At the Gala

Iris had an idea about how she was going to get to the Gala; but she first she had to go see her friends, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity. Before heading out, she had to run down to her bedroom. She opened her chest and rummaged through it until she finally found it, her mother’s old dress. She rolled it up and packed it into her saddlebag. She grabbed her cloak and bandana then headed out the front door.

She trotted across the street toward a tall gray manor covered in vines. She knocked on the door. Soon it swung open and a small purple dragon in the doorway greeted her. This was Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s assistant. He had green spikes on his head that went down along his spine to the tip of his tail. He looked up at Iris with his large green reptilian eyes.

“Oh Hi Iris!” he said with a wide smile, filled with small sharp teeth “Come on in I’ll let Twilight know you’re here” he stepped to the side to let her in.

Iris stepped through the doorway while thanking her dragon friend.

Spike lifted his hands to his mouth and shouted up the stairs “Twilight Iris is here!”

“I’ll be down in an minute” Twilight responded.

Iris looked down at the small dragon “How are you Spike?” she asked.

“I’m good…” he opened his mouth wide letting out a yawn “…now that Twilight’s done with her exams and on summer break I’ve been trying to catch up on sleep. Ms. Star Student” he did air quotes with his fingers “Had a lot of late nights studying for her exams…” he let out another yawn while stretching out his arms “…and I was more than happy to stay up to assist with her studies”

“Well I’m sure Twilight is eternally grateful for all your help. Have you heard about the Gala yet?”

“Oh Yeah!” he immediately brighten up with a wide toothy smile “Muffins stopped by earlier and delivered our invitation. You should have seen the look on Twilight’s face when she read it. I haven’t seen her this excited since she wrote that 50-page research paper on the history of the Crystal Empire.”

“Really? I thought she didn’t like parties, she usually avoids them.”

“Yeah but her heroes the Princesses Celestia and Luna always come to the Gala. This is her only shot to ever meet them in person.”

“Oh!” She didn’t think about possibly seeing Royalty other than King Discord himself. She was just curious about going out, seeing the fireworks, eating delicious food, living like a normal pony.

Her ears then perked up under her bandana as she heard a door open and close. She looked up and saw her friend coming down the stairs. Twilight Sparkle was a lavender unicorn, her mane and tail were eggplant purple with a stripe of bright pink and purple down the middle, and her eyes were the same shade of purple as her mane. “Hi Iris! What brings you over?” she asked as she walked towards her.

“Hey Twilight! I came by to ask if you and Spike were going to the Gala?”

“Oh absolutely!” Twilight shrieked with enthusiasm, “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are going to be there! This might be the only shot I get to met the two most famous and powerful ponies in the entire World!” she said with a huge, wide, smile on her face.

“Yeah, Spike was just telling me about the news. I’m excited for you, not everyone gets to meet his or her hero in person. Anyway I was wondering if I could ride with you guys… to the Gala? If that’s okay?”

“Oh of course you can ride with us! My brother is Captain of the Royal Guard so he is sending us a ride, why do you ask?”

“Well…” Iris started to say, her eyes rolling all over avoiding eye contact. Twilight then gasped in realization “Don’t tell me Cinch isn’t letting you go to the Gala!!!” she yelled in alarm.

“Well… yes and no… you see I asked her if I could go to the Gala and she said I could but I would have to make my own arrangements for getting to and back from the Gala. So that’s why I came to ask for a ride.”

“Not cool” Spike added “But maybe it’s for the best. This way you’ll be going to the Gala with Friends” he said with a smile to cheer her up.

Iris smiled warmly down at him “You know what Spike your right. It will be more fun to go to the Gala with you and Twilight”, she turned her head back to Twilight, “Speaking of friends...Do you have some free time? I’m going over to Rarity’s and ask her for help with my dress, would you like to come with me? ”

“Spike and I would love to come. I was going to her place later today anyway. Let me just grab my dress real quick”

Twilight went up to her room and back a few seconds later with her dress in her saddlebag. “Alright I’m ready. Lets go”

Spike held the door open for the two mares. They thanked him as they stepped out the door. He slowly closed the door behind them and locked the door with a key. Twilight levitated the key from his claw into her bag. The three friends headed straight down the road toward the shopping plaza.

After a while, they finally came upon a beautiful white dress shop. A white sign covered in light blue stones around the edges hung above the door reading “Rarity’s Boutique”. Iris opened the door first and a loud bell chimed as she opened it. She stood aside and held the door open for Twilight and Spike to come in. She slowly closed the door behind them.

A beautiful white unicorn with a curly purple mane and tail greeted the group “Welcome darlings to Rarity’s Boutique! Where every outfit is chic, unique, and magnificent!”

Spike looked up at her with hearts in his eyes, his mouth turned into a goofy smile, and more hearts fluttering around his head. “Hi Rarity” he moaned.

Iris and Twilight rolled their eyes at his behavior. “Hi Rarity” they said greeting her.

“Oh… Iris, Twilight, Spike…I didn’t even notice it was you. Oh wait... let me guess! You’re here to pick out dresses for the Gala!” she said in a rich accent.

