AUG 21 Saturday.

I arrived at the Gala early so I didn't immediately head back to the ballroom, instead I took my time and wandered through a few of the side rooms I missed last year.

I see a musical performance room like last year but leave it alone and keep looking. After a moment I find a larger room that's well-lit by magical lights and has several ponies walking around looking at art and discussing paintings. I can be a sucker for some decent art so I joined them.

As I wander the room and look over the paintings my mind starts to get restless, but unlike many other times, I try to keep it on track. The first painting that catches my eye is simply called Sunflowers. It is as the name implies, some sunflowers in a vase, simple but nice to look at.

Most of them are simply the wilderness or plants, I'm not sure if it's because they wanted a theme or it's just a collection from one painter. Either way, the paintings are high quality and have a sunny and happy vibe reminiscent of most pony art. It's something I've noticed over time, but ponies have an odd way of looking at the world, it's innocent in a way.

But I suppose it makes sense for the world they live in, it's not even necessarily a bad thing considering emotions have actual power here. No nation on Earth would ever be so passive and nice, but when even the most violent races of your world act this peacefully it's forgivable.

As far as I'm aware, the most violent race is Dragons, but even they have nothing on humanity, or just individual humans. Keep in mind that everything I've learned about dragons is from second-hoof accounts and should be taken with a hefty grain of salt. That being said, Dragons are known to be temperamental and attack when threatened or otherwise bothered, but they mostly just try to drive you off and make you leave them alone rather than go for the kill immediately.

Then again, this is all from things I've read, and even if they aren't as violent as you'd expect they are still lethal. Ponies have and will die from bothering Dragons or trying to steal from them, it's a good thing very few try to do such things. It doesn't help that ponies don't have the most informed view on Dragons though.

Even what little I learned about them from a few scary books paints a less violent picture than what most ponies say about them in conversation, although most simply don't talk about Dragons, to begin with. When it does come up though, Dragons have a reputation similar to a Barbarian from my old world, big, strong, stupid, and above all dangerous.

They have such a reputation for a reason, but ponies and several other races also actively trade with Dragons, not commonly but it does happen. It's another case of this world being more peaceful than it really should be, and I might actually have a theory as to why. This might be a bit long winded but stay with me.

As far as I can tell there are endless different types of magic in this world, and depending on how you see things they could be assigned labels, good, bad, nice, mean, but it's all really the same thing at a base level. And to some extent Harmony is magic, that statement is much more blunt than I think most realize.

All things in this world need magic to continue to live in its current form, and to some extent, the very fundamental force of magic is tied to Harmony on some universal level. I don't know in what way they are linked, but magic being one of the elements of Harmony proves that they are linked in some capacity and might just be the same thing altogether. But why would this make everything more peaceful?

Well, if Harmony is an integral part of magic, or vice versa, if you lose one you may lose the other. If magic is needed for all life, then it's in the best interest of all living things to have Harmony in themselves as well, I have no idea how that works though, or even how to explain it. But this also theoretically means that losing Harmony entirely might actually kill you from the loss of your magic, but much like most of this I can't prove that, still I strongly suspect it to be true.

Now if we look at this from the angle of evolution, then possessing magic is by far the ultimate tool for surviving and passing on your genes. So, if magic is the best tool and Harmony is magic then the best method for survival is to be closer to Harmony and thus be more peaceful by proxy.

It's a self-selecting process where the beings closer to Harmony are more likely to survive over those without Harmony. Even if a being without Harmony is stronger they are competing with the ability to manipulate reality, they would almost always lose and would die out over time.

But this theory has many holes. The biggest one is simple, what is Harmony? We know it is part of magic itself to some extent, but it is also most positive emotions as well, and probably even more beyond that. On top of that, we're presuming you can have or not have Harmony, which has some disturbing implications, we also presume that Harmony is inherently a peaceful force.

It's all rather subjective and unknown, but to simplify the whole theory. Harmony is good for surviving and those that survive because of Harmony will pass it on to their kids, and because we are presuming Harmony makes things peaceful this effect of peace from Harmony is in every living thing making the world more peaceful.

But like I said this theory has got a lot of holes, and this is mostly me speculating heavily for fun while staring at a painting. I leave my internal rant, which I tried not to have, as a pony walks past me to leave the art room. I should also be going, I still have a friend to find after all.

I keep a steady pace as I walk through the hallways and a few minutes later I arrive at a bustling ballroom. A band plays music and things are really getting started, and after a moment I spot both Celestia and Cadance mingling with different important-looking ponies.

