My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

97. More Friends, More Chaos

The Grand Galloping Gala was around the corner once more...

Thinking back at the last gala, Star Twinkle had mixed feelings about it. The first gala he attended was a disaster, even though his friends all agreed that it was fun because everything went wrong. This time around, everypony tried to make this event go well, though.

Star Twinkle, as well as the rest of his friends, all got their golden tickets for the gala already. Princess Celestia generously provided all of them with a ticket right away which removed needless complications, something that Twilight well remembered and really appreciate to not go through again.

Still, there was something else that had to be taken care of...

Everypony who got a ticket for the gala was allowed to take someone else with them. It was probably Princess Celestia's way of not repeating the same mistake as last year with Twilight, where she ended up with two tickets and could not decide who to give it to. With all of Star Twinkle's friends being in possession of a ticket themselves though, he had to find somepony to give his extra ticket. Fortunately, he knew exactly who that somepony was.

"You want to take me with you to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Steel Hammer asked almost shocked after he heard Star Twinkle's plan while in the midst of his work in the Iron Hammer.

Star Twinkle casually shrugged his shoulders. "I got a ticket from Princess Celestia and I'm allowed to take one friend with me. I thought you would like to go," he assumed.

But Steel Hammer looked a little bit unsure. "I don't know..." he said hesitantly. "Aren't events like those usually for more noble and elegant ponies? I kinda don't fit into his category if you haven't noticed," he said.

"Come on, Steel Hammer," Star Twinkle said amused at the stallion's reaction. "Let's just have a good time, okay?" He suggested. Then, out of nowhere, Steel Hammer began to smile before then starting to laugh happily, much to Star Twinkle's surprise. "What?" The stallion asked confused at this random behavior.

Steel Hammer explained. "I still remember back at the Summer Sun Celebration...I was spending time with some other friends and I really wanted to invite you as well but knowing you back then, you would have probably not come. And now I think its really funny that you are the one inviting me," he said with a warm smile on his face.

Star Twinkle did not like getting reminded of how he used to be. "Yeah, please don't remind me," he just said.

Again, Steel Hammer laughed. "To answer your question, yes, I would like to go with the gala with you," he said with a grin on his face.

Star Twinkle smiled back. "Great. Thanks," he said happily.

"No, I have to thank you!" Steel Hammer replied. "I was afraid now that you have all of those new friends that there was no more room for good old Steel Hammer," he added.

"Don't be ridiculous," Star Twinkle said. He found the very thought of Steel Hammer thinking that almost offending.

The green-coated stallion was relieved that he took care of this "Take a friend with you" situation that the gala ticket put him in. Everyone he knew already had somepony to take with them already. Applejack took Apple Bloom, Rarity took Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo, Pinkie Pie took Maud, and Fluttershy took someone that Star Twinkle was about to meet later. Twilight did not have to bring anypony with her since she was in charge of making sure that everything would go well at the gala. This pretty much only left Steel Hammer to ask, not that he was asking him just for that reason, he was actually happy that he was able to ask him and that the stallion agreed to come.

As they continued their work as usual though, things in the workshop started to get weird. Things like tools were floating across the room as they were walking around in the workshop. Of course, the two stallions were really confused about those events happening around them and soon, the one responsible for those things started to reveal himself.

Considering the chaos that was going on inside the workshop, Star Twinkle felt rather dumb to not figure it out already. It was none other than Discord, who manifested himself in front of Star Twinkle.

"Why hello there, Star Twinkle!" The Draconequus said happily.

"Discord? What are you doing here?" Star Twinkle asked confused.

Star Twinkle still had his issues accepting the "reformed" Lord of Chaos as a friend. He was getting along with Fluttershy but when it came to anyone else, he was acting more difficult and disrespectful. So naturally, the stallion was not too excited to see Discord appearing at his workplace.

But the Lord of Chaos quickly explained himself. "What? Am I not allowed to visit my best and closest friend whenever I want?" He said before he summoned a little stone statuette that showed Discord and Star Twinkle dancing together happily. "I was hoping that we both could make some plans to spend some time in the future. As friends of course," he added.

Steel Hammer walked up to Discord. This was actually the first time they both met. And even though Discord was a lot to take in, based on his reality changing abilities, the stallion decided to put this aside and just accepted that Star Twinkle was just friends with creatures like him on a daily basis by now. So Steel Hammer offered his hoof. "I don't think we've met yet, I'm Steel Hammer," the stallion said in a friendly tone.

Discord did not seem to bother too much about Steel Hammer but still returned his claw. "Discord. Lord of Chaos, and close friend of Star Twinkle," the Draconequus said while he shook the stallion's hoof. As he was shaking his hoof, however, his claw hand was literally falling off, leaving Steel Hammer in shock once he realized how he was holding a separated claw in his hoof now while Discord simply regrew another one and turned towards Star Twinkle again.

"So how about it?" Discord then said with a grin on his face.

But Star Twinkle was just sighing. "What do you want?" Star Twinkle asked annoyed. He smelled from a far distance already that Discord would never visit without a reason. That he kept calling him his best friend, even though it was clearly Fluttershy who was holding this title, was only further confirming his guess.

Realizing that Discord could not fool the stallion that easily, he decided to give up his little act. He went straight to the point. "It came to my ears that you and your little friends all got a ticket from Celestia for the Grand Galloping Gala. And even though I have proven my trust to her, she didn't feel as if it was necessary to give me one of them," he said as he was crossing his arms.

"You want to go to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Star Twinkle asked surprised.

