A Stroll in The Royal Gardens

[BlindJester]

Melody looked over at the new pony who looked as if he was trying to get by unnoticed she gave a warm friendly smile so the stallion wouldn't feel to nervous "Hello there, come on over we don't bite" she said in a soothing tone and then drew her attention to Clay as he said a quick goodbye when he wanted to see his friend. Pouting slightly that the interesting stallion was leaving she sighed as he walked away and spoke quiet and quick words to the new arrival. 'Ah well at least it was fun while it lasted' thinking to herself in a disappoint way.

When the stallion came back after seeming to have forgotten something Melody immediately perked up and practically turned red when the Clay took her hoof and pecked it. She batted her eyes at the friendly stallion "You're quite welcome it's always my pleasure to help a pony in need." trying hard to keep a calm head and a cool tone so he couldn't tell she was about to burst with excitement at his dance proposal "I would be more than honoured to join you for a dance in the ballroom or a quick bite to eat. I'll see you later then, Mister Clay." she gave him a wink.

After Melody's exchange with Clay she gave her attention back to the nervous stallion and Princess Luna waiting for one of them to speak.

[Kalpira]

That garden was such a beautiful place to be! All of those flowers, scents, and if one heard closely, the sounds of so many animals. It seemed to be so vast, yet so mysterious. The sound from the party could be heard in the outside, but still it was possible to hear the sounds that surrounded the garden. That garden was mystic. Nopony could deny it. It could almost show the way Princess Celestia truly was.

And all of that amazed a certain filly...

Wind Mist stepped carefully oer the green and fluffy grass that grew beneath her hooves, her transparent pink dress flowing right behind her. She had a wide smile on her muzzle, and her eyes sparkled with a glitter of their own. Her muzzle was almost completely covered with her usual seethrough veil, with the few coins she had collected over the ears attached to the tips of it. She followed the trail of a passing by bee, that didn't seem to bother that it was night time already. She giggled to herself at such a sight, which made the happiness inside of her grow even more. Her happy eyes were matching the beauty of that place, and the filly herself looked like a creature of that place. In silence, she twirled in her own spot, as if dancing with herself and not caring about anythng else. After all, the Gala wasn't all about acting fancy and stand still in the same place for hours. It was about being herself.

After a second wave of crystal-like giggles, the filly finally sighed and kept smiling. But all of that happiness always brought, as usual, her urge to express herself. Her urge to let out how happy she was and how amazed her mind was. So as she kept walking, her crystaline voice made itself hearable as she unintentionally approached the group of ponies.

And happily that being sang:

"My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

There is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold.

Come all you pretty fair maids, whoever you may be

Who love a jolly sailor bold that ploughs the raging sea.

My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

There is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold.

My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

There is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold."

[flutterscotch]

Ashton had just asked if maybe the unicorn was a relative of Princess Celestia's, but it didn't register with her brain at that exact moment. Blushroom could tell that he was interested in the dark unicorn as well. In a fit of uncharacteristic assertiveness, Blushroom chirped "Let's get a closer look!" , and nudged him into the direction of the clearing with way more force than she should have mustered.

Then it occurred to her, just as they were about to crash into her. Relative? RELATIVE? Oh no! This must be PRINCESS LUNA! Oh now embarassing!

[Chonico]

Clay shot Melody a content smile as she accepted his offer to meet later for some dancing or some dinner, and was all too happy knowing he'd get to meet the beautiful pony again later in the evening. Bowing one more time to the guest as he excused himself, he began to make his way again, with a rather noticeable skip in his step, towards the pony sitting near the pond whom he was sure he had seen before. As he walked with a smile on his face, he couldn't help but think that the evening was turning out to be far more enjoyable than he originally imagined. Granted, the initial circumstances hadn't been the best, he had managed to invite a beautiful pony to some dancing and even met royalty. 'Hmm, I should make my way to the Main Hall sometime, there's bound to be some spectacular pottery there and I could even meet Princess Celestia… Not bad for a humble potter.' He thought to himself as he approached the pony sitting next to the pond and took account of what he saw.

