Our pony heroes team up with the Smurfs when they are being chased by an evil wizard all the way to New York City.
With the second crystal down and knowing what they are facing, the ponies buckle down on research on where the third crystal might be, where Sunny finds some very interesting pages in her father's journal about some sort of creatures called the Smurfs. And in the blink of an eye, the ponies are sent to the same village of the Smurfs for another Unity Quest.
Evil wizard Gargamel as sought out the tiny blue creatures for many years, and finally, he succeeds in chasing the little blue people, plus their pony friends, from their village and through a magic portal -- which transports them to Manhattan and into the life of ad executive Patrick Winslow. Only three apples high and lost in the Big Apple, Sunny and her friends must help the Smurfs get back to their world before Gargamel tracks them down.
It was about a week after Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Pipp, Misty and Zipp got back from their adventure with Mystery Incorporated in Nowhere, Kansas… and where they unfortunately met Misty’s birth mother, Paradise Moonray.
Turns out, Paradise was taken in by Opaline as a filly and raised to follow her adoptive ‘mother’ in her path for conquest… nearly killed Misty in the last fight.
But Misty believed that there was some form of good in her, and begged the ponies that while they searched for the remaining crystals on their Unity Quests, they had to find someway to make sure they got through to Paradise next time.
Sunny and the others agreed to help, but even they were unsure of what they could do. They couldn’t reform Opaline last time, and if Paradise was like her or worst, it would be impossible to convince her.
XXXXXXXX
So… one day, they decided to do some research in the bedroom, the history books Sunny’s father had gathered over the years scattered around the beds, and they spent who knows how long looking… and found nothing. “Ohhhhh… what if my mom was just a and Opaline were just forgotten parts of history that we’re never gonna find again?” Misty closed a book in front of her with a sigh. “We have to find the rest of those crystals, or Mom, in her power-mad state, is gonna destroy Equestria to nothing but ashes!”
“We know, Misty, and we’re not gonna stop until we can try and get through to her,” Zipp said from her detective board. “But if we can’t…”
Misty sighed. “I know, I know… she’s going to have to be dealt with.”
“How did Alphabittle take the news when you told him?” Pipp asked. “Told him what?” Izzy asked innocently. “The fact that Misty’s mom is Opaline’s adopted daughter and out to take vengeance on all of us?”
“Izzy!” Hitch and Zipp shushed her-- even Sparky put his little hands on his hips with a slight glare. “No, no… it’s okay. I get it,” Misty said. “Kinda hard to forget what she almost did to us. I just feel bad for Le Quack and Katz that they were helping her without realizing her true intentions with it. Almost seeing her kill me must’ve been a nightmare for them.”
“I’m happy you see the good in people, Misty. It’s a quality that not a lot of ponies have,” Sunny said to her friend kindly. “And we’re gonna help you in whatever way you can.”
“Thanks, Sunny,” Misty took a breath of relief. “So… did your dad’s journals say anything else about a clue to where the next crystal might be?”
“Not yet. But I haven’t gone through all his journals yet. Some of these, I didn’t know he had,” Sunny explained. “But I guess we’re just gonna have to look until we find--”
Suddenly, her eyes fell on a small, blue-colored burlap journal at the bottom of the stack, curiosity getting the best of her as she picked it up. “Funny… my dad never showed me this journal before,” she muttered before flipping it open to the first page. “Dear Argyle Starshine, I decided to write down everything there is to know about the Smurfs so that, if we lost touch over the years, you would have this to remember me by. Treat this book with care, old friend. Sincerely… Papa Smurf.”
“Smurf?” Pipp repeated with a giggle. “Sounds like a foal’s first word.”
“What in Equestria is a Smurf?” asked Zipp with a confused glance. Sunny flipped the page as they all gathered around, and it showed a diagram of a creature all in blue, with a white hat and white pants on. “It says here that a Smurf is a mythical creature that resides in an enchanted forest in a faraway kingdom,” Sunny said. “They are typically brought to a small village of over-sized mushrooms by storks, and they can live to be over 500 years old!”
“Yeesh… that’s a lot of birthdays to remember,” Hitch said, and Sparky babbled in agreement. “They’re very hardworking too, from what I’m reading,” Sunny said, flipping through the journal more. “Each Smurf is named after their personality traits, and they love to sing and be together as a family.”
“Aww…” Misty cooed. “They sound nice.”
“Wait…” Zipp said, pausing. “This ‘Papa Smurf’ guy got your dad this journal somehow. Do you think Papa Smurf might know where the third Twilight Sparkle cutie mark crystal is?”
“Could be,” said Sunny, closing the journal. “We just need to figure out how to get to the Smurf village. And also? We really need to shorten the name to something easier to remember.”
“What about, uh…” Izzy tried to think. “The Twilight Sparkle Crystals of Glitteriness and Awesomeness?”
“No no no,” Pipp shook her head. “What about the Glam Crystals?”
“Twilight Crystals?”
“Sparkle Crystals?”
“Star Crystals?”
As her friends babbled on and on about names, Sunny lifted a hoof to stop them. “Why don’t we just call them… cutie mark crystals?”
“Oh,” Izzy blinked before shrugging. “Makes sense.”
Sunny sighed as another catastrophe was narrowly avoided. “Huh… I wonder how my dad and this… Papa Smurf character met. I’d love to learn more from Papa Smurf when we find out how to get to the village. Hmmm… but we’d have to bend down to hear everything they’re saying, cause according to this, they’re only as small as three apples stacked on top of each other.”
“Wow… that’s small,” Zipp commented. “But, it’s fascinating! Not many creatures in Equestria are that size and aren’t able of communicating,” Hitch said. “And yes, I am talking about my animal buddies.”
“I wonder how they would like a little bit of my own music to match theirs?” Pipp asked before beginning to sing.
All you need is your beat All you need is your beat Yeah-heh, yeah yeah yeah yeah!
And all you need is your beat Come on, ponies! All you need is your beat!
“Whoo! Go, Pipp! Whoo!” Misty said as the others applauded. “Thank you, thank you!” Pipp giggled before tucking her microphone away… just as Sunny found something alarming in the journal. “Listen to this… it seems that life for the Smurfs isn’t as peaceful as we thought it might be. We Smurfs do have a threat, however. The evil wizard Gargamel has been after us for as long as we could remember, trying to steal our essence and become the most powerful warlock in all the world… and nothing will stop him from doing such.”
“Whoa… that sounds horrible,” Izzy frowned. “Poor little Smurfs…”
“Sounds like a male version of Opaline,” Pipp shuddered. “I’m just glad we don’t have to see him for ourselves-- he must be UUUUGLY!”
Suddenly, the cutie marks of the ponies began to glow, leaving them to sigh. “Looks like we’re gonna have to read more later,” Hitch said. “I’ll take Sparky with us, just in case Paradise were to come.”
“Good idea,” said Sunny. “All right, everypony. Let’s roll out!”
Sunny and her friends prepared their things and galloped up to the Unity Crystals as fast as their hooves could take them, standing together as the Unity Crystals began to shine brighter by each second. “I wonder where the crystals are gonna take us this time,” said Izzy before she gasped. “Maybe they’re gonna take us to meet the Smurfs themselves!”
“If the Unity Crystals acted on wishes, we’d get sent to ancient Equestria to figure out how to stop this madness,” Zipp said, lightly chuckling. “But since it doesn’t, well… we just have to deal with wherever we go.”
“Hold on, everypony!” Sunny cried out in a ready-or-not-like stance. “Here we go!”
The Unity Crystals sent out a bright white flash that teleported the group out of the Brighthouse and through the glowing portal, the tumbling and twisting strangely becoming normal for them now. What they knew was normal, but caught them offguard every time was the landings… especially when they were harder than other times.
And this landing was extremely rough, landing on top of each other, some of their faces planted into the dirt. “Owwwwww…” Hitch groaned, getting up out of the dirt. “You okay, Sparky?”
“Mmm-hmm,” Sparky nodded from on Hitch’s back, not injured at all as the ponies got up to look around. When they did, they realized they were surrounded by mushrooms that looked as big as houses, and the rest of the forest around them seemed even bigger… something that struck Sunny as… off. “Wait a sec… does anypony else find this familiar or is it just me?”
“Awwwww, they are so cute!” Pipp said, snapping a picture. “Totally reminds you of those Smurf houses from that journal, right, Sunny?”
Sunny said nothing for a moment, getting up and walking around the area, eyes as wide as saucers. “Guys… I think this is the Smurf village!” she said. “The Unity Crystals must’ve heard our questions, and I think this confirms that there might be a crystal here! Come on, we have to look around and see if we can--”
“Uh… excuse me?”
Sunny yelped at someone touching her rear, and turned to see a Smurf, a real Smurf, jumping back with a yelp of his own. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” he apologized. “I-I just wanted to know if you were lost or something!”
Sunny took a breath to calm herself as her friends came closer. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I startled you. See… we’re for a… mission, of sorts, and we read about Smurfs, and… well… it’s kinda hard to explain.”
Soon, more Smurfs gathered around the ponies, quietly murmuring to themselves.
“Oh, are they horses?”
“Where did they come from?”
“Are they dangerous?”
“Aren’t horses supposed to be bigger?”
“They could be fairy horses.”
The ponies were unsure to make of all this when a kind, gentle voice spoke up from all the murmurs. “Now now, what’s all the fuss about, my little Smurfs?”
An older Smurf with a scruffy white beard and dressed in red came closer, and Sunny was the first to come forward. “I’m sorry if we caused such a panic. Me and my friends, uh… we’re on a mission, and somehow, the Unity Crystals of Equestria sent us to your village,” she hesitantly explained. “You… you wouldn’t happen to be Papa Smurf… would you?”
“Oh-ho, how’d you know that?” Papa Smurf chuckled, and Sunny pulled out the journal she had found earlier. “You gave this journal to my dad… Argyle Starshine,” Sunny said, showing it to him. “Do you… remember that?”
“Argyle is your father?” Papa Smurf asked, and when Sunny nodded, a smile graced his face. “I haven’t seen my friend in many moons… not after he saved my life.”
“Her dad saved you, Papa?” a girl Smurf with blonde hair asked. “He did, Smurfette,” Papa Smurf nodded. “And while I was healing, he and I spent many a time together. Tell me, dear, how is he nowadays?”
“Well, I, uh… um…” Sunny wasn’t sure how to say it, but took a deep breath anyway. “My father passed away when I was a filly.”
“Oh… oh, you poor thing…” Smurfette said gently. “Papa, can they stay with us for a while? We can’t just send them into the forest alone?”
“Yeah!” said the Smurf who first found them. “They can stay for the Blue Moon Festival tomorrow!”
“And,” said a Smurf with glasses, examining Zipp’s wings, “it would give me an idea as to what magical properties these ponies possess.”
“Whoa, hey!” Zipp jerked her wing away. “I’m all for studying and research, but quit tugging my wing like that!”
“Well, I think we have a guest house available for you all to stay in,” Papa Smurf pondered. “Handy Smurf, is it in livable conditions?”
“It sure is!” Handy said, twirling a hammer. “Just made sure it was in top-smurfy shape this morning!”
“Well, if you all don’t mind us joining your festival,” Misty said, looking at Sunny as a smile graced her face, “we’d love to stay and join the fun.”
XXXXXXXX
As Papa Smurf gave Sunny and her friends a tour of the village, Sunny couldn’t believe that her father saved Papa Smurf’s life before she was even born. Which made her wonder…
…why did Argyle never tell her about all this? Was she too young to understand? Or was it for another reason?
Soon, the tour concluded with the guest house that the group was going to stay in, and Papa Smurf wished the group goodnight before leaving for the night. Everypony seemed really comfortable in the house, but… Misty noticed a change in Sunny’s aura, sitting down next to her. “Sunny? Is something wrong?”
“Oh, well… I guess I’m just confused on why Dad never told me about Papa Smurf or that Smurfs even existed,” Sunny shrugged. “I mean… this is huge! We could be on a breakthrough to steering your mom on the right path, and… the Smurfs might just help us do it.”
“Yeah… all the Smurfs seem really nice. But that Grouchy character we met on our walk… I don’t know how I feel about him,” said Misty. “Izzy sure seems to see the good in him though.”
“Yeah… she especially sees the good in everyone,” said Sunny with a soft smile. “Do you… do you think Papa Smurf can tell me stories about him tomorrow? He asked me if I was interested in watching him work with Smurf magic, and of course, I couldn’t resist.”
“I’m sure he would if you just asked him,” Misty said. “Maybe he has some sort of idea where the third crystal is.”
Before she could say anything else however, Misty let out a large yawn. “I’m gonna get some sleep. Izzy and I are gonna play with Clumsy tomorrow before the Blue Moon Celebration rehearsal, and we need our energy if we wanna keep our eyes open for the crystal.”
“Right. You go on ahead,” said Sunny. “I’ll be there shortly.”
“Okay,” Misty nodded. “Goodnight.”
“Night.”
Sunny watched as her friend walked off into the next room to sleep, but Sunny continued to stare up at the slightly blue moon in the sky. According to Papa Smurf, it would get its full blue color the next night over, and Sunny, like all the ponies, couldn’t wait to see it happen. But… before she had to go to bed with her friends, she whispered one thing to the stars above. “I love you, Dad. I’m gonna make sure my friends are protected… no matter what.”
With that being said, Sunny retired to the bedroom to sleep with her friends, unaware of what adventure may lie ahead.
After Sunny went to bed the previous night, it seemed to practically fly by, so that when Sunny opened her eyes the next morning, the sun was already peeking through the morning clouds.
But, there was no time for messing around-- while some of them helped the Smurfs with their Blue Moon Festival preperations, Zipp was going to fly around the village and see if she could see any signs of the cutie mark crystal in the village. Hitch and Misty decided to go with Farmer Smurf and Greedy Smurf to go and collect smurfberries for the big feast later that evening, and the best way to do that…
…was by stork.
Of course, Hitch wasn’t so sure about riding stork since they were so small (he was afraid the storks would eat them alive), but after he was on one for a few short minutes, he loved it!
“Yeah! Come on, Farmer!”
“YEE-HAW!!” Farmer shouted. “Whooo-hoo-hoo! I never imagined flying on a stork would be so amazing!” Misty cheered with a laugh from behind Farmer. “Whoa, golly!” Farmer shouted. “Farm boys love to fly!”
“Oh yeah! So excited!” Greedy singsonged, and managed to move his and Hitch’s stork before they rammed into a nearby tree branch. “Greedy!” cried Hitch out of panic. “Keep your hands at 10 and 2 on the reins!”
“Sorry, Sheriff Hitch!”
“Hitch, live it up a little!” Misty laughed. “We’re never gonna get to do this more than once!”
“I… oh, what the heck?” Hitch shrugged as he saw Sparky enjoying himself. “WAHOOOOOOO!!!”
After getting all his excitement out, they passed through the invisible barrier that Papa Smurf had created to protect their village from evil, looking over the inhabitants going about their daily lives. Then, they dropped their smurfberries off at the giant bucket, with Greedy laughing happily. “Hey! The blue ones are mine!” he joked. “Ha ha!”
Not too far off, Misty ran over to watch Vanity conduct the other smurfs in their dance routine for the festival that night.
La la, la la la la, la la la la la La la, la la la la, la la la la la
La... la la... la la
Smurfette was tossed into the air before she was caught by her fellow Smurfs, Vanity sighing to himself. “Isn’t she the most beautiful thing on Earth…?”
“She is pretty,” Misty said, thinking he was talking about Smurfette… before she saw Vanity looking at himself in the mirror. “Oh… well, you’re not so bad, I guess.”
“Makes me wonder how Izzy’s doing with Clumsy,” Hitch shrugged. “She really enjoyed his company yesterday during the tour.”
“I bet they’re on their way here as we speak!”
XXXXXXXX
“Come on, Clumsy!” Izzy panted as she and Clumsy ran toward the bridge. “Shake a hoof and hurry up!”
“Oh, no! I'm late for rehearsal!” Clumsy said as they raced across the bridge, nearly knocking over Handy on his ladder. “Whoa! Nelly!”
“Sorry, Handy!”
“No problem, Clumsy! You keep me employed!” Handy shouted as Clumsy stepped on a runaway cart, giving compliments on other Smurfs' work for the Blue Moon Festival as Izzy desperately tried to chase after him, she and Clumsy using their manners as they went past.
A little further up ahead, Pipp was listening to Narrator Smurf's narration for the festival, and was also telling Pipp a little bit about the village. “You see, Princess Pipp, in Smurf Village, each and every Smurf plays their own special part. Which gives the Smurfs a sense of harmony. Whether it's Handy Smurf, the builder, Baker Smurf, who--”
“AGH!!” Pipp screamed as she and Narrator ducked under the ladder on Clumsy's runaway cart. “Hey, Narrator Smurf!” Clumsy said as Izzy slowly trotted over, all out of breath. “Oh, hello, Clumsy!” Narrator called. “Just having Princess Pipp watching me rehearsing the intro for the Blue Moon Festival!”
“Iz, are you sure you can keep up with Clumsy like this?” Pipp asked her tired friend. “It seems like a lot to take in.”
“Okay…maybe he is a lot at hoof, but, he’s just so much fun to be around.” Izzy said wiping the sweat off her forehead. “He reminds me of me back when I was a filly.”
Pipp pondered about that for a second before shrugging. “Eh, I can see that.”
Clumsy was still on the out-of-control cart, and he rammed into Chef Smurf who was delivery two, freshly baked pizzas. “Sorry, Chef Smurf!”
“Clumsy!!” Chef Smurf cried. “HELP!!”
The cart kept going, sending the chef into a Papa Smurf ice sculpture that Sculptor Smurf was nearly finished with. Chef tumbled to the ground with both pizzas, now covered in ice, in his hands. “I just invented frozen pizza. Genius!” Chef Smurf said to himself, while behind him, the head of the Papa Smurf sculpture landed right on top of the rest of the body. Sculpter Smurf shrugged and continued to chisel. At the same time, Pipp and Izzy turned to look at each other. “We should go help Clumsy, shouldn’t we?”
“Yeah.”
The two friends galloped after the runaway cart, passing different Smurfs along the way and bidding a good morning to them as they went past. Clumsy and the runaway cart slid right through a pie table and into Jokey’s house, and once inside, he slid across a work table. “Hi, Jokey!”
“Hi, Clumsy!” Jokey greeted back, pulling a present box out of Clumsy’s way, and the clumsy Smurf burst through the door and tumbled back into his feet. “Heh, who’s clumsy now?”
“Hey. What do you get when you cross a Smurf and a cow?” Jokey asked. “Blue cheese! Ha ha ha! I got you a present!”
“Clumsy, we got to hurry!” Pipp called out from above as she and Izzy finally caught up to him. “Oh, right. Sorry, Jokey, I’m late for rehearsal!” Clumsy ran off with the pegasus and unicorn following behind. “But, wait I…”
Before Jokey could pursue, the present exploded in his hands, smearing his face with smoke and soot, but Jokey merely laughed at the attempted prank.
XXXXXXXX
Within only a few minutes, Clumsy, Pipp and Izzy finally made it to the rehearsal stage, with Grouchy and Gutsy Smurf watching across the bridge. “Hey, Grouchy. Hey, Gutsy,” Clumsy greeted. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow your roll, sailor,” Grouchy said as he and Gutsy pushed Clumsy back. “Hey, what gives? He’s running late as is.” Pipp said. “Yeah,” Izzy nodded. “Isn’t this the rehearsal for the Blue Moon Festival?”
“What can I say, Clumsy? You’re not on the list.” Grouchy pointed to the paper. “Grouchy, it’s right there,” Clumsy pointed at his name. “Yeah. In bright, red letters, too,” Izzy added. “Right.” Gutsy said sarcastically. “Under 'Do not let in Clumsy'!”
“But, our friends are in there,” Pipp countered. “We have to go in!”
“Uh, clearly you two lack the verbal skills required to explain this predicament, scenically,” Brainy Smurf came over the bridge and grabbed the list, causing Grouchy and Gutsy to groan. “Ugh, here we go.” Grouchy said in annoyance. “You see, Clumsy... the other Smurfs don’t want dance with you for fear of, what I politely call... fractures. Heh heh heh...”
“Argh, how could anybody think that?” Clumsy asked, raising his arms up and clonking Grouchy and Gutsy in the face. “Whoops...”
“Soooo... can me and Pipp still go in?” Izzy asked hopefully. “Ugh. Fine, but just be quick,” Grouchy told them. “Before the ache in my nose stops.”
The two mares quickly galloped over the bridge, leaving Clumsy to walk away on his own. “Heh, that’s gonna leave a big, blue bruise,” Brainy laughed, but was ceremoniously silence when the two Smurfs kicked him into the air. Meanwhile, Misty and Hitch were still watching the rehearsals with Vanity, listening to his continous compliments to himself. “Wonderful! Beautiful! Oh, marvelous.”
“Hey, Misty,” Izzy ran over to her unicorn friend. “Oh, hey, girls.” Misty greeted. “How’s the rehearsal coming along?” Pipp asked. “Oh, it’s going pretty good so far... well, aside from Vanity being glued to his mirror non-stop.”
Right as Misty finished, Brainy landed right on the group, causing the Smurfs and fall and rumble to the ground, and some fell into the water. “Argh, cut, cut, cut!” Vanity yelled before looking at his reflection. “It’s a dance, not dominoes. AGH!! A worry line!”
“Yeah, that’s the most of our problems.” Pipp said sarcastically as Zipp flew down to them. “Do I even wanna ask what happened?”
“Minor mishaps,” Izzy shrugged. “Let's just call it that.”
