At The Gala

As Anonymous entered the corridor to the main gathering area, he found himself looking at the astonishing furniture and architecture of the building. A large golden dome covered the main area with paintings of pony culture and history. White stone pillars hold the second row of the building, while being connected to each other with a double set of curved stairs. At the center of the room was a small elevation where the royals gathered, the area was fenced with a Balustrade made of what seemed like gold and silver. Alongside every corner, Anon could see rows of crystals and jewels of different size and variety. The whole place screamed with money and status. Anonymous checked three times if he was at the right place before his jaw dropped to the floor.

The ponies of this world have gathered more money in this very building than most of the countries GDP’s. If that’s how they treat money here, showering with holy water and jewels wouldn’t be out of option for the highest status ones. This got Anon very scared, does this mean that all his money he brought would be useless? Does a single sandwich cost his entire house? Hopefully not...

The second thing that got Anon worked up was the small number of guests. It seemed that the party was mostly populated by females and couples, and by the look of it, this did apply to every area in the building. This did not make sense at first for Anon, but soon enough, Anonymous remembered that Twilight Sparkle told him before that many of the male guests actually turned down their invitations because of the heat season.

“Oooooh! That’s why there are so few dudes. The heat season has started! Right...” Anon said while remembering Twilight words.

Season started...

Season...

Started...?

“Oh...” Anon sighed.

“Fuck.” Anon acknowledged while dealing with a serious amount of panic that gathered inside him.

“THE FUCK I’M DOING HERE, THEN!?” BRAIN, YOU HAVE DISAPPOINTED ME AGAIN!” Anon thought as he acknowledged that now he is a prey to be hunted by these mares.

Trying not to panic, he made sure that no one saw him yet. No one, except Luna, guards and the doorkeeper. This means he still can sit in a nice corner of the less populated area and, hopefully, avoid being molested by those mares. Now, he needs to avoid any interactions and get to the end of the room quickly and quietly...

And then, while no one was expecting...

“Anonymous, the human has arrived.” Doorkeep spoke in a deep voice to the attention of the whole room.

Why did he do that? Anonymous requested to not get announced. Did he forget? It does not matter now. The deed is done. And by the looks of it, the guests have spotted him.

“I will kill you.” Anon notified while eyeing the stallion responsible for this chaos.

The sudden rush of adrenaline made him lose him the second he laid eyes on the crowd that managed to get closer to him. In the middle, he saw Twilight Sparkle herself, who came first before anyone else. He wishes that she does have good intentions.

“Anonymous! You made it. How was the trip? Did you get lost?” Princess Twilight asked.

“No, I mean kinda? Luna showed me the way. I went to the Royal Gardens somehow.” Anon answered while shaking a bit.

“Would you like to join me and Princess Celestia? We are talking about how your arrival to equestria made me realize that technological advancement is progressed by the need, not the possibilities. You know, when you talk about the great wars of your kind.” Twilight said excitedly.

“I’m not sure...” He started to answer but began to take a look at the moderate amount of mares gathering from everywhere near him. Making him feel helpless and scared.

“YES! That is the topic I want to talk about!” He finally answered while getting closer to Twilight to defend him.

“Great! Come, I have so many questions like how did your kind manage to build a structure that took you to the moon. Or how do you know there is a universe beyond-” Twilight, began talking while walking past most of the guests to the rise where Princess Celestia, Luna And Cadence are located.

Anonymous, while trying to avoid the looks of hungry looking mares, began to wonder is Twilight not affected, or does Alicorn blood make her more controlled over the sensation?

When they finally arrived at the ‘royal’ elevation, Anon quickly came closer to the three Princesses and made a bow, and started to speak.

“Good evening, Princesses and everyone else. It is an honor to see you all here.” Anon greeted them, still not sure of their intentions.

“It is good to see you as well, dear human, but please do not be so strict. We are here to have fun as well. How does the night treat you, my little po- I mean, Human?” Celestia asked.

After standing straight again, Anonymous took an open seat right in front of the rulers, there were three or more ponies there, besides the Shining Armor, Princess Twilight, Flurry Heart, and the elements of friendship, the absence of Starlight and others seemed strange, but in the general was not something to be concerned about.

“It's nice. I just got here, and well, the scale of this party is a little beyond me. It seems like I really don’t belong here.” Anonymous answers were mixed.

