Messing up timelines sure does cause mayhem

Chapters

A flower in the middle of grass
Discord decides adoption is the best way to slove problems
Learning the ways of chaos
In between training montage
Chaotic Entry
Celestia's job is hard
Kindness and a Retrospective
Combat and Magic

A flower in the middle of grass

Aster didn't know how long he was running for, and quite frankly, he didn't care anymore.

It was stupid.

Everything was stupid.

His legs burned, and so did his eyes with how hard he was crying, but he didn't care. He just wanted to get away from everything. Eventually, though, his exhaustion broke through his emotion and he stopped, gasping for air and all sore all over.

He looked around, apparently, he was in the forest. Well...it's better than the countryside he supposes, at least he knew a way back.

Not that he planned on going back anytime soon.

He hid a frustrated sob as he bit down on his lip, slumping down against a tree. He curled up, burying his face in his knees. His throat felt like it was on fire, and his body hurt all over, but he couldn't find himself regretting he came here. At least in the forest, nothing was a judgemental prick.

'Why can't you be more like her?'

He wanted to punch them so badly, so what if he wasn't as good as his sibling? So what if he wasn't as good at sports? So what if she was so much better than him? So what?

He sobbed harder, breathing growing less and less steady. He curled up a fist and punched the ground.

"OW!" A sharp jolt of electricity went through his hand, and he stumbled back, clutching it as it burned. He quickly whipped around to find whatever hurt him, desperately hoping it wasn't some poisonous plant or animal. He shoved the grass aside to find...

A small, white flower.

"Huh...? There's nothing here..." He scratched the back of his head. "Ha. Maybe It was just static electricity..."

He stared at the flower, it seemed delicate like if he were to touch it, it would crumble down and fall apart. It made him feel kinda sad... looking at it, one lone flower in the middle of nowhere, separated from everyone else...

Just like him.

He didn't belong there, in that quiet little town. Everyone there viewed him as nothing but a dangerous outcast, someone to be wary of. Someone to serve as a lesson to the little kids of what not to be. He was but a single flower in the middle of a field of grass.

Aster blinked, shaking his head a little. Well, that was a surprisingly morbid little tangent.

Still, it didn't make it any less true, did it?

He was the odd one out, and he'd forever be the odd one out. No matter what he did. A pang of dull pain ached in his chest as he remembered what had happened an hour ago.

It was a harmless prank, and the jerk had it coming, but noooooo they just had to chew him out in front of the entire school-

He stopped, closing his eyes and biting his lips. This wasn't the time for this, he was going to get riled up again. Maybe he should think of happier things.

Things he actually wanted.

"Oh! There's a new MLP movie that came out wasn't there?" He said to himself, a spark of excitement entering his eyes. Not too long ago, they'd introduced MLP Gen 5. He hadn't seen or watched it, but from what he heard, apparently, it was a sequel, but magic from Equestria was gone. Was it similar to what Cozy Glow pulled in School Raze?

Wait, what had happened to Discord? Was he the cause? Or did he also get his magic erased? Or, heaven forbid, was erased himself? He was a magical creature after all. Or, did he die some other way?

'He's the spirit of chaos!' Aster told himself, huddling up. 'He's fine! Heck, he probably sensed it! After all, he can detect the flow of magic in the universe and everything! Plus the guy can warp reality for crying out loud! He probably teleported into another universe and is waiting for magic to come back or something...Though being a reality warper didn't save him from Tirek or Chrysalis's throne did it...huh...'

He really did hope Discord was okay. He wouldn't want anything bad happening to his comfort character after all!

Except no, Discord was probably a bit more than a comfort character for him. In fact, he was probably the Spirit of Chaos's biggest fanboy. He's gotten his hands on every piece of information (cannon or not).

And honestly? He couldn't help but admire him. The way he could straight up do things in whatever way he can. The way he was the one who called the shots most of the time. The way he found people who accept him and be patient with him. The countless time he's imagined what it's like to be him. Honestly, it's probably the biggest of his fantasies.

To be a Spirit Of Chaos himself.

But of course, that was impossible. There was no logical way to break reality, and even if there were, he probably wouldn't be responsible with that kind of power, though couldn't he just fix everything afterward?

A yawn broke through his thoughts and he suddenly realized how utterly exhausted he felt. His eyes felt so heavy and he nearly tumbled over. He could've sworn he wasn't this tired moments ago...Then again, it is now 7 pm and he probably did run a good while before he got here. Looks like his fatigue finally caught up to him.

He collapsed on the ground, the grass felt soft, and honestly, he didn't feel like returning home. After all, the others probably wouldn't care. Heck, they'd be happy the annoyance is gone...

Aster's vision grew more and more blurry, as his eyelids constantly came close to closing for good. But before he did just that, he could've sworn he saw a bright white glow rising out of the ground...

When Aster awoke, a swirl of disorienting colors greeted him and he instantly shut his eyes with a groan. Eyes stinging from sudden exposure. He shifted around, eyes blearily opening yet again.

"My, my! Isn't this a surprise! Could that be a short, scrawny little winged human I see?"

His eyes shot open and he jolts up, coming face to face with the figure of a very certain Draconequus staring back at him with a curious smile.

"Well, well. Look who's finally awake."

Discord decides adoption is the best way to slove problems

Author's Note

Bit of disclaimer: It's nothing serious, but when I go over the main character's appearance. It can get a little bit...gory. (Mentions of skin and flesh being ripped off or deep gashes caused by battle and missing skin. Nothing actually happening, just being used as metaphors to describe ). since he's basically a draconeequus that's a hybrid of a skeleton dragon and a pony. Nothing bad actually happens to him.

I don't think it's enough to warrant the gore tag, but this is my first time, and you can never be too careful.

Here's the gist of his appearance in case you wanna skip that part: He has a dragon's head with one side having grey scales and the other not having grey scales. Two black eye sockets with white pinpricks for the eyes. He has two ram-like horns, a black fur coat, and grey forepaws, but one forepaw is half skeletal, sorta like Discord's griffin claw. He has two legs, both of a pony and a dragon. Both are grey in color. And his wings are skeletal but have a black translucent dragon bit in between them, and his tail is made entirely out of bones and has a dagger-like end.

The description starts at: With a snap, a mirror was placed in front of him.

And ends in: And honestly...

Anyway, with that out of the way enjoy!

Discord decides adoption is the best way to slove problems

So, it took him a while to realize he wasn't seeing things.

Aster stared blankly at the Spirit of Chaos and briefly wondered if he's in some drug-induced hallucination.

'I can assure you, this is 100% real. Discord certified as a matter of fact! Also, if you were on drugs I'd quickly remove the effects from your body and then make you forget drugs ever existed. I may be the Master Of Chaos and everything but even I have standards.'

A voice smooth as silk and completely unlike bounced around his brain, he immediately connected it as Discord's. He glances around for a bit, shakily getting up before realization struck him.

Telepathy. The voice spoke in his head.

He immediately whips a wide-eyed stare at the Chaos Lord, who merely replies with a smug smile.

This couldn't be happening.

Not because he didn't want it to be happening or anything-! Heck, he always wanted to meet Discord.

But because it simply wasn't physically possible. Discord was a fictional character in the tv show. So the most logical conclusion would be he's dreaming. Which might be a disappointing conclusion, but it's the one that makes the most sense.

"Make sense?" He jolted in surprise as Disord moved to scratch his chin, "But what fun is there in making sense?"

It looked surreal. So surreal. So incredibly realistic that he was tempted to call it 'real'. But, he knew better. Dreams are a strange thing, so it would make sense for him to imagine such things.

Discord shot him an inquisitive look, "Do you honestly still think you're dreaming? Lucid Dreaming is a nice thing and all, but it doesn't quite work like this. Also, wouldn't it be weird that your mind would actively be trying to convince you weren't dreaming even though you are dreaming?" He asked.

Aster stood firm. "Dreams are strange things, not even scientists fully understand him." He reminded. To what, he didn't know. Discord? Himself? Again, Dreams are weird.

Discord sighed, "Of course you bring out the whole- 'But the scientists say this'-" Several animated puppets in lab coats popped into existence, with two in Discord's hands- " 'Scientists believe that!' excuse. Honestly, it's sad how dependent you're kind is on the words of men and women in white lab coats."

Aster watched the display, fascinated and immediately taken aback by how this dream managed to realistically portray Discord using his magic and confused at the fact this his own mind tossed an insult to science- one of the subjects he actually liked.

Discord sighed, deeper than last time. "Well then," he dismisses the puppets and visibly sharpens a talon. "Looks like a small demonstration is necessary."

He snapped his fingers.

Then the ground beneath Aster vanished and he fell, scream piercing from his mouth as felt himself descend, the wind rushed violently past him, making him briefly wonder what speed he was falling at.

Then, he hit the water.

He submerged quickly enough, feeling something on his back drag him down faster. He was stunned for a moment, before quickly getting his bearings together and swimming up. He might not have been as strong a swimmer like his sister but he at least knew how to do so.

He rose from the water, gasping for air. Immediately he spotted land and swam over fast enough, still feeling that weight in his back. He quickly got up, clothes soggy and wet.

"Well, considering what you can do that shouldn't be a problem- Oh, wait, you don't know that yet, do you?" Discord's bemused voice asked. The spirit was right beside him.

Aster didn't know what to think. Falling like that...it felt real. So did the water. Usually, when you fall in dreams you wake up. He didn't do so, he had to swim to land, gasping for air all the while. Furrowing his brows, he pinched himself.

A minor jolt of pain was sent back. And he stopped.

You shouldn't be able to feel pain in dreams.

There was no doubt about it now, was there? This was real.

"FINALLY! Here I thought I'd have to toss you down another ledge!" Discord cheered.

Wait! If this was real? Then-

"Yes, I'm real too." He teleported in front of him, and Aster didn't know whether to be terrified or excited.

Discord was here. Discord was here-here. He existed. And now Aster's getting to meet him. He felt his heart rush, with what he had absolutely no clue. All he now knew was that he had to make up for that first botched impression.

"Oh! Um- Er- Sorry, Disco-errr, Lord Of Chaos!" Aster replied, as smooth as a pufferfish. "It's just- I uh, this just um- quite a bit to take in and everything. But I want to say I'm you're the biggest fan!" His voice practically speed up to a cheetah's pace as he grounded out the final words.

Discord stared at him blankly before breaking down with laughter, "Oh, I like you!" He chuckled, patting him on the head. Probably knowing full well Aster's heart performed gymnastics with that comment.

The boy beamed happily, the brightest smile on his face. He was practically vibrating with pure happiness for a moment but he felt that same weight on his back twitch, he turned around to see...

Wings. Two black, raven-like wings.

"Was wondering when you were going to notice those?" Discord mused absentmindedly, snapping him out his bafflement.

"Oh! Are these a gift from you?"

"No, if they were from me they'd be a lot more interesting." Discord shook his head, before grinning at him in amusement. "They're your wings. Quite literally."

"H-huh!?" Aster squeaked, "But I don't even have wings!"

"Well, now you do!" The chimera chimed. The boy simply stared at his wings in shock, watching flutter as he commanded as if it were a limb.

"But, how..." He asked.

"You don't really know the full details of how you got here, do you?" Discord asked, Aster looked at him and shook his head.

"No...you didn't bring me here?"

"I rarely visit human worlds, and even if I do I rarely bring one back with me." He replied evenly, walking up to Aster with his fist clenched.

He uncurled his fist to reveal a small, white, flower.

His eyes widened. "I-Is that the flower that I saw yesterday?"

"Indeed, these, are Will Flowers. They're highly rare magical manifestations of a force known as the "Wishing Force" by others, and "the Genie force" by me. They're kinda like the Nightmare Forces, except instead of turning the host they chose edgy and dark, they grant their wishes."

"But, why do they do that...?" Aster asked, he stared at the flower in fascination. Half tempted to snatch it out of Discord's hand.

"This force is a sentient entity, and it feeds itself by granting wishes. The only way they can gain nutrients is through their own magic. But Will magic, the magic Genie's use, never responds to the user. It only responds to the wishes of other people. So, it didn't help you out of the kindness of its heart or anything- In fact, you were basically the victim of parasitic species that compels you to wish for something so It can grant that wish for food."

"So...it's a benevolent parasite...?" He wondered.

Discord shook his head, getting rid of the flower. "No parasite is benevolent. If it has to inject its babies into your brain to reproduce it 100% would. Its way of operation can be seen as benevolent, but the thing itself isn't."

Aster locked the info away for now and looked at his hands with renewed vigor. "So, I'm a spirit of Chaos too!?"

"Huh, never seen anyone so...cheerful about it." Discord mused, "And no, you're not exactly the Spirit of Chaos."

"Huh? But, that's what I wished for, wasn't it?" Aster asked in confusion.

"You did wish for it, yes. But Will Magic has limits. Take, for instance, it can't turn you into the Spirit Of Harmony because of how bucking overpowered Harmony is. The same goes for me and my title. So, if it can't directly grant a wish. It grants it to the best of its ability. So, you can't be the Spirit of Chaos, being the Spirit of something that's a part of Chaos, like Mayhem is doable. So in the end, You get your wish, it gets its food."

Aster looked at the Draconequus quizzically. "So...what am I the spirit of exactly...?"

"Mayhem and Havoc. You're the spirit of Mayhem and Havoc. Basically, you're me, but not as strong."

Aster grinned, "Well, hey! It's still a lot better than being a regular old human right?"

Discord shrugged, "Fair."

Aster was about to ask another question, but before he could. He paused, realizing something.

He knew who Discord was without ever telling him, and claimed to be a huge fan without ever meeting him or even hearing of his deeds.

Frick.

Did Discord even notice? Or is he gonna have to explain-

"I already know about the 'My Little Pony ' show. So you don't need to get your gears in grind about trying to explain it to me." The Spirit Of Chaos added, folding his arms. "I read your mind before you woke up since you were in my Dimension with little to no explanation as to how or why. As you might know, the last time something like that happened, it didn't end well."

Well, that did sure explain a lot.

"Cosmos?" Aster asked, piecing together who he was talking about almost immediately.

Discord sighed, looking rather weary. "Yes, her."

That raised a lot of his questions. About Cosmos in particular. She was the Spirit Of Malice, wasn't she? If so, how was she stronger than Discord? Chaos is a universal cosmic force and Malice is just humans being sadistic. Then again, Harmony also isn't a cosmic force yet is probably the strongest force anyone has ever seen. So maybe-

"Alrighty, that's enough. I've played the role of exposition officer for a bit too long now and your brain is almost as full of questions as Twilight's is. I'll answer some of them later, but for now, we have important things to do."

"Ah!" Aster sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "S-sorry, but could you maybe stop reading my mind? It's actually really...uncomfortable to have your every thought be answered like a question..."

"Alright, fine." Suddenly, the area in front of him changed, and he was suddenly in a classroom, with a single chair (his), and Discord stood in front, dressed in a suit and tie. "May I have your attention, please! Today, we're going to be learning about Spirit's!"

