As far as retirement plans went, Celestia and Luna had a pretty good one. They’d entrusted ruling the kingdom to Twilight, and taken off to enjoy themselves for hundreds of years.
But an alicorn is still a pony, and eventually they both passed away. Celestia had aged a thousand years while Luna was on the moon, and knew her time was coming.
Luna gathered Twilight, Spike, and Flurry to the castle when she returned with Celestia. The Princess of the Sun held on until she was home and could say her goodbyes. Then old age claimed her.
Once Celestia died, Luna performed the ritual to pass her power over the sun to Twilight. I suppose you could call Celestia a different class of alicorn, and a power like controlling the sun was too important to just let fade into oblivion.
What nopony had expected was what Luna did next. After a farewell speech of her own, her horn lit up and she transferred her power to Flurry. She laid down and embraced her sister, and through what I assume is sheer force of will, chose to pass through the veil that very instant alongside Celestia.
I suppose it is a bit poetic. They came into life together, and left together.
Twilight and Flurry weren’t as nonchalant about it. I had to calm them both down by teleporting Fluttershy there. In a way, I think this repaired my relationship with Fluttershy a little bit. The three of them sat there hugging, dealing with loss. I mostly sat with them, after all I didn’t yet understand loss. It was a concept to me, one I could describe in detail, but hadn’t felt. It made for an odd scene, the five of us sitting there. Honestly it was a bit boring, but I had gotten good at not causing chaos at the wrong moments. Mourning the loss of a loved one was rarely the right moment.
Fluttershy and I returned to the cottage and things continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary for a little longer. I think she thought I finally understood grief and loss, she must have assumed that Celestia and Luna were close to me. Perhaps, thinking this had strengthened my resolve, she finally asked me the question that must have been on her mind for decades.
“Thanks for everything, Sunny, you’re not half bad you know. Well, the half of you that reminds me of Twilight I could do without, but the Pinkie half? Pure awesome,” Discord explained.
“Are you sure you don’t have enough time to answer a few more questions about the... what did you call them?” Sunny asked.
“Mane six, it’s quite a clever pun actually.”
She chuckled. “Were their titles really that long that you had to give them a nickname?”
“Oh, I definitely don’t want to use the full titles. Twilight Sparkle, First of her Name, Hatcher of Dragons, Redeemer of Nightmare Moon, Breaker of Chaos, Slayer of Sombra, Crusher of Changelings, The Last Spellbender, High School Best Friend Forever of Sunset, Annihilator of Tirek, Neglector of Cozy Glow, Queen of the Equestrians and the first-yaks, and heir to the Celestial throne gets old after a while.”
Sunny was madly scribbling down all these titles into her journal, unaware that he was messing with her. “Wow! There must be so many stories Dad never knew of. Can’t you stay and answer a few more questions? There’s so much we don’t know.”
He looked at the watch on his wrist. “Nope only got about fifteen more seconds before I have to be at Izzy’s.”
“But you never gave Izzy a time you’d be arriving, what’s the rush?” Sunny asked.
He huffed and in a snap had a long gray robe, wizard’s hat, and white beard. “A draconequus arrives exactly when he intends to, and not a moment sooner or later.”
And with a second cracking sound he was gone.
Alphabittle was walking down the road to check on Izzy, who had told him that she was having a very special guest visiting today. She’d been tight-lipped on the details, but he figured if it was important enough for Izzy to be so excited, it was probably a special somepony. If anypony was going to date Izzy, it was Alphabittle’s duty as the town leader to ensure said pony knew about exactly how many places he could hide a body.
As he was about to knock on the door, a sudden torrent of water landed on him, blinding him momentarily. He heard a loud scream, and felt a pony bounce off his back and land in the muddy puddle forming around him.
“Oh, dear…”
Alphabittle rubbed the sudsy water from his eyes and looked down at a yellow and pink pegasus mare whose hair and fur were coated in half-rinsed shampoo. She was splayed on her back with only her tail to keep her modest. He quickly averted his eyes.
“Oh, sorry miss... I uh…” Alphabittle looked up trying to figure out where she’d come from. “What happened?”
“I’m going to kill him or hug him and I can’t decide which,” Hitch fumed.
