Spike sighed as he burned another hedge in the maze that Discord had forced the seven of them to undertake in order to recover their respective elements. He’d yet to find any of the others and he’d found himself getting bored. From the impression Princess Celestia had of Discord, Spike thought that he’d at least make things more interesting.

Maybe since I’m not a wielder of an Element of Harmony, he doesn’t really see me as a threat to his plan to rule Equestria. Spike mused as he burned away another bothersome hedge. He may have made things difficult for the ponies but as far as Spike could tell, Discord hadn’t done anything to him.

That made him pause as he recollected how this had all come about.

XxX

“That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break!” Celestia muttered while pacing about the room after noticing that the Elements of Harmony were missing. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

It makes perfects sense from what Princess Celestia already told us about Discord Spike thought. I would bet every gem in my secret stash that he stole the elements to stop us from turning him into stone. It also raised the question of why Princess Celestia possessed the elements and not the actual wielders themselves. Spike made a mental note to ask her about that once all of this was resolved.

Just then, a fruity, malicious laugh asserted itself in the hall. It gives way to an echoing male voice whose semi-playful tone does little to disguise the malevolence buried not so deep down.

“Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?” The voice asked rhetorically. Spike for his part, couldn’t help but agree given what Pinkie did on a daily basis.

“Discord! Show yourself!” Celestia commanded, glaring around the room, scanning for her adversary. The only response she got was a second bout of contemptuous laughter rolling around the vaulted ceiling. The eight of them noticed the window’s figure of Discord had started to move about on his own and had taken to pulling at the ponies’ strings.

“Did you miss me Celestia?” the voice asked mischievously. They all stared at the image as it began to speak. “Because I’ve missed you.”

They watched as he moved from window to window explaining how lonely it was to be encased in stone before retorting that Celestia wouldn’t know what it was like since he’d never turned ponies to stone.

Celestia had demanded to know what he’d done with the elements of harmony. Discord had responded that he’d simply borrowed them much like a normal pony would borrow a library book. He’d soon managed to identify each of the wielders along with their respective strengths before giving them a hint to the location of the elements in the form of a poem before disappearing.

Twilight had mulled it over for several seconds before concluding that he must have hidden them in the castle labyrinth. Spike was dubious but decided not to say anything in lieu of an alternative as he followed them toward said labyrinth where the mares lost either their horns or their wings.

Discord had then appeared via a bolt of lightning while explaining the rules of his so called game: no magic and no flying. The second rule was that everypony had to play or else the game would be over and Discord would win.

“Good luck everypony!” he waved to them before he disappeared in a dramatic flash of light.

XxX

“Fortunately for me the rules don’t apply since I’m not using magical fire or flying,” Spike grinned to himself. “The fact that I’m not a pony also helps my case I think.”

It was at that moment that fate decided to mess around with him when he spotted Twilight a little ways ahead of him.

“Twilight!” He called rushing forward before coming to a stop as she trotted toward him. The odd expression on her face immediately had alarm bells going off in his brain. He'd never seen that unfocused expression on her face before. The purple unicorn had especially made of point of not making that fate since she been warned by Princess Celestia that it could be considered quite rude in certain social circles. He immediately suspected Discord was trying to throw him off balance with an impersonation of Twilight. Before she could even open her mouth, Spike had already noticed several flaws in her appearance. Namely the presence of her horn, the wrong shade of pink on the single streak in her mane and tail, and her cutie mark containing five points instead of six.

The Twilight before him hadn’t noticed his suspicious stance as she trotted forward.

“I’m letting you go. You’ve failed me as my number one assistant Spike.” Those would have hurt a lot more had the Twilight who’d uttered them been the real Twilight that had really raised Spike from birth. However, Spike was nothing if not observant thanks to his time well spent with Rarity as his expression remained the same.

“Nice try Discord,” Spike snorted in amusement, rolling his eyes as he placed his claws on his hips. “But you’ll have to try harder than that to convince me.” He puffed out his chest and reminded her that he was Twilight's assistant.

“But I AM the real Twilight!” she insisted, forcing her face into his own.

“And that right there just proved to me that you’re not in fact the real Twilight,” Spike was suppressing his laughter now. “The real Twilight would have stated at least five different reasons why I’ve failed as her assistant and that’s not including the flaws in your appearance that gave you away at first glance.”

‘Twilight’ was left a spluttering mess as Spike continued forward without a care in the world as he continued his search for the rest of his friends. However, his progress was halted yet again by the familiar draconequus that had decided to bare his path.

