Reforming Chaos
“You did WHAT?!” Luna exclaimed to Celestia as Celestia joined her sister at the entrance to the royal palace in Canterlot.
“I sent Discord to Ponyville so that the Elements of Harmony can reform him,” Celestia replied calmly.
Luna started breathing heavily, greatly unsettled by her sister’s action. “Why wouldst thou ever think that is a good idea!” she screamed, exasperated. “And during a royal summit as well! Do you have any idea how much havoc Discord could cause at a time like this?”
Celestia’s mane billowed as Luna’s voice projected a gale at the princess’s face. Celestia laid a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “Sister, calm down. I have complete faith in Twilight Sparkle and the others. I trust they will be able to handle Discord should he cause any trouble.”
Luna sighed, slowly settling from her explosive reaction. “I suppose sister,” she finally replied after a few minutes of consideration. “But please, consult me beforehand next time you have a plan such as this one. These are delicate matters and some guidance might be of use.” Luna eyed Celestia warily. Attempting to reform Discord now was risky and an unusually rash decision by Celestia. Could her sister be losing her ability to rule? Luna mulled this over as the two alicorns walked to the throne room and began the summit. Luna planned to talk with her sister about a greater participatory role in government after the summit.
Back in Ponyville, the girls and Discord had made their way to Fluttershy’s cottage for a tea party in attempt to reform him.
“Oh come now girls,” Discord spoke up nonchalantly. “I’m getting the feeling none of you think that I’ve reformed even the tiniest bit.” Discord brought two of his eagle claws within millimeters of each other and eyed the ponies through the tiny space.
“We don’t!” Rainbow Dash jumped up on the table and snorted. Her face, like the others, still had gravy dripping down it. Discord stifled a laugh and frowned.
“Really, Rainbow, you’re not even giving me a chance?” He pouted. Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity all fervently shook their heads. “Fine,” Discord replied. The pout morphed into a sly grimace “Then how about we put it to a vote. Democracy and whatnot.”
Fluttershy tried to speak up, but the rest of her friends started speaking before she got a chance. “Fine!” Twilight yelled.
“Very well then,” Discord replied. He crossed his arms. “All of you who think I can be reformed, raise a hoof.”
Fluttershy raised a hoof slowly. To everyone’s surprise, Pinkie eagerly raised her hoof with a goofy grin on her face. “Ooh, ooh, I do! The gravy boat was cute!” Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow glared at Pinkie Pie and her smiled faded and she slowly lowered her hoof. “Um, I mean, no I don’t,” Pinkie said, subdued by their glares.
“Okay, so that’s one for,” Discord drew Fluttershy to his side and shoved her against him. “Now, who thinks I can’t be reformed.” The other five ponies around the table all quickly raised a hoof. “And that’s five against. Well, looks like I can’t be reformed according to you all.” Discord let go of Fluttershy. The pegasus wobbled as she regained her balance.
“And since that’s the case,” Discord continued with just a hint of malice, “I suppose I’ll take my leave.” The other ponies gasped. Rainbow lunged forward as Discord snapped his talons, but he had disappeared before Rainbow could reach him. She crashed headfirst into the far wall as the other ponies looked around desperately looking for where Discord had gone too.
Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna were still stuck in the royal summit, sitting at the head of a long table. The minister of finance was droning on and on. Luna was struggling to stay awake as the minister kept on in his monotone. He was saying something about rainwater efficiency and the annual cloud production in Cloudsdale, but Luna wasn’t paying much attention.
Suddenly, the room went dark. Luna looked out of the windows in the great hall and saw the sky was black. Worried, she turned to Celestia. “Sister, did you turn off the sun?” she asked slowly.
“No...,” came Celestia’s worried voice as she too looked around.
“Hello, ladies,” came a familiar voice that was far too close. The two princesses turned to each other, but both were at once face to face with Discord, who had stuck himself in between them. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.”
“Oh horsefeathers,” Celestia grunted.
Discord grinned happily and shoved the princess’s faces up against his own. “This is going to be just great!” Discord said. “I know you wanted me to be good Celestia but I’m just having so much fun!” Discord released the princesses and stood back.
Luna began to shout dismissively. However her anger wasn’t directed at Discord, but rather at her own sister. “See sister, I told you this would happen! It’s Discord, how in Equestria did you expect him to become good all of a sudden!”
As Luna berated Celestia, the princess of the sun did so in kind and the two princesses became caught up in a vicious argument.
“Well excuse me for having a little faith in my protege and her friends!” Celestia said, raising her voice. Celestia, attempting to remain calm, refused to raise her voice to the traditional royal speaking volume that Luna had, but the sun princess still projected her voice of authority toward her sister. “The ponies to whom I gave the Elements of Harmony have proven themselves time and time again capable of handling such challenges, Discord included!”
“Oh, and look at how well that turned out!” Luna’s voice dripped with sarcasm and she waved her hooves in exasperation. “This is by far the single worst decision you have made since I’ve been back. And boy have you made some terrible decisions.”
“Oh really. Like what?” Celestia stood up.
