Twilight looked up from her pie as Pinkie pronked out of the kitchen, “Okie dokie, Twilight!” Pinkie slid a loaf of fresh bread onto a rack for cooling. “I have some awesome friendship advice ready for you. Fresh out of the oven!”

Twilight perked up and wiped a few pie crumbs off her muzzle. “Really? Thanks, Pinkie! so who should I give the ticket to?” she pranced in place, this friendship stuff was really easy.

“Silly filly,” Pinkie giggled, “I said I had advice for you, not instructions.”

“Oh,” Twilight stopped, no easy answer for her this time.

“Ah dat dat, don’t be sad.” Pinkie rolled a pink and dark purple wrapped candy across the counter. “The ticket is yours and you need to make the decision, having me make a decision would be cheating. However, my advice for you is this; when it comes to friends and friendships, there are no perfect answers, so just make the best decision that you can and if your best makes someone else angry, that is their problem. You can only do so much so don’t worry about being perfect, just do your best.”

Twilight pondered what Pinkie had said. On one hoof it made sense, getting Pinkie to take care of her decision probably robbed her of a chance to learn about friendship. On the other, if she made the wrong decision and gave the ticket to the wrong pony, then someone else would be upset at missing out and she would feel terrible. “Thanks, Pinkie,” she stood up, “I’m going to think about it for a little bit. Please don’t tell ponies that I have an extra ticket. I don’t know if others would be as understanding as you.”

Pinkie held in a tear from pain as she just nodded, her tongue currently restrained from begging Twilight to choose her. Her chance at going to the biggest party in Equestria was right there. Reality and logic would say that parties that reached critical mass would become an irresistible force for a party pony. But Pinkie spat in the face of logic, not only was she a Party Pony, she was a PINK party pony, despite the force of attraction, she would resist… and later sob her heart out on the floor of the party cave, but no one needed to know that. She waved good bye as Twilight walked out the door.

“Is everything okay dearie?” Mrs. Cake asked from behind her.

Pinkie turned to face one of her employers and land mare, blue eyes big and trembling. “Not really. I want to believe I said the right thing, but I might not get to go to a party because of it.”

“Awww, I know how much parties mean to you, Pinkie, but if it helped your friend, then you did the right thing.” Mrs. Cake turned as the door let out a little ding announcing another customer. “Besides, there will be plenty of parties in the future.”

But they aren’t the Grand Galloping Gala! Pinkie wanted to say.

“Hey, Pinkie!” a new voice called out, one Pinkie recognized as the voice of Lyra Heartstrings, resident lyre player and ‘paranormal investigator’ whatever that meant. She still wasn’t sure what that had to do with sticking cotton swabs in Pinkie’s ears, but they hadn’t ever been cleaner! What drew Pinkie’s gaze was an orange and purple pegasus filly perched on Lyra’s back. “I was wondering if you were free to throw a-”

“WELCOME TO PONYVILLE PARTY!” Pinkie screamed with enthusiasm, all thoughts of the Gala temporarily erased.

♢ ♢ ♢

Rarity opened her eyes wondering why nothing had happened. She lowered her hooves to see the dark cloud hovering on the other side of a red pink barrier covered with runes that seemed familiar.

“This is a dream,” Rarity realized, it was just a dream and Twilight's runes were keeping the nightmares away, she breathed a sigh of relief. That was when she realized something. The dark cloud outside was laughing.

“Foal,” it chuckled, “you got a mage to protect you with dream runes meant to protect a foal from nightmares. How ironic.”

“What?” Rarity was puzzled, “Aren't you just a figment of my imagination? You don't exist!”

“I do exist, I have existed long before you were even an idea of Faust” the clouds formed a grin.

“Who are you? And why are you torturing me?” Rarity demanded with a stamp, she was starting to get annoyed.

“I have called you little necromancer because I need you, I need a body to regain my strength and take dominion of what is mine to control.”

“I'm not a necromancer!” Rarity insisted, this whole thing was getting ridiculous, “And you still haven't answered my first question.”

“I am Nightmare, the rightful Spirit of Dreams. I am all that ponies fear and need. Far too long have I been ignored and forgotten.”

“What are you talking about? Princess Luna is the Steward of Dreams.”

The cloud swirled and turned dark red. “The little usurper and mommy's girl stole it from me and destroyed my physical body. I can not die as they took only the good and left what they thought never should have been.” The wall thumped as the cloud slammed into the barrier, the runes flashing bright before dying down again. The cloud seemed to slink around the edge of the tower. “I spent millennia requiring hosts before I could extract my revenge, only to be banished. Now I find myself requiring help from one of the ponies that exacted a blow that even Celestia couldn't bring herself to do.”

