//------------------------------// // Tensions Rising // Story: G5 Adventures in The Smurfs // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// Papa and Sunny hadn’t figured out how to get the Smurfs or the ponies home yet, and it was getting everyone a little worried. But since it was so late, they would have to stay another night in the Winslow apartment, using whatever they could find to make comfortable sleeping bags. Brainy sighed as Papa lit a few candles. “I was hoping I'd be sleeping in my mushroom tonight.” “I miss the other Smurfs,” Misty said before immediately correcting herself. “I-I mean, it’s not that I don’t like you guys, but… I’m worried about them.” “We get it, Misty. And we miss them too,” Clumsy sighed sadly. “I've never spent the night away from home before.” “Technically, you did spend the night here with us last night,” Hitch said, but realized what Clumsy meant. “But… who could sleep after what you guys have been through the past 2 days?” “Hush… hush now, everyone,” Papa said as he finished lighting the candles. “Everything's going to be just fine.” “Papa is one of the wisest Smurfs I know,” Sunny added, “and if he says everything is gonna be fine, it will be. Trust him on that.” As Patrick listened from the next room, Smurfette asked a question in the saddest tone anyone ever heard. “Papa…? Do you really believe we're ever gonna get home to the other Smurfs? And that the ponies are gonna go home to stop Misty’s mom?” “Don’t worry. We'll be reunited with the others soon enough,” Papa said before getting on Sunny’s back so she could take him back outside. The earth pony mare sighed, ears slightly pinning. “If only the stars would align…” Then, sparing one final glance at Master Winslow, Sunny and Papa retreated outside to continue their studies. As soon as they were gone, Brainy sighed and spoke up to the others again. “You know who I miss? Chef Smurf. Hefty Smurf. Hey, Jokey Smurf.” “Greedy,” Smurfette smiled thoughtfully. “Narrator.” “Painter… Baker…” Misty trailed off. “Harmony,” Pipp chuckled. “No matter how bad his tunes were.” “I’ll tell you who I don’t miss,” Smurfette said. “Passive-Aggressive Smurf.” The others seemed to agree, but Zipp was confused. “Wait, what’s so bad about him?” “The thing is, he’s so nice,” Clumsy said, “but when he leaves you feel bad.” “Kinda reminds us of our friend Posey,” Pipp said. “She didn’t like magic at first, and doesn’t really tolerate us, but… I guess she’s pretty nice if you get to know her.” Zipp then let out a yawn. “Let’s get to sleep, everypony. Like Sunny said… we have a big day tomorrow.” XXXXXXXX Back in the New York prison, Gargamel sighed. “Another Smurfless night…” he muttered before a tiny moth flew into the cell. “Oh, hello, little moth. Perhaps with your help I'll find a way to get them back. Oh, you and I are kindred spirits, little one. Both of us meant to soar. Go now, and bring back an army of mighty eagles to free me. Fly, tiny eagle. Fly and bring back your brethren. Fly! Fly! Fly!” And at his command, the tiny moth flew out into the night. XXXXXXXX An hour later after most everyone had went to sleep, Patrick went up to the roof to check on Papa and Sunny, who were still not having any luck. “Hey… I guess you got a long night ahead of you,” he said, earning their attention. “You guys drink coffee?” “Is a Smurf’s butt blue?” Papa asked with a smirk. “And, I’m not a fan of coffee,” Sunny shrugged, “but… I’ll take some.” Patrick then decided to ask something as he approached. “So tell me, that weird guy in the ratty bathrobe at the toy store? He's not really a wizard, is he?” “Well, he doesn’t seem like the smartest sorcerer in the coven, but dangerous just the same,” Sunny said. “To both ponies and Smurfs alike.” Patrick set down a mug of coffee with a straw, allowing Papa to take a sip before he spoke up again. “Back home, I could hold him at bay with a spell or two. But here, without my books and potions…  “Well, today we got lucky. But next time, who knows?” Sunny asked. “I hate to say it, but Gargamel is almost as dangerous as Opaline or Paradise, if not more.” “Misty’s mom? Her I remember Misty talking about, but… not this Opaline character,” Patrick said. “Who is she?” “An ancient fire alicorn from Twilight Sparkle’s time,” sighed Sunny. “One of the most dangerous beings we ever faced. Paradise is her adopted daughter. We stopped