Secrets of the Everfree

by PaisleyPerson

Chapter 57: Crash the Party

“Hey! You guys made it!” Pinkie was there to greet us at the doors.
“Hi, Pinkie. You’re early.”
“Well, of course! I didn’t want to miss out on a second of the fun! Also, I helped plan it,” she pointed out. Then, back to her hyperactive self, she zoomed behind us and started pushing Charcoal, Torchwood an I inside. (Blaze was simply too heavy to join the number.) “Come on, come on!” The girls finished dismounting Blaze and giddily dashed ahead. The dragon followed more slowly, bending over to retrieve his suitcase from Torchwood’s back. When Pinkie noticed the luggage, she finally allowed us to walk for ourselves.
“Ooh! What’s that for?”
“Hi, everypony! Wow, you’re here early,” Twilight interrupted, walking down the hall to greet us. Spike momentarily poked his head around the corner of another hallway.
“Hey there!”
“Hi, Spike!” Blaze stepped over us to meet up with his friend. Spike furrowed his brow.
“I thought you guys got back hours ago. What’s with the suitcase?”
“Oh, is Blaze finally moving in?” Twilight inquired. The rest of us blankly stared at her.
“How... uh... how’d you know?” Torchwood coughed.
“And what do you mean by ‘finally’?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Well, we all knew it was only a matter of time before Blaze outgrew Art Life,” Twilight shrugged. “And I assumed Blaze would want to stay close to his family somewhere here in Ponyville. He and Spike are such good friends that we planned ahead.”
“So you don’t mind me staying here?” Blaze was both relieved and surprised by how easy our friends were making this.
“’Course not! You know this means we can be roomies now, right?” Spike’s confused frown had quickly morphed into a wild grin, and he now offered a balled-up claw for a fist bump.
“Right, roomie,” Blaze shot him a crooked grin and returned the fist bump.
“Wait, so this is a ‘Welcome Back’ party aaaaaand a housewarming party?! WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED?!” Pinkie bounced high enough to yank Blaze’s head down to our level and could bore her crazed eyes into his.
“Uhh....”
“QUICK! I’ve got to find Cheese! CHEESE SANDWICH!” Pinkie screeched, careening down the hallway in search of her fellow party planner.
“Just go with it,” Twilight advised Blaze.
“Let’s get you settled in!” Spike suggested, practically dragging his friend along. “So, what gave you that last push? Did you finally get stuck?”
“A little...”
“I told you so!” We finally lost sight of the two dragons as they rounded yet another turn.
“Rarity and Trender are in the dining hall,” Twilight chuckled, beckoning us to follow.
“Looks like we’re not the only early ones,” Torch commented, trailing after her.
“How many ponies did Pinkie invite, exactly?” Charcoal wondered.
“Well, the Apples should be coming soon, and Dash’s family... Flutters is coming, Rarity’s crew is already here, Cheese is staying...” she listed off names, trying to keep track of who she had and hadn’t named.
“What about Flash? Does he plan to show up?” I teasingly prompted, fondly bumping into her. Twilight blushed.
“Yes, I think Pinkie invited him too.”
“Eh... that’s not too many ponies,” Charcoal shrugged.
“I think you can handle it,” Torchwood chuckled.
“I’ll do my best.”
Twilight opened the doors to the dining hall, where Pinkie was consulting with Cheese as they put the last finishing touches on a monstrously sized cake on the table. ‘Welcome Back’ had been written along the top layers in bold red frosting, but the two quickly got to work adding, ‘Welcome Home, Blaze!’ at the bottom. A food spread had been laid out next to the dining table, already decorated with many of the Apple family’s trademark desserts and a couple main course foods. Vinyl’s DJ station was sitting out of the way in the back, but I didn’t see the white unicorn herself. Trenderhoof was assisting his wife in hanging the last of her trademark decorations. The girls were giggling, clustered off in their own little corner.
“Ah, the Woods are back! Welcome home, darling!” Rarity dropped what she was doing to come give me a hug.
“Thanks, Rarity. It’s good to be back.”
“Nice to see you, Rarity.”
“The same to you, Torchwood. Hello, Charcoal. How are you?”
“Fine.”
“Torchwood,” Trenderhoof called, likewise approaching to greet us.
“Trender,” Torch nodded.
“Been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Sure feels like.”
“You might’ve only been gone for a week, but Petti thought it was an eternity. Not a day went by without her asking when Lilac would be coming home.” Everypony chuckled at this.
“Sounds about right.”
“Howdy, folks! Welcome back!”
“AJ! Caramel!” The orange mare met me halfway to exchange hugs. When she was finished, her husband, who was a very touchy-feely pony, also shimmied up to give me a side hug.
“How was your vacation?”
“Eventful,” Torchwood truthfully answered with a chuckle.
“We can’t wait to hear all about it,” Twilight grinned. “Let’s see, who are we missing?”
“The Wonderbolts, Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash from Ponyville, and their son, Spectrum,” Flash playfully announced as he and the Dash family appeared in the doorway.
“Hey, guys!” Soarin’ greeted.
“Soarin’!” The group of stallions beckoned him over, and Spectrum eyed Charcoal off in the far corner.
