//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: I've Got A Golden Ticket! // Story: Ticket Holder // by Goldenheart //------------------------------// Ticket Holder Chapter 1: I've Got A Golden Ticket! -Manehattan Public Library: Twilight's Residence- It was a beautiful morning in Manehattan, and Twilight Sparkle, local librarian and student of Princess Celestia, was hard at work, doing some rearranging. It was a tradition she called Re-shelving Day. The idea of a neat, tidy library made all her cares blow away like a gentle breeze. The books really were a mess, though. Spike was a great assistant, but this was more than a job for the two of them. After mulling it over, she decided to call on one of her friends for help. That did raise the question of whom to call, of course. She couldn’t ask Orange Sherbet, Manehattan’s own beloved Auntie, to take the time to help with something so routine, especially knowing she would agree, and she dreaded what might happen if either daydreamer Blossomforth or manic Trixie were to attempt to utilize her filing system. Deciding, she picked up the telephone in the trustees’ room, which had been converted into her bedroom after her permanent assignment to Manehattan, and dialed. After three rings, somepony on the other end picked up. “Hello,” a voice greeted, crackling slightly over the wire. “Is it me you’re looking for?” “Octavia,” Twilight confirmed. “Yes, I wanted to ask if you could come over. I’m reshelving the books in the library, and it’s going to be great!” “Oh, hm,” Octavia replied. “My apologies, Twilight, but my bandmates will arrive soon to rehearse. It does sound like a big job, though. Perhaps I should come over once we’re finished.” The unicorn considered for a moment. “Well, maybe you could call back, instead,” she suggested. “I’ll ask Honey to help, and we can both stop by your apartment later.” The two said their goodbyes, and Twilight dialed the Equestrian Museum of Supernatural History. She was surprised when, after only one ring, she heard the click of the other end being picked up. “Help me,” Honey Do uttered. "What?” “There’s a couple here with way too many foals.” Indeed, some shrieking did come through over the wire. “I need to get out of here, let the tour guides handle this.” A little confused, Twilight nodded. “Okay, then. Would you like to help me organize the library?” “Would I!” And the call disconnected. Twilight stared for a moment. “...would you?” she asked the silent receiver. Spike had a plate of snacks ready for the three of them when Honey arrived. “I didn’t know you’d taken up baking,” the pegasus remarked, taking a pretzel. He scratched his cheek with a claw. “Eh, it’s a hobby,” he explained casually. “He used to do it a lot more, back in Canterlot,” Twilight explained. “Pony Joe was teaching him some recipes. He kind of stopped for a while, but he’s gotten interested in it again recently. Can’t imagine why.” She smirked. “Well,” Spike said, “I guess we can get started now.” He picked up a heavy-looking tome and headed up the nearest ladder to return it to its place on one of the higher shelves. While the dragon and pegasus handled a lot of the search-and-replace work, Twilight assumed her own favorite role: Sorting. When one of her helpers finished shelving one book or stack, Twilight sped them along by having the next ready. "Foundation of Modern Equestrian Architecture, by Dr. Hoovian Vanderhoof, goes on the left of shelf 3 in section 4 of the Architecture section," she instructed as she passed Honey a thick text. Honey nodded in approval and headed off to the correct section. Spike had returned now, so Twilight supplied him with a new one. “The Little Seapony, by Hans Christian Andermane. Fiction section, shelf 1 in section 3.” Spike saluted and climbed a nearby ladder to place the book in its proper place. Twilight sighed with relief as this was really calming her down a notch. She needed a day to relax after all the work she and her friends had to go through in the last couple of months. It seemed a new problem would rear its ugly head every week for herself and her friends. Lately, though, everything had started to slow down in Manehattan and nothing exciting had really been happening the last couple of weeks, which was generally a good sign. Good thing she was taking the day to relax with her good friends. "Hey Twilight," called Spike, drawing her out of her musing. He stood at the top of the ladder holding a book. "I think this one was mis—" But before he could finish, he burped up a letter from the princess. Surprised, his grip on the book slipped. Both