Chapter 1
The Everfree forest was strangely quiet. The wind did not stir and no crickets chirped. It was only silence. Normally, this would mean something dangerous was stumbling through the forest, and there was indeed something dangerous in this forest. But she was not here upon normal terms. She had a mission.
Princess Luna didn’t consider herself dangerous, even if the forest did. She could easily take care of herself and the things she considered to be dangerous were locked away in Tartarus.
The only thing Luna could hear was the sound of her own breathing. Even if the silence meant some other danger was near, Luna wasn’t worried. She was a powerful alicorn who could easily defend herself if something attacked her.
She shifted around on top of the stump she was seated upon. It was not entirely as comfortable as she thought it would be when originally spotting it. It seemed like a normal stump, but there were grooves, splinters and some sort of rough moss growing on it. It all made for a very uncomfortable place to sit.
She wouldn’t even have been out there that night, sitting in the middle of the Everfree forest, sitting on an uncomfortable stump if she hadn’t gotten a note from Discord to meet her out in this crazy forest at midnight.
Discord had been acting strange since his trip back from the dragon lands. He had gone there on a diplomatic mission and returned acting stranger than usual, especially around Luna. He returned from the dragon lands a few months ago. He was as chipper as ever and went right back to messing with Celestia as he gave his report. Everything seemed normal until Discord removed her tail and ate it off a stick like it was a piece of cotton candy at a fair. Luna, who was also present, broke her calm manner of speaking and yelled at Discord for playing games during a serious time like this. He seemed to shrink back beneath her angry gaze, gave his report in a whisper and teleported from the room.
It was odd, since Discord would normally play off her yelling with a joke or a prank, but this time he seemed truly distressed that he had upset Celestia and Luna. What was even weirder was that Discord’s behavior had completely changed in the last few months. He always seemed to either avoid Luna’s gaze or stare at her for much too long. He was nice and polite to her whenever they talked, and he decreased his amount of pranks per day. She sometimes caught him in her room, staring at the moon through her window, and when she’d tell him to leave, he would, leaving only a flower behind.
This time he had left a flower and note behind. The note said to meet her at midnight in Everfree Forest. It was officially midnight at this moment. Where was he-
“Surprise!” Discord appeared with a bang and a flash of blue smoke in front of Luna. She fell backwards in surprise onto the grass. Discord looked down at her. “Whoops.” He said and reached down to grab her foreleg to pull her back onto the stump.
When she was sitting on top of the stump again, he sat down beside her while a rock appeared under him to catch him.
“Now, I do believe I asked you for a simple talk.”
“Of course Discord. What would you like to talk to me about?” Luna looked at Discord with full interest and curiosity.
“As you already know, I create Chaos. I am the Spirit of Chaos after all. I run around, making the world more chaotic for my own pleasure.” Discord tapped his talons, turning Luna’s horn into an ice cream cone. He quickly turned it back when she frowned at him.
“But if there’s one thing I can’t create, it’s true love.” Discord continued, his irises briefly turned into heart shapes. “So, once upon a time, about two thousand or so years ago, I decide to try courting this beautiful young mare. It worked of course. We were happily dating.”
“That sounds nice,” Luna said cautiously, unsure of where Discord was going with this conversation.
“Oh, indeed! But the thing about mortals is that their lives are so short. So, of course, she died,” he said nonchalantly.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Discord.”
“No, no, don’t apologize!” Discord said, giving her head a light pat. “All good things must come to an end. Ah, my dear sweet Lemon Drop has gone to the other side now.”
“You two were never married?” Luna asked curiously. Discord picked up his head and shook it.
“Never! She was always a worrier, so much so, that she was much too scared to marry me! She died of a manticore attack when I was out getting her flowers one day, so that was tragic. Yet I moved on…”
“Did you only want me to come out here so you could relive tales of your past lovers?” Luna asked. Discord shook his head again.
“I’m going somewhere with this, my dear. So yet after Lemon Drop, I met another. I believe her name was Cute Collect? Well, Cute was mortal like the rest, but I believe we had fun times together. She was… obsessed with me in a way that led me to believe that her obsession would be her death. So I left her to save her life. She believed she could not live without me, so to get me back, she jumped off a cliff thinking I would save her. She was pegasus so when she jumped, I didn’t catch her. She died instantly.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Luna said. There was an odd feeling in her chest; was it perhaps pity for Discord? She didn’t know. She also noticed Discord had grown closer to her the more he talked. The stump was big enough for two but Discord was… big. Long was the correct word, but she couldn’t imagine why he’d move in closer. He had his own rock.