“Are we that obvious Twilight?” Iris asked sarcastically while looking over at her with a mischievous grin. She looked over to Iris while raising a single eyebrow at her “I’m afraid so Iris… I’m afraid so”

“Forgive me darlings but I am just so EXCITED about our first Grand Galloping Gala” Rarity squealed with enthusiasm.

“We understand Rarity!” said Twilight.

“We’re excited too” said Iris.

“Right! Any who when I received my invitation to the Gala my brain instantly buzzed with ideas for gowns and I immediately began drawing up some sketches”

Rarity walked over to the counter, everyone followed behind her. She levitated a purple sketchbook with a giant light blue jewel on the cover over to her friends. She opened the book to the last few pages. Iris took hold of the book and held it out so everyone could peer over the pages. Twilight kept flipping through the pages while Rarity stood to the side; her big, brilliant, blue eyes were wide with anticipation.

“So what do you think? Which ones do you like?” Rarity asked.

“These are beautiful Rarity! But…do you really have time to make dresses for all of us...From scratch…in two weeks?” Twilight asked slightly panicked.

Rarity’s ears dropped down, her eyes filled with panic “Oh” the shock in her face was soon replaced with sadness “I suppose you are right…There I go again getting all caught up in the excitement… not thinking things through” she finished with a half-hearted giggle.

Iris placed the book back on to the counter and walked over to Rarity and placed a hoof on her shoulder and smiled down at her “Twilight and I had an idea. We brought over some old dresses that we were wondering if you could modify them to look like new for the Gala.” she said, then she turned to face Twilight.

Rarity gasped with excitement “Brilliant Girls! Reinventing classic retro styles into today’s world of Haute Couture. Follow me to the back and show me what I’m working with here”

Everyone followed Rarity to her studio in the back of her shop behind the counter. Spike made sure to grab Rarity’s sketchbook from off the counter and carried it with him to the back. They walked through the door and down the hallway. At the end they walked into a wide, messy room, filled with mannequins, papers, pens, pencils, measuring tape, and various other fabrics cover the entire space.

Rarity stepped over next to two pony mannequins “If you girls would be so kind to put your dresses on these mannequins while I go grab my supplies to take your measurements”

Twilight and Iris set down their bags and pulled out their old dresses. Twilight used her magic and levitated her old dress over onto the first mannequin. Her dress definitely looked worn out. The front torso was dark red with orange frills around the neck and the short sleeves. The skirt of the dress was the same shade of orange as the frill. A few buttons were missing from the front and one orange button hung loose.

Iris pulled her mother’s dress out and placed it over the second mannequin. Her dress was simple, plain…boring. The front torso was white with short sleeves that ended at the shoulder. The skirt was light lavender with a big pink bow tied around the waist.

Rarity came back levitating her box of supplies next to her head. “Ok let’s see what I’m…” Rarity’s eyes became wide open, here pupils shrunk down to tiny dots. Her jaw dropped. Her box of supplies began to drop. Luckily, Twilight quickly lit up her horn and caught the box with her magic before it touched the ground.

“What’s the matter Rarity?” Spike asked in a concerned tone.

“Our dresses aren’t really that bad, are they?” Iris inquired.

She shook her head back and forth to snap out of her shock “No, No its just they are so, so…plain” she said the last word as if she were in pain.

She stepped over to Twilight’s dress first. She walked around the mannequin, looking over the color, fabric, and other details of the dress. She would occasionally say “Hmmm” to herself.

Iris couldn’t help but notice that Twilight was oddly tense as Rarity examined her dress, worried even. ‘Why’ she thought to herself, ‘She is just looking over the dress, it’s not like an exam, and she’s not going to be graded.’

“Well…” She finally spoke after taking almost 20 minutes looking over the dress. “How do I explain this?” she pondered with a hoof scratching underneath her chin. She regained her composure and looked over to her friends “Twilight your dress is much too…young for you dear”

“Oh!” Twilight said almost relieved “Is that all? But you can do something with it right?”

“Hmmm…I might be able to do something with the red torso part. However I’ll have to replace the skirt entirely and get rid of the frill detail. Twilight how would you feel about the dress being sleeveless?”

“That sounds like a little too much exposure”

“Exposure?” exclaimed Spike “Twilight you normally don’t wear anything!”

Twilight stared down at him with her eyes squinted eyes “I mean it’s too much exposure for a formal event”

“Don’t worry darling! I’ll give you some long gloves to wear you’ll look more elegant that way”

“Ok now what do you think about my mother’s dress?” Iris asked.

“What! This was your mother’s dress Iris?” Rarity said in a panic tone.

“Yeah when she married daddy she wore this very dress”

“OH…Oh my…Are you sure about this Iris? ” Rarity asked concerned. She knew how much Iris had loved her mother.

Iris shifted her gaze back to the dress. Suddenly an image of her mother twirling around wearing it popped into her mind.

“What’s with the dress mommy?” a younger Iris asked her.

“Tonight is our anniversary and I want to look nice for your father” said her mother.

“But why?”

