Some hours had passed since the rising of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Friendship Castle in Ponyville followed by the ensuing musical celebration of Equestria’s restored peace and harmony. And a lengthy celebration really had been in order: after all, over the last year or so there had been many close calls of danger in Equestria, yet none as close as this most recent battle with the dreaded figure Tirek. His was an ancient, dark and cold power of destruction…. And though the power of friendship was great, even Celestia had known that to defeat Tirek that power had to be wielded in just the right way or all would have been lost.

Her most faithful student had not let her down though, of course, and neither had her faithful student’s friends. All had been returned to peace and harmony in the land once more, and Twilight now finally knew her place as a leader in Equestria. So a celebration at the opening of Twilight’s castle to commemorate these glad tidings really had been needed and welcome among all the ponies, common folk and princesses alike.

But now the party was over, and Celestia and Luna were taking a well deserved little nap nestled side by side on Celestia’s bed (or as close to a nap as they could manage considering that Celestia still had the sun and day to look after for a few more hours and Luna had the moon and night to look after in only a few hours.) After all, overseeing the affairs of an almost suddenly doomed land and having to both sacrifice and regain all of their magic in a single day could really take a lot out of a mare.

“Hmm…” Celestia sighed softly, her eyes still closed. “Luna? You’re still awake too…right?” She yawned, unable to help herself.

Luna just sighed softly and nuzzled more into a pillow, smiling, her eyes still shut.

Celestia opened an eye and smiled a little. “Luna?” she prompted gently again.

Luna sighed more deeply now and stretched a bit, raising her head. “Sister, you should have a little more faith in me. I was just…checking on the land of dreams in advance. I have a long night ahead of me, after all—getting a head start never hurt.” She blinked a few times and opened her eyes finally, giving a small yawn of her own.

Celestia chuckled warmly. “Luna, be serious. Look, I’ll promise you something—how about tomorrow I’ll make dawn come a little early so that you can get to a full day’s sleep as soon as possible, and in return you make tomorrow night come just a little early. That way balance will be in tact, and you can still have a good rest.”

Luna nodded, resting her head on a pillow again. “Very well, Celestia. Thank you.” She stretched again, blinking a few times, her eyelids growing heavy once more. “You and I should be fine after a good night and day to return to our normal cycles after the loss of our magic. Do you think Princess Cadence will be all right as quickly too? Perhaps we should not have let her return to the Crystal Empire so suddenly. It is a rather long journey by train.” Luna frowned, gazing up at her sister.

Celestia yawned, resting her head and closing her eyes but still speaking in an aware tone proving that she remained wide awake (for the most part). “Cadence will be fine, Luna. I promise. She has always been very strong, and she can rest on the train ride back home. Besides,” her eyes barely blinked open again, and her smile grew, “she has a husband waiting to take care of her at the Crystal Empire. I’m sure he’s already got a warm meal and a quiet place and a nice, cozy bed all prepared for her, and that he’s planning on taking care of anything the kingdom needs while she rests.”

Luna yawned and turned on her back, sighing deeply and just a touch dramatically. “Sister, why did we not take husbands to do such things for us?” Her eyes were closed again. “One does sound convenient right now.”

Celestia’s smile picked up a little on one side and she raised an eyebrow slightly. “Because a husband should be more than just occasionally convenient. And because immortal alicorn stallions do not visit us often these days.” She tried not to laugh. “And because the sun and the moon have done well enough on their own all these years with their friendships and sisterhood alone to guide them,” she finished with a soft smile, giving her little sister a gentle nuzzle.

Luna sighed softly this time and smiled, turning to cuddle against her older sister in return. “True, I suppose. But I still wish I could sleep while someone else does my work for me for once, and that you could have an extra day to yourself to sleep too.” Luna glanced up at her sister, frowning just slightly, remembering how weak Celestia had looked while they had all awaited Tirek’s arrival without their magic. It had been awful to view the sight of her usually strong and confident big sister drained so thoroughly, but also awful for Luna herself to feel the loss of her domain over the moon and night for one more time in her life. The whole experience brought back memories. “Or I at least wish that you could have some extra time to yourself. I almost shouldn’t complain about seeing to the moon tonight. After all, you did the biggest part of my job for me for a thousand years along with your own.” She looked down in guilt.

“Shh,” Celestia soothed gently, smiling down at Luna, “Luna, what are you saying—you really must be tired. No more feeling bad about any of that. We talked about this already many times. Besides, you’re right—right now both of us could use a little extra time to ourselves.”

Luna smiled in a touch of appreciation, but then considered, biting her lip. “You don’t think it would be fair of us to ask Twilight to possibly…”

Celestia shook her head. “No, I’m afraid it wouldn’t. Twilight’s been through even more than the rest of us. And she deserves this day to herself. She’s finally found her place in Equestria. Besides, lending her the magic, even just enough only to raise the sun and moon without seeing to any of the other tasks each of us is responsible for, would only take even more energy out of the two of us.” Celestia smiled softly and closed her eyes once more, nestling back down against her pillows again. “Come on, Luna, you can take a nap here with me, and I’ll stay awake just long enough to wake you up in time for dusk. Then we’ll do the shorter night and day like we planned. We’ll be back on track and feeling better before we both know it.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, you’re right, sister. We’ll just have to make do.” She smiled and laid down her head to nestle against Celestia’s wing. Her eyes closed. “But…” she yawned, “But do not feel too much worry about waking me up. Even in exhaustion, I am…” she yawned again, “The ever vigilant Princess of the Night. I barely need sleep. Really.” She did her best to stifle a final yawn.

Celestia just smiled more in her repose and nodded her head. “Of course. I’ll just be here if you need me for anything. And at dusk I’ll let you know that I’m going to sleep. But for now rest, dear sister…” Celestia gently covered Luna’s back with her large, white wing, her voice softening and lowering. “A great evil has passed. Now it’s time for peace.”

