The moon had just been risen on the horizon a few minutes ago, and stars and constellations had just been added to the sky. Twilight and her friends were at the Carousel Boutique, getting ready for the Grand Galloping Gala. Twilight wore a dark blue dress with a star design and on her ear she had a star earring, Rarity wore a pink dress and on her head was a yellow crown with a princess jewel, Fluttershy wore a light green dress with designs of butterflies and a butterfly earring, Applejack wore a cowgirl-themed dress, Pinkie wore a white dress with lilac-colored candy designs and on her ear was a bullet earring, and Rainbow was wearing a rainbow dress and in her ear was a lightning bolt earring.
“So, darlings? What do you plan to do at this year’s Grand Galloping Gala?” asked Rarity, placing her false eyelashes near a mirror.
“I’m going to have fun at night with my sister Maud Pie!” Pinkie replied, jumping happily into the room.
“I’m going to spend the night with Discord,” Fluttershy replied with a shy smile.
“I’m going to spend time with the Wonderbolts, since now, I’m one of them,” Rainbow replied with a smile of pride.
“I’m goin’ to pass the time at the gala sealing good food made by the Apples,” Applejack replied.
“I will try again to find love, but without being with that inelegant Prince Blueblood!” said Rarity with disgust just to remember the prince that she had fallen in love, but during the gala, he acted nothing as a prince should. She soon looked at Twilight who hadn’t answered her question yet. “What about you, Twilight? What are you going to do at this year’s Grand Galloping Gala?”
Twilight looked sideways shyly as a pink flush appeared on her just imagining what she would do that night. “I… I’m going to spend the night with Princess Luna, because as it’s her first night at the Grand Galloping Gala, I want her to have the best night ever by my side.”
“This is so romantic, darling,” said Rarity with a smile, approaching Twilight and her other friends after finishing putting on her false eyelashes.
The bedroom door soon opened, revealing Spike which was wearing a suit. “Have you finished getting dressed up yet?”
“Yes, Spike. Has the carriage arrived yet?” asked Twilight, approaching her number one assistant.
“Yes, Twilight. Come on!” Spike soon turned and started down the stairs. Behind him were the six mares.
Luna was at the top of a staircase, with Celestia at her left side, welcoming guests to the Grand Galloping Gala. Luna soon looked to the right just thinking about the gala. This was the first gala she was going to attend, unfortunately her sister informed her that she would probably be busy all night, but she wouldn’t let it shake her, since she wouldn’t be alone at this night. She and Twilight intended to spend this gala night together, and she already had in mind what they could do tonight. She just hoped that Twilight wouldn’t be take too long in coming.
Then, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her and Celestia. Luna looked ahead and saw Twilight running up to two. Luna looked at the dress that Twilight wore, and couldn’t help but agree that she looked beautiful in that dress.
“Princess Luna! Princess Celestia!” said Twilight in a happy tone.
“Love, I’m really happy that you’re finally here,” said Luna with a smile.
“Me too. But I fear that I will be busy and with the full hooves this night,” said Celestia. “Is it okay if you spend tonight with Luna?”
“Of course, Princess. I had already planned on spending this gala night with her anyway,” Twilight replied.
Celestia nodded. She was happy that Twilight intended to spend this gala night with Luna, and also that Luna would spend her first gala with Twilight.
“Very well! Have fun, you two,” said Celestia. The princess watched Twilight and Luna go down the stairs before looking ahead and seeing mares and stallions go up the stairs and go to her.
“So, love, my sister informed me that you attended the Grand Galloping Gala twice. Could you tell me how each one went?” asked Luna curiosly.
“The first, I spent the night with Celestia, unfortunately it was a disaster. As for the second, I also spent the gala with Celestia, but an uninvited guest appeared at the gala: Discord,” Twilight replied.
“Discord was not invited to the gala, but did he still go to the gala anyway? What was he doing?” asked Luna.
“Yes. He tried to impress Fluttershy, but when he saw Tree Hugger touch in Fluttershy, he felt jealous and even tried to send him to the Land of Chaos, but in the end, he apologized for what he did.”
Luna was surprised that Discord was jealous. “Are he and Fluttershy together?”
“No, they are just friends. The jealousy that Discord felt was nothing more than a jealousy of a friend,” Twilight replied in a detailed way.
The two were now in the castle garden, there were not so many ponies in the place, which was a relief for the two, because they wanted to have a moment alone to be able to talk and spend time together. They sat on the grass and watched the night sky with smiles present in their faces. Luna soon embraced Twilight with a wing. They where in a place in the garden which was far from the castle entrance and the guests.
“Luna, as always, your night is beautiful,” said Twilight, without taking her eyes off the night sky.
“Thanks. I even created new constellations especially for you.” Luna thanked with a smile.
Twilight couldn’t help but smile at Luna’s words. She would never have imagined that Luna would want to create new constellations just for her. Well, Luna was the Princess of the Night and her marefriend, she should have expected something like that. But a question soon came to her mind, she looked at Luna.
