-o-
The harsh sound of laughter was the first thing that registered in her mind.
The second, unfortunately, was the feeling of flour sticking to her body. Taking in a deep breath, Luna stared down at her legs for a moment, determining whether or not the white dust could rival Celestia in terms of sheer paleness.
Somehow, the dry, powder-like substance had got on every strand of hair she had, including her mane and tail. She was only too grateful that her eyes had not been touched, though she suspected her normally dark lashes were now quite the opposite. Resisting the urge to sniff - a sneeze was not desired right now, as the volume of guffaws would only increase in response - Luna felt just a smidgen of amusement well up within her.
Rapidly squashing it down before it could manifest itself as a giggle, Luna dismissed all positive emotions from her mind. Settling on letting a strong irritation take over her thoughts, she lifted her head and glared at the one who'd attacked her in such a childish manner.
"It is not humorous!" she bellowed, her voice taking on what she assumed was a royal tone. Fighting back on the growl that threatened to develop when all Discord did was shake his head, Luna sneered. The mismatched creature was clutching his stomach as though it were causing him a great torment, but Luna knew for certain that he was not in pain. He was being ridiculous.
Opening his eyes, Discord paused mid-chuckle to wipe a tear from his eye. "I disagree entirely, my dear. You look hilarious!"
Then, without any more hesitation, Discord allowed his glee to take full control. Not caring about the image he was giving off to any other ponies who were in the kitchen with them - did he have no shame? - Discord collapsed to the floor in hysterics. It was quite the spectacle. Luna continued to watch him, unmoving, as her annoyance quickly transformed into a blinding fury.
The problem was, she wasn't upset with him. His antics were playful and immature, but that was what she expected. His behaviour had always been the same; Luna had never really thought it a chore to be in his company. He was merely having fun, albeit in a way she deemed unfit for a being of his power, and he was mindful of making sure physical harm didn't come to her.
What angered Luna, what truly made her want to scream to the skies in frustration, was the fact that she found his little prank funny. She was supposed to be royalty, a princess with great responsibility. Yet here she was, in a silent rage because she was struggling to keep her own laughs bottled up and tucked away.
Provoking Discord was never a good idea. If she let him see that she found his silly tricks amusing, she would regret it for the rest of her given life. There would be no stopping him. And, more importantly, Celestia would never forgive her. She would be dubbed a traitor; her sister would believe that she had allied herself with the enemy. It would start a war. Not a real war, of course, but Luna knew that a battle of the pranks was not a matter to be taken lightly.
Luna bit her lip. If it were to ever come to that, she understood that she would actually betray her sister and pick Discord as her teammate in the fight. He was a sure fire shot to victory, after all.
"Do you really want me to add water to the mix, Luna?"
The question pulled her abruptly from her thoughts. Blinking rapidly a few times to regain some sort of focus on the matter at hand, Luna's eyes narrowed slightly as she threw Discord a quizzical look. What was he talking about? What did he mean by-
Oh.
It was only then that she realised something - he was no longer laughing. The cheerful sound had gone, vanishing from reality and leaving nothing but silence in its wake. If his stance were any indication - folded arms, straight back, and head turned away from her - it seemed that he found her momentary lapse in focus an insult.
"You've been standing there in a daze for a ridiculous amount of time. I thought you'd spontaneously died while standing up somehow," Discord said, pitch startlingly high. He scowled. "It's no fun if you don't react properly."
Before she could reply, defending herself and her actions, he disappeared in a flash of light. Luna's lips drew into a thin line. Unable to prevent her features from lowering into a frown, she turned her gaze back to the flour coating her body. The sigh that passed through her lips was quiet, but unmistakable.
Why did she have a feeling that today was going to be long and arduous?
-o-
Every step Twilight took was filled with reluctance. As she got closer and closer to the room that Celestia was in, nerves began hitting her without mercy. She had thought long and hard about how she would broach the subject of Discord's age with Celestia. Initially, she'd been in a rush, flying out of the library in near hysteria. As she'd made her way through the long corridors of the castle, she'd forced her legs to slow to a more reasonable pace.
