The Heart Never Seems To Learn

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

I did everything I could, I’m no use to the girls, I can only treat the symptoms, not the cause, and he could undo everything I’ve done in a finger snap. I just have to put my faith in Twilight; she would never let me down. Celestia assured herself as she paced worriedly in her bedroom. Only ten minutes before, she addressed the residents of Canterlot about Discord’s escape and told them the best ponies in all of Equestria were working as she spoke to return him to his stone prison. Quickly her worried subjects calmed themselves, taking strength from their stoic leader, but it was just a poker face mastered centuries before. She was ignorant to how the fight was going, needing to keep her subjects calm and informed, and to prevent Luna from seeking her revenge as the draconequus played a large part in her transformation to Nightmare Moon.

“Why aren’t you fighting him?” echoed a pony’s honest question from earlier in her mind. If only I could, I could keep Twilight out of danger. To her subjects, she was an invincible god who neutralized Equestria’s enemies at a moment’s notice, but this was only a half-truth. Threats against the kingdom were so infrequent over the centuries that everypony developed an image of her smiting every foe that came to the borders, but alicorns were not as great as many believed. They were simply one of many species with incredible magic capability that not even the strongest unicorns could hope to come close to. Discord was sadly one creature whose magic trumped her own. As far as she knew, only the Elements of Harmony could bring him down, and she would be more of a burden rather than help if she joined the bearers. Discord would no doubt feel encouraged to threaten her, and Twilight would leap to her defense, no matter how ill-advised.

The princess went to her balcony, staring at the silhouette of Ponyville in the distance. Rather than the traditional darkened shade of grey, it had a slight twinge of pink and floating chunks of land and buildings hovered above the town. Sometimes the town would disappear into darkness before magically reappearing a few moments later, making Celestia lay back her ears in anger. “Once again you mock me and my power to intimidate my innocent subjects,” she said aloud. He was fond of the color pink because of her fillyhood mane before she reached her full maturity, and the sun had become intertwined with her authority, a symbol of all of Equestria. Worse, although she and Luna promoted an equal authority when they became monarchs, many ponies held her in higher regard then her little sister. Not because of age, but the sun punished anyone who stared directly at it, who dared assumed to be an equal to her might, and the moon never did. Luna was in power for less than a century before her transformation and banishment, and now it wasn’t even a year since her return. They would never be true equals, history and tradition dictated that Celestia was the true monarch, the heart and soul of Equestria. What better way to break her subjects’ faith in her then to harm the symbols of her reign?

She took a deep breath and slowly released it, letting her anger subside along with it. She had to remain calm; she couldn’t let her emotions get the better of her. “Please be safe, my faithful student. Remember I have complete confidence in you.”

A familiar, dark, amused chuckle filled her ears, and the alicorn gritted her teeth, her eyes searching the room as she turned around, looking for the source. “Show yourself, you coward,” she demanded with a growl.

“I’m the coward?” Discord inquired as he appeared before her in a flash of light. “I’m not an alicorn, a monarch of a kingdom, who sits here in the comfort of her room after sending six little ponies to defeat a mighty foe.”

“You know perfectly well my magic alone is useless against you. I needed the Elements of Harmony, and the gems chose their new masters well.”

“Chose well?” The chimera let out a hearty laugh. “Your ‘complete confidence’ was greatly misplaced, but then again, this isn’t the first time you foolishly believed in someone, and once again, such faith will be your downfall. So predictable even after a thousand years, I thought you would have learned your lesson.”

“I know Twilight will win against you. In time, she will surpass all as the greatest unicorn who ever lived.”

“She was certainly hard to crack, I’ll give her that much, but like everypony else, she eventually lost the battle.”

Rage and fury filled the princess like never before, and she dove at the intruder, violently slamming him against the wall with the tip of her horn jabbing at his throat. “What did you do to her?” She growled, sounding more like a manticore then a refined monarch. “What did you do? I will make you share in her suffering, but your pain will be a hundred times more severe.”

Discord stared at her, unaffected by her threat, and casually flicked away her horn. “Losing your memory in your old age, or am I not worthy of being remembered? You wound me, princess; you know I have never once physically hurt anyone.”

“You love leaving mental and emotional scars, what’s stopping you from leaving physical ones as well?” She reminded him, fire coursing through her veins as she glared dangerously at him.

“A sense of honor, something that you are severely lacking in,” he retorted. “I have done a lot of things in my time, but I have never once turned someone into stone. Then you display it in a statue garden like I am some trophy, ‘oh look at the big bad beastie I defeated to keep you all safe from having a little fun in your lives. Worship me, for I am Celestia,’” he said in his best falsetto. “You and your sister took over this country, outsiders claiming it for yourselves simply because you happen to be superior beings with no prior connection to the entire continent, when the Great Council was doing a fine job on their own.” He returned her deadly glare. “You make me sick.”

The princess’s body shook with rage, and she could barely restrain herself from attacking him with her horn and magic. “Hypocrite! You abused your superior power by contorting the land to your own selfish wishes, knowing that even the combined forces of the unicorns could do nothing to stop you!”

“I never called myself their king! I never gave myself a ruler’s title! I simply found a place that needed my personal touch! I never once interfered with the Great Council, I only contorted the land to suit my wishes, but you changed their whole government! Rather than equal numbers of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns acting as a secondary body of government, you eventually assumed total power and control, and many earth pony and pegasi descendents ultimately moved out of Canterlot, founding their own towns and cities across the nation.

“Prince Blueblood, titled because he is barely related to Luna, a descendent with such diluted blood, what official duties does he have in government? None! He’s not even a part of the military or the Royal Guard. He retains his title from tradition alone and abuses it; he’s not even competent enough to run the family estate, just preens and claims he is entitled because he is a prince. You need to be in power, you have to be superior to all rather than be just another alicorn. You ruined these ponies with your selfishness!” He announced with an accusing pointing finger.

Celestia’s brave facade faltered for a moment, wounded by his words. Everything he said was technically true, though Prince Blueblood’s faults were the result of his family and nothing she actively encouraged or discouraged. She never asked anything of Luna’s descendents and allowed them their title so she wouldn’t dishonor her dear sister. Don’t let him see you as weak, she chided herself. Stand your ground. “Even after Equestria was founded and the Great Council ruled, equality was not yet fully realized,” the princess argued back. “The three tribes got along, but there was still a social stigma about mixing, in marriage and even in friendship. Luna and I did not force ourselves upon them, they welcomed us, begged us to be their leaders. They had never heard of alicorns before and saw our height, horns, and wings as a combination of earth pony, unicorn, and pegasi, and took it as a sign from on high that they should end their prejudices and see each other as plain ponies. When Luna married a common earth pony, it broke the barrier, and in less than a century, no one judged or even cared about what tribe everyone was from and true equality was obtained. We saved this land from bigotry, and we saved them from the eternal misery that you so happily forced upon them.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he replied nonchalantly, waving off her bravado. With an over exaggerated stretching motion, he laid himself upon her bed, rolling around on the thick mattress before settling on his right side, facing her. “Of course I imagine sleep certainly comes easy on such a wondrous thing. Is this what your beloved subjects are paying for with their taxes?”

Her eyes narrowed darkly, oblivious of his words. Images of their sordid past came at her in rapid-fire, complete with the emotions attached to such memories. “You would go there, wouldn’t you?”

“Huh?” Her response caught him completely off-guard. “What are you—oh!” He quickly leapt to his feet and stepped away from the bed as he figured out her meaning. “As enjoyable as our previous times have been, my dear, I must admit I’ve had much better. You were easily the worst of the lot.” He gave her a diabolical smile. “I wonder how your beloved subjects would feel about that: their precious princess is a pretty poor lover.”

