Dating isn't just for mortals...

Chapters

Chapter 1 - What is the question?
Chapter 2 - The Waiting Game
Chapter 3a - Preparations in Ponyville
Chapter 3b - Composition in Canterlot
Chapter 4 - First Contact
Chapter 5 - Getting to know you
Chapter 6 - Monday Morning, rain is falling
Chapter 7 - Striking Out
Chapter 8 - Twice the fun
Chapter 10 - Luna's charm
Chapter 11 - Falling Apart Part 1
Chapter 12 - Falling Apart Part 2
Chapter 13 - Broken Dreams
Chapter 14 - Kidding-garten

Chapter 1 - What is the question?

Discord sat in silence watching Fluttershy process the question that he just asked her. The poor shy pony hated being put on the spot, and obviously the question posed by the draconequus had put her timid nature into overdrive.

“Fluttershy, are you alright?” he asked tenderly, moving next to her . It had only been a few weeks since the Tirek incident and their friendship was still recovering from his ultimate betrayal. It had been tough, but they were working through it.

“I...I don’t know” Fluttershy finally replied “I’m...not so good when it comes to these sort of things.” A faint blush appeared on her cheeks and she turned her away bashfully.

“Sorry to put you on the spot...but I didn’t know who else to ask.”

“Perhaps we should ask the others, they’ll have a better understanding...especially Twilight as she knows the Princess better than anypony else.”

“Are you sure Twilight would be willing to help me? I did sort of get her house blown up.” Discord head fell a little as he spoke

“I think she’s proven that she has forgiven you...mostly. Besides, a true, true friend helps a friend in need!”

“I’ll go round them up.” Discord was about to click his fingers when Fluttershy put her hoof our to stop him.

“Perhaps it would be more friendly to simply go round in person than use your magic to gather them up. Besides, I could do with getting out for some fresh air.”

Discord looked down at the yellow hoof in his hand, and smiled over to his first friend “Of course Fluttershy, we’ll go whenever you’re ready.”

Twilight and the majority of the council of friendship were gathered in the main hall of Twilight’s new castle, along with Discord. They were waiting for Applejack to arrive as the farm pony was just finishing up some chores, and without much of a delay the orange mare came galloping in.

“Sorry gals, just wanted to finish up bucking the east orchard” Once Applejack had sat down, the focus switched back to the creature that had asked them to meet.

“So Discord, what did you want us for?” Rainbow Dash asked brashly.

Twilight rolled her eyes at her testy friend “I think what Rainbow Dash meant to say is that you said you needed our help? What can we help you with?”

Discord stood up and was a nervous as any of the ponies had ever seen him “I have something to ask you. Something, of a personal nature”

Apart from Fluttershy who knew what was going on, the five ponies and dragon present looked at each other with confusion. “Go on darling” Rarity encouraged Discord, perhaps hoping for some juicy gossip.

“Well...I’m thinking of asking Princess Celestia out on a date.” The room was silent and so the draconequus continued “I know we have had our history, but I’ve always respected and admired her…”

Discord noticed the sudden incredulous looks from the others in the room and added “...in my own way. But I have no idea of what she thinks of me. So, what do you think, should I give it a shot?

“Of course” Pinkie Pie was the first to respond “We’ll have a great big party!”

“I’m not so sure thats a great idea…” Twilight spoke to Pinkie and then turned to Discord “...but if you want to ask her out, you should follow your heart!”

“I wasn’t sure when you first asked me, but I thought it was a good idea. It’ll be so nice!” Fluttershy added

“But what if she turns me down?” Discord asked the mares present.

“Now Discord, you can’t get apples without bucking some trees...sometimes the tree will give you a bushelful, other times you’ll get nothing, but you don’t know until you give it a kick.”

Twilight nodded in agreement, trotted over “Nothing in life comes without risk - we’ve all had risky adventures and have gained something from it, so no reason you can’t do the same.”

“Thanks all, I’ll do it. But I also need you help...in working out what to do! I feel it’s best to ask with a specific proposition in mind...seems more mature that just asking like a young colt”

“Thats probably a good idea, it’ll make it seem more genuine rather than some sort of joke!” Rarity replied. Dating and everything to do with romance...she was the expert of the group and so naturally took the lead.

Discord turned to the fashionista “So I was thinking that we should do something in the daytime, to bask in her glorious sunlight?”

“No, it should definitely be at night. Apart from anything else, it’s traditional.” Rarity smiled.

Twilight nodded “It’ll also give Luna a nice bit of heart if her sister enjoys her date during her night.”

“And nothing means more to a mares heart than family” Applejack added “You’ll earn some points for that!”

“So, what should we do?” Discord asked a little desperately “She’s lived for thousands of years, she must have eaten in every restaurant in canterlot numerous times!”

The room quietened again as they all thought, until one voice broke the silence.

“I have the perfect first date idea!”

Discord, and all the ponies present, turned to the dragon whelp sat next to Twilight. “You do?” they asked in surprise.

“Yeah, well…” Spike rubbed the back of his head, suddenly nervous that the attention had switched to him. Spike stood up in his chair and proceeded to tell the others of his idea, with an astounding amount of detail.

“My...that sounds perfect!” Twilight smiled at her assistant “It’s different enough to show that there is real intention, without being so over the top that it’ll overshadow the actual date. Spike, you are a genius!”

“How come you had all that to mind?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Spike made sure to look anywhere but in the direction of a certain white unicorn in the room “Heh, I guess I’ve been thinking about this for a while!”

“But, if we do this, it’ll spoil your chance of doing this wonderful plan yourself!” Discord asked in surprise. Hearing this made Twilight smile as it showed that the god of chaos did occasionally think of others but himself - maybe him and the Princess did stand a chance.

“I doubt I’m going to be dating anypony from ponyville so there’s still a chance of surprising my special somepony with this.”

“Well, if she accepts, would you all help me pull this off?” Discord turned to the ponies gathered in turn as he spoke!”

“Of course, we’ll do anything for a friend, right girls?” Rarity asked, to be met with her five friends nodding in arguement.

“Excellent. Spike, take a letter!” Discord commanded, to receive a look of slight contempt back from the dragon. “Please?” he added.

“Of course Discord, ready when you are.” Spike grabbed a nearby quill and parchment which was dotted all over Twilights new home...for list making emergencies.

Discord cleared her throat and began “Dear Princess Celestia….”

Whilst the focus was on the draconequus, Rarity turned away when nopony was looking and discreetly wiped a tear from her eye.

Celestia, Luna and Cadence sat round a table, their evening tea laid out in front of them. A silence had fallen over them as Celestia had just finished reading the letter she had just received to her two fellow princesses. The guards and maids had previously been dismissed, leaving just the sound of three ponies breathing.

The silence was then rudely interrupted by a squee from Cadence, and the two sister turned to their niece.

“Aunty has a date” the Princess of love gushed, her eyes practically turning into hearts as she excited clopped her front two hooves together, causing Luna to giggle a little.

“But what does it mean?” Celestia asked with a slight amount of confusion, the surprise of receiving such a letter still making her mind churn.

“I think it means, in the modern vernacular, he wants some of your hot flank action sister” Luna managed to suppress her laughter as she spoke.

Celestia shot her younger sister a look that would turn the average pony to stone “I meant...does he mean it?”

“I don't think even Discord would joke about such things, especially if it meant roping in Spike to send it to you.” Luna replied, taking a sip of tea.

“I agree. Besides, we all saw him give you a bunch of flowers after the Tirek incident...not myself or Luna who was also sent to Tartarus, or Twilight who had gone through so much!”

Celestia smiled a little remembering the surprise gift of flowers she had been given...along with a wink. Bringing her mind back to the present, she asked her companions“Why do you think he didn’t ask me in person?”

“He may have not wanted to put you on the spot and given the recent issues, decided it was best to play it slow?” Luna mused “Although that isn’t the Discord we know, perhaps being around timid Fluttershy is helping to cool him down a little”

Cadence nodded in agruement “ And perhaps he thought you would take it as a joke and laugh it off? Can you imagine declaring your love for somebody, and they treat it as a joke?” She shivered slightly at the mere thought.

“Thats true...so what should I say?”

“Well, it depends...doth thou like thy jester?” Luna slipped into the old dialect to match her teasing tone. “Does thy heart flutter like butterfly whenever he appears?”

Celestia smiled in response that could only mean yes. She levitated her writing instruments over to her and began her letter of reply.

“Discord and Tia, sitting in a tree…” Cadence started to sing with a giddy glee.

Celestia smiled that knowing smile she often used for diplomatic purposes “Be careful Cadence, or I’ll tell Shining Armour about your first marriage…”

Cadence froze up “You wouldn’t...besides, I was barely a foal and kindergarten ‘weddings’ don’t count!”

Celestia smirked as she wrote her reply “When a Princess declares that she and one of the colts in the playground got married under the slide, who were the teachers to declare that void? My, what an interesting afternoon that was...”

Discord was pacing around the hall, the others chatting nervously. Whilst their relationship with the god of chaos had often been a strained one, knowing that their friend had put his feelings out there made them empathise with him.

Suddenly Spike held his stomach and belched up a scroll, Twilight catching it in her aura. Twilight unraveled the very top, and looked at the first couple of words. “Discord, it’s addressed to you!”

Discord gently took the paper in his hand and read down the page. He abruptly did a somersault in the air and with a gleeful voice announced “She said yes!”

Chapter 2 - The Waiting Game

Twilight walked out of the Mayors Office, and smiled at Discord “It’s a go!”

“Really?” Discord replied with a fair amount of glee “You didn't have to persuade her with your ‘royalty’ - “ Discord air quoted the word “- did you?”

“No, she thinks turning the town hall into a pop up restaurant for your date is a perfect event for the town. It’s an honour to host Princess Celestia anytime…”

Twilight noticed the God of Chaos look a little annoyed by that line “...and if you would stop trying to annoy everypony, Ponyville would be honoured to host you as well!” she punctuated the sentence with a few prods of her hoof on his chest.

“Touche Twilight Sparkle, touche” Discord admitted defeat as they walk out of the mayors offices “So it’s all on for Saturday night?”

“Yep, there’s no going back now!” Twilight smiled affectionately.

It was wednesday morning, a time Twilight usually devoted for exercise and they had stopped by the mayor to confirm the arrangement first. With the bureaucracy of the morning out of the way (Unfortunately for Twilight who loved bureaucracy), the pony upped the pace of her walk and headed out of town. Normally Discord would be floating next to her and annoy the Princess, but today they were having a serious conversation as Twilight trotted through the countryside.

“Do you think this is a good idea...the date I mean?”

“I can’t see any harm of a date, just try not to do anything too, well, ‘you’. A date is not the time or place for pranks, you’ll have to be on your best behaviour!”

“I know all that Twilight. What I meant was do me and Celestia actually stand a chance?”

Twilight glanced over to her companion as she worked up a sweat “I’m not going to judge that. Afterall, I only know you as a creature that has caused a fair amount of chaos in my short life, and Celestia is a mentor, a friend, and almost a surrogate mum. There’s no way I can make an accurate judgement!”

“Come now Twilight, you sell yourself short. Nopony knows Celestia as well as you.”

“Maybe, but it’s still not my place to say. But I don’t see thats there’s going to be a downside in giving it a go.”

Discord dwelled on this on a moment “True, I could cope if things don't work out, but is it fair to ask my friends to spend their time helping out? Can’t I just use my magic to get the job done in a second?”

“The thing is, you two are so powerful that of course you can do what you like - as a powerful unicorn I know that all too well. But doing it the non-magical way changes things. I learnt that during my first winter-wrap up and it does make things more special. And Celestia will appreciate that.”

“Really?”

Twilight spotted something out of the corner of her eye and altered her course towards it. The alicorn stopped at a nearby river and dipped her head in the river to drink like a common animal, much to Discords surprise.

Once she had sated her thirst, she raised her head and turned to the draconequus with drips of water falling from her muzzle. “Like now. Both as a alicorn, and a Princess, I shouldn’t lower myself to drinking like a common animal.”

Discord looked away slightly as if embarrassed, but Twilight continued her explanation “But sometimes it’s just nice to do things mores simply, a bit like getting back to nature and just doing what feels right.”

“A bit like you're dancing?” Discord teased.

It was Twilights turn to blush this time “Yes, a bit like my over enthusiastic dancing! Celestia hardly ever gets to do anything natural anymore, she even gets flown everywhere, so putting together a date the earth pony way will really mean something to her.”

Noticing the water still dripped down Twilights face, Discord magicked up a towel. He gently cupped Twilight muzzle with a claw and tenderly dried her face. Only when he let go of her muzzle and saw the look of shock on Twilights face did he just realise what he had just done. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that!” he gulped.

Twilight blushed a bit, and looked at him slyly “Perhaps not, but you showed a bit of proper chivalry there...perhaps there is hope for you and Celestia afterall!”

Spike was in one of his favourite locations...actually his favorite location in the whole of Equestria that wasn’t some form of fast food restaurant or bakery. Carousel Boutique was preparing for the weekend, getting decorations for the town hall and tables ready.

The pair worked as efficiently as they always did, although one of the pair was a little more distracted as usual. Rarity wanted to talk to Spike, as she knew that the whelp had planned the whole thing for them. It was a romantic gesture on a level that nopony else had ever shown her, and her heart had developed a slight flutter every time she thought of it.

But there was something else - he had given away his wonderful plan. That meant one of two things. Either he felt that Discord and Celestia’s happiness was more important than his own, or he had given up on ever getting a date with her. One made her very happy, the other caused her a slight amount of sadness.

As she worked on finishing another tablecloth, Rarity broke the silence that they had been working on.

“Spike, whats your relationship with Princess Celestia like?”

“Huh?” Spike turned round in surprise.

Rarity stopped what she was doing and walked over to a sofa, patting the space next to her “Sorry if it’s too personal, but I’ve never asked about your past before?”

Spike was a little confused at the invitation to sit next to the pony he adored but was thankful for the break “It’s...well, I don't know what it is. Obviously she is one of the Princess but given I live with one that doesn’t seem so important as it is to most ponies!”

The pair stifled a small giggle. “Didn’t she help raise you?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, when I was very young and before Twilight was old enough to do so solo. Of course the various castle maids did a lot of the work, but she always made time for both myself and Twilight, as well as running a country and raising the sun and moon. She’s an amazing pony!”

“She must be very special to you.”

Spike paused for a moment “She is. On a recent adventure, she said that she wasn’t a Princess to me, just a pony. But she’s more than that to me, she’s like family...a grandmother.”

“Aww, thats cute” Rarity smiled at the whelp. She wanted to ask the question if that was the reason he had given Discord his wonderful first date idea. But in many regards she didn’t want to know the answer, and definitely didn't want to put S;pike on the spot “Well then, lets make sure this is a night to remember, shall we!”

“With you helping out, I have no doubt it will be!” Spike beamed back.

The week had been agonizingly slow for Celestia. After the pleasant surprise a few days ago, the menial task of ruling the country took over. The media had yet to get wind of the Princess’s plans for the weekend, so court was it’s usual boring petitions.

However, the nerves over the date had started to impact Celestia, and she had started going off her food a little. Those nerves hadn’t been helped by her sister leaving articles clipped from mares magazines on her bed each day, articles such as “9 ways to please your stallion” or “7 dating tips to make sure he’ll be back for more”.

Celestia would be genuinely mad, but given that she had banished her sister to the moon for a thousand years, a little teasing over a date wasn’t too bad. Besides, chasing her sister in mock anger through the castle each night was a welcome break from the drudgery, and something she had missed doing since she was a filly.

But nothing could change the fact that Princess Celestia, the immortal sun-goddess, sole ruler of the largest nation in the world for a thousand years and all round perfect pony...was going to shortly be out on her first date ever.

Chapter 3a - Preparations in Ponyville

With it's busy town atmosphere, and daily flashmobs, Friday evening soon came round in Ponyville. Fluttershy, Discord and Twilight Sparkle were walking towards the town hall for a final run through for the date the following day. As they turned the corner to see the large building for the first time, Discord stopped in shock at the sight of the town hall, having not seen it for a few days.

The building itself had been recently renovated after years of neglect. Whilst Applejack may have not won bits at the Equestria rodeo, with Ponyville winning the Equestria Games the town used the prize money to finally repair the building to its previous glory. But on top of this, ponies had obviously put in a lot of effort in preparation for his date. All the support pillars around the edge of the building were adored with ribbons and bows in various pastel shades - it wasn’t brash and bold like decorations Pinkie Pie would put up, but subtle and classy with a clear hint towards Canterlot culture, clearly Rarity’s work.

The thing that really stood out was some of the new permanent adornments to the building. Whereas previously the woodwork was all plain, along the first and second level balconies new carvings had been made into the edges. And in the middle of each swirl was a small, glittering gem.

Discord couldn't believe how much the place had been transformed, "It looks spectacular" the Draconequus gasped “Are those real?” he gestured towards the gems.

Twilight nodded “Yes, Spike decided the town hall needed something special, for not only is it going to be the place of your date, but it is the centre of a Princesses demesne...even if I tell him I don’t own the town!” the alicorn giggled at the end.

“Spike did this?” Discord replied.

“Yes, he had built up a bit of a hoard with gifts given to him by the crystal empire. But he decided having a hoard was too much of risk...” Twilight wiped a small tear from her eye as she spoke “...so gave them over to beautify the town. It wasn’t even Rarity’s idea!”

Discord looked over to the alicorn, and could see how her eyes were filled with pride at what her charge had done, and Discord suddenly felt a little pang in his heart Even a baby dragon like Spike has done more selfless acts than me...Celestia deserves better!

“What if somepony steals them?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“If somepony steals the ultimate gift of kindness from my son, they are going to find themselves on the receiving end of a Powerful Princess of Magic, an angry dragon and an enraged fashionista…”

“An enraged fashionista...you mean Rarity?” Fluttershy replied, with just a knowing smirk returned by Twilight.

“Wow, thouse two have really outdone themselves!” Discord spoke with a hint of emotion in his voice.

“Wait till you see the inside” Twilight smiled at him.

