Ponyville Gala

by Lunarus Solaris Nexus

Room and Board

The whole way, Astral and Gale rattled off questions about the castle: Why it was so shiny. What it was made of. Etcetera. All Twilight could offer as an answer was she didn't quite know. That didn't stop them from asking more and more. Their parents tried to get them to stop but it only silenced them for a few moments before they started asking again. Eventually she just explained it as magic and kept using it as her excuse.

Once they reached the castle, the doors opened with their guards on the other side. Two other servants came out and helped the ones that had the bags. Twilight thanked them along with the guards as they started through the main foyer. The children looked in gawked at the high ceilings and glowing crystals that lit the halls along with the most of the ponies as the guards shut the doors. The Colonels and Princesses had been there before but the others were beyond impressed.

"Twilight!" a delicately posh voice called from the doorway to the second foyer.

A paper white unicorn with her royal purple mane and tail curled elegantly started trotting towards them. In her telekinetic grasp, she held a clip board, several paint swatches and fabric patches. She titled her red glass back onto her nose as she came to stop and gave Twilight a friendly hug.

"It's good to have you back darling." she said pulling back.

"The feeling's mutual, I see you've been busy." Twilight replied as a young stallion struggled to bring down spare rolls of carpet, curtains and paint cans on his back.

"Well when I heard there'd be more VIP's this year I couldn't let them stay in anything less than the most fabulous décor." She peered over Twilight's shoulder and noticed the Princesses and the rest of them. "And your timing is perfect. The paint's finished drying and the maids should be finished helping the crew clean up. Now would you mind introducing me to the new comers?"

"Oh! Rarity, this is Senator Lunar Nexus, his wife Dust Strom and their son Astral Wind." Nexus extended a hoof and shook with Rarity. Astral gave her a hug and Dust picked him up before shaking hoofs with her as well.

"He certainly is a friendly one is he not?" Rarity asked levitating a lollipop from her hammer space before giving it to Astral.

"And this is Ephilates, his wife Hestaria and their little daughter Night n' Gale." Ephilates and Hestaria shook Rarity's hoof and Gale did so sheepishly as Rarity pulled another lollipop.

"They're simply adorable." Rarity said with a smile.

"Now that we have that out of the way Rarity," Princess Celestia said butting in. "My sister and I would like to settle into our rooms."

"Oh of cores Princess!" Rarity said flipping her mane our of her eyes.

The children remained on their mother's backs eagerly eating their sweets as Rarity lead towards the stairs.

"I imagine your butlers are going to have one heck of a time getting all this luggage up the stairs." Nexus said as he was about to take his own bag from them.

"Actually, we just had an elevator installed. Should make the job easier." Twilight corrected as they walked pasted the main stairs where two large sliding doors waited.

They opened automatically and everyone stepped in. The recently installed elevator was fairly large. Even with all of them in the blue marble elevator there was still plenty of room for a few more ponies if they weren't carrying luggage.

"I’ll take these up for you!" Rarity said using her horn to bring in the carts that held everyone's dress cloths on it. "I'm just dying to see what you're all going to be wearing for the Gala this year." The doors shut and Rarity opened the clothing bag to gawk over the dresses in the Princesses' bag. "Oh Princess Luna it's absolutely stunning!" she said looking at a thin, but thick enough to not show anything, dark blue and purple dress with similar white fabric around the chest.

"Thank you. It was what I wore at the Grand Galloping Gala. The year the changelings attacked us again." Luna replied not sure whether to think of it as a happy or tragic day.

"Oh… And yours Princess Celestia!" she was equally as awe struck by Celestia's dress.

Much like Luna's Celestia's was made of the same thin marital but in orange and fading down to clear near the bottom. Instead of interwoven cloths was instead one flowing piece held in form by the golden, leaf shaped, collar with her cutie mark on the front. Several small, three pearl, pearl strings hung from the collar in several places. But the focus of the dress were the two large, fire orange feathers that stuck out from the right side of the collar.

"This is amazing! Why didn't I ever think to use phoenix feathers?" Rarity gawked.

"I'm glad you like it. Philomena would be more than happy to lend a few for you to make something." Celestia replied with a smile.

"Lunarus, perhaps Raven Wing wouldn't mind my borrowing of one of his for mine?" Luna asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

Nexus sighed with a smile and agreed as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"Ah, follow me everypony. You will simply not believe what I have to show you today." Rarity proclaimed trotting out dragging the clothing wrack with her.