But why did she bother to notice? Or even care? Wasn’t she supposed to be listening to what Discord was saying?
“…and dragons can sometimes be selfish and territorial, so naturally, it didn’t work out so well. She left me this time around and I deserved it. I hope she’s happy now wherever she is.” Discord sighed. “Then of course…”
Now he was definitely sitting beside her. He was quite close too, Luna noted. She could smell his pine tree scented fur and hear the faint sound of his heartbeat coming from within. He wasn’t quite leaning, but he was just close enough now that his fur tickled hers. She noticed that his tail had wrapped around the stump itself and was flicking back and forth as though he was nervous about something.
“Luna?”
She looked up to see Discord staring her down. There was a suspicious gaze to his eyes as if he knew she hadn’t been listening.
“You weren’t listening were you?” Luna stayed silent as Discord looked away and back up towards the moon. “It’s alright. I can understand. You probably know what it’s like to date a mortal only for them to die on you in what feels like an instant.”
Luna frowned, “Of course.”
“I can’t imagine you getting out there,” Discord said as he elbowed her and winked. “The stallions must be all over you, Moony.”
Luna blushed and looked away. “I have had my fair share of stallions.”
“More than Celestia I hear, Moony?”
“Since when have you called me ‘Moony’? Only Tia calls me that.” Suspicion entered her voice.
“Yes, I am quite aware of that. However, you wouldn’t mind if I called you that? I think it’s a cute pet name. A cute pet name for a beautiful mare like you.”
“What?” Luna asked in shock. She leaned away from Discord, who winked at her. “Are you… flirting with me?”
He blinked a few times before smiling in a way that Luna supposed was him trying to be flirtatious.
“Of course,” he grinned.
“But, why?” Luna asked, caught completely off guard by his complete honesty.
His smile vanished. “Well, why not? You are very pretty after all.”
“Did you just bring me out here to flirt?” Luna asked.
“No, I actually had something different in mind,” Discord replied. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close. “See, back when I was evil, things were… lonely. It’s true that I had many courtships in my time, but none lasted. They died in what felt like seconds to me, and they were forgotten by Equestria, and lost to the sea of time. But when I met you, things changed.”
“Because I have a longer life span?” Luna deadpanned. “You like me because I’ll live longer than most?”
“No, no, not at all, my dear! Although that is a quality I do like... but that is not the point! It is the things about you that I like, not just your long life span and beauty. No, personality means just as much too!” Discord chuckled nervously to himself and added, “Ah, goodness. I’m terrible at admitting this but… I am quite moonstruck and have been for several years now.”
“Years?” Luna asked, incredulous. “Because of me?”
“Of course because of you! Do you remember how you sang to me whenever I was trapped in stone?” Discord asked.
“Sang? I never sang,” Luna scoffed.
“Talking then. You did talk to me a lot while I was a statue. Sure, perhaps I did turn all of Equestria into my own little world, but you forgave me. I remember our one sided conversations we had together. You were once Nightmare Moon and knew what it was like to play the villain. You thought I was creating Chaos for a reason, perhaps that reason being I was unhappy or lonely. You thought I deserved forgiveness.”
“But you didn’t. You came out and proceeded to torture us all,” Luna said.
“Even in my darkest and most chaotic moments, I always remembered you, my dear. Perhaps I did not care at first and perhaps all I wanted was to start Chaos all over again, but when Fluttershy offered me friendship, I accepted not just for friendship, but in hopes that I could see you again, Moony. The truth was that I missed your presence, your kind heart, and your beauty.”
“Discord…”
“Truth is, I dragged you out here to confess my love to you then ask you on a date. I know it’s a bit sudden and slightly out of character for me, but will you go out with me?” Discord asked.
“I-I don’t know.” Luna frowned.
“Well, how about I give you until midnight tomorrow?” Discord asked.
“Alright,” Luna replied.
“Deal,” Discord said with a grin and disappeared.
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“So, Discord and Luna are a couple now?” Rarity asked Pinkie as she stared at the two who were laughing and hanging out together. They had walked into Rarity’s boutique and were trying on clothes and making jokes.
“Yep! They come to SugarCube Corner sometimes at midnight. I keep the shop open just for them so they can have their own little private date,” Pinkie babbled.
“That’s… cute. But I can’t imagine the Princess of the Night falling for the Spirit of Chaos,” Rarity said. “I wonder how it all happened.”
“Who knows?” Pinkie said and zipped up to the couple to talk to them. Rarity just shook her head.