A Chaotic Calm

by Betty-tea-dead

Rating: teen
Tags: Discord, Dark, Sad, Main 6, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 4773

Somethings wrong with Discord and he has only himself to blame.

2023: NO LONGER ON HIATUS

A little vacation back in time never hurt anyone, did it? Discord thought he was so clever, going back to when he was wild and free to relive the good old days for a little while.

It's a funny thing, looking at your own past with rose-tinted glasses.

Published 2014-10-08 18:20:08 UTC
Last updated 2023-05-26 20:55:38 UTC

Flutter Buddies

Discord curled up in a warm corner of Fluttershy's cottage lazily. He had found himself a little too bored playing in his pocket dimension, as there was only so much to do when you're a party of one. Here, however,it was only a little better. While he had the company of living creatures, he couldn't play quite as roughly as he would like.

Fluttershy, sweet Fluttershy allowed him to do as he wished to the physical interior of her home. She barely seemed to mind when he would invert gravity or make one room into a million. This delighted him and allowed him to work off some of his pent up energy. It was always fun to make her little white rabbit, Angel, lost and dizzy, but he couldn't find it within himself to do the same to the fragile pegasus.

Oh, he would play the occasional prank here and there, but he had learned the rough way just how sensitive she could be when he had made the bold mistake of creating the illusion of all her sweet animals dissolving into colorful sands. She had choked on the air itself and started to hyperventilate. The negative reaction had thrown the Prince of Chaos off his feet and quickly he had set everything back to what it was before.

He had found himself in the difficult situation of liking the little pegasus, and he was still adjusting to his own self imposed limitations to keep himself from harming her or her feelings. Dragons were scary. Harming or pretending to harm any of her pets was an enormous no no. And he had to be sure nothing he caused would somehow make Fluttershy the center of attention. She hated it when all eyes were on her, and he had no idea why. However,he had to respect it if he wanted to maintain their friendship.

Besides, after what had happened with Tirek? The last thing he wanted to do now was threaten their friendship, and that meant learning something about self control. Some days came easier than others, but this wasn't one of those days.

He stretched out his back and let out a loud yawn and nearly whipped Angel with his tail. Whether or not he was aiming for the fluff ball was up in the air.

"Oh dear, are you bored?"

The gentle voice wafted from the kitchen as Fluttershy was heard closing the stove with a hoof. The little cottage smelled like cookies. Discord knew he could make a million cookies of all kinds rain from the sky if he wanted to. However, something was strangely nice about somepony actually making some to share with him. These were the little things that he found himself appreciating about Fluttershy's company.

"Oh, no Fluttershy!" he chirped out happily. "Sundays always make me feel a bit lazy. Are the cookies ready?" He lifted his head with anticipation.

Fluttershy entered the room, and laughed softly. "No silly, we need to let them cool. Soon though, I promise." She stepped over some skittering chipmunks carefully and nestled herself next to Discord, much to his surprise. The action seemed so natural, as if she didn't give the couch a second thought.

Flustered, he just started to chuckle deeply. "Well if you insist on not burning your mouth on molten pieces of chocolate chips I suppose I can't fault you," he said, unfurling his tail so encircle them both.

She just hummed knowingly. "Discord..." She said with a sweet voice that seemed to start to trail into something else.

He was not sure why, but he felt nervous. It was not like she’d caught him doing something bad but... there was something he couldn’t explain. He was sweating a little, yet he kept up the pristine snaggle tooth smile. "Oh yes, Fluttershy?"

"Something's wrong. Please tell me what's bothering you?"

For some strange reason he felt disappointed, and yet relieved. He let out a long sigh and let his shoulders slump a little. "...Alright, you caught me. I am bored..." He caught Fluttershy starting to look down at the floorboards rather shamefully and quickly he wrapped his lion paw around her playfully. "Now stop that! It’s not because of you."

Not really, anyways.

"O-Oh?" She blinked in surprise. "Alright... but what is the reason?"

He waved his talon hand around, causing an erratic pattern of checker marks and wobbly creatures of all colors to appear like a light show on the floor before them. "I appreciate you letting me do as I wish here Fluttershy, but I miss sharing my chaos with Equestria. But ..." He huffed a little, and suddenly the patterns straightened and the wobbly creatures stiffened and moved robotically like little jointless stick men across the floor. "Ponies like order. And if I want to be good...which I do...I have to play by everypony’s rules."

"I see..." Fluttershy tapped a hoof to her mouth in thought. "But what about your pocket universe?"

"Lonely."

"Lonely?"

