With a few clouds lined up in a row, Zephyr gives them a grin. "Alright, let's see if my control has gotten any better!"

"You can do it, big bro!"

Scootaloo was cheering from the ground with her friends as they watched the Falconite get into position. He had been using clouds as practice targets for gaining more control over his wind magic, since he was under the belief that he was tapped out in terms of raw power without burning secondary feathers. Today's exercise was seeing if he can make a wind ball pierce through all but the last cloud.

"Alright... first I form..." He creates a hoof-sized wind ball. "Then I add some spin speed to it for extra piercing power." The wind in the ball starts swirling faster. "And finally, modify the 'shell' to weaken with every cloud hit, hopefully bursting on the final cloud."

"Ya' think he'll do it this time? He's yet to find that good middle ground." Applebloom quipped as she watched Zephyr concentrate.

Sweetie Belle giggled nervously. "yeah, some of his misfires were pretty spectacular... especially when we get blown away by it."

"He'll do it! It's not like he practiced this magic all his life like Twilight or Rarity has, so cut him some slack!"

Applebloom gives an amused look. "Always the first to believe in him, huh Scootaloo?"

"RELEASE!" The fillies look up just in time to see Zephyr launch the wind ball. Sadly for him, the projectile sailed right through the last cloud and kept going until it burst on the nearby mountain. "Hmm, still not enough..."

"At least it didn't turn into an accident!" Sweetie Belle spoke up with a cheeky tone.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence..." Zephyr lands next to the fillies with a slightly worn look. "But fine, I still have a long ways to go in terms of control. I swear, wind being the most chaotic natural element makes controlling it more difficult."

Applebloom gives him a reassuring smile with her friends. "Ah' believe you can do it!"

That got a tired nod from the Falconite. "Thanks you three, but I think that'll be all for me today. Besides, don't you have homework?"

"Aw, I wanted to forget about that..." Scootaloo frowned with displeasure. "We have to write about something interesting and I don't know what my subject will be..."

Sweetie Belle gives her friend a flat look. "What about that wind flower your brother brought home? Sure, it's a flower but if Zecora's correct in saying it's never been seen before, you have something interesting at home right now!"

Scootaloo was about to argue against it, but remembered all of the surface-level attributes it showed and stopped. Applebloom nodded with her own frown. "Ah' kind of wish we could collaborate on this, then we all could write about the different aspects of the flower."

"I mean... nothing's stopping you from asking Ms. Cheerilee if you could, right? Just remember that there will be stipulations you have to work around if you go down that path." The fillies look at each other before beaming and running off. Zephyr shook his head in amusement before heading home first, needing to do some prep if they go forward with their subject.

On the way home, he noticed Princess Celestia flying away in her chariot with a second, empty one following close behind. That's... unusual. Maybe her highness dropped a VIP off in Ponyville? Not thinking much of it, he got to his house and moved the Falconite Nature Bloom to the table for easier viewing. He also put a copy of Zecora's notes on the properties of the flower next to it just in case.

After the fillies arrived, with big grins suggesting their negotiation was successful, they marveled at the flower while studying it. Satisfied that the three were on their way, Zephyr started heading out when there was a small, rapid knock at the door. Answering it revealed a panicked Angel Bunny. "Angel, what's wrong?"

Though he couldn't understand non-birds that well, Angel's charades did convince the Falconite to head towards his sister's cottage. When the two burst in through the door, they almost fell due to the room somehow rotating on the inside while it looked unaffected outside. "Welcome back, Fluttershy-- oh? My, my isn't this a surprise."

Zephyr, after stabilizing his flight with Angel on his back, recognized the one floating in the middle of all the chaos going on with the rotating interior. Deciding to get a bit of revenge, Zephyr cocked his head. "Who are you again?"

That got a laugh. "I suppose it HAS been roughly 9 or 10 years since my last appearance in the story, though you of all ponies should know considering you recognized me when you first saw me."

"Bah, of course you'd be immune to that, Discord."

The Draconequus grins. "When you've been around for as long as I have, you've basically seen it all. You start feeling the need to make your own fun, which makes being a Spirit of Chaos quite the ride!"

"As long as you have, huh? Considering you knew what a Falconite was before anypony else, that must make you ancient!"

"Now now, it's rather rude to assume a draconequus' age."

That got a flat look from Zephyr. "It's also rather rude to reverse the personalities of ponies you meet. Thanks for that by the way..."

