Cliff, Storm and Ashley were gathered at the side of the ballroom. Storm and Cliff were decked out in their armor, Ashley was pretty much the same save for a blue ribbon she tied in a bow over her top scale.

“Will Dusk be okay?” Ashley asked, concern evident in her voice. Time flew by and now the guests were entering the grand ballroom.

“He’ll be fine,” Storm reassured her.

“I know he will be fine physically,” Cliff said, “But will he be fine emotionally?”

“Dusk is a strong pony,” A voice pointed out, “He won’t be emotionally defeated by something trivial like this.”

The group turned towards the source of the voice. Cliff’s jaw dropped. Oracle was dressed in a beautiful tiered green dress with blue lacings in a flower design. She wore a blue headband over the top of her light green mane.

“Hey, Oracle, you look… stunning,” Storm remarked.

“Thanks Storm,” Oracle said, then turning to Cliff, “How long are you going to stand there like that?”

Cliff immediately snapped back into reality, blushing. He averted his gaze and said, “Um… you look gorgeous…”

“Thank you, Cliff,” Oracle said, a slight blush coming to her face as well.

“Anyways, I’m going to patrol the castle,” Storm said, “See you later love birds!”

Storm took off, walking quickly out of the ballroom. Ashley bid farewell to them and went to try and mingle with the crowd. Cliff and Oracle stood there awkwardly for a while. Cliff’s mind searched itself for a solution to this awkward situation.

“Should I ask her to dance with me? Should I get her some punch? What should I say?” Cliff thought to himself.

“Um… I’ll go get some food, do you want anything?” Oracle asked Cliff.

“Not really,” Cliff responded, “Just get what you want.”

As Oracle walked off to the buffet table, Cliff mentally slapped himself in the face.

“Why? Why are you so stupid?!” Cliff scolded himself, “That was your chance you idiot!”

He sighed and sat back on his haunches. This was going to be a long night and Cliff was determined to make the best of it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Storm trotted along the hallways, glancing around himself and keeping an eye out for trouble. Usually there would not be any anomalies during the gala but, better safe than sorry.

As he patrolled the empty hallways, he came to a stretch of it that was illuminated by the moonlight that shone through the huge glass windows. He stopped and looked out the windows, admiring the beautiful scenery that was the royal garden at night. The lush green plants and elegant metal framework were painted by the soft moonlight, emphasizing their beauty. The sky was black, decorated with small white sparkles, the main centerpiece on the black canvas being the snow white moon. Even the animals milling about seemed so calm and docile that the entire scene seemed as if it had been taken from a dream.

“Princess Luna did a pretty amazing job at making this night gorgeous,” Storm murmured, unable to take his eyes off the magical scenery. Suddenly, a butter yellow pegasus came into the picture, attempting to interact with the animals.

“I know her,” Storm told himself, “She was on the cover of the fashion magazine ‘She’s All That’ for a while. And she was with Twilight at the Best Young Flyer Competition.”

The pegasus kept trying to cuddle the animals but they kept shying away, running into the trees and hiding from her. Storm merely rolled his eyes, smiled and left.

“The animals are always skittish around strangers,” he thought to himself, “She’ll probably understand that after chasing them for a while.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oracle returned to Cliff, levitating a plate of assorted foods and eating a candied apple. Cliff glanced up at her and immediately, his mind began racing for what words to say.

“He Cliff,” Oracle said, offering the apple, “Want a bite?”

“Umm… sure,” Cliff muttered, not thinking about his answer fully.

Oracle dropped the candied apple into Cliff’s hooves. The feeling of the apple landing on his hooves snapped Cliff back from his thoughts.

“Huh? Wha?” Cliff said. He turned to see Oracle looking at him expectantly.

“Go ahead, take a bite,” Oracle said, smiling at him.

Cliff looked down at the apple in his hooves, most of the skin was eaten, leaving him without a spot to bite that had not been bitten by Oracle in one way or another. He gulped hard as the following thought flashed through his mind: Indirect kiss.

He gingerly took a bite out of the apple, chewing it slowly. Suddenly he heard Oracle laughing.

