That word was stained in her mind. No matter what she thought to fight it, it was stick there, clinging on just to go against her own desires.
Affair.
Celestia had read that word a while back. And she knew what it meant. But never before had she considered she'd feel a need to use it.
Oh just buck up, Celestia. You're a princess, you wouldn't be stupid enough to get tied up in an affair.
"Yeah... let's go with that." She muttered through gritted teeth to herself, her tone still rather uncertain. Quickly, she continued towards the exit to the castle so she could meet up with a friend once again. Lucky for her, no guards seemed to be around right now, sice she was leaving at a more awkward time than usual. But as soon as she was about to take a step outside,
"Celie!" A voice called. Celestia turned around to see her sister galloping up to her. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for poking fun at you earlier." She said. "You just looked kind of annoyed."
Celestia shrugged. "It's fine. I was just embarrassed. However-" She raised a hoof and set it on Luna's mouth before another word could escape. "I don't have a crush on anypony."
"Yeah," Luna lowered the white hoof from her mouth. "I get it." Her aqua eyes rolled. "So anyway, where you heading?" Her head turned to Celestia's path to outside, making the older alicorn flinch.
"Gah... nowhere." A hoof moved back inside. "I was just walking around."
"Oh, really?" Luna sounded slightly disappointed, but not too much that Celestia felt very guilty. "Alright then, I better go finish that book about stars." She suggested, mostly to herself.
"Err... we could always go out in the Everfree. It isn't that dark yet..." She looked outside, watching the sun starting to stain the sky with red.
"Sure, we could do that! If you want to, that is." She added, more politely. Celestia nodded, which was followed by a smirk from the light-blue maned princess. "Then I'll race you to the edge of the forest and back!"
As she dashed passed her, Luna left Celestia dizzy for a moment. Once she processed what was challenged of her, she straight away galloped off to catch up with the smaller mare. Neither of them used the bridge provided, instead, both sisters spread the wings to led the wind carry them off the ground and over the gorge. Nor was stopping an option, for they risked falling behind. Once the two of them landed on the opposite side, they continued to run through the forest.
Celestia, however, had an advantage, since she had practiced doing this with Discord. While Luna had to slow down and skid when trees came towards her, Celestia could easily dodge them without hesitation. She caught a glance of her sister's expression, and she couldn't tell if it was envy or shock. Though, she did hear her yell, "Oh no you don't!"
The blue alicorn must of found an easier route, since she managed to come almost neck-and-neck with Celestia. Soon enough, the two reached the end of the forest, and slowed down, until they stopped to breath.
"I... so won that..." Celestia panted.
"The race... isn't over yet..." Luna retorted, also wheezing her words. Celestia was about to argue when she realized where she was. Not far from her was the meeting spot for her and Discord, which reminded her why she was originally leaving the castle in the first place.
"Well... let's see who's gonna win then." Celestia told her sister, getting back on her hooves. Another minutes rest would've been nice, but she was desperate to meet Discord.
"Guh... thirty seconds please?" Luna muttered. The older mare just gave a scoff.
"Is poor wittle Woona too tired to beat me?" When she heard this, the blue alicorn gave a challenging glare, then got up on her hooves.
"You're on."
The two then started their race once again, dodging through trees and changing rank constantly. Eventually, Celestia managed to stay ahead of her little sister, right up to the finish line. Once they landed on their side of the gorge, Luna gave a frustrated groan at her sister's victory.
"Ugh... how where you so fast?"
"I... don't know." She lied.
"Well..." Her sister yawned. "I'm gonna go read more about stars... pretty tired. Night, Celie." Luna gave a sisterly nuzzle, then slowly walked inside. Celestia yawned not long after, envying that she got to lie on a comfy mattress and sleep while she had to force her, eyes open. The sun was now almost completely hidden behind the hills in the distance, reminding her again just how tired she was. But alas, she wasn't letting one life getting in the way of another.
---
"Di..." Celestia yawned. "...iscord..." She finished after her gasp of air. Almost on cue, the draconequus appeared in front of her, upside down. She smiled at the sight of her friend. "Hi..." She greeted drowsily. Discord raised a brow, then dropped on the floor, flipping himself the right way up.
"You seem more tired than you are at midnight." He pointed out.
"Yeah... I just raced with my sister across the Everfree Forest and back." She shrugged it off.
"Oh. I'm taking that you don't want a race then." He concluded. Celestia looked at him with guilt.