Honestly, it's a mess that I would rather not get involved in, but after a few more minutes I spot who I'm looking for on the other side of the ballroom. Daisy looks good, a red dress that contrasts maybe a little too much with her blue mane and light green coat.

Still, she seems to have gotten herself proper for this party, but from the way she's sitting at a table eating something and glancing around, she seems a little lost. I can't really make out her expressions from here but she at least seems relaxed enough to enjoy the Gala.

It takes me a while to move through the crowd, and as I walk through it I get relatively close to Cadance, who notices me. She is still several dozen feet away but we lock eyes for a moment and she smiles in that way I never trust, it seems she's up to her shit again.

I just turn away and ignore her for the time being, after a few more moments I reach the table and see Daisy not far away. She hasn't spotted me and it gives me the chance to look over her expression, she looks both excited and a little bit bored at the same time.

I know Daisy likes parties more than me, Blaz, or Maple, but she probably isn't used to this kind of party. After a moment of observing her, I decide to make this fun but not draw it out too much, so while she's distracted eating I quickly sit down next to her as she's eating some type of sweet bun.

She glances over to me from the corner of her eye but seems to not register it's me for a moment. "Those are good, but the cake they bring out later is much better so you might want to save room," I say like nothing is out of place and take a clean plate from a stack before starting to fill it with different things.

She pauses abruptly mid-chew and slowly turns to me with wide eyes. I just smile at her knowing, but once I can tell she's about to scream something when she takes a quick deep breath, I move a hoof over to her lips just in time. "Don't, I would rather not draw attention, and it's rude to shout," I say quickly as she continues to look utterly baffled and shocked.

She at least takes a moment to swallow her food and take a breath before looking at me demandingly. "What are you doing here?!!" She demands while trying not to shout as I try to hold in some laughter from her reaction. "Did you break in?!! How?!" She seems a little panicked and is jumping to conclusions.

I give her an annoyed look. "What? No! I got an invite. Why would you ever try to break into the Gala?" I ask her and laugh a bit at the crackpot theory. "But I guess I should be flattered you think I could pull something like that off," I say humorously while moving a few more things on my plate and grabbing a fork from the tables with my field.

She just looks at me slack-jawed for a few long moments before her brain restarts. "Invite, wha-?" She stops abruptly and she seems to have realized. "Oh, your... Other job?" I discreetly cast a silence spell around us, which she doesn't seem to notice, I nod to answer her question.

After seeing my answer she seems to calm down a little and gets her shock out of the way pretty quickly, but all that's soon replaced when she actually looks me over. I expected many things, more shock, more questions, or even some annoyance, but instead, she just started laughing at me. "What?" At this point, she's flipped the tables on me and just laughs harder at my confused face.

"You- hahaha. You're wearing a suit!" She laughs harder and I'm just blatantly confused now.

I raise a brow but keep a slight smile. "Yes? It's the most important party of the year, what am I supposed to just walk in? Especially when talking to the Prince-" I cut myself off but luckily she's laughing too hard to really notice. "Important ponies. I have to at least look decent after all... Stop laughing!" I demand as my annoyance gets the better of me.

She keeps laughing for a few moments but finally starts to stop, she takes a few deep breaths and smiles widely at me. "Oh, I needed that." She lets out a few more laughs. "Shade, you are the least formal pony I know, not even Maple isn't that informal, and her face is made from rock." She jokes a bit at our friend's expense.

She looks over my suit again and nods. "Yet, here you are, standing in a full suit with a proper tie to match." She jokes to herself and I roll my eyes. She's not wrong, I'm definitely not one to dress up normally, even as a human I was never like that.

I normally just tie my mane back and that's it, I do have a bracelet and necklace but that's not too uncommon for ponies. I smile back at her and nod my agreement. "Well, you're not wrong. But I could say the same to you, you're a little overdressed yourself."

Unlike many of the dresses that only go to the midsection, her dress goes past her midsection with some extra cloth to add a few matching style straps to keep it secure. "Yup." She takes no shame in her look. "But going to the Gala has been something of a dream for me." She looks around with an excited smile.

I'm happy for her and move past being laughed at. "I suppose, but the glamor and gold wear off eventually," I say from experience. The first Gala was probably the best, and even if I still enjoy it I still find it less impressive overall. "The food is always good though." I encourage them while chewing down on some fancy food.

She raises a brow. "I guess? You'd have to go a few times though, and getting into the Gala is no easy feat." She also enjoys some food off her plate. "I tried for years, but the invites that were given out or traded around were always taken quickly. I can see why though, there are a lot of important ponies here."

