"Ah, what a wonderful day for a visit" Discord had entered the market to buy tea, Fluttershy insists that he buys the things he needs instead of popping them into existence. Ponies everywhere filling up their saddle bags with the usual groceries as they went their merry way. He gets the usual look of disgust or fear from time to time, but after Celestia had announced he is reformed a while back, there isn't much they could really do.
A casual stroll through the market and he finally catches eye to the tea vendor and approaches. The stallion was an Earth Pony with a light brown coat with grey mane. Discord knowing the mane meant he was old and well experienced in the knowings of tea, which meant he would get the finest of herbs.
"Yes hello, I'm visiting a friend and I would like to know the price of your finest herbs. You see as much I'd like to make them myself, i've been asked not to, so name your price." Discord flashed into an outfit of a western banker and clicking at random to a cashier awaiting a response.
"Sorry, but I don't sell to your kind around here." The Cashier had said in a firm voice. Discord confused, looked up and saw an expression of one who wanted him dead: Hate.
"My apologies if you haven't heard but I am reformed." Discord then Flashed back to his regular self. He Raised his claw and placed his paw on his chest. "It is now my duty to serve the princesses in keeping harmony."
"I know who you are but that will never excuse what you did to the Princess."
"Fine, have it your way. I'll just spawn the herbs into existence instead of paying like a true citizen of Equestria." Discord huffed, finishing the argument and continued to walk toward Fluttershy's cottage.
The vendor murmed to himself as he watched the Draqonequus as he walked away and murmered to himself, "Good riddance."
Knock Knock Knock
"Fluttershy dear, I've come with the tea!" Discord had said. He didn't like the idea that he must have permission to enter one's home, but if it made Fluttershy happy. It made Discord happy.
"Coming!" Fluttershy had finished preparing the table with cheeses and breads. This was going to be a day of catching up with a good friend. They would have some tea and chat to their hearts content. after the chat Fluttershy would attempt to show Discord how to understand other animals and treat them with care and kindness. At least that is what she had planned. Fluttershy went to the door and opened "Hello Discord, I hope you had a wonderful day." She gave him a hug and Discord returned it.
"Actually I had a pretty odd day."
"Oh? How so?"
"I'm sure you understand that most ponies are still not comfortable with me around, right?"
"Mhm"
"Yes well, when I was trying to purchase a few herbs for tea at the Ponyville market. The vendor for tea gave me an odd look. Instead of fear he had hate. Any idea why?"
"Hmm let me think, OH! When you escaped from stone the first time you had corrupted Celestia into not liking tea. You must have known how much it meant to her. So you made her not like tea. Not many tea ponies were happy at the thought."
Discord was confused. "Fluttershy, I never did such a thing."
"Oh Discord, it's OK now, we all forgive you for what you did."
"Fluttershy i'm not lying. When I escaped from my stony prison, I never set a claw, paw, or hoof on Celestia."
"Wh-What?" Worry came to Fluttershy.
"Is there a problem?"
"Discord tell me this isn't true!"
"Fluttershy I would never lie to you. Besides why would I even care if Celestia has a fondness for tea or not."
"Oh no. Oh no no no no no!"
"Fluttershy dear, what's wrong?"
"Discord we were all convinced that you corrupted the Princess into not liking tea. If what you said is true then... Oh no" Fluttershy's pupils have shrunk in realization that Celestia, did indeed, hate tea.
"Why is this such a problem? What did you ponies do?"
Fluttershy turned to face Discord with worry.
SLAM
Fluttershy slammed the door open and flew as fast as her wings could take her. Behind her was Discord laughing himself to tears flying alongside her. The ponies in Ponyville were confused to the sight. Fluttershy had flown so fast, she crashed into Pinkie Pie who was accompanied with Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.
"Oh hi there Flutter-"
"Can't talk, where's Twilight!" Fluttershy interrupted the pink mare said in hopes of an immediate answer.
Apple jack turned to see the Chaos lord on the floor, laughing nonstop with tears flying out and face nearly crimson read. So applejack spoke, "Discord you better have a good explana-" Applejack was slapped straight across the face and was dumbfounded that Fluttershy had swung the hoof.
