Author's Note

(Loki's name has been changed to Anarchy for those who don't know)
I probably botched this up somehow, let me know any mistakes you find, it'll be a massive help for the future!

Hope you're enjoying it so far, didn't expect this to turn into a series :D

Enterprisal Advice

Fluttershy had stated she wanted to meet the people that Discord had mentioned to her. He wanted to talk to Picard anyways, possibly even Guinan, so he might as well. Fluttershy would be sure to make many friends, though Discord was going to have a lot of irritation towards Worf. Not the pea-brained, fanny-headed moron's fault. His evil ex just happened to be very manipulative. So, he was going to treat Shy by letting her meet everybody. He might even let her meet Janeway, the woman who helped him win against the opposing side in the war. Now that he thought about it, it may be six people he cared about. Janeway had kinda grown on him. He likely ignored her because he wasn’t very good when it came to females.

Anarchy hadn’t really met Picard yet, had he? He’d talked about the man enough for Anarchy to want to meet him, not that he did without his father, which was a good thing. To make sure the timeline didn’t get muddled, he was making a pocket timeline that’d disappear when he’d left, so it’d be as if nothing ever happened. Which meant that anything he said or did wouldn’t affect them in any way, only they three would remember it.

The pegasus was trotting around her house, getting ready. He’d said that she didn’t need to get anything he couldn’t give her, but Shy didn’t want him to waste his powers on her. She was so selfless it was infectious. She still confused him, she confused Anarchy as well, the two of them unsure how Fluttershy could be so sweet in a universe so harsh. He was sounding sappy again, ugh, he hated it when he sounded all sappy and gooey.

“Dissy?” Fluttershy called, the deity giving a sound of acknowledgment. “Will I need to be in a humanoid form like the one you have? Won’t I scare them?” he was in his human form, along with Anarchy. While Anarchy believed that Fluttershy couldn’t scare a butterfly Discord was aware of her stare that Anarchy hadn’t been subjected to yet. He was looking forward to seeing that.

“Shy, you’ll be fine. They’ll be irritated to see me, confused about Anarchy, but they’re good people. Not as paranoid as your pony ‘friends’.” She was a little embarrassed about that, she hadn’t talked to her friends about it since, they were trying to pretend that it had never happened. She was pleased that Discord was possibly growing on Spike along with Big Mac, but he’d clearly had relationships like that for a long time, never getting any further than acknowledgment. She understood why, and she understood she’d have to do the same thing someday… especially with the choice she made and encouraged Discord to make. “You really don’t need to take anything.”

“But I want to.” She had packed snacks, a book, and a blank sketchbook encase she wanted to do some sketches. She was trying to pick up the hobby after seeing all the creativeness that Discord surrounded her with. She had her saddlebags on, tied on tight in case she dropped anything. She did a double check to make sure she was prepared, then gave the two a smile. “I’m ready!”

“Can I get back at Guinan for forking you?” Discord gave a glare that meant a simple no, much to Anarchy’s displeasure. “You’ve told her about the Calamarian thing, haven’t you?” Discord’s expression changed to something that clearly meant he hadn’t. Fluttershy could tell it was something that bothered Discord, but she’d ask about it later, she didn’t want to ruin the mood by pushing him into something he didn’t like. She’d do that later, as he normally needed help facing his feelings. Running from your fears only made them stronger, and more destructive.

“maybe later Anarchy, not now.” He snapped his fingers, and they were in space. Fluttershy didn’t recognize the stars, all of them seemed brand new to her, even though she’d been taught otherwise. Discord told her about light, how stars were made and that even though she could see their light, some of those stars died long ago. That was a magical thing that. A star could die, but its light continued to pass through space, a living memory. When he eventually left Equestria would her memory remain like the light of a star? To think the death of something like a star could be so beautiful? And he hadn’t even shown her a supernova yet. “In about a minute, the Enterprise will come out of warp here. Despite what it looks like, all of it was handmade. Or hoof. Semantics.”

Like he said, the ship appeared, its shape surprising her. Did someone make that with their hooves? Hands? Whichever? She could barely believe that someone could make it without magic, her curious face actually making Discord smile a bit. Something Anarchy noticed and added to his mental ‘Definitely more than friends’ list.