"Semantics. Also, you're welcome considering it gave you a small chance at being the hero you always dreamed of!" Discord chuckles at that. He suddenly corrects the room's orientation, but flipped Zephyr's gravity. It disoriented the Falconite into thumping up on the ceiling with a displeased expression as Angel fell off his back. "Now, while I'm supposed to be "reforming", I don't see why I can't have a little--"

Don't.

Discord teleported behind the sofa he was just on after he tried to subtly touch Zephyr to hypnotize him, which confused the pony. That voice and presence... I thought he was thoroughly sealed away, but I guess he found a loophole. Eh... as much of a scare as it was, I'm interested to see where this goes. Also, get out of my thoughts.

"Wha-- big brother?!" Fluttershy had returned and was shocked to see an upside-down Zephyr in her cottage.

"Hey, Shy. What's up?" That got a chuckle from Discord. "Are you up or am I up? Let the guessing games begin..."

"Y-you're being rather calm about this yourself..."

"Maybe, but some context would be lovely. Something about Discord "reforming"? Can't imagine what he will reform into considering the mish-mash is body already is."

"Ohohoho, quite the carefree attitude you have now! THIS I rather enjoy!" Discord sipped an alcohol-free martini as Fluttershy quickly explained the situation. It got difficult when he started crunching on the glass like it was candy glass... with the crunching sounding like squealing tires.

Zephyr facehooves at the whole thing. "I really wonder how Princess Celestia arrived at this decision..."

"So do our friends, but..." Seeing Discord enjoying himself with her brother despite his hard feelings made her realize that, perhaps, the draconequus wasn't that bad after all. "Well at least I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Discord!" Zephyr looks at her like she grew a second head.

While it threw Discord for a loop, he didn't show it. "Ah, you really are the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy! You're so understanding, unlike those friends of your who were being so demeaning!"

"Can you blame them after what you did to them? I believe the term of that day is--"

"Ah ah ah, don't say it or you'll raise the age rating of the story even further!" Zephyr could only look baffled as he attempted to make a "Discord being Discord" file in his mind next to the "Pinkie being Pinkie" one.

Fluttershy shook her head. "My friends are only being abrasive because they care about me!"

"And that's because of how understanding you are, Fluttershy! I guess Kindness really is the strongest Element in the set if it picks ponies like you! Perhaps there's hope for my reformation after all!"

Zephyr managed to glare at the second face Discord sprouted as he was being literally "two-faced" about his comment. "I do agree on one thing. Fluttershy will forever be the better pony out of us two siblings, considering she had forgiven you for that debacle."

"Oh, big brother..."

"And... if she believes you're redeemable, then I'll support it. After all, her kindness saved me from myself many times before..."

Fluttershy smiled at her brother before hearing Twilight call for her and flying out. Discord gave the Falconite a raised eyebrow. "Many times? Sure, there was that ONE time so long ago, but I don't recall any other time."

"Eh, that's for me to know and for you to find out, hm?"

"Ah, upgrading to cheeky are we?"

"All I know right now is that up is down, left is right, yes means no and no means yes. Does that make sense?"

Discord snickered. "Nope, not at all!"

"Boo, I was hoping to catch you with that." Zephyr pouted as Discord gives him a cheeky grin.

"Sorry, I was talking to Twilight and I had a most wonderful idea!" Fluttershy came back inside the cottage with a smile. "How about a dinner party with everypony? I'm sure it'll be a great time for us!"

Discord raised an eyebrow. "A dinner party, eh? I do enjoy a good party, but this space seems rather... small for one. Tell you what, out of the goodness of my heart I'll renovate the interior of your house to be more accommodating!"

With a snap of his fingers, the interior of the cottage suddenly became much larger compared to the exterior. The color was more green and the furniture and layout was more chaotic than before. Ignoring that, Zephyr decided to nitpick. "What? No statues for decor?"

Discord levels a flat glare at the Falconite. "You know full well why. It'll probably be some time before I'll be on speaking terms with stone."

"You must've really hated being taken for granite, huh?"

"Sedimentary, my little Falconite." Fluttershy giggles at the pun-off as she heads into the new kitchen to prepare the food. The animated kitchen utensils helped with that.

