Luna was a thousand feet above Fort Canterlot. Gingerly, she raised a hoof and set it upon a ledge barely above her elbows. Freezing winds buffeted her and tossed her cornflower blue mane about wildly, making flight impractical at best, suicidal at worst. The winds changed directions without a hint of warning every several seconds, making progress a snail’s crawl.

One such sudden change of wind nearly took her hoof off the next hoofhold. A quick burst of magic tethering Luna to the rock wall was the only stopping her from tumbling down the mountain to her certain death. I shall strangle Discord when I see him later for hosting the meeting at the worst possible location, she thought. Enduring an hour of the mischievous spirit’s “court”—and a possible pie to the face—in the Land of Everchanging Changes was preferable to this.

Luna pressed on upwards. Snow and hail joined the winds. Rocks and ledges became slippery with snow and ice. At the last hoofhold, Luna slipped and would have had herself hurled off the mountain had a golden aura enveloping her not arrested her fall. Cursing silently, Luna glared at the two figures atop the summit.

Discord looked disgustingly smug as he floated without a care in the world in the blasting wind while Celestia, her pink mane flailing in the wind, flashed an apologetic smile, as though for agreeing to the location of this meeting. Of course, it could have been worse, her sister could had been busy making out with Discord.

“Sister. Discord.”

Discord twisted on his lanky, serpentine body towards Luna. “Luna!” he began. “How good of you to finally join us!”

“I hope you had a good journey, sister,” Celestia added.

Luna straightened herself. “Of course, sister. Of course I had.”

And I had already lost count of how many times I nearly fell off the mountain. She carefully put her urge to throttle Discord aside. Celestia would be heartbroken if Discord asphyxiated.

A snap of talons brought Celestia and Luna’s attention to Discord. “Now then! The meeting can start!” He pulled a cloud under him and curled comfortably on top of it.

“Harmony and Chaos have been against each other for millennia. My Father against your Mother, you know?” Discord struck a dramatic pose. “It is now time to change that!”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “You and my sister’s engagement and the wedding next month would have suffice—”

Discord shook a talon at Luna. “Tsk, tsk, Luna. That made Father merely peeved.” In an instant he was up in Luna’s face. “I want him hopping, frothing mad with rage!”

Luna glared at Discord, unimpressed. “My sister is not a vehicle for your personal tantrums with your father, Discord.”

Discord had the decency to look taken aback. “Why Luna, you wound me!” With a snap of his talons, he disappeared and reappeared, wrapped around Celestia. “I would never do such a thing to my beloved! Is that not, dear?” Discord gave Celestia a peck on her cheek.

Celestia blushed. “No, you would not.”

Luna stamped a hoof on the rocky ground. “As if you planning to elope with my sister is not infuriating to both Mother and your Father, Discord.”

At the word “elope”, Celestia flushed beet red. Discord floated lazily to Luna.

“Now, now. A honeymoon to a desert island in the middle of the Ocean of Peace is hardly ‘elopement’, dear Luna,” Discord said, pinching Luna’s cheek.

Luna swatted his claws away. “What then?” she spat. “What are you proposing?”

The smug smile returned on Discord’s face. “Since Celestia and I are to be wed, I figured that we should have a marriage of systems as well.”

“What do you mean—” Then it dawned on Luna. “Harmony and Chaos combined…”

“Indeed, Luna,” Celestia spoke up. “Right now, things are too structured, too orderly, even within Chaos. We operate in our own domains and never affect the other.”

“A sun and moon that move on their own, regulated in a timely fashion! Weather that move and progress in a predictable cycle and movement! Think of all the possibilities!” Discord beamed. “And how mad Father would be when all of us work together!”

Luna fell upon her haunches, stunned. “That… that is an excellent idea, actually.” She blinked. “But to go against Mother…”

“And that is why we must all give our best.” Discord grinned. “For we shall rail against the ones who raised this world.”