He gently bopped her on the nose and just like that, the patterns disappeared. No ponies in the pocket universe. "No living creature in the pocket universe. It's like asking a fish to jump into a drawing of a fishbowl. So even if I invited you, your widdle self would stretch and pop into non existence! Not exactly a pleasant experience I imagine."

Her eyes widened fearfully. The imagery did sound frightening. She was just about to offer to go along herself, but with that description she understood why he always left on his own. "I-I See! Oh how dreadful... But you are right. Ponies here don't like too much chaos..."

Discord nodded in disappointed agreement yet froze up when she finished her sentence.

"But maybe just a little is okay."

Suddenly, in a whirlwind of energy he swept her off the ground and the two were inexplicably on top of some snowy mountain. "Oh! You are simply the best, I knew you had a little devilish side to you! What shall we do? Turn the water supply into chocolate milk? Have it rain upwards and make everypony wear umbrellas for shoes? Oh, or maybe-"

He stopped short as Fluttershy quickly placed her hoof over his mouth, while she bore a somewhat serious expression, the kind a mother would wear when a child would start to act up. "Discord..." She says warningly.

He sighed again, and they were suddenly back in her cottage. The scenery was completely normal now.

She straightened up her wings, and offered up a small smile at him. "What I was going to say is... A little chaos is okay. A very little. Pinkie Pie is hosting Apple Bloom’s birthday today and I'm sure she'd be delighted with a cotton candy cloud or two. I was actually going to leave for it right after we had a little milk and cookies. We'd have to check with Applejack, of course, but a little bit of controlled chaos should be alright."

It was better than nothing but something in that sentence really bothered him. Controlled chaos? Chaos was never meant to be controlled. That defeats the purpose! But he flashed a grateful smile at her, and gave her soft pink mane a quick ruffle.

"Fluttershy, that sounds just delightful."

Author's Note

This is NOT the Stolen Chaos reboot I'm afraid! This is something else entirely!

EDIT: Chapter all fixed up thanks to Morning Sun !

Birthday Party

The party really was quite lovely.

Discord hovered over Fluttershy as they arrived, and explained with a salesman’s enthusiasm of how the draconequus's added help would make the party so much more enjoyable. While Applejack did seem hesitant, the young ponies and Pinkie Pie easily bought into it. Soon, with nearly the entire party pestering the Element of Honesty to allow some clouds of cotton candy to rain chocolate milk in Sweet Apple Acres again, she had no choice but to agree.

Discord felt the edge of his pent up restlessness ease away as he worked his magic. However, it was only due to Fluttershy remaining closely by his side that he managed to keep his self control. He ached to just flood the skies with sugary treats. He wanted to have the cake walk and dance on jello grass and flip the ponies’s faces upside down so their mouths would rest on their foreheads and eyes on their snouts.

He wanted to have the music that Pinkie played on the record player literally come to life. He wanted to have all the apples pop like balloons and shower the ground with confetti, and he wanted to turn the balloons into lead weights and everypony else into lighter than air chubby versions of themselves.

But that would be rude. That would be upsetting. And he wanted to be good. He truly did.

But he still had all these urges, urges he knew he needed to figure out how to take care of without causing any significant damage. 'Just one large outburst. Just one. And I'll be fine,' he thought to himself. After all, he never had had a proper send off for his old ways did he? It was just so sudden. One moment he was a villainous jokester, and the next pals with a group of do-gooders. But what could he do?

Torment some land beyond Equestria? No. That might cause a war.

Perhaps pretend he was ill and... no. No he shouldn't lie either.

"Discord?"

The quiet voice shook him from his thoughts and brought him back to reality. "Yes Fluttershy?"

"Oh, well... I'm afraid the party is over. Could you be a dear and..." She waves her hoof at all the chaos-induced damage which really, in Discord’s opinion, wasn't even that much. Could anyone even tell that it was chocolate milk soaked into the dirt? Then again, he supposed it wouldn't be too pleasant to walk in once it spoiled. And those clouds could attract pests. And...

'Oh look at me. Thinking like a pony.' Discord thought bitterly to himself as he snapped everything back to how it was before. Now, he didn’t desire anything bad to happen. But ponies were ponies and he was not a pony. He’d never be a pony. He was something else entirely, but now he wasn't so sure of what that was anymore.

Applejack trotted up to them both, having hoisted her little sister on her back. Applebloom appeared to have just crashed from the overload of sugar as well as excitement from the day. She most likely wouldn't wake up any time soon. "Gosh golly Discord, Fluttershy, ya'll weren't jokingaround when you said a bit of that chaos magic would liven up the party! Discord, you should work with Pinkie, do more parties. It'd be a great hobby!"

