Twilight got up, and went through her day as per baseline up to the point when the letter arrived. Her plan was to make arrangements with the princess and the girls to take care of their reasons for visiting the gala. Hopefully she could take care of the problems that would spring up from the lack of enough tickets for everypony without being chased by a crazed mob this time.
"What's that?" Applejack asked as the letter floated down.
"That's how the princess sends me letters, and vice versa." Twilight explained.
Spike opened the letter, skimmed it, and then read the important part. "Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the Grand Galloping Gala, plus one other." he said, pulling out two tickets.
"The Grand Galloping Gala!" Applejack cried.
"I take it you're interested in going." Twilight deadpanned.
'Main Quest. Gala Tickets. Resolve the conflict arising from the relatively low number of gala tickets.'
She thought so.
"Am Ah? Ah'm not interested in the dancing and what not, but Ah could sell a whole lot of our baked goods at that dance. With that kind of money, we could fix up a lot of stuff around here. We could fix up the plow, the barn's roof, and Granny's hip!" Applejack said, a dreamy look on her face.
"Well, Spike's said he doesn't want to go to girly things like this before, but I don't think you-" Twilight was interrupted by Rainbow Dash's arrival.
"Did you say Grand Galloping Gala?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes. You want to go to?" Twilight asked, knowing the answer already.
"Yeah, but only because the Wonderbolts will be there to perform! I can see it now. They'll be in the middle of their routine, and I'll dazzle them with my moves. They'll make me a Wonderbolt on the spot!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Actually that's not-" Twilight was interrupted again.
"Oh, you've got to let me come. Joining the Wonderbolts has been my dream since I was like four!" Rainbow Dash pleaded.
"Hold on a minute. Ah asked Twilight for the extra ticket first!" Applejack said.
"That doesn't mean you own it!" Rainbow Dash responded.
"Ah asked you to help me with the farmwork earlier, and you said you were to busy, what where you busy doin if you were here the whole time?" Applejack asked.
"I was busy napping." Rainbow gestured to where a blanket and pillow were lying on a tree branch. "Your trees are surprisingly comfortable, but I'm still getting that ticket!" Rainbow said.
They stared each other down as they started to argue over who had the better reason for going. "Hoofwrestle for it!" Applejack finally said. They put their hooves out, and started to try to overpower each other.
"Girls? Hello? Those reasons aren't going to..." Twilight trailed off as she noticed they were too focused on their argument/contest to listen to her. Well so much for that idea, she was so going to be chased by a mob today.
Without any better options, she quietly told Spike, "Let's go get some food while they argue, I'm starved."
"What about them?" Spike asked.
"They're too busy arguing to listen to me, so I might as well get some lunch since I have more trouble thinking on an empty stomach." Twilight said.
Twilight left and was on her way to the nearest restaurant, but somehow or other, she ran into Pinkie again. It made no sense, she was sure that she was out of the way one second, but the next, she was on her flank after having walked right into her pink friend.
"Gah! Bats on my face! Wait, these aren't bats. They're tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!" Pinkie had just gone through what her reaction had been in baseline. Great, it seemed that the universe, that is, the game, was determined to make her go through this fiasco again.
"Uh, Pinkie, I-" Twilight was cut off by Pinkie's loud exclamations of gratitude.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Twilight! The Grand Galloping Gala is the biggest party in all of Canterlot! It'll be amazing to get to go!" Pinkie thanked her. Rarity arrived just as Pinkie finished her song as in baseline.
"Twilight, are those tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Rarity asked.
"Yes, but-" Twilight was cut off by Pinkie.
"Yeah, Twilight's taking me to the Gala." Pinkie said excitedly.
Rarity gasped. "Twilight! How could you invite Pinkie Pie to such a prestigious event and not me? All of Canterlot's nobility will be there, including Princess Celestia, and presumably Princess Luna. I can see it now, my dresses will so dazzle those in attendance, that I'll be granted an audience with Princess Celestia herself. She'll be so pleased that she'll introduce me to her nephew. We'll end up dating and getting married." Rarity had little stars and hearts intermingling in her eyes by the end of her speech.
