Discord's Pride

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
Chapter 7

Chapter 1

And so the day was won. The changelings had not only been stopped, but saved from their own hunger and shown a better way by one of their own to share love instead of stealing it. With the prisoners freed and the now deposed Queen Chrysalis having fled, changelings and ponies alike celebrated and cheered.

But only the changelings and ponies.

None noticed Discord in the rear of the crowd, scowling his displeasure. He slithered off in the air and vanished, lest someone take note of his less than pleased visage.

He should be happy, or he was sure that was what his friends would believe. After all, he rose to the challenge and helped save Equestria from a mass, hidden takeover even with his magic being unusable during this little adventure. He should be whooping in celebration, subtly rubbing it in various faces, or hugging Fluttershy now that she was safe.
But he wasn't, and he didn't feel the desire to pretend for anyone that he felt anything positive after recent events.
When reality reformed around him, he was in a vast field of tall grass overlooked by a range of mountains. It was far from Equestria and long untouched by anything that could be called sapient…exactly what he wanted.

The very air trembled around him as he glared into nothing, the plants within his immediate gaze withering and eroding as the air rushed towards him, as if he was an infinite void. Static sparked from his wings, fraying at the ambient magic and oxygen in the air. His lips curled back show his fangs, his teeth grinding apart pions and axions into strangelets and Planck particles. Chaos churned within him, around him, and beyond the very fabric of reality as it tried and failed to appease him.

With a roar of rage, Discord brought his fists down and impacted into the ground. A great spider-web of cracks and gashes pulsed into the earth, spreading for miles as they grew ever deeper and wider to become a great canyon. His roar echoed across this realm, the very gravity dying of fright and allowing the rubble to freely rise upward. Reality itself was fractured at the very bottom of these chasms, geysers of super space spraying to form pits of emptiness that bubbled with cosmic ash. The grass turned to glass from the impact, but was still too shocked to notice, for the shards continued to sway in the breeze. The clouds themselves had become balls of shining, neon light that burned at the sky, as if they were infantile stars spawned from nothing…nothing but Discord's rage.

Discord just sat there, his arms half embedded in the soil. He breathed deeply and slowly as his body trembled with terrible wrath and horrific power. His chaos was running wild, and he just didn't care. He let the breath escape his jaws and studied the palm of his lion paw. He could feel the very fabric of what mortals and immortals alike named "reality." The shell that kept their worlds so stable and orderly…that imposed the very laws of physics and reasons. To them it was like a steel wall; it might dent or bend, but it never breaks. To him, it was a thin cloth and he could feel it shriveling under his very touch. He could already see the chaos escaping through the cracks in the materiality, the strip tearing from the whole and shifting in his grasp. The fragment squirmed and warped into a clay scorpion with a snake for a tail. The creature skittered around his limb as he idly turned it upside down, studying the little abomination as it hissed and snapped at him in warning, as if it could do anything to him, before coming to rest on his palm again.

He crushed it with a sickening squish, dropping the clayborn-thing like a discarded toy.

He looked out upon his creation with the same scowl. He had given up much in the sake of friendship, something that he never knew he needed. He gave up taking Equestria and the world over. He gave up his plots against the Alicorns and others individuals. He gave up his war against Harmony and had a ceasefire with Order. He even gave some of his dignity in admitting that, yes, he needed Fluttershy and the others. He was tired of being alone and even more tired of pretending he wasn't. But there was one thing that Discord refused to relinquish.

His Pride.

A thousand years ago, he was known as the most powerful being in the world, none could compare. Not an army of Alicorns, an arsenal of magical weapons. Nothing could stop him. Yet now he had been bested by three: A Fledging Divinity in the form of Harmony, a brutish centaur with family problems, and now...a bucking chair.

It was ironic, really. Since joining the side of the heroes, his once absolute power was questioned more and more often. He could only shrug that off so many times before not even all the insanity in history could sate this simple issue.

His pride was wounded; it could be dismissed no more. But what was he to do about it?

The air grew heavy, the near blades of glassed grass around him shattering as they fell to the ground and began to crush themselves into grains of sand.

The scowl became a snarl as he concluded there was only one way to remedy his situation.

The mundane way.

The mortal way.

The old way.

Discord flexed his talons and popped his spine. He had work to do.

Timeskip

Fluttershy sighed as she made her way to Ponhedge. She had been able to retrieve the Mask of Mage Meadowbrook, but that wasn't what weighed heavy on her heart and mind.

Discord had been missing ever since the Changeling incident from months before, having vanished while no one was looking. At first, even she hadn't thought too much of it. Reformed or not, Discord liked to surprise ponies, herself included. She half expected there to be a surprise celebration instantly appearing at some point between the trip back from the land of the changelings and her home.

The only surprise was that there was no surprise, no Discord. Not that day, next week, or next month. No tea parties, no visits, nothing.

She had even asked in a letter to Princesses Celestia and Luna, being as polite as possible, if there was possibly any other changelings that hadn't changed and might have had a hoof in his disappearance. While they assured her that was not the case, they did raise their own concerns about where the draconequus had teleported away to, especially after he hadn't shown up for the award ceremony held in honor of him, Starlight, Thorax, and Trixie.

Discord not showing up to something celebrating himself? That got everypony among her friends concerned.

After that, Twilight and Celestia had tried to summon him, but he was apparently rejecting their summons, for lack of a better word. Her blood had run cold when the prismatic ritual produced no Chaos Lord, fearing that there was nothing to summon. That Discord was no longer with them.

Thankfully, the princesses had assured her this was not the case. If he was captured or sealed away again, they would have been unable to summon him at all rather than him refusing the summons. She was happy to know that at least he was probably alright. Still, she wished she knew what he was doing, why he was avoiding them so much…avoiding her.

He wasn't reverting to villainy, she was sure of that. She still recalled when she had awakened after Chrysalis had been overthrown, Discord instantly scooping her into a warm embrace. No, she believed in him. But what could keep such an almighty being as her friend so preoccupied all of a sudden.

That thought had to quickly be pushed aside for now though. She was almost back at Ponhedge and she wasn't sure what, if anything else she would need to do with helping Twilight undo the seal imprisoning the Pillars of Equestria. What none of them had expected was said heroes almost having their return to the world short-lived if she and her friends had not pulled them away from falling boulders that had reappeared with them.

"What... What has happened?" Starswirl the Bearded asked, looking around at many faces, strangers and friends alike.

"It worked! We brought you back!" Twilight exclaimed in cheerful success.

"To where?" the ancient wizard inquired as he tried to rub the cobwebs from his head.

"You and the others have been trapped in Limbo for over a thousand years-" Twilight started, missing how Starswirl's eyes became very wide and alarmed at the mention of Limbo. "-But I figured out how to get you ho-"

"What?!" Starswirl exclaimed in shock and fear. "No, no, no, no! You must undo what you've done!"

"What? Why?" Twilight asked in alarm before looking concerned and uncertain. "I mean, I don't think I can."

Starswirl closed in on the young Alicorn with wide and desperate eyes. "You cannot bring us back!"

"But I did. I brought all the Pillars back," Twilight countered as she slowly backed up towards the center of Ponhedge.

"You cannot bring "only" the Pillars back!" Starswirl warned in growing alarm.

All parties stopped as lightning crackled across the darkening sky, the ponies cowering as a mass of darkness formed with an echoing laugh. As the shadows collected into a giant imitation of an Alicorn, the Pony of Shadows was once more free upon the world.

"Oh, no!" Twilight whispered in horror, realizing what she had done.

"Your pitiful attempt to imprison me has failed, Starswirl!" the Pony of Shadow declared, relishing in triumph.

The ancient unicorn's horn glowed as he attempted to attack the villain, only for his magic to fizzle impotently from exhaustion. "You must return us to limbo!" he implored to Twilight. "It's the only way to stop him."

"I only figured out how to bring you back!" Twilight retorted, looking urgently to Sunburst as he flipped through the pages of Starswirl's journal.

"Working on it! No table of contents!" he answered frantically.

The Pony of Shadows watched with dark amusement. "Allow me to assist," he said sinisterly, tendrils of shadow bursting forth to stab through the six stones of Ponhedge, along with the book. The ponies dodged out of the way as dark magic pulsed through the appendages, shattering the ruins and destroying the book. "There! Without the power of Ponhedge, your banishing spell is useless!"

Starswirl turned his half-desperate and half-annoyed glare at the Princess of Magic. "You have studied my writings. Surely you have some other plan!"

"No. I just wanted to save you. I didn't think-" Twilight was cut off by the laughter of the dark figure standing over them.

"Don't fret. When I extinguish the light and hope of this miserable world, you..." The Pony of Shadow suddenly trailed off, looking immensely confused. "What is that sound?" he asked incredulously.

The ponies, ancient and modern alike, found themselves surprised by the sudden change of subject. "Is that a voice?" Flash Magnus asked in surprise.

"minemineminemineminemineminemine."

"Sure sounds like it," Applejack answered with a scowl.

"But where is it coming from?" Somnambula asked

"MineMineMineMineMineMineMineMine."

Rarity scowled as the voice became clear to her "Is it just me, or does it sound-?"

Everyone froze in shock as a brown blur impacted with the Pony of Shadows, sending him tumbling back into the trees.
"-familiar?" the fashionista squeaked as everypony stared at a backside that was both familiar and very, very different.

The great equine growled as it stood and shrugged off the tree trunks. "Who dares to-MMM!?" The Pony of Shadow yelled before it quickly grew silent with alarm and confusion.

Discord crouched with a vicious, deadly grin. His very being radiated power eager to be unleashed. "Mine."

"The Draconequus," Mistmane voiced in surprise.

"The Lord of Chaos." Meadowbrook added in dread.

"The Mad God himself," Starswirl finished with a scowl. "This bodes ill."

The Titans of Shadows and Chaos stared each other down, one daring the other to make the first move. "I don't suppose you'd be agreeable to a truce, Lord Discord?" The Pony of Shadows offered warily.

Discord smirked as he raised his talons, as if to snap them. The shade of an Alicorn tensed in preparation, but grew confused as Discord instead held out the curled digit towards his enemy, as if to flick him.

He did flick him.

The Pony of Shadows gaped, dodging out of the path of a vertical wave escaping from Discord's finger and leaving a deep indent in the ground as it went. It shot past the shadowy villain, cleaving through stone and forest to create a perfect path, plants and stone cut through like butter. The Pony of Shadows looked at the devastation in shock before facing his opponent anew.

But Discord had not given him pause, already in front of the mock-Alicorn and delivering a fist into his chest. The Pony of Shadows let out a silent scream as cracks formed in the very air around the impact of the strike, before exploding to send him skidding and catering across the ground.

"That's Discord?" Sunburst whispered in shock, looking to Starlight in astonishment. "You never said he was so...intense."

"He wasn't! Well, except for one moment- oh buck, did someone threaten Fluttershy?" she whispered back in terror.

"Twi, is my mind playing tricks, or is Discord a bit taller?" Applejack asked while swallowing a lump in her throat, clutching onto her hat in case it flew away.

"And are his wings bigger?" Pinkie Pie asked curiously, unable to take her eyes off this epic clash, however one-sided.

Twilight didn't answer, too much in awe and disbelief as she watched Discord handle the Pony of Shadows both directly and effectively. Never before had the sheer gap between Discord's power and all others been made so vividly clear to her.

"I don't suppose you heard from Discord recently, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked. "Or, you know, why he's suddenly gone boss-mode."

"No, I haven't. I've...I've never seen him like this," Fluttershy answered, staring on with deep worry for her friend.

"I am just very glad he is on our side," Rarity murmured.

"And that he never treated us like that when he was a baddy," Pinkie Pie added on, Rarity cringing at the image of so many broken bones.

Discord ignored the murmurs of his friends, regarding the Pony of Shadows with dissatisfaction as the dark creature pulled itself from the earth. The Lord of Chaos raised both arms out wide, as if to embrace something. He waited until the Pony of Shadow's locked eyes with him once more, smirking as he raised both limbs high in a grasping motion.

The Pony of Shadow decided he'd rather not stick around for whatever came next, taking flight to make his escape.
Or he would have, if something had not erupted from the very earth, pulling him back down. He screamed and roared in pain as he realized what it was: Lava. Literally tendrils of pure, bubbling lava were wrapping around his large wings and torso, dragging him not just to the ground, but beneath it. The Pony of Shadows struggled and thrashed desperately against his infernal binds, but found no release.

With a scream of defiance, the Pony of Shadow unleashed a great surge of dark magic, pushing the lava-appendages off his form long enough to escape. He let out a sigh of relief, but it was short lived.

Discord flicked his opponents three times; unleashing each digit in rapid succession. The Pony of Shadows let out a cry of pain as his wings were both cleaved from his shadowy body and a large gash appeared just below his chest. Darkness bled from his wounds like a misty blood as he panted hard. He weakly backed away as Discord advanced on him, every step of the Draconequus seeming to carry more and more weight. "Please," the Pony of Shadows pleaded as he stared up at the Lord of Chaos. "Mercy."

Discord only snorted as he grasped the mock-Alicorn by the neck, pulling him off the ground. He glared into the white eyes of the Pony of Shadow as his free claws held a ball of strange, pale magic. "How disappointing. I was hoping for a warm up at the least," he said in disappointment, aiming the sphere at the terrified villain. "You were better off as a pony, Stygian."

Everything froze, Discord's glare becoming more intense yet unfocused. He slowly turned to stare at the spell, frozen in midair and aimed at his back. His gaze trailed back to the caster; Mistmane, glaring at Discord in a brave yet foolish manner. "Really?" Discord asked dryly, growing increasingly annoyed as he felt the Pony of Shadow slip from his grasp and attempt to flee. "Not so fast."

The Pony of Shadows vanished in a blur of teleporting darkness, but not before screaming as one of his hind legs, along with Mistmane's spell, disintegrated into mana and dust.

"Lovely, he got away," Discord mused without much care. His gaze shifted to glance at the large group of ponies behind him, regarding them fully for the first time. They stiffened under the literal weight of his stare.

All except one.

"Discord!" Fluttershy exclaimed happily, flying up to him.

"Wait, what?" the pillars said in disbelief as they saw the mare fly up to the draconequus.

"Fluttershy," Discord greeted with a smirk as she floated up to his face. "Saving the world again?"

"Umm, I think we kind of endangered it this time," she answered sheepishly.

"How many evil cans are even left now?" Discord mused with an eye roll.

Fluttershy ignored the rhetorical question, looking at him curiously. "Where have you been? Everypony has been so worried about you!"

"Busy," Discord answered vaguely. "I thought Nightmare Moon was making an encore, instead I got her male knockoff."

"We really appreciate the help, but um, were you going to...?" Fluttershy asked in uneasy concern.

"You'd be surprised what you can live through," Discord answered in ominous reassurance before looking thoughtful. "How long have I been gone, anyway?"

"Umm, about three, maybe four months?" she answered, surprised he didn't know.

"Really? That long? Guess I really got carried away," Discord remarked, stroking his goatee. "Well, I suppose that's what I get for training with singularities."

"I'm sorry, but where the BUCK did that come from!?" Rainbow demanded, flying up with a wide grin. "That was awesome! Discord, have you been holding out on us?"

"Yes?" Discord answered with a smirk. "I don't think you'd survive a serious pounding from me, Rainbow."

"That's nasty as Tartarus and I just don't care!" Rainbow said, almost squeeing. "Way to tug your awesome out, dude! Eight out of Ten!"

"Only eight?" Discord asked, clearly unimpressed with her judgement.

"Well, it would have been a nine if it lasted longer, or a ten if he hadn't gotten away," Rainbow reasoned.

"Fair," Discord allowed with a shrug.

"Okay, seriously, why the hay are you taller?" Applejack asked as she stood next to him, scowling at his legs. "I really remember being higher above your knees."

"Side effects," Discord waved off.

"Whatever happened, we are super-duper happy you're back and took round one with the Pony of Shadows!" Pinkie Pie pronked over before glancing at the very long, very perfectly-v-shaped ravine that had been created. "Buuuuut maybe tone down the landscape rearrangement? A smidge?"

"Excuse me, but WHAT THE TARTAROUS IS GOING ON HERE!?"

All parties turned to a seriously confused and displeased Starswirl. "Oh, right, he wouldn't know about that," Starlight recalled with a grimace.

"Know what? Have these lands been taken over and ruled by this fiend for so long that ponies accept it as unavoidable?!" Starswirl rounded on Twilight and the unicorns that hadn't gone over to Discord.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Twilight answered sheepishly. "He's, um, reformed now."

"Reformed?" Rockhoof repeated, scratching his head. "Ya mean he was destroyed?"

"Never knew why Celestia used that word so much," Discord whispered to Fluttershy.

"No, no. She means he gave up being a villain," Starlight spoke up, glancing to Discord with a small smile. "He's a friend of ours now."

"Discord? A friend to ponies?" Somnambula asked in shock.

"Some ponies. Namely these mares. Don't know Socks over there though," Discord remarked, looking to Sunburst, who nearly dropped his glasses in surprise.

"Umm, Sunburst, honor to meet you," Sunburst offered nervously.

"Don't show fear, he can smell it," Starlight warned, trying not to enjoy Sunburst's nervousness.

"I guess the princesses count now. This whole redemption thing was their idea," Discord stated with a smirk.

"Somepony actually believed a villain like you could change your ways after all you have wrought?" Starswirl asked in disbelief.

"Me, all but one Changeling, Starlight over there," Discord listed off casually, the ancient heroes looking to the sheepish mare curiously. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an actual villain to hunt down and deal with, thanks to somepony."

"Wait, Discord!" Starlight called, teleporting to be in front of him before he could leave. "Would you mind if we all, you know, teamed up?" she asked with a nervous smile.

Discord raised an eyebrow, floating her up to his eye level in the same motion. "Do I look like I need help?" he asked flatly.

"Look, just humor me. I think there's something else to this story," Starlight requested in a whisper before smirking playfully. "Besides, you wouldn't want to take down the Pony of Shadows without an audience, would you?"

Discord regarded her with an amused look. "Funny thing is, I know you're playing me...and you're right."

Author's Note

And there you have it, a fic where Discord actually takes things seriously. Now Discord is taking this as seriously as possible without outright ending the threat upon arrival. Which, as we all knew, leads to terrifying results.

And the main six, while some uncomfortable with what just happened, are ultimately happy he's helping in such an...effective way.

This'll have some fun and interesting side effects on future events in Equestria. Hope you all enjoy Pridecord, as I like to call him.

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Chapter 2

"You want us to fight alongside the Lord of Chaos?" Starswirl asked with a scowl.

"You're not selling yourself short enough, Starswirl," Discord retorted with his arms crossed, enjoying the discomfort of the Pillars. "You're the clean-up crew, at best."

The ancient heroes glared at the supposedly reformed tyrant as Twilight started looking increasingly worried. "Look, we can debate this later," Starlight interrupted firmly, seeing that Twilight wouldn't. "Discord wants the same thing we want: to stop the Pony of Shadows. What we need to worry about is FINDING him."

The Pillars, while displeased, did appear to accept her point. "Very well. For now, we shall accept this. But we are not finished with this," Starswirl promised solemnly to the Lord of Chaos.