Spectrum’s coat was a tint lighter than Thunder’s, more like their father, but this only brought out his wild, multi-colored hairdo. It was unkempt most of the time, due to the wind constantly ruffling his mane, but I would wager that it had been brushed neatly forward this morning. He was a little older than his sister, just a few years younger than Charcoal, and had earned his cutie mark by now. Like his parents, Spectrum had been destined to be an athlete. The fastest Wonderbolts always left a visible trail in the sky- in Rainbow’s case, this was a technicolor trail, or in Soarin’s, a crackle of lightning. Spectrum’s cutie mark combined both of these elements in a rainbow-tinted funnel wrapped in a vortex of yellow lightning. He greeted Charcoal, but my son barely looked up from the book he’d brought. Used to such responses, Spectrum just rolled his eyes and plopped down next to him.
Meanwhile, Dash made her way for our cluster of mares just as Twilight split off, headed for Flash.
“Nice announcing,” she flirtingly praised.
“Just doing my job,” Flash proudly puffed out his chest. The two awkwardly stood together for a moment as they each searched for something to say.
“Oh, for the love of applesauce! Would ya just kiss her already?” Applejack called, causing the whole room to erupt into laughter. The two winged ponies in the doorway flushed deep red.
“I... uh... er... I’m still on duty,” Flash coughed out.
“WHAT?! You can’t be on duty! The party won’t be any fun if you’re working!” Pinkie screeched, coming literally face-to-face with the royal guardspony.
“Uh...”
“Pinkie’s right. At ease, soldier,” Twilight giggled.
“Well, in that case...” Flash planted a quick peck on her cheek as he plodded inside, and Twilight blushed again.
“Ew!” the girls squealed, all ducking for cover as though it would shield them from the scene they’d just witnessed.
“Okay, so now we’re just waiting on Fluttershy, right?” Twilight scanned the room.
“Oh dear. I’m not late, am I?” Fluttershy fretted, gently floating into the room.
“Nopie-dopie-lokie!” Pinkie assured.
“Just in time!” Cheese Sandwich agreed.
“Hey, Flutters.”
“Welcome back!” Fluttershy settled herself in our ring of girls. “How was the mountains? Bandit didn’t get cold, did he?”
“He was fine,” Charcoal notified, looking up from his conversation with Spectrum.
“That’s good,” the yellow mare sighed.
“Seriously? They get back and the first thing you ask is how their pet liked it?” Rainbow face-hoofed.
“Oh... um... no one else got cold, did they?”
“We all had a blast, Fluttershy,” I laughed.
“Wait for us!” Spike and Blaze came charging into the dining hall, having settled Blaze in and now returning to partake in the festivities.
“Come on, everypony! It’s time to get this party started!” Cheese declared, popping up with Pinkie behind a small setup of speakers at the back of the room. Cheese hit a few buttons, and the speakers were soon blaring an ear-grinding dubstep. We all covered our ears, and some ducked for cover. Cheese and Pinkie frantically played with the console, and Twilight finally had to unplug it with her magic.
“Gee, sorry everyone! Vinyl let us borrow her DJ equipment. I guess we should’ve checked the volume first,” Pinkie blushed an even deeper pink. Most of us good-naturedly shook our heads and rolled our eyes. Spectrum grinned as he nudged Charcoal, but my son wasn’t amused.
“Okay, let’s try that again.” Pinkie held her breath as her hoof brushed the ‘on’ button. We covered our ears and prepared for the worst. When the room didn’t shake and our eardrums didn’t blow out, everyone heaved sighs of relief. Good mood restored, Pinkie now scrolled through the music choices to select a more appropriate tune. A devilish grin overtook her face as she found the perfect song.
“Hey, that’s our song!” Torchwood realized, ears perking up.
“Vinyl played this on our wedding day!” I agreed, smiling ear to ear.
“EVERYPONY TO THE DANCE FLOOR!” Pinkie screeched, jumping over the console and dragging Cheese with her.
“Everyone pair off!” Cheese managed to call before the wind was knocked out of him by said pink pony.
“What’dya say, sweet thing?” Caramel offered Applejack his hoof.
“If ya’ll can excuse us,” Applejack winked, joining him out on the dance floor.
“Would you join me, my dear?” Trender gestured for Rarity to link elbows.
“Pardon us,” Rarity gleefully twirled away as Trenderhoof whisked her away.
“Uhm... Twilight? May I have this dance?” Flash respectfully bowed at the princess’ hooves.
“You may,” she beamed, elegantly returning the bow before wildly jerking in every possible direction, completely out of sync with the soft melody. Flash shrugged before joining her.
“Come on, Babe! We can totally steal the spotlight!” Rainbow urged Soarin’, who was helping himself to Applejack’s sweets laid out on the table.
“You know, not everything’s a competition DashiiiIIIEEEEE!!” Soarin’ choked on an apple fritter as his wife dragged him away.
“Guess that just leaves us,” I contently sighed, gazing into Torchwood’s dark eyes.
“Wouldn’t want to disappoint everypony, now would we?” he mischievously grinned. I propped myself up on his shoulders, he wound his arms around me, and we joined the other couples (minus Flash and Twilight, still randomly bucking) in a slow waltz.