When the rest of the Elements of Harmony, plus Spike, entered the house, they were surprised to see an upside-down Zephyr trying to play mind games with Discord when he had rolled out the "red carpet" for them outside. Rainbow was more concerned with the current state of her boyfriend. "Zephyr! Discord, what did you--"

"He reversed my gravity and no, he has yet to do anything to me. Do my colors look muted or grey?" Zephyr didn't break eye-contact with the draconequus as he pouted, somewhat frustrated he was thwarted at every turn during their word-plays. Rainbow looked unconvinced.

"I suppose we should wrap this up since out guests have arrived! No sense being a bad host!" With that, Discord flashes a butler uniform on and shows everypony their seats. He made sure to conjure up an upside-down table and utensils for Zephyr since he was still stuck on the ceiling.

The dinner wasn't going so well, with Rainbow being the main aggravator despite her insistence that Discord was the one at fault. Fluttershy trying to give the Spirit of Chaos the benefit of the doubt even with her friends trying to say she was being manipulated. Eventually, Zephyr got fed up with everything going on. "Everypony, SHUT UP! All animated dishware go BACK into the kitchen... the candles can stay if they behave themselves. Rainbow, sit down! Were you raised in a barn?!"

"Ah' want to comment on that..." Applejack gave the Falconite a flat look.

"Not important right now. Do NONE of you realize what you're doing right now? You keep pointing your hooves at Discord when everything he's doing is reactionary to what YOU'RE doing! You know what this whole scene reminds me of? My foalhood in the Manehattan school system!" Discord was surprised when Zephyr actually tried to relate to him.

The correlation stunned Rainbow as she looked up at her boyfriend. "How does this remind you of that?!"

"Maybe because I was relentlessly bullied for being different?" Zephyr flares all 4 wings to prove his point which made the other ponies grimace. "Yes I get that Discord did wrong by you all in the past but guess what? So did I and you all forgave me eventually! Plus, he did so to Shy as well and she's willing to forgive and forget! Do none of you, especially you Rainbow, have any TRUST in her judgement?!"

"Darling, you weren't there when Discord manipulated us into betraying our elements back then! For all you know, he could be manipulating your sister--"

"That's not your call, Rarity. You're not being generous right now. Sure he could be, that thought refuses to leave my head-space because she's my sister, but I want to trust Shy's judgement when she believes that Discord can change for the better!"

Rainbow wanted to call it out but she suddenly realized that, by not trusting her foalhood friend like her boyfriend was, she wasn't being loyal to her. That revelation hurt her heart as she sighed. "I... I understand... then I'll trust Fluttershy's judgement as well and keep my mouth shut. If she really believes Discord is capable of change, then I will as well." Pinkie and Spike both gave a start when the Element of Loyalty gave off a soft glow at those words.

"Rainbow, you can't be serious!" Twilight was exasperated by Rainbow suddenly backing off. "Don't tell you're backing off because your boyfriend told you--"

"Twilight, you're not showcasing the "magic of friendship" right now!" Discord made sure to comment that. While he was secretly reveling in his success in manipulating Zephyr to his side, a part of him wanted to help the Falconite out not realizing he felt a connection to both siblings defending him.

"You know, Discord, you made me realize some thing about myself just now when you said that."

That threw Discord for a loop. "I assure you, anything I teach is unintentional! Unless it's the lesson that chaos can be fun!"

Zephyr rolled his eyes at that. "Not quite, but it does correlate to chaos." He conjures a small whirlwind before quickly dissipating it, not even bothering with the 'set-up' Twilight had been teaching him which surprised the Unicorn. "Before this, I was trying to refine my control over my wind magic so that I could make it do what I want. However, I've been unsuccessful... because that's not how it works! The more you try to control wind, the more it fights back and resists your attempts, resulting in misfires or accidents.

"Seeing Discord like this made me realize... wind and chaos are the same in that regard. The more you try to make them do what you want, the more they rebel. The more you try to force Discord into acting the way you deem acceptable, the more he'll act out of spite for that."

Fluttershy smiled at her brother, incredibly proud of him. "Well said! That's why I wanted to give Discord the room he needs to change on his own accord and terms! And just like with the wind, nothing's wrong with little nudges here and there for guidance! After all, what are friends for?"

While the Element of Kindness had stated earlier that she was Discord's friend to his surprise, hearing her re-state it gave the draconequus confused feelings. Zephyr unintentionally gave him an out when he checked his watch. "By the way, you spent 5 minutes in the same spot. That's a new record for you!"

Discord teleported a couple inches from where he was standing before sticking his tongue out. "So? I can sit still if I want to!"

"Coulda fooled me earlier."