Discord stood in the doorway frozen like he had been turned into stone by the elements of harmony again. The other ponies just ignored him as he took in the sight of the changed interior.

The place was always quite nice architecturally, with lots of balconies and soft furnishing etc, but the wood was always kept bare and natural. Whilst for a barn that was practical, it was a little underwhelming for a town hall, even for an Earth pony town. But the rustic interior had gone a drastic makeover.

Every wall had been painted neutral shades, with complimentary colours for each balcony. And whole new tapestries were hanging up, and like outside every pillar and baluster was adored with ribbon and bows. The town hall now looked like it was fit for Canterlot, or a Princess. But it still had a more homely feel than the restaurants in Canterlot, or the rooms of any of the three castles in Equestria.

Fluttershy came over and guided the stunned Discord over to the towns resident Princess who had gathered some of her friends around her, whilst Spike was busy dealing with a delivery of crockery that had just arrived. The bookworm pulled a list out from her saddlebag and cleared her throat “Okay, lets just run through this checklist. Item one - Decorations.”

Twilight looked around the room “Big Check! Straight onto Item two - Music”, spotting the piano set up on the stage.

“Spike will be at the piano for much of the night.” Rarity replied on the whelps behalf “And Lyra Heartstrings offered to play throughout the evening. We also hopefully have Octavia coming down from Canterlot to accompany them both...it’s been a while since again she and Lyra were at music school together and she jumped at the chance of a reunion performance.”

“Sounds like its all under control?” Twilight asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from her unicorn friend. “Okay, item three - Food”

“Well thats me in the kitchen, Sugarcube” Applejack spoke up “Along with a few other ponies around town to assist as Rôtisseur, Saucier and all those other fancy words for cooks. Rarity of course helped give a touch of refinement -” Applejack spoke in her Applejewel voice - “to the menu”. Noticing her friend scowl slightly, the farmer winked to the fashionista to show she was just kidding.

“And I guess your doing the desserts?” Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie.

“Nope, I’m busy, Bon Bon’s being the plasterer!"

"I think you mean pâtissier, darling”

“Bon Bon’s doing desserts?” Twilight replied with a little shock.

Fluttershy giggled a little “Yeah, for some reason her evening became free when Lyra volunteered to play.”

The mares just gave each other little looks. “Thats nice for them!” Twilight smiled as she spoke. “So, thats food dealt with. Item four - Staff”

“Well, I’ll be the head server on the night. And you volunteered to be maître'd, or should that be princesse'd” Rarity giggled.

Twilight nodded “Yep, I think I’ll be the only person willing to make Celestia wait if she arrived before her booked time, being so eager an all!” she added with a wink towards Discord.

“Great, and I have a few of the most co-ordinated ponies around town volunteer to help serve.” Rarity added “Berry Punch is going to be the bartender, and has created a rather … interesting … drinks menu!”

“Excellent!” Twilight clopped her hooves slightly. “Last item - Guests”

“Guests?” Discord replied.

“Yes silly, we’re not just running the restaurant for you.” Pinkie Pie booped the draconequus on the nose “And besides, think of the pressure if it’s just you two in a big massive room alone, all eyes looking at you, judging the chemistry, or lack of, between the countries elite leaders!”

“Wow, I hadn’t thought of that” Discord mused.

“That's why you have your wing-whelp in Spike,” Rarity replied with a smile “he’d planned it all!”

Twilight levitated up a blank scroll “Okay, so who needs to go on the list?”

Rarity listed off a few names of couples that she had invited along, Twilight’s analytical mind noticing that they were all mixed between the different pony races, which would be good for the two mixed race creatures. Once a hooffull of couples were on the list, Twilight turned to the others “Anypony else?”

“Well, I’ll be foal sitting for the Cakes, hence I can't be in the kitchen, so Mr and Mrs Cake can have a date night.”

Twilight added them to the list “That'll be nice touch to have an older couple in the room as well...well, younger than you and the princess..." She motioned to Discord "....but still!”

“Yeah, and they managed to get a few other established couples to come…” and Pinkie listed off a few more.

Twilight made a note of them all but turned on the last names “Wait, aren't they Scootaloo’s parents? With Applejack and Rarity here, who’s keeping the.." Twilight Gulped "...terrible trio occupied?”

Fluttershy shuffled on her hooves nervously “I’m foal sitting the cutie mark crusaders. I won't have any trouble given the last time and that cockatrice!”

“So, is that it?” Twilight asked, to be met with a shake of the head by Rarity.

“We also have some non romantic groups coming. Rainbow Dash is…” Rarity rolled her eyes a little “Hanging out with a few work colleagues over a civilised dinner.”

“Thats unusual of her...good for her to go for a meal and spend time with the weather team” Twilight beamed.

“It’s nothing to do with them really, she just wants me waiting on her!”

“Really Rarity, I’m sure she’s got better reasons to spend time with her colleagues than you!”

“No, she said it to my face.” Rarity deadpanned back.

Fluttershy nodded “I was there...she did!”

Twilight made a note of that group, and one other that had booked, and checked the list to the number of tables just to make sure. “Okay, we’re all set then and ready for tomorrow!”

Discord looked over the confident ponies surrounding him You may be, but I’m not! he thought to himself.

Chapter 3b - Composition in Canterlot

It was a few hours before the date, and Celestia was slowly become a wreck with nerves. She was fortunate that her niece was still down from the Crystal Empire, which had distracted her for the past few days, but now all the attention had switched to the evening.

Celestia found herself in her bedroom along with Luna and Cadence. How they ended up there she wasn’t sure as she didn’t need any help getting ready for the evening...she wasn’t thinking of doing anything special for her trip to ponyville.

“So, what are you planning on wearing tonight?” Cadence asked as she trotted over to her Aunts wardrobe, opening it up without asking and looking at the dresses inside.

Celestia was a little taken back but the forwardness of Cadence, having not had any ponies be so bold with her for a long time. “Wear? I wasn’t planning on wearing anything tonight except my usual regalia.”

Cadence turned round in shock “Oh, but you must - A nice dress is an important part of the date!”

Celestia sighed “I don’t do the whole clothes thing. I’ve only worn a dress for yours and Twilights Coronations, and that was by law! I didn’t even put on a dress for your wedding.”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Cadence rolled her eyes slightly “I know as Princesses you and Luna choose to go against the norm of wearing outfits for the Grand Galloping Gala and so forth. But this is dating...there is an expectation of clothing.”

“But why? Given we’re, you know, nude all of the time, why do we dress up to attract a mate?” Celestia asked her young niece. Whilst Celestia may have been much older than either of the two other alicorns in the room, she knew the princesses of love and night had more intimate knowledge when it came to romance and the more intimate areas of relationships.

“By covering up, we put a barrier between ourselves and our date. Then, as the relationship progresses, eventually those barriers come down. Its a way of showing the progression of intimacy without having to actually talk about it...and before we get to the really nice stuff” Cadences eyes glazed over for a few seconds as she thought about her husband back home running the Crystal Empire whilst she was in Canterlot.

“That...makes a surprising amount of sense” Celestia mused.

“So, socks?” her sister giggled. Celestia took the socks that Luna was floating in front of her face and threw them with her magic into the darker alicorns face.

“So, no socks then!” Luna continued to giggle at her elder sisters embarrassment “Or not until you let Discord undress you! I wonder if he uses magic or those freaky fingers he has?”

Celestia picked up all the cushions and pillows in her room in her aura and chucked them all simultaneously at Luna. The night goddess simply let them hit her as she rolled on the floor with laughter, until she was pinned down by the weight.

“Luna!” Cadence scolded her other aunt “Thats not very nice. This is all new to your sister and we're here to support her. Now if socks embarrass her, lets not make a big deal out of it!”

“Why do you have these items then Tia if you don’t wish to wear them” Luna smirked as she struggled to pull herself out of the large pile of cushions that had been dumped on her.

Celestia cheeks showed the faintest hint of a blush “Hey...we all like to feel sexy sometimes!” and with that the largest alicorn turned her eyes down to the ground “Given none of our subjects seem to find me attractive, I just...you know...like to dress up a bit…”

Luna looked at her sister with genuine surprise “None of our subjects find you attractive? You're kidding right? You do know how you are revered by our subjects?”

The blank look on Celestias face told Luna that this was new news to our sister. “Really, you didn’t know that our guards worship us? And not as goddesses but as mares!” .

“They do?” the elder sister asked with a bit of shock “But, they are always so stuffy around us!”

“They are just being professional, but they dream about us...often! And probably would Cadence as well but they know shes married to the captain of the guard.”

Celestia’s blush intensified a bit, and with a lot of guilt Luna went over and nuzzled up to her “Sister, I did not mean to embarrass you so, but I thought you knew!” and the sisters shared an embrace.”I would not have teased so if I thought you wasn’t aware of just what our little ponies thought of us...I’m sorry.”

Cadence coughed a bit to get their attention and try to move away from the awkwardness “Okay, with that out of the way, what dress do you like best?”

Celestia looked through the dresses in her wardrobe, holding a few up against her body and switching them around like any other mare in a clothes shop. She finally finished on a simple, yet elegant, dream coloured dream with a black trim.

“Okay, I’m not joking this time, but these really match that outfit!” Luna spoke sincerely as levitated something over to her sister.

“Stockings? Doesn’t that make me look a little...i don’t know...a little gothic?” Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister.

“It’s all the rage right now...I think it’s meant as a nice homage to yours truly” Luna smiled, but warmly rather than the teasing she had been giving her elder sister earlier “Besides, given that dress, like all of them, are a little dated it will match quite nicely.”

Celestia looked over the dresses, noting she had nothing new commissioned since the turn of the century...the previous century “Don’t you think that’ll make me look a bit old?”

“Tia, Discord is older than us and knows how old we all are...it’s not a problem.”

Cadence looked over her aunts head “And we really must do something with your mane...don’t get me wrong I would love an ethereal mane like you two, but it’s not very subtle for a date. Perhaps we could get it up somehow?“

Celestia looked into the mirror, imagining what it would be like her mane “What about my crown?”

“You’ll leave that in the castle silly?”

“Wait, go out without a crown?”

Yes!” Cadence practically facehoofed “And your chestplate and regular shoes as well. You have some nice shoes here that match your outfit!”

Celestia recoiled a little in shock “Go out without my crown...I’m not sure about that”

“Do you want Discord to be dating Princess Celestia” Luna pronounced the name as formally as she could “or the mare Celestia?” Luna spoke seductively..

Celestia looked at both her fellow princesses, at the dress in her aura and sighed in defeat “Okay, you win!”

“Goodie” Luna clopped her hooves “Cadence, you start on the mane, I’ll get the make-up!”

Author's Note

This is sort of an interesting chapter when it comes to the Bechdel test as such. We haven’t seen Celestia or Luna being very feminine (We have Cadence) so it was weird to think that Celestia might want to be that way sometimes...as well as a strong leader.

And gothic celestia because that toy canon now!

Chapter 4 - First Contact

Celestia didn’t like being flown around. She was an alicorn, she had wings and was more than capable of using them. But both the Royal Guard and her advisors always insisted that for appearances sake, she couldn't be seen flying about like a normal pony...she was a Princess and had to act accordingly.

The goddess of the sun was annoyed that Twilight seemed to be allowed to fly and move around without guards. Twilight even seemed to be able to go to Manehatten and be ignored by ponies queuing up for Taxis, despite clearly being an alicorn princess...Celestia couldn't even begin to believe that could happen to her!

She always felt guilty at the work done by other ponies for her, but it was worse this evening as she was being flown in a full covered carriage rather than the lighter open ones. Given the work her niece had put in taming her mane, she couldn't let the wind ruin it so had no choice, but it created a lot more work for the guards pulling her through her sisters evening.

Despite the extra drag that the carriage produced, it didn't take the four guards too long to cover the distance between Canterlot and Ponyville. As the quaint and familiar town came into view, she looked back in her minds eye to when she left canterlot, and the faces of her two fellow princesses.

Cadence had a blissful look on her face that young ponies have when it comes to love, and Celestia thought she saw a slight hint of jealousy from her younger sister. But they both also had looks of hope and nerves about them.

And truth be told that described how Celestia felt - hopeful yet nervous...

As her carriage landed and came to a steady stop outside Twilight’s Friendship Rainbow Kingdom Castle, she noted Discord was already waiting for her. He was sporting a rather fashionable suit, no doubt made by Rarity, and was calmly stood waiting just by the palace steps.

As the four pegasi guards unhitched themselves from the carriage, Celestia quickly checking her reflection in the mirror, but then caught herself in the act. Come on Celestia, you are the immortal leader of Equestria, you shouldn’t care how your mane looks! she scolded herself.

“But its nice to feel wanted” she half-whispered to herself as the door was opened.

She gracefully stepped out of the carriage and she noted Discords reaction to her. A faint blush threaten to show on her calm face as her date stood like he had just been turned back into stone by the elements. Celestia turned to her guards “Thank you kind sirs, you will not be needed for the rest of the night.” She waved across the town “I am told that Ponyville has a fine selection of drinking establishments and feel free to try them. Just be in a fit enough state to fly home!” she added with a slight nod.

“But Princess, it is our sworn duty to protect you!” the leader guard replied whilst all four bowed to her unison.

Little good that did against Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis or the Plunder Seeds the alicorn mentally facehooved. “This is Ponyville, a safe place. And apart from myself there is also Princess Twilight and Discord to take care of any trouble that may arise. I will be quite safe here I assure you.”

Hearing his name, Discord stepped forwards and spoke with a reserved tone “Kind Stallions, I shall protect the Princess with my life if need be, I give you my word!”

“Your word?” one of the guards scoffed “The words of a traitor!”

Before Discord had a chance to respond, he felt the rush of air as two wings unfurled in anger next to him.

“Yes, his word. Discord is a friend to me, my sister, Princess Twilight and the former element bearers." Celestia continued her rant "And if that isn’t enough for you, he is a citizen of Equestria and deserves the same respect I expect my guards to give anypony!”

The guard mumbled his apologies and slunk off towards the town, one of his three companions giving him a slight whack round the back of the head as they followed him. Celestia turned to face her date, hoping that her actions hadn’t ruined the evening Thousands of years in the waiting, and you ruin it in the first minute!

“I’m, sorry for their words, that was unprofessional of them.” her eyes dipped to the floor as she spoke

Discord wanted to tell the pony that she was cute when she was angry, but deciding to stick with the whole first date process decided against it...it was too soon “Not at all Princess Celestia. they...”

“Please, just call me Celestia?” the pony interrupted a little despondently.

“Of course, Celestia. It is just a sign of how much a wonderful pony you that they want to protect you. Thank you for sticking up for me.”

His kind words lifted her spirits, and her eyes and head soon followed. The two creatures looked at each other for a moment before Discord gestured to a fancy carriage with two earth pony stallions waiting for them. “A taxi to take us to dinner” he confirmed as the two of them walked over to it. Discord extended a claw to help the pony in and the alicorn instinctively per her hoof in the offered support.

It was their first touch and both hearts skipped a beat as the contact was made, and the minds of them both registered this a few seconds later. The two of them had never touched before, and for the first time to be for something so chivalrous was something neither of them would have expected a thousand years ago.

Celestia carefully (in order not to trip over her dress she was not used to wearing and totally not to extend the time her hoof was being held), got in the carriage and Discord sat next to her. “To Ponyville, dear sirs” he ordered the two taxi-ponies who set off on a leisurely pace towards the town hall.

Twilight was watching over the pop-up restaurant that was already well underway. Most of the customers had already arrived, and Spike was playing the piano whilst Octavia and Lyra discussed their music. Berry Punch seemed quiet content behind the bar, and the few ponies that had started with their starters seemed to be enjoying their food.

Whilst everything was going to plan, Twilight was still mentally freaking out. Luckily hairs had yet sprung out from her mane, but there was still time. The evening was no doubt ‘going to be fine’ everypony had been telling her, but fine wasn’t enough. This was Princess Celestia first date ever! And Princess Celestia always deserved the best. She had mentored Twilight all these and put her on the path that led her to be her own Princess with her own kingdom. And for that alone Twilight would be eternally grateful, literally!

Across the room, Rarity was also doing her best to stay calm as Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to ask “Waitress-ity” as many awkward questions about the menu as possible.

The taxi ride into town wasn’t too long, and the carriage stopped a short distance from the town hall as arranged. Discord jumped out and helped Celestia down from the carriage, their hearts skipping the second beat of the night as hoof met claw.

As Celestia got her bearing, she took in the sight of the newly redecorated town hall. “Did you do this Discord?” she gasped.

The draconequus couldn’t help but smile as his dates face lit up as she took in the decorations and jewels lit up by magically enhanced lamps “No, your little ponies organised all of this...shall we go in?”

There were other ponies in the town square, but they seemed to be ignoring the pair, something Celestia found weird...but refreshing. She nodded in agreement with her date and the pair walked the short distance and up the stairs towards the grand doors.

Twilight saw the door open out of the corner of her eye, and then the familiar faces of her mentor and her friendly antagonist walk through. She was a little shocked at seeing Celestia’s mane up and not flowing like it usually did, but she quickly came to her senses as she noted the two esteemed guests waiting to be seated.

Twilight took a calming breath, then trotted up to the lecture where her reservations were. “Good Evening, welcome to the la musette sur la place. Do you have a reservation?” Twilight tried to sound as formal as possible, whilst also being as dispassionate and friendly in equally measures.

“Yes, in the name of Discord Confusio at seven?”

“Ah, but of course! Sir Confusio, a table for two. Let me show you to you table.” Twilight started to turn but then noticed another couple arriving at the door. Knowing that in her role it would be rude to leave the other couple waiting on arrival, Twilight spoke into her headset “Ms Belle, would you come and help at reception, thank you.”

She then turned back to the immortal couple “If you would like to wait over there, one of the waitresses we seat you shortly.” And with that Twilight turned and greeted the next couple.

Celestia and Discord moved over and the mare lent over and whispered “Discord, did you arrange for Twilight to pretend to not know who we were?”

“No, I had no idea” Discord replied in an even tone, trying to stifle a bit of a giggle. It was a nice touch and no doubt all part of trying to get Celestia away from her Princess mindset.