“What’s so funny?” He asked after he swallowed the bite.

“Your face!” Oracle replied, still laughing, “It’s so red!”

This comment made Cliff blush even harder. Oracle soon calmed down from her fit of laughter and took the apple back.

“So, was it good?” She asked him.

“Y-Yeah it was good,” Cliff replied awkwardly. He still felt the flush on his face but could do nothing about it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Storm walked out onto the main outdoor garden. The garden was more like a field, with grand white pillars decorated with creepers and ribbons. The entire garden was filled with rich ponies and celebrities, talking to each other about current events and the like. As he walked through the garden, he felt the disapproving stares of the rich ponies. Along with the occasional barely audible insult or rude comment.

“Bunch of spineless snobs, that’s what you are,” Storm muttered under his breath.

“Hey Storm!” Called out a voice. Storm snapped his head towards the source and much to his delight, its owner was none other than Soarin’.

“Soarin’! Nice to see you,” Storm shouted, walking to meet his old friend.

“Hey dude, what’s up?” Soarin’ said, giving Storm a bro-hoof.

“Nothing much,” Storm answered, “So how’s the party?”

“Good,” Soarin’ replied, “Man, you look good in uniform.”

“Thanks dude, these snobs keep insulting it,” Storm said, wiping his armor with a hoof.

“Well what do you expect from a bunch of ponies that were weaned on a diamond encrusted bottle?” Soarin’ pointed out, rolling his eyes. Storm nodded. He and Soarin’ had always hated rich pony celebrities and their snobbish attitude. That was also a reason that they admired the Wonderbolts as all of them had to prove their worth, rich or not.

“Anyways, I gotta go continue my patrol, I’ll catch you later though.” Storm said, walking off.

“Same here,” Soarin’ said, “I gotta go get one of those scrumptious looking apple pies before the meet and greet with the snobs.”

“Apple pies?” Storm thought to himself. To his knowledge, the only ‘apple’ food stuffs were candied or turned into sherbet. He turned and saw Soarin’ buying an apple pie from an unknown food stand. The vendor however, Storm recognized, it was the orange earth pony with the Stetson that was with Twilight.

“Hmm…” Storm thought to himself, “Usually, the princess never invites ponies that don’t live in Canterlot, let alone normal ponies from other towns. Things might get interesting around here.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ashley stormed out of the ballroom. All evening she was ignored, scoffed at or played with like a toy. She had enough.

“Stupid snobs and their stupid stuck up attitudes!” She cursed as she made her way to the front gates. She thought tonight was going to be fun, exciting, maybe even life-changing, but definitely not what it turned out to be. She didn’t even have Dusk around to comfort her. Disheartened and upset, Ashley made her way to the place where she always drowned her sorrows, with or without Dusk. Pony Joe’s donut joint.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Storm walked through the ballroom, he had finished his shift and was now free to do whatever he pleased. He walked over to the Wonderbolts meet and greet area to have a little chat with Soarin’ when he spotted a cyan mare sitting down and looking at the floor dejectedly. The very same mare at the Best Young Flyer Competition.

“Hey, what got you down Rainbow Dash?” Storm asked as he approached her. The mare perked up, flicking her rainbow mane away from her face to see who it was.

“Do I know you?” She asked frankly, “And how do you know my name?”

“I saw you at the competition,” Storm replied, “Nice sonic rainboom.”

“You saw it in person?” Rainbow asked, “Anyways, thanks for the compliment… Um…?”

“Storm,” Storm answered, “So why you feeling blue?

“Well you see Storm,” Rainbow Dash began. She then proceeded to explain how she wanted to hang out with the Wonderbolts but was prevented by the clingy fans.

“Hmm… I see” Storm said, “Well… I can try to arrange a meeting with one of them.”

“You can?!” Rainbow cried, standing up.

