Chapter 10: Dates and Departures
Luster and her friends spent the next few weeks in the Treehouse of Harmony. They had silently hoped this would be over quickly, that Chrysalis, as well as Tirek and Cozy Glow, would be apprehended. That Luster would be able to return to her family. But that was not the case. As of now, there was still no word on even a single sighting of the Legion of Doom.
Luster sighed as she lay her head down on their breakfast table.
“Hey, it’s okay, Luster, Yelena, and other friends here,” Yelena said.
“You really have it rough, huh?” River Song asked.
“I spent my entire life devoting myself to studying magic so I could make my parents proud,” Luster said. “Now I’m separated from them until Chrysalis and the others are caught. Who knows how long that will be? Maybe they won’t ever come out into the open. Maybe they’ll just remain in hiding?”
“Don’t worry, Luster. I’m sure that if nothing happens after a while, your parents will eventually want to see you,” Georgia said. “Your mother just wants you to be safe. If Chrysalis doesn’t come around in a year, I’m sure she will let you back in.”
Luster sighed. “I hope so. At least I can send her letters like I did when I was in Canterlot.”
She levitated a piece of paper and quill over.
Dear Mom, Dad, and Aunt Trixie.
I still feel pretty down but having my four best friends to keep me company here in the Treehouse of Harmony has made things easier. I miss you all. I hope that Chrysalis and the others will be caught soon and whoever freed them as well. I’ve always wanted to be a daughter that could measure up to you, and I will continue to study friendship. I want to accomplish as much as Princess Twilight someday, though that’s probably a far cry. I’ll never be able to compare to her, I think. Still, we should all strive to be our best, shouldn’t we?
Love, Luster.
Luster folded the letter and stuck it in an envelope. She and her friends made their way into town. As they walked, Luster caught sight of a hard to miss Pegasus pony with crossed eyes in a mail delivery uniform.
“Hey, Derpy!” she called.
Derpy flew down with a grin.
“Could you please deliver this to the Castle of Friendship?” Luster asked.
The cross-eyed pony nodded and took Luster’s letter in her mouth before taking off.
“Be careful and watch where you’re going!” Georgia called after her. Luster looked at the griffon curiously. “That pony has a tendency to crash into the roof on her way to the school.”
“So, what are we going to do today?” River Song asked. “You still need to send a Friendship Report to Princess Twilight this week.”
Luster nodded. “Yes, last week, it was about having all of you guys be here to support me when I felt so alone. But I’m just not sure what to talk about right now.”
“Well, maybe we can-”
River Song broke off as a letter from Princess Twilight appeared in a puff of smoke. Ever since Luster had moved back to Ponyville, the princess had put her on her magical letter connection from Spike. Luster blinked. She had not expected to hear from her mentor until she sent her next report.
She opened the letter, only for five small golden pieces of paper to fall out as well, and hit the ground.
“Ooh!” River Song whooped. “What are these?”
She levitated the papers in her blue Kirin magic.
“Tickets! Tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala coming up in a month!” she screamed in joy.
Luster read the letter for her friends to hear.
Dear Luster Dawn, my gifted student, I hope you are feeling betters. I know that life can be stressful sometimes. If you need to have an extension on your next friendship report, I completely understand. But in the meantime, I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, would like to invite you and your four friends to the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala taking place in Canterlot at the end of the month. I thought you might want to bring all your friends, so I made sure to send four tickets to be safe. I remember when I was Celestia’s student, and she initially only sent one ticket. My friends ended up fighting over me trying to get it.
Well, I hope you and your friends will come.
Princess Twilight.
“Wow! We all get to go to the Grand Galloping Gala!” River Song yelled. “This will be so much fun!”
“I agree! I’ve never been to the Gala before!” Luster said. “This could be a lot of fun! What do you creatures think?”
River Song grinned widely to affirm.
“Well, if it’s a big event, it’s gotta be cool right?” Georgia said. “I’ll go.”
That left Yelena and Gallop.
“Yelena not sure. Yelena not big on huge formal events,” the yak said.
“There will probably be lots of food there,” Georgia said with a smirk. “Food served at a Royal Event. It would be really cool to see Canterlot Castle too.”
This caused Yelena to change her mind. “Yelena always like good food! Okay, Yelena go!”
They all looked at the last member of their group. Gallop hesitated.
“Come on, Gallop! We got to go to the Gala!” River Song said. “The princess was kind enough to send five tickets for all of us. I hear that it's so much fun there with Counselor Pinkie Pie as the party planner!”
Gallop looked down. “Uh- thanks… but dancing seems more like a girly thing.”
