Midnight Meeting of Villainous Past (Nimbus) [Concluded]

[CableZ]

The sun had set only 10 minutes ago, its brilliant golden rays were still slightly visible over the horizon. Equestria had gone quiet for the night, very few ponies stayed up late, the only city to really go for 24 hours being Manehatten. The most activity that happened during the night at Canterlot was the changing of the guard, which gives an idea of how boring the night got around the place on an average day, or night as it were. A certain Draconequus had been hanging around the castle that day, it was the only place he could stay without ponies running and fleeing from him in terror, or even trying to attack him. It was a pretty boring place for him as well, it was all business around here, nopony had any fun, it was all "PROTECT THE PRINCESS" "GAURD THAT AREA" and "DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH DISCORD" ugh, how dull.

Lucky for them Discord was around the liven the place up, he recalled one fairly hysterical moment when he changed the water in the water cooler to white wine vinegar...nopony saw that coming. Other various pranks had been pulled that day, although some not by Discord, it seemed like the guards enjoyed the chance to blow of some steam, and Discord had made some tentative friends it seemed. Still, there was little to be done at night, the night guard's only duty was to stay put and watch for trouble, they had no duties or breaks, it was boring. So Discord was laid out on the guard rail of a balcony that looked out on the gardens of the castle, trying to think of something to do.

"Why is it that ponies must always sleep during the night, theres so much fun to be had in the dark" He pressed the back of his wrist to his forehead in an overly dramatic way, before laying back on the large stone guard rail

[Nimbus]

Luna, being the princess of the night had just begun her "day" as it were, she liked to wander the castle just after sun down because it was much more quiet, strangely even after all of this time she was still adjusting to being back, a thousand years is a long time for someone to be gone and for much to change. There were still things she was not entirely aware of that had changed drastically, although it was safe to say she understood the new Equestria she had been flung back into after the events of the 1000'th night.

Luna had been made aware that Discord was at the castle that day, but she was not anticipating to run into him doing as she does. There was no reason for them to see each other, not in an unfriendly way, but simply because luna's affairs were to be done at night, and not during the day, the time in which she had assumed him to be there.

By this point the guards were changing, being as she had just raised the moon , so for these few minutes there were no guards in this particular area. She headed down the corridor before pausing, noticing what appeared to be a long figure laid across the railings. She proceeded forwards to find it was none other than Discord, at this point she sharply inhaled in panic, but she then remembered he had been trained to "behave" by Twilight. For a moment she seemed to revert to an older time, with her first instinct to alert her sister to the presence of him in the castle, to call the guards, but then she collected herself and stopped her momentary shock. Although it had been said she could trust him now, she remained weary of this one, as she knew the havoc he can cause.

Stepping out onto the balcony she looked at him in a rather puzzled manner, why would he be in her area of the castle at all? Or, perhaps by his very nature there was no true reason for this. She would soon find out, he appeared to be monologuing about the night, she felt almost rude for interjecting in what was being said, but it was perhaps a more tactile way of finding out why he was here than asking straight away.

"Ponies must sleep in the dark because they become weary during the day working for their keep, as it were, Discord. Not because they wish to miss out, quite the contrary actually, they sleep at night to avoid missing out during the day, some do the opposite and do their part at night. Manehatten never sleeps, something is always happening there."

She paused and allowed a silence to pass, wondering perhaps what she would say next, or more importantly, what his intentions for being there were

"Might I inquire Discord as to the nature of you being in this part of the castle? "

She hoped for a rational answer here, perhaps she would get one, perhaps she would not.

[CableZ]

Discord's eyes rolled around to look at Luna, he had to admit that while he was well aware of her presence in the modern world, it was very odd seeing her. The two had not laid eyes on eachother since he was first turned to stone at the arrival of the two princesses, even when Discord broke out of that stone prison he had not seen her, and even after his reform..no Luna. It was surreal really, like looking into the past, being reminded of things you thought you had forgotten. Still, he was a reformed Discord, so he would not allow bad blood between the two ruin their fresh start, well he hoped that she would be the same way, he recalled that she got a bit vengeful after he was returned to stone. Sitting up and bringing his legs to a dangle over the railing, facing Luna, he lazily swayed his tail from side to side.

"You of all ponies I would expect to embrace the night, after all, you made it" he chuckled, floating up into the air like a balloon, only to appear behind her a few seconds later. "That's the problem with ponies, they stick a routine because if they don't, they miss out on what the routine gives them, never thinking there might be more to it than that" he chuckled as he floated lazily about the general area.