“I can try,” Storm repeated, emphasizing the ‘try’, “Anyways, meet me at the Silver Lining after the gala at nine and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you so much!” Rainbow exclaimed “Er… whatever your name was…”

Storm rolled his eyes and left the cyan mare. He had a Soarin’ to talk to.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cliff and Oracle were walking around the ballroom floor, staying close to each other but not too close. Cliff desperately wanted to ask Oracle for a dance as the music was a nice slow classical. The only thing between him and that dance however, was his own lack of courage.

“Come on Cliff, you can do this,” He told himself in an attempt to boost his confidence.

“But what if she rejects you?” His doubts argued back, “What if she thinks of you as a loser member of the guard?”

After about two minutes of this mental debate, Cliff managed to gather up enough courage to pop the question. He turned and, lo and behold, some snobby rich pony in a garish suit was trying to chat up Oracle.

“Excuse me madam,” The rich pony said, straightening his green and yellow striped tie with magic, “Could I bother you with a dance?”

“No thank you,” Oracle replied politely but firmly.

“But I must insist,” The unicorn pressed, “You must not know who I am. I am Sir Dudley, duke of-”

“Excuse me mister Dudley,” Cliff interrupted, “I believe the kind mare just turned you down.”

“And who might you be?” Dudley asked, looking down on Cliff, “A peasant in royal armor? My, my, what a jest!”

Cliff merely shrugged off the comment and turned to Oracle.

“Let’s go.” he whispered. As they were leaving, Dudley commented loudly, “Would you look at this, such a fine mare strolling with a lowly guard. Why, she must be with extremely low standards to hang about with one of such a filthy caliber.”

Oracle flinched at the statement. Cliff noticed her reaction and promptly turned around, pushed his face close to Dudley’s ugly grey mug and glared into his piss yellow eyes.

“You can insult me, but insult Oracle one more time and I swear to Celestia I’ll beat you so hard you wouldn’t be able to walk for three days,” Cliff threatened, his eyes sparking with rage, “Got it buster?”

Dudley backed off quickly, visibly intimidated. He then proceeded to sniff and leave in the opposite direction. Cliff turned to face Oracle and was just about to ask her for a dance when a pink earth pony stood up on stage and yelled, “Come on everypony, I know what’ll make you shake those groove thangs!”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rarity stood in the corner of the ballroom, waiting for her ass of a date, Prince Blueblood, to come out of the restroom. She was fuming, to think that this stuck up, selfish, boorish unicorn was supposed to be a prince and her date! She leaned on the wall and looked on at the party. A classical remix of Pony-Pokey had begun playing and many of the guests were giving faces of disapproval to the perpetrator, Pinkie Pie. Rarity rolled her eyes and pulled her dripping shawl over her shoulders, leave it to Pinkie to liven up a white tie event. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a glass of champagne being offered to her.

“Want a drink?” The pony offering her the champagne asked.

“Why, thank you good sir,” Rarity answered, levitating the drink out of his hoof. She turned to see the gentlecolt who did this kind act. Although she had trouble recognizing him through his armor, she knew it was the same handsome pegasus that she and her friends talked to at the competition about two months ago.

“Oh, you’re Storm right?” She asked. The pegasus nodded.

“Oh, well hello there, my name is Rarity,” She introduced herself, taking a sip of her drink. “Thank you for the refreshment.”

“My pleasure,” Storm replied, casually adjusting his helmet, “Anyways I saw you were down and I came to find out what was wrong.”

“Oh this night has been just terrible,” Rarity complained, “I wanted to find my true prince tonight but all I found was a prince in name only.”

“I see, “Storm said sympathetically, “Most of these snobbish rich ponies are like that I suppose. Selfish and rude, especially to ponies from a lower class.”

Rarity was just about to agree when Prince Blueblood came out of the restroom.

“Rarity my dear,” He said, his voice reeking of fake politeness, “Why would you talk to a castle guard out of all these other
respectable ponies?”

Rarity would have slapped him in the face for insulting such a polite and refined gentlecolt but she held it back, she had an image to preserve.