The group followed Rarity happily trotting down the hallway humming happily. She levitated clothing wrack as they s came to a short flight of stairs with two doors a fair distance apart on both sides of the hall.

"I couldn't quite make it as you described it, but I know you'll love it." Rarity said before she happily opened the first door on the left and stepped aside for them to waltz in.

Celestia went first, seeing as it was her usual room. The eldest of the group, Celestia, Luna and Nexus, could recognize almost instantly. Nexus for having trodden through his ancient ancestor who'd lived in Celestia and Luna's old castle. The walls were light orange along with the ceiling and the thick lush carpet being a very light gray with a king sized, four posted bed with the dark red silk cretins tied back. On the ceiling was a painting of Celestia's cutie mark that stretched most of the room. Opposite the door, a set of double doors lead to the balcony facing east.

"I couldn't get you the domed ceiling you had when you were back in the Everfree Castle, but I was able to make a copy of the tapestry that was hanging in your old room." Rarity said proudly waving a hoof over the large square piece of cloth depicting a red mined alicorn with a white coat laying next to two little fillies; one being as white as she was with a pink mane and the other, dark blue with a light blue mane.

"It's fine Rarity. Thank you." Celestia said genuinely.

"Not a trouble at all Princess." Rarity said bowing to her. Celestia bowed back and Rarity was upright in a millisecond with a look that could only be described as exactly what she was about to say. "You are going to love what I'd done with your room Princess Luna! I guarantee it!"

"I am sure I will." Luna replied with a light giggle.

Luna's was just as Nexus expected it. The walls were painted midnight blue and the floor is carpeted in in thick, light blue carpet. The ceiling was painted with a starry sky with ribbons of auroras tied both ends of the room and changed color every few minutes. Near the door, a vanity mirror stood next to a medium sized closet. A window that reached half way up the wall overlooked Ponyville on the opposite side of the wall and two bookshelves carved into the walls were on either side of the window.

In the center, a large circular bed, much like the one back in Canterlot and Everfree, with a circular rail holding up black silk curtains over the plush mattress. Luna spun around in awe before noticing the same tapestry that was in her sister's room hanging next to her door.

"I hope you don't mind Princess. I thought you'd like one as well." Rarity said earnestly.

"I appreciate this gesture Rarity. I thank you." She said bowing in respect. "Would it be okay if I took this back to Canterlot with us?"

"Of cores Princess! I wouldn't mind at all."

"Thank you. But uh, should you not give Tia her dress?" Luna said pointing to the still full clothing cart behind her.

Rarity blushed lightly and chuckled before excusing herself to take Celestia's dress back to her.

"I'll show you guys to your rooms while she's fixing this little issue. She's got a tendency to be a tad overly dramatic." Twilight said as the parents, with their little ones on the mare's backs left the room and started down the hall with Twilight leading this time.

After the Princesses' rooms, the rise in the hall dropped back down and the rooms were once again back in equal increments. Her horn glowed a light purple and the two doors on the left, and one on the right, nearest to the Princesses' opened up.

"Senator, this is your room," She said pointing to the closest room. "and Captains, that is your room there." She said pointing to the one furthest. "They're not as luxurious as the Princesses' but they're still very nice."

Nexus and Dust walked into their room and were astonished by what they were seeing. A large sitting area with a small, black marble fireplace set in front of a large sofa that matched the thick red carpet. Astral hopped off his mother's back and ran to the door opposite the fireplace as they walked in. The balcony doors, rather than clear glass, were light blue misted glass letting in enough light to keep the room lit in the day allowing the fireplace to keep the room lit at night if it was needed.

"Wow!" Astral called form the room he ran into.

Nexus and Dust followed the quick to follow sound of bedsprings screeching over and over again. The bedroom was around as wide as the sitting room but not nearly as long. The king sized bed was post-less but the light blue sheets matched the coloring on the walls. The carpet had changed as well; from velvet red to cobalt blue. On the bed, Astral jumped up and down as though it was a trampoline.

Nexus lit his horn and levitated his little colt from the bed as he rose up. "This isn't your room son. You're sleeping on the couch unfortunately."

"Aw…." Astral replied as Nexus set him down.

"Actually!" Rarity sang as she trotted in. "Twilight took the liberty of giving a room for the children to share on their own."