"Of course!" Discord replied offended. "Fluttershy is going there and she didn't take me as her guest! Me! Her best friend!" He pointed out angrily. Eventually, Discord realized that he was getting a little too angry over this and decided to calm down again. "I already talked with all the other girls, and they already have somepony to take with them but I figured that you would not have anypony left...so...here I am!"

Star Twinkle rolled his eyes. "Good to know that I am your last option..." he thought annoyed, considering that Discord called him his best friend only seconds ago.

In a way, Star Twinkle was actually enjoying saying those next words. "I hate to disappoint you but I already got somepony to take with me as well," he said with a serious expression on his face, which he desperately tried to not break.

"What!? Who!? Who could you possibly bring with you?" Discord asked in disbelieve.

Star Twinkle pointed towards the one pony he decided to bring with him. It was, of course, Steel Hammer, who was smiling happily at the Lord of Chaos.

"Him!?" Discord said surprised. "You rather take a boring guy like him with you instead of me!?" He asked.

"Hey!" Steel Hammer said offended after overhearing that conversation.

Star Twinkle gave a quick and bold answer. "Yes. I do," he said in a stern tone.

Discord growled angrily. It was at this moment that Star Twinkle realized that making the Lord of Chaos angry was probably not the best thing to do. Luckily, Discord just released an annoyed sigh and snapped his fingers to teleport himself away from the workshop again.

The Earth Pony got nervous there for a moment. When it came to Discord, you could never tell what he was about to do or what his motivations are. And no matter how many times Fluttershy would tell Star Twinkle to trust Discord, he still had a hard time accepting him as a true friend. Discord also did not seem to like the idea to warm up to anypony else besides Fluttershy which only made it harder.

With Discord gone, the tools all fell to the ground and the two stallions could focus on their work again. Still, Steel Hammer could not just continue without at least saying something to all of this.

"Your friend seemed interesting. Why did you never tell me that you were friends with all-powerful beings like him?" He asked completely oblivious to the potential danger that the two could end up being.

Star Twinkle only shook his head and tried to forget that the last few minutes happened. He decided to go back to work and just hoped that Discord would not show up for the rest of the day.

Later...

After work, Star Twinkle was supposed to meet up with Fluttershy. The mare wanted to introduce a new friend to him. Fluttershy met this new friend on a trip to the Breezies and just like Fluttershy, animals seemed to be really important to her. Them becoming friends was not surprising so Fluttershy figured it would be a good idea to take this mare to the Grand Galloping Gala. But before that, Fluttershy wanted to introduce her new friend to everypony and now it was Star Twinkle's turn.

The stallion did not have to wait too long. The two mares came already walking towards him after he got back from work. Fluttershy was already laughing while she walked towards Star Twinkle. This new friend of hers must have been really funny.

"Oh, my, you are funny!" Fluttershy said amused, which pretty much confirmed that.

The mare that walked next to Fluttershy was an Earth Pony with a light green coat, a light amaranth colored mane, purple eyes, and a Cutie Mark that consisted of a tree with red leaves, that was shaped like a heart.

Fluttershy wasted no time introducing her new friend to the stallion. "Star Twinkle, this is Tree Hugger. Tree Hugger, this is Star Twinkle," she greeted each other.

"Hey," Star Twinkle casually greeted.

"Radical to meet you," Tree Hugger replied in a really relaxed voice.

They both shook hooves, much to Fluttershy's delight, who was happily smiling at the sight of this. "I think you will like Star Twinkle," The Pegasus mare then said. "He likes to take things...a little bit easier as well," she then added.

Star Twinkle was not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment but after he took a look at Tree Hugger's interested expression on her face, he figured that it was and just smiled.

"I see..." Tree Hugger said, again in a really relaxed tone. "Good to know that we both live on the same wavelength. dude," she then added.

"Um...yeah...I guess..." Star Twinkle replied with an unsure look on his face.

It was a weird conversation from this point of for Star Twinkle but luckily, it wasn't too long. Tree Hugger seemed a little bit...unique...but she seemed friendly enough. Fluttershy still wanted to introduce her to the rest of her friends, which is why the two mares had to cut the conversation short.

As soon as they both were out of sight, Star Twinkle just had to put his thoughts into words about this mare. "Well, she was...interesting..." he said a little bit confused.

"I can't believe Fluttershy actually chose her instead of me!" Star Twinkle flinched as soon as he heard Discord's voice coming out of nowhere. The Draconequus was just hovering next to the stallion with a look of disapproval on his face. "I mean what does she possibly have that I don't?" He visibly complained annoyed.

Star Twinkle rolled his eyes. "I can think of a bunch of things..." he thought annoyed.

Discord glared over to Star Twinkle. "And why did she not even introduce her to me!? If she is gonna introduce somepony new to anyone first, then it should be me!" He added while he crossed his arms angrily.

Suddenly, Star Twinkle seemed to know what was going on. The way how Discord desperately wanted to go to the gala all of the sudden, the way he was mad about everyone taking someone else with them instead of him, or why Fluttershy was not introducing Tree Hugger to him. All those things started to paint a pretty clear picture.

And being the bold pony he was, Star Twinkle immediately just threw his guess into the room. "Are you by any chance...jealous?"

Discord's eyes popped wide open after hearing that. Whether it was true or not, he did not like being called that. "Jealous? Moi!?" The Draconequus replied offended. "The Lord of Chaos does not get jealous! You do well to remember that!" He added before teleported himself away.

Only to appear two seconds later at the same spot again...

"And even if I was...I would have all the right to be! This Tree Hugger just comes out of nowhere and spends all the time with dear Fluttershy that she should be spending with me!" He explained angrily with his arms crossed.

"You do realize that Fluttershy has other friends too, right?" Star Twinkle pointed out. "Just because she found a new friend doesn't mean that you are no longer important to her," he further explained.

