My Little Pony: Lights and Shadows - Part II

by OmegaTale

Chapter 16

“Okay, so here’s the plan,” Twilight said, surrounded by her friends in the throne room of her castle. “From here we go to Rarity’s boutique to put on our dresses. The gates open promptly at 9:00 pm, so we want to be sure we are all completely ready by 8:00. The carriage will be waiting to-”

Rarity couldn’t help it, grabbing at her own cheeks as she squealed in excitement. “To whisk us away to the Grand Galloping Gala, haha!”

Though the unicorn showed it more, everypony was giddy and excited for the gala. Having not only been placed back on schedule, it would prove to be the first Grand Galloping Gala in Equestrian history to be attended by the Dragon Lord and Griffon King, not to mention Thorax, King of the Changelings, and…

Starlight wasn’t quite as ecstatic as everypony else, offering a sheepish smile, but one that didn’t last long. “Grand Galloping Gala… yeah…” She said quietly, hoping not to draw too much attention from the small crowd of excited friends.

Applejack chuckled a bit. “Ah can’t speak fer y’all, but ah feel more excited for this here gala than any one of ‘em before!”

“Yeah! It’s gonna be so awesome!” Rainbow blurted out, flying around the room as quick as a flash. “My first gala as a Wonderbolt! This is gonna be sweet!”

Laughing lightly, Twilight held up her hoof. “Alright, alright, we’re all very excited, so let’s go over our schedule for the night.” She said, a wide grin on her face as her eyes sparkled. The resulting silence was awkward and cryptic, everypony staring at her with blank expressions and wide eyes. She then laughed again, waving her hoof. “I’m kidding! Like I would try to hyper-manage a night like this?”

Everypony joined in on the laugh, Twilight having gotten them good.

Pinkie jumped up and down rapidly. “Can we go already?! I wanna see my amazing gala dress again!” She giggled, an excited mess as her entire body shook from being so anxious.

“To the boutique!” Rarity called out, raising her hoof high into the air. Starlight tried to resist the rushing crowd, but she was caught up in it as the mares charged out of the room, Spike holding onto Twilight for dear life.

Starfall and Shadow were left by the thrones, both sighing in relief when the girls didn’t notice them not gallop along with them.

Shadow looked to Starfall. “…you nervous about the gala too?”

The royal guard looked to him, his expression not so sure. “Kinda, yeah. I’ve attended before as the guard detail, but never as a… you know.”

Nodding, Shadow looked out the door as the mares disappeared from sight. “I really was excited before, but now that it’s here…” He thought about Fluttershy, how he had not told her about the memories yet. “I don’t know… I almost feel sick to my stomach.”

Starfall chuckled, patting Shadow on the shoulder. “That’s very normal, don’t you worry. It means you’re still excited, super excited, and it feels funny.”

“If you say so…” Shadow replied, now unable to think of a reason not to tell her. “Hey, I think I’m gonna go hang out with the girls before we leave, you coming?” He asked, walking to the door.

Shaking his head with a smile, Starfall shooed him along. “Nah, you go ahead, I’ve got a few things to take care of before tonight.” Shadow continued out of the room and the royal guard’s gaze fell back down to the map as he rested his front hooves on it, a serious expression on his face as he thought hard. “Where in Equestria can that dragon be?” He asked himself, looking to every last corner to try and think out where Stormclaw disappeared to. “Why are you still hiding?”

“Starfall?” Moon Frost asked, walking into the room. “I’m headed back to the station and-” She stopped when she saw him hunched over the map. “Starfall… you can’t worry about that now, go be with the girls, tonight is really important to them.”

He looked to her, stepping his hooves down from the map as he turned. “Wait, so you’re really not coming with us?”

She shook her head, although smiling. “While it would be nice, I have a lot to do in Manehattan.” She then shrugged her shoulders, adding, “That, and I’m still not too keen on crowds. I think you knew that though.”

He sighed, nodding in reply. “Yeah, I can understand that.”

“But don’t you go switching the subject to me,” She chuckled, pointing her hoof at the door. “Get your flank out there and be with your friends, today is supposed to be momentous, not another collection of hours where you stare at the map.” She gestured with her head. “Go, and hurry up too, I’m gonna miss the train.”

He smiled, offering a chuckle as he walked up to her. “You take care of yourself, you hear?” He said, hugging her as she did so in return.

She took in a breath, saying, “Yeah, you too. I’ll see you again soon.”

Nodding he replied, “Looking forward to it.”

