Chapter 7
"I do believe it is only proper we end this amazing short episode with the great finale of the very first season!" Pinkie said, a cheeky grin plastered on her face as she continued to wolf down yet another bowl of popcorn. "And boy of boy do we have an interesting way to finish off: you see, throughout this entire episode, we've been sort of seeing the events of the show through the eyes of the 'Mane 6.'"
She giggled with glee at the pun.
"But now we get to take a look at the Grand Galloping Gala through the eyes of somepony who was notably absent from much attention, a pony who, considering the weight and importance of such an event, really should have been seen in attendance. I am, of course, talking about none other than the Princess of the Moon; Princess Luna." She waved a hoof towards the projected screen behind her, with a picture of the named Princess.
"This time around, we get another take at that Slice of Life concept, where my friends and I are going to take a step back, and let the others really shine! But don't worry, we aren't really just sitting around in the background doing nothing; it's just that the spotlight won't be gleaming down on us as we realize what the Gala was really like." She pulled a second cup from her mane, sucking down the sweet drink in an instant. "So let's get this amazing show on the road for a truly great finale!"
"Dearest sister, we understand thine enthusiasm of our willing participation. . . but must thou truly make our dress so. . . tight?" Princess Luna asked, grunting and gasping for air each time the maids tending to her dress tightened some of the lacing. Her sister, who had been standing to the side to observe, had started chuckling when it became clear that the Princess of the Night was struggling in the dress.
"You said that you wanted to make a good impression on the ponies that would be coming, and it was your idea to wear the original dresses suited for such affairs. You know; the ones we had worn back when Canterlot was still relatively young?" Celestia smirked, stepping up to her sister as she used her magic to conjure a light, frilly blue dress. "Am I hearing that you are reconsidering my offer to adorn the outfit I had suggested?"
Luna's ears flopped against her skull as she eyed the dress, her attention lapsing briefly as the maids continued the arduous process of lacing up the tight black fabric to her torso. In her own opinion, which she had kept from her sister for fear of disheartening the elder Alicorn, the proposed dress seemed far too casual, and the way it flowed around would have made her seem. . . almost scandalous.
After eyeing the piece again, she turned her attention to the two maids laboring over the lacing along her back, awkwardly standing on their hind legs as they tried to work around her wings. She turned her gaze again to the dress being gently levitated her way, her cyan eyes drifting to her eager sister, who had an encouraging smile and a happy gleam in her eye. She looked back to the dress, trying her best to appreciate the folds of lovely fabric, but her eyes once more wandered over to the well-fitted form of the flanks.
Her pursed lips must have given away her distaste for the dress, as Celestia seemed to shrink back a bit, and the dress started floating away. "If you really don't like it, then I suppose you can just stick with your own choice of attire: nopony will judge you either way."
"Sister, wait!" Luna called out as Celestia started to turn to take the dress back. The elder turned around, a faint glimmer of hope threatening to sparkled into her vibrant pink eyes. 'Did you truly want me to wear that particular dress?"
Celestia just weakly nodded, though she did keep her slightly diminished smile up. Luna sighed, and as the air left her lungs, she felt a spring of pain as the maids tightened the lacing around her ribs even more. She offered her own smile, nodding to the maids. "Then get us out of this dress: for our sister, we shalt adorn the outfit she hath decided for us to impress the audience with!"
The maids wasted no time in doing just that.
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, Ahhhhhhh. . . Skip!
"Alright Luna, remember: these ponies don't really know you all that well, so just be yourself and let them see just how wonderful of a pony you are." Celestia said as the two of them walked down the halls from their private quarters, both of them garbed in regalia fit only for a Princess of Equestria. She glanced down at her sister, who had her gaze glued to her dress, a hoof poking and prodding around at the fabric, and couldn't help but chuckle at the state her younger sister was in. "If you keep that up, you're going to tear a hole in your brand new dress."
The comment got Luna to immediately stop fussing over her appearance, and she shot a half-flustered, half-grateful smile to Celestia. "Sorry, sister. It's just that. . . well, I'm a little nervous."