Hardly, she snorted, hearing the ghostly echoes of his pleasureful cries in her ears. “I could say the same about you,” she replied haughtily, trying to hurt his masculine pride, but he simply responded with a seductive smile as he approached her, wrapping his snake-like body around her torso and curling his bat wing around her neck for support while he traced the outline of her face with his talon.

“That’s a lie and you know it.”

She felt her will weaken, her loins crying out for his wonderful mastery of love-making, and her heart longing for the romance that no other pony could ever give her. Damn him for forever having this power over her! Why couldn’t she forget, why couldn’t she hate him, why did she forever yearn for her teenage years where they defied reality just to be together? “Why did I ever get involved with you?” She demanded coldly. Why couldn’t I listen to everyone’s warnings that he was no good for me?

“Because you and I are one and the same, we are chimeras, only your appendages are naturally blended to your body, where I might as well been born on Frankenstein’s table. You are naturally beautiful where I am naturally horrific.”

She couldn’t agree nor disagree on his ugliness. After growing up with snobbish alicorns who were obsessed with physical beauty, Discord’s random design and indifferent attitude was a much welcome change, and a childhood friendship quickly blossomed into a fiery romance that burned them both in the end. To her, he was a rare, stunning beauty, and she had to escape his devilish clutches.

“I am not a chimera!” She argued, bucking him off of her. “The Great Creator was an alicorn, and you know it!”

“But she didn’t come first,” the draconequus reminded her, unaffected by her violent reaction as he flew away from her wild kicks. “The Great Creator brought life to this planet, but earth ponies were the first ponies that ever existed in the universe, followed by unicorns and pegasi, and only afterward were alicorns born, a combination of the three. You are a chimera of order, I am a chimera of chaos, one is the absence of the other. Is it any wonder why you fell under my seductive spell?”

“Are you certain it wasn’t the other way around?” She retorted, trying to regain the upper hoof. “Free for the first time in a thousand years, but you restrict your magic to Ponyville, a brand-new settlement, and not Canterlot, my home ever since I came here. You never lifted a finger to hurt me; you targeted the bearers of the Elements of Harmony instead. You gloat about your victory, but my city is free of your magic, and you don’t even bring your chaos to the perimeter of my chambers.”

Discord repeatedly opened his mouth, trying to produce a comeback, but ultimately failing. Desperately he resorted to body language to convey his disagreement, but this only resulting in mindless flailing.

Celestia smiled, she had him on the ropes. “I think you still love me,” she said, seductively walking toward him and sashaying her hips. He nervously backed away from her, desperate to avoid her seductive spell. “You’ll gladly hurt Twilight and her friends, but you won’t do anything against me, why? I’m the one who imprisoned you, I’m the one who drove you to come to Equestria in the first place, but you’ve done nothing against me. You were never good at hurting the ones you love, that’s why you attacked Luna instead, planting the seeds that would drive her to become Nightmare Moon, and why you focused your attention on breaking Twilight.”

“Chaos is defined by randomness,” he defended as he found himself against the wall.

“If you love me, Discord, then show me,” she said softly, letting only an inch remain between them, her ethereal mane brushing against his neck. “Kiss me.”

The two stared at each other for a long moment before Discord suddenly lunged at her, plastering his lips against hers as he turned her around and pressed her against the wall. Celestia wrapped her forelegs around the draconequus’s neck, running her hooves down the length of his mane, completely lost in the moment. Her body rejoiced at the feel of him against her, shivering as his claws dug into her skin, stopping just before blood was drawn, fully realizing just how much she missed him.

"You keep asking me to end my riddles, to talk seriously for once,” he said the moment he broke off the kiss, both their chests heaving as they stared lustfully into each other’s eyes, “Well once and only once will I grant your request. Yes I still love you, I always have, and it appears I always will. I remember our old days with fondness, and forever I will wish we could reclaim what we once had, but that is impossible. You were born and bred for order and stability, but chaos rules my very nature and design. However, I am entitled to hold a grudge against you for imprisoning me in stone for so long, and it is only natural that I disable the one thing that can return me to my prison. Like it or not, Equestria is mine once again. Arrivederci, la mia principessa,” and with a final, soul-searing kiss, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Celestia sunk to the floor in shame, covering her face as the tears flowed freely, ashamed of herself for giving into his seduction once again. If I obeyed my elders and hated him from the start, Equestria would have never known his madness, I wouldn’t have lost Luna, and I wouldn’t endure such heartache.

Would you have discovered Equestria then? A voice inside her argued back. Would you give up all your happy years here? Would you give up your most faithful student?

A brief image of her beloved unicorn was all it took to revive the great alicorn’s will and she leapt to her feet. “I foolishly got involved with you, Discord; I deserve your haunting, but my subjects do not.” She unlocked the cabinet which contained all of Twilight’s friendship reports, treasuring not only their valuable research but the knowledge that the mare was thriving in a way she never could in Canterlot. “Forgive me, Spike,” she apologized as she began to send back the scrolls one by one, knowing that all the belching would not be good for his little body. “These letters always renew my spirits; I pray they can do the same for you, Twilight. Only you and your friends can defeat him and stop his chaos once and for all!”

For hours after his defeat, Discord’s statue remained where it was. Ponyville residents refused to go within six feet of it, afraid that they would somehow release him again. Even the girls refused to go near, though Applejack angrily kicked dirt in his face before walking away, never to acknowledge him again. The sun princess did her best to distract the towns ponies, inviting them all to Canterlot to celebrate the victory against the draconequus, and to reveal the latest window to adorn Canterlot Tower, quickly crafted by the finest unicorn artists in the city, and by nightfall, everyone was safe in their homes, continuing to praise the princess and the bearers for protecting them once again from harm.

The grass muffled the sounds of hoofsteps as a brave soul approached him, looking down with sadness and disdain. “If you simply ran away, made a home for yourself away from Equestria, you wouldn’t be back in your stone prison,” Celestia said, wishing he had the ability to speak to her. “Is this our fate, to keep chasing after each other, fighting futile battles to dominate the other? There is no victory for either of us, only despair and sorrow.” She leaned down and gently kissed his open mouth. “If you can hear me, then know this. I love you, Discord. I always have, and it seems I always will.” She laid the tip of her horn on his forehead, and with a burst of magic, she transported the statue to the crystal caves below the castle. “You’re right; it was egotistical of me to keep you in the sculpture garden. Maybe you wouldn’t have escaped if you couldn’t feed off of negativity. Enjoy your captivity, for the only company you shall ever have for all of eternity is me, and sadness is the only emotion you will ever receive.” With one last kiss, she turned and walked away, leaving tears in her wake.

Chapter 2

“Well done, Twilight,” Celestia praised, smiling at her student’s latest accomplishment. The unicorn glowed with pride, happier to impress her mentor more than mastering a difficult spell. “Now can you undo what you have done?”

Twilight stared determinedly at the cactus, concentrating on the atoms that made up the plant. She focused her magic and sent out a strong, bright, white beam of magic that temporarily blinded them both. When the light cleared, the cactus was gone, and a potted grass plant stood in its place. “I did it, I did it! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” She chanted as she happily danced around the princess, mimicking what she did the day she was accepted into the school.

“Very few unicorns are able to perform molecular transformation, certainly none when they are still fillies, and never have I seen someone willingly perform it at your age,” Celestia said, savoring her student’s filly-like joy.

“I can’t wait to tell Shining Armor! I hope he arrives home soon!”

The alicorn winced, unsure of how she should break the news. “You have to consider the possibility that your brother may just want to go home and not see anyone.”

“Nonsense! He had two weeks alone with Cadance, why wouldn’t he want to see his family?”

“Well…things can happen on one’s honeymoon, and Shining Armor may want to catch up on his sleep. He is on duty first thing in the morning.”

