Order In Equestria

by Bowenross

The Gala and Other Shenanigans

Celestia answered my question, "You've been gone for ten minutes."

I face palmed. "Well bollocks! I really hate when time and or dimensional travel does this kind of stuff. And so you know, before I forget to tell you, Sunset will do just fine. When the time comes, only Twilight can enter the mirror because the others would upset the balance of the other world. I'll see you two at the Gala in about three months. I'm gonna check something and then I'm going to sleep until the Gala." I got up off the floor and went to the throne room doors. I looked at the two guards that were posted there and said, "You two can go back in now. And I meant what I said about not telling anypony about this. Not even Shining Armor can know about this." The two guards saluted and walked back into the room.

I transformed into my alicorn form and made my way to the front doors of the castle, passing only a few servants on my way out. When I got outside, I blinked over to the clearing in the forest where my clock and bed were. I picked up my clock, but I noticed something stuck to the bottom of it. I turned it over and saw that there was licorice on the bottom. The licorice spelled out, "I fixed your clock for you, and it was off by about 49,956,000 years according to my rule. The only master of chaos, Discord."

There was a slight twitch of my eye. Of course it had been Discord that had messed up my clock. Now I had no idea exactly how long I had been on this planet because my clock had been tampered with. I destroyed the stuff in the clearing and walked back to my house because it was nearby, so I didn't have to blink. I don't know why I call it blinking when it's really just teleporting; I just find it more original. I only wanted to sleep to pass the time and I had decided that I would find out later where the doors led to.

I changed form as I entered through my front door. I didn't have to worry about ponies seeing my true form because they barely came out this far on a whim. When I got to my room, I just flopped down on to the bed. I didn't even bother with taking off my shoes or clothes; I didn't care if the tuxedo got wrinkled because I would probably never use it again. I probably wouldn't need to set up an alarm because Pinkie or Luna would most likely come to get me if I was late. I closed my eyes and willed myself to fall asleep.

I was rudely awakened by Pinkie because she was bouncing up and down on my bed. I was really hoping that it would have been Luna who would come and wake me up. "It's time to get up. The Gala is in just a few hours and Rarity said she still needs you to make sure your tuxedo fits you correctly and it's to your liking. She said it was really urgent that you get there NOW. This bed is also really fun to bounce on." She gasped and floated for about three second before she landed again. "Can you make me one of these beds!?"

"First of all, stop bouncing on me. I get the picture that I need to get up. Second, I get the feeling that many ponies would not like to be awakened this way. But sure I'll make one of these beds for you, but after the Gala." I got up and changed forms, heading for the front door while I was fixing my bed mane and preening my feathers. When I got outside, I just blinked over to Carousel Boutique. I didn't really bother with using my wings that much anymore.

Rarity screamed, dropping spools of thread and rolls of fabric that she was carrying with her magic, when I appeared right in front of her. She glared at me and I just smiled apologetically. "Darling, it would be nice if you used the front door like everypony else."

"I got the message from Pinkie that it was urgent that I get here as soon as possible. And I figured that I would skip past the time needed to wait at the door for you to get to it and open it."

"I'll forgive you this time because it is urgent. Enough with the dilly-dallying, you need to get your tuxedo on now. The others will be here in about an hour to get their dresses fixed if they need them to be fixed, so we need to work on your tuxedo before they arrive." She pushed a cover over to me with her magic. She draped the tuxedo over the cover after she had moved it over to me.

The tuxedo actually looked better than I had imagined it. It was a golden brown color, with lapis colored stitching that created patterns over the tuxedo. It also had a lapis colored bow-tie, which had a tiger's eye gem at the center. It fit like a glove, meaning it wasn't too loose but it also wasn't too tight. I stepped out from behind the cover and did a small spin. "It's perfect! I didn't even think it would be anything like this, because I was thinking about a simple tuxedo. I don't need anything changed because it fits perfectly."

