//------------------------------// // [FIXED] Episode 63: Preparing For The Gala // Story: The Life of a Wanted Changeling (Comment Driven Story) // by Down with Chrysalis //------------------------------// You chuckle evily, still a bit insane. "I'll crash that stupid, pansy party, find Cadance and convert her to the dark side! I'll...I'll bribe her with cookies! Ha! And cake! LOTS OF CAKE! And then, with the power of a goddess on my side, I'll...I'll..." you laugh harder. "Ehehehe..." "I'LL MAKE THEM KNEEL TO ME!" You laugh even harder, your mind consumed in darkness...and then you choke. Gasping for air, the homicidal maniac part of you melts away, and you struggle to remember what just happened. As you look over the gems, you can't help but start to laugh evilly (obviously you haven't got the whole "acting like a complete lunatic" thing out of your system yet), "Mwahahhahahaah I'll crash that stupid, pansy party, find Cadance and convert her to the dark side! I'll...I'll bribe her with cookies! Ha! And cake! LOTS OF CAKE! And then, with the power of a goddess on my side, I'll... I'll..." You start to laugh even harder, so much so that it starts to hurt, but you don't notice the pain because you're too focused on your insane rambling. "EHAHAHAAHAH I'LL MAKE THEM KNEEL BEFORE ME! EHAHAHAHAHAH!" You start to laugh even harder than before, so much so that you're on the floor holding your sides in pain. Your mind begins to slowly become consumed by the darkness within you and you can feel that evil voice begin to help fill the darkness and is about to say something when... you choke. You quickly get up gasping for air, and you look around your area to see that your no longer on top of the tiny gem pile, but in a dark corner. As the homicidal maniac and the evil voice begin to fade to the back of your mind, you can't help but begin to wonder on what happened. What in the name of Luna happened, I remember using my new escaping catchphrase. Then I teleported here and then... nothing... Oh well, if it was THAT important I'll probably remember it later or something... Nodding your head at your decision, you begin to walk out of the dark corner and towards the gem pile, when... Nightshade walks up to you with red and blue dust on her muzzle. "Welcome back, Daddy!" "What in the world is on your face?" "I was playing dragon! I was eating gemstones! But my tummy hurts now..." Oh, the last thing you need right now is a sick child. Maybe Fluttershy can...? No, she'll be going to the Gala too. And you aren't going anywhere near Ponyville for awhile. Well... what can you do for her? Does she have a fever? "Um... Daddy? Why are you holding a hoof to my head?" You sigh. "I have no idea." What normal body temperature would a magical filly you can only assume was born from creepy armor inside the magic void of the inventory even have? "Well, don't worry about me too much. I'm a tough girl! Anyway, the mail came while you were gone." Wait... "What?" Sure enough, Nightshade hands you an envelope. "It just popped out of thin air. Can the postal service do that? Are they following you? Isn't that kind of an invasion of privacy?" You take the envelope and open it. Inside is a letter and a golden ticket. Dear Bugze, *sigh* Yes, I actually wrote the word sigh with asterisks to signify that I am taking an action. That's how baffled I am with you right now. The Grand Galloping Gala? Really? You know the princesses are there, right? And the Royal Guard? And those six crazy mares? And that it's the epicenter of the invasion so absolutely no one else will be happy to see you there? You are screwed. I don't even know why I'm helping you with this, but you'll need this ticket. Just... just stay alive. Try. From, A Friend Nightshade walks out of one of the caves tunnels with red and blue dust on her muzzle, and you begin to wonder how she got here, before you remember, Oh that's right! I didn't want to put her in danger just in case something went wrong when I went to Zecora's. So I told her to stay hidden here. After your done reminiscing, you see that Nightshade is right in front of you. She gives you a adorable smile before saying, "Welcome back, Daddy!" You can't help but give (what you think is) a fatherly smile when she said that, but you become concerned when you see the red and blue dust on her muzzle, and you ask worriedly, "What in the hive is on your face?" Nightshade giggles at your worry, and she says in a adorable tone, "I was playing dragon! I saw this chair made of gems so I ate it... Like a dragon eats gems! But I still can't breath fire like dragons. And now my tummy hurts..." Oh great, the last thing I need right now is a sick foal, especially my daughter. Maybe Fluttershy can...? No, she'll be going to the Gala too. And I'm not going anywhere near Ponyville for awhile. Well... what can I do for her? Does she have a fever? With that thought in mind, you put your hoof on her head to feel for a temperature, and Nightshade just gives you a confused look before