Before he could inquire further Izzy’s door opened, and Discord waved down at the unicorn. “Hello there, don’t mind us. I’m terribly sorry but if I’d known you were in the bath I would have waited…”
Hitch righted himself and stomped right past Discord into the house. “Izzy? Where’s your bathroom?!”
Alphabittle stood there with his mouth agape in confusion until Discord elbowed him in the side. “Mares, am I right? No sense of humor.”
“What are you?” he asked.
“Sorry.” Discord pointed to the bright yellow sign on the door. “Mares only, no stallions allowed!”
“I… but you’re not…” Alphabittle wasn’t certain what was going on, so he just muttered. “Lots of places to hide a body if you hurt Izzy…”
“Oh? Don’t threaten me with a good time.” He smirked and waved him away. “She’s in good cloven hooves, now you best get going. I think someone just flooded your home with cotton candy. Well, all the homes really, I wasn’t sure which was yours…”
He closed the door in Alphabittle’s face before he could reply, and turned around.
“Hi new friend!” Izzy smiled widely and leapt up to hug him.
“Whoa!” Discord grabbed her and set her back on the ground. “Careful, those horns are a lot pointier than I remember.”
“Oh I’m so excited you’re here, what are your hobbies? Do you like creating stuff? I bet you could make all kinds of crazy stuff, I’m a bit of an artist myself you know.” Izzy’s horn lit up as she used her magic to grab one of his hands and drag him off towards her art room.
The two of them passed a bathroom with the door closed and shower running. The next room was full of furniture made from a mish-mash of recycled goods. Izzy had crafted recliners, tables, lamps, and a large object that looked like a flower.
“Hmm, not half bad. I’ve always believed one pony’s trash is another pony’s treasure. I even went into business as a lamp maker for a while, but ended up selling them all to somepony for a swap meet.”
Discord snapped his fingers and a lamp made of broken bits of glass appeared. It looked exactly like him, only wearing a pink tutu and holding a light bulb in one of his hands.
“Whoa, that’s pretty good!” Izzy said. “What else can you make?”
“Well, anything really.” He snapped his fingers, creating a small pink saddlebag with a few balloons on the side. “My magic’s been getting better, so this should be a bag from which you can pull a random item at any time. Or it will clamp down and devour your leg when you reach inside. But seventy percent of the time it should work every time. I trust you can use it responsibly?” Discord asked.
Izzy nodded. “Sure.” She reached inside and pulled out a bowling pin, setting it on a table. Then she reached in and pulled out a large chromed bumper to a trolley like the one she had seen in Maretime bay. “Wow.”
“You really just dove right in, I guess impulse control isn’t your special talent.”
“Nope, it's crafting! Which reminds me, want some tea?” Izzy’s horn lit up, and the flower-shaped table he had noticed earlier unfurled itself into a complete tea set with enough room to seat five.
Discord had a seat and snapped his fingers, filling up the teapot and cups with some freshly brewed tea. “So, Sunny says you’ve got quite a unique world view and I’d have to agree. So what’s your tragic backstory? Parents died to an Ursa Major? Immaculate conception?”
She sipped some of the tea, and added a couple cubes of sugar. “Oh, I don’t know about any of that. My parents had me when they were in their sixties and died of natural causes. I was their miracle baby.”
He nodded. “I did notice a distinct lack of parental figures around here, I suppose it's good most of the carnivorous denizens of Equestria went into hiding when magic died. Having no adults around to tell you not to go adventuring in the Everfree for cutie marks rarely turns out well.”
“We’re a tight knit community with several village elders, and we always help each other out,” Izzy explained. “We don’t have much use for paying rent like I’ve heard the pegasi have to do, and if anypony is hungry we just cook them a meal.”
They both began to float up in the air along with the tea set and table, and the entire house began to rotate around them. Luckily, all the furniture seemed to be fixed to whatever it was touching, and no avalanche resulted.
“Whoa!” Izzy exclaimed. She spent a couple minutes looking around as the house made a full rotation, oblivious to several confused shouts from a pony in her shower.
“So, what’s your special talent?” When she looked back, Discord was wearing a press badge and had a small notepad. “I like to interview all my potential friends. The last thing I need is another Tirek.”
“My talent is the ability to see the beauty in anything, or the beauty it could have. Like, when I look at a pony I can see their luminescence and know right away their mood, and to an extent, whether their intentions are good or evil. Even before magic returned!”