Pinkie couldn't help but laugh at the back-and-forth. "You two look like good friends already as well!"

Twilight was about to quip as well when Angel interrupted the proceedings, looking like a drowned rat. He managed to inform all present that Sweet Apple Acres was flooding, which reignited some suspicion in Discord. "Look, we'll go there and figure out what happened. This better not be another elaborate trick, Discord!"

After the other 6 left, Discord shrugged at Fluttershy before the two left as well. Zephyr realized something. "Could I get my gravity un-reversed? I don't want to fall UP into the sky!" When there was no response, he sighed before sitting back down and finishing the food on his plate. He noted the candles looking up at him and could feel their concern. "I'll be fine. I'll just... consider this a test of patience."

After getting back into his Royal Guard mindset, Zephyr waited for something to happen. At one point a cold air blew through the chaos-cottage, which lasted a while until everything, including Zephyr's gravitational orientation, fixed itself in a flash of light. No longer concerned with falling up, he left the now normal cottage and made a beeline to Sweet Apple Acres.

He arrived just in time to see his friends, girlfriend, and Sister making peace with Discord. Zephyr landed with a confused look. "How much did I miss?"

"The fact that Fluttershy was able to convince Discord that her friendship with him was worth more than his world of chaos." Rainbow smiles at her foalhood friend. "You were right, we were acting too abrasive before."

"I'm sure all of you would have come around eventually as well!"

"Aw, I missed the character development!" Zephyr pouted, making everyone present laugh.

Discord shakes his head. "I suppose there's more to life than chaos. Especially when you got good friends with you!"

Twilight quickly writes a letter before having Spike send it. "I'm sure Princess Celestia would be delighted to accept you as well, Discord! Let's all head back to Ponyville."

On the way back, Discord managed to lean in towards Zephyr. "You know, when your sister denounced our friendship... it actually hurt to think that she meant it. She did a good job making me feel... wanted."

"That's my sister for you. She's very good at that without any ulterior motives. Guess you weren't an exception either."

"Well... as I thought about our broken friendship, I realized that I wouldn't have lost one friend... but two. Her and you, considering you were willing to interact with me because she was willing to be my friend. I did enjoy our mental sparring despite my attitude... and I've never had anypony relate to me in any way." Discord conjures a small whirlwind of his own. "Plus I feel we have a connection on a magic level since you've made that comparison between wind and chaos."

"Perspective is a wonderful and terrifying thing, huh?" The two males laugh as they sped up and rejoined the mares.

Princess Celestia wasn't long in arriving to pick up Discord, though it was clear there was still some mistrust. After some prodding from Fluttershy, Discord gave in a bit more. "Oh alright. Friendship is Magic."

"Friendship is magic, life is chaos, and time marches on towards the unknown." Zephyr said that while lifting a primary wing like he was reciting poetry.

Celestia was surprised to see Zephyr being friendly with the Spirit of Chaos before smiling a bit more. "I guess you earned more than one friend today, Discord."

"Ah, I know you came to pick me up but... maybe we can hold it off for a bit longer? I kind of want to see my other friend's house before leaving." Discord tapped a claw and paw digit together to look more convincing.

Zephyr chuckles at the suggestion. "If you really want. It's not like my house would be much more interesting than Shy's."

"If Zephyr allows it, then I suppose we can hold off for a bit longer." Discord fist-pumps at that as the group heads towards his house.

"I know I had some guests over before I headed over to Shy's at Angel's insistence. Hopefully they won't be too surprised by another guest--"

When he opened the door, the group beheld the absolute chaos in the house with a certain trio of fillies in the middle of it all. Despite it all, the table with the flowerpot was somehow unscathed in the destruction.

Discord busted his side laughing at the sight while Zephyr had a stunned look. The fillies tried to make innocent smiles over the whole thing which broke the Falconite out of his trance with a level glare. "Alright you three, you've got some 'splaining to do!"

The fillies couldn't say anything because they had no idea WHAT to say, especially when their sisters beheld the mess as well. It really was a mystery of life when three unsupervised fillies somehow caused more chaos in a house than the literal Spirit of Chaos.

Author's Note

I have come to realize just how hard Discord is to write--

Of course I am! If the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony was "easy" to write, he's not a very good one!

Yeah, yeah. It also has the effect of making every interpretation of you unique across the board.

Fittingly so! Regardless, I must go and see what some other 'mes' are up to!

*Sigh* I should have expected this...