"Oh?" Celestia stopped so she could fully face her. "And what could possibly have the brave and fierce Princess Luna acting like a filly about to talk to her crush?"
"It's just that I've been. . . away for so long that I'm not entirely sure how they will all react to me." The younger Princess confessed, her eyes dropping to the ground in embarrassment. "I've been back for so long, but there is still so much that I've yet to learn, so much to adjust to and so much that I need to understand. I'm still unsure whether my presence here will even be welcome."
"Luna, of course you will be welcome!" Celestia gave her a strong hug, embracing her distraught sister with an aura of absolute confidence in an attempt to soothe her nerves. "Nopony will judge you for anything, and I'll make sure of that: all you have to do is win them over with your lovely personality."
"Thanks, sister." Luna nuzzled Celestia's cheek in thanks.
"Of course. No, let's go and show them just what an amazing little sister I have!" Celestia pulled away, a satisfied grin on her face.
Well. . . Celestia hadn't been exaggerating when she had said that few ponies actually know her, as she was mostly able to slide through the edge of the crowd without much trouble. Most ponies probably hadn't even realized she was a Princess: something that divided her with equal parts of relief and anger. She was a Princess of Equestria, and her figure should have been recognizable in an instant, but at the same time, being able to find a small place to speak with only a few ponies at a time would be very useful.
She had been skirting the gathered ponies in search of a small group that she could comfortably talk to, introduce herself, and just generally get to know what the kinds of citizens here at the Gala were like.
The sound of singing from the front gates distracting her before her search could prove fruitful, and she turned her gaze towards the front door, where her sister's protege and her friends had entered the building. She tapped a hoof to her chin, suddenly remembering Celestia mentioning that she had invited the girls this year.
Smiling, she decided to approach them, wanting to thank them for helping her to see the error in her ways and freeing her from the anger and jealousy of Nightmare Moon.
However, before two steps could be taken towards the group of lavishly dressed mares, the group had sprung apart, each daring towards their own personal desires. She frowned as the group split apart, as she now had to hunt each of them down. . . no matter, she could track a pony reasonably well. She eyed her sister, hoping to gauge how the event was turning, when she saw Twilight speaking to the eldest Princess: this would be the perfect opportunity to begin. She started to trot through the crowd, breathing deeply to settle her nerves and putting on a large smile.
"Hurry, Rarity! Oh, but not too fast!" Rarity squealed to herself as she passed before the Princess, her eyes trained out one of the large doors that opened to the gardens. Luna stopped, looking at the mare that trotted passed her, then she turned to see where Twilight's friend was heading, her eyes spotting Celestia's nephew just outside. It dawned on her: the mare was going to try her luck with the pompous stallion. Luna wished her the best of luck, but continued her way towards Twilight.
By the time she had reached the velvety stairs where Celestia and Twilight had been talking, the two had disappeared, and the crowd had thickened enough that she couldn't seem to find the two anywhere. She cursed herself for losing them so easily, but decided that perhaps it was best to just speak with somepony else for the time being. She found a couple of ponies, two ivory unicorns who were talking over glasses of sparkling cider.
She smiled as she approached them, stepping up to the stallion, who had a monocle and fancy tuxedo, and the two stopped mid-sentence to turn to her. "Greetings, we art Princess Luna, sister to Princess Celestia and co-ruler of Equestria. . ."
Luna was more than pleased with how this conversation was going, with Fancy Pants being one of the most intriguing nobles she had ever run into, with a clear head, a sharp mind, and a warming heart. He revealed his date to be Fleur de Lis, who Luna recognized as one of the inactive guards stationed near the palace.
They had struck a pleasant conversation immediately, and it was a grate relief she felt when she discovered the two had wonderfully respectful views towards all ponies, unlike most of the snobbish nobility she had to meet. They had moved outside to get some fresh air, and she was thoroughly enjoying herself. As they trotted along the decorated gardens, the two unicorns had easily worked her out of her habitual Royal Canterlot Voice, and they had reached a comfortable conversation about the other guests. Fleur added her bit as they turned around a pillar: "All I'm saying is that the very presence of the Wonderbolts here has brought a larger variety of ponies to the Gala, and I think we can all agree it has been refreshing to escape the clutches of your 'entourage' Fancy."
