"Soren come on! We're supposed to meet everyone at Rarity's boutique to get ready for the gala!" Gareth banged against me door as I grabbed my coat and opened it taking a hoof to the face as he wasn't done knocking, "Oh…sorry." He gave a nervous chuckle and I gave a small laugh.

"You are too excited man. I thought you would hate fancy parties." I said closing the door behind me as we headed towards Rarity's boutique; it was definitely going to be a fun night, I was going to see Shinning Armor for the first time in months and catch up with the news of Canterlot.

"Well these parties are full of bigwigs and ponies with connections. I can use my freelancer labor work to help ponies that need help and make a nice bag of bits in the process, maybe two bags if I'm lucky." He dreams big, well I suppose some ponies go to the Gala for different reasons and if he wants to do that he'll find a way, either way I'm sure we'll all have fun. As we approached the boutique everyone else was beginning to gather up around Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight and Alice; looks like Twilight was working on a spell. As she closed the book she focused her magic on a nearby apple as it shifted and expanded turning into a giant carriage; so that's what we're going to the gala in, as everyone gave a gasp of amazement Fluttershy put down four mice and Twilight started using her magic on them. They shifted and expanded like the apple and turned into…fancy…mutant…horse-mice?

"I don't think that works Twilight." Alice said giving a look of grimace at the creatures.

"Well I'm sure it'll be fine. They turn back to mice at the end of the night so this should work." Twilight said trying to convince everyone…and I think herself; suddenly there was a squeak and we turned to see the mice running off with Opal on their tail.

"Any other ideas?" Sukia asked giggling and Twilight blushed in embarrassment.

"We can do that for you girls." I said pointing to me and Gareth who nodded in agreement.

"Thank you boys, you are true gentlemen." Rarity said in sincere thanks, "Come girls let us get ready."

"All right, come on Soren, Gareth I finished your suits yesterday." Alice said as we all headed into the boutique; Alice led us into her workshop and pulled out a stand revealing two suits and three dresses. The suits were plain black with pants and suit with and white undershirt and black bowtie, the only difference between the two was the stitching in the collars with one depicting my cutie mark and the other depicting Gareth's. The dresses were much more personalized with the Alice's green dress having a plain light green pattern from neck to flank with a deep green fabric draping down the back legs and green shoes…Alice has always been function over style anyway. Lily's dress was a white piece with a book and quill hairpin; Sukia's dress was a deep crimson red with a song note clip near the neck; at least she got color coordination right, "Soren I have a small problem."

"What is it Alice?"

"Your cloak."

"What about it?"

"You're wearing it; I refuse to let you go to the Gala in that same old thing."

"But it's my cloak, I don't go anywhere without it."

"Well good thing I enchanted your suit with a pocket dimension and that cloak is light so it shouldn't weigh you down."

"You enchanted formal wear?" Lily asked amazed at her dedication.

"Of course!" Alice said excited, "Soren's has a magic pocket, Gareth's has a sweat pocket, Lily's has stain remover since it's white and Sukia's has a de-wrinkle enchantment to keep it smooth."

"Think you went overboard?" Gareth asked.

"No way, I only did one enchantment a piece so that's good for me." Alice said defensively.

"Considering her usual work that's actually pretty good." I said knowing best about this since I'm her enchantment tester; usually she would put three or four on them for a little extra kick but I'm guessing she was a bit strained to not put enchantments on these pieces.

"The pieces are plainer than I expected." Lily said examining them.

"I'm surprised Rarity let you get away with this." Sukia said picking up her dress with her magic and moving up the stairs.

"Trust me, it wasn't easy." Alice replied with a sigh as she and Lily followed behind her; as Gareth and I tried to follow I was back kicked by Alice and tumbled down the stairs taking Gareth with me, "You boys get changed down there while we ladies will get changed upstairs." As I stood back up Spike passed by me going up the stairs and past Alice who kept her eyes on us.

"What about Spike?" I asked.

