The Best Night Ever

by The Blue EM2

All our dreams and our hopes from now until hereafter...

It was a relatively quiet evening in Ponyville, which was something of a rare luxury given the constant problems and creature attacks that seemed to infest the area every few months. Cleanup was still going on from the dragon incident, and this meant that a few construction workers were still stabilising the clock tower. However, Large Bartholomew continued to chime proudly and distinctly in the sky.

Down in the town itself, at Sugarcube Corner, business was good as always. The small cafe was a popular spot for townsfolk to come late in the day and unwind over a coffee or meet with a friend and chat over a selection of cake, which was always on offer. After all, not only was the place run by a married couple called cake, they had Pinkie Pie, the expert on baked goods, on the payroll. As the evening continued to drift on, let us turn our attention to one of the tables.

Sitting at one of the tables was Twilight Sparkle, the personal protege of Princess Celestia. Whilst normally she would be studying at this late hour, given her dedication to the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake, tonight she was here seeing somebody. Sat opposite her was a young man with blue hair and eyes, whose attire was the definition of casual (T shirt, slacks, and biker jacket), compared to Twilight's considerably more formal turquoise blouse (which had a bowtie around the collar), a purple skirt with a star emblem on it, and black and purple boots. The chap was Flash Sentry, a royal guard in training whom Twilight had met on official business in Canterlot. Somehow, the two had really connected with one another, and tonight was one of their dates.

"So, learned anything interesting today?" Flash asked, adjusting his glass on the table so he had an uninterrupted view of her.

"I spent most of today with my friends," Twilight replied. "But I did manage to sneak some reading in. Did you know that alligators can go up to two months between meals?"

"Interesting," Flash answered. "It's just a problem that we don't know when they last ate. I would hate to run into one at the wrong time!"

"Me too!" Twilight said. "How about you? How's life in the cadets?"

"Training's been intense, but then again I expected that. We'll be passing out soon, ready for duty. All of Canterlot will probably be on high alert that day. We're still being trained on the new anti-Changeling combat techniques, based on what we were taught by the Wedding."

Twilight sighed. That had not been much of a fun day at all. Learning that an evil bug queen was impersonating your beloved (former) foalsitter was one thing, but to then have to fight off a whole horde of those things? Good thing they couldn't take an overload of love. At least the real wedding had gone without a hitch.

Twilight was so occupied in her thoughts that she didn't notice Flash speak her name at first. "Twi?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, momentarily distracted. You were saying?"

Flash continued. "You know, the Grand Galloping Gala is coming up soon, and I was wondering, seeing as I'll be in Canterlot that day, whether you'd want to go with me?"

Twilight inwardly cringed. Last year's Gala had been an absolute disaster; barring the misspelling of 'gala' as 'gallia' on one of the official programmes for the event, the entire incident had been nothing but a massive disappointment for her (and utter chaos and boredom for her friends). Rarity, in particular, had been incensed at that idiot Blueblood, who had used her as a shield to prevent him from being splashed by flying cake. Not to mention her dress was ruined and needed a lot of maintenance in the shop afterwards. "I'm not too sure. You see, last year was a bit of a mess."

"I heard all about it," Flash sighed. "But you won't need to worry this time. Shining Armour's been put in charge of proceedings this year, and I'm certain I can pursuade him to pull a few strings here and there."

"Really?" Twilight exclaimed. "My BBBFF, organising a public event! Perfect! The Guard has always been very good at organising things."

"You're telling me," Flash smiled. "It's about a week until then, so if you could let me know whether you want to go or not, that'd be great."

---

"It is a rather short notice decision," Rarity sighed, as she checked her collection. "I'm not sure I could make a new dress for you in such a short space of time."

"I'll just wear the one I wore last year," Twilight replied. "Besides, Flash said he'd make sure the event went better than last year."

"If he can keep that idiot Blueblood away from proceedings, then I may consider attending again. I'd rather not be used as a human shield again. Let's hope your measurements still hold up from last time."

"It's only been a year!" Twilight protested. "I can't have grown that much!"

"We'll see."

A few moments later, Twilight headed off into the fitting room, with Rarity on standby outside in case she needed any help getting into said dress. A few minutes elapsed, before Twilight emerged.

The dress she was wearing consisted of a light blue petticoat with dark blue streaks, which helped to give the skirt some volume, with a dark blue skirt atop that. The bottom of the skirt was a lighter blue, with stars dotted all across it. The bodice was, again, lighter blue, with dark blue straps across her shoulders, and looping across her upper arms to give some extra support. There was also a small collar attached from a further piece of fabric running round the back of her neck, which joined the two straps together.

"Is it possible if you could remove the collar this time around? I'm not sure it was such a good design idea."

"On reflection, it does look a bit odd," Rarity admitted, and made the adjustments in her journal. "But, I must say it does still look good on you. The frame still reaches the ground, and the overall flow still looks good on you. Just one slight problem. You're a bit taller than last year, aren't you?"

"Am I? You don't have a tape measure on you, do you?"

Rarity indicated to the bottom of the dress. "The petticoat is visible under the bottom of the skirt. I'm not convinced I could extend the skirt enough in time. The easiest solution would be to pin it up, but that's potentially messy."

