A pure white alicorn paced up and down the large white hallways of Canterlot castle, she held a clear look that seemed midway between concern and annoyance. The clacking from her pacing reflected off the marble and resonated down the hall.
Where are they? I told them a week ago, if they don’t arrive soon I’ll be forced to begin without them.
The alicorn heard a creak and then a grate, she turned to see the large oak door, leading to the castle meeting room, open wide. A pony-like creature stepped out of the door, this one looked very different to Celestia’s own subjects. He had a smaller cranium, a longer snout and a much more slender and graceful body, ironically looking more equine than regular Equestrians. He also had a dark cyan coat and bright blue eyes, like any regular pony.
“Your majesty, if need be we can wait for Que-I mean, Princess Luna, a little longer.” The male Saddle Arabian said, still standing in the partly open doorway.
Celestia hesitated for a moment, before replying to the desert horse. “I warned my sister and we have waited for too long already. Let us not keep your Sultan waiting any longer, it wouldn’t be befitting of me.”
The horse stepped back into the room, widening the door as he did so. Celestia followed him through, before shutting the door behind her with a wave of her slightly glowing horn. On the other side of the door, the room was of a decent size, with a large crystal chandelier and clear white walls and roof. The room centre had a large circular mahogany table, lined with chairs made of the same wood, both of which were intricately and artistically designed. The far side of the table was occupied with four horses, quickly becoming five as the dark grey one took a seat. The other side was occupied with two other ponies, both of which were alicorns. One purple, the other pink, the purple one clearly younger than her old babysitter. Celestia took a seat in the centre, leaving two more empty chairs.
Celestia sighed in frustration, she needed at least 4 beings of royalty to make any real decision. Otherwise this diplomacy agreement would be invalid. At least Discord could have arrived, annoying chaos chimera that he is. He always has to be late, just to spite me.
Celestia looked at the five horses on the opposite side of the table and smiled. Until she felt, then saw a small piece of confetti on her nose. Oh, well at least he came.
A huge pink cloud formed in the room centre, once it had reached a reasonable size it began raining confetti. From inside the cloud a draconequus lowered himself down to the table centre, he posed in the confetti shower and giggled. Celestia groaned in annoyance, Cadence raised an eyebrow and Twilight facehooved.
“Greetings my lovely fillies!” Discord bowed with a large grin on his face. “What is going on here if I may inquire?” He asked curiously, giggling manically as he floated behind Celestia’s back.
Great Father, give me strength… “We’re in the middle of a meeting, something I remember telling you would happen a week ago.” Celestia snarked at Discord, who was busy eating a carton of popcorn before spitting out the leftovers in her face.
“That was today?!” Discord gasped, mockingly fainting to the ground as he groaned. “Oh I feel simply awful! Woe is me!” He cried outloud, sobbing tears of chocolate milk before clicking his fingers and standing up right again, smirking as he inspected his talons. “Must have slipped my mind.”
Twilight’s brow furrowed in frustration as she glared daggers at the draconequus floating above her. To this day, she still wondered why exactly had Celestia instructed her to unseal him with the help of her friends from his stony prison. “Well a lot can slip your mind if you’re just out there making life miserable for other ponies.” Twilight muttered to herself, still eyeing Discord with great distaste.
“Au contraire Twilight!” Discord pushed his face against hers, his eyes almost bulging against hers. “I make life just a little more interesting around here, something I think Celestia has picked up from me.” He glanced at Celestia, who only groaned at his words. “But aren’t we missing another pony?” Discord tapped his chin, scoping the whole room as he hovered above it.
Cadance rolled her eyes in agitation of Discord’s antics. “Discord, we’re very busy right now if you haven’t noticed,” she chided at him, as though he were a foal who walked in on some adults during a business meeting.
“Of course I have noticed, but how can you proceed further without moi or our dearest Luna?” He pouted at the alicorns, displaying puppy eyes that would make even Fluttershy’s heart stop abruptly.
