Chaotic Romance is the Best Romance.by SiswitchChaptersDay two: No progress and a visit from familyDay three: Suspicious progress and a worried draconequusDay one; slow progress and a psychic weirdoDay two: No progress and a visit from familyThe sound of a single set of hooves reverberated through the empty castle halls as the lone Alicorn walked aimlessly through them. Her eyes were lidded, head hung slightly and her every breath was almost a sigh. In the letter her sister had left her before she had left she said that Luna would have to raise the sun and the moon by herself but the youngest found every morning the sun had risen without her aid. She surmised Celestia had changed her mind and was thankful for that. Luna’s brow became furrowed as her thoughts turned to her sister. No way in a million years did she think she’d run away with that beast and yet here she was roaming the halls of her castle in the dead of night. Instinctively she had sent guards out to look for her sister but none returned successful. Even though he was only part snake Discord was still as slippery as one and twice as poisonous. In a last ditched attempt she had asked her sisters former student Twilight and her new girlfriend Rarity if they knew of her sisters’ whereabouts but both of them said profusely that they knew nothing about what had happened. She missed her. Taking over her place wasn’t as hard as she thought and so far no complaints had been made against her ruling so at least she was getting the attention she had craved ever since before the ‘Nightmare’ incident but still part of her, strike that, most of her yearned for her sisters guidance. Luna sighed deeply and gazed out the window at her beloved moon. In a fleeting second, almost as if it was meant just for her, she saw the silhouette of two ponies flying across it before they faded into the black sky. Her fallen face flickered to a hint of a smile, her night was not as empty as she had once thought. She wondered if her sister was happy wherever she was. If she regretted her actions. Pain pierced her momentarily as she thought of her sister unhappy and her flicker of a smile faded, she couldn’t bear the thought of her beloved sister in some forsaken jungle trapped with a childish monster. Distant hoof-steps caught her attention and she turned to the source, a castle guard approached her. “Princess Luna! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” The guard didn’t seem concerned but had an urgent tone. Luna wondered what could be happening this late at night. “What is the matter?” She tried to dispel any aura of sadness that she was carrying away as she looked at her guard. “There is a unicorn that claims to know the whereabouts of Princess Celestia, she says she’ll only talk to you.” Luna’s eyes widened at that, she hoped to the heavens above that this somepony wasn’t lying. She desperately needed information about her sister. Luna followed the guard hastily until they were at the front doors to the grand palace. There was a pony in-between two other guards standing in the middle of the doors archway, a cloaked unicorn with dull olive skin. Indeed, Luna’s night was more alive than she had thought. Discord was pacing in her moonlight after giving up on sleeping. Celestia kept tossing in her sleep no matter what he did, granted he only tried pulling the covers over her head and stroking her mane a little but he still tried. Celestia was going to be a tough nut to break, he was sure of it. She was trying, bless her, but Discord still wanted more improvement quicker. “I’m so impatient.” He muttered to himself. It was true though so he didn’t ponder that further and focused his thoughts on how he could possibly get former royalty to be like him. As Discord tried to brainstorm he absentmindedly formed a ball in his hands tossing it from claw to paw, his thoughts became sidetracked as the ball veered mid toss and rolled across the grass away from him. With a playful swish of his tail Discord grinned and lowered himself ready to sneak up on the ball which was slowing down but still rolling away, he pounced on it like a cat only to have it shoot away from him and levitate above his head, if he didn’t know any better he would say something of his own creation was taunting him. Using this as a distraction from the serious topic he was trying to delve into he chased the ball around the campsite like a predator chasing it’s small rubber prey, a good five minutes of ball-chasing had passed before Celestia was woken up by the noise of him running around grunting and muttering. She stood in the tent doorway and looked sleepily at Discord as he batted the ball around on the ground. “What are you doing?” The tired alicorn gave a small smile as wide diluted eyes looked her way. Discord coughed and stood up straight, returning to his usual manner. “I had a cat moment. It happens to the best of us.” Before Celestia could argue against that he had passed her and went to their bed. Giving up she crawled in beside him still smiling slightly. The next day they had agreed throwing Celestia into the deep end of the pool put way too much pressure on her so Discord set up a few things that he thought could help, even slightly, to them living a perfect chaotic life like he wanted. “Ok, I’ll say one thing and you say the first thing that pops into your head, got it?” He was sitting opposite Celestia, bending over slightly so he was eye level with the sitting alicorn. “Yes I think I understand.” Celestia said sarcastically and smiled at him. “Mirror.” “Reflection.” “Table.” “Chair.” “Marshmallow.” “Sweets.” “Wrong.” “Right.” “No, I meant you’re wrong.” The draconequus sighed deeply and rolled his eyes, flapping his wings to help him stand up before walking away. Celestia paused for a second before following. “What? But you can’t be wrong on those things, you just say what you think.” She thought over her answers one more time. “No. Those things you said made sense. Hello!” He gestured to nothing in particular. “We’re not here to make sense, my dear! We’re here to do the opposite!” With another eye roll he produced a clipboard and wrote something down, Celestia guessed it was about her and groaned. Practise number two involved magic. Discord had given Celestia a generous two minutes to turn three ordinary objects into chaotic counterparts; a rock, a tree and another but slightly different rock. Celestia stared at the objects trying to think of something random or fun that she could turn them into, the more she thought about them the more she was confused. Was there really a right answer? What was considered ‘random’ or ‘chaotic?’ What was the cut off point? Well I guess I wouldn’t know straight out. Celestia thought to herself. I don’t know this kind of thing. What exactly is ‘random’ in that sense? I suppose if I turned something into something completely unrelated then it’d be random but would it really work? I know that this’ll come to me in time but really even chaos has defined rules on what is right and what is not, should I ask about them? I’m sure it’d be along the lines off ‘it can’t be anything that looks like the original object or is like the original object in anyway.’. It’s odd how rules for chaos don’t really make sense but really it can- “Times up.” Discord pressed on the stopwatch he was holding and shook his head disapprovingly. “You do realise you just stared at a rock for two minutes?” Celestia winced a little apologetically. “I’m sorry. I had a little argument with myself over what is and isn’t ‘random’ and couldn’t decide.” She partially lied. Having a philosophical debate out of nowhere was one of the reasons she was a good monarch but as a chaotic partner it wasn’t really a good feature. Discord, obviously bored and annoyed, groaned and fell back landing on a plush armchair that wasn’t there before. “I give up for now.” He sunk into his chair more. “Take five. Or ten, I don’t care... I’m...” He stood up lethargically. “Going to frighten some squirrels or something.” With that he disappeared in a flash of light. Celestia stood looking at where he used to be and sighed. She really wasn’t the best student. Something about him though made her want to please him so no matter how long this took she would keep trying. “My sister.” Celestia’s mouth hung open as she heard her sisters voice. That was the thing about darkness. It was silent, hidden. You never noticed it until you really open your eyes. The only think keeping her from blending into the shadows of the trees was the whites of her eyes. “I need to speak to you.” Her voice was soft and worried as she walked out of the shadows, the voice that Celestia used when they were younger and Luna was beginning to get envious. A voice of true concern, not anger. “Luna...” Celestia couldn’t think of anything at this point so she simply lowered her head, letting Luna say whatever she had to say. “I spoke with this unicorn. She said she met you yesterday.” Celestia nodded in confirmation. “Did she tell you what she felt?” “She said his magic MIGHT be having an influence on me, Luna!” Celestia knew where she was going with this. “I am more powerful than him, I know my own mind and I don’t let anyone else choose my choices for me.” “Celestia, that’s not what-” “Please Luna, I know what I’m doing. I’m happy. I know what’s happening and what’s going to happen in the future isn’t what you thought our future would be like but my destiny has led me on this path and I’m going to see it through.” Celestia stood up straight, towering over her. “Don’t pity me for I am an adult and I make my own