"Really!?" Both Astral and Gale shouted happily, Gale and her parents walking in behind Nexus.

"That's right everypony. Come on." Twilight said leading the kids out the room.

Astral and Gale followed closely behind while the parents kept up. The kids' room was right across from their creators' and looked identical, besides the balcony. The bedroom was similar to the others but had two queen sized beds rather than one King. The one on the right had a basket of candy near the head of the bed. The left was similar but instead had a few limited edition comic books, action figures and a similar amount of candy.

The children's eyes lit up as they pounced on their gift baskets. Gale started rummaging through the basket getting a good look at all the dolls while Astral gawked at the comics he'd be reading for the next two weeks.

"I thought you two would like it." Twilight giggled with joy seeing the result of her little presents.

"Don't eat all that at once now." Nexus told Astral before he could even open the first sweet treat.

"That goes for you too Gale." Hestaria told her daughter who was too distracted by her new toys.

Everyone jumped when they heard Rarity let out a powerful gasp of disgust. "What in the name of Celestia is this!?"

Everyone turned around and found her staring at an open bag on the clothing wrack, now missing two bags. "What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Mr. Nexus, this cannot be what you're wearing to the Gala this week!" Rarity said showing Nexus the bag with his dress uniform in it.

"It is. What's wrong with it?"

"It's just so… stiff and uninteresting."

"So's Nexus." Ephialtes joked.

"Somepony with your position shouldn't be caught dead wearing something so drab and same-y."

"It's a uniform. It's what it's supposed to be."

"Well I simply will not allow you accompany somepony with such a dazzling dress," Showing Nexus Dust's favorite, black sequence dress. "in something this… boring. You, Lunarus Nexus, need to wear something interesting. Somepony as interesting as yourself should want to stand out."

"Lunar doesn't like being the center of attention." Dust in formed.

"Why would anypony want to go unnoticed at one of of the biggest celebrations of the year?! Everypony's eyes watching you make your grand entrance," She said starting to get carried away. "Their eyes absolutely entranced by the very movement of your hoofs." She stopped before she burst into an aria and looked to everyone staring at her. "He he… Sorry."

"Twilight said you could be a tad overzealous." Hestaria added.

"Well… Ah-hem. I would love to make you a suit for the Gala if you wouldn't mind."

"Please do." Dust said. "I'm tired of that old thing."

"Hey." Nexus said a tad insulted. "I don't need a new suit."

"Oh come now darling. Everyone needs to get a new look once in a while."

The children took the opportunity of the distraction to start eating their candy. "Just let her make a suit for you Lunar."

"If you ask me you'd look rather fetching in a tuxedo." Rarity said looking him over, trying to picture all the kinds of suits he could be put in.

"Um… Thanks?" Nexus replied confused.

"Oh no no no no!" Nexus now looked a tad more insulted. "I mean you would look fetching but I wouldn't dream of trying to… Eh he he he… I'm going to shut up now."

"Good idea." Dust said putting her left foreleg round Nexus' left.

"Of coerce. So I'll have you at the Caracal Boutique around say three?"

Dust nudged him Nexus slightly and he let out a sigh of annoyance. I'll be there. But I need to go see Fluttershy first."

"Is that your phoenix she's caring for?" Rarity asked.

"It is. Uh, you mind pointing the way for me? Dust's going to take the kids to see the children's corner of the town."

"Twilight will have to sadly. I've got a few more things that need my immediate attention here in the castle. But when you're done at the children's corner, Pinkie Pie will point you in my direction for a fitting."

"I'll be sure to remember for him." Dust said.

"Right! I'll be off. Have it was wonderful to meet all of you. Especially you two." she said pointing to the foals now having to hide that they were eating the candy; very poorly mind.

"Okay everypony," Twilight said tapping her hoof. "We've got a lot to see and Pinkie Pie's going to be thrilled to meet you two."

Rarity was the first out to take the dress cloths to their respective rooms after dropping off the children's on their beds and Twilight lead the rest to them back to the elevator to start the tour of the town.

Author's Note:

SEE! I DIDN'T WRITE RARITY AS SOME BITCH!
Now people can wonder why I didn't do that because of my voiced dislike of her.

Comments

[Thunderblast]

"Oh coerce. So I'll have you at the Caracal Boutique around say three?"

Carousel

Good chapter.