Discord's Home for Cosmic Misfits

by Knowledge

Chapter 1: Threshold and Big Bad

Fluttershy stood tiredly in field north of Ponyville. The morning dew stuck fresh to her yellow pony hooves. The sun had yet to grace her. When the sun did rise, Fluttershy fully expected to enjoy it fully before the scheduled rain.

Discord the draconequus, reformed lord of Chaos, stood strangely quiet next to her. Normally, the hybrid creature would have already created a great deal of disturbance through his spontaneous and often loud shenanigans. Fluttershy did not complain, for she preferred her mornings quiet.

Fluttershy's mind slowly started processing her situation. A few days ago, Discord had invited Fluttershy and her friends to meet him today for what the draconequus described as 'the greatest undertaking in friendship that Equestria has ever seen!' All of her friends had declined the invitation.

Each had a good excuse as well. Princess Celestia had given Twilight and Pinkie the job of investigating dozens of foalnappings in Fillydelphia. Rainbow Dash and Spike the dragon had to watch over the library for Twilight. Also Rainbow Dash would be working the Rarity had an invitation to a fancy party the next day in Canterlot and planned to spend today preparing for it. Applejack had to sell food in the market make ends meet for the family.

This still gave Fluttershy a pang of guilt as they were her friends and had left Discord alone on his big day. Fluttershy wished deeply that they would come to see Discord as the friend he had become.

Pulling Fluttershy from her sad thoughts, the light of Celestia's sun sprinkled through the trees of Everfree Forest. A new day had begun and the beauty reminded her that she lived in the best place in the world, Equestria, the land where friendship is magic.

“Fluttershy, are you ready?” Discord said in almost a whisper. Anypony could sense the awe and fear Discord had for what was about to happen.

Fluttershy continued to look at the sunlight, feeling towards Celestia for strength. Fluttershy had rarely had the courage to face the unknown, the fact that Discord, the Lord of Chaos, demonstrated fear only added to her trepidation.

“I need an answer Fluttershy. What is about to occur will forever change Equestria. They will bring something to Equestria that we lack, and if we have the strength of friendship, we will bring to them what they lack most, friendship. Most importantly, many of them humble even me in the chaos they can muster,” Discord said.

While “They” revealed a great deal about the surprise Discord had in mind, this only brought more questions.

“Fluttershy, I have always been able to see into Literal Multiverse. In it, all one can imagine exists. I have seen my kindred spirits destroyed their own chaos millions of times over. Until now, I have existed without a care to my inevitable fate. These other chaotic beings need friendship, and Celestia and you have shown that even a crazy old immortal like me can discover its magic.”

Discord had never spoken with such sincerity. Fluttershy sensed that Discord's reformation had probably changed more about the draconequus than she could hope to imagine.

Plus, the weight of what the hybrid god said overwhelmed the recently awaken pegasus.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Fluttershy jumped up in surprised, using her wings to hold herself aloft. Discord, on the other, hoof, seemed to become more steady in his posture as the earth before the pair erupted.

Fluttershy could green leaves of a tree emerge from the soil. Some unseen force sucked the dirt underneath, preventing it from piling on either side of the strange greenery growing before her. Next a reflective surface rose from the depths. Fluttershy soon realized it was a window.

Then just as suddenly, the steady progression out of the ground broke and the whole structure emerged. What emerged was a giant mansion, gardens and all. The most noticeable feature on the building was the rusty metal door.

Some strange strength came over Fluttershy in that moment and compelled her forward towards the house. The pegasus believed in the way Earth ponies do that Celestia gives ponies strength to ponies when they need strength most, and that this mysterious power she felt had somehow reached her through the high branches of the Everfree behind the house were the sun had risen not to long ago.

The uncanny abode had eclipsed that sun, and Fluttershy now existed in its shadow. Fluttershy could hear Discord move slowly behind her, only taking steps when she did. The red metal door warned her to stop, but Fluttershy irrationally went further.

Standing before the tall iron door in awe, Fluttershy could see a keyhole. There was no handle, just a keyhole.

Fluttershy felt something pass her on her right flank. It was Discord's lion paw. In it, there was a key with the ideograph for decision on the side of its iron handle facing her.

“I know it is not fair for me to ask you this, but from a Lord of Chaos to a friend, I want you to decide. Will you open this door, bringing many lonely beings from beyond the stars into our world, or will you leave it shut, dooming them for Equestria's safety.” Discord asked with the weight only an ageless mortal could muster.