“We don’t need Luna for this,” Celestia answered him dismissively, turning her attention to the Saddle Arabians who was viewing the exchange between the Princesses and Discord with a combination of curiosity and concern. “She knew about this and yet decided not to show up at all.”
Discord cackled with a nefarious grin as he looked down on Celestia. “Oh really?” He clicked his fingers again, this time having a giant clock appear before him. “My guess is that she will be walking through that door any moment…” He clicked his fingers again, pointing to the door. “Now.”
All faces in the room turned to the door at Discords word, expecting a certain dark blue alicorn to step through. Discord burst out laughing, finally unveiling what appeared to be his joke.
“Ahah, oh that was amazing, you all must have forgotten.” Discord snapped his paw, in a bright white flash he appeared seated between Celestia and Twilight, a wide smile on his face, wearing a blue hawaiian shirt. “I’m Discord, Spirit of Chaos, there is always a chance I may be lying...”
The door to the room slammed open, princess Luna stepped through and took a seat between Cadence and her sister. She was breathing heavily and clearly looked like she hastily groomed herself. She also had dark bags under her eyes, clearly from lack of sleep and a few too many mugs of coffee. The Alicorns on either side of her could smell the caffeinated drink emanating from the lunar princess.
Discord continued his speech with a cheeky grin. “...or I may be telling the truth a few minutes early. You will likely never truly know, that’s the fun part.” Discord snapped again, this time summoning a steel cup filled with a strange sparkling liquid, that was red hot and emanating concentrated heat.
Twilight frowned at the spirit, as her nostril caught a familiar wiff. “Is that...magma?”
Discord smiled at Twilight, using his tail to casually stir the liquid. “I’ll have you know it’s much more than that, it’s magma mixed in with sugar, ruby, sapphire and a hint of Amethyst. I call it, cocktail chaos.” He proceeded to pull out a steel straw and casually drink. “Oh! It has a kick, just look.” He revealed the bottom of the cup which had a pair of small kicking pony legs.
Cadence raised an eyebrow and groaned, but said nothing else.
Luna decided to ignore the draconequus and turned to her older sister. “I know you told before, but sorry I’m late, I woke up late and came as soon as I could. Thanks for being patient and waiting for me, I’ll try to be on time, next time.”
Celestia’s eyes widened and she proceeded to blush. “Uh, that is no problem dear sister, you are all too important as the princess of the night.”
Luna turned to look at her sister, she held an unimpressed look on her face. “...You can’t lie. You know that right?”
Celestia’s blush deepened as she shook her head. “But I’m not lying.” Much.
Discord dived in, posing next to the bright red solar alicorn and using a floating camera to snap a picture. “This one is going in the records, can’t miss a little fun.” He turned to Luna with a devious smile. “If you want I can quote her word for word.”
Celestia glared at the draconequus. “Don’t. You. Dare.”
“We don’t need Luna for this. She knew about this and yet decided not to show up at all.” Discord emulated Celestia’s voice perfectly as he spoke, before clapping his mouth shut with both his claw and paw as he snickered gleefully at Luna neutral expression. “What’s wrong, Lulu? I thought you knew where you stood with your sister?” Discord patted her head gently with his paw. “Want a cookie?” He clicked his talons and a large cookie appeared in his claw that he waved around Luna. “No?” Discord asked but got no reply at all. He groaned and dispelled his magic before taking flight. “I’m surrounded by boredom! Catch ya later!” He yelled out as he surrounded himself in smoke and disappeared from sight.
Thank the Maker… “That was unexpected…” Celestia sighed before smiling softly as she turned to her paperwork. “Now, as I was saying--” Celestia froze when Luna’s eyes glared into hers with animosity. “Yes Luna?”
“So my opinion does not matter to you?” Luna asked Celestia softly, her eyes still fixated on Celestia’s.
“What are you--”
Luna slammed her hoof hard on the table, grinding her teeth in frustration. “It’s just as Discord said, you don’t need me to make decisions when it comes to Equestria.”
