8. The Gala
“I realize a lot of you may want to go to the Grand Galloping Gala tomorrow night, but we’re going to need extra security so I’m asking for volunteers to work it. If there are enough, I won’t have to assign ponies,” Shining Armor explained to the group.
My hoof went up. Iridescence shot me a look. Other ponies were also volunteering.
The captain started counting hooves and then cleared his throat. “We’re going to need about ten more. Any other volunteers? Otherwise, I’m just going to have to pick some at random.”
At my side, Iridescence sighed and lifted her hoof. A few more ponies did the same but with less sighing.
Shining Armor counted again. “Close enough. I’ll post the rosters shortly. Thank you, everypony. Next year I’ll give preferential treatment to the volunteers when it comes to leave. That is it for today. Dismissed.”
There weren’t a lot of “whole palace” meetings where both House Guards and the Palace Guard got together. The Gala was a special occasion, though. The palace would be open to a large group of ponies. It was far more access than normal and that meant additional security concerns.
Volunteering was easy for me. I’d never been to the Gala, didn’t have a ticket, and didn’t really care. That seemed more like Iridescence’s thing and she seemed grumpy about it.
On our way back to our room, she said, “We were off.”
“I know. You didn’t have to volunteer, too.”
“We’re partners,” she reminded me.
“I appreciate that.”
That seemed to be the end of it once we reached our room. Iridescence removed her armor, set it on the stand, flopped unceremoniously onto her bunk, and started to look through a magazine. She didn’t utter a single word.
While that was pretty unnerving, there was something else that I needed to take care of. I went to the table and started to work on my response to Winterspear. It was probably past time for me to do that.
Dear Winterspear
Yes, I’m having fun. Most of my off days allow me plenty of time to work out in the gym. That always relaxes me and gives me a sense of progress. It is work-like, but I was doing that long before I became a royal guard.
Did you know alicorns have to exercise to stay in shape, too? I didn’t. They do, though! Princess Luna likes to swim. I don’t think that is a secret but don’t spread it around. That would be a silly thing to end a career over.
Yes, I’ve made a friend. Her name is Iridescence. She’s my partner. Before you pick up the pencil to write that that doesn’t count, it does! We do things outside of work. We go shopping together, have an occasional picnic, and spend our off days together. That all counts.
I actually think she is mad at me right now. We have the Grand Galloping Gala coming up and I volunteered to work so other ponies could go. That seemed to set her off but I can’t understand why.
Mares aren’t as obvious about things as stallions are. No offense.
What about you? Is there anything new going on? Are you taking your job as sergeant serious enough? You may not be patrolling anymore but that is no excuse to loaf.
Tell Mom I said hello if you get a chance.
Your brother
Silent Knight
That was another letter complete. I set the pencil down and lifted the paper up. “Could you help me fold this?” I asked Iridescence.
She shot me an unkind look, but then sighed and did as I’d asked. She must have really not wanted to work that night. Still, she didn’t have to volunteer, too.
“Thank you.” The folded paper went into the envelope and I headed out to mail it.
Once that errand was done, I’d go get Iridescence a treat. Ice cream or something. Mares like ice cream. Maybe that would make her feel better about having to work… or at least less angry with me. Our room was too small to hide from an angry mare.
☾
“Princess, are you certain you don’t want to go to the Gala? It is the biggest event of the year,” Iridescence said while I stood quietly behind her.
The princess waved a dismissive hoof. “We are certain! We would not know anypony there. It would not amuse us.”
Well, that was that. The princess didn’t want to go. We’d have a nice quiet night in her chambers.
“But you might have fun, Princess. You may even meet new ponies and make some friends,” Iridescence said over my thoughts.
Princess Luna paused, as if to think it over, and then replied, “No, though we thank thee for thinking of our feelings. Perhaps we can watch from the balcony? We three can make our own fun, can we not?”
“Of course, Princess,” Iridescence said and looped her hoof around mine and tugged me closer. “Silent Knight and I will be happy to do that. Right?” She gave me a look that read danger.
I had only one response to that: “Yes, Princess.”
“Huzzah!” Princess Luna exclaimed before levitating a box from one of the shelves. “Shall we play a board game?”
“Yes, Princess,” we replied in unison.
Playing games on duty. That wasn’t procedure, but we had a lot of extra security for the Gala. Two house guards and several palace guards. Iridescence could play while I kept an eye on things.
Princess Luna left her quarters and set out for the big balcony on the second floor that overlooked the main hall. We fell in behind her and followed. The whole area had been roped off and was relatively quiet in comparison to the noise coming from below.
The princess set the game on one of the tables and took a seat. Iridescence sat as well while I went to look over the balcony. Things were just getting started and ponies had not been admitted yet. Then I went to look out the window. There was a mass of ponies approaching together.
“Come on, Silent Knight, come sit down,” Iridescence said to me.
“There appears to be a mob gathering outside the gates. They are... singing... and dancing. They are also well choreographed. I don’t think they’re a threat,” I reported and came back over. Princess Luna and Iridescence were levitating pieces into place with their respective magic. Despite knowing better, I settled at the table with them.
