You noticed as a blurry eagle’s claw waved in front of your face. Your head was aching and your eyelids felt heavy too. The light of Celestia’s sun all around you began to come into focus, along with that, awareness of your surroundings. You were in the middle of a grassy field you didn’t recognize, it was like you weren't even residing in Equestria anymore.
“Hellooo, anybody home? How many fingers am I holding up? What was the color of your last meal? How do I look?” A concerned, deep, yet playful voice was running what seemed like a thousand words per second at you.
Discord grinned as he used his one eagle claw to hold up ten fingers on one hand and the other to stroke his black mane. Although, when he noticed your confused expression, he chuckled and poofed the extra fingers on his claw away.
“Whoops, maybe that last question was a little too much. I can’t help but to ask about moi any chance I get,”
Discord snapped, a magnifying glass appearing in his lion’s paw. He got a close up look at your face and began studying your eyes.
You noted his own red and yellow eyes, which were hard to ignore with the magnifying glass’ effect. It made his eyes look quite large, almost a little scary.
“Hmm...Nothing out of the ordinary. Normally, that phrase would pain me but in your case, harmonious equines such as yourself need the ordinary to exist. Just like I need to be chaotic to be my marvelous self,” Discord snapped away the magnifying glass. “Well, you are an equine in this world so I would assume that’s what you need.”
You nodded in response, it's true you aren’t chaotic like him but you definitely enjoy his demeanors.
“Anyways, after studying your very captivating eyes, I have concluded that you my dear lack sleep. The dark circles under your eyes are as large as the Ghastly Gorge and that certainly says something,” he pronounced. Shaking his head as he analyzed you through and through.
In response to his hypothesis, you cocked your head to the side. Though, he could be correct.
“Hm? You don’t remember? We were at Twilight’s castle and you fell asleep on a stack of books. You know, the books miss sparkle carefully organized that you inevitably knocked over. My, my, I had never seen that egghead of a princess so frustrated in all my years of being acquainted with her! You should have seen it, her face was priceless,” he laughed and wiped a stray tear from his eye. “Fluttershy mentioned to me that sleeping on books isn’t the most pleasant, so she instructed me to kindly help you find a better place to sleep. I personally would sleep on books any day if it meant getting Twilight’s goat,”
The draconequus smiled proudly at himself, likely envisioning scenarios of driving the Princess of Friendship mad.
You rubbed your eyes, tired. They felt dry and puffy as if you had been crying, but you can’t exactly pinpoint any recent memories of shedding tears. In fact, you don’t remember falling asleep at Twilight’s castle either. A feeling of embarrassment and guilt bubbled up inside as you thought about having fallen asleep in public. On top of that, knocking over Twilight’s hard work.
While thinking about this, you looked up and noticed that Discord was staring at you with an expression of concern. Could he hear your thoughts or something, well, hopefully not. There were things that were better left unheard and these were one of those things. You weren’t too keen on telling the most unserious, charismatic, and jokeworthy creature out there about your problems.
“What’s with that frown of yours, you don’t usually frown around me. I thought you enjoyed my presence,” he pouted.
Discord tapped his claws to his chin, pondering. As an idea came to mind, an illuminated light bulb appeared above his head.
“Aha! Perhaps I need to crack a joke or two to bring your lovely smile back!”
With a snap of his claw, Discord began levitating in the air, positioned as if sitting down. He readjusted the new pair of glasses that were propped up on his snout, squinting at the cover of the tiny book he now held. Due to it’s size, you couldn’t quite make out the title of the book.
He flipped through the pages quickly before stopping. He grinned subtly as he looked up from the page.
“Why did the chicken cross the road?” He paused, before continuing with, “to fly, of course!”
You raised an eyebrow at him. He clearly was waiting for some sort of reaction from you.
“What. So it can fly to the nearest airport, obviously. Don’t give me that whole ‘chickens don’t fly’ thing, I can easily assist a chicken with a pair of workable wings. After all, I’ve seen Scootaloo fly,”
He flipped through the pages once more and stopped once he found a new joke.
“What’s yellow and can’t swim,” he stopped again. “A bus full of. . .Oh dear. That’s a little dark, even for me. We’ll skip that one. . .”
He hurriedly flipped through the pages of the book as his brows furrowed. Unsatisfied with any he glanced at, he eventually gave up and snapped the book out of sight. Letting out an exasperated sigh.
“Not a single good joke, those were terrible. What a sad excuse for humor. Clearly my expertise is needed here,”
Discord plucked the glasses from his snout and threw them in the other direction, before leaning in close to you with a mischievous grin spreading across his face. Him being so close to you like this made you sort of nervous, you felt yourself begin to blush, just a little bit. His red eyes were so bright and full of confidence that you were almost jealous that he carried himself so well.
However, that moment quickly passed, in the blink of an eye and a snap of the fingers you found yourselves in a strange dimension filled with pink bubbles and pink bubbles only. There was no sun, no land, no ponies, just a bunch of large floating pink bubbles within a purple lit sky.
As you sat on one of the pink bubbles, it seemed rather sturdy and strong, surprisingly. Discord was also sitting on one, slowly it drifted towards yours.
“I call this dimension, Bubble Gum Land. Quite the eye candy, eh?” He chortled at his own quip, continuing with his statement as he waved off the joke. “Couldn’t think of a better title, considering it really is just bubble gum.” Discord took a bite of the bubble he was sitting on and chewed it, making an expression that reflected contentedness.
