What Society Expects from a Princess

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Charity Auction
Chapter 2: The Centrepiece Item
Chapter 3: What It Means to be a Princess
Chapter 4: The First Impression
Chapter 5: The Rules of the Game
Chapter 6: The Trouble with Impressions
Chapter 7: The Dark Side of Society
Chapter 8: The Issue of Envy
Chapter 9: The Reveal

Chapter 1: The Charity Auction

Chapter 1: The Charity Auction

With a view out over the majority of the castle gardens, Princess Celestia’s office was in a prime position. It was her haven, into which she would retreat to work out the hours of the day, signing off on government resolutions, approving various reports and paperwork, and just making sure she was on top of everything going on in the wonderfully complex country that was Equestria.

Generally, that was the case at least. For it was a special time of year right about now, a time which was usually heralded by mountainous piles of flowery parchment and an equally massive ledger denoting the names of various dignitaries. Yes, it was Gala season again in Canterlot. And as usual, it was the job of the Princess to send out the invitations.

Sometimes, Celestia wondered why she didn’t just delegate this responsibility to one of the legions of functionaries that walked the halls of the castle. It got maddeningly repetitive at times: “Dear Earl X of Y, you and your household are cordially invited to attend this year’s Grand Galloping Gala, to be held on the night of April 5, at Canterlot Castle…” If all she had to do was send out that a few hundred times, she probably would get somepony else to do it. But no, every noble and his wife wanted something personal, which was why every year she had to dig through her address book again to try and remember precisely how Viscount such-and-such had gotten his title in the first place.

Write, check, fold, seal, stack, cross name off list. And so on it went. Every so often she would have to gaze out the window for a while to stave off the eye strain. It was a beautiful day out, and many members of the court were enjoying the garden, which had only recently been cleared of snow. The latest schedules from Cloudsdale reported that the spring rain season would be starting promptly next week, which meant that now was a fleeting opportunity to take in the sun. And here she was stuck with this work. Oh, the many sacrifices involved in accepting the mantles of responsibility.

Bringing her attention back to the list, Celestia let her eyes drift downwards nearer to the bottom edge, where six names had been recently added. They were not new names, indeed all six had been to the function two years ago, but their inclusion on the list this year had been a bit of a struggle to get through the planning committees. Now, in her personal opinion that year had been great fun, a fact which was due in no small part to their attendance. But then the bill for the repairs had landed in front of the eyes of those bureaucrats at the Exchequer, and tones had changed.

Celestia had dreaded that the following year might herald a return to the more orthodox affairs that the Canterlot high society seemed to prefer, and as it happened, she had been right on the money with that premonition. It had been a struggle to stay awake the whole night. Luckily, even the Gala planning committee could not refuse an invitation to a newly crowned Princess, so Twilight and company were indeed back on the list this time around.

She was just about to get back to work when a prim castle guard appeared in her doorway, waiting respectfully for her permission to speak. After being graced with a nod, he succinctly announced, “You have a visitor, Your Majesty.”

Celestia took a moment to tidy up the unruly assortment of papers on her desk, all the while trying to think of who this could be. Taking a deep breath to settle herself, she allowed the guard to usher the guest through the open doorway.

Celestia spent a few moments working the newcomer’s nondescript face through her normally infallible memory, but unfortunately to no avail. Dressed in a simple white collar, the grey mare wore a deadpan expression, accentuated by her lengthy eyelashes. “Your Majesty,” she said, bowing slightly in respect.

The Princess dismissed the guard, inviting the newcomer to take the open seat that stood just in front of her desk. On second glance, her face did appear vaguely familiar, although Celestia had seen many, many, faces in her time, so the same could likely be said for a great many of the ponies in the kingdom. The guest’s conservatively styled dark grey mane settled back in voluminous locks along the length of her neck, adding a very erudite air to her appearance. She seemed to radiate a rather… cultured aura, the sort of thing that would make her fit right into a city like Canterlot. “Good afternoon, Ms.?”

“Octavia,” the guest answered in an affected, upper-class accent.

“Ms. Octavia, welcome. Allow me to apologize if you had to wait. As you are well aware, there are many issues to which I must attend. However, as I’m sure you’ve heard, my office door is always open to my subjects. What seems to be the issue?”

Octavia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It stands to note at this point that Celestia strove to maintain a standing policy of openness to the concerns of all of her subjects. It was an attempt to dispel that vague boundary of stateliness that always seemed to separate royalty from the masses. Thus, it was not uncommon at all for such informal appointments to be made. However, Celestia realized that her tone just now had been very clinical, more reminiscent of a doctor investigating a persistent headache than of a friend opening a conversation.

Celestia shook her head and let out a long sigh. Reclining now in her full-backed seat, she let a gentle smile come to her features. “Sorry, Octavia. It’s been a long day. Would you like something to drink perhaps?”

“Um, no, I’m fine actually,” came the reply, now slightly more relaxed, which would have to do, although the Princess sensed that this earth pony was one that never truly came all the way unwound. With a slight shot of magic, Celestia transformed her inkwell into a steaming mug of tea, and took a sip, letting the rich flavour wash away the stresses from her mind. Now she was ready for a truly informal conversation.

“So, Octavia, tell me what’s on your mind.”

The ice having been broken somewhat, it seemed that Octavia was ready to be a little more forthright in her intentions. “Well, you see Princess; the recent proposed budget included a great deal of new infrastructure spending in the country. Now don’t get me wrong, I quite appreciate that. The transportation system especially is quite in need of an overhaul. The problem is that in order to raise the funds, a number of cuts occurred, primarily in the arts…” She trailed off then, clearly uncertain of how to continue. The Princess had a marked reputation for her dislike of bureaucrats, lobbyists, and other opportunists that gummed up the works of the government. The air in the room seemed to drop by a few degrees in an instant, as much of the warmth drained from Celestia’s features. Perhaps this was why Octavia was so tense; she must have known that she was going to be waging an uphill battle.

Celestia kept on regarding her guest coolly, and took one more sip from her tea. In a calm voice, she answered, “Then you are here to lobby me for arts funding. Do you have a particular program of interest?”

“I have a number of friends on the Royal Canterlot Symphony Orchestra that tell me they are in rather dire financial straits due to the recent cuts, so I suppose I would most appreciate it if the money went to that program first.”

“You are aware that budgetary concerns are the domain of the Treasury, correct?”

Octavia was quick on the reply. “You hold an express veto over that committee, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm, that is correct. Odd to meet a lobbyist that’s actually done the proper homework. You’ll have to give me some time to think about this.” And Celestia settled down into a position of deep thought, her chin resting gently upon an upheld hoof.

The room was silent for a time, except for what noise came in through the open window. A slight breeze blew at the corners of the parchments arrayed across the Princess’ desk, setting Octavia’s mane aflutter. Celestia didn’t notice, instead looking intently off into the empty fireplace that occupied her office’s far wall. If the request had come from the usual consultant or lobbyist who occasionally knocked at her door, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but a personal request from an individual carried much more weight, at least in Celestia’s mind. It would be difficult, but she knew that she at least had to try.

The earth pony did appear a touch more nervous by the time Celestia looked back at her, but the Princess put on a warm smile in the hopes of assuaging her guest’s fears. “I understand, Octavia,” Celestia said. “It’s wonderful to see a pony come so far for something that they believe in, as opposed to doing it solely for the touch of gold. Money is tight, but I’m going to do everything that I can to help you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Octavia managed to state, although Celestia could tell that the news brought her great relief. As the guard escorted her guest again from the room, Celestia took another sip of tea to clear her own mind in preparation for this little challenge. True, ultimately the budget was her decision, but times were tight. Likely, funding could not be shifted without cutting something else. Defence, perhaps? Hmm, perhaps not. The hawks in the Treasury had been up in arms ever since that Changeling Affair last year. Foreign Policy? Not with the Equestria-Griffonia Free Trade Agreement about to be signed. Education? No, that money was earmarked for paying Twilight’s living expenses. The whole thing was a right mess, and Celestia knew that she needed somepony else’s advice if she was going to get anywhere.

Luckily, she did know of one such pony that she could talk to, and she was one that the Princess had really wanted to get back in touch with anyway, if only to check on how things were going up at the top of Equestria. And anything would be better than getting back to those mind-numbing invitations.

Setting up a two-way magical link took a little bit of time, but it wasn’t long before Celestia was seated opposite to her new Chancellor of the Exchequer, and her husband.

“Cadance, Shining, how is everything?” she began brightly.

The two ponies were seated together at a low table, upon which the link had been established. Both looked their usual heavenly selves, although perhaps just slightly wrinkled around the edges. But then, both of them had been exceedingly busy of late.

“Personally, or as regarding the operations?” Shining replied stolidly, having never quite gotten used to the idea that, as a member of the nobility, he was no longer at Celestia’s every beck and call.

“Hmm, both I guess,” Celestia replied with a chuckle. “Which is better?”

Shining exchanged a sheepish glance with his wife, the Princess of The Crystal Empire. “Ha, honestly, both of them,” he replied after a moment. “The team that you sent last month has nearly completed disenchanting the various vaults and dungeons beneath the city, so we can begin bullion deposits very soon. And the master dies are all properly made up and finished, so we expect the new Equestrian Mint to begin functioning in only a matter of months.”

“Perfect!” Celestia clapped her hooves together once. “I just knew that the two of you were the proper ponies to place in charge of that operation.”

“It’s amazing really,” Cadance put in. “The Crystal Empire was practically made to be a Mint. It’s isolated, secure, outsiders stand out like sore hooves, and it already contains the most protected vaults in Equestria! Honestly, how could the project not be going well?” She finished with a glance and giggle over towards her husband, who responded by embracing her tenderly with his right foreleg.

However, Shining then looked towards Celestia with a significantly more serious expression. “But that’s not why you called, is it Princess? Our operational briefs would have kept you up to date on the situation, and if you wanted to check up on us, you would have come personally. So what’s really the issue?”

Celestia was pleased that they could get right to the point. She positively loved Shining’s analytical streak; it had been wonderfully helpful when he had been her guard Captain, and would continue to aid him now that he was involved in the politics of the nobility. “Fine, it’s a money issue. We need to free up some funding for the arts. I’m deciding to make it a personal priority.”

“Hmm.” Cadance pulled some documents in from the side using her magic. “Government is very tight right now with the Mint in transition,” she said as she went over the figures. “We could divest some of the gold reserves.”

Shining had gone into full advisor-mode. “That would be unwise,” he cautioned. “If we dump our stocks, local prices will fall off parity with Griffonia, which would introduce complications in the trade discussions. The money will have to come from existing supplies.”

“Well, then the government will not be able to provide it unless we make some serious cuts,” the Chancellor of the Exchequer returned. “Or raise taxes, I suppose.”

Celestia shook her head dismissively on that suggestion. “No tax hikes. There’s got to be some other way.”

“Then that only leaves one option,” Shining stated. The two Princesses both looked away in unease, as both of them were aware of what he was going to say, but neither one was enthusiastic about the prospect. The air was still for a moment, as everyone present thought about the consequences.

“A private fundraiser,” Celestia finally admitted. It was a well-known fact that there were enough bits lining the pockets of Equestria’s elite to gold-leaf Canterlot Castle; the problem lay in convincing them to spend the money. It was an unfortunate consequence of the Equestrian divide between urban and rural: that the urbanites felt they required some measure of superiority to lord over the lower classes.

Then again, what with the Gala coming up, all the richest and most powerful ponies in Equestria would be together under one roof. If she could come up with a plan by then, it could be quite the success. But how? It was a puzzling question. Naturally, to wring money from ponies of quality, she would have to convince them to purchase something that they felt would offer them higher status in society. Perhaps something rare or unique would do the trick. Nobles were often drawn in by little artefacts and novelties that could adorn their mantles and bookcases, and become interesting conversation-pieces at cocktail parties.

Cadance had been coming to the same conclusions in her own mind at an equal pace, and she shared a nod with Celestia before announcing the answer: “A charity auction would be just the thing. You said it was arts funding we were after? Then it should be simple to theme the event after the specific program that is in need of the money.” She turned off-screen again to retrieve some more documents, and her prismatic streaked mane swished about in a dazzling dance of colors and hues.

In that instant, the answer clicked into place in Celestia’s mind. “That’s a perfect idea, Cadance,” she said immediately, now with much more enthusiasm. “And I already know what the centerpiece item is going to be. I’m going to need you in Canterlot in two days; I’ll explain why when you get here.” Noticing the nervous glance that passed between the two co-rulers, she added, “Don’t worry, Cadance. Shining will be quite capable of finishing up the project on his own. I’ll look forward to seeing you.”

“Of course,” Cadance replied with a little chuckle. “Same to you,” and she nodded once off-screen. With a flicker, the magical connection was severed, leaving Celestia once more alone in her office. But now the space felt much more alive, as the first inklings of a plan were beginning to filter their way through her mental machinery. Grabbing a new inkwell and some fresh sheets of parchment, the Princess swept everything else into its own little pile in the corner and took to sketching things out as they came to mind.

Motioning also to the guard just outside the door, she asked him to take down a message for her. “Schedule an appointment with my hairdresser two days from now.”

“Just for yourself, Your Majesty?”

Celestia smiled a rather mischievous little smile, and her eyebrows came together between her eyes to form two arms of a wide V. “No, tell him to make ready for three patrons. And they’ll all require the royal treatment.”

The heavy cover of Toadstools to Tadpoles: The Total Tome of Transmutation thudded decisively against the hewn hardwood of the desk as Twilight Sparkle opened up the thick text. Truthfully, she had found it rather difficult to concentrate on her studies these past few weeks. The entire year felt like it had been one gigantic whirlwind of activity, in keeping up with the goings-on around the country. There was so much extra responsibility that came with that title of “Princess”. Ponyville was more than just her home now; it was her workplace, her department of the government. If some journalist wanted to run an exposé on the region’s future development, she needed to be ready to provide any information that was required.

The new principality of Ponyville actually encompassed several other villages in the area, and the immediate weeks after Twilight’s coronation had been spent just travelling around getting to know all of her new subjects. Twilight had been so buried in the introductory material surrounding statecraft that Celestia had sent her that she had quite neglected her magical studies, a fact for which she was now most regretful. And so she had decided that this mid-March weekend was to be spent catching up on the missed material.

However, she had only been at her studies for a mere fifteen minutes when she heard the pattering footsteps of Spike coming up the stairs to her loft. Once the young dragon had crested the ascent, he spoke in a clear voice. “Twilight, we need to talk.”

It was an unusually blunt preamble for her trusted aide, so Twilight closed the book and gave Spike her full attention. Naturally these past few weeks had been trying for him as well; he had been forced to adopt the responsibilities that came with shepherding a Princess through her schedule, in addition to the usual moral and material support. Princess Celestia had a whole army of secretaries and courtiers involved in keeping her schedule straight. Nonetheless, the young dragon had proved admirably versatile. Today Spike looked a little the worse for wear: his usually bright, wide eyes were drooped slightly and his posture evoked none of its usual energy.

“Twilight, do you remember that check-list of items that Celestia sent us a few weeks ago, on the things the peerage expects of its newest members?”

“Of course I do, Spike. We went through it last week.” The list had been primarily trivial, common-sense actions; the sorts of things one would usually do upon joining an exclusive club or society.

“I’ve realized since then,” he continued, “that #7 was likely a poor choice.”

Twilight thought back to the list quickly. “The nobility’s bulk mailing list? But it’s essential for keeping up with the rest of the country.”

The dragon opened up his mouth to make a response, but it was replaced by an agonized grimace. Immediately afterwards, a sealed parchment escaped his mouth along with a jet of green flame and a colossal belch. With a look of exasperated exhaustion, he fainted over backwards.

Tentatively, Twilight picked up the letter. The blue seal she immediately recognized as belonging to the Equestrian postal service: a sealed envelope that had sprouted two wings at its corners and was en route to its intended destination. But this letter also had a small constellation of stars at its corner, indicating it had originated from a department with which she was not familiar. The two of them had been getting a great deal of mail from all around Equestria since subscribing to the mailing list.

The lettering had been typed, and the message was short and to the point. Twilight read it out loud: “Notification to all recipients: Beginning tonight at midnight, the Equestrian magical message delivery service will be undergoing scheduled maintenance and upgrades, and will be unavailable to all users for an estimated two days. Couriers will be made available to despatch urgent communiqués as needed. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please do not reply to this message. From: The Equestrian Information Services Team.”

“Hmm,” Twilight muttered to herself. Admittedly, though the quantity of their mail had shot up substantially since connecting to the greater Equestrian peerage, she couldn’t quite say the same for the letters’ quality. Downstairs, Spike had been forced to begin cataloguing the letters into separate bins, so that urgent messages relating to meetings wouldn’t end up alongside some random Baron bragging about his new carriage.

In fact, the whole of the library was in a state of disarray, owing to the necessary documents and instructional guides that Celestia had sent over. The Mayor had even gone so far as to offer her a more functional space in Town Hall from which to administer the region, but Twilight preferred to work from home. The space felt a good deal cozier than a sterile office ever would, and Twilight didn’t like to think that too much had changed since that crown had been dropped onto her head.

On the floor, Spike was coming to again. “I get the feeling,” he said woozily, “that the rest of the nobility probably has other ways of getting their mail. They don’t seem to understand the repercussions –” here he coughed twice “– of flooding our inbox.”

“It’s just something that we’ll have to get used to, Spike, just like all the rest of this,” Twilight answered, sweeping a hoof out over the piles of parchment and books that covered the library. Admittedly the place had seen worse in her memory, but this time there was no indication that things were going to get better anytime soon. “At least at midnight you’ll be getting a break. The IST admins are taking the whole magical network down for maintenance.”

That news was enough to get Spike back up to his feet. “Great, I could use the rest. Oh, and I almost forgot. These came for you as well.” He proffered up six parchments, each sealed with a bright red dollop of wax, and imprinted with the unmistakable ridges of the Great Seal of Equestria. These Twilight grabbed immediately, magically unrolling each and scanning them quickly.

“Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, you are cordially invited to attend this year’s – Yes!” Twilight threw up both forelegs and danced a little jig of glee; a rather undignified display for a Princess, but certainly not something that a crown and a pair of wings were going to get rid of anytime soon.

Leaving Spike still getting his bearings, Twilight dashed to her calendar. The Gala was in two weeks (odd, she seemed to remember getting her invitations much earlier last time around) which meant that they only had a small amount of time in which to prepare. But first things first: she had to tell all of her friends the news. Arriving at the front door, she turned to call back to Spike, who was still coming down the stairs slowly. “Spike, I’m going out to tell all of our friends that we’re going to the Gala again this year. Then I think I might spring by Rarity’s to see if our dresses are still in good condition. Just take a rest while I’m out…” she trickled off at the end, noticing that her assistant was no longer anywhere to be seen. Glancing through the doorway, she found him standing there impatiently. That bright spark was back in his complexion.

“How did you even get outside?” she asked with a cock of the head.

Spike did not reply, instead just turning square on his heel and marching straight off in the direction of Rarity’s. With a roll of her eyes, Twilight followed.

Just as Twilight arrived at Rarity’s residence, the white unicorn was standing outside, hanging a “Back in 45 minutes” sign over the front door. When she spied her approaching friends, she trotted out to meet them on the path. “Twilight, Spike! So wonderful to see you. I was just going out to grab a light lunch. Care to join me?”

“Sorry, Rarity, but I already ate actually. I was preparing for a big afternoon of studying. But thanks for the offer anyway.”

“Well, no problem, we can certainly walk together anyway,” Rarity said as the two began a casual walk towards the commercial district in the center of town, with the dreamy-eyed Spike in tow. “But if you were prepared to study, then what are you doing here?”

“Actually, Rarity, I’m glad that you asked that. I have some marvelous news. Spike, could you give Rarity her copy of the letter?” Twilight did not need to look behind her to see if the dragon would complete the task; naturally he was already formally bowed low, presenting the parchment as though it were a priceless treasure.

With only the barest hint of humor, Rarity took the letter and unrolled it. “Hmm… I see… Indeed….” she muttered as she read over the address, then calmly dropped it back into Spike’s waiting hands. She appeared to have taken the news quite in stride, and it left Twilight momentarily surprised, even a little concerned.

“Umm, Rarity, you’re okay, right? I mean, that was an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala. That’s kind of a big deal, isn’t it? Especially after their refusal to invite us back last year.”

Rarity chuckled. “Oh Twilight, please. One simply does not refuse an invitation to a sitting Princess. Naturally I expected that something like this would be on its way soon enough. Your new dress is already finished, by the way.” The unicorn then continued walking up the street, leaving her friend stunned momentarily by the roadside. To be true, one would think that she would be used to Rarity’s selfless generosity by now, but this news was so unexpected that Twilight felt it deserved an explanation.

“Rarity, wait!” she called out, running back up abreast with her friend once more. “Thank you, obviously, but what was wrong with the old dress? It was perfect, wasn’t it?”

“Again, Twilight, please,” Rarity replied without losing a single stride. “That dress was perfect for the Twilight of two years ago: an individual making a splash in high society. A Princess does not need to make a splash, and indeed should not. Your name will precede you now, and it is most imperative that you leave the proper impression. There are forms to be observed among the nobility.”

At this point the pair had reached the dining district of town, which was really just a single intersection, with Sugarcube Corner now on their right and the café, presumably Rarity’s destination, just across the road. As they approached the crossing, Twilight felt the impact of her friend’s words settle into her mind. She certainly hadn’t been expecting something like this. Rarity had to be overreacting. “Rarity, don’t you think that you might be making a bit too big of a deal out of this? I mean, it’s not going to be any more special than it was the first time, isn’t it?”

Rarity stopped and looked very intently into her friend’s eyes. Her voice emerged very level and serious. “This Gala is your debut for the nobility, Twilight. It is infinitely more than it was before; it is where your reputation will be evaluated and decided upon.” And then, the unicorn was herself again, smiling lightly as she turned to cross the street. “But don’t worry yourself over it. I’ll make all of the arrangements.”

Twilight was left standing alone on the street corner, trying to get her head around this latest salvo in her title’s ongoing war with her past life. Perhaps in retrospect she should have realized that her interactions with greater society were never going to be the same again. Gone were the days that she could be anywhere near Canterlot without a crowd of observers and hangers-on watching her every move. Thank goodness that the citizens of Ponyville had taken it upon themselves to make the transition as smooth and pain-free as possible, or else it could have easily become quite overwhelming.

But Twilight Sparkle was not one to back away from a challenge. She would face this new test just as she had all the others which had led to this moment. It was an unfortunate thing to have to leave behind so much of what she was used to, to have to act like a completely different pony when among her colleagues in the nobility. But Rarity was right. There were traditions and forms that she would now have to conform to, unspoken rules that would govern her every action from this point onwards. If society expected her to act like a Princess, then Her Highness Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, was going to do all that she could to live up to their expectations.

Author's Note

This is just a little side project to my main work, so don't expect frequent updates. I'll probably toss some time at this story when my other projects are running slowly. However, it is a legitimate piece of writing and will go somewhere eventually, I promise.

Chapter 2: The Centrepiece Item

Chapter 2: The Centrepiece Item

The floor of the castle hairdresser's salon was littered with multicoloured strands, a positive rainbow of shimmering leavings as he went about his work. It was rare to have so much of the Royal Family present in any one place, and so all of their various attendants had done their utmost, throughout the day, to get in the way as little as possible. Some of the most important work in the kingdom was done at these summits.

