Turning to stone was a hellish experience. He could feel every single bit of his energy, his magical signature on the world, forcefully yanked from its place, forced into him painfully, like a balloon being filled with water past the point it's able to handle, yet unable to burst somehow. His chest feels like it's about to split, and every bit of magic he's ever exuded into the world is suddenly pushing into him, full- fuller- too full, and everything hurts. Through the mind numbing pain, some sort of faint part of his mind recognizes that he can't feel his tail. Now his legs have gone numb, and what used to be his organs were twisting into knots inside of his abdomen. His irregular heartbeat is agony to feel, and he can feel the calcification creep up his body.
His lion's paw grasps painfully at his chest, claws digging deep and drawing his blood, and his eagle's claw reaches for any semblance of magic- anything, some sort of release from the immense pressure burning inside of him and it HURTS and now he can't move his neck. His eyes clench shut, and then suddenly he can't open them. Everything is darkness, and everything is pain. It doesn't stop, but it never gets any worse. He's stuck. He can't move, he's stuck, and he feels vulnerable and frightened because he didn't even know that it was possible to defeat him. He's scared, and only locked in the depths of his own pain addled mind would he admit that.
It feels weird to be free again. His limbs are his own, he can look where he pleases, and do what he wishes. His magic blooms outward, feeling its environment, eager to spread chaos once again, and a long lasting, aching pain in his chest slowly deflates and leaves. The ponies around him are wide eyed and on guard as he inspects himself, then he turns his gaze from his mismatched, flesh- not stone, but living flesh- body to them, and anger wells in his chest. Despite this he shakes himself out and begins stretching. The ponies are trying to get his attention, and he feels irritated that they won't take him seriously. He might not act like the most sophisticated gentledraconequus, but that didn't mean he wasn't a threat. With that, his show begins, and he feels his mischievous magic come bounding back to him, excited to confound the minds of those who couldn't quite grasp true chaos.
With a bend backwards, Discord exclaimed, "Well! It's about time somepony let me out of that prison block!" He stretched his lion's paw outward, supporting it with his eagle's claw, and snapped, and his magic warped into a nearby squirrel, turning the cutesy nut gatherer into a massive specimen, with thick muscles, an almost unibrow forming scowl, and an underbite to complete the thuggish look, and he couldn't help but giggle to himself as he watched it break the branch it had been sitting next to and begin to gnaw on it, only for his smile to fall when he heard the voice of the prized pretty purple princess of perfect herself, Twilight Sparkle.
"What do you think you're doing?!" She snapped.
"Hhhnnngggg~ Why stretching, of course! When you're a creature of chaos, stone bodysuits aren't typically your GO TO fashion choice." He drawled playfully before bending his eagle claw behind his neck and pushing it further with his paw, snapping. Not unlike the squirrel, a nearby rabbit was suddenly infused with chaos magic, and the creature mutated into a mass of fur and muscle, with incisors almost as long as its ears. The thing released an angry mix of screech and growl, and the pink pony- Pinkie Pie was it?- gasped before glaring at him.
"You make that bunny cute again, NOW!" She demanded. Discord smiled and waved his paw at the silly notion and bent down, smiling.
"Ohhh pfffff. He's adorable the way he is~" He cooed, petting the creature below the chin, only to withdraw sharply when it snapped at him, and the draconequus stood straight back up again, rasp-berrying at the thing.
"You know what else is adorable? You ponies TRULY believe that you can reform me, and that you're putting your faith in this one here," With a magnifying glass in hand, Discord eyeballed the meek little Fluttershy, "To make it happen!" A flash of chaos magic and he was suddenly on the small pegasus's other side, wearing what could only be described as the most stereotypical granny outfit ever conceived, and he gently tugged on Fluttershy's cheeks while saying, "It makes me want to pinch your little horsey cheeks~"
"How'd you know about that?" Twilight snapped, stepping forward, only to flinch backwards slightly as the playfulness completely drained from Discord's face for a moment as he twisted to lean over to her.
"Being turned to stone doesn't keep me from hearing every word Celestia says. Although I will admit it makes rolling my eyes a challenge." He purred out, pulling his eyes from his head and tossing them behind him before suddenly appearing underneath them, letting them fall back into his sockets, and he sat up from the ground before frowning as Twilight stepped forward yet again.
"Well unless you want us to turn you back into stone, you'll zap those animals back the way they were, PRONTO!" She said commandingly, pointing a hoof towards him. For a quick moment, he relived the agony as all his magic was forced into his body, filling him to a non-existent bursting point, the pain as he lost the feeling of his limbs, and the horror of once again being trapped, vulnerable, and forgotten yet again, and then Discord swallowed back his fear and scoffed.