"Yes, ponies like them can be difficult to deal with for any length of time." The stallion replied, his face beaming as he spotted a large green cart full of pies and assorted treats. "Would either of you care for something special?"
Luna looked to Fleur before shaking her head: "No, but I thank you, Fancy Pants. I just ate before the Gala, and am feeling quite content at the moment."
"I must agree with the Princess here: while those pies look absolutely delicious, my figure couldn't take much food while we are walking about." Fleur said, chuckling self-consciously and gently patting her stomach. "The life of a model, I'm afraid. Oh, not to worry, it appears the stand already has a customer."
Just as she said, a stallion in the trademark blue jumpsuit that Luna recognized as a Wonderbolt stepped up to the stand ordering the largest apple pie available. The three of them chuckled and turned to head back inside, per Luna's request to see what else was available. As they did so, however, they watched the Wonderbolt drop his pie as he greeted another from the faction. Luna's gut tightened as she watched the pie spin as it fell, everything around them falling in slow motion, and she charged her horn to catch the pastry, only to have a blue blur shoot out from the crowd and catch the pie midair.
She cocked her head, seeing yet another of Twilight's friends, this one being the blue pegasus she remembered as Rainbow Dash; Element of Loyalty.
Well, with the crisis averted, she led Fancy and Fleur away from the scene, even conversing with the occasional pony that approached them. She felt a little sad inside that each pony came up to them and introduced themselves to Fancy Pants first, then suddenly became aware that they were in the presence of a Princess: it stung her pride with no avail in sight.
At least, until word started spreading that Fancy Pants was in the company of a Princess; then all sorts of ponies were clamoring for their attention. At first, she had enjoyed the attention, and meeting the variety of ponies that were attending had been wonderful, but the hordes of uppity ponies trying to earn favor with her and, through her, her sister had grown tiresome very quickly. Luna wished the two unicorns well and decided to leave, escaping the bothersome nobles to them, and heading to another portion of the party.
She found herself stepping into what looked to be the remnants of the dancing area, with scoffing nobles complaining about a bouncing pink pony that had ruined their entertainment just moments prior. She looked around for a moment, until she spotted the mare in question, Pinkie Pie; sulking near some assorted beverages. Whatever had happened, the bright and bubbly mare looked utterly defeated, and Luna felt a pang of sympathy for her.
From what she had heard about the pink pony, these kinds of gatherings weren't really attracting the same crowds that Pinkie may have been used to.
Putting on a reassuring smile, she started to trot towards the disappointed mare, but was interjected by a group of unicorns who had recognized her as a Princess. She greeted them warmly, growing steadily more comfortable with conversations as the night wore on, but she still felt like she should speak with Pinkie Pie; if not to express her gratitude over helping her, then to cheer the pink pony up.
However, she couldn't seem to get a break in her conversation with the ridiculously pompous ponies, and when she finally managed to spare a glance at the refreshments' table, Pinkie Pie had disappeared on her. Still, it was her duty as a Princess to appease the masses, so she forced her irritation down and continued to converse with the unicorns until it dawned on them that she wouldn't be granting them special privileges with Celestia. When they realized they couldn't rise in rank or popularity, they each made halfhearted attempts at turning away, making it clear they were no longer interested in speaking.
While it was amusing to see these social leeches try to pretend to be more important than her, she hardly felt like showing them the error of their way: better to let somepony who cared do that. She nodded to them and gladly left the ballroom, looking for other ponies that could have been as lovely to speak with as Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis had been.
"Yeah. . . that first time at the Gala had really been an eye-opener for the lot of us, I think." Pinkie muttered, standing from her seat to take an obnoxious stretch. "But I think we all learned from the experience and ultimately, Princess Celestia did say that she thoroughly enjoyed the event, so. . . all in all, I agree that it was something we will look back on fondly.
