Start, Fall Apart, Rebuild

Chapters

It Starts Here
Disobedient
Unaware of the obvious
Getting Closer
Winter Warm-Up
Blinding Sun
My Best Night Ever
After One Night
Last Time
Fall Weather Friendship

It Starts Here

Celestia blinked open her eyes to the bright sunlight shining through the gap between the curtains and onto her face. Slowly, she pulled herself up and yawned, stretching out her cramped up legs. Using her horn, she pulled open the curtains to reveal the bright and sunny day.

"Oh... today looks lovely." She commented as she looked outside. "No important duties today, I should have time to go out there for a while..." She thought for a moment. On a day like this, the Everfree Forest would be a beautiful place to walk and play. She didn't really want to go alone though...

Celestia trotted down the hall towards her sister's room. Just in case she wasn't awake, she opened her door slowly and quietly.

"Luna?" She whispered. "Luna, are you awake?"

A murmur came from the lump in Luna's bed. "What...." She muttered, half asleep.

"It's a nice day today. Want to go and play outside before our duties start?" She trotted happily over to her. Her sister however, didn't even turn over to meet her.

"Unlike you... I prefer to sleep in when we have no duties..." Luna rasped, covering herself with her blanket even further. Celestia gave an annoyed pout.

"But..." She protested.

"Noooo." Luna croaked. Celestia sighed, and gave up.

"Fine... I'm still going out on my own though."

Celestia trotted through the Everfree forest, breathing in the fresh air around her. She could never comprehend why ponies feared the forest. Sure... weird creatures lived here and could sometimes be dangerous. But Luna had made plenty of friends with the wildlife whom lived here.

But Celestia's favourite part about the forest is the surprises. No pegasi controlled the weather here, the Everfree had free will. Though, it didn't usually clear the clouds away like it had on this occasion. So she had took the opportunity to take a stroll under the bright sun. Her princess duties could wait - there was nothing important going on.

She had no idea how long she'd been walking, but the sun was starting to feel like it was burning her coat and feathers. Shade - shade would be nice right now. She hadn't noticed she'd stepped hoof in a clearing, but ahead was a large oak tree which gave all the shade she needed. She settled under it, and decided to admire the beauty around her. Not yet did she notice she was on the edge of the Everfree Forest, but either way, the view was quite beautiful. Birds of different types flew in and out the tree's branches, and animals of the ground gracefully leaped and hopped in the long grass and pink and yellow flowers. She wasn't surprised the tree had many of inhabitants, it was so big it could be made into a cottage or something.

Even in the shade, the air was still thick with heat. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a bit...

Thump!

Something landed in front of her, seemingly out of the tree. It jerked her more awake, that's for sure.

"Oh dear, are you okay?" Celestia could tell it wasn't a pony. It probably didn't even understand her.

Come to think of it... the creature wasn't anything she was familiar with. She saw that as it stood up on two different types of legs, it was a mish-mash of all sorts. It brushed grass and petals off it's long, snake-like body with both a lion paw and eagle claw. It's tail was a serpent's, but it's head resembled a pony's. A weird one, but it was indeed a pony's, with two different antler stumps growing out of it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." It answered, looking at her with uneven eyes. "Are you going to keep staring at me like that?"

Celestia blinked. She didn't realize she was staring. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Eh it's fine." He shrugged. "Used to it I suppose."

"I see..." She answered awkwardly. Why was he smiling?

"I'm guessing you're Princess Celestia?" The creature guessed, flapping it's wings so he could hover in the air. He flew closer to her to observe her, head to hoof.

"Um... yes." She nodded slowly, covering some of her body with her hoof as she started to feel uncomfortable at him glaring at her like he was. He took the hint, and moved backwards, then stood up on his hind legs once again.

Then there was an awkward silence between them.

"So... what's your name?" Celestia asked, tilting her head.

"Oh. I'm Discord."

"Well, hello Discord. If you don't mind me asking... what are you?" She twiddled a hoof on the ground, hoping that Discord wasn't offended.

He instead chuckled at her question. "I'm a draconequus. I thought you would of known."

Celestia shook her head. "I haven't." She told him. Discord gave a huff of sarcastic surprise.

"Well, I suppose it's time for me to make my exit." He said, bending down to get ready to jump back into the tree and out of sight.

"Wait!" Celestia stood up suddenly, holding out her hoof to motion him to stay put. Discord blinked at her in (real) surprise, then relaxed his body from his almost midair position

"Yes...?" He urged her to go on out of curiosity.

"I'm always one for new friends. You seem nice." She smiled. The... 'draconequus'... still kept his surprised look, which slowly morphed into suspicion. He leaned closer to her, trying to spy anything out of the ordinary. Celestia just blinked in confusion.

"...What?" She stuttered.

"Um... you're not joking, are you?" He raised a furry brow. Celestia shook her head at the statement.

"Why would I? I love making friends."

Discord sat back on his two hind legs once again. "I don't really hear those words that often. Well... not at all to be exact." He explained. "And a princess would be the last one I'd expect to say that to me." He pointed to her wings and horn. Celestia looked at the two features that she held, then gave a pitiful look to the creature sat in front of her.

"I may be royalty, but I'm still a pony." She pointed out. "Besides, my sister, Luna, is friends with a manticore. Who's to say I can't make friends with you? At least you speak my language!" She giggled, thinking about her inability to speak to Luna's lion friend. Discord echoed a chuckle.

"You do seem like a nice pony, princess. I suppose I could stick around here for a while - I have nowhere else to go if I'm honest." He tapped her on the nose as he hovered in the air at her head level. Celestia giggled at his sense of humor.
She then watched as he tumbled out the air and roll next to her, the tree being what stopped him from rolling any further. A loud bonk! distracted her from laughing though.

"Oh dear... are you okay?" She looked down at him as he laid on his back, limbs splayed out. He blinked open his eyes and smirked at her.

"You're really gullible, for one." Immediately, Discord flipped himself over and landed on all four of his limbs, then he pushed himself backwards until he was leaning against the tree and slowly sliding down, stopping when he reached his comfortable point. Celestia managed to pull out a smile, then knelt next to him.

"I've noticed you don't have a mark on your butt." He began, tilting his head to her blank flank. Celestia followed his gaze.

"My cutie mark? Oh no... I don't get that for quite a while." She shrugged it off.

"But I've seen much younger ponies with cutie marks."

"Alicorns age differently though. Therefore, me and Luna get out cutie marks much later." She explained. "However, I'll admit that it's awkward how so many ponies so much younger than us have found their purpose. And we're princesses!"

Discord gave a grunt. From what emotion, she couldn't tell. "So you've been around ever since that huge blizzard?" He asked. Celestia nodded. "Me and Luna were around long before it, actually. She was really young... but either way, we didn't really understand what was going on when it came. Both of us had to travel all alone for a long time..." She recalled back to the huge blizzard they both had to travel through. Even when they found a safe place, it seemed to follow wherever they went.

"Really? I remember that blizzard. Well, kinda. It's all a blur, I was so young."

Celestia blinked in surprise. "But it happened many years ago... you look about as old as me. Then again... I've never seen a draconequus before."

Discord shrugged. "I'm like you. I age differently to those around me, I figured out."

"You're saying you have the same life span as me?" She gasped. Discord nodded, but didn't catch on to why she was surprised.

"That's great! I thought I'd outlive everypony aside from Luna. I'd have to watch all my friends... um..." She looked at the ground. "...Leave."

"Leave? Where would they go?" Discord gave her a confused look.

"No, leave as in, pass away."

"...Uh..." He continued to stare blankly at her. Celestia rolled her eyes.

"Die."

"Ohh... well you could of just said that in the first place."

"I don't like to talk about death though..." She looked away, into the distance. Discord's slender body allowed him to stay sitting in place, but also curve over and face Celestia, to her surprise.

"Why's that?"

She gave a mournful sigh. "I last saw my parents when they told us to find Canterlot Mountain, where it would be safe. They flew off, and me and my sister never saw them again." Celestia watched as the draconequus slithered back into his regular sitting position.

"Well..." Discord tapped his chin. "Maybe they're out there somewhere."

The white mare shook her head. "I was told the alicorns were wiped out. Apparently they tried to stop the blizzard... I think you can work out the rest."

"I don't know... can I?" He smirked. Celestia gave an amused huff.

"You seem smart enough." She shrugged casually.

"I'll take that as a compliment." As he said that, he snapped his fingers, making a pink cloud appear in his lion paw. Celestia flinched in surprise at the use of magic.

"How did you..." She blinked.

"Poof this up? It's natural." He explained, taking a bite out of it. She blinked again.

"What is it, exactly?" She poked her hoof at the pink fluff, which turned out to me quite sticky. She cringed as it hung onto her hoof when she pulled away.

"Why, it's cotton candy of course." The pink cloud of puffed up sugar was moved closer to Celestia's face. "Try it." He told her. Celestia had to admit, she have a sweet tooth, and cotton candy was no exception. The scent grew stronger as she slowly leaned towards it to take a bite. Sugar started to melt in her mouth as it came in contact with her saliva, but as it shrunk, the taste on her tongue grew.

"Mmm... this tastes really good! You made that yourself?" She commented.

"Yeah, you could say that. Also, I just noticed - it's the same colour as your mane." He pointed to her wavy pink mane. Celestia giggled at his statement.

"Maybe it tastes like cotton candy." She joked. To her surprise, Discord reached for the part of her mane that grew from the back of her head, and disconnected it easily and started to nibble on it. All she could do is let out a gasp, and start feeling for any left over roots that would be just above her neck.

"Wha... how'd you do that?"

"Magic." He snorted, his voice muffled through each hair strand.

"But how do I put it back on? Do I have to wait for it to grow back?!" She started to panic. Discord just gave an annoyed groan.

"Calm down, princess." He muttered, holding her still so he could attach it back onto her. When she ran a hoof down the back of her head, she was shocked to find that it had magically been placed perfectly onto her, like nothing had happened. She swung her head to face him.

"I don't get how..." She trailed off.

"My magic's different to yours, princess. It doesn't make sense, but hey, where's the fun in that?" He gave her a nudge. "Now, don't you have some royal duties or something?" He angled his tail to the sun's height in the sky. Celestia gasped.

"Oh gosh, you're right! I have to go." She must of been here longer than she'd thought. Quickly, the alicorn stood up, and started galloping in the direction of her castle. But then she stopped to look back at Discord.

"Bye, Discord. It was nice to meet you!" She smiled. Discord then widened his eyes, then hovered over to her.

"Was a pleasure, princess." He gave a slight bow in mid air. Celestia could help but laugh.

"Oh Discord, we're friends! You can call me Celestia!" She playfully patted him on the head. Discord could hold back a smile.

"Well, okay Celestia." He corrected himself. "Do you want to meet here again, maybe?" The confidence in his voice faded a little, since he could predict what she was going to say...

"Sure!"

He perked in surprise. "Really?"

"Why not?" She giggled.

He shrugged. "I'll be here. Just come whenever you like."

"That's fine. I'll try and make it this evening." With that, she turned around, and continued to gallop towards home.

Author's Note

The plot twist in this is that Celestia and Luna are older than Discord.

Ha, you thought they'd fall in love in the first hour they meet?

...

...No. Who'd write such trash?

I think I just insulted Disney. Woops.

Either way, I'm going to be making this as not-cliched as I possibly can.

Disobedient

Celestia entered her library, looking for the pony whom she always met around this time of day.

"Celestia!" The stallion exclaimed. He had been hidden behind a tower of books, no wonder she couldn't see him.

"Hi Starswirl." She smiled, scanning the different genres of books around her. "What exactly are you studying right now?" All the different types confused her. There was teleporting, to levitating, to history books.

The unicorn chuckled. "Time travel." He said. Celestia's eyes widened.

"Oh... that seems difficult."

"And boooring!" Another voice called from the other side of the library. She knew exactly who it was, and rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Luna." She retorted. "If studying is so boooring, why are you in here?" She looked over to her sister who was running her hoof over the books sat on the shelves.

"Because constellations are cool." She simply answered, finally stopping on a dark blue book. Using her magic, Luna levitated it in front of her and opened it to begin to read. Celestia just gave a sigh and turned back to Starswirl.

"I'd be honored to help you complete this spell." She offered, glancing at his few pages of notes so far.

"Help would be good. Thank you, princess." He nodded to her. "But before we begin, I think we should have some lunch first."

Oh dear. Celestia wasn't in the mood for healthy food, now that she'd eaten half a... um... cloud of cotton candy. However, that news couldn't be shared, for, in her opinion, it was not princess-like to eat dessert before lunch.

"Good, I'm starving." Luna slammed her book shut, and trotted along with Starswirl towards their dining room, abandoning the collided pages on the floor. The book was then glowing with gold aura, as Celestia gently set it on the table.

