Distorted

by Scorpion

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Main 6
Length: 2446

Discord gets a second chance

Discord is defeated and petrified in his stone prision, When Celestia remembers how he used to be, she unintentally wishes upon the stars themselves that he could have had a chance to show his true self.

In Equestria, wishes have a tendency to come true.

Now in an altered form, Discord must discover what role he is to play if he is to remain free and spread the joyous chaos he loves so...

Published 2012-05-08 03:44:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-08 21:31:18 UTC

Prologue

“Fine use your little elements on me- just make it quick, I’m missing some excellent chaos here.” Discord indifferently stated as he watched the six mares standing before his throne of disharmony.

“Alright ladies, let’s show him what friendship can do.” The lavender unicorn at the front of the group called out. The pink prankster among them quickly interrupted the group to enjoy one last sip of the chocolate rain.

‘Now, how could such a chaotic filly resist the appeal of my powers’ The draconequus silently mused as the filly returned to the group with a growl. He continued to sit there, lost in thought, until two bursts of harmonious magic flew past his head.

What’s this?” he said in disbelief.

As the power gathered around the six mares, the realization finally struck him, they had actually activated the elements!

“No” was all he could say in his stupor.

A rainbow wave of magick so powerful it has to be spelled with a ‘k’ blasted out from the element bearers, engulfing the embodiment of chaos in a torrent of power.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” was the last sound made by the draconequus until his fossilized form hit the ground with a THUD mighty enough to shake the proverbial camera.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Few Hours (and an absurdly out-of-place award ceremony) Later

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two royal guardsponies were just finishing up the placement of the new addition to the palace statue garden.

“So, this is thing is responsible for all the weirdness lately?” the unicorn stallion asked his partner.

“Yep… aaaaand done *whew*” the pegasus mare replied as she dragged the chunk of stone into place. “How ‘bout we go grab a few drinks after we get out of this armor?”

“I have a few other ideas with what to do then.”

With the mare blushing, the two guards left, leaving a petrified draconequus cringing in his new place in the garden.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Celestia walked down the quiet halls of her royal palace, thinking back on the time her old ‘friend’ had spent free.

She sighed as her internal monologue began:

‘After all this time I had forgotten about discord, locked away in the garden. I really should have been more careful. What was I thinking? Not putting any guards in around him; I may as well have left him a chisel and a key to my castle.… Although, I had missed his antics, always acting the fool to get a laugh. No wonder he seemed to connect with Pinkie Pie, they seemed like they could have worked together toward something good.’

The solar mare stepped out into the cool air of her sister’s night, as her thoughts continued to run. She stopped at the balcony railing and leaned on it, sighing yet again as her thoughts geared towards how she remembered discord; a chaotic being who knew how to make a girl laugh.

She gazed up at the stars as if pleading to them.

‘I only wish he had been as he was, a kind spirit with an excellent sense of humor. Somepony you could talk to and trust. Somepony you could bare your heart to and still, somehow, get a good laugh in when exiting the encounter. Alas, it was not to be’

She turned and went back inside, soon retiring to her bedroom and a pleasant night's sleep.

But perhaps it was to be, as with the magic that flows through Equestria, wishes upon a star may just come true.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Billions of lightyears, a tear in the universal barrier, and a TARDIS flight away, a red-maned universe-building being said goodbye as she tore away from one of her masterpieces. As millions on one side mourned the loss, a wave of energy slowly built up, tearing its way across time and space.

It invisibly made its way across existence, expanding its way into Equestria’s time stream, then universe, then solar system, until it washed over the world. It moved undetected, it’s chaotic, unbridled power spreading silently until it reached a certain statue.

The raw energy was absorbed by the stone form, causing it to glow. It grew brighter a brighter until it nearly blinded the author, as the marble began to crackle with energy. An ethereal form leaked out, gathering at the foot of the pedestal. The ground cracked at the shear power being released into it, the wind blowing furiously as it added its power to the nexus of the unintentional spell.

