"Are you ready now Barb?!" Twilight yelled from the bottom of the staircase, wondering if the little dragoness was finished with her final touches.

The day had went on as per usual, getting up, morning routines and whatnot. Nothing too special had happened other than the usual crash from a certain rainbow maned mare. The girls had been getting ready for the Gala once the hour clock had reached 3 pm, since the start of the entire event was at 6pm. They all promised to gather at the library before a carriage would pick them up and send them straight to Canterlot.

Mike was merely reclining back on one of the sofa's, admiring the stunning dresses that Rarity had made for the girls while with a book in hand to pass the time. He had told the girls that he wouldn't be going, seeing as how he was still clad in his normal home clothes. He was starting to doubt about the greatness of this event he had placed in his mind. Perhaps it was even more grander than he thought. Like you were being invited to the wedding of two great rulers.

Or something.

"Coming!" The voice of a certain dragoness could be heard from above the staircase, which caused the rest of the girls to sigh in relief. At long last she was done.

"Anyways, are you sure you don't wanna tag along, Mikey?" Pinkie asked, smiling brightly at the lone human.

"Nah. I have....other plans to do" Mike replied in an enigmatic way, continuing to read his book as if nothing had happened. Pinkie merely shrugged before hopping away to where the rest of the girls was, her pink and blue colored dress swaying in the air as she did so.

A few moments later, Barb had finally set foot on the flight of stairs down to where the girls were at, catching the attention of everyone in the room, especially Mike. Her dress was a simple lime green and violet color scheme but the way it was designed made her look amazing. Her dress had the back open, only connecting with each other at the neck. Her hair was allowed to flow freely, but looked smooth and silky under the light in the room.

Mike couldn't believe his eyes when he laid them on her. It was as if he was looking at someone different. She was absolutely gorgeous and he was finding himself lost for words. Unluckily enough, Barb seemed to notice him gawking at her and walked up to him with a smile on her face. He stood up quickly and gave a smile, a small blush on his face.

"How do I look?" She asked sweetly, leaning forward a little. The frontal potion of her dress had a window that showed her a little of her cleavage, which was making Mike feel nervous.

"Y-You look amazing!" He replied to the best of his ability, causing Barb to chuckle. "No really. It suits you really well" He added, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well, seems like my job with that dress was a success if you find it marvelous on Barb" Rarity voiced out, chuckling a little as well. "However, as much as I like to look at the finished product of all my hard work, we don't have much time until the Gala starts". She then proceeded to grab Barb by the wrist as she tugged her along towards the door where everyone was heading.

"I do hope Celestia doesn't mind if we're almost late to the party" Eris piped in as she floated in the air towards the door. All the other girls joked on how if she did, she wouldn't have invited them over in the first place. It was enough to put Eris' doubts to ease. Even the most chaotic being had seemed to really want to enjoy this event.

"Hope you girls have a pleasant flight!" Mike said as he smiled. "Don't try to have too much fun. I might get jealous if that happens" He joked, causing the girls to giggle in reply. He watched the girls walk on out of the door where he spotted a carriage just outside waiting for them. Tailing behind the main group, Rarity and Barb left. But before both of the ladies were to leave, Rarity glanced back towards Mike and him one of her signature knowledgeable winks, causing Mike to chuckle in response.

Once the group had left the building, they wasted no time in entering the carriage that was waiting for them specifically. Despite the group being fairly large, the carriage itself was able to carry all of them with no problem. The ride to Canterlot was a pleasant one and the girls mainly used it to point out the things they had on their dresses that they thought were really nice.

The rainbow streak on Rainbow Dash's dress with the cloud like design, the butterfly hairclips and animal imprints on Fluttershy's dress, the blue frosting-like frills on Pinkie's dress, the mix between an elegant dress and a cowpony feel for Applejack, Rarity's diamond encrusted dress, Twilight's purple twinkling stars and Eris' randomness design matching her chaotic personality. It had seemed like Rarity had done an even more spectacular job than they expected.

The girls exchanged sentences with each other after their momentary discussion, though most of it was just informing Eris of what to expect in the Gala. The lady of chaos seemed to be highly interested in the events in further detail and was already shaking in excitement for what was to come. She had also said of how excited she was to cause some chaos in a large scale, although the rest were already expecting her to say that. They merely laughed along and thought of what tricks she may have up her sleeves.