"I'll try to fit you into my schedule," Discord retorted with a snort. "Now do any of you have a plan on how to find our shady fellow, or do I have to do everything around here?"

Mage Meadowbrook reluctantly spoke up. "It is hard to say. How long have we been gone?"

"We must have been gone for a great many years, for this day to come," Flash Magnus said, bravely staring down the unimpressed Discord.

"A thousand years," Sunburst answered, fixing his glasses.

"Weeeeeell, considering Nightmare Moon came back after a thousand, and everything else we heard about that happened, it's a tinsy bit longer than that," Pinkie Pie corrected before giving an easy-going grin. "But who's keeping count, really?"

"I'd like to say that my spell- before it was meddled with- worked, but peace obviously has not been maintained during our absence," Starswirl stated, giving disapproving looks to both the Alicorn of Friendship and Discord.

While Twilight looked a bit ashamed, Discord just let out a great laugh. "Ohhhh, that's a good one! Yes, like every monster and tyrant took a nap once you lot up and sealed yourselves in limbo," Discord taunted.

"Discord, be nice," Fluttershy requested sternly.

"No."

The pillars were drawn out of their distaste as they noticed the other ponies looking so surprised by the draconequus's blunt refusal. "Sorry, Fluttershy, but while you lot are my friends, and I'm no enemy of Equestria, I'm not inclined to extend the same courtesy to the Pillars."

Fluttershy paused to consider that stance, finding it reasonable. Not everypony had to like everypony else. "Be polite at least, please?"

"I am hardly the only one dropping shade, Fluttershy," Discord pointed out, glancing out towards the cliff. "Now, I think we should move this along."

Everypony looked on with rapt attention as Discord raised his lion pawn into the air. At first, most assumed he would merely snap his digits, but he instead reached out as if he were gripping onto the very air.

Pinkie Pie went stock still as she felt a full body ripple rush from her hooves to her mane. "This'll be a doosy," she said, swallowing nervously, making the rest of her friends uneasy.

"What do you-WOOOOOW!" Twilight asked, only to feel the ground leave her hooves and rush by her in a blinding, dizzying blur.

The dozen and more ponies all fell to a disheveled heap, groaning at the sensation. "What in tarnation was that!?" Applejack demanded, trying and failing to stand up as the world spun around her.

"I second that question!" Flash Magnus asked, having a similar but different issue, "Who is on my wing!?"

"Sorry! Terribly Sorry!" Rarity said as she quickly got off the appendage, looking around in confusion. "Where are we?"

Twilight shook her head, seeing nothing but grasslands, until she spotted a familiar mountain. "Wait, is that Canterlot?" she asked in surprise, before looking at Discord…who was now behind the group, holding Fluttershy in his tail. The mare shook her head a few times, looking to her friend in surprise. "Discord, what just happened?"

"I overshot," he answered, stroking his beard as he stared at his attended target.

Fluttershy blinked. "Is that Ponyville?" she asked, drawing everypony's attention to the small town, a short couple of miles from them.

"Do you know any other crystal palaces south of the Frozen North?" Discord answered, reaching up to grasp the air again, before jerking his arm as if to rip apart at something.

"Buck, not aGAIN!" Starlight yelled as the world went spinning beneath them again.

"Oh, this is just like when Stars teleported me the first few times," Rockhoof stated, looking rather green.

"Who Is In My Tail!?" Sunburst exclaimed with a blush.

"Not my desired location either!" Somnambula stated before pulling back to rub her eyes. "I mean no insult, but this is one of the worst ways I have been blinded.

"Okay, Dude?" Rainbow spoke up, grinning on the ground. "That was awesome, but a little warning?"

"I'll try to remember that," Discord said apathetically as he loosened his grip on Fluttershy, who wobbled in her flight a bit, but didn't fall.

"Why did you even do th-!?" Twilight started to accuse, only to blink as she looked up and saw the doors of the Palace of Friendship. "We're home!"

"Well, that is a sight, eh Mistmane?" Meadowbrook stated in wonder of the crystalline architecture.

"It is beautiful," Mistmane complimented with a soft smile.

"Kind of sticks out though," Rockhoof commented, looking around at the village just beyond the structure.

"No offense, Discord- okay, you know what, total offense! What The Buck Was That!?" Starlight asked as she helped Pinkie Pie off the ground. "Because that was NOT a teleporting spell."

"I agree," Starswirl acknowledged, eyeing the draconequus suspiciously. "I am certain there is some reason we are here, but why use high speed levitation instead of teleportation?"

Discord rolled his eyes with derision. "Because what I did was harder, Bells, and I didn't levitate any of you."

"What do you mean, didn't levitate? We moved to this town, how else do you explain this?" Starswirl asked with a frown.

Pinkie Pie gasped comically. "Did you pick each one of us up and run us all the way here so fast it seemed like it happened at the same time!?"

"Say what now?!" Rainbow demanded, sitting up instantly in alarm.

"What is wrong with her?" Meadowbrook asked in confusion.

"Poor dear's ego felt threatened," Rarity answered with fond amusement.

"No, Pinkie," Discord answered simply, trying not to snort at Rainbow's relieved breath. "I simply moved here to us instead of us to here," he explained casually as he entered the doors.

"What does that mean?" Magnus asked with a scowl, even as Twilight, Sunburst, and Starlight rapidly paled at the implications.

"W-wait, could he really do that!?" Sunburst asked frantically, looking between the Princess and his foalhood friend.

"Umm...Probably?" Starlight answered uneasily, looking to Twilight for confirmation.

"I'd be surprised if he couldn't," Twilight answered with a grimace.

"I'm sorry, I am actually lost. I don't speak Chaos," Starswirl stated, raising an eyebrow at the trio of intellectual ponies.

"Oh, nothing. Discord is just implying he moved the entire planet to get us to Ponyville," Starlight answered with a weak smile.

There was a heavy silence at that. "Is that...safe?" Applejack asked awkwardly.

"Nope. It's irresponsible, ineffective, and a hundred times more complicated than just teleporting like a normal magic user," Twilight ranted, wiping a hoof over her face at the end. "Oh, the calendars are going to be so far off if he keeps doing that."

"That's your concern?" Starswirl asked with a scowl, Twilight wilting under his disapproval.

"It's more like the one thing she can fix if she has to. Assuming Discord doesn't just retroactively put the world back into place once he's done moving it," Starlight answered with an eye roll. "Come on, we better get going before Discord gets bored."

Heroes of the Past and Present alike shivered in agreement, moving to enter the palace.

None of them were too surprised to find the draconequus waiting just down the hall. "Finally. I was just about to bring the throne room to you lot," he stated as they continued their walk.

"Just to be clear, you are aware of what this being has inflicted on ponies in the past?" Somnambula inquired warily.

"Oh, believe me, we are intimately familiar with Discord's more villainous actions," Rarity answered with a drawl, not fondly remembering their first meeting with the draconequus.

"Chocolate milk rain, cotton candy clouds," Pinkie Pie listed off, licking her lips.

"Taking away our horns and wings," Rainbow grumbled with crossed hooves.

"Turnin our minds inside out," Applejack recalled, shaking her head. "Big Mac had the taste of dirt in his mouth for weeks."

"Rewriting the laws of physics on a whim," Twilight finished, before smiling. "But yes, he is our friend now."

"Yes, yes, we're all very well acquainted with my sordid past," Discord waved off with thinly veiled impatience.

"He's still a jerk though," Rainbow stated flatly.

"Only if you admit to being one on occasion," Discord retorted with a smirk.

Rainbow opened her mouth before considering it. "I can live with that," she allowed with a shrug.

Fluttershy smiled warmly, "All he needed was somepony to reach out to him."

The Pillars remained skeptical, with Starswirl remaining entirely unconvinced of any good will on Discord's part.

"And he even helped saved everypony from the changelings," Starlight vouched before smirking wryly. "Including Princesses Celestia and Luna."

The Pillars all froze in mid step, Starswirl staring at their modern counterparts with shock, happiness bleeding in past his stony exterior. "Celestia and Luna are still alive? After all this time?" he asked before sighing in relief.

"Well of course, silly! What did you think Immortal Alicorn Princesses meant?" Pinkie Pie asked with a giggle.

"A lot could happen in a thousand years," Flash Magnus stated, giving Discord a cautious look. "As we are becoming very aware of."

"I'm relieved to hear they are well," Starswirl said, looking as if a few hundred years had rolled off his withers. "Wait? Is this their castle?" he asked in surprise.

"No, no, they live in one on the side of the mountain," Starlight answered bluntly.

"On the side of a-" Somnambula repeated before looking to Discord with bug eyes.

"That one is their own bit of insanity," Discord waved off dismissively, pushing open the door to the throne room.

Everypony watched with interest as the Lord of Chaos, walked over to sit down and lean on the wall with his arms crossed,

"Now, I believe this is the part where you find my punching bag," he stated, eyes closing in boredom.

"Wait, Discord," Twilight spoke up urgently. "What exactly is the plan when you beat the Pony of Shadows?"

Discord smirked at that, opening one eye at her. "When? Already assuming I'll win? Smart move, Princess."

Twilight rolled her eyes at that. "You didn't exactly leave much doubt back there."

Discord hummed. "Like I said, you're all the clean-up crew."

"I thought you said you weren't going to kill him?" Applejack asked with a scowl.

"I said you'd be surprised what you can live through," Discord corrected in annoyance, "Honestly, you all didn't complain this much after Sombra got vaporized."

"Discord, just please give us a straight answer?" Starlight requested.

"A straight answer, from the Mad God?" Flash Magnus repeated skeptically.

Discord glanced to the pegasus before closing his eyes again. "Who are you again?" he asked in boredom.

"What? Don't pretend we have never met! I battled against you many times, we all have," Flash Magnus retorted with a glare.

"And the only ones I ever bothered to remember are Mistmane, Starswirl, and Stygian. And I only remember Misty over there for the mock-Alicorn mane," Discord answered with a chuckle, to Flash's obvious displeasure. "If it makes you all feel any better, I'm not going to kill him. I'm just going to beat the Pony of Shadows off of him. After that, the rest is your problem."

"You can do that?" Somnambula asked in surprise and renewed hope.

"If you're so confident in your power, why bring us at all?" Mistmane questioned in suspicion.

"Because Stygian is your problem. And it's about time somepony else fix their own problem instead of these girls having to do it for them," Discord explained factually, before turning his attention on the Stallion of Sorcery. "These six saved the world AND your precious students more than a few times, Starswirl. So lay off the frostiness with them."

"Is Discord praising us?" Applejack whispered in surprise.

"I think it's more him roasting the pillars," Rainbow answered in kind.

"I'd take that, but I don't think I count. I only have one "save the world" under my belt, and I'm sharing that one with him," Starlight commented with some amusement.

"Celestia and Luna needing saving?" Rockhoof questioned.

Discord snorted, his shoulders rocking with laughter and snickers.

"Why don't we just focus on saving the world before getting you reacquainted with it?" Rarity suggested diplomatically.

"If it helps, just pretend I'm not here," Discord suggested, waving them off.

"You heard the Chaos King, ponies! Just don't look at him and ignore that he wants to turn half the ponies in the room inside out," Pinkie Pie declared enthusiastically.

Starswirl regarded her oddly for a moment before turning back to the magical map. "The lands have changed much, but I recall by heart many dark places the Pony of Shadows might seek to gather his dark power to its full strength," he stated, marking several locations with small, conjured black clouds.

"Wait, so, that wasn't his full power?" Rainbow asked before looking to Discord accusingly. "Did you let him go on purpose?"

The heroes, new and old, were more than a little perturbed when Discord failed to acknowledge the question, his stillness disturbing for his nature.

"...Anypony else starting to think this Discord is a fake?" Applejack asked, shifting her eyes about cautiously.

"No, that's him," Fluttershy assured with a smile full of confidence.

"How can you be so sure?" Sunburst asked curiously. A tap on his withers brought his attention to Starlight. Her expression was entirely blank with a thin layer of annoyance underneath as she pointed upward. He looked up and blinked owlishly at the rather bizarre pink cloud hovering above him. "What is-?"

He fell silent as the cloud suddenly started to unload a brown rain over him, ruining his cap and socks rather quickly. "Yep, that's Discord," Starlight said with an eye roll.

"Yay! Cotton Candy Clouds!" Pinkie Pie declared, jumping off the table to land head first into the cloud.

"Are we sure she's not some creation of Discord's?" Meadowbrook asked quietly to Somnambula.

"His better qualities, if so," The Pillar of Hope answered uncertainly.

Attention was drawn again to Pinkie, who began spitting out pieces of the cloud in disgust. "What's wrong, Pinkie?" Twilight asked in concern.

"This isn't a cotton candy cloud!" Pinkie Pie declared unhappily, ripping off a piece to wave about. "This is just pink cotton!"

"Wait...did Discord just prank Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow realized, her lips twitching in amusement.

"Gah! At least there's still the chocolate milk rain," Pinkie Pie decided, jumping down to put her head under the rain as Sunburst moved out, allowing Starlight to mercifully spell-clean his attire.

Studying the map intently, Starswirl opened his mouth to regain everypony's focus, only for Pinkie Pie to spit out the drink.

"What now? Mud rain?" Applejack asked, completely unsurprised by Pinkie's misfortune.

"WORSE! It's...It's..." Pinkie Pie strained to say the unholy words.

Starlight conjured an empty glass cup, allowing it to fill before she tentatively took a sip. "Sugar free?" she realized with a quirked eyebrow.

Pinkie Pie broke down into overdramatic tears as Discord gained a small smirk.

"Okay, it's him, and that was kind of awesome," Rainbow stated with a smirk.

"Do remember that, Darling, when said ruffian turns his attention on you," Rarity teased as Rainbow went stock still, glancing warily to Discord's unmoving form.

"If you're quite done!" Starswirl called, getting an apologetic look from Twilight. "We still have a villain to locate."

"Right," Twilight said, glancing to Discord with a raised eyebrow. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to just teleport us there?"

Discord hummed, opening his eyes briefly. "I've sworn off most teleporting for the foreseeable future. So, unless you all want to me to hurl each corner of Equestria to us, no."

"Fluttershy, any chance you could reason with him?" Starlight suggested in exasperation.

"I don't have to," Fluttershy answered with a smile that was, dare they say it, smug. "Discord, could you make us some portals?"

Discord snorted, unable to help the grin on his face. "I do love a good loophole, Flutters," he said, unfolding one arm to point his griffon talon at the map. He jabbed at the air, a thud echoing throughout the room. Everypony turned to see the black clouds on the map expand and curl into black spheres, along with the cotton cloud shrinking to do the same, but pink. "Throw the black ones and they'll take you one of those "dark" places."

"I can feel the quotes on dark," Twilight stated flatly.

"The pink one will take you back here, and unlike the others, isn't a one-use item," Discord finished as Fluttershy smiled in thanks.

"Thank you, Discord," Fluttershy said with a smile.

"Any time, Fluttershy."

The pillars stared at the yellow mare with wide eyes of speculation. "Do you think she and the Old Worm are mating?" Rockhoof asked quietly to Flash Magnus.

"...Is it disturbing how much that would explain?" the soldier asked with a disturbed look.

"Did you two say something?" Discord called, opening one eye to give the two a warning look.

"No, no, nothing at all!" Starlight interrupted with a strained smiled, teleporting in front of the pair, using her magic to hold the two stallions' mouths shut. "Insult her, and going back to Limbo won't be able to protect you," she warned through her teeth, never letting her forced smile shrink.

"Good," Discord said, ignoring how Starlight sighed in relief. "Now get out, all of you."

"Get out? You do remember this is my castle, right?" Twilight asked in annoyance.

"Yes, but you have some Pillars out of water to guide around. Enjoy explaining trains and light bulbs to them," Discord retorted.

"That would be the Egghead department," Rainbow retorted with an eye roll as the group of ponies collected the orbs and headed out the door.

"You go on ahead; I'll catch up in a second!" Starlight called from the door before trotting over to Discord. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Saving the world, same thing as usual," Discord answered without even looking at her.

"No, I mean, what happened to you? You vanish for months, miss out on your own ceremony, and come back like...THIS!" Starlight clarified, waving to his general person.

Discord glanced at her briefly, his red eyes brimming with amusement. "You just motioned to all of me."

"Exactly! You're actually taking this seriously! And, as impossible as it seems, you actually feel like you're now even more powerful!" Starlight pointed out with a furrowed brow.

"Find Stygian and I'll tell you a story," Discord answered in amusement.

"About that," Starlight redirected carefully. "How much do you know about the Pony of Shadows? You said he was one of the only ones you bothered to remember?"

Discord finally regarded her fully. "I tend to remember those that defeat my unwinnable mind games."

Starlight raised an eyebrow at that description, but continued. "Yeah, okay, that's impressive, but what caused him to go evil?"

Discord snorted. "I said he's a male-knockoff of Nightmare Moon, and I meant it," Discord answered vaguely.

"Well, your infamous knack for infuriatingly unclear answers hasn't changed much," Starlight remarked dryly. "Can you at least tell me what you're really doing here?" she asked curiously, getting no response. "Come on, Discord. I know I'm the new one in this group, but even I know that if you're just sitting there, you definitely NOT doing nothing at all."

"Smart mare," Discord acknowledged as he uncrossed his arms to reveal...a ball; a solid white ball that floated in front of him while giving off waves in the air around it.

"What is that?" Starlight asked cautiously. "Isn't that what you were going to finish off the Pony of Shadows with?

"Just something I've been practicing with. It's basically an object with infinite negative-mass that generates, among other things, a reverse gravity well," Discord explained without much interest.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Starlight asked with a startled expression.

"Probably. The inversed gravitational force of this thing alone would be enough to destroy all of Equestria, at minimum," Discord explained casually.

"Why Do You Have That Here!?" Starlight exclaimed, leaning back in shock and fear, her mane practically standing up on end.

Discord shrugged. "I prefer time crawling by instead of blitzing away. Relatively."

"What does that even mean?" Starlight asked in confusion.

"It means you should catch up before Twilight is any more blinded by the bearded wonder," Discord answered dismissively, crossing his arms again.

Author's Note

Well, here we go, the second chapter of Pridecord! After seeing this thing go to the top of the featured list, I just had to update this. Seriously, I was in awed by the reception this got!

And here we have Pridecord showing off/training in more interesting ways between fights for this transitionary chapter. Hope you enjoyed that, along with everypony's reaction to him. Always thought it was a huge waste that we never saw the Pillars reaction to Discord's reformation or Luna's history as Nightmare Moon. Anyway, next chapter should be the fight with the Pony of Shadows, so you won't have to wait too long for that.

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Chapter 3

With a flash of pink light, the large group of ponies found themselves back outside the Palace of Friendship.

"It seems that there are fewer dark corners in the realm," Starswirl remarked, notably surprised by their lack of progress.

"For once, I am rather pleased by a setback," Somnambula stated with a smile. "I can scarcely believe how much has changed for the better!"

Flash Magnus chuckled good-naturedly. "We almost had to drag Meadow away from, what was it called? A Hospice?" he asked, looking to the modern ponies.

"Hospital," Twilight corrected with a soft smile.