“Are you sure they won’t mind me being a pegasus?” Nah, they’d be fine. If they let Worf on the bridge they’d let a pony. Discord grinned as he snapped his fingers, appearing on top of the ship, not yet inside of it. “Oh, it’s made of metal?” They were only just starting to use metals back home. “Do you think that Ponies will be able to make something like this?”

“Maybe? As long as you lot rely on that magic, probably not.” A bit blunt from Anarchy, but true. They relied far too much on that anomaly that was magic. Discord would fix it later, he didn’t need to at the moment though. “Hey dad, can I get back at the lady who forked you?” Discord shook his head, not even going to bother wondering why Anarchy would ask again, disappointing said Anarchy. Discord wanted a chat with her when it came to being a parent, he might seem like he was doing alright, but he really wasn’t and was quite bad at it. Anarchy lived up to that name. He was causing mayhem, and Discord wondered if the rest of the Continuum felt exhausted after having to deal with him. Given how alike he and Anarchy are, that was probably what was going on. He felt sorry for the Q that had to deal with him when he was like this now.

Discord snapped his fingers, and Fluttershy was suddenly on the bridge. She would meet them first, then they’d pop in, but he wanted to make sure that they were alright with her first. They were surprised, as was his pegasus. Wait, ‘his’ pegasus? Since when did he refer to her as his? Questions for later.

Fluttershy would have preferred if Discord gave her a warning first, but as per usual, he jumped into things without thinking about them. He did think about them somewhat, but in the heat of the moment, he could make silly choices. The mare looked around, feeling very small. She noted that Discord’s human form was rather tall compared to a lot of the other humans here, he likely chose the largest size, so he’d be taken a little more seriously, like with his Equestria form. The one sitting in the middle of a man and a woman was likely Pee-card, the man Discord wanted a talk with. She looked around, looking for the man with yellow eyes, spotting him behind her. That would be Data, the artificial human, the ‘android’ as Discord called him.

“Is it just me, or is there a pegasus in front of me?” She looked at the man next to Picard, who looked very confused. She didn’t want them to be afraid of her, so she gave a warming smile. She was a little afraid, not really used to being the only quadruped in a room. Humans didn’t have as many differences as ponies, but they did have very unique faces, which was very different to ponies whom the majority of which had the same muzzle, head, shape, and ears. They were very strange to her, but she wasn’t going to judge. Anarchy looked like Discord in his human form, then again, maybe it was because they were related?

“I can sense a little fear, hesitation, anticipation, and recognition. Whatever she is, she’s sapient.” The woman had a strange accent, and she smelled a little differently to the humans. Discord did say most of them looked like his humanoid form, so was she an alien? The stranger on the raised level behind them must be the Klingon Discord had a personal grudge again. His face frightened her a little, but she made herself look as brave as she could and failed. “And she’s adorable.”

“My name is Fluttershy,” she said, which seemed to surprise the humans. “Sorry for the rude entrance, Discord isn’t too good when it comes to introducing people.” Her wings ruffled a little, wondering where Discord and Anarchy were. “You’re Picard, right?” She said to the man in the middle, who slowly nodded in confusion. “Oh, then you’re the Captain of this… uhh, what did Discord call it? Enterprise?” That didn’t sound like a ship. “sorry, I haven’t really been out in space before. Well, that’s not true, I’ve seen my planet but I haven’t been on a… Oh! Spaceship! I haven’t been on a spaceship before.” She inwardly applauded her ability to remember the name.

“Well, umm, it’s nice to meet you, Fluttershy,” said the befuddled human. “Welcome aboard the USS Enterprise.” Pegasi were aliens, why wasn’t he surprised by that? “So, how’d you get on the Enterprise if you don’t have a spaceship.” A cackled echoed in the bridge, one that sent shivers up his spine that twisted his face into a grimace.

Likely on cue, Discord magically appeared. He was laying on the half floor half stairs, the carpeted ramp thing, resting against a poor excuse for a banner in the mare’s opinion. It looked like a health hazard not having proper railings, someone could get hurt. Discord grinned while Picard just had the face of ‘here we go again’. Fluttershy now got what Discord had meant around three weeks ago when he said that they tolerated him more than befriended him.