Not even reforming Discord demonstrated the extent of Fluttershy's resolve to help even the most fearsome of beings, so the shy pegasus took the key in her right forehoof and balanced on her rearhooves as she rise up to the keyhole clearly meant for beings larger than herself.

Fluttershy put the key with the Decision ideograph side up into the hole and adjusted herself awkwardly so that her forehooves could turn it. She found significant resistance at first, but with her mind redoubled on her ideals, the key turned easily.

After turning the key, Fluttershy could see the other side of the silver key. Into this side of the handle was molded “The Place where Chaos rests”. Just as soon as the image of the ideograph burned itself into the pegasus's memory, the key vanished like it had been consumed by the mere act of opening a locked door.

Fluttershy did not have much time to ponder this as the draconequus had placed his paw on the metal door and opened the door. Fluttershy could see that the door had no block in its frame to prevent it from swinging in or out. She was not sure she liked this. On one hoof, the door would be always open to nature and anypony. On the other hoof, it was greatly impractical to leave a door open all time, especially during bad weather, and bad weather would soon be coming.

“My dear Fluttershy, why don't we go in? It has been a thousand years since I have been in my old home, and I would love to show you around,” Discord bowed near the entrance.

“Um, Discord...”

“Yes, Fluttershy?”

“Um...what did I just do?”

“You opened the door to my old house. I have a lot of potential friends staying here, we just have to let them out so they can go to Ponyville and learn the Magic of Friendship.”

“To Ponyville?! Aren't they dangerous, scary draconequi?”

“Hahahahaha!” Fluttershy could see that Discord had lost his faux-hospitable posture to bowl over laughing. After regaining as much composure as a lord of chaos could, Discord wiped a tear out of his eye and then stared intensely into Fluttershy's eyes. “Are you really asking if other chaotic beings look the same? These beings come from every possible literal dimension. Some probably were not ponies until they came to this dimension and were forced into that shape.”

Fluttershy flinched at Discord's condescending tone, but the same strength from before overtook her and made her continue forward, forward into the house. It was as if some convenient force caused Fluttershy to act out of character just so an adventure could begin.

The first thing Fluttershy noticed when entering was unlike the outside, the inside looked like the inside of Canterlot castle. This meant huge hallways with vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, banners, gardens, balconies, and statues. The sheer cognitive dissonance between the humble cottage exterior and the gigantic castle interior made the pegasus queasy.

“Discord, why does the your home look like Canterlot castle inside?” Fluttershy asks, riding on the inexplicable courage she now possessed.

“It is a recent change, do you like it? It is an homage to the best teacher of friendship in all of Equestria.” Discord replies.

“Um, it is nice, very nice. Who is this best teacher, if you don't mind me asking? If you do, then forget I asked.” Fluttershy softly asked. It was not stupidity but rather humility that prevented her from figuring it out herself.

“Well, Celestia, of course, though you are a close second,” responded the draconequus matter-of-factually.

Fluttershy walked with her friend down the main hallway which, if her memory served her right, led to the thrown room. To her left was a hallway that led to the guest quarters. On her right was the battlements and barracks for the Royal Guard. At least, this was true for Canterlot. Fluttershy could not guess if this held for Discord's home.

Behind by the rusted door, she could see two gargantuan statue-like creatures. They looked like alicorns but mean. The two gray creatures had bat wings, fangs, sharp horns, and halberds.

“Discord, what are those?” Fluttershy asked quietly with a tremble in her voice.

The draconequus only glanced back. “Those guys; they're gargoyles. They are the beings that guards various doors around this place.”

What Fluttershy noticed most of all during the walk was how the stained glass windows were different from the ones in Canterlot. While those in Equestria capital had key moments in Equestrian history, mostly focusing on the Elements of Harmony, which Fluttershy and her friends now wield, these windows depicted what Fluttershy guessed to be from Discord's life. The first window showed an old, black unicorn wearing a star-spangled wizard hat and a dragon performing a spell which produced a small creature with wings that looked like a brown parasprite. In the background was a castle surrounded by a few trees The next window had the parasprite eating food in front of the unicorn with other parasprites. The next panel had a parasprite feeding on magic of sorts and growing into Discord. In the background of this panel trees of varying sizes thickly surrounded the castle. In the final panel, a little shack stood in a field with the forest in the background. Discord and the unicorn stood on either side of the shack.