"NO TIME FOR EXPLANATIONS! WHERE IS TWILIGHT, THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!" Fluttershy was too focused to be slowed by conversation.
"Ugh... at the library." Applejack answered
Fluttershy had continued to fly toward the library. Discord followed laughing all the while followed. The group of friends were in shock and confusion. The situation was too odd. They looked at each other in confusion. Applejack rubbing her face still in slight pain, but nothing too distracting.
"What in Equestria do you think has happened?" Rarity said.
"Whatever it is, it was too important to explain so we have to help!" Rainbow dash exclaimed. The four nodded in agreement and ran after the frantic pegasus and hysterical draconequus.
Fluttershy Had slammed the door open. Twilight at her desk reading a book had turned to see the yellow pegasus coming straight for her. "FLUTTER-" Fluttershy had tackled Twilight off her desk and on the floor. "Fluttershy what wrong?"
Fluttershy was panting, barely catching her breath after every word. "Discord. Never. Changed. CELESTIA!"
"Huh?" Twilight stood up and turned over to Discord. He hadn't stopped laughing for a second. His face red from laughing, eyes red from laughing, tears streaming, unable to take what he had just heard moments ago. The rest of her friends came running through the door. Twilight stood up and huffed, "Discord you better-"
"AN ENTIRE EVENING!" Discord had yelled with hilarity, "Nothing but memories of her worst annoyance! PRICELESS! She had to put up with tea for CENTURIES! When she had finally confessed, you ponies did nothing but attack her, thinking she was an imposter! After she exploded with rage, you ponies thought she was insane or had some illness! Then you accused me of the cause! Oh Oh Oh! But my favorite part was the memory spell. Every Single Sip! Every Single Gulp of EVERY CENTURY! Twilight YOU caused her more pain in hours than I could have done in YEARS!!!" That Last word echoed through the room. Twilight had collappsed on to the floor and her mind has been shattered when realizing that Discord wasn't lying.
Discord's last word seemed to drop his energy quickly, "Ahhhh I haven't laughed so hard in so long, thank you Twilight. YOU-" He had latched his arm around the purple mare's neck and poked her in the schnoz,"-must be the bestest of friends." His grin went to cynical "I mean who doesn't believe their mentor, teacher, and practical mother when they say something as simple as 'I don't like tea'. Who continues to think of any possible explanation that doesn't involve the pony just sparing other's feelings. I'll tell you who. Someone who is too convinced because Celestia didn't want to hurt anypony." Discord seemed quite pleased with the point he had made.
"That's enough Discord" Applejack grabbed the attention of the room. "Don't you think you've said enough?" She had walked over to Twilight to give her comfort.
Discord's cynical expression was soon replaced by an average grin. "Well i'm sorry if honesty isn't the best policy."
"Honesty is the best policy! You just gotta know when you've said enough."
"Well that may be true, but regardless of how I've expressed it. I just have one question." He looked over to Twilight, "What will you do now?"
Twilight looked up to face Discord, "I don't know." Slowly tears were developing.
"Well I suggest we all go to Celestia, you all apologize, and we try to figure out this whole ordeal, together."
"That's a very well thought out suggestion Discord." Fluttershy had said hugging him tightly.
"Well I've had my fun, and I think if we all make amends and fix the problem. We could all look back and laugh together." He now had a soft grin.
"Well that's mighty mature of you Discord." Applejack complimented
Twilight's slow tears and frown had stopped when she stood up with a smile, "Well, Discord is right. Let's go and apologize to the princess!" It was settled.
Yet another wonderful day in Canterlot, Celestia has thought to herself. It was almost time for sunset. Celestia was just finishing some paperwork at her table. It had all been repaired and nearly replicated since her burst of rage. She knew she was close to finally ridding herself of tea and she had every right, but looking how it would affect the economy and how some were devastated. She knew she made the right decision. Didn't she?
The doors across from her knocked in request to enter."Come in." Celestia said.
The doors opened to reveal her dear sister Luna and an old Mrs. Cozy. "Hello Dear sister, what brings you here?" Celestia said.
"It has been far too long since we sat down and had tea together. Wouldn't you agree?" Luna asked.
"I suppose it has been a while. Come now, what flavor shall we be enjoying?" Celestia asked facing Mrs. Cozy. Luna then sat next to Celestia.