“What do you want now Q?” Said the man who’d been sitting next to Picard. Fluttershy didn’t know who this man was, but he was about the same height as Discord’s human form. He sounded hostile, everyone but the android looked to Discord with that same hostility and passive aggressiveness her friends gave him. The more Fluttershy got to know about people who knew Discord before he’d come to Equestria, the more she began to understand how powerful her honesty and kindness was, and how much she really did mean to Discord. She meant more to him than she may ever fully comprehend, and it made her choice to become immortal all the more right in her eyes.

“Oh don’t give me that Billy Beard, for once I’m not here for a game. Though, I can surely make this a game if you’d like?” He said with a smile. “How about a game of Discourse and Anarchy?” there was another flash, and Anarchy was on the other side, mirroring Discord’s grin. Thick as thieves they were.

The sudden appearance of the other Q made them very on edge. Q was hard enough to deal with on his own, but two of them? they couldn’t handle two of them at once. Fluttershy looked at the nervousness in their eyes and felt it from their vibes, not wanting a repeat of when Discord introduced Anarchy to her friends, she shot him a look. It wasn’t the glare, he hadn’t done anything to deserve that, but he got the message. He snapped his fingers and was beside her, Anarchy being stubborn and not moving. She hardened her look, and the boy stubbornly appeared next to his dad with a grumpy face.

Now things had changed. How could this little pegasus make Q and the other Q listen to her with just a look? Was she a Q herself? She didn’t seem like it, but she definitely had some kind of power over those two, which meant three things. Either she was a higher positioned Q, she was someone the two Q valued, or she had figured out a way to make them stay in line. Back when they were thrown to the Borg, Q had shown what could possibly be fear when faced with Guinan, so it could be possible?

“How’d you do that?” Worf asked the little pegasus. “We’ve thrown all insults we can, I’ve threatened to throw the beast out the airlock, but nothing works. You just look at him, them, and they do as you say.” She pulled that adorable innocent face that Discord would always love.

“Not at all,” Fluttershy said, her voice as sweet as honey “Discord’s my best friend, he can choose to listen to me or not.” She wasn’t too sure about Anarchy, but she was sure he’d be alright. “If you keep showing up like that then people aren’t going to want to be your friend, they’re going to be hostile to you.” She knew why Discord didn’t like Worf, though it was more a personal grudge because of his ex “You can call them Discord and Anarchy, it’s a little easier than calling them both a letter and Discord’s used to his name at the moment.” Discord snapped his fingers, he and Picard gone. “Oh, I wish he’d ask before he did that.” Anarchy snorted, getting a firm look from the mare.

Discord wanted to talk to the Captain alone, Fluttershy would be able to keep Anarchy under control for a few minutes, he was sure of that. He’d teleported them to the observation lounge, or meeting room, one of the two. He was sitting how he did when he appeared to collect Amanda, back when she was still sane. A shame that. She could’ve been so useful, so, well, so not a murdering lunatic. The deity looked over to the irritated looking captain, who was likely thinking about the other Q who’d been with Discord. He wanted to have a little bit of fun, but he was struggling to find that same spark he’d had back then. Damn, he liked those games. They were from his old self before he was being drowned with responsibilities.

“Before you say anything, I’m from three thousand years in the future, so I’m not the same Q that enjoyed those games. Tried to get the spark going, that failed, like everything else in my so-called life.”

He sounded so old, then again, he was old. Kind of. Q didn’t age like mortals. Chronological aging meant squat to them, their age was based on their maturity. If he had the maturity of a child, he was a child, if he had the maturity of an adult, he was an adult. There were older generations and younger generations, but as he’d said, chronological age meant nothing. There were a few from the younger generation that had the maturity of fifty-year-olds… while he had the maturity of someone in their earlier twenties or almost twenty.… while he had the maturity of someone in their earlier twenties or almost twenty. When he met Picard the first time he’d practically been a teenager like Anarchy, sixteen or seventeen, he was in between the two. Responsibilities sucked.

“Why are you here?”

Many reasons. He needed advice from someone who could help him. It might not even be helpful, just hearing someone attempt to help him would make him feel a little better. How desperate must he be to lower himself to talking with Picard about this sort of thing? And why was he complaining about that? he’d spent a very long time lowering his standards to fit with the technicoloured equine. That lowering of standards extremely irked him. His vocabulary sounded sloppy because most of the words he used didn’t make a lot of sense to the primitive creatures. His games also had to be toned down for their childish minds. He’d snuffed out his own spark, his flair for his enjoyment. All for them and their sake. What a pain.

