Fire in the Leaves, Fire in the Mountains

Discord was laughing.  He had never, in his long years, felt so good about himself at that particular moment.  Above him in the sky, a flock of giant muffins with wings were chasing a confused mailmare with a lazy eye around, and beneath him a drunk magenta pony was rolling on the ground, screaming from the pain of alcohol poisoning that she seemingly could not die from.  Across the way, a colt with an hourglass on his flank was being tormented by a mare who had stolen his voice; he was repeating what she said without any control, and a look of sheer terror on his face.

Discord swooped down out of the clouds, paying notice to a flock of ducks that were trampling a small orange pegasus filly with their cleats, closing his eyes and letting in the sweet sound of screams of pain and terror wash over him.  He really had been to soft on them last time; the little ponies deserved nothing less than the eternity of torment he had given them before the royal sisters turned him into a statue, and he was a fool if he could think he could earn their-ohhhohohoho what's THIS? he said to himself.

Pinkie Pie, one of those insufferable element-bearers that had sealed him away, was doing laps in a lake of chocolate milk that had formed near her candy shop.  She seemed to be completely oblivious to the suffering of the ponies around her, which in itself was surprising, but far more so considering the idiotic company she kept.  Curious, he moved into closer to take a look.  One of the Cakes, the couple that owned the shop that the pink element holder lived in, was barely staying afloat in the lake, and from her obvious thrashing about, she couldn't swim.  Her husband, a lanky colt with what had to be his little spawns clustered around his legs, looked on in horror as she thrashed about wildly in the lake.  He was shouting at her, and trying to remove his feet from the thick, sticky taffy that held his hooves fast.

He gawked openly, and his eyes widened visibly as he realized the happy element-bearer could actually hear and probably see what was going on, but was completely ignoring the distress of her pseudo-adoptive family members.  He swooped down to investigate as the pink pony was shooting chocolate milk out of her mouth in a fountain.

"Ohoho WOW! This is certainly a surprise, Ms. Pie.  Don't you see the Cakes over there?" The familiar voice of Discord wafted over into Pinkie's blissful state, as she was swimming around without a care in the world. "Yep!" she answered, full of the usual joy that characterized that particular response. "Don't you feel like helping them? I don't think Mrs. Cake can tread milk for much longer." Pinkie turned off to the side, seeing Mrs. Cake barely staying afloat now, screaming at her husband in terror.  "Nope!" Discord visibly gaped at her, with an expression of genuine confusion and amazement on his face. "Well, why on earth not? Don't you care about them?" Pinkie appeared to ponder this, floating on her back with her legs crossed. She snorted and burst out laughing, only intensifying the mystified expression on the draconiquus' face.  "It doesn't matter anymore, silly! You should know that better out of everyone!" As she stared up at him with her bright, sapphire blue eyes, Discord felt something inside him well up he hadn't felt in a long time: warm familiarity and friendship.

As ironic as it seemed, this pink pony, in her demented state, actually understood him better than any of the ponies he had ever met had.  "Why doesn't it matter?" He asked curiously.  Pinkie threw back her head, grinning; her cotton-candy hair soaking in the chocolate milk. "At first I was worried about my friends, but after I thought about it for a bit swimming around here for awhile, I realized that even though I like them, the cakes, and everypony here, it doesn't matter.  What's the point of trying to make everypony smile and be happy, have a good time if they all die in the end?  That's silly.  The princesses and creatures like you, Discord, never have to die, and they can have all the fun they want.  What matters is that everybody should have a good time on their own or with fun people, and be happy up until they die.  I don't want to worry about making my friends happy or giving a smile to anyone else anymore.  I just want to laugh and be happy as long as I can. Keep the chocolate milk rain coming if you can, please!"

In a flash, he understood that this, single, odd pink earth pony had realized eons of his work, and understood what the finality and pointlessness of mortality entailed.  She alone out of every living thing he had encountered after becoming the last one of his kind finally UNDERSTOOD him, and the value of utter, selfish animal hedonism.  Although she probably wasn't the type to devolve into subsentience, never to speak or listen again and have her soul decay as his...darker friend desired...she could be a companion to him.  Discord smiled, and drifted down next to her, floaties appearing on his limbs, tail, and horns, with a rubber duck appearing next to him, going off with dark intent towards the now drowning Mrs. Cake.  "You and me? We'll go far together.  How would you feel about becoming immortal in exchange for helping me...stir up a little chaos?" Pinkie looked over at him, a glazed expression on her face with an unnatural smile that couldn't be healthy. She threw back her head and laughed wildly, and Discord smiled himself as he heard the Cakes scream in pain and dispair as Mrs. Cake encountered the duck.  A loud slapping sound was heard as they gave each other a high five.