In the deepest part of the Everfree Forest lies many secrets- animals who are able to fend for themselves, plants that grow without much sunlight, and many hidden caves in which creatures big and small sleep.
But one such creature was not like the others. Deep within one such cave, on the other side of the Everfree Forest, far away from the alicorn sisters castle slept one of the most powerful and chaotic creatures, whose name many do not know.
In the cave lay a bed as long as an anaconda, with sheets decorated with many colorful polka dots and swirly lines. The odd being rumbled underneath the covers, trying to catch more sleep to no avail as the afternoon went on.
Suddenly, the being rose out of bed, yawning and stretching its limbs, saying,
“Time to get up already?” The odd creature snapped his fingers, producing an old fashioned clock and a stone calendar of the year.
“Why, it hasn’t even been a full millennia yet? Talk about your early wake up calls.” The being sighed.
The being got out of bed, with the blanket still wrapped around him. His head was that of a pony’s, but had a deer’s antler on the right side of his head, while a horn of a goat rested upon his left.
Snapping his fingers again, a cardinal popped up right in front of him, which tried to get away before the being grabbed it out of the air with the arm inside the cover in which he slept in.
“Would it have killed you to sing more quietly!?” He grumpily yelled, causing the bird to be flung from his grasp and blown across the room and land against the cavern wall by the sheer volume of his voice.
“Well, I suppose now is a good time as any to get out of this cave and see how much has changed since I’ve been gone.” The being yawned, dropping the blanket to the floor.
What the blanket revealed was a sight to behold. He had a body of a snake and right and left arms of a lion and an eagle. He sported two wings, one of which was that of a pegasus and other of a dragon, and a scaly dragon tail with a fluffy poofy bit at the end.
He looked around the room, scanning for a special stone. Upon finding what he was looking for, he moved from his bed, past the dazed cardinal, and stopped in front of a round boulder, looking at it intensely.
“Alright little buddy, claws crossed that you’re still with me.” he said with a concerned tone.
He cracked his knuckles and lifted the stone in the air with his lion paw and began transforming it with his eagle hand. Soon enough, the boulder began to shine brightly and spin at a furious speed, until finally the object revealed itself. It was a fish bowl, already filled to the brim with water, and within it a tiny goldfish swam around his little undersea castle.
“Ah, Q! My wonderful little golden companion, it’s been a coon’s age since I’ve seen you!” The draconequus hugged the fish bowl tightly.
“How’ve you been since your good buddy Discord settled down for his nap?” He asked cheerfully.
Q blew a few bubbles from his mouth and swam in a circle around the top tower of his submerged castle.
“Hahaha, I missed you too,” Discord said with a smile. “Now let’s find that feed for you.”
Discord stretched out his sides as if they were pockets and began sifting through them.
“I know I stored your food in here somewhere.” Discord said to himself.
“Aha! Here it is!” Discord took out a rock and began to unlock it with his powers, only this time, a bag of bait appeared.
“Here you go Q, just the way you like’em.”
Q happily ate his food one gulp at a time, finishing off his breakfast with ease, while Discord snapped his fingers to produce a basket of muffins drizzled with sprinkles and cream cheese.
“Hmm that was good,” Discord stretched his arms some more. “Time to head out and see if this little slice of paradise is still disorganized as I remember it.” Discord gave Q’s bowl another hug and walked out of the mouth of the cave into the forest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Discord began floating among the Everfree Forest, taking in the spender of how little had changed. timberwolves hunting smaller prey in packs, a cragadile napping in a bog and a cockatrice turning a rabbit to stone.
“What a wonderful afternoon so much rampant chaos,” Discord grinned, floating along his merry way.
When Discord reached the end of the forest, he noticed something very different- a wide clearing with a long stretch of dirt road had replaced the trees that had been there before.
“My, my. These ponies have been quite busy for the past 1000 years, since my last outing,” Discord said, sounding a little perplexed.
Discord walked into the middle of the road, staring to his right when he exited the forest.
“I wonder if there are any new towns in need of some chaos?” He chuckled cheerfully, when suddenly he felt something hit his spiny back from behind, which made a thud on the ground.
He turned his head and looked behind him, seeing a young pegasus pony lying on the dirt road. She had a wild, sky-blue mane, and a coat as white as the clouds. She had a cutie mark of a bright sky. She must have been the one who bumped into discord from behind.
“Skyline, are you okay!?” A voice shouted from afar.
Discord lifted his head in the direction of the voice, and another mare came into view.
Her coat was as white as the pony who crashed into him. The unicorn pony had a curly pink mane and tail. The mare’s cutie mark was a red heart accompanied with a pink ribbon wrapped around it.
“Yeah,” Skyline responded. “I just crashed into this jer- Yoah!” Skyline pulled off a huge jump and backed away from whoever she crashed into. “Who are you!? And what are you?” Skyline asked Discord.
“I finally caught up to you, Skyline. are you okay? And why are you backing- .” The unicorn looked upon the spectacle that was Discord. “Oh my,” She finished in a low nervous tone.
