What Is Chaos?

by The Wizard of Words

Rating: everyone
Tags: Random, Discord, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6174

Seeing a golden opportunity, Celestia decides to have a discussion with Discord regarding the nature of chaos.

During a rather peaceful day in the Canterlot Gardens, Princess Celestia begins to wonder about the nature of Chaos. Naturally, the best way to understand something so complicated is to speak to an expert in the field.

It is only too fortunate that Discord loves to talk about his favorite past-time.

Published 2015-10-05 14:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-10-25 23:17:41 UTC

I Prefer Questions

If Celestia were asked of her favorite place in all of Equestria, she would answer honestly that it was her garden.

The Canterlot Castle Garden was immaculate, grand, and breath-taking in all senses. Made of flora from all corners of Equestria, it carried just as many shades of colors and scents in the wind. It was a welcome and open place, never constricting to those who walked through it, and similarly never making any pony feel out of place.

Roses, from as red as the setting sun to as blue as the ocean deep, owned their own beds along many walls of the garden, both interior and decorative. Where they were content to own the ground, Honeysuckle would begin to blossom, climbing the hard surfaces as easily as a curious spider. But where the walls would end, trees show their size, shadowing the structure with their tall trunks and thick branches.

And for every different flower or flora there was, there was a new scent or color to go with it. Sweet scents that lured the nearby ponies, tingling sensations that kept the curious ones, and the odd sour mixture that confused with how delightful it seemed. All led to veritable rainbows along the ground, split up or mixed into more shades than the average pony could possibly dream.

But in the rare cases where the scents did not allow the mind to wander and the colors were no longer captivating, there were the many small animals to entertain the spirit. Gentle creatures of all sizes and origins made their homes in the expansive yard, from the squirrels burrowing into the dozens of different types of trees, to rabbits that dug around the roots of the hundreds of different flowers, and birds that nested in every form of shrubbery.

There was life in the flora of the gardens, but then there was life that lived in the garden. It was perhaps the clearest sign of harmony’s strength. It was why even now, as she walked through the expansive patch of land, golden regalia along her hooves and crown upon her head, Celestia found the garden to be her favorite place in all of Equestria.

It was here that she was allowed to breathe, to release the stress of her job, to remind herself of why she toiled in her work sun rise and set. She could not venture to the ends of her kingdom to see her ponies at any moment, but she could come here, come to see the proof of their existence, and to remind herself of their importance to the kingdom.

Celestia let out another long sigh, feeling her heavy alabaster wings twitch, pleading silently to be expanded. Her ears perked as she heard the tweeting of a pair of birds, perched atop one of the walls of the hedge maze. Mating season was soon approaching, but they were merely enjoying one another’s company for now. Simply, they were in harmony.

Harmony. The interaction of two opposites, working together to maintain a balance. That careful teeter between too much and too little, what one wanted against the other, and vice versa. Sharing water amongst plants, food amongst ponies, talent amongst the young, and wisdom amongst the old. Different areas, different kinds, but all balancing out to make a kingdom of perfect harmony. Equestria, her kingdom.

But just as it was true in life and nature, for all things there was something else in contrast. Her sister’s night to her day, grassy plains to rocky mountains, even magical study to field labor; they were all opposites, converses that needed one another to be what they were. Harmony was no different. Celestia was not too proud to admit that.

But now, she realized, more than any other time before, she was able to have a discussion with that other side. She could talk, discuss, and reach a conclusion with everything that Harmony wasn’t.

Celestia, symbol of Harmony, could talk to Discord, master of Chaos.

Before, when he believed Chaos the only way to live, he wouldn’t offer either of the alicorn sisters an ear to listen with, be it attached to his body or not. During his return and attempt to recreate his world, he thought too much of deception and clever tricks to take a conversation seriously. But now was different.

Fluttershy, the former bearer of the Element of Kindness, was successful in turning Discord around. He listened to the yellow mare, took her words sincerely, and above all else, did nothing to truly hinder or threaten the harmony that existed in Equestria. It was, however, definitely far and away from a perfect change, though if such a thing had happened Celestia would have sworn it a trick.

More than once Luna complained to Celestia about the changing of her moon becoming cheese moments before it dipped past the horizon, allowing only very early risers to see the odd sight. The glass-stained windows, far more than once, had danced together as Celestia trotted towards her throne, blurring heavily the line between reality and dream. She did not need a millenia’s worth of wisdom to know that Discord used those same tricks, to a lesser degree, on the ponies of her kingdom as well.

But it was never permanent, never more than a small trick or prank to shock an otherwise monotonous schedule. It was rather hard to run through an every-day schedule when you suddenly found yourself walking on the ceiling.

And that, in truth, was what Celestia wanted from the ancient Draconequus.

Discord was not meant to be changed to a symbol of Harmony. That would never do. It was against everything Celestia stood for, demanding any creature change who they were. Harmony’s very definition was the coexistence of multiple different parts. If everything was the same as everything else, then there was no harmony. There was only boredom.

That was why Discord was needed, in small doses of course. His small pranks and tricks encouraged the mindsets of mares and stallions across the land, thinking differently and acting as they believe they should, not as they were told. The constant mind games of the Spirit of Chaos did wonders to awaken the inner thoughts of others, often all according to his ever-changing plan.

Celestia let out a long sigh. Discord had done more good for her kingdom than any pony could argue with. True, his acts of the past still weighed heavily on the present, but it was difficult to ignore his willingness to help his friends, Fluttershy more than any mare else. That was only too clear from his little stunt at the Gala.

True once more, she had invited him for the purpose of keeping the otherwise predictable party from being a bore, but she did not expect the commitment he had to the yellow mare. Then again, he would likely say that the unexpected was what he was aiming for. Yet, in this one case, Celestia wasn’t sure she could believe it. And that was what was plaguing her thoughts.

For all of their history, for all of their many meetings, one-sided conversations, and quick battles of harmony and disharmony, Celestia had never truly understood what chaos was. Discord’s brand of it, at the very least.

He seemed to so well enjoy the randomness of others, finding surprises that were made against him just as enjoyable as his own machinations. For how detailed and intricate his ploys were, he never seemed any more than excited when they were spun against him. But then, at the same time, he would find the ultimate surprise, his defeat, to be too cruel.

It was only made more difficult when Celestia realized how well she understood the Draconequus himself. A spirit more ancient than many inhabitants of the world, and certainly Equestria, he was responsible for some of the darkest secrets throughout the land. Random and near-omnipotent, yet still kind enough to never even think about harming a pony. As unexpected as that would be, he had justified it to her once, in a moment of rambling that was likely meant to distract her.

“Do you really think you can make things happen with something as stiff as a board?” He asked the question while waving a house above his head, upside down of course and deconstructing itself. “Heavens, no. Chaos is only alive so long as there is something to enjoy it. You can’t have a party if no shows up.” Cruel as the logic was it was sound for his madness, and it helped Celestia understand the copiously compiled creature.

It was impossible to enjoy the fruits of his labor, or perhaps the sourness of his deeds, without another life there to speak or give opinion of it. Harmony couldn’t be had unless there two lives coexisting, so it made sense in its own way that chaos needed just as many parts to function. Not equal and opposite as it was with Harmony, but there nonetheless.

Yet another sigh left her lips, her head bowing with it. She entertained a breeze that passed over her coat, tickling the feathers of her wings and running through her ethereal mane. It was a feeling she was well and familiar with, something she enjoyed. It was something that Discord would call ‘too predictable’ and hope to change in some meaningful, and often horrendous, way. That was the chaos Celestia could not tolerate.

Altering what one pony loved simply because it was too predictable, turning a peaceful night’s sleep into a game of guessing in the dark. It was no different than attempting to throw a wrench into a working machine simply because it was ‘too reliable’. It was something that she, as a ruler of thousands of ponies, all looking to her for guidance and protection, could not hope to understand.

She couldn’t understand why he would do something, why Discord would take pleasure in it. But, if she followed the logic for it, the criteria for why an action was necessary, the threshold between chaos and harmony, perhaps then she would be able to understand that mischief part of the world.

So the question wasn’t who Discord was. No, rather, the question was what chaos was.

“If you have a question, my dear princess, you only have to ask.”

Celestia only took in a slow breath of air at the voice. Too many sudden entrances and too many surprises had made her utterly unfazed and nonplus to the owner of the voice. She raised her head as she opened her eyes, already knowing what she would find. She knew she would see Discord, Spirit of Disharmony, Embodiment of Disorder, floating above her with golden mismatched eyes, a long curling smile along his face. Perhaps that was her first mistake, assuming.

Instead her own pink eyes settled on a tree. A large oak tree.

Granted, it was a tree that was bent four different ways about its trunk, branches that twisted as often as they extended, and appeared to be leaking sap in place of having leave, but a tree nonetheless. From a distance, it would have belonged in the garden, amongst the multiple kinds of flora from all parts of Equestria. Perhaps not the rose that shined, but certainly belonged.

That made the golden eyes that were pasted on it, curled upwards like a grin, all the more vibrant to her. Just as well as the creeping chuckle that followed, from a mouth that appeared to split the bark it came from.

“Oh, now that is a good expression to have,” the familiar voice of Discord rang from the tree. Said tree bent with the voice, one of its long branches curling until it was pushed into the bark above the golden eyes on the trunk. “It does fit you so much better than that stern expression of thought. Spending time thinking about logic in things, hoping to find that one strand of reason. Ugh, spare me the horror.” And again, the three shivered with the words, sending little droplets of thick sap to the ground.

“Discord,” Celestia spoke the draconequus’s name. “When did you arrive here?” She didn’t have any reason to play along. It was so often the trap that many ponies fell into. It was one she had learned to avoid centuries ago.

“Me?” The crooked tree spoke again, small splinters of bark falling to the green grass. “I had a niggling little thought that you were thinking about me, call it the intuition of the inobvious.” Celestia would call it spying. “So naturally, as the reformed me should properly do, I decided to pop in for a visit. I thought I’d do as the ponies do and dress as the situation requires.”

“So a tree, then?” Celestia spoke her words without thinking. Granted it was far and away from Discord’s most random or horrendous form, but it seemed just different and odd enough to strike a chord with her. Naturally, that was the desire. “A crooked, leafless tree.”

“But of course,” Discord’s floral form spoke with a bow, a bow that made its bark and oak creak with the effort. “After all, we are in a garden.” And there it was again. That line of logic that begged Celestia to nearly groan in annoyance. The laughter that followed from Discord’s words made it clear he enjoyed the reaction. “Having trouble with the idea?”

“No,” Celestia spoke clearly, honestly. “But I do have questions, questions I can ask now that you are here.” She hardened her eyes at the tree as she spoke.

It exploded into light a moment later, complete with a loud bang. Celestia only squinted at the bright lamination, ears folding at the noise. She was used to Discord’s magic as well as she was his antics. And sure enough, as the light faded, she was met only with Discord, the real Discord.

A tall draconequus who far preferred to lie in the air without the use of his wings than walking on his mismatched feet. A spirit with odd horns, misaligned eyes, and a toothy grin the curled about his head. An agent of chaos that tapped his paw and claw together in imperfect rhythm.

“Oh, and I do love questions,” Discord spoke honestly as he always did, more or less. “But I far prefer to be on delivering end. Seeing how many different ways a pony can answer a question.”

And to show his words, as Celestia could count on Discord to so often do, he stroked one of his forelimbs with his lion’s paw. As he did, leading it up and further to the distal end, it split into multiple parts. Nothing grotesque, no more than you could expect of a Mad God, but instead turning his single reptilian limb into one among dozens. He grinned with his ever crooked smile as he waved each one towards her.

“A single question, if you will,” he spoke with his paw against his slytherin body. “Leading to one of hundreds of answers.” His many claws waved again, each one fanning the air. Celestia could feel the choppy motion. “Just watching someone try and think of an answer is random enough for me.”

“But I far prefer answers,” Celestia countered just as easily, showing no faze to Discord’s antics. “For answers are what makes someone who they are. How they decide to face a challenge, or even what they believe is the difference between right and wrong. It is their answer, not their method, that will last for all their lives.”

“And so true it is, but what fun is there in thinking that far out?” As if to show once more, everyone of Discord’s multiple claws pointed to the horizon of the garden, nearly making up the entire line. “It’s the now that’s where all the fun is to be had.” As another display of his literal words, he reached out with his paw, the limb extending like putty towards a nearby tree.

When it was within the straightened branches, it lightly poked something within. It took a moment for Celestia to note that it was a squirrel, camouflaged by the brown bark of the trunk. At least that was all it was for a moment. No sooner did Discord poke the unlucky creature than did it expand like a balloon.

Then, just like a balloon, it floated down to the ground with hardly a noise, its fluffy tail poking out from it like the string to hold it from. It lightly rolled across the grass, bouncing more than rolling, the creature not making even a squeak of protest. Discord’s humored giggles said he was entertained enough. Celestia was only able to release another sigh, what she was sure to be one of many, should this conversation succeed.

Her horn glowed an ethereal gold, mind focusing her magic into it. The same hue took over the unfortunate creature for only a moment, before glowing to a light too bright to stare into. The princess needed worry. She knew exactly what was happening.

With a soft buzz, and a quick flash, her magic dissipated to show the squirrel back on the ground, unharmed and chattering upwards with clear confusion. She only smiled softly at him.

“Go,” she pointed with her muzzle, waving her head. “I apologize for the interruption.” The brown furry creature gave a satisfactory nod before skittering across the ground, jumping back onto the trunk of the tree and back up into its branches. With that done, the alabaster alicorn turned her attention back to spirit she was conversing with.

“Now who could honestly say that was a surprise?” The creature asked her, his multitude of claws shrugging with his one singular paw. “You helping living creatures simply because they are there, it’s so predictable that it’s duller than a hammer.”

Now was the time to ask.

“Discord,” Celestia began. “I just want to know... what is chaos?”

The Solar Princess could safely say she had never seen the draconequus grin as wide before.

“Then by all means,” Discord spoke with a low bow, all of his claws laying upon his body until his elastic form bent and twisted over itself. “Let us… talk.”

Celestia was sure of only one thing thus far. She had entered a true battle with her sanity.

Author's Note

Well, probably not my most random, funny, or action-packed story, but one I hope comes with a bit of introspective of Discord, without the whole "Killing Joke" looking-at-yourself mantra. Discord is just fun to write, and imagine, and basically everything.

Here Are The Answers

“Let me start with what I know,” Celestia began. She ignored the roll of Discord’s eyes, severe enough to remove them from their sockets, rotate about his snout, and fall right back into place. A small part of herself told her that they were reversed now. “Chaos is, by definition, disorder and lack of balance. It can be related to a lack of restraint, control, and even understanding.”

“Then you are trying to understand what can’t be understood?” Discord posed the question amidst her speech. He chuckled slightly. “That would be interesting to me, if I didn’t already see the little Twilight attempt the same thing moon in and out.” Celestia watched, as passively as she could, as Discord rotated the sun and moon above. She was silently thankful when he stopped the sun where it began.

“I believe nothing can be completely understood, least of all chaos,” she spoke honestly in return. “But I know you well enough to know that you hold ideas in chaos that that I have yet to grasp. Those ideas, and ideals, are what have caused friction between us in the past.” Discord’s many hands flashed, to earn her silence.

“And you’re hoping by understanding the small unreal thread of logic I cling to that you’ll be able to mediate our opposites.” Discord chuckled at his own words. “I’ve heard of grabbing at the low hanging fruit, but this seems a bit desperate even for you.”

“There is no desperation in seeking peace between parties,” Celestia spoke in return with earnest. “It is the basis for all of harmony.”

“And yet, it is a rule so often ignored by chaos,” the draconequus easily countered in turn. “Honestly, my dearest Celestia, if chaos were so easy to understand, then it wouldn’t be chaos. Surprises are what makes this interesting.” In what the princess could see as nothing short of evident to his words, a curtain rope fell from the sky.

The alabaster alicorn stared at it for a moment, confused as to how the thick golden rope fell from seemingly nothing, its length disappearing into the abyss of the blue sky above. Discord, with his still innumerable claws, pulled the rope with each one. What Celestia honestly expected was him to pull the rope, throw back the “curtain” of the sky, and reveal his own dusty and dirty home.

What she did not expect was his body to be pulled into the air as if attached to a string, disappearing within seconds. Her pink eyes blinked up at the blue sky, already losing sight of the multi-limbed Master of Chaos. But a moment later did she feel something tapping on the side of her wings. She let out a brief chuckle with her sigh.

“Your point is proven, Discord,” Celestia freely admitted. She turned around, momentarily taken aback to see him there. Perhaps that was just another part of his surprising nature. “And I mean not to say blindly that Chaos is unneeded or abhorrent. Even I find enjoyment the freedom of rules from time to time.”

“And rightfully you should!” The draconequus apparently cheered with her words, as if it were a confession. That alone was surprising to the diarch. She couldn’t remember a time she ever feigned any malice towards chaos itself; only ever to the harm of her ponies. “There is little fun to be had behind books and rules, less to learn even. Chaos is where the good stuff is at. It even comes with free cheese!” Celestia was wholly unimpressed to see him pull a ball of wax from his ear. With a flick of his paw, it turned into a ball of swiss cheese, promptly eaten in a single gulp.

“I understand the joy to be had in chaos, but I do not see the reason to live in it.” Celestia continued as Discord continued to chew on the waxy cheese. He seemed to be enjoying it. “It is impossible to help a kingdom grow while asking it to bury itself in the unknowable. Structure and strength is built off of knowledge, off of foundations of the past. Chaos, as you so kindly put it, is meant to not be understood. If that is the case, it can’t be used to help anyone grow.”

“And why would you need to help them grow?” Discord asked with his near-perpetually amused smirk. Celestia, spotting an opportunity for the ever-amused creature, had prepared herself to suddenly grow a hundred feet tall. She was pleasantly surprised to see that no such thing occurred. “From my point of view, it’s just so much more fun to see what could happen when anything and everything is involved. What’s the point of controlling something if you want to be surprised?” Celestia didn’t need much thought to know what that was implying.

“Because not all plans I make are me simply being ‘hopeful’,” The alabaster alicorn tossed her mane in imitation of the upstarts of Canterlot. High as she was, she knew the difference between old and new money. “I would much rather play a helping hoof in a pony’s life if it means guaranteeing them a future then tossing them to the wind and simply hoping the windigoes don’t get to them. I have admitted twice now my occasional enjoyment for chaos, but it has no place in the helm of royalty.”

That statement, one she spoke with only pure honesty and heart, appeared to only make the mad god chuckle.

“Oh, my dearest Celestia.” He looked at her with an amused gaze. “Should you admit it or not, even you have a part to play in some methods of chaos.”

What?

The solar princess eyed the Mad God, utterly taken aback. He was still in possession of his multitude of draconian limbs, each one performing a different task along his slytherin body, be it from plucking his wings to smoothing his scales. Both made an equal amount of sense… none at all.

“Discord,” Celestia began once more. “I will not feign my enjoyment or amusement for your antics, when done without harm to another pony, but I fail to see when if ever I have freely employed the use of chaos.”

“Don’t you?” He asked with one of his now many claws stroking his chin, at first. HE started to stroke that odd tuft of hair with more and more of his claws, each one seamlessly blending in with the other. It took little time before he has back to only one paw and claw. “Perhaps I was thinking a little too highly of you before. And here I was hoping you were using a bit of chaos to balance out your harmony. How silly of me!” A dark chuckle rumbled through Discord as he spoke. Celestia always felt two ways about the noise, neither complimentary.

“I fail to see how your methods of chaos would help create any resemblance of Harmony,” Celestia countered. “You build everything off of the random and often inane, seeking surprises over predictability without fail. You may be able to exist in harmony, but you’ll have to explain how you imagine your machinations to help create it.” A goad, of course, but ones such as that were often the statements that pushed Discord to speak.

From the twisted smile that wrapped around his face, literally, it was clear Celestia had spoken true.

“Oh dearest Celestia,” Discord spoke, paw over his long forehead. A bang of noise and flash of light took over her right half, turning his multitude of claws back into a single draconic limb. “I don’t believe I’ve ever said I have a helping hoof, claw, talon, or even tooth in helping create that… thing you call harmony.” Celestia watched literal shards of ice fall from his form as he gave a comical shudder.

“So… my harmony gives purpose to your chaos… by your chaos doesn’t add to harmony… how is that?” The question came to her slowly, for fear of asking too little. Too much and Discord would have shrugged the question away. However, by evidence of the twist of his crooked lips, the alicorn had hit a golden buzzer.

“The problem is the difference between a mountain and the ocean,” Discord listed easily, listed it as his claw snapped, summoning a small pillar of rock in the garden. Celestia stared at it, watching as a literal moat of water rapidly appeared around it. She’d have to make sure he replaced those patches of grass.

“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Celestia admitted. “I know you better than to say something like harmony stands above chaos.” She did know him, that wasn’t the issue. She didn’t know his chaos. His Cheshire grin was proof enough.

“And how right you are, but you’re thinking again in only what you see in an instant, just some boring and utterly lacking period of time. Think about it over centuries,” Discord spoke as he waved his claw back and forth, a light trail of light following the tips of his talon. It took the diarch only a moment to realize the movement of the moat’s miniature waves matched his direction.

“The ocean will wash away the mountain,” Celestia spoke the first thought that came to her mind. Erosion, one of the basic principles of earth pony culture, being aware of where they grew their food and how the land would change overtime. It was why most earth ponies inhabited the open plains. “Is that your claim? That eventually chaos will rule over harmony?”

“A claim? Sure, but not the difference,” Discord’s smile never faltered, never leaving its crooked nature. “Come day or night or the passing of seasons, the mountain, your harmony, will never change. Always the same height, in the same location, and standing atop of so many interesting things it’d sooner fall down on itself before it revealed them.”

As if to show his words, Discord snapped his paw. The mountain, standing about the ocean, collapsed in on itself. It was an interesting thing to watch, like a storm from a distance. Pebbles, symbolic of massive rocks, split and shattered atop one another. The white cap of the miniature mount falling down and into the rubble of its base, all with the same noise as shifting dirt.

Though hardly to any degree she had seen before, Celestia was well aware it was what a mountain would theoretically do if mines were dug too deep. It was why excavation of the Canterlot Caverns were prohibited, but she was losing track of the conversation.

“The ocean is different, and always will be,” the draconequus began to move both his paw and claw in tune, shifting the waves of what was now a pool. It couldn’t be called a moat without surrounding something. “If it’s not the direction of the waves, it’s the color. If it’s not the color, it’s the sky above it. If it’s not either of those, then it’s because it decided to cough up something brand new to the surface!”

Celestia watched as a long slytherin creature, with smooth skin of blue and pony eyes bright pink, jumped from Discord’s miniature sea. Before she could blink, it had disappeared back into the depths.

“Fun, isn’t it?” Discord posed the question at what Celestia assumed to be her own bemused expression. “The point of chaos isn’t to create anything, not by yourself at least. Where’s the fun to be had in doing what is expected? You and I both enjoy our eternal lives the most when we watch things we’ve never seen before.” Celestia, wisely as any of her other decisions, ignored Discord’s creeping reach for her wings. It was as usual an action for him as Twilight’s insistence to read. She dealt with them both the same…

Encouraging.

Her wings lifted to his touch, running his claw through her feathers in a pseudo-groom. It was far from comfortable, herself much preferring the brush she had sitting her in chamber’s dresser, but the blink of surprise Discord made it more than worth it, especially the hesitance that followed. What was less so encouraging, however, as the manic grin that was born from it.

“You see?” He asked again, pointing towards her with his tail. “Even you enjoy a bit of chaos in your actions, a bit of surprise to your purpose. What is better than seeing something than that? Don’t worry, I’ll give you this answer.” Discord cleared his throat, literally. He reached in and pulled and object out from his long slytherin body, like removing a piece of rock from the end of a sock.

What his claw produced, dripping with saliva and mucus, was a miraculously preserved sign. On it, written bold and clear, was the word ‘Nothing!’. Celestia could only sigh.