Luna and Cadance had each arrived the previous night, in both cases setting hoof on true Equestrian soil for the first time in several months. Neither one of them had any real idea precisely why they were back, but both knew that it must be important to take them away from their crucial work. In Luna's case, this was her position as head of the Equestrian side of the trade negotiations with Griffonia. The talks were being held at a neutral island, remote in the sea that separated the two nations, although it stood likely to become an important nexus of trade if the deal were to be ratified.

“And besides that, the two sides are mostly in agreement,” Luna was just explaining, as the hairdresser took care of a few rebellious curls over her left shoulder. “Presuming that we get the approvals from Cloudsdale, we could have a finished agreement in a matter of weeks.”

“Run that past me again,” Cadance answered. “They want a piece of our weather control business?”

“Well, not exactly. Basically, the griffons want to be able to bid on contracts from Cloudsdale at equal standing with us. Open the weather control business to the free market, really.”

“Hmm,” Cadance rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “That's an awful lot of power to give Cloudsdale, don't you think? They would have the right to prioritize service to the highest bidder. Although I suppose that our rates would always be discounted, since Cloudsdale is in Equestria, after all.”

“Indeed. I think that what Griffonia really wants is its own independent weather factory, but they're willing to settle for rates determined by the market until they can get there. It would be a boon for the pegasus economy, for sure.”

“If they have the capacity.”

“How much capacity do they have?” Celestia chipped in. “Their service is optimized for dealing with Equestria.”

“Our pegasus envoys have been assuring us that it is in fact possible,” Luna answered, “if a little contentious with the public. The idea of making service in the weather industry mandatory for all pegasi was floated about. Naturally, there will need to be a plebiscite before any commitments can be made on that front.”

“How long will that take?” This was from Celestia again.

“Well, that's up for Cloudsdale to decide. The whole thing is in their hooves now. The negotiating team really won't have much to do until then, which is fortunate for me, I guess. It means that I probably will be able to make it to the Gala this year after all.”

“Yes, most fortunate indeed,” Celestia answered in a quiet voice, lost in thought for a second. Then in an instant her gentle smile returned and she glanced over at Cadance. “Speaking of the Gala, Cadance, I trust that you have shuffled your schedule properly so that you and Shining might join us?”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer nodded gently, causing a small amount of consternation for the hairdresser, now working diligently at the last few details of Cadance's mane. “On that subject, have we made any progress on that charity auction?” Cadance asked.

“Actually, I was just about to get to that,” Celestia replied. “In reality, it's the reason that I brought both of you back to Canterlot today. I know that neither of you really believed we were just here for a friendly family discussion anyway.” In answer, both of the other Princesses rolled their eyes.

Celestia was of course well aware of her reputation for working the strings from the shadows. Naturally Luna and Cadance had both spent the past few months wondering if their seemingly disparate responsibilities were both little pieces of a grander strategy. She snickered inwardly at the thought. They would both be brought on board with the bigger picture once the time was right, but for the time being she very much enjoyed keeping her secrets. And they weren't hurting anypony, anyway.

“This afternoon, we shall be unveiling the showcase for the auction, including the centrepiece item itself, which will fetch a stupendous price, I'm sure. But before we get to all of that, there’s somepony that I’d like you both to meet. Shall we go?” She turned around to give a meaningful look at the hairdresser, who retreated off to the side after taking a few final strands off of Cadance’s mane. The three Princesses rose from their seats, giving their manes a short examination in the room’s mirror.

“This is a little shorter than I usually have it done,” Luna remarked. “But I actually kind of like it this way. More formal.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Celestia said, a small smirk coming to her features. “This way, please.”

Approximately twenty minutes later, the three Princesses strolled together around a corner into the western wing of the palace. In the intervening time period, Celestia had filled Luna in on all of the details concerning the upcoming auction, and what effect it was going to have on the Gala.

“I suppose it should make for a more interesting affair than usual,” Luna remarked, thoughtfully cradling her chin with one hoof. “Have you settled on a format yet?”

The eldest Princess returned a smile. “Not just yet. Though funnily enough it isn’t actually going to be my decision.”

This news caused both Luna and Cadance to start momentarily. “You mean, you’re not handling this personally?” Cadance managed to say. “For something this important, I would have thought-”

Celestia stopped a few paces ahead of them. “Calm down. Naturally I keep up to date on it. And I would have done it all myself if I had to. But as you are both well aware, it is a busy time right now, and I have enough to take care of with the rest of the Gala to prepare for. I was lucky enough to have a volunteer come forward.”

Celestia turned around and stepped forward a few more paces until she came to an office door that was standing ajar. She motioned to her two fellow Princesses to join her. When she gently pushed open the door, she revealed a relatively standard Canterlot office: large mahogany desk off to the right, blazing fireplace in the far corner, and a striking view out over the city. Seated at the desk was Octavia, a few strands having sprung loose from her usually picture-perfect mane. The pencil gripped tightly between her teeth feverishly worked its way across dozens of parchments which lay sprawled across the desk. She was so focused upon her work that she did not even notice her three guests, until Luna cleared her throat.

Glancing up, Octavia’s eyes immediately went wide. She got down off of the chair and bowed low to the royal entourage. “My sincerest apologies, Your Royal Highnesses,” she said. “I was so wrapped up in my work that I did not notice your entrance.”

Celestia walked forward and hooked one hoof underneath Octavia’s chin, gently raising her up. “Don’t worry, Octavia. We all know what it’s like. And we very much appreciate your dedication. Seeing how you’ve handled things so far, I wouldn’t trust such an important event to anypony else.”

Octavia’s eyes stole back to her work. “I suppose you’ll want a progress report.”

Celestia just nodded. She didn’t actually need any updates, as she made sure to keep up to date on every little detail, but Luna and Cadance would benefit from the report, and it would certainly convince them that this earth pony was up to the task. For her part, Octavia took a few moments to gather her thoughts and her parchments before starting to speak again. She took a deep breath, and it was rather remarkable how much composure she managed to obtain from it. When she began her update, her voice was clear and professional.

“The second round of notifications to the Gala attendees has been completed and is currently awaiting delivery. The palace mail room is unfortunately swamped at the moment, as it is was still dealing with the influx of RSVPs from the initial invitations. So it may be a couple of days until every attendee is notified, but we will make sure to get all of them out before the night of the auction.” Octavia waited patiently for any objections. With none forthcoming, she continued.

“Secondly, the showcase has been finalized, and all of the articles are present for their unveiling this afternoon. All, that is, except for the centerpiece, which Her Majesty Princess Celestia has been handling personally.”

“It is being prepared as we speak,” Celestia replied to the group. “And it will without a doubt grab the attention of the guests. It is an incredibly unique item.”

“I can’t wait to see it,” Octavia said, and the curiosity lit up her eyes. Celestia did her best to hide her own excitement at the prospect. The centerpiece had been inspired in about equal part by her interactions with Octavia as by her meeting with Cadance and Shining several days ago, and it was something that she was sure would dazzle the grey pony, along with every other musical collector in Equestria.

“Thank you for all of your hard work, Octavia,” Celestia said. “You’ve turned this little idea into a proper addition to the Grand Galloping Gala.”

Octavia broke into a small grin at the compliment. “Thank you for offering it to me, Princess. My only regret is that it’s taken me away from home for so long. But that is a small price to pay for the chance to work on such an amazing project.”

“You’re not from Canterlot?” Cadance asked, a look of surprise on her face.

The earth pony smiled. “Unfortunately not, but don’t worry. I get asked that a lot whenever I venture out here. And Canterlot really is a beautiful city. There’s something about it that just seems to sing to me, a music in the reverberations of its flagstones and the tinkles of its rivers. I wrote my first piece of music here in fact, several years ago now.” Octavia moved away from the Princesses, and gazed wistfully out of the room’s wide window into the late morning light.

Cadance came forward to stand beside her, leaving the other two Princesses to look over the papers at the desk. She tenderly placed a hoof on Octavia’s shoulder. “I’m sorry that we’ve taken you away from home then, Octavia. If you don’t mind my asking, why is this venture so important to you?”

“The arts have always been in my blood, Your Highness,” Octavia replied after a moment. “I first started playing the cello when I was but a filly, after I was inspired by the Royal Canterlot Symphony Orchestra during a trip that my family took here. It’s had an incredible influence on my life, and I couldn’t bear the thought of such an honoured institution losing its funding.” Octavia seemed to catch herself on that last sentence, and then looked away, embarrassed to realize that she was speaking to the pony that had made the decision to cut that funding.

Princess Cadance took one step toward her, so that her hoof that had been on Octavia’s shoulder could now reach across the earth pony’s back, and the princess could hold her in a comforting half-embrace. “I understand, Octavia,” she said warmly. “Music speaks in its own way to all of us. Thanks to you, the Orchestra will be able to keep on inspiring young minds for years more.”

The two were quiet for a few moments then, merely gazing together out the window at the splendour of the great city, bustling and yet idyllic upon its high mountain perch. There was indeed a sort of music about the place if one listened hard enough, a rhythm in the clip-clop of hooves on its streets, a melody in the shouts of its marketplaces, and a bass thunder in the roar of its waterfalls. For Octavia it brought back memories of the happy days of her youth, and she could have stood there reminiscing in the sound for hours, had Luna not spoken up then.

“Did I hear that you were a cellist?” Luna and Celestia had finished going over the paperwork to their satisfaction, and now approached the two standing by the window to rejoin the conversation. “Cellist’s bows are an odd commodity, if I recall. Aren’t they made from--?”

“Pony hair, yes,” Octavia answered quickly. She took one glance at each of the Princesses before continuing. “It is something of a sensitive subject, but the industry is very well-regulated, as I’m sure you’re all aware. Of course the greatest cellists always have their bows custom-made from their own manes, and thus every one of them has a distinct sound. I could never afford something like that though.”

“Indeed, every bow made is a unique item, owing its look and sound to the life and times of the pony that donated the hair to make it,” Celestia added. “We have several significant ones in the auction catalog, don’t we, Octavia?”

“Of course. I’ve picked out a few excellent pieces that the collectors will surely go for. To be honest, I’m a little sorry that I won’t be able to use them to start my own personal collection. Arranging this catalog has given me quite the taste of all the history in the musical tradition of Equestria.”

“Well, they’re in your care for now, Octavia, until the night that they will be sold,” Celestia said in her usual calm and peaceful voice. “Well, now that we are all met, how about we take a light lunch before this afternoon’s unveiling?”

“Ah, an excellent idea, my sister,” Luna answered. “Our appointment this morning was so early that I didn’t get a chance to have a proper breakfast. Octavia, would you like to join us?”

Octavia’s eyes widened. For a moment, the earth pony was silent, as the question filtered its way through her incredulous mind. “For, for lunch?” she finally managed to stammer, before her gaze respectfully found the floor. “I would never assume myself to be worthy of such an honour, Your Highness.”

“Come, you have proven yourself worthy,” Luna answered. “You shall dine at our personal table.”

As the group made its way out of the room, and Luna began walking off towards the castle’s kitchen, with Octavia following closely behind her, Cadance and Celestia brought up the rear. The younger alicorn turned to her aunt as they also set out. “You know, Celestia, I recall you mentioning something about the centerpiece item when we had our first meeting about this auction. Now that I’ve heard so much about it, I must say that I am more than a little bit curious about what it is that you have in store for us.” The expression on Cadance’s face was curious, as of course she was no stranger to the eldest Princess’s penchant for playful secrets.

“Don’t worry at all, Cadance,” Celestia answered confidently. “Trust me, nothing like this has ever been done before. It will be perfect.” And she would say nothing more on the matter.

The very air of Canterlot Castle’s Grand Hall had a nearly ethereal look to it. The geometry of the room had been planned precisely, so that the noonday sun would filter through the room’s strikingly tall stained glass windows to reflect and refract in dazzling patterns over the magnificently tiled floor. The effect was amplified a hundredfold today, as each individual beam of light scattered off of the myriad monocles, jewels, and pocket watch chains worn by the assembled multitude of Canterlot’s elite. Upon entering, one beheld a sea of shining points, like stars brought down into this very room from the night sky.

Naturally, the lighting complemented Celestia’s mane perfectly, making her head appear as if wreathed in shimmering fire, which was the main reason she chose this room for most of her official engagements. The effect was reduced, though similar, for Luna and Cadance.

The three of them walked together through the maze of exhibits set up throughout the room, navigating knots of nobles that converged on the displayed treasures in a manner not unlike animals flocking to a proffered morsel of nourishment. In fairness to them, this really was an exceptional showcase. Octavia had been given carte blanche to open the royal vaults and extract whatever articles would capture the interest of the public, and Celestia had to admit that the earth pony had a fine taste in such matters.

Luna’s jaw dropped for the fourth time. “An original score for “The Moon’s Lament”? These were all supposedly destroyed in a fire centuries ago. You’ve had one all this time?”

“It was my personal copy,” Celestia answered. “I had the song specially commissioned after I lost you, and I used to listen to it every night. This one I kept for my own practice. Of course, it doesn’t quite have the same sentimental value anymore, so I was happy to part with it.”

“Your own practice?” Cadance spoke up thoughtfully. “Celestia, you never told me that you play an instrument.”

The eldest Princess coughed once awkwardly. “I... suppose that it’s never really come up. It’s not really an important thing.”

“But why not? Surely you should be proud of such an achievement.”

Here Luna interjected. “It’s because she doesn’t want anypony to know that she’s actually terrible at it.” She chuckled, and Celestia’s cheeks took on a tinge of rosy embarrassment. Her inability to master the flute after all these years was something of an annoyance, but privately the princess took it in stride, and it served as a welcome reminder that there would always be things that she could improve on. Still, she was reluctant to let the story find its way out to the general public.

“Perhaps we ought to get on with things,” she returned quickly, and turned towards the main stage at the head of the room, where Octavia was already waiting. Behind her, a large grey curtain hid the rest of the stage from view, but of course everypony knew what was behind it. The nobles in the room immediately noticed the Princesses heading for the stage, and it wasn’t very long before the whole of the room was crowded about, eager for the chance to lay their eyes on the headlining item. Such an exceptional showcase would need a true treasure to serve as its centerpiece, and from the looks on the faces of the audience, the hosts could tell that nopony wanted to wait any longer.

Still, ceremony dictated that a few words be said first. Putting thoughts of her flute out of her mind, Celestia approached the lectern, and looked out at the crowd with a friendly face. She was back in her element. “Noblemares and stallions of Canterlot and Equestria, thank you for coming,” Celestia began. “It is fitting that we should have such a fine day to gather and admire these priceless treasures, which together make up centuries of our nation’s proud musical tradition.” Polite applause from the audience. “Of course,” the Princess continued, now with a conspiratorial look on her face, “they won’t be remaining priceless for very long.” That got a chuckle or two. “All of them will be on auction ten days from now at the Grand Galloping Gala. All of them, indeed, including the very special item behind me, which I know you are all most eager to see.” Several ponies in the front row leaned forward. The tension in the room was building. “Our centerpiece is an item that I picked out personally, something truly unique, that has never been seen before and never will be seen again.” They were hanging on her every word. “Doing the honour of its reveal shall be our lovely coordinator, Miss Octavia of Ponyville.” Celestia turned aside to indicate the grey pony, who stood to the side of the curtain, clutching at a braided rope. This time there was no applause from the audience. Every eye was fixed on the curtain itself. “When you’re ready, Octavia,” the Princess said quietly to her.

Of course, Octavia was just as curious as everypony else in the room to find out what all the buildup was going to lead to, and as she pulled on the rope she almost stumbled in an attempt to see around the curtain as it came apart. She was able to keep her balance, although it was likely that nopony would have even noticed. In silence, the veil was parted, and the centerpiece item was revealed.

Luna’s and Cadance’s jaws hit the floor. Normally, this would have been an almost unthinkable embarrassment, but in this case it was all right because their mandibles were joined by those belonging to everypony else in the room. Celestia alone, who of course had known what was coming, was unaffected.

Atop three tall pedestals stood three lengthy and ornate cellist’s bows. The wood had been crafted masterfully, and shone with warm brilliance in the light of the room. But it was not the wood that excited the audience so. It was the hair that strung each of them, gleaming with fire in the room’s prismatic ambience. The rightmost bow shone with streaks of pink and purple, a display of hues that could only have come from the mane of the Princess of the Crystal Empire. To its left there stood a bow of deep luminescent darkness, its shimmering strings surely plucked from the mane of the Princess of the Night herself. And of course, foremost in the center, there was a bow that glowed with positively electric energy, its greens and blues seeming to light up the room as though it were burning with magical fire. Without a doubt, it had been made from the mane of Princess Celestia.

There was a silence in the room for two whole seconds, and then the sound of clapping erupted from the rear of the crowd. As the applause was taken up by the audience, it eventually jolted every pony in the room from their stunned reverie, and broad smiles broke out across the room. Celestia returned their grins. Clearly, the elite felt that it had been a worthy reveal. After the ovation had subsided, she took to the lectern once more. “Of course, such magnificent items could not have been created without the sincere dedication of several ponies, most importantly of course Princesses Luna and Cadance, who joined me in giving their time and resources to ensure that this auction will be a resounding success. A round of applause for them as well.” Celestia stepped aside to let the other two Princesses receive their ovation, and was pleased to note that both of them had recovered well, though she did detect a hint of rue in Luna’s expression. Doubtlessly, her earlier statement that such an item would never be made again had indeed been true.

“And, of course,” Celestia continued once that applause had subsided. “It would be absolutely remiss of me not to once again mention our brilliant coordinator Octavia, who has worked tirelessly to assemble this fabulous showcase in time.” And there was a final round of applause, this time focused on the grey earth pony, who strode forward to the front of the stage to accept it. Once more, Celestia was impressed by this mare’s poise. Despite her unassuming demeanour, she handled the public eye well. In another life, perhaps she could have had a position in government.

Chapter 3: What It Means to be a Princess

Chapter 3: What It Means to be a Princess

Looking at herself in the mirror, Twilight had to admit that Rarity had once again completely outdone herself. The stately arrangement that was now draped across Twilight’s back was formal in the rigidity of its lines, yet still vibrant in the contrast of its colours. It was another work of art, though perhaps not quite so personal as the dress that she had worn the last time around. Still, Twilight was not about to be ungrateful, as Rarity had clearly expended a great deal of effort in making it, and without even being asked.

Spike, who also looked very sharp in his crisp black dinner jacket and bowtie, was pacing about the room nervously. “Where has she gotten to now?” he asked with a glance out of the window. Outside, the Sun was now barely above the horizon, an indication of how late the hour had become. “The train is leaving at sunset, we can’t have more than half an hour left!”

“Never fear!” came Rarity’s voice from the stairs, where she had emerged holding a large parcel aloft with her magic. In a rather stark contrast to the other two, Rarity’s normally picture-perfect complexion was looking a little the worse for wear, with a few strands even having sprung loose from her mane. Nonetheless, she was grinning with clear excitement. “We’re almost finished, Twilight. There’s only one small thing left to do.”

Twilight couldn’t possibly think of what else was still needed. They had already spent hours debating the most intimate details of stitch and fit, of accents and accessories. Even Twilight’s normally prodigious multi-tasking ability had come close to being overwhelmed by all the little things to consider. “Spike is right about the time, though,” she said earnestly as Rarity made her way over. “My dress looks perfect already, but what about you, Rarity? When are you going to get yourself prepared?”

Rarity waved the question away. “I’ve already got all of my things together. I’ll dress on the train if I have to. What’s important tonight is you, Twilight, and there is still one very crucial thing missing from your ensemble.” She set the box down reverently on a chair, and Twilight noticed it sank about half an inch into the thick cushion, meaning that whatever was inside had to be quite heavy.

“Tonight is your debut as a Princess, so I knew that you had to look the part,” Rarity continued as she began slowly unwrapping the package. “The important details of course are already there,” she indicated Twilight’s crown, polished to a brilliant sheen upon her brow, and her wings, folded neatly across her back, “but there is one other thing that all of the Princesses have, except for you. Care to guess what it is?”

For an instant, Twilight’s natural curiosity kicked her mind into high gear, ready to find a good guess. Then she caught Spike’s worried face out of the corner of her eye, and remembered that they were running late as it was. There could be time for guessing games later. So instead she merely shook her head.

Rarity finished unwrapping the package with a flourish, and then with her magic withdrew a gleaming metal horseshoe, light purple and embossed with the design of Twilight’s cutie mark on the front. Twilight and Spike both gasped, and Rarity immediately giggled in excitement. “Horseshoes, of course! Every Princess has them, so naturally you need them too. I had these custom-made in Baltimare, and they only arrived just this morning! Good thing too, we simply could not have gone on without them. Come, come, give me your hoof!”

Twilight obediently raised each of her hooves in turn, her mind still reeling from the reveal. Of course, when she thought about it, Rarity was quite right. Each of the other Princesses had their own set of shoes, indeed they were rarely if ever seen without them. This set certainly was worthy of royalty, as each shoe was decorated with fine metalwork that spread gracefully over her lower legs. But they were also quite heavy, and felt like rather unnatural extensions of her hooves. She took a couple of experimental steps forward, and could immediately tell that trotting in these was something she would have to get used to.

“Umm, Rarity?” she began.

“You’re very welcome, Twilight,” Rarity returned, now hurriedly combing out her mane while collecting an assortment of boxes and bags that had been carefully laid out over her worktable. “There’ll be plenty of time to thank me once we’re on the train though. We really have to be going now.” And she practically galloped out the door.

“You coming, Twilight?” Spike was also at the doorway, now nervously hopping from one foot to the other. Outside, Twilight could see that the shadows of the town were growing long. The Sun had nearly set, and Rarity had insisted that this dress was not built for the rigors of flight. She took another wobbly step forward, stumbling momentarily before once again finding her balance. The run to the station was going to need to be her training, or else she would be getting very intimate with Canterlot Castle’s floor tonight. It was going to be like learning to fly all over again.

But she had gotten through that, just like she had overcome all of the other obstacles that being a Princess had so far thrown in her way. The thought gave her confidence, and so with a nod to Spike Twilight set off at a brisk trot out the door.

All in all, it went quite well, barring the occasional misstep – when she could almost hear Spike wincing at her side as she danced a merry jig to avoid falling face-first in the dirt – but soon enough Twilight felt that she had a decent enough grasp of things to make it through the rest of the night without difficulty. That being said of course, she wasn’t about to add this hoofwear to her regular wardrobe.

With the Sun settling ever lower beneath the horizon, Twilight finally spied the telltale cloud of smoke that marked the station, as the night’s train was making its final preparations to depart. Up ahead, she could see Rarity standing amongst a knot of four other ponies, each one also dressed to the hilt in a familiar assortment of colours.

Seeing them again was a great relief to Twilight, so much so that she dared put on a small burst of speed as she came up to the platform. This turned out to be ill-advised, as she didn’t quite lift her left forehoof high enough for her new shoe to clear the top step. Twilight pitched forward, her momentum propelling her straight on into the rest of her friends, their welcoming smiles fading quickly as each one hurriedly stepped to the side. Twilight fought to regain her hoofing, only to step down finally on the hem of her gown, tripping abruptly through the door of the waiting train car. “All aboard!” called the conductor shortly afterwards.