Celestia flustered for a moment before regaining her composure. “Now Luna, that’s not true… I was just--”
“Twilight, did Celestia really say that before I entered this room?” Luna asked Twilight curiously, albeit in an interrogative tone as she turned her attention to her good friend.
“Well…” Twilight gulped as she fiddled with her hooves nervously. “It is true, but I think Princess Celestia was just--”
Luna raised her hoof to stop Twilight’s words, her head turning sharply at Celestia. “Straight from the pony’s mouth,” Luna muttered angrily at Celestia before clearing her throat. “You just love to make decisions without me, don’t you?”
“That’s not true Luna!” Celestia defended herself as she raised her voice a little, beginning to feel irritated by her sister’s antics.
“Really? It seemed to work fine for you for about a thousand years,” Luna reminded Celestia bitterly, seeing Celestia roll her eyes in annoyance. “But why do you ever call me to meetings when you just make the decisions yourself or with Twilight and Cadance? Just to pull a prank on me ‘for old times sake?’”
Celestia quickly sprung on all fours, causing the chair she was sitting on to fall and clatter. “No! It’s not as simple as that.”
From the other side of the room a heavy coughing summoned the attention of both princess sisters. The sound came from the grey Saddle Arabian seated near the Sultan, who had an eyebrow raised. The Sultan had the same slender horse figure of the others of his race, he also looked had a slightly muscular build. He had bright green eyes, a deep blue coat and a thick dark brown mane. He stood up and spoke, his voice was unlike anything the alicorns had expected to hear. His voice sounded young yet dominant, demanding attention from all who heard, but his voice also held another quality. It had a wisdom and intelligence, along with a foreign accent that didn’t sound nearly as thick as Celestia or the others had expected. “Excuse me princesses but whatever issue you two have can be assessed between you and fixed at a later date. All you really need is a deep conversation during afternoon tea.”
Celestia stared at the stallion, eyes wide with shock. Until now she had only spoken to him through letters of diplomacy, but had never met him. He sounded very wise and intellectual, she assumed he would be much older, but this stallion sounded only slightly older than her ex-student.
The sultan continued, still retaining the attention of all the princesses of Equestria. “Now I believe the best choice would be that we discuss what we originally came here for. This way we will not waste time and we can continue our day.”
The lunar princess turned away and glared daggers at her sister for a moment before speaking, her voice filled with tense annoyance. “Very well, let us complete the task at hand.”
Luna’s horn stopped glowing, she dropped the quill and glanced at her signature on the form in front of her. After confirming that the agreement was to her preferences she turned to the horse on the other side of the table and bowed to him. “Our agreement is complete Sultan Abdul, I hope that you and your friends find our hospitality and food to your liking.”
The young, yet wise leader on the opposite side bowed back respectfully, a slight yet grateful smile on his lips. “I’m sure we will, thank you princess.”
The groups of horses all bowed like their leader and turned around, following their leader out the exit and towards their next destination.
Celestia watched the small group leave, before hearing a set of hooves behind her. She spun around to see her sister open the door, eyes dark and filled with rage.
Luna raised her voice and spoke with a serious intensity. “Twilight Sparkle, and Cadenza, please leave me and my sister to our business. We have important matters to discuss”.
Looking nervously at each other, Cadance and Twilight gulped as they made their way to the door. Only Twilight took one last glance at the sisters before she closed the door, leaving Celestia and Luna behind.
“Well?” Luna finally spoke as she tapped her hoof in agitation, looking at her sister with venomous eyes.
“Well what?” Celestia asked in confusion, blinking profoundly as the glare in Luna’s eyes intensified by the minute.
A hoof stomped on the ground, releasing a small tremor as Luna groaned out loud in frustration. “You know very well what Celestia!” Luna poked her hoof into Celestia’s chest as she marched towards her. “How dare you try to run a meeting without me when I am needed to agree upon the conditions! Am I not the co-ruler of Equestria anymore?”
