Make New Friends, but Keep Discord
Pony's Log Number 507: Even when you have one friend that is very special to you, you can't keep them all to yourself...
One day at Fluttershy's cottage, she was hosting a small tea party with Discord. As baffling as it sounded, it had become a regular routine for the two friends. Actually, make it three friends. Shenran was there as well. While he still found it hard to trust the draconequus, he was actually starting to enjoy Discord's company. The chaos was friendly and Discord was actually rather funny, especially for Fluttershy, who was laughing herself silly.
"Ohoho, but that's not all!" said Discord as he reclined comfortably on the sofa, "When I went to look for them again, they were on the ceiling!" Fluttershy and Shenran laughed.
"Oh Discord, I've never known anypony as funny as you!" said Fluttershy as she and Shenran held their saucers and their tea cups with a fore-hoof.
"Hey!" Shenran said, not hiding his jealousy, "You said I was funny."
"Forget it, Shenny, when it comes to funny, you're clearly outclassed by yours truly," Discord boasted.
"Quit calling me, Shenny," said Shenran annoyingly, "Seriously, who came up with that stupid nickname?"
"Ahem," said Fluttershy, giving her husband a look that was both hurt and annoyed. Shenran bit his lip.
"Sorry, honey, slipped my mind," said Shenran timidly, "but I'd prefer if only you called me that nickname." Fluttershy just giggled.
"You're so cute when you know you're in trouble," said Fluttershy as Shenran just blushed and chuckled himself as Fluttershy continued speaking to the draconequus, "Getting back our earlier conversation, Discord. I love the story about the time you tried to train your right paw..." Fluttershy giggled, "...to fetch your left leg!" Fluttershy giggled again, even Shenran didn't resist a chuckle.
"Though I'd prefer keep all four of my legs connected to my body, thank you," said Shenran.
"Sure you wouldn't want to try disconnecting them at least once?" Discord offered.
"Noooo thank you," said Shenran as Fluttershy giggled again.
"Oh, I do love our Tuesday teas," said Fluttershy, "and I can't wait for you to meet our friend Tree Hugger. She's going to love you too."
"Or love thinking your annoying," Shenran teased with a smirk as Fluttershy shot him a disapproving look that went unnoticed. Discord blinked in surprise at hearing about another friend from Fluttershy, In fact, he didn't even hear Shenran's sarcastic remark.
"Tree Hugger?" Discord remarked and then laughed.
"Shenran and I met her on our trip to see the Breezies," Fluttershy explained, "She's a member of the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures."
"How nice for you both," said Discord rather bitterly as he chewed on his teacup.
"Something up, D?" Shenran asked, now using the nickname Mario would call the draconequus. Discord glared but then noticed that Shenran had a concerned look on his face.
"Nothing," Discord muttered sternly.
"We're all gonna have so much fun together at the Grand Galloping Gala!" said Fluttershy excitedly.
"Oh," said Discord as he made the table float upward, scooted over toward Fluttershy and bashing Shenran's chair away and sending the Pegasus stallion crashing into the background, "I was wondering when you were going to ask me. I'd love to!"
"Oh. Oh, no," Fluttershy stuttered and looked sadly away, "Um, I'm afraid I've already asked Tree Hugger." Discord was stunned and also rather indignant, until something clicked.
"Wait a minute here!" said Discord, "you invited Tree Hugger over your own husband?! Hahaha! I don't feel as bad hearing that!"
"Actually Discord, I volunteered to help with security for the Gala," said Shenran, "But I was allowed to invite a guest.
"Oh hohoho!" said Discord excitedly as he wrapped an arm around Shenran's shoulder, "We should totally make it a guy's night out!"
"I already invited, Muffins," said Shenran firmly. Discord blinked and went back to feeling angry and indignant.
"I'm sorry, Discord," said Fluttershy as Discord stomped off a bit, "I assumed you'd have your own ticket since you and Princess Celestia are friends now. Were you not invited?"
"He...actually took my advice and settled things with Princess Celestia?!" said Shenran, feeling rather baffled hearing he and Celestia were friends. Discord said nothing.
"Who, me?" said Discord as he made a ragged suit jacket appear on himself and trying and failing miserably to hide the anger in his voice, "It probably got lost in the mail. No biggie, as the foals say. Well, gotta go!" He then turned to leave.
"But we haven't had any of our Tuesday teacakes," said Fluttershy as she held a plate of the delicious treats on it, "Shenran's worked so hard perfecting the recipe and these are his best batch yet!"
"Well, I guess we're just going to have to exclude them from our party this time," said Discord as he grabbed the teacakes and dumped them inside of his jacket, "Oh, did I say that out loud? I mean, ta-ta." Fluttershy and Shenran were left stunned by Discord's sudden leave when the floating table and tea pot landed back on the ground with a thud. Fortunately neither item broke upon impact as Shenran put the teapot back on the table.
"Well, that's one way to make it clear he's upset about not being invited," said Shenran.
"Oh, I'm sure there was just a misunderstanding," said Fluttershy, "The Gala would be alot more fun if he was there!"
"He would certainly add some excitement to the event," said Shenran.
"By the way, why did you invite, Muffins?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
"She's done alot for Mario and she always wanted to go to the Gala," said Shenran, "Plus Mario couldn't invite her himself because he and Twilight were inviting some special ponies as their plus ones."
"Who?" Fluttershy asked.
"Don't know," said Shenran, "They wouldn't tell me."
"I see," said Fluttershy, wondering just who Mario and Twilight had invited to the Gala.
(Main theme)
Early one morning, Spike was sound asleep inside his little bed basket.
"Gemstones..." Spike snored to himself. Then Discord decided to make himself known by peeking out from inside Spike's blanket.
"GAH!" Spike yelped in fright as the draconequus gave the little dragon a death glare.
"Where's Twilight?" Discord asked in a low, threatening tone.
"Uh, she's in Canterlot," Spike answered quickly, "helping Princess Celestia with the Gala!"
"And Mario?" Discord asked in the same tone.
"He had to go take a trip but didn't say where exactly," Spike replied, "just something about picking up his and Twilight's plus ones for the Gala." Discord then disappeared without another word. Spike sat up from his basket and wrapped the blanket around himself while making nervous noises. He was clearly shaken up, possibly dramatized.
Inside the Carousel Boutique, Rarity was finishing the final touches to some Gala dresses that belonged to three very special guests.
"Oh, your first Grand Galloping Gala!" said Rarity excitedly as she held several materials in the air with her magic, "The excitement, the anticipation! I wouldn't miss this for all the jewels in Equestria!" Rarity then grabbed some ribbon and tied it into a pretty bow and stuck it on the back of Sweetie Belle's Gala dress. Sweetie Belle's outfit was a sleeveless teal blue and mint green dress that had an emerald broach in the chest with a handcrafted tulip barrette clip. Scootaloo's dress was similar but in shades of pastel purple, an amethyst broach, no ribbon on the back of the dress, and a feathery dragon fly barrette hairclip.
"We're going to the Gala! We're going to the Gala! We're going to the Gala!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sing sang as they hopped up and down excitedly while walking on the modeling platform. Applejack and Rainbow were in the boutique as well, playing cards with each other. They became annoyed at the fillies singing and excitement.
"Alright, y'all, keep it down," said Applejack bluntly, "It ain't like it's a life-changing experience or nothiiiiiiinnnnggggg..." Applejack soon ate her words as her jaw slackened once she saw Apple Bloom come out of a changing booth. The little filly smiled as she posed for her older sister, wearing a flowery cherry red and soft creamy pink dress with a floral broach and matching barrette clip as well as her big pink bow. Applejack couldn't help but smile and started crying when she saw her little sister.
"My little sister's all grown up," said Applejack all choked up as she sniffled and blew her nose on Rainbow's tail.
"Hey!" Rainbow protested annoyingly as she pulled her tail away.
"This is gonna be the best night ever!" giggled the three fillies as they bounced on their hooves excitedly. It was then one of the mirrors turned into a big, giant yellow eyeball.
It was watching them. Always watching...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" the three fillies screamed when they saw the giant eyeball as Discord made his presence known.
"I don't suppose that, uh, those adorable little cutie pies have their own tickets to the Gross Gruesome Gala do they?" Discord asked as he rubbed a finger against the bottom of Apple Bloom's chin and Applejack glared at him. Apple Bloom then swatted Discord's claw away and blew a raspberry at him, which Applejack smirked in approval as Discord glared back at the two sisters.
"Ahem!" said Rarity with Sweetie Belle hiding behind her, "To answer your rather rude question, they're going as our dates, our plus-ones." Sweetie Belle came forward as Rarity hugged her and smiled cutely.
"We're plus-ones!" Sweetie Belle sing sang. Then Scootaloo and Apple Bloom zipped over to her.
"We're plus-ones! We're plus-ones!" all three fillies sing sang loudly. Discord literally pulled his antlers off and stuffed them inside his ears.
