Lullaby for a Princess

by Scourgeous

Chaos in the Night

Luna sat by her bedroom window, drawing her hair brush through her soft mane, staring out into the golden day. She slowly hummed to herself, eyes shadowed as she watched life go by in the city below her. High up in the castle she felt separate from the other ponies, but that was how it was destined. She was a princess, mingling only with the other royal members.

When she heard her door open gently, she turned, pulling her brush away with her magic and dropping it on the dressing table. "Father, why do ponies only enjoy the daytime?"

King Artemis stood there for a moment, then hovered towards her, leaning down to nuzzle her head. "Night is loved by many ponies, they just cannot revel in its glory. They sleep through the cold light of the moon and only wake to the warmth of the sun. Like an animal sleeps through Winter and wakes in Spring, it is how time works with the ponies."

"But what is so glorious about a dejected time of day that is only seen as it casts shadows over houses?" She said dramatically, falling onto her bed and staring up at the ceiling. "Why does Tia get the honor of bringing day to Equestria when she is older?"

He settled beside her, tucking his legs beneath her and letting his daughter curl into his soft feathery fur. Draping a wing over her small body, he smiled and stared out of the window. "Night is the final end to the day. It ties off the days events, and settles ponies into comfort and dreams. Do not let your love for it cloud your judgement on what is more important. There must be a balance of both moon and sun."

She lay on her back, staring up through his wing feathers, her mind lost in a whirlwind of thought. A balance of moon and sun. But what about a balance of harmony and chaos?

---

The whole day she was tortured by thoughts of the draconequus, Discord, that she had met the morning of her coronation. She had never seen such pain in the eyes of any creature, and her heart yearned to fill him the warmth that Celestia had once before.

"If the sun cannot warm you like everypony else, it's up to me to try." She breathed, pressing hooves to her window.

With a shove, she pushed the window open, wincing as the hinges screeched. She quickly put her hooves back on the ground and looked over her shoulder, but there was no sound of her parents, Tia, or the guards. With one final survey of the room, Luna fluttered out of the window, hovered in the air, then flew with a varying degree of difficulty up onto the roof, scrabbling against the smooth roofing tiles.

She looked around, trying to balance on the slippery surface, then skittering into the air again and whizzing down the side of the mountain. The wind billowed around her, teasing through her mane and stroking her soft fur. She landed clumsily at the edge of Canterlot, leaves going up in a cloud as she went right through a bush.

Scowling, she spat out a mouthful of leaves and shook her pelt out, discarding scraps of debris. She looking around, then tensed, hearing a few noises from the city. She backed up, looking around then taking a deep breath of the cold sharp air.

"Oh, night, thou are so gentle. Why do-est ponies cower from your beauty?" She murmured, staring up at the starry sky, feeling as if she was staring across her father's fur.

"Because chaos gets around a lot easier in the shadows." Said a sickly familiar voice.

Luna whipped around, eyes wide as she saw the draconequus staring at her from up a tree, laying lazily along the branch like a snake. She rolled her eyes at him and trotted towards the tree, her eyes tracing along his features, trying to identify which part came from what animal. He snickered and rolled over onto his stomach, stretching his legs out on each side.

"It's rude to stare." He snapped, and she snapped out of it, glancing back to his face.

"Sorry. You're just... different." She had to focus to keep her eyes from drifting from his eyes.

He slithered down to the ground, tail lashing. "Different? Just a little, don't you think? For Pete's sake."

She frowned at his sharp biting tone. "Why so sour? Lighten up a little, it's night after all." She let herself grin, breath taken by the very awe of the dark landscape.

He found himself looking over her details, his eyes intent on her wings and horn for the most part. "Princess, eh? Are you a snotty brat like your sister?"

"Not at all. She's too up herself about being royalty now. I'm still the same pony as I was before being an Alicorn."

He stepped forward slowly, walking slow circles around her, coiling his long body around her as he did so. "And who is that 'same pony' you speak of?"

"Luna. Myself."

He paused, drawing his tail up to stroke under her chin, then he slithered away from her, back to her face. He stared into the bushes for a long time, then he turned back, one eyebrow raised.

"I guess I'll have to get to know this Luna, than."