“Alright, don’t get your petals in a twist,” Grouchy said to Vanity as the Smurfs conversed. “As happy and as perfect life could be in Smurf Village is, even sunshine and butterflies must have their dark clouds,” Narrator Smurf said grimly. “For all Smurfs, that dark cloud has one name. Gargamel, the evil wizard.”
All the Smurfs gasped and looked up toward the distance, leaving the others to assume that whatever Gargamel wanted the Smurfs for was not good.
XXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Gargamel and his cat Azrael were alone at their castle, and while Azrael groomed himself, Gargamel put on a Smurf-themed puppet show for himself. “La la la la la la, sing a happy song! La la la la la la, this is so wrong...”
Then, Gargamel maneuvered a Papa Smurf puppet across the stage looking like Smurf Village. “I’m Papa Smurf. I’m the head of a small group of blue people who live in a small forest with ninety-nine sons and one daughter,” Gargamel said in a fake Papa voice. “Nothing weird about that. No, no. Totally normal.”
“Oh, and I’m Smurfette. Everyone thinks I’m so pretty and I betrayed Gargamel and I don’t care,” a Smurfette puppet came up from the background. “And everything is just sunshine and rainbows.”
The two puppets laughed while their evil puppeteer sneered. “But all that is about to change.”
The two puppets cried out in fear, but then Gargamel realized something wasn't right. “Ahem. I said all that is about to change,” he said again, looking at his cat, who was still grooming himself. “Azrael, that’s your cue!”
“Meow...” Azrael grumbled. “That’s your cue to pounce on the miserable beasts. Like some kinda rage-induced feline frenzy,” the evil wizard said, walking up to his cat. Azrael furiously began clawing the Smurfette puppet. “Yes, good. Yeah. More rage,” Gargamel said. “Hey, but don’t go crazy. They’re the only puppets I have.”
“Meowrr.” Azrael deadpanned.
“I am not obsessed with Smurfs. Thank you,” Gargamel said matter-of-factly. “Simply can’t stop thinking about those miserable beasts every single minute of every single day.”
The wizard put the two puppets onto a nearby table. “Meow-wur?” Azrael asked. “Cause I need them!” Gargamel answered. “It is only be capturing the little wretches and extracting their happy blue essence that my magic will finally become…”
Gargamel stopped, trying to think of the proper word to use. “Not infallible.”
“Meowwr?” Azrael inquired. “Invincible! Yes. Thank you. I shall become the most powerful wizard in all of the world.” the evil wizard said before he laughed devilishly. Azrael laughed with him, but sounded more like expressive meowing, causing Gargamel to suddenly pause. “Yeah, but you’re milking it. Don’t milk it.”
The orange cat meowed in annoyance as Gargamel lifted up the Smurfette puppet. “Oh, great one?”
“Yes, lying, deceptive, horrible, little Smurfette?” Gargamel answered. “After all your years of Smurf-less searching, how do you ever expect to find us?” the puppet was made to ask. “Oh, I’m very glad you asked, my dear.” Gargamel said cheerily as he approached a map, Azrael leaping to the table. “For, you see, I have a magical map that shows me exactly where the smurfroot grows! I shall now use my formidable to magically transport us... here!”
He pointed to a specific field on the map using the puppet's head as Azrael meowed worriedly. “Come, my little fish-breathed friend.” Gargamel swung his wand around and chanted the magic words. “Alakazoop!”
Suddenly, a cloud of red sparks and magic dust covered the room. Unfortunately, Gargamel and Azrael found themselves lodged in the wall where the map rested. And when Azrael laughed in amusement, Gargamel suddenly looked up. “Ye gods, Azrael. You’re a boy?”
“Meow!” the cat hissed, claws showing. “We really need that Smurf essence.” Gargamel growled. “Alakazap!”
Unfortunately, this spell caused the wizard and cat to disappear in a giant cloud of red smoke, which blasted the castle spire clean off and knocking them to the forest below.
All we can hope now is that Gargamel and Azrael don't find the village and potentially ruin the ponies' latest Unity Quest.
Sunny was spending the entire afternoon with Papa Smurf, trying to learn as much as she could about Smurfs and how her father saved his life so many moons ago. “So, let me see if I got the story down,” she said. “While my dad was on his travels, he found you wounded in the woods, and brought you back to Maretime Bay before I was born, helped you get to full health again before you returned to the village?”
“That’s the story. Argyle was so welcoming, and made me feel right at home, both of sharing our love of knowledge,” Papa Smurf told her with a chuckle. “He would be so proud of you and your accomplishments, Sunny.”
“...I think he would too,” Sunny said. “I miss him… a lot.”
“As do I. But carrying on his mission is a way to keep his memory alive,” Papa said comfortingly. “So… what if I showed you a spell I showed your father during my recovery?”
“Would you?!” Sunny said in delight. “Oh, that would be amazing!”
“Wonderful! Then get me some of the ingredients from this list!”
Sunny smiled and immediately got to work, handing him the powders and viles he needed while Papa hummed a little tune. “Time to smurf some magic. Summon a vision, and see what our future holds.”
Papa took the final vile and examined it closely. “I must get the visioning potion just right. The magic is always strongest during the blue moon.”
With one drop of the liquid in, a vision began to rise from the cauldron, showing Smurfs happily playing and having fun. “Wow, this is amazing!” Sunny said in delight, vigorously taking notes. “Ah… so far, so good,” Papa smiled. “Lots of smiles and smurf berries. Clumsy's sitting still. That's always good.”
But suddenly… the vision changed to reveal a wand that its end looked like a roaring silver dragon, causing Papa to gasp, startled. “A dragon wand!”
“Whoa…” Sunny gulped. “That’s got Paradise and Opaline vibes written all over it!”
Suddenly, the vision changed to see Clumsy frailing through the air, trying to get the wand into his grasp. “I got it, I got it!”
“Clumsy…?” Sunny said softly, wondering what this could mean. Suddenly, the vision showed many Smurfs in cages, Gargamel laughing victoriously, and then, to top it all off, the Smurfs and the ponies frailing through a portal, screaming Papa and Sunny’s names. “Oh, Clumsy…” Papa muttered worriedly. “What have you done…?”
“Visions aren’t always meant to become true,” Sunny said, equally as worried. “Clumsy would never do that on purpose. But… if it did happen…”
“Hey, Sunny! Hey, Papa!” Clumsy greeted as he and Izzy entered the cottage as soon as the vision faded away, and Papa gasped, startled. “Clumsy!”
“...are you okay…?” Izzy asked, reaching out to Sunny in comfort. “Yeah,” Sunny said, sparing a glance toward the cauldron. “We’re fine. Just… a little surprised. Hang on… why aren’t you two at the Blue Moon Celebration rehearsing?”
“You know. A couple guys got smacked in the face, so I thought I'd make some smurf root mud packs to…” Clumsy tripped on a loose board, nearly colliding with the shelf before Izzy helped steady him. “...take down everyone’s swelling.”
“Are you learning a lot about your dad and the Smurfs, Sunny?” Izzy asked optimistically, and Sunny sighed with a smile. “More than I ever thought, Izzy. It’s really great to rest a little before we find the third crystal.”
“We’ll find it soon,” Izzy chirped. “We just gotta be patient.”
“Aww, Papa, you’re smurfed outta smurf-root,” Clumsy said, going to the door. “Izzy and I can go pick some!”
“No!” Papa said quickly, stopping the group. “Those fields are too close to Gargamel's castle. I'll get the smurf-root. Izzy, you make sure he stays in the village and out of trouble. Do you understand?”
“Sure thing,” Izzy nodded, a little confused. “Right, Clumsy?”
“Okay…” Clumsy sighed. “If you say so.”
The door closed, leaving Papa and Sunny alone. “Sunny, for the past 500 years, the vision has never been wrong,” Papa told the mare sternly. “Whatever we saw, I can’t let this happen to my Smurfs.”
“And it won’t,” Sunny said comfortingly. “We’ll make sure of it.”
XXXXXXXX
Clumsy decided to go and do the opposite of what Papa Smurf told him, but Izzy was right behind him, trying to convince him otherwise. “Clumsy, didn’t you hear what Papa Smurf said?” she asked. “These fields are way too close to the home of Bad Guy Central! We could get in huge trouble!”
“Oh, you mean ‘Just stay in the village, Clumsy’?” Clumsy scoffed. “Ha! Look at all this smurf-root, Izzy! Once we get back to the village and show all this off, they are going to be so proud of me.”
“Well… the least I can do is walk with you… just to make sure you’re safe.”
Unbeknownst to Clumsy and Izzy, Azrael prowled upon from behind a dead log, and Gargamel inched up to them with a rather surprised look on his face. “I still don’t think Papa will be happy about this.” Izzy said worriedly, but Clumsy quickly scoffed. “Ah, c’mon, Izzy. It’s not like being out here for five minutes is going bring trouble.”
But just as he finished, a large shadow loomed over then, and the unicorn and Smurf look up to see Gargamel holding a large net. Clumsy dropped the smurf-root and held on to Izzy. “G-G-G…”
“Boo,” Gargamel immediately swung the net at the two. “Gargamel!!” Clumsy and Izzy panicked as they raced away, Azrael hot on their tails. “Ahhh! Help!” Clumsy wailed as they jumped over a log. “Good kitty. Good kitty. Look, look! Uh, a pile of yarn. A nice, juicy bird!”
Suddenly, Clumsy and Izzy disappeared within the protective barrier. Azrael came to stop and stared in confusion while Gargamel’s eyes widened in realization.
“So, that’s it!” the evil wizard said walking up to the barrier. “It’s invisible. Oh, those sneaky… wait, wait, wait, wait. We don’t know if it’s safe.”
Thinking quickly, he grabbed Azrael and threw into the barrier, and Azrael screamed as he vanished into thin air. Gargamel stood there with skeptical smile. “Azrael? Are you dead?”
The cat meowed from the other side of the barrier, giving Gargamel the signal it was okay to cross over.
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Sunny and Papa were on their way out to check on preparations for the Blue Moon Festival when they were approached by Misty, Sparky, Hitch and Smurfette, the three formers hearing about what Papa had been doing and wanted to know more. “So, what did you see in your visions, Papa?” Misty asked. “Nothing... apocalyptic, really.” Papa cleared his throat, leading Sunny to nod. “Everything is going to be just fine. And we're gonna find the crystal and get back home soon.”
“Perfect!” Smurfette said happily. “Another year we don’t have to worry about that mean, old…”
“GARGAMEL!!” Clumsy shrieked as he and Izzy screeched to a halt. “Uh,” Sunny chuckled, “we know who she meant, Clumsy.”
“No, no!” Izzy shook her head violently, pointing toward the bushes. “GARGAMEL!!”
At that moment, Gargamel burst from the bushes, leading Misty and Smurfette to gasp in horror as Izzy chuckled nervously. “We mighta, kinda, sorta accidentally let him to the village!”
“Ugh, and Pipp was right about one thing,” Misty groaned. “He is uglier than Opaline!”
Gargamel laughed evilly and nd crushed one the houses to position himself. That's when the panic ensued, and Smurfs ran for cover wherever they could. “Smurf for your lives!” Vanity shrieked. “EVERYBODY, SKEDADDLE!!” Farmer wailed as Azrael popped from behind one house and chased after them. “Into the forest, everyone!” Papa ordered, and Clumsy, Smurfette, Izzy and Misty went in that direction while Sunny and Hitch stayed behind, not wanting them to flee. “Papa, we have to retaliate!” she said. “This village is your home, and we can’t let that wizard destroy it! What about the Blue Moon Festival?”
“This is a dire situation, Sunny,” the elder Smurf said. “And I won’t let my friend’s daughter be harmed by anyone else.”
“Sunny, Hitch, Papa Smurf! What’s going on?” Zipp asked as she and Pipp flew down to them. “It’s Gargamel! He’s after the Smurfs!” Hitch cried as Sunny shifted into her alicorn form. “We gotta stop him!”
The four ponies immediately rushed off, and Papa sighed and began to give orders to everyone in the village. “Sound the alarm, Crazy!”
Crazy bellowed his best siren noise through his mouth, and Gutsy directed Smurfs away from the village before he caught sight of Azrael and got an idea. “Hey, cat! Azrael, over here! Come on!” Gutsyy mocked as he ran into a house. He tumbled through the window, just as Azrael crashed his head through, becoming stuck since he couldn’t fit his whole body through. “There you go, you nasty cat,” Gutsy grabbed Azrael's whiskers before running off.
XXXXXXXX
Gargamel whipped and swiped his net to catch any Smurfs that got too close, but was interrupted when something collided with his jaw. In a rage, the wizard turned to see Zipp staring angrily at him. “What the heck are you?”
“Your worst nightmare.” Zipp growled and rammed into his jaw again, but as she prepared to do it a third time, Gargamel grabbed her with a tight fist. “You might be some used to me. Could probably use you as a stress toy.”
“If you want to her my sister,” Pipp said punching Gargamel’s nose, letting her sister go free, “you’re gonna have to get through me!”
Gargamel readied his net and swung, trying to catch the two pesky pegasi. While he was distracted, Hitch came in and, using his earth pony magic, summoned roots from underground to wrap around the wizard’s feet. With his feet entangled, Gargamel lost his balance and fell to the ground, and Sparky laughed in amusement. “That’ll teach him,” Sunny said confidently... but that confidence was soon lost when Gargamel got out of the vines. “It’s gonna take more than that to stop the great and powerful Gargamel, tiny pests!”
But before he swung the net again, he caught sight of Papa Smurf creeping toward his house. “Papa!”
Papa gasped and ran for his home, but was crushed under Gargamel’s foot, causing Papa to be launched back. He got up, narrowly avoiding Gargamel’s net. Suddenly, Sunny flew up to the evil wizard with Sparky in her hooves, and Sparky blew a wave of fire into Gargamel’s face. Gargamel stepped back, lifting the net over his head which promptly caused it to get stuck in a tree branch.
Papa took the opportunity to run into his ruined house. He opened a latch door and broke through a layer glass to grab a shoulder bag. “Let go! Cursed nature!” Gargamel yelled. “Sunny, follow me!” Papa called to the alicorn. “You got it!” Sunny cried. “Guys, let’s go!”
The others obeyed and followed after her before Gargamel gave chase with his released net in his hands, and as he ran past it, Papa unlocked a lever wheel which let go of a length of rope. “Here comes papa, PAPA!!” cried Gargamel as he got closer. The rope fed through several caster wheels that held a large rock that dropped and dislodged a log that swung right for Gargamel. He saw the log coming, however, and ducked at the last second. “Ha, ha, Papa. Your primitive little defenses, they’re useless against me, sir!” Gargamel boasted. “I laugh at them.”
Unknown to him, the log knocked over a bucket of rocks that poured into another bucket. The change in weight lifted an empty bucket which loosened another length of rope which let loose another, 100 times bigger log. “Oh yeah?!” Zipp challenged, spreading her wings as she prepared to knock into his jaw again, just as Papa lifted his arm up in her way. “Wait for it.”
Just as Gargamel lifted his net for a catch, the giant logged slammed into him. Gargamel was sent flying right into the house Azrael was stuck in. Both wizard and cat flipped amongst the rubble. “Holy guacamole!” Hitch cried with wide eyes. “Ha, ha. How’s that for primitive, Gargamel?” Papa asked rheotircally. The others laughed at the wizard’s expense before Sunny turned to the others. “Come on, guys. Let’s catch up with Misty, Izzy and the other Smurfs!”
XXXXXXXX
Izzy, Misty and Clumsy panted as they led the Smurfs away from the village, Izzy being further ahead than the other two. “I think we lost him!” she said. “But I doubt this is all gonna blow over!”
“Sure it is!” Clumsy assured. “We can fix this. I just gotta think.”
Before them was a fork in the road, and while Clumsy studied the sign, the other Smurfs ran to the right, while another sign pointed left, saying ‘Go This Way’, and Clumsy immediately saw this as a sign. “Yes! Follow me, everyone!”
But, what he didn’t know was that, after he tripped over a vine, the sign actually said ‘Don’t Go This Way’, stirring up fear between the unicorns. “Uh oh…”
Suddenly, as the rest of the Smurfs ran down the other path, the other ponies, Papa, Smurfette, Grouchy, Gutsy and Brainy made it to the fork, and Smurfette saw Clumsy going the wrong direction. “Clumsy, you’re going the wrong way!”
“He’s heading for the Forbidden Falls!” Brainy said. “Oh, boy... that doesn’t sound good,” Hitch commented. “Why do you think we put up the sign.” Gutsy said. “With the blue moon coming?” Grouchy asked incredulously. “Quickly, ponies and Smurfs!” Papa cried. “Stop him!”
Not wasting a single second, the group ran down the path after Clumsy. “Unbelievable...” Gutsy grumbled. “The one time we want him to trip and he’s running perfectly!”
“Clumsy!” Smurfette called. “Oh, this is a predicament.” Brainy said worriedly. “Agony ahead?! Anybody reading these signs?” Grouchy wondered out loud, reading some of the signs above them. “This is a predicament!” Brainy said with more apprehension. “This guy’s killing me!” Grouchy muttered as they entered a cave. “Looks like we’re down to 99 Smurfs!”
“Oh, this is not good at all...” Brainy said, and Zipp rolled her eyes. “Yeah, tell us something we don't know!”
“Wait a sec,” said Sunny. “What did those signs mean about not going in especially when there's a blue moon?”
“No time for that,” Papa said urgently. “Come on. We need to hurry.”
Clumsy kept running until he found himself teetering off a ledge that overlooked a waterfall and an underground pond. “Clumsy!” Misty yelled, just as Clumsy lost his footing and fell. Luckily, he grabbed hold of a root sticking out from under the ledge. “HELP!!!”
“Well, we tried. Let’s go,” Grouchy began to leave when Gutsy cut in. “Hold on, lad! We’ll form a Smurf and pony bridge to get you.”
One by one, the Smurfs and ponies began holding each other over the edge to get to Clumsy, with varying comments for the others.
“Not the Smurf bridge!”
“There we go.”
“Yeah, pardon me.”
“You’re heavier than I thought.”
“This is not a Smurf and pony bridge,” Brainy began to say. “It’s clearly a chain…”
“Smurf it, Brainy!” the ponies, Gutsy and Smurfette cried. Smurfette then noticed light from the blue moon shown through hole in the cave wall. “The blue moon!”
The light glistened against the waterfall, but unfortunately, a vortex began to form from the waterfall's surface. “Oh, my pony!!” Hitch cried. “What’s going on?” Pipp wheezed. “What is that?!” Misty pointed to the forming vortex. “Oh, no!” Papa said in realization. “The vision!”
“Come on, guys!” Sunny cried. “Hurry!!”
The group was able to pull Clumsy off of the root, but the vortex was becoming so strong, it began to suck the group closer and closer toward it. “Look out for the hole!” Grouchy exclaimed. “No, it’s more of a vortex. Or a portal.” Brainy explained. “Smurf up! It’s a hole-- AGH!!”
Grouchy began to lose his grasp on Brainy’s feet. The vortex began dragging the Smurfs and ponies closer to it. Zipp and Pipp desperately tried to flap their wings get the chain away from it...
...but no matter how much they tried, it wasn't enough. “Hold on!” Smurfette yelled. Just as Papa Smurf slipped from the rocky edge, he managed to grab hold of stick, saving everyone from the vortex.
However, the stick wasn’t a stick at all, it was a net. And the net belonged to Gargamel, who laughed victoriously with Azrael hissing and clawing out the Smurfs and ponies. “Oh no!!” Pipp cried in horror. “Looks like you got the short end of the stick, eh, Papa?” Gargamel chortled, pulling the group closer. “Now you belong to me.”
Papa glared firmly as they reached the wizard's grasp. “Not this time, Gargamel.”
Papa Smurf let go of the net just before Gargamel could grabbed him. The wizard watch in shock as the Smurfs and ponies were sucked into the vortex, all screaming and none of them knowing where the portal would take them.
In order to escape the dastardly Gargamel, the Smurfs and ponies were forced into a portal that Papa Smurf and Sunny saw in their earlier vision, all of them screaming and tumbling, not sure about even where they were going.
When the tumbling and spinning finally ceased, they came out of the portal on some rocks next to a small waterfall, groaning in pain for a moment. “That… was… great!” Izzy cheered. “Who wants to go on another one of those?”
“Are you smurfed?!” Grouchy snapped. “We almost DIED in there!”
“But, the good thing is we didn’t, and that's all that matters,” Misty said, gently stopping the argument before noticing something. “Hey… we went through a waterfall, and yet… we’re not even wet!”
“What part of the Enchanted Forest is this?” Brainy wondered as he and Clumsy climbed some rocks to get a better view. “My calculations indicate that--”
Suddenly, a giant slice of pizza hit Brainy in the head, causing him to groan and throw it down. “Ugh, that’s slimy.”
“You know… this may just be my own theory,” Hitch said, holding Sparky fearfully, “but I don’t think we’re in Smurf Village anymore!”
“Yeah… that’s obvious,” Zipp rolled her eyes. “But… where in the world did we end up? Since we're Smurf sized, it's kinda hard to tell.”
Clumsy climbed a large rock to get a better view of the surroundings. He didn’t expect what he was met with, causing his eyes to widen. “Uh, Smurfs? Ponies? You may want to take a look at this.”
Why are we listening to him?” Grouchy asked as they climbed the rock or flew to the top of it. “He just got us sucked through a giant hole.”
“It’s not a hole, it’s a vortex,” Brainy answered, just as Grouchy started complaining again. “And can’t we just go around the rock?”
