Duskfall was in something of a quandary. The Grand Galloping Gala was days away. That normally wouldn’t be a problem. It became a problem when Luna, Chrysalis, and Moon Dancer all decided that attending the triple G would be good for Duskfall.

Duskfall had, of course, protested but was quickly overruled. So, trying to make the best of a bad situation, she decided to surprise Lyra and Bonnie with tickets. Only to find out that Lyra had gotten tickets months ago. That was why Duskfall was moping around town with two extra tickets and nothing to do with them.

“Maybe I can give a ticket to Sunset? Of course, it’s quite likely she hates the Gala as much as I do…” Duskfall sighed. Twilight had always secretly hated the Gala, but never said anything for fear of hurting Celestia's feelings. Sunset would have had little issue stating her thoughts on the matter back when she was Celestia's student.

It looked like misery was the order of the day, because Duskfall spotted Discord languidly floating into town from the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. Well, misery did love company. With that in mind, Duskfall approached the Draconequus.

“Oh, hello, Duskfall…” Discord’s voice wasn’t even literally dripping with melancholy. That’s how sad he was.

“So, wanna swap sob stories?” Duskfall asked. Discord took the invitation.

“Fluttershy is bringing a friend from out of town as her plus one to the Gala. Tree Hugger or something like that. I’m happy she’s been able to make new friends, but I feel left behind. I don’t even want to go to the Gala! Heavens knows I’ve attended enough of those yawn factories as a statue to last me the rest of eternity. I hate feeling like this,” Discord complained.

“Well, as for me, my usual study buddies have decided I need to socialize more and sent me out into the world to find a date for the Gala. I thought I was being clever by getting tickets for both Lyra and Bonnie, but of course Lyra had already gotten tickets! She loves the Gala! How could I be so stupid?! Now I’m just a fool with two extra tickets. I could go as one of their plus one, but I’ve been intruding on their relationship too much as it is,” Duskfall moaned. Then the two had an idea.

“I need a ticket,” Discord stated, a smirk growing on his face.

“And I need a plus one,” Duskfall matched his sinister smile.

“I do believe we can solve each other’s problems in one fell swoop!” Discord crowed.

“Might as well give the last ticket to Harmonia, let her join in on the suffering that is the triple G,” Duskfall mused.

“Why just attend a boring party when we can give it life and soul?!” Discord shouted excitedly.

“And they’re all going to love us!” The pair of them began cackling madly. The residents of Ponyville were just glad the Gala was taking place in Canterlot.

The stage was set. Octavia and Vinyl had been recruited into the plan. Now all that was left was perfect execution.

“I feel like I should be stopping this and yet I feel an undeniable curiosity as to where this all is going,” Harmonia remarked from beside the plotting duo.

“Oh, don’t worry, your curiosity will be well rewarded~” Duskfall purred.

“I think everything is in position and most of the guests have arrived. Are you ready to show these boring nobles how to really party?!” Discord asked as he readied his talons.

“Let’s light this candle,” Duskfall responded as she started weaving her assigned spells.

Everything went pitch black for a moment. The guests, unaware that anything was about to happen, began whispering amongst themselves. The orchestra, sans Octavia, was teleported into the crowd. Unable to see anything, no one noticed everything around them changing. The dance floor was replaced with a disco style light up floor. Alternating banners of Discord and Duskfall’s faces unfurled from the rafters. A disco prism appeared dangling from the ceiling. The walls and floors all turned to a jell-o like substance. Finally, various decorations sprang to life with every shape and color imaginable.

With the changes complete, a spotlight shone on the stage, revealing Duskfall and Discord.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Discord called out.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled snooze fest to bring you a real party!” Duskfall announced.

“We’ll be your Masters of Ceremony for the night! I am Discord, Lord of Chaos!” Discord introduced himself.

“And I’m Duskfall Sparkle, pretty pony princess of Friendship!” Duskfall squeaked like a chew toy.

“Without further ado, DJ PON-3 and her marefriend, Octavia Philharmonica!” Discord shouted excitedly as the lights came back on and the pair started to play their music.

“THIS IS AMAZING!” Pinkie Pie’s voice carried over the sound of music and the crowd.

“You’re amazing too, Pinkie!” Duskfall couldn’t resist yelling. The joyful look on Pinkie’s face as she bounced around the room made any possible punishment so very worth it. Although, the amused look on Celestia’s face probably meant that any punishment would be a slap on the wrist, if that. Then Duskfall caught sight of a second Pinkie in a different dress. From up on stage she couldn’t tell which was Pinkie and which was Sakura.

Eventually Octavia and Vinyl’s first song number came to a close. Some of the more stuck up nobles had been trying to escape, but when everything was more bouncy than the best trampoline they were having a hard time of it. Everyone else seemed to be cautiously optimistic with the way things were going.

“Round of applause for the first song of the evening, but if you think we’re sticking to just musical numbers and bouncy house fun, have we got a show for you!” Discord announced.

“What my dear mad god is rambling on about is we’re going to hold a bit of a raffle,” Duskfall floated a wheel of paper tickets towards herself, “Everyone who wishes to participate, write your name on a ticket, we’ll put it in Discord’s handy dandy infinite probability tumbler, and whoever gets their name picked out will receive a…prize,” Duskfall chuckled evilly.

