//------------------------------// // Intermission: A Thousand Little Love Stories. Part 3 // Story: Me and My Daughters // by ArcaneDust //------------------------------// Hidden from the spring sun’s glare under the shade of a large oak, two very different creatures lay down over the grass, enjoying the day in their own different ways. One, an ivory-colored alicorn with a bubblegum pink mane focused entirely on the book lying on her hooves as she carefully wrote using her mouth. The other one, a mix-match of several creatures—a draconequus—was dozing off on his back beside the mare, his off-white mane lazily covering his eyes from the scarce sunlight that wasn’t obstructed by the leaves and foliage.  It was quite a peaceful scene. A light breeze flowed gently through the valley while birds happily sang their beautiful songs, like an ode for the day’s magnificence.  Everything was perfect.  That was a lie. “Discord?”  “…” “Discord.”  “…” “Discord! Keep quiet! Your snoring is driving me crazy!” The alicorn startled the draconequus awake, scaring a few birds in the process. Discord rubbed his ear with his lion paw, sleepily glaring at his companion. “Sheesh, you didn’t have to yell, you know. Is this what Platinum taught you two?” The mare rolled her eyes, closing her book in annoyance. She wasn’t about to explain the complexities of what dear Platinum called ‘How Royalty should behave.’ “Something like that. You should see Luna. She does it all the time back at the castle.”  “That sounds like fun.”  The alicorn snorted, shaking her head. “Your definition of fun and mine are two very different things.”  “That’s because you’re a stick in the mud, Celestia.”  “And you’re a good-for-nothing lizard, Discord.” Celestia smirked, her wings fluffing at the playful banter.  Discord smiled, rolling onto his side to face Celestia. “You’re getting better, Sunbutt. A few more years and you might be able to take me on.”  Celestia giggled, “Yeah, right.” She laid her head on her hooves, the smell of the fresh grass making her sigh contentedly.  Most of the days she spent with Discord were like this; she could just relax and enjoy life for once. No frustrating lessons, no annoying little sisters. Just her and her annoying draconequus of a friend. Here she wasn’t the alicorn ponies idolized, she was just Sunbutt.   “So, was there a reason for waking me up, besides hearing my beautiful voice?” Discord asked, raising a brow. “You snore like a cow, Discord. Why are you my friend again?” “First of all, that’s speciesist—you know cows don’t snore. And second, because I need someone as dull as you to look even better by comparison.” “Dull? You’re calling me, the exemplar of Equestrian beauty, dull?” she screamed. Then, in a poor imitation of a noble’s speech, she added, “I should have you beheaded!” “Careful, Tia. Any more of that ego and you might not fit back into the castle,” he laughed, before noticing the book at Celestia’s hooves. “What are you doing anyways?” Using his magic, he took Celestia’s book from her hooves while flipping rapidly through the yellowed pages. “Whatcha reading, Rainbow Marshmallow?”  Celestia gasped in distress, her wings flapping in agitation. “Discord! That’s my diary, you little—!”  “I didn’t know you had one, Sunbutt,” Discord interrupted, his magic gently floating the diary to its rightful owner who accepted it graciously.   “I didn’t, it was Starswirl’s idea. He said that writing what we feel is supposed to make us feel better and whatnot.” She visibly slumped at the idea, her wings going limp at her sides. “Luna’s entries are the best: ‘Dear diary, today Chef Windsor made me a daisy sandwich, it was nice,’” she said, dispassionately mimicking her sister’s squeaky voice.  Discord arched his brow. “You read your sister’s diary?” “It’s what big sisters do!” she said, making a dismissive gesture with her hoof. “What? Are you going to call me on that?”  “Not at all, I’m actually proud of you.”  She cracked a smile, amused at his apparent lack of moral compass. “Oh, shut up.”   They stood in companionable silence for a while, both knowing enough of each other that words were unnecessary to express their feelings. Discord moved closer to the teenage mare, his chin resting on top of Celestia’s back. “You don’t feel it’s working, do you?” he said, feeling Celestia’s muscles tense in apprehension.  “It doesn’t. It’s pretty stupid, to be honest,” the alicorn mumbled, her voice laced with frustration. “It’s… I…” She trailed off, once again resting her head on her hooves, as if the soft grass on her muzzle provided any comfort. “Hey, it’s okay. I know Starswirl can be an ass—” “It’s not about Starswirl!” Celestia yelled, her voice trembling with both fear and anger as she interrupted Discord, pulling herself up. “It’s not about him…”  Discord sighed, shuffling closer to her. It wasn’t the first time she’d snapped at him like that; most of the time he’d deserved her anger. Everyone had a limit for annoyance, and he’d managed to push her limits more than a few times. However, this was the first time that he’d seen her so… fragile. “Then tell me, Tia. You know I care about you, tell me what’s wrong.”  She pulled herself closer into his embrace, her head resting in the crook of his neck. “Everything is wrong,” Celestia said, not caring about her tears matting the draconequus’ fur. Everything was wrong, that wasn’t a lie. It was as if she’d woken up one day and everything and everyone were in the wrong place. She shuddered as Discord’s arms wrapped themselves over her barrel. She was terrified, she wanted to melt into his embrace and never leave. It felt like another reason to curse the impossibility of her heart’s desire. “Everything is wrong?” Discord repeated, nuzzling Celestia’s mane gently. “This… this whole being a princess is wrong,” Celestia mumbled. “I never wanted any of this, this horn and these damned hooves that can break through walls. I never wished for any of this to happen!”  Her breath became more labored as she continued, many more tears falling from her eyes. “And Luna… little Luna, bless her heart… she loves this! She’s never known any more than this and she loves it. And she’s so smart; Platinum loves her and Starswirl is always praising her. Do… do you remember the winter solstice? What she did?” “The night of the falling stars?” Discord said. “Yes! The falling stars! Shooting stars, she called them! She did that, by herself! The whole night sky is her playground, and I… I have a ball of flaming gas that might burn everyone if I ever get angry enough. “Luna is the real princess, not me. I don’t want this…” Silence fell once more, perturbed only by the sound of Celestia’s soft weeping. Discord remained motionless, unable to find a way to comfort his best friend. The more he thought about what Celestia just said, the more her every little action made sense. She was completely scared of the position she was so suddenly forced to occupy. Who would like to be a stick in the mud? he thought. He might have teased Celestia about the same in the past, but the truth was he felt unable to reconcile the image of the Celestia he knew, and the one Platinum and her entourage wanted her to become.  Discord almost didn’t register Celestia’s crying suddenly stopping, as he was too occupied with his friend’s well-being. “Let’s run away,” Celestia said, bloodshot violet eyes staring intensely at Discord’s own yellow ones.  “Wai— What?!”  “You heard me, let’s run away. I’m sure hippogriffs will let us stay with them. I wonder how they treat ponies there… Oh! And draconequui of course.”  “Uhhhh…”  “Of course, if that doesn’t work, we always have Zebrica. I’ve heard it’s a nice place, if not a little hot…” “Wait… Celestia!” “Or… I… I’m not sure we have any more allies…” “SUNBUTT! Get yourself together!” Discord yelled, shaking the mare in his arms out from her panic-induced delusions, while at the same time admiring the irony of the situation. Any other time he would’ve gone through whatever plan Celestia had cooked up, especially if it implied leaving Equestria and the parade of bumbling idiots calling themselves rulers of the land. He was the spirit of chaos, and he didn’t answer to rules or rulers of any land… However, he also knew his friend; Celestia had known him ever since he was a little draconequus exploring the realm of entropy and she was but a simple pegasus trying to survive in the cruel winter of the windigos’ magic. “What?! Don’t you want to run away, too?” Celestia asked, pulling away from Discord, whose actions were much more confusing than his usual chaos.  “I do…” He cringed. “I did… I don’t know, Celestia. This isn’t you, not really.” He twiddled his claw and paw awkwardly under Celestia’s glare, not really wanting to cross his friend when she needed him the most.  “What do you know?” Celestia said. Even through her bloodshot eyes and the matted fur of her cheeks, Discord could see the fury of the sun boiling underneath her words. Instead of wavering, he returned Celestia’s own glare, defusing her anger with timely calm. “I know you, ‘Tia. You don’t run away; you’re too stubborn to do that.” The alicorn lowered her eyes, disconcerted by Discord’s unusual gentleness. “You face everything you do head on, Celestia. I’ve seen you do that a thousand times. Raising the sun, facing the nobles, facing the ponies. You name it, you’ve done it. “It’s strange, y’know, being the voice of reason here. But even I know that you can’t run away, Tia. Not because of destiny or whatever nonsense Starswirl always says, it’s because that’s who you are. You don’t waver, you aren’t selfish, and you never turn away from someone in need.”  Celestia fell to her haunches, her mane obscuring the tears falling in a steady rhythm. Discord silently sat beside her, pulling his arm over the sobbing mare, his longer torso allowing Celestia to rest her head on his shoulder.   He chuckled, gently taking Celestia’s chin with his paw and guiding the mare’s eyes to his own. “Hey, who was it that befriended a poor, hungry, defenseless-yet-extremely-handsome draconequus when nopony wanted to help him?”  “Discord!” Celestia laughed, her voice trembling slightly as she pulled away from the close embrace. “You are one silly lizard…” She paused, mulling over her words. “Do you… do you really think that much of me?”  “Much more… To be honest, I’m pretty sure they need you. You know, Platinum, Hurricane, Puddinghead. They’d bring about another winter without you on the scene.” He grinned, his eagle claw running circles through her mane. “Plus… You’re not planning to leave Luna all on her own, are you?” She shook her head, a sudden seriousness invading her features. “No. Not in a thousand years.”  “See, you can’t leave Equestria. Not right now, I mean. Wait a couple millennia and get a replacement. Then I’ll go with you.” Celestia laughed quietly, yet did not speak. The subject of immortality had always been a sore subject for her (and even Luna, the most adapted of the two) to speak of. Seeing Discord address the subject with such tranquility was somehow disconcerting.  “Discord,” she sighed, leaning on his shoulder, “doesn’t it bother you? Living for eternity? Outliving your friends?”  The draconequus paused; he’d never thought much about that. Not dying was one thing; he’d already come to terms with that fact with the various brushes with death he’d had through his short life. Living forever, however, was something else. He looked down at the mare in his arms once again, and the answer was suddenly much clearer. “I… I don’t know Tia. I don’t really think too much about that. I don’t think it matters, to be honest.” “It doesn’t matter?! B-but Discord, you—” “Hear me out, sun-horse,” he said, covering the mare’s muzzle with his paw. “It doesn’t really matter, because it’s there in the future. We live in the present. That is, today! I only care about this tree, this hill, this day, and you, Tia.” Celestia pushed Discord’s paw away with her magic, flabbergasted by his uncharacteristic response, while at the same time ashamed at forgetting that Discord, in spite of his playfulness and overall careless nature, did in fact have a deeper side. ”That…how…? Did you prepare that beforehand?” He shrugged, his serpentine form once again lying on the grass.  “You really have an answer for everything, don’t you?” she mumbled, laying beside the draconequus, not quite calm and not quite in peace, but hopeful that with her friend and family, everything was going to be alright. “I try, Sunbutt. I try.”  Not a second had passed before Celestia turned and faced Discord, her brows furrowed, as if figuring out a complex puzzle. “So… You care about me?” she asked, her voice laced with some unrecognizable emotion.  He paused, evidently confused by what seemed to be an inane repetition of his earlier argument. “Uh, of course I do? What are you blabbering about? I just said—” Celestia silenced him with a wing. “I know, lizard, I know. I’m not talking about that…” she said, fluttering her eyelashes. “What... ?” The alicorn shook her head. Truly, draconequui are no different than stallions, she thought. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.” Suddenly, she planted a gentle kiss on Discord’s cheek, followed by a quick nip on his ear. “Bet you can’t catch me!” she yelled, quickly taking flight as she laughed airily at the sputtering draconequus. Almost reluctantly, as if his touch could somehow erase the experience, his paw met his literally sun-kissed cheek, while immediately his muzzle turned into a deep shade of red and steam came out his ears. “C-Celestia? W-wait a second! W-what…” He paused, noticing that for once, she had managed to beat him.    “SUNBUUUTT!”  When it was time for them to come together once again, after the pain, the sadness, and madness, both remembered their promise.