“And will you stop complaining?” Pipp scoffed. “Gee… I thought I was bad…”
The gang reached the top of the rock and were met with dozens of giant buildings that looked as if they were touching the sky, causing them to gasp in awe. “Oh… my… Smurf,” Smurfette said mesmerized. “Where the smurf are we?” Misty asked. “Up the smurfing creek without a paddle, that’s where,” Gutsy answered, and then, Izzy shrugged. “Well, at least they’re not coming after us.”
Just as he said that, however, an orange cat shot out of the vortex and into the lake. “Azrael!” Clumsy cried. “RUN!!” Sunny cried, and the group rushed away before the cat could get to them. “Azrael? Are you dead?” Gargamel’s voice came from the vortex. He didn’t receive an answer. The evil wizard grunted and look around the cave, as if to hesitate jumping into the vortex. Finally, he backed up for a running start. “Must… have… SMURFS!!!”
With that, he dove into the portal as the group made their getaway. “We’ll circle back when it’s safe!” Papa explained. “That could take forever!” Zipp complained. “Then we better shake a hoof!” Hitch cried. “Guys, come on!” Smurfette exclaimed. “Go!”
“Coming through!”
“Getting hungry!”
XXXXXXXX
On the other side of the lake, there seemed to be what appeared to be a get-together some kind. One particular person was checking on the party’s adequacy. This was Patrick Winslow, a very hard-working employee at Angelou, which was a famous cosmetic company in New York City. “Yeah, nice to see you. Enjoy the party,” he said before approaching a supervisor. “Hey, can we get the photographer over there?” He asked. “There’s big arrivals happening. Thanks.”
His sights were then on two ladies at an advertisement booth. “Hey, ladies, looking good. A couple quick, quick tips. If you could not stand directly in front of the display, but over to the sides, it’d be a bit more visible.”
The ladies obliged and slid a little to the side. “Hey, look, product. Also don’t forget to smile. Remember, you’re working for a cosmetics company.”
The two ladies complied and flashed the best smile they could. “That’s it. Smile, relax, everyone will have a good time. Let’s go. Thanks. Thanks so much.”
With that being said, Patrick walked away and joined up with an older co-worker. “Hello, Henri.”
“On top of everything with the campaign, Patrick?” Henri asked expectantly. “Well, as much as I can be,” Patrick admitted. “We certainly did our homework. We tested the results.”
“Patrick!”
The two men looked up to a woman pointing at Patrick and gesturing to head inside. Patrick smiled and nodded. “She’s pointing at me.”
“That can’t be good,” Henri said grimly. The woman walking downstairs, talking with some others as the cameras flashed before she spotted Patrick from across the room. “There he is. My new vice president of marketing.”
Patrick did a double-take. “So, wait, you fired Ralph?”
“His campaign was rubbish. He gave me what I asked for, not what I want,” Odile said. “Can you give me what I want?”
“Is that what you’re asking for?” Patrick asked cautiously. “How would I know what I’m asking for when I don’t even know what I want?” Odile asked solemnly. “Well said, Odile. Well said. That’s why you need me.”
“Exacto! I need you to create a new campaign for Jouvenel. All digital, of course, so it can be ready on time for launch.”
As she walked away, Patrick gave a surprised frown and followed her. “Odile, that’s two days!”
“Si, mi corazon, and it mustn’t be delayed,” Odile said. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No. No, I mean for a whole campaign, it’s kind of tight. But… no, two days is perfect, ” Patrick said. “God only needed six days for the whole world, right?”
“Fail me, and maybe you can go work for him.” Odile subtly threatened before she climbed into her car, Patrick grabbing some champagne and watching her drive away.
XXXXXXXX
“Where are we, Azrael?” Gargamel asked as he and his pet climbed from the lake, just before they caught sight of the event going on close by. Thinking the Smurfs and their friends might be there, they walked that way.
At the same time, the ponies and Smurfs looked around with nervousness and confusion… well, all except Sparky, who was happily running around having fun, while at the same time, Patrick ran back inside to get another box before he asked a woman to call a cab, setting some other boxes down on a bench. “This day just keeps getting better and better,” Grouchy grumbled sarcastically. “Oh-ho, yeah,” Zipp rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Mr. Positive Energy.”
“So we’re just gonna jump in the portal, get back to our village and everybody’s happy, right?” Clumsy paraphrased. “That seems like a good plan to me,” Sunny said. “Yeah, guys,” Smurfette spoke. “Let’s stay smurf-timistic.”
“You know what? I choose to be pessi-smurf-stic. We’re all gonna die.” Grouchy counter-reacted. “Papa Smurf, how do we get home with the portal closed?” Brainy asked. “I’m sure when the blue moon rises tonight, the portal will open again.” Papa reassured. “Now, let’s take shelter till dark.”
“All right, let’s get smurfing!” Pipp happily encouraged. “Okay, but I’m not happy.” Grouchy said. “Aww, come on, Grouchy-Wouchy!” Izzy said. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
As if on queue, Gargamel’s cat pounced upon them. “Azrael!” Smurfette screeched. “Run, guys!” Misty cried. “Take that!” Gutsy yelled, throwing a stick right at the cat’s face as they ran for their lives. The ponies and the Smurfs, except Clumsy, all clambered up a tree. Smurfette was the last to start climbing, so she couldn’t get enough height. Azrael latched onto her hair and didn’t let go. “Smurfette!” Pipp cried. “My hair!” Smurfette cried. “Get back, cat!”
At Smurfette’s kick, the cat let go, but not before getting a mouthful of her hair. Way to go, Smurfette!” Clumsy cheered. The cheering caught Azrael’s attention, and Clumsy immediately scrambled toward the bench. “Take one for the team, Clumsy!” Grouchy said. Clumsy jumped onto the bench, but Azrael was right on his heels, and he nipped and clawed at the Smurf, causing him to lose his balance and fall into Patrick’s box.
Before Azrael could dig into the cardboard, Patrick walked up and placed another box on top. He picked the boxes up and stared at Azrael, who simply meowed and walked away. “Clumsy!” Sunny cried. “What a numptie…” Gutsy groaned. “Quickly, to the mechanical wago!.” Papa ordered as they continued to climb. “Why don’t we got around the tree?” Grouchy sarcastically proposed, but he was ignored as they continued on.
XXXXXXXX
Azrael hopped onto a trash bin where he was soon spotted by Gargamel. “There you are,” he said. “By all means, relax here in the fresh air and the sunshine while my missing Smurfs could be anywhere!!”
“Meow!” Azrael held up a paw. “What? Where?”
Azrael looked to the trees, causing Gargamel to look that way and saw the Smurfs and ponies climbing through the tree and scurrying through the steel towering of the entryway. “Come on! Try and stay with me, Smurfs!” Gutsy said. “I’m getting too old for this,” Papa wheezed. “Slow down. This is really high up...” Misty wobbled across the scaffold before she slipped on the metal below her hooves. “Whoa!” said Hitch. “Careful, Misty!”
“Hey, hey!” Gargamel yelled as he began chasing the cab. “Seventh Street, from First and A, please.” Patrick said from within the cab, and the group conversed while they waited to make their move.
“Come on, Smurfs!”
“I really don’t like heights…”
“Just don’t look down, Brainy!”
““Come back here, wretched Smurfs!” Gargamel continued to shout. “Hurry!” Smurfette said quickly. “A jump from this height will knock the blue out of us!” Brainy exclaimed.”Lucky for us. We’re not blue!” Pipp said as she and her sister flew down to the car, and the others luckily made the leap, Papa almost slipping off. But as Smurfette and Gutsy went to help Papa, Misty suddenly gasped as she saw the wizard on their tail. “Gargamel!”
“Oh dear…” Papa said worriedly. “Wait, wait. I forgot my phone.” Patrick said. The cab came to a sudden halt. Gargamel couldn’t stop in time and face-planted into the cab’s back window. He flopped to the ground as soon as Patrick fished his phone out of his pocket. “Never mind. Here it is.”
“Take that you ugly wizard!” Zipp taunted as the cab began to roll away. “You had that coming for about 30 years!” Gutsy joked. “SMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURFS!!!!!!!!” Gargamel cried in anguish, just before he picked up an Angelou business card. If this was a clue to the Smurfs, he might as well pick it up and use it.
XXXXXXXX
The Smurfs couldn’t believe their eyes as they traveled around New York City, and so were the ponies. Zipp had remembered seeing New York on a map, but didn’t wanna spoil the wonder for the Smurfs, so she kept quiet. “This village is amazing, Papa!” Smurfette said. “Yes, and likely very dangerous,” Papa warned. “Until we rescue Clumsy and get back home, I need you all to stay close and do exactly as I say.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okie dokie!
“If you say so...”
“You can count on us, Papa.”
That’s when they began to get looks from passing people on the street. “They can see us! Camouflage!” Brainy told his fellow Smurfs, pressing up against the blue topper on the taxi. “Blend in…”
“I think it only works if you’re blue, but… whatever floats your boat,” Zipp said. “Now all we gotta do is enjoy the ride.”
XXXXXXXX
It was late at night when the taxi came to a stop in front of a tall apartment building, and they pulled up right beside another tree. “Yay!” Izzy cheered. “We get to climb another tree!”
“Yay…” Grouchy muttered sarcastically, and once they were either on or flying above the tree branch, they watched Patrick carry his boxes from the taxi and into the building. “Oh…” Misty’s ears pinned. “I sure hope Clumsy can breathe inside that box…”
“How in the world are we supposed to find Clumsy inside that huge apartment building?” Hitch asked. “Especially when we’re this size.”
“I could,” said Brainy, “attempt to smurf the probability…”
“Brainy!” Zipp and Pipp scolded. “We’ll look through every window,” Papa told the group. “I don’t do windows,” Grouchy protested, but a look from Zipp instantly silenced him. “Come on, gang… let’s get looking before anything else goes wrong.”
XXXXXXXX
Patrick walked through the apartment door where his wife, Grace, and unborn child were waiting. “Grace?”
“Hello?”
“Guess what?” Patrick asked, laying down the boxes. “Guess what, guess what?”
Grace got up from her chair as their dog Elway watched from his dog bed. “Okay. They invented a zero-calorie pizza.”
“No, but that’s a good idea.”
“Yes. They found…” Grace stopped and hummed pleasantly. “Baby kicked.”
After they kissed each other tenderly, Grace's eyes fell down toward her widened stomach. “Please say hello.”
Patrick obliged and took a seat on their sofa to talk to the baby, not knowing that Clumsy was watching them. “Hello, little sea-monkey,” Patrick said. “This is the sound of my voice. Hello, son or daughter. Hello... hellooooo....”
“That is not the sound of your voice. That is the sound of a robot,” Grace chuckled. “Our child is gonna be attached to the toaster.”
“Or the new VP of marketing.” Patrick said knowingly, and this caused Grace to gasp. “No. No! Oh, my goodness! Oh, my gosh!” she said excitedly, hugging her husband. “It’s… it’s provisional,” Patrick commented. “If I wow Cruella de Odile, then I’ll keep the job. If not, then my head will be on a pike next to the last guy.”
“Well, wow you will! You wowed me,” Grace assured. “But I have two days,” Patrick said. “Oh, yikes.”
“I know. What if I don’t get them done in time?”
“Oh, no, you can’t come to the ultrasound,” Grace realized, a bit crestfallen. “Unless… wait, the backup ads we have did fine in focus groups. I could retool those. I’d have to work around the clock,” Patrick typed on his computer while his wife watched from nearby. It seems that the Smurfs were not the only ones that the Equestrians needed to help with.
XXXXXXXX
Gargamel sighed, sitting on a park bench in the dead of night. “Oh, Azrael, we’ve come so far, yet ever I am haunted by the same familiar riddle,” he said depressingly. “How to find the Smurfs.”
Azrael began to cough and hack, ruining Gargamel's concentration. “If only I… I’m sorry, is my thinking interrupting your vile hacking?” he sneered. “If only I had something of theirs. A drop of spittle. A fingernail. Some hair, even. Then I could make some Smurf magic.”
As he finished, Azrael coughed up, what look to be, a pile of fur. He shook his head and look up to the evil wizard. “Very nice. Are you done now?” Gargamel asked sarcastically. “Murr-weow.”
“I don’t want to look at it.”
Azrael rolled his eyes and prodded the pile of fur closer to Gargamel. “Meow!”
“What? What?” Gargamel asked irritated. That’s when he noticed it. “Is that… no. No, it can’t be,” the wizard said in disbelief picking up a tuff of the fur. “It is. The tawny locks of Smurfette. Sweet follicular ambrosia! Silky strands of joy. Mixed with a fair amount of cat vomit.”
Gargamel wiped the saliva away right on Azrael’s face, who wasn’t very pleased by the notion. “Yes. Yes, I am a genius!” Gargamel said standing up. “With my skills, even this small trifle of smurfiness will yield me just enough power to catch them all! “I must find a laboratory with which to tease the magic from these precious little strands.”
Gargamel quickly looked around and spotted a large blue port-a-John surround by barriers. “Yes, it’s a bit small, but it will do nicely.”
Gargamel opened the door and walked inside with Azrael following behind. “It’s even got its own cauldron.”
That’s when they were assaulted by the smell.
“Meow?”
“Oh, what died in here?”
Suddenly, that horrendous smell became stronger. Both wizard and cat panicked and tried the to get the door open again. “Open! Open! Open! Open! Open!!!!!!”
Once they finally got it open, they both walked dizzily out from the horrid stench. “Somebody’s been working on a dark and terrible magic in there.” Gargamel coughed. Then he noticed something else. In the distance, there appeared to be a castle of some kind, with some kind of light glowing inside. “What is that?”
Once they made it toward the castle, Gargamel opened a pair of basement doors and walked inside. Once inside, they found themselves in a spacious room full of trinkets and other random assortment of items. “Oh, ho, ho. Oh, baby.” Gargamel said devilishly. “Daddy is home.”
“This way, everypony!” Zipp strained as she and the rest of the ponies led the remaining Smurfs up the large fire escape stairs toward the top of the building. “I got a good feeling about this level!”
Hitch sighed drastically. “That’s what you said about the LAST three levels!”
“Not to disagree on the tired feeling, Hitch, but… Papa?” Brainy spoke up nervously. “I'm familiar with 613 shades of blue, and that moon is not one of them.”
Turns out, he was right-- the moon was the same shade of milky white as it usually was, and this sparked worry among the Smurfs. “Stay calm, everyone,” Papa reassured. “If the portal opened once, it can open again.”
“But,” Misty spoke, “how are we gonna open a magical portal when we can't even find Clumsy?”
“We can’t give up,” Sunny told her, helping her onto the next step. “We just have to keep looking.”
“Hey…” Gutsy said, pointing toward a nearby window. “I think I see something from up there!”
“Well, what are we waiting for, then?” Izzy chirped, bouncing up the stairs. “Let’s go!”
XXXXXXXX
Grace had retired to bed early that night, and Patrick was at work in his office, giving Clumsy enough time to sneak out of the box and into the empty living room. But when he saw Patrick’s shadow, he began to get nervous and backed into something…
…something cold and slimy.
And breathing.
He turned and saw that he had backed right into the dog’s snout, causing him to wake and chase after him as Izzy and Gutsy climbed up to the window. “Clumsy?” Izzy called in a whisper. “Is that you?”
That’s when Gutsy spotted the box Clumsy climbed into. This was the right apartment all right… but what they didn’t know was that Clumsy wasn’t exactly in the box.
XXXXXXXX
“HELP!! HELP!!” Clumsy screamed as he was chased by Elway down the hall to the bathroom, where he was able to shut the door and climb inside the sink for safety.
That was far too close for comfort in his opinion. The last thing he needed was to be eaten alive by a Smurf-eating dog.
As he looked around the white-tiled bathroom, Clumsy suddenly spotted a soap dispenser next to him, interest peaking. “Berry Boom…” he muttered to himself, thinking it was some sort of pump-up dessert… and it didn’t sound bad.
Well, in a Smurf’s opinion, don’t knock it till you’ve smurfed it.
Clumsy climbed out of the sink and pumped the liquid into his mouth, finding it to taste strange… and not like berries.
That wasn’t even the weirdest part.
After his stomach grumbled, he burped up a bubble, which startled him into backing up, causing him to accidentally turn on a hair dryer, which blew him into the toilet.
Grace stirred to see Elway pawing at the door, not wanting to deal with it right now. “Patrick…!”
Unfortunately, Patrick was too busy in the next couple rooms over to hear her. In the bathroom, Clumsy managed to grab the long chain that flushed the toilet, but in an attempt to not get flushed down, he grabbed the toilet paper roll, only for the toilet paper to spill into the toilet, and Clumsy fell into it again.
Grace sighed as Elway continued to paw at the door... if Patrick wasn't going to do anything about it, she supposed that she would have to.
Meanwhile the Smurfs and ponies had finally made it the box. “I’m sure this is the box,” Papa said. “Oh, when I get my hands on him...” Grouchy muttered angrily. “Now’s not the time, Grouchy,” Sunny said. Suddenly, Pipp gasped upon hearing a sound. “Someone’s coming!”
“Smurfs!”
Grace opened the door and Elway immediately ran in and dipped his head into the toilet bowl.
“No, no, no, no. Come on, come on. Please, please,” she pulled the dog away from the bowl and peered inside to see it clogged with toilet paper. “Elway. Did you do that? That’s… ugh...”
Back with the Smurfs and the ponies they had finally got the box open, only to find that Clumsy wasn’t inside. “Oh, dear,” Papa sighed. “Where did he go?” Hitch wondered. “This guy is starting to get on my nerves...” Zipp groaned. “Welcome to the club,” Grouchy said. “Now what, lads?” Gutsy asked. “What happened to Clumsy?” Smurfette whimpered. Sunny then noticed a silhouette coming from behind a glass door. “Quick, hide!”
The ponies and Smurfs all dove into the box and closed the lid just as Patrick came through the door. He looked at the box with suspicion and picked it up.
At the same time, Grace had pulled on the matted toilet paper out with a toilet brush. “Gross.”
Patrick placed the box in his office as Grace slowly walked over the garbage can. That’s when she noticed a lump in the wet mass began to wiggle and squirm and began to panic.
Patrick opened the box and saw the Smurfs and ponies staring right at him. His eyes widened and as the others gasped. “Well…” Sunny gulped. “We’ve definitely been spotted.”
Clumsy finally dug his way out of the papery mess, but was now face to face with Grace. The two screamed in fear at each other. Patrick and the other Smurfs and ponies did the same.
Grace swung the toilet brush away, sending Clumsy into the window, causing him to groan in pain. Luckily, Misty was able to recognize the sound of Clumsy's groaning. “That’s Clumsy!”
“Charge, Smurfs! Charge!” Gutsy yelled and the ponies and Smurfs jumped out of the box, sending Patrick to the floor and began scattering around looking for Clumsy. “Excuse me!” Sunny said. “Pardon me!”
“This is for Clumsy!” Grouchy kicked Patrick in the face. Meanwhile, Grace was still panicking over the blue thing that came out from the toilet. “Please don’t hurt me! Please! I just want to go home!” Clumsy begged. “D-D-Did you just talk?” Grace asked inching toward him. “I’m not saying till you put down the giant… spiky… thing.”
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile the other Smurfs and ponies were busy searching for Clumsy.
“Clumsy where are you?”
“Make yourself known!”
“Smurf us a sign!”
“Come out, Clumsy!”
“Where do you go?”
“Smurf out, smurf out, wherever you are.”
“Come to my voice, laddie.”
Patrick crawled over a basket and grabbed an umbrella from it. “Get out of here!” he called out and swung the umbrella, and Pipp, Gutsy and Brainy narrowly avoided the attack. “Too much aggression!” Brainy exclaimed. “Go back to the sewers!” Patrick continued, but luckily, Grouchy was able to distract him while Gutsy grabbed a hold of him. “You all find Clumsy! The giant is mine!”
Patrick tried to wack Gutsy off, but only succeeded in hitting himself. “Over here, ponies and Smurfs!” Papa gestures to the hallway, and the Smurfs and ponies followed while Gutsy was able to get Patrick to whack himself in the head with the umbrella and send him down to the floor again.
XXXXXXXX
“Okay so you’re like…You’re blue, and…” Grace said, upon realizing what she was about to do, instantly put the toilet brush down. “Oh, gosh, are you okay?”
“Hurry, guys!” Sunny’s voice was heard down the hall. “This way!”
“I think they’re in here!” Hitch cried. “This way! This way!” Grouchy exclaimed. “Follow me, Smurfs,” Papa said. Just then, Elway appeared and began chasing them down the hall again. “Other way!” Misty shrieked. “Other way!”
“Run, Smurfs!” Papa exclaimed. “This is why we can’t have nice things.” Zipp said, and they ran past Patrick as Elway tackled him to the floor. “Clumsy, where the smurf are you?” Grouchy asked irritated. The Smurfs and ponies scattered as Elway tackled Patrick a second time. Gutsy took action and began tying Patrick’s hands together. “Stop bleating like sheep and let me hog-tie you, you wriggly numptie!”
“Grace, we’re being attacked!” Patrick called to his wife. “Do not be fooled by their cuteness!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Grace said walking over to him with Clumsy in her hands as the other Smurfs and ponies stood at her feet with Elway. “They're friendly.”
“You’re lucky your lassie stepped in,” Gutsy warned Patrick as he got off his back. “I was about to make haggis with you innards.”
Patrick looked up at Grace who just gave a confused smile. Then, he passed out, causing Sunny to chuckle nervously. “I guess we better explain this more in detail.”
