The core room of the archives was fairly busy, as there were four otherworldly beings who were typing away on the central computer, there were three extra keyboards that were projected beside the main control panel to allow other beings to interact with the computer at the same time. They were all fully engaged in their new project of reactivating the Star Forge's thaumtek systems, they had to work slowly and precisely to make sure there were no imperfections within said system, or else the Forge could produce ghost and renegade stars when not in active use. Or even... Faust forbid... a tenebrous star.

Of course, everything had to be halted due to the sudden arrival of a certain purple pony princess, who entered the room with a giddy expression and a set of four golden tickets floating beside her. She approached them excitedly as they all turned around from the monitor to greet her.

Twilight smiled, "Hello everypo- erm, being! I've got something really special for you today!" she floated the four tickets over to their respective recipients, "Here are your tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, I hope you're excited!"

Midnight inspected her ticket to the annual gala, "For approximately forty-eight billion r- years I have existed, and yet I still do not understand why beings would spend their time attending such... frivolous events when they could be partaking in much more productive activities." she commented.

Cosmos nudged one of Midnight's wings with an elbow, "Aw, c'mon Middy, this'll be fun! It's been a while since we were last invited to one of these." she assured, "And look, we can bring plus-ones! We can bring the girls along!"

Sunset scanned her ticket with her saucer, "I don't get why I'm even invited personally. You guys are a lot closer to those two than I am. We only met once, for Faust's sake! Does Cel still think I'm the other me or something?"

Grogar shrugged, "I assume she's having a hard time accepting the fact that, while you resemble her former student in many ways, you are in fact, an entirely different being."

Sunset emoted a sigh, "Oh well. Guess I'll just humor her."

Twilight gave them all a kind smile, "I'm sure you'll all have fun at the gala. As you know, I'm helping Princess Celestia host it this year. I'll make sure it'll be one of the most enjoyable ones you've ever been to!"

The otherworlders returned the smile as they stored their tickets in hammerspace. If Princess Twilight is hosting this gala, then it'll probably be worth a try.

Days passed, and the Grand Galloping Gala was mere hours away. Everypony and being were busy preparing themselves for the upcoming event. Unfortunately, it seemed like there were three fillies who were very adamant about the clothing they wore. Erus Mage Sweetie Belle, Division's Master Apple Bloom, and Chief Inquirer Scootaloo were arguing with their sisters and sister figure about what they should wear to the gala. The three fillies tirelessly argued that taking off their Empress-blessed attire would be blasphemy, while the three mares insisted that they should at the very least wear something more proper for the gala. Rainbow Dash didn't actually mind with how they looked, she even hoped that they'd all wear their cool costumes to the event, but she didn't want to hear Rarity complain about it for the rest of the night, so she chose to side with her friends.

"Sweetie Belle, while I absolutely adore the shade of purple used for your robes and appreciate the amount of help those metal claws of yours have done, you must understand that your costume is in no way properly suited for an event such as the Grand Galloping Gala!" Rarity told her little sister again; she was starting to get a headache from arguing.

Sweetie Belle shook her head, "If I took off my mecha-upgrades then I'd be forsaken by the Mechassiah! You don't want me to be branded a traitor, would you?

Rarity heaved a sigh and rubbed her forehead, "Oh for the love of- Sweetie, whatever this 'mechissia' thing is, it isn't real!"

Applejack noticed her friend's frustration and took over, "Look girls, I know y'all love to play as these uh," she motioned a hoof in a circular motion, "characters, 'cause that's how ya got your cutie marks n' ya love to play that battle game thing with Cosmos. But don'tcha think this is just a tad too much?" she said as she discreetly tapped a hoof to Rainbow.

Rainbow nodded halfheartedly, "Uh, yeah, um, whatever she said."

Applejack rolled her eyes, "Just... please, you can wear them again after we go back home. How does that sound?" she reasoned.

The Crusaders huddled together for a moment, and finally faced their sisters.

Apple Bloom held up an armor-clad hoof, "We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders of the Eternal Empire of Equidae, will accept these terms."

Rarity sighed in relief, "Oh thank goodness! Now-"

"But," Scootaloo interrupted, "Only if we're allowed to bring our necklaces with us."

Rarity huffed, "Oh fine. If anything, I suppose those necklaces of yours might actually compliment your dresses!"

In a sub-dimension of utter insanity and pure reality-warping energy, a rippling purple portal appeared in flash of light. Through it, a chimeric creature snaked their way into the immaterial and metaphysical realm. They turned their head this way and that, trying to understand the general layout of the surrounding area.