“Nice one, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash sniggered, as she reached out a hoof to help Twilight up.

“Thanks,” she answered, “I’m still getting used to these new shoes.”

“Whoa,” the pegasus breathed, as she saw the glittering metal shoes for the first time. “No wonder you guys took so long. That’s some real fancy hardware.”

Twilight chuckled nervously. “Just another part of the job,” she said, offering a glance back in Rarity’s direction. Though she couldn’t have had more than ten minutes, the white unicorn had already gotten her mane sorted, and was setting to work on the rest of her face even as she boarded the train.

“I thought Celestia already told you everything that you needed to know to be a Princess,” Applejack said, as the doors closed and the car lurched off down the track.

“Well, just the important things,” Twilight replied. “I’m sure that she felt I could grasp the little details all on my own.” She walked over to the window, where the countryside was already flashing by, and made to sit down.

“One moment, Twilight!” Rarity cried, causing her friend to start in alarm. Quickly, she pulled a feather duster out of one of her many bags, and set it about to the cushion upon which Twilight had been about to sit. “There we are,” she said once the seat was completely spotless.

Sitting down at the opposite window, Applejack smirked. “Think you might be overdoing it just a tad, Rarity?”

Rarity scoffed. “There is no such thing as overdoing it for royalty, Applejack, especially tonight. This is perhaps the most important evening of Twilight’s social life, and I simply want everything to go perfectly.”

Twilight sat down, smoothing out her dress as she did. “Thank you so much, Rarity,” she said. “But I wouldn’t want you to abandon your own plans just to look after me. I’m sure that I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow piped up from across the aisle. “I mean, it’s not like she’s going to have to worry about animal stampedes or collapsing ballrooms this time around.”

The comment elicited a laugh from each one of the group, all except for Rarity, whose expression remained stonily serious. “I most certainly hope not. As Twilight’s company we owe it to her to keep tonight a much more traditional evening. We wouldn’t want to ruin her reputation before it even got established.”

“Uh… yeah, Rarity, it was a joke,” Rainbow said after a moment of silence had passed. “Of course we aren’t planning anything like that this time around. Right?” There were nods all around the group. Princess Celestia might have absolved them of their guilt two years ago, but that night had still been more than enough attention for two years worth of Galas.

“You might want to lighten up a little,” Applejack said, offering Rarity a gentle smile. “You’re making it sound like the whole world’s going to end if even one hair on Twilight’s head is out of place. There’s no way you’re going to enjoy the party if you’re worrying about her all night. Just calm down and let her do her thing.”

Rarity looked back to Twilight, who nodded encouragingly to her. “I’ll be fine,” she said, trying not to let the butterflies in her stomach show too much.

Finally, Rarity took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. “Now I really ought to see after my own things. We’ve only got about an hour until we arrive. I wonder if they’ll let me change in the luggage car?” She hustled up out of her seat, carrying her many boxes with her and heading for the rear of the car.

“Well, that was awfully melodramatic,” Applejack said after the door had closed behind Rarity. “Even for her.”

“She’s just nervous,” Rainbow Dash answered, waving a hoof dismissively, “what with all the work she put into Twilight’s dress here. I bet she just doesn’t want it to be front-page news on some trashy tabloid reporting on our behaviour. Just wait ‘til we get to Canterlot. The big city always cheers her up.”

Twilight took a look out the window, where the hillsides of Ponyville’s county were rapidly falling away to the flat country that lay around Canterlot. The city was plainly visible now, still far away up on the mountainside, but growing closer by the minute. Rainbow’s comment had been meant to cheer them all up, but it had caused another spike of nerves for her. She thought of all the letters that she had been receiving over these past few months. Easily half of them were gossip, rumours about various earls and their mistresses, or their indecent behaviour. They were always looking out for the next tasty morsel of news to discuss, and that morsel could easily be her after tonight.

Rarity had said that tonight was to be her coming out in the social scene. Given all of that, her friend’s concern seemed quite justified, and Twilight found herself hoping that Rarity would find the time to lend her a bit more help on how to properly conduct herself.

“Ex-excuse me? Is this seat taken?”

Twilight glanced up from the window to see a white unicorn standing in the aisle, inclining her head meaningfully toward the empty seat that Rarity had left. It took Twilight a moment to recognize her, only because for the occasion it seemed that she had decided to remove her usual trademark headphones. Vinyl Scratch’s mane hung low by her side in streaks of brilliant blue, combed quite nicely, though she had not decided to remove her usual opaque purple sunglasses. Twilight shook her head, and shuffled over a bit toward the window. Rarity wasn’t going to need that seat anymore anyway.

With a sullen nod, Vinyl sat down. Twilight realized then that it wasn't just the change in her profile that seemed off about Vinyl tonight, it was her quiet demeanour, and even more it was the melancholy frown on her face. Over the years, Twilight's ability to detect when a pony wasn't being themselves had grown quite good, and now that sense was twitching in the back of her mind.

“Is everything alright?” she asked quietly.

“No, no worries, no concerns,” the unicorn answered, though her tone was anything but flippant.

“Uh-uh,” Pinkie said abruptly from across the aisle. “You aren’t getting off that easy; I can smell your frown from here. No buts! What’s wrong?”

“Well…,” Vinyl said, eyes firmly down at the floor, “it’s not really a big deal, it’s just Octavia. Usually we go to the Gala together, but this year, well… I’m going alone, as you can see.”

“Oh, where is she?” Fluttershy asked, her face full of concern. “Is she alright?”

Vinyl shook her head. “No, she’s fine, she’s just been working. She’s been away for weeks already, always in Canterlot, always knee-deep in some big project that takes up all of her time. It’s been almost a month since I last talked to her, and I was really hoping that she would make it back for tonight. It’s usually so special,” She finally looked up at the group, and a small smile graced her lips.

“She loves the Gala, you know. The glamour, the music, the culture. It was always one of the highlights of the year to go there with her. I can’t imagine what could be important enough to have kept her away from that.”

“She never told you?” Twilight asked.

“No, she left for the city about a month ago, and we’ve only exchanged a few letters since then. She’s never been gone this long, so I’m worried... I guess. Worried that I could be losing her.” Vinyl looked down longingly at the floor again.

“Never!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Nothing can come between you two! You’re like cake and ice cream, like cheese and wine, like peanut butter and chocolate!”

“Thanks,” Vinyl said, but Twilight could tell that she wasn’t that much reassured, and with good reason. The story she told didn’t sound like a simple rough patch that would pass with time. A month was a lot of time to go without contact with a close friend. She felt that little twitch in the back of her mind, the reminder that here was a friendship problem begging for her expertise in solving it. And if nothing else it would distract her from her nagging doubts about the rest of the evening.

“Pinkie’s right, though,” she said, her voice picking up a little of its usual confident authority. “Going to Canterlot for the Gala is the perfect opportunity for you to go find her, to remind her of how much your relationship means to you. And we can help.”

Vinyl looked up at her. It was hard to tell since her eyes were hidden behind her opaque glasses, but from the rest of her face Twilight guessed that she was looking hopeful. “You’d do that for us? I wouldn’t want to impose, you being such an important pony now and everything.”

Twilight put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “It’s nothing. None of us have any important plans tonight,” she said, receiving an encouraging nod from the rest of the group. “Besides, there’s nothing more important than keeping a friendship together.”

Once again Vinyl’s reaction was a bit difficult to gauge, but a smile lit up the lower part of her face, and Twilight felt the warmth of it penetrate into her own heart. She felt like she was back in her element, regardless of the crown and the dress and the shoes. Nothing could keep her away from a pony that needed her help.

“Well, how do I look?”

Twilight turned around in her seat. She had been so focused on Vinyl that she hadn’t heard Rarity re-entering the rear of the car. She was positively dressed to the nines, her gown painstakingly organized into a dazzling arrangement of regal purple and prismatic red, with copious silver streaks and her trademark jewels to provide accents. As usual, it was nothing short of a work of art, and it earned her a well-deserved patter of applause from the seated group, including Vinyl, whose mood seemed to have genuinely picked up.

“It’s stunning, Rarity,” Fluttershy said as Rarity took a few more steps into the midst of the group.

“I try,” she replied, in a passable impression of modesty. Then, looking over, she noticed Vinyl sitting in what had been her seat. “Oh! What’s brought you here, my dear?”

The other white unicorn hurriedly stood up. “Is this yours? Sorry,” she said quickly.

Rarity only laughed. “Nevermind that. Canterlot is only a few minutes away; I can stand. Looking forward to another brilliant Gala, I suppose?”

Vinyl nodded vigorously. “Oh, definitely! Twilight’s going to help me get my friendship with Octavia back on track.”

“Ha, is that so?” Rarity asked with a chuckle, casting an odd look in Twilight’s direction.

“Well… yes,” Twilight said. “They’re a little on the rocks at the moment, so naturally we’ll do what we can to help out.”

“Hmm, how... considerate of you,” Rarity continued, still smiling, but in a way that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Something about the situation had clearly displeased her, but Twilight was at a loss to think of what. There was no time to ask about it, though, because in that moment she felt the train’s inertia pulling her forward as it slowed to pull into Canterlot’s station.

As the train came to a stop, the brightly lit towers of the capital materialized in the windows. The whole city was shining like a beacon in the evening air, warm and bright on the mountainside like a star brought down from the heavens. It was just like Twilight remembered it from two years ago, only this time she knew what to expect. When she got to her hooves though, she once again felt the weight of her new shoes, and the feeling of the crown set atop her mane. This time was going to be completely different, especially if what Rarity had said was right.

When the train doors opened, the rest of the group filed out first, with Vinyl and Pinkie at the front of the crowd reminiscing. Twilight made to follow, but Rarity held up a bejeweled hoof, blocking the door. “Let me give you one more look over, to make sure that everything is perfect,” she said, her voice low and serious.

“Umm, sure,” Twilight replied, understanding of course that this was not the reason Rarity wanted to be alone with her.

Rarity did give her dress another casual once over, checking the alignment and cut of a few important seams. “What did Vinyl mean when she said that you were going to help her out?” she asked tersely as she was looking over Twilight’s shoulder.

“What did she mean?” Twilight responded, bewildered. “Precisely what she said. You didn’t hear her story, I guess, but she and Octavia need a little help in getting their relationship back on track, and since we’re here we may as well be the ones to provide it.”

“I appreciate that,” Rarity said, now coming up in front of her again, finished with her checks. “But when would you find the time? You have so many ponies to meet, so many acquaintances to make. You have to be involved in the Gala, to find your place among the nobility. Don’t you think that your whole evening will be occupied with these jobs already?”

Twilight did her best to avoid grimacing in front of her friend. Perhaps Rarity might look ahead to an itinerary like that with excitement, but she had gotten quite her fill of shaking hooves and exchanging pleasantries the last time around. Helping Vinyl and Octavia was a prospect that had her genuinely excited though. “They need our help, Rarity, and I won’t let them down. I suppose that I’ll just have to find the time.”

With a sigh, the unicorn stepped aside, giving up the path off the train car and into the city. It wasn’t until they stood together on the platform, looking up at the glory of Canterlot’s illumination, that Rarity spoke again.

“Of course you will, Twilight, and I’ll do the best that I can to help you out. But you must remember, you are a Princess now.” She delivered that last phrase with an exceptional amount of gravity, perhaps more formally than Twilight had ever heard her speak.

“Does being a Princess mean that I have to ignore other ponies’ problems?” Twilight asked, bristling at the seeming ability of her title to force itself upon her whenever she was trying to be herself. It wasn’t as though her crown had changed who she was on the inside, yet it seemed almost as if everypony expected that it would.

“Of course not,” her friend continued as they began the trek up the mountainside to the castle grounds. Rarity’s voice was gentle, and Twilight felt her irritation pass as quickly as it had come on. It wasn’t Rarity’s fault that things worked like they did. “It just means that you have bigger things to worry about too. And if you want to be able to do more than solve little problems, then it’s those bigger things that you have to take care of.”

They turned a corner, and up ahead Canterlot Castle loomed, resplendent in glowing lanterns illuminating every corner of its multicoloured domes and towers. Twilight felt as if it were two years ago, and she was looking up at the grand structure on this occasion for the first time. Back then she had been excited at the prospect of integrating into the city’s high society, even though it had turned out to be less than she had hoped. Tonight, even though it seemed like her evening was going to be more of what had happened the first time, she felt more nervous than anything else. Once again she was acutely aware of the weight of the metal sitting atop her head. Even though she had been through it all before, she still got the feeling that tonight’s Gala was going to be anything but familiar.

Chapter 4: The First Impression

Chapter 4: The First Impression

Inside the castle, the Entrance Hall was a reflection of the city outside, festooned with bright streamers of gold and silver, every window draped with regal purple and every surface polished to a mirror-like sheen. For the moment, the cavernous space was mostly empty, save for a few servants and guards seeing to last-minute details, and for Princess Luna, who was standing at the peak of the hall’s grand stairway.

Like every other important pony in the country tonight, Luna was dressed in her own preferred fineries. Her crown gleamed in the chamber’s ambience, and with the silver sash of her office as Lady Chancellor of Equestria draped prominently across her right shoulder, she made an imposing sight. Even more so due to the pensive frown upon her face.

Her sister was late, not unreasonably so, not yet at least, but still later than Luna would have liked. In her absence, the younger princess had already been forced to deal with half a dozen developing crises, ranging from a shortage of hors d'oeuvres to a last-minute cancellation from the night’s pianist. It was requiring all of her effort now not to pace nervously about on the stairwell, as the hour at which the doors opened ticked nearer and nearer.

The nerves were nothing new for Luna. While her sister might by now have hundreds of Galas under her belt, this was only Luna’s third. She remembered a time long ago when being a princess had been a much simpler affair. Of course, that had been an age when socialization didn’t so critically tie into matters such as economics and policy making. Every day since her return, it had been a challenge to live up to the bar that her sister set, which was why she was usually so grateful that Celestia could deal with all of the little details of planning events like this one.

But now, with time ticking on and Celestia nowhere to be seen, Luna was rapidly beginning to wonder if she would have to go it alone tonight. With a mere ten minutes left on the clock, she was on the verge of initiating a full-scale search for Celestia when her sister finally emerged from a side-entrance to the hall. Celestia’s favoured Gala dress was a resplendent array of bright colours, reminiscent of a garden in bloom as they flowed back from her neck and down into the trim around her hooves. In spite of the time, she was looking cool as a cucumber. Immediately behind her trailed Octavia, taking rapidfire notes on a clipboard. The pair paused to exchange a couple more hushed words, and then the earth pony rushed once more back the way that they had come, leaving Celestia to ascend the stairs to where Luna stood waiting.

“Good evening, Luna,” she said cordially.

“Where have you been?” Luna blurted out in answer, all of her anxiety erupting forth with the question. “I’ve been dealing with everything for you in the meantime.”

Celestia took a calm look around the room. “And doing a fine job of it, by the look of things. I was merely performing a final inspection of the auction showcase, getting all of the little details rolled up before that event. I trusted that you could handle all of this on your own.”

Luna took a deep breath, trying her best to steady her twitching nerves. Of course, Celestia was right. Sometimes it was a little irritating that her sister could stay so calm even when everything around them seemed to be poised on the brink of disaster, but in the end it was always refreshing to know that things were under control.

“Of course. Thank you,” she said once she had gotten her thoughts back in order. “So everything is looking good, then?”

“For the most part. It’s a lot of extra complications to throw on top of what’s already a complicated affair. I hope that you don’t mind if I leave from time to time to check on things?”

“Well…” Luna hesitated on the reply. Of course, it was a very reasonable request, and for anything else the younger Princess would have approved immediately. But tonight’s event hadn’t even properly started yet, and she already felt like she was getting buried under decisions.

“Don’t worry,” Celestia said, still smiling serenely. “Remember that this year Cadance is here too, in case you need any extra help. And I’ll still be free most of the time, unless something unexpected comes up. I’m sure that you’ll do just fine.”

Luna took a look out through the hall’s grand windows, into the outer court where an expectant line of guests of honour had already formed, snaking its way out of sight around a corner. She took another deep breath, feeling her unease die away as she exhaled. “Okay,” she replied. “You do what you have to do, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

“Thank you.” Celestia reached a hoof across Luna’s back, and two shared a tender half-embrace, interrupted by a loud toll from high in the castle’s belltower. The two castle guards by the main entrance shared a nod, and then took hold of the doors’ big brass handles and slowly pulled them inwards. The two Princesses quickly released each other and took their positions as a page in a bright red coat and silver spectacles took his spot by the entrance, pulling a large roll of parchment out one of his pockets.

The page examined the first name briefly, and then announced in a loud and clear voice: “Presenting His Highness, Viscount Caesura of Fillydelphia!”

The name brought a quick gasp and a muffled murmur from the nobles outside, and Luna could tell why. Normally, the guests were introduced according to ceremonial order, which would have put the remaining Princes and Princesses first. It was very unusual for any deviation to occur from that protocol, and she cast Celestia a questioning glance.

“He was a late RSVP,” Celestia whispered as the two waited for the viscount to make his entrance, “and a very good friend of mine. He’s been out of the country for years, and is only making the trip back for the auction, I think. Either way, I’m very happy to be able to have him.”

Luna nodded thoughtfully. It explained a little bit, and it was perhaps true that her elder sister was usually not as concerned with etiquette as Luna thought proper, but putting him at the front of the line still seemed a bit odd. Any extra doubts that she would have voiced were stilled as Caesura came over the threshold.

The viscount was a light tan pegasus, dressed conservatively in a black tuxedo, though the collar was undone at the top, and he wore no tie. A set of light blue eyes sat atop a calm grin on his round face, with a black mane falling back over his shoulders in unkempt curls. His steps as he came over the floor were unusual too, not the rigid, overbearing plod of the usual noble, but instead a casual stroll, as if he were walking in the park on a spring morning.

When Caesura had ascended the stairs, he extended a hoof to Celestia. “How’s it going, Your Majesty?”

“Excellent, Caesura. It’s so good to see you!” Celestia replied, taking his hoof warmly. “Your business is still going well?”

“Outstanding, thank you. I expect that it will soon be improving, as well, thanks to the efforts of your sister here.” He turned to Luna, and gave her a small bow, the first sign of deference that Luna had seen from him. “It is an honour, Your Royal Highness.”

Luna took a moment to try placing his accent. There was just a hint of Fillydelphia there, no doubt from his upbringing, but it was overlaid with a very rough and heavy eastern drawl, which sounded vaguely griffon-esque to her experienced ears. “The honour is mine, Viscount,” she replied, offering him a nod. “If I may ask, your accent? If I didn’t know better I’d say Griffonian?”

Caesura gave a hearty chuckle.. “A very good guess., yes. Though I grew up here, I do live across the ocean now. This is my first time visiting Equestria in fifteen years, and may I say, Celestia, that you haven’t aged a day!”

Celestia smiled wryly. “Thank you, though to be honest, I do get that one a lot.”

“Of course you do,” he said, a mischievous twinkle lighting up his eyes. “Well, I don’t want to hold things up here, and I’m sure that we’ll have plenty of time to talk later. Have a good evening.” He turned around, and after descending the stairs made his way off toward the ballroom.

“Hmm, an old friend indeed,” Luna gave her sister a questioning look.

Celestia was still watching Caesura’s back, her expression far away as though she was intently thinking on something. “Yes, he’s quite the character. Some time tonight we shall have to find him and talk a bit more.”

“Pardon me, Your Majesty?”

The voice came from Celestia’s other side, and when Luna looked over she saw a castle guard standing there with an uncertain expression on his face. Celestia leaned down to hear him, and for a few seconds he whispered in her ear. Luna strained to hear a hint of whatever he was saying, but to no avail. From the frown that grew upon Celestia’s face though, she knew that it probably wasn’t good.

Finally, the eldest Princess nodded, then straightened her neck, her frown now fully grave. “It seems that something has come up which requires my attention. I trust that you can manage things until I return?”

“What has happened?” Luna asked, concerned. “Is there any way that I can help?”

“That won’t be necessary. Somepony has to stay here and greet the guests, otherwise the party will end in confusion and disarray before it even starts. That pony needs to be you.”

“Sure, I can do that. But can you at least tell me what’s going on?” Luna felt herself growing frustrated in spite of the clear seriousness of the situation. Sometimes, Celestia’s penchant for secrecy, especially during crises, could become rather exasperating.

The guard cleared his throat loudly, and took a worried glance at the door on the eastern staircase that rose up from the landing, leading deeper into the castle. Celestia gave him a reassuring nod. “I’m sorry, Luna, but I really need to go and deal with this. With any luck, I’ll be back within the hour, and we can talk all about it then.”

Without another word, she left, her steps receding quickly until the guard closed the door behind her with a soft but still decisive snick. That left Luna alone at the top of the stairs, trying to figure out precisely how she felt about this turn of events. Everything that Celestia had said was true, and if being here keeping things under control was the best way that she could help her sister, then that was what she would do. But at the same time, Luna felt inwardly envious that Celestia was going to be dealing with some emergent situation, instead of sitting here going through the same motions with every guest for the next hour and a half. She had half a mind to get some other guard to take over for her while she ran after Celestia, but of course she knew that would never work. So instead she just sighed, and settled down as the page at the front of the room got ready to read the next name.

“Presenting His Highness Prince Blueblood!”

The white prince stepped over threshold with his muzzle proudly pointed skyward, and then cleared his throat loudly.

The page gave an exasperated sigh, then unrolled a few more lines on his parchment. “Presenting His Highness Prince Blueblood of Las Pegasus and the Western Marches,” the page announced again, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Marquess of Manehattan, Earl of Trottingham, Viscount of Northoofton, Baron of Stableshire, Grand Stallion of the Order of the Iron Horseshoe…”

As the page continued, Luna put on her best Princess smile over her gritted teeth.

When Twilight and her friends arrived in the castle’s courtyard, they were greeted by a trim, middle-aged white unicorn with a pencil behind her ear and a very thick roll of parchment tucked into a pocket of her dress. As they approached, the mare’s eyes perked up on sight of Twilight’s crown, and she immediately dropped into a humble bow. “Good evening, your Royal Highness,” she said.

“Um, hi,” Twilight replied, unsure of what was expected. “We’re here for the Gala.”

The attendant raised an eyebrow. “But of course you are.” She pulled out the roll with her magic and scanned down the names. “You and a… party of five ponies plus one dragon. But I see six ponies here.”

Twilight glanced over at Vinyl, who simply nodded and pulled out her golden invitation, holding it aloft in front of her for the attendant to examine. Satisfied, the unicorn pointed off to the side, toward a set of closed double doors where several other ponies were already clustered. “Enjoy your evening, Miss Scratch.”

“We’ll meet back up inside,” Vinyl said, tucking her ticket back into a pocket as she trotted off. Twilight held up her own ticket for the unicorn to examine, familiar at least with this process from the first time around. But instead of giving her invitation the usual scrutinizing glare, the attendant just shook her head instead.