Celestia snorted as she waved a hoof at Luna, flustered for a moment before regaining her posture. “Luna, that’s a ridiculous notion,” Celestia replied factly as she tried to smile at her sister, who never stopped leering at her. “You are my sister and I would never leave you in the dark when it comes to the matters of Equestria at all.”
Luna spun around where she stood, every movement of her regal body expressing rage. “Then how do you explain making the decision while I wasn’t around, did you not even bother to send me a servant?”
Celestia cringed at the sudden realization. “I admit, I did not think of such a trivial matter...”
The solar princess was immediately interrupted by the Lunar leader. “TRIVIAL? Would you also call my change into Nightmare Moon trivial? How about the loss of the Crystal Empire, is that trivial to you dear sister!”
“Luna how dare you!” Celestia’s voice had increased to a harsh growl, as Luna’s words struck a chord.
Refusing to listen to any more lies, the princess of the night turned and flew out the door, leaving the room empty with a stunned, angry and confused Celestia. Standing there alone like so many centuries ago.
The white princess couldn’t help but yell in anger and stress, resorting to a term that hadn’t been used in Millenia. “LUNA YOU SPOILED LITTLE MOON BUTT!”
As she continued venting her frustration, Celestia was oblivious to Discord in the stain glass looking down on her with glee. He clicked his talons together, appearing outside the room in his body as he looked back to Celestia.
“My oh my…” Discord whispered as he shook his head. “This will not do,” he said, flying towards Luna’s tower and seeing an equally frustrated Luna pouting on her bed. “This will not do at all.” Discord muttered as he flew back outside to the skies looking down on Canterlot castle. He sat on a cloud, placing a talon to his forehead as he narrowed his eyes in thought. A few seconds later, a grin started to form on his face as he got an idea. A chaotic idea.
“This calls for some of my speciality!” He told himself, pulling out a book from oblivion named “Family Remedies” and opening it to the centre before reading aloud. “Mind swap… that’s cliche,” he said knowingly as he turned a page. “Near death experiences… a little too morbid for my taste,” he shuddered at some of the imagery the page displayed before turning over another page. He paused before taking a closer look, the grin on his face becoming wider with each second. Discord started to cackle maliciously as he clicked his talons together again.
“Brilliant!” Discord cheered at the ‘remedy’ and the effects it would leave. “Now let’s see here… a little bit of ‘sleep’...”
That night, back at Canterlot Castle, up on the highest tower slept Princess Celestia in her bedroom. The member of royalty was tossing and turning in her bed, though her eyes were closed and breathing regular. Something felt wrong.
Across the castle in another tower remained the princess of the night, looking out into her dark blue canvas of stars. She stood on her balcony, eyes full of confusion, concern, anger and most of all fear. “She really doesn’t care for me...how have I not seen it until now.”
Luna turned around, heading back into her room intent to rest for the rest of the calm night. However once she turned a red and brown pigeon with a strange fang sticking out of his beak landed on the balcony. Luna turned around to see the odd bird, a frown forming on her muzzle.
“Discord I’d rather not deal with your shenanigans, leave me be.”
As the alicorn turned around she paused and stared into the furry chest of the draconequus she suspected was behind her. As Luna craned her neck and looked up she felt some pink sand hit her nose.
“I have plans for you Luna, you and your sister. It’s gonna be so much fun.”
The dark princess groaned a final time before collapsing into a deep sleep, hearing the echo of Discord’s sly chuckle guide her into the land of dreams.
Discord picked Luna’s sleeping form up with his claw and paw in a bridal style, flying over to Celestia’s tower. He knew Celestia had always kept the window at night, granting him easy access to her bedroom. Once he slipped in, he was in front of the slumbering white alicorn who was still frowning.
