Upon realizing that his friends were right, Garfield knew that he had to fight Ramone and get Arlene back the only way he knew how…

…through dance.

As crazy as this sounds, Garfield knew that it was either this plan or nothing, so it was worth their best shot

And upon finding out Pipp had made some tango outfits in case Garfield did decide to do the tango with Arlene, Garfield came up with a plan so crazy… it just HAD to work.

XXXXXXXX

Immediately, Garfield put on the outfit that Arlene had purchased for him, and Pipp immediately got to work fitting the younger ponies with their outfits first.

• Jasmine got a beautiful dark blue dress with matching shoes on her hooves and dark blue eyeshadow.
• Diamond got a yellow dress with matching shoes and bright yellow eyeshadow.
• Cobalt got a red shirt with black pants and matching shoes for his back hooves.
• Lily got a dark green dress with matching shoes for her own hooves and dark green eyeshadow.

And once the younger ponies were ready, it was time for the Mane 6 to get themselves ready for the mission ahead.

• Zipp's outfit consisted of a black dress and light gray lace stockings on her back legs.
• Misty’s outfit consisted of a dark blue dress with flowers and vine-like designs all over it.
• Sunny's outfit consisted of a dark red frilly dress with red rose designs all over it.
• Hitch's outfit consisted of a white shirt, black pants and black shoes on his back hooves.
• Pipp's outfit consisted of dark red shoes and a flowery white dress.
• Izzy's outfit consisted of a long-sleeved light blue and white dress with light blue roses on the skirt portion.

And while she enjoyed the new get-up Pipp had made, Lily still seemed unsure about what Garfield was planning. “Garfield, what exactly is your plan again?”

“My plan,” Garfield said, “is to sweep Arlene right out from Ramone’s paws and expose him for the half-baked creep he is. But I need you all to make it look like it's part of the show, so that's where you all come in.”

“Dancing into a fight instead of fighting with our hooves?” Zipp asked with a smirk. “I could actually get used to something like this!”

“Okay, guys... we only have one shot at this,” Jasmine said, taking a deep breath, “so we have to do it right. Okay... I think it's safe to say that Operation: 'Dance Battle' is officially a go!”

XXXXXXXX

Back onstage, Ramone spun Arlene around and threw her in the air. As Arlene spun around and around uncontrollably, much to her fear and disliking, she was grabbed by another figure, while several more leapt onto the stage, much to Ramone’s surprise.

And to everyone's surprise, the figure who had grabbed Arlene was none other than Garfield himself! And the other figures were the Mane 6, Jasmine, Diamond, Lily and Cobalt!

The audience cheered at his return while Ramone looked peeved. He had no idea where Garfield and the others had come from, but he needed to get Arlene away from them... and fast.

Garfield and Arlene began to do a tango all by themselves, with all of the ponies doing a tango dance not too far away from them. But, as Garfield and Arlene were just getting started, Ramone grabbed Arlene in one swift movement, causing Pipp to gasp, completely appalled. “So rude!”

“This may sound really unlike me,” Diamond said uneasily as she and Jasmine continued to dance, “but... break Ramone like a two by four!!”

Garfield, with quick speed, managed to slip right over and took Arlene right from Ramone, much to his surprise. However... Ramone was not one to give up so easily.

Ramone and Garfield continued to swipe Arlene from one another back and forth until the three began to spin right into a wild tornado. When the dust finally cleared, it’s just Ramone with Garfield in his arms, causing the ponies to stop and laugh in amusement.

The Spanish cat tried to throw Garfield off, but the fat cat held onto his leg. As Ramone tried to get him off, Garfield was then kicked up onto the lights, with a piece of pants cloth in hand, revealing Ramone’s leg to be... robotic!

Jasmine gasped, immediately stopping the dance with Diamond upon seeing Garfield in trouble. “No no no no! Garfield, hang on!”

“Block the stage!” Sunny whispered to her friends as Jasmine tried to get up to the lights. “We can't let Ramone get away with Arlene!”

XXXXXXXX

Jasmine managed to climb up to the lights above the stage (in a dress, no less) and walked over to Garfield, lowering her horn to him. “Garfield! Grab onto my horn! Quick!”

Garfield grunted and grabbed onto her horn while the young unicorn tried to pull him back onto solid ground. However... she was losing ground rather quickly. “Oh no!” Eli cried from the workstation, knowing he would have to do something fast.

Quickly enough, he lowered the lights down as Ramone continued danced with Arlene, and the Mane 6 blocked the stage as best they could while Jasmine helped Garfield climb up on the steel girders. “We’re okay, Eli!” Garfield grunted before coming up with a plan. “Jazzy, can you get me that rope?”