choices, even though they may not make sense to you.” Luna looked her straight in the eyes, trying to read her. “Whatever you say, my sister.” Luna broke the gaze, flaring her wings out. “As long as you know about it and you’re ok with it... That was my real concern.” Celestia couldn’t stand Luna’s patronising tone and turned away from her. She was speaking like Celestia was the younger one here, the less mature and unable to choose her life for herself. “Just, promise me you’ll contact me more often... Tell me you’re healthy.” Celestia’s face softened at that. “I shall.” Luna paused for a second to see if her sister would say more then took off and was soon out of sight. Celestia watched as she faded into the distance and sighed wearily, lowering herself to the ground and laying on the soft grass. Her sadness was broken by a rustling, she looked to see Discord peeking out of the bushes. “Is she gone?” He whispered. Celestia smiled and nodded, the draconequus slithered out and lay beside her. “Well that was odd. I could of sworn she was here to beat me up or something.” He nuzzles Celestia’s mane absentmindedly. “She was just worried...” Celestia said quietly, finding herself too upset to speak any louder. Discord noticed this and stood up, clapping his hands together and smiling wide. “Well! We need to keep working. We really should take out minds off the failures of today and start working on some winning.” He walked around their campsite and set a few things up. “Good idea... We have a lot ahead of us.” How true those words were. Day three: Suspicious progress and a worried draconequusIf it was anypony but Celestia Discord would off given up by now. He was a being of little patience but the fact he loved her was inspiration enough to keep going, the bonus that he’d go down in history for doing it just sealed the deal. The draconequus paced around their campsite trying to think of new ways to teach her his ways, his feet dragging along the ground leaving a noticeable groove in the dirt as he walked. A quiet thought flickered nonchalantly in his mind. There is one option, Discord... One thing you could do to ensure your future is lovely and chaos filled. Force corruption. The tall creature stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widened to the size of saucers as the thought whispered to him, he had no qualms about corrupting other ponies but Celestia was another story. She already thought he might be controlling her inadvertently. No need to add truth to that suspicion. Discord quietly brushed the thought away not wanting to entertain such an idea but the idea wanted to be entertained. Come on. You know she wouldn’t be able to tell either way! This way everyone wins, Celestia’s happy, you’re happy, Luna’s unhappy. Well, Luna won’t be happy but what the hay. You can’t please everypony! The idea was tempting him like a freshly baked pie sat on a window sill. It would be so easy to do, no pony would know. The more he tried to force his mind to think of other solutions, think of other subjects even, he found himself always pondering his personal favourite. While corrupting Celestia wasn’t the best solution at the rate she’s going she’d most likely give up and maybe even... Come to her senses. That though scared Discord into considering the option, summoning a chair he sat down and pondered some more. Shortly after he sat down he heard Celestia’s familiar hoof-steps and quickly stood up straight as though she would be able to tell what he was thinking off just seeing him sitting in a chair. Celestia looked happy, surprisingly happy, like she’d just heard a funny joke or something. “Discord, I want to try that object test again.” She said confidently, standing in front of a still rigid Discord. Discord tilted his head slightly before shrugging. After all, who was he to say no? He set up the test exactly like before, lining up rows of fairly uninteresting objects for Celestia to hopefully change. Celestia walked over to the objects, spreading her legs slightly as though she was bracing herself. After a short pause her horn began to glow soft yellow as it always did, that smug grin that Discord was more than a little curious about was still on her face, her body jerked slightly as she sent out three rays of powerful magic to her targets watching happily as they shimmered and morphed. Discords jaw almost hit the floor as he saw what his beloved had created. The rocks had turned into a giant sponge that was resting bent on the trees behind it, the stump he had conjured up had twisted and grown into a tall spiral of wood. The texture of the bark was stretched like taffy until it faded so much so that the tip didn’t look like wood at all, keeping only it’s brown colouring. Discord’s mouth closed and a wicked grin crossed his face. “My dear, that’s amazing!” He wrapped his arms around the alicorns neck and chuckled happily, Celestia let out a small giggle and leant into his hold. A thought stopped Discord from celebrating, realisation dawned on him that yesterday she just stared at the rocks trying to think of something to do and know she could conjure up very random objects with hesitation. He pulled away and eyed her warily. “Wait a minute, how did you..?” He left the question hanging as she trotted away from him, a skip in her step. “I have no idea! I just woke up this morning feeling a little hyper so I went for a walk, as you know, and I started getting this... This...” “...Urge?” “Yes! Urge!” Her voice was excited as her face. “I have no idea what it is or how I got it but oh boy this feels awesome!” She spread her wings wide and hovered a few metres of the ground. Discord had a sinking feeling at her sudden ‘chaos urge’ and hyper behaviour, this was something common of a spirit of chaos not an alicorn who despite having a mischievous side was still very composed at most times. Celestia happily flew around the campsite showing no sign of slowing. “I have so much energy and... Be right back!” Celestia said in a sing-song voice before shooting up into the air, veering as she reached a high enough altitude and disappearing from Discord view. He had a very bad feeling about this. This wasn’t right. Sitting back in the chair he had conjured Discord tried his best to think about what could of possible caused his dearest to act in such a manner. Was it... Me? That thought made him sigh. It was possible his strong want for Celestia to succeed caused her to have a very sudden and out of the blue urge. Even though he usually loved the type of behaviour Celestia was portraying he had gotten used to her mostly composed personality, the sudden change was very jarring to say the least. Before his mind could bring up another thought Celestia landed very suddenly in front of him making him jump in surprise. “Oh my! Celestia you know better than to sneak up on ponies like that!” He wasn’t proud that that scared him. The draconequus was about to say something else when he noticed the look on her elegant face, worry. “Celestia?” “Why did I do that?” She asked him. From the tone of her voice it didn’t sound like she thought he knew. “Why did I act so... ?” “OOC?” He offered. “... OOC?” “Never mind.” He stood up and pondered some more. “I have no idea. It certainly wasn’t natural... Then again, when is chaos natural?” He tried smiling at her, she returned a worried look. “... Well maybe it’s just you’ve been hanging around me too long!” Discord tried again to smile at her but was finding it harder and harder to as he looked at her worried face. “Discord... Maybe we should spend some time apart.” Of all the things she could say, Discord didn’t expect that. “Maybe you are influencing me. It might be best to test th-” Her words where muffled by a paw. “Celestia.” Discord sounded annoyed. “I am VERY skilled at what I do. I do NOT let magic go without wanting to!” He folded his arms. “You’re so cruel if you suggest I’d ever do something like that.” Even though you did think of it earlier. Oh shut up. He replied to himself. Celestia paused for a second before smiling, Discord smiled back thinking he had convinced her finally that- WOOMF The draconequus stumbled back as he was hit by a white wing. “Tag! You’re it!” Celestia shot into the air again and flew fast away from the still surprised Discord. It was on. Discord grinned and jumped in the air after her, teleporting until he was right next to her. Celestia let out a squeak of surprise as she felt his talon poke her shoulder. “Tag, my darling.” He teleported far enough so that she couldn’t reach him but close enough so that she could still hear him. “And sorry in advance for taking advantage of you when you’re acting like this, I promise to find out why later!” Another teleport as she veered towards him. “But for now, ‘chaotic you’ seems fun!” Celestia narrowed her eyes as he flew away from her but not for the reason her ‘normal side’ would. He was cheating. She sent a blast of magic his way, encasing him momentarily in soft yellow. “What?” Discord looked himself over as it faded. Celestia stuck her tongue out and jabbed his chest with her hoof. “Tag, and no teleporting.” She angled her wings to take her down. Discord pondered what she said and tried teleporting only to find in his horror that she had disabled it. He had no idea she could disable magic, never mind that she’d actually do it. Slowly, as he flew after the quick white alicorn, he came to the conclusion that it was whatever was causing her to act like this that made her less wary of the magic she used. He knew he shouldn’t be encouraging whatever this was but it sure as anything