Controlled Chaos, Chaotic Control

Chapters

Controlled Chaos
Chaos Unleashed
Controlling the Truth
Chaotic Past
Controlled Memories
Chaotic puppet show
Control your temper
Chaotic Control
Epilogue

Controlled Chaos

“My dear Celestia... I’ve missed you.”
“I’m not your dear anything”
“How naive you are.”

Celestia tried to get comfortable in her bed but it was to no avail, she knew her uncomfortable sleepless night was nothing to do with her luxurious bed. Rather it was an uncomfortable thought that plagued her, a problem that she could not solve no matter how many times she went over it in her head.

Emotions always had to ruin straight thinking. They poisoned rational thought and twisted your views of what was right.
She knew this because it was those parasitic emotions that she could not rid herself off that got her into her current situation.

The alicorn gave a small sigh as she felt a warm body press up against hers, flinching as she felt talons wrap around her stomach. The draconequus chuckled and stroked her stomach mock soothingly.

“What’s the matter? Too cold?” His grin stretched wider as he watched her magenta eyes glance at him sheepishly. He tightened his grip on her waist to hold her closer, resting his head on her flowing mane.

“No... I just... I can’t believe I’m here again.” Her voice didn’t sound scared but it was weak and quiet as she scanned down his mismatched body, his snake tail was playfully wrapping and unwrapping itself around her right hind leg, he chuckled and nuzzled up to her.

“How come? Don’t you sleep here every night?” He teased, closing his eyes as he found a comfortable spot against the alicorn. Celestia sighed at his sarcastic remark and glanced around her room, such a regal and prestigious bedroom seemed like the last place a spirit of chaos would spend the night.

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I just have that charm about me?” He opened his eyes again and kissed Celestia’s cheek, she sighed yet again at that, he gave a low chuckle at her sigh and held her tighter. “Oh come on, you know that’s why you turned me back.”
Celestia looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes, something about Discord made her weak and that was the reason she couldn't help stop him when he escaped the first time. Something about the Draconequus made her remember the old times when the land was young.

“I turned you back because I thought I could change you. I didn’t think you’d... Do this to me again.” She narrowed her eyes accusingly and turned away from him. Discord raised an eyebrow in slight shock, in all honesty he thought he was doing her a favour, a thousand years of loneliness was the reason, or so he thought, she changed him back. “I thought maybe I could... Make you behave.”

Discord nuzzled up to the back of her neck and gave a weary sigh, wrapping his back leg over her flank causing her cutie mark to disappear under his thigh. He loved how she didn’t resist when he went to hold her closer to him.

“Behave? Celestia I've been awake for three hours and I haven’t made one apple-yoyo or even a simple cotton candy cloud! That’s AMAZING for a spirit of chaos such as myself. I mean, I'll never CHANGE change but... I'm behaving!”

At that Celestia has no answer. She was quite impressed at him for lasting this long but she was still ashamed that he used her old infatuation against her. But one thing she couldn’t be sure of is if he’d submit to chaos again, but it sounded very likely.

“Discord....” Celestia was too tired to argue anymore. Discord smiled at her sleepy eyes and gently stroked her mane, making her eyes slowly close as she enjoyed that feeling. He grinned as he watched her slowly fall asleep as he held her.

“Rest, my dear... You have a big day tomorrow. Raising the sun at the correct time, and all that organised rubbish.” He muttered. As she fell asleep in his arms Discord pondered how long he could last without causing havoc, not long, he surmised that soon he’ll give into his old ways.... But for now he was free thanks to Celestia, she wouldn’t wake until the sun was supposed to rise. He grinned at the thought of causing some temporary chaos during the night as she slept to tide him over.

Faster than the eye can see he created a temporary duplicate in his place, holding his dear Celestia. With his sly smile he quietly slipped out of the castle like a shadow, being carefull that the guards didn’t see him as they were under specific instructions not to let Discord outside. Discord felt a wave of pride wash over him as he successfully weaved the vast corridors of his mares castle.

Once outside he headed to the gardens he was so familiar with. Most of the flowers had closed for the night and where resting like his sweet alicorn but some were still in bloom, taking in the moonlight like Discord was.

“So many years I looked over this place.” He said to no one. “It burned me up how slowly the flowers grew.” His fingers twitched in anticipation as he thought of the perfect chaos to wreak on the flower bed, he whispered quietly to himself to be patient, savouring the moment as he would not have an opportunity like this for a while again.

“You’re up late.” Discord froze as he heard the regal voice, as if turned to stone again, slowly his body relaxed and in a nonchalant way he turned to the princess of the night. Princess Luna glared at him with an accusing look much like her sisters, she had objected heavily to her sister about him coming out fearing he would hurt her and now catching him out so late, the accusing look was well deserved.

“Well somepony has to enjoy your beautiful night.” He continued a nonchalant tone, hoping to look innocent. “It’s such a shame that so many miss it...” He shook his head and tsked mock solemnly, hoping that maybe he could cause some sibling chaos instead.

“I don’t mind anymore.” Luna narrowed her eyes, seeing right through him, “Many a pony uses my night to clear their heads or walk side by side with their lovers.” Her face softened a little “My night offers protection, solitude.”

Discord resisted the urge to look disappointed, instead nodding in ‘agreement’ and going to walk away from the princess with a foolish hope she would not follow. Luna trotted along beside him, not letting him out her sight for even a second.

“Why, exactly, are you following me?” He put on a smile. The princess put on an equally fake one as well.

“Well obviously you wanted to go for a walk so I’ll follow you.” She looked away from him and said casually “This is a good twist of fate, I had a few questions I needed to ask you.”

A sinking feeling rose in the spirit of chaos. He opened his mouth to speak,

“Number one;” She cut him off with her bold voice before he could refuse “Have you touched my sister?”

The sensible part of Discord knew to lie but we all know that part of him is weaker than a newborn filly.

“Why yes, I have.” He said in a proud tone apparently forgetting he was talking to her sister. Luna stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth hanging open.

“You vile beast! How dare you touch my sister?!” Her voice was almost at royal Canterlot level as she furiously stomped her hoof against the stone path. Discord realised his error far too late and knew he was in very dangerous territory, saying the wrong thing now could be fatal.

“I-I... Well.. You see Luna.. When two ponies love each other very much-“

“Are you saying you love my sister?!” Her eyes flushed with rage, not believing it for a second but wanting to trip Discord up by making random anger fuelled accusations, she already had a fair few lined up and ready to fire.

“Well... I wasn’t.. I didn’t... “ A small sigh escaped him. “Obviously my feelings for her have lingered since we were young, Luna. They don’t simply disappear.” He desperately wanted to leave this awkward death trap. He didn’t care about his chaos urge, he simply wanted to be near Celestia where it was safe and no one was looking at him with murderous rage.
To his surprise, Luna’s rage seem to quell. Her face softened and her body relaxed. Discord narrowed his eyes a little in confusion as she looked at her hooves sadly.

“You... Do? I didn’t...” She glanced up at him, “I remember when we were young, before I was banished, you were crazy about her, are you saying you still feel that way?”

In all honestly Discord had forgetting his obsession. As he thought about it memories flooded back to him; the nights they spent talking about their future roles, the days he spent by her side playing with her despite her mothers obje- well in all truth he played with her especially because of her mother’s objections. He remembered them practising magic and failing miserably, the day Celestia got her cutie mark as she raised the sun herself for the first time, the day Discord realised he could never be with her, the day he lashed out at the world and the day his love for chaos was born.
His face grew blank as he thought over all the new colliding thoughts in his head. The thought that especially stood out was when he realised he could never be with her. He was a spirit of chaos, he was made to create chaos. Chaos was a part of him, that part was still frustrated that his previous attempt was interrupted, that part still called out to him like a beacon in the boring, organised night.

Something as chaotic as him was never meant to be with a Goddess.

He would succumb to chaos.

He would lose her again.

So was it worth it?

“Discord?” Luna snapped him out of his trance, her words carried a urgency like the whole world depended on his answer. In truth, it did. “Do you still love her?”

“.... Of course I do.” He muttered, not focussing on Luna at all. It was as if he was reminding himself instead of telling Luna, “Of course I love her. Despite her being so boringly normal she’s... Astounding.”

Luna stared at him, not knowing what to say or do, she knew her anger still remained but part of her pitied him. She knew the inevitable as much as Celestia and Discord did and the pain she felt was not for him but for her older sister. A pain in her heart, almost preparing her for the pain she’ll have to see in her sisters face.

“If you excuse me.” He said quietly, all his usual zest completely drained from his voice, “I need to go to bed.”
The draconequus slowly walked into the castle, putting one mismatched foot in front of the other. He hated the feeling in his chest, fear, love and hatred, though he could not place who the hatred was for.

Was it for himself for being so addicted to chaos? He did not know.

Was it for Celestia for being so damn important? He was not sure.

Maybe it was for Luna for seeing him so upset and weak, if just for a moment? That could be it.

All he knew was that he loved Celestia and that he’d have to break her heart eventually. He needed chaos, he thrived off it.

He couldn’t go much longer without it.

Well, maybe he could last a few more days.

Chaos Unleashed

“You do realise mother hates you?”
“I love you, you idiot. I don’t care about her.”
“Please... Please don’t say that....”

Discord poked the vegetarian meal put in front of him. He couldn’t eat in the dining room so was having his meals in Celestia’s bedroom. Celestia hated how she both couldn’t leave him alone and didn’t want to leave him alone, her feelings made her feel slightly giddy inside when she sat near him and when he laughed she felt happy. Such feelings weren’t right and yet they felt so good she couldn’t help but indulge them.

“Stop poking it. Eat it.” She didn’t sound annoyed, more amused at the odd look of distain. She took a bite out of her own salad, she was sitting close enough to Discord to feel when he shuddered.

“Do you have any meat?” Discord was part pony but also had many carnivore parts so occasionally craved something else, Celestia raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “What? You know I’m an omnivore.” She nodded slowly remembering

“Ah yes. That was quite a shock to learn on our second date.” Celestia muttered, taking another bite out her salad. Discord let out a laugh as he remembered.

“Oh I remember now! You should off seen the look on your face!” He chuckled and put a paw over his eyes as he remembered how shocked she looked when he pulled out a cooked chicken out the picnic basket. Celestia couldn’t help smile at his laugh.

