Celestia Platinum had finally completed her life-long dream of becoming a teacher. At the age of 25, her only regret was that she didn't know where to go from there. Well, she was never one to dwell on such negativity. She was, after all, everyone's favorite teacher at Canterlot High School. It was only a month ago that she stood at the front of the class, nervously introducing herself to her new students.
Standing at the front of the class, giving a lecture, was easy enough in itself. But Ms. Celestia became a teacher because she wanted to teach, not just give a lecture. By her second week, she had convinced Principal Puddinghead to start a Science Club, which she then had some of her students attend. The primary purpose was to give a hands on approach to those who needed it. Seeing the look of wonder on students who never were interested before made Celestia all the more determined to make her class the best in the school. After that, she began doing whatever she could to help everyone in her class want to study. Between tutoring, demonstrating, and lending copies of a college textbook on quantum mechanics, it was inevitable that she would gain a reputation. Other students wanted to know what was with all the hubbub.
After another two weeks, Ms. Celestia's tutor classes had forty voluntary participants and twenty student tutors. Her Science Club was attended by fifty students, who would split into groups of five as they began studying the applications of chemistry, biology, physics, and even psychology. Over a hundred students had a copy of Clover the Clever's introduction to the Minuscule World of Quantum Mechanics stuck in their bags. Although, while most students were more than happy to learn new things in a more exciting environment, quite a few young men only wanted an excuse to talk to the young, pretty teacher who seemed to have all the time in the world for her students.
On April 17th, Celestia had found herself marking the science practice final exams her class had just completed. Having been unable to start until her club ended at 5, she looked up and found that it had taken three hours to mark sixty multiple choice and ten written answer questions for thirty students. She leaned back in her chair, a smile covered her face as she basked in the knowledge that not a single one of her students had gotten below seventy percent. "What a month this has been".
She pulled a hand-mirror from her desk and quickly applied some lipstick. Getting up, she smoothed the wrinkles of her full length white lab coat, which she had made a habit of wearing to school. Pulling her hair from it's band, she quickly brushed it and let it fall down her shoulders and onto her chest. Unbuttoning the top of her coat, she adjusted her bust. Deciding that she looked presentable, she stepped out the door.
Ms. Celestia locked the door, ready to go home. As she made her way toward the front entrance, she fished around in her bag for a bus ticket. Just before she pushed the entrance doors open, she heard a deep voice behind her. "You're not thinking of going home without me, are you?"
Resisting the urge to jump out of her skin, Celestia turned around to face the second favorite teacher of the school. "Discord, don't do that. You know I don't like surprises."
A young man with a heart shaped face stepped forward. He wore two shirts, sown down the middle into each other. On the left was a short sleeved tee shirt, and the right was a dress shirt. His left pant leg was khaki and was sown to a right jean pant leg. He wore a biker jacket with a winter coat hood sown to the top. His left hand had a finger-less glove. "But, my dear, surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us," he said, leaning in for a kiss.
"Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable", she replied, returning the kiss.
"Pish posh," he said, waving his gloved hand. "So, how did your marking go?"
"The lowest mark was a seventy," Celestia said proudly as she opened the front door. "So, when are you getting rid of those rags you call clothes?"
"I would never get rid of art!" Discord Chaos sounded truly insulted, though Celestia knew her boyfriend would never get caught up in teasing. "My class's lowest mark was seventy-three," he added, moving to Celestia's left, placing his right hand around her back and pulling her in as the door closed and locked itself behind them.
"You also had six more years of practice. What were your scores after your first month?"
"Touchè, Cupcake."
"Would you please stop calling me that?" she asked, turning away to hide her blush. "It's childish."
"I'll stop calling you that when you stop eating a slice of cake everyday for breakfast."
"Never."
"Then we are at an impasse."
"So it seems." Reaching the bus stop, they quickly shared a kiss before Celestia's cellphone started ringing. Pulling her phone from her bag, she didn't break contact until after reading the caller ID. "Hang on, I have to take this.