'Hmm, dusty pink hair and a dress that seems to be a few decades past; an antique no doubt, well kept at that too, rather fashionable…' Clays ears perked up as his eyebrows rose in realization of who the pony was. He gingerly approached the pony and sat at hoofs length from her and, noticing her hat was slightly pulled over her eye, he calmly cleared his throat and began to address Vintage in a rather deeper voice, perhaps trying a bit to sound like somepony else. 'Pardon me miss, but that is an extremely wonderful dress you are wearing this evening. I do believe it's an antique, is it not? Oddly enough, I once met a strange fellow covered in clay who told me of a curious little locksmith's shop in Fillydelphia that sold some really nice antiques. I've been meaning to go there with a whole crate full of locks and padlocks that need fixing. Say, have you ever been to Fillydelphia, Miss Vintage?' He accidentally let the name slip.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Luna nodded in greeting to the newly arrived black Pegasus. 'You are very welcome. But it's really Princess Celestia who takes care of all the Gala business. She's the one you should really thank.' It was true. Luna was not accustomed to planning parties, and she certainly didn't know anypony well enough to personally ask anyone to attend the Gala.

Then she watched Clayton excuse himself, but return almost as quickly as he left. It was then that she noticed the pony that he was talking about, sitting rather alone and by herself near the water. She smiled lightly at the exchanges between Clayton and PaintedWings, before Clayton excused himself once more.

Luna caught something out of the corner of her eye, and glanced over in surprise as two orange ponies approached, one an Earth pony and one a Unicorn, at a rather rapid rate.

[Kalpira]

Wind Mist could now hear the ponies speaking, but didn't dare to face them directly. She listened to them talk and talk, and she was sure she could hear the voice of Princess Luna. The scent of night filled her nostrils, even more than normal. That could only mean that she was in the presence of Princess Luna, the younger Princess of the two sisters. Even the calm pegasus felt slightly in distress about the Princess, because she was usually considered a freak next to any pony. Specially Princess Luna, she thought... But once again, something had manage to distract the focus she had on her thoughts. A little grasshopper jumped over her hoof, making her look down and tingle the coins on her veil. Looking to both sides, she stamped the floor with one hoof, making it jump once again. Then again, then again. It made the young mare giggle to herself. She lowered her head, and kept scarying the grasshopper further and further away. The small bug rushed to jump, fearing for his life.

But when the grasshopper stopped, it did it over another pair of hooves. They were orange, completely different from hers. When she looked up, she saw the orange stallion with a little rock for a cutie mark.

[Pennwick]

"Huh? What?" Ashton briefly resisted being guided to this other Unicus/Pegacorn. Talking to them could be interesting maybe it wouldn't hurt. How to address them was the question. He didn't want to undermine their status, nor did he want to appear submissive before someone even if they were high rank. Back home it took boldness to get ahead. He was never much good at that but he could try here.

As he approached he inclined his head slightly in greeting. "Good evening." He raised his hoof again for a hoofshake. "I'm Ashton Stone. And you are?"

[Vintage]

Vintage tilted her head to the side, attempting to pop a crick out of her neck. Trying to 'puff out her feathers,' so to speak, and boasting a prim and proper posture wasn't something she was entirely used to. Though, she nearly shot back up into that proper posture at the sound of a voice all-too close to her. As that handsome-sounding voice continued, though, her expression would change to one of puzzlement, and then spread a big grin from ear to ear.

"Mister Clayton!" She looked up at him, squinting briefly. "My goodness, I didn't expect to see you here- er...I mean to say, I truly didn't expect to be invited, myself. Perhaps the Gala decided on expanding invitational arms this year."

A slight hint of blush at her cheeks and a humbled smile would come when she realized that he'd previously complimented her dress. She wasn't used to it. C'mon girl, get it together! "And might I say that is a fine outfit you're wearing, as well. I wouldn't recognize you right away if you hadn't come out with it. You look a new stallion without all of the clay dust," she teased lightly at him. At least she felt a little bit more at ease, knowing someone she was acquainted with was attending the Gala.

"So, how has your night been so far? This place is absolutely spectacular, isn't it? The garden alone was ravishing. And the sculptures and other trinkets that decorate the halls inside the castle...!" She got corralled elsewhere once or twice for stepping too close to some of the items to get a better look, but she'd leave that part out.

[flutterscotch]

Ashton was able to break away from Blushroom before he collided with Luna completely. He began to just walk up to the princess.

"Ashton, you don't understand! That's PRINCESS ...", Blushroom whispered, rather loudly but before she could finish her warning, he was already introducing himself like she was an ordinary pony. She glanced, wide-eyed and panicked towards the alicorn and dropped to the ground in deference, only lifting one eyebrow to see what she was going to do to Ashton for being so presumptuous. She'd heard about Princess Luna, and the havoc she caused at last year's Summer Sun Celebration. Blushroom, who has never had the reputation of being the bravest of ponies (nor the most observant), lay on the ground trembling at the feet of several ponies who were completely and totally comfortable in Luna's company, and who had in fact been happily chatting with her for quite a few minutes. For a pony so worried about what others think of her, she had certainly put herself in yet another situation where other residents of Equestria have valid reason to think her strange.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Luna's ears perked at orange Earth pony's rather loud whisper, but the only word she managed to caught was 'PRINCESS.'