"Spirit's?" He muttered, another spark of excitement rushing in. His posture become more focused, almost as if this was a science lesson. (And one could argue it was.)

"Yes! Spirits! Now, what's my title?"

"Spirit Of Chaos and Disharmony!" A plushie of Princess Celestia appeared, fit with its own desk. Celestia's tone sounded urgent, Aster figured Discord probably used vocal recordings.

"Correct! +10 points for you Celly!" A faint green, '+10 'literally appeared over its head before vanishing, along with the plushie.

"Now, I need to put a disclaimer in. I'm actually more or less the Spirit of Chaos. Meaning I'm made of the Chaos, and Chaos only. So, no Disharmony isn't what I'm made of. It was more of my modus operandi before my reformation." He sketched out a sign that read "Chaos ≠ Disharmony."

"Now!" He faced the class once more, "Who can tell me, what does being the Spirit of Chaos mean?"

"You're a creature of pure chaos!" A Fluttershy plushie appeared this time....complete with a gold throne and crown.

"Ohohoho!" Discord gave a flustered chuckle, "My, my, Fluttershy, what a lovely answer! Such a lovely one that I couldn't grant it anything less than a hundred points!"

A plus +100 appeared, along with party popper effects and literal fireworks. Aster stared at the display for a moment, snickering a little, "Jeez, no wonder Twilight didn't make you head mare of her Friendship School, the blatant favoritism..."

"What was that about Twilight's little school?" Discord asked. Aster went still.

"Has that happened yet...?" He asked.

"Nope! Though now I know why she keeps ranting about a school every time we meet." Discord said flippantly. "Also, I only reserve such favoritism for Fluttershy! Nobody else!"

"Wouldn't expect anything less from you," Aster admitted with a chuckle.

"Anyway, it is indeed true that I'm the Spirit Of Chaos. However, there are other spirits out there. I'm sure you've heard of the Spirit Of Harmony, haven't you?"

"Mhm," Aster nodded, "Yeah...she isn't very creative with her spirit form..."

"Ahhh, I can imagine," Discord gave a dramatic sigh, "For all her power, creativity is something she may as well be in debt with."

"That actually reminds me...Why is Harmony so powerful?" Aster asked. "I mean, you're the Spirit of Chaos, and Chaos is like, one of the cosmic elements, isn't it?"

"Just because you're a cosmic element, doesn't mean you're stronger than everybody else. And as for your question...well I've played captain exposition for long enough now, so you'll have to ask another time."

Aster couldn't help but whine a little, "Hey! Come on! Surely you can tell me something!"

Discord shrugged, "Maybe later, for now. We have lessons to do."

"So, Chaos is, as you said, a cosmic element. And, a cosmic element can be divided into several parts. Chaos for instance, can be Mayhem, Entropy, Havoc,Disorder, Insanity." He noted them down on the board, each a different color.

"So, you said I'm the Spirit of Mayhem and Havoc, right?" A loud ringing noise played.

"Correct! You, sir, are the Spirit of Mayhem and Havoc. Aspects of Chaos." The area in front of them vanished, and they were now on what appeared to be a floating island in Discord's Dimension.

"So, now you're probably wondering. 'Discord! If I'm the Spirit of Mayhem, how can I use my magic?' Well, it's simple! Say, have you been feeling anything...off recently?"

Aster wondered, and for a moment, just stopped to pay attention to his body, similar to meditation. He immediately felt this odd buzzing underneath his skin. This feeling of fuzziness. It felt odd and kinda uncomfortable. Plus, nothing spurred it on, so he assumes this is what Discord is talking about it.

"There's this weird...buzzing feeling in my skin...is that normal?" He asked the Chaos lord.

"Correct! You found it!" Several griffin claws pointed at him. "That right there is a sign of untapped magic! Just buzzing and waiting to be used!"

An excited grin quickly formed over his features. "Well, how do I use it?" He asked, eyes like stars. Discord chuckled.

"Well, it's quite simple! Feel yourself drawing into that power." He did as he was told, and the buzzing feel increased in intensity. He stepped back a little, feeling a bit overwhelmed, but still did as he was told. It soon went from buzzing to bubbling, and he couldn't lie and say he didn't feel uncomfortable but-

POOF!

What felt like an explosion suddenly tore through him, and he fell to the floor, completely unable to feel his body. He groaned as a wave of exhaustion hit him, briefly seeing Discord's figure moving for a bit, mumbling something he couldn't quite make out.

He didn't have the time to do so either, as the world went dark once again...

When Aster awoke this time. Everything felt weird.

To be honest, weird was probably the only way to describe how he felt right now. One of his arms felt bare and thin, while the other felt more or less the same but his fingers felt crooked. And that's only one of the several things he was feeling right now.

Slowly, he got out of bed, groaning all the while.

"Well, well, well. Look who's finally up." Discord greeted with a smirk as he leaned on the wall across the room. Aster can make three things clear now. Number one, he's not dreaming. Number two, he's in Discord's house. Number three, he passed out.

"Ugh...what happened...?" He asked, going to rub the back of his head before stopping at how sharp his nails felt.

"You performed magic! That's what happened." Energy suddenly rushed back into him as celebratory fireworks surrounded him.

"Oh right! Well, did it work? What did I even do!?" Aster demanded as he sat upright, he sparkling as he stared up Discord, waiting to hear back. Discord gave a coy smirk.

"Well...Why don't I show you?"

With a snap, a mirror was placed in front of him.

Aster gasped as he took in his appearance. He was expecting a human with wings or something, but what he got instead was completely different.

His reflection didn't even look remotely humanoid right now. Instead, it had the head of a dragon, with two ram-like horns coming out the top. One half of the head had pale grey scales, while the other half was missing skin. Bare, skeletal remains were clear to the world to see. His eyes were pitch-black, save for two, white glowing dots.

The body was coated in black fur, save for bits where his skeleton showed here and there. There was a particular hole that looked like it was ripped off by battle, a bit from his neck to chest, a large, deep gash was, showing nothing but his bony interior. Thankfully, no organs were visible.

His hands- well, front paws now, he assumes, had grey scales protruding downwards into claws. Well one of them at least, the other was halfway there before it looked like someone ripped the skin and flesh off it, leaving nothing but bones. Bones that curved into a claw nonetheless.

His legs were grey and now curved, like an animal. One was a normal pony leg while the other was a normal dragon leg. His tail on the other hand was completely made of bone, up until the sharp curved edge. The skeletal frame of his wings showed, along with the actual black wing-like substance in between the gaps, albeit translucent.

And honestly...he didn't know whether to be horrified or in awe. Maybe a mix of both perhaps. He wasn't hurt by any means, and, there was nothing too graphic like showing organs, so he guessed it was just an update that affected looks.

"Congratulations! You have effectively completed the transition from a boring old human," A small figure of a human pops up, having an arrow pointing at a Draconequus form, "To the Spirit of Mayhem and Havoc!"

There was this odd feeling, one unlike any other. Scratch that, there were several odd feelings he was having right now. But he could probably guess that was his magic: finally active for some reason.

"Why did I have to go from human to a Draconequus to be the Spirit of Mayhem? Not saying Draconequi aren't cool or anything!" He asked.

Discord groaned, "Well, I suppose I can play narration officer one more time." He said begrudgingly.

"As you might know, every species has something unique to them. And the thing that's unique to Draconequi is being spiritual manifestations of things. In your previous human form, you were basically a caterpillar undergoing a magical metamorphosis because your previous body couldn't handle the magic. Sure, it tried to, hence the wings. But normal humans have very low magic potential. To truly become the Spirit of Mayhem, you need to 'shed your skin', per see."

Aster blinked as he digested the information. Scratching his chin thoughtfully, "So, I'm stuck like this?"

"Not exactly," Discord replied, "You have my skillset in terms of magic, so truth be told you can take any shape you please. This is just your 'base form', from now on so to speak."

"Got it," Aster nodded. "So, now what?"

"Well, that's up to you to decide." The larger Draconequus shrugged, "What do you want to do?"

Aster opened his mouth, before closing it again. Thinking back, he'd only been going with the flow, but now...he didn't really know what to do...

"Can you still take me to my home dimension?" He blurted out without thinking, Discord paused and stared at him curiously. An odd feeling welled up inside his chest, and he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Wait, you just turned yourself into the very embodiment of Mayhem and Havoc...and now want to go home? Back to your normal human realm?" He asked, slightly baffled. Aster rapidly shook his head.

"I don't want to go back...I'm just wondering, can you still take me back?" He asked, ignoring whatever was growing inside his chest.

"Well, of course I can! However...it might actually be very difficult." Aster's eye's widened.

"What do you mean by difficult?" He asked.

"Well, normally souls are used to find out with dimension they came from, but the Will Flower completely re-wrote the schematics of yours. It doesn't resonate with the location anymore." Aster stared blankly as he digested the information. He couldn't tell what he was feeling right now, was it sadness? He didn't know. He had no reason to miss his old home. So why was his reaction so...confusing?

"Why did you help me? With becoming the Spirit of Mayhem?" He asked quietly. He needed to get his mind off the feeling swirling within him.

"Well, the answer isn't all that complicated." He shrugged. "Chaos. I would never let go of an opportunity to introduce more chaos into the multiverse. And it was something you wanted in the end. Plus, it would've been irresponsible to leave you on your own. I've been trying to be a more...considerate entity so far."

Aster wasn't really all that surprised at the response, and instead, took a moment to ponder. What did he want to do from now on? Certainly not go back to his old world...at least not yet. The other option would be exploring Equestria and...

Wait, that's it! He's always wanted to explore Equestria! And to meet every creature in there! Now was actually his chance!

"I want to go Equestria!" He decided, energetically hopping up...only to fall down. He groaned. His new body would certainly take some getting used to.

"Actually, I was hoping you'd choose that option," Discord admitted with a chuckle.

The boy shot him a confused look. "Why?"

"Can you imagine all the Chaos and Mayhem your arrival would bring?" Discord asked back, eyes practically glowing with excitement. "I'm the only Draconequus the ponies know of, and they still are wary of me to this day! Granted...the whole Tirek thing hadn't helped. But that's off-topic! Can you imagine how everybody else would react to another reality-bending Spirit of Chaos!? There'd be mayhem everywhere!"

Aster listened to the ramblings, and a grin of his own formed. It sounded so fun, now that he thinks about it. Was that his new Mayhem instincts speaking? Probably. But he can't deny and say he's completely innocent. After all, he was a prankster.

"That sounds like fun!" Discord chuckled.

"Ahahaha! I knew you'd get into the spirit of your new life! However...we probably have to set in motion a few living arrangements."

"Living arrangements?" He asked.

Discord nodded. "See, you're the Draconequi equivalent of a filly right now. Sure, you're probably stronger than most beings in Equestria right now. But nothing compared to me. Plus you're a kid, and Celestia probably wouldn't like a seemingly orphaned Spirit of Mayhem running around. So, that's why you're gonna have to live with me!"

"Wait, wait! Hold on! Live with you?" Aster backtracked.

"Well, do you see anyone else capable of caring for the Spirit of Mayhem and Havoc? Plus, I know how Draconequi work, so you'd be fine for the most bit! Plus it'd be fun to have a roommate! Though I'm probably gonna have to go down as your legal guardian...eh, that's nonsense that I can take care of with Celestia!" He shrugged, not noticing how Aster was looking at him with a sense of pure bafflement and surprise.

"You'd...really do that...for me?" He had trouble finding his voice.

"Don't go putting overly sappy spins on it," Discord advised, "I'm a Spirit Of Chaos, and I'd always be down for making more chaos...that said," His expression softened a little. "I can promise you that as long as you live with me, you'll be treated as an equal."

The newly crowned Spirit of Mayhem had to wipe the tears forming in his eyes. "R-Really?"

Discord laughed. "Of course! After all, Fluttershy would be appalled to find out I've been treating another sapient being as a pet!"

Aster watched the Spirit of Chaos, something warm and fuzzy unfurling in his chest. He sighed, letting out some of his own emotions, and looked to the windows. They showed nothing but the chaotic ways of an alternate dimension, but for him, they may as well have been the lights for the future.

He was finally given a shot, to prove that he could be great too. That he wasn't just a troublemaker. And he couldn't be any happier.

Learning the ways of chaos

For the next few days, Discord had set up a training regiment for Aster. His reasoning was simple enough, surprisingly. Equestria can be a dangerous place, and while some welcome you in with open arms, there are also those who'd attempt to exploit you for power.

He knew that he may have to come into contact with one of those creatures soon enough.

So in the meanwhile, Discord decided that Aster needed to at least convincingly play the act of a natural Draconequus. Of course, he didn't have to be as chaotic as Discord, but he at least needed to seem natural.

He's a bit embarrassed to admit Day 1 of training was basically re-learning how to walk. It's just...a Draconequus body feels so weird compared to a human one, he still wasn't exactly used to it. Being able to walk efficiently on four legs was also a weird feeling.

Day 2 was flying. His wings were sorta like Discord's, impractical. Unlike his, which one can tell is completely unusable by just by looking, Aster's wings seem functional at first, like dragon wings. However, given his bizarre biology, his wings didn't actually work, they just resorted to magic like Discord's

And that's not to mention flying itself, which was weird wet so fun it was hard to describe. It was similar to walking...in a sense. After a certain point, you didn't need to think too much about it. You just do it. And oh boy was it fun! The wind rushing past him...being able to soar high in the clouds...it was the best thing ever.

Well, it would be, had Day 3 not come.

Day 3.

The day he finally learns magic.

To say he was excited...would be an understatement. For this topic, he actually was more energetic than Discord. Childishly tugging at his hand, constantly asking: "So, when are you gonna teach me!?"

Discord, of course, took it in good humor. Constantly chuckling and telling him to wait up. And to let the important stuff come first. Of course, magic itself is probably the most important thing to a spirit's life, but basic movement also counts.

Aster giddily waited for Discord to return from his tea party with Fluttershy. He could feel it, this odd sensation. His magic, swirling around, just begging to be used. He remembers feeling it naturally dance as he flew through the air. He wanted to try it himself, but he didn't know how to. Plus, this was Discord's realm, it wouldn't be good if he destroyed a part of it by accident or something.

After what seemed like ages, (time itself is very hard to quantify in the realm), Discord stepped through a tear in reality. He literally flew over, the beat of his wings shooting him off the ground into the air.

"My, my. Someone's been rather impatient." Discord noted, amusement thick in his voice as he watched the younger come flying up to him.

"Well, you can't blame me! You'd be just as impatient as I would be!" He retorted, bobbing up and down in the air.

Discord shrugged. "Fair." He snapped his fingers, and the scenery changed to mountains and green jungles. Immediately, he could feel it. The magic in the air. The odd buzz of energy his human self would never have picked up. He flies up, taking in the breathtaking view of the mountains, rivers, and the sun, high in the sky.

There was no doubt about it. This was Equestria.

"I picked a place where there would be little interference and little risk of damaging others." Discord explained as Aster stared in awe.

The boy suddenly flies back down to the ground, bouncing up to Discord. "So, how do we start!?" He practically squeaks in excitement. "Making chocolate milk rain from the sky? Turning the floor into a checkerboard?"

