It was the night of Princess Twilight Sparkle's coronation. Discord was invisible as he happily watched his friends from above doing one last group hug before they went on their separate ways. As he watched, part of him wanted to join in, but he ultimately decided against it as he silently slipped back into his own dimension.
As Discord entered his house and fell onto a couch, he felt proud of himself for leading Twilight as far along as he did. Of course, Celestia was to thank as well, it was her idea to release him from stone in the first place after all. As he was relaxing, he began to wonder if there was anything left for Twilight to accomplish. Discord started to count on his fingers about all the possible things, silently speaking to himself as he went along.
"The terrific three are stone, Sombra is banished again, Cosmos is on the moon, The shadows are..." he stopped, looking down at a new instantaneously grown fourth lion claw. Many long stashed away thoughts were filling his mind as he spoke of shadows.
"Unresolved.."
He laid back on his couch trying to relax, forcing a smile onto his face. "Oh, I'm sure they will get around to dealing with it. I mean they must have figured out that the force behind Nightmare Moon and Stygian is still on the loose... right?"
He sat comfortably for a few seconds until he suddenly tore out the famous book with the green-eyed golden steed on the cover, rapidly flipping pages as he used magic to reveal the future to him through the pages of the book. "I mean they are the elements of harmony after a-" He paused as he looked at a still image of the future. "Woah, Twilight, stealing Celestia's look much?" His face curled into a grin as he continued to browse the future. "Some odd couples here and there, but I won't object." He flipped a page and saw himself caring for an older Fluttershy, Discord smiled for a minute and had to wipe away a tear before his face straightened up. "Come on Discord, Focus!" he said as he got back to the task at hand.
As he went deeper into the future, his face slowly turned to a sinking fear until he slammed the book shut between his hands. "They don't fix it." Discord spoke to himself.
Discord stood up and went to open his door to form a portal looking down at his friends, now just casually talking before they go home for the night. "What do I do? What CAN I do? They just got finished dealing with MY test and..." Discord paused and clenched his fists tight. "I have to do something.."
Twilight's friends were saying their final goodbye's as the alicorn sisters were leading Twilight and Spike to their new royal suite. "We will walk back to the room with you and grab our things, We packed up ahead of time so we'll be in and out," Celestia said to Twilight as they started towards the castle entrance. "We don't want to miss the train, I have always wanted to go on an extended-" Luna was saying, until being cut off by Discord making a loud thud as he landed on his two feet near the group. The remaining main 5 plus Starlight turned around curious to see what was happening.
Twilight, Spike, and the alicorn sisters could obviously tell Discord had something important to say, but instead of speaking, he just stood there with a finger raised for a few seconds as if he was about to say something. Twilight spoke up. "Yes, Discord?"
Discord began to bite his lip hard and shut his eyes tightly. Until suddenly forcing a smile. ".. Need a hand with the luggage?" He asked making the sisters look at each other curiously. "We do have quite a few things that we will need to fit on the train, I'd appreciate the assistance," Celestia said with a smile, luna nodding with an expression of gratitude as well.
Twilight's friends glanced at each other and gave passing shrugs; they turned around and started to make the trip back. Fluttershy watched for a moment with a smile seeing as how Discord was working on making up for his mistake before she followed the rest.
It was quiet as they walked throughout the castle. The guards were likely still celebrating, though it wasn't much of an issue as it wasn't probable that Equestria would be attacked for quite some time. Celestia and Luna were not in a particular hurry to grab their things, as they put aside some time to clear things up with Twilight and still get to the train on time.
"My sister and I did arrange to have a place for Spike to sit at your side, it should be completed in a few days. The guards will pick it up for you and move it next to yours," Celestia said as they went along. Spike quietly punched the air with a "Yes!" as Twilight chuckled some. The new princess of Equestria took a deep breath before speaking one of her final questions. "I know I should have brought this up sooner but, will I have to watch over the dream realm for now on? How would I make time to both watch over the day and watch over dreams?"
Celestia erupted into a burst of fierce hard laughter for almost a minute, having done so alone for a thousand years. Luna shot her a glare as Celestia finished by wiping her eyes with her hoof, coughing slightly. "Erm, sorry," she said as her sister stepped up. "I will continue to watch over dreams for the time being, though I'll visit occasionally and give you lessons on how to do it yourself until you are able to do dream duty during your sleep.