"Yes, yes, yes, I believe I got that!" said Discord irritably as he hovered into the air and disappeared.
"Yeah!" said Rainbow as she slapped a card into the deck sitting on a small stool, knocking the other cards all over the floor. The others just stared for a moment.
"Um...do you think Mario will be able to dance with us at the Gala?" Scootaloo asked Sweetie Belle.
"Oh, the night would be perfect if we could share a dance with the Prince in a fancy ballroom," Sweetie Belle answered as she and Scootaloo giggled to themselves. Apple Bloom sighed annoyingly.
"You know they've got a crush on him, sugarcube," said Applejack.
"I know, I'm just glad Mario thinks I'm special," said Apple Bloom, "Guess I just feel left out of the hype since he's my brother." Applejack chuckled.
"You've got plenty of time to fall in love sugarcube," said Applejack before adding sternly, "so don't rush it!"
"As Mario would say, I can't control when," said Apple Bloom smugly, "when the right colt catches my eye, you can't stop me from fallin' in love." Applejack just rolled her eyes. She knew Apple Bloom was right, but she hoped it would be later rather than sooner.
At Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie just finished giving a hovering Pegasus a delicious cupcake.
"Have a wonderful, special, fantastic day!" said Pinkie as the Pegasus flew off and then passed a strange box laying on the floor.
"Oh, hi, Discord," said Pinkie casually as she passed the box, already knowing it who was inside it, "Want some cake?" A red exclamation point appeared above the box as it opened and the draconequus crawled out of it. He barely had time to stand up when Pinkie zipped up to him.
"I can give you a list of all the flavors we have in order of most delicious to incredibly, unbelievably delicious!" Pinkie told him so excitedly that she managed to pin Discord against the wall.
"Actually, Pinkie Pie, who are you taking to...I mean do you...eugh..." Discord then stopped his train of thought, clawed the side column next to himself, and changed the subject, "...oh, you know what? I am famished. I'll take all the cakes." Pinkie was stunned.
"All of them?!" Pinkie exclaimed before she started shaking...me?!, "He wants all the cakes!"
I-I-I'm-m-m h-h-happy for y-y-you, b-b-but p-p-please s-s-stop s-s-shaking m-m-meeeee.
"Oops, sorry Mr. Narrator," said Pinkie, "Now if you excuse me, I got cakes to pack!" Pinkie then zoomed away.
"Well, I'll need all my energy when I'm dancing at the Gala," said Discord as Pinkie zoomed past him and grabbed a box and shuffled about, "if I decide to go that is. Oh, by the way, are you bringing anypony?" Pinkie then zoomed past again in the background and shuffled about some more and then zoomed back to the counter from the foreground.
"Oh of course!" said Pinkie as she packed a cake with light green icing into a box, "I was gonna ask my mom, because she's, you know, my mom, but it turned out she didn't want to go, so I started asking around and around and around, and I couldn't think of anypony, and I was about to just go by myself, and I realized, of course! Who loves fancy exciting affairs more than anypony else? My sister Maud!" As Pinkie was talking, Discord tuned her out and looked outside when his jaw suddenly dropped. He spotted Fluttershy with another pony, but it wasn't Shenran. Instead it was a green colored pony with a pastel red and orange dreadlock mane and tail with a handkerchief on her head. His view suddenly went into scope vision as the outer edges flicked red over the green pony. Discord was later seen using a periscope to spy on them and lifted the device as he seethed with jealousy. It was then as Pinkie mentioned that she had invited Maud that Discord had heard enough from the pink pony.
"You know what?" Discord snapped with his back against Pinkie and raised a claw to her face, "Cancel my order." Discord then disappeared, leaving Pinkie stunned as she had now covered the main room in packaged cakes.
"You want none of the cakes now?!" Pinkie shouted, but was left completely unheard.
Back outside, Fluttershy and the green pony were chatting with each other when Fluttershy suddenly laughed.
"Oh, my, you are funny!" Fluttershy chuckled.
"I guess every being in Equestria is funny today," said Discord bluntly as he stuck his head between the two ponies as he gave the green pony the stink eye. He then slithered in front of the two ponies.
"Oh, how rude of me," said Fluttershy, "Tree Hugger, this is Discord."
"Radical to meet you," said Tree Hugger in a hippie style tone, "Really digging your vibe."
"My vibe?" Discord remarked rather defensively.
"It's a complement," said Fluttershy.
"Oh, well, I'm sure it is," said Discord dismissively, "Well, I must be off." He then disappeared.
"It has nothing to do with seeing you or not seeing you," said Discord as he reappeared, "You can rest assured of that." Discord then laughed and disappeared again.
"Have fun at the Gala!" Discord said as he reappeared a third time and disappeared...and didn't come back this time. Fluttershy was rather stunned over what had happened while Tree Hugger just smiled.
"Righteous!" was all Tree Hugger could say as Fluttershy just smiled.
Somewhere in the realm where everything was strange, topsy-turvy, and made no sense. (And no, I'm not talking about the inside of Pinkie's mind.) This was the homeland of Discord as a strange creature flew across the foreground. Discord had just arrived at his house, which on the outside looked rather normal. However the inside was different story. There were stairs that lead to nowhere, another opening to a room was upside down, had a bust of a tree branch on a wall, and mismatched walls in the living room.
""Oh, Tree Hugger. You're such a great friend. So much funnier then unfunny old Discord"!" Discord said bitterly as he slammed his front door so hard that a nearby glass vase fell off his donut table and shattered. He then put on a handkerchief on his head and used his magic to summon some cleaning equipment.
""No, no, here. Take my plus-one"," Discord continued to rant as he lifted his sofa where a literal dust bunny was sitting and added one more, ""I insist. Before somepony else thinks he's my friend and expects to be asked instead"." He then crossed his arms indignantly as he looked out his window and stared wiping the windows, making the suds appear rather than removing them.
""What's that"?" Discord ranted further as he started washing the dishes and making them dirty again, ""You're worried Discord might be upset?" Not a problem! I can make more friends new friends anytime I want. It's not as if any of this actually mattered! I don't even want to go the Gala anyway!" Any pony could have easily refuted him at this point, but before Discord could continue further. He heard some screaming outside. He then found the mailpony, named Parcel Post, floating and spinning about outside in the great limbo. Discord quickly grabbed Parcel Post.
"Are you perhaps looking for me?" Discord asked innocently.
"Are you "Discord or current resident"?!" Parcel Post asked, "I can't find any street numbers in this place." Discord ignored the mailpony's comment and opened the letter to find a gold ticket inside.
"My ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!" Discord exclaimed happily, "I was invited after all!" He quickly hugged Parcel Post before giving the pony a death glare.
"Why is this so late?" Discord asked in a dark and grim tone. Making the mailpony cower fearfully.
"Well, I got a little lost after I escaped the flying badgers..." Parcel Post explained, "Can you point me in the direction of the bottomless pit? I think I can make my way back from there."
"Oh, over there. Somewhere," said Discord dismissively as he walked away and the Parcel Post was sent floating off into the limbo, "Just go over there."
"Looks like I'll see you at the Gala after all, Fluttershy," said Discord to himself as Parcel Post was grabbed by a flying creature and carried off in the background, "But I can't show up alone. She'll think that she's my only friend. Who could I bring on such short notice?" Discord then snapped his fingers as he snickered deviously to himself.
Soon it was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala and lots of ponies were arriving to what was still considered to be the biggest and fanciest party of the year. Both Celestia and Twilight stood halfway up the staircase in the main lobby. Celestia was wearing a two-toned lilac dress with a fashionable scarf around her neck while the back of her skirt had some spiral sun patterns on it. She also had some flower clips on the dress as well as a star flower clip on the scarf with her regular royal gold shoes and crown. Twilight had on a cyan blue dress with blue sunflowers along the bottom of the skirt and a giant yellow-orange bow on the back as well as a blue sunflower beaded necklace around her neck. Her bangs had been styled while her mane had been done in a rather loose hair bun.
"I must say, it's been very nice having you and my son take over some of the planning responsibilities for this year's Gala," said Celestia.
"Anything we can do to make it easier on you," said Twilight.
"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia replied, "I am quite looking forward to just enjoying the Gala for once."
"Same here Mom," said Mario as he appeared with his and Twilight's plus ones. As mentioned earlier, he had gone to pick them up early this morning. Why it took most of the morning was because their plus one were...
Drum roll please.
Sakura and Anemone! Their friends from their honeymoon on Horse-a-lulu.
The two sisters were right behind Mario as he led them over to Twilight and Celestia from the top of the staircase. Mario was wearing a nice black suit with gold bow tie and a top hat on his head. Sakura was wearing a pastel pink gown that had cherry blossom pedals on it along with a handmade dark pink floral headband with the same flower and her mane tied to the side with giant pink flower hair tie. Anemone was wearing a pastel yellow and green dress with lemon slice prints along the bottom of the skirt with a lemon slice broach on the chest. As well as a gem studded lemon barrette hairclip with her mane in her traditional mini-bun. She also was holding her infamous "lemon wand" with her magic. The two sisters bowed politely before Celestia. They had met her earlier that morning and were rather surprised, even after Mario had told them, that Celestia was his mother. They were also amazed at how friendly she was too.
