Discord was, all in all, quite pleased with this little excursion to the north. He had gained a powerful ally, someone else that could stand against his enemies; and, if that ally could live up to his promises, he would gain something that could destroy the Elements of Harmony. With these happy thoughts in mind and a grin on his face, he snapped his fingers, and headed home.
Discord's return from the Crystal Empire was met with a world of chaos. And not the kind of chaos that he liked.
There was no resemblance to the odd but peaceful grove that he called home. The trees were burning. Any homes that the refugees he sheltered had built had been torn down, or were in the process of falling. And the innocent ponies that he protected were being attacked and chased by soldiers in gold or black armor: Solar and Lunar guards.
Looking around, he quickly spotted the only two that could have been responsible for such an attack: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The taller, white one stood in front, looking with glee at the destruction her soldiers were causing. The darker one, on the other hand, kept to the back, behind her sister, carefully keeping well out of harm's way.
A shout from one of the guards alerted them to Discord's presence, but he did not care whether they knew he was there or not. Nor did he care about the odd, multi-colored stones that surrounded them.
"I..."
Boulders the size of buildings were forcibly removed from the ground, and fissures began to suddenly open around what would soon become their battlefield as the Spirit of Chaos raised his hands.
"... will..."
Black thunderclouds formed overhead, quickly filling the sky and covering everything below them with bolts of lightning, many strikes blackening the earth for dozens of feet around the point of impact.
"... KILL YOU!"
And he meant it. There was no longer any trace of the care-free and jovial spirit that most knew Discord as. Now, there was only rage, and the desire to make the ones that had attacked his charges pay. Now, all he cared about was revenge.
Every pony that stopped in the midst of the confusion to look at the display was terrified. Never before had any of them seen such a violent and wrathful side of the usually harmless spirit, nor had any heard of such an occurrence anytime in the past. All of Equestria seemed to shake, and the very fabric of reality strained to contain the massive surge of power.
With a last roar, all of the might and anger of the God of Chaos was unleashed, chunks of rock flying, lightning crashing, and pure, unrefined force being thrown at the two sisters. Anything in the center of the maelstrom Discord created could not have survived, being torn apart in seconds, and in more ways than could be counted.
Yet the two princesses were not defeated, and Celestia's mocking laughter could be barely heard above the destruction. Every one of Discord's attacks stopped short, halted by a rainbow-hued barrier being formed by the odd stones that the sisters possessed. But Discord did not even notice those stones, too stunned that his power was proving useless against his targets. He wasn't able to focus enough to question why he was suddenly powerless to stop them, and never saw their counter-attack as it hurtled toward him.
He felt a sudden yank on his tail, and was barely pulled out of the way of the rainbow beam in time. Shaking off his shock and looking behind him, he saw the new pegasus, Storm Feather, with a determined look on his face. "We've got to move," was all that he said, after spitting out Discord's tail.
Still, Discord turned back to face the princesses, intending to fight them, even after realizing that they possessed the Elements, which seemed to be recharging for another attack. He was determined to face them head on, even if he knew that he was going to lose. But a yell from further inside the grove immediately shoved all such thoughts from his mind.
"Daddy!?"
Before Storm Feather could comprehend the new voice, he found himself being picked up by the Spirit of Chaos, and experiencing the nauseating sensation of teleportation. After a brief moment of reprieve, he was once again dragged through the fabric of space-time, now landing somewhere much farther away.
Upon being dropped onto the ground, he looked up and saw Discord holding an odd looking filly, with a pink and white mane and tail, and a hat with a propeller on it. He also noticed that her eyes seemed to have swirls in them, and that she had a cutie mark of a screw and baseball. She was crying, and holding onto the spirit tightly.
Discord seemed to be comforting the odd looking pony, although his methods might be questionable. Although, being given cotton candy probably cheered up every foal, no matter how suddenly it appeared.
"There, there, I'm here." Discord was patting her back gently and whispering to her. "I'm going to take you somewhere safe. But first I have to get the others. Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Promise?" The filly was wiping away some tears at this point, but wasn't freaking out anymore.
"Promise." With that, Discord teleported away, leaving the two in a clearing a safe distance from the attack.
Discord teleported all around the forest, looking for any other refugees. Every time that he found one, he would take them back to Storm Feather and Screwball. He kept repeating the process, but knew that he wouldn't be able to save any of them if he kept looking for too long.
So, after making one final check, he headed back. He saw that he had only managed to gather a handful, barely ten ponies in all, and every one of them worried about family and friends that weren't there; but he couldn't risk leaving them alone again to look for more, and could hear soldiers spreading out to look for other runners. He looked back one last time at his only home, before snapping his fingers, sending himself, his daughter, and all the rest, far, far away.