asking, "Um... Daddy? Why are you holding a hoof to my head?" You put your hoof down and you just sigh and say, "I... I honestly don't know." You then start to think, What would be the normal body temperature of a magical filly I can only assume was born from creepy armor inside the magic void of the inventory? While you're thinking, Nightshade notices your worried look before she says in a happy tone, "Well, don't worry about me too much. I'm a tough girl! (*She pounds her chest in an adorable attempt to look tough*) Anyway, the mail came while you were gone." "Well that's good, did we get any bills- Wait WHAT?" You look over to her in surprise and sure enough, Nightshade hands you an envelope. "It just popped out of thin air. Can the postal service do that? Are they following you? Isn't that kind of an invasion of privacy?..." As Nightshade begins to ramble on about how it's not nice to invade someling's privacy, you just take the envelope and open it. Inside is a letter and two golden tickets. You immediately recognize the hoof writing as you 'friend' who gave you your awesome cloak and The Inventory. You then read the letter... Dear Bugze, *sigh* Yes, I actually wrote the word sigh with asterisks to signify that I am taking an action. That's how baffled I am with you right now. The Grand Galloping Gala? Really? You know the princesses are there, right? And the Royal Guard? And those six crazy mares? And that it's the epicenter of the invasion so absolutely no one else will be happy to see you there? You are screwed. I don't even know why I'm bothering to help you with this, but you'll need these tickets. Just... just TRY to stay alive. From, A Friend Your eye twitches in annoyance at the fact that the pony still won't tell you who they are and how they doubt your awesome plan. You look at the golden tickets in your hoof and wonder how the two items are gonna help you, when you realize that they say 'Ticket To The Grand Galloping Gala'. You just sigh and shake your head as you put the two tickets into The Inventory. 'Two Grand Galloping Gala Tickets' added to The Inventory You then turn to the still rambling Nightshade (she's somehow rambling about who'd win in a fight between chocolate and mint) and interrupt her by saying, "Hey, Nightshade, Sweetie." "Yes, Daddy?" "We're gonna go to this big, fancy, party called 'The Grand Galloping Gala' and you know why?" Nightshade starts jumping up and down in excitement and says, "Awesome! Why?!" "Well, we are gonna go and visit auntie Cadance" "I HAVE AN AUNT?!?" "Yes you do, shes a pink alicorn, and she is daddy's first ever friend. So I want you to treat her with respect okay?" "Yes daddy, I promise to be respectful to Auntie Cadance. But this is gonna be so cool! There'll be food, and music, and food, and ponies, and food, and maybe fireworks, did I mention foo- I'm tired now (*Falls down asleep*) Zzzzzzzz" You chuckle and shake you head at Nightshade's antics before putting her into The Inventory. After that you looked at the tiny gem pile, and you see something interesting. On the top of the pile, there's a small midnight-colored gem in the shape of a heart and another heart-shaped gem that's pink. You can't help but smile and think, Nightshade would love that midnight-colored one, and the pink one would make a great gift for Cadance. I know! I'll ask someling in Canterlot when we get there to make them into necklaces. Nodding your head at your idea, you pick up the gems and put them into The Inventory... 'Midnight-Colored Heart Gem' and 'Pink-Colored Heart Gem' Added to The Inventory You also put in the rest of the gems you found, thinking that they might be worth something. As you finish putting the gems in your Inventory, you realize something... You realize you haven't slept since the train so you take a nap. You wake up when you hear an incoming patrol so you grab the gems and bail. You haven't slept since you took that nap on the Train. So with a yawn, you follow Nightshade's idea and lie down on the ground before falling asleep... THE NEXT DAY "You're sure that this is the location of the cave?" "Yes orange flying pony- I mean Sergeant Sentry. This be base of ex-master." You wake up in a panic when you start to hear voices and hoofsteps heading your way. Shoot! That's Flash and Spot! Those dogs must have led the Royal Guard here! I need to bail, now! You think in panic as you quickly use your teleportation to get out of there before the noises got any closer. Sadly for you, you teleported about 20 yards above Zecora's hut. You sigh in annoyance at the hundredth time you messed up that spell before you start falling. As you bounce off the roof and crash into the ground, you see Zecora heading your way with a concerned look on her face. Smiling you decide it's time to put your plan to actio- *KA-BOOM!!!