“You’ve been helpful for far too long!” Discord yelled before planking one of his talons on Spike’s head. “It’s time for you to be mean and unobliging!”

Discord smiled malevolently as the magic started to take effect and had started turning Spike’s scales an ugly shade of gray. However, as soon as it started, the magic reverse itself as though retreating as his scales regained their lustrous glow.

Scowling, Discord recast the spell only for it to fail yet again.

This back and forth magic casting and dispelling went on for several seconds before Discord finally gave up, throwing his arms into the air incredulously while wondering just why his spell wasn’t working.

“Dragon scales are capable of resisting if not outright blocking dark magic,” Spike explained. “That’s probably why your spell didn’t work which is actually really nice to know in retrospect.”

“Well it’s not like I have anything to gain by corrupting you as well. Mind you, it would have made corrupting Twilight Sparkle much easier but I’m sure I can come up with something to break her spirit nonetheless,” Discord shrugged as he prepared to teleport himself.

“Wait!” Spike said before Discord could teleport. “What do you hope to accomplish by having a world of disharmony?”

Discord sighed as he conjured two armchairs made out of the cotton candy clouds the baby dragon had seen earlier. The young dragon for his part blinked at how comfortable they were to sit in.

He could definitely market these. Spike mused. He’d definitely put quills and sofas out of business it he made more of these.

“Equestria under Celestia’s rule is so boring,” Discord explained with a lazy drawl. “All I wanted to do was shake things up and make things fun again albeit through unconventional means.”

“I can understand,” Spike nodded. “That pretty much describes Pinkie Pie’s existence she got her cutie mark. Her goal is to make ponies smile. I’m not entirely sure if that’s your goal as well but I can tell you that the chaos that’s been released has probably hurt a lot of ponies in the process.”

Discord frowned. He didn’t intend to hurt anypony while he was having fun but sometimes the thrill of using his chaos magic tended to get the better of him. He made a mental note to, at the very least, keep a closer eye on his magic as he used it. If it spiraled out of control and ended up destroying Equestria, or worse the entire world, then Discord would most definitely have a big mess on his shoulders.

One that would be really hard to clean up.

“You make a point,” Discord agreed. Spike smiled before continuing.

“Besides, there’s plenty of chaos around that at the very least keep our lives interesting. Ponyville’s continued existence is proof enough given all the crazy things that have happened there.”

Discord listened in genuine interest as Spike recounted several of his friends’ misadventures while in Ponyville.

“You’re probably right,” Discord agreed, “But that doesn’t mean that the rest of Equestria necessarily follows suit. Manehatten for example, everypony tends to keep to themselves.”

“I suppose,” said Spike uncertainly. “But personally, I think chaos in and of itself can be a good thing. I guess the main thing I’m trying to get at is that there needs to be a balance between harmony and chaos. If we have too much chaos then obviously the world will spiral out of control and lead to an apocalypse of epic proportions. But on the other hand, if we have too much harmony then it might lead to a dictatorship of sorts.”

Discord blinked. “The first one makes perfect sense but you’ll have to explain that second idea to me...wait, I never did catch your name.”

“I’m Spike. It’s nice to meet you, Discord,” Spike offered a claw to which Discord nodded and responded in kind.

“Well met,” Discord nodded. “So going back to the balance between harmony and chaos; how does too much harmony bring about a dictatorship?”

Spike had to think about this for a few seconds. He vaguely recalled Twilight reading him an excerpt from one of her books. What was it? He strained his memory but to no avail at the very least, he could generate a general recollection which would have to be good enough.

“Well if you think about it. If we have too much harmony, freedom can become restricted. When freedoms become restricted then some may gain more power which can possibly lead into a dictatorship where one pony will have absolute power over all others.” Spike shrugged, “It eventually leads to wars being fought and lives being lost and that’s something I’d much rather avoid if I can help it.”

Discord winced. Spike had raised some valid points but Spike was not done.

“That’s why we need you Discord,” Spike stated. “If you worked together with us, we can all maintain that balance.” He shot Discord a wry smile. “If nothing else, it makes great PR for you and ponies will come to respect and even admire you.”

It was clear that the young dragon had gotten the spirit of chaos’s attention. The possible PR and a relatively liberal use of his chaos magic was certainly appealing. And that was not even considering having ponies respect him despite his rather checkered past. However, from the look on Spike’s face, it was clear that Spike was not done yet.