Luna nodded, savoring the warmth of being close to her big sister. It reminded her of more than a thousand years ago, napping beside Celestia at the end of each day until she had been old enough and strong enough to do more as part of overseeing the nights than just raise the moon. “Good night, Celestia. I shall sleep but only for a little while.”

Celestia nodded and Luna nodded.

The room was in silence now save for the light breathing of the sisters as they rested beside each other, finally finding a moment of calm after the chaos of the last few days.

But speaking of chaos…

PHEW!

The faintest sound of a magical ‘poof’ echoed in the room.

Celestia’s ear twitched just slightly.

Silence.

Then another PHEW! Another soon sounded after that. PHEW!

Celestia’s ear twitched again, and this time the brow over her still closed eyes rose just slightly.

If her eyes had been open, she would have noticed the image of a familiar figure currently popping from stained glass window to stained glass window in the form of a stained glass caricature of himself as he observed the sisters sleeping and considered with a curious look whether or not he should disturb them (though the fact that he was there at all and that he was popping from window to window so frequently demonstrated that he really did want to get their attention regardless of the inconvenience, even if the inconvenience did cause him some pause.)

PHEW!

Celestia opened her eyes now and slowly looked around. There was magic around her. She tried to feel it’s intent. ‘No evil…’ What a relief. Then she tried to feel the specific origin of the magic—it seemed familiar and yet different enough from something familiar that she couldn’t quite place it. It seemed almost…reformed in a way.

Celestia blinked. “Discord…” she whispered under her breath.

And suddenly with another PHEW the draconequus made himself appear in full form right before her.

“Oh Celestia, thank goodness, you’re bright eyed and bushy tailed as ever!” With a big smile on his face, Discord snapped his fingers (habit) and suddenly Celestia’s tail bore a strong resemblance to a topiary bush cut like the sun. Celestia’s eyes went wide as she turned to see what he had done, but before she could say anything Discord chuckled and snapped his fingers again, instantly returning her tail to normal.

“Mmm…sister…” Luna started with a moan, raising her head and blinking a few times in sleepiness. “Is it dusk already? What is going on?” Luna looked forward and then her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open a little. “Discord!” Suddenly she was glaring stubbornly and up on all fours on the bed. “What means thou with this improper intrusion? Thou have entered the private quarters of a princess and the private palace of the pony sister princesses without announcement!”

“Oh!” Discord blinked. “Hmm…” He put a paw to his chin, reclining back as he floated up into the air for a moment. “All right, wait, let me see—don’t tell me, don’t tell me, I can figure this one out… You know, I’ve just gained an entirely new understanding of the subtle nuances of friendship.” He snapped his fingers and a little tune (very reminiscent of the Jeopardy theme) began to play in the background. “Okay, so…” he spun his finger in the air as he thought to himself, creating little floating paper animation figures of himself, Celestia and Luna as he did so to act out what he was saying. “You two and I are friends now ever since I chose to stop using my powers for evil, therefore being together should be fun for us…” The little figures all came close and smiled. “Yet,” he went on, “you act all grumpy and gloomy when I pop over for a surprise visit…even though we’re still friends.” The Luna and Celestia figures glared and frowned while the Discord figure frowned and sniffled. “Hmm, this is just like how Twilight was when I paid her a surprise visit the last time Cadence visited…and that was because,” a smile of realization came to his features, “Ah, that was because friends spend time together but also do each other the courtesy of respecting each other’s privacy and personal space. Because friends care for each other but sometimes want to be alone or even not with a specific friend or even with only one other specific friend!”

Discord snapped his fingers and the pony and Discord figures all smiled again before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. The music ended as well. “Oh, it’s just like how I love to pop in on Celestia sometimes when she’s working and turn all of her quills into wild chickens and replace her stacks of important documents with flattering sketches of myself!” He snapped his fingers and made a fainting couch eerily similar to the one from a certain legendary ‘human’ movie known as Titanic appear beneath his stretched out form. “But then I get so bored and want to leave and be by myself or go visit Fluttershy instead when Celestia ignores me or gets annoyed with me and starts droning on and on about responsibility and true friendship and the sun. You always do manage to work the sun into your longer speeches, Celestia dear,” he informed.

On the bed, Celestia just looked at Discord in continued perplexity and interest while Luna couldn’t help giving a stifled chuckle at his joke.

Celestia pouted a little and glanced at her sister. Luna just smiled more and did her best to get herself under control. The princess of the night then cleared her throat and lay back down on the bed. “Erm, yes, well…thou…you are quite right, Discord. Celestia and I would simply like the courtesy of an announcement next time before a visit, just as we humbly request from all of our subjects and friends.”

Discord nodded with a smile, landing on his feet. “Of course, of course—it’s…polite, is that the word? Fluttershy is always trying to teach me about politeness, but I never really understood it until now. Being friends doesn’t just mean that you can take whatever you want from another person and have it be all right. You have to show self-control and to give a little in return. Just a moment then.” He snapped his fingers and was suddenly gone in a puff of smoke. Then there was a light knocking on the outside of Celestia’s bedroom door. “Hello?” Discord popped his head around the doorframe slightly. “May I come in, friends?”

Celestia sighed and smiled, turning toward the door. She nodded. “Yes, Discord, you may come in.”

Instantly, Discord appeared once again in a puff of smoke before them, a large grin of satisfaction on his face. “It worked! I was polite, and now I get to stay for a visit. Oh this is truly fantastic—Celestia, why didn’t you explain to me from the beginning that friendship was this easy?” He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, making a ‘tsk, tsk’ sound. “Really, so much strife between the three of us could have been avoided over the years. You may want to look out for your job—Twilight’s looking like the superior friendship teacher to you.”

Celestia just smiled warmly. “As she should be. She is the Princess of Friendship after all. And friendship was always simple, Discord. I’m just glad you finally figured that out.”

Discord sighed and rolled his eyes to the side. “Well, apparently I didn’t figure it out enough in time to get my own throne in that ‘Friendship Palace’ of Twilight’s…” He shrugged. “But, like Fluttershy said, I might not be quite at that level just yet. Still learning, it seems.”

