The Gala Rocksby CrossRedstoneChaptersInvitationsPreperationsTransportation and an upcoming predicamentCute little animalsBefore the performanceInvitationsAuthor's Note The idea wouldn't leave my mind. It won't be a long story. (5-7 chapters or so) Invitations If anyone would have bothered trying to go through the portal that day, they would have noticed that the thing was actually open. Luckily the statue was mostly ignored by the students of Canterlot High that day or else a certain princess would have quite the situation at her hooves. For the most part it just seemed like another ordinary day at Canterlot High, with students reluctantly entering the school building. Of course no one was looking forward to school, either because they have trouble keeping up in class or they had simply no motivation or they just were too good in class, like Sunset Shimmer. Being a former student of Princess Celestia, the only issue she had to deal with in school, was learning the human history, which wasn't too hard. So yeah, long story short everyone was bored. Sunset was just stuffing her things into her locker, when she was approached by the vice principal of the school. "Sunset Shimmer?" "Huh?" the Equestrian looked up and was a little surprised to see the Luna standing in front of her. "Vice principal Luna? Can I help you somehow?" "I think I can rather help you." Sunset just noticed that the woman was carrying a small plastic bag with her, from which she took out a...scroll? It was hold together by a red ribbon and had a wax seal on it. Kind of retro. Sunset thought to herself. "These were inside the mailbox this morning. They're addressed to you and your friends." Luna held out the one scroll she picked out. "This one is for you." "Okay..." Sunset took the scroll and firstly took a look at the seal. "Wait a second. That's the royal seal!" Sunset exclaimed. Luna raised an eyebrow at the sudden exclamation and the eagerness of how Sunset broke the seal. "Hmm....hmm? What? Who wrote this? Yada, yada, yada, ya...da? Invitation to the....the...the..." "Miss Shimmer? Are you alright?" Vice principal Luna asked worried, seeing the girl starting to tremble. "THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA?!" Sunset finally exclaimed, getting the attention of everyone in the hallway. Just after the exclamation a golden ticket fell out of the scroll and landed on the ground. Luna picked it up and looked at it curiously. Aside from the gold color, it looked like an ordinary ticket. It had Sunset's full name on it, a date (next week's Saturday) and was simply titled "Grand Galloping Gala Ticket." Also, there was a small description as to where to whom to give the ticket. Luna gave the ticket to Sunset, who dropped the scroll, which was caught by the vice principal. Now she didn't intend on reading her student's private mail, but she did get an accidental glimpse on the last part of the scroll. "P.S.: You're pardoned." "Come again, sugercube?" The Rainbooms were all gathered in the band room, with Sunset pacing back and forth rereading her letter over and over again. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were watching her, while Pinkie Pie was laying on the piano, her head hanging upside down, while reading her own letter. "Eh...sugercube? Are you alright?" Applejack asked again. "Alright? ALRIGHT?!" Sunset and AJ were now nose to nose. The fiery haired girl noticed the personal space problem and took a few steps back. She inhaled deeply and let the air out slowly, before speaking up again. "We just got invited" she held up the scroll "to the MOST sophisticated event in the entirety of Equestria, where the guests are all hoofpicked by Princess Celestia herself, where the high society, the most important ponies gather together. It is THE ONE EVENT everyone wants to attend, the one you rub under your friends' noses, when they don't get invited, but you did. AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BE ALRIGHT?!" The farm girl was taken aback by the sudden exclamation. Fluttershy instinctively hid behind Rarity. Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry. "So what? Sounds like the kind of thing where you wear those frou-frou dresses and eat all kind of not even tasty, really expensive food. What do eat ponies at your place anyway? Hay?" "Oh please, Rainbow Dash." Rarity waved with her hand. "You're just as excited going to Equestria as everyone else here is. There's no need to uphold your image, when you're around us darling." "Yeah, alright, maybe I'm a liiiiiittle excited." "I think this super-exciting!" Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air. She quickly got up and jumped off the instrument. She wrapped her right arm around Sunset and pressed their cheeks together. "I mean look at this!" she held up her own letter in front of Sunset. "They want us to play at the gala, as the "surprise band"." "WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed, looking at their individual invitation letters. "Twilight wrote this part. It was behind where the ticket was hanging. It says: 'I invented a spell, which can temporarily turn a pony into humans. I'll see you in two days. Twilight.'" Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds. "That. Is. AWESOME!" Rainbow pumped her fists into the hair. "Whoa nelly. Haha, wonder how the ponies are going to react to "aliens"." Everyone, except Sunset, giggled at that. Then Sunset's prior explanation to the gala fully hit Rarity. Especially the part about the "hoofpicked", she guessed Sunset meant handpicked, part. "Oh my gosh! We....we're going to meet a princess! Does that mean there's going to be a prince?! Ah! I need to prepare our dresses!" "Really Rarity?" Rainbow Dash deadpanned. "We can just wear what we had on the battle of the bands." "No! Those won't- well, maybe....but Sunset doesn't even have one! Good that I have already your measurements, darling. I better get to work, once school is over!" "Oh no!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed. "Lunch is almost over! I hope they still have some cupcakes!" The girl zoomed out of the room. "Now that she mentions it, ah could use somethin' in mah stomach as well." "Yeah, totally." Rainbow, AJ and Rarity went after Pinkie. Fluttershy was about to go as well, but then she noticed Sunset leaning against the piano, looking at the letter with a sad expression. "Uh...Sunset? Don't you want to come too?" "I'm not hungry." the other girl replied. Fluttershy walked up to the girl and put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Are you still worried about...the other Celestia?" Sunset simply nodded. Instead of saying anything like "It'll be fine" or "I'll be there for you", Fluttershy hugged the girl in front of her. Sunset hugged back. "Thank you." PreperationsAuthor's Note Done in a day. Go figure. Preperations "Come on Sun! Where's your fire?!" Rainbow complained after another rehearsal. In general things could have gone better, yet Sunset keeps somehow screwing up, either getting out of tact, missing a note or her voice dying down. "You can do better than that!" Sunset sighed, putting her guitar down. "I guess I'm just not in the mood right now. Mind if we take break?" "Ah, hayseeds gal!" AJ exclaimed. "Quit beatin' around the bush. We all know it's 'cause of what yer have done in Equestria." The farm girl approached Sunset wit crossed arms. "But ya know Sunset" AJ put a hand on the other girl's shoulder "if ya don't wanna go, ya don't hafta go. We'll jus' tell Twi' what's up and good is." "But, this is your chance to see Equestria for yourself and even more go to the most important event over there. I don't want to ruin this for you, just because I stay behind or do a bad performance." "Darling" Rarity came from the other side and put a hand on the other shoulder "we understand that if you're not ready, you're simply not ready. There'll be no hard