The pond looked particularly murky today, then again, it always looked that way. Maybe a bit more moss was on the left this time then the right.
"Usually I don't like surprises. I mean, their fun and all but sometimes its just so scary...!"
Least the breeze was nice, always did feel good to have some atmosphere blowing upon his beautiful visage. Too bad there was always a nice breeze. Except when it's raining, then its just chilly.
"But when Rarity started laughing, it didn't feel like a dark, scary prank anymore. It felt like, well, fun!"
Why was the picnic blanket so, cliche? Surely red and white squares can't be that clever anymore. Now if you really wanted something to stand out, you'd use spots of purple and slashes of green in horizontal and vertical lines. Now that would be so-
"Discord!"
The chaotic beast threw his head angrily at Fluttershy with a quick turn, previously having it laid down like the rest of his bored body parts that were currently asleep like his, well, everything. "What!?"
Fluttershy made a face now as she felt a bit weary at his sudden snap despite her own. Her brows just furrowing as she thought of what to say or do but before she could respond, the creature of Chaos groggily began apologizing as he sat up.
"Sorry, sorry..." He grumbled, scratching his back with those talons of his. Fluttershy never knew why but seeing them always did put her on edge for some reason. She twiddled her hooves, expressing so.
Seeing her distraught expression, Discord gave in and just bowed his head, staring at her with his round red orbs. "It's just, I'm so bored."
"But, I thought you liked picnics."
"Yes, I do." He stopped before looking away, crossing his arms to mumble something. "Not after the two-hundredth time though." He looked back at her, smirking. "Kind of loses its flair after that, don't you think?"
"Were you even paying attention to what I was talking about?" The shy mare said, trying to distant the subject of picnics now.
"You mean the surprise birthday party for Miss Snobby-Snob?" He looked at his talons now as he speaked, seeming even bored with them. Ironically, something the fashionista would do.
Gasping, Fluttershy soon flew up to Discord's face and pointed accusingly, her eyes seeming suddenly flared. Yet Discord stayed expressionless.
"Don't ever call her that! That's not nice!" Yet all she got in response was a yawn from the mis-matched creature. This only infuriated her more. Her teeth now baring.
"My dear, I'm usually amused when you're angry but right now, I'm not in the mood." He then grabbed her head and slowly pushed her back down onto the picnic blanket. Fluttershy too stupefied to respond from the action, before giving another look of disapproval at her chaotic friend.
"...What?" He only now noticed or even realized he was still being glared at in some way.
Giving in, for once, as it seemed Discord was in one of his moods. Fluttershy calmly breathed in and out and gave a weak smile. "Well, what do you want to do then?"
The God of Chaos' ears perked at the question, turning to her in surprise. "...I don't know." He stated bluntly. Yet before his little shy friend spoke, he decided to interrupt her. "But I do know, I want something to happen."
Blinking, Fluttershy looked around the small lake and then back to Discord. "Well, we could always go swimming."
"Boring."
Fluttershy frowned and tapped her lips in thought. "Or we could-"
"No."
"But I didn't even say anyth-"
"I'm not playing hide and seek with your dumb animal friends."
Now Fluttershy was getting upset and irritated again. "Discord! It's rude to interru-"
"No."
"DISCORD!" Fluttershy shouted, only to blink seeing Discord give a rather mischievous little smile. He was toying with her.
"...Discord. You need to behave."
The abomination threw his arms up before continuing. "That's all I ever do! Is behave!" With a sudden flash, Discord was gone but in another, he was now beside Fluttershy, mimicking her voice. "Discord! You must always be good! Never be different! That is bad! Being good is good! Bad is bad! I like bunnies that kick my flank on a regular basis~!"
Now flustered with both embarrassment and anger, Fluttershy snapped once again. "Discord!"