Being a vegetarian living in a predominantly vegetarian society she didn’t have any meat in the castle so after an unsatisfactory meal there was nothing left to say. For a while they just sat there in an awkward way.

“I have a lot to do today.” Celestia finally broke the silence. “Will you be ok?”

He hated the feeling in his chest as she said that. It was hard to behave but when he was with her he had something to do, he was distracted.

“I’ll find something to amuse myself.” He let out a dramatic groan and wrapped his arms around Celestia, they both let themselves enjoy that for a little while. “I won’t cause chaos but can I at least pull pranks on the guards?” He had the perfect one in mind; pretending to be a guard and striking up a conversation then disappearing the second he looks away. During the confusion he becomes another guard and spreads a rumour about a ghost guard. It was childish, it was silly and it was perfect.

Celestia sighed a little and shook her head, she didn’t want him to be stifled but she couldn’t risk hysteria if he was found out. Discord groaned and stood up.

“Fine, I’ll just disguise myself and go for a walk I guess.” Before Celestia could disagree Discord twisted his body into one of a stallion, his horns disappearing in a shimmer and body turning into one shade of brown, the wings turning from his mismatched pair so simple Pegasus feathers. His rear shimmered and puppeteers strings graced his flank as a cutie mark. “Ugh.. So boring.” He glances at his identical hooves almost in disgust.

Celestia stared at his new form with confusion, he was almost as tall as her and his coat was kind of shaggy but he looked like an ordinary pony, he almost looked normal but something seemed wrong. Discord noticed this look and stared back, his eyes were still the same as always, an almost demonic yellow and red.

“You look... Wrong.” She muttered. Whether or not this was an insult Discord took it as one, which at this point in time he liked because he felt the same way. Wrong.

“What do you mean wrong? I look...” A shudder of disgust. “Normal.”

“Exactly.” Her words carried all the meaning he needed. Her voice was a little weak and disinterested. Even in his stallion form his grin was still the same as ever.

“Aw... You don’t like me in this form?” He trotted over to her and nuzzled his princess, breathing her scent in for a second. “I’m sorry my love, have I ruined same species relationships for you?” He said in a low teasing tone. He let his wings out and trotted to her window ready to leave. Try as she did Celestia couldn’t say anything to him, she couldn’t say he was wrong and she didn’t want to admit he was right.

“Discord.” Celestia managed to say before he got to the window. “Do you.. Ever think that maybe if I allowed you to perform a few harmless tricks.. You’ll be able to give up wreaking chaos?”

No. Never. Not in a thousand million years. Not even for Celestia... But sometimes a white lie is what’s needed to keep the one you love happy, if only for a little while.

“Give up chaos? Of course, my sweet mare. Anything for you.” He trotted back to her and gave her a long comforting kiss, something that felt weird in his current form but still sent a little spark of electricity through them both, then turned and jumped out the open window, spreading his wings wide he caught the air and was soon flying away from the castle.

Celestia sighed deeply as he left, thinking to herself that she probably shouldn’t have let him go but part of her trusted Discord, part of her thought he’d try for her. It was the same part that loved him. Even if it would be hard she wanted to believe he’d try.

That part believed his promise.

Ponies in love are usually the blindest of the blind.

The Everfree forest was the perfect place for him at the moment, the plants grow without aid, the animals take care of themselves and the weather doesn’t need any help at all. To Discord this was the heaven, what more perfect a place for a spirit of chaos than a chaotic land?

His stallion charade faded and Discord let out a breath of relief as his mismatched form returned to him.

“Perfect again.” He smiled to himself. Looking around he saw no animals intelligent enough to rat on him if he caused a bit of a ruckus. “Dare I...? If my dear found out... She won’t find out.” His smile widened.

He could cause so much chaos in an empty place. It wouldn’t be the same as causing chaos in front of other ponies but it would tide him over, it’d be just enough for him. His fingers began to itch again at the thought, the very thought of causing chaos created a light headed rush that flowed through him filling his very being to the brim with excitement. He couldn’t hold himself back anymore, his excitement was causing his breathing to get quicker and quicker and he needed to let it out. With a flick of his wrist the path he was on changed into a light shade of pink, he flapped his wings and lifted himself in the air before the pink goo reached his feet. The draconequus giggled manically at the animals getting stuck on the bubblegum path he had created. This felt so good to him after so long.

More.

He needed more.

He pointed to a tree and instantly it twisted and turned, small spring like noises where emitted as the bark became elastic. Another manic laugh escaped him.

More.

Bang. Boom. Sproing. One after another things where altered in chaotic and random ways. Discord felt happier and happier with every single change he made. The chaos surrounding him was causing wave after wave of ecstatic joy to wash over him, spurring him on to creating more and more.

He smiled wide and spun around, observing the effects around him with proud wide eyes.

Eyes.

There was another set of eyes watching him.

Discord froze as he saw them, they weren’t fleeing, they were scared but they where a ponies eyes. No, a zebra’s eyes.

A zebra was watching him with wide, fear filled eyes. For a second nothing happened, everything fell silent and still. Discord knew if she got away everyone would instantly know it was him causing all this chaos and that he couldn’t allow.

“Whatever you do, don’t run.” His words fell on deaf eyes as she began to gallop fast away from him, His eyes opened wide in fear. “What did I just say?!”

Quick as a bolt he was after her, flapping his wings as hard as he could to catch up to the frightened zebra. He sent random bursts of his chaos after her to try and slow her down but that only served for her to run faster, she knew these forest way better than Discord and the intertwining low branches of the trees were not helping him. The zebra burst through the edge of the forest and ran as fast as she could for Ponyville. Discord knew he couldn’t go out in the open in case someone saw him and sent a final last ditch attempt ray of chaos her way.

Bull’s-eye.

The zebra shimmered brightly before shrinking to a quarter of her size, her fear filled eyes scanned her body as her vision returned to find herself turned into a young filly, she cautiously looked back to see the monster that had chased her was not following her anymore so ran as fast as her tiny legs would allow. A worried groan escaped Discords throat as he saw a young zebra run away, his chaos would wear off eventually and she’d become adult again.

She would tell everyone about him and his chaos.

He would lose Celestia’s respect.

He would lose her.

He had never felt such panic before. He needed to do something, anything. He needed to think of something quickly or he would lose everything.

Fear is a powerful thing. He could of turned back into a stallion and run after her, his long powerful adult legs would catch up to a filly in no time. He could off became invisible as is one of his chaotic talents.

But instead he simply stood there, his mind drawing a blank except for thoughts of his Celestia, the look on her face as she approached him after learning of his lies. The bitter angry words that she would insult him with, none of which he felt he deserved. He was a spirit of chaos, this was his nature, he can’t be expected to hold out but he did make a promise, an empty promise but still promise. Then the inevitable.

The cold stone imprisonment.

Controlling the Truth

“Somepony in my position doesn’t belong with a monster like you!”
“You... Think I’m a monster?”
“After what you did can you blame me?”

Discord never gave up easily. He just needed a little time to come up with the way to stay on top. That pony was heading to Ponyville and who would she go to? That goody two hooves and her friends. They were all women. He wasn't sexist but he knew most woman had weakness's when it came to men.

If he couldn’t force them to shut up, he’d have to resort to a much more dangerous and degrading form of persuasion.

He was going to be emotional.

Twilight was the first to see Zecora running into town, the spell on her had worn off on her a mile or so back and she was in her adult form again but her eyes were still as scared as ever. Twilight rushed over to her as she collapsed in exhaustion.

“Zecora! Oh my word, what happened to you?” She waited for her friend to catch her breath, looking over her to see if she was hurt. Her body was covered in light scrapes from the bushes she had run past but other than that she didn’t look hurt.

“A-a m-monster of mismatched form was causing a chaotic storm!” She gasped out in her usual manner. Twilight paused for a second as her thoughts instantly turned to Discord but she knew she shouldn’t jump to conclusions, after all the zebra in front of her did look very flustered.

“Zecora are you hurt? Do you need the hospital?” Twilight was becoming increasingly aware of the crowd gathering around them.

“Take me somewhere that is inside, I need somewhere safe to hide...” Zecora shakily stood up, Twilight nodded worriedly and took Zecora back to her library. Once they were inside Zecora seemed to calm down a great deal but was still shaking slightly.

“Zecora... Tell me about the monster.” Twilight got her first aid kit out and started covering the scrapes on Zecora’s body. Zecora took a deep breath and searched her memory.

“Head of pony, tail of snake, with this I make no mistake. His eyes were red and yellow too, eyes that stare right through you...” She paused to compose herself. “His magic was quite a sight, something I didn’t except that night... This tale may sound like I am joking around but surely you trust me, our friendship is sound.”

Twilight stared at the zebra with a confused look on her face, her description matched Discord to a T but he was imprisoned, she was there when he was imprisoned. Zecora looked at her nervously fearing that she didn’t take her seriously.

“Zecora... I know who you’re talking about.” She muttered quietly, fearfully. “What was he doing?

“Causing chaos it would seem, stuff you’d see only in a dream... When he saw me he was scared, seems he had been unprepared. His voice was as desperate as his chase, he panicked and he lost the race.”

Before Twilight could make sense of how a powerful being like Discord could fall behind a, no offense to her, a common zebra the door rattled with a few quick knocks.

“Oh, that’s probably Rarity with Spike. Just one second.” She made her way over to the door and pulled it open, seeing an unfamiliar stallion on the other side of the door. “Um... hi! Can I help you?”

“I was hoping you could.” His voice sent a chill down Twilights spine, it was unmistakable. Before she could do anything the stallion trotted into her library and shut the door with his magic. “Now stay calm, I’m not here to hurt any of you...” Zecora stared at him with wide eyes.

“The beast with those demonic eyes! We will not believe your lies!” She lowered herself and narrowed her eyes. Discord sighed and turned into his normal form again.

“Now please... Calm down.” His voice sounded weak and frightened, a hard stretch considering he was still giddy from earlier. Twilight was about to freak but heard the weakness in his voice and she became confused. “I... I really need your help.”

For the next half and hour Discord tried his best to keep up a pathetic act as he told them about Celestia and his chaos urge and how horrible the whole situation was. He blew everything out of proportion and even made a great deal up but he was a convincing actor and the girls fell for it.