"Let's leave it as it is," Twilight said, and looked at the time. "I'd best be on my way home, but thanks for the help! See you tomorrow!"

"Please leave it neatly on the hangars!" Rarity called. "Ironing these sorts of fabrics is an absolute nightmare if they get creased, and I'm still finding glitter everywhere inside my store!"

---

After much waiting and deliberation, the rest of Twilight's friends confirmed they would be going to the Gala again as well, and once again they would simply wear what they wore last year. The afternoon of the Gala soon arrived, and with their outfits safely packed away inside packing cases and carefully prepared boxes, the girls headed for the train station. They had decided to avoid going by carriage as that'd been a complete fiasco last year. Not only that, train was faster, being able to maintain an average speed of 45 miles per hour as opposed to a carriage's 9. They stood there, idly chatting as they waited for the train.

"Will the Wonderbolts be there again?" Rainbow Dash asked Applejack. "I kinda need to make amends from last year."

"Oh, they know Ponyville alright," Applejack replied. "That dragon incident put us on the map. Ah'm certain they're good with ya, especially after you helped with their aerobatics display at the wedding."

"You kidding? Getting to fly a Mantis was incredible!"

"I think I'll avoid the forest this time," Fluttershy said quietly, which was how she said most things. "I hardly want to cause a fiasco like the one last year."

"Probably a good idea," Rarity sighed. "Applejack, you're not bringing your food stand again, are you?"

"After such poor sales last year? Nope, that ship has sailed."

"Will the music be more lively this year?" Pinkie asked. "All those old dances are boring! Where's the jazz?"

"Luna was apparently interested in getting a jazz band for the Gala," Twilight said. "But preferably slow jazz. Try dancing something quick in what I'll be wearing! That's a recipe for disaster!"

"Here comes the train!" Rainbow Dash called, and sure enough the train puffed into view. But it wasn't the usual engine that worked the Friendship Express. Instead, a mighty, majestic tender engine rumbled into view. It was painted in a striking Royal Blue, and four small front wheels and four big driving wheels to propel it along. Behind it were a set of magnificent coaches, painted in chocolate and cream livery, with plenty of space for all the passengers.

"Hold on a minute!" Twilight said. "That's Cadence's private train! What's this doing here?"

"Private train?" Rarity asked. "I've never heard anything about a private train!"

"Each of the princesses have their own private train to convey them quickly and comfortably across the country to wherever they need to go," Twilight explained. "An added perk is they get the most up to date and modern locomotives to pull them. This is the brand new Manehattan class tender engine, introduced as a replacement to the Appaloosa class tank engines on the busy Manehattan long distance routes. They'll be introducing much bigger tank-"

Twilight was interrupted by a loud yawn from Rainbow Dash. "Boring!"

"To you, maybe," Twilight countered, in an unusually fast quip for her. "But the world is changing faster than ever before. Who knows, Celestia and Luna may even retire!"

"If that ever happens, I'll eat my hat!" Rarity exclaimed.

The driver of the engine stepped onto the platform. "Miss Twilight Sparkle?" he asked.

"That's me!"

"Orders from Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. I am to convey you to Canterlot with all deliberate speed. This train is a special in the logbook, so we'll get priority clearance at all junctions. The staff will help you with your bags, so board whenever you're ready."

Twilight and her friends got onboard as the porters loaded their luggage. The guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag, and the engine whistled in reply. Before long, they were off!

Author's Note:

Hello everybody! Welcome to my newest work, and another experiment for me; write a story set in the early years of the show.

I used the following image for reference for Twilight's dress.

The costume in question was originally produced for a convention in 2012, and was made by this exceptionally talented user; https://www.deviantart.com/rose0fmay. The gag about Twilight's height is a reference to the following incident from that cosplay group, reproduced below;

For those familiar with our MLP group from Dragoncon 2011, you’ll notice we have a different Twilight from last year. While we were super sad to lose Positori, we were very fortunate to have someone like Ashley come in. Fortunately the switch out happened before the dress was cut, but I had already finished the petticoat several weeks beforehand and forgotten all about the height difference between the two girls until Ashley went to get dressed at Dragoncon…which is why Ashley’s petticoat is visible all the time. Could we have pinned it up for the time being? Sure, buuuuut we didn’t.

The steam engine working the royal train was inspired by the Caledonian Railway 721 Class, or 'Dunalastairs' for short. The carriages are modelled on Caledonian 45ft bogie coaches, but painted in a chocolate and cream livery reminiscient of the Great Western Railway.

Comments

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Being a Flashlight fan, I support this.

[The Blue EM2]

10307866
Thank you, buddy.

[JimmyHook19]

Good start :3

[Godslittleprincess]

Okay, so far so good. I keep forgetting that this is a humanized AU though.

[The Blue EM2]

10310241
OK.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

"I spent most of today with my friends," Twilight replied. "But I did manage to sneak some reading in. Did you know that alligators can go up to two months between meals?"

Wait what!?!?

"If that ever happens, I'll eat my hat!" Rarity exclaimed.

It did Rarity.

I used the following image for reference for Twilight's dress.

This and the train pic are gone/404