“Good evening, everypony.”
“Good evening, your Highness.”
As the moon moved into its proper place in the night sky, Princess Luna began her royal duties. First on her list was a daily briefing by her royal advisors. They were seated around a long wooden table, each with a stack of papers in front of them detailing their daily report for the Princess. The blue alicorn sipped from a mug of coffee before turning to the earth pony to her left.
“Let’s start with you, Colton Powell. How are the ponies of Equestria holding up?”
“All’s quiet today, ma’am. Nothing to report.”
Luna worked her way down the table, calling each council member by name. Each roughly give the same report. No problems to correct. No court business to oversee. Another night indoors.
“And lastly, Miss Cheery Cordial, are there any social events upcoming that require my presence?”
Cheery Cordial was Luna’s newest hire at Celestia’s suggestion. After hearing about the incident with the Tantabus, Celista hinted that Luna’s cure for her anxiety might being going out and seeing ponies enjoying her beautiful night. Luna cautiously accepted the advice, and hired Cheery Cordial as her social coordinator.
“Your Highness, while there is nothing that requires your attendance, there is an art gallery hosting several pieces by Saddlador Dali.”
“Is he the one with the upturned mustache and the painting with the melting clocks?” She was intrigued. She never considered herself much of an artsy pony, but the antics of Mr. Dali always made her curious.
Cheery flipped through her notes, muttering to herself. “Yes he is, ma’am. The painting with the clocks is named “The Persistence of Memory”. Are you interested in attending?” Cheerily was slightly bemused and curious. Despite close to a month of daily staff meetings, this marked the first time the Princess had an interest in her suggested activity.
“Provided no other advisor has anything planned for me, I believe so.” Luna looked to the other ponies, but none said anything.
“Very well, I’ll notify the curator so that he may plan accordingly.”
“Please try to keep this as ‘need to know’ as possible.” Luna said matter-of-factly. She had no interest in turning the gallery showing into a spectacle about her. “When does the show start?”
“In about an hour, ma’am.”
“Then we’d better get a move on. You’re all dismissed. Cheery, come with me.” Each pony gathered their papers and rose from the table while Luna teleported herself and Cheery to her bedchambers.
She walked over to her closet. Rubbing her chin with her hoof, she pondered her collection of outfits. “Cheery, what would you suggest I wear tonight?”
Cheery stood next to the princess and mulled over the wardrobe. There were pieces from designers all over Equestria. Her eyes darted from left to right, her neck craned to see what Luna could already see easily. When she settled on what she wanted though, her eyes lit up and a grin flew across her face.
“This one!” she half-shouted, pointing to a lovely scarlet gown with a gold buckle in the center. The dress glowed with a cobalt-like shimmer as Luna pulled it out of the closet.
“Good call, Cheery.” Luna beamed as she floated the dress into the powder room. After a few moments, she emerged fully dressed with an enchanted brush floating through her mane. “How does it look?” There was some amount of worry in her voice, as if she was genuinely worried people wouldn’t like her or the dress.
Cheery looked her over a bit, smiled,and giggled “Princess, you could show up naked and still be the best dressed pony there.”
Luna breathed a sigh of relief and her smile found its place back on her lips. “Thank you Cheery. Now, how far away is the gallery?”
“A fifteen minute carriage ride. We should leave soon. I’ll summon the Royal Guard. Meet me out front.” With that, Cheery galloped out of the bedroom.
Luna spent another few minutes brushing her tail, brushing her teeth, and thinking about all the different ways the night could go terribly wrong. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, both literally and figuratively, the indigo princess trotted out of the bathroom, and headed down towards the castle gates.
By the time she arrived down, her royal escort was prepped and ready to go out. At first sight, each bat pony raised their hoof in a salute to the princess. She saluted back and they returned to their relaxed but attentive stances. Cheery was waiting next to the carriage with a saddlebag. Inside it was a book on modern Equestrian art.
“I brought along a reference guide. I can brief you on Mr. Dali during the ride over.” Cheery was flipping through the book, trying to find the chapter that focused on him. Her expression turned to a scowl when she reached a particular point in the textbook.
“The pages have been ripped out!” She exclaimed.
“Don’t tell Princess Twilight.” Luna chuckled, trying to distract Cheery from the missing information. “With any luck, everypony will be too shocked at my arrival to even question my knowledge on the subject.” Her air of coolness enveloped a core of concern. What if somepony did ask her about him. Her mind ran through every scenario, all ending with her being laughed out of the gallery. She was certain this would not end well.
“We’re here, my lady.” Luna’s thoughts were sharply interrupted by the carriage driver’s shouting. It was to be now or never.
Glancing out the window, the gallery was a modest building with a handful of ponies waiting in a line to the side. There was no red carpet, no paparazzi, no need to cause a scene. She could get in and out without a fuss.
Several ponies turned to look as the carriage door opened and she gracefully stepped on to the sidewalk. The doorman noticed her and shouted something inside the door. A surprised-looking pegasus rushed outside and began charging towards the Princess. He stopped well short of her, vainly attempted to untussle his mane, and then bowed as she approached him.
“My dear Princess of the Night. It is an honor for you to grace my gallery with your presence. I am the curator and host, Canvas Print. Please, come inside.” He led her through the front door, with Cheery in tow. They passed several ponies, each seemed more bemused than the next about a Princess appearing somewhere like this.
The interior of the building was square, with walls jutting out along various lengths of the perimeter. Paintings were arranged neatly on almost every wall, with a blank space in the back providing room for a spread of h'orderves and wine. There were ponies milling about the paintings, each spending time observing and commenting on them if there happened to be someone next to them. Those that noticed the Princess gave a brief facial expression of surprise, but then turned back to the painting as if she hadn't been there at all.