Rarity was confused by what she just heard. “What do you mean? Celestia and Luna killed you? And took your domain? How could I help?” This made no sense, did this thing mean to say that it was the thing that had possessed Luna? Celestia and Luna had killed another Steward?

“I require possessing you or fusing myself with your soul. Simple as that.” The cloud had settled down, small eddies and currents stirring through the void causing small vapors to ripple across its surface.

“Why would I do that?”

“For several reasons, the first being the stability of the dreamscape.” The cloud parted to show a vision of Sweetie Belle in a clothes store trying on a large hat. “The second is for your sister.”

“What are you going to do to my sister!” Rarity took a step forward.

“Not too, for. That is if you accept my offer, which I will lay out in a second.” The Sweetie Belle in the vision bumped into a rack stubbing her hoof on the metal support. “There is an interesting link between you and her. You gave her your soul and brought her back to life. because of it any injury she sustains is transferred to you.” Rarity felt her hoof throb in pain as the Sweetie Belle got up and continued on as if nothing had happened. “However, there are limitations with this. Say, for example, she loses her head or gets crushed. Something that will outright kill her and not transfer to you. Then there goes your little phylactery.”

Rarity held in a shriek as a large light fell from the ceiling on top of Sweetie Belle, the vision disappearing before she could see what happened.

“That looks like it would hurt,” The cloud made a sound like somepony sucking air over clinched teeth, “once I have a physical form, I can make her repairable.”

“You want to possess me! Just like you did Luna!” Rarity accused, taking a step backwards.

“Yes and no. I had reasons to possess Luna as I did. With you it will be much more different. You will be in control of yourself while I deal with the things I need to.”

“How do I know that you are telling the truth?”

Sillence hung in the void, heavy and oppressive before the cloud answered again. “You can not know that I am telling the truth, and you would be even more foolish than I thought if you blindly accepted my terms. For now you may go and think upon my offer, only know that you must not speak of this to anyone.”

“Why not?” Rarity demanded, “Surely a lady must be allowed some freedom of communication with her friends.”

“I do not wish to draw the attention of the sisters at this point, and neither should you. Tell your friends and they will remove your choice.”

✶ ✶ ✶

Twilight trotted back through Ponyville deep in thought. Deep enough that she didn't notice the light getting dimmer as clouds covered the blue sky, dark grey, heavy clouds pushed by the Ponyville weather team.

“Twilight?”

She pondered what Pinkie had said, obviously she was missing something if Pinkie talked about how giving her the answer would deprive her of a lesson. That mare made no sense! If it weren't for the apocalyptic situation that they had been thrust into, Twilight doubted that they could have ever become friends.

“HEY TWILIGHT!” A voice shouted, snapping her out of her reverie.

“Huh? Who?” Twilight looked around for the source of the voice.

“Up here!” She looked up to see Rainbow Dash's head poking through a small hole in the clouds. “It's about to rain, so you might want to get inside!”

Twilight now realized what the growing darkness meant, but recognized an opportunity. “Rainbow Dash! just the mare I needed to see! Can I ask you some questions?”

“Uh, sure,” Dash seemed confused, “get inside first, we need to start it raining, I’ll come find you. You are living at the Library right?” Twilight nodded confirmation before continuing on her way at an increased rate. Fortunately for her the Library wasn't very far, shortly after entering it the rain started, the plopping of fat rain drops hitting the leaves of the tree creating a sheet of white noise.

Spike hadn't done any work since Twilight had left, indicated by the large stacks of books still sitting on almost every available flat spot in the Library. Rarity still lay fast asleep where Twilight had left her.

“SPIKE?” Twilight called, “Where are you? We have work to do!”

“Hold your horses, I'm having lunch break!” Spike called back from the kitchen, “A growing dragon like me needs his nutrients!” His purple and green head poked out of the kitchen doorway on the second level, eyes narrow with suspicion. “Did you eat anything for lunch?”

“I had a slice of pie at Sugarcube corner.” Twilight responded, grabbing a pile of books with magic and reading the information pages to see where they should go. “While you are in there, can you put on a pot of tea? Rainbow Dash should be stopping by soon to answer a few questions and help me out.”

“Yeeessss, mhaastor.” Spike drawled turning back into the kitchen, fake limp thudding on through the floor.