But Discord would not listen. "Whatever! You are not making any sense right now. I'm leaving," he said before he was gone again.

Star Twinkle sighed in frustration. "I am not making sense!?" He said annoyed, especially since it was the Lord of Chaos who was saying that just now.

Of course, the stallion was not really caring too much about Discord's happiness. Discord usually pokes fun of him and takes every chance to make him feel bad, so seeing him like this did not really bother him too much. All he hoped was that Discord would not do anything stupid.

He did realize though who he was talking about...

At the Gala...

The day had come...

The Grand Galloping Gala was about to start and both Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer were on their way to Canterlot Castle. Rarity, just like the last time, had generously prepared to make clothes for all of her friends, including Star Twinkle and, this time around, Steel Hammer too.

Unlike last time, a lot of time has passed and Rarity got to know Star Twinkle a lot better. This meant that she knew how the stallion liked things more simple. This was reflected in the suit that she made for him this time. A simple, dark blue suit, simple in a way of, not too shiny and outstanding. It was perfect for Star Twinkle and he really appreciated that. Steel Hammer also had a really simple suit on. It was similar to Star Twinkle's suit, with the exception of it being dark green instead of blue. They were both selling the partner look.

But despite how fitting for the occasion they may look, Steel Hammer was still nervous to even attend this place. It was the biggest royal ball in Equestria that was only attended by the most high-class ponies. Star Twinkle almost forgot all of that since it wasn't his first time attending it. The green pony was actually trying to not laugh at his boss's state.

"You know if you keep shaking a little bit harder, the whole castle will collapse on top of us," he teased.

Steel Hammer flinched for a second before he released a huge sigh. "I'm just a little nervous. That is all," he replied.

The two stallions were approaching the entrance of Canterlot Castle. Again, Steel Hammer took another huge breathe before he walked inside with Star Twinkle next to him. Star Twinkle smiled at how Steel Hammer was acting. It was quite amusing to watch. Still, Steel Hammer was nervous so he figured that he should actually try to calm him down a little.

"Don't be nervous, Steel Hammer. Just pretend that it is just another party. There is not much to be nervous about, really," he explained.

The brown Earth Pony was taking this advice at heart and managed to calm down a little. He figured that he was maybe overreacting a little bit and that it was a little bit stupid of him. But as soon as he stepped inside the castle his worries came right back again.

"Announcing Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer! Carpenters of Ponyville!"

Those words were announced by a pony standing next to the entrance, shouting those words all across the castle as soon as the two stallions stepped into it.

Steel Hammer looked over to Star Twinkle nervously, who could only grin nervously in return. Being announced like this definitely put the two into the spotlight and Steel Hammer did not want that at all now and Star Twinkle couldn't really blame him.

At the end of the room, Twilight was waving over to Star Twinkle with a smile on her face. She seemed to be happy that he arrived just now. Still, she was tasked to overlook everything at the gala and kept standing on top of the stairs.

And in the meantime, Steel Hammer was having a hard time finding his breath again. Just looking around and seeing everypony wearing all those fancy clothes made the carpenter pony feel really out of place.

"Maybe I should just leave again," he then said out of the blue, planning to turn around again.

But Star Twinkle didn't want that at all. "Calm down Steel Hammer," he said calmly.

"I can't!" Steel Hammer said nervously. "I feel like a fish on dry land! Look at everyone!" He was referring to the more snobbish and richer guests at this party. It was kind of intimidating to attend the same party as those ponies, that much Star Twinkle could understand but that was not a reason for Steel Hammer to get nervous.

"Yeah, and now look at me!" Star Twinkle said. "I'm not rich and I am here too! And I am pretty sure that there are ponies around here that aren't either. Keep that in mind. Besides, they are just normal guests attending a party, just like us," he pointed out.

Steel Hammer was getting at what Star Twinkle tried to explain. At the end of the day, everypony at this gala was just a normal guest. He kept that in mind and it eventually calmed him down a little.

"You're right! Everypony here is just a normal guest attending a party! That is all!" The stallion kept telling himself, much to Star Twinkle's delight. Suddenly, Steel Hammer felt a lot better again and felt confident to even talk with one of the guests, no matter if they were a little bit richer than him. It didn't matter at all. He was determined again.

"I'm glad that you could both make it," Princess Celestia then greeted as she walked up to the two out of nowhere.

And again, Steel Hammer's determination vanished into thin air.

"Princess Celestia!?" The stallion said in shock after he realized that the ruler of Equestria was casually talking with him in this very moment, making him shake nervously again.

Star Twinkle slapped his face in frustration. Talking with Princess Celestia, at this point, was something that wasn't that much of a deal for him anymore after all the things that happened in the past but for somepony who rarely spoke to her, it was probably a little bit more shocking. Of course, Steel Hammer had a deep respect for the Alicorn Princess as well, making this situation even more troublesome for him.

Princess Celestia did not notice how nervous Steel Hammer was though and continued to speak with the two. "I hope you two will have a wonderful time at this year's gala," she said warmly towards the two stallions.

"Yes, your majesty! Of course, your majesty!" He replied in a tense tone.

The princess chuckled and seemed to be amused about Steel Hammer's behavior. "You are Steel Hammer, right? Star Twinkle's boss?" She asked while she looked over to the green stallion. "I don't believe we had many chances to meet so far. If you don't mind, why don't we talk a little bit? " She then added.

"Are you serious!?" Steel Hammer asked in shock.

Of course, Steel Hammer was taking those words very serious, it was Princess Celestia who was asking him that after all. He never even thought about refusing Princess Celestia's offer no matter how nervous he was about this unbelievable chance to talk with the princess.