“I’ll just leave you two now,” Storm said. Then he turned and left.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ashley walked down the empty streets, her tears of disappointment dropping onto the stone path below her. She soon saw the neon sign that said ‘Pony Joe’s’ a sight she only saw when she was sad, or craving donuts. She dragged her feet into the shop and was greeted by the owner, Pony Joe. She looked up and to her surprise, she saw another dragon, not a pony, a baby dragon, sitting on the counter. She simply stood there, amazed that there was another dragon around. The other dragon eventually turned and saw Ashley. His face frozen in shock once he saw her. They stood there for about a minute until Pony Joe broke the silence.

“Umm… The usual?” He asked.

“That would be nice,” Ashley said, thawing out from her shock-induced freeze. She went up and sat next to the dragon as Pony Joe went into the kitchen. He had a purple body, green top scales and equally green eyes.

“Uh, hi there,” The other dragon said nervously, turning to his chocolate frosted donut, “Never seen you before.”

“Same here,” Ashley replied awkwardly, putting her claws together, “Um… My name’s Ashley.”

“I’m Spike,” The dragon introduced himself, turning to Ashley and offering a hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Ashley replied, shaking his hand.

He smiled sheepishly back at her, revealing his sharp white teeth.

“You have nice teeth,” Ashley commented.

“Thanks, you do too,” Spike replied. Pony Joe soon came, pink frosted sprinkled donut in hoof.

“Here you go,” He said, plopping the donut on the counter in front of Ashley. She reached for her little coin purse but Pony Joe stopped her.

“Nah, it’s on the house,”

“Huh? Why?” Ashley asked bewildered.

“I know an upset pony, or in your case, dragon when I see one,” He replied, smirking. Ashley looked down at her donut and took a bite out of it.

“So, you like pink frosting?” Spike inquired.

“Yeah,” Ashley replied, “Why?”

“I personally think chocolate is much better.” Spike stated.

“Really?” Ashley said, taking another bite out of her donut, “I like pink frosting because it has a happy feel to it.”

“Happy feel?” Spike asked, scratching his head, “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, typical boys,” Ashley said, rolling her eyes, “You wouldn’t be able to pick up a hint of emotion even if it was in your face.”

“I resent that!” Spike protested. Soon they began a petty argument. Pony Joe rolled his eyes and smiled to himself.

“They get along together, those two,” He said to himself, chuckling.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Storm walked out onto the garden, inhaling the fresh air. The party was still in full swing without any sign of stopping. He went over to the buffet line and grabbed a glass of wine. He sat on the soft grass and looked up at the night sky in all its glory.

“Hey,” A voice said from behind him, “What’s up?”

Storm turned and saw Soarin’ standing behind him, champagne in hand.

“Hey Soarin’,” Storm said, sipping his wine, “How was the meet’n’greet?”

“Terrible,” Soarin’ replied frankly as he sat down next to Storm, “Those snobs really think they have it all.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Storm replied.

The two of them sat there staring at the sky for a while until an annoying rich pony approached Soarin’ wanting an autograph.
“Please wait until the next session,” Soarin answered curtly, earning him a grunt from the pony.

“I’ll pay you a hundred bits,” The pony offered, knocking his hooves together. Two ponies in black suits came seemingly out of nowhere, in their hooves a sack of bits each.

“Meh,” Soarin’ scoffed at him, turning away, “Don’t want it.”

“Please good sir,” The rich pony pleaded, “I’ll double the offer!”

“Go away,” Soarin’ said firmly. The rich pony gasped in disbelief, but eventually left, mumbling a curse under his breath.

“Oh yeah,” Storm said, “Can I ask of a favor?”

“What is it?” Soarin’ asked, sipping his champagne.

“I want you to meet a friend of mine,” Storm replied, “She’s a big fan of you guys and I promise you won’t regret meeting her.”

“I she a snob?” Soarin’ asked flatly, raising an eyebrow.

“Nah,” Storm answered, “She’s just a regular pony.”

“Normally, I would refuse,” Soarin’ said, “But because you’re my good friend, I’ll do it.”

“Thanks dude,” Storm said, finishing his drink, “All you gotta do is meet her at the Silver Lining at nine. I promise you won’t regret it.”

As Soarin’ left, Storm muttered to himself, “You definitely won’t, especially since you have a crush on her.”

