//------------------------------// // Day one; slow progress and a psychic weirdo // Story: Chaotic Romance is the Best Romance. // by Siswitch //------------------------------// “Are you done with your goodbyes?” “I have informed my dear student, Twilight. She... Understands. She wishes me the best of luck and agrees to meet me once a week.” “Right and your sister?” “She’s still asleep. We should run before she wakes up.” “I second that.” --- How long had it been? Since she had fled the castle? She tried to count but the numbers jumbled together incoherently as birdsong drifted to her ears. There’s something very tranquil about waking up to birdsong after a good rest, something serine that immediately puts you in a good mood as you open your eyes. The white alicorn lazily opened her eyes and looked around her room. Well it wasn’t her room, it was THEIR room. She still had trouble adjusting to that. Her -their- whole residence was basically a tent that was bigger on the inside, she always found that fact amusing. From the bed she could see the central campfire that wasn’t burning at the moment but still had blackened logs in the pit to show it had been and the ‘kitchen’ area that was a magically powered fridge and a dining table. Surprisingly organised considering. She tried to focus again. How long had it been since she had left the castle? The alicorn mentally counted as she rolled in her bed, looking into the blue wings of her bed companion. A month? Two? Time seemed so fleeting now... So linear. It felt like a lifetime already. For once in her life she felt free and already felt herself adjusting to this new lifestyle. The alicorn wondered how her sister was doing back home. Celestia blinked to make that thought go away and made her eyes focus the tall creature sitting up beside her, there he was, the reason she had given up a comfortable cushy life in Canterlot. She instantly felt better. Ever since they were young Discord always seemed to have an influence on her. Ever since the night her and her sister found this odd beast lying next to the lake he seemed to bring out her childish side, not that she minded. Celestia grew to love this oddly charismatic creature and a few thousand years later he had convinced her to run away with him. They were living a life of chaos, or so he promised, he had yet to bring her on one of his little ‘chaos trips’ yet and she was growing a little impatient. Glancing up at him she saw him wearing a pair of reading glasses, looking intently at a book. “What are you reading?” She said sleepily, stretching her wings out to get rid of the morning stiffness. Discord glanced at her. “Hm? Oh nothing. This isn’t a real book.” With a grin he shut the book, sending off a shower of sparkles as it disappeared. Celestia giggled. “How did you sleep, my dear?" “Very well.” She murmured happily as she went to snuggle into his wing only to find empty space where he once was. She looked confused at the blank space and turned around to see him standing beside a now lit fire, he posed and said with an excited voice. “Brilliant! Because today I’m going to teach you the ways of a draconequus; the ways of chaos!” With a small bow he disappeared, leaving Celestia again staring at a blank space. With curiosity taking over she made her way sleepily out of the tent. The clearing they had settled in was very beautiful, even if it had been heavily altered by Discords magic. Or was that especially because? She wasn’t sure. There was a waterfall nearby for washing and constant water that, even though it had taken on an odd purple hue, was very delicious. The trees that surrounded them had grown to around four times the size they should be and had blue bark but were very pretty and didn’t block out the sun so she couldn’t find cause to complain. One thing however that was VERY out of place was the chalkboard sitting in the middle of their clearing. Celestia grinned as she saw Discord standing next to the chalkboard wearing a tweed suit jacket with a tacky tie and thick glasses. “Now!” He began in a very strict voice. “Take a seat and we shall begin our lessons on chaos!” With a snap of his claw a beanbag chair appeared a few feet away from the board. Celestia glanced at him with an ‘are you serious’ face to which he responded with a sly eyebrow raise; ‘yep’. “Take your seat, Ms Celestia.” With an exaggerated eye roll she trotted over to the board and collapsed into the beanbag chair, her legs splayed as she descended into the beanbag chair which was rather unseemly for such a regal creature. Discord tried to stifle a giggle at seeing such a display but to no avail. “Anyway.” He regained control of himself