"At least show some respect for the books you do like." She scolded, as she caught up with her sister.

Luna just rolled her eyes. "What was it gonna do while we were gone, burst into flames?"

Celestia just gave out a sigh.

The three ponies eating at the table were silent. It seemed nopony knew what to start a conversation about. So Celestia took it as an opportunity.

"Starswirl?" She broke the silence. The unicorn wizard flinched at the sudden voice, then looked up at her.

"Mhmm?" He mumbled, with his mouth full.

The alicorn's hooves twiddled. "What's a draconequus?"

When she said that, Starswirl stopped, and put down his silverware. "Creatures I hope I never meet face to face." He began. "I've studied them in the past. Before I knew it was Windigoes causing the huge blizzard, I thought that the amount of disharmony between ponies may have been caused by their species. I'm glad I was wrong."

Celestia tilted her head in confusion. "What does disharmony have to do with draconequuses...draconequi.... what's the plural?"

The unicorn shrugged. "I really don't care. But their kind has an obsession with creating disharmony among other beings. They think it's fun, really. And something creating corruption between others for the joy of it is probably one of the most evil things one can do."

The princess looked at the floor. "Where do they come from?"

"I'm not completely sure, to be honest. As far as I know, they where most likely first created by disharmony itself, but I think from then on they reproduced like regular life forms. I heard myths that with each birth they grew more harmonized feelings, but they keep it hidden, you can only unlock it like a door and a key. I doubt that last parts true though..."

At first, Celestia didn't know how to respond. Lucky (or unlucky) for her, he spoke before she could.

"Why'd you ask?" He raised a brow, moving his hat upwards as it started to tip over. Celestia would admit the truth, but somehow it seemed wrong.

Discord didn't seem evil or anything like that... sure, a bit mischievous, but heck, I'm mischievous quite a lot too!

"...Oh, I just saw the word in a book not long ago. I didn't know where I could find out what it was though." She lied.

"You find a lot of words in a lot of books." Her sister commented, her voice muffled with the food that was stuffed in her mouth.

"Just remember, Princess, if you ever see a draconequus, you must report back so we can get rid of it. Their magic corrupts them, and will eventually hold no bounds."

Guilt was biting at Celestia's hooves as she trotted through the Everfree. Ever since lunch, she had been trying to persuade herself that Discord didn't match Starswirl's description on his species. She found Discord amusing, and finding out he aged the same as her was more than satisfying, like she would have a friend and a sister forever, and she'd never have to let them go.

But what if Starswirl was right? What if Discord was indeed evil?

The more she knew him, the more sure Celestia could be. And she'd hate to accuse one of their reputation... that's how the three pony tribes were separated by their hatred for each other.

She didn't even realize it when she reached the clearing she'd met Discord in earlier that day.

"Discord?" Her voice echoed across the open space. No voice came back. She kept walking towards the oak tree, keeping and eye out for a slender mish-mashed body. But so far, there was no one in sight. "Discord?" She yelled again, this time a little louder.

Again, no answer.

Just as she was about to give up and turn back, weight smashed into her front, rolling her down the small hill that she was standing on. Celestia grunted as she stopped, then blinked open her eyes, to see a familiar face above her.

"You scared me!" She gasped, as the draconequus on top of her stared back down at her.

"So did you." He said, as he rolled off of her. He lent her his lion paw in order to help the alicorn get back on her hooves, in which she accepted.

"How did I scare you?" She tilted her head.

Discord shrugged. "I didn't expect you to come back."

Celestia then smiled at him. "I said I would, didn't I? Of course I came back!" She gave a giggle, being echoed by Discord.

"So, what do you want to do?" She continued. He tapped his chin, thinking for a moment.

"I don't know. I didn't plan anything."

"Well, you're very organized." Celestia sarcastically commented. Discord gave a scoff.

"Do I look organized to you?" He held his arms out so she could look at his whole anatomy.

"Point taken." She continued to think of some sort of game to play. "I bet you can't catch me." She teased, galloping off into the forest.

When she looked back, she saw that Discord hesitated at first, but then smirked and started to flap his two different wings so he could chase after her. She began to dodge through small gaps in the trees, and chaotically maneuvering in jagged paths. But to her surprise, non of her tactics seemed to shake him off. In fact, it seemed he knew every move she was going to do next.

"Impressive." She called back to him.

"Oh, you've seen nothing yet, princess." He taunted, suddenly dashing a different way, into oblivion. Celestia skidded to a stop, unsure to what he was trying to do. She looked around, but she could hardly see further than two of her own tail lengths. It didn't help that the only thing she could hear was the breeze weaving through the tree's branches.

"Discord?" She whispered. Then something leaped out from the bushes in front of her and tapped her on the nose.

"You're it." Discord chuckled. Celestia blinked in shock.

"How did you-"

"No time for questions." He said, as he flew towards the sky, above the trees. Celestia settled into her playful mode again, and started flapping her wings to chase after him. As soon as she emerged from the forest into the air, however, clouds surrounded her and blocked her vision.

"Show yourself! It's no fair if I can't see you." She grunted.

"You have to look for obvious clues." His voice somehow seemed to echo in her mind. "Where do you think I am?"

Celestia tilted her head to where she thought the voice was coming from. She could tell his voice seemed to be more in her left ear than her right, therefore she turned right. A small movement in the clouds caught her attention, and she straight away dashed towards it. Though, she didn't expect to bump into anything. She thought wrong though, and found herself face to face with Discord, both oblivious to them plummeting towards the ground.

"Clever." He commented.

"I dread to think how good you are at hide and seek..." She fretted. Discord chuckled.

"You can always try me." He bet her. But Celestia raised a brow at this.

"What that suppose to mean?"

Discord covered his mouth in realization. "I meant, we could always try and play that."

"Oh, okay." She huffed.

"And Celestia,"

"Mhmm?"

"We're about to hit the ground." He pointed below them, and along with his statement, came the thud. Though they both grunted, Discord did so louder, since he was squished between a mare and the ground.

Celestia shook her pink mane out of her face and gave a pitiful look at him. "I didn't hurt you did I?" She gasped, seeing his pupils were rolling around in his eye sockets. He shook his head and looked back up at her.

"I'm fine..." He rasped. "Though, I'll admit it was a bit of an impact." 'A bit' was an understatement.

"...Maybe we should wrap up the games." Celestia suggested, rolling off of him. Discord didn't exactly move position, just rolled over on his side to face the alicorn lying next to him.

"Agreed." He said, rubbing his head.

"Look at the bright side - we cleared up some of the clouds. We can see the sky." She pointed a hoof to the black sky, only lit up by the moon and a few faded stars. Seeing how dark it was made her sigh.

"What?" Discord asked her.

"It's just that..." She began, rolling back on her side to face him again. "I remember, very faintly, the night sky used to be lit up with stars... and the moon used to be so much brighter."

"Well, I obviously don't, but why would it be any different now?"

"Well... when there were more full grown alicorns, they used to light up day and night for the ponies. It was always such a beautiful sight... but ever since the unicorns took over, the sky has never been the same. No offence to them, of course." She added quickly.

"Why don't you do it? You're an alicorn." He pointed to her wings and horn.

"Me? Oh no... the best spell I can do is teleportation. Moving a huge celestial body? No way."

"You're names 'Celestia' for a reason, I'm sure." He smirked.

"Nice pun, but no. Also, the unicorns still need a job around here, I'm afraid they'll get shunned for it." After she said this, Celestia gave out a small yawn. Discord took note of this.

"I didn't know princesses got tired." He dramatically gasped. Celestia rolled her eyes.

"Princesses especially." She told him.

"Maybe you should go home and sleep?" He suggested, pushing his upper body half off of the grass. The alicorn gave a guilty look.

"Already? Are you sure?"

"Eh, I get it. You have duties tomorrow. I'm guessing you should've went to sleep a few hours ago."

She slowly nodded, then got up, copied by Discord.

"It's been a pleasure, Discord. I hope we can do this again soon." She smiled.

"Same with me."

The two both said their goodbyes, and Celestia started trotting back to her castle, rather drowsily. Throughout the journey, there was one thought at the back of her mind that she couldn't ignore.

What could be so evil about him?

Author's Note

For any of you who have read The Journal of the Two Sisters;

This is set around half way through the book.

Also, if Celestia was aging regularly, I imagine she'd be about 15-17 at this point. Luna's 12-14, which is why she's rather immature. (In a lovable way)

Unaware of the obvious

It may of not been every night, but Celestia often met up with Discord on the edge of the Everfree. However, it was as if on each day she could visit for an even less amount of time than the previous meeting.

It's because Celestia was caught in the middle.

There was a point when she wanted to tell at least Luna about her best friend - but she couldn't bring herself to speak of a draconequus in the first place.

Every day, every night, she turned to her sister and opened her mouth to begin the story, but when Luna moved her eyes to look back at her, she shut it closed.

And there were times where Discord would ask why she had to leave so early, or came so late. Her excuse was always 'royal duties'.

Except it wasn't. Sometimes she had to wait until Luna or other ponies in the castle fell asleep, and sometimes she had to escape while there were eyes that could spot her. She'd say something to briefly explain herself, then run off before they'd suspect the truth.

This had been happening for a year.

However, it didn't feel like it. Everyday seemed the same, making every minute go quicker. If there wasn't such thing as a calendar, she would think it had been a month, and that's it.

She wasn't saying her life was boring. Her sister could be quite the laugh. Nor was she saying she disliked being a princess. It was an honor for ponies to look up to her.

It was the fact she was enjoying the life she wasn't sharing. Ponies aged around her... both close and strangers to her. But she and her sister stood, staying the same age while a pony lives a whole life, foal to elder. Okay... she was exaggerating. She was ectually aging, just ever so slowly, and from what she knew, as soon as she got a cutie mark, she'd age even slower to the point where she cannot die of old age.

Of course, she had Luna, yes. But something about her relationship with Discord was different. She saw Luna every day, ever since she wakes up in the morning to the point when she goes to bed at night. But at the sight of Discord, Celestia noticed that her heart seems to leap in her chest. A happiness that seemed to be lost was found again. But why?

That's what she was trying to find in these books. Nothing at all. Perhaps she should ask Starswirl? No... he's a genius, he'd figure out something was up.

Maybe Luna would be a better candidate...

The princess shut her book, and set it back on the shelf where she found it. Once she did, she began her search for her sister. Her first guess was her room, and she was correct. Luna was kneeling on her bed looking through a book about stars. Unlike herself however, Luna was easily distracted with her reading, and noticed Celestia step in her room straight away.

"Hi Celie! What brings you to our secret lair of secrety secrets?" She announced in sort of a Royal Canterlot Voice style, minus the volume.

"Just thought I'd ask you something." She began, trotting over to Luna and sitting next to her.

"Is it about constellations? 'Cause I bet I can name every single one of them by heart!" She boasted. Celestia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Nope... I'm confused about something that I... read."

"Why ask me? Starswirl's the smart one." Luna pointed out.

"Err... I couldn't find him." She shrugged. "Are you asking me to call you dumb?"

"...When you put it that way... please, what is thine question?" Her mind took a hundred and eighty degree turn. Celestia twiddled her hooves before asking away.

"When your pulse starts rushing, and you feel warm and fuzzy, what feeling is that?" She tilted her head. Luna just paused and stared at her, a grin slowly spreading across her face. Suddenly, her sister started bursting out with laughter, falling over on her back. Hey giggles seemed to be relentless. Celestia just sat there, confused.

"Mind to tell me what's so funny?" She asked after about thirty seconds of the younger alicorn's cackling. Slowly, Luna started to calm down, ending her laughing fit with a few coughs.

"Oooo.... somepony's hormones are kicking in!" She nudged her shoulder. Celestia raised a brow.

"Luna... in alicorn years, I'm seventeen!" She said. "If anything, my hormones kicked in, at least, twenty years ago."

"They need to be triggered though." Luna winked twice, hinting at something. "Sooo whom is the special somepony?"

"Huh?" An embarrassed blush spread across Celestia's face.

"You have a crush Celie! Tell me who! Tell me who!" Her sister continued to give her a sly smirk.

"Excuse me, but at what point did I mention having a crush?" Her tone changed into literal annoyance.

Luna chuckled. "That feeling you mentioned before. You're such a bookworm that you don't know the feeling of love!" Just to tease her, she pressed herself against her older sister. Celestia gave a scowl.

"I-I said I read it somewhere, Luna! I'm in love with nopony." With that, she stood up and stormed out of the room, blocking out her sister's cackling. Annoyed, Celestia swung her bedroom door open, and closed it with her magic once she was on, and collapsed onto the bed.

Nopony ever told her what a crush would feel like. She never got the chance to ask her parents, and being a princess, in her opinion, excludes any gossip like that with others. So, yes, no one ever told her anything about the feeling of love.

