She watched as the golden glow dipped softly through the west, slipping away behind the distant horizon as, at almost the same time, the soft, cool light of the moon began to rise in the east. The sea lapped softly at the coast of Silver Shoals, as Celestia, former ruling Princess of Equestria, felt the tingle leave her horn for what she knew would be the last time. She knew her sister was no doubt experiencing the same thing inside the house behind her, up on the shore.
She had promised her former student that she and her sister, Luna, would handle the setting of the sun and raising of the moon tonight, one more time, in order to give her some time to spend at rest with her friends, one more time before her reign officially began. The truth was, Celestia simply hadn’t the heart. . . .
She heard something behind her, a soft pop of displaced air, and a frown crossed her features. “What do you want, Discord?” She asked, softly into the growing night.
Silence answered her, and then she felt movement behind her, and glanced aside to see the Draconequus step up beside her, looking out over the ocean waves, shining in the light of the moon. He reached up, stroking his beard and glanced aside at her for a moment, until she gave him her full attention, narrowing her eyes at him. “What?”
“I simply find it humorous that after all this time of teaching her the value of honesty in Friendship, that you would be so . . . coy isn’t quite the right word . . . What am I looking for?” He stood stroking his beard in idle contemplation, which only fueled a fire of anger and, beneath that, guilt, in Celestia’s heart, and she turned from the ocean, stalking back towards the home she now shared with her sister.
“Do you think she won’t forgive you?” His voice spoke softly from where she had left him, and she came to a halt, feeling the same fear and guilt inside that she had experienced earlier that evening, when she and her sister had found Twilight and her friends laughing around the table, after the fiasco of her coronation. Celestia had meant to tell her then, what would happen . . . what the future held. But seeing them there, so happy and at peace. . . .
She blinked tears from her eyes and spoke without turning. “What would you care, Discord? For all that you may be reformed, you have far from redeemed yourself. That stunt you pulled with those three . . . monsters proves that.” Letting anger fill her, letting it bury her sadness under its fire, she whirled on the Lord of Chaos, mane flickering behind her.
A small voice in her mind spoke to her, reminded her of all the times before she had foolishly ignored her emotions like this, but it went ignored, as it so often did. Some lessons were harder to make stick, than others.
“Do not think that helping in their defeat has led me to forgiving you for your actions, Discord! What were you thinking?! What foolish, destructive, egotistical thing could have led you to doing something of this magnitude?! They could have been killed! We all could have been killed!”
Throughout her tirade, Discord simply sat, watching her with a small smile on his face. When she finished, standing there, chest heaving in righteous indignation, he simply snapped his fingers, making a small table with a pair of tea cups and a kettle appear on the ground between them, along with a comfortable looking cushion.
At his gesture for her to sit, she flared her nostrils, opening her mouth to let vent her frustrations again, when he spoke. “How long have we known each other, Celestia?”
Something in his tone, more than the words themselves, gave her pause, and she took a calming breath, before speaking. “I do not believe I have ever truly known you, Discord.”
“That wounds me to the quick, really, Tia.”
“Do not call me that.”
“Very well. How long, O Great Former Princess of the Sun, would you say you have known . . . of me?”
“You know very well when first we met, Discord. What is the meaning of this?”
“What am I, Princess?”
She paused, looking at him, confusion rife within her mind at this line of questioning. Where had it come from? What was the point to it? Much as she wished to simply blow it off as Discord playing the fool, she knew he rarely belabored a point without cause. After a millennium and change of life, he was one of the few who could still surprise and confuse her, and that was not something she was always happy about.
“Well, Princess? Done with your inner monologue, yet? I’m waiting.”
“I don’t-, ngh.” She grimaced, as that was precisely what she’d been doing. “Fine, Discord. You are the Lord of Chaos. Happy?”
“Not at all. What you say is true, but it is not a complete answer, is it? At my core, my heart and soul, what am I?”
She made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat, looking out over the sparkling ocean once more, wondering why he was doing this? Was he simply toying with her? Mocking her? Or was there some deeper purpose here she could not fathom? What sort of trick might he be . . . playing . . .
“You’re a Trickster.” She spoke, softly, and she heard him take a satisfied breath, and begin to slowly applaud.