“He’ll come to see me, I know he will,” she argued. “Family comes first, that’s what Mom taught us; he’ll come to see me, even if it’s brief.”

“Very well, Twilight,” Celestia relented, she knew when she was beat. “I trust you know your brother better then I do.”

As if he was summoned, the doors to the Royal Hall opened, the guards bowing as their captain and his princess passed by.

“Twily!”

“BBBFF!” Twilight ran straight at her brother and threw herself at him.

“Whoa there!” He exclaimed as he caught her and then swung her around. “I missed you too, little sis!”

Cadance smiled affectionately at the rather robust greeted and bowed before her aunt, “Lovely to see you again, Princess Celestia.”

The elder alicorn didn’t respond, just stared at her until Cadance laughed and lovingly embraced her just like her husband did his sister. “Lovely to see you again as well, Princess Cadance; how was your honeymoon?”

The glow in her eyes spoke a million words in favor of her beloved husband. “I thought Shining Armor was good before, but he’s been holding back his true abilities for marriage! Good thing we were alone in the mountains, though I think we frightened off all wildlife in a ten-mile radius. Thank you again for allowing us to stay in your mountain cabin.”
Not exactly what I wanted to know, she winced, but kept it together and did her best to hide her unease. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves.” Kiss goodbye that cabin for a good six months. I’m getting the best cleaning crew in Equestria to burn the bedding and scrub every inch on the cabin a thousand times. “You earned it after everything you went through at your wedding. I suppose I should blame you then if Shining Armor ever comes on duty overly tired?” She teased, surprised at herself for making jokes about a subject that bothered her so. Thankfully Twilight and Shining seem ignorant of our discussion.

Cadance laughed. “Yes, but I swear I will try not to let things get out of control when he needs his sleep, and I’ll take full responsibility if it should happen.”

“The mark of a true princess,” she nodded proudly.

“The princess said you wouldn’t come to see us,” Twilight exclaimed the moment her brother let her down. “She said you’d be too tired from your trip.”

“Well she’s correct about being tired, but that would never stop me from seeing you. Family comes first right?” He stuck out his hoof.

“Family always comes first,” she agreed with a smile, giving him a hoof bump, happy to see that no matter how many years apart, they both honored the family creed. “I promise to try and visit you in Canterlot more often. I need to see you a lot more often than least once a year.”

“And I need to see this town of yours, and especially your home. You always did turn your room into a library; I never imagined you’d actually live in one.”

“I did, at least I dreamed of living in one, and it’s even more magical then I imagined,” she admitted, thinking about the other benefits her library home had given her.

“Dear, didn’t we promise your parents we’d see them in fifteen minutes?” Cadance interrupted.

“Oh, you’re right! We better go. Coming with us, Twilight?”

Acceptance was the on the tip of her tongue but she looked at her mentor for permission.

Oh Twilight, you know I can never say no to that face, she smiled and nudged her student toward the couple. “Go, you more than earned a break. We’ll resume after dinner.”

The unicorn briefly hugged her in thanks before catching up with her brother and sister-in-law, following them out of the hall, their chatter suddenly silenced as the heavy doors shut behind them.

Luna’s moon was high in the sky by the time Twilight returned to the castle gates, barely acknowledging the guards as they wished her well. “I hope the princess isn’t angry with me, she did say come back after dinner, which is why maybe Shining delayed it as long as possible to maximize our family time together, and then insisted on several courses at the finest restaurant in the city to further extend it. Oh, please don’t be angry with me, princess, please!” But the better question was where was the princess? No one had seen her for several hours.

“We think she retired to her chambers, she seemed to have a lot on her mind when you left with the captain,” one of the night guards informed her.

“I already checked, she’s not there,” a pegasus guard answered. “I found her far out on the castle grounds, near the lake, lost in thought. Shall I fly you out to her?”

“Please,” she said without hesitation. Clinging to a pegasus wasn’t exactly the safest method of flight but she didn’t have much of a choice. The princess needed her. “Meep!” She exclaimed as the guard immediately took to the sky, grabbed her, and sped off, wrapping all four legs tightly around his body.

Luz softly chuckled. She’s still a little foal at heart. To help her feel more at ease, he flew at a fairly low altitude, dropping her off a few feet behind the stoic princess, too lost in her own thoughts to notice her company. He opened his mouth to announce Twilight’s arrival, but the mare did it herself with profuse apologies for being so late as she rushed to the alicorn’s side.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Twilight,” the princess assured her, and both the unicorn and stallion let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that you were able to spend time with your family. That’s more important than any magic lesson.”

“Your Highness,” Luz bowed and took to the skies.

“Thank you!” Twilight shouted after him, and then returned her attention to the princess. “Notte said you seemed distracted since I left, like you had a lot on your mind. What’s wrong?”

Celestia attempted to brush it off as nothing, but the mare’s concerned expression quickly wore down her defenses, and her faithful student would never gossip about her private thoughts and emotions. “To be frank, hearing about Cadance and what a splendid honeymoon she had, it brought up old bittersweet feelings and memories about someone.”

Twilight swallowed nervously. Though they spoke freely about many subjects in the past, one’s love life was never mentioned, “A mortal lover?” She ventured, hoping that the princess would be discrete about any details she may wish to divulge. She was slowly getting comfortable hearing the candid details of her friends’ little adventures in the realm of romance, but she didn’t want to get that personal with her mentor.

She sighed heavily, afraid of how much she would be forced to confess, “No, an immortal one who chose to spurn my affection.”

“Then he is the very definition of the word ‘fool!’” The unicorn suddenly asserted, surprising the princess with her ferocity.
“You’re the greatest pony in all of Equestria! He should be on his knees praising the Creator that he met you!”

Celestia softly smiled, always touched to see such displays of affection, but the smile quickly disappeared as she looked to the sky. “I fear I am the fool for ever getting involved with him. Everyone advised me against it, even Luna, but I stupidly ignored them. He had my heart, and there was no way I could take it back.”

“Who was he?” Now her curiosity was peaked. Who was this mysterious male that captivated her so?

“I can’t tell you,” Celestia quickly answered in a sharp tone.

“Please,” Twilight pleaded, placing a comforting hoof on the princess’s shoulder. “I know he’s probably somepony I’ve never even heard of, but I want to help you. You know I can’t stand seeing you sad.”

“Don’t,” she asked, her voice breaking with emotion as she walked away from her student. “Please, just don’t.”

“What’s wrong? What did he do to you?” The unicorn demanded as she dashed in front of her mentor, eyes brimming with tears. “Princess, I’ve never seen you like this before! Please stop scaring me!” She reared up and put her hooves on the alicorn’s necklace, their eyes locked onto each other.

“Twilight, I couldn’t bear it if you hated me,” she replied softly as a tear fell down her cheek. “I was young, and I was foolish. He put ponies in danger, he hurt Luna out of spite, he broke my heart, but I can’t bring myself to hate him completely. A part of me still loves him, still wishes we could be together while still keeping everypony safe, but that could never happen. I hate myself for still bearing this feelings; I don’t want you feeling the same way.”

She took a deep breath as she summoned all her courage, and looked the princess directly in the eye. “Celestia, I love you too much to ever hate you. You’re still a pony, like me, like all of Equestria, just with abilities that the rest of us can only dream about. You’re allowed to make mistakes, and I know you would put aside your personal feelings to keep Equestria safe. I could never, ever hate you, no matter what you say or do. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Celestia broke eye contact as her head hung low, “Discord,” she quietly admitted. “We were close friends in our fillyhood, grew to be lovers in our teenage years, and then, just as predicted, his love of chaos and disorder conquered him. We fought terribly; I who strived for order and he who wanted nothing more than to leave life to chance. He was banished from my homeland for contorting the land to suit his desires, just like what he did to Ponyville. Months later, he found Equestria, and did the same thing to them. The combined force of every unicorn in the country barely hurt him, and he killed any who went against him. For years, he was their god, distorting the very fabric of reality to suit his selfish desires. When Luna and I heard what he was doing, we tried stopping him on our own, but ultimately failed. His power was far too strong. We discovered the Elements of Harmony and unleashed their powers against him, though we barely knew anything about them. I kept his statue in the garden as a trophy to commemorate our ascension to the throne, and because I wanted to keep him near. I promise you, if I had known his prison would be a temporary one, I would have smashed it a thousand years ago.”

