After being chased by and slightly beaten by Marty, you re-arranged the stars to their correct places and returned to the castle at about one o'clock. It was only then that you realized how tired you actually were. You also caught Celestia yawning from the corner of your eye. She took your paw and tugged on it gently.
'I'm sleepy...' She mumbled, half-awake. 'Let's get some rest...'
'Indeed.' Agreed the General. 'Get some rest, you two. I shall accompany Zecora back to her establishment.'
'I'm sure she's enough protection for herself, Marty, but if you're still trying to get with her, go ahead!' You laughed.
Marty shot you a glare that could kill a dragon while Zecora just blushed profusely. As they began to leave, the General stopped and turned to face Zecora. He looked conflicted from a moment.
'Welp, you already know, so to hell with it!' He exclaimed, before sweeping Zecora off all four hooves and kissing her. Her eyes widened before she sank into it, melting in his embrace. When they finally parted, Zecora let out a dizzy giggle and the two skipped off into the night. Meanwhile, Celestia looked like she was going to collapse from exhaustion.
'No, you're not passing out on me again Tia!' You laughed, before she tugged at your paw again and started to lead you down the hallway.
After about two minutes of following Celestia you reached a door that you recognized; her chamber door. You thought this might be your cue to leave, but as you turned, the Princess gave you an odd look.
'Where are you- No, silly. You're staying in my room.' She murmured sleepily. You began to panic. She wasn't- was she? She pushed open the door and gestured for you to follow. Again, she kicked off her golden shoes before collapsing on the bed. You made your way over to the sofa and sat down. She caught sight of you and patted the bed next to her.
'Nuh-uh.' She said. 'I'm not letting any guest of mine sleep on a sofa! C'mon, we can share.' Again she motioned for you to come over, so you did as you were told. You sat down awkwardly on the bed next to her.
'Well, get in!' She laughed. 'I'll be back in a minute.' The Princess left the room and went into the en-suite. Two thoughts crossed your mind. You could stay here, get in bed and see what happens. Or you could run for the hills.
Reluctantly, you got in bed. It was fine. Nothing would happen. She didn't feel the same way- OH SWEET HEAVENS ABOVE, IS SHE WEARING SOCKS?
Celestia made her way over to you, drunk with sleepiness. She pulled up the red satin covers and got in bed next to you. You felt her warmth seep in through your thick coat as she snuggled up to you.
'Discord?' She said softly.
'Yeah?'
'I love you. You're my best friend.' She mumbled as she drifted off.
Of all the things in the world you could think about right now, only one thought filled your head.
'What the HAY just happened?'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After a rather sleepless few hours, you slipped out of bed at about four in the morning. You moved carefully making sure not to disturb the sleeping Princess. The door creaked a little as it opened and Tia began to stir, but she eventually resettled. You tiptoed out the door, shut it behind you and let out a deep breath. You flew down the hall as fast as you could. So fast, in fact, that you did not see the royal guard standing around the corner and collided with him at quite a speed.
'Ugh...' You groaned. 'Whoa. You okay?' The royal guard removed his helmet, revealing a familiar crop of blue hair.
'Oh, better than you might think, comrade!' You grinned back at the General. 'But, unfortunately for you, that still doesn't mean I'm not gonna kill you for embarrassing me like that. Again.'
'Whoa, whoa. Um, okay, would you feel better if I gave you a hug?'
'Oh, Discord, you certainly know how to please a stallion.'
'Well, how did it go?'
'Not only did I accompany Miss Zecora to her establishments, but I also will be meeting her tomorrow at The Golden Haystack.'
'The Golden Haystack! I guess a general gets a lot of pay, huh?'
'Well, you know. And how are things going with you and the Princess?' You nearly choked as the last word left his mouth.
'Huh? Wha- we're.. We're not together, Marty!' You gushed somewhat indignantly.
'Yeah, but you wanna be, don't you?' The General said knowingly.
'I-I don't know what you're talking about.'
'Oh, come on, Discord! I've seen the way you look at her! You're dying for it.'
'How... how did you know?'
'I didn't, but you just confirmed it.' Marty said with a loud guffaw. 'Oh, I'm sooo gonna get you back for the chicken thi-' The General was cut off as your paw wrapped around his muzzle, clamping it shut.
'SHHHH! Marty, this is serious. She can't know! This is the ruler of Equestria we're talking about, not some random zebra.' You whispered urgently. 'Anyway, she doesn't feel the same way.'
'How can you be so sure?'
'I- I don't know... She keeps giving me mixed signals.' You sighed.
'Like?' Asked Marty.
'Well, when I went to leave earlier she said she wanted me staying in her room.'
'That's good.'
'And when I tried to sleep on the couch, she said that she wanted me to share the bed with her.'
'Very gooood.'
'And she went to the bathroom, but when she came back she was wearing socks.'
'WOAH. The Princess? Do I wanna hear the rest of this? I thought I told you to get some rest!' Marty gave you a sly grin.
