Chaos Never Takes a Breakby FlashFowardChaptersNo Cage Can Contain MeWho's Laughing Now?Razor SharpGreen Induced NightmareCrumbleNo Cage Can Contain MeThey say being in captivity does either two things to you. Completely drains you of your sanity or you leave with a deeper understanding of things around you. Be the comeback kid or be the year’s biggest bust. Sadly, captivity only offers the ability to engage in conversation in one’s own mind. That’s probably a big reason why so many beings loose there cool after such a long time of being alone. A lack of communication with others does tend to chew away at your sanity and state of mind before long. But, if you do keep your wits and are cunning enough, maybe just maybe, you’ll become a true force of nature. However, the forces of nature and even gods themselves meet their downfall. This made Discord no different. Being captive the first time for a few thousand years didn’t affect him much. If anything, it only gave him more time to think of a plan or better pranks. And with so much time, those plans do tend to be polished up to a reasonable extent. But, luck was not on his side the first time he escaped his stone prison. No sooner had he finally overthrown the Elements of Harmony did they trump him. If defeat tastes sour to some, to Discord, it tasted like pure venom. And he constantly had to taste this as long as he stayed in his stone statue prison. Discord laughed, at first, at the thought that being back in stone was a true punishment. However, when hours turned into days and days into weeks and weeks into months did the petty punishment look more…threatening. Last thing Discord could afford to lose was his sanity or cleverness rather, so he stuck to an old routine that he had done for many years. Think. However, the more Discord thought, the more disgruntled he became. Twilight’s confident face and the princess’s smiles of triumph stuck out to him like a sore thumb, and he hated them even more because of this. There was a point were Discord last track of the days, seeing that the sun and moon reminded him all too much of the Alicorns he hated so much. Discord felt like he was going to go mad, you can only live on hate for so long after a while it burns out into ashes. Snow was starting to fall and Discord could only assume winter had finally come around. The one thing about being a statue is that you can’t feel snow or freezing winds. Still, Discord would rather prefer mobility and be cold then stand around being unaffected by the elements around him. Planning was the only thing he could do and he grew tired of it. Discord decided to slip into slumber for a while, much better then planning and scheming for days on end when you had thousands of years to prepare. Dreams were the only place left for Discord to let his powers roam free. Not even The Elements of Harmonies magic could touch his dreams, but it made a point to stop his physical form. Discord was in his usual dwelling, walking around in a town that looked eerily like Ponyville. However, the houses were many different colors, polka dot at times, and were turned over to stand on its roof. The cries of disgruntled ponies were music to Discords ears. The music that was only available to him in his slumber though. Did he miss wreaking havoc and mayhem into the lives of REAL ponies? Of course, that was his life’s joy! A being without their craft…he wasn’t even a being anymore. He was just an accursed rock statue standing in the gardens now. The giggles of young foals rang in his ears as they passed by to see his statue. There fool hardy laughs irritated him to no end. They laughed at his sour defeat and Discord could only rage in silence. Violence in silence and Discord wanted nothing more to break that code. They asked stupid questions like “Why does he look scared?” or “Why does he look so ugly?” were always asked by the brain dead foals. More than once, did Discord want nothing more than to say “I’ll sure you something to be scared about!” then turning them into a pile of jelly or mud, for the ones who asked why he was ugly. Ugly, was he? Handsome was more like it. It took guts to personally like how he looked on a daily basis. And he wasn’t going to let children question himself. Not now, not ever. It was mid-winter by now and Discord’s dreams became more livid with every passing day. Every smell and scream was becoming more surreal to the point like Discord felt like he was amongst the flesh. But every time he woke up, he would realize he was still imprisoned in his statue and the laughing of foal’s were still there. There was another thing irking Discord lately. Every time he dreamt, he would have been walking to a door. Thing was, the door seemed to be hanging in the middle of space. There were no walls and no floor. It was just floating freely about, but was firmly in place. Discord didn’t bother opening the door though. For some reason, it…intimidated him. The door continually haunted Discords dreams on a daily basis now. Even when he was awake, Discord had a feeling the door was around but he just couldn’t see it. Finally, Discord felt like he would go insane if he didn’t open the door. “That’s it! The door will no longer haunt me!” Discord thought to himself. Reentering the familiar dream world, Discord looked around for the door. The closer he got to the door, the more he walked away from his very own dream. He was barely an arm length away; this marked the closest he had ever dared to approach the door. Discord looked around and noticed how pitch black everything was around him. They only things that had color were him and the door, which was cherry oak. The doorknob, something he never noticed before, was in the shape of a familiar looking figure. Was it a snail? Odd, usually doorknobs were in the shape of circles or something along those lines. Suddenly, a load sneeze was heard. Discord looked around and saw no available source of the noise. This only meant that the sneeze came from outside his dream state. That sneeze…sounded familiar. Was it that thick headed foal…ugh, what’s his name? No matter, it was time to press on to more important problems. Slowly, almost hesitatingly, did Discord start to turn the door knob. For such a stupid little door knob, it sure wasn't turning easily. Maybe it was just his nerves? Discord finally turned the door knob to its full extent and he slowly pushed the door open. If this was a deeper part into his mind, Discord wouldn’t mind turning back right now. Snails and slime were all about. It was revolting and Discord felt himself going sick at the sight of the things. Letting out a gag, confetti shout out his mouth as he did so, Discord tried to digest what in the world was this place? Was this snail heaven or something? No sooner did Discord wonder this question, did a little foal come into his view. His fur was a dark yellow color and he had light green hair. He might have been a unicorn, but he didn’t look at that swift to be honest. Looking at his cutie mark, Discord finally remembered who this foal was. Snails, by what the purple school teacher mare said anyway. Discord recalled him being sick the last time he saw him, which explained the sneezing. Snails sneezed all over his statue and Discord needed to wait for days for a sanitation worker, who probably avoided the mess, to finally clean his statue. A nasty and devious prank started to form in Discords head. But first, a proper disguise was needed. Turning into a snail, Discord…slugged his way over to Snails. It was tedious to move such a short distance for a long time, so Discord bended his disguise a bit to make the trip faster. The floor was coated with soap and Discord, the snail, was sliding toward Snails. Once Snails picked him up though, the prank was soon to begin. All the slime in the room quickly swarmed together and formed a large replica of Discord. “I see you’re afraid of my friend.” Discord, the snail, asked with relish. “What are you going to do to me?” Snails whimpered. “What am I going to do to you? Well, you had your accursed boogers all over me I figure to repay the gesture tenfold.” Discord replied with his trade mark devious smile. “You’re Discord?!” Snails asked in a cowering voice. He dropped Discord to the ground once he realized who he was. “I am the one and only. Now if you don’t mind, revenge is waiting.” Discord finished with a laugh. The slime version of Discord flew into Snails, covering him in all its disgusting sticky glory. Snails had been buried underneath by what look like three feet of slime! Discord laughed loudly at the foals sputtering. It was just too much! The very slime started to leak from his mouth and ears like a waterfall! “Arrivederci, you slime guzzling freak!” Discord chuckled with a smile. And with that, Discord returned back to the door and walked back to his own world. There was another thought running through his mind now. If he could enter Snails dreams, did this mean he could dwell on to others? There was much fun to be had… ~~~~~~~~ “SAVE ME!” Snails screamed at the top of his lungs. Snail’s concerned mother entered his room. “Are you alright?” She asked, looking at Snails with the equal horror he showed her. “It was…just a dream.” Snails mumbled after a moment. Relief coursed through his veins. Why did it feel so real though? Snail’s mom returned to her room as Snails finally calmed down. He might have calmed down but sleep tonight was going to be possible for him. Every time he closed his eyes he saw slime oozing around him which immediately awoke him. Who's Laughing Now?