This is an older story of mine, based on a theory, which I thought I could add to my Fluttercord stories.

So in the episode 'Best Night Ever', the Mane Six plus Spike go to the Grand Galloping Gala, and Fluttershy just wants to spend the night in the garden with all the rare creatures. Given her gift with animals, it always confused me that her plans didn't work out. Then I realised in the very next episode, the beginning of Season 2, Discord makes his first appearance. Coincidence? Maybe not. His statue would have been in close proximity to the gardens! So this is a retelling of 'Best Night Ever', from Discord's point of view.

I don't own anything.

Over the past thousand years, the spell had weakened. He had not noticed it for the first century or so, but now he had gathered almost enough strength to break it. All it would take was one more act of disharmony nearby and he could suck up the energy and he would finally be free. Tonight was the night, he was sure. Because tonight was the Grand Galloping Gala, and he could always count on some silly love scandal or argument to take place in the gardens, usually several.

Ponies were arriving in droves, all in high spirits. They wouldn't be for long. This party was made such a big deal out of all the time, and whoever attended always set their hopes for the night far too high. They were bound to be disappointed.

He felt the presence of crowds of ponies moving around the lawns beyond the animals' garden. They went in and out of the ballroom constantly. It was too early in the evening to expect some sort of outburst, so he turned his attention instead to a lone spirit who went skipping into the gardens. He heard her exclaim with delight as she called out to the creatures, so he knew instantly why she was there.

With nothing else to hold his attention, he focussed his limited magical vision on this pony, and found her 'special talent' was an affinity with all creatures. Well, not for long, he thought, chuckling. He had not been able to really chuckle in a thousand years, but he laughed silently to himself in his mind.

His magic was only enough to combat her own talent, so that when she went near the animals, they treated her the same as every other strange pony to come to their garden, and ran away. He howled with imagined laughter as he watched the young mare chase them all over the garden, trying to get near them. It was really too funny.

He could feel her dismay and frustration growing, and he used his magic to dial up her anger, then sat back and watched as she slowly turned into a raging screaming monster, setting up traps to catch the creatures.

Too caught up in his fun, he didn't even notice when a small fight broke out over on the lawn where the rest of the ponies were congregated, about who should pay for what was apparently 'carnival food'.

Instead, he continued to watch the scene unravelling in the animal garden, using his magic – limited as it was – to cause as much difficulty for the mare as possible, and to amplify her anger. It wasn't easy, because she had quite a pure soul, but eventually she became so deranged, she chased all the creatures clear out of the garden and into the ballroom of the castle.

If his stone prison had not prevented him, he would have collapsed onto the ground and had to hold his stomach as he laughed hysterically. Unfortunately, his game had distracted him enough from the rest of the gala, that by the time he started searching again for some argument to help him fully regain his power, everyone had started to leave, and there was no one left outside where his power could reach them.

He raged to himself, furious at having been thwarted, especially by his own delightful game. It would have been something to make his return on the night of Celestia's gala, so as many ponies as possible would see him defeat her. It now seemed as though he would have to change his plans, but no matter. As long as Celestia didn't realise he had been responsible for her animals bursting into the ballroom, she should not anticipate his escape and wouldn't take any measures to prevent it.

He had waited a thousand years, he could wait a little longer. Besides, that silly school trip to the Canterlot statue garden was coming up soon, and Discord could always count on at least one argumentative child…