Chapter 4: Having A (Disco) Ball
Hearth's Warming day finally arrived, and the accompanying night would surely be one to remember…
…For better and worse.
The main hall of Canterlot Palace made the head of every single pony who walked through the double doors turn and gaze around in awe. The walls were lined with tall, magnificent Hearths Warming trees, each one decorated marvellously. A long buffet table loaded with goodies stood on one side of the room, the most delectable aromas wafting from it. What really stuck out as the centre of attention, however, was the colossal disco ball hanging from above, reflecting multicoloured lights across the dance floor, adding to the air of fun that was being enforced by the music that was blaring from the subwoofers located to one side; Vinyl Scratch was certainly living up to her name as she worked the dials of the huge stereo system she had provided for the party, keeping the pitch and speed of the music varied, and cleverly and effectively so. She had a huge grin on her face as she sat there, her signature purple goggles pulled down over her eyes, her neon blue mane seeming to shimmer in the disco ball's light show. She really did look the part of a DJ.
And speaking of looking the part, it was as the awestruck crowd filed into the room that Discord appeared opposite the doors, wearing a Santa hat over his mismatched antlers, a slick pair of dark shades, a blue jacket studded with silver sequins and of course, the boots Fluttershy had given him. The footwear seemed a little out of place compared to the rest of his attire, but if there was anypony who knew how to take a mismatched look and make it work, it was the Spirit of Chaos himself. He had a microphone in his hand and he held it up to his mouth, grinning toothily as he greeted the crowd.
"Welcome, my little ponies! So glad you could all be here tonight! I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this party is going to be a smash!" As soon as he said that, Discord snapped his fingers and he shattered like glass into a thousand pieces as though he had indeed been smashed by something. The crowd of ponies gasped in alarm, but then Discord immediately reformed his body, laughing uproariously. "Oh, don't mind me! Sometimes I just go all to pieces at social gatherings!"
The crowd of ponies laughed, several of them rolling their eyes and shaking their heads in exasperated amusement.
"Typical Discord."
"What a ham!"
"Wouldn't be a party of his without an opening joke like that, that's for sure."
"I think I'm making a good impression as a host so far," Discord said confidently as Tempest Shadow and Tree Hugger stepped up beside him on either side, the former looking as stoic as ever and the latter having a lazy, spaced out smile on her face. "And Tree Hugger, I wanted to thank you for helping me organise the finer points of this little shindig."
"Hey, what about me?" Tempest demanded.
"Yeah, what about her?" Grubber jeered, the plump little hedgehog joining his former commander, still wearing his old Storm King army uniform. "Oh, wait, that didn't come out right!" he said, taking a step back nervously as Tempest turned to glare daggers at him. "The emphasis there was supposed to be on the 'her' part, not the 'about' part. Heh. My bad."
"Oh, but of course I'm not forgetting about you, Snugglepop," Discord began.
"Fizzlepop!"
"Yes, you did a simply marvellous job pushing that crate across the floor for all of two minutes."
Tempest growled out her fury, her broken horn crackling threateningly with barely tapped energy.
"I'm only joking, my dear Tempest!" Discord assured her, pulling her into a headlock and ruffling her crimson mane, a gesture that the dark purple pony certainly did not appreciate. Physical contact with others was still something she wasn't quite used to, and after Discord released her, she stood completely rigid for a long moment, looking extremely tense.
"Wow. Your vibe is like, totally out of sync," Tree Hugger mused, staring at Tempest with mild concern. At least, it seemed to be concern. It wasn't easy to tell given the lax tone of the hippie pony's voice and the vacant nature of her stare.
"Excuse me?" Tempest responded, frowning slightly, having no idea what the green pony with the dusty red mane was going on about.
"You need to find a more chill wavelength. I think the cider we ordered can like, really smooth out your groove."
"You rang?" Applejack said brightly, walking up with a flagon of her family's famous cider in her hoof. "Here ya go, darlin'. My treat," she said, offering it to Tempest, who turned away.
"I'm fine, thank you," she said curtly. "I just need a moment to compose myself."
"Oh. Alrighty, then," Applejack said uncertainly. She turned to Discord. "Ah gotta say, Discord, y'all have really outdone yerself fer this 'ere party. Ah still can't believe how many barrels o' mah family's cider ya ordered."
"Oh, don't thank me. It was Tree Hugger who insisted that we have a hefty supply of it for the occasion," Discord confessed, gesturing to his helper.
"Organic apple cider can really create a rad atmosphere in one's soul, especially now," Tree Hugger stated.
