“Rarity!” The off-white mare with the two-tone blue mane and tail greeted her friend and employer, staying demure despite her excitement.
“It’s good to see you again, Coco.” Rarity gave her friend a light hug, smiling. “Did you finish the preparations for the fashion show yet?”
“I finished them a few days ago.” Coco turned around and pulled a coatrack from behind a curtain, revealing a collection of tasteful dresses. “I hope you like them. I put all my work into them.”
“Oh, I absolutely love them. I daresay, I couldn’t have designed a better collection myself.” Rarity stepped up to the rack, feeling the fabric and inspecting each one closely.
“I’m so glad to hear that.” Coco gave a shy smile. “Which ones do you want to show off at the fashion show?”
“Oh, I’m not going to take a single one of these.” Rarity said casually.
“What?” Coco’s eyes widened. “But didn’t you say–?”
“I did, and I meant it.” Rarity turned back to her employee, smiling. “Alas, I just got a letter on my way here, that I should return to Ponyville right away. And even if I didn’t, I never intended to present these dresses myself.”
She walked over to the confused mare and put a foreleg around her shoulders. “These dresses are your work, Coco. I couldn’t possibly go and claim credit for them. That’s why I want you to present them at the Fashion Show, under your own name.”
“Y-you mean…?” The earth pony mare stared at her.
“I mean just that, darling. Your talent is far too valuable to have you work as somepony’s assistant. You go and make your big breakthrough, and at the next big fashion show, we will be competing.” Rarity spoke in a grand voice. “You are hereby released from your contract, if you wish so.”
Coco began to tear up a little, shaking from the emotions. “O-of course I…” The sentence devolved into a hoarse squeak and she just leaped forward, hugging the unicorn tightly. “Thank you.”
“Well, I am certainly glad you agree.” Rarity let her continue for a moment, then gently pushed her away. Coco’s eyes were shimmering with held back tears.
“I wish that I could stay and watch, but Pinkie Pie’s letter was quite insistent.” She slowly walked past the other mare and through the door. “I wish you the best of luck.”
Coco turned around and nodded, desperately trying not to cry. She dashed after Rarity and stopped at the door, waving frantically as she shouted after her friend. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Applejack set down the last bushel of apples and left the barn, trotting towards the Apple family’s house and the smell of a homemade, apple-based dinner. Only one day after Tirek’s attack, a couple hours of applebucking were just what she needed to wind down and bring some sense of normalcy back into her life. That, and eating with her family was all she really needed.
She entered the kitchen and threw her hat to the side, hitting the coatrack with the experience one got from years of practice. “Do Ah smell Granny Smith’s homemade apple soup? It sure smells delicious as… always?”
She paused and looked over the ponies at the table. Granny Smith was there, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom, just like usual. What wasn’t usually there was the off-white stallion with the dark grey mane and a slight underbite.
“Silver Shill?” Applejack blinked, then laughed and trotted up to him. “Ah haven’t seen y’all ever since that disaster with the Flimflam brothers. What are y’all doing here?”
“Oh, I was selling my costumes, when suddenly this rainbow just rushed right past me, and I thought… I should really go to visit Applejack again. I mean, I barely got to talk with you last time I was here, and most of what we talked weren’t exactly… pleasant conversations.” He looked to the side awkwardly.
“Well, that’s awfully nice of y’all, comin’ all the way down here. Ah hope yer hungry, cause Granny Smith makes some of the best food in all of Equestria.”
“That’s right, y’all just sit down and let Granny do the rest.” Granny started to dish out soup onto the plates, not looking away from her task as she spoke. “By the way, Applejack… Pinkie Pie wanted me to tell you that there’s a big party goin’ down tonight. Something about cheesecake, or cheesepie…”
~~~~~
“Hey, Rainbow Dash! Wake up!”
The addressed pegasus groaned, squirming around a little on her cloud and blinking sleepily. She lifted her head just a little to look up at the three uniformed pegasi floating in front of her. “Oh, hey Spitfire…”
Her head slumped back down and she closed her eyes again, snoring lightly. After a few seconds her eyes shot up.
“Spitfire?!” Rainbow Dash jumped up, looking at the ponies in front of her with wide eyes as she started to stumble backwards. “Soarin? And Fleetfoot? What are you doing heaaaaaahh!”
The three watched with a smirk as Rainbow Dash fell off the cloud, then awkwardly flapped back up. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, yes…” Rainbow gave them an embarrassed smile. “What are you doing here?”