"Now, I'm sure this particular method of reviewing the episode has caught a few of you off guard, so I think it was time we tried to explain the reasoning behind our author's decision." Pinkie said, nodding and happily taking her place in the director's seat. "After going through some of his other work, and reviewing some of the ideas he had posted in various notes, as well as a short conversation with him: I think I've gotten a straight answer. In short; it was a combination of a strong amusement factor from the episode itself, curiosity at what events may have been happening in the background, as well as the general wonder of where the remaining introduced royalty were at the time. He told me that both Celestia and Blueblood had strong appearances, and Cadance had yet to be introduced yet; so just where was Luna during the event? She wouldn't have been asleep; it was the middle of the night!
"After reading through the notes he had, I agree that it was interesting to think about what may have been going on in the background, though at the Gala itself, I disagree, saying it wasn't all that fun. Still: good memories were made, and I was greatly. . . intrigued by the idea of exploring what the other major Princess was doing." She tapped a hoof to her chin for a second, her eyes dipped downwards as she mulled a thought over. "You know, I do believe Cadance might have made an appearance in his notes. . . guess we'll just have to find out.
"But!" She held her hoof up to silence anyone that thought of interrupting her. "Before we head back in time to watch the rest of the Gala play out, we've got some trivia and even more of the bathroom-friendly commercials to go through! So, as per the usual; let's ask the trivia question, and then we can all rush to the bathrooms and come back just in time for the show!
"Here's the trivia, but get ready, 'cause it also refers to one of the pivotal characters in the original episode: Prince Blueblood goes by many names, from Prince to spineless, heartless, and rotten to the core. However, in one particular European country, in an alternative media, he goes by another name, one completely unrelated to the show and even contradictory to it. What was that name?"
Insert an ad for yet another movie soon to come out, though no one remembers it because everyone is still reeling from the last amazing movie.
In comes an ad for a social media outlet that has gained some traction, yet we can't say for sure why it's appearing here.
Following that strange ad that got everyone confused, here's one about a very important disease research charity.
Insert the final ad, some random piece of junk about candy, that we are all quite aware of by now.
"And we're back!" Pinkie gasped, leaping forward and grabbing the camera facing her with both bright pink hooves, a face-splitting grin plastered to her face: it was clear she'd been pounding some more sugary drinks. "And boy oh boy do I have some fun facts to share with all of you right now! Back before the break, we asked the question of who Prince Blueblood was known by in other parts of the world, well; this one particular instance in this one particular place. Well: the answer comes in two parts, the first is the place this name is seen, in the lovely country of France, within a story in a magazine. The second part of this answer is his actual name, which is particularly strange: Vladimir. They called him by Vladimir in this one story. . .
"Well, I guess it's time to get back to the story" She frowned, nodding for the screen to continue playing.
Luna trotted through a particularly loud section of the Gala, her ears immediately pulled down to stifle the impact from the noise. Scanning the room for somepony interesting to speak with, she quickly discovered with the room was so loud to begin with: this was the area that the Wonderbolts had taken to idle about in.
She nodded to herself: this was indeed the place to be if she wanted some quality conversation. Even if she couldn't get to talk with a Wonderbolt, she knew plenty of daring ponies would be gathered trying to do so, and she could strike up a conversation with some of them.
With a renewed hope of this turning out to be a good night, she smiled and began to dive into the crowd, working her way through several circles of ponies; she found out later on that a Wonderbolt tended to be at the center of each circle. She did chat with some of the other ponies, though the number of uppity nobles lounging around the area actually surprised her. She would have guessed the noise itself would have run them all off.
Still, she found a couple of pegasi who seemed alright to talk with, though they seemed a bit uneasy talking with a Princess. It probably didn't help that she often had to resort to her Royal Canterlot voice just to be heard, but she also found it hard to converse with them due to a severe misunderstanding of various terms.