“Aww, don’t worry Tia… all will be much better in the morning.” He cooed at her, gently placing Luna next to her before flexing his own muscles and cracking his talons and fingers before wiggling them in excitement. Discord started to giggle uncontrollably as he works his magic, covering both Celestia and Luna in his aura. He frowned deeply as he concentrated more, intensifying his own magic as the aura started to glow brightly. Once the magic started to diminish, he panted in exhaustion as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled smugly at the work he has done.
A chirping sound emitted from the room, causing his Discord to turn to a perch were Celestia’s pet phoenix Philomena was looking curiously at what Discord had done. Before Philomena could speak again, Discord clamped her beak shut.
“Now now… let them sleep… and find out in the morning.” He winked at the phoenix, who only shrugged before withdrawing her beak to her wing and falling asleep herself. Discord yawned out loud, looking at the time on the clock against the stand. “I suppose I should lower the moon and raise the sun just this once for them… as they will be too busy bonding.” Discord laughed at his words, flying outside the room and leaving the two sisters in peace.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Celestia jolted awake at the sound of breaking porcelain and clattering trays. She looked towards her bedroom door, only to see a ponies head disappear down the flight of stairs. “Hm, was my bed mane really that bad?” The mare decided to sleep in and dug her head back into her pillow.
Luna remained on the bed, snoring like a stallion.
Celestia raised her head at the snores, realizing the familiar sound. Is that...no it couldn’t...could it?
Celestia turned her head around to the where the snoring originated from. She frowned at the odd sight of Luna snoring on the opposite side of the bed. Why in the world would she sleep in my bed, she’s not a filly anymore.
Celestia shrugged off the odd moment and looked away. I’ll simply ask when she wakes up, now I need some breakf…
At that split second Celestia noticed something, she turned an entirely new shade of white, purer than the whitest clouds. So white she looked holy, though it was for anything but that.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Hearing her sister scream, Luna jerked her head up and looked frantically around where her sister was. She looked behind her to see Celestia was in fact very close to her. Luna could tell by Celestia’s expression she was horrified, causing Luna to tilt her head in confusion.
“Sister, what are you doing in my bed?” Luna asked simply, oblivious to Celestia’s trembling lips and her eyes becoming moist.
Celestia’s only answer was a gesture. She pointed a hoof to Luna’s body, briefly looking down on it with dread. Luna followed suit, the colour of her face draining as she gasped.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Soon enough, both sisters screamed out in panic before jumping out of bed, only to fall down on the floor face first and groaning in pain. The door to the bedroom soon bursted open, revealing two royal guards.
“Princess! We heard you screaming! Is everything al--” Both guards froze, their eyes widening and their signature stoic faces turned to disbelief as their jaws dropped to the ground to what they were witnessing. One guard clamped his mouth shut, as his face started to become red when he decided not to breath. Had he done so, he would have committed treason to the crown by laughing his lungs out.
The hind quarters and cutie marks of the princess sisters were no longer where it should have been. Instead the the two princesses were now bonded to each other at the barrel. They were now one creature, a very odd creature with two front legs and two heads.
The Guard who stopped breathing turned and ran out the door, his face turning purple due to lack of air. The second guard stared at the odd creature in front of him, before turning pale and fainting on the spot. Crumbling onto the floor next to the bed, unconscious.
Celestia finally stopped panicking and turned her head to her sister. “Luna, we need to work together to stand. Think you are up for it?”
Luna didn’t hear her sister, she was now screaming in rage, her eyes turning white. “How dare that monster do this, I’ll tear his soul from his wretched corpse after I beat him into sauce!”
Celestia groaned, then came to a realization. “Wait? You know who did this?”
Luna turned and growled at Celestia, “Who else but Discord!”
Tia promptly turned red with rage at the insight. She levitated a piece of paper and a pencil towards herself and started writing.
Luna raised an eyebrow at her sister. “Why in Tartarus are you writing at a time like this? We have to get ourselves back to normal.”
Celestia answered, but kept her concentration on the letter. “We can’t expect to get back to normal by ourselves, I’m summoning Twilight Sparkle.”