“Very gooood, Princess. And what do Tricksters do?”
“They lie, cheat, manipulate-”
“Oh, tut tut, Tia, and you were doing so well, too! A Trickster is nothing more than a mirror. We show you your true selves, down to the barest bone.”
She looked and saw him staring out at the water as well, a strange look on his face. With a breath he continued without looking at her, his yellow eyes glowing softly in the darkness, reflecting the water before him. “Trickster’s are annoying, mouthy, and, yes, manipulative. It’s in our natures, after all. But why are we that way, hm? What purpose does it serve?”
“None, beyond your own enjoyment.”
He sighed softly, shutting his eyes. “I will not deny that some Tricksters are like that. I will even not deny that I have been that way, from time to time. But at their heart, a Trickster’s true purpose is to help those around them. Help them by pushing their buttons, angering them, showing them their weaknesses and driving them to overcome those weaknesses. Do you remember when I tricked Twilight and her friends into leaving the School, and made out like I was upset she’d not picked me to be the Substitute head?”
Celestia nodded slowly. “Yes, Discord, I remember very clearly how terribly annoyed Twilight and the others- . . . Wait, did you say you ‘made out’ like you were upset?”
Discord smiled coyly, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. “Well, of course. Do you really think that I’d be foolish enough to not think she would pick Starlight for the role? Twilight has always been right to believe that Starlight Glimmer would make a good leader. Of course, Starlight herself was quite the other matter, wasn’t she?”
Celestia stared at him for a long moment, frowning. “Are you saying that you . . . you orchestrated the whole thing in order to show Starlight that she could be a good leader? Then why cause all of that trouble? Why endanger her students?”
“Oh, pshaw! The students were never in any danger! One snap of my claw and any threat would have instantly disappeared! And besides, Tia my dear, that’s a bit of a silly question to ask, coming from you, isn’t it? After all, isn’t a leader judged by how well she performs in a crisis, not in a time of peace?”
Celestia slowly sank onto the cushion by the table, staring at Discord with a strange feeling in her chest. She didn’t know where this was going, but something told her she might not like it. “So . . . You planned the entire thing to show Starlight Glimmer that she was fit to lead?”
“Of course, along with showing her that she wasn’t quite as ‘over’ her confidence issues as she liked to think, and that they needed to be addressed, rather than ignored, if she was to heal.”
With that he snapped his claws and a cup of tea floated over to her. She took it in her magic, still staring at him and took a sip. A delightful Earl Gray. She frowned and turned once more to the ocean before them. “Discord, what does that have to do with what you did with Tirek and the others?”
The Draconequus smiled, leaning back on his tail as though it were a sofa, and taking a sip of his tea. “Ahhh, yes. Tirek. Do you recall the first time he and Twilight fought?”
She gritted her teeth, sitting up a bit stiffer on the cushion. “I doubt I could ever forget it . . . Discord.”
“Oh, yes, blame me. Curse my sudden and inevitable betrayal!” He exclaimed, melodramatically laying his lion’s paw over his forehead. He held that pose for a moment, before perhaps feeling Celestia’s glare upon him, at which point he popped and eye open and smirked at her. “It was . . . rather sudden, wasn’t it?”
Celestia once again frowned as the implications began to dawn on her. At this rate she was likely to wind up with wrinkles prematurely. “Discord, are you saying that you . . . “
At his self-satisfied smirk, she sat up straight, aghast. “Discord! You hurt Twilight and her friends! You did awful things to the ponies of Equestria when you sided with him! You allowed him to do even worse things!”
“Yes, and I felt, and still feel, awful about it, I assure you! That said, it was all for the best.”
“Discord!”
“What?! You are no yearling, Tia! You have ruled for many centuries, and know well as I that sometimes you must do bad things in order to achieve the best outcome!”
“But how could you have known how it would turn out?”