"With the way chaos magic works, I reckon you'd be able to do that all by the end of the day." Discord said with an amused smirk.

"Oh yeah..." Aster recalled, "I've been meaning to ask you? How does Chaos magic work?"

"It'd be best for you to try yourself." Discord replies. "Now, focus your magic, and think of an object."

Aster nodded sharply and did what he was told. He focused his magic, feeling the spark of excitement within him grow as he felt it swirl in response. Through all of his excitement, it took him a while to decide on the object, but he decide to go with a sword. Nothing better than a classic right?

After thinking of his item, he focused his magic once more, and-

POOF! A sword appeared in a bright burst of light and fell to the floor.

He gasped in awe at what he had just done. He had felt his magic suddenly converge at a spot then poof! The sword was there. He stared at his own paws in amazement, completely unable to believe he'd just done that.

Discord approached, whistling. "A sword eh? Not in my tastes, but certainly not uncreative." He examined the object, holding it up.

"H-How did I do that!?" Aster ran up to Spirit of Chaos, eyes sparkling with wonder. Discord laughed, it had been so long since someone took such enthusiasm in the workings of chaos magic.

"That, is the beauty of chaos magic." He grinned, ear to ear. "No complicated spells, no boring connections. Just you, your imagination, and magic."

"So, you're telling me I'm basically already a pro?" Aster asked, tail wagging behind him.

"Not really a pro. There are still some more difficult things with chaos magic I can do but you can't. But yeah, you're basically an intermediate chaos mage."

Aster jumped into the air, and immediately tested his newfound abilities out. Discord grinned as he felt the very fabric of reality flicker and rip as the boy gave the floor checker patterns, made it rain chocolate from the sky, and even made trees dance. All with the biggest grin on his face, not one of superiority, but childlike wonder.

This, is why he has a soft spot for kids.

A day later, The Spirit Of Chaos was simply cleaning up after lunch. (As of course, courtesy of being a good housemate and the adult in the room). When an innocent question made him freeze in his tracks.

"Say, how powerful are you, exactly?"

The Chaos Lord paused as he froze the dishes.

"How powerful am I?" Discord chuckled, warping the dishes away. "Tell me, child, how would you quantify my power?"

"Ummmm...well, I think it might be equivalent to like...two alicorns worth maybe?"

Discord blinked. Well, that was insultingly low.

"What makes you think that?" He asked, slightly offended. Aster shrugged, biting down on his hamburger.

"Well, despite Tierk absorbing your magic, he still couldn't beat Twilight when she had the power of four alicorns. The battle was at a stalemate. Of course, you're the most powerful being in all of Equestria, so I'd assume your magic would be doing like, half the battle, while everyone else's magic would be doing the other half."

Discord stared blankly at the kid before snickering. The poor, poor sheltered soul. Aster stared at him laughing, confusion dawning on his expression.

"What?" He asks, taking the final bite out of his burger, "Was I wrong?"

Discord chuckles, "Quite so," He snaps his fingers and suddenly, they're in what can best be described as a desolate wasteland. A world long dead. Aster fell, going from being on a chair to being on the air and then being on the floor.

"Ow! Could you at least..." He trailed off, seeing exactly where he was.

"Is this one of Starlight's timelines? Y'know, the ones she created during the Cutie- err, the whole time travel fiasco?" Discord simply nodded before standing out to a clearing.

"We're here for demonstration purposes, since Celestia, Twilight, practically every pony would be scared witless if I did this in Equestria." He snapped his talons and a large, orange ball of energy formed.

"This is Tirek's magic power when he fought Princess Sparkles," Another snap, "This is her magic level during the fight." A multicolored ball of energy formed, containing magical power equivalent to that of four alicorns. Aster stared at them with fascination. Discord smirked, boy would he give him something to be fascinated about.

"And this, is my energy ball." with a third snap, a purple ball of energy, completely dwarfing both Tirek's and Twilight's. The Spirit of Mayhem stared with wide eyes as Discord commanded all three to fire at a mountain range. Twilight's and Tirek's proceeded to decimate the mountains, while his decimated a good chunk of the range.

"Wow...." Discord couldn't help but feel pride well up within him at having rendered the boy speechless. He stared for a good few seconds, before turning to face Discord.

"Wait, if you're that strong...how come Tirek didn't just obliterate Twilight?" He asked.

Discord snickered. "That's because Tirek had no way of controlling my magic. When he absorbed my magic, he shortly realized that if he let it mingle with all the other magic, he'd quickly lose control over his own power. Thus, he isolated my magic in his body, not using it at all."

"But, didn't he grow larger when absorbed your magic?" Aster asked.

"That's because my magic was still his body, so of course he'd gain some power from it. That's like your body growing wings when in contact with chaos magic." Discord was about to snap his fingers again, but another question made him freeze.

"But then...how was Tirek able to absorb your magic in the first place?"

Discord paused for a moment, "...You are aware of how Tirek gained power through absorbing the magic of other's right?"

The younger nodded, "Uh-huh. But he needed to be stronger than them to absorb their magic right?"

"Do you know how Harmonic magic works?" The question made him freeze, but his eyes widened with excitement at the prospect of learning something new.

"Not really," He shook his head, "The most explanation we get is "The Power Of Friendship", which isn't much of an explanation is it?"

"Well let me take you behind the scenes a little," Discord snapped his talons, and two balls of light appeared. "You see, magic has a little effect, if you willingly combine it with another's magic, it becomes stronger." The orbs merged to form an even bigger orb. "This is the pinnacle of Harmony's strength."

"However," His expression noticeably darkened, "For something to be considered Harmonic, it needs to work in conjunction with other things. The same goes for magic. So... say a magic draining centaur was able to drain half the magic of Equestria, and force the magic to work in unison to make himself stronger. Do you know what you get from that?"

"N-no?"

"Forced Harmony, forcing the magic of others to work in unison without giving them a choice. It uses the same principle as Harmony but corrupts it so it only severs the user, not everybody in general. And since it still counts as a type of Harmonic magic, it was able to overpower me."

"But, wouldn't Forced Harmony be Order?" Aster asked.

Discord sighed, "Not exactly, Order magic is calm, and Order doesn't like variety, variety introduces Chaos. If Tierk used Order Magic, it would convert every pony's magic to his own brand of magic, instead of having all the other magic act as a fuel source for his own magic. And he wouldn't be able to absorb my magic at all. Trying to do so would likely kill him, and leave half of Equestria magicless for all eternity unless I or the Tree do something about it."

"Anyway, this whole thing got needlessly wordy fast," He snapped his talons, and they were back at his house.

"I'm sensing something interesting is happening in Equestria. I'll be going into the theater room to check, would you perhaps like to join me?" Aster shrugged.

"Not like I have any responsibilities or anything." He drawled, walking towards the Spirit. With another snap, they were in a large theater, with two bags of rainbow popcorn and a large screen and projector that was playing: "Now presenting, another chapter in the life of Twilight Sparkle!"

In the middle of a dark council room, the scene showcased Twilight Sparkle, filled with other ponies. The moment the screen registered in his brain, he immediately recognized it.

'The Equestrian Education Administration,' Aster noted, 'Well, at least I have a proper timeline placement now.'

"Every pony should be should be ready to defend our way of life," Neighsay spoke, leveling a hard look at Twilight Sparkle. "So, if your work is in order, provisional EEA approval is granted."

Aster frowned as he stared at Neighsay...he never really liked how the chancellor behaved during his earlier episodes. Petty and spiteful, really, the two things a chancellor of his position should avoid being.

"Y'know, I'm wondering how this guy even got elected." He muttered, taking a claw full of popcorn and stuffing it in his mouth.

"Are you looking at this council right now?" Discord asked, "Every pony on there is like him, he's just the figurehead." He chucked another paw full of popcorn in his mouth. "It's not as if he's a bad guy, more or less an obnoxious good guy."

Aster was about to stuff more popcorn into his mouth before a question entered his head. "Hey! Wait a minute! Where were you during the Storm King's invasion?"

Suddenly the theater grew silent as the screen turned off. Discord turned to look at him blankly, and he wasn't afraid to admit he shuddered a little. Well, that was before Discord collapsed into heaps of laughter.

"O-oh my!" He said in between hysterical wheezes. He laughed a bit more, before eventually regaining a bit of his breath. "Y-you HONESTLY think I'd bother getting involved The 'Storm King'? Puh-lease! The Storm King was nothing more than a yeti-manchild with a powerful magical staff. He didn't even actually have the ability to naturally control storms or weather for that matter!"

Well, it was clear as day the utter disrespect Discord had for the Storm King. And it seems as though the spirit wasn't even done ranting.

"The only reason, his invasion was of ANY success, was because of Tempest Shadow, and the fact Celestia seemed to forget how to dodge!" He drawled on, "If it weren't for Tempest, I'm pretty sure Twilight could've just confronted the Storm King herself! And how does the Storm King reward Tempest after she captured FOUR Alicorns for him? Completely go back on his end of their deal, despite having more than enough power to complete it, and tell her he used her to her face. Do you have any idea how wasteful that is!? Good Minions are hard to come by, especially ones as efficient as Tempest! He could've WON, had he chosen not to be flankhole! Granted, if that did end up happening, I probably would have intervened, but my point still stands!"

Aster himself practically descended into a ball of giggles at the Trickseter's rant, literally curling up into a ball and laughing away. "W-well," He wheezed, "When you put it that way..."

"He was a buffon with a shiny staff. Nothing more." Discord huffed before focusing back on the screen. Aster giggled a bit more, before finally managing to calm himself.

The screen started playing yet again, this time showing the construction of the School Of Friendship. The Spirit Of Mayhem watched as the construction ponies did their work. He had to admit, those were some dedicated ponies. Especially given the structure of the building. He really hoped they were getting paid enough.

"Say..." Discord murmured, "You know what happens in the future, right? Because of the show you used to watch?"

Aster cocked his head at him, "I thought you already knew?"

"I don't like spoilers," Discord shoved more popcorn into his mouth, "Predictability is something that I tend to avoid, it just takes the fun out of things."

Aster then remembered something. Something rather, important.

'Season 9's finale...ugh I don't like thinking about but, could I perhaps convince him it's a bad idea?... Wait! Then I could save everyone a lot of trouble!' A spark of determination lit up in his eyes, as he faced the Spirit Of Chaos.

"Hey, Discord?" The Draconequus looked at him, expressing a curious 'hm?'.

He took a deep breath. "I know you generally hate spoilers, but this is important." He'll try his best to leave out the finer details, but the message needs to get across. "So in the Season 9 of the MLP show...you uh...pull something very, very stupid."

Discord quirked a brow. "Stupid by Pony standards?"

"Stupid by everyone's standards, including yours." He replied, "I'll try to leave out the spoilerific details, but basically something happens in the future that leads you into thinking that uniting the most dangerous villains in all of Equestria would be a good idea. As a test. However, it kinda...backfires horribly."

"Wait, wait, wait," Discord held a paw up. "Most dangerous villains in Equestria...does that include Tirek and Chrysalis?" Aster saw how the older spirit's mouth dug into a frown at those names.

"...Yes," He replied after a bit.

Discord guffawed in shock. "Really? Honestly, that sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"It was," Aster nodded, "They ended up getting their hooves on the Bewitching Bell and used it to drain you, Celestia, Luna of magic."

The theater went dead silent once more, but this time, Aster could feel the weight behind it.

"The...Bewitching Bell?" Discord asked slowly, his eyes portraying genuine confusion. "The one that...how did they even find it?"

Aster winced, "That's not that important...all you need to know is that you shouldn't do something like that if you ever think of it. It won't end well."

"I see," Discord scratched his chin. "I...knew I was impulsive but to let them get their hands on such a powerful magical artifact..." He shook his head. "Nevermind. I'll see to it that it won't end up happening."

Aster watched the reaction with a sense of bafflement. 'That was...weird,' he thought, 'Discord's reaction...there's something more there, but I can't quite figure out what it is...'

"Well," Discord suddenly stood up abruptly, "I think there isn't much else interesting going on! I'll be heading out to Equestria now! Wouldn't want to keep Fluttershy waiting, now would I?"

And with that, he vanished in a bright white spark of light.

Aster stared at the empty seat in thorough confusion, ignoring the background blaring of the theater screen. That was odd. He was about to teleport back to his own room, before it suddenly clicked to him.

The fact that he had just altered the course of history.

He was pretty sure Discord was now thoroughly dissuaded from pulling the Grogar stunt, which meant Season 9's finale wouldn't happen.

A major event in history was canceled because of him. Because of his actions, his words.

He didn't know how to feel about that.

Come to think of it, he was capable of preventing many things from taking place. He could stop the events of School Raze before Cozy's plan was put into motion. He could stop Chancellor Neighsay from insulting Equestrian World leaders to their face. He could track down the Student Six before anyone else could. He could theoretically take away every major problem before their roots even began to form.

But should he?

Aster paced around the theater, debating this very question.

On one hand, solving every problem would be robbing everyone else of the major lessons those problems provided, and would stop friendships from growing.

On the other hand, was he supposed to sit idly by as others suffer? Just like the people in his old hometown would?

'My old home...' Aster paused for a moment. He hadn't thought of it at all in a few days, and he had very little reason to.

The people there were awful and judgmental. Not to mention gossipy. Failed a test? Your parents would know long before you arrived home, simply because a teacher decided keeping their darn mouths shut was to much to bucking ask for!

Aster heaved as old memories and disappointed stares burned in his head. 'I refuse.' Lightning crackled from his claws. 'I refuse to be ANYTHING like them!' He slammed his fist into the theater, leaving behind a smoking scorch mark.

He stared at it for a moment, then looked back at his paw, heaving emotions out. He snapped, and the mark was gone.
He teleported to his room and warped a book into existence.

He decided to take one page out of Discord's book. Just because he wouldn't help sometimes, doesn't mean he won't help at all.

He labeled the book, 'Plans,' and summoned a pen, and began scribbling his first courses of action.

And it all begins with the Studen Six.

In between training montage

A few more days passed as the school of Friendship was being built, and students were being gathered. During this time, he practiced getting more proficient with his magic and attempting to do a few more advanced things. While Chaos magic warps the very fabric of reality, there are a few stunts that even Reality Warper's have to work a bit before doing.

When he asked Discord to show him one of these stunts, he causally pulled in a ball of energy that would soon become the Big Bang.
.
.
.
Yeah, he had work to do-

Currently, he was in the process of learning one of Discord's favorite combat-related tricks.

Beam conversion.

"To your left!" Several weak bolts of energy shot at him, and he quickly reached his magic out, compressing them and morphing them into butterflies.

He felt magic form on his right and quickly did the same. Seeing small purple clouds was only confirmation of his success in doing so.

He felt a large amount of magic gather together, and quickly spun around to see a humongous ball of energy that blasted towards him fast. Aster wasted no time, quickly gathering and concentrating his magic to compress the orb into a showing of multi-colored butterflies.

