Everyone in the throne room, including Discord, stared at the black puddle on the floor wondering what was going to happen.

While Sophia never considered her cousin as a black sheep in the family, due to her following the family guidelines like everyone else, it was when she was given a little too much freedom that unspeakable things sometimes happened and that was the main reason why Sophia was always reluctant to call upon her. Her methods were unpredictable and could lead anywhere from something tame to orchestrating a global massacre.

Discord had tried to figure out what was going on in his own way which involved several attempted breakings of the fourth wall only to be met with a wall of glitch text that not even he could pierce.

The ponies soon reeled in shock as they spotted a purple slitted eye open and stared at everypony.

“Your annoying cousin?” Celestia inquired. “What does that mean?”

“As long as this world is under my protection she won’t try anything I wouldn’t want her to do. She’s a headache to deal with but she still adheres to my family’s rules,” Sophia assured. “The real issue is that you are all about to be very uncomfortable.”

As she said that a black mass started to rise from the puddle looking like the liquid was trying to take a shape. After several moments the mass appeared to be taking an equine shape except the tail was most certainly not equine. Soon the black liquid around the form began to harden, forming a carapace that seemed akin to a crustacean with plates forming atop one another while the tail fanned out at the end slightly, forming a lobster-like appearance. Where one would normally see eyes on a pony, they opened to reveal the same colors they saw earlier. Her mouth opened to reveal rows of sharp teeth. Finally, a mane began to form that took the form of violet octopus tentacles.

Discord narrowed his eyes at the newcomer as he tried to make heads or tails out of her, literally. However, his magic was nullified around her. “What kind of weird seapony are you?” he wondered.

Discord suddenly found himself surrounded from all angles by the same eyes as the figure. “I’m weird? Have you looked in a mirror?” she scoffed. “You look like something some lazy scientist tried to cobble together. Or maybe you were once made of different doll parts that some unhinged child decided to put together on a whim? Maybe you are that child and wanted to experiment on yourself?”

Discord harrumphed, “Hmph! I am neither, I am Discord, Lord of Chaos and Disharmony and you look like something that should never have been.”

“But if I never was then I wouldn’t get to be here to play with you and that would make you feel so sad, wouldn’t it,” she cackled. “Since we’re doing names, mine’s Violetta, eldritch horror, huntress of that which lurks between and devourer of broken minds.”

Sophia rolled her eyes, “Let’s not forget the Voice of Madness, the Mistress of Mental Maladies, the Keeper of the Gates to Insanity, and the Harbinger of the Inevitable End…not to mention huge pain in my fluffy tail.”

The figure gave a gentle fake smile, “Thank you for that, dear cousin, especially that last part. I do enjoy making my family groan in exasperation.”

The ponies maintained a safe distance from Violetta, afraid that she might try something if they got too close. The horror continued to ignore them and focused on Discord. The two stared at each other though the draconequus was visibly sweating.

Violetta giggled, “Ah, the stench of fear permeates this room. It’s like someone lit some scented candles just for me.”

Sophia rolled her eyes, “Let’s get to the point, Vio. I’d rather not be here all day.”

Violetta shrugged, “Well, I was called here, even if by accident. There’s not much else to do right now since you drummed up a bunch of drama about me. They’re all waiting for me to do something but it seems that you forgot to give me the script, dear cousin.”

“How about you convince the walking Picasso over there not to turn this world into abstract art,” Sophia suggested. “Just don’t kill him, I might have a use for him at some point.”

For a moment, a number of smiling fanged mouths appeared all over Violetta's body, further disturbing the ponies until the mouths disappeared. “Are you saying he gets to be my ‘special friend’ for a while?” Violetta asked gleefully.

“Sure, go right ahead.”

“Hello…don’t I get a say in this?” Discord demanded.

“I did put a suggestion box somewhere but I think whatever goes into it gets lost in a bottomless abyss,” Sophia quipped.

Before Discord could say anything else he felt a pair of inky black hooves wrap around his neck as the horror showed affection for her new toy or pet, whichever she decided him to be. “Let’s go play in a sandbox!” As Violetta said that a black hole opened beneath the two. Discord tried to float away but Violetta continued negating his magic which left him at the mercy of gravity as they disappeared into the hole. The hole closed, leaving Sophia alone with the ponies.

Sophia gave a pained expression which filled the ponies with concern. “What happened to them?” Celestia asked.