He came to a screeching halt, and I mean screeching, brake noise and stuttering movement and everything, when asked why he was here. More specifically why he was in this part of the castle, interesting question really, he hadn't considered that each princess had their own part of the castle, maybe their relationship was a bit more tenuous than he thought. He'd be told that the sisters were very serious about their duties a lot of the time, he always assumed that they were happy siblings behind closed doors as well. He pulled softly on his beard thoughtfully before looking back to Luna and giving her a shrug. In an instant he disappeared and the appeared in the exact same pose as before, only upside down.

"I'm afraid theres no answer to that question Princess, seemed like this part of the castle was as boring as any other" he sighed a little, he really was getting a bored in this place, to the point that it got him down.

[Nimbus]

Luna sat for a moment thinking about what Discord had said, about them missing out, and there being more to it than routine. Funny, she hadn't really given it much thought other than ponies are used to sleeping at night, it is the time when they are tired, and so on. Then it became apparent discord was bored of this part of the castle, if not the whole castle, perhaps she could give discord a chance and have a "nice" chat with him? or at least, stop seeing him as a former enemy and as someone who was going to be around from now on.

"You know...perhaps you're right about them not knowing there is more to their life than their routine... Then again some openly embrace the night time, or at least some of it. I, for one of course embrace the night as I am in charge of it. I do, however wish there was... More to the night than ensuring those sleeping are all well, the castle becomes exceedingly tiresome at night, with little to do at all, it really is rather boring, as you put it. Then again nightmare night was incredibly fun, as are the dreams of some of the ponies which I happen to have wandered into."

She chuckled to herself imagining nightmare night once again, how she had come back to ponyville rather confused and without any idea what exactly she was doing, using the royal voice, playing the games, messing with the ponies near the nightmare moon statue with Twilight.

"If only there was more to do at night, like that, it would make the time pass quicker, not to mention be a lot more entertaining, especially for someone such as yourself, who openly seek some kind of entertainment. Perhaps you and I could do something tonight in the meantime, to get to know each other after our... somewhat troubled past"

She would never usually suggest such a thing, however with his recent rehabilitation and apparent boredom, she saw it a good opportunity to get to know the real and reformed discord, rather than leave him to be bored, and potentially get himself into trouble, not that she doesn't trust him, but given their past it would always be a concern. Though she did share his boredom, there really wasn't much for her to do at night, and she would enjoy occupying herself because her duty can often get lonely.

[CableZ]

Discord raised an eyebrow at the princess, was this the same Luna he had once fought with. He recalled the younger of the two princesses always being a little serious, taking a lot of what she did too seriously, then again he didn't exactly know her for too long before he became a statue. He saw her every so often when she wandered the gardens when he was stone, but everything was more like a dream when he was a statue, he hated it. Floating up a bit, he stroked his beard for a moment before giving her a smile.

"Alright then Princess, let's have some fun" He grinned

Turning around, he looked down at the guards that were patrolling the garden, Turning back to the princess. He wondered if she might have a bit of fun playing a few pranks on the gaurds.

"Princess...why don't we make this our own little personnel Nightmare Night, and liven the nights up of the guards down there." He asked with a smirk.

[Nimbus]

Luna did think for a moment that perhaps she was being too hasty in trusting, or having fun with a previous adversary, but then she recalled that she had been told it was perhaps a better Idea to allow others to have a second chance, and to actually enjoy herself now that she had returned to some kind of normality.

She saw Discord eye the guards, then heard his proposition for "fun", somewhat anticipating his intent in her own mind, but she could see how it could be amusing, and was prepared to hear out this little escapade, but first she would have a few questions

"Our own little Nightmare Night? You mean, play a joke on those unsuspecting guards? That's... Well, actually it sounds quite fun"

She said this with some hesitation because she really didn't know what Discord had in mind for a "Prank"

"...What do you have in mind? I suppose it's all fun and games as long as no one gets hurt in the process..."

Luna was up for fun sure, just so long as no one was harmed, their ego and perhaps embarrassment aside. A few pranks like those of nightmare night might do this princess some good in what would otherwise be a rather serious evening.

[CableZ]

Discord watched as the guards wandered around the same sort of pattern, their path led them through a section of the maze that cut around the garden. With a smirk he got an idea, a very cliché and used idea, but a funny idea never the less. Turning back to Luna, he placed a hand on his heart, looking a hurt look.

"Oh now Luna,I'm hurt, you know I'm not that sort of Discord anymore, I'm not gonna hurt anypony" Despite his over the top acting, he did sound sincere, and he didn't have any fingers cross.

He turned back to face the garden, placing his hands on the railing and smirking, the fluff on the end of his tail formed a hand, and beckoned the princess over. once the princess was by his side, Discord waited for both of the guards in the gardens to be in the maze section of their route. At the precise moment that they were in the maze, and had both turned a corner, Discord snapped his fingers, and the maze began to rearrange itself. The hedge walls closed behind them an a new route was made in the maze, that leg no where, it would circle them around.

