Grand Galloping Gala

Ponyville: Near Rarity's Shop: Night's POV

The girls were really excited, as the Grand Galloping Gala was tonight. Twilight was handling it by making a last check on a few spells. Pinkie, however, couldn't contain her excitement. "I… can't… believe… the Grand… Galloping… Gala… is… tonight!" Pinkie said as she bounced on a trampoline.

"Pinkie! Please stop shouting, I'm trying to concentrate," Twilight called out. Although, Night was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. This wasn't his first dance, but all the ones he's been to have been more casual. Not something compared to the scale of the Grand Galloping Gala from what he's heard. No, his discomfort came from Twilight: he was feeling something for her, and these feelings had gotten stronger. He was hoping he could talk to Celestia or Luna about it, but he wasn't getting his hopes up.

"Pinkie Pie! Stop that right now. It's time to prepare for the Gala, and I refuse to let you put on your new dress when you're all sweaty," Rarity said as she came out of her shop. Pinkie defied gravity for a second and came to a complete stop. Pinkie then hopped off the trampoline and stood by Night and Spike.

"She's getting the final touches on a spell she's going to use," Night explained, reading Pinkie's look of confusion.

"Where are the others? It's getting late," Rarity realized. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash then showed up.

"Hold your horses, girl. We're here," Applejack said.

"Perfect! I'm ready," Twilight said as she closed the book.

"For what?" Rainbow asked excitedly. Twilight then signaled Spike, who promptly placed an apple on the ground.

"Are we having pie?" Pinkie asked. Twilight then used the spell and the apple turned into a carriage. Night then started to get a bit of deja vu when Fluttershy placed 4 mice near Twilight. The mice then turned into horses as Night realized the similarity.

"Okay, where's the fairy godmother?" Night asked. The girls looked at him oddly at this. "Fairy godmother. Isn't that what turns…" It was clear that nopony, nor any dragon for that matter, understood Night's joke. "Nevermind. Earth joke." The girls merely shrug when Rarity's cat, Opalescence, or Opal for short, jumps out and lands on one of the mice-horses back. The creatures run off in a panic and disappear.

"Wait! Come back! Those horses were supposed to pull our carriage. How will we get to the Gala?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Whatever shall we do?" Rarity asked dramatically.

"You all do realize I can just save us all the trouble by asking Celestia for a carriage, right?" Night asked.

"He's gotta point," Rainbow comments.

"I have to be there a bit early anyway. So, while you all get dressed up I'm going to head off. I'll ask Celestia to send a carriage down while that happens," Night explains. The group agrees. Night then used his Lightning Travel ability to get to Canterlot. As he made his way there, Night did notice a small line of carriages heading toward Canterlot. Night then turned back to his physical form in front of the guards at the palace doors. They reacted quickly by pointing their weapons at Night, but stopped when they saw it was him. "Good reflexes," Night noted.

"Thank you, your highness," one of the guards said. They then opened the castle doors. Night stepped in and he saw Celestia heading down the steps talking to an assistant.

"... and make sure that the gates open on schedule," she said before turning to Night. "Night! Good to see you."

"Good to see you too. Is Luna around?" Night asked.

"Right here," Luna said as she came from another part of the castle. She and Night shared a quick hug before Celestia started speaking.

"Now, I know Twilight and your friends are coming to the Gala, but we'd both appreciate it if you supervised security tonight," she said.

"Let me guess, Shining Armor's hoping to spend the night with Cadance," Night guessed.

"That would be accurate," Luna answered. Night and Luna shared a laugh while Celestia rolled her eyes at her younger siblings with an amused smile. Night then noticed a guard approach them. He recognized her as Starry Sky.

"Lieutenant Sky, reporting as ordered," she said, giving a brief salute. Night's attention was brought to her armor, which was a solid black with light blue lightning-like lines running down the sides.

"Good to see you again Lieutenant," Night told her.

"Good to see you too, your highness," she responded.

"If anything happens, let me know as soon as possible," Celestia said before heading off. Night appreciated that Celestia was taking security seriously.

"Hey, Luna, can I talk to you for a moment, alone?" Night asked.

"Sure," Luna said and she and Night headed to her room. "So, what's this all about?"

"Well, I've started to have these feelings. I don't know what it is but, it mainly happens while I'm around Twilight," Night explained.

"These feelings, are they strong?" Luna asked.

"Yes," Night answered, not seeing where Luna was going with this.