Celestia nodded, still smiling. “Well, now that Twilight’s finally found her place in Equestria, I’m sure you’ll be able to learn even more about friendship from her and Fluttershy and all the rest of your friends. And Luna and I would certainly not be opposed to a visit from you from time to time. And I promise not to talk about the sun too much.” She laughed softly. Then she sighed and her eyes drooped a little though her smile remained. “As for now though, Discord, Luna and I are happy to see you, but we’re also a bit tired from the ordeal with Tirek. We had to give up our magic for much longer than you did, and we had to use a powerful spell to do it. We’ll need a day or two so that we can recover. If there is anything important you needed to talk about right now, then of course, as your friend, I would be happy to listen—Luna needs a nap right away before the night starts, but I have quite a while to sleep tonight before the new day. But if it’s something small you needed to discuss, as our friend, would you mind if it waited until another time?” She yawned, unable to help herself. “Our magic is different from yours, Discord. It needs to regenerate with our rest.”

Discord took in Celestia’s request with a look of interest she had never seen him get, like he was really understanding friendship in a more complete way than ever, and respecting it too. Then he smiled a little. Then he cleared his throat and looked to the side, trying to seem casual as he replied with a shrug, “Actually…I just wanted to make sure the two of you were all right.”

Luna and Celestia both blinked, eyes wide. In fact, they both looked just as surprised as Celestia had during the opening of Twilight’s new castle when Discord—DISCORD of all people!—had handed her a bouquet of flowers—FLOWERS of all things! And they hadn’t squirted water or turned to snakes or blown up into confetti! And now this request from him?? The two sisters looked back to each other once and then back to Discord.

Discord just sighed deeply and floated up into the air, reclining on his back, an arm dramatically draped over his forehead. “Oh why does everypony always assume that all I ever think about is myself?” He smirked a little, snapping his fingers and making a hand mirror appear which he could now look into. “I’m a fascinating subject, of course, but other people do cross my mind, you know.” He snapped his fingers and made the mirror disappear. “Especially my friends…” He landed on his feet. Discord considered for just a moment. Then he added quietly and in a tone of sincerity Celestia had never heard him use, “I made a very big mistake today, Celestia…didn’t I?”

Celestia gave a single nod, her voice soft but serious. Her probing eyes did not leave his contrite ones. “Yes, you did, Discord. Tirek was able to do awful things because of you. He might have even done worse. And we trusted you to help us stop him.”

“But we do forgive thee, Discord,” Luna added in her own soft but serious tone. “Every pony makes mistakes…even bad ones sometimes.” She glanced to the side a little.

Discord frowned. “If I had crossed Tirek, he wouldn’t have forgiven me.” He considered more deeply. “Friends forgive and accept each other no matter what, don’t they, Celestia? As long as one wants to be forgiven and accepted…right?”

Celestia gave a single nod again. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, Discord. And I don’t think Princess Twilight could have said it better either.”

Discord’s mouth quirked to the side. He paced a little. “I feel…strange and not good about what happened today even though I made things right in the end with my friends.”

Celestia smiled slightly. “You feel guilty, Discord.”

Discord blinked. “Guilty? Me??” As he crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head away, a judges robes and white wig appeared on him and a gavel appeared in his talon, which he spun with his wrist dramatically to enhance his speech. “Preposterous! At most I’m just a little put off by losing so much ground in my friendship struggle for a moment. Besides, even if it was ‘guilt’…” he barely glanced at the two sisters out of the corner of his eye, “It’ll go away soon since I did the right thing…right?”

“Yes, it will, Discord.” Luna spoke up again, something firm and true in her tone. “It may take time, but guilt will go away. You have my word as Princess of the Night about that.” She gave a small yawn, unable to help herself, and nestled against Celestia more. “Friendship heals all regrets.” Her smile returned.

The smallest smile of relief came to Discord’s features now. Then he snapped his fingers to make the robe and wig and gavel disappear. He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes with a grin. “All right, all right, enough sentiment and heartwarming exchanges and sugary platitudes about moral superiority.” He sighed dramatically, smiling more. “That was one thing about working with Tirek or about causing evil on my own—no mushy moments.”

Luna and Celestia couldn’t help a small, sleepy laugh between them.

Discord continued smiling. “So then…you two really are all right?” There was the lightest edge of genuine concern to his voice again.

Luna and Celestia looked back at him with pleasant interest once more, each of them raising an eyebrow.

Celestia glanced at Luna and then turned back to Discord. “Yes, of course, you have my word we’re fine.” Something soft and sincere came to her gaze. “You really are happy to have your friends back, aren’t you?”

Discord sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. “Look, Celestia, don’t read too much into this.” He floated up again, looking down at her. “Fine, yes, I like my friends, friendship is magic—literally, apparently, if Twilight’s apocalyptic fight with Tirek is any evidence, it’s fun to be good and sad to be bad, yada yada. This ‘concern’” he made air quotes, “of mine for the two of you is more a personal matter of…of…keeping myself from being bored, let’s say.” He glanced to the side.

“Hmm, how so?” Celestia crossed her front hooves and turned her head to the side a little with interest.

“Well,” Discord explained with a shrug, “in case you haven’t noticed, immortals are few and far between around Equestria these days. And now that Tirek is gone, there’s one less.” He rolled on his back in the air. “Oh, these ponies I meet and know now are fine and amusing enough as company, but there are so few creatures left who I’ve ‘grown up’ with—who remember the times long past and share those memories with me…. Friends who go way back. I find it fun to think about the past sometimes, and, let’s face it, if I’m going to be cutting myself off from all villain society now, you two are all I have left.” He turned back over and grinned down at the two princesses in a mixture of pride and something mischievous. “I really was in my top form all those years ago. At least you two can appreciate how powerful and great I was before I had to limit myself to tea parties and the occasional royal sleuthing job with a few pranks sprinkled in for good measure, and you two can still be my friends and a good influence on me at the same time. Truly a win, win, win situation, don’t you think, ladies?” He raised an eyebrow and his grin picked up on one side.