"No need for formalities," said Celestia, "we are friends now after all."
"R-r-right," said Sakura nervously. She had been feeling extra shy around Celestia, especially after Celestia said she knew about her kissing Mario. Even after Celestia assured her all was forgiven and told the cherry colored Pegasus she was a very beautiful pony, Sakura still felt timid whenever Celestia spoke to her.
"Yay! I'm friends with Celestia!" Anemone cheered giddily, making Celestia and Twilight giggle. Celestia loved Anemone's quirky personality.
"I hope you two are enjoying your stay here in Canterlot," said Celestia.
"Oh yes, your majesty," said Anemone politely, "We can't thank you enough for letting us stay at the castle. We also like to thank you for letting us see Mario's baby pictures! He was so kawaii as a baby!" Kawaii, in this case, is Unicorn Imperialeese for cute. Mario blinked in shock.
"MOOOM!" Mario exclaimed in a whinny tone, "Why?!"
"Because you're so cute as a baby," Sakura added, finding her confidence to tease the Prince.
"The absolute cutest!" Twilight added as the two girls giggled at Mario's expense.
"Should've seen this coming," Mario remarked annoyingly as Anemone chuckled as well. It was then he heard a familiar pink pony give a dramatic gasp.
"Twinsie?!" said Pinkie in surprise.
"Twinsie!" Sakura shouted as she rushed downstairs and the two ponies shared a friendly embrace with each other.
[Pinkie and Sakura - They got on their hind legs and started doing the can-can as they sang, then bounced on their hooves while facing each other.]
Oh we're the happy ponies
We hope you'll like our show
We know you're rooting for us
But now it's time to go!
Then they got on opposite side of Mario, aim their party cannons at him.
POP WHISTLE!
Then fired their party cannons at Mario. While Mario didn't get knocked out from the double blast, he was still most annoyed and now covered in confetti.
"Definitely should've seen this coming," Mario said bluntly as Sakura and Pinkie smiled at him. Anemone just giggled while Twilight and Celestia covered their mouths with a fore-hoof to hide their snickering.
"Come on, Twinsie!" said Pinkie excitedly, "You just gotta meet my sister Maud!"
"Ooh! Can I meet her too?" Anemone asked excitedly, "Her poetry reaches into the deep reaches of my soul."
"Sure!" said Pinkie, "Maud would love to hear she's got another fan of her poetry! And she loves to tell jokes too! Come on!" Pinkie and Sakura bounced away side by side as Anemone just trotted behind them. Mario, Twilight, and Celestia watched the three girls leave when they heard the sound of some trumpet fanfare.
"Announcing the spirit of chaos, Discord," said the Announcer, "and his guest, uh..." The Announcers stumbled until Discord leaned forward and whispered something to him.
"The Smooze!" said the Announcer. It was then a green blob of green ooze wearing a bow tie and light blue top hat slithered inside. Discord stood next to him wearing a bright orange tuxedo, matching top hat, and carrying a black cane. The Smooze smiled at everypony as they gasped at the blob of ooze.
"Momma mia!" said Mario in shock as Twilight and Celestia looked stunned.
"Good evening, everypony!" said Discord, "What a glorious affair!" It was then the Smooze extended his lips and ate the Announcer's Trumpet.
"He does have a yen for shiny things, the rascal," Discord added, patting the Smooze's back and getting ooze all over his claw. He quickly wiped his claw clean on the Announcer's uniform. Twilight, Mario, and Celestia exchanged looks with each other.
"I'll take care of this," said Twilight to Celestia as she zoomed off quickly.
"Honey?" Mario asked, wanting to offer his wife help, but was left unheard. As Discord and the Smooze walked side by side and the latter belched, Twilight rushed up to Discord and pushed him back with a nervous smile on her face until she had Discord at the edge of the room.
"What are you doing here with...that?!" Twilight exclaimed in a hushed tone.
"Now, now, now," said Discord, "The Smooze may be an "it", but it's an it with a heart of, well, blob." The Smooze then slithered over to a pair of ponies, who ran for the lives as Mario stood before it on defense to make sure the blob of ooze left the two ponies alone. Twilight just watched everything and gave Discord a glare.
"This night is extremely important to me, Discord," said Twilight, waving at Celestia, and turned back to Discord while adding sternly through gritted teeth, "Keep it under control."
"Yes, yes, yes, of course," said Discord as he waved his cane to push Twilight aside, "Tell me, have you seen Fluttershy anywhere?" Twilight just looked at him blankly as Mario hovered over to her.
"Figures he been looking for her of all ponies," said Mario, "Hopefully once protocol is finished, Shenran can come and join us. He said Muffins was wandering around somewhere, but I haven't seen her yet...or heard anypony complain that she bumped into something..." Mario then noticed that Twilight wasn't listening.
"Don't do this, Twilight," Mario warned in a louder but firm voice, "Don't shut me out like you did the last time we were here! What's on your mind?" Twilight blinked and shook her head as she looked at her husband.
"Oh, um, sorry dear," said Twilight, "Guess I'm just worried. With Discord here and that...that giant blob of ooze...(sigh) I just wanted to give Celestia a nice relaxing Gala."
"Don't worry so much sweetie," said Mario, "Those two will add some fun to this event. Though I do agree, I do hope they don't anything too destructive. But my biggest worry is us."
"Us?" Twilight asked as Mario gave her a sad sigh.
"I'm really looking forward to making some new memories with you," said Mario, "Discord is gonna pay dearly if he keeps me from having a romantic moment with my girl!" Twilight giggled.
"Yeah, I would like a romantic moment with you at this Gala," said Twilight and the two shared a quick kiss with each other. Just a few feet away, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had arrived with Applejack and Rarity. Applejack had on a green dress with a mare's top hat that had an apple decal on it. Her mane was done in an updo. Rarity had on a grape colored dress with sky blue accents along the skirt, sleeves, and neckline. Her mane was done in a curly updo with a small sky blue bat with feathers and gems on it.
"We're here! We're here! We made it to the Gala!" the three fillies chanted excitedly. Applejack and Rarity just looked rather annoyed from all their chanting, but they still exchanged some smirks with each other. Behind the five mares, Discord and the Smooze entered the room. The draconequus had just fed the Smooze a giant diamond, which made the glob of ooze increase in size slightly. Discord looked around until he noticed a pair of very familiar mares at a table chatting with each other. Fluttershy was wearing a dress inspired by a blue and green peacock with a feathery hairpin. Her mane had been done into a pair of spiral hair buns with her front bangs down. Tree Hugger had on a simple long sleeved lilac dress with a flower crown and wearing a gold necklace. He couldn't hear the conversation but noticed that Fluttershy was giggling.
"Really?" said Fluttershy as she giggled again at something funny. Discord then smiled with glee and went to approach the table when.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" The three fillies screamed as they ran in front of Discord.
"Come back here, you're so cute!" Anemone shouted as she chased after them, "You all need lemon pokes!" Discord was left stunned.
"And ponies say I'm weird," Discord remarked to himself.
POKE!
"OW!" Discord yelped as rubbed his sore cheek. He noticed Anemone giving him a death glare and holding her lemon wand close to his nose with her magic, "What's the deal?"
"I don't like you!" Anemone said sternly, "You behave or I'll give you more hard lemon pokes!"
"Alright, alright, fine!" said Discord as he pushed her lemon wand away from his nose, "Just point that thing somewhere else!"
"Hmph!" said Anemone as she walked off snootily with her lemon wand. Discord just rolled his eyes and headed over to Fluttershy and Tree Hugger.
"The aura coming off the waterfall was so alive!" Tree Hugger told Fluttershy, "So, like, magic manifestation."
"Wow," said Fluttershy amazed when Discord approached by purposely bumping into her by walking backwards.
"Oh, Fluttershy, I didn't see you there," said Discord innocently.
"How did you even know to look for an aura on a waterfall?" Fluttershy asked Tree Hugger, not hearing Discord at all of noticing that he bumped into her. Discord then glared at the yellow Pegasus before clearing his throat to get her attention, but it didn't work. Discord tried again but was ignored a second time. He then leaned closer to Fluttershy gave a loud coughing hack. That got the yellow Pegasus's attention.
"Discord!" Fluttershy exclaimed happily, "I thought you weren't coming!"
"No, I actually never said that," said Discord simply, "But funny how you remembered it that way." He then turned to Tree Hugger, "Anyway, good to see you. Tree Friend, is it? Your name is slipping my mind right now. How strange."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Tree Hugger," she replied, playing clueless to Discord's sarcasm, "Blessings."
"You have met me before actually!" Discord snorted.
