Green lights flickered on and off in the sea of space. A platform was raised just above Equestria's airspace in a protective magical bubble, where only very few could reach. Those few who could reach happened to be the two currently in the bubble. The pair were seated at a large wooden table with the logos of Harmony, a sun and moon combined with the love of water (the sea), and land (Equestria), and the logos of Chaos, which for some reason represented a shattered Crystal Heart, one that Celestia knew well. It could've been the future of the Crystal Empire if she hadn't guided Twilight to that path.
So she sat there at a table with him, the guest of honor at the previous Gala."Hello, Discord," she calmly acknowledged, her eyes resting upon her delectable cup of Equestria's premium brand of tea. "I see you've recovered just fine after the last Gala."Discord, who was wearing a smirk of hearty delight, leaned in towards Celestia's direction. "Oh yes, the Gala. It was a splendid time, wasn't it?"Celestia only smirked. "The best in years," she said, before taking a sip of her tea. "Mind if I invite you next year?"Discord raised a brow. "Is this what you brought me up here for?" He looked at his glass of tea, brewed to the precise temperature he liked. "Wooing me with some chaotic tea and a chance to come to the Gala again?"Celestia set her tea aside and gave Discord a great, genuine smile. "No, Discord. I have something I need your opinion on."Discord, while his eyebrow was still raised in the sun's general direction, took a sip of his tea before unleashing his chaos everywhere in the form of liquid. "What?!" he shouted with his mouth agape.Celestia promptly summoned a tissue to her face. "You heard me, Discord." She patted her forehead lightly to remove the excess chaos. "I need your help."Discord popped beside her. "Celly, needing my help?" He teleported to her other side with a quick flash. "What a marvelous opportunity you have beset upon such an individual as me." He appeared back at his seat. "Would you want the theme of the Gala to be of the Chaos genre, hmm?"Celestia rolled her eyes. "In that attire?"Discord looked down. Shorts with trees of all colors printed on its wonderful fabric, a shirt sporting a heart surrounded by the love of chaos, and a white hoofball cap with red and orange lettering spelling out Gala; how could Celestia turn down such a killer outfit? In Discord's realm, this was the attire of the century: a party-goers must have. Yet, here, Celestia's ponies must have a different sense of partying. They must, otherwise she wouldn't have turned him down. So he sighed, snapped his fingers, and sat down in his seat."Guess partying is different at next year's Gala," Discord muttered, his claws curling up into a ball. "Am I right?"Celestia gazed at Discord's disheartened appearance. "Don't be so down on yourself. Besides, we're going to be partying just the same..."Discord's ears twitched at that. "Then why must you reject the outfit I--""It wouldn't be appropriate for the nobles to wear," Celestia explained while her hoof slowly inched its way to her tea, which still had steam rising from its container. "As you know, nobles do wear formally to this event."Discord looked at Celestia and frowned. "Can't that change?"Celestia shook her head. "Even if that outfit would suit the theme, I cannot allow us to stand lower. The nobles would think I am trying to dispose of them.""Under what clause?" Discord questioned. "There's no reason for them to think that."Celestia groaned. "Remember 451?"Discord was about to open his mouth to retort when he remembered it all: the books, the burning, the giant monster of Tirek shooting down a main library hub of her student's; it was all gone. "But how does that relate to dressing at the Gala?"Celestia took a more generous sip of her tea and placed it at the far end of the table. Turning to Discord, all she said was, "Watch" before the table's center folded into itself. Then, out of the circular section came a new, more fresh form with a floating version of her student's library in a more downscale model. Celestia cleared her throat and pointed at the doorstep of the library. "You see the door?"Discord nodded. "But--"Celestia glared at him, promptly stopping his question from ever being asked. "Watch, Dissy."He growled. He hated that nickname. He hated it so much, but he listened to her declaration. With a disguise of disinterest, Discord watched as the door swung open, disintegrating the library. To replace it was her student's room. It stood proudly with its bed made, its color blossoming forth, and the shelves were filled with her own personal collection. Celestia smiled. "Doesn't Twilight's old room look so... common?"Discord tilted his head. "I thought you would be praising it, not dissing it."Celestia smirked. "That wasn't an insult, Discord." With a quick flick of her hoof, the old room disappeared, falling out of the sphere with ease, forgotten. "Look at her new room.""Ne--whoa," Discord said as the room became part of the sphere. Discord stood from his seat and gawked as each item was generated by Celestia’s aura, which mixed with the bubble’s membrane. The bed was a strong piece of crystal that jutted from the floor. On its surface was a lavender bedspread--it must’ve been from the old library but renewed again, Discord thought as his eyes glanced over it. The rest shined in the light with its gold sheen, shimmering with the lime light, as if the