"Heh. If y'all say so," Applejack replied with a weak chuckle, not really getting Tree Hugger's manner of speaking. "Ah'm just glad everypony here's enjoyin' it," she went on, glancing over at the cider barrels to see several ponies gathered around them, filling up their flagons and drinking deeply.
"I know I am!" Rainbow Dash declared brightly, zipping up to the group with a flagon of the fizzy substance at the ready. She tossed her head back, poured the liquid into her mouth and swallowed the lot in one gulp. "I dunno what it is, but something about this stuff makes it taste especially awesome tonight! This is my seventh flagon in the last twenty-five seconds!" On that note, she raced back over to the barrels and filled her flagon once more.
"Oh, Applejack, that reminds me, have you seen any sign of Fluttershy yet?" Discord asked hopefully.
"Oh! Oh! She's at the doorway!" Grubber said, pointing enthusiastically at the far side of the room as Fluttershy walked in right on cue, wearing a black dress that made some of the nearby stallions gawk at her in awe. She gave a nervous smile at the sight of such admirers and took a cautious step back. Smiling knowingly, Discord snapped his fingers and teleported his best friend away from the onlookers and over to him. Another snap and a spotlight from nowhere was shining down on Fluttershy, much to her surprise and bewilderment.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, If I could have your attention for just a moment," Discord announced into his microphone, "I'd like to thank you all once again for coming tonight! I must say, what a turnout! There's nopony I'd like to thank more for gracing us with her presence, however, than my dear friend Fluttershy! How about a hoof for her, folks?"
The crowd obliged, politely applauding Fluttershy, drumming their front hooves up and down on the floor - the only way ponies knew how to applaud. "Oh. Well, um… Thank you," the pale yellow pegasus said shyly, her cheeks reddening slightly. She wasn't used to being the centre of attention. Seeing his friend's unease, Discord teleported her over to the buffet table, where Twilight, Spike, Starlight, the rest of the Mane Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Princesses of Equestria were gathered.
"Hiya, Miss Fluttershy!" the Crusaders greeted brightly.
"Hello, everypony," Fluttershy said, relaxing now that she was in the company of ponies she was more familiar with. "Say, is that Trixie over there?"
Trixie glanced up from her spot by the chocolate fountain at the mention of her name, her mouth full of cream cake. She saw Twilight and the others, raised her flagon as a means of greeting and then immediately turned back to the chocolate fountain, looking uncertain of how to approach it.
"Just go for it, Trixie!" Pinkie cried encouragingly, her shout startling the stage magician so that she jumped, stumbled forward slightly and ended up sticking her face in the flowing chocolate, causing several onlookers to laugh. Twilight and Starlight tensed, fearing that Trixie might go on the warpath, but instead, the pony in star-patterned robes did something unexpected.
Trixie swallowed her mouthful of food, proceeded to lick the sticky chocolate off her face… and began laughing merrily as well.
"I knew she'd have a good time here tonight!" Sweetie Belle said, beaming.
"Wait. You brought her here?" Twilight asked, surprised.
"We ran into her while we were adding the finishing touches to the snowpony we were building," Scootaloo explained. "Turns out she was flattered that we were making it in her likeness, even saying that she liked the hat we put on it."
Twilight gazed at Trixie's hat, noting how similar it was to the one she owned. "Wait. Is that why you wanted to borrow my hat?"
The Crusaders immediately froze, their cheeks reddening as they smiled meekly.
"Uh, maybe," Applebloom said at last.
"Well, why didn't you say you wanted it to build a snowpony?" Twilight exclaimed, smiling at the fillies. "I used to love building snowponies with Shining Armor back when I was a filly."
"Snowponies? I ain't seen one o' those in years," Capper said from his place at Rarity's side. "Not a lot of holiday cheer in my neighbourhood, now that I think of it."
"Perhaps you and I could build one tomorrow?" Rarity suggested.
"Aw, come on now, you don't have to do any of that kiddie stuff just for me," Capper assured her, scratching the back of his neck, blushing.
"Why not? Your first Hearths Warming in Ponyville should leave you with some lovely memories, should it not?"
"It already has, Miss Rarity. Thanks to you."
Rarity giggled. "Please, Capper, just call me Rarity."
Spike, having just gotten a gemstone for himself from a nearby dragon-centric food platter, crushed the jewel into powder with his claws.
Back where Discord and his cohorts were gathered, Grubber was staring longingly at the buffet table, his eyes on a large spongecake that had been made by the Pie family. He kept glancing from the dessert display to Tempest, occasionally whimpering softly. Tempest sighed heavily.
"Just go, Grubber."