"Cool!" Tree Hugger replied, "Like, in another life, maybe?"
"You've gotta be kidding," said Discord, "You don't remember me?" He then lifted his top hat to show the mare his antlers. Tree Hugger laughed.
"I meet alot of different creatures," Tree Hugger explained, "each one of them perfect and unique."
"Yes, well, as I was saying," said Discord as he wrapped an arm around Fluttershy, "it's just great to be here with my oldest, bestest friend." Fluttershy was rather touched, even if Discord was being a little sarcastic.
"Am I really your oldest, bestest friend?" Fluttershy asked.
"You?" Discord replied as he laughed, "Of course not! You think I don't have other friends? I'm centuries old!"
"Does that mean your friends with a bunch of old ponies and creatures?" Anemone asked as she reappeared out of the blue, "Old ponies and creatures smell funny..." Anemone sighed contently as Discord gave her a funny look.
"Do you mind?" Discord retorted rather rudely when Lemon firmly poked his cheek firmly with her lemon wand, "OW!"
"I still don't like you!" Anemone spat before she stomped off indignantly. Discord rubbed his cheek and rolled his eyes. He also took notice that Fluttershy and Tree Hugger were watching him, the former looking rather puzzled.
"Anyway, I was talking about the Smooze!" said Discord as he hovered to the foreground and showed Fluttershy the glob of ooze, "Smooze Face, the Smoozinator - well, I mean that's what we called him back in college." It was then Mario hovered by in the background.
"Wait, there actually is a Chaos University?" Mario asked as Discord gave him the stink eye, "Honest question! Eesh!" Mario then hovered away.
"Smooze!" Discord continued as he teleported the ooze blob to the table, "I would like you to meet Fluttershy and, um, hmm...Tree...how'd you say it...Tree Embrace?"
"Oh, I like that!" said Tree Hugger, "It's so in rhythm with my life force!" She then gasped, "Maybe I'll change it!" Discord just glared at Tree Hugger's apparent failure to identify sarcasm when he noticed the Smooze try to steal her necklace. He quickly swatted the Smooze's tentacle away.
"I can't believe I've never heard you speak of the Smooze before," Fluttershy giggled, "Sounds like you two are so close." The Smooze just slithered off the table.
"Well, I'm glad you got that," said Discord indignantly before teleporting over to the Smooze and hugged it, "because that's what is true. We are very close."
"That's wonderful!" said Fluttershy, "The four of us should go out to dinner sometimes!" Discord was then so shocked that he literally squeezed the Smooze's head off. But since the Smooze was just a blob of green ooze, it had no problem repairing itself.
"We should all go out to dinner sometimes?!" Discord exclaimed as he got into Fluttershy's face, "Have you no heart?" Suddenly a pony off screen screamed before Fluttershy could answer. They turned to see the Smooze slithering over to an elderly couple.
"You get away from them this instant!" Anemone scolded as she tried to protect the couple.
"Oh, oh! It looks like somepony wants to mingle," said Discord in a forced polite tone, "We'll be back in a bit."
"Oh, okay," said Fluttershy, "Treezie and I would love to talk to you more later! Not to mention my Shenny too once he's done with security."
"Treezie? Really?" Discord retorted, "Sort of a juvenile nickname, don't you think?" It was then a drink glass shattered and another pony screamed.
"Smoozie! Wait up!" said Discord as he went after the blob of ooze. It wasn't long before Discord had pushed the Smooze though a pair of doors.
"Now, listen, Smooze," said Discord, "I need to make this party of one for a little while. Just stay out here until I come for you." The Smooze looked stunned as Discord slammed the doors and locked them. He turned to see Anemone standing nearby glaring at him and jabbed her lemon wand at his cheek again.
"OW!" Discord yelped as he rubbed his cheek again as Anemone snorted at him.
"Meanie," she muttered in disapproval as she stomped away.
"Oh what do you know!" Discord shot back before finding Fluttershy and Tree Hugger with Apple Bloom, Applejack, Rainbow, and Scootaloo. They were just laughing together when Discord made his presence known. He then started laughing with them...until he noticed he was the only one laughing. Rainbow was wearing a dark purple and soft orange dress with pastel yellow along the shoulder straps and bottom of the skirt. Her mane had been styled with a lose curl to make it look shorter.
"What's so funny?" Tree Hugger asked.
"Exactly!" Discord replied. The others just shared puzzled and worried looks with each other.
"Uhh...I think we're gonna go hit the dance floor," said Rainbow, "I know Scoot here is waiting for her big dance with Mario."
"Oh right!" said Scootaloo excitedly as all but Fluttershy and Tree Hugger walked off. Discord then wrapped an arm around Fluttershy and shoved Tree Hugger away.
"Fluttershy," said Discord, "tell the Hugs here about the time that we went to the store and came back with two cakes instead of one, because that's how crazy we are when we're together." Discord couldn't help but make his eyes swirl about when he said crazy.
"Um," said Fluttershy hesitantly, "we went to the store and bought two cakes.
"Oh," said Discord, "Well, you kind of left out all the fun and frivolity there." He then leaned toward Tree Hugger, "But I'm sure you got it, Tree Hugger."
"I got that you really like cake," Tree Hugger replied. Discord froze for a moment.
"We like each other," Discord retorted irritably as he turned his back against Tree Hugger, "That was the point! I'm actually pretty lukewarm about cake!"
"I'll say," said Sakura as she walked by with Pinkie and Maud, "He ordered an entire shop worth of cakes from my twinsie and cancelled the order last minute!"
"You stay out of this!" Discord snapped.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
"LET ME IN!" Rarity screamed, her voice muffled since she was on the other side of the locked doors and was banging on them.
"Somepony please open the door!" another voice shouted. Fluttershy perked up immediately when she heard it.
"Shenran?" said Fluttershy in surprise. Twilight and Celestia winced as the former rushed toward the door and unlocked it. Rarity and Shenran burst through the doors and plopped into their stomachs. Shenran was wearing royal guard attire. They were both covered in green ooze.
"That creature took my jewels!" Rarity cried out, gasping for breath.
"And when I went to rescue Rarity," Shenran added as he rose to his hooves, "That blob of goo ate my swords!" It was then Twilight noticed that the Smooze as it "kissed" a mare's ear and ate her earring. The stallion she was with, winced and ran off, leaving the mare indignant. But then the mare saw the Smooze as it hummed and increased a bit in size before running off.
"Discord!" Twilight said angrily as she glared at the draconequus, "I thought I told you to keep your friend under control!
"Oh, please, I have better things to do than to watch that thing all night," Discord retorted when he turned to see Fluttershy and Tree Hugger looking at him. He laughed nervously.
"What I meant to say is," Discord said as he corrected himself, "that thing is a dear, dear friend, and I'll make sure that the ooze, uh, that he can't help but secrete doesn't get on anypony else."
"OW!" Discord yelped when Anemone gave him another hard poke on the cheek with her lemon wand. Anemone just gave him the stink eye before walking off. Discord growled at her until he noticed Twilight was glaring at him too. Rarity and Shenran both tried to get the ooze off themselves when Discord appeared with a vacuum.
"Run Rarity!" Shenran called as he bolted out of the ballroom to find a place to wash the ooze off his way. Rarity was too late to move as Discord's vacuum not only removed the ooze from Rarity, but also removed her dress. While it is a known fact that ponies normally don't wear clothes, the fact that Rarity had been unintentionally undressed in public was still very embarassing. She smiled sheepishly as she wrapped her fore-legs around herself and side stepped away.
"Thank you," said Twilight, hoping the situation had now been settled and turned to the others, "It's alright, everypony. Let's just get back to enjoying this magical evening!"
"Um, Twilight," said Anemone, "Shouldn't somepony help Rarity find a replacement dress and make sure she's okay?" Twilight smiled.
"I know who can help with that," said Twilight as she tapped her ear. She was glad that Mario had them both wear their mini-communicators.
"What's up honey?" Mario asked from the communicator, "I just got done dancing a waltz with Sweetie Belle."
"Long story short, Discord's "friend" oozed Rarity and Discord took her dress when cleaning the ooze off," Twilight explained, "She could use a replacement ASAP."
"I'm on it honey!" said Mario, "and then you and me are gonna share a dance together."
"Fine," said Twilight, playfully rolling her eyes, "Thanks honey."
"Welcome sweetheart," said Mario, "See you soon!"
"Awww, you two are so cute, like an old married couple!" said Anemone. Twilight just giggled to herself. She knew Anemone didn't mean the "old" part.
As for Discord, he had tied Smooze to a leash and dragged him away.
"You're are making me look like a fool in front of Fluttershy," Discord scolded to the Smooze and shoved him inside a small room, "I'll be back when the Gala is over." Discord then slammed the door, but the draconequus was in a hurry and being rather careless. He had failed to notice that he had locked the Smooze inside a room filled with loads of shiny objects. The Smooze licked his lips hungrily.