"He's a dragon." Alice stated but it didn't really feel like an explanation.

"That's not a good explanation." Gareth said and she gave a shrug before walking back up the stairs; with a sigh we started putting on our tuxedoes and I placed my coat into the inner pocket and straightened my bow tie and looked in a nearby mirror…I didn't look to bad.

"Rather dashing Soren and Gareth." Looking behind me I saw Rarity looking at us.

"I thought you and the girls were changing upstairs?" Gareth said scratching his mane.

"Well I realized that you two are going to go out with…those manes…so I thought I would help out." She said lifting up a brush with her magic.

"You really have a problem with us not looking our best don't you?" I said stating the fact I knew at this point.

"I really do, next to Rainbow Dash and Applejack you two are…very unkempt." Rarity said with a strained look on her face; every time she tries to sound nice about it that look just gives it away, "Now hold still, this might take a while."

With everyone ready and well-groomed the ladies entered the apple carriage while Gareth and I hooked ourselves up to it and began to pull as the sun set; luckily we still had enough time that when we got there only about half an hour would have passed since the beginning of the Gala meaning we would still have all night to enjoy ourselves.

"I'm so excited to be back in Canterlot during the Gala! Soren, Gareth we should hit Joe's donut shop before the end of the night." Spike said excitedly.

"Joe's donut shop?" Gareth asked confused; I knew where he was talking about though.

"It's a nice little donut shop run by a pony named Joe. He has the best donuts in Canterlot in my opinion; most people would recommend the Royal Pastry Bakery but I enjoy Joe's Donuts Shop more." I explained.

"Sound delicious."

"It is…jelly filled sprinkle…ahhh."

"Spike, you're drooling."

Alice

The carriage bumped along the road as we talked about what we wanted to do at the Gala with the few hours we could spend tonight; seemed everyone had their own agenda for tonight but I couldn't judge them, I had my own thing to do as well.

"What about you Sukia, any big plans?" Fluttershy asked and she went quiet in deep thought.

"Well I personally want to enjoy the sophisticated atmosphere and meet interesting people. It's a party after all." She responded making everyone laugh.

"What about you Lily?" Dash asked and she jumped at the sudden attention.

"Well…it's a place with the most sophisticated of ponies and home to the princesses…I'm going to write down every single detail I can on everything I can!" She hopped up and down excitedly clutching a book marked 'Celestia's Castle' I don't think she'll be socializing tonight.

"And you Alice?" Rarity asked.

"I'm going to spend my time enjoying the party and dancing."

"Dancing with who?" Applejack jabbed into me making me blush as I knew what she was implying.

"Well…maybe I'll get the chance to dance with him." I said looking away as my face was turning redder by the second.

"You'll have a chance; you'll be talking with him throughout the night." What were they talking about, I'll be way too embarrassed to get a chance to dance with let alone talk to him. Suddenly the carriage came to a stop and I looked out the window to see we were outside the castle, we were finally at the Gala.

Soren

With the carriage parked we all stood outside the entrance to the castle where the Gala was hosted every year; Shinning Armor would always tell me about it but this is the first time I'll actually be able to experience it for myself. First thing I have to do though is to find Shinning Armor though and catch up with him on how things have been going and tell him how strong I've gotten in the months I've been gone. Looking around I noticed that everyone had separated heading their own way leaving me and Spike at the entrance; no time to waste, I dashed inside heading towards the main stairs to see Celestia greeting ponies that came in with Twilight standing next to her.

"Soren! Welcome to the Gala." Celestia said as I approached her with a bow, "Come now Soren rise, it's the Gala."

"Oh, well thanks…have you seen Shinning Armor around?" I asked.

"He wasn't able to make it tonight, said he had something very important to do tonight."

"Oh…and I was hoping to spend time with him while I was here." I sulked a little as Celestia put her hoof on my shoulder.

"I'm sure you'll be able to see him in the future, for now enjoy the Gala while you're here."

