Now when Rarity mentioned the Cutie Mark Crusaders she didn't just mean the founders Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. They got their own invitations for the first time this year, meaning they could take their own Plus Ones. Apple Bloom's of course was Babs Seed, who was sleeping over at the Apple Farm for the week.

Then there was Gabby the griffon, except she was coming as Gilda's Plus One. Gilda had been invited as well, and invited Gabby to go with her so that she could see her Cutie Mark Crusader friends. Gabby of course was more than happy to come. This meant that Gilda as well as Gabby was there getting their gowns too, though Gilda insisted on a simple gown. Gabby on the other hand didn't mind a fancy gown as long as it was similar to her fellow Crusaders' gowns.

As for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's Plus Ones, they decided to invite Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon so Diamond and Silver were also getting their dresses fitted. Humorously, Scootaloo and Sweetie already knew that Spoiled Rich would be shocked by her daughter being able to go to the ball thanks to the ones she dubbed Blank Flanks...so they decided to take advantage of that:

It was a few weeks before the Gala, just after everypony got their invitations. Since Apple Bloom had already decided to take Babs Seed Scootlaoo and Sweetie went to Diamond's house on their own.

They were in luck, Diamond had just gone outside to meet up with Silver and Spoiled Rich was still in the doorway.

"Diamond, Silver!" Scootaloo called.

"Hi guys!" Diamond beamed.

"Hey, what are you two doing here without Apple Bloom?" Silver asked curiously, since the Crusaders usually visited them as a trio.

"Oh she's busy calling her cousin Babs Seed, so we decided to come here without her." Sweetie smiled.

"Yeah, you see we were just stopping by for a quick moment to ask you something." Scootaloo grinned before showing her Gala ticket. "Would you two like to come to the Grand Galloping Gala with Sweetie and me as our 'Plus Ones'?"

Spoiled Rich dropped her mouth open.

"Are you serious?" Diamond gasped.

"I certainly would love to come!" Silver beamed.

"Uh-" Spoiled Rich hesitated.

Diamond gave her a stern/expectant look.

"Er...of course you should go dear..." Spoiled Rich gave in mostly because, well, this was the Grand Galloping Gala they were talking about.

"Great!" Diamond grinned. "Say girls, we should go talk to Rarity about our gowns. How about we go get Apple Bloom and then head to the Carousel Boutique?"

"Yeah!" The other girls agreed.

They ran off as Spoiled Rich tried to process what happened.

"Well well well."

Startled, Spoiled Rich turned and saw Spike standing there smirking, having happened to be nearby during the whole thing.

"Oh Prince Spike, forgive me I didn't see you there!" Spoiled Rich quickly bowed.

"Forget about it." Spike shrugged, still smirking.

Normally Spike hated it when others bowed to him...except when they happened to be stuck-up snobs like Spoiled Rich. So, in this case, he let her bow as long as she wanted. Heck, if nothing else it was refreshing to see her show some humility, even if it was the social-climbing sort of humility.

"Funny though, you used to dismiss Apple Bloom and her friends simply because they didn't have their Cutie Marks." Spike continued. "Yet Diamond Tiara probably would have never been able to go to the Grand Galloping Gala if she hadn't befriended them. Irony, what can you do?"

Chuckling, Spike then walked away leaving Spoiled Rich still bowing. At least until he disappeared, then Spoiled Rich got back up feeling quite the foal.

Now, back to almost-Gala-time...

The Crusaders had just finished trying on those last-minute adjustments to their gowns that Rarity was working on, and after taking care of their Cutie Mark mission they headed in their separate directions. This was mostly because Scootaloo was supposed to have met Rainbow Dash in a meadow earlier, plus Apple Bloom and Babs Seed were needed for a few chores back on the farm.

"Hey Scoots, what kept ya?" Rainbow smiled. "Another Cutie Mark Mission?"

"Yeah, though before that Rarity wanted us to try on a few last-minute adjustments to our gowns." Scootaloo chuckled.

"Ah, say no more. Well at least it couldn't have been as bad as when my friends and I got Rarity to create our own versions of gowns." Rainbow winced. "Never want to go through that again."

"At least yours was cool, though yeah the others did look as if they were heading to a costume party instead of a fancy gala." Scootaloo nodded.

"True, in fact that's why we kept the gowns. We're thinking of waiting a few more years until most ponies had forgotten about them, and then wearing them on Nightmare Night." Rainbow chuckled.

"Good idea." Scootaloo chuckled back. "So what did you want to see me about?"

"Soarin has the day off and was going to spend it with us, but I think some last-minute emergencies came up since he's late too."

"Ah."

And then who should show up but Zephyr Breeze. This is gonna be good...

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..." Rainbow muttered.

"Hey Rainbows, just the awesome mare I was looking for." Zephyr flirted. "You'll never guess the great news, not only do I have a job at a salon in Manehattan but I even got my own house. It's just the place for you too, but you really don't have to say anything: of course I'll marry you, in fact I'd be honored to be your husband. Just think, we-"

"Hey, leave my mom alone!" Scootaloo snapped, instantly noticing Rainbow's major discomfort.

Zephyr blanched and backed away shocked.

