Equestria Copes

Celestia sent the band away, demanding that they go home or be arrested, and Luna demanded that they wait in the hall outside of the throne room. The guards were quite confused by the conflict of orders, so the band was bound in cuffs and confined to the hallway. If Luna was successful, they could be unbound and set free, having committed no crime, or if Celestia was successful, they would be brought down to the dungeons and processed, charged with... civil disobedience? That was unclear at this point, but everypony was kind of hoping that Luna would pull through.

"I can't believe that you would think that this was okay!" growled Celestia. "Did she mean nothing to you?!"

"She meant much to me!" pleaded Luna. "We had our disagreements, but I cannot deny her importance in Equestria's progress!"

"Then why are you diminishing her memory?!"

"I'm not!"

"You are! She hasn't even been gone for a week, and you're planning a party!"

"I'm not celebrating her death!"

"Aren't you? You could have fooled me!"

"I am grieving!" whimpered Luna. "I do feel pain at Twilight's loss! I feel it the same way you do!"

"No you don't! How dare you compare your pain to mine?!"

"Celestia, please, I--"

"No! Luna, this is it! I've had enough of your distasteful music and your blatant harassment! I will have no more of this!"

As Celestia stormed out of the room, she found that several new ponies were standing in the hall, mostly around the band. She could feel the fear in their gaze, all looking at her as if she was a monster.

Pinkie leaned up against Celestia, propping herself up by her elbow against her shoulder. "You know, there's an easy way to make this right... If you want to see this problem fixed, just nod. I can make all of this problem go right away, if, and only if, you let me take some control. I want to help you, they want to help you, we all want to help you." She leaned in close, and whispered in her ear, "Even Twilight wants to see you happy again."

Celestia was still for a moment, but then she sighed and lowered her head.

"That's half a nod!" squeaked Pinkie. "You have to follow half of my plan, now!"

Pinkie dashed over to one of the guards and pushed him forward. "Your highness, several of these small business owners would like to talk to you about the Grand Galloping Gala. I have told them that it's been cancelled, but they'd like to petition to have it reopened."

Luna stepped forward. "Sister, I beg of you to reconsider. Look at your citizens and see how much they want; how much they need something to look forward to. Would you drag them down with you, when they're doing all they can to lift your spirits?"

Celestia took a deep breath. "You collectively have twenty minutes to change my mind."

This was it. Pinkie had her hoof in the door. She just had to keep pushing, and the door would open.

Everypony was too nervous to go first, so Pinkie pushed the florist forward. "H-hi. I'm... I'm Magnolia Steel, and I run a flower shop on sixth street."

Celestia said nothing, just staring her down.

Magnolia took a deep breath. "And I-I... I think that the gala should go on because... um..."

Pinkie took a step toward Luna, wanting to command her to help her out, but Luna needed no further help. She placed her own hoof on Magnolia's shoulder and nodded at her, affirming that she was at her side in this.

"A-actually, I had a few arrangements that I brought, if you'd like to see those?"

"Let us go and see them," smiled Luna. It was at least partially genuine, though Pinkie would have preferred more. "Where are they?"

"In the dining hall."

The group made their way to the dining hall, with Luna and one guard staying behind to uncuff the musicians and then rushing to catch up.

As the doors to the dining hall opened, Celestia's eyes went as wide as dinnerplates. The florist, of course, already knew what she'd put together, and the tailor had also seen what was in here when she dropped off the new dresses sitting next to the table. Behind the dress rack sat a very large cake, with a tall stack of pancakes sitting near Celestia's place setting.

There were eight different styles of bouquet, each of which featured lavender heavily. Some were designed for their looks, others for their scents, but every single one had a long, purple horn sticking out of the top over everything else. But that wasn't what drew their attention.

At the center of this display was a posterboard, imposed on which was an image of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Except, it was a little bit lumpy, because it was all done with flowers in a hasty manner. But it looked like her, in the form of a garden patch that had been stood on its end.

Celestia turned to look at the dresses. While the motifs were primarily that of Celestia and Luna, there was definitely a strong influence from Twilight's tastes. They were covered in stars that ran down to the purple hemlines. Celestia's dress would have looked just as good on Twilight, if it had been in her size, and the same was true of Luna's dress.

Celestia lowered her head, and as Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder, she sat down. Tears were running down Celestia's face, and she started sobbing.

"So, uh..." the violinist started, "we all seem to be thinking the same thing; that this year's Grand Galloping Gala should be held. Not to celebrate the passing of Princess Twilight, but to celebrate instead the many things that made her so wonderful. She was a very important pony, and we'd all like to remember what was important to her. She meant a lot to everypony here. That's why we'd like to dedicate this year's gala to Princess Twilight's memory."

Luna nodded along. It was a good idea. What better way was there to honour Twilight's memory than to celebrate what made her so beloved by her subjects?

Celestia sniffled and looked up. She was smiling, even if it was tinged with hurt. Her suffering was incredibly strong. So strong, in fact, that she hadn't stopped to consider the suffering of her subjects. She couldn't muster any words, but she gave a strong nod. The gala was back on. And more importantly, her heart could start healing.