“Do I need a reason?” he’d already done that opening bit hadn’t he? damn. “I need advice.” Was he that blunt these days? He used to beat around the bush, play cat and mouse with his words, it was a little disturbing? He’d have to start playing his games again, he didn’t want to fall too far from his preferred perch.

“You? Asking me for advice?” This was a dream. No, scratch that, this was a nightmare. What could Q possibly get from him? Or Discord, or whatever he was calling himself. He looked oddly tired and worn out. He looked exhausted, drained like he’d gone to a pub and was feeling the side effects of real alcohol. “what’ve you done this time? If you’re getting kicked out of the Continuum again you’re not coming here, I’m not risking my crew to save your backside.”

“They wouldn’t do that, not at the moment anyway. Though, they’re probably wishing they never took me back and are thankful they did.” They regretted taking him back because of how badly he’d screwed it over and were thankful he’d screwed it over. He had no idea just how many laws they had? Some of them were ridiculous! What did they have against pears? Why was there a thing against pears? Some of them weren’t enforced anymore, but they were still there. Making you question the mental state of the tool who made them. “Guess what I’ve done to merit needing your advice? If you guess, I’ll do us all a happy favour and get rid of Riker’s beard.”

“I sometimes pity the other Q who have to deal with you.” Given how alike he and Anarchy were, Discord couldn’t argue with that. In fact, he too pitied the Q who had to bother with him before he got scolded. Anarchy got scolded as well, for longer, and he was still a total brat. “I’m not going to be playing any games with you Q, every time you show up here I have to deal with one misery or another! Every person you decide to hang around gets hurt or killed. A magnet for trouble and you find that trouble amusing because you’re too powerful to care.” That was one of the things he was concerned about. Fluttershy didn’t know the dangers of space, didn’t know how many enemies he had. There were a few Q in the Continuum who’d love to get her just to hurt him, his ex for example. Or Amanda.

“I want to play games, I’ve lost my spark for them at the moment. And, this isn’t exactly something I should be playing around with, given what effects it’s going to have.” Something he had to be serious about. Oh, the horror. He didn’t want to stay in Equestria any longer, it was really starting to get him down. If he left he’d have to reveal that most of what they know was all woven together by him, they didn’t even know what their sun really looked like. He’d have to undo the immortality on the alicorns, which would make them vulnerable to other countries. Wow, he’d really screwed them, hadn’t he? “I’ve already said I’m from the future, and, things have happened that I don’t know how to deal with.”

“What could possibly have happened to make you come three thousand years in the past?” He should be enjoying this, having this pain in the rear crawling to him for help. But that begged the question, what was it that made Q want his help? What had really happened that pushed this arrogant self-centered clown into asking for advice?

“War.” That wasn’t the answer he was looking for. A war? A war between what? “A Civil War to be exact. We haven’t had a war before, and a lot of us are still feeling the after-effects of it.” When he was stressed enough his left arm would tingle slightly, and he sometimes randomly had flashbacks to certain events he’d never be able to forget. “Some of us are the equivalent to amputees, I have a gunshot scar on my arm, and a lot of Q are dead.” He still had one of those divine level weapons in his house. Well, the weird cottage he’d made inside of that freaky dimension he stuffed all of his NSFW ideas into. “And, I’m currently in the position of rebuilding our shattered government. Three thousand years is practically a smoke break to us, so I’m still sort of in the meeting on what we should do now that we’ve won?” Time was very difficult to explain, seeing as he was timeless. He was on a five-minute break, which as roughly five thousand years to mortals. When Q said something was millennia old when it came from something that was affecting them in their world, it was a bloody long time.

“You, the Q had a war?” This had to be a nightmare. They wouldn’t go to war with each other. What reason did the so-called ‘perfect godly beings’ need to go to war? Q played a bigger part than he was letting on, he could see it. He wasn’t the kind of man to go rushing into something, no, he was the kind to scheme deep in the shadows. Or the one he thought he knew did. this Q was different to the one he normally dealt with, judging by how he sat and talked. “What for? What possibly drove the Q into a Civil War?”