"It is relieving to know such places are as common as you said," Meadowbrook stated to Fluttershy with a pleased look on her weary face.

"And you wanted to see the part named after you," Mistmane couldn't help teasing, the earth pony blushing sheepishly.

"I'm just confused by the Yaks," Starswirl admitted with a headshake. "I know for a fact scarcely any creature dwelled that far into the Frozen North, let alone an entire tribe of Yaks."

"Oh, oh! Prince Rutherford told me they moved there from the OTHER side of the Frozen North after losing a lot of fights to...something," Pinkie Pie answered eagerly.

"Something?" Rainbow questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"They don't know if we have a word for them," Pinkie answered with a shrug. "But apparently, Yaks aren't sore losers. Most creatures get mad about being pushed out of their homelands, but the Yaks actually sound like they liked whoever they were fighting."

"A short war between honorable warriors; If war can't be avoided, I'm at least happy when it is like that," Rockhoof mused solemnly before turning to the sole Alicorn of the group. "Tell me, Princess Twilight, do you or your companions know of any lands that we might still check?"

Twilight looked between the ancient heroes before looking thoughtful. "Well, the Changeling Kingdom definitely doesn't count any more. I don't suppose the Pony of Shadows would try going to Tartarus or the Everfree?"

"Hm!?" Starswirl suddenly rounded on her with wide eyes, startling her. "What's this about Castle Everfree?"

"Oh, right, you probably lived there," Twilight realized nervously.

"The Castle of the Two Sisters has been abandoned for just under a thousand years now, after Princess Celestia moved the capital," Sunburst answered in an attempt to be helpful, if apologetic.

"It's gone? Just, left to rot?" Magnus asked, trying to hide how much that bothered him.

"Well, there's still some dusty old ruins left," Rainbow answered tactlessly.

"Why would they ever do that?" Mistmane questioned in confusion. "Were they invaded?"

"No, nothing like that," Twilight answered, biting her cheek as she chose her words carefully. "There were a few cultural and economic incentives at the time for the move, but Princess Celestia told me it was...mainly to get away from old memories."

"Sunny was always the more headstrong of the two. Still, I'm surprised Little Luna let her go through with that," Meadowbrook mused.

"I fear I will need to have a long talk with my old students," Starswirl said, his tone heavy with something between knowing and sorrow. "I can only imagine what hardships they endured after we left, to leave behind their home."

The former element bearers shared stealthy looks at one another, none sure how to bring up that particular subject. Or how to properly avoid it until the princesses could explain that very personal story themselves.

"Returning to our goal? As wild as the Everfree could be, it is not the type of darkness our foe requires. And the Pony of Shadows would not risk being trapped within the accursed realm of Tartarus, no matter how much power it might bring him," Starswirl summarized grimly.

"So, we should probably go tell Discord he's gotta get off his flank and find the varmint himself," Applejack said in exasperation. "I can hear the jabs now about having to do everything himself."

"You all have a very...strange relationship with the Draconequus," Somnambula stated carefully.

"Yeah, wait until they see him with the princesses," Rainbow said with a snicker. She went silent as Starswirl instinctively looked to her with a glare and a glowing horn. "I said that too loud," she realized with a gulp.

"Why did you say it at all?!" Rarity hissed in a whisper.

"What do you mean with my students?" Starswirl asked coldly.

"Umm, Starswirl? Shouldn't we be worried about-" Rockhoof reminded with a relatively gentle tap on the withers.

"The Pony of Shadows can wait," Starswirl stated flatly.

"I-it's nothing like what you're thinking, I swear!" Twilight promised quickly, despite looking awkward. "Just, well, let's just say Discord is an interesting person to invite to a party."

"That...somehow sounds more concerning," Mistmane pointed out, eyeing her comrade cautiously. "Starswirl, we'll have plenty of time to discuss many things with them, after we finished this."

Starswirl took a deep breath as his horn lost power. "Yes, you're right, I shouldn't get too side tracked," he said in self-scolding before resigning himself. "I suppose we must apprise the Mad God of the situation."

The group made their way inside, Starlight slowing her pace to walk with Fluttershy, silently motioning her to slow her pace a bit more. "You okay?" Starlight asked quietly, noting the displeased edge in Fluttershy's demeanor.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine. I just wish they wouldn't call him that," Fluttershy answered.

"Full honesty, are you sure he doesn't enjoy being called that?" Starlight asked skeptically.

"I don't know. No one has ever called him that before, except as a joke. I just...don't like what it means when they say it," Fluttershy answered.

"Well, a thousand and more years ago was yesterday from their perspective, and they did fight him back when was you know, full tyrant?" Starlight reminded. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't refute the point. "But that wasn't what I was referring to."

"Oh? I'm sorry, what did you mean then?" Fluttershy asked in curious confusion.

"Just that you, well, seem a lot less shocked by this than we did," Starlight noted with interest. "I mean, I get he's your friend, but after the fighting stopped, you barely seemed curious about why he's acting so differently."

Fluttershy stared at her expectantly. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you're asking?"

Starlight sighed, deciding to be straight forward. "Did you know he was going to do something like this?"

Fluttershy glanced forward for an instance before returning her gaze to the unicorn. "Yes?"

Until that moment, Starlight had never truly appreciated the saying "That raises more question than it answers!" like she did now. Starting with, why did it sound like a question?

Whatever the case, she didn't have time to question Fluttershy further as they returned to the throne room, punctuated by the alarmed cry of Flash Magnus. "By the stars of an Ursa, what is that doing here!?"

Starlight moved forward, raising an eyebrow at what the pegasus legionnaire was pointing to.

There was Discord. And Discord. And another Discord. The replicates were not surprising, but the scene was rather amusing as all three of them were playing cards on the floor with Spike. "They're called cards, Flash, I'm pretty sure they had these back then," Middlecord answered flatly.

"Got any threes?" Leftcord asked to Spike.

"Naw, go fish," Spike answered before turning to the others. "Hey girls!...And guys. I think this the first time I've seen the group with more than one or two males," Spike said in amusement, looking at the newcomers curiously, while they watched him warily.

"A talking baby dragon?" Starswirl noted curiously. "Is this some manifestation of yours, Discord?"

"Funny, I was going to ask Twilight the same thing about you," Spike retorted flatly with his arms crossed. "Right down to the historically accurate number of bells."

"Spike!" Twilight whined with an embarrassed blush.

"No, folks, this scaly bag of sass in all natural," Rightcord answered in amusement before glaring to Leftcord. "Okay, I know you're lying now. Hand over the four."

"You okay over there, buddy?" Rainbow asked, giving an odd look to Flash as his eyes glanced around warily.

"Look, I'll glad play chicken with a full grown dragon, but the idea of upsetting a she-dragon's maternal instincts does worry me a bit," he stated wisely.

"Maternal- oh, right, thousand years ago. Things were dicier with the Dragonlands back then," Starlight realized, scratching her mane.

"Don't worry, ya'll. Spike's been a friend of ours for a long time now," Applejack assured sweetly.

"Trust me, Spikey-Wikey is a true gentlecolt of a drake," Rarity praised with a smile, prompting a blush from the hatchling.

"Ma'ams, with all due respect, I'm still wary about meeting his mother," Flash informed cautiously.

Spike sighed at that. "Well, you won't have to worry about that. I-"

"She's right over there," All three Discords said, pointing to Twilight.

The Alicorn gave an almost Fluttershy-eep, blushing as the pillars regarded her with uncomprehending expressions. Spike just groaned, tossing his cards aside while running a claw over his face. "Come on, Discord, did you have to go there?"

"Just this once, yes," Discord answered with a small smirk as his copies folded back into himself. "Huh, I actually wasn't cheating that time."

"But did you have to do it NOW?!" Twilight asked, still feeling the stares.

"I'm, sorry, but...you are the dragon's mother?" Meadowbrook asked slowly.

"How does that even work?" Rockhoof asked, his eyes distant. "Can...can mares even lay eggs like that?"

"AHAHAHA!" Pinkie Pie suddenly burst into laughter, Twilight glaring weakly only to find most of her friends trying and failing not to snicker or look amused.

"S-sorry, Twilight, bu-but that was bucking funny as Tartarus!" Rainbow apologized, holding onto a giggling Fluttershy.

"Oh, it's my teen years in Celestia's school all over again," Twilight mumbled, resisting every urge to hide…or teleport…or force Starlight to go back in time to stop this…or ask Discord to erase this from everyone's memories. "I didn't lay him, I just hatched his egg! And I'm more like his big sister."

"The only reason I don't make more jokes is because you were like, what, ten when you hatched him?" Discord pointed out in amusement. "I've resisted so many Mama-jokes around you two."

"There is a story here we will need to hear another time," Somnambula stated, even if she had to shake her head a few times to wrap her head around THAT little reveal.

"Thank you, whoever you are," Spike stated with a relieved sigh. "I'm guessing you are all the old heroes Twilight and the others went out to save?"

"And I'm going to guess Discord filled you in on the Pony of Shadows thing?" Starlight asked expectantly.

"Yeah, after I got done catching him up on what me and Big Mac have been doing for Guy's Night while he's been out- well, he asked me not to spoil where he's been," Spike stated impishly.

"..." The Pillars regarded the young creature oddly as Discord cleared his throat.

"So, how'd sightseeing go?"

"No Pony of Shadow, but I'm guessing you knew that?" Rainbow asked dryly.

"I knew all the old spots you were going to have become popular in one way or another," Discord remarked without care. "Though, I figured out where he actually is while you were all out wasting your time."

"You did?" most of the ponies asked in relieved interest.

"You did?" Spike repeated. "When did you do that?"

"While you were failing to bluff me," Discord answered in amusement. "Tell me, Twilight? Did you think it was a coincidence I chose to sit down right here?"

"Right here? What do you-" Twilight stopped, only to gasp as she looked to her cutie mark, pulsing and glowing. Looking around, she saw the same was happening with Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. They and the others watched in fascination as magical copies of each of their cutie marks flew through the air, circling around one another, miniaturizing to float over an area of the map.

"What did you do? Did you magi-jack the map?" Rainbow asked in bewilderment.

"Can he do that?" Rarity quietly wondered.

"I'm pretty sure he can put on a lightshow," Starlight remarked dryly.

"Nothing like that. I just blocked the map's ability to signal you all until you got back. It's honestly not that hard," Discord stated, sounding truly unimpressed with his own work for once.

"Wait, I'm confused," Rockhoof spoke up, staring with a furrowed brow at the magic map. "I thought this map was just, well, a magical projection of a map of the lands. Do you mean it tells you where to find evil forces?" he asked as Starswirl stroked his beard.

"Less evil and more friendship problems in general," Spike answered, scratching his cheek thoughtfully. "Like send Pinkie and Rainbow to help the griffons get along, or Twilight and Fluttershy to end some feud between two big families."

"Oh, oh, oh, don't forget it sent Starlight to help Celestia and Luna patch things up!" Pinkie Pie reminded.

"I'm surprised that isn't a yearly event," Flash Magnus joked, Starswirl rolling his eyes before approaching the map.

"Wait, what happened while I was gone?" Discord asked, his head perking up in interest. "Those two had a spat? And Starlight helped them?" he asked, his lips curling into a smirk as he gave the mare a knowing look.

"What? What is it?" Starlight asked uneasily, looking side to side.

"One of these days, you are going to tell me everything, in detail," he warned in amusement, before glancing to the bearded wizard studying the map. "What are you-"

A set of stunned gasps drew the rest of the group's attention, prompting them to see Starswirl with his horn alight, and the map now replaced by a very familiar image.

The Tree of Harmony.

"Oh my," Fluttershy whispered in concern, glancing to her friend as he went stock still.

"I thought this magic felt familiar," Starswirl remarked with a smirk of pride.

"Oh buck," Starlight whispered with wide, terrified eyes as she saw Discord's tail tensing.

"This map, and this very castle, are grown from the seed we planted a thousand years ago!" Starswirl declared, the faces of his comrades lighting up in joy and relief.

Until a sound of shattering crystals drowned it out.

Discord's form surged with wrathful power, dark purple magic dancing about him like a nightmarish hybrid between serpents and lightning. The very crystals of the walls and floor around him crackled with ominous fractures, slowly spreading like a spider-web as they glowed with an angry crimson. His glare was so intense, the very air grew hot as the sun upon a desert, as ancient fury reawakened from a long slumber.

"Oh sweet Celestia, he didn't know!" Twilight said in startled realization as they all began to back away from him.

"Buckbuckbuckbuck!" Rainbow repeated numbly, every instinct in her telling her to grab her friends and run for cover.

"Wow! He really wasn't exaggerating," Spike realized, eyeing the cracks carefully. He knew for a fact, those crystals didn't break easily, be it to magic or dragon teeth.

"What is wrong with him?!" Rockhoof asked, his own muscles coiling for a fight.

"You...you ...you specks of trash created that infernal Weed!?" Discord demanded, his fists clenched so hard that static whiffs of Unreality began to seep into the air.

"Mad God, MAD," Pinkie Pie stated, completely frozen as her mane went straight. Not from sadness, but from her pinkie sense literally shutting down due to an overload.

"So much for him being on our side," Flash stated as he pulled out his shield, Discord appearing to loom over them all more and more.

Fluttershy looked around in worry before scowling as she flew over to Discord, without fear.

"Is she crazy?!" Mistmane said in disbelief as the pegasus hovered so close to the imminent explosion.

Fluttershy studied him curiously. His hands were gripped tightly, his arms trembling, his tail twisted into an angry curl to squeeze nothing and his draconic foot was leaving a deeper and deeper set of prints in the floor. His nostrils were flared, eyes dilated with a gaze that was both here and far away. Every inch of him screamed to her of a predator. Not a hungry or scared, but one of pure rage.

"Discord," she addressed, staring at him with keen yet friendly eyes. He didn't look to her, his unfaltering glare kept on the Pillars of Old Equestria. "You're really not doing this on purpose, are you?"

A long burst of boiling steam erupted from his nostrils as an answer, thankfully not touching anypony before it dissipated. His form uncoiled some, the room cooling as the cracks ceased to spread; He released his lacerating grip on reality, allowing the whiff of nonexistence to fade back from whence they came. Everypony began to relax, if only a little, but still regarded Discord cautiously.

"You...you okay there, big guy?" Applejack asked, swallowing to wet her dry throat.

"Sorry, I usually have better control than this," Discord apologized insincerely as his empty smirk kept trying to tremble towards a snarl. "I'm just a little Absolutely Livid."

"For what!? Nothing has changed, how did our supposed insignificance suddenly warrant your rage?" Somnambula demanded with a frown.

A clear, visible breath moved in, then out of Discord's body as he regained his calm. "You're all lucky you're not worth my time," he warned, turning to return to his seat.

"Discord," Fluttershy called in concern.

"Not now, Fluttershy. Just, not right now," Discord interjected, somewhere between finality and urging, the embers of his rage still hot.

"What is going on?" Rockhoof questioned in bewilderment, eyeing the Chaos God warily.

"Oh, he might have just now figured out that you all created the thing that sealed him in stone for a thousand years," Pinkie Pie said with an uncertain smile. "Talk about awkward?"

"Pinkamena."

The party pony looked to Discord and shrank under his warning glare.

"Shut. Up."

Starswirl blinked as the words finally registered, his companions looking on numbly. "Our seed was even able to best you?"

The instant Starswirl finished speaking, Discord froze, his eyes closed in concentration as he refused to dignify the wizard with another look. "Careful, Starswirl. Last time you all fought me, you could barely keep up."

"That's not how I remember it," Flash Magnus said boldly.

"I'll be more than happy to refresh your memories," Discord promised ominously.

"Can we please stop provoking the draconequus?" Sunburst requested uneasily.

Spike sniffed the air before whispering to the orange unicorn. "Did you soil your cloak?"

"It all makes sense now," Starswirl said with a grim look about him. "I knew it could not be simple that mere companionship changed a villain of your nature. Of course one such as you, so accustomed to being untouchable, would scurry to your enemies once they finally possessed a weapon to match you."

The moment Starswirl stopped talking, Discord's head snapped to him, his eyes pure red with rage.

The Pillar of Sorcery instinctively raised a barrier, but was bitterly unsurprised when it didn't so much as slow down the attack. His magic shattered, and he was sent flying back by an invisible force. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain in his gut as another spider-web of cracks emerged in the wall by the force that pinned him. All the while, Discord stood motionless, the power behind his glare crashing against the pony.

"Starswirl!" the other pillars yelled as they sprang to attack the draconequus.

He didn't even look at them.

The very air grew heavy, forcing all Pegasi to the ground as all struggled to stand the sheer pressure. Except for Fluttershy, but even she could not stand to fly under the pressure. Sunburst and Meadowbrook collapsed completely, while Pinkie Pie was flopped over with swirling eyes. Rarity, Somnambula, and Mistmane sunk to their knees, while the rest looked only strained.

"What IS this magic?!" Mistmane asked in distress, feeling an unseen weight upon her entire body, crushing inwards. A primal part of her mind screamed to flee, run, escape this terrible presence. It had been a long time since she felt such a thing…since any of the Old Pillars had.

Then, just as suddenly, it stopped. All eyes turned to Discord, who eyes faded back to normal, but his face wore a cold, cruel smile. A smile all knew, save Starlight and Sunburst.

The smile of the Tyrant.

"Starswirl, before this is all over, you're going to be crying, like a filly," Discord prophesied with a gleam in his eyes. "And I will enjoy every moment of twisting the knife when you learn about what happened to your precious students."

The bearded stallion's eyes grew wide, a thousand possibilities racing behind his eyes. "What did you do to them?" he asked, hardly registering he had spoken those words aloud.

Discord's chuckle offered less warmth than the Frozen North, less comfort than the Bone Dry Desert. "Oh, little wizard. Nothing I did could compare to what they did to each other."

The old stallion glared at him from against the wall, but held his tongue this time.

The Lord of Chaos swept his eyes over to the lone Alicorn in the room, along with her friends. His friends. The echo of the villain he once was faded from his visage as he saw the side effects of his wrath. "Twilight, you all alright?" he asked, his red eyes tinged with some concern.

"Y-yeah, I think so," Twilight answered nervously, glancing to her friends as they steadied themselves, shaking off the lingering pins and needles in their legs.

"Phew, yeah, I'm...I'm good!" Pinkie Pie answered, still on the floor. "Just...waiting for the world to stop looking inside out."

"Not to sound crass, but what the BUCK was that?" Rarity asked, wiping sweat from her brow.

"Starswirl putting his hoof in his mouth, again. Almost as disastrous as the last time," Discord remarked, looking over to the damaged area of the throne room. He let out a long sigh at that, running a hand through his mane. "Sorry."

Twilight should be either mad or terrified, she knew that. Still, all the same, it was rare Discord apologized so sincerely. Rarer still that she believed it wasn't his fault this time. "It's...alright, Discord. I don't think I've ever seen you that mad before."

"I don't think I've been that mad before," Discord retorted ominously before turning to the door. "I'm going to deal with Stygian. I don't care who comes anymore. If you're not out there in ten minutes, you're not coming," he informed, pausing at the door. "I'll fix the place up when I'm done, Twilight."

With that, he left, leaving an uncomfortable silence as the heroes of old and new regarded each other.