Yet surprisingly, Discord ignored her and carried on, now appearing on the other side of the lake to bug Mr. Bear. "Oh excuse me, Mr. Bear, let me wipe your bum-bum because you can't possibly survive without being taken care of 24/7. You're too stupid for that!"
The grizzly growled and tried to swing at Discord, leaving Fluttershy not only to cover her lips with both hooves to show her concern, but at the same time, to hold her mouth back from screaming. A soft rise of tears starting to form in her eyes.
Why was he being so mean?
Discord did come back, however and just sneered at her before blinking at how upset she had become. Feeling guilty, he drooped his ears and sighed, staring at the very non-chaotic grass. "Sorry... It's just, I need... chaos." Sitting down, he just trailed a talon around the rim of his tea cup.
Still trying to hold back tears, Fluttershy stuttered. "I-It's fine... D-Discord."
Great, now he'd done it. He made her feel awful and of course it was his fault for it. Good going Discord, you just made your one and only best friend cry.
Looking up at her, he gave a frown. "Now, now. I didn't mean any of it my dear. I was just poking some fun, is all."
"You did too mean it." She said quietly, rubbing her eyes now to rid the residue of her leftover tears. Making the Draconequus feel like just sliding down in a puddle of regret. "I know you." She finished.
"I just, don't like so much peace. I need chaos! Disharmony!" He roared, as if the only vaccine to his anger were those things of the opposite.
"Then go find some. I'll just stay here and boringly tend to my animals." Fluttershy sniffled, grabbing a carrot from her basket to give to Angel, who seemed more or less happy for the snack but actually worried about his owner.
Discord knew that if the bunny was being kind to Fluttershy, that he must have screwed up somewhere. Yet instead of saying sorry again, he felt anger boil within him.
Now standing on his hind feet, he just growled. "Fine, then maybe I will! See if I care about a stupid picnic with some stupid animals!" Sure, there was only a few ducks and mice around. The bear wasn't even invited and he was just nearby, still, there was no need for his cold response and he knew it.
Yet he wasn't going to say sorry anymore. He was done with this boring charade.
With another flash of light, the creature of chaos had vanished, leaving a trembling and upset Pegasus to cry.
_____________________________________________
So much guilt was running through him as he appeared in the middle of Ponyville, seamlessly walking past the scared stiff ponies around him. After so long, the citizens were still terrified of his presence. Probably for good reason, what with how he just treated Fluttershy.
Thinking that way, only made him feel even more pathetic, and his entire body was just dragging and pulling until eventually he just laid in a twisted mess on the ground, mumbling incoherently.
Nopony had the guts to speak to him or even ask what was wrong. So Discord laid there for quite some time.
"Uh, Discord? What are you doing?"
Oh look, someone dared to speak to the mighty God of Chaos and Disharmony. What an unlucky fellow.
"Debating about my existence and why I was created in the first place." He could have added something about needing to eat ponies as sufficiency, to get a nice reaction, but he wasn't feeling too keen about the idea.
"That sounds, rather deep." A nervous chuckle followed. "Perhaps you'd like to check out a book for the answers?"
Wait, books. Library.
Shooting his head up suddenly, making, well, whoever it was next to him suddenly scream. He turned his head to soon see a small dragon, Spike, to be exact.
He was bundled around his small tail, shaking up at the creature as if he was able to breathe fire. Well, give or take, he probably could but there was no need to test that right now. Wait, that doesn't make sense, Dragons swim in fire.
Discord smiled at his own chaotic conclusion.
Seeing the smile however, Spike began shaking even more. This oddly just made Discord beam as he scooped the tiny friend in his hands. "That's it!" Another scream following as he bellowed a laugh, throwing the small guy up in the air to catch him.
"Spike! You're a genius~!" Another maniacal laugh followed this time.
"I am?" He said curiously as he was thrown up in the air for the fifth time before soon calming down. "I mean uh, of course I am!" He chuckled nervously, again.
