"Do you think she'll like them?" Discord asked. The young draconequus thrust the clawful of flowers he held into the shadow of the tree and looked up into its branches. The leaves made it hard to see, and they only rustled faintly, but he knew she was in there.

He snapped his paw and watched as some of the leaves - not as much as he had intended, but still, it was better than none - changed into a swarm of green butterflies that flew off instantly and noisily, leaving many of the branches now bare. Some had changed back to leaves - something about his magic that he had to work on; it was nearly as impulsive as he was - and fell to the ground.

A small blue shape peered out. "You are supposed to 'seek' when We hide," she said, raising her voice more than usual, "not pick flowers!"

Discord watched Luna stick her tongue out and grinned, showing off his snaggle tooth. Luna never laughed at his smile the same way that Celestia did, but she was more fun-loving, in her own peculiar way. Or at least he thought. Celestia was the leader, the talker, the one who cheered everyone up with each day of travelling, even if they didn't really need it - Discord just wanted to watch her try to wrangle everything amusing and distracting into shape. It was strange and fun to see.

Luna was the quiet one. He didn't get her. She liked pranks, adventure, telling stories even he thought were strange - just a filly's imagination - and sparring with a stick. She wasn't afraid of the dark and enjoyed time to herself, something Discord found boring. Yet, she had a good eye, and if anyone could advise him on how to catch Celestia's usually-elsewhere attention it was her. Even if she was always hiding in trees and tall grass or other places, looking for things like snakes and stones and sticks, she was still a filly. Fillies liked flowers, or at least that's what Celestia said. She talked about things like that - flowers and princes. Neither sounded too interesting.

But he liked seeing her laugh. Sometimes she was so serious, and that just wasn't that fun. So he wanted to give her flowers.

Luna's horn glowed with a mess of turquoise sparks - she was still learning, after all - and she reappeared on the ground, looking up at him with her pale blue mane shining with captured starlight - she always stayed up late, sometimes sneaking about. Discord did on occasion. He never gave it too much thought. Up some days, asleep on others. It felt like he was keeping things fresh.

It probably had to do nothing with the growing itch of his magic and endless ideas that seemed so much more fun half-formed and spontaneous. It had nothing to do with the entirely imaginary burn in his hindlegs and wonder-whats and could-bes of him just going elsewhere and maybe being less orderly or just letting magic go free-

No, he always told himself that they were his friends in a rather empty world. That's why he was asking Luna for help.

Luna had been busy peering at the flowers, her thin magic aura coming in spurts as she used telekinesis to rifle through the delicate blossoms. Their soft colors of pinks and purples were lost in the dark and they weren't that hardy for wildflowers - Discord thought they were silly, and not in the good way - but knew Celestia would like them.

"There is no trick?"

"No," Discord said, "When has Celestia ever mentioned liking her flowers with tricks?" He avoided her gaze and stood a little straighter.

"Turning them into spiders would be nice."

Discord looked at her, a little baffled. It sounded like a good idea, turning the flowers into something else. But spiders? He never really gave them much thought. Celestia was terrified of them. He just thought it might be fun to have eight legs, and of course, learned the hard way that even spider-like things frightened Celestia. And yet, without that incident they never would have learned that her magic could come in wisps of flame, something that was surprisingly interesting - at least to Discord - for Alicorn magic.

"Spiders aren't really that cute, Luna." He brought the flowers to his own muzzle. "Is there anything else she really likes? A color? A texture? Colors are really easy-"

Luna cocked her head to the side, making the unexpected decision not to pout upon being denied spider related things. "She likes your jokes. You could tell her one of those. Or a whole bunch of them!"

Discord stared at Luna's wide grin. It looked a little freaky in the dark, glowing in the moonlight that shone in her eyes. They weren't like her sister's, where they never changed. The eyes of this little filly changed at night - a harmless one that they all knew about, but he still wasn't sure why an Alicorn needed eyes like a desert cat's.

She didn't grin all that often, but she was never unhappy. Luna wasn't like smiling, laughing, and talkative Celestia, but she was a good prankster, and that was nice. Between them, there was always a way to make young Celestia smile or act like she was just a little annoyed with them when it was plain that she was obviously biting back a grin of her own.

A grin that always seemed to be directed at him.

Discord didn't think that could be random. Lots of things were. Or might be. But Celestia? Not really. That meant something.

And he wanted advice on something as mundane as flowers for it. He was out of his element here. He wasn't a filly. Or an Alicorn. Or kinda boring.

But Celestia smiled every time she came across a nice patch of flowers and it was the times that she didn't smiled that were worse than boring, dreadfully lazy days.

"Maybe," he said eventually. "Maybe I will, okay?"

"Do you have any good ones?" Luna cocked her head to the other side.

Discord waved his paw and tapped his throat. He spoke again with a voice high and scratchy, but in passable imitation of a female despite the cackle-y sound that didn't seem to belong to any creature at all. It wasn't a complete alteration. Maybe he could do those, and maybe he couldn't, but this was fun and it made others laugh and point. He liked that.

"I always have the best jokes, little Luna! Just like a princess always has a boring-happy kingdom!"

Luna snorted a little and maybe Discord felt just a little bit offended. He wasn't that sure about what princesses actually did other than be stuffy and boring - which he did. His 'Princess of Chaos' voice always made Celestia laugh.

"Sometimes," Luna said simply, plopping onto the ground. He snorted. Leave it to Luna to rain on his happiness. To highlight how tragic and bitter this moment was, he conjured a small, rumbly cloud above his head. It was quiet enough to not wake Celestia, who slept at their campsite not far from where they were. She never liked to be alone, but it wasn't likely she'd find out. Discord certainly wouldn't tell her.

He gave Luna an exaggerated frown. "Are you saying that I'm not funny?" His princess voice was gone and he tried to manage the same pout Luna did whenever she wanted something from Celestia. It turned out as exaggerated as his frown, but how was he to know that?

By Luna's soft laughter, it seemed. Her dark forehoof stretched up to point to his funny face. Discord tried to scowl. At the same time. It didn't look so well.

Luna snorted mid-laugh.

Completely and only slightly annoyed, Discord tried to stand taller and walk away proudly, flowers still grasped in his claw, but not before shooting the little goddess a stink eye.

Between him and Luna, jokes and attention weren't something almost serious - but sill quite fun - like it was between him and Celestia.

It was just a game.