“Oh cut it out,” Twilight yelled back, “you get paid.”

“I'm sure the child labor laws would have something to say about this if they knew!”

Twilight would have yelled back a witty comment but was interrupted by a loud bang on the door followed by angry pegasus noises. Twilight opened the door to reveal a wet Rainbow Dash standing on the welcome mat rubbing her head.

“Rainbow Dash? Did you fly into the door? Are you okay?” Twilight looked on with bewilderment.

“I'm fine,” Dash trotted in, “I thought that the top part was loose and opened inwards. What did they make that thing out of? I've hit mountains that were softer than that.”

“THE BOOKS!” Twilight cried lifting the dripping Dash off the floor where a puddle was creeping towards the stacks of precious knowledge. “SPIKE! GET THE TOWELS!”

“What's the magic word?” Came the response from the kitchen.

“NOW! OR I USE YOUR COMICS TO WIPE UP THE MESS!”

“Don't be rash!” Spike called as he rushed out of the kitchen all the dishtowels he could carry tucked under his stubby arms. He stopped at the top of the stairs and heaved them over the balcony. “Here!” he called as he disappeared into the bathroom to grab a big towel for Dash.

Once the crisis had been averted, the damp towels cleaned and dried with a quick spell and tea served, they sat down in a clear space on the floor. Rainbow casting glances at the snoozing Rarity on the couch.

“Don't mind her,” Twilight noticed, “she was having trouble sleeping after what happened yesterday. I have a problem myself and I think that you might be the only pony that might be impartial.”

“Impartial?” Dash raised an eyebrow, “About what?”

“The Grand Galloping Galla, Spike and I get invited every year but he doesn’t want to go this year so I have an extra ticket to give out. I don’t know who to give it to, and when I asked Pinkie she kind of noped out of giving me an answer,” Twilight explained.

Dash raised an eyebrow, “Normally that would be the case, yes, however, this time the Wonderbolts are slated to perform and then hang out with the ponies that are invited. Sorry Twi, I’m not impartial! I would love to come to the Gala.”

Twilight threw her head back in frustration. “Why does this problem get worse with every pony I talk to?” she cried with rising anguish. “Maybe I should ask Applejack, no way a hoity toity event would be attractive to her. What?” she noticed Dash eyeing her with a look so flat it could have made Pinkie’s balloons to deflate.

“Applejack isn’t the smartest pony out there, nor does she aspire to be anything more than a humble cowpony, but that mare can cut deals. She constantly haggles Filthy Rich into buying his supplies at a loss,” Dash paused for emphasis, “and he comes away happy. My point is that AJ would love to go and cut harsh deals with the upper-class, in her mind put them in their place.”

Twilight’s head met the floor. A high pitch whine emanating from her.

“I would love to go with you, but if it meant leaving my friends behind or making your choice harder, I’ll pass on the ticket.” Dash took a sip of tea. “I normally don’t like hot drinks, but this is rather nice.”

“Thanks,” Spike responded from behind his drained tea cup, “it’s a personal recipe.”

˚₊‧꒰ა ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

Scootaloo looked around at the sudden party that had sprung up, without warning. There had always been people in the fandom who wanted to go to a Pinkie party, and here she was now with one being thrown for her. She felt the wings on her back flutter with excitement at the thought.

It was weird having two extra appendages and she doubted that she would ever get used to them. Though it occurred to her that she would be able to fly! She just had to learn how to use them and then she could go flying with Rainbow Dash. Her wings fluttered again at the thought.

“Hey, Scoots?” Lyra’s voice broke her out of her reverie. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she replied, “it’s just a lot, I don’t know what to think. I get to experience something that many people would love to, but I keep thinking about how this means that I can't go back,” her voice cracked as a lump got stuck in her throat, “Lyra, I'm never going to see my parents again!” She fell forward onto the unicorn's back burying her face in the soft fur.

A pair of hooves grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. “Aw, don't cry,” Scootaloo recognized the voice as Pinkie Pie, though it sounded like she wanted to cry as well, “No one cries at a Pinkie Party. That would be just awful. I know that it hurts to be suddenly taken away from everything you know, but look at the bright side!” Scootaloo found herself gazing into huge bright blue eyes, “You were given a second chance at life to live and make friends. I would say it's up to you to make your own choices, but you still have a lot to grow and learn first.” Pinkie released her, “Have fun now, cry later.”

“What?” Scootaloo questioned.