"Hey, Lulu, how you feeling?"
Discord put his hands in his pockets, scuffing his shoes as he watched for their bus.
"Uh huh. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. I'll be right over. I love you, too. Bye, Lulu."
"So, you won't be coming over tonight?" Discord asked, crocodile tears streaming from his face.
"Sorry, but you know how it is." Celestia knew this act so well, she wasn't even fazed.
"Don't worry about it. After what happened, Lulu deserves her big sister's affection," he said, wiping his face.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later," she said, giving him a kiss. Pulling back, she turned and started walking away, purposefully shaking her hips.
"Alright, but you'll have to make it up to me next year!" He called after her. Discord knew she was putting on a show, and made sure to watch it.
"Happy birthday, Dizzy!"
"Now, who's using childish nicknames!"
The couple laughed a bit until they decided they were too far away for it not to be awkward. Discord's bus drove up, letting him on. Dropping his ticket into the fare box, he fist bumped the driver and walked to the back of the bus.
Discord opened the door to his apartment. Walking into the bathroom, he undressed and took a quick cold shower. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he picked up his discarded clothing and brought them to his bedroom, throwing them on his bed. Opening his closet door, he sifted through a number of "customized" pajamas. Prying open the fake wall at the back, he pulled out a perfectly normal pair of blue pj's. Putting them on, he turned on the TV and started playing today's recorded sitcoms on his VCR. He pulled his clothes towards him, then began turning out the pockets, making sure his personal items were safely recovered before throwing the clothes in the nearby laundry basket. Seeing last night's pj's lying on the floor beside the basket, he quickly picked them up and threw them in, too.
Pulling up a photo album, he started slowly flipping through the pages, allowing the nostalgia to surge through him. The album went all the way back to his teens, when he started babysitting for his elementary school's Principal Platinum. Celestia, being only three years younger than he, wasn't the one he actually looked after. He was mostly there to make sure a four year old Luna didn't get into anything dangerous. That was when he started cutting his clothes up and sowing them to each other. At first, he was just doing it to make himself seem silly and approachable to his main charge, but when her pretty older sister started looking at him, her smile only encouraged him to make his outfits even more outrageous.
He was very good at his job. At least, he was for the first year or so. That was when Celestia decided to confess her growing affections to the now junior high student. Her confession was cut short by their fist kiss, which surprised Celestia very much. After that, he began paying less and less attention to his charge, spending more and more time than he knew he should have in the elder sister's room. Luna was more than content to spend her time playing video games, though, Discord always made time to make dinner for three.
All it took was three months of dating for the new Superintendent Platinum to find out how her babysitter was neglecting her child. She immediately hired a new, older babysitter, who was told not to let the young man and Celestia spend any time alone. Discord always thought he was lucky to still be allowed to visit, though he found out much later that it was only because Ms. Platinum thought if she had banned him, he would start sneaking around. She could tell that her daughter really did love him and that he was just as in love with her.
In high school, the "handsome, dastardly devil" had made a reputation of annoying the hell out of teachers, rallying the students to whatever current event, and still getting the best grades in his classes. He was made captain of the football team in his second year when he outright told the coach exactly what positions everyone should be in. This decision had carried the Wondercolts into the final of the state championship, the furthest the team had ever gotten. In his third year, it was a given that he would take part in the Friendship Games, though despite his abilities, the school was still crushed. The school moral bounced back after the football team won the state championship that year. Throughout these three years, he turned down over a hundred confessions. This included seven boys, though he made sure they knew that "it's okay to be gay".
In his final year, Celestia began her first year. Celestia would have become a "queen bee" on her own after some time, though her dating the football captain elevated her position within the first week. Insisting on becoming captain of the cheerleader squad in her first year, Celestia made sure that she deserved the position. She then began bragging to Discord about how little time it took for her to get her way. Being the first student to receive no marks under ninety-five in a century at the school, she had already secured several scholarships before her first year had ended.
