Discord's Gifts

Year 0

Pain. That was the first thing the being knew. And not just some normal stiffness or ache, but a tearing, ripping, searing pain. It was a warning, something telling the being that what it was was wrong, that it shouldn’t be becoming anything. And yet, it had conscious, and was indeed being made.

It flexed one of its appendages, trying to grab at something that would let it get away from the pain, before a lance of multicolored light stabbed through its hand. It tried to scream, but that part of it hadn’t formed yet, still left in smoke that was the roiling mass it came from. Looking to the mass for help, he instead saw a crooked smile.

“Ah, good, I’d hoped you’d arrive now.”

The being cocks what it hopes is its head, before a fun little thought comes to mind, and it instead shakes its foot in response. The smile laughs at the action, before some of the pain recedes. That causes the smile to scowl though, and the pain doubles, somehow. “Now, now, even if you’re being cute, you must leave me. Otherwise, we shall not have the fun we both desire.”

The being lets out a small squeak as it begins to cope with the pain, despite any normal sort of creature normally having gone into cardiac arrest from the pain by now. The squeak was confirmation of his ability to speak though, and the being looked at the smile, before croaking out, “Why?”

“Why the pain? Trust me when I say I wish it wasn’t a part of this. Then again, some discomfort should be expected when one rips a part of their very soul from themselves.”

The being blinked for a few moments, before he looked to the wispy claw that was forming on one of its appendages. The voice and mouth did beckon to him, calling him to join them, even as he was still pushed away. It was all too possible…

“Instead of trying to prove this of course, why don’t I just incentivise you? You’ll have plenty of my powers, as I barely even use a fraction when trying to take over this country, and it has magic. So, why don’t you take those powers, and make this world more… fun? More chaotic?”

An image of a mirror appeared in the young creature’s mind, before a school also appeared. Its own mind then warped the image to be made of gingerbread, and the weird beings in front of it skating on cream filling. It smiled, while the floating mouth laughed. “That’s my incarnation!”

The creature looked to its progenitor, narrowing its eyes, before smiling. Its mind was beginning to form properly, and it could piece together what the being was that it stared back at, and thus, what he was. “May I go?”

The mouth turned into a hand, and the new draconequus slipped out of the ethereal mass that was its primordial being. It had no place there anyways, having been ripped apart from it. All so he could spread the lovely art of chaos.

And he left just in time, escaping through a final crack in the stone that encased, well, him, and the new Discord smiled. He then winced, looking to his hand. While the rest of the essence was brown and black, his hand, the one that had reached out, flared with a dash of yellow for some reason, and he felt bad for his ‘father’s’ tomb, wishing he could help him out.

Discord couldn’t sit around though, and clenched his hand into a fist, quelling the odd light, before he seeped into the ground, and began to move. He wished he could be a milk spewing dragon, or a mare hot enough to make every stallion in Equestria pass out, but he didn’t have much time. He was weak here, not being whole, nor having the level of magic that his former self did.

He was new and could feel the immense presence of Harmony pushing down on him, and that was before it truly noticed him. When it did that, he bet he would have about three seconds due to his own magical power, but even that was iffy.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to test this as he slipped into Canterlot Castle, gliding over the tiles, unnoticed by any of the guards. Now he moved by instinct, letting the image of that mirror guide him. He was tempted to go elsewhere, to maybe try to take one last jab at Celestia, but another flare from his paw, purple this time, stopped him. He scowled at it for a moment, before deciding that he would spare the princess the hassle this time, since he was such a nice guy.

He then shot straight down. His magic had finally actually located the damned thing, and it was deep. Past the hidden caves, and even past the dungeons. Instead, it was in a cave all by itself. Looking around, Discord couldn’t help but feel giddy. There were no doors, no ways in or out, but just a large room to hide the one mirror.

And yet, he still found it.

Discord sneaked closer to it, not bothering with a physical form yet, and examined the magics on it. The artifact had to be almost as old as him, as it radiated with enchantments he hadn’t ever seen before, nor thought could be created by ponies.