Nopony expected another attack.

Or the attacker.

Starswirl grunted in pain, stumbling from his injuries, looking with a surprised glare to the mare whose hoof struck his face.

"Why'd you go and do that for?" Rockhoof asked sternly as he pushed the mare back while Mistmane's horn glowed to help Starswirl defend himself if Starlight tried it again.

Starlight ignored them as she leaned around the large Earth Pony, pointing a hoof at Starswirl. "What is WRONG with you?" Starlight asked with a deadpan expression. "Because you are by far the dumbest Master of Magic I have ever met!"

"Starlight, stop!" Twilight interjected urgently.

"No, Twilight! I don't care how hero-blind you are! That was just wrong!" Starlight interjected as she rounded on Starswirl again. "I don't care how wise and righteous you THINK you are, but you just made Discord look like a paragon of self-control compared to your fat mouth! You HAD to know you were provoking him, what good did you possibly think would come of that!"

"I was just proving my point," Starswirl countered dismissively. "Discord obviously can't be trusted. I don't know why you bother acting as friends to him. The minute he finds a way around whatever safety measure you have against him, he'll turn on you!"

"Been there, done that, Beardo," Rainbow called flatly.

The silence was deafening. "W-what? What do you mean?" Somnambula asked uncomprehendingly. "Discord said-"

"He was sealed in stone by the Elements, twice," Rarity informed in a neutral, civil tone. "Once by the Princesses a thousand years ago, and again by us nearly two years ago."

"But we had to give up the Elements a while ago, putting them back in the Tree of Harmony," Applejack explained with a sigh.

"And he didn't betray you?" Flash Magnus asked in disbelief.

"Oh no, he definitely did," Pinkie Pie said with a grin.

"You're not making any sense!" Starswirl declared angrily. "Why would you trust him if he's already broken it already!?"

"Because we were idiots like you!"

Everyone looked at Twilight in shock as she took a deep breath, glaring at her long time idol. "Oh thank you Twilight, finally," Starlight said in relief at her teacher suddenly taking the blinders off.

"We released Discord, because we were supposed to try and befriend him! And guess what, it worked! Because Fluttershy, the kindest mare you will ever meet, refused to give up on him! It only failed because all of us never gave him a chance! Then, lo and behold, he turned villain MONTHS after we returned the Elements. Not for revenge, not for power, not even because he was bored! He could have done that at any time, by himself, if he wanted to! Instead, he went back to being a villain because he thought he found a friend that would like him to be himself, chaos and all!" Twilight ranted off, her friends half expecting flames to form on her mane. "All because we treated him like he was going to turn on us any second without SOMETHING hanging over his head, instead of giving him a good reason to want to NOT turn back into being the Mad God, as you just love to call him!"

"How blind and naive are you!? All that does is prove my point: Once a villain, always a villain!" Starswirl argued back.

Twilight stared at him for a moment before a very, very Discord-like thought came to her mind. She shouldn't say it and she knew it. Maybe she could disregard how Starswirl had treated all of her friends, the damage to her castle, and everything else if she just wasn't so...disappointed in meeting the stallion behind the legend. With that, she put on her best cold, neutral expression and delivered a simple message onto Starswirl.

"I'll be sure to pass that along to Princess Luna."

"Ohh, now that is cold," Spike whispered with a hiss as gasps, wide eyes, and awkward looks filled the room.

Starswirl stood unmoving, his brow furrowed at some terrible truth that was being hinted at, something that he would loathe to discover.

"Anypony notice that Fluttershy already left?" Pinkie Pie point out, trying to break the tension.

Author's Note

Sorry, sorry. I know I said the fight would be this chapter, but the openning scene was bit longer than I expected and I HAD to have this scene where Pridecord found out who made the Tree of Harmony. But we got to see some of his rage and Twilight's blinders got ripped off by Starswirl being an asshole. Seriously, I WISH we had seen his reaction to the Nightmare Moon situation in canon, that would have been an extremely emotional moment for all involved!

All in all, I've set up Stygian recieve a rather vicious beatdown as Discord needs to vent, bad. I promise, no more delays, next chap is the beatdown!

PS I had three versions for how Discord reacted to finding out the Pillars made the Tree: this was the mild-middle option of the three. Third version would have had a lot more collateral in the throne room.

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Chapter 4

Fluttershy had left shortly after Starlight had punched Starswirl. She didn't care to stay and hear whatever argument would ensue and had flown off to the castle entrance, the doors wide open to show Discord sitting on the steps of the castle, his form radiating his displeasure.

The softest of wings flaps and the barest sound of her hooves touching down was the only signal she gave for her arrival, taking a seat next to him without a word. She stared up at him in concern, but he just stared out across Ponyville, to the horizon.

It was almost kind of funny to her. When she had first met Twilight, she would have been terrified of Discord right now. She knew when a creature was lashing out in pain or fear, and her kindness would conquer her fears. But Discord was not hurt or afraid; He was angry, in every sense of the word. The old her would have been cowering before the draconequus like a filly before an Ursa.

The current Fluttershy, however, had grown a bit.

Discord's lips quirked upward ever so slightly as he felt Fluttershy nuzzle up against his side with a hoof around his back as a form of embrace. Without hesitation, he brought his talons down, stroking her soft mane in appreciation.

The irony was not lost on Fluttershy. These same talons could rip reality asunder. The digit that tenderly stroked her mane had just recently reformed an entire landscape with a mere flick. She was in the grasp of the most dangerous and powerful being she had ever known and had never been less afraid in her life. Never had she been so sure that she was safe.

"I missed you," she said, finally breaking the silence. He hummed, not deigning to say if he missed her as well. "I was worried, Discord. I thought something had happened to you, after what happened with Chrysalis's throne."

The petting stopped, his talons midway through her mane. Fluttershy wasn't scared, but she was very aware that her words had touched something fresh and raw.

Discord snorted his annoyance. "She still missing?" he inquired idly. Fluttershy nodded against him, waiting patiently. "...I honestly did lose track of time," he stated evasively.

"You probably shouldn't play with it then," Fluttershy joked with a soft smile before frowning again. "Are you leaving again, after this?"

"No," he answered, blunt and to the point. "I think I can afford to slow down and smell the poison joke," he added, smirking as he heard her giggles reach his ear. "...Sorry."

"You don't have to be," Fluttershy assured gently, placing a hoof on his oxen leg. "Just next time, leave a note?"

"I'll remember that," Discord stated, retracting his talons before turning to watch as the current heroes of Equestria exited the castle.

None of them looked happy, not even Pinkie Pie. The party pony tried, bless her, but her smile was just too awkward and nervous. Applejack and Rarity both had signs of exhaustion about their eyes, but more of a mental tiredness than anything physically taxing. Sunburst was just plain nervous. Rainbow and Spike seemed to be a strange mix of shocked and, if Discord wasn't mistaken, proud. The only one who did look even close to happy was Starlight's satisfied and definitely proud look, which was aimed at a very cold and stern faced Twilight.

"We're ready," Twilight stated without preamble, looking as though she was almost expecting him to ask her something.

Discord stood, turning to face them fully with crossed arms. It only took them another second to realize he was no longer looking at them, but behind them.

To the Pillars of Old Equestria.

"So are we," Starswirl said boldly as the group of old and new protectors stood before Discord. Twilight refused to even look their way, waiting patiently.

Discord, however, did not ignore the creators of the Tree of Harmony. "Like a filly, Starswirl. Like A Filly," Discord warned ominously.

Starswirl gave a hard, unyielding stare at the draconequus, who deemed him below the worth of his attention.

Everypony save Spike tensed as Discord's lion paw snapped out, as if swiping the world away. Twilight, Starlight, and Starswirl managed to spread their magic out over the group, save Fluttershy, who was held by Discord's tail. The magic kept the group steady as reality rushed by them at stomach churning speeds. Despite the unsettling feeling, the combined group was able to keep themselves mostly composed when the world came to a stop.

Except Spike, who promptly fell over face first and rolled over. "A little warning would have been nice," Spike stated, waiting for the sky to stop spinning.

"Sorry, Spike. We forgot you wouldn't know about that," Applejack stated as she helped the scaly youth up.

"Discord, I know you like tossing the planet around to go places, but could you please smooth out the transition some?" Starlight requested, shaking some vertigo off.

"Planet?" Discord asked, glancing at the reformed unicorn oddly. "What are you babbling about?"

Sunburst repositioned his glasses nervously. "Umm, you said you brought "there to us," implying that you moved the entire planet?"

"Really? That's what you thought he meant?" Spike asked in amusement.

Discord snorted condescendingly. "I'm almost insulted."

"Dude, they're saying they think you can move a planet. What's better than that?" Rainbow asked flatly.

"At the moment, the solar system," Discord answered bluntly, turning away from the ponies to observe their surroundings.

Twilight blinked, twice, thrice, and promptly shook her head. "I, I can't deal with this right now," she decided, as she and the others looked around.

They were on top of a slanted rock formation, looking out upon a bleak valley filled with many more of the tilted landforms, the landscape dotted with withered grass and barren trees. And in the distance, amongst the formations, was what looked like a settlement of some sort. "I think we also forgot to ask where we were going," Rainbow chimed in, looking to Discord as he stood at the very peak of the stone, gazing down upon the land with impatient wrath.

"Hollow Shades," Discord answered simply, watching the gloomy settlement with eerie stillness about him.

"Hasn't this place been abandoned for years?" Sunburst recalled curiously, Discord only giving a nod as an answer.

"Have these lands always looked like this?" Mistmane asked in concern. "Or have they been twisted by the Pony of Shadows?"

"Very soon, it will be a rather moot question," Discord said ominously, glancing back to Twilight. "Everypony stays here. I can't promise you'll be safe otherwise."

While the Old Pillars were mildly annoyed by the claim, Twilight and her friends found themselves fairly nervous. Discord usually let ponies waltz into trouble, so a warning of caution from him was something to give serious heed to.

"So," Applejack started awkwardly. "What's yer plan?"

Discord didn't answered immediately as he looked forward again, pausing for only an instant before his wings spread wide open. The wind itself seemed to rush to his aerial limbs as he let out a great and thunderous call.

"STYGIAN!"

With his voice echoing across the lands, the Lord of Chaos took to the sky with a mighty flap of his wings. The pegasi in the group trembled and shivered as they felt the magic-rich air brush against their own wings. Higher and farther he flew across the sky, until he deemed himself far enough from where the mortals were observing.

He eyed the ghost town of a village, seeing a great, mist-like mass starting to form. Discord growled with impatience as he raised one hand, holding up his index and middle talon as the air became charged and jittery.

"Can anypony else feel that?" Rarity asked warily as they all watched the now-distant figure.

"Rarity, I can SMELL it!" Rainbow answered, eyeing the skies like the clouds were now predators.

"Oh, what's it smell like?" Pinkie Pie asked, grinning curiously.

"Like lightning, but, worse," Rainbow said with growing unease. "Way worse."

As if on cue, Discord's fingers pointed downward, right as the darkness had condensed into a large sphere.

Everyone, without exception, screamed as a positively blinding and massive column of bright energy crashed down upon Hollow Shadows, engulfing the entire settlement in an instant. Wood and stone was blown upward and vaporized within the attack as it barred down for the longest five seconds of their lives.

Everyone groaned and shook their head as they attempted to regain their sight. Twilight strained her eyes to clear the spots dancing across her vision. Reality faded back into her sight and-

-she paled. The very life seemed to leave her lungs. Her eyes dilated as her keen and intelligent mind processed the meaning and implications of what she was seeing, but her conscious and emotional awareness refused to accept the conclusions before her.

Hollow Shades was gone. In its place was a massive hole. Not a crater, not ruins, a HOLE; A pit that had to have a truly massive depth to it.

An entire town, not much smaller than Ponyville, utterly wiped away from existence. Not warped, not destroyed, but gone with no trace to ever prove it existed.

"W-wow," Spike summarized, stunned as much as the others. "I always knew Discord was powerful, but I think this is the first time he, um, how to put it?"

"Used it for pure destruction," Starlight summarized, throwing a dirty look at Starswirl. "And you thought antagonizing him right now was smart, WHY?!"

The Old Pillars did not respond, too lost in their own disbelief.

Somnambula was the only one to speak, to summarize the event in the most perfect of words:

"What horrific power."

Twilight's gaze turned back up to the distant figure of Discord, floating in the sky still as thunder rumbled and lightning danced across storm clouds, swollen from the aftermath of Discord's attack. She suddenly wished Celestia and Luna were here.

Because she wasn't sure how she was going to do this event justice, orally or literately.

Discord was not a patient god. He could be, sometimes. But not right now. Right now, all he wanted to do was vent. And while he could do that just fine without using the Pony of Shadows as a punching bag, he really, really, wanted to use the Pony of Shadows as a punching bag.

He almost smiled when the planet started rumbling.

"Oh, what NOW?!" Sunburst exclaimed in fear. Starlight felt a little bad for him. This was his first major adventure, sans Flurry Heart's crystaling, and it just happened to be when Discord was throwing his weight around more than normal.

Discord drummed his talons against his arm as shadows erupted from the gapping maw he had created. It was not a beam or an attack, but a great accumulation of blackness that refused to allow any light to pierce it, tendrils of it spilling out in all direction like an umbrageous geyser. It blotted out everything, even the moon, even the stars. A great rumbling laugh shook the land even harder as Discord continued his wait.

He didn't even flinch when eyes of unholy whiteness shot up, and the great fanged jaw appeared to continue the cackling properly. Discord just glared impatiently as the titanic bulk of shadows condensed down slowly to form the Pony of Shadows in all his overblown glory.

He was very much the same, yet so different. His body was a size or two larger and somehow appearing more solid. As if it was a solid, physical substance now instead of magical shade. With every moment, shredded shards of blackness evaporated away from his form, as if even the Pony of Shadows could no longer contain them. These escaping bits of umbral might darkened the sky even further, turning what was already darkness into an almost tenebrous abyss.

"Ohhh, I must thank you, Discord!" The Pony of Shadows declared, his voice hungry and bloated with raw power. "If I had known that I could access my full powers just by destroying the Shrine of Shadows, I would have done it ages ago!"

"Are you done?" Discord asked, tilting his head as silence came over them. "I'd rather not hear you complaining about you not having a proper chance afterwards."

"You insolent-! Gahh! I am more powerful than even I ever imagined!" the Pony of Shadows declared, his dark powers churning violently.

"Then you have a very small imagination," Discord retorted as magic curled in the coils of his tail. "I originally just wanted to get a warm up, Stygian. But I recently learned that your former comrades are directly responsible for a great...displeasure of mine."

"Hard to imagine what they could have ever done to hinder you," the Pony of Shadows remarked tensely.

Discord ignored him though, a cruel smile working onto his face. "And after thinking about it a bit more, I realized that they never would have created that Weed if not for you," The Tyrant concluded, every playful word dripping with wrathful poison. "Congrats. You've been upgraded from warm up to stress relief."

They attacked in sync, a screaming laser of darkness rushing from Stygian's horn while Discord's tail sent a slashing wave of volatile orange magic at the faux-Alicorn. Neither one was very surprised by the other dodging, the dark attack leaving a deep gash in one of the large hills, while Discord's left a fractured scar in the very air.

Stygian narrowed his gaze before rushing forward in a gaseous form, instantly reforming to strike Discord in the side, but the draconequus batted it away with his talons. With a snarl, his lion paw came crashing down as a fist, the Pony of Shadows falling like a Star of Darkness into one of the large rock formations. The impact alone shook the lands while nearby stones crumbled under the shockwave.

With a great roar, a blast of shadows sent the rocks and boulders flying upward as Stygian emerged unharmed. Discord eyed the magically propelled objected uncaringly. With a single clap of his hands, he dispelled Stygian's magic and sent the debris crashing back down to earth.

Stygian glared as he dodged a rather giant rock, attempting and failing to keep Discord in his vision. He stopped in midflight as he got around the boulder, finding the skies clear.

"Here."

Stygian inhaled sharply, looking down to see Discord was DIRECTLY in front of him, in the blind spot just below his head. Discord didn't give him time to attack, grabbing the Pony of Shadows with both limbs, his wings unfolding and legs tensing. With a great jump and mighty flap, he was barreling Stygian towards and THROUGH one of the miniature mountains.

"They're just going to destroy everything at this rate," Rarity summarized as they watched on in awe as the titans shot through at least three more land formations before the quaking stopped.

"Are we sure we're safe up here?" Rockhoof questioned warily.

"Those boulders were getting pretty close to us," Pinkie Pie noted, but with an innate lack of fear.

"And, you know, the magic attacks can go pretty far when they miss," Applejack reminded, eyeing the crack in the sky Discord had created as his opening move, idly worried it was getting bigger.

"We'll be fine," Twilight stated simply.

"What makes you so certain?" Starswirl asked with a scowl of his own.

Twilight debated ignoring him before sighing. "Discord said we're safe here. Not at this distance, here. Until proven otherwise, I'm assuming he set up a shield or something around us that we can't detect."

"I can buy that," Rainbow accepted with a shrug.

Stygian managed to pry himself out of Discord's grip as they impacted into the fourth mountain. In an instant, he brought his mighty hooves crashing down upon the draconequus, but Discord caught the attack with his own claws, holding the dark pony in place, cracking the ground beneath them. Stygian grunted at Discord's unphased glare and raised his wings to strike at his chaotic foe like blades. Discord retaliated by bringing his own wings up, locking them against the shadowy appendages as sparks flew from the four flying limbs.

As if tiring of the Pony of Shadow's attempted show of physical strength, Discord deflected the hooves to the side, as they made impact with the ground.

The top of the mountain exploded, turning it more like a plateau. Like a lava-less volcano, the dust and debris climbed for miles into the air as sand and pebbles rained from the sky.

Before Stygian could rip his forelegs from the earth, Discord's tail swiped at the faux-Alicorn, slamming into his face as the tail wrapped around his neck. Discord leapt into the air, pulling his tail down to throw Stygian into the dirt before bringing his feet down on Stygian's head.

The earth gave way and caved in beneath the Pony of Shadows, said shadow gasping and choking as he found himself in a deep pool. But it was not water that clung to his shadowy form as he took to the sky once more. It was silvery and metallic. He couldn't see through it, only the misshaped reflections on its surface. "Wh-what is this?!" Stygian demanded as the gleaming substance dripped over his form, almost surprised he still needed air, being that he was made of shadows now.

"Liquid metal," Discord answered bluntly, floating nearby with his arms crossed. "Before you ask why it's not hot, I lowered the melting point. By a lot."

"Should I even bother to ask why?" Stygian answered in annoyance.

Discord raised an eyebrow, as if the answer should be obvious. "So I could raise it back up."

That was the only warning had before Stygian felt the liquid grow rigid and hard on his hoof. With a glare, he blasted his encased hoof, only to grow surprised. Only the immediate area of the beam's impact was destroyed. "Magically reinforced," he realized with a growing sense of dread.

"By my magic," Discord confirmed with a small smirk, making a sweeping motion with his arm.

