Hivemind

Aurora spent the whole day giving Scootaloo flying lessons, but the day was soon going to draw to a close. After saying good bye, Aurora began the trek home before being stopped by the two fillies she had come to hate with a passion: Diamond Tiara and her partner in crime, Silver Spoon. She tried to walk on by when she felt something spray against her side. Without thinking she suddenly began to itch her side like crazy. When she finally looked up, she saw the two fillies bump hooves as if just having accomplished something.

"What did you just do?" Aurora asked, still itching.

"Who? Us?" Diamond Tiara asked innocently.

"Yes you, and don't try to deny doing anything," Aurora said, "It feels like my chitin is on fire right now".

"Well then, you may want to stay out of our way from now on," Silver Spoon said, holding out a small spray can, "Next time you get in our way, this bug spray won't be lightly sprayed on your side".

Aurora just simply glared at the two fillies as they walked away laughing. She wanted so bad to tackle them both, but figured it to be unwise. For now, she just wanted to get some relief from her itching.

"I didn't even know chitin could itch," Aurora said to herself as she tried to walked home.

Finally, Aurora had arrived home... still itching. The whole walk home, she got weird looks from passersby, but nopony paid her much attention as they didn't give the scratching much thought. As soon as Twilight saw her, however, she knew something was up.

"You ok?" Twilight asked.

"I hate bug spray," Aurora said.

Twilight just cocked an eyebrow instead of saying anything.

"Silver Spoon sprayed me with bug spray when I was coming home," Aurora said, "Now my chitin feels like it's on fire. I didn't even know chitin could itch".

"You'd think those two would leave you alone at this point," Twilight said, sighing, "Just go take a bath, dinner will be ready soon".

Wasting no time at all, Aurora did just that. After only a few seconds, she stopped itching as the burning sensation was washed away and replaced with the very real burning of her chitin due to the temperature of the water. She jumped out as quickly as she could, and started rolling around on the floor in an attempt to cool herself down... which failed.

"One would think I'd have learned by now: test the water first," Aurora said, scolding herself.

With that, she turned on some cold water for a minute to cool the tub down before getting again. Before long, there was a knock at the door telling her to hurry up for dinner. She got out, drained the tub, dried off, and headed downstairs. Tonight, Spike was making one of her favorites: grilled cheese with toasted cinnamon bread. As she sat down, Twilight a scroll over to her.

"Princess Celestia sent this to you," Twilight said.

Without saying anything, Aurora simply unrolled the scroll and saw something shiny fall out onto the table. She paid it little attention and got to reading the letter right away.

Dear Aurora,

It's been a year since you first received citizenship, so to celebrate, I've decided that you should be invited to this years Grand Galloping Gala. Included with this letter is your ticket. I do hope you can make it as I feel it'd be a fantastic experience for you.

Yours truly,

Princess Celestia

"Well, that's exciting," Twilight said.

"I... I get a free ticket to the gala?" Aurora asked to nopony in particular, "This... this is... AWSOME!".

"Now, we need you a nice outfit," Twilight said.

Aurora said nothing else as she ate. As she ate, Twilight slid over a couple of mana crystals, knowing full well that Aurora would need them about this time. Aurora touched the crystals to her horn and smiled as the delicious love energy flowed into her.

"I wonder how everypony will react this year when a changeling shows up," Spike pondered as he sat down with his food.

"It shouldn't be too bad," Twilight said, "She's been living here for a year and a half, and has been walking around undisguised for the past year, so it shouldn't bother them".

"Remember how they reacted when you and your friends showed up before?" Spike asked, "Those high class ponies don't seem to care much for us "peasants" down here in Ponyville".

"Only the ones that are stuck up like Blueblood," Twilight said.

"If they don't want me there, well too bad," Aurora said, "I was invited by princess Celestia herself, so those stuck ups can't do a thing about me being there".

"That's all good and fine, but remember the airshow as well?" Spike asked.

"Those ponies made the mistake of pissing off me and Rainbow and thinking they could beat us in a fight," Twilight said, "This time, they'll have to deal with princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance, me, my brother and my friends if they try anything... and I highly doubt anypony is THAT stupid".

"I hope you're right," Spike said.

The next day couldn't have come fast enough. Aurora half jumped, half fell out of bed, looking forward to the day's events. After getting ready and finishing breakfast, Twilight and Aurora headed over to see Rarity. Upon arrival, they both noticed the main room was full of their friends.

"Aurora!" Yelled the crusaders, running over to greet their friend.

"Hey girls, what's going on?" Aurora asked.

"Rarity's making us dresses for the grand galloping gala," Sweetie Belle said.

"You're going to?" Aurora asked.

"Our sisters figured it'd be a good idea ta take us as their plus ones," Applebloom said.

"Wait a second, what do you mean by 'you're going to'?" Scootaloo asked.

"I got my own ticket to the gala last night after I got home," Aurora said.

"Seriously?" The trio asked.

"Yep, so looks like it'll be a crusader gala through and through this year," Aurora said.

"Aurora, come here real quick so Rarity can get you sized up!" Twilight called out.

With that, Aurora casually walked over and stood still for what felt like hours as Rarity got the measurements she needed. After she was done, Rarity pulled out a rack full of finished dresses for Aurora to try on. As she went through the process of trying on every single dress on the rack, she couldn't help but feel a bit dissatisfied with all of them, not a one she could feel right wearing. After getting out of the last dress, something caught her eye.

"How about this one?" Aurora asked, walking over to the one dress she actually liked.

"That's Fluttershy's," Rarity said, "Had to make her a brand new one after the last gala".

"Oh," Aurora said, sounding slightly down.

"Though if you really do like it, I suppose I could make one just like it for you," Rarity said.

"Really? You'd really do that?" Aurora asked, perking up.

"I don't see why not," Rarity said, "After all, it'd be a shame to have you go to the gala, especially your first gala, in something you didn't like".

Soon after that, everypony left and Rarity began working on her next project: Aurora's gala outfit. The basic idea for the dress design was already set in stone based on how Fluttershy's dress looked, but what was hard about this design was how Rarity was going to make it work with a changeling. However, loving the idea of working on a brand new design style for a different species, Rarity accepted the challenge now set in front of her.