About a week after the gala, Discord made it his mission to tell his friends about his true form. He wanted to tell Fluttershy first as she was his closest friend. He just wished this stupid headache would go away and not get worse.

"Discord, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Fluttershy asked him after taking a sip of her tea.

"Yes, it's something I've been meaning to tell you." Fluttershy looked at him with concern in her eyes.

“It's nothing wrong, my dear. It's just..." Discord's words failed him, his headache seemed to get stronger. Discord put a hoof to his head as he groaned in slight pain.

"Discord, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'll be okay." Discord fought through the pain as he continued. "I'm sorry but I... haven't been honest with you or our friends."

Fluttershy was shocked. Discord was always honest and kind but he's been lying. "What do you mean? Was it for a good reason?"

Discord nodded but it made his headache worse. "Yes.... it's a long story but I'm... I'm..."

Come. Come to the Everfree Forest.

"I.. I'm sorry but I have to go." Without another word, Discord left Fluttershy's cottage leaving the poor pegasus confused and worried for her friend.

Discord walked to the Everfree Forest with a blank stare in his eyes. Even if ponies called out to him, he ignored them. Something was pulling him into the Everfree Forest and he had no idea what. Discord arrived to a quiet spot with a large amount of tree but no ponies were around, even Zecora's hut was far away from him.

A shadowy creature appeared from a bush and looked at Discord with happiness. "Ooh hoo. You came! This whistle still works even after a thousand moons. It attracts any and all draconequus who can hear it. Course, this whistle has a limited use but no matter." The creature looked at Discord's pony form with disgust. "Change back into your true form." It took less than a second for Discord to change back into his draconequus form. It was taller than the creature expected but still, it was what his master wanted. "Excellent. The master wants you to cause chaos throughout all of Equestria. Keep those pesky Elements of Harmony at bay until I can finish my job. I won't tell you when that is but it shouldn't take but a moment. Now go!"

Discord extended his wings and flew off to Equestria to complete his mission. "That's right. Even if the Elements stop you too soon, you'll turn to stone. After all, a creature of disharmony can't handle harmony." The creature laughed as he disappeared deep into the forest. He had a mission to complete.

Fluttershy cleaned up the tea party and went to Twilight's home. Something was wrong with Discord and maybe Twilight could help. Before she could knock on the door, Twilight walked out with a book in her nose crashing into Fluttershy. "Fluttershy? Sorry. Where's Discord?"

"I was hoping you knew. He wanted to speak with me about something but he wasn't able to."

"Weird, Discord told me the same thing. He had something he wanted to speak to all of us about but wanted to speak to you first." That's when it started. They watched Rainbow chase after a pink cloud. "Discord. Of course, he's pulling pranks. If this is what he wanted to talk about, then this isn't the way. Come on, Spike. I've learned a new spell to fix this."

Fluttershy followed Twilight and Spike to Sweet Apple Acres where all kinds of chaos was happening. Applejack's corn was turning into popcorn, it was raining chocolate milk, apples were growing to the side of a house, and the bunnies grew deer legs. "Don't worry. I've learned a new spell that'll fix everything. After all, it's just Discord's magic."

Twilight casted the spell and it covered the entire farm in a bright light. Twilight opened her eyes and to her shock, nothing changed. "My failsafe spell... failed! DISCORD! Stop this! This isn't funny anymore!"

"Yeah, I thought you didn't do this kind of thing!" Spike shouted.

"Twilight, maybe this isn't Discord. Maybe it's a unicorn like Discord. One with magic like Discord's, after all, he's a prince. Why would he do this?" Rarity suggested as she put an umbrella on Twilight's back.

"You're right. We've got to figure out what's going on and where he is." With that, Spike burped a letter from Princess Celestia. Twilight read the message and told her friends, "Princess Celestia wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately." Everypony looked at each other concern, if the Princess wanted to see them then it was urgent.

In Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia paced back and forth in the throne room. Concern filled her eyes, chaos was happening in Equestria and she had no idea why but she knew who was doing it. 'He would never do this. He promised. He has never done something, anything like this before. So why?'

"Princess Celestia, we came as fast as we could."

Princess Celestia turned to see Twilight and her friends running to her in the throne room and Discord was not with them, proving her suspicions correct. "Thank you, Twilight. Thank you all."

"Is this about the weather and the animals' weird behavior? what's happening to there? Why isn't my magic working? Is there somepony else like Discord causing all this chaos? We can't find him. Is there..."

Princess Celestia put her hoof up to silence Twilight. "Follow me. There is something about Discord that I have been keeping from all of you."