Back in the main room, things had finally settled down and the rather large group of friends were now all in the ballroom. Mario had managed to duplicate Rarity's gala dress and the mare was now back in the main ballroom. Mario had finally found Muffins, who had worn a pastel orange and yellow dress with a gemmed muffin hairpin in her mane, which was styled in an wavy ponytail. She was now hanging out with Mario, Twilight, and Celestia. Shenran had changed from his ooze coated royal guard uniform and into a grey suit with a black shirt and grey bowtie as well as a trilby hat on his head. He was currently hanging out with Fluttershy and Tree Hugger. They were also laughing. Discord was watching the group with Fluttershy from above one of the giant chandeliers.
"Oh, Tree Hugger," Fluttershy laughed, "I've never known anypony as funny as you."
"You are certainly a barrel of laughs," Shenran added. Fluttershy then put a fore-hoof on Tree Hugger's shoulder, which seem to set off Discord in a fit as his eyes gave off green flames of envy. He quickly teleported away. It wasn't much longer before the entire room turned dark, making several ponies gasp with worry. It was then a spotlight appeared as well as a makeshift stage with a brick wall backdrop and tall mic stand.
"Check, check, check," said Discord as he tapped the mic, "Is this thing on? Good evening, fillies and germs! I just flew into Canterlot, and wow, are my interspecies parts tired!"
BA-DUM-TISH!
All the ponies could do was stare or glare at the draconequus. Discord smiled nervously before pulling is orange hat down so he changed into wearing a red open-zipped sweat jacket, a gold medallion necklace, and a belt with no pants.
"I've only got these mismatched wings," said Discord, "and even I fly better then Twilight Sparkle! Am I right? Pchoo!" Discord did a fore-finger point to make his point.
"Hey!" Twilight snapped.
"My girl's ten times the flyer you'll ever be!" Mario shouted indignantly.
"Honey, I love seeing you defend me, but let's not exaggerate," Twilight remarked. Celestia just giggled quietly. She had actually found the joke funny. Discord just laughed nervously.
"Uh, well, perhaps you're into more observational humor," Discord remarked as he disappeared. He then made his head peak out from behind...complete limbo.
"Did you ever notice how you always materialize out of thin air?" Discord asked the crowd before he made his full body appear wearing a blue comedians outfit, "Why not thick air? What's the deal there?"
BA-DUM-TISH!
The ponies just stared as one pony named Masquerade coughed uncomfortably.
"Tough crowd," said Discord as he adjusted his tie.
"What is he doing?!" Twilight asked.
"Making a fool of himself," Mario replied, "Like that's anything new." Muffins giggled.
"Good one, Mario," Muffins replied.
"I think they're...jokes?" said Rainbow with an uncertain tone.
"Maud! Jokes!" Pinkie said excitedly.
"Isn't that exciting?" Sakura added in the same tone.
"My favorite," said Maud in her traditional tone.
"She's so excited!" Anemone remarked happily and clapped her fore-hooves together. Meanwhile, nopony but a single little pony took notice that the room the Smooze was locked up in was starting to glow.
"You might be a Ponyville pony when an ordinary night on the town ends in a lesson about friendship!" said Discord in a muffled tone as he made a watermelon appear on a stool.
"Knock Knock!" said Discord as he drummed a claw against the watermelon but nopony answered.
"You're supposed to say "Who's there?"!" Discord snapped, "This is the most basic of jokes!" Discord then hammered the watermelon.
"EEK!" Anemone yelped as she and Sakura moved as the mashed up watermelon splattered over Maud.
"You're the most basic of jokes," said Maud. That got ponies to laugh.
"Good one, Maud!" Pinkie chuckled.
"That was pretty funny!" Anemone added with a giggle.
"Pinkie, you're sister is so cool!" said Sakura. Discord just stared, his eye twitching, and was now furious. Meanwhile that little pony was quivering fearfully as the door stopped glowing and then opened to reveal...the Smooze...or to be more precise...Perfect Smooze!
"What is that?!" Twilight asked as she turned around when she heard the slithering. Mario then turned around next.
"It's ooze! And it's dangerous!" Mario exclaimed as Muffins held one of his fore-legs fearfully. Even Discord looked rather worried as he saw the Smooze literally flooded the ballroom. Everypony panicked as they amok across the floor now covered in ooze. Rainbow tried to back away, but the ooze made moving difficult. So she tried to fly, but her hooves were stuck in the ooze. When she stopped pulling, the ooze splashed all over her. Discord just stayed on the stage when he saw the Smooze's hat and bow tie floating in the ooze. Then a magic blast was fired, but it barely made a dent in the ooze and was quickly filled up.
"None of my magic works on this ooze!" said Twilight and turned to Celestia, "Can you stop it?" Princess Celestia then tried to make her horn glow, but some ooze on the tip of her horn made her unable to use any magic what-so-ever.
"I'm afraid not!" said Celestia.
"Discord, how could you bring him here?!" Twilight yelled as the draconequus hovered up to her.
"Oh, he's not that bad!" said Discord.
"Oh, my shoes will be ruined forever!" Rarity complained as she tried to life her fore-hooves out of the ooze.
"That's what you're worried about? Really?" Applejack retorted as Apple Bloom stood beside her, submerged up to her mouth in the ooze. Twilight then looked around to see Mario struggling to get himself out of the ooze.
"Honey!" Twilight called out, "Have you got any tricks up your sleeve to help us out?"
"I wanna say yes," said Mario, "But all this ooze has sealed up my pockets and one of them I had connected magically to my saddle bag."
"Over the sea, let's go mares," Pinkie and Sakura sang together as they used Maud as a boat to stay above the ooze as Pinkie paddled them about. Anemone was clinging onto Sakura's head for dear life since she didn't want to fall into the ooze, "We're shunting about, we're shunting about again!"
"Oooh! Cutie!" said Sakura as she noticed their "boat" float near Mario.
"Very funny!" Mario retorted with an eye roll and then got an idea, "Say, Pinks, do you remember that special...pump...we built together to make Sugarcube Corner super clean?"
"Pump? Pump...Oh! You mean our Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device!" said Pinkie, "Need to borrow mine, Big brother?" Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out a special tank that had a pair of extendable handle and a nozzle on middle of the tank. Pinkie even helped Mario equip the device around his torso.
"Thanks Pinks," said Mario.
"You're welcome," said Pinkie as they paddled away.
"What's Mario gonna do?" Anemone asked curiously and worriedly. Pinkie chuckled.
"Let's just say the narrator of this story is gonna be summoning some battle music soon," said Pinkie. Mario then used all his strength to pull his fore-hooves out of the slime and used them to grip the side handles with them.
"This is always going to be tricky," said Mario as he gave the handles a light squeeze to make the nozzle rise above his head, "These handles are built for creatures with claws, paws, and hands."
"Did someone say hands?" said a familiar mint-green mare excitedly.
"Not now, Lyra!" Mario shouted annoyingly, "Now...if I remember correctly. The nozzle change is...I remember now!" Mario gave the left grip a light twist to turn the forward nozzle into a pair of downward nozzles. Mario then squeezed the handles to create two very powerful jets of water shot out underneath himself. The water jets was so powerful that it lifted Mario out of the ooze and even cleaned a small area around him so he landed back on solid ground.
"Oh yeah, it's a Mario time!" said Mario as he switched the nozzles again and began spraying the ground to try and make a path toward the Smooze's weak point. This was easier said than done since Mario didn't know where the Smooze's weak point was. The other ponies cheered Mario on as Discord pouted.
"Oh come on, Mario!" said Discord, "Don't such a party...BLUB-BLUB-BLUB-BLUB...!" Mario quickly fired a strong jet of water at Discord, sending him spluttering and then flying away, where he crashed into something off screen. Mario then noticed a patch of dark ooze and began to fire at it with a constant stream of water. Instead of dissolving like the rest of the ooze, this spot kept flashing red as Mario watered it. Suddenly...
"YEOW-OW-OW-OW!" The Smooze yelped as a venus fly trap coated in ooze appeared before Mario.
"What in Equestria is that?" Shenran ask as he, Fluttershy, Tree Hugger, and Muffins were pasted against the window and stuck there due to the ooze. Tree Hugger was upside down while the couple and Muffins was right side up.
"Oooh, an ooze fly-trap," said Tree Hugger, "Totally righteous. Tame it by squirting water into its mouth!" Mario was rather surprised at the information but welcomed it. Mario then noticed that the fly-trap opened its mouth and Mario fired a quick jet of water right into its mouth.
"YEOW-OW-OW-OW!" The fly trap cried out as it wiggled about. It then glared at Mario angrily despite not having eyes and starting spewing giant balls of ooze at him. Mario had to be careful since the ooze limited his mobility whenever his hooves walked on it. Not to mention he had to rely solely on moving about on just his hind legs since he was using his fore-legs to hold the handles to the water pump. He had to constantly use the water pump to clear himself a path to avoid getting hit and figure out the attack pattern. Then the fly trap took a breather and its mouth was opened. Mario fired another jet of water inside its mouth.