"Well, this is definitely... familiar." Discord muttered to himself as he made his way through the archives' Hades sector. He noticed that, while superficially similar in nature to his own pocket dimension, Chaosville, what with the lack of consistent gravity and general etherealness, the Hades sector seemed less whimsical and fantastical compared to it. Case in point, the writhing, stormy, multicolored ever-present clouds that occasionally revealed glimpses of incomprehensible horrors and cosmic beasts that twisted into one another and tore each other apart at the same time. Discord focused his eyes on the boney, sinew-wrapped spires that jutted out of the thumping, beating, earth that seemed to be reaching out to him with flailing arms to keep himself steady.

He was just about to call out Cosmos' name when a disembodied voice made itself known.

"The thief reveals himself to us. What is the purpose of your intrusion, lesser spirit?"

It definitely wasn't Cosmos; he knew for sure. The voice sounded like it was a combination of multiple creatures grafted into one entity. Some parts of it whispered, while another part of it yelled at the top of its nonexistent lungs. It was chaotic, yet it had a sense of harmony in it.

Discord turned around to see a massive eyeball, with a yellow slitted pupil and black sclera looking right into his very being.

"U-um... do you know where Cosmos is?" he asked tentatively, trying to avert his gaze from the eye.

The eye silently floated there for a moment before replying, "You wish to meet with Master."

Discord nodded, "Yes! I'd like to speak to her. To ask a question, specifically."

The eye suddenly disappeared in a twister of blue flames. In its place, a normal looking wooden door appeared. It slowly opened to reveal an annoyed Avatar of Impossibility equipped with golden bracelets and a helmet that bore her symbol of the Star of Madness on their surfaces.

"What do you want, thief?" Cosmos spat.

Discord gave her an innocent smile, "Ah, Cosmos! Just the fellow spirit I wanted to see! My, aren't you all prepared for tonight?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed her stinger at the draconequus, "What. Do. You. Want."

Discord pushed the stinger out of the way with a talon, "Well, I simply want to know if you were invited to the Grand Galloping Gala is all."

"I know your games, Chaosbringer. What's this about?" Cosmos asked while narrowing her eyes.

He waved his talon and paw, "Oh nothing, nothing at all! I'm just curious, you see."

Cosmos thought for a moment, "Entropy Marines first, and then my answer."

"Oh fine," Discord reached into his coat and pulled out a spiny crystal.

She took the crystal in her magic and bit into it before transporting it away in a wisp of red energy, "I'm invited."

Discord rolled his eyes and huffed, "Of course you are..." he muttered under his breath.

Cosmos raised an eye ridge, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He snapped into attention, "O-oh! Nothing! It means absolutely nothing at all. Now, if you would excuse me, I have some matters that I need to attend to."

Cosmos glared at him, "Don't do anything you'll regret." she whispered ominously before closing the door and disappearing in a flash of energy.

Discord gulped and hastily opened a portal back to Chaosville. Cosmos' sub-dimension gave him the creeps.

Along the halls of the Castle of Friendship, Spike made his way to the kitchen after a surprise visit from Discord. He thought a bowl of gems would help him calm down after that little encounter with the Spirit of Chaos. As he passed by the door to the archives, he saw Starlight fiddling around with a couple of screens projected from her saucer.

Spike approached the holographic pony, "Hey Starlight! What are you doing?"

Starlight turned to see the baby dragon, "Oh, hey Spike! Just making sure there's no bugs in the security system. Looks like everything's fine." she dismissed the screens, "So, what can I do for ya?"

Spike waved a claw, "Just going to the kitchen. You excited to go to the gala?"

"Eh, a little. I've seen a lot of them back in Lady Faust's castle for the last six-fifty million revolutions. Or years as you say." she admitted.

"I still can't believe how old you are..." Spike paused and realized what he said, "N-no offense!" he laughed awkwardly.

Starlight sniffed in amusement, "None taken. I know existing this long is usually considered impressive for organic and mortal standards. It's an aspect of being a sapient supercomputer."

The rune-laden metallic door next to them suddenly opened, revealing a tall alicorn covered from neck to hoof in ornate, dark purple armor, decorated with markings and runes that glowed. Midnight chose to don her ceremonial starsteel armor, as she had for every social gathering event for the last forty-eight eons.

The armored alicorn turned her gaze towards the baby dragon, "Mister Spike, are you not preparing for the Grand Galloping Gala?"

Spike waved a claw, "Nah, I usually just sit these out. Not really a fan of 'em."

Midnight silently nodded and turned to Starlight, "Still trying to perfect the systems, I see."