the letter and book started falling towards Twilight. She quickly grabbed both the letter and book with her magic, and gently set them down. Spike slipped down the ladder and Honey flew down next to Twilight. "A letter from the Princess? I wonder what it's about," Honey pondered. "Let’s have a look," said Twilight as she returned the letter to Spike. “Care to do the honors?” Spike cleared his throat as he opened the letter and recited the words. “My dearest and most faithful student Twilight Sparkle. In light of your recent lessons on the meaning of friendship and how you and your friends have accomplished so many fantastic feats over the months, I hereby personally extend an invitation to this year's Grand Galloping Gala. You will be given two tickets. One for you, and the other for one guest. Sincerely yours, Princess Celestia." "Tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala!" Honey gasped. Twilight followed up with, "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!!" My Little Pony, My Little Pony Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh… (My Little Pony) I used to wonder what friendship could be (My Little Pony) Until you all shared its magic with me Great discoveries! Tricks galore! A rich slice of life, And a heartfelt score. Budding courage It's an easy feat And magic makes it all complete! You have my little ponies Do you know you're all my very best friends? "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! Eeeeeeeeeeee!" cheered an excited Twilight with joyous squeals. Honey was pleased to see Twilight this excited, but Spike almost completely ignored it. His face again scrunched up again and he magically burped up two tickets. "Here ya go Twilight, two tickets to the Gala," said Spike as he handed the tickets over. Twilight lifted the tickets with her magic and gazed at their splendor, regal, for pieces of paper. The tickets read: Grand Galloping Gala, Admit One. "Ooh, I can't wait to meet the princess again and have a fantastic time at the Gala!" Back in Canterlot, she had never even thought to ask for a ticket; she could speak with Celestia at any time, and chatting with other ponies of the more refined classes just hadn’t seemed important. Living in Manehattan, however, she occasionally missed that life, and the Gala was an opportunity to experience a part of it she hadn’t before. "Go ahead, I'm not one for those, ball scenes. Besides, I'm not a good dancer," muttered Spike, disgusted. Honey giggled. "Aw come on now Spike, who has ever said you can't dance?" "W-w-well, I'm just not one of those ponies. I just want to stay away from boring stuff, that's all," said Spike, looking pointedly disinterested. Both girls giggled at Spike's resistance to going to the Gala. "Well if you say so,” Twilight replied, “I might as well give the ticket to somepony else then. So Honey, would you like to have my other ticket?" Honey shrugged. “Nah, I’m taken care of," she replied. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?" The curator then reached into her sweater with her hoof and pulled out her own slip of golden paper. On it were printed the same words as Twilight’s: Grand Galloping Gala, Admit One. Startled, Twilight replied, "Wow, you already have an invitation to the Gala?" "Yup, I was going to surprise you all later today," said Honey gleefully. "When did you get it?” "A few days ago at the museum. I received the same letter from a mailmare and even got additional information that somepony important will be meeting me at the Gala," Honey explained. "Who is this ‘somepony’ important?" Twilight asked. Honey shrugged. "Well, the letter had the royal seal on it, so I guess it’d be one of the Princesses, or somepony who works for them. Regardless, I've already got a ticket. And I think it’s the perfect time to reveal my secret identity at the Gala." That caught the unicorn off-guard. "What about the reason for having that secret in the first place? All the ponies who expect you to be things you’re not?" she asked. "Not a problem," Daring stated calmly. "I've been thinking lately about hiding my image of Daring Do from the public. I’m a real, legitimate, world-saving hero now. Things aren’t the way they used to be, and I never liked keeping secrets anyway. So I’ve decided it’s about time to reveal my identity to the public and stop hiding from it." "Are you sure that's a good idea doing this? I'm all for you coming out with your secret, but is this the right time?" asks a concerned Twilight. "This is the right time. I want to make this night memorable not for only me, but for everypony else who will be there. I want to make the largest crowd have all their eyes on me as I reveal my secret to the world. The Element of Honesty doing the most honest thing by not keeping secrets from anypony. I'm confident they'll respect me for the pony I am, not what they think I am," says a courageous and confident Honey. Twilight is happy for her friend seeing how far she has come, from hiding her identity, to coming out more often with her secret. With that out of the way, now she's open to the option of her other friends being able to go. So she gets an idea. 