could play a good game of tag. Celestia suddenly froze midair, causing Discord to crash into her, before he could ask why she’d stopped he saw her gaze turn to the sun which was still high in the sky. It was slowly falling. “Um... Celestia? Not that I’m one to tell you how to do your job, me of all ponies, but.. We woke up four hours ago.” He was starting to get really concerned. This wasn’t like her at all. As the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon rose on the other side she turned her bright eyes onto him. “What’s the matter, sweetheart? I thought this was what you wanted? A more.. Chaotic Celestia.” “Well, true.” He fiddled with his paw. “But this a.. Suspiciously fast transformation. What happened? Why are you suddenly so.. Me-ish?” He hated the common sense ruining this perfectly chaotic moment but his genuine concern for his love overwhelmed, at least momentarily, his urge to enjoy this moment. Celestia seemed upset for a second before smiling again. “It seems we are rubbing off on each other.. You give me chaos and I give you common sense.” She fluttered closer to him. “What fun is there in making sense? Why aren’t you enjoying the moment?” “Why are YOU?!” As much as he wanted to he couldn’t shake the feeling this was wrong. This wasn’t Celestia as he knew her. This was what he wanted Celestia to be eventually when she was ready, not something he excepted overnight. Something was wrong. “Trust me, my dear, I want to enjoy this but this is just... Too much too fast. Scarily fast. You of all ponies wouldn’t change in the course of hours... ” Celestia let of a chuckle, shaking her head. “You are suspicious of me?” Before he could answer a sliver of bright light caught both of their attention, the sun was rising again. Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Stupid Luna.” Her horn began to glow again as she forced the sun down, her expression got more annoyed as the sun still wouldn’t go down. “Discord, help me here.” Her words where strained. Discord thought for a second before sighing deeply. “Forgive me, Celestia. I need to know if something’s wrong with you.” Celestia was about to ask what he meant by that when everything went black. “So in short.. She’s acting very weird. Like me except a mare.” Discord shrugged as he finished his explanation. Zecora tilted her head a little in confusion before turning to the unconscious princess. “But I thought that chaos to you was revered... Also that explains why the sun disappeared.” She muttered the last part as she scanned the princess’s body. Discord rolled his eyes. “I know, I know. I love chaos but I love Celestia too, and this behaviour is too suspiciously spontaneous to be fun or enjoyable.” Discord was getting increasingly annoyed with himself over the fact that he stopped Celestia doing what he wanted her to do all along. “She thinks it’s because of me and my magic. I think that’s a bunch of horse apples.” Zecora gave Celestia a once over, asking Discord random questions like ‘has she been acting like this long’ or ‘has she been acting any differently’. By the end of the hour Discord was getting frustrated. “Oh come on aren’t you good at finding what’s wrong? Witchcraft to you is like Pinkie and a song.” He blinked a few times. “Your rhyming is contagious.” Zecora sighed and shook her head. “It is not my skill to be a ‘witch’, I cure things like poison joke or a persistent itch. If I know what is wrong I can fix it quite quick but if I don’t know my cures don’t stick.” Discord was about to reply when he heard Celestia groan. The two turned to look at her as she pulled herself into an upright position. “What happened?” She blinked a few times as she looked around. Her hyper-ness seemed to have subsided. “You where being unreasonable to I took you to Zecora to see if you had ‘chaos flu’ or something.” Discord backed away a little in case she was mad at him knocking her out. Celestia paused for a second before remembering. She let out a small ‘oh’ before turning to Zecora. “And?” She said in a soft voice. Zecora sighed. “What Discord has told me has given no clue, he hadn’t seem until know anything unusual with you.” The zebra walked over to a low shelf and picked up a small bag, she put it in front of Celestia. “This may hold the key to finding what is wrong, if it is an illness we’ll know before long.” Discord narrowed his eyes in conclusion as Celestia magically took a small smooth stone out of the bag. It looked like a normal stone in every way. “This stone endowed with magic from generations past, just hold it with your magic and we’ll know at last.” Celestia nodded and continued holding it with her soft yellow magic. Discord was about to foolishly ask why she didn’t suggest it before but remembered she was unconscious, he stayed quiet and waited impatiently for something to happen. After a little while the stone shimmered faintly before turning colour, taking on a pinkish hue. Zecora smiled and let out a knowing ‘ah’ before going to her shelves again. Celestia looked at the stone curiously. “What does it mean?” Celestia placed the rock beside her and watched as Zecora placed another bag beside her. “I can say with confidence the mystery is solved , it is because of Discord but no magic was involved.” She still had a smile on her face Discord didn’t like. He was starting to grow wary of smiles as of late. “I recommend you take these once a day, you’ll need to be prepared as a foal is on its way!” Day one; slow progress and a psychic weirdo“Are you done with your goodbyes?” “I have informed my dear student, Twilight. She... Understands. She wishes me the best of luck and agrees to meet me once a week.” “Right and your sister?” “She’s still asleep. We should run before she wakes up.” “I second that.” How long had it been? Since she had fled the castle? She tried to count but the numbers jumbled together incoherently as birdsong drifted to her ears. There’s something very tranquil about waking up to birdsong after a good rest, something serine that immediately puts you in a good mood as you open your eyes. The white alicorn lazily opened her eyes and looked around her room. Well it wasn’t her room, it was THEIR room. She still had trouble adjusting to that. Her -their- whole residence was basically a tent that was bigger on the inside, she always found that fact amusing. From the bed she could see the central campfire that wasn’t burning at the moment but still had blackened logs in the pit to show it had been and the ‘kitchen’ area that was a magically powered fridge and a dining table. Surprisingly organised considering. She tried to focus again. How long had it been since she had left the castle? The alicorn mentally counted as she rolled in her bed, looking into the blue wings of her bed companion. A month? Two? Time seemed so fleeting now... So linear. It felt like a lifetime already. For once in her life she felt free and already felt herself adjusting to this new lifestyle. The alicorn wondered how her sister was doing back home. Celestia blinked to make that thought go away and made her eyes focus the tall creature sitting up beside her, there he was, the reason she had given up a comfortable cushy life in Canterlot. She instantly felt better. Ever since they were young Discord always seemed to have an influence on her. Ever since the night her and her sister found this odd beast lying next to the lake he seemed to bring out her childish side, not that she minded. Celestia grew to love this oddly charismatic creature and a few thousand years later he had convinced her to run away with him. They were living a life of chaos, or so he promised, he had yet to bring her on one of his little ‘chaos trips’ yet and she was growing a little impatient. Glancing up at him she saw him wearing a pair of reading glasses, looking intently at a book. “What are you reading?” She said sleepily, stretching her wings out to get rid of the morning stiffness. Discord glanced at her. “Hm? Oh nothing. This isn’t a real book.” With a grin he shut the book, sending off a shower of sparkles as it disappeared. Celestia giggled. “How did you sleep, my dear?" “Very well.” She murmured happily as she went to snuggle into his wing only to find empty space where he once was. She looked confused at the blank space and turned around to see him standing beside a now lit fire, he posed and said with an excited voice. “Brilliant! Because today I’m going to teach you the ways of a draconequus; the ways of chaos!” With a small bow he disappeared, leaving Celestia again staring at a blank space. With curiosity taking over she made her way sleepily out of the tent. The clearing they had settled in was very beautiful, even if it had been heavily altered by Discords magic. Or was that especially because? She wasn’t sure. There was a waterfall nearby for washing and constant water that, even though it had taken on an odd purple hue, was very delicious. The trees that surrounded them had grown to around four times the size they should be and had blue bark but were very pretty and didn’t block out the sun so she couldn’t find cause to complain. One thing however that was VERY out of place was the chalkboard sitting in the middle of their clearing. Celestia grinned as she saw Discord standing next to the chalkboard wearing a tweed suit jacket with a tacky tie and thick glasses. “Now!” He began in a very strict voice. “Take a seat and we shall begin our lessons on chaos!” With a snap of his claw a beanbag chair appeared a few feet away from the board. Celestia glanced at him with an ‘are you serious’ face to which he