Celestia smiled and Discord noticed a slight hint of mischief flash across his dates face “Should be nice to see how far we can push that with the others!”

Just than Rarity approached the pair “Sir, Madam, let me show you to your table.”

After the pair had been shown to their table, and their first drinks ordered, Celestia slowly looked around and took in the old building. Discord may have seen it before, but seeing the pleasure in Celestia’s eyes as she noticed all the little details that Spike and Rarity had put together filled his heart with a feeling he didn’t quite know how to describe.

She then turned and said something that the draconequus did not expect “Discord, would you say that this was the best table in the house?”

Discord was rather stunned by that and looked around “No, I wouldn’t. I can get Twilight to move us?”

Celestia let out a small giggle, the sound creating even more confusion for Discords feelings “No, not at all. It’s a nice touch for us to be treated as everypony else.”

“Treated by everypony else...for you I guess thats a demotion rather than something you strive for?”

Celestia noted the change in her partners tone “Has fitting in really been that tough?

Discord looked guiltyly towards the alicorn “Sorry, I shouldn't bring up stuff like this!”

“No, it’s fine, do go on!” she smiled with the mothering smile that had got generations of ponies through tough times.

“Well, I can’t blame your little ponies given what I’ve done in the past...and not so distant past. Of course Ponyville is one of the better places thanks to Fluttershy and Princess Twilight, but outside of this town I’m far from greeted with open hooves!”

Celestia continued her warm smile to Discord “Well, perhaps if ponies knew you better they wouldn’t be so scared - ” and slightly softening her eyes a little “ - and I know I would like to get to know you better!”

Just as Discord was about to reply, one of the waitresses came over with their drinks order, the young unicorn mare practically fainting in delight as she served the two immortals their drinks. Celestia thanked the pony and turned to discord "What shall we toast to?"

Discord smiled as he picked up his glass in one claw "New Beginnings?"

Celestia levitated up her glass and clinked it against her dates "To new beginnings!"

Chapter 5 - Getting to know you

As the pair put down their drinks, both of them came to a startling conclusion at the same time...they had no idea what to say next. Both of them had thought a lot about the preparation of the date, but neither had thought past that first initial point. Celestia could only think of boring “being-ruler-of-a-country” stuff, and Discord couldn’t think of anything except tales of pranks he had recently pulled...unlikely to impress Celestia during a formal date.

The was an awkward silence developing, which then made it more difficult to think of a conversation good enough to start with, and a vicious circle had begun. Luckily for the immortal pair, a pair of not-so immortal ponies were keeping an eye on them. Rarity was closer than Twilight, and so took the lead by trotting over to the pair.

“Sir, Madam, would you like some olives or flowers whilst you browse the menu?”

Celestia's eyes lit flitted over to Rarity, a look of appreciation that Twilight had seen regularly but was fairly new to the unicorn. “Yes thank you, some olives would be delightful.” Celestia quickly scanned over the menu “What is the soup of the day?”

“Sweet Potato and Roasted Walnut” Rarity replied and added with an flourish “Of course if that is not to your liking, the chef can always try to create a dish just for you.”

Discord smiled as Celestia rolled her eyes a little as Rarity slipped into treating the alicorn as a Princess. He scanned over the menu and asked “And what is the fresh fish option?”

Rarity stiffened slightly “Today’s catch was salmon, which the chef would aim to serve either as blackened salmon, or is suitable for...erm...eating raw.”

“Thank you” Discord replied. Rarity bowed as she left to get the olives.

Celestia was tempted to look at the menu again, but had to bring up the subject “Fish?”

“Yes, it’s right here on the menu.” Discord started, before pausing “Wait, would that offend you?”

Celestia thought for a moment, and a smile formed on her face “Of course not. Whilst ponies may be vegetarian, plenty of the animals in Equestria are not. Living with Fluttershy, you must know that at least some ponies understand that some creatures eat others?”

Discord still looked a little sheepish “Yes, but those are wild animals, and they are not on a date with the most perfect pony in Equestria.”

Celestia blushed a little at the compliment, but saw that Discord was fidgeting a little. She had dealt with enough nervous ponies in her life to know how to deal with this “Do you enjoy eating fish?”

Just at the moment, Rarity returned with the olives, delivering them in her aura and quickly retreating as it was clear the pair were finally talking.

“I’m not going to lie, that’s not what friends do to each other” Discord sighed a little “Truth be told, yes I do.”

Celestia picked up an olive with her aura, and delicately popped it into her mouth. Discord picked up a toothpick and proceeded to do the same. Celestia swallowed, and smiled at her date “There’s nothing wrong with that Discord. I’ve always wondered what you like to eat.”

“I’m like a dragon, I eat pretty much anything...although staying at the castle does not provide me with much variation”

Celestia's eyes shifted slightly, the faint hint of something behind her eyes but her voice keeping the same warm tone “Why’s that?”

“Most ponies don’t like handling meat or fish...of course for pets they do and for a foreign dignitary they will do whatever is required. But the chefs were quite adamant that they were not going to cook anything different for me than they were serving for you and Luna.”

Celestia’s eyes softened, and she reached her leg over the table to take one of her dates claw in her hoof “Discord, I had no idea. I must apologise and will sort this matter out first thing tomorrow morning”

“There’s no need for that. I believe I could force the issue myself, but I wouldn't want to make anypony to do something they weren't comfortable with -”

Celestia sniggered a little and Discord smiled at the irony of the statement “Well, not again anyway. Besides, they signed up to serve you and your sister, but thank you for the offer.”

Celestia tried to compose herself, a slight internal rage building. She took another olive to give her time to cool before replying with affection “No, you do not understand. I made it clear to all the Guards and workers at the palace that you should be treated as equal to my sister and I.”

“You did?” Discord replied with a little shock.

“Yes, your recent actions proved that you obviously did not feel like a genuine part of Equestria’s society...of it’s Royalty. But you are, or at least I hope you choose to be -” Celestia highlighted the word “- It would be such a shame to have to rearrange the palace gardens again to find space for your stoned form.”

“Well, without the elements of harmony how do you expect to do that?”

Celestia giggled a little “We still have Cockatrices…”

The pair looked and each other and shared a laugh but then looked down to see them still holding each other. They quickly recoiled their limbs with a faint blush. A silence started again, and celestia levitated up her menu. For the next minute or so both of them snacked on the olives whilst looking over the menu.

Rarity noted the awkwardness again, but fate decided to intervene. The nervous waitress from earlier was carrying a tray full of drinks over to one of the parties when she tripped over an empty chair, spilling the tray and sending drinks hurtling towards a pair of young lovers on a date.

Discord and Celestia both noticed this and Celestia started charging her horn. However, before she had a chance to react fully, the drinks magically jumped back onto the tray and the pony heard the familiar snap of Discords claw. Everypony that had seen the spill looked round in surprise, but guessed that either Twilight or Celestia had done something.

However, the two alicorns knew that only creature in the room could perform such a feat so quickly.

“Did you do that?” Celestia asked, even though she knew the answer “Discord, just you just stop a bit of chaos from happening?”

“Erm, yes?” the draconequus replied scratching behind his head nerviosuly.

Celestia then burst out laughing “Oh, I never thought I would see the day.” She then leaned toward so she could whisper “To do that you must be crushing on me hard!”

Now it was Discords turn to blush and Rarity returning to get the order stumbling into the scene. “Are you ready to order?”

Celestia looked over to Discord and answered the question wordlessly with a subtle nod, and Discord turned to Rarity “Why yes, I believe we are!” and motioned for Celestia to go first.

“For the main course, I’ll take the daffodil and chestnut salad, with some bread on the side. And for the starter…” the pony paused for a second and flicked her eyes over to her date “I know it’s not on the menu persay, but could I have some salmon sashimi with perhaps some wild rice on the side, and some ginger if you have it?”

Rarity managed to keep her calm exterior with Discord looked with a genuine look of surprise “Of course, I’ll see what the chef can do, and for you sir?”

Discord slightly shook his head to clear his thoughts “I’ll have the same starter, and may I have roasted carrot, bean and cheese salad.”

“Excellent choices!” Rarity replied with calm slightly french accent that was getting more pronuced throughout the evening “Do you require any more drinks?”

“No, we are fine for now” Celestia replied, and Rarity left the pair.

Discord just looked over at his date, with Celestia just looking around deliberately nonchalantly “Fish? Really?”

“I’m an alicorn, I can eat fish” Celestia replied. She slowly levitated up an olive, keeping eye contact with Discord, and popped the olive in her mouth leaving it paused on the lips for just a second “And as a Princess, I can eat whatever I like, whenever I like” Celestia’s eyes twinkled a little as she spoke, and Discord’s saw the hint of mischief that was always hidden behind her calm exterior.

Things just got interesting Discord thought to himself.

With the ice broken, the pair soon settled into their date with conversation flowing much more freely. Rarity along with the other waitresses and Twilight kept an eye on the pair but with the immortals now happy they could also make sure the other guests for the evening were having a good time.

Spike’s music was soon joined in by Lyra and Octavia, and Spike soon left the pair playing to take a break. He walked over to the bar where Rarity was paused waiting for the next order of drinks for Rainbow Dash’s group. The pegasus was enjoying the evening immensely as she could get to order Rarity around and generally be a pain in the flank.

The strain of being civil towards her friends unreasonable demands meant that Rarity was getting visibly annoyed. However, when the next drinks order was ready Spike offered to serve it instead. Rarity tried to insist it wasn’t his job, so Spike just pointed out the Mr and Mrs Cake needed to be served their food so Rarity trotted off to do that. Spike carefully carried the drinks over to the table, and started serving the drinks.

Leaving Rainbow Dash’s drink till last, he turned to serve his friend but deliberately tripped over his own tail, throwing the drink all over the pegasus (Discord and Celestia both noticed this in progress, but neither of them choose to intervene). Rainbow’s friends originally froze as their boss wiped herself down, but then started laughing at the wet pony.

Spike apologised and offered to get another drink, but Rainbow Dash knew he did it on purpose. The rash speedster was about to argue with the dragon when she remembered where she was and who else was in the room - not only was Princess Celestia on her date but she had a special bond with Spike. And Twilight was also nearby and might object to Rainbow Dash insulting her brother/son thingy.

Rainbow publically acknowledged the apology and laughed along with her friends, but leant in to Spike “I know you did that on purpose Spike!” Rainbow quietly hissed to the dragon, staring daggers at the whelp.

Spike however was unmoving and simply stared the pegasus back “And I know how you’ve been treating our friend Rarity...so that was from her because she would be too polite to ever do anything like that to you!”

Rainbow looked away slightly annoyed by that barb and Spike took that as a win. He re-served Rainbow Dash her drink and went to sit down at the bar. Within moments Twilight had walked over to her charge “I saw that!”

Spike looked guilty towards the floor “Yeah, I know, and I expect to be punished. I presume no ice-cream or gems for a week?”

Twilight looked around to make sure nopony was watching, and confirming they weren’t lent in and gave a very quick hug “Good thing you did that, as I was about to do the same!”

“But...I did something wrong?” Spike asked confused.

“Oh, it was wrong...but did it for the right reasons, so lets call it a wash shall we? Of course I suspect Rainbow Dash may be looking for some revenge later.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that!” Spike bit his lip “And she pranks gooooooddd!”

Once everypony had been served their deserts, Spike, Octavia and Lyra started playing music suitable for dancing. Discord and Celestia watched as a few of the couples got up and started dancing with the music, pairs of friends from some of the groups joining them.

Celestia looked over towards Discord with a bit of a false pleading look in her eyes, a gentle hint to her date that the draconequus didn’t fail to pick up on.

“Would you care to dance? he asked in the most formal tone he could muster.

Celestia giggled “I thought you’d never ask.”

As he was about to stand up, Discord paused for a second watching the pairs of bodies moving in perfect rhythm. “But how will we do this given your a quadruped and I’m bipedal? I could transform into a pony if it would help?” Discord shrugged his shoulders a little.

Celestia rolled her eyes “Are you a pony?”

“No...and I know you want ‘me to be me’ and you have to stop using that trick!” Celestia just stuck her tongue out to Discord, causing him to laugh a little “But how will we do this?” he continued.

“Do you think you can hold half my body up? Remember, if you say no then you’re basically calling me fat?”

“Given how the question was phrased...of course I can, it is but a feather sweet princess!”

Celestia and Discord stood and and walking to the dancefloor. Discord stood there as his alicorn date reared up onto her hind legs, and placed both her front hooves on his shoulders.

“Put an arm around my trunk” Celestia half asked/half commanded.

“You sure?”

“Yes, I need the support. Besides, the dress gives me a certain amount of privacy from any prying eyes or fingers” she raised her eyebrows once in a look that told the draconequus not to get any ideas.

Discord held the pony with one arm, whilst celestia dropped her opposing front leg round his body until the pair was settled. With the weight sorted out, the pair began to dance slowly to the music.

The other ponies almost stopped dancing in surprise to see the larger pair standing up, but remembered they were suppose to be treating the pair like any other so continued their own movements.

Once the immortal pair had picked up the rhythm and were comfortable in the pose, Discord spoke first “I was slightly surprised to see you in a dress to be honest...I thought you would be in your usual regalia.”

“It was my nieces idea...as was the mane and makeup”

“I must thank her for that!”

“Oh, and whys that?” Celestia asked a little cheekily.

“Because you look rather ravishing in that dress...and whilst your flowing mane is wonderful, having it up lets me see all of that wonderful face of yours.” Celestia looked away bashfully, but Discord continued “And whilst your natural beauty can’t be beat, the makeup does add a bit of mystery to that majestic face”

Celestia was unfortunate that she was a white furred pony as the deep blush she was now wearing was clear for everypony to see. Twilight and Rarity, watching from one side with nopony to serve, hoof bumped each other.

Celestia was too taken back to formulate a fancy reply, so just mumble “You look rather handsome yourself” before resting her head against her dates.

After a few hours mixed between dancing and drinks, one by one the other guests started to leave. Wanting to make sure that they weren’t last, Discord and Celestia got the attention of Twilight and asked for the bill.

Twilight smiled at the pair “It’s on the house.”

“Oh no, we can’t accept that!” Celestia replied, Discord nodding in agreement.

“Consider it a present for the Princess of Friendship for two close friends finding a new friendship.” Twilight turned to Celestia “And payback for all you did for me as a filly, a mare, ...and what you continue to do for me”

Celestia lent in and gave Twilight a nuzzling “Thank you, my faithful student” she whispered, a slight tear forming on her eye

“Anytime, my wonderful mentor” Twilight nuzzled back.

Discord didn’t want to break the heartwarming moment, but he couldn’t resist it “And me?”

“Well, indirectly you did get me wings and a castle, so I guess it’s a thank you for that” Twilight giggled, given the draconequus a playful poke with a hoof “But thats it now, we’re even! Besides, having the Princess in town always boosts the towns profile so I’ll put it under the governments marketing budget.”

“So it’s my money afterall then?” Celestia joked

“Our money now” Twilight replied with a ruffle of her wings, before the three of them laughed together. “Anyway I best go say goodbye the remaining customers, have a pleasant rest of the evening”. Twilight bowed at the end, and trotted off to serve the remaining ponies.

As soon as they stepped outside the town hall, they were greeted by the Royal Guards waiting for them. Celestia could sense that they had done as she asked and had a couple of drinks, but that they were still more than fit for duty.

“I hope you gentlecolts had a nice evening?” Celestia asked.

“Yes Princess!” the guards replied in unison, before the captain added “I hope that you...both of you...had a pleasant time?”

The pair nodded before Celestia addressed her guards “If you don’t mind, can we have a few moments of privacy?”

The guards stepped back a few paces, but were still clearly protecting the Princess. They both noticed this, but continued anyway.

“It was a wonderful evening, I do hope you enjoyed it Celestia?”

“I did indeed, Ponyville really pulled out all the stops for us.”

“It was nice of Twilight to pay, but that just means I’ll have to pay next time...it’s traditional afterall.”

“Oh, and what's to say theres going to be a next time?” Celestia asked, smirking as she did.

“How could you say no to this?” Discord laughed waving his hands dramatically over himself.

“I would like that, but one thing.” Celestias face fell to something more seriously looking, grabbing his attention “Discord…I don’t mind you causing a little chaos when I’m around. I appreciate your efforts tonight, but you are the god of chaos. I know it’s in your nature and I don’t want you to suppress it completely.”

“Oh, of course, but this was a first date so it just seemed wrong. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow somehow...how about I make your lunch come alive or something?”

Celestia put a hoof to her chin in thinking mode “Hmmm, lunchtimes no good for me, how about two thirty?”

The pair giggled but as Celestia went to put down her hoof, Discord grabbed it. The guards instantly sprang forwards, two of them readying their spears.

“Stand down” Celestia ordered, before turning her attention a little confused back to her date. Discord lent down whilst raising the hoof and gently kissed it “Till next time my lady”

Celestia blush was visible to everypony as the guards walked her to her carriage, Celestia giving a wave from inside before she was whisked away, leaving the draconequus by himself.

However, moments later he was joined by Rarity and Twilight “So how did it go?” Rarity asked.

Discord turned to the unicorn and wanted to give her a hug. But as he approached with his arms ready, he remembered who had ask the question and just stopped short of touching her.

“You were about to hug me weren’t you?” the mare asked with a little confusion.

“Yes, but I know you don’t like me mucking up your mane style.”

Rarity smiled at the lovestruck draconequus “Oh, I think it’ll be okay this time...one time.”

Discord picked Rarity up and swung round in circles with her “It was wonderful, thank you so much for all your hard work!”

Setting down the pony, and noticing with a smile that she immediately started brushing her mane and tail, Discord moved over to Twilight, discussing how the date went with the other immortal in town.

Meanwhile Spike was sat nearby looking back towards the Town Hall, just as the last guests were leaving. Rarity sat down next to him, her aura still active in brushing her mane casting a soft glow over them. Twilight subtly took a few steps away along with Discord, to give the two a little space as they deserved.

The dragon and the pony looked in silence at what they achieved that evening, as it was clear that it had been an outstanding success. Mr and Mrs Cake had thanked all the staff very thoroughly for the wonderful dinner, the pair having not had such a romantic evening since before the twins were born. Other couples, new and established, had felt the same.