Twilight numbly dropped to all fours and took a step back, her eyes wide and her jaw hanging low, trying to comprehend everything she was told. “You…him…how?” This doesn’t make any sense! “This is Discord we’re talking about! He’s evil! He’s chaos personified! He waged war against Equestria, he hurt ponies, he hurt you, how can you possibly even claim to love him to this day? How could you not hate him from the very moment you met him?”

The princess’s heart ached as her student’s words stung her. “Twilight, love can’t be understood scientifically, no matter how hard you try. It can be irrational, unexplainable, stupid, even, because if it ever came down to it, I can’t say for certain that I would allow your sacrifice if it meant saving Equestria. An entire country lost over a single unicorn, ridiculous, but possible, because if that moment should ever actually come, who’s to say I won’t choose you?”

“But—but, you can’t!” The mare argued, completely confused. “I’m not that important, and don’t change the subject, we were talking about Discord!”

“We still are, and, my most faithful student, you are the most important pony in all of Equestria. Of all the ponies I’ve ever met over my rule, of all the students I’ve taught, you’re the one I loved the most. Just a regular old unicorn, as you have often described yourself, a unicorn with a great talent for magic, not the first nor the last who will ever live, maybe not even the greatest, but you have still claimed my heart in a way no one else has, you’re the daughter I never had.”

Twilight’s eyes widened to the point that it threatened to consume her entire face. Her mouth flapped wordlessly, her tongue frozen in place, gently shut with a nudge of the alicorn’s hoof.

“Your magical ability has nothing to do with how I feel about you. It was simply a chance for the two of us to meet, and an excuse for us to spend a lot of time together. What happened afterward just came naturally, without any interference or concern for right or wrong. Neither of us fought it, we just went with it.”

“Just like you and Discord,” she suddenly realized. “You’re right, love is irrational, it can’t really be explained or studied, only felt. It can be impossible to fight. I tried, I thought it was wrong for me to care about my mentor so much, but I gave up fighting, and I embraced it.” Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked up at the pony she considered a second mother, her heart crushed by the pain in the alicorn’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” Twilight humbly apologized as tears of shame fell. “I never should have snapped at you. I should have trusted you.”

“There is nothing to apologize for,” the princess assured her, wrapping her neck around her student and holding her close. “He’s gone, that’s all that matters.”

“But, if he escaped once, what’s stopping him from doing it again?” She asked, her voice still cracking, feeling like a filly.

“I put his statue in the crystal caverns beneath the castle. Without access to ponies and their emotions, he won’t have a way to break through. Equestria is safe, that’s all that matters.”

“But what about you?” Just because you’re a princess it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice everything for your subjects; you deserve happiness like everypony else.

“I deserve this pain for stupidly getting involved with him in the first place,” Celestia insisted, slipping into monarch mode.

“But, did he…did he care about you?” It seemed inconceivable, the spirit of disharmony, loving someone like the princess, who treasured order above everything else.

“Trust me, he did,” she answered with a warm smile.

“I do trust you,” Twilight affirmed, returning the smile. All the same, I’m asking an expert on the subject tomorrow morning. There must be something I can do for you after all the good you've done for me.

Chapter 3

“Coming!” Cadance called out as she trotted across the living room to answer the knock at the front door. “Twilight! So good to see you again, please, come in, come in!”

“I have to ask you something, something important,” Twilight said as she sat on the couch.

“Oh, of course,” the pink alicorn nervously replied, surprised by the mare’s serious attitude, and sat across from her guest. She wasn’t ready to talk about their plans for the future with her sister-in-law and certainly not the possibility of a foal until she was certain she was pregnant. “Would you like something to drink?” But the unicorn would have none of the usual pleasantries; she was a mare on a mission.

“What exactly is your special talent?” The ever-curious student was disappointed in herself for taking so long to ask, but she didn’t feel comfortable asking as a filly, afraid the answer would go beyond science and more into the area of coitus and other adult matters. “I remember once when I was young that we were walking in Canterlot, and we passed a couple who were arguing. You used your magic and suddenly the two were making goo-goo eyes at each other, completely forgetting about their fight. What did you do exactly?”

“My magic bring the love that is already inside someone to the forefront of their minds, blocking out other emotions,” she answered with a sigh of relief. “Though the power I used against Queen Chrysalis isn’t typical of me, a lot of factors played into it. I was desperate to protect Shining from that…thing, and I put every ounce of magic I could muster into my spell. I don’t think I could do a repeat performance; what I did to Lucky and Wild Fire is more typical.”

“But your love for him is strong, right, and vice-versa? Surely that played a role!”

“Yes, but why are you asking me this?” Her eyes got wide as she clapped her hooves together in anticipation. “Do you have a very special somepony? Aww, my little Twilight is growing up!”

“No!” Twilight exclaimed, her face a bright red. “This isn’t about me, this is about Princess Celestia.” She paused a moment, wondering how to bring up such a topic, and suddenly worried that Cadance wouldn’t want anything to do with her potentially harmful plan.

“You better start from the beginning then,” the pink alicorn suggested, growing more serious.

With a deep breath, she told her tale. “Princess Celestia confided that she and Discord were lovers when they were young, but reality got in the way, and things got bad quickly. She maintains that she still has feelings for him, and claims he feels the same way. She deserves love just like any other pony, maybe even more so considering everything she’s done for Equestria, and for me, over the years. I still don’t understand how she could love such a monster, but there must be something I’m missing, and I’m not one to judge her. I just want to help. She had his statue moved to the crystal caves beneath the castle. I was hoping that we could try to somehow free him and give the two a second chance at a fruitful relationship that won't endanger Equestria.”

Cadance blinked twice. This was certainly unexpected. “I think I wish you were talking about your own special somepony instead, though you know Auntie Celly will give him or her the third degree

Twilight blushed even harder. She never really considered the idea of a very special somepony for herself, and Celestia having a problem with the idea of one was a new thought as well. “That will happen when it happens. You can’t tell me you knew Shining Armor would be your very special somepony when you first saw him.” Her ears laid back in annoyance as her sister-in-law suddenly lost the ability to look her in the eye. “You can’t be serious.”

“Blame yourself, you introduced me to him!”

“How? I barely mentioned him, and he never came around when you were foal-sitting me.”

“The day you moved to Ponyville, I was walking with Auntie Celly, and we watched you say goodbye to Shining from a platform above you, and I felt a spark. I must admit I was jealous, I assumed he was your boyfriend. Auntie Celly told me otherwise, and she…‘arranged’ for us to meet.” By suddenly pushing me over the edge and have me tumble head over hooves because I was too surprised to remember I had wings. She’s such a troll. “I was prepared to leave Equestria and go back to my homeland, but I stayed for him, and I’ve never happier, except when I was foal-sitting you, of course.”

Twilight lowered her head, humbled and honored that she, even inadvertently, brought the two together. “Thank you, but don’t you think Princess Celestia deserves that same kind of love that you two share? She knows what a danger he is, but she still speaks fondly of him, cries over him. This is probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever come up with, but surely there has to be a chance to reunite them, safely.”

