The Beginning of the End
"I'm glad that you decided to use your powers of chaos for good use, Discord." Princess Celestia said as she and the Spirit of Chaos, Discord, walked down a hallway in Canterlot Castle.
"Oh, I have to thank Fluttershy, she taught me that you can’t always have your way when among friends," he answered. They stopped in front of a large set of double doors on the right side of the hallway "But the most thanks are due to you, my dear Tia," Discord grabbed one of her hooves.
Celestia blushed from the unexpected intimacy, " Oh Discord, I-"
Discord laid a finger on her lips "Tia, you were the only one who believed in me, only you saw something good in the storm of chaos and insanity that is me. Without you I would still be a statue for the next few millennia or longer. You gave me a second chance and I don't know how I can ever repay you for that." Discord snapped the fingers on his griffon claw and a beautiful bouquet appeared out of thin air. Discord grabbed the bouquet and knelt down. "Tia, this is nothing special, I know, but please accept this little present as a token of my gratitude, and please accept my deepest apologies for all of the trouble I’ve caused you and Luna.”
Celestia’s face turned a deep shade of crimson from his kind words, not expecting such sentimentality from him. It was touching, it’s been centuries since anypony had offered her such a lovely bouquet of flowers. After a couple of seconds she cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure, "Ahem, well, thanks for the present and I accept your apology,” She grabbed the bouquet with her magic, and opening the double doors to show Discord his room, “Here is your room, we’ll speak tomorrow about your new duties. Goodbye." Celestia walked off hurriedly as if she was late for an important meeting.
Discord watched her walk off until she vanished behind a corner before he entered his new home. Discord walked in the middle of the big room, closed the door behind him with snap of his fingers and said in a high pitched, mocking tone "Oh Discord, I-" he burst into laughter and said normal again "Oh my dear Celestia, you may be an ancient and powerful alicorn, but you’re still just a mare, and as such vulnerable to matters of the heart. All it took was some kind words and some flowers to make you melt like butter in the sun."
Discord looked around in his new home. A king-size-bed stands on the left side, a big balcony was on the opposite side of the entrance and a door to the bathroom was on the right side of the room. Here and were hung some pictures and a decorative carpet laid on the ground.
"Well well, it´s a nice enough place to stay, but it missing a...personal touch." with an evil cackle, he snapped his fingers and began ‘personalizing’ his room for the remainder of the evening.
The following morning, Discord was led to a room by a royal guard, entering when the doors opened. "Her highness will arrive soon, please take a seat and wait here." The royal guard informed as he closed the door and guarded the entrance.
Discord looked around, it was a simple room with just a few decorations. In the middle of the room was a round table with four large pillows to sit on. On the table stood a glass vase with a bouquet in it. The only light source was the sunlight through the big panoramic window on the opposite of the entrance. He sat down and studied the vase on the table more closely, realizing that the bouquet of flowers was all too familiar.
Before long, Celestia and Luna entered the room and sat down on the table. "Hello Discord" Luna said wearing a skeptic expression as she sat right next to him. He was aware that Luna still didn't trust him.
Celestia took her seat on his left side, sitting so close that their shoulders almost touched each other, "Good morning Discord. How are you doing?"
Discord looked Celestia directly in the eyes "I'm doing great my dear. It’s always wonderful when I see my favorite princess."
Celestia laughed embarrassed and looked away with blushed cheeks "Oh Discord, you’re such a charmer."
Luna rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed about her sister's reaction. She cleared her throat to get the attention of the two lovebirds "May we start now? We hath much to discuss,"
Discord turned around and looked at Luna with a bored expression "Sure, go on." He said as he quietly snapped his fingers behind his back.
"Good, we shall now discuss thy new responsibilities in the kingdom," A bucket appeared right above the unsuspecting mare’s head. Celestia and Discord held her hands and hooves in front of their mouths and suppressed their laughter. "There is a problem that requires thy attention in Fillydelphia..." Discord dropped the bucket and a load of water flowed over Luna´s head, making her gasp in shock.