“I mean it’s not like I can stop...” He couldn’t fashion up real tears but periodically dapped his eyes with a handkerchief to make it look like tears when silently falling. Twilight had softened a while ago after hearing of his feelings for Celestia, his words where sincere and honest at that point, whether or not the rest of it was exaggerated lies she fell for it all after getting tripped at the first emotional hurdle. “My father was such a role model of chaos... It runs in my veins...” Another fake dab, another exaggerated groan of sadness.

Zecora didn’t fully trust him but after understanding the reason for him chasing her she had calmed down slightly, listening to his tale in full. Twilight magically handed him another tissue, on the verge of needing one herself after hearing such a tale.

“You poor thing... I can’t understand having an urge to do something so.. Extreme but... You’re obviously telling the truth.” She sighed and looked at him, not believing that she actually feel sorry for him. “You're not exactly my friend but you're obviously in such distress.. I hate to see anyone like this. I... I can’t lie to Celestia but I suppose I don’t have to tell her right away.” Discord smiled a little in relief.

Another knock on the door caught their attention, followed by a singsong voice from the other side.

“Twilight!” The door swung open, Rarity trotted in happily, “Sorry I’m late darling I had a huge order to-” She froze mid-step as she saw the draconequus sprawled across the library floor. Discord smiled casually at her.

“Well hello Rarity. It’s been a while.” He leaned on his paw and smiled a little wider at her freaked out expression. Rarity stammered incoherently, trying desperately to think as she tried to make sense of this situation. Twilight gave a slight glare at his casual attitude, she slowly stood up and said in a calm way

“Rarity, I know this is a bit odd but there’s a good reason fo- where is Spike?” Her interest suddenly shifted as she noticed her assistant was nowhere to be seen. Rarity seemed shocked at her friend being so calm about the fact the being that almost tore apart their friendship was lying in the middle of the room.

“H-He’s out picking up some fabric I ordered.” She stammered, still not taking her eyes off Discord. “More importantly what is that foul beast doing here?!”

“Are you talking about me or the zebra? If it’s the latter my respect for you goes down a couple of notches.” He smiled, rolling onto his back to get most comfortable. Zecora blinked a few times at that statement but decided to say nothing. Twilight sighed and slowly walked over to her.

“Rarity...” She hushed her voice. “He’s not as bad as we first thought. It’s just his nature to create chaos, he’s actually hurt emotionally at the minute and needs our help.” Rarity didn’t see to calm down but she took her eyes off Discord to look at Twilight.

“Oh please don’t say he’s put you under his spell again.” She said in an equally hushed tone, her face twisted with worry. “I can’t fall in love with a rock again, Twilight, I just can’t.”

The girls heard Discord laugh heartily and spun around, he covered his mouth to try and stop obviously still smiling behind his paw.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that was hilarious!” He shook his head to try and stop laughing but he kept chuckling to himself. Rarity narrowed her eyes and back further away, speaking quieter.

“How exactly is he hurt?!” She questioned her friend, “He looks fine to me!”

“He’s... In love with Celestia.” She didn’t bother to hush her voice, Discord stopped laughing to eavesdrop although it was fairly obvious he was listening in. “He promised not to cause chaos anymore chaos but lost control.. He feels terrible for it but knows it’ll hurt Celestia deeply if she find out so...” Rarity knew where this was going.

“So.. You plan on lying to the princess to protect a love stricken chaotic mess?” She squinted a little in confusion.

“Well... She loves him too and I can’t imagine wh-”

“What?!” Rarity’s voice became very high pitched, “She loves him back?! Was it her that freed him to begin with? Oh it was, wasn’t it?!” Her eyes where growing larger in shock. “How could she fall for such a beast? How could she keep this a secret? How, oh how could she trust his word?!”

For a while no one said anything. Discord shifted a little where he lay and sighed, realising Rarity would never truly be on his side and he couldn’t blame her after what happened with Tom. To everybody’s surprise Rarity seemed to calm down after taking a few deep breaths.

“So... He really wants our help?” She muttered, defeated. As much as she hated Discord she couldn’t resist getting involved in such a scandalise affair.

“As painful as it is to admit it I simply can’t let my Celestia down.” He raised a talon in the air, “I promise I’ll try to control myself in the future but I do need an outlet every now and then.”

“As long as the damage is not set for life I cannot see why we can’t allow temporary strife.” Zecora said confidently, smiling a little. “You have my blessing to play in Everfree, as long as you keep it away from me.” She stood up and headed to the door. “I must head back home for now, but this has been very... Wow.” With that she left, leaving the two ponies alone with Discord.

“Now.. If I’m to be an accomplice to this lie I simply need to know details.” Rarity tried to block out the images of them together or to be more specific her guesses of how it would work. “How did you two get together? Such star crossed love is very uncommon.”

Discord pondered for a second whether to tell her then realised is he was going to keep her on his side he needed to befriend her even if it was just a little. With a heavy sigh he lifted himself off the floor and propped himself up against a wall.

“Well now, that’s an interesting story. It all began, if you forgive me for being so cliché, a long, long time ago.”

Chaotic Past

“Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?”
“I was just curious what you thought about it...”
“I don’t know what to say, I’m not a ‘baby’ sort of guy.”

To put it lightly Discords story was very one sided. The way he remembered it was he was innocent in the whole thing and everyone one else was crazy, working under the influence of the diabolical queen at that time. The story that Twilight and Rarity heard is of little importance and mostly made up so here is what actually happened for your amusement.

Every morning and every night the two young princesses watch the sun rise and set, dreaming of the day when they could do that themselves. The glistening sun sent waves of dazzling light across the lake they sat beside and the moonlight brought brilliant shimmers that shone like the finest pearl.

“Mother said I was getting close.” Luna beamed, trotting along aside her older sister as they headed to the lake. “She said soon I’ll be able to lift the moon all by myself!”

“That’s great, Luna.” Celestia said in a proud tone and didn’t mention the fact that fact that their mother had same the exact same thing to her a few days earlier.

It was still fairly dark but they had memorised the path after many journeys here so they easily found the lake, barely anything was reflected in its clear surface as the moon had long since disappeared behind a mountain in distance and the sun was yet to rise, what the pair managed to miss in the darkness was a figure sprawled across where they usually sit until they where only a few feet away. They stood there confused, they had never had something in their spot before and they didn’t know if it was intelligent to be asked politely to move, they tried to make out its form in the darkness but every time they successfully identified a limb the other one seemed to contradict it. “Um, Excuse me.”

“Hm?” It didn’t even bother looking at them.

“Could you move please?” Celestia’s horn shone with a soft light so they could see who they were talking to, both sisters eyes grew wide as they saw the beast in front of them, the creature seemed stitched together from random animals; A grey head of a pony with two different nubby horns, a brown furry body with two mismatched wings attached to his back, two vastly different arms, a red tail and two odd legs. He turned around and scratched his chin.

“I got here first.” He smiled at their shocked expressions, he never got tired of the way people looked at him.

“Well...” Luna coughed, “We are here every morning and-”

“Every night, I know but I got here first this time.” The creature looked fairly proud of himself as he said that. The two sisters glanced at each other confused, they’d never seen this thing before but he had obviously seen them, from the way he was speaking he’d seen them multiple times. “I’m here a lot and this spot is PERFECT for watching the sunrise and set but you two always hog it. I’m usually up in that tree.” He casually pointed to a tree near the spot.

“So you’ve been stalking us?!” Luna asked, shocked. The creature rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Stalking implies you’re actually interesting enough to follow around. There’s a line between ‘stalking’ and ‘sitting in a tree.’” He grinned and got comfortable against the ground again. Luna was not happy about being spoken to that way and using her telekinetic magic she picked the creature up by its tail and threw it into the lake.

“Luna!” Celestia’s eyes opened wide as she trotted over to the lakes edge, helping the creature to the shore again. “I’m so sorry about my sister, she has a temper.”

“You don’t say.” He coughed to clear his throat of the lake water, making sure to stay near Celestia in case her sister tried to throw him again, “That was a low blow, using magic against a poor defenceless creature.” Celestia didn’t notice his exaggeration and narrowed her eyes at her sister.

“He was being rude to us! We’re royalty, dear sister. We shouldn’t be spoken to that way!” The young mare pouted a little at her sister taking the beasts side. “You know what? You can enjoy the sunrise on your own today!”
Before Celestia could stop her sister she had flown off back home. Celestia was about to speak to the creature beside her when she felt the suns warm rays rise above the hills, she turned around and stared at the sun as it rose, as did her new acquaintance, with a peaceful look.

“Sorry again for my sister.” She said after a few seconds without taking her eyes off the still rising sun.

“It’s not the first time I’ve been thrown into a lake.” He shrugged. “But thanks anyway I guess. I’m Discord.”

“Celestia.” Her introduction was unnecessary but as one does in these situations you say your name regardless if they already know it to not seem rude.

For a while the pair said nothing, just watching as the animals ventured into the sunlight and the flowers beginning to open slowly as they where graced by the sunlight. Discord grew impatient after a short time doing nothing but stayed silent, not knowing that to say to the princess. Celestia lowered herself onto the grassy ground, glancing at Discord.

“What are you anyway? I would have noticed if I’d seen your type before.” She looked at his body now the light was better, it was truly the strangest thing she’d ever seen.

“Oh, I’m a draconequus.” He said proudly, turning so Celestia could see all of him. “A chaotic spirit of.. Well chaos.” He chuckled a little and lay beside her.

“I see, no offense but you seem pretty useless.” She smiled, “Everything looks exactly how it should be.”

“Well I’m not fully matured, duh. I don’t have any chaotic... Stuff...” Compared to his adult version teenage Discord was very ineloquent, Celestia giggled a little and went back to looking at the sun. Discord smiled a little at how ok she was sitting next to a spirit of chaos like it was no big deal, especially considering she was the princess.

Nothing needed to be said at that moment, even when they tried to think of something they couldn’t bring themselves to speak. The moment was fine the way it was without words spoiling it. It was only when Luna came back to find Celestia that words were brought back into the equation.

“Mother says you need to come back now.” She said quietly, not looking at Discord. Celestia gave a small sigh and stood up, about to ask her sister to apologise for earlier, “And you’re not to see this draconequus anymore. I told her about him and she said he was trouble so you’re forbidden from seeing him.”

The truth was Celestia never planned on seeing Discord again, of course if she saw him in passing she’d say hello but she never thought she’d see him on her own accord. The fact that she was banned now didn’t make her want to see him again, it was Discord who took these words as a personal challenge, Celestia said her goodbyes and left with Luna to go back home leaving a plotting Discord behind.

