host to the famed annual Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant.
As the minutes came and went, so did the amount of empty seats in the temporary auditorium as ponies came in and filled each and every one of them by the dozens. While they waited eagerly for the future event to finally unfold, they all talked to their neighboring seatmates in hushed whispers as to not disturb what was going on behind the massively thick velvet and gold curtain.
Slowly, a turquoise unicorn lifted up a small section of the hulking velvet mass. The slit opening allowed for only one eye to peer out amongst the gathering crowd filling all of the seats in the ballroom. The unicorn dropped the segment of curtain, let out a sigh, and then smiles and trotted away from the curtain.
There were more unicorns behind the stage excitedly chit-chatting away while they placed cap and gowns upon each other, which now signified a graduation ceremony was in the works. Each unicorn looked extremely happy, which was a stark contrast to the lone purple unicorn looking somberly in the mirror in the back corner of the back stage area.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and sighed as she slowly put on her graduation gown. While the other unicorns’ graduation gowns were of a crimson color, Twilight’s was different. Her graduation gown was a bright golden yellow that slightly glimmered under the ceiling light that hung almost directly above Twilight. She walked over to the unoccupied mirror by the window overlooking all of Canterlot and stared silently at her reflection for a moment before a bright magenta glow surrounded her aura, bringing over a hairbrush wrapped in the very same magenta aura that was being emitted from her horn. Twilight brushed her mane a few times before magically placing the hairbrush on the windowsill besides her. She sighed again before upturning her eyes to see the few strands of her mane that fell in front of her left eye. She gave a quick blow, and the strands of midnight purple mane moved harmlessly out of her eye line. 
From the reflection in the mirror, Twilight Sparkle saw her faithful baby dragon assistant Spike approach her gingerly. He tightly clutched Twilight’s graduation cap and stopped moving toward Twilight once he saw that she noticed his presence in the mirror.
“Yes, Spike. What is it?” Twilight quietly inquired.
Spike took another small step forward and presented her with the graduation cap, which matched the golden color of Twilight’s 	special gown.
“I just thought you would like this, Twi.” Spike softly replied.
Twilight sighed and smiled at Spike through the mirror. She kept the smile as she turned her head around and dropped her neck to allow Spike to place the cap on her head. She thanked Spike and wrapped a single leg around his neck. Their cheeks both touched and together, Twilight and Spike shared a sweet smile.
“Thank you, my number one assistant,” Twilight said, breaking the silence.
“Hey, what else am I here for?” Spike replied.
With that, the two ended their embrace, and Twilight slowly trotted towards the window where she laid her hairbrush down in front of. Twilight took a deep breath and gazed upon the majestic Equestrian capital city through the clean window of the backstage ballroom. The sun had fully retreated for the time being. One by one, the city lights of Canterlot began to flicker on and shimmer, giving Princess Luna’s young night sky a beautiful complement to it. Twilight smiled at the sight. Even though she had seen this sight about a million times beforehand, the majestic sight before her put her in a comfortable ease. For the first time all night, Twilight’s nervousness diminished.
“What’s the matter, Twilight? Aren’t you excited?” Spike inquired from the background. It was this that brought Twilight back to reality as she slowly turned around to face Spike once again.
“I’m just nervous, Spike. This is one of the things that I have been waiting for, for a long time. I’m not sure what’s going to happen after this.” Twilight let loose, “I’ve never thought of this situation and what would happen after I finished school.” Twilight dropped her head and sighed.
Spike very gently wrapped his baby dragon arms around Twilight Sparkle’s neck. She returned the hug by wrapping one of her forelegs around Spike. After sharing the embrace for a couple of moments, Spike let go of Twilight. Twilight followed suit and unwrapped her hoof around Spike. Spike then gingerly lifted Twilight’s head up by way of her chin. They shared a moment of eye contact and Spike smiled.
“Don’t worry Twilight.” Spike attempted to reassure his oldest friend, “I’m sure, if nothing else, that Princess Celestia has something wonderful in store for you. I mean, not everypony graduates valedictorian from her school for the most gifted unicorns.”
This reassurance made Twilight smile because she knew that he was probably right. Twilight lifted her hoof to her hat and switched the tassel to the left side of her graduation cap, signifying that she still hadn’t officially graduated yet.
