Author's Note
Disclaimer: I do not own “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” or its characters. They are property of Hasbro and DHX Media.
Window Repairs
“Window Repairs”
By TwilightSparkle3562
It had been several days since Lord Tirek was returned to Tartarus by Princess Twlight Sparkle and her friends. However, while all of Equestria reveled in their youngest princess’ victory, not everypony was in a joyous mood. In his thinking tree at the edge of Fluttershy’s cottage, Discord was reflecting on the events of recent and how this all could have been prevented had he not done the unthinkable and joined forces with Tirek. Discord knew that he needed to make up for what he had done and in the days that followed; he had gone to the places with Tirek and with each town in Equestria, he apologized for his actions and helped them recover by helping with certain tasks such as controlling the weather and tending to the lands.
However, with all that has happened, he knew that there was one other task he needed to fulfill and that was to restore the windows in Canterlot to their original glory. So, one night, he teleported himself to Canterlot and knowing that Princess Luna and her night guards were about, disguised himself as one of the night guard ponies and started to make his way towards the main throne room.
But, before he could get any further, he was suddenly spotted by Princess Luna, who was just about to assume her duties as Princess of the Night.
"What are you doing here, guardspony?" asked the alicorn and Discord could see that it was Princess Luna standing in front of him. "You should be at your post at this time."
Knowing that he had to respond, Discord began to talk in a very gruff voice almost like he had a hairball caught in his throat.
"Uh, going to investigate a disturbance, your highness," he replied to the Princess of the Night, trying to talk in a royal guard’s voice. "There was an intruder of some sorts. Too dangerous for yourself, of course, you know how it is."
Luna was baffled for a moment at this. For all she was concerned, her guards would never act this way in front of her. Nevertheless, she nodded to the disguised Discord and walked away to resume her duties as Princess of the Night. However, she knew that something was amiss and could see past the disguise.
“There is something strange about that pony,” she thought to herself. “I’d better alert my sister about this at once.”
With Luna gone, Discord took in a heavy sigh of relief and made his way into the throne room, which was now empty with Celestia in slumber. Much like her subjects, Celestia was also greatly affected by Tirek’s rampage, having given up her magic along with that of Luna’s and Cadence’s to Twilight for safekeeping. She could well remember how Tirek mocked them before he sent them to Tartarus as revenge for his own imprisonment. In fact, she could still hear the cold deep voice of Tirek mocking them as she slept, causing Celestia to toss and turn in her sleep.
However, she could not help but also think of why Discord, her old enemy turned ally, would even betray not just her, but all of Equestria. Perhaps Celestia thought that maybe reforming Discord wasn’t a good idea after all. All these thoughts continued to plague her mind as she attempted to sleep. Suddenly, the dreams and thoughts that ran through Celestia’s mind were interrupted when she heard the sounds of the bedroom door being knocked.
“Sister, are you there?” asked Luna as Celestia climbed out of bed and used her magic to open the door. “I’m sorry to disturb you at this time of night. But, there is something you need to know about.”
“I couldn’t sleep anyway,” sighed Celestia, as she let her sister into her bedroom. “I just can’t get the thought of Discord betraying Equestria out of my mind. Sometimes, I wonder if I made the right decision, sending him after Tirek.”
“But, had it not been for Princess Twilight…” Luna attempted to say, but Celestia interrupted her.
“I’m aware of that, Luna,” interrupted Celestia, as she placed her crown on her head. “But, I wasn’t going to risk putting my most faithful student and youngest equal in a dangerous situation like this. I had to send Discord after Tirek, there was no other way. Although, I cannot help but wonder why he would do this to me?”
Celestia was silent for a moment, but then as she walked to her bedroom window, she began to feel the sense of a familiar presence that was now in Canterlot.
“What was that?” gasped Celestia, much to Luna’s surprise.
“That’s why I came up to you, sister,” said Luna. “There was a guardspony of mine that was unlike anything I had seen before. I have feeling it could be Discord in disguise.”
Now knowing that Discord was in Canterlot, Celestia immediately opened the doors to her bedroom and stepped out.