"I wonder how long it will take them to notice" He chuckled.

[Nimbus]

Luna's facade of somewhat seriousness cracked as she laughed at what Discord had done, he hadn't harmed anyone, and, to be fair it was funny. She stood for a few minutes just watching as these guards went and doubled back on themselves, looking at one another in confusion, then retracing their steps to only believe themselves more lost in the process. This kind of fun Luna could get used to, it wasn't hurting anypony, so she wasn't causing harm, to her, if anything she was livening up the night of two guards. She sat laughing for a while before turning to Discord

"I must say Discord that is incredibly funny, how long indeed? Well, they still haven't worked out that they've nearly gone in a complete circle as it is, so my guess is this could go on for a long, long time"

She then thought to herself how she could add to this "Fun". Then she remembered what she had done on nightmare night, and began to think of doing something of that nature. She stared intently at the maze, as magic darted towards it, a half-smirk on her face as what looked like a shadow of her, or at least a silhouette joined the maze, darting by the guards now and then to provoke them to move quicker in an attempt to give them a quick scare, obviously with no harm intended, because what kind of princess would she be if she harmed them? No this was just for the fun of it, and she was going to allow herself to enjoy it just this once.

[CableZ]

Discord was holding back his laughter when the guards circled for the 5th time, but when Luna started making them move faster, he broke out in a fit of giggles. He covered his eyes with his hand as he laughed and laughed, leaning over the guard rail for support, as he was laughing to much to support himself. He slid down the guard rail like he was mostly liquid, his body matching the shape of it as he slid down to the floor. He quickly hopped back up into his usual floaty nature.

"You're a natural, come on, there are probably some more guards to mess around with" He smirked, floating back into the castle , turning back and waiting for her to follow him.

[Nimbus]

Luna seemed rather satisfied with herself, having made this once adversary laugh along with her, it was strange, she still wasn't all that used to letting herself just enjoy things for once, to her things before were all "Duty, Duty, Duty" so coming back and being shown that it's ok for her to step away from her "job" as it were, to enjoy herself.

When discord turned to find some other guards, a thought came to mind about where one might find said guards, not that they were hard to find, being stationed regularly around the castle. She however particularly thought about the bigger places in the castle, the empty throne room still had guards in it, the main entrance hall, any of the wings to the castle, the gardens or even the currently empty dining quarters.

There was even the actual guard's residence, which is often referred to as the "Barracks", a very militant name, yes but it had more of a ring to it than "where the guards sleep when they're between shifts"

She followed Discord into the hallway behind them and then she made a suggestion

"Discord, there are plenty of places where there are guards, take your pick, obviously there are areas of the castle where there would be more, the barracks included, but take your pick, you seem better at constructing a prank that I do, I imagine you envision it better, so go ahead and take a pick at anywhere to go, personally I'd suggest either the gardens or their living quarters, because even though we messed with the maze, there's more to be done in the gardens than just that, surely"

she quietly laughed to herself thinking of potential ideas for messing with the guard, immature? Yes. But there wasn't anything mature about this kind of enjoyment, nor did she care

[CableZ]

Discord turned back to face the princess with an eyebrow raise, although it did raise with a creaking wood sound. Then the same wood sound followed his smile. He laughed a little, he was actually starting to have fun. Floating back over to her, flowing like water in the air, he circled around her for a moment.

"I like the way you think Princess...hmm now, decisions decisions" He stroked his little beard again, while floating around. "Well Princess, I'd say it was up to you, it is your night after all" He smiled at her, Floating around back over to the balcony stone railing, looking out at the maze. He then turned and bowed to the princess "Your wish is my desire...Luna" He hadn't said her name yet, it felt weird to say.

[Nimbus]

It would appear it had fallen to Luna to make a decision, she admired that Discord was genuinely interested in having fun as opposed to the latter of things he had a rapport for in the past, but it wasn't about that now, it was about what could be done in what would appear to be a new found love of amusement (all bee it at the somewhat expense of others, without bad intention. Luna grinned as she pondered her possibilities, where could they go...

She sat in place for a moment, Discord drifting around as he did, tapping her chin with her hoof in thought, before deciding that it would be most entertaining to go to...

"Very well Discord, the barracks it is, since there will be more guards there, the more fun we should have, plus there's plenty of places for us to see what's going on from a distance... Vantage points if you will, follow me"

She lead Discord to what was formally known as the barracks, which in reality was a small building that was overlooked by an adjacent balcony at the opposite end of the silent corridor they were on, this corridor ran along one turret of the castle looking over the garden, the barracks was the other end of the garden,which Luna had now shown them to.

