Just A Game

by Ice Star

Round 1: A Sister Not His Own

"Do you think she'll like them?" Discord asked eagerly. The young draconequus thrust the clawful of flowers he held into the shadow of the tree and looked up into its spacious branches. The leaves made it hard to see past the shade. No wind was strong today, and yet, they still rustled faintly. He knew she was in there as soon as he heard that.

He snapped his paw and watched as some of the leaves — not as much as he had intended, but still, it was better than none — changed into a swarm of green butterflies. The flock flew off instantly and noisily, leaving many of the branches now bare. Some had changed back to leaves mid-fall — there was something about his magic that he had to work on. It was nearly as impulsive as he was. Discord watched as they fell to the ground.

A small blue shape peered out from the naked limbs. "You are supposed to 'seek' when We hide," she said, raising her voice more than usual until it held a playful pout, "not pick flowers!"

Discord watched Luna stick her tongue out and grinned, showing off his snaggle tooth. Luna never laughed at his smile the same way that Celestia did, and she was more fun-loving. Despite her peculiarity, Luna was the one who was always willing to play a game. Or at least he thought so. Celestia was the leader, the talker, the one who cheered everyone up as they embarked on each day of travel. Both Luna and Discord were rarely in need of any encouragement. In Discord's case, he just wanted to watch her try to wrangle everything amusing and distracting into shape. It was strange and fun to see her treat adulthood as a pretend game when she spoke to them, even though she didn't seem to realize it.

Luna was the quiet one. He didn't get her, or that any creature could ever enjoy when the world stood still. She liked pranks, adventure, telling stories even he thought were strange. She pulled wild ideas straight from the imagination in a way that were more like something his kind might tell, whereas Celestia stuck with filly-tales of princesses, knights, and a world he never knew. The idea of such a harmonious life being ordinary piqued his curiosity, and he simply could not ignore it when Celestia spoke — even though she was almost always talking. Luna liked sparring with a stick; Celestia always wanted to perform the curious ritual known as the tea party or piece together something called skirts out of the grass.

Luna wasn't afraid of the dark and enjoyed spending time to herself, something Discord found boring. Yet, Luna had a good eye, and if anyone could advise him on how to catch Celestia's usually-elsewhere attention, it was her. Even if she was always hiding in trees and tall grass or other places, looking for things like snakes and stones and sticks, she was still a filly. Fillies liked flowers, or at least that's what Celestia said. She talked about things like that — flowers and princes. Neither sounded too interesting to Discord, but what made them slightly interesting was someone he cared about liked them, and for the most confusing reasons.

But he liked seeing Celestia laugh more than anything. Sometimes she was so serious, and that just wasn't that fun. So, he wanted to give her flowers.

Luna's horn glowed with a mess of turquoise sparks — she was still learning, after all. Moments later, she reappeared on the ground, looking up at him with her pale blue mane shining with captured starlight. She always stayed up late, sometimes sneaking about. Discord did on occasion. He never gave it too much thought — bedtime came when he wanted it to, not when Celestia said it did. Some days, he would be wide awake. On others, he would prevent the group from traveling because he was asleep on others. It felt like he was keeping things fresh, and Discord liked nothing else if to randomize his routine so that there was none.

It probably had to do nothing with the growing itch of his magic that seemed so much more fun half-formed and spontaneous. It had nothing to do with the entirely imaginary burn in his hindlegs and wonder-whats and could-bes of him just going elsewhere. Were he to do that, maybe he would be able to get away with being even less orderly or just letting magic go free—

No, he always told himself that they were his friends in a rather empty world. That's why he was asking Luna for help.

Luna had been busy peering at the flowers, her thin magic aura coming in spurts as she used telekinesis to rifle through the delicate blossoms. Their soft colors of pinks and purples were lost in the dark and they weren't that hardy for wildflowers. Still, that was how he knew Celestia would like them — fragility and prettiness attracted her. Discord thought they were silly, and not in a good way.

"There is no trick?"

"No," Discord said, "when has Celestia ever mentioned liking her flowers with tricks?" He avoided her gaze and stood a little straighter.

"Turning them into spiders would be nice," Luna mused, her eyes shining with pure delight.

Discord looked at her, a little baffled. It sounded like a good idea, turning the flowers into something else. But spiders? He never really gave them much thought. Celestia was absolutely terrified of them. He just thought it might be fun to have eight legs, and of course, learned the hard way that even spider-like things frightened Celestia. And yet, without that incident, they never would have learned that her magic could come in wisps of flame, something that was surprisingly interesting for Alicorn magic, at least to Discord.

