//------------------------------// // Birthday Party // Story: A Chaotic Calm // by Betty-tea-dead //------------------------------// The party really was quite lovely. Discord hovered over Fluttershy as they arrived, and explained with a salesman’s enthusiasm of how the draconequus's added help would make the party so much more enjoyable. While Applejack did seem hesitant, the young ponies and Pinkie Pie easily bought into it. Soon, with nearly the entire party pestering the Element of Honesty to allow some clouds of cotton candy to rain chocolate milk in Sweet Apple Acres again, she had no choice but to agree. Discord felt the edge of his pent up restlessness ease away as he worked his magic. However, it was only due to Fluttershy remaining closely by his side that he managed to keep his self control. He ached to just flood the skies with sugary treats. He wanted to have the cake walk and dance on jello grass and flip the ponies’s faces upside down so their mouths would rest on their foreheads and eyes on their snouts. He wanted to have the music that Pinkie played on the record player literally come to life. He wanted to have all the apples pop like balloons and shower the ground with confetti, and he wanted to turn the balloons into lead weights and everypony else into lighter than air chubby versions of themselves. But that would be rude. That would be upsetting. And he wanted to be good. He truly did. But he still had all these urges, urges he knew he needed to figure out how to take care of without causing any significant damage. 'Just one large outburst. Just one. And I'll be fine,' he thought to himself. After all, he never had had a proper send off for his old ways did he? It was just so sudden. One moment he was a villainous jokester, and the next pals with a group of do-gooders. But what could he do? Torment some land beyond Equestria? No. That might cause a war. Perhaps pretend he was ill and... no. No he shouldn't lie either. "Discord?" The quiet voice shook him from his thoughts and brought him back to reality. "Yes Fluttershy?" "Oh, well... I'm afraid the party is over. Could you be a dear and..." She waves her hoof at all the chaos-induced damage which really, in Discord’s opinion, wasn't even that much. Could anyone even tell that it was chocolate milk soaked into the dirt? Then again, he supposed it wouldn't be too pleasant to walk in once it spoiled. And those clouds could attract pests. And... 'Oh look at me. Thinking like a pony.' Discord thought bitterly to himself as he snapped everything back to how it was before. Now, he didn’t desire anything bad to happen. But ponies were ponies and he was not a pony. He’d never be a pony. He was something else entirely, but now he wasn't so sure of what that was anymore. Applejack trotted up to them both, having hoisted her little sister on her back. Applebloom appeared to have just crashed from the overload of sugar as well as excitement from the day. She most likely wouldn't wake up any time soon. "Gosh golly Discord, Fluttershy, ya'll weren't jokingaround when you said a bit of that chaos magic would liven up the party! Discord, you should work with Pinkie, do more parties. It'd be a great hobby!" Discord forced a smile at the farm pony, trying to seem flattered. He wasn't. His magic was meant for so much more than just a party gimmick. "Oh but of course Flappy Jackle!" he laughed, and flashed a grin as he perched on top of Fluttershys head. Much to her relief, he made it so he only weighed as much as a penny. "What are friends for? Now you go and tuck that silly filly in. Fluttershy and I have some errands to run~" The earth pony laughed and walked away, muttering something like 'oh that Discord' or 'What a hoot'. The two walked into town, when Discord cracked his neck loudly. The shops were closing and the sun was finally starting to set. He wondered briefly if Celesta allowed an extra hour of sunshine for the Element of Honesty’s sister’s party, but he knew she didn't quite play favorites like that. At least... not usually. When it was Nightmare Night, the night seemed to stretch on for an unusually long time, even before Luna had returned to her throne. And when he was first frozen in stone, for some strange reason the sisters had both the sun and moon hung high in the sky, perhaps as a message of 'balance' to be spread throughout the land. And when Twilight was first turned into an Alicorn, the sunset and sunrise seemed to last for hours. Special occasions called for special changes in the rising and setting times of the sun and moon. And this type of disorder was excused because there was always a reason behind it... maybe if his chaos had a reason too, it'd be excused. Like... for birthday parties. But that felt so small. Not that he disliked a good party, heavens no. "Oh Fluttershy, today really was wonderful but I'm afraid I'll have go now~" he said with a cheerful tone. He wanted some time alone to think. He was sure if he mentioned his 'problem' to the wrong pony, it'd be misunderstood as him being tempted to be 'evil' again. Which... might not be too far from the reality of it. And that was a little frightening. Fluttershy tilted her head to one side in a way that looked just absolutely adorable to the old lord of chaos. "Oh?" She asked, confused. "You don't want to stay just a little longer? Twilight got some new books for her library, I thought you might be interested." Oh Twilight. She was the last pony he wanted to see. Her strong sense of organization and order was off putting enough, but on top of that, her castle gave him