Chapter 7: Bath Time Salts

Chapter 7:  Bath Time Salts

Princess Celestia let out a relieved sigh as she slid deeper into the already prepared bath. The warm, running water eased away the tension that had been eating at her sore muscles. While she had not participated in any physically taxing activities, the amount of concentration and manic used to contain the Book of Ages, or the Codex, had sapped any strength she had away. Magic in itself was partially based upon physical fitness, will and how big one's pools were. As a Celestial, she already had ridiculously large pools with equally large reserves. As the raiser of the sun, and previously the moon, her reserves and active pools of magic had grown exponentially in the thousand years since her sister's unfortunate banishment to the moon.

The Codex, as an ancient magical artifact predating any know epoch, was a hundred thousand times stronger than her. Luna and her had barely contained the tiniest leakage of ancient magic that had gotten out when Rainbow Dash had touched it. And when Twilight Sparkle and her went into the Codex, it had sent a powerful, but small, wave of magic that had destroyed the entire room. It was only thanks to one their father's secret passageways that they had survived. After they got out, Luna and her had levitated the unconscious bodies of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle to the palace hospital wing to stay until they finished their journey through time. She didn't know when that would be, and her chest clenched with each thought of the fate of her faithful student and Rainbow Dash.

She then left Luna to deal with the servants because she was exhausted. She was more than positive that Luna would successfully quench the curiosity of the confused servants and guards of the palace while she returned to her private chambers. With the little strength she had, she ordered a bath to be prepared as she wrote to Discord. What she was going to do tomorrow Discord needed to be present. He needed to know the truth of what happened all those thousands of years ago. Celestia sent away her servants, stripped herself of the dirt covered robes and stepped into the large bath that could easily fit twenty. She gingerly spread her white wings in the water and let her hair fall from it's usual wind blown style, letting it cascade down her shoulders and past her breasts. Princess Celestia kept her broken hand above the water as the other lit up in a golden glow. She used it to shampoo her hair and wash it. The water clung to her skin as she slicked her hair back from her face. It had been such a long time since Celestia had a proper bath. Before she had to be in and out as fast as possible to deal with all the subjects that needed to see her about the stupidest of issues.

She was so immersed in the luxury of the bath that she didn't hear arrival of a set of quiet footsteps. They stopped right behind her and a pair of hand settled upon her naked shoulders, rubbing circles into the nape of her neck. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Only one man had been able to bypass her magic barriers, and for that she cursed him to Valhalla a thousand and one times.

"Hello, Celestia." purred Discord. "I must say, I do prefer you like this."

"Discord." she breathed, leaning into his touch.

It wasn't that she wasn't offended at the comment, but that she was too tired to care, and his touch was warm and inviting. It reminded her of a time when everything was green and new.

"What? No nasty remark, no "go away, Discord" or "get your hands off me, Discord", Celestia?" Discord chuckled, and leaned in until his hot breath was at her ear, his white goatee tickling her ear. "My, my, you must be really tired or are you just happy to see me?"

He ran his left hand down her back, between her wings, caressing the Sun Goddess' skin as if it was a precious gem to worship. He nipped at the sensitive area between her earlobe and jaw with his single fang. Gods, how she hated the man right now.

"Mm." Celestia moaned, cursing herself for the verbal betrayal.

"You must really miss me if you're this sensitive. Tell me, my dear, have you laid with a man since our trysts so many years ago? Or have you been saving yourself for my return? I'm glad to see you haven't forgotten about me."

The God of Chaos slithered into the bath with her, his clothes vanishing with a snap of his fingers. The mismatched God ran a snaking hand through her hair, drawing her closer as he closed the distance between them. His forehead touched hers, and he gave her a toothy grin. But the cheeky grin vanished when he spotted the broken right hand. He gently brought her broken hand in his. Discord wearily eyed the Princess in search of an explanation.

"The last time you were injured was during our fight. Luna may have scratched you here and there during her little rebellion, but I was the only one to have hurt you. You broke five ribs, your entire left arm and you had a concussion that lasted for seven montsh. I begged you to stop, to come with me and leave Equestria to my chaos. I could have given you so much more, but you refused. You were always so stubborn." The God of Chaos flipped her hand and gingerly blew into it. From beneath the bandages, Celestia could feel the bones knitting themselves into place with the merciless absence of pain. Tears openly fell anyway. The only reminder of her guilt was vanquished with a simple breath. "Tell me what troubles you, Celestia, and I will do everything in my power to right it or make whoever did this pay. Tell me, Celestia, who is responsible."

"I am." Celestia frowned, while Discord unraveled the white bandages. The skin was perfect and unblemished. As if the skin had never been pierced by broken bones.

"You are not a sadistic. Never before and never to come." Discord clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "I assume the little lunar princess is also in the dark about this."

A string of chuckles at his own joke brought a tiny smile to Celestia's face. Leave it to Discord to laugh at his own jokes.

"No, I'm not. I just, I just am so tired, Dizzy. Everything is so difficult." Celestia paused momentarily. "There was once a time when love was simple and life so sweet. The sun was not a chain but a star guiding our lives into a wonderful bliss. Now, it burns and weighs me down until I'm drowning in my own misery." Discord's arm around Celestia's waist tightened until she was leaning her head upon his broad shoulders. "I made several mistakes. The physical pain cannot compare to the emotional."

She gazed into his stormy eyes. "I've kept this to myself for too long. I hope there is someplace in your heart that you can learn to forgive me."

"Whatever it is, Tia, I will always forgive you." said Discord in a sudden boast of seriousness.

She took a breath—

(Twilight)

There were worse things than being cast into oblivion. Being found face down in the snow by a whiny princess a couple thousands years before you were born was probably at the top of the list. Waking to the bright violet eyes of one Princess Platinum, Twilight had been abruptly greeted with the screeching of said princess in her ear.

"-servant! You shall be whipped!" loudly exclaimed the Alchemist princess, as she circled the dazed purple-haired alchemist.

"Whipped? What for?" groaned Twilight Sparkle.

"For being lazy. I ordered you to get my father immediately, but instead of doing so, you decided to take a nap in the middle of the courtyard." snorted-a trait that Twilight would normally never associate with a princess-Princess Platinum. If her nose had been any higher, Twilight would have used her as an umbrella.

"I'm sorry your...majesty?" stumbled the Element of Magic.

Her mind was still reeling from the disasterous crashlanding into the past. For starters, she couldn't believe that she had gotten so close to the Alchemist princess already. If she was already with her, then that meant she could easily find Clover the Clever! Two, being the apparent servant of said princess was not exactly what she had imagined for her previous life. Or was it the life of her ancestor? Ugh. The Mane Six would always comment on how she had probably been a librarian in her past life or a teacher. Being the servant to one of the most self-absorbed rulers in history, no thank you. Third of all, Twilight had no idea where the rainbow haired monster that was her friend was or Spike for that matter.

"Hello? Are you even listening to me?" huffed the annoyed Platinum.

"Uh, yes?" Twilight answered.

"I thought so." she sneered. "Well, since you were doing such a good job listening, you can muck out the stables, clean Princess Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn and make me dinner." She turned on her heels and in a fury of expensive, purple silks, left the poor host of the most powerful Element of Harmony in a mess on the snowy ground with hundreds of eyes watching her.

Great.