"We're here girls!" Twilight exclaimed with delight as their ride to Canterlot ended with a soft thud on the marble-tiled floor. She grabbed the handle on the door and twisted it down, hearing a faint click sound before the door of their ride opened with eased. She stepped off first, making sure she didn't trip on the floor with her heels unlike those other times.

"Sweet! I'm gonna see if Vinyl is around! I'll see ya girls later!" Rainbow Dash gleefully told them before flying off to wherever.

"Well then, I guess we split off for now" Rarity spoke soon after, holding her silver colored purse. "I have a meeting with Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis about garments for a guest that's apparently coming over" She added, earning confused looks from the rest.

"A guest? Um, who might it be?" Fluttershy asked as she got off the chariot along with Pinkie.

"Yea! What Fluttershy said! Who are they?" Pinkie replied with excitement, although being a little bit too loud.

"I can't really say who it will be, darlings. Fancy Pants did, after all, ask Celestia to invite him over. Saying that he would love to speak with "That 'ol chap", once again" Rarity explained in her best impersonation of Fancy Pants. "I do have a sneaking suspicion that they might be friends, however"

"Well butter mah bisquits! Look's like we 'ought to be havin' some might excitement" Applejack chuckled, adjusting her Stetson hat. "And to think that Princess Celestia would accept his request. That fella better not ruin everythin' though"

The group laughed as they recalled their first few Gala's. Hopefully things would be going smoothly this time around. And thus, with nothing left to say to each other, they all parted ways, off to see some other parts of the Gala, meet old acquaintances or bump into new ones. Despite that, Twilight, Barb and Eris were still together, making their way to the center ballroom. Along the way, the outdoors were very neatly and beautifully designed.

The bushes were trimmed evenly, even lighting in the forms of either glowing spheres or lamp posts. And off in the distance was a band of professional musicians, playing slow and befitting melodies for the event. Though, the one thing that was the most surprising was the sheer number of individuals both outside and possibly inside. They were all of varying races; Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies, Griffins and more surprisingly, Changelings, Dragons and Diamond Dogs.

The trio softly whistled. Man, was Princess Celestia doing work. Finally their efforts, them being Twilight and her gang, were paying off in helping to ease the tension amongst the races that others may think of as hostile. And thankfully as well, especially after the whole barrage of events.

"Woa! Is that Queen Chrysalis?" Eris softly asked in a surprised tone, finding a familiar face among the crowd in the ballroom. "Chrysalis looks to be doing well with other. Heck, her smile looks pretty genuine" Eris added, absolutely stunned.

"Mom wasn't kidding when she said this would be a LARGE scale event. Sheesh" Barb chuckled a little.

"Yea. It's nice to see The Queen not trying to take over Canterlot" Twilight sheepishly laughed, shaking a little from the slightly traumatic past events.

"Didn't you say that Mike helped with the defense against the invasion, or something?" Eris asked, her gaze towards the purple unicorn.

"Wait, I thought you knew this already?" Twilight countered, only earning a shrug from the draconequess. Twilight scratched the back of her head for a moment. "Well...As far as what I know, Mike did help by leading some of those that weren't under the effects of her hypnotism away from the castle. From all those I've asked who were lead by him, they just said he told them to run before briefly vanishing"

"A vanishing act, eh? I expected more....." Eris stopped for a moment, trying to find the right words. "....Heroism, I should say"

"Well I can't say for sure what he did. He never told me about it even if I tried asking. Heck, I tried forcing him but he still wouldn't peep" Twilight replied with a quick shrug, a small frown displayed on her face.

Meanwhile, Barb, who was between the two, was beginning to feel annoyed about the whole conversation. "Uh, hello? We came here to have fun didn't we?" She questioned the two, abruptly ending their talk. "Come on, just ease it. Who cares if she is here or not? As long as nothing bad happens, we should just focus on having a good time"

Both Eris and Twilight looked at her for a brief period before sighing simultaneously. "Never have I heard more truthful words from her" Eris joked, chuckling a little. It was pretty evident that she aimed to annoy the purple dragoness, and it definitely worked.

"Took the words right out of my mouth" Twilight replied as she laughed along.

"You know, I hate the both of you sometimes" Barb groaned. "Let's just....go somewhere else I guess. I don't even know right now" She sighed as she began to walk in a random direction with Eris and Twilight just behind her tail, still giggling like little school fillies. Barb didn't care much for their words at the moment. She needed something to take her mind off of the entire situation.