"That is nice to hear darling. I have to get ready for the others, so just sit over there and wait." She pointed to a small couch that was sitting against the wall. I sat down and quickly fell asleep. When I woke up, the others were already in their dresses. I came to the realization that I fell asleep too easily, but that was probably an instinct to save time for me.

I got up and stretched my legs and wings. I walked over to the girls and gave them all a smile. "You girls look gorgeous. Rarity, you did a terrific job on these dresses." They all blushed, even Rainbow Dash blushed and she tried to hide it. Spike waddled into view, wearing his own custom made tuxedo. "Even Spike's tuxedo looks great. You outdid yourself on these clothes, Rarity."

"Well, thank you for your flattery dear. We should leave now so we can arrive on time. We wouldn't want to be late for our very first Gala!" We left Carousel Boutique and the girls entered the carriage. Spike climbed up onto the drives bench, and I relieved the stallions of their places pulling the cart and latched myself on.

"Spike, don't even think about touching those reigns." I turned my head around and gave him a glare. He gave a small chuckle and looked side to side nervously as he shook his head.

"I wasn't even thinking about it." He slowly put the reigns down instead of giving them a flick.

I started to pull the carriage towards Canterlot. It was quiet between Spike and I, but the girls sounded like they were having fun inside the carriage. As we passed into Canterlot, we got many strange looks. Spike leaned forward and whispered into my ear, "I don't think they understand why an alicorn is pulling a carriage instead of sitting in it."

"Well, they can learn to get over preconceived notions of royalty and get over it. I enjoy acting like myself and not like royalty. That and I honestly don't care what they think. We pulled up to the castle and the girls got out. "I'm gonna disappear for a while, I feel that this musical number in going to be more exciting when I play the music."

"What in the name of your beard are you talking about?"

"Oh, you'll see. And besides, it isn't really a beard; it's more of a goatee. I'll be in the ballroom for about an hour, but after that I'm going to Donut Joe's." I un-latched myself from the carriage and found a place when nopony could see me. I switched forms, still wearing my tuxedo which transformed with me. I now wore a human version of the tuxedo Rarity made for me. I pulled my guitar out of its pocket of hammerspace, and I made a mental note to look for the room in my house that it came from. Before the song started, I blinked to the tallest tower of the castle. I didn't need amps in this dimension because the music was already amplified. (At The Gala Rock! By Claire Anne Carr) I easily made the song twenty percent cooler.

When the song was finished, I returned the guitar and transformed into my other form. I flew into an open window of the ballroom, doing a knife turn to fit through because the window was not wide enough for my wingspan if I wanted to go in horizontally. The few Wonderbolts that were in there and some other ponies applauded my performance as I landed on an open spot on the floor. One of the pompous, upper-class ponies turned their nose up and huffed at my actions. "How uncouth for royalty."

"You'll understand that I don't act like royalty because it is extremely boring. I like to be exciting and unpredictable, so excuse me if I'm 'uncouth' as you say it." I turned towards Soarin', who was standing right next to me. "So how much does it cost to get into your guys shows?"

"For royalty, it's free. And have you tried these pies? They're amazing!" He stuffed a slice of pie into his mouth and started chewing with his mouth open, relishing in the flavor.

"I can't say I've had this exact batch, but I have had Applejack's pies before. And I understand that Rainbow Dash saved this one from hitting the floor." I snatched a slice while he chewed.

He swallowed the food that was in his mouth and grabbed the slice from me. "Yeah, Rainbow Dash is a pretty cool mare. She has some potential to become a Wonderbolt. It doesn't help her case if she just continues fanfillying around us.

"I do believe I warned her about doing exactly that. Oh well, I'll talk to you later I guess. I should probably converse with some of the other guests." I gave him a hoof bump and walked around for the rest of the time I was going to be there. I talked to Octavia when she had a break, and it really seemed that she was enjoying herself. Right after I had talked to Octavia, I had bumped into Vinyl. She definitely wasn't enjoying this event. "Don't worry Vinyl; this will get much better once Pinkie gets involved."

