Succession of Chaos

Prologue ~ Retirement

I was out and about one fateful morning within a pocket dimension with a stir that fateful morning feeling... Somber? Now that's odd. What business do I have with such a gloomy emotion? I’m the God of Chaos! Lord of Mischief for peat sake! I should be out having fun, telling jokes and messing with mortals. But I just wasn’t feeling up for it. Something was amiss, or afoot, or something or the other… Whatever it was, it began to course through my body like ice, and my heart, which spontaneously appeared quickened. I quickly discovered that I deeply dislike it. Such unpleasant feelings were quite unusual and unbecoming for someone such as myself. Being the lord of chaos often entails having very little on the list of things to worry about after all. Unlike some ponies, I was completely free of everything. Never in my very long life was I required to assimilate to the strictures of society, nor did I ever care to. Such things were for those who required an order to both protect and provide for themselves. I, on the other hand, had whatever I could ever need and want in life. If I desired something, it was mine (For the most part anyway). Not even the laws of reality could stop my fun. They were merely suggestions for something like me, of which I, of course, made a habit to ignore with impassioned fervor. The only thing I could ever think to be a threat to my existence is a lack of chaos and the occasional cosmic entity that I encounter every so often. Sure, the Elements of Harmony were an annoying device that could disable me for long periods at a time (Thank you Starswirl), but they were practically harmless.

I pondered a moment, stroking my beard growing more irritated at the feeling. I could not immediately identify the cause of the feeling, “Whatever could it be that torments my mind so?” I said aloud. An answer came to me in a flash of white light, taking the form of a miniaturized version of myself pointing sadly to a floating calendar with a date circled in red.

I suddenly stiffened, “No… not that day. Anything but that day.” My frustration bubbled into a fit of rage that could shake the equestrian heavens. It was lucky for me, and everypony else that I was within a dimension of my own creation, otherwise Celestia and little Luna would have thrown a fit at my actions. The Pocket dimension eventually collapsed at the strain, leaving nothing but me, and the few objects that originated in Equestria, such as that damnable calendar. I looked it over once more with disdain. It read ‘Fluttershy’s Time’ day 18, Year 102 A.R. (After Reformation). I growled as I floated in the void, avoiding the moving teacup set that Pinkie Pie gifted me at one point many years ago.

I quietly fumed before teleporting the shy mare’s house. This was the most hated day of my immortal life and I had many. I had twenty-two hours to fix this. Quickly I teleported much closer in front of her cottage only to see her watering her garden like always. She didn’t even have to look to know I was there, “Hi Discord, what brings you here?” She said kindly.

“Your time is neigh,” I said bluntly. I will have to use every tool in my arsenal to convince her.
She continued watering her flowers without a reaction. Even in her elderly state was she graceful tending her home. Her coat might have faded, and her hair considerably greyer, but her form was elegant nonetheless.

“That it is.” She calmly said, “I don’t suppose you came to say goodbye now did you?”

Oh shoot, she sees right through me. “I came to talk you out of this nonsense. Death, in my opinion, is quite overrated. Seriously, whatever will I do without you?”

She finished watering and smiled. Several of her birds took away her watering pail. “We’ve already discussed this before on multiple occasions. Come, have some tea with me.” She slowly walked off to her house. It was the same as it always had been. Filled to the brim with animals, and very homey.

I shuddered incredulously at her voice of reason and resolve. How can she be so calm about this? I stepped inside regretting the promise I had made to her. Originally I first peeked a look at her death date due to my growing concerns to effects of her ever-advancing age. Her time was of the 86th year originally. Unacceptable in my opinion, and had since moved it up every once in a while.

She one day commented on her unusual youthfulness for her age during one of our teatime sessions, and I promptly told her the whole story expecting gratitude, because really, who wants to grow old and die? Instead, I find her frozen in her chair looking the most mortified I had ever seen her and was chastised by my actions. No matter how I begged, she refused to let me prolong her life anymore in any way the selfish mare!

I grumbled a bit as I sat down. I was tempted to bring the teakettle to life, but it felt distasteful at that moment. She quickly noticed my lack of shenanigans, “You know what will happens if you don’t make chaos Discord.”

I ignored her comment, “You put me in a very difficult situation Fluttershy.” My apprehension grew as the clock ticked on.