feelings. And what kind of friends would we be, leaving you behind, while we would be enjoying ourselves at the gala." "Yeah, it would be like a party where the guest of honor is missing." Pinkie added her two cents, throwing one of the drumsticks into the air and catching it again. "But..." Fluttershy approached the former unicorn. Before the animal lover could say anything, Sunset gave up on trying to convince the others to go without her. Instead she thought about how much it meant for her friends to go to the gala, what kind of opportunity they would miss, if she was to stay behind and that she at least owed Celestia an apology and a thank you for the pardoning. Plus Twilight went through all the trouble, trying to come up with a new spell in order to get them play as a band. If she was to chicken out, the entire work would have been for nothing. "All right." Sunset nodded. "Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked carefully. "We don't want to pressure you into something you don't want to do." "Thanks Flutters, but I owe you guys this much." "What ya talkin' 'bout Shimmer? Yer saved us at the Battle of the Bands. Yer don't owe us anythin'." Applejack rejected the comment. "Yeah, if anything, I think we're pretty even." Rainbow Dash commented. "Whatever you girls think, it's still no excuse for me moping around and ruining the entire trip for you." she picked up her guitar again. "Now come on. Let's get on with it already." Her stomach growled. "After we grabbed some grub if that is okay with you girls..." The rest of the girls simply giggled. While they were eating in AJ's kitchen, Rarity and Sunset were discussing the logistic problems. "I mean, as far as I understood, your kind doesn't have electricity over there." Rarity pointed out. "And sadly, most of our instruments doesn't work without it." "That one's going to be easy to solve." Sunset took a bite from her apple pie. "Instead of electricity we can use magic. While our instruments aren't really build to handle magic, it isn't really hard to build a converter." "And how do we transport our instruments to...Canterlot was it?" Rarity asked, tapping her chin with her finger. "As far as I understand, we cannot simply walk into the capital. Not to mention we're going to be a surprise." "Yeah!" Pinkie Pie appeared between the two, almost causing them to drop their plates. "It can't be a surprise, if everyone has already seen us. That's like showing someone what you're giving them for Christmas, while it's still summer." "Y-yes. Thank you, Pinkie dear." Rarity replied slowly. "No problem." Pinkie bounced away, back to the others. After regaining her composure, Sunset thought about what Rarity and Pinkie Pie pointed out. "Well, we could transport them in crates, put them into a train and unpack them later. Or we could transport them with a carriage. Honestly we have to ask Twilight as to how we're doing this. I can't really give you a straight answer." The rest of the rehearsal went really smoothly. Sunset had her fire back, as Rainbow Dash liked to put it. Sure it took a few tries, but in the end the Rainbooms were back in action. After a rather successful rehearsal, everyone not living at Sweet Apple Acres left. For Sunset it meant going to Rarity, in order to try out her dress. Actually, Rarity made two outfits for Sunset. One was a dark purple dress, with glitter on it. In that one Sunset wore some special boots, which were a little darker than her normal boots and also glittering. She also wore stockings, a little belt with her cutie mark in the middle and light purple gloves. [Artwork done by: TheShadowStone] The second outfit was Sunset wearing a dress which was pink on top and slowly changed to orange and then to yellow. She also wore a jeans with a flaming design on it, as well as grey sandals, which had red flaming high-heels. How they didn't break down, Sunset didn't know. In this outfit, Rarity decided to change Sunset's hair into a more curled up and slightly poofy style. [Same girl/guy] "Not exactly appropriate for a Gala, but I assume real dresses would hinder us while playing with our instruments. It's a true shame. If I had more time and we wouldn't be performing, I would have made something more...extravagant." "I'm sure they would look great." Sunset smiled. "Hmm, I'm not sure, but I tend towards the black one. Black is more my color, don't you think?" "Hmm..." Rarity eyed Sunset critically, her hand resting under her chin. "I suppose you're right. It gives you the "I am a bad girl" attire. I might try something like this myself in the future." "Really?" Sunset smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you set your eyes on someone?" "Maybe?" Rarity played with her hair. Seconds later the two girls erupted into a fit of giggles. Sunset let out a yawn. "Anyways, I think I'm going home for now. Twilight's coming tomorrow. I hope she got an idea as to where to with our instruments." "Goodnight darling. I'll see you with the rest tomorrow." Transportation and an upcoming predicamentAuthor's Note Eh...I think I'm gonna rewrite the last two lines. Next chapter will be fun to write. I've been looking forward to it. Transportation and an upcoming predicament This was something none of the girls had thought through. How could they possibly get their instruments to Equestria without accidentally breaking them? On the other side they would end up as ponies and then they would drop their instruments. Not to mention they had to pick apart Pinkie's drums and reassemble it on the other side. They had been pondering about this particular matter for half an hour and soon the first students would arrive. The Rainbooms originally planned on giving the instruments to Twilight's care before school started. But as things stood that wouldn't be possible. Worse, the princess of friendship was supposed to be already with them, yet that wasn't the case. "Oh, come on! Where is she?!" a very impatient Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Oh...I'm sure she has a good reason for being late." Fluttershy whispered nervously. "She's the one who wanted us to meet up so early!" Rainbow continued, ignoring the other girl's comment. "Simmer down Dash, will ya?" Applejack said annoyed at the blue girl's antics. "She's a princess after all. Maybe the gal got caught up in somethin'." "Argh!" Frustrated, Rainbow threw up her arms and simply gave up, grumbling something incomprehensible. Sunset herself had to admit she was a little frustrated herself. She wrote at least three messages to Twilight, yet their friend had answered none of those. She was about to try another time, when Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "There she is!" she pointed outside the window of the music room. Everyone ran towards the window and to see Twilight getting back on her feet. The girls quickly made their way towards the school entrance, where they greeted the purple girl with their at this time usual group hug. After they broke up, it was Twilight who quickly spoke up. "Hi girls. Sorry I'm late, I had some last minutes appointments." Twilight explained quickly. It was then that her friends noticed that Twilight was almost out of breath. She must have really hurried in order to make it more or less in time. "Are you alright Twilight?" Sunset asked. "You look a little exhausted." "It's...