Discord felt frustrated, embarrassed, saddened and altogether confused as he popped into his home pocket dimension. He growled and groaned and paced around his Thinking Tree, teleporting and hanging on the branches at random. All he wanted to do was help, and they’d chastised him! How dare they? Wasn’t it the thought that counted? Everypony makes mistakes. It was just that their mistakes usually never ended up endanger the whole country. But at the very least he was trying to help.
After only a few minutes of angry contemplation, he rested at the trunk of the tree and held his head. There was some way he could fix this, without undoing his work, right? Or should he just abort the entire thing and tag himself a failure? That would be the safest option, it seemed. So far, it was clear that even when trying to make things better and harmonious, the only thing he could produce was more chaos.
All of a sudden, he heard a subtle whisper echo throughout the void. It was so soft he wasn’t sure if he heard it at all, yet seconds later he heard it again, slightly louder. This time he flew up to try and determine its origin . Every time he heard it, he followed it closer and closer to the source, which ended up being the library.
Now wary of whatever it could be, Discord lowered himself as he crept inside. “Uh...hello?” He rarely ever got visitors, let alone an intruder. Perhaps the mailpony never found his way out after all? Again, he was starting to get scared, any shred of confidence he used to retain having been demolished. Without any of his chaos magic, he wasn’t much.
“Dissscooord…” another whisper.
He broke into a cold sweat, still unsure of what to expect. Nonetheless, there was no point in stopping now. He continued his slow trek into the library, cautiously looking back and forth while books and shelves flew and spiraled around. After a bit of wandering, he came upon the same spot where he’d cast the spell earlier, with the same eight-pointed chaos symbol that had engraved itself in the ground.
A whoosh of darkness swooped past him. He turned to look at it, but saw nothing. As soon as he looked, though, he felt a blunt strike to the back of his head, and fell onto the floor.
“That was right stupid what you said,” Applejack scrutinized Rainbow for her earlier comment.
"It just came out. I wasn’t trying to upset him!”
Twilight frantically trotted around, still trying to determine a solution. Clearly Discord wasn’t coming back any time soon now, and the longer they waited, the worst everything was gonna get. She flew up into the air to get a better view of everything once more, her sanity starting to slip a little. “Uh, okay, how about we...use our Rainbow Power and...terraform the land back to normal? Or...we just...pretend like nothing’s wrong? I mean, everything is a lot neater. It ould take a little getting used to, but - ”
“Twilight, maybe you should calm down a bit?” Spike mentioned.
She teleported in front of him. “Calm? What do you mean? I’m calm! See?!” A wicked smile that would make any filly or foal cry appeared on her face.
"Eh...whatever you say..."
Meanwhile, Rarity and Pinkie were attempting to calm Fluttershy, who was upset over the whole affair, and with everything that had happened with Discord just moments ago. “I shouldn’t have been so hard on him..."
“Come now, darling, you were reacting like anypony would have,” comforted Rarity. “He’ll come back around.”
“Yeah, and maybe he’ll bring cake, too!” Pinkie beamed. The other two stared at her perplexedly for a moment. “What? What’s wrong with cake?”
Everypony continued like that for several minutes, until a rumble interrupted whatever they were doing. In only an instant, the sky turned from blue to purple. And even though there hadn't been a single cloud in the sky, it started to rain. Nopony truly minded the precipitation, except for Rarity, who nearly screamed at the thought of her mane being ruined after just having redone it. “What’s goin’ on?” Rainbow was the first to ask.
Pinkie stuck her tongue out and tasted the rain before gasping. “Chocolate milk?” she exclaimed.
“No. This can’t be him. Not after...” Fluttershy’s ears pinned at the sight of the sudden change in weather.
Eyes fixed on Ponyville, Twilight teleported in front of the rest of the group. “Let’s go and see, then, girls.” The whole group broke into a gallop toward the town to try and see what in Equestria was happening.
It took a while, but the crew finally made their way to the center of all this newfound trouble. The alicorn-ified ponies were in even more turmoil than before, as they ran, shot magic, flew away, or attempted flying in order to get away from whatever was causing this all. The group continued through the surge of ponies, as they tried to avoid being blasted by random bursts of magic or being knocked over by the crowd. Around them, buildings started floating off the ground, and the rain continued pouring down (much to Pinkie’s pleasure).