Celestia and Luna kept on arguing. Now they had both stood up from their cushions and were facing each other across the summit table. The two princesses were so wrapped up in their argument that they had forgotten about the summit, and soon even about Discord.
At the start of their exchanging of words, Discord had been amused. Soon, when the princesses had stopped noticing, he slunk over to the throne and stretched across the seat. With a snap of his talons he conjured a bowl of popcorn and munched on it, watching the princesses eagerly. “Oh this is rich,” Discord muttered to himself.
The ministers, meanwhile, had completely vacated out of the room for fear of what Discord and the angry princesses would do if they got caught in the middle of any of it.
The princesses kept up their screaming as Discord summoned another bowl of popcorn.
“... and that’s another thing. Since Sombra came back it seems like you have been paying more and more visits to the Crystal Empire and visiting dignitaries than you have to lands within Equestria!” Luna ranted. “I’ve been having to deal with the daily castle business more and more these days!”
“Well excuse me Luna, but I thought you wanted more responsibilities in running the kingdom!” Celestia retorted.
“I certainly have, but in governmental affairs. You’ve been having me manage the castle attendants!”
“I let you sit in on royal meetings, don’t I?” Celestia snapped.
“Only so you can have me write down the important business while you slack off reading your ‘friendship reports’!” Luna formed air quotes with her forehooves. “I’ve seen what you’ve really looking at. Fancy Pants sure does look good in a bridle, doesn’t he.” Luna sneered.
“Well I never!” Celestia reeled. Her face went red with embarrassment and rage.. “How dare you bring that up!”
“I am a Princess and your sister, not your private secretary! I demand that you give me greater authority, and I mean real authority, in Equestrian affairs!” Luna pounded a hoof on the table.
Discord kept watching for another few minutes from the throne. He yawned. The argument was starting to get boring. Slowly he got up, put his hands on his back, and stretched, leaning backward. A resounding crack echoed through the throne room. Celestia and Luna stopped in their tracks and turned to look at the throne.
“Hello again. Did you forget about me?” Discord waved the fingers of his right hand at them and grinned. “Now it’s been fun watching you two but it’s getting old.” Discord let out another exaggerated yawn.
Celestia and Luna blinked as they recalled the past couple of hours. “We should probably do something about him,” Luna said, pointing.
Celestia nodded. The two princesses turned to Discord. “How dare you make us turn on each other. You have clearly not reformed at all, and so your punishment is to return to stone!” Celestia and Luna planted their hooves firmly, and magical auras formed around their horns.
Discord jumped up and protested wildly. “Whoa whoa, no need to resort to that! I did no such thing.” The princesses wavered. “If you recall,” Discord continued, pacing in front of the throne, “all I did was show up.” The princesses thought for a moment and the glow around their horns faded.
“And turn the sun off for a while,” he muttered quietly under his breath and grinned.
Celestia and Luna kept glaring at Discord, but their looks softened as they realized he was right. The arguing had not started because of Discord, but because of a row between the two princesses themselves and completely of their own accord. They sighed and turned to each other.
Celestia offered a hoof to Luna. “I’m sorry, little sister. I was wrong to prevent you from participating in royal affairs. I will be sure to consult you on official business more often.”
Luna smiled warmly and took her elder sister’s hoof in her own. The two princesses embraced. “Oh thank you, Celestia. I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier.”
The two princesses embraced. Discord stuck a talon in his mouth and gagged, but even he showed a brief soft expression at Luna and Celestia’s embrace. The princesses let go and turned to Discord.
Celestia spoke, her tone now much softer. “Well Discord, it seems you did actually perform some good today.”
“What? How do you mean?”
“Even if you did not directly create the argument between us, you still instigated it.” Discord looked confused for a moment. “But by doing so, you have helped Luna and I solve some of our differences and brought us closer together.”
“And besides, this was better than a stuffy old summit anyway,” Luna added letting out a small laugh. Celestia shot Luna a look but soon found herself chuckling alongside her sister.
“Yes it was, Luna.”
“See, your majesties,” Discord gave an overly dramatic bow, “sometimes a little chaos can be a good thing.”
The good mood now restored between the two princesses, Celestia turned back to Discord and sighed. “I suppose you are right. And because of this, you have shown that you may still be redeemed. Therefore, you will not be returned to stone.”
“Yes!” Discord fluttered into the air striking a victorious pose.
“On one condition,” Celestia held up a hoof, her voice becoming stern again. “You must return to Ponyville and allow Fluttershy to continue your redemption process.”
Discord slumped again. “Oh fine.” He started to snap his fingers to teleport back to Ponyville.
“One more thing,” Discord turned back to Celestia and she raised and eyebrow at him. “Put the sun back where it belongs?”
Discord grumbled and with a snap and a white flash, the sun was back in the sky and it was afternoon again. With another snap Discord had teleported out of the hall.
Celestia turned to Luna as they walked out of the room. As they opened the door they saw the ministers sitting against the far wall. “Oh right, the summit,” Celestia groaned. She beckoned the ministers back into the room and the princesses reluctantly turned around and slumped back into their thrones.
Normalcy could be so dull sometimes.