*yawn*...fine. After this I'm going to catch up some sleep. Preparing the Grand Galloping Gala, you know the food, sending out the invitations, solving upcoming problems..." Twilight stifled another upcoming yawn. "Do you perhaps want some coffee, dear? I have some in my backpack. Oh, I left it in the music room." "Oh, thank you Rarity. That'd be really nice. So, should we start?" "Actually sugarcube, we mighta hit a wall here." Applejack scratched the back of her head. "What do you mean, we hit a wall?" the princess asked confused, titling her head. "Well" Fluttershy spoke up "we do get turned into ponies, once we're on the other side, right?" Fluttershy sounded ever so excited about the prospect of being turned into an animal. "Yes, so what?" "Uh...you know...we can't really hold our instruments without our hands." "We'd drop them the second we step through." Rainbow Dash explained further. "Oh!" Twilight slapped her forehead. Or rather fisted, since she was used to facehoofing. The others minus Sunset Shimmer found this a little confusing. Twilight put her fist under her chin, thinking on how to solve this little problem. "Hmm, I could just wait on the other side and catch everything you would drop with my magic. The downside is I would have to time it perfectly, since you will probably stumble over your own legs the moment you step out. Hmm..." Twilight appeared to be lost in thought. The others cast worried glances at each other, trying to come up with their own ideas. Unfortunately five of them had no idea how pony bodies worked and all six of them didn't know what was available on the other side of the mirror that might help in some way or other. Finally Twilight's tired brain managed to come up with something. "Of course. I got it." "Really?" Everyone asked. "Yes." the princess nodded eagerly. "We'll just use my mattress!" "...Come again, sugar?" "It's simple really. My mattress is really soft and big enough for the instruments to land without them accidentally getting damaged." No one had a better idea and time was running short. So Twilight went to the other side to carry her mattress to the mirror. The rest went as one might expect. The instruments weren't heavy for humans and easy to handle, especially Fluttershy's. However, as Twilight said once on the other side, each of the humans fell flat out on their snouts, sometimes they landed on their instruments. Twilight quickly helped them up again with her magic and put the instruments in a corner of the room for the time being. What Twilight really was interested in, was the reactions of her friends being turned into a pony. Rarity for example after finally being able to stand up examined herself. "Oh my, well...this is certainly a new experience." she stated. "Oh my" she rubbed one leg over the other, feeling her own fur. "This is really smooth." she commented. "Do you have a mirror dar- oh Twilight!" "W-what? Is something the matter?" Twilight asked. "Oh nothing's wrong, it's just...well...don't take this the wrong way, but you look positively adorable." "A-adorable?!" Twilight cheeks flushed. Before Rarity could elaborate on what she just said, the mirror brightened up. A second later Rainbow Dash fell out of it, the far end of her guitar hitting the back of her head. "Ow..." the now pegasus groaned. Just like before Twilight helped her getting back up again. It wasn't too long however before the rest came out of the portal, each with their individual instruments, except for Pinkie Pie. She only came through with her drumsticks in her mouth. After helping each of them to recover, Twilight let them examine themselves and each other. "Oh yeah!" Rainbow exclaimed, flapping her wings a few times. "Ah'll say, glad ah still got mah hat." Applejack titled said hat a little upwards. "Wow Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing over to her friend. "Your hair is really pretty, when you're a pony." "I agree with Pinkie Pie, darling. It simply looks fabulous!" Rarity said, while carefully walking over to her friend. "It's called mane over here." Sunset explained. She proceeded to look over to Fluttershy, who was as surprisingly silent. Sunset had expected the animal lover to be the most excited one out of all of them. Maybe she was just nervous again, because everypony's attention was on her. Walking over towards the shy girl or mare in this case, Sunset put a hoof on the shoulder of the butter colored pegasus. "Fluttershy? Are you alright?" she asked. ... Fluttershy slowly looked up from behind her mane, showing Sunset the most creepy smile she had seen in her entire life. And she was friends with Pinkie Pie! "Uh...Shy?" Slowly Fluttershy raised one of her legs and stroke Sunset's mane. "...so adorable..." "What?" Cute little animalsAuthor's Note 1000 + a few word challenged finished around 90 minutes. Huh, I'm getting better. Still, I hope one day 30 minutes will be sufficient. Cute little animals "There, there, you need to relax your muscles every once in a while. You don't want them to cramp up, do you?" "Uh...any idea, when she's gonna snap out of it?" Rainbow Dash asked, as Fluttershy carefully massaged Rainbow's back, being especially carefully around the wing muscles. Their friend had entered some kind of cuteness overload stage and so far every attempt to snap her out of it failed. Well, they didn't try to hurt her, because it was Fluttershy! Their solution? One stayed behind, while the others carried everything else over. Now they were finished and Fluttershy still didn't realize that she had been petting and taking care of her friends. Rarity tried another approach, clearing her throat. "Ahem, Fluttershy dear. It's not like we're not grateful for all the kindness you're giving us, but-" "Oh my!" Fluttershy flew away (she somehow figured it out) from Rainbow Dash and over to Rarity. "Your mane is a little messy." "What?!" Rarity looked over to the mirror and noticed that a few strains were out of nowhere. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that." From somewhere in Twilight's castle, Fluttershy was able to produce a brush and started carefully straightening out Rarity's mane. "You have such a beautiful mane. Now, we don't want it to get all messy, do we? No of course not. You don't like it, when things get messy." "Maybe we should just gently push her back through the portal." Sunset suggested, rubbing the back of her head. "I could levitate her over there, without plugging a single feather. Maybe on the other side, we'll have our Fluttershy back." "That is, unless she doesn't jump through it right back." Applejack pointed out. "Shy seriously." Applejack tapped her friend a teensy, tiny bit more on the shoulder. "Shy, ya had yer fun, but we seriously need to go back or we'll miss the first period." "Oh no, I can't give you another apple. You don't want to become...you know, a little overweight." AJ facehoofed. "Ow." And accidentally hurt herself, not realizing that hooves were harder than hands. "Come on Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in front of the momentarily pegasus. "I'll even make you a very special cupcake if you come with us." she turned her head upside down trying to get Fluttershy's attention with her little antic. "Don't worry, I'm going to play with you, as soon as I'm done here. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two." "Oh dear." Twilight rubbed her forehead. "I really hate to do it" she said, while levitating a bucket full of water over. "Wait!" Sunset exclaimed, holding her hoof up. "Let me try something else, first." "Uh, I think we've pretty much run out of options." "Wait, sugar. Ah know we need a might more drastic measures in order to snap her out of it, but ya see, Shy had...a not so well childhood experience with a bucket full of water." AJ explained. "Yeah, Twi." Rainbow walked up. "We pinkie promised not to tell a soul, but belief me. You don't want to do that." "Alright..." Twilight reluctantly complied, but she knew better than to go against her friends' advice. "Oh my, Fluttershy." Rarity was viewing herself in the mirror portal. "I didn't know you were so skilled with the brush." "There, now you're all pretty again." Fluttershy hugged Rarity from behind before going over to Pinkie Pie and gently tickling the mare under the chin. "Now what should we play today?" Pinkie giggled and was about to respond, but Sunset levitated Fluttershy over to herself and forced the butter colored pegasus to look into the unicorns face. "Fluttershy, I know this is heaven for you, but we need to go back. Don't you have other animals to take care of back at home? What will they think if you'd stay here and never come back?" The others flinched. Sunset was playing the cold reality card. It immediately showed an effect, as a few tears started to run down Fluttershy's face. Sunset let go of her face and gave her friend a big hug, while said pegasus started crying into the unicorn's shoulder. "Sunset! I don't want to go! It's just...have you seen the outside! They're all ponies and...there're so many animals! I don't want to go! Can't I just take my animals over here too?" If adorableness could kill, Sunset would have had ten heart attacks, the moment Fluttershy looked at her with those teary eyes. As best as she could Sunset resisted to comply to Fluttershy's wish and stroked her friend's back, while at the same time cooing softly into the pegasus' ear. The others too gathered around and hugged Fluttershy. "It's not like we'll never come back here again." Sunset said softly. "I'm sure arrangements can be made, so you can visit here every ones in a while." Sunset gave Twilight an apologetic smile. The princess of friendship frowned a little, but then put a hoof under her chin and finally nodded. "Well...there are some experiments I wasn't capable of doing, mainly studying the effect of the mirror more thoroughly. And I guess it would be unfair if I was the only allowed traveling back and fourth. AGH!" Fluttershy had tackle-hugged Twilight and thrown both against the wall. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Before the performanceAuthor's Note Next time the big moment. You know I probably should have written a one-shot. Next chapter is gonna be extra long. For now, enjoy the little interaction. Before the performance Teleportation sickness is something about half the participants who teleport for the first time experience. You get used to it, but as long as you're not, chances are, you're going to throw up after the first time. Such was the case of two of Sunset's friends, namely Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Since they couldn't exactly move around Ponyville without being noticed by somepony, Twilight long beforehand decided to teleport all of them to the train station. "Urgh, next time we take a cab." Rainbow commented. "Sorry, I should have warned you beforehoof. I just assumed it would be no problem, since my other friends didn't get teleportation sickness during their first time." Sunset and Rarity helped Fluttershy up to her hooves, while Pinkie Pie and Applejack did the same with Rainbow Dash. All five were still unstable when it came to more than just standing around, but at least Twilight would soon put them all back into their regular bodies. "Wouldn't a chariot be faster?" Sunset asked. "Normally yes, but Princess Celestia spends the rest of the evening in her garden, before going to the Gala. And we can't exactly spoil the surprise, now can we?" "Wait a minute. She doesn't KNOW we're coming?!" Calming down the frightened unicorn was no easy task. The others thought it would go away over time, but Sunset was still cowering in a corner of Twilight's private wagon, while the princess explained to the rest how the evening would proceed. At least she tried, but the gnashing of Sunset's teeth was very loud and thus very distracting. "Seriously are she and Celestia in that bad terms?" Rainbow Dash asked in a whisper, so that Sunset wouldn't hear it. "I don't know, since I never saw it my place to ask something like this. And I think we should respect Sunset's wishes. If she wants to share the story with us, she will do it when she is ready and if not, then not." Twilight replied. The others nodded in agreement, turning towards the mare. "I'm sorry, but I really need to go now. Take care of her, alright? I'll get you, when it's time. Ask the staff if you need anything." with those words, Twilight. Fluttershy couldn't bear seeing her cute friend trembling anymore and decided to walk over to Sunset. The quivering mare didn't look up. Gently the high school pony placed herself next to Sunset and put a wing over the unicorn's back. Instinctively the mare flinched a little, until she could feel the comfortable warmth radiating off the pegasus' body. Sunset wrapped her forelegs around her friend's body, still trembling. "I can't do this Fluttershy. She's going to throw me into the dungeon! Send me to the moon! Or worse! She's going to send you with me to the moon, because she thinks I'm trying to replace Twilight and her friends with you guys!" The other four gave each other a look, while Fluttershy held Sunset's head in her forelegs. "Ah never thought ah'd see her lose it." AJ commented dryly. "Oh dear, maybe we should give her our support. The poor darling looks like she's ready to burst into tears." Rarity trotted over to her friend and rather awkwardly wrapped her left foreleg around her friend. "There, there, darling. Everything is going to be alright. If your princess Celestia is anything like our principal Celestia, then she will have forgiven you already. Especially since Twilight most likely told her about the important role YOU took, when we faced off against the sirens." Sunset looked up, a little hope appearing on her face. Pinkie jumped from behind, hugging Sunset from the back. Rolling their eyes, AJ and Rainbow followed their friends, a smile gracing their faces. Secretly all of them thought that this was very comfortable, with their fur rubbing off each others bodies. Maybe being a pony wasn't so bad. The moment was interrupted by somepony knocking at the door. One of the hoofmaidens at the castle stepped into the room, looking non-plussed at the display in front of her, while the others blushed furiously. "Greetings, travelers. My name is Honey Due. Princess Twilight asked me to be your hoofmaiden for this evening. I have been briefed about the special circumstances you came to visit the castle of the royal pony sisters. I hope you will enjoy your stay at this wonderful place and wish you all the best of luck for the evening performance." The maid bowed to the six. "Damn, it's almost like she's a robot." Dash whispered to the others. "It just shows her professionalism." Rarity replied. "Now then, is there any way I can help you?" Honey Due asked. "Perhaps you wish for some refreshments? Maybe something from the banquet?" "Sounds awesome! I'm starved!" Rainbow exclaimed, hovering in mid-air and rubbing her belly. The others gave her a disapproving look. "Please excuse my friend's rather rude behavior." Rarity stepped forward, but Honey Due shook her head. "It is no problem, Miss Rarity. Our world's Rainbow Dash is simply the same. I will bring you a little selection of what our kitchens have to offer tonight. If you would excuse me." The maid bowed and left. "Huh, guess Twilight briefed her personally." Sunset thought aloud. "Feeling better?" Fluttershy asked with a smile plastered on her face. "Yes, thank you girls. I don't know what I would do without you girls." "Aw, don't worry Sunny." Pinkie was still clinging on the mare from behind. For some reason Sunset didn't notice this until now. "Even if you get send to the moon, we'll help you settle in. We help you build a house, completely made of moon rocks, then we'll have a housewarming party, a goodbye Sunset Shimmer party, a Welcome Back Sunset Shimmer party, after we break you out of course and then-" Sunset put a hoof on Pinkie's mouth, before one of the guards possibly heard the crazy mare. They took their job very seriously, even if they were a little dense at times. Must be part of the job description. Honey Due came back five minutes later, with three of her colleagues and four trays filled with various foods and drinks. "I am very sorry for the rather small selection, but not all of the staff has been informed about you, since it is supposed to be a surprise. I hope you enjoy the meal never the less."