“Fascinating.” He scratched at a small goatee with his pencil. “A connection to the font of magic while magic ceased to exist? That shouldn’t be possible.”
“I mostly use it for crafting though, I can look at an item and see all the things I could make out of it. Like, imagine if you could close your eyes and see an entire painting or sculpture before ever making the first stroke or cut.”
Discord nodded along. “So what do you see when you look at me?”
Izzy tilted her head and stared at him. “Nothing at first, but there’s definitely something there.” She looked at him for a long moment before meeting his gaze. She felt something she hadn’t felt before as she fixated on the small sparkle in his eyes. Izzy felt herself being drawn into those eyes.
“I now pronounce you, Draconequus and Wife,” Twilight said.
Discord knelt down and nuzzled Fluttershy affectionately, and they shared a brief kiss.
Izzy looked around and saw several familiar faces that Sunny had told her about. These were the guardians of friendship, in fabulous dresses more beautiful than Izzy could ever dream of making. They were clopping their hooves softly as the two married.
The vision swirled to a room containing a giant purple dragon, snacking on a small pile of gems. In front of him was a small game board with cardboard figures, and he appeared to be playing a game with Discord.
“Don’t be too hard on them, I’ve found the shorter the lifespan the more they cling to hope of a brighter future,” Spike stated. “If Twilight says it’s important, you should at least hear her out.”
The vision began swirling again into a vast expanse of stars. Two figures were there. One had Discord’s silhouette, and the other looked like a large pony with wings and a horn. The two were talking, but Izzy didn’t understand the language.
The pony approached Izzy and smiled, and she felt a sense of harmony, before there was a bright flash of light.
Izzy came back to her house, which was no longer rotating but had landed back on the ground, right-side up, and knocked down a lot of her artwork.
Discord seemed dazed before answering. “What is it with you ponies? One impossible thing after another,” he grumbled.
“Whoa! What was that?” She asked.
“An old bit of unicorn magic that allows one to gaze into the soul of another being, and view their true self. It’s supposed to be different for everypony, some might hear the song of creation, others might see pivotal memories, or even the future.” Discord leaned down to look at her eye to eye again. “Not even Celestia could see into my soul, I’m curious what you saw.”
Izzy began to explain. “I saw you getting married, and playing games with a giant dragon, and then this vast expanse where you were alone with this glowing golden pony. In all of them I felt so much happiness.”
Discord raised an eyebrow, and opened a hand casting a small projected image into the air. It was a golden alicorn amidst a starfield. “Was this the pony you saw?”
“Yeah!” Izzy nodded. “That was her, who is she?”
He chuckled and looked up towards the roof as if the pony would suddenly appeared, so Izzy followed his gaze. “Harmony. She prefers to work behind the scenes.” Discord looked back at the unicorn. “But it would seem she’s taken a very special interest in you and your friends.”
“Oh, we have an old church in town, unicorns used to be all about harmony before we lost our magic. I could show you if you like.”
Discord nodded. “I’d like that. You and your friends seem to be off to a good start, I’ll have to step up my game with Zipp tomorrow so I don’t lose.”
“Hey, even if you lose it’ll be the most fun you ever had losing right?”
He got up and walked over to the door, opening it up for Izzy and gesturing for her to go first. “It just may be, or I may just snap my fingers and turn you all into dolls in a dollhouse. Let’s not count our pegasi before they’re hatched.”
Izzy walked out the door and looked back inside, tilting her head. “Hey, aren’t we forgetting something?”
Discord smirked and walked out, closing the door. “I don’t think so.”
Fluttershy finally untangled herself from the shower curtains, their mane and tail still a mess from yet another interrupted attempt to bathe. Right when she closed her eyes to enjoy the hot water flowing over her wings, the room had suddenly tilted and she found herself rolling down the wall towards the ceiling.
She threw the bathroom door open and stomped out, trailing water into the living room.
It was empty and it appeared nopony was home. Fluttershy sighed, and went back into the bathroom to dry off. She then looked in the mirror and had to remind herself, again, that she was Hitch, a stallion and an Earth pony.
Once he was dry, he stomped back out in a very manly fashion towards the tea shop. “I really hope Alphabittle serves hard liquor.”