That is something I don't have experience in, so I just shrug at her words. "Maybe, but I always get an invite from the Princess." She chokes a little on her food. "As for me? The glamor has fully worn off after four Gala's. Did you know there are smaller areas? I was at an art gallery earlier." At this point, I'm just messing with her and silently enjoying her reactions while wearing a smile that shows I know exactly what I'm doing.

She downs some water to not fully choke and looked at me with another shocked look. "The Princess?! Four times?!! You've been to the Gala four times and never told me?!!" She's surprised and disbelieving but doesn't hold any heat in her tone, but she is demanding more answers.

I keep my slightly smug smile. "She insisted I come the first time and after that, I always got an invite." A slight lie as I'm pretty sure I could have declined. "And yes four, but like I said it's not the same after your first time. As for not telling you... Well, you know?" I answer vaguely, not willing to say it out loud.

That seems to make her realize what she said out loud, she starts looking around slightly panicked but I place a hoof on her muzzle again. "You're fine!" I say quickly and emphasize my words. "I cast a silencing spell, nopony can hear us right now." She stops abruptly at my words and it seems I've prevented her panic.

She takes a deep breath and gives me a slight glare while I move my hoof back. "You could have told me that before giving me a heart attack." I nod in agreement and she glares a little more.

"Yes, but this is funnier." I joke at her expense again. "But back to the point, I never said anything for obvious reasons, plus nothing really interesting ever really happens at the Gala." I lie through my teeth a little and let her calm down some more. "By the way, how are you enjoying the Gala?" I ask to change the subject.

She stops glaring after a moment and just sighs while smiling at me, she always seems to get her smile back quickly. "It's... A lot. Everything I wanted and more, but it's also, less in a way..." She trails off for a moment. "I guess expectations never really live up to reality, no matter how many times you learn that." There is an odd mix of melancholy and happiness in her tone.

I notice the change in tone and decide to move us away from any dark thoughts. "I know, but I like to think all those expectations are outweighed by the little surprises." She tilts her head as I continue. "All those little things that you never expected, the things that surprise you with a little joy out of the blue."

She smiles more and the slightly dark mood is lifted quickly. "That's, nice... Anything here like that?" She asks back with some interest as we fully move past the bad topic.

I nod. "A few things actually. One I think I just mentioned is the other rooms, so far I've found an art gallery and a smaller room for music bands to perform." I explain simply. "The food is also good, even the weirder-looking dishes," I say while eating an oddly decorated blueberry tart.

She steals a second tart off my plate. "With how often you've mentioned the food I'd guess you only came to the Gala for it." She teases me and I just huff a little. "I am curious though." I raise a brow. "Well, I remember that score you mentioned, and with you getting invited." I think I see where this is going. "So... Do you, like, meet her or?" She asks curiously.

She's asked a few questions about Celestia, but our relationship is something she's not really asked about. In a way, I think she's nervous to ask about Celestia's business. After a long moment of thought I stare at her, I keep my relaxed attitude. "Yes, I can't be specific. But we meet regularly for a few reasons. And sometimes that involves chess." I keep my response vague.

She looks intrigued but seems to leave it at that and drops the subject. She looks around a bit, "Well, I want to talk to other ponies, and I know you don't want to join me." I nod unashamedly and she rolls her eyes. "Then I'm going to mingle, you can enjoy the admittedly great food. And try to have some fun, Shade." She stands up and starts to move away.

"Fine, I'll try. Now go mingle, enjoy talking to nobles." I ended with some joking sarcasm as she walked off into the busy party around us. I spend a moment finishing my food and putting several things under the table where the tablecloth blocks the view.

It takes a few minutes to feed a greedy gremlin that lives in my shadow. "Eat up you monster," I mumble under my breath while looking around, and after a moment I stop as I spot somepony I recognize. Twilight Sparkle is sitting at a table eating alone.

I stare at her for a few moments. Both Shining and Daisy said I should have some fun, and I wouldn't mind talking to Twilight. We could discuss some magic, and she just looks a little out of place as it is. After a minute I shrug to myself, :Fuck it, why not?:

I stand up with a smile and start to walk over as Entropy blends back into my shadow. It only took me a moment to walk over and sit down next to her, apparently she spotted me coming because she doesn't look very surprised, but she still had a slight blush when looking me over. "S-Shade, enjoying the Gala?"

I smile and nod. "Well enough, but I think I'd much rather talk about magic," I say softly. "You remember that spell I was researching?" I ask while she shows a smile of her own as the Gala is ignored by us both. Maybe tonight will be even more fun than I thought.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I'm not sure I want another Twilight chapter so soon, so I think this is the end of this Gala. But there is always next year.