At breakfast the next morning, the couples except Twilight and Flash were chatting and eating away, but when the missing couple walked through the doors, all heads turned towards them.
"Good morning!" Twilight cheerfully said as Flash pulled out a seat for her and she sat down.
"Uh, mornin'…?" said Applejack.
"Where were you guys last night?" questioned Rainbow.
They started blushing as Twilight stammered, "Oh, we were… um…" She quickly asked her husband, "Flash, can you pass me the pancakes?"
"Right away, sweetie!" he grabbed a stack full with maple syrup.
"Thank you, dear." she gave a cheesy grin as the others gave her exasperated looks.
"You know, you could have said, 'none of your business…' Yeesh." Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"So we're to assume then your relationship is all repaired now?" Discord gestured.
Flash pointed out, "It was repaired long before."
Twilight wrapped her hoof around his arm, "But we couldn't be happier…"
The pair smiled at each other lovingly.
Celestia and Sombra walked in then, and the family bowed their heads in respect. Once they had sat down in their seats, Celestia spoke.
"Good news, my darlings. The Ancient Book of Secrets has been safely locked away in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing."
"And we have extra guards posted there to make sure it stays that way." said Sombra.
"And as for how Shining Armor will prove to the world his vow of everlasting love, Cadence and Luna figured out the answer."
"They did?!" Twilight's eyes gleamed.
"Yes, I agree with them that the Grand Galloping Gala is the perfect place to make a vow of everlasting love…"
"The… Grand Galloping Gala?" Rarity said until she squealed. "How wonderful and so romantic!"
"Sure, for the girl, but for the poor guy who has to speak up in front of an entire audience…?" shudder Spike.
"But we'll help him." said Twilight. "We'll prepare him for when he has to speak."
"And when you say, 'we', you actually mean 'you', don't you?" questioned Flash.
She shrugged, "More or less."
In his quarters, Shining was at his desk, making notes on what he would say in his vow of everlasting love. He was up half the night trying to figure it all out. Magically writing with a quill, he said, "Cadence, how fair is thee…" he grunted as he crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash with the other crumpled papers. He began to write again, saying, "What light from yonder window breaks? It is the east and Cadence is the sun…" he groaned and crumpled-up the parchment.
"This is getting me nowhere!" he slumped his head down.
A knock came at his door and Twilight came in.
"Hey." she greeted, "Just wanted to know if you wanted to change back into a Breezie today?"
"Thanks, but Cadence is with her mother and I'm trying to write out what a vow of everlasting love should say."
"That reminds me, we know how you can prove to it the world."
"Really? How?"
"By presenting your vow at the Grand Galloping Gala."
He stiffened and finally stammered out, "The… Grand…Galloping… Gala?"
"I know… it's a bit much, but it's the only way we can think of…"
He shook out of it, "Well, if you think it's the only way…"
"It is. So, how are you coming on the vow?"
He pointed to the garbage bin, "See for yourself."
She magically lifted the bin and looked over the crumpled papers. With each one she read, she winced.
"That bad, huh?"
"No! They're… uh… a start!" she wore a cheesy grin.
"Face it, Twilight! I'll never be able to prove to the world how much I love Cadence mainly because I don't know how to say it!"
"That's not true! From what Cadence told me, you were able to express your feelings beautifully!"
"Yeah… when no one's around and it's just me and her! But to admit your love to the entire world… it's intimidating!"
Twi gave a sympathetic look, "You're right… It's going to be difficult to practically shout out to the world your love for Cadence, but you still love her enough to be willing to go through it, don't you?"
"I do… but I really need help on what to say."
"And I'm just the princess who can do that!" she got out a notepad and quill. "Now I want you to give me a list of what you find about Cadence that's so attractive and why you fell in love with her."
"Oh, wow…" he rubbed his neck. "Where to start…? She's got those eyes, wow… And her smile…" he sighed lovingly.
"Okay, focus, lover boy," she started scribbling down. "Eyes… Smile… What else?"
"Her mane. I always did like how soft and silky it was…"
"Mane, check. Anything else?"
"Well, her laugh. I love hearing her laugh and how happy she looks when she does."
"Excellent. Now why did you fall in love with her?"
He was quick to answer, "For her kind nature. How she helps others out and cares for those other than herself."
"Good. Very good." Twilight beamed.
"What? You thought I fell in love with her just because of her beauty?"
She giggled, "No, but you can't deny that Cadence is quite gorgeous."
"She is at that…" he sighed. "But Twi, I couldn't love anyone on looks alone anymore than you could."
"You're right. While I found Flash to be very handsome, I didn't start loving him until I got to know more about him and he got to know me for who I was."
He asked, "When's the Gala?"
"Not for a couple of more weeks. That should give us enough time to figure out your vow of everlasting love."
"Will you be going back to your castle in the Everfree Forest soon?"
"For a little bit, just to check up on the kids and then we'll be coming back to help our parents prepare for the Gala. The Grand Galloping Gala is particularly a special time for our family, since it's how our parents fell in love."
"If I recall correctly, the last time I saw you, you were still too young to attend the Gala."
"My sisters and I started attending the Gala when you left, and it was because Mother felt lonely and sad since she always had fond memories of Father and her having fun at the Gala. But after he got the curse, the Gala became drab and boring for her, but when Father came back, it was lively again."
"Is that why you were there? To liven things up for her?"