“You as well. Time and time again we have had this talk. I love you Discord, but I can't make it any clearer that I don’t want to live forever.”

“Why in the world not! I, Princess Twilight Sparkle and the other princesses handle it well enough, why can’t you?”

She sat down and took a moment to pour two steaming cups of tea before turning to me. "Question Discord, before we continue. Why did you stop visiting Spike and Big Mac?"

That hit me like a stone. I turned away, "Simple; they got too clingy and boring to be around, thus I elected to stop visiting them altogether." And the fact that their foals and hatchlings ruined our game every time.

"You and I both know that is not true. You were their best friend. Big Mac even decided to give you his entire Oubliettes & Ogres playing book set in his will. Spike has held them for you ever since."

I'll be honest. That stung quite a bit. What I had with those two were some of the most fun years I have ever had, but I selfishly cut them off in fear of facing the unpleasant parts of mortality. They too refused my gift. "I suppose it would be improper of me to not retrieve them then. But that can be dealt with later. Right now my most pressing concern is you. Please Fluttershy, I'll beg if I have to. Join the ranks of the immortals, the Alicorns, they're dealing with forever quite nicely."

Fluttershy sighed, “It's apparent you haven’t seen how things have been around here lately if you think that. Flurry Heart ended up having to look after the whole kingdom herself when her mother disappeared and her father passed. Luna is distraught over the recent passing of Silver. Twilight tries not to show it, but she hasn’t at all been the same since Pinkie, Rarity, and AppleJack.” She stopped and took a minute to take a ragged breath. Her birds came to help her but she signaled them away as she recomposed herself. “Spike’s the only one who has been keeping her from completely breaking down lately. She visits us but it won't be long now until I and Rainbow Dash will pass on too.”

That was news to my ears. Besides our teatimes. I haven’t really kept up to date about things. I had known about the other three elements. It was a shame I didn't get to them in time. I would have loved to see another one of Pinkie's parties. And then there was the matter of Princess Cadence. That was most troubling. It explains why Princess Twilight was so grumpy and declined my offer to a chaos rodeo to the crystal empire. If things were this bad, why hasn’t Celestia call for any of my aid? Oh wait… I disabled that spell. Anyway, I had to give props to Rainbow Dash for staying alive this long without magical aid, she always was the most stubborn out of all of them.

I stroked my beard ready to put my cunning to use, “Well, all the more reason to take up my offer Fluttershy. You’ve never been the one to shy away from doing what's right.” I saw the look in her eyes. Bingo!

Unfortunately, the look disappeared and turned into resolve. She eyed her tea, looking into her reflection before sighing. “I’m sorry Discord, but… I’m afraid that I'm just done. The younguns can take care of these new world problems we face, it's the very reason we made the School of Friendship in the first place.” She took a sip. “Even before you told me, I could tell the end approaches. I feel myself even now wearing thin, and wear and tear of life. I already told Twilight, and have already tied up all of my loose ends, well… except for you.” She finished quietly taking another sip of her tea. “I know you don't like to hear it, but I’ve made arrangements to be buried in the Celestia’s Garden. I would appreciate you coming to the funeral.”

I started feeling my anger build, “And you would so easily give up just like that!” The room shook. I quickly noticed what I was doing and tried to simmer down, taking a breath. The shaking stopped. Suddenly an idea came to mind. I cleared my throat a couple of times, “Surely you would stay if the Princess commanded it yes?” I would soon come to realize that that was actually a mistake.

Before she responded I snapped my talon and in a white light Celestia herself appeared. At the time it was quite an amusing sight. I had guessed correctly that she would be sneaking a bite on all manner of junk food at this hour. She appeared mid-bite in a cheesecake with a blissful expression. That soon turned to horror when she found she was not in the kitchens anymore, making an 'eeping' sound very unbecoming of a princess.

“Hello Celestia,” I greeted with an amused smile, “Sneaking in another snack I see?” She blushed slightly at my jest before trying to determine where she was. She met Fluttershy’s eyes before deciding to clear her throat, setting her half-finished cheesecake on a nearby platter next to a muffin. She quietly greeted Fluttershy and turned to me, “Discord, what is the meaning of this?” She questioned.