Pi-pi-pat. Pi-pi-pat. Pi-Pi-pat.

The sound of something tapping woke the dazzling white alicorn from her sleep. Groggily she sat up in her bed to see the creature from earlier flying outside her window, tapping his talons against her stone windowsill. Celestia was too tired to be shocked so made a few questioning noises at her midnight guest.

“I just thought I’d drop by and see how you where.” He slipped through her window, as these were times without glass, and sat on one of her seat cushions strewn about the floor. Celestia blinked a couple of times before slipping out of bed.

“You aren’t supposed to be here. Earlier was nice but mother obviously doesn’t like your kind so... You can’t be here.” She stood by her window, motioning for him to fly away. Discord smiled and walked around her room instead.

“My kind is known for wreaking havoc but I’m still very young, Celestia. I can barely do more than this.” With a motion of his paw all the candles in Celestia’s room where lit, giving it a soft glow. “Surely I’m not a threat to the kingdom.”

“Fire is dangerous. You could usurp the kingdom with your army of candles.” She gave a small chuckle, finding that very funny since she had just recently woken up. “Seriously though why do you care? We’ve only known each other for half an hour, forty-five minutes tops.”

Discord gave a grin and sat on a different cushion, leaning against the wall behind him.

“I’m a bad boy.” He tried to make his voice sound deep. “I don’t follow rules enforced on me by a person I’ve never met.”Celestia giggled a little as his voice cracked at the end, Discord narrowed his eyes. “Anyway... The point is I want to know if you’ll join me in a small rebellion against the queen, I’m not dangerous and she has no business telling you who not to be friends with so I’m proposing we meet at least once every day.”

The proposition sounded surprisingly tempting, Celestia had worked hard at perfecting her magic recently and she did need a little relaxation, something about this creature was making Celestia strongly consider taking up his offer. There was just one thing that bothered her.

“I’m not sure your intentions are pure here, Discord.” She didn’t sound accusing or disgusted but she didn’t sound enthusiastic either. “How do I know you’re not going to try something?”

“My my, you certainly think a lot of yourself.” He chuckled, “No Celestia, I don’t want to try and seduce you, as tempting as it is.”

The last part was laced heavily with sarcasm and Celestia did not like his tone one bit. She was more lenient than her sister at this age but even she had her limits and using her own telekinetic magic she shoved him out the window, he began laughing as he clung to the window ledge, his beating wings keeping him at eye level with Celestia,

“What, are you saying you want me to seduce you?!” He pushed off from the edge and swam backwards through the air, “Whatever, I’m not one to judge! I live near the lake so if you decide to meet me I’ll be there, you big pervert.” With a sly grin he let himself fall down before turning in the air, catching the wind and flying towards the lake.

“Yeah?! Well...” Celestia tried her best to come up with something to say but he was gone before she could come up with anything. Groaning angrily she walked around her room, extinguishing the candles Discord had lit up.

Poomf, poomf, poomf.

She glanced behind her to see the candles she had just put out reigniting. She smiled slightly she lifted them all with her magic and placed them one by one into the bowl of water she had by her bed, making them fizzle out, Celestia admitted to herself that that was an impressive trick as she placed them all back in their holders.

The alicorn made her way to her bed again and sighed slightly as she thought about whether or not to meet the draconequus tomorrow, part of her did and part of her didn’t. She decided to put the thought from her mind as she drifted back to sleep deciding that she’d deal with it in the morning.

Despite her decision thoughts of him plagued her all night, making her night restless as something about him was just so fascinating and in such an infuriating way she just couldn’t get him out of her mind. She thought of him flying away from her window with that cocky look on his face, his stupid yellow and red eyes and the way he just barged into her room without her permission and then refused to leave.

Poomf.

“Also he ruined five perfectly good candles.” She muttered angrily.

Discords home was relatively easy enough to find despite him misinforming her that it was close to the lake, after two minutes walking around the edge Celestia noticed an odd purple rock in the distance and walked towards it. After following a trail of smaller purple rocks that lead off from it she began to notice some of the trees smelt suspiciously like soup of some kind, the grass grew more blue the closer the young mare got to the mountain a few miles from the castle and the cave entrance she eventually came to had red moss outlining it.

“Hello?” She called sheepishly into the cave. “Discord? Are you in there?”

“No, I’m out here.” The mare gave a small scream and sharply turned to see a smiling Discord standing right behind her.

“Oh you bastard!” She muttered as she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Discord chuckled and stroked her mane patronisingly.

“Sorry about that. Did you find this place ok?” He walked into the cave entrance, still chuckling to himself. Celestia glared and followed him.

“You said it was near the lake. Why didn’t you just tell me it was in the mountain?” She glanced in front of him to see a sparsely decorated living area, random objects where piled to one side and in the centre was a small fire and a few logs for chairs.

“I didn’t live here last night.” Celestia glanced at Discord in surprise. “Apparently your sister had said about me being at the lake a lot. Your castle guards came and rooted me out, forcing me to find another place to live.” He narrowed his eyes as he remembered. Celestia’s eyes grew soft.

“I’m sorry... I didn’t realise.” She muttered as they came up to the fire, Celestia sat herself on one of the logs and looked at her hooves, even though she didn’t tell them herself she felt a little responsible for some reason. Discord sighed a little and sat down on the log opposite her.

“I don’t really blame her for telling them, still resent it though but I don’t blame her. I thought if you did decide to come after all I would leave you those rocks in hope you’d follow them.” He gave a small smile, still very happy Celestia decided to come.

“But you said that you didn’t have any chaotic.. Stuff. How did you do that to the rocks? And those trees, the grass-”

“I meant to say I didn’t have any chaos in me yet.” He interrupted, “I still have magic and practise for when the time comes. I’m bored most of the time so I just think of something random and do it.”

Celestia nodded a little in realisation, glancing behind him to look at the stuff piled against the wall. He had no time for decorating yet, it seemed.

“So you live by yourself?” She asked the obvious. Discord visibly flinched and nodded, Celestia decided not to ask any further realising the subject was touchy. “I- Um... You ruined those candles by the way.”

Discord took a second to remember then started laughing, Celestia gave a small smile and giggled a little realising how funny it was. With the tension broken the two began talking about random things for a little while before moving onto to Celestia’s magic studies and how she was going to raise the sun one day and Discord’s magic and how he was going to move to travel the world and create a name for himself, hopefully becoming a legend as he spreads chaos. What surprised Discord was how ok Celestia was at listening to him talk about his chaos like it was no big deal, he guessed either she realised from the way he spoke about it that she knew it wouldn’t be any danger to anyone or that she was just a very strange pony, in any case he was liking her more and more. Eventually the two decided it was time to eat.

“What is this?” Celestia nudged the plant Discord had brought her, it was a green stem with long thin vines circling up it, Discord shrugged.

“I have no idea but I’ve been eating it for the past few days so I guess it’s not poisonous.” He took a crunchy bite out of the stem. Celestia smiled at that and took a bite herself, happily eating more as she realised how good it was. Discord looked at her and remembered something from yesterday. “So.. Why did you throw me out the window when I said I wasn’t attracted to you?” Celestia paused and glared at what his tone of voice was implying.

“Please don’t go there.” She warned him.

“Were you disappointed?” He grinned, nonchalantly taking another bite out of his food. Celestia’s laugh had no humour in it.

“You wish!” She looked away from him but still saw Discords wide smile from the corner of her eye.

“No darling, it’s you who wishes. Admit it, you’re curious about making sweet, interspecies love with me.” He said in a teasing voice, Celestia gasped and looked at him shocked.

“You are vulgar!” She narrowed her eyes at him as he started chuckling,

“Celestia, I could off phrased that in a much cruder way, believe me. You’re just a prude.” He shook his head, sighing dramatically, “What a shame it is when a beautiful mare is brought up in such a way that she hides every urge she ever has.”

“I have no urges when it comes to you!” Celestia was falling for his teasing and was getting very wound up. She stood up sharply, her voice getting stern. “You said yesterday that I thought highly of myself but it is you who thinks way too highly of yourself! What makes you think I could ever fall for you?!”

At that Discord didn’t say a word, he just grinned. Celestia narrowed her eyes even more as he didn’t say anything, she was going to ask him again when he stood up and made his way over to her.

“What are you...?” Her question was silenced as he stood close to her, cupping her face in his paw. Celestia drew in a breath as she looked at him, realising what he was going to do next but was frozen in the spot unable to move.

Discord looked into her eyes for a little while before kissing her softly. Celestia flinched as she felt him do that but eventually relaxed as she felt his other hand wrap gently around her neck, she closed her eyes and melted into the kiss as she felt small sparks of excitement surging through her body. Discord slowly pulled away and whispered softly to her.

“That’s why I think you’d fall for me.” He grinned and sat down, looking at Celestia as she tried to get her mind to start working again, when Celestia shook herself awake she sat beside Discord awkwardly.

“... Why did you do that?” She said quietly, not looking at him.

“In all honesty you were challenging me and I love a good challenge. I think you’re cute and you’re not boring so I didn’t see any reason why not and I would off probably done it anyway.” He truthfully stated, wrapping an arm around her neck to draw her closer, she leaned against him slightly and smiled a little.

Nothing in her mind had prepared her for having her first kiss with him, she felt like such a rebel kissing a creature her mother had forbidden her from even seeing, she was so light headed and happy that nothing could stop her. She felt invincible and so confident.

“I think you should meet me tomorrow, instead of me meeting you.” She smiled and nuzzled into his chest, Discord chuckled at her doing that.

“Sounds delightful, my dear.”

Authors note: My internet is still down so this was sent from my friends computer, chapters may be a little late. Thanks for your patience!

Controlled Memories

“You know you haven’t said ‘I love you’ yet?”

“Oh those words are far to cliché my dear. I say actions speak louder than words.”

“Those sheep with the love-hear fleece were nice but people are starting to ask questions.”

After Discord finished telling his side of the story he realised how painful it was to reminisce about such innocent times. Even though he managed to keep his face straight the mares knew he was hiding something.

“So what did you do to get turned to stone?” Twilight asked with sympathy, she still didn’t like Discord but she felt great pity for him and was genuinely fascinated by their love story. Discord paused a little and sighed.