responded with a sly eyebrow raise; ‘yep’. “Take your seat, Ms Celestia.” With an exaggerated eye roll she trotted over to the board and collapsed into the beanbag chair, her legs splayed as she descended into the beanbag chair which was rather unseemly for such a regal creature. Discord tried to stifle a giggle at seeing such a display but to no avail. “Anyway.” He regained control of himself after a quick glare was sent his way. “You are doing wonders with the whole shaking years and years of royal conditioning off but you still don’t have that... Spark in you!” As he said that sparks flew from his talons, hanging in the air for a second before Discord shooed them away. “So without further ado I’ve decided today is the day that I try and show you the try joys of chaos if I am going to be partners with you.” “Why today?” Celestia wiggled her rear until she settled comfortably in the bag. Discord shrugged. “Ah. I see. No plan as usual.” “I live on whimsy, my dear. Now! Let me show you the three basic rule to chaos!” “Rules for chaos?” The alicorn raised an eyebrow. “Roll with me, you were born without chaos urge so you need rules for the time being!” With a swish of chalk the board was filled with neat writing that didn’t look like it was written in chalk. “Now! Here are the rules!” Discord pointed to each line with a long wooden pointer, sounding them off as he pointed to them. “Chaos Lesson uno: You are ALWAYS right, except for when you’re wrong. Then I am right. Chaos lesson 二: Childishness is the way to success. And finally my sweetheart, Chaos lesson drei: NEVER think twice, if you make a mistake so what? Pretend you meant it!” The draconequus looked fairly proud of himself as he finished, standing up straight with his face displaying a rather smug expression. Celestia blinked a few times, trying to take in what he just said. It was odd hearing these things knowing what he expected of her but it was only fair after she expected so much of him early on in the relationship. She smiled as he opened his eyes and rolled out of her bean-bag chair. “Those are... Great... For a start. Do you really think I can do this?” Celestia’s eyes widened a little at looked at him curiously, she hated acting childish but it was becoming natural as she spent more time with Discord so she noticed it less and less. Discord smiled at her excited tone and cupped her face in his paw. “Oh Celestia... You will be amazing. I’m sure of it.” Fillydelphia was bustling as usual, busy ponies trotting around with places to be not even glancing at the faces that passed. Celestia smiles widely, every time Discord took her into a city she loved how nopony recognised her or even looked at her differently. Her ‘normal’ form was a tan-brown unicorn with dark freckles speckling her nose, Discord was a brindle pegasus since he refused to look even slightly normal. “My dear, I’ll head to the town square and you stay here, I’ll begin with my fun and that’ll be your cue to go wild. Remember what I taught you!” With a quick kiss he was off into the crowd doing what she never expected him to do, blend in. The princess smiled and wandered around the street he had left her looking into the shop windows absentmindedly. She glanced left as a glimmer of dazzling purple caught her eye, for a second her heart leapt as she was reminded of Twilight but calmed down when she saw it was a lonely stall set up at the entrance to an alley way. Celestia paused when she tried to comprehend why seeing Twilight would be a bad thing as she saw her every week but realised it was because this time she was going to do something that she feared may make Twilight see her differently. With curiosity now in her she trotted up to the stall to see a dull olive unicorn pony standing behind it, her purple robes hanging gracefully off her body. “Do you wish for me to see into your future?” She asked with a smile. Celestia paused for a second before realising she did want to know what kind of future her and Discord had but was afraid of the pony seeing her as the lost princess and her boyfriend as the spirit of chaos. “No, thank you...” Celestia replied returning a smile to her. “Are you sure? I could tell you something you don’t know if that sounds better.” The way she was speaking was what stopped Celestia from walking away. It wasn’t a usual sales ponies way of trying to keep your attention but rather she used a tone of disturbed happiness, the type used by people on the brink of insanity. Celestia tilted her head a little before nodding, curious as to what this unicorn knew or at least what she thought she did. “Your lover does love you deeply and truly but he is harming you in ways he does not realise.” Again the disturbed happiness seeped through as she giggled. Celestia tried to keep her face stoic but a shiver crept through her as the words left the mysterious unicorns lips. “Go on.” “His want to keep you is so strong that his magic seeps through his emotions.. He is controlling you without realising, inadvertently using his magic to change your opinions and choices.” Those words chilled Celestia to the bone. Her words seemed so confident and knowing and it was so probable it was frightening. “My advice? You need a little chaos in you to be immune to his magic... Chaos... That is already forming, I can see... Soon you will be happy, if the fates are kind to you.” She calmed down a little as that was said. No doubt this unicorn knew what she was talking about but she could still be wrong, there was something not right about her that was obvious. Something still picked at Celestia though, if it was true how long had his controlling influence been over her? Was it him that convinced her to leave or was it her love? She needed to speak to him about this, this changed everything. The disguised alicorn quickly thanked the disturbed unicorn and trotted away quickly, making her way to the square. A shimmer of light stopped her, he had begun to play. As quick as anything the cobbled ground below turned to grass and the lampposts turned to uncooked strands of spaghetti. Celestia couldn’t help smile a little at that even as the towns people ran and cried out. This was the sort of thing you’d never see stuffed in a castle, forced into meetings with other leaders and eating boring food night after night. Acting on the advice Discord gave her she quickly thought of something random and summoned it. A rubber duck. She glanced at it, thinking she could do better she altered it with a mightly blast of yellow magic A big, neon blue, rubber duck. She looked at it, disappointed that that was the only thing she could come up with. “Don’t worry, my dear.” Celestia glanced at Discord who had suddenly appeared beside her. “This is a good start! You’ll get it in time.” He kissed her cheek reassuringly before flying off, turning into his normal form and causing more chaos as Celestia sat pathetically on the ground feeling useless. Nopony noticed her as they were too busy running away from the real chaos. She was useless as far as chaos was concerned. For now. Celestia lay on her back and stared at the moon that had risen mere seconds ago, she could almost feel her sister when it had risen and wondered if Luna felt the same when she raised the sun. Her focus shifted as Discord lay beside her. “Today was fun.” He shuffled closer, placing his paw around her neck, and looked into her magenta eyes. “You’ll get better in time, today wasn’t bad for your first time!” He actually looked proud of her, something she didn’t expect. The psychic from earlier still bothered her though. She needed to talk about it. “Discord... I spoke to somepony while we were separated.” A vague noise of acknowledgement came from him. “She seemed to be psychic... At least a little. It was obvious she knew who we are.” At that he looked concerned. “Is this going to be a problem? I’m sort of growing fond of that pony form of mine, it’d be a shame to have to change it.” He sighed wearily. “No. She seemed nice, if a bit... Challenged. She said..” Celestia took a deep breath. “That you might be inadvertently controlling me. Using your magic to make me... Choose you.” His chuckle confused her. “Darling I am way over a thousand years old, I know how to handle my magic. I know how to handle every slightest little urge and tingle that I hold in my body! If I didn’t then I wouldn’t off lasted when you put me on that chaos abstinence.” He shuddered as he remembered. Celestia was going to say something put chose not to, he seemed confident enough to calm her down so she didn’t feel worried anymore. “Why? Do you think the only possible reason you fled with me is because I was brainwashing you?” He grinned. “You wound me, my dear.” Celestia stammered a little, looking for words. “No! I didn’t mean that at all... I’m sorry, Discord. I love you it’s just.. It did seem strangely impulsive of me.” She was silenced by a nuzzle. “Stop with the fretting. It’s annoying.” He snuggled into her flowing mane and closed his eyes. Celestia smiled and leaned into him a bit more. “You really are so grim sometimes.” “I’m sorry. I don’t mean it, it’s a habit I suppose.” She wriggled away. “I’m going inside the tent, I’m really uncomfortable out here.” Discords groans of protest didn’t stop her from going inside and lying on their bed. No matter what she tried the uncomfortable feeling didn’t leave her. She tried sleeping on her side, her back, front, nothing. It was clear she was bothered by something as she couldn’t find sleep no matter how much she tried. As Discord gave up and slipped into bed beside her she used her magic to make her drift to sleep. She’d figure it out tomorrow. She’d figure everything out... Tomorrow.