She used her magic to open the doors as quiet as possible, not alerting anypony, this lead on to a balcony that overlooked where the barracks stood, all it was was a turret detached from the main castle other than via a bridge along the castle wall, which entered the castle to the left of the new balcony. On the bridge there stood two guards at the end nearest the barracks, through windows and around the barracks there were plenty of guards around, some were going to bed, others waking, others on patrol, and some off duty, just talking.

"Right discord, this is the barracks, I've picked the best position to look at what we can do, as you can see there are plenty of people to prank, but let us be careful as to not cause a palace-wide panic that we have an intruder or something, I have the feeling that would require me to deal with a rather unhappy sister"

She began to laugh towards the end of that sentence, she then stood thinking to herself about what could be done next, some ideas came and went, she decided since she had picked where, she would allow discord to pick the first what

[CableZ]

Discord floated along with with Luna, his bodily lazily moving in a flowing patter as he moved, almost like a snake in water. He had a happy smirk on his face, this was fun, he already had ideas on what they would do. Discord had yet to visit this part of the castle, frankly he just thought that the guards lived in their own homes, which most of them did, he just never expected them to live in the castle as well. He'd never followed a guard long enough to see it frankly, I mean, why would he follow a guard for their entire shift?

As they went into sneak mode, Discord floated lower down to the floor, and began pushing along it like a caterpillar, bringing his tail forward while keeping his body still, then pushing forward. From their current position they could see into the barracks, the various beds and lockers were an immediate point of interest for Discord, as it seemed to be the area with the highest concentration of guards.

"Hey princess...watch this" He smirked, before clicking his fingers.

At that moment, all of the open lockers slammed shut, and the guards who were stood at them got a big shock, however when they opened the lockers back up...their stuff wasn't there. Until some quick investigation all the lockers contents had been moved around into various other lockers. As they were inspecting, Discord snapped his fingers again, and the lockers all slammed shut once more. However when the guards tentatively opened them again, their locker contents were now replaced with...things that weren't even in the lockers. In one of the lockers was the water cooler, in another was a potted plant, and in one was a very confused guard who had been sleeping.

[Nimbus]

Luna, watching in awe as the guards gazed on confused as their belongings were swapped around, she managed to control her laughter for the most part, until of course the guard appeared in the locker, at which point she was on the floor laughing, she hadn't laughed like that in ages, literally. She wiped a tear from her eye and said

"Oh my, allow me to catch my breath, that was *ghasp* hilarious! I'm going to have to do something rather grandiose to compete with that..."

She thought for a moment about how she could mess with the guards next, she focused for a second and in a flash of magic, the beds had tipped upside down and were now stuck to the ceiling of the barracks, guards tipping out of them in confusion only when they actually made contact with the roof, none were hurt, mainly due to the low ceilings and the guards not being the weakest of ponies. Luna left the beds there, as if frozen. Next she looked to the mannequins the guards off-duty would rest their armour on, and she used her magic to manipulate the armour into lifting off the stand, and moving around as if there were guards under them, there were plenty of guards now running around without armour and in complete confusion due to what discord and luna had done to them, somehow she felt bad, but not enough to stop her from laughing away to herself as the guards looked to one another confused to the point of running around like a bunch of headless chickens

"Perhaps that was entertaining enough, Discord?"

Luna said through laughs, waiting for Discord's reaction. She had hoped Celestia would be unaware of all of this, otherwise the two of them may be in trouble, but the very thought amused her and made things slightly more funny than the hysteria it already was

[CableZ]

Discord watched as Luna went to work, he was amazed, he didn't expect a princess to have such a hilarious sense of humour. Granted the princesses weren't boring, but they could be very stuck up, or uptight at least. It always made Discord smile to see someone loosen and lighten up, and be so funny while doing it. He fell from this floaty position as he gripped his dies, unable to control the laughter that was guffawing from his head. Wiping the banana milkshake tears from his eyes and slurping them up with his mouth, he did a few quick spins before flying back up and clearing his throat, still holding back a few chuckles as he looked back into the chaotic barracks. However he lost his happy smile when Luna said in a rather nervous/unsure tone.

"Enough, why what on earth do you mean princess?" Discord seemed oddly straight, almost disappointed "The night has just begun, and I've never heard of having 'enough' fun" He said with a smirk "We're doing no harm..." He looked back into the barracks, the guards now laughing at the entire situation, the panic of it being an attack over, some guards in tears as the others tried to pulled the confused guard from the locker "Even they found it funny, its just bringing joy to the bored and tired" He laughed happily. He held out his bird claw hand to her, as if a sign for her to take it "What do you say?"