Luna jumped surprised up "DISCORD, WHAT ART THOU DOING?"
Discord and Celestia couldn't hold it any longer and burst into laughter "Haha priceless. You look so adorable with a wet mane."
Luna looked lividly at her sister and the supposedly reformed Discord as her horn started to glow and the water vaporized " Art thou quite finished, Discord?!"
Discord tried to get back on "Sure, sure, I'm sorry. No more disruptions, I promise." He snapped behind his back again while he stared at Luna, a mischievous grin on his face.
As Luna sat back on her place, a loud, unflattering fart noise came from her direction. She stood up and looked at the place where she sat a second ago to find a red whoopie cushion on her seat.
Discord was rolling on the ground , holding his stomach from this amusement, Celestia started to giggle and even the guard at the entrance had to suppress his laughter.
Luna's head was crimson from embarrassment and rage, "ENOUGH!" Said the princess of the night in her royal Canterlot voice. Everyone stopped laughing immediately. "Thou hath just arrived and already mine patience wears thin!" She said normal again "We tried to give thee a chance! We tried to believe our sister as she said thou art hath changed thy ways! But this showed us the contrary!" She stood up and walked towards the entrance of the room, but stopped and turned around again "If thou continue this absurd behavior, thou art shall be alone in the bitter end. Believe us!" She continued to leave "And Sister, he is now thy problem. Doth not harass us again with him!"
Celestia stood up and looked guilty for upsetting her sister like that, "Come on Lulu, it was just a j-" she was interrupted when the door slammed shut.
Discord levitated head over in the air, a bored expression on his face. "Hmm, I'm a bit hungry. What about you?"
Celestia walked slowly towards the entrance with her head hung low, "I'm not hungry at the moment".
"Ok, then, see ya later" he snapped his fingers again and vanished.
Discord levitated through the halls of Canterlot, with no special target in mind. After a couple of minutes of bored flying he heard the distinctive voice of Luna through a door. Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to find out what she is talking about. Discord laid his ear on the door and listened.
Luna walked around in the room while Celestia sat on a comfortable pillow "Sister, we hath told thee a hundred times now, without Fluttershy to watch over him he shalt fall back to his old ways. Doth thou know what he hath done yesterday? He awakened the statues in the garden to life!" Discord giggled at this memory "It took 6 hours to catch every one and turn them back."
Celestia looked up with a sad face "But Lulu, maybe we-" but Luna cut her off
"No buts’ dear sister. We must to do something before he summons a real danger!" This statement caught Discord´s full attention.
"What do you have in mind?"
"We hath nothing at the moment, but we believe in the worst case we must turn him back to stone." Discord tugged at his chin beard and thought about what she said before he flew away towards his room. "But only if he doth not change his ways. Maybe thou should speak with him, we noticed that thou and Discord hath become...close in the last few days."
Celestia blushed and turned her face away "W-what makes you say that?"
"We are not blind dear sister,” Luna said with a sly smile, “however, whilst thou speak with him?"
Celestia looked at her sister with sad eyes "O-okay, I’ll have a word with him about his behavior."
“We thank thee," Luna embraced her sister, "We apologize for overreacting earlier, we just aren't used to being treated this way. Perhaps we should apologize as well?"
The two sisters broke their hug and walked towards the entrance, making their way to Discord’s room, completely unaware that he was eavesdropping just moments ago.
"Discord?" Celestia knocked on the door to Discords room "I would like to talk to you, can I come in?"
Discord answered from the inside "Sure sure my dear, come in. I wanted to talk to you too"
Celestria opened the door with her magic, but instead of a room she found herself in front of a Waterfall which blocked the view inside. "Uhm, Discord? What is this?" She received no answer but the waterfall formed a gap, big enough to let the Alicorn through without getting wet.