She gave me a skeptical look. "If you say so…" She walked off to talk to Octavia, who was still on break for a few more minutes.

"When I turned around, I almost bumped into somepony again. I was surprised when I looked down and saw Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lee. "I am terribly sorry for almost running into you. I find it somewhat hard to see directly in front of me unless I look at the ground." I realized that I had also grown taller than I was previously, no clue how that happened.

"Oh, it's fine old chap." My eye twitched. "I do say who made your fine ensemble?"

"The one who made it is a good friend of mine. She is trying to become a well-known name in fashion in Equestria. Have you heard of a mare named Rarity?" I could possibly help Rarity become known to Fancy Pants before she met him in a few months.

"You mean that mare that is walking around with Blueblood tonight?" I nodded my head. "I have heard that she makes exquisite dresses, but I heard nothing of clothing for stallions. I will try to remember her name. And I'll let it be known to you that you are welcome over to my home whenever you are in Canterlot." He leaned towards me and motioned for me to come closer. I bent my head down towards him and he whispered, "I have the urge to speak with somepony that is sophisticated, but not vain and suck up. I heard what you said when you came in and you match that roll perfectly."

"I know exactly what you're talking about." I straightened to my full height. "I'll see what I can do. And please, if you see Rarity, don't act like you have spoken to me about her. Just make it seem as if you haven't even heard of what she does." He bowed and walked off, Fleur following right behind. Pinkie had walked over to the musicians, so I took that as my cue to leave. As I walked out of the ballroom, I passed Blueblood and Rarity who were making their way to the ballroom. I gave Rarity a wink and kept walking towards the entrance to the castle.

I entered the main hall and slightly bumped into Celestia as I passed her. "This is about to become the best Gala ever, Tia. The group and I will be at Donut Joe's, and I'm sure the others wouldn't mind if you and Lulu came as well after things have settled down." As I made my way out, everypony that was still in line bowed to me as I passed them. I would ask Celestia if she could get everypony to treat me like one of them instead of treating me like royalty. Make a royal decree or something. Heh, the irony behind that thought.

When I got out of the castle gate, I discreetly made my way through the backstreets and alleyways towards the donut shop. I didn't meet with or run into any pony on the way there, my tactic of using the back ways working perfectly. The reasons why I didn't just blink into the shop were that I didn't want to startle the occupants, and there was a chance that I could accidentally blink into a table. I did not want to be fused with a table because of a simple mistake, even if it was for a short amount of time.

I walked into the shop when Spike was halfway done with another donut, his fifth by the looks of it. I walked up to the counter and slapped down ten bits on the top. "Yo, Donut Joe. I'd like a chocolate donut, with extra sprinkles."

"Sure, comin right up yer majesty." He grabbed a donut and practically poured the entire bag of sprinkles onto the donut. He hoofed it to me and took five bits off the counter.

"Thanks Joe and you don't have to treat me like royalty. As in you don't have to call me majesty. And keep the change, I certainly don't need it." I grabbed the donut with my magic and walked over to the table Spike was sitting at. "So Spike, how's your night been?"

"Eh, it's been pretty boring so far. I just left the park, like twenty minutes ago, and then I came here to eat some donuts." He ate the rest of his donut and asked Joe for another one, with more sprinkles than the last.

"Well, we won't have to wait long for the girls to get here. The last I saw before I left, things were about to get hectic at the castle." We sat there for a few minutes, eating our donuts as we waited for the girls to arrive. Spike finished his before I did mine, and he ordered another donut with still more sprinkles than the last one. If I didn't know better, I would have said that sprinkles acted on him like alcohol would on a man. The door opened as the girls walked in, chattering and trying to fix their dresses so they didn't look as bad.

"That was absolute mayhem, everything was a total disaster," exclaimed Twilight as she flopped her head down onto the table.

Celestia and Luna walked in right after the rest of the girls had sat down, but I was the only one who had noticed their presence until Celestia said, "That was the best Grand Galloping Gala we've had yet!"

"But it was a disaster,' Twilight said as she looked up at her mentor. "How could it have been the best one you've had?"