“I won’t tell you what happened but I will tell you it wasn’t my fault.” His voice was stern and annoyed, he turned away from both of them and folded his arms childishly. The two mares glanced at each other before turning to him again.

“Well if it wasn’t your fault them surely you won’t have a problem telling us?” The white mare asked, flashing her big eyes at him. Discord remained unaffected by her big eyes and simply rolled his in an answer, causing Rarity to pout.

A knock on the door caused them all the jump, Twilight and Rarity paused for a second before realising they had a draconequus in the room, both of the mares looked around frantically for a place for Discord to hide. Discord pondered whether they remembered him turning into a stallion or if they at all recalled their fight a few months ago.

“Girls.” He said quietly but firmly, they glanced towards him just as he snapped his talons, turning completely invisible. After short pause Twilight made her way to the door and sheepishly opened it, her eyes opening wide and her mouth curling into a forced smile as she saw the Princess standing at the other side.

“Princess Celestia!” She said in an overly cheery tone. Celestia paused at her tone before smiling in return. “What an unexpected pleasure to see you here!”

Discord raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was the ‘important work’ she had to do today, if it was he was more than slightly annoyed that she’d want to spend time with her rather than him. Rarity put on an equally forced smile as well hoping that Celestia couldn’t sense Discord was in the room.

“My duties took me through the area so I thought I’d check up on my best student. Is there something wrong?” She could sense the tension in the air and was slightly unnerved by it, especially because of the way the two were looking at her.

“Well you see I... Me and Rarity where discussing a rather private matter and...” Twilight desperately racked her brains for more words. Celestia tilted her head slightly in confusion, “We have an important date to plan and we’re very nervous about it! We’ve been discussing it for a long time and finally decided to actually do something productive.” She hated lying to the princess but she felt she had no other choice

Celestia paused for a second then nodded slowly, her smile turning into a small understanding one.

“Oh I see. I should go and let you plan for your date.” She flashed another sweet smile before turning to leave, her guards that where waiting at the door stood at attention. “Goodbye Twilight, Rarity. Have fun”

“Goodbye princess.” Twilight gave a relieved sigh as she left and turned to Rarity. The expression on the white mare was one of absolute confusion, her pupils where small in contrast to her huge shocked eyes. “Rarity?”

Twilight was confused at her friends shocked expression and was about to ask why but was cut off by Discord bursting out laughing. He reappeared and instantly collapsed on the floor in a fit of laughter, his body convulsing with each new bellow that escaped him.

“Twilight.” Rarity distracted Twilight from the laughing Discord. Her voice carried a worried and annoyed edge. “You didn’t phrase that right dear... She thought WE were going on a date.”

Realisation hit Twilight hard, her knees felt weak as her own words circled her head, she realised how badly she had phrased what she said. Discord braced himself against the floor and looked at them, his voice still carrying remnants of laughter.

“W-Well... I think it’s time for me to depart, I’ve been here long enough” Discord morphed into a stallion again, still giggling to himself. “Have fun you girls.” He teased before exiting the library.

“Oh dear, Twilight if anyone find out do you know what will happen?!” Her voice was losing her accent as her panic grew.

“I can probabl-”

“Pinkie will throw us coming out parties! You know she will! Oh the whole town will be invited and everyone will think we’re together! No offence darling, you’ll make some stallion happy one day.” She quickly recovered, “but still! Oh woe is me!”

Twilight tried to calm her down but she knew deep down she should be freaking out about the same things Rarity was. Pinkie would indeed through them coming out parties and knowing her; she’d want to make novelty cakes.

Discord smiled to himself as he left the library, pondering how badly he should feel for being the cause of the panic that lead to the confusion, he decided to not take blame at all like usual. He noticed the familiar pink cloud that is Pinkie hopping happily his way.

“Excuse me, Miss Pie!” He casually called, Pinkie looked his way and happily bounced over to him.

“Hello there! Have we met?” She tilted her head a little at his familiar voice.

“Oh no, we haven’t I just wanted to ask will you be holding a party for Miss Sparkle and Miss Rarity?” Discord tried his best to not grin like the lunatic he was as those words left him. Pinkie bounced on the spot a few times.

“Why of course I will be!” She paused. “For what?”

“Oh, you didn’t know? They’re a couple now. I just finished speaking to them!” He made himself sound enthusiastic, it was easy seeing as he knew how much bother this would cause.

Pinkies eyes grew wide and she drew in a gasp, her mouth slowly curling into a wide smile and her eyes seemed to sparkle. Without another word she was off like a bullet, yelling about how ‘super fantastic’ the whole thing was and how she’d through them the biggest party ever. Discord couldn’t help but chucking maniacally as he saw her spread the rumour like wildfire.

“Disc-... Um, excuse me?” Discords head lifted up sharply as he heard Celestia’s voice. He had totally forgotten she had left the library a minute ago and wouldn’t be far. He smiled at her and bowed sarcastically.

“Your majesty.” He grinned, “What an honour it is for you to speak to a humble pony such as myself. What is it you require of me?”

Celestia smirked a little at his formal tone. She thought for a second before deciding it’d be fun to act for a little while.

“I noticed you have a puppeteers cutie mark, are you especially talented?” She tried to sound unfamiliar with him.

“Why yes, my princess. I am especially talented when it comes to entertaining mares for a long length of time.” His voice sounded proud and a little teasing, “And I must say every client I’ve had has been very satisfied with my services.”

“Hm, I have an idea.” The alicorn smiled, “Would you be interested in performing for me tonight at the castle? I know it’s an odd request but I’d love for someone like you to entertain at the castle, plus it’d be a shame for you to waste your magic if you’re not doing anything.” What Discord didn’t realise was Celestia had completely missed the double entendre.

“It would be my pleasure, your highness.”

“You were serious?!” Discord was trying to not sound hysterical but the look of ‘oops, I didn’t realise’ on Celestia’s face wasn't helping him. “I wasn’t! I wasn’t serious! I can’t spend heaven knows how long entertaining people! The only people I care about entertaining are you and me, mostly me.”

Princess Celestia glanced at her hooves with an upset look on her face, when she looked back up she immediately looked away from Discord.

“I’m sorry. I just thought you needed an outlet since you’ve been so good lately and... I was trying to be nice.” Her voice got weaker the more the sentence went on. The draconequus scoffed and crossed his mismatched arms.

“Don’t give me that guilt trip stuff, I’m not going to feeling guilty.” As soon as he said that Celestia dropped the act and sighed, that was the only time she had ever tried the ‘guilt trip’ act mares where supposed to be naturals at and she had failed, she trotted up to her boyfriend and nuzzled up against him softly.

“Look, this will be a good outlet for your powers and I promise I’ll make it up to you.” Celestia nuzzled up to him a little more. He sighed quietly and stroked her flowing mane with his lion paw, hating at this moment the entire situation he was in.

The lies.

The hiding.

The sheer, mind crumbling boredom of limited chaos.

All that got him through it was Celestia risking so much just to keep him in her life. He realised what she was doing just for him and didn’t want to seem ungrateful but she was doing it the wrong way, if she really wanted to help she’d let him do what he was born to do.

“I don’t need an outlet! I’m fine, hone-”

“Discord.” She interrupted him and looked him in the eyes. “If you do this for me, I’ll make it up to you.”

Discord realised the tone in her voice and instantly cheered up, pretending to ponder this for a second before smiling and kissing his love.

“Alright, my dear. For you.” He was still dreading this but he knew if he didn’t Celestia would be suspicious of why he didn’t want to use his magic, sure the chaos urge was still there but much of the chaos he had caused earlier he had left just to keep his mind at ease. “What will I have to do?”

“Just try and keep the crowd entertained. Do whatever you want as long as no one gets hurt.” He really didn’t like the tone she used there.

“My chaos never hurts anyone, it’s only for causing, at the most, rifts between friends, you know that.” He pulled away from her and narrowed his eyes. Celestia sighed and turned away from him.

“Say what you want Discord but I remember what happened.” Celestia’s words cut right through him. With an angry groan he teleported away, he wasn’t sure where he wanted to go but right now he couldn’t be blamed for something he didn’t do. Celestia looked at where he used to be and lowered her head sadly.

She found him easily enough, she apologized even though she didn’t mean it and he realised that but accepted it anyway. He didn’t care for the truth or the lies, at that moment he cared about Celestia not thinking about him as a monster. The only control he liked was the control he wanted on how she viewed that night.

For now though, the show would go on according to plan.

Oh, what a show it would be.

Chaotic puppet show

“It’s a beautiful night for a dance under the moon, don’t you agree?”

“Discord, the suns still up.”

“And whose fault is that?”

The unicorn glanced at the large wooden puppets that had been created for the show, perfection considering they were made from pebbles, Discord hadn’t told Celestia what the show would be about but she didn’t really care as long as he kept his special brand of magic to a minimum.

He was surprised when he heard how many ponies had came to see the show but as with any royal event many ponies just wanted to be seen attending the same obscure show the princess’s were. The disguised draconequus tightened the fastenings on his hooded robe with his magic and neatly placed all the puppets in a large fancy wooden box, he shut the lid quickly as he heard Celestia open the door.

“Discord, I’m just going to say this once; behave.” The alicorn stood in the doorway, ready to leave quickly if anyone saw her. She was obviously nervous, her wings where folded tightly at her side and her usually dazzling magenta eyes where dull and small with worry.

“My name is Bedlam.” He rolled his eyes mockingly and kissed her cheek. Celestia calmed down a little and gave a small smile. “I won’t do anything other than make a show, hopefully they’ll enjoy it.”

She nodded at that and took a look at his unicorn form, he looked slightly different from the Pegasus disguise he used the day before as his brown coat was replaced with the reddish brown hue his body usually is but his eyes he had changed to look normal, she was grateful he was at least trying to fit in although she had no idea how annoying it was to him to fit in.

Curiously she lifted the box containing the puppets with her yellow magic, opening the lid slightly to peek inside, Discord yanked it away quickly with his own magic and tutted.

“Spoilers.”

The crowd was alive with hushed whispers as they pondered the show ahead of them, the poster didn’t say what it would be about and they had never heard of the 'puppet master'.

Their whispers where silenced as the lights fell and the curtains rose, revealing the silhouette of a unicorn. Celestia fidgeted in her balcony seat, as did her sister.

“He’s going to do something.” Luna whispered to her older sibling. “He’s going to freak everyone out.”

