Discord slid along the dirt roads of Equestria, turning them to soap with each slide forward. He was still laughing to himself, thinking about Celestia.
“Oh that silly Alicorn fell for it again,” he laughed. “I just cannot believe that she fell for the whole trapped in a statue thing for a second time. When will she learn that I can’t be stopped by such… meagre methods?”
He looked as the world slowly turned chaotic around him. He smiled at it, jumping in the air and pirouetting, landing gracefully on a marshmallow.
“Just look at this beautiful day. The moon shining, the wind stealing apples, the birds playing basketball. Simply marvellous. Chaos is truly a glorious, glorious thing.”
He looked around again, and with a snap of his eagle claw, he spawned a sheep and wrung out the sweet apple juice from its wool before setting it free, letting it fly away.
“Wonderful. But something’s missing.” He rubbed his jagged chin thoughtfully.
“A-ha!” he exclaimed as an idea popped into his head. “Ponies. That’s what’s missing. Where are they all? I do so love taking such sweet beings and draining the colour from them. There’s nothing more chaotic than an empty shell of a Pony.” Discord laughed maniacally.
The Draconequus carried on skating across the liquid soap, watching the land before him convulse and morph into a much more desirable form for the King of Chaos.
He laughed further as he watched the trees turn inside out and the woodland critters engage in the Tango. It was very humorous, indeed, watching a flying squirrel try to dance with a bear, and yet, somehow very romantic.
“Oh what fun it is, making everything so nonsensical,” he said as he rose into the air, twisting his slender body around demonically, still laughing.
His ears suddenly perked up, he could her music playing in the distance.
“Hmm… I think it’s time to have a little fun with somepony.”
He landed elegantly on the gondola and punted himself over to the source of the noise, singing loudly and incoherently but with great skill, as only he could do.
The grey mare was playing a wonderful piece of music, simple yet beautifully melodic. Her black mane swished as she played the bow across the strings of her violin. Her head moved with the rhythm as she remembered the piece, playing it over in her head at the same time as the strings vibrated each note, imagining what it would sound like with full orchestral backing.
She was relatively new to the violin, as she usually plays the cello, so she needed to practice, and this was the only way she knew how.
She was distracted with the sudden need to sneeze. She lost all focus as the sneeze came rushing from her nose. The trees she had been surrounded by fell to the ground, except for those dancing like robots.
A hysterical laughter came from above. She looked up hesitantly, fearing what might befall her eyes. Although, when she saw the creature, she couldn’t help but giggle.
“Oh that was priceless!” the draconequus shouted down to her from atop the giant peppermill in the sky, wiping a tear of laughter away from his eye. “That’s always been a personal favourite of mine.”
The mare just looked at him, confused as to what exactly he was. She had never seen such a mismatched body before in all her life. It must have been made from at least nine different animals.
“I must say, you are very skilled musician, Octavia,” he laughed menacingly as he said her name.
“How did you know my name?” Octavia was frightened.
Discord ignored her. “Oh, but why must you keep it to yourself?” he asked as he drifted lazily to her side.
“Haven’t you any friends?” He started twisting his snakelike body around her. “Oh no, how could such a pretty, young thing like yourself not?” he chuckled.
Octavia remained frozen with fear, thinking that if she didn’t move then it would go away.
“And what about your dear, dear, Vinyl Scratch?” he said as he dragged a claw gently around her face, chuckling as if mocking her.
Octavia gasped. “How do you know of her?”
“Oh… that’s not important, Octy, not important at all…” He drifted back up and hovered in front of her.
“Wh-who are you?” She dreaded the answer.
“Why? Don’t you know? I thought I made a rather memorable appearance last time I came to town.” He lounged back in the air, reclining on a large palm leaf that appeared before him.
Octavia looked at him nervously as he laughed to himself, obviously reminiscing about his previous visit.
“Oh well, even if you haven’t heard of me before, I don’t mind introducing myself again. After all, I do love the sound of my own voice, it has a certain… gravitas to it. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t know,” she whimpered.
“But anyway, I digress. I am Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.” He span around so Octavia could get a full view of him.
“Discord?” she repeated quietly.
“That’s right, my dear. Discord. And I was wondering.”
“Wondering what?”
“Well, you see, I was casually strolling through the land, wreaking chaos wherever I may, when I heard a truly wondrous sound. It was you, playing the violin so masterfully that I decided I should make an appearance.”