The royal sisters walked over to the table, Luna spoke next. "We have been hosts to the most snobbish we wished to have never encountered!" All of what she said was spoken using the Royal Canterlot Voice, and it echoed around the shop, making the glass vibrate.

"Whoa, Lulu, tone down the volume a bit. You aren't speaking to your subjects in a wide open area. You're talking to your friends in a small shop." I turned my attention towards the girls gathered at the table. "So, girls, do you realize that everything does not go always as planned and that you could have had a better time if you hung out with each other instead of going on your own ventures?" I glanced around the table, reading each of their faces as they looked at each other and thought of their answer.

They all stated in unison, "Of course!" They laughed and gathered in for a group hug, pulling Spike, Celestia, Luna, and I. We stayed in the donut shop for a few more hours, talking about past experiences and the events of the night. I skimmed over my past, leaving out the details that I didn't want to tell them yet.

When we finally left, it was past midnight. The girls, Spike and I took the train back to Ponyville, sleeping on the way back. When we had arrived at the train station, the girls said bye and started to head for their homes. I grabbed Pinkie towards me before she got too far and then I put a party hat on her head and a party favor in her mouth.

"You and I never really got to have the party we wanted. How bout we rock Ponyville to the break of dawn!?" I pulled her towards my body with my left front leg and waved my right leg in an ark. "Think about how awesome it would be.

She gasped and leaped out of my grasp, showering me with confetti. 'I'll get the balloons and snacks. You get the music and the games. Meet back in town square in ten minutes. Go!" With that, she sped off towards Sugarcube Corner. As she went, she knocked on every house door to tell everypony that there was going to be a party.

I rushed off towards Vinyl and Octavia's house to see if they were home. I came up to their door and pounded on it. "Yo, DJ and Tavi, you girls home? We're about to have a party and we need music!" The second floor window opened and Vinyl stuck her head out the window and looked down at me.

She shouted down to me, "Give me like five minutes and I'll be in town square with my booth set up. The Octaviapus is still sleeping, so she won't be there!" She slammed the window shut and moved away from it. I could hear crashing from inside her house as she moved her booth out of the room. I decided that I wouldn't just wait around for her to get out, so I started to make my way to my house to get some games. I would also check in the town hall to see if they had anything stored there because I didn't really have games that would be good for a large group of party goers.

When I got to my house I grabbed only a few of the games that I had. Two of them were Twister and the large sized Jenga where the blocks are as big a normal pony, it would be interesting to see a pony trying to play Twister. I put everything in a storage box and slipped that into a pocket of hammerspace. I made my way back to town square, knocking on the doors that Pinkie hadn't as she went to Sugarcube Corner. I made it back a few minutes late and Pinkie was waiting there for me, impatiently tapping her hoof against the floor of the hall.

Vinyl had gotten back before me as well, her booth set up and she was getting her speakers moved so that they could be most effective. I pulled out the storage box from where I put it and got the games set up, putting Twister near the center of everything. Pinkie hopped over to where I was standing and placed a party hat on my head, she was still wearing the one I had put on her head. "What' with the plastic mat? Is it some type of color game? I love color games! What are you supposed to do?"

"It's called Twister," I explained as I showed her the spinner, "Somepony spins this and whatever color it lands on is the color that you have to place the specified hoof upon." I looked down at the spinner and I almost freaked out. It still said left and right hand on it, so I quickly changed it to say front or back and left or right hoof. Pinkie looked at me strangely because I had probably looked scared when I almost freaked out.

"What's wrong? If something's wrong, we need to fix it now! Ponies are already coming!"

"Nah, I just fixed it." I whispered in her ear, "It still said hands, and I fixed it to say hoofs. It would seem strange if a pony was spinning it and said left hand green, because nopony has hands."

"Oh, I get why you looked scared then. You didn't want your secret to get out. So who's going to be doing the spinning of the arrow?"

"I don't know who'll spin the arrow. It all depends on who will volunteer to do it instead of play, unless they're a unicorn. Then they can play and spin it with their magic."