Discord forced a smile at the farm pony, trying to seem flattered. He wasn't. His magic was meant for so much more than just a party gimmick. "Oh but of course Flappy Jackle!" he laughed, and flashed a grin as he perched on top of Fluttershys head. Much to her relief, he made it so he only weighed as much as a penny. "What are friends for? Now you go and tuck that silly filly in. Fluttershy and I have some errands to run~"

The earth pony laughed and walked away, muttering something like 'oh that Discord' or 'What a hoot'.

The two walked into town, when Discord cracked his neck loudly. The shops were closing and the sun was finally starting to set. He wondered briefly if Celesta allowed an extra hour of sunshine for the Element of Honesty’s sister’s party, but he knew she didn't quite play favorites like that. At least... not usually. When it was Nightmare Night, the night seemed to stretch on for an unusually long time, even before Luna had returned to her throne. And when he was first frozen in stone, for some strange reason the sisters had both the sun and moon hung high in the sky, perhaps as a message of 'balance' to be spread throughout the land. And when Twilight was first turned into an Alicorn, the sunset and sunrise seemed to last for hours.

Special occasions called for special changes in the rising and setting times of the sun and moon. And this type of disorder was excused because there was always a reason behind it... maybe if his chaos had a reason too, it'd be excused. Like... for birthday parties. But that felt so small. Not that he disliked a good party, heavens no.

"Oh Fluttershy, today really was wonderful but I'm afraid I'll have go now~" he said with a cheerful tone. He wanted some time alone to think. He was sure if he mentioned his 'problem' to the wrong pony, it'd be misunderstood as him being tempted to be 'evil' again. Which... might not be too far from the reality of it. And that was a little frightening.

Fluttershy tilted her head to one side in a way that looked just absolutely adorable to the old lord of chaos. "Oh?" She asked, confused. "You don't want to stay just a little longer? Twilight got some new books for her library, I thought you might be interested."

Oh Twilight. She was the last pony he wanted to see. Her strong sense of organization and order was off putting enough, but on top of that, her castle gave him a headache. It couldn’t be helped, so there was little use complaining about it. "All the more reason for me to go off early," he chuckles. "Unless she doesn't mind me rearranging her books again."

"Oh please don't do that," she laughed softly. "But alright. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Oh but of course! Now ta ta my sweet Fluttershy! I'll bring my own batch of cookies tomorrow morning~" He waved her off with a tissue, as if he was bidding farewell to a lover on a departing train, happily drawing out another giggle from the yellow pegasus as she made her way to the glowing crystal castle in the dead center of the little town. It looked so strange next to all of the more humble buildings, but everyone knew that wouldn't last too much longer. Soon more ponies would move to Ponyville, just to be closer to the new Princess and in a decade or so, Ponyville would evolve into Pony-metropolis. Or perhaps... Kingdome Sparkle? Sparkletropolis.

He turned around, and materialized a door to walk through. On the other side, the Castle of the Two Sisters. Discord had vague memories of this place, vaguer still of the wizard that used to live here as Tia's mentor and guardian. The once proud castle was now in shambles after having no one to care for it in such a long time. "It's a shame really... Sparkle could have inherited this instead of that silly harmony palace she has now..." He chuckled as he picked a dusty book off a shelf. It fell apart at his touch, littering the cracked marble floors with dust and molded leather.

It really was a shame.

Under his breath, he thought of other names that Ponyville could be renamed in the future as he browsed through the halls and flicked away the dark spiders that crawled in his way. "...Twilight City? District Sparkle. Pony...kingdom?" he would mutter. His claws raked against the walls, leaving behind long ugly marks on the stone walls and shelves. It wasn't long until he saw something that stole his interest.

In an old decayed room sat a forgotten alchemy lab. Now of course it was mostly empty when Discord found it, as Twilight was very thorough when she combed the castle. Anything that belonged to Starswirl the Bearded would be presented proudly in her castle. He chuckled at the memory of hearing about the glass case the egghead had specially made for the just the old unicorn’s toothbrush. He realized he ought to ask Tia how she felt about her ex-student’s little obsession. Surely it struck the sun goddess as at least odd, didn't it?

Everyone had a little bit of chaos in them. Even if it was just a little.

He picked up an old crystal, long drained of its power and admired it. "Such an obsession..." he muttered. Starswirl... Starswirl... Father of all modern magic. Greatest wizard in history and legendary advisor to the two princesses. But even he wasn't perfect. was he? If memory served... that old unicorn was rather silly, wasn't he? Not at all the proud mage that Sparkle had idolized. And his spells, not all of them were complete.