"Thanks Princess." She gave me a nod and smile and I headed for the ball room; orchestra music was playing from the back as well dressed ponies socialized with each other and talked about matters of politics and high class events…my head hurts just listening to them.

"Soren." I turned to see Luna giving me a gentle smile as she looked down at me, "It is good to see you again."

"Luna! How have you been since I left?"

"Well since then I have amassed a good number of guards to my command, but ever since then they've wondered who else they saw it the shared dream."

"What did you tell them?"

"My first guard, trust me they are still very confused." She gave a giggle at her own joke and I joined in, "But they still want to meet you."

"Why me?"

"You may not know it but since you saved me from the alicorn Shinning Armor and I have been telling that story to every knight in training and they are all very impressed."

"Well…gosh, I never knew that I became so famous." I felt my face turn red as she told me about all the knights that looked up to me.

"Since you're here would you like to dance?" WHAT!? Princess Luna wants to dance with me…well…I guess…ummm.

"S-S-S-Sure…b-b-but I don't k-k-know how t-t-to d-d-d-dance." She laughed and suddenly grabbed my hoof dragging me to the dance floor.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you." She said and we started dancing on the dance floor.

Lily

"This place is amazing!" I said loudly as I looked at every detail of the room with wide eyes; the pillars are made of smooth marble and the floors are tiled with smooth linoleum, the room is ordained and well organized to draw your eye to the stage where the music was coming from and the dance floor where ponies were currently dancing with partners.

"Calm down Lily, your pencil is starting to smoke." Alice said and I looked to see she was right; maybe I should take a break, it's still very amazing; looking over the dance floor my eyes caught Soren stumbling as he danced with…Princess Luna!? Huh…seems Soren doesn't know how to dance; I wrote that down taking note of his jagged and yet wobbly off key movements as Luna laughed happily; I wonder why Luna is dancing with him?

"Is that Soren?" I heard Alice asked and almost swallowed my pencil, "Is he dancing with Princess Luna? Wow and here I thought he couldn't dance…oh wait…he can't."

"You're not mad about that?"

"No, why would I be?"

"…N-Never mind…why is Luna laughing at him though?"

"She's not laughing at him."

"She isn't?" I looked over and as Soren fell to the ground Luna gave another giggle.

"She finds his fumbles and stumbles cute. You can see it in her face." She pointed to her cheeks and as she giggled she had a slight pink to her cheeks; she actually found his inability to dance cute?...I guess a little.

"So are you going to go talk to your crush?" I asked and Alice turned slightly red.

"W-W-Well I don't know where he is." What!? B-B-But he's right there!

"I thought Soren was your crush."

"Soren is my crush and keep it down!" She said covering my mouth with her hoof.

"But he's right there?" I said pointing to Soren as he continued to try to dance with Luna and Alice laughed.

"No…not that Soren, the Wonderbolt's Soarin." SO she hasn't had a crush on our Soren…so many notes to erase now, "You thought I had a crush on our Soren? Why would you think that?"

"All you said was that you had a crush on Soren during the sleepover, I t-think everyone else thought that to." She gave a scoff.

"Please, you couldn't pay me to like Soren. I mean yeah he's one of my best friends and an awesome clothes tester but that's it." Alice explained still chuckling, "You're crazy Lily."

"M-Maybe you could be clearer next time." I said and she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah I'll take the blame for that."

"I-If it's a Wonderbolt then i-if we find Rainbow Dash then I'm sure y-you can meet Soarin."

"If it happens it'll happen…b-but let's see if we can find Dash anyway."

Gareth

I flopped down putting my head down on a nearby table; even with all of the ponies enjoying themselves there hasn't been a run out of food, or need of someone to move something from one place to the other, it felt too peaceful compared to ponyville in my opinion.

"Is something wrong Gareth?" I turned my head to see Sukia sitting at the table with a drink.

"Just wasn't what I was expecting, nobody needs my help." I replied as she handed me a drink.

"Well we're in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria isn't going to have many problems. Especially during the biggest event of the year."