He panted in exhaustion as he slumped down, Discord appeared beside him, in referee outfit.

"Quite the performance! 9/10, extra marks for finally being able to get rid of the big one. Now, we have to work on your endurance." The Spirit of Mayhem and Havoc groaned, curling up a little.

"Do I have to?" He whined.

"Would you rather be unable to tank a blow from Twilight should it come down to it?" He asked rhetorically. Aster sighed, slowly getting up.

"Hopefully, it never reaches that point..." He murmured, stretching a little. The training for Reality Warpers was far more tiring than he imagined.

"You never know with Equestria's favorite Princess," Discord shrugged, "She may be cool and calm one day, but the other she'd be on the verge of mental break down."

Aster gave a brief hum, looking down at his paws which were somewhat sore from snapping his fingers so much. "If I think of attending Twilight's school, do you think she'll let me naturally use my magic, or will I have to wear some sort of restraining bracelet?"

"She'll probably trust you enough to let you have access to your magic." Discord mused, "Anti-Magic restraints are a very expensive thing, and if news gets out it's being used on a student, Twilight could kiss her career goodbye." He turned and raised an eyebrow at the younger. "Why do you want to attend anyway? Most kids think school is boring, save for the Twilight when she was a filly."

Aster sighed. "School is still better than sitting around with nothing to do, isn't it?" He didn't want to bring up the Cozy Glow topic, not yet at least. Discord didn't like spoilers.

Discord shrugged, "Fair. Now get up, we still have work to do!" He grinned ear to ear, completely ignoring Aster's tired groan.

While he was not training, he was busy building his 'persona', so to speak.

" 'Ahaha! Do you honestly believe you can best ME? The Spirit Of Mayhem?'...No, that's too diabolical." Aster sighed, plopping back down on his bed.

"Think, think. You're the Spirit Of Mayhem, so you're gonna want to be only slightly less chaotic than Discord...Oh! I think I got it!" He got back up, clearing his voice a little.

" 'Howdy! I'm Aster, Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc! Aw geez, what's with the straight face? Don't tell me you haven't seen a Draconequus before!'...Actually, wait, that's just a rip-off Flowey Impression." He fell right back down the bed.

"Ugh...this isn't going anywhere!" He complained, burying his head in his pillow. After a solid good 10 minutes, he tried once more.

"Hello, ponies and other creatures alike! I, am Aster! Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc!" He incited once more, before groaning yet again. 'Ughhhh, too formal...'

"I see a certain someone is having trouble." Discord remarked, teleporting into the room just now. Aster groaned a little, already sensing the other's amusement.

"Well, how would YOU go about it then?" He snarked in irritation. Normally he wouldn't dare act snarky towards the other, but exhaustion does things to you.

"Simple, I'd be myself." Discord replied, lying down on air. "Don't think about it too hard! Just try to act natural!"

"Natural?" He questioned, eyes narrowing. "So basically: 'Hey there! I'm Aster, The Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc!'"

"Yes, that would work," Discord sat up a little, folding his arms. "You have to remember that a Spirit is defined by his actions, not words."

"Yeah! I know...it's just," He looked away, "It doesn't feel natural."

"Well, think of it this way. What's the kind of character you like to exaggerate yourself to be? What character do you think you can play well enough to not feel too disconnected?" Discord asked.

"Umm...well, A trickster, or a joker I guess..." He responded.

"Now, try to model your tone and voice off of them!"

"Uh...okay. Ahem," Aster cleared his throat, sitting up. "'Greetings! I'm Aster! The Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc! A pleasure to make your acquaintance! Hehe! I've heard quite a looooot about you!'" He blinked after finishing, holding his paw up to his chest.

"That...wasn't bad actually...It might just work..." He muttered.

"Another thing you could try," Discord suggested, "Would be changing your name. Or at least maybe adopt an alias. Aster sounds more Astral than it does Mayhem-ey."

"Huh...now that you mention it..." Aster's lips pressed into a thin line.

'Aster? That's a nice name!'

'I...guess as alias could work? What do you suggest?" Suddenly, a book appeared in Discord's hands.

"Let's see... a Spirit often takes names that are synonyms for what they're a manifestation of, so your's would be: Riot, Maelstrom, Uproar-"

"Actually, I think Aster is just fine." He insisted. Discord shrugged as the book vanished.

"Suit yourself." And with that, he was gone yet again.

Aster sighed, slumping down. "Well, at least I got my act together...now actually work on how I'm going to behave..."

He groaned, curling up. This was going to take a while.

Silence had never been so deafening before.

Aster sighed, he was completely invisible to the naked eye as he currently walked towards his current location. A certain cave in the Everfree forest was housing a very certain crystalline tree, and he was currently going to pay a visit.

It was actually one of the first things he wanted to do after formulating his plan, visit the Tree of Harmony.

Of course, this had given him questioning looks from Discord. But since he finally learned how to open portals between realms, he was basically free to enter and leave Equestria anytime he pleased, he just couldn't really enjoy it due to his current plans of secrecy.

The reason he wanted to do this was simple. He knew how protective Harmony is over her chosen, and if she felt like he was posing a threat or attempting to use them in a malicious way....well, let's just say Canterlot Garden will be one of the awards winners for most exquisite lawn decorations.

He stopped as he arrived at the cave, shivering as he felt the air buzz around him. It was rippling under the weight of Harmony's might. Any normal creature normally wouldn't be able to feel it, and even the Alicorn princess might be unknowing of it, but being one of the creature's Harmony's power counteracts, he was all too aware of it.

He gulped, and slowly set foot in the cave. Step after step after step, the buzzing grew more present the deeper he ventured into the cave, up until the point where he was sure he couldn't even feel his own skin. Eventually, he finally reached it. The Tree Of Harmony.

It stood, tall and mighty. To any other, it would be a beautiful work of nature. To a creature of chaos like him, it was an imposing force of judgment, and if judged him guilty...

Aster shook his head, electing to ignore how he could barely feel himself doing so over the buzzing. 'I have to make sure it doesn't come to that.'

He cleared his throat and began to talk. "H-hey there! I'm Aster, uh the Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc, but uh! Don't worry, I don't plan on ruining Harmony or anything- hahaha no! I'd be an idiot to attempt something like that-"

He stooped as he saw the Tree light glow rapidly as if it was blinking. Nervously, he backed up.

"I- um, I'm sorry but, are you saying something?" More unhelpful blinking. This isn't going anywhere.

"Uhhh...wait! I-I'm gonna ask a few questions, and i-if it isn't to much of a bother, could you please answer the questions? Two blinks for yes, one blink for no." The tree dimmed a little, and either whatever was causing it to blink was finished or it was actually listening.

Only one way to find out.

"Can you hear me?" He asked. The Tree Of Harmony glowed rapidly twice. Aster gulped, the answer yes definitely a yes. He kinda had a feeling, given she flat-out talks later.

"Okay soo..." He trailed off, being limited to yes or no questions was seriously annoying. "Um, okay, let me introduce myself again. I'm Aster, Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc. I-I know that sounds bad and everything, but I'm not here to rip apart Equestria's Harmony or anything. Heck, I'm weaker than Discord so you shouldn't have anything to fear from me..."

The Tree blinked rapidly yet again, and Aster was really wishing he learned ciphers like morse code. Aster took a deep breath and continued, "O-okay, so, the reason I'm here is that...I know of a...calamity that's going to befall Equestria in the future...one that your new group of chosen will stop! So uh, don't think that I'm here because of timeline complications or anything!"

The Tree's light dimmed, and he took it as a sign she was listening. He let out another exhale, shifting nervously. This was it, he needed to get through this part. "But uh...one of the outcomes of the calamity is um...debatable in how good or useful or ethical it truly was...So, I'm going to try to stop the calamity from happening.....Not because I want to rob your newer chosen of opportunities or lessons or play myself as a hero or anything!... I just feel like since I know what's going to happen next...I should at least attempt to stop it....of course, I'm not gonna kill a pony or anything, and if I can't stop it my own way...then I'll everything play out as normal."

Aster had to admit, the few times the Tree glowed during his rant gave him a heart attack. Still, it didn't...seem to be mad or anything. So that was good. He hoped. "I uh, just came by to let you know so you don't think I'm trying to manipulate your new chosen ones or anything..."

The Tree glowed yet again, shimmering. Aster didn't know what it meant, and he was honestly too scared to try to interrupt her reaction. "Well uh, nice talking to you!" He grinned nervously, charging up his own Chaos magic. "Um, I'll be going now! Bye!"

He snapped his fingers, teleporting outside of the cavern. The moment he re-appeared he heaved a sigh of relief. 'That was the scariest thing I've ever done...' He thought to himself, he looked up at the sky, seeing the sunset into the horizon.

'Well, I guess it's more accurately the scariest thing I've done yet.' He corrected with a frown. Days seemed to be going by so fast. Twilight's school was almost done, and soon he'd have to begin his own plans.

He can only hope this goes well.

Chaotic Entry

It was finally the day.

The day of The Opening of The School Of Friendship

The day where he is officially introduced into Equestria.

And the day he begins his plans to prevent Cozy Glow from draining magic from Equestria.

To see he's nervous is an understatement. He's jittery, barely able to sit still, and constantly pacing. Discord was going to be watching from the sidelines, not having any particular interest in getting involved himself. Of course, he's gonna show up when Celestia asks him to explain why another Draconequus was running around, but up until then, he's on his own.

His plan was simple, enter Equestria and watch the proceedings from the sidelines. Everything from the opening of the School of Friendship to its forced shutdown. And when the Young Six decide to bail and go to the castle of the two sisters, interfere there.

Not to play a hero or anything, but to play the role of a troublemaker. He knew that the moment the Six started viewing their teachers as 'Cool', is crucial. And Tree would probably have his head as a personal cave decoration should he proceed to screw it up.

And so, when it struck day, he entered Equestria and watched.

He snuck in during the School's opening ceremony, invisible to their eyes, and kept low. Watching the Student Six run around, all accidentally bumping into one another. Quite literally so with Sandbar and Gallus.

'I'm beginning to wonder,' he thought to himself, hovering above the crowd. 'Was this all coincidental? Or was there something more at play...'

In hindsight, there probably was. The six radiated this...strange magical aura, which didn't make sense since most of them can't use magic actively like a Unicorn. Being a spirit really did let you in on quite a few of the inner workings of Equestria.

Eventually, Twilight announced the school was in session. And honestly, he was a bit weirded out by the lack of a musical number, but if anyone started loudly after being told school was in session...at best, everyone would avoid them for weeks, at worst, they'd have no friends.

Also, navigating the School of Friendship was far more difficult, (and surreal) than he imagined. He mentally groaned at how long it would take for him to memorize hallways and classes. (Also, what kind of school needs a FOUNTAIN?)

He decided to go about his observation like this, after a period ended, he would switch classes and observe another one of the Mane Six in their attempts to run a class. He found this to be efficient enough for him to be able to monitor the classes and the Student at the same time.

On the first day of school, classes were...for the most part, pretty average. The only reason he even stayed awake was that he was a nerd for the kind of knowledge they offered, even through their awkward voices and methods. More than once, he had to stop himself from asking a question that would give him away.

The second day though...it was pretty fun, or well, the first half when Twilight wasn't being strict about the books was at least. But seeing the hands-on approach that many of the teachers tried to take... honestly made him wish more schools would do that. He never once wanted to badly join a lesson, but seeing actual animals in Fluttershy's class, or the cannons and confetti in Pinkie's class made him feel like he was missing out on something important and fun!

Well, that was until Twilight came in and made everything 'by the book' once more. (He really had to resist the temptation to burn the EEA book, or to misplace it when she wasn't looking.) And soon enough, things went back to being as it was yesterday.

With the way things were going, it wasn't long before The Students Six got into a fight. (Also, he spent an embarrassingly long time trying to find which hallway the fight was going to take place in so he wouldn't miss it.) And when Rainbow Dash stated they were terrible teachers, he couldn't help but wonder.

'Why did Twilight have her friends be teachers?', he thought mentally as the others left the area. 'They well...suck at it, to put it lightly.'

Honestly, the energy of The School of Friendship was starting to feel like his old school's...tired and resigned. With fights breaking out everywhere. Honestly, he couldn't even muster that spark of curiosity as to why the Students would want to ditch the class that he once had. The answer was so glaringly obvious he couldn't help but silently cheer for their efforts this time.

Of course, a certain somepony had to show up as well.

'Ugh...Neighsay,' he thought with exasperation. Throughout the entire time, the urge to do something that would cause mayhem was so...overwhelming. He can see why Discord would pull stunts like the Grogar one because if THIS was eating at him the entire time, he'd eventually cave and snap as well. Heck, he was pretty sure the only reason he hadn't was because of the Mayhem generated by the Student Six's little scuffle!

The urge to take his horn away, or turn his mane into frosting only get worse when Neighsay perceived the accident that was caused by The Student Six as an attack, voicing his beliefs while every other nation's leader was there watching and listening.

'How much audacity can a single pony have?' He screeched mentally and incredulously, watching the offended leaders pull their kids out of the school. 'Does this guy believe he's invincible or something? What legal protections does being a member of the EEA have!? They're an education association! Not the head of the military!'

After watching him shut down the school, he decided to head back to Chaosville. Meeting a very amused Discord when he barged through the door.

"I take it things didn't go well?" He asked. Aster growled, momentarily surprising himself by how intimidating he sounded.

"I knew it was gonna be like this..." He sighed, "But seeing it in person just makes it even worse."

The next day came, and since he sorta already knew everything that was gonna happen with the others, he quickly made way to the castle of the two sisters, waiting for the others to show up.

To say it took a while, would be an understatement. He had to stop himself from screeching with joy as they finally showed up.

"Uhm, is this place really, uh, safe?" Sandbar asked, nervously staring at the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Gallus rolled his eyes. "Puh-lease. We can all get away quick enough should anything bad happen."

"Hey! I think you're all forgetting about me and Yona here!" Sandbar protested.

"Don't worry!" Ocellus pats him reassuringly, "I can get you out of here should anything go wrong!"

"Plus, we didn't even see anything remotely dangerous on our way here!" Smolder snorted, making her way to the castle.

He watched them all come towards the castle and gave a determined glare before floating downwards, still invisible to their eyes. He decided the most efficient way to know his cue would be to follow Sandbar back and forth on his trips to get items for the others.

When he saw Twilight and the others in the cake shop, he mentally prepared himself patiently awaiting Sandbar's return to the Castle of the Two Sisters.

"Most other creatures," Sandbar murmured, staring at the small fluffy creature with a sense of apprehension. "What is that?"

Ocellus sighed, "Am I the only one who didn't sleep through Professor Fluttershy's Critters of Comfort and Consolate Class? It's a-"

"Pudgewedgie, and they tend to be rather vicious little balls of fluff." The small critter was lifted into the air and thrown away like a bag of trash.

The Six gasped, stepping back. "Who's there!?" Smolder glared at the clearing in front of her. The only response to her question was hysterical giggles.

"T-This was a bad idea! I knew we shouldn't have come!" Sandbar whispered frantically, staring around with wide eyes.