Luna looked up at him in surprise. “The past doesn’t trouble you then, Discord?”

Discord sighed and leaned down toward her, a small smile still on his lips and a touch of understanding in his gaze. “The past is what you make of it, Luna dear. Just because there may have been some troubling times back then doesn’t mean the fun times aren’t worth remembering.” He shrugged. “And even the bad times have some worthwhile stuff to recall depending on how you look at things.”

Luna considered his words, looking to his eyes as he continued to look down at her. And then a small, almost appreciative smile came to her features. “Yes, I suppose you make a good point, Discord.” Her smile grew.

Discord chuckled, picking up his head to rest it on his paw now. “Remember the time a thousand years ago when you two came to me after I first showed up in these parts to give me an official formal ambassadorial welcome, and I bowed in ‘gratitude’ and then snapped my fingers and turned you neon pink,” he pointed to Celestia, “and you invisible?” He pointed to Luna and then laughed warmly. “Oh I wish you could have seen the looks on your faces! Of course, though, no one could see the look on Luna’s face—invisibility and all. Ha!”

Celestia and Luna sighed, looking a bit serious, their eyelids going down. “Yes,” Luna offered flatly in response, “…we vaguely recall.”

“It must have taken you two a good half a day to work your way out of that one.” Discord wiped an amused tear from his eye. “How about later when I rigged the sun to make the sound of an elephant call whenever it got raised, and I rigged the moon to make the sound of fanfare and a crowd cheering my name?” He laughed more to himself.

“That one took us nearly a week to correct, Discord,” Celestia chided, trying to be serious. “It was very inconvenient for everybody.”

Discord sighed and rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine, how about this then? The time I tried to win you both over to the side of chaos by having my own little ambassadorial meeting—that mad dinner buffet with the eternal winding table and the cutlery in every color of the rainbow and the grand feast of colorful fruits and cakes and chocolate milk—”

“All of which you laced with poison joke,” Celestia reminded him.

Discord grinned at her, floating directly above the two sisters to gaze down upon them. “And you’re telling me, Celestia, that you didn’t get one good laugh out of things over the next two weeks with you uncontrollably burping rainbows whenever you spoke and Luna glowing in the dark?”

Both sisters tried to look up at him very seriously.

But then they couldn’t help themselves. There were smiles. The softest laughs even left the two of them.

Discord’s smile brightened. “See, I told you girls the past was fun to remember! And I told you I was in rare form all those years ago.” He stretched up, grinning in a touch of pride as he floated in a little turn around the bed.

“Oh, I for one wasn’t laughing about your prank, Discord,” Luna suddenly informed casually and with a grin of her own. “I was just thinking about another memory from the past—that look of surprise on your face when Celestia and were easily able to use the Elements of Harmony to freeze you into a statue.” She glanced at her sister. “Could you think of a more fitting fate, sister? The master of chaos sealed away in perfect, level, smooth, neat, clean marble?”

“I hadn’t realized that the elements had a sense of irony until then, Luna,” Celestia couldn’t help but add, a (rare) slight grin of her own apparent.

“Oh ha, ha, very funny,” Discord announced with an eye roll and a frown. “Is that irony also what made the elements seal away the Princess of the Moon in the actual moon when you went all ‘nightmare’ on us, Luna dear?” He smirked just a little.

Celestia and Luna blinked, then Luna frowned and glanced away.

Discord observed the reaction and sighed. “Oh, come now, if you can make fun of my fate as a statue, I can crack wise about the Mare in the Moon.” He glanced away, the smugness draining from his features, and added softly, “But…as your friend, if I did hurt your feelings somehow just now, I’m sorry.” He gave the lightest bow of his head in Luna’s direction.

Luna looked up at him with interest. Then she smiled. “Your apology is accepted. And I apologize as well, Discord—I did not mean to mock your own imprisonment.”

Discord’s smile returned a little and his eyes went back to Luna. “Oh, I don’t mind a little joke here and there about all of that—I think it helps to laugh about the past, no matter how bad things may have been. But thank you for accepting my apology, fellow reformed immortal magical being.” His normal, playful look returned, and he landed on the floor for the moment, waving things off. “Ugh, personally, I’m just glad we’ve gotten rid of those pesky little harmony amulets.” His smile brightened. “I like this rainbow thing much better. Very chaotic. Even though I don’t get a throne in the friendship palace, do you think I could join in as a member of team rainbow from time to time, Celestia?” He glanced at the elder sister and snapped his fingers, instantly giving himself a wild jet of black and gray and purple ‘rainbow’ hair on his head along with painted black stars around his eyes and black, gray and purple rainbows on his wings—a very glam rock effect. “I think I could contribute very handsomely to the whole thing.”

Celestia just watched his new appearance with interest and then gave a small laugh. “I’m afraid you’ll have to talk to Princess Twilight about that, Discord. She’s in charge of friendship now, and all of the protecting that goes along with it.” She sighed, nestling against her pillows a little more, unable to help herself in her slight impending sleepiness. “You’re right, Discord, remembering the past is nice—we all had fun back then over a thousand years ago, in our own ways…protecting Equestria, learning about friendship, our encounters with everypony, good and bad and in between…but it’s been a long time, and I’ll be glad to hand the power over to a new generation.” She yawned. “I’m tired, Discord.” There was sleepiness in her eyes but also something suggesting a different kind of tired, though she still smiled peacefully. “Luna is too.” She glanced alongside her to see Luna really looking quite ready to doze off, though unfortunately her little sister would only have an hour or so now for a nap. Luna, meanwhile, just nodded in agreement with her older sister’s assessment, seeming tired in more ways than one as well.