Separating, Starfall walked her out, closing the door to the throne room behind them.

---

Everypony stood in the boutique dressed in their gowns, Rarity having outdone herself, again. As they had been every year, each of them had big smiles on their face as they looked at one another’s dresses and went on about how excited they were.

Fluttershy’s was nature inspired, naturally. The dress flowed a light, almost luminous green color, with the backdrop just barely see through and dotted with flower petals. Thin wreaths of spiraled up each of her hooves, just shy of the gown. Her mane was put up in a style that was reminiscent of a wisteria core vine, elegantly poised with a few strands of her mane trailing off from the side.

Pinkie’s was bright and inviting, to show off her love for partying. The base and trim were different shades of her favorite color, pink, of course. A small top hat rested on her somewhat less crazy-than-usual mane, to remind her of the one she wore on her first gala night. The patterns on the dress all the way down to her tail were meant to inspire a kind of bubbly happiness, and was nearly impossible not to smile at if one wanted to dance.

Applejack’s was modest and more down to earth, but gorgeous none the less. The more rural color scheme and less puffiness than the others made it easy to tell she was more of a country girl, if her accent wasn’t detail enough. Her boots were similar to those she wore at the first gala, but Rarity had improved the design to look more appealing. She was going to try to manage not putting on her hat this time, her mane done up in a basic, yet stylish way, but she wasn’t sure if she would hold out all night before dawning it again.

Rainbow had wanted hers to have more flair this time around, and the designer unicorn knew just what to do. Getting the colors right on Dash’s dress was always the hardest of the six of them, but when it came out in the end, it was always stunning. Edged and trimmed with a cloud-like effect, the gown was rainbow colored. To commemorate her new Wonderbolt status, the sleek, metallic looking folds on her hooves were changed to silver, as well as the wreath crown on her head, curved in front of her ears as her mane was basically designed, flowing down at her side. As an added bit of “awesomeness” as Rarity described, silver flakes were added on Dash’s fur on the sides of her face and down her neck.

Rarity being Rarity, she made her own gown a true ballroom sight to behold. The dark and light shades of blue and purple matched and complimented both her fur and mane, which had been elegantly and perfectly coiled and groomed into a princess-like scene. Her gown collar curved behind her head, and the entire design was fitted with sparkling, appealing gemstones, all small and visually pleasing.

Twilight’s was perhaps more stunning and beautiful than the rest. Layered much like her princess dress from her own coronation, it was fitted to be both regal and inspiring. The back base was purple, with her cutie mark sewn in perfectly as the bottom design, others laced around it and up the sides to the front that were incredible. Amethysts were incorporated, laced into the fabric in a way as to create a kind of glow on the dress when under the right light, but not so much that they are noticed as much as the rest of the gown. The front was similarly designed as the backdrop, only the colors were a bit lighter and a jeweled crest lied just beneath, showing ever so slightly. Her mane was perhaps Rarity’s greatest work, putting most of her other techniques and mane designs to envy.

Starlight stood with them, smiling as often as she could as she glanced down at her own dress. She had practically begged Rarity to make hers not as over the top and amazing as the others, not wanting to be the focus of too much attention. It was much like the first gown Rarity made for her, just a bit darker than the others with bright gems laced into the fabric. The dark colors were designed with a kind of luminescent pattern that become more visible the darker it was around her, making for a dancing effect that would be breath-taking. Her mane was rather simply done up, but it was still pretty and very manageable.

As the girls all giggled and talked, Shadow stood in his own attire, very nervous at the sight of how beautiful they all were. He rolled his shoulder a bit, making sure everything was snug and correct before glancing over at Fluttershy, wanting to tell her, but waiting for the right moment.

Walking to Twilight, Starlight looked a little on edge. “Twilight? Can we talk?”

“Sure thing, Starlight.” She replied, twirling around in her dress to face her, giggling to herself. “Isn’t this so exciting? Your very first trip to the gala!”

Starlight hesitated, but cracked a small smile that lasted a moment. “Yes, well… about that,” She answered, looking down at her hoof as she rubbed the floor with it. “I don’t know if I’m up for this…”

Twilight tilted her head, but only in curiosity. “What makes you say that? You’ve been to social events before, just imagine this will be like your party Pinkie threw to welcome you to Ponyville. Or the celebration when you were awarded the Pink Heart of Courage.”

“But it’s not like them… this is a big night for all of you, but to me…” She paused, taking in a breath.