“Where are you going, my sister?” asked Luna, stopping Celestia from taking another step. “You aren’t going to confront him, are you?”
At that moment, Celestia turned to her sister with a hard stare, almost as if she was trying to force an idea into Luna’s head.
“I need to find the truth, dear sister,” replied Celestia, firmly and she made her way down to the throne room, leaving her bewildered sister behind.
Meanwhile, Discord managed to elude the rest of Luna’s guards and proceeded towards the throne room, which for a moment was left unguarded. Discord could see that they were changing guards and seizing a chance, he quickly teleported himself into the throne room.
"That was close," he thought as he shed his disguise. "I need to work fast before either Luna returns and gets suspicious or before Celestia raises the sun."
Discord then began to take action and moved towards the first window that was now depicting him and Tirek slicing a cucumber sandwich. Snapping his fingers, Discord removed the window and it changed back into the depiction of Twilight and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon.
"Heh," he chuckled to himself as he looked at the depiction in front of him. "Who knew Princess Luna had a dark side? Perhaps maybe we should hang out together or something."
Next, Discord moved to a window depiction of himself giving a thumbs up and snapped his fingers, reversing the window back to the moment where Twilight and her friends defeated him the first time. This was a very sentimental moment for Discord as he felt that going back to his stone prison was a sign of his future reformation.
"This was the day that my life was changed forever," he whispered to himself, as he looked at the depiction of his second defeat. "I was a free creature that day and corrupted Twilight Sparkle and her friends allowing me to do what I wanted do."
He then moved along and got several more windows changed back to their original depictions and with each window returned to normal was another memory of his time with Tirek removed from his mind.
But it wasn't until he returned the depiction of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor defeating Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings at their wedding a while back did the emotions start to settle in. A sound belonging to Shining Armor began to ring out in the back of Discord's mind as he looked up at the window.
"Back off, Traitor!" he heard Shining Armor say in his mind.
And Discord knew that he was indeed a traitor and that was the whole purpose of why he was in Canterlot to begin with. He knew that he would never be loved after all that has happened but he felt like he needed to do something as a way of apologizing for his actions.
Then, the emotions really started to kick in when Discord had finished restoring the depiction of Spike saving the Crystal Empire. For he then moved to a window that made his heart sink: it was the depiction of Twilight's recent princess coronation that was melted by Tirek when he found out who Twilight was. Tears began to form in Discord's eyes when he gazed up at it. Almost immediately, Discord got down on his knees and banged his lion's paw down on the ground.
"I can't believe I did all of this," he thought to himself in despair. "I almost took away everything that these ponies had accomplished throughout their lives. Had I not joined sides then none of this would have happened. Twilight, I just hope you, your friends and fellow princesses can find it in your hearts to fully forgive me for what I have done to you."
He then got up and planted himself against the melted window and began to cry quietly. It was very rare of Discord to show his emotional side, but this was completely different. He knew that this window along with all the others was very important to his friends and especially to Princess Celestia herself.
Twilight's coronation was the most important event in her life as well as Twilight's life and it was because of Discord and Tirek did this important moment nearly end up being erased. He may not have been at the ceremony personally, but Discord could always be reminded of it through this window.
“What’s going on in here?” asked a voice and Discord quickly turned around to see Celestia, standing at the doors of her throne room.
Knowing that he was busted, Discord sighed heavily and walked towards the alicorn, almost feeling defeated to an extent.
“Discord,” said Celestia again. “I want to know what you are doing in here.”
“I was…” stuttered Discord, trying to find words that would be good enough to say to Celestia. “I was trying to fix all of the windows that Tirek and I ruined during our time together. It’s the least I could do after all I have done.”
But, Celestia didn’t respond right away and instead looked up at the melted window. A small tear came into her eye as she stared up at the window. To her, this window was more just than a depiction of Twilight’s ascension, this was representing the most important moment in Celestia’s life since she reunited with Luna after she was freed of her Nightmare Moon persona.
“Discord,” said Celestia, her eyes still locked on the melted window. “I decided to release you from your stone prison, because I thought that by learning the magic of friendship from Twilight and her friends, you would prove yourself to be a valuable ally against Equestria’s most dangerous foes.”
