G5 Adventures in Garfield's Fun Fest

Unbeknownst to many comic strip characters, except for Cobalt and Lily, of course, the Mane 6 were still wandering the mystical forest with Garfield, Odie, Jasmine, Diamond and Shimmerwing, in search of the magic pond of Freddy Frog.

They were getting close, now... they could feel it in their hooves and paws.

All they had to do was go a little further, and they would be able to let Garfield drink from the pond, get funny again and race back to Fun Fest before it started.

While walking along the path, they reached a small creek with stepping stones going all the way across, causing Pipp to hum in thought. “I guess all we have to do here is cross the creek.”

But before she could unfold her wings and take off, Shimmerwing chirped, causing Misty to translate. “Shimmerwing says it would be unfair for you two and her to fly across the creek and leave the rest of us stranded, so you guys can’t use your wings for this. We’ll have to cross on foot.”

“Well,” Garfield shrugged, “let’s… go!”

Slowly, he, Odie, Jasmine and Diamond began to hop across the rocks and across the creek… well, they did this until they landed on a few that moved. “Odie?” Diamond said, clearly freaked out by such an event. “Do rocks move?”

“I dunno,” Odie seemed to mutter as Garfield did a few bounces on his rock, finding it more bouncable then even he expected. “Are rocks bouncy?”

Again, Odie shook his head with a mutter as Garfield used his foot to tickle the ‘rock’, causing it to giggle. “Do rocks giggle when you tickle them?”

“Uh… guys?” Zipp called to their friends from the shore. “I don’t think those are rocks! You better get out of there! Now!”

“Uh-oh!” Jasmine and Odie yelped, just as the ‘rocks’ revealed their true form as alligators! This caused the two unicorns, Garfield and Odie all to scream and retreat back to shore, right into the hooves of our pony heroes. “Are you guys okay?” Sunny asked. “We’re fine,” Jasmine panted, “but I do NOT wanna be a snack for those guys!”

“Now we'll never make it to the magic pond and back in time for Fun Fest,” Garfield said, discouraged. “We're no match for alligators, guys!”

“We can’t give up! Not when we’re so close!” Hitch pointed out, trying to come up with a plan to get everyone across safely. “Maybe we can use our pony powers to make a bridge across the creek and over the gators! Or Sunny, Pipp and Zipp could fly us over!”

“Think about it, Hitch-- nothing worth doing is done easily,” Zipp pointed out. “If we just used our powers for everything, it would take all the adventure out of life.”

Hitch sighed in acceptance, realizing Zipp had a valid point. “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

“Still… we can’t give up,” Jasmine told her friends, taking a heroic stance and taking a brave tone in her voice. “We promised Garfield that we would help him get funny again in time for tonight, and I’m not gonna let him down!”

Diamond gasped as she looked toward her best friend. “Jazzy, look! Your cutie mark!”

“Huh?” Jasmine looked down at her cutie mark, which was brightly glowing. “Oh, whoa! I don’t think it’s ever glowed like that before!”

“You’re really into your natural element of leadership,” Zipp said as she ruffled the green unicorn’s mane, causing her to giggle. “Now, let’s think, guys. There HAS to be a way we can get across the creek without the alligators biting our heads off.”

“Forget it, Zipp,” Garfield sighed. “There’s no way we can do this.”

“You sure about that?”

“Huh?” the others looked around until they saw two birds (a red one named Leonard and a multi-colored bird named Roger) perched on a branch above them. “There is a way,” said Leonard, “to get by the alligators, you know.”

“Are you guys serious?” Hitch asked with surprise and confusion. “Us?” Roger asked. “Serious?”

The two birds laughed in response and stopped just a few moments later. “Yes,” Leonard nodded. “We are very serious.”

“Oh, this is just terrific!” Misty cheered as Shimmerwing chirped. “What do we have to do?”

“Well, not many people know this,” Roger told the group, “but alligators just love to laugh.”

“So, make ‘em laugh,” Leonard added. “And while they're distracted laughing, you can cross the creek.”

“That’s actually genius!” Zipp smiled at the birds' suggestion. “Great idea!”

“But,” Garfield spoke, suddenly having a question, “what if they stop laughing before we get all the way across?”

The birds looked at each other and back to Garfield. “Aren’t we the poopy head!” Roger squawked, causing the group to either stand in surprise or glare at the birds with annoyance. “What Roger is saying is,” said Leonard, “that a defeatist attitude can be pervasive in its negative impact on the outcome of one's mission.”

