“Ah, what a beautiful day it is today…” Discord mumbled with a smirk as he backstroked through the vast blue sky. There wasn't even a single cloud in sight, only the massive golden sun that was basking the landscape in its glorious rays.
After a few minutes of swimming through the air, Discord halted his arms and merely laid in the sky while staring at the quaint town below him. “Gah! All this boredom is tearing me apart! I can’t stand another second of all this order, I need chaos!” He shouted to aloud in frustration.
“I wonder… Would Celestia notice a bit of chaos?” Discord asked himself with a sly, mischievous grin.
The Draconequus turned his gaze towards the darkened Everfree Forest, his grin only growing wider as he continued to stare. “I’m sure she wouldn't notice just a little…”
Moments later he appeared at the outskirts of the forest. The outlying trees looked at least partially alive, even though some of them were stripped of their bark and leaves. The further one peered into the dark forest, the more twisted and warped the trees became.
“I think some of these trees would look better over there!” He declared before snapping his talons, causing several trees to suddenly grow arms and legs. They began stomping around the deserted area, knocking down a number of their kin as they went. Discord cackled and clapped his hands in glee as he watched.
“Discord! I thought you were done with causing chaos?” A soft voice questioned from behind him.
Discord immediately spun around and was met with a yellow coated pegasus staring at him. Her ocean blue eyes were only partially covered by strands of luscious bubblegum coloured mane.
“Oh, it’s just a little, my dear Fluttershy… Nothing old Celly would worry about.” Discord smirked before turning back to his living trees.
“Oh, but... um…” Fluttershy muttered weakly as she stared at him. “Isn’t this a little, um, destructive?”
“They’re just trees! Lighten up, I’m not hurting anypony, now am I?” Discord’s head twisted around completely like an owl and he gave the shy pegasus an innocent look.
Fluttershy merely pouted at him. “But I’m your friend, aren’t I? Wouldn’t you stop doing this for me?”
“Of course we’re friends!” Discord snapped his talons and appeared beside her the next second. “And friends do things together, so why not relax and enjoy the fun?” He snapped his talons again, a vivid white flash soon following. Fluttershy found herself laid back on a typical beach chair, complete with sunglasses, a wreath a flowers, and a frozen beverage that the Draconequus had just pushed into her grasp.
Discord broke out into a storm of laughter as the trees entered the forest, leaving a path of splintered wood and destruction in their path. “Who new living trees could be so much fun? I wonder what would happen if I let a few these loose in Ponyville…”
“Discord!” Fluttershy snapped in a stern tone, throwing away all of the things he had created and placed on her. “Stop this right now! You’re supposed to have been reformed!”
Discord stared at her with surprise, not knowing quite what to say. After a few moments he just smiled and levitated back up into the air. “I was only joking! I am reformed, dear Fluttershy. But that doesn’t mean I still don’t enjoy chaos. I am the spirit of chaos, after all!”
Fluttershy sighed as she looked down at her hooves. I don’t think he’s going to be listening to me anytime soon… Oh… Maybe I should ask Twilight for help? I’m sure she’ll know what to do…
The yellow pegasus shook her head at the Draconequus before taking flight and leaving him at the edge of the forest. She really didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone while he caused all of this chaos, but it was the only way she could get her friend. It wasn’t like she had any chance of stopping him.
He’s been perfectly fine since we reformed him, so why is he acting up now? He’s supposed to be my friend, but he sure isn’t acting like it. Maybe he’s just gotten bored of order already…
Fluttershy glanced up from the ground several minutes later, seeing the quaint little town of Ponyville opening up before her. She ceased her flying and dropped onto the clean, paved streets. There wasn’t a single piece of trash or garbage that could be seen on the whole street, which was a reason why its citizens often bragged about it being one of the cleanest towns in Equestria. While Canterlot was composed of a much wealthier class, its population was far larger and some of its streets were dreadfully filthy. Suffice to say, she was happy she lived in such a clean place.
After a short walk through the town, she stopped in front of a large tree. She paced up to the wooden door and knocked several times, humming a song quietly to herself as she waited. Only a few moments had passed before it swung open and she was met with the surprising sight of her friend.
The normally lavender coated Twilight was now covered head to hoof in soot. A pair of goggles were strapped around her eyes, and her streaked mane looked like it had gone through a hurricane, as it now shot off erratically in multiple directions. The unicorn took off her goggles and smiled upon realizing who her guest was. “Oh, hey Fluttershy!” She said casually.
“Um, I’m not one to judge another pony’s appearance, but... what happened to you? You look… different.” Fluttershy stated weakly as she continued to stare at her friend.
“Huh?” Twilight asked, before looking down at her own body. “Oh, right! I was just experimenting with some new spells, and... well... they have a tendency to blow up in your face… Literally.”
“Oh... isn’t that a little dangerous?”
“Not at all! As long as I cast them in the basement and I’m wearing this stuff, I’m perfectly safe!” Twilight smiled as she motioned her friend inside. “So Fluttershy, what did you come here for? Just a visit?”
“Oh that’s right, I almost forgot!” Flutteshy suddenly remembered the Draconequus that was on the loose causing chaos. “Discord is by the Everfree Forest creating chaos! I told him to stop, but he just won’t listen to me!”
“What? But he’s supposed to have been reformed! Darn it, I knew he couldn’t have changed that easily! Come on, let’s go stop him.” Twilight declared as she threw her goggles to the side and teleported both of them out of the library.