It didn't take long until the two were off to have a relaxing talk. Star Twinkle was pretty happy about this actually. He knew Princess Celestia well enough to know that she was probably seeing how nervous Steel Hammer was and she probably tried her best to make sure that he would have fun at the gala.

"I guess I have to find somepony else to spend time with now," Star Twinkle figured while he rubbed his neck.

He was still standing next to the entrance when someone else was announced by the same pony from before. The one who walked up to the stallion, however, caught him by a huge surprise.

"Oh no," was the only thing he could see after he got a glance at the next guest stepping into the castle.

Discord...

The Draconequus stepped proudly into the castle, wearing a fancy orange colored suit and top head while being followed by something really weird. At first, Star Twinkle thought it was a blob of green slime wearing a red bow tie and a light blue top hat, only to realize that this was exactly what was going on.

"Announcing the spirit of chaos, Discord, and his guest, the Smooze!"

"Good evening, everypony! What a glorious affair!" Discord said happily as soon as he stepped inside the castle.

The rest of the guests were as confused and shocked by Discord's entrance as Star Twinkle was. The green slime creature was definitely one of the reasons for that. As soon as the Smooze entered too, he was wasting no time sucking in some of the jewelry of the ponies he slid by, making the entrance of the two even more of a problem.

"He does have a yen for shiny things, the rascal," Discord said as he petted his guest but as soon as his paw was covered in slime, he regretted doing that and wiped it clean on the next pony he could find.

Which happened to be Star Twinkle...

"Hey!" The stallion said annoyed before he back off a little.

"Oh! Star Twinkle! I didn't see you over there!" Discord obviously lied right into Star Twinkle's face. "Fancy seeing you attending the gala as well," he added.

"You knew that I was coming here..." he shot back at Discord. "What are you doing here?"

Discord tipped his hat for a moment, trying to look elegant and dignified while answering this question. "I have you know that I am an officially invited guest at this event," he said while he summoned his ticket in front of Star Twinkle's face. "It just took a little longer to reach my address. Getting to the Chaos dimension doesn't seem to be such an easy task for an ordinary mail pony it seems," he figured.

Star Twinkle almost believed that this was all made up and Discord just made himself a ticket but Princess Celestia saw the Lord of Chaos entering the castle and waved over to him for a moment, with a smile on her face so what he said must be true.

"Okay then," Star Twinkle said before his sight wandered over to the Smooze. "And what about him? Can you keep your "friend" in check so that he doesn't bother anyone?" He added while he pointed towards the Smooze, who was already following everypony so that he could suck up more jewelry.

Star Twinkle saw how Twilight was glaring over to Discord. She was clearly not happy seeing him at her well-organized gala. The stallion was signaling to her that everything was alright though and that he was trying to keep things in check for her.

In the meantime, Discord felt almost offended what Star Twinkle asked of him. "Don't you worry about my little friend. The Smooze just wants to play, that is all," he explained.

"Still, make sure he doesn't bother anyone too much. Twilight probably spent a lot of time organizing all of this," Star Twinkle pointed out.

Discord laughed. He petted the stallion in his amusement. "Of course. I would never do anything like this to dear Twilight," he explained.

Of course, Star Twinkle didn't believe him at all, looking back at the past with anything that involved Discord in it. But right now, all he could do was to just wait how things would play out. He was half expecting things to go wrong actually. But it wasn't like as if he could prevent it from happening now.

Discord started to look around the room. "Tell me, have you seen Fluttershy anywhere?" He then asked.

Star Twinkle pointed to one corner of the room. "I think she was over there, along with Tree Hugger," he said.

As soon as the name Tree Hugger fell, Discord got visibly angry. "I see..." he simply said in a bitter tone before he snapped his finger and vanished in front of the stallion.

"Yeah...he is totally jealous..." Star Twinkle said before he walked away, trying to figure out what he was about to do from now on after Steel Hammer was kinda being taken away from him.

Later...

Star Twinkle's time at the gala was pretty much going the way he expected it after Steel Hammer was gone. He did spend some time with the rest of his friends though. Pretty much all of his friends from Ponyville were at the gala, making this event a lot more fun than it was the last time.

But whenever there was no one to talk with at the moment, Star Twinkle usually escaped to the buffet to grab something to eat. He grabbed one tasty thing after another and happened to catch a glimpse of Fluttershy, who seemed to have a lot of fun while being in the company of her new Friend Tree Hugger. Star Twinkle would have never guessed that this pony was much of a jokester but judging from all the laughs that came from Fluttershy, that seemed to be the case.

"She seems to have fun," Star Twinkle commented.

"Yes...a bunch of fun..."

Discord was right behind Star Twinkle, causing him to flinch in surprise. He really wished that the Draconequus would stop appearing out of nowhere without him noticing it.

But Discord could not care less about what Star Twinkle was thinking right now because his eyes were glued at Fluttershy and Tree Hugger. And he did not seem happy at all. "Just look at them...sitting there, laughing and having fun...fun that I could have with Fluttershy..." he complained annoyed.

It was as Star Twinkle suspected earlier on. Discord did not like Tree Hugger at all for spending time with Fluttershy. He was obviously jealous, and Star Twinkle had his concerns about what the Lord of Chaos would do when he was jealous, which is why he decided to put a stop to it. Or at least try to talk with him before he would do anything stupid.

"Could you give it a rest," Star Twinkle said, earning him a glare from Discord. "I know you don't like how Fluttershy is spending time with someone else but as a friend of her, you should understand that she needs somepony else to talk about stuff for different things. That's only normal. I mean, Fluttershy seems to be happy. You should be happy as well," the stallion explained.