“Luna, I have a question.” Twilight started.
Luna looked at Twilight to hear it. “You can continue, love. I’m listening.”
“I know that you are the Princess of the Night and that the gala is at night, but I never understood one thing: why have you never attended any of the previous gala as the gala is at night and not during the day?” asked Twilight curiously.
Luna looked to the side sadly. “It’s just… it’s just that I feared that the ponies would be afraid of me and see me as Nightmare Moon, and that the nobles would judge me and try to tell my sister that I was still Nightmare Moon, and with that, I would be banished to the moon again.”
Twilight sadly lowered her ears with what she just heard. She would not imagine that this was the real reason why Luna had never attended the gala once before after her return.
“Luna, I’m sorry that you felt that way. Do you still feel guilty?”
Luna immediately smiled and said, “No, and it was all thanks to you and your friends, who made me forgive myself and realize that making yourself suffer is never a good idea during the lucid dream.”
Twilight smiled at Luna’s response. She didn’t imagine that Luna would have forgiven herself during that night when Tantabus was going in the dreams of all the ponies to cause nightmares, but deep down, she was happy that Luna was able to forgive herself. When Luna confessed to her and her friends that she created Tantabus to cause nightmares so she could prevent her from becoming Nightmare Moon a second time because she couldn’t forgive herself for everything she did, it left her heartbroken for everything Luna passed on since her return as Princess of the Night.
After a few hours in the garden, Luna started to think about what she and Twilight could do together besides watching the night sky. Don’t misunderstand her, she was enjoying this moment of peace and quiet between them, but she was thinking of inviting Twilight into the castle so they could dance, since Celestia told her that the songs that played at this ball were usually songs classic.
“Tell me, Twilight, would you like to go to the ballroom?” asked Luna, now looking at Twilight.
Twilight looked at Luna when she heard the question. “Sure, but what would you like to do there?”
Luna looked to her right as a pink flush appeared on her cheek. “I ... I was thinking about us dancing a waltz.”
“Dance a waltz? Of course I accept,” Twilight replied with a smile.
Luna was happy that Twilight accepted her dance invitation, she soon stopped embracing Twilight and got up from the grass. “Well, shall we?”
Twilight got up from the grass too and said, “Let’s go.”
The two alicorns mares started to walk, intending to go back inside the castle and they noticed that it already had ponies in the garden, some were talking standing and others were sitting on cushions. This surprised they by the fact that before of them entering the garden it did not have so many ponies, but they soon realized that when they left the castle and entered the garden it was because the gala had just started, so it made total sense why it had so many ponies in this place now.
Upon entering the castle, Twilight and Luna noticed that there were almost no ponies in the place and Celestia was no longer at the top of the stairs to greet the guests. They decided to believe that the ponies and the Princess of the Day were in the ballroom with the other guests.
The two climbed the steps to the top and went to the salon with smiles on their faces. Twilight and Luna were too excited to waltz in the hall.
Luna opened the door the hall with her turquoise magic and allowed Twilight to enter first. Twilight came in and saw Discord, Maud, her friends, Spike and her former mentor in the room. Discord talked to Fluttershy, Celestia watched the guests, Pinkie talked to Maud, and her other friends talked to each other and with Spike. Luna came in and closed the door. She and Twilight got close to the stage to dance, but they didn’t go up on stage.
Luna looked at the musicians on the stage and said, “Play classical music.”
The musicians started to play the music theme requested by Luna. Luna looked at Twilight and offered her a hoof in dance. Twilight took Luna’s hoof, and the two stood on two hooves and put the hooves on their shoulders; Luna put her right hoof on her left shoulder while Twilight put her left hoof on her right shoulder at the princess’s shoulders and start dancing to the music. The ponies in the hall soon stopped talking when heard the music and saw the two dance waltz.
Twilight couldn’t help but agree that she was having fun at this year’s gala, mainly because nothing was going wrong and everything was going according to the plan, and she was sure Luna was having fun too. As for Luna, she couldn’t stop smiling, because she was enjoying spending her first Grand Galloping Gala alongside her marefriend.
As soon as the song ended, everypony applauded Twilight and Luna’s dance. Twilight and Luna looked at each other with smiles. They couldn’t help thinking that they loved this year’s Grand Galloping Gala for different reasons: for Twilight, this was one of the best Grand Galloping Gala she attended because everything went well and perfect in the end, as for Luna, this it was one of the first and best nights she attended the Grand Galloping Gala because she was able to forgive herself for what she did as Nightmare Moon in the past, and with that, she was able to attend this year’s Grand Galloping Gala to spend the night with Twilight. But if there was anything in common that they loved most about this year’s Grand Galloping Gala, it was because they spent the night together; one right next to the other, but also because they could and would always spend the next Grand Galloping Gala together.