"Yeah…but I was hoping for something." I said gulping down the drink and giving a sigh, "Oh well, guess I'll just sit here."

"Gareth you're at the biggest social even of the year with your friends. At least spend some time with us if nothing else while you're here." I guess she was right; Soren gave me a ticket to come here so I should at least spend time with the people I came with…including Sukia.

"Well then let's dance." I said grabbing her hoof and dragging her to the dance floor; we started dancing and I was glad to find I wasn't doing as badly as I expected; with the time I spent at Sweet Apple Acres AJ took the time to teach me how to square dance which at least gave me some experience with rhythm, I just had to make sure I didn't move to fast and kept time with the music. Suddenly I felt someone bump into me knocking me and Sukia over and I turned to see Soren on the ground as Princess Luna gave a worried look.

"Ow…" Soren said as he stood back up.

"It's okay Soren, I find it quiet cute how you can't dance, it's refreshing to the rest of these others who only know formal dancing." Luna said with a big smile.

"You don't like formal dancing?" I asked.

"It just becomes boring after a while; I knew knights weren't versed in dancing so I was sure Soren would make an interesting dance partner."

"So you knew I would fail?" Soren asked and Luna became slightly flustered.

"Are you made at me?"

"No I'm glad to dance with you Luna, but you owe me a lesson."

"Fair enough, I'll teach you the basics." With that they walked off to continue dancing; they looked like they were having fun at least.

"Shall we keep dancing Gareth?"

"Of course Sukia." Taking her hoof we continued where we left off.

"So how's it been for you so far Sukia?"

"Well I've talked with a few people but they don't offer any interesting conversation; they all feel very bland and boring."

"Really? Here I thought you would fit in well with these people, you are the classiest of the group.

"Maybe but being around others like me is boring, I like spending time with you guys because you all have such wild personalities."

"We don't have wild personalities…do we?"

"Well Alice is cool on the surface but impulsive and shy when dealing with the truth, Lily is shy but very passionate when it comes to what she cares about. The twins are pranksters with very intricate schemes and yet always know when to stop; I think that's why they continue to tease Soren. You are very intense and are always up for a challenge, you also like to see everyone around you happy which is why you want to help out even now."

"True...and Soren?"

"Soren is confident and is always ready to help out his friends when they need him, he's impulsive and a little bit dense but he protects his friends with everything he can, even putting himself in harm's way but he still trusts us to help him when he needs it, he's a true knight."

"Yeah…we still haven't figured out why his cutie mark can transfer abilities to other ponies." It's been months and Soren hasn't been able to figure anything out; he even used it without thinking when he was in that dream with Luna.

"I'm sure everything will work out, you guys will figure it out."

"You guys? You're his friend to Sukia."

"Even so…I get the feeling you four are going to figure it out as a group. You four have some sort of connection that I can't quiet place." She spoke with a sense of seriousness that even had me believing her; but then what was the connection that brought us together…maybe I should talk with the others about this, "I know that look in your eye, don't worry about it right now. For now let's just enjoy the night." As we kept dancing I still couldn't shake what she said off my mind.

Lily

"There he is!" Alice said much giddier than normal as she looked at the Wonderbolt Soarin and tried to stay calm as she jittered and moved around happily; it was freaky to see her so hyped up considering her normal calm look…or in the case of Soren her angry look. I waved to Rainbow Dash and she let us into the VIP section with her; it was full of up class ponies that seemed even more up class than any other ponies at the Gala. If it were anymore up class then the ponies here would have two monocles; as I looked around Alice had her eyes glued on Soarin as Rainbow Dash brought him and another Wonderbolt to us.

"Spitfire, Soarin, this is Alice and Lily. They're two of my friends from Ponyville." Rainbow said motioning to us and Alice turned redder as Soarin looked at her.

"So you're Lily, I hear you keep record of Dash's speeds for her." Spitfire said and I gave a nod pulling out my journal and showing my record page for Rainbow Dash, "Not bad, these are actually pretty impressive Rainbow Dash." As Spitfire said that a blush of embarrassment came over Rainbow…and me, "So Lily, what's your job?"