“Good.” Celestia smiled a little, Luna narrowed her eyes in confusion. “These people paid to see a show. He’ll give them a show.”

Discords horn began to glow with a soft yellow glow, slowly getting bigger until he was fully illuminated, he was wearing a dark black cloak with purple borders that gave him a mysterious air.

“Welcome to my show.” His sinister voice sent a shiver down everypony’s spine, “I am Bedlam Turmoil, here to recite you a tale that I have been studying my whole life, the tale of somepony you’ve all heard of but don’t actually know a lot about.” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Oh great, it’s going to be about himself isn’t it?” To her surprise her sister shushed her, she was curious to see just how much he’d tell the crowd.

“The spirit of chaos that escaped from his stone bonds a few months ago, Discord, do any of you know why he was imprisoned in the first place?” He questioned the crowd, trying his hardest not to smile. Nopony answered, “Exactly. No one except me knows where to look to see what actually took place on that day... I will enlighten you little foals on one of the most important days in Equestria’s history...”

After a short pause he walked offstage and opened the box of puppets, removing the ones of himself, Celestia and Luna. He sent them out onto the stage with his magic and said in a strong, loud voice.

“Many, many years ago, before the princess’s lived in this dear land of Equestria, they found a young spirit name Discord...”

That’s when Discord cheated. Many puppeteers use their own talent to draw the crowd into the story but he used magic. He sent out a radiating burst of his magic and suddenly everypony was looking at the show with new eyes, the scenery was almost lifelike, they could almost hear what was going on and most importantly the puppets seemed to come to life; Their choppy wooden frames were smoother and sleeker albeit still blocky, no strings seemed to hold them up, their movements were fluid and they seemed to occasionally change expression. Discord grinned at their confusion and continued his tale.

“Discord was young at this point and had no chaos in him so was, in Celestia’s eyes, a friend. Luna though knew what he would grow up to be and decided to shun him.” The Luna puppet turned her back to the Discord puppet, “Like a monster. Discord decided not to pay heed to her and became friends with the princess of the day, playing with her, talking to her and sharing many tales he had heard of. Their childlike innocence however was not to last.”

Celestia’s eyes softened as the puppets seemed to grow older. An old Castle was the scenery, the candles flickered in an invisible breeze and the stone was covered in a non-existent moss.

“As they grew older Discord knew soon his instincts would take over and asked Celestia what they should do.” The Celestia puppet’s head fell and looked at the floor, “‘Leave’ She said simply. ‘Let us keep the memories we have. I don’t know what damage you’ll want to cause and I never want to find out.’”

Discord took in a deep breath as he remembered that day, as did his alicorn, the scenery changed to one of a forest.

“So he left. He lived his life as nature intended, causing chaos from land to land never stopping in one place for more than a day.” The puppet teleported, when it reappeared it had grown older, “After around a thousand years he found a lovely, peaceful land that bored him to no end. Without hesitation he found the nearest village and began changing it to his liking.” The puppet was almost dancing through the town as it changed everything to random and chaotic objects. The grass was replaced by springs, the streets where lined with oversized fish and all the lampposts became candy canes. “He was having a wonderful time! Until...”

A shrill scream chilled everypony to their core. Celestia closed her eyes for a second and sighed, she then opened them and watched as the events unfolded.

“Discords Chaos had never, ever harmed a living being before so he was curious at such a pained shriek. Turning he saw a young filly...” A small puppet of a purple filly appeared, even though it was only a puppet she looked so frightened, it seemed to be shaking “How was he supposed to know she was allergic to fish?”

The filly’s eyes grew dull, the Discord puppet was looking at her shocked.

“And did she get a rash or grow lumps like a normal pony with allergies? Did she give any hint that it was them and not Discord that had hurt her? No. The damage was on the inside, he could sense it.” His voice was becoming bitter. “She simply.” The puppet fell to its knees, a small red drop fell from her mouth and onto the ground. “Dropped.” The puppet grew limp and fell to its side. “Dead.”

The crowd murmured in shock at this, wondering if that was true and that’s what really happened that day. Celestia sighed shakily as she looked away, Luna looked worriedly at her sister as she saw a small tear fall from her eye.

“Everypony thought was him that had killed her.” An angry mob gathered around the draconequus. “He only resisted a little took him to the palace, he knew the town wouldn’t listen but maybe he could explain to whoever ruled this land that he was a simple spirit of chaos just passing through and never meant any harm. Maybe he could atone for the accident.” The scenery was of a palace once more, although this was a much nicer newer once. “Discord was led to the throne room where two regal alicorns sat, the puppets eyes grew wide as well as Celestia’s puppet’s eyes. “He was not prepared to see her again, not like this.”

Celestia didn’t know how much more she could take. She could hear the sadness in Discords voice that no one else knew him well enough to hear and it was breaking her heart. Celestia wanted to stop looking but couldn’t help watch as the alicorn puppets approached him.

“Discord knew how he looked at this point but kept his cool, smiling weakly at the two mares. ‘I know how this looks,’ he said ‘but I meant no harm, I promise I meant no harm.’ He took a few steps closer to the mares ‘Surely you believe me, Celestia?’

But Celestia just looked at him with eyes that said more than ever needed to be said.

‘oh come on, you remember me well enough to know I wouldn’t harm anything, I know you do!’ He gave a weak chuckle. Celestia looked at him blankly.

‘Leave’ She motioned to the back door of the palace. Discord was hurt, yes, but he kept a brave face and walked past them both. Without looking at them he said the last words he would ever speak for a thousand years.

‘I will return one day and regain your trust, Celestia. I promise!’ And then he struck the pose he would be frozen in for the next thousand years. Freezing a man while his back is turned... That was cheap.” The puppet turned grey as a beam of light hit it.

Celestia winced a little, she just didn’t want Discord to know what she was going to do but she knew herself it was cheap.

“Discord did indeed return a thousand years later but he had spent so long in imprisonment that the only thing he could think of was getting Celestia back... He was still childish after so long. He wouldn’t help himself.” The puppet showed Discord causing chaos in Ponyville. “He didn’t expect to be beaten again before he could properly talk to Celestia.” The six elements of harmony where shown casting Discord into stone again. He sighed wearily.

The magic wore off; the stage was once again a stage and the puppets mere wood. The crowd again murmured in confusion but became quiet as Discord walked onto the stage.

“And that, my little ponies, is the story of Discord. Hopefully you have learned something from this...”

“Wait a minute!” A blue stallion interjected, “How do we know that was a true story?” Discord smiled and looked at Celestia.

“Ask your Princesses.” Everypony’s eyes immediately went to the two mares, Luna glared at her sister warning her silently not to confirm it.

“Yes.” Celestia ignored her. “It’s all true.” Everypony looked shocked and chattered amongst themselves at this new piece of confirmed history. One mare, however, was still confused.

“But how did you find out all this? You’re awfully specific considering you’ve only read about him.”

Discord’s smile grew quickly, his eyes glinted with mischief. Celestia’s own eyes grew wide as she saw the look on his face but was too late to stop him.

“To be honest, I know all this from an eye witness account.” The hall grew quiet with confusion, the confusion became shock as they saw the unicorn’s body stretch and narrow, its whole being twisting and deforming until it was one of a draconequus. The crowd gasped and some shrieked but none of the confused crowd ran, most in fear, some in curiosity. Celestia didn’t know whether to be angry or impressed that he seemed to be getting a lukewarm reception, her sister was the same way but was leaning more towards anger.

“How dare you show yourself inside castle grounds!” Her voice was booming and nearly at royal Canterlot level.

“Come now, Luna.” He removed his cloak and patted down his blue feathers that had gotten messed up during the transformation. “Be nice to your sister’s boyfriend.”

Celestia winced at that, she ignored the crowd below that was going wild and glared at Discord, who was beaming proudly. The alicorn spoke with gritted teeth, her mouth a sarcastic smile.

“You always knew how to put on a show, dear.”

Control your temper

“A princess who doesn’t know how to dance?! My dear I’m a spirit of chaos and I can dance!”

“Discord it’s not really a-”

“No more talk! Take my paw and the lessons shall begin.”

Celestia picked up some of the newspapers she had asked her guards to get for her, all of them were about the same thing.

CELESTIA’S SECRET AFFAIR

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

THE PRINCESS’S SECRET LOVER

FAMOUS PONYVILLE DESIGNER COMES OUT OF CLOSET

Correction, most of them were about her.

Celestia tapped her hoof against the floor of her bedroom in annoyance, glaring at Discord, who was smiling wide as he looked at his beloveds face.

“Stop smiling.” She ordered in an authoritative tone.

“I’ll stop smiling when it stops being funny.” He chuckled slightly. “Stop being so serious, Celestia. I’d hate for that beautiful mane to turn gray.” Celestia gave an exasperated gasp at that and paced about the room.

“Just.. Why? Why did you have to say that? I could off dealt with you telling everyone you’re not stone anymore but this is jus-” Discords chuckling cut her off, she turned to see him holding one of the newspapers in his claw.

“Oh that’s a bit harsh calling me ugly, I’m eclectic!” He put his paw on his hip and shook his head disapprovingly. He felt Celestia’s cold glare burning through him and turned around gingerly. “Sorry dear.” He tried to think for a second “Um... I don’t know why I told everypony, it just felt like the right thing to do. I’m sick of hiding in this castle and sick of hiding our relationship.”

“Still Discord... It’s hard for me to own up to being with something like you wh-”

“I’m sorry.” Discord interrupted, his words strained a little. “Did you just say ‘something like you’? What exactly do you mean by ‘Something like you’?” He narrowed his eyes at his Princess, who looked shocked at her own words.

“N-No... I didn’t mean ‘something’!” She stammered, shaking her head as if to disagree with herself. Discord glared and folded his arms.

“Oh, ok then. That makes this better.” His sarcasm cut through her and she winced.

“I’m sorry.” She sighed, looking at him pitifully. “I’m not ashamed of you, Discord. It’s just that everypony thinks you’re just a savage spirit of chaos that only wishes for eternal tyranny.”

That was true, although he wouldn’t use the words ‘savage’ and ‘tyranny’.

“I just want them to see the other side of you that’s not ruled by desire for chaos... I wish them to see the side of you who’s romantic, funny, surprisingly eloquent!” She chuckled weakly, Discord smiled a little at those compliments. Celestia’s face fell and she trotted over to him, nuzzling his reddish-brown body gently. Discord gently stroked her mane with his talons to show he forgave her but Celestia still had something to get off her chest. “I’ve been very cruel to you Discord. I really shouldn’t force you to give up something that’s been your whole life but I know I won’t be able to be with you if I let you just mess with everything and... I love you too much to lose you.”