After all, her panic could easily be for nothing, couldn't it? There was a chance - a mighty large one, she assured herself - that she was mistaken in her assumption of just how old Discord was. Besides, even if he were younger than 7000, did that really matter? Just because something was written in a book, didn't make it an absolute truth. Books were capable of being fictional.
The walk from the library had given her time to think. All the information she'd read was not guaranteed to be fact. Authors were not infallible; they got things wrong just like everyone else.
There was nothing to be concerned about.
Then why am I trembling? Her mind screeched at her in stubborn anger as she finally reached the door. The answer to that little question was obvious, though she didn't want to admit it out loud.
The fact of the matter was, if the book turned out to be telling the truth, and Discord was younger than the age it declared was needed to reach adulthood for his species, then every insignificant detail surrounding Discord's complete history would need to be studied and edited. If he were a child... How could it not have an impact? His motivations, desires, and methods of gaining said wants would all need to be re-evaluated.
And, perhaps more importantly, the punishments in response to his actions would need to be scrutinised. It was all too taxing to think about. What if she and her friends had been attacking an infant that was merely acting out?
... Had Celestia imprisoned a child in stone for a thousand years?
Fighting back the urge to shudder, Twilight willed her legs to continue onwards. Pushing open the door, she was immediately greeted with a friendly, patient smile. Returning the show of happiness with a shy grin, Twilight stepped fully into the room and proceeded to walk over to Celestia so she would not need to shout to be heard.
This was good. She was keeping her calm. All she'd done was overreact, and now Celestia would clear up any of her concerns. Twilight would be made to feel a fool when the older princess declared Discord's age, speaking a number much higher than what was required. She was being silly. Discord was simply an ancient prankster; that was all. Her gut feeling was wrong in this particular situation.
"Princess Celestia?"
"Hello, Twilight. Did you find what you were looking for?" Celestia asked, quirking an eyebrow. Twilight scrunched her face into a frown.
"How old is Discord?"
Although she hadn't meant to blurt it out quite so abruptly - subtlety didn't seem to be her strongest point - Twilight became awash with relief as the tenseness in her body dissipated. Not a single word had been spoken with a crack in its structure. She was being paranoid, but that didn't mean she would show it.
Celestia's head lifted a touch. Her interest was clearly being piqued, yet confusion became apparent in her expression. Twilight blanked. Then, she realised exactly what she had done - ignored Celestia's question. Cringing inwardly, Twilight hoped and prayed that the sudden desire to curl up in a ball and hide did not show in her body language. Was she always this rude when scrounging for answers to her own quandaries?
"This is important to your research?" Celestia's tone betrayed any attempt to cover up the bemusement she was now experiencing.
Nodding excitedly at the excuse that had been given to her, Twilight smiled sheepishly. "It's... um, something I've been wondering about for a while, actually." She coughed out a pitiful chuckle. "Knowing his age might help me figure out some of the aspects of his decisions while he was ruling, and how it affected the timeline."
Her smile became tight and horrifically false. It was clear that she was spouting nonsense into the outside world. Judging from the way Celestia's features hardened, if only by the minimalist of amounts, she wasn't oblivious to the fact that Twilight was speaking utter drivel. Regardless of this, Celestia shook her head and finally settled on giving Twilight a tiny smile.
"By my calculations, he is just under 4000 years old." Celestia's mouth widened into a cheeky smirk. "Though he would hastily deny it, he is younger than I."
Every ounce of hope Twilight had managed to salvage since the start of her quest diminished instantly. That... was not the answer she was expecting. Feeling the control she held over her body decrease somewhat, Twilight swallowed the bile that was now sifting its way up her throat.
Why were her legs shaking? Had the room been this cold when she'd first entered it?
"A- Are you sure?" she pressed, shocked at her own ability to still form coherent sentences. Now it was Celestia's turn to frown.
"I'm certain. Although... I suspect it is possible his ageing halted while he was encased in his stone prison. He could be nearer 3000. You would need to clarify with him."
This time, Twilight did not catch the gasp before it passed forcefully out her mouth. The sharp sound was irrevocably loud.