“What? Why?”
“I'm so glad you asked. There’s nothing finer than a Pony devoid of themselves. Empty shells of former beings, once so sweet, but turned sour and ghastly. Drained of all colour. Although, now that I see you, I don’t think anypony would notice that last part.” He deliriously laughed at his little joke, although the violinist was not amused.
“You want to steal my soul?” she asked with horror filling her voice, her purple eyes widened at the thought.
Discord looked dumbfounded for the first time he could remember; he never gave it those words exactly, but decided that that phrase would work well.
“Yes, Octavia, I do believe that is what I want to do. I am here to claim your soul for the sake of chaos.”
“No! I will not let you take my soul.” Octavia stood defiantly, trying not to break her stare. But her quivering lower lip nearly gave her away.
Discord raised an eyebrow before letting it fall again and formed a smile. “How wonderful! I do love it when they put up a fight.”
Octavia broke her expression and looked scared once again.
“I would quite like to make a bet with you.”
“A… bet?” As much as she didn’t like it, she was intrigued.
“Oh yes, a bet.”
Octavia took step closer. “What kind of bet?” she asked suspiciously, leaning in slightly with anticipation.
Discord laughed, he knew he had her right where he wanted. He started circling her as he spoke with his hypnotic voice.
“Well, Octavia, I guess you didn’t know, but I'm a fiddle player too. And if you would be so kind as to take a dare, I’ll make a bet with you.
“Now you clearly can play a mighty fine violin, but please, give this poor, old devil his due. I bet this fiddle of gold,” he spoke in a mystical voice as he summoned a golden violin from behind a rabbit, “Against your soul, because I'm sure I'm better than you.”
He laughed as he ended his proposal.
Octavia considered it for a moment, she wasn’t sure whether or not she should be doing this, but she couldn’t resist.
“Well, Discord, my name’s Octavia, as you already know. And I know it may be foolish to play along with your fiendish plans and not very marelike at all, but I’ll take your bet, and you are going to regret, because I'm the best there has ever been.”
Discord laughed harder this time, mocking the poor Pony for making a foolish mistake.
“Oh, Octavia, you truly don’t know when to stop. You’re only going to embarrass yourself. You better rosin up your bow, my dear, and play your violin hard, Because Chaos is here in Equestria once again and Discord deals the cards.” He threw a handful of cards at her that appeared form nowhere.
“And you should probably keep in mind that, with the slightest of chances that you win you’ll get this shiny fiddle made of gold, but more importantly, if you lose… I get your soul.”
Octavia suddenly felt the weight of what she had done press down onto her shoulders. She was about to lose her soul. No! I'm not going to lose my soul! I'm going to show this ruffian whose boss and that he can’t just do what he likes.
Discord span the golden fiddle around on his finger before it fell under his chin. “I think I’ll start this show.”
Bubblegum and candy floss flew from his finger tips as he rosined up his bow. He pulled the bow across the strings and it cooed like an albatross, then a band of trees placed sunglasses over their trunks and joined in, and Discord played.
With each note he hit, something went chaotic, especially the sky. The day turned to night. Stars flickered in and out of existence, changing their colour each time, making like flashing lights at a disco.
The moon transformed into a giant mirror ball hanging in the sky, reflecting light all over the duelling pair.
The trees were also very talented, Octavia couldn’t but help admire them.
And as for the Draconequus himself, he was truly a master. He laughed as he strung each note into the next flawlessly, creating an amazing sound, although that might have been due to the fact that his golden fiddle sounded nothing like a fiddle and more an amalgamation of almost every single instrument.
His body moved with such chaotic grace as his arms sawed across the strings. He was floating a few feet off the ground, his legs doing a dance to fit his music. His body twisted and looped as he played, matching the rhythm and tempo perfectly. Yet, somehow, he never broke eye contact with Octavia.
What seemed like an eternity later, the scenery returned to its previous, slightly more normal state. Basically it became day once again, and Discord’s wooden counterparts returned to their respective places and continued their dancing of various styles.
“So, Octavia, would you like to give up now to save yourself the embarrassment? I won’t think any less of you if you did. In fact, I would admire your knowledge of knowing when you’ve been beat.” Discord approached her, his eyes swirling as he was about to drain the pony out of her.
Octavia batted away his head. “Hang on a minute. Don’t flatter yourself. You are definitely a very skilled musician, Mr Discord, but please, would you kindly take a seat in that chair, right there?” she asked with much condescension.
