Chapter 1 - What?!
The streets of Canterlot were, for once, piled high with many ponies, all standing anxiously, and admittedly looking a little worried. These ponies deliberately were standing to the side, kept there by barriers which had been set up the day before. The sun shined with unusual radiance on those particular streets, and not a cloud could be found in the sky. In actual fact, the weather had been scheduled as rain. The pegasus ponies were having some problems, it seemed, but nopony in particular was worried by THAT. Sun was great. Although, many people now enjoyed moonlight as well, knowing that they would be kept safe under Luna's careful watch.
These ponies were all looking at a particular place at the end of the street, and this place was the train station. Two very important ponies were getting in to the station soon. However, the mood amongst the crowds was a mix of excitement, and nervousness.
On board an inbound train to Canterlot, the two 'mystery guests' were sitting opposite each other on comfortable chairs, at a table.
"Fabulous weather we've been having, don't you think? Simply spectacular!" A familiar mischievous voice said, with an odd lilt in it.
"It's lovely, Discord, honestly. I'm not going to argue, being the princess of the sun and all." Celestia said to the patchwork creature sitting in front of her. It was uncomfortable, even though she seemed to be keeping a calm mind on the outside, to be sitting in such close proximity to one that had been such a hated figure in her mind, one who she thought she'd never forgive. But, she'd been forced by herself in the end, to undo what she had done. "However, you shouldn't agitate the pegasi too much. You know what it's like when they go on strike." Celestia warned him.
"I can't say I do, after being encased in stone after all these years. Couldn't see an awful lot, and I had the bad luck to be staring straight ahead before, instead of up at the sky. Not good for the view at all." Discord grinned, making small talk.
Celestia scowled at him. "You wouldn't want to find out, that's for sure. Really." As she said these words, the newly reformed Discord, who would have usually risen to the challenge already, only sat back in his seat and seemed to let the bad idea float away from his mind.
"Wouldn't dream of it!" He chuckled light-heartedly. This light-heartedness made Celestia smile a little too, because, even in the short time she had been getting to know the reformed Discord, she had learned that this particular mood meant that he was feeling helpful, and not the opposite of such. However, she was still nervous about him. And there were other things to be nervous about, as they drew near to Canterlot station. What would public opinion of Discord be, now that he would be living amongst the average Canterlot pony? Would they be scared? Would they be happy? It was almost too much for Celestia, an experienced Alicorn who had lived for thousands of years, to handle. There were, it seems, some things in life there was no telling about.
A coarse, rough train driver's voice boomed through all the train's carriages. "We've now arrived at Canterlot, everypony! I hope you enjoy your time here, and that you will be using our service again soon. The next train will to Pony ville will be..." The voice droned on as the two, large and awkward looking figures, who had actually required a carriage with a higher roof, stood up and shuffled towards the door, Guards taking Discord's luggage and walking behind the two, more important ponies.
As they both stepped out, everypony standing to the side of the streets undertook a sudden hush and even a little gasp amongst some of them. Many of them hadn't even SEEN Discord before, and had just heard of the one that was pulling all the strings, when he was exercising his new-found reign of terror on Equestria.
Celestia needed to say something, fast, otherwise this gathering would quickly turn into a gathering of particularly quiet owls. And she didn't like owls. "Ponies of Canterlot! I would like to declare the return of Discord, whom you may know as a particularly Chaotic being! However, I would like to stress that this is not the case! Discord has in fact, let true friendship into his heart, and therefore is like any other pony in this crowd! So let us show him our warmest welcomes!" Suddenly, as she finished her last word of the sentence, a large cheer erupted from the mouths of most of the ponies standing in the streets, and the ponies stamped their feet in appreciation of Celestia, and her guest, Discord.
The kindness, was almost too much for Discord. He never knew he would ever end up being shown such kindness and appreciation, and sheer friendship. He was still young in the arts of friendship, and almost found it too much to handle. "Ahem." He cleared his throat. Ponies leaned towards him from where they were, to listen to what he had to say. "I have only this to say, before I am overwhelmed with the welcome you have all given me. Friendship is magic." He announced, with a sheepish look on his face. That was sure to become his catchphrase, and hoped it hadn't been copyrighted or something already.
