In the library, Twilight, Discord, and Spike were cleaning up the library. Princess Celestia was coming to Ponyville tomorrow to visit Discord. It was just a casual visit but to everyone else, royalty was coming to their home. "Oh, hurry up guys! This place isn't gonna clean itself!" Discord and Spike were picking up the books while Twilight was dusting.
"It also didn't mess itself up," Spike mumbled to himself.
"And this is the mess you created Twilight," Discord told her as he put the books on the shelf.
Twilight ignored them as she said frantically, "Princess Celestia will be here tomorrow!"
"I thought this was just an unofficial, casual visit for Princess Celestia's nephew," Spike told her.
She turned to him and said, "There's nothing casual about a visit from royalty!" She told them as she stopped dusting.
Discord fought the urge to laugh as he said, "Twilight, have you forgotten I'm royalty too? Besides you worry too much."
"And you don't worry enough, and you never seem to care about perfection anyway! I want this place to be spotless, and you've barely made a dent in the clutter!"
Spike climbed the ladder to reach higher shelves, straining to haul the books in his claws. "Maybe you should…start reading them…one at a time!" Spike fell off the ladder but Discord managed to catch him just in time before he hit the floor. Twilight dusted the pile off books while Discord set Spike back down and a book fell off the baby dragon's head.
"Everything's got to be perfect. No time for fooling around!" S
pike then told Twilight, "You know, this would be an awful lot easier if there weren't three of us here, getting under each other's feet."
She smiled then said, "Great dea." She gave Spike the duster as the book fell of his head, and dragged Discord with her magic. "You clean, we'll go see how everyone else's preparations are coming."
Discord and Twilight left before Spike could stop them. "Or maybe I should…" He groaned as the door closed, leaving him to clean the library by himself.
Twilight and Discord walked through Ponyville and were impressed by the decorations the ponies have done. Flowes, ribbons, and more decorated the town. Everypony was hard at work with the preparations. Twilight and Discord walked to a sign that Berryshine and Carrot Top put up. It said, Welcome Princess Celest. Twilight notcied this immediately. "What happened to the rest of her name?"
Carrot Top told her, "We couldn't fit it all in."
For Twilight this wasn't good. "We can't hang a banner that says, "Welcome, Princess Celest." Take it down, and try again." Twilight ran off to check on the other preparations while the ponies rolled their eyes.
"You did good. My aunt won't be upset about the sign." Discord left and ran after Twilight who was running to Sugar Cube Corner.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. How's the banquet coming?" Twilight asked them.
Mrs. Cake looked at them and said, "Uh... i-it would be coming a little better i-if..." She gestered a table with partially eaten desserts on the table. Pinkie Pie popped up and ate a chocolate cake with a crown on top. Her face had a buttercream beard and she licked it off her face.
"Pinkie! What are you doing?! Those sweets are suppose to be for the princess!"
Pinkie smiled and told her bashfully, "I-I know. That's why I'm tasting them. Somepony needs to make sure that everything is tasty enough to touch the royal tongue." Discord laughed at that.
Twilight glared at him. "Sorry, my dear. It reminds me when ponies would taste mine and my aunt's food to ensure it was good enough for us."
"Yeah!" Pinkie zipped out from behind the table and declared, "And I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a king... or a queen... or a prince... or a princess!"
Pinkie Pie was about to devour the cake on the counter and before Twilight could stop her Fluttershy came in. "Discord! Twilight! Pinkie! You won't believe-" She skided to a stop and sat down after seeing that Twilight and Pinkie seemed busy. "Oh. I'm sorry. I…am I interrupting?"
Discord smiled and told her, "Not at all, my dear."
Pinkie then said, "Come on in and make yourself at home."
Now Pinkie used her tongue and swallowed the cat in one bite. Discord smiled at her antics. 'Pinkie definitely has some minor chaos magic in her. Not enough to affect her element but enough to make her, well, Pinkie.'
