Keep Calm and Chaos On

by Azure129

Midquel 1: The One with the House Party

Author's Note:

Hello everypony! For those of you who haven't seen my blog posts, I've been planning to make some additions to this story for a while, and now I'm finally ready to start. I've planned a series of midquels--short fics set between the first part of this story when Discord moves into the castle with the pony sisters after "Keep Calm and Chaos On" and the second part of this story when Discord deals with the aftermath of the Tirek incident after "Twilight's Kingdom." I have nine midquel stories planned, followed by a sequel mini story that'll be posted last. Basically, these mini chapters will be just tons of random (and sometimes shippy lol) shenanigans featuring Discord, Celestia, and Luna. I hope you enjoy them!

“Hmm…” Princess Celestia frowned and sighed deeply in her sleep, tossing and turning yet again this night. Something had been bothering her slumber, something had been disrupting her dreams…. Was it a sound that was doing it? Yes, a very loud sound, though muffled—some distance away yet capable of almost vibrating the floor beneath her bed with its intensity. Still, she tried to go on sleeping as best she could, shifting beneath her covers some more, but then finally…

“Oh!”

Celestia’s eyes flew open as her restless movements suddenly caused her to fall out of bed and land on her bedroom floor tangled up in her blankets. She blinked several times and looked around, yawning. “What in Equestria…?” Then as wakefulness came more to her, she realized the vibrations pulsing through the floor as well as the loud yet muffled sounds causing them were indeed very real and very intense. In fact, one of her vases on her mantle was actually about to fall to the floor, her room was shaking so badly. Celestia quickly caught the vase with her magic and set it safely upon the floor. She glanced around in confusion again, then finally stood up, shook off her blankets, and went toward her bedroom door. “One of the guards must know the meaning of this. I—” As Celestia opened her door however, she was cut off (and pushed back) by the distinct sound and pulsing beat of dance music definitely coming from somewhere in the castle. The sun princess quickly shook off her surprise and then dashed over to her bedroom window. Celestia opened it wide, made her horn glow with a magic that would help connect her to her sister, and called out into the night. “Luna! Luna, please come home! I think we might have an emergency of some kind!”

Suddenly, Luna cleared her throat and entered Celestia’s room from the hallway through the still ajar bedroom door. “Oh, it’s no emergency, sister, but it is an interesting situation!” she called out over the music with a half grin.

Celestia jumped a little in surprise as she turned to Luna. She raised an eyebrow. “Luna!” she called out. “So you know what’s going on then? Where is that awful music coming from? I feel like I’ve barely slept all night.” She rubbed one of her ears with her hoof.

Luna sighed, her look growing a little dry as she approached her sister so that they could hear each other better. “There is a major inconvenience in our house—Celestia, taketh a wild guess what the source is.”

Celestia blinked…and then her look went dry too. She brought a hoof to her forehead. “It’s the middle of the night. What could Discord possibly be…”

Luna sighed, smiling a little. “Come with me, sister, and I shall show you. And here, you will need these.” Luna used her magic to create ear muffs for herself and Celestia, and then she teleported them out of Celestia’s bedroom and to the next wing of the castle…specifically just outside of the ballroom doors.

---

Celestia stood beside Luna, wearing earmuffs (as was her sister) and looking at the ballroom doors…which were literally almost bursting open with the sounds of pounding club music coming from the other side of them. Not to mention the strobe lights and fake fog Celestia was catching glimpses of as well.

“What is going on here?!” Celestia yelled out to her sister.

“What?!” Luna yelled back.

“What?!” Celestia yelled back in return. “Luna, for Equestria’s sake!”

“What? Cake?” Luna blinked. “Celestia, I really don’t think we have time for cake!”

Celestia gave a deep sigh. “Luna, I think we need to go away from here to talk without the music!”

“What??” Luna held a hoof to her covered ear. “Hold on, let me get the music turned down so we can talk!”

And then Luna turned toward the ballroom doors, cleared her throat, braced herself, and called out in her loudest royal Canterlot voice, “DISCORD! I HAVE RETURNED AND I HAVE BROUGHT CELESTIA! OPEN THIS DOOR AND TURN DOWN THE MUSIC SO WE MAY ALL SPEAK!”