“Oh, come on, Gallop! It’s even got your name in it!” River Song said. “You could really bring out the GALLOP in the GRAND GALLOPING GALA!”
Gallop cringed his teeth for a moment then shook his head wildly. “I’m not going! I’m never going to do anything related to dancing again!”
“Hey, don't be like that... Gallop? Hey, Gallop!" Luster yelled, but Gallop blasted away, leaving a trail of dust behind him.
“Wow, what... just happened? I’ve never seen him shy before.”
“Gallop not shy,” Yelena said. “Yelena knew Gallop for a long time. Gallop never been shy.”
Georgia looked after Gallop. ”I think we should follow him and find out what’s bothering him.”
“Yeah, we Gallop’s friends. Friends got to be there for each other,” Yelena said as the search begin.
…
They looked around town, but their athletic friend was nowhere to be found.
“Where, oh where, did Gallop gallop off to?” River Song asked.
“That pony could be anywhere as fast he runs! He might even be in Yakyakistan by now!” Yelena said.
Luster scoffed. “Even Gallop’s not that fast! There’s got to be a way we can find him.”
She looked around at her friends, all of whom were standing on the ground except for Georgia, who was flapping her wings as usual. That gave Luster an idea.
“Georgia, let's fly up and see if we can spot him from the air!” Luster suggested as she lit up her horn.
“We?” the griffon asked. “But only I can… Oh!”
Luster’s gold magic surrounded her body, and she flew up alongside her griffon friend.
“Forgot you could do that, it’s pretty cool being able to fly… or leviate… without wings!” Georgia said.
Luster answered with a small smirk and they both launched off. They scanned Ponyville, getting higher and higher. At this altitude, the entire village was starting to look like an irregular chessboard. Ponies and creatures ran around like bees in a hive. Luster even caught the sight of her parents leaving for the School of Friendship, but her friend was nowhere to be found.
“Uh-oh. We better find Gallop fast, River Song and I will be late for class!” Georgia exclaimed.
Luster cringed. “You better go, I’ll look for Gallop with Yelena.”
“You sure?” Georgia asked. “I’m sure Headmare Glimmer would want me to help Gallop.”
Luster nodded. “I think I could probably use more friendship experience than you. Let me do this. You shouldn’t miss school.”
“That’s generous of you, Luster,” Georgia said. “Just… try to be kind to him. I know he can be cocky at times with his speed, but he wants to be somepony.”
“I know the desire,” Luster said. “You want to make something for yourself. Because you want to measure up to the expectations of others… like my parents.”
Georgia flew down to get River Song, the Kirin and griffon headed to the school while Luster flew around Ponyville, Yelena followed on the ground. Several ponies looked up at Luster, seeing a unicorn flying with magic was a rare sight. Not many unicorns knew how to do this spell. Luster gave a small chuckle, unable to help feeling pleased at the attention.
“Wohoo! Look at my little god-daughter!” a voice called from below. “She’s flying high!”
Luster spotted Trixie down below. The blue mare waved at her, and Luster waved back. For a second, Luster’s heart warmed up as she suddenly felt part of her old life come back to her.
“Nice flying there, Luster!” Trixie said. “You show those ponies what you can do! You learned from the best in Ponyville and Canterlot, after all! Being the daughter of-”
Trixie broke off as Starlight suddenly teleported in front of her and put a hoof on her mouth to prevent her from speaking. Luster blinked in surprise before realizing Starlight must have put an alert spell on Trixie in case she spoke about Luster. In a split-second, Starlight teleported them both away. Luster looked at the spot for a moment then sighed. For a moment she’d had a part of her family back.
She gazed at the passing by ponies, wondering if any of them might be Chrysalis. Trixie hadn’t gotten the chance to say she was the daughter of Starlight and Sunburst, but she had said she was Luster’s godmare. Chrysalis might have been able to put the pieces together if she were here. Many of the ponies were still looking up at her in amazement. She hoped none of them were Chrysalis, both for her sake and her family's. She then continued her search.
Luster looked and looked. Finally, she saw Gallop sitting by himself on a log below Cloudsdale.
“Hey!” she called as she approached him.
Gallop looked over. “Oh, hey, Luster.”
“You want to tell me what’s bothering you about the Gala?” Luster asked.
“No,” Gallop snorted. "Leave me alone."
Luster paused for a moment, thinking about what could be bothering her friend. But with her analytical mind, it took her just a few seconds to put Gallop's nervousness, running away, and grumpy attitude together.
“What was her name?” Luster asked.
“Whose name?”
Luster scoffed. “Come on, you’d only be against going to a dance if you had some bad experience. Did you go to a dance with a mare, and it didn’t work out?”