Twilight stared at her friend who slimed back at her. "What's going on, Fluttershy?"
She smiled and said to her back, "You won't believe what I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Come on out, little guy. It's okay." The little blue creature she encountered peeked out with a happy little coo and flew out. To her considerable surprise, by a yellow and a gray one followed behind.. She gasped softly at the sigh. She swore that she only found one at the Everfree Forest.
Discord nearly paled at the sight. 'Oh no…parasprites.'
"Three?" Fluttershy said surprised.
Twilight walked to her, amazing at the sight. "They're amazing! What are they?"
Fluttershy looked at her and said, "I'm not sure. I'm also not sure where these other two came from."
"I'll take one off your hooves. I've never seen anything so…adorable! Besides, it'll be nice to have a companion for Spike and Discord so they won't bother me so much while I'm studying." Twilight hugged a yellow one. 'It would be nice to have a companion besides Discord and Spike.'
Discord thought to himself. 'Ugh, no thanks.'
"Pinkie, Discord, would you like one?"
Discord smiled at her and said, "Splendid offer my dear, but I think I'll pass."
Pinkie had a different reaction which surprised all of them. "Blecch! A parasprite?! Are you kidding?!" She started to leave surprising everyone.
Confused, Fluttershy repeated, "Ugh?"
Twilight was confused as well. "A para-what?"
Fluttershy then asked, "How could you not like-?"
Before she left, Pinkie told them, "Now I gotta go find a trombone!"
Fluttershy and Twilight looked at each other confused then back to Pinkie and Twilight said, "A what?"
"A trombone! You know…" Pinkie sat and mimicked the sounded and movement of a trombone before leaving.
"Don't say we didn't warn you, Twilight. Wait for me, Pinkie!" Discord ran out and followed Pinkie.
Twilight sighed. "Typical Pinkie and Discord." She rolled her eyes at their antics. 'Pinkie, I understand but this isn't typical for Discord. He's random but not Pinkie Pie random.' She ignored her thoughts and smiled at the parasprite.
Discord caught up with Pinkie. "Pinkie, you know what parasprites are?"
She nodded. "Of course, we had a swarm on my families rock farm one time. They nearly destroyed our crops so the only thing we could do was play music to make them leave. I have a list of instruments to get, I take this half and you take the other."
Discord nodded. "Deal. Let's meet in the center of Ponyville before things get out of control.
That night, the library was so clean it was sparkling. Spike and the parasprite were sleeping on his bed together but Twilight noticed that Discord hadn't come back. "Where could he be? He's not out this late." Twilight was worried but she was more worried about the princess's visit tomorrow. "I really hope everything comes together in time for tomorrow."
The next day, things got worse for the ponies. Everypony except Discord, Pinkie, and Applejack had a parasprite and they have now multiplied by a hundred. Discord saw Rarity leaving her home to tell her the good news. "Rarity, my dear, Applejack has lent me her harmonica." He played the harmonica then said, "It's perfect for me and Pinkie." He saw the parasprites try to escape her bag and he knew things were getting worse. "And not a moment too soon!"
Rarity rolled her eyes and said, "Discord, I'm a little busy right now."
"And we're not? Pinkie and I still have more instruments to find. Pinkie and I split the list but with your help, we can get this done even faster," He told her with confidence in his voice.
"Sorry, Discord but I don't have time for some silly scaveger hunt that you and Pinkie conjured up. I've got a real problem." Rarity walked away to deal with her problem, leaving Discord behind.
"You do have a problem. Now, I'm off to find a banjo!" Discord ran off and Rarity just rolled her eyes.
'I can't believe that Discord would stoop this low. He's a prince. He has better things to do then find some silly instruments.'
After learning that Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow were having the same problem, the friends ran to Fluttershy to ask her about the parasprites. She doesn't know what they are and she is struggling with them too. Applejack brought some apples and they decided to use her to help round them up and get rid of them.