“Snails please pay attention in class!” Cheerilee snapped impatiently at the drowsing foal. Snails jerked his head up and looked directly at his teacher with his drooping eyes. His eyelids have grown dark and developed bags lately. A sleep deprived week was finally taking its toll on Snails and Cheerilee was lenient at first but with the lack of improvement, it was time to act. Once class was dismissed, Cheerilee pulled Snails from the class and started to chat with him. “Snails, is everything okay at home?” Cheerilee asked with genuine care. “Everything is perfect. Why you ask?” Snails replied, his head bobbing slightly. “You have been falling asleep in the middle of class all week Snails.” Cheerilee replied. “Oh, um, I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately.” Snails confessed sadly. “I noticed.” Cheerilee took note of the bags under Snails eyes. “You have been having nightmares?” Snails eyes opened in terror and he quickly averted his teachers gaze. It was true his nightmares have been becoming troublesome lately. Being buried under slime, courtesy of Discord, had become a ritual for a week now. Snails figured if he didn’t sleep, Discord could no longer haunt his dreams. This was a double edge sword though. Yes he had no more nightmares with Discord burying him under slime but, in exchange, Snails was slowly losing his wits and concentration. Every time he closed his eyes, he wouldn’t see darkness. No, it was Discord showering him in slime again. His fellow classmates said he was just paranoid, but he wasn’t by a long shot. “No, neighbors have been making a racket lately that’s all.” Snails lied. Cheerilee sighed and let Snails go home. Snails felt a familiar dread come over him as nighttime rolled around. Another sleepless night was waiting for him. To pass the time, Snails started to flick through pages of a Daring Do book. Slowly though, Snails noticed slime started to leak from the very walls in his room. No, he couldn’t have fallen asleep…or had he? Snails got up and ran to his closet mirror. Odd, his reflection was distorted rather than being pristine. Leaning in closer to the glass, Snails wondered vaguely if he really was dreaming. Suddenly, a lion paw broke through Snail’s reflection and grabbed the real Snails by the neck. Snails let out a yell before the lion paw dragged him into the glass. While doing so, Snails heard a familiar maniacal laugh and Snails knew who was doing this to him. Desperately, Snails tried to resist being tugged but it was in vain. The harder he resisted against the grip, the firmer it would become. Snails felt like he was going to lose conscious before Discord would drag him over. “Always the hard way with you pony’s, nothing can be done easy. Fine, let’s play rough.” Discord whispered evilly. Suddenly, Snails face rammed repeatedly against the glass. Once, twice, thrice Discord rammed his head against the glass. Every time his head hit against the glass a weird squeak sound would be produced, almost like a crushed chew toy. Discord could be heard laughing and Snails wanted nothing else then for this to end. The lion paw finally let its grip slack a bit, allowing Snails to catch his breath. “Not done yet.” Discord teased. The lion paw squeezed harshly on Snails neck again. His head inflated and his eyeballs popped out. After Discord repeated the action several times, he threw Snails across his room. For some reason, Snails couldn’t stand upright. His legs had gone rigid and his head still felt like it was swelling horribly. Discord was looking down at Snails in pity. “You know, the statues in the garden at least look decent.” Discord eyed Snails with a frown. With a snap of his fingers, Discord summoned a small mirror for Snails to see himself. “NO!” Snails wailed, but his cry fell on death ears. His body turned to stone. Discord grabbed a tissue from nowhere and sneezed on it. Boogers coated Snails, the statue, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. “I think that should do the trick.” Discord said, placing his finger on the temple of Snails. “Bye now.” Discord tipped Snails, the statue, over. With a loud crack, Snails stone body broke into many little pieces as it hit the ground. Rubble coated the ground where Snails had previously stood. “GAH!” Snails yelled out. He ran to his closet mirror and noticed that he wasn’t a statue or a pile of rubble. There was no Discord and there was no oozing slime on the walls. Snails tried to fall asleep but he was terrified to do so. He wasn’t sure if Discord would be waiting for him once he finally dozed off. ________________ Discord opened the familiar door that allowed him to venture to others dreams. Tonight was quiet fun, for him at least. The poor look on that foal was just priceless! But, Discord felt like he needed a break from his worn out victim. He needed somepony new. The question was, who? The princesses would be for later. Not that he feared them, it was more along the lines he wanted to have a better grip of manipulating others dream before tackling them. Twilight was much too smart she might zap him if she saw him roaming in her dreams. Perhaps, one of the other school foals? They were very feeble and generally not smart enough to outwit him. This made them the perfect target for his devious plans. Which one though? Discord recalled a rather prissy and annoying filly when he was a statue the first time around. Her cutie mark was a tiara, but he couldn’t recall her name. Discord palmed the doorknob and released his hold on it. Excellent, the door assumed the form of the tiara! Pushing the door open, Discord was mildly surprised to see what was behind it. Columns of fancy marble were standing high to the heavens and room glistened like a diamond. There was a throne sitting at the other side of the room and there sat the foal. She looked like she was yelling orders at a few unfortunate stallions, must have been her servants. Ugh, she was so egotistical and just OOZING arrogance! For once, Discord figured he wouldn’t be the only one would actually enjoy trying make her life miserable. As usual, Discord assumed a disguise, this time a pony that had a crystal ball for a cutie mark. He made his way to the foal, who took notice of his presence at last. “Excellent, an oracle shall tell me about my fascinating future! Tell me, will my future bring more riches me way?” the egotistical foal demanded. “Pardon, your highness, what is your name?” Discord asked, stressing highness with some slight distaste. “You are not aware of your highnesses name? I’ll let that slide for now. I am Princess Diamond Tiara!” the small school filly gloated. “Okay, Princess Diamond Tiara, give me a moment.” Discord started to wave his hooves over the crystal ball that he made appear from thin air. Tiara looked into the ball and wore a frown on her face. “I see fog.” Tiara deadpanned. “Look deeper my dear.” Discord replied a little demandingly. She looked deeper and noticed she saw herself within the fog. However, her cutie mark was gone and so was her tiara. This couldn't be right, she was royalty! “I think you messed up.” Tiara said with a stern gaze. “The ball never lies.” Discord replied simply. Tiara felt slightly nervous now. She gestured Discord to leave, but he remained stock still. “Are you scared?” Discord asked with an evil smile. “No.” Tiara lied. “Let’s see about that…” Discord clapped his hooves together and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. “Hey, what do you mean by that!” Tiara demanded. Discord replied with his usual evil chuckle. Diamond Tiara trotted back to her throne and sat down. She didn’t like the sounds of this. Suddenly, her thrown wilted and crumbled apart underneath her. She fell down and hit the cold floor with a loud thud. Discord reappeared in front of Tiara in his true form now. “Discord!” She screamed. “Where,” Discord looked around before he looked down at his legs “oh yeah that’s me.” “How did you get here?” Tiara yelled shrilly. “Magic.” Discord joked. “I must say, for ponies that thrive on friendship and kindness,” Discord began to slither around Tiara “you sure are mean and egotistical.” “Please, it’s not my fault I am just better.” Tiara spat back. “In your mind, sure, you are better than the others. But, that cutie mark just oozes arrogance.” Discord pointed at her flank. To Diamond Tiara’s horror, Discord whipped off her cutie mark and made her a blank flank. “Give me my cutie mark back!” Tiara demanded angrily. “No, I think you need to learn a lesson.” Discord said, his lip going to his devious smile. With another casual flick of his fingers, Discord summoned Tiara’s classmates. Scootaloo was the first to start laughing at Tiara’s dismay and soon the rest of the class followed suit. “Stop laughing at me!” Tiara screamed. Discord slapped a clown hat on her head and the class broke out into renewed fits of laughter. Tiara broke into tears and Discord had the school foal’s disappear, Scootaloo gave one last hearty ha before she vanished. “Make it stop.” Tiara whimpered. “If you continue to do this to the others around you, this will never end.” Discord hissed into her ear. Discord clicked his fingers together again and summoned Diamond’s Tiara back. “I wonder,” Discord placed the tiara back on the scared foal’s head. “What came first? Your cutie mark or you just named yourself after it.” Tiara didn’t reply and Discord shrugged. He knew she had no intention to utter a word to him about that. “I guess, it’s time to go.” Discord clicked his fingers for the last time before disappearing. Diamond Tiara flinched as Discord clicked his fingers. She rubbed her hoof over her tiara to make sure it was still and she felt something odd as she did so. The thing on her head started to coil around her hoof, and to her horror, it was a snake. Shaking her entire body to try to get the snake off her, this was in vain since it only aggravated the snake even more. ___________ “GET OFF OF ME!” Diamond Tiara yelled out. Opening her eyes, she was happy to see that she was back in her own room. There were no signs of snakes or Discord. The tiara cutie mark was still on her flank and her tiara was sitting on her night stand. Try as she must, sleep was just impossible. Every time she finally managed to go into slumber, Discord would be there, waiting, and would proceed to make her a blank flank and replace her tiara with snakes again. Razor SharpDiscord was at it again. The now familiar door in his dreams was becoming his go to whenever he got bored, which was very often. It seemed the door had one flaw though. It relies on a pony’s cutie mark to work. If they don’t have one, they’re safe from him. So, harming the school foals was only going to work for so long and Discord was semi content with that. Angry that those three fillies, which got in a fight near his statue a while back, are untouchable…for now anyway. The satisfaction was that Discord finally felt he had a firm grasp of his dream controlling powers now. Was it enough to go after the likes of the princesses or Twilight? No, they had to be under incredible stress for them to succumb to his torment. Who would be his next victim today? Eh, Snails was starting to think Discord was after him even when he was awake. Diamond Tiara surprisingly took Discord’s threat seriously. She had become a great deal nicer to her classmates. Wait, didn’t Snails usually travel with a pudgy colt? He was incredibly dimwitted, which might explain why he hung out with Snails. No better pairing then dumb and dumber. Now that Discord thought about it, the pudgy colt was in Snails dreams a few times. Snips was his name, or what Snails kept screaming to the colt whenever Discord submerged Snails in slime. Scissors was his cutie mark. How odd, was Snips going to work in the fashion business like Rarity? Palming the knob of the door, Discord focused on an image of a scissor in his mind eye. The very knob felt like it was melting and bubbling in his very grasp. Releasing his hold, Discord was content to see that the knob had resembled the shape of scissors. Discord turned the knob and opened the door with a flourish. There was nothing. Discord raised his eyebrow in confusion and quickly closed the door again. Again, Discord pried the door open and saw the surrounding darkness in front of him. Sudden realization hit Discord, it was still morning. This didn’t matter though this just gave Discord more time to think of a scheme for Snips to endure. ________ It was a pleasant morning, the sun was out and the birds chirped merrily. There was no school today and the young foals were enjoying their break. The only exception was Snails, who was home. Cheerilee had finally told Snail’s parents of his lack of attention in class. They couldn’t do much though, Snail’s problems rooted all the way to being terribly sleep deprived. He saw Discord everywhere now, from school to his very own home. “Snail’s, what’s keeping you up?” Snail’s mom asked her son, a note of concern in her voice. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.” Snails replied with a heaving sigh. “Try me.” His mother said. “Fine, Discord has been everywhere I look. He is keeping me up.” Snails admitted. His mother blinked rapidly a few times, trying to digest what her son has said. “But dear, Discord is a statue now.” “See?! I knew you wouldn’t understand!” Snails wailed out. Snails ran from his home and headed to his best friend’s, Snips, home. Snipe would hopefully understand what he was going through. Snails galloped past Sugercube Corner and stopped. Snips was happily munching away at a cookie. “Hey Snips!” Snails called out to his friend. “Where you been Snails?” Snips asked once he got closer to his distressed friend. “Home, but that’s not important now. I have been having a hard time sleep and Discords the one keeping me up.” Snails explained to his friend nervously. Snip’s eyes went out of focus and Snails had to clap his hooves over his friends face to get his attention. “Huh?” Snips called out stupidly. “Ugh, did you even hear me!” Snails asked angrily. “No.” Snips shrugged. “Forget it.” Snails headed back home. “Discord is in stone. Why is he so worried over that?” Snips muttered to himself after he tried to remember what his friend said. It was nearing nighttime when Snips returned home from the Sugercube Corner. Snips found it incredibly easy to fall asleep, despite all the sugary goods in him. One thing irked one while he tried to fall asleep. There were two kids in his school now that had a Discord involved dream. True, Tiara just had one dream about Discord. Hopefully, Snails would stop having dreams of Discord. _______ “Why didn’t you pay attention to me?” Snails wailed. “I don’t know! Please, I am sorry Snails.” Snips replied in-between sobs. Discord was happily using Snails as a puppet. Amazingly, Snips never noticed the strings that allowed Discord to manipulate his poor friend. Once Snips started to cry, Discord knew he had to up the ante. Immediately, Snails limbs flopped to the ground and his body became a tangled mess. Snips yelled in horror at the sight of his friend. That face, it was precious! Discord was chuckling madly at the dismay of his victim. “Snails, I’ll fix you don’t worry.” Snips fumbled with his friend’s body, desperately trying to get him upright. Sadly, Snails body turned to dust at the touch of Snips hoofs. It was kind of pathetic; Snips stared at the pile of dust with a mixture of fear and deep sadness. A feeling of pity entered the Spirits heart, but he quickly got over it and continued his mind games. “My, my, look what happen here.” Discord’s voice echoed around Snips. “Who’s there?” Snips demanded, yelling into the empty atmosphere around. “I’ve been asked that the third time this week. Honestly, I should just start announcing my name where ever I go.” Discord replied dully. “My name is Discord.” “Leave me alone Discord! You have been attacking my friends!” Snips yelled in anger. “I take that as a compliment. No, leaving you alone is not in my plans. In fact, if you thought your friend turning to ash was scary. Wait until you see this.” Discord let one last evil laugh slip. “Show yourself!” Snips hollered. A mirror appeared in front of Snips instantly. It was nothing fancy but Snips was able to see his reflection. Slowly, his reflection morphed into the face of Discord. With an evil grin, Discord snapped his fingers. The floor beneath Snips opened and scissors waited at the bottom of the pit. “Help me!” Snips screamed in horror. A dark cloud appeared with a clap of lightning. Discord was standing over Snips, looking remotely interested at the predicament that the colt was in. “Help you?” Discord scoffed, stepping at the hoofs of Snips. “I don’t think so.” Discord kicked one of Snips hoofs away, only leaving him hanging with one arm now. “Don’t play with scissors boy. You might just end up with a nasty cut. In this case, you’ll get a couple dozen cuts though.” Discord kicked Snips remaining hoof and Snips descended to the pit of the hole “NO!” Snips screamed as he was growing nearer to the pit fill with sharp scissors. Snips could see his terrified reflection in the blades of the scissors. _____ An alarm clock rang out in Snips room. The obnoxious ringing of the alarm clock brought back Snips from his deep slumber. Snips ran his hoof over his face quickly, checking if there were any cuts present. Not a single cut. “I guess it was all a dream.” Snips muttered in relief. Not really. Snips eyes nearly popped out of his head from freight. Green Induced Nightmare“Applejack, have you ever had nightmares?” Applebloom asked. “Who doesn’t?” Applejack replied. “Eeyup.” Big Mac answered in his usual drawl. The Apples were enjoying a pleasant dinner when Applebloom brought up the subject. Granny Smith was sleeping soundly at her rocking chair. “Why you ask anyway?” Applejack questioned. “Some of the ponies at school have been having nightmares…about Discord.” Applebloom answered sheepishly. “Discord you say? Don’t worry about him; he is in stone right now. That won’t change for a long time.” Applejack quickly replied. “I guess you’re right. Whelp see yawl tomorrow then.” Applebloom waved her family a good night as she went upstairs to her bed. “Should I be worried?” Applejack asked her brother nervously. “Nope.” Big Mac shrugged. “I guess you’re right.” Applejack replied with a sigh. She hoped her brother was right on this one. ______ Discord was in his usual domain, the dream world. Now that the young foals no longer had to be in their sleep to be paranoid about him, it was time to move onto bigger projects. No, the princesses were still too much to handle. If anything, now was time to pay a visit to the holders of the Elements of Harmony. But, which one would be his first victim? Fluttershy took a freakish amount of effort to crack, so she would have to wait. Twilight can only fail when all hope around her seems to be gone. It would take all of Twilight’s friends to be disgruntled to the point of no return for her to truly submit without a big fight. Now, who would be the easiest mare to crack in the group? Fair Rarity came to mind. True she was generous. But her hunger for lavish things overshadowed her generosity and she seemed very uptight about criticism when ponies made a comment about her cloths. Discord wandered through his dream world, which now included a swimming pool filled with chocolate milk. Finally, the dark atmosphere became present and soon the all too intimidating door appeared before him. As usual, Discord grabbed the door knob and focused on trying to remember Rarity’s cutie mark, three diamonds. Slowly, the very door knob start to twist and morph. Discord was pleased to see that the door knob took that shape of three diamonds once he let go of it. Opening the door a little cautiously, Discord wondered if the Elements of Harmonies magic might kick in to defend Rarity from his antics. Nothing happened as Discord opened the door to its fullest extent. The sight that waited for him was quite overwhelming. Fabulous gems and dresses a plenty were around. The surroundings resembled something of a very large shop. Perhaps this is how Rarity pictured her perfect boutique? Speaking of the fashionista, she was trying on an assortment of luxurious dresses and tiaras. This was perfect; she was too distracted with herself to notice him. Discord clicked his talons together and disappeared into the mirror that Rarity was looking into. As Rarity tried on new hat, she noticed Discord was standing right behind her in the mirror. “What are you doing here?” Rarity yelled, turning back to see her rival. He wasn’t there. “Please, Rarity, that hat doesn’t match well with your dress.” Discord playfully teased, turning her hat green. “I hate green!” Rarity snapped impatiently, throwing the green hat at the reflection of Discord. The hat actually was absorbed into the mirror and Discord caught it, and then promptly wore the hat himself. “On me though, it fits rather well.” Discord tipped his hat and winked at Rarity. “Get out!” Rarity yelled shrilly. The glass of the mirror shattered and Discord features lingered on ever fragment of broken glass. With a flash, Discord appeared standing over the pile of glass. He then casually scooped up a handful of glass and crushed it into a fine dust, then blew the dust at Rarity. As the dust snagged against her fur and mane, it started to merge into her fur and mane. Soon, Rarity was a walking mirror. “They say beauty is fragile.” Discord crooned before knocking Rarity over and making her shatter. Rarity found herself back in her boutique, still whole. This didn’t mean she was a awake though. The walls of thee boutique were painted green, which is the color Rarity is repulsed to wear. “I do enjoy the change of décor.” Discord said, eyeing the new paint job with approval. “This can’t be happening! You’re supposed to be incased in stone right now!” Rarity snapped angrily. “Being in stone is dull dear. Also, who said I wasn’t still a statue?” Discord hinted before disappearing from sight again. “Show yourself coward! Fix this place at once!” Rarity demanded shrilly. “Fix? Don’t mind if I do.” The room went upside down in a flash, thus making Rarity flipping over and hitting the roof. The floor, which was now the roof, became covered in soap and Rarity found that her dress became cotton candy. As Rarity struggled to stand upright on the soap, Discord was chuckling cheerfully. “Like it?” Discords voice echoed throughout the room. “No, I hate it!” Rarity retorted with as much spite as she can muster. “Aw, you hurt my feelings. I think that was the last one I had too.” Discord replied sadly. Rarity found herself on a stage now, long gone from the chaotic scene in the boutique. The audience only consisted of Discord, who was munching happily away at popcorn. Once Discord took notice to Rarity though, he snapped his talons together and summoned a crowd of ponies. With another flash, Rarity noticed Discord made her wear a dreadful green dress. The crowd went on an uproar and Discord’s evil snicker could be heard over the loud laughing of the crowd. “Stop laughing at me.” Rarity whimpered, trying to hide her face from the laughing crowd. “Dear, we aren’t laughing at you. No, we are laughing at that atrocious dress.” Discord replied, wiping a happy tear from his eyes. “Make it stop!” Rarity yelled shrilly. “But that wouldn’t be fun, now would it?” Discord chuckled evilly as he snapped his talons again. The crowd ceases their laughter and started too proceeded toward Rarity, turning a faint shade of green as they got closer to her. Discord teleported by Rarity’s side and summoned cotton candy to chew at. “What are they doing?” Rarity asked, eyeing the proceeding crowd frightfully. “Want some cotton candy?” Discord offered Rarity a purple colored cotton candy. “What? No. Stop avoiding the question!” Rarity