Nothing happened for a moment. Then one of the doors opened a bit and suddenly Discord could be seen fighting his way out of the room despite the music and fog and the lights and what seemed to be a lot of people in there with him (if all of the voices shouting and cheering were any indication). He got out into the hall, shut the door behind him and looked to the sisters. “Sorry, girls, let me do a little soundproofing!” he yelled with a smile. Then he snapped his fingers, and suddenly the hallways of the castle were silent as ever and it only sounded like a low hum was coming from inside the ballroom. The doors even stopped seeming ready to burst off of their hinges. Discord grinned and snapped away the earmuffs of the two princesses. “There we go, now we can talk.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked to Luna. “Luna, back again I see.” And he turned to Celestia. “And Celestia…” his eyes narrowed and his grin grew as he leaned back against the door, “Oh dear, I hope I didn’t wake you.”

Celestia just raised an eyebrow. “Discord, what is going on?”

Luna sighed. “Discord is throwing a party apparently, Celestia…a sort of housewarming festivity to celebrate his new accommodations with us.” She looked at her sister with a plastered-on smile, tilting her head to the side slightly. “He has been throwing this party since midnight. And I have been dealing with him throwing this party since midnight. It has been a most…challenging evening of friendship.”

“And she hasn’t been doing too bad at trying to manage me actually,” Discord added with a chuckle. “She’s been very firm but hasn’t completely lost her temper once yet. Though I’m still trying to understand what all the complaints are about.” He shrugged and smiled ‘innocently’, tapping his fingers together. “I’m just providing the castle with some free night music like any considerate friend might do as part of enjoying the ‘shelter’ you’ve been providing me here. If anything, considering your pony obsession with music and breaking into song, I think I ought to be reward and encouraged for my efforts, not yelled at and interrupted.”

Luna’s plastered on grin of impatience for her sister grew. She gestured to Discord with her hoof. “This has been the last six hours of my life, Celestia: pounding music and impish responses such as these. And now it is time for day, and I have already set the moon to lowering. So if you could commence raising the sun so that I can be off duty finally, I would most appreciate it.”

Celestia looked from her sister to Discord and back a few times and then just blinked in confusion. “But…where are the guards? Certainly they’ve heard all of this ruckus too and should be here addressing the situation and helping you, Luna.”

“Well, I can’t name names, but…” Discord started, rolling his eyes to the side with a particularly proud grin, “Most of the off duty guards might be in here enjoying the party and the on-duty ones might be suffering from a teeny weeny sleeping spell I put on them.” He shrugged, feigning innocence again. “I was just trying to be more friendly to the staff, Celestia. You have been telling me to try getting along with them better after all.”

Celestia just sighed so deeply again and put a hoof to her forehead once more. “And who else might be in there besides some of my guards, Discord?”

Discord chuckled. “Oh it’s quite a guest list—there’s some griffins in there, some of the ‘cool kids’ from the unicorn academy, a fair number of Las Pegasus citizens, every party pony I could get a hold of on short notice, a few dragons, a few inter-dimensional acquaintances of mine, some great historical figures courtesy of a little time travel on my part…I think there’s even a minotaur in there somewhere. Oh and Sapphire Shores is playing a few sets!”

The sun princess took in and let out a very deep (and necessary) calming breath. “And can I ask who gave you permission to throw this party?” Celestia smiled up at him as professionally as possible.

“Oh you’re going to love this response, sister,” Luna remarked with a grin.

Discord just chuckled. “Why, you did, Celestia dear.” He snapped his fingers and suddenly there was a little magical projection before them all of Celestia in her bed and Discord in his makeshift bed on her floor from his first night in the castle.

“Discord, when you have your own room, you can have as many blankets and pillows as you want, and you can sleep as late as you want, and you can have visitors as often as you want as well. I’ll let the staff know…” the projection of Celestia said in a very sincere tone to the projection of Discord.

Discord snapped and made the whole projection disappear as he resumed eyeing Celestia again. “You said I could have guests, and you have been telling me to socialize as part of learning about friendship. See how good I am at listening, my dear friends?” He laughed.

Celestia frowned, scowled, and in her tiredness opened her mouth and was about to reprimand him, plain and simple.

However, Luna suddenly held up a hoof. “Sister,” the moon princess spoke calmly, “Please, first, put the sun to raising. Then we shall deal with this.”