At this he simply stared at her, one eyebrow climbing up into the air above his head. “Really? I’m the Lord of Chaos. I can do literally anything with a snap of my claw. Seeing a bit into the future isn’t too hard, when you know how.” He sat back again, as she shook her head, trying to work out all the ins and outs of what he was saying. Perhaps taking pity on her, he continued. “When Tirek offered me a place at his side, I decided to see what would happen if I did. Out of simple curiosity, you understand. Think, Tia. If I had not done so, Twilight would never have had her Element challenged, would never have found her key, or received Harmony’s gift to her. Would not have found her place in Equestria, and would not have become who she is now, the ruler this land needs.”
Celestia sat as it started to fall into place, and she shot a look at Discord. “You . . . So that whole thing with pretending to be Grogar and bringing them together . . . You knew how it would all go, the entire time?!”
“Oh, no! I assure you, losing my magic and getting Canterlot destroyed was never something I suspected would happen! That’s the thing, Tia, I can see a little bit of the future, but if I allowed myself to see it all . . . Well, where would the fun be in that? It would be like reading a book when you already know how it ends! What’s the point? But, what I did know was . . . that this would lead to Twilight taking her place on the throne, with the strength and confidence to lead in your stead, Tia.” He said, looking at her for the first time with a strange look in his eye, that it took her a moment to recognize as warmth.
“So . . . You weren’t in control of everything, then?”
“No, no. And I will admit . . . I was honestly frightened when I lost my magic. It’s like I said, the times before, over the centuries, when I’ve done this sort of thing, I always knew that, if it went too far, I could just snap my fingers and all would be put right. But then . . . I felt, maybe for the first time, that fear that things wouldn’t go how I’d planned them. In the end, I remembered what all of you have always taught me, and simply put my faith in Twilight and her friends to put right what had gone wrong.”
* * * * *
“Discord . . . You really have done . . . a lot . . . “ Something in her face, perhaps, alerted him to his slip, and he felt an icy hand grip his soul as he stood suddenly, eyes going a bit wide.
“Discord.” She said, voice suddenly turning a bit stern. “What do you mean by ‘Centuries’?”
“What? No idea what you mean!” He said, turning around and preparing to snap himself away, before he suddenly felt himself locked in the almost too warm embrace of her aura.
“Discord! You said you’d done this sort of thing ‘for centuries’! What. Do. You. Mean?” Her aura continued growing hotter as she turned him to face her, and he saw a fire in her eyes, behind which lingered something else. Some fear in her heart. She already knew, he could tell, but was arguing with herself. Probably telling herself it was foolishness.
He sighed softly, his ears dropping along with his horns as he turned his eyes down, away from her glare. “I’m much older than you know, Celestia. When the first spark high above set fire to space and birthed the universe into existence, I came with it. I’ve been here, for so long, longer even than I have had this form you see before you. This world, our Equus, is as much my home as yours. And all I have ever wanted was to see it blossom.”
He felt the heat in her aura grow less intense, and opened his eyes to look at her, to see her staring at him unblinkingly, with no emotion on her face, even as her heart was there to see in her gaze. He continued. “So, you see . . . I helped where I could . . . Sometimes doing . . . horrible things, but always with the knowledge that they would lead to the world becoming better. A place where . . . Perhaps I would not need to do horrible things. And, one cold night, when I saw . . . two unicorn fillies do the impossible . . . saw Harmony reward them for it, granting them power beyond any mortal pony . . . I looked ahead, to see what . . . how I might guide their future. . . . “
“Discord. . . . “ She was looking at the ground at her hooves, not meeting his gaze as her magic sparked around him, fluctuating between heat and cold. Her voice was soft, almost too quiet to hear, but vibrated with some powerful emotion he could not place.
“Please, Tia . . . Understand . . . I only ever meant to help!”
“What did you do?” She asked, softly, but somehow with more power than the Royal Canterlot Voice could ever have possessed.
Discord gulped and cleared his throat, biting his lip, before sighing in resignation. “Do I really need to tell you? I feel you already know.”
“Discord.”
“Fine, yes . . . I . . . Your sister . . . I am the one responsible for the Night Mare possessing Luna. Happy?” He asked, sulkily, only to jump in terror the next moment, as her aura turned blazingly hot, and she snapped her eyes up look at him, eyes burning with a fire hotter than any he’d ever seen before.
“You . . . Fiend! Do you understand . . . Can you even comprehend how . . . how much that hurt?! What you did to me?! To US?!”