Yes! Why didn't he think of it before? Surely Twilight had a book or two about his chaos and how he could use it without hurting anypony's feelings! Or at least, well, control it. He hated such a word, control made him feel sick just thinking of it. But he hoped, it wouldn't have to come to that.
So now sliding off as quickly as possible to Twilight's Library, he heard a loud 'Oof!" from Spike as he just now landed on his rump rather harshly. A chuckle emitting from the Draconequus' lips as he just now was near the front door. He was going to knock, his paw was even in a fist to do so, but instead, he just gave a small smile and turned into brown fog instead, seeping into the crack under the door.
Surely Twilight wouldn't mind a little surprise. After all, if there was anything these ponies enjoyed, it was a good little shock factor. Beside's, this totally wasn't his way of coming in whether she wanted him or not. No, of course not.
He wasn't breaking and entering her home. Not. At. All.
Sliding his fog carefully through, he soon saw Twilight, her back turned from him as she was writing rather happily to her precious sunbutt of a princess.
Perfect.
Appearing behind her now, mere inches away from her ear. He quietly whispered. "Whatcha' doin~?"
A scream soon followed as Twilight instinctively lifted up the vial for her pen's ink and threw it into Discord's face, only for him to lick up the strange liquid with his snake tongue to a squeaky clean fix. His grin overbearing the next to the purple mare.
Gasping and trying to catch her breath, Twilight now glared at the beast as she screamed. "Discord!"
"Twilight!" He gasped dramatically back.
"Discord!"
"Twilight!"
"Discord!!" She screeched now.
"Twilight!!" He returned.
"Um, Spike?"
Discord and Twilight both turned to look at Spike, who irritably was still rubbing his sore rump.
Seeing as how he had their attention, Spike soon walked up to Twilight, handing her some items. Discord would have cared to see of what, but he just didn't.
A sigh followed Twilight as she floated the materials by her parchment's side. "Thank you Spike." Her eyes now transfixed on the paper, she began writing once again before stopping and turning to Discord with a look of hate only to convey that into affection towards her little brother/assistant. "Can you get me a new ink vial? I had a little mishap."
"Done and done." Spike said, almost in a tone of knowing exactly what had happened despite not being there. Of course, again, Discord didn't care. His point of being here was much, much more important then some silly supplies.
As he watched the two speak back and forth as if he wasn't there, the creature of chaos felt his lips purse together. His talon tapping on the stand where she was writing. It was only after the tapping picked up the pace did Twilight finally give in with another sigh. "What is it Discord..."
Sure, he could be rude and get her more alert, but considering what happened with Fluttershy, he for once, didn't feel like making Twilight angry. Even if it was fun.
"I was wondering, if by chance, you had a little book about Draconequii magic~" His talon flicked onto her horn, making her howl in pain. "Ow!" She now rubbed her horn gently, glaring at him. "Oh?" She then gave a devious smirk. "I thought you knew everything."
Seeing that expression almost made him go off on her. Almost. Yet instead, he just gave the same smile back. "I do, but it doesn't hurt to double check." He sneered.
Rolling her eyes, Twilight just walked over to one of her shelves and scanned its contents. Yet one bookshelf, was soon another and then another... And then another. Until finally Discord felt like he was going to pull his eyebrows off.
"Can't you just use your magic or something to look at everything!?" He growled.
He usually would be cracking a joke but he felt so impatient today it seemed.
Yet instead of being rude or even irritated, Twilight just gave another sigh and looked back to Discord. "Sadly, I have no books on your kind. I guess I'll have to order some, if they even exist." She now trotted over to her catalog book, reading it for any words that could pop up about Draconequui and their magical properties.
Usually the nerd loved books, why did she seem so disinterested? He felt insulted. He was a one of a kind Draconequus and she was acting like he was just a common chicken!