Celestia sighed in a touch of frustration but nodded calmly to her sister. She raised her head high and then set her horn glowing. A few moments later, the glow left her horn and she looked to her sister again with her usual calm smile. “It’s done, Luna, the day is starting.”

“Excellent!” Luna’s eyes lit up. Then suddenly she trotted forward to the ballroom doors. “In that case, Discord…” she looked up at the party host, and then announced with a smile, “I formally request entrance to your party.”

“What?” What?!?!”

Celestia exclaimed with a dropped jaw and Discord exclaimed with a grin and an eyebrow raised, both at the same time.

Luna just shrugged, still looking up to the draconequus. “What you said to me earlier when I first came to complain to you about the noise and your actions—about how parties are built for nighttime, and so it seems like it should be in my nature to enjoy them…it made me think a bit. And a simple celebration regarding a major event in a person’s life really is harmless enough. And I suppose you really are trying to socialize in your chaotic own way. So, after considering all of these points and now that I am off duty, I would like to attend the party and find some enjoyment in it as long as it’s happening here anyway.” She smiled again.

Discord eyed her with pleasant surprise a moment longer and then opened one of the ballroom doors (the sound remained trapped inside though by a magical barrier in the doorway.) “Go right on in, Luna.”

“Luna, you cannot be serious,” Celestia, stunned beyond expression for a moment, finally found some words and took a step forward toward her sister.

Luna merely shrugged though and glanced at her over her shoulder. “Oh no, I’m quite serious sister. I have been fighting this chaos all night long. And I’m tired of doing so. A party actually sounds like fun about now. And it has been nice having some activity involving people during my night. Besides, you are the one who first condoned Discord coming to live here and you are the one who condoned him having guests. So I’m sure you can handle the consequences of the rest of his party for yourself.” And then with a laugh the night princess turned forward and trotted into the ballroom.

Discord used his tail to shut the door behind her. Then he looked to Celestia, his grin growing to its fullest extent. He crossed his arms over his chest. “So then…it looks like the responsibility for me has fallen to you once more, Celestia. How, oh how, will you handle this one? Will you condone my wild party, which will clearly only encourage me to spontaneously throw other wild parties in the future? Or will you shut down my whole little expression of friendship, effectively hurting my very sincere attempts to spread goodness and joy to others? What would a real friend do, hmm?” Discord eyed her with a chuckle.

But Celestia just took in a deep breath, smiled up at him, and kept herself poised as she made her response. “Of course I won’t discourage you from socializing, Discord. But part of friendship is also being able to compromise and showing consideration for others, especially when you live together. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Discord rolled his eyes. “Oh I suppose. What did you have in mind exactly?”

Celestia smiled a little more. “First of all, if you throw parties or events like this in the future, I want you to mention them to Luna or I first, whoever is on duty. We deserve the courtesy of knowing what’s going on in our own home after all, just like we’ll give you the courtesy of letting you know if we’re going to have other guests or be throwing functions here. And we especially deserve to know if you’re going to be having people over outside of your room. All right?”

Discord sighed but nodded. “Fine, I suppose I can slip you or Luna a memo about my plans. I can’t guarantee ‘two weeks notice’ or anything like that, but I’ll try.”

“Thank you.” Celestia nodded in return. Then she went on. “Second, if you’re going to throw parties like these, I want the rooms soundproofed all of the time. You woke me up early, Discord, and gave me a very unpleasant night’s sleep before that, and I don’t appreciate it. Luna and I allow you the courtesy of sleeping in as late as you want. Please extend us the same consideration.”

“Sure, that’s easy enough.” Discord shrugged.

Celestia cleared her throat, going on. “Good. And third, I want these parties over before sunrise each time you have them.”

“Sunrise?!” Discord blinked. “Oh come on, Celestia—over before sunrise? What are we, only a hundred years old? Let’s live a little! Besides, I’m Discord, people expect beyond a good time of epic proportions from parties I throw! We were going to try and keep this up from midnight to the next midnight or at least until sunset!”

“Sunrise…” Celestia insisted calmly.

Discord considered…then smiled. “What about breakfast?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“I promise any parties will be over by breakfast,” Discord explained. “That’ll at least give me a few more hours after sunrise. What do you say?”

Celestia took a moment to consider as well. She looked up at him again, nodded, and summarized their agreement. “You must let Luna and I know about the parties in advance, you must soundproof the room you have the party in, and your parties must be over by breakfast. And by ‘over’ I mean the guests are gone and the room you’ve used has been cleaned. Okay, Discord?”