A memory sticks out, from a sunny picnic in the park. Twilight had been rambling about some latest breakthrough in some spell on turning apples in to oranges. It was a foal’s trick, but he humored her and agreed that such an unnatural spell must be so difficult for an orderly unicorn like Twilight.

"Why Sparkle, it's no wonder you’d gotten it wrong before!" Discord laughed, floating inches from her displeased face. "It's hardly in your nature!"

"Now Discord, be nice..." Fluttershy warned. "Twilight did try her very best and we are all very proud of her."

He sighed and tickled Fluttershy on her snout with the end of his tail. "Oh but I'm not trying to be mean! Asking Twilight to defy the laws of nature or even time travel would be completely out of her element! It'd be like... like asking me to handle her checklists!"

Everypony laughed despite themselves, causing the purple alicorn to flare up in a blush. "Well Discord, I'll have you know that I DID travel back in time once!"

This made Discord freeze and drop down to the ground. "...you did?" he said in honest surprise. Nothing was more chaotic than time travel. It was nearly something beyond himself even. "Very unlike you!" And impossible. He traveled with Fluttershy sure, but he was there as her guide. Alone, a pony could be in grave danger of unraveling him or herself from existence. To do it successfully really was an impressive feat. "But why ever for-"

Twilight appeared very proud of herself and was about to milk her small victory when Pinkie Pie bounded between the two. "Oh! Oh! It was so amazing- see future Twilight came from one week into the future to warn herself and it was so SPOOKY! she chirped out hyperly, oblivious to her friend trying to shush her. "But we had no idea what it was about so..."

"So she created a self fulling prophecy?" Discord snickered out. A paradox. Of course it'd be something as harmless and cliched as that...

He crushed the useless stone in his hand, and found a grin spreading across his face. Oh, the answer was there the entire time, wasn't it? He was so busy trying to figure out where he could satisfy his cravings in the present, when he could just take another little... trip. Yes, he wasn't evil now. And he won't be in his future, he'll make sure of that. But the past was written in stone and he knew perfectly how the game is played. It'd threaten nothing in the happy present. He could remain the good friend now and relive his villainous days in the past.

And he knew.... he knew he was already going to do what he was thinking about as his old memories started to blur.

Author's Note

Once again edited by the lovely Morning Sun!

Failsafe

As much as Discord dispised confining himself to rules and regulations- for the game he was about to play, he needed to make a special exception.

It would do no one any good if he unraveled his own existence. Or worse- throw the very precious, yet suffocating present into disarray. As much as he wanted to tear away from it - the unfamiliar comforts of his current situation held a vice grip on his heart.

He only needed a brief vacation from it all. Something to take the edge off. Nothing more.

As such- he was willing to go as far as to utilize a pony spell. Something concocted from a dusty old tome from Starswirls personal library. He never knew a pony as stiff and rigid as him- it was no wonder Twilight worshiped him so. As he trailed a talon over the yellowed pages, he imagined her squealing with delight - tapping her hooves excitedly on the floor as she rambled away on her vast knowledge of Equestias unfun ponies.

He makes a note to show her perhaps the spellbook someday in the future. It'd work as a bribe or even to soothe her prissy temper should he ever upset her. Not that it was particularly difficult to upset her.

The spell itself wasn't particularly difficult. But it was entirely useless to those wishing to make significant changes to this thing or that. Discord grinned a snaggle-toothed smile as he poured over the irritatingly boring details. The spell itself actually enforced the concept of a paradox. If Twilight had used a similar spell- it was no wonder why nothing disastrous had happened.

This spell would keep him tethered to his own past. And there was a delightful failsafe built-in - in the event that he was to cause harm to another, his little trip to the past would end immediately. This little detail suited him just fine.

"I only want to blow off a little steam - not steam somepony!" Discord chuckled. "But a single hour! I suppose that's better than the measly minute Twilight got..."

Well. He did want to play it safe. Discord was certain he could make that single-hour count. By Celestia's glorious mane- he'll even make it the best hour of his life!

Author's Note

A very, very short chapter, but it's a good enough setup for what I have planned next. The next chapter will be significantly longer.

Kindly, please, no critique on this chapter. It just felt wrong leaving this story unfinished.

Reflections

It was yet another lovely day in the seemingly never-ending Everfree.

A grand forest teeming with life and delightful little surprises, it was no wonder that he took to it like a fish in water. Discord couldn't remember if he was born into the dark forest or if was simply a happy chance he found himself here since his hatchling days, but it hardly mattered.