Discord snapped his fingers and returned to his normal appearance. “Hmm…I know the feeling.” His words likewise bore a complex meaning. He sighed, and the lightest touch of a sympathetic smile came to his features. “I should be a good friend and let you two have your rest now for all I’ve put you through.” He stretched up and yawned. “Come to think of it, I wouldn’t mind a little cat nap myself.” He snapped his fingers again, and instantly a blue and pink striped nightshirt and hat appeared upon him (along with a little Discord stuffed animal which he had tucked under one arm.) “We can talk and catch up more later. Goodnight ladies.” He gave the smallest bow to the pony sisters before turning to depart.

“Goodnight, Discord,” Celestia called out in a gentle tone. “Please stop by again soon. You are always welcome here as our friend.”

“Y-Yes…” Luna managed in the middle of a yawn as she cuddled more against Celestia in sleepiness. “You are welcome here, Discord. You’re a good friend.”

Discord paused and turned back to the two sisters. “Actually, I was going to wait until later to bring this up, but since you’re welcoming me so openly…I was wondering if the pony sisters would mind terribly if I moved a little closer to Canterlot.” He grinned in a way both playful and mischievous. “I wouldn’t mind being neighbors again.”

Luna and Celestia blinked at this request, coming awake just a little again. They looked to each other, and then Celestia looked to Discord. “Well…certainly you’re free to live wherever you’d like, Discord, just like any citizen of Equestria.”

Discord nodded. “Fair enough, but I’m trying to be considerate to your wishes, Celestia, Luna.” He snapped his fingers to remove the nightclothes (the gag for them having passed) and floated up and over to the pony sisters again. “I haven’t really had a permanent residence ever since my pedestal in your sculpture garden as the star statue.” He rolled his eyes. “Mostly I’ve just been bouncing from cloud to cloud and crashing at Fluttershy’s whenever I could use a home cooked meal. I…want to look into some more permanent real estate, and I’d like it to be nearby.” He chuckled. “And relax, don’t worry, I certainly have better things to do than to bother and prank the two of you every single day like when we use to live side by side a thousand years ago. And I’m certainly not asking to move in to the palace or anything—although can you imagine how fun that would be?” He grinned brightly and snapped his fingers. Instantly, a second tier bed appeared above Celestia’s bed with Discord lounging in it. “We could be roomies, have sleepovers, swap stories! Just think of all the wacky and chaotic shenanigans!” He laughed heartily and then snapped his fingers again, making the upper bunk disappear before floating down to the level of the pony sisters once more. “But I’ll just settle for moving nearby, and I’ll mostly keep to myself—I do like my privacy. I just wanted to mention my plans to you, one friend to two others. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but after the events of today I’ve made my decision. I want to live near my two oldest friends.”

Celestia and Luna couldn’t help but smile warmly. They glanced to each other and turned back to him. Luna nodded. “We would be honored to live near you too, old friend Discord.”

Discord clapped his paw and talon together, his eyes lighting up a little. “Splendid! I’ll set the plans in motion! But in the meantime,” he landed on the floor, “enough ‘horsing’ around and catering to my selfish whims. You two get to sleeping and recharge that magic of yours. Playing even the littlest trick on either of you could never be any fun for me unless I knew you could fight back in peak powerful condition. You especially rest, Luna.” Discord snapped his fingers, and instantly a small quilt embroidered with stars and moons appeared and floated down to cover Luna. “You have a whole glorious night ahead of you to run very soon. Celestia just has to get a full night’s sleep and then deal with the ‘day’.” He half grinned and rolled his eyes. “Day practically takes care of itself anyway with all the other ponies running around seeing to their little tasks. Nights are unpredictable and chaotic though, nights are where all the hard work and talent and flair goes into.” He smiled.

Luna smiled back in so much appreciation, her eyes brightening in happiness. “Oh, I…I…thank you, Discord. Thank you.” She admired the blanket and then closed her eyes and rested her head on a pillow. “Goodnight, everypony…” she murmured, looking so content.

Celestia smiled in a deeper appreciation than she had ever shown Discord before. “Thank you,” she whispered softly to him. She glanced down at Luna and whispered to her. “I’ll stay up and wake you up only when I absolutely have to, Luna.”

“No, you get a head start on resting too.” This gentle announcement was made by Discord who then snapped his fingers and made a larger quilt embroidered with suns and clouds appear and waft down to cover Celestia. He floated close with a smile and whispered so as not to disturb Luna. “I’ve made up my mind. I’ll stay up and give both of you girls a wake up call when it’s time for night to come. You have my magical word. It’s the least I can do.” He held up his paw rather seriously. “Just be warned though,” his grin picked up on one side, “My ‘wake up call’ could come in any form from a mariachi band playing to fireworks going off in your room to me singing an off-key aria. We’re friends, but I’m still chaos embodied after all.” He chuckled.

Celestia took in a breath and seemed to swell with appreciation for a moment, her smile almost beaming in pleasant surprise. “Discord, you really don’t have to…. But we appreciate the gesture very much.”

“Then let me actually complete the gesture,” he insisted, shrugging and floating up more to look down on Celestia coaxingly. “I know I don’t have to. But I want to. I want to help. I…I think I quite like helping Twilight and Fluttershy and Luna and you too actually. It makes me feel good. I hardly even remember this so called ‘guilt’,” he made air quotes, “That you insisted I was feeling before.” He rolled on his back in the air, looking up at the ceiling, his smile going away. “I don’t care what Tirek said. I don’t feel trapped by friendship or degraded or like I’ve lost my true nature. And I’m not ashamed to be a ‘good guy’ now. I feel…happier how I am now. And life is more fun actually in a way.” He smiled again, tilting his head back to look at Celestia upside down. “Doing whatever I wanted and just being as harmful as possible could actually get boring, if you can believe it. Now I have to be creative about how I use my chaos so that I can express myself fully but don’t hurt others.” He flipped over and rested his chin on his paw. “Anyway, my point is, stop trying to be a martyr as usual, Celestia, and just take a nap already, and trust that I’ll make sure everyone’s up in time for everything they need to do. I’m responsible when I have to be, and you know it.” A sort of a challenging smirk came to his features.