“Violetta took Discord to what she would call a ‘sandbox’ which is her way of saying a constructed reality created within her victim’s mind.”

“What does that mean?” Applejack asked.

“It means that the two of them have entered a fake reality where she gets to make her victim watch as she messes around with it while using her vile powers to paint it into a grim world just to torment her victim. The image will be burned into Discord’s mind until Violetta erases it herself. Until then she can use it to further torment him.”

The ponies grew pale upon hearing that. Surprisingly, Fluttershy broke that silence. “That seems so cruel.”

“She can do a whole lot worse, Fluttershy. She can draw out your insecurities, amplify them and use them to drive you into a psychotic break. She normally doesn’t fight physically but she does attack you mentally.”

“I dunno, she seems kinda fun when she isn’t being all scary,” Pinkie noted.

“If you want to try befriending her? Be my guest but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Challenge accepted!” Pinkie shouted with a determined yet silly look on her face.

“Uh, Pinkie, maybe you should think about what you’re gettin’ into,” Applejack warned. “Ya might be bitin’ off more than you can chew.”

“I can handle it,” Pinkie insisted. “Something tells me that I’m the pony for the job.”

Applejack sighed, “At least come to us if she gets to be too much for ya.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Sophia and the ponies spent a few more minutes discussing their concerns about Violetta, except Pinkie who went on a rant about root beer for some reason. Afterward they stopped their conversations as a black hole opened up near the entrance of the throne room. Everypony tensed as they awaited whatever would emerge from the hole.

Discord emerged a few moments later but everypony could tell that there was something off about him. The draconequus looked slumped over while a dark cloud literally hung over his head. His head lowered until he was dragging it across the floor and then he collapsed and laid there, not caring that his cloud was making a puddle on the floor.

“What happened to him?” Rainbow asked.

“Guess he’s a little worn out from all the playing we did in the sandbox,” Violetta said as she emerged from the hole.

“Seems like whatever she showed him has depressed him into despair,” Sophia figured.

“Hmph! If only it were just that,” Discord grumbled. “She took me to another version of Equestria and defiled it into a land of chaos and madness. Her dark and dreary Equestria brought about by chaos of all things has completely ruined my mood. She made chaos look boring!”

“Uh, isn’t that kinda your thing?” Rainbow asked, as if she were pointing out the obvious.

“I may be a purveyor of chaos and disharmony, Rainbow Dash, but even I have boundaries that I would never cross. Violetta’s brand of chaos crosses that. It’s a line that separates my fun and disruptive chaos and her chaos that brings about death and destruction in a way that makes the entire world look bleak.”

“Chaos has different flavors, Discy,” Violetta cooed. “Mine is as valid as yours.”

Twilight gulped, “Do we want to know what happened over there?”

Discord sighed as he got up and dismissed his cloud. “Trust me, you don’t want to know what happened over there. But I will say it involved you and your friends as well as seven monstrous manifestations of negative emotions.”

“My Seven Gates to Insanity,” Violetta added. “Doubt, despair, anger, violence, hatred, fear and pride. Through these emotions anypony can end up doing things that they would never dream of doing. A most faithful student doubts her teacher and acts against her in a fit of paranoia while considering ponies around her as agents of her teacher. A pony with a well of ideas suddenly runs dry and gives up trying, eventually believing that nothing matters anymore and acts as if consequences are irrelevant in a fit of nihilism. A pony with a level head loses her cool and acts out of blind rage, lashing out at any pony who gets in her way. A pony who develops a fascination for blood and acts to spill it from many others for no other reason than to see that liquid again. A pony who commits unspeakable atrocities to make others suffer to find a momentary relief from the maddening storm within themselves. A pony who succumbs to paranoia and begins lashing out at everypony around them believing that they are surrounded by enemies from all sides. Finally, a pony who believes themselves above all else and believes that the world is theirs for the taking while those who disagree have no place in this pony’s world and must be removed from it by any means necessary, no matter the cost.”

“In other words, she turned that world into something out of a grimdark story and made Discord watch the carnage,” Sophia summarized.

“What’s grimdark?” Twilight asked.

“You really don’t know what a grimdark story is, Twilight?” Rarity asked. “I thought you read countless books on a daily basis.”

“I do read some stories, but I’ve never come across any of that genre.”

