The plan had backfired.
It was supposed to be fun. A joke. He was supposed to get the upper hand on them… not the other way around. And if that’s the way they felt about him, why did he even bother? Was Fluttershy the only friend he really had? And was she even his friend? She hadn’t gone to the Gala with him.

He sighed, looking out over the balcony at the landscape. This wasn’t his world. It never was and never could be. If he took it over again, he couldn’t forgive himself, and staying as he was, they would never forgive him. Lose/Lose.

His ear twitched as he heard hoofsteps to his right. He turned to see who it was, and was greeted by a solemn looking Princess of the night. He said nothing to her, turning his gaze away with a frown, but she continued her approach, finally sitting down next to him, and looking out into the world.

After a long stretch of silence, Discord glanced back over at her. She wasn’t looking at him, and was acting almost as though he wasn’t here. Confused, he glanced down at his pony body, wondering if he’d accidentally turned himself invisible, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Finally, when he could take it no longer, he snapped, “What do you want?”

The princess blinked slowly, still staring out over Equestria. “I thought, perhaps, you could use an ear.”

He snorted. “I have two of them already. What good will a third do?”

She smiled a little, but didn’t reply. After a moment, he let out a long sigh. “They still don’t like me. After all we went through, and they still treat me as just some annoyance.”

Luna looked up at the bright full moon and sighed as well. “It’s not that they do not like you, Discord; it’s that they don’t trust you.”

He let out a snort. “Same thing. I thought they’d forgiven me.”

“Forgiveness and trust are very different things.” She said quietly. “Forgiveness can be quick, but trust takes time. It is something that must be built, and once broken, can take even longer to fix.”

Discord glanced over at her. She had a distant look as she stared at the glowing orb that had once been her prison, lost in memories. “You… actually understand what I’m going through, don’t you?” He said with a surprised tone. “I’d heard of your time as Nightmare Moon, obviously, but I had been otherwise occupied during it all.”

Luna was quiet for a long time before replying, “It is not a time I remember fondly.”

“So, how did you do it, then?” He asked, “Regain their trust, I mean.”

The princess tilted her head. “I haven’t. Not completely.” When he gave her a disbelieving look, she added, “My sister put her trust in me so quickly because it was her greatest wish that things returned to the way they were, and she blamed herself for what happened. But others? There are many whom I still frighten. Some who still mistrust me, even in the palace, but dare not speak up because of my sister. I’m sure even you have noticed that I do not attend many gatherings, preferring to stay by my sister’s side when I do. I am working hard, night by night, to prove my worth… but it will take time.”

He frowned. “And me?”

“You have been given another chance, but you threw your previous one away.” She gave him a sympathetic look. “This will make it harder for you. It also means you should be exceptionally cautious. Another mistake may ruin what you have left. But if you work for it, truly and honestly, I believe you can regain what you have lost.”

Discord looked down at the ground below. He could see some ponies enjoying the courtyard outside the party, laughing and eating and talking. He didn’t honestly care what those ponies thought of him, but he did care what Fluttershy and all of her friends thought. All of them. Tirek was right; he was getting soft, but that didn’t seem to bother him anymore.

He let out a huff of annoyance, ready to ask the princess for some advice on how to get started, but before he could, there was a loud “FOUND HIM!” from above. When he looked, he caught sight of a flash of rainbow, and a few moments later, the whole Harmony group joined them on the balcony, Twilight in the lead.

The purple pony princess dipped her head. “Princess. Discord.” Luna gave her a nod. “Please excuse the interruption, but we wanted to apologize.” She turned to Discord. “What we said was insensitive, even if we didn’t know it was you. Talking about somepony behind their back is rude, and you never know who might hear and pass it along.”

“Though, you must admit,” Applejack added with a sour look, “All’a this could’a been avoided if we knew it was you.”

“I’m afraid that was my fault.” From behind the group came Princess Celestia. She nodded a greeting to them. “I convinced Discord to disguise himself.”

Fluttershy added quietly, “We all did. The Princesses Luna and Celestia and I.”

“Still…” Twilight grimaced, “It was rude of us.”

“And I’m sure you have your redeeming qualities,” Rarity spoke up, “I mean, Fluttershy likes you, and you did kind of save us by giving that medallion to Twilight.”

“And you haven’t done anything since to make us doubt you.” Rainbow added, though she did so reluctantly.

“And you make the BEST chocolate rain!”

Discord couldn’t help but smile at Pinkie’s enthusiasm and sugar addiction. He looked the group over. At least they were trying.

“What we’re trying to say,” Twilight continued, “Is that we’re sorry for what we said, and will try to give you more of a chance in the future.”

Discord nodded. “Well, I suppose I should apologize for tricking you, and I’ll do my best to regain your trust.”

Both Rainbow dash and Rarity opened their mouths to reply, but they were interrupted by Spike, who ran up to the group, out of breath. He stopped when he reached them, took in a few gulps of air, and looked at them all. “There you are! The ponies are all wondering where the Princesses went! The guards are getting nervous!”

Discord smiled at the distraction. “Well, what are we waiting for?” He disappeared from the edge of the balcony and reappeared on the other side of the group, nearest the door to the inside. “There’s a party going on and the guests of honor are missing! As well as the entity of chaotic fun AND the partiest pink pony I know!”

The tension broken, all of them smiled, at least a little.

Without a word, the lot of them moved indoors, and back to the Gala. And as they entered, Discord may have created a small pink cloud to follow Pinkie Pie around for the night…

Background by :iconstarshinecelestalis: HERE

Okay, so, after a discussion with my muse, where I told it that I wasn't doing any more MLP things until I finished at least one page of the Dragon Age Anders comic, I got maybe a third of the DA page done, and pages and pages of doodles of what happens in my MLP comic. I think I lost the discussion. So, here's the next bit. It is the end of this story arc, but not the end of my plans.

I had originally had this whole thing planned out in my head before the season finale, because Keep Calm and Flutter On did not feel as though it finished correctly for me. I wanted to fix this, and this was going to be my way of making his reformation more solid. And then the finale came out and did it for me. I still feel as though this works, in spite of that, and I did have to change a couple bits of wording to reflect the finale.

And, yeah, I had to add a bit where Twilight explains the message she learned this episode. Er... fanfic?

Anyways, let me know what you think.