Day two: No progress and a visit from familyThe sound of a single set of hooves reverberated through the empty castle halls as the lone Alicorn walked aimlessly through them. Her eyes were lidded, head hung slightly and her every breath was almost a sigh. In the letter her sister had left her before she had left she said that Luna would have to raise the sun and the moon by herself but the youngest found every morning the sun had risen without her aid. She surmised Celestia had changed her mind and was thankful for that. Luna’s brow became furrowed as her thoughts turned to her sister. No way in a million years did she think she’d run away with that beast and yet here she was roaming the halls of her castle in the dead of night. Instinctively she had sent guards out to look for her sister but none returned successful. Even though he was only part snake Discord was still as slippery as one and twice as poisonous. In a last ditched attempt she had asked her sisters former student Twilight and her new girlfriend Rarity if they knew of her sisters’ whereabouts but both of them said profusely that they knew nothing about what had happened. She missed her. Taking over her place wasn’t as hard as she thought and so far no complaints had been made against her ruling so at least she was getting the attention she had craved ever since before the ‘Nightmare’ incident but still part of her, strike that, most of her yearned for her sisters guidance. Luna sighed deeply and gazed out the window at her beloved moon. In a fleeting second, almost as if it was meant just for her, she saw the silhouette of two ponies flying across it before they faded into the black sky. Her fallen face flickered to a hint of a smile, her night was not as empty as she had once thought. She wondered if her sister was happy wherever she was. If she regretted her actions. Pain pierced her momentarily as she thought of her sister unhappy and her flicker of a smile faded, she couldn’t bear the thought of her beloved sister in some forsaken jungle trapped with a childish monster. Distant hoof-steps caught her attention and she turned to the source, a castle guard approached her. “Princess Luna! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” The guard didn’t seem concerned but had an urgent tone. Luna wondered what could be happening this late at night. “What is the matter?” She tried to dispel any aura of sadness that she was carrying away as she looked at her guard. “There is a unicorn that claims to know the whereabouts of Princess Celestia, she says she’ll only talk to you.” Luna’s eyes widened at that, she hoped to the heavens above that this somepony wasn’t lying. She desperately needed information about her sister. Luna followed the guard hastily until they were at the front doors to the grand palace. There was a pony in-between two other guards standing in the middle of the doors archway, a cloaked unicorn with dull olive skin. Indeed, Luna’s night was more alive than she had thought. Discord was pacing in her moonlight after giving up on sleeping. Celestia kept tossing in her sleep no matter what he did, granted he only tried pulling the covers over her head and stroking her mane a little but he still tried. Celestia was going to be a tough nut to break, he was sure of it. She was trying, bless her, but Discord still wanted more improvement quicker. “I’m so impatient.” He muttered to himself. It was true though so he didn’t ponder that further and focused his thoughts on how he could possibly get former royalty to be like him. As Discord tried to brainstorm he absentmindedly formed a ball in his hands tossing it from claw to paw, his thoughts became sidetracked as the ball veered mid toss and rolled across the grass away from him. With a playful swish of his tail Discord grinned and lowered himself ready to sneak up on the ball which was slowing down but still rolling away, he pounced on it like a cat only to have it shoot away from him and levitate above his head, if he didn’t know any better he would say something of his own creation was taunting him. Using this as a distraction from the serious topic he was trying to delve into he chased the ball around the campsite like a predator chasing it’s small rubber prey, a good five minutes of ball-chasing had passed before Celestia was woken up by the noise of him running around grunting and muttering. She stood in the tent doorway and looked sleepily at Discord as he batted the ball around on the ground. “What are you doing?” The tired alicorn gave a small smile as wide diluted eyes looked her way. Discord coughed and stood up straight, returning to his usual manner. “I had a cat moment. It happens to the best of us.” Before Celestia could argue against that he had passed her and went to their bed. Giving up she crawled in beside him still smiling slightly. The next day they had agreed throwing Celestia into the deep end of the pool put way too much pressure on her so Discord set up a few things that he thought could help, even slightly, to them living a perfect chaotic life like he wanted. “Ok, I’ll say one thing and you say the first thing that pops into your head, got it?” He was sitting opposite Celestia, bending over slightly so he was eye level with the sitting alicorn. “Yes I think I understand.” Celestia said sarcastically and smiled at him. “Mirror.” “Reflection.” “Table.” “Chair.” “Marshmallow.” “Sweets.” “Wrong.” “Right.” “No, I meant you’re wrong.” The draconequus sighed deeply and rolled his eyes, flapping his wings to help him stand up before walking away. Celestia paused for a second before following. “What? But you can’t be wrong on those things, you just say what you think.” She thought over her answers one more time. “No. Those things you said made sense. Hello!” He gestured to nothing in particular. “We’re not here to make sense, my dear! We’re here to do the opposite!” With another eye roll he produced a clipboard and wrote something down, Celestia guessed it was about her and groaned. Practise number two involved magic. Discord had given Celestia a generous two minutes to turn three ordinary objects into chaotic counterparts; a rock, a tree and another but slightly different rock. Celestia stared at the objects trying to think of something random or fun that she could turn them into, the more she thought about them the more she was confused. Was there really a right answer? What was considered ‘random’ or ‘chaotic?’ What was the cut off point? Well I guess I wouldn’t know straight out. Celestia thought to herself. I don’t know this kind of thing. What exactly is ‘random’ in that sense? I suppose if I turned something into something completely unrelated then it’d be random but would it really work? I know that this’ll come to me in time but really even chaos has defined rules on what is right and what is not, should I ask about them? I’m sure it’d be along the lines off ‘it can’t be anything that looks like the original object or is like the original object in anyway.’. It’s odd how rules for chaos don’t really make sense but really it can- “Times up.” Discord pressed on the stopwatch he was holding and shook his head disapprovingly. “You do realise you just stared at a rock for two minutes?” Celestia winced a little apologetically. “I’m sorry. I had a little argument with myself over what is and isn’t ‘random’ and couldn’t decide.” She partially lied. Having a philosophical debate out of nowhere was one of the reasons she was a good monarch but as a chaotic partner it wasn’t really a good feature. Discord, obviously bored and annoyed, groaned and fell back landing on a plush armchair that wasn’t there before. “I give up for now.” He sunk into his chair more. “Take five. Or ten, I don’t care... I’m...” He stood up lethargically. “Going to frighten some squirrels or something.” With that he disappeared in a flash of light. Celestia stood looking at where he used to be and sighed. She really wasn’t the best student. Something about him though made her want to please him so no matter how long this took she would keep trying. “My sister.” Celestia’s mouth hung open as she heard her sisters voice. That was the thing about darkness. It was silent, hidden. You never noticed it until you really open your eyes. The only think keeping her from blending into the shadows of the trees was the whites of her eyes. “I need to speak to you.” Her voice was soft and worried as she walked out of the shadows, the voice that Celestia used when they were younger and Luna was beginning to get envious. A voice of true concern, not anger. “Luna...” Celestia couldn’t think of anything at this point so she simply lowered her head, letting Luna say whatever she had to say. “I spoke with this unicorn. She said she met you yesterday.” Celestia nodded in confirmation. “Did she tell you what she felt?” “She said his magic MIGHT be having an influence on me, Luna!” Celestia knew where she was going with this. “I am more powerful than him, I know my own mind and I don’t let anyone else choose my choices for me.” “Celestia, that’s not what-” “Please Luna, I know what I’m doing. I’m happy. I know what’s happening and what’s going to happen in the future isn’t what you thought our future would be like but my destiny has led me on this path and I’m going to see it through.” Celestia stood up straight, towering over her. “Don’t pity me for I am an adult and I make my own choices, even though they may not make sense to you.” Luna looked her straight in the eyes, trying to