“That’s to be expected since grimdark is an unpopular genre in Equestria,” Celestia pointed out. “What Sophia is saying is that Violetta twisted another Equestria into something dark, twisted and unimaginably horrifying.”

“I’m sure you would have preferred to fight my void-corrupted visage again than to experience such a twisted world,” Luna added.

With his presence no longer noticed, Discord shambled his way to the exit still slumped over. However, it would appear that he couldn’t leave quietly as Celestia noticed him leaving. “Where do you think you’re going, Discord?”

“I’m going home, Celestia. After everything that’s happened today I’m not in the mood to unleash chaos on this land.” He snapped his talons which, while the ponies in the throne room didn’t notice it, caused everything across the land to return to normal. “With all of these invaders running around Equus like they own the place, including the two in this room, there’s already enough chaos in this world without me.”

Celestia looked at Discord with concern. This depressed behavior was unlike Discord who was usually jovial and spontaneous while being annoying and disruptive.

Sophia also seemed concerned for the draconequus. She gave her cousin a pained look. “I think you might have overdone it.”

Violetta shrugged, “I did what I needed to do to stop him from messing up your work. It’ll be up to him to get out of his funk.”

Unbeknownst to everyone, a certain shy pegasus was having conflicting feelings on the whole matter. Her fear of the powerful draconequus who could alter reality on a whim was fighting her desire to try and cheer up the depressed draconequus after everything she had seen and heard. However, one side was quickly losing the battle as what she saw, combined with Sophia’s confidence training, did the losing side no favors. The battle was quickly settled and the mare took action.

To the surprise of everyone, Discord included, he found himself being wrapped by a pair of yellow hooves from behind. It was especially shocking as Fluttershy usually didn’t move as fast as she did to close the distance. “Wow, why was she never that fast at flight camp?” Rainbow wondered.

“What are you doing?” Discord asked.

“You looked like you really needed a hug,” Fluttershy responded.

“Do you realize who you’re hugging right now?”

“A depressed draconequus who really needs a friend right now?”

“I don’t know if you’ve realized this but I am the spirit of disharmony, I don’t do friendship.”

“Well too bad, mister,” Fluttershy sassed, much to the shock of her friends. “I’m not going to stand by and watch you be depressed and alone. Even if not right now, I want you to talk to me.”

“Have you lost your mind?!” Discord snapped. “You have no idea of the trouble you’re borrowing by associating with me.”

“Maybe not, but I don’t care. How could I represent the Element of Kindness if I didn’t show it to somecreature who really needs it?”

Discord growled in frustration as he ripped his huge eyebrows off only for them to instantly regrow for him to rip them out again. After a few more instances of that he got bored and glared at the mare who was weathering his gaze well. “Fine! I’ll find some time to visit you every now and again. Happy?” Fluttershy smiled and nodded in response. She then released him from the hug.

Grumbling, Discord opened a portal to his personal dimension where his home was and went inside.

Once he was gone, Fluttershy went into a full-blown panic while she was tugging at her long mane. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I just did that! Oh my Celestia! I-I-I…” She then passed out. Thankfully Rarity had a fainting couch ready for her.

“Anypony else think Fluttershy’s been full of surprises today?” Rainbow asked.

“Huh, looks like those confidence lessons I’ve been giving her are paying off,” Sophia noted.

Those who were still conscious were then looking back at Violetta who was on her back laughing helplessly at the antics of the pegasus. Pinkie ended up catching the infectious laughter and joined the eldritch horror in a laughing fit.

“So what do we do about Violetta?” Applejack asked.

“I’ll probably let her do whatever she wants for now,” Sophia shrugged. “She shouldn’t cause too much trouble since she is bound by the family rules here. Even she dreads the consequences of what happens if she breaks them. I’ll take full responsibility for her actions.”

“Alright, I’ll trust your judgement on the matter and I accept your offer of you taking responsibility for her actions,” Celestia decided. “Moving on to the invading humans, however, things will be gradually changing over the year as Luna and I will be pushing for a number of reforms in preparation for the coming war. For now, you should return home and rest. We have averted a crisis but many more will be on the horizon. Enjoy these peaceful times while you can.”

With the situation of Discord resolved for now, Violetta headed into a black portal saying that she will keep in touch. Twilight and her friends headed back to Ponyville to return to their daily lives.

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoyed the introduction of this product of my disturbed imagination.