“There’s no need for that, Your Highness,” she said, once again studying her parchment intently. “No need for you to go through the same process as a commoner. I can quite plainly see that you are Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville and its Surrounding Municipalities. Follow me.” She turned around and started walking back toward the castle. Rarity was the first to follow, trotting along serenely behind. After a momentary glance again over to the doors where Vinyl was now waiting, Twilight followed.

“I suppose that I should have mentioned this, Twilight,” Rarity said to her as they walked. “Since you’re a Princess now, our arrival needs to be announced to the rest of the Gala. So we can’t just go in when the doors open like we did two years ago.”

“Sounds like an awful lot of rigamarole just for walking through a doorway,” Applejack put in. “And did you hear the way she spoke down to Vinyl? As if anypony without a crown wasn’t even worth her time.”

“That is just more of what we’re used to where Canterlot is concerned, though,” Fluttershy sighed.

“Eh, doesn’t sound so bad to me.” In contrast to Fluttershy’s concern and Applejack’s irritation, Rainbow looked genuinely excited. “What better way to make an impression could there be than having your name announced to the whole party, before you grandly swoop over the threshold with moonlight gracing the tips of your ears and wind rippling your mane? Almost makes me wish I could’ve gotten that treatment last time.”

“Sounds to me more like it’s only meant to fan the egos of everypony involved,” Applejack replied, rolling her eyes away from Rainbow, who was still lost in her vision of glory. “For those among us who need that.”

“Really now, both of you!” Rarity snapped at them. “It’s just a small formality, meant to inform the rest of the party-goers that we are in attendance. No discrimination is intended, nor does anypony make a particularly grand impression. When our names are called, we’ll walk in, exchange a greeting with the Princesses, and then we get on with the Gala like normal.”

Up ahead of them, the unicorn with the scroll turned around a corner in the castle’s wall, into the gardens. When Twilight also made the turn, she was greeted by a very long line of nobles, standing in reasonably straight order while still clustered in bunches to whisper and exchange gossip. Silver pendants and gleaming jewels sparkled throughout the line, and suddenly Twilight was very grateful that Rarity had crafted her such a masterful outfit for the occasion. Without a word, their attendant led them further along, occasionally consulting her list.

As they walked, Twilight did her best to imitate Rarity’s poise. The white unicorn had her head high, aloof and smiling lightly. The posture felt odd and a little uncomfortable, and Twilight could feel the eyes of the ponies in the line following her as she passed. Murmurs filtered out from the conversations as they went on, their meanings incomprehensible. It took a great deal of effort not to worry about those words, especially as she was also concentrating on not tripping over her shoes, and on maintaining her pose, just as Rarity seemed to be doing so effortlessly. By the time they stopped at a small break in the line, Twilight was sweating a little under her crown.

“Here we are!” the unicorn declared, marking seven quick check marks on her scroll. They were very nearly at the front of the line, standing in behind a rather recognizable white stallion in a red military dress outfit.

“Twily!” Shining Armour turned around to look at the group, though when his eyes settled on Twilight’s dress, his jaw slackened. “You know, whenever I’m back in Canterlot Mom always asks me when it’ll be time for the family’s second wedding. If you’re always dressing like that out in public, then she won’t have long to wait.”

“Oh, don’t tease her so, Shining!” Princess Cadance said, also turning around from her spot in line to regard the group. Twilight blushed, thankful that here at the front of the line there weren’t so many other ponies watching. “Welcome to the Gala, Your Royal Highness,” Cadance continued, offering her a warm smile and a small bow. “Nervous at all?”

The Princess of the Crystal Empire seemed to have an almost telepathic ability to sense the internal conflicts of the ponies around her, and in this case Twilight couldn’t have been more grateful to have it be pointed out. She nodded fervently.

“Don’t be. You really do look great, all kidding aside.” Cadance and Shining, standing together at ease, were the very picture of regal splendour. Something about them just seemed to shine powerfully. There were no nerves in their faces, merely a smile of assured confidence. Twilight wanted to ask Cadance about it, to see if she had any advice, but just then there was a loud call from the open door ahead.

“Presenting their Royal Highnesses, Princess Mia Amore Cadenza of The Crystal Empire and the Northern Realms, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Prince Shining Armour, Knight of The Golden Sun!”

Her sister-in-law offered her one last smile. “See you inside, Twilight,” she said. And then the two of them walked gracefully through the door, disappearing quickly from view, though a smattering of gentle applause marked their reception by the ponies inside. Twilight was left with her questions frozen on her lips, wondering only how she could possibly hope to match their poise, or to equal their demeanour. Beside her, Rainbow Dash was trying out various impressive poses, still eager to make a grand entrance.

Only several minutes had gone by before the page inside the door made his next announcement. “Presenting Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville and its Surrounding Municipalities!” There was a slight pause, followed by a much quieter, “And company.”

“WHAT?” yelled Rainbow beside her, and then she was gone, a streak of colour blazing around the corner and through the doorway. Twilight didn’t have to look to see Rarity wince. Instead, she tentatively took her own few steps around the corner, until she could see the entirety of the Entrance Hall spread out before her in its splendour. To the side, Rainbow had the page doing the announcing by the collar. “That’s it?” she was demanding of him, “We’re just ‘and company’?”

“Pardon me, madam,” the page answered, looking surprisingly calm for a pony being wrangled by an angry pegasus, though perhaps it was the presence of the nearby guards that gave him confidence. “Did I miss you? What was your name again?”

“Rainbow Dash,” she said, emphasizing each syllable. Letting go of the page’s neck, she struck a heroic pose, hovering in mid-air in front of him with her dress flowing quite majestically out behind her in a draught that was coming in through the door. “Best Young Flyer in Equestria, Wonderbolts trainee, and all-around the coolest pegasus in this city or any other! My name’s gotta’ be on that list!”

“Well of course, madam,” the page said, indicating the names he had just crossed off to her. “Right here, party of six, entourage of Princess Twilight. As I just announced, if I recall.”

“Rainbow!” Rarity’s whisper was soft, but sharp and high enough to carry to the farthest extremes of the hall. Though Rainbow already had her mouth open to further insist on her notability, she turned around at the noise to look irritably back at the group. Twilight suddenly became aware of the silence in the room, and how every other set of eyes was fixed firmly upon them. She felt herself frozen by their judging looks, uncertain if she should apologize profusely for disrupting the natural flow of the evening or instead carry on as if nothing untoward had happened. Once again, it was Rarity who stepped out in front of her. “Just keep walking, Twilight,” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth. “Just keep walking.”

The distance from the entranceway to the base of the Grand Stair stretched on forever in front of her as she walked, every reverberation of her hoofsteps echoing loudly off of the room’s walls. Each second that ticked by brought another wave of anxiety, made even more acute by the slippery floor. Finally, the group reached the base of the steps, and Twilight was able to join the rest of her friends in offering Luna a deep bow. Then there were only a few paces more to ascend the stairway, before she was standing face-to-face with the Princess.

“Salutations, Your Royal Highness,” Luna said rigidly, extending a fore-hoof in greeting.

“Um, thank you,” Twilight replied as she returned the hoof shake. “You’ll have to excuse Rainbow. We’re all a little unfamiliar with the protocol now that I’m a princess.”

Luna took one look past her, down at Rainbow Dash, who was still standing resolutely at the bottom of the steps, and a slim smile came to her face. “No apologies are necessary. She is hardly the first pony to insist on a full reading of her proper titles. Indeed it is I who must apologize. My sister wishes that she could be here, but important business has taken her away.”

For whatever reason, Celestia’s absence hadn’t struck Twilight as odd until now, probably because she had been too busy thinking about not making a bigger fool of herself than she already had. Now, though, the potential gravity of the circumstance hit home. In her experience, business important enough to take Celestia away from her ceremonial duties was usually very important indeed. “Nothing’s wrong, is it?” she asked discreetly, concern gathering in her eyes.

Luna coughed once. “Uh... no, nothing that you need to concern yourself with, Twilight. My sister has everything well in hoof, and I will be seeing to things in the meantime. You and your friends should focus on enjoying the evening.”

“Well, okay,” Twilight said, still uncertain. But Luna’s eyes had already returned to the front of the room, ready to greet the next dignitary. She could only walk the few steps back down to the floor, once more taking extra care not to trip in her new shoes.

“Well, now that’s over with, who’s up for hitting the buffet?” Spike was already eagerly rubbing his claws together as they stepped off to the side, into the groups of guests that were standing about near the entrance to the ballroom.

“Spike, we just got here,” Applejack said, looking down at the dragon in surprise. “How could you have worked up an appetite already?”

“I skipped dinner,” he quipped. “No offense to any of the cooks in Ponyville, but nothing beats Gala food.”

“You and me both,” Pinkie chimed in beside him. “I may live in a bakery, but this is an opportunity that can’t be missed.” The two of them raced off through the open doors to the ballroom, heading directly for the far wall, and the buffet beckoning upon it.

Twilight was only too happy to follow, welcoming the opportunity to blend into the crowd and cease being the centre of attention. And she still had to meet back up with Vinyl and potentially even Cadance. With the two of them, perhaps this evening could still be salvaged.

Chapter 5: The Rules of the Game

Chapter 5: The Rules of the Game

As the evening drew on, Princess Luna felt herself losing track of time as she stood at the top of the stairs. The various outfits of the nobles that walked in through the door blended themselves into a wash of rainbow fabric before her tired eyes. Yet she persisted as her duty demanded of her, and exchanged the same greeting and hoofshake with each one like an automaton.

She couldn’t help but wonder idly about whatever it was that still had Celestia’s attention. It hadn’t actually been all that long since the elder Princess had been called away, but Luna had nothing better to do than worry. Each passing minute escalated the possible crisis within her mind. The Gala was a prime target for threats, not that such things were common, but ever since the Changeling Affair, no threat could be discounted. Such a scenario would necessitate the utmost secrecy to avoid starting a panic, which would explain Celestia’s refusal to let slip any details. Thinking of the danger that the other Princess could be facing out there in the night almost made Luna thankful to be safe attending to ceremonial duties in here. Almost.

As the page at the front of the room struck the last of the Earls from the list, Luna did her best to stifle a yawn. The page took a quick drink from his pitcher of water, and had just opened his mouth for another announcement when a deafening blast of bugles sounded outside. After a moment, there came the sounds of pushing and shoving from the courtyard, and finally a trim, balding griffon in a crimson military blazer stepped over the threshold, a bugle grasped in his right talon.

The nobles gathered in the room murmured once more amongst themselves, and more than a few eyes were cast toward Luna, hoping for some sense of direction. Luna, though, could see the insignia blazoned upon this griffon’s breast, and knew immediately what was to come. So when this griffon blew another fanfare upon his instrument (to scattered groans and covered ears from the guests inside), and stepped aside to admit a far taller griffon wearing a red cape and a golden crown, she was about the only pony who wasn’t surprised.

“Presenting His Majesty, King Gilderoy II of Griffonia and its Subordinate States!” the griffon in the blazer announced, his gruff voice echoing off of the walls, inspiring a rueful expression from the page by the door.

Luna came down the stairs to meet him, since it would only be proper to meet a head of state on level ground. Previously, she had only seen King Gilderoy’s face on the obverse side of his kingdom’s coins, and in person he made a much more imposing presence. Gilderoy’s beak was mounted prominently on the front of a set chiseled features like the prow of a battleship, and his eyes completed the arrangement, burning green crystals beneath a plumage that was combed flat to the scalp. Tonight, a hint of a courteous smile lit up those eyes, though if anything it made the King somehow look even more fearsome. As he walked in through the doors, a large collection of golden medals clinked against each other from where they hung on his left breast.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” Luna began, her voice level and respectful in spite of the whirlwind of thoughts in her head.

“Greetings, Your Royal Highness,” Gilderoy returned, his words clipped and layered with the usual heavy griffon accent. “I have heard so much about you. A pleasure that we should finally meet.”

“Forgive me, but what exactly have you heard?” Luna raised her eyebrows in genuine interest. Her own relationships with neighbouring Heads of State could be described as mixed at best. In any event, she knew that she had to play along with the conversation while trying to figure out what in the world the King was doing here.

Gilderoy fixed her with an appraising glare. “You are the same Princess Luna who has spent the last three months browbeating my envoys into submission, are you not?” An extra twinkle in the crystals of his eyes was the only hint of humour he gave off. “They have spoken very admirably to me about you. ‘The Gavel of the West!’ That is what you are called in my kingdom.”

“Ah, of course. Thank you very much, Your Majesty. I try to be as assertive as I can in the negotiations.” Luna flicked a nervous glance at the ballroom, hoping in vain to see Celestia arriving back from whatever minor disturbance had grabbed her attention. They were rapidly coming to the end of the requisite small talk, and of course the King’s first question would be after her sister’s whereabouts. She would have to stall him a bit more while she thought up a satisfactory answer. “If you don’t mind my asking, Your Majesty, what brings you to Equestria tonight, and on such short notice?”

“Nothing to worry about, Princess,” he replied. “Equestria and Griffonia have always been friends, and soon we are to become even closer. I had intended to make a visit to seal our friendship now that the trade agreement is about to be signed. When I heard of this upcoming Gala, it seemed only proper that I should stop by, since you are expecting guests tonight anyway. I hope that the lack of forewarning has not caused you too much trouble.”

“No, of course not, Your Majesty. Equestria is glad to welcome you and your party tonight.” Luna extended the King a traditionally formal hoofshake, which he returned with a firm talon.

“Now, Princess, I must ask after your ever-attentive sister, Her Majesty, the Princess. As I’m sure that you know, there is much that the two of us must discuss.”

Luna answered with a single nod, doing her very best not to let her nervousness show. On the one hoof, she had no idea what Celestia was currently doing, and the fact that she was keeping it a secret meant that it could be very serious indeed. On the other, keeping the King waiting for an unreasonable amount of time could lead to problems. For not the first time, Luna wished that she could be the one dealing with whatever issue her sister was taking care of, so that the complexities of the party could be handled by Celestia’s far more capable hooves. At least Gilderoy had given her a reason to delay, for now. “Of course, Your Majesty. You have caught us a little bit unprepared, you see, and my sister is currently indisposed dealing with some important business. I will let her know of your arrival, and you may rest assured that she will be with you as soon as she is able.”

The King gave her a single nod in return. “Of course I understand, Your Highness. Thank you for your hospitality. In the meantime, I suppose that I’ll enjoy this wonderful party that you have put on.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Luna spied a hint of a multi-coloured mane shimmering just inside the doors that led to the ballroom. Her spirit soared as she turned that way, only to sink again when she realized that it was only Princess Cadance making her way through the crowd. Still, at least Cadance could be another ally in this business. She cleared her throat politely. “Princess Cadance?” she asked, pitching her voice subtly so that it would carry through the din of the ballroom to her niece’s ears.

The look on Cadance’s face when she turned and saw the griffon standing stiff-backed alongside Luna in the Entrance Hall was priceless, but only for a split-second. Cadance was, after all, just as skilled a diplomat as the rest of her family. She gave Gilderoy a deep bow, and then rose to greet him with a cheerful smile. “Welcome to Equestria, Your Majesty,” she said. Behind her, Shining Armour emerged from the crowd, showing his own disbelief for a bit longer than his wife before recovering nicely.

“The Prince and Princess of The Crystal Empire would be happy to accompany Your Majesty tonight,” Luna said, gesturing Gilderoy onward into Cadance’s company. As soon as the griffon had taken his eyes off of her, she gave Shining a surreptitious wave inwards. The message registered immediately on his face, and with only a silent glance he had passed it on to his wife. While Cadance engaged the King in small talk, Shining took a few steps forward for a quick conference.

“What is he doing here?” he whispered sharply, to the point as always.

“He just ‘decided to drop in’, apparently. You’ll need to keep him busy for a while.”

“Where’s Celestia?” Shining gave the room a quick scan. The fact that Celestia would stand a head above anypony else made it easy to conclude that she wasn’t there.

Luna shook her head. “Busy, I’m afraid.”

“Busy?” Shining stole a quick glance at his wife to make sure that the King hadn’t heard him, then continued in a quieter voice. “What could possibly have her too busy for this?”

“I’m not sure. One of the guards came up to her and said there was something that urgently demanded her attention.” As she spoke, an idea sparked in Luna’s mind. “You still have contacts within the Guard?”

He nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out. And of course we’ll keep him happy, however we have to do it.”

Luna gave him an encouraging tap on the shoulder. “Tell him that joke you know,” she said, and then turned around to start walking back up to the Entrance Hall’s staircase. There was still a long line of guests to greet, after all. Yet another complication on her plate. As she was walking, she heard Shining’s voice filter out to her: “Hey Your Majesty, here’s something. A pegasus and a griffon fly into a bar…”

Whatever Celestia was doing, it had better be very important.

Princess Celestia was a prodigal talent in many areas, her skills owing mainly to centuries of practice. In fact, the second and fourth most valuable pieces of art ever sold in Equestria were both Celestia’s, though created under a different pseudonym each time. One thing that she had picked up on almost immediately though was how to navigate a crowd while invisible. It required split-second decision-making, and a constant awareness of one’s surroundings, which made it extraordinarily difficult, and precisely the sort of challenge that brightened up the eldest Princess’ life. Celestia had first experimented with it nearly four hundred years ago, as a technique for avoiding sycophantic courtiers at one of her birthday parties, and had taken to it right away. And so it was with a carefree yet sharp focus that she now walked, hidden from view by a strong spell issuing forth from her horn, amongst the knots of guests that dotted the ballroom floor.

Up ahead, her eyes zeroed in on her target, the light tan pegasus with the black mane standing alone near a table of hors d'oeuvres on the far side of the room. She had known that Caesura would have to come to this year’s Gala, as he could never let the chance offered by this auction catalogue pass him by. She had been eagerly looking forward to it for all of the past two weeks.

All that had remained was to ensure that she was free of her ceremonial duties for the entirety of the evening. That had taken only a small agreement with one of the guards, who had shown up to “warn” her at just the right moment, giving her a plausible excuse to dip out of sight. So long as Luna and Cadance never spotted her in amongst the guests, the two of them would play their part in managing the party. Which would leave her plenty of time to play her little game with the Viscount.

Celestia stole a glance back at the door to the Entrance Hall, through which she could spy Luna going through the motions with a few more guests. Luckily, Caesura was standing close to a large ice sculpture of Princess Twilight, which Celestia had had commissioned for precisely the purpose of creating a blind spot in her sister’s line of sight into the room. Once she had strategically positioned herself within the sculpture’s shadow, Celestia let go of the spell, offering Caesura, who was looking right at her, a casual smirk.

To his credit, the Viscount did not even bat an eyelid, instead merely taking a sip of his punch, as though a white alicorn nearly twice as tall as him had not just appeared out of nowhere only a couple of feet from his nose. “A rather strange gambit, Your Majesty,” he said, regarding her with a knowing expression. “Shirking your duties to speak with me of all ponies. What must the other guests be thinking?”

Celestia gave the rest of the room a quick survey. If the other guests had noticed her sudden appearance, they did not seem to show it, and continued on in their own conversations. “Don’t tell me that you of all ponies are thinking only of the game tonight, Caesura. I had rather hoped you came all this way for something more than posturing.”

The Viscount chuckled. “No. Once upon a time I tried my hoof at the game, but no more. I am finally free of all of that rubbish, and it feels amazing. No more having to care about what I wear or who I’m seen in public with. No more dissecting everything other ponies say, guessing at the hidden meaning underneath their words. Tonight, I am merely here to enjoy a party. Rather like you, Celestia, I suppose.”

“Ha, if only it were that easy.”

Caesura grinned. “Come now, Celestia. Surely you can stand above all of their pettiness. You’re immortal, for goodness’ sake. If you don’t like a Lord, you can just wait until his son inherits the title! Besides, you were never one to play by the rules, anyway. If you were, you would still be up at the front shaking hooves.”

Celestia couldn’t help but return the smile. Caesura was a one-of-a-kind stallion within the nobility, never afraid to be frank, even when speaking to a Princess. “It is very good to see you again.”

“It is good to be back.” He took another sip of his punch, then gave her an odd look. “Now I just have to figure out why I’m here.”

Celestia’s eyebrows rose. “Didn’t you just say that you were here to enjoy the party?”

“Well, that is what I shall attempt to do, if you will let me.”

“Now what could you possibly mean by that?”

He sighed. “Please, don’t be coy with me, Celestia. Have you forgotten how well I know you? This auction of yours was a rather transparent ploy; you knew it was the only thing that could convince me to come back, even for an evening. The only question now is why?”

Celestia wasn’t about to answer that question any time soon. Figuring it out was going to be the entire purpose of Caesura’s evening, if she got her way. “How is your collection coming along, by the way?” she asked, still casual but now with a hint of smugness.

“Woefully incomplete, if I don’t get those cellist’s bows,” he grumbled. “Though I rather think that I might enjoy a good performance if it’s your hair that’s tickling the strings.”

“Well, they are open for bids, just like all of the others,” she said, plucking a strawberry cracker from the table and eating it one bite. “Though your suspicion does wound me. I am only raising money for a noble cause, and that you felt the need to come and participate was merely a happy coincidence.”

“Of course it is,” he mused, though the calculating look never left his eyes. “Well, I suppose that you must have other business to attend to. If I know you, there may be about a dozen other schemes deserving of your attention at the moment.”

“Have a good evening then, Caesura,” Celestia said, before once again fading from view behind a wall of invisible magic. After a moment, Caesura wandered off nonchalantly, and Celestia started moving in the opposite direction, as another group of ponies had begun walking in toward the table.

Moving across the floor, Celestia adopted a zig-zag pattern to time her movements with the oscillations of the crowd. Caesura had been suspicious, but of course that was to be expected. The two of them knew each other too well to have a straightforward conversation, but then that was also the reason why she so enjoyed his company. Besides her own family, Caesura was the only pony she had ever known who was willing to talk to her as a friend, rather than as a powerful superior whose favour needed to be curried at every opportunity. Ten years ago, he had served as the perfect outlet for the stress of her life. When he had left, drawn overseas by his business concerns, it had been a loss for the whole country.

Of course, he was partially correct in his suspicions, though the reality of Celestia’s plan was one that he might miss, or so the Princess hoped. With one last glance out at the hall to be sure that her sister was not watching, Celestia walked through the archway leading to the auction’s room, and released her spell.

The items of the catalogue were arrayed throughout the room, some of the smaller artefacts arranged in open cabinets while the larger pieces had plinths and pedestals all to their own. Rare original scores, hoof-made instruments, and other memorabilia filled up most of the room, each item watched over by a servant managing a small wooden box and a roll of parchment. The format was a modified Fillydelphia Silent, with bidding conducted in secret, but the current highest bid for any item available on request from its attendant.

Celestia wasted no time in heading for the back of the room, where the whole far wall had been cleared for the three bows. They had been arranged within the flickering light of an array of lamps, their dancing shadows and flares bringing the luminescent strands of hair to life in dazzling fire. Each one of them had its own steely Guard, standing stone-faced in ceremonial silvered armour in front of the bow’s pedestal.

Seated at this table was Octavia herself, keeping an eye on all of the other tables while also managing the sheets of parchment in front of her. The grey mare was wearing a very conservative white gown, perfect for fading into the background while still living up to the standard of the Gala. “Quiet so far, Your Majesty,” she said softly, looking up from her parchments when Celestia approached. “There’s been some activity on a few of the other items, but only a few bids here. It’s still quite early though, so things should pick up soon.”