“Thank you for everything, Spike.” Twilight spoke. “I don’t know if I could have made it this far without your help and devotion.”
Spike smiled at Twilight.
“It’s my pleasure, Twilight. I love you,” Spike replied
“And I love you too, Spike.” Twilight said.
With that, Spike turned to leave.
“I’m gonna go sit with everyone out there,” Spike said as he exited.
“I’ll see you after the ceremony,” Twilight called out as she waved her hoof goodbye.
On the other side of the curtain, more ponies continued to enter past the huge double-doors. Amongst these ponies, were the familiar faces of Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. They all appeared extremely excited as they made their way up to the third row of chairs from the stage. They each took up a place in the section of seats that were reserved just for them. Sitting with them in this section were the proud and smiling faces of Twilight Sparkle’s mother and father. As Twilight’s parents bade her friends hello and vice-versa, Spike returned from backstage to join the other ponies in the VIP seating area. As Spike took his seat, Applejack leaned in toward his face.
“She okay back there, Spike?” Applejack inquired.
“Of course,” Spike replied. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“I just noticed her becoming more nervous about this in the coming days, Spike. Just bein’ honest.” Applejack stated.
Spike chuckled. Living up to her element, he thought.
“Applejack!” Pinkie Pie piped up. “Silly, you shouldn’t worry about Twilight! Of course she’s gonna be nervous! It’s a big day!¬ She’ll be all pouty and sad, and then she’ll toss her hat in the air and smile, and we’ll smile, and then she’ll be all happy and we-”
With that, Rarity sighed and lifted her hoof up over Pinkie Pie’s mouth, finally silencing her.
“I think we get the point Pinkie darling,” Rarity kindly spoke.
Rarity took her hoof off of Pinkie’s mouth. Pinkie gave off a huge, sparkling smile.
The lights began to dim, as did the idle chatter amongst the attending ponies. A spotlight was cast against the velvet curtain. Stepping in to the spotlight was the one and only Princess Celestia. The perfectly round light followed Princess Celestia as she elegantly strolled her way across the platform and to the podium on the other side of the stage. Princess Celestia, as well as the following spotlight, came to a halt in front of the simple, wooden podium to the far right of the stage.
Princess Celestia cleared her throat, sending some very minor feedback through the microphone. The feedback echoes through the dead silence in the makeshift auditorium.
“First off, I want to thank everypony for coming out here today.” Princess Celestia announced, “Today is a very special day for these wonderful fillies and colts, and I know that they, as well as I, are grateful for your attendance.”
An uproarious applause followed from the crowd of ponies. After Celestia raised her hoof, asking non-verbally for silence, the crowd followed suit and fell silent once again.
“Thank you,” Celestia said into the microphone. “And now, here are the fillies and colts graduating tonight!”
The velvet curtain withdrew, revealing a graduating class of about fifteen unicorns. At the center of the unicorns was Twilight Sparkle, who stuck out like a sore thumb with her golden gown compared to the other unicorn’s shining crimson graduation gowns. Princess Celestia stuck her hoof out as if to present the graduating unicorns to the crowd, like a showpony presents his new product to an astonished crowd.
“These special fillies and colts have worked long and daunting hours to reach this point in their lives, and finally, their hard work paid off,” Celestia proudly announced. “But before we begin handing out the diplomas, I shall let the valedictorian give her speech.”
A single bead of sweat slowly ran down Twilight’s forehead and onto her cheek. The words that had just fallen from Princess Celestia’s mouth sent her into giving off an uneasy, nervous smile.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Celestia boldly announced, and Twilight quickly stood up to a chorus of applause and started to walk over to the podium occupied by Celestia.
“Twilight Sparkle has been my private pupil for many years, and has learned so much since I took her under my wing all those years ago. I am extremely proud to call her name here tonight to address you fine ponies.” Celestia said into the microphone.
As Celestia finished her introduction, Twilight had caught up to the podium. Twilight and Celestia shared a quick hug, which, in turn, caused the applause of the crowd to grow slightly louder. After the two ponies ended their casual embrace, Celestia gracefully backed away from the podium, giving Twilight Sparkle full access to the podium and microphone. The uneasy smile returned to her face as the crowd fell silent, intently awaiting her customary valedictorian speech. Twilight looked out onto the audience and her gaze fell upon her parents. They non-verbally gave her a smiling gesture, the same gesture that they gave her when she was just about to take the entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns all of those years ago.