Finally, they came upon the source of the mess. It was much worse here, at the center of it all, with odd things like anthropomorphic fish and chartreuse cheese flying around. Above where they stood were thick storm clouds, but they ironically acted as a shelter from the rain rather than being the cause of it. In fact, there was rain everywhere but underneath the clouds, where it belonged. The creator of this mess was in the middle of town, levitating and creating more nonsensical objects. Fluttershy was left shocked, while the others ran up to face him head-on.
“Discord! What are you doing?” shouted Twilight.
The draconequus turned around to face them all. “Ah, well if isn’t the Elements. I love what you’ve done with the place already. All the new alicorn ponies were such a nice touch. But I thought it could use a little something…” He snapped, and the ground turned into a pink checkerboard pattern.
Applejack stomped her hoof on the ground. “If you think we’re gonna stand by and let you do this, then you’ve got another thing coming!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, come on, what’s wrong with a little fun?” he smiled.
Running up to the him, Fluttershy questioned his actions. “Discord, what is this? I'm sorry about what I said earlier, but...but...this kind of reaction is uncalled for! What about our friendship? I thought it meant something to you now?”
“Of course, it still does!” Discord raised his talon and levitated his friend over to him, until she was embraced under his arm. “We could enjoy the chaos together. It’ll be fun!”
“Let go of her!” Rainbow attempted to bum rush him, only to be blocked by a giant box. Once she fell inside, the box closed, and was magically wrapped with paper and a bow. It fell on the ground, leaving the pegasus to try and escape from her box prison. “Hey!” Without trying to hide his feelings at all, Discord broke into a fit of laughter. The rest of the Mane Six rushed up to the box to try and save the pony trapped inside, but were unable. Spike even tried breathing fire on it, but it didn’t leave a scratch. All the while, the chaos king kept on laughing.
“Discord, stop - ” Fluttershy began. But now that she could get a better look at him, she could truly study him. When he turned to glance at her, she could see his eyes more clearly. And there was something off-putting about them. Something scary, something that didn’t feel at all like Discord. It was as if there was no heart in the being that was currently next to her, much unlike the person she had grown to know and care for. His eyes were colder, without the little ounce of joy that was always in her friends' eyes. The detail was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but not to her. “You’re...not Discord,” she suddenly accused.
“What could you possibly be talking about, my dear?” he replied nonchalantly before chuckling more. “Of course it’s me.”
With a rather powerful shove (at least, powerful considering it was Fluttershy) she released herself from his grasp and hovered in the air. “No, it’s not you. You're not him!”
He shrugged, and made several suits of cards appear. “Suit yourself.” He threw the cards toward her, and they narrowly missed her mane as they flew off into the distance. “I thought a little variation to our Tuesday Tea Time would be fun, but if that’s how you like it…” With a snap, he was sitting on top of his iconic red and grey throne. The land below him rumbled and started growing until it formed a hill, a few yards above the ponies below. “...then you could all be my peasants. That works too.”
At last, Rainbow broke free of her box prison. Twilight turned from her to their new enemy, and stepped forward, becoming leader of the group. “If you don’t stop this, we’ll have no choice but to use our Rainbow Power!”
“Oh, rainbows." The chaotic being slumped in his throne. "They make me shiver up my spine. Go right ahead.”
“Then you leave us with only one option.” She turned and nodded to the rest of the group. They all knew what they had to do. Spike merely stepped back to get out of their way. A glow formed around the main group, as they lifted up into the air. Flickers of color sparked around them and in their mane, as if they were just about to transform into their powerful counterparts. All the while, Discord merely yawned with a smirk.
Once the team was at their brightest, glowing midair, their manes started to be covered with their rainbow colors, but it suddenly stopped. There was a flickering of their glow, as if a lightbulb was about to go out, and the group fell on the ground. They all moaned and groaned as they slowly recovered. Twilight was the first of them all to get back up. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t it - ?” She noticed that, standing off to the side, was a shaken Fluttershy, who had clearly not been with the group at all during that past sequence. “Fluttershy, we have to do this if he won’t back down.”
“That’s not him. He did something with the real one. We can’t put him in stone yet.”
Applejack trotted up to the other two. “I know this hurts, sugarcube, but it’s him or Equestria.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to do this either,” Pinkie bounced over, flapping her wings. “I mean there’s chocolate milk and I have wings and all. But I don’t think anypony’s having fun. And that’s a crime!”