“You got it!” Jasmine nodded, wrapping the rope around Garfield’s waist. Then, with Jasmine holding onto the rope, Garfield jumped from the girders to rescue Arlene from being kissed by the cocky cat. However, upon grabbing her from Ramone, Garfield tore a cloth from his sleeve, revealing what seems to be a robotic arm, and this upset Ramone greatly. “You!”

“Pipp, Zipp! You come with me! We've gotta get up there and help our friends!” Sunny said, shifting into alicorn form before flying up into the girders with the pegasus sisters in pursuit. However, the baddie started climbing up the girders after them, and as Arlene and Garfield began to dance again, Ramone grabbed Arlene and jumped down, but Garfield, Jasmine and the flying ponies were right on his tail.

They all got back on the girder as Zipp and Ppipp pulled Ramone’s right arm off, causing them to fall back into Garfield. Arlene was surprised at Ramone not feeling a thing. “Yikes! Your arm!”

Ramone looked at his missing arm before looking at Garfield with a growl. “You!”

And just like that, he spun away with Arlene in his reach. After Sunny and Jasmine helped Zipp and Pipp up, Garfield looked at the robot arm he had pulled off and pulled on a hanger, making the arm move. “I knew it! Ramone isn't real!” Zipp growled in anger. “He's just a robot!”

“But that means Arlene is really in trouble!” Hitch said as he, Misty and Izzy came up into the girders with their friends. “What do we do?!”

“What we do best... kick some flank!” Zipp declared fiercely. “Follow me!”

XXXXXXXX

“Do it for the character, Arlene!” Ramone purred to a whimpering Arlene as they danced through the rafters. “Keep dancing!”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Hitch sneered as he, Izzy and Pipp blocked one direction of the rafters and Zipp, Sunny and Misty blocked another. And while the Mane 6 distracted Ramone, Garfield and Jasmine grabbed hold of his leg. “Gotcha!”

Ramone growled at seeing Garfield and Jasmine dangling onto his leg and flung them off, sending them sailing through the air. Luckily, Sunny was able to jump into the air and catch them either on her back or in her magic aura before they hit the girders again. “Come on, guys!” she then called. “It’s time to finish this!”

The Mane 6, Garfield and Jasmine leapt right onto the Fun Fest sign to go after Ramone and Arlene, but instead of leaping off the sign toward the ground, our heroes shrieked as the sign broke off, letting it fall off the ropes and onto the ground, scattering the Mane 6 across the stage.

Garfield looked down and saw Diamond, Lily and Cobalt trying to keep Ramone away from Arlene, but all their efforts seemed to be in vain. “Arlene!”

“Garfield!” Arlene cried as they began to dance again. This prompted Garfield and Jasmine to duck behind the Fun Fest sign, and once Ramone was close enough, Garfield grabbed the other leg with the robotic arm and pulled it off. However, Ramone, despite being nothing but a chest and head, continued the charade.

That got Garfield and the Mane 6 really steamed.

And so, with the ponies trying to keep Ramone from advancing further with Arlene, using all their best kicks and blocks, Garfield adjusted his hat, gaining courage and marched up to the Spanish cat and prepares to punch him with the robot arm. Instead, he flung the hat off Ramone’s head and, with Jasmine’s help, he pulled the mask off Ramone’s face, revealing the identity of who was truly behind this.

And needless to say… a lot of people were shocked.

“Nermal!”

“Nermal?!”

“Nermal?!”

“NERMAL?!!!”

“Who is this Nermal you speak of?” Nermal said in a fake Spanish accent, trying to buy the audience over again. “Nermal!” Lily then shrieked, scaring the gray kitten half to death. “How in the world could you do Garfield this way?! And me?! You have no idea what kind of damage you’ve done!”

“Why we oughta…” Cobalt prepared to do away with the young kitten for hurting his friends when suddenly… applauding could be heard. The audience loved it!

Every single twist and every single dance move, no matter who was doing it at the time!

The ponies, Garfield and Arlene bowed, while Nermal quickly darted offstage to avoid the situation. Garfield threw away the mask, which landed on Bonita’s face, causing her to scream and get it off.

That’s when Sunny knew that Garfield and Arlene had a dance to finish and turned to the instruments nearby. “Hit it, boys!”

The instruments then began to play a lively tango while the ponies stepped out of the way to give the two cats plenty of space. The two danced together in harmony, just before Garfield looked at her with regret and love in his eyes. “Arlene… I’m sorry.”

“...sorry?” Arlene repeated out of surprise. “For not saying I'd dance with you to begin with,” Garfield said as the dance progressed. “I should've realized this is more important than winning Fun Fest.”

Arlene gave him a little smirk. “Who says we won’t win?”