Twilight shut her eyes for brief moment and took a deep breath. She exhaled quietly enough for the microphone not to register the noise. She cleared her throat and took another deep breath and exhaled.
“Thank you, Princess Celestia. I just want to start by saying what an honor and privilege it was to serve as your private student,” Twilight said. She took another deep breath before saying, “I did indeed learn a lot about magic since I enrolled in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. However, it wasn’t until I went to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship that my knowledge of magic truly increased. I have learned almost all there is to know about magic. But the greatest magic of all is knowing that I have the friendships I have made in Ponyville. To Spike and to Applejack, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, I have this to say: I love each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t know what I would do without you. You have made my study of magic so enjoyable. I know, truly, that wherever I go in life, that I will always have the love and support from all of you.”
A tear fell from Twilight’s left eye as she paused her speech on account of her choking up with emotion. Out in the audience, tears of utter happiness were welling up in the eyes of Twilight’s friends. Tears were even forming in Rainbow Dash’s eyes, although she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it. 
Pinkie Pie began to cry in the same cartoonish fashion as when Princesses Celestia and Luna reunited after a thousand years of separation. She cried for a few moments before she noticed that not only was everypony in the audience staring at her in utter confusion, but also that her friends sitting beside her were shooting her a glare.
Pinkie stopped the fountain of tears and weakly smiled at her friends.
“Sorry,” Pinkie quietly and weakly said.
Twilight Sparkle silently chuckled and cleared her throat.
“As I was saying, to my loving parents, my brother Shining Armor, to Princess Celestia, and to my loving and loyal friends, thank you to everybody! As a new graduate of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, the world is my oyster, and I can’t wait to get out there and make a difference!”
Twilight’s last words whipped the audience into a frenzy. She stepped down from the podium with a big gaping smile on her face. Her gaze met her friends and parents in the audience as they applauded her speech. Twilight could sense the immense pride that her loved ones felt for her as she trotted back to her seat amongst her fellow graduates. She sat down and realized that the nervousness had finally dissipated from her insides. This made Twilight smile even bigger.
Spike was right, Twilight thought. Everything is gonna be just fine!
After an hour’s time, the graduation ceremony had completed with the customary tradition of tossing the caps in the air.
Twilight Sparkle and her entourage wandered from the graduation ceremony over to the magical Canterlot Garden to pose for pictures.
“Say cheese!” The photographer pony exclaimed as he prepared to snap a photograph of Twilight Sparkle with Spike, her parents, and with her five closest friends.
After a few moments of fiddling with the settings of the camera, the photographer pony took the photograph. A bright white flash confirmed the action and everybody gave a thank you to the photographer pony for the gesture.
Twilight’s parents gave her a group hug and bother her mother and father gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Your father and I are so proud of you, sweetums!” said Twilight’s mom.
“I always knew you’d graduate at the top of your class Twilight,” Her dad said, backing up his mare. “We always knew that where ever life took you that you would excel!”
“Thank you both so much!” Twilight responded “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She hugged both of her parents as she noticed that entering the garden was both Princesses, Celestia and Luna. Twilight and her entourage all bowed before their two majestic leaders.
“Hello, Princess Celestia. Hello Princess Luna.” Twilight greeted.
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle. Congratulations to you,” responded Princess Luna. “Are you happy you finally graduated?”
Twilight nodded. “I certainly am. I’m just kind of disappointed that I will no longer be your student, Princess.”
Princess Celestia looked upon Twilight. “It is a fact that saddens me as well, Twilight. I’m going to miss teaching you as much as you loved learning from me.”
“Do you know what you want to do next?” Luna asked Twilight.
Twilight shook her head. “I haven’t the slightest idea. Why do you ask?”
Princess Celestia looked at over at Luna, who nodded back at her. Both princesses returned their gazes to Twilight’s direction.
“We actually would like to talk about that Twilight,” Princess Celestia said.
Twilight raised one eyebrow. “What do you mean?” She asked.
“Could we talk to you privately about a career opportunity?” Inquired Princess Luna.