Discord grinned down at her and reached out a paw. “I believe we have an accord.”

Celestia smiled and raised her hoof to shake with him…but then she hesitated. Her look went dry. “So help me, Discord, if you’re wearing a joy buzzer…”

Discord chuckled and showed her the palm of his paw…which indeed possessed of a joy buzzer. “Oh, you’re already starting to know me so well, Celestia. Very well.” He snapped, making the buzzer disappear, then took her hoof and shook it heartily.

As they released, Celestia smiled up at him. “Good, Discord. I think this can work. And Luna might actually appreciate a little nightlife around here. But, as for tonight, you did inconvenience both of us very much, Discord.” She grinned just a little, her eyes hazing all-knowingly. “And I think an excellent way to make it up to us would be for you to mop and polish the ballroom floor after you’re done cleaning up after your guests.”

Discord sighed dramatically but nodded. “Oh fine.” He snapped, making an enchanted mop appear in the air. “It’ll take an extra ten seconds at most…”

“You didn’t let me finish, Discord,” Celestia went on. “I want you to mop and polish the ballroom floor…by hand.” She smiled. “I think it’ll be character building for you.”

Discord blinked. “Oh, no no.” He grinned and shook his head. “I don’t do ‘by hand.’ For anyone. Ever. Even you, Celestia.”

Celestia grinned just a little herself. “Well, if you don’t think you can do it…”

“Oh do not try using reverse psychology on me.” Discord rolled his eyes to the side and crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. “And besides, of course I could do it. I’m Discord, I can do anything.”

“Mmm hmm…” Celestia rolled her eyes to the side too. “Sure, whatever you say, Discord.”

Discord pouted just a little. But then he considered…and then he grinned again. “Still though…I might be willing to make a deal regarding this ‘doing it by hand’ proposition.”

“What kind of deal?” Celestia raised an eyebrow, her smile still present.

Discord’s grin grew. “I’ll mop and polish by hand later after the party…if you’ll dance with me at the party right now.” He held out his paw.

Celestia’s eyes went wide. “Dance?” She looked down at his paw and then back up at him. “Discord, I don’t…I’m not really sure if I…”

“Unless you don’t think you can do it, that is.” The master of chaos chuckled. “Too out of sync with the times to get the vibe for this new fangled pony dancing music? Sheesh, Celestia, I like it, and I was a statue for a thousand years. Unless of course you just don’t know how to dance in general….”

“I can dance, Discord,” Celestia assured calmly. “I just…Discord are you serious?” She eyed him curiously again.

“Are you kidding?” He chuckled. “It would be a crowning chaos achievement for me not only to get you to come to one of my parties but to be seen dancing with you at one. And besides, you’re not so terribly boring to hang out with, Tia.” Discord bent down a little, moving his still extended paw closer to her, his eyes hazing in his own all-knowing way and never leaving hers. “Come on, say yes—you’ll get to see me toiling away on cleaning a floor all morning. And in return I get a rare chance to finally see you stop being so grim and loosen up.”

Celestia bit her lip…but then sighed and smiled and nodded (of course). She put her hoof in his paw. “We cannot make this a regular thing, Discord. I really am busy each day, so I can’t stay up too late, let alone to dance…though I still might stop by from time to time at these celebrations of yours if I’m up when they start. I really do love a good party.” She laughed softly.

“If you love a good party, you’ll be blown away when you get done with one of mine.” Discord, leading her along, opened the door for them and then turned to Celestia with a grin as they stood before the entrance to the ballroom. “Now, Tia, shall we dance?” He gestured forward with his claw, bowing slightly.

Celestia sighed and smiled more as she headed forward toward the soundproofing bubble. “Just one song, Discord.”

“Okay.” Discord chuckled, following after her (and still holding her hoof). “But we’re listening to dub step remixes by DJ Pon3 right now—one song is a good twenty minutes or longer. But I’m sure we’ll make it work out.”

Celestia just smiled and shook her head. “Oh, Discord…”

And with a chuckle they passed through the soundproof bubble and Discord let the door close behind them.