She looked slightly bewildered at the hoof the newly arrived orange Unicorn offered. Her expressions didn't change when she looked up at him as he introduced himself. Everypony knew who Princess Celestia was...surely they would've heard of Luna's rather... exuberant arrival.

Then she noticed the orange Earth pony, nearly flat on the ground and shaking. Apparently she must have heard SOME tale of her... Though who she'd heard it from and what it was could have been exaggerations...and from her behavior it seemed so. She HAD made quite a spectacle of herself...And not all that long ago either. Who knew how far her tale had traveled and been stretched?

But Luna smiled politely at Ashton, extending her hoof to shake his. 'It's a pleasure, Mr. Stone. I am Princess Luna of Equestria.'

She gave a light giggle as she turned to the second newly arrived pony. 'You may rise.'

[Chonico]

'And I didn't expect to meet anyone I knew here as well.' Clay said with a smile on his face as he relaxed his posture a bit. Admittedly, fancy events like this made him a bit tense, but he found that the best way to hide it was to just go with the atmosphere, just like he did when he was a colt, and kind of act out the part and formalities of a proper guest; standing up straighter, proper greetings and such. However, at the mention of looking like "a new stallion without all of the clay dust," he could not help but let out a hardy laugh as he looked down at his own tuxedo. 'Yeah, I suppose I do look different than I normally would. I clean up nice, I guess.'

'My night has been…' Clay paused for a second as he looked back to where he had been standing a few minutes ago, focusing on Melody and Princess Luna, 'Its been going rather well.' A smiled formed across his face. 'Given the circumstances that is. The castle holds an appeal for all the ponies here, I suppose, and for me it was the pottery.' He said with a grin across his face. 'I came to the gala to get some inspiration, got it, then came out here to maul it over and messed too much with my tie and…' Shooting his own hoof a glance as it subconsciously began to hover towards his tie again, remembering Melody's joke about getting both hoofs tied instead of just the one. 'Well, let just say I could have used your locksmithing skills.' A smile formed across his face as he recalled a joke from when he first met Vintage. 'Still, made a rather, umm, interesting first impression on some of the guests.'

After a second's pause, Clay cleared his throat a bit and addressed Vintage with a gentle smile on his face. 'You look rather stunning yourself this evening, different without the antique dust covering your mane.' He returned the tease from earlier about his clay dust and leaned in a bit closer to Vintage. 'But something else is different about you…' This time he stood up and sat back down again closer to Vintage and leaned his head in so that he could look at Vintage's face straight on. Remembering the brief squinting from earlier when she figured out who he was, he lightly raised his hoof in front of her and waved it slowly, and with a slight gasp but keeping a calm voice and a smile on his face, 'Miss Vintage, you don't have your glasses with you this evening? I'm sorry, and I'm not trying to be rude but, how well do you see without them?

[Pennwick]

Ashton glanced away. 'Royalty? Maybe I shouldn't have did that.' It was too late to turn back now. She didn't seem upset that much or if she was she wasn't showing it. Either way he felt it could be a lot worse. Blushroom's reaction though, why was she so scared? Did she know something he didn't?

After shaking her hoof he immediately sank into a short bow. "I'm sorry, we don't hear much about Canterlot in Rockwington." It was a poor excuse but truthfully he didn't really know who she was. In one of his sisters letter sshe had mentioned that a customer had seen another Princess in Ponyville but beyond her name he didn't know anything.

[flutterscotch]

Blushroom peaked out from under her now completely disordered mane at the princess's giggle.

"Of all the times", Blushroom thought, "Of all times for me to get nervous, and in front of the second most important pony in Equestria" She stood up, her dress now almost completely crinkled, leaving bits of bark where she had lain. She tried to straighten it as best as she could.

"I'msorryyourmajesty,Ashtonweshouldbegoing" She blurted meekly and then bowed to the princess again. She looked wide-eyed at the other ponies and turned to make her escape.