He hoped that those words would make Discord realize that things weren't as bad as he thought and that he should focus on having fun at the gala. It didn't work though judging from the glare that Discord threw at the stallion.

"I don't like the tone in your voice," he said bitterly.

Star Twinkle felt as if he should not associate with Discord while he was like this. He could end up in trouble. Being quite right now would definitely be for the better now.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

A scream could be heard from afar, coming from an elderly stallion who was approached by the Smooze who already set sight on the jewelry that the pony was wearing. In short, somepony was in danger.

"Would you mind telling your friend to stop bothering the guests?" Star Twinkle said.

But Discord only rolled his eyes. "He just wants to play, don't worry about it," he casually explained.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Discord!" Star Twinkle exclaimed angrily after hearing another scream coming from more ponies now.

"Okay, okay! I'll take care of it..." he said annoyed before he teleported away to stop his friend, hopefully taking care of him.

Star Twinkle just released a sigh, knowing that Discord attending this gala was pretty bad and annoying. More annoying than he would like. Luckily, Steel Hammer came walking back to the stallion to keep him company.

"Hey there," he casually greeted.

"There you are. Are you done talking with the princess?" He asked with a hint of teasing in his voice.

"Yeah," Steel Hammer replied while he scratched his head. "It was kinda weird that the princess wanted to talk with me, out of all ponies though," he figured.

"Did you manage to figure out why she wanted to talk with you?" Star Twinkle asked.

"Yes," Steel Hammer replied. "She told me that she was looking forward to meeting new ponies. She also was interested to know what your boss is like," he explained.

This answer surprised Star Twinkle. "So she wanted to talk to you because of me?" He asked confused.

"We did talk about you too, yes," Steel Hammer pointed out. "It was one of the subjects that we both knew about after all," he casually explained.

Being referred to as a "Subject" did feel a little weird but at least Steel Hammer was no longer nervous anymore and finally enjoyed the gala.

"Anyway, did I miss anything?" Steel Hammer asked.

Star Twinkle casually explained. "Just Discord showing up with a strange friend that eats jewelry and creates chaos all over the place," he said.

Steel Hammer lowered his eyebrows confused. "You just had to meet another strange new thing while I was gone, did you?" He asked teasingly.

The green Earth Pony was about to reply to that but then he heard some heavy knocking on the entrance door to the gala.

"Let me in!" Rarity screamed from the other side of the door in a panic.

Since Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer were pretty close to the door, they both rushed towards it to open it. For some reason, it wouldn't open though. It didn't take them long to figure out that somepony locked the door with a key. Star Twinkle turned it around and Rarity came falling through the door, covered in green goo.

The mare was gasping for air before she pointed outside to the culprit who left her in that state. "That creature took my jewels!"

It was no surprise to see that it was the Smooze, who already was sucking up more jewels from another pony outside.

Discord was not too far off and earned himself some glares from Star Twinkle and Twilight, the later one deciding to jump in action this time by talking with the Draconequus.

"Discord! Can you keep your friend under control!?" She said angrily.

But Discord just crossed his arms annoyed. "Oh, please. I have better things to do than to watch that thing all night," he said in a bothered tone. He earned himself some confused looks after saying those words. Calling his friend a thing was certainly not really nice. Discord realized that as well since he began laughing nervously. "What I mean to say is, that thing is a dear, dear friend, and I'll make sure that the ooze, uh, that he can't help but secrete doesn't get on anypony else," he said before he vanished and appeared next to the Smooze shortly after.

He also took care of Rarity by removing the ooze on her body with a vacuum cleaner. He did remove her dress too, however, leaving her so embarrassed that she covered her body with her hooves.

Steel Hammer, being the gentlecolt he was, looked away instantly. "I didn't see anything!" He said in a panic while he kept his eyes away from the mare. Star Twinkle simply shook his head at that.

Twilight seemed pleased with the result of this situation and just turned towards the guests to calm them down again. "It's alright, everypony. Let's just get back to enjoying this magical evening!" She said.

There was no doubt in Star Twinkle's mind that this was going to be a "magical evening", not with Discord around. It was scary how Star Twinkle was not even surprised by all those things happening because he almost expected them to happen. It just proved that even a reformed Discord was a really annoying thing to deal with.

Later...

There were not many interruptions by Discord for a while now and the gala continued without any problems or anypony screaming in fear of the Smooze. Surprisingly, it was nowhere to be found for a long time now. Which was good.

Still, with things being calmer again, Twilight found some time to talk with Star Twinkle about Discord, a subject that he would like to avoid rather.

"I thought you wanted to take care of him," she said with some annoyance in her voice.

But Star Twinkle had a quick answer. "There is only so much I can do against a reality-bending being, and his strange blob friend," he replied annoyed.

Twilight seemed to understand but she still couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. She lowered her head. "I just hope that things don't go wrong any further...I wanted to make sure that everything would be perfect this time around," she said with a frown on her face.

"Well, I think we are well past a perfect evening," Star Twinkle figured. "I mean, some ponies are still missing their jewelry and there still some ooze left here and there but at least nopony got hurt...yet," he explained.

Twilight glared at the stallion. "You are not doing a good job making me feel better, you know," she commented.

"Yeah," Star Twinkle replied a little nervously.

Suddenly, the lights went out, leaving everyone in surprise. A stage appeared in the middle of the room with some signs saying "Comedy Hour" on it. Needless to say, everypony walked closer to see what this was all about but some ponies had a slight suspicion of what was going on.

"Oh!" Steel Hammer said in excitement as he walked closer to the stage. "Twilight, you organized a stand-up comedy act?" He asked obliviously.

"No..." Twilight replied annoyed while she kept her eyes on stage to see the one she suspected to come out any second now from behind the curtain.

