---

---

Over the next two weeks, Shining Armour has been training me hard, I'm still not as good as he is, but I can now hold my own for a lot longer and use my sword more effectively.

Blueblood got word of my Knighting... and to say he was upset was an understatement, he was absolutely livid.

I spent my mornings in the Training Grounds with Shining Armour and practising my magic, my mana pool has increased a small amount but not by much, I then go to lunch with Celestia and Luna where we talk about the upcoming Gala and other topics such as how our day has been. Blueblood only showed up five times during these two weeks.

I spent my time after lunch reading more from the spell book, I found two more unknown elements called light, a golden circle with a ray of light going across it, and shadow, a dark grey circle with what looks like black mist on the bottom half. Try as I might, I just can't stabilize the elements, the light element blinded me for ten minutes when it failed and the shadow element made me deaf to all sound around me. Though I have gotten much better with the air element.

I've had new clothes made for me and placed in Luna's room where I have been staying now, at Luna's request. Every night she cuddles up to me and I have to admit, it's much better then sleeping alone. Luna and I have been together every day at seven pm till bed time, she told me of what the world was like before her banishment and how drastically it changed on her return.

It also seems that the attempts on my life have stopped for now, whether or not the assassin isn't brave enough to face me after watching me defeat that manticore, or he's biding his time to find the perfect opportunity to strike. Either way, if he shows himself to me, I'll make sure he'll regret his actions in Ponyville.

Twilight and her friends visited once for a lunch date with the Princesses three days before the Gala, I said hello to them but left them to it while I practised my swordsmanship and magic.

---

I wake up and slowly open my eyes to see Luna is clinging onto me with her constant smile, I yawn and just hold her until she wakes up.

A few minutes later she opens her eyes and looks at me. "Good morning," she says and nuzzles me. She's been doing that a lot lately, it's apparently a sign of affection for the ponies.

"So today's the day huh?" I ask her.

"That it is, tis a shame thou cannot wear thine suit we had made," she replies slightly upset.

Since I'm being revealed as a Knight of Equestria, I have to wear the armour. "Yeah, it looked really nice too," I say.

We both get up and take turns showering. Once clean, Luna puts on her black dress with the silver trimming while I equip my new armour and weapons, my old armour and sword is in Luna's closet at the back.

We head down to the dining hall and open the doors, Celestia is at her spot and once again, no Blueblood. "Are you looking forward to the Gala, Adrian?" Celestia asks me.

"Yes and no, I've never been to a formal party before and I'm also nervous about the whole revealing thing as well," I reply.

"Thou shalt be fine, just be thyself and everything will go well," Luna tells me.

We eat breakfast and then go about our day until the Gala starts. The moon is now high in the sky and people are flocking to the Castle.

I'm standing beside Celestia and Luna as they great the guests, I go wide eyed as I meet some of the other races that attended. A cervine doe in a white dress with vines and flowers woven into it greets Celestia and Luna while two stags with large antlers and armour stood beside the doe.

A few minutes later and I meet my first minotaur, he's as tall as Celestia and me and wearing a rather fancy black suit, his shoulders are twice as broad as mine, but his legs are shorter. He has an escort in thick plate armour next to him.

Next up is a person that looks just like the ponies, only grey furred with black stripes. She's wearing a brown robe with a few small animal bones along the belt, she's also wearing gold rings around her wrists and neck, her left ear is also pierced with a golden ring as well.

A white man with a monocle, pale blue hair and moustache walks up to us. "So this must be the stallion the rumours say Princess Luna is courting," he says looking me over.

"Ah, Sir Fancy Pants. It's a pleasure to see you again and yes, he is Luna's coltfriend," Celestia says to him with a smile.

"I see, I wish the both of you the best of luck then. By the way, that is some rather impressive looking armour you are wearing. Oh! But where are my manners?" he says holding his hand out. "My name is Fancy Pants, and this beautiful mare is my wife, Fleur De Lis."

I might as well act like a Knight and shake his hand. "It is a pleasure making your acquaintance, Sir Fancy Pants," I tell him. I then kiss the back of Fleur's hand. "As with you as well, my lady," I say and slightly bow my head to them.

"He certainly has good manners doesn't he," she says with a smile.

"That he does. I say, would you be interested in visiting our home for tea sometime in the future?" Fancy Pants asks me.

"We'd be delighted to," Luna replies for me.

"Splendid! My schedule is quite busy, but how does two months from now at three in the afternoon sound?" he asks.