“Erm, ‘scuse me pardner,” Came a female voice from behind Storm, “Ah would like ta ask where the kitchen is.”

Storm turned and saw an orange earth pony behind him next to a large cart of apple themed foodstuffs. She had a yellow mane tied back into a ponytail and freckles. But the defining feature was the brown Stetson she was wearing.

“Why? Would you like to cook?” Storm asked.

“Uh yes, ah guess ah do,” She replied.

“Walk down this hallway and you’ll eventually reach it,” Storm said, pointing down a well-lit corridor, “It’ll be to your left, you can’t miss it.”

“Well thank you very much,” The earth pony replied and began walking off in the indicated direction, pushing her cart along with her.
“Oh yeah,” Storm said, calling out to her, “If they ask, tell them Storm sent you.”

“Ah’ll keep that in mind,” The earth pony yelled back as she pushed her cart through the corridor.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cliff slowly walked around the ballroom. The music was a beautiful romantic waltz and many other ponies had begun dancing with their dates. He made his way around the dancing ponies in the center, scanning the entire room for signs of Oracle. She had been by his side until she left to use the little mare’s room. He did eventually find her, but he also found Sir Dudley cornering her and pressing her for a dance.

“I… I don’t want to,” Oracle said, beginning to feel a bit scared, “Please leave me alone…”

“But madam,” Sir Dudley said, “You simply must accept this dance, I insist.”

The last part of the sentence was said threateningly, his eyes flared with hatred of Oracle’s resistance.

“I… r-refuse…” Oracle replied, her voice wavering, “Please… j-just go away.”

Sir Dudley grabbed one of her hooves, surprising Oracle.

“Now, now you classless bitch,” He said in a dangerous tone, “I’ve never been rejected before nor do I ever intend to be. So what don’t you be a good little filly and accept my invitation?”

Oracle felt like bursting into tears. She was scared, very scared of the pony before her.

Suddenly, a brown hoof placed itself on the shoulder of Sir Dudley’s cream jacket, drawing the attention of both ponies.

“Hey,” A venomous voice said from behind Dudley, “It’s not nice to insult mares like that you know?”

The grey unicorn turned and received a powerful hoof to the face. Dudley doubled over in pain whimpering and covering his face with his hooves.

“And that’s what you get for calling Oracle a bitch,” Cliff said, stepping forward. He turned his attention to Oracle who was now cowering in fear.

“It’s alright now.” He said, putting a hoof on her shoulder, “He’s been taken care of.”

Oracle looked up. Her eyes were watering and she was sniffling, a sight that made Cliff almost turn and smack the disgusting unicorn behind him. She threw her arms around Cliff and whispered, “Thank Celestia you’re here.”

“I’m brleedig!” Sir Dudley screamed as he pulled his hooves away from his face. Cliff turned to see the ugly rich pony, his eyes flaming with rage and fury. Sir Dudley face was bashed pretty badly, he had a few missing teeth that were on the floor and his nose was bleeding and probably broken.

“You’rll bay for thish!”He hissed angrily as he levitated a hoofkerchief from his breast pocket and wiping his face.

“Oh really?” Cliff asked with smoldering eyes and raising his hoof, “Would you like another?”

Before Dudley could reply, a loud hip-hop beat started playing, and a pink earth pony began zipping through the crowd, tossing ponies left and right. Not long after, an orange earth pony entered the room wheeling in a large fancy cake. The pink pony leapt, landing on the cart and flipping the cake away. A hoof reached out and pulled Cliff and Oracle back. Both ponies turned and saw that it was Storm.

“You should leave,” Storm said seriously, “Now.”

They took his advice and left the ballroom as a giant alicorn statue fell over.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Okay, I guess pink frosting is a nice flavor,” Spike conceded, “But chocolate is still my personal favorite.”

“Each to his own,” Ashley said, finishing her donut.

Spike grumbled as he drank some of his hot chocolate. He could not believe that he lost a debate to a girl. A girl! Of all the people to lose to.

“Ah well, that was fun while it lasted,” he thought to himself when Ashley giggled to herself.