And it was the one she expected, Discord. "Check, check, check. Is this thing on?" He said while he tipped the microphone in front of him and then started his little comedy act. "Good evening, fillies and germs! I just flew into Canterlot, and wow, are my interspecies parts tired!"

The joke fell flat. No one in the audience laughed. There was only silence. There wasn't even a cough that would end up making the silence a little bit less awkward. But despite that, Discord carried on.

"I've only got these tiny mismatched wings, and even I can fly better than Twilight Sparkle! Am I right?"

No one laughed again. Obviously, the only pony giving a reaction was Twilight since she was the target of the joke. She almost wanted to go up there and give Discord a piece of her mind but then she looked to the left and saw Princess Celestia actually giggling about that joke. Whether it was because she found that joke funny or because she was laughing at how unfunny Discord was, Twilight could not help but feel a little weird seeing that.

Discord started to laugh nervously. "Uh, well, perhaps you're into more observational humor," he said before he vanished for a moment, just to reappear inside the wall behind him with only his head sticking out from it. "Did you ever notice how you always materialize out of thin air? Why not thick air? What's the deal there?"

Again, his joke fell flat. Star Twinkle was no expert in comedy but he knew that Discord wasn't funny with his jokes. And judging from the silence in the room, he did not seem to be the only one to figure that out.

"What is he doing?!" Twilight asked confused. It was actually a pretty valid question since nopony was really sure if he was actually trying to be funny.

"I think they're... jokes?" Rainbow Dash figured.

Pinkie Pie instantly smiled after hearing that. "Maud! Jokes!" She said in excitement towards her sister, who was standing next to her with a deadpan expression on her face.

"My favorite," she commented in a deadpan tone.

"Well, he is not doing a good job on being funny," Star Twinkle said.

Despite how badly received his jokes were, Discord carried on. This time he placed a watermelon on a stool and knocked on it.

"Knock knock!" He said. But nopony said anything, causing the Draconequus to get rather frustrated by now. "You're supposed to say "Who's there?"! This is the most basic of jokes!" He explained before he just straight out smashed the watermelon with a wooden hammer in his frustration, which ended up covering the crowd in watermelon pieces.

Maud had only one thing to add to this. "You're the most basic of jokes," she said in a deadpan delivery, causing most of the ponies in the crowd to actually laugh.

"Good one, Maud!" Pinkie Pie said.

Needless to say, it was really frustrating Discord to see how everypony started laughing now, instead of when he was telling jokes on stage. In a way, Discord actually managed to lighten up the mood in the room, even if it wasn't intended by him.

As Steel Hammer was having a good laugh as well, a little colt was walking into him by accident. The little pony was backing away and looked at something on the other side of the room, something that Steel Hammer noticed as well soon.

"Um...guys...I think you should take a look at that," he said nervously.

Twilight turned around after hearing those words and she soon got a rush of panic running down her back. "What is that?!" She asked in shock, causing everypony by now to turn around as well.

What they saw shocked them. A huge wave of green ooze was coming towards them. An all too familiar-looking ooze. As soon as Star Twinkle realized what that ooze was, he rushed over to Discord on stage.

"That's the Smooze, isn't it!?" He asked angrily.

"Seems that way," Discord replied casually.

Soon, the whole room was covered in the green ooze, and ponies got stuck in it. Once their hooves touched the goo, they would get stuck and couldn't move. As if that wasn't bad enough, Twilight was not able to make it vanish with her magic since every beam she shot towards the ground would only leave a hole that instantly filled itself again.

"None of my magic works on this ooze! Can you stop it?" Twilight asked towards Princess Celestia.

However, the horn of the Alicorn Princess was covered in this goo as well, making her unable to use any magic at all. "I'm afraid not!" The princess said after her attempt to fix things.

Star Twinkle managed to stay out of the range from this goo since he was up on stage just like Discord. He had no idea what to do to help though. His focus, for now, was just shifting towards the Draconequus.

"I thought you would keep an eye on the Smooze! How did he get so big!?" He asked confused.

Discord tipped his chin. "It might be because he ate too much jewelry. He has a habit of growing in size whenever he eats some, you see," he casually replied.

Star Twinkle had a bad suspicion about what could have happened. "Where was he while you were up here failing as a comedian?" He asked.

"I put him in the treasury," Discord replied casually.

Star Twinkle slapped his own face. "And you didn't think that this was a bad idea!?" He shot back.

"To be honest, I wasn't thinking much at all,"

"Clearly..." Star Twinkle added annoyed.

As much as Star Twinkle wanted to continue arguing with Discord, there were ponies in desperate need to be saved now.

And one of them was already screaming in a panic.

"Oh, my shoes will be ruined forever!" Rarity said in shock.

"That's what you're worried about? Really?" Applejack

In the meantime, all Star Twinkle could do, was to transform into a Pegasus and fly over to Twilight, in order to ask her for some advice.

"Any ideas on how to fix this?" He asked.

Twilight gave a quick answer. "I think Discord is the only one who can stop all of this," she pointed out.

Star Twinkle didn't need to know anything more and just got to work. He was flying towards Discord, who unsurprisingly did not see anything wrong with the whole situation. He said that the Smooze was just playing around, obviously. Whether that was true or not, the Smooze was putting the ponies in the room in danger so he needed to be stopped. Star Twinkle just had to try to talk with Discord.

In the meantime, both Fluttershy and Tree Hugger managed to get stuck on the walls. "This is kind of a bummer," Tree Hugger commented slightly bothered, considering the situation she was in.