* You're both startled by a series of explosions coming from where the cave used to be (it would later turn out that the Royal Guard squad had direct orders from Princess Luna to just demolish the cave with LOTS of explosives). When the explosions stop, Zecora says, "Sky-high that cave was blew." She then turns to you with a deadpan expression and continues, "Did that have anything to do with you?" "Um... Probably, but I have a small favor to ask of you..." THE NEXT DAY, 2 DAYS BEFORE THE GALA After you got a potion from Zecora that allows anyling to transform for a few hours while being completely immune to most detection spells, you headed to Canterlot. You walked all the way there considering you can't trust your teleport and you arrived around midnight. Luckily, a motel there was still open, so you paid to stay for four days. It cost fourteen bits, but it was worth it (52 bits left)as you even got a free slice of sponge cake after paying (okay, it was a stale leftover slice, but cake is still cake!). After getting a good night's sleep, you got up the next day and decided to... Get the gems appraised, they may be worth something (or not). Get those gems you got from the cave appraised. After sneaking around Assassins Creed-style, you finally found a shop that said "Gem Appraiser Shop". After thinking how un-creative that name is, you took off your coat and transformed into a random stallion in a nearby alleyway before walking into the shop. After showing the shop owner the gems you took (besides the heart-shaped ones). Sadly, the gems aren't that good quality and a large chunk was mostly worthless rocks like quartz and fool's gold. So you only got eight bits out of it all (60 bits left). After that you went back into the alley, de-transformed, put your coat back on. And you began to... Seeing how your disguise spell isn't too reliable (especially since its pretty much a given that everyling knows the Hooded Offender is a changeling) you buy a suit (that looks like this, but you decide to leave behind the helmet in favor of a black neck gaiter and a purple top (or bowler) hat with a yellow cloth) and a small dress (that looks like this) for yourself and Nightshade respectively from a seemingly nice mare with a pink coat and a purple mane. Fortunately for you, she's having a closing sale because she's moving to Manehattan. Look for a dress shop. 35 MINUTES LATER You finally found one after a couple of minutes. Doing what you did before at the gem shop, you went in and bought a suit (tthat looks like this, but you decide to leave behind the helmet in favor of a black neck gaiter and a purple top hat with a yellow cloth) and a small dress (that looks like this) for yourself and Nightshade respectively from a seemingly nice mare with a pink coat and a purple mane. Fortunately for you, she's having a closing sale because she's moving to Manehattan (22 bits left). As you leave with your purchases in The Inventory, you didn't notice a mare walk in and scream, "YOU STOLE ME DRESS AND SUIT IDEA!" After all that you went back to the motel and slept for the rest of the day... 1 DAY LEFT BEFORE THE GGG The next day you went out to a jeweler who, for only four bits (he was really generous), made the two heart gems into necklaces (18 bits left). The midnight-colored one had a blue chain, while the pink one had a white chain. After paying, you took Nightshade around Canterlot, and had a father-daughter day. You played at the park, watched a movie, and had a great dinner (buffet of course. You would have blown through all of your finances, but Nightshade managed to find 3 bits on the ground (3 bits left)). When you gave Nightshade the midnight-colored heart-shaped necklace to her, she crushed you in a bear hug. You just laughed and smiled through the pain before you looked over to the castle and thought, Tomorrow's the night huh? With that thought you took Nightshade home and you fell asleep. NIGHT OF THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA Deciding that you've infiltrated Canterlot quite a few times before (hooky and foalsitting, remember?) with a face cover and alot of clothes instead of a disguise spell and working off your theory that Applejack can only sense disguises, you realize that your suit's neck gait, pants, cape, long sleeves, and top hat do a good job of covering your changeling features (wings, fangs, holed limbs, etc.) so you decide to go in your default changeling form and give the potion to Nightshade instead which transforms her into her Earth Pony form (aka, her without the armor, horn, or wings). You both put on your outfits and you put on your hat and take out your staff (it completes the look and you never know when it may come in handy) before you head off. As you and Nightshade begin to get close to the castle, she comments, "Wow! All these fancy ponies at this BIG castle! This is gonna be the BEST NIGHT EVER!" You smile at her beneath your lower-half-of-face-covering neck gait and can't help but think, Nothings gonna go wrong tonight. I'm just gonna get in, say hi and chat, then leave. What could happen in that timespan? Of course as soon as you said that... Everyling began to sing? What do you do?