Discord's Very First Faithful Student

by Pokonic

Lessons To Be Learned

It took five minutes after Twilight Sparkle left the library for Diamond Tiara to get her stuff together to set up on the main table that dominated the library side of the tree-house.

It took five seconds for Diamond Tiara to get angry at her self-appointed teacher, because it took five seconds for him to say the words that crushed the plans for the day that she formed a few moments before.

"What do you mean you can't tell me what you did for thousands of years until we talk about something else!"

To Diamond Tiara's fury and disbelief, Discord just shrugged his shoulders and gave her a goofy grin.

"My dear;" he said, still somehow finding humor in what Diamond thought was a massive betrayal of her invested semi-trust, "surely you must wonder why I chose you as my protege!"

"Because I'm smart and important!" the filly barked back with enough force to give even the eons-old draconequus pause,"Because you'r old and crazy and picked me out of a bunch of ponies my age because you are weird and creepy!"

Discord frowned momentarily, but quickly recovered, raising a over-sized claw to rap at the table, to catch the filly's attention.

"Only part of what you have said is true." he said, distressingly soft. "And it is not for the reasons you believe, but I intend on solving that."

Diamond blinked once, and Discord was gone. For a moment, she thought he wasn't going to come back at all. For a few more moments, she thought she was going to wake up in her bed, easing off a rather cruelly vivid dream.

To her surprise and shock, Discord appeared on the tabletop directly in front of her textbook pile, barely the size of a pencil. He was also sitting on a couch, equally tiny.

"Watch and learn, my student!" the old thing continued on, waving a tiny, tiny claw over to her, voice still clear even at his current state, "You might learn a moral for the first time in your life!"

Diamond was so busy huffing at the creature's rude assumption that she didn't see the little ponies appear on the table.

They were stylized and tiny, rounded faces and pointy-hooved, but they were unmistakably ponies just from the cutie marks they bore and the bright array of colors they were. Five could fit on her hoof, Tiara thought dimly, and they moved around fluidly, not like any clockwork animatronic she has seen in any of the toy expos her father took her to when she was a bit younger. They were not toys, she realized, but illusions. She was looking at a little scale modal of Ponyville, or at least a little village. She could make out the markets, the town hall, even her own house!

Diamond was so busy looking at the little ponies covering the table she didn't notice the lights in the library dimming slightly, or that the table now gave off a soft glow.

She did, however, notice a little spotlight come down from nowhere and center on Discord, who was half-wrapped around what Tiara realized was the schoolhouse.

He was pointing at a group of tiny little figures, which were moving a bit more animatedly then the less detailed purple one standing nearby.

"In all my years, I haven't met any creatures more entertaining to watch then you little ponies." Discord said evenly, "But do you know what ponies need in order for there entire existence to be justified, my student?"

Diamond didn't say anything, but leaned in a bit closer, to see the figures move around. She spotted three that looked even more lively then the ones around them; one was a light yellow with ruby-red hair, one was a orange winged one with short cropped hair topping it's head, while the other was a tiny white unicorn with carefully sculpted curly hair.They were running around freely around the diorama, leaving the area of the school and rushing through the markets and streets easily, passing by larger 'adult' figures easily.

The diorama suddenly went dark, and when it reappeared, there was a single large, still crowd of the pony-figures, standing still. Dozens of beady, sightless eyes stared into Tiara's questioning ones, and neither group blinked.

"Ponies are such wonderful little creatures, but in order for their best attributes to come to light, they need an extra element to be present in there lives. What's a bunch of nice little pastel colored ponies when they, peace and harmony incarnate, are the only things around, hmm?"

At that, the crowd of ponies suddenly parted in a fluid motion, and in the center of the circle of seemingly frightened ponies were some rather familiar figures. There was a light blue unicorn mare with some bright lights flashing above it every so often and a little wagon right behind it, a dark Alicorn with sharp teeth, eyes bright as emeralds, and what looked like a figure of that griffon that flew around in Ponyville for a few days, all standing around in a circle, all looking remarkably nasty and sharp-edged

"But what does that mean?" Tiara half-mumbled, to Discord's delight.

In response, the trio of evil in the center of the circle vanished in a puff of non-existence, replaced by Discord himself, who resembled, in most respects, the figures he had been creating at this point. Diamond dimly wondered if it would hurt if she tried to poke him.

"My dear student, have you often thought of yourself as being different then the other fillies in your class?"

Diamond scrunched up her nose at the question; the freak of nature who happened to be talking to her now sounded like the doctorpony her father took her to last year, the one that kept making her draw pictures to express her feelings or something and kept getting upset when she kept drawing a picture of herself with crowns and robes, standing over a bunch of other ponies from on top of a castle made out of diamonds to screw with him.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots. But that's because most of them are." she said slowly, now more confused over the question more then anything.

Discord almost looked upset at her answer, which made her rather upset in turn.

"What? I'm being honest."

To her amazement, he started to laugh.

"I was right! I was right!" he wheezed out, falling on his back and rolling around like a epileptic serpent as he let out cackle after cackle, "You'r one of them!"