'I've got it! I'll go ask our other friends and see if they would like to go to the Gala," says a brilliant Twilight. "That seems like a good idea," Honey agrees. Twilight and Honey put their tickets away and start to head out the entrance, but pause to see if Spike will come. "You want to come Spike?" asks Twilight. Spike looks down from the ladder and says, "No thanks. You go on your hunt for giving away those frou-frou tickets." Twilight and Honey both giggle at his tough act and then head outside. As they get outside, Honey asks, "Who shall we ask first?" Twilight starts to think of her options and replies, "Maybe Auntie will go? She is always trying to improve her business. So this may be a great opportunity to inquire some investors from nobles." Honey nods in agreement and they both head off. -Orange Hotel: Orange Residence- "So you see, that is why I came here to visit was to ask you just that," explains Twilight. "So you want to give away your extra ticket to the Gala?" replies Sherbet. Twilight nods in agreement and smiles eagerly awaiting her answer. Sherbet then nervously replies, "Well, uh. The thing is, um.... My husband and I already have our tickets." Twilight's smile then turns to a frown and says, "You two have tickets to the Gala as well?!" "Yes indeedy-do! My wife and I attend the Gala nearly every year for business!" responds Mosely. Mosely approaches from the entryway and approaches his wife. "We go nearly every year for promoting our business and have talks of expanding our business and/or looking for worthy investors in our stocks. We had to skip a couple of years after Tangerine was born. Also had to skip trying to find the perfect nanny, but it's no less raising a child than finding somebody to invest in you," explains Mosely. Twilight figured this may be the case why they would go to the Gala, but didn't know they are annual attendees. This made the choice ever the more difficult of finding somepony to take her ticket. Sherbet sees that Twilight is thinking in thought and asks, "You not upset about this honey?" Twilight responds with, "No, of course not. Just surprised that another of my friends is going to the Gala." Mosely and Sherbet both smile in Twilight's acknowledgement. "I'm just weighing my options at the moment for when one of us will get the extra ticket. So I'm just going to ask the rest of our friends who does not have a golden ticket to the Gala," says a composed Twilight. Twilight and Honey wave goodbye to the Oranges and decided to head out to their next destination. Twilight sighs and says, "Well it was worth a try." Honey approaches Twilight to comfort her worries. "Don't worry. We still have three more of our friends will want to go to the Gala," says Honey. Twlight picking herself back up again says, "Yeah! I'm sure Octavia will go. She loves the sophisticated atmosphere. By now I'm sure she doesn't-" -Octavia's Apartment- "-already have a ticket," says Octavia. Twilight and Honey are both gawked that another of their friends has a ticket to the Gala as well. "Well, this is really unexpected," says Twilight. "I didn't expect three of my friends to have tickets already." Honey laughs at the irony of the situation at hoof. Yeah, before you know it, everypony in Manehattan will have a ticket," jokingly says Honey. Twilight is not amused by the sarcasm uttered by her. Honey then whistles away trying to not be noticed. Twilight then goes back to Octavia and asks, "Why were you invited to the Gala?" Octavia gets up from her chair and goes over to the adornment of pictures on the wall, all of her at either some orchestra performance or at a fancy party. She then points to one picture of herself with Princess Celestia and her while holding her Cello in one hoof, and her bow in the other. "If you recall, I'm the Princess' favorite cellist in the kingdom of Canterlot. After I perfected my cello skills, I was invited to the Gala to be among the few musicians that perform in the grand ballroom. I've been invited for the last few years doing just that," explains