InvitationsAuthor's Note The idea wouldn't leave my mind. It won't be a long story. (5-7 chapters or so) Invitations If anyone would have bothered trying to go through the portal that day, they would have noticed that the thing was actually open. Luckily the statue was mostly ignored by the students of Canterlot High that day or else a certain princess would have quite the situation at her hooves. For the most part it just seemed like another ordinary day at Canterlot High, with students reluctantly entering the school building. Of course no one was looking forward to school, either because they have trouble keeping up in class or they had simply no motivation or they just were too good in class, like Sunset Shimmer. Being a former student of Princess Celestia, the only issue she had to deal with in school, was learning the human history, which wasn't too hard. So yeah, long story short everyone was bored. Sunset was just stuffing her things into her locker, when she was approached by the vice principal of the school. "Sunset Shimmer?" "Huh?" the Equestrian looked up and was a little surprised to see the Luna standing in front of her. "Vice principal Luna? Can I help you somehow?" "I think I can rather help you." Sunset just noticed that the woman was carrying a small plastic bag with her, from which she took out a...scroll? It was hold together by a red ribbon and had a wax seal on it. Kind of retro. Sunset thought to herself. "These were inside the mailbox this morning. They're addressed to you and your friends." Luna held out the one scroll she picked out. "This one is for you." "Okay..." Sunset took the scroll and firstly took a look at the seal. "Wait a second. That's the royal seal!" Sunset exclaimed. Luna raised an eyebrow at the sudden exclamation and the eagerness of how Sunset broke the seal. "Hmm....hmm? What? Who wrote this? Yada, yada, yada, ya...da? Invitation to the....the...the..." "Miss Shimmer? Are you alright?" Vice principal Luna asked worried, seeing the girl starting to tremble. "THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA?!" Sunset finally exclaimed, getting the attention of everyone in the hallway. Just after the exclamation a golden ticket fell out of the scroll and landed on the ground. Luna picked it up and looked at it curiously. Aside from the gold color, it looked like an ordinary ticket. It had Sunset's full name on it, a date (next week's Saturday) and was simply titled "Grand Galloping Gala Ticket." Also, there was a small description as to where to whom to give the ticket. Luna gave the ticket to Sunset, who dropped the scroll, which was caught by the vice principal. Now she didn't intend on reading her student's private mail, but she did get an accidental glimpse on the last part of the scroll. "P.S.: You're pardoned." "Come again, sugercube?" The Rainbooms were all gathered in the band room, with Sunset pacing back and forth rereading her letter over and over again. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were watching her, while Pinkie Pie was laying on the piano, her head hanging upside down, while reading her own letter. "Eh...sugercube? Are you alright?" Applejack asked again. "Alright? ALRIGHT?!" Sunset and AJ were now nose to nose. The fiery haired girl noticed the personal space problem and took a few steps back. She inhaled deeply and let the air out slowly, before speaking up again. "We just got invited" she held up the scroll "to the MOST sophisticated event in the entirety of Equestria, where the guests are all hoofpicked by Princess Celestia herself, where the high society, the most important ponies gather together. It is THE ONE EVENT everyone wants to attend, the one you rub under your friends' noses, when they don't get invited, but you did. AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BE ALRIGHT?!" The farm girl was taken aback by the sudden exclamation. Fluttershy instinctively hid behind Rarity. Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry. "So what? Sounds like the kind of thing where you wear those frou-frou dresses and eat all kind of not even tasty, really expensive food. What do eat ponies at your place anyway? Hay?" "Oh please, Rainbow Dash." Rarity waved with her hand. "You're just as excited going to Equestria as everyone else here is. There's no need to uphold your image, when you're around us darling." "Yeah, alright, maybe I'm a liiiiiittle excited." "I think this super-exciting!" Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air. She quickly got up and jumped off the instrument. She wrapped her right arm around Sunset and pressed their cheeks together. "I mean look at this!" she held up her own letter in front of Sunset. "They want us to play at the gala, as the "surprise band"." "WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed, looking at their individual invitation letters. "Twilight wrote this part. It was behind where the ticket was hanging. It says: 'I invented a spell, which can temporarily turn a pony into humans. I'll see you in two days. Twilight.'" Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds. "That. Is. AWESOME!" Rainbow pumped her fists into the hair. "Whoa nelly. Haha, wonder how the ponies are going to react to "aliens"." Everyone, except Sunset, giggled at that. Then Sunset's prior explanation to the gala fully hit Rarity. Especially the part about the "hoofpicked", she guessed Sunset meant handpicked, part. "Oh my gosh! We....we're going to meet a princess! Does that mean there's going to be a prince?! Ah! I need to prepare our dresses!" "Really Rarity?" Rainbow Dash deadpanned. "We can just wear what we had on the battle of the bands." "No! Those won't- well, maybe....but Sunset doesn't even have one! Good that I have already your measurements, darling. I better get to work, once school is over!" "Oh no!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed. "Lunch is almost over! I hope they still have some cupcakes!" The girl zoomed out of the room. "Now that she mentions it, ah could use somethin' in mah stomach as well." "Yeah, totally." Rainbow, AJ and Rarity went after Pinkie. Fluttershy was about to go as well, but then she noticed Sunset leaning against the piano, looking at the letter with a sad expression. "Uh...Sunset? Don't you want to come too?" "I'm not hungry." the other girl replied. Fluttershy walked up to the girl and put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Are you still worried about...the other Celestia?" Sunset simply nodded. Instead of saying anything like "It'll be fine" or "I'll be there for you", Fluttershy hugged the girl in front of her. Sunset hugged back. "Thank you."
PreperationsAuthor's Note Done in a day. Go figure. Preperations "Come on Sun! Where's your fire?!" Rainbow complained after another rehearsal. In general things could have gone better, yet Sunset keeps somehow screwing up, either getting out of tact, missing a note or her voice dying down. "You can do better than that!" Sunset sighed, putting her guitar down. "I guess I'm just not in the mood right now. Mind if we take break?" "Ah, hayseeds gal!" AJ exclaimed. "Quit beatin' around the bush. We all know it's 'cause of what yer have done in Equestria." The farm girl approached Sunset wit crossed arms. "But ya know Sunset" AJ put a hand on the other girl's shoulder "if ya don't wanna go, ya don't hafta go. We'll jus' tell Twi' what's up and good is." "But, this is your chance to see Equestria for yourself and even more go to the most important event over there. I don't want to ruin this for you, just because I stay behind or do a bad performance." "Darling" Rarity came from the other side and put a hand on the other shoulder "we understand that if you're not ready, you're simply not ready. There'll be no hard feelings. And what kind of friends would we be, leaving you behind, while we