I scoffed dramatically, “Why, Fluttershy here doesn’t seem to appreciate my gift of immortality. I was hoping that you could talk some sense into her.” At that moment I thought I had my trump card. I looked at Fluttershy, and she had a heartbreakingly sad face that quickly put me out of my good feelings. I looked back to Celestia.

She seemed to sag a bit and made a soft, “oh…” Sound. She slowly turned to Yellow pegasus, “Would you mind me talking to him outside?” She asked.

Fluttershy nodded. Oh no. I thought, realizing quickly I had made a critical mistake. I knew this game. She was going to try to talk me out of it. No thank you! Silently she motioned me to follow her outside. I didn’t budge, my time to change Fluttershy's mind limited. She sighed, “I know you don’t want to hear what I have to say Discord, but I know you need to hear it. So please will you walk with me?” She said it that irritating motherly tone. I grumbled a bit but finally complied.

I crossed my arms and landed my feet on the ground with a displeased look, and we were off. We were silent for five minutes. After the humble cottage was finally out of sight, I elected it the proper time to ask a question, “Why do I now get the feeling that you're not on my side about this?”

She looked at me for a moment with tired-looking eyes, “I suspected something like this might happen someday.” She stopped for a moment, looking at the sky breathing deeply, “How long?”

“Twenty hours, thirteen minutes, and forty three seconds.” The seconds ticked very aggravatingly in my mind.

I saw the pain in her eyes, “I see..." She was quiet for a moment trying to think up a way to continue, "I understand your feelings about this, but this is her choice. I can’t force her to stay longer than she wishes. Not all have a soul strong enough to persist the constant flow of time. Even if a pony such as she were to stay youthful and strong forever by your magic, her spirit would dissipate and degrade with time." She sighed, "This is unfortunately the price for making connections with mortals. It hurts to let them go, but they follow a path different from our own. It surprises me that in your centuries of being around mortals that you haven’t realized this.”

I snorted, “That's because I never saw much value in the mingling with mortals before. Sure, they were fun to play around with, but beyond that, I never kept track of the ones who lived or died. They were all the same to me. Fluttershy however is much too dear to me to want to part with. I…” I was about to admit my love for her, but i’d be damn to let Celestia know that. I sighed, “Explain to me Celestia, and explain to me very well -- when I have the power to do as I please -- why I should let those dearest to me go? If not forever then why not a little longer? Maybe in that time, I could fix that whole soul thing, and maybe even give all of your little ponies everlasting life, and eternal friendship.” Though that may come with some consequences of course. That much power output would probably debilitate me for a couple years, but I could do it.

“Even your power cannot affect the soul Discord. Even so, you know I wouldn’t allow it. I will not risk my ponies into becoming wraiths.” She paused, and we were left with nothing but the chirping of birds before she sighed and spoke again, “There... have been many a time where I have found myself in your situation. I remember quite vividly begging my dearest friend Clover not to leave when it was her time to pass on, but like Fluttershy she had not the endurance to continue onward, none of my old friends did.” When she finished that sentence, I swore I saw a tear flow down her face. “The only mortal pony that I have ever become close with to have the compatibility to live forever is Twilight. I will admit that I had capitalized on that and granted her access to attain it, but even that has come with its consequences. She has grown miserable with most of her friend gone. She's the Princess of Friendship, but she is quickly losing all of her friends. She will get over it eventually, but the pain will come time, and time again when she has to say goodbye like the rest of us. Immortality... is a lonely, lonely life Discord.”

“But it doesn’t have to be Celestia. I don't have this infernal curse of power for nothing! Can't isn't in my vocabulary! Their souls could be permanent if I desire it enough. I can save her! I can save them all!