“Why, hello there.” Discord poofed a hat out of thin air, bowing before them. “To whom do I owe the pleasure?” He said with a grin.
“Tender Heart! Stay away from him!” Skyline shouted, rushing to protect her friend.
“Easy now, Skyline,” Tender Heart said, trying to calm her friend down. “He may look odd, but that’s no reason to believe he’ll hurt us,” she said.
“My word,” Discord began. “Is that anyway to treat somepony you’ve just met? I’ve just woken up from a deep slumber, I decided to explore what has changed over the years,” he stated, while putting away his hat. “If you’re going to be like that, then I have no business talking to you two!” He said with a scowl.
Discord began to leave, but stopped when he heard Tender Heart say.
“Wait! I’m sorry for my friend’s rude behavior Mr...? What is your name?” She asked.
“Discord. The name’s Discord, not that it matters anymore,” he grumpily said.
He walked into the bushes on the other side of the road, while the two mares argued.
“Skyline, I can’t believe you!” Tender Heart shouted.
“Tender Heart, I know you’re upset, but hear me out,” Skyline urged.
“He wasn’t doing anything threatening, he was just minding his own business, until you crashed into him!” She yelled.
“Didn’t you get a good look at him? He looked really sketchy. The dude is an entire mismatched zoo.”
“That’s no reason to act hostile,” Tender Heart said. “He could have been a visitor from the other side of the world. There are other races that share it, other than Griffons and Yaks," Tender Heart said.
“Not to mention dragons. Which I’m pretty sure our new visitor’s tail is,” Skyline pointed out.
“Oh come now, Skyline, there hasn’t been a dragon causing trouble ever since Princess Celestia used her royal Canterlot voice to frighten away a dragon, years ago,” Tender Heart spoke with a grin. “I’m sure our visitor isn’t here to cause trouble.”
“But he made a hat appear and disappear out of thin air, did you forget about that!?” Skyline exclaimed.
“I do admit, that was rather impressive. Perhaps all of his kind have that same ability,” Tender Heart pondered.
“Well, you keep theorizing. I’m off for a good afternoon flight, or what’s left of it anyways,” she said.
“Skyline, wait!” But by the time Tender Heart spoke out, Skyline had already taken off, flying over the Everfree forest. “Darn, I was going to remind her that Luna was bringing forth the night earlier this evening.”
“What am I going to do about her?” Tender Heart sighed to herself as she began walking home.
When the coast was clear, Discord walked out of the bush, onto the dirt road, staring towards the direction Tender Heart went. Standing there for what seemed to be the longest time, contemplating something.
“Celestia, huh?” He said, while playing with his goatee. “Now that’s a name, I haven’t heard of in ages,” Discord said with a sour tone.
Suddenly, a brown squirrel popped out of the bushes, and ran up his tail before resting on his shoulder and chattering in his ear.
“Oh, really,” Discord said. The squirrel chattered some more. Whatever he said made Discord wear a big, crooked smile.
“Oh I knew inflicting you fellas with a touch of chaos was the quickest way of obtaining information,” Discord said, petting the squirrel.
“Now scoot, scoot!” Discord shooed the creature off his shoulder. He turned away, but then thought better of it and teleported back to the squirrel. “Sorry Samual, I almost forgot.” Discord reached down with his eagle talon and touched the squirrel’s forehead. “Spread this among more of your furry friends, will you? I’ll have to build up a following after all,” He said cheerfully.
The squirrel nodded and went into the forest to find more of its friends.
“So, Celestia and Luna are the rulers of this Equestria?” He Manifested a glass of red wine in his lion’s paw and took a sip.
“This is going to be fun!” He said as he began laughing, with wine glass in paw.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Discord went right to it, inflicting chaos to all of the Everfree Forest’s animals, from the aggressive timberwolves to the cranky cragadile. Though he was careful not to alter the terrain. He decided to start his campaign in another forest, so that the alicorn sisters wouldn’t notice his plan before it was in motion. After all, he had a flare for the dramatic.
Many of the animals told him how much things had changed since he was gone. Carriages were being made, farms were prospering greatly, high society ponies were living the good life, and ponies were actually wrapping up winter, as they called it. Discord thought it was high time he moved in and took control, right there and now.
Two cockatrices approached Discord while he was attending to some choir coaching. “Now boys and girls, let’s take it again from the top! A 1, 2, 3, 4-”
“Bak!” The cockatrice yelled.
“Oh what is it!? Can’t you see I’m building a chorus?” Discord swayed his arms in the direction of the mountain of critters, lined up to practice their parts.
“Bak!” The cockatrice said, signaling the other four behind him to bring forth what they petrified. Discord walked past them to examine their find.
“Ah! I remember her. Quite rude if you ask me, hahaha.” Discord walking away, not revealing the statue’s identity, frozen in a prison of stone by the cockatrice’s gaze, forever locked in the same stance of anger.
“Soon, Chaos will reign supreme, and I will be King!” Discord proclaimed.