She smiled, eyes glittering. He is nice after all. I was right. Chaos just needs to be balanced by harmony, not destroyed by it. She followed him with a skip in her step around the outskirts of Canterlot, telling him a few things about herself, but she didn't really have much to tell. Living in the castle for so long, she hadn't really discovered herself.

He told her tales of being a draconequus, being alone all of his life as he looked for a host to play the chaos card on. She wanted to hear about how he met Celestia, but he never strayed into the subject of her sister. Luna didn't want to be nosey, but on the inside she was itching to hear how the draconequus had become so close to her sister.

"As soon as I am strong enough... I'll bring chaos back to Equestria." He said, his breath billowing out like a cloud in the cold air.

She glanced at him, thinking of his ambitions rather like hers in her quest for the night to be loved. She blinked softly, listening to him go on and on about what he would do to Equestria, until she started to feel a little concerned, and she stopped him in his tracks.

"There needs to be a balance, Discord. Of harmony and chaos." She said, remembering what she had said over and over in her head.

He burst into fits of laughter, rolling onto his back and kicking his legs around. She stared down at him, dumbfounded, as he squarked like a chicken. He stopped for a moment to look at her, then fell back into giggles again.

"Are you serious?" He chuckled.

She glared at him, stomping one hoof. "Yes!"

"Chaos, my dear, does not compromise." He smirked, leaning it to stare at her with one beady eye.

She turned her back on him, frowning angrily. She didn't even want to look at him. She thought that maybe he would change for the sake of their friendship, but obviously all he had on mind was tricks and games. She sighed bitterly and lowered her head, unfurling her wings, ready to take off back to her home, her prison.

"Leaving so soon?" He said, taking a few steps gingerly towards a house.

She watched him inquisitively, knowing it was best she flew off before she got into trouble for being around such a fiend of ponykind, but she knew in reality Discord wasn't that bad. Following him very quietly, her breath catching in her throat as she tried not to make a single sound, as if her stirring breath would wake somepony.

"You've got to believe me that chaos and harmony can live in a balance!" She hissed, growling as he ignored her and slipped around to peer into the window.

It was obvious he wasn't listening, too busy tapping the glass with each of his claws, then scurrying along the edge of the wall. She followed hesitantly, growing bored of his antics. He continued to pester the nooks and crannies of each home they passed, turning his claws in locks and poking window latches with his horns. None of the posh Canterlot houses were able to be broken into, much to Luna's relief.

She didn't want to find herself tied in with whatever disharmony Discord was planning on executing that night. She had no business in trying to stop him, but she wasn't in any mood to be caught red hoofed in the act of assisting him. Trailing a meter or so behind him as he ran along the cold streets, she felt time wearing on, and wariness soon began to hang on her limbs.

"I have to get back to the castle, before mother awakens to rise the sun." She said quietly, scraping a hoof nervously and staring down at the ground.

Discord turned to blink at her, the tip of his tail snaking down to touch her jawline, then stroking it along her maw. He retrieved his tail back to his side, leaning down from the roof of one of the houses, gripping to the edge with his hind legs as he dangled in front of her. "I thought the sun wasn't important to you?"

She blinked, struggling to explain to him that she had to return home. "I don't want to be caught missing. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble."

He stared at her for a long moment, upside down but still level, eye to eye. He blinked very slowly, their muzzles so close that his warm breath tickled her nose. She stared down her snout at him; inside she was pining to spend more time getting to know hi, to ask him everything, and to know why the art of disarray was so important to him.

"Farewell," She breathed, unable to hide her smile.

For a moment he looked unsure, then he pulled himself back up wholly onto the roof. "Meet me tomorrow on the roof of your castle." He said simply.

She frowned, then grinned and nodded, eyes sparkling. "I'll be there as soon as the moon rises."

With that she dipped her head to the draconequus, and she spread her wings, taking to the skies and flying over Canterlot just in time to watch the sun rise before her and slip through her ajar window and back into her room. She couldn't shake the warm feeling she was left with from her night with Discord, and she tried for hours to conjure why her sister would turn the fair gentlecolt away with such harshness. Surely being friends with Discord was no harm to her place as Princess?

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[Moonshine-Dusk]