"Do you feel an urge to be near Ms. Sparkle?" Luna asked.

"Where are you going with this?" Night asked.

"Answer the question."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I think I have an idea of what's going on."

"What?" Night asked curiously.

"Well, I think you are in love," Luna answered.

"What?! With who?" Night asked.

"Jeez, you were only talking about her a few moments ago," Luna answered smugly.

"Twilight. No, we're just…" Night started, but he then thought about it. Everything just made sense now. Why he had acted differently around her compared to any of his other friends. He then wondered if Twilight felt the same.

"Believe me when I say I know what I'm talking about. I was in love before, but the relationship I had with that pony got… complicated," Luna told him.

Night stood there for a moment, taking in this new thought. "I need to think about this," Night said as he left Luna's room. Once outside, Starry Sky was waiting for him.

"If you're ready, your highness, the unit would like to see you again," she said.

"I'd like to see them too before we get started. Like the armor by the way," Night commented.

"Well, we thought of it as our way of remembering who we owe our training to. We even named the unit 'The Black Guard,'" Starry Sky explained.

"'Black Guard' huh. That's got a nice ring to it," Night commented. They then enter the room where the unit had gathered. Night noticed Dawnbreaker and Havoc Winds standing in front of the unit, both giving a quick salute to Night and Starry Sky. "It's good to see you all again. We are the lucky ones to oversee security for tonight's event, so let's get started. Lieutenant?" Night said before he stepped to the side. He wanted to see how Starry Sky worked with the full command.

"Alright, I want all pegasi in the sky on patrol to look for aerial threats. Lieutenant Havoc will be in charge of that. The rest of us will take turns standing guard in key areas and patrolling the non-civilian areas. And remember to keep a lookout for anything suspicious. Just because we aren't expecting trouble doesn't mean it won't find us. Any special instructions sir?" Starry Sky asked. Night shook his head in response. "Alright, let's move." The unit then went on to their assignments.

"Before we get started, Lieutenant. I need you to send a carriage down to the Ponyville boutique, have the guards ask for Spike," Night told her. If Starry Sky was a bit confused by these orders, she didn't show it. She merely nodded and told another pony to pass the order down to the transportation area. The next few hours were pretty dull and it wasn't until around nightfall when the guests started showing up. Night just so happened to be near the area where Celestia was greeting the guests when Twilight walked into the room wearing a night blue dress with stars on the lower end. She simply looked amazing.

"Is there a problem sir?" one of the guards with him asked.

"No, Corporal," Night responded and continued on his patrol. He noticed that Twilight was trying to talk to Celestia, but wasn't having much luck with that. A little while later, Night encountered a pony he had hoped to avoid, Prince Blueblood, with Rarity alongside him.

"Oh, Prince Night, it is agreeable to see you," he said with a fake smile.

"Blueblood," Night acknowledged. Blueblood's smile turned to a frown for a quick second before reverting back to the fake smile.

"I'm quite surprised that you aren't in the Gala itself. You'd think a pony of your status would realize that it is fitting of a royal, not patrolling with guards," Blueblood responded. Night had heard this before. Ever since he met Blueblood, he always tried to get Night to act like what he called "a true royal," but Night couldn't care any less about his opinion. Night waved the two guards with him to calm down before responding.

"We both have different opinions on what a royal should and shouldn't do. I merely feel that I can be a better ruler by being alongside my people. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going. Oh and Blueblood, try to look at the ground once and a while. You don't want to trip over something small," Night said as he walked away. He noticed that it took all the guard's self-control not smirk at Night's verbal attack.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" one of them asked when they were out of hearing range.

"Granted," Night answered.

"Thank you for that clever use of words. Prince Blueblood deserved that," he said.

"Ponies like him are all the same Corporal. Heads so high in the clouds that they slip and fall down by the smallest things," Night told them.

"Yes sir," the other guard said. After the two guards swapped with another two guards, Night then saw Twilight again. This time, she seemed to be looking for someone. Twilight then saw him and walked toward him. As she approached, Night tried his hardest to control himself. He signaled for the guards to continue on without him as Twilight reached him.

"There you are Night, I was looking for you," Twilight said.

"Sorry, I was busy making sure nothing crazy happened tonight. You look great by the way," Night told her.

"Oh, thanks," Twilight said with a blush. Night then realized this was as good of a time as ever to tell her.