"One of what!" she yelled; yes, yelled. She was a little embarrassed at her outburst, but something about this entire situation felt like it was building to something, and considering who she was talking to, she knew it was important to her.

"You are a very special little filly, Diamond Tiara. You will be a very special little pony, because you will make others change."

The underlying smugness, the pure self indulgence in his voice, made Tiara shiver a little. It was horribly familiar, for some reason.

"I still don't understand." she said simply. This wasn't Diamond Tiara being stubborn; this was Diamond Tiara being eager to learn.

Discord didn't say anything before he vanished, and Diamond Tiara didn't get to say anything before she vanished for a few seconds.

When she opened her eyes and took a shuddering breath, she looked to her hooves and found that she was standing on hardwood.

Shocked beyond words, she looked up and saw her classmates standing around her, in a circle.

Of course, they weren't really her classmates, because ponies generally didn't look like oversized toys, but the general effect was the same. It only took a few moments for her to realize the point her so-called teacher was trying to tell her, and when she figured it out she stood on her flanks and crossed her forelimbs over her chest, seething.

"What does this even mean!"

She almost screamed when Discord's face, which was ugly enough when she wasn't the size of his single fang, looked down at her from above. He was even uglier when Diamond could pick out every little wrinkle on his face; then again, she wasn't going to say anything, because right now she was probably the size of that fang he had.

"You, my student, are what ponies define themselves against! You are what keep others in check, on the right path!" he said grandiosely, voice somehow sounding the same even at this angle. Diamond Tiara only scrunched up her nose at his words because she caught the distinct stink of sugar coming off the draconequus's breath. "You are an instigator for ponykind!"

Discord paused, and in a flash of light appeared in front of Tiara, looking pleased with himself.

"Ponies need outside forces to keep them in shape! Surely you have seen this yourself, with your own eyes? How they fall apart without a strong hoof pointing them in the right direction?"

"But...I'm a pony." Diamond replied, taking a reflexive step away from Discord.

Discord started to clap slowly, as if in applause.

"Correct! But you are special because you are able to insert your will onto others without effort! Ponies are not usually so able to separate themselves from the group, little Tiara, but you? You are a completely independent thinker, able to think entirely for yourself! So few ponies are able to think about there own benefit above all others, and so few have the mental capabilities to use that own awareness of their needs effectively!"

Diamond's right eyelid twitched lightly at little Tiara, but at least she could appreciate a complement. And what he was saying was a lot different then what her father or her teachers have told her over and over again, but it somehow made sense. What if she was a little different then other ponies? Would that be such a surprise, going by how some of the other fillies and colts in her class acted?

While Diamond pondered his words, Discord turned swiftly to her, looking more gleeful by the second."You have potential to be a very important pony, my student, but you need to be refined."

Diamond tried her best to try and find a hint of deceit in the creature's voice, and she couldn't find any.

"What do you mean by refined? And what are you getting out of this?"

Discord looked at her oddly. Or, rather, he looked at her more oddly then his usual look was.

"I intend on teaching you how to use your very own special talents to improve your life, in a manner that will not get you kicked out of this little town, of course." he said slowly, as if confused by her question.

Tiara was unimpressed by the explosion of confetti that came behind Discord, or, at least, she didn't look impressed.

"You didn't answer my question." she replied darkly.

"Chaos, dear child! This town needs chaos!" he continued to speak, this time lower and more forcefully, "And you will be the one who will be bringing it in my stead!"

Diamond scoffed lightly, an instinctual reaction. "I'm not stupid! I don't want to end up a lawn ornament like you did!"

Without warning, Discords almost jovial expression transformed into a caricature of pure, unadulterated rage.

This lasted less then a second, but Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and mouth in fear and didn't dare to say anything else, even when she started to float off the ground. She didn't dare open either of them, even when she felt that she was laying on top of her textbook-pile, even when she realized she was back to normal and was still on the table.

"But enough about that," Discord said, good humor now sounding slightly forced as he tapped on her namesake that was precariously balanced on the top of her head, "Lets talk about controlling that unfortunate temper of yours."

Diamond Tiara tried to suppress a groan, and failed.

Comments

[Gaianex]

So he's trying to teach her how to be a better leader? I will keep reading this but your starting to loose me here.

[Zailen]

I think it's less being a leader, and more being a foil to what the ponies normally stand for. In a way to help 'define' themselves in skewed/twisted way.

[Seether00]

So what Discord is saying is that pony society needs bad guys to feel good about itself. Like Scarface.

[Pokonic]

3546813 Yes, kind of. In order to be the perfect little happy-go lucky society they are, ponies need an outside influence that is undeniably bad to 'keep them in check'.

[Seether00]

3546907

Well then this is apropos

Bunch of hypocritical ponies.

[Hand Wave]

I was wondering where he was going with this. What an interesting concept.

[nightmaster0]

Good chapter. Look's like his time as a statue is still a big sore point for Discord.

[keaton-furman-prower]

Ah. Like Newton's third law says... every action must have an equal but opposite reaction.

In other words... Diamond is the chosen one who will bring balance to the horse?

[meme-asaurus]

3546618

Can't even begin to describe how long the Joker's been signing this tune.

[CCC]

3552780

That was a horrible pun.

I laughed.