The next day finally came, and the Ponyville Animal Day Festival was already happening across the town. Everypony was all present at the event, and of course, Luke as well. The human was walking around with Fluttershy and her friends to look at the whole event and what was happening.
Mayor Mare was present, and along with Fluttershy, she was in charge of it to make sure everything is going smoothly. Look looked on at how many types of animals were being cared for by many ponies.
The first thing Luke saw was a bunch of pigs being cleaned and petted by Lyra and Bon Bon. One boar used his head to lift Bon Bon up, making her yelp, and and then ended up riding him, but she only lasted for a few seconds on the pig, and then she fell off after the pig took a couple of steps. Lyra laughed at how she fell. "Hahaha! That's one way to ride a pig!" she laughed. "Oh, you're such a cute piggy aren't you?" she began petting another pig from his head, to his back, and then rubbing his belly. The boar smiled and was oinking to show how happy he was.
"Oh you naughty piggy." Bon Bon said with a smirk while rolling his eyes. Then a few other curious pigs began crowding her and licking all over her head, making her laugh "Ah! Make it stop! HAHAHAHAHA!" she cackled, feeling the touch of many pig tongues.
Lyra laughed at how she was being tackled by many boars and sows like this. "That's one way to play with pigs! Haha!" then Lyra herself was being crowded by another group of pigs. "Oh, yes, I see you all. Oink, oink."
Luke laughed at that touching sighed, and smiled, what he first saw reminded him of the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy fell into the pig pen, except the pigs weren't aggressive. "Oh, that's just one of the reasons I love pigs." he muttered with a chuckle. The next thing Luke saw was Cloudchaser and Flitter tending to a large bull elk, feeding it some greens like spinach, or leaves, oregano, something like that. It made a low bugle sound like when the bulls call for a mate.
"What was that?" said Flitter.
"Was that you?" said Cloudchaser with a confused smile. Then the elk bugled again, more louder than before. "Wow, I didn't know an elk would sound like that. But still, you're a cool, big guy." she patted his head, in between his antlers. The elk did enjoy it, but one of the ends of his antlers accidentally poked her in the arm "OW!" she said "You're antlers are sharp. Note to self, never make an elk angry unless you want to be gored by their antlers.
"Well said, sis." said Flitter. "Ah, who am I kidding, we won't make him mad, will we?" then she made a sneeze and the majestic beast was spooked and bucked in a startled matter. His hooves almost hit Flitter and said "Or scare them, another lesson learned" she added. Both sisters looked at each other and had a good laugh.
"To be honest, I was expecting an elk call to be lower than that." Cloudchaser remarked with one raised eyebrow.
"I know, me too."
"What was that sound?" said Rainbow Dash. "They sounded like a little filly screaming."
Luke and the others chuckled at that statement "It did kind of sound like it, but don't worry, it wasn't. It was just an elk bugling, they call like that to attract mates and show their dominance."
"Oh, that's cool. I never knew that."
"It's a real good thing you came here Luke. I knew you would love it." Fluttershy remarked
"Wouldn't have missed it in the entire universe." Looking around again, he saw Pipsqueak interacting with an African grey parrot. The bird made a few funny noises, tilted it's head a few times, and then he used it's talons to climb on Pip's back. The colt smiled and he was enjoying it. Luke decided to walk up to him to say hello and shoot the breeze with him "Hi, Pip." he said
"Oh, hello, Luke. How are you?" Pip asked him
"Awesome." and he looked at the parrot. "And I see you made a new friend." and he made a small chuckle after that reply
Pip laughed "Yeah I know, Steve here really likes me." then the African grey nudged his head against Pip's neck. "Give up them cookies!" it said. Both of them laughed at the bird's statement. He was a parrot after all.
"Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of the festival." Luke said, before he rejoined his friends. Then he followed them to the stage that was set up for the mayor to speak. Speaking of which, Fluttershy went to talk to her about the event and how amazing it will be.
It was just then the mayor noticed the young human, ""ah, Luke, hello. Wonderful to meet you again."
"Same with you, miss mayor." The human replied humbly.
"Oh this festival is working out perfectly. now I must make a speech and the same with You, Fluttershy. After all, this was all your idea."
