Author's Note
This is my first post here, and it's just a little drabble that I've wanted to jot down for a long time. It's short, but I hope my fellow shippers will find some joy in it! <3
Thankful
Queen Twilight Sparkle stepped out onto the balcony of her castle. The cool air was refreshing to breathe in, feeling her tension from the day easing from her muscles as a smile crept over her muzzle. There was a lot on her mind that evening. In fact, there had been a lot on her mind for the past week.
The first anniversary of her coronation was coming up.
It was exciting as much as it was bewildering. It seemed to have crept up on her so fast. She couldn’t believe it had already been so long since she took the throne. Had it not been for Spike, she wouldn’t have realized it at all. Now that it had been brought to her attention, Twilight was lost in the thoughts and memories of everything that led her to where she was now. Everypony in her life had played their part in getting her there, and some more than others.
Her friends and Celestia, of course, were the biggest influences. But there was another who played a part in his own way that she recently had come to understand she hadn’t ever given too much thought about. His methods were questionable at best, and had nearly caused the very destruction of Equestria at one time, but he had been doing it for her. But she had never quite given the draconequus a proper thank you. And that was why she had sent a letter for him to meet her in Canterlot that day.
She requested he come later so they could -hopefully- not be disturbed by others or the queen’s royal duties. Twilight had asked Spike to make sure she wouldn’t be disturbed. The minutes were ticking by, and she was just looking out into the horizon as she waited. Not looking for Discord, or really focused on anything in front of her. She was just mulling over what she was going to say.
“Canterlot always did look nice at sunset, wouldn’t you agree?”
Twilight was snapped back to reality, looking to her left and finding Discord there beside her. He had a canvas and easel in front of him, palette in one hand and a brush in the other, with a pink apron covering his front.
“How long have you been standing there?” Twilight asked, craning her neck to get a glimpse of the canvas, which he was quick to turn away from her.
“Ah, ah! No peeking at an artist’s work before it’s finished.” Discord snapped the art supplies into thin air, his apron along with it. “Now what did you call me for? Need some advice on ruling? Or a hand in making some big decisions? I’m all ears, Your Majesty.”
His ears grew ten sizes and Twilight giggled softly. “Nothing like that. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about what you’ve already done.”
His ears returned to their normal size and Discord gave her a skeptical look. “If this is about me pretending to be Grogar, I thought we were well past that.”
“Well, it’s sort of to do with that,” Twilight said a bit sheepishly, but quickly added once she saw his annoyed expression, “but I’m not going to scold you again. I actually… Wanted to thank you.”
Now he was confused. “Thank me?”
Twilight nodded. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about everything. The anniversary of my coronation is coming up, in case you didn’t know.”
“Of course I know. I have it saved on my personal calendar.” He lifted up a large calendar with an image of him lounging at the beach with sunglasses, the day in question circled in red with a doodle of Twilight’s face.
“You see, Discord,” Twilight continued, “I’ve been thinking a lot about everypony I’m grateful to that helped me get here. And I realized I’ve never shown you proper appreciation for what you’ve done, too. It’s no secret I got angry with you all the time after you were reformed. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the things you did. I still can’t, but I finally understand what’s more important. That there was so much you did to help me along the way.”
Discord didn’t say anything yet, so Twilight kept going. “You guided me and taught me lessons I needed to learn, not just about being a princess, but also about myself. The challenges you gave me were to help myself realize what others could already see. What you could see.”
Discord felt a slight burning in his ears and he looked back out over the city of Canterlot, crossing his arms. “Yes-Well-There was a reason Celestia took you on as her student and successor. It was frustrating that you couldn’t see what was already there. And if nopony else was going to push you to that realization, then I had to.”
“You didn’t, though.” Twilight said with a teasing smile.
“And when you were so worried about becoming the ruler of Equestria because you thought you couldn’t do it, I wanted to pull my hair out! How could you not think you were ready!? You and your friends saved Equestria more times than Celestia and Luna ever did!” He was becoming exasperated just thinking about it.
“And you helped me get over that. Even if you could have done it a bit differently…”
Discord rolled his eyes and pouted.
Twilight took hold of his paw and held it in both her hooves. This made him finally look back at her, and what he saw was the warmest smile Twilight had ever given him. “Thank you, Discord. You’ve been a greater friend than I’ve ever given you credit for. And I hope I can help you understand how much I appreciate you.”
His ears had burned before, but now they really felt like they were on fire, spreading to his cheeks. And he could swear he could see an additional pink color in her own cheeks. Maybe that was just the lighting. Twilight let go of his paw, and it took him a second to realize she had. When he did, he conjured the canvas and paint from before and rapidly painted over its surface again.
“I was going to keep this as a self portrait for myself, but I think this works better.” He shoved the painting to her chest and then vanished in a bright light without saying goodbye.
Twilight was left standing there confused. She pulled the canvas away to look at it, amazed it was dry already, and her eyes widened. The background was the scenery she had been enjoying with Discord only seconds ago, but the foreground was not just Discord, but her as well. They were smiling up at her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Twilight flushed.
She stared at it for a bit longer before she heard Spike come up behind her.
“Uh, Twilight?” He called out, noticing her just standing there alone. “Did you ever meet up with Discord?”
“Huh? Oh! Yes, you just missed him.” Twilight pressed the canvas to her with the image hidden from view.
“What’s that?” Spike asked.
“Just a small gift.” Twilight answered.
Spike raised a brow. “Right. Anyway, it’s past time for you to raise the moon.”
“Oh, right.” Twilight had nearly forgotten about her duties at the moment.
“Sooo, can I see this gift?” Spike tried to reach for the portrait, but Twilight blocked him with one of her wings as she changed it from day to night.
“Maybe later. But I think I wanna keep it to myself for now.” She walked past him, still keeping the painting out of his sight. She knew exactly where she would want to put this. A place where she could see it every morning and evening. A way to always remind herself of a dear friend.
One she will always be thankful for.