It was a stupid idea, but Cadance wasn’t prepared to squash Twilight’s hope just like that. “How do you expect to break him out the statue? It can’t be broken with force, and I don’t think it can be overwhelmed with magic. I’m not nearly as strong as my aunts, they’re so much older than I am.”

“Discord initially escaped because he latched onto the negativity from the little fillies. If you used your magic to remind him of the love he feels for the princess, maybe it’ll be enough to let him break out of the statue. The properties of crystal block magic from seeping through, meaning he can’t teleport out. We can block the entrance, effectively turning it into his prison.”

“What if he hurts you, or worse? You put him back into stone again, what if he’s holding a grudge? I couldn’t bear it if you got hurt under my watch, and Shining and Auntie Celly would never forgive me.”

“He’s not violent, he doesn’t physically attack anypony, just assaults them mentally. He won’t hurt us, and maybe if positive energy helps him escape, then maybe he’ll be more willing to seriously consider what we have to say.”

“You’re determined to do this, aren’t you?”

“Princess Celestia has done so much for me, I want to do something just as important for her. I know there’s a chance we’ll fail, but it’s a risk worth taking. We’ll get the Elements and summon the girls and imprison him once again if need be.”

“Guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Cadance said with a soft smile. “Alright, let’s do this then.”

It took the better part of a day, but the two managed to find him placed near Cadance’s holding cell during her stay, making the pink alicorn dreadfully uneasy with fresh and sharp memories of worrying about the fate of her fiancé. Would Discord somehow stop her from seeing her Shining Armor as well? “Let’s get this over with and quickly. You had better be right about this, Twilight.”

“I sincerely hope so,” she replied, watching as Cadance used the love spell, sending three red hearts brimming with energy into the statue’s torso. An ominous drum beat filled the room as a small section in his chest began to glow purple and pulsate, slowly growing bigger as cracks began to travel up and down the statue. Twilight swallowed nervously as the draconequus broke free, pausing his delight to stare menacingly at the ponies before him, his prison a mere pile of rubble at his feet. I hope I’m doing the right thing.

“Come to finish me off on your own, Twilight Sparkle? Your precious princess wouldn’t approve of blood on your hooves. If Celesta requires outside forces to stop me from spreading my artistry, what makes you think you can destroy me all on your own?”

“I’m not here to kill you; I’m here to try and negotiate your freedom.”

“You’re not Applejack; you have no right to lie me. From the moment I was set free last time, you and your absentee friends were immediately set on my trail to stop me. You want me gone, plain and simple. Where are they anyway, did I ultimately succeed in splitting you apart? Or are you too much of a Canterlot snob to be seen with anyone but alicorns?”

“What you did only made our friendship stronger,” she asserted, trying not to let him get to her. “Princess Cadance is my sister-in-law.”

“I guess it is to be expected; your whole family is just a bunch of puttane for princesses.”

Twilight growled deep in her throat, prepared to turn around and leave. Celestia doesn’t deserve you, what the hay was I thinking? No, keep it together; don’t let him see you angry. Emulate Trixie, turn it back on him. “Last I checked, you were the original whore for a princess,” she replied, doing her best to keep her tone casual. Bile rose in her throat for saying such a thing, but Discord was partially right, Celestia was special enough to have a vice grip on both their hearts, and Cadance filled in for her brother’s absence when she moved to the castle.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Discord lied, not once breaking his façade.

“You love Princess Celestia,” she bluntly stated, unwilling to play games. “You’ve loved her for over a millennium, and she loves you back, though I honestly can’t see why.”

The chimera’s eyes widened as Twilight continued, telling him everything the princess told her about their relationship. “So she sent you here to do what exactly? Stab me in the back just when I’ve sufficiently let down my guard?”

“I’m doing this completely on my own,” the mare replied, pleased to see him raise an eyebrow in surprise. “No one knows anything about this. I want the princess to be happy, and you want to be free. If you control your chaos to some hidden-away land, away from the populace, I don’t see why you and the princess can’t live together in harmony, both of you getting what you want.”

“Newsflash, Twilight, I am the living representation of disharmony. Who’s to say I even desire a harmonious life with Celestia? Did you ever stop to think that I thrive on an unstable relationship?”

“I think the princess captured your heart and there’s nothing you can do about it,” she retorted, hoping and praying that she was right. “She’s the only stable element you want in your life. That’s why you came back to the castle after you hid the Elements, to see her.”

Discord stood there in silence for a moment before he let out a loud and hearty laugh that filled the room and echoed in the connecting passages. “Wow, Twilight, just wow, I thought you were a lot smarter than this. I came back to gloat, to simply rub it her face that I was free and there was nothing she could do about it. A great and powerful alicorn, she couldn’t even lift a hoof to protect her country when I returned, she had to depend on six, young mares, how pathetic.”

Twilight grit her teeth and lowered her head, her chest heaving with deep breaths as hot tears streamed down her face, desperate to control the rage inside her.

“Then stay down here and rot!” Cadance shouted as she stood in front of Twilight. “Just remember you had your chance at freedom, monster!” Using her magic, she molded crystal and the stone rubble into a wall, containing him within a small cave. She spat at him and then wrapped a comforting wing around Twilight, “Come on, let’s go.”

Silently, the unicorn nodded and slowly followed her out, sitting in the grass as the alicorn sealed the entrance with magic. Her anger had dissipated and she was left with nothing but despair that her plan failed. She didn’t dare open her mouth, afraid of the sobs that may escape as the two made their way back to her house. “I can’t believe I was so stupid!” She cried as soon as the front door was shut. “Why did I ever think he would change? Why does Princess Celestia care so much about that monster? Now he’s going to escape and wreck chaos all over Equestria again, and I don’t even know if I can open the doors of Canterlot Tower without her help, so she’ll have to know I made the stupidest mistake of my life!”

“It is both our faults, Twilight,” Cadance assured her as she wrapped her wings around the sullen mare. “I had faith in your plan too. I don’t know what happened, but I think it’s great that you at least tried. Auntie Celly will appreciate how much you care for her, and she won’t hate you because of this, I promise.”

“You really think so?” She sniffled, looking up at her former foal-sitter with wide-eyes.

“I know so,” the alicorn smiled, wiping away Twilight’s tears. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake; clap your hooves and do a little shake,” she sang as she did the dance, pleased to see the unicorn mare snap out of it and join in.

Celestia rolled from her right side onto her left, hoping the change of position would better ease her into sleep, but her
distracting thoughts still remained. The best cleaning crew in Canterlot had been dispatched to her mountain cabin, and sent back a letter saying a thorough magic sweep found nothing out of the ordinary: no filth of any kind, including bodily fluid as they had been instructed to specially search check for, no dents in the wall, no broken furniture, nothing misplaced. “If we didn’t know any better, we would say no one has been here for quite some time,” the letter finished. Did the two spend their final day scrubbing and fixing, hiding all the evidence of two weeks of wild sexual abandon? The gleam in Cadance’s eyes suggested nothing less!

“Why am I so fixated on this? Why do I care?” She wondered aloud, half-hoping Luna would hear and come give her the answers she sought, though it was doubtful. Her sister never once confided about a special somepony since her return, not even an illicit liaison or a simple statement like, “Wow, that stallion is really cute.” Had her loins shriveled up and died during her banishment? If only I could be so lucky! In the thousand years since her sister’s banishment, sex was very few and far-between, and a very special somepony was unheard of. Luna got lucky with her very special somepony Clodhopper, finding him during the short time where ponies will still adjusting to their new rulers and the social distance between monarch and subject was not quite set. She no longer felt comfortable looking for romance among her subjects, no matter how close she became to someone. Since Discord’s return a little over a year ago, her long dormant desires were awake again, and hearing about Cadance’s honeymoon only made it worse. She grabbed the blanket in her teeth and wrapped it around her tighter. “I’m glad you found someone, Cadance, and may he make you happy like Discord once made me,” she murmured as the sweet embrace of the sandmare finally claimed her and she fell into a deep sleep.

