“What?” Twilight’s head darted around frantically. “Princess Celestia? Where are you?”
“Oh, I’m right here,” came Princess Celestia’s voice directly in front of her. Twilight’s head snapped up, only to find Discord with another one of his signature silly smiles on his face. “See?” he asked, speaking in Celestia’s voice. “I’m right in front of you!”
“Discord! That scared me! Why would you do that?” Twilight stomped her forehooves on the ground.
“I just wanted to see how you would react if your beloved princess or one of your friends found you on a date with me. Apparently, you’re too ashamed of going on a simple date with me…” His ears drooped and he let his head hang low, giving a pathetic sniffle for good measure. He cracked an eye open ever so slightly to gauge Twilight’s expression.
Twilight sat silently, staring at her ‘date,’ a term that she still used quite loosely. Discord was right, she did react in a negative way, and she could only wonder how that made him feel. A moment later, she saw a tear slowly slip out of his eye. Feeling a tad bit guilty, Twilight sighed and let her guard down.
“Listen, Discord…” Twilight trailed off nervously. Could Discord really be truly interested in me? As a… as a special someone? He’s never put so much effort into a prank before, so… Suddenly, Twilight realized that Discord might not be trying to trick her at all. She cast her gaze downward as she remembered what he said only an hour or so ago: Besides, do you see any other draconequi around? I sure don’t, so that leaves me with only one option: to look for love elsewhere… She looked back up into Discord’s eyes, an apologetic look upon her face.
“Are you… Do you really like like me?” Twilight asked, laying one of her hooves on one of Discord’s.
“Ever since I saw you for the first time, I felt some sort of special connection between us. You may not have felt it, but I sure did. Every time that I’m not around you, I’m in agony, wishing you were by my side. You’re the yin to my yang, and–”
“I’m the yin to your what?” Twilight asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Please, princess, let me finish.” Discord cleared his throat and gently grasped Twilight’s outstretched hoof. He looked into her eyes and continued, this time with more confidence. Maybe she’s finally falling for… “Ugh, now you made me lose my train of thought! And I had so many nice things to say about you, too…”
“It’s alright, and listen, please forgive me for not believing you at first. I mean, you are the spirit of chaos; I thought you were pulling some sort of prank on me, but now I see that it’s not the case.” She smiled and tightened her grip on Discord’s hoof. Maybe… just maybe I can give him a chance… “Is it alright if we, I don’t know… start over?”
“Wait, so let me get this straight, you do want to go out with me now?” Discord asked with an unsettling smile.
Twilight sat back, retracting her hoof from Discord’s grasp. “Well… um, yes.” She bit her lip and cast her gaze from side to side, looking anywhere but Discord. Taking a moment, she closed her eyes and took a few slow, steady breaths, just like Princess Cadence had taught her. Letting her nerves calm down, she took one last deep breath and looked back up, opening her eyes.
Before she could say anything, Discord shot across the table and pressed his forehead against hers. “Gotcha!” he exclaimed, and with a snap of his fingers, he was gone, leaving Twilight to pay their rather large tab.