Celestia took a moment to study the bows once more. It was not surprising that most of the guests were waiting to bid on them. After the first few bids, it would become clear what sort of price range the item would fetch. “Well, perhaps I can help you out with that, then. I’d like to make a bid.”

Octavia didn’t even blink. “Thank you very much, Your Majesty. The current winning bid stands at forty-five hundred bits, submitted around five minutes ago.”

Celestia considered it. Doubtlessly that had been Caesura, starting strong in the hopes of scaring other players out of the auction. She didn’t want to overbid him too much, or else he might answer strong and push the price too high too early. “Put me down for an even five thousand.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Octavia replied as she made a note on her parchment. She made a record of the bid on a smaller slip, then presented it across the table for Celestia’s signature. Once the cursive Sun had been added in its bottom corner, Octavia folded up the slip and added it to the wooden box. “Normally, I would ask for proof of credit on a bid of that sum,” she added as she replaced the box’s lid, giving Celestia a meaningful look.

“Perhaps my word will be good enough?” Celestia asked innocently.

Octavia returned her playful smile. “I think that we could make an exception this time.” She held the Princess’ gaze for an instant, as if she wanted to say something more, but instead merely swallowed and went back to arranging her parchments in silence.

Celestia wasn’t about to let Octavia’s uncertainty go unanswered. Her instincts told her that there was more that wanted to be said. She knelt down in front of the table, so that her eyes were level with those of the earth pony. “Octavia,” she said, in her best warm, motherly tone. “I’ve told you before not to be shy with me. You are in charge of the auction, and I’ll accept anything that you have to say about it.”

Octavia bit her lip lightly for just a moment, then looked up again. “It’s nothing,” she began. “Just... Thank you, Your Majesty. For everything that you’ve done to help. When I came to Canterlot, I was expecting maybe a small grant, in the best case. Here we have a chance to raise enough funds to last for years.”

“All of this has been your work, Octavia. I only let you go forward,” Celestia answered. “When all of this is said and done, it will be you that the Orchestra has to thank.”

The earth pony beamed with pride, and then went right back to work. As she stood back up and turned around, Celestia offered each of the guards and servants a very tiny salute, just a small tip of her horn. Each of them answered with a nod. All of them had put in the work necessary to make this auction a brilliant success, and Celestia was sure that it would capture all of the funds necessary to keep the musical arts flourishing in Canterlot. Of course, all of that wasn’t to say that Celestia wasn’t going to help in getting as much money out of this auction as she could. A few artificial bids here and there were all that it would take, especially when she knew that her opponent would pay almost any price. As she walked back out into the ballroom and once more faded from view, Celestia snickered to herself. The game was ahoof.

Chapter 6: The Trouble with Impressions

Chapter 6: The Trouble with Impressions

Out in the middle of the ballroom floor, Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy stood alone. Pinkie Pie and Spike had run quickly to the buffet tables at the back in search of culinary delight, while Rainbow had shortly spied the Wonderbolts over by a side entrance, and had departed to presumably moon over them some more. Rarity, for her part, had been swept up in conversation with an enterprising young stallion by the door, and the three remaining friends had moved on without her. Twilight was eagerly searching for either Vinyl or Cadance, preferably both, in the hope of finding an anchor around which she could direct the rest of her activities for the evening.

Though Twilight didn’t like to think of it, it was a little nice to be rid of Rarity for once in the evening. She knew that her friend only wanted to help, but the wash of details and tips over how she should conduct herself would have been overwhelming even if they had been served over a weeklong course, let alone a single evening. There was simply so much to learn, and though Twilight prided herself on being able to pick up subjects quickly, most of the subject matter here didn’t make a whole lot of sense either.

Then again, every group of guests that they passed would always jerk their heads up for a moment upon seeing her crown and her dress go by. They never said anything, and afterwards would quickly resume their conversation in low and unreadable tones. As much as Twilight didn’t want her title to intrude on her evening, it was clear that it would have an impact anyway, and in that sense it would have been nice to have Rarity’s experienced hooves by her side to help her out. Likely, the white unicorn would come back to join them eventually.

“Um, is that Cadance over there?” Fluttershy said from beside her, the background noise of the crowd almost muting out her delicate tone. She pointed off to the group’s left, where Cadance’s unmistakable mane could be seen moving deliberately through the crowd.

“Yes, thank you, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied, turning to start walking in that direction. Her sister-in-law could surely be just as good a counsel on the ways of the nobility as Rarity, and would maybe also better understand her desire to keep the evening as low-key as possible. If nothing else, Shining certainly would.

It didn’t take long to navigate there through the crowd, and so it was only a moment before Twilight stepped around a knot of nobles deep in conversation to regard Cadance and Shining standing serenely by a table of hors d'oeuvres, though flanked by a tall and austere griffon whose penetrating eyes set her teeth on edge. The face she remembered from her history books: King Gilderoy II. For a moment, her tongue seemed to have forgotten how it worked.

It was Gilderoy who first found his voice. “Ah, Her Royal Highness, the Princess Twilight. Another face that I so longed to finally see. Charmed, I am,” he said, his voice far colder than his words. He extended a rigid talon to her, which she took after a startled second.

Twilight returned the hoofshake. “H-How do you do?”

“Outstanding, thank you.” He turned back to Shining. “We hear news, of course, filtering across the sea. Her Highness here has caused quite a stir, even in the far corners of my kingdom. She has been an inspiration to all of us.”

“Is that so?” Twilight asked, taking another step forward to join more closely with the three of them. Still only barely getting used to being a recognizable face in Equestria, she had never even dreamed that her fame would extend beyond the oceans. Still, it would be nice if her story had inspired anyone else to more fully embrace friendship in their lives.

“Indeed,” the King said. “You have reminded us all that the station of royalty is something that is earned, through hard work, ambition, and civic duty. With enough of that, why, any one of us could dream of wearing a crown some day. Truly, a stirring rise to grace, you’ve had.”

“Now hang on a moment,” Applejack spoke up from beside her, in a voice still civil but with an undeniably combative edge. “You know that Twilight didn’t want any of this when she started out? There wasn’t any ambition in it, certainly not ambition to become royalty.”

Gilderoy chuckled lightly. “Oh, perhaps not. Still, however one decides to spin it, the message is undeniable. Personal fortitude and effort are all that separates any of us from greatness. Why, there isn’t a griffon in my kingdom who hasn’t taken the story of Princess Twilight’s rise to heart. A toast, I think? To Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and to the glory in all of us.” He extended his glass out to the group.

Twilight could almost feel Applejack’s anger rising as she heard the words. Luckily, Shining Armour stepped in first. “Indeed, Your Majesty, I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of everything that she has accomplished.” He and Cadance joined in with the King’s toast, and after draining his glass, the unicorn placed a hoof on the King’s shoulder. “Now, did I hear that you have a particular penchant for ice archery? I recall that your team did rather well at the most recent qualifiers…” He and Gilderoy turned about and walked off, leaving Cadance with the three friends.

The elder Princess exhaled sharply as soon as the King’s back was turned. “Thank Celestia that ended well,” she said, shaking her head.

“Sorry, Princess,” Applejack said, contrite but with a bit of iron still in her eyes. “You couldn’t expect us to be silent, though, while he went on about ambition and personal strength being the most important takeaways from Twilight’s story?”

“No, of course not,” Cadance looked up and took in the group again. “I’m a little sorry myself that the three of you have been so suddenly thrust into international affairs. It’s only natural to expect that there should be some stumbles out of the gate.”

“But, she was right,” Twilight said. “It’s one thing to know that I’ve inspired ponies to find friendship in their lives, but it sounds like my story has pushed the griffons in precisely the opposite direction.” Once more, she felt the crown sitting on her head, pressing down like a block of iron. If only she hadn’t gotten it, then there wouldn’t have been any connotation of personal glory on her life at all.

She looked up again to see Cadance smiling at her warmly. “Don’t think that any of this was somehow your fault, Twilight. Griffons are by their nature individualistic. Viewed through that lens, it’s not surprising that all of your adventures might be cast in a different colour. If you start thinking only about how others are going to see you, then you’ll lose precisely what got you here in the first place. Let Shining and I worry about Gilderoy. You enjoy your evening.”

“Well, that’s just it, Cadance,” she said, looking up at her sister-in-law uncertainly. “I don’t have the first clue about how to enjoy myself in here amongst the other guests. Especially now, what if one of us says the wrong thing? You and Shining won’t be there to help us out next time.”

“Twilight,” the Princess said, looking at her levelly. “You know how to be you, and that’s precisely what earned you that crown in the first place. Other ponies will think what they want to think, and nothing you can do will change that. Now, I really have to be back with Shining.” With one last smile, she turned around, the bright stripes in her gown matching the shimmers of colour in her mane, and carefully made her way off, fading into the crowd after only a few steps.

“Sure,” Twilight said to herself absently. Out in the centre of the room, a two metre-tall ice sculpture of her stood, wings fully outstretched and crown twinkling like a diamond. “I’ll just blend into the background, I’m sure.”

It was Fluttershy who took her by the neck and gently tugged her off toward the room’s rear. “Come on, Twilight,” her friend said firmly. “Maybe we’ll have more luck finding Vinyl by the food tables.”

Twilight allowed herself to be led, her thoughts still occupying her full attention. Cadance’s advice made sense, but even just being herself over the past year still hadn’t stopped Gilderoy from getting the wrong impression of her. And that had been him viewing her from afar. Tonight, ponies would analyze the inflections in her speech, the twitches and subtlest looks in her eyes. Even if she knew everything there was to know about socializing, it would still be impossible to be sure that she was making the right impression.

“I don’t care what Rarity thinks,” Applejack said beside her. “If any of the other nobles here are like that King, then I’d rather not spend a minute speaking with any of ‘em.”

“What else can I do though?”

“Only what you know you’ll be good at.” Fluttershy, who was walking on her other side, and scanning the crowd once again, sounded surprisingly resolute. “Our first Gala may not have been a total success, but at least Applejack and I knew that we weren’t going to have any fun making connections with the guests. If you can help out Vinyl and Octavia now, it won’t matter what anypony else thinks. We’ll all know that you did the right thing.”

The words parted the fog in Twilight’s head, and she looked over to her other side to find Applejack also nodding in agreement. Cadance of course hadn’t known about Vinyl and Octavia’s problems, but surely this was what the other Princess had been trying to say. She had gotten where she was by doing what she knew was the right thing, and surely now the right thing was to help out her friends. She gave each of them a small smile. “Thanks. Sorry for all of that.”

“No sweat,” Applejack said, now trying to see her way through the crowd in search of Vinyl. “Now if only we could find that unicorn.”

With three pairs of eyes on the problem, it didn’t take them long to find their quarry. The white unicorn was very nearly to the rear of the room, standing next to an elaborately decorated archway, and she looked very eager to see them. The more Twilight interacted with Vinyl, the easier she was finding it to read the mare’s facial expressions through her sunglasses. “Thank Celestia you’re here!” Vinyl exclaimed happily. “I’ve already got an idea on how you can help me out.” She pointed up at the wall behind her, where a white sign declared in golden script: Canterlot Musical Charity Auction.

“Octavia’s birthday is next month,” Vinyl continued. “If I could surprise her with something from here, it would surely drive home to her just how much I care. What do you think?”

“Oh, that sounds perfect!” Fluttershy’s eyes had lit up when she first saw the sign.

Applejack, however, was a little more apprehensive. “Maybe that would work, but it’s probably going to be awfully expensive to buy something when among all of this crowd.”

Twilight nodded. “I got a notification about this auction shortly after I had RSVP’d. All of the items on offer are extraordinarily rare, and likely to attract interest.”

Vinyl’s face fell when she heard. “Oh, sorry, then. We’ll find something else, I suppose.”

“Well, we should still try,” Fluttershy said. “It really does sound like the perfect idea to me. Maybe somepony around here would be willing to sponsor us?”

Applejack snorted. “I don’t mean to sound condescending, but do you honestly think there’s a chance of that happening? Take it from my experience last year, ponies around here aren’t willing to part with a bit unless it’s getting them something real nice and fancy.”

There were morose nods around the group, even from Fluttershy. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated at the situation. Fluttershy was right, a gift like this was precisely the thing that would mend Octavia and Vinyl’s relationship. But of course Applejack was right too. These items were going to go for thousands of bits, if not tens of thousands. Even if they all pooled their money together, they wouldn’t have a chance, and it didn’t seem likely that a noble would sponsor them if he wasn’t getting anything out of it except for personal satisfaction.

“By Celestia, would it kill anypony to put out a nice plate of apple fritters for once?”

Applejack’s ears perked up. The voice had come from out of the crowd, off to their right in the direction of the buffet tables. Wordlessly, Twilight took a few steps in that direction, the three others following.

Around another knot of nobles, and through a gap in the crowd, she could see the stallion that had spoken. He was standing in front of the lavish spread, a distasteful scowl drawing out his handsome features. A black tuxedo stood out prominently against his light tan coat, with custom cuts to accommodate his wings. In spite of the magnificence of the food before him, he looked as though he would rather be eating anything else.

Applejack, clearly not about to let a potential business opportunity go to waste, strode right up to his side. “Pardon me, sir, but were you the gentlecolt I heard asking for an apple fritter only a moment ago?” The diction was more than a little unusual coming from the country mare; Applejack seemed to have a whole different persona that she inhabited when she was trying to make a sale.

“Indeed I am,” he replied, still indignant. “Fifteen years on, and still the same tiny portions and boring spread! Is it so hard to have something simple, something fruity, perhaps a sweet Spartan mash, a little sugar–”

“All wrapped in a flaky pastry with a dash of cream on top?” The stallion looked over at Applejack in surprise as she finished his thought for him.

“Yes, just like that,” he said, now studying her intently with a small smile. “You seem to know a fair amount about them yourself, Miss?”

“Applejack,” she said, extending a firm hoof.

“Caesura,” he replied, returning the gesture. “It is a pleasure to meet a mare capable of understanding some of the simpler pleasures of life, especially in a place like this.”

“If you’ll pardon me, I could say the same of you. Just when you think that you know everything there is to know about the nobility, somepony surprises you.”

Caesura sighed, giving a glance to the rest of the room before turning back to Applejack. “Unfortunately,” he said, sounding apologetic, “I must admit that I am the exception to the rule, so you may keep your preconceptions of my fellows intact. Unlike many of them, I spent a fair amount of time in my youth performing honest days of work, at an orchard in the Canterlot foothills. After a hard day among the trees, one learns the value of delicate, homestyle cooking.”

Once Caesura had finished talking, he turned and seemed to notice the rest of the group for the first time. “Excuse me,” he said, offering Twilight a humble bow. “It seems that I have completely forgotten my manners. May I have the pleasure of each of your names?”

Fluttershy looked over at her first, and so Twilight stepped forward and took his hoof. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said evenly. The thought of appending her proper title to the address never occurred to her, even though it was undoubtedly the correct way to introduce herself. “Caesura...” she mused as they shook. While the intricacies of socialization among the nobility may have been outside of Twilight’s comfort zone, memorizing precisely who held which post certainly was not. “That would make you… the Viscount of Fillydelphia, if I’m not mistaken.”

He looked up, startled. “Huh? Oh, yes, of course. You needn’t bother with any of that, though. Caesura is perfectly alright. Twilight, if you are okay with that?”

She nodded, grateful that for once somepony wasn’t insisting on the ceremony. In short order, Fluttershy had also made her introduction, accepting Caesura’s glowing words about her mane with a light blush and a warm nod, and Vinyl had also said her pleasantries.

“So tell me, Caesura,” Twilight began again, eager to keep the conversation going, “how does a Viscount end up working at an apple orchard?” A couple of Celestia’s guides on the nobility had mentioned the normal course of their lives; born into sizable inheritances, most Lords and Ladies spent their youth engaging in a classical education, before sometimes moving on to well-paying consulting jobs, if they worked at all.

Caesura grinned. “No doubt you are aware that such a life is quite the exception among my peers. Well, my father was a different sort of stallion, convinced that his son could never function well in society without understanding the value of proper work. The orchard was merely a summer job while I was in school. Shortly after graduation, I started working with the Equestrian Rail Service. You may perhaps have noticed.” He motioned towards his flank, where a cutie mark of three stacked shipping crates was on prominent display underneath his coat tails. “Working in transport was my life’s calling, and that was where I stayed. While these other ponies here were schmoozing with diplomats or attending the opera, I was working my way up the supply chain.

“To make a long story short, soon enough I had my own shipping company. We operate transoceanic, providing one of the main links between Equestria and Griffonia. Indeed, I’ve spent most of the past fifteen years seeing to business on the far side of the sea, and it’s a pleasure to finally be back in my native land.”

“Fifteen years?” Fluttershy gasped. “I couldn’t possibly imagine leaving Equestria for that long. You never came back to at least visit your family?”

Caesura coughed, but not awkwardly. “Only child, I’m afraid, and my parents passed only shortly before I first moved away. I’ve always been used to life on the road, after all, and this was only a logical extension.”

“Sorry for your loss,” Twilight said. “But what about your friends? There must have been somepony you’d have wanted to see, or who would’ve wanted to see you.”

Caesura sighed after a moment, for the first time seemingly unsure of how to continue. “Friends?” He stole a glance off sideways into the crowd, seeming to look forlornly at nopony in particular. “Perhaps a couple. But I’ve always gone where the opportunity took me.” With another sigh, he turned back to the group, suave and cool once again. “Soon enough, I had made friends and contacts on the other side of the border. There was much more holding me in Griffonia than there was drawing me back here.”

“Then why come back at all?”

He gestured back the direction that they had come, toward the archway behind which the auction showcase rested. “You’ve seen the signage for the auction, I expect? I’m something of a collector. One little hobby from the noble lifestyle that I haven’t yet managed to shake off. A collection like this one coming onto the market… well, it presented an opportunity which simply could not be missed.”

Twilight caught a meaningful look that Applejack was surreptitiously directing her way. The orange earth pony’s eyes flicked to Vinyl, then quickly over to Caesura. The meaning was clear. Even though Applejack herself had been the most skeptical of the idea that they might find another guest willing to offer his money, so far Caesura seemed like the best chance they were likely to find. She gave her friend a subtle nod. Finally, something tonight seemed to have gone right for them.

She was just in the process of turning back to Caesura, ready to ease him into the question, when all of a sudden Rarity materialized by her side, seemingly winking in out of thin air even though Twilight knew that her friend was no master of teleportation. Despite still looking as prim and regal as ever, there was something breathless and hurried in her look.

“There you are, Twilight, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I’ve found this wonderfully dashing Duke, who you simply must meet. Come, he’s over by the west wall right now.”

“Oh, well, I’m sure that he can wait, Rarity.” Twilight looked over at Caesura, who appeared to be studying the new arrival with interest. “Meanwhile, I could perhaps say the same to you, except that he’s a Viscount and not a Duke. Rarity, Caesura.”

The pegasus extended his hoof graciously. “Charmed, Rarity,” he said, his heavy accent somehow sounding as musical as that of any dashing Prince.

“Yes, thank you,” she returned, offering him only a cursory glance, and a hoofshake so quick that it bordered on rude. Twilight felt like giving her a stern glare, but for the moment that was buried in her confusion. It wasn’t very often that she was the one correcting Rarity’s etiquette.

Quite uncharacteristically, Rarity seemed not to have noticed her slight. “I am sorry, Twilight, but I am afraid this Duke simply cannot wait. He is departing very shortly, and I promised him that he would have a chance to speak to the Princess under any circumstance.” Rarity had her by the hoof, and was tugging her more than a little insistently away from the group.

“Really?” Twilight asked, flustered. If it really was so important, then maybe she should go along with her friend. Once again, she reminded herself that Rarity was only trying to help. She offered the rest of the group an apologetic smile. Applejack returned a subtle roll of her eyes, but none of her friends objected.

“Go,” Caesura said calmly, taking a sip of a new glass of punch. “I for one, am not going anywhere, but certainly I understand that a Princess has her obligations. We can talk again later.” Though he was still smiling at her, Twilight heard the faint tones of scorn that entered his voice as he spoke the title, and it made her cheeks burn. Such a wonderful stallion, and now he thought that she had misrepresented herself to him. Some time later she really would have to seek him out and ask for forgiveness. In any event, she didn’t have a chance now, as Rarity took the opportunity to almost forcibly yank her out of the group, and the two ponies were more than a dozen paces away by the time that Twilight had her head in order.

“Well, who is this Duke who simply cannot wait, then?” she asked wearily as they continued through the crowd.

Rarity looked up, seemingly startled at the question. “Hmm? Oh, there isn’t one.”

“What?!” Twilight’s head was spinning again. Surely she must have misheard.

“Just give me one second, Twilight, and then I’ll explain everything,” Rarity continued, eyes still scanning ahead, though they had reached the edge of the room, and the unicorn was now looking intently at the walls. Finally spotting a deserted exit, she hurried Twilight towards it, until the two of them were standing alone in a silent hallway, a couple of corners away from the din of the Gala floor.

“I’m sorry to hustle you out like that, Twilight, but you must understand that I needed to get you away from Caesura as soon as possible, and this was the only way that I could think of to do it.” Rarity took a deep breath and exhaled, a bit of her poise from earlier in the night finally returning.

Twilight, however, had now gotten enough of her senses back to feel indignant. “But why? He seemed like a nice enough stallion to me. Better, actually, than most of the other nobles I’ve met in my time.”

“Of course he did, Twilight. It is his business to make ponies trust him.” The unicorn put a hoof on her shoulder supportingly. “What did he tell you about where he made his money?”

“He said that he works in the shipping business,” Twilight replied, now a bit uncertain.

“And why has he been gone for the last fifteen years?”

“He said that he was following his opportunities for business. What does any of this have to do with me apparently having to get away from him?” Twilight gave her friend a serious look. So far, Rarity hadn’t said anything to justify her behaviour in the slightest.

In response, the unicorn just chuckled. “Good reasons, but unfortunately not true. Everypony in the nobility knows that Caesura earned his empire through trickery and deception, working deals to his own advantage with a slick tongue. He left because word had gotten around as to his practices, and there wasn’t anypony left in the country who trusted him.”

The words caught Twilight off-guard. She wanted to protest about how he had seemed such a well-meaning and down-to-earth stallion, but of course, if her friend’s words were true then that was exactly what Caesura wanted her to believe. Eager to connect with someone in the nobility who had finally seemed to understand her, it seemed that she had fallen right into another pit.

Rarity seemed to understand her shock, and offered a consoling nod. “Don’t worry about it Twilight. I would have warned you earlier, but obviously I didn’t expect to see him here. Practically the whole floor is abuzz trying to figure out why he has returned tonight, but at least now you can see why we wouldn’t want your reputation to be tainted by associating with him?”

“Of… of course, Rarity,” Twilight whispered, still unable to accept this new information in light of all that she knew. All the same, it was undeniable that Rarity knew more about this sort of thing than she did now, so perhaps it was best to stick by her friend’s side on this one. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

Rarity was already adjusting the headpiece of her gown, and casting a couple of looks around the corner, back toward the Gala floor. “Please don’t mention it, Twilight. You know that’s what I’m here for tonight. Now, whenever you’re ready, there actually are a few friends of mine that I think you really should meet.”

