//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Discord's Mask // by Recamen //------------------------------// It wasn't easy, being a god. Granted, it wasn't all bad. There were advantages. The entire world's knowledge lay available to you. You could do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. If you desired herds of chocolate buffalo flying across a sky overcast with bright orange clouds every morning, you got it. Sometimes, you even got followers, creatures who obeyed your every command... sometimes for the sole reason that you were you. But being a god did not mean that you were the only god in the universe. There were countless others just as powerful as you, and just as wary of your power as you were of theirs. You needed drawbacks: in his case, "thou shalt not kill" and "thou must give a fighting chance". Discord had followed the first rule obediently all these years. Sure, I may have... messed with a few minds here and there along the way, but really, isn't that what godhood is all about? he asked himself. Making sure your mortal minions obeyed you? Honestly, I really can't see how I'm any different from the rest of the universe. Other gods did it, too - they just used fire and brimstone to do the job instead. Hardly any different, in my opinion, thought the imprisoned god of chaos. He'd paid homage to the second rule too. Oh, Discord knew that those six mares had restored one another. You'd have to be colorblind not to notice that they'd all transformed back from shades of gray to their original coats and manes. He could have easily just changed them all back... but no, there were Rules. Not that he always hated the rules - he was, after all, a god of chaos and preferred an uncertain conflict to an absolute outcome. Absolutes are not chaos. Still, presenting his only weakness with an opportunity... How was I to know the Elements could return to their former masters!? he cursed. Knowledge of the Elements of Harmony is so... incomplete. That's the trouble with lost knowledge - you can't get it back, once everyone who knows it dies. All I'd known was that the Elements had left Celestia and Luna, and had not returned. I'd thought it meant that once the Elements left, they could not be borne again by their previous masters... not one of my finer theories. He'd been wrong about many things... He looked out over the world. Powerless though he was to act, Discord was at least granted the freedom to watch the world pass him by. Usually, it was about as exciting as watching paint dry. All ponies, griffons, diamond dogs, or whoever else ever cared to do was live each day exactly like the day before! It was all just one bundle of getting up, working, friendship, going home, going to bed. Where was the conflict? Where was the story in that? The only thing theatrical about their lives was that they sometimes spontaneously burst into song, and most of that came from Pinkie Pie. Oh, there had been that promising young talent, Chrysalis... but she'd been beaten by the power of love. LOVE, for goodness' sakes! At least he could say it took legendary artifacts thousands of years old to beat him! She was just - Discord inwardly shook his head and smiled. No matter, he thought to himself. I'm not one to make "backup plans". They're more... "backup spontaneous ideas". Still, as blessed chance would have it, two of them have met today. Just the way I like it, really. Makes me so proud of Screwball! If he could, Discord might have wiped a false fatherly tear from his face. The god of chaos, as he himself admitted, was not terribly proficient at planning, let alone for the long term. Plans were orderly, and were meant to be followed to the letter. But... he DID have a follower, who was neither bound to his flaws as a god nor one of the wretched Discorded of the Grey Hinterlands. And that follower held in her hooves something very powerful... something that could change all his fortunes once and for all. Discord's thoughts went up to the moon. He grinned. Most importantly, he had a spontaneous idea. Thou shalt not kill. Not directly, at least, thought Discord. And though I confess, I am loathe to do it... I've been trapped in this state for far too long...