"Sorry... where you planning on that too?"
Discord nodded. "Eh... that's fine. We have forever." He patted her head sweetly. Though it was more of a joke move, it still made her heart beat faster.
It's not a crush, it's not a crush...
"Too bad the sky isn't clear." Celestia sighed, as she angled her head towards the night sky. Discord gave a shrug of his shoulders, then fell back onto the grass.
"Cloud gazing's always an option." He suggested. She giggled, then lay on the ground next to him. For a few moments, they lay there silent, until Celestia spotted a cloud floating above them that seemed familiar, and raised a hoof toward it.
"Oh, that one looks kinda like a phoenix." She said.
"Well, that's rather specific."
"I like phoenixes, they're really cool!"
Discord hovered his two front limbs over his eyes. "Too bad I don't have a body part of one."
Celestia gave a "Pshh" and nudged him with her elbow. "You would look really weird with one glowing anatomy piece."
"Would it matter? I already look weird."
She gave him a pitiful look, then moved closer. "You look different... but that's the best part about you." She murmured.
"How?" He grunted. "Isn't being a different a bad thing?"
"Of course not! How boring would things be if everything was the same?" She giggled, which was followed by another yawn, her eyes slowly closing.
"That one kinda looks like a butterfly-" He paused as he noticed the mare bury her muzzle in his fur, her eyes now covered by their lids. She just gave a 'Mhmm...' before dozing off. A smile grew across Discord's face, before he rested his own head in her soft, pink mane.
Goodnight, Tia...
---
As soon as Celestia blinked her eyes open, the sun's light blinded her, causing her to move her head sideways into her pillow. When she did, however, she noticed something odd. Her pillow was fluffy. And dark coloured...
A gasp escaped her as she remembered.
I'm not in my room at all...
Her front hooves lifted half of her body up so she could look down at the scene. She could only go up so high though, since some of her mane was trapped underneath Discord's head.
I don't want to leave without saying goodbye... that would be rude.
The alicorn leaned down and nuzzled him on the cheek. "Discord..." She whispered. It took a few moments before the draconequus blinked open his yellow eyes. They also widened in surprise when he saw her kneeling over him.
"Um... hi Celestia." He gave a confused murmur. When his head was lifted off the ground, Celestia could take the rest of her mane back.
"I gotta go back home before they find I'm gone." She explained.
"Oh... but you just got here."
Celestia chuckled. "I got here hours ago..."
"Oh yeah." Discord rubbed his head as he remembered. "You really should go." He tilted his head to the sun that was only rising by the second.
"See you soon." She gave him another nuzzle before she galloped off towards her castle, not turning back to wait for a reply. She wasn't about to risk any suspicion on her disappearances, and every second counted.
Eventually, Celestia arrived back at the castle. There were no guards around yet, and as far as she could tell, nopony was walking around yet either. How convenient.
But just in case, Celestia trotted through the halls to the library instead of her room. Luna might possibly be awake, and will be suspicious if she spotted her sister walking back to bed, just to wake up a few moments later.
The library was fairly empty. Her hoof steps, like almost every morning, echoed, the sounds bouncing off the book shelves. Her pace was slow, it always was when she was unsure about what to do, or what to read in this case.
"Hello, Princess!" A voice suddenly yapped in front of her. She jumped backwards, as she spotted Starswirl in front of her. "Woops, sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He held out a hoof to help her off her rump, in which she accepted.
"It's fine." She smiled. "But what are you doing here so early, out of curiosity?"
"I was up all night last night. I've come so close to mastering my time travel spell." He explained, scanning through his scrolls.
"Really?" She widened her eyes. "After a year of non-stop studying, you think you've got it?"
The unicorn wizard nodded. "I just need to do a few finishing touches."
"Well, I wish you luck." She bowed her head, trotting over to her own side of the library.
"Also," Starswirl continued, "I didn't hear you come home last night."
Celestia stopped and turned to look at him. "Oh... really? I came back quite late." She told him.
"Really?" He raised a brow. Celestia nodded.
"I came back shortly after Luna. I tried to be as quiet as I could, just in case I woke her up." She explained.
"Oh. Fair enough..." He trailed off as he continued to read his notes, clearly to distracted to take note of the weird tone in her voice.
"I wonder if Luna's awake..." She muttered an excuse as she trotted quickly out of the library. In reality, she just wanted to get out of there.
Why must I lie about meeting up with a friend? It's not fair!