As she passed this silly obstacle she widened her eyes in shock. In front of her was a big and wide area filled with crazy buildings and creatures that only a foal or a crazy demigod could think of. Through the sky flowed a big purple river. In it swam a group of polar bears dressed in suits and everyone of them wore a top hat. The river ended at the waterfall at the door. The source of the river was a giant purple lake on a floating island which was turned upside down. In the middle of the lake swam a big chessboard were a bunch of wild buffalos danced tango across the black and white surface.
On the east side were a giant table and two chairs, on the chairs sat two large, hairless apes with fur on their heads playing some kind of card game. Under the table was a town made out of gingerbread and chocolate. Some gummy bears and gingerbread men lived in this town. They were surrounded by a forest made out of cotton candy trees and candy cane pillars.
And in the middle stood a fancy castle with 4 towers at every corner and one, the highest one, in the middle. Every tower was made out from another material.
One was completely made out of sweets like chocolate, gingerbread and candy.
The second tower was made of crystals and gemstones like rubies, emeralds, sapphires and amethysts.
The third tower looked really fancy. It was completely covered in gold and silver, the spire looked like a gold crown decorated with diamonds and the gargoyles were completely made of agate.
The fourth was a tower made of rusted metal, some gears turned on the outside of the tower. A big chimney on the top spitted out pitch black smoke. The smoke formed a big black cloud above the tower and the sound of thunder was heard near this building.
The highest tower in the middle was actually just a simple stone pillar with a platform on top. It wasn't decorated in any way and except the great high it wasn´t special. On the platform were a big, dark wooden throne with red cushion and no one else as the master of chaos sat on this.
Celestia stood still at the entrance, shocked and at a loss of words. Discord snapped with his claw and in the next moment Celestia was in front of him on the platform. "Welcome my dear, I hope you don't mind that I redecorated my room?"
Celestia looked wide eyed at him "D- D- Discord, what have you done? And how could it be possible that such a big area is directly in the middle of the Castle?"
Discord smiled "This little trick?" He stood up, spread his arm and looked proudly over his own creation. After one second he sat down again and conjured a yo-yo "This one was a bit tricky, even for me. It has something to do with bend the space-time-continuum and other boring stuff. Shortly, I doubt that a pony will ever be able to do this. But, however" Discord jumped up from his throne and walked to the edge of the platform "I have been thinking a lot recently, you know." Celestia looked questioningly at him "I know what other folks think of me and I would have already given up without the one thing that kept me alive, the one pony who gave me a chance as everyone else abandon me." Discord faced Celestia "the one pony who was my greatest enemy and also my best friend all the time. It was you Celestia."
Celestia blushed "W-what are you saying?"
Discord looked away, a small shade of red on his cheeks "Well, what I´m trying to say is..." He walked to Celestia, knelt down in front of her and grabbed her left hoof "...w- will you be my very s- s- special somepony?"
Celestia froze in her place, her mind ran on full speed but she couldn't focus on one thought. Discord, master of chaos and former archenemy, is asking her, ruler of a kingdom and the sun, if she wants to be his special somepony? In all of her long years, she never in her wildest dreams would’ve thought she would be asked this question by him. With her mind racing at Sonic Rainboom speed, she stood there for what seemed like an eternity.
Discord waited expectantly for an answer ,but nothing came, only deafening silence and a face of pure shock. His expression sunk as he felt the cold sting of rejection in the pit of his stomach as he let her hoof go and turned away "I´m sorry that I asked. Just forget what I said. Oh, who am I kidding? How could I have even considered that somepony as special as you would ever go out with someone like me? I mean, what would your subjects feel about their wise ruler loving an insane monster? I´m sorry I am re-" He was interrupted by a touch on his claw.
Discord turned around and saw Celestia hold his claw with her left hoof. Tears of joy filled her eyes and a joyous smile on her face. "Yes Discord, I would love to be your special somepony."
Discord’s heart soared at her answer, he couldn't believe what she said. Finally he had some luck in his life he thought. “Ar- are you sure?”
Celestia wiped her tears away and nodded.