The next day, we turn our attention back to Gargamel at his newfound castle. He chuckled deviously as he held the locks of Smurfette’s hair in his hand. “This is it. This is it, Azrael ” Gargamel said, walking over to his new contraption. “Smurfette’s hair goes in here, flows through the Smurf essence extractor, and finally, I have my Smurfilator!”
Steamed gushed from the contraption as it got to work. “It’s the pièce de résistance. The crème de la…” Gargamel paused, seeing that Azrael was busy cleaning himself to listen. “Would you care for a mint when you’re done?”
Ar once, a blue aura began swirling from within the popcorn machine. “Yes, yes, yes!” the wizard said excitedly. “With this precious elixir, my sorcerous spell shall be powerful beyond all measurable…measurements.”
Azrael stood up and watched Gargamel as he held an open ring beneath a nozzle, and as he turned the handle, a droplet of blue liquid leaked out and dropped into the ring. “This one tiny drop will give me the power to capture them all!”
Azrael stared at it with interest as Gargamel turned to him with an evil smirk.
XXXXXXXX
Back with the Smurfs, ponies, and the Winslows, the group was busy preparing breakfast for everybody, all the while singing a happy tune. Gutsy was having the time of his life riding the juicer, while Clumsy and Izzy happily filled a glass up with the orange juice.
La la la la la la, sing a happy song La la la la la la, smurf the whole day long
Grace only chuckled as Pipp, Sparky, Misty and Smurfette washed strawberries under the spicket of the sink.
Next time you’re feeling blue Just let a smile begin Happy things will come to you So Smurf yourself a grin
All the while, Zipp, Hitch and Grouchy were struggling to activate the toaster nearby. “Ugh, I hate being small...” Hitch grumbled, pushing down hard on the level. “It’s so obvious that what you’re doing is wrong!” Brainy walked up to them. “Oh ho, really?” Grouchy smirked. “After you then.”
“How crazy is this?” Grace asked her husband. “There are little blue people, a baby dragon and colorful ponies singing in our kitchen.”
Finally, Zipp kicked the lever on the toaster, sending Brainy flying into Patrick's bowl of cereal. “So you’re sticking with your 'This is actually happening' theory?”
“Sorry,” Brainy said timidly as Grace and the ponies giggled. “Okay...” Patrick said, turning to his computer. “It says here Smurfs are mythical creatures from Belgium, also known as Schtroumpfs. Documented by Peyo.”
“Huh, interesting,” Misty said. “Also says that they bring good luck. Like leprechauns for the Irish,” Grace added. “It says they’re mythical, Grace.”
“Whoaaaaaa!!!” Izzy shrieked as she flew off of the juicer and onto Patrick's computer in a daze. “I’m so sorry, Master Winslow,” Papa said sincerely. “Well, they look pretty real to me,” Grace said. “And what about the ponies and dragon?”
“Couldn’t find anything about them, aside from a children’s cartoon,” Patrick said. “Well, that’s a bit lame,” Zipp pouted in disappointment. “Doesn’t that make us mythical, too?” Izzy asked. “If anything, it makes us fictional.” Pipp pointed out. Patrick wiped the juice off his computer as Grace looked to see Clumsy giving Elway the best belly rub the dog ever experienced. “Okay, to review,” Patrick said with his computer in hand. “You guys come from a magical forest where you live in oversized mushrooms.”
“Yes,” Papa confirmed. “You’re being chased by an evil wizard.”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re trapped in New York until there’s a blue moon.”
“Very good.”
“And you like to use the extremely imprecise term 'Smurf' for just about everything.”
“Smurfxactly.” Brainy said, only for Sunny to chuckle nervously. “Well, they do, but we don’t.”
Patrick turned to the Smurfs on the counter “And you’re all named after your personalities? Do you get your names when you’re born, or after you’ve exhibited certain traits?”
“Yeah,” Clumsy said. “Yep,” Smurfette said happily. “Yeah, whatever,” Grouchy grumbled. “Master Winslow, there must be something about the blue moon on your magic window machine,” Papa said. “Whoa! Just what is this magic searching device?” Brainy asked. “Right now, I’m using Google.”
“Oooh... Goooooogle...”
Patrick stared at the Smurfs, creeped out before he looked up the blue moon on the computer. “Blue moon. A full moon that occurs twice in one month. A figurative construct, much like yourselves…”
“Hey!” Hitch huffed, offended. “But, the moon itself doesn’t appear to be blue.” Patrick finished.
“What?” the ponies asked in surprise. “Not blue?” Smurfette said with disappointment. “Great...” Grouchy said sarcastically. “Now you'll never get home!” Misty said, crestfallen, but Papa was quick to reassure them. “No cause for alarm, my little ponies and Smurfs. If we’re to open the portal home, I’ll just have to smurf us a potion to invoke the blue moon.”
“He can do that?” Pipp asked in a whisper. “He's Papa Smurf!” Sunny excitedly said. “He can do anything! And I'm willing to do whatever I can to help.”
“You hear that, honey? They’re only staying till an actual blue moon rises.” Patrick said sarcastically. “Which could happen if the little blue Santa man and the tiny orange horse make a magic potion, which, at this point, seems completely plausible.”
Grouchy popped out of the cup of milk Patrick was carry with a half-eaten strawberry. “Wanna bite?”
“No, thank you.”
“Of course, the stars will need to be perfectly aligned. And when that might be is hard to determine without the proper instrument.” Papa said, studying the picture of the moon on the computer. “Master Winslow, might I borrow your stargazer?”
“My what-whatzer?”
“Uh, oh. He doesn’t have a stargazer? Do you?” Gutsy asked, and Clumsy began to feel a sense of overwhelming guilt. “This is all my fault...”
“We’re all gonna die... we’re all gonna die!” Brainy began to panic. “Smurf out of it, scaredy-brains! One Panicky Smurf is enough!” Gutsy said grabbing Brainy by his shoulders. “Besides, Papa had a vision, and everything turns out Smurfy.” Smurfette added. “Right, Papa?”
Everyone looked to the elder Smurf, and Papa looked over to Sunny, who gave him an unsure look. “Yes, yes. It all turns out just fine,” Papa said worriedly. But... he honestly wished he was as sure about such as his little Smurfs believed him to be.
XXXXXXXX
Gargamel wandered the streets with Azrael, looking for the man that kidnapped his beloved Smurfs. “We must find this Smurf thief!” he said as Azrael meowed a complaint. “Stop your complaining! If I were a Smurf, where would I go?”
That’s when he began to ask people passing him by on the street, first approaching a young man on the phone. “You there, you there. Fancy pants. Have you seen any little blue men?”
“Absolutely. What price are we talking about?”
“You’re selling them?” Gargamel asked in confusion as a mom and her daughter walked by, and she too was on the phone. “Have you looked in the drawer, sweetie?”
“Wait, what drawer?”
“In the kitchen, Lily!”
“Who is this Lily?”
“Are you kidding?” said a man in a plaid shirt. “She's the hottest girl in my department.”
That’s when Gargamel chose to stop him. “Please, please. Please, young woodsman What does the temperature of this Lily have to do with the finding of Smurfs?”
“Take your meds, man,” the ‘woodsman’ stormed off, leaving Gargamel even more confused than before. “Is everyone in this realm completely insane?!”
That’s when a homeless man wheeled a shopping cart by, making Gargamel think he was another wizard. “Pardon me, wise sir? By any chance, have you seen any little blue men?”
“They’re everywhere!” the homeless man said before he wheeled off, and Gargamel became increasingly excited. “I knew it. I knew it! I told you we were close, Azrael.”
Azrael meowed in frustration… this was going to take a while.
XXXXXXXX
At the same time, Papa Smurf was handing out smurfberry rations to everyone in the group-- even the ponies. “Now, just take one, everybody. We have to make sure our smurfberries last.”
“Great…” Grouchy muttered as Izzy took a bite out of her berry, instantly lighting up at the taste. “We're gonna be here how long?”
“Not long, Grouchy,” Sunny smiled. “First thing, we gotta do is find a stargazer. Next, find a book of spells and then smurf you guys up a portal so you can get home! Really simple, everypony.”
Misty sighed. “If defeating Opaline or my mom was that easy, we’d never have to worry about anything again…”
Behind them, Patrick adjusted his tie and gave Elway a pat on the head before he started to head out the door. “Someone looks smurfalish!” Smurfette said. “Uh…” Misty blinked. “Why are you wearing a dog leash?”
“It’s a tie,” Patrick said, unsure of how else to explain it. “Does it… keep your neck warm?” Grouchy asked. “No,” Patrick answered. “Clearly,” said Brainy, “it functions as an aid in his craft, like a blacksmith's apron.”
“I wear it because it's what everyone wears at work,” Patrick explained. “What are you anyway?” Izzy asked. “A pasty giant?”
“I try to get people to buy things by analyzing market trend predictions.”
“Predictions!” Brainy cried. “He’s a fortune teller!”
“Look, I would love to explain,” Patrick said sarcastically, “but I am super late. I gotta go. I really don't have time for this.”
Suddenly, Smurfette gasped as she saw Grace entering the room, wearing a different dress. “What?!” she squealed. “You had one outfit on, and now you're wearing something completely different.”
“Now, Smurfette,” said Papa, “she probably got the other one dirty. Let's not embarrass her.”
“Sorry…”
“Thank you for letting us stay in your… er, mushroom, Miss Grace,” Zipp said with a smile. “It’s really nice.”
“Well, thank you. I'm glad you like it,” Grace said as she knelt down to their level. “I like our little mushroom, too. But you know, somebody wants a bigger mushroom.”
“But… then you’d be further apart,” Smurfette spoke, and Grace nodded in agreement. “You said it, sister. Okay, I've gotta go. I've got an appointment. I've got a baby on the way, so…”
“Wait wait,” Patrick stopped his wife. “We can't just leave them here alone, without an adult.”
“Uh… we’re grown ponies, if you haven’t noticed,” Hitch said cockily. “Sparky is the baby of the group.”
This caused Papa to chuckle. “I’m 546 years old.”
“Of course you are,” Patrick said sarcastically. “Actually, that’s pretty true,” Sunny said. “An alicorn we once faced was over 1000 moons old, so Papa being half that age shouldn’t be that different.”
“They’ll be fine, they’ll be fine,” Grace told her husband before leaving. But before Patrick left, he turned to the group again. “By the way, I wouldn't go anywhere if I were you.”
“Uh… why the hay not?” Pipp asked with a raised eyebrow. “Our world doesn't do well with visitors from other places. I mean, look what happened to E.T.”
“...huh?” the ponies chorused. “The movie?” Patrick tried to explain. “It’s a moving picture book…? Just stay, okay?”
And just like that, Patrick left the room, leaving the ponies and Smurfs alone to themselves. “Great…” Grouchy muttered. “He's gone and we still don't have a stargazer.”
“Izzy, you think you can unicycle something to be a temporary stargazer?” Smurfette asked. “Well… I’m a little too small to carry much of anything,” Izzy frowned. “Sorry. Maybe we can find one outside the apartment?”
“The same place Patrick told us NOT to go?” Hitch raised an eyebrow. “Wait a smurf… I think Izzy is onto something!” Brainy said. “If he's a fortune teller, he reads stars all the time. Ergo, it's at his place of business.”
“Excellent work, Brainy!” Papa praised with a grin. “Well then, what are we waiting for?” Zipp said, galloping past Brainy. “Let's wing it!”
“Come on, guys!”
“Let's go get that stargazer!”
“Yeah!”
But the second Clumsy tripped over his own two feet, Papa sighed worriedly, not sure if bringing Clumsy around would change the outcome of their mission. “Clumsy, I think it might be best if you stay here. You know? Smurf an eye on the mushroom.”
Clumsy looked at everyone else, either giving him unsure and sympathetic glances while some didn't even make eye contact. “Yeah, that's what I was thinking.”
“We'll be back soon, I promise,” Sunny told him with a smile. “Come on, guys-- let's get going and follow Mr. Winslow before he gets too far.”
Clumsy sighed and sat down on the couch as the group made their way toward the window. “Well, I can smurf an eye on the mushroom.”
“Smurfs away!” Hitch cheered as they leapt down to the staircase, where they saw Patrick getting into the 'mechanical wagon' below them. “Clearly,” said Brainy, “that distance is too great...”
“Off you go~!” Gutsy said before kicking Brainy off the ledge, causing the others to jump and follow them, the sisters using their wings to slow the descent of themselves and their friends, while the Smurfs used their hats as parachutes to make it to the taxi before it drove off into the busy streets of the Big Apple.
XXXXXXXX
It seemed to be a good drive before the taxi made a full and complete stop in front of a tall building. “We're stopping,” Papa told the group. “Hold on tight.”
Pipp groaned under Grouchy's tight squeeze. “Not onto me, Grouchy!”
“Oh, did I do that? Sorry...”
“Keep the change,” Patrick said to the taxi driver as he got out of the car, and that's when the group made their move. “Master Winslow!” Papa cried out. “We really need your help!”
“Yoo-hoo!” Misty waved in greeting. “What are you doing here?!” Patrick asked them in a hushed tone. “What part of 'we need a stargazer' don't you understand, you numptie?” Gutsy asked as Patrick looked around. “You can't be out in public!”
“Who are you talking to?” the taxi driver asked, and Patrick flashed a reassuring smile. “If we could just have a quick look around in your predicting parlour…” Papa said. “We really want to go home,” Izzy pleaded. “Come on, man, I gotta go!”
Patrick looked around, knowing there wasn’t a whole lot of options to work with. Finally, he conceded. “Fine. Just come here, come here.”
Quicker than anyone could expect, Patrick grabbed the Smurfs and ponies one by one and stuffed them into his coat. “Hey, what are you doing?” Hitch asked in surprise. “All of you. Trust me.”
“Hey, watch the smurfberries!” Gutsy clamored. “I’m not going… hey!” Grouchy yelped. “This just got really awkward.” Zipp stated. “All of you, just be quiet.” Patrick murmured as he made his way over to the building entrance. “It’s dark in here,” Brainy complained. “All right,” said Grouchy, “who just smurfed?”
Patrick tried to nonchalantly get to his office, but that was easier said than done with a bunch of squirming ponies and Smurfs in his coat.
“Hey! Get your hand off of my kilt.”
“That’s not my hand!”
“It suddenly got really sweaty in here...”
“Hey, ticklish.” Patrick winced and did his best being discrete by greeting others workers as he worked by. “Morning. Morning.”
“Good morning, Mr. Winslow,” a co-worker greeted. “Congratulations on your promotion.”
“Thank you.” Patrick said before he peered down his suit. “I hope you guys like desk drawers, because that’s where…”
“You’re late.” Odile said critically from in front of him. “OOOOdile” Patrick played off casually. “You were in my office.”
“It’s my building, and we have much work to do,” his boss said. “The launch of Jouvenel is tomorrow night. Is your concept ready?”
“Close. I had a crazy morning,” Patrick admitted, dramatically shuffling in place from the movement under his clothes. “What are you doing?” Odile asked. “Nothing. I’m excited. I’m excited about all the concept ideas,” Patrick said quickly, punching his gut. “And hungry. Sorry. Hungry for its success.”
“Nervous energy,” Odile said with an amused smiled. “Nervous energy’s what’s going on up in here,” Patrick pointed up to his head. “I like it.” Odile said. “The fear of failure is a fabulous motivator.”
As she walked away, Patrick was approached by another higher-up. “Henri.”
“Make it work.” Henri said ominously before also walking away. “You have no idea.”
“What is this?”
“Why do I get the armpit?”
“Stop pushing me.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“Go easy on the cologne tomorrow.”
Patrick then entered his office, making sure the doors were shut tight so none of them could get out and no one heard what he was saying. “Are you crazy?” he asked as he dropped the Smurfs and ponies onto his desk. “You’re gonna get me fired!”
“My hair.” Smurfette said sadly as Patrick began to cover the windows. “I couldn’t even breathe in there. It smelled like the business end of a sheep,” Gutsy said. “I don’t see a stargazer,” Hitch said looking around as he kept Sparky close. “I'm sorry, Master Winslow,” said Papa, “but we badly need to borrow your stargazer.”
“I don’t have a stargazer, okay?” Patrick said irritated. “It’s not something people of this century just have, especially here.”
“Not happy.” Grouchy grumbled. “So, we through all that for nothing?” Izzy asked dejectedly. “I’m not happy about either,” Patrick said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
“Well, perhaps we could sing to help things along.” Papa offered. “And then we’ll get the stargazer. Come along, everyone.”
All: La la la la la la Sing a happy song
La la la la la la Smurf the whole day long
“Stop.”
La la la la la la
“STOP!!” Patrick shouted, and the singing died down almost immediately. “Come on. None of you find that song just the tiniest bit annoying?”
“I find it annoying,” Grouchy raised his hand, only for Pipp to nudge him scoldingly. “I think he means other than you, Grouchy.”
“Well, what do you sing at work?” Papa asked. “I don’t sing at work.” Patrick replied, and this caused the group to gasp. “What?!”
“No singing at all?!”
“And you have to wear a leash?” Harsh.”
“I know. How about we hum,” Smurfette said, and the Smurfs began humming the same tune, but after a moment, Patrick stopped that as well. “I need to hone in my message here.”
“Oh, I’ve got a message,” Brainy said. “Always chew with your mouth closed. Papa taught us that.”
“That’s good. You should use that.” Papa said. “Or, dance and be happy.” Smurfette chimed in. “How about, 'Grab life by that grapes'?” Sunny said. “Turn that frown upside down.”
“Always bet on blue.”
“Have a Smurfy day.”
“I kissed a Smurf and I like it?”
Patrick and ponies gave Smurfette a weird look. “It’s an embarrassment of riches,” Papa said. “They’re giving you gold here.”
“Thank you.”
“Master Winslow, you’ll know it’s the right message if it comes from the heart. Right, Smurfs?”
“You said it.”
“Absolutely.”
“Of course.”
Grouchy sighed and rolled his eyes before glancing up at Patrick. “Welcome to my world.”
As the Smurfs and ponies were causing a huge amount of stress for Patrick at his office, Gargamel and Azrael were out on the streets, Gargamel dancing through the smoke being created from the nearby building, chuckling to himself. “I love emerging dramatically through the smoke!” he grinned. “It makes... It makes me feel so deliciously mysterious. Also, it gives the skin a wonderful glow.”
“Meow!” Azrael cried upon seeing the same building with the logo on the business card they got yesterday. “What?” Gargamel looked around. “Where? Where?”
“Meow!”
Upon seeing the logo, Gargamel pulled out the business card, but upside down, making him frown in frustration. “Curses! So close!”
“Meow!”
“What?”
“Meow-ow!”
Gargamel seemed to understand what his cat was saying, and flipped the card the right way so he could see that the logos did match up. “Theirs is upside-down,” he muttered to himself, causing Azrael to roll his eyes. “Idiots. They painted it wrong. Come, Azrael.”
XXXXXXXX
Grace would have expected all the Smurfs and ponies to be at the house by the time she got back from the doctor, but when she got there, she only found Clumsy outside on the balcony. “Hey,” she greeted the hard-working Smurf. “What are you doing?”
“Just greening things up a bit,” Clumsy explained, finishing up touches to the garden he was making. “That’s so sweet,” Grace smiled. “That's very sweet but, you know, I'm not so sure this stuff's gonna grow out here.”
“We'll see. Smurfs have a very blue thumb.”
Grace looked around, but didn’t see any other Smurfs or tiny ponies out there on the balcony with Clumsy. “So where is everybody else?”
“They went to get a stargazer so Papa can smurf a blue moon to get us home.”
“And they went without you?”
“Yeah,” Clumsy shrugged. “I mean, who knows why?”
At that ironic moment, Clumsy leaned against a pot which tipped over and fell to the ground with a crash.
“Hey!” someone yelled from down below. “Sorry!” Grace apologized. “Why don’t we come inside?”
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Gargamel was searching around in that particular building he (when it was really Azrael) found earlier. “Smurfs, where are you?”
Suddenly, the evil wizard heard voices around a corner and inconspicuously walked around. One of the people talking happened to be Odile, standing in front of a model sitting in a chair next to her. “This new anti-aging cream can make any woman look beautiful, young, vibrant. It’s almost magical.”
Once he got close enough, Gargamel studied the older woman’s face. “I see no transformation.” He said. “Your potion has no power.”
“Excuse me?” Odile sounded offended as Gargamel continued. “Well, she’s still an eye-offending dogfish, if you ask me.”
“Sir!” Henri chastised as the older woman got up from her chair. “This is my mother who you’re speaking of!” Odile hissed angrily. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize,” Gargamel said in a fake tone. “How sad for you in 30 years.”
“Henri, escort this lunatic out,” Odile ordered harshly. “Security!” Henri called out.
“I am the great and powerful Gargamel!” the wizard yelled before be grabbed a hair stick from another woman. “Lunatic. Could a lunatic do this?”
He dipped the hair stick in the Smurf essence and waved it at Odile's mother. Her grey hair colored back to a beautiful brown, her skin vacated all aging spots, and her body shrink and plumped up in all the right places.
The crowd all gasped at the transformation, and Odile was the most surprised, other than her mother. “How did you do that?!”
“Yes, and seriously, me next!” Henri added.
“So sorry, but lunatics and great wizards never reveal their secrets.” Gargamel scoffed. Odile's mother gasped and passed out as she saw herself in a mirror as Gargamel began walking away. “Come, Azrael! Now, where are those Smurfs?”
“No, no, no, no, no! Don’t go!” Odile begged, chasing after him. “I need to know what you just did.”
