Chapter 8

"Night of the Gala"

On the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, Twilight was in a dressing room getting ready for the evening. She had been given a blue dress with a large yellow ribbon in the center to wear for the gala, although in her mind, it would never replace her original gala dress that was restored and on display in her castle, thanks to the efforts of Rarity and Fluttershy. But, this was the least of her thoughts. The biggest thought was that why Celestia would invite a creature like Discord to the most important night of Equestria's history.

"Hey, Twilight," said Spike, knocking on her door. "Mind if I come in?"

"Sure, Spike," replied Twilight as the baby dragon walked inside wearing his usual black tuxedo and top hat. "How do I look?"

"You look great, Twilight," said Spike as Twilight spun around to show off her dress, which was blue with flowers imprinted on the collar and on the skirt of the dress. "I think you might stand out tonight."

Although Twilight was flattered with the compliment, she remembered that this was not a night to show off her new dress. It was a night to let Celestia relax and enjoy herself to what the gala had to offer.

"Just remember that tonight is about having a good time," reminded Twilight as she worked on getting her mane done. "I just hope that Discord doesn't ruin the evening."

"Yeah," said Spike, sitting down in a chair. "I don't get why Celestia would invite him to an event like this? I thought we learned that the gala was always boring to her."

Twilight completed doing her mane, which was done up with a strand of it sticking down. Once completed, she then proceeded to apply her makeup.

"True, Spike," she said. "But, that was last year and this is now. Tonight is all about Celestia relaxing and enjoying herself along with everypony else. Besides, everypony is bringing dates tonight."

Unfortunately for Spike, the baby dragon sighed heavily knowing that Rarity was not going to be his "plus one." Rarity had chosen her younger sister, Sweetie Belle, for her date while Applejack and Rainbow Dash did the same for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Spike," said Twilight, taking note of Spike's feelings. "I still don't have a date for the gala myself, you know."

This caused Spike to perk up a little, knowing now that he wasn't going to be going alone. But, then he realized of something else.

"I'd like to go, Twilight," chuckled the baby dragon, nervously while scratching the back of his neck. "But, aren't you a princess?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" remarked Twilight, giving Spike a sly smile. "Princess Celestia asked me to be her date for tonight and you can be mine. Besides, you are my number one assistant."

Spike chuckled as he escorted Twilight down to the stairwell where all the ponies were gathering. At the middle of the stairs stood Princess Celestia, wearing a long red gown and looking much more relaxed than she had in several days. Twilight walked down and stood next to Celestia as the guests continued to flow in.

"I must say," remarked Celestia. "It is real nice of you to take over some of the planning responsibilities for this year's gala."

"Anything I can do to make it easier on you," replied Twilight, smiling at Celestia warmly.

"Thank you, Twilight," said Celestia, who was evermore grateful for not only Twilight's help, but also for not thinking about the virus that kept her down for a huge period of time. "I'm glad to just be enjoying the gala for once."

Just then, the sounds of trumpets were heard and a pony in colonial attire spoke in a loud voice as Discord, dressed in an orange tuxedo walked into the main hall.

"Announcing the Spirit of Chaos, Discord and his guest, the, uh…" the pony started to say, but forgot the name of Discord's guest. This caused Discord to lean forward and whisper in the pony's ear the name of his guest.

"The Smooze!" the pony finished and a green mass of slime wearing a blue top hat and red bow tie followed Discord into the hall, much to the shock of the other guests.

"Good evening, everypony," said Discord, addressing the crowd. "What a glorious affair!"

Twilight could see that Discord was up to no good, however she wasn't concerned about him, but more of the slimy creature that was his "guest." She knew that Celestia needed a night to relax and was going to do everything in her power to keep it that way.

"I'll take care of this," said Twilight, smiling at Celestia nervously before taking off and flying over to Discord, pushing him back while the Smooze went forward, belching out a loud burp as it flowed across the floor.

"What are you doing here with that?" whispered Twilight to Discord.

"Now, now," reminded Discord. "The Smooze may be an 'it,' but it is a heart of well, 'blob."

Twlight watched as the slimy creature slithered past Celestia as she watched from the stairwell. In her mind, Twilight wanted to have the Smooze removed, but she knew better and instead decided to give Discord a warning.

"This night is extremely important to me, Discord," Twilight warned as she turned and waved back to Celestia, nervously while keeping an eye on Discord and talking with her teeth gritted.

"Keep…it…under control," she ordered.

"Yes, yes, yes, of course," replied Discord, pretending to take in Twilight's warning. "Tell me, have you seen Fluttershy anywhere?"

Twilight watched as Discord walked away looking for Fluttershy, completely unconvinced by Discord's intentions. In her mind, Twilight knew that Discord was looking to do something that would give Celestia stress and reactivate the Shingles virus's effects.

"Well, I'm certainly surprised by Discord's 'guest,'" remarked Celestia as she walked down the stairs. "But, I'm pretty sure he is harmless."

Twilight then noticed that Luna and Cadence were nowhere to be found and wondered why they weren't at the Gala.

"By the way," asked Twilight. "Where are Luna and Cadence? Shouldn't they be here?"

Celestia sighed as the thought of her niece and sister not being at the Gala was starting to sink in. Celestia knew that Luna had a good reason because of her duties as Princess of the Night, but there was another reason for Cadence not being able to be there.

"Shining Armor hurt himself today in the Crystal Empire," said Celestia, much to Twilight's shock and disbelief. "Cadence wanted me to tell you that she wants the gala to go on, no matter what."

"What happened to Shining Armor?" asked Twilight.

"He hurt himself on a training mission in the mountains," replied Celestia. "It's nothing serious, but the doctors advised him not to come tonight. He and Cadence were looking forward to being here and spending time with us."

Twilight knew at some point that she would have to visit her brother, but she had a duty to perform and that was to attend the gala and keep Celestia's stress level down.

But, it wasn't going to be easy with Discord and the Smooze around. So Twilight kept her eye on Discord, thinking that he was going to disrupt the evening and bring her mentor's stress level up. Of course, that would not be the case… Next Chapter: Unfunny Comedy Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes