Harmonics

by Lissamel

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Comedy, Princess Celestia, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5772

In short, Discord goes good.

This is a story not a whole lotta' ponies know. It's a bit of forgotten history, a story obscured by shadows, a story Discord himself eagerly wants to forget.

It's a story about when Equestria was under Discord's rule the first time. It's a crazy day like usual, but something unexpected happens, caused by a silly mistake...

Discord...Becomes nice.

Published 2012-05-21 16:54:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-21 16:54:02 UTC

Organized Chaos

“…And what is this?”

Princess Celestia frowned. “It’s a statue.”

Discord stared at the art table. A little clay statue of himself was staring back up at him. He frowned at it, though it didn’t frown back. “It’s supposed to be larger.”

“We ran out of clay.”

He picked it up, toying with the statue in his hands, trying to find any one flaw he could. “This wing is to small,” He pointed out, tapping one of them, “And obviously you could have gotten my face better.”

Suddenly, the wing he tapped dropped to the ground. He chuckled. “And horrible craftsmanship. Really, dear Celestia, I expected better from you, what after that lovely tapestry.”

“You know I’m a better sewer then a sculptor.” She replied bitterly. Bitterness was an emotion a princess was never supposed to show, but so what? This chaotic creature had overthrown her mother and father’s rightful rule, she could be as bitter as she pleased. “And maybe if you got better clay, my sculpting wouldn’t be so shoddy.”

“Yes, because that’s the way to talk to your supreme overlord.” Discord chuckled, setting down the statue and ruffling the little princess’s pink mane. “Now, go make another one. I expect it to be better this time. No silly mistakes, hmm?”

Discord was not one to elaborate on what a ‘silly mistake’ was, since no matter what there was always something that qualified. Celestia sighed, then looked back to the Draconequus. “Discord?”

“Oh, what is it?”

“I was wondering, and you never told me—What happened to mother and father and…”

He chuckled, knowing how the rest of that question was going to go. “Your sisters, hmm? Oh, I hardly remember their names. What were they…” Then, to prove he did remember, he counted off the six on his fingers, his voice growing a bit bitterer with every name. “Primrose, Royal Blue, Serena, Starburst, Tiffany, and Sparkle? Oh, Celestia, they were of no use to me. Day and night are so much more important then measly things like wind and colors…”

“Then what about mother and father?”

Discord chuckled. “Who…Little Bountiful Harvest and Timely Matter? Oh, off with your sisters. Besides, Sparkle already had plants; we didn’t need your mother mimicking that ability…”

“Then—Then where are they?”

“Oh, so many questions!” He whined, then shook his head with a sigh. “Really, Celestia, if you cared you should have done something while I was conquering. Now, get back to your arts-n-crafts.”

She would have, but there was something still nagging the back of her mind, something the Draconequus hadn’t made clear (though, really, had he made anything clear?) “…Was I only saved because I’m an Alicorn?”

“Blah blah blah, whine whine whine, question question question.” He sighed hard. “You don’t see little Luna blabbing so much. She’s so agreeable.”

One of his eyes glinted. Celestia shivered a little.

“In fact…” He smiled as his eagle talon glowed white. “You should be more agreeable as well. And I’m going to make you more agreeable.”

She gulped. While she didn’t know exactly what Discord did to make ponies more agreeable, she knew that when he was done, they came out gray with flipped personalities. She backed up, but there was nowhere to back up to, seeing as the art table was at her back. She tried to fly, but her wings refused to work for her.

He smiled, pretty much sealing the deal. Yeah, she was a goner. “Oh, I’ve waited forever for this; I just needed a reason, thank you for reminding me…”

“Um, hey, Discord?”

He turned around rapidly, angry, his tail almost hitting Celestia’s face. It was Luna, blotches of frosting and red cake batter all over her flank, as though she was in a knock-down drag-out battle with cake as opposed to just baking one. “I’m just about done with the scale model of Equestria out of red velvet cake you wanted, I just need you to make Cloudsdale float.”

Saved by Luna. Celestia stuck her head around Discord’s legs and mouthed thank you, though she wasn’t sure her sister noticed.

Although it took a moment, Discord calmed himself down, clenching his fists and exhaling hard. “Alright, okay! Just make it quick. I’m not done with Celestia yet.”

Both of them stared.

“Well, are you going? Or do I have to lead you there…again!?”

Neither of them replied.

And for a good reason, too. You see, while Discord might have held himself as the highest being in all of Equestria, he could also make silly mistakes. He, too, could be forgetful. And while he was now ranting about Luna just coming in and not leading him to the kitchen, a little white glow was snaking up his eagle’s talon, leaving a gray trail wherever it touched. When it finished his arm it wrapped around his body and went up to his head and down to his feet and he didn’t even notice.

Suddenly, both the glow and his rant ceased. The previously colorful creature broke out in a grin. “Ooh, aren’t you just the cutest little filly! What’s your name?”

Luna was older then a filly, but she was far to startled to nitpick. “Um, Luna, Discord, sir…”

He squealed, then looked around the large room, his eyes sparkling. “I-Is this my palace?”

“Well, not technically.” Celestia clarified, creeping out from behind him and placing herself right next to her sister.

He squealed again. “And you are?”

“Celestia.” Luna said, trying her hardest not to look completely confused, lest this was a trick. “She’s my sister. Remember?”

The look on his face clearly showed he didn’t. Discord laughed nervously. “Aha, my memory isn’t the best. So, what did you say my name was again—Discord?”

They both nodded.

“And if this is my palace, I must rule something! This is my empire, right?”

“Well, not technically…” Celestia repeated, but it was no use, the creature had floated off, laughing, wanting to see the rest of his new-found empire.

They both stared at the spot where he just was. It was awkwardly quiet until Luna asked the question lurking in the back of both the princess’s minds: “What…Just happened?”

“I think,” Celestia replied, “Discord just made himself more agreeable.”

Another slight awkward silence, and then:

“Well, that’s great!”

Celestia looked back at her sister in shock. “What?”

“Don’t you get it?” She grinned. “With Discord all nice ‘n stuff he’ll stop manipulating everypony and causing chaos! We pretty much have a normal Equestria for now and ever! And that sure cuts down our work rebelling, right?”

The sun princess sighed, shaking her head. “’Fraid not, sister dear. If we know anything about Discord, it’s that, no matter what happens, he always comes back. Remember? It took him three tries to banish our sisters and mother and father. So, it stands to reason that he’ll come back soon.”

Luna laughed. “You have to lighten up! By then his own acts of kindness will pretty much have his empire destroyed.” With a smile, she began walking out of the room, calling over her shoulder, “Gonna go wash this stuff off my flank. See ya!”

She watched her sister leave, then sighed again. Perhaps Luna was right. Maybe she was taking this far too seriously. With Discord in this new-found kinder state, the chaotic reign of Equestria was sure to end. But still…Perhaps it was better they took this time to look for the mythical Elements of Harmony, just to be on the safe side…

Her wondering was cut off buy a chorus of “No, no, no, come back! Please!” Curious, she walked over to a window. She paused a bit at the black drapes—Discord insisted to keep them closed at all times—but threw them open and opened the window after it. Sticking her head out, she gasped.

Until now, she could have only guessed what chaos Discord had wrecked on Equestria, but seeing it just made her stomach lurch. The sky above was yellow and lined, like a sheet of paper on a legal pad, the sun just a painted-on red-orange-yellow circled smear, like a filly with little artistic talent painted it. It was dotted with blue clouds (cotton candy? She’d believe it), which in some areas was raining grape juice, in others hailing sprinkles, and yet in others snowing what appeared to be shredded rainbow sticky notes. Below, the ground was dotted with cakes and statues and other things of worship to Discord, and atop step-stools were little dioramas. One of them was covered with a blanket, one of them (which looked like the interior to a furniture shop) was flooded, and a different one (which appeared to be a ballroom) was flipped upside-down. Looking beyond the horizon, there were floating buildings, buildings in the shape of foods or random objects, buildings merged together to make mutant buildings. Any music playing switched between oompah music and something that could have been a track to an 8-bit video game.

Looking down, Celestia saw Discord, chasing an earth pony she knew as Piccolo. He was desperately trying to apologize to her. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I-I was trying to make your drum set play correctly, I didn’t know it would, um, freeze over…”

“And I thought this new music was entertaining…” She almost cried, running away from the creature who continued to chase her.

When the eternal optimist doubted something, you knew something was very wrong. Somehow managing to pry her eyes away from the chaos just outside the castle, she ran out of the room and down the hallway, turned left and looked back and forth for her sister.

She wasn’t in the kitchen; she wasn’t in the bathroom…Where was she? “Luna?”

“Celestia?”

She followed her sister’s voice to a pair of large gold doors. Previously, Discord had forbidden they open them, but now they were slightly ajar. She walked in slowly to see Luna, standing on the domed floor and looking at something that stood strait from the middle of it. “…Is that our chandelier?”

It was. Was this what the diorama outside’s purpose was? She nodded a bit, adding, “And outside’s so much worse.”
Ignoring her, the moon princess flittered up, tapping the crystals that used to be on the chandelier’s bottom, apparently far more curious about how they defied gravity then anything outside. “No wonder he wanted to keep us dumb to his chaos…It’s really just confusing.”

CRASH!

Well, that didn’t sound good. The two princesses took off, dashing though the upside-down ballroom and into the courtyard beyond, where besides the constantly switching music all they could hear was “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Of course, the one who had caused the trouble was Discord. He rammed a statue back into place and tried eagerly to get the wooden planks from the smashed stage off of the three actor ponies. “It was an accident, really, I--”

“Don’t touch me!” The pegasus, Masquerade, snapped, wiggling away for herself. The other two (an earth pony, Split-Screen, and a unicorn, Denouement) followed behind, the unicorn using frantic bursts of magic to move wood out of the way.

Not wanting to be completely useless, Discord grabbed a red velvet curtain, supposedly to hang it back up…Only for it to turn into long strands of red licorice in a burst of white light. “Huh.” He frowned, tossing it aside and trying with the other curtain, only for the same thing to happen. “This isn’t going to help at all…”

“You can say that again.” Growled Denouement, shaking out her purple-and-silver mane in case there were any woodchips in it. “Now we’re going to need new curtains…”

“What she means is,” Split-Screen rushed in, clearly not wanting to get on their leader’s wrong side, “That it’s really no trouble. P-problems build character, and she’s from out of town…”

“…Trottingham, we think, but we can’t place the accent all that well.” Masquerade added in.

The earth pony nodded rapidly. “S-so she doesn’t know the full power of your chaotic reign of terror.” Then, realizing that could be taken the wrong way, added, “Ack! We mean, it’s really quite wonderful, oh lord Discord, sir.”

He looked between the three actor ponies, then finally laughed a little. “Oh, you don’t need to be so formal! Just Discord will do. And you will need new curtains! I’ll go find some—Be back in a flash!” And, true to his word and eager to please, he was gone.

The actor ponies relaxed and looked over to the princesses, who had been standing there, watching the whole thing. Denouement looked over first with a small sneer. “What’s up with him?”

Celestia sighed. “We’re not entirely sure, though we’re under the assumption Discord may have accidently used his own powers against himself.”

“Really?” Masquerade smirked. “Guess that puts Malice and Havoc out of a job.”

“They can be our right-hoof colts!” Luna gushed, already eager to have her own two servants at her beck and call.

The sun princess frowned. “Would you three excuse us for a moment?” She grumbled as she made a gesture with her head, beckoning Luna to follow her. Once inside, she shut the door to the courtyard behind her. “Luna, sister dear, you can’t go on parading like we’ve already won.”

“…But we have.”

“A funny thing about enchantments: they always wear off. Nothing is truly unbreakable. And when Discord goes back to normal, he’s going to throw a terrible fit.” She paused. “Did you even see the chaos outside?”

Luna thought back. Now that she mentioned it, well, yeah. She nodded a bit then forced out, “But it wasn’t all that bad, I mean…”

“Luna. What you saw was merely Canterlot. Pause and think of what that means. If what you and I and everypony else here witnessed is only one city in the whole of Equestria…”

Finally, the actually rather dark nature of Discord’s crazy empire was sinking in. Just to drive it in further, the sun princess went on, “And if that’s merely the landscape, how many ponies is he playing like puppets?”

Her mouth ran dry. Now more then ever Luna wished she had witnessed the defeat of her sisters and parents. Discord always said, at least, that he manipulated their six sisters before banishing them, but she wanted to know how harsh he was, if it was anything as childish and crazy as the sticky-note snow going on just outside. To show her sister she now understood, she gave a nod. “Okay, maybe being a worrywart paid off to something. But what’re we supposed to do?”

“For now, go raise the moon early. Maybe it’s one of those things we can sleep on.”

She nodded and left her sister. She left the room, and taking to the air flew up the many spiraling staircases until she was in the highest room of the royal Canterlot palace—The observatory. Like anything else, Discord had tainted it, but nothing as severe. He had only messed with the constellations.

She poked her head out of the window and shut her eyes. Her horn glowing, the sky rotated around until it looked like nothing more then a large piece of black felt, glow-in-the-dark stickers showing where the moon and stars were. In that instant the day was cast in shadow, a sign to the ponies below to cease their worship for the day.

Luna briefly wondered how this worked before Timely Matter, her father, was banished. Did he raise the moon at a certain time, too?

She left the observatory and walked down all the stairs, going through room after room after room. She paused at a sewing room, where she saw Discord, trying furiously to get what seemed to be blue taffy out of a sewing machine. He looked up and laughed a little. “I-Is it night?”

“Yes.” She replied. “I just raised it.”

His eyes glittered in awe. “You—You control when the night comes! Oh, you’re so lucky! I wish I could do that. I can’t. I can only make things…” He pulled sharply at the taffy, making it stretch but not freeing it, “Not work, so it seems.”

She laughed lightly. “Oh, let it dry out, it’ll be easier then.” Well, may as well share some kitchen experience. “I’m off to bed. Celestia, too. She told me to say goodnight for both of us.”

“Oh, okay! Goodnight, see you in the morning! Maybe tomorrow you can show me the rest of my empire, because I didn’t see all that much…”

Luna left the sewing room, laughing a little. It didn’t matter if he was causing the slow death of her homeland. Seeing him under his own power amused her greatly.

It wasn’t a far walk from there to the princess’s bedroom. Celestia was already in there, curled up on a small pile of old curtains (as Discord hadn’t given them proper beds), and Luna paused to stare at her, as though trying to determine if she was awake or asleep. It was hard to tell. Giving up, she trotted over to her own pile and curled up, shutting her eyes.

~

She awoke only when something nudged her shoulder. Blinking awake groggily, she looked up to see Celestia, who had already raised the sun, if the change in the lighting was any indication. “So,” She yawned, “D’ya have a plan?”

Celestia nodded. “I’m going to look for the Elements of Harmony.”

Her sister stared at her, shocked and confused. “T-the Elements…Celestia, everypony knows they don’t exist. They’re just silly stories ponies tell fillies…”

She shook her head. “They had to have existed at some time. All fiction is based upon a bit of fact, you know.” She paused, then sighed a little. “I’m going to look through the castle and see if they’re here. In the meantime, you’re going to have to keep watch of Discord.”

“Make sure he doesn’t break anything?” She jeered.

They both laughed a bit, but soon Celestia coughed and resumed her serious nature. “Y-yes, something like that. You can do that for me, right?”

“You can count on Luna!” She chirped, hopping up with a nod.

Celestia smiled. “Thank you, sister dear.”

“Don’t mention it.” She replied, and the two left the room together. Shooting each other one last look farewell, Celestia went left and Luna went right, each looking for something specific.

Okay, all things considered, finding Discord was much easier then finding some mythical elements that may or may not exist. She stumbled upon him in the dining hall, where he was asleep just above the cherry-oak wooden table in a hammock that appeared to be made of woven dental floss. Luna had to pause and question the physics of this (how could mere dental floss hold the weight of an entire Draconequus, unless he was slightly floating?), but soon came to the conclusion that this was Discord we were talking about and that, no matter what he did, the laws of physics were more like guidelines. “Discord?”

He peeked an eye open and yawned, though soon smiled, looking down at the moon princess. “Oh, good morning, Luna! Say, are you making breakfast? I intended the hammock to be made of those weird fruit-roll-up sheet things that are kinda like squashed fruit snacks in sheet form—You know what I mean, right?—But nothing wants to work for me today…”

She laughed. “Yes, yes, I’ll make breakfast. And then I can give you a nice tour of the rest of, erm, your kingdom.”

Discord squealed in giddy delight. “That’d be splendid!” He paused, then added, “Though, could you answer me something really quickly? I don’t mean to be a bother…”

Luna smiled. “No, no, you’re never a bother.” Which was a lie, but just let him be happy.

He grinned and floated off of his hammock and down the long dining room. Luna trotted behind him, only stopping when he did. As though for emphasis, he knocked his eagle talon on a tapestry. “Um, I was wondering, there’s all those nice statues of me out there and then there’s this. N-now, really, it’s very very pretty and don’t get me wrong, I like it a lot, but…” He leaned closer to it, tracing the outline of himself with a slight frown. “I-I’m not that colorful. It’s really flattering they try to capture me in color, but it’s wrong. I feel bad, but I can’t tell them, I don’t want to hurt somepony’s feelings…”

It was Celestia’s tapestry, of course. Luna stared at it hard, trying to think of a somewhat plausible lie. “You requested it that way.”

“I did?”

“Oh, sure. You didn’t like seeing yourself as monochrome all the time, so you asked a sewer to try and portray you as though you had color. Merely an artist’s interpretation, nothing more.”

If there was something Luna had over her sister, it was the ability to lie and lie well. Discord completely bought into it, and after breakfast (blueberry pancakes, though they turned into strawberry waffles when Discord insisted he serve breakfast. After about nineteen apologies, Luna insisted it was okay) they began the long, cross-country tour of Equestria.

The two took a train to Manehattan, which was now shaped like a giant set of shelves with lots of random bric-a-brac functioning as buildings. All Luna could do was stare. D-did Discord have this much down time? Nonetheless, the chaotic being himself was incredibly interested with the strange buildings, beckoning to the princess as he flew up the shelves, looking from building to building. He only stopped at what appeared to be a large bowling ball, and even then he only paused because he learned it was a hospital run by a mare named Malady and he was busy trying to figure out the link between a hospital and a bowling ball. Yes, as though this was the strangest thing there.

It suddenly dawned on Luna that she was going to have to drag Discord through more chaotic landscapes. It was like babysitting…Except not. Why couldn’t have Celestia done this?

On the plus side, two private-eye colts, Thirty-Thirty and Tracer Bullet, took a liking to both of them. Maybe this day was looking up.

Eager as always, Discord lead the way and they went to Las Pegasus, the city seemingly always in some eternal state of carnival season. A Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a rollercoaster, house of mirrors, all those things. However, all of it was oversized to almost a comedic degree, making ladders the only thing to get atop any of the rides, lest you were a pegasus.

The two spent most of their time there in a large menagerie, Discord gushing over every adorable little parasprite and timberwolf and changeling contained behind the glass. While Luna couldn’t have cared less about the creatures, she did pause to wonder if Discord had ordered the building of the menagerie, or if it really was Brietta and Lila, like the plaque had said. I mean, didn’t we have Tartarus to hold all the creatures…?
Well, hopefully Celestia was having a better time…

~

The sun princess had searched every library, every catacomb, and every attic, and yet there was nothing that could point to the supposed Element’s location. Absolutely nothing. Maybe Luna was right, maybe they didn’t exist. And even if she did, she barely knew what they looked like, aside from a vague description from a story her mother had told her so long ago: Like multicolored gemstones, which would encase themselves in spherical rocks if they sensed somepony would try to use them for the powers of evil. Once bound to somepony, they would resume a shape to resemble the bonded’s cutie mark and attach themselves to a necklace or, should one of the bound have a strong magical capability, a tiara. But what colors? And were they bonded to somepony already?

Celestia paused her search. She was back in the art room, meaning she had circled the whole Canterlot castle, probably ransacking it beyond any degree. When Mathmagician came back from his trip to Baltimare, he was going to throw a fit; she would need it cleaned up before then…

Worry about the butler later, Celestia. The Elements came first.

The problem was that, from her description alone, she didn’t know how many of them there were. Obviously, at least two, since they were called the ‘Elements’ of Harmony, but how many would she have to find? Did they represent anything? What makes harmony anyway…? Elements of Harmony, Elements of Harmony, Elements of…

…Oh, how could she be so stupid?

You couldn’t have harmony with only one pony! You needed two, if not more, or else they probably wouldn’t show themselves! No wonder her search was futile. And no wonder her parents played it up like a story, seeing as her six other siblings fought all the time on who should be queen and this story might get them to work together! It all made sense now.

Luna, she needed Luna…But where was she? She had told her to watch after Discord, but they could be anywhere…

Suddenly the sun set. The sky rotated, the moon rising. As though on cue, a maid unicorn rushed up to the princess, bowing at her hooves. “Your sister has returned, dearest Celestia…I told you, just as promised…”

“Thank you, Namby-Pamby.” She said and then took to the air, flying through room after room and into the courtyard. Landing, she smiled. “So how was your trip?”

“Oh, marvelous!” Discord gushed, ruffling Luna’s blue mane. “Luna here is a wonderful tourist! She showed me all the really weird things that my empire has to offer, and there was this really nice colt that liked talking to me but everypony else hated him…”

“There’s a reason his name is Sitting Duck.” She muttered, clearly annoyed.

He ignored her, laughing a bit, but then suddenly realized something. “Oh, how could I be so careless? I promised I’d make curtains for those actor ponies and I have to clean the taffy out of the sewing machine…Um, I’m sorry to leave you guys, but I have to go—Be back soon!” And with that he floated off into the palace.

Luna sighed, using a bit of magic to smooth out her mane. “So, how’d the search for the Elements go?”

“Not well.” She admitted, though smiled a little. “However, I think I did figure something out.”

“And that would be…?”

“You need at least two ponies to uncover them. They are called the Elements of Harmony, after all, and you can’t have harmony with just one.”

Luna paused. “So what you’re saying is, you want me to come with you in your search?”

Celestia nodded.

She sighed a bit. Well, a cross-Equestria wild goose chase or another day dragging around Discord. Her options were really slim and neither looked promising. “Alright, fine. I’ll go.”

Celestia’s eyes lit up as she grinned wide. “Thank you, sister dear. Now, they aren’t in the palace, so I was hoping you wouldn’t object to a search of the Everfree Forest. It’s only logical they’d be there, being the only place Discord cannot rule…”

Luna gave a nod. “Makes sense. When’re we going?”

“Tomorrow, the second after I raise the sun. Discord will never notice.”

~

Discord DID notice, after a day of wandering the castle shouting “Celestia! Luna!” He hadn’t been left alone in the castle before, and it somewhat confused him, with all the winding hallways.

He had snaked down to the lowest catacomb, calling for them. None of the workers down there seemed happy to see him; after all, they had chosen to work there because Discord never went into the catacombs ever.

He had flown up to the highest tower, the observatory. They weren’t there either, but he paused his search for a moment to look at the charted constellations. They were all seemingly random objects.

He checked in the scullery, where Namby-Pamby informed him the princesses never came to. He thanked her and then stole a muffin from the kitchen.

The creature was just about ready to give up. Obviously, they had left him there, but why? Didn’t they like him? He tried so hard to make everypony like him…

Something caught the corner of his eye. Curious, he looked over to it, only to find it was a large and fancy door. Well, there was a room he hadn’t looked at! He threw open the door and gasped in glee at what he saw.

It was a large, decorated throne room. Tiles below were checkered pink and green, with a big giraffe-printed carpet leading to a very ordinary-looking throne. Next to the throne appeared to be some kind of closet, with a lock only a unicorn’s horn could open. Large, stained-glass windows were between pillars on the walls, baskets of bleeding-heart flowers on each of the pillars. Smiling, Discord paused to look at the windows, though his joy melted when he saw the designs.

The first one showed an earth pony, cowering at the ground. A large cyclone was behind her, and by the looks of it, trying to suck her in. Her eyes were shut tight, her hooves buried into the ground.

Directly across from it was the second one, also showing an earth pony. A snowstorm was raging all around, burying the pony in the snow. Seemingly for a comical joke, lumps of coal had been stuck onto the snow covering her, as though she was a filly’s snow-pony.

Kitty-corner from that was the third, showing yet another earth pony. This one was backing up in fear, surrounded by many copies of the same thing. To Discord’s confusion, he found the things surrounding the mare looked suspiciously like himself.

And across from that the window showed—what else?—another earth pony. She was staring, wide-eyed in horror. The funny thing was that, unlike the rest of the windows, this one completely lacked color, just being clear glass. Was it intentional, or had somepony forgotten to stain it?

Next up showed something different, a pegasus. She was flying in the sky, but clouds of pink and blue were surrounding her, sticking to her flank, almost consuming her.

The third-to-last one also showed something different, a unicorn. She, like the first, was cowering at the ground. Leafy vines had wrapped around her legs, effectively rooting her to her spot, and more vines were making their way up her torso.

The last two showed no ponies whatsoever, only two objects: The first one a basket of rotted fruit, the second one a shattered hourglass. He stared at these two longest of all, trying to figure out their meaning. I mean, the last six were so straightforward, but these were just objects, what meaning could they possibly have…?

Unintentionally, a conversation flooded into his head.

“Whoops. So clumsy of me.”

“Discord! How could you? How could you just break time’s flow and not even care?”

“Pish-posh. Oh, I do care—I care that, by default, time is mine to manipulate now!”

Nopony saw it, but for a split second, his eyes flickered back to normal.

“You just can’t do that! My daughters—Where are they?”

“Oh, Bounty, don’t be so glum. Would it soften your mood to tell you that I don’t even know? But that IS how chaos works, after all!”

“You’re lying, aren’t you? You know very well where they are, don’t you!?”

“Please, please, I lie to anypony. You couldn’t tell, could you? You thought I was lying that’d I’d go so far, steal the magic wands, upset Equestria’s magical balance, rot her fruits and destroy your hourglass! But I was telling the truth, now, wasn’t I? And now you wish I was lying. My lies are easier to accept then facing the truth.”

Subconsciously, his mouth flickered into a smile.

“You—You monster!”

“Ahahahaha! I bet you’re regretting allowing me into your courts, aren’t you? Oops, my courts now. Because this is MY Equestria! I control the sun, the moon, the stars, the air, and most importantly, I control everypony within.”

“…C-Celestia and Luna? Tell me they’re okay…”

“Playing favorites, are we, Bounty? I knew you loved them best. They were always so agreeable, but completely useless. No wands, no thing they were assigned to. They’re still here. They’ll be my servants, what fun!”

“Is this what it is, a game?”

“And isn’t everything a game? Whoops, it looks like your time is up. Get it? AHAHAHAHA!”

“You WILL pay for this!”

“Hear that? That’s the sound of everypony forgetting you…And me not even caring. Goodbye, Bounty and Timely. We had so much fun together. I’ll take good care of Celestia and Luna for you!”

Celestia. Wasn’t he…

…Wasn’t he about to make her more agreeable?

A white glow snaked up his eagle talon once more, though spread far more rapidly then the first time. It washed away the gray his body had been, swapping it with his normal, mismatched coloration. He smiled wide, looking around for Celestia, but then he remembered something—They weren’t in the kingdom. His smile faded and, with a low growl, screamed, “MALICE! YOU AND HAVOC GET HERE NOW!”

If there was one trait Discord loved about his assistants, it’s that they were prompt. Malice was first, a tall and somewhat lanky pegasus in a long, gray coat and matching tricorn hat, the clothing obscuring most of his body. “Yes, my lord?”

Havoc was a little late, running after the pegasus and sliding to a halt right beside him. He was a unicorn, shorter then Malice and less lanky, with a black flank and a white mane and tail, gray swirls dotting it. He wore a yellow-and-red jester’s attire with matching cap, bells around each of his hooves and on the tips of the hat’s prongs. He was Discord’s personal favorite, which was why he was made his left-hand colt. He laughed, seemingly the only sound he could make.

He crossed his arms. “Dearest Celestia and Luna have escaped me, as it were. I need you to find them and bring them right back to me! And make it quick—Who knows what they’re doing!?”

Both colts gave a nod, running out of the throne room and into Equestria, searching for the missing princesses.

And little did Discord realize, the end of his reign was near.

~

Somepony out there might be upset I stop here instead of going into the details of Discord’s defeat. But in honesty, that isn’t my story to tell. I’m sure you could find it, if you looked long and hard enough…