snapped angrily. “Relax, they are after you.” Discord replied slyly. “Why?” Rarity demanded impatiently, the crowd growing ever closer. “Heavens if I know, but they look awfully hungry. You should have taken that cotton candy that I offered.” Discord replied before disappearing in another burst of light. The hungry crowd surrounded Rarity, there was no escape. Suddenly, the crowd grabbed and started to pull at any part they could grab. The last thing Rarity saw was a bunch of hoof’s covering her face. _______ Rarity eye’s snapped open in horror. She was back in her lavish bed, safe from the prying hoofs of strangers. A cold shiver went up her spine, the whole ordeal felt so real. Rarity tried to fall back to sleep, but the hoard of ponies would be waiting for her when she finally managed it. Discord would be there to, laughing his head off at the sight of Rarity being surrounded. CrumbleDiscord was in his usual dream world, when isn’t he at this point. With dreaming and the mysterious doors powers to play with, there was more to do here then staring at other statues in the garden. There have been a few new editions to Discords dream land. One of which was statues of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. True, the statues didn’t actually have the real ponies encased inside. But there was an odd sense of comfort seeing them stuck in the same prison he was currently in. Discord walked over to Twilight’s statues and smirks at the sight of her terrified face. Her jaw was dropping and her eyes opened wide with terror. Fitting, that’s what was. Applejack was covering her face with her Stetson, Pinkie was stuck in mid laughter, Rarity glared daggers, Fluttershy’s face looked similar to Twilight’s and Rainbow’s face just oozed shock. Shame this little scene was to never become reality. A spark of anger shot through Discord’s veins. As nice as it was to have resided here, in the dream land that offered so much freedom, the fact of being trapped in here, to toy with one’s ideas, was boring. Similar to having a party, it’s pointless to have one person to attend rather than a few. There were no innocent real ponies to prank here and relish at their misfortune. Watching the overturned houses fly by felt pointless and empty now. Being alone was not fun. This would have been the rare few times Discord would’ve considered sitting down and being nagged at by Celestia. Just to see the look of how unhappy or distressed she was to see his face would have been worth it. Discord turned his back from the Element’s and walked past his dreamland to the familiar plunging darkness. How could have the presence of the door be forgotten? It offered some of the most fun to him, which was something due to how the dream world was not limited to his chaotic ways. It had been a few days since Discord had last come to the door looking for something to do. The last visit was to Rarity paled in comparison to some of the freakish things he had done to the likes of Snails. Speaking of the foolish colt, Discord was now able to waltz around in his dreams in the day time. Poor soul was so paranoid; Snails had a hard time telling reality from dreams. More than once, his teacher yelled at him to stay focused. Whenever she did so, Discord would walk up to her and inflate her head like a balloon to the point of explosion. Snails would always pass out at the sight of this. Of course, Snails mental state did not go unnoticed. Many of his classmates were paranoid about Discord’s existence now. Was he really in stone? Was Snails just losing his marbles? That last part always got Snails all worked up. If Discord would’ve known that the young colts mind was not made to pull the strain he had put it through, putting him through the nightmare wouldn’t have happened. It’s hard enough to go around being discreet, just add to the pressure of his blabbering about Discord and things were getting really hard. The familiar black sinister door had made its appearance. It still looked intimidating as ever. Who would be the next poor soul to suffer from a sleepless night? How about honest Applejack? She might be strong, but behind that she was just as vulnerable as anypony else. Family and friends mattered to her most and those were things that can be easily corrupted. After all, madness just needs a little push. Like gravity. With one paw on the doorknob, a smirk ran across Discord’s face. Applejack won’t know what hit her. Feeling the metal morph in his palm, Discord swung the door open to see what was waiting for him. Lots of tall and bountiful apple trees were present. These weren’t normal apple trees, the apples were much larger and looked much juicer. Wanting to know if they were as good as they looked, Discord grabbed an apple and took a large bite out of it. Indeed, the sweet juices gushed into his mouth. Darn thing was pretty delicious. After grabbing a few more apples to eat, it was time to get to work. A soft whistling tune filled the air and Discord figured he wasn’t on his own here. Taking the form of one of apples rom earlier, blending in with the apples on the trees was child’s play. Applejack came skipping through his field of vision. Discord focused his magic on Applejack’s whistling and made her choke a little. Applejack coughed for a while and continued through the field. Not one to let his prey get away, Discord changed back to his normal form and landed softly on the ground. He grabbed one of the apples from a random tree and hurled it at her head. His aim was true the apple landed right at the back of her head, actually knocking off her Stetson hat. Applejack’s face was one of pure rage as she noticed Discord’s presence. The intensity in the air was thick you could cut it with a butter knife, which Discord happily did. “How did you get here?” Applejack demanded. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out, my dear.” Discord crooned, taking flight to avoid her trying to buck him. Applejack pulled a lasso from thin air and caught Discord’s goat leg. The look of triumph on AJ’s face soon vanished once Discord removed his captured leg entirely. Another leg replaced his old one immediately after a puff of smoke. “Here, you can have it.” Discord yelled as he threw his goat leg back at AJ. Still stunned by his trick, AJ got hit over the head with the leg. Once it did bounce off her though, it blew up in a burst of smoke. Seeing as that Applejack was being preoccupied with the smoke, Discord turned his attention to his surroundings. Plenty of trees around and what looked like a farm was not that far off. An evil idea crops at the corner of his mind. With a casual snap of his talons, the trees around Applejack died and shriveled up. The apples were reduced to ash. Applejack had finally found her way through the smoke. “What did you do?” She looked mortified at the condition of the trees. “This does look ugly now. Ah, I have the perfect idea.” With that being said, Discord clicked his talons again and the withering trees burst into flames. “Someponies just want to watch the world burn.” Applejack looked terrified at the presence of the flames. She didn’t know that the flames would only burn the trees and nothing else. Discord started to glide over to the farm. It was the only place now that hadn’t combusted into flames. A loud galloping sound could be heard as Applejack chased after Discord. Why was she so fussed over him going over to the farm? Maybe it held some sentimental value to her? Discord landed on the roof of the farm. After another casual snap of his talons, the farm was now painted polka dot. An old mare came trotting outside, from within the farm, and started yelling. “Whose bright idea was it to paint the place polka dot?” “Mine, of course.” Discord whispered in the old mare’s ear after poking his head over her shoulder. “Get away from Granny, Discord!” Applejack threatened as she finally made it to the farm. “What? I didn’t do anything.” Discord muttered, poking Granny’s head with the tip of his talon. Concrete started to encase Granny from where Discord’s talon was. Soon, Granny Smith was in statue form. Her jaw was slightly slack and her eyes were wide open. She looked more surprised than anything. “Turn her back to normal!” AJ demanded. Discord scratched at his goat beard and faked a look of deep concentration before answering. “Nah.” Before Applejack could even charge at Discord, he trapped her in a cage. With all her might, she bucked multiple times at the bars. Since rubber is what made up the bars, it would only stretch out once bucked. After many failed attempts at bucking her way to freedom, Applejack collapsed to the ground. “I think the rest of your family should come on out.” Discord muttered, poking at one side of the farm as he spoke. The large building collapsed and only a large red stallion with a small filly on his back was left standing amongst the wreckage. Applejack had been yelling frantically and Discord magically zipped her mouth shut. “Are you related to Applejack?” Discord asked casually to the red stallion. “Eyup.” The stallion replied in a simple deep voice. “My name is Applebloom and this here is my brother, Big Mac.” The young filly interjected. “I thought you looked familiar.” Discord muttered, recalling Applebloom arguing with two other fillies about him a while back. Once poking their heads with his talon, Big Mac and Applebloom were both encased in stone. Applejack began thrashing about in her cage and Discord rolled his eyes at her. He magically attached a large weight to her and she was planted still. With an approving nod at his handy work, Discord began juggling his three new statues. Muffled yells were erupting from Applejack’s muffled mouth. “I can’t hear you over the sound of melting trees!” Discord called out, stopping at the middle of juggling show. Applebloom’s statue lingered in the air and nearly crashed to the ground before Discord caught it with his tail. Applejack sighed in relief but began thrashing around in her cage once the three statues were crushed into a fine dust. Tears started to run down AJ’s face and Discord had all her restraints disappear. “Please, Discord, stop. I’ll do anything. Just turn everything back to normal.” Applejack pleaded in between sobs. “Set me free and then we’ll talk.” Discord replied bitterly. “Okay fine! Just give my family back.” Applejack bawled. The crumbled pieces of the three statues started to reform into the shapes of Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith. With one last snap of his talons, the farm rebuilt itself and the fields grew apple trees at a rapid rate. “Now is time to collect my payment.” Discord whispered in Applejack’s ear. He poked at her forehead and an odd sensation flowed through Applejack’s body. “Better wake up, tomorrow should be an interesting day for you.” Discord’s loud maniacal laughter rang in her ears as Applejack woke up. No pony else was in her room. Applejack punched her pillow a few times, trying to make it more comfortable for her head. Sadly, sleep was just not going to happen. Every little creak of the wood floors startled Applejack awake. After letting out a sigh of frustration, Applejack decided it was best to work on the fields early today.