More hearty cheers and whistles came from the throats of the surrounding ponies, and as Celestia and Discord set off in the direction of the near palace, Celestia couldn't help but wonder how they had been all so accepting of Discord straight away. Perhaps she had played her part in explaining his reformation so well, that they had no room for doubt? Or perhaps the fire of friendship burned so strong in the hearts of her subjects, that they were willing to forgive anypony, no matter what had happened in the past. It filled her own heart up with glee with the thought of it!
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They had soon reached the palace, and were walking up the steps into the shade from the hot sun in earnest. The guards, who had been carrying all the luggage, the whole time, were dripping with sweat by this time, panting to keep themselves cool.
Celestia turned to Discord, and asked him in earnest, "What do you think of the palace, now that you aren't set on destroying it, or making it utterly chaotic?" She joked.
"Oh well, it could do with a bit more of a chaotic tone, but what with all the cleaners, and decorators and other ponies sprinting up and down the corridors now, I suppose that would do." He said cheerfully, happy to have made it to his new home.
"Ah, that would be Princess Luna, making sure the arrangements for your arrival have been correctly carried out." Celestia acknowledged her sister's work while she was busy collecting Discord.
"I can't wait to see my new room, Celestia, will I be surprised? Will I like it? Oh dear, I suppose I've made myself nervous now..." He chuckled quietly. His mind ticked away, thinking about how he'd like his room to be, how he wouldn't like it to be, and the other possibilities.
"I think you'll love it, Discord. I really do, and if you don't, our decorators don't usually have a lot to do, so I'm sure they'd be glad to help you!" Celestia reassured him. She could certainly understand how he felt, and could remember Luna feeling the same way upon her return. She had instantly made a few corrections to her room, but Celestia hoped that Discord wouldn't react the same way. After all, Luna and her team had gone to a lot of effort to make their ideas work.
As they rounded a few more corners eagerly, they came upon a wide, large corridor with two golden doors in the wall, with an image of Discord across them. "I'm liking it already! I'll smile whenever I see those doors..." Discord said, excited.
"You just wait, Discord. That's not the half of it!" Celestia patiently told the spirit of disharmony.
As they walked up to the doors, which were in actual fact, rather large when standing next to them, Discord paused for a second, before finding courage and bursting into his room spontaneously.
"Ahah, well hello there Discord! We trust you like your room?" Luna smiled at him, as the strange, tall figure looked around.
"It's, it's... AMAZING!" He burst out, almost unable to find words for what he was seeing.
The room interior was like no other, anypony would ever see again. There were windows at one side of the room, with the clear glass that sometimes refracted colours of the rainbow into the room, in quick bursts. The walls were painted in bright, striking, different colours, and had been painted in splodges over the wall, but artistically so, and they looked somehow, right, in a way. T.The carpet was exactly the same. Also, the bed had a canopy, and the entire bed changed colours from time to time, at irregular intervals. However, it did so gently, and smoothly, so as not to distract from sleep. Some of the certain objects you would expect to be in corners of a room, were in actual fact, in the middle of the room, such as a dresser pointing in an odd direction, and there were items floating in mid-air, like lamps, or books.
"We had all the items floating in the room enchanted, so that if you called the item's name, it would float towards you, thus enabling you to take it, and use it. Tell it to return, and it will resume its position!" Luna explained, matter-of-factly. This had been her own idea, and was particularly proud.
Discord's eyes widened. "Oh, MARVELLOUS! WONDERFUL!" He exclaimed, as his dictionary flooded back to him. This actually gave him an idea. "Dictionary!" He shouted, and soon enough, a book floated in his direction, directly to his paws, and claws. "Dictionary return." Sure as could be, the dictionary floated gently back to where it had been. "Actually, I wish I had kept that to describe how I'm feeling right now." He mused.
"Oh, and one last thing to keep you amused." Luna pointed to a button on the wall. Almost immediately, Discord lunged for the button, and once it had been pressed, the room rotated to a different angle and direction, whilst the items in the room stayed where they were relative to the floor, walls and ceiling before, and the ponies' feet stayed planted firmly on the ground. "Twilight Sparkle did that spell. It was most impressive, Celestia."
