You Fooled Me Again

by BrawnyBold

Discord's Worst Timeout

Under the Canterlot Castle lies some of the underground dungeons where it used to keep prisons of the past from causing havoc in Equestria. Inside one of these dungeons was a large, white dome that glowed from all of the magic powering it. Discord, the Lord of Chaos, was the only being inside of the white dome. The draconequus would usually try and figure out a way to escape a prison like the white dome, but something was different. He sat on a chair and looked at the floor with sadness like a small foal would do if he gets sent to the corner for something he did. Discord made a deep sigh.

'I guess this was a suitable punishment for me.' Discord thought. He was known for causing chaos to teach some creatures a lesson, attempt to help out his friends, or just for the fun of it. This time was different as Discord had almost let three of Equestria's worst villains take over all of Equestria because he wanted to boost Twilight's confidence in one last showdown against her worst enemies. He had no idea that the three villains had their own plans by using Grogar's bell against him. Equestria was lucky enough to have individuals who were able to bring everyone together to help take down the three villains. The villains were turned into statues so they didn't cause anymore harm. That only left Discord who was the start of all of the chaos. The princesses and several others thought the best punishment for Discord would be to have him remain in this magic bubble where he wouldn't cause too much trouble. He didn't worry about disappearing for not doing chaos magic as the bubble only prevents him from escaping. Discord would be able to leave the magic bubble until the princesses and their friends were willing to forgive him. The draconequus's only concern is how long it will take for his friends to let bygones be bygones. But what about when he gets out? Things will probably be different with Discord and his friends. The worst thing Discord could think of would be Spike and Big Mac no longer inviting him to their annual guys' night. He looked up to see the royal guards who were watching him. Discord could tell that those two royal guards didn't like what he did judging by the stink-eyes they have been giving him. The doors suddenly opened to reveal Fluttershy walking in.

'Oh no,' Discord thought as his heart sank from seeing his closest friend again. For some reason, being no longer invited to Spike and Big Mac's O&O campaigns felt a lot less worse than what he is imagining with Fluttershy. Fluttershy spoke to both of the royal guards about something before both of the stallions nodded and left the room. That only left Discord and Fluttershy staring at each other with no emotions displayed on their faces. The last time Discord saw Fluttershy was when she was in tears for finding out that he brought back the remaining villains. That made Discord plagued with guilt for his actions. Fluttershy then approached Discord until she was a few feet from Discord.

"Hello, Discord." Fluttershy said in a calm manner.

"H-hello, Fluttershy." Discord said nervously. He was shaking in fear as he had never seen his closest friend like this before. Discord would usually see Fluttershy with her happy smile. This was entirely new and Discord was terrified.

"S-so, how are things in Canterlot?" Discord asked first.

"It's been fine, everypony is doing a great job rebuilding most of Canterlot due to what Chrysalis, Cozy, and Tirek did." Discord cringed when he remembered those three firing large beams that destroyed a majority of Canterlot Castle.

"That's...great to hear." Discord said with a weak smile.

"Twilight has also been resting from all of the stress that she had to deal with. From the villains to the distrust between other ponies." There was a long silence between the two.

"That's Twilight for you," Discord said. "I had no doubt in my mind that she and the rest of you were able to pull it off at the end."

"We all faced a lot of struggles recently," Fluttershy said before she looked down and whispered. "all...because...of you." Fluttershy lifted her head to reveal tears flowing down her eyes like waterfalls. This made Discord feel worse as he could tell that Fluttershy was really upset.

"You were lucky that our friends and the princesses put you in here instead of turning you back to stone and join your 'Legion of Doom'!" Fluttershy yelled. "Ever since we got you out of your stone prison, you have been causing more and more chaos that was above your needed amount!" Discord just stared at Fluttershy as he knew that what she said was true.

"First, it was you who planted those seeds that grew into the vines that attacked Ponyville, then you decided to work with Tirek and help him steal the magic from all of Equestria!"

"B-but that was before I realized that my friendship with you was more valuable than with Tirek." Discord said in attempt to offend himself. Fluttershy just shot Discord a ticked-off look.

"Oh really?!" Fluttershy said with attempted sarcasm. "What about that other time you sent me and my friends on that fake friendship mission!? When we discovered that you were behind it, I thought that you were teaching us a lesson about how our missions can distract us from our duties at the School of Friendship and that we needed to hire more teachers. But no, it was because you wanted to be Head Mare and cause havoc to the school! Was my apology basket not enough to make it up to you?!" Discord remembered Fluttershy's apology basket. It had a letter about the opening of the School of Friendship and it said how sorry Fluttershy was for not inviting Discord.

"I guess that I was so angry that I forgot about your apology basket." Discord said in realization.

"Did you even take into account of how close we could have been dead because of your fake mission!?" Fluttershy yelled again. "While heading back to Ponyville, most of my friends talked about how they wanted to turn you back into stone; especially Twilight! I had to beg them not to do it because you were my friend!" Discord felt shocked as he realized that he got lucky for avoiding such a punishment.

"I wanted to prove to my friends that you were able to change your ways. But there were times you took my trust for granted. You did it during recent events!" Fluttershy quivered while she was yelling out her frustration. Discord would immediately pop a tissue or hanky to her, but he couldn't because of the magic dome. Luckily for Discord, Fluttershy pulled out a hanky and blew on it.

"I had things under control!" Discord responded. "When I was Grogar, I showed those three villains my pretend magic to warn them not to betray me! I guess I should have noticed something was off when they didn't get the bell."