Iris’s mother bent down and looked into her eyes “Oh my dear little flower! When you’re older and meet the stallion of your dreams you’ll understand”

“Not the ‘when you are older’ line mommy, that bit is older than you are”

“Yes it is but only because it is true for all youngsters like yourself. Besides someday I’ll give you this dress to wear on a special occasion. I’ll even help you modify it if you want to”

“Darling?” came Rarity’s voice.

Iris snapped back to reality, “Uh! What? Did you say something Rarity?”

“I asked if you were okay with using your mother’s dress. You were just standing still silently staring at it. I was wondering if you were having second thoughts about this?” Rarity asked concerned about her friend.

“Oh…oh yeah I’m one-hundred percent sure about this. Yes…I know she would have been thrilled to bits with our idea” she said with a small smile.

Rarity, Twilight, and Spike noticed that tears were forming in Iris’s eyes. Twilight put her hoof atop Iris’s shoulder to comfort her. Spike walked over and hugged Iris’s forelegs letting her know that everything was okay; she was in a safe place with her friends.

Iris lifted one of her fore hooves to her eyes and wiped away her tears. “It’s okay everypony. I’m fine… I was just remembering…well you guys can probably guess what”

After a few moments of silence, Twilight and Spike stepped back to give her some space. She shook her head before returning her attention back to Rarity. “So…um… What do you think Rarity?”

Rarity was still wiping away her tears as well with a handkerchief. She took a deep breath and began explaining, “Well the dress itself is not awful, the quality and color of the fabric is rather impressive.”

“But…”

“But… the dress I’m afraid is much too small for you. I would have to find a dress your size and perhaps integrate a few pieces from this dress into it.”

“Why don’t you use your magic to make it bigger?”

“My magic isn’t really powerful enough for a spell like that”

Twilight excitedly chimed in “Oh but I can! How big should the dress be Rarity?”

“Oh thank you Twilight! Just a little bigger than Iris herself so I can make the proper adjustments to it”

Everyone stood back to give Twilight some extra space to cast her spell. Her horn began to glow bright purple, beads of sweat were forming on her face. She pointed her horn towards the dress and a burst of purple light shot out from her horn and hit the dress. In a puff of pink smoke the dress and the mannequin were as big as Iris herself.

“Perfect! Thank you Twilight darling” Rarity praised her.

“Sure anything to help my friends” Twilight smiled.

“Alright then lets get to work. Spike would you be an dear and assist me while I take the girls measurements?”

Rarity began taking the girls measurements with Spike writing them down as she went. Afterwards she had them look through some fashion magazines to figure out how they wanted their dresses to look. It was finally dusk, Iris told everyone she had to go and start dinner for everyone. Everyone said their goodbyes and left Rarity’s shop. Iris walked Twilight and Spike back to their house.

Along the way Spike had been deep in thought, often looking back at Rarity’s shop. Iris and Twilight noticed that he had been frequently looking over his shoulder.

Twilight finally asked him “Is something wrong Spike? Did you leave something at Rarity’s? We can go back if…”

“What?” Spike snapped back as he heard Twilight’s voice “Oh ah…no…no I was just thinking about…” he turned looking straight at the shop again while rubbing the back of his neck. Iris walked closer to look at his face. She could see that he was uneasy about something, but what?

“What is it Spike? You know you can tell us or ask us anything right?” she stated.

Spike lowered his claw down to his side. He took a deep breath and then let it back out.

He turned facing Iris and Twilight “Okay you guys know about my crush on Rarity right?”

Iris and Twilight shared nervous glances worried where he was going with this. “Yes” they both responded in unison.

“Well… with the Grand Galloping Gala coming up I was thinking about…finally telling Rarity how I feel about her and asking her to…be…my…date…to…the gala”

Twilight and Iris looked at each other with uncertainty and looked back down at Spike again.

Twilight cleared her throat “Well…um…Spike…I’m sure Rarity would be flattered if you did ask her but…um… just keep in mind she might…well…um”

“She might not feel the same way about you” Iris finished for her.

“Exactly…Thank You Iris”

“I’m sure once I tell her how I feel she’ll definitely say yes”

“And what if she says no?” Twilight asked.

Spike looked down at the ground to hide his face “I don’t know” then he quickly looked back up “But I know I won’t know unless I ask her for sure”

Iris replied “Alright… just remember the worst that can happen is she says no”

“And that we’ll be here to support you no matter what happens” Twilight added.

“Thanks guys, but really I’m ready! I’m sure she’ll say yes when I tell her how I feel”

The three friends finally started walking back to their homes. Iris said good night to Twilight and wished Spike the best of luck with Rarity. She headed straight for the kitchen to fix her supper.

“Welcome home Iris” Madame Cinch was sitting at the table sipping from a teacup.

Iris stood frozen in the doorway in a state of confusion and fear. What was she doing here, she thought to herself. What could I have possibly done? I haven’t been home for most of the day.

“Funny. You go out for groceries all day and you come back with no groceries. Explain yourself” Madame Cinch says in an icy, cold, stern voice.

Un oh Iris thought to herself.