---

The next morning, Celestia found herself looking into the ballroom to behold a truly interesting sight—Discord, with a dull pout on his face and frequent sighs of frustration, was indeed cleaning the ballroom floor by hand (and wearing a scarf tied over his horns, rubber gloves on his paw and claw, sponges tied to his hoof and dragon foot, and an apron to complete the ensemble as he pushed a mop over the last corner of the floor).

The hour was starting to get a little late in the day, but considering the fact that his experience doing anything by hand let alone something as large scale as cleaning a ballroom floor was probably minimal, Celestia wasn’t surprised that it was taking Discord this long to finish his task. Still, he appeared almost done now, and she figured he deserved some praise and a little help finishing up from a good friend.

Celestia cleared her throat and took a step into the ballroom with a smile. “You’ve done an excellent job cleaning, Discord. Would you like any help finishing up?”

Discord blinked and looked to her with wide eyes. “No, no, no, don’t step on the floor, Celestia, it’s still wet and you’ll ruin it! Honestly, were you raised in a barn?” He used his magic to gently nudge her back to the door threshold (while Celestia tried not to laugh). Then Discord sighed deeply. “And what I would like,” he started haughtily, his nose in the air, “is a chance for an open debate on the nature of cleaning.” He shook his head, leaning against his mop. “You ponies always bend things to your desire for order. After all, the basic concept of ‘cleaning’ suggests taking a space from being in a less desirable state of existence to a more desirable state of existence. That might mean taking it from chaos to order for you, but it would mean taking it from order to chaos for me. If I had my way, floors would naturally end up bright and shiny all on their own as you used them each day, and you’d have to regularly push up your sleeves and try to make them dusty and scuffed and stained and as chaotic as possible, not the other way around. Besides…” he glanced at her dryly over his shoulder, “We had an agreement, and I’m just stubborn enough to want to prove to you that I can do this silly task without my magic even if it kills me…which incidentally it very well may.” He sighed dramatically, suddenly snapping his fingers and flinging himself back on a fainting couch in the air. “A being of chaos just naturally needs his magic—this whole experience would take at least a century off of my lifespan if I hadn’t secured that chaotic dance with you last night to make up for it.”

Celestia just smiled warmly from her place at the doorway. “Yes, I suppose our time together last night was a little chaotic. I never tried dancing on two legs before…or for that long with anybody.”

“Did you like it?” Discord grinned very playfully, sitting up a little now on the fainting couch, his melancholy miraculously all gone.

Celestia tried not to blush at the response and the memory. “I was…glad for the experience, Discord.” Her smile grew.

“Mmm hmm, right….” Discord’s grin grew, and he eyed her a little more. “Well, if you ever want the experience again, just come find me during the next house party. My dance card’s usually full, but you can have first priority.”

“I appreciate that, Discord.” Celestia nodded. “And I promise that if we do dance again, it won’t be to get you to clean anything or do anything orderly. It’ll just be as something fun between two friends.”

Discord chuckled and shook his head. “Oh Celestia, if you really want to be that way, I suppose it’s fine, but you shouldn’t be so hesitant to make a guy work a little for your favor. I mean, I make my new friends work ridiculously hard all the time just for my friendship, as you well know. Nothing wrong with making a charming bachelor go through a few hoops,” he snapped, making a few hoops appear in the air which his couch glided through, “for you.” The hoops disappeared with another snap of his fingers.

Celestia chuckled. “I know it’s nice having people do things for you, Discord. But friendship’s not really about that. So if you just want to dance with me without anything else being involved, that’s fine. And you don’t have to prove anything to me with this floor—the effort you’ve put into it already is more than enough to show me how much you value our friendship. So please least let me use my magic to dry it. Then I thought we could set up a table and have breakfast together in here. I haven’t eaten yet—I wanted to wait for you to finish.” She smiled.

Discord’s eyes went wide. “You want to eat on a table over my nice clean floor?! Absolutely not, Celestia, really!” He rolled his eyes, then snapped his fingers, making his cleaning gear disappear. He crossed his arms over his chest, snapping himself over to her in the doorway. “But if you feel guilty about putting me through all of this manual labor, then feel free to dry the floor magically yourself. Then perhaps we can try breakfast in the garden…especially since you waited to eat all for me.” His chuckled and eyed her again.

Celestia just sighed and rolled her eyes in amusement but nodded. “Fair enough, Discord.” She used her magic to spread her aura over the room, which instantly went around in a quick wind, leaving everything dry. “There we go.”

“And now for the garden,” Discord added, snapping his fingers.

