The Gala

//

Yeah... It's at those moments when I realise why making plans for my stories wouldn't work for me. XD

Because the best ideas I usually get during writing Haha!

Today's chapter a bit longer than usual.

I hope you like it and don't worry, "She's" gonna be alright... hopefully... ;)

And like always, ENJOY!

//

Starfall was currently being dragged down the corridor, held by his tail with purplish magic aura, as he clawed the floor in desperation.

"Just a little more Twily! I almost figured out The Template for my new formation! A few more hours and the blueprint for My Flesh Restructurisation Vat would be completed!" He bemoaned while Twilight rolled her eyes in exasperation as she walked in front of him.

"I don't even want to know why you need such a thing, and we don't have a few hours. Now come on or we'll be late for the Gala..." She said annoyed as Starfall slumped in defeat, letting Twilight levirate him into the bedroom.

Surprisingly enough, Rarity was already waiting inside with a mobile bathtub and a rack of clothes grinning despite her slightly annoyed expression.

"Finally! How long were you going to keep us waiting!? Come on clean up and get yourself presentable!" She urged the Stallion who tried to understand what was going on when the two mares pushed him into the Bathtub and started to clean him up.

It soon became apparent thought, that they simply wanted to have some fun with their Coltfriend before the Gala, and being on a tight schedule didn't deter them from having their wicked ways with his "defenceless" self...

Before he realized it, he was standing in front of a magically transfigured carriage surrounded by seven lovely mares, a white Phoenix, and a dragon in a tuxedo accompanied by three adorable fillies.

Thankfully all of them fit inside, as the carriage was pretty large, but a small fiasco with a mouse into "horse" transfiguration almost had them need to ask a few passerby stallions to act as the "horse power"...

Thankfully with Luna being a part of the group, a few Royal Guards showed up at just the right moment and happily agreed to pull the carriage. Starfall decided to ignore the almost cartoonish coincidence...

Though he had to facehoof during the ride when he realised that he was a Prince himself. He could have easily summoned a few guards to pull the carriage, but somehow he expected Twilight's transfigured "mouse-horses" to work here, when they failed and run away in the show...He should really pay more attention to such details, but it were years since he watched the show, and having notes and an excellent memory bordering at eidetic one still had its limits...

It was about two hours later when they arrived in Canterlot, and while Starfall didn't consider that time to be wasted, as he truly enjoyed the time with his Marefriends, he couldn't deny that using a magic portal would be so much more convenient.

Technically he could easily recreate the Token artifact of Chancellor Neighsay, or just the portal spell ingrained into it, but he was a perfectionist and the old E.E.A artifact had much to be desired, the only thing it was good for really, was the large amount of magic sealed inside, while the enchantments needed a lot of improvements before he would consider making one for himself...

Starfall stepped out of the carriage and helped all his mares out of the carriage one by one, being followed by Spike who took an example out of his father and helped the three adorable fillies, eliciting giggles not only from them but from all the other ponies and Phoebe who watched Spike acting like a cute little gentlecolt... But it Didn't mean Spike was being made fun of, as it was clear, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom appreciated his action...Damn...Starfall was so proud of him...

"Tickets, please." Said a fashionably clothed Unicorn Stallion who stood in front of the entrance into the castle with two Guards flanking him on either side.

Starfall recognised the Stallion as his old clasmate and a self centered high class pony who always sucked up to him in the magic academy. Starfall couldn't help but chuckle, as the Stallion held his head so high that he didn't even realise who he was speaking to.

"It's good to see you too, Nobble hoof!" Said Starfall cheerfully, causing the self-centred Stallion to open his eyes wide when he recognised the voice of the new arrival. His previous arrogant disposition all but gone...

"P-Prince Starfall!? I'm extremely sorry for not greetings you properly. Please. You and your companions can come inside. I don't need to see your tickets.

"Why thank you N.Hoof. See you at the Gala." Starfall said before leading the entire party inside.

He couldn't help but chuckle when Noble Hood fainted seeing Princess Luna being one of his dates. Seems like the fact he didn't even notice her until that moment was too much for the poor Noble...

"Wow! It's so amazing! there's so many fancy Ponies all around!... although it feels a little dull don't you think?" Pinkie asked, as she looked around excitedly.

"It's a sophisticated party Pinkie. It's not one of your birthday parties, but a high class gathering which is a different type of party." Explained Rarity causing Pinkie to pout.

"Booooring! We need to make it more fun! Those ponies don't even realise what they are missing!" Said Pinkie ready to run off to do exactly what she said, but a certain thought held her back. She wanted to spend the time with Starfall...