Eventually, she accepted the loss and let them go, heading to the refreshments to get something to drink. As she sipped on a glass of cider, she saw a pink shape in her peripherals, somepony she had been bonding with extensively since returning to her throne. She turned and smiled a greeting at the lively young Alicorn, garbed in a bright pink dress that matched her coat rather well. Cadance seemed excited to see her out and about, especially in such an excitable area of the Gala.
"And just what are you doing here?" The bright pink Princess asked, filling her own cup of cider and taking her place by her aunt's side. "I figured a royal as refined as yourself would have made yourself comfortable with the richest of nobles over in the proper region of the Gala."
"We find it difficult to tolerate the more. . . assured ponies that our sister decreed welcome here." Luna sighed, swishing her drink before motioning for Cadance to follow her. The two made their way out of the raucous room, heading into a much more relaxed area, the soft music from the ballroom bleeding down the hall. The two stopped as they saw a line of ponies hoping to get to the top of the stairs, and when they glanced up, neither could stop their smirks at what they saw. Celestia looked to be trying to hold a conversation, but she had to stop every other word to greet the next pony in line and offer a quick bow of recognition. "The ponies of this time are far more lenient and. . . dignified than what we art used to: we question just how our sister managed to let this become so."
"Hmm. . . well, as funny as it is to see a bunch of nobles lined up to kiss Celestia's hoof, I found the Wonderbolts to hold much better company." Cadance said, chuckling as her aunt tried to continue conversing with somepony to the side of her. "Perhaps you'd like to see what the life of the party, so to say, is like with the best stuntsponies in Equestria?"
"That sounds like a plan." Luna smiled, and the two turned to leave, and just as they exited the main foyer, a chorus of singing drafted through the halls. Somepony had changed up the elegant tune that had been playing earlier, and had gone and changed it to an upbeat singalong that really didn't sound like it belonged in a place like this. She looked over to her niece, who only shared her confusion, so the two followed them towards the sound, taking them back to the ballroom, where a particular pink pony-
"Hey, that's me!"
-was standing on the stage, singing a happy tune meant to get everypony dancing.
They listened along, though their attention was more focused on the other ponies in the room, who had started sneering at Pinkie. This wasn't going to end well, but neither Luna nor Cadance really knew what they were going to do about it. After the song was complete, and with quite the show put on by the pink party pony, one of the mares in the crowd cleared her throat and, with the most snobbish sounding accent, berated Pinkie. "Young lady, this is not that kind of party."
The words didn't entirely look like they went through for Pinkie, as she blinked and rolled her eyes, as if completely understanding what was going on. "Oh. . . these ponies don't want to party; they want to par-tay!"
She reached into her mane and pulled out an entire turntable, and dropped two records onto it, cranking the volume as loud as she could and filling the room with heavy electronic music. Luna blinked in surprise and upon hearing a slap, turned to see that Cadance had groaned and facehoofed. She looked back to Pinkie, who had jumped down onto the dance floor, her face set in fierce resolve, her eyes sparkling with an intense challenging look. "Come on everypony! You wanted a par-tay well, now let's PAR-TAY!"
She jumped into the air, timing herself just as the music behind her dropped, landing on all four hooves and jumping between the ponies trying to get them moving. Luna felt her own need to facehoof as she watched the party desperately trying to get ponies into the dancing spirit, yet before she could, she felt Cadance tugging on her dress.
"Let's get out of here before things take a turn for the worse." Luna nodded in agreement, allowing Cadance to lead them back to the large room still utterly filled with ponies. It seemed that the biggest two attractions were being greeted by Celestia or trying to meet the Wonderbolts. They had just reached the large entrance to the room when there was a loud gasp from the room behind them, and then everything there, even the music, went deathly silent. The two Alicorns looked between each other before turning to see what was going on.
Cadance gasped at the sight on the far end: Twilight's good friend Rarity stood rigid, her front half completely covered in cake. Luna gaped in shock, then snapped at attention as the soiled mare whipped around, her voice shrieking as she spat towards the stallion behind her, who Luna assumed was her nephew. "You sir, are the most un-charming prince I have ever met! In fact, the only thing 'royal' about you is that you are a royal PAIN!"