They got back on their dance and finished it with grace, causing everyone, including the Mane 6 and all their new friends, to cheer and applaud in happiness.

XXXXXXXX

“Alright, buddy! Whoo! Yeah!” Eli cheered from the workstation, not noticing Freddy and Shimmerwing behind him, the latter having returned to her butterfly form and resting on Freddy’s head as he smiled. “Way to go, Garfield.”

XXXXXXXX

Back on the stage, Charles turned to the three judges before them. “Judges?”

The judges all gave them a perfect score of 10, much to the delight of the crowd, Garfield and Arlene. “Never seen perfect scores before!” Charles said in surprise. “Ladies and gentlemen, the winners of Fun Fest, Garfield and Arlene!”

The Mane 6, Diamond, Jasmine, Cobalt and Lily squealed and cheered in delight before running onstage to greet their friends and congratulate them on a job well done. On the other hand, Nermal was pitching his newest idea to Odie, who was all dressed in his mime costume. “I got it! Next year I'll be Pierre, the flaming-baton-twirling cabaret singer, no?”

Odie just sighed… he would definitely have to let Lily deal with him more later.

Back on the stage, Cobalt and Jasmine placed flower wreaths over Garfield and Arlene’s heads. “Congratulations,” Charles said as he applauded. That’s when Garfield got out the wilted flower from earlier and held it out to Arlene. “This is for you.”

Arlene, although the flower had wilted a bit, happily took the rose before pulling Garfield in for a romantic kiss, causing Cobalt and the unicorn fillies to gag and exclaim in playful disgust.

They would probably get used to this a bit more when they were older.

When the kiss was over, Sunny and the others walked closer to greet them. “Garfield, we’re so proud of you,” Sunny smiled. “We knew you had it in you to win all along, even with something new.”

“But I couldn't have done this without you guys either,” Garfield told the ponies, not just the Mane 6, with a kind smile. “Thanks for sticking with me, even if I was being a little… uh… arrogant.”

“Anything for you, buddy,” Jasmine said while nuzzling him affectionately. “Well, I know it’ll only be a moment of time before we have to head home,” Zipp said, “so how about one more dance number to celebrate? All of us?”

Odie and Nermal excitedly heard this and ran onstage to join the group. “Sounds good to me!” Pipp said in excitement as she started up the music. “Come on, everypony! Just listen to the words and copy our groove!”

And so, as the music began, everyone began to dance in perfect sync, as if they had rehearsed this a million times before.

Sunny: Somepony give me a shimmy
Somepony give me a shake
Give me a twist and shout
And just feel the bass

Cobalt, Lily, Jasmine and Diamond: (Hey, hey)

Pipp: Come on and let your mane down
Yeah, pony, play

Izzy: You gotta show me
How you work it today

All: Dance, feel the rhythm
Everypony's got the moves (Hitch: Show it to me!)
Dance, feel the rhythm
Everypony move your hooves (Sunny: Ow!)

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-ahhh

Hitch: Shake it, shake it, shake it

Sunny: Shake loose, bust a hoof
Show me your pony moves

All: Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-ahhh

Hitch: Shake it, shake it, shake it

Sunny: Shake loose, bust a hoof
Show me your pony moves

Diamond: Somepony gimme a whistle

Lily, Diamond and Jasmine: Somepony give me a clap

Cobalt: Give me that rockin' out
And never look back (Sunny: Uh-huh!)

Jasmine: You gotta let your mane down
Yeah, let it sway, yeah (Pipp: Let it sway!)

Lily: You gotta show me
How you're slayin' today

All: Dance, feel the rhythm (Izzy Moonbow: Yeah!)
Everypony's got the moves
Dance, feel the rhythm
Everypony move your hooves (Sunny: Ow!)

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-ahhh

Izzy and Misty: Shake it, shake it, shake it

All: Shake loose, bust a hoof
Show me your pony moves

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-ahhh
Shake it, shake it, shake it!

Jasmine and Diamond: Shake loose, bust a hoof
Show me your pony moves

All: Dance, feel the rhythm
Everypony's got the moves (Pipp: Ohhhh, yeah!)
Dance, feel the rhythm
Everypony move your hooves

Sunny: Ow! Ha ha ha!

And so, the crowd went wild as the Mane 6 and all their new friends finished their routine and bowed for the crowd.

Their Unity Quest in Cartoon World may have been coming to a close, but the Mane 6 knew, deep in their hearts, that they would be called back there someday.

And when that time came... they knew just the friends to turn to.

All of them led by a brave unicorn filly... and a cat named Garfield.

Author's Note

And in case you're wondering about the Maretime Bay talent show, I decided not to get back to it, just cause I wanted to end the story right where I wanted it to.

Stay tuned for the next story, everypony!