"Nnnyooh you wouldn't DARE turn me back to stone and risk disappointing your PRECIOUS princess." He bluffed, crossing his arms, only to roll his eyes as Rainbow Dash darted into the air behind him.
"Try us, Discord!" She spat, saying his name like it was the most vile word on earth, and he couldn't help but scoff a little, until Fluttershy jumped into the air as well.
"You think you can treat poor defenseless animals like that and get away with it?!" With a cheer from the rainbow one of "you go Fluttershy", the pale yellow pegasus mare flew up to his face, pushing her hoof rather rudely right up against his muzzle while snapping, "You best watch your step buster, or I'll give you THE STARE." Discord held himself back from laughing and reeled back in mock terror.
"The stare?!" He cried playfully, throwing his arms in the air, "No please! Not that! Anything but your disapproving eyeballs!" The draconequus burst into laughter, wheeling in the air and smiling, until Fluttershy's glare suddenly intensified and he felt an odd tug to obey her. Not enough to get him to do it, though, so instead he started flailing and holding his throat as he choked mockingly.
"Oh no! No no no stop- *hack* No no- *wheeze* I can't-" The glare only intensified worse, and, amused, Discord let his red pupils start rippling as he pleaded playfully, "Stop! I can't take it anymore! I'll do whatever...you...say! Because..." Suddenly he stopped and resumed laughing, bracing his mismatched arms against his knees in the air and howling with glee, "Eehahahaha-ha you're hilarious~!! Ahahahaha!"
Twilight narrowed her eyes and beckoned Fluttershy back down to eye level, frowning.
"I don't want him running around Ponyville, wreaking havoc. If he does this within five minutes, what could he do in an hour, or a day?!" Rainbow quietly asked, walking over as well.
"Ah hate to be a neigh-sayer, but Rainbow's right. He obviously ain't up for even tryin' ta be "reformed". If anything he sure seems like he's TRYNA goad us into turnin' him back." Applejack said softly, ducking her head slightly and lowering her voice. Twilight nodded softly as the Spirit of Chaos before them hovered in air, trying to right himself from his laughing fit, and she nodded.
"Princess Celestia will understand, I'm sure of it. We have to put everypony else before the reformation of one crazy...whatsit." She said calmly. With that, the six mares organized themselves, and only when the magic of the Elements of Harmony began swelling and growing did Discord sense something was wrong and turn to look at this.
Instantly his eyes grew wild and manic. He c- no...WOULD not go through so much time locked in solitude and pain, not again, not for these humorless, self-idealistic ponies to have their so-called "good-guy" victory. Not again- NOT AGAIN.
Just as the rainbow blazed forth from their Elements, Discord threw every ounce of chaotic magic he could into the oncoming blast, releasing a final roar of defiance. Never again; he'd either die here, or win and continue spreading chaos, but he would never go back to the wretched stone prison for his mind and magic that his own body could be turned into.
With a crack loud enough that everyone present could have sworn Canterlot could hear it, the true opposite kinds of magic collided, and suddenly the Chaos magic split through the middle, seeming to flee and dissipate, tearing away from Discord, and for a moment he felt fear and confusion before their harmony magic struck him, and pain encompassed him.
His vision went white, and his world filled with golden light. His body felt like it was being torn to shreds. Pain tore at him, in a new way that he'd never felt, his eyes were glowing with beautiful energy, and parts of him felt like they were burning down to the bones.
The few seconds he was in this state felt like they stretched on for centuries, and when it finally faded, it left him feeling more weak than he'd ever felt in the time he could remember. His body felt odd, and it hurt to move. Slowly he struggled into a sitting position and he trembled, his arms suddenly feeling far too weak to support his body. He curled his claws, blinking to try and clear his vision, only to freeze when he felt a distinct lack of skin on his eagle's claw. Squeezing his eyes shut, he waited for a moment then looked down slowly.
His lion's paw was what he looked at first, but when he looked at his eagle claw his blood went cold.
"Wha....what have you done to me?" Both arms were the same, and looking further down at his legs gave him the sight of two goat's hind feet. His fur and scales, once a myriad of different colors, now were largely pale gold or white. Reaching up, his goat horn had been forcefully reshaped into a second antler, and running his tongue across his teeth made him realize that he now had two elongated saber fangs instead of just one. He tried conjuring a mirror, only to realize with horror that he couldn't feel any of his magic. No chaos came to his call, and he felt true fear. Shaking, he tried to stand, suddenly violently off balance, and he looked at his back to find two large, feathered wings with white feathers at the bases of them that faded to gold as they spread outward. He whipped around, eyes searching, and he found the Mane Six staring at him with wide eyes.