Twilight took a deep breath, steadying her nerves before facing the floor again. Now that she knew that making the wrong impression was just another potential pitfall of socialization, and perhaps not even the worst of her concerns, she was pleased to have Rarity to guide her again. But even as she allowed her friend to lead her back out onto the floor, she couldn’t resist taking a surreptitious glance over to the back of the room, where she knew that Caesura had been.

Chapter 7: The Dark Side of Society

Chapter 7: The Dark Side of Society

With the last Baron and his wife finally over the castle’s threshold and properly greeted, Luna allowed herself a long sigh. After such an ordeal, she wanted nothing more than to go take a nap in the moonlight, or maybe an evening stroll through some peaceful dreams. Of course, these things were both luxuries that she could ill afford tonight. After nearly an hour, there had still been no word from Celestia, either good or bad. For the moment, the guests didn’t seem to have noticed the duration of her absence, but that didn’t make Luna feel any better.

Not knowing was the worst part of it. Even if her sister was duelling Discord with a cutlass in an alternate dimension, at least if she knew about it then Luna would be able to act appropriately. All that she could do now was wait and pretend that everything was okay. It would have been uncomfortable enough even at any normal Gala, never mind the complication King Gilderoy had forced upon her.

Luna came slowly down the stairs and took a look into the now-crowded ballroom. Even through the hubbub, the bright splash of pink that marked Cadance was easily seen, and beside her was Gilderoy, no doubt by now rather impatient to get on with his business. Cadance and Shining had probably already put in a herculean effort to keep him happy; at least now that she was no longer greeting guests, Luna could offer them a hoof with that.

Getting across the floor to them wasn’t difficult, as even those few nobles who did turn to offer a greeting quickly noticed the storm upon her brow and hurriedly swallowed their words with a respectful bow. Luna had never been all that great at hiding her emotions, and right now there was enough anxiety boiling inside her stomach to cook spaghetti. It really was unsurprising nopony wanted to stop her for a chat. Even if that hadn’t been the case, as soon as she got within twenty feet of Cadance and Gilderoy, she began to see a nervous tension on the faces of the guests too. Clearly the King was no longer so patient with the delay.

Gilderoy saw her coming before Cadance did. “Ah, Your Royal Highness!” he exclaimed gruffly as Luna emerged from the crowd around them. Cadance turned at his words, and in her eyes Luna saw relief, though to her credit, the younger alicorn was much better at hiding it than Luna ever could be. There was no sign of Shining Armour anywhere. “You have come to finally take me to my audience with your sister, I presume? I have had quite enough of a wait already.”

Luna merely shook her head. “I am afraid that Celestia is still unavailable. As you are well aware, only a matter of grave importance would keep her away from you. I regret that you’ve had to wait.”

Gilderoy snorted. “While I appreciate the gesture, Princess Luna, regrets do not get me any closer to seeing my business with your sister done. Will you at least do me the courtesy of letting me know what has her attention?”

In a quick glance, Luna saw a note of warning from Cadance. Likely the King had already asked this question a few times, and of course the other princess had been unable to give him a straight answer. “It is an internal matter, I am afraid, and not something with which you should concern yourself. Rest assured that Celestia is making every effort to see it put to rest so that she can welcome you properly.” Luna did her best to sound conciliatory, even though she knew that Gilderoy wasn’t going to like the answer no matter how she couched it.

The griffon drew himself up to his full height, which put his eyes just a few inches above Luna’s. “That is absolutely unacceptable,” he declared. “I have exercised my own patience for a solid hour, trusting in your assurances, all the while receiving nothing but nonsense like this whenever I asked for details. I know when I am being stone-walled.”

“Excuse me?” Luna took a step in closer to him, and let just a little bit of her trademark commanding tone enter her voice. Not enough to attract attention, but enough to make up for the height difference between them. “We are doing everything in our power to rectify the situation, Your Majesty. Such insinuations are completely uncalled-for, especially between friends.”

The fire in Gilderoy’s eyes did not diminish, and indeed he could not have been more intently locking eyes with Luna had they been physically attached to each other. Cadance spoke up, her voice a flutter of anxiety. “Perhaps we could all take a deep breath and resume a peaceable conversation? Gilderoy, you had mentioned earlier that you were intrigued by the musical auction?”

“Perhaps you ought to remind Celestia of that fact, then, Princess,” Gilderoy said, as if he had not heard Cadance’s question. “For I daresay that if this is the way that Equestria treats its friends, then it may not be the case that we are friends for much longer.”

“Your Majesty!” Luna gave it quite a bit more of the Royal Canterlot Voice this time, enough to create a faint ripple in Cadance’s punch. “Might I remind you that it was you who dropped in on us unannounced, demanding an audience as an afterthought on what you must surely realize is one of our busiest nights of the year? Perhaps you ought to consider that Celestia might have a full schedule already, and that though she values your company, sometimes plans cannot be altered. Besides, if this is the way that the griffons treat their friends, then perhaps it would be best if we went our own ways.”

It was a bit of a shame that the King’s plumage hid the colour of his skin, or else Luna was sure that his face would have taken on a glowing crimson by now. As it stood, she forestalled his retort when she saw Shining Armour materialize out of the crowd just over the King’s shoulder. “Ah, Your Majesty, some of that important business extends to us as well. Might I trust you to behave yourself if we left you alone for a little while?” She didn’t wait for an answer, instead waving Cadance over. The pink alicorn was by her side in seconds, and let out her own sigh of relief as soon as they had been swallowed by the crowd.

“How could you be so direct with him?” Cadance asked incredulously. “You practically ordered him out of the door. Surely he won’t stay after an affront like that.”

Luna placed a hoof on Cadance’s shoulder. “You forget that I have been practically living with a group of angry griffons for the last four months. Sometimes a strong will can only be matched by a stronger one, and Gilderoy surely will respect that. Someday perhaps I shall put on an inservice on the subject for the diplomatic corps.” She allowed herself a single self-satisfied smile as she saw the understanding come to Cadance’s face. Then, it was back to business. “Now, Shining, I trust that you have discovered something in your inquiries with the Guard.”

Shining Armour nodded in silence, and continued to lead them briskly on through the crowd. Something in his eyes told Luna that whatever he had discovered wasn’t good. A real crisis now would be the the perfect cherry on the evening’s cake, as if dealing with Gilderoy on top of the rest of the party wasn’t already enough. She gave the floor a quick scan, and picked out Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in the immediate vicinity, Pinkie with a towering plate of hors d’oeuvres, and Rainbow just on the edge of the crowd around the Wonderbolts, a dreamy-eyed look on her face. Doubtless, the remainder of that group could be located quickly if the situation demanded it. She sincerely hoped that it didn’t have to come to that.

Shining ushered them into one of the castle’s many broad corridors, and very quickly from there through a concealed side door and onto a narrow staircase that wound down into the castle’s depths, lit only by glowing lanterns set into its walls. It opened at the bottom into a cramped room, with a ceiling so low that Luna had to duck a little to avoid scratching her horn. Several hammocks were stretched out along the walls down here, and a preserve-filled cupboard in the corner was the room’s only other furnishing. A pair of stone-faced guards who had been standing at the bottom of the staircase snapped quick salutes as soon as they saw Shining.

“One of the castle’s boltholes,” the former captain explained as he led the group down. “Perfect for staying discreet. Now, Lieutenant, I assume that the corporal is still willing to talk?” The last sentence had been addressed to one of the armoured ponies that had been standing guard on the entrance, and with a curt nod the lieutenant stepped aside to reveal a tan pegasus sitting with his back against the wall. It was a little tricky to tell with his armour off, but Luna had the sense that she had seen him already tonight. In a flash, the realization hit home: he had been the one that had warned Celestia just as the party had gotten underway.

The corporal stood up hurriedly as soon as he saw them, snapping a perfect salute to Shining while simultaneously doing to his best to bow respectfully to the Princesses. There was something of a wildness about his eyes, not quite what Luna would call suspicious, but it was clear that he had had an interesting night as well.

“Corporal Irons,” Shining began, “I’ve brought the Princesses to hear what you have to say.”

Irons took a nervous swallow before starting, an undeniable tremor in his voice. “Well, as I said to Captain Armour, Your Highnesses, Her Majesty the Princess approached me just this afternoon. She said that she needed a special favour, and that all I would have to do is give her a warning just as the Gala was getting started. That’s what I did, as Your Highness is aware.” He gave Luna a nod, though he avoided her eyes. Luna realized suddenly that she was staring at him intently, all of the stress of the evening no doubt plain upon her features. It was no wonder that Irons was scared half to death.

The Royal Physician had lately taken to reminding Luna that she ought not to frown so much, with some nonsense about stress and blood pressure added on to that. It almost required an effort for her to drag her eyebrows up out of the fiery glare that they seemed to naturally drop into. “Did my sister seem… strange at all when you spoke to her this afternoon?”

“No, of course not,” Irons replied. “The request was a bit odd, I suppose, but I swear that I don’t know where she is now. I would never do anything to harm her, you understand.”

“Nopony is accusing you of anything, Corporal,” Shining said reassuringly. “We appreciate your honesty.” He gave Luna and Cadance a look. “Do either of you have any additional questions?”

Luna shook her head, though she was doing her best to reconcile what Irons had said against everything else that had happened this evening. The good news was that if Celestia had orchestrated this situation, then she probably wasn’t in any danger. The bad news, of course, was that they still had no idea where she was, and not an inkling of where they should be looking either.

As Luna thought about it, she felt a rising frustration. Why, just this once, could Celestia not have told somepony about her plans before vanishing without a trace? Luna knew that her sister delighted in the dramatic reveals that always accompanied the end of her schemes, but it was never comfortable to be the pony left in the lurch, and that was a position that Luna knew all too well. Whenever Celestia did turn up, the two of them were definitely going to have words about this.

“Well?” Shining asked as soon as Irons had been escorted out. “By the look of things, I would guess that once again we are the collective butt of one of your sister’s beloved practical jokes.”

“Be that as it may,” Luna replied, “it still does not change the fundamentals of our situation. We need to find her, and hopefully do it without alerting either Gilderoy or the rest of the guests that there is anything to be worried about.”

“With respect, Your Royal Highness, that is a practical impossibility.” Shining shook his head sincerely. “Even without the distinct possibility that she will be actively avoiding detection, we have the whole castle to search, and frankly, that is if we assume that she is even still here.”

Even knowing that Shining’s deference was a force of habit, Luna couldn’t help but find it irritating. Protocol was perhaps the furthest thing from her mind right now. “Well, we have to do something! Do you think that we should just wait here while every minute that time bomb upstairs ticks closer to a major diplomatic incident?” she roared, stomping her hoof on the floor for emphasis. “We need to find her. I want the whole Guard combing the grounds: every bush, every crawlspace, every bloody magical mirror! And under no circumstances raising any eyebrows by their presence!”

Shining’s right eyebrow cranked up as if answering her summons. “I’m afraid that meeting both of those requirements will be difficult, but rest assured that I will see it done as well as I can.” He offered the two Princesses a quick bow, then vanished up the staircase at a quick trot, the rest of the Guards in tow.

Luna waved away Cadance’s objection before her niece could speak. “I know, I shouldn’t have been so curt. It’s been a long enough night already. Celestia should count herself lucky that Shining will be the one to find her instead of me, or else I might wring her neck even before Gilderoy has a chance to lay into her.”

“You know how much she appreciates her time off,” Cadance said as they began making their own way back up the stairs. “Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge without hearing her side of the story.”

In answer, Luna gave her niece a pointed glare. Cadance’s ability to find the good in others at even the worst of times was one of her greatest strengths as both a diplomat and a leader, but this time Celestia had definitely gone too far, and no amount of explaining was going to rectify the situation in her mind. Time enough for that encounter later, though. Right now, they had a griffon to satisfy. At least she wouldn’t have any problems shouting him down as much as she needed to.

Blissfully unaware of all of the tension and drama that was eclipsing the royal family, the rest of the party was carrying on, abuzz with its own rumours and whispers. Now that Rarity had taken Twilight into the heart of the crowd, a good number of those whispers were following her around directly. At the moment, she was standing in a knot of conversation with four other ponies: Rarity, of course, as well as the Duke of Baltimare, the Earl of Southoofton, and the Countess of Vanhoover. All of them wore outfits decked in glowing jewels, the Earl with a particularly ostentatious monocle studded with a couple of diamonds. Notwithstanding the impressive value of their costumes, though, all of their attention was fixed upon the new Princess.

“Congratulations on your appointment, Your Royal Highness,” the Duke said, his voice an imperious basso rumble. “It is indeed a welcome sight to see one of our nation’s heroes rewarded as they properly deserve.”

“Indeed,” the Countess chipped in from beside him, the tight curls of her pearl-white mane bouncing in her enthusiasm. “Surely your new subjects will think themselves far more safe with your capable hooves to protect them.”

“Um, thank you,” Twilight tipped her horn slightly to the Duke. “Much as trouble has seemed to follow me around after I came to Ponyville, I don’t really see defense as being the most important of my concerns.”

“Locally, at least,” Rarity cut in almost on top of Twilight’s last few words. “I’m sure we can all agree that the events of the last year require that we rethink some of our national defense priorities.”

The Duke cleared his throat and gave her a quick nod. “Precisely what I was thinking, Madam Rarity.”

“But what of the state of our colleges and libraries?” the Earl asked. He had removed his gem-encrusted monocle and hung it from one of his brown jacket’s front pockets. “While we can agree that our safety is important, surely we cannot forget the legacy of knowledge that we leave to our children.”

“Indeed,” the Countess chipped in once again. “It would be a shame if we focused so much on matters of military interest that we forgot about the next generation. Wouldn’t you agree, Princess?”

The other ponies in the group went silent, expectantly waiting for her answer. At least this was a question which Twilight felt that she could answer well. “Well, actually I think that they are both very important areas of policy, and we shouldn’t allow competition between ourselves to force us into choosing one over the other…”

Twilight stopped when she saw that the Earl’s features had fallen slightly, while the Duke was only barely hiding a triumphant grin. Once again she was just about to continue when Rarity stepped into the void. “Of course Her Royal Highness values the contributions which are made to the educational system. Why, one must remember that she wouldn’t have gotten her title if not for the grants that allowed her to study in Ponyville in the first place.” At that, the Earl relaxed visibly, his good-natured smile returning.

“Indeed,” the Countess retorted, this time earning herself a pointed glance from Twilight. The mare was starting to sound like a broken record player, yet even so she kept right on. “We should all hope to be so fortunate as to earn the wondrous opportunities that Princess Twilight has been able to have.”

What was even more surprising to Twilight was that Rarity turned and gave the Countess a broad smile. “Of course, Your Highness. I’m sure that the Princess would be happy to regale all of you with the details of these things, but of course you know that we have many other ponies to meet tonight. A good evening to all of you.” She stepped out of the group, and gave Twilight a meaningful look. This being the fourth such conversation tonight, Twilight was familiar by now with the signal to move along.

As the pair walked away from that group and presumably towards another one, Twilight reflected over what she had learned so far from her interactions with the other guests. All of them were immensely interested in what she had to say, or at least it seemed so by the way that they peppered her with questions. But every time that she answered, Twilight always got the distinct impression that she was saying something wrong, by the way that eyebrows rose and smiles receded. Yet somehow whenever Rarity opened her mouth, everypony else accepted it without question, even though most of the time she said the same thing that Twilight had, only in different words. Twilight shook her head in exasperation, and for not the first time, stole a glance back at the rear of the room, where the rest of her friends were probably still talking with Caesura.

“Rarity,” she asked in a low voice as they walked. “What exactly was that Countess up to? To me, she didn’t seem particularly, well…” Twilight hesitated, trying to think of a delicate way to phrase it, then decided just to say it outright. “Well, she didn’t seem particularly intelligent.”

Rarity chuckled lightly. “Yes, Pastel isn’t exactly the brightest gem in the drawer, but she puts on the most important soirées in Canterlot. Everypony falls over themselves to stay on her good side, which unfortunately means that we have to as well. Otherwise you could quickly end up like Caesura, and of course neither of us wants that.”

Mention of the Viscount’s name brought the questions that Twilight still had about the Viscount back to the front of her mind. Rarity had already given her the short version of why Caesura deserved his position on the outside of society, but Twilight had been turning it over in her mind ever since, and still couldn’t quite make it line up with her interactions with him. Unlike nearly every other noble in the room, who all seemed to working some sort of personal agenda on her, Caesura had been simply pleasant, apparently here for nothing more than to enjoy the party.

It was perhaps possible that the reason that she had been so out of it in her conversations tonight was that she still could not take her mind off of that stallion. There were not many things that Twilight detested more than a puzzle which she could not figure out, but suddenly she realized that all of the ponies around her surely had their own wealth of information to share on the subject. Rarity obviously did not have any first-hoof experience with the Viscount, but a corroborating story from somepony who did would surely put her mind at ease, and then she would be able to grasp everything else that was going on around her.

“Excuse me, sir?” Twilight tapped the shoulder of the nearest stallion, in this case a short, eggshell-white earth pony with a close-clipped brown mane.

“Your Royal Highness,” he returned, giving her a stately bow. “And Madam Rarity as well. Thank you for the kindness of gracing my evening.”

“Yes, of course, Marquess Silver,” Rarity replied, giving Twilight a surreptitious look that was filled with irritation, which the new Princess didn’t understand at all. Surely one noble was as good as another when it came to socialization, after all.

“Marquess,” Twilight said. “I have a few questions about Viscount Caesura. Do you know him?”

The stallion looked taken aback for a second, and then recovered well enough to offer Twilight a knowing smirk. “Ah, of course! The villain of Fillydelphia, as he is called. Surely half of my conversation tonight has been about him already. What would Your Royal Highness wish to know?”

“Well, I’ve heard a few of the stories about him, and an awful lot about the poorness of his character already, but I was hoping that maybe somepony who knew him personally could tell me exactly what he had done to deserve such a sordid reputation.” Twilight gave Rarity a look of her own as she made the statement, certain that she had delivered it with all of the right subtlety and enunciation. For once, though, the white unicorn seemed completely disinterested in the conversation.

“What, exactly?” Marquess Silver chuckled. “Hmm. I can’t say that I really was ever well-acquainted with the details. I believe that I had originally heard the tale from the Duchess of Las Pegasus. She had a few dealings with him back when he was still running his company here. But any foal of course could see what he was up to. It was only a matter of time before it all came to light.”

“Well, thank you for your time, then,” Twilight said, offering the Marquess her own gentle bow. Then she turned around and made her way back into the crowd. “Rarity, would you happen to know which one of these mares is the Duchess of Las Pegasus?”

Beside her, Rarity rolled her eyes in exasperation. “She will be in the far corner, but I really don’t see why you’re so interested in Caesura, Twilight. It’s such an unseemly topic to occupy your mind with, especially during a party.”

“Something just doesn’t feel right about this to me, Rarity. If Caesura’s reputation is so well-deserved, then somepony here should know exactly how he earned it. All I want to do is get to the bottom of this. Then we can get right back to all of your friends.” Twilight offered her friend a consoling smile. Surely Rarity could understand that this was something she had to do, or else she would be up all night still thinking on it.

Surprisingly, though, something about the unicorn’s expression was still reluctant. “Of course, darling,” she did eventually say, even though there was none of her usual charm in the words.

“Did I ever have personal dealings with him?” the Duchess of Las Pegasus asked, the shimmering waves of her green mane flowing down from her neck as she shook her head. “Maybe a few some years ago, but the details are all rather fuzzy to me now. If it’s a story that you really want, I remember hearing a particularly nasty one from the Earl of the Canterlot Foothills a while back.”

“A nasty tale?” the Earl replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully with a dark burgundy hoof. “Er, once upon a time, I think I may have said something of the sort to the Duchess, but it was never my story to start with. The Count of Haliflanks was the one who originally told it to me, and I don’t think that there is a pony in this room who could tell it better than him.”

When faced with the question, the Count of Haliflanks was momentarily flummoxed. “The Earl of the Canterlot Foothills told you that I was the progenitor of that story? Nay, he is surely mistaken. I would never involve myself with the affairs of that villain, surely not if I was lost in the desert and he was selling water!” The crowd of younger mares standing around him all giggled merrily at that. “The Marquess of Whinnypeg is probably the stallion that you should really ask. He was involved in a lumber deal that went south, if I recall correctly.”

And so to and fro the pair traipsed across the ballroom, always in search of the next noble who would surely have the answer to their question, if only the last one was to be believed.

“Really, darling, we’ve been at this for almost an hour now,” Rarity sighed by her side. “Can we perhaps just accept that all of Caesura’s business happened a long time ago, and get on with the rest of our evening?”

“That’s just it, Rarity. There’s no way that I could get on with the evening now. Every one of these ponies has been absolutely certain that the rumours are true, but none of them have been able to point to a shred of evidence so far. Instead all that any of them have done is point across the floor to somepony else.” It was just possible that they were all telling the truth, but as the night had passed, Twilight had become increasingly certain that it would only be a matter of time before one of them slipped and she could catch them in their lie. “The Marquess of Maredrid is our next quarry. You said that he should be right around—”

Twilight stopped as the Marquess came into her vision. It was the same eggshell-white stallion who had first started them on this wild-goose chase. She saw the surprise enter into his eyes as soon as he noticed her. For a second, the two held each other’s gazes in silence.

Rarity performed their introduction in a flat monotone, by now probably having forgotten how many times she had said the words. “Good evening, Your Highness, may I present Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville. Your Royal Highness, Your Highness.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight said, taking a step in towards the earth pony. “Though I believe that the two of us have met before.”

“Why, yes, we have,” Marquess Silver replied, clutching his snifter of brandy tightly. “I trust that my fellows were able to satiate your curiosity where regards the Viscount?”

Twilight did not let her stare waver. “Not quite, Marquess. In fact, if they are to believed, then the only thing that I have learned is that you did not tell us everything that you knew the first time around.”

He chuckled. “Ha, that’s ridiculous. Surely whoever told you that is mistaken. Why if I recall correctly, if it’s the real story that you want, you’ll have to look for the Baron of… er.” The words died on his tongue when he realized that Twilight still wasn’t smiling.

“Try a name, Marquess,” she said, pouring all of her irritation over the wasted hour into her voice. “I doubt that there is another pony in this room whom we haven’t talked to already. At least one of them is lying about not knowing more than they let on, and I’m beginning to think that it’s all of them, in fact. But that would include you. What do you know about Caesura?”

He held her stare defiantly for an instant, and then, with a sigh, looked back down at his punch. “It was all fifteen years ago,” he said, his voice now as empty as the dejected look in his eyes. “Nopony wants to know about it anymore. Why do you care?”

“I care because I would never condemn somepony else without knowing why,” Twilight answered, taking a deep breath of her own. “So go ahead and tell me everything.”

Silver gave her a probing look, as if wondering how she might react to the news. When he did speak, it was in a low whisper, such that only Twilight and Rarity could hear. “We made it all up. So far as I’m aware, Caesura is an upstanding businesspony, a hard worker and a fair stallion by all accounts.”

“We?” Twilight asked. “Who else was involved? And why do it in the first place?”