Through the pain of her burning aura, he looked at her and finally, for the first time ever in her presence, let his heart out of its cage. “Yes, Tia . . . I do. I . . . I tore your world apart. I broke you, shattered you . . . I hurt you, and I am sorry. So . . . So sorry!”
As tears began to roll down his face, the heat of her magic withdrew, until he was left kneeling on the ground. Barrel heaving, she spun away from him, refusing to look at him as she struggled with herself, and the emotions warring withing her. Discord, never one to keep his mouth shut, spoke up.
“Please, Tia, believe me when I say I am sorry. But . . . Look at where it brought us. You chose Twilight Sparkle to be your protege, because you knew she was the one!”
“I didn’t know!” She interrupted, anger still lacing her voice. “I had chosen dozens before her, and never knew if they were the right one! Sunset Shimmer is a golden example of that!”
“But look where the ended up! You saw it, in Twilight, from the first day you met her, I know you did. You saw the Spark of Friendship, that Spark that meant that She was the one! The one to find the Elements, free your sister, take your place and make this world so much better than it was before. But why did you need her to have that Spark so badly, Tia? What was the main thing in your mind when you sent her to Ponyville, all those years ago?”
“Luna. . . .”
“Yes. I am sorry that it hurt, but look what came from that pain! Left unchecked, your sister’s jealousy and your ego would have led to a very dark time in Equestria. I know, because I saw it as a possibility. I saw . . . I saw the sun scorch this world into ash, until nothing was left alive except . . . Except a twisted version of you, alone and suffering for her mistake, and I could not let that happen. So I did what only a Trickster can do. I made a horrible decision, and hurt many creatures, all to guide this world to a better future. You’ve done the same thing on a smaller scale before Tia, and you know it! Every time that you gave Twilight one of those tests she didn’t know about, all to see if she was ready. . . . I am sorry it hurt, but . . . “
He drifted off to silence as he watched her back slowly stop shaking, even as she continued to stare at the ground, head lowered and wings wilted beside her. Taking a breath, he closed his eyes, bowing his head. “Go on, then . . Punish me! Send me to the moon, or the sun, or turn me to stone again! If it will make you feel better, do it! And who knows, maybe I deserve it, for all that I’ve-”
The wind left him as she spun and leaped upon him, wrapping her forelegs and wings around him in a tight, encompassing hug. He froze for a moment, looking down at her, and she glanced up at him, tears in her eyes, even as she smiled softly. “Thank you, Discord.” She said, and he wilted.
“Oh . . . Oh, no, that’s so much worse than any banishment.” He said, as he fell into tears again and put his arms around her, holding her close as they both softly wept at the things they had done and experienced over the centuries bore down on them and, finally, reached a catharsis.
After a while, he drew away, sniffling, and looked down at her with a small, sad smile on his face. “I’m going to miss you, you old pegacorn.” He said, softly, and she snorted out a little laugh.
“And I you, sly old goat.”
He sighed softly, sitting back with his paw still on her back, between her wings. “You will tell her, right?”
She sighed as well, ears drooping slightly, but nodded. “Oh, yes . . . Coward though I may be, I doubt I will have a choice much longer. I’m sure she’ll be here, not long after she raises the sun tomorrow.”
Discord sat up and used his claw to turn her face to look at him. “You are many thing, Celestia Sol Invicta, but a coward is not one of them.”
She smiled at him after a moment and nuzzled his palm softly, before they both turned, old enemies turned closest friends, and watched the silver waves lap at the shore, while overhead the moon smiled down on the world of Equus and all its inhabitants, as they moved on into a time of peace and harmony.
Author's Note
So, yeah. Just a little dive into my personal headcanon regarding Discord and why he’s done so many things that, on the surface, seemed so bad, but always led to the best possible outcome.
And . . .Maaaaybe a liiiitle bit of Dislestia shipping, even though I am generally an avid Fluttercord fan.
This may not be the best written thing in the world, but then I never claim to be actually good at writing. Neither Discord nor Celestia are characters that I have a lot of experience in writing, so they may have turned out a bit . . . meh, in places. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it! Until next time, ponies! Harmonia Invictus!
