The feeling of the final jolt of pain disappearing from his lower torso was the last sensible thought his mind grasped before succumbing into pure state of panic. The pain had marked the boundary of life, of resistance, but the fading of it meant the exact opposite.
He was dying, and it happened all too fast for anything but pure panic to seize him. It was all happening too fast. Another violent spasm hit him like a hammer, the waves of agony seizing again his whole body before evaporating into the thin air, leaving only a sense of coldness behind. Now he was only faintly aware that his right hand had frozen, too. His mind was like a field after first snow in the spring, engulfed by white, pure horror that suffocated all life beneath itself.
And then, just when the last sapling of his reason had spent its last strength pushing through the crust of frost, an avalanche crushed it, leaving only ringing silence behind to the now desolate landscape that used to be his mind.
The Good had won: It was marked by the smile of six ponies, standing around a statue of stone, the statue of the strangest creature that had ever stepped on the grass of Equestria. The statue was, in every sense of the word, of Discord. Around the statue Discord, the six ponies smiled, looked upon each other, and new that they had done well. Quietly they left the scene, never again gazing into the face of the enemy they had defeated, the face that now wore an eternal mask of terror.
Little did they know about the things that terror hid beneath itself. Little did they know about the thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, oceans of emotions, that now lay behind that stony surface, beyond it, in between the stone and time that formed the statue. Amidst all that floated – in the lack of a better word – the consciousness of Discord, or what was left of it, to be more frank. For Discord was a being that could not quite manifest itself only via itself, that is to say, he needed something to interact with to create a sense of self that could in the fullest sense of the word called Discord. This was not obvious for everyone.
Indeed, many regarded Discord simply as an elemental of Chaos, a destructive force beyond the need of anypony else. This had actually once been the case, but that had been ages and ages ago, in the times when all kinds of powers had roamed the land now known as Equestria. Back then it was a completely different world, a world of turmoil, war and chaos. It was the time when Magic had not found the neat balance it was later captured in, was in control of no one, but in touch with everyone. It was that world where the original Discord was born in, from the raw magic and will that came with it. That was the Discord lacking in need of language, awareness or any other attributes a person might require, moved only by his inner instincts to destroy, create and destroy again.
But this cycle of eternal change had been tempered and broken by creatures calling themselves gods, by two sisters as different as night and day and as similiar as stars and suns. They sought, fought and triumphed over Discord, but at the eve of their victory, they found themselves disagreeing over their next actions. The dark one, the young one, wanted Discord to be put down, to be disintegrated into the raw magic of which he originated, but the white one, the elder, had other plans. She planned to capture Discord with a powerful spell in stone, forever. The younger sister was profoundly against this, for she judged Discord to be too great of a threat for the plans they had for the land now known as Equestria, a place of harmony and balance. But the elder sister stood her ground as firmly as the sun rises over the moon, arguing that there might be a time when they had a need of the immense powers that Discord held within himself. An argument ensured, a dispute that took most of the twilight, but finally the elder one's will won, sealing the fate of Discord.
And what a fate it was: Trapped in cold void, forever and ever. Sealed in place where time, space and language had little or no meaning, a prison of both mind and body. A prison composed of, in its barest essence, of freedom, freedom denied of objects or substance save only the subject of freedom itself. A place existing only for one thing and one thing only – for creation. For true creation can only take place there where no growth is possible, no existing life supported. Only where there is nothing can something new emerge.
And what emerged from the icy desolation of Discord’s mind was nothing less than his consciousness, his identity, his self.
Thus was born Discord anew, a creature still led by his inner instincts to destroy and disintegrate (for those were the very powers of the magic that had created him), but which now had eyes to see, knowledge to comprehend, memory to preserve. And most importantly, a language to interact with. Only in this new form did Twilight and her friends know Discord, seeing only the malice, hate and grudge that his imprisonment had formulated in him - those features were not truly the manifestations of his choices, but merely the crystallized forms of the original chaos that reigned inside him. Discord did not choose to be malevolent, his new consciousness only found its closest and most natural mode in those feelings.
Unaware of these complex structures and connections that presented themselves in the form of Discord, the six ponies treated him as a threat and no more. After all, he had stolen their precious Elements of Harmony, deprived them of their identities, what reason more could they hope for to treat Discord as nothing more than an enemy?
The logic of confrontation bare and simple, the rules of the game, old as blood itself, laid before them, the six ponies sought, fought and triumphed over their enemy, much like the two sister had in ages past. Their smile was the last thing their enemy witnessed before being banished into the coldest depths of his inner self.
But this time, something was different. This time they had not condemned a simple force of nature, but a person, although the personality here was hardly more than the logical sum of the instincts and memories that composed him. Still, Discord was now a person, capable of knowing feelings, feelings more complex than malice and hate. He also knew fear, hope even.