“Not telling.” Gargamel shot back. “Please, señor. Can you do that again?”
Gargamel looked down to Odile hand that was wrapped around his arm. “You may attempt to persuade me.”
“What is that you desire?” Odile asked slyly. “Riches? Fame? Fortune? With my help, the whole world will know the name that is Garbagesmell.”
The wizard gave her a deadpanned look. “Gargamel.”
“Yes. With my help, the whole world will know the genius that is Gargamel.”
“I’m…” Gargamel stopped and stomped on the laughing Azrael’s tail who yelped in pain. “I’m sorry. Did you just say “genius”?”
XXXXXXXX
Back at the Winslows' apartment, Clusmy and Grace were busy conversing while Grace painted a tiny cabinet. “So, even though I’m what you might call accident-prone, on the bright side, I did land us all here in your little mushroom, and we got to meet you and Patrick. And Sunny and all her friends-- and you're all really great,” Clumsy said. “You’re so sweet. And I know how you feel. I’m so clumsy, too,” Grace said as she got up. “Well, I used to be.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“So how long did it take you to…” Clumsy slipped off the cabinet and into a wooden box, causing Grace to wince. “...gosh. Un-fumble your feet?”
“Well, about as long as it takes to realize that nobody’s just one thing,” Grace said softly. “You can be anything you want.”
“Hero Smurf.” Clumsy put his hands to his hips, smiling before he brushed away the thought. “Probably not.”
“Well, those ponies seem to have an awful lot of faith in you,” Grace said. “I can't believe that this is really happening.”
“Neither could we when we showed up in this place and when Sunny and her friends appeared from out of nowhere,” Clumsy shrugged. “Hard to believe they still haven't found their magic crystal yet.”
“What sort of crystal do they need?”
“One shaped like a star with six points. I better explain the whole story so you know what they need to look for. Maybe if we find it, I can surprise them with it when they get back.”
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, at Patrick’s office, the ponies and Smurfs were messing around with stuff around the room. Gutsy and Zipp were playing with a drone, while Grouchy was messing with an automated golfing set. “Hey, Brainy, help me figure this out.”
“Let me show you First, you put your…” Brainy couldn’t finish his sentence when the hole sprung upward, sending Brainy into the ceiling and down into a trash bin, sending Pipp and Izzy into a laughing fit. “Oh-ho, wow, Grouchy!” Izzy giggled. “That's the funniest thing I've seen all day!”
“Yeah it is,” Grouchy smirked. “Works every time.”
Smurfette and Misty, at the same time, aas singing a tune while moving pictures around on a shelf, Papa was messing with the nearby fan's blades, and Sunny and Hitch were reading some of the books Patrick had handy.
Having enough of the antics going about his office, Patrick frantically grabbed the phone and dialed a number.
Back at the apartment, Grace’s phone rang. She picked it up and answered. “Hi, Patrick.”
“Grace, help. Help!” Patrick said. “They are everywhere and they won’t stop singing. I cannot get a thing done. Please come and get them.”
Then, he ducked to narrowly avoid getting hit by the out of control drone. “Ooh, sorry!” Zipp winced. “Still trying to work this whole being tiny thing out when it comes to electronics.”
“I'm glad we're having a good time,” Hitch said, “but we still haven't found a stargazer or the cutie mark crystal anywhere around here! What's our next move, Sunny?”
“I'm honestly not sure,” Sunny said. “Maybe when Grace comes to pick us up, we can look around the city for clues. It's not like we're going to be on a city wide rampage at this size.”
Misty sighed to herself. “I just hope Gargamel doesn't find us before we find what we need. The Smurfs are counting on us... and all of Equestria is too.”
Gargamel never expected that he would be in such a fancy eating establishment with a modern woman so amazed by his magic, she was going to do whatever it took to make him famous.
But, turns out... this was actually happening.
Azrael hungrily slurped from his saucer of milk, and no one else seemed disturbed that a cat was sitting at the table with them. “Señor Gargamel, I'll be frank,” Odile said rather sternly. “Clinique, Lancôme, MAC. They will kill to get what you have in that ring.”
“Not if we kill them first,” said Gargamel. “Let's see, we're going to need some knights, preferably in shining armor, some bowmen, poison arrows.”
Odile smirked at this. “I like the way you think.”
“And some spikes to mount their heads on.”
“Well, it is all about the presentation. And, of course, all of our testing would be animal cruelty-free?”
“What, they pay extra for the animal cruelty? Is that it?” Gargamel asked before throwing Azrael aside when he tried to get into his food. “You have a wicked sense of humor,” Odile smirked with a laugh, and Gargamel threw Azrael off the table two more times before she continued. “Señor Gargamel, now you must assure me, darling, that you can recreate whatever it was that you did to my mother, but on a massive scale. Do that, and the world will worship you.”
“Did you hear that, Azrael?” Gargamel whispered, and the cat merely rolled his eyes. “Worship. Oh, it rolls off the tongue like flesh from a... not pilgrim…”
“Meow-ow.”
“Heretic. Yes, thank you.”
That’s when one of the waiters carried out a large pot, making Gargamel sigh in relief. “Thank the gods, a chamber pot. This swill that you call Dom Pérignon has gone straight to my nether regions.”
Then, much to the shock and disgust of everyone at the table, Gargamel began to pee in the pot, and then told the waiter to go and toss it outside. “Now… to the matter at hand.”
“So do we have a deal, señor?” Odile asked. “Not quite, my sweet maiden,” Gargamel told her before smirking wickedly. “You see, first I must have my Smurfs… and tiny horses of great power. If you help me find them… I shall do as you ask.”
XXXXXXXX
Grace had finally arrived while Odile was out to lunch to pick up the ponies and Smurfs, and carried them all, Clumsy included, inside a paper bag. “So… why did Patrick not want us around exactly?” Izzy asked. “Yeah!” Zipp scoffed. “We’re loads of fun!”
“I’m sure you are,” Grace whispered, “but you guys just have to understand that Patrick's under a lot of pressure right now. So if you could just lay low for a little bit…”
“You have my word of honor, Miss Grace,” Papa promised. “My Smurfs will not move from this bag.”
“And not us ponies, either,” Sunny agreed. “We’re gonna stay right here until something causes us to go otherwise.”
Unfortunately, that word of honor would fall apart immediately as soon as Gutsy peered out of the bag. “Stargazer!”
Turns out, the nearby toy store was selling stargazers, and the group immediately leapt out of the bag and out of the taxi while Grace tried to usher them back in. “No, no, no! No, no, no, no, no!”
“Hit the deck!” Papa yelled, and the ponies and Smurfs took cover just as a passing car drove right over them. “That was close...” Hitch said. “Hey, I’m walking here! I’m walking!” Grouchy shouted. “Save me!” Brainy cried, clinging to Gutsy. “Hey, look out, Brainy!”
“We didn’t think this through!” Sunny said in panic. “Can’t everyone just slow down and enjoy life?” Smurfette said. “And risk getting hit?” Pipp asked incredulously. “Wait for it,” Papa warned as they got to the curb, and a skateboarder quickly darted past them. “When we get inside, spread out and find that stargazer!”
But what they didn't realize was that Grace had gotten out of the taxi to follow them, afraid that they might be killed during the chaos.
XXXXXXXX
Patrick was busy constructing the presentation, but he couldn’t think of a good theme to the campaign. He opened a page that led to the blue moon Wikipedia page he looked through earlier that morning, and seemed to be getting an idea. He got an idea, he copied the moon jpeg and added a water surface effect at the bottom.
Maybe he had finally found a good theme.
Suddenly, his phone rang and Patrick reached to answer it. “Hey.”
“Patrick, the Smurfs and ponies have gone AWOL,” Grace stated in a panic, causing Patrick to become concerned. “No, no, I’m totally fine, but they need your help!” Grace exclaimed. “Patrick, I’m afraid they’re gonna get themselves killed!”
“Sweetie, they’re fine,” Patrick reassured. “They can send us a tiny thank-you note when they get back to shroom-town and pony land. Right after they invent paper.”
“Patrick, they need you.”
“Honey…”
“Patrick, I need you. Oh, my gosh, please hurry!”
“All right. Where are you?” Patrick relented and ran out of his office.
XXXXXXXX
At the entrance of the building, a car rolled up to the curb, and out of it came Odile and Gargamel. “The man is a lunatic,” Odile said to the man on the other end. “It’s not going to work. I don’t know, he needs Smoops.”
“Smurfs.”
“Smarps.”
“No, no, Smurfs. Smurfs with an…” Gargamel then bumped into Patrick rather roughly. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.” Patrick apologized before running off “You call that groveling, you fool?”
“Meow!” Azrael said as he was being carried by Henri. “Every village has an idiot,” Gargamel snarled, brushing himself off. “Me-meow.”
“What?” the wizard asked, looking back at Patrick as he rounded a corner. His eyes widened in realization. “You’re right! That’s him! Stop! Stop! Smurf thief!”
And just like that, Gargamel and Azrael bolted around the corner to catch up with Patrick and figure out where they took the Smurfs and their pony friends.
XXXXXXXX
Back in the toy store, the Smurfs and ponies ran into happened to be a giant toy store. Smurfette, Misty and Izzy crawled under line of stuffed animals as kids raced by them. “Stargazer, stargazer…” Smurfette said to herself repeatedly. Then their eyes fell on a shell full of stuffed unicorn dolls. “So that’s where all the unicorns went,” Smurfette whispered while Izzy's eyes went wide. “Auntie Buttons…?”
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Papa and Brainy were making their way to the escalators with Hitch and Sunny. “I’m not afraid to go off on my own, I thought you might like the company,” Brainy said, making excuses. “Fine. Then hang on,” Sunny warned, and the two earth ponies, Papa and Brainy grabbed hold of the escalator guardrail and were lifted to the second floor.
XXXXXXXX
At the same time, Gutsy and Pipp found something similar to a dart cannon sitting all on its lonesome. “A Smurf cannon! The only way to fly!” Gutsy said excitedly. “Then what makes these?” Pipp asked opening her wings. “Accessories,” Gutsy replied with a shrug, climbing up the cannon. “Perfect. Come on, princess!”
“Uh… are you sure it’s safe?”
“Only one way to find out!”
“Actually… I’ll just meet you up at the second level!” Pipp excused before flying up, causing Gutsy to shrug. “Suit yourself.”
Grace entered the store just as Gutsy was ready to take off. “Time to catch some air!!!” he cried as he was launched clear up to the second floor. “Smurfabunga!!”
As Pipp landed on the floor, Gutsy tumbled beside her, a victorious smirk on his face. “That’ll put some air up your skirt.”
“And I,” said Pipp, “did not need to know that.”
Grace sighed and ventured up to the second floor to find them before they got themselves killed.
XXXXXXXX
Grouchy and Zipp were scurrying across a shelf of stuffed animals while two teens were playing with a ball and paddles. “Gotta be a stargazer up here somewhere,” Grouchy said. “But one thing that doesn't make sense,” Zipp told him, “is why a stargazer would be near a bunch of stuffed toys.”
Then one of the stuffed owls began to move from the motion they created. “Ah! Predator!” Grouchy slipped from the shelf, fell and was pelted away by one of the paddles before landed in a bucket full of blue M&Ms. “Grouchy!” Zipp flew over with a worried look. “Are you okay?”
“Ugh... smurf droppings!” Grouchy groaned before swallowing the candies in his mouth. “These are disgustingly... tasty.”
“Probably because they’re candy,” Zipp deadpanned. “We poop candy?” Grouchy asked in disbelief. “What?! No!”
That’s when Grouchy spotted the stuffed green M&M. “Whoa, hello.”
“Oh, brother.” Zipp grumbled before she flew off to check on the others.
XXXXXXXX
At the same time, Izzy, Misty and Smurfette were walking through the doll section, and to their left was some doll heads with different hair styles. “Ugh, creepy…” Misty shuddered. “Reminds me of something that Opaline might do.”
“I sure hope they weren’t looking for a stargazer too,” Smurfette said, and continued to look until she saw dolls with fancy dresses just her size on the shelf. “Dresses! You mean… I can have more than one kind of dress?! What?!”
“Oooh, I can totally unicycle these for you, Smurfette!” Izzy said. “The stargazer isn’t going anywhere! Come on!”
“But, girls!” Misty called, but sighed when they didn’t listen and decided to follow them.
XXXXXXXX
“Papa, I’m telling you!” Brainy said as he, Hitch, Sunny and Papa searched countlessly with no luck. “We’re never gonna find a--”
“Stargazer!” Sunny found them sitting on top of a tall shelf. “See? I told you they’d be here!”
“But… you do realize that they’re ridiculously high, right?” Hitch asked. “You’re right, Hitch,” Papa nodded. “We’re gonna need something tall.”
Sunny looked around and spotted a stuffed bear near the wall, smirking. “Follow me, boys, I got an idea!”
As Grace looked down the aisle looking for the missing Smurfs and ponies, she didn’t notice the stuffed bear statue rolled behind her.
“Oh, this thing is heavy...” Hitch strained. “And don’t you think someone will notice us?”
“Just act natural,” Papa said quietly. “Grr, I’m a bear.” Brainy growled, trying to imitate a bear. “Brainy!” Sunny hissed.
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Clumsy was trying in vain to climb up the escalator to the second floor, though he was using the side that went downward. “I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming, guys!”
That’s when one of the young girls spotted him. “Whoa, look at the stair-climbing toy!”
Clumsy seized up in fear and Pretended to be a stagnant doll. The girls and her family walked up to him and grabbed him, taking him to smurf knows where, much to the worry of a fearful, hiding Zipp. “I better go get Patrick...”
XXXXXXXX
“I’m just tired of the whole dating game,” Grouchy growled to the M&M plush. “Just say who you are and be who you say, right?”
XXXXXXXX
Back with Clumsy, he was getting a face full of the bar scan at the register. “I can’t seem to get it to scan...” the employee said as more and more customers seemed to pile up at the register. “My son wants one of those blue animatronic things.” A mother said.
“Can you help me out here? Do they come in pink? My daughter wants pink.”
“I’m sorry. What aisle did you find this on?”
“I’ll take the floor model.”
“I was here first.”
There’s a line.”
“Can I interest you in a Coldy Holdy Ice Bat?” the employee pulled up a blue doll. “What...?” Clumsy blinked. “Ice bat?”
“I-It comes in pink.”
XXXXXXXX
Outside, Patrick finally found the toy store. Gargamel followed in hot pursuit.“Smurf thief! Stop!”
During the chase, the wizard backed up and walked evilly on top of a steam vent before running after Patrick. That’s when he noticed Grouchy inside the window display. “Do I use my grouchiness as a wall because I’m afraid to be vulnerable? You bet.”
“Smurf!” Gargamel said ecstatically. He looked down to his ring but immediately frowned at what he saw. “No. No, I can’t be out already. What was I thinking? Wasting my only drop of Smurf essence on that old hag?”
“Meow.” Azrael called out. “Meow.”
Gargamel turned to see his cat sitting in front of a man with a giant leaf vacuum. A desperate frown formed on the wizard’s face.
It may have been crazy, but there was no other option.
XXXXXXXX
When Patrick raced into the store, he immediately noticed a bunch of people flocking at the counter. “Patrick, there you are!” Zipp panted, flying toward him worriedly. “It's totally chaos over there and Clumsy is in the total midst of it!”
The people around the counter argued and argued, forcing Clumsy to snap. “Hey! Keep your Smurfs to yourselves!”
Hearing the doll talk caused the people around the counter to panic. The employee dropped Clusmy who ran for his life in the midst of all the feet about to stomp on him. “Don’t you people have any boundaries?” he yelled. “I’m not a toy!”
Zipp and Patrick tried to get his attention, but they were knocked over by the stampede of people running for the exit. When she finally came to her senses, Zipp knew that things would not go well for the Smurfs if the kids found them.
All she prayed was that the others were able to save them in time.
XXXXXXXX
Izzy and Misty were trying to get Smurfette into a dress when several girls entered the aisle.
“Where is she?”
“Where’d she go?”
“There she is!”
“There’s some unicorn dolls, too!”
“Uh oh...” Misty whimpered. “Hey, this dress is mine!” Smurfette stumbled back. “Izzy, Misty, Smurfette!” Grace called out, running to them and picked them up quickly. “Wait, I’m shopping,” the female Smurf complained. “Let’s shop later.” Izzy said as Grace paced away with the kids chasing after her.
XXXXXXXX
Zipp and Patrick were busy searching for the lost Smurfs when they heard Clumsy calling out. “Patrick! Zipp, help!”
“Clumsy, come here!” Zipp cried as Patrick lowered his hand to catch Clumsy. “A giant’s after me! She’s huge!”
“Hey!” a little girl shouted at Patrick. “That's mine!”
“Sorry, little girl, this one’s not for…” before Patrick could explain, he was kicked in the shin. “Mommy!” the girl ran off. “Really?” Patrick hissed in pain, limping away. “Tough break, dude,” Zipp tried to keep her laughter in. “Come on, we better find Grace, my sister and the others.”
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Grouchy was still monologuing to the M&M plush. “Don’t ever forget that magical moment our two worlds met. And I wasn’t grouchy, I wasn’t! ...could you just say one thing, please? I’m dying here.”
That's when a leaf flower sucked Grouchy into it, causing Gargamel to smirk. “That's one!”
XXXXXXXX
Brainy, Papa, Sunny, and Hitch were struggling to get the stargazer into the stuffed bear.
“Technically,” said Brainy, “when loading cargo onto the head of a bear, one should distribute the weight.”
“Brainy, just pull!” Papa said as Gutsy swung over, and Pipp flew to land beside him. “Ahoy, mateys! What are ye waiting for? We’re drawin’ a crowd.” Gutsy pushed the box into the bear’s head. “Show off.” Brainy grumbled. “Get ready!” Pipp pointed to the crowd of children. “Here comes some trouble!”
“Oh, dear. They think we’re toys.” Papa said worriedly.
“Hold onto you knickers, boys and girls,” Gutsy said as the bear swayed and lurched, “it’s about to get grisly!”
“I’m gonna be sick. I’m gonna be sick.” Hitch panicked. “Don’t let me fall!” Brainy begged. “Just hold onto that stargazer, you all!” Papa said as the bear teetered over, dropping all of the Smurfs and ponies to the floor. “Now what?” Hitch asked, and Sunny then noticed a skateboard right next to them, giving her an idea as they ran over to it. “C’mon, you guys.”
“Let’s go, go, go!” Papa ordered quickly. Gutsy and Pipp pushed the skateboard away as the kids began chasing them, eventually gaining full speed. “I think we lost them,” Brainy confirmed, just before getting clonked in the head by a shelf. “Again with the head...”
“Out of the way or I’ll caber toss ya!” Gutsy yelled. “How do you steer this thing?” Sunny asked worriedly as they steered under customers' legs and under stands. “Where did you learn to drive?” Brainy asked. “You think you can do better?” Gutsy countered. “Yes, I do believe I can do better.”
Then, Gargamel came out of nowhere and sucked up Brainy, Gutsy, and Pipp, causing them to scream. “Three more!”
“Brainy! Gutsy! Pipp!” Sunny cried out. “Papa! Orange alicorn!” Gargamel chased after the skateboard, just as the skateboard entered an aisle intersection when Gargamel spotted Grace. “Grace!” Misty whispered loudly. “That's Gargamel!”
As casually as possible, Grace turned around and began waking away. Unfortunately, Azrael ran up to them and swatted the purse out of Grace’s hand. “Oh, you again?” Smurfette cried out. “Get your paws off me and my friends!”
Smurfette, Izzy, and Misty made a run for it, but Gargamel tired to corner them. “Bad kitty!” Grace batted Azrael away down an aisle.
“I hate that cat....” Smurfette winced as the three girls ran down an aisle before Gargamel chased them through an adjacent one. And the girls raced through down the path when Gargamel hopped in front of them, revving his leaf vacuum. “Gargamel.” Smurfette sneered as Misty and Izzy gasped. “Ah, Smurfette. More lovely than ever. You and your little horse friends.”
Izzy and Misty prepared a battle stance. “We're ponies!”
“Potato, potato.”
“Oh, Gargamel. I guess you outsmarted us again.” Smurfette said in a fake sad tone, causing the ponies to act surprised before they realized that Smurfette had a plan. Just as Gargamel swung the leaf vacuum at them, Smurfette grabbed Izzy and Misty and jumped into the skateboard with Sunny, Hitch, and Papa. Azrael was chasing them, which caused him to get sucked up. “Azrael. Azrael, what are you doing? Get out of my suckamajig!” Gargamel said angrily, shaking the vacuum around. That’s when Patrick ran up to them. “Let me help you with that.”
In an instant, he flipped the switch from suck to blow. “Oh, thank you, kind…” Gargamel realized who it was. “You!”
The evil wizard swung the vacuum at Patrick, but the pressure became so great, the leaf blower blasted Azrael out right into a pile of Hello Kitty toys before blasting out Pipp, Gutsy, Brainy and Grouchy, and each shot pushing Gargamel closer to an elevator. The doors opening forcing him inside just as the blower blasted out a bunch of dead leaves.
“Patrick!” Grace ran up to him. “Hey,” Patrick said as to two watched the elevator doors closed. “Impressive.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll get the stargazer.”
“I’ll get the Smurfs.”
On the second floor. Gargamel shot out of the elevator in a pile of leaves. Meeting him were two officers and another man. “That’s him! He took it right off my back! Leaf-blower thief!”