Torchwood and I stopped dancing, lost in each other’s gaze. His eyelids flickered shut as he leaned in close, and I also puckered my lips.

Cheese and Pinkie’s cake exploded everywhere as the verse ended in a very off-key, masculine voice that in no way matched the artist’s. We were all so baffled by the abrupt ending that we forgot to dodge the incoming missiles of frosting and cake batter. Only Twilight came out unscathed, as Flash had reacted quickly enough to shield her with his own wings. The fireproof dragons snorted in aggravation before taking turns burning the frosting off each other.
“My hair!” Rarity cried, looking up at the dirtied curls with miserable, wet eyes. I grunted upon finding cake matted in my own hair and coat, and irritably shook most of it off. Torchwood shot me a dirty look when the debris splattered all over him instead. I sheepishly blushed, and planted a kiss on his cheek to make up for it.
“Mmm, buttermilk frosting.”
Charcoal, who had refused to even crack a smile the whole time we were here, doubled over laughing. Sheltered in his little corner, he had narrowly avoided being splattered. Spectrum, on the other hoof, had a few new colors added to his technicolor hair, and glared at him. Using my trick, he rectified the mistake by shaking the icing off and flinging it all over Charcoal. The green thestral froze, righted himself, and challengingly glared at his opponent. The two stood in a silent stare down for a moment before lunging, each trying to gain the advantage required to smear additional frosting on the other. Charcoal, being the larger, eventually caught Spectrum in a headlock and got to work grinding the food product deep into his opponent’s mane.
“BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I felt a heavy weight suddenly forced upon my shoulder as Discord leaned against me for support, clutching his stomach with his paw and wiping tears from his eyes with his eagle talon.
“DISCORD!” Twilight bellowed, defiantly spreading her wings to make herself look bigger and accidently knocking Flash off balance.
“You’ve really outdone yourselves this time, my dear party planners!” Discord teleported between Pinkie and Cheese. “Marvelous job! This level of chaos is impressive, even for me.”
“You caused it!” Rarity accused through gritted teeth.
“That’s right! I did, didn’t I?” Discord proudly reclined on his back, hovering in the center of the room.
“Awww... we worked so hard on that cake,” Pinkie sniffed, leaning into Cheese for comfort.
“Oh, don’t give me that face, Pinkie. It’s so unbecoming of the Element of Laughter to frown. Here, I’ll make it up to you.” Discord selected an apple muffin from the spread and splatted it onto his forehead.
“Hey! Now that’s my cookin’ you’re tamperin’ with, pal!” AJ shook a hoof. Pinkie giggled.
“But it is kinda funny.”
“Look, what do you want?” Twilight impatiently sighed, folding her wings and helping Flash back to his hooves.
“Right. Down to business.” Discord suddenly turned very serious, even solemnly so. He didn’t even summon a luxurious throne or even a futon. He just sat at one of the dining hall’s chairs. I exchanged nervous glances with Torchwood, as did everyone else. Twilight suspiciously took her seat at the head of the long table. Quietly, all nineteen ponies, including the children, took a seat alongside the draconequus, and even the dragons pressed closer at opposite ends of the table.
“What’s this all about?”
“It appears, Princess, that I am in need of your help.”