Fluttershy then turned ahead to see that they were not any closer to the end of the hall. The pegasus looked to her friend to see him scratching his chin with his claw. Discord was looking at Fluttershy's hooves. The pegasus turned her attention downwards to find that while she walked, Discord stood still, yet they remained side-by-side.

“It seems my father must be awaken. I hope he is happy to see me.” Discord simply said.

“Your father?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, I guess we will have to cheat a bit. Fluttershy, do you see that lever in the niche in the middle of the hallway.” Discord pointed ahead and Fluttershy could barely see but there was indeed a little, well-concealed niche in hallway about halfway down. She could not see the switch.

“How will we...” Fluttershy began to say when, in a flash, she was right in front of the niche with the switch. The switch was just a stick stuck in some cobblestone.

Again, Fluttershy felt what she believed to be the Princess giving her courage. She walked up to the switch with Discord humming behind her with a smart look on his face. Fluttershy flips the switch and feels a sudden lerch as if she has stopped moving.

“Good job. Remember if you ever find yourself caught in this castle's traps, find the lever and switch it off in the room. The lever turns the traps on and the traps also prevent you from moving to the next room. Sometimes they even trap you in the room.” Discord explained with a lop-sided smirk. The idea of dealing with a plethora of traps in the Lord of Chaos's house scared Fluttershy. “Now be brave my little yellow friend. We have to see why my old stallion has turned on the traps.”

They walked up to the large ornate thrown doors. Like the other door, this one had two gargoyles guarding it. Unlike the rusted entrance behind the pair, these doors looked well-taken care of. Fluttershy noticed again that the door had no handles and just a key hole and was much larger than the average mare.

“Another key, madam,” Discord said from behind Fluttershy. From her left flank, a claw appear carrying a silver key. Fluttershy took it in her left hoof. Rather than immediately placing it in the keyhole, she examined the Equestrian ideographs. On one side, Fluttershy saw ideographs for alicorn and for seat. This meant naturally “Throne”. On the other side, it had “Big” and “Bad”. That did not help Fluttershy's nerves very much. The pegasus stands up on her rearlegs and turns the key. Again, the key disappears once the tumbler shifts to the unlocked position. Discord pushed the door open with his left claw.

Before the pair, a room in complete darkness lay. Very little of the light from the hallway came in to illuminate, which allowed them to see a stone altar directly ahead of them. A familiar wooden switch adorned the altar.

“Fluttershy, chaos waits for nopony,” Discord jovially said in his very condescending voice. With that, Fluttershy walked into the darkness. As the pair passed the alter, those altar lit up with blue fire, revealing more altars along the wall. This helped illuminate the carpet leading to presumably the thrown. The pegasus saw that the stone structures with bowls on top had no fuel. The problem with the extra light was that it made all the shadows darker in comparison.

After the seven altars along the wall lit themselves, Discord and Fluttershy could see two crimson eyes glowing at them. Suddenly, three, until now, unseen altars near those eyes exploded simultaneously with red fire before lowering to a more moderate flame. With this, all the darkness was pushed to the side of the room, and the owner of those crimson eyes were revealed.

Upon an obsidian thrown sat an old, black unicorn with a star-spangled wizard hat just like in the stained glass windows. He looked ferocious with his angry crimson eyes staring down at them.

“How dare you return here, draconequus?” the unicorn said.

“Dad...” Discord starts.

“Don't you dare call me that, you magical construct. You are no more my child than a table is a carpenter's,” interrupts angry pony on the thrown.

“Why? What happened to you to make you so angry?” Discord pleaded.

“How about one thousand years stuck in this prison, unable to leave because you locked it up after planning to take over Equestria,” mocked the unicorn.

“You had it bad; I was turned to stone!” Discord yelled, finally raising his voice to his father.

“Are you comparing the pain of a thing to a pony? You must be punished to demonstrate your arrogance!” The unicorn raises off his thrown.

Suddenly, the room filled with water. Fluttershy was swept to the corner of the room by the current. While spinning, the pegasus saw that one of the altars had turned red but all the rest burned despite being under water.

Just as suddenly, the water is gone. “Are we going to continue to play games, father?”

“Know your place!” Starswirl bellowed.

Darkness consumed the light in the room. Fluttershy could not even see the altars anymore. Small zap sounds told her that a battle was waging though she could not see it. In a few moments, Fluttershy heard a click and the darkness faded. Discord was antlers and horn with Starswirl, and Fluttershy could see another altar had died.