Instantly Celestia found herself and Discord seated at small table in the garden just outside of the castle. Discord was resting his head on his hand, his elbow on the table, as he grinned over at Celestia, who just blinked a few times at their sudden transition but then smiled at him. “I think it’ll be nice to have breakfast out here for a change, Discord, don’t you?” She used her magic to create two covered platters in front of them.

“Oh yes. And, speaking of, may I ask what’s for breakfast, chef Celestia?” Discord glanced at the platter before him with amusement.

“What else—pancakes.” Celestia smiled brightly, magically lifting and setting aside both platter covers to reveal a tall stack of pancakes for each of them. “Chocolate chip, to be exact.”

“Ah yes, pancakes—the cake of breakfast. Especially when you add chocolate chips.” Discord chuckled. “How very you, Celestia. Well, then, let’s dig in, shall we? Friendship leaves me famished, and I really do have to keep on top of making sure you’re fulfilling the ‘food’ part of our little bargain along with the ‘clothing’ and ‘shelter’ parts, after all.” He snapped up a fork for his tail to hold, and proceeded to eat.

Celestia used her magic to delicately cut her pancakes with a knife and fork, starting to eat as well. “So…” she began after a few bites, “Did you have fun with your housewarming party, Discord?”

Discord nodded. “Oh yes, just oodles. But that kind of party was a lot more exhausting than I remember it being. And now that I have to be friendly and clean up after myself, it’s even more tiring.” He yawned, snapping up a small pink cotton candy cloud to rain down chocolate syrup over his pancakes. “Besides which, I’m really not as young as I used to be anymore.” He grinned and gestured to the cloud with his paw. “Syrup, Celestia?”

Celestia was about to smile and politely shake her head no, but then she paused, eyeing the little cloud dripping with chocolate. “Well…it really was a long night. Maybe just a little.”

Discord nodded and snapped. The little cloud floated over to Celestia’s pancakes and rained some chocolate syrup on them before disappearing with a small burst.

Celestia smiled, taking a bite of the now chocolate-covered pancakes. “Thank you, Discord.”

Discord grinned. “You’re quite welcome, friend Celestia.” He ate some more and shrugged. “Anyway, maybe I won’t have parties like that too frequently after all—just around the holidays or something, you know?”

Celestia nodded, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin. “If you’d like. But if you really do want to socialize more, Discord, I’m sure the girls would welcome you spending more time with them. And of course you can feel free to spend plenty of time with Luna and I when we’re not busy with our royal duties. My sister and I try to spend as much time as possible together when we can. It might be nice to spend some of that time with you as well.“

“Really? You’d let me infringe on your special sister bonding time?” Discord raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

Celestia nodded, finishing another bite of her pancakes. “Of course. Like I said, you’re our friend, Discord. We’d love to have you around…at a reasonable hour…and at a reasonable level of sound…and with a reasonable amount of chaos.” She gave him a bit of a dry look but couldn’t help smiling all the while.

Discord chuckled and nodded, finishing more of his pancakes as well. “Oh, we might be able to work out something like that.” He snapped, and instantly two tall, cold glasses of his signature chocolate milk appeared hovering in the air between himself and Celestia. “And as long as you put chocolate chips in the pancakes, and I put chocolate syrup on the pancakes…how about some chocolate milk to go along with the pancakes, hmm?”

Celestia laughed warmly. “For breakfast?”

“Oh, come on, Princess, live a little!” Discord grinned. “I know now that you know how to—don’t deny it. Otherwise you never would have made it through our dance last night…all of the twirling and dipping and how I caught you in my arms in the air at the end and you laughed.” He chuckled.

Celestia blushed lightly but couldn’t help laughing too and giving a light sigh. “Very well, Discord. Chocolate milk sounds like a lovely start to the day.” She magically took the glass as Discord wrapped his tail around his, and the two friends drank. Celestia put her glass down and sighed. “Delicious as usual, Discord, thank you.”

Discord nodded as he set his glass down as well. “All in a morning’s chaotic work.” He laughed to himself, then went back to his pancakes. “You know…” he started, playing with his food a little with his fork as he glanced to her, “for what it’s worth, you really aren’t a bad dancer, Celestia. I was almost a little impressed.”

Celestia looked down, smiling more as her magic made her utensils continue delicately cutting her food. “Thank you, Discord. It’s been so long since I tried, I was afraid I’d be rusty actually.”

