Celestia's plan had, surprisingly, worked; Discord came to realize that he preferred Fluttershy's friendship to a land of chaos.

To change Equestria would be an improvement from the boring place it currently was, and it would help their inhabitants to learn what in his mind they sorely needed to; but it would be a lonely world for him.

And being alone sucked. So, even though he couldn't believe himself, he had accepted defeat and promised to not exceed himself with his powers.

There was the matter of their differences as to what was excessive, but that's a thing for the sequel.

Of course, the princess was not so naive as to believe that the Spirit of Chaos would change in an instant, or that there wouldn't be incidents in the future; so she had left the Elements with their Bearers if the situation got out of control. And with all the protective spells she had placed in them for days and days, Discord could not hide them again or put some sort of trap on the artifacts. At least, not without being discovered.

But wether you believe it or not, the draconequus had no interest in that; fun was the most important thing for him right now, and messing with the jewels of incredible power that could ruin his dream did not seem like a good idea at the moment.

While Celestia, the Bearers and Spike went home to sleep (most looking over their shoulders with suspicion, which was understandable), Discord found himself bored. It was one of the things he hated the most.

He was about to snap his claws when he remembered he was now 'reformed'. With how delicate and easily frightened ponies were (and Celestia complained when he tried to get them to toughen up a little and not be such cowards; go figure), even the smallest and gentleest form of entertainment would make them demand that he be returned to work as an lawn ornament again.

"Seriously? You're going to worry about that now?! For the love of Chaos, Discord! If they fear what is different, they're just a bunch of cowards." Kevin exclaimed.

"You won't change things in chaotic and entertaining ways? Because you don't want to disturb these ponies?"

"We can go back to that stone prison again if we don't limit ourselves, Meridian..."

"I don't care, Eris; Why should we do that for them?" He protested, his tails hitting everything in reach in the mental plane.

The draconequus grunted as that idiot kept hitting his thoughts and scattering them. If they got lost he may never find them; a mind was a pretty big place, and he sometimes got distracted and forgot what he was looking for.

"Technically, Discord does it for Fluttershy."

"Potato, potatoe... my point is: YOU ARE THE SPIRIT OF CHAOS! And you let them control you with a bond of friendship?"

Yes, I admit it's not an ideal situation. Look, I'm just tired of not having another company that's not yours. And let's face it, we don't have much affection for each other.

"You're right about that."

"Yes."

"I would kill you all if I could."

"I would devour you all if I had a mouth and you flesh to devour.

"Yes, yes, I get it; we hate each other and all that."

"I don't dislike you, dear; but I do hold contempt for others. How not to, considering the vile monsters they are?"

"Even when you insult you're educated, little siren ..."

Ok, enough. If Discord didn't stop them now, they'd continue for the rest of eternity. The point is that I won't be able to do whatever comes to my head. Or maybe I will; who knows.

"So, what do we do now?"

"... Annoy Celestia?"

Discord snorted. Nah, I've had enough for today of her righteousness and nobility. And everything else. Always so neat and in that role of princess. Besides, I made sure to reverse her taste buds so she'll register sweet things as bitter and viceversa."

They all chuckled at that. It was petty, but they were not above pettiness every once in a while.

"...Annoy Luna, then?"

Luna's Bedroom - Canterlot

The princess of the night was resting comfortably in her soft and elegant bed, her mild snoring the only audible sound in the room.

Faint beams of light filtered through the curtains, but other than that everything was dark. At least until Discord appeared with a bright glow that lit the room for an instant.

Luna moved slightly and mumbled something unintelligible, but soon turned over and kept sleeping peacefully.

With a snap, Discord placed a soundproof bubble around the room and then jumped to the bed, transforming into a rooster in midair.

The animal took as much air as it could before releasing the typical cackle that marks the beginning of a new day ... right in the alicorn's ear.

"KIIIIKIRIKIIIII!"

"AAAHHHH!"