would be enjoying ourselves at the gala." "Yeah, it would be like a party where the guest of honor is missing." Pinkie added her two cents, throwing one of the drumsticks into the air and catching it again. "But..." Fluttershy approached the former unicorn. Before the animal lover could say anything, Sunset gave up on trying to convince the others to go without her. Instead she thought about how much it meant for her friends to go to the gala, what kind of opportunity they would miss, if she was to stay behind and that she at least owed Celestia an apology and a thank you for the pardoning. Plus Twilight went through all the trouble, trying to come up with a new spell in order to get them play as a band. If she was to chicken out, the entire work would have been for nothing. "All right." Sunset nodded. "Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked carefully. "We don't want to pressure you into something you don't want to do." "Thanks Flutters, but I owe you guys this much." "What ya talkin' 'bout Shimmer? Yer saved us at the Battle of the Bands. Yer don't owe us anythin'." Applejack rejected the comment. "Yeah, if anything, I think we're pretty even." Rainbow Dash commented. "Whatever you girls think, it's still no excuse for me moping around and ruining the entire trip for you." she picked up her guitar again. "Now come on. Let's get on with it already." Her stomach growled. "After we grabbed some grub if that is okay with you girls..." The rest of the girls simply giggled. While they were eating in AJ's kitchen, Rarity and Sunset were discussing the logistic problems. "I mean, as far as I understood, your kind doesn't have electricity over there." Rarity pointed out. "And sadly, most of our instruments doesn't work without it." "That one's going to be easy to solve." Sunset took a bite from her apple pie. "Instead of electricity we can use magic. While our instruments aren't really build to handle magic, it isn't really hard to build a converter." "And how do we transport our instruments to...Canterlot was it?" Rarity asked, tapping her chin with her finger. "As far as I understand, we cannot simply walk into the capital. Not to mention we're going to be a surprise." "Yeah!" Pinkie Pie appeared between the two, almost causing them to drop their plates. "It can't be a surprise, if everyone has already seen us. That's like showing someone what you're giving them for Christmas, while it's still summer." "Y-yes. Thank you, Pinkie dear." Rarity replied slowly. "No problem." Pinkie bounced away, back to the others. After regaining her composure, Sunset thought about what Rarity and Pinkie Pie pointed out. "Well, we could transport them in crates, put them into a train and unpack them later. Or we could transport them with a carriage. Honestly we have to ask Twilight as to how we're doing this. I can't really give you a straight answer." The rest of the rehearsal went really smoothly. Sunset had her fire back, as Rainbow Dash liked to put it. Sure it took a few tries, but in the end the Rainbooms were back in action. After a rather successful rehearsal, everyone not living at Sweet Apple Acres left. For Sunset it meant going to Rarity, in order to try out her dress. Actually, Rarity made two outfits for Sunset. One was a dark purple dress, with glitter on it. In that one Sunset wore some special boots, which were a little darker than her normal boots and also glittering. She also wore stockings, a little belt with her cutie mark in the middle and light purple gloves. [Artwork done by: TheShadowStone] The second outfit was Sunset wearing a dress which was pink on top and slowly changed to orange and then to yellow. She also wore a jeans with a flaming design on it, as well as grey sandals, which had red flaming high-heels. How they didn't break down, Sunset didn't know. In this outfit, Rarity decided to change Sunset's hair into a more curled up and slightly poofy style. [Same girl/guy] "Not exactly appropriate for a Gala, but I assume real dresses would hinder us while playing with our instruments. It's a true shame. If I had more time and we wouldn't be performing, I would have made something more...extravagant." "I'm sure they would look great." Sunset smiled. "Hmm, I'm not sure, but I tend towards the black one. Black is more my color, don't you think?" "Hmm..." Rarity eyed Sunset critically, her hand resting under her chin. "I suppose you're right. It gives you the "I am a bad girl" attire. I might try something like this myself in the future." "Really?" Sunset smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you set your eyes on someone?" "Maybe?" Rarity played with her hair. Seconds later the two girls erupted into a fit of giggles. Sunset let out a yawn. "Anyways, I think I'm going home for now. Twilight's coming tomorrow. I hope she got an idea as to where to with our instruments." "Goodnight darling. I'll see you with the rest tomorrow."
Transportation and an upcoming predicamentAuthor's Note Eh...I think I'm gonna rewrite the last two lines. Next chapter will be fun to write. I've been looking forward to it. Transportation and an upcoming predicament This was something none of the girls had thought through. How could they possibly get their instruments to Equestria without accidentally breaking them? On the other side they would end up as ponies and then they would drop their instruments. Not to mention they had to pick apart Pinkie's drums and reassemble it on the other side. They had been pondering about this particular matter for half an hour and soon the first students would arrive. The Rainbooms originally planned on giving the instruments to Twilight's care before school started. But as things stood that wouldn't be possible. Worse, the princess of friendship was supposed to be already with them, yet that wasn't the case. "Oh, come on! Where is she?!" a very impatient Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Oh...I'm sure she has a good reason for being late." Fluttershy whispered nervously. "She's the one who wanted us to meet up so early!" Rainbow continued, ignoring the other girl's comment. "Simmer down Dash, will ya?" Applejack said annoyed at the blue girl's antics. "She's a princess after all. Maybe the gal got caught up in somethin'." "Argh!" Frustrated, Rainbow threw up her arms and simply gave up, grumbling something incomprehensible. Sunset herself had to admit she was a little frustrated herself. She wrote at least three messages to Twilight, yet their friend had answered none of those. She was about to try another time, when Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "There she is!" she pointed outside the window of the music room. Everyone ran towards the window and to see Twilight getting back on her feet. The girls quickly made their way towards the school entrance, where they greeted the purple girl with their at this time usual group hug. After they broke up, it was Twilight who quickly spoke up. "Hi girls. Sorry I'm late, I had some last minutes appointments." Twilight explained quickly. It was then that her friends noticed that Twilight was almost out of breath. She must have really hurried in order to make it more or less in time. "Are you alright Twilight?" Sunset asked. "You look a little exhausted." "It's...