“And that’s not even taking into account all the cool things you could do,” Spike gestured wildly to the cotton candy armchairs. “You could probably make a fortune just off of this alone. You’d more than likely have a monopoly and could subsequently charge as much as you wanted so long as you can keep other entertained. Besides, even if ponies might not be interested in such a thing, I happen to know that Yaks have quite the sweet tooth.”

Now Spike was talking in Discord’s language. The idea of sending Equestria into an economic crisis was an amusing one to consider but then there was the collateral damage that followed and would be unacceptable. And that’s not considering that economic crises were never really Discord’s style.

Actually, this entire discussion had gotten Discord thinking. Just why was Spike trying so hard to convince him to go down this route? What was in it for the dragon?

“So let’s just say that I was considering your proposition,” Discord began, “being safe from the Elements of Harmony is definitely a juicy incentive but what do you hope to gain by having this talk?”

“I want a guy friend,” said Spike simply. “The mare to stallion ratio is probably greater than four to one. It’s hard to find a stallion or a colt to have fun with since most of them are occupied with their mares. Most of the colts at the schoolhouse are either intimidated by the fact that I’m a dragon which somehow translates to: I’m going to eat you or they’re too caught up with each other to give me a chance. Also, there was this quote that I happened to like: I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends!”

Discord was more than a little taken aback by the dragon’s response. He probably would have gone through every other possible scenario before guessing that he had simply wanted to be friends with him.

“If there’s anything that I’ve learned from my time in Equestria so far is that everybody deserves a second chance,” he waved a claw to Discord. “Most of what you did before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna turned you to stone was comparatively harmless from what I can tell. She described it as ponies living in a state of unrest and unhappiness but if you really think about it, it’s almost impossible to be happy all the time. Ponies, dragons, draconequuses, and basically every other creature in and beyond Equestria is capable of feeling other emotions so that bit about those you ruled living in unhappiness isn’t altogether surprising.”

“Admittedly, most of what I’ve done was change the ground to make it appear more checkered since I thought it looked nicer that way. Plus I thought upside down houses also looked cool and that’s not even factoring in the idea of upside down hills,” Discord supplied helpfully. “I’d also changed the animals. For example, bunnies had been given multiple joints to augment their speed so that they could get to food and avoid predators much more easily. However, my favorite examples are definitely the cotton candy clouds that can move on their own and the chocolate rain.” He raised a hand to forestall the question he could see was on Spike’s lips. “Don’t bother asking me how I do it. Chaos is unpredictable in that sense.”

“That much is true,” Spike agreed.

“So just to be clear, you were quite serious to make a gamble to let me have my freedom in exchange for friendship with you,” Discord clarified.

“More or less. You’d also be helping to maintain balance along with the occasional burst of chaotic magic at your discretion. Just remember to give an advanced warning so that we don’t get caught in the crossfire of whatever you’re planning,” Spike told him. “Other than that, you’ve pretty much got free reign over your life as far as I’m concerned.

Admittedly, while Spike was the number one (technically the only assistant to Celestia’s personal student which made him number one by default) assistant to Twilight Sparkle, his word would have no legal binding without Princess Celestia’s approval.

Spike sighed. He could already feel the migraine coming on at the prospect of persuading the Princess of the Day while letting Discord remain free was a good idea.

“Aha! There you are!” The two looked up from their currently paused conversation to find Twilight Sparkle and her friends with their respective elements.

“How did you find those!” Discord exclaimed. “I didn’t even hide them in the labyrinth to begin with!” He narrowed his eyes at Twilight. “You used magic didn’t you. You broke the rules of the game!”

“Actually, Pinkie here happened to have a chainsaw tucked away in her mane,” Twilight pointed out, gesturing to a grinning Pinkie who did in fact have a chainsaw with the handle currently in her mouth.

“The rules said that we couldn’t use magic or wings but you never said anything about using power tools!” said Pinkie cheerfully as she cut down another hedge for emphasis. “You also never said anything about earth pony’s strength to knock down obstacles either so we were well in our rights to use both to get here,” she added as an afterthought.

“As for how we got our elements back,” Twilight explained how she’d managed to regroup with her friends while Discord and Spike were talking and re-evaluated their reasoning as to why they thought the elements of harmony would even be in the maze. Twilight had then thought back to when they’d first met and how she’d been researching them for Nightmare Moon’s return. She had then asked Pinkie and Applejack to go back to Ponyville and find the elements in a specific book.