"Relax, we'll be fine," Gallus assured, before glaring at the bushes. "Because clearly whoever's out there is a coward if they can't bring themselves to face us?"

"Face you? Okay then, you asked for it, mister!" There was a flash of bright light, and then everyone screamed.

In front of them stood something that looked like it crawled out of a horror story, best described as an undead dragon. The group collectively shuddered as it stared at them with its hollow, empty eyes. His tail swished behind him, the sharp edge was made abundantly clear to them.

"S...Smolder, what kind of Dragon is that!?" Silverstream screeched. Said dragon's lips pressed into a thin line.

"I'm not even sure if it is a dragon," Smolder admitted warily. The thing chuckled.

"Well, you'd be right. I'm not exactly dragon...though I guess I'm part dragon..." his voice was masculine, and it sounded surprisingly young.

"Then what are you?" Gallus asked, narrowing his eyes.

He smiled simply at them, "A Draconequus!" He replied cheerily.

Everyone else scowled at the answer in confusion...except for Sandbar, who looked as if he's seen a ghost.

"Draconequus!?" He said, getting a few looks from the others from how much terror was in his voice. "L-like Discord?"

"Kinda! I can even do the same stuff he can!" He summoned a pink cloud made of cotton candy that rained chocolate milk.

"Woah!" Silverstream gasped, "How did he do that? Is it some sort of magic spell?"

"Sandbar," Gallus whispered, "He said he was Draconequus, what exactly does that mean?"

Sandbar gulped for a moment. "D...does anyone here remember a day when everything was...um...weird? Like, cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk from the sky and the sun and moon going down at weird times weird?"

Yona grumbles, "Yona remembers well, Yona thinks it was very annoying."

Smolder nods, "Same here. I remember the Dragon lord wondering if Celestia had gone senile!"

"W-well, it wasn't the princesses fault..." Sandbar nervously stuttered, "Y-you see, apparently, there was this creature name Discord. A Spirit Of Chaos whose magic was so strong it allowed him to warp reality and cause all the weirdness on that day."

Gallus scowled, "How is this important to what's currently happening?"

"Hey!" Ocellus snapped, "Let him finish."

"Uh thanks, Ocellus," Sandbar looked at her gratefully before focusing again, "But um, Discord's species was said to be uh...A draconequus."

Everyone collectively blinked, the air going still with a shared realization.

"Oh." Silverstream summed up in a word the levels of 'we're bucking screwed' the others felt.

"Oh indeed!" The Draconequus chortled, amused. "I'm Aster! The Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc!" He grinned at them, the smile predatory. "A pleasure to be making your acquaintances."

"Uhmm," Ocellus stepped forward, nervousness radiating from her expression. "Well uh, the pleasure's ours...um...Aster. So uh...is there something you wanted from us?"

"As a matter of fact! Yes!" He nodded.

"Well then, what is it?" Ocellus inquired.

He grinned before lifting his head up and screeching. Several Puck Wedgies came out of the bushes surrounding the group, screeching fangs uplifted and fur raised as spikes ready for shooting.

"You see," he spoke, circling the group. "Discord, despite being mightier than I, was bested by," He paused, disgust come onto his expression, "Blegh. Friendship. And I'm sure you all can see how dumb that is."

"Yona doesn't think it's dumb!" The yak protested. "Yona used to believe friendship was for ponies, but Yona now knows friendship is strong!"

"Yeah! That's right!" Smolder joined her Yak friend in protest, "We literally ran away from our homes to see our friends! If that doesn't prove friendship is strong, I don't know what will!"

"And, if this 'Oh-So-Powerful-Spirit-Of-Chaos' was bested by friendship. That should already tell you how strong it is." Gallus retorted, flying up with his arms folded and smugly smiling at Aster.

"Well, technically he was bested by the Elements of Harmony, which are a completely different thing in their own right." Aster retorted.

"Wrong." Sandbar rebuked. The pony was still obviously afraid, but seeing his friends stand up to the Spirit Of Mayhem had given him courage. "It was the power of friendship that fueled the Elements of Harmony! So technically, he was beaten by the power of friendship!"

"And Discord himself embraced friendship!" Ocellus flew up to Aster. "I was there when he willingly put himself into a zone that rendered him powerless, just to save a friend."

"Well then," Aster smiled cheerily, "Let's see how right you all are." He screeched again, and the Pudgewudgies all attacked. Thinking quick, Gallus quickly put a cart in between them, Silverstream and Smolder following his example. They stayed there, huddled up.

"What do we do!?" Sandbar hissed, wincing as he heard the spikes barge into the carts.

"Ocellus! Did Professor Fluttershy have anything in class about how to beat these things?" Gallus asked frantically.

Ocellus whimpered, "I'm sorry, I don't know! I wasn't paying attention!"

"Guys!" Silverstream yelled, "They're getting closer!"

The Spirit Of Mayhem smiled with an eerie sense of cheer as he watch them close in. "Well, would you look at that! Friendship isn't that strong after-" He paused, looking up at the sky with wide eyes. "Oh, crud."

He vanished before a rainbow blur rushed through the group of Pudgewedgies, hanging them on the trees at incredible speeds. The blur quickly revealed itself to be Rainbow Dash, smiling smugly at her work before vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Gallus's eyes bulged, "Is that Professor Egghead?"

The rest of the Pudgewedgies were lifted up telekinetically, making way for Twilight and Starlight. The two joined their horns together and let out a pulse that pushed them away. Spike headbutted one way, but another chased him. Rarity had apprehended a single Pudgewedgie and began making it fabulous, while Fluttershy hugged one, insisting force wasn't needed.

Clearly, her cries weren't registered by the others as Pinke brought in a cannon, and Dash stuffed them in, blasting them away.

The students stared in shock and awe at how quickly their teachers had managed to neutralize the threat. "Huh," Gallus murmured, "Guess our teachers are cool after all."

Sandbar nudged him. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

"They were amazing!" Ocellus said in awe. The carts were lifted as their teachers ran up to them.

"Is every creature alright!?" Twilight asked. They all nodded, insisting that they weren't seriously harmed.

"You're incredibly lucky we got here in time!" Spike panted, exhausted from their current encounter with the Pudgewedgies, given he did the most running.

Starlight winced, looking at the old, decrepit castle. "This probably isn't the safest place for a campout."

"Well," Smolder huffed, "It was safer before that jerk showed up!"

"Wait? That jerk?" Twilight repeated, "You mean there was someone else here?"

"Mhm! That was me!" The three of them spun around and gasped, seeing Aster standing behind them.

"Is that a zombie?" Rainbow Dash asked, momentarily backing away from the undead-looking chimera. The girls winced as they looked all over gashes and scars across his figure.

"No! But your probably not the last to make that misconception." He walked forward on all fours towards the group. "I'm Aster! Spirit Of Mayhem and Havoc!"

"Spirit?" Starlight murmured, "You mean like Discord?"

"I mean, there is clearly a similarity between them." Rarity pointed out, still grimacing as she inspected his zombie-like appearance.

"You think they share the same species?" Spike asked Fluttershy.

"Possibly," The Yellow Pegasus whispered back, "Discord never speaks much about his species. It wouldn't surprise me if there was more."

"Oh! There you are!" A familiar voice cries out. Discord appears in a flash of bright light. "I was beginning to believe you'd left Equestria!"

"Discord?" Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "You know him?"

"Quite so my dear Rainbow Dash!" He cheerily picked up Aster, completely ignoring his protests, and showed off like a parent showing off their newborn. "This Aster! He crash-landed in Chaosville and I, being the generous draconequus of friendship I am, decided to let him stay there!"

Aster grumbled, looking very embarrassed in Discord's grip. Smolder quickly flew over, glaring daggers at him. "Well then, since you know him well, care to ask him why he thought sending those things after us was a good idea?"

"Yeah!" Sandbar shook his head, "I seriously thought I was in danger."

Discord gasped. "Oh my! Someone's been rather naughty today, haven't they?" He put him on the ground and bowed. "I apologize for any inconvenience he might have caused! He is a being a Mayhem, and it's only in his nature to seek out and generate Mayhem!"

Ocellus frowned, "That may be the case, but you're also a being of Chaos, yet you can get along with others just fine."

"Yeah!" Silverstream nodded, "Also, he kept talking about friendship being dumb and stuff like that!" She pointed an accusatory finger at him.

Aster sighed. "It was just supposed to be a joke," he murmured, "I would've stopped it if it got too far."

"It already went beyond too far!" Gallus glowered, "Jokes are supposed to be funny, not dangerous!"

"My, my," Discord chuckled, "Seems as if someone is in need of friendship lessons!" He glanced at Twilight Sparkle, who awkwardly waved him off.

"Let's talk about that later!" Twilight insisted, "We need to get the others back safe and sound!"

"Oh, true," Discord conceded, "I'm pretty sure Ember is one step away from declaring war on the other races."

"What!?" Smolder's jaw dropped as the others looked at each other in surprise. They knew their nation's leader would be concerned, but they didn't think a war would be breaking out anytime soon!

"He has a point," Aster shrugged, "I can already sense the mayhem from here."

"We need to get back! Pronto!" Silverstream shrieked, pacing around the air in panic.

"Everyone, with me!" Twilight orders, flying over to the direction of Canterlot. The rest follow, eager to get back to town before a literal war breaks out. However, Discord and Aster stay behind, observing the others as they vanish into the clearing.

"You know, your actions today were capable of putting you at odds with every single world leader." Discord stated in amusement, Aster sighed.

"I know," He said, "However, it's not their trust specifically I'm aiming for."

Discord quirks a brow. "Oh, then do tell? Who's exactly?"

Aster stared at him simply. "It's a surprise."

"Changing the rules, for them!" Chancellor Neighsay huffed, glaring out at the dozens of creatures gathered in front of The School that had been previously closed. "It simply won't work!"

"I seem to recall something about Earth Poines, Unicorn, and Pegasi doing something similar, don't you?" Princess Celestia flew over and level a stern glare at the unicorn, planting her hoof on the ground. His face merely contorted with displeasure.

"I promise you, chancellor," Twilight continued, "My school WILL protect Equestria."

"Or destroy it!" He snarled at her before hopping into the portal...or that is would have happened had a bucket not flown over from the side, whacking the chancellor in the face and knocking him out cold. Startled, the other creatures stared at the white unicorns in confusion (and satisfaction for Ember and Prince Rutherford. Seaspray as well, though he'd never admit it.)

Aster then appeared in a flash of bright light, looking over his handiwork with a sense of glee before turning to face the startled crowd. "What? You all probably wanted to whack him across the face as much as I did!"

Celestia's job is hard

"So, If I'm getting this correctly, this juvenile Draconequus has been staying with you for the past week?"

"Correcto!"

"And, he crash-landed into your dimension right?"

"Yes. I must say, I've never seen someone quite as disoriented as he was back then!"

"Uh-huh...and you chose not to tell a single soul you were housing another reality-bending entity under your roof? Not even Fluttershy?"

"Correct."

"...May I ask why?"

"Celestia, let's drop the formalities and be real here. You know why."

Celestia groaned, wondering why she expected anything less of the King Of Madness.

The news that the Chancellor of the EEA had been assaulted by what appeared to be another member of the draconequus species spread around like wildfire. Ponies were in a panic at the idea of another Discord-like entity deciding to plunge Equestria into Chaos, the Nobility demanded answers, and Chancellor Neighsay was attempting to use the event to forward his own agenda. (Luckily, the people's faith in Twilight was strong enough for them to ignore him.)

What's worse, even the other nations were somewhat wary. It turns out that the young draconequus had attempted to play a very mean-spirited prank on the six missing Students, and the other nations were not happy when they found out. Not in the slightest.

Luckily, it seems fate had decided to finally show mercy, and Aster freely gave an open and sincere apology for his actions, and even conjured sweets (and in the Dragon's case, gems), as a token of apology. The other nations decided to let bygones be bygones, however, it was clear that they would be extra careful from here on out.

All of this, because Discord felt like playing an elaborate prank.

"Discord, believe me, it's nice you chose to provide a child a roof to live under, but wouldn't telling someone have been the best possible choice?"

Discord rolled his eyes, "Celestia, he was fine. A bit disoriented, but fine."

Celestia glanced at the boy himself, Aster, who was sitting next to Luna, the two of them watching the conversation intently. Normally, she wouldn't have brought a child into a meeting like this, especially if it were about him. But this time, she had to make an exception.

For as long as she's known him, Discord has been two things.

One: Unpredictable.

Two: Immature.

As much as she wants to trust that other than the whole surprise of their being another draconequus, Discord was genuinely doing this out of the kindness of his heart, vigilance never hurt. Not even she knew the full extent, or limits to Discord's power if there were any. And as such, she needed to make darn sure there was no foul play going on behind the scenes.

Aster himself seems to be perfectly healthy, despite the fright of his initial appearance. After a few health check-ups, it was determined his appearance had nothing to do with injuries or biology but was a physical manifestation of the nature of his spirit. Mayhem.

After that, was the mental check-up. He was brought into a room with psychiatrists, (and Luna, since she has a sharper eye for emotion), and was asked a few questions. Mostly about the nature of his relationship with Discord, and after confirming that Discord hadn't kidnapped or forced him into anything, Celestia finally decided to call this meeting.

The meetings had two purposes, one was to interrogate Discord himself about his relationship, and intentions with the child. And the other, to figure out how to successfully integrate the Spirit Of Mayhem into Equestrian society. Preferably without causing much widespread panic.

Sighing, Celestia continued. "Disord, as much I appreciate that you've done something kind without some hidden intent, I implore you to consider the consequences of what you've just done."

"In case you haven't got the idea, causing widespread Mayhem was a part of my plan." Discord replied dryly.

"Not that, as annoying as it is to deal with, it is still manageable." Celestia replied evenly, "What I'm asking you to realize, is that you now have the responsibility of a child on your shoulders. Do you even have any plans?"

"Plans? What for?" Discord asked.

"His future, his education. All of those extremely important factors that every caretaker must consider. Let's start with education for now, how exactly is he going to get the education he needs?"

"Twilight's School. I thought the answer would've been obvious." When Celestia sighed for what was the hundredth time during this conversation, Discord gave her a questioning look. "What? Would you rather I admit him to Canterlot's School for the gifted?"

"No, it's just..." Celestia had to keep herself from physically groaning, "The existence of Aster hasn't even been confirmed to the Equestrian public, some still believe the draconequus that assaulted Chancellor Neighsay was you," She ignored Discord scoffing at the idea, "Revealing Aster will be effectively admitting that there is indeed now two beings in Equestria with power capable of distorting reality. Do you have any idea how ponies reacted to you after your initial defeat at the hands of Twilight?"

"Oh quite so!" Discord responded cheerfully, "The chaos was so delicious! It was truly a shame I was in stone at the time and couldn't tase most of it."

Celestia rolled her eyes, "Moving on, how do you expect them to react to Aster?"

"Probably with fear and panic."