Luna practically bolted to the ceiling in fright, like a cat. Of course, having no claws, she fell back on her bed instantly.

Discord was dying of laughter as he returned to his normal form. To be honest, all eight Spirits of Chaos were.

"HAHAHA! Oh, that was ... that was hilarious! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" the draconequus said between each fit of laughter, rolling from the bed and floating like gravity wasn't something he obeyed.

"DISCORD! What the are you doing in my room?!" Luna shouted as she stood up, looking very upset and angry at the Spirit writhing with laughter beside her bed.

"What, can't I go and visit the majestic princess Luna?" He said as the fit subsided, making a mocking bow while chuckling. Luna huffed; she could not tolerate subjects that were disrespectful to her. Of course, the position of Discord in society was debatable, but she still believed he had to show proper respect to one of the rulers of Equestria.

"Shouldn't you be under the supervision of the Bearers of the Elements?"

"I'm free to come and go as I please. If I want to drop by and bother you, that's what I do!" Discord replied, sticking out his tongue as he summoned a bag of candy and eat them with loud crunches, causing the alicorn to cover her ears.

Luna tried to take the bag, but Discord stepped aside and make the princess hit a wall that wasn't so close a few seconds ago; she fell on a skateboard that raced through the floor and jumped, making her fall in her bed before exploding into a multicolored glow.

"I see that my sister was wrong in thinking that it was possible to reform you..." Luna murmured as she rubbed her sore muzzle. As she had just seen, the Spirit of Chaos was the same as a thousand years ago; maybe a little more tame with his jokes.

Discord finished the candy, bag and all, and floated around her with an innocent smile that didn't hid the mischief in his eyes as he prepared more pranks.

"What are you talking about? Her plan worked."

"...What?" Luna thought he had misheard, or that the draconequus was making a joke.

"Are your ears clogged or what?" With a small wet handkerchief, Discord started to clean Luna's ears as the princess tried to free herself from the draconequus' grip, "Done. As I said, Celestia's plan to manipulate me with friendship worked; I can't turn this place into a fun and entertaining land of chaos without losing Fluttershy."

Luna could not believe what she was hearing. Is he serious?

"Are you saying that ...?"

• Ugh, yes! The Great and Powerful Discord, Spirit of Chaos, Master of Possibilities, the Liberator, Knight of the Octagonal Stool, He Who Brings the Change, Master and Lord of Sweets and so on, and etc... Where was I?

"The reason you 'reformed', dear."

"Oh, right! Well... couldn't beat the power of friendship, because he doesn't like to be alone."

The mixture of disbelief, surprise and skepticism in the face of Luna was such that Discord wasted no time and summoned a digital camera in his hands to take a picture. By the time Luna was blinking due to the blinding flash, the image was already saved for posterity. I'm going to laugh so much with this later ...

Luna kept rubbing her eyes with a hoof, trying to recover her sight while anger kept growing inside; it was a little surprising that she hadn't exploded and sent the draconequus flying to the wall with the force of her voice yet.

"Whatever; the point is that now Equestria won't stop being a boring land of order and I don't make you suffer from trapping me in stone... too much."

"Too much?" Luna tensed, getting out of her bed; she was ready to fight back and call for reinforcements at the slightest signal of an attack from Discord. He just shrugged like it wasn't something important.

"Hey, there's no way I'll just let go all you two made me suffer. I will take revenge..." Discord said ominously with a dangerous smile in his face, getting closer until their muzzles almost touched, feeling each other's hot breaths while their glares fought.

Among her slight fear and worry, Luna's heart quickened at the prospect of a battle. Ever since she was purified from the Nightmare Forces, there had been a desire for battle that had been absent all those centuries ago. Though she still didn't know where it had come from, she could help but enjoy fighting. And currently there wasn't a bigger challenge than the mighty and unpredictable Spirit in front of her.

But the draconequus fell back, dropping his threatening attitude, and the princess tried to squash the sudden dissappointment that flared inside her.