Despite being extremely exited about the whole event, she didn't exactly feel comfortable. Given the whole situation on how almost every single creature currently attending the Gala was a stranger, aside from the few familiar faces. Sure, her mom was there, but she was probably greeting the guests at the front gate, whereas they came in as VIP members, so they took a different route.

Eventually, with Barb still lost in her thoughts, she had somehow managed to reach the back garden where there were fewer ponies, griffins and other individuals. It didn't exactly help that Eris and Twilight were still talking about something unrelated to the Gala, but it was something. She still had no clue how the two of them managed to get along with each other so well all those years ago. Sadly, because of that, there were more science-y stuff that would be discussed whenever Eris visits.

Barb walked over towards the chest-high railing, looking over the immense greenery that was all the way at the bottom of the cliff. Just over the horizon, there was a tiny looking area with very small structures, which she knew all too well was Ponyville. She sighed for a moment as her gaze lingered over the place, her thoughts more pinned towards Mike. What would he be doing right now? Is he still at the library? Did he go out and mingle with others?

"Ahh jeez....I wish Mike was here" Barb whispered to herself as she laid her head on the railing.

"....nsense, dear! Don't belittle yourself so much! You look dashing!" A very familiar voice sounded off in the distance, catching Barb's attention. The dragoness raised her head in confusion, turning her head in the direction of the voice.

"Rarity? What the heck is she doing here?" Barb wondered to herself. She looked back behind her, finding both Twilight and Eris still preoccupied. Squinting her eyes, she took very cautious steps, making sure not to alert them of her sudden movement. Barb needed to know what was going on over at the far right.

"You sure Rarity? I....don't really like suits that much" Another familiar voice popped into existence, causing Barb's eyes to widen in surprise. It couldn't have been....

"Oh relax now. Rarity did a splendid job in crafting your suit. In fact, I might think that Fancy Pants would be surprised to see his friend all good-looking" The voice of Princess Celestia echoed in the semi-empty garden. It had came from just around the corner! She had to find out if her mind was really tricking her.

Barb made a final dash to the source, slowing down her pace when she had finally reached around the corner. Though, what she found had caused her to come to a screeching halt, even alerting the trio of her presence. Rarity was there, still in the same dress alongside Barb's mom, who was clad in an ethereal looking, pearlescent white colored dress. But there in front of them was someone else. Someone who was wearing a maroon colored tuxedo with golden lapels.

"...Mike?" Barb wondered out loud as she continued to keep her gaze locked firmly onto him. She was so confused. Why was he here? Shouldn't he be at the library? Why was wearing a suit? And why does he look so handsome?

Though none of which were able to overcome her sense of happiness.

"Hey Barb. Sorry that I...uhh...lied to you" He replied with simple smile and a quick chuckle. But it was just enough to send the purple dragoness bolting towards him with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh my god Mike! I can't believe you're here!" Barb exclaimed with pure bliss but quickly changed to a more puzzled tone. "But why? I thought you wanted to stay at home?"

"About that..." Mike started, scratching his face awkwardly as Barb continued to hug him. "Princess Celestia had actually planned on having me come over to the Gala for a while now. Just that I don't really like fancy events" He answered truthfully with a small chuckle afterwards. "Your Mom and Rarity over there did a lot of convincing and eventually I...kinda budged. So, here I am"

Barb looked a Mike for a brief period before her mouth curved into a huge smile yet again. It seemed like a dream come true. "Well if you're here, then that means we can go have fun!" She exclaimed with no restrictions in her voice. She removed her vice grip from her hug and grabbed hold onto one of his hands. "Come on! I'll show you around!" She gleefully said as she pulled him away from the two mares.

As the two left Rarity and Princess Celetsia's sights, the duo looked at each other and smiled. Great minds did, in fact, think alike. Hopefully, with Mike's cheerful and upbeat presence, it would help to liven up the place. As well as bring a constant smile on a certain dragoness' face. And with that, the duo took their leave, not before high-fiving each other for a job well done.

Author's Note

Soooo...Uhhh....I actually meant to upload this a long while back...

But...Well, you know. Life stuff and school related jazz. So....err, here it is, I suppose?

In any case, I'm still not dead and still intend to update my stories. Just at an incredible slow pace.