"Precisely. And while Twilight would most certainly welcome Aster into the School Of Friendship with open arms, the other ponies would be scrambling to pull their foals out of the school. And, with how high our tensions are with other nations, they'd certainly not feel comfortable with their representative children being in the same location as Aster."

"But," Aster spoke up, for the first time during the meeting. "Couldn't they just give me like, an Anti-Magic bracelet?"

"Anti-Magic is a very...controversial thing." Luna replied gently, "The only use of Anti-Magic unanimously agreed upon is its use on prisoners. Twilight would never resort to using Anti-Magic on a student, no matter how powerful their magic is. Also, not many Anti-Magic items are capable of truly preventing the use of magic as powerful as yours. The only one I can think of is Chrysalis's Throne, and that was carved out of extremely powerful absorbent, not suppressant. "

Celestia shot her sister a grateful look, Luna had been a massive help when dealing with Aster and she honestly didn't think this would've gone as smoothly without her active involvement. Turning back to Discord, she continued.

"Simply put, I cannot allow a project that Twilight has worked so hard on, one that also factors in with our relationship with other nations, to meet unfavorable results because of an unknown variable like this."

"Well then," Discord retorted, folding his arms, "What do you suggest? That I find a school in another dimension willing to take him?"

"No, of course not." She placed a hoof firmly on the table. "I'd never had a child go through so much trouble just for education's sake!"

"Then what do you suggest? Because in case it hasn't occurred to you, we're sort of going around a merry-go-round here!"

"Sister, If I may add my own suggestion," Luna rose, "Perhaps we could place Aster on an observation period, where he'd be under the surveillance of the Elements Of Harmony. After making sure that what happened on the re-opening day of the School Of Friendship was an isolated incident, instead of a pattern of behavior, we could perhaps advocate for him to be added into the School ourselves."

"That...may as well work." Celestia mused, before turning to The Spirit Of Mayhem. "What do you think, Aster, do you like that plan?"

Aster shrugged, "Sure! It seems fine to me."

She smiled a little, relieved that they were coming to find common ground. "And you Discord?"

"If he's fine with it, I'm fine as well." He waved it off, "As a creature of Chaos, I have no right to make decisions for others."

"Well then," Celestia felt a genuine, relieved smile forming, feeling a weight be lifted off her shoulders. "Shall we go get the papers to finalize the agreement?"

"Ya know, I sorta feel bad," Aster murmured, entering the House Of Madness (the name Discord gave to his residence). "Celestia seemed really stressed."

"Oh please," Discord replied, reading a newspaper in reverse. "She's like that all the time, she just doesn't let it show."

"You seem to be taking enjoyment in her stress," Aster noted.

"Of course I am! Only rarely do I feel such a chaotic swirl of emotions from Celestia of all people!"

"You're mean."

"I'm The Spirit Of Chaos, what did you expect?"

Kindness and a Retrospective

"Now, now! Remember, Fluttershy works hard to create these tea parties. So whatever you do, do not cause any Mayhem in her house. You can disassemble physics a little, indulge in harmless gags, but anything that causes genuine distress to her is strictly forbidden."

"Yes, yes, I get it. Don't make Fluttershy upset. You've been saying that for the last hour like some sort of broken record!"

After signing all the legal documents that put him under a supervision period, Aster was required to spend time with members of the Mane Six to, "Learn the values of Friendship", as Celestia put it. Of course, this meant asking the Mane Six for permission first before barging into their residence.

However, a problem quickly arose. Almost all of them were simply too busy. The School Of Friendship had just opened up, and while Twilight was laying off the books, the problem was that the girls were simply unqualified for the job of teaching. Sure, they wanted to put their own spins on lessons, but even the most unique of teachers need to know the fundamentals of what they teach.

There was one mare, however, whose schedule fits in a slot for him.

Fluttershy.

Honestly, he feels a bit bad, like he's taking advantage of her generosity. (Or kindness, since she's the Element of kindness.) But he wasn't about to try to talk her out of helping him, that means waiting until another member was free. And quite frankly, he wasn't all that patient.

But there was obviously a catch.

That catch is named Discord.

"Good. Oh! And also remember to say 'thank you' if she went out of her way to do something nice for you! It may not seem like much but it really makes her day." The Spirit Of Chaos stressed, and Aster couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Yes, I get it. Show basic courtesy." Honestly, he normally wouldn't mind Discord being a bit overbearing when it came to Fluttershy...if it weren't for the fact that he just sat through a one-hour class on Tea-Party Etiquette.

"Good! And also, remember to-"

"Discord, please. Stop stressing out so much." Aster interjected because if he had to listen to this one more time he's going to bucking explode. "I'm not a jerk you know."

Discord raised an unamused eyebrow, "Her first impression of you was a mean-spirited young draconequus who plays nasty pranks for his own amusement."

"And her first impression of you was a reality-warping chaos lord who would turn the world inside out for his own amusement." He snarked back before sighing. "Discord, trust me, everything's gonna turn out fine. Fluttershy will walk away a happy pony. Now can we please go? We're probably getting late!"

"Bold of you to assume time in my dimension correlates accurately to time in Equestria," Discord retorts, "But...I suppose you have a point."

He grumbles a little, before snapping up a portal. "Come along now," He gestures to it, "We wouldn't want to be late know would we?"

Hopping out of the portal, he comes face to face with Fluttershy's home. A large, cozy-looking cottage covered in greenery, resting near the edge of the Everfree Forest. (It's sorta funny how Fluttershy would be one of the only ones brave enough to actually have a house situated in a place like that.)

Discord strolls out of the portal and snaps it away, "Well, here we are! Fluttershy's home! Isn't it positively adorable?"

"It...kinda looks like a Treehouse, not gonna lie." He muttered, a bit quiet so maybe Discord wouldn't hear or take offense. To his relief Discord just snorted.

"Any house made of wood could technically be called a Tree House." He walked up to Fluttershy's home and knocked three times.

After waiting for a while, the door opened to reveal a yellow pegasus standing on the other side. "Discord!" She greeted happily, "So glad you could come! And this..." Her eyes trailed over to him, and he couldn't help but freeze up a little.

Fluttershy's gaze was merely inquisitive, revealing absolutely nothing about her inner thoughts. And yet he could feel the swirl of something else within her...something familiar, something powerful. He resited a shudder, thinking back to his encounter with the Tree Of Harmony.

"I'm Aster," He introduced awkwardly, in the human world he had a tendency to reach out for handshakes but that clearly wasn't practical here for several reasons. "Nice to meet you."

"Oh! Well, it's very nice to meet you too!" She greeted him back, "Why don't you both come in?"

As he walked in, Aster looked around the house. It felt a little uncanny, but still had this aura of homeliness to it. As if he were staring at a cozy inn, a place of respite after a long journey. Fluttershy lead them over to her living room and they sat down, and while Discord and Fluttershy spoke about random subjects, Aster wasn't able to shake how surreal this all felt.

He'd been in Equestria for about 2 weeks now, and even that was still hard for him to believe. It was like living in a dream, some part of him was constantly telling him it wasn't real, but it wasn't constantly being proven wrong day by day.

'Heh, I would love to see how Harris would react to any of this.'

His body stiffened, and then she shook his head a little. 'Stop it', he mentally chided himself, 'You're just gonna work yourself up if you think about him.'

There was no reason for him to think of his old home anymore- and really, did he even lose anything? There's nothing exciting about that old world anymore, just another dull, boring world of humans.

"Um, hello?" Fluttershy's voice brought him back to reality and he glanced up to find her staring at him in concern. He blinked a little, had he spaced out too long?

"Are you alright, you seem...upset a little." Aster stiffened again. In honesty, he shouldn't be surprised the most empathetic of the Mane 6 could read him like a book.

"Um, just lost in thought- Anyway! Uh, what were you saying?"

"She asked you how long you've been in Equestria," Discord interjected. He wasn't sure if there was any force in his voice or if that was him hearing things because of his own embarrassment.

"Ah, I'd say around 2 weeks? Time is a bit hard to keep a track of in Discord's world...." He laughed nervously, he was already making a fool of himself, wasn't he?

"Oh, okay. So, Discord told me you're not from this word originally?" Fluttershy asks.

"That's right!" Discord answers before he could, "This poor, small child crash-landed right into my realm! I have to say, it was quite the surprise actually. I knew my little humble home was a beacon for chaos, but not even I could've predicted it would attract a juvenile draconequus!"

Discord ignores the odd look Aster sends his way as Fluttershy nods, "Oh! That reminds me, you said that juvenile draconequii are rare? Why is that, exactly?"

Discord, to both her and Aster's surprise, actually cringed a little and a look of pure regret crossed his face. "Ahahaha...it's a long story..."

"Well," Fluttershy said, "It's not like I'm busy right now. So if you don't mind sharing..."

"It's not that I don't..." He inserted, "the story is just also...very morbid. Not suitable for a child's ears."

"Oh! I see...I'm sorry for asking-"

"No no, I can't have you apologize when you haven't done something wrong! How about we distract ourselves from the morbid topics with some delicious sandwiches!" He held up the severed crust of the sandwich before dipping it into the tea and taking a bite out of it. "Mmmmmmm, delectable as always! You truly do have the best carrot-ginger sandwiches!"

Fluttershy just laughed, a little embarrassed. "It's really nothing Discord!"

He gave a mock gasp. " 'Nothing!?' How can you call this nothing! Show her how wrong she is, my dear Spirit of Mayhem!"

Aster would've flinched if he hadn't been lectured on tea party etiquette for an hour straight. Gracefully,(well tentatively is the better word but he had to make it look graceful), he grabbed the sandwich and took a bite out of it. And, it was surprisingly good.

Now Aster has always been somewhat of a fussy eater, mostly preferring meats over vegetables, but he'd like to think that died down somewhat later on in his life. But despite his taste for meat-related products, he genuinely didn't expect this sandwich to taste so good. Not long after he took his first bite, he quickly scarfed the whole thing down and was about to reach for another before the sound of someone clearing their throat rang out.

Discord stared at him with an expression that can be best described as 'unimpressed'. Sheepishly, Aster rubbed the back of his head with a nervous smile.

"It is really good!" He agreed, heat rushing into his face. (Not that it would've been obvious, perks of having a skeleton head).

Fluttershy smiled, giggling a little. "Well, if you liked it so much, dig in! I made extra for you."

"Oh, thank you! Y-you didn't have to though!" He replied back, Discord's instructions ringing out in his head.

Fluttershy shrugged it off. "It's no big deal, I like doing these kinds of things."

After that, they eased off into discussions about other topics. A lot of it ranged from what happened weeks prior, to some other topics that Aster genuinely couldn't wrap his head around- likely because there were a few more things happening in everyone's lives than what the show depicted regularly. Come to think of it, what was the time span between episodes?

Was it every few days, or every noticeable event? What even counted as noticeable events- and heck, how is that the show managed accurately to represent so many things? Is there some kind of connection he's not seeing or-

"Aster?"

"Mhm?" Aster glances up from his 5th sandwich to see Fluttershy staring at him. "Um, yes?"

"I've heard from Discord...you wanted to attend the School of Friendship, right?" Ah, so the conversation was at this now.

"Mhm," Aster nodded, devouring the sandwich in a single bite. "That's my current plan."

"Ah, well," Fluttershy shifted a little, "I've been meaning to talk to you about your behavior towards those students that day."

He sweatdropped a little, "Um, what about...the incident?" In all honesty, he was really starting to question his decisions that day.

"Well," Fluttershy stated, placing her teacup down, "we interviewed the six students regarding their encounter, and they told us you said some..." mean things" about friendship and harmony."

He gulped, suddenly being reminded of the mighty energy that swirled in the seemingly harmless pegasus in front of him. "Is...that so?"

"Yes," Fluttershy nodded, "But looking at your behavior right now, you don't seem to be acting like you follow those same principles you said you did."

"It was a joke!" Aster said hurriedly, "I just thought it would be- I don't know, funny? I don't actually believe any of that nonsense!" He shuddered a little, the phantom feeling of Tree of Harmony's might bouncing at the back of his brain. He
really couldn't call Friendship weak, not after experiencing THAT.

"Oh...," Fluttershy replied, her expression becoming thoughtful. "But, a mean prank wasn't much better, was it? Look at how much trouble you are in now. If you'd just asked nicely in the first place, you could've gotten into the school much easier."

"Well, it's hard to fully blame him," Discord said offhandedly, "He's a creature of Mayhem and Havoc! In the same vein that I'm the Spirit of Chaos, any opportunity to send society in uproar sounds just as delicious to him as turning the world upside down sounds to me!"

Fluttershy carefully digested the information, glancing at Aster again. "You have a point...Aster, do you mind explaining yourself more clearly?"

"U-um," He stammered, "I-I guess I just...wanted to...m-meet them? Like, I h-haven't really spoken to anyone since I got here and-well, making an impression just...s-sounded fun I guess?" Aster was acutely aware his pitch and tone were bouncing around like a kid on a trampoline but he's probably made a fool himself more than a couple of times in this meeting. And it's not like he can say: 'I'm trying to not mess up the order events too much so the Tree Of Harmony doesn't turn me into a lawn decoration.'

"Well, If I'm not mistaken, It's very clear to me at least, that he just wanted to play with them!" Discord theorized. Well, covered would be more accurate in this context.

"Play with them...is this the truth, Aster?" Fluttershy asked him.

The boy shifted in his seat for a moment, "Sure? I guess that sounds about right?"

"Hm," She observed, "You don't sound very sure of yourself..."

"He's a bit of a lone wolf, you see," Discord interjected, "I'm likely guessing he's been on his own for a bit before crashing landing here. He likely doesn't have that much of a grasp on his emotions or what he's feeling, just a few chaotic impulses."

"I see..." Fluttershy placed a hoof to her chin in thought, "So...you just wanted to have fun?"

Aster nodded, "I...guess so?"

After what appeared to be a second of thought, Fluttershy flew up, 'Excuse me, I'll be back in a moment," and then left the room. A few seconds later, she was back with a clipboard.

"You might already know this," She began, sitting down with a pen, "but you are under an observation period. So, we as the Elements of Harmony have been entrusted to note down all of your behaviors to see if you're eligible to join the School of Friendship."

"I see," He replied awkwardly. "How did...How did I do?"

"It's an examination or anything, so you're not being judged on performance," She assured, "As far as I'm concerned...you seem to be doing pretty well. Maybe we can just write your previous behavior off as an isolated incident-but, Twilight is ultimately the one making the decision here..."

"Does she not trust you with this?" Discord asked, arms crossed. "I personally think the Element of Kindness is most qualified to determine the kindness of an individual."

"It's her school," Fluttershy replied, "if anything happens- and I'm not saying it will-she takes responsibility. I don't think I have the right to undermine her authority when it comes to the school like that..."

Discord just grumbled, though Aster could tell there wasn't much heat behind his actions. "Great, so we have to wait for her to be free. Oh joy."

"It won't take that long," Fluttershy reassured him, "Twilight's already been meaning to talk to him for a while, though she specifically stated that you can't be present when she does so."

"Huh? Why not!?" Discord pouted in indignation.