Octavia. Twilight then walks out of Octavia's apartment waving goodbye. Honey thanks Octavia for the visit, and follows suit and immediately head outside the building. "So three of you already have tickets to the Gala. I didn't expect this in the slightest," says an analytical Twilight. "Don't worry about this. Let's go back to the library and rest up for now. Maybe an answer will pop up," says an uplifting Honey. Twilight's eyes then brighten up with glee. She now has an idea of who to check out next. "Honey, you just gave me a brilliant idea!" says an excited Twilight. Before Honey has time to react, Twilight teleports herself away, leaving Honey alone in the streets. "You could've told me you were going on ahead," says a deadpanned Honey. Spike is still organizing the books in the same top row as Twilight and Honey left him at. Then out of nowhere, a bright flash blinds him for a second and he sees Twilight below the ladder. "Twilight? What are you doing back here so soon?" questions Spike. "Could you come down from there? I've got a request for you," asks Twilight. Spike comes down the ladder and sits on a pile of books next to Twilight. "So what do you need? How goes the ticket hunt?" asks Spike. "Believe it or not, most of our friends already have tickets to the Gala," Twilight responds. "That's great! Who's going so far then?" says Spike. "Well there's Honey, Aunt and Uncle Orange, and even..." Twilight pauses to emphasize the last pony, "...Octaviaaaa.... Spike then tenses up hearing the last mare's name. "Octavia is going to the Gala too?" asks Spike. "Yes she is. She's performing with the rest of the musicians in the Gala by request of Celestia," explains Twilight. "Oooh, this will be a magical night for me and my beloved Octavia. We will dance under the stars and have the moment just right for the both of...." Spike pauses for a bit to run by what Twilight said. "Wait. Did you say she's performing for the Gala?" "That's what I said. Is there a problem Spike?" asks Twilight. Spike tries to choose his words carefully on what to so say to her. He knows what to say, but doesn't have the words to say it. Before waiting any longer to think, he then says, "No there isn't. Nothing's wrong at all. Remember, I'm not one who likes those fancy dance parties for the rich and fancy." "You reaaallly sure you don't want to go? Even for Ocatavia?" Twilights asks again. Spike is trying to get himself out of this conversation. He wants to go for Octavia, but will she even have time for him at the Gala? He needs time to think about this. "I need to think about this. Besides, I need to return to stocking the shelves again right? Don't want to be unorganized," says Spike trying not to look stressed. Twilight analyizes Spike's expression to make sure he's okay. She knows he is hiding something, but can't understand what it is. Out of ideas, she doesn't want to push him any further. "Okay then. I'll come back later and we can talk about this later, okay?" says Twilight. Spike nods in agreement and gets down from the makeshift seat and goes back to the ladder to return to his duties. Twilight knows she has other friends to ask, but also wants to keep Spike in consideration for later. She then heads out the library to find the rest of her friends. Spike is happy that Twilight is gone. Now he has time to think about his decision. But is going to the Gala really important for him? Even if it means taking time away from Octavia? -Downtown- "Now, I might as well ask Blossomforth next. I just need to figure out where she is. I wish the answer would just fall from the sky." says Twilight trying to give herself ideas. As if right on cue, a sandwich from the sky land right smack dab in the middle of Twilight's horn. All of the sandwiches contents then start to leak onto Twilight's face and onto the sidewalk. "Oh my gosh! You alright Twilight?" says a sorry somepony. The pony then lands on the ground in front of Twilight and is revealed to be Blossomforth. Perfect timing, or all a coincidence this happened? Twilight doesn't want to question this at the moment. Blossomforth quickly takes the sandwich off Twilight's head and throws it away in the trash. "I'm so sorry! I got distracted while looking at some birds flying overhead. My head must've titled and my wheat sandwich fell out of my bag," says a sorry Blossomforth. She heads into what's left of her sandwiches' bag and grabs a couple of napkins. Blossomforth hands them to Twilight as she uses her magic to wife the sauce and other condiments off her face and horn. She then scrunches up the napkin and throws