"Well we still have some left over darjeeling since the... *ahem, incident occurred." Mrs. Cozy repied. Mrs. Cozy had finished brewing the tea and started pouring into the cups of the two alicorns.
"Yes it was a sad time, but all is forgiven now that Discord as been-"
FLASH
"Did I hear me name?" Discord had interrupted Luna. "Talking behind some pony's back? That isn't how one should treat their friend."
"It's only talking behind the back when the comments are negative." Luna huffed keeping her royal stature. "What brings you here Discord?
"Well I was giving Fluttershy a visit and she told me the most interesting thing about the tea. Especially about the time of my escape." Hearing that come out of Discord's mouth made Celestia's eyes to widen.
"Discord may I have a word with you?"
"Oh would you look at the time. It seems your student and her friends will arrive in 3...2...1-"
"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Twilight yelled with her friends running by her side. Twilight then ran up to Celestia hugging her. "Oh Princess I'm so sorry for what I've done, I don't think i'll ever forgive myself!"
Luna and Mrs. Cozy stood there in confusion. "Is there something we should know about?" Luna asked.
Discord walked up to them and spoke,"It seems that she never wanted to hurt anypony's feelings so she pretended to like tea for centuries. From what I know, you ponies attacked her when she said she doesn't like something as simple as tea, she exploded with rage, and you all thought I was the cause of her hating tea. So when I heard of this story, I explained how I never did anything to Celestia. We came here to apologize for the misunderstanding and decide what we should do to fix the issue." Discord turned to Fluttershy," That about explains it, right?" Fluttershy nodded. Discord then turned to the two mares,"Well now that-"
Discord was then tackled by the Sun Princess. She was hugging him simultaneously repeating,"Thank you, Thank You, Thank you, Thank You, Thank you, Thank You, Thank you, Thank You!"
"Now, now Princess." Discord stood up from the hug-tackle,"What else are friends for?"
"I think I may have the solution" Luna said rubbing her chin."We must convince everypony that there is nothing wrong with crops, Discord isn't evil, and that Celestia isn't insane or ill."
"And how would we do that? What about Mrs. Cozy?"
"Simple. We demonstrate the crops aren't infected with magic or disease, perform multiple mental and physical tests to prove nothing is wrong with Celestia, and find some morale spell, test, or demonstration to prove Discord isn't evil anymore. As for Mrs. Cozy, I would like her to be my personal tea stewardess. A simple spell and your sleep schedule will be shifted." Luna conluded.
Everypony was stupefied by her response. All but Discord, just giggling there, enjoying the other pony's expression's. Luna noticed this and had a big smile before being tackled by the Sun Princess. Celestia hugged her sister while kissing her on the cheeks repeating these words after every kiss.
"Thank you, Thank You, Thank you, Thank You, Thank you, Thank You, Thank you, Thank You!" Tears of joy rolling down her grinful cheeks. Surely Celestia was happier than ever.
"Ok Ok" Luna had managed to push Celestia off her."Anything for you dear sister" Luna then embraced her crying sister.
"My, what a creative way to settle things Luna" Discord said.
"How did you manage to think of that so quickly?" Twilight asked.
"While I was on the moon all I had was my mind. Corrupt as it was, I still had to maintain my sanity somehow. Hate wasn't going to entertain me so I relied on my creative mind to think of scenarios of random things. I guess I had been self trained to think swiftly. But I actually have thought about the tea indecent for quite some time now." Luna released the hug but kept a hoof on Celestia's shoulder," After Discord was reformed, I thought to ask him about the whole ordeal of 'Why tea?'. So I while deep in thought, I had considered the idea that Celestia really did hate tea. Then I thought, how would we fix everything. When I had completed the thought, I was then too tired to ask Discord. I eventually forgot about it until now."
"Well thought out sister. *sniffle Thank you." They embraced a final time
In the end they had announced it to the public and proved all the right things. Mrs. Cozy was happy with her position and the tea economy never collapsed when everyone realized Princess Luna loved tea equally as much as they had suspected Princess Celestia to. Now if you excuse me, I have to go and enjoy some tea with Fluttershy.
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed my spin-off of what happens after the ending of "Princess Celestia Hates Tea"