No Cage Can Contain MeThey say being in captivity does either two things to you. Completely drains you of your sanity or you leave with a deeper understanding of things around you. Be the comeback kid or be the year’s biggest bust. Sadly, captivity only offers the ability to engage in conversation in one’s own mind. That’s probably a big reason why so many beings loose there cool after such a long time of being alone. A lack of communication with others does tend to chew away at your sanity and state of mind before long. But, if you do keep your wits and are cunning enough, maybe just maybe, you’ll become a true force of nature. However, the forces of nature and even gods themselves meet their downfall. This made Discord no different. Being captive the first time for a few thousand years didn’t affect him much. If anything, it only gave him more time to think of a plan or better pranks. And with so much time, those plans do tend to be polished up to a reasonable extent. But, luck was not on his side the first time he escaped his stone prison. No sooner had he finally overthrown the Elements of Harmony did they trump him. If defeat tastes sour to some, to Discord, it tasted like pure venom. And he constantly had to taste this as long as he stayed in his stone statue prison. Discord laughed, at first, at the thought that being back in stone was a true punishment. However, when hours turned into days and days into weeks and weeks into months did the petty punishment look more…threatening. Last thing Discord could afford to lose was his sanity or cleverness rather, so he stuck to an old routine that he had done for many years. Think. However, the more Discord thought, the more disgruntled he became. Twilight’s confident face and the princess’s smiles of triumph stuck out to him like a sore thumb, and he hated them even more because of this. There was a point were Discord last track of the days, seeing that the sun and moon reminded him all too much of the Alicorns he hated so much. Discord felt like he was going to go mad, you can only live on hate for so long after a while it burns out into ashes. Snow was starting to fall and Discord could only assume winter had finally come around. The one thing about being a statue is that you can’t feel snow or freezing winds. Still, Discord would rather prefer mobility and be cold then stand around being unaffected by the elements around him. Planning was the only thing he could do and he grew tired of it. Discord decided to slip into slumber for a while, much better then planning and scheming for days on end when you had thousands of years to prepare. Dreams were the only place left for Discord to let his powers roam free. Not even The Elements of Harmonies magic could touch his dreams, but it made a point to stop his physical form. Discord was in his usual dwelling, walking around in a town that looked eerily like Ponyville. However, the houses were many different colors, polka dot at times, and were turned over to stand on its roof. The cries of disgruntled ponies were music to Discords ears. The music that was only available to him in his slumber though. Did he miss wreaking havoc and mayhem into the lives of REAL ponies? Of course, that was his life’s joy! A being without their craft…he wasn’t even a being anymore. He was just an accursed rock statue standing in the gardens now. The giggles of young foals rang in his ears as they passed by to see his statue. There fool hardy laughs irritated him to no end. They laughed at his sour defeat and Discord could only rage in silence. Violence in silence and Discord wanted nothing more to break that code. They asked stupid questions like “Why does he look scared?” or “Why does he look so ugly?” were always asked by the brain dead foals. More than once, did Discord want nothing more than to say “I’ll sure you something to be scared about!” then turning them into a pile of jelly or mud, for the ones who asked why he was ugly. Ugly, was he? Handsome was more like it. It took guts to personally like how he looked on a daily basis. And he wasn’t going to let children question himself. Not now, not ever. It was mid-winter by now and Discord’s dreams became more livid with every passing day. Every smell and scream was becoming more surreal to the point like Discord felt like he was amongst the flesh. But every time he woke up, he would realize he was still imprisoned in his statue and the laughing of foal’s were still there. There was another thing irking Discord lately. Every time he dreamt, he would have been walking to a door. Thing was, the door seemed to be hanging in the middle of space. There were no walls and no floor. It was just floating freely about, but was firmly in place. Discord didn’t bother opening the door though. For some reason, it…intimidated him. The door continually haunted Discords dreams on a daily basis now. Even when he was awake, Discord had a feeling the door was around but he just couldn’t see it. Finally, Discord felt like he would go insane if he didn’t open the door. “That’s it! The door will no longer haunt me!” Discord thought to himself. Reentering the familiar dream world, Discord looked around for the door. The closer he got to the door, the more he walked away from his very own dream. He was barely an arm length away; this marked the closest he had ever dared to approach the door. Discord looked around and noticed how pitch black everything was around him. They only things that had color were him and the door, which was cherry oak. The doorknob, something he never noticed before, was in the shape of a familiar looking figure. Was it a snail? Odd, usually doorknobs were in the shape of circles or something along those lines. Suddenly, a load sneeze was heard. Discord looked around and saw no available source of the noise. This only meant that the sneeze came from outside his dream state. That sneeze…sounded familiar. Was it that thick headed foal…ugh, what’s his name? No matter, it was time to press on to more important problems. Slowly, almost hesitatingly, did Discord start to turn the door knob. For such a stupid little door knob, it sure wasn't turning easily. Maybe it was just his nerves? Discord finally turned the door knob to its full extent and he slowly pushed the door open. If this was a deeper part into his mind, Discord wouldn’t mind turning back right now. Snails and slime were all about. It was revolting and Discord felt himself going sick at the sight of the things. Letting out a gag, confetti shout out his mouth as he did so, Discord tried to digest what in the world was this place? Was this snail heaven or something? No sooner did Discord wonder this question, did a little foal come into his view. His fur was a dark yellow color and he had light green hair. He might have been a unicorn, but he didn’t look at that swift to be honest. Looking at his cutie mark, Discord finally remembered who this foal was. Snails, by what the purple school teacher mare said anyway. Discord recalled him being sick the last time he saw him, which explained the sneezing. Snails sneezed all over his statue and Discord needed to wait for days for a sanitation worker, who probably avoided the mess, to finally clean his statue. A nasty and devious prank started to form in Discords head. But first, a proper disguise was needed. Turning into a snail, Discord…slugged his way over to Snails. It was tedious to move such a short distance for a long time, so Discord bended his disguise a bit to make the trip faster. The floor was coated with soap and Discord, the snail, was sliding toward Snails. Once Snails picked him up though, the prank was soon to begin. All the slime in the room quickly swarmed together and formed a large replica of Discord. “I see you’re afraid of my friend.” Discord, the snail, asked with relish. “What are you going to do to me?” Snails whimpered. “What am I going to do to you? Well, you had your accursed boogers all over me I figure to repay the gesture tenfold.” Discord replied with his trade mark devious smile. “You’re Discord?!” Snails asked in a cowering voice. He dropped Discord to the ground once he realized who he was. “I am the one and only. Now if you don’t mind, revenge is waiting.” Discord finished with a laugh. The slime version of Discord flew into Snails, covering him in all its disgusting sticky glory. Snails had been buried underneath by what look like three feet of slime! Discord laughed loudly at the foals sputtering. It was just too much! The very slime started to leak from his mouth and ears like a waterfall! “Arrivederci, you slime guzzling freak!” Discord chuckled with a smile. And with that, Discord returned back to the door and walked back to his own world. There was another thought running through his mind now. If he could enter Snails dreams, did this mean he could dwell on to others? There was much fun to be had… ~~~~~~~~ “SAVE ME!” Snails screamed at the top of his lungs. Snail’s concerned mother entered his room. “Are you alright?” She asked, looking at Snails with the equal horror he showed her. “It was…just a dream.” Snails mumbled after a moment. Relief coursed through his veins. Why did it feel so real though? Snail’s mom returned to her room as Snails finally calmed down. He might have calmed down but sleep tonight was going to be possible for him. Every time he closed his eyes he saw slime oozing around him which immediately awoke him.