The yellow Pegasus began to look really nervous just thinking about what to say to the whole town "well um- I don't know." She said
"Don't worry, you'll be fine, think of all the animals here, just to raise a fundraiser to help even more animals everywhere." Luke said
"He's right, Fluttershy." Said Twilight "we know how much you wanted this to be out into reality." The other friends began urging her to do so.
"Remember the Ponytones, sweetie?" Rarity suggested.
"I- I do."
"Then don't worry. Just think of what to say, and go over your lines." Said Rainbow.
"You know, this might sound silly, but in my homeworld, there's a method to get rid of stage fright to imagine the audience in their underwear."
His friends and the mare looked at him with a weird look. "Now why in tarnation would that help anything?" Applejack said with a chuckle "that sounds so silly."
Luke smirked and shrugged "I don't know who invented that solution, all I know is that I heard it can relieve stage fright. For in my world, there are some humans that everyone do not want to see naked. And public nudity is against the law in my world, but you guys, you are all a different story because most of the time you don't wear clothes at all. So people on their underwear are usually ridiculed in my home world, so that's why it would work, but I don't think it will work on this one."
Rainbow, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, and the mayor still didn't really understand this "imagine everyone in their underwear" bit. "Well you're right." Said Rarity. "Many of us do not wear undergarments at all."
"So the underwear thing won't work." Rainbow theorized
"Exactly my point. So, how about I come up with you just to make you feel better." Luke suggested. "The least I can do is relieve you of you're stage fright."
Fluttershy was flattered to hear Luke's offer "you're really sweet, Luke. I would love." She softly remarked.
The human smiled, showing his teeth, feeling more than happy to go up with Fluttershy to help her out with the speech. Just then, Discord appeared out of nowhere, floating on midair. As usual, it startled everyone a little bit. "Do forgive me for my bad manners, but I couldn't resist coming to Ponyville Animal Day to spend with Fluttershy."
"Discord! You made it!" Fluttershy cheered, hugging the drancequus, then he hugged her back in return for her usual kindness. "I knew you would come!"
"Of course, I would not miss it for my very GOOD friend." Discord said. Then he looked at Luke, and he felt the jealousy rising up again.
"Well, we're glad you can be here, Discord." Said Spike.
"Yeah, we can always use an extra set of hooves to help out, or in your case, paws." Twilight said cheerfully.
"Yes, nothing like helping innocent animals and creatures be happy and taken care of." Then he created an angel robe and a halo above his head "when it comes to animals, I can be quite an angel." A chorus choir was heard in the background and a spotlight rained down on the master of chaos.
What he did next, kind of made everyone around him weirded out. He turned his face into exactly like Fluttershy's, and added "and I want to be as good as Fluttershy with animals and creatures."
"Please don't ever do that again." Spike said, a little creeped out by the face.
Annoyed, Discord snapped his finger and turned his face back to the way it was before. "My sincere apologies for that, I was just trying to make a point."
"Well point taken." Said Applejack
"Anywho, we better get on out there." Mayor Mare suggested. Still feeling a little uncertain, Fluttershy walked up the stage anyway, but Luke followed after so he can make her less nervous.
"Luke! I knew I would find you here. So wonderful to see you again my dear." said a mare with an African accent. Luke recognized who it was. He turned around and saw Zecora, just walking up to them to meet the human a second time. "Wonderful to see you again, I thought I would see you at this celebration." she warmly remarked at the human.
"Zecora! Nice to see you again." Luke replied with a big smile. He was feeling more than happy to see this zebra again. They both hugged each other both chuckling. "How's it going?"
"Doing quite fine. Always happy to attend Ponyville Animal Day with all the friends of mine." the zebra humbly remarked. "And of course it happy to see all of you, for helping animals is something I always want to do."
"Nice to see you too, Zecora." said Rainbow "any potions or elixirs lately?"
"Nothing that anypony should really know. taking a break from alchemy for a while, i must do." said Zecora.
"Like Twilight with her books when she overstudies too much?" Spike said jokingly. Everyone, except Twilight of course, laughed with him. The purple allicorn herself just scowled at him.
"I'm a princess, I don't need any break from reading!" she protested with a look in her eyes telling everyone that she was NOT amused.