“Freedom.” He was free to have friends, to choose how he lived his life, to be who he wanted to be and to make his own mistakes. Which he was making a lot of lately. “To shorten the story, a Q was inspired by my rebellious nature and how I played with you mortals, how different and free I was compared to everyone else who’re more like drones than individuals. He wanted to die because he believed it was in his right. Which it was. I was sent to stop him, after the Calamarian thing I straightened myself out a bit, and he was disappointed that I’d changed. He got his wish, I let him end his own life, and he re-inspired me. I called for change, people who followed his teachings rallying behind me, and that small voice grew into a roar. And the other side happened to roar just as loudly.”

“You started a civil war with your own kind?”

“I started a war, and I won. I won by making the first child in ten millennia, and that’s in our time, completely unfathomable to mortals.” Yes, this was definitely a nightmare. Q was a parent, the boy likely being his son. If this was real, then this was actually very serious. Q was asking help in rebuilding a government that was for what were essentially gods, a pantheon. He’d started a war calling for individualism, and he’d won by having a child. He didn’t know how you could win a war by having a child, but it wasn’t a conventional war. “I don’t know the first thing about building a government. I can tear one apart, but I’m not so good at putting one together.”

He’d created the Equestrian government, but that was because he’d lied to Celestia and Luna all their lives. When he got the balls to tell them, that would be another government collapse caused by his hands. His special talent should be destroying governments! He wondered what that would look like? Maybe a courthouse on fire? Probably.

“You’re asking a lot of me.” He was. He was asking a lot from the man he’d tormented for no reason other than his personal gratification. Well, he was also putting humanity on trial, but that was mostly just another game of his. “You’re asking advice to help with something that I don’t have the experience or the knowledge to help with.” He didn’t really intend for it to turn into a blood fest, it was the other side that started making the weapons anyway, so he wasn’t totally in the blame here. They chose to make it a proper war instead of something civil. “I’m a well-known diplomat, I’ve helped a lot of planets that’re in need of help, but something as massive as this? Your people are as close to deities as you can get, you’re asking a mortal to help build a pantheon!”

“In a way, yes I am,” he sighed. “We’ve never had a war before, it’s been well before my generation since there’s been a procreated child, we haven’t been pushed to the brink then have to rebuild ourselves. None of us are really sure what we’re doing, we’re currently trying to update laws and that’s going terribly. I’m not a responsible person, I can admit that I’m way out of my element here. I cause chaos that encourages a new look on order, things like law and rules aren’t my forte.” He used to live by the mindset that rules were for breaking, now he had to actually make rules he wasn’t allowed to break.

“How am I supposed to help? What advice could I possibly give you on something like this!” Discord bit his lip, not really able to answer him. “Do none of you know what to do? Any of you, at all?”

“The only one who could is dead. So, no, none of us have a clue where to go from here. They’re all looking to me for guidance! I’m not someone that should be on that kind of pedestal!” He started to pace, pinching the bridge of his nose, getting more and more frustrated. “I break things, I don’t fix them! I make a mess, and someone else cleans it up!” His son was supposed to shed a new light, but he wasn’t doing very well at that. They needed something completely new, someone, who could help them through this transition into the more modern era. Help turn the page to the new chapter. “I can’t lead them, I’m not the right person for it, but they’re still looking to me. I did inspire someone, I did call for change, I did manage to get that change, but I also caused a lot of people to die. I pushed my own people, who’re a possibly ironically passive race, into creating weapons that caused supernovas from the recoil of said weapons! I caused chaos and anarchy, that isn’t leader material.”

“No, it isn’t, but it’s apparently what they needed to change in the first place.” Q actually needed his help, not just him but the Continuum. Possibly. He’d have to be careful with what he said because it’d have consequences that’d affect all of time afterwards. “The Q needed someone like you to bring change, and they’re going to be looking to you on how to improve themselves. No, you’re not the right person for this, and that’s possibly why you’re the one who’s needed.” That didn’t make sense. “Let me rephrase that. From what I’m getting, the Q looked to you because of how different you were, and how you inspired them to be different. That’s what they’re still looking for. That different view, the different opinion, and the voice that became a roar.”

“I’m not exactly the voice, more the echo.”

“You started inspired the voice and carried the echo.” True. “Just, I’d say be you but then you’d just destroy anything you managed to make.” He’d be mad if that wasn’t half right. He finally stopped pacing and sat down, rubbing his eyes. He wanted advice, he wanted to talk to this man, and he was getting what he wanted. “Keep doing what you’re doing at the moment, and don’t try to do it all on your own, get others to help you. You’re far from leader material, but, that could mean that you could mould into what they need.”