Eyes now narrowing, he then smiled. "Perhaps, you're just not looking hard enough." He now floated by her side and before she could speak, he snapped his fingers, making the books swirl and dance around her. Yet there was a catch. Any book with a certain genre or quality to it, either began belching, singing, cooking or sometimes even dancing.
The horror books screamed, the adventure books flooded water and the romance books, well, no one wants to know what they were doing.
Eyes wide and mouth agape, Twilight didn't know what to say for a good two minutes. Yet soon she was screaming, as she ran away from some of the historical books about gunfire. Yet instead of being worried, Discord just fell down laughing.
Spike now desperately trying to capture the books after Twilight, only making the chaotic creature pound at the floor with his fists at how hard his laughter was coming out of his mouth. Everything was just so priceless!
"Discord!" Another scream came from Twilight as she finally was able to reverse the spell and cause all the books to fall down dead in their tracks.
Still snickering, Discord just looked at Twilight with a child's mischievous gleam. Her glare more then just angry, it was exploding. He would have laughed again but with the way she was gritting and grinding her teeth, he probably should keep his giggles to a minimum.
"Discord..." She now whispered.
"Yes~ Oh wise Princess of Friendship~?" He snorted.
"GET OUT!" And without a seconds delay, soon the Draconequus was being lifted with an aura. The librarian's eyes furious with magic and rage.
Surely he could vanish before she could throw him out, but her anger was faster then his magic for once, and soon, he was thrown out of the door and his face was met with grovel and dirt.
Spitting it out, he just gave a look. "Sheesh, a simple 'leave' would have sufficed."
He now stood up to begin wiping away any excess dirt, but as he turned his back, a force field sprung up and around the tree, making double sure his chaotic presence couldn't come in ever again.
Discord only scoffed and threw his head up in the air, flicking his tail. "Fine! I can study my own magic myself! I don't need you."
"....Party pooper." He stuck his tongue out 'maturely' to the tree before vanishing once more.
____________________________________
As soon as his mis-matched feet met with a red, comfortable carpet, he knew he was back 'home'.
He used that term lightly, home, considering what it actually meant for him was just 'wherever he was at the time.' Sure he had his own dimension he could rest in, but it was just your typical chaotic-swirly-texture-based portal. It had no real qualities to it, like Equestria itself did.
Even Canterlot, as snobby as the ponies here were, had an air and an atmosphere to it that he still found welcoming. It was hard to explain.
Then again, it was probably due to the fact he actually knew the princess' when they were very young. So perhaps their presence was what gave him the implication that it was 'homely.'
"Good evening, Discord."
Hearing that voice, caused the deity to smile. Looking around now, he realized he was in the royal hallway of the sister's castle. He wondered why he was getting all nostalgic.
"Hello, Celestia." He now turned around to see her elegant features, her mane glowing brightly with its magical aura as it seemed to blow in an endless cycle of wind. He would laugh, if it wasn't for having a crush on her.
She gave a gentle smile to him as she spoke next. "How was the picnic with Fluttershy?"
Ouch, bad time for a nostalgia bomb.
Try and change the subject Discord, you're good at that.
"To be honest, I'd rather be having a picnic with you~." Smooth. Like the side of a bit coin. Wait, those have ridges-
She giggled.
He melted.
Good thing he was grand at hiding his feelings from her.
"Well, I'll have to make time for that offer." Giving another soft smile, Celestia bowed her head to him as if he was royalty himself and began walking off. Yet to be honest, he didn't want to see her go. But, he knew that if he stopped her, he'd be asked even more questions he just couldn't answer. It was rather troublesome.
So with a small curl of his claws at her, as she left to the next corner of the hallway, Discord felt himself droop as he slowly walked back to his own private quarters inside the castle.
Yes, even he had a room here. Like it was said before, home was 'wherever he was at the time.'