After a second of realization Discord jumped in the air, fireworks exploded behind him and formed a large pink heart, confetti appeared from above his head and streamers flew through the air, rivialing Pinkie Pie’s infamous Party Cannon. He never felt happier in his life like in this moment. He thought that he could manage everything now. Discord ran towards Celestia and embraced her in a loving hug buring his head in her ethereal mane and the sweet scent of roses flooded his nostrils.
They remained in this position for several minutes, only enjoying the contact of each other. But sadly, every good thing comes to an end and so they broke their embrace.
Celestia looked Discord deep in the eyes “I’ll see you tomorrow my special somepony”.
Discord smiled and looked with loving eyes back at her “I can't wait my love.”
And with his last words Celestia prepared herself to teleport out of the area but Discord stopped her
“Uhm, can I ask you for one thing? Could we keep our relationship as a secret for a few days? I would love to scream it out in the world, but I think we should prepare your sister for this first, don't you think?”
Celestia nodded “Yes, that´s true, Lulu doesn't like surprises.” After that she gave Discord a little kiss on his nose and teleported herself away.
After a few seconds after Celestia was gone his loving smile turned into a evil grin “Finally, the first step is done”.
He snapped with his claw and a monkey with a top hat and monocle appeared on the top of his throne. “Oh Francis, you can't believe how hard it is to play a romantic guy.”
The monkey named Francis took the monocle from his eye, threw it in his mouth and chewed on it. “I'm surprised that I could resist the urge to puke as I asked her to be my special somepony. It’s a good thing she didn’t kiss me or I may have thrown up in her mouth...now that I think about it, it’s too bad she didn’t!”
Francis spit the monocle on the ground and started to shout, he jumped up and down on the throne in anger. Discord rolled his eyes and snapped again. A banana appeared in front of Francis, he grabbed the banana and started immediately to peel her. “My plan is running pretty good so far, don´t you think”
Francis had peeled the banana completely and sat on the red cushion on the throne. The little creature started to eat it joyfully and gave an happy “Uh uh ah ah”
Discord smiled at the monkey on his throne “Yes you´re right my friend, now only Luna remained to be seduced, and I think she’ll be harder to manipulate than her big sister.” He took his paw and tugged on his beard.
The monkey put the last piece of the banana in his mouth and gave a satisfied “ahhhh”. He scratched a certain area on his back and looked with a tired expression at his summoner.
“You are so wise. I will follow your advice and try my best. At least it´s worth a try.” With that he walked towards his throne and snapped a couple of times “Shoo shoo Francis” the monkey jumped from the throne with a scream and Discord sat on the red cusion.
Celestia closed the door behind her, she grinned from ear to ear and started to walk toward her bedroom as she heard the sweet voice of her sister
“Hello sister, hath thou talked with Discord already?”
Celestia froze for a moment, remembering Discord’s request and tried to avoid slipping up, “Oh yes, I had a nice chat with him. He understood our worries and is going to treat you better. Also, he will try his best to not cause any trouble.” Thanks to thousands of years of reign she is a master of lying. She wasn’t proud of it, but she knew that this was one of the rare occasions that a lie was necessary for the greater good.
Luna sighed in relief “We thank thee, we´re so happy to hear that.”
The solar princess looked with a serious expression at her sister “But it would be unfair if only Discord had to change so we can have some peace, don't you think?”
Luna eyes saddened a bit “Yes tis true, should we speak with him as well to make a compromise?” She knew it would be selfish to demand something like this from him without a consideration.
The white alicorn grinned at her sister “No need, I´ve already done that. We made the compromise that he behave better and we give him some space to live out his chaotic nature, in moderation of course.”
“This sounds fair. But we desire to speak with him anyways, we want to apologize because of our reaction to his little pranks. We totally overreacted and we regret it.”
Celestia smiled at her sister, glad at the prospect that her newfound love and her family could get along, “Sure Lulu, I´m happy to see that you and Discord are starting to get along with each other”.
Luna smiled back and headed towards the door.
“Oh and Lulu” The younger sister turned away from the door and looked at the older “don't be too surprised when you see his room. Discord redecorated it a bit.”