Then, suddenly, out from the bushes came a muscle-buffed brown squirrel, carrying a fish bowl.
“Q! Oh and just in time too.” Discord Picking up his bowl and raised it to shoulder length.
“Everything is proceeding smoothly. I’ll make my move when the sun begins to raise.” Discord explained to Q.
“Then those now ‘pretty princesses,’ Discord air quoted. We’ll see how much more powerful I’ve become!” They’d be like: “‘Oh, I’m so sorry I mistreated you, and said all those awful things to you, Discord!’” He imitated Celestia’s voice, as best as he remembered.
“‘You are the coolest guy I’ve ever known. I was only mean to you, cause Sister didn’t like you,’” he continued, this time imitating Luna’s voice.
“Oh this is so exciting! I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.” As Discord spoke, his entire body shivered and quilled.
“Kak! Kak!” A raven swooped down from beyond the tree line.
“Oh! That’s the signal!” Discord squeed.
“Okay now, you all know what to do right?” Discord asked the many animals surrounding him.
Every animal nodded in unison. The sun began to shine brightly. Discord yelled, “Hit it!”
Music slowly began. Instruments manifested out of thin air, being played on their own, as a result of Discord’s magic.
“My dear Q, I’ve found something dreadful,”
he began to sing while holding his fish bowl closely.
“Equestria has become civilized and dull as can be.”
He set Q’s fish bowl aside.
“What is with these ponies? Why does everything need to make sense!?”
He raised his arms and then grabbed his head.
“Time for the lord of chaos to make his entrance!”
A door appeared and Discord opened and went through it, while singing.
“I’m Chaos Incarnate!”
The animals sang along, “Oh ooh” with him
“Those silly ponies will be tongue tied and scared out of their wits!”
Discord grabbed his tongue and tied it in a knot.
“Those princesses can’t hope to stop me, they’re not even in my league!”
Discord created a copy of the Equestrian flag and then rolled it into a ball and pitched it into the bog.
“If they dare interfere, I’ll humiliate them for their subjects to see!”
Discord conjured up alicorn puppets, only to have Celestia and Luna dance wildly.
The animals began to sing their part in unison.
“In the dawn of his reign, rain will be chocolate.”
As the animals sang that verse, Discord summoned a pink rain cloud, which began raining chocolate into his mouth.
“In the dawn of his reign, Chaos will spread.”
After the verse, Discord snapped his claw and everything around him began to change. All the plant life transformed into wilder plants, and grass changed into tile-patterned floors.
“Turning pony kind on it’s side, fills me with glee.”
He sang happily.
“In the dawn of his reign,”
“I’ll be King!” Discord chimed in again.
The chorus slowed down a bit, waiting for Discord’s lines.
“Time to tidy myself up for a wonderous occasion.”
Discord cleaning his ear.
“Get me my crown and cape!”
Suddenly, a few animals brought Discord a red fluffy cape and a crown made of gold.
“Those ponies never showed my any grace, let’s see them cower in place!”
Discord acted graceful in front of the smoke silhouettes of ponies, only to raise his arms menacingly, scaring the smokey images.
“When I turn their homes into a chaotic place!”
When Discord raised his arms, more of the forest changed. Instead of trees and caves, there were strange houses, bushes, and many strange objects floating in the air.
The animals began again.
“In the dawn of his reign, critters will change.”
“Altering them is so much fun!”
Discord began zapping critter after critter, until none of them were normal.
“In the dawn of his reign, pigs will fly.”
Discord snapped his claw and pigs with wings started to fly around.
“Soon those sisters will know who truly rules the roost.” Discord transformed himself into a rooster and stood atop a hen house.
“In the dawn of his reign,”
The animals sang their reprise.
“They’ll be through!”
Discord shouted, while hitting Celestia and Luna game pieces off a chess board.
“In the dawn of his reign, night and day will be random.”
A low croak from a frog sang, “Random!”
“In the dawn of his reign, buffalos will dance,”,
“Wearing tutu’s!” The same frog sang.
“The time is now, prepare yourselves for a ride!”
Discord sang while he conjured up a rollercoaster, with him and Q strapped in for the ride.
“In the dawn of his reign.
in the dawn of his reign.”
The animal chorus became louder, and Discord’s and Q’s coaster ride ended.
“Gather ‘round my chaotic critters,”
Discord chimed in.
“Listen to what I’m about to say.”
All the animals focused intensely on Discord’s every word.
“Scatter to every corner, let your presence be known!”
At this, the animals dispersed, heading all across Equestria to spread his chaos.
The animals’ vocal performance began to pick up momentum, while Discord turned Q’s bowl back into a rock again and placed underneath ground for safe keeping.
“In the dawn of his reign.
in the dawn of his reign.
in the dawn of his reign!”
The animals sang louder.
“Equestria will be mine!”
Discord yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Phew, that was a delightful start for my chaotic takeover,” he said, producing a throne from beneath him.
As he sat there, Discord could see two alicorn silhouettes off in the distance.
Discord cracked his knuckles and said, “Let the fun begin.”