She seemed to have snapped. “Save them all?! If it were that easy Discord, then why in Equestria haven’t you done it?” There was a hint of venom in her voice that was very unfamiliar, “Were you too busy destroying my race and scattering the remains!? " She seethed." I try my hardest to hold in my resentment and to forget your part in that. I try to be a bit understanding, to give you a chance when you deserve none, but I can't when you can't help but think everything is a game Discord! You have always thought this whole life thing was a game, but you are completely ignorant of reality. I had been so alone for a thousand years with the guilt of causing my sister to go mad and forced to send her away. And now that she’s returned, she cannot even look at me without blaming me for what happened to Silver Dash!” Her face grew red and lost the rest of her composure. I was quite taken aback. This has been building up for a while. “I've made many mistakes Discord. I sent dearests one after dearest one to fight for me, only to never return from battle. I have been betrayed by those whom I considered friends. And you!” She pointed a hoof at me, “I tried desperately to redeem you after what you did. I had to gloss over history so that ponies could accept you! All I asked was for you to come in our hour of need, but you took away our method to approach you. The only time you ever poked your head out was on your own time, or whenever you felt like showing up for teatime with Fluttershy. It was a miracle you showed during the changeling Invasion, but where were you when the Frost King attacked and took over Canterlot? What did you do when Catrina tried to enslave all of my ponies and bring about an endless winter? I haven't even seen you in years and you just decide to poof me here to delegate because you are too much of a child to let one pony pass on peacefully!”

On all accounts she was completely right, but that didn't stop me from my rage. Gritting my teeth I snapped my talon. Suddenly we were in a room of solid hate and a couch of black ichor. Her wings and horn vanished and I went right in her face with a snarl, “You have a lot of nerve Celestia. You may have a thousand plus years and spent some of them in misery but I've been around for millennia! The things I've seen and done would have turned you white! I’ve done a multitude of things i'm not proud of. I'm truly sorry for what I did to your people. It doesn't make it right, but remember that you are not all gone. There are more Alicorns now than there have been in centuries! Who do you think instigated that? By all rights, Mi Amora should not have been able to give birth to an Alicorn child. And all of you are a ruler in your land, to share the burden. You have each other, but what shoulder do I have to cry on and relate my sorrows to? The horrors of my past transgressions haunt my very soul Celestia, I only have my games, and Her to comfort me. At the very least you have other of your own ilk to talk to, but I have no one else that understands me like her. Fluttershy is the only one in my life that I could say...” I pause, pulling away from her in the realization of what I was doing. She looked positively terrified. I looked away from her, and the room softened into a more sorrowful emotion. I lay back on the couch and sighed, “I'm... sorry. I lost myself for a moment."

She gulped but returned a look to me, so I continued. "I admit it was a mistake on my part to not be in contact with you, but after what happened with Tirek all those years ago, I realized that I needed to reign in on my instincts. I can sustain myself with the lesser forms of chaos in Equestria, but my nature is a fickle thing. To vent and express myself I had to keep a pocket dimension of chaos to satisfy them, and used Fluttershy as motivation to keep myself tame. Disabling the spell altogether was unwise, I know that now. But if you call me during one of my... episodes, lets say I would have become an even bigger problem than what you would be dealing with.”

I looked at her again. Her terrified expression was gone and replaced with pity. I sighed and snapped my talon. With a thought, everything on her was put in its proper place, and we returned to the path we were on “Again, I apologize." I sat on a bench at the side of the path we were on. "I hope you understand. Of all of my years in this world, no one has ever been able to look at me the way Fluttershy does. For the majority of my life, I was all alone. I wasn’t even supposed to have consciousness now that I think about it.”

She blinked at that new piece information. She cleared her throat and sighed sitting down on the bench next to me, "Would you like to talk about it?" She asked.

“No, but I will since you asked. Before I became what I am as you see me, I was solely this universe’s machine of chaos, with not but the purpose of spreading it indiscriminately. No guilt, no remorse, no love, nor care. I was pure, and total chaos.” I laughed uncomfortably as I explained it to her, “If you had met the thing I was just two thousand years ago, trust me when I say that not even your elements would have stopped my path of destruction. You would have gone insane before you even knew I was there.” To this day I still have nightmares.

She jerked back to me in surprise when I said that. Several minutes of awkward silence passed before she replied, “I… I didn’t know that. Why did you never tell anypony?”

I snorted, “It's not a very comfortable thing to talk about. I did tell Fluttershy about it when she asked, but you never did. As I recall, you and little Luna were always too busy shooting me with rainbows for me to tell you anything about my personal life.”

She tried to smile and failed, “I suppose that is my bad.” She kicked a rock in front of her, “Would you mind telling me now that I'm not shooting rainbows at you?” She joked.