"Mom?" He repeated. "Wha-? Rainbows you're already married?"

"No." Rainbow scoffed, irritated that despite Zephyr's supposed crush on her he couldn't bother to keep up with any news about her. "Scootaloo accidentally lost her parents in a fire so I adopted her. What, Fluttershy never told you?"

"Um...she probably did in a past letter but I didn't see that part..." Zephyr said awkwardly.

Rainbow was willing to bet that was because the part of the letter that mentioned her adopting Scootaloo also mentioned that she and Soarin were now dating.

"But that doesn't matter, any filly you love enough to adopt is awesome enough to be a daughter to me too." Zephyr quickly recovered before turning to Scootaloo. "So what do you say, would you love to have an awesome dad like me?"

That did it, Rainbow punched Zephyr in the muzzle so hard that his nose started to bleed.

"NO! No Scootaloo doesn't want to have a dad like you because she already has an awesome future dad: Soarin Skies! He and I started dating around the time I adopted Scootaloo and I couldn't be happier because he's the one I've pined for all this time, NOT YOU!" Rainbow snapped. "When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I never had feelings for you, I never will have feelings for you, and in fact always found you as annoying as Tartarus!"

Zephyr lay there shaking, his eyes tearing up.

"Hey hey, what's going on here." Soarin finally showed up looking concerned. "Who...hey wait a minute, aren't you that pegasus Dash once zapped with lightning because he wouldn't do his fair share of the work?"

"Yes, Fluttershy's brother Zephyr Breeze, the one who has had this annoying crush on me since we were foals." Rainbow nearly growled.

"Oh right..." Soarin looked at Rainbow awkwardly. "Um, say Zephyr you'd best leave Dash alone from now on for the sake of your health. Trust me, you don't want to see her when she gets really mad."

"But..." Zephyr sobbed as he got up. "But Rainbows, I always loved you."

"If you really do love me you'll let me be with the stallion I truly love." Rainbow retorted as she pointed at Soarin. "Get over me and find somepony else, somepony who will actually enjoy your flirts instead of finding them disturbing like I do."

Still sobbing, Zephyr flew away.

"Gee...you think maybe you were too hard on him?" Soarin watched Zephyr leave sympathetically.

"Please, he never caught on to my obvious hints of annoyance before - seriously, I once pushed him away from me off the chair I was sitting on and not even that worked - so I figured I'd have to harshly reject him for him to finally get it." Rainbow scoffed. "Besides, he more than crossed the line when he added Scootaloo into his delusions. Trying to end up with me is one thing, but I'm the only one who says which stallions are good enough to be a dad for my daughter and which aren't."

"Gotcha." Soarin decided to drop the subject. "Anyway, sorry about being late. Had to help out with a few recruits who were having a tougher time than usual."

"No prob Soarin." Rainbow now smiled, calming down. "We still have plenty of time to hang out. But before we do...well...I know the Wonderbolts get their own tickets but..."

"Actually I didn't." Soarin smiled. "I was confused at first, but then I thought of you."

"Ah. You're right." Rainbow smiled as she held out the Plus One ticket. "Guess Princess Celestia knew that I would want to go with only you, especially since dad would rather stay home with mom who is still trying to keep her real identity as much a secret as possible."

"Princess Celestia's smart all right." Soarin chuckled. "So, I would love to go to the Gala with you. Actually I'd be happier going with you than the rest of the Wonderbolts, I could use a serious break from the reporters."

"I can understand that." Rainbow chuckled. "I mean I like media attention myself, but not when I'd rather spend the day hanging out with my friends, my daughter, and my very special somepony."

"My feelings exactly, except I'd have to change 'daughter' to 'surrogate daughter'." Soarin smiled.

"Only legally, otherwise you can call me daughter instead of surrogate daughter anytime you want." Scootaloo smiled.

"Only if you call me dad or some similar title in return." Soarin winked.

"It's a deal...dad." Scootaloo winked back.

After that, Soarin, Rainbow, and Scootaloo spent the day hanging out in Ponyville and in Rainbow and Scootaloo's home.

Oh, speaking of a similar situation I should explain that Rarity didn't get her own ticket due to Celestia knowing that Spike would want to invite her as his Plus One anyway. And she was right, the moment he got the ticket Spike went to ask Rarity to be his Plus One and she was more than happy to accept.

The rest of the Mane Six also invited their very special someponies - Flicker, Richie, and Arbor - as their Plus Ones and they were more than happy to go. Arbor was looking forward to checking out the gardens, Richie wanted to meet some nice Canterlot ponies like Fancy Pants, and Flicker wanted to experience as much Equestrian culture as possible. Besides, it wouldn't be any fun staying in the castle by himself anyway.

Oh yes, and of course Starlight was invited, with Sunburst as her Plus One, and even Trixie was invited. Same with Dragon Lord Ember and King Thorax, though without Plus Ones. Trixie didn't have any friends besides the ones who were going anyway, Ember wasn't close enough to the other dragons to bring one even as a friend, and Thorax didn't want to pick any favorites amongst his subjects.

A.N. Skies has become a popular last name for Soarin, so I decided to use it too. It's catchy and fits him anyway.