//------------------------------// // A Very Bad Joke // Story: The Fashionista's Dilemma // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// I went back to where Princess Luna and I had been having our little talk a few minutes ago, but she was gone. I teleported into the ball room and looked for Twilight. I was hoping to keep the panic to a minimum. I had to push my way through the crowd of ponies, taking a few minutes to get over to where she was still talking to Nick, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow was hovering in the vicinity and Fluttershy was fairly close by as well. "Twilight -- hey, I see you all are pretty close together here. That's good. I have something --" I began. "Well, well, if it isn't the killjoy," Applejack said with great sarcasm. "I found the hacksaw, you wanna cut your left ear off now?" Pinkie asked harshly. "Don't you think you're being a bit hard on him, darling?" Rarity asked. "Dude, what you did was pretty uncool," Rainbow added. "Mike, are parties really that bad for you?" Nick asked. "Worse. But we have a bigger problem now. Discord's statue is missing," I said, bowing my head. "WHAT?" "That can't be true!" "It's in the garden!" "WHAT?" and various other responses came in a barrage of their voices. "I was talking to Princess Luna in the garden, and saw Discord's statue missing. When I returned to try to find Luna, she was gone." Some of the nearby ponies were talking in hushed whispers, but fairly quickly, the bad news spread. Every pony started heading for the exits as this party had very quickly come to an end. "Thanks for ruining the party, Mike," Pinkie said dejectedly. "Oh, and you're not invited to any more of my parties, either." "It's just as well," I said sullenly. "So let's ask Princess Celestia for her advice on this one -- I'm sure she's going to want to know." "I already know about this, Michael. His disappearance troubles me deeply," Princess Celestia stated as she had popped into the ball room. "So where do we find him?" I asked. "If you were him, what course of action do you think he'd take?" Princess Celestia asked me. "I believe he'd probably pop in here, taunt us, and shout something like 'Catch me if you can!" and take off laughing. More likely than not, if Princess Luna is missing, he's probably taken her with him." "Darling! Please don't say such terrible things!" Rarity pleaded. "That sounds like something he'd do," Twilight mused. "But he hasn't done that yet." "Let me at him! I'll teach him to mess with us!" Rainbow boasted. "Mike, I wonder if I'm going to make it back home now," Nick said. The Rarity he was in furrowed her brow, which made her look rather unattractive. "Nick, darling, let me fix that make-up so you can look half-way presentable," Rarity offered. "Rarity, darling, please help me -- I look positively dreadful and I want my beauty supplies!" "Can we wait until we get home?" Nick asked. "I have to look my best!" Rarity exclaimed in exasperation. "You arguin' with yerself?" Applejack asked, somewhat perplexed. "I'm going back out to the garden, I have a hunch something is amiss here," I said. "You need some more alone time, killjoy?" Applejack addressed me sarcastically. "Sarcasm is just another service you offer, ain't it, AJ?" I asked, a bit of anger in my voice. "I think some pony's pulling another prank, and I'm gonna get to the bottom of it right now." "What makes you say that, Michael?" Celestia asked. "I wanna test my hunch before we go flying off the handle about Discord's 'disappearance'." "What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "I think Princess Luna, being a bit of a prankster herself, would move the statue and retreat to her bedchambers to give the illusion of Discord having escaped. I'll bet she's laughing her head off right about now." "Michael! Don't make such baseless accusations!" Princess Celestia admonished. "Princess Celestia, since you're Luna's sister, why not check her bedchambers and see if she's there. I'm going back to the garden to search for the statue." I popped out to the garden again, and checked for awhile. "Gotta be in the maze, I'll bet." I wandered into the maze, and spent about an hour looking for the statue. I finally reached the last of the dead ends, and there it was. "Princess Luna, this is NOT funny!" I shouted to no one. I heard the soft laughter of a female behind me. "You should have seen the look on your face!" Luna chuckled. "Absolutely priceless!" --------------------------------- "Princess, are you going to take Michael's suggestion?" Twilight asked. "Very well then, Twilight, I guess I will humor the idea. I shall return momentarily." she teleported into her sister's bedchamber, and found her at the window overlooking the garden, chuckling softly. "Luna, what is the meaning of this?" "Tia, I just wanted to have a little fun, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity." "Luna, you don't joke about Discord. Ever. Even if you wanted to prank Michael, you had me worried as well. I don't mind you having a little fun every once in a while -- I know you deserve it after what you have gone through -- but please don't joke about Discord. Where is his statue?" "I placed it in the last dead end of the hedge maze," she chuckled. "It's going to take him about an hour to find it!" she laughed. "All right. But if this happens again ..." Celestia's face darkened to illustrate her displeasure. "I don't think I'd want to be in your hooves." "Sorry, Tia, you have my promise it won't." ------------------------ "Michael's hunch proved correct, Twilight, Discord has NOT escaped his prison." "Huh. Why would Princess Luna pull such a prank?" "I would suspect she gets bored from time to time, and the prospect of having a few laughs at Michael's expense proved irresistible to her. She has promised me not to pull such a prank again, as I can not allow something as serious as this to happen again. I would hate to have to track him down and banish him again." Every pony heaved a sigh of relief, including Nick. "Princess Celestia, is there a way you can separate me from Rarity?" he asked her. "There are a few ways of solving this problem -- we need to find your human body first." "I don't know what happened to it -- I woke up in Rarity's body about three days ago, and my girlfriend is getting worried." "I might be able to create a body for you, but the risks are very high and there are no guarantees that the spell would work correctly." "Blood magic, Princess?" Twilight blanched. "That's dangerous!" "There might not be any other choice -- Rarity deserves her body just the same as Nick needs his body back." "But that would make for two of me in the same universe!" Rarity exclaimed in shock. "It means we would have to find a universe you're not in, and send you there," Princess Celestia stated.