"Aw come on, Twilight. I was just kidding."
Then Twilight laughed not long after realizing that it was just a silly joke after all. "Oh Spike." she said with a giggle, then she gently rubbed his small head playfully.
"So anyway, are you going to stay long enough to see my performance?" Luke asked Zecora
"oh yes, i most certainly have." Zecora replied warmly. "but right now, I have to go tend to a watusi calf."
"That's fine. Enjoy the festival, Zecora."
"You too. Attending you're performance, I will certainly do." Zecora remarked before walking to a different direction from them.
Discord rudely came to close to Luke and walked next to him. "Excusez-moi, mon ami." He said to the human. "Perhaps i shoukd jkin Fluttershy with you just in case
"Okay." Luke replied, a little weirded out.
"Thanks Discord. Of course i can always count on you." Fluttershy said.
Discord smiled and looked at Luke, and bent his eyebrows telling him "in your face!" And then he said to hdr "what ate good friends for?" Then both Luke and the Master of Chaos took a seat on two chsirs in the back.
"Alright Everypony, gather round for what I am about to say." The mayor announced. She cleared her throat, checked the microphone, and said "welcome one and all to the Ponyville Animal Day fundraiser!" Then there was a sound of cheering and applause. "We have gathered on this event to care for animals of all kinds, and in the hope for a better future. This say is a special contribution to them, and it will raise money to help all animals in need to be saved from neglect, and abuse. Feel free to interact with any animal you wish to interact with, and always make sure they are all well. And of course, there will be apples to sell, along with hay burgers to sell for anypony who is hungry. One last thing, We will have a special special performance by our favorite human, and talented visitor from another world: Luke Smith."
Another sound of cheering was heard, and it was louder than before. "Yeah Luke!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "You rock!"
"So amazing!" Pinkie added with a happy bounce. She pulled out her party canon and fired confetti from it in a loud blast.
"Now, I would like to present the one who started this amazing and thoughtful idea, Element of Kindness, Fluttershy." After another round of applause. Fluttershy took the place on the pedestal in front of the microphone.
The yellow Pegasus looked at Luke and he gave her a thumbs up with a warm smile, telling her everything will be alright, and he was with her through the speech. Discord gave a slight glare at the human without him lnowing, and he poofed up a large sign like they would use in casinos or in the big cities, and it said "Go Fluttershy!" In a blinking state. "Hello everypony." She began. "Thank you all so much for coming to Ponyville Animal day. I am so happy that there are so many who love to help out with animals as much as I do, and provide care for them. I created this event so if any animal is being awfully neglected, or is miserable, we can all provide them with love and care, and to make a difference."
Yet another applause was heard.
"All animals need our love." She continued "and we must be the ones to share them our love. All animals are special to us, and have feelings too. Today, we can make a contribution with this fundraiser to benefit all animals, and provide them lots of food, better wild lands to live for the wild animals, and better houses and pens for pets and livestock. Let us all do our part to give them our love."
One last applause was heard, even louder than before thanks to the combination of ponies, baby dragon, human, and the animals to cheer on for her. For Fluttershy was Equestria's very own Mother Nature.
Luke smiled on proudly, and then clapped his hands, but he was quite with the verbal cheering, for he wanted to save his voice for the performances later on. Everypony got back to what they were doing before and interacted woth as much animals as possible, along with grooming them.
Luke and Fluttershy doing a little fun time with African wild dogs, or in this world, Zebrican wild dogs. Luke always wanted to interact with one of Africa's most agile and ferocious predators next to the lion, hyena, and leopard.
"Aww, they like you." Fluttershy said. One of the wild dogs tried to stand on his hind kegs and wanted to give Luke a kiss on the lips. Luke gave a chuckle feeling the ticklish tongue lick his lips.
"This is so amazing." Luke noted. It reminded him of one of his dogs, Bruno, who was a mutt, and woukd kiss him on the lips when Luke would come home from school, just like the wild dog did. Meanwhile, Discord was jealously looking at Luke and Fluttershy interacting with the animals and having a good laugh together.
Rainbow Dash was hanging out with a herd of sheep that had horns for some, and no horns for most of the flock. One of the ewes was chewing on her tail. "Ah!" She made a cute shriek "stop that!" She pulled her tail away from the sheep.
