Stone and Secrets

I think it is wise to note that I know that ponies from back before the Nightmare Moon incident spoke differently.

However, their manner of speaking is archaic and unclear to many today, so I've taken it upon myself to give their grammar and wording a bit of an update, so as to make it clear to readers.

You may fully trust that the content of this history remains undistorted in its entirety.

The cloudless sky that Luna had painted for the night made a special effort to be more populous as the event taking place below. What the guests lacked in number or sheer elegance, however, they made up with variety.

Suits, dresses, hats, capes, shoes, and all other manner of fancy attire made for a rich variety of colours to paint the crowds of the very first Grand Galloping Gala. And the colors danced, and spoke, and ate, and some even sang, each adding their own bit of culture to the event, though some more than others.

As Luna admired the success of the event she had prepared, however, she noticed a single flaw, small in scale but glaring in magnitude, floating around amid the guests: a Celestia that was not enjoying herself.

Oh, Tia. Why can you not simply have some fun for a while?

Half the reason Luna had organized the celebration had been to give her sister a moment away from the many headaches that being the Solar Princess brought, and yet Celestia was even now holding conversation with some of the same self-important snobs whom she normally had the abhorrent duty of dealing with throughout the day. These fops, in their top hats and monocles and overly elaborate suits and dresses, each no doubt seeking eagerly to speak about their boring selves, and each probably doing so in an attempt to impress the others. For such ponies, this was all just another way to climb the social ladder, and Celestia probably seemed the highest rung to pull themselves up by.

I know she doesn't enjoy them; they no doubt dragged her into some conversation again, and she doesn't know how to get away without offending them.

I suppose it's up to me to make a way.

Hah. It's a good thing I brought a contingency plan.

She scanned for through the array of ponies, and after a long moment, came upon the sight of a bright orange coat, with hooves waving about to complement energetic speech that was being delivered quite successfully to a group of others, who were all smiling and laughing.

Perfect!

Well, he ought to be. After all, he was hoofpicked.

As she strode over to him, her presence gathered the attention of the group, whom all bowed courteously to her. She was quick to begin before the others we able to. She had no desire to waste time when she could be helping her sister.

"Good evening, my little ponies. I trust you are enjoying yourselves?" Not waiting for an answer, she turned to the orange pony that seemed to have been producing the group's laughter. "Excuse me, but I require your assistance for a rather serious matter, sir... Shining Smiles, was it?"

"Indeed, your Highness. I'd be happy to help!"  She was once again reminded of his cutie mark, which consisted of two beaming eyes above a broad grin. Yes, he should do nicely.

"Ah, very good. Please come with me, Shining Smiles."

When they had gotten a small distance away from the group he had been with, who still bore quizzical expressions, he revealed his lack of knowledge on the subject of discretion, and rapidly began chattering away, asking many questions but waiting for few answers.  "So, what do you need me for? Or should I say who? It's usually a who, because of course ponies always want me to go cheer up whichever grumpy pants is being a party pooper! But that's my job, isn't it? Making ponies sm    ile! That's why I'm Shining Smiles! There's no fun in just one, after all! Did I mention I love doing that? Making ponies smile, I mean. It's my favourite job ever! But it's also sort of my only job ever! I mean, I used to farm rocks with my brother but that was so boring I mean can you imagine-"

He found Luna's hoof hoof been nicely fitted to his mouth, which was still chattering away through its muffling prison.

"You see Princess Celestia over there, yes? Well, it may not seem that way, but she is having a rather poor time at this party. Do you suppose you could help her with this predicament?"

She removed her hoof from his mouth, allowing his ecstatic voice to immediately burst forth. "Of course I can! I'll have a smile on that face in no time!"

Luna watched from a distance as the spectacle unfolded. First, she noticed Shining pop out from numerous angles around the high-society ponies, much to their chagrin and Luna and Celestia's confused but quiet amusement. She realized a moment later that he had apparently been singing a song to them, but could make out no more than the horrified faces that hid beneath top hats and behind monocles. Finally, he made a finale in which he fired a cannon toward them, which appeared to use things like confetti and streamers as ammunition. And with the final push of their most elaborate regalia being replaced by party hats and other festivity paraphernalia, the patrons of Canterlot's highest crust were sent fleeing in terror before a somewhat confused orange pony and a princess who was struggling to keep her laughter under control.

Luna, of course, found the entire situation absolutely hilarious, and unlike her sister, allowed herself the freedom to laugh out loud. Such were the luxuries afforded by watching from a distance.

She thought of moving closer to them, but recalled a spell that she had invented for just such occasions some time ago. Being careful to remain inconspicuous, or at least try to, she lit up her horn and was able to make out most of what they were saying. It wasn't that she needed to remain hidden, but more that eavesdropping was usually frowned upon.

Just to see if it worked.

She giggled slightly to herself.

"-and so that's how I made the Celebration Cannon! I still haven't figured out a proper name for it yet, though. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me someday."

Searching for a more complete sign of success, Luna found a wide and sincere grin on Celestia's face.

"That was a surprisingly interesting story, Shining. I'll have to hear some others. That part about accidentally hitting the mayor reminded me of an incident I had while I was visiting the Dragonlord. Perhaps you'd like to hear about it?"

"Princess, I'd like nothing better!"

Yes! It worked!

Luna fought the urge to perform any celebratory rituals, and opted to only check in on the conversation now and again, so as to avoid any more risks to detection.

I do hope he realizes that she likes more than just jokes and funny stories.

Then again, perhaps she needs the mental break.

“And that’s why I don’t take sides on the Second Dragon War. I mean really, was it really so sacred that it was worth more than thousands of lives?”

Celestia looked up thoughtfully for a moment. There was even some cheerful surprise in her voice. “You know, I’ve often wondered if there was anypony else who realized it could be thought about that way.”

So he can hold his own in more studious matters after all. Even better!

Others, of far better company than those before, spoke with them as well, of course, but as they came and went Celestia and Shining Smiles stayed, their attention enwrapped in one another.

With the final blemish of Celestia's discontent nicely removed and replaced by some of the happiest chatting she had seen in years, Luna's night and her Gala went on each at their own pace, each displaying the full splendor of its own beauty.

When the night had nearly managed to finally outlast the Gala, Smiles and Celestia still remained, sharing stories and discussing numerous topics as if they were still surrounded by other guests.

"Well, I guess you would know more about immortality than I do. You know, I had a similar conversation with a philosopher called Brightwit at a banquet. The argument turned circular, though, and soon I just wanted to get away and eat some pie, but I couldn’t get out of it! Eventually I got so annoyed that I took the big strawberry pie, yelled "SurPIES!" and threw it right at him! Hayseeds, was he ever mad. You should have seen the look on his face! All better the next day, though."

Seeing that the experiment was successful, and feeling tired herself from the long day of preparing beforehand, Luna decided to have an early day, walking off under the starry blanket of the sky, followed momentarily by the trailing away conversation of two of the most contented ponies she had seen in many years.