He took a shaking breath and whimpered softly, "What...have you done to me?" He looked at his paw, unable to fully wrap his head around what was happening, then looked at them again and snarled fearfully, "What did you DO to me?!" They flinched slightly, and Twilight gaped as he stumbled forward, collapsing onto all fours for fear of tripping otherwise. The once proud god of chaos weakly stepped towards them, dragging his wings and tail, neck drooping, and odd black liquid had begun to drip from the inside of his mouth.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!!" He suddenly screamed, and Rainbow Dash flared her wings in warning.
"I-I don't know what we did but it sure took YOU down a peg!" She proclaimed loudly. Discord coughed, the action rattling his entire body, and he stared at her before suddenly stepping backwards several times before clumsily opening his wings.
"Y-you..." Discord looked at himself one more time, "You took...how could....what have you DONE?!" Without waiting for an answer, the draconequus klutzily flapped his wings and dragged himself into the air, beginning to flee. Rainbow instantly shouted after him before opening her wings and taking off, hot on his tail in an instant. In a panic, Discord looked back before yelping as he narrowly dodged a tackle from the cyan mare. Without aim or direction, he flew, until the already heavy weakness became too much for him to stay up and his wings gave out, letting him crash to the ground, and for the first time, he felt more fear than he ever felt in his stony prison. The edges of his vision were beginning to blur and blacken, and the last thing he saw was a set of cyan hooves land in front of him.
Twilight carefully inspected Discord's limp body as Applejack and Rainbow hauled him back towards Ponyville, tugging at his wings and running her hoof over his new antler, carefully looking at each new change as she did.
Fluttershy hovered overhead, staring down at the unconscious draconequus with something akin to worry.
"Do you think he'll be alright Twilight...? He sounded like he was in a lot of pain when the magic hit him..." Twilight hummed softly and nodded.
"It might have hurt at first, but I hypothesize that the reason so was because evil was so deeply rooted in him. Now that said evil has no doubt been torn out by the Elements of Harmony, maybe we have a real chance at reforming him."
"Or this could backfire horribly! This might have hurt him beyond repair!" Pinkie said cheerfully, hopping over from one side of Discord over to Twilight's side. Twilight stared at her for a moment before shaking her head.
"Ridiculous, Pinkie. the Elements of Harmony aren't a harmful force! They're called the Elements of Harmony for Celestia's sake, I doubt it even has the ability to hurt things; just strip away their evilness." She said, then continued with, "Besides, look at him! He's equal now! Symmetrical, colors generally associated with goodness, wings that look like those of angelic beings such as Celestia- if anything, the Elements of Harmony did the reforming FOR us~!" She exclaimed. Silence greeted her words and she blinked before looking at her friends, then grinning sheepishly as she realized they'd reached the library. With a quick spell she pulled the door open, and soon was helping to push Discord's body into the library's basement.
"Alright, we have him here.....now what, Twilight?" Twilight hummed as she cast a quick conjuration spell and chains clinked into existence around Discord's wrists and ankles, attaching themselves to the ground and binding themselves to the floor with magic before shaking her head.
"For now, we wait for him to wake up. I'll come get you when he does, because I don't think that he'll be waking up too soon." She mused, looking over the unconscious draconequus.
"Well...I do have a particularly large order that I need to work on, so I suppose I should thank you for letting me go." Rarity murmured, thereafter trotting off towards Carousel Boutique. Rainbow and Applejack soon followed her lead, each claiming they had work to do as well, and Pinkie seemed to have disappeared at some point.
Twilight looked towards Fluttershy in curiosity, prompting the shy pegasus to glance at Discord's unconscious form before carefully sitting down.
"I think it would be a good idea for me to stay here. Celestia chose me for a reason, and besides that, he seemed really scared and upset, so maybe he needs some kindness to help him figure out what happened." She said softly, shuffling her wings and folding them comfortably against her sides. Twilight hummed then shrugged.
"Are you sure? You might be here a while..." She pried, leaning forward. Fluttershy nodded, smiling, and completely laid down, and Twilight hesitated before nodding and turning to leave.
"Well...if you need anything, the kitchen is open for use, and you know where the washroom is...so...um...good night?" Twilight backed up before gently closing the door, and Fluttershy smiled softly before looking at Discord worriedly and slowly running her hoof along the arch of his neck.
"You poor thing...you seemed so upset...I hope you wake up soon so that we can apologize for possibly hurting you." She cooed softly, smiling as she began gently petting his shoulder.