Stygian instantly tried to fly away as the spring of liquid metal erupted towards him, but the hardened metal already upon his form slowed and hindered his movement even as he tried to break it in midflight. The magic bonds of the substance clung to him even if he tried to turn into pure shadows for evasion. Like living serpents, the streams of liquid rushed around and ahead of him, as they began to encircle and entrap him. The Pony of Shadows roared, blasting at the melted metal, even as it sprayed against him, hindering him more as it too hardened.

As he fruitlessly struggled, the streams began to expand, and interlock. Seeing the prison forming around him, Stygian attempted to slam through one of the gaps. He struggled against it, forcing the metal apart for a few seconds.

Then Discord flicked him, the impact sending him back into the newly formed sphere as it finally closed around the Pony of Shadows.

"...Does anypony have any idea what's still happening?" Rarity asked curiously, head tilting. "They got rather far away."

"I think Discord just won," Sunburst answered as he held a telescope up to his eye.

"I doubt it," Spike stated expectantly.

"What makes you say that, little Drake?" Meadow Brook questioned idly.

"Discord hasn't come back yet," Spike answered pointedly.

Said draconequus stood on the edge of a rock, tapping the claw of his draconic foot expectantly as he eyed the metal sphere lying on the ground. "Look, if you take too much longer in there, I'm going to start playing pinball with you!" Discord called in warning

Discord was eminently certain that he heard a sigh within the armor ball before it shook briefly. Cracks and fractures formed as darkness began to leak out. Then, with one great roar, it exploded. The force sent the fragments flying, burying themselves deep into the earth.

One particular fragment went spinning through the air, heading straight for audience to this titanic clash. Faith or not, Twilight preemptively put up a shield around them as ponies moved around where the projectile's apparent path was headed. Twilight braced herself, the other unicorns prepared to aid if needed.

But it was all unneeded. Before it ever even made contact with Twilight's purple shield, it made contact with...something else. Something that appeared to be nothing at all, despite the sparks flying as the shard screeched against the unseen shield, rushing over the ponies before crashing into the ground many yards behind them. "Okay, shield confirmed," Twilight stated in relief.

Meanwhile, Starlight had moved closer to Fluttershy, who watched the entire fight with a solemn look. "You expected this?" Starlight asked quietly.

"Nothing specific, but yes: I always knew Discord would do something like this," Fluttershy answered with a small smile.

"Why? From everything I know and heard, Discord's never been this serious or angry! He always just laughs everything off and turns it into a joke," Starlight remarked with a confused frown.

Fluttershy tilted her head. "Discord's an animal," she stated simply.

"Umm, yes, I suppose as much as the rest of us," Starlight agreed hesitantly.

"More, actually," Fluttershy corrected with a soft sigh. "It's...hard to explain. Sapient creatures, we form cities and communities as we create bonds and tools we need to better survive. Discord's not like that. He needs friendship to have a life, but...he's never needed it to survive, really. He's always been so far above everything, even other immortals, that his mindset is almost primitive; At least in terms of his desires and motives. Given that, he's not too different from an Apex Predator."

Starlight blinked at the rather in-depth analysis of Discord from the pegasus. "Okay, wow, that...actually explains a lot, but doesn't really answer my question?"

Fluttershy sighed. "Do you know what happens, Starlight, when an Apex Predator feels like no other creature respects it?" she asked softly.

Starlight's eyes went wide, starting to dread where this was going. "No?" she answered uncertainly.

"Nothing," Fluttershy continued with a frown. "At first. Creatures at the top of the food chain grow very used to being up there. They don't care if a few creatures don't realize how dangerous they are. It's only after it starts to feel its place in nature is threatened that it does what, honestly, it was always going to do."

Starlight didn't speak, didn't dare interrupt as she waited for Fluttershy to finish.

"He reminds everyone Who He Is."

Discord glared as he was launched backwards by the pointblank attack from Stygian, impacting with a mountain. Even with physics literally dying around him, he couldn't nullify all of the pushback from that attack. He cracked his neck, staring up at the floating Stygian. "So we're both aware this all amounted to an overpowered game of Magic Tag, right?" Discord asked sardonically.

Stygian glowered, sending two crescent-bladed attacks down with a great slash from both his wings. Discord merely raised his arms, deflecting the attacks. One went off behind him and cleaved off the top of the mountain, while the other rushed to the sky-scar, promptly breaking it with an audible shattering noise, shards of shadow floating in place.

"How?!" Stygian demanded bitterly. "How, How, HOW?! How could you possibly get this much more power?! What source of power could you have claimed, to become even stronger than you were before?!"

"There's a story to that, Stygian," Discord answered with a small, mocking smile as he crossed his arms. "But you won't like it."

"A story? You want to tell me a story, in the middle of a battle?" Stygian questioned in frustration, feeling more insulted somehow.

"It's not a very long one," Discord assured. "It's called 'I Never Trained a Day in My Life.'"

There was a deep, great silence throughout the land. Yet, somehow, inexplicably, there was one sound in the silence.

The Sound of Fear.

"I...don't want to know that story," Stygian decided, feeling rather unnerved. As if he was only now truly seeing the entity before him.

"Too late," Discord said with a cruel smile. "It's the same mistake every creature always makes about me. You all think that I'm some ancient master of the arcane arts that spent eons learning the intricate secrets of magic and chaos. The punchline is that what you fought a thousand years ago? That wasn't my peak. That Was My Baseline."

Stygian took a step back in midair as the comprehension started to set in. "But...but why now? Why would you try to get stronger-?!"

"That's none of your concern," Discord interrupted harshly. "Instead, you should focus on the comet I'm about to hit you with."

"Wait, Wh-!?"

Author's Note

And there we go! Most of Discord's "fight" with Stygian. This fight was actually really fun to write, but so was the cozy little fluttercord scene at the start.

Fluttershy's speech about Discord is largely inspired by "The Lion Speech" from Poolhall Junkies. Have no idea if the movie is any good, I just found the speech and liked it.

Hope you all enjoyed this.

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Chapter 5

There is an old question about magic shields. When they were first created, they were stronger, but no one would ever create a dome shield. This was because, at first, no one had figured out how to allow air to pass through the shield. Once it was discovered how to overcome this issue, shields were a bit weaker, but no one would suffocate within their own defenses. Most wielders of defensive spells still knew how to make the original versions, if they might have to worry about poisonous gases or something similar

But wind was air. Yet wind could be strong enough to hurt or even kill creatures.

So the question became, if a shield remained inert until damage was inflicted, at what point did wind itself become strong enough that it counted as being damaging?

Twilight wasn't sure, but she was very glad that Discord's shield protected against wind right now.

The Pony of Shadows was struck down by a meteor roughly the same size as the villain. When it made impact with the ground, the shockwave from it could be felt from miles away, a huge column of wind and dust rushing over the mountains and the valley, parting around the shielded group of ponies and one dragon.

"Well! That was something!" Spike yelled over the howling noise of the wind.

"He summoned a meteorite! Why am I surprised? I shouldn't be surprised, but I am!" Twilight stated in disbelief.

"A meteor-what?!" Flash Magnus asked, dumbfounded.

"Basically a falling star!" Sunburst answered as a quick explanation.

"Anypony else getting a might bit worried!?" Applejack asked, swallowing deeply. "I mean, this rodeo is getting a tad big in terms of how much they're wrecking the place."

"I'm not surprised. Discord never did give much thought to those caught in the wake of his mayhem," Somnambula stated with a frown.

"You're saying this, while sitting behind the magic mega-shield he made for us," Rainbow pointed out with a deadpan, her fellow pegasus grimacing while choosing not to retort to that.

Rockhoof leaned down to talk to Starswirl. "I'm not so sure your limbo spell would work against either of them now, Stars," he stated, grim and quiet.

"I fear you might be correct, my old friend," Starswirl agreed under his voice, glancing to those born in these bizarre times. "And I fear that, in the Chaos Lord's case, we will find little aid in this era."

"How strange," Mistmane mused. "This world seems so bright, so hopeful in the places we searched, yet it is a world where a tyrant like Discord runs free and is claimed as an ally among ponies."

Meanwhile

Pain.

That was all Stygian knew now.

His majestic form of shadows had been burned by the light of a star and crushed under its might. His very form oozed as it struggled to recover. His entire left side was liquefied, pooling around him with only the semblance of legs remaining. The wing was just some lanky, twisted, slimy...thing now.

His vision clouded in by smoke and dust. How ironic, for the Pony of Shadows.

There was a snap.

All of the smoke and debris still in the air turned to a stark white grains, falling to the earth like a deathly snowfall.

And floating just above him was the Draconequus himself.

"How...," Stygian swallowed his own gurgling voice, struggling to stand as his own mass pooled beneath him. "How considerate of you, Lord Discord," he said scathingly. "To contain the fallout of our conflict."

Discord didn't say anything, just let him speak.

"Much has changed, if you are being mindful...of such pathetic and fragile creatures," Stygian rambled, limping forward. He chuckled. It was broken, almost madden even. "Of course...of course, that would lead to one question."

Discord narrowed his gaze.

Stygian could feel it on his skin.

Not on his shadowy body, on his flesh and blood beneath his true coat.

The ire of a God.

"Why were you so careful..." Stygian continued. "A thousand years ago?"

Silence.

Then a hum.

A stroke of the beard.

"I could give you a million reasons, Stygian, all conjured up by so many that wondered the same thing. Immortals and mortals alike, all trying to grasp the logic in my head," Discord started idly, waving his talons.

Stygian coiled warily as he saw the sand churn and rise, forming into a thousand and one statues: Alicorns, Ponies, Changelings, Yaks, Dragons, Cyclopes, Kirin, Griffons, Hippogriffs, and so many more. Each was detailed, unique.

He recognized some of them; Princess Platinum, Smart Cookie, Commander Hurricane, a Griffon Warrior-Prince, a dragon mage, a diamond dog ranger.

Himself.

"Many are under the strange illusion that Death is too stagnant or orderly," Discord continued, snorting. "Pathetic. Death is the most chaotic part of life. Suddenly, someone is gone, and the living are left to try and adapt, to fill the void. The filling of a vacuum is among the purest forms of chaos. The right death can spark a war, break a nation."

A statue dissolved into dust. And then a hundred more did.

"I am well aware," Stygian seethed.

Discord continued on, ignoring him. "Others believe I actually have a moral issue with it. Or perhaps I just don't do it because they think I can't bring back the dead," Discord said with a chuckle. "Oh, how simple you impermanent creatures are."

"I suppose that would be the answer? We amuse you too much?" Stygian guessed bitterly.

Discord laughed, and green lightning ripped apart a mountain from beneath, leaving it to crumble.

"You are the only amusing thing here, Stygian," Discord stated, his humor melting into a dark scowl. "No, I have a very simple reason for not killing any creature: I refuse."

"You refuse. To do what? Get your limbs dirty?" Stygian questioned as his legs reformed.

"No, no," Discord said with a deep breath, his eyes gleaming with wrath. "I refuse to give it to you, to anyone! The satisfaction of thinking I, in all my power, was pushed to kill a so-called foe! To kill one is to acknowledge their power."

Discord held up his lions paw, holding a ball of intense whiteness.

"I refuse to give you that acknowledgement, Stygian, Pony of Shadows!"

Stygian roared in futile defiance as his wings snapped back into proper form before launching himself up at the Draconequus.

Discord didn't even move, the statues all coming to life and leaping forth to grab the struggling creature of darkness. The Pony of Shadows roared as he sent out a great beam of darkness.

Discord held out the orb, the beam struggling against the air around it before bouncing off the sphere, cleaving into the ground and a mountain behind him.

"Well, I'm officially bored," Discord remarked, vanishing.

No snap, no teleport, just gone.

Stygian struggled against his bonds, before Discord appeared behind him and forced the white orb into the mock-Alicorn's backside. Stygian screamed as he felt the weight, the heaviness and the extreme pressure on a planetary scale crushing onto his body.

"W-what are you doing?!" Stygian screamed in agony.

Discord didn't answer, pushing the orb closer as the shadow body was pushed away by the waves of pressure pushing against it, wearing away until the body of a unicorn was visible.

Discord smirked as he vanished the orb, the now-free hand lurching forward to grab Stygian while his other hand grabbed the body of darkness around them. With one great pull, he tore Stygian from it and the host-less mass of shadow screamed and squealed in agony as it dissolved into a formless shape.

Stygian weakly coughed up blood as he hung by his cloak in Discord's grasp. The Lord of Chaos snorted even as he gave minor healing to the betrayed traitor, ensuring he would not die.

The world spun by them, and when it stopped, Discord was standing behind their audience. "I hope you enjoyed the show."

They all turned around in shock, some even fright, as he tossed the unconscious unicorn at their hooves.

"He'll live," Discord answered the obvious question, crossing his arms.

"Discord, that...that was...incredible!" Starlight said in awe. "Absolutely terrifying, but incredible!"

"Yeah, that was more epic than Twilight's fight with Tirek!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Discord, I believe as a princess, I'm formally obligated to say thank you for not letting that mushroom cloud spread," Twilight said with relief.

Discord smirked rather proudly at that.

"Yep, its still Discord," Applejack remarked, glancing down at the grey pony. "So, this is him?"

"Yes, this is him," Starswirl said with a scowl as the Pillars approached the form of their former friend.

"He looks just like he used to," Somnambula stated sadly.

"What do we do about that though?" Flash Magnus asked, pointing out the mass of shadows still in Discord's claws.

"I'm sure the Lord of Chaos has some plan for it," Mistmane remarked neutrally.

"Only if you count dinner as a plan," Discord answered, holding up the mass with a smirk.

"What do you mean...Dinner?" Spike asked cautiously.

"Well, you see, I don't kill," Discord stated, his smirk turning sly. "Buuuut this isn't really alive, sooooo..."

Everyone reeled back in shock as Discord opened his mouth and bit into the mass of shadows. It didn't scream, but it clearly struggled as Discord forced it into his mouth, swallowing it more like a drink than a solid, pushing the last bit in with a satisfied sigh.

His shadow grew notably darker.

"Okay, I take it back, that was terrifying!" Starlight self-corrected.

"Still kind of awesome though," Rainbow admitted.

"Discord, you're my best-friend," Fluttershy said before shivering. "But even I thought that was a bit, well, freaky."

Discord shrugged. "Look, I figured my belly is a better sealed can for evil than anything else mortals have tried. I'm betting I can hold it in for at least ten thousand years before I forget not to let it out the backdoor," he stated blatantly.

"...I can't tell if he's joking or not, and I am very concerned," Sunburst remarked with wide eyes, all of them looking just a tad green from that mental imagery.

"So, what do we do with him?" Rarity questioned, motioning to the former Pony of Shadow. "We normally don't have villains around after we defeat them."

"Yeah, usually they get blasted away, or turned into shadows, or turned into sto-" Pinkie Pie started, stopping to look at Discord owlishly.

"No, on, it's fine, I'm calm," Discord assured, glancing up in the sky to see the scar in the sky was still there. He casually plucked it out of the sky, turning it into a sparkle toothpick of blue and purple that he used to picked at the shadows stuck in his teeth. "And you don't do anything with Stygian."

"What?" Starswirl asked with a scowl. "You want us to let this traitor go free!?"

"You passing that along to you-know-who as well?" Starlight whispered to Twilight, who scowled, glaring at both her student and then her idol… who was steadily becoming her former idol.

"Stygian isn't a traitor, you dolts," Discord said with an eye roll.

"Discord, what do you mean?" Starlight asked, wondering if her theory was true.

"I've been telling you all from the start," Discord said blandly as he picked at his teeth to get the shadows out of them. "Nightmare Moon knockoff."

The Pillars didn't get it, neither did Sunburst or Starlight. But, all at once, the other six ponies and one dragon groaned.

"You have got to be bucking me," Spike grumbled, swiping a claw over his face.

"You, no, but maybe your mother," Discord answered with a snort.

"Classy," Rainbow remarked. "But seriously? Again?"

"Any idea what they're on about?" Rockhoof asked.

"No idea," Meadowbrook confessed.

"Like student, like teachers," Discord stated with a headshake. "Speaking of whom, we're done here. Drei, Deux, Dala'a!" Discord declared, swiping his claws threw the air.

"Woooooo!" Rainbow exclaimed as the world rushed by them until they were outside the Castle of Friendship again. She blinked, looking around to see that no one had fallen over, even if some had stumbled. "Huh, I guess we're getting used to this."

"Or Discord is getting smoother with it," Spike suggested with a shrug.

"Yes, well, you still haven't given us a reason for why Stygian should be pardoned," Starswirl stated firmly.

"Even without the Pony of Shadows, he could still be a threat," Somnambula pointed out regretfully. "We imprisoned him for a reason."

"Suuuure you did," Discord said with an eye roll.

"Somepony really needs to fill them in," Rainbow remarked.

"And us?" Starlight commented.

"We're a bit lost too," Sunburst pointed out with a head tilt.

"If you know something, just be done with it and tell us," Starswirl demanded in annoyance.

"He's saying you done bucked up," Applejack answered flatly. "And that ya'll are probably the ones that ended up betraying Stygian."

"...What!?" Flash Magnus asked in disbelief. "That's a lie! He stole our artifacts to!"

"And?"

Every head looked to Discord.

"Why exactly did you think he took them?" Discord asked with a malicious gleam in his eye.

Starswirl snorted. "Because he was envious and wanted to-!"

"to...help...you."

"Finally," Discord grumbled as everypony turned to Stygian as he struggled to stand up, his head wobbling and his legs shakey.

"Stygian?" Somnambula asked in a mixture of hope and despair.

He struggled to stare at them with lost eyes, with more pain than any beating could create. "I...hated...sitting back, watching you all...not for the glory, but because...my friends were in danger...and I couldn't...do anything," Stygian admitted weakly.

Starswirl looked at his old friend with wide, wide eyes.

"I just wanted...to make my own power...to be able to join you...properly, to help," Stygian confessed, smiling tiredly as he stepped forward with tears in his eyes. "It's...been a long time...since I saw you all...with my own eyes..."

He collapsed, out cold, but he was caught by Mistmane's magic as she laid him down. The Old Pillars gathered around the injured form of their wronged friend.

"He was...we actually were..." Magnus whispered with haunted eyes. "I was...so sure."

"We all were," Rockhoof agreed.

"Too sure," Mistmane whispered. "Too quick to assume the worst in our best."

"Irony," Discord said, having walked over to the other group of ponies. "They jumped the gun, and the breaking of their friendship created the Tree of Harmony," Discord mused.

"That's not irony. That's just sad," Twilight said with a scowl. "I can't believe they did that."

"Not to point tails, but that wasn't too different from the Canterlot Wedding," Discord remarked.

"Wedding?" Starlight asked.

"Don't ask. Ever. Especially around Princess Cadence and Captain-Prince Shining Armor," Sunburst advised.

"Thinking I'm ruining my brother's wedding over pettiness is a LOT different than thinking I've turned evil because I stole something," Twilight countered in their defense.

"Like I said, not pointing tails," Discord said uncaringly. "By the way?"

Twilight blinked, feeling Discord tap her on her shoulder, causing her to look up. "Hmm?"

"You dropped this," Discord said, tossing her something.

Twilight caught it instinctively, eyes wide as saw what it was.

A microphone.

