Discord gazed at the setting sun and sighed. Today had been such a fun day, but it was about to come to an end. “I should really do this more often,” he said, staring off into the Canterlot Royal Gardens, where he had once been imprisoned. The figure of an alicorn flying out of the castle caught his eye. “Perhaps there is time for one last prank,” he smiled.

Princess Luna waited until the sun had set, feeling the warmth of its light slowly fade from her body as the world turned dark. She breathed in deeply, held her breath, and exhaled, letting forth a wave of magic into the heavens that woke the stars from their slumber. She closed her eyes, feeling around the sky with her mind as she grasped onto the familiar hold of the moon, gently tugging, urging it above the horizon.

Soon, the moon was high in the sky, a full moon that illuminated the ground below in a beautiful silver glow, gentler than harsh sunlight. Everything looked so soft, so beautiful, where in the day their edges were hard and angry. Luna flew down to rest on a hill, staring up to admire the heavens, the canvas upon which she painted her dreams. A star twinkled and fell, a streak of light across the night sky, causing Luna to smile, close her eyes, and make a silent wish.

As she opened them, she saw another fall, then another. Soon the night sky was spectacle to behold, a torrent of stars across a mysterious black sea. And then there were none left. All of the stars had fallen, and only the full moon remained. “Discord!” Luna called angrily as the draconequus appeared beside her. She rolled over on the ground to face him.

“Was I really that obvious?” Discord asked, smirking. “You haven’t changed much, still looking up at the sky like always. Did you like what I did?” Luna glared at him. “Alright, alright! I’ll put them back.” He snapped his fingers and the stars rose from the horizon back to their original locations.

“It was… beautiful,” Luna said. “But not what the sky should be.” She turned back on her back to face the sky, returning to her stargazing.

“You always put them in the same spots, why not change it up a little?” Discord twirled his paw, rearranging some stars to spell “Discord was here” in a neat little line. Luna turned to him with a disapproving look, and then smiled as she focused her magic on her horn, moving the stars around the moon to spell “Luna”.

“We suppose for one night, the sky can be different,” Luna said. “Happy birthday, by the way.”

“What did you wish for back there?” Discord asked Luna, turning to her. “You’re one of the most powerful alicorns in the world, and you still have wishes?”

Luna blushed. “It’s… not important. I mean, why wouldn’t I have wishes? Don’t you have wishes?”

“More than you can ever know,” Discord said, staring back up at the sky, writing with a paw. The words “is hiding embarrassing secrets” appeared behind the “Luna” written in the sky.

“Hey!” Luna said, taking control of the stars. In a matter of moments, “Discord was here” became “Discord is a prying sneak”. Discord raised an eyebrow and snapped his fingers, changing it to “Discord is a handsome prying sneak.”

“Enough,” Luna said, returning the sky to the way it was before. “It was fun, but I don’t think we’ll do that again. Promise me you’ll leave the stars alone for the rest of the night?” Discord sighed.

“Very well, I promise to leave the stars alone for the rest of this night,” he said. As Luna turned to return to the castle, Discord stared at the moon, rearranging the shadows to form a picture of Luna’s angry face with her mouth open mid-lecture. “Never said anything about the moon,” he smiled, turning to leave. A rustling in the trees made him stop. “What have we here?”

“Discord!” Rainbow Dash fell out of the tree, landing softly on the ground. “I knew it was you!” she said.

“Guilty as charged,” Discord said. “But how much exactly did you see?” Rainbow Dash stopped to think.

“Well… I’m guessing Pinkie Pie’s cupcake problem was you… and all the skywriting and the moon. And you’re probably also the reason Twilight hasn’t left her library since noon. I tried finding you after I saw Pinkie Pie, but you’re kind of hard to follow, even for me,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well, now that you’ve caught up with me, what is it you wanted? If you’re afraid of my return to supreme chaotic overlord, you can rest easy, it was just my birthday and I was having a little fun. The pranking will stop after today,” Discord said. “By the way, you may want to check out Princess Celestia if you haven’t already.”

“Whoa, who says I wanted you to stop? Today was awesome! Everypony having no idea what was going on, freaking out over nothing. Their reactions were hilarious. What happened to Celestia, by the way?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Mustache,” Discord said, sprouting the same mustache and shaving it off in a matter of seconds.

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash fell over laughing, then recovered. “Anyway, I’m so glad I finally caught you. I suppose I should’ve known you were into pranking. I’ve been doing it for a while myself actually. So now that you’re on our side, how about you and I team up? I know a couple targets who could use a good pranking, and you have just the power to do it.”

“Interesting,” Discord said. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I just can’t bring myself to go around every day making so many ponies unhappy.” Rainbow Dash gave him a disappointed frown, then turned away, flying off into the sky. Discord’s face emerged from a nearby cloud. “Gotcha! I’m in. When do we start?”

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