"Okie dokie lokie." With that she bounced off and greeted the first ponies that got over to the party.

There was a bar set up for apple cider and milk and such just across from town hall, so I decided to get something from over there while I waited for the party to really get started. I walked up to it and looked for the bartender, who didn't seem to be there. Just as I was about to give up, Pinkie popped up from behind the bar. She was cleaning a mug with a cloth.

"What can I get for you sir? A tall glass of cider or milk?" She set down the mug and moved over to the barrels that were set up.

I was surprised at how she appeared from behind the bar after I had checked that nopony was there but then I remembered that she was Pinkie. "Yeah, I'd like an extra-large mug of cider. Don't hold out on me as well, I want the extra strength stuff."

"If you say so sir, coming right up." She pulled out a mug that was about half the size of the barrel that held the cider. She pulled the tap and filled the mug to the brim with cider and slid it down towards me. The ponies that had arrived had gathered near me and they were chanting "chug", trying to get me to drink it all in one go. Needless to say, I did. About three-fourths of the way through, I started to feel really tipsy. When I had finished, I was totally flat out drunk. I didn't think that this world would have actual alcohol, especially if they didn't have coffee.

I raised up my empty glass to the ponies that had gathered around me to see me chug cider and yelled, "Let's *hic* get dis party started!" I ran over to the mat for Twister and started to play, others joining in as time went on. My vision started to get blurry and I blacked out, remembering nothing else that happened that night.

0~0~0~0~0

I woke up in my house, in my study, with a splitting headache. Note to self, never ask for the strong stuff of apple cider and with a large cup. I opened my eyes to discover that the room was covered with passed out ponies. I went around waking them up gently and then asking them nicely to leave. I only had to force Filthy Rich out of my house because he refused to leave. Pinkie had helped me clean up the rooms that had been trashed during the party. Luckily no one had gone down the halls with the extra doors. I didn't want to have to search all those doors.

After everything was said and done, Pinkie left and I walked up to my bedroom. I made myself remember what happened during the time I had blacked out and I got really embarrassed. I had flirted with a total of four mares, two of them being Pinkie and Applejack, and then gotten in a heated argument with a plant pot on the veranda. And I had even admitted to losing said argument with that plant pot to the ponies that were watching me. When Lyra had entered my house, she went straight to my room for some reason. I then had to explain why I had armor that was built for humans. I didn't tell her I was one, but I had to admit that humans were real.

After Lyra had run off to gloat to Bon Bon that humans were real, I had gone to my study and looked through over half the books in search of a 'fluffy tumble bun'. I don't even know what a fluffy tumble bun is! And when I had 'finally found it', I collapsed and that was the end of it. I knew that Discord would be coming soon, so I decided that I would set up some precautions while I waited for that day.

Over the next few days, I set up a barrier around my plot of land that would cancel out any magic Discord cast. Nothing that was his would be able to even enter my zone. I then sold all my extra land to Applejack for a few bits and a promise to all the apples and apple based products I could ever want. I wasn't going to use that extra land anyways and I knew that she could use the extra land for apple trees. I made a cobblestone path from my front door that led to Ponyville so that I wouldn't get lost in the orchard that would grow.

I also started to make my costume for the next Nightmare Night that was coming up. I went all out, and actually worked on it instead of just making it appear. I started by making a few ebony ingots and finding some daedra hearts. I would make daedric armor for nightmare night. I found the forge in my house after looking through about thirty doors, all of them labeled, and I got started. Physical labor is actually quite fun when you're making armor. I knew how to make it because of my ever-growing knowledge on all subjects.

I finished in about three hours of starting. I made it because it looked totally badass and I actually wanted it ever since Luna had looked into my dream and I wore it. I put and enchantment on it so that nopony and nothing else short of Celestia or Luna could pick it up, even with magic. I also put that enchantment on the other armors I had in my room. I went to sleep when I had everything finished, ready to wake up and stay out of every ponies way.