“Technically, your rules only applied when we were in the maze,” Fluttershy pointed out, “so Applejack and Pinkie had the idea to just make an exit and then use magic to teleport them back to the library to collect the elements.

“Channeling magic without my horn was really difficult,” Twilight admitted. “I wasn’t even sure if it was possible but I did manage to teleport them with an arbitrarily set delay such that they had ample time to find the book and the elements and come back.

“I was able to track Spike’s scent through the maze since ponies are well known for their keen sense of smell,” Fluttershy supplied. “And that’s how we all got here.”

Discord was sweating bullets as he found himself face to face with the Elements of Harmony.

“Wait.”

All seven of them turned to stare at the dragon present. He looked between his old friends and his potential new friends.

“I promised Discord his freedom. I think that his powers could definitely be used for good if he learned the magic of friendship with the rest of us,” Spike suggested. The mares were dubious about this. This was the creature that had taken away what had defined them this whole time up until this point in their lives. He’d even corrupted all of them to behave in way that was essentially the polar opposite to where their strengths lie.

Fluttershy was the first to speak up.

“Um… Spike? Are you sure that it’s a safe idea to have Discord running around free? I’m just worried that somepony might get the wrong idea and it might hurt Discord’s feelings in the process.”

“You actually said it quite nicely back when we were only just becoming friends: Everybody deserves to be shown a little bit of kindness right?” Spike asked to the reluctant nods of his friends while an uneasy Discord watched on. “It worked with Nightmare Moon so I don’t see any reason why it can’t work with Discord.”

“Why don’t we talk to Princess Celestia about it?” Twilight suggested diplomatically. “We can have her decide what to do.”

XxX

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Princess Celestia decided once everybody present had shared their sides of the story. She paused to consider it further. “I’m more ashamed that I didn’t come up with such an idea sooner. Discord’s powers could most certainly be used to maintain the delicate balance between harmony and chaos.”

The two males had let out a whooping cheer at Celestia’s verdict.

“However.” The cheering immediately died.

She looked at them with the faintest hint of a smile. “I would like weekly reports about your progress toward friendship, Discord.”

“Oh very well, Celestia,” Discord drawled lazily. “I suppose I can accept these terms. I do get my freedom after all.”

“Indeed you do,” Celestia nodded before pausing as a thought came to her. “Incidentally, if you could all come back in a week. I would very much appreciate it.”

The eight stared at her as she explained that she had intended to commission a stained glass window of them and it would be ready to be shown in the following week. The eight decided that it was a reasonable request and let the notion pass.

Plus it would give everyone time to adapt to a draconequus in their midst and help Discord get started on generating good PR. Fortunately, Spike’s somewhat abridged explanation on Discord’s intention to reform had earned him more than a little forgiveness if only because his pranks this time had actually made pegasi jobs a lot easy since the cotton candy clouds had gone where they were supposed to go.

The fact that they rained chocolate measure could only be a good thing as far as fillies and colts were considered. It really should have come as no surprise given how the first time it had happened, all the fillies and colts had danced in the chocolate rain in a feeble attempt to get at least a drop of the fabled drink. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had, in essence, given up all sense of inhibition and mimicked everypony else and tried to catch as much chocolate rain as they could.

XxX

A week later found the eight of them in the Canterlot Castle throne room where both princesses greeted them. Admittedly, Celestia had been more responsive to Discord but Luna had very little time to adjust to Discord’s presence and it didn’t that she didn’t get any sort of forewarning about it before the fact.

Moving back to the ceremony, the eight smiled and waved as Celestia unveiled the newest stained glass window for all to see.

The window consisted of several panes featuring each pony wearing their elements right now and at the center featured Spike and Discord who were grinning broadly and arm in arm.

Discord for his part had never had screams of cheer permeating through the air. He was used to terror-addled ponies who had always known to fear him as opposed to cheering happily as he followed his friends’ leads and stared in awe at the picture his arm looped around Spike.

Discord stared up at the non-stained glass windows.

Today was a good today.

Author's Note

Discord is a really tough character for me to write. I guess I'll have to continue practicing with him at another time. Now we can move on to the next antagonist: Chrysalis. I'm really looking forward to writing this one and hopefully you'll like this chapter as much as you liked the last one.

Thanks for reading and remember, constructive criticism and helpful advice is always welcome.