//------------------------------// // Life of the Party // Story: Begotten // by ShadowDave //------------------------------// Celestia, no.. Princess Celestia, had spent the good part of a morning staring into the mirror of her vanity, making sure she was utmost presentable. Her mane had to elegantly flow, her coat had to shine with magnificence. Attention to detail was incredibly important, she had to be flawless. A true mare of royalty. A royal pain in the flank. She shook her head, she couldn't think like that anymore. A century had passed, yet she still had the immaturity of a filly at times. Besides, she had to be on her best attitude tonight, no matter how much she disagreed with the ceremonious occasion. "How are we supposed to dance in these?!" Celestia turned to see Luna standing in the door, wearing an elaborate ball gown complete with frivolous laces, straps, and buckles that made the layers and layers of fine velvet tighter and stuffier than ever before. Celestia even saw signs of a corset underneath it all, which made no mistake that Luna was downright uncomfortable. Why anypony would design such a dress for a young mare was beyond either of them. "Dear sister, you must be kinder to yourself. Don't bother with that... thing until an hour or so before the gala." Celestia stated softly. There was no point in enduring such torture this long before needed. As for how they were supposed to dance, Celestia had a strong feeling that they weren't, though she didn't have the heart to tell her younger sister that. They were assigned the dreadful task of standing there and looking pretty while the common ponies did whatever it was they were attending the gala to do. Such was the royal grace they were expected to keep until they were old enough to actually take political manners into their own hooves. "And Luna, don't set your expectations too high. This is more of a blessing towards the common ponies, nothing in comparison to the parties we've already been to." Celestia added as Luna turned to leave. Luna nodded to show her acknowledgement, and then left to remove the suffocating attire. Celestia did one last check on her appearance and trudged on to see what breakfast the chefs have prepared for her. Something meager no doubt, they wouldn't want to chance to eldest princess getting plump over the course of a day, as if that was even possible. But before she set hoof outside her chamber door, a familiar magical sound rang behind her. Startled, she spun around to address the unexpected guest. "Discord! What are you doing here? If the guards see you they'll.." Celestia started, only to have Discord zip towards her and place a talon over her muzzle. "Don't worry my dear, I've presently got the guards running errands, and your father is busy investigating claims of zebra spies in the guest list." Discord stated, floating towards the vanity and examining himself in the mirror before morphing into a zebra. " 'Sides, I would not miss the royal ball, for any reason, big or small." he teased, smirking while flaunting his zebra mane. "Discord, please, listen." Celestia stated as she walked over to her bed and sat. Discord tentatively joined her bedside. Celestia looked him over, and despite trying to keep a stern expression, had to hold back a chuckle as the 'zebra' before her looked at her curiously with goofy, mismatched eyes. "I.." she began after clearing her thoughts. But she was cut off. ".. want to express your love for me, and then ask me out to the gala! You know it to be true!" he spurted, much to Celestia's chagrin. "No Discord, I.." she tried again. "I know! We can celebrate right now by making out! Pucker up!" Discord proclaimed, then throwing himself at Celestia while awkwardly shuffling his zebra lips which he was obviously not yet attuned to. Celestia tried to push him off, but he persisted. Despite the growing impatience inside her, she couldn't help but giggle as Discord brushed up against her and made the silliest faces imaginable in his struggle. Discord almost landed a kiss on her nose, but their attention was suddenly drawn to the door when they heard a gasp. Luna stood there stunned as she processed the situation. Celestia feared she would run away and alert any remaining guards, but instead she sprang to the offensive. "Intruder! Get off of my sister!" she shouted, rushing valiantly towards the bed, her horn charging a spell. Before she could reach him, the zebra flung himself across the room to Luna's amazement, and in a flash, had returned to his natural form, easing Luna's concern. "Surprise!" Discord exclaimed before scooping Luna up in a hug. "You've got quite the fighting spirit don't you little one?" he teased as he placed her besides her sister. He then distanced himself from the princesses and positioned his fingers into a rough square, peeping through to examine the princesses. "Look at you two, all prettied up for the big day!" he said with a wide grin. "Say cheese!" he exclaimed before a flash of light inexplicably burst from his 'camera'. Celestia had learned not to question these strange stunts that Discord would sporadically pull, there simply wasn't any comprehendable reason for many things that he did. Instead, she focused on her sister, who's eyes were smudged with excessive eyeliner. "Oh, Luna you've overdone it." she said lovingly. It was cute in a sense that Luna tried so desperately to live up to her big sister. But as her role model, it meant being the one to point out her mistakes, which wasn't always easy. "What do you mean? I'm a big pony, I can.." Luna defended, but Celestia had already levitated a mirror to Luna's face. "Right.." she admited, obviously disheartened as she looked down and took a towel that Celestia offered to clean herself up at the vanity. Celestia frowned, hoping that Luna wouldn't take it too seriously. She glanced over to Discord, who shared the worried look, despite the fact that his eyes shifted around the room, no doubtedly trying to find something to