"Everything okay here, Rainbow?" Luke asked her
"Had better days, Luke." Rainbow replied "had better days." Then another sheep chewed on her tail as well. "Ow! Hey, cut that out!" She complained.
The human chuckled.
"Haha very funny."
"They're just animals Rainbow Dash. They can't help it."
"Yeah yeah." Rainbow muttered to herself.
As Luke pressed forward, Pip ran up to him wit a large frog in his arm. Rumble was next to him, and his big brother, Thunderlane, was walking behind them. This frog looked very different that frogs he would see back home on Earth (his definition). This amphibian was green like any other frog or toad, but this majestic creature had a pair of horns like a water buffalo would have. "Luke! Check out this little guy!" Pip said
Luke was absolutely fascinated by this intriguing frog. A frog with horns? It was truly amazing to see such an unusual animal like this one, and Luke wished that a creature like this one would exist in his own world. "Ain't it cool?"
"Totally! What kind of frog is this little guy?" he began slowly petting it's slippery back, and the amphibian began ribbiting touch after touch.
"A Zebrican horned frog." Fluttershy said. "I never seen such a beautiful creature like this one before." then she gently held the odd-looking amphibian.
Then Discord walked up from behind to look at what was happening. "Ah, the Zebrican horned frog, very intriguing." he said. He conjured a lab coat, and conjured a small torture table, and carried the frog himself, then he pulled out glasses like biology scientists would use. "quite a very interesting creature. one hundred percent amphibian, one hundred percent horns, and one percent evil."
This kind of reminded Luke of the infamous Luigi Galvani, who learned electricity from animals inside their bodies, like the frog for instance. "Hey, you're not going to dissect it, are you?" he asked the drancequus
Discord lifted his his classes and replied "Oh heavens no!" he said with a chuckle. "That would be too barbaric of me. I only do research, nothing more. As a matter of fact, I would never forgive myself if an animal was... disposed of because of me. I love animals just as much as Fluttershy does. Isn't that right, my dear?" then he got the frog out of the torture chamber and gave him back to Fluttershy
The yellow pegasus smiled "Oh Discord, you're a really sweet drancequus. And of course I know you love animals too, I even remembered the times you would help me." and she had a thought "Even though, you can... complicate things."
"Nonsense, all I do is make it faster and better for you." said Discord in denial.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, I kind of seen how you can handle the animals back in Fluttershy's cottage." Luke pointed out
"What do you know?!" Discord snapped at him with fire burning in his eyes. Luke was really surprised about that reaction.
"Sorry, I was just saying is all."
The master of chaos realized what he did and said "no, i'm sorry." He sighed. "You're right, perhaps I should treat animals with better care, starting now."
The others didn't really know what to think of this. "Thst's... nice."
"Yes, yes it is."
"Well, hope you have fun here, Luke. I really look forward to you're performance later. Come on kids, let's look around some more."
"Okay bro." Rumble said.
"Right behind you, Thunderlane." Then he, Rumble, and his big brother went on to look around some more.
So as the festival kept going ln, everypony, Spike, and Luke were having a real good time with this festival. Pinkie Pie was chatting with a group of spider monkeys, making monkey noises like they would normally sound like. Weirdly, she would use her tail to Lance onto a branch, like some monkeys would do.
Linus the lion, and Tyson the Tiger went up to Luke and they both crowded arundel Jim like house cats would do. Luke was wrestling the two big cats, despite getting minor scratches from their claws.
"I hope this doesn't turn into a cat fight." And a rimshot was heard after Discord's little joke. "Oh I am too much." And he wiped a tear from his eye after laughing so hard. The others however didn't really laugh, and they all had blank expressions on their face.
"Fluttershy!" A mare's voice called out to the yellow pegasus. They saw what it was, and Luke saw an Earth mare that had a green coat, slightly bushy eyebrows, and a light red and tail that were styled as dreadlocks. "Real groovy to find you here " she said
What she said made Luke wonder if she was a Rasta pony, or a hippie of some kind, because this peculiar mare sounded like someone a hippy would say, and the looks of a rasta with a bandana on her mane "Tree Hugger, pleasure to meet you again." Discord greeted
"Oh yes, I knew you would come to Animal day."