Rarity had slowly inched forward until Blueblood had pressed himself against the door, cowering in revulsion and shaking in his hooves. "Ew! Uh. . . stay back! I've just had myself groomed!"
"Afraid to get dirty?!" Rarity asked in an enraged mocking tone, glaring daggers as she stepped even closer to him, getting him to squeal in terror. In a very unladylike manner, she began to vigorously shake her head, flinging considerable amounts of cake onto the distressed stallion. After she had finished her display, Blueblood recoiled back, stumbling until he tripped on his own tail, slamming to the ground and knocking the large Alicorn statue over.
Luna's horn charge up to catch it, once more, but there a shout from the side distracted her, and a blue blur emerged from the crowd, dashing straight to the statue. Dash appeared underneath it in an instant, cheering that she had caught the thing on her back, exclaiming how cool she was.
The cyan pegasus tried to readjust the statue on her back, but she stumbled, and for a split second, she nearly lost her balance. Just when it looked like she was about to get the statue back under control, she tripped over Blueblood, and the statue tipped backwards, slamming into one of the large pillars that had encircled the pedestal. The crowd watched in horror as the pillar struck another, and a chain reaction led to each of the six pillars slammed into each other, knocking themselves down.
Luna acted with certainty this time, casting a large blue bubble around the pillars, letting them collapse in on each other under the protection of her spell, which was held until the dust began to settle. As soon as the barrier was lifted, the dust dissipated, and the crowd could see Rainbow standing between the pillars, so fulled with shock that she had locked up in place.
Luna thought this was about as bad as things could get, which suddenly, in walked both Celestia and Twilight, who were trying to figure out what was happening. After the two observed the total wreckage, she heard Twilight mutter a simple: "Well, at least it can't get any worse."
The comment made her gut clench tight, because even she understood that whenever somepony said something like that; things always got worse. Sure enough, the moment the words left the violet mare's mouth, there was a massive quake, then the doors leading to the garden burst open, and a stampede of small critters broke loose within the palace. From behind the stampede came a frantic-looking Fluttershy, whose dress was in tatters and her coat had several scratches from her previous endeavors to befriend said critters. She stomped on the ground, her temper and desperation clear to all. "You're going to LOVE ME!"
In the utter chaos, Luna lost track of both her sister and niece and she was certain she wasn't going to see any of Twilight's friends for a while, which caused her a moment of sadness. That emotion was crushed as she realized the importance of reigning in this stampede, so her horn lit up and she began to wrestle the animals under her control.
About an hour later, she finally managed to get the entirety of the garden's wildlife population back where they belonged, though the Gala was officially ruined. She didn't mind it, if she were to be honest: she had gotten to have a few great conversations, she had an idea of what modern ponies were like at these kinds of events, and she even got to show off her impressive magical abilities. So while it hadn't entirely lived up to her expectations, she wasn't sure what those expectations were to begin with.
Once everypony who remained at the palace had left, she resumed her duties as a Princess and aided with the clean up, replacing the pillars in a matter of minutes once reserved marble had been brought out, and eventually, she was greeted by a satisfied-looking Celestia. "Greetings, sister."
"Hello, Luna. I take it everything has gone smoothly now that all the ponies are out of the way?" Celestia asked, pulling her younger sister away from the remaining work.
"Indeed. We hath nearly finished the repairs that were needed. How fared Twilight and her friends? We expect they were disappointed with how their night turned out."
"Actually, I think they learned a valuable lesson about enjoying events when you are with your friends, and we all happened to agree that this was perhaps one of the finer nights they'd enjoyed together." Celestia chuckled at the surprised look Luna gave her.
"Really? Hmm, perhaps we should look into finding friends such as them." Luna looked down for a moment, her thoughts racing. "We hath much to think about, sister. We suggest thou get some good rest: 'twas an adventurous night, and we art certain thou needs a long rest."
"I'll be sure to do that: just don't overwork yourself, Luna." Luna waved her off, her thoughts returning to the idea of spending some time with Fancy and Fleur again: they were remarkable company, after all.