Discords Day Out

Once he was over Canerlot he slowly descended into the city. He landed near a fountain with two pegasi holding up a raincloud, which was of course where the water came from. He took a good long look and decided to bring them to life.

He commanded them to animate. Nothing happened. He tried again this time putting a bit more effort into it. Still nothing. He planted his hooves spread apart and concentrated on them as hard as he could, scrunching up his brow in the process.

A few bystanders had gathered, wondering what in Equestria this strange pegasus was attempting. Once he noticed he relaxed and after giving a moment of thought to his explanation he stated loudly, “and so you see fillies and gentlecolts, if you concentrate hard enough, even a pegasus can use a spell that makes a crowd gather, now I will just go collect those fifteen bits from my friend who dared me to attempt this amazing feet of will-bending magic!”

Not many ponies found it amusing, most just smirked and walked away with their noses in the air. Typical upper class snobs.

Still, the problem remained of why his magic hadn’t worked. He pondered on it for a moment, the last time he had done this spell he had retained his magic. His magic was slightly weaker of course, but it was still there. He continued to reflect on the different traits and rules of magic until he remembered something very important. He had inhabited a pegasus.

The last time he had inhabited a pony’s body was when he had infected Starswirl the Bearded, who was a unicorn. So he still had the horn to focus his magic through, but pegasi lacked the appendage needed to produce spells. This day seemed less and less exciting every minute.

It took only moments after this realization to remember his beloved daughter, Screwball. She appeared to be an earth pony, but she fell more along the lines of demidgod, being created directly by him. Godly asexual breeding could be in itself a form of chaos after all. She had impressive magical ability, despite her lack of a horn. She didn’t need one since she was not really a pony. She could definitely be of help in his ventures.

It didn’t take long to get to the Everfree forest from Canterlot, maybe a half hour at most. He made absolute sure to stick his tongue out at Ponyville as he passed overhead, still making sure that nopony would actually see him, didn’t want an encounter with any of the bearers of harmony, whether or not he looked like himself.

Once he located the cave from the safety of approximately one thousand feet he quickly descended to the mouth of the cavern, doing his best not to be exposed below the tree line for more than a few seconds, and galloped in full speed. Discord wouldn’t die from the monsters of the forest, but his body would.

It wasn’t dark at all inside. There were multiple magical light sources scattered randomly all over the interior. There were multiple tapestries with magical paintings of him laughing and showing off his many chaotic art pieces he had created. He could still remember making them with his beloved. He hadn’t gotten much of a chance to add to her collection in his short respite from imprisonment, which he felt truly sorry for. He hoped this day out with his daughter could help to make up for that.

Besides these meager décor there were some other additions that he didn’t remember. Several hundred feathers were haphazardly stuffed into a chipped glass vase, some pegasus feathers and some bird feathers, a pile of spools of twine lay sat in the corner, and some sheep wool hung from tree roots coming into the ceiling. She was obviously working on a crafts project of some sort.

He was currently alone in the subterranean domicile, and he hoped she would return soon so they could begin their family misadventures. But for now he started to investigate into the next room.

This room also showed evidence of creation. It appeared she had been making stuffed ponies out of the materials in the previous room. Not too shabby he had to admit. They had faded brown fabric sides; the fabric was coarse but obviously professionally made. Limbs were haphazardly sewn on as separate premade pieces. It appeared these stringy joints wouldn’t hold if too much force were exerted upon them.

Some were torn up and scattered about and some were intact, they all seemed to be identical in every way except for the color of the buttons they had for eyes, which no two ponies had the same combination of. He picked up a green and blue eyed pony, and it moved! It had jerked its head up and looked at him! He quickly dropped it like it was hot. He wasn’t scared of it; he just wasn’t expecting it to be alive. Screwball had been practicing her come to life spell it seemed.

Once it hit the floor the very little pony got up and started making odd squeaking sounds. After a few seconds of it a few other intact ones got up and did the same. Now a small chorus of small ponies was chirping and squealing away. It was amusing, but when they kept it up for a few minutes he became uneasy. Why were his daughters creations making these sounds? Were they even his daughter’s creations? Of course they were he reminded himself, who else would have such a disorderly home with such ugly creations doing things that made no sense? The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“Who are you?!” a voice rang out behind Discord just as a magical bubble appeared around him. He turned and looked at her, she looked the same, pink fur, purple and white mane and tail, and purple swirls for pupils. After a moment she asked again “who are you?”

Once he had collected himself he answered back, “it’s me honey. Daddy Discord is back.” He gave a nervous grin. “And if you’re wondering about the body, it’s just some random pony that was dumb enough to touch my goat horn, and I switched bodies.”

Screwball looked absolutely delighted, and then her face moved into a more angry expression. “Do you expect me to believe that?”

Even more things Discord hadn’t thought out. “Why yes, ask me anything that only I would know.” Not the most original way to convince someone of your identity, but it worked.

Screwball pondered for a moment and then asked, “How did you create me?”

This was a simple question, definitely something only he would know, but he had never told Screwball before. That’s what these pony dolls are for, he realized. She’s trying to create a daughter of her own, but she doesn’t know how.

He smiled, “We both know I’ve never told you that before, and it was a good try at getting information that I might not have given you for personal reasons, but lucky for you, I suppose if I want to be able to get some time with my daughter doing what I might not have another chance to do for eons, I don’t have a choice.”

She leaned in closer, eager to glean the information from him. “I created you from dolls similar to these, and gave you approximately a twentieth of my magical power, it was two thousand years ago, I don’t remember all the details. It’s too bad though, it would appear that you are trying to replicate it.”

She reflected the answer for a moment, and then grabbed a notebook down from a shelf, scribbled a few quick notes in it, and put it away, in a different place than before of course.

She looked back at him, disappointment apparent in her expression. “Since you knew you never told me, I’ll accept that answer. Now what’s this about spending some time with me?”

It was just what discord had been waiting for. “I don’t have the same powers as I did when possessing Starswirl the Bearded. I was hoping you could help me seed some discord.”

She looked absolutely ecstatic as he said it. She lowered the shield, galloped up to him and embraced him in a vice like hug. She continued to suffocate him for a few moments, and then released him to allow his respiration again.

“Before we go out, we’ll both need disguises,” she stated, “I would like to continue my existence pitchfork free, I enjoy chaos, but not directed towards me. And yes it is hypocritical but that is a form of chaos in itself if you ask me.”

“Ok but why would I need a disguise too?” he questioned.

“Because your pupils are highly dilated, it looks as though you just smoked some mare-owanna, and it was really good.”

Discord had completely forgotten that his pupils dilated when possessing a body. “Oh of course! How could I have forgotten? Do you have something to cover over my eyes?”

“Here you go,” she replied, using a simple summoning spell. “These should do.”

“Hmm…” She looked him over once he had them on. “How about a little something to go with it?” Using the same spell, she summoned a bowtie, and a black vest. “Put these on with it.”

He did as she asked, and she levitated a mirror out of the next room.

“What do you think?”

“I think I look rather… snazzy.” He said, while admiring himself in the mirror. “Turmoil has never looked so stylish.”