"Well...she's afraid that your presence might influence him to act a certain way somewhat..." Fluttershy explains.

"Oh, fine!" He bemoaned, deflating into the couch before quickly reinflating, "I swear, Starlight Glimmer gets more trust than I do despite me being reformed longer..."

"It's not that she doesn't TRUST you, it's just...this situation is very complicated, and your current decisions aren't really being seen as...helpful in solving it." She told him gently.

Discord sighed in resignation, knowing there was not much he could do at this point. "Oh fine. I guess I'll find something else to do in the meantime."

Aster fidgets a little, tail swishing lightly behind him. Looking back at it...why did he decide that was the best way to enter the scene? It was far easier to just join the school when Cozy did, and it would've been far less trouble for everyone involved. So why did he...

'He's a creature of Mayhem and Havoc! In the same vein that I'm the Spirit of Chaos, any opportunity to send society in uproar sounds just as delicious to him as turning the world upside down sounds to me!'

Those words played in his head once more, and suddenly, everything clicked. He hadn't truly taken his title seriously, he just thought it meant that he now could also warp reality. He hadn't even thought of it then, far too excited about the prospects of what could be done with his magic, but looking back at it now...

There was a cost. For both him and Discord there was a cost to such power. They were practically bound to their element. It made more sense now, why Discord constantly did things that hardly made sense and ended up making things harder for everyone. It wasn't right for him to do so, but it made sense.

Chaos is chaos. It seeks to disrupt order, to break normalcy, and throw the world on its head. And just like that, Havoc and Mayhem seek to send society into an uproar, to cause panic, confusion, anger, and fear. Looking back at it...the glee he felt when the Student Six were surrounded wasn't fabricated. He genuinely felt ecstatic, excited, almost like he was playing with some new toys.

'This is going to be a problem,'Aster muttered internally. He can't let himself get carried away. If he does so, not only is he actually too dangerous to be in The School Of Friendship but there's not a single way any one of his plans could ever see light.

If this went on, he could end up becoming the Discord to Cozy Glow's Tirek. And he knew well that she was likely to going to stab him in the back the moment she was done with him.

"Oh well, would you look at the time!" He snapped back to reality, watching as Fluttershy floated up to her clock, the time read: 6:30 pm. "I am terribly sorry, but I'll be having to go soon. Twilight got us all tutors for our subjects, and I can't be late for my lesson."

"Oh no no, it's quite alright," Discord assured, washing his hands with a tap that certainly wasn't there before. "We are the ones that took up your free time when you clearly had a very busy day."

"Mhm," Aster agreed, hoping down. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us, Ms. Fluttershy."

The yellow pegasus gave a flustered laugh, "Oh, it's really nothing! I look forward to seeing you in the School of Friendship, Aster."

"Likewise," The Spirit Of Mayhem responded.

"Well, well, someone was certainly a spacey mess today." Discord grumbled as they walked through the portal.

"Sorry," He apologized sheepishly, "I just had my mind filled with...other matters."

The Spirit Of Chaos just sighed, dismissing the interdimensional gate behind him. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. What were you even thinking about anyway?"

"Um, about our nature as Spirits," He neglected to mention anything about his old home, in all honesty, Discord would have no interest in that.

Discord looked vaguely bemused by that, "Ah, I suppose then you're one of those that tea helps stir into a philosophical mood?"

"Um, not really, I was more thinking about my actions and how they didn't make that much sense in the long run, but then what you said about being the Spirit Of Mayhem clicked with me and everything just kind of...spiraled from there." He answered.

"So, what conclusion did you come to during your thinking?" Discord asked.

Aster stayed silent for a moment before answering, "...Power comes with a cost. We as Spirits, for all our power, are effectively... trapped by the element we embody."

"I wouldn't use the word 'trapped'," Discord mused, "Perhaps governed by is more fitting. To be trapped is to be held against your will."

"But, aren't you basically trapped if your own element starts interfering with your choices?" He asked.

"Not quite," Discord responded, "We, as Spirits that are aligned with fairly broad concepts have a lot more freedom than you'd imagine. Chaos isn't bound by anything, and Mayhem and Havoc revolve around creating a complex situation. Both can be channeled for good, or bad."

"Take for instance," A whiteboard appears in a flash of light, "A tyrant king is using order to suppress the people."

A crude drawing of what appeared to be Sombra and the Crystal Empire appeared on the map as he continued explaining. "Now, in a situation like this, you need Chaos to do something good. Whether it be an opposing Kingdom declaring war or a rebellion, ultimately, you'd need both Chaos and Havoc to rid of the tyrant king."

"So, in the end, we're rather lucky." Discord said, getting rid of the whiteboard, "because we have something a lot of Spirits don't. Freedom. The Spirit of Rage is always destined to be a rage-fueled blockhead while the Spirit of Happiness, as cheery as they may seem, is always forced to have that cheery facade, leaving no room for the negativity that being realistic has. We, on the other hand, are free to choose how we channel our element, and that is how we convince the world of our position."

"So, what you're trying to say is, everything's gonna be fine if I'm careful?" The Spirit of Mayhem asked.

Discord nodded, "Precisely, don't make reckless, overconfident mistakes such as trusting a backstabbing centaur, and you should be good."

"I'll...keep that in mind," He promised, "So now what?"

"As of the moment, we decide what to eat for dinner. As for the plans for the future, we wait until another Element or hopefully Twilight herself is free. Also, I'd say Pizza sounds good for tonight."

"Sure- wait, are we going to Equestria or-"

"Absolutely not," Discord interjected, "Equestria, due to being a nation of herbivores, has no meat options for pizza. And while I do enjoy a good veg pizza, I'm a Draconequus, not a pony. So we're heading over to a place that actually serves Omnivores while also serving decent food, and I don't feel like going to Seaquestria at the moment and the Griffins are much too disorganized to have good food. Dragons are dragons, and have shifted over to a mostly gem diet now, and don't even have the concept of a restaurant. Changelings are basically just following Pony Culture at this point and are likely going to fully become herbivores by the next century or so, so I'm thinking visiting one of the human worlds seems like a good dinner plan."

"Okay- wait which Human world!?" Aster asked.

"The one where Sunset Shimmer dragged herself off too," Discord replied.

"Huh, that one...hey wait, is the portal gonna turn us human also?"

"The portal in Celestia's castle is a natural gate, one that attempts to convert anything that walks into it to an entity of similar nature of that which it acts as a gateway too. However, natural order isn't something I'm too fond of If I do say so myself." Discord drawled, making his way towards the house.

"We are still going to have to turn human to avoid causing a mass panic though." Aster pointed out.

"Look at you, you're already getting the hang of channeling your element!"

Aster laughed a little at his comment, before his mind trailed off again. He needed to be careful about he makes his choices, otherwise, he could land himself into a big mess that could potentially threaten the entirety of Equestria. Thinking back at it now...he needs to be on his guard when he finally meets Cozy. There's not a doubt in his mind she'll try to rope him into helping her with her schemes.

Mayhem and Havoc likely don't care about consequences or attachments, but If Chaos can be taught to care about Friendship, he can teach himself patience and foresight. He has to, otherwise, he's going to cause more problems than solve, and the last thing he wants to do is end up a jerk that causes problems on a whim.

'Isn't that already what you are though?' He stiffens as the familiar voice whispers in his head. Another memory flashed before his eyes. 'Face it Aster, there's a reason you were so easy to pick on.'

He clenches his claws, lightning crackling from them. 'Calm down...there's no point in looking back at those old memories...'

The past was gone, there's no point in getting emotional about it now. But still...

'Nothing but a jerk, huh?' He mentally gave a bitter laugh as he trailed after Discord, eyes flaring red for a moment. 'Ironic coming from you of all people, Harris.'

Author's Note

Look who finally rose from the dead!

Don't worry, I've just been really busy these past few months and didn't realize how much time has passed (seriously, how is it already May-), and didn't really have much of an interest in MLP in general at that time. But I don't plan on letting this story go unfinished either. It may take a while, but it will be done.

Anyway, writing Fluttershy was...surprisingly hard. Especially after I took a break from MLP only to come back to this. I hope her characterization was good enough here.

Also, I appreciate any constructive criticism/feedback on the general follow of the story. I've not written anything for a while, so I'm undoubtedly a bit rusty. If anything felt a bit drawn out or wasn't written well please let me know.

Anyway, that's all for now, see you next time!

Combat and Magic

The wait for Twilight Sparkle to be free turned out to be...longer than expected.

The Princess of Friendship was horribly busy this entire month, with the School Of Friendship slowly gaining more and more traction, this resulted in her having to hire more and more staff to cover for things her friends couldn't handle, and generally, managing a school was hard.

She did promise them a meeting sometime, but it likely wouldn't be for a while due to all the stuff that kept popping up. The EEA was quick to warn others of the fact that the School Of Friendship wasn't approved by them, and attempted to frame it in a way more akin to a Summer Camp. (Perhaps they would've done more, but this was a school supported by a Princess and saviors, they couldn't just tell people not to go like that).

Of course, by now, the knowledge of there being another Draconequus in Equestria was confirmed by Celestia herself. The result was predictable; mass mayhem. Some thought that the Princesses were being too lenient with Discord and that he couldn't just bring another reality-bending entity into the world. Others believed that while Discord certainly wasn't in the right for his execution, he hadn't done anything wrong either. And then some were simply interested in the Draconequus species in general. How many truly were there? And is Discord really one of a kind or just another member of his species?

Discord himself refused to answer any of their questions or even show up for the matter, simply observing the mess they made from afar. Aster did venture into Equestria during this time period, partly because Discord's realm was only so interesting and partly because he was curious about how it would feel to be in an area when mayhem was running through the populous.

Being in Discord's realm was always comfortable, perhaps it felt nicer to Discord but the energy there was comforting. Being in the middle of town when mayhem was running amok, however, was like being in a 10-course all-you-can-eat buffet. And the best part is you can't get full or sick. If he had to describe the difference between the two energies, he'd say one felt richer, more energizing than the other.

It was like swimming through an ocean, but with every stroke you swim energy rushes into you nonstop. By the end of the day, he was basically a jittery mess that had to turn a bit of the Everfree upside down to actually calm down enough to think straight. And even after he still felt like he could run a mountain.

So he figured he might as well try some more training to get all this energy out.

"To your right!"

Aster braced as he saw dozens upon dozens of tennis balls flying towards him from the cannons that launched them. With a quick breath, he expanded his magic, feeling every individual ball for a moment, before commanding his magic to act. With a flash of white light, all that remained of the projectiles were flakes of confetti.

But it wasn't over yet.

Suddenly something roared from behind him. A giant mechanical dragon screeched at him, with Discord in the cockpit. "Well, well, well! Seems like you've learned how to use Chaos in self-defense! Now let's see how if you know how to use it in offense!"

Aster teleported into the air as the beast smashed its hand down, his wings feelings the rush of the wind against them. He soared into the clouds, thinking, Chaos magic holds the energy to alter the reality, and thus it was him that needed to figure out how to take the thing out fast.

Suddenly an idea came.

As the robot screeched once, preparing some beam attack, the air around them cackled wickedly. From within the cockpit, Discord could sense something gathering, scowling before his eyes went wide and-

BOOM!

Debris was all that remained of the once-mighty robot as the sky shimmered with lightning. Discord appeared in a flash of white light, looking completely unharmed. "Funneling your magic into lightning, eh? Well, you've always had some affinity for the stuff..." he mused before vanishing once more.

Suddenly, 10 more dragon robots appeared, far larger than the one before them. Their screeching could be heard all throughout their forest arena. Aster glanced at them, wings beating as he kept himself in the air. 'They won't go down to the same kind of attack.', he realized, before glancing up to the air.

'What if I were too...'

Distinctly, he heard the sound of several more beam attacks charging up, and suddenly an idea came. Instead of retaliating, he formed a shield, deciding to take the blast head-on. He could feel the energy of the beams race into the shield, attempting to crack it with all their power.

Aster smiled,' Just as I thought.'

When the barrage ended, the full energy of the beams still crackled from within the shield before Aster collapsed the shield, and with it the energy, into a single focus point before shooting it into the sky....where the beam suddenly tore open it rushed out as shockwave of lightning rained on the area.

Almost instantly, the machines were decimated by the sheer force of the attack, vaporized into nothingness. It was pure silence for a moment but then...

"Bravo! Bravo! Bravooooo! Simply marvelous!"

Smiling more than a little with glee, Aster turned to the control panel within the mountain where the actual Discord was. "Such power! Such Ingenuity! Such sheer destructiveness! You, my friend, have earned a full twenty out of twenty!"

Aster laughed a little, flying down as the terrain reverted back to how it typically was with the realm of chaos. To his relief, he actually felt somewhat tired, not like he wanted to run ten marathons. He landed on the island, where Discord was waiting for him.

"You certainly outperformed my initial expectations I had for you," He remarked, "Of course, the energy high would likely have helped."

"Honestly, I'm just glad I can sit still now," Aster replied, simply content to sit down and breathe in and out. His wings fluttered lightly behind him.

"Well, at least now you know how to get that extra boost of energy in case you ever need it." Discord replied, taking a sip of chocolate milk that he just materialized.

"Wait...why is that I was so energized?" Aster asked.

Discord paused for a moment before sighing, "Oh well, I suppose I can play teacher more time."

Suddenly they were back in a classroom, with Discord now adorning a professor's outfit. "Now then," He said in some vague accent, "if you had to describe the interaction between magic and living things, how would you do it."

Aster thought back a little, too how he was practically bouncing around before he managed to blow some of that energy off. 'An amount of energy that decreases the more of it you spend...hey, wait a minute.'

"Like a battery?" He answered.

Discord nodded, and a drawing of a battery and a pony appeared on the whiteboard. "Yes, precisely! Magical Energy is stored as Mana in an individual's Mana Pool. Now, this pool is a measure for the amount of magical energy an individual can have at maximum, and the larger the pool, the more energy the magic user has."

"Now, remember, the size of the mana pool is not a measure for strength," Another doodle appeared on the board, a sign which showed a ridiculously long battery and a dumbbell, between them a not equal sign was there, "Strength, is measured via the power of the mana. A lot of Unicorns in the olden days made the mistake of believing a larger pool meant more power; it led to a few amusing incidents to say the least."

The drawings on the board flashed and suddenly were animated, with what appeared to be Unicorn Stallion bragging with the speech bubble showing a large battery, the other Unicorn (who looked vaguely like Starswirl the Bearded), was getting increasingly irritated before his horn lit up and he blasted the bragging stallion, whose eyes comically were still visible through the blast. In the end, the stallion was charred completely and quickly faceplanted into the ground as the surrounding dust from the blast formed into a dumbbell. The stallion who fired the blast looked very proud of himself.

Aster giggled a little at the gag. Whether or not this was a problem the actual Starswirl had to deal with is something he'll likely never know. Mainly because Discord is only somewhat trustworthy as a source, and he doesn't know enough about the actual Starswirl to figure out if he'll tell the truth.