The two officers grabbed Gargamel. “Please stand up, sir. You’re going downtown,” one the officers said. “Do not resist. Do not resist!” the other officer ordered. “Unhand me. Unhand me, you heathens!” Gargamel yelled angrily, scrambling out of their grasp. “Or suffer the wrath of the great and powerful…”
Before he could finish his sentence, one the officers pulled out a taser and shot. The electric shock forced Gargamel to spasm to the floor.
From the bottom floor, Sunny sighed once she and the others rejoined with Grace and Patrick.
At least Gargamel was out of their manes for a while longer.
After picking up a few things and a short taxi ride from the toy store, the Winslows, ponies and Smurfs arrived back at the apartment to find the sleeping baby dragon right where Hitch left him. Thank goodness Elway had been keeping an eye on him.
Now, it was time for them to get to work.
As the sun began to set, the ponies and Sparky gathered around on the couch while the Smurfs, Grace and Patrick were in the other rooms. “All right, everypony,” Zipp said firmly, “this is getting really intense for everyone, and we need to cover all the facts.”
“Right,” Hitch nodded. “We can't let Gargamel hurt the Smurfs and we can't get home until we find the cutie mark crystal.”
“But where is the crystal?” Misty wondered. “Zipp, you said you checked all over the village and there was no sign of it. Where else could it be?”
That's when Pipp's eyes widened from an alarming thought. “What if the crystal isn't in Smurf Village... but it's in New York somewhere?”
“Pipp, I can't believe I'm saying this,” said Zipp in total surprise, “but you may have just hit the nail on the head!”
“I did?”
“That does make a lot of sense,” Sunny pondered. “The portal sent the Smurfs and us to New York, and we didn't find the crystal in the village. It being somewhere in New York seems like our best option.”
“But how can we find the crystal,” Izzy wondered, “in such a big whack-a-doodle city?”
Sunny was about to answer when she checked her phone. “Papa Smurf should be out on the roof checking the alignment of the stars right about now. I better go up and see if he needs anything.”
“Want some help?” Misty asked as Sunny shifted into her alicorn form. “No, it's okay,” Sunny said with a smile. “I wanna spend some time with him anyway. See if he can tell me more stories about my dad. I'll see you guys in a little bit.”
And just like that, she flew out the window and into the night.
XXXXXXXX
Papa swiveled the telescope around to look at the stars around the moon before writing some stuff down on some parchment. As he did, Sunny flew up, changing back to earth pony form as she landed. “Hey, Papa. Need any help up here?”
Papa chuckled. “Of course. If you could write down what I tell you to, that would be wonderful.”
Sunny nodded and moved closer to the telescope, but after a moment, she frowned. “Dad and I used to study the stars together all the time.”
“He was always such a studious pony... another way he reminds me of myself,” Papa said with a smile. “You... said he has been gone since you were a filly?”
“Yeah. About 3 months after my 10th birthday,” Sunny nodded. “That's when he gave me my saddlebag-- made it all himself while I was asleep every night.”
Tears began to fill Sunny’s eyes as she tried to wipe them away. “I just... I just wish he was still here. So much has happened after he passed, good and bad, and... I want him here for it all.”
Papa placed a gentle hand on the mare's shoulder as an act of comfort. “It's hard to comprehend sometimes, Sunny, but your father, however he passed, is in a better place. And if I'm right, he would be incredibly proud of the young mare you've become.”
“You think so?”
“I do. Come... we better get back to work before it gets too late to see anything else.”
XXXXXXXX
After Sunny left the meeting, Misty had been invited by Smurfette for a makeover session, so she could see Smurfette try on her new dresses. While Misty laid out the dresses for Smurfette to try, Grace brushed her blonde hair and decide to ask her a question. “How can you be the only girl in the village?”
“Well, see, I wasn't brought by a stork like the others,” Smurfette said with some slight hesitancy. “I was... created by Gargamel to trap the other Smurfs.”
“Really? Wow...” Misty was amazed at how similar Smurfette’s previous trials was to hers. “Then what happened?”
“Papa saved me,” Smurfette said with a smile. “He cast a special spell and then helped me become the Smurf I was meant to be.”
“...that kinda reminds me of me, honestly,” Misty admitted. “Of… well… how I used to be.”
“When you were still serving that fire alicorn?” Smurfette asked gently. “Yeah,” Misty shrugged. “But… there was more to it than that. Opaline was the only pony I ever knew for a long time… the only family I thought I had. Then… a few weeks ago, I met Alphabittle, my biological dad. I met my mom a few weeks ago too, but… it turns out, she was raised by the same alicorn I was raised by, but she succumbed to Opaline’s teachings and is just as evil as her, if not more. Nearly tried to… kill me during the final fight.”
“Oh my goodness…” Grace said softly. “That must’ve been so horrible for you.”
“It was,” Misty nodded. “But, Sunny and the others are gonna try and help me get through to her while we collect the other crystals. And even if we can’t get through to her, I still have Dad and the others. Because a family isn’t just by blood…”
“...but by love,” Smurfette finished. “Papa told me that once, and it’s always in my mind whenever I have doubts.”
“Smurfette… we may have a lot more in common than we thought,” Misty said with a smile. “So… which dress do you wanna try on first?”
XXXXXXXX
Patrick was hard at work in his office, trying to figure out the perfect ad to put in for Odile, because it was due the next day. He thought about going with the blue moon ad he created that morning, tilting his head at it.
Somehow… it just spoke to him.
Eventually, doubts filled his mind, and he switched to another ad he made, attaching it to an email before typing. “Odile,” he wrote, “pending your approval, it's ready to go to the billboard agency.”
And once it was all wrote out, Patrick sighed to himself. “Well… here goes nothing.”
With just one tap, the email was sent, and now the waiting would begin.
XXXXXXXX
Izzy, Pipp, Zipp, Sparky and Hitch were waiting outside with the other Smurfs, anxiously waiting for one of their leaders to get the results of their studies. “Isn’t it getting late?” Hitch frowned. “I thought Sunny and Papa would have been done by now.”
“Yeah, enough with the suspense,” Grouchy agreed. “I wanna go home.”
“Me too…” Clumsy nodded.
“Now that that wily wizard's got our scent,” said Gutsy with a downtrodden look, “it's a whole new wager. Without that blue moon, our giblets are gravy.”
At that moment, Patrick emerged from his office. “Well, it’s off. Time to either celebrate or file for unemployment,” he said, just before he noticed their tiny downtrodden faces. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I’m… I’m sure we’ll be fine!” Pipp tried to keep herself from crying. “Everything works out for everypony… r-r-right?”
“That one’s hypersmurfilating,” Gutsy said as Pipp dried her eyes and Clumsy hugged her for comfort. “Yeah,” Zipp sighed. “It’s all this waiting that’s killing us. Not knowing where the crystal is or how to get the Smurfs home is driving us crazy!”
“I know the feeling…” Patrick nodded, and after a moment of pondering, he got a good idea. “Better yet… I know the cure.”
“Huh?” the ponies chorused. What in the world could that mean?
XXXXXXXX
Everyone followed Patrick back into the living room, where he picked out a video game, put it in, picked up a guitar to go with it and began to play, pushing buttons at the top as the game corresponded. “You just match the colors with the buttons!”
“Wow!” Izzy said with awe.
As Patrick continued to strum, Clumsy found an electronic drumset and began to bounce on it, having the time of his life. That’s when Patrick lowered his guitar to Grouchy. “You try!”
Grouchy immediately hopped on the guitar and started to strum to the rhythm of the music. “Go, Grouchy!” cried Izzy. “Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!!” Grouchy cheered, having fun for the first time since they got to New York. “Hey, look around me, guys! I'm shredding!”
“Walk this way!” Patrick sang before he turned to the others. “You try!”
Smurfs and Ponies: Talk this way Just gimme a kiss
During a fancy guitar solo, Patrick stuck out his tongue, prompting the others to do the same. “Rock face. Gene Simmons, he’s a…” he began to explain before shaking off the thought. “Never mind.”
All: Like this!
Clumsy then found a pair of drumsticks and began to tap out a rhythm as Gutsy and Grouchy, soon followed by Pipp and Brainy began to rap their hearts out.
Grouchy: Smurfette sweetie is a classy kind of sassy
Gutsy: Little skirts climbing way up her knee
Grouchy, Pipp and Gutsy: Not another single girl in the whole smurfin' world And I can't believe she's lookin' at--
Brainy: Me!
It's a complete--
Gutsy and Grouchy: Surrender
Brainy: To the power of her--
Grouchy and Gutsy: Gender
Pipp: So I close my eyes and make a wish
Gutsy and Grouchy: I just want to--
Brainy: Savor
Gutsy and Grouchy: All her smurfberry--
Brainy: Flavor
Gutsy, Brainy and Grouchy: So I smurfed her just a little kiss Like this
Patrick continued an awesome solo on guitar, and Elway kept stomping his paw on the bass drums while Clumsy played a drum solo on his own-- the one thing he couldn’t goof! “Whoa-ho, Clumsy!” Zipp said with an impressed smirk. “You found your niche!”
“Oh yeah!” Pipp said, doing a little flip in the air. “Go, Clumsy! Do the Clumsy!”
“Come on, Gutsy!” Patrick invited, and Gutsy began to dance merrily on the guitar, even jumping up in the air a few times. “Yay, Gutsy! Get down with your bad smurf!” Hitch said. “Just, whoa! Careful!”
“Yeah!”
“Get your smurf on!”
“Go, Gutsy!”
“Nice!”
“Thank you,” Gutsy said, hopping down from the guitar. “That was rare.”
It was then that with the beat of the drums and the strumming of the guitar, that the Smurfs and ponies all decided to sing as one.
All: La la la la la la La la la la la la La la la la la la La la la la la la
La la la la la la La la la la la la La la la la la la La la la la la--
Suddenly, all the music came to a stand-still as Grace entered the room with Misty and Smurfette, the female Smurf wearing one of the new dresses that they bought earlier. “Hey, guys,” Smurfette greeted. “How do you like my new dress? Misty helped pick it out.”
“Eh,” Misty shrugged. “I only gave a suggestion.”
Suddenly, the air vent below Smurfette came on, and she tried to push down her dress against the wind. “Whoa,” Smurfette chuckled, “is there a draft in here.”
“Whoa!” Misty said, using her magic to pull the dress down further. “Oh, okay, that's not what I had in mind to happen. We are so sorry about this, boys!”
Suddenly, Smurfette and Misty let out a scream as soon as they saw Gutsy on the vent with them, letting his kilt be lifted up with them. “Oh, yeah! That cools my giblets,” sighed Gutsy. “Nothin' like a cool breeze through my Enchanted Forest.”
Everyone let out a laugh at that, and just then, Patrick got a notification from Odile, and he ran over to check it. “Aha!” he shouted in delight. “It’s approved!”
“What?” Grace asked. “She approved it!” Patrick said. “She approved the ad!”
“She loved it?”
“Well, she said ‘approved’, so coming from her… that’s love!”
Everyone began to cheer in celebration as Clumsy stepped up to the computer, accidentally selecting the blue moon ad Patrick created earlier, no one noticing it right away as Patrick spoke up again. “No jumping, no jumping, no jumping. No jumping, no jumping. Should I send it? I’m not going to.”
“Yes! Do it!”
“Do it right now!”
With the urging of the others, Patrick then hit the send button. “Tomorrow this'll be on every billboard in New York City…!!”
And at that moment, it sent off, sending the group into cheers as Sunny and Papa entered the room, the latter clapping. “Well done, Master Winslow!”
“Look, everypony!” Izzy cheered. “Sunny and Papa are back!”
“Papa, are your calculations done?” Brainy asked. “Yeah!” Zipp asked. “Are we gonna be able to get you Smurfs home or not?”
“Well,” Papa said, “it’s proving more difficult than I had hoped, even with Sunny’s help.”
“But…” Clumsy asked hesitantly, “...we are going home… right?”
“Of course,” Sunny reassured. “Just… not tonight.”
The others sighed depressingly… this was what they DIDN’T want to happen. But, Sunny was there to flash a reassuring smile. “Come on, let’s get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow… and a bunch of answers and crystals to find.”
Papa and Sunny hadn’t figured out how to get the Smurfs or the ponies home yet, and it was getting everyone a little worried. But since it was so late, they would have to stay another night in the Winslow apartment, using whatever they could find to make comfortable sleeping bags.
Brainy sighed as Papa lit a few candles. “I was hoping I'd be sleeping in my mushroom tonight.”
“I miss the other Smurfs,” Misty said before immediately correcting herself. “I-I mean, it’s not that I don’t like you guys, but… I’m worried about them.”
“We get it, Misty. And we miss them too,” Clumsy sighed sadly. “I've never spent the night away from home before.”
“Technically, you did spend the night here with us last night,” Hitch said, but realized what Clumsy meant. “But… who could sleep after what you guys have been through the past 2 days?”
“Hush… hush now, everyone,” Papa said as he finished lighting the candles. “Everything's going to be just fine.”
“Papa is one of the wisest Smurfs I know,” Sunny added, “and if he says everything is gonna be fine, it will be. Trust him on that.”
As Patrick listened from the next room, Smurfette asked a question in the saddest tone anyone ever heard. “Papa…? Do you really believe we're ever gonna get home to the other Smurfs? And that the ponies are gonna go home to stop Misty’s mom?”
“Don’t worry. We'll be reunited with the others soon enough,” Papa said before getting on Sunny’s back so she could take him back outside. The earth pony mare sighed, ears slightly pinning. “If only the stars would align…”
Then, sparing one final glance at Master Winslow, Sunny and Papa retreated outside to continue their studies. As soon as they were gone, Brainy sighed and spoke up to the others again. “You know who I miss? Chef Smurf. Hefty Smurf. Hey, Jokey Smurf.”
“Painter… Baker…” Misty trailed off. “Harmony,” Pipp chuckled. “No matter how bad his tunes were.”
“I’ll tell you who I don’t miss,” Smurfette said. “Passive-Aggressive Smurf.”
The others seemed to agree, but Zipp was confused. “Wait, what’s so bad about him?”
“The thing is, he’s so nice,” Clumsy said, “but when he leaves you feel bad.”
“Kinda reminds us of our friend Posey,” Pipp said. “She didn’t like magic at first, and doesn’t really tolerate us, but… I guess she’s pretty nice if you get to know her.”
Zipp then let out a yawn. “Let’s get to sleep, everypony. Like Sunny said… we have a big day tomorrow.”
XXXXXXXX
Back in the New York prison, Gargamel sighed. “Another Smurfless night…” he muttered before a tiny moth flew into the cell. “Oh, hello, little moth. Perhaps with your help I'll find a way to get them back. Oh, you and I are kindred spirits, little one. Both of us meant to soar. Go now, and bring back an army of mighty eagles to free me. Fly, tiny eagle. Fly and bring back your brethren. Fly! Fly! Fly!”
And at his command, the tiny moth flew out into the night.
XXXXXXXX
An hour later after most everyone had went to sleep, Patrick went up to the roof to check on Papa and Sunny, who were still not having any luck. “Hey… I guess you got a long night ahead of you,” he said, earning their attention. “You guys drink coffee?”
“Is a Smurf’s butt blue?” Papa asked with a smirk. “And, I’m not a fan of coffee,” Sunny shrugged, “but… I’ll take some.”
Patrick then decided to ask something as he approached. “So tell me, that weird guy in the ratty bathrobe at the toy store? He's not really a wizard, is he?”
“Well, he doesn’t seem like the smartest sorcerer in the coven, but dangerous just the same,” Sunny said. “To both ponies and Smurfs alike.”
Patrick set down a mug of coffee with a straw, allowing Papa to take a sip before he spoke up again. “Back home, I could hold him at bay with a spell or two. But here, without my books and potions…
“Well, today we got lucky. But next time, who knows?” Sunny asked. “I hate to say it, but Gargamel is almost as dangerous as Opaline or Paradise, if not more.”
“Misty’s mom? Her I remember Misty talking about, but… not this Opaline character,” Patrick said. “Who is she?”
“An ancient fire alicorn from Twilight Sparkle’s time,” sighed Sunny. “One of the most dangerous beings we ever faced. Paradise is her adopted daughter. We stopped Opaline a few months back, but… Paradise is exacting revenge on us, especially Misty, for finishing her off.”
“What are you gonna do now?”
“We’re gonna do everything and anything to get the Smurfs and ourselves to our homes,” Sunny said determinedly. “We won’t ever give up,” Papa added. “The Smurfs, and now the ponies, are my family. And you never give up on family.”
Sunny felt touched when Papa said that, a warm smile gracing her face and allowing her to nuzzle close to Papa. Patrick, however, sat down, many thoughts filling his mind. “Doesn't it freak you out sometimes having all those little guys depending on you? I mean, what if you screw up? How'd you know when you were ready?”
“Here. Come sit on Papa’s lap,” Papa invited before immediately taking back that statement, seeing the size difference. “Let me ask you something. Why did you come for us today when your Grace called?”
“She needed me. I could hear it in her voice.”
“Well, that’s what being a parent is. Hitch taught me that when the time is right, you just do it,” Sunny said. “And knowing what to do doesn't come from up here,” Papa pointed to his head before gesturing up to Patrick’s heart. “It comes from here, where it matters most.”
“My spleen?”
“No… your heart!” Sunny said. “Papa is trying to have a moment, Patrick you big goof! Ha ha!”
Patrick finally let a smile grace his face. “You’re a great leader, Sunny. And you’re a good papa, Papa.”
“And you’ll be a good one too,” Papa smiled, and the three allowed themselves to look at the moon… wondering what could come next.
XXXXXXXX
By the next morning, all the prisoners at the prison had been let outside for the morning, but Gargamel chose to sit on one of the benches and wait for the moth to return and set him free. “Come on, you silly moth. Where are my eagles?”
That’s when two tough-looking prisoners came with very upset looks on their faces. “You know what happens to people who sit on my bench?” one of them asked. “Be gone with you, behemoth,” Gargamel dismissed them, “for I have instructed a moth to summon forth a gaggle of noble eagles to free me from this confine.”
The prisoners didn’t like that one bit, and as they dragged Gargamel off the bench, the evil wizard saw figures approaching from the sky. “You see? You see? The dungeon isn't built that can hold the likes of Gargamel! Behold my glorious army of…”
But, as the figures got closer, it was revealed to be an army of flies led by the moth from the previous night. “...flies? FLIES?!” Gargamel shrieked. “I said to fly, fly! Not flies, you light-loving moron!”
Nevertheless, he was able to get the flies to lift him up to a higher height (after a try or two of crashing into the basketball hoop and over the wall), much to the shock of the prisoners. “To my castle,” Gargamel commanded, “for more essence!!”
XXXXXXXX
Patrick and Grace woke up later that morning as the sun was rising into the sky, and when they walked into the living room, they saw the ponies and Smurfs were decorating the living room with vibrant flowers-- even Elway was helping. “Come on, Elway, right over here. Good boy!” Hitch said lovingly as the dog brought him some more flowers. “Thank you so much!”
“Oh my goodness!” Grace said, completely surprised. “Clumsy!”
“Blue thumbs!” Clumsy reminded with a smile. “This is unbelievable, right?” Pipp asked, taking photos repeatedly. “Clumsy, Misty and Izzy had the idea last night before we went to sleep!”
“I think there’s too much pink,” Grouchy groaned, but a growl from Pipp caused him to freeze. “Come on,” Zipp scoffed. “Just cause your NAME is Grouchy doesn’t mean you have to be grouchy.”
As everyone continued to converse and admire the decorations, Papa came in from the window with Sunny, a bright smile on his face. “Great news!” he declared. “The stars have revealed a perfect time to smurf the blue moon!”
“Yay!”
“Alright!”
“We’re going home!”
“We knew you guys could do it, Sunny!”
“Pipp Pipp hooray!!”
“I never doubted it for a second.”
“It has to be done tonight, between first star and high moon,” Sunny explained. “That’s our only chance! And us ponies have to find the crystal so we can get home too.”
“But,” said Papa as they hopped to the coffee table, “we'll need a magic spell that works in this realm to open the portal home. Master Winslow, a question, please.”
“Yeah, shoot.”
“Is there a place that sells spells?”
“...no.”
“Is there a place that proffers potions?”
“Yeah… no.”
“How about books?” asked Sunny, and suddenly, Patrick thought of something. “Wait, there's an antique book shop right near where I work. Dr Wong's something.”
“Smurf hug!!” Gutsy hollered at the top of his lungs, and the Smurfs and ponies were all brought in for one big group hug before Izzy turned to look at Patrick. “Come on, bring it in, big fella!”
At first, Patrick was against the whole thing, but after some insisting, he found himself melting at the embrace of the ponies and Smurfs as Grace watched. Then, Smurfette broke from the hug as she saw something that looked like a blue moon on one of the screens from Times Square. “Oh, look! We don't have to make a blue moon-- we've already got one!”
“Huh? What’s going on?” Sunny wondered as they all went to the window. Turns out, the ad that was accidentally sent the previous night was up and running, and seeing it made Patrick’s eyes widen. “That’s the wrong ad!”
He opened the doors to his office, only to find it a light yellow color with a crib and more baby things inside, much to Grace and Patrick’s wonder… but Patrick was a little too frazzled to notice. “What happened to my office?”
“We fixed it for your new baby!” Izzy said. “Does this mean we get another Smurf hug?”
Instead of answering her, Patrick pulled up the email previously sent the previous night with the blue moon ad on it. “Someone sent this to the ad agency last night. Who messed with my computer?”
“Not me.”
“I was nowhere near it.”
“Gutsy was with us!”
Suddenly, they realized that there might have been one Smurf who was up there, and turned to Clumsy, who was tensed up nervously. “I mighta… sorta… tripped?”