Rarity lent slightly to the side, pressing up against the dragon. Whilst his first reaction was surprise, something inside of him told him it was okay and Spike leaned back against the one pony he had different feelings for than any other.

“We did it Spike, the whole plan went off without a hitch” the fashionista sighed happily.

“Yeah, we did it!”

Rarity paused for a moment, holding the contact between them for a few moments, before easing the pressure, both of them standing up straight again.

Author's Note

The fish thing isn’t new, it’s in a number of other fics I’ve read that Alicorns have different diets. And I needed some sign from Celestia that she accepted Discords differences.

Oh, and this is the end of the Sprarity bit of the story, but I write enough of that as it is. :moustache: :heart: :raritywink:

Chapter 6 - Monday Morning, rain is falling

Celestia woke up just before sunrise...naturally, and sprung out of bed. It was monday and whilst returning to court didn't usually invigorate her so, there was something else of pressing concern. Today would be the first day that the newspapers would have had a chance to report on her date.

Raising the sun and quickly brushing her teeth, she headed off to breakfast. As she entered the Royal Dinning room, she saw Luna having her supper alone, save for a few guards. Cadence had gone home to the Crystal Empire the day before and life at the palace was back to normal.

Or at least she hoped so...it depended on the media.

Celestia took her seat to a cheery wave from her Sister whose mouth was filled with her ice-cream desert. The younger alicorn picked up the papers she was reading and levitated them over to her sister. Celestia poured herself a strong cup of coffee and took a deep sip before turning attention to the sheets in front of her.

She looked over the front pages of the main broadsheets and other newspapers quickly and was relieved as there was no sign of any stories about her. The papers had seemingly accepted her request that they were to respect her privacy over the date, and she let out a large sigh of relief.

However, her eyes were then drawn to one newspaper, one of those low quality ones that often print rumours, gossip, completely made up and often slightly racist stories. The front page was dominated by one story, along with stock photo of the Princess and Discord together.

"Thats the only one" Luna confirmed before taking another big bite of pie.

Celestia read over the story, which was far from complimentary. The newspaper was one aimed at earth and pegasi ponies that often tried to stir up general distrust of canterlot and the unicorn elite. It didn't usually have negative words against the Princesses themselves, as they were too loved by too many ponies for that to work, but sometimes attacked the other ponies in the castle and nobility...especially Prince Blueblood.

This edition, whilst still not directly attacking the Princess, did cast a lot of doubt over Discords intentions even going as far as saying that it could be a trick or use of his magic. And it also cast doubt if Celestia would become too distracted to run the country properly and perhaps Princesses Luna and Twilight would have to take over. Celestia read the whole thing, with the front eight pages were filled with so-called expert testimony on what this may mean, and 'witnesses' to the date that clearly weren't there.

"Well, it could have been a lot worse!" Celestia sighed throwing the paper across the room "At least it was only one outlet."

"Yes, but I do like the idea of having more power!" Luna replied with a sisterly snigger.

Celestia pinched her own nose with a hoof "I don't even know how to reply to that!"

Luna stood up, trotted over to her sister and gave her an affectionate nuzzle "As you said, it's only one and thats always like that. I'm sure most ponies will be very accepting."

The days court had been one very uncomfortable one for Celestia, but outwardly no-pony could tell. However, internally, the mare was as heartbroken as she had been since Sunset Shimmer had left Equestria, perhaps more so.

It started not long into the days court began. Being a monday, the court was filled with ponies eager to present the plans or requests they had worked on over the weekend. Obviously many of the petitioners at court would get a very polite, but firm, no and that would be the end of it.

However, one of the first ponies to be given a no was given the reason that there wasn't enough time for the government to deal with the complicated request. As the pony turned to leave, the stallion sarcastically replied "It seems you find time for other things!"

Celestia at first wasn't sure if that was a general barb, or a specific one relating to the date. The news of her date had spread quickly thanks to that one newspaper, so Celestia was aware that it was a good chance the pony knew. When another pony made a similar remark that "It's clear where your priorities lie" her suspicions were confirmed.

Of course she just put down the comments to bitter ponies complaining when they got told no - it wasn't unusual for some ponies to take the matter of court too personally, but the fact they were implying her one date had made her unfit to rule ruffled her feathers a little.

However, as the day went on, a growing number of the ponies that were denied made snarky comments, which grew in viciousness. Celestia wanted to reply to the ponies, to defend her corner, but she knew that wouldn't be proper. Once her ruling was made, she always remained quiet until the next pony approached. And to be seen arguing with a pony in her court would completely undermine her whole regal stature.

By late afternoon her spirits were an all time low as having had so many of her precious ponies object to her personal life had warn the alicorn down. With the finishing time fast approaching Celestia was tempted to stop court early - it was still packed with ponies but that was standard for the end of the day.

Just before the next pony began their presentation, a guard came up and whispered in Celestia's ear that a group of schoolchildren had arrived unannounced. Normally Celestia wouldn't interrupt court for such a thing, but her spirits were so low she thought signing some autographs might cheer her up. She raised a hoof to interrupt the petitioner "I'm sorry to delay your turn Ms...?"

"Ms Frolicking Sonnet, Princess"

"Ms Sonnet, but there is another matter I must quickly deal with" Celestia saw the teacher and around a dozen students at the back of the room and motioned to them "Come forwards, my little ponies"

The foals slowly made their way forwards as the court petitioners watched, the teacher at the back looking a little nervous. The students stopped next to Frolicking, who stepped to one side to give them the space.

Celestia put on her best motherly smile, one that she had done all day and was hard to muster in her current state "Dear children, how can I help you today?"

One of the larger ponies, a pegasus filly, moved forwards a few steps and took something out of her saddle bag "We made these for you" and the other foals proceeded to put other pieces of parchment out of their bags.

Celestia levitated up the paintings in front of her, expecting to see the standard fare of paintings of her raising the sun or being with Luna etc. But she was shocked still instead to see pictures of her and Discord together, some with them surrounded by hearts and a couple where she was in a white dress clearly getting married.

"We heard about the nasty things being said about you in the paper - " the young filly spoke " - and we wanted to show we think it's awesome you have found your special somepony!"

"It was the students idea, your highness" the teacher added with a bit of a stutter.

Celestia had been through a lot in her long life, and had learnt to keep her emotions in check. She had cried when her beloved mentor, Starswirl the bearded, died. She cried when Luna was banished to the moon, and when she returned. But those with private moments and she had always remained composed in public. When Cadence, the third alicorn, was brought back to Equestria, she remained calm and she had done nothing by smile at her niece's wedding and Twilights coronation.

Tears started leaking out of Celestias eyes as the painting fell to the floor, the alicorn no longer about to control her aura.

"Oh no, we've upset the Princess!" the filly whimpered and looks of concern spread across the youngsters in front of the all mighty princess. Celestia jumped down from her throne, the foals flinching as she approached before finding themselves wrapped up in her wings and hooves.

Today, cuddling these young ponies and in front of the entire court, Princess Celestia cried for only the fourth time in two thousand years. The foals were at first confused at what was going on, but the warmth from their immortal leader naturally soothed them. "Thank you!" she sniffed back her tears as cuddled the group "You have no idea what it means to me to hear you say that."

A few of the petitioners, many of which had been they hours and had heard some of the comments, started clapping their hooves on the ground. Slowly, other joined in until the room was filled with the sound of clopping hooves. One pegasus flew up above the crowd and called out "Three cheers for the Princess and Discord" to be met with three big cheers.

The guards, seeing the state Princess Celestia saw in, decided to close the court and started escorting the other ponies out, leaving the Princess and the school foals. After a few more moments, Celestia reluctantly let go of the children and levitated the pictures back to them. The teacher escorted the children out of the court trying to explain the difference between tears of sadness and tears of happiness, leaving Celestia and a guard along in the large hall.

As Celestia composed herself, the lone guard approached. "Forgive my forwardness Princess, as I know it's not my place to speak to you on such matters. However, you should know you have the backing of the guard as well."

Celestia looked at the guard with a face full of genuine kindness, helping the guard keep his courage to continue "We wanted to throw those rude petitioners out on their flanks, but we knew it was not our place without direction from you. But when we did talk to each other it was clear that we all felt the opposite of what those so called nobles felt!"

Celestia smiled and she tilted her head down until her horn rested on his helmet and whispered "Thank you". The guard stood in shock, flustered at the ultimate expression of gratitude the Princesses could bestow on the guard, as Celestia left the room.

Celestia sat down at the breakfast table the next morning, having not spoken to her sister since her breakdown in court. Luna had decided not to press sister the night before and give her space. Despite wanting to talk to her now, she simply floated a newspaper over to her. Celestia couldn't believe the headline and quickly checked the other papers, all of which had the same front page.

Prejudice and Pride - an open letter to Equestria

Yesterdays court will go down in the records books as both one of our countries lowest moments, but also one of it's finest.To see the Princess cry was something these ponies wish they never saw - not because they were tears of sadness nor indeed happiness but that us, her beloved little ponies, had caused them for no good reason.

It is now no secret that Princess Celestia and Lord Discord had a date. Now, whatever your feelings on the matters, they are your feelings and should remain personal to you.

Unfortunately, unsuccessful petitioners yesterday did not see it that way and soon bitter barbs were muttered from each pony's who had their request denied. Each sarcastic and low blow from the cowardly petitioners (and they were cowards as they knew nopony would respond) must have felt like a dagger in our beloved Princesses heart - we took her private life and used it against her.

The silent majority, and we were amongst them, looked on as this happened perhaps to out eternal shame. But this is court and their are rules, which everypony had to stick to. But out of the mouth of foals...

A herd of school ponies arrived with pictures for the Princess showing their support for her finding her special somepony. And our Princess broke into tears of joy, but can you blame her?

All the Princesses have guided our great nation for millennia, keeping us safe from Dragons, Changelings and other creatures intending us harm. And how do we repay them. At the first opportunity we attack for our own personal gain. The quiet majority finally made their voices heard, cheers ringing out across the hall - whilst it may be too early in their relationship, on behalf of the majority we would like to say that we back Princess Celestia and Lord Discord in whatever they choose to do with their lives.

But we want to finish with a final point - How dare anypony doubt that Princess Celestia, who ruled the country alone for a thousand prosperous years, can't find time to both date and rule this great nation? Even if she was to have pressures on her time, not only has her sister Princess Luna returned who can run the country, but Princess Twilight (who Celestia mentored whilst running the country alone we will remind you) can also help.

Nopony made this fuss when Princess Cadence married Prince Shining Armour - Doesn't all our Princesses deserve happiness like everypony else? Are they not ponies, albeit immortal and powerful, that have the same right to a personal life we all get to enjoy?

The Princess ruled alone for a thousand years - in these humble ponies opinions, she deserves as many nights off as she wants!"

The open letter was signed off by all the royal court reporters, and a smile spread across Celestia's lips - it was clear that a lot of the ponies of her land supported her much like she had them their whole lives. Celestia put down the newspaper and looked over to her grinning sister. "See, I'm not the only pony that thinks I can run the country alone - perhaps you should have a vacation" Luna stuck her tongue out at Celestia, to be met with a facefull of pillow thrown by a golden aura, with the sounds of sisterly laughter soon following.

Chapter 7 - Striking Out

Celestia was sitting in one of the many studies of the castle when the knock on the door disrupted her work. She called out for the guest to enter and was pleasantly surprised to see Discord peeked his head into the room.

“I’m not interrupting anything important am I?”

Celestia smiled and put down the latest friendship report from Twilight she was reading “No, not at all. I was hoping to see you - it’s been a while.”

Discord entered the room and shut the door “I understood it was customary to wait before getting in touch after a date?”

“Maybe, but since when did you worry about customs...or whatever anypony else thought?”

“Gah, blame Fluttershy for that. Besides, you know, I want to impress the most beautiful pony in Canterlot!”

Celestia eyes sparkled a little “Oh, when did you bump into Fleur?” she teased back

“Okay, the most beautiful alicorn.”

“Oh, my sisters up already?”

Discord scowled at the playful mare across the room “You can be quite infuriating sometimes Celestia. Here I am trying to be all civil and not turning Equestria in a chaotic mess…”

“Thank you for not causing the end of Equestria” Celestia interrupted with a delightful giggle, breaking Discords train of thought.

“Anyway, as I wanted to say...well, would you want to go on another date?” Discord asked rather shyly.

“Yes, yes I would like that very much” Celestia replied with a slight blush. Despite having the upper hand in the conversation, anytime the draconequus was polite to her always caused the same reaction. “There is one condition - I need you to be a little more, well, you!”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple Princess” Discord sat down in a chair, causing Celestia to raise one eyebrow in surprise at what was quiet a normal act for anypony else. “You see, I’m worried about not being able to control myself once I get going. Surely Twilight and Cadence told you about the time I visited them in Ponyville.” Celestia nodded but let Discord continue “What I meant as just a little prank turned into an epic long adventure which ultimately cost Cadence and Twilight their time together. Of course watching the pair fire lasers at the Tatzlwurm like some epic battle with the USS Enterprise was a nice flashback”

“Huh? USS what?” Celestia replied thoroughly confused

“Nevermind” Discord shrugged his shoulders before whispering to himself “I miss Picard”.

Celestia shook her head to organise her thoughts “Anyway...didn’t Cadence admit the adventure was fun?”

“Thats not the point” Discord pouted, but Celestia was relentless in her argument like any true politician.

“And didn’t you help Pinkie Pie with the recent April Foals day celebration in Ponyville, making it the best one ever?”

“So, you want something chaotic?” Discord looked sceptically at Celestia.

“No...not exactly, but we don’t have to do something prim and proper. Don’t get me wrong, our first date was...special - ” Celestia coyly turned away “ - but perhaps we can do something you’ll enjoy.”

“I did enjoy it, because I was with you!”

The blush that formed on Celestia’s cheeks was impossible to hide “You know what I mean.”

Discord smiled “Did you have anything in mind?”

“Well, I want you to surprise me. A mare likes a bit of mystery afterall!” and with that Celestia fluttered her eyes.

After pausing for a moment in appreciation of the view, Discord pondered what to say before standing up tall “This Saturday, 5 pm, I’ll pick you up.”

“Are you telling me or asking me?”

Discord smiled “Telling you...in a very nice asking kindly sort of way?”

Celestia levitated over her calendar and circled the saturday with a heart “It’s a date!”

“Excellent.” Discord pressed his fingers together “Oh, and you don’t need to wear any clothes this time...your crown, breastplate and shoes are fine, but a dress is just going to get in the way”

“Oh, I can wait to see where we are going…” Celestia smiled back.

“Bowling?” Celestia deadpanned.

Discord continued to gesture to the ten pin bowling alley they had stopped outside, the smile on his face threatening to fall “What? It’s a classic dating venue for young couples.”

“You like bowling?” Celestia replied as she looked over the busy venue.

“Having ten orderly pins be turned into utter chaos with one fell swoop from my claw...sounds just like me!”

Noticing the look of slight look of scepticism on the alicorn face, Discord continued. “Its also noisy, full of movement, flashing lights from the arcade, filled with the sounds of ponies having fun…”

“I guess when you put it like that it does seem a little like you -” Celestia bopped her date on the nose “ - and as you say it’s a classic dating venue. I’ve always wanted to give it a try.”

“Wait, you’ve never been bowling?”

Celestia face saddened “Do you think I’ve had the chance to do any fun things? It’s not that I never have the time, but I can never get away from being a Princess. Just wait until we go in, there will be so much hubbub that we’ll probably not be able to enjoy ourselves.”

“Well, the guards can make sure we are left alone.”

“What guards?” Celestia asked in surprise.

“Two members of your dayguard and two members of Luna’s nightguard have been following us...Gentlecolts, you can come out!” Discord spoke out. After a moments pause, the four ponies that had been just out of sight made themselves seen.

“Sergeant Flaming Midnight, reporting.” one of ponies spoke “Sorry for spying on you Princess, Lord.”

Celestia was prepared to give the guard a dressing down, but Discord spoke first “Sergeant, I don’t mind, it’s good to see the guard so concerned for the Princesses safety.”

“And your own, sir! Given the, well, interest in your relationship it was decided that there was a chance of ponies causing trouble around you two. Of course we know that you are both more than capable of defending yourselves, but having a guard on standby may stop the scene from escalating.”

Discord smiled at the guard “I don’t mind anypony looking out for my Celestia. Luckily I thought ahead and booked two lanes as I suspected this would happen, so you four are welcome to bowl whilst keeping an eye on us.”

“Princess?” the leader turned to check the order.

“Well, I am a little disappointed in being spied upon, and at my age I don’t need a chaperone but there’s no harm done. You four are more than welcome to join us if you get the first round of drinks in.”

“Yes Princess” all the guard joined in enthusiastically, liking the idea of a night of undercover work turning into something fun.

“And please, we’re off duty, call me Celestia!”

After the initial surprise of having a royal visitor, and the problems of finding a pair of bowling shoes that fitted Celestia, the alley quickly returned to its usual chaotic nature. Most ponies knew that the pair were out on a date and thought it best to leave them alone, and the guard milling around were also a good deterrent.

Bowling was a interesting sport for Ponykind. Earth and pegasi ponies either pushed the balls with their muzzles or legs whilst unicorns would use magic if it was just unicorn players. In the interest of friendship and fairness, the rules stated that physical means had to be used if it was a mixed group. Overall, it was a sport that didn't really suit the pony race but it was still a popular pastime.

When they were getting their shoes, Celestia was surprised to see the owner hand a bag over to Discord. The draconequus had a special ball they kept at the alley, the same size as the others but this had three holes drilled into it. Celestia looked on as he placed three of his claws in the holes, and then proceeded to bowl the ball expertly with spin, knocking down all of the pins.

“Wow, fancy!” she exclaimed as he walked back to the seats by the ball return.

“I know.” Discord grinned a little sheepishly “I really must teach Spike this method as well, it’s like the game was designed for such an action.

“We’ll see about that” Celestia grinned as she picked up her ball in her aura, and the battle of lane 5 commenced.