These exchanges continued, and each time Discord would deal with the threat and flip a switch on the altar with the red canceling some sort of magic. Next, Starswirl summoned a raging indestructible bull, which Discord hog-tied. Then, the caster created apparitions of the pair's fears. The most notable being snakes which all equines instinctively fear.

After that, Starswirl started shooting multi-direction barrage of magic bolts. Discord beat that easily and canceled the magic. Starswirl, not to be outdone, then threw out a cube-like object that created a cyclone of magical energy around it , effectively trapping Discord inside. Luckily, Fluttershy had been hiding behind the altar for this magic and flipped the switch. Neither noticed her interference.

The final altar turned to red flame and Starswirl channeled his magic. This spell turned him into a giant. Luckily, Discord also could change his shape and size at will, so this changed nothing. Discord merely wrestled his father and while using his free claw to search the room for the switch. Finally finding the wooden switch, Discord managed to flip it without breaking it. This made Starswirl return to his normal size.

“Ha, you are out of altars to draw magic from, father!” Discord mocked.

“Not so, construct! Look behind me,” Starswirl rebutted. Behind him, there were two small and one large altar. The smaller ones turned blue and suddenly magical shackles appeared on Discord. No matter how much he struggled, the shackles prevented him from moving or casting his chaos magic. The final altar became blue and Starswirl started channeling a gargantuan crimson ball of magical energy.

At this point, Fluttershy has hidden behind one of the altars. Even Discord has forgotten that she has come with her.

The spell unleashes from the unicorn's horn. A balled reddish magical energy slowly travels across the room towards Discord, and the draconequus can do nothing. Fluttershy feeling helpless, closes her eyes. The courage she has felt continuously up to this point has seemingly disappeared.

After what seemed like an eternity, an Discord screams in anquish. Fluttershy try to shut out as much of her senses as possible but the burning of fur passed through her defenses.

“For all the power you had, Discord, you were never a challenge for Starswirl the Bearded.” The unicorn's speaking in third pony was very reminicent to another argogant unicorn Fluttershy knew. “Well, I am hungry, and when I return to my thrown, you should have the good sense to disappear or else I will do that for you,” Starswirl claimed with enough venom to back it up.

Fluttershy could hear the clopping of hooves, the opening of a door in the back of the room, and then just silence.

After a few moments, Fluttershy opened her eyes. The fires in the room had grown dim, but Fluttershy could still see. The pegasus moved out from behind the altar.

“Discord!” Fluttershy called upon not finding whatever remained of her friend. “Discord!” Fluttershy called again. It was too much for the shy mare to accept. Death is just not something ponies were meant to experience. They were supposed to be happy and solve friendship problems with conveniently powerful magic. “Discord!” the mare in denial shouted once last time.

“Fluttershy!” came a high-pitched voice.

“Huh, what?” said Fluttershy, who was by now completely blinded by her tears.

“Fluttershy, over here,” called the high-pitched voice.

Fluttershy blinked her eyes. Before her fluttered a small brown, cute creature called a parasprite.

“I am sorry, little one, but have you seen Discord?” Fluttershy asked. “He has disappeared after that big baddie hit him with his magic.”

“You mean dad, yeah, he does that sometimes. We just have to find some reinforcements. Let's head to Ponyville.” the parasprite said.

“Dad?!” exclaimed Fluttershy quietly.

“Didn't you look at the windows in the hall? This is my original form. I am the origin of the parasprites, the second most chaotic creature in all of Equestria,” the little brown ball claimed.

“Discord!” Fluttershy jumps up a tiny bit in excitement. “I thought, I thought... I knew you were okay.”

“I hardly call being a parasprite again being okay, but to each their own I always say,” Discord responded with some sarcastic condescension in his itty-bitty voice.

Fluttershy looked at the parasprite and then around the room. She noticed on the thrown lay a plain key.

“What's this?” Fluttershy asks.

“A key. I thought you knew this from the two other times you used keys this day.” Discord responded.

Fluttershy huffs a bit at her friends rudeness. “I mean, what room is it for.”

Discord hovers up next to it and examines it with one eye. “It is just a normal key. It will open any door except the guest doors or my father's room.”

“Oh...” Fluttershy responds, kind of disappointed in the fact that this key is not as interesting as the other ones she had. As a non-unicorn, reading was not something she did very often, but she kind of liked reading the ideographs on the key. It was like a puzzle, and Fluttershy secretly liked puzzle-solving.

“Come on Fluttershy, we need friends if we are going to stand up to my father,” Discord urged.

“Coming,” Fluttershy whispered as she trotted back into the hall.