Breaking Habits

by Gosky3

It Doesn't Make Any Sense

The Mane Six were all gathered in the throne room of Princess Twilight’s newest castle. It was actually starting to grow on them, when only a few weeks ago it was rather overwhelming and in a way unsettling. Although they usually reserved this room for important meetings, currently they were idly chatting with one another. This was the only furnished room in the castle aside from the kitchen and the bedrooms so far, so it was the only room that was comfortable. Besides, here they could admire the gorgeous roots they had adorned the room with, and bask in all their previous memories. In fact, they were playing a sort of game where they pointed their favorite memories out. Or at least, Pinkie Pie was.

“Ooh, ooh! That’s the time where I threw a party for Twilight when she first came to Ponyville!” Pinkie had somehow climbed up the roots and was pointing to each of the memories she mentioned. “And here’s when we were all affected by Poison Joke, and I couldn’t talk all episode long! That was horrible. Remember that one?”

Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle as she thought back to that day. “And when Rainbow couldn’t fly straight to save her life?”

“Hey! At least I wasn’t smaller than my cutie mark,” Rainbow Dash teased.

The two bickered and teased each other a little more while the others watched for entertainment - all except Pinkie, who was still looking at different memories. Twilight’s gaze wandered from the two ponies to Fluttershy, who seemed to be in her own world, looking down at the floor instead of the others. “Fluttershy? Are you okay?” she asked.

Fluttershy’s head shot up, as if she hadn’t realized what she was doing. Once she became aware of what was happening, a small smile grew on her face. “Oh, I’m fine. I was just thinking.”

“About what?"

The smile didn’t last long, and it faded as Fluttershy thought about whatever had her down. “I’m just a little worried about Discord. He had another...episode today. I think I might’ve been too hard on him, though...”

“Are you guys talking about Discord?” Rainbow and Applejack had apparently settled their ordeal, and everypony’s focus was now on Fluttershy, which made her blush a little. “What did he do this time?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“He didn’t do much. The worse he did was upset Angel a little. And I did leave him all alone...he must have been awful bored. Maybe I shouldn’t even worry about it, and just let him be next time....”

“Are you crazy? Next time he’ll make a chocolate rain hurricane if you don’t stop him!”

“Rainbow!” Applejack hissed. Although Pinkie didn't seem too upset by the idea of any type of chocolate rain as she licked her lips in ecstasy.

“Unfortunately,” Rarity interrupted before any arguments started, “While I don’t appreciate how she said it, I do think Rainbow Dash has a point. You have to teach him to control himself, or there could be rather destructive results.”

“I’m worried about him more than about anything else,” Fluttershy said as she played with her hair anxiously. “I know he’s trying his hardest to break his habits...I just hope he doesn’t go too far…”

“There you are, my dear!” As if on cue, Discord casually entered through the huge doors into the throne room. Everypony’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing his voice, and exchanged baffled glances due to his odd means of entrance - or odd for him, at least. Fluttershy was the first to make note of this.

“Discord! Are you alright?” she said, with legitimate concern in her voice. She trotted over to meet her friend halfway. When they got close enough, Discord scooped her up in a great big hug.

“Better than ever, actually!” he exclaimed before letting her down and beaming at her.

“Are you sure? You seem…”

“Off?” Applejack tried to finish her sentence.

“Unusual?” suggested Rarity.

“Bizarre? Extraordinary? Idiosyncratic?!” Pinkie shouted, becoming more excited with each word.

“So, the usual?” said Rainbow rather indifferently.

“What’d I do?” Discord seemed worried as he looked around and checked himself, as though trying to see if he’d done anything without thinking.

“Nothing,” said Twilight. “You just...walked through the door.”

“And that’s what so troubling?”

Everypony nodded.

“I walked through the door?”

They nodded once more.

He plopped onto the floor and began rubbing his temples. “Maybe I don’t get ponies after all…”

“Well, it’s just that using the door makes sense. And that's not really your slice of pie, if ya know what I mean,” Applejack explained.