Twilight gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Luna.". They had just reached the royal suite where Twilight and Spike would be staying. Discord, true to his word, teleported the chunk of packed suitcases behind him and left them to hover and follow him. Spike wasted no time flapping off to where he would be sleeping with a big yawn. "It's been a long day, so I'll just let you all say your goodbyes.
"You don't want to tell us bye, Spike?" Luna asked with a playfully cocked eyebrow. Spike in return gave a fake annoyed sigh as he walked over to give Celestia and Luna a hug around the leg, each bending over for a quick nuzzle, knowing it would be a while before they meet again. Spike then flew up with his wings to get on Discords level with his arms crossed. Discord gave a small smirk as he put up a fist for a fist bump, Spike decided to give a grin and bump his eagle hand. "I'll see you guys around."
After Spike flew off to bed, it was just the Sisters, Twilight, and the Lord of Chaos left. "Well... this is it," Twilight said, watching Celestia and Luna. They went in for their probable one-hundredth hug of the night, really not wanting to let go. "Come visit us any time, don't forget to write," Celestia said as she took her wing off of Twilight.
"Oh, I see how it is." Discord said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes with crossed arms. Twilight narrowed her eyes at first but then flew up to wrap her arms around Discord with an honest smile. "Thank you, Discord."
Discord returned the hug, cherishing the moment until Twilight pried herself out of his arms. "-For not being entirely too much trouble," she said with a big smirk on her face. The whole room had a laugh, and the sisters started their goodbyes until Celestia remembered something.
"Ah, our neckpieces and shoes, I almost forgot," Celestia said as she started to remove them, Luna noticing as well and doing the same. "I'll be sure to put them on display somewhere in the castle," Twilight said with a little smile. Twilight then looked down at herself and removed her things as well. "Erm.. will I have to wear the jewelry all the time?" Twilight asked which got a giggle out of the sisters. "Star Swirl insisted that we do it for regal reasons, it's up to you if you carry on the tradition," Luna said. "You get adjusted to it." her sister chimed in.
The alicorn sisters started on their way to the train station with Discord following. Twilight waved as they walked on and slowly closed the bedroom door, wiping a tear from her eyes as an entirely different life was waiting for her in the morning.
"Not going to lie, I expected some tears from you as well, Celestia. You have spent years preparing Twilight for this." Discord spoke as the group exited the front gate of Canterlot, starting on a downward path to a train station just at the bottom of the mountain.
"I'm afraid I already have all the tears out of my system," Celestia replied. "Yeah, we'll see about that when we get to the house," Luna said with a smirk. Celestia glared at Luna as Discord grinned behind her, but then reverted back to a more serious expression.
He checked to make sure no one else was around, and then questioned Celestia. "Alright, tell me, how long have you kept the act up?" Celestia cocked an eyebrow and then faced forward with her eyes shut and an innocent smile across her face. "I'm not sure I follow." She responded in a sarcastic tone.
"Don't begin to try and justify firing a laser at a magic absorbing bell!" Discord started, getting followed up by luna. "Says the all-powerful draconequus who also had his magic taken."
"Well, you could probably assume that I faked it already. After all, I am the one that can see the future, what's your excuse?" The Lord of Chaos snapped back at her. Celestia waltzed in between her sister and Discord. "Having known a time travel spell for over a thousand years." She spoke as she winked and flicked her tail in his direction.
"Yes, Tia has convinced me to let Twilight handle the serious big bad threats. Believe me, after dealing with many dream Chrysalis', you feel one hundred percent ready to take on the real thing if need be." Luna said as she pranced left and right in the front, followed by flicking one of her alicorn wings forward without even a hint of her horn glowing. Suddenly, in came a thunder cloud which struck the ground in front of them with lightning. Luna finished her stunt with a hair flip and a hoof casually pointed at the two.
Discord looked impressed; Celestia wasn't as much. "Ponies are trying to sleep, Luna!" Luna blew her lips and waved off the hoof she had pointed at them. "On a night like this, they should be expecting last-minute fireworks."
Luna turned around and went on her way, now nearing the train station. Celestia stayed behind with Discord to say a few things. "You weren't the only one with secrets, Discord. I only snapped at you a few days ago to keep up the act. Honestly, I should thank you, for I was never bold enough to send such challenges at Twilight directly. Tough, it would have been nice if you had informed me first." She finished off.