Starlight nodded once, "A couple praetorians and a Blackstone obelisk should push the safety levels to a hundred percent."

"You're adding even more stuff? Man, I bet this castle's gonna be the safest place in all of Equestria when you're done!" Spike commented.

Starlight smiled, "That's the goal. As the Chief of Security of the archives and Castle of Friendship, it's my duty to create the safest and most secure environment for everybeing who resides in my designated perimeters!"

In a flash of red light, Cosmos appeared in front of the assembled beings with a serious look on her face.

"Discord's up to something. I sense a potential problem sometime later. Might Wallbreak and take a peek at the future." she said quickly.

Spike raised a claw, "He popped out of my blanket earlier. Asked where Twilight was, and I told him she's away at Canterlot. Do you think he'll do something?" he asked worriedly.

Midnight put a hoof to her chin, "An unbound spirit such as Discord is highly unpredictable, especially if he is a Chaosbringer. Perhaps Screwball should bring a reality anchor just in case."

"Sending Screwy a text now..." Starlight muttered as her horn flashed a few times.

Midnight turned to her chimeric friend, "Cosmos, prepare to apprehend him if he gets out of line. I will inform the others of this turn of events."

Cosmos gave her a salute, "On it."

Midnight looked back to the worried dragon, "Mister Spike, please inform Princess Twilight of this urgent matter immediately."

Spike nodded, "Alright, I'll get to it." he said before rushing towards the library to get a quill and paper.

Midnight summoned her omni-tool and opened her weapons catalog before sighing, "You were always more prepared for this than I, Trixie..." she muttered under her breath.

The Grand Galloping Gala had finally begun, ponies were intermingling with each other as time went on. As per usual, most of the attendees were ponies of high social standing. The six heroes of Equestria and their plus-ones have arrived as well, though there was no sight of the invited extradimensional visitors.

'Maybe they decided to not go after all...' Twilight thought to herself.

Every activity stopped as a large pillar of cyan light erupted at the center of the room, wind blew rapidly around it, having been displaced by massive surge of particles.

As the light slowly dematerialized, seven figures stepped out of the left-over motes of light.

Right at the center was Midnight, who was covered from her neck to the tip of her hooves by her ceremonial starsteel armor. It was colored a deep purple that was slightly darker than her own coat, with ornamental highlights that were a shade of magenta. Along the edges of the plating were intricate glyphs and runes that glowed a faint cyan. On her wings, her covert feathers and alula were covered with some plating as well, only leaving her singular jet-black wing claws at the tip visible.

To Midnight's right was Grogar, he wore the traditional ceremonial robes of the Heralds of Oblivion. It was a darker shade of blue from his coat, with ornate gold trimmings that were designed to resemble chains. His horns were decorated with large gold rings that had symbols carved into it. His face was also covered in odd markings that glowed a soft yellow color.

Cosmos stood to Midnight's left; she wore a golden helmet that had her eight-pointed star symbol on it. On her neck was a gold torc with the same symbol. On her arms and hooves were similarly golden cuffs and shoes respectively, which also bore her symbol.

In front of the trio were four holographic ponies, who used the same avatars as they usually do.

Their sudden appearance garnered the attention of pretty much everypony in the room. All eyes were locked on to the newest guests, and especially at the well-armored alicorn with the glowing horn and flaming glasses.

Celestia approached the seven newcomers with a smile, "Welcome, all of you. I must say, that was quite the entrance." she said with a slight chuckle.

Twilight motioned a hoof around the room, "Welcome to the Grand Galloping Gala, everyp- being! I hope you'll have fun tonight!" she said excitedly.

Midnight smiled and nodded, "We would not dare miss an event hosted by beings such yourselves."

Just as Midnight finished her sentence, the announcers blew their trumpets and welcomed the newest guests.

"Announcing the Spirit of Chaos, Discord, and his guest, the, uh..." he trailed off.

Discord leaned down to whisper something to the announcer.

"The Smooze!" the announcer continued.

The otherworlders' eyes widened; the Smooze? The crystal-eating, magic-absorbing biological superweapon?

Twilight glanced towards Celestia and her seven guests, "I'll take care of this."

As Twilight approached Discord, Cosmos turned to Celestia, "You didn't happen to invite him, did you?"

Celestia nodded, "I did, actually. I'll admit, the Grand Galloping Gala can be a little bit dull sometimes. So, I decided to invite Discord to help 'lighten the mood' so to speak."