After failing to round them up with Applejack, Rainbow Dash knew it was her turn to get the parasprites out of here. She flew so fast that she formed a twister and started to suck up the remaining parasprites.
"Way to go, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted, relieved that it was finally over.
"Looks like our problems are solved!" Applejack told her.
"They will be with the cymbals!" Discord and Pinkie came in and Pinkie had some cymbals around her neck making some noise.
"Yeah, these took forever to find," Discord told them.
The cymbals flew off Pinkie's neck and into Rainbow's twister. "Hey, gimme those back!"
Rainbow Dash soon started to lose control of the twister. "I can't hold it! She's breaking up!" Rainbow was knocked into a tree and the parasprites flew out with no damage and into town.
"Discord…Pinkie Pie…what have you both done?!?" Everypony looked at them with anger in their eyes. They couldn't believe they were causing more trouble than the parasprites.
"I've lost a brand-new pair of cymbals, that's what I've done!" Pinkie told them.
"Yeah, don't you know how long to took us to find those cymbals!?"
Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. She expected Pinkie to act like this but not Discord. Sure, he had his moments but never like this. "Will you two forget about your silly instruments for one second? You're ruining our efforts to save Ponyville! Discord, Princess Celestia, your aunt, will be here soon. Stop ruining this for us!"
"Us? Ruin? We're not the ruiners! we're the ruin-ees!…or is it "ruin-esses"?" Pinkie sat and kept saying different words for ruin.
Discord then said, "Twilight, if you would just stop and listen. We..."
They didn't and Applejack said, "Come on, girls. There's no reasonin' with those ones. They're few apples short of a bushel." They ran off or flew off to Ponyville to stop the parasprites.
"Hey! We're trying to tell you all that the ruining is on the other hoof if you'd just slow down and LISTEN TO US!" The girls were gone before Pinkie could finish her sentence.
Discord put a comforting hand on her. "Don't worry, Pinkie. They'll have to listen to us eventually. Come on, we've almost completed the list. Let's finish up before things get out of hand."
In Ponyville, the parasprites were eating everything in sight. Applejack ran to save her farm but Twilight had an idea. She used a spell to make them stop eating the food but it backfired and now the parasprites were eating the buildings, signs, and anything that wasn't food.
Rarity ran to save her shop but was terrified of them after spitting out more copies. She sat on her chair and screamed in fear. The parasprites were eating her outfits thanks to a spell Twilight cast that stopped them from eating the food. "I'll save you!" She looked and saw Discord at the entrance. Stars appeared in her eyes, this was a dream come dream, a prince saving a damsel in distress. Instead of helping her, however, Discord grabbed the flute, blew into it, and once it made a sound, he ran out, leaving Rarity alone. She screamed loudly at the parasprites.
Twilight ran to the center of Ponyville and watched in horror as the parasprites were eating everything. Princess Celestia would be here soon and Twilight started to freak out. "Okay, here's the plan. Rainbow Dash, you distract them." Rainbow Dash screamed as she flew past with multiple parasprites chasing her. "Good. Everypony else, we need to build an exact copy of Ponyville right over there. We've got less than a minute!" No pony did anything. Everyone was running in fear of the swarm of parasprites. "Zecora was right. We're doomed."
Twilight paled when she started to hear music from outside Ponyville. "Oh no! The Princess' procession is here. It's all over!" It wasn't the princess. It was Pinkie Pie and Discord playing instruments as a two-man-band. Twilight rubbed her eyes but they weren't deceiving her. It really was them. "Pinkie, Discord, we're in the middle of a crisis here. Discord, the princess will be here soon. This is no time for your..." Twilight stopped and looked up. "...nonsense?" The parasprites stopped eating and started to follow the duo like a marching band following the conductor.
