It was early afternoon. It was one of those rare occasions where Celestia could make up a good excuse to abandon her duties. Well, that excuse was that there were none. She had managed to finish any paperwork or concerns from citizens back in Canterlot. Oh, how her job was boring sometimes.
Good thing Discord was here.
The reason why she decided to risk meeting with a draconequus she'd now known for almost six years is because he wanted to meet with her in the day for some reason. The reason he'd given her was 'I like Fall. It looks better in the daylight though.'
Weird, but okay.
Fall wasn't exactly her favourite season. Third out of the four. She loved Summer, and Spring was nice too, but the coming of Fall meant the coming on Winter. And when the leaves drooped off the branches, it seemed to tease her that her least favourite time of year was coming.
Though, she had to admit, it was rather pretty. All the leaves looked really cool when they were different colours. But that was the only good side.
After a while of trotting through the fiery coloured forest, Celestia once again came to the usual meeting spot. It had came to the point when she didn't even have to call Discord's name; he'd just appear in a matter of seconds.
"Hello Tia." His voice called, as he slithered from behind her. The nickname made her smile, no one really called her that. Since she had become more confident in bringing Discord into her room, it was one of those nights where they were just discussing random things about each other, while lying on the same mattress when he first called her that.
The alicorn lay pressed up against the draconequus, not needing a blanket for extra warmth. Her eyes were threatening to close in order for her body to shut down, but she forced them open. Even so, she still let out a long yawn.
"Oh look, Tia's tired." Discord teased, hooking an eagle talon in her mouth so she couldn't close it again. Celestia just used a hoof to pull it out.
"Very funny-wait, what did you just call me?"
She angled her head so she could see his expression. He had a slight blush, probably out of embarrassment than anything else.
"Uhh... Tia." He repeated. "If you don't like the name, then-" Celestia laid a hoof on his mouth.
"No... I like it."
"So, you actually made it this early? Impressive." Discord commented. Celestia gave a roll of her eyes.
"So, what was it you wanted to do?" She asked. Discord didn't reply straight away, he just leaped towards the trees.
"Ever seen how pretty the forest looks when you run through it in Fall?"
The Princess shook her head.
"Well, you better find out then." With that, he disappeared into the blur of leaves. Celestia had no choice but to follow on.
"Discord, wait up!" She called after the draconequus. When he ran, he was super slow. However, he could fly a heck of a lot faster. Whether he slowed down for her or not he couldn't tell, but she eventually was galloping by his side.
"I don't see what's so great about this..." She said.
"Then look at the trees an not the boring ground." He instructed. Celestia gave a skeptical look, but did so. As she looked at the trees whoosh by as she ran, the different seemed to blend in with each other. Discord was right - they did look really pretty. She noticed also, each time her hoof thumped on the ground, a leaf seemed to fall. The feel of them brushing past her made her giggle, since it slightly tickled her.
Closing her eyes made it all the more better. Despite not seeing the bright colours, she could feel the wind in her mane and feathers. It wasn't a cold breeze, nor was it hot. Okay, yes, there was no such thing as a hot, or even warm breeze. Either way, it felt rather nice-
Bonk.
Celestia blinked open her eyes and rubbed her head. She'd just bumped into a tree, hadn't she?
You're so smart sometimes. She thought to herself.
Behind her, she heard Discord snickering. She gave him a smug look, but she wasn't actually angry.
"How did you manage that?" He chuckled again, floating over to her side.
"I defiantly didn't close my eyes while running..." She muttered sarcastically, resting her head on his shoulder.
"See what happens when you do all that cliched cheesy stuff? You end up hurting yourself." He told her as he rubbed her head gently.
"I know I know... I've learned my lesson." She sighed.
"There's another reason why I made you do that, by the way."
Celestia looked up, prompting him to keep talking.
"Your earth pony magic helped the leaves fall." He began. "There's a bigger reason that I like Fall, you know. I don't just like it because it's pretty, I like it because I see myself in the season." A leaf floated down, landing in his eagle claw. "Any leaf that fell because of your hoof, you could call it myself."
"...You're saying you relate to a leaf?"
"Yes! But let me explain further." He let go of the leaf, letting it continue it's journey to the ground with the others that were already there. "You see, all of these leaves are different. And each of them look beautiful - but they don't see that. Well duh, they're leaves, but if they had feelings, they'd think they look awful. They don't though. But since they think they think that, they hide up there." He pointed to the top of the tree. "Up there, they aren't really noticed. They hide with the crowd. However, the leaves that fall are the ones that want to take a step in life, and aren't afraid to show themselves."
"Oh, that makes sense." Celestia said.
"Actually, those leaves aren't me." Discord corrected. "I'm the leaves that don't want to take a step in life and are too afraid to show them. Remember when I said that your hooves made them fall? Well, those leaves are me. I stayed hidden and out the way until you showed up."
The alicorn blinked and stared at him, unsure how to reply. But then she gave a smile and nuzzled his cheek.
"What was I going to do? Run away, thinking you were a monster going to eat my brain?" She giggled.
"Everything else did - still does." He corrected. Celestia's eyes sparkled with pity, then she hooked him with her wing to bring them closer.
"I'll change that. Don't you worry... no one deserves to live like this. Especially you." She lay a hoof on his chest. "How I'll do that... I have no idea."
---
"Celestia?" The alicorn called. "Are you alright?"
Celestia jumped back into reality. "Huh? Yes?" She gasped, not noticing the tear rolling down her face.
"You don't have to go on if you don't want to..." A shy pegasus told her.
The Princess shook her head. "No, I'll go on. I have to get all of this off my chest." She used her hoof to move some dropping green hair out of her eyes. "And, you deserve to know. All of you."
The six ponies in front of her, still rather in shock of the story she had just told, sat in silence. Until,
"You were so close... what in Equestria happened?"
"Well, Twilight, I was just getting to that. I'll tell you how it all fell apart." She closed her eyes again, so she could picture everything more clearly.
"Wait, so you were only friends for six years?" A blue pegasus interrupted.
"No... I'm skipping about a hundred years or so because I hate envying myself." Celestia explained. "Now listen closely, and I'll tell you about how our friendship fell apart..."