Sitting while on duty felt weird. Iridescence levitated the helmet off my head and set it aside. My hooves wiggled after it in a failed recapture attempt. I looked at her. Playing on duty and out of uniform? So it was to be a mutiny.
“Hast thou played before, Silent Knight?”
“No, Princess,” I replied.
Iridescence spoke out of turn and said, “We are so surprised.” Both of the mares laughed.
An instructor had once told me that I could have had a career in comedy. Maybe he wasn’t just being a jerk.
Princess Luna smiled. “Fear not, Silent Knight. We shall teach thee to play. Thou mayest even like it.”
The board was an old timey map of Equestria and had colored lines all over it. The princess slid a group of pieces towards me. I took one in my hoof and peered at it. One of many blue train cars. She then slid four cards over to me.
“Thy goal is to complete the routes on thy cards. Pretend thou art riding the train and exploring our great land.”
Pretend. I used to do that a lot with my sister, Winterspear. We played all sorts of games. At least until our father got wind of it. He said we spent too much time with our head in the clouds. Which, at the time, my sister thought was hilarious. You know, since we’re pegasi.
Dad… well, Dad didn’t find that funny. Winterspear caught the worst of that. She always did. We focused more on our studies afterwards.
Orders were orders, though. “Yes, Princess. I’ll pretend,” I replied and she set about explaining the rules to me.
They were simple enough and I caught on quickly. It was a game about trains, but there was a lot of strategy to how you laid out your routes and blocked others’. I had to win! I also had a job to do. On Iridescence’s turn, I got up to look down on the ballroom. The Gala was in full swing but there was something out of place.
A pink mare with a cotton candy mane was making something of a scene. “There is a pink mare acting peculiar down there,” I said.
“That is fine, Silent Knight. There are guards there. Come play your turn,” Iridescence replied.
I wasn’t sure. “She has a cannon,” I added. “Should I take her out?”
“Nay, Silent Knight. It is thy turn,” Princess Luna said.
I put the crossbow down and came back over to the table. “Yes, Princess.”
Much to the dismay of the mares, I laid down six cards of the same color and placed my train cars. Were they expecting an easy victory over the new pony? Strategy is my middle name!
We played a while. Iridescence and Princess Luna chatted like two familiar ponies might. It seemed a little like fraternizing but I knew my partner. She was a professional. Between turns, I would keep an eye on the ballroom below. Towards the end of the evening things seemed to get really out of hoof.
“Is it typical for everypony to be running in terror at the Gala?” I asked.
Iridescence got up and replied worriedly, “What? Quit fooling around.” Both she and Princess Luna came over to look at the bedlam below.
Things had gone sideways for sure. The pink pony dove off the stage and sent a cake flying. As it approached the crowd, a rather cowardly unicorn stallion used a beautiful unicorn mare as a shield. I’d been told he was a princeling. Not an actual prince that was in the line of royal succession, not that such a thing really existed anymore.
The princeling bumped into the large statue of Princess Celestia that dominated the center of the room and caused it to topple over. To my amazement, a blue pegasus mare managed to catch it and somehow support its weight.
Unfortunately, she immediately bumped it into a support column, knocking it down. I was seriously starting to question the structural integrity of the palace. It seemed that relying on the lowest bidder for royal construction was not paying off. Celestia knows I’d seen some insane things going on with the ponies building over in Princess Luna’s wing.
Just a moment after the column went down, a herd of animals burst into the ballroom with a yellow pegasus mare chasing them and screaming, “LOVE ME!”
At that point, all decorum broke down and the Gala descended into a riot.
I looked to Iridescence and she looked back at me. I’ve known her long enough to read her expressions. This one was telling me: "No, Silent Knight, this is not typical for the Gala."
“Should we move the princess?” I asked.
Iridescence considered that and then shook her head. “Not from the palace but certainly from here. This situation could spill upstairs in a hurry and we’d be overwhelmed. I don’t much care for the idea of knocking down regular ponies who don't mean any harm but are just panicked.”
She was right. Of course, she usually was. I nodded and said, “Princess, shall we finish our game in your chambers?”
“Yes, we would not mind that at all. It is getting quite loud out here. ‘Tis a silly event,” she said and, with little effort, levitated the board, all the pieces, and cards with her alicorn magic. That always amazed me, but I didn’t have time to enjoy it or eye it warily.
Taking the lead, Iridescence said, “If you’ll follow me, Princess.” She started to head towards Princess Luna’s chambers.
I took up the rear, keeping an eye behind me. There were still sounds of chaos and commotion coming from the ballroom.
Thankfully we reached our destination without any excitement. I closed the door behind us while Princess Luna and Iridescence set the game back up. When it was clear that it was safe, I resumed my seat.
We played on quietly until I asked, “Should the columns have been that easy to knock down?”
Both mares looked up at me.
“What?” I frowned. “Nopony finds that weird?”
It is going to be the best night ever! At least for most ponies.