[BlindJester]

Melody stopped the young mare from leaving by gently tugging on her tail "Don't go! I'm sure the Princess doesn't mind your presence." hoping she was right about her assumption. "Plus I would like to hear more about you and your friend here" she swung her head in the other ponies direction. "Why so nervous? The princess won't bite."

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Princess Luna saw the look that crossed Ashton's face as he realized his mistake. But then he bowed, at least he hadn't overlooked that detail. He mentioned something about Rockwington...where was that again? Wasn't that one of the Griffin territories? From the name, it certainly sounded like it, but...what would a pony be doing living there?

Luna didn't have time to think about that though. Looking at the orange Earth pony's ruffled dress, Luna felt bad at her mused attire. But as soon as she stood up, she was down again. Then she said a slew of incomprehensible words...or what sounded like words.

What in Equestria? She looked almostâ€â€Âafraid? But what of? Was she afraid of...Luna perhaps? The princess considered this. She didn't look menacing, did she? Then again, perhaps she was from the same place that Ashton was. After all, they had been together when they joined Luna and the others. Even though everything was all over, there were still rumors going around, even a year after everything...

She smiled at Melody's attempt to make the pony stay. 'Come now, what's the matter?' Luna asked, reaching a hoof toward the orange Earth pony to try to coax her back.

[flutterscotch]

Blushroom felt a little tug on her tail, so she turned around to come face to face to a purplish unicorn who was imploring her to stay.

"But that's the PRINCESS", she whispered, alarm in her voice, "and she made everything DARK. She's going to banish me to somewhere for my forwardness!. She glanced at MelodySpark, who looked so lively, and completely unafraid of Luna that the relented a little.

She turned and bowed to the princess. "I'm really sorry, your Majesty" and stood there meekly, blinking, occasionally glancing at Ashton.

[Pennwick]

Ashton paused for a moment. He hadn't really connected the dots between Luna and that day the sun didn't rise. He guessed that would make sense, 'Luna, Lunar'. There was probably more to the story though. He doubted Princess Celestia would allow someone unstable and dangerous to freely wander.

"Your forwardness?" Ashton didn't bother lowering his voice. "If anyone should be punished it would be me."

He froze a moment realizing what he just said. Hopefully the Princess wouldn't take him up on that offer. "I mean. What I mean is you didn't do anything wrong." He turned to the princess and smiled awkwardly. He would have to remember to deliver a gift of apology tomorrow.

"Correct Miss Lu... I mean Your Majesty? She hasn't done anything wrong."

[BlindJester]

"Princess Luna isn't like that at all!" MelodySpark replied a faint sternness in it. No one was going think such prosperous things about the nice and shy princess. She had to defend the princess even though she had no right to speak like that when Princess Luna can do it for herself. "I don't mean to speak for the princess but I'm pretty sure she would never banish you for coming to say hi right? That would be just silly and she's really really nice"

[MyLittlePonyTales]

What? Somepony had actually just called her nice? R-Really? Luna could barely believe it... somepony she'd just met, and she thought she was nice? Maybe she just wasn't very informed on current events... That just had to be it. She couldn't have meant it. But Luna didn't have time to dwell on that for long.

'You don't have to keep doing that.' Luna said to the again bowing pony. But now Ashton was bowing as well. At least he knew how he should properly act around royaltyâ€â€Âeven if he didn't quite know who the royalty around here was. But wasn't her mix of horn and wings some indication? Luna was feeling rather confused as to just what and how much these ponies knew about herâ€â€Âbut it should have been expected for such a large gathering of ponies such as the Gala.

[flutterscotch]

Blushroom stopped groveling. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. I'm your loyal subject Blushroom, and I'm from a simple farm in Ponyville. I did not recognize you at first, because who would expect royalty to be hanging out with us commoners, and the last time I glimpsed you, you seemed different. . The orange pony looked down at her now destroyed outfit. "I'm sorry I had to meet you, looking like this.". The quickly added "It is an honor to meet you, though! I never imagined I would."

She glanced over at Ashton, who seemed still a little confused as to who the pony actually was and was just making the motions expected of him.

[Pennwick]

Though he tried to hide it Ashton was still confused. If she was Princess Celestia's sister why hadn't he heard of her. His sister had spent a few weeks in Canterlot 3 years back. She would have told him if there were two princesses. Even if she wasn't there at the time she would have at least heard about her right? 'I hope I'm not being forgetful.'

He tried to smile. "Yes. It is... an honor to meet you." he mimicked Blushroom though the words felt hollow. It seemed as Blushroom was recovering Ashton was slipping. He tried to latch onto something to complement on without sounding like a fool.