A large gaping hole had appeared on the side of his bubble after he had taken the huge bite. Slowly the bubble descended downwards, the air in the bubble receding.
You watched as Discord looked up at you, appearing perplexed. His bubble vanished down below. You reached out, calling his name worriedly as he disappeared from your sight. You leaned over the bubble, hoping he was alright, watching carefully for any sight of him from down below.
“Whew . . . Alright, I’ve learned my lesson. Do not eat the bubbles, I repeat, do not eat the bubbles. You don’t have chaos magic like me so if you were to get stuck in the bubble maker down there . . . Yeesh, let’s just say you’d be more than just a pancake.”
Discord’s clearly disturbed face indicated how truly terrible that fiasco would play out. You clung to the bubble even harder now, terrified at the notion of possibly falling off.
“Oh, calm your worries. You’re supposed to be having fun, remember. I didn’t bring you here for you to be scared out of your wits,” he said, calmly patting you on the head as a form of consolation.
As much as you appreciated the thought, the idea of this place possibly turning you into an irreversible pancake had completely ruined any hope of you feeling any better here. All you wanted to do was leave and Discord could tell by the look on your face. He frowned, his ears lowered.
With that, he snapped you and him back to the same grassy field you woke up in. You sighed in relief, happy to be on stable ground again.
“I don’t understand, my gags and magic have made you smile and laugh before. Why isn’t it working now? Are you under some kind of spell? Whoever did this to you, tell me and I’ll certainly have them taken care of,” Discord grumbled with furrowed brows. He lifts his claw, steadily preparing for who he needs to ‘take care of’.
You shook your head and gently pulled his claw back down. His mannerism changed once he saw you, but of course his worried face remained.
You weren’t sure how to talk to him, especially if you didn’t think he understood the concept of sadness or how to deal with it. Of course, why would he understand? He’s the Lord of Chaos, always happy and making jokes. He probably never experienced sadness, considering how giddy he is all the time.
“You're wrong,” Discord’s voice cut off your rumination.
You sat up, your eyes widening by the second at him. You nervously shift as you see the anger that was boiling across his face. Could he hear your thoughts this whole time? Well, that's embarrassing, so embarrassing that your face began to redden. You fumbled, about to speak up and ask for further clarification.
“I may be the Lord of Chaos, but even I feel lonely and upset sometimes. To insinuate that I don’t know what that is like, is absurd at best,” he growled deeply, frustrated with such a huge misconception about him.
With that, you felt partly guilty after being spoken up at. Even with your misunderstanding, you still felt sad.
The sound of him sighing was heard, with his tone changing to that of a more calm voice.
“After I met Fluttershy, I learned more about what my emotions were. It was only then that I understood what I’ve been feeling for years. Especially after meeting you, as well. I learned a lot about what I was missing and what it feels like to be . . .” Discord suddenly stopped mid sentence as he struggled to find the words. He shook his head, before meeting your eyes once more. With hesitation, he carefully took one of your hooves into his paw.
“What I’m trying to say is, I understand those feelings fully and while they might not be the most manageable, I get it,”
You could have sworn you saw something flit through his eyes as he looked at you sadly. It was almost like some old memory you’d never seen. An old memory of a small child in a cave, snowed in by a storm, alone. However, and whatever it was, it was hard to make out. You wondered if it was his chaos magic that let you get a small peek into his memories, accidentally that is.
“But, of course, don’t feel compelled to be glum for me. Believe it or not, this isn’t about me. All I want is for you to feel better,” He smiled warmly.
Before you could process it, you were being wrapped into his arms, a tight and tender hug enveloping you. Surprised, but gratified with this gesture, you leaned into his soft furred chest. The scent of the Draconequus promptly filled your senses, an aroma much like cotton candy and other indistinct sugary treats. You exhaled the sweet scent as your heart pounded in your chest. A warm sensation began to spread through you as you melted into him. You felt like you belonged right there in his arms.
“You know, I really was worried about you. It’s true I’m not as familiar with the whole ‘helping others out’ thing, but I do hope that this heartfelt hug will suffice. After all, I do the best of my abilities, even if it isn’t chaos,”
You nodded, already feeling a lot better as he continued to hold you close. You’d think at this point he would have let you go, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. It was as if you were seeing a whole new side of Discord you had never seen before. It was reassuring, knowing he was capable of some form of empathy.
His eagle claw rested on your head, and you closed your eyes as he began to gently pet you. The sound of each other's breathing being the only things you and him heeded, aside from the outside ambience.
You felt him shift beneath, with your cheek still buried in his fur as he began rearranging the two of you to be laying in the grass. He curled his tail around your body, gently but firmly, holding you securely with it. As he did so, he continued to rub your head, softly smiling to himself.
“If you couldn’t sleep before, I’m sure this time it will be a walk in the park. If there was a park anyway,” He whispered, snickering quietly.
And sure enough, he was right. The comfortable place you laid, the soothing touch upon your head, and the firm yet comforting grip that secured you, it all began to drown out the sounds of the outside world. The focus you once had on reality began to fritter, your body and mind welcoming the sleep state that consumed you. The last touch you could comprehend was the gentle kiss on your forehead, sending you to slowly drift off into sleep in his protective arms.
“Sleep well, my little pony . . .”