The pair sat in the fast food section of the alley, taking a break from bowling. The guards were doing the same, but keeping distance as there were no signs of any threats. Plus, they didn’t want their princess-in-chief to smell the hard cider building up on their breath.

Celestia was eating her hay burger with onion horseshoes with gusto - Twilight had always raved on about such unhealthy food but this was the first time Celestia had gotten to eat the same food as everypony else for hundreds of years. Although as much as she was enjoying it, she wasn’t going to take the advice of using a burger as a napkin as upon enquiry with her hoodmaidens she was informed it was an unusual habit.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place like this before...it’ll make for an interesting conversation with my sister later.”

Discord looked relieved at hearing that “So, you approve?”

Celestia took another onion ring “Well, I wanted something different and you did provide that. I like being as normal as possible, something thats so hard to do with these” Celestia fluttered her wings and sparked her horn at the same time “Thats what I really enjoyed about having Twilight as a student. Of course she still revered me as a Princess, but once we started talking about magic we quickly became equals. ”

Discord had a mental image of a filly Twilight arguing with the alicorn much larger than her...and knowing Twilight she probably won!

Celestia continued “And thanks for not letting me win, I would bet most of the stallions here on dates are probably letting the mare win a game or two.”

Discord smiled “I thought about it, but I respect you too much to belittle you by doing so. Besides, since that first game where you were finding your rhythm, you have been doing well...you’ve beaten the scores from the guard on all but a couple of occasions!”

“I wonder how they took that!” the alicorn giggled.

Discord smiled “Oh, how I love that giggle!”

Celestia put a hoof across the table and Discord took it in his claw “Then that’s your giggle from now on!”

The pair were walking back to the castle, the four guards in tow. Two of the guards were a bit beyond tipsy and were being helped along by the other two.

“Sorry Princess!” the sergeant grumbled as he helped keep the pegasus next to him on his hooves.

“Not at all Flaming, its good to see my little ponies have fun. Just don’t be too hard on them when they sober up “Afterall, then I would have to ask how their sergeant allowed them to get in this state in the first place.”

The sergeant couldn’t think of a good response to that “Well played Princess, well played.”

As the group reached the castle gates, the four guards staggered off towards the barracks, leaving the pair stood alone.

“If you’re not doing anything this Friday, I do have another date lined up.” Discord asked nervously.

“Already? Isn’t that a little presumptuous of you?” Celestia teased before leaning forwards and putting her neck next to Discords, the draconequus returning the hug with his arms.

“Of course, I'd love to see you again!” Celestia spoke. After a moment she leant back, turned, and walked towards the palace.

Discord watched the pony he adored walk away, mesmerised by the view of the ethereal mane and tail, before quickly catching up with her. Walking beside, he sighed “Goodbyes don’t seem to have the same effect when we live in the same palace, do they?

Chapter 8 - Twice the fun

Celestia sat in her bedroom, quickly brushing her coat and mane before her date. Court had been tough that day, and she was looking forwards to her evening with Discord...it was certainly going to be a different experience for her.

The crystal ball on her dressing table started to glow, causing the pony to smile. She cast a spell to charge up the ball and a voice floated out “Hello Celestia”

“Hello Cadence, it’s good to hear from you” Celestia spoke back into the communication crystal. It was a clever spell Twilight had created to allow Canterlot and the Crystal Empire to talk via linked crystals. Celestia didn’t really understand why Twilight hadn’t made a pair for them but she suspected the young mare wanted to make sure Spike still had a vital job. Either that, or Twilight enjoyed still sending parchments the way she did growing up.

Celestia smiled at the thought “So, what do I owe the pleasure of your call for niece?” she asked with a slightly laugh, knowing exactly why the Princess of Love was calling.

“Aunty, are you sure you don’t need any advice for tonight? You know I’m a little more experienced than you with this sort of thing?”

“Maybe Cadence, but I’m not exactly wet behind the ears, plus I have done plenty of research.”

“You sound just like Twilight! You can’t learn everything from books, some things only come from experience.” Cadence slightly admonished her elder.

“Maybe, but there’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure everything will be fine”

“I’m sure you know what you are doing Auntie. Well, if you don’t need my advice, I’ll leave you to get ready. Take care!”

“You too cady!” Celestia replied. She cut off the supply of magic and the crystal returned to it’s darken state. It was nice for Cadence to be worried about her, and she hoped it was completely in vain.

Celestia landed in Ponyville, having flown all the way from Canterlot. Getting out flying like a pegasus was something she hadn’t done for centuries, but her relationship with Discord had changed everything. On top of her niece getting married, Twilight’s ascension, and her sisters return, being in a public relationship opened up new options. Not only did she feel a lot happier, both her and Luna felt a little more freedom to be more natural and pony like than at anytime since the death of Starswirl the Bearded.

She spotted Discord sat on the bench, holding a nice bouquet of flowers for Celestia to eat later, and walked over to him. After a quick hello, the pair were joined by Pinkie Pie and the trio made their way towards Sugarcube Corner. As they walked into the warm bakery, Celestia took a deep breath to steady herself, as well as taking in the delightful smells of the baked goods.

“Hello Mrs Cake, Mr Cake, we're here!” Pinkie called out.

“Just a minute deary” Mrs Cake replied, and after a few moments Mr and Mrs entered the room, each having a foal sat on their back.

“Thanks for babysitting tonight Pink-cess?” Mrs Cake finally noticed the alicorn in the room “What are you doing here?” the mare slightly panicked.

Mr Cake remained a little more composed “Princess, I think my wife meant we are honoured by your presence! How can we assist you?”

“Hello Mr and Mrs Cake, nice to see you again.” Celestia replied as softly as possible “I’m, er, here to foalsit?”

“Huh?” the two parents replied in unison, the two foals looking at the scene with some unknown amusement.

Pinkie slid up next to her two “I told you I got somepony else to foalsit tonight!”

“Foalsit? Princess Celestia? Oh, no no no…” Mrs Cake shuffled on her hooves with worry.

“No? I think she’s a reliable babysitter...she did rule the country alone for a thousand years!” Pinkie replied with a hoof on her chin.

Everypony, and draconequus, in the room facehoofed. Mrs Cake let out a calming breath “It’s not that Pinkie, we can’t expect the Princess to foalsit for us!”

“Cup, can I call you Cup?” Discord asked, a confirming nod from the mare “I understand your concern, but this was my idea. Celestia and I want to have traditional set of dates, and foalsitting is a common dating trope in films and TV shows.”

“Erm, okay then” Carrot shrugged off the weird reference, only Pinkie Pie understanding everything Discord said.

Celestia approached the parents “Carrot, Cup. My niece Cadence foalsat when she was growing up, and she found it a very rewarding experience. Please would you let me have the same?” and the alicorn put on her soft begging sort of eyes she learnt from her younger sister growing up.

“That’s not fair, who can say no to those eyes?” Cup Cake replied under the pressure of pleading eyes of the alicorn.

Celestia laughed a little “You better get used to it otherwise those two will have you wrapped around your hoof as they grow up!” and the parents looked back at their foals with that realisation coming to bear. As with always for the baking pair, a pink pony brought them back to earth.

“Mr and Mrs Cake, you’ll be late for you date if you don’t vacate from where you bake and erm...shoot, trying to think of more rhymes is hard!”

Cup Cake looked at a clock “Oh my, yes, we better get going. We’ve got the foals schedule up on the fridge, and the food is prepared.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve explained everything to Discord in advance and he can advise Princess Celestia all the rules!” Pinkie replied as she started her bouncy walk out of the shop.

“Rules? Oh no, we can’t expect Princess Celestia to do that!” Carrot looked over to Discord and Celestia.

“What is it?” Celestia asked in her usual motherly tone.

“Well...they try to encourage unicorns and pegasi not to use magic and flight around the twins.” Discord replied.

“Not that we aren’t going to make sure that the twins grow up in line with their race...” Mrs Cake added “...but whilst they are young we’re trying to organise controlled exposure to magic and flight, as we can’t protect them if they are being magical or in flight!”

“I understand” Celestia replied “and its a very good idea. I’m sure Fluttershy will be excellent teachers to pound!”

“How do you know we’re asking her?”

Celestia giggled “Not even Discord would be crazy enough to have a foal taught to fly by Rainbow Dash!”

“Hmmmm, maybe I would be...but unlikely!” Discord replied with a wink.

“And given you like all earth ponies have to change the foals with your hooves, I’m sure I can cope for one evening…” and with that Celestia slightly leaned in to the parents and whsipered “Or I'll just get Discord to do it!”

“I heard that!”

With Cup and Carrot Cake eventually leaving for their date night, the pair found themselves alone with the two foals which were happily playing with their toys. Keeping an eye on them, the pair started some idle chit chat about their week and before long it was time for dinner. Celestia went over and picked up Pumpkin with a hoof, scooping her onto her back, whilst discord picked up Pound and placed him on his head, the foal holding on to his horns.

Once in the kitchen the foals were placed into their highchairs and Celestia served them up there salad dinner. The foals started tucking into the pre cut vegetables watched over by Discord whilst Celestia prepared sandwiches for the adults to eat (having asked to use the food before the cakes had left of course). Once dinner was out of the way, the foals were let out to play in the playroom again.

Celestia lay down on the floor to watch over them as Discord sat down on the sofa, Within moments pound and pumpkin cake came over and looked at the large pony in the room.

“Why, hello there little ones!” Celestia spoke warmly to the foals studying her.

“Unacorn!” Pound declared, pointing to the large pony’s forehead.

“Pegasa!” Pumpkin replied back, pointing at Celestia’s wings

The pair then just stared at each other for a moment before they let loose. “Unacorn!”, “Pegasa!”, “Unacorn!”, “Pegasa!” the two foals shouted back to each other.

Celestia suppressed the giggle building and thought it best to stop the siblings “Now now, no need to argue!” she calmly spoke, causing the pair of foals to pay attention to her again. “You see I have both wings and a horn.” she explained slowly, indicating to the respective foal as she spoke. “I’m an alicorn”

The two foals ooh’d for second before suddenly Pumpkin squeaked, jumped up and run off to the corner of the room, returning with a book in her mouth. She placed it down, managed turned a few pages and pointed to a drawing the page. It was a picture the alicorn recognised from a much loved foals story book, a crude rendition of Celestia and Luna from before the Nightmare Moon incident.

“Yew?” Pumpkin asked softly

Celestia smiled internally for a second “Yes Pumpkin, thats me!”

“Yew….Pwincess?”

“Yes, that is me...Princess Celestia”

Pumpkin started giggling and running mad laps around Celestia in the way only young creatures do. It reminded the alicorn of a filly Twilight doing the same after getting her cutie mark, the pure expression of joy from a creature that had no better way of expressing it. After enough laps that would have made even Pinkie Pie dizzy, the unicorn foal shot off across the room to a pile of toys, before returning with a foam crown on her head, and dragging a larger one behind her.

“Me Pwincess!”

“Yes, you can be a princess too!” Celestia put on the golded foam crown presented to her and heard a giggle from Discord.

“You just can't get away from being a princess, can you!”

“Doesn’t seem that way!”

The pair shared a smile before noticing that Pound Cake was on the verge of tears. Discord slithered down to the pegasus foals level “What's wrong Pound?”

“Me?” the foal replied, pointing to the pair of princesses.

“Come with me” Discord patted Pound on the head and started towards the pile of toys, the foal following. Discord rummaged through the toys and found a foam helmet and placed it on the young males head “Well, you could be a prince or princess if you want, or you could be a member of the royal guard!”

Pound giggled and declared “Me gward!” as he ran over to his sister.

“Me Pwincess!” his sister giggled back as the two ran around each other.

“I’m a princess too!” Celestia added

“Me pwotect yo!” Pound proclaimed.

“And me evil villain after the Princesses crown!” Discord laughed and started chasing the trio. Celestia found herself laughing as hard as she had done for ages as the game of chase turned into a roleplaying adventure, the two foals imagination seemed to be endless despite the lack of vocabulary.

With bathtime out of the way, Celestia carried the two foals to the nursery with a smile on her face as the two children yawned on her back. She gently put them in their crib, and watched as the pair snuggled down in the blanket. Making sure Discord wasn’t around, she gently sang them a song that her mother had sung to her and Luna, a song unheard by mortal ears and the foals were soon sound asleep.

Celestia returned downstairs where she shared with Discord some of the days leftover muffins sat on the sofa. Noticing the evening was coming to a close and the cakes would return soon, the mare made her move. “It’s nice to have a normal conversation with you Discord, it’s been a wonderful evening” Celestia slid a bit closer to Discord, a move not going unnoticed by the draconequus.

“Yes, it’s been an interesting experience. I’ve been around the Cutie Mark Crusaders quite a bit but looking after young foals is even more tiring! But it was worth it to see you smile”

The pair looked at each other, are their eyes locked. Slowly, the two of them edges there heads towards each other, both anticipating their first kiss. As their lips approached Discord paused “Are you sure about this?”

Wordlessly, Celestia tilted her head, moved forwards and closed her eyes, her actions speaking a thousand words. Discord gently placed one claw on her muzzle and guided it to his. Their lips locked and after millennia of existence they found themselves having their first kiss.

After a few seconds, the pair pulled away and opened there eyes. Just at that moment, a foals cry rang out around the bakery. Celestia leaped into action and rushed up the stairs to tend to Pumpkin. She picked up the foal, sat on the rocking chair and gently cradled her in her hooves, singing a lullaby again. It took a while to settle the unicorn down, but eventually the young pony was asleep again.

Celestia went back downstairs where Discord was waiting patiently and Celestia sat down next to him again.

“Everything okay?” he asked

“Yes, she must have had a bad dream or something”

Discord let out a little chuckle “Nice timing!”

“Yes thats the way with young children isn’t it?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never spend any time with foals before.”

“You...you ever think about having children of your own?” Celestia asked. Discords eyes widened at the question, and Celestia realised her faux-pas “Sorry, is that too soon to ask?”

“Not at all. It’s just not something I thought I would hear you ask.”

“To be honest, although I’ve always been maternal, this evening has made me look at things at a very different way. I’ve always considered all the ponies of Equestria my...well, mine and Luna’s children. And I’ve always taken on a young personal student to help grow.”

Discord gently cupped the pony’s face, sensing this was a painful moment for his love “You are a very caring pony Celestia, I’ve always known that”

“Thanks. I’m not sure I would want a child of my own...or even if it’s possible...but I think I’ll want to find out someday. And given we’re both immortal, it means that if we continue this relationship it would have to be a decision agreed by the two of us.”

Discord paused for a moment “Wow, thats deep. I need to have a proper think about this before replying.” Celestia’s face fell for a moment “Not that I’m saying no...it’s just...I’m not sure that the god of chaos would be a good role model for a child…”

The pair saw the concern in each others eyes, and just snuggled up next to each other on the sofa, no words needed.

Chapter 10 - Luna's charm

Celestia and Discord avoided each other for the next few days whilst they reflected on their most recent date. The Princess was admonishing herself for bringing up such an important subject such as foals so early in the relationship. However, deep down, she knew it was important to her and that it was best to end any budding romance now if they weren't on the same page.

Discord was having very different thoughts then he usually had. The draconequus never usually thought more than a day ahead, or even five minutes, which ultimately led to his downfall against Twilight Sparkle. Even the plunderseeds weren't a very well thought out plan, given it took a thousand years and the transfer of the elements from the sisters to new ponies for it to bear fruit.

But now he was being asked to think about the entirety of his future. Discord may be irresponsible at times, but he knew that bringing life into the world was something not to take lightly...it was no joke and thats all he really knew. He would have to devote time and energy to raising a healthy balanced child, something that wouldn't be easy if it took after his inherent character in any way.

But that's perhaps what he needed, something he cared for to keep him out of mischief. It was that of course that led him down the path of reformation - the care he felt towards Fluttershy and her friends, even Twilight. Whilst he still made the odd booboo now and then, he found that caring for things was more rewarding. Caring for a foal could just be what he needed.

Apart from the romantic and passionate side of things, Celestia was also thinking about some of the more practical matters. What would a alicorn pony/draconequus foal even look like? Would it be immortal like them, or would they have to watch as it grew old and die? And would she be able to run the country, or would Luna have to take charge during late pregnancy and the early months.

The other immortal resident of the Castle was a little worried too. She didn't know what had happened between the two, but clearly something had changed between her sister and the jester. And when gently prompted, neither of them wanted to talk about it. They confirmed that they hadn't broken up, but that they had things to work through. And thats all she could get from them.

The younger sister couldn’t be sure, but guessed it may have had something to do with their futures. She knew Celestia was always thinking five moves ahead (and why she therefore always beat her younger sister at chess) and probably things were getting serious quickly. If only my sister would enjoy the moment more Luna thought to herself.

Discord eventually realised that they had to see each other again and that the relationship was on a bit of knifedge. So, at the end of day court, he stood outside and waited for Celestia to leave. Soon enough Celestia was walking by with a couple of assistants, but seeing Discord she dismissed them all to their duties.

Celestia walked up to Discord and gently placed her head next to his. It was slightly more distant than a hug, but still showed affection.

“Hello Discord, long time no see” she smiled.

“Hello Celestia” Discord replied a little nervously

Celestia smile grew a bit wider seeing the effect she had on him “So how have you been?”

“Good, no complaints, just been thinking about things.”

Celestia sighed “Me too.”

“I was thinking, however, that we should spend some time together again”

“I would like that” Celestia replied with a faint hint of blush showing “When were you thinking?”

“Whenever suits you dear, you’re the grand ruler with a country to run, I’m just an unemployed layabout” Discord replied.

Celestia picked up on the term of endearment, but decided not to press it “How about now?”

“Now? Sure!” Discord replied, his face lighting up a little “I don’t have anything planned...what would you like to do?”

Celestia sighed “Honestly, I don’t know. After a day like today I just get away from work for a while. You know, just go for a fly or something…” the alicorn went on, looking out of a window towards where the sun was in a downwards arc.

“That sounds perfect."

Celestia turned around “What does?”

“Why, going for a fly.”

Celestia gasped “I can’t do that!”

“Why not?” Discord replied curiously.