Gallop hesitated for a moment but then sighed in defeat. “It's that obvious, huh? Yeah, there was a girl... it was at the School of Friendship last year actually. I asked a pony named Glamor Shine to the Amity Ball. She was so beautiful with a golden mane and pink body. I wanted to go with her. But...”
“But… what?”
Gallop sighed again, his resigned eyes went to the ground. “But… she said I was just a loser not worthy of her.”
“What? That's just mean!”
Gallop shrugged. “She was rich, and I was just a simple country pony that helped run a Hayburger business. Go figure.”
“Hey, just because you fail to get a really pretty pony doesn’t mean you can’t ever find another mare to fall in love with,” Luster said, taking Gallop’s hoof. “If you want, we could go to the Gala together. I mean… as friends. I’ve never been to a dance before.”
“Really?” Gallop asked. “Didn’t Princess Twilight hold them at the School of Magic?”
“She did, but I never got asked by a stallion. I was too much of a bookworm, I guess,” Luster said with a blush. “If you don’t want to, it’s okay.”
But Gallop smiled. “Eh… why not? We could just go as friends. Not like we’d ever fall in love, right? I mean, you’re pretty and all but--”
"Ooh, Gallop like Luster!" Yelena suddenly yelled enthusiastically from behind. "Now, ponies kiss!"
"H-hey! Don't sneak on ponies like that!" Gallop said, his face turning a little red. "And, we're not... like that!"
"Ponies… not?"
"No! In fact, before you interrupted, I wanted to say that Luster is pretty and all but probably not my type. Right, Luster?”
“Y-yeah, I’d say the same,” Luster said after a moments hesitation. "We... we better get back to town."
They all nodded to that and soon were on their way. As Gallop and Yelena chatted upfront about their hayburger schedule, Luster stayed a step behind, thinking over and over about Gallop calling her pretty. But after a while, she shrugged it off - he was right, they were nothing alike. It would never work. And the heat radiating from her stomach was probably something she ate.
Probably...
…
At the end of the day, they met back up with River Song and Georgia.
“Luster and Gallop are going to the Gala together!” River Song squealed when she heard the news.
“Hey, just to dance! You know, like Pony Pals do. It doesn’t have to be all romantic and stuff!” Gallop said though he seemed to be blushing.
“Yeah,” Luster agreed, also blushing.
“So, since we’re all going to the Gala in a month? What friends going to do now?” Yelena asked.
“Well, Headmare Starlight gave us a special assignment,” Georgia said, looking at Luster. “Take her daughter’s mind off being kept away. She’s given us leave from the school to go on a little field trip and see Equestria!”
“Yeah! You ever been to the Kirin village?” River Song asked.
Luster shook her head.
“Well, you’ll love it, I’m sure!” River said.
“Alright, why don’t we go on a little friendship road trip?” Gallop said with an eager grin. “We can camp and stuff, see places like the Crystal Empire and Kirin Village, Yakyakistan, and Griffonstone.”
“Alright! We’re gonna go spend some time in each other’s back yards!” River Song said. “Where should we go first?”
Luster thought back to her trip to the Crystal Empire, and how she had spent it all studying in her room.
“I vote for the Crystal Empire, I was there for Princess Flurry Heart’s Coronation, but I didn’t really spend much time seeing the Empire itself.”
It was decided. They were going to the Crystal Empire. Little did the Future Five know, there would be trouble waiting for them there…
…
The next day, Luster looked at herself in the mirror of Carousel Boutique as she tried on the outfit that she had planned to wear to the Grand Galloping Gala. Even though it was in a month, she was going on a long trip with her friends and wanted to have the dress already picked out to save a last-minute buy. The dress she had on was a flaming orange like part of her mane and her cutie mark.
Taking a look, Luster put a hoof to her chin. “Hmm,” she then smiled. “I think I like it!”
“It’s really, really pretty! Gallop will probably fall in love with you the moment he sees you in that!” River Song said from behind Luster.
“Whoa, easy River. This is just a dance for fun. I don’t expect us to fall in love or anything!” Luster said. “We’re just friends.”
“For now!” River Song said with a smirk. “Don’t you want to find a special creature someday to spend the rest of your life with and have foals?”
Luster hesitated. “I never really thought about getting married. I’ve always been more concerned with studying and becoming a powerful spellcaster than anything else.”
“Well, you need to expand your horizons! Life isn’t all about spells and books!” River Song said. “There can be so much more to it. If you limit yourself to just a few things in life, then you’ll get bored!”
“Princess Twilight doesn’t have a husband or foal,” Luster said.