“But...we can’t...”
Discord popped in, in the middle of all of their conversation, and wrapped his arm around Fluttershy. “Of course she can’t. We’re still besties!” He gave a wickedly sinister grin.
"Stay away from her!” A voice shouted from behind them all. All at once, everypony turned toward the origin of the voice. Sure enough, standing off in the distance, was a figure standing in the middle of the rain. His figure was difficult to discern amidst the chocolatey goodness falling from the sky. After a moment, he walked under the clouds that were shielding them all, revealing that it was another Discord.
It didn’t take even a moment for Fluttershy to look into his eyes and make a decision even from so far away. Before anypony else could react, she glided over to and embraced him, throwing him off guard. This Discord wasn't able to return the gesture, however, as Rainbow Dash broke the duo up by ramming into the draconequus. Once they were both on the ground, the pegasus stood on top of his chest for the second time in one day. “So now there are two of you? What’s this supposed to be?”
“Rainbow, wait, it’s the real him!” Fluttershy interjected.
“Are you gonna really fall for this? This has to be a trick.”
“No, no, I swear it’s me. The other’s the impostor,” Discord squeaked. He was squeezing his eyes shut, as if anticipating for the blue fiend to attack. And it took her a moment, but between his begging and Fluttershy panicking behind her, she decided to let him go.
“Uh. Am I the only one who’s confused?” Spike was the first of all of them to ask.
The other Discord groaned and crossed his arms. “Since it appears you ponies aren’t as gullible as I thought -” His whole body started turning a darker shade. “I’m the fun part of him.” He lazily pointed to the real one, who appeared almost terrified by the sight of his other side. "I'm surprised he was brave enough to come back."
“You split yourself in two?” Twilight burst. “Why did you think that was a good idea?”
“I-I-I didn’t know it’d make another me!” Discord exclaimed.
“Well, while I’d like to sit here and discuss trivialities, I’d much rather get back to some chaos. Enjoy the boring me.” On that note, the impostor snapped away, back to sit atop his throne and continue cooking up his chaotic storm.
The rest of the heroes were left even more confused than they were before, with apparently two Lords of Chaos in their presence now. They had the so-called real Discord back, and had been reunited. But the only problem was the fact that Equestria had gone into a state of chaos, rather than of pure harmony. Life couldn't go on with goats canoeing through the air and chocolate rain pouring on all of them, obviously.
“Okay. Now we know which one to blast,” Rainbow said, extending her wings excitedly. “Let’s get him!”
“And then what happens to the real Discord?” inquired Twilight, shutting down that idea fairly quickly.
The draconequus himself slumped down on the ground. “Does it matter? I’m no better than him.”
“What?” Fluttershy walked up and placed her hoof on him. “Of course you are.”
“Why? If that thing is a part of me, then you’re better off without me,” he sulked.
“Hey, now!” Applejack stepped between the two. “Without you to calm him down, that fella up there’s just a big pain in the hindquarters. I’d take you over him any day.”
“Yeah, you’re fun and nice. He’s just a meanie,” added Pinkie as she flew in from above, still in her alicorn form.
“Chaos isn’t all bad,” Rarity spoke. “Why, I couldn’t make my clothes without it. Even if I use it in a much more...refined manner.”
“Agreed. There’s no way we’re letting anything happen to you.” Twilight joined the rest of them.
“Yeah, what everypony else said!” Spike followed right behind.
All of a sudden, everypony turned to Rainbow Dash for her input, considering they had all already spoken except her. She sat there unsure at first, but after a few moments she burst. “What? We’re not gonna off you or anything. You’re not 100% evil, even if you’re a pain sometimes. We’re kicking chaos-crazy you’s butt and fixing all this, end of story.”
Pinkie pounced on Discord with a big bear - or, pony - hug, and was soon followed by the rest of the group. He was reluctant at first, but soon accepted this genuine love from others (even if it was kind of awkward). Maybe being Spirit of Chaos wasn’t all that bad when looking at it from this angle. Though the hug didn’t last long, as it was broken by a goat making cat noises. “Okay, can we get to the butt-kicking now? This place is getting weird,” said Rainbow.
Discord pushed the others off and stood up straight, high above them all. He stared right at his chaotic counterpart, who was still sitting on his throne completely ignoring the rest of them. “I have an idea. But I’ll need all of your help.”