My Little Background Pony: Party Hardly

by comicfan616

The Best Laid Plans

With her mail route having finished a few hours ago and the disaster in the TARDIS cutting their repairs short, Derpy was left with very little to do, save sitting on a bench in Ponyville Park. All she could do was think about Turner. He had been working for weeks to get to this point, and the full repairs would likely go on even longer after that. But now his initial task blew up in his face, almost literally. Derpy had seen the disappointment in Turner’s eyes, and it was eating at her. She hated seeing him like this, or anypony, for that matter.

“Hey, Derpy, what’s up?” Derpy was broken out of her mood by a voice accompanied by musical chords. She looked toward the source and found Lyra, holding her lyre with her magic.

“Oh, hi, Lyra,” Derpy greeted in response.

“Something on your mind? You seem a little out of it.”

Derpy wondered if her state of mind was that obvious if Lyra could pick up on it. Regardless, she had a question to answer. She looked around the park for any nearby ponies and, once she was certain they were out of earshot, she said quietly, “I just got back from Turner’s. We were working on the TARDIS.”

“Yeah?” Lyra said. “How’s that coming?”

“It… could’ve gone better. Long story short, things didn’t work out as they should have. I think Turner’s feeling a little down in the dumps now.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Lyra said. “That stallion’s been working on that box for weeks, like it’s his personal mission or something. And you know what he’s like when it comes to his… current situation,” she tried to say as inoffensively as possible. “How close was he?”

“From what I can understand, not too close,” Derpy answered, “but it was supposed to be a milestone. Now it looks like he’ll be set back a ways.”

“Ouch.”

“I just don’t like seeing Turner like this,” Derpy said quietly. There was a pause.

“So do something about it,” Lyra suddenly said. Derpy looked up at her with a confused look in her eyes. “If Turner isn’t feeling his best, change that. You’re the Element of Laugher, for Celestia’s sake. Not mention his friend.”

Derpy thought about what Lyra was telling her. She had to admit that just thinking about Turner’s depression wasn’t going to make it any better. If she wanted to make sure he was in a better mood, she would have to take matters into her own hooves. But what do I do? she thought. How am I supposed to help Turner forget this ever happened? It’s not like we can just laugh it off together like it was—! Something clicked inside her. Together, she repeated to herself.

“Um, Derpy?” Lyra said. “Your eyes are drifting. More so than usual.” Derpy realized she was standing still silently for too long and shook her head to get her thoughts straight.

“Sorry, Lyra,” she said, “I’ve just got the perfect idea.” Lyra looked at her expectantly. “What Turner needs right now is time with his friends. He needs to have fun to counteract the sadness. It won’t make him forget what happened entirely, but it should make him a little less gloomy.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking a small party, just him, me, you, and the others. No reason to make a big deal out of it. Oh, and we’ll make it a surprise party, that way the happiness he feels will be more real.”

“Sounds great. But where are going to do this?”

Derpy opened her mouth, but no words came out. She had been so excited at finally helping Turner that she forgot the most important part: the details. Location was especially necessary to know almost beforehoof; no sense in inviting Turner to a party if he doesn’t know where it is.

Derpy ran through several locations in her head, but looking at Lyra led her to one in particular. “Any chance Sugar Cube Corner might work? I mean, Bon Bon’s your roommate, so that might get us something, a friends-and-family discount, at least.”

“I suppose we could try.” Lyra levitated her lyre onto her back. “Come on,” she said. The two mares galloped away toward the center of town.

---

Turner pushed himself from under the console and sighed. He stood up and went to the main computer. He pulled up the diagnostics.
“No other major damage,” he said to himself, “and all minor forms are little more than structural. I can deal with that later.” He sighed.

He had been looking forward to getting the TARDIS to run on full power once more. It was like waiting for a friend to come out of a coma, except he had the ability, and the responsibility, to bring that friend out of said coma. As it stood, the TARDIS was just barely alive, still far from shutting down permanently, but not so far that the most it could do was open the doors on its own. (He still wasn’t sure what the TARDIS was thinking that night, though given what followed, he could hardly complain.)