Her words shocked Discord, he stood there for what seemed like an eternity trying to figure out what those words meant to him and what emotions they had arose. Celestia waited patiently for him to speak again, gently pulling herself out his hold so she could look at his face. Discord looked down to her with his mouth hanging open slightly.

“Celestia...” He cupped her face with his paw, she nuzzled it affectionately. “I know now why I told them all about us.” Discord realised one of the emotions that came to surface from her apology was resentment. He hated that she was making him stop doing what was the only thing besides her that made him truly happy. The draconequus couldn’t find it in him to sugar-coat the truth that was rising in him, he gazed into the beautiful eyes of his dear who was awaiting his explanation.

“I told them because... I wanted you to suffer.” Celestia jolted a little at his words, her expression a mixture of confusion and slight pain, Discord ignored this and continued, all the usual peppiness gone from his voice. “You have done nothing for me since you released me again. I’ve given up something that runs through my veins, something I can’t go an hour without thinking about without getting so bored I feel like screaming! I was fine giving it up because I love you but now I’m thinking; what are you giving up for this relationship? Nothing. You’re keeping happy raising the sun like a good little Princess, meeting your friends, doing everything you did before hand except now when you come to your room there’s a frustrated draconequus there ready to try and reach to your standards.” He backed away from her, pushing open her window. “Well you know what, my dear? I wanted you to suffer a little. Now you’ll have to deal with questions, allegations and being forced to admit to loving a ‘monster’ like me.”

With a strong beat of his mismatched wings he was off, flying through the air like a dart trying to get as far away as he could, he could easily teleport but he needed the physical motion of flying to take his mind off what had just happened.

Celestia stood in the middle of the room, her mouth hanging open as she tried to process what just happened. She shivered as she felt a tear roll down her cheek, the warm water quickly getting ice cold with the breeze coming from the open window, with the deafening silence slowly enveloping her she closed the window with her magic and walked towards her bed climbing into it, lying on her side as more tears graced her elegant face.

Discord groaned as his thoughts drifted back to Celestia, Even though he had always been dramatic he couldn’t help thinking that maybe he had gone too far, he angled his wings to head to the Everfree forest. The draconequus needed to relax even if it was just for an hour or two.

Everything he said to Celestia was true and he was not the type of guy to hide his words when he has something to say so he didn’t feel guilty for that, he felt guilt over the pain he saw in Celestia’s eyes.

He didn’t care about saying painfully blunt things but cared about the reaction afterwards, he confused himself sometimes.

Discord saw a clearing in the trees and snapped his wings shut, creating a large pillow to land on so he didn’t hurt himself when he fell.

“Alright.” The draconequus said to himself, dispelling the pillow. “What shall I do today?”

Nothing.

Nothing came to him.

For once in his life he had no idea what chaos he should cause. His instincts where failing him

“Come on now! Don’t be difficult.” He yelled at his brain, his brain ignored him and once more drew a blank. “Oh come on! You’re a spirit of chaos and you can’t think of anything chaotic?!”

Discord sat huffily on a rock and gave a few dramatic sighs, each one getting louder and more dramatic. Eventually he came to the conclusion nopony was around to care so after one last pathetic sigh he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“This is just because you’re upset right now, don’t worry about it. Give yourself time and you’ll be sure to come up with something, this probably happens to all draconequus’s from time to time... It doesn’t make you any less of a man.” The fact was Discord could think of plenty things to do, it was just that he’d done them before and held no excitement for him.

“If you wish to cause chaos my draconequus I suggest you go farther away than this.” Discord turned his head to see Zecora standing a few feet away from him with saddle baskets resting on her back, behind her he could clearly see her hut Discord neglected to notice earlier.

“Oh, right. Well no worries I don’t think I’ll be causing chaos tonight.” He groaned, looking away from the zebra. Zecora narrowed an eye a little in confusion and went a little closer to him.

“You are a spirit of chaos, if I’m not wrong, you go together like a singer with a song.” She smiled a little, her smiled faded as she saw he was upset. “Is what’s got you down by chance a problem with the royal romance?” Discord nodded then looked at her remembering something he wanted to ask earlier.

“Just while I’ve got you here, why do you speak like that?” He tilted his head at her.

“Oh I’ve spoken like this since I was a filly, my mother did too so to me it wasn’t silly.” The zebra said cheerily, smiling as she remembered her mother. Her attention drifted back to Discord as he sighed again. “I’m not an expert on romance but tell me what’s wrong and take a chance.” She offered to him. Discord pondered for a few seconds before sitting up straight.

“I told a group of ponies about me a Celestia because I was angry at her not suffering at all because of this. I’m giving up being me for her and she’s just... Doing nothing!” He raised his arms to emphasise his anger at the situation.
Zecora thought for a few seconds before sighing deeply.

“Relationships are about give and take, you cannot hurt for hurts sake. She might not look like she isn’t doing her bit but maybe you two should talk and sit...” Zecora gave a small reassuring smile to him, placing a hoof gently on his shoulder. Discord promptly shrugged it off and stood up

“Ugh, so generic. Coming from a zebra as interesting as you that was some pretty boring advice.” Without another word he disappeared in a sparkle leaving an annoyed zebra who muttered a curse in her native tongue. Discord groaned as he reappeared in mid air, quickly stretching out his wings and catching the breeze. He knew he would have to talk to Celestia eventually, he didn’t need to be reminded by a rhyming zebra.

Aimlessly Discord soared the skies, hoping to find something to catch his attention or at least inspire chaotic thoughts, after around half an hour he noticed a dark blur on the horizon that was quickly coming to meet his acquaintance, he swerved to avoid it but it swerved back obviously aiming for him.

Discord quickly teleported behind the blur watching as it put on the brakes and turned around with an elegant but forceful air twirl, a look of pure hate spread across her dark blue face.

“Luna?” Discord was unready for the princess of the night to tackle him mid air, knocking the wind out of him, he quickly regained himself and growled. “What was that for?!”

“Nopony makes my big sister cry and gets away with it!” She looked ready to tackle him again.

“Whoa, lets settle down here, ok?” He raised his hands defensively. “Why don’t we land and talk about thing rather than acting like animals?” Luna seemed to calm down a little

“Ok then...” Slowly she descended to the ground, gracefully landing without a sound. After a few seconds she glanced up to see what was keeping Discord only to see empty space where he used to be. A low growl escaped her throat as she bared her teeth. “That coward! Discord... When I get my hooves on you, you are so dead.”

Discord didn't know where he was going, he needed to get away from her. He kept randomly teleporting to different far off locations until he came to the end of the Everfree forest. Looking around for a place to hide he spotted a large cottage that looked beautiful and oddly comforting to even look at. He glanced at the garden outside and saw many pens and coops with an assortment of scuttling animals.

"Alright." He muttered to himself. "Looks like I'll be a chicken for a while then."

Chaotic Control

“So... You can raise the sun on your own now.”

“Yes... I guess this is it then.”

“No, this isn’t the end, this is only the beginning.”

Cluck, cluck.

“Oh for goodness sake chickens are boring.” Discord muttered to himself as he sat perfectly still in the chickens stall, the other chickens were eyeing him warily but other than that nothing was happening.

Nothing. Was. Happening.

Cluck, cluck.

Clu-caaaa.

He glanced to a chicken as it fell off its stoop. How amusing.

Cluck, cluck.

Cluck, clu- idea.

If chickens could smile Discord would of had the evilest grin a chickens ever had.

Without so much as a shimmy of a feather a chicken at the far end of the coop started to sway, slowly turning grey and black, until its body shimmered brightly. Discord resisted shielding his eyes with a wing and continued to look at his work.

A badger.

All the chickens panicked and flapped desperately trying to escape from this sudden intruder who was sitting wondering if it should be running too. Discord let himself be part of the confused fray and dramatically clucked and cawed until he was outside the coop.

As the chickens settled Discord pouted inwardly wondering how chickens survived in the wild if they simply forgot something dangerous was there.

“Oh my! What happened?!” A soft worried voice called out as she flitted to the coop.

Turn the badger back. Turn the badger back!

The yellow pegasus glanced inside the coop then looked around confused.

“What happened, what scared you?” Her tender voice washed over all the chickens as they slowly made their way back in the coop. She smiled a little and shook her head. “I bet it was a spider. Spiders can be really frightening, I don’t blame you for running.” Discord realised that will ALL the chickens back in the coop there would be no room for him so slowly backed away from the familiar pegasus. “Oh, who are you?” Caught.

“Erm, cluck.”

“You’re not one of my chickens...” She bent down to look at him closer. “Are you lost little guy?” No matter who it was or what the situation he hated patronisation. He clucked as pathetically as he could and glanced at the sky, checking for any sign of Princess Luna. “It’s ok... I’ll get you back to your home. Just come inside and we’ll figure out where you came from!

A sudden image of Celestia crying made him pause. He sighed inwardly knowing he’d have to head back there now.

“No, Fluttershy, I’m not lost.” His words caused her to squeal and jump three feet in the air. “Sorry I scared your chickens, I was bored.” He turned back to normal and lifted into the air, not stopping to see her reaction but he could hear it, a confused/frightened squeak was all he heard before he made his way back to Canterlot.

As he flew back he pondered to where Luna was, wasn’t she following him?

How long did he spend as a chicken?

Was it long enough that she had given up?

Was she back home?

Without warning his body convulsed as it was struck by lightning, a shock in two ways as there wasn’t a dark cloud in the sky and, well, because it was electricity. Looking around he saw the dark mare’s horn glowing, ready to shoot again.

“L-Look!” He shook the effects of the lightning off, “I’m going to speak to her now, ok?!”

“No! It’s not ok!” She growled. Ready to attack again. Discord rolled his eyes and leant on a cloud to look bored.

“Luna, we are both near enough to being Gods. Do you really want to fight for what could be a millennium?” Discord could tell that was a stupid thing to ask as her face was saying all he needed to know. “Hey, hey! Calm down.” He raised his hands a little in defence, producing a tiny white flag he waved it pathetically. “I’m going to apologise to Celestia for being so blunt, ok? She can decide then if I need a punishment.”