“Nonsense. Your presence is very welcome here, dear human. It does bring us joy that you speak so highly of our preparations, but please remember that you have been a welcome citizen of Equestria for almost two years now.” Luna stated.

“It seemed like we never heard your story about how you feel about coming here, did we? Would you like to tell us something about this before you get here?” Celestia asked curiously.

Suddenly, Anonymous saw that every pair of eyes was directed at him. And those big eyes with sparkles in them could melt a heart faster than a laser...

“Alright... I guess I can, It’s boring, though.” Anon acknowledged.

“Anon, please, every time you talk about your world I’m filled with more questions than answers. Now, if you feel uncomfortable, please do not worry, you can stop anytime you want.” Twilight stated.

Anon still not sure about everything right now begun to tell his story:

“Okay... So it’s been a good day. I woke up, ate, brushed my teeth and all that. Then I went to work, on my way I remember petting a stray black cat. Nothing else had happened before I got to my workplace. The work was, passing usually, nothing out of ordinary. Oh, and I did work in the office for a big company. Mostly making sure that all the paperwork is handed over to the right place and not overdue. But when I came back home I felt something, well, magical. The whole world seemed to circle for a minute or two, and before I knew it. I was standing in the middle of Applejack field, holding my toaster that I had grabbed in panic. The rest of the story you know. Applejack told Twilight that some strange creature was walking in her orchard. Then we talked, and well... I ended up here. Never could find the time to be sad or angry about it. I went with the flow, I think... This place is awesome compared to my world, so no worries.”

“You were right, this was dull...” Shining Armor said without hesitation. After which his wife slapped him in the back with great impact for the rude comment.

“Do not listen to him. I’m sure the emotional damage was more intense than you shared, if you ever feel left out or lonely, please talk to me. I may be the Princess Of Love, but I’m a good psychiatrist as well!” Cadence said while Shining Armor was recovering from the pain, and Flurry Heart was laughing her flank off.

One hour of intense talking later.

Anonymous has been surprised by how the ponies received him. He had sensed that the room was filled with emotion and lust that made him worry at first, but now. He does have a pretty good time here.

And he didn’t even touch alcohol yet! This seems like the rest of the night should be passing like a breeze. But after some time, Anonymous interest was directed to music and the general atmosphere. The tone of the Gala switched to a more chill out, sort of atmosphere. The music got more energetic, and the classical tone faded. The guests started to, well, leave? Strange... This does seem like the sort of thing Luna was talking about earlier, most of the nobles were here for business, and once they cleared their list of things to be active, they simply left.

Now the room was filled with the most energetic ponies that the party was currently having. But what was not the strangest thing to happen yet. Around this time, Anonymous actually first saw any other species. The diplomats from other countries have finally arrived, and by the looks of things that was the general idea.

The most important personas will come when the party is at its best. Not when they would be filled with business questions and general negativity. Reasonable Anonymous thought.

As he did wonder about what would follow, his gaze had already switched to Celestia's' throne’ when the white Alicorn Princess started to speak.

“I see that the representatives have arrived. Twilight, Luna and I will need to greet them now, the rest of you please take a break and catch some fresh air as we do.” She said when the three Princesses rose from their seats.

“Sure auntie. Come shining, we can show the Royal Gardens to Flurry.” Cadence first began to leave.

And by her example, everypony would leave to try something else. The only person who stayed was Anon. This happened so fast that he didn’t have a chance to react.

‘Now... What?’ He thought.

Sooner or later he would be caught by some lusty mare and dragged to bed. There are three options out of this one.

Option number one is to leave the party early. He did show up, and his sudden absence would not hurt anypony, but... The party was starting to feel good for a change.

The second option is to find someone to talk to, who would ‘defend him’. There are a lot of ponies and creatures he knows that are in this place. Somewhere...

The last option that is not an option is to not care, get drunk and hope for the best. This ‘option’ is out of option.

Before Anon could even think about them for more than a minute, Starlight Glimmer greeted him suddenly.

“Oh hi Anon! Are you here to get drunk, or do you have some other business here?” Starlight said carelessly.

“Foremost, rude. Secondly, what kind of animal do you think I present myself with? I did not show up here to get drunk or pick up somepony to get nailed.” Anon exclaimed.

“I did not say anything about picking anypony up~ But, are you sure you are okay, though? This does seem like the kind of party that you would like to miss... You know, the season?” She said quietly.