room was set as the stage, and Discord was just mere audience member gazing at what he thought was gates of heaven, or in Discord’s mind, the gates of overly priced goods sent from Manehatten. He was amazed and disgusted at the same time.Discord asked, “This is Twilight’s room?” Princess Celestia replied by giving the draconequus a couple of nods. “Eh, I’ve seen better. Your room is a lot nicer, Celly,” he finished with a wink.Celestia rolled her eyes before trotting over to the center of the room. “You see how more--”“Overpriced, overdone, and outrageously organized her oval-shaped o--”“Discord, it’s more obtuse than oval--” Celestia facehooved. “Look, the room is much nicer and screams more ‘Sparkle’ than before!”Discord shook his head. “Overly octangular and outlandish if I had to say so myself.” He then popped beside Celestia, his arm wrapped around her neck. “Anything else to show me?”Celestia sighed. “Unless you have anything else to say abo--”“About what?” Discord asked, before he took a jab at Celestia’s side. “About your room? Because if so, I will let you know that--”“Keep dreaming, Dissy,” she said with a wink of her own.“With your sister, I do.” Celestia rolled her eyes again. Oh how he loved rustling her feathers. He knew it made Celestia want to zap him to the moon, but he knew she didn’t have the guts to even attempt it. After all, Discord was the leading cause of balance. She couldn’t let Equestria be all happy and peachy all the time.Then again…“If you want, Celly,” he began, his eyes centered on her face. “You and I can recreate a bit of the new moves I showed your sis--”“NOPE!” Celestia interrupted, and with a quick and bright flash, the room returned to their bubbly abode, where their colorful table stood proudly in the center while the entire platform floated thousands of feet above the ground.“Aww come now Celly, wouldn’t you have liked to see--” Discord was once again cut off by the Princess of the Sun.“If you say what I think you are about to say, I will revoke your invitation to the next Gala and send you on an express route straight for the moon!”Discord took a gulp while popping a squat in his chair. “You’re no fun, Celly,” he muttered, while twiddling with his claws. “First you say I’m the best in the business, and now you’re trying to zap my business to your sister’s lovely moon.”Celestia took her seat, kept her posture neat, slipped the cup of tea near her, and with a smile, she gazed at Discord lovingly. “I’m not zapping it, I’m going to permanently engrave it on the moon.”Discord shuttered. Her voice sounded so calm, but soclever, chaotic… It sounded like…“Celestia, have you been watching my tapes?” Discord asked, his eyebrow raising towards the stars.Celestia, who was taking a generous sip of her cup of tea, suddenly spat spread her love of chaos all over the table, staining the logos that kept harmony in balance, and the Keeper of Balance, who was wishing he hadn’t asked his question until after she had swallowed her ‘sip’. After cleaning off his fur with a towel, Discord shouted “So you have?!”“Um-I-uh…” Celestia stuttered while her mind was misfiring in hopes that she wouldn’t remember those tapes.Discord pointed his paw at Celestia. “So you did watch them! Fantastic! I sent you those centuries ago, didn’t I?” He snapped his claw, and leaned back in his newly acquired recliner. “Marvelous tapes of my younger, more daring self… Might you send me them? My copies were burnt in Twilight’s library…”Celestia frowned. “If only I knew where they were…” She then shook her head. “That is not the point of this meeting, though, Discord. We must discuss the next Gala!”Discord frowned too due to the loss of his tapes. He had a chaotic fashion back then too, which was one that even Celestia’s rich guests might appreciate. However, if she had turned down these designs…“All right, Celly, you win. I will succumb to your demands.” He took a sip of his tea. “What do you need me so desperately for?”Celestia growled. “I’m not desperate, Discord. I’m just concerned about it being such a low quality event. The nobles have such high standards…” Her eyes cast past the table and towards Equestria’s land, shining large around the rest of the nations. “I just can’t help but think if next year’s Gala isn’t better than the ones previous, then Equestria’s noble population will come to me crying about why the Gala was, as they would put it, ‘Barbaric and Grotesque’.”Discord took a few good moments to absorb what Celestia had said. The humorous mare that had just threatened to send him to the moon via express mail was now changing gears. She sounded more down, upset, and worried that the Gala was going to be worse than the one he made better than ever. There has to be something he could do… something. He just didn’t know what.Then again….“Celly, instead of changing the attire, how about we invite someone different to the Gala?”Celestia raised a brow. “Who do you have in mind?”Discord thought. He thought hard. Someone in this universe could be able to cause chaos other than him. Yet he needed to think of someone so ridiculous that she had no choice but to turn the option down. He wanted to rustle her feathers again, and what better way than to invite someone she absolutely despised.So, he took a rather whole approach to the response. “How about inviting Chrysalis to the Gala?”