Lifting her hoof up onto Starlight’s shoulder, Twilight smiled softly. “You can stay by my side all night, I’ll be right there with you every step of the way.” She hugged her, pulling back, still smiling. “You’ll love it Starlight, I just know you will.”

Starlight smiled back, feeling a bit better. Pinkie and Rainbow came careening over and began spewing on about what they had in mind about where to go first while there.

Shadow, after having taken a few deep breaths, watched as Fluttershy stood alone in front of the mirror, making sure everything was perfect on her dress. He walked over and corrected one flaw on the upper part of her shoulder, having been too close to the neck for her to notice.

“Here you go, perfect.” He said, having fixed it.

She smiled and turned to him, blushing just a bit. “Oh, thank you Shadow.”

He paused, having been blushing a bit himself. “I need to tell you something… something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now…”

If she wasn’t red before, she certainly was now. “U-um… okay…” She replied, becoming very still and quiet.

Seeing that everypony else was a safe distance away, Shadow looked at her, showing how ill at ease he was about it. “I’ve been… experiencing these visions…” He paused again, shaking his head. “They happen every time I black out.”

An unsteady breath came out from Fluttershy, having been holding it in. “Oh… you have?” She asked, having thought he was going to talk about something much different. “Are they like the ones from before? The ones you told me about where everything is scary and dark?”

He shook his head, relieved at that, but not quite uplifted yet. “They are memories… of my life before.”

She let out the smallest of gasps, looking back to the other ponies, specifically Twilight, but no pony else had heard them. She turned back to him, the two of them speaking quietly. “Really? Memories from before your imprisonment? What were they, what did you see?”

He squinted as he looked down slightly, then looking back up at her. “I… I wasn’t the best of ponies, but I don’t think I was that bad. I only saw a few, but I still don’t understand why I saw them.”

Fluttershy looked up and away a bit, thinking. “I’m not sure why you would either…”

Shadow looked to the others, and then back to her, wondering. “Do you think we should tell Twilight?”

Looking back at the princess, Fluttershy took notice to how happy she looked. They all knew that she had been taking on more responsibility recently, what with the dragon stealing the relics, the peace summit having been a failure, and the war erupting in the east. After all of this, Fluttershy hoped Twilight would have the night to relax and enjoy herself.

She turned back to Shadow. “Why don’t we wait until after the gala? Not that seeing your memories is a bad thing, but I feel like Twilight may stress about it. Let’s give her tonight to not worry.”

After a short pause, he nodded. “Yeah, afterwards. It looks like she’s really happy… if this turns out to be more trouble than it was worth seeing, I wouldn’t want her night to be ruined.”

Fluttershy offered a warm smile. “Tonight is going to be great, Shadow. I can’t wait for you to finally see it.”

Starfall just then walked in, freezing mid-step as he saw everypony. “Whoa…” He said, having seen ponies dressed up before, but never quite taking the time to focus on them. “You all look incredible.”

They all got giddy at hearing that, more excited than ever now that they got another pony’s opinion. Spike crossed his arms. “Hey, that’s what I said!”

Twilight looked at the little dragon and laughed lightly. “Come on Spike, he’s just being polite.”

“Great minds think alike, ya know?” Applejack offered, chuckling. Spike took a bit of pride in hearing that and puffed out his chest, a victorious look on his face. Everypony then laughed all together, the fun times of the night already got started and the gala hadn’t even begun yet.

As everypony began talking to one another again, Rarity looked to Starfall, walking over to him. “Right this way, Starfall, your attire awaits you!” She said excitedly.

He smiled in return, following her into the next room. “Thanks Rarity.”

Twilight was over near the mirror, giving herself a final check. When she turned back around, she stopped, looking at her friends as they smiled and laughed, looking all excited and pumped for the night to begin. Seeing them like this made her forget about what had been happening to them. Everything that had happened was behind them now, finally they had time to enjoy themselves, and it was tonight, one of the biggest nights of the year. Perhaps the biggest.

She sighed, smiling to herself as she rejoined them, more thrilled for the gala to begin than she had ever been before.

The sun had already begun to fall towards the horizon, and the time was drawing near. With everypony soon to be ready, their eagerness was only building more and more. Worries gone and spirits reinvigorated, the ponies awaited their glorious night to begin.

Author's Note:

This is it! The big night is coming!
Our ponies are psyching up for the Grand Galloping Gala, how pumped are we?
Come back next week for the Part II finale of My Little Pony: Lights and Shadows!
Stay awesome everypony!