This is as close as I could get to a Thanksgiving entry. Everypony have a great holiday.
Crystal's Wishes Companion Chapter: At the Gala - First Dance
If you are enjoying this story, please consider taking a look at Crystal and my's website QuillnBlade.com for extra content such as mini stories, an Ask Us form to submit questions, responses to said questions, and special rewards for the awesome folks who support our Patreon.
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HUZZZAH!
happy holidays and the fun has been doubled
That was a good chapter. I loved how Silent spent the night of the gala. Great job. I wonder what Discord will do to Silent. To be honest, I hope he Discords him into being more unsolider like. You know, expressing Emotion, goofing off, tell Iridences she has pretty eyes. Did I just say that last one out loud?
Might be an error there. Just a small one.
...
And now that he's mentioned the columns....
5318263 Whoops! All fixed. Good catch =D
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Thank you all! I'm glad you enjoyed it. This was the first true tie in with the show. A different perspective of the events. I always wondered where Luna was.
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Seriously, is no one besides myself and Silent Knight going to bring up the columns? I mean, I didn't think about it at first, but they did just sort of like, collapse immediately. Almost as if they'd been weakened ahead of time.
5319999 Totally a conspiracy! Princess Celestia is a troll.
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Thank you thank you!
Ah, I liked how you blended the canon storyline in with yours. Very clever...Oh, and about the columns...It's been a while since I've seen the Gala episode, so I could be wrong about this, but I think, as the columns fell, the wall behind them stayed up. I'm thinking the columns might have simply been a facade and not integral to the actual support of the structure. Oh and then casually mentioning he had a crossbow with its sights trained on Pinkie. Priceless! Did he have that on him the entire time? It was never mentioned before.
I wasn’t sure. “She has a cannon,” I added. “Should I take her out?” I asked.
“No Silent Knight. It is thy turn.” Princess Luna said.
I put the crossbow down and came back over to the table. “Yes princess,” I said on the way.
My first thought after reading about the crossbow- "Wait, he had a crossbow? Where did that even come from!?"
So his full name is 'Silent Strategy Knight'. lol
The crossbow. That added 20% to explosions of the hole story. Move your hype train by 6 fields forward.
When Luna said "Game" I thinked they'll be playing Dungeons&Dragons scince Luna is such a nerd. But yea, I didn't get mine hopes up scince it would be exhausting to write...
Yay! Ticket to ride. My bro and his wife play that game all the time.
A-fucking-mazing rendition of the gala. This story is so much fun! IT REQUIRES MORE VIEWS AND VOTES DAMMIT!
CROSSBOW
Hey again, Anzel, it's Riverfox! Dunno if you remember me, but I'm still around. :D I've finally gotten back to catching up on your story. Wanted to comment on this story for two reasons:
1) I really like the subtle humor of your writing. It fits your character perfectly, since half the stuff that's funny is stuff he's oblivious to. XD Favorite line of this one: "So it was to be a mutiny."
2) I almost laughed out loud when I realized they were playing Ticket To Ride, seeing as that is the game my family is currently obsessed with. XD
Enjoying it so far! These nice little slice-of-life alternate views of the show are fun and relaxing to read. Keep up the good work!
I'm just waiting for Winterspear's reply.
"SILENT KNIGHT YOU ****ING IDIOT! ****ITY ****!"
This is some good shit. I appreciate an artist of dry and oblivious humor. And I fucking lost it at the mouse corporation. Bravo.
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Sounds like a Yu-gi-oh! card! XD
5327271
maybe it's like pinkie's cannon
Behold, the behind the scenes look of what Luna did during the GGG!
A fun chapter. The crossbow bit had me laughing out loud. "Should I take her out?"
I look forward to Winterspear's prescence in the story.
"hahaha"
"YES!! DO IT!"
(Actually don't I was joking)
Huh...
Good thing it was his turn.
Could not help but laugh at the "Shall I take her out" bit and just the casual way he mentions that he put the crossbow down LOL
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Oh my god! I can't breath! I read this story a long time ago and I forgot how hilariously oblivious Silent is.
A Ticket to Ride reference? Now that's something you don't see every day.
Also,
I CAN"T BREATHE
Pinkie Pie will never know how close she came to impalement that night.
Silly Silent, no rooms are large enough to hide from angry mares.
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lets face it somehow she would have survived. Doesn't even matter if it hit her or not.
I fucking love silent Knight
Holy shirts!
ticket to ride.
God I love this chapter. Nonchalantly offering to shoot Pinky Pie, and Fluttershy flipping her sugar and screaming at scared animals were my favorite two parts. Silent Knight is an enjoyable character. Very clear cut and no-fuss personality but poorly socialized to make him feel unique and able to play off of other characters.
Who let pinkie bring a cannon? It's basically artillery. Well, no it actually is artillery.
Implying Pinkie was moments away from getting sniped during season 1 finale.
I mean, she probably woulda dodged it no sweat, but it still might have done the job and shut down the chaos that followed. At least until Flutters showed up.
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Technically an artillery launcher, the artillery is what is being fired