Just then, Celestia turned to Discord with a look of disappointment deep in her face, stepping towards Discord and causing him to back away nervously.
“But it seems to me that was not the case,” she continued, her voice slightly raised. “You deliberately disobeyed me and I am extremely disappointed in you for that. Do you realize of the damage that you have caused to my subjects?”
Discord trembled as Celestia kept her sharp gaze on him. He knew that Celestia was right. He had betrayed her at a moment that she needed him to step up and defend Equestria in its darkest moment.
“I am aware of the damage I have caused,” replied Discord, knowing that he needed to tell Celestia the truth. “I am also aware of the ponies that I have attacked and they have every right to be angry with me as do you.”
“But you have to believe me!” he begged, a hint of desperation in his voice. “Ever since I was freed from my stone prison, I had embraced the magic of friendship thanks to Twilight and her friends. But, over time, I thought that the friendship they gave me wasn’t enough and when I met Tirek…”
Discord nearly lost himself in his emotions at that moment as Celestia just stood continuing to listen to what Discord had to say.
“Go on, I’m listening,” she said as Discord then produced a small screen showing moments that he had with Tirek.
“Tirek had me believe that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship,” continued Discord, as Celestia saw the attacks on her subjects that Tirek and Discord had caused. “He said that the friendship I had with Twilight and her friends was a form of imprisonment and I believed him.”
To prove his point, Discord then fast forwarded the screen to show the moments where he felt like he was doing something wrong.
“You need to also understand that there were times where I felt like I was doing something wrong,” he said. “And I wanted to tell Tirek that I didn’t want to do this anymore. But, I couldn’t risk losing a friend and how was I supposed to know that he would betray me?”
“Because that’s what Tirek is,” replied Celestia, stretching her wings out. “He would stop at nothing to get what he wants and would use anypony to help him achieve that goal.”
She then walked past Discord and up towards her throne, sitting down on it as Discord followed. He could see that she was about to tell him something of great importance.
“Has he tricked anypony before?” asked Discord, not realizing that Tirek had duped his brother into harming the ponies of Equestria years ago. “I mean, other than myself?”
“His own brother, Discord,” replied Celestia. “His own brother, Scorpan, was tricked into believing that power was greater than friendship. It wasn’t until he met Starswirl the Bearded did he realize that friendship was greater than any magic. That is how you were, Discord, when Twilight and her friends released you from your stone prison.”
It seemed for a moment that it appeared that Discord thought that Celestia was going to forgive him. However, that was not the case as he saw her once again turn cold in her face.
“However, when I learned that you had joined forces with Tirek,” continued Celestia, her voice once again firm. “I thought that you would become just like him, considering that power was far greater than friendship. To this end, I had considered having you turned back to stone again for your betrayal.”
This made Discord shiver with fear upon hearing those words. Discord somehow knew at that moment that even without the Elements of Harmony, Celestia could still turn him to stone right then and there if she wanted to. But, he was not prepared for what she said next.
“But,” she said finally, her voice calming down. “I could not bear myself to do so because of the relationships you have made with several ponies, including Princess Twilight and her friends, especially Fluttershy. Despite your betrayal, you did help them defeat Tirek by providing the final key that was needed to open the chest that came from the Tree of Harmony.”
A thought came through Discord’s mind that meant Celestia was going to forgive him after all. However, Discord knew that he was not out of the woods just yet.
“Therefore,” said Celestia, looking firm but fair. “I will not recommend that you be turned back to stone on the condition, that you will promise me that you will never turn to the side of evil ever again. “
At that moment, Discord produced a halo and a harp and that proved to Celestia that Discord was willing to keep his promise. Feeling that he had been forgiven by the most powerful leader in Equestria, Discord snapped his fingers and restored Twilight’s coronation window to the way it was originally meant to be seen.
Smiling warmly, Celestia left the throne room leaving Discord alone, now free of the guilt that he had been holding in for quite some time.
Discord had dodged a bullet with Equestria’s elite and promised to continue to be a better friend to all the inhabitants of Equestria, no matter how hard it takes.