Her ears barely twitched as the balcony door swung open with a slight whine and an intruder flew inside with gentle flapping of wings, covering the princess’s bed with a long, thin, shadow.

Chapter 4

"So you do miss me, just as I missed you," Discord mused, slowly sliding her blanket down to her flank. "How delicious you are nude," he grinned, stroking her bare neck, mimicking the small smile that the still sleeping alicorn now wore. "Think this is all a dream, do you, my dear? I can turn your fantasies into realities, just like before." He lowered his head and his tongue snaked behind her ear, enjoying her soft grunt of pleasure as she shuddered. "Still so sensitive? I bet you have a real treasure trove of delights for me then," he grinned as his claw made his way down her body.

Celestia instantly awoke as something strange touched her sensitive flank and she jumped up, smacking the intruder's face, wheeling around, and bucked him across the room, slamming him into the wall. "Who are you? What do you think you're doing?" She growled, shooting a blast of magic at the shadowy figure, pinning him to the wall.

"Oh who do you think it is, Celestia? This isn't the first time I've felt you up while you were sleeping! Don't you dare tell me you've allowed others to do the same!"

Her warmth suddenly disappeared into numbing cold. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the unmistakable shape of her long-time foe and lover struggling to escape her magic. "How…how…?"

"Oooh, I just love how I can leave you speechless, even after all these years. Maybe if you release me, I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"Maybe I should just keep you here forever, keep my subjects safe from your madness."

He snorted. "You can't keep up this power forever, and even alicorns need sleep."

The two stared at each other for a minute before she relented and released him. "If you try anything, I will stop you, one way or another."

"Oh please, you could never kill me," he replied, rubbing his aching neck. "If you could, you would have done it a long time ago."

"You don't know what I am capable of, what I would do to protect my subjects."

"You know Ponyville reflected what I did to all of Equestria so many years ago, but it was never an option to kill me. So what would it take for you to even consider my death? I was certain you'd kill me as soon as I showed my face when I was free, because of what I did to Luna, so I hid in the stained glass windows. Even if you destroyed all the windows in Canterlot Tower, I would have remained safe."

"Why must you even consider such morbid questions? Why are you obsessed with your own destruction?" She asked, ignoring his jab at Luna.

He deftly ignored her question and instead continued to ponder, snapping his fingers as recognition crossed his face, and he disappeared in a flash. Fear gripped the alicorn's heart, where was he going? What would he do? "If I went to visit Twilight, how would you feel?" He asked, and Celestia turned around to see him standing behind her. "She lives in that tree-house in the middle of Ponyville, correct? Should be easy to break into, or even chop down if necessary. All that wood would make a lovely bonfire to celebrate my return."

A clenched jaw and a narrowed eye was the only reaction he got from her, but it was enough to tell him what he wanted to know. "You love your student more than your own sister then? I can't wait to tell Luna and see how she reacts. Do you think we shall see the return of Nightmare Moon, once again damning all of Equestria to wreck and ruin because ponies are stupid enough to ignore an egotistical princess?"

"I love them both equally, but Luna's immortal. She could survive anything you would do to her, Twilight could not. What is nothing to an alicorn spells death for her. Her body, her mind, neither of them can remain unscathed. I vowed to protect her when she was a filly; I accepted responsibility for her when her parents allowed her to come into my school; I won't allow you or anyone else to hurt her, do you understand me?"

"You ponies have such capacity for love. I can barely tolerate others, yet you love so many with such strength, and that other princess seems to specialize in it."

"Did Cadance free you then? Is that how you escaped?" The alicorn demanded. Why, Cadance, why?

"She freed me, but under someone else's orders," he vaguely hinted, daring her to come to the truth on her own with a sly grin.

She narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits, already tired of his games. "Who?"

He shook his head."What's the magic word?" He asked in a sing-song voice.

She lunged at the draconequus, slamming his torso onto her bed, pinning his arms down with her hooves. "Who?" She repeated, jabbing her horn into his throat. Fire blazed in her eyes as she stared murderously at him. He couldn't remember the last time she looked more beautiful.

"Oh who do you think?" He gasped, choking on his words as she increased pressure on his windpipe. Still, to die under the heat of her body and the intensity in her eyes wasn't a bad way to go. "Who loves you more than I do, besides your sister?"

A soft gasp escaped her lips, and Discord breathed a little easier as Celestia's horn was removed from his throat, only for the motion to be reversed as it dug harder into his flesh, and a ring of magic circled his throat, growing tighter by the second. "How many times must I say 'enough with your games' before it penetrates your thick skull?! Twilight would never ever do such a thing!"

"Truth, truth!" He cried, desperately struggling to escape her death clutch. He kicked at her legs, hoping to distract her enough to release her hold on him, but she did not flinch, and instead magically bound them and his tail to the floor. "Truth!" He desperately pleaded as his vision began to blur and felt his consciousness begin to slip away. He didn't want to die, there was so much chaos to bring to the world!

On the threshold between consciousness and darkness, Celestia removed all constrictions on his throat, backing away slowly as she tried to wrap her mind around this news. "It can't be…how is this possible?"

"Tartarus if I know," the draconequus wheezed, gently massaging his aching flesh. "I kept grilling her, convinced it was some kind of ruse to quietly do away with me, but she kept insisting her intentions were to play Cupid and bring us together again, as if that could ever happen."

"Agreed," she said with a firm tone, but a quiver in her jaw betrayed her true feelings. When they were young, they vowed to each other that they would never let the world tear them apart, yet here they were with a chance to fulfill that promise and he refused to even try. He's still playing games, just not obvious ones. There's no other explanation. "But if that is truly the case, why are you here?"

He paused mid-rub, staring blankly at her. "Beg pardon?"

"Once again you are free, and once again you immediately seek me out, but this time you sought to please me, not harm me. Don't even bother—" she lifted a hoof to silence him as he opened his mouth to explain. "Our time together wasn't so long ago that I forget. It was your habit to sneak into my bedroom and entice me to make love to you when we were younger."

"A thousand years of forced abstinence is hard on a male, and I hoped our history together would make things a little easier than trying to seek someone new."

"That's all you want from me? Base sex to satisfy a primal need?" She snapped, insulted by his casual attitude. "You said you still loved me the last time we spoke!"

"That's all I'm allowed!" He argued back. "I could never do what you do: day in and day out wiping the flanks of any foal that comes along looking for guidance, and heaven forbid I bring any fun into their monotonous little lives. Even if I could tolerate your boring life, your precious subjects would never allow it, and you would give in to their demands without a second thought. You didn't even give me a chance the last time, immediately you set your little attack squad after me, watching and waiting from the safety of your ivory tower."

"You didn't give me a choice. You stole the Elements of Harmony, attacked the bearers, and threatened my kingdom."

"Yet here I am now, innocent as can be, and you treat me with hostility, automatically assuming I am up to no good. Congratulations, Celestia, you've accomplished what you swore you would never do: you've become your father."

"Don't you dare compare me to him!" She snapped, her voice breaking with emotion as tears clouded her vision. "Don't you ever compare me to him!"

"Then why do you assume I'll do something bad as soon as I show up?" He demanded, jabbing a talon at her. "Because I am a draconequus, I embody chaos? That does not mean I am evil. You of all creatures should know that, but you don't trust me, do you? You weren't very welcome when I came back the first time, not the second either, and especially not the third."

"Things have changed, Discord, you should know that better than anyone," she sadly replied. "Neither of us are the same."