read her. “Whatever you say, my sister.” Luna broke the gaze, flaring her wings out. “As long as you know about it and you’re ok with it... That was my real concern.” Celestia couldn’t stand Luna’s patronising tone and turned away from her. She was speaking like Celestia was the younger one here, the less mature and unable to choose her life for herself. “Just, promise me you’ll contact me more often... Tell me you’re healthy.” Celestia’s face softened at that. “I shall.” Luna paused for a second to see if her sister would say more then took off and was soon out of sight. Celestia watched as she faded into the distance and sighed wearily, lowering herself to the ground and laying on the soft grass. Her sadness was broken by a rustling, she looked to see Discord peeking out of the bushes. “Is she gone?” He whispered. Celestia smiled and nodded, the draconequus slithered out and lay beside her. “Well that was odd. I could of sworn she was here to beat me up or something.” He nuzzles Celestia’s mane absentmindedly. “She was just worried...” Celestia said quietly, finding herself too upset to speak any louder. Discord noticed this and stood up, clapping his hands together and smiling wide. “Well! We need to keep working. We really should take out minds off the failures of today and start working on some winning.” He walked around their campsite and set a few things up. “Good idea... We have a lot ahead of us.” How true those words were.
Day three: Suspicious progress and a worried draconequusIf it was anypony but Celestia Discord would off given up by now. He was a being of little patience but the fact he loved her was inspiration enough to keep going, the bonus that he’d go down in history for doing it just sealed the deal. The draconequus paced around their campsite trying to think of new ways to teach her his ways, his feet dragging along the ground leaving a noticeable groove in the dirt as he walked. A quiet thought flickered nonchalantly in his mind. There is one option, Discord... One thing you could do to ensure your future is lovely and chaos filled. Force corruption. The tall creature stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widened to the size of saucers as the thought whispered to him, he had no qualms about corrupting other ponies but Celestia was another story. She already thought he might be controlling her inadvertently. No need to add truth to that suspicion. Discord quietly brushed the thought away not wanting to entertain such an idea but the idea wanted to be entertained. Come on. You know she wouldn’t be able to tell either way! This way everyone wins, Celestia’s happy, you’re happy, Luna’s unhappy. Well, Luna won’t be happy but what the hay. You can’t please everypony! The idea was tempting him like a freshly baked pie sat on a window sill. It would be so easy to do, no pony would know. The more he tried to force his mind to think of other solutions, think of other subjects even, he found himself always pondering his personal favourite. While corrupting Celestia wasn’t the best solution at the rate she’s going she’d most likely give up and maybe even... Come to her senses. That though scared Discord into considering the option, summoning a chair he sat down and pondered some more. Shortly after he sat down he heard Celestia’s familiar hoof-steps and quickly stood up straight as though she would be able to tell what he was thinking off just seeing him sitting in a chair. Celestia looked happy, surprisingly happy, like she’d just heard a funny joke or something. “Discord, I want to try that object test again.” She said confidently, standing in front of a still rigid Discord. Discord tilted his head slightly before shrugging. After all, who was he to say no? He set up the test exactly like before, lining up rows of fairly uninteresting objects for Celestia to hopefully change. Celestia walked over to the objects, spreading her legs slightly as though she was bracing herself. After a short pause her horn began to glow soft yellow as it always did, that smug grin that Discord was more than a little curious about was still on her face, her body jerked slightly as she sent out three rays of powerful magic to her targets watching happily as they shimmered and morphed. Discords jaw almost hit the floor as he saw what his beloved had created. The rocks had turned into a giant sponge that was resting bent on the trees behind it, the stump he had conjured up had twisted and grown into a tall spiral of wood. The texture of the bark was stretched like taffy until it faded so much so that the tip didn’t look like wood at all, keeping only it’s brown colouring. Discord’s mouth closed and a wicked grin crossed his face. “My dear, that’s amazing!” He wrapped his arms around the alicorns neck and chuckled happily, Celestia let out a small giggle and leant into his hold. A thought stopped Discord from celebrating, realisation dawned on him that yesterday she just stared at the rocks trying to think of something to do and know she could conjure up very random objects with hesitation. He pulled away and eyed her warily. “Wait a minute, how did you..?” He left the question hanging as she trotted away from him, a skip in her step. “I have no idea! I just woke up this morning feeling a little hyper so I went for a walk, as you know, and I started getting this... This...” “...Urge?” “Yes! Urge!” Her voice was excited as her face. “I have no idea what it is or how I got it but oh boy this feels awesome!” She spread her wings wide and hovered a few metres of the ground. Discord had a sinking feeling at her sudden ‘chaos urge’ and hyper behaviour, this was something common of a spirit of chaos not an alicorn who despite having a mischievous side was still very composed at most times. Celestia happily flew around the campsite showing no sign of slowing. “I have so much energy and... Be right back!” Celestia said in a sing-song voice before shooting up into the air, veering as she reached a high enough altitude and disappearing from Discord view. He had a very bad feeling about this. This wasn’t right. Sitting back in the chair he had conjured Discord tried his best to think about what could of possible caused his dearest to act in such a manner. Was it... Me? That thought made him sigh. It was possible his strong want for Celestia to succeed caused her to have a very sudden and out of the blue urge. Even though he usually loved the type of behaviour Celestia was portraying he had gotten used to her mostly composed personality, the sudden change was very jarring to say the least. Before his mind could bring up another thought Celestia landed very suddenly in front of him making him jump in surprise. “Oh my! Celestia you know better than to sneak up on ponies like that!” He wasn’t proud that that scared him. The draconequus was about to say something else when he noticed the look on her elegant face, worry. “Celestia?” “Why did I do that?” She asked him. From the tone of her voice it didn’t sound like she thought he knew. “Why did I act so... ?” “OOC?” He offered. “... OOC?” “Never mind.” He stood up and pondered some more. “I have no idea. It certainly wasn’t natural... Then again, when is chaos natural?” He tried smiling at her, she returned a worried look. “... Well maybe it’s just you’ve been hanging around me too long!” Discord tried again to smile at her but was finding it harder and harder to as he looked at her worried face. “Discord... Maybe we should spend some time apart.” Of all the things she could say, Discord didn’t expect that. “Maybe you are influencing me. It might be best to test th-” Her words where muffled by a paw. “Celestia.” Discord sounded annoyed. “I am VERY skilled at what I do. I do NOT let magic go without wanting to!” He folded his arms. “You’re so cruel if you suggest I’d ever do something like that.” Even though you did think of it earlier. Oh shut up. He replied to himself. Celestia paused for a second before smiling, Discord smiled back thinking he had convinced her finally that- WOOMF The draconequus stumbled back as he was hit by a white wing. “Tag! You’re it!” Celestia shot into the air again and flew fast away from the still surprised Discord. It was on. Discord grinned and jumped in the air after her, teleporting until he was right next to her. Celestia let out a squeak of surprise as she felt his talon poke her shoulder. “Tag, my darling.” He teleported far enough so that she couldn’t reach him but close enough so that she could still hear him. “And sorry in advance for taking advantage of you when you’re acting like this, I promise to find out why later!” Another teleport as she veered towards him. “But for now, ‘chaotic you’ seems fun!” Celestia narrowed her eyes as he flew away from her but not for the reason her ‘normal side’ would. He was cheating. She sent a blast of magic his way, encasing him momentarily in soft yellow. “What?” Discord looked himself over as it faded. Celestia stuck her tongue out and jabbed his chest with her hoof. “Tag, and no teleporting.” She angled her wings to take her down. Discord pondered what she said and tried teleporting only to find in his horror that she had disabled it. He had no idea she could disable magic, never mind that she’d actually do it. Slowly, as he flew after the quick white alicorn, he came to the conclusion that it was whatever was causing her to act like this that made her less wary of the magic she used. He knew he shouldn’t be encouraging whatever this was but it sure as anything could play a good game of tag. Celestia suddenly froze midair, causing Discord to crash into