“How could I possibly say no to such a polite and eloquent mare like you?” he said in a way that could be misconstrued as mocking, but Octavia chose to ignore it.
Discord summoned a throne and sat on it heavily, causing it to growl.
“Thank you. Now, are you sitting comfortably?” she asked with a sweet smile.
“Why yes, thank you.”
“Good. Now just sit right there and let me show you how it’s done.”
Octavia lifted her violin to her chin and got comfortable, trying to feel the violin. She shut her eyes and dragged the bow across the strings slowly, creating an angelic sound that rang out in the clearing the two of them occupied. Happy that the violin sounded perfect, she began.
Discord smirked. The music Octavia created was so slow and drab, beautiful yes, but so very dull. He was sure he would win.
Octavia built up speed, the tempo of the song changed and so did the beat. It became much livelier.
Discord was now intrigued at how skilled this Pony may be when compared to him.
Octavia’s head started bobbing along to the beat in her mind as she kept in time. Her mane swayed around her head with each beat, slowly getting faster and more frantic as she increased her tempo ever more.
Discord nodded approvingly, she could actually be measured against his own skill now.
Octavia’s hoof moved like lightning over the violin, creating the most complex and masterful piece of music she had ever played, far exceeding her attempts with her cello. The bow was being shredded as she played so quickly over the strings, she doubted it would hold out much longer.
Discord watched in horror as the grey mare became a whirlwind of music. Never before had he heard such marvellous sounds come from a violin before.
Octavia played like nopony had ever heard play before. The wind blew around her as the melody radiated out through the skies, her mane danced as she moved her body to her music. It was a beautiful sight.
Octavia came to a stop. The wind died down and her mane stopped in the air before falling back into place, not a single hair out of line. She glanced down at her bow, it was barely there anymore, just a wooden stick with one thin strand remaining in the frame. She looked back up at her opponent and smiled arrogantly.
Discord looked dumbfounded for the second time in his long, long life. His mouth hung open slightly as he stared at the grey violinist, he couldn’t believe a mortal could create such sweet music. He bowed his head to her; he knew that he had been beat.
“Well Octavia, I am impressed. Very impressed indeed. I thought nothing could sound as wonderful as my own voice, but your musical talents have proved me wrong.”
“So,” Octavia folded her forelegs, bow and violin still in hoof, and gave Discord a smug look. “I think we had a deal, didn’t we?”
Discord blinked at her for a few seconds, he then sighed. “Fine, you get the golden fiddle.”
He held the violin aloft in the air, allowing it to catch the light and shine its gold everywhere. He let it drop to the floor by Octavia’s hooves, hitting the pillowing soil with a loud clang. His eyes returned to a swirling state and he looked deep into her purple eyes.
“Don’t forget the other half of the bet,” Octavia said sourly as she saw his eyes beginning to hypnotise.
“Oh, my dear Octavia, I was only playing with you. What kind of gentlecolt would I be if I didn’t keep my end of a bargain with such a lovely young mare?” Discord laughed again before skating off slowly along the ice path, holding a big bunch of balloons which scraped along the ground.
Octavia picked up the golden violin, grunting with the strength it took to lift it. She rolled it over in her hooves, getting a look at it all over.
It was a very pretty violin, masterfully engraved, not a single scratch on it, yet it was eerie, it still looked like the violin of a demon. She preferred her old wooden one, it had sentimental value.
She looked up again at the horizon, Discord wasn’t very far away.
“Hey! Discord!” she shouted loudly.
He turned around and also appeared in front of her in one fluid motion.
“Yes, Octavia?”
“Just come on back if you ever want to try again.”
She threw the gold violin at the Spirit, hitting him on the nose and creating little winged top hats which circled his head.
Discord shook the apparitions away. “What was that for?”
“I didn’t do that for the golden violin.”
“Then why else would you risk your soul?”
“Because I told you once, you son of a mule, I'm the best there’s ever been!”
Octavia grabbed a spare bow from her violin case and quickly started playing again.
It was a lively tune, yet she played it arrogantly as she skipped around the Spirit of Chaos. She wore a huge smile on her face as she did, laughing as well.
Discord watched her dance merrily around him for a while before realising she wasn’t going to stop.
He glowered, he couldn’t bear to think of this continuing for much longer.
Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared, with the chaos following him.