But it was still here, and it would lead him to where he wanted. He moved forward, gliding towards the reflective, clear glass, and braced himself for the teleportation.

Just as he found out that he should have braced for impact, his paw glowed blue this time. His eyes turned back towards Ponyville, his resolve growing now. These were his orders, and to fail so quickly would betray his creator, and ruin his fun. Both of which he could not stand for.

Discord held out his wispy claw to the mirror, a violent, green light coming out of it and flooding into the mirror. The moment he unleashed his magic though, he felt harmony react, finding him in an instant. This only doubled his efforts as he saw the hole in the middle of the mirror begin to grow.

Three.

The searing pain began to come back at the magical exertion. He knew he currently channeled more magic than even his progenitor normally did, and the stress of his prompt obliteration didn’t help with the stress he was under.

Two.

Discord hit his knees, his vision beginning to blur as he tried to keep his focus up. He knew it wasn’t going fast enough though. He didn’t know enough about the seals on the mirror, and his normal way of forcing it to change just wasn’t working.

One.

Discord shut his eyes, begging the mirror to open, but also bracing for whatever force was coming for him.

And then, he found himself pushed, stumbling through the mirror, and being sent far away. Meanwhile, in the room, a shimmering being of rainbow light smiled, satisfied that it had helped the being on its quest for harmony, and heading back towards its home.

Not that Discord would know about this, nor thank it for the help, even as he crashed onto the lawn before Canterlot High. His body was in pain, the transformation between worlds being rough on his still malformed being. He raised a hand, a pink light faintly in his sight as he looked to the deathly pale appendage.

Looking down over the rest of himself, in light brown khakis, white, button up shirt, and black vest, he couldn’t help but chuckle. If anypony from Equestria saw him like this, they would probably think he looked absurd. Though, there was a part of him that liked the look. It seemed… fitting.

He slowly got up, his vision turning black for a moment as his insides continued to form back into whatever this new race called organs. His legs were surprisingly firm, but he blamed that on never having really walked in the first place. That, or maybe he was just gifted, something promptly refuted as he swung his fist, and promptly threw himself to the ground with that.

Once he was more stable, he began to walk towards the school before him, and assessed the situation. He could indeed still feel his powers entirely intact within himself, rolling around like a storm, begging to be released on this world. He did agree with it, as he could also taste the lack of magic in the air, but something held him back, told him to look around.

How he put it was that he wanted to know what was normal here, so he could better break that mold, instead of some part of him that was calming the storm within him. That was just insane.

He gently pushed against the front door, the whole prospect of walking in general, let alone on toothpicks, still being something he was only just coming to grips with. Admittedly, he wasn’t disappointed for his efforts, as the foyer looked pretty nice. Good, tall staircases, large trophy display… yeah, he could like it here as his capital.

Better yet, there was something about the building itself. It radiated off an energy akin to that of a layline, and Discord briefly wondered if he would find this being a nexus of some sort. He promptly pushed the idea to the side, realizing that he wouldn’t have come here if it didn’t attract magic and power. Otherwise, it would probably be kind of dull.

What also wasn’t dull was the first actual noise he heard in the new world, with new ears. Sure, Discord had heard things like the wind, or the small scraping of the improperly set door into the foyer, but this was anything else. It was a harsh ringing that pounded in his skull, and made him question if any of this was worth it if all he would keep getting is pain.

The immediate answer from the universe appeared to be no, as he saw doors in every corridor around him fly open, and students begin to come out. Their voices were loud, and blared with the chatter of teenagers. While yes, chaotic, the rush of bodies that also came at him was not very appreciated, and he couldn’t bring his magic to bear fast enough to stop the oncoming stampede.

At first, he was just tossed around, his shoulder and body getting bumped out of the way f students heading for their next destination. At least, until one person lined up perfectly to crash headlong into him. He felt something soft against his chest for a moment, before the pain of the collision came to the forefront, and he fell back, crashing down upon the tile.