"3000?! Bu- But- But that's not even half the age he'd need to be!" she yelled, feeling the uncomfortable pull of hysteria tugging away at her mind once more. She let out a peculiar, strangled sound that seemed to vibrate along her tongue. "That's not right. That can't be true, can it? Can it?! No, no, no, no, no."
Gritting her teeth together, Twilight lost all focus on everything that was not important - the heat of her breath rushing over her lips, the startled noises coming from directly in front of her - and let her thoughts race as she tried to figure out a solution that would make sense. She snapped back up into a standing position as an idea struck her immediately. She paused. Then she blinked. Wait, when had she sat down? She didn't remember her legs giving way. Had it been involuntary?
She shook her head viciously. It didn't matter. She was once again standing on her own hooves, and a burning energy seemed to be engulfing her in its flame.
"What if the book is lying?" she asked, delighted that she'd come up with a plausible explanation. It was exactly as she'd first thought - the book was purely fictional.
"Twilight, what-"
Letting out an almost manic cackle that cut Celestia off mid-sentence, Twilight nodded firmly, before flashing the older princess a wild grin.
"That's it! Don't you see? It makes perfect sense! It's lying. No need to worry. Nothing to be concerned about. The book is clearly-"
Surprise flitted through her when a hoof planted itself abruptly over her mouth, effectively putting a stop to her rant. Blinking rapidly a few times as she took in the polished gold that was now in her line of vision, Twilight felt her eye twitch. She then lifted up her gaze until her eyes connected with the very concerned gaze of her former mentor.
"Twilight, please calm yourself," Celestia said, tone soft and filled with worry. Waiting a moment, Celestia finally seemed satisfied that Twilight would not continue rambling as she moved her hoof back to the hard floor. "What's wrong? What book do you speak of?"
Flushing slightly, Twilight's ears flattened out.
"The book that says draconequui don't reach adulthood until they're over 7000 years old," she exclaimed, before quickly clamping her own hoof over her mouth. What was that? She seriously needed to learn some tact.
It took a moment or two, but as Twilight watched, she became aware of the instant in which Celestia connected all the dots together. Right after the pieces inevitably feel into place, Celestia's entire body seemed to descend into a stark, dull paleness that Twilight had never witnessed before. She hadn't known it was possible for Celestia to get any whiter than she already was.
"I'm sorry, Twilight," she whispered, a tremble in her voice that shook Twilight to the core, "but could you repeat that final part again? I believe I must have misheard."
All Twilight wanted to do, right in that moment, was cry. She wanted to squeeze herself into a tight ball and sob until a deep, sorrowful slumber overtook her.
What could she possibly say to make this right?
-o-
You updated! I love you
I... have I told you how AMAZING you are? This is GOLD, I tell you, gold! Update ASAP, please.
Oh, I knew it was a good idea to track this story!
Ha! I loved the scene with Luna and Discord! I can definitely see a prank war happening...
I'm probably just being a little too nitpicky here, but wouldn't Twilight use the "Princess" honorific when speaking to Celestia?
One letter "i" too many in becoming.
4944928
Hehe, thank you. I will update as soon as I can.
4945000
I'm glad you liked that scene!
Oh, by all means, be as picky as you want. I completely agree. No idea why I didn't use Princess, when I used it in the first chapter.
Thanks for the spot! For some reason it wasn't underlining some of the mistakes when I put it through the editor. I got most with proofreading, but I always seem to miss something. So, again, thank you.
4944881
I did! Haha.
MOAR! I love this! Update soon plz! And I love the idea of kid Discord.
And with this, my mind is blown.
Discord...essentially a child by his kind's natural standard...and moreover, Celestia and Luna having imprisoned a child, further denying him the chance to grow and mature, so making him more around 2000 years in age mentally for his kind. ...yeah, this got deep!!
Love it, can't wait to see more!!
The chapters feel a bit too short but, they are good. Perhaps I am too used to reading 9k+ long chapters here.
I typically abhor Slice of Life fanfics, finding them boring... but this is good. Really good. I particularly liked the emotions and scene setting for the end of chapter 2. Really felt authentic with your presentation of Celestia from her mirth about his age to her sorrow about his age and the physical descriptions were enough to add life to the characters without being burdensome to the scene.