“Again, thrice now, I do enjoy chaos for humor and sport, but I cannot and will not use it to rule a country.” She spoke the words with definition, ensuring that Discord was properly enthralled. That was the only real way to handle him, to distract him. “Let me use your mountain and ocean for show,” Celestia spoke, already lighting her horn as she spoke.

As she did, the mountain of stone that Discord had created resurrected itself. Small pebbles rising from the pool that was an ocean, rebuilding the granite tower with a snowy peak. She was slightly pleased to see a curious grin on the draconequus’s muzzle.

“Reusing props?” Discord questioned, tilting his head until it spun about his long neck. “Rather an obvious choice, but I’m willing to see where it goes.” Of course he would. He was simply too curious a creature to let the in obvious lie. But that didn’t matter right now.

“You call the ocean your chaos, forever changing and never stable,” Celestia began, dipping her horn into the moat of water, a scale for the endless ocean. “And the mountain is harmony, stable and resolute.” She paused, expecting Discord to interrupt. When he did not, she continued. “Upon this mountain, the one that the capital of my country is built, I have made a kingdom for ponies to live in. Where, in the endless ocean you adore to swim through, could you create a kingdom such as this?”

“You couldn’t,” Discord, surprisingly, answered. “And that is the point. Chaos is the ever-changing, the insubstantial, the unknown.”

“And yet even those that live in the sea make their home on the floor, where it is as solid as the mountain my kingdom is built on.” Celestia set her hoof on the scaled mountain as she spoke, her pink eyes focused on Discord’s mismatched golden ones. “They find harmony in the chaos, they find something to hold themselves to. They…”

They find logic to build on.

It hit Celestia like a slow-train, something that was hard and durable, but she could have seen coming miles away. Of course there was logic that they found. There had to have been. How else would chaos continue to grow for beings like Discord, like Sombra, like anything else born from breach in balance. There had to be something underlying, something solid for them to stand on.

There was logic in chaos, but it was everything that harmony was not.

Logic in harmony followed a path, a tread in the woods, a brick road between houses. The choice to make was made by the road you followed. Chaos was different. Chaos was the ocean, chaos was the infinite possibilities, the option chosen at random, chosen simply because it was one of millions present, and nothing more.

“And there you go using my metaphor too literally,” Discord sighed with his words. His words shook Celestia right from her thoughts. The breath he released turned out to be a puff of fire, quickly dissipating into smoke. “Honestly, I try and meet you halfway with the logic and you go ahead and try to use it on everything. Once again, rules only get in the way.” What?

“No, actually, I believe I do understand it now.” Celestia smiled with her words, smiling even more when Discord’s turned into a confused frown. “I understand the reverse of logic, or at least that it exists. I know what you mean by the ocean, the difference, the lack of need to grow. There isn’t a need to grow because you’re improving in different ways.”

Discord’s eyes screwed themselves at her words, twisting as if they were being driven into planks of wood to build a house of horror. Celestia spoke on.

“I was trying to think of a single point at which chaos and harmony diverted, be it at the very beginning or near the end, but I always saw them as parallel. That was my mistake. They aren’t at all. Even to itself, chaos is random, like trying to compare air to gold. There is nothing between the two that can be compared. I just… have to accept that.” She smiled up to the Mad God, taking his silence with stride. She dare not ask for him to speak more.

“Thank you, Discord, for your time and patience.” And so, without another word, Celestia left.

Wait, she was leaving?

“Huh, that’s the end?” Discord asked the retreating alicorn, paw and claw lifted in a shrug. Celestia, however, paid him no mind. She trotted forward a bit more then around one of the green walls of the garden. His limbs fell to his sides before falling off.

That was not what he expected. He came here hoping to rile up the princess with questions to last for days. What better way to spend a boring weekend dry-spell then with a bit of thought into dangerous territory, and who better to take for the ride then the ruler of the land? This was supposed to last days, maybe even a week, not a few hours under the sun.

Then again, that was pretty surprising. Bittersweet, bit of caramel, but tangy enough to make up for the extra salt. He snorted through his long nose in annoyance. Not every story could be made to last, but he could hop away from it if it was at least enjoyable.

And this, at its core, was good enough to eat. All eleven pages of it.

“Now you tell me, is this meta?”