Nobody, not even Discord, had expected this to happen.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t thoroughly amused.
Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, dressed up in an honestly quite beautiful white silk dress, with frailings and all that jazz, looking even more nervous than she had been for her coronation. Rarity, Discord would admit without shame when asked, had done a spectacular job.
Not that he was ashamed of much nowadays. He’d always had a thick skin, sometimes literally, but over the past years Discord had learned to not feel ashamed about any part of himself and his personality.
Ah, right. Mustn't forget the audience. How silly of me.
There had been some debate over where the wedding itself should be held. In the end, Aquileia had won that tug of war after Twilight had refused to hold the wedding in Canterlot, which no one could fault her for.
And so, the wedding was taking place in front of the Palais de l’Aquila, in Aquileia’s capital city of Aquila. Whoever had founded the city had evidently not been the most inventive name giver in the world.
Not that it did anything to distract from the Palais itself. It was a beautiful construction, only recently rebuilt in the new architectural style of Aquileia as a testament to their greatness. Discord could do without most of the plomp and the glorification, but it was a style he could freely admit to seeing the appeal of.
Next to him, Celestia poked his claw. ‘’Stop admiring the building,’’ she lightly scolded him.
‘’You’re crying,’’ was Discord’s only reply.
Celestia managed a smile. ‘’Happy tears are not evil,’’ she quoted - it had to be a quote, no one came up with that on the fly.
‘’Shut it, Tia,’’ Luna ordered, as if she wasn’t crying too, the hypocrite.
Discord wasn’t crying. He never cried.
Twilight’s father was walking her down the aisle, while the rest of her family and friends watched, spread around throughout the hall. They made up one half of the attendees, the other half were mainly griffon nobles, but also important diplomats and other such worthless officials. Discord could certainly do without them.
Let’s see…
Cadence and Flurry were only slightly less radiant than their sister-in-law/aunt, both wearing crystal-blue dresses with golden trimmings. For once, Cadence had foregone the black she had worn ever since Shining’s death. Discord could only respect that gesture.
Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie all wore their uniforms, decorated with medals earned in war, but their most obvious memories of the war were the medals that couldn’t be removed: the flooflessness of Pinkie’s hair, Rainbow’s wing, and Applejack’s scarred eye.
Fluttershy wore a simple green dress with flowers on it, accompanied by two of the three Cutie Mark Crusaders on her left and Zecora on her right.
As for the final member of their little group…
Rarity was next to Discord, and she was the only one in the room that he considered more beautiful than the bride. Her hair was done up in an elaborate bun and she wore a shimmering diamond-blue dress, and she was smiling radiantly.
‘’Oh just look at her!’’ she breathed, just loud enough for Discord to hear. ‘’She’s positively shining!’’
‘’Yes,’’ Discord absently agreed.
‘’Darling,’’ Rarity said, ‘’I know you think I’m beautiful. You can show me as much tonight. But this is Twilight’s day. Don’t waste it by looking at me.’’
Discord found that substantially harder than it ought to be, or perhaps it was just hard enough, but he managed anyway. And focused his attention on the groom.
Vivienne Discret, Empress of Aquileia. Discord was not in the slightest attracted to griffons (or really, anything and anyone other than a certain white unicorn) but Vivienne, he figured, was probably attractive, if the gazes of half the males and one-third of the females in the room were any indication.
Instead of a dress, the Empress wore a decorated military uniform, darker and of higher quality than the uniforms of the three former Equestrian soldiers in the crowd, and a mantle fit for someone of her status hung from her neck. Her blue eyes were sparkling as they watched her intended approach.
Discord could practically taste the love. He would do anything to give up that feeling.
Something DING-ed inside him. How is that a joke?
Twilight, finally, reached the altar. The shill of an Archon of Boreas gave what was surely intended to be a kind smile, and then began to speak.
‘’We come here today, in the light of the Three…’’
Discord tuned out everything the griffon said for the next ten minutes. Religion had never been something he liked, and this was probably the most boring part. He didn’t need to know about the lovebirds’ relationship, thank you very much.
‘’... you may say your vows.’’
Finally.
‘’I promise to love and keep this griffoness as my wife, now and forever.’’
‘’I promise to love and keep this mare as my wife, now and forever.’’
And they kissed. A little awkward to do with a beak, certainly, but Discord knew from experience that it was very possible.
The crowd cheered at the sight of this, of course, and in the corner of his eye Discord saw Rarity wipe a tear out of her eye.
He bent his neck down and rested his head on her mane, without disturbing the organized chaos that was her mane. ‘’Hmmm…’’
‘’Discord!’’ Rarity hissed. ‘’Be happy for them!’’
‘’I am!’’ he indignantly defended himself.
‘’Then show it!’’ Rarity’s horn lit up a little, and he felt the swat of her magic on his head.
‘’Fine, fine,’’ Discord grumbled as he lifted his head up again and began to clap, like most others were doing.
After more than a minute - hardly his and Rarity’s record, but still impressive - the two newly-weds finally broke their kiss and turned as one to face the crowd. Twilight was blushing only faintly, and that could easily be explained as a result of the kiss she’d just received, something that was only supported by the similar blush Vivienne was sporting.
‘’Thank you!’’ Vivienne said in near-accentless Equestrian, before doing the same in Aquileian. ‘’Now, I think it it time we head for dinner, no?’’ she continued in Aquileian.
Twilight repeated her new wife’s statement in Equestrian, and the crowd dutifully followed behind them, Discord lingering at the back together with his marefriend.
‘’I am happy for them,’’ he stressed again.
Rarity looked up at him and smiled that beautiful smile of hers. ‘’I know, my love.’’ She offered him her hoof. ‘’Shall we?’’
Discord fell on all fours, and used just one of those fours to take Rarity’s hoof. ‘’As my lady wishes.’’
And they joined in on the merriments.