His arms came up reflexively to protect himself, but while the students hadn’t cared about a standing target, they were at least aware enough not to run him over. Still, he didn’t dare move until the clatter of boots was gone.

And then he was greeted by a harsh, demeaning voice yelling, “Watch where you’re going, idiot!”

Discord looked to the owner of the voice and saw a yellow girl picking herself up. She wore a leather jacket, a short, purple skirt, and nice, long boots to go with her legs. Of course, her large bosom was the most eye catching part of her, with them even having a nice jiggle as she straightened out.

Or, they should have been.

Discord winced again as he looked at the twin colored sun that was on her shirt. For most, it was just fabric, but to him, it flared like the sun it was, branding her as the Equestrian she was. That didn’t make sense though, as the mirror had been locked away, and why would an Equestrian even be here?

The girl turned to him, before rolling her eyes. “What are you, new?”

Discord bit his lip, trying to think of a good lie, before one of his eyes flashed orange, and the other purple. It even came with a voice whispering to him, “This could be your chance to be her friend.”

He scowled internally at the whisper, even though the action made his chest hurt. Sure, friends were nice, and could comfort you when you’re in pain, but he is the mighty spirit of chaos. He didn’t need friends…

Discord shook his head briefly, before looking at the girl, and nodding. “Yeah, I’m new, and I could probably use some help figuring out where I should go.”

She rolled her eyes, before muttering under her breath about not having time for this. Those hard eyes then turned to him, before she pointed down the hallway. “Well, right now it’s lunchtime, and you can find someone to guide you there. As for me, if you run into me like that again, you’ll regret it. I run this school, and anyone who questions it gets crushed.”

Discord frowned at that, waiting for her to leave first though, as he didn’t want to be caught up in her rage. Not that he really wanted to care. She was just some bratty Equestrian, so while interesting as she didn’t belong here, and shouldn’t be so mad, and probably needed someone to hold her and let her get that anger out of her… “What the hell am I thinking?”

With another scowl, Discord began walking down the corridor he had been led towards. He probably shouldn’t, not at this point, as all the stupid school had done for him so far was make his life miserable. More pain, confusing thoughts, and all for the idea of stirring up better chaos? He was the spirit of chaos! No one did chaos better than him!

Opening the door to the cafeteria, he heard a voice ask, “Are you sure?” He didn’t know where it came from, as no one talked to him. He was simply standing in the doorway, looking upon a throng of people yelling, screaming, running about and being… chaotic.

He shook his head, the purple in his irises growing stronger as he thought more and more. He’d seen some comforting those they were with, probably after the injured idiot had done something stupid. After all he’d been through though, he’d be happy to be that idiot. To just have someone to hug him, and tell him he was okay. That the pain would stop.

“You won’t get that with your current plan though.”

Discord grabbed the sides of his head, snarling as he backed his way out of the cafeteria. He was doing what he always did. He would cause chaos, change this world into a giant theater for him, and then…. And then…

“Please Discord, you’ve done this long enough. You aren’t even that which you call yourself, but a part of him that he is forcing to do this. Do you really want to be like him? Alone, using his powers for momentary pleasure, but never having another to share it with? You don’t have to be like that, and I can help.”

Discord continued to breath hard, his forehead against a locker. He didn’t say anything, not that that stopped the voice in his head. It showed him the forms of the element bearers from this world in his mind. Talked to him about how they were separated, in pain and should be with one another. How a good shove from an outside force could make them like the person that did so, and that they were the best friends one could ask for.

All he had to do was listen to the scrap of harmony in him. The admission to what the voice was made him smile, even as tears stung the edges of his eyes. He wasn’t supposed to listen to Harmony. He was the spirit of chaos. He was...

He wasn’t. Discord was. He was a scrap of chaos, far away from his home, alone and afraid, and he wanted more than that. He wanted friends.

The voice in his head showed him a set of scenes, all caused by one person in the school, the one person he’d met. And, thinking about all the ways he could fix those scenes, and be there for those girls… It made him smile, before he snapped his fingers, and disappeared.