“It was fifteen years ago. I was a much younger pony.” In her head, Twilight tried to rewind the years on Marquess Silver’s visage. Fifteen years ago, he probably would have been somewhere in his twenties. “A few of my friends from Canterlot University started it. Caesura had dropped out in our first year, and yet still somehow he had succeeded. It wasn’t fair, that he got to work outside the established norms, without the connections that we had spent so much time developing, without the influence that we had received from attending all of those luncheons and soirées, and yet still get everything that he wanted. We invented the story of his impropriety as a way to normalize our envy, I guess. It was only supposed to be a joke between us, but every time that we told the story at a party, it would spread. I think that we weren’t the only ponies who were jealous of his success. Soon enough, it was an established truth among the nobility.”

“But why didn’t you speak out then?” Twilight asked. “While there was still time to set things right? You surely could see what effect your words were having.”

Silver swirled his punch in its snifter. “Seeing him fall, well, it made us happy. It validated everything we had done which he had skipped out on. It confirmed to us that the only way to succeed was by sticking with the established order.”

“You destroyed the reputation of an innocent pony,” Twilight stated darkly. Silver flinched when he heard the words. “I hope that you understand how much harm you’ve caused. In any event, though, I can appreciate your honesty. Have a good evening, Marquess.” She left him standing alone with his punch. Normally, Twilight wouldn’t have left him without trying to make sure that the lesson had properly hit home, but it had required a titanic effort just to stay civil with the noble after what she had heard. A little jealousy was an understandable thing, but to let it run free like that, and then not stop it when it was clear that things had gotten out of hoof? Twilight shuddered just thinking about it. Suddenly she felt a deep-seated desire to be away from this horrid place, and more importantly, away from these horrid ponies who inhabited it.

“So, Twilight,” Rarity spoke up nervously, doing her best to keep up with the alicorn’s purposeful strides back to the rear of the room. “What do you suppose that we shall do now?”

“We are going back to Caesura,” Twilight replied, the iron in her voice still holding itself together over top of the fire raging in her gut. “And we are going to make sure that everypony is made aware of just how wrong they are about him.”

“Hah, ha ha,” Rarity’s laugh was a nervous tinkle. “Uh, Twilight, could I perhaps take you aside privately for just a moment?”

Twilight fixed her friend with a glare. Rarity was kneading her forehooves together in front of her chest, with a flitting look in her eyes and more than one drop of sweat visible on her forehead, in spite of the coolness of the room. It was the most dishevelled that Twilight had seen her all night. In spite of her frustration, she couldn’t help but feel a note of concern for her friend. “Are you alright, Rarity? Perhaps we could take a breath of fresh air.”

The unicorn breathed a big sigh of relief before gliding over to another one of the hallways that led off into the castle. After a few corners had taken them safely away from the hubbub of the ballroom floor, Rarity seemed to recover herself a little bit.

“Twilight,” she said, the delicacy of her voice having returned, though it was still lacking most of her usual confidence, and she was still fidgeting with her hooves. That nervous flitting look was still there in her eyes, too. “I know that what we’ve just discovered is quite distressing, and surely I do understand why you’re so upset about it, but might we perhaps consider not letting the rest of the party know about it right away?”

She smiled entreatingly, for all the world once again just a friend trying to help, but all Twilight could do was stare. They were the last words that she had ever expected to hear. “WHAT? Rarity, did a changeling replace you while I wasn’t looking? What are you talking about?”

“Well,” Rarity went on, the pleading smile on her face still not wavering. “Caesura’s name has been mud for fifteen years now, and the whole country believes it. None of that is going to change in one night. Speaking to the contrary would only be, well, damaging, to your standing.”

“But it’s all a lie, Rarity! Do you think that my reputation is more important than Caesura’s innocence? You know that I would never let somepony else take the fall so that I could get ahead!”

“Well, you have to, Twilight!” The desperate smile on Rarity’s face broke, now replaced by an indignant scowl. “The rules and expectations of society are not something which can be changed. I learned that long ago. Can’t you see that I’m only trying to help you succeed?”

“This is completely different! I would never want that kind of success! If this is how the game is played, then I want no part of it! Is this how you got ahead? By playing this game to the detriment of the innocent?” The words came out before Twilight could think about them, and for an instant she regretted the accusation. But then she looked up into Rarity’s eyes once more, those fearful, indignant azure eyes, and there she saw the truth, and everything that she thought she had known was torn asunder.

“You knew?” The thought was wretched, cancerous, something that she wanted to throw as far from herself as she could, so that she could forget it forever. But it was the truth, made all the more damning as Rarity nodded gently, not saying a word. Twilight was left looking at her friend as if she had never seen the mare before. She took a deep breath. “Rarity, I think that I shall be enjoying the rest of the Gala alone.”

“Please, Twilight, you must understand,” Rarity wailed, tears now flowing freely down from her eyes.

“ALONE, Rarity!” she growled back, before turning on her hooves and leaving the unicorn there in the hallway, her makeup running down her cheeks as the tears flowed in torrents. But even as she sniffed in a vain attempt to hold back her own, right now, Twilight couldn’t have cared less.

Chapter 8: The Issue of Envy

Chapter 8: The Issue of Envy

It didn’t take Twilight long to find the circle of conversation around Caesura again. Applejack looked to be engaged in a particularly animated discussion with the Viscount concerning the merits of various apple-bucking techniques, which meant that the two of them were being granted a generous amount of space on the ballroom floor. Seeing them again was enough to stop Twilight right in her tracks.

Her head was still boiling with everything that had happened over the course of the past hours: the frustration at the nobility’s evasiveness when put to the question, the stunning realization that all of Caesura’s reputation was naught but a lie, and of course every second of her confrontation with Rarity, playing through her mind on infinite repeat. But even with all of that, she remembered that she owed the Viscount an apology, not only for her earlier behaviour, but also now for everything else. So she did her very best to quiet the storm of emotions inside her before stepping forward into the midst of the group.

Such was the vigour of their discussion that Caesura didn’t even immediately notice. “Now, Miss Applejack, I don’t mean to question the value of your years of experience, however it simply is not true that the straight approach always produces the best results. Especially on older or gnarled trunks, a bit of angle in the buck is absolutely necessary.” The Viscount’s demonstration was surprisingly good, for a pony in a dinner jacket at least.

Seeing Applejack already winding up for an impassioned rebuttal, Twilight spoke up. “Good evening once again, Viscount.”

“Huh? Oh,” Caesura offered her a respectful bow as he took her outstretched hoof. “Good evening once again, Your Royal Highness.”

“I should apologize for my earlier behaviour,” Twilight went on right away. Rarity would have said that such directness was overly brusque, but right now it felt liberating to say exactly what was on her mind. “I should have let you know of my title right away, and not represented myself any differently. That is only the least of the things which I now know that I should apologize for.”

Caesura’s eyebrows rose. “Surely no apologies are needed, Your Royal Highness. Your friends here have already illuminated me greatly about your outstanding character. You owe me nothing.”

Applejack and Fluttershy both offered her encouraging grins, but Twilight was not about to stop. It all simply had to be said. “Then allow me to apologize instead on behalf of everypony here, on behalf of the whole Equestrian nobility, who drove your good name through the mud, who fabricated a fiction of you as a criminal, and who spread the rumour so far that you were driven even into exile. I may be one of them now, but rest assured that I will see the crime righted.”

That particular statement elicited shocked gasps from the entirety of the group, all except for the Viscount himself, of course. Though even he fell silent after Twilight finished, an expression of concern plain upon his features. “I am sorry that you had to hear about that,” he said after a moment, sounding perhaps the most awkward he had been all night.

Once Applejack had gotten her verbal hoofing back, she was a little more forceful. “That’s ridiculous! Are you saying that everypony else in this room thinks Caesura here is some sort of crook?”

Twilight nodded, grateful that somepony else was outraged at the revelation. “Apparently it was a rumour which got quite a bit out of hoof, and now everypony accepts it as simple truth. But obviously we can’t let that carry on.”

“Everypony?” Most other ponies wouldn’t think that Fluttershy was particularly angry, to look at her or to hear her words. Twilight, though, recognized the edge in her tone, signalling just as much indignation as she was feeling. “Tell me that you’re not including…” She let the sentence hang, intimating a name that none of them wanted to say.

Twilight took a deep breath. She still didn’t feel very comfortable saying it either, even with all of the evidence that she had personally experienced. “I think it would be best if we leave Rarity out of this for the moment. For now, we have enough to do with all of these other ponies to take care of.” Applejack and Fluttershy both nodded to that, clearly also having difficulty bringing themselves to paint their friend with the same brush as they did all the rest of the nobility. Even though Rarity had essentially confessed her complicity in the lie, Twilight knew that she couldn’t do it either, not yet. That part was all… very complicated.

“But that won’t stop me from seeing that all of the rest of the guests know the error of their ways.” She looked over at Caesura again, and let that indignation surface into a reassuring, determined smile. “I will make this right for you, Caesura.”

Surprisingly, Caesura took two steps over to her, and placed a gentle hoof upon her shoulder. His face was still clear, his eyebrows slack over his clear eyes, showing no rage or fear. In fact, he almost looked as casual and carefree as when they had first met. “I admire your dedication, Your Royal Highness,” he said. “But please, don’t take it upon yourself to obtain any revenge on my account.”

Twilight looked up in surprise, joined almost in unison by her two friends. “But, but you were ruined! All your standing and honour stolen from you, all your friends gone, your very name besmirched for all to hear! Surely something must be done to correct it, surely all those ponies who did this to you should pay a price for it.”

Caesura only shook his head. “Damning accusations, perhaps, but ask yourself: what did I really lose? I never sought standing amongst this crowd; I never needed their friendships. They can go on playing their game so much as they like, but they haven’t really hurt me. So there’s no sense in you risking anything to correct a debt that doesn’t exist.”

Twilight didn’t answer. The anger inside her was running out, falling away to leave nothing but a confused emptiness. All of her mind still screamed that such an injustice deserved to be righted, but it was difficult to keep that up with Caesura so cool on the matter. “How can you just let it slide, though, after everything?”

“Only with a bit of time, actually.” The look in Caesura’s eyes had changed to be a little nostalgic, the thinnest of easy smiles relaxing his face. “Once upon a time, there were a few months when I felt just as you do now, eager to prove my worth and get back at whomever perpetrated this crime against me. Luckily, I had a good friend then who reminded me that stooping to their level was precisely what the nobility wanted me to do. It would verify that after all I wasn’t really any different from them.

“No, the real way to get back at them was simply to keep on living my own life, following my own star. If you only measure yourself by what others think of you, then there’s no way to stop yourself from becoming only a reflection of the ponies whom you admire. And so I would give the same advice to you now, Your Royal Highness. Come, let us enjoy the party.”

He looked down once again, deeply into Twilight’s eyes, serenity itself clear within his own. The gaze seemed to reinforce everything that he had just said, serving as absolute proof that despite everything, despite the best efforts of nearly every other pony in this room, the Viscount was perfectly content with his life as it stood, and so should she be.

Twilight didn’t have an answer right away; instead she was thinking anew on all of her interactions with high society. Every individual whom she had admired, Cadance and Shining, Celestia and Luna, and of course Caesura here, all of them had that same serenity, and suddenly she realized that it all came from the same place. They walked immune to the shifting glances and plots of the nobility simply because they were at home in their own skin. If she simply didn’t care what the rest of society thought about her, then clearly they would have no power over her.

Twilight took a deep breath, letting the last of that anger out when she exhaled. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I suppose I can agree with all of that.” She gave Caesura another look, this time curious and appraising. For weeks now, she had looked to Rarity for all of her lessons in how she ought to conduct herself. And even though her friend was clearly knowledgeable on the subject, the end result hadn’t been quite what the new Princess had been hoping for. Perhaps it was time to seek a second opinion. “I think that perhaps we should enjoy the rest of the party.”

“Excellent,” he replied, stepping back into his former spot in the circle. For their own parts, Applejack and Fluttershy were also giving him curious looks, both just as mystified at his ability to let all of this slide. “And perhaps, by the end of tonight, we will be able to welcome your friend back, as well. She seems like a good mare, from what I’ve heard. I think that eventually she will find her way back to us.”

Twilight swallowed nervously. Forgiving Rarity was still going to be difficult, even if she somehow managed to learn Caesura’s serenity in the face of society’s disdain. Fervently, Twilight hoped that the Viscount was right.

With all of the evening’s focus on the inner halls of the castle, the sculpted parks that made up the grounds outside were left quiet except for the chirps of crickets and the rustle of leaves in the evening’s gentle breeze. In spite of the homely surroundings, which wouldn’t even have been out of place under the near boughs of Everfree on a particularly peaceful evening, there was something on the air up here that felt different to Rarity. Even out here in the midst of the carefully constructed natural environment, the air seemed somehow cleaner, somehow fresher, somehow better in its proximity to the capital.

It had been those qualities which had often drawn the white mare to these parks on any of her earlier trips into the city. A carefree stroll through the castle gardens was the perfect way to unwind after a day spent in the luncheons, auctions, and tea parties of the elite. Tonight, though, even the charming babble of the fountain by which she sat was doing nothing to calm the tempest of emotion that was consuming her heart.

Here out in the darkness, the sounds of the party were silent, which Rarity had hoped would allow her to get her senses back, but instead only served to amplify the sound of Twilight’s voice in her head. The damnation that she couldn’t escape, no matter how much she told herself that everything she had done had been correct. Even now, in spite of her best intentions, it seemed that she was once again destined for a Gala that would be nothing of what she had hoped.

Over the balcony, down in the city far below, a puff of smoke drifted lazily, the telltale sign of the locomotive to Ponyville, starting the first preparations for its eventual departure. There was perhaps only an hour and a half left before it would leave, and doubtless if she made her way down there the conductor would allow her to take her seat early. Surely that would be easier than soldiering on the rest of the way inside. If she chose her seat carefully, she might even be able to avoid having to face Twilight or any of the rest of her friends again.

“Oh, good evening, Rarity. I hope that you don’t mind a slight intrusion on your solitude?” Rarity looked up for the source of the bright voice, and when her eyes found the magenta irises of Princess Celestia, Rarity rapidly got back to her hooves.

“Of course not, Your Majesty,” she said automatically, her muscles slipping unbidden into a respectfully deep bow. “I would only hope that I am not unduly disturbing your own evening.”

To that, Celestia laughed, a crystal tinkle. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m not sure that anything could disrupt my evening at this point. It’s been an excellent Gala already, far surpassing my expectations in every regard. So much so that I had to come out here to calm myself a bit. A similar idea to yours, I hope?”

Celestia walked past her, right up to the railing on the outlook over the city. There she let out a deep breath, and breathed in the cool evening air. Framed there with her mane streaming out over the ledge, the glittering stars of the sky overhead, and the huge full Moon just over her shoulder, the Princess looked like something taken out of a storybook, exactly the sort of storybook that Rarity had enjoyed when she was a filly. In her current state, Rarity knew that she had no right to join the perfect scene, yet even so she was filled with a desire to stand with the monarch by the railing. She gathered herself up and took the few steps over.

“There,” the Princess said, “now that we’re here, why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind, Rarity.”

The directness of the statement caught Rarity off guard. Even so, she shook her head. “I was simply out here to clear my head, Your Majesty. Applejack always tells me the value of a breath of fresh air from time to time, and I suppose now is as good a time as any to see to it.” Rarity wasn’t precisely certain from whence her reluctance to talk about Twilight and Caesura had come, only that right now it didn’t seem proper to bring it up. Celestia probably had too much else on her mind for such trivial problems to hold any significance.

“Rarity,” the Princess’s voice was just as serene as before, though with a real undertone of serious persuasion to it. “There isn’t a pony I know who would more live for what is going on inside the castle tonight than you. This is your night to shine, and so I know that you did not simply decide to smell the roses all of a sudden. If there is anything that would ruin my evening, it would be knowing that one of my guests is not enjoying themselves to their fullest. So please, let me in on whatever has you troubled.”

Rarity looked away. There was a chance that Celestia maybe could give her the help that she needed, that the elder Princess would know how she could get through to Twilight about the way that things worked in the upper circles of society. “Okay, Your Majesty. We both know that Twilight is new to her position, and so I’ve been trying to help her get acquainted with all of the subtleties and routines that being a Princess will entail. I only want her to succeed, to be a great Princess like you, Luna and Cadance already are. I’m just… I’m worried for her. I’m not sure if I’ve been the best teacher.”

Rarity took a peek at Celestia’s expression, hoping to see some understanding on the Princess’s face, perhaps even her trademark knowing smirk, followed up by some sage advice. Celestia was smiling, but it was a gentler, warmer smile than she had been expecting. “That is quite an issue,” she replied. Then, suddenly, “Would you care to take a walk with me? At night, the gardens can be so calming, notwithstanding whatever Fluttershy might have told you to the contrary. I often find that my problems seem smaller after a little stroll, especially when I have good company to share it with.” The Princess took a few steps off toward a wooded path that wound away from the clearing, gesturing invitingly with her left forehoof. Rarity managed to stifle what would have been an incredibly disrespectful sigh as she followed. She had already been outside for ten minutes, and nothing of the stillness had so far calmed her mind.

Closer underneath the boughs, the evening was quite a bit darker, though the light of the big Moon overhead was still bright enough to keep the path well-lit. For about five minutes, the two ponies walked in the near-silence of the evening, the sounds of the various nocturnal creatures in the trees creating the ambience. It was all more than a little uncomfortable, until Celestia once more broke the silence. “Twilight really is a lucky pony, isn’t she?”

“Lucky?” Rarity’s cheeks coloured, though she quickly brought her voice back down to a respectful tone. “Your Majesty, you know as well as any of us that luck had nothing to do with it. Twilight is perhaps the very definition of an exceptional mare, and she deserves everything that she has ever received.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to dispute that.” Celestia replied. “But certainly there must be hundreds, perhaps thousands of ponies out there who envy her all the same. Do you know how many fillies tell me that one day they want to grow up to be a Princess? I think it’s a phase that practically all of us went through at some point in our foalhoods.” The Princess looked down with a knowing glint in her eye.

This time the colour that came to Rarity’s face was a rosy blush. “Once upon a time, yes. Who wouldn’t dream of that limelight, everypony hanging from your every word, the adoration of the crowds at your festivals and balls? Why, I’ve been to the Gala twice now, but even that is nothing compared to what experiencing it as a royal must be like. It would be simply–” Rarity caught herself, realizing that her step had risen along with her voice, until she was now practically ready to swoon in the middle of the path, right under Celestia’s nose. Most unseemly. “Well, it would be the perfect life,” she finished, calmly adjusting the headpiece of her gown.

Celestia chuckled again. “Once upon a time, indeed. So I think that we can both agree that Twilight’s position is an enviable one. Which is why it is so important that she adapt to the rigors of the position in a timely manner.”

Rarity nodded fervently. “Indeed. I’ve done everything that I think I can, but I still worry that I haven’t been direct enough with her. I just don’t want what should be her crowning achievement to end up as a disaster.”

Celestia walked on ahead in silence for a few steps more, her expression unreadable, though perhaps she was deep in thought. Abruptly, she turned to look back at Rarity, the moonlight catching in her eye to produce a fiery pinpoint of coloured light, and when she spoke, the former warmth in her voice was gone. “You’d best hope that you have done enough. You can rest assured that you and I are not the only ponies here tonight feeling some envy toward Twilight, and we both know what that envy can lead to if left to fester.”

The thought stopped Rarity’s heart for a second. An image came into her head, of Twilight shunned just as Caesura had been, cast out from society as a liar, a cheat, a villain. Forced into exile to carry on her life. Surely that wouldn’t be how it would end? “You don’t mean to imply that Caesura’s end could also happen to her, Your Majesty?”

“They are similar stories, aren’t they? Both elevated to high positions outside the usual boundaries and structures of society. Both outsiders who aren’t particularly keen on conforming to the ways of the nobility.” The Princess’s right eyebrow dropped low over her eye, creating an expression that was almost stern. “It is not too far of a leap to suggest.”

“That’s not fair, though, is it?” Unbidden, the pitch of Rarity’s voice had risen just a little, betraying the new anxiety that was building in the pit of her stomach. “Twilight didn’t have any idea of the stakes before she assumed her title.”

“Princesses occupy important positions,” Celestia replied impassively, walking on down the path again, quicker now, so that Rarity had to trot to keep up with her long strides. “There are expectations and structures placed around them for a reason, just as it is for any noble. Those who can’t fit in end up on the outside.”

“But surely that’s unreasonable!” Once again Rarity caught herself just as her voice was rising into a shout. She went on levelly once more. “Twilight is still only getting used to her title. She wasn’t born into high society like some of us. She needs time to adapt.”

“Well, then she had best get her act together, and quickly. Society can be very unforgiving to those ponies who fail to live up to the expectations that are placed upon them.” Still the Princess held her eyes straight ahead, her voice level and cold like a judge pronouncing a sentence.

Somehow, it seemed as though the evening had grown darker as the two had walked, the trees overhead gathering closer and blotting out the light of the Moon. Frantically, Rarity tried to think of a way out of this nightmare, a way that she could prevent the fate that was in store for her friend. Then, abruptly, a memory came back to her, of a chance meeting with Celestia from this very night two years ago. The thought put a new fire into her heart. “Really, though, Princess, aren’t you a strange pony to argue that Twilight needs to conform to the expectations that others place upon her in order to be successful?”

Celestia didn’t respond, certainly not with the scathing rebuke that Rarity expected from such an accusation. Emboldened, she pressed on. “Why, nearly every time that I’ve met you I seem to remember some classical norm being violated, or at the very least twisted a little. If you are allowed to flaunt the expectations of everypony else, then why shouldn’t Twilight get a little forgiveness for her inexperience?”

Finally the elder Princess slowed her pace, stopping with a wistful look on her face as she stared up at the wide full Moon, here visible over the trees. “I’ll admit that the structured life was one I only grudgingly accepted. It certainly wasn’t the life I would have chosen to live.”

“There, you see?” All thoughts of decorum had vanished from Rarity’s mind, and she hurried on ahead of Celestia, turning so that she could finally look the Princess right in the eyes. “Some of us were born for that life; some of us have even dreamed of it and worked for it ever since they were fillies. But some of us, like you and Twilight, are different, and surely she deserves the right to make her own mark just as you did. Surely she deserves the right to be her own pony, to find her own place within society. Surely she should get that chance, just as any one of us should.”

Very abruptly, Rarity realized that Celestia was wearing a warm grin, itself and the softness in her eyes completely at odds with everything that she had just said over the course of the past few minutes. “I agree with all of that,” she said. “So tell me then, Rarity. This evening, which of you or Twilight is the one living her dream?”

The question, even delivered with soft and tender words, struck Rarity as hard as a rock between her eyes, suddenly draining the air from her lungs and dismissing every other thought in her mind. All of her righteous fury vanished in that second, replaced with that single burning question, which she could not have answered even if she had been able to draw in a breath.

Celestia resumed her gentle stroll down the path, guiding Rarity along with a gentle hoof on the shoulder. “We all have our dreams, Rarity, and we should chase after them with all of our heart. It’s perfectly all right that you should want the best for your friend, but sometimes it is all too easy to allow what you want for them to overshadow what they want.”