Celestia thought about it for a second “It’s been so long since I’ve just be able to drop everything and go off for a flight...it does sound very appealing.”

“Then surely thats what we should do” Discord replied.

“What about you?”

“I can float as fast as you fly.”

“But would you enjoy it?”

“If i'm spending time with you...of course!”

Celestia smiled again. She called over to one of the guards present and took of her crown, shoes and breastplate, much to the poor guards shock and slight embarrassment.

“Please take these to my chambers and advise the Guard that I’m taking leave of the castle for a while.”

Before the guard had a chance to salute, Celestia lit her horn, opened a nearby window, and within moments had flown through and off out towards the edge of the city.

Discord looked on as amazed as the Guard Celestia being so spontaneous...this I could get used to!” he thought to himself as he started after her.

It only took a few moments for Discord to catch up to Celestia, as she was hardly setting a Wonderbolts pace.

Peagasi had two main types of flight, which could be used for enjoyment as well as work - some pegasi, like Rainbow Dash, found most enjoyment from acrobatic flying where speed and effort was rewarded with g-force, dare-devil dives and the wind in the mane. Other pegasi, like Fluttershy, prefered long steady flights filled with gliding on thermals, using the least amount of effort to simply float around.

With her larger body and wingspan, the short darty acrobatic kind was not Celestia’s cup of tea, although could be deployed during battles and emergencies. So, the pair found themselves gliding along at a steady pace high across the land.

As they flew, Discord thought about striking up a conversation but when he looked over to his flying companion and his heart skipped a beat. Celestia had her eyes closed as she glided along, and was wearing a smile of pure contentment. Rather than disturb his companions thought and feelings of freedom, he floated along in silence... although Discord could also not help but noticed how sleek and attractive Celestia looked when flying.

After an hours or so, the pair found themselves approaching some of the peaks of foal mountains. Celestia’s inbuilt clock could tell that it was time for the sun to soon go down so spotted a flat area for them to land. As soon as they did, Celestia lit her horn to help push the sun down for it’s final part of the day, sensing Luna doing the opposite for her moon.

As the light started to fade, Celestia lay down on the mountain peak and simply watched as her beloved sun set below the horizon. Discord lay down next to Celestia, a small gap between them, and watched in silence. That silence was then disturbed by the rumbling of a stomach.

“Pardon me!” Celestia slightly blushed “I didn’t have much of a lunch and it’s well into dinner time. We should have brought some food with us” Celestia lamented .

Discord clicked his fingers and a large picnic basket, accompanied with the appropriate dinnerware, appeared in front of them. “Where did this come from?” Celestia asked in surprise as she picked up a sandwich in her aura.

Discord smiled “Don’t worry, I’ll go to the store tomorrow and pay them for the goods” as he took a bite from a cupcake.

The pair lay there watching and eating in silence for a while longer, until Celestia spoke “Do we really have nothing left to talk about that we have to be in silence?”

“What do you mean?” Discord asked in reply.

“Well, on the flight here, you didn’t speak at all.”

“I just left you to enjoy the moment” the draconequus explained "You seemed to just want to enjoy the silence, so I left you to it."

This took Celestia by surprise “Why?”

“Because you have a tough life and deserved to simply enjoy something you didn't even realise you were looking forwards to!”

“Yeah, being Princess is so tough, having all those servants pamper me, whilst those lucky earth pony till the fields and the pegasi control the weather.” Celestia replied sarcastically.

Discord moved slightly closer to Celestia, and put one arm around her back “Okay, it may not be physically tough, I’d imagine that the weight of a nation on your shoulders is no easy task.”

As if mentioning the weight lifted it, Discord found Celestia seemed to slightly relax so continued “Everypony knows how hard you work, now and in the past, for the good of Equestria. But’s it’s okay to have time off to do things you want to do every so often.”

“Like what?”

“Like going out for a flight and watching the sunset with a friend.”

“A friend?” celestia replied a little sultry and gently moved a little sideways until her body was up against Discords “Oh, I think you’re more than that!”

Once the sun had set, and the supper eaten, the pair lay there looking at the stars. Celestia had her head rested against Discord and neither of them spoke, just enjoyed the coming night. Suddenly, a shooting star shot across the sky, followed by another, and then more and more.

The pair looked on in amazement as Equestria’s finest meteor shower for more than a thousand years played out in front of them.

As the show started to come to an end, Discord had another subtle look at the pony resting against him and saw the look of joy and wonder on her face. Whilst he enjoyed the shower, somehow he found it even more enjoyable knowing his marefriend had. The pair continued to lay there in silence as the night returned to it’s usual stillness. Discord then noticed that the breathing of the pony next to him had grown shallower, and looking over noticed that Celestia had fallen asleep. At first he was a little surprised, and almost slightly insulted. But then it dawned on him.

Celestia, despite her tiredness, wanted to spend time with him.

Celestia, his marefriend, found him comfortable to be around.

Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and ancient warrior of this great nation trusted him, an old nemesis, enough to let down her guard completely.

Discord lay there watching Celestia, his Princess, sleep snuggled up against him for a while, in a totally not creepy way. But the air was cold up in the mountain and Discord thought it was best that Celestia slept in her comfy bed - the cold may not be a physical threat, but a warm bed is much nicer to wake up in.

Using his magic as gently and softly as he could, he gently peeled his sleeping companion off of him and levitated her in the air. As she hang there slightly, he smiled at just how cute she looked. Channeling his magic slowly he was able to teleport them both all the way back to Celestia’s bedroom without waking her.

He gently laid his love down on her bed, and pulled a blanket over her. Then, noticing a large plush figure of a phoenix lying on the floor, he placed it between her hooves and the alicorn instinctively cuddled into it. Before his blood sugar crashed due to the incredible sweetness of what he was seeing, he crept slowly out of the room.

As he stepped out of Celestia’s bedroom, the two guards at the doors jumped in surprise. Before the pair had a chance to talk, Discord placed a finger up to his lips as he gently closed the door. “The princess is asleep in her bed, please don't disturb her.”

“How?” one of the guard stammered “How did you get into the room?”

Discord rolled his eyes at the pegasus guard “Magic, dur!”

With night court finished, Luna decided to have a quick lunch before heading off to her room to do some dreamwalking. Upon entering the royal dining room at one in the morning, she was surprised to see another creature in the room.

Luna walked over to where Discord was sat drinking some chocolate milk. It surprised her to see him drinking as normal, rather than some sort of reserve gravity situation, but clearly something was on his mind “I hope the two of you enjoyed the show?”

Discord put down his glass “You put that on for us?”

Luna sat next to him and ordered her supper with a waiter that appeared and disappeared in a manner most formal “You make my sister happy, she deserves that. Whilst I have taken on some of the duties of running this country, I cannot imagine what it was like running it alone for a thousand years, rebuilding a nation, and this capital, after that terrible fight.”

“She is a wonderful mare” Discord sighed a little.

“Indeed my sister is, and she deserves the very best in life” Luna’s voice changed slightly as she spoke, taking a slight edge.

Discord studied the face of the younger alicorn “You don’t like me.”

“The memories of your terrible reign are much fresher for me than my sister. She had a thousands years for the horror to fade, but for me it seems only like a few decades have passed.”

“I cannot change the past, but surely you know I have changed?”

“If anypony round here understands the importance of second chances, it is me” Luna sighed slightly “But unlike me, the dark magic within you is still there as it was returned to you when Twilight beat Tirek...after you assisted him.”

“My magic isn’t dark” Discord protested “It’s the same as any alicorn.”

“But you’ve chosen to use it in dark ways many times” Luna’s tone grew more serious.

“In the past yes...but perhaps...Celestia is the light that can dispel the darkness within me?”

Luna smirked slightly “You do speak with a silver tongue, but our Prisons are filled with ponies that can do the same.”

“Oh...what kind of attitude is that to have to your future brother in law?” Discord had, booped the younger alicorn on the muzzle.

Luna smiled at this, suppressing a giggle. Ever since that trip to Ponyville, she had loosened up and did appreciate that Discord could be an amusing jester when he wanted to be “I’m just making sure my sister chooses wisely.”

“Oh loosen up Luna!” Discord replied with a fake exasperation “Look, I know I have a lot to prove to everypony, but I think it’s worth it to be with your sister.”

Luna looked at the former enemy and found his reply was genuine. “I can only hope to find a stallion someday who cares about me as much as you do for Celestia” Luna sighed.

“Or mare?” Discord replied a little cheekily.

“Indeed, I have seen many a dream where that is the case” Luna half giggled, half blushed.

“Include a certain Princess of Friendship no doubt” Discord replied with a eyebrow waggle.

Luna tapped her nose with a hoof twice “Now that would be telling!”

The two shared a smile with each other, an understanding forming between them. They were far from best of friends, but for Celestia’s sake they were going to try to get along. She deserved that.

Chapter 11 - Falling Apart Part 1

The Captain of the Royal Guard came running into the palace’s dining room where Luna was having Breakfast and Celestia dinner. His entrance drew enough attention so he spoke right away without waiting to be addressed by either Princess.

“Sorry for the interruption Princesses, but there’s been an incident...with Discord.”

Celestia flew through the evening streets of Canterlot, flanked by two guards on each side. She landed outside one of the larger mansions of Canterlot that belonging to Ruby Collage and her family. The Princess quickly checked she was presentable and knocked on the door. It was opened by one of the servants who practically fainted seeing the princess in person.

“Is the lady of the house in?” Celestia asked politely, trying to seem formal but not as regal as normal.

“Yes...yes your highness. Please come in and I will announce your arrival”

“Thank you. Guards, please wait outside for my return.”

“Your highness?”

“This is the house of a noble, I think I am rather safe in here especially if you keep guard outside. Besides, I don’t want to seem heavy hooved in bringing armed guards with me.”

“Of course Princess”

Celestia was led into a rather grand sitting room by the maid, where there was a large sofa that Celestia settled on. The maid backed out of the room, curtseying as she did and went to find Ruby. The alicorn looked around the room, noting that it was a very nicely decorated room. It had some rather nice pieces of art, but nothing too lavish.

Her eyes were then drawn to be an interesting bookcase in the room, one that showed signs of books actually read rather than simply out for show. Hopefully this means Ruby is a learned noble, they are much more worthy of their titles than the shallow ones

Out of the corner she then noticed the lady of the house enter the room, and stood up to greet her. Ruby bowed down “Princess Celestia, I am honoured by your visit to my humble abode!”

Celestia bowed back “Please Mrs Collage, just call me Celestia”

“Princess?” Ruby replied, confused to see the Princess bowing to her.

Celestia stood up “I know it seems informal, but I must make it clear I am not here in an official capacity.”

“I see.” Ruby replied, taking a moment to think “I understand, but I doubt I can call you by your name, Princess. But please, call me Ruby”

“If you desire, Ruby, whatever makes you feel most comfortable in your own home.”

“Of course. Please take a seat. Would you like a drink?”

Celestia accepted a cup of tea, and the pair chatted for a while. Celestia made sure to comment on the rooms details, the praise causing Ruby to have a faint blush. After tea was finished, the conversation seemed to start to stall.

“Princess, I doubt you are here just for a social visit?” Ruby eventually asked “I mean, I didn't mean that to sound sarcastic, but I can only presume the reason why you are here.”

Celestia smiled slightly in response “Ruby, do not worry, I don't tend to make house calls so your assumption is correct. Please, explain to me what happened today with Discord.”

Celestia listened carefully as Ruby told her tale. Nothing the pony said seemed out of the ordinary, in that she could imagine the reformed Discord slipping as described. Once Ruby had finished, Celestia had a serious look on her face.

“I assume you will want to make an official complaint?”

The unicorn looked at the princess with some concern and answered with a quiver in her voice “Yes your highness, I feel I have to for the sake of all those I represent. Forgive me.”

“No need to be wary Mrs Collage...Ruby. I will not interfere with your rights in this matter just because of my...friendship...with Discord.”

The unicorn mare let out a breath, not realising she had been holding it.

“However, due to it’s unique nature, I beg your assistance in the matter. I will make sure your petition is read as the first matter of the day so we can schedule a special sitting for the afternoon. Would delaying the hearing for a few hours, say to 3 pm be acceptable?”

“Special sitting?” Ruby replied.

“Yes. I would need a few hours to get everything in place, and to summon Discord”.

“Of course, your highness.”

After a few more minutes of idle chat, Celestia made her excuses to leave. The journey back to the castle was on hoof, the guards flanking as before. The Princess was on autopilot, her mind churning away with the situation.

It was a few minutes before three o’clock, and the courtroom was packed. Word of the previous days incident had spread and there was a lot of ponies wanting to see what was about to transpire. Princess Celestia looked around the room and noticed that many were some of Discords biggest critics, including a number of prominent figures of a movement to have him banned from Equestria.

Ruby Collage had arrived about ten minutes before the scheduled start time, the Princess nodding an acknowledgment when she arrived. With seconds to go before three, Discord materialised in the room. Whispers started echoing round the room and the air was tense.

One of the royal guards stepped forwards and silence the room “The hearing of the matter of Ruby Collage complaint against Lord Discord will now begin”

“Before it does -” Celestia raised from her seat “- there is one matter to take of. Princess Twilight Sparkle, please enter.”

Twilight walked down the main aisle of the courtroom, the alicorn trying to look regal but still having slight nerves of acting in an official capacity. Celestia stood to one side, and Twilight took the throne nervously. Celestia then sat on an ornate cushion that had been placed next to the throne “This is still my court, but due to the defendant in this case, I have asked Princess Twilight to act alongside me for this hearing. You will address us both when speaking.”

“I understand your Princesses” Ruby replied.

“Whatever” Discord dismissed. Celestia looked over to the draconequus with a touch of concern. This was going to be difficult enough with a co-operative Discord, let alone if he was to act up. Still, the act of him even turning up was a positive she was hanging onto.

As the plaintiff, Ruby was to speak first and went on to make her complaint. She described how on the previous day she was hosting a delegation from the Griffin Empire. They were eager to begin trade for the jewelry of the Equestrian nation and Ruby Collage, as one of the leading members of the jewelers guild, was acting on behalf of jewelers across the nation.

However, during the formal dinner, strange things started to happen. Food came alive, items disappeared from plates, ponies and griffins found themselves suddenly transported to a different chair. The Griffins thought that the unicorns were mocking them for not having any magic of their own, and refusing to believe otherwise flew home immediately. With the trade talks collapsed, the entire industry was going to have a major setback.

Celestia and Twilight both nodded as the story finished, accepting that this was a serious matter and would impact across the nation. Celestia then turned her head to the other side of the court “So Lord Discord, what is your version of events.”

“It was a prank” Discord replied.

Silence reigned over the room as everypony realised that was all Discord was intending to say. Twilight looked around nervously “Is that all?”

Discord failed to replied and Twilight looked over nervously to Celestia. “Lord Discord has admitted his actions.” the elder alicorn spoke “In which case, Princess Twilight and I will now rule” Both alicorns raised one wing to hide their whispers from the public, although the noise of the whispers from the gathered crowd would have drowned it out.

Having agreed, they lowered their wings and the room fell silent again “It is the ruling of this court that Lord Discord is guilty in disrupting the lawful business of citizens of Equestria. He will apologise to those he has wrong, and will make fiscal amends for their loses. Do you agree to this Ruby Collage?”

“Yes your highnesses” the mare replied with a smile “And I’m sure the guild will be grateful for any fiscal help during the next year or so.”

“And do you agree to these terms Lord Discord?”

“Yeah, maybe” Discord replied disinterestedly.

“See, he does not even respect Equestrian Law!” a unicorn stallion stood up from the crowd to shout. Celestia recognised him as an agitator who had been looking to make political capital out of Discord release and her relationship with him since “Why do we let such a criminal the freedom to do this?”

“Silence!” one of the guards approached the stallion.

“No, let Furious Aurora speak” Celestia ordered much to everypony’s surprise, but she knew that silencing him would only add to his power.

“Thank you, Princess. This...creature...does not respect the sovereignty of ponykind, or any other nation. He had to be banished to stone, twice, for abusing his power over us mere mortals. Why he had been released and the Princesses allow him to roam free pretending to be reformed is beyond me!”

Twilight looked like she was about to reply, but Celestia held up a hoof to silence her so Furious continued “Discord has possibly ruined ties with an ally, cost thousands of ponies their jobs and he is going to get off with a slapped wrist!”

Celestia stood up to reply “I assure you that the Royal Treasury will subside the industry for any loses, and will recover the costs from Lord Discord in due course. As of a punishment - “ the Princess left the word hanging in the air for a second “ - Lord Discord made a mistake. We have all made them over time and is how we learn.”

“I, and many other ponies, will believe you will let him off with everything. How can we be assured that you will not let your personal relationship allow the so-called God of Chaos!”

Celestia looked over to Discord, expecting a reaction but instead saw him looking back at her with a renewed interest. She made herself seem as tall as possible, spreading her wings slightly in a show of power that resonated around the room.

“Because I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of this great nation. My spirit has been around since the beginning of time, and will be around long after Equestria is no more. I ruled this country alone for a thousand years, and not one day did do anything but put my little ponies first.”

Twilight noticed that Furious was already looking a little defeated but the white alicorn continued “Whatever my feelings towards Lord Discord, or any other creature, I will never let you, my little ponies, down. Afterall, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…” and then celestia pointed to herself “...or the one.“

Celestia slightly lower her wings, and with a slight change of tone “And if you need proof of that, ask my sister about her thousand year sabbatical. Besides, my fellow Princess agreed on this ruling.”

Furious found himself on the back foot “But Twilight Sparkle…”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle” Twilight reminded him, taking some confidence from the actions of her mentor.

“Sorry, Princess Twilight Sparkle, is also a friend of both you and Discord, hardly independent!”

This time Twilight stood up from the throne and took a few steps down so she was now lower than her fellow Princess “I may not have served for a thousand years like Princess Celestia, and will live and die like every other pony here present. But I am a Princess and I have proved on numerous occasions that I will do whatever it takes to save ponies, or a whole kingdom, from threats. Discord may be a friend, but regardless any reasonable pony wouldn't agree that an extreme response is required.”