Who's Laughing Now?“Snails please pay attention in class!” Cheerilee snapped impatiently at the drowsing foal. Snails jerked his head up and looked directly at his teacher with his drooping eyes. His eyelids have grown dark and developed bags lately. A sleep deprived week was finally taking its toll on Snails and Cheerilee was lenient at first but with the lack of improvement, it was time to act. Once class was dismissed, Cheerilee pulled Snails from the class and started to chat with him. “Snails, is everything okay at home?” Cheerilee asked with genuine care. “Everything is perfect. Why you ask?” Snails replied, his head bobbing slightly. “You have been falling asleep in the middle of class all week Snails.” Cheerilee replied. “Oh, um, I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately.” Snails confessed sadly. “I noticed.” Cheerilee took note of the bags under Snails eyes. “You have been having nightmares?” Snails eyes opened in terror and he quickly averted his teachers gaze. It was true his nightmares have been becoming troublesome lately. Being buried under slime, courtesy of Discord, had become a ritual for a week now. Snails figured if he didn’t sleep, Discord could no longer haunt his dreams. This was a double edge sword though. Yes he had no more nightmares with Discord burying him under slime but, in exchange, Snails was slowly losing his wits and concentration. Every time he closed his eyes, he wouldn’t see darkness. No, it was Discord showering him in slime again. His fellow classmates said he was just paranoid, but he wasn’t by a long shot. “No, neighbors have been making a racket lately that’s all.” Snails lied. Cheerilee sighed and let Snails go home. Snails felt a familiar dread come over him as nighttime rolled around. Another sleepless night was waiting for him. To pass the time, Snails started to flick through pages of a Daring Do book. Slowly though, Snails noticed slime started to leak from the very walls in his room. No, he couldn’t have fallen asleep…or had he? Snails got up and ran to his closet mirror. Odd, his reflection was distorted rather than being pristine. Leaning in closer to the glass, Snails wondered vaguely if he really was dreaming. Suddenly, a lion paw broke through Snail’s reflection and grabbed the real Snails by the neck. Snails let out a yell before the lion paw dragged him into the glass. While doing so, Snails heard a familiar maniacal laugh and Snails knew who was doing this to him. Desperately, Snails tried to resist being tugged but it was in vain. The harder he resisted against the grip, the firmer it would become. Snails felt like he was going to lose conscious before Discord would drag him over. “Always the hard way with you pony’s, nothing can be done easy. Fine, let’s play rough.” Discord whispered evilly. Suddenly, Snails face rammed repeatedly against the glass. Once, twice, thrice Discord rammed his head against the glass. Every time his head hit against the glass a weird squeak sound would be produced, almost like a crushed chew toy. Discord could be heard laughing and Snails wanted nothing else then for this to end. The lion paw finally let its grip slack a bit, allowing Snails to catch his breath. “Not done yet.” Discord teased. The lion paw squeezed harshly on Snails neck again. His head inflated and his eyeballs popped out. After Discord repeated the action several times, he threw Snails across his room. For some reason, Snails couldn’t stand upright. His legs had gone rigid and his head still felt like it was swelling horribly. Discord was looking down at Snails in pity. “You know, the statues in the garden at least look decent.” Discord eyed Snails with a frown. With a snap of his fingers, Discord summoned a small mirror for Snails to see himself. “NO!” Snails wailed, but his cry fell on death ears. His body turned to stone. Discord grabbed a tissue from nowhere and sneezed on it. Boogers coated Snails, the statue, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. “I think that should do the trick.” Discord said, placing his finger on the temple of Snails. “Bye now.” Discord tipped Snails, the statue, over. With a loud crack, Snails stone body broke into many little pieces as it hit the ground. Rubble coated the ground where Snails had previously stood. “GAH!” Snails yelled out. He ran to his closet mirror and noticed that he wasn’t a statue or a pile of rubble. There was no Discord and there was no oozing slime on the walls. Snails tried to fall asleep but he was terrified to do so. He wasn’t sure if Discord would be waiting for him once he finally dozed off. ________________ Discord opened the familiar door that allowed him to venture to others dreams. Tonight was quiet fun, for him at least. The poor look on that foal was just priceless! But, Discord felt like he needed a break from his worn out victim. He needed somepony new. The question was, who? The princesses would be for later. Not that he feared them, it was more along the lines he wanted to have a better grip of manipulating others dream before tackling them. Twilight was much too smart she might zap him if she saw him roaming in her dreams. Perhaps, one of the other school foals? They were very feeble and generally not smart enough to outwit him. This made them the perfect target for his devious plans. Which one though? Discord recalled a rather prissy and annoying filly when he was a statue the first time around. Her cutie mark was a tiara, but he couldn’t recall her name. Discord palmed the doorknob and released his hold on it. Excellent, the door assumed the form of the tiara! Pushing the door open, Discord was mildly surprised to see what was behind it. Columns of fancy marble were standing high to the heavens and room glistened like a diamond. There was a throne sitting at the other side of the room and there sat the foal. She looked like she was yelling orders at a few unfortunate stallions, must have been her servants. Ugh, she was so egotistical and just OOZING arrogance! For once, Discord figured he wouldn’t be the only one would actually enjoy trying make her life miserable. As usual, Discord assumed a disguise, this time a pony that had a crystal ball for a cutie mark. He made his way to the foal, who took notice of his presence at last. “Excellent, an oracle shall tell me about my fascinating future! Tell me, will my future bring more riches me way?” the egotistical foal demanded. “Pardon, your highness, what is your name?” Discord asked, stressing highness with some slight distaste. “You are not aware of your highnesses name? I’ll let that slide for now. I am Princess Diamond Tiara!” the small school filly gloated. “Okay, Princess Diamond Tiara, give me a moment.” Discord started to wave his hooves over the crystal ball that he made appear from thin air. Tiara looked into the ball and wore a frown on her face. “I see fog.” Tiara deadpanned. “Look deeper my dear.” Discord replied a little demandingly. She looked deeper and noticed she saw herself within the fog. However, her cutie mark was gone and so was her tiara. This couldn't be right, she was royalty! “I think you messed up.” Tiara said with a stern gaze. “The ball never lies.” Discord replied simply. Tiara felt slightly nervous now. She gestured Discord to leave, but he remained stock still. “Are you scared?” Discord asked with an evil smile. “No.” Tiara lied. “Let’s see about that…” Discord clapped his hooves together and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. “Hey, what do you mean by that!” Tiara demanded. Discord replied with his usual evil chuckle. Diamond Tiara trotted back to her throne and sat down. She didn’t like the sounds of this. Suddenly, her thrown wilted and crumbled apart underneath her. She fell down and hit the cold floor with a loud thud. Discord reappeared in front of Tiara in his true form now. “Discord!” She screamed. “Where,” Discord looked around before he looked down at his legs “oh yeah that’s me.” “How did you get here?” Tiara yelled shrilly. “Magic.” Discord joked. “I must say, for ponies that thrive on friendship and kindness,” Discord began to slither around Tiara “you sure are mean and egotistical.” “Please, it’s not my fault I am just better.” Tiara spat back. “In your mind, sure, you are better than the others. But, that cutie mark just oozes arrogance.” Discord pointed at her flank. To Diamond Tiara’s horror, Discord whipped off her cutie mark and made her a blank flank. “Give me my cutie mark back!” Tiara demanded angrily. “No, I think you need to learn a lesson.” Discord said, his lip going to his devious smile. With another casual flick of his fingers, Discord summoned Tiara’s classmates. Scootaloo was the first to start laughing at Tiara’s dismay and soon the rest of the class followed suit. “Stop laughing at me!” Tiara screamed. Discord slapped a clown hat on her head and the class broke out into renewed fits of laughter. Tiara broke into tears and Discord had the school foal’s disappear, Scootaloo gave one last hearty ha before she vanished. “Make it stop.” Tiara whimpered. “If you continue to do this to the others around you, this will never end.” Discord hissed into her ear. Discord clicked his fingers together again and summoned Diamond’s Tiara back. “I wonder,” Discord placed the tiara back on the scared foal’s head. “What came first? Your cutie mark or you just named yourself after it.” Tiara didn’t reply and Discord shrugged. He knew she had no intention to utter a word to him about that. “I guess, it’s time to go.” Discord clicked his fingers for the last time before disappearing. Diamond Tiara flinched as Discord clicked his fingers. She rubbed her hoof over her tiara to make sure it was still and she felt something odd as she did so. The thing on her head started to coil around her hoof, and to her horror, it was a snake. Shaking her entire body to try to get the snake off her, this was in vain since it only aggravated the snake even more. ___________ “GET OFF OF ME!” Diamond Tiara yelled out. Opening her eyes, she was happy to see that she was back in her own room. There were no signs of snakes or Discord. The tiara cutie mark was still on her flank and her tiara was sitting on her night stand. Try as she must, sleep was just impossible. Every time she finally managed to go into slumber, Discord would be there, waiting, and would proceed to make her a blank flank and replace her tiara with snakes again.
Razor SharpDiscord was at it again. The now familiar door in his dreams was becoming his go to whenever he got bored, which was very often. It seemed the door had one flaw though. It relies on a pony’s cutie mark to work. If they don’t have one, they’re safe from him. So, harming the school foals was only going to work for so long and Discord was semi content with that. Angry that those three fillies, which got in a fight near his statue a while back, are untouchable…for now anyway. The satisfaction was that Discord finally felt he had a firm grasp of his dream controlling powers now. Was it enough to go after the likes of the princesses or Twilight? No, they had to be under incredible stress for them to succumb to his torment. Who would be his next victim today? Eh, Snails was starting to think Discord was after him even when he was awake. Diamond Tiara surprisingly took Discord’s threat seriously. She had become a great deal nicer to her classmates. Wait, didn’t Snails usually travel with a pudgy colt? He was incredibly dimwitted, which might explain why he hung out with Snails. No better pairing then dumb and dumber. Now that Discord thought about it, the pudgy colt was in Snails dreams a few times. Snips was his name, or what Snails kept screaming to the colt whenever Discord submerged Snails in slime. Scissors was his cutie mark. How odd, was Snips going to work in the fashion business like Rarity? Palming the knob of the door, Discord focused on an image of a scissor in his mind eye. The very knob felt like it was melting and bubbling in his very grasp. Releasing his hold, Discord was content to see that the knob had resembled the shape of scissors. Discord turned the knob and opened the door with a flourish. There was nothing. Discord raised his eyebrow in confusion and quickly closed the door again. Again, Discord pried the door open and saw the surrounding darkness in front of him. Sudden realization hit Discord, it was still morning. This didn’t matter though this just gave Discord more time to think of a scheme for Snips to endure. ________ It was a pleasant morning, the sun was out and the birds chirped merrily. There was no school today and the young foals were enjoying their break. The only exception was Snails, who was home. Cheerilee had finally told Snail’s parents of his lack of attention in class. They couldn’t do much though, Snail’s problems rooted all the way to being terribly sleep deprived. He saw Discord everywhere now, from school to his very own home. “Snail’s, what’s keeping you up?” Snail’s mom asked her son, a note of concern in her voice. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.” Snails replied with a heaving sigh. “Try me.” His mother said. “Fine, Discord has been everywhere I look. He is keeping me up.” Snails admitted. His mother blinked rapidly a few times, trying to digest what her son has said. “But dear, Discord is a statue now.” “See?! I knew you wouldn’t understand!” Snails wailed out. Snails ran from his home and headed to his best friend’s, Snips, home. Snipe would hopefully understand what he was going through. Snails galloped past Sugercube Corner and stopped. Snips was happily munching away at a cookie. “Hey Snips!” Snails called out to his friend. “Where you been Snails?” Snips asked once he got closer to his distressed friend. “Home, but that’s not important now. I have been having a hard time sleep and Discords the one keeping me up.” Snails explained to his friend nervously. Snip’s eyes went out of focus and Snails had to clap his hooves over his friends face to get his attention. “Huh?” Snips called out stupidly. “Ugh, did you even hear me!” Snails asked angrily. “No.” Snips shrugged. “Forget it.” Snails headed back home. “Discord is in stone. Why is he so worried over that?” Snips muttered to himself after he tried to remember what his friend said. It was nearing nighttime when Snips returned home from the Sugercube Corner. Snips found it incredibly easy to fall asleep, despite all the sugary goods in him. One thing irked one while he tried to fall asleep. There were two kids in his school now that had a Discord involved dream. True, Tiara just had one dream about Discord. Hopefully, Snails would stop having dreams of Discord. _______ “Why didn’t you pay attention to me?” Snails wailed. “I don’t know! Please, I am sorry Snails.” Snips replied in-between sobs. Discord was happily using Snails as a puppet. Amazingly, Snips never noticed the strings that allowed Discord to manipulate his poor friend. Once Snips started to cry, Discord knew he had to up the ante. Immediately, Snails limbs flopped to the ground and his body became a tangled mess. Snips yelled in horror at the sight of his friend. That face, it was precious! Discord was chuckling madly at the dismay of his victim. “Snails, I’ll fix you don’t worry.” Snips fumbled with his friend’s body, desperately trying to get him upright. Sadly, Snails body turned to dust at the touch of Snips hoofs. It was kind of pathetic; Snips stared at the pile of dust with a mixture of fear and deep sadness. A feeling of pity entered the Spirits heart, but he quickly got over it and continued his mind games. “My, my, look what happen here.” Discord’s voice echoed around Snips. “Who’s there?” Snips demanded, yelling into the empty atmosphere around. “I’ve been asked that the third time this week. Honestly, I should just start announcing my name where ever I go.” Discord replied dully. “My name is Discord.” “Leave me alone Discord! You have been attacking my friends!” Snips yelled in anger. “I take that as a compliment. No, leaving you alone is not in my plans. In fact, if you thought your friend turning to ash was scary. Wait until you see this.” Discord let one last evil laugh slip. “Show yourself!” Snips hollered. A mirror appeared in front of Snips instantly. It was nothing fancy but Snips was able to see his reflection. Slowly, his reflection morphed into the face of Discord. With an evil grin, Discord snapped his fingers. The floor beneath Snips opened and scissors waited at the bottom of the pit. “Help me!” Snips screamed in horror. A dark cloud appeared with a clap of lightning. Discord was standing over Snips, looking remotely interested at the predicament that the colt was in. “Help you?” Discord scoffed, stepping at the hoofs of Snips. “I don’t think so.” Discord kicked one of Snips hoofs away, only leaving him hanging with one arm now. “Don’t play with scissors boy. You might just end up with a nasty cut. In this case, you’ll get a couple dozen cuts though.” Discord kicked Snips remaining hoof and Snips descended to the pit of the hole “NO!” Snips screamed as he was growing nearer to the pit fill with sharp scissors. Snips could see his terrified reflection in the blades of the scissors. _____ An alarm clock rang out in Snips room. The obnoxious ringing of the alarm clock brought back Snips from his deep slumber. Snips ran his hoof over his face quickly, checking if there were any cuts present. Not a single cut. “I guess it was all a dream.” Snips muttered in relief. Not really. Snips eyes nearly popped out of his head from freight.
Green Induced Nightmare“Applejack, have you ever had nightmares?” Applebloom asked. “Who doesn’t?” Applejack replied. “Eeyup.” Big Mac answered in his usual drawl. The Apples were enjoying a pleasant dinner when Applebloom brought up the subject. Granny Smith was sleeping soundly at her rocking chair. “Why you ask anyway?” Applejack questioned. “Some of the ponies at school have been having nightmares…about Discord.” Applebloom answered sheepishly. “Discord you say? Don’t worry about him; he is in stone right now. That won’t change for a long time.” Applejack quickly replied. “I guess you’re right. Whelp see yawl tomorrow then.” Applebloom waved her family a good night as she went upstairs to her bed. “Should I be worried?” Applejack asked her brother nervously. “Nope.” Big Mac shrugged. “I guess you’re right.” Applejack replied with a sigh. She hoped her brother was right on this one. ______ Discord was in his usual domain, the dream world. Now that the young foals no longer had to be in their sleep to be paranoid about him, it was time to move onto bigger projects. No, the princesses were still too much to handle. If anything, now was time to pay a visit to the holders of the Elements of Harmony. But, which one would be his first victim? Fluttershy took a freakish amount of effort to crack, so she would have to wait. Twilight can only fail when all hope around her seems to be gone. It would take all of Twilight’s friends to be disgruntled to the point of no return for her to truly submit without a big fight. Now, who would be the easiest mare to crack in the group? Fair Rarity came to mind. True she was generous. But her hunger for lavish things overshadowed her generosity and she seemed very uptight about criticism when ponies made a comment about her cloths. Discord wandered through his dream world, which now included a swimming pool filled with chocolate milk. Finally, the dark atmosphere became present and soon the all too intimidating door appeared before him. As usual, Discord grabbed the door knob and focused on trying to remember Rarity’s cutie mark, three diamonds. Slowly, the very door knob start to twist and morph. Discord was pleased to see that the door knob took that shape of three diamonds once he let go of it. Opening the door a little cautiously, Discord wondered if the Elements of Harmonies magic might kick in to defend Rarity from his antics. Nothing happened as Discord opened the door to its fullest extent. The sight that waited for him was quite overwhelming. Fabulous gems and dresses a plenty were around. The surroundings resembled something of a very large shop. Perhaps this is how Rarity pictured her perfect boutique? Speaking of the fashionista, she was trying on an assortment of luxurious dresses and tiaras. This was perfect; she was too distracted with herself to notice him. Discord clicked his talons together and disappeared into the mirror that Rarity was looking into. As Rarity tried on new hat, she noticed Discord was standing right behind her in the mirror. “What are you doing here?” Rarity yelled, turning back to see her rival. He wasn’t there. “Please, Rarity, that hat doesn’t match well with your dress.” Discord playfully teased, turning her hat green. “I hate green!” Rarity snapped impatiently, throwing the green hat at the reflection of Discord. The hat actually was absorbed into the mirror and Discord caught it, and then promptly wore the hat himself. “On me though, it fits rather well.” Discord tipped his hat and winked at Rarity. “Get out!” Rarity yelled shrilly. The glass of the mirror shattered and Discord features lingered on ever fragment of broken glass. With a flash, Discord appeared standing over the pile of glass. He then casually scooped up a handful of glass and crushed it into a fine dust, then blew the dust at Rarity. As the dust snagged against her fur and mane, it started to merge into her fur and mane. Soon, Rarity was a walking mirror. “They say beauty is fragile.” Discord crooned before knocking Rarity over and making her shatter. Rarity found herself back in her boutique, still whole. This didn’t mean she was a awake though. The walls of thee boutique were painted green, which is the color Rarity is repulsed to wear. “I do enjoy the change of décor.” Discord said, eyeing the new paint job with approval. “This can’t be happening! You’re supposed to be incased in stone right now!” Rarity snapped angrily. “Being in stone is dull dear. Also, who said I wasn’t still a statue?” Discord hinted before disappearing from sight again. “Show yourself coward! Fix this place at once!” Rarity demanded shrilly. “Fix? Don’t mind if I do.” The room went upside down in a flash, thus making Rarity flipping over and hitting the roof. The floor, which was now the roof, became covered in soap and Rarity found that her dress became cotton candy. As Rarity struggled to stand upright on the soap, Discord was chuckling cheerfully. “Like it?” Discords voice echoed throughout the room. “No, I hate it!” Rarity retorted with as much spite as she can muster. “Aw, you hurt my feelings. I think that was the last one I had too.” Discord replied sadly. Rarity found herself on a stage now, long gone from the chaotic scene in the boutique. The audience only consisted of Discord, who was munching happily away at popcorn. Once Discord took notice to Rarity though, he snapped his talons together and summoned a crowd of ponies. With another flash, Rarity noticed Discord made her wear a dreadful green dress. The crowd went on an uproar and Discord’s evil snicker could be heard over the loud laughing of the crowd. “Stop laughing at me.” Rarity whimpered, trying to hide her face from the laughing crowd. “Dear, we aren’t laughing at you. No, we are laughing at that atrocious dress.” Discord replied, wiping a happy tear from his eyes. “Make it stop!” Rarity yelled shrilly. “But that wouldn’t be fun, now would it?” Discord chuckled evilly as he snapped his talons again. The crowd ceases their laughter and started too proceeded toward Rarity, turning a faint shade of green as they got closer to her. Discord teleported by Rarity’s side and summoned cotton candy to chew at. “What are they doing?” Rarity asked, eyeing the proceeding crowd frightfully. “Want some cotton candy?” Discord offered Rarity a purple colored cotton candy. “What? No. Stop avoiding the question!” Rarity snapped angrily. “Relax, they are after you.” Discord replied slyly. “Why?” Rarity demanded impatiently, the crowd growing ever closer. “Heavens if I know, but they look awfully hungry. You should have taken that cotton candy that I offered.” Discord replied before disappearing in another burst of light. The hungry crowd surrounded Rarity, there was no escape. Suddenly, the crowd grabbed and started to pull at any part they could grab. The last thing Rarity saw was a bunch of hoof’s covering her face. _______ Rarity eye’s snapped open in horror. She was back in her lavish bed, safe from the prying hoofs of strangers. A cold shiver went up her spine, the whole ordeal felt so real. Rarity tried to fall back to sleep, but the hoard of ponies would be waiting for her when she finally managed it. Discord would be there to, laughing his head off at the sight of Rarity being surrounded.