"YEOW-OW-OW-OW!" The fly trap cried out again and repeated the pattern once again, but much more aggressively. Mario sometimes had to fire water at the balls of ooze since they were coming too quickly for him to dodge and give himself some room to maneuver away from the ooze and the fly-trap's attacks. Finally the fly trap tired out and its mouth was open and Mario fired water into it mouth a third time.
"OWOWOWOWOOOOOOOOOW!" The fly trap shouted as it sank into the dark mass of ooze. Mario then breathed a sigh of relief, but then the fly trap came back out, now glowing red and the darker part of ooze morphed so the fly trap now could use its roots for legs. It gave a loud shriek as he gazed at Mario angrily.
"Not good," Mario said meekly as the fly trap charged at him at a very fast pace, "WAH!" Everypony gasped with worry. Mario was fighting for dear life to just avoid getting charged at. He couldn't even focus on trying to fire water into his mouth at this point. While the ooze slowed Mario down, the fly trap's speed wasn't affected at all. It clearly knew this and took advantage of the fact that it could turn and run faster than Mario was able to recover.
BASH!
"Woooooooooooooowa-ha-ha-ha! Oof!" Mario yelped as he knocked back toward Twilight and splashed into the ooze.
"Ok, enough is enough!" said Mario angrily as Twilight and Celestia looked at him nervously, "Time to put this pump into overclock mode!" Mario then held the handles and focused his magic on the pump as the fly trap charged at him again. The fly trap was in striking range when Mario suddenly zipped away at a very fast pace while staying above the ooze.
"WATER JET!" Mario shouted as he magically enhanced the water pump, which allowed Mario to hover about at a faster pace but also fire powerful blasts of pressurized water. The more powerful water blasts were far more effective in cleaning up the floor and slowing down the fly trap. Mario was then able to fire constant blasts of water into the fly trap's mouth in constant session. Once Mario was able to target the fly trap, he didn't have much trouble dealing damage to the ooze plant, especially since it was so busy shrieking angrily that it didn't have the common sense to shut its mouth. Then after eating enough water blasts, the fly trap finally dissolved and the dark colored ooze surrounding it disappeared. The others ponies cheered as Mario did several flips before landing right back near Twilight, which was now ooze free.
"Nice work honey!" said Twilight.
"Thank you," said Mario, "Now that its weakened, cleaning up this ooze should be a..huh?" Mario then felt a dark shadow rise above him and Twilight gasped.
"TIDAL WAVE!" Pinkie and Sakura shouted.
"YIKES!" Mario exclaimed as he tried to fire at the giant wave of ooze but it the waves still crashed on top of him nevertheless. Twilight and Celestia gasped when the wave settled and Mario was nowhere to be found. Discord, now recovered from being blasted with water. was just hovering nearby without a care in the world.
"Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Wipe out!" Discord called out.
"Discord, where's my son?" Celestia asked sternly.
"Getting the inside story I guess?" Discord replied casually.
PEW!
"WAHH! UGH!" Mario screamed as he was spat upward from the slime and was now dangling by the ooze from the ceiling, completely dazed.
"Guess Smooze didn't find Mario very tasty," said Discord remarked as he flew away.
"Mario? Mario, are you okay?" Twilight asked with concern. Mario just shook his head to recover and then used his magic to spray himself free, but all he got was a whirring sound and a loud clank.
"Uh oh, no more water!" Mario said sadly, "I'm stuck!"
"Oh no!" said Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in a worried tone, "Mario!"
"Poor Mario," said Muffins sadly to Shenran, "He worked so hard to help us too."
"I know, Muffins," said Shenran, "It stinks when your best isn't good enough to save the day."
"This is kind of a bummer," said Tree Hugger.
"Isn't it though?" said Discord, "And to think, it would never have happened had I come to the Gala as somepony else's plus-one." Shenran blinked.
"Wait! That's why you're doing this?" Shenran exclaimed but was left unheard.
"Seems like something might have harshed his flow, you know?" said Tree Hugger, "Like, his senses are agitated."
"He would be!" Anemone shouted from off screen, "Discord locked him up in a room!"
"You don't know anything about rare creatures," said Discord to Tree Hugger and then shouted to Anemone, "And you stay out of this ya lemon nut!"
"No!" Anemone shouted back, "I'm giving you extra hard lemon pokes when I get within range of you!" Discord just mouthed Anemone's threat dismissively before glaring back at Tree Hugger.
"I've known Smooze Face for ages," said Discord firmly to Tree Hugger, "He's not agitated. He's partying down! Whoo!"
"Yeah, well this isn't what had in mind when I wanted to hang out with my friends!" Mario shouted from the ceiling.
"Hahaha! Hanging out! That's a good one, Mario!" Sakura replied as Pinkie smiled. A few others just rolled their eyes at the two ponies. Discord just looked annoyed.
"All he needs is some, like, calming auditory therapy," said Tree Hugger, "I know I've always feel really at peace when I'm being bathed in positive vibes. Maybe he'll calm down with some sonic bliss." Discord was stunned as some hippie style music began to play.
"Do you even know what you just said?" Discord asked irritably as he got into her face and growled at her.
"Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee! Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!" Tree Hugger chanted, which caused the Smooze to start bubbling and the surrounding ooze rippled about like small waves.
"Let go, Smooze!" said Tree Hugger, "Bliss out! Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!" The Smooze then smiled and slowly started to reform itself. This caused the ooze to recede from the floor, walls, and ceiling, which freed the other ponies from the ooze prisons and cleaned their Gala attires as well. Tree Hugger continued her chanting until the Smooze was now back to being a blob of ooze, but was still rather huge in size. He then smiled at the group to show that he was feeling better.
"It worked!" Sweetie Belle shouted as everypony cheered.
"Way to go, Tree Hugger!" Rainbow shouted.
"Nice work!" Mario added as he stood next to her.
"That was the most magical thing I've ever seen done with an animal!" said Fluttershy as she gave her friend a hug.
"That was certainly impressive," Shenran added as he hugged the green pony as well. Discord was now behind the Smooze gritting his teeth angrily.
"She's amazing," said Anemone.
"What she did was pretty cool," Sakura added.
"Very cool indeed," said Muffins.
"Oh, thanks, everypony," Tree Hugger replied, "It makes perfect karmic sense why magic or water didn't work on him. He only responds to vibrations that peace out his energy fields."
"That's really deep, Tree Hugger," said Anemone, clearly impressed. It was then Discord finally felt his temper hit its boiling point.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Discord yelled as he got into Tree Huggers face, "That's it! I'm done with you, Tree Hugger!"
"Oh, man. You're really bumming me out," said Tree Hugger, "Can you just, like, lower your voice a skosh?"
"A skosh? A skosh?!" Discord repeated in rage.
"What's your problem?" Anemone yelled, "Why are you ruining the moment just because you're the one who's acting like a brat and throwing a tantrum?"
"Problem? Problem?!" Discord spluttered furiously when Anemone poked his cheek hard again, "OW! Grrrrrrrr!" Discord then used his magic to take away Anemone's lemon wand...and quickly burned it into ashes. Anemone looked at the remains of her destroyed lemon wand, her eyes watered, and she began to cry loudly.
"Oh for Pete's sake!" Discord snapped angrily, "It's just a stupid toy wand! You can find 'em at your local Wands R Us!"
"Discord!" Mario scolded angrily as he held the wailing Anemone close, "That was a one of a kind wand made by her mother!"
"Big whoop, her mother can make another!" Discord said dismissively.
"She passed away when I was a filly you big dumb meanie!" Anemone screamed as she continued to sob. Discord blinked, showing a hint of guilt...for about one full second.
"Still don't care," said Discord as he used his now sharpened claw to rip a hole through reality. Then he used his magic to pull Tree Hugger toward him.
"EEK!" Anemone screamed as Discord used his magic to grabbed her as well.
"SIS!" Sakura screamed. Anemone and Tree Hugger then looked into the rip and their eyes grew big in shock and horror.
"Whoa, dude! What is that?!" Tree Hugger exclaimed when she saw a real life sock puppet dancing in front of a backdrop that had been drawn with crayons.
"I normally like scary things," said Anemone as she held on to Tree Hugger, "But that's just scary beyond all reason!"
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," said Discord to the two mares and Anemone sniffled and glared at him with watery eyes, "I'm simply going to send you both to another dimension. For Anemone, I just about had enough of her poking and crying! As for you Tree Hugger, I can't have you interfering in my relationship with Fluttershy anymore!"
"Discord, stop!" said Fluttershy as she hovered up to the draconequus.
"Leave them alone, Discord!" Shenran added as he hovered beside his wife.