*yawn*...fine. After this I'm going to catch up some sleep. Preparing the Grand Galloping Gala, you know the food, sending out the invitations, solving upcoming problems..." Twilight stifled another upcoming yawn. "Do you perhaps want some coffee, dear? I have some in my backpack. Oh, I left it in the music room." "Oh, thank you Rarity. That'd be really nice. So, should we start?" "Actually sugarcube, we mighta hit a wall here." Applejack scratched the back of her head. "What do you mean, we hit a wall?" the princess asked confused, titling her head. "Well" Fluttershy spoke up "we do get turned into ponies, once we're on the other side, right?" Fluttershy sounded ever so excited about the prospect of being turned into an animal. "Yes, so what?" "Uh...you know...we can't really hold our instruments without our hands." "We'd drop them the second we step through." Rainbow Dash explained further. "Oh!" Twilight slapped her forehead. Or rather fisted, since she was used to facehoofing. The others minus Sunset Shimmer found this a little confusing. Twilight put her fist under her chin, thinking on how to solve this little problem. "Hmm, I could just wait on the other side and catch everything you would drop with my magic. The downside is I would have to time it perfectly, since you will probably stumble over your own legs the moment you step out. Hmm..." Twilight appeared to be lost in thought. The others cast worried glances at each other, trying to come up with their own ideas. Unfortunately five of them had no idea how pony bodies worked and all six of them didn't know what was available on the other side of the mirror that might help in some way or other. Finally Twilight's tired brain managed to come up with something. "Of course. I got it." "Really?" Everyone asked. "Yes." the princess nodded eagerly. "We'll just use my mattress!" "...Come again, sugar?" "It's simple really. My mattress is really soft and big enough for the instruments to land without them accidentally getting damaged." No one had a better idea and time was running short. So Twilight went to the other side to carry her mattress to the mirror. The rest went as one might expect. The instruments weren't heavy for humans and easy to handle, especially Fluttershy's. However, as Twilight said once on the other side, each of the humans fell flat out on their snouts, sometimes they landed on their instruments. Twilight quickly helped them up again with her magic and put the instruments in a corner of the room for the time being. What Twilight really was interested in, was the reactions of her friends being turned into a pony. Rarity for example after finally being able to stand up examined herself. "Oh my, well...this is certainly a new experience." she stated. "Oh my" she rubbed one leg over the other, feeling her own fur. "This is really smooth." she commented. "Do you have a mirror dar- oh Twilight!" "W-what? Is something the matter?" Twilight asked. "Oh nothing's wrong, it's just...well...don't take this the wrong way, but you look positively adorable." "A-adorable?!" Twilight cheeks flushed. Before Rarity could elaborate on what she just said, the mirror brightened up. A second later Rainbow Dash fell out of it, the far end of her guitar hitting the back of her head. "Ow..." the now pegasus groaned. Just like before Twilight helped her getting back up again. It wasn't too long however before the rest came out of the portal, each with their individual instruments, except for Pinkie Pie. She only came through with her drumsticks in her mouth. After helping each of them to recover, Twilight let them examine themselves and each other. "Oh yeah!" Rainbow exclaimed, flapping her wings a few times. "Ah'll say, glad ah still got mah hat." Applejack titled said hat a little upwards. "Wow Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing over to her friend. "Your hair is really pretty, when you're a pony." "I agree with Pinkie Pie, darling. It simply looks fabulous!" Rarity said, while carefully walking over to her friend. "It's called mane over here." Sunset explained. She proceeded to look over to Fluttershy, who was as surprisingly silent. Sunset had expected the animal lover to be the most excited one out of all of them. Maybe she was just nervous again, because everypony's attention was on her. Walking over towards the shy girl or mare in this case, Sunset put a hoof on the shoulder of the butter colored pegasus. "Fluttershy? Are you alright?" she asked. ... Fluttershy slowly looked up from behind her mane, showing Sunset the most creepy smile she had seen in her entire life. And she was friends with Pinkie Pie! "Uh...Shy?" Slowly Fluttershy raised one of her legs and stroke Sunset's mane. "...so adorable..." "What?"
Cute little animalsAuthor's Note 1000 + a few word challenged finished around 90 minutes. Huh, I'm getting better. Still, I hope one day 30 minutes will be sufficient. Cute little animals "There, there, you need to relax your muscles every once in a while. You don't want them to cramp up, do you?" "Uh...any idea, when she's gonna snap out of it?" Rainbow Dash asked, as Fluttershy carefully massaged Rainbow's back, being especially carefully around the wing muscles. Their friend had entered some kind of cuteness overload stage and so far every attempt to snap her out of it failed. Well, they didn't try to hurt her, because it was Fluttershy! Their solution? One stayed behind, while the others carried everything else over. Now they were finished and Fluttershy still didn't realize that she had been petting and taking care of her friends. Rarity tried another approach, clearing her throat. "Ahem, Fluttershy dear. It's not like we're not grateful for all the kindness you're giving us, but-" "Oh my!" Fluttershy flew away (she somehow figured it out) from Rainbow Dash and over to Rarity. "Your mane is a little messy." "What?!" Rarity looked over to the mirror and noticed that a few strains were out of nowhere. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that." From somewhere in Twilight's castle, Fluttershy was able to produce a brush and started carefully straightening out Rarity's mane. "You have such a beautiful mane. Now, we don't want it to get all messy, do we? No of course not. You don't like it, when things get messy." "Maybe we should just gently push her back through the portal." Sunset suggested, rubbing the back of her head. "I could levitate her over there, without plugging a single feather. Maybe on the other side, we'll have our Fluttershy back." "That is, unless she doesn't jump through it right back." Applejack pointed out. "Shy seriously." Applejack tapped her friend a teensy, tiny bit more on the shoulder. "Shy, ya had yer fun, but we seriously need to go back or we'll miss the first period." "Oh no, I can't give you another apple. You don't want to become...you know, a little overweight." AJ facehoofed. "Ow." And accidentally hurt herself, not realizing that hooves were harder than hands. "Come on Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in front of the momentarily pegasus. "I'll even make you a very special cupcake if you come with us." she turned her head upside down trying to get Fluttershy's attention with her little antic. "Don't worry, I'm going to play with you, as soon as I'm done here. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two." "Oh dear." Twilight rubbed her forehead. "I really hate to do it" she said, while levitating a bucket full of water over. "Wait!" Sunset exclaimed, holding her hoof up. "Let me try something else, first." "Uh, I think we've pretty much run out of options." "Wait, sugar. Ah know we need a might more drastic measures in order to snap her out of it, but ya see, Shy had...a not so well childhood experience with a bucket full of water." AJ explained. "Yeah, Twi." Rainbow walked up. "We pinkie promised not to tell a soul, but belief me. You don't want to do that." "Alright..." Twilight reluctantly complied, but she knew better than to go against her friends' advice. "Oh my, Fluttershy." Rarity was viewing herself in the mirror portal. "I didn't know you were so skilled with the brush." "There, now you're all pretty again." Fluttershy hugged Rarity from behind before going over to Pinkie Pie and gently tickling the mare under the chin. "Now what should we play today?" Pinkie giggled and was about to respond, but Sunset levitated Fluttershy over to herself and forced the butter colored pegasus to look into the unicorns face. "Fluttershy, I know this is heaven for you, but we need to go