“Pinkie, the one thing I will never investigate again,” Lyra nodded solemnly, “that way lies only madness.”

Scootaloo enjoyed herself the rest of the party, there were fillies and colts that wandered in and got abducted into the party by Pinkie who made them introduce themselves to the new filly. Come school year they would be her classmates. At one point a colt managed to escape Pinkie's clutches and the party and returned fifteen minutes later with a pack of friends who didn't want to miss out on the fun.

The adults mingled around the edge, continuing to buy baked goods from Mrs. Cake who still ran the counter during the madness. She was fine with it as long as Pinkie cleaned up in the end and replaced the ingredients she used. This was hardly the first time Pinkie had spontaneously sprung a Welcome to Ponyville party on her or the customers.

Lyra for her part had taken up position by the jukebox and was writing notes on a pad of paper while waiting for the rain outside and the party inside to wind down. She noticed that Berry Punch was hanging by the punch bowl again while chatting with Cherry Berry. Though her muzzle reading wasn't the best Lyra thought she made out something about ‘roof’ and ‘too high,’ though with the two of them those could mean anything.

Filthy Rich walked in at one point before promptly turning around and leaving, and she took note that Time Turner had dashed through at one point almost oblivious to the party. All of these things Lyra faithfully wrote down in her notepad to be filled at some point into her larger collection of books. Secrets would one day come to light, and she wanted to be there to see what they would be.

✶ ✶ ✶

“It would be nice if everyone could go but I only have two tickets,” Twilight pointed out. “It's only by exclusive invitation, and the only reason I get in is because Celestia is, no, was my teacher. She is now my advisor.”

“Ah,” Dash helpfully added. “So it's not like you could ask for another four tickets to go to the Gala.”

“Nope, not a chance.”

“No way at all, even though the Gala won't be for another eight months, and you and your friends are practically, no, are saviors of the realm.” Dash pressed.

“Well…”

“There's not even a glimmer of hope of asking the most powerful being on this plane in existence for four little slips of gold colored paper, what's the worst that could happen?”

“I don't know!” Twilight threw her hooves in the air, “I don't know what could happen if I ask! We could all be invited to the Gala, or get banished to the moon! She did it once!”

“Woah, calm down, Twilight,” Dash held her hooves out. “First off, that was a one time thing for a very good reason, second of all, she kind of owes us, you know, because we helped get her sister back. Inviting us to the Gala would be the least she could do. Besides this is Celestia we are talking about, everypony knows that she loves her little ponies.”

“She has a point, Twi,” Spike set down his empty tea cup and picked up a scroll and quill. “Honestly I’m surprised she didn’t do that off the bat. It might be that it just slipped her mind.”

Twilight sighed, the points made were rather solid and convincing, though she was still frightened at what might happen. “Fine, I'll ask her. Spike, take a letter.”

“Way ahead of you, Twi.”

After dictating several letters to Celestia, and vaporizing all of them, Twilight finally dictated a set of words that she thought was polite enough and managed to frame the questions in a manner that didn't seem accusatory. Spike added a few extra words on the end to add some crucial bits that he thought could explain the situation a bit better before sending it with flame breath.

“And, now we wait,” Twilight sat down trying to remain calm, “I'm sure that it will take some time for her to respond, it is after all only halfway through the afternoon session of day court.”

Spike started gathering the tea cups to take back to the kitchen. “Then it’s a good thing we have something to do while we wait.”

Twilight looked around at the stacks off books that covered the library. “Yeah, we might as well get something done while we wait, would you like to help us, Rainbow Dash?” she turned towards Dash.

“Um… Well….” Dash slowly started backing up, books were not the mare’s strong suit and sorting them would be sooo boring. Helping out with arduous tasks is the mark of a great friend, she thought. Another step backwards, all the random numbers and weird names were frightening, guess I’m just a good friend. Twilight tilted her head in confusion, “I don’t really like books, they're so egg-heady,” Dash blurted out. Well I’m alright.

Twilight watched the fading contrail of the fleeing Dash manage to open the door and leave her and Spike behind. “I guess she doesn't want to stick around and find out about the tickets.”

A groan accompanied the sound of fur rubbing on fabric as Rarity shifted on the couch. “Unnghhhh,” Rarity rolled onto her side. “What time is it?”

“About mid afternoon,” Spike replied, gathering up the rest of the dishes to take to the kitchen.

“Do you feel better, Rarity?” Twilight asked from the bookshelf where she was slotting books back into their proper slots.