“Right... But this does not seem to affect you or other ponies I talked with tonight.” Anon acknowledged.

“Because that is not what we came here to do. Listen Anon... This works like this, if you talk about it and focus on it, it will affect you greatly. But if you try to forget about it and well... Relax, then you will not feel much more differently.” Starlight explained while cutting some cake for herself.

“Oh, that’s... helpful. I’m not sure if I will stay thou, as you said, this is not a party I want to be part of, I came here to make sure that I won’t be rude to anypony.” Anon answered.

“Well that’s alright, but if you want I can talk to you before Princesses are back to cover for you. I see, like, three mares that want to catch you off guard right now.” Starlight stated.

“What!?” Anon gasped while looking around the room, and seeing the mares staring at him in different parts of the room. The chill runs around Anon's spine.

“Holy, this is some serious government shit right there.” Anon joked about the situation.

“I think you're using the wrong context here” Discord acknowledged Anon from the eight dimension.

The whole situation got more and more intense as Anon and Starlight sat down at the table. The next actions will determine if Anon will be heading home, or making his way to someone else's home...

“I... Will stay, I think...” Anon said quietly to Starlight while she was eating her chocolate cake.

“Sure, your choice. Be careful, I can’t defend you forever...” She said while putting the top of the sweet treat in her mouth.

Before he knew it, around Anon's table had gathered groups of ponies eying his conversation with Starlight. This seemed to last for more or less half an hour, before Princesses would finish talking with the representatives. In the meantime, Anon has gathered knowledge why Starlight was absent before, the pink pony was making sure that the representatives would not arrive before all business related ponies left, and this was a task and a half.

This means that Anon could finally go back to the royal ‘cluster’ to avoid everypony else. And that's what he and Starlight have done, this night is still young and Anon is feeling that he may yet find some more enjoyment in it.

Couple of more hours chatting and socializing later...

“Oh, so that’s how your species discovered other stars and lunar objects! Fascinating!” Twilight stated.

‘This felt nice. Talking about everything, not worrying about status and money and other things. This brings back old memories.’ Anon Thought as he remembered his old parties.

“This was very informative, Anonymous, thank you for sharing this with us.” Celestia said formally.

“Please, as you said, be less formal with me. It does sound like I did something amazing, and all I did was tell you what I know about the subject.” Anon explained to the Sun Princess.

Celestia has been very kind to him today, always praising his stories, and listening with positivity. Her voice was filled with dignity and love, and Anon couldn’t get used to it. It does sound like the god itself was talking. Compared to Luna’s voice, this was much more caring and motherly. Still, Luna and Celestia have those royal vibes to them that Anon can’t shake off.

“Alright then... Thank you Anon.” Celestia answered.

“I do have one question for you, do you mind me asking?” Celestia asked, clearly acknowledging by her voice and body movement that this is a more private question.

Anonymous has not understood that.

“Sure, what is it?” Anon answered quickly, awaiting her question.

“Ehem... Anon, dear~, I think the Princess want’s to ask that question in private.” Rarity hinted.

“If you don’t mind, of course...” Celestia added.

“Oh, sorry, sure, let’s go somewhere.” He stated.

Celestia stood and everypony cleared the way for her and Anon to walk past. Anon started to feel... weird... more confused than a moment before, but he still managed to follow the Princess to one of the entrances from the side of the building.

After they had left the building, Celestia stopped at the fountain that was placed on the right of the entrance. This way no one would hear them, running water would block the sound. Anonymous has stopped there as well, finally grasping some fresh air. He still wondered what Princess Celestia wanted to ask him?

“So... What did you want to ask again, Princess?” Anon started to speak before realizing the tense atmosphere around them.

“I... Well... I suppose... I mean...” Celestia could not start the conversation, which made her more frustrated and Anon more worried...

“I wanted to ask if...”

Half an hour before...

‘I need to ask him that now! The whole plan will be wasted if I do not ask him today! Planning this entire evening to the point that I have some free time, and paying this doorkeeper to notify when Anon arrives, is going to be wasted if I do not move now!’ Celestia stated in her head while listening to Anon story about the expanding universe and engendering the space telescopes.

‘‘I ask him when he finishes that story, now or never... Oh, god... Why does this feel so wrong!?’ Celestia began thinking just before Anon finished his story.