The master of chaos shook his head though. “Not at all. You were the star of the party for our time together.”

Celestia sighed, trying not to laugh. “Yes, I’m sure it’s a memory the guards and quite a few other Equestrian guests of yours will never forget.” She looked up and considered, admiring the table and her companion for a moment. Her smile grew. “And for what it’s worth, Discord, I think we’re all going to work out as roommates, even if it does take some getting used to.”

Discord nodded. “I couldn’t agree, more, Tia.” He winked. “And speaking of roommates, I’m guessing our third roommate already partook of breakfast and then went straight to bed?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes. Luna wanted to wait for you too, Discord, but she was very tired. I’m afraid you wore her out quite a bit with the party, which is an impressive feat. But despite the extra work it gave her, I think she enjoyed having something so exciting going on during her nights. It really was nice for her to see ponies enjoying things and celebrating so much at that hour.”

“Hmm…” Discord’s grin picked up on one side, and he raised an eyebrow to himself, “Funny, when I planned the party and even when I was making excuses to her earlier in the night about why she should be enjoying a little nocturnal soiree instead of trying to stop it, I was much more focused on others getting to appreciate my chaos than on anything else. But very well, then…” he nodded, his grin growing, “since she’s my friend, perhaps I will throw a few more spontaneous night parties around here for her sake. Then we can both enjoy being appreciated.”

Celestia’s smile warmed considerably. “That’s very considerate of you, Discord.”

“Oh, don’t rub it in, Celestia, honestly.” The master of chaos waved her off. “And I can’t help if pleasing myself happens to please Luna too.” He rolled his eyes, glanced to the side awkwardly, but then cleared his throat and changed the subject with an attempt at a dry look. “So, any exciting plans for saving Equestria today?”

Celestia held back a soft chuckle and shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not—just a lot of meetings and busywork.” She sipped her chocolate milk.

“Ugh,” Discord cringed, finishing another bite of pancake. “We really need to shake up your schedule a bit, Celestia.”

Celestia smiled a little more. “Believe me, Discord, just having you here in the castle is doing that without you even trying.”

Discord beamed a little at this news.

Celestia did her best not to laugh at the sweet reaction. She magically made a napkin dab at her mouth and then smiled at him again. “So, tell me all about your party guests from last night—are you considering any of them as potential new friends?”

Discord chuckled and shook his head. “One step at a time, Celestia, one step at a time. For now, you’ve got me playing nice with your little pony element bearers and tolerating the pony sisters for the mutual amusement of us all—let’s just be happy with that and see where it goes, hmm?”

Celestia nodded. “Fair enough, Discord.” She swallowed some more pancake. “So, any chaotic plans for today?”

Discord chuckled, now using his fork to eat some of the plate his pancakes were on. “Well, I was planning to decorate my room actually. It’s quite a bit of a smaller space than what I always pictured I’d use for the location of the chaos capital of the world, but I’m excited to work with it.”

Celestia’s smile brightened. “Can I ask what some of your plans are? I’m sure it’ll be the most interesting room in the castle once you’re done with it.”

Discord’s smile brightened and he nodded. “Well for starters, I’m thinking neon green and grape purple checkerboard patterns all over the walls…when there are walls in there, of course, as opposed to swirling vortexes of glowing ultraviolet chaos magic all around…”

Celestia laughed and then listened intently as Discord described his chaotic plans and the two continued their late breakfast together after a surprisingly enjoyable late night of partying and dancing in each other’s company.

Comments

[KoiKoiCoil31]

Finally! I do not exactly know how long I've wated, but DANKE SCHÖN! (that means thank you )

[Nerfyy]

6100092 uuuh another german reader hehe
freu mich auch mal nen deutschen hier zu sehen

[Emperor]

Cute. There's a little bit more effort at drawing Luna into this chapter, but the overall scene still very much is Celestia-dominated with Discord as her sidekick and Luna as the third party. Celestia seems willing enough to concede the little things still to Discord. After all, if she wants to reform Discord there are worse things than dancing, and in the give-and-take she's also managing to moderate Discord's behavior. The longer she can ease Discord into his more low-key state of affairs of chaos, the more likely he is to stay that low-key on his own.

I much like Discord's rationale for why he bothers the two sisters in different ways.