“I'll tell you what we've learned Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for.”
“Ugh, gag. Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements. Just make it quick. I'm missing some excellent chaos here.”
“All right, ladies! Let’s show him what friendship can do!”
Discord sat in his throne atop the purple checkered hill, a smug look on his long face. He was surrounded by chaos. In fact, he’d made Ponyville the Chaos Capital of Equestria, and now a handful of ponies were going to try and take it away from him. Not that they’d succeed, of course. He’d seen to it that they would fail. After all, how could the Elements of Harmony possibly work when the ponies behind them couldn’t work in harmony long enough to even put them on?
So he wasn’t worried when Twilight Sparkle levitated into the air. He didn’t even really notice when the other five ponies came behind her. All the really noticed was when the Cutie Marks came flying towards him, bursting forth from the elements. Then he noticed that the ponies were decidedly less gray than when he’d last seen them.
Wait, was that...?
Oh. Oh, no. No. No, no, no no no.
Yes. The Rainbow of Light erupted from the Elements of Harmony. It was too late for Discord to do anything. Just like last time.
Just like with Celestia and Luna.
As the rainbow came bearing down on him, he found himself saying, “But Chaos was supposed to be more powerful than anything...”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from studying friendship, Discord, it’s that there is nothing stronger than it!”
Discord heard a roaring sound in his ears as the rainbow rushed past him. He felt his body turning to stone from his snake tail to his mismatched feet, up his body. He was powerless to stop it, and he couldn’t keep the look of horror off his face.
“How! How did you do this to me? I don’t understand!”
“That’s just it, Discord,” boomed an ethereal voice.
The ponies stopped and looked up, and then immediately knelt down. Discord opened one eye and saw that he had stopped turning to stone at about chest height. He sighed with relief.
Princess Celestia flapped her wings as she landed on the ground. The rushing rainbow had restored the area around them to normal. Twilight rushed to her mentor’s side. “Princess Celestia! When did you get here? I thought you were still in Canterlot!”
“I only just arrived,” said Celestia. “Luna has been sending the letters back through Spike. I was afraid you might need a little more encouragement.”
Discord rolled his eyes. “Oh, gag me with a fork.”
“Discord.” Princess Celestia approached him. He scowled at her. “You never did understand. When you were taking joy in creating chaos, you didn’t see how unhappy all the ponies of Equestria were.”
“Excuse me for trying to liven things up a little.”
“Because of your selfish need for chaos, you can’t live in Equestria with the rest of us.”
“Who died and made you queen?”
“I’m sorry, Discord, but there’s no other way.”
“Fine. You’re sorry. Can you stop gloating now?”
“I’m not gloating.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“I came to appeal to you one last time, to see if there was anything inside you apart from chaos.”
“Sure feels like you’re gloating to me.”
“I hate that it has to be this way.”
“Well, so do I. If we both hate it, then why don’t you go ahead and undo this and I’ll forget the whole thing.”
“No,” said Celestia. “As long as the magic of friendship is lost to you, there can be no other way.”
“Well, then what if I learned about your silly little friendship whatever? Then would you let me go?”
Twilight looked up at Celestia. “Princess?”
“I would love nothing more than for you to unlock its magic.”
Up to this point, Discord was just trying to keep her talking. The longer she spoke, the longer he had outside his stone prison. However, he realized that he’d hit upon something in this particular vein of conversation, and he pressed on. “What say we make a deal?”
“You are in no position to bargain with me, Discord.”
“Oh, come on. I thought princesses were supposed to be full of love and compassion. How about spreading a little of it out this way? How about not sending me back to Stoneville to spend the next thousand years cooped up by myself? I might go even more crazy than I already am. And when I break free next time--”
“Discord.” Celestia cut him off. “I would like to offer you a chance.”
The other ponies gasped. Discord looked intrigued.
“Princess, are you sure--”
“Quite sure, Twilight Sparkle,” said Celestia. “Discord, you are currently trapped under the powers of the Elements of Harmony. I’m going to give you one chance to redeem yourself. Are you listening to me?”
Discord waved his paw. “Yeah, yeah, I’m listening.”
“I’m serious, Discord.”
“Me too!” Discord threw his palms up and looked frustrated.
“I’m going to send you somewhere far away, somewhere they don’t know you. You’re going to see what it’s like to make friends.”
“Boy, this sounds familiar.”
“Every time you try to use your magic to create chaos, the Elements of Harmony will react and you’ll continue to turn to stone. But if you do something to help other ponies or if you’re nice to them, you’ll slowly turn back into your own Draconequus self. If you’re truly able to unlock the magic that is friendship, then you’ll be free from the Elements and their magic. Do you understand?”
“Blah blah blah friendship is magic, I got it.”
“And Discord?”
“What?”
“This is your last chance. Now that we know that your stone prison can be weakened if the Elements of Harmony change hands or fall into disuse, we will take steps to ensure this won’t happen again, not in a thousand years, not in a hundred thousand years. Do you understand, Discord?”
When Discord spoke next, he wasn’t flippant or arrogant. His voice was actually smaller than any of the little ponies had ever heard it. “Yeah. Sure, I understand.”
Celestia smiled. Then she turned around. “Sorry, girls, but you’re going to have to hold on to those elements for just a little longer.”
“But Princess,” said Twilight.
Celestia turned to face Discord. Then, in a diamond flash of light, he was gone. But this time it was not his doing. It was Celestia who had sent him away. Then she turned back to Twilight. “Yes, my most faithful student?”
“What if he really does figure out the magic of friendship? What happens then?”
Celestia smiled. “That’s exactly what I’m hoping will happen.”