Dating isn't just for mortals...

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?