Celestia looked over to Discord “Are you going to accept the ruling of the court?” Celestia asked. She just hoped that Discord would agree, but a part of her doubted it.

Discord looked towards the pony he had feelings for. But his back was up having been summoned to court in the first place “I suppose I can find a way to repay the royal treasury. And Mrs Collage…I apologise for my prank. I did not mean to cause you so much personal problems.”

“And what about our Griffin allies?” Furious asked “Will he take responsibility and try to re-establish good terms?”

“I will apologise to the ponies present, but theres no way I’m apologising to some dirty Griffon!” Discord replied. Furious’s face fell into a snide smile and he looked towards the Princesses.

Celestia knew she was a little trapped here, so turned to Discord “Lord Discord, should you fail to apologise to the Griffons in a reasonable timeframe you will be in breach of this court and you will be brought to justice accordingly.”

“Pah, as if!” Discord dismissed

A cold wind seemed to whip through the ponies present, as the tension in the room shifted “Discord, it was made clear to you that your liberty and permission to remain in Equestria was on condition of your continued good behaviour."

Discord knew he should go along, that Celestia had no choice in what she was saying, but his ego wouldn’t let him “Are you threatening me?”

“No, just reminding you that the benefits of being a citizen of Equestria, all the benefits, are dependant on that agreement. We may no longer have the elements of harmony, but we are well capable of defending ourselves. The power of four alicorns, the entire population and it’s allies…”

“Allies?” Discord interrupted.

“Yes Lord Discord. The Griffin and Dragons leaders have advised that they would back us in any emergency. And even the changelings would be willing to fight against you.”

Celestia let that sink in to everypony, and draconequus, present. “Every other nation still fears you Discord, except Equestria. We know you have changed, and embraced friendship, but you cannot abuse your powers on your friends or enemies.”

Discord simply clicked his fingers and teleported away. Celestia sighed and then dismissed the court. After thanking Twilight for her assistance, she went back to her private quarters to think.

Hours later Celestia heard a knock on the door. She was sat on her bed in deep thought after the tiring day and invited the guest in without thinking of asking who it was - she normally wouldn’t continue laying in bed for a visitor unless it was a very close friend or her sister.

It was possibly the former of them and Celestia was surprised to see the cause of all her tiredness march into her private quarters.

“We need to talk!” Discord demanded as he walked through the door.

“It’s nice to see you too!” Princess Celestia replied a little sarcastically “Especially given you rapid departure earlier today!”

“I don’t like being threatened like that, Princess!” Discord snarled to the alicorn

“You left me no choice!”

“You think that friendship, or our relationship, can control me?”

Celestias eyes were starting to mist over “I would hope it would never come to that. But know this, we can control you by force if you make us!”

“I’ld like to see you try!” Discord stared at his former nemesis, and the two found themselves reliving the familiar scene from the past where they only looked at each other with hostility in battle.

Celestia broke the stare first, and put her head into her front hooves. “Why does it have to be like this? I thought you liked me? Loved me?”

Discord was caught in two minds, seeing the pony he had strong feelings for suddenly turn sad “Trying to emotionally blackmail me won’t work, Celestia.”

“Discord, I opened up to you. About...us...me...my desire to foal!” The sudden change in Celestia’s tone made Discord pause for a second as she whispered “I asked her...”

“Who?”

“Her” Celestia continued in a forced whisper, her emotions threatening to overcome her “I asked if it was possible for us to...have a child of our own”

Discord was silent. She was the essence, where ponies came from when they were conceived, and who they returned to in death. She gave the power of flight, powered unicorn magic, gave the earth ponies their strength. She gave life, took life, granted immortality to a chosen few. She was everything, everywhere, everywhen...

Most ponies would never remember any communication with her, only having a fleeting interactions on an infinite stream of time and space. She had never spoken to Discord, although he knew that she had spoken to Celestia and Luna a couple of times.

For the Princess to have actually done such a thing as seek guidance from her over such a matter, showed just how serious the pony was about their relationship.

Discord slid up next to Celestia on the bed, and put an arm around the Princess to comfort her. “What did she say? Did she answer?”

“She...doesn't use words.” Celestia replied, a soft almost docile tone “It’s difficult to explain, it’s like a feeling. I sensed that it wasn't a no, but that it would be difficult.”

“Difficult...thats one way to describe me!”

Celestia pushed away the creature next to her “The thing is, I’m not sure if it’s what I want anymore. Discord, having a child would be a responsibility for both of us...one I don’t know you can handle!"

“What?”

“Look at the actions of the past two days...you have come so far and yet you throw it all away for some silly prank.”

Discord was heartbroken “But Celestia…”

“Please go” the princess begged, and seeing how hurt he had made her, he complied.

Author's Note

Yes, Celestia did just quote Spock. And I couldn't find any pony art of Celestia and Spock together...fandom, you let me down!

Chapter 12 - Falling Apart Part 2

Things couldn’t be more perfect for the Princess of Ponyville. She was holding a lavish gala in her castle and she was greeting the nobel guests as one by one they lined up to praise her. She had her beautiful husband Prince by her side and everypony was having a wonderful time. And none of her friends had caused a mass panic like when they had all gone to the gala together.

But she was confused by a sudden knocking sound that seemed to reverberate around the castle. Three short knocks followed by somepony calling her name...

Rarity awoke in her bed, somepony knocking at her bedroom door The princess dream again...hope Luna doesn’t mind seeing ponies have dreams like that The knock on the door confused her again as she lifted her sleepmask off her eyes. Sweetie Belle wasn’t staying over but it was a voice she recognised.

“Rarity, can I talk to you?” Discord gently called out.

Rarity was about to scream out what in Equestria he was doing inside her house in the middle of the night, but she caught herself. Okay, he had invaded her home, but had not entered her private bedroom. So that was sort of progress towards him respecting personal boundaries which she and the others were slowly teaching him.

“Discord, is that you?” she replied sweetly, trying to control the edge to find the most pointy thing she had in the room.

“Yes Rarity, I need to talk to somepony!”

“Can it not wait till morning?” Rarity’s reply was a little more curt.

“Oh, right, yeah” Discord replied sorrowfully “Sorry to wake you, I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Rarity bit her lip as she heard Discord start to walk away. She needed her beauty sleep, but given how polite Discord was being, it would be wrong to turn away a friend. Afterall, she wouldn’t have turned away Fluttershy, Twilight or the others…

“Discord, wait!” Rarity called out “Come in and lets talk shall we?”

Discord slowly opened the bedroom door and peered in. Rarity sat up in bed but kept herself covered by her sheets and had her hooves crossed - not the most welcoming of postures but she was a little annoyed at the late night, or early morning, interruption.

“Sorry to disturb you, but I need to talk to somepony and your the best pony for the job.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow “Me?” but patted the side of her bed none the less indicting Discord should sit.

“Yes, you are very knowledgeable about many things. When it comes to relationships and the such I think you’ll be head and shoulders above Fluttershy or Twilight. Applejack is good for an honest opinion but is not so up to speed with Canterlot politics. And whilst Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are the go-to ponies for pranks..”

“I see. Van I safely assume from that explanation that this visit has to do with what happened in court today?”

“News travels fast nowadays” Discord laughed, but there was no joy in it.

“It does when you’re part of the nation's defences.”

Discord gulped “Does that mean the friendship council has been briefed ready to… well… whatever… to me?”

Rarity gasped “No no no...I didn’t mean it like that. We were briefed about the possible tensions with the Griffon empire”. Rarity uncrossed her hooves and placed one on Discords paw “We would never do anything to harm you. Your our friend.”

Discord smiled back “And I have no intention to harm my friends, or anypony, anymore”. He then went on to describe to Rarity his relationship with Celestia, and the conversation earlier that night.

“I see” Rarity mused “I hadn’t appreciated that your friendship...relationship had grown so intimate...or serious!”

“I know...and I have trouble doing serious.”

Rarity thought carefully about what she was about to say “You’re being serious now. I mean, you haven’t done anything whilst we’ve been talking to cause any form of chaos.”

“Your a friend whos helping me...why would I want to annoy you?”

“See..maybe you can do serious when you want” Rarity replied a little knowledgably “You do realise it was just your ego getting in the way today, right?”

Discord sighed “It was more than that...I think...I’m just so confused.”

Rarity yawned “Why don’t you sleep on it and we can talk more in the morning? Sweetie Belle’s away so you can use her bedroom to sleep in.”

“You...you don’t mind me staying over? Despite me being public enemy number one?”

“Discord, Darling” Rarity replied sweetly again “You’re a friend, so my home is always open to you. Just...don’t tell Spike you stayed overnight, he might get the wrong the idea” Rarity half laughed.

Discord smiled back “Don’t worry, I just have eyes for one white pony...and she has wings before you come back with a sarcastic reply!”

Both smiled at each other. Discord apologised again for waking Rarity up and left her bedroom, leaving the unicorn to her un-needed beauty sleep.

The next morning Rarity woke up and remembered she had a house guest. She put on one of her robes and went to see if Discord was awake and to offer to make breakfast. However, reaching Sweetie Belle’s she saw a note stuck to it.

“Dear Rarity

Thank you for your hospitality last night, and apologies for waking you up. However, just being able to get it off my chest opened my eyes to what I must do, and I have left immediately. Sorry for not bidding you a goodbye but I didn’t want to wake you up.

With friendship, Discord

Ps - I got breakfast in for you.”

Rarity went downstairs to indeed in the kitchen was a plate with two of her favorite pastries on it. She started making herself a cup of tea and wondered what Discord was up to as she bit into the chocolate croissant.

The guards of the Griffon empire were struggling to prevent themselves trembling with fear as Discord walked through the palace of their king. The god of chaos had appeared in their capital city earlier that morning, and had immediately headed towards the palace. Reaching the gates, he requested an audience with their ruler and too afraid to block the powerful creatures request they granted him access.

The king had been informed and quickly had his armour on. He waited for his visitor in his grand hall, along with a squadron of his elite fighters. The doors opened and Discord walked into the room, flanked by a pair of guards on each side. Discord slowly walked up to the king.

“King Ragejaw, thank you for making time to see me”

The griffon king did not reply, but his muscles tensed up ready to fight. Discord looked around at the room ready to fight him

“I think you may have misunderstand my intentions here. I have come to apologise for the incident a few days ago. You see -”

Noting Discord was exactly where he had wanted him to be, the grand mage throw his bomb at the draconequus, the explosion interrupting his speech...

Princess Celestia and Luna entered the Griffon King’s throneroom to a formal fanfare from the Griffon guards. King Ragejaw was sat on his throne, looking a little smug. He stood up and walked towards the two ponies, a swagger in his steps as was usual with the proud, aggressive, if sometimes foolish, griffin race.

“Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, to what do I owe the visit of two such esteemed guests?”

“King Ragejaw, thank you for seeing us” Celestia bowed slightly. but still stood taller than the griffon, much to his invisible chargin. “It has come to our attention that you have one of your citizens in your jail?”

“One of your citizens...you mean Discord?”

“Yes, Lord Discord, God of Choas. Do you have him?” Luna replied.

“Yes, we apprehended the evil tyrant and he is now locked up in our dungeon.”

“Apprehended?” Celestia’s eyebrow raised a tadge.

“He invaded our country, and we are treating him as a war criminal” the king replied smugly.

“Invaded? What did he do exactly?” Celestia asked

“He crossed our borders, that is enough!” the King almost shouted back.

Luna stepped forwards “So, a citizen of Equestria has been locked up for simply entering an allies territory? I believe that goes against the peace treaty of 578.”

“Our borders are our borders - and we are more than capable of defending them against anyone...or anypony!”

Luna’s mane started to flow a little faster “578 anmm in the Equestrian calendar of course. Do you know what anmm stands for? After Nightmare Moon...you know, when I became more powerful than any other creature in the world…”

The Griffin king and Luna seemed to be eying each other up, but luckily Celestia always kept a cool head. “Princess Luna, King Ragejaw, please no posturing right now. The treaty that was forged by blood nearly six hundred years ago is too valuable for either side to lose.”

Luna seemed to calm down a little at her sister's words, but the griffin was still as riled up. Celestia returned to the topic at hoof “But tell me King Ragejaw, aren’t you surprised that such a powerful and dangerous beast hasn’t broken out yet?”

“We have ways of containing magic now” the king laughed back, a little too gleefully. He gestured to the floor near where the two Princesses were standing “My researches have found runes that nullify all kinds of magic!”

The two princesses looked over with other with a look of some surprise, and the king took the opportunity to continue “You see, dear ally, that the Griffon kingdom is not as powerless as it was when you last forced a peace treaty onto us.”

Luna looked over to where the runes were inscribed. She walked into the centre of the ring, and with a simple flash of magic they disappeared. The griffon king, along with his right hand mage, jaws almost hit the floor as their top-trump against Discord and the alicorns seemed to be rendered useless.

Luna laughed “Ha! These runes would barely hold back a unicorn foal, certainly not powerful enough to contain Discord!”

“Then...princesses…” the arrogant tone of the king had disappeared in an instant as he realised that he was powerless against the Princesses as all previous kings had been “How did we capture him? And how is he still contained?”

“That is a very good question” Celestia mused, eying the Griffon king a little.

The guards led the two Princess and their king down to the dungeons. As they approached a cell at the end of the corridor, the same runes were visible on the floor and door. The princesses didn’t even bother to ask as there horns lit and all the runes disappeared.

“You know it is against our peace treaty to develop any magic designed to interfere with Equestrian magic” Celestia spoke as plainly as she could.

“Apologises, Princess Celestia, Luna. We - we just were worried about Discord after his release”

“Of course, King Ragejaw, I’m sure that the design was just meant for Discord...” Luna replied

“...And that the threat made against our nation was just a slip of the tongue” Celestia added

The griffon didn’t know where to look, knowing he had been thoroughly exposed. There were lots of stories over the years warning the kings not to try to take on Equestria, and the peace treaty was always seen as more favourable to the griffons given they had never won a single battle against Equestria.

Now he knew why.

He motioned for the guards to open the cell, and led his two guests inside where Discord was lying on a hard bench. As they entered the small cell, Celestia and Luna could both sense something different. Celestia went running over to her special somepony and she cupped his head in her hooves.

“Discord...where is your magic?”

Chapter 13 - Broken Dreams

The small convoy of two carriages, surrounded and pulled by a squadron of elite Royal Guards, trundled along the road from the Griffon kingdom back to Equestria. The border was still a few hours away, and until they entered Equestrian territory they were stuck at walking speed.

Luna sat in one of the carriages alone, thinking about all that had transpired with a slight smile on her face. Celestia had simply picked Discord up in her aura and walked out of the Castle, leaving the younger sieter in the unusual situation of trying to keep the diplomatic situation under control. Luna managed to persuade the King that he should twist the story that having captured Discord, he released him into Equestrian custody for safe keeping, allowing him to take credit.

Celestia had always been the one to be the calm, diplomatic one, so Luna found it unusual she had to be. It just showed how Celestia felt about Discord…

...or that she simply had enough of the Griffon King.

Luna giggled slightly at that thought. With that minor incident taken care of, she had allowed Discord and Celestia to travel alone in a carriage, expecting that they needed to talk. Besides, three of them would be a bit of a crowd in a carriage.

In the next carriage, Celestia was sat with Discord head in her lap. The draconequus had not spoken and barely moved since they had left, although he had smiled and patted her muzzle when they first met. He seemed to be broken...not just magically but in spirit.

“Oh Discord, what has happened these past few days?”

***Two nights ago***

Discord lay on the floor in Sweetie Belle’s bedroom. He looked up at the very comfortable looking bed but decided against sleeping in it. It didn’t seem right to use a little filly's, despite being friends, at least without her knowing anyway. Besides, comfort was a relative thing for him after a thousand years in stone.

Discord looked around the room at the posters on the wall. There was a mixture of fashion posters, no doubt inspired by her sister, and various Bridleway musicals. Clearly she will someday realise her special talent...just hope that Scootaloo and Apple Bloom can do so around the same time.

However, this distraction only lasted briefly and he soon was dwelling back on his relationship issues. He had come so far in such a short space of time...but had he blown his only chance. Knowing Rarity was right and that he should sleep on it, he lowered his head and settled down to sleep.

Discord awoke in a dream. Clearly it was a dream as he seemed to be floating in some form of strange, ethereal space full of stars and nebulae. He looked around and there was only one other pony there. A white filly with a familiar mane.

“Sweetie Belle?” Discord called out as the pony approached him.

“I’m not actually Sweetie Belle, I’ve just taken her form.”

“Then who are you?”

“Don’t you know?”

“I think I do...but is this just a dream?”

“A dream...yes...but so much more” she replied.

Discord looked at the creature. Whilst on the surface it looked identical to the incredibly cute filly that was Rarity’s sister, there was an ageless knowledge behind her eyes that clearly wasn’t from a shy young filly from a small Equestrian town.

“You?” Discord replied in a little shock

“Yes me!” the filly squeaked “Ain't it just awesome, although I still don’t have my cutie mark!” she pouted, looking at her flank and making Discord almost laugh.

“You spoke to Celestia the other night, or so she remembers. She didn’t remember much though, nothing like a conversation.”

“You won’t remember this...no creature does. All I do is leave a vague impression of the outcome.”

“Then why have the conversation?"

“Blunt...I like it!” the filly smiled back “I don’t like to directly control anyponys lives, and this way I can help when required.”

“Help, how?”

“Like creating the tree of harmony, giving little prods to spellcasters, inspiring young minds...that sort of gentle touch.”

“I see, and I guess you want to give me a gentle touch towards something.”

“That depends, what do you think?”

Discord sat down on a cloud, and the filly sat opposite him “What Celestia remembers...about our relationship. And more.”

“It will be difficult...and it will require sacrifice” the filly finished off Discords sentiments.

Discord eyed up the entity “Celestia has already sacrificed so much for her country...her sister for a thousand years, loneliness at running a country. She’s done enough...so it’s up to me. I know this”

“But what do you even have to sacrifice?” the adorable filly squeaked..

Discord was stumped at this one “I guess only my chaotic nature. Celestia is right afterall...it’s not a way to live in a civilised society, let alone a child. But I don’t think I can give up my ways so easily.”

