“I had forgotten how boring things could get when staying in one place for a long period of time. Too bad that I can't just leave or else I'll miss the fun when something actually does happen around here. Ponyville is just a magnet for entertainment.” Despite his words, Xellos did have a few entertaining moments over the past few weeks. Of course seeing the Bearers of Harmony nearly being taken out by a tornado, watching Spike fight off a pack of Timberwolves with the Sword of Light, and even Applebloom's cousin unleashing a horde of golems during a family reunion seemed almost routine compared to what usually happened around Ponyville.
Xellos considered heading off to Manehatten to check on the fourth crusader and maybe see about teaching her like the other three when an interesting sight became visible flying towards Ponyville. “Hello... What brings Princess Sunbutt all the way out here?”
Flying closer to the carriage, staying out of phase with reality, he was surprised to see that there was a passenger riding with the princess. “Is that Discord? Huh, I wonder what it is she has planned now. I know that he gets lose again in the future, but is it already that time? Oh this is going to be good.”
He settled down to watch the show as the princess gathered the six bearers and put Fluttershy in charge of reforming the chaos spirit. After the princess left, the group freed the draconequus which soon caused the monster to frown. He was patient and his watching at first, but as things progressed he started getting annoyed with Discord's antics and when he snapped his tail to forcefully change a group of beavers mentally. “Well, well, well. If it isn't the self-proclaimed lord of chaos in the flesh. So what predictable schemes do you have for all of us today?”
While Discord turns to glare at the monster, the six mares wince at his appearance with most of them groaning. “Ugh, really?! You choose now of all times? How can things get any worse?”
As Pinkie Pie swatted Rainbow Dash in the back of the head for saying that, Discord slowly stomped up to the biped and stared him in the eye. “You! Oh, I have been waiting to have a word with you for a long time. How could you just leave me alone all those years with that empty shell and not say anything? And how could you call me, lord of all chaos, something as insulting as predictable?”
Xellos just rolled his eyes at the serpentine figure. “Oh please. I've seen more chaos from the ponies in this town than I've seen from you, and that's without counting Pinkie Pie there.”
Pointing over to the side the two glanced at the pink pony to see her polishing her hoof against her chest at the praise. “You? All you've done is throw your magic around randomly taking control of everything. That was why you were sealed away and, predictably, as soon as you were free you started doing it once again. Even after promising to stop just now you just couldn't help yourself and still forced your powers on those beavers, robbing them of free will.”
The six mares glared at Discord at hearing about him breaking his word immediately after giving it. “Discord!”
Discord looked over the mares glaring at him before a sighed with a pouty look. “Fine.” With a snap of his fingers the draconequus reversed his previous spell. “Is that better?” None of the mare's frowns left them causing him to roll his eyes and glare at Xellos. “Now see what you did? Everything was going just fine until you showed up. This is why I can't stand you monsters. You all keep ruining my fun.”
Xellos just smirked at the draconequus as he leaned back in the air with his staff behind his head. “Well you should know that chaos is what chaos does, and all monsters are creatures of chaos. Though for a so-called lord of chaos to be taken over by a mere creature of chaos must just be embarrassing. Especially since it was only a shard of one of the four dark lords.”
The draconequus growled at the biped as he started laughing at the end of his latest comment though he couldn't argue the fact as it really did happen. “Well excuse me for not being in the right mind while trapped in that statue. Sitting around doing nothing is just so mind numbingly boring that anything new seemed interesting and I didn't bother fighting back. It was a rather unpleasant experience, though it does make me realize that you aren't like all those other monsters. No, you actually seem to have something else in mind other than destroying the world.”
Discord gazes at Xellos thoughtfully while the six mares exchange glances as this was the first time they've heard any kind of confirmation of what the biped claimed to have plans doing. Xellos, for his part, threw one of his arms over and started to lead the draconequus off to the side away from the mares. “Oh I still have the urge to do that, but it's easy to keep under control with the help of a little list.”
The mares looked at Twilight as she let out a small squee of pleasure while Discord rolled his eyes. “Really? A list? What kind of creature of chaos would keep a-” The draconequus eyes bug out as Xellos pulls scroll after scroll from his bag until there is a pile larger than all the ponies nearby combined. “Are you sure that you're a creature of chaos and not something called up by purple smart over there?”
Xellos just rolled his eyes at Discord as he shook the last of the scrolls out of his bag. “Laugh it up, but I bet you couldn't even do half the things on just one of those scrolls without resorting to your powers. I also enjoy actually remembering some of the things I've done in the past instead of just living in the present like you.”
Discord just snorted at the biped before plucking up one of the scrolls to read through out of boredom. He didn't expect to read what he found, and his eyes steadily widened as he worked down the list until he burst out laughing. “Wait, you actually shaved Rarity's mane?! And I missed it?! Oh you just have to tell me how you managed that one without her killing you.”
He said this loud enough for the mares to hear, which caused the unicorn in question to shoot a glare at the duo. Xellos could only shrug as he started stacking the scrolls by the ribbon color they were wrapped in. “Actually, that one was much easier than I expected. Just a little suggestion to her sister and two friends and they used her as a guinea pig in their attempt at a hairdressing cutie mark. While hilarious it was almost too easy.”
While Discord guffawed at this, the six mares began looking at each other worriedly. With a sigh Applejack turned a glare on Rainbow Dash. “Ya really had ta go and ask how it could get worse, didn't ya? While ah expected the two ta start fighting, this is even worse. Who knows what they will do with them bonding like this.”