Twilight forcefully kept any laughter from escaping her, though the picture of Blueblood's expression at the thought of marrying a commoner was amusing, she didn't want to crush her friend's dreams, she wanted to let Rarity down gently. She briefly wondered if she was playing Creator momentarily, but dismissed it. She wasn't being all that manipulative.
"Actually, I haven't decided to give Pinkie the ticket." Twilight told them. "And you've met the princesses before." she added more quietly.
"You haven't?" Rarity and Pinkie asked at the same time, with expressions that were total opposites of each other. Rarity's was joyful, Pinkie's was aghast.
"No, in fact- where'd the tickets go?" Twilight asked, being almost certain that that Angel Bunny had taken them to Fluttershy again.
"Oh Angel, these are perfect!" Fluttershy said from a few feet away. ...And there was the confirmation. She really should have expected that to happen as soon as Rarity showed up.
"You too? So why do you want to go?" Twilight asked, slightly annoyed.
"Well, no not exactly, I'm only interested in the Royal Gardens. The flowers are supposed to smell wonderful, be of a huge variety, and number. They'll only all be in bloom on the night of the gala. The fauna's supposed to be even more amazing! There's loons and toucans, and bitterns oh my! Hummingbirds that can hum with their vocal chords too, and buzzards that can really buzz! And redjays, and bluejays, and greenjays, and pink jays, and pink flamingoes!" Fluttershy finished, now hovering and hugging Angel Bunny.
"That sounds beautiful Fluttershy, but-" Twilight was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
"Wait just a darn minute!" the chromatic pegasus called from a nearby rooftop.
"Ah, I was wondering when you'd stop stalking me and switch to regular old following me." Twilight said nonchalantly. Time to have some fun.
"I wasn't stalking you!" Rainbow responded hotly.
"Were you following me around and watching me, while you thought I didn't know?" Twilight asked.
"... Yes. How long did you know?" Rainbow asked, a little freaked-out.
"Since you started." Twilight said smiling in a carefree manner, just to freak them out a little more. It turned out that her Stats affected her situational awareness as well.
"That's really creepy. Anyway, I couldn't risk a goody-four shoes like you giving that ticket to just anypony." Rainbow justified.
"Wait just another minute!" Applejack said walking over.
"Huh, I thought you'd come out as soon as Rainbow did, since you were following her, presumably to try to keep her from trying to bribe me for the ticket." Twilight said.
"You knew?" Applejack asked.
"Yes, I knew since you started. I know lots of things." Twilight responded, she'd had to go through today a few times because she'd ended up chased by that mob repeatedly, she was going to avoid that this time!
"Well, anyway, I'm still not letting her try any funny business." Applejack declared. "Still trying to take my ticket." she muttered sourly.
The others joined in, and started arguing with each other over who got the ticket. Huh, she hadn't noticed the first time, but Fluttershy actually looked angry. That was a rare sight.
She took a deep breath, and yelled "Quiet!" which shut up everybody but Pinkie, who promptly quieted down once she realized that nopony else was talking.
"Girls, there's no use in arguing. This is my decision, and I'll make it, so no random favors to try and bribe me into giving you the ticket. If you do try that, I'll take the favors, but give you no special consideration." she announced, quite enjoying the looks on their faces.
"That's despicable!" Applejack said.
"And trying to bribe somepony isn't?" Twilight deadpanned. The girls had the grace to look ashamed as the thought had already crossed their minds.
"Anyway, I can't think straight with all this noise, and I still haven't gotten to eat! Now go on, shoo! Come to the library at sunset!" she waved them away.
The others left, grumbling.
"Don't worry, I'll figure this out!" Twilight called after them. Well, she already had a plan, so that might not count as figuring it out.
"So, now what?" Spike asked.
"Well, I write to the princess and see if she can arrange things so everypony's happy. I'm only going to the Gala because the Princess wants me to, otherwise I wouldn't go if I had anything, and I mean anything else to do." Twilght said.
"Is it that bad?" Spike asked.
"Remember that one formal dance we had to go to? Much less fun than that." Twilight said.
"Wow, I didn't think that was even possible." Spike said as they started walking back to the library, before Twilight teleported them to avoid any of the girls who might be trying to bribe her despite her earlier warning... and that mob, not happening this time!