Discord gave her a smile and responded. "My apologies, Celestia. It is in my nature to keep everyone on their toes." Celestia chuckled a little and began to follow her sister over to the train station, suddenly, Discord called to her stopping her.
"How... far have you seen into the future, Celestia?" The white alicorn turned to face him. "I haven't seen past a few years or so, why? Is there trouble?" Discord rubbed his hands together forcing himself to hide his worries. "It's..."
"... I was just curious if you saw what Twilight is going to look like further down the road." He said, suddenly switching to his regular Discord-ish self.
Celestia laughed for a bit. "Luna and I got a real kick out of it," She took a sigh and turned around. "Well, don't want to miss the train." Discord nodded and followed with the sisters' things hovering behind.
Kibitz, The royal advisor, was sitting on one of the benches at the train station. Next to him were all the sister's pets in separate fairly sized cages. One birdcage for Celestia's Phoenix, two birdcages for Luna's owls, and a simple rectangle cage for Tiberius the Opossum. The old white stallion turned to see Discord transporting all of the sister's suitcases. "I seem to recall that you only wanted the pets brought to the train station, you denied the offer for me to find someone to help with the rest of your items," Kibitz said to the two.
"I just couldn't bring myself to have a servent work tonight, Discord just happened to turn up and offer," Celestia responded. Just then, the train pulled into the station, making a call for destination Silver Shoals. Kibitz took a deep breath and checked his pocket watch. "Raven would have been here to see you off as well, though she is likely to spend all of tonight triple-checking paperwork." Luna would be in the process of magically carrying her owls into the train when she spoke. "We told her bye a while ago, so you can check her off any secret parting list you have."
Celestia would approach Kibitz and nod her head to him. "Thank you for helping to keep my life in order Kibitz, I trust that you will go easy on Twilight for the first few weeks." Kibitz slipped his pocket watch back into his coat as he responded. "Royal duties are what they are, but I shall see what I can do. It has been an honor to serve you, Celestia."
Celestia nodded and turned to see Luna stepping back out of the train to get the remaining pets. Celestia called out to her. "Hey Luna, would you like to say something to your favorite royal advisor?" Luna rolled her eyes and went to playfully bump Kibitz in the side with her hoof. "See you around, Kibitz." She said with a smirk across her face, taking Philomena and Tiberius into the train. Kibitz glared at her and fixed his coat, Celestia and Discord containing their laughter in the background.
After a moment, the lunar alicorn popped her head out the door. "Thanks for the help, Discord! Visit us anytime!" Discord gave her a wave and snapped his fingers to stack the suitcases into a neat pile within the luggage car. Celestia stepped over to face Discord in the front. "It'll be the large white and blue house near the shoreline, but I assume you would have found it regardless." Discord grinned and looked off in the distance. "Well, you were right in that assumption, bu-"
A yellow colored aura formed around Discord's beard, and suddenly he was jerked down to Celestia's level, the alicorn pressed her lips against the draconequus' cheek. Discord's face turned bright red as he had a look of blank surprise. "Until next time, Discord," Celestia said as she walked onwards into the train.
Discord bounced up like a spring, still surprised she went for that. Through the window was Luna with her face against the window, it was clear that she was elated beyond imagine at seeing this. Celestia took a seat next to her and began waving through the window, her cheeks visibly red as well. It took a few seconds for Discord to register the world around him as he began a goofy wave back with an equally silly smile.
After the train pulled away, Discord stood still for a minute. "I always assumed that she had a thing for you," Kibitz said as an off comment. Discord shook his head before he responded. "She was just in the moment, I do not believe I will ever have a romantic relationship with anyone again." Kibitz raised an eyebrow, "Again?" he questioned towards him. "Cosmos, purple and pink lady with the serpent hair. Wait, you were tied up that day. Before her, there was... someone else." Discord recalled out loud, looking up at the night sky as he was riddled with memories.
The draconequus broke the silent awkwardness with a question. "Want me to send you home?" He offered with his eagle hand ready in a snapping position. Kibitz felt that he should say something more, but knew he simply wasn't the pony to be having a heart to heart with the lord of chaos. With that note, he figured he should accept his kind offer before he feels the need to fulfill some chaos quota for the day and turns the uphill path to Canterlot into grease. "I would appreciate it, Thank you," Kibitz said hastily.
Discord snapped Kibitz back to Canterlot, staying to linger under the moonlight as he watched the night sky.
"What am I going to do?"