But after that explosion, Turner feared he might have done even more damage. He was still looking for the cause, trying to figure out what exactly happened in his repairs that might have made the circuits connect so wrongly to produce that kind of effect.

And then there was Derpy. True, there was no way Turner could have seen this coming (prevented it maybe, but fixing TARDISes was never his strongest skillset). But she was barely able to stand as everything turned and tumbled; she could have really hurt herself, or worse.

Having fixed the important stuff, Turner thought it would do him good to go out for some fresh air. Maybe I could find Derpy while I’m out, he thought. She did leave right after the explosion. I just hope she’s not too shaken up. He paused for a moment. I hate it when I make puns like that.

---

Derpy opened the door to Sugar Cube Corner. The bell hanging just above the door alerted the only two other mares in the room. Sitting at one of the tables was Vinyl Scratch. She looked like she was interrupted from her conversation with the mare at the front counter, Bon Bon.

“Good afternoon, Derpy,” she greeted. “Hey, Lyra.” The two mares returned the greeting.

“Hey, ladies, ‘sup?” Vinyl added her own greeting. They nodded to her.

“You working the counter again, Bon Bon?” Lyra asked.

“Yeah,” Bon Bon replied, “the Cakes have a competition going on soon and I agreed to cover for them. So, what can I help you with?”

“Turner’s feeling a little depressed right now,” Derpy explained. “His latest repair job… didn’t work out as well as he’d hoped.”

“I take it it’s worse than you’re trying to make it sound,” Bon Bon said. “Not to sound offensive or anything, but why tell me this?”

“We figured we’d throw him a little surprise party,” Lyra said. “You know, something to get his mind off things. And we were hoping we could do it here.” She finished with a hopeful smile, one that was copied by Derpy.

“Today?” Bon Bon asked. The two mares nodded. Bon Bon, however, had a sad look on her face that was less than pleasing to them. “Look, girls, I’d really like to help you. And Turner is my friend as much as yours.”

“I smell a ‘but’ coming,” Vinyl said from the sidelines. “The kind with one ‘t,’ not two.”

“But I can’t help you with this,” Bon Bon finished. (“Called it!” Vinyl interjected.)

“Why not?” Derpy asked, her disappointment evident.

“First off, I’d have to run this by the Cakes, and they’d say the exact same thing. The fact is we can’t have the Corner occupied like that for so long without prior notice.”

“But what about Pinkie Pie?” Derpy pointed out. “She’s able to get the place party ready in no time at all. No one’s ever complained about that.”

“Here’s the thing, Derpy,” Bon Bon said: “it’s Pinkie Pie. Even we could stop her, she works so quickly and efficiently and takes care of everything herself that there’s really no point in trying. Not to mention that her parties tend to be more all-inclusive and actual celebrations. What you girls want, though, this looks like little more than a get-together between friends, something I doubt you’d want Pinkie for. So unless you can pull off a smalltime party setup in less than an hour, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

Derpy sighed. “Well, there’s that plan gone.”

“Did you have a Plan B?” Lyra asked.

“Well, we can’t do it at my place,” Derpy answered. “I want this just between us, and I don’t want my daughter to feel like she’s being left out.”

“Our apartment’s no good either,” Lyra said. “Between the size and other ponies we have to share the building with, it just wouldn’t work.”

Suddenly, a white hoof appeared between the two. Both mares followed the hoof up to a unicorn wearing sunglasses. “Girls,” Vinyl said, “say hello to Plan B.”

Comments

[JudgmentOfTheDream]

Hello Plan B! (Sorry, couldn't resist. )

It's refreshing to hear from these six again, I've missed them way more than I realized.

I'm really looking forward to what Vinyl has in mind - not to mention I have a feeling a certain cellist is going to be very frustrated with the DJ.

[Brody Deitrick]

4480724 ya Octavia is gunna be mad as hell with Vinyl

[Flametiger 12]

I just had a vision a broken cello and a angry Octavia knocking a certain DJ too Appaloosa run vinyl