after a quick glare was sent his way. “You are doing wonders with the whole shaking years and years of royal conditioning off but you still don’t have that... Spark in you!” As he said that sparks flew from his talons, hanging in the air for a second before Discord shooed them away. “So without further ado I’ve decided today is the day that I try and show you the try joys of chaos if I am going to be partners with you.” “Why today?” Celestia wiggled her rear until she settled comfortably in the bag. Discord shrugged. “Ah. I see. No plan as usual.” “I live on whimsy, my dear. Now! Let me show you the three basic rule to chaos!” “Rules for chaos?” The alicorn raised an eyebrow. “Roll with me, you were born without chaos urge so you need rules for the time being!” With a swish of chalk the board was filled with neat writing that didn’t look like it was written in chalk. “Now! Here are the rules!” Discord pointed to each line with a long wooden pointer, sounding them off as he pointed to them. “Chaos Lesson uno: You are ALWAYS right, except for when you’re wrong. Then I am right. Chaos lesson 二: Childishness is the way to success. And finally my sweetheart, Chaos lesson drei: NEVER think twice, if you make a mistake so what? Pretend you meant it!” The draconequus looked fairly proud of himself as he finished, standing up straight with his face displaying a rather smug expression. Celestia blinked a few times, trying to take in what he just said. It was odd hearing these things knowing what he expected of her but it was only fair after she expected so much of him early on in the relationship. She smiled as he opened his eyes and rolled out of her bean-bag chair. “Those are... Great... For a start. Do you really think I can do this?” Celestia’s eyes widened a little at looked at him curiously, she hated acting childish but it was becoming natural as she spent more time with Discord so she noticed it less and less. Discord smiled at her excited tone and cupped her face in his paw. “Oh Celestia... You will be amazing. I’m sure of it.” ---------------------- Fillydelphia was bustling as usual, busy ponies trotting around with places to be not even glancing at the faces that passed. Celestia smiles widely, every time Discord took her into a city she loved how nopony recognised her or even looked at her differently. Her ‘normal’ form was a tan-brown unicorn with dark freckles speckling her nose, Discord was a brindle pegasus since he refused to look even slightly normal. “My dear, I’ll head to the town square and you stay here, I’ll begin with my fun and that’ll be your cue to go wild. Remember what I taught you!” With a quick kiss he was off into the crowd doing what she never expected him to do, blend in. The princess smiled and wandered around the street he had left her looking into the shop windows absentmindedly. She glanced left as a glimmer of dazzling purple caught her eye, for a second her heart leapt as she was reminded of Twilight but calmed down when she saw it was a lonely stall set up at the entrance to an alley way. Celestia paused when she tried to comprehend why seeing Twilight would be a bad thing as she saw her every week but realised it was because this time she was going to do something that she feared may make Twilight see her differently. With curiosity now in her she trotted up to the stall to see a dull olive unicorn pony standing behind it, her purple robes hanging gracefully off her body. “Do you wish for me to see into your future?” She asked with a smile. Celestia paused for a second before realising she did want to know what kind of future her and Discord had but was afraid of the pony seeing her as the lost princess and her boyfriend as the spirit of chaos. “No, thank you...” Celestia replied returning a smile to her. “Are you sure? I could tell you something you don’t know if that sounds better.” The way she was speaking was what stopped Celestia from walking away. It wasn’t a usual sales ponies way of trying to keep your attention but rather she used a tone of disturbed happiness, the type used by people on the brink of insanity. Celestia tilted her head a little before nodding, curious as to what this unicorn knew or at least what she thought she did. “Your lover does love you deeply and truly but he is harming you in ways he does not realise.” Again the disturbed happiness seeped through as she giggled. Celestia tried to keep her face stoic but a shiver crept through her as the words left the mysterious unicorns lips. “Go on.” “His want to keep you is so strong that his magic seeps through his emotions.. He is controlling you without realising, inadvertently using his magic to change