The mare of the night seemed to calm at his words and sighed, dipping her wings slightly she flew away from the draconequus in the same direction he was heading.

Back to Canterlot.

Celestia wasn’t crying as much as her sister made her out to be, just a few tears were shed at the realisation she wasn’t being fair to Discord at all. She had calmed down by the time her darling graced her balcony again.

She smiled at what he looked like. He had made his eyes huge and shimmering and was around three times smaller than he usually was. With her magic she unlocked the window and let him in, his eyes and body returning to normal.

“Celestia, my dear I-” Discord began only to be shushed.

“Don’t say sorry. It is I who should be apologising. I know who you are and I tried to change you... That’s not fair.” She slipped off her bed and trotted over to him. “I fell in love with a trickster, I shouldn’t try and make him a saint.”

“That, my dear, is the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say.” He grinned and wrapped his arms around her neck, letting her nuzzle into him. After a little she looked up at him.

“You smell singed.” She gave a small chuckle. “I guess my sister found you.”

The tall spirit of chaos rolled his eyes.

“Oh yes, she did. I feel like a giant hotdog.” Discord groaned and collapsed onto their bed pathetically. With another small chuckle she made her way to him.

“I’m sorry. It’s not funny.”

“Then stop laughing you big bully.”

In ‘honour’ of the Princess’s new suitor a formal party was held. After pleading, moaning, threatening, apologizing and eventually giving in Discord agreed to be there.

“I don’t know any of these ponies.” He muttered to her through gritted teeth, he wasn’t even trying to look amused or faking being happy. He wanted everypony to know he didn’t want to be here.

“Not true, you know Twilight and her friends.” Celestia’s words made him look for them, smiling as a reporter had cornered and obviously uncomfortable Twilight and Rarity. To say it made him feel better is an overstatement but it made him happy. “Look, after tonight we’ll figure out something to hopefully keep you happy.”

Discord was beginning to love his life. Apart from the boring party that, for some reason, he wasn’t allowed to spice up he knew things would be looking up from here on out.

He had his childhood friend and sweetheart by his side, that’s all that mattered.

That and the fact she’d let him be him.

Only one thing could ruin this, just one.

An innocent comment.

“Thank you, my dear. Goodness knows that’s the one thing in my life I could never give up.” Discord glanced around the room at all the fancy foods while Celestia pondered what he just said.

“So... If you had a choice between me and chaos you’d choice chaos?”

Uh oh.

He couldn’t lie, he couldn’t lie.

“To be perfectly honest yes. Chaos is in my blood.” He narrowed his eyes in confusion, thinking whether they’d had this conversation before or not. Celestia looked a little hurt.

“So if there was a situation where you had to choose between never seeing me and being stripped of your chaos you would, without hesitation, never see me again?!” Celestia knew deep in her heart that this was true all along, she just never wanted it to be said. Discord stammered a little.

“Well of course I’d hesitate!”

“But you’d choose chaos?” A few ponies had noticed her voice was getting a little louder and were looking at them curiously.

“Look, it’s not like the situation will ever arise! There’s room in my life for both.” He kept his voice low in an attempt to soothe her. She was having none of it.

“How can I be with you knowing I come second to your powers?” She backed away from him a little, Discord narrowed his eyes as he noticed hypocrisy in her words.

“Oh, so if I was to say ‘Celestia, darling, if you were to choose between me and your powers... Say the situation was to arise were someone made you choose between your horn and me would you choose me?’ you would be FINE becoming a pegasus for me?” Discord knew perfectly well she wouldn’t want to give up her powers, the duty and her royal position.

Celestia paused for a few seconds before narrowing her eyes back at him, now the whole hall were aware of their fight and were listening intently.

“That’s different!” She shook her head a little.

“How?! How is it different? Tit for tat, my darling!” Discord didn’t realise the sudden silence of the watching hall or the eyes of the ponies, there was only him and Celestia.

“Because unlike you I’m important!” As soon as she said that she knew she had phrased it wrong. Discord stumbled a little and his face looked slightly pained before looking angry again.

“Oh, that stings! You’re saying because you’re Little-Miss-Princess you can easily discard me because of ‘royal duties’?! If you can raise the sun and the moon by yourself Luna could do it too so that’s out the window, you’re nothing but a hypocrite!” He folded his arms and looked judgingly at her. “You’re saying I should give up my magic for you but you wouldn’t? Obviously this relationship is very one sided, you pretentious alicorn!”

A small pause. The air felt very heavy, as if it itself was listening in.

“Discord, the fact is that we are two very different ponies.” Celestia’s voice had calmed down a little. “And neither of us is willing to give up magic for this and that’s not a horrible thing. You need to understand however that the reason I wouldn’t give it up isn’t the same as you’re reason. The world needs my magic while your magic is a silly distraction at most.”

“That still stings.”

“It’s a fact. I’m sorry but it is. It would matter more if I had to give up mine.”

“Celestia, what you said just there is the most selfish, self-righteous, pretentious piece of dribble I have EVER heard. Even if it’s true, which it isn’t, you don’t SAY to someone you love that they are less important, less meaningful and less WORTHY than your pretentious flank!” With that he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Celestia’s own words to hit her.

She didn’t mean for her words to sound so hurtful and patronising, she only wanted to win the argument.

No.

She wanted Discord to not be mad at her for choosing magic over him. Even though she didn’t know a unicorn alive who would think that’s an easy decision.

It’d be like losing a limb, suddenly she realised it was like that for him to but it was too late.

She tried looking for him but he was nowhere in the castle grounds, in the Everfree forest, anywhere.

A week had passed since their fight. She had given up hope of him coming back.

She had at least hoped he’d come to say goodbye.

The newspapers had run out of things to say about the whole ordeal, ponies in all stretches of her kingdom however still talked about it feverishly wondering where he’d gone.

In truth he planned to come back sooner but it went like this;

‘I’ll go back tomorrow when she’d had time to think about it.’

‘Maybe she’ll need a little more time. I’ll go tomorrow.’

‘What if I’ve given her TOO much time and she’s circled around to being mad at me again? I’ll... Decide what to do tomorrow.’

‘I’ve waited too long, she’s probably thought I’ve left her... Should I go back today? No.. I’ve waited too long to suddenly come back without something to say.’

‘What to say?’

‘I can’t think of anything.’

‘Nothing.’

In the end it took him eight days to muster up the courage to see her again.

Rattattatta.

Celestia glanced at the rattling noise on her window and shot up straight as she saw Discord standing there, waving a little with a small grin on his face.

She opened the window with her magic and waited for an explanation of why he was gone so long, secretly happy as any pony could be at seeing him.

“Celestia. I’ve thought long and hard about this situation and I’ve come up with two solutions... One is that we break up. And never see each other again admitting we we’re never right from the start.” He seemed surprisingly calm saying that, Celestia noticed, she pondered how confident he must be in solution two.

“What about number two?” She muttered, not wanted somepony that had had such an effect on her life to simply vanish like he did after the fight. Discord grinned and stroked her face.

“Run away with me.” Those words left her dumbstruck. Colliding responses battled in her head for dominance as the young mare that had fallen for the beast screamed yes, but the grown alicorn with responsibilities, friends, family.. Yelled no. “Before you say no... Think about it. Sure it’ll be hard and you’ll miss your friends, blah blah, but think about the things we’ll see! The places we could go! You could be my second in command in chaos if you wanted.”

This wasn’t a ‘follow your heart or follow your head’ choice. Part of her heart was in Ponyville, Canterlot, Cloudsdale. She was fighting for words and the prospect of doing something so risky and spontaneous wasn’t helping her find them.

“Discord.. I-I.. I can’t do that... So many people rely on me here. I can’t desert them I mean.. It doesn’t make sense to-”

“What fun is there in making sense? Live on the edge for once. Be chaotic!” He could tell the effect this was having on her and smiled, he was winning over her.

“Discord...” She looked into his eyes. “Ponies would recognise me.”

“No, I could disguise us if he ever entered a town. You could be a brindle pegasus one day and a mauve unicorn the other... I promise Celestia.” His smile was growing wider as he watched her think.

“Discord.. Promise me one thing.” Her voice was small and weak.

“Yes, my dear?”

“Promise I won’t regret it.” She smiled sweetly, Discord could clearly see the young mare he met next to the pond, the mare he snuck around with during the night and danced with under the moon with, he could see the spark in her heart that was yearning for freedom even at a great cost.

“My love, you won’t regret a thing.”

He had her. He had full control over the pesky normal part of her brain. The part that tormented her with normality and regulation.

He had chaotic control.

Epilogue

Dearest sister,
By the time you read this I will be long gone. I am sorry for leaving you with such a huge responsibility but it is easy when you get the hang of it. If you think about it me being gone is helping you, ponies will rule under you and revere you as they revered me.
I remember our late night talks about what you would do if you were in charge, I trust you little sister.
Do not be mad at me or Discord for leaving but rather see this as me trying to do what makes me happy. I know it may seem like he’d controlling me but he isn’t, I’ve always had that little streak in me that’s hated the seclusion that comes with the royal title. Do not be like me, make it obvious early in your rein you do not want to be treated differently.
I made the mistake of not making that clear and I ended up being treated like a Princess instead of a mare.
I will always love you Luna, maybe one day we will meet again if you forgive me.
Your sister,
Celestia.

To my faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
You have taught me in a few months what my years of searching have not. Please do not think less of me because I have chosen this path in life, it only means I wish for some adventure like you and your friends experience.
I have no abandoned you dear student, what kind of mentor and friend would I be if I just left you? I can meet you, and my sister once she calms down, once a week if you wish at Zecora’s hut in the afternoon. If you miss a meeting I don’t mind, I will always come to check.
My dearest student, continue seeking and learning about friendship. I am honoured to have been your mentor.
No matter what, I will always be your friend.
Your friend and mentor,
Celestia.

To dearest mother.
I know I cannot give you this letter personally but I know it will find you where you are.
I hope you don’t think I’ve made a mistake. I don’t. I’ve only been away for a day and already Discord has shown me the wonders controlled chaos and chaotic control can make. He never wishes to hurt so I’m never afraid to join in and laugh with him.
This may be unorthodox and uncouth but understand this is my choice, to follow my love. He may be childish but he is more in touch with what he wants than anypony I have ever met, he makes me happy.
I hope you understand.
Your loving daughter,
Tia.