Celestia led the girls though a secret part of the castle with many glass portraits throughout the room. "Before Luna became Nightmare Moon, she was doing a nightly patrol when she found a bundle in the garden. It was a baby, left alone in our home."

"Discord?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes. She fell in love with him quickly, as did I." Celestia smiled at the first time she met Discord. She fell in love with the baby draconequus just as Luna did. "Discord was abandoned by his mother and was left with us."

"But why? Why was he left behind? He mentioned that he was abandoned in the past but he never went beyond that," Twilight told her.

"Luna and I never figured that out. But we took him in. As you all know, Discord's magic is different from most ponies."

"Yeah, he can do all kinds of things. It's awesome!" Pinkie shouted with glee.

"Discord's magic is more powerful than mine and Luna's. Nothing can stop it."

"But Princess Celestia, I don't understand. Discord has powerful magic, it's different from anypony we've ever met, we know all this." Twilight's soon realized what Celestia could be saying. She nearly struggled to ask her next question, "Is... is Discord behind the strange things going on?"

Celestia nodded sadly. "Yes."

Everypony gasped in shocked. The Prince of Equestria was causing chaos and hurting everypony around him. "But why? He's our friend. Why would he do this?!" Rainbow demanded.

"I don't know." She stopped in her tracks to a portrait that was covered with a curtain. "Discord is unlike anything you have seen. Discord is not a pony. Discord is... He's...." Celestia was at a lost for words. She knew her nephew wanted to tell his friends this but something was happening to him and she didn't know what.

"Princess?" Twilight asked. "What is Discord?"

"Discord... is a draconequus." She unvieled the curtain to show a family portrait, it was Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Discord. The girls gasped at the sight. He looked the age of the CMC except instead of a pony, he looked different. He had short two horns, a blue goat horn that looked like his unicorn horn and a deer antler, he had a lion paw, an eagle paw, a dragon claw, a goat hoof, a snake tail, and a small fang came out of his mouth. He even had two wings, a bat wing and a blue pegasus wing.

"A what now?"

"A draconequus. Draconequui are known to be an amalgamation of different creatures. They are creatures of chaos and disharmony. Their magic is powerful, much more than my own or Luna's. After Luna was banished to the moon, Discord turned himself into a pony to keep himself disguised and safe from others. He promised that he would never hurt another creature with his magic and he's kept that promise... until now." Celestia continued forward with the girls following her from behind.

"What in the wide world of Equestria would Discord do this?" Applejack asked her.

"I do not know. But I need you and your friends to stop him."

"But... Discord is our friend. We don't want to hurt him," Twilight told him.

"I know. I don't want to either but I haven't been able to contact him. He hasn't answered any of my letters. I am deeply worried about his safety."

"Are you sure it's Discord? Maybe it's another draconequus."

"I'm sure. Discord is the last of his kind. Luna and I have unable to find evidence of the existence of other draconequui." That saddened the friends but at the same time, they were angry. Discord hid a big secret from them and now he's causing chaos across Equestria. The only question is, why?

Celestia led them to a room that was under lock and key. "This is Canterlot Tower. The Elements of Harmony are kept here since you recovered them. I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord." Celestia could tell from the eyes of the ponies in front of her that they were hesitant. Discord was their friend and they didn't want to hurt him.

"My little ponies. You are the only ones who can stop him. Please, I don't want to see him hurt but I cannot let my subjects get harmed."

The girls looked at each other than at Celestia. "Princess Celestia, you can count on..."

"Hold on a second! It's raining chocolate milk, you guys. Chocolate rain!"

"Don't listen to her, Princess. We'd be honored to use the Elements of Harmony again."

Putting her horn in the magical lock, Celestia used a spell to open the door to reveal a chest that contained the Elements.

Everypony looked at the case in awe. "You can keep the Elements. I'll take that case!"

"Have no fear, ponies. I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these." Celestia opened the chest only to reveal nothing inside it. The Elements were gone!

Celestia dropped the chest in shock and everypony looked at the chest with their jaws dropped... except for Pinkie."Oh, well. If anyone needs me, I'll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swizzle straw.” Rainbow stopped Pinkie from leaving as they were all trying to figure out what happened to the Elements.

"The Elements... they're gone!"

"That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break. This doesn't make sense," Celestia said as she paced back and forth but a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"HAHAHA! Make sense? Ooh, what fun is there in making sense?" That voice, there's no denying, it was Discord.

"Discord... come out this instant!"

Discord laughed and just as quick. Discord appeared in front of them. To be honest, Discord looked much more terrifying than he did in the portrait. Each of them had different emotions, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack were angry with him, Fluttershy was terrified of him, she had never seen anything so terrifying, Pinkie and Rarity felt at a lost, a friend they knew for months betrayed them. "Hello, little ponies! Do you like my chaos? Isn't it marvelous?!"