The sweet-toothed hedgehog didn't need to be told twice. He raced for the table with a mad giggle of excitement and within seconds, his mouth was stuffed to the brim with every pastry he could reach.
"Well, somepony's sure havin' a good time," Applejack exclaimed. She and her friends laughed.
"It's good to see so many smiling faces," Celestia said, gazing around, her own contented smile having nothing to do with current events. She was thinking of how she had recently been alone in her throne room, opening her mouth to let out a soft yawn when a lightly toasted marshmallow had appeared out of nowhere and landed on her tongue, proving quite delicious. The Princess licked her muzzle at the thought. "I am looking forward to the fireworks display Discord has arranged for Tempest to put on for the crowd later."
"I fear that some of our subjects might be having a little too much fun," Luna mused, having noticed that Rainbow Dash appeared to be trying to dance upside down on the ceiling, giggling like an infant filly.
"Far too much fun," Cadance said, her eyebrows raised as she watched a certain mail mare with misaligned eyes run around in circles chasing her tail - a questionable action even for her.
"I think I've sat on the sidelines long enough," Discord was saying as Tempest watched the scene before her, noticing the spreading display of strange behaviour on the dance floor and beyond. "I think I'll grab a pint and then show them that even the Spirit of Chaos can bust a move!" With that, he snapped his fingers and summoned a flagon of cider into his waiting appendages. Tempest glanced from the flagon to the cider barrels to the crowd and, putting two and two together, her eyes widened and she leapt at Discord, knocking the flagon out of his hand and spilling the contents on the floor, much to his protest.
"Look, you fool!" she cried, grabbing his head and turning it so he was facing the dance floor. Nearly every single pony was acting like they were completely out of it, and each of them either had a flagon of cider in hoof or had the drink smeared around their mouth.
"Oh, that can't be good…" Discord mumbled worriedly.
"I CAN TOUCH THE SKYYYYYY!" Rainbow Dash shouted joyfully as she did the backstroke through midair, cider smeared all over her face, her mouth locked in a delirious grin and the pupils of her eyes unnaturally huge. Shining Armor appeared to be doing the chicken dance in the far corner of the room, though he did so while balancing precariously on his front hooves, his back legs in the air. Big Macintosh was rolling back and forth across the floor like a dog. Trixie was now wearing the entire chocolate fountain on her head and dancing about. As for Maud Pie… Well, the less said about what she was doing, the better.
"But I don't understand," Discord said. "I know Applejack wouldn't sell tainted cider to me. She's too caught up in the whole 'honesty' thing to do that. And I certainly didn't tamper with it. But then, that only leaves…" His face turned a variety of colours as he remembered a certain hippy's words:
"Organic apple cider can really create a rad atmosphere in one's soul, especially now."
"Especially now..."
The Draconequus turned to face Tree Hugger, who was still standing there with a vacant smile on her face. "Is there something you want to tell me?" the party's host demanded, narrowing his red eyes at her behind his shades.
"Chillax, Discord. I just put a little bit of my 'special crop' into the drink to help everypony loosen up. It always creates a groovy vibe."
"You did WHAT?!" Discord shrieked. "You do realise that they're going to blame me for this, don't you?"
"Wow, your chakras are like, really unbalanced right now. Have you considered Reiki therapy?"
Discord groaned in frustration. "Okay, this is why I find it hard to see eye-to-eye with you most days," he declared, putting his head in his hands.
"Um, Discord?"
Discord froze in horror. He knew that voice. He dared to glance out from behind his digits to see Fluttershy standing there, staring up at him, looking sad.
"Oh, my dear Fluttershy, if you'd just be so kind as to let me explain-"
Fluttershy held up a hoof to silence him. "I just want to say one thing," she stated.
"What's that?" Discord dared to ask nervously.
"WHEEEEEEE!" Fluttershy squealed cluelessly, flapping her wings and taking to the air. "I'm a beautiful butterfly!" she cried, spiralling through the air. For a moment, Discord didn't get it, but then he looked down and saw an empty flagon lying on its side where his best friend had been standing.
"Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," he decided, snapping his fingers and summoning two more flagons of cider, one in each hand.
"You're not serious?!" Tempest asked, flabbergasted.
"Oh, shut up and drink something! It might make you smile for a change!" Discord responded, tipping the contents of one flagon down Tempest's throat before she could react. He then downed the remaining flagon and proceeded to make a total Discord of himself.
And all the while, Tree Hugger continued to stand there, not showing any reaction to anything that was going on. Eventually, her smile widened a little and she said just one thing:
"Heh. Groovy."