"I-I keep records at Ponyville and o-organize the files." I answered as she closed the book and handed it back to me, "It keeps bread on the table and makes sure my skills are sharp."

"True enough…you know, the Wonderbolts are always looking for someone to keep records on up and coming recruits; if you're interested then I think you might have a spot."

"R-R-R-Really? B-B-But I don't exactly have any great qualities, I'm not a great flyer th-that's for sure." I replied sheepishly, it was a big opportunity but I don't deserve it.

"We don't need great flyers, just people with a keen eye for catching detail and from the looks of your book it seems you have just that. Think about applying at least." With that Spitfire and Rainbow walked away leaving me and Alice there…where did she go, and where is Soarin?

"Lily!" I turned around to see Gareth giving his usual big grin to me.

"Gareth? What are you doing here?" I aksed surprised he was in the VIP section…not that he couldn't be here it's just I don't think he would be here even of his free will, he doesn't really like high class events.

"They needed someone to bring extra food to the VIP section and I volunteered. What about you?"

"Rainbow let me come in with Alice. H-Hey since you're here w-w-would you like t-to dance?"

"Sure, I wouldn't mind that!" He replied and we moved to the dance floor; hopefully he doesn't notice how bad I am at dancing, "Ow! I think you stepped on my hooves." Too late.

Alice

"Hey…aren't you the pony that developed the uniform for cloud movers?" Soarin asked and I felt my heart flutter; not only was my crush talking to me but he knew of some of my work…this was awesome! A lot of ponies have crushes on some of the Wonderbolts but they like the stoic and strong looking ponies or the showoffs; Soarin is better than them though, even though he's a Wonderbolt and worked hard to become one he isn't cocky about it. He's one of the most down to earth Wonderbolts there is, he's a happy go lucky pony but still has the skill and abilities to show he's qualified to be a Wonderbolt…it made him very appealing to me.

"Yes…that was me, hehe." I laughed nervously twirling my bangs with my magic nervously.

"Wow! You know I heard that they've been making sure those stay strong and usable because of how great they were. You really amazed them with your work."

"W-W-Well thanks, that means a lot." I was a stuttering mess; I guess it's like this for others who talk to somepony they like, okay Alice deep breaths, "S-S-So what's it like b-b-being and W-Wonderbolt." Damnit.

"It wasn't easy to get this far but I'm proud to be where I am now, I won't let my hard work go to waste."

"Hey I've noticed that during your time as a Wonderbolt you always seem to be more relatable than other ponies in the group, why are you like that?"

"My grandma always told me that no matter how far you go or how much you achive that you should never lose sight of what's truly important; for me that's always been my humility and making sure I don't become too proud."

"That's…actually pretty sweet. Your grandma sound like a great pony."

"Yeah…she is." It was a moment of silence between us and suddenly Spitfire called Soarin over breaking the silence, "I've gotta go but…let's stay in contact." Grabbing a nearby napkin he wrote down something and gave it to me, "Here. I'll see you later." As he walked away I looked at the napkin to see it was his mail address…this is the greatest day of my life!

"Gah!" I felt someone knock into me sending us both down and looked to see Soren with a dizzy look on his face, "Too much twirling." Standing up I looked at the napkin to see it was slightly crumpled and smudged.

"Soren!" I yelled and he looked up at me, "You almost destroyed this napkin!"

"Napkin?"

"It has Soarin's mail address on it!"

"You know where I live already." Giving him a knock on the head he gave me his usual confused look as he rubbed the bump.

"Not you, Soarin the Wonderbolt." I said and he looked at the napkin intensly.

"Sorry, luckily it's still readable but I didn't mean to."

"What were you doing?"

"Luna wanted to practice twirling and the short answer is she did better than me." He said with a chuckle that made me smile.

"Maybe you should dance with a pony more your size instead."