In her second year, she was made student council president, a position she hadn't even asked for. She, of course, made use of her power, even going so far as having a brand new gym built. Although, it was much more impressive how she had managed to raise enough money to pay for construction before the first half of the year was over. She then began her next project: having more water fountains installed. The local newspapers all decided they would interview her.
In Celestia's third year, Luna had skipped enough grades to begin her first year. This was where Discord was stuck, unable to find the right pictures to put in the album. There were plenty of happy photo's of Celestia, but this was a very hard time for Luna. The whole reason she tried so hard to attend high school at the same time was because she wanted to outshine her sister. However, the then twelve year old was often ignored or treated like a child. No one took her seriously; even the teachers had trouble treating her like a student rather than a child. When she had finally proven her intellect, she was instead met with ridicule. High school students, being the cruel species they are, had crowned her "queen of the nerds". Celestia was completely ignorant of her sister's troubles, focusing more on her own high school experience. By the end of the year, the new gym was finally built. Celestia had convinced the school board to let popular alumni Discord Chaos cut the red ribbon on opening day.
Celestia's fourth year marked her own entrance in the Friendship Games. Luna's second year marked her exclusion from the chess club. The members had mad a deal with school bullies, stating that all forms of bullying would stop if they banned the queen of the nerds. This truce has lasted to this day. Unfortunately, this opened up a world of hate on the poor girl. There were only two people who had the chance to notice Luna's depression setting in. The first was her mother, who was too busy with work to see through her daughter's fake smiles. The second was a scummy teacher who, Discord would never tell, was now lying in a ditch on the highway out of the city. Discord, as an unofficial member of the family, felt completely justified in his actions.
During the Games, Celestia had managed to get an "almost win", which was much better than the crushing defeat the school was used to. The students decided to have their own party to celebrate. Discord was invited to the party, and afterwards, to Celestia's house. The couple didn't make it home until midnight, and made sure to keep quiet as they proceeded to her room for their own celebration. When they awoke, they found a note that Celestia would have noticed if she had come home before nightfall. Luna was in the hospital. She had attempted suicide.
When she finally got to the hospital, Luna had refused entry to her room. Celestia had to wait for an hour before her mother told her that when she got home at six, she found Luna lying on the floor with cans of beer and bottles of pills lying spilled in front of her, foam coming from her mouth. She was lucky to be alive. She stayed in the hospital for the next year. During that time, Celestia only saw her sister once. The visit had lasted less than five minutes and ended with Celestia on her knees, crying harder than she had in her entire life after hearing her sister declaring her hatred. Celestia knew exactly where she had gone wrong: her perfect plans for her perfect future had neglected to take her baby sister into account.
After that, Luna had two years of therapy. With her psychologist's help, she was able to file a report on her teacher, though he had gone missing before the news of his actions had even been announced. The police suspected foul play, and Discord had been a person of interest, but the lack of physical evidence combined with the sympathy of his suspected actions had allowed the case to go cold.
Luna's psychologist also helped reconcile the two sisters, and since then Celestia has made sure she was always there for her sister, no matter the cost. To everyone's joy, Luna was getting better.
Luna had, since then, finished high school at home. She had recently begun attending college, where she, too, wished to become a teacher. Her entire family was more than happy to hear the joy in her voice as she made her announcement. She had made this announcement right after Discord had proposed to Celestia. It was probably the best day the family had ever had.
After several empty pages, Discord had already filled the rest of the album with more recent pictures. If he could find the right scenes in the middle, it would make a great gift for Luna's birthday. Discord didn't want to say it, but he felt responsible for what happened. If he had just paid proper attention to her, maybe he would have noticed. Maybe he would have seen through her false smiles.
Looking up at the clock, reading eleven o'clock, Discord sighed at yet another wasted night. Putting the book and pictures away, he turned off the TV and went to sleep.