“Uh… what did he just say?” Hitch whispered, not understanding a word of that. “He basically means,” Jasmine whispered back, “that thinking negatively will cause the outcome to be negative as well… at least… I think.”

However, Roger wasn't done speaking yet. “Poopy, poopy, poopy head!”

“And he’s also saying you’re a poopy head,” Leonard added. “Yeah, yeah, we got that,” Pipp said with a frown before turning to her friends. “Come on, guys-- let’s entertain the troops!”

“Better let me handle this one, Pipp,” Garfield told the pink pegasus, stepping out in front of her. “I am the Fun Fest champion for a reason.”

The cat went right over to the two gators, who were perching on rocks and prepared one of his signature comedy routines. “Thank you, thank you!” Garfield said with a smile. “Hey, guys, it's great to be back here in the mystical forest, but you wouldn't believe what happened to me on the way here. I was mugged. Yeah, this guy walked up to me and says, ‘Your money or your nine lives’.”

However, the alligators only yawned in their response. “See,” Garfield tried to explain, “because cats have nine lives.”

However… the gators didn’t get it. “It's tough being a cat,” Garfield then said, moving on with the rest of his routine. “You wouldn't believe what a six-pack of mice cost these days.”

However… the only sound that the ponies heard were crickets chirping. “Uh, Garfield?” Izzy whispered. “They’re not laughing.”

“But why?” Diamond asked out of confusion. “That was a killer routine about two years ago! I nearly burst from laughter when he was done!”

“That’s because he’s not funny,” Roger clarified for the young unicorn. “That stuff might work for cats, but in case you haven't noticed, these aren't cats!”

“What Roger is saying,” interrupted Leonard, “is that alligator humor is essentially kinetic in nature.”

“Yeah!” Roger nodded. “Do stupid stuff!”

“Stupid stuff?” Diamond and Jasmine repeated, looking over at each other, confused. “But isn’t that kind of embarrassing?” Jasmine asked. “Well… I guess if it gets the audience to laugh and doesn’t go too far,” Zipp shrugged, “I guess stupid stuff is okay.”

Luckily, Odie had an idea of how to get these crocs laughing. After giving Sunny the map, the yellow dog went over to the gators and started doing stupid stuff, like squirming on the ground and bouncing on his head until he hit a rock dead on. The reptiles then started laughing, much to the others' complete bewilderment. “I can’t believe it!” Sunny exclaimed. “It’s working!”

“You see?” Leonard said to the group. “Play to your audience, even if it means being foolish.”

“Play to your audience, huh?” Jasmine said as she wrote this down. “Wow, we’ve really gotta lower our standards!”

“And now that they’re laughing,” Zipp said, “we can cross the creek! At least… we can after Odie gets done with his routine.”

The dizzy dog then lit a tree and fainted, prompting more laughter from the gators. “Good work, Odie!” Misty said as she and the others began crossing the creek. “Let’s go!”

And so, with the reptiles distracted, our heroes hopped right past the gators, across the creek and to the other side. “Thanks for your help!” Izzy called to the birds cheerfully before they ran off. “Anytime!” Roger called back before turning to Leonard. “What do you know?”

“Yeah!” Leonard agreed. “Who'd have thought you could actually make alligators laugh?”

“Who’d a-thunk?”

XXXXXXXX

Back at the comic studio, the seats in the auditorium were being filled, and Charles watched all of this from behind the curtain, a frown on his face. “We have to start. We can’t wait for Garfield anymore.”

Everyone else in the studio nodded and prepared themselves for their acts... now with Ramone as the master of ceremonies instead of the orange tabby that everyone was secretly getting worried about.

XXXXXXXX

Outside, Arlene could only wait as everyone was entering the studio before going in herself, a sad look on her face.

From the alley, Lily and Cobalt watched this in sadness, the blue pegasus sighing in worry. “I don’t understand… they should have been back ages ago! Are you sure that Charles said we had to start?”

“Unfortunately, yeah,” Lily nodded with concern. “I just hope Garfield and the others can get back in time for Garfield’s performance.”

“You and me both,” sighed Cobalt. “Do you think we should go looking for them?”

“And risk getting lost out there ourselves? As much as I admire your heroic spirit, Cobalt, that’s just too risky,” Lily frowned with the shake of her head. “All we can do now is help with the show and pray that Sunny and the others can get our friends back home in time.”

“Okay, okay… I get the picture,” Cobalt sighed before following Lily inside, praying to the stars above that she was right.

Their friends just had to make it back to the studio in time for their act... they just had to.