“Celestia,” Luna suddenly added followed by a yawn. She blinked her eyes a few times and smiled. “Discord is right. Please stop trying to do everything, sister, and agree to let him wake us so that I can get some sleep. He won’t leave until you do, you know.”

Something warm came to Celestia’s smile and her eyes grew heavy a little. She nodded. “Yes, Discord—I would appreciate your help tonight with waking us up. And thank you very much. I really wouldn’t mind a little nap before I have to complete the sunset.” Celestia finally gave in to another yawn she couldn’t hold back anymore, her eyes starting to close.

Discord smiled and nodded in return. “You’re welcome, Princesses.” He hesitated for just a moment. Then he added steadily, “You know, if you two really wanted a rest—I mean, really, really wanted a rest…you could just have me raise the moon for tonight and the sun for tomorrow.” He bit his lip and waited.

Luna and Celestia’s eyes opened and went a little wide as they looked back at him.

Discord let out a breath. “I’m serious,” he added. “I overheard you talking about asking Twilight to do it for you but not wanting to bother her after everything she’s been through.” He appeared a touch sheepish for a moment. “Sorry, I tend to eavesdrop…a lot.” He shrugged and cleared his throat. “Anyway, unlike our new Friendship Princess, I don’t have any new palace to distract me, I haven’t endured a draining major battle, and the best part is I wouldn’t need to take any of your magic to do it.” He smiled a little. “Don’t get me wrong, it’ll take more than just a simple snap of my fingers for me to do something like that on my own, really raising the moon and then sun properly instead of just setting them to flip flop places for fun, really overseeing the night and the day as thoroughly as they need to be overseen and guided, but I could do it. I’d be honored to do it actually.” He landed on his feet and held his paws together, something serious coming to his features. “But I’m also sure that putting that much of the balance of Equestria in my control, even for one day and night, seems like an awfully big risk to you. And if you say no, I’ll understand completely, and we’ll still be friends of course…because friends never try to push friends to doing anything that would make them uncomfortable, I think. I just wanted to make the offer. I want to pay you back for everything, Celestia, Luna…” He smiled a little again, trying to hide the depths of his sincerity and gratitude and failing at it miserably. “Neither one of you ever gave up on me, and it’s made my life truly better.”

There was silence for several moments. Luna was considering. Celestia appeared very deep in thought.

Celestia spoke first. “Discord…do you think you’re…really ‘there’ yet?” She quoted Fluttershy’s response to why Discord hadn’t received a friendship throne in Twilight’s new castle. “I appreciate very much that you’re eager to help and make amends. And I do trust you. But the night and the day are weighty responsibilities, especially when taken on together. They require order and discipline and vigilance and sacrifice. The ponies depend on them, Discord, as familiar constants by which to live their lives, and especially after the turmoil of the last few days.”

Discord nodded to her. “And all of these things—order, discipline, vigilance, sacrifice—are things I need practice in, or at least to become more familiar with. I already know how to be selfish and lazy and meddlesome and chaotic. I’m the expert at those things, actually. But if I’m going to grow closer to the ponies and to you both, I need to expose myself to your perspective a little more, I think. If you’re all willing to accept my chaotic nature as your friend, I want to learn how to accept all this goody-goody order you ponies are prone to.” He grinned a little, trying to lighten the mood. “Besides, come on—I have wings, I have powers, I have stature, I’m immortal—I practically am an alicorn princess, throne or no throne. I’m perfect for this job. I can help. Really.”

Celestia’s face still bore a slight look of hesitation though.

“I agree with, Discord.”

Both Discord and Celestia blinked and looked to Luna who had just made this announcement in a gentle, decisive tone. Luna looked to Discord with a small smile. Then she cleared her throat slightly and elevated her voice just a little. “Discord, as Princess of the Night, we grant you the privilege of raising the moon and overseeing the coming night. And thou has our thanks for your gracious and kind offer of friendship.” She nodded her head.

Discord blinked several times and then smiled in pleasant surprise. “Oh thank you, dear Luna!” He bent down and took one of her hooves in his paws, shaking it heartily…and then kissed it.

Luna blinked, her eyes going very wide. “I…er…we…you’re welcome, Discord,” she managed in quite a touch of surprise.

Discord suddenly magically teleported away and reappeared floating just above the bed, a coy grin on his features as his head rested on his paw. “I’m so glad you’re trusting me like this, my friend, and I promise I won’t let you down. I may improvise just a tiny bit, of course—a few new chaotic constellations with the stars and a little extra night music from the crickets and a few gentle but ultimately helpful pranks in people’s dreams, but I promise I will resist the selfish compulsion I have to turn the moon into a disco ball and keep Equestria partying all night long.” He laughed merrily.

Luna blinked a few times, then her normal smile returned and she had to laugh too, glancing up at him. “Perhaps one night I could allow that as something special, Discord. On the evening of the next Grand Galloping Gala, maybe. But for now I don’t think a few new temporary constellations would hurt my precious night.” She yawned. “I haven’t slept through a proper night in ages. It will be very interesting to see how most of the other ponies live. Just visit me in my dreams, Discord, if you have any questions or problems.”

Discord nodded. “Of course, Luna, of course.”

They smiled at each other. Then there was silence. Then they both had to glance to Celestia, who still hadn’t said anything.

She looked a mixture of surprised, confused, hopeful and rather undecided—an unusual combination for her. Finally she took a breath and addressed her sister first followed by their draconequus friend. “Luna…Discord…” She wasn’t quite sure what to say—this was a rather big change happening rather quickly, after all.

Luna understood to an extent, though, what her sister must be thinking. And she couldn’t blame her for her deliberation—though Celestia tried to hide her enthusiasm beneath her peaceful, professional demeanor, Luna knew her sister felt as protective and passionate about her days as she herself felt about her nights. She looked to Celestia and spoke with calm compassion. “Sister, I went back to conducting the nights in full force the first evening after I was rescued by Twilight Sparkle from my dark powers, and I did so with your full trust and confidence…even if there were subjects of ours who doubted my ability to remain reformed or at least to be as responsible and capable a princess as you have always been to them. Discord has been reformed and our friend for several months now, and he has survived a great trial today to prove his worth. I see no reason not to extend to him the same trust that was extended to me, even regarding something as precious as one of my nights.”