"...only it will have to be something smaller than I would usually do. Lots and lots of pranks for the rest of your and you sister's lives should be enough, don't you think?" Then, he threw an apple pie at her.

The red color in the face of the princess came not only from the pie's filling; she gradually moved closer to the point where her anger would explode.

"The Elements gave you a just punishment for your crimes, draconequus."

"I would not call what I went through as your garden ornament a just punishment, alicorn," Discord scoffed, pronouncing the last word with disdain. He bent down to bring his face close to Luna. "Nor was your exile, Nightmare Moon."

Hear him say that name was shocking to Luna. The princess stepped back, stunned.

"Bu-but how ...?"

"Newspapers. I read every edition of the last months shortly after leaving my statue," he interrupted her. "That's how I knew who the new Bearers were. And you would not believe how many newspapers talk the conflict with your sister. Apparently most were more surprised about the fact Celestia had a sister and you were not just a picture in the moon."

Discord began walking around Luna, a cruel smile on his face; the princess didn't lose sight of him for even a second.

"I must admit I did not expect such a thing; you two were so close ... Whose fault was it?" He asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Who had the fault? Celestia refused to share the glory with you? Was she so absorbed in her duties and the love and adoration of your subjects that she didn't see you suffer in the shadows?" With a wave of his paw, the room around them faded and images of Celestia being praised by several ponies under the sun while Luna was ignored in the darkness appeared.

"Or was it yours? Maybe you wanted more than your share; maybe your subjects didn't love you as much as they loved her and you resented her for than, though it wasn't her fault and maybe, even tried to help." As he conjetured, his words became illusions around them.

Expert as she was in those kind of spells, Luna didn't let herself get carried away by the spectacle around them. Although Discord was right with some of his assumptions, she wasn't distracted.

"What gave birth to Nightmare Moon? Was it the spiteful and envious younger sister with bad temper?"

"Discord..." Luna warned, her tone strained.

"Or the arrogant older sister?" at those words, an almost perfect image of Celestia appeared beside them. "Those who hide behind the masks of perfection hide secrets. Maybe she didn't want you at her side; why share power, after all?"

Luna was greatly offended at that.

"That is not true! Celestia is happy to have me at her side again, and the truth is she's relieved to not have to bear so much responsibility on her own!"

"Well, she could have changed her mind," Discord continued, shrugging. "Ruling puts much weight in the ruler. In addition, she probably realized that sealing you away condemned her to be alone for centuries, in the company of mortals with much shorter lives than hers. What are they, compared with you two? Something passing, which is soon be forgotten and replaced."

"You are wrong, Discord." Luna answered with conviction.

"Am I?" He got closer, their snouts one again almost touching. "I have lived a long time, and I regret to say that those less important to me have fallen into oblivion."

"We're not like you, vile creature."

"Oh, the pain! How can I bear such words?" Discord put a claw on his forehead and dropped dramatically in the air, floating upside down before glaring again at Luna "We are more alike than we would like to admit, at least when it comes to living a long time among those who leave the world too fast in our eyes."

At that Luna had no answer. Part of her felt offended that the draconequus suggested any likeness between them and wanted to refute it with all her strength... but another part prevented it, bitterly admitting that Discord had a point.

Although she would never admit it.

"The ponies believe that you are perfect and incapable of being wrong, but I know you two are not. You're arrogant, spiteful, have a bad temper, not to mention being terrible at bonding with others, unable to fit in with those around you..."

Luna didn't like the way he criticized her, and even less so since it was coming from Discord, whom she still considered an enemy and a threat. All this talk was ending with her short patience.

The draconequus, moreover, had to make an effort to not to show his annoyance; his tenants didn't stop pointing out how Luna wasn't the only one who fit that description.

"And don't get me started on Celestia! So condescending, always projecting an air of perfect leader, quite stupid and blind enough to not see the horrible sister she really is..."