"Discord, stop this right now! Your mother will be very disappointed in you." Celestia stood in front of the Mane 6 to protect them from Discord, her wings even were spread out to appear bigger.

Discord did a raspberry at her. "You are not my mother. My mother died a long time ago."

Celesita felt her heart break on the inside but she didn't let that deter her. "What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?"

"Well, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while. After all, I was able to access them so easily."

Celestia nearly slapped herself. 'Of course, Discord also had access to the Elements in case something happened to me. I taught him the spell but I never expected this to happened.'

"The defenses in this castle are quite easy to defy. Really surprised you ponies are so predictable? It's quite boring."

"Hey! Nopony insults the princess!" Rainbow charged at Discord but he disappeared and she crashed into the wall.

Discord laughed heartily at her as he floated in the air. "Wow, Rainbow Dash, you really are the representation of loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent, aren't you?"

"Duh, you should know that, Dipcord."

"Why of course? I have been observing you all for quite some time." That terrified the ponies even more. Was Discord planning to do this all this time? For them, it didn't make any sense.

"I can't believe I used to think you were cute since you were the prince."

Discord appeared once again by Rarity, "Ah, the beautiful Rarity, known for her generosity. I must inform you, if you thought I was some..." Discord gagged. "Snobby prince. Think again." Discord disappeared. That sentence shocked all of them. Did Discord forget about them or is he messing with them?

"I can't believe some high and mighty prince was a spy this whole time."

"Well, honest Applejack. If I was a spy, I did a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. I learned your strengths and weakness. I know what each of you represent." Discord reappeared above Fluttershy. "This one is the Element of Kindness." He disappeared again and appeared above Twilight. "The Element of Magic. The most powerful of them all." He disappeared and reappeared above Pinkie. "And finally, my favorite, the Element of Laughter." He disappeared again and this time, Pinkie couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Discord, this is your final warning. What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?"

"Ugh. Fine. I'll tell you but only if we do it my way." Discord reappeared high above them. "To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan, then find the Elements back where you began." With that Discord disappeared, leaving them alone with their thoughts.

"What now? Can we go home?" Fluttershy asked Twilight as the unicorn thought of a plan.

"What od reckon he meant, "twists and turns" and ending back where we started?" Applejack asked.

"Twists and turns. Twists and Turns. Twists and turns! That's it!" Twilight looked out the window and saw the answer. "I bet Discord hid the Elements in the palace labyrinth."

Celestia nodded agreeing with Twilight's idea. "Good luck, my little ponies."

"Thanks, Princess. We won't let you down." With that, the girls left leaving Celestia alone with her thoughts.

'Oh, Discord. What happened? You promised you wouldn't do anything like this. So why... why did you betray Equestria? Why did you betray your mother? Why did you betray me?'

The Mane 6 arrived to the labyrinth and were terrified at the sight. The maze was long, tall, and anypony could easily get lost in it. "Do... we... have to go in there?" Fluttershy asked. She hated mazes and after what happened in the castle, she was terrified of Discord.

"Nope! Dopey Dipcord forgot about these babies." Rainbow showed off her wings and she flew off into the sky. "I'll just do a quick fly-over, and we'll have the Elements in no time." In the moment, Rainbow's wings disappeared making her an Earth pony. Rainbow felt the wings disappeared and she fell to the ground now fully seeing her missing wings. "MY WINGS!"

Fluttershy's wings disappeared as well and she screamed in fear. Twilight's and Rarity's horns disappeared as well. "Your horn! My horn! AHHHHH!" The former unicorns screamed and freaked out as well but stopped once a green ball of magic appeared in front of them.

Once it formed, it was Discord in the flesh. He laughed maniacally at the sight. "You should have see the look on your faces, priceless!" Before, they were behind Celestia and Discord disappeared so much it was hard to get a good look at him but now, seeing him in full view and so close. It was obvious why he hid himself as a pony.

"Give us our wings and horns back, Discord!"

"You'll get them back in good time." Discord disappeared and reappeared next to Applejack. "I simply took them to ensure there's no cheating," He told them while nudging the farm pony. "You see, this is the first rule of our game..." He went next to Fluttershy and Rainbow as he said, "No flying and..." He went next to Rarity and Twilight while he continued to say, "...and not magic."

"The first rule?"

Discord went the the edge of the bush and sat down as he stated, "The second rule is, everypony has to play or the game is over and I win. Good luck, everypony!" With that, Discord disappeared while laughing at them and he left the ponies baffled, confused, and upset with their former friend.