“How bad could it be?” She giggled
“You will see, but don’t say I didn't warn you!” Celestia gave her sister one last smile and walked away.
Luna stood on the Platform on the large pillar, still shocked from what she saw. She thought it was impossible that an area like this was in the castle and how crazy someone could be to come up with such things.
“Luna, are you alright?”
Luna didn’t noticed that Discord spoke the whole time. She shook her head and smiled nervous “We are well, thank thee”
Discord smiled shyly “Great, so where do I start?” He thought for a second “Ah, I wanted to apologize for my behavior in the last days. It´s just that I don't know how to express my feelings in any other way”. He looked away with blushed cheeks and an ashamed expression.
“Thy feelings? What doth thou mean by that?” Luna looked questioningly at him. She thought all the time that he did all this things for pure amusement.
The master of chaos scratched the backside of his head and averted his eyes, “Well, you know. It wasn’t easy for me being imprisoned in stone. I still had feelings, and I still had thoughts, and I was very much aware of what was happening around me. It’s maddening to be left like that for over a thousand years, seeing everything change along with the times, seeing so many ponies fade away in the sands of time, and being treated like a glorified lawn ornament for little school foals and tourist was more than I could bear. I envied them because, compared to my fate, death didn’t seem so bad. However, even with all of that, I realized that I found comfort in your beautiful night, and your glorious moon. It was the only thing that kept me from losing my sanity, though, by comparison you are far more beautiful and graceful.”
For Luna the last statement caught her completely off guard. Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, her archenemy, found solace in her night, despite his deteriorating state of mind? “T-truly? W- well, thank you, w- we are glad to hear that." She giggle nervously, her heart racing at the revelation.
“I know that you don´t trust me, and I don’t blame you. All the pranks that I did and all the embarrassment that I have caused you gave you more than enough reasons for that, but..." Discord looked around, trying to find the right words to say next, "but it was the only way I knew how to earn your attention.” Discord looked ground, as his guilt surfaced for all he did to her. “I realize now that it was the wrong way and how foolish I was and now I destroyed any chance to win you.” A tear ran down his face and soon after it turned into a cascade of regret. He hated to appear so weak in front of his secret love, but he couldn't stop them as the torrent of emotions continued their onslaught. The thought that he destroyed their relationship with such childish behavior was killing him in the inside...or at least it would have if he wasn’t putting on the performance of a lifetime.
Luna took him in her forelegs and said soothing “Tis quite alright. So tell us, what doth thou mean with ‘win you’?” She had an idea what he meant with that, but she wanted to be absolutely sure. Deep in her heart she hoped that it was what she thought.
Discord broke their hug forcefully and turned away “I LOVE YOU LUNA!” Discord sobbed heavily and closed his teary eyes.
He opened them again as he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. Luna stood in front of him with an comforting smile on her face, but a split second later, her head shot forward and she locked her lips around his.
Discord was totally caught off guard, he didn’t expect this reaction, but he had to improvise, he couldn´t leave this opportunity unused.
He slowly wrapped his arms around her slender waist and deepened their passionate kiss, savoring the sweet taste of the lunar princess. His forked tongue was in a wrestling match with hers, eliciting a soft moan from her. It seemed like time itself had slowed down as the couple reveled in their newfound love until finally, the kiss ended, with both of them breathing heavily from their moment of sweet bliss.
"My...that was lovely. Tis been many an age since we hath done anything like this. Twas the even sweeter than we remember." Luna said with a hoof on her chest, her heart rapidly beating as powerful emotions ran through her.
"That’s because those stuck up sycophants you usually associated yourself with didn't have half of the love for you like I do,” Discord said while cupping her cheek affectionately with a claw, “They were more concerned with your status and were looking to line their own pockets with gold. I, on the other hand, love you for you my little Lulu."
Luna blushed until a thought come to her mind “But Discord, what about our sister. We thought that she is the one that you desire. Well, it seemed so to us.”