"Anyway," Discord continued, "Mana pools, like actual batteries, can be recharged. One universal recharge method that applies to every species is rest. Simple, efficient, and with the bonus of getting a goodnight's sleep every day. For individuals like us or the Alicorns though, there is another vastly more efficient method. Drawing power from your Element."

Another drawing appeared, this time, of Princess Celestia and the Sun, with a link between the two. "Now, take Princess Sunshine, for instance, her connection to the Sun effectively serves as a massive generator to her mana pool battery. At any time she pleases, she can almost instantly replenish her mana via her connection with the sun and even enhance it with the said connection. The same applies to you and your elements."

"Oh..." Aster murmmered in realization, "So me being near Mayhem just charges my mana a lot?"

"Not just your mana, but your energy in general." Discord corrected, "For magical spirits like us, energy is our lifeblood. So when we are near our element, we draw energy itself from it. Be it physical, or magical."

Aster digested the information for a bit before an idea slowly started to form. If magical energy could be replenished then...

"Hey, Discord? Do you mind explaining one last thing?"

"Ughhhhhhh!" Discord groaned, "I swear, these past few days, I've practically been reduced to an exposition officer...Fine, what is it?"

"Couldn't Ponies have just...replenished their magic if Tirek took it from them?"

Suddenly, the world went dead silent. Discord himself, who was just bemoaning having to do more exposition suddenly stood very still, almost like a startled cat. The Realm itself suddenly felt eerily quiet. Even though he was in a makeshift classroom, things just felt...silent. This wasn't a natural feeling in the Realm Of Chaos, noise was typically everywhere if not literally, then magically.

But now, that noise sounded like a painfully awkward silence that was waiting to be filled.

And then suddenly, he wasn't in a classroom anymore. They were simply on an island in the Realm Of Chaos. Aster blinked a bit at the location shifting, before looking at the Draconequus in front of him, who casually walked out to the edge of the islands, glancing up at the sky of the realm.

"I'm afraid it doesn't...work that way." He said after a while, and never once, in his now 3 weeks of living here did Aster ever hear the Spirit of Chaos sound so old.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Discord sighed, "If their magic could regenerate, then Tirek wanting to take it would've never have been an issue. You see, every magical creature has an amount of magic within them that is designated as 'not for use by their body and souls. This magic is what is used to aid in sustaining them, doing things like increasing healing or helping fight diseases, manifesting and sustaining cutie marks, and recharging the mana pool. Now, you see...Tirek's draining technique didn't exactly discriminate when it came to magic."

"So wait..." Aster murmured, his eyes going wide, "...if that magic was gone..."

"Then they truly had nothing." Discord finished for him.

"But what about the Princesses? Aren't they similar to us?" The Spirit Of Mayhem wondered

"Not exactly," The Spirit of Chaos replied, "While their soul structure is similar to a magical spirit's, at the end of the day, they are still ponies. That magic was also used to sustain their connection to their elements. Without it, they lose that connection and can't regain it unless something else empowers them."

"But what about you?" Aster inquired, "Were you also affected the same way when Tirek drained your magic?"

"No, I wasn't," Discord answered, "You see, because magical energy is the lifeblood of a spirit, it is impossible truly strip them of their magic. Our bodies and souls are simply designed in a way that makes it impossible. It will simply regenerate. However, Tirek was strong enough to drain my magic, so I wouldn't have been able to do much even If I did regenerate it, and it would've taken me around 2 months to fully regain my power."

"I see..." Aster murmured, digesting the information. However, there was something else on his mind as well...

Never once before did he ever hear Discord sound so...solemn. The Spirit Of Chaos was typically whimsical, a jokester that never seemed to take anything seriously. But now...he almost sounded like a weary old man. Someone who's seen the very worst of the world, and is merely relaying it through words that could never hope to capture the full experience.

"Is..." Aster started, tentatively, "something on your mind?"

Discord didn't answer back, simply looking at the chaotic landscape around him, perhaps in contemplation. "Do you know the moment I truly gave up on conquering Equestria?" He said after a painfully long pause.

"Um, was it when Fluttershy befriended you?" Aster answered. "I mean, there you said you'd use your power for good from now on so..."

"No, it wasn't then." He gave a humorless chuckle and turned to face Aster, and for once, Aster actually felt like he was staring at an ageless Deity of Chaos. "I made it my life's goal for Chaos to rule the Multiverse, do you really think the words of a single pegasus could change my mind about that?"

"But, didn't you value her friendship?" The boy asked back.

"I...didn't realize its value up until Tirek betrayed me." Discord answered, "you saw how it was in the Plunder Vine episode, didn't you? I could hardly be bothered to remember her name. Granted she did start growing on me but...I always felt like it was a leash of sorts. That, whenever I did anything, they would just go tell Fluttershy, and since I couldn't bear to lose the first friend I ever made, I had to comply. Looking back it now, it felt as if I were trapped and well...you know how the Spirit Of Chaos reacts to being trapped."

"W-well, I guess that's kinda obvious, but...if you did feel trapped, why didn't you just...try saying anything to Fluttershy? Or to Celestia?" Aster questioned.

"Again, I didn't think Fluttershy would've cared, and I didn't think Celestia would either. Their duties were to their nations as leaders and role models, why would anyone care about what the Spirit Of Chaos thinks? All they'd see is me terrorizing their people." There was a bitter resignation in his voice, not anger, but a quiet, bitter acceptance. Discord sighed yet again, staring out into the endless void of the Realm Of Chaos.

"This brings me to the next thing," He said, turning back to face Aster after a moment of contemplation, "I always thought that my rule over ponies would've made them stronger. If they could adapt, they'd survive practically anything. The thing with Order and Harmony is that Ponies often end up complacent to authority, and that allows authority to steamroll over them. You've seen it with King Sombra, haven't you?"

"Mhm, the Crystal Ponies were too afraid to challenge his rule, and then he bought out the mind control helmets..."

Discord nodded, "I wanted Equestria to be the polar opposite of that. I wanted to abolish the concept of authority."

"But," Aster spoke up, "Anarchy isn't a good basis for any civilization. I read a little about it back in the human world, but out of all the governing philosophies, Anarchy is probably the worst. You'd have freedom, but you'd have to sacrifice everything else for said freedom."

The Spirit Of Chaos snorted, "Had you told me that before, I would've laughed in your face, probably making up half a dozen arguments to make Anarchy appealing, but looking back at it now...I was being selfish. The only person that would've ever benefited from Anarchy, would've been me. I was just making up excuses to justify my beliefs to myself."

"That's...surprisingly reflective of you," Aster stated. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't somewhat surprised at how easily Discord was admitting his faults right now. Typically, it would take him getting in trouble with Fluttershy to get him to admit anything.

"Yeah, well, in a way, I have Tirek to thank for it." Discord muttered offhandedly.

"Oh, that's in- wait what?" Aster spluttered.

"Believe it or not, it is true," Discord replied, "You see before Tirek betrayed me, I always thought I was the better ruler for Equestria than Celestia is. I always thought the ponies were simply being bratty about all the chaos; not seeing the newfound freedom they had. I always thought I was doing a thankless job for them, that I knew what was best."

"And...Tirek somehow convinced you otherwise?" The boy asked, his tone sounding a bit skeptical.

"Oh he didn't just convince me I was wrong, he showed me I was wrong." The Draconequus responded, "having my magic be taken from me was a vastly unpleasant experience, one that left me so utterly drained and made walking feel like lifting ten tons of bricks... And that was the fate I nearly condemned every pony in Equestria to."

Aster shifted uncomfortably, now having Magic himself, he could feel how intertwined the stuff was with his essence. Having that be taken by force...even though he would eventually regain it, he shuddered to think how it would feel. "How exactly did that show you were not a good ruler, though?"

Discord crossed his arms, "Because a good ruler would never have let any of that happen in the first place. Celestia saw the danger, that's why she sent me. She knew that looking for Tirek herself would've been useless because she'd have no idea where to start and every pony Tirek came across was just more magic for him to absorb. She sent me because I was her chance at ending the problem as soon as possible. I, on the other hand, didn't even realize the potential ramifications of helping Tirek, I was too tempted by the chance to spread and create more chaos to care. It never once occurred to me that through his method of draining magic, he could become strong enough to drain me of my own magic or that he'd backstab me when really, it was obvious he would."

"And, at the end of the day," He continued, "It wasn't me who stopped Tirek, It was Harmony's chosen. After seeing how my actions had set everything spiraling down and then seeing how Harmony had actually done what's best, how could I call myself a good ruler or say I knew what was best?"

"Well," Aster interjected, "Some people theorized that you planned the betrayal to get Twilight the final key..." He quickly stopped when he saw Discord looking at him in with an expression that he hadn't seen before. Pure and utter disbelief.

"Do you really think I would've gambled an entire nation to get someone a key for a crystalline box, a box with contents that I didn't even know what were?" He asked rhetorically, still utterly dumbstruck by the notion. "I appreciate the acknowledgment of my Chessmaster tendencies, but a lot of my plans tend to have reasonable chances at success. I wouldn't, in a hundred thousand years, ever gamble on a newly-minted Alicron Princess forgiving me for causing the events that destroyed her home, capturing her friends, betraying the nation she served, let alone her thinking that after all of that, I was worth the power of 4 Alicorns."

Aster winced, "well when you put it that way..."

"Doesn't exactly sound like an argument that makes sense, does it?" Discord finished for him.

At that comment, Aster went silent for a moment, before a sly smile formed on his face. "Oh? But what fun is there in making sense?"

Discord stared at him blankly for a moment, before burning out in laughter. "Oh, sweet Chaos, I'm creating a monster here aren't I?"

"A monster that will eventually destroy Equestria with bad jokes," Aster agreed happily.

"The worst part is, Celestia's likely going to be too busy laughing at the jokes to notice the anvil floating on top of her," Discord wryly lamented.

"Anyway, I think that's enough serious, boring discussions for one day," The Spirit murmmered, pulling out an entire clock and studying it for a moment before suddenly gasping.

"My, my, would you look at the time! It's nearly time for my Guys Night with Spike and Big Mac! Well, I'll be off now! Don't stay up too early!" And with that, The Master of Chaos vanished in a bright flash of light. The clock he brought into existence quickly fell to the floor and shattered. The pieces remained motionless on the floor for a moment, before suddenly, a man made of broomsticks emerged, dragging the pieces(which had started screaming, one saying they were too young to die) away.

Aster, of course, didn't notice any of this because he had once again wandered into the realm of his thoughts.

'I never expected Discord of all people to be so...open about his mistakes. He never acted that way in the show, not unless he screwed up big time. Well, I guess helping Tirek is a big-time screw-up, but still, I feel like there's something I'm not getting here..' Aster wondered to himself.

Looking back at it, this was one of the two times he's ever seen Discord behave in an almost...melancholy way. One was when he mentioned the bewitching bell, Discord's reaction to that was pure confusion without any humor, questioning himself why he ever thought that was a good idea. The other was now when talking about the Tirek incident.

The latter wasn't as notable due to him clearly explaining his feelings about it, but the former...

'Does Discord have some connection to Grogar?' Aster questioned internally.

Admittedly, the prospect of finding something out about the actual Grogar excited him a little. Truth be told, Grogar likely would've been one of his favorite villains in the show...had it not been for the abysmal ending of Season 9. Since then, he has long since resigned himself to the fact that he likely wouldn't be getting much information on the actual Grogar. (The comics were already a rather...dubious, source of information and their canonicity wasn't exactly clear).

But now, he could actually gain genuine information on the Father Of Monsters himself! And he's pretty sure there was no shortage of questions he wanted to ask. However, before he could get too carried away with this knowledge, another thought quickly arises in his head, a counter to his excitement: How exactly was he going to get any of this information?

Then, Aster paused. Really, the answer should've been simple. Just ask Discord. However, forethought revealed that it was probably much more complicated than that. Discord doesn't like playing exposition officer, and Grogar might actually be a sore subject for the Spirit Of Chaos. (Well, judging from his reaction to the Season 9 stunt anyway- He was curious about why Discord reacted like that but had a feeling he wouldn't get anywhere if he asked).

Sighing a little, The Spirit Of Mayhem and former human deflates, 'Guess I'm not getting anywhere with that anytime soon, huh?'

As badly as he wanted to know more about Grogar, he did have other things he should likely be doing right now. Such as plotting his next moves. Right now, he needed to wait for Twilight Sparkle to be free, so he could finally gain entry to the School Of Friendship. But he also needed to plot how exactly he was going to deal with Cozy Glow.

'From what Discord said about how it's like to have magic be taken from you...', Aster shuddered slightly again, 'Yeah, I really don't want to go through that. I need to be careful when befriending her, and I should probably figure out more about how exactly Cozy drained the magic...didn't she use some set of Artifacts?

He needed to find out more about normal magic in general, how it worked, and what limitations there were. If he could, then he could figure out how properly set up a failsafe in case he couldn't just convince Cozy to stop. And since Discord probably doesn't want to continuously answer all his questions, he should probably start researching somewhere else.

'I should probably go to a Library, but Golden Oaks was destroyed and I don't know where any other Library is...' Aster pondered for a moment, 'maybe I could ask Celestia? She seems to be generally fine with me so she shouldn't have any problems showing me some basic books about how magic works.'

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Aster jumped as something suddenly let out a loud piercing screech. 'What on earth!? Did something manage to get in here without Discord knowing!?'

He turned to the sound of the screeching and saw a giant eagle directly coming at him. With barely any time to react, he quickly manifests a shield...only for impact never to come. He felt strong winds blowing against the shield, and he looked up to see the giant eagle...that he now realized was wearing a mailman's uniform.

"You have: one new message." It spoke in a voice and tone practically stolen from message bots in his world (he never exactly learned what they were called). It then reached into the bag it had and carefully picked up a letter, which it gingerly placed on the ground before him. It then proceeded to fly away as if nothing ever happened.

Aster stared at the thing uncomprehendingly for five seconds, breathing heavily all the while before letting out a sigh of pure relief. "Oh thank goodness...This realm sometimes, I swear..." He huffed, dismissing the shield before telekinetically opening the letter:

"To Aster the Draconequus,

Hi Aster, This is Twilight Sparkle.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to finally reach out to you, I've been incredibly busy as of late due to the School Of Friendship opening up. Lots of new students are wanting to join, and then there's a bit of PR mess I've been having to deal with concerning the Equestrian Education Association. But, I finally have some free time next week, so I was thinking we could maybe have our appointment then?

Please do note that Discord can't come with you. This meant to be an examination of your behavior independently to determine if you can join the School Of Friendship. (No need to stress or anything, from what Fluttershy's told me you seem to be doing just fine in the behavior department, I just need to check myself to make sure it's okay for you to join the school with other ponies and students).

Of course, given the nature of my schedule over the past few weeks, I would prefer if you answer this as soon as possible so I can book an appointment and set it in stone.

I'm looking forward to having you potentially join our School!

Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Of Friendship."

Silence rang out for a moment after he read the letter, before a small smile formed on Aster's face. "Guess it's time to start phase 1 of the plan."