“Yeah, well, you mighta, sorta, just got me fired!” Patrick scolded. “You sent the wrong file!”
“Patrick,” Grace tried to calm him, “it was just an accident.”
“What am I supposed to do, Grace? You said that they would bring good luck. This is anything but good!” Patrick snapped, making the ponies’ ears fold. “I never should've let this happen. I should've said no. I never wanted a house full of little people running around!”
The ponies looked wide eyed at that as Patrick tried to recorrect his earlier statement. “Blue, little blue… ugh…”
“Okay, whoa! Patrick!” Grace ran after him into the bedroom. “What are you doing?”
“Going to try to save my job!”
“We never intended to be a burden, Master Winslow,” Patrick said. “Yeah,” Sunny said. “You know it was an accident.”
Clumsy nodded at this. “I’m smurfilly sorry about what I…”
“Stop saying "smurf" for everything. What does that even mean?” Patrick said, irritated. “Smurf! Smurfitty-smurf-smurf-smurf!”
At this, the Smurfs gasped with wide eyes. “There's no call for that kind of language, laddie!” Gutsy scolded, but instead of answering them, Patrick just stormed out of the apartment. “So…” Hitch said slowly. “That just happened.”
“What do we do now?” Misty asked. “I, uh…” Sunny spoke hesitantly, “I guess we need to head to that bookstore and find that spell. Clumsy… can you…?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Clumsy sighed. “I’ll stay here.”
“Good,” Zipp nodded with irritation. “Maybe then you won’t cause another headache.”
The other ponies and Smurfs walked off, only leaving a downtrodden Clumsy and Izzy alone in the bedroom. “She didn’t mean it, Clumsy. Zipp is just upset,” Izzy said. “We’ll talk to her, and everything will be fine.”
XXXXXXXX
“Patrick, wait!” Grace said as she chased Patrick outside. “Just stop and listen to me for a second, please.”
“What?”
“Look, I'm really sorry about your job, okay? And I hope that you can straighten that out. But you are so not seeing the big picture here,” Grace scolded, much to Patrick’s confusion. “I mean, look around. Look what's happening right now. Of all the people on the planet, those magical little creatures came to us. They chose us. Don't you see how absolutely amazing that is? This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, Patrick. This is our blue moon. And if you don't stop for just a second to see that, you're gonna miss it.”
And then, Grace went back inside with a huff of worry, hoping her husband would be able to see what she was talking about. Patrick watched her go for a moment before running to catch a taxi, and couldn’t help but wonder…
Lots of things had happened that morning... some good and some bad.
The good news was that the ponies and Smurfs were one step closer on getting back to Smurf Village.
The first set of bad news was that Clumsy accidentally sent the wrong ad to the company, and now Patrick was really upset and on his way to try and save his job.
And the second set, you may ask? Gargamel was now out of prison and at his New York castle, banging on his handcrafted machine to get more essence. “Come on! Come on! Blast. Blast you! There's got to be some essence in here somewhere!”
“Meow!” Azrael meowed from nearby. “Not now!” Gargamel asked, but Azrael was very persistent. “What? What?”
When he finally turned, he found Azrael with another tuft of Smurfette’s hair, causing him to chuckle evilly. “Very, very well done, my little friend. And to think, I almost ate you that time.”
Azrael rolled his eyes as Gargamel used the hair to get out another drop of Smurf essence, and once this was done, the wizard turned back to his pet. “Come, Azrael. We must find this Patrick, the rouge merchant. He will lead us to our elusive little blue quarry.”
XXXXXXXX
Patrick was quickly walking through Times Square, trying to get hold of someone who could take the ad down until he could get a new one up. “Don't you just have a switch or something to shut them off? Tomorrow? Are you kidding me?! Ron, Ron. If I don't get those ads down now, I don't have a job tomorrow!”
Frustrated, Patrick shut the phone down just as the ad appeared on all the screens around them... another haunting reminder that he may lose his job over this whole mess.
Then... there was the whole speech Grace gave him. What if she was right?
As he looked at the threatening texts from Odile, he felt an envelope in his jacket and pulled it out, pulling out the ultrasound picture that Grace left for him of the baby.
His baby.
Maybe Grace was right... maybe he was letting this blue moon moment slip away.
XXXXXXXX
The ponies and Smurfs ran down the sidewalk on their way to the bookstore, no one except Brainy knowing where they were going. “According to the searching device, we take the F machine two dots past the red circle to Chinaland.”
“Chinatown, birdbrain!” Grouchy insulted as they ran under a car across the street. “Smurftato, smurftato!”
They then ran down the stairs to where the large subway train was waiting for them. “Look! There it is!” Hitch cried, carrying Sparky on his back. “Come on, everypony!” Zipp cried. “All together now!”
“Are we sure about this?”
“What?”
“JUMP!!”
They jumped to get onto the train before the door closed, but Grouchy, Brainy and Gutsy got wedged between the doors. “Oooh…” Misty groaned. “That has to hurt…”
“Not happy…” Grouchy groaned as the train got rolling down the tracks. After Zipp, Pipp and Izzy got the boys out, Gutsy had the sudden urge to explore. “Come on, Brainy. Let's poke around this great steel carriage.”
“Is it safe?”
“Of course it is!”
“Well… Pipp and I are gonna go with you,” Zipp said, “just to be safe.”
“Wait, we’re gonna do what?!”
As Pipp waited for her sister to respond, the train made a sharp turn, causing the sisters, Gutsy and Brainy to stumble back, and some books to squish Brainy flat. “That was great!” Gutsy cheered as Zipp winced. “Oooh, ouch…”
Zipp sighed to herself as Izzy came forward. “You okay, Zipperoni?”
“I just… I feel bad for the way I scolded Clumsy earlier. I mean… his clumsiness can get a little annoying, but he generally has a good heart,” said Zipp in an ashamed tone. “I just wanna find the crystal and get these guys home.”
“I know your heart is in the right place, but… sometimes you gotta take it slow and enjoy the journey. That’s something Elder Flower once said,” Izzy explained. “We’ll find the crystal when we need to find it.”
“Yeah…” Zipp trailed off. “Thanks, Izzy.”
“Anytime. And for now, let’s enjoy the giant subway ride.”
XXXXXXXX
A little while later, the group hopped off the subway and took shelter under giant popcorn tubs in order for them not to be spotted. “I hope we find this place soon. I can't see out of this…” Hitch banged into a pole. “Heh,” Gutsy chuckled. “I thought that’s why we left Clumsy behind.”
“Grouchy, not nice!” Izzy scolded before Smurfette groaned. “It smells like butter in here.”
“Maybe that’s because people put butter on their popcorn,” Misty said. “At least… that’s what I’ve always heard.”
They made it a little further down the sidewalk until Pipp gasped as she saw the bookstore across the street. “There it is!”
“Oh…” Sunny groaned. “Too bad it’s closed!”
“We’ll just have to find another way in,” Papa said. “Come on!”
They followed Papa across the street, ditching the popcorn tubs in between, and climbed through the mailslot, some of the group falling on top of one another, making them groan in pain. “I said it once,” Hitch groaned, “and I’ll say it again… I HATE being this tiny.”
After the group got up, they stared in wonder at the books and artifacts around them on the high shelves. “Ohh…” Misty gulped. “This place reminds me of somewhere Opaline and Mom might go-- a creepy place.”
“It's not creepy, it's different. And I like it,” Gutsy told her. “Creepy or not,” said Zipp, “let’s just find the book we need and get out of here.”
“You’re right,” Papa told the white pegasus. “It's not creepy, it's different. And I like it. Every Smurf and pony split up and look around!”
XXXXXXXX
At the same time that the Smurfs and ponies were splitting up to cover the bookstore, Gargamel and Azrael were covering the streets, with Gargamel talking to himself about his frustrations. “I am but a simple wizard with a simple desire, limitless power and world adulation. Now why does it have to be so hard?”
Suddenly, an irritatingly familiar tune began to fill Gargamel's ears.
La la la la la la La la la la la la
La la la la la la La la la la la la
Gargamel glanced over to see the homeless man from a day or two strolling by, and ran over to catch up to him. “Pardon me. Please, wise sir. Wise sir. Please, please. Wherever did you hear that ear-damning squall?”
“It's your little blue men. I saw them going into the bookstore around the corner,” the man said before beginning to hum the song again before turning back to Gargamel. “You know, that song is really annoying.”
As the man strolled away, Gargamel felt his hopes rising. “Cautiously exciteeed…”
They had to find that bookstore… they had to!
XXXXXXXX
At the same time, the Smurfs and ponies frantically searched around the tall, skyscraper tall shelves, trying to find the magic book. “That’s not it. That’s not it,” Grouchy ran through the shelves with Izzy. “Hey! Oh, no, that’s not it.”
“Look at all these amazing books. It’s gotta be here someone,” Brainy opened one of the books. “No, this isn’t it. You see anything, Smurfette?” Zipp asked. “Nothin up here, guys,” Smurfette said from the top of the stairwell. “Look out below!” Sunny cried as she and Smurfette leapt down and landed on a nearby table. “I got nothing either,” Misty sighed. “Just a book about plants.”
“Pipp and I have got something, lads!” Gutsy called out. “Great work you guys!” Hitch smiled as Gutsy pushed the large, blue book off the shelf, landing on a table below. “Just a minute. That’s it.” Gutsy strained, lifting the book onto a stone holder. “L’Histoire des Schtroumpfs,” Brainy read the title. “What does that even mean?” Pipp asked, causing Grouchy to shrug as they turned the page to a picture of an older man. “Peyo...” Misty read. “That must be the author.”
They turned the next page, and the Smurfs and ponies gasped when they saw the familiar blue creatures in the pages. “That’s us,” Smurfette said, astonished. “Yes, this is the one!” Papa said with delight. “I can’t believe it. You guys were in books this whole time!” Sunny said. “But wait…” Izzy frowned. “How come we aren’t in the book?”
“Probably because it was made before we came along.” Hitch observed. “This book looks really old.”
“Look at that.”
“Wow.”
“Well I’ll be smurfed.”
“The secret tunes are hidden in the drawings.” Papa explained. “You see all that in there?” Grouchy turned to the next page. “Look here, at the patterns on this page.” Papa pointed to a column of individual Smurf drawings. “Yeah… yeah, I can see it!” Sunny said, getting out her journal. “I’ll copy these runes down and we can use them tonight at the waterfall!”
“Wait… what’s this?” Zipp noticed something in the back cover of the book and pulled it out… only revealing it to be the cutie mark crystal they needed. “The crystal! We found it!” Misty said. “But… why aren’t we being sent home?”
“I guess we can’t go until the Smurfs are safe and sound at their home,” Hitch said. “Sunny, keep copying the spell, and Zipp can keep the crystal safe.”
“Right,” Sunny said. “The Smurfs come first.”
XXXXXXXX
Unbeknownst to the gang, Gargamel made his way to the store entrance. He tried opening the door, but they would budge. “Openous-lockicuss.”
The doors slowly opened up, and the cat and his master walked inside. Azrael leaped onto the shelves housing all sorts of medieval trinkets and souvenirs. “Meowrr.”
“What?” Gargamel looked over to see Azrael hovering over a long stick with a dragon plastered on the tip. “Oh, you’re right, Azrael. This does have me written all over it.”
The wizard pick up the wand, and opening his ring, he poured the remaining magic essence into the dragon’s mouth. Blue mist began flow from its mouth and the dragon’s sockets flowed red. “Oh, that’s just plain naughty.”
XXXXXXXX
Sunny finished taking her notes with a cheerful smile. “Done! The spell is all copied down!”
“All that remains now,” said Papa, “is to return to the waterfall and invoke this spell, tonight.”
“And we can go home?” Smurfette asked excitedly, causing Papa to smile. “And we can go home.”
“Oh, you’re going home, all right,” Gargamel said as he approached the group with the dragon wand in hand, causing them to gasp, “to a little place I like to call BellVeedaRay Castle, where your essence shall finally be mine.”
Sunny and Papa immediately prepared to fight, but seeing the wand caused Sunny to gasp in shock. “The dragon wand!”
“No!” Smurfette cried. “It’s G-G-G-G…” Brainy tried to stammer. “Please, please, allow me,” Gargamel said before screaming. “IT’S GARGAMEL!!”
“Run, Smurfs!” Papa cried, and the ponies and Smurfs immediately ran toward the door, screaming and yelling over one another.
“Go go go!”
“Come on, Smurfs!”
“Wait for me!”
“To the door!”
“Smurfintine!” Papa cried as he was chased by Azrael on the shelves. “Smurfintine!”
“Yes yes, do resist, little Smurfs and horses,” Gargamel said, preparing to blast as the Smurfs and ponies as they struggled to get the door open. “After all… what is the hunt… without the thrill?!”
The second the magic blasted at them, Gargamel grabbed a small shield and deflected the blast at Azrael, causing him to fly backward, and at Gargamel, causing him to become trapped under a bookshelf. “Gotta go!” Smurfette cried. “Move!”
At the heat of the moment, Papa gave the piece of paper with the spell on it to Brainy, confusing him. “Brainy,” he ordered as he moved the group toward the air vent, “take the spell, brew the potion and smurf the moon tonight. It has to be tonight.”
“Me? Smurf the moon?” Brainy stammered. “No, I-I-I’m not ready!”
“You have to be.”
“SMURFS!!!” Gargamel cried as the door flew open, and once all the Smurfs and ponies were inside the vent, Papa sealed it shut and locked it. “Go,” he ordered. “And no matter what happens… do not come back for me.”
“What?”
Sunny immediately realized what this meant, her eyes widening. “Papa no!”
“No!”
“Papa!”
Papa, however, wasn’t listening. “What are you waiting for, Gargamel?”
“Come to Papa… PAPA!!” Gargamel shrieked and grabbed Papa forcefully with his magic, Papa groaning as he watched the group watch the scene in horror. “Just go!”
“PAPA!!” Zipp screamed. “Nooooo!!!” Smurfette tried to reach out to him. “Keep movin’, lasses,” Gutsy said gently. “Do as Papa said.”
“PAPA!!” Sunny cried, horrified for Papa’s fate and trying to get back to him, only for her friends to guide her away. “Is that all you got, Gargamel?!” Papa asked as Gargamel cackled. Now, he would have all the magic he would need to gain all the Smurfs and their power!
XXXXXXXX
The Smurfs and ponies screamed as they tumbled from the vents, not believing what had just happened. Papa had just sacrificed himself for them to escape, and now… Gargamel was more powerful than ever before. Izzy found her breath and voice first. “W-What’s gonna happen to Papa…?”
“Papa told us to Smurf the moon,” Grouchy said, “and that’s exactly what we’re gonna do!”
“Come on,” Zipp said, trying to clear the tears. “We don’t have much time.”
“Come on?” Brainy asked. “Come on where?”
“How are we gonna get back to Clumsy…?” Smurfette asked, and as Hitch looked down at the pigeons below, he and Gutsy got the same idea. “We ride,” Hitch smirked. “Come on!”
He and Gutsy leapt down onto a pigeon, causing the others to follow suit. “I-I don’t think they’re friendly,” Grouchy said nervously. “Well, when we’re mad,” said Hitch, “neither are we!”
“Come on, Sunny!” Misty cried to her friend. “We have to go!”
Sunny hadn’t moved from the spot she fell, and it was honestly concerning with the way she was crying. “Y-Yeah. Just… give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you back at the apartment.”
So, she watched the pigeons pick up her pony and Smurf friends and carried them off into the night. “According to my calculations,” Brainy panted, dangling from a pigeon’s leg, “this is dangeroooooooouss!!!!!”
Sunny sat their for a few moments, waiting till her friends were out of sight before she activated her alicorn form and flew in the opposite direction that her friends did. She hated to disobey Papa, but... she was the last link to her father she had left.
She couldn't lose it.
Sunny was gonna save Papa and get her friends home... no matter what.
XXXXXXXX
Clumsy stood up, looking out the window as he and Grace waited back at the apartment. “It’s getting dark.”
“Yeah…” Grace nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think we'd better go look for them.”
“Yeah.”
Slowly, the door opened, and Patrick came through it, looking regretful after what he said this morning. “Hi…” he said, looking around. “Where are the others?”
“We think they’re still at the bookstore.”
“Grace… I…”
Suddenly, the phone rang, and seeing who it was, Patrick answered the call from his boss. “Hey, Odile.”
“Patrick…” Odile’s voice was heard before she began speaking Spanish very quickly and very angrily. “Listen, listen. Before you fire me, I know that the ads that ran weren't the ads I sent,” Patrick began. “But they're the ads I should have sent. The ads I almost did send. But I didn't 'cause… I second-guessed myself.”
This caused Grace to pause and look up at her husband as she continued. “I gave you what I thought you wanted, instead of what I thought was right. But this is right. It means something to me and... I don't know, I think it's gonna mean something to others, too,” Patrick said, holding his wife lovingly. “It's not just a moon, Odile, it's a blue moon. Once in a blue moon. That means that there are only a few moments in your life when something truly memorable, truly magical, happens to you. And, if you hesitate, if you're afraid, you might just miss it. That's what that image means. Don't let those blue moon moments pass you by.”
“I will call you back to tell you if you are fired.”
The call cut off at that, but honestly, Patrick didn’t care… he was with his wife… and that was all that mattered.
XXXXXXXX
“Whoa…” Misty shrieked as she tried to steer her pigeon toward the window. “Left left, right! Right right, bird!!”
“Brace for impact!” Brainy shouted. “The window’s open, you ninny!” Gutsy insulted. “Whoa!” Brainy said as his pigeon collided with a lamp in the living room. “We’re outta control!”
Grace and Patrick (who were kissing lovingly) and Clumsy turned at this to see the others entering the living room, some more gracefully than others. After the pigeons left, Brainy held up the spell. “Look! We got the incantation!”
“Where’s Sunny and Papa?” Patrick asked, rushing to them. “Sunny’s on her way here right now,” said Pipp, “but as for Papa… Gargamel’s got him.”
“What?”
Clumsy gasped in horror at that. “Oh no!”
“He took him to some place called BellVeedaRay Castle!” Smurfette said. “He’s gonna…” Grouchy began as Misty began to sob. “Don’t… say it!” Zipp said. “None of us can take it right now.”
That’s when Patrick began to piece things together. “Belve... He's taken him to Belvedere Castle in Central Park.”
“To extract his essence!” Izzy blurt out. “What?!” Grace’s eyes widened. “Well, when Sunny gets here, we have to go get him!”
“No!” Smurfette argued. “Gargamel’s more powerful than ever!”
“Papa said no matter what happens we're not to go back for him,” Gutsy agreed. “He’s trying to protect us!”
“But we can’t let his essence get stolen!” Zipp said. “Papa and you Smurfs have done too much for us to give up now!”
“Zipp, you have the crystal now!” Brainy argued. “You guys can use that to get home and we can use the incantation! You don’t have to stay with this anymore!”
“No! They can’t go home!” Clumsy argued. “And we can’t leave Papa behind!”
“It was a smurf promise,” Gutsy said. “No no no! We can’t!” Clumsy persisted. “We promised Papa we’d do exactly what he said,” Brainy said, and Hitch nodded. “That’s right… us ponies were there!”
“I didn’t…” Patrick shook his head, causing everyone to look at him before he ran out the door. “I didn’t promise him anything.”
“Neither did I!” Clumsy agreed. “And there is NO WAY I’m leaving here without Papa.”
“Patrick wait!” Grace ran after her husband. “I’m coming with you!”
There was a moment of silence as the others figured out what to do, and Grouchy’s firsts clenched. “I’m in!”
“Aye… me too,” Gutsy managed to smile at Clumsy. “No Smurf left behind! Not Papa… and not you.”
“All for one,” everyone shouted, “and one for pony and Smurf!”
Suddenly, as everypony began to rush off to prepare themselves for battle, Hitch gasped. “Wait!” he cried. “What if Sunny isn’t on her way here? What if… she’s on her way to the castle to save Papa herself?!”
The others hadn’t thought of that… but it made sense. “Sunny is more attached to Papa since she learned her dad was connected to him,” Pipp said. “I bet she was so upset about Gargamel getting him, she’s gonna try and rescue him on her own!”
After taking a breath, Zipp took on a determined look. “If that is the case, we’ll save her too. No pony or Smurf left behind. Now come on-- we have a wizard’s flank to kick!”
Sunny had never felt herself flying so fast in her entire life, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut that she was flying straight into Gargamel’s clutches.
Papa was the last link she had to her father… she had to find a way to save him, even if it meant risking life and death.
Finally, after a few moments of flying, she found the castle and entered the basement through a small crack, staying out of sight until she found the perfect moment to strike. Once she was in there, she saw Gargamel with some kind of blade, scraping some hairs off of an imprisoned Papa’s beard.
La la la la la la...
I’ll… squeeze a few and tweeze a few And steal their essence blue
“Ha ha ha!” Gargamel laughed as he entered the trimmings into the machine. “Very impressive, my dear sweet little Papa!”
Sunny moved around the table to see that after Gargamel twisted a knob, several drops of Smurf essence entered the wand, making it’s eyes glow red once again. “Look at this,” Gargamel gloated. “Just a tiny little bit of your little tiny beard yields me all of this essence. Just imagine what I'll be able to harvest from your entire family of Smurfs. Alakazookas!”
Gargamel quickly blasted the combobbled machine, turning it into a more stable and high-tech version of itself. “Behold! My glorious Smurf magic machine!”
Papa’s eyes widened as soon as he saw the cages hanging from above. “No… no! The cages!” he cried, recalling the cages from his and Sunny’s vision. “No!”