Midnight pointed a wing towards the Spirit of Chaos, "That spirit is planning on something, Celestia. We do not know what specifically, but considering he brought a sizeable Smooze colony with him, it may not be as lighthearted as you suspect."

Celestia leaned to the side to look beyond the taller alicorn. She saw Discord making a beeline towards Fluttershy while the Smooze was left to roam around the room and eat the gems off of the outfits of other ponies.

"I suppose his... 'friend' could be a little troublesome..." she admitted.

"Worry not, princess! We have tasked ourselves with observing and possibly neutralizing the Chaosbringer and his companion if necessary." Grogar assured.

"What do you mean by 'neutralize'?" Celestia asked hesitantly.

"A stasis field and a reality anchor or two to mitigate his powers." Sunset explained.

Celestia looked at her former student's lookalike for a moment, "I see..."

"So, Goldie, when can I put' down vese anchors?" Screwball asked as she observed Discord, who was doing stand-up comedy, through a pair of comically large binoculars.

"When the spirit shows signs of aggression. So far, it looks like he's just really desperate to get Fluttershy's attention." Golden Feather replied as she watched the stage.

"Yea, man's desperat'e alright', but' h'oly feth is h'e funny! Shame these ponies don't' understand h'im." Screwball commented.

She activated the speakers on her saucer, "OI! LAUGH YA GITS! DO NONE O' YA KNOW WHAT' A BLOODY JOKE IS?!"

Rainbow Dash turned to her as she rubbed her ears, "Well, maybe if his jokes made sense maybe we will!"

"H'E IS-" Screwball flinched, "Oops, sorry." she deactivated her speakers, "Ahem. H'e is makin' sense, ya chromat'ic feaver dustah! I guess you lot are just' too uncultured to understand!"

"Uncultured?! What the hay does culture has do with this?!" Rainbow countered.

Screwball rolled her eyes, "Wh'ole lot' more van ya fink! H'is jokes h'ave a lot' of nuances vat a simplet'on like you wouldn't even begin to compreh'end!"

Rainbow scoffed, "You're just saying that because you feel bad for him!"

The two bickering mares paused as they heard Discord tap on the mike, they turned their heads towards the stage and realized that they were being stared at by the crowd.

"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting anything?" Discord asked sarcastically.

Screwball waved a hoof, "No, no! You keep makin' your funny jokes, funny dragon-h'orse-man! We just' h'ad a... uh, a disagreement' is all!"

"This is your fault." Rainbow whispered to the holographic pony.

Thankfully, the awkward silence was cut short by Grogar teleporting on to the stage, "Everybeing get to higher ground! The Smooze colony has gone rabid!"

A wave of green slime barged through a door behind the crowd. Everypony were panicking and rushing towards the stage as to not get enveloped by the sticky substance. Unfortunately, many were not fast enough and thus were ensnared in place and unable to use magic or flight.

Cosmos appeared right next to Discord and grabbed him by the neck, "You! You agitated it! Calm it down now!"

Discord wiggled in her grasp, "W-what do you mean 'agitated'? He's not agitated! He's partying down, see?" he said while pointing down at the squirming mass of green.

Cosmos facepalmed with her free hand and turned towards Tree Hugger, who was stuck upside down, "Alright, based on the glimpses I saw from my Wallbreaking session, you're gonna have to do some auditory therapy on this thing. So uh, do your... hippie thing... or whatever."

"I was just about to say. Seems like something might've harshed his flow, y'know? Like, his senses're agitated." Tree Hugger agreed.

Cosmos nodded, "Uh-huh, just do that meditation thing then."

Tree Hugger proceeded to vocalize a set of odd noises that seemed to affect the green tidal wave, it ebbed and flowed until every bit of it that was splashed around the room coalesced back into a singular massive Smooze colony. Everypony came up to thank and congratulate her. Unfortunately, it seemed to only make Discord even angrier. He interrupted the minor celebration and blew up in front of Tree Hugger. And was now threatening to throw her into massive tear in reality.

Tree Hugger took a peek at the blue portal, "Whoa dude! What is that?!"

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm simply going to send you to another dimension. I can't have you interfering in my relationship with Fluttershy anymore!" Discored exclaimed.

This reasoning sent Cosmos over the edge. Threatening the balance of reality, the stability of space and time, and messing up a special event... all because he was jealous?!

Her frills flared with red energy, the yellow sclera of her eyes faded to red, her horns crackled as light warped around them, and her wings unfurled with a blast of magic.

Cosmos teleported right in front of the draconequus, replacing her spot with Tree Hugger's. As she did so, the entire room disintegrated into total darkness, all ponies present were left floating around as Midnight, Grogar, and the holo-ponies brought everypony to a safer distance.