That was the last straw; nobody insulted Celestia in front of Luna.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, DRACONEQUUS! YOU DO NOT KNOW MY SISTER, AND DON'T YOU DARE TO SPEAK OF HER IN THAT WAY IF YOU DON'T WANT MY FURY UNLEASHED UPON YOU!"

The Royal Canterlot Voice is a marvel in terms of power; that such a small being can scream with enough force to compete with the roar of a dragon is nothing less than impressive.

Luna's cry Discord sent flying into the wall, and even pushed the princess back to her bed. The Spirit of Chaos held his poor ears, which almost exploded in pain; one could even see smoke coming out of them.

"What is wrong with you?! For the love of Chaos, Luna, that hurt!"

And, for the second time in two days, Discord froze due to having an epiphany.

"Watch your language then, Spirit of Chaos! I will not tolerate anyone talk of the princesses of Equestria that way."

" …That hurt." Discord was no longer listening to Luna, and not just because his ears only registered a high beep. He was focused on the pain that filled his head.

"And don't think I'll stop there if you don't show us respect."

"It hurt." It was all Discord said, staring off into infinity as a great truth was revealed to him.

There was an unbreakable rule when it came to dreams, something that even he couldn't change:

You can't feel pain in a dream.

If his eardrums had exploded and he had the mother of all headaches ... he had to be awake.

"Took you long enough." Kevin said.

Wait, you knew?!

"Well, of course we did!"

"We noticed it the first time we got out."

FIRST TIME?! Discord had to hold his head; thinking so loud with a migraine was not a good idea.

"That hyper realistic dream you had? Totally real." Zero replied, trying to get rid of the headache.

"We wanted to see how long it'd take you to notice."

"We are free, dear Discord. We can live once again." Eris said cheerfully, twirling excitedly in the mental plane.

"I'm free?" Muttered the draconequus, his voice barely audible.

"Discord?" Luna was confused; the Spirit's anger was gone in an instant, and now he was... quiet and distant. And his eyes filled with tears as a smile of pure happiness blossomed on his lips.

"I'm free..." With a flash, his eardrums had healed, but the pain was still there, slowly declining. Discord looked at the princess, his smile growing more and more.

"Luna, I'm free. I'M FREE!" Taking her hooves, Discord began to turn and to jump around the room, while Luna was increasingly confused... well, more than usual when it was Discord.

"What?!"

"I'm not trapped in that statue! I truly am free!" Discord released her and the princess fell (surprisingly gently) in her bed, while the draconequus bounced everywhere.

He hit his head more than once, but the pain only reaffirmed that beautiful, miraculous, wonderful truth.

"I'm not dreaming; I'm not dreaming!"

"What are you ...? - Luna could not finish the sentence because Discord's wings exploded in flames, growing to become a majestic pair of phoenix wings, burning with the power of a pure and untamed fire. With a beat, the draconequus shot out the window, destroying it in a thousand pieces; but the fragments stopped in the air and fell back, returning to their place and merging, leaving the window as good as new.

Officially, Luna was more confused than she'd ever been in centuries.

While the guards and citizens of Canterlot watched the speedy trail of fire that passed through each color known (and even a couple that did not exist in that universe), Discord pirouetted while he flew through the air, as his magic sprang from every pore, hair and scale in his body.

"I'm free!" The clouds formed arms and cheered while using their newfound voices, high fouring with him as he passed.

"I'm free!" A river rose and roamed the skies, forming an incredible track by which the draconequino slid like it was ice.

"I'm free!" Giving a jump, he fell on a mountain of hot, chocolate covered waffles, which he devoured with a speed and voracity that a certain Tasmanian Devil would envy.

"I'm free!" Dozens of rocks morphed into the most spectacular fireworks in recent history, delighting everyone near as they directed their eyes to the lights and explosions that changed shape and grew until, with the last one, released colorful glow that fell to the earth, covering it with the warmth of a cup of hot chocolate in winter.

"I'm free!" A bird grew to the size of a roc and carried Discord through floating rings of pure magic that changed the color of the sky every time they passed through them.