"You need to give it a chance Pinkie. I told you a few times that the Gala isn't how you were imagining it. I'll be happy to show you around but I know that all of you girls want to do something else so we'd have to go with a compromise. How about we split into groups for now? we'll try to cover what everypony wants to do, and don't worry as there's a lot of time for everything." Starfall tried to explain but it was clear the mares were a little reluctant.

Thankfully they all accepted in the end, and Starfall brought Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight towards the dance floor, while Rainbow, Luna and Applejack agreed to join Fluttershy in the garden for the current moment...

As for Spike and the CMC...they were already off to the buffet hoping to get all the sweets...

__________

It took a while for Starfall to get Pinkie to just enjoy the quiet party. Both Twilight and Rarity were honestly more than happy being at the Dance floor with the Stallion, but Pinkie didn't understand the appeal until Starfall took her into his embrace and started to kiss her senseless in the middle of the dancefloor until she calmed down. He was personally quiet surprised that it was all he needed to do, to show Pinkie Pie the appeal of a peaceful and quiet celebration as they swirled around the dance floor, The Party Pony quickly catching the Overly slow dance moves.

They would occasionally change partners so that each of the three mares got to enjoy a dance with Starfall, and before long the trio found themselves back at the buffet.

Starfall left Pinkie Pie in Twilight's care so that she could stop her from some unsavoury behaviour, opting not to leave her with Rarity as she would quickly bore the pink mare to death with all the Savoir Vivre stuff she would try to instill into the girl.

Rarity opted to accompany Starfall as he went looking for the other group, and it wasn't long before he found his three Marefriends surroundings a pile of animals snuggling into whom he assumed to be Fluttershy...

"Umm...If I may ask...what happened here?" Said Starfall as the three mares turned towards Starfall before brightening.

"Ah Starfall! You're finally here!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash while Luna smiled before glancing at Fluttershy and explaining.

"Well. Fluttershy wanted to see the animals in the Royal Gardens, but she was unaware that many of them were wary of strangers and had some difficult pasts before Tia rescued them.

Thankfully, they knew me and after I reassured the animals that there was nothing to be scared off they quickly got along... although I didn't expect the animals to like her that much..." She said looking at the dozens of different creatures snuggling into the Pegasus who seemed a. it overwhelmed with the sudden attention.

"I...I was just being nice..." She said a bit meekly, unmoving, unsure if she was scared of scaring them away or of being crushed to death by hugs...

Everypony laughed at her predicament and Starfall decided to spend a while here, to try and diffuse the "situation"...

_________

"Welcome...to...the Gala... Have... a good time..." Said a very impatient Celestia trying to keep her expression from showing her annoyance. What was with those Ponies all wanting to greet her?! They are impeding her from meeting her Starfall!

She had already saw him coming inside. He gave her a smile in welcome, before looking at the queue of Ponies wanting to greet her, deciding to spare her from joining it as he could clearly tell that she was unhappy with the situation. He was so considerate! But she wanted to meet him soon! Thankfully there came her chance when a small disturbance happened as apparently a certain dragon accidentally burned a table after burping from eating too much candy.

She quickly took the chance to slip away and found Spoke with his three little friends trying to stop a burning table using a bowl of punch.

She quickly took care of the problem, being rather thankful for the distraction, so she didn't punish the kids and send them to the dance floor where according to Spike, her Starfall was also seen the last time he saw him.

She momentarily wondered why she was calling him HER Starfall, but she shrugged it off as she followed the fillies towards the dance floor hoping to find the unicorn.

But as she met Twilight and Pinkie Pie walking towards the buffet, She was left annoyed and slightly Jealous as apparently Starfall already left and she had to listen to the two girls explaining how much fun they had while dancing with HER Starfall!

A tiny voice inside her head was telling her that there was something wrong with the way she was thinking but she couldn't care less when she looked for Starfall...

It was a while before she finally found Fluttershy and Applejack inside the Royal Gardens. Apparently both of them decided to spend their time here, after having fun with Starfall and Celestia felt incredulous. She missed him again?! And It seems like he was having a lot of fun with those girls while ignoring her?! No that's not right. They were taking all of his time, which he could have spend with her...

Celestia felt some contradicting emotions. The small voice at the back of her head screamed that they were her friends, and somehow her focus went back to Starfall.

Starfall...

My Starfall...

Where are you...

Her body twitched as Her Cutie Mark sparked with reddish energy.