But a crush wasn't love. Not to her. It was an interest in something that eventually passed by. As Luna said, it was hormones, yelling at her to look for a mate. That's all a crush was. Desperation.

Yet, how did she know if it was a crush? She'd known Discord for a year now. Every night they'd meet, they'd become better friends. That's all they were though...

Celestia crouched in the shrubs, searching for a certain draconequus for her to surprise. For the moment, he was nowhere in sight, but she knew very well that if she didn't show up soon, he'd come and wait at the end of the forest. Usually, waiting just a few hoof-lengths away from where she was hiding. The last three months she'd visited Discord, he'd always found a way to sneak up on her. But not today. This would be her chance to pin him down and be the leader.

Where is he though? He should be here by now... it was quite late. A lot later than her usual time.

Suddenly, she started to roll, someone pushing her onto her side, out of the shrubs. Once she stopped, she looked up to once again see Discord looking down at her victoriously. She gave a frustrated groan.

"Oh come on! How did you spot me that time?!" She watched as he let his whole body drop on top of her lazily.

"Really, even at night, somepony with your bright coat could be spotted from the depths of the ocean." He rolled his eyes. Celestia just pulled tongues at him.

"Usually I'd take that as a compliment."

"Well, it wasn't an insult!" Discord pointed out, tapping the end of her nose with his lion paw. She just giggled.

"Also, I'm getting bored that it's always you who's pinning me." She mused. Discord raised a brow at this.

"Meaning?"

Celestia didn't say anything, just pushed herself off the ground, to Discord's surprise. She then flipped onto her belly, keeping Discord in place. She saw Discord's cheeks go red, making her giggle once again.

"Aww, now your my little Dissy!." The alicorn taunted.

"Hmph. Once out of countless times." He scoffed. This made Celestia give him an angered look.

"Fine." She shrugged, copying Discord's exact move before and falling on him. Only this time, he couldn't get up like her, for she was actually stronger than him. However, he was slender and cunning, so just in case, she wrapped her hooves around the outline of his head so he couldn't slither out from under her. "Let's see you escape me."

Discord gave her a look that showed her challenge was excepted, and started to shuffle beneath her. Celestia gave him a smug look at his pathetic attempts, which only urged him to keep trying. But nothing worked, he was trapped under her. Again, he tried to slither down, but she blocked him from doing do with her hoof. He realized it was hopeless.

"Okay, you win." He sighed. She gave a grin, but let him up.

"Alright, so what did you want to do?"

"Discord!" Celestia called happily to the draconequus waiting for her near the tree they always did. She reached up to his height, and gave a friendly nuzzle. Discord chuckled, then poked at something on her head that wasn't her horn.

"A certain princess forgot to take her regalia off!" He teased. Celestia sighed.

"Oops." She gave a fake laugh, levitating her royal clothing off, and settling them next to the tree. "Remind me to collect those later." She told him.

"Remind me to remind you."

"Deal...?" She tilted her head. As she did, she blinked her eyes closed and started to yawn.

"Somepony's tired." Discord concluded. "I'm taking that means no games tonight then?"

"Sorry... duties today were..." She yawned again. "Busy."

"Well," Discord began, dropping onto the ground. "Luckily, there aren't any clouds in the sky tonight." He pointed up the the black sky. He was right - the sky was clear. Again, not many stars were out, but she'll admit, there were more than usual. She smiled, then dropped beside the draconequus, leaving a small gap between them.

"Woah! Look, a shooting star!" She exclaimed, reaching a hoof to a bright light flying across the sky. "Those are so rare! Make a wish." Whether Discord obeyed her or not, she didn't know, for she closed her eyes and made her own wish. She opened her eyes again and looked at him, realizing he had indeed.

"So, what did you wish for?" He raised a brow.

"I can't tell you, it's my wish." She retorted.

"But I'm your best friend!" He pouted. The mare sighed.

"Okay." She shuffled right next to him and leaned up into his ear and whispered, "I wished we could be friends forever." When she said this, a cold wind passed over them, making her shiver.

Discord looked at her and smiled. "I don't think anything could stop us from being so. It's been nine months, after all." He managed to shuffle his wing underneath her so that he could carry her even closer. The wind came again, but Celestia didn't shiver this time. The warmth of Discord's fur was enough to trap in heat around her. She gave a small giggle, settled her head under his, and closed her tired eyes.

We're friends... that's all... friends... She told herself. I don't have a crush on anyone!

Then it hit her. Her stomach tightened as she realized what she was doing.

Why am I denying this anyway?

Whether she did or didn't, was it really a bad thing? Oh yes, very bad. And deep down she knew why.

...Their kind has an obsession with creating disharmony among other beings. They think it's fun, really. And something creating corruption between others for the joy of it is probably one of the most evil things one can do.'

Starswirls words echoed in her head. Though she didn't believe Discord would do such a thing, it's what zipped her mouth shut when she wanted share her knowledge about him. It was bad enough she was in a forbidden friendship, but if they took their relationship too far...

It would be an affair.

Author's Note

Two chapters in a row... I should be writing No Elements No Harmony

Okay, I have a simple explanation:

The chapter in NENH I'm writing isn't entertaining. At least, not the first half.

Also, going back to school tomorrow, so this helps somehow.

Getting Closer

That word was stained in her mind. No matter what she thought to fight it, it was stick there, clinging on just to go against her own desires.

Affair.

Celestia had read that word a while back. And she knew what it meant. But never before had she considered she'd feel a need to use it.

Oh just buck up, Celestia. You're a princess, you wouldn't be stupid enough to get tied up in an affair.

"Yeah... let's go with that." She muttered through gritted teeth to herself, her tone still rather uncertain. Quickly, she continued towards the exit to the castle so she could meet up with a friend once again. Lucky for her, no guards seemed to be around right now, sice she was leaving at a more awkward time than usual. But as soon as she was about to take a step outside,

"Celie!" A voice called. Celestia turned around to see her sister galloping up to her. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for poking fun at you earlier." She said. "You just looked kind of annoyed."

Celestia shrugged. "It's fine. I was just embarrassed. However-" She raised a hoof and set it on Luna's mouth before another word could escape. "I don't have a crush on anypony."

"Yeah," Luna lowered the white hoof from her mouth. "I get it." Her aqua eyes rolled. "So anyway, where you heading?" Her head turned to Celestia's path to outside, making the older alicorn flinch.

"Gah... nowhere." A hoof moved back inside. "I was just walking around."

"Oh, really?" Luna sounded slightly disappointed, but not too much that Celestia felt very guilty. "Alright then, I better go finish that book about stars." She suggested, mostly to herself.

"Err... we could always go out in the Everfree. It isn't that dark yet..." She looked outside, watching the sun starting to stain the sky with red.

"Sure, we could do that! If you want to, that is." She added, more politely. Celestia nodded, which was followed by a smirk from the light-blue maned princess. "Then I'll race you to the edge of the forest and back!"

As she dashed passed her, Luna left Celestia dizzy for a moment. Once she processed what was challenged of her, she straight away galloped off to catch up with the smaller mare. Neither of them used the bridge provided, instead, both sisters spread the wings to led the wind carry them off the ground and over the gorge. Nor was stopping an option, for they risked falling behind. Once the two of them landed on the opposite side, they continued to run through the forest.

Celestia, however, had an advantage, since she had practiced doing this with Discord. While Luna had to slow down and skid when trees came towards her, Celestia could easily dodge them without hesitation. She caught a glance of her sister's expression, and she couldn't tell if it was envy or shock. Though, she did hear her yell, "Oh no you don't!"

The blue alicorn must of found an easier route, since she managed to come almost neck-and-neck with Celestia. Soon enough, the two reached the end of the forest, and slowed down, until they stopped to breath.

"I... so won that..." Celestia panted.

"The race... isn't over yet..." Luna retorted, also wheezing her words. Celestia was about to argue when she realized where she was. Not far from her was the meeting spot for her and Discord, which reminded her why she was originally leaving the castle in the first place.

"Well... let's see who's gonna win then." Celestia told her sister, getting back on her hooves. Another minutes rest would've been nice, but she was desperate to meet Discord.

"Guh... thirty seconds please?" Luna muttered. The older mare just gave a scoff.

"Is poor wittle Woona too tired to beat me?" When she heard this, the blue alicorn gave a challenging glare, then got up on her hooves.

"You're on."

The two then started their race once again, dodging through trees and changing rank constantly. Eventually, Celestia managed to stay ahead of her little sister, right up to the finish line. Once they landed on their side of the gorge, Luna gave a frustrated groan at her sister's victory.

"Ugh... how where you so fast?"

"I... don't know." She lied.

"Well..." Her sister yawned. "I'm gonna go read more about stars... pretty tired. Night, Celie." Luna gave a sisterly nuzzle, then slowly walked inside. Celestia yawned not long after, envying that she got to lie on a comfy mattress and sleep while she had to force her, eyes open. The sun was now almost completely hidden behind the hills in the distance, reminding her again just how tired she was. But alas, she wasn't letting one life getting in the way of another.

"Di..." Celestia yawned. "...iscord..." She finished after her gasp of air. Almost on cue, the draconequus appeared in front of her, upside down. She smiled at the sight of her friend. "Hi..." She greeted drowsily. Discord raised a brow, then dropped on the floor, flipping himself the right way up.

"You seem more tired than you are at midnight." He pointed out.

"Yeah... I just raced with my sister across the Everfree Forest and back." She shrugged it off.

"Oh. I'm taking that you don't want a race then." He concluded. Celestia looked at him with guilt.

"Sorry... where you planning on that too?"

Discord nodded. "Eh... that's fine. We have forever." He patted her head sweetly. Though it was more of a joke move, it still made her heart beat faster.

It's not a crush, it's not a crush...

"Too bad the sky isn't clear." Celestia sighed, as she angled her head towards the night sky. Discord gave a shrug of his shoulders, then fell back onto the grass.

"Cloud gazing's always an option." He suggested. She giggled, then lay on the ground next to him. For a few moments, they lay there silent, until Celestia spotted a cloud floating above them that seemed familiar, and raised a hoof toward it.

"Oh, that one looks kinda like a phoenix." She said.

"Well, that's rather specific."

"I like phoenixes, they're really cool!"

Discord hovered his two front limbs over his eyes. "Too bad I don't have a body part of one."

Celestia gave a "Pshh" and nudged him with her elbow. "You would look really weird with one glowing anatomy piece."

"Would it matter? I already look weird."

She gave him a pitiful look, then moved closer. "You look different... but that's the best part about you." She murmured.

"How?" He grunted. "Isn't being a different a bad thing?"

"Of course not! How boring would things be if everything was the same?" She giggled, which was followed by another yawn, her eyes slowly closing.

"That one kinda looks like a butterfly-" He paused as he noticed the mare bury her muzzle in his fur, her eyes now covered by their lids. She just gave a 'Mhmm...' before dozing off. A smile grew across Discord's face, before he rested his own head in her soft, pink mane.

Goodnight, Tia...

As soon as Celestia blinked her eyes open, the sun's light blinded her, causing her to move her head sideways into her pillow. When she did, however, she noticed something odd. Her pillow was fluffy. And dark coloured...

A gasp escaped her as she remembered.

I'm not in my room at all...

Her front hooves lifted half of her body up so she could look down at the scene. She could only go up so high though, since some of her mane was trapped underneath Discord's head.

I don't want to leave without saying goodbye... that would be rude.

The alicorn leaned down and nuzzled him on the cheek. "Discord..." She whispered. It took a few moments before the draconequus blinked open his yellow eyes. They also widened in surprise when he saw her kneeling over him.

"Um... hi Celestia." He gave a confused murmur. When his head was lifted off the ground, Celestia could take the rest of her mane back.

"I gotta go back home before they find I'm gone." She explained.

"Oh... but you just got here."

Celestia chuckled. "I got here hours ago..."

"Oh yeah." Discord rubbed his head as he remembered. "You really should go." He tilted his head to the sun that was only rising by the second.

"See you soon." She gave him another nuzzle before she galloped off towards her castle, not turning back to wait for a reply. She wasn't about to risk any suspicion on her disappearances, and every second counted.

Eventually, Celestia arrived back at the castle. There were no guards around yet, and as far as she could tell, nopony was walking around yet either. How convenient.

But just in case, Celestia trotted through the halls to the library instead of her room. Luna might possibly be awake, and will be suspicious if she spotted her sister walking back to bed, just to wake up a few moments later.

The library was fairly empty. Her hoof steps, like almost every morning, echoed, the sounds bouncing off the book shelves. Her pace was slow, it always was when she was unsure about what to do, or what to read in this case.

"Hello, Princess!" A voice suddenly yapped in front of her. She jumped backwards, as she spotted Starswirl in front of her. "Woops, sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He held out a hoof to help her off her rump, in which she accepted.