"Are you kidding, sweetie? I wouldn't have missed this day in all my dream cathcers, dude. Blessings, one love." Then the peaceful mare noticed Luke "oh, and what kind of animal are you?" She asked him curiously. "I have seen many rare creatures in Equestria, but I have never seen you."
"Well... that's because I am from another world. Tell me, what's you're name?"
"I am Tree Hugger. Blessings." She replied
"My name is Luke, Luke Smith, but my friends can just call me Luke."
"Radical to meet you. I am really digging you're aura." What she said made look a little dumbfounded.
"My.... aura?" He asked her.
"It was a compliment." Fluttershy noted with a chuckle. "Tree Hugger is a member of the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures like me."
"That's right. I work to help all creatures across Equestria with my love, and the other member's love. Anyway, nice to meet you, Luke." She said politely.
"Nice to meet you too, Tree Hugger." The human replied kindly to her.
Tree Hugger then net face to face with the master of chaos. "Oh, and it's really nice to see you too, Discord. You haven't been sending ponies to the puppet dimension like you did on me, are you?"
"Of course not." Discord scoffed. "And I said I was sorry about that, and you did forgive me for it."
"You're right. I did forgive you for what happened."
"What happened?" Luke asked curiously.
"It's a rather long, yet groovy story, Luke." Tree Hugger replied, letting out a nervous giggle. "Anyway, do tell me about yourself. You seem like an interesting human."
The young human flustered. "Well okay."
The Luke and Tree Hugger began talking to one another, and they seem to really like each other already. After almost an hour later, it was time for Luke to perform a song as the entertainment of the event. He was feeling more than ready to get out there, and just rock out on Animal day.
Fluttershy and her friends were in the very front of the audience as VIP seers. Mayor Mare came out from behind the curtain of the stage, and announced "Fillies and Gentlecolts, our only human inhabitant, and amazing rockstar, Luke Smith!" then a loud cheering was heard, well all, except Discord, who was still quite jealous, but he kept it in himself to not cause another uproar.
Luke came on stage and waved at the inhabitants of Ponyville with confidence. "Hello everyone." he called out. "I hope you all enjoy music because is everyone having a good time?"
A large sound of cheering was heard within the crowd. Obviously, from all that cheering, it sounded like a "Yes" to him.
"Perfect! Time to rock for all you, and animals who need our love."
Rights for this Song go to Lions
After ge was done, everypony roared I'm excitement, and all chanted "Encore!" Over and over again. Luke was thinking of whether he should give them an encore or not, and he ultimate decided yes.
"Okay, okay. I'll play one more song." He announced. Then the crowd roared once again. "And firstly, I want to thank utters so much for not just helping me, but all animals here. Keep up the good work, and make the lrincess' proud, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy smiled, feeling so touched to hear those words.
Just then, Discord could stand it no longer. His eyes turned to fire again, and gritted his teeth real tightly that they all broke, but of course, all of his teeth came back thanks to his magical powers. "Shut up!" He shouted "Shut Up!!"
Everyone in the crowd was shocked and surprised by this sudden reaction. The drancequus angrily warmed on stage to confront Luke and release his anger on him.
"You think you can steal Fluttershy from me, lion boy?" He snarled. "Well let me tell you, if anypony is going to be best friends with Fluttershy, that better be me!" Then he pulled him up using his magic by levitation.
"Discord Wait! I-!"
"Silence Human!" Said the Master of Chaos I'm a booming voice, silencing him instantly then he ripped up a portal with his claws and revealed Luke what it was. It was the hot pits of Hell woth tormented souls in them.
Luke was absolutely scared and horrified. "Wha- what are yoy doing?!" He shouted
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, I will just send you to Tartarus to suffer for the rest of eternity. I cannot let you ruin me and Fluttershy's friendship any longer."
"No!!' Like screamed
"Discord! Stop it right now!" Fluttershy hovered in the air to make eye contact with Discord and had a glare on her face.
"I will, Fluttershy, I will. Just as soon as he suffers."
"No! I'm a good person! I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Discord, it's the grand galloping gala all over again. First Tree Hugger, and now Luke?! Why must you do this?"