Gems, he could talk about that. Wasn't that initially what he wanted to ask her about? "Your jewelry goes very well with your dress Princess. You don't see pearls mixed with diamonds too often. Can I ask who did it?" Hopefully he could hold out a little longer before excusing himself. Maybe Blushroom could tell him how badly he messed up later.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Seemed different? Different ho Then it occurred to Luna. The night before the Summer Sun Celebration, when everything with Nightmare Moon had happened... that was whyâ€â€ÂBlushroom, was it?â€â€Âhad been acting so peculiar.

But then Ashton was talking, and Luna's attention was on him again. 'Oh, well Iâ€â€Â' Luna certainly hadn't expected any questions about her dress. Although, at an event such as the Gala, with so many different attiresâ€â€Âwhy shouldn't she have expected at least one pony to ask? 'I had it specially tailored, in Canterlot. Somepony Celestia knew about. Can't quite, uh...remember their name, at the moment.' she smiled sheepishly, blushing. 'But if you like you can ask my sister yourself. She's in the Main Hall, unless you've already been?'

[Pennwick]

Ashtons ears drooped a little. He had been hoping to find out, maybe he could of sold his excess gemstones to them. However... "No. No I haven't." he could excuse himself this way. The Princess seemed nice enough but it was still awkward to address someone of such stature without knowing who they were. "Maybe I'll go try again now. There were quite a few ponies waiting earlier." He bowed again before starting to turn away. "It was a pleasure to meet you Princess Luna." He dropped his voice and whispered to Blushroom. "When you have a moment, would you?"

He rounded a corner. He needed to know what he didn't know. Which was a lot. Hopefully Blushroom would soon follow and she could fill him in. If not maybe he could find out somehow tomorrow from somepony else. He felt a little pinch on his leg. He looked down. Apparently a small insect had jumped into it, and there was a light colored pony right behind it. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just waiting for someone."

[flutterscotch]

Blushroom heard Ashton whisper and watched him duck out into the garden. She took that as her cue to exit as gracefully as she could under the circumstances.

"Well, it was splendid meeting you, your majesty. I do have to meet my ...er friend, though", she said backing up, slowly "I hope you have a wonderful rest of the Gala!"

She looked over at MelodySpark. "It was nice meeting you too." and glancing at the rest of the group, but still backing up, "All of you, it was nice meeting all of you" Once the ponies had closed ranks on the gentle princess once again she turned tail and made her way to where Ashton was waiting.

"Phew, that was so NERVE WRACKING!", she lamented as she go to where the orange unicorn was standing, before noticing his companion, "I've never been so embarassed in my life! Never felt so unimportant!"

"H-helllo there"

She saw Ashton looking down at his leg, and she frowned for a moment at the insect. "Are you ok? Did you get bit by a bug or something?" Suddenly she spied the light beige pegasus out of the corner of her eye. Instinctively, since she is not the bravest pony in the bunch, she jumped back behind Ashton. She hoped that he didn't mind her gut reaction.

[Elsina]

Tiger Lily had been wandering about, wearing a simple light blue dress with citrine gemstones set around the top in a nice elegant pattern. These kinds of grand events always made her feel extremely out of place and as though she should be elsewhere and tending to her plants. A soft sigh escaped the red-orange earth pony's mouth as she hung her head and let the dark black mane fall in front of her face. Thankfully the gardens were a nice quiet get away from the noise and bustling atmosphere of drone ramblings and buzz of overly excited ponies.

"Well thankfully I can come here..." She muttered under her breath as she paused before a patch of well tended roses. She gently nuzzled the tend petals and inhaled the beautiful aroma of such happy plants. "You guys are so splendid and beautiful... Your gardener must take great pain and care to make sure you bloom beautifully..."

She let out a soft laugh as pollen tickled her nose and almost as though it was the rose's response to her soft spoken words. Tiger Lily pulled back, turning her head as she heard there were other ponies enjoying the same quiet and open space of the gardens. Her head tilted to the side slightly, a hesitation in her step as she contemplated moving towards the sounds and meeting those that had gathered.

Should I go over there? I did come here to make friends... but... Her thoughts trailed off as she reminded herself that was the reason she came to the gala, to make the friends she found herself wishing she had. Her flank quivered with the tension in her body before she flicked her mane back and steeled herself for what might be a very bold action.

She took a step... and immediately turned and fled to the other side of the garden and away from the unknown ponies with a loud noise of frustration with herself.