“We were around and thought we’d pay you a visit.” Fleetfoot stepped forward. “We don’t get to Ponyville very often, and we did enjoy our last visit. Besides, we wanted to visit one of our most loyal fans, and good friend.”
The rainbow-maned pegasus practically beamed at the praise. “That’s so awesome!” She tilted her head. “So, what, you’re doing fan visits now?”
“Not quite. We’re not allowed to just visit random fans.” Spitfire smirked and pulled out a scroll, holding it out for her. “The new leader of the Ponyville Wonderbolts Reserve, however…”
Rainbow stared at the scroll for a moment while the words processed in her head. “Y-you mean…?”
Soarin nodded. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but you passed both the theoretical and the practical test with flying colors.” He chuckled, glancing at Rainbow’s namesake mane.
For a few moments, Rainbow just sat on the cloud, hugging the scroll to her chest. The she jumped up without warning, circling the cloud excitedly. “This is the best day ever! I need to talk to Pinkie Pie, this calls for a–“
She paused and slowly floated back down. “Oh right, Pinkie already is throwing a party today. You guys should totally stay for that. She said it’s going to be a CheesePie party.”
Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you mean ‘cheesecake’?”
Rainbow laughed. “You’ll see what I mean.”
~~~~~
“I’m not saying that I want it to be this quiet all the time.” Twilight trotted next to Pinkie as they reached Sugarcube Corner. “It’s just a nice change of pace after that whole trouble with Ti–“
The rest of the sentence was cut off by a load of confetti, streamers and balloons hitting her straight to her face.
“Oospydaisy, my bad.” A very cheerful orange stallion was standing behind Pinkie’s party cannon, somehow talking loudly through the wrench in his mouth. “Pinkie, your party cannon pulls a little to the right.”
“Cheese!” Pinkie leaped forward, excitedly bouncing around him. “You’re here! And I’m here, too! We’re both here!” She stopped and tilted her head. “But why are you here? Did your Cheesie Sense tell you to come?”
“Oh, you just know it.” Cheese grinned. “I saw that rainbow passing by and it gave me one heck of a doozy, so I figured I should pass by Ponyville again to visit the best party planner in Equestria. And while I was waiting for you, I took a quick look at your party cannon.” He threw the wrench up and balanced it on his mane, still looking at Pinkie. "Do you want me to help readjust it?”
“No, thank you.” Pinkie shook her head. “I always aim a little to the left, so if you adjust it I’ll have to aim at the left first, then right again.”
“Oh, that makes sense.” Cheese pushed the cannon away, along with the wrench. “Do you know what that means?”
Pinkie nodded eagerly. “It means that we have more time to plan the greatest party of all times!” She threw her hooves up in excitement.
Twilight took a step forward. “Now, Pinkie, don’t you think Cheese will want a moment to settle do–“
“No time for settling.” Cheese pushed a hoof into her mouth, looking at the wristwatch on his other hoof. “We only have twenty-two thousand three hundred eighty seconds left to make this party work!”
Pinkie gasped. “You’re right! And now it’s only twenty-two thousand three hundred seventy-four seconds!” She grabbed Cheese’s leg and dashed back out onto the street, while Cheese held on to the leg of Boneless II.
Twilight watched them bounce off, letting out a breath. “So much for a boring day…”
“Come on, Cheese, I know the best confetti shop in all of Equestria. Actually, I think it’s the only confetti shop in all of Equestria…”
~~~~~
“And that’s the whole story. Tirek is gone for good, at least until he breaks free from Tartarus again. I do doubt that he will be reformed, though.”
Discord looked at the earth pony opposite of him. The light brown stallion with a dark brown mane looked back for a moment before sighing. “It might be better this way. I’m just glad that Equestria is safe again. Besides, there are more important matters to discuss.” He smiled. “You really accepted the friendship of ponies?”
“Indeed. I’m friends with quite a lot of ponies already.” Discord leaned in for a stage whisper. “But mostly Fluttershy.” He made a giddy face and pulled back again.
“That’s good to hear.” The stallion nodded. “I heard of you, of course, back in the day… But I never thought I would actually meet you. And certainly not under these circumstances.” He looked down at himself.
Discord inspected his claws before smirking at him. “You like it?”
“Being a pony is certainly interesting. How long did you say this will last?” The stallion looked at his hooves curiously.
“About twenty-four hours. There’s a big event tonight that you wouldn’t want to miss, I think.” Discord chuckled.
“There you go, a fresh batch of cucumber sandwiches.” Fluttershy stepped up to them and set down the platter on the table, smiling softly.