“But, being a Princess is such an important honour…” Rarity replied automatically as soon as Celestia had finished speaking, before shutting her own mouth when she realized how hollow the words were. Every counter-argument, every defense that came to her mind had already been thrown at her by Celestia, and they were the same ones that she herself had so heatedly rebutted.

Celestia just nodded gently beside her. “It’s not surprising that it would be difficult to let go of these former convictions. But as you said, Twilight deserves the right to be her own Princess, and deep down, Rarity, you know that it’s true.”

In Rarity’s head, it was as if a wall was coming apart and collapsing, revealing the truth that she should have always known, even though she had buried it beneath her hopes and plans for what would have been Twilight’s triumph. It would have been exactly like the dreams that she had harboured ever since she had been a filly. But Celestia was right. They were her dreams, not Twilight’s. “Oh, Celestia,” she sighed, even though addressing the Princess by her first name was usually wildly inappropriate. She was beyond caring about protocol now. “What have I done?”

“Nothing irreparable,” Celestia replied brightly. “Twilight is as strong-willed a pony as I’ve ever met, and I would doubt that anypony could deter her from being her own Princess, as surely you’ve seen by now. The only thing that could have happened was damage to your friendship, but I think you know by now that such things are easy to mend.”

The forested path had by now completed its lazy loop through the grounds, and up ahead a lighted patio of the castle could now be seen, beckoning through the trees. Just beyond the lights, a door opened up to the ballroom, within which the Gala could still be spied. There was still time, Rarity knew, to make right the wrongs that she had perpetrated tonight. “Thank you so much, Celestia,” she said, a bit of her composure having returned, though now it was completely devoid of the rigid poise from earlier. “I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had kept on like I was.” A sudden thought struck her. “But what about the rest of the nobility? You are right that Twilight and Caesura have remarkably similar stories.”

The Princess tipped her another smile. “While that’s true, you can rest assured that there is nopony in that room who envies Twilight more than me.”

Startled, Rarity blinked a few times as she tried to process the answer. “What do you mean?”

Celestia once again took her by the shoulder, slowly making her way up the path to the lighted patio ahead. “When I came into my own title, it seemed like there wasn’t a single pony who understood what I was going through. How much I disliked nearly all of it. The pageantry, the manipulation, the subtleties of even the simplest of gestures. Even Luna was always such a stick-in-the-mud about protocol. I was going it alone, and it was absolutely infuriating at times.” She gave Rarity another look. “But Twilight is not alone. She has great friends like you, Rarity, who understand her better than anypony, and who can support her through all of the inevitable rough patches. I only wish that I could have been so lucky.”

They had arrived at the doorway, the warmth and light from inside bright in the air. Rarity took one last look up at the Princess, and Celestia returned her a gentle shake of the head. Celestia had already found her peace, and her place within society. The focus now was on Twilight, and on mending the bonds that Rarity had strained with her behaviour over the past few weeks. With one final nod, the unicorn set off into the crowd.

Chapter 9: The Reveal

Chapter 9: The Reveal

“Thirty-six thousand bits,” Octavia read back as she filled out the slip. “Thank you very much for your generosity, Viscount.”

Caesura smiled back earnestly. “I’m sure you will agree that any price is a pittance for such fine items. You will of course place this against the same credit as you have all of my other bids?”

Octavia leafed through a folder which by now contained about a dozen sealed parchments issued by the various banks of Equestria, and one, Caesura’s, from the Royal Bank of Griffonstone. “Naturally. We will be concluding the auction in only a few minutes, so make sure that you’re present in the hall if your name is called.”

“Of course I will.” Caesura nodded to Twilight, whose mouth was still slightly agape at the mammoth sum which he had just bid. “Perhaps we should rejoin the rest of our party, Twilight?”

Twilight stayed silent as the two made their way back out of the auction room. After she had ironed things out with Caesura, he had been startlingly receptive to her request for sponsorship. Since then, they had made the occasional trip into the auction room, but besides that they had simply been engaged in conversation. Rather stimulating conversation, in fact. For a pegasus, Caesura had quite an interesting perspective on the regulation and protection of magical literature.

The topic had been a welcome respite for the Princess, and the simple pleasure of an impassioned theoretical discussion had been enough to allow her to completely forget about the stresses of the rest of the evening. Even in amongst the clutches of whispers that still made up the ballroom, their tones all the more sharp and pronounced since she was walking alongside the Viscount, Twilight no longer felt any nerves. They would say what they would say, and meanwhile she would carry on with what had become a very enjoyable party.

That serenity did dissipate a bit though, when upon navigating through a gap between two small groups of nobles, Twilight spied a familiar white unicorn standing once more amongst the rest of her little group. For her part, Rarity certainly seemed to have gotten her composure back, though there was something different about it now which Twilight couldn’t quite name.

On their approach Rarity looked up, right into Twilight’s eyes. In spite of the clarity of her azure irises, Twilight sensed a great deal of emotion swirling about behind them. Not the same emotion that she had seen from her friend in the hallway earlier, but something different, something that, once again, Twilight couldn’t quite put her hoof on.

“Twilight,” the unicorn said as soon as the pair had rejoined the group. “I’m so very sorry about earlier. About everything really, for the past few weeks.”

It was as Twilight heard the words that the pieces clicked together in her mind: Rarity sounded just like herself again. Earlier in the night, her friend had done a very good job of hiding the rigid inflection and tone with which she had wrapped her voice, to the point that Twilight hadn’t even noticed. It took hearing her now, truly casual for the first time in what felt like weeks, for the difference to finally become clear. The same could be said for the rest of the unicorn’s appearance. While it was certainly fair to say that Rarity’s posture was never lacking, right now it seemed ten times as relaxed as it had earlier tonight, with none of the forced tension from before. All in all, Rarity looked and sounded at ease.

“Ever since you became a Princess,” Rarity continued, “I thought that surely it was a dream come true for all of us. Surely there could be no greater honour than receiving such a title, and I wanted to be sure that everything went perfectly for you. That you would be adored by society, that you would be welcomed and respected by the rest of the nobility, and that you could bask in the limelight of the highest courts and offices of the land.”

The unicorn’s face fell as she finished that last sentence, her large pupils seeking forgiveness. When she went on, her voice was contrite. “Of course, all of these were the things that I had always dreamed being a Princess should entail, and I thought that getting them should be more important than anything else, even,” and here she paused to offer Caesura his own look of apology, “even the reputation of an innocent stallion. But you are under no obligation to be the Princess that I wanted you to be. I see that now, and I hope that you can forgive me for that. If there’s anything I can do to help right this wrong, only say the word and I shall see to it.”

Caesura offered only a gentle nod of acceptance in return. Twilight, though, wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Certainly none of her original anger with her friend remained, recent though their argument had been. She had never really been angry with Rarity anyway, only frustrated at the whole situation. There was one thing that she knew she wanted to do, more than anything. One look at Caesura brought his wise words back to her, and she realized that it really was the only valid response.

Taking two steps forward, Twilight reached out and embraced her friend warmly. For a moment she just held on in silence, and then said. “Of course I understand, Rarity. Apology accepted.”

Rarity released her, and stepped back to fix Twilight with a puzzled expression. “So simply? After everything that I’ve done over the last weeks?”

“None of that is important,” Twilight returned, offering Caesura her own small glance. The pegasus gave her back a very slight nod of encouragement. “What’s important is you’re my friend, and nothing should get in the way of that. Your apology is more than enough.”

“Very well said, Your Royal Highness.” Twilight’s eyes jerked up when she heard the voice, and the sight of Princess Celestia’s shimmering multicoloured mane approaching the group made her take a step backward and offer a small bow to the monarch. Surprisingly, Rarity didn’t offer the traditional sign of respect, instead only tipping the Princess a thankful smile. “I was hoping that you would let me join you while the winners are unveiled?” Celestia gestured to the front of the floor, where a collection of guards were now helping Octavia organize several lengthy parchments, while a few others were delicately carrying the showcase items out of the auction room. Many of the other guests in the room were also now looking in that direction, surely eager to find out the results of their bids.

“Certainly I would not object to that, Your Majesty,” Caesura answered her, offering the rest of the group a chance to object before taking a few steps over to her side. “Why, I’ve been waiting for this the whole night.”

For a brief instant, Twilight thought that she saw a mischievous expression play itself over the Princess’s features, though it was tricky to tell. When Celestia replied though, it was gone. “I’d imagined that you might. There’s been quite a lot of interest in many of the items.”

Suddenly Twilight remembered why she hadn’t seen Celestia at all yet tonight. “Princess, where have you been?” she blurted out. “Luna said that you were involved in dealing with something important.”

This time, it was Caesura whose face flashed over with a strange look, now one of consideration. Celestia, though, answered with a gentle smile. “Yes, just a little bit of personal business. Rest assured that there was never anything to be concerned about.”

The calm tranquility of Celestia’s expression could not possibly have been juxtaposed better than it was when Luna practically galloped up to her side, almost out of nowhere. The younger Princess looked as though she had just finished running a marathon while simultaneously doing her taxes, so wild was the expression in her eyes and so unkempt was the look of her mane. “Sister!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “Thank Celestia you’re here. There’s something you need to take care of—”

“Luna, if you’ve taken care of things up to now, I’m sure that you can handle it,” Celestia replied, seeming to shrug off the entirety of the intrusion, and even chuckling lightly at the sight of her sister’s appearance. “Though I must say that I didn’t think running things would be so taxing upon you. There can’t be more than half an hour left in the Gala, though. Surely nothing could be so pressing—”

“YOUR MAJESTY!”

The booming voice brought everything in the hall to a standstill, with nobles left clutching their snifters in mid-drink or halfway finished chewing their hors d'oeuvres. Even Octavia, her nose buried in her parchment as she was reading out the buyer of a set of antique bassoons, was cut off in mid-sentence. The speaker was of course King Gilderoy, now standing alone in a small clearing on the floor, where the ponies around him had all shrank back in fear. So stern was the glare set upon his face that their trepidation was completely understandable. Only Cadance and Shining were still visible just to his side, each one plainly mired in their own anxiety despite their best efforts to hide it.

“Three and a half hours I have waited,” he proclaimed, marching straight across the floor to where Celestia stood. “With naught but idle chatter, refreshments, and lame excuses as to your absence to occupy my time! Were it so easy that I could accept your sudden appearance as a sign that we may get to our business at last.”

A torrent of subtle looks passed between Celestia and Luna in that instant, each one merely the lifting of an eyebrow or the barest nod or shake of the head. Twilight supposed that after living so long together, the two of them could probably pass entire speeches to each other in the literal blink of an eye, but at least in this case the meaning was clear: Why didn’t you tell me about this? from Celestia, and If you had let me finish for once, I would have! from Luna.

Celestia took a second to compose herself, and reached out to extend the King a gracious hoofshake. “Allow me to extend my humblest and most sincere apologies, Your Majesty. You of course know that nothing but a matter of the highest importance would keep me from you.”

Though Gilderoy accepted the gesture, his face did not soften one bit. “I have heard much the same from the rest of your family for the whole evening. I am afraid that after such an exceptional wait, I must insist on knowing more.”

Celestia took a deep breath. “Of course. In your position I would feel much the same. A matter of national security was unfortunately brought to my attention just tonight, and it required a great amount of effort to deal with it. You will of course understand that we take such matters very seriously. The details are naturally classified, but once we are somewhere more private I will explain everything.”

Gilderoy fixed her with a pointed stare for a long moment, saying nothing. Time seemed to slow down, as every pony in the room seemed to be holding their collective breath. Twilight was a bit surprised to realized that she too was holding hers, but such was the intensity in Gilderoy’s gaze that she didn’t feel right in doing anything else. A quick glance at the rest of the group revealed that they were probably feeling much the same.

After a few moments, the King let out a deep sigh, and then clapped Celestia around the back of the neck with one of his talons, chuckling gently. While Twilight couldn’t say that the laugh was quite jovial, it still seemed at least as though the tension in the room had been cut. “Apology well taken, then, Your Majesty. Nothing could possibly be more important than the well-being and safety of your subjects, and I look forward to hearing all of the details. Rest assured that there if there is anything my country can do to help yours in the hour of your need, it shall be done.”

Celestia breathed her own muted sigh of relief, matched by each of the other royals, theirs much more pronounced since they were standing behind the King. “Thank you very much for your understanding, Your Majesty. Might we retire then?” After receiving a stiff nod, Celestia gave Luna a quick look, and the younger Princess nodded back, relief still plain on her features.

As the two monarchs calmly made their way over to the exits, the rest of the room came back to life, a chorus of murmurs erupting like a pent-up storm. At the front, Octavia got back to her parchment, handing the bassoons off to a prim green unicorn stallion in a dinner jacket.

“Well, that ended surprisingly well,” Caesura said. “She’s always been a deft negotiator.”

“You know the Princess?” Fluttershy spoke up. “Personally, I mean.”

“Once upon a time I did make her acquaintance, yes.” For something so important, Caesura said it as casually as if he had been discussing the weather. Even after only an evening’s worth of socialization, Twilight was sure by now that most of the other ponies in the room would think it the achievement of their lives to be able to say they knew Celestia personally. “She is truly an exceptional alicorn, until tonight the most exceptional one that I have ever met.”

Twilight felt herself blush, even though she knew that Caesura was surely being facetious. Still, she was unsure precisely how to respond, so it was lucky that Rarity had a quick riposte ready. “Now, Viscount, while we are well-aware of Twilight’s exceptionalism, now is hardly the time to be comparing crowns. Look, the centrepiece item is about to be awarded.”

Indeed, the company of guards assigned to watch over the bows was just now moving the plinths upon which they sat up to the front of the ballroom. The lighting up there was not so favourable as it had been when they sat in showcase, but even so the strings on all three bows were glittering in dazzling patterns, like three stars plucked down from the heavens. A silence dropped over the whole room as Octavia unrolled the bottom of her parchment.

“Before I award the last item on our list,” the earth pony began in a stately voice, “I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for the interest and enthusiasm you’ve shown in aiding the Royal Canterlot Symphony Orchestra in continuing its mission. With the supreme generosity that our benefactors tonight have shown, we shall be able to continue making music for generations to come.” There was a muted applause, though most of the ponies in the room, Twilight included, were more eager to hear the part that came next. Every time that she and Caesura had gone to check on the item, a higher bid than theirs had already been entered, so clearly there were at least a few other ponies out there who were waiting expectantly for this result.

Octavia turned back to her parchment. “Our final item, as you have all undoubtedly seen by now, comprises these three exquisite cellist’s bows, the strings upon them donated by the Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Without further ado, it is my pleasure to announce that for the price of thirty-nine thousand five hundred bits, they have been purchased by Her Majesty, Princess Celestia!”

The announcement brought a split-second of silence, followed by another, much more enthusiastic round of applause. The crowd turned in an attempt to find the Princess, and soon enough everypony spotted her standing just by one of the exits, caught in the process of escorting Gilderoy out. Right now though, rather than the happiness one would expect from a successful bidder, the Princess had on a rather strange expression, her eyes locked back on Caesura from across the room. The two of them shared that stare for a second, and then the pegasus lifted his glass of punch in a sort of toast, a smile of comprehension lighting up his eyes. The look that he got back was something close to rueful.

All of this of course transpired in the space of a single second, for it only took that long for the jubilance of the atmosphere to be shattered by the eruption of the King standing just over Celestia’s shoulder. There really was no better word for it, as the griffon looked about ready to start moulting, such was the outrage writ plain upon upon every facet of his features. “National security, you say?! You’ve no time to see to the needs of your closest ally, yet you do find the opportunity to bid on this insipid auction?”

Once again it took Celestia a mere moment to compose herself, though with a hint of anxiety now. “Trust me, Your Majesty, there is an explanation for all of this, if you will just calm yourself.”

“There will be no more explanation, no more excuses! This has gone far enough for me to see everything I need to.” Gilderoy snapped a talon, and in seconds his entourage of stone-faced bodyguards had materialized at his side. “Never in my life have I felt so insulted! And never would I have expected such behaviour from such a close friend as you, Celestia. There will be a reckoning for this.”

Twilight waited for Celestia’s reply, but for once there was none. The elder Princess looked flummoxed, almost adrift without the snappy ripostes that she almost never left her bedside without. A whirlwind of the consequences shot through Twilight’s mind. Their two kingdoms had been at odds a few times in history, and it had never worked out well for either of them. Once, long ago, it had even come to blood. There had to be something that could be done to stop this before it got started. And in that instant Twilight realized that she was running over towards the King, possible responses queuing in her mind. Her and Caesura got there at about the same time.

“Gilderoy, old friend, shouldn’t we take a moment to think about things calmly?” Caesura started.

“Surely you wouldn’t want to throw out a decade of mutual trust over something so simple?” Twilight followed almost immediately.

“Think of the consequences!” Luna exclaimed right on her heels, having arrived just a second after the two of them. There was quite a bit more force than apology in her tone. “Such a decision should never be taken lightly!”

“I would hate to make a decision that you’re going to regret later,” Cadance said finally, from right over Luna’s shoulder. Beside her, Shining Armour was silent, though his expression echoed that of his wife.

The King waved away all of them with a forceful talon. “There is no time for counsel! I will be getting back to Griffonstone late enough as it is! My decision has been made, and there shall be no more discussion!” He turned his cape with a flourish, and gestured for his bodyguards to lead on for the door.

Left alone, the five royals all shared the same look. Somepony had to do something, but none of them knew who could do it. Twilight felt a rapidly sinking despair deep in the pit of her gut, as with every one of the King’s steps, the situation inched closer to the ending that none of them wanted.

“If I may, Your Majesty, perhaps I might offer an explanation for all of this?”

The unexpected voice drew the attention of every pony and griffon in the room. “Who in Griffonstone are you?” Gilderoy asked the finely-dressed white unicorn who was now trotting evenly up to him.

“Humblest apologies for that, Your Majesty,” Rarity replied with a deeply formal bow, surprisingly calm and confident in spite of the firestorm she was standing in front of. “The name is Rarity, and it had been my hope, as well as that of the Princess, that tonight we might be able to meet under much more favourable circumstances. Alas, for it would seem that all of our plans have come to naught.”

Gilderoy gave Celestia another pointed glare at this, though for her part the Princess appeared just as confused as ever. Twilight wasn’t entirely sure what Rarity thought she was doing, though she fervently hoped that whatever it was somehow worked.

“As soon as Her Majesty found about your presence, you see, she took the Viscount Caesura and I aside. I am in the fashion business, and I have been waiting expectantly for the new trade agreement to be finished.” She took another step in toward Gilderoy, and swept a hoof out in front of her extravagantly as she continued. “It was our hope that tonight, you and the Princess could jointly declare the first business partnership between our two great nations: Rarity For You in Griffonstone, with Caesura Transoceanic as official distributor!”

“Precisely!” Caesura announced, striding purposefully up to Rarity’s side. “We have been engaged in last-minute negotiations for the whole evening, and Her Majesty was kind enough to moderate on top of everything else that she was dealing with. We wanted to surprise you with it. and we could not allow tonight to end without a victory for you, my King.”

“Think of the possibilities!” Rarity continued right away. “Griffonstone will become the eastern mecca of couture. Conferences, trade shows, tourism! This will be a boon for the griffon economy, and only the beginning of what free trade will mean!”

“Why, we just signed the agreement not five minutes ago,” Caesura went on, taking Rarity by the shoulder with a familiar hoof. “This mare will be the perfect one for the job, and her boutique will be the greatest thing to happen to Griffonstone in generations! I’m sure that Celestia was meaning to tell you about it first-thing.”

For the first time, there was a gap that let Gilderoy get a word in edgewise. For the moment, his anger looked to have been replaced by confusion. “Is this really all true?” he asked, directing the question back at Celestia.

“One hundred percent,” the monarch answered, all of her composure having returned in the seconds that Rarity and Caesura had been talking. Once again, she was the very picture of a stately diplomat. “Your friend Caesura has been an incredibly cooperative partner in the enterprise. As for the bows, I understand how things must look, but consider the opposite situation, if it had been your feathers on the auction block. Surely a griffon can understand the need to defend one’s treasures? It is a shame that you had to find out about everything like this, but perhaps now that everything is in the open we can get on to our business at last?”

Once more, the King regarded her coolly for a moment, and once more the breath of the room was held back. But once more, Gilderoy exhaled, and this time his reply was an uproarious guffaw, echoing long and loud off of the stone walls. “My dear Celestia,” he replied, wiping a tear from his eye. “I have heard many a legend about your Galas, but never could I have imagined that they were all so true. It would seem then that we have a joint declaration to make.”

This time, the sigh of relief from everypony in the room was audible.

Calling a press conference on such a short notice was of course nothing simple. Organizing everything required the joint efforts of all the gathered royalty, with Luna getting the lighting and podiums arranged, Cadance and Shining reaching out to every newspaper in the city, and Twilight providing the summaries to each arriving journalist of what they were to expect. What with all of the chaos, it wasn’t until the group found itself back at the train station that Twilight was able to firmly get her hooves back underneath her. Both Celestia and Caesura had followed to see the group off.

“Once again, it seems that I cannot thank you all enough,” Celestia said, extending each member of the party an earnest hoofshake. “Even I would say that tonight was one surprise too many for a Gala.”

“Come now, Celestia,” Caesura replied. “Not only did we avert a major diplomatic incident tonight, we also secured the first business partnership between our two nations. It’s been years since I could call a single evening such a success.”

“You’re actually going through with it?” Twilight asked Rarity in surprise. “Even though you just had the idea tonight?”

“Darling, please,” Rarity answered, waving the question away as if it were a mere triviality. “The griffon market is an absolute well-spring of pent up demand, and I’ve never met a stallion whom I would trust more implicitly than the one standing before us today.” Caesura beamed at the compliment.

“But what about your reputation, though?” Applejack asked uncertainly. “You know Caesura’s name is still mud around these parts.”

Rarity turned and offered Twilight a thoughtful look before she answered. There was still just a trace of an apology in her eyes, but a firm note of confidence was there too. “Applejack, if there’s one thing I’ve learned tonight, it’s that reputation cannot be more than a secondary concern. Canterlot shall see Caesura and I as we are, and if any envy is felt toward us, then that cannot be our problem.”

Twilight nodded in affirmation as she heard the words. All in all, the evening had turned out alright, especially in light of how things had been shaping up. One look at Vinyl still standing with the group though reminded her that there was one thing they still hadn’t sorted out.

“Celestia,” she began, “have you worked out yet what you’re going to do with the bows?”

“The bows?” The question seemed to catch the Princess off guard. “Oh, those? Er, I’m sure that I can find a spot for them somewhere around the castle.” It seemed as though she was avoiding looking at Caesura as she spoke, and indeed the stallion did have a somewhat triumphant expression on his face.

“Would you ever consider perhaps donating them to somepony else? I know that you paid a rather exorbitant sum, but there is a good reason I ask, and I can tell you—”

Celestia interrupted her right away. “You want them? Go ahead. I can have them sent down tomorrow morning. Sooner, if you’d like.”

Taken aback, for a second Twilight could only sputter in surprise. “For nothing? Princess, thank you, obviously, but, why?”

Celestia put a hoof up to her forehead, massaging her skull for a moment as though trying to ease a persistent headache. “If I left those things in the castle for even a day, my sister would find some way to strangle me with them. Trust me, I never want to see them again in my life.”