alter, before making a short return to Celestia's gaze. "Ahem.." Celestia intensified her worried expression, and motioned towards Luna with jerks of her head. Discord pouted before flashing over to Luna's side, transformed into a prissy looking unicorn with a golden mane. "I'm a stuck up pony who doesn't realize that you're beautiful as you are." he mocked, making the most pretentious faces he could as he spoke "They say my bloodline is pure, but if I keep treating mares as badly as I do, then my blood won't be the only thing that's blue." Mission accomplished, Luna was laughing to the point of tears, which made the excess makeup run off. Discord looked over to Celestia who was smiling in satisfaction. "Luna, would you like me to help?" she asked her sister as she recovered from Discord's joking. "No thanks, I think I see what I did wrong the first time." she replied and returned to working at Celestia's vanity. Celestia shrugged, and then went for the door, beckoning Discord to follow. "Did I do well?" he asked once they were clear of the room. "You were fantastic, but.." Celestia started, drawing off into a sigh. "About what I was going to say earlier. You... can't come to the gala." Discord looked at her, dumbfounded. For a moment he thought she was joking, but this wasn't her type of humor. Besides, the regret in her eyes told of her sincerity. "But I can come in disguise you know?" he retorted. "No, that's not enough. I know you Discord, you'll get bored by the mundaneness of such a 'party'. Remember the last party? It was ten times livelier than this could possibly be, and yet you weren't content. You... you transformed the entire band into wailing monkeys for Portia's sake." Discord had to hold back a chuckle at the memory. It was quite hilarious, but now wasn't the time for laughter. "I'm sorry Discord, but I have to ask you to stay away. Father was furious the last time you escaped, he almost had you executed. I can't run that risk again." she stated, her voice pained. She looked into his eyes, which were for once expressionless. After several seconds of no response, she groaned. "Discord! Please! Please promise me you'll stay away!" she said, raising her voice far more than she wanted to. "I get it..." Discord replied in a low voice. His blank eyes were accompanied by a low hanging frown. Immediately Celestia was concerned, but before she could say anything more, Discord continued. "Have fun at your gala," he stated with a hint of venom "without me." he issued almost as a challenge. With that, he snapped his talons, and was gone in a flash. Celestia gritted her teeth and stomped the ground. She hated when he acted like this, taking everything so personal. She could swear his head wasn't screwed on the right way, which given his powerfully random nature, had more literal application than she could bear. Yet, she felt nothing but sympathy for him. She knew where she had chased him off to, and the thought of it was making her heart heavy as she stood alone in the hall. Discord had returned to his chamber. "Home... sweet home." he said in a theatrical voice. But the sarcasm behind his words carried so much intensity, it almost manifested into vicious poltergeists, but Discord had them banished before they could come into being to attack their parent. He then slumped onto his bed, which was more like an elevated slab of concrete. He had always personalized the entire room, but Canicula in a terrifyingly admirable decree of cruelty had the unicorn guards periodically change his chambers back into it's original state of cold and dreary. Discord couldn't be bothered to alter anything to be more comfortable now. Celestia's words still ran around his head, mocking him. How could she do this to him? Didn't she like his company? So what if her father didn't like it? After hours of slouching, Discord finally got up and began pacing. It was time to think about what he wanted to do. As he looked out the window he created for himself in the windowless chamber, he could oversee the busy streets of Canterlot from the height of his tower. Stroking his beard, which had grown in rather well, he contemplated the situation. It was then that it dawned on him. "So I can't go to the gala with Celestia, doesn't mean I have to stay here though. While all those irritable ponies herd up at the gala, I will have free access to all of Canterlot!" he pronounced, his voice gradually uplifting into song. "Oh, the chaos I could wreak, an entire city I can roam! Just imagine the fun, that I could have here on my own! The streets shall be eroded, the buildings all but bloated, with fountains overflowing, with... Chocolate! Why yes Canicula will find, the largest river of all time, flowing through his great city, consuming all, Oh what a pity! He won't appreciate the gifts I give Sometimes I wonder why I let him live, It seems his only purpose is for pain! But someday I'll defeat him, uplift Tia from life so grim. And I shall become a lord, and Celestia the wife, of Discord!" The booming crack of lightning broke him of his bout of inspiration. Looking around the room, he noticed he had transformed various portions of it into both silly, and horrifying renditions of it's former self. Looking out the window, he also noticed he had summoned a thunderstorm over Canterlot. Confused pegasi were already scrambling to retain the scheduled weather. Their state of panic sent Discord into hysterics. "Oh, this is but the beginning!" Discord said, his voice giddy with anticipation. "Soon.. the party will begin." __________________________________________ AUTHOR'S NOTE: I haven't the slightest clue what kind of tempo or whatever the song would go to. I just sort of wrote it out. I suppose the first couple of lines I had a sort of remix of "This Day Aria" playing in my head with the lyrics, and the rest had a sort of Anastasia "Dark of the Night" theme to it. I suppose you can just make up your own music and pacing to it. It should be flexible enough for that.