Pony POV Series: Discord and Destruction

by Alex Warlorn

Discord talks about himself, oh and maybe his brother too

Hello there, Discord the Federal Grant and Really HD Screen at your disservice! Now that we're nearing the end of the road, I felt like sharing some family history of mine. Like my dear brother Destruction... I'll never understand why he always gets more sympathy than me when neither one of us wanted others telling us how to do our jobs...

I MEAN BEFORE I ruled Equestria in a state of pure chaos! Take a chill pill!

Ugh. I think it's time I shared some stories about my brother. No no no, he wasn't secretly evil, and he wasn't a bleeding heart who thought the best way for toys, I mean mortals to have freedom was to kill every deity from the goddess of haiku (she hasn't ascended yet) to my Parents.

Destruction was his own Draconequus, like me! Now, you won't be finding out anything Equus shattering here my dears, sorry to disappoint you, but we're at the final act and we're overstocked on dramatic twists as is. This is just a little tale of mine to flesh out your ill informed understanding of one of my relatives, so if that doesn't interest you, you are free to go. I'm sure there's many fascinating tales about a pony one of the Elements Bearers chatted with for five seconds who is secretly a ninja from a secret organization secretly founded by Celestia in secret to secretly guard Equestria. Or you could listen to yet another pony whine years after the fact how it was so mean of Mare-Do-Well to save Rainbow Dash from her own messes.

But why would you bother with such prattle when you can hear my handsome voice?

I was supposed to be talking about my brother? Oh yes, yes!

Now, we both had others telling us how to do our job which, if you've read anything of this story so far, you know means they were telling me how to be myself! Oh yes, and they were telling Destruction how to be Destruction instead of Destruction deciding how to be Destruction. What did they think we were? Alicorns?

I guess there's no point in hiding it now, I did have my private moments with Destruction. Those random moments where we could appreciate being in the same boat. We had a common ground.

This again? For the last time, he could have assimilated me and lived instead, it was him or me, we didn't know Pandora was going to show up! Destruction never wanted to do that sort of thing anyway, so I... I let him do the noble thing... It was him or me.

Sigh. Everypony kept telling me 'not to go there' or 'not to mess with this', when chaos is supposed to be random and inescapable! I should have had no barriers before me. I do whatever I want, when I want to. And that's why I could respect Destruction.

Oh, I thought it was stupid how he had power and never wanted to exercise it, but I couldn't help but see some of myself in him.

'Destroy this', 'destroy that', 'unmake there', 'obliterate there'. Everypony wanted to tell him how to do his job! Destruction ... never wanted to destroy anything. Destruction didn't want to be Destruction. I guess you've heard this part before, but have you ever thought about what this means?

Imagine a pony hating his own cutie mark. Despising his own special talent, hating the very thing that signifies his own uniqueness? Effectively hating his own self? That's what made me better than him by the way, I embraced who I am, I've never hidden from myself.

But both of us had the same big fat ugly hammer hit on our heads over and over and over, the disgusting word 'responsibility!' BLAGH! The word I despise above all others (at this moment)!

What's the point of being a Concept if you have the 'R-Word' to deal with?! I'm the king of pointless? Don't YOU go telling ME how to interpret myself thank you very much!!!

So yes, while everypony was browbeating ME for doing too much, everypony was browbeating my brother for not doing ENOUGH! Please tell me you can appreciate the joke.

I'm sure you're aware by now, a lot of what Celly told you about my family was the traumatized account of a teenage Concept experiencing a war on a scale fleshy mortal brains lack the hardware to appreciate. Seriously, you should have seen it, Ragnarok was something else.

But let me tell you... Destruction... it was just sad... Now I know you must feel some sense of confusion, aren't I the pizzazz Discord? Don't I love seeing creatures squirm? Well, maybe he reminded me too much of me, or maybe I just hadn't realized how much I enjoyed it, or maybe there was just no style to it to make it entertaining.

Destruction handled Destruction on all scales, great and small. Mom and Dad had to nudge him along just so the universe wouldn't be a frozen mess!

Did I feel the same about Anarchy? Anarchy didn't cringe from his purpose in existence, he was just lazy about it. 'Isn't Anarchy rebelling against his responsibility to spread rebellion, which looks like laziness?' ... Now you made my head hurt.

The joke is, Destruction and I both have an appreciation for beauty. And Destruction couldn't bring himself to unmake it. What a sap. He didn't get that beauty is best in how it's always changing. I guess he and beauty itself had something in common in that regard.

One example?

Because Destruction refused, a child in turn refused to destroy their building block city they made in their parents' living room with a dance party coming and the rug in need of vacuum.