"It's fine." She smiled. "But what are you doing here so early, out of curiosity?"

"I was up all night last night. I've come so close to mastering my time travel spell." He explained, scanning through his scrolls.

"Really?" She widened her eyes. "After a year of non-stop studying, you think you've got it?"

The unicorn wizard nodded. "I just need to do a few finishing touches."

"Well, I wish you luck." She bowed her head, trotting over to her own side of the library.

"Also," Starswirl continued, "I didn't hear you come home last night."

Celestia stopped and turned to look at him. "Oh... really? I came back quite late." She told him.

"Really?" He raised a brow. Celestia nodded.

"I came back shortly after Luna. I tried to be as quiet as I could, just in case I woke her up." She explained.

"Oh. Fair enough..." He trailed off as he continued to read his notes, clearly to distracted to take note of the weird tone in her voice.

"I wonder if Luna's awake..." She muttered an excuse as she trotted quickly out of the library. In reality, she just wanted to get out of there.

Why must I lie about meeting up with a friend? It's not fair!

Winter Warm-Up

Another year and a half had past, and it was getting close to winter; meaning it was getting colder. Now that Celestia was being more subtle with her meetings with Discord than she used to, she had to leave late at night. Unfortunately for her, that was when it was the coldest. For some bizarre reason, Discord didn't mind the freezing temperatures. While he was hopping from candy cloud to candy cloud freely, she was frozen stiff and shivering.

And each night, it got worse.

The cold wasn't stopping her from leaving though. It was just slowing her down.

Oh, and it didn't help that it was now snowing outside. If it kept like this for the rest of the day, the snow would be up to her waste.

Celestia decided to sit up from her bed, rubbing her eyes. Nothing was really happening today that was interesting, so she decided staying in bed would do no harm. Maybe a nice, calm read would be a good idea...

"Celie!!" Her sister suddenly burst into the room, the door being swung backwards and slamming onto the wall behind it. Celestia dropped the book she was levitating and looked at her in surprise.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?" She gasped. "She never gets up this early!"

Luna rolled her eyes. "You'd be surprised at how I react to snow."

"Nope. Not really."

"Pffft. Anyway, want to have a snowball fight?" Luna hopped up towards her.

"Err... now?" Celestia tilted her head. "I just woke up."

"So did I." The blue alicorn retorted. "Pleeeaaaaase?"

"Can I at least have breakfast first?"

Luna groaned. "Fine..."

When Celestia put her plate back in the kitchen so it could be washed late, Luna was literally dragging her outside by the wing. As soon as the two stepped beyond the safety of inside, they got hit by white snowflakes flying chaotically in the air.

"Awesome! It's already really deep!" Luna exclaimed as she sank into the ground with each hop. Celestia just stood still as the freezing wind sliced through her skin.

"If you stay still, you'll freeze." Her sister pointed out. Next thing she knew, a snowball hit her in the face. Then she smirked.

"Oh, it's on."

With that, Celestia lifted up several balls of snow with her magic, and chucked them all at Luna at once, making it impossible for her to dodge.

"I will not go down! I will save Equestria from the tyrant Celestia!" Luna announced, standing back on her hooves.

"Pssh! I'll defeat and banish you before you can do that." Celestia taunted playfully.

"Come at me then!"

After about an hour of roleplaying in the snow, Celestia and Luna were called in by Starswirl. It was a disappointment to stop playing, but it had to happen eventually. They didn't notice until they took a step inside that snow was clinging onto every corner of their body. Noticing this made them aware of the chills through their body that they had adapted to ignore.

"My blood is turning to ice." Luna's teeth chattered.

"Hug. Hugging always helps." Celestia said as she put a wing around her little sister.

"Yeah, let's go with that." She replied.

"Do you two girls want some hot chocolate then?" Starswirl called from down the corridor.

"Yes please." They both answered, slowly making their way to the reading room. Once they were there, they took their place on the warm pillows scattered all over the place, and waited patiently for their drinks. Starswirl didn't take too long making them - only a few minutes. He trotted in, and gave the two princesses their mugs. While Celestia sipped her hot chocolate, Luna chugged it down.

"Feels better. Thanks Starswirl." Celestia nodded.

"Mhmm..." Luna gurgled with a mouth full of liquid.

"Not a problem. Now, I'm going back to working on the time travel spell."

"Still not finished it yet?" Luna commented as she wiped the drink from around her mouth.

"It's like a maze. I take one path to the end, but it's wrong."

"What about that cutie mark one you're working on?" Celestia asked.

"I'll work out that eventually." He shrugged.

Celestia looked around the reading room, wondering what she could do in the mean time. Then her journal caught her eye as they gazed across the room. Both her horn and the book glowed golden as she pulled it over to her. She also spotted a quill nearby, and held it with her magic.

"What are you writing?" Luna looked to the book as Celestia opened it on a blank page.

"I think it would be cool to look back to the time when Starswirl's spells are incomplete when they're done in the future." Celestia said as she started to write about the unicorn wizard's current state. As she did, something crossed her mind.

Why haven't I written about Discord in this?

Then again, she hadn't spoken a word about him to anypony. She rarely noticed, but everyday she asked herself, 'why?' Never could she answer though.

"Want to write anything?" She asked her sister to take her mind off things.

"Nah..." Luna shook her head.

After a long, cold day of nothing interesting happening, Celestia was sneaking around again. She knew very well it was even more freezing outside than earlier today - it was an hour away from midnight.

She felt like she was in the Arctic North as she traveled against the chilled wind. All she wanted right now was to see Discord. Bad side to that though - she'd be out here for hours.

Her heart tightened at the thought. But there was nothing she could do about it.

...Or was there?

Everpony's asleep...

She carried on thinking as she, very stiffly, trotted through the white forest. And Starswirl was right about thinking making time go quicker - she was at her and Discord's meeting place in no time.

"D-D-Discord..." She chattered hoarsely. Though her voice was quiet, Discord still manged to appear behind her. According to him, he blocked out the rest of the world so he could hear even the slightest whisper. Well, that was impossible, of course. Still sweet he'd say that though.

"Oh dear, Celestia. It's like you've never been this cold." He teased playfully, floating in front of her.

"I-I feel like it's t-t-the b-blizzard a-all over again." The white alicorn commented through shaking teeth trying to stay together.

"I wouldn't go as far as that." He said as he put a warm lion paw around her neck to provide at least a bit of warmth. Celestia smiled, though it didn't make much difference.

"H-how are you not cold?" She tilted her head, also burying it in his fur.

"I am actually - I feel like ice." He corrected her.

That surprised her. "You're not shivering."

"I was born in cold." The draconequus began. "But shivering is like giving up - I couldn't allow that now, could I? I hate it when I'm overpowered."

"Y...yeah." She agreed. "But we don't have to face the cold when we don't have to."

"What you're saying is...?"

"Want to go inside?"

If she knew how, Celestia would of teleported straight to her room from there, but that would be to far for her to teleport two beings at once. So instead, they both walked to the castle by hoof... and lizard foot.

"Okay, I think now I can teleport." She said, her horn starting to glow. Then, with a flash, she and Discord appeared on the rug that rested on the hard floor in her room. Despite being inside, however, snow still clung onto her already white coat and mane. Same with Discord, of course, but it was more noticeable since he had darker fur.

Yet the sight was quite funny, so it made her giggle.

"What exactly is amusing?"

"Nothing... want a blanket?" She asked as she levitated a light blue blanket with her magic.

"You're the one shivering." He pushed it back towards her.

"Oh, that's okay. I have another-" She paused as she looked back over to her bed. The purplish-blue blanket she had in mind wasn't there. Then she remembered.

"...Dang it Luna." The princess muttered. "Take it anyway." Before the draconequus could protest, she hooked the blanket over his back and pulled the two top corners forward. Discord took hold of them to keep the blanket in place, but he gave her a smug look. Her curiosity perked, but she was answered as he flew next to her and gave half of the sheet to her.

"I'd give you all of it, but I know you'll argue." He said, seeming rather embarrassed at his generous act. This made Celestia smile.

"Admit it, you're cold."

"Huh? No, I was doing you a favor-" He covered his mouth straight away. She just smirked.

"Ooo. The big bad Discord is being kind."

When Discord din't reply, Celestia used her magic to spark up the fire place she had set up in her room when she first designed the castle. Just before she lay down, she moved her two pillows in front of them both.

"Question." Discord spoke up as they lay in front of the warm flame.

"Mhmm?" She turned to him.

"Why is your bed on the floor?" He tilted his head toward the thin mattress set up so close to the ground.

"Well, since I'm a princess, I like to think of myself as just a regular pony at the end of the day. I'm not lying on a luxurious mattress built way above the ground - I'm sleeping at the same level as the least fortunate of ponies do - the floor." She explained.

"...Why does a simple bed have so much thought put into it?"

"That's just me. Sometimes I'm complex, but sometimes I'm just downright cheesy." She shrugged.

"Most of the time you're downright cheesy." He corrected her sentence, earning him a shove on the shoulder.

"Question two." Discord continued.

"What now?" She sighed as she rested her head on his front limbs and pillow, but lying on her back to look up at him.

"Why is this the first time we've been in here? Together, I mean."

Celestia paused, and stared up at him. "Uhh..." She wasn't sure how to begin. "I... um..." She moved her gaze to the fire.

Distracting yourself won't do anything. Little white lies are like snow - they'll build up and cover the ground your standing on.

She looked back up at him. "I... I was afraid to bring you here." She admitted. Discord gave no reaction, so she carried on. "I haven't told anypony about you... you see, I was afraid to." Her voice was quiet as she explained how Starswirl had explained his species, and how these past couple of years she had not shared a word about their meetings, despite her strong desire to. Discord just stared at her blankly, causing her to tense. But then, he shocked her by chuckling.

"Oh yeah, I know that."

Celestia blinked at him.

"You knew?! Then why'd you make me get all dramatic and sappy?" She lightly hit him on the nose as punishment. "And why'd you ask in the first place?"

He shrugged, keeping his smirk. "Good to be honest, is it not?"

"Hmph. Clever."

She sat back up from Discord's pillow, and flipped herself back onto her belly. The two sat in silence for a while, staring at the fire as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. Then, Celestia spoke.

"...Sorry."

Discord's ear perked. "Hmm?"

"I should've told you from the beginning. You're my friend - best friend at that." She gave him an affectionate nuzzle, ignoring the growing warmth on her cheeks as she did so.

"Well, better late than never, am I right?" Discord chuckled, being echoed by the princess. But then it faded, as Discord realized Celestia had not yet moved away from his cheek. Celestia only just realized after a few moments what she was doing, and pulled away quickly, embarrassed

"Sorry. Again."

"For what...?"

"Did that not just bother you?" Celestia raised a brow.

"Nope." The draconequus shrugged. The blush on her face grew all the more, and she had no idea why.

Well, why can't I have a crush on him? It's not as if Equestria's going to explode or anything. What's the worst that could possibly happen?

Seeing that Discord didn't mind her being so close, Celestia lifted her wing and hooked Discord with it, pulling him closer. For once, her action actually surprised him.

"Then... would you mind if I did this?" She murmured, her voice thick with anxiousness. But despite the doubt eating at her heart, she still leaned closer, and didn't stop until their lips locked together. Celestia feared what his reaction would be, so she closed her eyes. This also allowed her to block everything around her, and to just focus on what was happening right now. Because it may never happen again.

After what may have been a minute or so, she really couldn't tell, Celestia broke the kiss. She didn't want to - but she had to take a gasp of air. Noses still touching, she stared straight into Discord's eyes. After a short silence, she spoke,

"Well?"

Discord blinked. "Well what?"

"I asked you a question." She reminded him, but keeping her tone sweet.

The draconequus just smiled, running his eagle claw on the outline of her chin, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Oh yes, that." He gave a chuckle. "The answer is still no."

The doubt melted away as she heard that, and caused a smile to spread across her face.

"You mean that?"

Discord gave a nod, followed by something tickling her back hoof. Though the blanket covered the evidence, Celestia could tell that he was using his fluffy tail tip to tickle her.

Not this time. She thought, not letting her laughter escape her. Discord narrowed his eyes, seeing his plan was failing, he decided to take it to the next level. He pushed the alicorn onto her side, and started to tickle her belly with his lion paw. His eagle claw took charge of her neck, and his tail staying with her hooves. Celestia couldn't help but burst out with laughter.

"Gaha... Discord..." She choked. "Stop...bahahaha!"

After a minute of thought, Discord finally stopped his little prank. Celestia wiped the tears from her eyes, and looked up at the draconequus.

"Why...." She rasped, her voice dry from laughing.

"You're laugh is a wonderful sound." He smiled, playing with her little pink curl that hung below her ear.