And these were just the kinds of feelings that Princess Celestia wanted to invoke in this creature called Discord, for they were of the quality more inclined towards obedience, servitude, more deeply leaning towards companionship and even the most precious of them all, Friendship. One could control malice and hate too, but these were troublesome to conquer and even more so to keep in leash. The range of where these feelings could be used was also very limited, composed mostly of brutal and rough jobs, and Celestia had more need of subtle tools. Hammers were easy to acquire, violins were not.
To offer an example of this, take the pony Twilight Sparkle. A good tool is characterized by its ability to become one with its user, to become an extension of the mind and hoof that wields it. A good sword is more than a piece of steel in your hoof; it is a part of that hoof.
But even a better tool than that which supports and enables you is the one which completes you, exceeds you, and those tools are rare indeed. They require a caring most tender, attention unclouded by distractions. Those are the tools you devote your life to, that become you.
And Twilight was rather quickly adopting both these steps of a good tool, to become the ultimate tool; a wielder herself.
But enough of Twilight, from her we shall learn a deal more in the future as is. This is, after all, a story about Discord. A story? Why, just so, a story and no more, for no other word is appropriate for the collection of words I have written down here; they are not true nor false. They are merely told. It is up to the reader to decide the actions based on these words. The story is told, but the lesson can only be learned.
Perhaps, then, as I have now mentioned the writing itself in itself, reflected the story in itself, it is right to mention myself in it, too. I have refrained from this, so far, since I do not wish to highlight my own part in the events described here, for truly I was nothing more than I claim here to be; a witness, a storyteller. Indeed, even according to my nature I ought to be the one to tell this story – night is the time of tales, after all.
So Discord was trapped, again, yet not again, for it was not the same Discord that met the same void twice. Also, this time his punishment was rather less lengthy, compared to the millennium that he, or at least part of him, faced previously. Celestia had little need for an insane avatar of chaos, after all.
Thereby he was released, set free on the land of Equestria, more precisely on the village of Ponyville, in the midst of the very ponies that regarded him as their enemy. This struck to them – as well as for me – as a weird move, although it paled in weirdness comparison to the events that followed.
This pony, Flutteshy, the most fragile and seemingly timid creature, was trusted to, and trusted herself to, look after Discord and see to his integration to the pony society. A rather obscure move, if I am any judge – and I am – but one I nowadays treat as one of the cleverest moves Celestia ever made. And this is no light thing to say.
The thing about Flutteshy that made her Celestia’s choice was that she was nice. Not just nice, but Nice, the capital letter here paying little homage to the actual level of niceness that Fluttershy could both radiate herself and incite in other ponies. It was rather absurd, when thought carefully.
Still, as I believe every pony in Equestria by now knows, she succeeded – Fluttershy succeeded in taming Discord.
The how of the thing was the biggest mystery there was, although one, when realized, made perfect sense. The secret in taming Discord, it seemed, was in making him a friend – and more importantly, resuming to deprive him of this relation afterward.
It still surprises me how eagerly common ponies seek to establish and hold onto the relationship called friendship, how truly valuable they regard their unity and social cohesion. This is also, as I have observed, both their weakness and their strongest attribute, for it both binds and enables them. It is a symbiosis, a system of high level of interdependence.
These highly addictive attributes of Friendship, along with its commonness among the commoners, were things I had not before considered as a ruler. Celestia had, and that is one of the many reasons of why she is the first among equals around here. A country with Friendship as its main ideology practically governes itself, as long as you make sure to be the friends with all.
The trick to subdue Discord, then, was to introduce him to this circle of Friendship as a part of it, not as a force against it. And for that, it was naturally imperative that Discord wanted to be part of that ring, wanted to be friends with everypony. After the urge and need for this communality had been born in him, it was the simplest thing to control him by denying him this relationship, an act that was executed by the cute and timid Fluttershy, who now had tamed one of the most powerful creatures in the land of Equestria. Truly, its better to be loved than hated, but being dependent on is an adequate replacement, if not even the driving force beyond love itself.
I have recorder and interpreted the case of Discord not only for my reader's sake, but also for myself. Since I too was a subject of this form of control, it intrigued me to study it closer and objectively. Surely I could, after this analysis, understand my own state and position better?
The truth is, yes, I have come to understand both Celestia and myself better though the study of Discord, although there is a twist involved. The more I learn and understand, the more I feel myself growing sympathetic towards mys sister's actions and the motives behind them. In other words, the more I see, the more I sink into what I see. I love my sister the more I understand the logic that she rules by, the love itself being the heart of that logic. Love as a system of control... Overcomes the limits of an ordinary system in the eyes of the subject of it – it becomes an ideology that does not see itself as an ideology.