"Pretty much. At my first Gala, Mother had me by her side while she was greeting guests. I never saw her so happy… Well," she set her notebook in front of him, "I have to go pack for the train ride home. Just look at that list and I'm sure something will pop into your head."
"Thanks, Twilight. You're the best…" he smiled.
"It's nothing. Anything for Cadence."
He nodded.
"We'll be back before you know it."
"I'll be waiting, and hopefully I'll have something ready by the time you get back."
"I'll be looking forward to it." She took her leave.
Shining stared at the list Twilight wrote about the things he said about Cadence. He thought, There's got to be something here I can use to make a vow of everlasting love…
When they had made it back to the Everfree castle, the kids were disappointed they couldn't attend the Gala.
"Awww! Why can't I go?!" Cotton Candy whined at her parents' hooves in their apartment.
"Because, sweetheart…" Cheese lifted her up to have her face him at eye level, "you're still too little and this is a grown-up party."
"But I love parties, and I can be grown-up!"
Pinkie said, "We know you're a big girl, but others may not see it that way."
"Plus, the Gala will go past your bedtime. You'll be too tired to party all night."
Cotton pouted, "But I really wanted to go…"
"I know, sweetie…" Pinkie wrapped her hoof around her daughter, "but when you're old enough, we promise you can attend with us."
Cotton eyed them and started making the pinkie-promise, "Pinkie-promise?"
Her parents smiled and both did the gesture, "Pinkie-promise."
That caused the family to laugh and form a family sandwich.
The kids gathered in the garden later and were going over the fact they couldn't go with their families to the Gala. Cheerilee was nearby watching them while watching the three babies.
Whirl Wind said, "This stinks! My Dad is going to perform with the rest of the Wonderbolts and I won't be there to cheer him on!"
Dignity nodded, "And I wanted to be with my parents to see how posh the Gala was."
Fire Spark stated, "While I could care less about the dance, I wanted to sneak away to the library to finish those books I found the last time we were at Grandmama and Grandpapa's palace."
Cotton's eyes suddenly lit up, "Hey… I got an idea! Why don't we have our own Grand Galloping Gala?!"
"Huh?!" they all said.
"Come on, it'll be fun! Whirl Wind can pretend he's a Wonderbolt, Dignity can talk about fancy stuff, Fire can go to the library, and me and the babies can provide the music and partay!" she wore a wide grin, hoping that her cousins would agree with her plan.
"You know…" Whirl thought out loud. "That… is… awesome! I like it!"
"Me, too!" said Dignity.
"Me, three!" Fire beamed.
Apple Jewel, Screw Ball, and Gemstone were clapping and giggling as if agreeing as well.
"Hey! If the babies think it's a great idea, then it must be!" Cotton bounced for joy.
"It's settled, then. While our parents go to the Gala, we'll be here having the best night ever!" Fire motioned.
"Yeah!" the others cheered and did high-hooves.
Once the parents left the Everfree Kingdom again and back to Canterlot a week later, Gala preparations were underway.
Twilight looked around the ballroom and she knew everything had to be perfect for this important night. Not only was it the biggest event in Canterlot-not to mention Equestria-but because Shining Armor would have to present his vow of everlasting love to Cadence so that her spell would finally be broken.
"It has to have the right atmosphere…" she told her sisters.
"Absolutely!" pointed Rarity. "It must be romantic enough for Shining Armor to declare his true love! We should put hearts all over and the colors should be red and pink!" she squealed.
"More like blech!" Rainbow proclaimed, "We're trying to make this event cool, not mushy!"
"Dash is right. That kind of stuff is better for Hearts and Hooves Day, not the Gala!" Applejack said.
"Humph! Well, this is going to be no ordinary Grand Galloping Gala! We are helping our cousin's true love make a vow of everlasting love so that he can set her free! That poor boy has to make a speech in front of an entire crowd! The least we can do to help is to give off a sweet and romantic mood!"
"Ooh! I know how we can do that!" Pinkie pipe up and started moving at super speed. The next thing they knew, the ballroom was decorated to look like a lagoon, "Ta-da!"
"Uh…" her sisters were a loss for words.
"Very… interesting, Pinkie… but somehow, I don't think our guests are going to appreciate a tank of water in the middle of the room…" Twilight gently pointed out.
"No, they wouldn't…" chuckled a deep voice.
They turned to see their father walking in. They each greeted him.
Then, Rarity said, "Father, could you please tell my dear sisters," pointing to RD and AJ, "that we need a romantic setting for this year's Grand Galloping Gala?!"
"And Pop, could you tell our prissy sister here that having hearts with the colors red and pink are too frilly for a Gala?!"
The two started to quarrel until a gold aura came between them.
Sombra spoke, "Do we need to settle things like back when you were little fillies?"
The sisters gulped and shook their heads.
"All right, here's what I think: what Rarity says make sense…"
Rarity lifted her head high up with a smug look.
"…but what Rainbow says also makes sense."
Rarity grimaced while Rainbow gave her a 'told-you-so' look.
"Then… who's right?" Applejack questioned.
"Both of them are."
"Huh?!" his daughters gave him confused glances.
"Let me explain: Rarity is correct that this year's Gala needs to show affection, but how it should be set up is not right."
"Then how should it be set up?" Twilight asks.
"Oh, I have a few ideas…"
Moments later, floating candles were above them and roses were decorated on the walls with white ribbons. The dance floor was sparkling clean and so was the stage. Everything looked perfect, just like Twilight wanted. She sighed in relief and thought, Now it all comes down to you, Shining Armor…