Authors notes:Many thanks to my young apprentice Amethyst Dawn for fixing my lousy punctuation.
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A lesson in respect
The golden eyes continued to stare at him, well one did, the other seemed to be looking at something else entirely. Discord wriggled back slightly. "Hi!" the grey Pegasus said cheerfully.
“Hello…” Discord replied, standing up. He was a little uneasy on his feet, "did I uh, crash into you by any chance?
“Yep” she said with a nod.
“And how did you um...” He hesitated, not wanting to use the word survive. "Are you okay?" he finally asked.
"Yeah, I feel fine!" he noticed muffins and mail scattered in every direction.
"Well I'm terribly sorry my dear, perhaps I could help you clean up this mess," Discord offered.
“Sure thing!” she replied, picking up her leather mail bag.
They spent the next few minutes gathering fallen letters. "What about the muffins?" he asked as the final letter was returned.
"Huh, oh I dunno where those came from," the pegasus said.
"Oh alright then" he said slowly, “what's your name” he asked as she prepared to fly away.
"Derpy Hooves!” she replied.
Derpy huh, what an odd name, Discord thought. "Well listen Derpy, I'm new in town and find myself in need of a...” He didn't want to say friend. "A companion, yes that's it, a companion, how would you like to accompany me into town?" She stared at him blankly, “I mean how would you like to take a walk with me?"
Her eyes lit up, "oh sure thing!" She said grinning. They set off, walking into Ponyville.
"That's Lyra," Derpy said, pointing to a light aqua mare sitting on a bench.
"Why does she sit like that?" Discord asked curiously.
“She won’t say, it’s a big secret.” They continued to walk casually through the streets of Ponyville, Discord taking in the sights, and Derpy pointing out the townsfolk that she knew. They passed a cafe, where Discord overheard two mares arguing.
“Honestly darling, classical music is so much more tasteful and refined,” came a sophisticated sounding voice.
“Yeah, if by refined you mean boring,” came a rougher voice.
“Oh you can be impossible sometimes!” The first voice said.
“Yeah, and that's why you love me right?” The second voice chuckled.
They don't need help Discord decided. "It all seems so peaceful" he said to his companion.
"Yeah, it’s pretty nice town, all the ponies are super nice to me… Well… All except for one…” Derpy finished quietly.
Discord froze, "what did you say?" he asked calmly.
“I said all the ponies are…”
"No not that" Discord cut her off, “did you say some pony is giving you a hard time?"
“Oh it’s not a big deal really" she said, looking nervously at the ground.
"I assure you it is a big deal, now please tell me who it is," he replied, looking at her.
“Well I'm kinda embarrassed about it… It’s a filly…” She trailed off.
“A filly is making trouble for you?” He asked slightly confused.
“Well it’s not just me, she's mean to everypony.” Derpy explained.
“What does she do to you?” Discord asked.
“She makes fun of my weird eyes” Derpy said softly, still looking at the ground. Time seemed to stand still, sounds were muffled, and all he saw was grey, as something inside of Discord snapped.
“She… makes... fun of you... because of your appearance?” he said slowly. Derpy nodded, “do you have something of hers by any chance?” he asked calmly.
Derpy reached into her bag and pulled out a letter, “she's gonna be mad if that letter gets lost.”
"Oh I think she will be fine my dear, now, why don't you get to work delivering those letters, and I'll see you later.” Discord said, smiling at her
"Okay see ya!” she cried, flying into the air. Discord walked quickly behind the nearest house and restored his unicorn disguise, magic was needed for what he was about to do. He touched the letter to his horn, feeling the life force of the pony who had written it. He closed his eyes, searching the town mentally for the matching life force. He found it quickly. It was coming from the school across town.
Discord sat on a cloud, floating just above Ponyville School. He could hear the laughter of fillies as they played, carefree out in the bright cloudless day. He scanned the playground, spotting Applejack's sister playing with two friends. He found it hard to believe that one of these smiling fillies could be the one who made fun of Derpy. Then he saw her, a light pink filly wearing some kind of silly tiara. He did a quick check with his magic, the life force matched. Oh the things he could do to her, turn her inside out, send her to the underworld. But Celestia's words rang in his mind, she wanted proof that he was capable of good. Well what better way to prove it than by sparing that ponies miserable life. Still, there was no harm in giving her a warning. Discord teleported down to the ground, appearing in front of Applebloom. "Hello Applebloom" he said cheerfully.