Luna stood in the center of the room, slowly drinking the event in. There was no sign of Saddlador Dali, but she wouldn’t have recognized him from behind. Without warning, there was a shrill shriek.
“Luna, dahling! I had no idea you would be here. AND IS THAT MY DRESS?!”
The familiar voice behind her caught the Princess off guard. She spun around to see a white unicorn in a black turtleneck and red beret. Her horn glowed as she brought a small glass of red wine to her lips.
Luna’s face brightened as she recognized her as Rarity, a member of Twilight’s “Friends of the Round Table.” She extender her wings and embraced the unicorn.
“Rarity! So wonderful to see you. I had no idea you were a patron of the arts.”
“I love this gallery more than anything really. Canvas Print once hosted several of my more “experimental” dresses and I’ve made it a habit of being here on nights like this. If he has an eye for MY talent,” she gestured to herself with a slight ironic smirk, “I want to see what else he thinks is grand. Come, come. Let’s get you a drink”
“Before we do that, I wanted to introduce you to Cheery Cordial, my social coordinator. She’s the one who told me about tonight.” Luna motioned to the pony next to her. “Cheery, this is Rarity. Element of Generosity, proprietor of Carousel Boutique, and personal friend.”
“Oh Miss Rarity, so wonderful to meet you. I walk by your Canterlot shop all the time and I just love your designs.” Cheery was enthused to be standing in front of her.
“Well I would be more than happy to set you up with something just for you. We can’t have the Royal Social Coordinator dressing in anything but the finest cloths. Drop by the shop tomorrow, I’ll set you up with something on the house. Now come, both of you. To the bar!”
While they sauntered to the bar, Luna winked at Cheery. She wasn’t sure if it was Rarity’s trademark generosity that had inspired her to offer the new dress or a desire to promote her store through gifts to well-to-do mares. She put it out of her mind, vowing to think the best of her.
Once they had arrived, Rarity ordered the group three glasses of “the finest wine available.” Coincidentally, it also happened to be the only wine being being served that night. Taking a sip from the glass, Luna recognized the hints of cherries and apples, but couldn’t put a name of the winery.
Rarity sipped from her glass and let it hover next to her while she asked the other two ponies “So, what’s your favorite Saddlador Dali piece?”
Luna immediately blushed and started to confess her ignorance, only to have Cheery cut her off.
“Personally, I most recently found myself drawn to his piece “The Elephants”. You see, Rarity, most ponies in Equestria have never even seen an elephant. They only know them as animals from a distant land, same as zebras. Dali painted it right there in front of them. He also took it a step further and combined his surrealist style with the anatomy of the elephants, giving them the disjointed look you see here.” She pointed to the piece that was hanging nearby.
The ponies walked over and stared at the piece, each taking it in for themselves. After a moment, Cheery continued with her analysis.
“So you see the two elephants are portrayed in the surrealist style, but I’m of the opinion that he had an ulterior motive for this. Notice the legs, don’t they look like pony legs? I think he did this as a way for those ponies who would never see an elephant to connect with them on a physical level. He intends from us to see them almost as we see ourselves.”
Luna could only stare as Cheery spoke. Her analysis, though brief, drew mild applause and mumbles of approval from the ponies around them. Even Rarity was enthralled.
“Well, that’s certainly one explanation. And I’ll admit, it’s the first time I’ve heard someone say my art has an element of connectivity.”
The crowd parted, and a tall, thin pony with an upturned mustache made his way through to the trio.
“I must say it is an honor to not only meet the Element of Generosity, and the Princess of the Night, but to also be introduced to someone with such unique views on my art. Saddlador Dali, pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
He lifted Cheery’s hoof with his own and brought it up to his mouth, kissing it gently. She giggled and blushed deeply.
“Oh I just studied a few of your paintings when I was in college. A filly’s gotta have a hobby.” Her breathing increased and she looked as if she was about to faint, so Luna extended a wing and rubbed her back, ready to catch her if she did.
Dali looked his painting over as a master craftspony would over one of their creations. He chuckled to himself, as if playing a one-pony game of “I know something you don’t know.” He turned back to face them, his face returning to its traditional stoic state, with just a hint of smirk on the left side.
“Ladies, thank you for introducing me to a side of my art that I didn’t even know was there. I apologize, but I must take my leave. Please, come by again next time I’m in Canterlot.”
He bowed, and then made a hasty exit from the gallery. Canvas Print cleared his throat loudly to get everypony’s attention.
“Thank you all for coming this evening. With Mr. Dali’s departure, we are concluding our event this evening. Please take a moment to finish your drinks, dispose of them correctly, and exit the premises.” He shot a look at the three mares, as if to subtly blame them for running off the talent.
“Well this was certainly more exciting than I anticipated.” Luna said with a slight uptick in her voice. “Cheery, what do you suppose caused him to run off like that?”
“I wish I knew, honestly. If I was to take a guess, perhaps inspiration struck him and he couldn’t bear to lose what was in his mind’s eye.” Cheery’s voice faded off as she looked up and off into the distance. “Goodbye, my love.” She whispered to herself.
Luna nudged her on the shoulder in response “Oh come on, let’s go. Rarity, it was lovely to see you again. Please do come by the castle next time you’re in town, I’m always in the market for the latest fashion.” They embraced and walked out the doors together.
On the carriage ride back to the castle, Luna reflected on the evening’s activities. Not only did nothing go wrong, she had surprised herself by staying calm and collected. She looked over at Cheery Cordial, who was still off in her own little world. She smiled and knew that this would be the first of many adventures together.