“Don’t let my melodramatic partner scare you away! Anyone who’s brave enough need not fear what we have in store for them,” Discord promised. His wicked grin probably wasn’t helping as much as he thought it was, “But don’t dilly dally! You only have until the end of the song after next to submit your name!”

Instantly the CMC were in line to have their names thrown in the raffle. Duskfall at least had the courtesy to look at their chaperones for permission before throwing their tickets into the tumbler. Both Pinkies were naturally right behind with Rainbow a close runner up. Seeing national heroines throw their names in seemed to be what the others needed to see, because soon a steady stream of party goers were collecting tickets and writing down their names.

“Dare I ask what skullduggery the two of you have planned?” Luna asked as she wrote her name on a ticket.

“You should know, Lulu, that a magician never reveals their secrets,” Chrysalis teased as she playfully bounced around.

“Chrysalis is right, Moonbutt, we aren’t telling until the prize is administered,” Discord replied with a smirk. Luna let out a put upon sigh.

“Well, just try not to break reality too badly,” She was not encouraged by the way both of them grew shark-like grins.

So it went for about fifteen minutes until the third song of the night began to wind down.

“Alright, that’s where we’re cutting it off folks! It’s time to spin the tumbler and see who Lady Luck favors tonight!” Duskfall took the handle of the tumbler in her magic and began to spin it vigorously. It sparked and threw off delightful wisps of Chaos energy that tickled the senses. For the sake of what passed as sanity in Canterlot, only Discord and Duskfall could see the insides of the infinity probability tumbler. After both were satisfied the candidates were sufficiently tumbled, Discord spoke.

“Now, before I pull out the winner, we should specify what the prize actually is. What we’re offering is a three day tailor made vacation to the Chaos Realm! You want adventure? Team up side by side with lifelike copies of your favorite action heroes! You want to relax on a nice beach? We have that too! Just about anything your heart desires from casinos to mountain climbing can be yours! You’re also welcome to bring a plus one, make it a romantic getaway with that significant other! Now, it’s time to find out who our winner is!” Discord reached into the tumbler and pulled out a ticket before handing it to Duskfall.

“The winner is…MOON DANCER!” If Duskfall didn’t know any better, she’d have thought Discord had rigged the thing. Then again, if he had rigged it, Fluttershy would’ve won despite not even entering her name. Still, of the ones who had actually submitted their names, she couldn’t think of anyone who deserved a bit of R&R more than Moon Dancer.

“I won?!” Moon Dancer had just entered on a lark, thinking the prize would be a toaster or some such silly thing. It would be perfectly in keeping with Discord’s sense of humor, at least, to hype something up only for it to be something ‘mundane’. For the thing to actually be serious and a vacation of all things was shocking to say the least.

“Go on, Moony, accept your prize,” Minuette encouraged. With that gentle push, Moon Dancer walked on stage.

“Congratulations, Moon Dancer!” Discord cheered as confetti and banners with her name and Cutie Mark appeared, “We can discuss the particulars of your vacation later, but for now both Duskfall and I wish to offer our heartfelt happiness for you.” Duskfall and Discord both grinned like a pair of dopes at Moon Dancer.

The rest of the night was spent just having fun and goofing off. More than one epic dance battle was had, Discord summoned pillars of marshmallow fire that hurt the brains of everyone that tried to think about it too hard, and Duskfall along with backup from both Pinkies made sure the catering was on point all night long. Vinyl and Octavia even got into a musical duel at one point. Of course, all of that paled in comparison to when Harmonia took to the dance floor and to be honest, her dancing skills were as if every sufferer of the Sparkle Family Dancing Curse had been distilled into one mare. Duskfall knew it was wrong to laugh, but Harmonia didn't seem to mind.

It was a night of fun, chaos, and stuffy nobles being forced to relax for a change. As it began to wind down, Duskfall excused herself from the stage to find Celestia standing backstage with a warm smile.

“You do realize I’m going to have to ‘punish’ the both of you for your stunt tonight, right?” Celestia asked playfully.

“I’m ready to serve my time as a pigeon poop receptacle,” Duskfall snarked.

“It won’t be anything like that. I’ll just have to cut your cake stipends for a week or two,” Celestia winked, “But seriously, this has probably been my favorite Gala ever and there wasn’t even any property damage this time.”

“Happy to help, tonight was a lot of fun for me too. However, my introvert batteries are drained dry,” Duskfall couldn’t suppress a yawn, “If you don’t mind too terribly, I’d like to head off to bed.”

“Of course not, pleasant dreams, Duskfall,” Celestia bid. Duskfall nodded her head in acknowledgement. A quick note to Discord and she found herself on the roof of the castle in Ponyville. Duskfall was tempted to just sleep on the roof, but thought better of it and lazily made her way to her bed before falling fast asleep.

Author's Notes:

Just something fluffy before next chapter. I understand canon Discord getting jealous. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is Discord getting jealous over the Gala of all things. I mean, I can kinda see that he was just using it as an excuse to try and horde Fluttershy's attention, but it still seems a touch extreme to me.

Also obligatory Damn Dirty Hippy.

It occurs to me, the worst part about wanting to write a Displaced story now, is that the 'getting stranded in another world as a fictional character' isn't even the hardest part to believe. No, the part that would break anyone's suspension of disbelief is the idea that there'd be a Con of any kind in 2020.