Celestia blushed at his comment. "I wish I could do it more often then..." She sighed. Discord's interest perked.

"Whatever do you mean?"

Before she started speaking, she noticed the blanket had fallen off the two, and used her magic to pull it back over them.

"Don't get me wrong, I do like my life. But... aside from Luna, you're the only one who makes me enjoy my life." She highlighted the word. "I'm too afraid to make many friends... I fear the moment when I outlive them. And other ponies just treat me so... formally. It's awfully boring... dare I say depressing?"

Discord gave a pout as he looked down on the mare. "Laughter's a wonderful thing, my friend. An important part in life is to enjoy yourself - I'll make sure that you do." He then gave up his higher position and lay next to her, and murmured in her ear. "I promise."

Celestia looked at him, and gave a warm smile. "Discord?"

"Yes?"

"Can I be considered... more than a friend?"

"Don't be so cliched when you already know the answer." He scolded, but keeping his joking tone.

The princess giggled. "Deal."

Author's Note

It's about time you two kissed! It took five chapters! Geez...

Woah, making not-cliched relationships is harder than I thought.

Blinding Sun

With a yawn, the young Princess blinked her eyes open. She lifted a hoof to her face to move the pink tresses away from her eyes, and lifted her body off of her mattress. She heard and felt the bones down her spine click as they found a chance to expand on their space.

As she rubbed her eyes, Celestia let her horn glow to open the curtains. She opened them apart to bring in the light, opening her eyes to see her room clearly.

But there was no light.

Her eyes widened as she stumbled off of her bed onto the floor towards the window - only to see the moon still high in the sky.

Am I early? She thought. Just a she did, a loud thump hit the door behind her. The alicorn turned her head, spotting Luna opening the door with her magic, also rubbing her head.

"You're awake too?" Celestia asked her sister.

"Duh. It's morning!" She replied.

"Clearly not." The pink maned mare turned to her window. However, Luna thought otherwise.

"I can promise you sister, it's nine o'clock!" Her horn started to glow again, as she held up a clock in front of her face. The large arrow pointed upwards, while the smaller arrow pointed to her left. Celestia blinked, and grabbed hold of it with her hooves.

"Wha... is this some sort of prank?" She raised a brow at Luna, who shook her head desperately.

"Something's caused this, Celie! Come on, we gotta go find out!" With that, the blue mare dashed out towards her door, yet followed by another thump!

Celestia sighed, her own horn sparking with a golden aura. The light worked as a torch, guiding a visible path for them both. Luna looked up from the floor with an embarrassed blush on her face. She copied her sister's spell, and the two started to trot through the hallways.

Eventually, the two managed to arrive outside of the castle, where the moon glowed more brightly. They both looked around, wondering where to start looking.

"Who do you expect would of done this?" Luna looked at Celestia. The older sister glanced back at her uncertainly, ignoring a certain name that was at the back of her mind.

Celestia opened her mouth to suggest something, but was interrupted by the familiar ringing of bells. They turned their heads to the bridge only a few hoof lengths away, and recognized a certain unicorn wizard.

"Starswirl!" Celestia rushed over to him, followed by Luna.

"Woah... what happened?" Luna blinked. The last time they both saw the unicorn, he had traveled somewhere to age him to have a very short and brown beard. Yet now, it was long and white, with additional bags hanging under his eyes.

"Where did you travel to cause this?" Celestia gasped. Starswirl gazed at them with a tired expression.

"Time travel didn't cause this." He explained.

"Then what did?" Luna urged, her head moving close.

"Lack of magic."

The two sisters paused, and looked at each other, confused. Celestia turned back to the wizard. "Say what now?"

Starswirl looked up at the moon. "You may be wondering why it's still nighttime." He guessed. They nodded their heads. so he continued. "Tonight, I tried to raise the moon by myself."

"But... but usually there's a whole group of unicorns who do that. There has to be!" Luna protested

Starswirl went on to explain how there were no other unicorns to help him, for when they raise the sun or moon, their magic departs. Celestia and Luna listened, standing in awe.

"You should of told us!" Celestia exclaimed. "This is a disaster... what are we going to do? It'll be nighttime forever!"

Starswirl lifted a grey hoof to silence the Princess. "It won't. Us unicorns don't have enough magic to control celestial bodies, but you do."

The two sisters both looked at each other, eyes wide.

"B...but we don't know how..." Luna's ears drooped. Starswirl just but a hoof on her shoulder.

"You won't know that until you try."

Luna glanced at Celestia. Celestia glanced at Luna. The white alicorn watched as the younger princess' horn started to glow it's blue aura, and as she closed her eyes. Celestia ignored her uncertainty, and copied. All of her concentration turned towards where the large fiery ball of gas may be. Her magic eventually reached it, and grappled around it. It somehow gave her a strange warmth as she yanked it from behind the hills up to the sky above. The ground below her fell, and her mane began to flow with the wind. Despite her eyes being shut, she knew it was no longer dark. Her magic stopped, and the ground appeared again.

The strain had made her pant, but it didn't leave her exhausted. Her eyes moved towards her sister, who had also stopped.

"Your mane!" Celestia gasped. The first thing she noticed about Luna was that her once light blue mane was no more - instead replaced by a long, dark - as - night colour.

"Your mane!" Luna stared at her. Celestia raised a brow and grabbed her pink hair to look at it.

Wait.

That wasn't pink.

She gasped, and let go of it. From the corner of her eye, she saw that there was only a small amount of pink colour left. The rest was blue... green... another blue... and each strand flowed. She swung her head back towards her sister, whom was grinning oddly at her.

"What?" She blinked. Luna just tilted her head towards where her tail was. She glanced backwards, not seeing anything new at first. Obviously her tail was flowing like her mane, and she'd always had a sun on her flank -

"WOAH!" She jumped. "I have my cutie mark!" Her eyes moved to Luna. "So do you!"

"I know, it's awesome!" Luna grinned. "I'm a different colour... it's weird." She lifted a hoof, noting that her coat was now a much darker blue.

"Wait... I'm sure I've seen these before..." She tapped her chin as she looked at both of their cutie marks. Then it hit her. She galloped off towards the gorge up ahead and flew down to the cave. She started at the tree that was hidden in there in awe. "Luna! We're on the Tree of Harmony!"

Celestia trotted happily through the Everfree Forest, excitement making her heart beat faster than usual. On a normal day, she'd be plodding through the forest, her hooves being pulled down by exhaustion. But today wasn't a normal day. You don't earn a cutie mark every day.

She eventually made it to the usual meeting place, where she hoped to once again meet her best friend.

"Discord?" She called. A few moments of silence, before she heard a rustle in the bushes behind her. She turned her head, seeing a familiar head poking out the bundle of leaves. Her whole body changed direction, facing towards the draconequus, a grin spread across her face.

Discord slowly moved closer to her, slithering across the ground, to standing up in front of her. His brow was raised at the sight of her.

"Celestia? Is that you?" He tilted his head.

Celestia blinked. "Of course it's me!"

"You look... different." He gazed at her now multi-coloured mane, which flowed, even without a breeze. His red eyes then moved to her flank, which had a newly printed sun on it.

"I know. I got my cutie mark!" She briefly explained, still smiling.

But Discord wasn't.

In fact, he was frowning.

So did she.

"...I thought you'd be excited." Her ears drooped, disappointed.

"I uhh... I am..." He rubbed his lion arm with his eagle talon nervously.

"Then what's wrong?" She moved closer to him, and put a hoof on his shoulder. Discord gave an uncertain look, not making eye contact with her.

"You look different." He repeated. Celestia tilted her head.

"...Yeah. I do."

"You've changed." He sat down. The alicorn was still left confused.

"...Yeah. A bit." She glanced at the sun on her flank. "So?"

"You'll have more responsibilities. You'll have a bigger role. You'll... mature as a princess." The draconequus finally locked eyes with hers. The sentence left her in awe, causing her to lose herself for words.

"You're afraid I'm going to change..." She concluded with a murmur. "I'm still the same pony, you know." Her muzzle was now lightly touching his cheek. "I know that having a cutie mark is a big step for me, but I'm..." She trailed off, wondering what to say next. Her eyes angled to the ground, then looked back up at Discord, whom now had his head turned away from her.

"...I'm still your Tia."

His ears perked up, followed by his head slowly rotating back in her direction. Once she had his full attention, she thrust her head forward and locked lips with his. She refused to move before a while passed. Eventually, she pulled away, but still touched noses with him.

"Okay, I believe you." He smirked, running a talon along her chin, making her shiver out of pleasure. She gave a relaxed smile, and slipped her head onto his shoulder. Her hoof hooked around his eagle arm.

"The skies prettier." Celestia murmured. "Luna controls the moon and stars now."

"Oh, so you control the sun and she controls the moon?" Discord said. "Heh. Funny."

Celestia buried her muzzle into his fur. "It's still cold though. Can't wait to raise the sun again..." She felt a feathered arm wrap around her.

"I guess you'll have to leave rather early then..."

"Sorry... I have to." She closed her eyes.

"It's fine..." He sighed. Celestia was sure that there was something more to his tone though...

Author's Note

Over a frickin month... my gosh ;-;

I know, I said that the happy chapters were over. And I was telling the truth.

My Best Night Ever

Fabrics of all sorts were flung in Celestia's face. With each piece of clothing she pulled off, it was replaced by another. She gave a roll of her eyes.

"Luna, calm down. It's only for one night."

The navy coloured alicorn turned around with a smug look. "I will nein, nada and not calm down. I want to make a good impression to my subjects!"

"We've been ruling Equestria for almost two hundred years. They all know us already..."

Luna stopped throwing both of their cloths everywhere to hold a blue silk dress in front of her. "I realize that. However, we live in the Everfree forest, not many ponies visit us, therefore not knowing us personally." Her horn started to glow, followed by her crown. She tossed it over on her bed and replaced it with a head veil, but she immediately took it off. "Ugh... if only Princess Platinum were here, she'd know what to wear..." The alicorn's ears drooped at the mention of that name. Celestia walked over to her sister and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"She may not be here, but it's good to know she would enjoy tonight's event, is it not?"

"I know..." Luna murmured. "Oh! Just got an idea!" She suddenly perked, taking her mind off of things. The Princess trotted over to the cupboard and shuffled her hoof in the mish-mash of clothing, then held out a golden silken dress. Celestia tilted her head.

"Err... I don't think you'd suit gold..."

"Oh no, not at all!" Luna chuckled, turning to her sister with a smirk on her face. "But you would!" The dress floated over to her, then in a bright flash, appeared on her body. She watched as her royal regalia, aside from her shoes was tossed on the bed next to Luna's crown. Celestia looked back at her sister with a blank look, and watched as she tapped her chin with her hoof.

"Hmm..." Luna mused, looking up and down her outfit. "Hold still." She ordered as she floated up to Celestia's height.

"What are you - OW!" She yelped as something tugged at her mane.

"Sorry!" Luna cringed. "I'm just trying to..."

Celestia waited for her to finish her sentence, however nothing came. Instead, just shuffling and pulling at her multicoloured an flowing mane.

"Aha! Success!" She announced, pulling a mirror in front of Celestia. What she saw widened her eyes.

"What did you do?" She tried to glance at her newly styled mane, yet it kept falling over her eye when she tried to angle her reflection so it was visible.

"I tied your crest and your forelock together at the bottom, and clipped some of your fringe more to the side so your eye is visible. I guess you still can't see properly though." A hoof lifted some of her fringe up to reveal more of Luna's grin. "Also, I added a braid, that's why it took so long."

Celestia lifted her own hoof and ran it down the back of her mane, feeling the braid for herself. "Oh! Thanks Luna."

"Oh, not a problem. Let's just hope you don't attract too much attention..." Luna gave a wink, making her blush out of embarrassment.

"Yeah yeah... so funny." She muttered through gritted teeth. "Now I think I should dress you up like a doll." Celestia then teleported in front of the closet, scanning each piece of clothing for Luna to wear. Then, a bright light appeared in the room. The two sisters turned to it and watched as a unicorn shape appeared.

"Starswirl!" Celestia blinked.

"Hello you two. Long time no see!"

"...It's been a day since we last saw you." Luna stated.

"Well, for me it's been three weeks." He retorted. "Looks like I got back just in time for the Grand Galloping Gala, however!" He glanced at the scattered dresses. "Really, what is it with girls and clothes?"

"Beats me." Celestia shrugged.

"Well, it's nice to see you Starswirl, but if you haven't noticed, we're getting changed!" Luna barked, starting to push the unicorn towards the door.

"...Luna, we don't usually wear clothes."

"Yes we do!" Luna pointed towards the royal regalia piled on the bed.

"...Oh yeah."

"Also, it's weird for a stallion older than us to watch us get dressed."

"We're hundreds of years older than him though..." Celestia raised a brow. Luna blinked.