"Twilight, I've got to tell you something," Night said, working up his courage.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"You see—" Night started when a loud sound was heard from the ballroom. The two looked inside with a few guards right behind them, who also heard the noise. Night saw Rainbow with a large golden statue of Celestia on her back and she rocking it around all over the place and had knocked down a bunch of stone pillars which, thankfully, were just for decoration.

"Well… it can't get any worse," Twilight said.

"Why would you say that?" Night asked when the doors to the gardens burst open with animals running it to the ballroom with Fluttershy behind them looking like she had gone insane.

"You're… going to LOVE ME!" she screamed which caused the animals to go crazy and run into the guests. Night then noticed Celestia standing next to him.

"I'll take care of this, get moving," she told him and Twilight. Twilight then whistled to get their friend's attention and made their escape. Celestia and the guards with her then entered the room to try and calm everything down. As the group headed down the steps, Pinkie said something to Rarity.

"Ooh! Rarity, your glass slipper! Now your prince is sure to find you," Pinkie said. Rarity quickly smashed it and grabbed Pinkie. Twilight then led them to Joe's Donut Shop where they saw Spike sitting at one of the tables.

"Twilight Sparkle! Ha, ha. Long time no see," Joe says upon seeing the group. Spike looks up and sees them as well.

"Hey, how was the Gala? How was your best night ever?" Spike asked. The group, excluding Night, told Spike what had happened. "That sounds like the worst night ever!" Spike commented.

"It was!" everypony but Night said. The whole group laughed.

"I just hope Princess Celestia isn't upset with us for ruining the Gala," Twilight commented.

"That was the best Grand Galloping Gala ever!" Celestia said, entering the shop.

"What do you mean Princess? Tonight was awful" Twilight pointed out.

"Oh, Twilight. The Grand Galloping Gala is always awful," Celestia pointed out.

"It is?" Twilight asked confused.

"That is why I was thrilled you were all attending. I was hoping you could liven things up a bit," Celestia told them.

"And boy did you. I don't think I've seen a dance that chaotic since that time in 6th grade when someone brought in a pack of hyperactive dogs into the school," Night commented. "Don't ask," he said when he saw their faces.

"While the evening may not have gone as you planned, I'm sure you'll agree that in the end, it didn't turn out so bad for this group of friends," Celestia pointed out.

"You're right, Princess. Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great," Twilight said.

"Yeah! Hanging out with friends!" Rainbow said.

"Talking!" Fluttershy added.

"Laughing!" Pinkie continued.

"You mean doing exactly what I wanted to do the whole time?" Spike asked.

"Yes, Spike. You were right," Twilight admitted. Night barely had a clue what they were talking about, but he figured he could piece it together later.

"As horrible as our night was…" Applejack started.

"... being together here has made it all better." Rarity finished.

"In fact, it's made it…" Pinkie began.

"... the best night ever!" the girls said then started laughing. Night then signaled for Twilight to follow him and he led her outside.

"I assume you're going to tell me what you failed to tell earlier?" Twilight asked.

"That is correct," Night said. He took a deep breath before starting. "For a while, I've been having these feelings, and they are at their strongest when I'm around you. I talked about it with Luna and… I think I know what I'm feeling. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I love you Twilight," Night told her. Twilight was clearly shocked as her eyes went wide. Thinking she wouldn't respond, Night sighed and was about to leave when Twilight placed a hoof on his chest. Night was about to ask her what was up when Twilight kissed him right on the lips. Night's eyes widened, as he wasn't expecting this, but closed as he melted into the kiss. When their lips parted, Twilight looked at him with a loving smile.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to hear that you stupid colt? I love you too," she said sweetly. The two then heard a gasp and turned to see their friends and Celestia. Applejack, Rarity, and Celestia all gave off proud smiles while Fluttershy's smile was a knowing one. Rainbow and Spike's mouths had both dropped and were looking at the two in shock. But Pinkie just smiled like normal.

"Okay, why's Pinkie's reaction the one that's weird?" Night asked.

"You're both still friends, right?" Pinkie asked.

"I think they're a bit more than that now Pinkie," Rarity told her.

"Works for me," Pinkie responded happily. The group just rolled their eyes and Night had to admit, this was the best night ever.

And that's the conclusion to Season 1 of this series. Thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited, and even those who keep coming back. Before I end it off thou I do have a quick announcement, I will be working more on my Pokemon story till about March, where I will start making Season 2 so stay tuned. Hope you all enjoyed.