Well done LickleSoxy and thanks for sharing this. I'll be looking forward to what comes next.
P.S: Didn't they seal Discord away for 2000 years though? I think that's the only error I saw. Discord is sealed, 1000 years later Luna goes to the moon, 1000 years later all the craziness hits the Twilight fan.
4945261
Sorry about that. I generally do chapters that are around 2000 - 5000 words in length, so these two are definitely on the shorter end of my normal chapter word counts. Thank you. Glad you're enjoying regardless.
"It's that moment of dawning comprehension I live for."
-Hobbes, Calvin and Hobbes
you know, most discord fics are kinda cookie cutter. this is a plot point i have never seen before.
Can anyone point out any other fics that use discord's age and draconequus life-cycles?
I love this story!!!!!!!! Please update faster!
I really like the angle this is taking.
Though one thing kinda puts me off. Because of how the book describes a draconequui, I think we can safely assume that when it says "maturity", it's talking about when the body has fully matured, saying nothing of mental maturity. So the "Celestia is a monster because she froze a 'child' in stone for a thousand years" kinda loses its edge.
OMG I love this so much!!!!
derpicdn.net/img/2012/11/8/145960/thumb.jpg
You had my interest.
Now you have my attention.
I look forward to seeing how this progresses.
*faved and upvoted*
I have never seen this before.
4945333
It's never established how long Discord was sealed for. We know it was more than 1000 years because Luna was free when he went in and free when he got out and she was exactly 1000 years, but it could be any amount of time beyond that. I've seen as low as "Luna was sent to the moon within months of Discord being sealed", usually in the context of "Discord turned Luna into Nightmare Moon", putting Discord's sentence at more like 1001 years, and I've seen as high as 10,000 years.
Your unique premise of a child discord a very original take to explaining his personality. Twilight's and Celestia's horror at the realization that they essentially abused a child was well executed and cant wait to see how they will deal with this new information.
4945463
Right, but if species mentally mature at the same rate as they physically mature, it becomes the same thing. There are biological reasons why teenagers have poor judgement, for instance; an adult who was turned into a teenager with all of their same memories and experiences would still have much worse judgement than they did when they were an adult, because the teen brain isn't fully wired to connect actions to consequences. Even though teens are smart enough to intellectually know there are consequences, they can't *feel* it the way adults can... so an adult with a teen brain would also be unable to feel it.
On the other hand, Spike is more mature than a baby, and in some regards more mature than the teen dragons he encountered. But Spike was raised by a very, very buttoned-up, careful planner who is almost paranoid about checklisting everything, so even though he is more lax than Twilight, Spike's maturity and ability to think things through has been shored up by his education. Whereas Discord does not appear to have parents, and possibly has been living for centuries under the belief that he is an adult, and has no one who can check his power. He hasn't had much impetus to grow up or become more mature, so it's all on the physical maturation of his brain; if anything his upbringing should lead to him being more immature than a draconequus his age would ordinarily be.
So actually yeah. They more or less put a 9 year old in stone. On the other hand, if his sense of time passage is also affected by his life span, 1000 years is about 3 draconequus maturity years, so maybe it didn't harm him as much as it would have a shorter lived being.
This is a good story, Imma go make popcorn.
4945094
Don't worry about it. There's always at least one that slips by everyone...
Congrats on making it to the Featured Box, by the way!
Wow. Can't waste time telling lulu, now!
Now that... is an interesting premise
4945588
There are even worse implications if we assume that Celestia was once in love with Discord ...
4945554
I count it at 1500 years, but I like the idea of a history rhythmically-tied to millennial cycles for aesthetic reasons.
4945637
The primary source document might have been written by a draconequus. If Discord's a kid, then we can't actually judge anything about what the adults were like; it's entirely possible that as a race they were friendly and scholarly enough to write about themselves for the consumption of shorter-lived races. Then most of that documentation was lost, but the small amount that survived was collated and the author of the chimera encyclopedia had access to it. Since then probably the source documentation was lost as well, so all that remains is the chimera encyclopedia.