"You've been corrupted by your parents! You never thought I was evil, you swore to me you would never think I was evil, no matter what I did, but you gave in to their incessant yammering, 'He's not one of us, he's not an almighty alicorn, therefore he must be evil.' You damn hypocrite; you disgust me, Celestia!"

"I disgust myself!" She shouted, silencing his rage. "Over a thousand years have passed, yet still you are my one true love. I never felt truly free to love another, because my heart belonged to you. Even in my darkest hours, crying myself to sleep because you and Luna were gone, I wanted you both back safe and sound. I could never choose one over the other, not even my own sister for a vile creature who abused innocent ponies just to get back at me, and then corrupted my dear Luna, letting me watch her transform from a mare of radiant beauty to a hideous beast. Every time I ever wished that I had never met you, I immediately regret it and take it back, because how can you be evil when you gave me some of the happiest moments of my life?" She paused a moment and sighed heavily before as she stared at him, seeing only the draconequus that she wanted him to be through tear-filled eyes.

His only response was a blink, surprised by the full extent of her love for him despite everything he did. No other lover? Someone as beautiful and wonderful as her endured an empty bed for over a millennia? She suffered just like he did, though she didn't have to. "Celestia, I…"

She rebuffed his comforting paw, smacking it away with her horn. "Forget it. Just go, Discord," she ordered with a growl. "Go ahead with your plans to harm my subjects and then blame me for driving you to it because I went back on a vow. I don't know what drove you to conquer Equestria the first time, but you can't blame me for it. I wasn't the one who banished you and all the other draconequus from Alicor, that was my father, and don't even try to pretend I had a prayer of changing his mind. You know how arrogant he is, even as his daughter, my opinion holds no sway. My ability to raise the sun and moon doesn't scratch the surface of what he is capable of, so my thoughts hold no weight, and I was biased because I love you, I was blind to your true capacity for chaos. Luna and I only came after you because we could not bear to sit back and watch what you were doing to innocent ponies. She and I may have been born to be monarchs, but we care about our subjects, we put their welfare first above all else." The threatened tears finally fell and blinded her, making her close her eyes and look away. "So please, just go, curtail your freedom by making me send the bearers after you again. You'll never change, it seems neither of us will."

Her ears anxiously awaited the sound of a finger snap and a surge of magic that would announce his exit, but instead she felt an eagle's talon gently caress the outline of her face. She jerked her head away, trying to escape, but all resistance died when his lips touched hers and instead she leaned into him.

"I wouldn't have come here tonight if I didn't intend to see you," he said as soon as the kiss was broken, and the princess felt her heart soar higher then Luna's moon.

"Then spend the night with me," she replied as she pushed him onto her bed and settled down on top of him. "Make love to me just like before," she purred as she nipped and nuzzled his neck.

"With pleasure," he growled, rolling over and forcing her on the bottom. Celestia's girlish giggle quickly turned into sighs of delight intertwined with the draconequus's own.

The alicorn lazily stretched before snuggling closer to her still-sleeping lover, smiling as his paw reached up and began stroking her mane. Their bodies were still entangled from the night's love making, with Celestia's head resting on Discord's chest, a soft smile on her face as she listened to the soft, rhythmic beating of his heart. "Love you, Discord," she murmured sleepily, deftly ignoring her tingling flank. The sun could wait; just this once, she was entitled to put her own needs above her subjects.

"Turn off the built-in alarm clock," he grumbled in response.

At least she was able to put her own needs above subjects for a few minutes. "Yes sir," she teased with a smile, sliding toward the edge of the bed, pausing when she felt him grab her tail.

"When you get back, maybe we'll have another go at it," he offered with a teasing grin.

"If you think you can survive it," she teased back, leaning over the bed for a lingering goodbye kiss.

A hushed gasp from behind made Celestia pause as her heart sunk deep into her stomach. Quickly she turned, hoping to see a royal guard in the doorway, but there was only a very surprised Luna gaping at them.

Chapter 5

The two alicorns simply stared at each other for what seemed like forever, each trying to find the right words to say to the other. Celestia's heart sunk deep into her chest as she saw the betrayal in her beloved sister's eyes. Her suddenly parched mouth opened to try and explain her actions, but the moon princess beat her to it.

"You, you…" She fumed; her chest heaving as her horn glowed a bright white, restraining a strong blast of magic.

"Slut? Whore?" Celestia suggested, her voice resigned with despair.

Luna dropped her eyes for a moment, letting the magic in her horn dissipate to nothing, unwilling to agree or disagree with such choice words, before meeting the elder alicorn's gaze again with blazing eyes. "I raised the sun for you, a small kindness after you took care to preserve the beauty of my night for a thousand years, and I am rewarded with the sight of you sleeping with…him," she spat, her quiet voice laced with malice. "That thing made me become Nightmare Moon; he's the reason we were separated for so long; he targeted innocent ponies to hurt us; he nearly destroyed Equestria with his magic; your precious Twilight Sparkle almost lost her dear friends because of him, yet you welcome him in your bed! The monarch of all Equestria, putting all her beloved subjects at risk for a monster! What is wrong with you, Celestia?!"

Thundering hooves came down the corridor, "What is going on, Princess Luna?" A pair of guards demanded as they approached the door.

"Leave us be," the princess boomed, her eyes nothing but white light with her magnified voice echoing with a roar down the hallway.

"Yes your highness," they squeaked, falling over themselves to quickly leave, the heavy door smacking the slower unicorn's flank as it was slammed shut.

"Ugh, I knew this would happen," Discord groaned as he moved to the floor, gracefully dodging a blast of magic. "You can't place all the blame on me for your transformation, Luna. Take some responsibility yourself, please."

"It was your cursed tongue who filled my head with images of revenge, of teaching the ponies the wonders of the night by force," she reminded him, prepared to blast him again if he dared come any closer. "These images followed me for years, dark fantasies of delight until I was filled with an overwhelming desire to make them real. In an instant, I became Nightmare Moon, prepared to send all of Equestria into wreck and ruin for my own selfish desires. Enough with your lies!" She commanded as she stomped the floor, leaving a hoof print in the stone floor beneath the rug.

"No lies, just the truth," he said in all seriousness. "Yes, I did paint little pictures of vengeance, however, what if I didn't? Do you really think that nothing would have come of your anger against your subjects? That one day all the ponies would collectively wake up and decide the night is wonderful, or you would no longer take offense at their desire to sleep through it all? One way or another, you would have lashed out at them. Maybe not as drastic as Nightmare Moon, but somehow, someway, you would express your anger and harmed their image of you. They would no longer feel safe and instead they would flock around Celestia, depending on her to be their savior against a thing of evil."

"I still hate you and I curse the Great Creator for even conceiving of you, monster!" Luna shouted back. "I will never regain that millennia I spent trapped on the moon! And for that, you don't deserve to live, even trapped in stone!"

"Come at me then," he challenged, stretching his claws.

"With pleasure," she growled, her horn glowing a bright white.

Celestia's great heart stopped a moment and she dove between the two before either of them could strike the first blow, spreading her wings wide to further separate them. "Stop, please!"

With only a moment's hesitation, the two combatants stood down, but Luna maintained her angry glare, her magic still swelling against her horn. "Stand down, sister; I am overdue for my vengeance."

The once-proud monarch only solemnly shook her head, her shoulders slumped with defeat. "I know I am unfit to rule, having put Equestria in great danger allowing him to run free rather than killing him as soon as I learned of his escape, but I love him. I can't stop myself no matter how dangerous it is. Don't you feel the same way about Clodhopper?"

The moon princess's face scrunched up as struggled to maintain her anger, bringing up painful memories of the distant past to bolster it, but how could she fight the image of her beloved sister and powerful princess transformed into a sullen, pathetic mare?

"Please forgive me, Lulu; I can endure anypony's hate except yours," Celestia pleaded as she dropped to her knees, looking up at her dear little sister through tear-filled eyes.