“Maybe?” That wasn’t all bad. “I’m going to ask Guinan how to deal with a child, my son is a lot like me when I first met you, I feel so sorry for the Q back then. I had no idea what a turd I was until I got my own brat.”

“You’re far more than just that you know, vous êtes une douleur dans le cul.” He rolled his eyes, smirking a little. “I’m surprised, I was expecting you to just joke around and be a turd as you put it. You’re actually taking this seriously, which is a massive step in the right direction. I’m almost proud of the change you’ve made.” He was as well.

“You can blame that on that little pegasus.” He hoped she was doing ok and hoped that nothing had happened to her. She was an adorable sweet little thing, anything could happen to her. “And, that’s the other thing I need help with…” this was a mortal thing. If Picard couldn’t help with this he’d ask Janeway how to deal with the mare. Kathy would likely have better advice, being a female and all. “She’s wormed her way int my non-existent heart, she convinced me to make her immortal, so she could spend all her time with me. Threw her whole life away just because she wanted to be with me.” He looked at his hands, taking a deep breath and sighing, despite the fact he couldn’t breathe. You needed lungs for that, and he was lungless. Lungless, that sounded like a foreign soup? Odd. “I don’t want her to be immortal, but she’s very firm about it, I even told her I’d started a war and that I’m definitely no saint, but nope, she still wants to stay with me.”

“I’d say she liked you, but then I remembered who I was talking to.” Discord scowled a couple moments but didn’t comment on that statement.

“She does, and I don’t deserve any of it. I’ve spent three thousand years on her world, I’ve shaped their history, I’ve caused magic to accumulate there and now they aren’t going to be able to survive when I leave and take it with me! I’ve manipulated their entire government, and I’ve manipulated their rulers into believing they control celestial bodies. They’ve never seen their actual night sky, they just see darkness with pretty lights. First time I met her, I took her wings away, and I switched her personality just for my own enjoyment… I even stabbed them all in the back by handing them all over to an energy eating centaur.” That was a very weird weekend. Tirek hadn’t actually eaten Discord’s energy. If he had, the Discord wouldn’t be here, seeing as he was literally made of energy. The idiot believed he took Discord’s magic, but he didn’t even see the surface of Discord’s power. If Tirek actually took Discord’s power, then everyone would be in serious trouble. “She forgave me. She was still kind, and she’s sacrificing more than she should for me.”

“A centaur? Now you’re pulling my leg.” Discord changed into his Draconequus for, his facial expression still the same. “I’d question if someone slipped something in my tea, but I really shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore when it comes to how insane you are.”

“Oh, hush it, Xavier,” Discord snorted. “There’re very few people that I care about. She’s one of them, and possibly the only one to care about me as much as I do her. In fact, she probably cares about me more than I care for her. My own son doesn’t care for me the way she does. I’ve seen what immortality does to people like yourself. It eats you up, leaving nothing but a cold shell, an empty remnant. I don’t want her to end up like that, but I can’t take it away, because then she’ll either demand me give it back or asked my son to give it to her.” Discord’s tail waved side to side, displaying his conflicted feelings on the subject. “She means a lot to me. I like her personality, even you can say she’s adorable, she can sing like an angel, kindest soul I’ve ever found, as un-confrontational as you can get, she spends her life looking after animals, she’ll give up more than she should for people who probably don’t deserve it, a perfect example is this fella here,” He said, the thumb of his lion paw jabbed against his chest. “I like her being around. I even had tea with her every weekend before I told her what I was. I’ve told her almost everything, I almost hoped I scare her away, but it’s made her more determined to stay with me.”

Discord was going to mention that cow, but he didn’t need to talk about her. She was nothing but a pattern donor for his son. Deadbeat mom. Picard had dealt with the nice Amanda before she became Screwy, discussed mortality and immortality, though he surprisingly didn’t remember much from the conversation. He’d been so busy that he’d forgotten about it. Oh well, it wasn’t all that big of a deal. He couldn’t remember everything while under this much stress.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you loved her.”

His tail stopped swaying as he took that in. Did he? Was that even possible? Three thousand years ago, he’d say it was impossible for the Continuum to go to war, for not only a Q to become a parent but HIM before a parent, was it really all that impossible to think he could love someone? It was Shy, what wasn’t there to love about her? It was something to consider and ponder one. Now that she was immortal, he’d be able to spend his time figuring out if it was merely a possibility or actuality.