“Why’re you giggling?” Spike asked.

“Because that argument was the most fun I had all evening!” Ashley said, now laughing, “Isn’t it funny?”

Spike smiled, he saw the irony. Then he began laughing too. Suddenly, Ashley coughed out a small green flame and a scroll sealed with a red ribbon fell onto her claws.

“A message from Princess Celestia?” She asked no one in particular.

“Princess Celestia?” Spike asked, dropping his donut, “You help her?”

“Yes, well not really,” Ashley replied, unraveling the scroll, “I help Dusk, the lieutenant of the royal guard.”

After reading the letter, Ashley’s eyes widened.

“Oh no,” She said, then she got up and quickly began to leave the shop.

“It was nice meeting you Spike, but I just received a very urgent message!” Ashley called back as she ran, waving a claw.

“Yeah, nice meeting you too Ashley!” Spike yelled, then he turned back to his donut and ate it as loneliness surrounded him again.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Some party,” Storm said, brushing the dust off his armor. He, Cliff and Oracle had just barely escaped the chaos that had broken out in the ballroom.

“Yeah,” Cliff replied blankly. He looked over at Oracle, who was sitting in the moonlight. Her green mane was now dirtied and frayed in places where the animals had landed on her as they tried to escape the ballroom. Her dress was now crumpled from all the running and dodging.

“Go talk to her,” Storm whispered, throwing a hoof around Cliff’s shoulders.

“What?!” Cliff asked quietly, “I can’t do that!”

“Why not?” Storm asked.

“Because… well because…” Cliff began but stopped. He knew he could but he just could not bring himself to do it. His courage reserves had been run dry after all the events from tonight. Suddenly, he felt Storm smack his back, sending tumbling forward. He rolled a couple times then got up and yelled, “What the buck was that for?!”

He turned and realized he was sitting next to Oracle. She looked at him with large light green eyes.

“Yes Cliff?” She asked him, “May I help you?

“Uh… yeah,” Cliff replied, “Can I talk to you?”

“Sure,” Oracle said, running a hoof through her mane. Cliff glanced back and saw that Storm was gone.

“Thanks,” He whispered.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy walked along the moon-lit path. Since the gala was cut short, they still had until nine thirty before their train arrived. She and her friends decided that they would just wander around Canterlot, as long as they met back at the station at nine fifteen. They had all changed out of their gala dresses and split about half an hour ago. She looked at the ground, sad that she was unable to make friends with the animals in the castle, but happy that she and her friends still spent time together tonight.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a white pegasus in front of her said, “Hey, I heard you like animals.”

She turned away and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know you.”

“Aww really?” The pegasus said, “And I introduced myself to you too.”

“You did?” She asked, turning toward him slightly.

“Yeah, you know, back then?” The pegasus asked, “At the Best Young Flyer Competition?”

Fluttershy looked up, looking at the pegasus’s face.

“Anyways, let’s try this again,” He said, “My name is Storm, what’s yours?”

“I’m Fluttershy,” She said almost inaudibly.

“Okay, so I saw how you had trouble with the animals in the castle,” Storm said, offering a hoof, “Wanna go try meeting them again?”

“Um… I’m not so sure…” Fluttershy said nervously. She was not too interested in visiting the royal castle any time soon.

“It’ll be fine,” He reassured her, “We’ll go through a secret back way that only guards are aware of.”

“Um, well then… okay I guess…” She replied, “Lead the way then.”

“So what did you want to talk about?” Oracle asked Cliff.

“How was tonight for you?” Cliff inquired tonelessly, “Was it enjoyable?”

“Frankly, it was fine,” Oracle replied, “Even with all the little hiccups and the… bigger problems…”

She shuddered as she said the last two words, making Cliff clench his teeth.

“I should hit him harder next time,” he uttered under his breath.

“Hm? Did you say something?” Oracle asked.

“No,” Cliff said. Then turning to her, he asked, “How come the night wasn’t that bad for you? Even with its problems?”

“Well,” She said, shuffling her hooves together, “It was because I got to spend time with you.”