"Well, either way, I better get to Canterlot to help prepare for the Grand Galloping Gala." Starswirl chuckled. "I'll see you two tonight." With that, he teleported off.

"I'm actually not sure if he's older than us or not..." Celestia glanced at Luna, who shrugged.

"He cheats though. He ages backwards when he travels back in time... or something." She trotted over to her big sister's side. "Now... what dress should I wear?"

As the two Princesses cantered towards Canterlot Towers, the ponies around them paused in their tracks, many bowing down in their presence. They tried their best not to feel awkward about it, and to keep their image formal. The few ponies that weren't lowering themselves as they trotted past them either were stallions - or maybe even some mares, it was difficult to tell - with their jaws agape and drooling, or high class ponies who didn't feel the need to treat themselves as 'peasants'.

At the main entrance, Celestia and Luna met up with the three royal representatives - three generations down from Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead. There was Princess Wysteria of the unicorns, Chancellor Kimono of the earth ponies and Sargent Star Catcher of the pegasi. The three ponies nodded to the two alicorns, as they did back. Wysteria was a lavender pony with a darker purple mane that flicked over to one side. Kinona was similar, however both her coat and mane were darker than her unicorn companion. Star Catcher was a lot different - she was white with a mane with different shades of blue streaking through it.

Soon enough, the two mares made it inside to the main hall, where the actual event would take place. That's when Celestia heard a squeal from her little sibling.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh I'm so excited!" Her eyes grew wide and gleamed with enthusiasm. Celestia just gave an amused huff.

"Somepony please watch over my sister before she faints."

On cue, unexpectedly, three guards rushed to Luna's sides in a heart beat. The white alicorn blinked.

"...I was being sarcastic."

The guards stared at her, then shrunk back to their original positions. Luna glanced both left and right in confusion.

"Hi Princess Wysteria!" The dark coloured alicorn grinned as the lavender pony trotted through the hallway. She turned to see who had called her name, and stopped when she saw Luna waving a hoof at her.

"Greetings Princess Luna. The Gala's starting in three minutes, just though I'd alert that of thou."

"Thou?" Luna echoed. The unicorn nodded.

"Yes, that is how we, royalty, address others."

"I know that, but we don't have to use the Royal Canterlot Voice with each other!" She said.

"...Oh. Okay then." Wysteria smiled awkwardly.

Celestia looked at the two as they began their conversation, then at another doorway. Keeping her eye on it, she stalked over to a guard.

"Excuse me, is that the door to Canterlot gardens?" She asked the stallion who nodded.

"It is, your majesty."

The Princess gave a smile in thanks, then trotted happily back to Luna and Wysteria, who had also been joined by Star Catcher and Kimono.

This is going to be so fun!

"This is so not fun..." She murmured, drawing imaginary circles on the ground. Two hours in, and the Gala had just been... tedious. She hadn't known what to expect, but she expected more than... this. Being away from her home had isolated her from Canterlot culture - or at least, her subjects culture. Canterlot had been here before the founding of Equestria - once known as just 'Canterlot Mountain: Home of the alicorns'.

Now, it didn't have as many buildings as it does now, since alicorns were more into natural environment (including her and Luna), but some of the traditions stayed, like the Royal Canterlot Voice. But gosh, she didn't expect them to be upgraded to be so...up-tact.

Celestia looked around the room, looking for some excitement. She couldn't spot her sister in the crowd, nor was she going to try. It would take too long. Instead, she tried to go for another available option. Her eyes scanned across the mares, stallions, and decorations made for the party, until...

The gardens... Her magenta eyes paused as they reached the door she had totally forgotten about. At some point, she was planning to go and look at the beautiful scenery outside, because if anything, the gardens of Canterlot Towers would be a wonderful thing to observe, but it had slipped her mind.

Celestia stood back on her hooves, straightening her dress back into its original shape, and began to canter towards the exit. Dodging ponies around her wasn't too difficult, however it wasn't easy with the amount of ponies that there were. Eventually, she found herself standing out in the open, away from her slow moving subjects.

And the garden in front of her was indeed beautiful.

She took her time as she roamed through the silver outlined grass, onto the pathway that led her through a hall of trees. Fireflies provided more light than needed, while the soft whisper of a faint breeze drifted past her ears, weaving through the swaying branches.

She didn't make a sound as she made a full lap around the moonlit area, and finally settled down under a tree that was nearer to the door that led her back inside. She stared at it, but refused to move from her spot.

As loneliness began to take its toil after a while, a small sparrow hopped over to her in curiosity. Celestia smiled, gently holding a hoof out for it to bounce onto.

"Hello little guy..." She murmured. "I know you can't understand me, but I hope it's okay if I talk to you..."

The sparrow tilted its head, but stayed and listened.

"It's funny... you must feel so small compared to the world around you, and I'm the co-ruler of it all." She lifted her head to the stars. The small bird copied. "I personally think it's harder being the one who watches over everyone. They all look up to you, waiting for you to say the right thing, so you know it's going to be hard to say something that you think, or even know, they'll say 'no' to." She brought her eyes back to the little creature. "I don't think you realize you have the easy job."

The sparrow looked as if it wished to reply, but before it could do so much as tweet, it whipped its head to look over her shoulder. It stood in place for another heartbeat, then it flew off. Celestia watched it go.

She couldn't help but look back and see what it was that had chased it off. Shock flooded through her as she spotted two yellow eyes glaring at her.

"Discord?" She gasped, as the draconequus floated out of the shadows. "Wha... what are you doing here?"

He gave a chilled grin, swerving around her like a snake to make his way to the front of her.

"Am I not aloud to visit my favourite pony?" He set his paw under her chin, which calmed her instantly.

"I just didn't expect to see you here." She said, resting her muzzle on his. "Here especially."

Discord gave a confused pout. "Why's that, dear?"

Celestia looked up, making eye contact with him. "Tonight's just been... ugh."

"Ugh?"

"Ugh." She repeated. "Boring. Tedious. Tiring. A lullaby."

Discord blinked. "Such a shame. You look..." He coughed, muffling the next word. "...beautiful."

Celestia stared at him, a blush growing on her face, along with a smile. "Seriously, you don't even have to try." She giggled, turning away to hide her flushed cheeks, despite hiding not being an option.

She looked back at the doorway. "I'm just really disappointed. Me and Luna were so excited..." She lay her head on his chest, shivering with pleasure as his talon ran through her ethereal mane. "In fact, I think it's mainly because that I feel like I have to be so formal to fit in." A pout appeared on her lips. "How frustrating."

A chuckle escaped from Discord, followed by a white flash. The light forced Celestia to shut her eyes, only opening them once she was sure it was dark again. She and the draconequus had appeared in front of a window, themselves being hidden by a hedge that had grown in front of it. She turned her head back to Discord, awaiting for an explanation.

A smirk was spread across his face, as he looked back to her. "I think I can manage to... liven things up a bit." He stroked his chin, raising a brow at the slow-dancing ponies. Celestia stayed silent.

Discord lifted his lion paw, getting ready to snap his fingers.

"What are you doing?" The Princess asked.

"Oh... just making the dance floor more entertaining!" He grinned, finally snapping his fingers. Celestia held his gaze for a few more moments, until a crash caught her attention from inside Canterlot Towers. She swung her head around, seeing the floor had changed it's appearance. Instead of being a checkered floor, it was blue-ish, a few bubbles being created as ponies began skidding ungracefully across the room.

Discord stopped himself from bursting out with laughter by covering his mouth with his two front limbs, however he couldn't stop himself from snickering.

"Holy chaos, that kid has bubbles!" He kept his hands in place, but pointed a single talon to a pony who was drifting across the floor on his belly, with bubbles piled on his muzzle.

Celestia tilted her head. "...Did you turn the floor into..."

"Soap? I did indeed!" He lowered his limbs from his mouth and turned his head to face her, expecting at least a giggle from the mare. But to his surprise, she wasn't. She had no reaction. He tapped his chin. "Okay... not very creative I suppose." The draconequus frowned. "What about..."

After another sound of a pony slamming into the wall, along with a couple of confused screams, Discord gave another snap of his paw. "An old classic!" He grinned. Celestia blinked as she saw familiar pink clouds appear scattered around the room. Ponies began to slip into them and get stopped in their tracks by the stickiness of the pink fluff, causing them to fall flat on their face. Each time it was repeated, Celestia cringed.

"Discord..."

"Yes, I know. You know that old trick, and it's not funny." He pouted. "And comedy depends on the elements of surprise." Another snap. Another cringe from Celestia.

Discord, this time, couldn't control his laughter. "Pshh... Tia... look! Haha!" As he fell on his back, Celestia turned her head. Her eyes widened as she recognized a familiar pony connected to strings which hung from two wooden crosses. They acted like a puppeteer, treating the blue mare like a puppet.

Ponies around tried to regain their balance on the slippery floor, so that they could attempt to help the controlled mare. A light blue unicorn with a long pink mane, soaked in soap, was the first to get on her hooves. She attempted to pull at the strings with her magic, but was immediately pushed away by the puppet.

That puppet was her sister.

She turned to Discord, her eyes piercing through him with rage.

"Discord, stop this." She commanded. Discord's laughter faded as he heard the seriousness in her voice. His smirk was replaced with a frown. He stood up on his goat leg and reptile foot, and with a single snap, everything returned back to normal. His ears drooping, he turned to his friend, who was still glaring at him.

"You went too far." She hissed. "I did not at all find the abuse of my subjects funny, and certainly not you turning my little sister into a puppet!" She didn't care about being heard, she was just so irritated.

The draconequus blinked, then narrowed his eyes. "Hey, I was just trying to lighten tonight up. I was doing you a favor!"

"Ponies getting hurt or controlled isn't funny!" She retorted.

"It is to me!"

"Why?"

"Because revenge can be hilarious!"

Silence.

Celestia looked at the ground, before shouldering him out of her way. No words were spoken as she retreated.

This left Discord alone, in Canterlot.

Author's Note

No, those representatives weren't OCs.

YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHERE THEY'RE FROM.

Anyway, I'm actually rather proud of this chapter. It took a while, as you can tell from it's length. But I finished it!

No, they haven't fallen out for good, they just had an argument. Their first one, to be exact.

BTW, another headcanon is that the Gala is a celebration of harmony, for Discord's defeat. But I went for the whole 'it's a boring tradition that Celestia's always hated'.

After One Night

Despite the comfort of a soft mattress underneath her, Celestia couldn't bring herself to rest her head on the feathery pillow. Three days had passed since the Gala, and yet guilt was still left over from the disarray that had occurred on that one night. Whether it was her doing or not, it didn't matter. She was still a part of it.

The alicorn buried her head in her hooves, letting out a frustrated sigh. To add on to what had happened, she hadn't seen Discord ever since she had abandoned him in Canterlot. She wasn't mad per say, she never was. Just disappointed. She knew Discord meant well, but he often forgot it wasn't just about them both.

Celestia looked up from her hooves, her attention drawn to her window.

Perhaps I should go talk to him...

The princess hung her head, moving at a much slower pace than usual through the forest. From the corners of her eyes, she could see the number of trees around her decreasing, which just increased her doubts. She finally lifted her head to look at the field, though her ears still drooped. Her friend was nowhere to be seen.

"Discord?" She called.

No reply.

"Discord?" She repeated.

Still no answer.

Celestia began to trot towards the old oak tree, which was beginning to whither away after over a century of being a landmark for them both. It was hard for her to believe that so much time had passed ever since they had first met here.

And yet we've barely cracked our teens...

Before she knew it, she was standing below the bundle of leaves surrounding the trunk. She lifted her head up, as her lavender eyes began to scan the branches for a shape that was out of the ordinary. At first, there was nothing to see but leaves, though soon enough, she managed to spot a red tail that was securely wrapped around a thick branch that was very close to the trunk.

Relief flooded Celestia, allowing her to finally lift herself up to a space on the branch beside the curled up draconequus. When she sat down, however, she didn't bring herself to speak.

Either way, the draconequus didn't acknowledge her.

She tried nudging him with her hoof, but she didn't prevail. He remained still.

Celestia gave a sigh.

"...I'm sorry about the Gala." She began awkwardly. "I guess I was in a bad mood as it was, and then you pulled a few pranks I knew other ponies wouldn't appreciate."

Discord still didn't move.

"I knew you were only trying to amuse me. But I prefer it when you pull them on me, rather than seeing ponies miserable or even hurt."

Again, there was silence for a few moments. Then, Discord shifted his head towards her.

"Why?" He murmured. Celestia tilted her head.

"Huh?"

"Why? Why don't you like it?"

She stared at him with a blank expression. "Because I care about them."

His eyelids lowered. "You don't even know them. What if they're bad ponies?"

"Well... there's a possibility that they're good. And I always try to look at the positives more than the negatives."