your opinions and choices.” Those words chilled Celestia to the bone. Her words seemed so confident and knowing and it was so probable it was frightening. “My advice? You need a little chaos in you to be immune to his magic... Chaos... That is already forming, I can see... Soon you will be happy, if the fates are kind to you.” She calmed down a little as that was said. No doubt this unicorn knew what she was talking about but she could still be wrong, there was something not right about her that was obvious. Something still picked at Celestia though, if it was true how long had his controlling influence been over her? Was it him that convinced her to leave or was it her love? She needed to speak to him about this, this changed everything. The disguised alicorn quickly thanked the disturbed unicorn and trotted away quickly, making her way to the square. A shimmer of light stopped her, he had begun to play. As quick as anything the cobbled ground below turned to grass and the lampposts turned to uncooked strands of spaghetti. Celestia couldn’t help smile a little at that even as the towns people ran and cried out. This was the sort of thing you’d never see stuffed in a castle, forced into meetings with other leaders and eating boring food night after night. Acting on the advice Discord gave her she quickly thought of something random and summoned it. A rubber duck. She glanced at it, thinking she could do better she altered it with a mightly blast of yellow magic A big, neon blue, rubber duck. She looked at it, disappointed that that was the only thing she could come up with. “Don’t worry, my dear.” Celestia glanced at Discord who had suddenly appeared beside her. “This is a good start! You’ll get it in time.” He kissed her cheek reassuringly before flying off, turning into his normal form and causing more chaos as Celestia sat pathetically on the ground feeling useless. Nopony noticed her as they were too busy running away from the real chaos. She was useless as far as chaos was concerned. For now. ----------- Celestia lay on her back and stared at the moon that had risen mere seconds ago, she could almost feel her sister when it had risen and wondered if Luna felt the same when she raised the sun. Her focus shifted as Discord lay beside her. “Today was fun.” He shuffled closer, placing his paw around her neck, and looked into her magenta eyes. “You’ll get better in time, today wasn’t bad for your first time!” He actually looked proud of her, something she didn’t expect. The psychic from earlier still bothered her though. She needed to talk about it. “Discord... I spoke to somepony while we were separated.” A vague noise of acknowledgement came from him. “She seemed to be psychic... At least a little. It was obvious she knew who we are.” At that he looked concerned. “Is this going to be a problem? I’m sort of growing fond of that pony form of mine, it’d be a shame to have to change it.” He sighed wearily. “No. She seemed nice, if a bit... Challenged. She said..” Celestia took a deep breath. “That you might be inadvertently controlling me. Using your magic to make me... Choose you.” His chuckle confused her. “Darling I am way over a thousand years old, I know how to handle my magic. I know how to handle every slightest little urge and tingle that I hold in my body! If I didn’t then I wouldn’t off lasted when you put me on that chaos abstinence.” He shuddered as he remembered. Celestia was going to say something put chose not to, he seemed confident enough to calm her down so she didn’t feel worried anymore. “Why? Do you think the only possible reason you fled with me is because I was brainwashing you?” He grinned. “You wound me, my dear.” Celestia stammered a little, looking for words. “No! I didn’t mean that at all... I’m sorry, Discord. I love you it’s just.. It did seem strangely impulsive of me.” She was silenced by a nuzzle. “Stop with the fretting. It’s annoying.” He snuggled into her flowing mane and closed his eyes. Celestia smiled and leaned into him a bit more. “You really are so grim sometimes.” “I’m sorry. I don’t mean it, it’s a habit I suppose.” She wriggled away. “I’m going inside the tent, I’m really uncomfortable out here.” Discords groans of protest didn’t stop her from going inside and lying on their bed. No matter what she tried the uncomfortable feeling didn’t leave her. She tried sleeping on her side, her back, front, nothing. It was clear she was bothered by something as she couldn’t find sleep no matter how much she tried. As Discord gave up and slipped into bed beside her she used her magic to make her drift to sleep. She’d figure it out tomorrow. She’d figure everything out... Tomorrow.