Luna hums in thought. "That seems acceptable, we shall see thee then, Sir fancy Pants," Luna tells him.

"Wonderful, We'll see you both then," he says and turns to Fleur. "Come my dear, we have many ponies to talk to," he says as they both walk away into the sea of people.

"He was rather nice," I say.

"He is one of the few nobles who actually cares for others and Canterlot, unlike the rest who only care about their status and wealth," Luna tells me with a bitter tone at the end.

Huh, I'm actually looking for to meeting him again then.

Twilight and her friends arrived all wearing beautiful dresses made by Rarity. I'm also introduced to an orange woman with blonde hair named Applejack, she runs an apple orchard next to Ponyville. Twilight stayed with us while the others went off to do their own things, Twilight also told me that Spike went somewhere else on his own.

It took two hours of greeting guests before we entered the throne room where classical music is playing in the background and everyone is talking to each other. Compared to Pinkie Pie's party, this looks rather dull.

Celestia and Luna walk over and stand on the stage. "Fillies and gentlecolts, we thank you for attending the three-hundred and twenty-seventh Grand Galloping Gala. Before we begin, we have an announcement to make," Celestia says and motions me to the stage. I nervously step up onto the stage next to them. "We are honoured to reveal Equestria's newest Knight, Sir Adrian Stormsword."

A few gasps and quiet murmuring spread throughout the crowd. One of the Nobles then speaks up. "There hasn't been a Knight in almost eight centuries, why have you suddenly let a creature that is not even a pony become a Knight of Equestria!?" he demands, clearly not happy about it.

Luna glares at the noble. "We have knighted Sir Adrian for his skilled swordsponyship and ability to perform high level magic, he is one strong enough to be our Knight," Luna tells him.

Another Noble speaks up. "And it has nothing to do with the rumour of him courting you?" she asks.

I look at Luna, to see her barely holding back her anger. The other Nobles are also voicing their disapproval, It's a crime against nature. He's not of noble blood. He could be a spy from another nation. A Spy? Really?

I've had enough. "Yes, I am courting Luna," I tell them and they fall silent, Luna looks at me with surprise. "I love her for who she is, not her status or power. I became their Knight just so I can stay by her side," I say, draw my sword, and glare at them. I channel a fire element through it and a flame engulfs the blade, causing the Nobles to look nervous. "Both Celestia and Luna have been my closest friends since I have been here, I will risk my life for them if I have to. But if anyone tries to pull Luna and I apart just because of race, origins of birth, or titles... then they'll have to do it by force!" I shout out. "And let me get one thing clear, I won't make it an easy task to do," I say and cancel the element in the blade, I sheath my sword and turn to Luna and Celestia. "I apologise for my outburst, your highnesses," I say and bow.

Luna has tears in the corner of her eyes and hugs me, which I return. Celestia softly smiles and I'm shocked when I hear Fancy Pants speak up.

"Well said good, Sir Knight," he says and claps his hands. Soon, others join in, including Twilight and her friends. Many of the other nobles look insulted at being addressed like that.

With nothing else left to say, I step down. Celestia wraps it up and the Gala goes on, many pieces of music was played by the small band on the stage, many of the guests talk to the Princesses, mainly the minotaur, zebra, and the doe, who are the representatives of the other races and some nobles, though most of the nobles kept their distance from me. Twilight looks miserable since every time she tries to talk to Celestia, a guest would interrupt, she gave up and decided to talk with me instead.

I tell her everything that happened over the past two weeks, she's surprised that I've befriended her brother and that I'm learning swordsmanship from him but tells me to keep at it, she already found out about my knighting from Celestia during their lunch date three days ago.

I spot Pinkie talking to the band during their break, the band looks confused and get their instruments ready.

Pinkie then turns to the crowd.

"Come on, everypony! I know what'll make you shake those groove-thangs!" She takes a deep breath and the band starts playing a different type of music. "You reach your right hoof in, you reach your right hoof out, you reach your right hoof in, and you shake it all about! You do the pony pokey meeting lots of folks with clout! That's what I'm talking about!" she sings.

She continues singing and the crowd looks very unamused, she even tries to drag a few in an attempt to get them dancing. I feel embarrassed just watching it.

As she continues, she then starts to interfere with the musicians by tapping keys on the piano and pulling at the cellists bow.