A few moments later they appeared at the edge of the dark and gloomy forest. However, there was no sight of the Draconequus. Twilight looked left and right, scanning the edge for any sign of him. “Hmm, now where could he be?”
“Maybe he’s on the other si-” Fluttershy was cut off by an earth shattering crash, followed by a huge storm of leaves appearing above a section of the forest.
“That has to be him!” Twilight said as she once again teleported the two of them. Seconds later, they were inside the forest, with most of the sunlight now being blocked out. However, there was still a sufficient enough amount of light to see.
Discord was levitating a few meters away from them, laughing up a storm as he snapped his talons. His group of living trees had now doubled in numbers, and was continuing its destructive path through the forest. Already several massive, no doubt ancient, trees had fallen over. And with each snap of his talons, more things began to change.
“Discord, stop this right now!” Twilight yelled as she ran over to him, suddenly finding herself now standing in a heap of snow despite the scorching summer heat.
“Oh Twilight Sparkle! What’s with your mane and your coat? Is that some new fashion trend from Canterlot?” Discord grinned as he stared at the still soot covered unicorn.
Twilight suddenly remembered her appearance before casting a spell that instantly fixed her mane and cleaned off all of the ashes. She sighed before looking back up at the floating Draconequus. “Just fix all of this right now, before I go and get the Princess!”
“Oh, I’m so scared of Celestia, please don’t bring her here, anything but that!” Discord yelled dramatically as he cowered under his tail in his feigned fright. Immediately after, he broke back into laughter before looking down at the unicorn. “Please, Twilight. I’m not scared of her. I’m just glad you decided to come see me! It’s been so lonely being ‘reformed’ you know. That’s why I made my wooden friends over here! They are a bit stumpy in stature though!”
Twilight rolled her eyes at him. “Do you want to go back into stone? Because I can easily go and get my friends and the Elements!”
Discord turned away from her as he focused his attention back on his creations. He snapped his talons, and gave a sly grin as the many vines dangling around them turned to snakes.
“Gah!” Twilight cried out as she jumped away from the scaly reptiles, still afraid of the things from her encounter with them during the Winter Wrap Up. She quickly flung them away with her magic, before she looked up at Discord with an extremely cross look. “This is your last warning Discord, stop this right now!”
“Twilight, Twilight… You get so upset at the tiniest of things.” Discord beamed as he teleported beside her to stare into her eyes. She was speechless as he grabbed the bottom of her face and caressed it slowly with his eagle talon. “So, why don’t you just make like a tree… And get out of here.”
“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt… But don’t you mean make like a tree and leave?” Fluttershy stated quietly, just watching the two of them.
Discord merely smiled at her before teleporting away.
“We have to do something! We can’t just let him run all over Equestria causing chaos!” Twilight exclaimed as she turned to her friend.
“Well, maybe we should tell the Princess? I don’t want to put Discord back in stone, but maybe she could calm him down a bit?” Fluttershy said timidly as she continued to look at the trees, which Discord had left in their mobile state.
“We may just have to put him back in stone if he won’t cooperate. Who knows, he could have just been lying about being actually reformed!”
“Uh actually Twilight, I think we should do something about those trees first…”
“Oh, right!” Twilight shouted as she turned over to them and began casting a spell. Her horn lit up, and after a bright flash the trees returned to their previously innate state. The rest of the forest was still practically in ruin, but that wasn’t anything a single unicorn could fix. “Alright, let’s go see the Princess… I just hope Discord doesn’t do anything really bad before we can find him again…”
“What? But Discord’s reformed now!” Princess Celestia exclaimed as she stared down at her energetic student and her far calmer friend. They were in the throne room, as Twilight had appeared just as she was crossing through it.
“Well he sure isn’t acting like it! He already destroyed and changed a bunch of stuff in the Everfree Forest!” Twilight replied quickly with an extremely anxious feeling. It probably wasn’t a good idea letting Discord run off on his own. Who knows what he’ll do if he’s really like his old self…
“Well, he’s been fine for the past month, so why would he start acting up now? I had truly thought he had been reformed...”
“We all did, but Discord’s a liar. I say we put him right back into stone!”
“But um, Twilight… I think he really has been reformed, he was my friend! We can’t just imprison him again, even if he is causing a little chaos. He did have a point too; it wasn’t like he was hurting anypony…” Fluttershy finally spoke up as she stared at her lavender friend.
“He’s still causing chaos though! We have to stop him!”
“What if we just gave him another chance? If we could try again, maybe just calm him down a bit… He is my friend, and friend’s try and help each other. They don’t seal each other in stone.” The shy pegasus said as she stared patiently at her friend.
Twilight finally sighed as she looked at the ground, seemingly giving up her fight. She just couldn’t say no to Fluttershy…
“Well, I think Fluttershy is right. Twilight, I give you the task of looking after Discord until all of this is sorted out. Perhaps a watchful eye over him will make him settle down.” Celestia finally said after a long silence. Twilight’s immediately shot up at this.
“Me?! Why do I have to look after him?!”
“Because I know you can do it. I don’t trust anypony more than you, Twilight. I’m sure Fluttershy will help you too.”
“Re-really?” Twilight blushed as she crossed her hooves. “Fine, I’ll do it! Come on Fluttershy, let’s go find Discord.”
Fluttershy nodded before the unicorn teleported them out of the room.