her, before he could ask why she’d stopped he saw her gaze turn to the sun which was still high in the sky. It was slowly falling. “Um... Celestia? Not that I’m one to tell you how to do your job, me of all ponies, but.. We woke up four hours ago.” He was starting to get really concerned. This wasn’t like her at all. As the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon rose on the other side she turned her bright eyes onto him. “What’s the matter, sweetheart? I thought this was what you wanted? A more.. Chaotic Celestia.” “Well, true.” He fiddled with his paw. “But this a.. Suspiciously fast transformation. What happened? Why are you suddenly so.. Me-ish?” He hated the common sense ruining this perfectly chaotic moment but his genuine concern for his love overwhelmed, at least momentarily, his urge to enjoy this moment. Celestia seemed upset for a second before smiling again. “It seems we are rubbing off on each other.. You give me chaos and I give you common sense.” She fluttered closer to him. “What fun is there in making sense? Why aren’t you enjoying the moment?” “Why are YOU?!” As much as he wanted to he couldn’t shake the feeling this was wrong. This wasn’t Celestia as he knew her. This was what he wanted Celestia to be eventually when she was ready, not something he excepted overnight. Something was wrong. “Trust me, my dear, I want to enjoy this but this is just... Too much too fast. Scarily fast. You of all ponies wouldn’t change in the course of hours... ” Celestia let of a chuckle, shaking her head. “You are suspicious of me?” Before he could answer a sliver of bright light caught both of their attention, the sun was rising again. Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Stupid Luna.” Her horn began to glow again as she forced the sun down, her expression got more annoyed as the sun still wouldn’t go down. “Discord, help me here.” Her words where strained. Discord thought for a second before sighing deeply. “Forgive me, Celestia. I need to know if something’s wrong with you.” Celestia was about to ask what he meant by that when everything went black. “So in short.. She’s acting very weird. Like me except a mare.” Discord shrugged as he finished his explanation. Zecora tilted her head a little in confusion before turning to the unconscious princess. “But I thought that chaos to you was revered... Also that explains why the sun disappeared.” She muttered the last part as she scanned the princess’s body. Discord rolled his eyes. “I know, I know. I love chaos but I love Celestia too, and this behaviour is too suspiciously spontaneous to be fun or enjoyable.” Discord was getting increasingly annoyed with himself over the fact that he stopped Celestia doing what he wanted her to do all along. “She thinks it’s because of me and my magic. I think that’s a bunch of horse apples.” Zecora gave Celestia a once over, asking Discord random questions like ‘has she been acting like this long’ or ‘has she been acting any differently’. By the end of the hour Discord was getting frustrated. “Oh come on aren’t you good at finding what’s wrong? Witchcraft to you is like Pinkie and a song.” He blinked a few times. “Your rhyming is contagious.” Zecora sighed and shook her head. “It is not my skill to be a ‘witch’, I cure things like poison joke or a persistent itch. If I know what is wrong I can fix it quite quick but if I don’t know my cures don’t stick.” Discord was about to reply when he heard Celestia groan. The two turned to look at her as she pulled herself into an upright position. “What happened?” She blinked a few times as she looked around. Her hyper-ness seemed to have subsided. “You where being unreasonable to I took you to Zecora to see if you had ‘chaos flu’ or something.” Discord backed away a little in case she was mad at him knocking her out. Celestia paused for a second before remembering. She let out a small ‘oh’ before turning to Zecora. “And?” She said in a soft voice. Zecora sighed. “What Discord has told me has given no clue, he hadn’t seem until know anything unusual with you.” The zebra walked over to a low shelf and picked up a small bag, she put it in front of Celestia. “This may hold the key to finding what is wrong, if it is an illness we’ll know before long.” Discord narrowed his eyes in conclusion as Celestia magically took a small smooth stone out of the bag. It looked like a normal stone in every way. “This stone endowed with magic from generations past, just hold it with your magic and we’ll know at last.” Celestia nodded and continued holding it with her soft yellow magic. Discord was about to foolishly ask why she didn’t suggest it before but remembered she was unconscious, he stayed quiet and waited impatiently for something to happen. After a little while the stone shimmered faintly before turning colour, taking on a pinkish hue. Zecora smiled and let out a knowing ‘ah’ before going to her shelves again. Celestia looked at the stone curiously. “What does it mean?” Celestia placed the rock beside her and watched as Zecora placed another bag beside her. “I can say with confidence the mystery is solved , it is because of Discord but no magic was involved.” She still had a smile on her face Discord didn’t like. He was starting to grow wary of smiles as of late. “I recommend you take these once a day, you’ll need to be prepared as a foal is on its way!”
Day one; slow progress and a psychic weirdo“Are you done with your goodbyes?” “I have informed my dear student, Twilight. She... Understands. She wishes me the best of luck and agrees to meet me once a week.” “Right and your sister?” “She’s still asleep. We should run before she wakes up.” “I second that.” How long had it been? Since she had fled the castle? She tried to count but the numbers jumbled together incoherently as birdsong drifted to her ears. There’s something very tranquil about waking up to birdsong after a good rest, something serine that immediately puts you in a good mood as you open your eyes. The white alicorn lazily opened her eyes and looked around her room. Well it wasn’t her room, it was THEIR room. She still had trouble adjusting to that. Her -their- whole residence was basically a tent that was bigger on the inside, she always found that fact amusing. From the bed she could see the central campfire that wasn’t burning at the moment but still had blackened logs in the pit to show it had been and the ‘kitchen’ area that was a magically powered fridge and a dining table. Surprisingly organised considering. She tried to focus again. How long had it been since she had left the castle? The alicorn mentally counted as she rolled in her bed, looking into the blue wings of her bed companion. A month? Two? Time seemed so fleeting now... So linear. It felt like a lifetime already. For once in her life she felt free and already felt herself adjusting to this new lifestyle. The alicorn wondered how her sister was doing back home. Celestia blinked to make that thought go away and made her eyes focus the tall creature sitting up beside her, there he was, the reason she had given up a comfortable cushy life in Canterlot. She instantly felt better. Ever since they were young Discord always seemed to have an influence on her. Ever since the night her and her sister found this odd beast lying next to the lake he seemed to bring out her childish side, not that she minded. Celestia grew to love this oddly charismatic creature and a few thousand years later he had convinced her to run away with him. They were living a life of chaos, or so he promised, he had yet to bring her on one of his little ‘chaos trips’ yet and she was growing a little impatient. Glancing up at him she saw him wearing a pair of reading glasses, looking intently at a book. “What are you reading?” She said sleepily, stretching her wings out to get rid of the morning stiffness. Discord glanced at her. “Hm? Oh nothing. This isn’t a real book.” With a grin he shut the book, sending off a shower of sparkles as it disappeared. Celestia giggled. “How did you sleep, my dear?" “Very well.” She murmured happily as she went to snuggle into his wing only to find empty space where he once was. She looked confused at the blank space and turned around to see him standing beside a now lit fire, he posed and said with an excited voice. “Brilliant! Because today I’m going to teach you the ways of a draconequus; the ways of chaos!” With a small bow he disappeared, leaving Celestia again staring at a blank space. With curiosity taking over she made her way sleepily out of the tent. The clearing they had settled in was very beautiful, even if it had been heavily altered by Discords magic. Or was that especially because? She wasn’t sure. There was a waterfall nearby for washing and constant water that, even though it had taken on an odd purple hue, was very delicious. The trees that surrounded them had grown to around four times the size they should be and had blue bark but were very pretty and didn’t block out the sun so she couldn’t find cause to complain. One thing however that was VERY out of place was the chalkboard sitting in the middle of their clearing. Celestia grinned as she saw Discord standing next to the chalkboard wearing a tweed suit jacket with a tacky tie and thick glasses. “Now!” He began in a very strict voice. “Take a seat and we shall begin our lessons on chaos!” With a snap of his claw a beanbag chair appeared a few feet away from the board. Celestia glanced at him with an ‘are you serious’ face to which he responded with a sly eyebrow raise; ‘yep’. “Take your seat, Ms Celestia.” With an exaggerated eye roll