The draconequus gazed into her magenta coloured eyes, lifting his head up stiffly until he was sitting up to her height. "Why can't ponies be more like you?" He sighed, his ears drooping. Celestia moved closer to him until their muzzles were touching.

"Because there is only one of both of us." The alicorn gave him a sweet peck on the end on his snout.

A familiar playful smirk grew on the draconequus' face. Instead of giving a reply, he gripped her two front hooves in his limbs and stood up, dragging her up to his own height.

"Indeed, there is only one Tia." He held her chin in his eagle talon. "And I have something I want to tell you..."

Celestia smiled. "And what is that?"

Discord looked down. "I underestimated the strength of this branch."

On cue, a snap came from behind the alicorn, followed by the two of them plummeting to the ground below them. They landed with a loudthump, and began to roll down the mound the tree was rooted on. Celestia groggily opened her eyes, the first thing that she sees being the adorable smirk she had grown to love.

"Piece of advice, Dissy," She raised a brow. "Just kiss me next time."

He ran a finger down her cheek. "Aw, but where's the fun in that?" He gave a chuckle, before flopping down at her side, rather than looking down at her. Celestia smiled at first, but it faded more sooner than her friend would have liked. His talon cupped her chin.

"Why the frown, Tia?" Discord pouted. The princess squinted as she held his gaze.

"It's just something you said at the Gala..." She twiddled her hooves. The draconequus' ears flattened.

"I said quite a few words... recap?"

"You said you found revenge hilarious." She mused. "W...was that true?"

Discord stared at her, then looked up at the stars. "A better word would be 'satisfying'." He sighed. "It's just nice being at the other end of the stick."

"But you know what it's like to be at the wrong end." She told him sternly. "So it doesn't give you the right to do the same."

Discord gave a scoff. "Oh, but it gives them the right?"

"Of course it doesn't." Celestia retorted. The draconequus raised a brow, then leaned his head towards her.

"So tell them."

She blinked at him. "Huh?"

"Please, Tia, you're the only one who can tell them I'm not what they think I am... they all listen to you." He begged her, his eyes a mixture of emotions that was rare to see in the draconequus. Celestia's mouth quivered, wondering how to reply.

"I..." She stuttered. "Someday I'll..."

"But why not now?!" He thrust his head closer so that their muzzles were touching. "Why can't you?"

The alicorn's ears drooped. "I... Right now I just can't." The disappointment visible in the draconequus' eyes weighed her heart down with guilt. "Whether they listen to me or not, there are always those who won't accept my decisions. I fear what they'll do to you, Discord." She buried her face in his chest. "I promise you... I will... but I can't right now."

The princess felt his talons run through her ethereal mane. The comfort was welcome, since her eyes were beginning to sting. At first, she was unsure why, but then she realized the Discord's fur was beginning to soak from her tears.

So many different emotions in one night when I'm with you...

Author's Note

Yay short chapter :D

Wait... that isn't a yay. Eh... whatever.

By the way, I'm going to attempt to make you cry with the next two chapters (and fail horribly).

Last Time

The aching in Celestia's body only grew as her conscious was gained. The first thing in her sight was familiar bristly fur, which felt more greasy than usual as she ran her hoof downwards, then upwards again. She couldn't resist shuffling up against the warm fluff in front of her, in doing so earning a lion paw being wrapped around her. The princess gave a sigh of pleasure, soon followed by a blanket being pulled over them.

While she very much enjoyed being in the position she was in, each heart beat pumped doubt into her veins. Perhaps this relationship had gone too far, hence last night.

Perhaps they knew too much about each other.

Only now had she realized her hooves were clutching the draconequus' fur as her thoughts went further. Her eyes opened as she heard his fur brush against the fabric surface they both lay on. The alicorn moved her head up so they locked each other's eyes together.

"You okay?" His voice was hoarse. Maybe he had used it more than he should have.

"Mhmm..." The princess mumbled, closing any gaps between them.

"You seem tired."

"Mhmm..." Her eyes fell to his chest, as she started to draw faint circular motions on his fur. She heard a low chuckle come from the draconequus, who then lifted his talon to gently stroke her cheek. The feel of his touch made her blush. He gave a satisfied sigh, then didn't speak for a few moments.

"Hey... Tia...?"

"Mhmm?" She glanced back up at him.

"Will we be like this? You know... forever?"

The alicorn blinked. "How do you mean?"

"We'll be best friends, no matter what, right?"

She paused for the next couple of heartbeats. A hint of doubt flashed at the back of her mind, but she shook it off, then gave a sweet smile, and stole a kiss from his lips.

"Of course we will." She whispered.

It warmed her heart to see him smile. He then raised a brow.

"Isn't the sun supposed to be up by now?"

Celestia's magenta eyes moved towards the window. Though the glass was covered by the curtains, she could still tell the moon was still high enough in the sky. She buried her muzzle back in Discord's fur.

"Not for another ten minutes or so..." She lazily murmured into his warm chest. Her eyelids began to droop, until her vision left her again.

It was only meant to be a five-minute sleep in, but lack of sleep caught up with her, stealing away her consciousness for longer than she intended.

Nudge, nudge

She gave a groan.

Nudge, nudge

She covered her ears.

Punch

"Ow!" She yelped, jumping up on her two front hooves. She reached a hoof over to her shoulder and rubbed where it was sore. "Ugh... why did you do that Disc-AH!" As she lifted her head to look behind her, she didn't see Discord at all. Instead, a certain unicorn wizard stood at the edge of her bed, glaring at her. "St...Starswirl..." She stuttered.

Celestia peeked at the other side of the bed, praying that whom was there before had already vanished. Her heart dropped when her wish wasn't granted. Discord still lay there, the blanket half on, half off.

She turned her head back around to meet her mentor, however she avoided making any eye contact with him.

"Care to explain, Celestia?" He growled.

She kept her mouth shut.

"I'm not asking."

The princess hesitantly opened her mouth to say something, but another voice interrupted her.

"Technically you did - that was a question, after all."

Celestia turned around to see Discord stretching his limbs, speaking with a chilled tone.

"You - be quiet." The unicorn spat. The draconequus gave a bemused huff.

"You're not the boss of me."

Before he could say anything else, his mouth became stuffed with Celestia's feathers as she slammed her wing over it. The two of them stared at each other for a few moments, before the alicorn finally found the strength to face the wizard.

"I..." She had no idea where to start. Starswirl narrowed his eyes.

"How long?"

"Wha..."

"How long has this been happening?"

Tears threatened to be set loose in her eyes. "A...A hundred and fifty years..." She choked.

"A hundred and fifty years?" He echoed her. "You've been lying to me and Luna... for a century and a half?"

The alicorn narrowed her eyes. "I never lied, for I never told."

Starswirl gave a sigh, mixed with anger and disappointment. "That doesn't make it any better, Celestia." He said sternly. "Sometimes I did wonder why you left so late at night, or came back so early in the morning. I only witnessed it a few times, but..." He shook his head. "I trusted you, Celestia. I never expected... this."

"I meant no harm!" She protested desperately. Yet the wizard still raised a hoof, signalling her to be silent.

"I understand it now. Why you asked me what a draconequus was, all those years ago..." He scraped the carpet irritably with his hoof. "I trusted you." The words were repeated, only so they could sink in.

Her cheeks began to grow wet. A talon brushed on them both, attempting to dry them off.

"Get your filthy claw off of her." The unicorn took a step forward. Discord raised a brow.

"Make me."

Starswirl's threatening glare stayed in place as his horn began to glow. Celestia whipped her head around to see Discord being lifted off the ground. Before she could act, her friend was thrown against the wall. The princess gasped, tears streaming all the more rapidly down her face. She galloped over to him, leaning down to muzzle his cheek. Relief flooded her as he blinked open his yellow eyes. He got his two splayed out front limbs and pushed himself off of the ground.

He and Starswirl both locked eyes. Discord's talon began to glow, however this time, Celestia could put a stop to any more violence. She lifted a hoof and lowered the draconequus' hand, to his surprise.

"Please... Don't." She murmured to both of them.

"Very well." Starswirl's horn stopped glowing. He straightened up his head to look back at Celestia. "However, I'm not letting this slide."

"And just what are you gonna do?" Discord scoffed, folding his arms.

"I'm not letting a creature like you be let loose in our land." He snarled. "We'll throw you in Tartarus if we have to."

"NO!" Celestia took a step in front of the draconequus. "Anything but that, Starswirl. He's done nothing wrong, I swear!"

"And just how do you know? How do you know he hasn't been bending reality as we know it behind your back?"

The alicorn stayed silent. Then,

"He wouldn't do that." She huffed. "You don't know him like I do."

"Oh yes, you know him so very well!" He tilted his head to the bed. A blush appeared on her face. Starswirl gave a sigh. "I'm sorry, but I can't let this go on. He has to leave."

The tears kept coming. "But..."

"Tell him to go, Celestia. He's not welcome in Equestria!" He trotted up to her, his eyes fiery pits. She couldn't look at the unicorn, instead she whipped her head over to Discord, who was staying silent.

He's not safe here... they know about him. She thought. No one will support the idea of us being together...

She sighed, then looked at the unicorn once again.

"Let me meet up with him one last time." She begged. "I won't try anything, I promise!"

Starswirl gave an unconvinced expression. He tapped his chin, then he sighed.

"Okay, fine. But I'll be watching you from a distance."

The princess gave a regretful nod. She watched the unicorn leave, then looked back at Discord, and immediately became confused when she saw his expression. She had expected him to look sad, or even angry. But no.

He was smiling.

Celestia shook her head. "You have to run Discord." She ordered. "I'll meet you at midnight."

"Okee dokee Tia!" He chuckled, before floating out the window. Celestia blinked.

Why was he happy?

She then sighed, then glanced at her regalia that she had carelessly tossed aside last night. I need to raise the sun... She looked at the clock. It should have been up an hour ago.

Celestia trotted silently through the Everfree, completely ignoring the unicorn following her a few steps behind.

"Celestia... I know that you're upset, but I cannot let a draconequus roam freely around Equestria!" He tried to reason with her, yet she took none of it to heart. Instead, she just picked up her pace.

"You can't just keep ignoring me forever."

Magic sparked from her horn, replacing his mouth with a zip.

Thankfully, he was silent for the rest of the painful journey. Luna may had made the night sky bright and beautiful, yet everything seemed darker than usual, and Starswirl's loud hoofsteps echoing throughout the forest wasn't helping. She wanted to at least pretend this was just a normal meeting, but with him as a reminder that it wasn't, she couldn't.

She must have dazed off into her own thoughts. Once she looked up, she was there. She felt the outline off her eyes water, but she blinked fiercely, forcing herself not to start.

"Stay here." She hissed to the unicorn, not bothering to look at him. Without checking that he was going to obey, she leaped over a bush that was in her path and galloped up the small hill and next to the tree. There, she waited. Usually, the princess would of called out his name, but that was because she wanted him to show up sooner. Right now, she hoped he didn't show up at all.

She stood there, still, paying no heed to the chilled wind brushing over her coat. Her throat was beginning to ache as it begged to scream the cries that she so wished to yell, but she refused. Yet, her mouth still quivered.

Soon - to soon for that matter, she heard a rustle. She looked to her left, seeing a familiar shape crawling towards her. Despite having the knowledge of what she was about to do, seeing him still made her smile.

"'Ello Tia! Not long time, no see!" He stood up in front of her on his hind legs. My ears drooped. This seemed to confuse him.

"Something wrong, dear? You don't seem like yourself..." Discord leaned towards her so that their heights where even. She refused to make any eye contact with him at first, knowing it would pain her too much, so he cupped her chin and lifted her head up, also causing a blush to appear on her cheeks.

"D...Discord..." She rasped. Her voice felt like it was scraping her throat as it climbed out of there to escape from her mouth. "Y..You realize what I'm about to do... right?" She gave a sniff. Discord tilted his head and pouted.

"Not really, no."

That was it. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. She didn't let out a cry of hurt - she didn't want to make this any harder for him. But tears did indeed well up in her eyes. She blinked them away, then wiped them off her face with her hoof.

"You have to leave." She croaked out. The draconequus paused.

"Come again, Tia?"

"No!" She slapped a hoof on his mouth, then lowered her voice when she saw the surprise, mixed with hurt expression. "P-please... don't call me that."

He raised his lion paw and lowered her hoof from his mouth. "I don't get it... what are you talking about?"

"You should know... you were there this morning." The alicorn breathed in deep, trying to get some control over her emotions. "Discord... you... you have to go."

He widened his eyes. "But..." He stuttered. "You..." He was lost for words. "But, it was only this morning! You said to me!" Tears began to fall from his eyes. "You said we'd be best friends... forever." His voice wasn't raised, but it didn't need to be. It was rare that she ever heard pain in his voice.