"I can imagine it was." Celestia's mind drifted and reminded herself to write a letter to the mare about Discord's settling in.
"Oh, now that, that is true disharmony. That's going to keep me occupied for hours, you wouldn't even be able to imagine the fun I will have with this." Discord thanked them gratefully. "Honestly, I am extremely grateful for this... wonderful gift of friendship. The irregularity of all, it's just so... me. The room fits me absolutely perfectly, I couldn't thank you all enough!"
"You already have, Discord. We shall leave you know, as We have some more important business to attend to." Luna said warmly to him, and promptly galloped from the room, leaving Celestia and Discord behind by themselves, in the funnily angled room.
"This is amazing, Celestia... I could never have had this, if you hadn't made the decision to free me and have me reformed..." Discord said wondrously.
"And certainly glad I did, now. Your company has turned out to be very enjoyable!" Celestia smiled at him.
"Say... Why was it that you needed me freed and reformed, anyway? I heard everything as I said before, even if I was encased in stone. Didn't you say you had a plan for me to use my powers for good now?" He asked honestly.
Celestia paused a little, and avoided eye contact with him. "Well, y-you see... about that, uh... I was..." She trailed off, tripping a little bit.
As she glanced at Discord, she saw he was looking at her innocently. She couldn't deny him the truth now, could she? After all this time...
Discord couldn't understand what was going on, and why Celestia looked so embarrassed. Why wouldn't she just tell him what she needed? He'd never seen her get so shy all of a sudden.
Celestia sighed, before continuing. "Well, if you really want to know the truth, Discord... I released you because... I felt bad." She breathed, getting it all out quickly.
"WHAT?! Because you felt bad?!" Discord exclaimed rather loudly.
"That's exactly it, you see. It had been so long since I had trapped you in stone myself, and after such a long time, I was starting to feel bad about it. I felt so guilty for what I had done. Even if you had been evil back then, it was almost as thought I had killed you, and that in my books, is never acceptable..." She paused for a small while to let the words and implications sink in, before she began again. "And, you finally accidentally gained your freedom due to a glitch in the spell that bound you. Once you had your freedom, it was obvious you had to be stopped, and there was no way to reform you then. But, after the elements of harmony had dashed your hopes of a chaotic world once again, I walked past your statue many times. The look of anguish, and loss on your face was too much. That's why I had to do something. I felt too guilty to let your suffering continue." She finally finished her explanation, carefully watching his facial expressions, to see how he would react. "You're not mad at me, are you?" She said quietly, almost fearfully that her explanation would be rejected.
"Mad at you? MAD AT YOU?!" Discord raised his voice, leaving a tense pause. Celestia flinched the second time he said the words, thinking the outcome would be bad.
However, suddenly, Discord burst out in uncontrollable laughter. Celestia looked on with disbelief, almost quizzically. "Wh-what's so funny? Why are you laughing?" She said defensively, not passive to being laughed at after making a serious speech.
After Discord was able to speak again, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, he looked at her funnily. "Why would I be mad at you? I don't care why you released me! All that matters now, is that you decided to do it, and in actual fact, I'm honoured that you would feel guilty for trapping me. I'm free, Celestia, and it's thanks to you." He said reassuringly to the nervous onlooking princess.
"So you aren't mad?" She decided to make sure.
"No, I'm not mad." He stressed it to her, making sure SHE understood.
"Oh, that's great! I thought, because I had kept a secret from you like that, you wouldn't forgive me, and you wouldn't like not having a purpose straight away in Equestria!" Celestia breathed out many relieved breaths, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders.
"I'm sure Twilight Sparkle would like to hear THAT lesson of friendship! But I honestly don't mind, Celestia, and I'm just happy to be here, and reformed. I forgive you for not telling the truth." He walked over to the awkwardly standing princess, and gave her a quick, friendly embrace, before stepping back, and looking confused.
"However, I suppose I don't have an immediate purpose here, now. I wonder what I'll be doing, now that I'm free?" Discord asked nopony in particular, staring out of a window in his room.
END OF CHAPTER 1