“Hmph, It's not a very happy tale mind you. When I told dearest Fluttershy of my beginnings she wept the entire night. Made me feel bad for an entire week. I shouldn’t have even told you this much.”

She looked at me with those eyes of hers. “Please Discord?”

I rolled my eyes, “Oh all right, but don’t blame me if I reveal something you would rather not know. I suppose I might as well go all the way and show you instead of tell.” I snapped my talon and we appeared in a nighttime field with that dreaded crimson altar dead center of it. Several ponies in dark hoods were surrounding it in a circle. I shuttered.

Celestia blinked, “So sudden." She whispered. I believe she muttered something about me being impatient, but I wasn't paying that much attention. "What is this?” She asked a bit more loudly. Gasping when she saw the altar.

“A memory.” I said darkly, “My first memory of me becoming me, as you know me, ten thousand years ago.”

A rustling in some bushed came opposite from us as many cloaked horses as large, and larger than Celestia surrounded the alter. Seven of them stood in a circle around the altar looking to the crowd. For several minutes they chanted in a guttural language long forgotten in the modern era. It seemed to darken the surrounding field. Celestia made note of feeling light-headed at the words, but then the last words suddenly hit, and all was eerily quiet.

They removed their cloaks, and Celestia gasped. They were all Alicorns.

“Welcome Brothers and sisters!” The lead Alicorn’s voice boomed. My teeth grind as I listened to his dark and gravely sound. Apparently he was a big tobacco enthusiast. “Tonight is the night we finally make the world our own. From this day forth, we will no longer submit to the tyrant king Idumea, who has long pursued peace in our land where there is none. At what expense might I ask? Why none but his citizen’s safety. He has sacrificed our security in hope of appealing to the war-like and barbaric satyrs and centaurs and sits in his throne contently simply because we can move the sun and moon. Well, I won't wait until our cities burn and our children were slain.”

There were several murmurs of agreement in the crowd.

“It is thus that I decree, after tonight, we shall harness the infinite powers of chaos to bring his end. We will save our kind, and only the Alicorns of the cult of Discord will reign over the world!” Cheers rang out amongst the crowd.

Celestia looked sick, “I… don't believe it.”

“Nothing I could ever say could prepare you for this.” The evil enacted here was of the worst kind that could ever be performed. So much so that it infected all of the surrounding fauna and flora, turning it into what is now known as the Everfree Forest.

After the crowd calmed down, the Alicorn continued, “Unfortunately, to make our goals a reality, a sacrifice to the entity of discord must be made. To save our world, we must take a life to save thousands more. Bring in the colt!”

Both of my hands clenched when I heard that. Celestia gasped once more.

A light brown colored alicorn colt with a bag over his head was pushed into the circle whimpering. “If any of you are scholars of Magica, then you will know that universal primal wells are near impossible to draw power from. Our horns are natural conduits that hail to nature's font of power and drawn by will. The chaos of itself, however, reacts not to will, nor desire.” He stated, “It is forever, and therefore incapable to be harnessed by regular means. But it can be drawn from an artificial conduit if it has a soul to manifest it's will within.” In his magical grip, he held up the colt and put a blade to his throat. The bag was removed to reveal his terrified face. He was beaten quite badly.

Celestia attempted to move to intervene, but I stopped her, “These events have already come to pass." I said, "There is nothing you can do.”

“Let us begin!” All seven Alicorn said simultaneously. They began to chant and the group below followed suite. They chanted in a verse of old magic that resonated with chaos, stomping their hooves in rhythm. The night was lit up purple with every horn in the circle as the colt was forcibly placed on the altar. There was a reason why it was crimson color.