“Uh… Hi Vanishing Act,” she replied nervously, "ya know mah sisters lookin fer ya, she seemed pretty mad."
"Yes well, I'll speak to her later, now tell me about that filly over there,” he pointed to the cause of Derpy's unhappiness.
"That's Diamond Tiara", the white unicorn filly next to Applebloom said.
"And is she a problem?” He asked.
"Yeah she's always making fun of us because we don't have cutie marks.” Am orange fured pegasus filly replied.
That was all Discord needed to hear, "thank you girls" .He walked over to the one called Diamond Tiara, even saying the name in his head made Discord cringe. "Excuse me he said sweetly, are you Diamond Tiara?"
"Yeah I am, what the heck do you want?" Diamond Tiara asked suspiciously.
”Oh, I just wanted to have a chat,” and with a flash both of them vanished.
They re-emerged in the Everfree forest, Discord holding Diamond Tiara tightly in the grip of his magic. She kicked and thrashed. “LET ME GO!!!” she screamed.
Discord chuckled, “my dear, if I let you go in here you wouldn't live 10 minutes. You'd fall down a hole or touch a poisonous plant… That is if you weren't devoured first.”
She stopped struggling, “w… what do you want?”
“Oh there are a lot of things I want, many of which I didn't even realize before today. But the one thing I want most of all right now," he pulled her close enough that she could see her reflection in his shades, “is to skin you alive.”
She burst in to tears. “Please don't hurt me!” She wailed, “I'll do whatever you want!”
“Oh relax, as much as I want to kill you, I can’t. Not directly anyway, now I hear that you've been making fun of Derpy, is that true?" He asked.
“Y..yes” she sobbed.
"And why may I ask have you been making fun of her?" He queried.
“Be... because she has weird eyes…” She whimpered.
"I see, weird eyes, well I’d love to get your opinion on something, would you rather have weird eyes, or no eyes?" With a flash of magic, Diamond Tiara's eyes turned a milky white.
She screamed, “wh... wh... what have you done!?” she whimpered.
"I took your eye sight, you didn't deserve it anyway.” He released his magic grip, and she fell to the ground with a thud. Discord watched in amusement as she fumbled around in the dirt, unable to gain her balance. “Now what else can I do with you?” he wondered aloud, “oh of course, you have a problem with blank flanks don't you.”
“No…” she whimpered.
“DON'T LIE TO ME!!!” he roared, “oh how I hate people like you.”
His mind flashed back to more painful memories. "Celestia they're all staring at me."
"Let them stare" she said reassuringly, “you have nothing to be ashamed of."
He felt like every pair of eyes was on him, as they strolled down Canterlot’s main street. Now about the whole blank flank thing, he charged his horn, this was going take a huge amount of magical power. His horn pulsed as he gathered more and more magic, then finally he cast the spell. There was an explosion of green energy, which flattened all the nearby trees. Discord looked around, examining the damage he had caused, maybe that magic suppressor ring isn't as powerful as Celestia thought. There in the centre of the destruction lay Diamond Tiara, she was unharmed except for one thing, her cutie mark was gone.
Discord walked over to where she lay, motionless. He bent down and whispered in her ear, “no more making fun of blank flanks I guess.” She didn't respond, "oh you must me in shock my dear, well don't worry, the blindness spell is temporary, the cutie mark removal spell however, is not. I'll decide when you get that back,” she muttered something, “what was that my dear?”
“I.. I'm sorry…” Diamond Tiara whimpered.
He stood up, "yes of course you are my dear", he said sarcastically. "This town is a happy place, filled with happy ponies, you are the only piece of that puzzle that doesn't fit, so if I were you, I would convince my parents to pack up and leave this town, and never come back. He teleported her back to the schoolyard where they had met, leaving him standing alone amid the destruction he had caused, "Oh discord you are a smooth one" he said to himself.