"Twilight! We got your letter, and-BY HARMONY, STARSWIRL!?"

"YOU'RE BACK! HUZZAH!"

The Princess of Friendship didn't even turn as she heard Princess Celestia and Luna arrive with a small group of guards.

"Celestia?!" Several of the pillars exclaimed in disbelief.

The group native to the present stared on at the happy reunion, the Alicorns of Day and Night rushing to embrace each of the pillars, Luna nearly taking down Rockhoof and Flash Magnus, hugging them both with one hoof.

"Haha, you've gotten strong, Moony!" Rockhoof praised.

"Celestia, you're so big and-!" Starswirl stopped, scrutinizing the eldest.

"...what did you do to your mane?" Meadowbrook asked in genuine confusion.

Celestia laughed genuinely, tears of happiness in her eyes.

"Discord, fella, I'm with you on this, but...The Princesses don't deserve to have this ruined," Applejack said under her breath.

"Yeah, as annoying as they've kind of been, it'd be meaner to those two than Beardo," Rainbow said uncomfortably.

"No, they don't, but I don't think Stygian deserved to get turned on so easily," Twilight muttered.

"Twilight?" Rarity asked in surprise and concern.

"Box is in your bar, Twilight," Discord answered with a shrug.

"So, what happen? And- Holy Horn of Aperion! Discord!?" Celestia exclaimed, doing a double take at the Chaos God.

"Discord?" Luna said, tilting her head at him.

"Yo," Discord greeted with a wry smirk, leaning against the crystal walls of the castle exterior.

The Luna Diarch teleported over to him, eyeing his form up and down. "Why in Tartarus are you bigger? Sister, my eyes aren't deceiving me, he is bigger, yes?" Luna asked in surprise.

"Yes, he certainly is," Celestia observed with a curious frown. "Where have you been, Discord?"

"Within and throughout the interior parts of the world," Discord answered dryly, which answered no one's questions at all.

"So, it's actually true?" Starswirl asked with a trouble scowl. "You both actually defeated and released Discord the Draconequus?"

Celestia winced and sighed as she turned to her teacher. "Many things have changed while you were gone, Teacher," Celestia said vaguely.

Twilight turned to Princess Luna, leaning to her ear. "Princess, there's something you should know..."

"Hmm, what is it, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna asked curiously, listening intently.

Twilight was about to elaborate when Luna caught the downed figure on the ground. "Wait, is that...Stygian? I thought he became the Pony of Shadows?"

Flash Magnus nodded sadly. "Yes. Though, it seems that we were mistaken about the situation," he explained as Twilight began to whisper to Luna.

"The Mad God kept referring to it as a...Nightmare Moon knockoff? I'm not sure what the last word implies," Mistmane stated, blinking as she saw Celestia's eyes go wide and pale. "Celestia, are you alright?"

Celestia snapped out of it, shaking her head and abruptly turning to face her sister's location- only to freeze as Luna was now staring at Starswirl with a rigid posture, wide glistening eyes, and a tremble around her mouth.

"Luna?" Starswirl asked in concern.

"Luna, wait-" Celestia started only for her sister to vanish in a flash of magic. Celestia grimaced, sighing before leveling Discord a glare. "Discord, what did you do?"

Twilight opened her mouth, but Discord beat her to it. "Sorry, old habits," Discord apologized insincerely, Twilight and everyone giving him looks of surprise.

"What Did You Do To Her, You Cur!" Starswirl demanded with his horn bright.

Discord looked unimpressed. "All she heard was the truth."

"No more riddles-!" Starswirl started.

"Nightmare Moon!" Twilight spoke up loudly. "Was the name Luna went by, when she was a villain."

"...What?" Starswirl asked in disbelief, turning to Celestia as his coat seemed to lose color.

"Celestia, say it ain't so?" Meadowbrook asked softly.

"Yeah, Luna would never do that. Right?" Magnus asked imploringly.

Celestia's face twisted in sadness. "Yes, it's true. Due to my own failings, Luna fell into madness for a time," she said with deep regret.

Starswirl fell onto his rear in shock, the whole world spinning for him as his vision began to blur, so many of his own words circling in his head.

"Starswirl? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a windigo?" Celestia asked in concern.

"I believe...I believe I've made a grave mistake, Celestia," Starswirl said sadly. "Please...we need to get Stygian to the palace. He might need medical attention."

"Of course. Twilight, girls. I'm sorry to leave so quickly-" Celestia started.

"We understand, Princess," Twilight assured with a small smile. "Go, I'm sure Princess Luna needs you."

Celestia nodded as her guards began loading Stygian and the non-flying members of the pillars into the chariot.

Starswirl gave one last look to the group in front of the castle, Twilight giving him a cold, neutral stare as he climbed aboard before the chariot left for Canterlot with tears he tried to hide.

"Like a filly," Discord muttered with dark satisfaction.

"I get it, he deserves it? But seriously, not cool," Rainbow said with a headshake.

"Twilight, did you really have to...?" Fluttershy asked softly.

"You told me once being nice and being kind isn't the same thing, Fluttershy," Twilight said with a scowl. "I'm not sure if this was kind or cruel for the princesses, but...I don't feel like being nice right now."

"I'm kind of with Twilight. Timing was horrible, but I think that's on Discord," Applejack remarked. "That old bag of horns needed a reality check."

"Still, Discord?" Twilight said, looking up at him in surprise. "You didn't need to do that, taking the blame like that."

Discord shrugged. "I'm the Lord of Chaos, Twilight, not Cruelty. No need for you and Sunny to get in a spat tonight. Blaming me is a lot simpler. You ponies expect me to do stuff like this."

"Well, aren't you the sweetheart all of a sudden?" Rarity commented in amusement.

"I wrecked her castle, it seemed like a good form of compensation," Discord mused.

Twilight smiled a bit in gratitude. "I appreciate it, Discord, but I don't plan on lying if this comes up again."

Discord just hummed without interest.

"So..." Starlight started slyly. "You covering for her wasn't part of the plan to buck Spike's mom?"

Twilight blinked and blushed pink as she caught on.

"Oh, I can't believe I missed that," Spike said with a headshake.

"Eh, I could see it sailing," Pinkie Pie said with a grin.

"Discord and Princess Twilight?" Sunburst said with wide eyes. "The offspring would be terrifying. Brilliant, but terrifying."

"That'd be true for any of her spawns," Discord agreed with a chuckle.

"I hate all of you," Twilight said half-heartedly as the girls giggled. "And Discord, you're not helping!"

"I already helped. A lot. Now I'm here to mock," Discord said with a shrug. "You know, unless you have a better way to entertain me?"

Twilight blushed harder at the implications and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "D-don't you have Fluttershy for that?!"

Fluttershy blushed, hoof over her mouth. "Oh my."

Discord leveled Twilight with a stare. "What are you implying about Fluttershy, Twilight?" he asked warningly.

"N-nothing, just that you both are r-really close and have a lot of time tog-together alone and-" Twilight stopped as Discord raised a talon. "Can I at least have a head-start?"

"You have thirteen seconds," Discord granted.

Twilight vanished in a flash of purple.

"Discord, you can't hurt your friends for misspeaking," Fluttershy said scoldingly.

"Oh, I know. I just wanted to scare her. Well, happy Twilight Hunting girls," Discord said cheekily.

"Wait, what?" Rarity and Applejack asked in surprise.

"What are we in trouble for?" Rainbow asked, crossing her forelegs.

"Oh please, this isn't trouble. It's a Tuesday for all of you," Discord said dismissively as he reached down to pick up Fluttershy and Spike. "Now come on you two, I need to see which of you has a better poker face."

Everypony watched as Discord disappeared into the castle with Fluttershy and Spike.

"Yay, Twilight Hunting! First one to find her gets a free treat from Sugar Cube Corner!" Pinkie Pie declared before pronking away.

"Twilight Hunting?" Sunburst asked with a quirked brow. "This is actually a thing?"

"About once a month now, yes," Starlight assured sheepishly.

"Yeah, now its once a month, newbie," Rainbow said with a snort as she started to fly off.

Sunburst looked to Starlight strangely. "And these are the friends you made after you stopped being a power mad dictator?"

"Believe me, I have made that observation many times."

Author's Note

There we go, the end of that battle, and we get to see canon derail after this. Hope you all enjoyed how this fight went.

And Discord ATE the Shadows. Lovely imagery.

Hope you all had better holidays than I did...

Well, until next time.

Chapter 6

It had been a while since Luna had cried like this. The last time had been a month or two after the Tantabus incident. She had been getting better, doing better. She could actually get into arguments with her sister, playful or serious, without flashbacking to her fall from grace. She had finally approved the plans to remodel the throne room to have two thrones. She no longer felt like the mare formerly known as Nightmare Moon, but once more like Princess Luna.

But then again, she should have known Starswirl would never look at her the same way if he returned and discovered her dark past.

"Once a villain, always a villain, eh?" she murmured to herself, sniffing as she blew her nose on a tissue while lying on her bed. "And if Starswirl says it..."

"You always were a Teacher's Pet, Luna," Discord said, suddenly behind her.

Luna jumped in alarm, but not just from him. All her used tissues burst into black flames, instantly reduced to ashes and then even those burned into nothing. She sighed as she recollected herself. "What do you want, Discord? I am in no mood for your games," she warned.

Discord floated around her, and saw her shivering from the static in the air. "Do I look like I'm here for games?" Discord asked idly, tilting his head to gaze at her with one red eye.

Luna scowled. "Stop it," she ordered.

"And what would I be stopping, Princess?" he asked, crossing his arms in a bored fashion.

"Staring at me like that. You never look like that. So...serious," she said with a perplexed and uncertain tone.

"I distinctly recall you demanding me to be serious on many, many occasions," he said leaning towards her a bit. "Right, my dear enemy?"

Luna shivered again, for many reasons, glancing again at Discord's obviously larger body, the bed barely big enough to fit his top half with his lower legs dangling off and tail coiled on the floor. "What has happened to you?" she asked in bewilderment.

"This isn't about me, Luna," he retorted with a snort. "It's about your flankhole of a teacher."

"Don't speak of him like that," Luna demanded with a scowl.

"I'll speak of him and his party of gnats however I please," Discord stated with a scowl, the air rippling around his head into bats made of fire , eating away at moths of light forming for their delight.

Luna watched the display with rapt attention. It was...technically like Discord's usual behavior to cause such things, but this felt...different still, as did the rest of him.

His scowl disappeared into a neutral line, the light moths and fire-bats instantly swallowed by the head of Discord's shadow. "You know you're more than him, right?"

"What?" Luna asked, confused by the slight subject change.

"You forged a kingdom of peace and harmony with your sister after those lot vanished. The tribes co-existed with them. With you two? They merged, and they thrived," Discord stated, giving her a sideways look. "Why do you think I picked Equestria? I would not have settled for my Chaos Capital to be anything less than a place as grand as what you two made."

Luna blinked, twice, as she processed it. "You're...praising me?" she realized with wide eyes. "You're...comforting me?"

"It appears to be distracting you, at the least," he acknowledged with a hum as he waved his talons in her direction.

Luna looked down, and saw that there was a tray filled with food in front of her; more specifically..."Moon Pies, really?" she realized, having been asked to taste these before for...obvious, obnoxious reasons.

"I'm still Discord," he defended with a shrug.

Luna looked skeptical before sighing and taking a bite...before her eyes went wide in delight. "These are...pineapple flavored?"

"Your favorite," Discord confirmed with a smirk. "PineMoon Pies, I suppose?"

Luna swallowed, feeling some much needed relief. "Thank you, Discord. I...did not expect this from you," she stated honestly.

"And you shouldn't," he agreed with disinterest. "I do have a favor to ask though."

"A favor?" she repeated, feeling a bit let down that Discord had done all this just to ask for compensation.

"When your sister mentions that "I" was the one who told you what Starswirl said? Don't correct her," Discord requested.

Luna stared incomprehensibly before the only possible answer came to mind. "You're taking the blame for Twilight? Not that I find her to be at fault, but..."

"Your teacher bucked up. If it was just insulting me or even bragging about his hoof in creating that Weed, that would be one thing, but..." he trailed off with an unpleasant, near snarl.

Luna could see colors distorting around his mouth, but chose to ignore the phenomenon when it vanished. "What did Starswirl say to invoke such ire from you?" she asked curiously.

"He treated Twilight like dung ever since they got freed, so I decided to not play nice," Discord answered with a shrug.

"You were...angry on Twilight's behalf?" Luna asked in surprise.

"Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?" Discord retorted idly.

"It is, but that level or empathy is new for you," Luna answered curiously.

Discord smirked a bit. "I developed a good way of knowing when I should be upset about something happening to my friends."

"And that is?" Luna asked with a head tilt

"I imagine if they were Fluttershy and think how I'd react than," Discord admitted, waving his claws idly. "Then I dial it back by...half?"

Luna stared for a moment before snorting, bringing her hoof to her mouth to muffle her laughter. "I...I truly can't tell if you're serious or just trying to make me laugh," she said in between chuckles.

Discord just smirked softly.

"Still, while deceit isn't something I normally endorse, it is...very noble of you to take the blame until cooler heads and hearts may prevail," she praised.

"Don't think too much of it, Luna. I prompted her to do it then. I didn't force her, no, but it was a nudge in the direction I wanted," he admitted.

Luna frowned. "Manipulating your friends is...less noble," Luna conceded.

"Then it's a good thing I never claimed to be noble," Discord remarked meaningfully.

"No, I suppose you didn't," Luna agreed in acceptance. "...What happened, with Stygian?"

"Do you mean now or a thousand years ago?" Discord asked rhetorically. "Because we both know the former is Stygian's story to tell."

"Then today," Luna answered in acceptance.

"I ripped the Pony of Shadows from Stygian and ate it," he answered bluntly.

"...You ate it?" Luna repeated, taking another look at Discord's shadow...and she could feel it staring back at her.

"Like a hayburger," Discord confirmed, scratching his neck.

"Well, I suppose I should thank you for defeating such an enemy on behalf of-" Luna started, getting a groan of annoyance form Discord.

"Oh, save the spiel, Princess. I didn't do it for Equestria. I didn't even do it for my friends," Discord waved off with a snort.

Luna was momentarily surprised, Discord waving off praise. "Then...why did you do it? An old grudge with Stygian?" Luna guessed.

Discord turned his full attention to her and looked very annoyed. "Don't flatter him, Luna. I beat the Pony of Shadows to a pulp because I could. Because I wanted a punching bag, a warm up," Discord explained before looking at her pointedly. "Besides, I came here to make sure you were alright."

"I know, it is just...so bizarre, seeing you like this," Luna admitted, swallowing thickly. "It's almost like you're..."

"Putting effort into things?" Discord supplied with a hint of smugness. "I am. Lovely, isn't it?"

"I believe I can get accustomed to you like this," she admitted curiously. "...Thank you, for coming."

"Don't mention it. Ever," Discord said with a dismissive wave.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me why this change has taken place though?" Luna inquired.

Discord hummed, stroking his beard before smirking.

Luna's eyes widened as he leaned closer. "...Discord?" she asked uncertainly.

"Luna, can you answer me a question honestly?" he asked suddenly.

"Perhaps," she answered cautiously.

"Where were you?"

Luna was taken back by the question as he locked eyes with her and she suddenly felt much more like small filly than a powerful Alicorn princess. "What do you mean?"

"When I broke free and wreaked havoc on Twilight and her friends," he answered pointedly as her eyes widened. "When Celestia tried to reform me. When she came to see me admitting to wanting friendship with you ponies," he answered as he saw her become very alarmed and tense. "Where were you, Luna?"

"...You know the answer to that," she said with a scowl. "You can't NOT know."

"You've made it rather obvious, even now," Discord admitted.

"Then why do you want to hear me say it? Does it give you some...perverse joy to know I was terrified of you?!" Luna spat out.

Silence greeted her admittance. No mocking, no laughter, not even a snort.

Not even surprise.

"No, it doesn't. Fear's an appropriate response to facing me," Discord answered casually. "You want to know what I've been doing, but I think that answer might just give you nightmares."

"...That's not funny," she said in disapproval.

"I wasn't joking," he corrected seriously. "Tell me, Luna, how long do you think I trained before we first fought? How hard I had to work to get so powerful?" he asked in a low voice.

Luna swallowed thickly and she was somehow feeling unafraid yet still vulnerable. "I...I could never guess. A thousand years? Ten thousand?"

"And here is the scary part," Discord said, mouth to her ear, whispering softly. "I never trained before, Princess."

Luna froze as those words echoed in her head. Discord had never trained. He had never even tried to become powerful. He just...was. That was...almost incomprehensible. To imagine Discord beginning at that power, to know that he had never reached a peak...

She inhaled sharply as the full meaning registered. "Before?" she repeated warily.

Discord leaned back in amusement, the air thick with his power. He casually rose a talon, as if gripping the air, and then-

He was gone. No flash, no blur, just...gone.

Luna looked down at her Moon Pies to confirm that yes, that had been real.

Discord had just comforted her.

Discord had just taken the blame for Twilight Sparkle.

Discord had started putting effort into things.

Discord had...become even stronger.

Discord had been...training.

She swallowed thickly at the many emotions rushing through her veins.

A knock on the door brought her out of her musing. "Sister? May I come in?"

"J-just a moment, Celestia!" Luna called, needing a moment to...process all of that.

Meanwhile

"Phew. Alright. This should buy me a few hours at least," Twilight said, settling into a nice and cozy spot.

Or as nice and cozy as an attic can be; But a little magic to clear the dust, rearranging the boxes to give her a proper hiding space and a few spells to raise the temperature made it all a lot cozier.

"Really, Applejack's attic?"

"WHA!" Twilight exclaimed, seeing Discord peering over the wall of boxes. "Discord! You found me?! Already?!"

"Hmm? Oh, right, I was pretending to be mad at you," Discord stated idly, as if he had forgotten.

"Huh?" Twilight said intelligently. "So you're not going to, I don't know, turn me into a spider?"

"Twilight, I would sooner turn you into a lich," Discord retorted, phasing through the boxes and taking a seat across from her. "In any case, you are far too easily riled."

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Well, what can I say, you're intimidating?"

"Yes, well, I am buckmothering Discord," Discord agreed smarmily. "But if I didn't leave a scratch on you as a villain, I'm not going to do it as a friend."

Twilight sighed. "Yes, I know I...overreacted, but that's not you. That's me in general."

"I know," Discord answered with a shrug. "So, did you want to talk?"

Twilight stared at him for a moment before nodding, taking a seat not too far from him. "I guess, yeah. I just can't believe how much of a flankhole Starswirl turned out to be," she said with a sigh. "I mean, I could take him being upset I unleashed the Pony of Shadows. Granted, I feel like he should have put a final note in his book about what they were planning. But he was just so..."

"Full of himself? Patronizing? Holier than thou?" Discord offered wryly.

Twilight mostly ignored how a heavenly view of the sky appeared above their heads, complete with divine rays of light and a distant chorus of angelic voices. "Honestly, he was what I thought you as a good guy would be like," Twilight admitted.

The chorus came to a screeching halt as the lights flickered out. "How dare you!" Discord said with a mock glare. Mostly mock. "I'm offended!"