Sunlight warmed his fur, gently greeting him into the waking world. The young draconequus stretched his disproportioned limbs with a gaping yawn. Mismatched claws scrapped and clawed at the soft oak tree under him. The spirit of chaos had twisted the tree into something more akin to putty and pudding, a disgusting abomination that melted into the earth below as he shook the final remnants of sleep from his body.

"Oh, why hello there, sleeping beauty!" A voice called out to him.

The fur on the back of the young draconequus stood on end; it wasn't as if he was opposed to having company, but to have somepony call out to him so casually was indeed starting.

But not much more surprising than seeing just who was calling out to him. Black eyebrows raised as he looked over something he's never seen outside of chancing at a reflection in the water. A creature that looked like him. Just like him. Only this one was a touch larger and with white fur speckling his body.

The young draconequus reeled back in shock. "Dad?!" He cried out in bewildered confusion.

"What- No! NO!" All bravado spilled out of the elder draconequus as he frantically waved at the air between them. "Sweet Celestia - Do we even have one of those?!" The elder asked more towards himself, stroking at his beard as he mulled over his possible origin for a moment.

The Younger, unsure of what to make of this very handsome stranger, slinked his way up a tree- manipulating its structure as he did so; the bark turned twisted and patterned in fevered spots as he loomed over the other with a suspicious stare. "Who are you then?" He asked, summoning as much authority as he could in his voice. "This is my territory. Even if you... appear to look like me."

"Oh... I was a testy little thing, wasn't I?" Discord snickered to himself. He didn't bother chasing his younger self up the tree, nor did he bother to do anything to match his height. Discord instead snapped his fingers and apparated a comfortable chair to the forest floor and flopped his lengthy body back against it. "I'm you! Can't you tell by my dastardly handsome face?"

The younger pauses, looking over the elder with wary curiosity. "You're... me?" He parrots back. The words didn't make sense to him - not first. But then, many things surrounding his existence didn't make sense. But he thinks about the times he's pushed his own limits- and how so many of those limits were seemingly imposed by his own apprehensions and fear. He thinks about how easily he could tear into one reality and then the next. He thinks about the sheer vastness of the void that existed just behind this thin display of so-called reality. He thinks about the things he knew in his core that he shouldn't trifle with - not yet. Not until he was certain he would be the one in control.

Suddenly, his eyes glowed with excitement. Of course, he would eventually get a grip on things, wouldn't he? Eventually, he would lay claim to this world in its entirety. This was obvious proof of that. Of his growing ability. Of his power.

He lunged forward, tackling himself with unbridled delight. Discord rolled with the 'attack' as best he could, laughing at the youthful enthusiasm.

"You're me! Oh ho ho- this is a very good game! What brought this on? And why are you so old?" The younger squeezed at 'his face,' taking in every wrinkle detail. "Because sweet Gaia- you are old! You're even missing a tooth!"

"Alright - that's enough!" Discord slapped 'his' hands away from his face and pushed back his younger self with a pink bubbly barrier. "Personal space, boy! It isn't as if we have all the time in the world!"

"Time! Why wouldn't we have all the time in the world?" The younger asked in a haughty tone, waving off the strange bubbles that pressed against his chest. What strange tricks his elder self had. They were bright and colorful- something that he couldn't help but find pleasing in a strange way.

Discord huffed. "It's just the nature of the spell I'm working with. I don't want you to threaten my present, so we're locked in a fun little paradox right now." He smirked mischievously and added. "And when my time is up, for you, it'd be like trying to remember a dream within a dream. Another fun little failsafe. So asking too many questions would be pointless, my precious little doppelganger."

The younger frowned. He didn't like that. He didn't like that at all. There were rules and limits being set. "You sound like one of them."

Discord blinked. "One of who now?"

"A blasted pony! You sound like one of them."

Basted pony. Discord did his best to hold back a snicker. Oh, this was adorable. But he wasn't about to argue with himself. "You're right! Quite right - let's get to the point, shall we?" Discord clapped his hands together, happy to have the perfect segway. "I'm here to relive my youth. That'd be you. All I want is for us to do what you always do. Play a delightful game with some of those boring ponies."

Satisfaction filled Discord as he watched his younger self taking the bait readily. It was surprisingly easy to distract him - almost insultingly so. But he wasn't too surprised. To his own memory, this was the carefree days of his youth. Back when he freely made trouble for others but not so much that called the attention of a certain pair of pesky alicorns. There would be some years yet until that occurrence.

"There had been a rather pesky little group of traveling Earth ponies trying to make a home for themselves in the west," The young draconequus said, chuckling to himself. "We could play a little game with them?"

"Lead the way, O' spirit of Chaos!" Discord sang back, excited to finally get this party started. "Let's have ourselves a magnificant time."