Discord continued to ignore Star Twinkle and quickly picked up on that. "Isn't it, though?" He asked Tree Hugger. "And to think, it would never have happened had I come to the Gala as somepony else's plus-one," he added while he was directing his voice towards Fluttershy, in hope that she would get the message.

"I knew it!" Star Twinkle thought. "So he is jealous!"

Fluttershy did not get it though and Tree Hugger was the one who tried to figure out what was going wrong with the Smooze. "Seems like something might have harshed his flow, you know? Like, his senses are agitated," she figured.

"You don't know anything about rare creatures. I've known Smooze Face for ages. He's not agitated. He's partying down! Whoo!" Discord explained while he was dancing in midair.

But Tree Hugger was sure about what she said and continued. "All he needs is some, like, calming auditory therapy. I know I always feel really at peace when I'm being bathed in positive vibes. Maybe he'll calm down with some sonic bliss," she said.

By now Discord got really annoyed and confused about the mare's way of speaking. "Do you even know what you just said?" He asked.

Star Twinkle had to agree with Discord for once. "Yeah, I don't really follow her either," he said with a confused look on his face.

Tree Hugger did not explain however and just started to meditate loudly.

"Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee! Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!"

Her voice was ringing through the room. Both Star Twinkle and Discord were pretty confused about what this was going to accomplish.

"How is that gonna help anyone?" The stallion asked.

She completely ignored him though and continued. Star Twinkle figured that she had no idea what she was doing but soon, he realized that the Smooze was not moving anymore. He was calm now.

"Wait, it's actually working?" Star Twinkle said in his surprise.

The Smooze was slowly removing his ooze from everypony and returned to his regular form. It was much bigger now because he grew in size but at least he was in one place and clam.

"Let go, Smooze! Bliss out! Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!" Tree Hugger said one last time before she ended her meditation.

All the guests were free again and happy that everything went well. And it was all thanks to Tree Hugger, something that everyone could agree on.

"It worked!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Way to go, Tree Hugger!" Rainbow Dash said.

Steel Hammer was slowly moving towards Star Twinkle while he still removed some remains from the Smooze on his suit. "This gala sure is a lot more different than I expected," he commented. Star Twinkle just sighed after hearing that.

In the meantime, everypony continued to express their thanks for Tree Hugger. Fluttershy was one of them. "That was the most magical thing I've ever seen done with animals!" She expressed happily, much to Discord's dislike who was grinding his teeth by now in anger.

"Oh, thanks, everypony," Tree Hugger said happily. "It makes perfect karmic sense why magic doesn't work on him. He only responds to vibrations that peace out his energy fields," she explained.

"Sure...if you say so," Star Twinkle said. He still had no idea what she was saying but she helped everypony out and that is what mattered.

But Discord was not really happy right now. In fact, he was furious. "Stop it! Stop it! That's it! I'm done with you, Tree Hugger!" He said angrily.

Tree Hugger, however, did not get intimidated by Discord's anger. "Oh, man. You're really bumming me out. Can you just, like, lower your voice a skosh?" She asked of him, driving the Lord of Chaos even more crazy.

"A skosh? A skosh?!" He said angrily.

The next thing that happened was Discord ripping a hole in the air that led into another dimension. He then used his magic to drag Tree Hugger towards him and levitated her towards the hole he just made.

Star Twinkle, who was still in his Pegasus Form, flew towards the Draconequus. "Don't you think you are overdoing things!? You need to-"

But Discord could not care less about what Star Twinkle had to say and just snapped his fingers, causing a rope to appear on Star Twinkle that was strapped to an anchor, which made the stallion crash to the ground and removing him from the picture.

In the meantime, Tree Hugger took a little peek of what was on the other side of the hole in the air. "Whoa, dude! What is that?!" She asked confused as she watched a strange sock puppet creature walking on the other side of the hole, which was also really confused at the sight of Tree Hugger.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you," Discord assured. "I'm simply going to send you to another dimension. I can't have you interfering in my relationship with Fluttershy anymore!" He explained casually as if it was the most normal thing to do in this situation.

"Discord, stop!" None other than Fluttershy interrupted.

"I will, just as soon as she's gone!" Discord replied before he summoned a table and some tea in midair. "Then we can have a good laugh about this whole affair over our regular Tuesday tea," he explained happily.

Star Twinkle was still trying to remove the rope around his body as all of that was happening. "Do something!" He then shouted towards his friends.

But Twilight and the rest were already ready to jump in action. "Don't worry, Fluttershy! We'll stop him!" Twilight said determined with her friends standing right behind her.

Discord was unimpressed. He summoned a glowing disco ball and threw it towards them, making it roll past the group. At first, they were confused about this action but then they realized that the Smooze was coming towards them to get that shiny ball and trapped all the ponies in his way, making them unable to do anything again.

Now Discord could continue. "I'm doing her a favor, Fluttershy! It's a lovely dimension! White sand beaches, attentive wait staff... I mean, okay, the humidity isn't great, but where isn't that the case these days?" He said, making all of this sound like a sweet vacation, something that was obviously not the case.

"I don't understand why you're doing this! We were all getting along so well!" Fluttershy said in shock.

"As well as we could, considering you've already stomped all over our friendship by inviting her to the biggest night of the year as if I didn't matter at all!" Discord shot back at the mare.

Fluttershy got really offended by hearing that. "Did you really think I'd abandon you just because I have a new friend?!"

"Yes, because that's what you did!" Discord replied angrily.

"No, she didn't!" Steel Hammer then said as he walked up to Fluttershy and Discord.

Discord had enough of the interruptions so naturally, he got really annoyed to see somepony else walking up to them. "What do you want now!?" He asked bitterly. One could tell that he was about to snap his finger to do something to the stallion.