“This was very informative, Anonymous, thank you for sharing this with us.” Celestia acknowledged while trying to set up for the next bit. But before she did, Anon started talking again.

“Please, as you said, be less formal with me. It does sound like I did something amazing, and all I did was tell you what I know about the subject.” Anon stated to her surprise.

“Alright. Then... Thank you Anon.” She answered kind of mixed with Anon's response. ‘He has so much knowledge, and he does not brag about it ever.’ she thought.

“I do have one question for you, do you mind me asking?” Celestia finally got herself to ask that, while doing so clearly telling everypony that she wants to ask this privately. Hopefully Anon did acknowledge-

“Sure, what is it?” Anon answered quickly to the response of everyone else by hoof-palming themselves internally.

‘I take some of those back’ she stated in her mind.

“Ehem... Anon, dear~, I think the Princess want’s to ask that question in private.” Rarity hinted before Princess Celestia could.

‘Thank you, dear Rarity...’ She thanked the white unicorn in her mind.

“If you don’t mind, of course...” She added before becoming a bit embarrassed.

“Oh, sorry, sure, let’s go somewhere then.” Anonymous has stated before he and Celestia left the premise of the building.

Now Princess Celestia's heart was beating more and more by any passing minute and the place she chose was so romantic novel-like that she has seriously begun to think if she can physically do this. The fountain, the night sky and the whole atmosphere got so spicy that Celestia started to feel not like herself. For the past one thousand years, she was the ruler of the country, and she couldn't ask a single question to this male human... Good that her Mother is nowhere around to see this...

Anonymous on the other hand was getting more and more worried and scared. She needs to do this quickly and as formally as possible...

“I... Well... I suppose... I mean...” She started to stutter.

’Horse Apples! Just say it! It’s the perfect moment. Just. Say. It.’ She stated in her mind before continuing.

“I wanted to ask if...” ‘Buck, buck, buck...’ She has begun yelling in her head.

“Do you... Want to... go out with me...?.” She finally said that, covering herself in her wings as she did. ‘No, way! I said it... Oh, my... I feel so great right now!’ She acknowledged in her mind.

...

“You mean, like, on a date?” Anon asked back.

‘What if he does not want to?! Oh, what if he thinks this is weird?! That I’m a creepy mare in heat...’ She started to yell in her head again...

“Y...yes?” She answered too embarrassed to say anything more. ‘This was a mistake...’ She stated while trying not to faint.

“Oh... sure. I’m not drinking tonight, so I have a free day tomorrow, so sure why not. Is tomorrow good for you or-?” Anon said, kinda mixed.

“Y...Yes, tomorrow’s good...” Celestia answered while trying to come up with something to say more. Unfortunately for her. Her mind was having a stroke right about now...

“Okay, Shouldn’t we come back to the party? Everypony will be worried if we stay here too long.” Anon said while gesturing towards the doors.

After they came back, Celestia still had not recovered from what the hay just happened... The humans are simpler than she thought... The night passed normally without any more ‘incidents’. And everypony went to their respective places, everyone except Anonymous. He has booked a hotel because the next train would be at 5 AM, and he apparently has a date now so even if his plan was to get home tomorrow, the princess invitation is well... More important. Also... What was that!?

(Back to Anon)

‘What the fuck did I just agreed to?’ Anon thought as he made sure to walk to the right hotel and not lose his way, this time...

He is not even drunk. The sudden question got him pinned into the wall. He was surprised and confused. But it seemed like the only answer he could give, at least in this situation... What now? The mares are in heat for at least two more weeks or so. What to do?

This night is coming to an end and by the end of it, Anonymous the human goes on a date with the Sun goddess tomorrow... Even if he would want to reject her, it would be inappropriate to do so. She runs the whole country, you can’t just say you are too ‘busy’ and whatnot. And by the looks of it, Celestia wants to talk privately. The more obscure fact is that she invited him, and Anonymous needs to make sure that this is not because of heat. Because if it is, well, he might have a huge problem.

He did promise himself that he would not make serious relationships and fuck mares in heat. If it comes down to those two promises. Anonymous will have to improvise. At least he hopes he can get away from this situation. Royalty is scary... And making enemies by fucking thier beloved princess in heat is a great way to end up six feet below the ground. He needs to act carefully and slowly...

Yeah...

He’s fucked.

Author's Note

Meme used: Emotional Damage

Edited by: ArcaneDust