“Who says you have to be exactly like her?” River Song said.
“But I am!” Luster countered. “She said so herself, when she first started out on her journey, she didn’t think friendship was important and she was a big bookworm too!”
“Okay, you two were very similar in that regard when she was your age. But that doesn’t mean you’re gonna end up some lonely princess without romance or family.”
Luster sniggered. “Princess Twilight isn’t lonely! She has family, well, her parents and niece. Her brother is gone, though.” Luster added sadly. “She just never married. Some of us aren’t so lucky or don’t have an interest in that. Besides, I’m probably not gonna end up a princess anyway.”
“Well, I think you and Gallop would be adorable together!” River Song said.
“Well, for now, I just want to have fun with all of you and learn everything I can about friendship.”
“Friendships can always grow into something deeper. The same thing happened with Sandbar and Yona!” Yona said as she appeared, pushing a row of dresses to another part of the store. “Now, Yona and Sandbar married!”
“Yeah,” Sandbar said as he dusted some of the shelves off with a feather duster in his mouth.
Luster took another look in the mirror and smiled back at her reflection. Though she did notice something.
“Hmm… if I want to impress Gallop, maybe I should do something with my hair?” she asked.
“So, you do want to impress him?” River Song noted.
“Well… I do want to look my best at a formal event, right?”
“I’m sure we can find a hairstyle when we get back,” River Song said. “The dress is the important part.”
“You’re right.”
Luster removed the dress and took it up to the checkout stand. Sandbar immediately set his duster down and walked up behind the register. Luster handed him the bits to pay and waited until River Song picked out a dark blue dress with running water patterns before leaving the boutique.
“Well, now that we have our dresses for the gala, we’ll be way ahead of the others,” Luster said as she carried the bag with their clothes inside. “Yelena and Georgia wanted to wait to get custom orders, but I think we got lucky with the dresses we found.”
“I agree,” River Song said.
The pony and Kirin wandered the streets toward the Everfree forest. As they walked, they saw a pony sitting on the streets. He had a black coat, brown mane as well as blue eyes. On his flank was the cutie mark of a chalkboard.
“Good morning young mares. Could you spare some bits?”
Luster hesitated. She tended to be wary of beggars and homeless ponies as many of them were just looking to prey on ponies that were overgenerous and eager to help those in need. But as she took a good look at this pony, she saw he was very much on the thin side with his ribs exposed. There was no mistaking that condition.
She lifted her bag of bits from her saddle bag with her magic and gave him ten.
“Oh, thank you very much, Miss…”
“Luster Dawn,” Luster said.
“I always appreciate a generous pony, Luster. The names Blank Slate.”
Luster winced at the name slightly. She remembered an old donkey named Cranky Doodle from her fillyhood, and that donkey hadn’t exactly been the cheeriest of sorts. Many ponies had names that seemed to reflect on their cutie marks, which was a reflection of who they were. That seemed a little ironic, as ponies would get their names before their cutie mark, and somehow those almost always ended up relating somehow. Luster was born at Dawn, and she’d gotten a cutie mark of a sun. Her mother and father both had cutie marks of a star and sun as well as names related to those things.
“Blank Slate?” she repeated.
“Yep, my talent is undefined,” he grumbled. “Or that I’m simply not gonna do anything at all in my life. I don’t really plan to.”
“Well, that’s no fun!” River Song said. “How do you live without a plan?”
Blank Slate shrugged. “Better than being miserable all the time, so I can’t complain. It's not all bad, better to be blank than sad. Better than nothing, but I’m pretty much just stuck in a state of gray where everything is dull.”
“Um, nice to meet you. I hope you find something to brighten your day,” Luster said.
She and River Song neared the path to the Everfree Forest, where they saw Georgia coming out. With her was the smaller griffon Luster recalled seeing when she’d visited the School of Friendship on her move back to Ponyville.
“Oh, Luster! River Song!” Georgia said when she saw her friends.
“Hiya, griffons!” River Song greeted. “How ya doing, Iggy?”
The smaller griffon hid behind the larger one.
Georgia laughed. “No need to be shy, little brother. These are my friends. River Song goes to the School of Friendship, remember? And Luster is Headmare Starlight’s daughter.”
Slowly, Iggy stepped out from behind his sister.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi,” Luster replied.
“So, where are you two griffs headed?” River Song asked.
“Since we’re going to leave for our trip tomorrow, I wanted to drop Iggy off at his friend’s house so their family could watch over him,” the black griffon said. “Then, I need to head over to Miss Fluttershy’s Sanctuary and make sure she will be okay with all the animals there while I’m gone.”
“I didn’t know you worked with Fluttershy!” Luster said.