"Why would Discord do this? He's never acted like this," Twilight pointed out. 'Discord is immature sometimes, sure, but never mean, never unpleasant, and never so.... unruly. Why is he acting like this?'

"I don't know, Twi but we aren't goin' to figure it out standing here," Applejack told her.

"AJ is right. Who cares why he's acting like this? We have to stop him before he tears Equestria apart."

"Rainbow Dash is right. We've conquer Nightmare Moon together. As long as we are together, nothing can stop us."

"Indeed, as long as we stay together, we can overcome any challenge," Rarity told them.

Twilight led her friends in a line to the labyrinth's entrance. "All right, girls. Let's do this."

"TOGETHER!" They took the first step into the wood and in an instant walls started to surround them separating them into their own path. They screamed in fear but Twilight being the voice of reason, told them, "Stay calm, girls! Everypony, head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there."

"Moving out!"

"See you in the center."

"Yee-haw!"

"See you guys there!"

Twilight and there others sped off to the center, except for Fluttershy, who was terrified of being alone and encountering Discord. "What's that? Who's there? GIRLSS!!!!!!!"

"Keep the Elements at bay. Keep the Elements at bay." Was the mantra Discord would tell himself over and over as he watched his plan go in motion. He was going to strip the Elements of their traits. Applejack would be dishonest, Rarity would be a selfish pony, Pinkie Pie, a bitter unhappy pony, Fluttershy, a cruel mean pony, Rainbow Dash, a pony only loyal to herself, and Twilight would lose the Element of Magic. "It's the perfect plan to keep the Elements at bay."

After changing Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, it was Fluttershy's turn. He wanted to use animals against her, more specifically, butterflies. He used three butterflies to lead her into a secluded part of the labyrinth. "Fluttershy, look like you've been left behind by your so-called friends, huh?"

Instead of being upset, she said, "Oh, no. I'm certain they're doing their best to find me."

"Well, it must be so upsetting to know how weak and helpless they think you are."

"Not at all. I am weak and helpless, and I appreciate their understanding."

Getting frustrated, Discord said, "Yes, well, I'm sure it burns you up, I mean, that they're always pointing out your flaws, right?"

"Not really. In fact, I think I'm awfully lucky to have friends who want me to be the best I can be. My friends care about me deeply even Discord. I don't know what's going on but I am so terrified for him and the others."

The butterflies transformed back into Discord, completely frustrated with the yellow pony. "Oh, for Scorpans' sake!" Discord put a claw on Fluttershy's head and transformed her into a cruel version of herself. "You've been kind for far too long, my dear. Time to be cruel! Arrivederci!" Discord disappeared leaving the pony alone for her friends to find her.

'Odd. Why do I feel... guilty? I've always mess with ponies and yet, with these ones, I don't feel... good.' Discord thought to himself but he shrugged it off. "Oh, well. It's none of my concern. After all, I need to keep the Elements at bay and that's just what I'm going to do. Now, it's time to end this game."

Discord was laying on the clouds as he waited for Rainbow Dash to be lured here by her Element. Once she arrived, he stretched to make himself more comfortable. "Oh, I can see why you like these clouds so much... very plush."

"That's it. I don't care if you're a prince. Get off and put 'em up! Come on! Let's go!" Rainbow was ready to fight him. After everything's that's happened, she was ready for a fight.

"Hey, I'm here to deliver a message. And for the last time, I'm not a prince. Honestly, I'm a Lord of Chaos. Very different."

"I've got a message for you, too!"

"Listen closely, this is important. A weighty choice is yours to make... the right selection or a big mistake. If the wrong choice you choose to pursue, the foundations of home will crumble without you."

Discord hypnotized Rainbow into seeing Cloudsdale crumble away destroying her home per mentally. "Cloudsdale... crumble... without me." She watched Pegasi flee as her home was destroyed by an unknown force. "NO!!"

A box appeared in front of her, it was blue and wrapped like a present. "That box contains your wings. You can take them a leave the game, or you can carry on aimlessly wandering this maze. Your choice." Rainbow's color left her as Discord gave her a choice but she knew what she was choose. Rainbow Dash choose the box and left the game.

The maze fell apart as clouds started to form above the friends. "Well, well, well. Somepony broke the "No wings, no magic" rule." With a snap of his friends, the missing wings and horns reappeared. "Game's over, my little ponies. You didn't find your precious Elements. Looks like we might be due for a big ol' storm of chaos." Discord opened an umbrella upside down as he laughed maniacally.

Twilight couldn't help but watch. Her friends have become twisted versions of themselves, just like Discord.

Author's Note

What the shadowy creature is... I'll leave that up to you. 😁

But I knew I wanted Discord's reveal to be in this moment and I knew how I wanted to do it.