“Discord, are you…” Celestia stopped and stared at Discord with her mouth agape.Wait for it…Her eyes were as wide as can be.She’s about to--“Discord, you’re a genius!”Discord did a double take. He was only joking! He knew that Chrysalis was a great enemy to Celestia and a great love hugger. Even the God of Chaos knew it was an idea beyond terrible. Yet, Celestia was alright with inviting her arch nemesis that almost killed her at the royal wedding!“Celly I was only…”“Think about it! Queen Chrysalis would surely liven--and possibly destroy--the place!” Celestia exclaimed with a grin. “Maybe if I also invite a few of her bug friends…” Celestia got up from her chair and turned away from Discord.On the other side of the table was Discord. He knew that what he said had just brought the wrath of chaos, but it wasn’t his chaos. He didn’t cause it, Celestia caused her own chaos. This was not something he was too fond of, and certainly was he fond of a mumbling Celestia that looked too happy to destroy her own castle. He had to fix this.“Celestia?” Discord muttered softly.Celestia, who was gliding her hoof through the air as if she is envisioning a banner, suddenly turned to Discord with her grin still plastered onto her face. “Yes?”Discord stood from his chair and glared at her. “Maybe you should reconsider my… advice.” He teleported beside her.“Reconsider?” Celestia asked with a raised brow. “Why should I reevaluate when she is an obvious candidate for the job!”Discord was beyond baffled by this point. Had she forgotten her past with the bugger? “Celestia, Celestia, Celestia…” Discord wrapped his arm around her again. “Don’t you know that she was your arch nemesis?”Celestia looked away from Discord. “Of course, she almost killed me.”“That’s right,” Discord said. “So why would you invite her back?”“So I can almost ki--spread harmony against her!” Celestia exclaimed. “That way I can get payback and street cred among the nobles!” She gave Discord a wing hug. “Discord, you’re such a genius!”Discord would be flattered if the flatterer hadn’t decided to invite a not-so-friendly foe to her next Gala. “Celestia, inviting somepony for the purpose of getting back at them isn’t a wise idea.”Celestia frowned. “You’re right, Discord…” She looked down at the purple membrane and poked it with her hoof. “Maybe I shouldn’t. It would go against everything Equestria stands for.”Discord, for once, grinned at the chance of something not being horrifically chaotic. “It would also ruin your credibility as a Princess.”Celestia’s eyes widened at the thought. “You mean…?”Discord nodded. “Maybe you really should reconsider your plan of action.”Celestia sighed. “But what do I do? There’s gotta be someway to make this next gala the best gala ever!” She brought her hoof to the end of her muzzle and gently rubbed it in thought.Meanwhile, Discord played back a moment in time when he was in stone. He had watched Celestia pace back and forth in wonder at the thought that she, of all the ponies in the land, had this piece of draconequus locked up in prison. In a cold, stone prison where he could not get out. She always wanted him to be free, kind, and most importantly: her friend. So she talked and talked until she could not talk anymore to Discord in stone.The one thing he learned from that was she was a very prophetic speaker. She was able to talk her jaw off to a prisoner in stone that couldn’t reply back. Maybe he could--Then again…“Just leave it to me, Celestia,” Discord said as he teleported back to his chair.Just leave it to me…
It was time for the Gala once again! The Grand Galloping Gala, the most prestigious event in all of Equestria, was hosted by none other than Celestia herself. Discord had advertised it all across Equestria to prepare for one of the best speeches of all time. It would be great. It would be chaotic. It would be…“If you ponies remember 451, I have now made it mandatory that all homes have a built-in magic fire detector that can be activated with a magical blast…”...not full of burnt books.“Princess Celestia?” Discord asked as he teleported onto stage. “Might I add some more flair to this event?”Celestia, who was shook out of her groove, reluctantly nodded.Discord turned to the audience.Then again…“If I may turn your attention to the middle of the room…” Discord said with a smile. “I have something to show you all.”As all the ponies turned, Discord snapped his fingers and teleported to the floor. There, he walked towards a pony who also was standing there with a cloak and hood covering their entire body. The hooded pony offered their hoof, and there, Discord grabbed it and looked at the audience. “I’m sorry, Celestia,” he said with a grin. “But the Gala isn’t just for words, dress, and creative jest. It’s for…” He turned to the pony and lifted their hood from their face. “Creating some havoc.”With that, he danced. He danced with her.And there, they recreated all the moves that Celestia did not want to see.She could not even believe that Discord would be showing those moves to all these ponies. The point of the Grand Galloping Gala is to have a good time and make memories. Now the only thing the attendees will remember, if they even dare to remember this night, is what Discord was showing everypony.And what he's showing is having some of the fillies and stallions of the Gala feel their eyes are going from clear, to blurry and then to black. That or they feel their eye sockets starting to burn. Some are even fainting at the sight of these moves. This may not be the best night ever for the attendees and princess, but it sure was for Discord.