Discord looked down at them. “Why, thank you, Fluttershy. I am terribly sorry I forgot to bring them… I would lose my own head after all those friendship lessons yesterday.” His headless body turned around, ‘looking’ around before it found his head next to the sandwiches. He picked it up and dusted it off before putting it back on his neck.
Fluttershy didn’t react to the display at all, instead turning to the stallion. “Please help yourself, there is enough for everypony.” She paused, taking a closer look. “I’m sorry, your name seems really familiar, but I can’t say I remember where I heard it.”
“It is okay.” The stallion nodded. “I’m just a traveler, passing through this town.”
“It is very nice to meet you, either way.” Fluttershy gave him a warm smile and lifted the teapot. “Would you like some more tea, Mr. Scorpan?”
(Disclaimer: There are a lot of songs from the show in this chapter, a good part of which have been rewritten for this purpose. Try to guess them all, or just look them up in the Author's Note at the bottom of the chapter)
“Hey, Tavi! Did you get a letter, too?” Vinyl waved at the grey mare that was already sitting under the tree in the park. “Who’s that… Neon?”
Another pony was standing near the chellist, waving back. He was a pale blue unicorn with a charcoal grey mane and large black shades. “Hey Scratch, haven’t seen you in a while. You got any idea why we’re here?”
“Not a clue.” Vinyl grinned, trotting over to her friends. “The note said there’d be a gig for us, but I don’t even see a pony around.”
“I hope this isn’t another one of your jokes, Vinyl.” Octavia rolled her eyes. “It was a nice and quiet day so far and I would like to–“ She stopped and looked around in the deep black that had suddenly surrounded them. Soft spots of light began to appear in front of them, filtered through red fabric.
“Vinyl, what did you do this time?”
“Mares and gentlecolts, please welcome this evening's music staff!”
Discord pulled at the curtain, whisking it away from the stage and behind his back, where it disappeared. On the large stage were standing the three musicians, each of them their equipment right beside them. The crowd recognized them and cheered, while Discord moved back to Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich and Boneless II. “There you go, the entertainment you requested.”
“You know Neon Lights?” Pinkie looked at Cheese.
“You know Vinyl Scratch?” Cheese looked at Pinkie.
“And what about Octavia?” Both looked at Discord.
“That would be my own entertainment. Have you ever seen her and Vinyl together? It’s quite a hoot.” Discord let out a sophisticated chuckle, suddenly wearing a top hat, monocle and holding a tea cup. “Now, if you would excuse me, I still have one or two surprises to attend to.”
“Surprises? What kind of surprises?” Pinkie tilted her head.
“Oh Pinkie.” Discord patted her head, chuckling. “You didn’t notice yet? We’re still missing two of our guests of honor.”
“We have guests of honor?” Pinkie asked.
“We have guests of honor?” Cheese asked.
“We have guests of honor!” Pinkie gasped. “How didn’t I notice that?! Discord, I need you to–“
She blinked, looking at the spot where the draconequus had already disappeared from. “…oh, okay. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Rarity, darling, you’re exactly the pony I wanted to see~”
Rarity turned around, seeing Discord stroll towards her. She let out a small groan and turned back, only to find that her company had quietly slipped away.
“I couldn’t help but notice you standing here all alone, my dear. So I thought you might enjoy a good friend keeping you some company.” Discord wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her close.
“And I assume that good friend would be you?” The mare gave him an annoyed look.
“Moi?” Discord pointed at himself in mock surprise. “Why, I’m flattered that you think of me that way, Rarity darling, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I’m just too busy busy busy, making everypony smile smile smile.”
“Then what–?” Rarity watched as the draconequus pulled out a magician’s hat and set it on the ground, then tapped it with a wand before pulling it up again. A young mare fell out of it, looking around in confusion.
“Coco? What are you doing here?” The unicorn looked back up at Discord. “Is this supposed to be some sort of joke? She should be at a fashion show right now!”
“Oh dear me…” Discord looked at the five watches around his arm, all of them spinning wildly. “Is my watch going too fast? I could’ve sworn that the show was already over. Which reminds me, I almost forgot her luggage.” He tapped the hat again and a scroll fell out. “Now I have to be off, though, no tip needed. Have fun, friends~”
Rarity just ignored him, picking up the scroll instead and reading over it. “This is…” She let out a small gasp and looked at Coco, who was slowly getting her bearings. “Coco, is this really…?”