Pinkie jumped on top of the table. “Exactly! He usually doesn’t make sense. So making sense for Discord actually doesn’t make any sense, so he’s actually not making sense, which makes sense, which doesn’t make sense!” Despite her eccentric summary, Pinkie had only managed to make everypony even more confused than they already were.

Fluttershy turned back to Discord. “Well, if you say you’re okay, then I’m okay, too,” she smiled. “Why don’t you join us? We’re not doing anything special.”

It was difficult for everypony to get back on track as far as conversations went with the elephant in the room. Or, in this case, draconequus in the room, sitting right next to them. It wasn’t that they were uncomfortable with him around usually. It was that he was sitting there, no antics, tricks, or strings attached. Never once did he interject, or pull a visual gag, or even make a single pun or silly remark. Eventually Discord started catching on to the discomfort in the air. “I can't help but have the feeling that I’m intruding…” he said.

“Oh, no, not at all, dear,” assured Rarity. “It’s just that there’s something...different about you.”

Discord stood up as if to take the floor. “If it’s bothering everypony so much, I suppose it’s worth mentioning that I’ve turned over a new leaf. No more chaos, disorder, or bedlam is coming from these claws anymore.” There was an awkward silence. The girls’ faces either read of confusion, surprise, or both. Discord seemed to go pale and cowered a little. “What?”

“That...doesn’t make any sense,” commented Rainbow.

“Exactly,” Pinkie whispered, despite the fact that all could hear her perfectly.

“That seems rash," Fluttershy spoke up. "Chaos is part of who you are. That would be like if I stopped taking care of animals, or if Twilight abandoned her friends.”

Discord seemed almost offended by her statement, and crossed his arms. “I thought that you of all ponies would appreciate my effort. A world full of harmony doesn’t need anything disrupting it. This is for the better. Either way, what’s done is done.” Fluttershy tried to intervene, but he put up his paw. “No negotiating it." She resolved to let go of that subject for now.

“I'm not liking that idea,” Twilight still persisted.

Discord resolved to ignore any more arguments, and instead climbed on top of the table in the center of everypony. “Speaking of ideas, why don't we go on one of those friendship quests? Maybe I can be of help now.” He clawed into the shiny crystal, as though to activate the map somehow.

“The map sends us when it needs us. It doesn't work like that.”

“That's too bad,” he lay across the table. “Now that I'm on board the harmony and friendship cruise and all. Hard to believe nopony in Equestria needs help.”

“Look, I think we're all a little on edge. How about we all calm down and - ?”

Discord perked up when yet another idea came to him. "Or we could go looking for ponies to help..."

"That's not really - "

He teleported back to the entrance and started pacing back and forth with excitement. “Think about it. I could even make up for everything I've done wrong, by helping spread harmony. I can show everypony how I've changed for good now!”

Twilight facehoofed in frustration. “You're not even listening to me anymore, are you?”

“Ponyville best look out! Discord's coming to help!” On that note, the draconequus left out the door in a run, with newfound energy guiding his every step.

“Discord, wait!” Fluttershy suddenly jumped up and flew after him.

Another awkward silence filled the room as everypony stared at the door where the two had left from. After a moment, the silence was broken by Applejack. “Can somepony tell me what in tarnation just happened?”

Author's Note:

This chapter feels short, but that's probably because it's mostly dialogue. I think I had almost too much fun with this.

So here's where things get a little fuzzy as far as the plot of this fic goes - the dreaded middle part. But I've got some ideas I can hopefully string together in a non-clunky manner, so we'll see where this goes.

Well, I hope those who are reading are enjoying it so far!

Comments

[FordPrefect]

Just finished reading the story. Have to say its a good start! Following.

[Gosky3]

6037923 Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[Gosky3]

6045909 Thanks for the encouragement and comments! I'm happy you enjoy it!