Pushing open the double doors, he was met with the strange tune 'of Montreal' by 'Gallery Piece'. A lovely little tune that pretty much explained his feelings on a regular basis. Of course, right now, he wasn't sure if he was feeling the melody, as he now casually flipped upside down and landed on the ceiling. Which conveniently held a bean bag chair that was literally a giant Llama bean. It squished as he yawned and grabbed a glass of his favorite chocolate milk, sipping the glass, deep in thought.
"I'm either losing my touch or these ponies are driving me crazy." He sipped again. "...Must be the ponies." Another one. "Yet I just don't understand, what's so wrong with chaos?" Yet another sip. "I mean, sure, it can be inconvenient but sometimes it can be helpful!" He made a loud banging noise as his paw, now curled into a fist, slammed into the Llama bean's side. "Stupid Twilight, I was helping. She was just too blind to see it! She was probably too busy about Sunbutt's perfection, as per usual, to even glimpse at me." Last sip. "She was writing to sunbutt, right?"
Duh, dumb question. What wasn't sent to Princess Perfect?
Standing up now, throwing the chocolate out the window as a scream erupted from the explosion, Discord felt himself finally debate about his existence.
"Chao's creates destruction but in the end reunites harmony." He made a 'yuck' sound but continued his rant, grabbing a small doughnut on the side of the wall, that was oddly nailed to it. "Without my creative idea's, these ponies wouldn't even know what 'being relieved' even means!" He chewed on the doughnut silently, closing his eyes until suddenly he opened them, a realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. "Tia." He swallowed the doughy texture before he soon flipped back onto the floor and began slithering after her.
Of course! Why didn't he think of it before? She always said that he was here because she needed him. Well, to him, that just meant she wanted him, because of how perfect he was, but perhaps it meant far more! His magic was good, it just needed the potential to be used as such. Celestia knew that.
She might even know more about his magic then himself! Which he was about ninety-nine percent sure couldn't possibly happen but still! Why not try? After all, he had an eternity to live, he was sure that-
"Is thou blind!? Surely you see it sister!"
"Luna, please, don't be so loud...!"
That sounded like... Oh, of course. Miss Moonbutt.
Approaching around the corner however, there was obviously two guards, to protect the two princess'. How troublesome.
Yet despite their stoic appearance, it was mildly shown, that they seemed a bit on edge from the strange yelling inside the doors behind them. While Discord was all up for fun and games with these two, he needed to get through and fast. Besides, eavesdropping always helped him out in the past. It will this time too.
So as Discord laid around the corner, he cleared his throat and soon changed his voice to that of a guard in distress, calling out on the other side of the hallway. How he could teleport his voice there instead of here? Why, that would be chaos of course.
"Help! Someone quick! Princess Cadence is in labor! We need more help!"
As one would expect, the two guards didn't know how to respond and soon looked at each other wearily before running off. They were probably wondering how Princess Cadence was here in the first place. Either way, all he needed was just a few seconds to slip by.
Turning back into the gaseous form from earlier, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony soon found himself under the door and now above the ceiling. His color changing to the ones around him so he had the perfect camouflage. Now, he just had to make sure his magic didn't give off any signals that he was in the room. This was not an easy task, as they were the princess' after all.
How the two didn't hear his guard cry about Princess Cadence, he now could only tell. As the two were still bickering at each other. Of what? He'd find out.
"I know you and Discord, were never really close..." Celestia began, her eyes wavering between fear of him hearing and also offending her sister.
Which in this case, it was both.
Turning to her fiercely, with those blue eyes, the Princess of the Night could only growl before turning her back to her sister once more. "He is but a fool. We will not be tricked by his treachery again."
"Sister, please, he is trying-"
"To do what?" She stomped a hoof down, turning back around to walk up to her sister. "To destroy Equestria as we know it!?"
He winced at that outburst but kept his guard, watching and waiting.
"He won't do that Lulu, he won't." Celestia's head shook with doubt, angering Luna further.
"Thee may have tricked thy eyes, but we are not blind! We see the truth!" She now began roaring in that Canterlot voice of hers. "And we will stop him!"
