For Discord, the gala was always so boring. Everypony kept saying hi to him and his aunt. They hardly had a chance to speak as everypony would come up to them to say hello, well, mainly his aunt. He was glad that his friends were coming but from what he talked about with Fluttershy, the others had their own plans.
At least it wasn't going to be terrible, Twilight ran up the stairs to greet them. "Princess Celestia! Hi Discord!"
"Hi Twilight! Wow, you look great!"
"Thanks, Discord."
Princess Celestia smiled at her and said, "Twilight! It is so lovely to see my star student."
With a huge smile on her face, Twilight stood by her side and said, "Oh, I'm so excited to be here! We have so much to catch up on."
"Well, I want you right by my side the entire evening, so we'll have plenty of time together."
Twilight zipped by her side as fast as she could. Now Discord was on her right and Twilight was on her left. "That's just what I was hoping you'd say."
'Somepony's eager tonight,' Discord thought to himself. As time went on, more ponies came to say hello to him and the princess. "Hello. It's nice to see you again."
"Hi. Welcome to the gala."
Out of the corner of his eye, Discord noticed Twilight's disappointment. 'Man, she really wanted to hang out with my aunt. I hope this night isn't a total disappointment for her.'
It took another hour before ponies stopped saying hi to him and just focused on his aunt. Discord took this opportunity to walk away to find the others. 'Maybe their night is going better than Twilight's.'
Turns out, Discord was wrong. He watched Rainbow try to talk with the Wonderbolts but was unable to. He saw Pinkie trying to liven up the party but no pony was participating. 'Maybe Applejack's apple stand is going well. I should check on her.' Discord walked to her apple stand and she still had loads of food but at least Rarity was there with... 'Oh no.'
Discord ran to them just as Applejack set out the apple fritters. "It's okay, Rarity. I've got you covered." He could hear Applejack say to her. "Here." Discord put in a couple bits. "You're here to make money. Might as well help out," Applejack smiled at him.
"Thank you, Discord. At least somepony here has good manners."
Blueblood took a bit of the food and he immediately spat it out. "Fritters! Dumplings! Caramel Apples! My royal lips have touched common carnival fare! I'm going to the buffet for some hors d'oeuvres."
Discord growled in annoyance as Rarity left with him from behind. "I really hate that guy."
"Well, no wonder no pony wants my food. They're filling up on all those fancy-schmancy vittles. Well, my down-home apples are plenty good enough for this crowd. I'll just dress them up a bit." Before Discord could stop her, Applejack was already gone.
"I wonder where Fluttershy is. Maybe the garden." Discord arrived at the garden and saw Fluttershy's dress and she herself were a mess. "Maybe later. Even though, this is kinda hot."
Discord entered the ballroom and he watched as everything started to fall apart. Pinkie tried to get everypony to dance but failed as she fell on the cake that Applejack was a bringing in. The cake flew into the air and instead of it landing on Blueblood, he forced Rarity in front and it landed on her.
She angrily shook cake on him and he crashed into the statue that Rainbow caught but it was too heavy and she lost her balance. Multiple pillars fell down leaving a large cloud of dust everywhere. The statue broke from her back just as Celetia and Twilight arrived.
Discord walked over to them as Twilight said, "Well, it can't get any worse."
A tremor shook the entire room which scared everypony in the room. Another set of doors burst open, it was all the animals from the garden running in fear from Fluttershy.
"You're…going to LOVE ME!!!!!"
'Wow, she is furious. It's kinda attractive.'
The crowd went into a full stampede. Animals and ponies alike where running everywhere in fear causing more chaos then ever before.
"Um, um, uh…"
With one word, Celestia whispered to Twilight, "Run!" Twilight whistled to her friends and waved them toward the door. The Mane 6 retreated without another thought.
"That sounds like the worst night ever!"
"It was!" Everypony laughed heartily. It may have been a terrible night, but once they all told their story, they couldn't help but laugh.
"I just hope Princess Celestia isn't upset with us for ruining the Gala," Twilight said sadly.
"Well, actually Twilight..."
"That was the best Grand Galloping Gala ever!"
To everyponys surprise, Celestia was here with a smile on her face. "Princess Celestia!"
"Pardon me, Princess, but tonight was just…awful!"
"Oh, Twilight, the Grand Galloping Gala is always awful."
"Which is why it's my least favorite night of the year. It's the same thing year after year, it's so boring."
Surprised, Twilight asked, "It is?"
"That is why I was thrilled you were all attending. I was hoping you could liven things up a bit."
"And trust me, it was the best gala I have attended in a long time."
"And while the evening may not have gone as you planned, I'm sure you'll agree that in the end, it didn't turn out so bad for this group of friends."
Twilight smiled. "You're right, Princess. Discord. Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great."
"Yeah! Hanging out with friends!" Rainbow Dash added.
"Talking!" Fluttershy added on.
"Laughing!"
You mean doing exactly what I wanted to do the whole time?"
Twilight smiled at him. "Yes, Spike. You were right."
"As horrible as our night was…" Applejack started.
"…being together here has made it all better," Rarity continued.
"In fact, it's made it…" Pinkie Pie began.
"...the best night ever!"
Everypony laughed at that. The night started out bad but in the end, they ended it together as friends, making it all better.
Celestia invited the Mane 6 to stay in a few guest rooms in the castle for the night. After all, the train ride home is long and after a night like theirs, a night in the castle was going to be relaxing.
Fluttershy was sleeping peacefully when she head a knock on her door. She looked outside and the moon was still up. "Who could that be?" She got out of bed and walked to the door. She opened it to reveal Discord waiting for her.
"Hey, good. You're up. Come on, I've got something to show you."
"Discord?" Fluttershy yawned loudly. "The princess hasn't risen the sun yet. What do you need to show me?"
"It's a surprise. Come on. You're going to love it." Confused, she followed him. Discord led her to the garden. Flowers were everywhere and the sun still hadn't risen. Discord sat down as Fluttershy joined him. "Fluttershy, before I met you and your friends, I only had my aunt. When I... when I lost my mom, I lost so much hope. The night she was going to be freed from the moon, I hoped she would be better... but she wasn't." Fluttershy looked at her friend sadly. She knew from her talks with him that Discord was lonely and sad when his mother was in the moon. "Fluttershy, you and your friends helped her. You healed her and brought my mom back. I spent months thinking of a way to thank each of you. An ancient book for Twilight, a rare priceless gem for Rarity, a delicious cake for Pinkie, and I haven't figured out what to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash but I know what I wanted to get you."
"What?"
"It's going to take a moment but watch."
Discord was right. As the morning sun rose, hundreds butterflies came out. It was butterflies of all different species: Monarchs, Swallowtails, Viceroys, Peacock Butterflies, Fritillaries, and more were fluttering through the air. "Oh my! This is beautiful! How did you..."
"Know? Your cutie mark, for one. And I had a feeling that you would love a sight like this. They do this almost every morning. I don't come out here often but the sight of the butterflies always perked me up. I knew it was the perfect way to say, thank you for saving my mom."
Two butterflies landed on their noses and they laughed. "Thank you, Discord. This really made this the best night ever."
"Thank you, Fluttershy. Thank you."
The two watched the sun rise as the butterflies flew off their noses and went back with the others. Unaware that someone was watching them from a distance.
"The master is going to be please. A draconequus here in Equestria. Ooh. From my observations, he's the prince and he's in love with a pony." The stranger nearly gagged. "No matter. That will all change once we get him to turn on his friends."