Discord thought more about it, his tail starting to wave again. Could he? Could he be capable of something as mortal as love? Spike did point out that he didn’t just spend every weekend with Fluttershy because he liked tea, which she’d gotten him hooked on. He’d talk to Janeway about it or Princess Useless. She was Princess of Love, which was a joke to him since he didn’t believe in it, until now. Well, more around the time he watched what Big Mac went through for that mare of his. Sugar something? Ah, Sugar Bell, that was it. Their names started to sound alike after a while.

A random idea popped into his head after that. The Q, that was all fine, but naming themselves all Q? It was far too confusing for mortal minds. He’d taken the name Ashke a couple centuries after he’d been made, not that he really claimed it as an actual title to be called. He was so used to being called Discord, that it might as well be his name. Maybe they should do that? The Q wanted individualism, names would be perfect for that! Anarchy was just a nickname the brat had chosen for himself, but he could choose a proper name later on. A name to keep. All of them could? Maybe they could have their own form as well? The Draconequus itself was a joke, so that wouldn’t be enough, he could give the idea to Shy later. She knew a lot about animals, she could help him pick out an original form for them to have instead of random ones they wore. Something to really call their own that wouldn’t kill a mortal if they saw it.

“Thank you for that,” Discord said, snapping his fingers and returning the captain to his throne. Love, it was such a strange thing. You could say you loved your family, but that you also loved chocolate and whatever else. It was a word with many meanings, something that led to many possibilities, it was chaotic. A term that fit him very well. Discord snapped his fingers again, teleporting to wherever his son was, which happened to be Ten Forward. He’d said not to bother Guinan for forking him, but did he listen? No! Well, he hadn’t actually said it, he’d glared it. Still, didn’t that stupid brat ever listen? Nope. Because he was Discord’s son and he himself seldom listened.

Fluttershy was singing, she was on that stage singing with that melting voice of hers. That voice could calm the wrath of the gods, not that he was gonna test that out. She wasn’t saying any words, it was mostly vocals, but that was even more beautiful. Now the man had pointed it out, Discord really had a think about it. Data was on his violin, and the pegasus was singing like the little angel she was. He couldn’t see where Anarchy was, probably hiding because his dad had just turned up.

A couple people were surprised since Discord hadn’t returned to the humanoid form, though most of them weren’t as Fluttershy had told them about Discord’s preferred form now. She wasn’t kidding when she said it was chaotic. It irritated those who worked in biology, no real need to explain why that was.

“Now here’s a face I didn’t want to ever see again.” Misses no-brows had come to make his misery even more miserable. And yes, that was possible. “She speaks very highly of you, Discord.” Knowing her, she would’ve made him sound like a saint compared to what a douche he really was. “Makes me wonder what you did to make her like you so much.”

“Took over her world, manipulated her rulers into believe they moved celestial bodies, is the reason they have magic, caused bedlam and misery, took a nap for a thousand years, manipulated her and her friends into believing they had some kind of fantasy destiny, I even stabbed them all in the back and betrayed them to an energy eating monster. Considering all I’ve done, I don’t deserve her, but there she is.” Singing with that angelic voice. She seemed to attract monsters to her. Just look at that wee demon ironically called Angel. “Believe it or not, Sister Mary Clarence, I want your advice.”

“What would the almighty Q want from me?” She could tell he was different. Still a total jerk, in her eyes nothing could change that, but he’d matured. She knew how Q aged, seeing as she and Discord had a bit of a past, so he’d matured somehow. Was she surprised by that possibility? Q, changing? Nah, that was a bit farfetched. As farfetched as pretty much everything Fluttershy said. She spoke so highly of him, it was like she was talking about a completely different person.

“How do you raise a son?” She stared at him for a few moments, deciphering the words that he’d just said. She must be going senile if he asked her about parenting. Discord snapped his fingers, summoning Anarchy to his side. The young man glared at Guinan, and his dad for revealing him, and Discord slapped him over the head. “For the final time no, you can’t get back at her for forking me!” Anarchy grunted in annoyance. “Don’t give me that. When I tell you not to do something, it means don’t do it. How hard is that to understand?”