It was The Princess of the Sun's turn to snap. "Luna! That is enough!"
Now Luna, flinching this time instead, just lowered her ears and looked down solemnly.
Seeing as she calmed down, Celestia sighed and began walking toward her sister, allowing her snow colored wing to hug the trembling Alicorn to ease. She hated yelling at her, she always did. "I know you believe that Discord's actions recently mean something, but, I assure you. He is but only a filly, still learning how to walk. We mustn't judge him so harshly. He is only trying to help."
Hearing those words, Discord actually felt belittled and betrayed. As if he was some stupid creature, who didn't know his 'wrong doing'. Why couldn't anyone ever see his brilliance for what it was?
His eyes narrowed as he watched now, feeling a small fire from before begin to burn his soul. A flame he thought had died, years ago. Yet he could just barely hold back from screaming.
"W- I mean, I know sister. It's just, if we don't do something soon, he is sure to cause turmoil for us all."
Celestia only closed her eyes and nodded. Her head now nuzzling against her sister's. "I know, I promise, I will help him. He'll learn to control it."
'Control'
His body shivered at the word.
They wanted him contained, they didn't want to see his beautiful chaos. From the very beginning, it was all just a lie to get him to behave. To be...Controlled.
He always had an idea it was there, but how could they do this to him? After all those years, playing and laughing and now they were the ones who controlled the spirit of Disharmony before him. He hated to admit it, but they broke his heart.
Yet what of Fluttershy? Surely she didn't see him as just a beast to be locked away. There was no way. Not his Fluttershy.
"Then go find some. I'll just stay here and boringly tend to my animals."
A shot, right to the heart. As he heard that gentle sniffle in her tone, from those words earlier. If Fluttershy ever cared about him, she shouldn't have bothered. He was a monster, after all.
Feeling defeated, as the sisters stayed huddled together, trying to reassure themselves, Discord slid out of the room through the vents and slowly formed back in his room. His look, that of a broken creature.
A part of him cried to stay calm, that it didn't mean what he thought it did. There was still room for his chaos to grow and be used, he just knew it! But the other side of him...
No. No! He would prove to them all! That his powers were more then just instruments for destruction and ruin. They were a sign of completion for the world of Equestria! Even if he had to do this himself.
'So how does one go about doing that?'
He had to wrack his brain now, there was no time to rest! If he could find anything, a skip in the system, a loophole. It could help him find a way to use his magic. It not only needed to be a safe environment but also an experimental one! It was a shame he couldn't just use his own home to create chaos, as well, the dimension itself was actually chaos. Sure it was a handy portal but...
Wait, if he could live in a small portal of chaos. Was it possible to...? No.
He couldn't, it was too devious and perfect to begin with. Even if it did work, there could be complications. Any slip ups at all and Celestia would have him in stone in no time. He needed to tread carefully.
But what if it did work?
His red mis-matched orbs slowly looked up as they dilated into pure wonder and fear itself.
As his talon slowly began to glow and his body soon sweating, he began to create a tear. No, not a rip on the wall, but a crack into an alternate dimension.
This was tricky, if he wasn't careful, not only could he endanger himself but he could destroy all of Equestria. For what he was doing was a dark magic in itself. He knew that much. Ponies were never allowed to mess with portals to begin with but definitely not places like these.
It was shocking enough that he was even making this impossible feat but at the same time, it was sucking his energy dry by the second as well. He also had to silence the magic itself. For if Celestia felt this, he would be in trouble.
The crack was forming wider, beginning to shred but become torn apart as his paw and talons started grabbing the edges, pulling wider and wider until he just decided to go for it by a leap of faith. He only had a second before the portal would close.
Leaping in, he soon landed on a barren earth, that much like of Ponyville's.
Getting his senses however, finally having his magic soon build slowly back up, he realized something.
It was Ponyville.
His spell had worked.