she trotted over to the board and collapsed into the beanbag chair, her legs splayed as she descended into the beanbag chair which was rather unseemly for such a regal creature. Discord tried to stifle a giggle at seeing such a display but to no avail. “Anyway.” He regained control of himself after a quick glare was sent his way. “You are doing wonders with the whole shaking years and years of royal conditioning off but you still don’t have that... Spark in you!” As he said that sparks flew from his talons, hanging in the air for a second before Discord shooed them away. “So without further ado I’ve decided today is the day that I try and show you the try joys of chaos if I am going to be partners with you.” “Why today?” Celestia wiggled her rear until she settled comfortably in the bag. Discord shrugged. “Ah. I see. No plan as usual.” “I live on whimsy, my dear. Now! Let me show you the three basic rule to chaos!” “Rules for chaos?” The alicorn raised an eyebrow. “Roll with me, you were born without chaos urge so you need rules for the time being!” With a swish of chalk the board was filled with neat writing that didn’t look like it was written in chalk. “Now! Here are the rules!” Discord pointed to each line with a long wooden pointer, sounding them off as he pointed to them. “Chaos Lesson uno: You are ALWAYS right, except for when you’re wrong. Then I am right. Chaos lesson 二: Childishness is the way to success. And finally my sweetheart, Chaos lesson drei: NEVER think twice, if you make a mistake so what? Pretend you meant it!” The draconequus looked fairly proud of himself as he finished, standing up straight with his face displaying a rather smug expression. Celestia blinked a few times, trying to take in what he just said. It was odd hearing these things knowing what he expected of her but it was only fair after she expected so much of him early on in the relationship. She smiled as he opened his eyes and rolled out of her bean-bag chair. “Those are... Great... For a start. Do you really think I can do this?” Celestia’s eyes widened a little at looked at him curiously, she hated acting childish but it was becoming natural as she spent more time with Discord so she noticed it less and less. Discord smiled at her excited tone and cupped her face in his paw. “Oh Celestia... You will be amazing. I’m sure of it.” Fillydelphia was bustling as usual, busy ponies trotting around with places to be not even glancing at the faces that passed. Celestia smiles widely, every time Discord took her into a city she loved how nopony recognised her or even looked at her differently. Her ‘normal’ form was a tan-brown unicorn with dark freckles speckling her nose, Discord was a brindle pegasus since he refused to look even slightly normal. “My dear, I’ll head to the town square and you stay here, I’ll begin with my fun and that’ll be your cue to go wild. Remember what I taught you!” With a quick kiss he was off into the crowd doing what she never expected him to do, blend in. The princess smiled and wandered around the street he had left her looking into the shop windows absentmindedly. She glanced left as a glimmer of dazzling purple caught her eye, for a second her heart leapt as she was reminded of Twilight but calmed down when she saw it was a lonely stall set up at the entrance to an alley way. Celestia paused when she tried to comprehend why seeing Twilight would be a bad thing as she saw her every week but realised it was because this time she was going to do something that she feared may make Twilight see her differently. With curiosity now in her she trotted up to the stall to see a dull olive unicorn pony standing behind it, her purple robes hanging gracefully off her body. “Do you wish for me to see into your future?” She asked with a smile. Celestia paused for a second before realising she did want to know what kind of future her and Discord had but was afraid of the pony seeing her as the lost princess and her boyfriend as the spirit of chaos. “No, thank you...” Celestia replied returning a smile to her. “Are you sure? I could tell you something you don’t know if that sounds better.” The way she was speaking was what stopped Celestia from walking away. It wasn’t a usual sales ponies way of trying to keep your attention but rather she used a tone of disturbed happiness, the type used by people on the brink of insanity. Celestia tilted her head a little before nodding, curious as to what this unicorn knew or at least what she thought she did. “Your lover does love you deeply and truly but he is harming you in ways he does not realise.” Again the disturbed happiness seeped through as she giggled. Celestia tried to keep her face stoic but a shiver crept through her as the words left the mysterious unicorns lips. “Go on.” “His want to keep you is so strong that his magic seeps through his emotions.. He is controlling you without realising, inadvertently using his magic to change your opinions and choices.” Those words chilled Celestia to the bone. Her words seemed so confident and knowing and it was so probable it was frightening. “My advice? You need a little chaos in you to be immune to his magic... Chaos... That is already forming, I can see... Soon you will be happy, if the fates are kind to you.” She calmed down a little as that was said. No doubt this unicorn knew what she was talking about but she could still be wrong, there was something not right about her that was obvious. Something still picked at Celestia though, if it was true how long had his controlling influence been over her? Was it him that convinced her to leave or was it her love? She needed to speak to him about this, this changed everything. The disguised alicorn quickly thanked the disturbed unicorn and trotted away quickly, making her way to the square. A shimmer of light stopped her, he had begun to play. As quick as anything the cobbled ground below turned to grass and the lampposts turned to uncooked strands of spaghetti. Celestia couldn’t help smile a little at that even as the towns people ran and cried out. This was the sort of thing you’d never see stuffed in a castle, forced into meetings with other leaders and eating boring food night after night. Acting on the advice Discord gave her she quickly thought of something random and summoned it. A rubber duck. She glanced at it, thinking she could do better she altered it with a mightly blast of yellow magic A big, neon blue, rubber duck. She looked at it, disappointed that that was the only thing she could come up with. “Don’t worry, my dear.” Celestia glanced at Discord who had suddenly appeared beside her. “This is a good start! You’ll get it in time.” He kissed her cheek reassuringly before flying off, turning into his normal form and causing more chaos as Celestia sat pathetically on the ground feeling useless. Nopony noticed her as they were too busy running away from the real chaos. She was useless as far as chaos was concerned. For now. Celestia lay on her back and stared at the moon that had risen mere seconds ago, she could almost feel her sister when it had risen and wondered if Luna felt the same when she raised the sun. Her focus shifted as Discord lay beside her. “Today was fun.” He shuffled closer, placing his paw around her neck, and looked into her magenta eyes. “You’ll get better in time, today wasn’t bad for your first time!” He actually looked proud of her, something she didn’t expect. The psychic from earlier still bothered her though. She needed to talk about it. “Discord... I spoke to somepony while we were separated.” A vague noise of acknowledgement came from him. “She seemed to be psychic... At least a little. It was obvious she knew who we are.” At that he looked concerned. “Is this going to be a problem? I’m sort of growing fond of that pony form of mine, it’d be a shame to have to change it.” He sighed wearily. “No. She seemed nice, if a bit... Challenged. She said..” Celestia took a deep breath. “That you might be inadvertently controlling me. Using your magic to make me... Choose you.” His chuckle confused her. “Darling I am way over a thousand years old, I know how to handle my magic. I know how to handle every slightest little urge and tingle that I hold in my body! If I didn’t then I wouldn’t off lasted when you put me on that chaos abstinence.” He shuddered as he remembered. Celestia was going to say something put chose not to, he seemed confident enough to calm her down so she didn’t feel worried anymore. “Why? Do you think the only possible reason you fled with me is because I was brainwashing you?” He grinned. “You wound me, my dear.” Celestia stammered a little, looking for words. “No! I didn’t mean that at all... I’m sorry, Discord. I love you it’s just.. It did seem strangely impulsive of me.” She was silenced by a nuzzle. “Stop with the fretting. It’s annoying.” He snuggled into her flowing mane and closed his eyes. Celestia smiled and leaned into him a bit more. “You really are so grim sometimes.” “I’m sorry. I don’t mean it, it’s a habit I suppose.” She wriggled away. “I’m going inside the tent, I’m really uncomfortable out here.” Discords groans of protest didn’t stop her from going inside and lying on their bed. No matter what she tried the uncomfortable feeling didn’t leave her. She tried sleeping on her side, her back, front, nothing. It was clear she was bothered by something as she couldn’t find sleep no matter how much she tried. As Discord gave up and slipped into bed beside her she used her magic to make her drift to sleep. She’d figure it out tomorrow. She’d figure everything out... Tomorrow.