Celestia took in her sister’s words with great consideration. Then a small smile came to her lips and she nodded. Her attention turned to Discord now. “Discord.” She stood up for this one. The moment seemed to call for it—after all, she could not recall one time in the history of her entire reign when she had willingly, officially, and not under circumstances of extreme duress granted to anyone the responsibility she was about to grant now, let alone to a former villain. She cleared her throat. “As Equestria’s Princess of the Day, I grant you the privilege of raising the next sun and overseeing the coming day and all of its affairs.” She bowed her head just slightly.

There was a weighty silence for a long moment.

Then Discord said something. “If I turn the sunshine into lemonade and flood all of Equestria, you’re going to be upset with me, aren’t you?”

Celestia lifted her head, tried to look very serious…but then lost the battle as an uncontrollable smile caused her lip to curl at the end.

Discord smiled too and shrugged, chuckling. “Just trying to lighten the very serious, royal, official mood.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you, Celestia.” He bowed his head just slightly, a touch of that unconcealable sincerity and gratitude coming through again, though he quickly covered it up with a grin as he added casually, “I might give the ponies unlimited rainbows tomorrow, maybe a cloud of chocolate milk rain for the fillies and colts, and I’ll probably just forge your signature on any official documents that come my way that look like they’d be fun to approve, but otherwise tomorrow’s day will be business as usual. You’ll both be able to make sure of that yourselves.” He floated up, “Get to bed early tonight, sleep in late tomorrow, then you two go get some hooficures and buy some of those newfangled pony dubstep albums and drink some trendy daisy espresso whipped cream covered coffee drinks or whatever the young mares are all doing these days. Then we can all meet back up here at twilight and have cake together and maybe tell a few good stories about the old days to celebrate before Luna takes over the night again.” He clapped his hands together in anticipation.

“Discord, that all sounds very lovely,” Celestia assured with a smile and a nod. “But in the meantime just promise me if you have any problems with the day, any at all, that you’ll either come wake me up or go to Twilight?” she requested as she laid back down beside her sister.

Discord rolled his eyes with a smirk. “Oh fine, fine, I promise. But calm down, Celestia—it’s a ‘day’ I’m handling, not the fate of the cosmos, and I’m not a child. I do believe I can manage.”

Celestia smiled. “Just letting you know that help is here if you need it, Discord.” Her horn glowed, and suddenly a scroll and quill appeared in the air before her. She set her magic to writing. “I’ll send a letter to Princess Twilight letting her know the situation. She’s your friend too, Discord, but if she hears from you what Luna and I have agreed to, I doubt she’ll believe it entirely. No offense.” Her brief note finished (and Luna’s signature being applied to it alongside her own), she used her magic to send it to Spike for Twilight.

“None taken, and I appreciate your seal of approval,” Discord replied with a bow, landing on his hooves. “And yours too, Luna.” His smile brightened and he clapped his talon and paw together. “Oh this’ll be fun—I’ll help you sometimes, and you can help me sometimes, just like real friends!”

“Yes,” Celestia assured with a nod. “We’ll be there for each other just like real friends now. I only wish things could have turned out that way for all of us a thousand years ago.” Celestia yawned, smiling as she nestled her head down upon the pillows. “It’s a shame we had to miss out on each other’s friendship until now, Discord.”

Luna nodded. “Indeed. Perhaps many things could have been better in Equestria much sooner if we had all become friends right after meeting and stayed that way,” she mused softly, closing her eyes as her own head sunk into a pillow. Perhaps peace more easily in Equestria, perhaps more fond memories…definitely no Discord statue, and perhaps even no Nightmare Moon…

“Hmm,” Discord grinned a little to himself, “well, the last thousand years might have been a bit easier to get through if we had just all been friends, but us getting along like this all that time ago when we met would have been impossible.” He sighed turning to head over to Celestia’s bedroom door to take his leave. “I was much too young.”

Celestia gave a small laugh, barely opening her eyes. “Discord, being young doesn’t affect how well a being can learn about friendship. Even the youngest fillies and colts around Ponyville can make the best of friends with others. Friendship can come to any one at any time if they truly want it.”

Pausing at the bedroom door, Discord glanced over his shoulder back at Celestia and Luna and shook his head, a smile almost like a smirk upon his face. “That’s not what I meant, Celestia. I know, young or old, anyone can pick up on friendship. What I meant was that I myself was personally too young to fully understand let alone pursue a mature relationship like that with you two. I was just a wild, immature draconequus who came into town and decided it would be fun to spend all of his free time showing off to impress the two strange, stuffy, cute girls next door. I couldn’t help that instead of getting a laugh out of you two, things escalated too quickly and led to me cooling my heels in marble for the next millennia until I became the enlightened man I am today.” He shrugged and then slipped out the door. “Sweet dreams, my little ponies. Ta ta.” He laughed to himself, closing the door behind him.

Celestia and Luna just lay there in the bed, heads fully up now, eyes rather wide, blushes on their features as they watched him go.

“Did he just…” Celestia started.

“…call us…cute?” Luna finished.

Both sisters cleared their throats and looked down in a touch of fluster.

Celestia gave a small, nervous laugh and smiled. “Oh, Luna, he was just probably trying to get to us. You know how much he likes to startle us.”

“Although, he did give you flowers and wink at you…and he did kiss my hoof and flatter me about my nights….” Luna looked down, blushing even the tiniest bit more.