__________

"Oh I'm so happy to be here Starfall. Thank you for bearing with my selfish request." Luna said as the duo sat on a bench atop a high tower balcony looking at the stars. A slow melody could be heard from downstairs and Starfall felt the urge to take her into his hooves and dance under the moonlight...Which he promptly did causing her to giggle happily before leaning into his neck and enjoying the closeness.

"That's a matter of course Luna." Whispered Starfall as they turned around into the rhythm of the music.

A short while of silence later, Luna giggled.

"What's so funny?" Asked Starfall.

"Ah nothing. I just remembered Rainbow's expression when you Introduced her to the Wonderbolts. The girl almost fainted even though she already met them once during the young flyer competition, haha!" Said Luna remembering their previous stop, where the duo left Rainbow about half an hour ago... Starfall laughed as well before both of them returned to the comfortable silence as they danced to the far off music.

Finally Luna said...

"Do you think we should head back? I already took a lot of you time and I'm sure the others also want to have some more personal time with you." She said with a wink and Starfall smiled before kissing her soft lips.

"Yeah let's go or Rarity is gonna skin me. She and Twilight were the two most eager to spend the night with me, and the longer we stay here, the greater their third for my flesh." He said with amusement leading Luna back to the party.

It wasn't long before they found the girls sitting at a table talking, with spike and the three fillies clearly very sleepy, their eyes practically closing on their own, and Phoebe sitting at a perch with Philomena, trying to hit spike with some seeds from a feeder installed for the Phoenixes.

"Hey girls! Having fun?' He asked as the mares seemed pretty happy unlike how the Gala ended in the show.

"Yeah. The party wasn't as great as we expected but we realised that as long as we're together, nothing else really matters..." Twilight said surprising Starfall. Seems like even without that disaster, the girls stil learned the same lesson.

"Hah, You're right Twilight. I think it's a good lesson." He agreed before sitting at the table with everypony.

"Oh right. Celestia was looking for you Starfall. I think you should speak to her." She added causing Starfall to open his eyes wide.

'Celestia!? Damn, she completely slipped my mind! And here I wanted to try and "Complete the set" So to speak...' Thought Starfall before speaking.

"Right! I'll go look for her. Thanks Twily." He said before excusing himself...

__________

Celestia trotted all around the Castle in a clearly visible hurry. For the love of the Sun, she couldn't find Starfall anywhere, and she felt as if he was avoiding her, but that couldn't be true, right? Why would he avoid her?!

Was it those other Mares? Was all his person preoccupied with those girls and he didn't care about Her anymore?

Just as her thoughts were about to turn even darker, Celestia noticed a Stallion walking with a confident strut, straight towards her direction, and her heart skipped a bit.

It was him!

"Starfall! You're here! I was hoping to speak with you!" She said feeling as if some weight started to lift from her heart.

"Celestia! I'm so happy to see you! I'm sorry for not finding you earlier. I got preoccupied with The girls. We had a lot of fun on your party!" He said cheerfully, But Celestia felt somehow unsatisfied with his response. He had fun with the girls and couldn't see her? So She was right! Those girls were keeping him away from her! But what about...

"And did you enjoy your time with my sister?" She asked to which Starfall remember his most recent time with Luna at the high tower, and involuntarily spoke with a far off smile.

"Oh yes! We had a lot of fun together! Just a while ago, She and I spend some time dancing at the highest watchtower. The experience was really magical under the stairs. He replied completely missing the dark look Celestia had for a moment.

At this point of the Gala, Starfall wasn't really that sober, so things that should have been a dead giveaway of something being wrong, completely flew over his head, especially with the party going so perfect until recently...

"I see. I would like to have a talk with her. Could you call her for me, please?" She said slightly coldly and Starfall felt looked confused with the sudden turn of the conversation. They barely started talking and he didn't even have a chance to ask her for a dance...

"I...Sure, I'll ask her...now...I wanted to-"

"Good." She interrupted him before turning around and leaving a confused Starfall, who finally shrugged and went looking for Luna.

*Sigh* 'Woman...' He thought to himself...

_________

Luna walked into the chamber a little confused, but feeling a bit of anticipation about meeting her sister.

It wasn't long since their last meeting, and she wasn't unaware of Starfall's idea about wooing her as well, since he wasn't as sneaky about it as he would have thought, but she didn't know how far he progressed in that regard and she wasn't against helping him a little by pushing her sister in the right direction.

But as she walked into the dark chamber, she felt some unexplainable fear... Something wasn't right.

Then suddenly, an ominous pair of red crimson flaming eyes, which a certain Starfall might have compared with Sauron's Eye, appeared in the darkness starring straight into her soul.

"Welcome... Sister..."

The last thing Luna saw, was a weird crimson lightning...and then...darkness...