“Would you really be willing to sacrifice everything you are for her?”

“Everything? I hope theres more to me than just my powers” Discord paused for a moment “I hope there is. Fluttershy, Celestia, the others...they must see something in me, so there has to be.”

“Well, maybe it’s time to find out?” The filly replied, in a way that was both calming and for some reason terribly chilling at the same time.

The filly stood up and starting skipping away. But Discord had one last question “So what are you exactly?”

Sweetie Belle stopped and turned around “Me...well, given you won’t remember, all I say is that I am a creature from another dimension that can create beautiful worlds...but has to eventually let them go…”

Discord woke up with a start. He remembered that he just had a dream, but for the life of him had no idea what it was about. But there seemed to be a thought stuck in the back of his mind - he had to go and apologise to the Griffins. He looked at the sky and saw it was early morning and decided to just follow this thought.

With a click of his fingers he magicked up a breakfast treat and a note for Rarity, and with another flash teleported to the griffin kingdom. No soon had he materialised in the strange city, a cold mystic wind blew over him and he sure he heard something in that wind “Sacrifice”.

Discord looked at the Palace of the King and tried to teleport there, but found his magic missing. He tried again, and then tried other tasks, but nothing seemed to work. He remained calm, and continued instead on foot...

***Present Time***

Once Discord finished his story, the pair traveled in silence with Celestia gently stroking the draconequus face. Despite being next to the pony he loved, Discord was still confused and miserable, and the princess couldn’t blame him. But she could tell just being near him was slowly cheering him up.

Once the convoy reached Equestria’s borders, the guards and the carriages took to the air, greatly increasing the speed allowing the journey back to Canterlot to be completed quickly. Landing in the palace grounds, the trio disembarked, the princesses thanking the guards as usual. Discord seemed to slightly perk up at seeing the castle, and walked besides the two Alicorns inside.

Luna made her excuses to sleep before she took over the night, leaving Celestia to escort Discord. Entering the main meeting room, Discord was ambushed by a yellow and pink blurred hugging machine, shortly followed by the five other elements of harmony. After a suitable pause, all but the element of kindness remained and with a slight epp she removed herself from her good friend.

“Discord, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, fluttering around him like a nervous hummingbird.

Discord managed to grab Fluttershy in the air with his hands and gently lower her to the ground. He then proceeded to tell his friends the tale of what happened, or at least as much as he remembered, over tea and cupcakes. Celestia sat to one side and looked on whilst this was happening and noticing this, Twilight came over to her.

“And how are you Princess?”

“I’m fine, thank you Princess.”

Twilight blushed “Sorry, Celestia, it’ll take a long time to stop calling you that.”

“I understand Twilight.”

“But are you really okay? I can understand this being a bit upsetting for you?"

“More...confused than upset really. I just hope Discord is actually okay. I can find nothing wrong with him, except has lack of magic.”

After around an hour of catching up with his ponyville friends, Discord decided he needed some alone time with Celestia so faked feeling tired. The six mares had to go head home anyway, so after a long goodbye they headed off to the train station, leaving Discord alone with Celestia.

The pair left the large room and Discord started heading towards his quarters. However, Celestia stood in his way and started ushering him along. Discord could work out where they were heading, and as Celestia prodded him along with a wing, Discord had no choice but to follow. Although he would have done so anyway. They soon found themselves in Celestia’s private quarters.

They sat down together on one of the many couches, and Celestia started to talk. She went on about how scared she was that she had lost him to some bizarre Griffin magic, and started to lose it. Discord placed a claw on Celestia’s muzzle and rubbed it gently to soothe her “It’s okay, I’m fine and safe here with you.”

“I know...but your magic!” Celestia was almost crying at this point “I mean, what happened to it?”

Discord smiled “I think it was me...she came to me last night.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in “I think in order to make sure we could be together I must have given up my powers or something?”

“You gave up your magic for me?” Celestia gasped.

“No...I gave up my magic for the two of us!” Discord smiled back, before gently placing a claw on celestia’s tummy “Or perhaps the three of us in time”

Celestia took a look at the draconequus and leant in and kissed him passionately on the lips. Breaking for air, Discord noticed a look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen for a while - a fiery passion. But unlike in the past when it was hostile, this time it was the complete opposite. Celestia stood up and walked to her bed, and the body language she was giving off made sure Discord followed…

Discord was woken up by movement next to him. He opened a eye and noticed it was still dark outside. He wasn’t sure when Celestia had lowered the sun but watched as she lifted her head and started to raise the dawn. Discord waited patiently for the task to be completed and for Celestia’s aura to fade out.

“Good morning” Discord smiled at his special somepony.

“Good morning” Celestia replied “Sorry to wake you.”

“No problem, would you like some breakfast?” Discord clicked his fingers, and then winced as her remembered that his magic was gone.

“Discord I…” Celestia began, but Discord put a claw up.

“I’ll go get it!” he replied and hopped out of bed.

Celestia crawled up into a kneeling position, wrapping a sheet round her a little modestly “There’s really no need…”

Discord was already halfway to the door but stopped. His shoulders sank a little, but he turned round and put on a smile “Look, I may not have my magic, but I still want to treat my special somepony as the Princess she deserves to be. I’ll go down to the kitchens and be back in the jiffy”

Discord turned and walked out of the room, leaving Celestia to her thoughts. Well, I never expected Discord to do that!

When Discord had returned with breakfast, Celestia was already out of bed, brushed, and sitting at her breakfast table. The pair ate in a slight awkwardness given the nature of the night together. but Celestia seemed to be looking at him in a strange way. Once breakfast was done, Discord broke the silence.

“So...what should I do now? I mean, you’ve got court today so I could hang out in the library or something?”

Celestia continued to look at him, her head tilted slightly. “Discord, have you not noticed a change since yesterday...I can feel it.”

“You mean, between us. Well…”

Celestia blushed and quickly interrupted “No, not that. I mean you. I feel something different about you. Don’t you feel it?”

“Not really. I mean, something felt different when I got back to Canterlot. Isn’t it just relief?”

Celestia cast a spell and a faint light formed round discord before dissipating “I think...I think you have unicorn magic now”

“Unicorn magic?”

“Yes, I can sense something inside of you.”

“But why didn’t I...or you...feel it in the Griffin cell?”

“Unicorn magic is actually tied into Equestria's soil. When anypony actually leaves equestria, the further the move away from the borders the less earth, flight or mana power they have, until they have none.”

“I...I never knew that!” Discord exclaimed “And I guess as you and Luna are tied into the celestial bodies, your magic is different?”

“Well deduced. So, want to try to access it?”

Discord looked at Celestia nervously, but didn’t want to disappoint her. He felt within and focused on picking up a cup. Very briefly his antler and his horn shimmered with magic before fizzling out.

Discord looked at Celestia a little dejectedly, but she was beaming back “You do! You do have equestrain magic now!”

“I can’t even lift a cup!” Discord pouted, but Celestia came round and placed a wing around him “Maybe not now, but you just need teaching how. I guess we know what you can be doing today!”

“No, not...not magic kindergarten!”

Chapter 14 - Kidding-garten

“But I don’t wanna go to school!” Discord moaned as he was being led along the street by Celestia.

The same conversation was happening with some of the other colts and fillies on the way to the first day of Magic Kindergarten, although the parents seemed to be distracted from their own bundles of joy by having one of their triarchy having the same issues as them.

Discord tried to fly away, but a soft yellow glow surrounded him and dragged him back to the ground in front of it’s caster. He pouted in Celestia’s face, who was almost laughing “Now now Discord, until you go to Magic Kindergarten you can’t progress with your magic studies.”

A quick staring match ensued between the two immortals, until Discord looked away “Okay, I give in!”

“Good. Oh, and once inside the grounds a protective bubble will stop you from flying away, so don’t even try!” Celestia reminded Discord, bopping him on the nose “And don’t pretend you weren't thinking that.”

Discord scowled at Celestia acting as a perfect mother figure “You know me too well!”. Celestia passed over a bag with a packed lunch and discord slowly walked inside the grounds of the school, passing through the bubble. He turned and saw Celestia waving to him, like the other parents to their own children, and Discord decided it would be rude not to wave back.

The bell signifying the start of class rang and all the young ponies, and one draconequus, made there way into the building, all a little worried what the day would bring. Inside was a large classroom, and they all took various seats. Discord sat at the back, and noticed the seats around him were the last to be taken. Yep, ponies are still scared of me!

There was a middle aged, and kindly looking, teacher stood at the front of the room. She levitated a piece of chalk and write on the board as she spoke. “My Name is Swift Magic, but you should refer to me as Ms Magic...”

A few of the young students giggled slightly, until a quick stare from the teacher made them stop. “Yes, having Magic as my surname as a magic teacher is very funny. Now that that’s out of the way, lets get on with casting theory 101.”

101...as in the teaching system or the room in George Orwhinny’s book? Discord thought to himself.

It was the first school break and Discord wasn’t sure what the answer to that first question he had was. He, and the other students, had been torn from a world filled with playing and fun into one where you sat still and listened to a teacher. It was a hard transition for a young pony, but for a former god of choas...it was torture.

Discord sat alone in the playground as the fillies and colts got to know each other, forming friendships that would last forever (or the next day, younglings being as they were). The other students were keeping a distance to him, and he couldn't blame them being much bigger than them...or their teacher...or anypony they had ever met .

However, after a while, a small brown colt came slowly walking over to him, being watched by a group of ponies with interest.

“H...hello” the shy colt spoke to Discord.

“Hello there, my name is Discord, what’s yours?”

“Wild...Wild Sprocket!” came the reply. The colt looked Discord over, before focusing on one thing. “You haven’t got your cutie mark yet either?”

Discord thought about giving a sarcastic answer, but the little pony didn't deserve that “No, my species doesn’t get cutie marks.”

The colt looked at him puzzledly “How do you know what you are good at?”

Discord slightly chuckled as this was a thought he had been having for the past couple of days “Good question kiddo!”

“Anyway, we were just going to play hoofball...wanna join us?”

Discord nodded in agreement. The colt beamed a smile and turned to the group and shouted “He said yes...and baggsy he’s on my team!”

Before all too long the students were dragged back inside for the next boring session of school. At least this time Ms Magic was asking questions as she spoke, but even so it seemed like a very dry subject. It was a sunny day and the warmth of the afternoon soon made discord drowsy and he found himself struggling to stay awake.

“Discord?” he heard in a fuzzled tone and he ignored it.

“Discord, are you paying attention?”

The stern voice snapped him back to reality, where he found himself being stared at by Princess Twilight Sparkle in one of the teaching room in Canterlot’s school for gifted unicorns. It was just the two of them in the room, and Discords daydream faded into a memory.

“Sorry Twilight, but this is so boring” Discord pulled his face with his hands as he spoke, but without his magic it did not have the comedic effect he was after.

Twilight at first began to scowl, but then softened “I know it can be a little...dry...for ponies, er creatures, that don’t like book reading -”

“-you mean nerds like you?” Discord interrupted.

“Yes, I suppose so. But an understanding of magical theory is the first step of casting safe and reliable spells. Especially given your likely natural high magical ability.”

“Can we at least take a break?”Discord pleaded with a pout he learnt from Princess Luna.

“Sure, I think we've covered enough to maybe give a spell or two a try in a few minutes.”

Discord stood up and cricked out his joints. Twilight pulled out a couple of drinks and Apples fresh from Applejack’s farm and passed half over to Discord. They ate in silence for a few moments, before Twilight started “I know this is a little awkward Discord, but you need to be taught Equestrian magic...it’s likely very different to what you had before.”

“But why are you my teacher?” Discord asked

“Because you need to have a powerful teacher incase you start to have some form of power surge, like I did. Luna would be willing to teach you at night, but that probably wouldn’t work for you to spend time with Celestia. Oh course Celestia would of course be a better tutor, but given your relationship with her it could prove a bit…” Twilight waved her hoof absently in the air for a moment “...awkward. Afterall, a student/teacher bond can make other forms of relationships, such as being friends, difficult.”

“You and Celestia have done it?”

“Yeah, but it’s tricky and after moving to ponyville it made it a bit easier. I having a more intimate relationship mixed with an authority one could prove very problematic.”

“I don’t know, a bit of teacher/student roleplay could be quiet fun. I can be a very bad student when I want to be and Celestia does stern oh so well…” Discord spoke teasingly.

“Huh, I always had celestia down as the naughty school-foal…” Twilight began before catching herself in what she was saying. Discord simply raised an eyebrow in interest.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Twilight blushed “I mean, after reading all about pony sexuality I couldn’t help but wonder how each of my friends into Sigmare Freud’s theories.”

“Of course you did, Miss Sparkle!” Discord winked “But if you ever fancy joining Celestia in my classroom, I’m sure Professor Discord can keep two unruly alicorns in check - I can hold a pair of reigns in both hands!”

Discord saw a huge flash of red sweep over Twilight’s face, seconds before the flash of her teleporting away in embarrassment.

“Too easy!” Discord laughed.

After Twilight had teleported back after a few second, and both of them apologised to each other, the lesson continued.

Later that evening, Discord waited for Celestia to finish with Day Court. The time with Twilight had been mixed. Obviously the alicorn who had harnessed the power of half of Equestria to defeat Tirek knew her stuff And she could teach having learnt with the cutie mark crusaders and Rainbow Dash how to deal with difficult students.

The problem had been him. Unlike Equestrian magic, his old magic wasn’t something that needed to be practised, or learnt. Since as early as he remembered, he could just use it to do whatever he wanted but now that wasn’t the case. Even if he was to master the subject, he would have to learn a spell to cast it. He was going to have to spend a fair amount of time in the library.

He would become like Twilight.

That scary thought was pushed out of his mind as he saw his Princess glide effortlessly down the hall towards him. He greeted her welcoming nuzzle with a hug, and the pair started walking together.

“How was the first day with Twilight?” Celestia asked.

“It was very, er, kind of her to offer to travel all the way up to teach me.”

Celestia raised a hoof to suppress a giggle knowing why Discord dodged the question “She can be a bit...focused at times can’t she , but she will be an excellent teacher. And I think it would be good for her to have a student for a while, to go along with her new kingdom.”

“But isn’t it a bit unfair for her have to fly to and front Canterlot so regularly?”

“Discord, thinking about others? You continue to surprise me!” Celestia teased “Actually, I think Twilight enjoys the flight and will be good exercise for her as shown grows into her alicorn body."

Discord thought about making a joke about Celestia's cake habit needed her to exercise, but without being able to teleport away afterwards decided against poking the bear. “Fancy going out for dinner?”

“Yes, that would be nice. I guess after being stuck inside with Twilight all day you might want to get outside for a while.”

“Indeed. Whilst I would love to come back to your room and help you get ready…”

Celestia let out a little cough as they walked past a royal guard “Discord!”

“Not like that!” Discord replied with an eye roll “It’s actually really nice just to brush your mane. Maybe it’s second nature to you ponies but it’s really relaxing brushing a mane and tail. But as I was saying, I’ll need my own time to get ready, no more clicking fingers for me. So see you in about half an hour?”

“It’s a date!”

They walked through Canterlot together, but unlike the first few weeks there was no staring. A few ponies bowed to the Princess and a couple of foals wanted an autograph, but they were left mostly alone. It seems the fuss over Discord seemed to have diminished somewhat.

They went to a modest restaurant, where everypony treated them with respect, but without the usual formalities that used to follow the Princess around. Clearly everypony she met wanted to treat her as a normal mare...it may have taken a thousand years of trying after the Nightmare incident for it to finally happen, but it had.

And all it took was finally let her mane down and be seen as a normal pony who does normal things like date. So obvious in retrospect, but then until Luna had returned she was always too busy to date. Luckily, unlike her regular ponies, she had plenty of time to make up for her mistakes. Unlike some of my dearest friend she thought to herself.

“Are you okay?” Discord asked “You seem kinda down.”

“I was just thinking about poor old Starswirl. He didn’t get to do anything fun with his life. He was so committed to Equestria, and he missed out on so much.”

“Like what?”

“Like dating. Having friends...a wife...a family.”

“I remember him well. I liked him. Of course he was the enemy, like you, but he had a quirky side I could respect. A bit like Pinkie”

“He was nothing like pinkie pie. He was so strict and always worrying.”

“Maybe towards you, but then that was just to make sure you and Luna grew up properly. He actually had a very fun side. Afterall, would a serious person have bells on their hat and cape?”

“That was part of a protective charm.” Celestia started, but Discord paused her by raising a claw.

“No, that wasn’t it. He did it so there would be something to be remembered except for his spells. He knew that he wouldn’t be forgotten for magic, and decided it would be a legacy that would be boring. So he decided that being remembered for a quirk would help some of his less savoury decisions be forgotten.”

“How do you know?”

“We went drinking once.” At seeing Celestias reaction of surprise, Discord laughed “We once bumped into each other in the everfree forest and thinking I was going to attack you and your sister, he attacked me. Needless to say, he was outpowered and thought I was going to kill him when he was defeated. Instead, I took him drinking and leveled with him.”

“What do you mean?”Celestia was deeply intrigued.

“I explained I would never kill anypony, but to make up for attacking me he had to do some research for me.”

“Research, into what?”

Discord gulped “You know why he created the dimension mirrors?” Celestia shook her head no. “To find me another draconequus for me. A female. A mate.”

“But he never did?”

“No. In all the alternative universes, there is only one draconequus, me. And every creature, no matter on their character or biological changes, always stays the same gender.”

“Oh, so he failed you?” Celestia seemed to be genuinely upset.

“I’m glad he failed, otherwise we never would have made it together.” Discord noted a vase full of flowers a little way away. He focused his thoughts and his horns glowed slightly. Very slowly, a single flower floated out of the vase and over towards them. The path may have been a bit wobbly but eventually it made it over to their table, and eventually placed in Celestia’s mane

Celestia looked up to the flower “You can already do magic?”

“It’s not much -”

“But it’s a start Discord. Things grow over time…” Celestia stood up and placed a gentle kiss on the side of his face “...like the feelings between us. Come, let's dance!”