CrumbleDiscord was in his usual dream world, when isn’t he at this point. With dreaming and the mysterious doors powers to play with, there was more to do here then staring at other statues in the garden. There have been a few new editions to Discords dream land. One of which was statues of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. True, the statues didn’t actually have the real ponies encased inside. But there was an odd sense of comfort seeing them stuck in the same prison he was currently in. Discord walked over to Twilight’s statues and smirks at the sight of her terrified face. Her jaw was dropping and her eyes opened wide with terror. Fitting, that’s what was. Applejack was covering her face with her Stetson, Pinkie was stuck in mid laughter, Rarity glared daggers, Fluttershy’s face looked similar to Twilight’s and Rainbow’s face just oozed shock. Shame this little scene was to never become reality. A spark of anger shot through Discord’s veins. As nice as it was to have resided here, in the dream land that offered so much freedom, the fact of being trapped in here, to toy with one’s ideas, was boring. Similar to having a party, it’s pointless to have one person to attend rather than a few. There were no innocent real ponies to prank here and relish at their misfortune. Watching the overturned houses fly by felt pointless and empty now. Being alone was not fun. This would have been the rare few times Discord would’ve considered sitting down and being nagged at by Celestia. Just to see the look of how unhappy or distressed she was to see his face would have been worth it. Discord turned his back from the Element’s and walked past his dreamland to the familiar plunging darkness. How could have the presence of the door be forgotten? It offered some of the most fun to him, which was something due to how the dream world was not limited to his chaotic ways. It had been a few days since Discord had last come to the door looking for something to do. The last visit was to Rarity paled in comparison to some of the freakish things he had done to the likes of Snails. Speaking of the foolish colt, Discord was now able to waltz around in his dreams in the day time. Poor soul was so paranoid; Snails had a hard time telling reality from dreams. More than once, his teacher yelled at him to stay focused. Whenever she did so, Discord would walk up to her and inflate her head like a balloon to the point of explosion. Snails would always pass out at the sight of this. Of course, Snails mental state did not go unnoticed. Many of his classmates were paranoid about Discord’s existence now. Was he really in stone? Was Snails just losing his marbles? That last part always got Snails all worked up. If Discord would’ve known that the young colts mind was not made to pull the strain he had put it through, putting him through the nightmare wouldn’t have happened. It’s hard enough to go around being discreet, just add to the pressure of his blabbering about Discord and things were getting really hard. The familiar black sinister door had made its appearance. It still looked intimidating as ever. Who would be the next poor soul to suffer from a sleepless night? How about honest Applejack? She might be strong, but behind that she was just as vulnerable as anypony else. Family and friends mattered to her most and those were things that can be easily corrupted. After all, madness just needs a little push. Like gravity. With one paw on the doorknob, a smirk ran across Discord’s face. Applejack won’t know what hit her. Feeling the metal morph in his palm, Discord swung the door open to see what was waiting for him. Lots of tall and bountiful apple trees were present. These weren’t normal apple trees, the apples were much larger and looked much juicer. Wanting to know if they were as good as they looked, Discord grabbed an apple and took a large bite out of it. Indeed, the sweet juices gushed into his mouth. Darn thing was pretty delicious. After grabbing a few more apples to eat, it was time to get to work. A soft whistling tune filled the air and Discord figured he wasn’t on his own here. Taking the form of one of apples rom earlier, blending in with the apples on the trees was child’s play. Applejack came skipping through his field of vision. Discord focused his magic on Applejack’s whistling and made her choke a little. Applejack coughed for a while and continued through the field. Not one to let his prey get away, Discord changed back to his normal form and landed softly on the ground. He grabbed one of the apples from a random tree and hurled it at her head. His aim was true the apple landed right at the back of her head, actually knocking off her Stetson hat. Applejack’s face was one of pure rage as she noticed Discord’s presence. The intensity in the air was thick you could cut it with a butter knife, which Discord happily did. “How did you get here?” Applejack demanded. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out, my dear.” Discord crooned, taking flight to avoid her trying to buck him. Applejack pulled a lasso from thin air and caught Discord’s goat leg. The look of triumph on AJ’s face soon vanished once Discord removed his captured leg entirely. Another leg replaced his old one immediately after a puff of smoke. “Here, you can have it.” Discord yelled as he threw his goat leg back at AJ. Still stunned by his trick, AJ got hit over the head with the leg. Once it did bounce off her though, it blew up in a burst of smoke. Seeing as that Applejack was being preoccupied with the smoke, Discord turned his attention to his surroundings. Plenty of trees around and what looked like a farm was not that far off. An evil idea crops at the corner of his mind. With a casual snap of his talons, the trees around Applejack died and shriveled up. The apples were reduced to ash. Applejack had finally found her way through the smoke. “What did you do?” She looked mortified at the condition of the trees. “This does look ugly now. Ah, I have the perfect idea.” With that being said, Discord clicked his talons again and the withering trees burst into flames. “Someponies just want to watch the world burn.” Applejack looked terrified at the presence of the flames. She didn’t know that the flames would only burn the trees and nothing else. Discord started to glide over to the farm. It was the only place now that hadn’t combusted into flames. A loud galloping sound could be heard as Applejack chased after Discord. Why was she so fussed over him going over to the farm? Maybe it held some sentimental value to her? Discord landed on the roof of the farm. After another casual snap of his talons, the farm was now painted polka dot. An old mare came trotting outside, from within the farm, and started yelling. “Whose bright idea was it to paint the place polka dot?” “Mine, of course.” Discord whispered in the old mare’s ear after poking his head over her shoulder. “Get away from Granny, Discord!” Applejack threatened as she finally made it to the farm. “What? I didn’t do anything.” Discord muttered, poking Granny’s head with the tip of his talon. Concrete started to encase Granny from where Discord’s talon was. Soon, Granny Smith was in statue form. Her jaw was slightly slack and her eyes were wide open. She looked more surprised than anything. “Turn her back to normal!” AJ demanded. Discord scratched at his goat beard and faked a look of deep concentration before answering. “Nah.” Before Applejack could even charge at Discord, he trapped her in a cage. With all her might, she bucked multiple times at the bars. Since rubber is what made up the bars, it would only stretch out once bucked. After many failed attempts at bucking her way to freedom, Applejack collapsed to the ground. “I think the rest of your family should come on out.” Discord muttered, poking at one side of the farm as he spoke. The large building collapsed and only a large red stallion with a small filly on his back was left standing amongst the wreckage. Applejack had been yelling frantically and Discord magically zipped her mouth shut. “Are you related to Applejack?” Discord asked casually to the red stallion. “Eyup.” The stallion replied in a simple deep voice. “My name is Applebloom and this here is my brother, Big Mac.” The young filly interjected. “I thought you looked familiar.” Discord muttered, recalling Applebloom arguing with two other fillies about him a while back. Once poking their heads with his talon, Big Mac and Applebloom were both encased in stone. Applejack began thrashing about in her cage and Discord rolled his eyes at her. He magically attached a large weight to her and she was planted still. With an approving nod at his handy work, Discord began juggling his three new statues. Muffled yells were erupting from Applejack’s muffled mouth. “I can’t hear you over the sound of melting trees!” Discord called out, stopping at the middle of juggling show. Applebloom’s statue lingered in the air and nearly crashed to the ground before Discord caught it with his tail. Applejack sighed in relief but began thrashing around in her cage once the three statues were crushed into a fine dust. Tears started to run down AJ’s face and Discord had all her restraints disappear. “Please, Discord, stop. I’ll do anything. Just turn everything back to normal.” Applejack pleaded in between sobs. “Set me free and then we’ll talk.” Discord replied bitterly. “Okay fine! Just give my family back.” Applejack bawled. The crumbled pieces of the three statues started to reform into the shapes of Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith. With one last snap of his talons, the farm rebuilt itself and the fields grew apple trees at a rapid rate. “Now is time to collect my payment.” Discord whispered in Applejack’s ear. He poked at her forehead and an odd sensation flowed through Applejack’s body. “Better wake up, tomorrow should be an interesting day for you.” Discord’s loud maniacal laughter rang in her ears as Applejack woke up. No pony else was in her room. Applejack punched her pillow a few times, trying to make it more comfortable for her head. Sadly, sleep was just not going to happen. Every little creak of the wood floors startled Applejack awake. After letting out a sigh of frustration, Applejack decided it was best to work on the fields early today.