Opaline a few months back, but… Paradise is exacting revenge on us, especially Misty, for finishing her off.” “What are you gonna do now?” “We’re gonna do everything and anything to get the Smurfs and ourselves to our homes,” Sunny said determinedly. “We won’t ever give up,” Papa added. “The Smurfs, and now the ponies, are my family. And you never give up on family.” Sunny felt touched when Papa said that, a warm smile gracing her face and allowing her to nuzzle close to Papa. Patrick, however, sat down, many thoughts filling his mind. “Doesn't it freak you out sometimes having all those little guys depending on you? I mean, what if you screw up? How'd you know when you were ready?” “Here. Come sit on Papa’s lap,” Papa invited before immediately taking back that statement, seeing the size difference. “Let me ask you something. Why did you come for us today when your Grace called?” “She needed me. I could hear it in her voice.” “Well, that’s what being a parent is. Hitch taught me that when the time is right, you just do it,” Sunny said. “And knowing what to do doesn't come from up here,” Papa pointed to his head before gesturing up to Patrick’s heart. “It comes from here, where it matters most.” “My spleen?” “No… your heart!” Sunny said. “Papa is trying to have a moment, Patrick you big goof! Ha ha!” Patrick finally let a smile grace his face. “You’re a great leader, Sunny. And you’re a good papa, Papa.” “And you’ll be a good one too,” Papa smiled, and the three allowed themselves to look at the moon… wondering what could come next. XXXXXXXX By the next morning, all the prisoners at the prison had been let outside for the morning, but Gargamel chose to sit on one of the benches and wait for the moth to return and set him free. “Come on, you silly moth. Where are my eagles?” That’s when two tough-looking prisoners came with very upset looks on their faces. “You know what happens to people who sit on my bench?” one of them asked. “Be gone with you, behemoth,” Gargamel dismissed them, “for I have instructed a moth to summon forth a gaggle of noble eagles to free me from this confine.” The prisoners didn’t like that one bit, and as they dragged Gargamel off the bench, the evil wizard saw figures approaching from the sky. “You see? You see? The dungeon isn't built that can hold the likes of Gargamel! Behold my glorious army of…” But, as the figures got closer, it was revealed to be an army of flies led by the moth from the previous night. “...flies? FLIES?!” Gargamel shrieked. “I said to fly, fly! Not flies, you light-loving moron!” Nevertheless, he was able to get the flies to lift him up to a higher height (after a try or two of crashing into the basketball hoop and over the wall), much to the shock of the prisoners. “To my castle,” Gargamel commanded, “for more essence!!” XXXXXXXX Patrick and Grace woke up later that morning as the sun was rising into the sky, and when they walked into the living room, they saw the ponies and Smurfs were decorating the living room with vibrant flowers-- even Elway was helping. “Come on, Elway, right over here. Good boy!” Hitch said lovingly as the dog brought him some more flowers. “Thank you so much!” “Oh my goodness!” Grace said, completely surprised. “Clumsy!” “Blue thumbs!” Clumsy reminded with a smile. “This is unbelievable, right?” Pipp asked, taking photos repeatedly. “Clumsy, Misty and Izzy had the idea last night before we went to sleep!” “I think there’s too much pink,” Grouchy groaned, but a growl from Pipp caused him to freeze. “Come on,” Zipp scoffed. “Just cause your NAME is Grouchy doesn’t mean you have to be grouchy.” As everyone continued to converse and admire the decorations, Papa came in from the window with Sunny, a bright smile on his face. “Great news!” he declared. “The stars have revealed a perfect time to smurf the blue moon!” “Yay!” “Alright!” “We’re going home!” “We knew you guys could do it, Sunny!” “Pipp Pipp hooray!!” “I never doubted it for a second.” “It has to be done tonight, between first star and high moon,” Sunny explained. “That’s our only chance! And us ponies have to find the crystal so we can get home too.” “But,” said Papa as they hopped to the coffee table, “we'll need a magic spell that works in this realm to open the portal home. Master Winslow, a question, please.” “Yeah, shoot.” “Is there a place that sells spells?” “...no.” “Is there a place that