She wrote a letter to the princess, and they had a sort of written conversation. They'd read each others letters and respond to them, before writing and sending another.
When the girls filed in, they looked a bit apprehensive. "So, who gets the ticket?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, let me say a few things first. Applejack, you wouldn't have much success selling your goods to the noble ponies because they're arrogant and would consider such common fare beneath them, regardless of how it tastes. However, they're always running a little short on apples since this is the closest town to Canterlot that has any and you don't sell them to it. The princess would be willing to send a representative to make a deal. The nobles may turn down common fare, but they don't care about the ingredients." Twilight told her farmpony friend.
"Gee, thanks sugarcube." Applejack said.
"Rainbow Dash, I don't know about the Wonderbolts' captain, but if someone jumped into the middle of one of my perfomances, that would be exactly the kind of pony I wouldn't want to have on my team. However, if you want, you can still come to the gala as Spitfire and Soarin will be there. I can't promise you'll be able to talk to them, but you might at least get an autograph out of it." Twilight said, producing enough tickets for everpony in the room to go.
"Wow, thanks!" Rainbow said, grabbing one of the tickets.
"Pinkie, I don't think the gala is the kind of party you'd like. In fact, it's less a party and more of a giant afternoon tea between nobles. What you're after is more like a carnival. However, the Princess is willing to let us have a party of our own after the nobles have left, and to let you help with the decorations for the gala itself." Twilight told her pink friend.
Pinkie gasped. "It's two parties for the price of one!" she bounced up and down with glee.
"Rarity, I've met Blueblood, and I don't think you'd like him, but you're free to come and see for yourself." Twilight said, giving Rarity a ticket.
"Well, I'd like to meet him first darling." Rarity said, after thinking it over for a moment.
"Fluttershy, the animals in the Royal Gardens don't react well to strangers, I can personally attest to that, but once they get used to you, they'll react the way most animals do for you. The Princess is fine with you coming to visit every few days in the weeks preceding and after the gala, whenever you want really.
The caretaker of the gardens is a lot like a male version of you, so I think you'd get along well. Luna has been frequenting the gardens as well. She's quite sorry about what she did as Nightmare Moon, but she's not sure how to go about reintegrating herself into society. The Princess was hoping you could coax her out of her self-imposed shell." Twilight said, she knew that Fluttershy would have been willing to go to the gardens for no other reason than that, that made this was one of the worst sorts of manipulation, but it was to help a friend, two friends actually, so that made it alright... right?
Fluttershy shifted to mothering mode almost instantly, and nodded.
"Gosh Twi, you did all this nice stuff for us when all we did was try to pressure you into giving one of us the tickets." Applejack said.
Twilight simply stared at them. "Is that all you have to say?"
They looked at each other. "We won't ever just assume that you're giving us something again." Pinkie said.
Twilight was unmoved. "Is that all you have to say?"
"We won't ever try to use you for your connections again." Rarity said, a hit of desperation in her voice and expression.
Twilight was still not moved. "Is that all you have to say?"
"Well what do you want us to say?" Rainbow exploded.
"When you do something wrong, you're supposed to say sorry." Twilight said simply.
They stared at her, then glanced at each other before saying. "We're sorry Twilight."
"Well, in that case I forgive you." Twilight said, smiling at them and their expressions.
"You enjoyed that." Rainbow said.
"Yes, but I did want you to say sorry and you did put me through a fair amount of nonsense." Twilight answered.
'Main Quest Complete! +100 exp/bits. +5 Skill points.'
Well, that took care of that nonsense.
"Say Twi, you don't seem interested in the gala, how come you're going?" Applejack asked.
"Well the Princess asked me to come, so I'm going. Frankly, I'd probably never go otherwise. It's that heartrendingly boring." Twilight said.
In retrospect, she should have seen all of them deciding to come with her to make it less boring coming. Spike was pretty much a given, though she was planning on at least trying to persuade him to just come for their party afterward. However, that wasn't going to happen with all the girls insisting on coming.
She raised Combat, Resilience, Blade-wielding, and Negative Magic to 86/1000 with the points, and Positive Magic to 95/1000.
'Chapter Progress: 1 quest completed, 0 stars found, 650 exp to next level.'