As he continued to look through the scrolls, Discord had to admit that he had trouble remembering many of the things that he did over the centuries. Setting the current one down he looked over at one that was bound with a red ribbon, the previous one being green. “I will admit that there is some charm to this, but why the different colors? It just seems so, organized.”
Xellos frowned as Discord unrolled the scroll he was indicating. “Well there are only three that matter, and it's just a reminder so I don't need to search through all of them constantly. Red are completed, green are in progress, and the black... Well those are impossible to finish now. It's a pity, I was looking forward to seeing how some of those would have turned out.”
As he was about to respond, Discord choked as he read one of the entries that weren't marked off. “Wait, you actually tried to get old Starswirl laid? Even I know when something is so impossible that it's not even worth trying.”
The monster only smirked at Discord at hearing this. “I almost thought so too, until I discovered what he was attracted to, or at least that version of him. After tricking him into showing up at a rather risque party, he avoided all the other ponies in favor of the punch bowl which just happened to be spiked. Turns out he wanted someone with more power than him, and unfortunately the only ones like that were Sunbutt and Luna who he saw as daughters. Well, and you of course but with you being stoned out of your mind you weren't available at the time.”
Discord was unamused with his comment, which was shown on his face. Looking to the side he notices the six mares still watching them, unsure how to react to this development. “I almost forgot that they were there. Well mister expert, since you know so much, what do you think I should do about them?”
The mares flinch as the spirit of chaos points a claw towards them. Glancing over as he starts putting the scrolls away, Xellos shrugs. “Who knows. Maybe you should actually do something that they would never expect from you? Try actually making friends with them instead of pretending or fighting them.”
Looking at Xellos with a deadpan expression for a moment, the draconequus soon turns away. “Really? That is your suggestion? Make some friends? Of what use would I have for friends?”
“It just shows how little you know about chaos. Just look at them.” Xellos gestures over to the mares nearby. “You have a jock, a hillbilly, a nerd, a wallflower, a popular girl, and Pinkie Pie. How they stay friends without tearing each other apart is a mystery and if that isn't the perfect example of chaos then I don't know what is. Of course you have claimed to be a spirit of disharmony, but I find that to be a concept that is just too self-destructive.”
Hearing this, Discord actually takes a moment to look at the mares in a serious manner. He had always just mostly ignored the ponies and treated them as toys, but now that it was pointed out to him he was surprised that he didn't notice it before. Each of the mares was so different from each other and with their conflicting personalities he would have thought that they would have torn each other apart long ago. Shaking his head the serpentine spirit looked back over at the biped.
“I would say you were crazy and not making any sense with that idea. But where is the fun in making sense? Of course, you are right about one thing. I have absolutely no idea how to go about your idea since I've never had any friends before.” Xellos looked thoughtfully at Discord for a moment before he just shrugged.
“Don't ask me, I find that most just tolerate me since they can't rid of me. Why don't you ask the future princess of friendship over there.” He indicates the purple unicorn nearby which causes Discord's head to whip around and squint at her, causing the mare to fidget at the attention.
“Now how would you know something like that? I can see that she has the potential but how do you know for sure?” Xellos just grins as he digs around in his bag once again.
“Oh, it's just part of old Celly's plans, and I promised not to interfere with her student. Of course I never said anything about this.” Pulling out a scroll bound in a violet ribbon, he passes it over to Discord while keeping an eye on the mares. Unrolling it the draconequus' eye lifts as she takes in the information before he starts cackling madly.
“Oh, this idea is just crazy. So crazy that she would never expect it. I love it! If I didn't know any better I would think that you were on their side.” Holding his gut as he returns the scroll, Discord slowly wipes a tear away.
“Isn't it though? She'll never see it coming and in the end it just makes everything easier for me. Of course I would hope that you would stay out of this now that you know. I would hate to have to see just how much damage I could do if you ruin this.” Discord just chuckles as he waves off the glare from the monster.
“Oh don't worry about me. I wouldn't dream of interfering with this. Of course that doesn't mean I won't be around to watch the fireworks when she finds out. Now I guess I should go and give this... friendship thing... a try. Of course that doesn't mean that I have to make it easy on them, does it?” The two laughed as Discord slithered his way back towards the six mares while Xellos sat back to watch the fireworks.
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Princess Celestia finished up with her day court and was preparing to settle down for dinner with her sister when a wisp of green flame floated through a nearby window. Seeing it she smiled at hearing from her student, though she wondered what she had written about as she expected it to take a few days for them to deal with Discord. Unrolling the scroll when it appeared, she read through it slowly before her smile slowly morphed into a frown which wasn't missed by her sister. “Tia? Is something the matter? You usually are happy to hear from your student.”
Shaking her head, the solar princess looked over towards her lunar counterpart. “I am not sure. It seems that the issue with Discord is settled, yet I am worried about the cause of his change of heart. It appears that Xellos showed up and had a talk with him after I had left. Not long after he pulled him aside, Discord returned and was rather attentive to the Bearers of Harmony and seemed to be genuinely trying to make friends, if in his usual annoying way.”
Luna frowned as she heard about Xellos getting involved before she let out a huff. “Xellos is up to something. He never does anything if it does not benefit him in some way. Just what did he say to Discord and what is it going to mean for us?”
Celestia looked out the nearby window towards Ponyville in the distance. “I wish I knew.”