Behind Cosmos was a supermassive black hole, with an accretion disk so bright in nearly blinded the native Equestrians. She grabbed Discord again by the neck and pointed her stinger between his eyes, with her own gazing right into his very existence.

"You did this because you were... jealous?" she asked in an echoing, but eerily calm voice, "You threatened the stability of existence itself because you wanted to spite a mere mortal?" she asked again, this time with a little more force, "You endangered the lives of the beings who were merciful enough to forgive you after you betrayed them?!" she asked louder, "All of this... because you couldn't handle the fact that your friend went to the gala with somebeing else?" she asked for the last time, her voice was nearly inaudible.

"U-um... m-maybe?" Discord answered meekly.

Cosmos heaved a sigh and nodded, "Alright then..." she muttered under her breath.

She turned around and held Discord by the scruff of his neck as she extended her arm towards the whirling quasar.

"Cum diutus abes, dic 'valete'."

"Wait, Cosmos! You don't have to do this! Let me talk to him!"

Cosmos stopped for a moment and looked back. She saw Fluttershy floating quickly towards her. She glanced between the frantic pegasus and the fearful draconequus in her grasp. Then turned to face all of the scared ponies under Midnight and Grogar's combined shield.

It was then that she decided to transform the room back to its original state and descended before dropping Discord in front of Fluttershy.

"Discord!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she checked up on him.

Midnight, Grogar, and the holo-ponies slowly approached their chimeric friend, who was staring into the distance.

Midnight put a hoof to her friend's shoulder, "Are you well, Cosmos?"

Cosmos sighed, "Not as well as before..."

The events of the gala went back into full swing after that incident. Discord apologized to everypony, creature, and being for the trouble he caused that night, and they were all continuing on with the event soon enough. Excluding one Avatar of Impossibility, who was ruminating on her sudden outburst earlier.

'Almost annihilated this world's Chaosbringer. By Hades, that was fething stupid.' Cosmos thought to herself as she stood near a food table with a cup of punch in her hand.

She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she felt a talon tapping her shoulder. Cosmos turned her head and saw the smiling face of Discord himself.

"Oh. It's you." Cosmos said glumly.

Discord rolled his eyes, "Oh no need for that. Why sit here in this depressing little corner when you could be partying away with your friends?" he said as he summoned a party hat on his head.

"Dunno. Just wallowing, I guess." she muttered.

Discord took a moment to look at the spirit, "Ah, I see. Still thinking about that little hm... 'incident' from earlier?"

Cosmos nodded silently and took a sip from her cup.

"Well, I suppose a part of it was my fault. If I hadn't been so foolish, we would've had a normal gala." he put a talon to his chin, "Though it probably would've gone against Celestia's main reason for inviting me in the first place..." he thought aloud.

Cosmos heaved a sigh, "What do you want?"

Discord waved a paw, "Oh come now. Can't a reality warper just enjoy the company of a fellow reality warper?"

She raised an eye ridge at his remark.

It was Discord's turn to sigh, "Ugh, fine. I just wanted to say... sorry. I know our first meeting wasn't exactly the best, I stole one of those crystal things of yours and now I nearly tore reality asunder because I was jealous of Fluttershy's friend. We got off on the wrong limb, so how about we start over?" he extended a paw, "Waddya say? Friends?"

Cosmos stared at the paw for a moment, "I'm sorry too. For almost throwing you into a quasar. As an elder spirit, I should've known better. Can't just... remove things and beings from existence like that just because I didn't like them. Could've broken reality myself by doing that." she admitted.

He waved a talon dismissively, "Oh pish posh, what you did wasn't even half as bad as what the other you had done." he brought up his paw again. "Friends?"

Cosmos smiled and shook his paw, "Friends."

The two spirits returned to join their friends who were gathered around the dance floor. Apparently Grogar was having a dance battle with Maud, and both were absolutely killing it.

Author's Note

What a crazy night, huh? Probably the craziest gala that would ever happen, heh.

Our Cosmos finally reconciled with Discord, isn't that wonderful?

I tried my best to imagine an eldritch horror-esque realm for Cosmos' chambers in the archives, what do you think?

Oh, and here's a little guide to the Crusaders' titles for those who are curious or just aren't familiar with War- I mean, Battlemace:
Erus Mage = Magos Dominus
Division's Master = Chapter Master
Chief Inquirer = Lord Inquisitor

~~Next chapter:~~
Next intermission: Two Guardians try to find their lost sister

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"