4945745
I'm presuming that wouldn't have happened if Discord wasn't sexually mature, because he wouldn't have responded with the right cues.
When a teenager has a crush on another teenager, there are signals sent by the other teenager, beyond being physically mature looking, that tell the first teen that the target of their affections could, theoretically, reciprocate. Because in humans, the female matures faster than the male during the teen years, this produces the phenomenon of teen girls preferring to crush on boys their own age or older; the ones who crush on younger boys are generally themselves emotionally immature. (She says, having exclusively dated younger guys and eventually married a man five years younger than her. :-))
If Celestia had found Discord physically attractive, but Discord was incapable of feeling sexual desire yet and was extremely immature, even infantile, him being physically attractive wouldn't have mattered. His immaturity would have turned her off. Most likely, since Celestia did not even guess that Discord was literally immature, they didn't know each other when they were very young; if it takes draconequui 7000 years to become adults, Discord would have been close to 2000 years before he could even impersonate an adult. He'd have come across like Trelane from Star Trek. (And Trelane is an extremely dangerous villain, who is only defeated by the fortuitous appearance of his parents. Q, who appears to be an older variant of Trelane, has some self control and can moderate himself.) So this is probably one of those universes where Discord and Celestia were always enemies.
(And of course they were! Discord at 1000 years old would have been Anthony from It's A Good Life; at 2000 years he would have been Trelane. He probably didn't catch on that killing ponies means they are not available to play with later until he was into his third millennium. If Discord's literally a child, then for most of his life, he was probably a monster; ironically he probably only started developing enough maturity that anyone could even safely fight him within a few centuries of the time Celestia and Luna took him out.)
In response to that cover art:
Twilight knew becoming an alicorn meant gaining wings, but she was quite surprised to find out that she also gained the very avian-like attribute of laying eggs as well. When the time for her first laying finally arrived, the poor mare was absolutely dumfounded to have birthed a book instead of a delicious treat she had hoped to sell on the culinary black market (Alicorn eggs sell for a premium, after all).
In the end, she decided to be happy with her odd condition, and the shelves of her new crystal library got their first piece of literature.
Interesting story you have here so I will keep reading.
4946186 ....I love you.
4945554
I had to look it up for confirmation... and you're completely right as far as i can tell.
Totally weird. Not sure where the whole Discord was sealed 2000 years in the past thing came from now. For some reason I thought it said somewhere in the series that Luna and Celestia ruled for a 1000 years before Nightmare moon meaning Discord had to have been sealed for 2000.
Well anyway, thanks for pointing that out! My sense of the shows cannon has been restored.
4945809
That's an interesting and very good point. that Discord's behavior in that case would have been infantile rather than merely immature-adult -- and that would have made him more dangerous.
People need to stop comparing dragonequi with humans.And in my opinion 3000 years is enough years for someone to mature whether on not hormones have begun being produced.There's such a thing as an adult child you know.Most of those come from disfunctional families that force them to emotionally mature faster.
This would be interesting... especially since DIscord may not be able to fully comprehand this situation. But yeah, I need to read more. This is soooo good!
4946325 Eh, I think being able to do whatever you want then being put into stone and having a messed up family are two very different things. Anyhow, let us say Discord is 3000 years old, he is about the equivalent of a 9 year old. No matter tthe situation, I have never heard of a mature 9 year old.
4946325
That's quite true, but exactly the opposite of what happened with Discord.
Children who mature quickly are either being raised by parents who place strict rules and offer a great deal of education and guidance to shape the child into a mature person early (this describes Spike... sure he's immature, but given his position in a dragon lifespan, the fact that he's as mature as he is, when you compare him to the teenage dragons that are much more physically mature than he is but much less emotionally mature, is due to Twilight most likely), or they're under tremendous pressure to behave like adults because they can't trust the adults around them to look out for their best interests. For survival, they must take on adult responsibilities.