"I'm free!" Abandoning the bird, Discord dropped into a lake; the water extinguished his fiery wings as a wave deposited him gently on the shore, in the shade of a tree.

"I'm free!" The tree stood in its roots and taking Discord with it's branches, dance wildly with him, scattering leaves and dirt everywhere.

"I'm free!" Leaving his companion- who went bouncing cack into its place-, Discord teleported to the center of Ponyville, where he hit the ground with his goat hoof.

A stream of chocolate milk shot out from the ground a few meters at his right, going up into the sky before falling as rain.

"I'm free! - As he and Pinkie Pie -who as soon as she saw the stream of chocolate milk ran to that place- tasted the delicious drink by opening their mouths and letting it fall into their mouths, Discord appeared a can of whipped cream. He poured some into his mouth before giving it to a cheerful Pinkie and sliding away on a skateboard to the fields on the outskirts of Ponyville.

"I'm free!" Jumping from the skateboard (which exploded to propel him towards the grass), Discord dropped, watching the sky as his magic pulsed with joy.

"I'm free." He muttered happily, as he dropped tears of joy. Finally, he lived again.

I never ... I never thought this day would come.

"I know, dear; but here we are."

For a moment, the eight Spirits enjoyed the scenery before Meridian spoke.

"So now that you know this is real, are we going to drown Equestria in chaos and take revenge on Celestia and Luna?"

Perhaps after celebrating.

"Celebrating?"

Well of course! After so long, I'm alive again. Revenge can wait; It's time to have fun! In a flash, Discord was standing in the air, while millions of ideas roamed his mind. One of them kicked the others out and stood firm in his head.

We must go for Mini D! How had he not thought of that before?

All eight tenants complained instantly.

"Do we have to?"

"You know I don't get along with thm."

"I don't care; my life, my party, my guests. Let's go for Mini D! Discord was about to snap my fingers and go for one of the most important beings of his life when he realized something very important.

… Does anyone know where they are?

"Duh, they're probably at home." Kevin replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

To Discord it wasn't; rather it was concerning because of something. Something he should know.

… I have a home?

Yeah. What, you don't remember?

"Wait a minute; What home are you talking about?" interrupted Nidhogg. Kevin was confused.

"Don't you remember? In the chaos dimension. You gotta check that brain of yours, dragon."

"Ah, that dimension, right." Chryssie said.

"And how did we get there?" the dragon asked.

"Well, by ... using ... doing ..." Kevin's voice was becoming weaker as he realized that he couldn't recall.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Zero Morpheus said.

"Oh, no."

"What is it, Silver?" Eris asked, dreading the answer.

"Everyone, check your memories." He replied, with traces of horror in his voice.

The others obeyed him ... and were astonished, if not aghast.

They had lived a long time, and accumulated an incredible amount of memories. They had led... peculiar lives, to put it in some way. None had been a saint, so there were plenty of things that would freeze the blood of the most uncaring and immoral bastard in the universe; Discord himself didn't check their memories more than he had to. Nidhogg's were why he was in an occasional vegetarian phase, among other things.

But now ... most of it was empty, lost in that nothingness that had trapped him away from reality in almost every way when they were captive. From what they could see, most were damaged, blurred or simply absent.

"I knew we had forgotten some things, but I... I didn't expect it to be this much." Zero mumbled, talking more to himself than to the others.

The draconequus fell to the ground, and somehow managed to sit. His gaze was again lost beyond this world; but this time it was not in joy.

So many lost things... he felt the emptiness, but didn't know what should be filling it.

A deathly silence reigned in Discord's head until, at last, Kevin spoke:

"I don't know about you, Discord, but I'm gonna kill those two."

Author's Note

And with this, the story is done.

There will be a sequel, but it may take a while. I did say this was going to be a series, didn't I?

So, what do you think of my handling of the characters? That's probably the greatest challenge for me when writing these fanfics; not going too OOC.