proffers potions?” “Yeah… no.” “How about books?” asked Sunny, and suddenly, Patrick thought of something. “Wait, there's an antique book shop right near where I work. Dr Wong's something.” “Perfect!” Zipp smirked. “That’ll do it!” “Oh, hear that, boys?” Smurfette asked, hugging Papa. “We’re almost home!” “Smurf hug!!” Gutsy hollered at the top of his lungs, and the Smurfs and ponies were all brought in for one big group hug before Izzy turned to look at Patrick. “Come on, bring it in, big fella!” At first, Patrick was against the whole thing, but after some insisting, he found himself melting at the embrace of the ponies and Smurfs as Grace watched. Then, Smurfette broke from the hug as she saw something that looked like a blue moon on one of the screens from Times Square. “Oh, look! We don't have to make a blue moon-- we've already got one!” “Huh? What’s going on?” Sunny wondered as they all went to the window. Turns out, the ad that was accidentally sent the previous night was up and running, and seeing it made Patrick’s eyes widen. “That’s the wrong ad!” He opened the doors to his office, only to find it a light yellow color with a crib and more baby things inside, much to Grace and Patrick’s wonder… but Patrick was a little too frazzled to notice. “What happened to my office?” “We fixed it for your new baby!” Izzy said. “Does this mean we get another Smurf hug?” Instead of answering her, Patrick pulled up the email previously sent the previous night with the blue moon ad on it. “Someone sent this to the ad agency last night. Who messed with my computer?” “Not me.” “I was nowhere near it.” “Gutsy was with us!” Suddenly, they realized that there might have been one Smurf who was up there, and turned to Clumsy, who was tensed up nervously. “I mighta… sorta… tripped?” “Yeah, well, you mighta, sorta, just got me fired!” Patrick scolded. “You sent the wrong file!” “Patrick,” Grace tried to calm him, “it was just an accident.” “What am I supposed to do, Grace? You said that they would bring good luck. This is anything but good!” Patrick snapped, making the ponies’ ears fold. “I never should've let this happen. I should've said no. I never wanted a house full of little people running around!” The ponies looked wide eyed at that as Patrick tried to recorrect his earlier statement. “Blue, little blue… ugh…” “Okay, whoa! Patrick!” Grace ran after him into the bedroom. “What are you doing?” “Going to try to save my job!” “We never intended to be a burden, Master Winslow,” Patrick said. “Yeah,” Sunny said. “You know it was an accident.” Clumsy nodded at this. “I’m smurfilly sorry about what I…” “Stop saying "smurf" for everything. What does that even mean?” Patrick said, irritated. “Smurf! Smurfitty-smurf-smurf-smurf!” At this, the Smurfs gasped with wide eyes. “There's no call for that kind of language, laddie!” Gutsy scolded, but instead of answering them, Patrick just stormed out of the apartment. “So…” Hitch said slowly. “That just happened.” “What do we do now?” Misty asked. “I, uh…” Sunny spoke hesitantly, “I guess we need to head to that bookstore and find that spell. Clumsy… can you…?” “Yeah, I get it,” Clumsy sighed. “I’ll stay here.” “Good,” Zipp nodded with irritation. “Maybe then you won’t cause another headache.” The other ponies and Smurfs walked off, only leaving a downtrodden Clumsy and Izzy alone in the bedroom. “She didn’t mean it, Clumsy. Zipp is just upset,” Izzy said. “We’ll talk to her, and everything will be fine.” XXXXXXXX “Patrick, wait!” Grace said as she chased Patrick outside. “Just stop and listen to me for a second, please.” “What?” “Look, I'm really sorry about your job, okay? And I hope that you can straighten that out. But you are so not seeing the big picture here,” Grace scolded, much to Patrick’s confusion. “I mean, look around. Look what's happening right now. Of all the people on the planet, those magical little creatures came to us. They chose us. Don't you see how absolutely amazing that is? This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, Patrick. This is our blue moon. And if you don't stop for just a second to see that, you're gonna miss it.” And then, Grace went back inside with a huff of worry, hoping her husband would be able to see what she was talking about. Patrick watched her go for a moment before running to catch a taxi, and couldn’t help but wonder… …what if Grace was right?