"I will," Discord answered, "just as soon as these two are gone! Then we can have a good laugh about this whole affair over our regular Tuesday tea." Discord then made a table appear in the air before them and sips a teacup. Fluttershy and Shenran both glared at him.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy and Shenran!" said Twilight as she, the rest of the Mane eight, as well as Sakura, stood on defense, "We'll stop him!"
"You bet we will!" said Sakura angrily, "You release my baby sister or else Mario is gonna give you a shower the hard way!" Discord just looked at them with a smirk and held a mirror ball on his claw. The others looked a bit uneasy, knowing what could happen if Discord fed that mirror ball to the Smooze. Sakura snorted.
"You can't threaten us!" said Sakura, "Mario, blast him with your water pump!" Mario blinked.
"Were you listening when I said the tank is empty!" Mario reminded her. Sakura just blinked and gave him a squeaky smile. Mario was about to roll his eyes when Discord chucked the mirror ball at them, barely missing the alicorn Prince. Before anypony else could react...
"WAH!" the seven ponies screamed as Smooze slithered right over them, trapping them into the side of its body.
"I'm doing Tree Hugger and Anemone a favor, Fluttershy!" Discord protested and started promoting the place holding a mic and wearing his orange tuxedo, "It's a lovely dimension! White sand beaches, attentive wait staff...I mean, okay, the humidity isn't great, but where isn't that the case these days?" It was then an image of a desert and a picture of a farmer husband and wife was shown, with the former holding a pitchfork.
"No!" Anemone cried out, "My hooves will dry up and I'll be at a great risk of getting them all scraped and chipped because I'm so clumsy!" Discord just gave her an apathetic look.
"I don't understand why you're doing this!" Fluttershy said sternly, "We were getting along so well!"
"I was actually starting to enjoy your company!" Shenran added in the same tone.
"As well as we could," Discord yelled, "considering you both already stomped all over our friendship by inviting her to the biggest night of the year as if I didn't matter at all!"
"Then why isn't Muffins up here to?" Anemone asked, "No offense."
"None taken," said Muffins casually.
"Because it's not me he's upset with, but Fluttershy," Shenran answered, "but that still doesn't excuse his behavior tonight!"
"Shenran is right," Fluttershy said as she glared at Discord, "Did you really think I'd abandon you just because I have a new friend! Or should I say new friends! Anemone and Sakura are my friends too!"
"Aw, thank you Fluttershy!" said Anemone. Discord then snapped his fingers, which made Sakura disappear from being trapped in the Smooze and now floating next to Anemone.
"Guess you can go be with your sister, Sakura," Discord remarked bluntly.
"You stop it!" Fluttershy scolded angrily.
"Why?" Discord retorted, "To answer your question: Yes, because that's exactly what you did! And with three ponies instead of just Tree Hugger!"
"No Discord!" Fluttershy shot back, "I invited a friend to a party! And I've been friends with Sakura and Anemone since my trip to Horse-a-lulu and I haven't seen them since and yet I've spent that time with you! I didn't abandon you! What if you had a friend that you could discuss chaos-based magic with? Would that mean we weren't friends anymore?!"
"Uh..." Discord stuttered as he scratched his chin, "No, I suppose not. It would just mean that I'd have different friends for different things..." It was then Discord understood.
"Oh...oh, dear, it looks like I've perhaps overreacted just a skosh," Discord admitted.
"Are you kidding me?!" Shenran snapped angrily.
"More like a lot of skoshes!" Fluttershy yelled and raised her fore-hooves into the air, "Tree Hugger, Sakura, Anemone, could you give the three of us a minute?" The three ponies just nodded with confident smiles on their faces.
"Discord, it doesn't take a genius to realize that us choosing a plus-one to the Gala other than you was upsetting," said Shenran sternly, "My wife and I could see it, but you could have just told us instead of beating around the bush and causing a mess! And before you say anything about being a creature of chaos! This isn't about what you are, it's about being honest with your friends instead of just stuffing your feelings down and throwing a tantrum like a two year old!"
"You should also know that Anemone wasn't just poking you to get on your nerves," Fluttershy continued, "If you had bothered to ask Anemone why she kept poking you, she would have told you that she just wanted you to be honest with yourself as well as with Shenran and I! You had no right to destroy her wand when you didn't even try to settle things with her like an adult!"
"Point taken," said Discord, "I'm just so new at this whole friendship thing. It's so much more complicated than it looks."
"Do you think maybe you owe someponies an apology?" Fluttershy asked with her fore-hooves crossed and in a motherly tone. Discord just looked at her sheepishly and offered the yellow Pegasus a flower, but Fluttershy sternly slapped the flower out of his hand. Shenran had to use a fore-hoof to avoid snickering. He had enjoyed seeing Fluttershy do that more than he should have.
"Not me!" Fluttershy snapped.
"Oh! Oh," Discord stuttered as he cleared his throat, "Yes, right." He then snapped his fingers, which closed the rip and released all three ponies. Discord made sure they all landed softly on a large pillow before removing the landing pad. Fluttershy and Shenran gave the three ponies hugs. Then Discord saw that the Smooze, with the other trapped six ponies trapped in it, was charging at Princess Celestia and the rest of the guests. Discord then appeared behind the Smooze, reached into the ooze body and pulled out all the shiny objects the Smooze had eaten. This released the six ponies and reduced the Smooze to his normal size. Discord then magically put the shiny objects back to their rightful places, except for Shenran's swords. Discord gave those to Shenran personally
"Er, Tree Hugger, Anemone, and Sakura," said Discord sheepishly, "I'm sorry that you got caught in the middle of my...er, you know...wrath."
"Oh, it's all groovy," said Tree Hugger when Discord hugged her, "Um, I need like a few minutes to clear out my chakras before I can hug you from a place of authenticity."
"Oh, your chakras," said Discord with a nervous laugh, "Fair enough." He then turned to see Sakura and Anemone just glaring at him.
"Oh...right," said Discord as he made the ashes of Anemone's lemon wand appear. He then snapped his fingers to restore the wand and gave it back to Anemone.
"YAY!" Anemone said as she grabbed her lemon wand and hugged it happily.
"Since my sister got her wand back," said Sakura, "I guess we're cool then, Discord."
"And what about you?" said Discord to Anemone. Anemone looked at him for a moment.
POKE!
"EEYOOOW!" Discord cried out in pain. Unlike the last pokes, Anemone poked Discord hard in the right eye.
"Now we're forgiven," Anemone said with a giggle before she and Sakura walked away with large smirks on their faces. Discord just groaned as he held a claw over his hurt eye.
"I guess I deserved that," Discord said wearily as Fluttershy and Shenran giggled to each other.
Later on, the group of friends minus, Twilight, Mario, and Celestia were all gathered around the comedy stage with Discord and the Smooze. Mario had also given Pinkie back her water pump.
"I owe you an apology, Smooze," said Discord, "I spent the whole evening thinking about my own feelings and never thinking about yours." The Smooze replied by kissing Discord on the cheek, getting it covered in ooze. Discord smiled.
"Well, friends!" said Discord to the group, "I think I may actually grow to like this multiple friend thing."
"I like it too," said Maud.
"Same here," said Sakura.
"You can never have too many good friends," Anemone added.
"You can say that again," Muffins added.
"Hey, it's not a party until somepony spreads magic-resistant ooze uncontrollably over the ballroom!" said Pinkie excitedly with a squee.
"Oh! Count me in!" said Sakura as she and Pinkie headed over to the Smooze, "Let's get Mario so we get him covered in ooze again so he's stuck with us all night!"
"Keep away from me!" Mario shouted off-screen as the two girls giggled to each other.
"Come on, Smoozinator!" said Pinkie.
"Let's dance!" said Sakura and Pinkie together. The Smooze slithered after them as the three danced together. The others just watched from the stage while Twilight, Mario, and Celestia watched from the other side of the ballroom.
"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia," said Twilight to the sun alicorn, "I thought my husband and I could give you a break tonight, but it turns out we are in over our head."
"That's true," said Mario, "As much as I hoped Discord would livin' things up, I should've known he would overdo at a certain point."
"You both have nothing to apologize for," said Celestia, "This has been the most fun Gala in years!"
"I know, it was a-What?!" Twilight exclaimed in surprise, "But there was ooze all over the place! And one of the guests threatened to send three ponies to another dimension!"
"And I nearly got swallowed up by ooze!" Mario added.
"I know!" said Celestia excitedly, "Can you imagine how dull it would have been if I hadn't invited Discord?" Twilight and Mario were left speechless.
"Now come on! Whoo!" said Celestia as she pushed the still stunned couple to the middle of the dance floor, "The night is still young!" Twilight and Mario said nothing, but once they recovered, they finally did get to share that special dance with each other.
Late that night as the Gala started to settle down, Fluttershy was making her way into the Canterlot gardens. She had sneaked away when the group was listening to Maud do a comedy routine without telling anypony. She felt this was something that she needed to deal with alone. She had barely entered the area where the animals lived when they all scampered away and hid. Fluttershy just snorted and sighed sadly to herself.