Celestia blinked. “Oh. Yes, well…that is true.” There was quiet for a moment. Then Celestia sighed and smiled again, finally finding a logic about all of this that she could reasonably and comfortably accept for the moment. “But, no matter how things were back in our past with Discord, it’s good he just sees us as friends now.” Her smile grew just a little (she couldn’t help it), and she added, “Though I suppose way back then, a thousand years ago, you and I were a little ‘cute.’ ”

Luna just smiled and closed her eyes, resting against her sister. “Perhaps we’re still cute, sister, and Discord’s just trying to impress us this time around by being nice instead of by playing pranks on us.”

Celestia laughed and closed her eyes, resting against her sister in return. “Don’t even joke about that, Luna. Don’t even joke about that. And goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning. We’ll get a hooficure to impress Discord in return.”

Luna laughed too and yawned. “I’m certain that’s just what he wants. Goodnight, Celestia.”

The two sisters let out soft sighs and almost instantly began to doze off with each other in a peaceful, calm repose after their harrowing last few days.

Discord still chuckled to himself as he walked down the hall away from Celestia’s room. “For a while there it seemed to me that Fluttershy was the only pony around who could be truly sweet and funny, but Celestia and Luna really are like that too deep down underneath all the ceremony and the righteousness and the royalty. I knew it.” He smiled more to himself. “All I ever wanted was for those two to lighten up a bit. Celestia’s gotten a bit better over the millennia on her own, and even Luna’s starting to take things a little easier now that she’s back. But they really could stand to be a little more selfish, have a few more laughs, come down from their palace on high every once in a while and play some pranks and have fun. I could be a good friend and help them with that, really help them with that this time.”

Discord sighed and frowned a little with a shrug, considering more. “I suppose my way of going about getting them to loosen up when we first met was a little doomed to failure, and really a lot more about me showing off and wanting attention from them and wanting to prove myself superior to them than it was about giving them enjoyment. I just wanted them to admire my chaos as much as I do…and as much as I admired something about them too.” His grin picked up a little on one side and his eyes hazed in a return to memories. “They were just so fascinating to me back then—two royal alicorn princesses claiming rule over day and night with magic that could actually meet and even surpass mine. And they never had to be alone either. They were powerful and they had each other.” A deep frown fell upon his features. “Until Luna went bad. Poor thing—I understand her frustration entirely, I know what it’s like to feel unappreciated, unwanted, eclipsed in a way. If I had been a better friend and actually been around for that, maybe I could have stopped her or at least been there for Celestia while Luna was gone. They both must have been so lonely…” Discord knew the feeling all too well.

He tried to smile again, though, as he reminded himself of all the happiness the three of them had to look forward to now. “But we’re all friends in the end. And they must trust me again now, they really must, to let me handle the night and the day for them.” He clapped his hands together, his whole countenance brightening. “Ooo, Fluttershy will be so proud of me when she hears! And I’ll show Celestia and Luna just how worthy I am of their trust, just how ‘there’ I am in my quest for friendship. I’ll do the best job I can for them—nothing sneaky, nothing selfish, nothing destructive. I’ll create a wonderful day and night for everyone, and then those two princesses will finally see just how much our magic really has in common and they’ll have a chance to truly admire my work for once instead of just dismissing it as a danger.” A touch of smugness came to Discord’s features and he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll finally impress the pony sisters. I always knew it was just a matter of time and finding the right way to present my talented self to them until they could see me for the wonder I am.”

Discord had reached the end of the hall now, and he paused, stretching up and yawning in a touch of drowsiness. It really had been a rather long day for him just as it had been for Equestria’s four princesses, after all. ‘Perhaps Celestia and Luna had the right idea—I’ll take a little nap before getting started with the night and day. I want to be my best for helping my two oldest friends.’ He sighed, and then a quiet laugh escaped him. “Hmm…” his voice lowered to a private tone, “…and I really got to Celestia and Luna a little too before I left them when I admitted how much their admiration was part of what I wanted all along…. The two strange, stuffy, cute girls next door.” It was faint, but Discord blushed a tiny bit and his smile picked up a little on one side. “They’ll be blushing and awkward whenever they’re alone with me for weeks—I love it…. Luna will shyly pout in that dark, brooding, captivating way she has of doing that goes so well with her night-colored coat, and Celestia will keep her regal gaze downward and try to hide her fluster among that swirling chaos of a pastel rainbow mane. All three of us are definitely going to have to be sure to spend time together a lot over the next couple of weeks—what fun for me!” He chuckled to himself and then snapped his fingers, teleporting himself out of the Canterlot Castle and to the Ponyville Friendship Castle so that he could assure a (he was certain ‘panicking in confusion’) Twilight that Celestia and Luna had not lost their marbles, and that they had indeed entrusted the next twenty four hours to his capable paw and talon.

And soon after that meeting, it would be time for Discord’s night (and then day) to begin.

Twenty four hours later, no one, the pony sisters included, was at all displeased with how Discord had handled the night and the day (though Luna felt he could have made some star constellations that weren’t just more and more images of himself in dramatic poses, and Celestia felt the petition he tried to slip through council approval to make the Summer Sun Celebration involve a center stage performance by himself every single year was a bit much). In fact, the Princesses of the Day and Night were rather proud of the Master of Chaos for his help, his restraint, and for passing this new test of their friendship with flying colors.

When he announced with a grin, however, that next he might like to try taking over the responsibilities of the princesses of Friendship and then of Love for a day and night as well, that notion got a little worry out of Celestia and Luna, of course. But then when even Discord had to roll his eyes at the idea and admit that he still might not be quite ‘there’ yet (“Seeing to the natural order of day and night is one thing—trying to tease out and master every single one of those subtle nuances of meaning you ponies insist on assigning to friendship and love is another” were his exact words), Celestia, Luna and even Discord all just smiled and shared a good laugh before having some cake and visiting in the castle the next evening to talk about good times.

Here, for a moment (one of many to come, they hoped), the three of them could savor the happiness that the magic of friendship had led them to in the end regardless of their differences, their talents, and the mistakes of the past—and the two alicorns and the draconequus were very glad and grateful to do so.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading! I hope you'll enjoy the second part too!