Luna's heart plunged deep into her body, horrified at the sight before her. With no regard for the draconequus's opinion, she slipped her head beneath the sun princess and helped her back to her wobbly feet. "I could never hate you, Tia," she vowed, burying her tear-filled eyes in the white fur of her sister's neck. "I was convinced you would attack me when I came after you as Nightmare Moon, but you didn't. You never lifted a hoof against me, never once showed me hostility even though I imprisoned you, threatened to destroy Equestria, and rub the destruction of the country in your face."

Discord turned around, suppressing the urge to snap his fingers and a few emotional enhancements to the scene before him. Luna wouldn't think twice of lashing out at him with everything she had, and would find offense at the slightest thing.

The younger sister smiled lovingly at her elder as she pulled back, rewarded with a timid smile as she wiped her sister's teary eyes with her magic. "You've been nothing but supportive and loving since my return, letting me ease into modern society at my own pace, always at my side when available, and I could never hate you, no matter what you've done. Of course I love Clodhopper, and I had plenty of doubts about how 'right' our relationship was, but I could never give him up, I loved him too much. I could never and will never understand what you see in Discord, but I know it's similar to what I felt for Clodhopper. I don't have to like it to support you, and I know you'll do the right thing if he betrays our trust," she angrily added, speaking directly to Discord.

"What is it with you ponies and your lack of faith in me?" He retorted, pirouetting on his hoof to face the alicorns. "I loathe that stone prison everypony always wants to throw me in. Don't you think I wish to permanently escape it?"

"Just because I will allow you your freedom doesn't mean it is guaranteed."

"Like a princess has any real jurisdiction over me," he scoffed. "I'm not a little pony, I am a draconequus. Therefore I am exempt to your rules."

"Every creature in Equestria, pony or not, hoofed or clawed, they all answer to us," Luna asserted with a poke to his chest, slipping into her royal mode, "especially someone like you. You're not and never will be a regular denizen; you have the power and the will to manipulate reality. If you disturb the natural lives of so much as a sand fly deep in the San Palomino desert, you will be severely punished, and eternity in your stone prison will be happily considered."

"Duly noted," he grunted, rubbing his chest. "Be a little easier next time. Those steel shoes of yours can easily leave damage if you aren't careful."

"Thank you, Lulu," Celestia smiled, a great weight lifted from her heart, now knowing what it felt like for the common pony when she granted them a great favor. She knew exactly how stupid and selfish this was, but out of everything she sacrificed for her subjects, must love be one of them?

Luna returned the smile, for once feeling like the sole ruler of Equestria. "Am I correct in assuming no plans were made as to his living quarters or how we will hide this from our subjects?" She asked, savoring the look of embarrassment on both of their faces.

"I haven't been myself ever since he came back," Celestia awkwardly explained. "I was…"

"Who could ever discuss the future when this fine flank hasn't been smacked in over a thousand years?" Discord rationalized with a sharp smack, making the princess involuntarily shudder with delight.

The dark alicorn rolled her eyes. "I don't know if anypony in the past knew about your particular relationship, and I would much rather leave it that way. Everypony would be screaming for your banishment and possible execution if they knew you were free again. I would happily oblige them if my sister didn't vouch for you. I order you to stay in this room while I search for an ideal place for you to live. You can't stay in the castle forever; someone is bound to discover you—"

"Not to mention that the crystal caves are too stifling for me, even without being encased in stone. Like it or not, Lulu, you can't completely reign in my chaotic tendencies. I need to do something randomly with my magic; it's a physical impulse that I must release."

"Surely magically altering a hidden away area of uninhabitable land wouldn't harm anyone," Celestia reasoned, eager to find a middle ground that satisfied everyone's needs.

"Agreed," she nodded. "I will check the map room and—"

"I will stay here, in this room, hidden away, getting better reacquainted with my dear Tia. If no one was alerted to our presence last night, I can assure you, nopony will ever hear us," he said with a wink and a grope.

"No, you will stay here, ALONE. Put any body part out of this room, the guards will discover you, and we will have no choice but to imprison you again, forever."

His jaw literally dropped to the floor. "Alone? How cruel of you! A thousand years of separation, and every time I get any significant time with my beloved, something always tears us apart."

"If the bearers of the Elements of Harmony are not comfortable with the idea of you running free again, then our hooves are tied, and back to stone you will go."

"You just want to find something that will make me stone again and keep your conscience clear."

"The safety of our kingdom is the most important thing. My happiness can never override that," Celestia seriously reminded him. "As much as it would hurt me, I would never lift a hoof in protest if you encourage anything to ensure your demise."

"Understood," he said casually, jumping onto her bed. "So go, both of you, leave me to my lonely fate. You happen to have any Mareiquin romance novels to pass the time by any chance?" He started digging through her nightstand, tossing random objects carelessly as he searched for his goal.

"I will never understand you two," Luna shook her head.

"But you support us all the same, and for that, I can never thank you enough," Celestia wrapped both of her wings around her sister in a strong hug. "I love you, Lulu."

"I love you too, Tia. I pray this works out. I had a long and happy life with Clodhopper, you deserve the same. Wish you could have found someone better, but the heart never concerns itself with right or wrong."

"SUCCESS!" The draconequus roared with delight. "My my, this summary sounds awful decadent, Celestia; I had no idea you had such a naughty side."

Celestia's white face turned bright red. "I get lonely at night."

Luna placed a comforting hoof on her sister's shoulder. "It's alright. I can't tell you how often I dream of Clodhopper and the things we would do. After a lover like him, nopony else could ever compare. Now go on, go tell the bearers. If Twilight loves you like I think she does, surely she can convince the others to be okay with this madness."

"I genuinely hope so." With a gentle kiss on the cheek, Celestia left the room. As soon as the door clicked shut with a lock, Luna put her forelegs on the bed and levitated the book out of Discord's hands.

"Hey! I was reading that, and the action starts rather quickly!"

"Listen to me and listen to me good," she growled, jabbing her horn into his throat. "If you ever hurt my sister, if you ever break her heart, you won't go back into stone; you'll go six feet under. I will personally kill you, do you understand me?"

"Loud and clear," he replied, extending his claw, "My book please?"

The levitated book hovered just out of reach before slamming itself in his face, leaving an imprint. "Now was that really necessary?"

"I told you I can never forgive you for what you did to me. Consider yourself lucky I love my sister, because your corpse should be lounging on that bed instead of your living body. You're right, I still would have found some way to lash out against my subjects so long ago, but nothing can convince me I ever would have been separated from my dear sister for so long without your cursed tongue, and for that, I can never forgive you."
"Then go find me my new home so I can be out of your mane and leave me to my smut."

She made a move to leave but being so close to his face made her notice something for the first time. "Your right fang, what happened to it?"

"Celestia bucked it off after Nightmare Moon was banished. I think she was aiming to remove my head from my shoulders but my poor tooth decided to sacrifice itself for me instead. And yes, you can get blood from a stone, because for a while blood did seep from the wound."

She smiled grimly, "A trophy worth keeping forever, and I take it as a sign that she would agree with me if the decision was made to 'imprison' you. Watch yourself, Discord, before I take that second fang myself."

"I've grown quite attached to it so trust me, I am watching myself. See?" With a snap of his fingers, his eyeballs floated out of their sockets and hovered around his body.

Luna rolled her eyes, hoping that he took her promises seriously, if only for the sake of her sister. "Remember what I said. I won't tolerate begging for mercy from you."

"Trust me, Luna, I get it," he growled in annoyance. "Just because I like to play games doesn't mean I can't take things seriously. Celestia's off doing her thing, I suggest you and I do the same."

I really don't understand this, Tia. Please let everything work out for the best, she prayed as she left the room.