“Y-yes…” Coco gave her a happy smile, blushing a little. “Miss Photo Finish offered me a contract to design for her, right after the fashion show. I-I don’t think I’ll be able to do that and still be your assistant, I hope you aren’t mad…”
“Mad?” Rarity giggled and moved in to give her friend a hug. “Coco, darling, why would I be mad at you? This is an amazing success, and I daresay you earned every bit of it.” She let go again to look around. “Why, this is certainly a reason to celebrate, isn’t it? Come on, you won’t want to miss this party.”
“Fluttershy! My dear, dear, Fluttershy!” Discord walked over to the pegasus that was standing a little away from the crowd, watching the festivities with a content smile.
The mare in question turned to look at him, smiling softly at him. “Oh, hello Discord. Are you enjoying the party?”
“Quite a lot, Fluttershy, quite a lot. But I have more important news.” He pulled out a large violet tulip from his back, the head of the flower still closed. “I got you something.”
“Oh Discord, you didn’t have to–“ Fluttershy raised a hoof, but paused when the flower opened. A blue figure with pink hair and large insect wings was inside, looking up at her.
“Finally,” Seabreeze spoke in his accent. “It was starting to get hot in there.”
“Seabreeze!” Fluttershy yelled very quietly, pulling the Breezie into the softest hug a pony could manage. “I thought the portal to your world had closed! Oh, I should’ve known there would be some other way to visit you.”
“No, what a heartwarming sight.” Discord moved in on the hug before breaking off again and holding up a bouquet of flowers with a casual expression. “I also got you these, by the way.”
Pinkie turned back around to Cheese, grinning. “Alright, everything seems to be ready. Vinyl, Octavia, give us some music!”
Cheese grinned as well, shouting up at the stage. “Neon, I’m noticing a concerning lack of spotlights down here!”
The lights turned off all at once, silencing the large crowd of ponies around the stage. Cheese pulled out his accordion and played a few slow notes as the spotlight fell on him and Pinkie Pie. He took a deep breath and lifted a hoof. “Oooooh…”
[Cheese] The super-duper party pony, that pony is me (And me)
We are the greatest party planners you will ever see (Yippee)
[Pinkie] And if we see a pony who is wearing a sad frown (Oh no)
We’re gonna make you smile smile smile, we’ll turn that frown around~
The music suddenly changed tune and the spotlight moved away from Pinkie and Cheese, until it found Applejack and Silver Shill, as well as Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith not far away from them.
[Silver Shill] You showed me the value of honesty
To never cheat or lie
[Applejack] Just treat your friends with sincerity
And they will help you by
[Both] We’re friends together, friends forever
We’re close as ponies can be~
No matter what comes, we will face the weather
We’re a second family
“Oh my, I hope they don’t expect me to sing…” Fluttershy fidgeted a little. “I mean, they know I can’t sing in front of… ponies?”
She took a step back as all the Breezies suddenly began to swarm her, looking at them in confusion. Within seconds, she was completely covered by them, Seabreeze himself sitting on her head. “Discord told us about it. Now nopony can see you. You’re not singing in front of anypony.”
The spotlight moved around again, until it found Rarity and Coco, the latter blushing a little under all the attention.
[Rarity] Oh I know, you’ll come through for me
In that huge bustling community
There is always, opportunity
Just do the friendly thing
[Coco Pommel] Rarity, I promise I’ll give all I can give
Rarity, I’m going to set the bar
You showed me how to live
Once again the spotlight moved, until it reached a pony that was concealed completely by small ponies and shimmering insect wings.
[Fluttershy] There’s friendship in the cities
There’s friendship in the clouds
Just go and make new friends, now don’t be shy
[Seabreeze] The world seems big and dangerous
There’s much you’re scared about
But friends will be with you to help you fly
Discord chuckled as he tapped his hat with a wand. He waited for a moment, then frowned and poked his muzzle inside.
“You wanted to talk to me, Discord?” Celestia spoke up from behind him, chuckling as the Master of Chaos nearly dived into his hat in surprise.
Discord slowly pulled the hat off again, glaring at Celestia. “One point to you, Celestia. I didn’t expect you to be here already.”
“What, and miss a party by the greatest party planners in Equestria?” Celestia smirked. “I admit, though, I have no idea what you might want from me this time.”
“Why, it’s practically nothing, Princess.” Discord gestured over to the crowd. “I was just watching my good friends sing over there, and I thought that it would be a shame not to join in, for both of us.”
“A duet? With you?” Celestia raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll even let you choose the song~” Discord put a talon on his chest. “Just so you can keep up with my marvelous singing voice.”