"Guess they do remember me," said Fluttershy sadly to himself.
"But it's nothing saying your sorry can't fix," said a voice. Fluttershy turned around to see Shenran quietly hovering over to his wife.
"How did you find me?" Fluttershy asked softly, "I...I didn't want anypony to know I was coming here..."
"I remembered what you told me the last time you were here," said Shenran, "Are you here to try again?"
"I dunno," said Fluttershy, "This was the first time I really started seeing that all my negative feelings about being rejected and unaccepted started coming to a boil. I hated feeling that way. Then I got so angry that I exploded into pure rage. I had nightmares for years afterward."
"I hope not anymore," Shenran asked with concern.
"No, but it's still disheartening to see the animals still run away from me," said Fluttershy, "I'm not the same mare I was when I first came here. I've learned to be more assertive, thanks to you and all my friends. I know that's all I need to feel accepted. I just wish..." Fluttershy felt a small tear escape her eyes as Shenran used a fore-hoof to wipe it away and kissed her.
"Sit with me, my love," said Shenran as he guided his wife to sit next him on the grass, "Now don't speak." Fluttershy just nodded and gave her husband a nuzzle as they remained silent and just gazed at each other lovingly. After about a minute of quiet, a single squirrel came out to see the two Pegasi, then a couple of bunnies, as well as a few other critters. They just observed the couple as the two Pegasi shared a soft kiss with each other. They had barely pulled away when they saw all the animals surrounding them. Fluttershy could see how timid they were and thought carefully about what to do.
"Hi," said Fluttershy in a very soft voice and looked away. It was then a little bunny bounced up to her and sniffled her fore-hoof. Fluttershy raised it a bit, but saw the bunny flinch and lowered it down.
"I won't hurt you," said Fluttershy softly, "I'm so sorry for scaring and chasing you around so much the last time I was here. I love animals and I was really excited to see you. But I went about it the wrong way, got really upset, and started chasing you all. I hope you can forgive me and be my friend." Fluttershy then lowered her head as she began to cry softly to herself. She then heard some chattering and looked up to see the bunnies smiling at her. Soon the yellow Pegasus found that the animals were coming toward her. She smiled through teary eyes as she lifted a fore-hoof and the toucan landed on it and chirped to her.
"It is very nice to meet you, too," said Fluttershy with a giggle, "My name is Fluttershy. I hope we can be friends." The animals all chirped happily as Fluttershy just smiled and cried happy tears. Shenran then walked up to her as he used his fore-hoof to wipe her falling tears.
"Thank you, Shenran," Fluttershy sobbed, "You helped me change a painful memory into something wonderful! I love you so much my prince." Now it was Shenran's turn to shed tears of happiness.
"Anything for you my Flutters," said Shenran sweetly, "I love you so much too my princess." They shed their happy tears together as they nuzzled noses, and held each other lovingly as the animal played around them.
Elsewhere in the gardens, Mario had gently guided Twilight over to the rose garden where a majestic water fountain was located.
"Wow," said Twilight softly as she looked around the garden, "This is where you wanted to take me during the last Gala. It's beautiful."
"Yeah," said Mario, "It seemed like the perfect place for me to tell you how I feel about you."
"You are quite the romantic," Twilight teased, making Mario blush.
"Well, my biggest dream at the Gala was confessing my love to you here and becoming a couple," said Mario.
"Quite a big dream there," said Twilight.
"Yeah," said Mario, "But...once I saw how nervous you were getting, I knew that the best I could hope for was an opportunity to just be honest with you." Twilight just looked at him with a calm but serious look on her face.
"So tell me then," said Twilight, "At the time you had no idea how I felt about you correct?" Mario nodded.
"All I had was just the fact you said you liked me, even if it was just a friend, and that you thought it was funny that I had a crush on you when I was colt," said Mario.
"I see," said Twilight, "based on that evidence, I'm not seeing a good reason for you to confess to me your feelings."
"That's where you're wrong, Twilight," Mario answered, "I always had a good reason to tell you."
"I don't understand," said Twilight, giving him a puzzled look.
"Maybe I didn't have enough evidence to show that if I confessed my feelings that there was even a chance that you would return them," said Mario, "But we've been friends long enough that you had a right to know how I feel. I mean...we've known each other for so many years, Twilight. Even as friends, we could say "I love you" to each other."
"I never thought about it that way," said Twilight, "Ugh, if I had just asked what you meant when you told me the last time...maybe...maybe things would have been different. You wouldn't have been hurt and driven into being so corrupted that you would say that you hated me." Mario winced at the memory and fought the tears creeping from his eyes.
"I don't hold that against you," Twilight said sadly when she saw Mario upset, "I deserved that, especially after everything I put you through."
"Just tell me Twilight," said Mario, deciding that trying to refute her previous remark would just lead to trouble, "If you could go back and do it over, what would you have said to me after I said that I love you?" Twilight walked up to him.
"Thank you," said Twilight, "Thank you so for caring about me so much. It means alot to me that you love me. You've been such a good friend over the years, but I don't understand. Why would you love me of all ponies? I haven't exactly appreciated you or given you any hints that I love you back." Mario took a deep breath before answering.
"I couldn't help myself," said Mario as he spoke from the heart, "the first time I laid eyes on you when I was a colt, you captured my heart. I would like to see if we could be more than friends, but it's up to you. I can't force you to return my feelings or to open the door for dating. Just know that whatever you decide, I'll always love you." Twilight was crying. Mario looked worried.
"Sweetie?" Mario asked gently, "Please don't cry."
"I can't help it," Twilight croaked, "you're always so sweet and sincere! You have this way with words that touches my heart that I can't hold back my tears..." Mario chuckled as he hugged her and then they quickly pulled away.
"Okay, sorry, I know I need to answer," Twilight said once she recomposed herself and wiped her eyes, "So you see, Mario...the truth is...I love you too."
"Really?" said Mario in surprise.
"Yeah, I've been in love with you for a long time," said Twilight, "I was just afraid because I didn't think I deserved you and I didn't think at the time...that we could be together since we were studying with the Princess."
"I see," said Mario, "but...did you ever stop to think that maybe, being together wouldn't have made our studies more difficult, but it just meant that our destinies are intertwined with each other?" Twilight looked stunned for a moment but then smiled excitedly.
"You're right, Mario," said Twilight, "I mean look at us! Together, we both got our wings and became Prince and Princess! We got married and we're now the Royal couple of friendship!"
"Um-hmm," said Mario with nod.
"And you know what?" Twilight asked.
"What?" Mario replied.
"I'm so happy we get to spend the rest of our lives together," said Twilight, "And getting to our redo: I would be more than happy to date you. In fact, I have a question to ask you."
"What is it?" Mario asked. Twilight then gave him a two second kiss on the lips.
"Will you be my special somepony?" Twilight asked sweetly as Mario smiled at her lovingly.
"I would be honored to be your special somepony," said Mario, "and I want you to always remember something, Twilight."
"Yes?" Twilight asked curiously with a smile.
"You never needed wings to be a princess," Mario said simply, "You were already mine." Twilight giggled happily. He then picked a red rose, trimmed the thorns with his magic and placed it behind Twilight's ear. Twilight eyes sparkled in the moonlight as she grabbed a red rose of her own, trimmed it, and placed it into the pocket of Mario's tuxedo. Then they shared another kiss and hug, giggling as they held each other.
"You're very precious to me, Twilight Sparkle," said Mario once they pulled away, "I love you and thank you for being my wife."
"You're welcome and thank you for being my perfect stallion, Mario Star," Twilight replied, "I love you too." The two alicorns just held each other close as they gazed at the stars that were dancing across the sky.
This Gala was definitely better than the last one.
There you have it fillies and gentlecolts! The second Grand Galloping Gala has come to an end. I hope you enjoyed my surprise of bringing back Anemone and Sakura from the Honeymoon chapter. I hadn't planned on doing so, but somepony said they were excited about Shenran and Mario's plus ones and it gave me the idea to bring them back. Plus, unlike the original episode, Muffins got to be there. I think alot of fans would agree she deserved to be at the Gala.
Plus I always wished Fluttershy had gotten a second chance with that garden of animals and befriended them. So I included that as part of an alternate ending. Plus Mario deserved that romantic moment with Twilight so a double happy alternate ending! Hope you enjoyed it.
Also, somepony once asked me about having Mario use a pony version of FLUDD from Super Mario Sunshine and I was actually able to find a battle where Mario could use it! Plus the "Jet Pack" power up is actually a parody to Splatoon 2's InkJet special, but with water instead of ink. Plus the second part of the ooze fly trap battle was based off of the Dino-piranha from Super Mario Galaxy.
Next Time. we've got a friendship mission to the homeland of somepony we haven't seen since season 1. She was quite the mean meanie pants as Pinkie called her.
REMINDER: Mario is going to be the overseer of each friendship mission until next season. This means when a friendship mission happens, he'll be there!
Peace Pony Fans!