The light expanded and became a tangible wave, engulfing the immediate area. Then, in an instant, it disappeared into nothingness. Leaving no trace of its ever being there, leaving the damaged earth repaired.

Darkness descended on the garden, leaving two forms silent in place.

One petrified.

One in a deep slumber.

A New Form

“Oh my aching head… wait was that my voice… Hah! I am free again… why does my whole body hurt?”

Discord slowly lifted his head. Only to pale at the first thing he saw. Himself, still in the undignified cringe as the elements struck him, turning him to stone.

“What!? No, I cannot still be stuck in this torture!”

The chaotic spirit collected himself before examining his current form. He came to the startling discovery that he was no longer a draconequus, but that his form was fully pony.

“Well at least I still have wings. Wait…” Discord glanced up at his forehead, spotting a very thin horn.

“Yes!” Discord fist pumped. “I can still use my powers!”

The alicorn concentrated, but nothing happened.

“What gives?”

He sent out a magical ping and saw what he most dreaded.

“No! My power is still trapped in that accursed rock.”

Discord aimed his most powerful shot at the statue, and, to his amazement, two pieces chipped off. He walked over to them to find they were not chunks of stone, but a matched head and chest piece each holding a gem matched to his eye color. Not one to question the chaos gods, he slipped them on with his magic, at least that still worked.

He had a sudden idea, what if he was to return to Ponyville; perhaps he could still manipulate the residual chaos to have a little fun. He unfurled his wings and took flight, bound for the former nexus of chaos.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

What he did not know however, was that his release had not been as instantaneous as he believed. As it stood, he had just missed the royal wedding, and all it’s glorious chaos.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Discord had just arrived at the town’s edge right before sunrise, when he realized he could have just teleported. He was incapable of massive reality bending, not his common tricks. A thought popped into his head, ‘what now?' He was at a loss, stroking his goatee, he pondered his options. On the one hoof, he could do his most dramatic entrance, but on the other, he was not at his strongest and did not want to get into a major conflict at the moment. Suddenly a wickedly brilliant idea formed in his head, one he immediately acted on.

Slinking his way through the groggy town, he wondered how long he could maintain the charade of a newcomer. It must have slipped his mind that alicorns were not all that common. He soon arrived at his destination.

He knocked at the wooden door, and it was answered by a small dragon.

“Can I help you with something?” Spike asked as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

“Yes. You see, I am looking for a very obscure tome. Perhaps you may posses the volume I seek.” The mysterious colt asked.

Spike recognized his voice but could not place it.

“You’ll have to ask Twilight, she’s the expert. Follow me, I’ll get her.” With a yawn and a stretch, the young dragon led the rather tall stallion inside.

Discord was appalled at the organization of everything in the room. Alphabetized, color coded, dewy decimaled, even the trash bin was in neat order. He could have puked, until he heard the voice of the mare that had ruined his plans for chaotic domination.

“Who was it Spike?” she asked her assistant.

“Some colt looking for a weird book. I told him you were the one to talk to.”

“I’m in the middle of studying the long-term effects of changeling feeding... *sigh* send him in.”

Spike stepped out of the closed-off bedroom and waved the visitor in. The dragonling shut himself out of the room, hoping to get a chance to wake up before he had to do any hard work.

What Discord saw made his hearts (both of them) skip a beat. Around the lavender unicorn were scattered books, quills, parchment, and all manner of useful material, both on the floor and floating in a red-purple aura. The sheer chaos was a sight to behold.

“Sorry about the mess, I wasn’t expecting any company this early…” Twilight was almost bashful, until she truly focused on her guest.

She noticed the largest detail Spike had missed; her visitor possessed both wings and a horn. She added that to his accessorial vestments, and concluding that he must be royalty, she quickly tried to identify exactly who he was. He had a two-tone mane and tail not unlike hers; his was white with a black stripe. He possessed a short but tufty beard. His eyes were a shade of red, and she could have sworn one iris was larger than the other was.