Rarity paused thinking for a moment. “Why, yes, I do feel better. I don't recall having any bad dreams. Would you mind teaching me those runes for future reference please?” She fluttered her eyelashes for effect.

“Of course, let me just grab the book, it should be in the spell section under runes and glyphs.” Twilight scanned the labeled shelf for the book.

Spike returned from the kitchen and descended the staircase to the main floor. “What are you looking for, Twi?”

“101 Runes for Everyday Use, by D. Weaver, Canterlot Press 784 3rd Era,” Twilight rattled off.

Spike rolled his eyes and walked over to the table in the center of the library and grabbed a dark blue cover book that was covered in symbols from a pile of books that all started with numbers. “We haven't sorted out the pile that came from the numbered section yet.”

Twilight zipped over to the young dragon to inspect the book, “Yes, that's the one.” Using magic she pulled it out of his grasp and flipped through the pages before inserting a bookmark and floating it over to Rarity. “Here you go, I bookmarked the pages with the dream runes for you. Though I would recommend reading the whole book.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh my Celestia! You're borrowing a book from my library! We need to do this right!”

Rarity watched in equal parts horror fascination as Twilight set about clearing off a desk by the door before running around the discordant stacks of books looking for something. Spike sighed and walked to a small closet, retrieving several stacks of small cards, inkwells and quills and placing them on the desk.

“ThankyouSpike!” Twilight gave him a hug before dashing behind the desk and scribbling words onto the cards. “We need three things. The first is a record that you checked out the book for me, a due date for you and for you to sign your name on the books card with the date checked out and the date due back,” she explained as Rarity drew near, opening the book to the back cover and withdrawing a small card with lines for Rarity to sign.

Rarity drew near and levitated a quill to sign the card. Behind the desk Twilight was almost prancing. The moment was ruined by a large burp and gout of green fire. Twilight practically shoved the book at Rarity as she grabbed the scroll that landed on the desk still slightly smoking from the trip via dragon fire.

The library was filled with silence as Twilight unrolled the scroll and five gold tickets fluttered down to the desk's surface. She scanned the scroll with haste, drinking in the words on the parchment.

“She said yes!” Twilight cheered. “You all are coming to the Gala! She says that she meant to invite everyone but was rushed by the planning committee.”

“Why? The Gala isn't until the spring. In nine moons.”

ʚїɞ ʚїɞ ʚїɞ

Fluttershy left her cottage as the sun set, earlier in the day Rainbow Dash, her long time friend, had delivered news that she had been invited to the Grand Galloping Gala in the spring. As she walked down the trail that led from her house to the nearby Everfree Forest, Fluttershy reflected on what this meant. She had heard about the exotic plants and animals that resided in the royal gardens, which excited her, but it also meant that she was now in a position of importance to a Steward other than the one she currently served.

She didn't go far into the forest, though a follower of Pan the Wild was still dangerous to her, requiring respect and caution. Upon reaching a small glade where the underbrush thinned and the trees were far enough apart to let the faintest of moonlight shine through the leaves she stopped and sat down. A flash of white silently brushed aside plant stems as Orion passed, heading deeper into the forest for a hunt.

Closing her eyes, Fluttershy began her prayer.

Author's Note

BifauxenStroganoff Asked: “Question(s) for Pinkie: when did you first notice yourself hearing Mr. Narrator? Did it freak you out at first?”

Pinkie looks up from the party plans straight at BifauxenStroganoff, “NOO, Why did you ask that? Don't you see that you've created a paradox!? By asking the question you force a quantum change in the canon! Now there are two realities, the one of canon me hearing Mr. Narrator shortly after getting my cutie mark and being curious about my invisible new friend, and the fact that Mr. Narrator only exists when a story is told, and because there is no story about us meeting, it hasn't happened. Now Mr. Narrator must go and break the time stream to write the story to fix the paradox! But if he does that then this story progresses slower! You've doomed us all!”

Um yes, now I have a one shot short to write to fix the paradox, and get a story idea out of my head, mainly the paradox. Please ask any character a question in the comments, they might get answered.

That wraps up the episode Ticket Master. I meant for this to be a goofy and light hearted twist of headcanons and stupid ideas, but feelings and life advice really sneaks in there. Maybe I'll get goofier with the next few chapters, I hope so. I also hope you had as much fun (hopefully more) reading this than I did writing it. Apple Buck Season won't start until later, it will be the start of the fall episodes.

Until next time! Count the references and see if you can find them all! Clips into the ground, starts vibrating until shooting off into the distance.