"This? This is different. Luke is not from Equestria. And-! Look, he took you away from me yesterday, and you wanted to return the favor. We were about to go see the flying mantas together, but HE had to ruin everything!"
The yellow pegasus realized that Discord was just a little hurt from yesterday, and replied "Discord, I am sorry if I hurt you about not wanting to come with you to see the Flying Mantas yesterday, but it still doesn't make I okay for you to just banish Luke to Tartarus."
Discord sighed. "Look, do you know how important you are to me, Fluttershy? You are the very first friend I made in my reeeaaaally long lifetime."
"I do know how important our friendship is, Discord." Fluttershy remarked. "But please, Luke did absolutely nothing wrong."
"She's right, Discord." Twilight said firmly. "Please just let it go. Do not make us report this to the princess'."
"And we promise she will throw you on the dungeon!" Said Rainbow in a threatening voice.
Discord was conflicted whether he should let Luke go, or send him to Hell. Finally, he said "I just wanted to spend time with you, Fluttershy."
"I didn't abandon you just because me and Luke are spending time together. He is a good friend, and I have more than one friend, you know?"
The master of chaos sighed "I know, I know."
"Now please let him go." Fluttershy remarked firmly. Discord did what she demanded and closed the portal to Hell, and gently sat Luke down back on the stage. "Now, do you think you owe somepony an apology?"
Discord conjured a flower to her, but Fluttershy promptly swatted it away. "Not me! Luke!"
The master of chaos looked at Luke, with his eyes wide open. He was worried that Luke had been traumatized by what he just saw through the portal. Then Fluttershy came to his aid
"Are you okay, Luke?" She asked him, vey worried
"I'm fine." He replied. "Thanks for saving me, Fluttershy. I really appreciate it."
She smiled at him and gave a stern look at Discord. "Go on." She urged him.
Discord had a look of guilt and said to the human. "Luke, I am so very sorry about that. I know you weren't trying to hog Fluttershy away from me, I was just... jealous." He admitted.
Luke got up and said "it's okay. I've seen scarier things than what you were about to send me to anyway."
"Look, it's just that, Fluttershy is really important to me. She was the very first friend I ever made in my life. That's why she is so special and important to me."
The human smirked. "Well, you're not alone. When I first came here, Fluttershy was the first friend I ever made, too. So... I guess we can kind of relate." Then both of them had a laugh. "So, are we good?" He offered a handshake to him
"We're good." Then they both made up. Yet another applause from the crowd was heard. "And, i'm sorry if I broke you're guitar. Here, let me fix that for you." he snapped his finger, and the guitar was back in good shape. Luke smiled, and put the strap back around him.
"Thank you, Discord. I really appreciate it."
"You're quite welcome. Come one Everypony? does everyone still want to hear Luke do an amazing guitar performance?" then another cheer was heard.
Fluttershy looked at Luke with a smile "Good luck. Make us proud."
"I will." Luke replied. Then he went in front of the microphone, and realized it was a full instrumental song, and decided to put it aside. "Prepare to be filled with magic from this instrumental masterpiece."
Yet another roar of the crowd was heard again.
Rights for this song to go Poets of the Fall
Everypony cheered even louder after Luke was done playing that beautiful instrumental guitar song. His closest friends went up and congrutulated him. The same with Cloudchaser, Flitter, Rumble, Thunderlane, Lyra, Bon Bon, Pip, the Crusaders, and Big Mac.
"That was so beautiful." said Fluttershy. "Truly magical."
"Thanks. I told you I would blow your minds."
"yeah! that was awesome!" said Cloudchaser.
"Luke, you did it again." said Pip. "With this, we will get more funds to help animals.
What Pip said made Luke even more proud of himself, doing this for charity. "I think it just might." then he went to hang out with his friends one by one as the festival continued. Discord went up to Luke, who was interacting with Linus the lion and Tyson the tiger once more. "Luke, can you forgive me for my behavior?"
"Of course." then he petted the lion's tawny and black mane, making him howl in happiness. "So, have you met these guys yet?"
"Oh yes, multiple times. They are quite the pussycats." then both the big cats snarled at what he just called them. "I am just kidding, surely, can anypony take a joke around here?"