Everyone in the room gave the draconequus a confused look.
“The Elements of Disharmony? That sounds like some sort of cheap knockoff of the Elements of Harmony.”
The cyan pegasus spoke out.
“You’d think that, wouldn’t you Rainbow Dash?”
He turned around and held up held up the index finger of his paw hand.
“But that’s not the case at all. You see I made the Elements of Disharmony immediately after I escaped a few months ago as a countermeasure against the Elements of Harmony if they were to be used against me. But as you witnessed firsthand my confidence got the better of me.”
He slouched and groaned as he recalled that unsavory memory. The alicorn princess looked down to him and asked, “Do you know their whereabouts?”.
“Of course I know! The problem is getting them.”
The white unicorn asked, “How so?”.
He sighed.
“You see... I kinda hid them all over the place. But you can take reprieve in the fact that they’re not far from Ponyville.”
“Well that’s convenient.” the lavender unicorn sarcastically remarked.
“If you want convenience the closest one is out in the gardens.”
“Wow! That is convenient!”
The former god of chaos looked up to the alicorn.
“Mind if I hitch a ride again?”
“As much as it bothers me to say this, I will. We need your help to save Equestria from certain destruction.”
She lowered her head for him to climb her mane, which he did. He then lied down on her back.
“Ready when you are.”
She looked back to him and nodded.
“Alright. Girls come with us to the gardens.”
They all agreed and followed the regal mare and her newly acquired passenger out of the ruined castle. As they walked to the gardens they struck up a conversation.
“So Discord, why are ya helpin’ us?”
“Well primarily it’s because I want my powers back.”
“Is that your only reason?” the yellow pegasus asked as she floated above him and to the side.
“Not really. I also really dislike Chaos.”
They all gave him a confused look and an awkward silence fell.
“My dark side.”
“Oh.”
They all exclaimed as their previous interpretation of his statement was cleared from mind.
“Anyways I just don’t like him. He’s no fun at all. It’s always ‘BREAK THIS, DESTROY THAT!’.” he finished whilst doing his best vocal impersonation of Chaos which was pretty accurate but not as deep and gruff as the target voice, “I just don’t see the fun in his ways. You could say where I would fill a pie with hot sauce, he would light it on fire while somepony was eating it! The effects are similar yes, you still get a burning sensation in your mouth either way, but using fire over hot sauce would leave a much more permanent mark and is far more destructive.”.
“So what you’re saying is he is chaotic, but in the sense that he’s destructive?”
“That is indeed what I’m saying Rarity.”
The princess stopped in her tracks and her entourage followed suit.
“Celestia, would you mind explaining why you stopped all of a sudden?”
The draconequus inquired of the white alicorn and she looked back to him.
“You never told us where in the gardens the first element was.”
“Oh yeah. I didn’t did I? Just go to where my statue was, I can show you from there.” he said as he laid back down and waved his hand in the air in a “Get moving” fashion.
“Thank you. Now let’s get going.”
As they continued their march to the gardens the draconequus decided to take a nap to pass the time.
“Hey Discord!”
The pink one interrupted the draconequus’ nap.
“Yes, Pinkie?”
“Why are you so teeny-tiny right now?”
“I honestly don’t know Pinkie. But if I had to guess, it’s because I don’t have any powers right now.” he sighed and held his hand straight out before his face looked it over back and palm multiple times, “No powers, and I’m smaller than a foal. Isn’t this just wonderful?” he closed his eyes continued to nap.
“Um, Discord...” a voice faintly registered in his ears, “Excuse me...” it got slightly louder, “Are you still asleep?”.
“Who’s bothering me?” he thought to himself as the voice got slightly louder.
“Please wake up.” he felt someone gently shaking him which roused him from his slumber, “Ah, your awake.”.
“No thanks to you.” he rubbed his eyes irritated.
“Sorry...” it was the timid pegasus, “... but what you said earlier has been nagging at me a bit.”.
“What is it Fluttershy?” he asked annoyed.
“You said Celestia was sprinting for twelve seconds.”
“And?”
“Well I’m not certain how fast she can run, but I doubt she could run from your statue to the castle’s entry hall in twelve seconds.”
The princess looked back at her.
“Of course I can’t run that fast. We were already walking back there for a short while by the time Discord gave me that advice.”
The pegasus looked at her.
“Oh, that explains a lot. Thanks.”
“Now if you’ll excuse I have some beauty sleep to catch up on. The next time I wake up we’d best be at my statue’s former standing place.” with that statement he went back to sleep.
Sitting in a hot air balloon miles above the world’s surface was a familiar draconequus returned to his former size.
“This should be fun! A little skydiving is just what I needed!”
He lowered the goggles he had so they covered his eyes and put on his parachute.
“Everything’s ready! Let’s get this show on the road!”
He bent his knees and arched his back as he prepared to dive.
“Three... two... one... GO!”
He leapt from the balloon and reoriented himself to maximize his air resistance as the sound of rushing wind continually graced his ears and the wind chill seeped through his fur.
“What a view! This is definitely a plus to skydiving!”
He looked out at the setting sun as it cast it’s orange glow on the world below.
“Such beauty, such tranquility!”
He raised a questioning brow as he realized what he just said.
“Wait a second. Tranquility? Why would I be interested in that? Now that I think about it, how did I get here?”
He looked around to see the continually growing world beneath him get ever closer.
“Wasn’t I in Canterlot a few moments ago?”
He rubbed his chin in ponder. He then snapped his fingers.
“I know! I must be dreaming! Well no one ever gets hurt in dreams!”
He lowered his angle so he was now nose-diving.
“What a rush!”
As he approached the world at ever rising speeds he thought to himself, “Even if no one gets hurt in dreams I should probably open my parachute now.”
He grabbed the pull cord to his parachute and he expected to slow down.
But the truth was quite the opposite. He felt something tug at his back towards the ground and he found himself now falling towards the ground back first.
“What?!”
He looked up, or in this case down to see where there should have been a parachute was instead an anvil with “2 TONS” written and clearly visible on top.
“OH COME ON!”
He looked to the skies and closed his eyes.
“Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up!”
He opened his eyes and saw that he was still falling. He looked down to the ground to see it seconds away.
“I withdraw my previous statement. You can get hurt in dreams.”
He closed his eyes and waited.
“AHHHH!”
The draconequus screamed in pain as his eyes shot open and he landed on a small, round rock back first.
“Sorry about that Discord. You just wouldn’t wake up so I had to shake you off. I didn’t notice that rock though.”
“OH YEOWCH THAT HURTS!”
He rolled off the rock holding his back and groaning in pain.
The cyan pegasus mumbled to herself, “Didn’t notice the rock my flank. You looked right at it before shaking him off.”