"What, you both got the ego and think you're the greatest thing since...crap, I can't use any of the spells Starswirl created for that expression anymore," Twilight realized in annoyance.

Discord snorted. "Hard to believe he raised Celestia and Luna."

Twilight hummed. "I don't know, I think they got most of his good qualities and...mostly none of his bad," Twilight said sheepishly.

"Celestia can be patronizing without meaning to," Discord stated, knowing it was obvious. "Anyone that spends a day without sun-tinted glasses around her can figure that out."

Twilight nodded and decided to change the subject. "Discord? I have...a lot of questions about what happened earlier."

"I already did this dramatically, so I'll just be blunt this time: I've never trained in my life until I left to do so after the Chrysalis incident," Discord explained blatantly.

Twilight sat there, eyes widening before slowly fading into a look of deep thought. "Like...none at all?" she asked skeptically. "I mean, you had to learn the spells at least, right?"

"Not really," Discord answered idly. "My magic works in a different manner than what you're used to. But even discarding that, I've always been absurdly powerful. I exist, therefore I win. Or, that's how it used to be."

Twilight frowned in concern at his scowl. "Discord, are you...angry?"

"I was once the most powerful being in the world, Twilight," Discord reminded heatedly as liquid electricity danced along his arm. "And now, every day I felt more like I was old news. Like I was someone...something to just roll your eyes at and forget about. Like everyone forgot I can turn this world inside out on a whim."

Twilight swallowed as his bright red eyes leveled at her.

"Twilight, I'm not angry, I'm bucking furious."

"...I'm sorry."

The galvanic aura froze, dissolving into snow as Discord grunted and rubbed his head. "It's not your fault, Twilight. I got so used to everything being so...effortless that I never imagined ever needing to get stronger, let alone to try," he mused before smirking as he held up his talon that had in it...Nothing. Not an empty nothing, but a colorless and lightless ball of Nothing threatened to swallow the heart and soul.

He crushed it like it was a bubble, the Nothing popping out of existence, reality somehow feeling...fuller in its destruction.

"I was bucking furious, but now? I'm stronger than ever," Discord said with relish. "But to answer the other question you implied, no, I was never angry at you, Twilight. Or the Princesses for that matter. Because, if we're being honest, you lot were never the ones that rivaled me," Discord said darkly.

Twilight paled at the implications. "Discord, please, PLEASE tell me you're not going to do something to the Tree of Harmony?"

"Would you believe me if I said no?" Discord responded evenly. "If I told you I'd leave that weed be for now, would you actually take me at face value?"

"...Yes, I would," Twilight said with full seriousness.

Discord paused, giving her a considering stare before nodding. "Fine. It's too early for any pruning yet anyway."

Twilight sighed in relief, accepting that for now. "Thank you. I...didn't realize how upset you were about...things," Twilight said.

"Because I didn't want to admit I was upset. Because if I did, it'd mean admitting I really wasn't the one at the top of the world anymore," Discord answered with a sigh. "And you already know how easy it is for me to deny reality."

"Still, you trained for over a quarter of a year straight, and now you're..." Twilight paused. "Well, you wiped away an entire town from existence…and dropped a meteor."

"I know, I am pretty amazing," he said vainly.

"Ahh, yes, there's the Discord I know," Twilight said with an amused fondness. "I was beginning to think you removed parts of your personality."

"No such luck," Discord mused. "So, Fluttershy and Spike filled me in on everything that happened while I was gone."

"Oh, lovely. Let the teasing commence!" Twilight groaned in resignation, wiping a hoof over her face. "Which is it? My failed astrology moment on the Zeppelin, my day watching Flurry Heart, the disaster of publishing my journals?"

Discord raised an eyebrow. "I was going to mention Fluttershy almost turning into a tree."

Twilight blinked, looking around awkwardly. "Oh, right, that. The swamp fever. That...was a close call."

"Stop your sweating, Twilight, I'm not mad about Fluttershy. You girls get into dangerous situations all the time. I'm just surprised you didn't try to call me in during those three days she was unconscious," Discord remarked.

"Would you have answered?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Discord admitted. "Not at the time. But I've turned off the "ignore needy ponies" function, so you know..."

"I'll try to remember that," Twilight said, pausing briefly. "So, how close to turning into a tree would she have gotten before you showed up?"

"Probably the last six hours or so. Good thing for Zecora she figured it out," Discord mused before looking skeptical. "Rainbow really doesn't like pies?"

"I know, it's weird, right?" Twilight agreed. "I mean, I get not liking certain pies, or only liking a very specific pie, but I don't think I ever met someone that didn't like all pies besides Rainbow."

"I swear I remember seeing her eat pies before," Discord murmured.

"Spike fill you in on his mix up with Ember and Thorax?" Twilight asked wryly.

Discord shook his head. "I swear, if that little dragon goes evil when he's older, he'll have the whole world eating out of his claws. And all the dragon-wenches he could want."

Twilight paused before smirking. "Damn straight! My boy is a lady slayer," Twilight said in faux pride.

Discord blinked and snorted. "Okay...that was hilarious," Discord admitted between chuckle.

"Just don't repeat everything I say, please" Twilight request, already feeling embarrassed. "Though, I don't think I can imagine Spike going evil."

"Who can you?" Discord asked curiously.

"Not counting former villains? Myself, every one of my friends, Princess Celestia, Cadence, Shining,...not counting Flurry Heart yet, Sunburst, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Mayor Mare, Fancy Pants, Lyra Heartstring and Derpy Hooves."

Discord raised an eyebrow at the impressive list. "Even Applejack?"

"Especially Applejack," Twilight said with a nod.

"Not Blue Blood?" Discord tried in amusement.

"I'm not sure if he already counts as evil or is just too stupid to be evil," Twilight answered honestly.

Discord barked a laugh. "Ha! This is why you're my second favorite Alicorn."

"Second?" Twilight repeated with a head tilt.

"Flurry Heart," Discord answered with a smirk.

"...Granted," Twilight accepted in amusement. "So, what now? You vanish off into the aether until you're needed once more?"

"No," Discord said, clapping his hands as they vanished from the attic-

And reappeared in Twilight's castle, sitting onto of the Cutie Map. "Oh, you're dropping me off at home?" Twilight realized before giving him a flat look. "Is this just to pile on the joke about us being a thing?"

Discord snorted, sitting cross-legged on the map. Mist rushed from his nostrils, twisting and warping into a pile of wood, falling into a neat pile between them. Twilight watched owlishly as Discord reached towards the center of the magic map and plucked the miniature version of the Flames of Friendship out and chucked it into the wood, which suddenly ignited into purple-pink flames.

"Now we have s'mores," Discord said, pulling out sticks with marshmallows embed on them.

"Is that...really from the Flames of Friendship, from the Hearthswarming tale?" Twilight asked in concern even as she took her stick.

"Yes," Discord answered, short and simple.

"Should we worry about taking away from that...?" Twilight pointed out warily.

"No," Discord answered, smirking at her over the flames. "I am having S'mores of Friendship, cooked over Flames of Friendship and eating them with the Princess of Friendship."

"But what about-"

"I have spoken," Discord interrupted wryly.

"But-"

"I Have Spoken!" Discord said firmly, almost smiling. "Now watch your s'more, you're about to burn it."

Twilight relented with a small smile. Discord had his power and his pride, but he was definitely still Discord

Author's Note

And there we go, new chapter, where Discord has some one-on-one time with Luna and Twilight each. in typical Discord fashion, he both comforted and mindfucked Luna. And by the third time with Twilight, I couldn't but imagine Discord deciding that he had been dramatic enough about the "never trained" thing, and just has the blunt, casual conversation with Twilight about...everything.

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed this one.

Chapter 8

A change of scenery was good.

The sea floor rumbled as great krakens and immense crustaceans fled in terror, shockwaves resounding at the very bottom of the Fathomless Trench, great screeches bellowing out of it. Chunks of the cliff sides began to give way and fall down into the blackness, disappearing where even Alicorns dared not tread.

With a great roar in his ear, Discord was thrown out of the trench, through the lip of a cliff. He stopped in mid-water, shaking off the dust.

A change of scenery was very good…new places, new people, and new enemies. Fighting in water was very different from in the air.

Discord smirked and popped his neck. "Come on, Cippy, I know you got more in you than that," he called out in the waters.

A deep, rumbling growl reverberated in the waters, before his foe answered his challenge, pulling its head over the edge as it crawled out from the bottomless pit that was this being's home. Its form was massive, easily the size of an Ursa Major.

This one, Discord decided, was easy to explain to mortals, but it'd be so hard for them to understand. It was a deformed, lanky crocodile...with a body made of more crocodiles. Not like a swarm of them, no. This behemoth creature was made of hundreds of different sizes of crocodile HEADS. Not only each limb, but each section of each limb, even the "claws" were in fact crocodile heads. Even its own head was made of three separate heads.

This was Teo Cipactli, Hunger incarnated; a divine monster that never stopped eating, because it was never satiated. Its belly would never be full. If given the chance, it would devour the whole world, and even itself.

"My, your dental bills must be a nightmare," Discord remarked idly as the many, many eyes leered at him. "Let's see if I can't add a few more zeroes to it."

With that threat given, the crocodilian horror lunged forth, with far more speed than any aquatic behemoth had the right to and with every single mouth opened.

Discord snapped his fingers, prompting the entire ocean to turn into...gelatin…red cherry gelatin, to be exact. The God of Chaos smirked as he watched his foe struggling in the thicker substance, obviously eating every bit it touched.

The smirk vanished as Discord saw that the jelly was slowly turning back into water. "So, I was right," Discord muttered in thought as his work was slowly undone, "leaks" of water sprouting forth from the shaky substance. "You're not magic-resistant at all. You just eat literally everything, including magic."

Cipactli stopped its feasting to look in Discord's direction. Did that collection of heads just smirk at him? Discord thought so, but was he more interested in the fact that Cipactli's main head opened its mouths.

With a roar, the monster unleashed a ball of angry red energy from its maw, barreling through the red jelly and into Discord.

He saw it coming a mile away, but he still only barely managed to catch and hold it back. It was actually fighting against him rather well, this raging ball of... "Wait a minute! This is my magic!" he said with a scowl, head-butting the attack and sending it to the sea floor. It erupted on impact, returning the entire seascape to normal "Oh, you right twat, you vomited my own magic at me?!"

Cipactli roared in response, lunging at Discord once more. Discord snorted, deciding to meet him head-on. He flew between the fingers, and the mouths of the fingers, landing on the forehead of the wrist. The mouth of the forearm lunged forward in an attempt to bite him.

In that instant, Discord knew he could end it. All it would take was a bit of Discording to corrupt the mind of one head. It wouldn't last, but it wouldn't need to. He'd just need this head to take one bite of itself and Cipactli's limbs would start to eat each other alive.

But that would defeat the point of challenging this one in the first place.

Discord leaped up to meet the jaws, slamming his talons into the mouth. The head let out a roar of pain as Discord swam back beyond its jaws, smirking up at the "main" head of the beast. Cipactli growled and shot the other hand forth, the smaller heads forming the digits that were all trying to snap and bite at the chaos lord, who dodged them with ease.

"You're not used to putting this much effort into a small morsel," Discord mused knowingly, dashing by a strike from the middle finger. He grabbed this finger-head and began to bend and pry it off, his draconic foot on the snout of another head desperately trying to bite at him. With several heads screaming in pain, he ripped his target off and tossed it aside. Without another instant wasted, he "tossed" himself a fair distance from his foe, observing Cipactli holding his injured hand.

Discord watched on keenly, half expecting the hungry god to simply reattach the limb. Instead, he saw Cipactli...shift, for lack of a better word, its many heads moving about, if only slightly. The severed fingers of smaller heads turned to coral as it floated down to the sandy floor, while Cipactli leered at the devious-looking Discord.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt?" Discord asked mockingly. "Here, have a hug to make it all better~"

With a great clap of his hand, and a shockwave echoing through the sea, Cipactli could sense that something was about to happen. It turned around and saw a great stone giant rising up, in a crude likeness to Discord himself. The stone serpent lunged forward. The great crocodile roared, ready to meet it with a raised fist, but found said limb caught in the grip of another stonecord rising out of the ground.

It tried to bite into the second, but a third sprung up, its tail wrapping around Cipactli's largest mouths and holding them shut. The first arrived as a fourth and final emerged, converging and wrapping around the beast. They turned bright as they began to turn into lava and fuse together.

Cipactli snarled, devouring the magic of the constructs binding it. Discord smirked as he poured more of his magic into the stonecords, the four slowly fusing together as a great bond around the great devourer. "You want my magic? Choke on it!" Discord called out viciously.

Cipactli struggled in vain as more and more of its mouths were covered by lava and then, once devoid of magic, the substance rapidly cooled and hardened…pinning the mouths closed and binding him down.

Discord raised an eyebrow as Cipactli's struggle weakened. "Is that it? I expected this to last a bit longer," he said with a head tilt, watching as Cipactli's form started to glow ominously. "...Oh, he actually is choking on it," Discord realized in surprise.

A great explosion wracked the sea, the burst spreading for at least a mile before Discord neutralized the kinetic energy and any potential tsunamis. He watched as the bubbles cleared to reveal...nothing. Nothing but a sea of crocodile heads, all turning to coral as they fell down to the depths.

Discord narrowed his eyes as he saw a green tail vanish into the canyon, but made no move to go after the creature. He didn't come here to slay anything, just test the mettle of the great devourer. Satisfied, he decided to savor his victory for the moment.

"Discord the Draconequus."

The moment was short-lived, it seemed.

The God of Chaos looked toward the voice and found a creature that looked like a mixture of a fish and a lion, with green scales and a red mane, along with two horns atop its head. Surrounding the regal creature were a dozen merponies in armor pointing spears at him.

"Do I know you?" Discord asked uncaringly.

"I am Leo, King of Aquastria," he introduced sternly. "Now tell me why you have disturbed the crocodile?"

"I was bored and he sounded like a good spar," Discord answered with a shrug. "Oh, right, you're Celly's 'cousin,'" he recalled, remembering some political marriage or another between nobles in Equestria to merponies of old.

Leo snarled, horns glowing with great power. "You endangered the lives of all below and above the seas, just to satisfy your boredom!?"

"Unless you can provide a better challenge," Discord offered bluntly. "Or one of your soldiers, perhaps?"

More than one stiffened at that.

"I know Celestia gives you a rather long leash in Equestria, but her-" Leo started, only to find his mouth filled with foam.

"If you think I'm on a leash, you're wrong. I've just agreed to play nice with most of the world," Discord said, feigning a yawn. "But please, DO go whining to Celestia. Go ahead and tell her how I made it so the great devourer won't be a threat for hundreds of years," Discord suggested dismissively.

"...What?" Leo asked with a confused look, his soldier sharing surprised looks as well.

"Cippy will need at least fourteen hundred years to get that form back. Still, he'll probably be a problem again by...I want to say six hundred? Let's say six hundred," Discord gave off with a twirl of his claws. He didn't need to look to know that the merponies were feeling somewhat relieved by that. "Anyway, I'm done here. I suggest leaving though. I'm sure the rest of the megafauna will start fighting over this area soon, once they realize Cippy isn't a problem right now."

Without another word, he left, shooting up and out of the water faster than a cat out of a bath. He ascended into the sky. "Well, that was a wonderful way to eat up some time," Discord joked to himself, looking at the dark and clouded sky. "I wonder how everypony is doing? And how bucking long was that festival supposed to be again?"

"Hey!"

Discord grunted as he glanced just over his shoulder to spy the fleet of airships that were floating just behind him, crewed by large grey creatures with white manes, covered in dark armor with a blue insignia. The lead ship was mere feet away from him, and on the bow of the ship stood a large white satyr adorn with a crown, glaring at him.

"What?" Discord asked bluntly.

"You know which way to Equestria!?" the figure bellowed. "Some winds got us all turned around."

Discord was fairly sure that was his own doing. "And what are a satyr and a pack of yetis flying to Equestria for?" Discord asked conversationally, examining his claws.

"They call me the Storm King. And what I want is conquest and power. You know, the usual," the Storm King answered with a chuckle, holding up a staff that split into two points with a crystal held between them. "I've been looking for a new commander, and you look like the strong type."

Tirek at least had the respect to make it seem like a partnership. This one was actually trying to recruit him as a petty minion.

Still, Discord decided it would be rude not to answer.

Discord floated forward, and the Storm King backed away to give him room to land.

Discord's tail casually flicked him aside, knocking the staff into the air as the king went tumbling over the deck and into the sea below, screaming in terror as he flailed helplessly through the air.

Discord caught the staff effortlessly, paying no mind to all the warriors pointing weapons at him. He tilted his head, hearing a distant splash of water as the screams silenced. "I wonder if the krakens or the crabs will get him first?" Discord asked idly before he looked to the yetis.

They flinched, and one of them fell back in surprise.

"Don't worry, I won't kill any of you weaklings," Discord assured before nodding over the edge. "But I can't say the same for the sea monsters."

They were wavering, but they didn't give in yet.

"I'll give you one chance to give up after this," Discord said as he snapped his talons.

Nothing happened, but that only made them all more on edge.

Then, they started floating off the deck. No, even the ships were floating as if gravity was gone. The entire fleet was weightless in the sky, some starting to tip upwards at impossible angles. The yetis grabbed onto what they could, using their spears to pull themselves to something, anything stable.

His point made, Discord snapped his talons again.

Gravity returned and the ships lurched back into a proper balance, swaying dangerously as they settled. Many of the crew were flung off the edge but found themselves safely teleported back on deck.

They got their feet again, stupefied and terrified by the display. They no longer had the nerve to attack.

"Good," Discord said as he turned to take a step onto the edge, about to fly off.

"Wait."

Discord paused to regard a lone yeti that walked up to him, braver than his fellows. He reached up and removed his mask.

"Who are you?" the yeti asked, bewildered and amazed as he gazed up at the chimera.

He was almost annoyed he even had to tell them. "My name is Discord."

"Discord," the yeti repeated the name, and Discord was at least pleased to hear the respect mixing in with the fear. "May I ask...why?"

Discord regarded him with minimal interest. "Today is important to a friend of mine in Canterlot. I'd rather it not be ruined."

Their nervousness grew, and Discord frowned in suspicion.

"There is something you should know then," the yeti said carefully.

"He sent a ship ahead, didn't he?" Discord predicted, sighing. "Of course he did."

Author's Note

So, Discord had a fight with "Hunger Incarnate" and than offed the Storm King by tossing him into the sea full of monsters. Discord's rule about "No Killing" has loopholes similar to Batman's. The Storm King is durable enough that the fall won't kill him. So Discord didn't kill him by dropping him, he just let he mosnters do it for him.

If anyone is wondering why the Storm King is disrespected here, it's not me bashing him, it's just that I have no evidence to say that he could do much in this scenerio. He was arrogantly not expecting a fight and had no other magic items to save him from the fall. But yeah, Discord still has to go deal with Shadow Tempest party-crashing the Friendship Festival.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this, until next time!

Chapter 7

It had been just over a week since the defeat of the Pony of Shadows, and things were settling back to normal.

*BOOM!*

Well, a new normal. For Ponyville.