'Shut up, fool.'
'Sorry.'
'And then she got in next to me and said she loved me.' There was a brief pause as Marty looked confused.
'How the buck is that mixed signals?' He asked.
'After she said she loved me, she called me her best friend.'
'OUCHHH. Oh, that's not fun.' Marty pulled a pained expression.
'Wait, what? So none of that stuff I said before counts?' You asked, flustered.
'Hehe.... Socks......' The General looked distant.
'MARTY, FOCUS!'
'Huh? Oh yeah. No, it's not good at all. Unless she's playing hard to get, but as far as I know the Princess it just doesn't seem like something she'd do.' The General sighed. 'Oh well. At least you got to see her in socks.'
'Marty, I'm serious here. This isn't just a physical attraction. I've liked Celestia since I saw her. I'm starting to think it might be lo-'
'HEY NOW.' Marty interjected. 'We don't just go throwing that word around the place. How long have you known this mare?'
'Since I was a kid.' You sighed.
'And you don't think she's maybe a bit out of your league?' You screwed up your face at this comment.
'You got your zebra didn't you?' You frowned.
'Zecora isn't the ruler of all Equestria.' Marty pointed out.
'So you don't think my devilish good looks will have caught her?' You joked.
'You got me, didn't you?' Marty laughed.
----------Author's Note---------
Sorry about the short chapter, my computer borked and I had to write the whole thing on my IPod. So, let me know about any derps you see!
PinkieIsMahWaifu XOXO
Sorry, but the whole "friend-zoned" thing ruined this for me.
Popular and sometimes funny meme ? yes. material you can use in a fanfiction? definitely not
IPod to the rescue
Eh, I LIKED the whole Friend zone business.
Good for a chuckle, helps build up the good feeling about those two even more, so when Discord eventually turns, the tragic ending is, well, more tragic.
And we shall be all the more upset.
Hurrah for upsetting endings!
images.stuffofawesome.com/friend-zoned-level-96-1325282404-6881.jpg
Please put this in the next chapter
This is getting good..er, better!
well...that went well?
225874
I was sorta worried about putting that in there but I can assure you that he has most definitely not been friend-zoned. He only thinks he is.
I might actually delete that part... Sorry if you found this chapter disappointing.
226379
It's not so much the "not been friend-zoned. He only thinks he is." as it is the fact that you put something like it in there at all.
The term friend-zoned is something popular at the moment but, in my opinion, does not translate well into mlp fanfiction. nor do I think that it ever will.
226263
Apologies. It was to my awareness that it was the same thing.
226420
I have removed the offending term from this chapter. Sorry about that, I hope it didn't ruin the story for you.
226145
Glad you're enjoying the story!
troll.me/images/forever-alone/forever-friend-zoned.jpg
I know what you mean about iPods and writing fanfics. Bloody hard. I've been without a computer for a good three months now. All I've had is my ipod, and it's a birch to write on.
226606
Well, it works oak-ay. As long as it's not fir long term, otherwise it willow get annoying.
Treees.
226515
Don't do it on my account, if you think it should be in your story then by all means keep it in, it's just that, that particular terminology comes across as odd and out of place to me.
I'm very much enjoying the story overall and one chapter I don't like isn't going to make me stop reading it.
Just make sure that when you add things to the story you feel that they really belong there, not just random things for the sake of a cheap laugh (that's slapstick comedy territory)
226660 It's no problem I didn't really fit anyway lol. Thanks for your support!
226610 I see what yew did there. Wood it be too much to ask for Discord to grow some balsa and just kiss the birch he's pineing for?
226798 It wood. Walnut argue anymore, so palm down. It's not hard to fig-ure out what will happen fir them, but yew have to wait and cedar.
Just a couple this time around;
"It was fine. nothing would happen." - missed a capital there, I think.
"You flew down the hall fast as you could." - missed an "as" there?
As for the chapter - I didn't get to read it before you cut out the "friend-zone" part, but to tell the truth - my mind put it in there anyway.
Loving the Marty // Discord duo. Those two are simply fantastic together!
However I did notice the drastic change in the story's pacing. First we had brief events and long time periods cut out while now we've only covered a couple of days in the past several chapters. Don't get me wrong - it's not really a bad thing; just wondering if it's a deliberate choice that was a part of the original plan?
As always - cheers for the chapter!
~F~
227104
Edited! And yeah, it's gonna be a few days pacing, then it's probably gonna go forward by a few years and do some more days pacing, and then it's gonna be a few thousand years.
Good chapter. You did the sock revelation well, "OH SWEET HEAVENS ABOVE, IS SHE WEARING SOCKS?" Good job with making Marty and Discord's conversations too. Always funny and pleasant.
226681
And thank you for the story, can't wait for more
i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/008/551/holiday-rom-com-friend-zone_400x300.jpg
Poor Discord!
This chapter made me laugh so hard!