“Oh, I forgot to mention it,” Georgia said. “Yeah, I work at the Animal Sanctuary.”
“Huh, that’ a bit of an unusual position for a griffon. Don’t most of you like to be treasure hunters?” Luster asked.
Georgia frowned. “Yeah, most of my race has been all about treasure for a long time. It’s given us a bit of a bad reputation. I don’t really care for wealth. I prefer to help creatures. That’s why I left Griffonstone with Iggy and joined the School of Friendship.”
“We just got our dresses for the Gala!” River Song said.
“Oh, cool! I’ll see you guys at the Treehouse. I just need to head over to Sugarcube Corner.”
…
A few minutes later, Georgia met with Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake, who were overseeing the bakery. Pinkie Pie was once again in Canterlot, helping Princess Twilight plan the upcoming Gala. Cheese Sandwich was there with Lil Cheese, though, along with Big Mcintosh and Sugar Belle’s son, Big Sugar. The young colt with the pink mane immediately began bouncing up and down, throwing his rubber chicken while Big Sugar walked calmly behind. Iggy smiled lightly and flew over to play with his best friend.
“Ah, Iggy! Georgia!” Cheese said as they came in.
“Thanks for watching Iggy while I take a little vacation, Mr. Sandwich,”
“Sure thing, I’ll make sure he has lots of fun with Lil Cheese and Big Sugar while you’re gone!” Cheese said.
Georgia gave her brother a ruffle on the head with her claws, then flew to Fluttershy’s sanctuary. She found the yellow Pegasus flying around handing food to various animals such as rabbits, deer, and squirrels. Several of them ran up to Georgia as she approached and hugged her talons or jumped on her back.
“Oh, good afternoon, Georgia,” Fluttershy said with a kind smile.
Georgia returned the smile. “Is everything alright here? I wanted to make sure you didn’t need any extra help while I was gone on my friendship field trip with Luster.”
Fluttershy nodded. “No need to worry. I have the Lord of Chaos here to lend me a hoof or paw depending on which limb it is.”
Discord appeared through a portal and gave Georgia a grin. “I could do all the work around here with a mere snap of my fingers. The food would fly right up to the animals whenever they needed it. But my dear kind wife insists I don’t do that all the time since it would leave creatures like you with fewer work opportunities. But I will be doing it for the duration of your vacation.”
Georgia gave the draconequus a slight scowl but shrugged. “Hmph, thank you very much. I appreciate you covering for me.”
“Sure thing!” Discord grinned, before bringing his face eye level with hers and pointing at her eyes. “You better keep a sharp eagle eye out for trouble while you’re out there with Luster. Don’t trust any creatures you don’t know. They could easily be Chrysalis in disguise.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Georgia said before flapping her wings and flying home.
Luster and River Song had already returned to the Treehouse of Harmony. Gallop and Yelena were there too. All of them had their saddlebags on their back.
“Ah, we’re all here!” Luster said as Georgia entered.
“Yeah, let me just grab my bag!” Georgia said, flying to her room and returning a few minutes later once she collected what she needed for the trip.
“Let’s go!” Luster said as she teleported them to Ponyville.
They walked to the train station and got on board the one going to the Crystal Empire. But little did they know something terrible was beginning there.
…
Grogar put his hoof on the Crystal Ball, and the image of Starcutter appeared.
“Is everything ready?” the former Emperor asked.
“Yes… my lord,” Starcutter said.
“Very good,” Grogar replied. “Begin the takeover of the Crystal Empire. Capture Princess Flurry Heart!”
“At once,” Starcutter said, and the crystal went blank.
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They all nodded to that and soon were on their way. As Gallop and Yelena were chatting upfront about their hayburger schedule, Luster stayed a bit behind, thinking over and over about Gallop calling her pretty. But after a while, she shrugged it off - he was right, they were nothing alike. It would never work. And the heat radiating from her stomach was probably something she ate.
Probably...
Oh my Those two could be in love lol
Uh oh here we go order 66 😥
ok So basically luster and her friends are invited to the grand galloping gala But that's in a month So basically they had to get ready but poor gallop Got his heart torn up from a stuck up pony but at least But he won't be alone this time but it looks like luster and gallop kinda like each other But anyway looks like they're going on the trip 1st but unfortunately grogar Is preparing for the attack on the crystal Empire which luster and her friends are going I wonder how this will work out I guess we'll find out next time
Oh ho a new shippie! Galluster? Dawnfry?
And why do I feel like Blank Slate is Chrysalis?
11327790
Well you're incorrect on that, he was just meant to show Lusters generous side. Glad you like the ship though.