The parents ended up having to pass it off as a modern art project. Doesn't sound so bad does it?

Well, Strife couldn't stand him a lot in the early days. Simply because if old species didn't die out, there wouldn’t be room for new species to evolve. Instead, Destruction insisted they figure out a way to make all these different species coexist at the same time on the same planet... This resulted in this planet's ecosystem becoming more and more fragile as species rubbed against each other. Until, snap, and Destruction still refused to end their misery... the result was the planet literally frozen, unable to end, unable to move forward, frozen like a museum piece.

Mountains couldn't be destroyed to make way for roads. Forests couldn't be destroyed to make homes. Old used containers couldn't be recycled. They couldn't even comprehend the idea of incinerating it! Garbage piled up across MANY civilizations.

Oh... and ever hear of Sodom and Gomorrah? Now imagine invading armies who DIDN'T run into a nasty piece of random destructive weather that sank their entire fleet. And I think you don't need to imagine some very well meaning ponies who thought they knew better than the gods themselves and tried to rewrite reality itself, and messed up on the finer details.

Suffice to say... Mom and Dad forced his hands a few times when things got critical.

But tell me this, my little ponies. Ever thought it weird that Mom and Dad never implanted me with a trigger that shut me down if I did too much of myself at once, but they'd implant Destruction with a trigger when he wouldn't do enough of himself?

Poor Celly. All the suffering she's endured, and ponies still want to congratulate themselves on their successes and blame all their failures on her. And she got to see how ugly my family gets when we're fighting to save the universe from some equines that could destroy the universe and the Alicorns don't want us to.

... You can't fight against yourself. Believe me, I've been there. You can try, you can struggle, you can squirm, you can scream, cry for help, give brave speeches, but in the end, there's no defeating yourself.

Destruction wouldn't learn that lesson, he wouldn't accept it. Destruction not destroying things? It would be like me trying to be some neatly orderly nerd-type. When you stop being yourself, what are you? Nothing.

And when you fight against yourself, yourself fights back. A tyrant can't magically suddenly decide to live in peace. A thief can't magically suddenly give up on her greed. A psychopath wouldn't suddenly just stop putting an end to other creatures. A scorpion can't decide to stop being poisonous.

In truth, his berserk mode was from his own inability to accept himself.

Comments

[Ultimate Warrior of Zera]

Discord brings up a very good point, but he's forgetting one thing. You can accept your nature and purpose, but you don't have to be a dick about it.

[Alex Warlorn]

8525341

If case you haven't noticed, Discord doesn't tend to be that mature a deity! :-) THANK YOU for the comment!

[howard035]

I feel like Discord is really talking about himself at the end. After all, if a leopard can't change his spots, then he doesn't have to try, does he?

[Alex Warlorn]

8534246
Sounds about right for Discord. Discord has always feared changing means giving up his identity. 'That I won't be me anymore.'

[DoContra]

Discord's comment regarding Celestia comes off very high and mighty, considering he's from roughly the same generation of Concepts; until I remembered Havoc is a part of him . (Which does make me wonder if the fic isn't also displaying some tension between "stand-alone Discord" and Havoc, in the way Discord starts the fic proud of the similarities he had with his brother, and then steadily distances his situation from his brother's).

Also, for all Discord's complaining about Destruction refusing to do his job, Destruction was actually being really effective at it; just not in the way his peers wanted him to (and against his presumed end goal, according to Discord ).

Simply because if old species didn't die out, there wouldn’t be room for new species to evolve.

Arguably, if the new species on its own couldn't displace the older one (above-board or otherwise ), then it's not that much better now is it.

In truth, his berserk mode was from his own inability to accept himself.

Which made his specialty self-destruction .

PS: Loved the narrator's voice, it was real easy to hear John de Lancie as I read it! .

[FanOfMostEverything]

After Götterdämmerung, when the cosmic dust settles and the universe is reborn anew, only Kettle Corn will remain of the old pantheon.

She'll be as surprised as anyone.

In any case, interesting examination of a tragedy of a draconequus as told by one who isn't much better.

[Alex Warlorn]

8535675
I'm happy to know I kept things in character!

[Alex Warlorn]

8536143

Ironically. Something that happened naturally. Is how Ragnarok for the gods had already happened, and instead of being obliterated, they simply picked up the pieces and moved on. (Sound familiar?)

In any case, interesting examination of a tragedy of a draconequus as told by one who isn't much better.

Thanks.

[Philo Hippos]

Destruction can't run from his nature. Denying oneself is the path of self destruction.

[Alex Warlorn]

8688542
That is the real irony. Makes you wonder how many people go insane hiding their true self from the world.