back. Don't you have other animals to take care of back at home? What will they think if you'd stay here and never come back?" The others flinched. Sunset was playing the cold reality card. It immediately showed an effect, as a few tears started to run down Fluttershy's face. Sunset let go of her face and gave her friend a big hug, while said pegasus started crying into the unicorn's shoulder. "Sunset! I don't want to go! It's just...have you seen the outside! They're all ponies and...there're so many animals! I don't want to go! Can't I just take my animals over here too?" If adorableness could kill, Sunset would have had ten heart attacks, the moment Fluttershy looked at her with those teary eyes. As best as she could Sunset resisted to comply to Fluttershy's wish and stroked her friend's back, while at the same time cooing softly into the pegasus' ear. The others too gathered around and hugged Fluttershy. "It's not like we'll never come back here again." Sunset said softly. "I'm sure arrangements can be made, so you can visit here every ones in a while." Sunset gave Twilight an apologetic smile. The princess of friendship frowned a little, but then put a hoof under her chin and finally nodded. "Well...there are some experiments I wasn't capable of doing, mainly studying the effect of the mirror more thoroughly. And I guess it would be unfair if I was the only allowed traveling back and fourth. AGH!" Fluttershy had tackle-hugged Twilight and thrown both against the wall. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!"
Before the performanceAuthor's Note Next time the big moment. You know I probably should have written a one-shot. Next chapter is gonna be extra long. For now, enjoy the little interaction. Before the performance Teleportation sickness is something about half the participants who teleport for the first time experience. You get used to it, but as long as you're not, chances are, you're going to throw up after the first time. Such was the case of two of Sunset's friends, namely Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Since they couldn't exactly move around Ponyville without being noticed by somepony, Twilight long beforehand decided to teleport all of them to the train station. "Urgh, next time we take a cab." Rainbow commented. "Sorry, I should have warned you beforehoof. I just assumed it would be no problem, since my other friends didn't get teleportation sickness during their first time." Sunset and Rarity helped Fluttershy up to her hooves, while Pinkie Pie and Applejack did the same with Rainbow Dash. All five were still unstable when it came to more than just standing around, but at least Twilight would soon put them all back into their regular bodies. "Wouldn't a chariot be faster?" Sunset asked. "Normally yes, but Princess Celestia spends the rest of the evening in her garden, before going to the Gala. And we can't exactly spoil the surprise, now can we?" "Wait a minute. She doesn't KNOW we're coming?!" Calming down the frightened unicorn was no easy task. The others thought it would go away over time, but Sunset was still cowering in a corner of Twilight's private wagon, while the princess explained to the rest how the evening would proceed. At least she tried, but the gnashing of Sunset's teeth was very loud and thus very distracting. "Seriously are she and Celestia in that bad terms?" Rainbow Dash asked in a whisper, so that Sunset wouldn't hear it. "I don't know, since I never saw it my place to ask something like this. And I think we should respect Sunset's wishes. If she wants to share the story with us, she will do it when she is ready and if not, then not." Twilight replied. The others nodded in agreement, turning towards the mare. "I'm sorry, but I really need to go now. Take care of her, alright? I'll get you, when it's time. Ask the staff if you need anything." with those words, Twilight. Fluttershy couldn't bear seeing her cute friend trembling anymore and decided to walk over to Sunset. The quivering mare didn't look up. Gently the high school pony placed herself next to Sunset and put a wing over the unicorn's back. Instinctively the mare flinched a little, until she could feel the comfortable warmth radiating off the pegasus' body. Sunset wrapped her forelegs around her friend's body, still trembling. "I can't do this Fluttershy. She's going to throw me into the dungeon! Send me to the moon! Or worse! She's going to send you with me to the moon, because she thinks I'm trying to replace Twilight and her friends with you guys!" The other four gave each other a look, while Fluttershy held Sunset's head in her forelegs. "Ah never thought ah'd see her lose it." AJ commented dryly. "Oh dear, maybe we should give her our support. The poor darling looks like she's ready to burst into tears." Rarity trotted over to her friend and rather awkwardly wrapped her left foreleg around her friend. "There, there, darling. Everything is going to be alright. If your princess Celestia is anything like our principal Celestia, then she will have forgiven you already. Especially since Twilight most likely told her about the important role YOU took, when we faced off against the sirens." Sunset looked up, a little hope appearing on her face. Pinkie jumped from behind, hugging Sunset from the back. Rolling their eyes, AJ and Rainbow followed their friends, a smile gracing their faces. Secretly all of them thought that this was very comfortable, with their fur rubbing off each others bodies. Maybe being a pony wasn't so bad. The moment was interrupted by somepony knocking at the door. One of the hoofmaidens at the castle stepped into the room, looking non-plussed at the display in front of her, while the others blushed furiously. "Greetings, travelers. My name is Honey Due. Princess Twilight asked me to be your hoofmaiden for this evening. I have been briefed about the special circumstances you came to visit the castle of the royal pony sisters. I hope you will enjoy your stay at this wonderful place and wish you all the best of luck for the evening performance." The maid bowed to the six. "Damn, it's almost like she's a robot." Dash whispered to the others. "It just shows her professionalism." Rarity replied. "Now then, is there any way I can help you?" Honey Due asked. "Perhaps you wish for some refreshments? Maybe something from the banquet?" "Sounds awesome! I'm starved!" Rainbow exclaimed, hovering in mid-air and rubbing her belly. The others gave her a disapproving look. "Please excuse my friend's rather rude behavior." Rarity stepped forward, but Honey Due shook her head. "It is no problem, Miss Rarity. Our world's Rainbow Dash is simply the same. I will bring you a little selection of what our kitchens have to offer tonight. If you would excuse me." The maid bowed and left. "Huh, guess Twilight briefed her personally." Sunset thought aloud. "Feeling better?" Fluttershy asked with a smile plastered on her face. "Yes, thank you girls. I don't know what I would do without you girls." "Aw, don't worry Sunny." Pinkie was still clinging on the mare from behind. For some reason Sunset didn't notice this until now. "Even if you get send to the moon, we'll help you settle in. We help you build a house, completely made of moon rocks, then we'll have a housewarming party, a goodbye Sunset Shimmer party, a Welcome Back Sunset Shimmer party, after we break you out of course and then-" Sunset put a hoof on Pinkie's mouth, before one of the guards possibly heard the crazy mare. They took their job very seriously, even if they were a little dense at times. Must be part of the job description. Honey Due came back five minutes later, with three of her colleagues and four trays filled with various foods and drinks. "I am very sorry for the rather small selection, but not all of the staff has been informed about you, since it is supposed to be a surprise. I hope you enjoy the meal never the less."