“Really?” Cliff said, a blush creeping onto his emotionless face.

“Yes, really,” Oracle confirmed, blushing as well, “I really enjoy spending time with you Cliff.”

She moved closer to him, until her body touched his. Then she put a hoof on his hoof. Cliff was slightly taken aback by this, causing him to flinch a little. But eventually, he calmed down. He moved a little, allowing Oracle to rest her head on his shoulder, which she did. Cliff could feel Oracle’s warmth through his side, her touch on his hoof, her breath on his foreleg. He could smell the floral shampoo she used for her hair. He smiled to himself, thanking Storm for this moment.

The two of them sat there for a long time, just bathing in Princess Luna’s moonlight and surrounded by the calm serene nature in the garden. A picture of peace and serenity.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Come on, this way,” Storm said, ushering Fluttershy through a small doorway that had been concealed by a bush and some magic.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” She asked anxiously, “It looks awfully dark in there.”

“It’ll be fine,” He reassured her, “I wouldn’t bring you in here if it wasn’t safe.”

“Alright, if you say so,” She said, walking through the doorway. It was slightly damp and muddy, and the ceiling was a bit low. But, what should one expect from a secret doorway made by guards?

Fluttershy soon stepped out into the moonlight, looking at her surroundings. She was in the castle garden, the exact same place she had been trying to catch the animals earlier.

“Here we are,” Storm said, walking out of the doorway, “Well, let’s go meet the animals then.”

He walked into the center of the garden and whistled loudly. Seemingly out of nowhere, animals of different kinds, birds, rabbits, squirrels and other little critters came and surrounded him.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said, “Is your special talent talking to animals too?”

“Nah,” Storm replied, “I just hang out here a lot more often then I should, as a result, I know most of the animals here.”

Most of the animals flinched at the sight of Fluttershy, some even began to back away slowly. This made Fluttershy feel guilty.

“Don’t worry guys, she won’t hurt you,” Storm said jokingly as he walked over and took her hoof, “See?”

Fluttershy let out a small ‘Eep’ as Storm took her hoof, but quickly shut herself up when she saw what was happening. Some of the animals crept over nervously, circling around both ponies, some even approached and touched Fluttershy, poking her legs as if they were deadly weapons of mass destruction. Eventually, the all settled down and allowed Fluttershy to cuddle them and play with them.

“Oh, thank you Storm,” Fluttershy said, hugging three small rabbits, “For allowing me to befriend these animals.”

“It was nothing,” Storm replied modestly, spreading his wings.

“You have very beautiful wings,” Fluttershy commented as she stroked a ferret.

“Really? Thanks!” Storm said. He had always been told that his wings were large or his wings were cool, but never beautiful.

“Um… what time is it?” Fluttershy asked.

“Let’s see…” Strom said, looking at his watch, “Nine. Why?”

“Oh dear,” FlutterShy said, standing up, “I’m sorry, but I have to get going, it was nice meeting you though.”

“Sure thing,” Storm said, escorting her to the doorway, “Come back anytime.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ashley burst into the ballroom, panting for breath. Princess Celestia, who had been leading the clean-up effort after the party, turned to see her.

“Why hello there Ashley,” She said serenely, “How may I-”

“Dusk needs help!” Ashley cried out, cutting the sun princess off, “He sent me an S.O.S. message!”

Princess Celstia quickly flew over and levitated the scroll out of Ashley’s claws. She read the following text:

Dear Ashley,

I need you to show this letter to the princess immediately after you receive it. Shining Armor and I are having trouble fending off the outburst. This is not a random occurrence, we have proof it was planned. We don’t know who but they are well-organized and powerful. Please send help as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Dusk Flamer.

“Oh no,” Princess Celestia said, dropping the scroll. Then she turned and Shouted to all the guards in the ballroom, “Attention all guards! I need you to meet me in the castle courtyard immediately! Pass this message on to the rest of the guards!”

Author's Note

Hey guys! Viscolorus here and thank you all so much for bothering to read my story up till this point! this just about wraps up season 1 so thanks again for reading!