The Void
A place of nothingness. The space in between dimensions that no living being should be able to get to. No one should be able to get there and yet there was one. A Draconequus sat on a chair of his own making, awaiting his guest. Draconequus are such bizarre creatures- being a mishmash of various magical creatures- that there's only ever usually one in a reality. To be honest, it is normally different versions of the same one. The same twisted genius spread through the multiverse. The one that sat, dutifully waiting for his companion went by the name of Discord. Fitting, considering his job.
Alone, one of these may cause you to rip off your ears to fight the stress. That moment however a second appeared in the realm. The first sign of madness is talking to yourself. Where, on the list of madness, is talking to a parallel version of yourself? The Draconequus that entered The Void was known as Eris, Discord's female self. She was more slender than him and her eyes held greater compassion on the surface. Not much was different from the two, although Eris tended to talk less then Discord. Both Eris and Discord would regularly meet up and exchange stories to each other. When you're a being of chaos, you don't tend to care about the laws of reality. As Eris appeared, Discord checked his wrist. All 13 of his watches said "late" before vanishing back into his imagination.
"You're late," Discord smirked. "I guess I'll go first then this time." A snap of his claws and the chair was gone, replaced by a couch which he laid on to tell his story.
Eris sent her own smirk at him. "Time is all in the mind around here," she began "Perhaps I was here earlier than you." Naturally, Discord didn't hear a word of that. He was busy doing his best Rarity fainting impression.
"Sorry, didn't catch that. What?"
Eris rolled her eyes. "Fine. You go first." A snap of her claws brought forth an antic fireplace and a cup of hot cocoa, both excellent companions to a story. Discord chuckled at the sight. One of the reasons he liked to talk with Eris is because they shared a similar sense of humour.
"Thank you my dear." Discord cleared his thought. "Princess Twilight has been rather, shall we say amusing lately. What with her new Kingdom and all."
Before Discord could continue, the fireplace had vanished and Eris' eyes widened in curiosity.
"Kingdom?" she asked
Discord twirled his beard. Victory. "That hasn't happened for your, what was his name, Dusk yet?"
"I guess it gives me something to look forward to." Eris shrugged it off.
Discord's voice grew grim. "If it plays out the same way then I'll say nothing more." The memories of betrayals, tears and carnage rang through his mind, offering a rare glimpse at a dead serious Discord.
"More fun?" Eris asked
Discord paused. "You'll see," he clapped his claws together as his spark returned to his eyes. "How's beardy Bob?"
"Solaris? Same as always," Eris took a nice sip of cocoa. The atmosphere was kind of like watching two talk show hosts being watched by an audience on none. "Bright and wise and ever. I miss the days when he was at least mildly fun."
"Preaching to the choir."
The two beings of chaos shared a delicious round of laughter. As it died town Eris snapped up a pen and paper
"That's not a bad idea," she schemed "Note to self: Make Choir." The scratching of her pen reminded Discord of how he started this conversation.
"Anyway," He continued "I've had a lovely view of Ponyville since then so I created a rooster for the roof that caws randomly."
"That all?" Eris scoffed
Discord shot her a glance. "Every time it caws..." he said sternly "it teleports a few ponies someplace else."
Eris but her hands up half heartedly "Not bad. My mistake."
Discord folded his arms. "Can't I finish?"
A problem Discord found with talking to, what was essentially, himself was that he was beginning to understand why ponies like Rainbow Dash didn't entirely like him. Though the fact that she was giving him his signature "go with it" smirk.
"Was one of the ponies named Big Mac?"
"Yes," he said surprised "Did you get him?"
The memory of Big Mac appearing for Eris gave her a chuckle. Both herself and Discord were charged with the funnier side of harmony, the side of chaos. They both had to make sure there was chaos in the world all the world would fall to the terror that was order. When something like a random stallion appearing happened, it was seen as a compliment.
"He turned up in a cake I had ordered," Eris said, conjuring up a photo album."It was delightful. So, naturally Solaris told me to send him back."
Discord tossed Eris a muffin he had conjured himself. "Thanks for that." He shot her a thumbs up. "You saved me from a long lecture. Though I did have a decent speech to take the credit on hand as well."
Eris burst the muffin into flames. In that moment you could hear the twitching of thousands of grey, bubbly Pegasi as they realised something wasn't right somewhere.
"I'll have to return the favour when I try it," Her smile stretched from ear to ear "With a few changes of course."
"Why change perfection?" Discord debated, somewhat hurt that she needed to change his plan
"Why repeat it?" Eris replied. Discord was reminded of while he liked talking to himself. No matter what realm he was in, that version would never do things exactly like another. There were always enough little changes to keep it fresh.
"Fair point," Discord ended that topic. "Anyway it brings me to a question." his voice became somewhat neutral. It wasn't grim but it was uncommon for Discord to speak in that tone.
"Oh really?" Even Eris seemed slightly concerned by her counterpart's tone.
"Apart from myself, of course, have you met anymore of our parallel selves?"
Indeed, often The Void had visits from beings of chaos. Some Discords- as was the most common name for that being- were rather interesting examples of differences between each other. One had married a pink earth pony called Pinkie Pie. Another had actually formed an army to try and take over Equestria. A rather amusing example was the Discord who was apparently apart of a "Chaos High School" with other Draconequus for a time (The largest exception to the one per realm thing).One version did spring to Eris' mind.
"I ran into one of our Q selves once." She said, breaking the silence.
Discord raised an eyebrow. "One who is me or one is related to me?" he asked
"The former," She replied. A jolt of inspiration. "We should form a council. It would be so much fun."
Joy returned to Discord's voice. "Marvellous idea," He whipped is tail, conjuring a book of plans. "Better yet, we could switch places. I'd so enjoy meeting bearded Celestia."
Eris wondered something. "What is your Butterscotch like?" Eris had a soft spot for the kind yellow Pegasus that still wrote to her. Discord thought about it. The name reminded him on somepony but he wasn't sure who yet. Eris flipped her photo album around and showed him the picture of Butterscotch.
"Oh, you mean Fluttershy?" Discord replaced the picture with one of his friend's. "She'll still sweet and kind," His voice dropped again. "I dare say we owe them quite a bit."
"Something else we owe them?" Eris said. Hundreds of images flashed through her head. Hopefully, he didn't mean anything romantic. "What else has she done for you?"
"It's more of something we did." The memory of that betrayal flashed through him, filling him with some of the guilt he had that day.
"Any pointers?" Eris asked smugly.
Discord didn't reply. He only offered a glare in response. All the items they had so joyfully poofed into being disappeared.
"Fine," Eris broke the silence again "It will be a surprise once it happens."
Discord sighed in relief. The less he had to explain the better. It wouldn't be easy for Eris anyway.
"Good Luck," he tried to crack a smile. Then his mind wondered back to what he said a moment ago. A glorious plan "Now about that switch." The smile had returned at full force.