"You do the pony pokey, you do the pony pokey, you do the pony pokey and that's what it's all about. Yeah!" she spreads her arms wide and is greeted only with silence.

A well dressed woman then speaks up. "This isn't that kind of party," she sternly tells Pinkie.

Pinkie then frowns sadly and trudges off to the drink bowls.

"Well, that just happened..." I say quietly.

Luna looks confused while Celestia has a smile on her face and Twilight just looks embarrassed.

I look around and notice Rarity leaving with Blueblood, that's not going to end well.

An hour later, Pinkie is back with some strange table with two spinning disks, buttons, and switches on it. Music I've never heard before with a fast beat starts playing and again she tries getting the crowd to dance. Suddenly, Applejack walks in with a cart carrying a multi-layered cake with apple slices on it.

Pinkie then dives off the stage with her arms spread wide, I'm guessing she wants the crowd to catch her but instead they move out of the way and she hits the cart. I flinch at the impact, that looks like it hurt. The cake flies off towards Rarity who just entered next to us looking rather angry with Blueblood next to her.

Blueblood screams like a little girl and pulls Rarity in front of himself, she yelps as the cake hits her. Blueblood drops her and backs away from the mess. "Thank the heavens that my attire is unsoiled!" he says relieved.

Rarity turns towards Blueblood with and expression that says she's going to kill the guy. "Your attire!? I spent weeks making this dress and you have the nerve to use me as a shield! You, you... ruffian!" Rarity shouts at him and throws a piece of the cake stuck to her onto Blueblood's chest.

"Aaaahh! What do you think you are doing you commoner!" he shouts in surprise.

Rarity huffs and turns away from him with her head held high. "It's no more then you deserve!" she replies.

Blueblood raises his right hand in what looks like a gesture to hit her, so I step in between them and glare at him to which he growls at me and storms off out the door he came in.

The back door leading to the Gardens bursts open and a lot of animals flood inside, a ragged looking Fluttershy breathing heavily with an expression of pure frustration runs in. "You're... going... to... LOVE ME!" she shouts out loudly. Holy crap! I thought she was a timid woman!

So now the Gala has been reduced to a chaotic mess. "What do we do now?" I ask no one in particular.

Luna's horn glows and all the animals levitate off the floor and are taken back outside, Celestia surprisingly is still smiling. Luna returns while floating a sheepish Fluttershy next to her. "I'm sorry..." Fluttershy says quietly.

Maids are cleaning up the cake off the floor and the mess left by the stampeding animals.

"I have to say, tonight wasn't as boring as I thought it was going to be," I say.

"I'll have to agree with you," Celestia tells me.

"You're not upset that the Gala was ruined?" I ask her.

She shakes her head. "The Gala is always boring, this is actually a rather pleasant turn of events," she replies with a light giggle.

After a few seconds of looking around I spot Rainbow Dash walking over to us. "Whoa... what happened here? Looks like a hurricane came through," she says.

"Close enough, so, where have you been?" I ask her.

"Trying to talk to the Wonderbolts... but they were constantly swarmed by the press and I couldn't even get close to them," she says and crosses her arms with a frown.

"At least you didn't get the worst of it then," I tell her.

"What are you talking about?" she asks with a raised brow.

I point over to Pinkie who's sitting on the floor rubbing her right arm with Applejack trying to help her up.

"What happened to her?" Rainbow asks and I explain it to her. "Aw, I wish I was here to see it," she says with a slight pout.

I chuckle and look around, it's a complete mess. After ten minutes of cleaning up, screams come from behind the Ball Room doors, the doors suddenly slam open and four large gryphons walk in, two of them holding a guard each in of their talons.

The lead gryphon looks at Celestia with a cruel grin. "Princess, you throw a party and didn't invite us?" he asks mockingly. "Tsk, tsk. That is rather rude," he chuckles coldly. I look behind them to see some guards dead on the floor.

"We received your reply to our... request... I'm afraid the Elder Council doesn't share your sentiments, we're here to tell you that Equestria is now our hunting grounds," he says. The two gryphons holding the groaning guards by the head take a bite out of their throats and swallow, the guards go wide eye'd and gurgle for a few seconds before dying.

Celestia and Luna look absolutely furious, the guards in the room surround the gryphons as they laugh at us.

Enraged, I draw my sword and channel three earth elements through my stave, a chunk of marble rips out of the floor which I point it at the lead gryphon and release my spell.

Next Chapter: Chapter 15: The Grand Galloping Gala Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 11 Minutes