It was a calm day in Ponyville and Rarity had yet to get up. Very shortly Rarity was half awake and felt paws pressing down on her face and then she woke up, "OUCH!" Opal had started to claw her and bit her nose demanding that she be fed.
Rarity shouted, "Opal, naughty! You do not do that to mama! Fine, I will get you some food."
Opal headed down the stairs into the kitchen where she was greeted by a hungry Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle asked, "Hi Rarity! What is for breakfast?"
Rarity got a scowl on her face and replied, "First my cat claws and bites me demanding I feed her and now you are here demanding food too? Do I look I am wearing a chef's hat?"
Sweetie Belle asked, "Come on sis! You aren't open today and there isn't a set time on when you go to your get together with your friends is there?"
Rarity replied, "No, there isn't but I still like to get there at a decent time. After all, Applejack is awful busy with applebucking so she can't spend that much time there and even though she is a princess, Twilight still spends over half of her time studying."
Sweetie Belle got that sad look on her face that Rarity just can't say no to. She then growled, "FINE!"
Rarity opened a can of cat food for Opal and fixed eggs and toast for her and Sweetie Belle and downed it all with apple cider. After breakfast Rarity rushed over to Sugarcube Corner for their Sunday morning get together.
When Rarity got there everypony looked stunned at the severity of the claw and bite marks. Rainbow Dash asked, "Let me guess, you were late getting up to feed Opal just like you were late getting here?"
Rarity glared at Rainbow and replied, "Oh very funny Rainbow. You try getting clawed and bit in the morning."
Applejack asked, "Why were you late anyway?"
Rarity replied, "Well when you oversleep and have a little sister who demands you fix her something to eat like you are her personal chef, you will understand why."
Spike came running into the store holding a message and seven tickets from Princess Celestia. He said, "Twilight, you'll never guess what I just got from the princess."
Twilight levitated the message to herself, got a big smile on her face and shouted, "Girls, Princess Celestia wants us up at the Grand Galloping Gala again this year!"
Pinkie asked, "Really? Even after the disaster that happened last year?"
Twilight replied, "Of course! Remember how awful she thinks it is? Remember how she wanted us there to add some excitement to it? Maybe she wants us there again for that reason."
Rarity got a huge grin on her face and shouted, "Oh wow, it has been a year already? I better get to work on our dresses!"
Applejack asked, "Rarity, before y'all get to work on our dresses, don't you think maybe you better find out what kind of design we want first?"
Rarity calmed herself down and replied, "Of course Applejack! You know how excited I get over things like this!"
"Well alright, let's all head over to Rarity's place so we can talk about what kind of dresses we want this year." said Applejack
After having a few donuts they all headed over to The Carousel Botique to go over various dress designs and accessories. While Rarity's friends were all talking among themselves Spike was sitting in the corner with a dejected look on his face and Rarity saw this.
Rarity walked up to him and asked, "What is wrong my Spikey-Wikey? Aren't you excited about going to the Gala again this year?"
Spike replied, "Oh I just hope that this year we will actually spend some time together instead of all going our separate ways. I mean spending time with Donut Joe and eating lots of sweets is nice but nothing beats spending time with all six of you!"
Rarity smiled and said, "Oh don't worry Spike, if Twilight won't spend time with you I will. Besides, every beautiful lady should have a bodyguard."
Spike got a smile on his face, flexed his muscles and replied, "Well yeah, a beautiful pony will probably have stallions begging to be with you and you deserve the best!"
Rarity got down and whispered in Spike's ear, "Spike, there is one pony I do wish to punish for how mean he was last year."
Spike asked, "Who do you want to punish and what do you want to do to them?"
Rarity saw her friends breaking up their huddle so she said, "Spike, we can discuss this later. This has to stay between us so not a word to Twilight."
Spike replied, "My lips are sealed."
Twilight said, "Rarity, we have decided all the details of how we want our dresses to be this year. I'm sure they won't be any challenge for a pony with your talent."
They spent the next hour discussing how they wanted their dresses. After discussing all of this they headed home. Twilight saw Spike and Rarity talking and decided to ask him what they discussed on the way home.
Twilight asked, "Spike, what were you and Rarity talking about and why were you two talking so low as to where none of the rest of us could hear it?"
Spike replied, "Well you know, Rarity was just talking to me about how she will need a bodyguard at the Gala in case an overly aggressive stallion tries to hurt her."
Twilight laughed, "Oh Spike! Rarity can handle her own against any not so pleasant stallions that come her way!"
Spike decided that he would just drop the issue. He knew that Rarity wanted him to spend time with her at the Gala for specific reasons. He figured he would just let Twilight be surprised.