Chapter 6 (The Grand Galloping Gala)
Returning to Ponyville from the trip to the Crystal Empire, Espie and Ethos were eager to attend the Grand Galloping Gala at the end of the week, wanting to see what it was like.
They passed their few days before the event through ebullient playing around with each other in Ponyville, running around playing tag along with other ponies and fillies. While they were playing, Twilight specially requested two more invites from Princess Celestia for them be officially invited to the Gala, collecting the tickets while they were frisking around.
On the day of the Gala, they panicked remembering that they also had to prepare. Not knowing how to prepare themselves for it, they Fluttershy for her opinions.
"If you want really to dress formally, you can start by consulting Rarity and trying on some of her fashionable clothing to dress up for the occasion. For me, I would be wearing this green dress, just as I did last year. You'd better get something to wear to the Gala by evening. That's when we will set off to the Gala."
They rushed to Rarity's place, hoping to catch a morning timeslot of her hectic schedules to consult her right before the Gala.
Reaching her place, they burst through the door and asked Rarity about how they should dress for the Gala at the last minute. "Hmm… I don't I can tailor-make any spirit-sized formal wear for you two at the moment, but I do have other things that you could wear for the Gala that I available at this last minute."
Rarity used her magic to bring out a huge pile of clothing and scarves from her storage wardrobe.
"These are some of the hoodies and scarves I sewed for Spike, which I actually made too much. He's around both of your sizes so they should fit you. Although the formality of the Gala is to dress up in the most elegant fashion, but I guess you two can be an exception since it's both your first times attending it. Go ahead and choose something from this stack."
Ethos found an azure-blue scarf which he wrapped around his neck, leaving two sides of the scarf trailing behind, posing slightly heroically in front of a mirror. Seeing that he looked alright, he commented, "I guess this'll have to do. I'll take this blue scarf. What about you Espie?"
"Hmm…" she searched the stack and pensively considered.
"I think I would like to have this pink hoodie," she decided a few moments later, holding it in front of her.
"I've going to spruce up for now. I will see you both tonight." Rarity stated to them before returning to get everything set for the Gala. They left to return back to the cottage, having their final preparations before the Gala.
In the evening, Rarity wore her ritzy majestic jewel dress, embellished with multi-coloured gems that Espie and Spike helped to acquire, flaunting her fashionable dress around, seeming superiorly ostentatious to the rest of the group.
Following behind, the rest were dressed flamboyantly, all ready for the Gala held through the night.
In the late afternoon, they took a train up to Canterlot to make it when the Gala began.
At night, when they reached Canterlot, they went towards the royal ballroom for the Grand Galloping Gala. The ambience of the ballroom was very convivial, drawing the group to enter.
The group started to disperse and went to their desired part of the ballroom to get food, catch up with friends and hang out with them.
Twilight, in conjunction with Fluttershy and the two spirits remained together, deciding where they want to do in the Gala.
"Ooh! Fluttershy, glad you could make it. I was just talking to Tree Hugger, wanna to join us in our little chat?"
"Sure Discord, please wait a moment"
She pause for a moment and faced Twilight. "Please take care of Espie and Ethos while I'm busy. As for you two, have fun!" Discord dragged Fluttershy away into a conversation with Tree Hugger, leaving Twilight to handle the spirit duo.
Twilight sighed, having an added responsibility to take care of them.
"I'm going to meet the two Canterlot Princesses for a royal palaver later, so I believe you two can handle yourselves with a bit of savoir-faire?"
"Um… Sure Twilight. We can behave properly, right Ethos?" Espie nudged him, grinning awkwardly, not understanding what she meant by the last part of her sentence.
Knowing that they could take care of themselves, Twilight went ahead to meet the Princesses, leaving the spirit duo behind.
Ethos felt bored, standing around and observing other ponies dance. At that moment, an idea popped out to him.
"Espie, would you like to dance with me? Let's learn from the other dancing ponies." He suggested in a suave manner, presenting a paw to Espie.
"Yes! Ethos, I'd love to" she answered zealously, accepting and holding his paws, feeling slightly charmed by his gesture.
They started to dance away learning the steps of the ballroom dance from the adjacent ponies, holding each other's paws and looking at each other, blushing slightly.
After a while, they noticed Pinkie Pie bouncing excitedly towards them.
"Hey you two! Both of you look like a couple, so adorable together!" Pinkie Pie remarked them, seeing them ecstatically dancing together.
She explained romance to both of them, educating them on how love worked and how they should go about it.
"Oh… I see. Well, that's not common around Nibel and as spirits, we don't…"
Out of nowhere, an explosion was heard followed by shrilling screams, interrupting what Espie was trying to say. A Timberwolf pack rushed into the ballroom like water flowing into a hole in a boat, running wildly, chasing ponies and sending them galloping in a hysterical disarray, trying to escape the menacing appearances of the wolves.
Espie and Ethos hesitated, seeing the destruction of the ballroom and the pandemonium caused by the wolves. The three Princesses rushed into the ball, adjourning their discussion to another time to see what was happening.
Pulling herself together, they quickly planned for a solution to the problem.