Ponies only briefly glanced up at the dull and distant boom, before continuing on with their day as if it was nothing to worry about. After three days, they had come to accept that as reality.

"You know, if he did this at a routine time, we'd probably be using him as an alarm clock," Starlight mused idly.

"If he did, he wouldn't be Discord," Spike reminded as they stared out from one of the balconies of the Friendship Castle. "I'm just glad he doesn't train at night."

"Here at least," Starlight added on. "I mean, it's not like we ever got out of him where he was training while he was gone."

"Nobody really ponied up and tried asking him," Spike said, eyeing the hills just beyond Ponyville, seeing some sort of mirage-like effect going on as the distant area rippled and waved. "So, I guess we should go and see how he's doing?"

"You just want to see what Chaos training looks like," Starlight remarked in amusement.

"And you don't?" Spike countered knowingly.

"Point taken," Starlight agreed, her horn glowing with magic, teleporting them both-

-and slamming right into something. Literally and painfully.

"Ow, okay, what?" Spike said, rubbing his head as they landed on the grass just outside of town.

"A barrier?" Starlight groaned, waving a hoof in front of her as she creeped forward, but found no resistance. Scowling, she tried teleporting again, only for her spell to spark out with a zap of magic around her horn. Starlight hissed at the sensation. "Okay, no, it's just a very nasty anti-teleportation field. The Buck, Discord?"

"Ask him yourself in a moment,," Spike said, waving her on as they headed towards the crest of the hill. "Now what is...he...up...to?"

Spike fell silent as he and Starlight stared in bewilderment at Discord. Or rather, the aftermath of his training.

The lack thereof, to be precise.

"Okay, I was expect something between a localized apocalypse and Pinkie Pie with Alicorn magic," Spike remarked, almost disappointed at the pristine and clear field.

Save for Discord, who was standing in the middle and staring down...something. "Is that a ballista or a pitching machine?" Starlight scrutinized. "And is it made of gold or am I imagi-"

*BOOM!*

Both of them froze as...something launched from the device. But that wasn't the source of the boom.

That was from the object making impact with Discord. It was a glowing mass of pure white, silver, and gold energy. The Chaos Lord caught it with both talons, grunting as the orb appeared to struggle against him, its light burning with such intensity that Spike and Starlight had to look away for a moment.

When the light dimmed, they looked back- and nearly fell over. They were now directly beside Discord, standing across from the device.

The draconequus ignored them for a moment, looking down as steam rose from his scorching but uninjured hands. His gaze drifted to the gouges in the ground, showing where he had been pushed back, if only by mere inches. He growled low in displeasure, the air about his head briefly igniting with blue fire, before giving his audience a glance. "What are you two doing here?"

"We, uh, thought we'd come to see how you were doing?" Spike answered sheepishly.

"And we wanted to ask what in Tartarus that was just now?" Starlight added in curiously while looking at the magic item in question.

"Wrong afterlife," Discord stated, nodding to the object. "It's a weapon designed to hurl highly concentrated, condensed shots of sanctified mana with enough force to stun a titan," he explained, as if it was nothing special.

Spike blinked, looking to Starlight, who was very owlish. "You get any of that?"

"Yeeees? I think?" Starlight said in concern. "If I'm hearing him right, he just caught and negated a cannonball of pure, HOLY magic."

"Yeah, pretty much," Discord confirmed with a shrug, leaving Spike gaping.

"Where the buck did you get that?!" Spike asked in disbelief before looking at him flatly. "Wait, you're Discord. You just made it, didn't you?"

"No," he answered with a small smirk to their surprised. "I nicked it off some gods."

"...You nicked it...off...SOME gods?" Starlight repeated slowly.

"In my defense, they mainly had it as an emergency "Kill All/Most of the Mortals" button," Discord stated uncaringly.

"Don't say that so casually! Why would gods need that?! Why would they want that?!" Starlight asked in alarm.

"Hm? Oh, right, you don't know. I meant gods from another universe," Discord elaborated. "And to be honest, most pantheons have something like that."

"That is...interesting. Somewhat concerning, but it's nice to know it's not from this universe," Spike accepted, trying to find the silver lining.

"Still, let me guess, it could destroy Equestria if you didn't stop the shot?" Starlight guessed dryly.

"Well, no, not Equestria. It'd probably just keep on flying from here, even if it dug through the earth and created a new canyon or river until it detonated," Discord mused, glancing in the direction the holy weapon was aimed. "Might make Spike one of the last dragons though."

The hatchling paled at the implications. "Yeah, Discord? We get that you're training and everything, but have you considered doing more..."light" training while around Ponyville?" Spike suggested delicately.

"This is my light training," Discord corrected bluntly.

"R-right, good to know," Spike said with a nervous smile, looking to Starlight in alarmed. "This is light?!" he hissed in disbelief.

Twilight's student shook off her own stupor. "As...horrifyingly uncomfortable as that makes me to know-"

"You're the ones that asked," Discord reminded with a flat voice.

"-I'm going to trust that you won't let this end horribly if it missed," Starlight finished. "But what is the goal, here, exactly?"

Discord shrugged. "Holy Magic is about the most orderly magic I can get without getting actual, literal Order Magic. So, eventually, I want to be able to deal with a blast from this thing one handed, without getting pushed back," he remarked, glaring down at his claw marks in the ground. "As you can see, I have some work do to."

"Riiiiight," Spike acknowledged dryly. "Since when are you are a perfectionist?"

"Always have been," Discord stated offclawedly. "Now, is there anything I can help you too with?"

"...You want to grab some lunch?" Starlight offered, gesturing to Ponyville.

Discord stared at her for a moment before shrugging, the weapon-of-mass-destruction-turned-exercise-equipment warping out of existence. "Sure, why not."

"Really?" Starlight asked in surprise, expecting to be turned down.

"Wait for it," Spike said knowingly.

"I should give my public a chance to bask in my presence," Discord finished as he began to walk by them.

"There we go," Spike said with a snort, glancing to Starlight as she watched Discord go. "...You okay, Starlight?"

"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, "Starlight said, shaking her head, trotting after the chaos lord.

Spike remained skeptical, but followed along as well.

Everypony stared as the notably taller draconequus passed through town, but ultimately went about their lives as he did so without making a scene.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at Sugar Cube Corner. Spike glanced warily between Discord and the door. "You might want to shrink down for this."

Discord rolled his eyes at the suggestion, magically opening the door before placing his lion paw on the top of the doorframe, casually pulling it up and making the structure stretch like it was made of rubber before walking inside.

"Or do that, whichever," Starlight added cautiously as they followed him in.

"Welcome to Sugar Cube Co- Oh, Hi Discord! Starlight! Spike!" Pinkie Pie greeted cheerfully from over the counter. "This a friend visit or a food visit?"

"Food. I'll take three muffins. Surprise me on the flavor," Starlight requested.

"I'll take a half dozen donuts with those crunchy sprinkles," Spike added in.

"Make it a dozen, my half with mustard and mayonnaise," Discord answered without missing a beat. "And just put the whole thing on my tab."

"Okey-Dokey! Coming right up!" Pinkie Pie said, heading off to gather the requested treats, along with some things from the kitchen.

Starlight and Spike gave Discord a long, confused stare that he refused to acknowledge. "...You have a tab here?" Spike asked in surprise.

"Yep," Discord answered without commenting.

"...Not going to elaborate on that?" Starlight prompted awkwardly.

To answer her question, a clipboard hit Spike in the face.

"Oh come on!" Spike complained, rubbing his face as he held the item, glaring at it as he read it over, Starlight looking over his shoulder.

"Tab of Discord the Draconequus. Current amount owed...213954 bits!?" Starlight exclaimed. "Why are they still giving you stuff?"

Discord smirked.

"Wait, I get it," Spike said, tapping the paper. "There's a minus sign. Negative 213954 bits," Spike corrected.

Starlight blinked, processing that. "Wait, so, they owe you money? How does that work?"

"I paid once so I wouldn't have to do it ever again," Discord said with a shrug.

"Discord, I think I speak for the Princesses, Rarity, Applejack, and every business-pony in Equestria," Starlight stated flatly. "Please, do not crash our economy out of laziness."

"No promises are made," Discord answered as Pinkie returned with a box of sweets.

"Here you are! A dozen donuts, half customized to your chaotic delights, and three cheese-tastic muffins!" Pinkie Pie said as Discord took the box.

"Cheese? Really?" Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You said surprise you," Pinkie reminded, before leaning in to whisper. "Just don't let Twilight have one! She'll go super bananas!"

"And kick you out of the castle," Spike said, turning to leave with Discord.

Starlight chuckled before stopping. "Wait, you're joking, right?"

"Oh no, she'll toss you straight to the curb and make you bunk with someone else for weeks," Spike answered casually. "Wasn't too bad for me. Me and Shining just had a Bro-kend."

"A what?" Starlight questioned.

"A bro-weekend. Try to keep up, Starlamp," Discord mocked as he munched on a donut, tossing one hard-sprinkled one down to Spike and a muffin down to Starlight.

"Come on, can't you be nice?" Starlight asked with a pout.

"He is being nice," Spike informed her with a smirk. "If he was being mean, he'd have a lot worse nicknames."

"Like w-" Spike quickly shoved the muffin into Starlight's mouth to prevent her from speaking.

The dragon glanced to Discord, glad to see he wasn't reacting to the unspoken question, and gave Starlight a deadpan look. "Like a filly, Starlight?" he reminded pointedly.

Starlight winced and decided that, yes, tempting Discord's power to verbally mind-buck someone was a very stupid idea on her part in hindsight. Especially given her past.

"So, how's time with your colt-friend going, O Student of Twilight?" Discord asked, ignoring the conversation that had just happened.

"Wait, who?" Starlight asked with a blush.

"Sunbite or whatever his name is," Discord answered with a wave of his claws.

"His name is Sunburst and he's not my colt-friend," Starlight denied with a scowl.

"If you say so," Discord said uncaringly. "He head back north?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Yes, though, I'm sure you knew that. I'm sure Flurry Heart's parents will appreciate having him back."

"Oh, is that how Shining and Cadence spice up the bedroom?" Discord asked with a smirk. "I wonder whose in the middle."

"I-that-what?!" Starlight yelled with red cheeks.

"Discord, I did not need some of those mental images," Spike said with a groan, pinching his brow.

"Oh please, it's better than the rumors about Twilight's sex life," Discord assured.

"What about Twilight?" Starlight asked in shock.

"Yes, what about me?"

Discord smirked as the unicorn and dragon realized they were in front of the Palace of Friendship, the owner of which was standing outside and giving them curious looks.

"Starlight was just asking about what you and me do in the bedroom," Discord answered bluntly before Starlight could answer. "I told her I don't kiss and tell."

"Ohhh, thank you so much. What a gentlequus you are," Twilight said in playful sarcasm before giving Starlight a flat look. "And are you still on that joke?"

"Ummm...?" Starlight said with a blank expression.

"Ignore her, here's a muffin," Discord said, floating one down to Twilight.

"Oh! Thanks, I could use a snack," Twilight said, missing how Discord's tail instantly slammed into Spike's mouth, stopping the hatchling from warning her as she took a bite of the muffin. "Mmmm, sweet honey. Yum, thanks guys," Twilight said, glancing up at Discord. "So, still training?"

"Stop by sometime and you might see me break a sweet," Discord teased.

"Joking aside, that would be interesting to see," Twilight admitted as they headed inside.

"...What just happened?" Starlight asked in confusion.

Spike groaned, slapping his head. "Oh scales, I think his mind games are improving too. Note to self, trust nothing the next time Discord is the DM," he said to himself as he headed in.

"...I may have been evil but me being a tyrant of a small cult-ish village was somehow...simpler than this," Starlight stated warily.

Meanwhile, Discord and Twilight wandered into her throne room, the Draconequus's eyes instantly drifting to the damage he had inflicted on the castle.

Or, where it had been. It was fairly easy to tell where the cracks had been, a yellow tinge offsetting where the repairs had taken place.

"That should fade away, eventually," Discord commented idly.

"I won't mind if it doesn't," Twilight admitted with a shrug. "But I appreciate the effort."

"I wrecked your home," Discord pointed out. "I try to clean up after myself these days."

"And you do a pretty good job," Twilight admitted. "So, are you coming?"

"Ignoring the dirty jokes I could make of that," Discord stated in amusement. "Coming where?"

"To the Friendship Festival of course!" Twilight said with a smile.

"..." Discord stared at her blankly for a second. "As much as I detest the unoriginal name, it's nice to hear you got your own holiday, finally."

Twilight blushed. "Well, I wouldn't call it my holiday. It's just a day to celebrate friendship, not me" she trailed off, knowing where this was going.

"And you are princess of what, again?" Discord reminded wryly. "Face it Twilight. In a decade, Equestria will be full of these yearly festivals, with ponies giving thanks to their nerdy, savior of a Princess."

"Oh, now you're just trying to give me an ego," Twilight said with an eyeroll.

"You've saved Equestria more than once and got ascended into an Alicorn," Discord said before smirking. "Wait, no, you're right! You're overqualified for the title of savior."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "You can stop now. No one is here to see you pretend to flirt with me," Twilight reminded, ignoring Discord's amused look. "Now, seriously, are you coming?"

"Eh, probably not," Discord said casually as he took a seat in Rainbow's throne.

"What?" Twilight asked in surprise. "Why not?"

"Because I'm Discord," he reminded with a snort. "And this day is important to you."

"That's...yes, I know?" Twilight answered with a confused frown. "That's why I want you to come! I mean, I think you could have fun there."

Discord gave her a knowing look. "Twilight, let's both be honest for a moment. If I go, I'm going to steal the show even if I don't ruin your plans. It's just in my nature. So, as a friend, it'd be irresponsible for me to go and ruin this day for you."

Twilight blinked. "I can't tell if you're being honest and sweet or just bucking with me so you can go out and train someplace remote while the festival goes on."

"They're hardly exclusive choices," Discord answered without answering. "Besides, even if I didn't steal your thunder, I'm sure Celestia will still be raw with me for the whole Luna thing."

"...Don't you mean you'd be raw with her," Twilight stated with a head tilt.

Discord blinked before staring at the Alicorn before him, scrutinizing her. "Did you just...make a bucking joke...about Celestia?"

Twilight made a valiant effort to keep a straight face. "A-am I suppose to n-not notice you st-staring at where her sun doesn't shine?"

Discord 's lips quirked before he facepalmed and chuckled. "Oh, sweet oblivion, I've created a monster."

Twilight giggled and snickered. "I-I'm sorry, I've known those jokes for years and never had the guts to say them. Oh, the things the palace staff say when Celestia isn't listening."

Discord raised an eyebrow. "How much blackmail do you have in that pretty head of yours?"

Twilight stopped, giving him a strange look. "Discord, it's me. Do you really think I would blackmail somepony?" Twilight asked with a frown.

Discord scrutinized her. "Did you get Shining into the royal guard?" he asked in surprise.

"No, of course not!" Twilight said indignantly before glancing away impishly. "...But I may or may not have had something to do with him getting put with the group that patrolled near Cadence's room."

"You were a wing-sister before you had wings. Nice," Discord praised with a smirk. "Well, I should probably be at Fluttershy's. Tea got upgraded to dinner this week."

"Why does anyone think you're flirting with me when you and Fluttershy are...that?" Twilight asked in amusement.

"Because embarrassing you is hilarious. Embarrassing Fluttershy is, at best, adorable and at worst, heart-roasting," Discord stated bluntly.

"Don't you mean heart-wrenching? Or heart-warming, maybe?" Twilight suggested with a confused look.

"I know what I said," Discord said in amusement. "I'd call it heartburning but you mortals brilliantly decided to give that lovely combination of words to a form of indigestion. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to the eavesdroppers."

Discord vanished in an instant, the throne room doors swinging open to reveal a rather owlish pair of Spike and Starlight.

"Ummm, we just got here?" Starlight offered sheepishly.

Twilight raised an unamused brow at them. "So, who wants to join me on a mini book-sort-cation?" she asked dryly.

"A book-sort-what?" Starlight asked in confusion.

"The funeral music of, at least, the next twenty-four hours of our lives," Spike answered knowingly.

Meanwhile

A few years ago, Fluttershy would have jumped in alarm, either in concern or fear, from the loud roar outside her home.

As it was, she was mostly curious at first as she opened her door, and a smile came to her face as she saw Discord standing outside.

Along with Harry the bear laying on the ground, panting from momentary fright. "Okay, Flutters? Honest question? Why is me appearing in more terrifying than teleporting?" Discord asked, eyeing the ursine creature with some disappointment.

"I think the flash was a good warning that you were coming," Fluttershy answered calmly, flying over to stroke Harry on the head. "There, there, it's okay. Discord didn't mean to scare you, he's just...practicing," Fluttershy assured.

"Not a lie," Discord admitted, using his magic to help the bear back onto his feet. "Though, I guess I could switch back to teleporting when I come here. Anyway, what's for lunch?"

"About that," Fluttershy said cautiously. "I have a surprise visitor inside. That's not a problem, is it?"

"No- wait, is it your brother?" Discord asked with a scowl.

"No," Fluttershy answered with a smile.

"Then sure. I'm past the jealous, clinging stage," Discord said. "So, who is it? Rainbow, Zecora? Some veterinarian I have never heard of?"

"Actually..."

"Hey, Dude! Nice to meet you!"

Discord smirked idly at the green pony sitting at the table. "We've already met. Twice," he reminded.

"Really?" Treehugger asked, tapping her chin. "That's so weird! I was just about to say, I think I met your kid. Or little brother. I think his name was Discard?"

Fluttershy giggled. "Treehugger, this is Discord."

"He is?" Treehugger asked with relaxed curiosity, eyeing Discord again. "Dude, have you been hitting the gym?"

Discord opened to answer that before pausing with a shrug. "Yes, actually."

"Righteous. Though, you feel like you got some nasty vibes. You feelin chill?" Tree Hugger asked in concern.

"Oh, just working out some issues," Discord mused. "Though, that might be the Pony of Shadows I ate."

"Yeah, that would give you some gnarly indigestion," Tree Hugger agreed with a chuckle.

"Riiiiiight," Discord accepted warily. "Oh, right. Smooze says hello."

"Ah, Smoozie! I haven't seen him since that awesome party," Tree Hugger recalled fondly. "You should have been there, Dude."

"I was there," Discord reminded again, torn between amusement and annoyance. "Remember, I threated to throw you into another dimension?"

"Ha, right on," Tree Hugger said in amused agreement.

Discord turned to Fluttershy with a raised eyebrow. "Flutters, I ask you this with no judgement because, it's bucking me, but I've been meaning to ask: Does this messmane sell you some calming "herbal" remedy involving mushrooms?" Discord asked curiously.

"Oh yes, she even taught me how to make it myself," Fluttershy answered with a casual smile. "It's been very helpful, but I make sure to never take it too much or too often."

"The path of enlightenment is not one for all," Tree Hugger said in what sounded like a sage tone.

Discord filed away that for future references. "So, what are we eating?"

Author's Note

And there we are! Sorry for the long wait, been busy in really life with a new job, among other things. Anyway, not much else to say, just that I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even if it was a bit filler-y.

Until next time!