While Discord had no one to raise him, his powers ensured he didn't need to take responsibility, either. He'd never starve, and if his teeth rotted from eating nothing but candy, he could grow new teeth. He can't be injured in any meaningful way unless someone's actively trying to hurt him, and working hard at it. Any material wants he could have, he could have with the snap of a talon. So he has had no guidance, no mentorship from an adult, and no pressure to develop any maturity. He's like Peter Pan, except he hasn't even had the emotional maturity to recruit any Lost Boys. (Ironically, the comics indicate that he's reached that stage now; Discord could very easily take it into his head to take the CMC off on exciting adventures without any adults besides his ostensible adulthood, and in the comics, he has.)
Maturity simply does not come just from living a while. A five year old cat is much, much more mature than a five year old human, and a five year old alley cat is much more mature and capable of taking care of itself than a five year old housecat who's never been allowed to leave the house. Maturity comes from both your biological maturation process, and pressure from life circumstances forcing you to take responsibility and develop good judgement. If Discord is halfway through his biological maturation process, and has had no life circumstances pressuring him to mature... he's more spoiled than Diamond Tiara, because he can give himself anything he wants and no one can tell him no, ever. But he's also totally alone.
The trade that in canon we know Discord accepted -- friendship and some level of emotional acceptance from ponies, in exchange for giving up his freedom to do whatever he wants -- is very much a trade a lonely omnipotent child might make. Children crave boundaries, even though they test them and will try to break them. If Discord's a child, some part of him probably wants to be told what to do, in exchange for love and care. But until Celestia had Fluttershy reform him, that just wasn't an option he was ever offered. (And given that he seems to think he's an adult, and he really is ancient by the standards of everypony around him, he probably hasn't admitted to himself that that's what he wants... but the fact that his friendship test centered around making Twilight take care of him? Sounds pretty childish to me.)
A combination of no biological maturity and no force that can make him take responsibility would have ensured that no matter how old Discord got, he wouldn't have grown up much. He undoubtedly knows much, much more than a pony or human child would... but a five year old human knows much, much more than a five year old cat, and yet the cat would survive an apocalypse that killed the adult humans, and the child probably wouldn't. Discord has three thousand years worth of knowledge, and that does count for something... but what it counts for isn't maturity or wisdom.
This is quite interesting. Not sure I'm completely on board with the premise, but you are working with it very well and the characters sound and act a lot like themselves.
Why is Twilight blushing and such around Celestia? Background mentorship?
One thing you will have to explain though: Who wrote that book? Because it is seriously suspect as it is now. Who would know that about Discord's species, considering the only being that could possible know (alicorns) don't seem to know that?
Also, you have your work cut out for you explaining the elements' angle on this. I also really hope you'll acknowledge that what Celestia did might just have been the best course of action, because while there is always the issue of whether someone can be "tried as an adult", a child with Discord's powers would be dangerous as hell and something would need to be done. If a child like that appeared in our world, the first and probably most responsible thing to do would be to kill it if possible, simply for the safety of everything else. It's harsh, and terrible, but compared to a reality warper that is stupid, uncaring or simply selfish (and children generally fit at least one of those) it would be infinitely comparable.
Still, good stuff. Happy writing.
4946453 I would just like to say that you have some of the best comments on here. I like reading about the logic of why Discord is acting this way~ Just wanted to let you know ^_^
I like this story. I do believe I will continue reading it.
That being said, there is one flaw I see in the theory that Discord is a child; he's really good at thinking ahead. The first thing he did in the show was to hide the artifacts that could defeat him, and the second was to depower the ones who could use them. Not to mention, when he was turned to stone, he already had the foresight to ensure that something independent of him would continue to wreak havoc in his stead (although those black vine seeds did take their sweet time getting to work).
In the end, I think that Discord is simply the living manifestation of pure, unguided chaos. He is not good or evil, innocent or malicious, or mature or immature. He is entirely the living embodiment of entropy bound to physical form. He's like an explosion: a directionless force that spreads evenly in the area it affects. However, now that he has friends to guide him, his nature can be harnessed for good, just like how explosions can be directed and controlled for constructive purposes.
4946429
It's not entirely accurate to just say that anyone is mature or immature; instead, it would be better to measure one's level of maturity or compare it to someone else's. For instance, I've met a couple of nine-year-olds who were more mature than the average twenty-seven-year-old, but I've also met people who were more mature than those nine-year-olds.