"I know... I did say that." She tried to laugh at the irony. "I think I jinxed it..." No matter how much she tried, she couldn't even break a smile.

"Please, Celestia. Tell me this is some sort of sick joke." He begged her. Yet... she just couldn't give him the answer he desired. She shook her head and spun her whole body around, unable to look at him for any longer.

"Just go, Discord. And I don't mean to the nearest town, or city or... anywhere around here. I mean, run for your life. Far away from here."

There was quiet for a few moments. For a brief second, Celestia wondered if he had actually obeyed her. This was not true.

"Why?"

"...What?"

"Why should I leave, exactly?"

The mare slowly turned back around to face him. She lifted her head, then opened her mouth for an answer.

Nothing came.

"Well?" Discord folded his arms impatiently. "Why should I run?"

"...They'll kill you if you don't." She whimpered, cringing at the thought of watching her best friend being imprisoned or executed.

Then the draconequus grabbed something from the top of her head. In his paw, he held her crown.

"You're a princess. Order them to stop." He demanded, tears no longer coming. Instead, there was nothing but anger in his tone.

"I..." Celestia hesitated. "I... I can't."

"Why not?!"" He screeched. "You've kept on promising to me that you would do something about this... this discrimination against me! Now's your chance! Go up to that pile of old bones, and tell him that you want me to stay!" His paw and talon gripped the crown, she was scared it was going to shatter, he was squeezing it so tightly.

She shut her eyes, wishing it would somehow stop her from collapsing on the ground and breaking down. "I just... can't."

"You're a princess! Of course you can!"

Celestia then glared back up at him. "No, I can't!" She yelled. "No one would ever except you, don't you see? Whether they do or don't know what a draconequus is, they'd soon find out. They'd all lash out on you. They'd lash out on both of us! There's no changing what will happen!"

"They listen to you! You're their leader! Tell them I'm harmless! Tell them I won't eat their kids! Do something."

"Discord, how do I know that you're completely harmless?" He was aghast at his words. She hated to tell him such things, but she knew she had to. "To me, you're the sweetest creature alive. But to them? You've said it yourself - revenge is 'hilarious'. How do I know, if they do something to you, you won't do something back?"

"If that happens, they deserve it." He retorted.

"No. Revenge is the cause of war, Discord. It'll make things worse."

He gave a scoff. "What do you expect me to do, then? Curl up on the floor while they kick me until my organs are bleeding?"

"They wouldn't do that! And if they did, I would stop them!"

He scrunched up his muzzle. "Perhaps you should do something to prevent it then."

Her patience was beginning to fade. "It's not as easy as that."

"You always claim that your oh-so-perfect world always works how you like it. Pegasi can control the weather, so why can't you control them?"

"I'm not controlling anyone!" She spat. "I'm not some sort of puppeteer!"

The two of them continued to glare into each other's eyes for a while longer, both not daring to move a muscle. Then,

"If you love me, then it shouldn't matter."

The alicorn's eyes widened. "What?"

His claws scraped on her crown, leaving scratch marks on the gold. "If you really do love me, then a bunch of ponies who you barely even know shouldn't be whom you choose." He sneered. "You said that we'd be best friends. How is that possible when you're putting a whole lot of strangers before someone who loves you?"

Her mouth quivered, however, she shook her head. "It's not as simple as that, Discord. They're not just strangers. They're my subjects, and it's my sworn duty to protect them."

"Protect them from what?!" He barked. "Just what am I going to do?!"

"I don't believe you'll do anything!"

"Then what's holding you back?"

"Because after this, nopony will trust me!"

Silence.

Discord gazed at her, but it was no longer with anger, nor was it sadness. It was something she couldn't read.

He then grabbed the crown in one hand, and chucked it down the miniature hill they stood upon. Celestia eyes followed it as the piece of gold bounced a couple of times, before landing - its gem facing down on the grass. She spun her head back to him.

"I knew it." He growled.

"Knew what?"

"You're not the Celestia I knew. Not anymore."

The princess' eyes widened. "What do you mean?" She gasped. "Of course I am!"

"No." The draconequus hissed. "The Celestia I knew was the playful filly, who hadn't a care in the world. When she was with me, she wouldn't even think about the consequences. But then you gained more responsibilities." He took a step forward, his eyes narrowing. "Ever since you came running to me, showing off your new cutie mark, your new role, I knew that this would come. You'd let your role as a princess take over your life."

"How can you say tha-"

"Especially at the Grand Galloping Gala!" He interrupted. "Do you know how hard it was for me to get to Canterlot without being stopped in the street and beaten down or chased off? You didn't have to leave me there. You could've just told me to calm down, but no. You just left me that night all for the sake of your subjects, who barely even recognize you for who you are!"

"You hooked my sister onto puppet strings!" She retorted. "Of course I was going to be mad!"

"It's never just that though. Look where this princess-hood has led us now, Celestia." He turned her back to her. "You forcing me to leave, and for what?"

"Your own safety, that's what."

"No, your own pride." He corrected her. "Is little Tia too afraid to stand up for the monster? Why am I not surprised?"

She couldn't hold back her cries for any longer. "Do you not realize just how hard this is for me?!" She screamed through sobs. Discord remained unfazed.

"Yes, I do. But don't worry, you'll still have your little ponies as a reward. Perhaps you can create a wonderful friendship with them! Never mind me, I'll just sit in a cave, doing nothing but fear what the world with attack me with next."

"I don't want to do this!"

"If that's true, then don't do it then!" His head spun around to meet her gaze. "You have the complete ability!"

"Just because I can, doesn't mean I should!"

Neither of them responded with a single word after that. Discord just gave a sigh.

"...You lied."

Celestia flickered her ear.

"Our friendship didn't last forever." His ears drooped, as he began to saunter away from her. "In fact..." He stopped, for one last time.

"I'm not even sure it was there at all..."

He then disappeared into the night, for the last time.

Author's Note

HOLY FRICK THIS IS LATE ASDFGHJKL

Let us all take a moment to hate Starswirl, shall we? :D

Okay, in all honesty, I wasn't trying to make him unlikable or anything. He'll get more scenes that aren't him sinking the ship.

...Either way, I didn't realize this was so late. I got caught up with other things...

Hey, the fanfiction I'm working on right now is kind of dislestia too... will you forgive me? c:

Oh, right. That thing that was mentioned earlier on in the chapter? You know... the thing they did? I promise that has a point. I didn't put it there for the sake of putting it there.

Fall Weather Friendship

It was early afternoon. It was one of those rare occasions where Celestia could make up a good excuse to abandon her duties. Well, that excuse was that there were none. She had managed to finish any paperwork or concerns from citizens back in Canterlot. Oh, how her job was boring sometimes.

Good thing Discord was here.

The reason why she decided to risk meeting with a draconequus she'd now known for almost six years is because he wanted to meet with her in the day for some reason. The reason he'd given her was 'I like Fall. It looks better in the daylight though.'

Weird, but okay.

Fall wasn't exactly her favourite season. Third out of the four. She loved Summer, and Spring was nice too, but the coming of Fall meant the coming on Winter. And when the leaves drooped off the branches, it seemed to tease her that her least favourite time of year was coming.

Though, she had to admit, it was rather pretty. All the leaves looked really cool when they were different colours. But that was the only good side.

After a while of trotting through the fiery coloured forest, Celestia once again came to the usual meeting spot. It had came to the point when she didn't even have to call Discord's name; he'd just appear in a matter of seconds.

"Hello Tia." His voice called, as he slithered from behind her. The nickname made her smile, no one really called her that. Since she had become more confident in bringing Discord into her room, it was one of those nights where they were just discussing random things about each other, while lying on the same mattress when he first called her that.

The alicorn lay pressed up against the draconequus, not needing a blanket for extra warmth. Her eyes were threatening to close in order for her body to shut down, but she forced them open. Even so, she still let out a long yawn.

"Oh look, Tia's tired." Discord teased, hooking an eagle talon in her mouth so she couldn't close it again. Celestia just used a hoof to pull it out.

"Very funny-wait, what did you just call me?"

She angled her head so she could see his expression. He had a slight blush, probably out of embarrassment than anything else.

"Uhh... Tia." He repeated. "If you don't like the name, then-" Celestia laid a hoof on his mouth.

"No... I like it."

"So, you actually made it this early? Impressive." Discord commented. Celestia gave a roll of her eyes.

"So, what was it you wanted to do?" She asked. Discord didn't reply straight away, he just leaped towards the trees.

"Ever seen how pretty the forest looks when you run through it in Fall?"

The Princess shook her head.

"Well, you better find out then." With that, he disappeared into the blur of leaves. Celestia had no choice but to follow on.

"Discord, wait up!" She called after the draconequus. When he ran, he was super slow. However, he could fly a heck of a lot faster. Whether he slowed down for her or not he couldn't tell, but she eventually was galloping by his side.

"I don't see what's so great about this..." She said.

"Then look at the trees an not the boring ground." He instructed. Celestia gave a skeptical look, but did so. As she looked at the trees whoosh by as she ran, the different seemed to blend in with each other. Discord was right - they did look really pretty. She noticed also, each time her hoof thumped on the ground, a leaf seemed to fall. The feel of them brushing past her made her giggle, since it slightly tickled her.

Closing her eyes made it all the more better. Despite not seeing the bright colours, she could feel the wind in her mane and feathers. It wasn't a cold breeze, nor was it hot. Okay, yes, there was no such thing as a hot, or even warm breeze. Either way, it felt rather nice-

Bonk.

Celestia blinked open her eyes and rubbed her head. She'd just bumped into a tree, hadn't she?

You're so smart sometimes. She thought to herself.

Behind her, she heard Discord snickering. She gave him a smug look, but she wasn't actually angry.

"How did you manage that?" He chuckled again, floating over to her side.

"I defiantly didn't close my eyes while running..." She muttered sarcastically, resting her head on his shoulder.

"See what happens when you do all that cliched cheesy stuff? You end up hurting yourself." He told her as he rubbed her head gently.

"I know I know... I've learned my lesson." She sighed.

"There's another reason why I made you do that, by the way."

Celestia looked up, prompting him to keep talking.

"Your earth pony magic helped the leaves fall." He began. "There's a bigger reason that I like Fall, you know. I don't just like it because it's pretty, I like it because I see myself in the season." A leaf floated down, landing in his eagle claw. "Any leaf that fell because of your hoof, you could call it myself."

"...You're saying you relate to a leaf?"

"Yes! But let me explain further." He let go of the leaf, letting it continue it's journey to the ground with the others that were already there. "You see, all of these leaves are different. And each of them look beautiful - but they don't see that. Well duh, they're leaves, but if they had feelings, they'd think they look awful. They don't though. But since they think they think that, they hide up there." He pointed to the top of the tree. "Up there, they aren't really noticed. They hide with the crowd. However, the leaves that fall are the ones that want to take a step in life, and aren't afraid to show themselves."

"Oh, that makes sense." Celestia said.

"Actually, those leaves aren't me." Discord corrected. "I'm the leaves that don't want to take a step in life and are too afraid to show them. Remember when I said that your hooves made them fall? Well, those leaves are me. I stayed hidden and out the way until you showed up."

The alicorn blinked and stared at him, unsure how to reply. But then she gave a smile and nuzzled his cheek.

"What was I going to do? Run away, thinking you were a monster going to eat my brain?" She giggled.

"Everything else did - still does." He corrected. Celestia's eyes sparkled with pity, then she hooked him with her wing to bring them closer.

"I'll change that. Don't you worry... no one deserves to live like this. Especially you." She lay a hoof on his chest. "How I'll do that... I have no idea."

"Celestia?" The alicorn called. "Are you alright?"

Celestia jumped back into reality. "Huh? Yes?" She gasped, not noticing the tear rolling down her face.

"You don't have to go on if you don't want to..." A shy pegasus told her.

The Princess shook her head. "No, I'll go on. I have to get all of this off my chest." She used her hoof to move some dropping green hair out of her eyes. "And, you deserve to know. All of you."

The six ponies in front of her, still rather in shock of the story she had just told, sat in silence. Until,

"You were so close... what in Equestria happened?"

"Well, Twilight, I was just getting to that. I'll tell you how it all fell apart." She closed her eyes again, so she could picture everything more clearly.

"Wait, so you were only friends for six years?" A blue pegasus interrupted.

"No... I'm skipping about a hundred years or so because I hate envying myself." Celestia explained. "Now listen closely, and I'll tell you about how our friendship fell apart..."

Author's Note

Y'know, it was only after I first wrote 'Fell apart' I realized it matched the title.

But yes, say goodbye to the fluff. We're moving on to the angst.

Truthfully, I'm getting bored of writing fluff, even for my OTP. I'm just so bad at it.

Angst however... I have great fun writing. Ahahah...

ohdear