“She stuck a fork in your hand!” He’d been spying on the woman. The listener didn’t listen hard enough if she didn’t know Anarchy was watching her. Probably going deaf with old age. “And I’m supposed to let her get away with that am I?”

“Yes, you are.” He kind of deserved it for being a total tool and endangering everyone aboard the ship. “She hurt me, and a lot of others have. Are going to go after that Calamarian that tried killing me? or the thousands of millions of other races that would love to stick my head on a pike, knit sweaters out of my intestines and use my balls as teabags? There’re even a couple of Q who’d just love to hang us with our optic nerves.” Anarchy kept his mouth shut. He knew there were a couple Q who were still very angry about all the change, and as he hadn’t been involved in the war, he didn’t know how bad it’d been. He knew his dad had been shot in the arm, but as he’d never been shot, he wouldn’t know what that was like. “It’s part of life. You’re going to make enemies, you’re going to have people who’ll hate your guts like eyebrowless here,” he said nodding to Guinan. “There’s an old earth saying. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” He never actually got what that meant. He always assumed that keeping them close meant you could keep a closer eye on them, so it was harder for them to put a dagger through your spine. “And there’s another one. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“Insults aside, not bad advice there.” Anarchy snapped his fingers, disappearing from the mortal’s view, but Discord knew he was still around. “So, you’ve actually found someone who was willing to have a kid with you? Poor them.”

“Poor them? Poor me! She’s that Klingon halfling that went with Worf all because I spent too much time on my son.” Shy’s voice was keeping him from getting angry when thinking about the cow. Waste of mass she was. “You’ve got kids, how do you make them listen to you? Mine’s the antichrist.” He knew he was calling himself Satan. He kinda was. The whole red skin, horns and goat legs thing, that was a very weird phase back then. Yikes.

“I’m just amazed at the fact you’ve procreated, I thought Q were against that sort of thing?” He snorted. He repeated what he’d given to Picard in an even more watered-down form. She wasn’t surprised he’d caused a war, she was just surprised that he’d been a ringleader. And that it wasn’t because someone stole his pop tart or something childish? “Well, I had a young man who was extremely rebellious. What did I do? I let him make his mistakes, and I talked to him when he was ready. You can’t force these things.”

“Your son didn’t have the power to knock planets out of orbit when he was hours old.”

“True. But, he did desperately want attention from his father who didn’t want to be a part of his life. He acted out in all kinds of ways in hope of getting his attention, but it did nothing but drive him further away. That brat of yours is probably going to do the same thing, he had the same eyes as my boy. Though in your case it’s the mother that doesn’t want anything to do with him.” Right on the nose Whoopi. “I was always there for him with the door open. I don’t know what yours’ll do but try the same. And try to find a mother figure for him to look up to, that’ll help.”

“Thanks.” Look at that, Guinan giving actually helpful advice, must be Christmas. Qmas! No, that was stupid. Cringeworthy actually. He seemed to have a new habit of continuously embarrassing himself with stupid choices that always came back to bite him right in the crotch then shake like a rottweiler. Discord watched the mare, his ears perking upwards slightly as he could hear it was nearing its end. She needed the ultimate send-off, one that they’d never forget. When she was moments from ending her angelic tune, Discord snapped his fingers, causing a nearby star to go supernova.

The waves of colours were as beautiful as ever. Despite living for a very long time, Discord never got tired of seeing them. Unlike mortals, he could see them up close, and he was able to see a lot more colours than they could. Everyone turned to look at the display, including the mare it was for. To see her adorable eyes, whose irises reflected the colourful waves, widen with such wonder… it made him feel a warmth from a heart he didn’t actually have. The ship was shielded from the sun’s raw power, allowing them all to see it without being harmed in any way.

An explosion of colour and light and life, all swirling together like a symphony. Everyone watched the beautiful event, the image burnt into their moral minds. The more he watched her, the more it seemed possible. What wasn’t there to love about her? She was so precious to him. There was so much to show her, so many people he could let her meet and let her guide to her ever-growing light. Fluttershy, the pegasus with a heart of gold and shined like a sun, her kindness borderline infectious. It was a little sad in a way. What they were all watching was the last breath of an atomic giant, witnessing its last signs of life that would melt into the expanse that was space. Even though it was essentially a fancy funeral, he couldn’t help but smile.