it away. "Don't worry about it Blossomforth, it's just been a long day for me," Twilight responds. "Why is that? Plus, why were you near Octavia's place?" asks Blossomforth. "I have two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala," explains Twilight. Blossomforth's eyes go wide with suprise. Twilight then takes out the two tickets she has tucked away and shows them to her. "You mean The Grand Galloping Gala? The single most exclusive ball in all of Canterlot?" says a surprised Blossomforth. "That's right. I've been looking for our friends to give away my extra ticket all day, but Sherbet, Octavia, and Honey already have tickets to the Gala. Plus Spike is trying not to go, but I'm talking to him about it later," explains Twilight. "Oh, I see. Well, I don't have a ticket to the Gala if that's what you are asking," says Blossomforth. Twilight then quickly adjusts and asks, "So you have no ticket to the Gala at all?" "Nope." "You didn't check your mail today?" "I did today, but I didn't get a ticket. I didn't even know I'm supposed to be expecting one." Twilight now has an option to give away her extra ticket. "Well, would you like to go to the Gala with me then?" asks Twilight. "W-w-what?! Oh my goodness, I could never take such a generous offer like that. Besides, I'm nopody important," says a bashful Blossomforth. Twilight then interrupts her and says, "Nopody important? You helped Manehattan deliver water to Cloudsdale with your determination. You won bronze at the Young Fliers Competition. Last of all, you are an Element of Harmony. I highly doubt you are nopony important." Blossomforth blushes at this admiration for her great accomplishments. Blossomforth then responds, "Well if you say so, I'll gladly-" But before she could answer Twilight, a puff of smoke envelopes the three mares. They all cough from the sudden surprise and are caught off guard. A voice then speaks from out of nowhere, "My Little Ponies, gaze upon the glory that is The Great, and Powerful-" "Trixie! Did you really have to do that!" interrupts Twilight. The smoke clears away and Trixie is shown to be standing in front of them. "C'mon Twilight, you know you should never interrupt Trixie's performance," says a snarky Trixie. She then sees something sparkle on the ground and notices the golden tickets on the ground. She inspects them and gasps with excitement. "Are these tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala?" asks Trixie. Twilight recomposes herself and answers with, "Yes they are. I was just about to ask Blossomforth if she wanted my extra ticket." "But what about me? Aren't you going to ask The Great and Powerful Trixie if she wants to go?" questions Trixie. "Well, I figured you'd already have a ticket considering you are part of the Lulamoon House. You are nobility after all," says Twilight. "Well not until just recently. If you recall a couple of weeks ago, I was brought back to my house to be nobility again after being away for so many years. So I must have not gotten the memo of the tickets going out," explains Trixie. Twilight then asks, "Well why would you want to go to the Gala anyways Trixie?" "What else? To put on a performance for all of the nobles in Canterlot. If I was able to entertain them during the council meeting, I can entertain them during the greatest night of everypony's life," explains Trixie. Twilight is now leaning more towards giving her ticket to Trixie. Twilight then says, "Well if that's the case, would you like-" Blossomforth interrupts, "But I thought I was getting the extra ticket? Twilight then turns back to Blossomforth saying, "Oh yes, sorry. I forgot about you. You did come first so-" "But aren't reasons for going more important?" interrupts Trixie. Twilight then goes back to Trixie. "Well I deserve as much as anypony else in this town," says a flustered Blossomforth. Twilight starts to get scared seeing her friends argue over her. "Then we'll let Twilight decide who gets to go," decides Trixie. "I agree. So who gets the extra ticket?" responds Blossomforth as she turns towards Twilight. "Yes, who? You need to decide, Twilight Sparkle," says Trixie demanding towards Twilight. Twilight starts to get nervous from the demanding pressure of her friends. "I-I-I-I......," weakly says Twilight. "YES?!", Blossomforth and Trixie both says enviously. Twilight didn't know who to choose at this point. Calm and Loyal Blossomforth? Joyous and Boastful Trixie? Or her own assistant Spike? One way or the other, one of her friends won't go to the Gala. Twilight then tries makes her decision, hopefully not to upset the other.