“I'll steam the essence from their sweat. I'll tug it from their tears! I'll snip it from their hair… ha ha ha ha…”
“You’re a fool, Gargamel,” Papa sneered. “My Smurfs are well on their way home with Sunny and her friends by now!”
“Ha! Those puny ponies never stood a chance! Especially not that apricot-colored one!”
“Somepony call me?” Sunny asked as she stepped out into view, her wings and horn glowing bright and causing Azrael to meow in shock. “Sunny, what are you doing down here?” Papa asked. “You shouldn’t have come, it’s too dangerous!”
“I had to!” Sunny argued. “I’m not about to let you die like I watched my father die when I was a filly!”
“Azrael, don’t just stand there!” Gargamel barked. “Get her before she sounds the alarm!”
Azrael screeched and pounced, but Sunny was too quick, flying out of the way and blasting at the cat, causing him to screech and jump aside. “Come here, you little pest!” Gargamel cried, trying to grab her, but she instead blasted his feet, causing him to yelp in pain as she landed and prepared her biggest blast yet. “Gargamel,” she said, her cutie mark beginning to light, “this… ends…”
But before she could finish, Azrael pounced on her from behind, causing her to scream and fall, her alicorn form fading as Azrael kept her under her paws. Gargamel cackled and grabbed Sunny, binding ropes around her hooves before tying her to Papa’s chair. “Very well done, Azrael. And I might want to thank you as well, my dear,” the wizard smirked. “With you here, your friends will come to your pathetic rescue and I will find a way to claim THEIR magic as well!”
“You’ll never win!” Sunny snarled. “You’ll never get away with this!”
“Oh… won't I…?”
This reaction dubbed Sunny into shock as the wizard turned away to use the port-a-potty outside, Azrael following his lead. “Sunny… are you all right?” Papa asked as he was unable to comfort her, but the mare began to sniffle as a response. “I was so focused on not losing you like I lost Dad,” Sunny said, “I forgot that I always worked with my friends to solve problems… not go off on our own… and now I just may have ruined everything. I am SO sorry…”
“Sunny, none of this is your fault,” Papa assured the crying mare. “You were only trying to help us during this difficult time, and I can never thank you enough for helping me and my little Smurfs.”
“You really don't think it's my fault?”
“Of course I don't. And I'm sure Argyle would tell you the same thing.”
Sunny took a deep breath and managed to smile. “Thanks. I'm just glad the others are gonna help the Smurfs get home so they don't have to endure anymore of this.”
What Sunny and Papa didn’t know was that their friends were gonna help the Smurfs get home, but they were gonna save them, too.
XXXXXXXX
Patrick walked across the bridge, cracking his neck and with a crowbar in hand. Along with him, Grouchy, Brainy, Clusmy, Smurfette, Hitch, Zipp, Pipp, Izzy, Misty, and even Sparky and Elway prepared for battle.
Meanwhile, Grace pulled a tarp off an arrangement of balloons, and attached to those balloons was a large bowling ball, perfect for an incoming attack. “Oh, yeah. Let’s light this candle!” Gutsy turned on the drone, which lifted him into the air and Gutsy chased after the balloons, attaching them to the drone. “Good luck, Gutsy!” Grace called out. “Into the breach.”
“I’ll see you there!”
XXXXXXXX
The rest of the gang crawled through the foliage, reaching Belvedere Castle before peeking over the guard walls. “We all remembered the plan, right?” Smurfette reminded. “Yeah, save our friends and beat the snot out of Gargamel,” Pipp said. “Heh, I like her spirit,” Grouchy smirked. “Let's get our smurf on.”
Suddenly, Patrick's phone rang, and Brainy was on the other end. “Brainy. What's happening?”
“I’ve added the ingredients. It’s more powerful than I anticipated,” Brainy carefully stirred the concoction. “I don’t think I can do it.”
“Okay, Brainy. You can do this,” Zipp said sternly, yet gently. “Just say the incantation.”
Then, taking a deep breath, Brainy did was he was told and chanted the spell. Once he finished, two balls of magic shot out of the cauldron and high into the air, the moon being their direct target. Once they made contact, their entire surface of the moon was painted a bright blue. “Whoa...”
“It’s beautiful!” Misty said in shock. “Well I’ll be smurfed...” Grouchy whispered. Back with Brainy, a horizontal vortex began to shape against the pond waterfall the Smurfs and ponies original came out of. “I did it. I did it, Papa! I did it!”
XXXXXXXX
The gang wasn’t the only ones to see the blue moon-- Odile was giving a presentation at her penthouse when her guests spotted the anomaly.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Wow.”
“It’s the Anjelou moon.”
“How did she do that?”
“It's beautiful!”
“Oh, Odile...!”
At once, everyone began to clap and cheer at the astounding feat. Odile couldn’t help but smile. She wasn’t the one who did this, but she had an idea of who did.
XXXXXXXX
“Now I don’t want you worry, Papa.” Gargamel tied Papa and Sunny to a moving chair. “That which doesn’t kill you only makes me stronger.”
The evil wizard laughed as Sunny strained in her seat. “We’ll get out of this. And when we do, you’ll be sorry!”
“Well, too bad, so sad. Without your hooves being able to touch the ground, your fancy magic can't help you this time.”
“Yo!” a sudden familiar voice came. “Gargamel, come out to play.”
“Grouchy?” Sunny whispered. “You’ll pay for kidnapping our friends!” Hitch exclaimed. Papa heard the voices, too and began straining against the straps. “Oh, I think our tiny guests have finally arrived.”
“No!”
“Ah, well. Enjoy the ride, Sunny and Papa!” Gargamel turned on the contraption before he left. “And remember, keep your hand and feet inside the cart at all times.”
“No. No! No!” Papa cried out as the first contraption wrapped around the two and vacuum off all the sweat that accumulated onto their bodies. “Smurfs! RUN!!”
XXXXXXXX
Gargamel eagerly ran outside after he heard Grouchy and Hitch's voices, and wondered where they could be... until he heard a whistle coming from above, and looked up to see Misty, Grouchy and Hitch standing on a nearby building. “You have our friend, and our papa,” Grouchy said, chillingly calm. “In our book,” Hitch added, “that means ‘prepare to get smurfed’!”
“Yeah!” Clumsy said from where he and Izzy stood on the next structure over. “What they said!”
“Adorable,” Gargamel said, faking a caring tone. “Two little Smurfs and 3 little ponies come to save their leader and beloved papa.”
“Hey, Gargamel!”
The wizard turned to see Brainy with a lit match, and Zipp held a firework steady as he lit the fuse. “Make that 4 little ponies and three little Smurfs!”
That singular firework lit up the sky once it was high enough, and Zipp found herself speaking next. “And I took Brainy home, and we rounded up a few friends!”
Suddenly, a chanting began from all around Gargamel, and when he turned, his eyes widened… there was not one Smurf…
…not two…
…not three…
…but an entire army of Smurfs, waiting for battle. “My my my… I think the whole village must be here!” Gargamel said in surprise. “Whatever will I do… with all this essence…?”
“On me, boys!” Misty shouted, and lifted up Crazy with her magic, prompting him to sound the alarm that told all the Smurfs and ponies there to fire. Eggs, tiny forks, apples and other things went flying as Gargamel tried to avoid them. “Watch it, you little hoodlums!”
As all this was going on, Narrator Smurf found his moment to shine. “There comes a time when every Smurf and little pony must stand up for what is good and cute and blue in the world. And on this brisk New York night, that time is now.”
“Hey!” Grouchy shouted as Zipp flew over to join her friends. “Seriously?!” Zipp protested. “Sorry,” Narrator apologized. “It’s kind of what I do.”
Zipp grunted as she threw a fork right at Gargamel, which pierced right into his arm, causing him to yell in pain. “Eat yolk, Gargamel!” Jokey called as he threw an egg, causing it to splat all over Gargamel’s face. “You know, for once,” said Hitch, “that’s probably the only one of Jokey’s shenanigans that I’m gonna let slip by!”
XXXXXXXX
Patrick strained as hard as he could to create a hole in the sewers big enough for Pipp and Smurfette to squeeze through, so they could go inside and save Sunny and Papa Smurf. “Patrick…” Smurfette said anxiously. “Can you do it?”
“Yeah!” Pipp agreed. “Kind of a life or death moment here!”
“Go go go!” Patrick said as he created a hole big enough for them to squeeze into. “Hurry, they can't hold out for long.”
XXXXXXXX
Hitch slammed his hoof into the ground, creating a spiky apple that he tossed down to Handy, who loaded it into the slingshot the other Smurfs had built. “You know, one bad apple can ruin your whole day!”
The apple was then fired, striking Gargamel in the butt and causing him to scream and drop his wand. “Nice one, Hitch-a-roo!” Izzy said as she gave Sparky to Brainy. “Now it’s up for a little unicycling action!”
As Gargamel picked up his wand from the ground, a pile of lipstick was spilled, and this gave Izzy enough time to load a small Empire State Building toy into the launcher from the toy store. “Hey, Gargamel! Here’s a little souvenir for you from the Big Apple!”
As Gargamel began to slip on the lipstick, Baker and Chef prepared to fling a frying pan down in Gargamel's direction.
“Out of the frying pan…”
“...and into the…”
“FIRE!!”
But what they didn’t realize was that when the frying pan swung down, Vanity was accidentally attached to the rope and swung down with it. “I’M TOO BEAUTIFUL TO DIE!!!!”
Gargamel was struck head on by the frying pan, popping his nose out of place and allowing him to pop it back into place.
One thing was for sure… beating the Smurfs and ponies was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
XXXXXXXX
Pipp and Smurfette finally managed to reach the basement of the castle, and climbed up onto the table to see Papa and Sunny imprisoned and unable to escape this fate. “Oh, Papa....” Smurfette said. “Sunny!” Pipp cried. “Pipp?” Sunny blinked. “No…” Papa said weakly. “No, Smurfette.”
“What did he do to you?” Smurfette struggled to open the capsule. “I swear,” Pipp growled, “when I get my hooves on this monster…”
“You shouldn’t have come back for us!” Sunny said. “He’s stealing Papa's essence, and torturing me, and he’ll steal Smurfette's essence too!”
“Papa, Sunny, we’re getting you two out of here right now!” Smurfette insisted, and she and Pipp began to use a rusty nail to pry the capsule open... just as Azrael slowly prowled behind them, growling and ready to pounce. “Girls, look out!” Sunny shrieked, just as the tabby cat pounced. “You!” Pipp said menacingly. “Smurfette! Pipp!” Papa called out. “Hang on, Papa, we’ll be back!” Smurfette threw the old nail into Azrael’s mouth, allowing them to escape as Azrael spit the nail out and gave them chase.
XXXXXXXX
“CHARGE!!”
“Get him!”
“Grab the wand!”
“Save Sunny and Papa!”
“We’re going in!”
“Go go go!”
As the Smurfs and ponies charged right at the fallen wizard, Gargamel managed to spot Gutsy releasing the bowling ball from earlier right above him. “Bomb’s away! I’m going for a strike!”
“ALAKAZAM!!!” Gargamel shrieked, using his wand to blast the bowling ball into nothingness. “Uh-oh…” Zipp gulped. “Look out, Gutsy!”
Gargamel continued to blast Gutsy left and right, eventually getting him and knocking him into the trees. He was okay, but he was unsure of how long it would take to get himself out of there.
XXXXXXXX
“Hang on, guys!” Pipp cried as she and Smurfette tried to make an escape from Azrael, and Papa and Sunny tried to keep their eyes from watering from the onions they were being exposed to. That’s when Smurfette saw some nails and got an idea. “Get back, cat!”
She tossed the nails onto the ground, poking at Azrael’s paws, and as he neared them, Pipp kicked him back, causing his butt to fall on the nails and allowing them to make the next move. “Here, kitty kitty…”
Once Azrael pounced, the frying pan they were standing on sent them flying onto a cage above them, while the pan itself hit Azrael in the case. “Smurfette!” Papa cried. “Don’t worry!” Pipp assured. “We’ve got this!”
Smurfette nodded and leapt down onto Azrael’s back, prompting the cat to try and start bucking her off. “Looking for me?!”
“Go, Pipp! Go, Smurfette!” Sunny strained against the chair’s restraints. “Kick that feline’s rear end!”
XXXXXXXX
“Playtime is OVER!!” Gargamel shrieked to the Smurfs and ponies around him. “Behold… the awesome power… of ME!!!”
Striking his wand to the sky, he began to create a swirling storm that sent Smurfs and ponies flying all around, trying to stick to the ground and not let Gargamel catch them in his sack.
Patrick looked up and saw the storm, immediately knowing that they didn’t have much time left for this rescue mission. “Pipp! Smurfette!”
XXXXXXXX
“Had enough?! Huh?!” Smurfette challenged the cat as she pulled on its ears. “You’re mine, kitty!”
Sunny and Papa strained again as they reached the largest part of the machine, and Pipp knew that she needed to get Smurfette away from Azrael fast, cause they were heading straight for a large amount of boxes and crates. “We’re done smurfing around, cat!”
Smurfette leapt onto Pipp’s back as Azrael collided with the pile, resulting in a cage to fall on him. Pipp huffed with a smirk. “You smurfed with the wrong girls.”
“AGH!!” Sunny screamed, and Smurfette and Pipp immediately rushed to their aid, with Smurfette shutting off the machine and Pipp finally being able to free Sunny and Papa. “Oh, Pipp! You guys are total lifesavers!” Sunny said, hugging her friend. “Thank you!”
“No prob, Sunny!” Pipp brushed it off. “But we better hurry-- I don’t know how much longer the other Smurfs and ponies can hold Gargamel off!”
XXXXXXXX
Gargamel was using the crazy storm he conjured to his advantage, swiping Smurfs left and right, and finally capturing Grouchy and Misty in his wand’s grip as Papa, Smurfette, Sunny and Pipp ran outside. Pipp gasped first upon seeing their friends in danger, not sure what to think. “What’s happening, Papa?!”
“No!” Papa grabbed a stick and leapt into the air, hurling it at Gargamel in an effort of attack. “GARGAMEL!!!!”
Unfortunately, Gargamel seemed to sense this, and painfully grabbed Papa with his magic. “Not so fast, goody-blue-shoes!”
“Oh, Papa!!” Sunny cried out as Gargamel pulled Papa closer. “Now…” the wizard sneered, “it’s time to break their little blue wills.”
“No!”
“Are you watching closely, Smurfs?” Gargamel asked, and the Smurfs and ponies cried out in worry when they saw Papa struggling. “Your beloved little Papa is about to meet his little blue end… upsy-daisy!”
He tossed Papa high into the air in an effort to strike him down. “Oh no!” Izzy cried from where she and Clumsy were hiding. “PAPA!!”
“Papa!”
Patrick immediately rushed onto the scene, and as Gargamel was about to strike Papa down, Patrick leapt up, grabbed Papa and fell behind the guard wall. “No… NOOO!!!” Gargamel screamed, blasting the wall to reveal Sunny, Patrick and Papa in hiding. “You again! Goodbye…”
“This ends here!” Zipp declared as she and Gutsy flew onto the scene. “This ends now!”
“I’m really,” said Gargamel, beginning to wave his wand, “really going to enjoy this!”
At that moment, Gutsy swooped in and grabbed the wand before flying higher into the sky. “FREEDOM!!”
“Son of a Smurf!” Gargamel snarled. “Come back here!”
“Go, Gutsy!” Clumsy cheered. “Yeah! Whoo!”
“Come back here right now with my wand!”
But, during the triumphant moment, Gutsy accidentally dropped the wand toward the ground, and the entire world seemed to slow as Gargamel and Clumsy both made attempts to grab it. During this, the entire world seemed to slow, and Papa’s mind instantly went back to the vision, sighing in worry. “The vision’s never been wrong…”
As Clumsy leapt into the air, struggling to get his grip on the wand, everyone watched in shock as Clumsy fell to the ground… with the wand in his grasp. “I got it!”
No one could believe it, but they were really too happy to question this-- their future may have been altered after all!
Gargamel, however, was livid at the fact the Smurfs had his wand. “Give me my wand… GIVE ME BACK MY WAND!!”
Izzy and Misty screamed as the wand sent a blast that sent Gargamel back into the city… more specifically in a pile of trash. As soon as he climbed out, he wandered into the middle of the streets. “How dare you?!” he bellowed. “How dare you defy the wrath of the great and powerful Gar--”
But before he could finish, he was instead hit head on by an Angelou bus, and as the bus drove off into the night, Gargamel only screamed one thing in defeat: “SMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURFS!!!!”
Everyone rejoiced in total happiness-- thanks to one Clumsy Smurf, Gargamel wasn’t going to be a bother to the Smurfs for anytime soon, As the ponies and Smurfs began to chant Clumsy’s name, Grace ran into the arms of her husband. “Patrick!”
“Hey!” Patrick cheered, hugging her. “Clumsy! Clumsy! Clumsy! Clumsy!” the Smurfs and ponies cheered, tossing Clumsy into the air, and as the cheering died down, Grace found her voice to speak. “Clumsy… you’re a hero.”
“I’m a hero?” Clumsy questioned, and this led Grace and all the ponies to nod. “I’M A HERO!!!” Clumsy cheered, hitting Grouchy and Gutsy in the nose again as he was celebrating. “Oh, I’m so sorry, guys! Definitely killed the moment…”
“Clumsy,” Hefty elbowed him, “you little mook, you!”
Suddenly, the entire crowd went silent as Papa Smurf made his way forward. “I owe you an apology, Clumsy. I believed more in a vision than I did in you,” he said before giving Clumsy a hug. “I’m so proud of you, Clumsy.”
“Thanks, Papa…” Clumsy said, a smile gracing his face. Grouchy sniffled from nearby, leaving Zipp to comfort him. “Come on, Grouch. I thought you promised that you wouldn’t cry?”
“And now,” said Sunny, breaking the wand, “to get rid of this!”
She threw the wand in the castle pond, letting it sink to the bottom, never to be seen again. “Sunny…” Hitch hugged the earth pony mare. “We’re so glad you and Papa are safe! I’m glad we’re all safe.”
“I am too,” Sunny smiled. “I promise, I won’t rush off on another rescue mission without you guys again.”
“That’s a relief,” said Misty. “So… what now?”
“What else?” Zipp asked with a chuckle. “Time to get these Smurfs home.”
XXXXXXXX
One by one, the Smurfs piled into the portal, each of them saying goodbyes to Patrick, Grace and the ponies. Finally, it got to Brainy, but he wasn’t ready to say a small goodbye just yet. “I'm not one for long goodbyes, but I did smurf together a few words I'd like to say.”
But, Grouchy and Gutsy pushed him into the portal before he could finish. “Bye!”
“Take care, Brainy!” Misty waved as he vanished from sight. Then, it was Grouchy’s turn. “I hated this… so much less than I expected.”
“And we like you more than we ever expected too,” Zipp chuckled. “We’ll see you soon, Grouchy.”
“Don't get me wrong, I still hated it. Just less!” Grouchy said as he leapt into the portal. “I'll not soon forget this place. Especially not with these!” Gutsy revealed a pair of New York City underwear before leaping into the portal. “Tally-hooooooo!!!”
“Bye!” Hitch waved. As the ponies were bidding their friends goodbye, Grace moved toward Smurfette with a smile. “Hey, girlfriend.”
“Wow. I've never had a girlfriend before. I'll never forget you.”
So, before she left for the portal, Smurfette and Grace shared a final high-four before Clumsy decided to join them. “Hey, Smurfette.”
“And you,” said Grace, taking Clumsy into her arms. “You, you little hero, come here!”
“Hero? Ahh, stop,” said Clumsy playfully. “Well, actually, you mind saying it one more time? It's kinda got a nice ring to it.”
Grace laid a smell kiss on Clumsy’s head before letting him go off to the portal with Smurfette. During this time, Papa approached Patrick again with a smile. “Well, Master Winslow, thank you. You saved me. Heh… you saved my whole family.”
“Actually I think it was the other way around.”
“Well, I should get going. I've got a Smurf village to rebuild. Your village has given me some ideas.”
And so, in a final act of farewell, Patrick pulled Papa in for a final hug. “Goodbye, Papa.”
“Goodbye… Papa.”
Patrick and Grace watched as Papa, Smurfette and Clumsy approached the ponies as another portal opened up nearby. “That’s us,” Sunny sighed. “We have to go.”
“Thank you for everything, ponies,” Clumsy said, hugging Zipp. “Will you come back to visit?”
“Of course,” Sunny said. “We’ll really try.”
Papa pulled out a blue Smurf cap from his bag before giving it to Sunny. “Maybe Pipp can use it as a model for some new pony-wear. Ha ha…”
“Thank you, Papa. I… I’ll never forget you…” Sunny smiled, and after a final exchange of hugs, the two groups went their separate ways through the portals before they closed.
XXXXXXXX
A few minutes later, Patrick and Grace were walking home from their eventful night when Odile called Patrick. But to his surprise… she wasn’t angry. “Patrick, I just called to say thank you. Finally someone has given me what I want.”
Surprised, Patrick hung up the phone and turned to his wife. “I think I’m not fired.”
“Wow…” Grace commented with an impressed tone. “So that's a new job, new baby, some unique new friends… you know if you really want a bigger place--”
“Bigger?” Patrick turned to her. “Are you crazy? Then we'll be further apart. Grace… I smurf you.”
Then, with one passionate kiss, Patrick and Grace headed back for home.
And… who knows? Maybe the Smurfs and ponies will reunite with them someday soon. But right now… it was going to be so good to see home.