Discord chuckled and stroke her mane “Oh no my dear, we are just good friends, she´s the reason why I´m can be here and I´m thankful that she gave me this second chance so I can be with you. You are the only princess I could ever truly desire.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and smiled at her.
Luna smiled back, glad to hear that and like her sister she prepared to teleport away.
“Oh Lulu, can I ask you for something” Discord grabbed her hoof and looked in her eyes.
She broke the spell and listened to him
“Well, I would like to make our relationship public, but I think we should wait a few days and prepare your sister for that.” He took her hoof in both, paw and claw, and waited for an answer with a pleading expression.
Luna scratched her chin and looked up “Hm you´re probably right, from what we know Tia don´t like surprises pretty much.”
Discord smiled from ear to ear “Great, than it is decided.”
She gave him one last kiss on his lips and looked at him with half lidded eyes “Well than, see you tomorrow my dear” She turned away and walked towards the edge of the platform, she shifted her hips in a seductive manner and looked over her shoulder to see Discord with his mouth open and totally mesmerized.
Discord could barely focus on anything else than the show in front of him “I´m already counting the seconds.” He tried his best to look somewhere else, but it was futile, he was a male after all.
Luna giggled as she reached the border of the platform, her horn started to glow and she disappeared.
After she was gone Discord summoned a bottle of water and rinsed his mouth out. He snapped again and Francis appeared again on his head “Can you believe it Francis, she kissed me. SHE KISSED ME! I need a week to get her taste out of my mouth.”
Francis just started to search for lice in the mane of Discord. “Oh thank you my dear friend, you really know when I need a massage. “He walked to his throne and sat on it “Well, although Luna has invaded a pretty private zone of mine without permission I have to admit that it could be more fun to play with her than her sister.”
After a futile attempt to find some tasty insects in the mane of his summoner he jumped to the ground, grabbed his top hat and inspected it closely “I know that the risky part starts now, it´s my plan after all, but I´m glad that you worry about me.”
Francis looked at him and throw the top hat towards Discord. He just caught it and with a snap of his fingers the top hat grew larger until Discord could wear it “Alright my good friend, set your bet, Luna or Celestia?”
Francis screamed in anger and took a stone to throw it at Discord. But the stone disappeared right before it could hit him “Ok, Celestia then. I bet on Luna. The winner get´s everything” Discord held his claw towards Francis to perform a handshake, but Francis screamed and ran away towards the edge. His anger grew bigger as he realized that he couldn´t escape his master. “Come on Francis, get down, I´m not going to cheat this time, I promise. Bah, drama queen.”
Celestia let out a contented sigh, letting all of the stress from her work day out as she flopped onto her massive bed. It was quite an eventful day for the alicorn, but one thought in particular stood out above all of the rest: her new relationship with her beloved Discord.
"Relationship..." she whispered to herself, still getting used to the idea. It brought a genuine smile to her face nonetheless, and it made her heart beat a little faster with both excitement for their future and nervousness as her heart was now more vulnerable. It had been centuries since she had experienced those emotions, and she had many suitors throughout her long life.
She loved every one of them and they all brought her genuine happiness, but as the cruel hand of fate would have it, she had to watch all of them fade away with the sands of time as she lived on. As such, she was cautious, even reluctant, to give her heart to anypony. When she thought about it, it was the the very reason why she seemed to hesitate when Discord ask her to be his mare.
She giggled to herself as she remembered his reaction when she accepted. Then again, this was Discord after all, and he always did have a flair for the dramatic even when they were enemies.
A thought occurred to her, it wasn't that long ago when he was considered the greatest threat to Equestria. Never in her wildest dream would she ever have thought that things would turn out the way they did, and now here they are, in that very spot. It's funny where life can take you, even for one as long lived as she was, and she couldn't be happier.
It as then that she realized that she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice that her eyes were drooping, demanding some much needed rest. With a good stretch and yawn, she got under her covers and began to slowly drift off to the realm of dreams, one she was sure would have a certain draconniqis in them.
"Everything will be just fine," she said to herself as sleep took her.