Twilight walked over to the girls as Discord and Pinkie led the parasprites to the Everfree Forest. Twilight just shrugged her shoulders at Applejack who had no words. They followed the duo out to make sure the parasprites wouldn't leave. "Look!" Twilight saw Princess Celestia land and the girls ran ahead leaving Discord and Pinkie to take care of the parasprites.
The girls bowed as Princess Celestia got out of her carriage. The princess smiled. "Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil."
Twilight stood up and smiled back. "Hello, Princess."
"So lovely to see you again, as well as your friends. How is Discord doing?" A cymbal crash took her out of her thoughts. She watched Pinkie and Discord play the instruments as they passed her. The girls nearly paled at the sight. Who knows what the princess would think after seeing her nephew playing instruments like?
Twilight walked over to her trying to distract her. "So..." She laughed nervously. "How was the trip?"
Princess Celestia gasped softly. "What is this?" A parasprite landed on her wing and she smiled at it. "These creatures are adorable."
Rainbow then grumbled to herself, "They're not that adorable."
The parasprite return to the march as Celestia continued. "I'm terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit. I find it even more impressed that Discord is leading the charge. I'm sure it helped him greatly."
"Parade?" Then Twilight knew she could use this to her advantage. "Yes! The parade! It was Discord's idea so we thought he could take the lead."
Celestia felt guilty as she wasn't able to stay. "Unfortunately, that visit is going to have to wait for another time." The girls were shocked. "I'm afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently, there's been some fort of infestation."
Twilight just smiled. "An... infestation?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. A swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town." The girls just looked at each other but said nothing. "I'm sorry, Twilight, to have to put you all through so much trouble."
"Trouble?" Twilight chuckled. "What trouble?"
Celestia was about to leave but she said, "Before I have to go, would you care to give me your latest report on the magic of friendship in person?"
"My report?" Twilight didn't know what to say then see looked at Pinkie and Discord.
"Haven't you learned anything about friendship?"
She smiled at her friends then said, "Actually, I have. I've learned that sometimes the solutions to your problems can come from where you least expect it. It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives." A cymbal crash startled them but Twilight continued. "Even when they don't always seem to make sense."
"I'm so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle. And I'm very impressed with your friends, as well. It sounds like you're all learning so much from each other. Tell Discord, I'll be back another time to check up on him or he can come to Canterlot."
With that, Celestia left leaving the ponies alone with a new lesson learned. "Thank you, Princess."
The girls walked over to Pinkie and Discord as all the parasprites went into the Everfree Forest. "Hey! What happened to the Princess?" Pinkie and Discord stopped playing once they saw that she was gone.
"Emergency in Fillydelphia," Twilight told her.
Rainbow added, "Some sort of infestation."
Pinkie quickly got worried. "Oh, no! Have they got parasprites too? Well, have tuba, will travel!"
Pinkie was about to play her tuba again but Discord told her. "Pinkie, I think my aunt can handle it."
Applejack, impressed by their actions asked, "So you knew what those critters were all along, huh, you two?"
Pinkie Pie nearly rolled her eyes, "Well, duh! Why do you think I was so frantic to get my hooves on all these instruments?"
Discord nodded. "Yeah, I handled these things a few hundred moons ago. Nasty little things, who knew that they loved music so much. We did try to tell you."
Twilight walked to her friends and said, "We know, and we're sorry we didn't listen." Everypony offered their apologizes to them. "You two are great friends. Even if we don't always understand you."
"Thanks, guys. You're all great friends too, even when I don't understand me," Pinkie told them.
Discord then said, "I know I can be odd sometimes, but I'm smarter than you think I am."
Twilight smiled at them then said, "You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia, she didn't get taken by the parasprites, and more importantly, you saved Ponyville."
"Actually…" Discord started but once the group went back to town, it was somewhat saved. The parasprites ate the majority of the signs and buildings in Ponyville.
"Or not..." Twilight finished.
Pinkie pops up in the foreground, with a trombone. She blows the sad trombone. Then Discord popped up nest to her saying, "That's all folks!"