Magical streams from every horn connected to each other till it made the shape of eight arrows pointing out, beckoning the entity of chaos to appear. With an ominous hum the arrows opened up into a gateway. A blob of purple spastic energy emerged and was quickly held in place with strain. The leader laughed at the sight, but the alicorns that held it down screamed as their minds were twisted. “Yes.” He said with a malicious grin. He held the colt on the table with the knife at his throat, while the colt weakly pleaded for his life. Celestia turned and the sight, but I looked on as there was a shurk! and the colt lay spasming with blood pooling out from him. The seven Alicorns made no haste to wrangle the energy with their magic chanting louder. It suddenly stopped resisting and quickly began to pool into the now very dead colt until there was nothing left of it. Everyone there was left panting in the end. And then the air went still. Suddenly the colt stood up screaming. His eyes glowing a bright yellow as he began levitating in the air. The cult leaders hadn’t realized then, but all of their member had run off in a craze induced from the exposure to the chaos. The colt quickly contorted and changed. Screams turned to manic laughter. His body elongated, limbs changed and the laugh deepened until it was at last me.
None of them moved, “The spell went wrong. That was not supposed to happen!” One of the Alicorns spoke, horrified at the creature before him.

“Tsk, tsk.” Past me said, “Looks like you Alicorns have done goofed up this one it seems. I mean really? what did you expect would happen to try to merge all of this chaos into a single lifeless husk?”

The lead Alicorn spoke up, “This is what I always intended to happen Dante. He looked up at past me and bowed, “My lord, I am your servant. Will you help up, oh divine being, Lord of Chaos to defeat the tyrant king Idumea?”

Past me looked in thought, “Why that would indeed sound fun. Yes, I think I will do that, there is just one problem.”

The group looked confused, “What would that be my lord?”

Past me smirked, “The spirit memory of the colt you imbued me with hates you all tremendously for what you did to him, so it would only stand to reason that I hate you all tremendously as well. Unfortunately this is the end for you.” Without another word the terrified looking alicorns all turned to stone around the altar, and past me laughed maniacally “Lord of Chaos doesn’t sound that bad.” He said before disappearing in a snap. The memory ended, and we were back on the path. Celestia ran to some bushes to vomit some. Guess you shouldn't have so many sweets before seeing something so horrid my dear.

She returned, tears in her eyes, “Is that really what happened?"

I nodded, “I haven’t been able to return to that memory Celestia for thousands of years because it had pained me too much to think about. Your the only living soul that I have ever shown it to. And I did so because I finally realize that I don't just have that scared and angry colt's soul. I am in fact that colt and have in the past tried so very hard to forget. And having seen it, I hope you will understand why I cannot let Fluttershy go.”

“I understand Discord, but… I am powerless in this instant.”

I sighed, rubbing my temples, “Well then, I suppose I have one other option to consider.”

"What is that?" Celestia asked.

"Retirement."

Celestia gave me a puzzled look. It was really funny to look at. “Re...retirement?” She slowly went over the words.

“Yep. Putting away the flying pigs, and plaid shirts and whatnot but not before putting things right of course. I had thought about this for awhile now just in case of such a situation where I got tired of me eternal life.”

“I don't understand.” She said looking quite confused, “How? Why? I don't... ”

“Do I have to spell it out any clearer? I’m handing away my keys, giving away my powers so that I can go back to the past to be with Fluttershy.”

“Discord… that's, Insane! The implications of such an action would change Equestria as we know it. All of this” She gestured to everything, “could cease to happen.”

I shrugged, “From what I heard, this isn’t so great of a future anyway. Besides, I'm only going back to 102 years right before my reformation.”

“Well, when you put it that way… What of your heir? And are you really okay with growing old and dying?”

“The world is boring anyway, but I would do anything to be with Fluttershy. As a Draconequus, I could never give her the love she deserved, maybe this is my second chance, and to your first question,” I grinned deeply, “I’ve been around the cosmos and back several times. There are only one species worthy enough to wield my power. Even without my magic, their cunning chaotic minds can near rival my own.”

Celestia shuddered, “Keep in mind that who or whatever you choose has to be able to live peacefully with my ponies. I don’t want another well… you.”

“You wound me Celestia, but you do have a fair point. It would do us little good if they tore equestria in half.” I stroke my beard, “I would have to choose one that would get along well with you ponies, and have some form of familiarity with this world in order to integrate themselves properly.”

“Assuming that this is somewhere not Equestria, why would they be familiar with it?” Celestia asked.

“Probably because I embedded the recent history of Equestria in their minds. Turned it into a cartoon show I believe. I was pleased to find I was played by John De Lance of all people.” I responded.

She blinked a few times but shook her head, “Very well, may you find peace and happiness Discord.”

I smirked at her. Without another word, I teleported off through time and space.