"That would help." Luna said approaching us, "Me being taller has made it hard for him to lead…how about he dances with you Alice?"

"Me?"

"Do you not know how to dance?"

"Well…I do…but are you sure me?"

"Please Alice…I don't think I can take another face plant to the ground." Soren said with a smile at Luna who rolled her eyes and giggled.

"…Okay." I replied and Soren's face lit up like child; we moved to the dance floor and I followed Soren's footsteps making sure his mistakes didn't ruin my hooves, "You're not bad but make sure to be confident in your steps, I'll follow, trust me." With that his worried face turned to one of confidence and he started moving smoothly as I followed in his steps.

"So when did you learn to dance?" He asked.

"When I began my work under Rarity she insisted that I learn how to dance; she was obsessed with it. So I took the class to finally stop her complaining." He gave a laugh and I gave a pout, "Hey, what's so funny?"

"It's just weird to think of you in a ballet costume."

"Don't expect it anytime soon." We both laughed as we danced and some ponies gave us glares as we were breaking the classy air but I didn't care.

"You do look nice tonight though. It's very you."

"Well thanks...it's a pretty plain dress though."

"Not at all, your dress shows a hidden beauty that only those close to you know."

"What hidden beauty?"

"You. You're an awesome pony and that's what makes the dress so great." As he gave me his honest smile I felt my heart skip a beat at his compliment.

"I-I-Idiot!" I knocked him on the head again and looked away embarrassed; why did he have to say that, now my heart is beating really fast.

"You two look like you're having fun." I turned to see Gareth and Lily standing there laughing at us.

"S-Shut up! I think I'm done dancing for now anyway." I said walking away before Soren pulled me back to the group.

"If that's the case then I know where we should head." He said to all of us, "Follow me." As he led us there was a loud crash and animals began to flood the ballroom, "And quickly, I think the partyis over." We all gave a nod and rushed towards the entrance; the last thing I heard was Fluttershy shouting loudly, here I thought she couldn't shout.

Soren

After finding Sukia we all headed out; opening the door everyone entered Joe's donut shop and as I walked in last I noticed Spike sitting at the counter with a pout on his face; he must have had a hard night. The bell to the door chimed and I turned to see Twilight and the gang all looking like they had been torn up by a twister…made of cake and dust.

"You six look more sullen than a diamond dog." Gareth blurted out and they all sighed, I'm guessing they were ready to tell us a story.

"Wow that sounds horrible." Gareth blurted after their stories.

"It was!" They all said in unison followed by a long sigh.

"What about you guys?" Twilight asked.

"It wasn't bad, I learned how to dance." I answered.

"I got to meet Soarin of the Wonderbolts."

"I got a recommendation to apply for a job from the Wonderbolts; apparently they need record keepers."

"I realized high class ponies are boring."

"And I…just enjoyed myself, wasn't much else than that."

"Sounds like you all had a better night then us." Rarity said dusting the cake off her dress; wasn't helping the stains though and by her whimpering face I'm guessing she knew it was a lost cause as well.

"It was the worst Gala ever." They all said looking down sadly.

"That was the best Gala ever!" Looking at the doorway I saw Celestia and Luna standing there with smiles on their faces.

"I can't disagree with the beginning but the second half with the animals wasn't so great." Sukia said.

"The Gala is always terrible, high class ponies are always very boring." Luna said with a smile, "But that's why we invited you guys."

"We knew you would liven up the party." Celestia said as she and Luna sat down at the table with us. For the rest of the night we spent time just sitting and talking as a big group of friends; Celestia even told us stories of past Galas and how boring they became over the years, she even told a few stories of how she herself tried to liven it up but didn't end up in such a great situation, "Hot sauce may not have been the best idea." We all gave a laugh and I felt a sense of peace and calm in that moment; this was definitely one night I wouldn't forget; not just because I know knew that Celestia had been the cause behind the Gala hot sauce incident two years ago but because this was a night I enjoyed with all of my friends at once.