a headache. It couldn’t be helped, so there was little use complaining about it. "All the more reason for me to go off early," he chuckles. "Unless she doesn't mind me rearranging her books again." "Oh please don't do that," she laughed softly. "But alright. I'll see you tomorrow?" "Oh but of course! Now ta ta my sweet Fluttershy! I'll bring my own batch of cookies tomorrow morning~" He waved her off with a tissue, as if he was bidding farewell to a lover on a departing train, happily drawing out another giggle from the yellow pegasus as she made her way to the glowing crystal castle in the dead center of the little town. It looked so strange next to all of the more humble buildings, but everyone knew that wouldn't last too much longer. Soon more ponies would move to Ponyville, just to be closer to the new Princess and in a decade or so, Ponyville would evolve into Pony-metropolis. Or perhaps... Kingdome Sparkle? Sparkletropolis. He turned around, and materialized a door to walk through. On the other side, the Castle of the Two Sisters. Discord had vague memories of this place, vaguer still of the wizard that used to live here as Tia's mentor and guardian. The once proud castle was now in shambles after having no one to care for it in such a long time. "It's a shame really... Sparkle could have inherited this instead of that silly harmony palace she has now..." He chuckled as he picked a dusty book off a shelf. It fell apart at his touch, littering the cracked marble floors with dust and molded leather. It really was a shame. Under his breath, he thought of other names that Ponyville could be renamed in the future as he browsed through the halls and flicked away the dark spiders that crawled in his way. "...Twilight City? District Sparkle. Pony...kingdom?" he would mutter. His claws raked against the walls, leaving behind long ugly marks on the stone walls and shelves. It wasn't long until he saw something that stole his interest. In an old decayed room sat a forgotten alchemy lab. Now of course it was mostly empty when Discord found it, as Twilight was very thorough when she combed the castle. Anything that belonged to Starswirl the Bearded would be presented proudly in her castle. He chuckled at the memory of hearing about the glass case the egghead had specially made for the just the old unicorn’s toothbrush. He realized he ought to ask Tia how she felt about her ex-student’s little obsession. Surely it struck the sun goddess as at least odd, didn't it? Everyone had a little bit of chaos in them. Even if it was just a little. He picked up an old crystal, long drained of its power and admired it. "Such an obsession..." he muttered. Starswirl... Starswirl... Father of all modern magic. Greatest wizard in history and legendary advisor to the two princesses. But even he wasn't perfect. was he? If memory served... that old unicorn was rather silly, wasn't he? Not at all the proud mage that Sparkle had idolized. And his spells, not all of them were complete. A memory sticks out, from a sunny picnic in the park. Twilight had been rambling about some latest breakthrough in some spell on turning apples in to oranges. It was a foal’s trick, but he humored her and agreed that such an unnatural spell must be so difficult for an orderly unicorn like Twilight. "Why Sparkle, it's no wonder you’d gotten it wrong before!" Discord laughed, floating inches from her displeased face. "It's hardly in your nature!" "Now Discord, be nice..." Fluttershy warned. "Twilight did try her very best and we are all very proud of her." He sighed and tickled Fluttershy on her snout with the end of his tail. "Oh but I'm not trying to be mean! Asking Twilight to defy the laws of nature or even time travel would be completely out of her element! It'd be like... like asking me to handle her checklists!" Everypony laughed despite themselves, causing the purple alicorn to flare up in a blush. "Well Discord, I'll have you know that I DID travel back in time once!" This made Discord freeze and drop down to the ground. "...you did?" he said in honest surprise. Nothing was more chaotic than time travel. It was nearly something beyond himself even. "Very unlike you!" And impossible. He traveled with Fluttershy sure, but he was there as her guide. Alone, a pony could be in grave danger of unraveling him or herself from existence. To do it successfully really was an impressive feat. "But why ever for-" Twilight appeared very proud of herself and was about to milk her small victory when Pinkie Pie bounded between the two. "Oh! Oh! It was so amazing- see future Twilight came from one week into the future to warn herself and it was so SPOOKY! she chirped out hyperly, oblivious to her friend trying to shush her. "But we had no idea what it was about so..." "So she created a self fulling prophecy?" Discord snickered out. A paradox. Of course it'd be something as harmless and cliched as that... He crushed the useless stone in his hand, and found a grin spreading across his face. Oh, the answer was there the entire time, wasn't it? He was so busy trying to figure out where he could satisfy his cravings in the present, when he could just take another little... trip. Yes, he wasn't evil now. And he won't be in his future, he'll make sure of that. But the past was written in stone and he knew perfectly how the game is played. It'd threaten nothing in the happy present. He could remain the good friend now and relive his villainous days in the past. And he knew.... he knew he was already going to do what he was thinking about as his old memories started to blur.