4948688 I have met very evil toddlers that are able to plan weeks ahead. Infact, my cousin once formed a briliant plan to steal all my money without being caught. it wold have taken a month to complete. He even wrote it all down.
Moral of my story: never trust six year olds.
Such originality and... thought provoking dialogue!
Author you had my interest, now you have complete attention
4948730
Still, like highly mature fourth-graders, that's an exception to the rule. It's possible that Discord is a very cunning child, but it's highly unlikely.
That being said, I will still read this story, even though I think it's premise is less likely than others. After all, the only ones who should be expected to stick with canon are the original authors.
4949289
Actually Discord shows some fairly strong signs, even in canon, of having childlike lapses of judgement in his ability to plan.
Kids can make plans. I made a plan when I was in second grade to run away from home and live in the woods by my school. I had my route planned, my getaway vehicle (my brother's Big Wheel), and friends who lived in the apartment complex next to the school who'd bring me food. I even packed. Where the whole thing fell down was that my reasons for wanting to run away were stupid, so I changed my mind. :-)
Discord can indeed plan ahead, and he can come up with fairly good plans, but they have holes in them you can drive a truck through (typically a truck driven by Twilight Sparkle...) He took out the weapons that could harm him and he took out the people who could use them, but it never occurred to him that it was possible for them to undo what he'd done, and his plan involved them finding the objects they needed after they were no longer capable of using them, because it was more important to be darkly ironic and rub it in their faces than it was to win. Which indicates that he never imagined losing. Kids come up with those kinds of plans. The plan can be quite elaborate, but because the kid doesn't think through all the possibilities, but engages in wishful thinking in which everything goes right, the plan ends up failing because there are obvious problems with it.
Mind you, as much as I love this idea, in my headcanon Discord is a very intelligent adult whose connection to chaos makes him frequently scatterbrained; he's really good at coming up with plans rapidly and on the fly, but really bad at thinking through all the possible implications, mostly because his mind just doesn't work that way. So it's not like I think you have to be a child to come up with stupid plans. But pointing to a plan with giant flaws in it isn't actually proof that the character isn't a child, because that's exactly the kind of plan smart children come up with, and if Discord has a seven thousand year maturity cycle he is probably very intelligent... the only reason you'd need a maturity cycle that long is if, in order to be a functional adult, you need thousands of years of life experience, which implies that adult draconequui are really, really smart. (So what happened to them, I wonder?)
4946349
I don't think Discord cannot comprehend the situation; even if he's a child, he's obviously a very intelligent one. The fact that no one can tell he's not an adult plainly indicates he has a much more sophisticated intellect than, say, a human nine year old (and a human nine year old can grasp things like the concept of "dog years", where lifespans between two species don't match up.)
However, I suspect Discord won't believe it. And will consider it patronizing as hell if anyone treats him as a child. And will probably be infuriated if he finds out that anyone is now horrified about turning him to stone just because they figured out he was a kid, because children who have had to live as independent adults don't want to be cut slack for being kids, they want to be respected the way adults are. Mind you, he's Discord, I'm sure he'll take advantage of the situation, but at the same time I suspect it will make him very angry to be thought of as a child (and deep down, possibly griefstricken, because if it's true and he's really a child, his whole life could have been different and happier if he'd had family to watch over him, and what happened to them? He probably put his feelings about having no other draconequui or other kind of family to bed a long time ago, and this may kick up a lot of buried angst.)
I am liking this way too much, but I don't care because this is AWESOME!
4949535 Yeah true, but at the same time, it does have a big impact in the legal sense. At the same time, Discord may have to live as an independant adult, but mentally he probably isn't. Ultimately, he's a screwed up little kid (in a sense.) Although, living independently as an adult doesn't mean you'll get the respect. Not just of age, but because of attitude, especially since Discord has lived a life of loneliness.
I think that he'll have some fun while occasionally bringing it up. Though I figure something like alcohol or something that would inhibit his thinking would cause him to burst out emotionally.