“It’s quite alright Twilight, I was just hoping you could help me find something.” He gave what he hoped was a disarming smile.

Twilight recognized his voice, only infuriating her even more that she could not place his name. Then she saw it. He had a fang on one side of his smile, but not the other. The color drained from her face, as she scurried back until she was against the wall.

“Was it something I said?” He cupped a hoof to his muzzle to check if his breath was that bad. He stepped toward her, only to get hit square in the chest with a magical burst. The jewel in his chestpiece absorbed the energy and re-directed it toward it’s source. The blast struck Twilight dead on, stopping her heart.

An Unlikily Hero

Twilight’s body hit the ground with a dull thud. A supreme look of shock fell upon Discord’s face. He began to panic; he had just inadvertently killed the element of magic!

“Nononononono, this can’t be happening. This can’t be happening!”

The door behind him opened.

“What’s with all the yelling?” Spike stepped into the room, took one look at Twilight’s limp form and dulled half-lidded eyes, and ran to her.

“What did you do!?!” He yelled strong enough a small tuft of flame accented his exclamation.

“I… I don’t know…”

“She’s dead! YOU KILLED HER!” Denial swiftly flowed into anger. Even that façade cracked and gave way to an even more powerful emotion. Spike doubled over, pounded his fists into the ground, and sobbed.

Discord could not stand to see anypony saddened, let alone the waves of depression racking the young dragon before him. He decided immediately that full power or not, he would pour his own soul into Twilight if it meant reviving her and ending any pain from her loss.

He walked over to her and surveyed the damage. She had a burned out hole that passed straight through her heart. He steeled himself; this was really going to hurt. He aimed his horn at her injury, and began to pour his own life force into her.

The massive flux of power drew Spike’s attention and he saw the agonized expression on the alicorn’s face as a steady stream of energy drained from his horn into Twilight.

“Wait, what are you doing?” The dragonling managed to ask between his sadness and confusion.

“Saving her.”

Spike instinctively backed away from the booming voice. He did not understand what the colt before him was doing.

Discord could not believe the pain he was in. Draining his own life force into the unicorn beneath him is about as bad as it sounds. He felt himself slipping away. As the dark embrace took him, he was almost relieved that his suffering was over.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight inhaled sharply as the energy transfer took effect. She was about to ask what happened when she was all but tackled by Spike, knocking the wind out of her.

“Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re alive!”

Regaining her breath, Twilight consoled her hysterical assistant.

“Easy Spike, I’m fine. What happened?”

“I don’t know, I heard him yell and came in and you were on the floor and… and… you were dead!” Spike sobbed into her coat. His emotions were completely at a loss as to how to react.

“It’s okay Spike. Everything’s okay.” She tried to comfort her young assistant, rubbing a hoof along his fringe.

Twilight looked over to the being she had fought so hard to get rid of on that fateful day. She saw the shallow but steady rise of his chest, and thoughts darted around her head.

'That has to be Discord, but why did he save me? He did not seem like he was planning some “game” or that he wanted revenge. He must have some reason to save me, but then, why reflect my attack in the first place?’

Her eyes fell on the jewel on his chest and spotted a shift in the energies contained within it. She realized the truth.

'He didn’t mean to, it was that thing he’s wearing. Why is he disguised if he has not made any demands or changes? There are too many questions and none of the answers I can come up with satisfy any of them. If he would weaken himself that much for me, then I should at least give him time to explain.’

Spike had calmed down considerably and was now prepared to deal with the colt that had killed and then revived his adoptive mother.

“What are we going to do with him?” He asked Twilight, seeking guidance.

“Leave him where he is, I’ll get somepony to help us in case there is a problem.”

Spike nodded and with trepidation, went into the kitchen to find a makeshift weapon or two. He quickly returned holding a frying pan and wearing a pasta strainer on his head.

Twilight suppressed a giggle before looking out her front door hoping to spot one of her friends. As luck would have it, she spotted two of them. She quickly invited them inside and set about explaining what had happened and who had visited her.