"Spiders aren't really that cute, Luna." He brought the flowers to his own muzzle. "Is there anything else she really likes? A color? A texture? Colors are really easy—"

Luna cocked her head to the side, making the unexpected decision not to pout upon being denied spider related things. "She likes your jokes. You could tell her one of those. Or a whole bunch of them! Oh, and orange is one of Tia's favorites!"

Discord stared at Luna's wide grin. It looked a little freaky in the dark, glowing in the moonlight that shone in her eyes. They weren't like her sister's, where they never changed. The eyes of this little filly changed at night. Such a harmless was one that they all knew about, but he still wasn't sure why an Alicorn needed eyes like a desert cat's, with slit pupils that went wide with surprise and babyish joy.

She didn't grin all that often, but Luna was never unhappy. Luna wasn't like ever-smiling, constantly tittering, and talkative Celestia. She was a good prankster, and having someone to play with was always nice. Since Discord had never had any nestmates, Luna acted as a way for him to experience what was the closest thing he had heard of such tales. Between them, there was always a way to make young Celestia smile or act like she was just a little annoyed with them when it was plain that she was obviously biting back a grin of her own.

A grin that always seemed to be directed at him.

Discord didn't think that could be random. Lots of things were. Or might be. But Celestia? Not really. That meant something. She thought everything meant something — that meant her smiles and blushing-giggles had a purpose.

One that only Luna hadn't picked up on. Discord and Celestia never could figure out how to explain to one another what their fluttery feelings meant — or if she shared them. Discord wanted advice on something as mundane as flowers for the emotions Celestia stirred in him. He was out of his element here. He wasn't a filly. Or an Alicorn. Or kinda boring.

But Celestia smiled every time she came across a nice patch of flowers. It was the times that she didn't smile that was worse than boring, dreadfully lazy days.

"Maybe," he said eventually. "Maybe I will, okay?"

"Do you have any good ones?" Luna cocked her head to the other side.

Discord waved his paw and tapped his throat. He spoke again with a voice high and scratchy, but in a passable imitation of a female, despite the cackle-y sound. This quality of his voice didn't seem to belong to any other creature at all. It wasn't a complete alteration, only a scratching mimicry that sounded like gargling gravel, only squeakier. Maybe he could do those one day, and maybe he couldn't. Until then, this was fun and it made others laugh and point. He liked that.

"I always have the best jokes, little Luna! Just like a princess always has a boring-happy kingdom!"

Luna snorted a little, and maybe Discord felt just a little bit offended. He wasn't that sure about what princesses actually did other than be stuffy and boring — which he did. At least his 'Princess of Chaos' voice always made Celestia laugh.

"Sometimes," Luna said simply, plopping onto the ground. He snorted. Leave it to Luna to rain on his happiness. To highlight how tragic and bitter this moment was, he conjured a small, rumbly cloud above his head. It was quiet enough to not wake Celestia, who slept at their campsite not far from the tree-dotted meadow where they were. Celestia never liked to be alone, but it wasn't likely she'd find out. Discord certainly wouldn't tell her.

He gave Luna an exaggerated frown. "Are you saying that I'm not funny?" His princess's voice was gone and he tried to manage the same pout Luna did whenever she wanted something from Celestia. It turned out as exaggerated as his frown, but how was he to know that? It wasn't Discord's fault that her pouts were a curse on their own, a pure product of babyish whimsy she used to get nearly whatever she wanted.

By Luna's soft laughter, it seemed. Her dark forehoof stretched up to point to his funny face. Discord tried to scowl. At the same time. It didn't look so well.

Luna snorted mid-laugh.

Completely and only slightly annoyed, Discord tried to stand taller and walk away proudly, flowers still grasped in his claw. Though, this was not before he shot the little goddess a stink eye.

Between him and Luna, jokes and attention weren't something almost serious — but still quite fun — like it was between him and Celestia.

It was just a game.

Author's Note:

[Revised for print on 1/15/2021]

Comments

[Julian the Dreamer]

This was really cute :)

[Skyshy]

"Spiders aren't really that cute, Luna."

Have you seen jumping spiders. I have arachnophobia and even I find jumping spiders absolutely adorable just look up a picture they're so cute, but especially look at them being held because I think the size makes them a whole lot cuter I tried putting in pictures of jumping spiders it didn't work 😟