The spotlight landed on a group of four ponies. A very rare sight for three of them, none of them were in uniform this night. The orange mare raised an eyebrow, but her rainbow-maned friend just grinned.
[Spitfire] I know you can’t wait to get started
But first let me set a few rules
The training is tough
It’s not just enough
To simply be awesome and cool
[Rainbow] “Awesome, cool, got it.”
I will train all day and night, just wait you will see
You will have to be fast as a bullet to keep up with me
[Soarin] It’s not quite that easy
I tell you, the training is rough
But I have no doubts that you will pull it off
The spotlight moved again and several ponies in the crowd gasped as a pure white alicorn stepped forward. She looked over to the side and a second spotlight appeared, shining on a tall figure dressed in a fancy suit.
[Celestia] Destiny's never certain
But they’re getting closer each day
And it will become much clearer
With every new choice on their way
[Discord] Patience is never easy
They still have a long way to go
But they taught me the magic of friendship
They’re stronger than we all know
The spotlights went out and the stage lit up. Twilight was standing at the front of it, looking over the crowd with a smile.
[Twilight]We all stand here for a reason
You're all gifted and you are strong
You don’t need a crown, you just need friends
To belong
The music stopped and silence fell over the stage and the crowd. Twilight looked at the ponies staring up at her for a moment, before giving a nod at Vinyl and Octavia.
She stepped forward and fluttered off the stage, walking into a crowd as she began to sing.
[Twilight] Each one of us has something special
That makes us different, that makes us rare
[Applejack] We have a light that shines within us
That we were always meant to share
Ponies all around her began to fall in with the song, supporting Twilight and Applejack’s voices as they sang in unison.
And when we come together
Combine the light that shines within
There is nothing we can't do
There is no battle we can't win
And when we come together
There'll be a star to guide the way
It's inside us ev'ry day
See it now! See it now!
Pinkie turned around to face the crowd of ponies behind her that hadn’t fell in with the song yet. “Alright, ponies! Are we just going to take that? Or are we going to show these ponies what real singing sounds like?”
“Hay yes!” Rainbow Dash flew up from the crowd, pumping her hooves. “On your count, Pinkie!”
“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie giggled, then took a breath and put on her war face. “Alright, recruits. Everypony, follow my lead.”
“Oh my, what is going on over there?” Fluttershy gave the two groups of ponies a worried look.
“Why, it looks like they are holding a singing contest.” Rarity stepped up to her, smiling. “And we can’t have that without Ponyville’s best music group joining in, now can we? Including the honorary members.” She winked at her friend and gestured for the rest of the group.
Big Macintosh walked off to rally more ponies for their cause while the rest of the Ponytones moved in to surround and hide Fluttershy.
“General, what is the situation?”
Discord saluted for Celestia, wearing a military uniform with two more badges than fit on it. “We have three groups of ponies about to fight each other. There are no unalligned ponies left to recruit for our own cause.”
“Quite a grave situation.” Luna nodded. “What do you propose?”
“We need the power of all three princesses to have any chance in this.” Discord barked.
“Very well.” Cadence turned around with a determined expression. “A Princess must do what a Princess must to do.”
“Indeed.” Celestia nodded and looked back at Discord. “General, we will need any voice we can get.”
Discord saluted once more, his helmet slipping over his eyes comically. “It would be an honor, Princess.”
Twilight took a deep breath.
Pinkie Pie took an even deeper breath.
Rarity nodded at her group, smiling.
Celestia tapped her hoof four times.
Let the rainbow remind you
That together we will always shine
Let the rainbow remind you
That forever this will be our time
When you find you've got the music
Got the music in you
Find you've got the music
Got the music in you
Got the mu~sic,
Got the
Come on everypony, smile smile smile
Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine
All I really need’s a smile smile smile
From these happy friends of mi~~~ne
Know that your time is coming soon
As the sun rises, so does the moon
As love finds a place in every heart
You are important, you'll play your part
Yes, the perfect gift for me~
Is a smile, as wide as a mile
To make me happy as can be
And when we come together
Combine the light that shines within
There is nothing we can't do
You've got to look inside and find
Find you've got the music
All I really need’s a smile smile smile
From these happy friends of mi~~~ne
As the sun rises, so does the moon
As love finds a place in every heart
See it now! See it now!
Come on and smile~ Come on and smile~ Come on and, smile.
Got the music, got the music in you!
Let the rainbow remind you~
You are important, you play your part~