But Steel Hammer continued to walk towards him and Fluttershy with a stern look on his face. "All she did was spending some time with another friend. She did not abandon you at all. I know if one of your friends spends some time with another friend you start to feel a little left out but that doesn't mean that you are less important to them. I mean just ask you the question of what would happen if it was the other way around," the stallion said before he stopped in front of Discord.

"The other way around?" Discord asked confused.

"Yes. What would you do if you met some new friends to discuss chaos-based magic and spent some time with them? Would that mean that you would abandon Fluttershy?" Steel Hammer asked.

Right about now, Discord was getting what Steel Hammer wanted to tell him and felt a little embarrassed about it. "No, I suppose not. It would just mean that I'd have different friends for different things..." The Draconequus looked around and figured that things got a bit out of hand now. "Oh, oh, dear, it looks like I've perhaps overreacted just a skosh," he admired embarrassed.

Fluttershy couldn't agree more. "More like a lot of skoshes!" She said angrily. "Tree Hugger, could you give us a minute?" She asked of the mare.

Discord was flying over to Fluttershy with regret on his face. "I'm just so new at this whole friendship thing. It's so much more complicated than it looks," he said with a frown on his face.

Fluttershy wanted to forgive him but there was one thing that needed to be done first. "Do you think maybe you owe somepony an apology?" She said angrily. Discord was quick to hand her over a flower but she slapped it out of his paws. "Not me!" She corrected.

"Oh! Oh," Discord replied after he realized who she meant. "Yes, right," he then said before he closed the hole to another dimension, made Tree Hugger fall softly to the ground, freed Star Twinkle from the anchor, and removed all the jewelry from the Smooze to free Twilight and her friends.

Fluttershy quickly went to her friend and hugged her after she was safe again. Discord also walked closer to Tree Hugger and sincerely apologized for everything that he did. "Er, Tree Hugger, I'm sorry that you got caught in the middle of my... er, you know... wrath," he said.

But Tree Hugger was not holding a grudge towards him despite all that. "Oh, it's all groovy," she said, causing Discord to hug her in response, something that she did not feel too well about. "Um, I need like a few minutes to clear out my chakras before I can hug you from a place of authenticity," she explained as she pushed him away slowly.

"Oh, your chakras." Discord replied before he laughed nervously. "Fair enough," he figured.

A little later...

Things surprisingly calmed down really fast after all of that. Everypony came together, in the end, to spend time with each other, even Discord. The later still feeling a little bad about the things he did.

"I owe you an apology, Smooze," Discord said towards his friend. "I spent the whole evening thinking about my own feelings and never thinking about yours," he said with a frown on his face. But the Smooze was not mad at him and kissed him in response, much to Discord's delight. "Well, friends! I think I may actually grow to like this multiple-friend thing," he expressed happily.

Maud Pie couldn't agree more. "I like it too," she said.

"Hey, it's not a party until somepony spreads magic-resistant ooze uncontrollably over the ballroom!" Pinkie Pie added excitedly.

But here, Star Twinkle had to disagree. "If you say so..." he said.

Shortly after, everypony found themselves on the dance floor. In the meantime, Twilight was apologizing to Princess Celestia about everything that happened. "I'm sorry, Princess Celestia. I thought I could give you a break tonight, but it turns out I was in over my head," she said in regret.

Princess Celestia just smiled in return. "You have nothing to apologize for. This has been the most fun Gala in years!" She just said happily.

"What?!" Twilight said in shock. "But there was ooze all over the place! And one of the guests threatened to send somepony to another dimension!" She pointed out.

"I know!" Princess Celestia replied. "Can you imagine how dull it would have been if I hadn't invited Discord?" She said before she pushed Twilight towards the dance floor as well. "Come on! Whoo! The night is still young!" Twilight did not know how to react to that but it was the princess who was saying it so she just had to accept it.

Shortly after, Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer were talking in one corner of the room, watching everypony dance. They both liked to have a more relaxing party from this point on. They also wanted to talk about something, or rather, Star Twinkle wanted to ask something.

"So...what you said back then to Discord..." he started. "About being left out...is that how you feel as well?" He asked.

Steel Hammer felt a little embarrassed. "Maybe a little, back then...I told you that before...There were maybe some personal feelings mixed into my speech from before," he admitted.

Star Twinkle smiled. "But it's not like that. It's just like Discord said. We all have different friends for different things," he explained.

Steel Hammer nodded in reply. "Right! I know! I really do! And I am happy that you got more friends now!"

Now it was Star Twinkle who felt embarrassed. "Okay," he simply replied.

The brown coated stallion then moved towards the dance floor. "Come on! Let's enjoy this party some more! We can't let them all dance on their own!" He said before he rushed to the others, showing off his own dance skills as well.

Star Twinkle chuckled. "Right!" He said before he walked to the dance floor as well to enjoy the rest of this night.

Author's Note:

Got another Discord Chapter done! Surprisingly, they are a little bit harder to pull off since there is usually not too much bonding going on between Star Twinkle and Discord. But there was some Steel Hammer! That's good, right?

Anyway, I hope enjoyed this chapter and I see you in the next one!

With all that said, please consider leaving a review or some other kind of feedback and make sure to follow me or this story to always be up to date with everything that I upload.

See you all in the next chapter.
Bye Bye ^^.

Reading Order:

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 1 + 2(Chapter 1 - 53)

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Diary of The Storm Wings

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 3(Chapter 54 - 65)

Equestria Girls - The Legend of Friendship

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Outcasts

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 4(Chapter 66 - 91)

Rainbow Rocks - The Legend of Friendship

The Legend of Friendship - Harmony

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 5(Chapter 92 - 117)