"You may had good intentions for what happened, but that doesn't change the fact that YOU did that! You were the last creature I expected to make such an outrageous plan that involves unleashing the most dangerous criminals in Equestria. Now I'm starting to believe that my friends and the princesses were right about you! A part of me agrees and I don't want to feel that way!" Soon, Fluttershy bawled until she needed to wipe her eyes and blew her muzzle. Discord felt like his heart was breaking multiple times from seeing and hearing Fluttershy this way.

"You have every right to feel that way." Discord said as his head was down. "I let my ignorance almost lead Equestria to complete disaster." Tears started to pour out of Discord's eyes. There was another long silence between the two of them.

"Applejack was right as I didn't learn enough from all of the lessons you and your friends have taught." Discord admitted. "I guess it was because it was in my nature to oppose anything that wasn't so chaotic. The princesses should've turned me back into stone!" It wasn't long before Discord too started bawling and large amounts of tears filled up the magic dome. The Lord of Chaos wasn't pretending to cry to make others feel guilty. The sadness he displayed was real. Discord didn't notice that Fluttershy made her way to the magic bubble and placed her hoof on to the surface.

"I-I'm sorry that I came here to make you feel bad. I'm not even sure that it was a good idea to let it all out to you. I just wanted to express how devastated I was about your recent actions and how you caused problems to not only me but to my friends as well." Discord placed a paw on the other side of the spot where Fluttershy placed her hoof.

"I should be the one saying the most apologies." Discord replied. "I was the one who started the whole disaster whether it was on purpose or not."

"I'm just not sure how things will turn out for you once you get out." Fluttershy said. "But even when others have more doubt for you. I'll still trust you for doing the right thing." Discord smiled as tears of happiness flowed out of his eyes.

"Thank you, Fluttershy." Discord said before he got up to place his paw on his chest while holding up two claw fingers. "I swear that once I get out of this bubble, I'll make Equestria better in ways that our friends would want it instead of how I would want it!"

"I hope you'll be out of here very soon," Fluttershy gave a small smile. "I'm not sure how long it will take to convince everyone else to set you free."

"Me being in this bubble is definitely a good start on my long road of redemption for my deeds. Once I'm out, I can continue from there." Discord smiled back. Fluttershy became happy that Discord was willing to make things right.

"I look forward to your release." Fluttershy said. "The first thing you could do when you get out is to come to my place for our regular tea time."

"I can't wait!" Discord said in excitement. Fluttershy waved to Discord goodbye before she left the dungeons. Both of the royal guard ponies returned and watched Discord with their usual stink eyes. Discord started to feel better now that he admitted his mistakes and his best friend was the first to forgive him. Now he will need to prepare himself to do whatever he can to make things right with the princesses and their friends.

Comments

[Saphirus92]

I'm going to give an honest opinion here...while what Discord did was foolish, if I were Celestia and the Mane 6, I would have no one to blame but myself.
think about it, after Sombra's return and attack, although shining armor had the right idea about upgrading castle defenses, but why did they stop there? Didn’t anyone bother to check on tirek and cozy? Didn’t anyone bother to go out and look for chrysalis and capture her? As far as we know Twilight and the others never realized chrysalis found the location of the tree of Harmony before it was destroyed. And as for discord, although he’s reformed he’s still the lord of chaos and someone should have been keeping a very close eye on him. There were warning signs too Didn’t anyone think it was way too convenient for all that stuff at the sun celebration to happen at the same time? Honestly, it’s a miracle equestria has lasted this long with this kind of leadership

Other than that, pretty good story.

[diablo4000]

I blame the writers for such a stupid plot. I was looking forward to a battle against Grogar, what we got.....

[Ellington]

Assuming it's possible, they should've removed all of Discord's powers. Like what happened to Fire Lord Ozai.

[TheAncientPolitzanian]

You have some good ideas, but the dialogue feels really stilted and unnatural.

All in all, not bad, but still.

[ExplosionMare]

9929273
That’s how I felt about it, too. Could’ve used a few more descriptive words.

[ExplosionMare]

9929036
I know. I can’t believe such a cool throwback character was fake

[NobodieZ]

Great work on this. Discord should have face some consequences for his actions.

[twilightsparkle3562]

Excellent job on this story!

[Yoshifan30]

Once again you pointed out the situation that discord did And I kinda agreed he should be held accounted for his action

[TheClownPrinceofCrime]

Why didn’t we get this in the epilogue?

Seriously, great job with this story. You just earned a fav and a like.

[A Man Undercover]

Having finally read this story, I will admit that it isn’t perfect. It’s mostly because, like TheAncientPolitzanian said, the dialogue wasn’t the most natural. Other than that, it felt like so many sentences were crammed together and needed to be made into their own paragraphs, the tenses seemed to be consistently shifting in and out of past and present, Discord wasn’t his usual self, and it felt like the story should’ve been longer in order for things to really breathe and develop.

But, I enjoyed the concept. When I first discovered this story, and even after I read it, I immediately couldn’t help but vision it as part of the canon of the show.

It isn’t my favorite story, but it is one that I’ll be happy to give you a Like for.

[A Man Undercover]

9929273
I agree.

[Wild Stallion]

The princesses should've turned me back into stone!

Right about here is where the story kind of fails to be believable for me. Its pretty hard to believe after years of dodging responsibility for his actions Discord would suddenly develop a conscious this powerful, unless it was part of another trick.

There's also some stilted dialogue and odd word choices on top of that. Altogether though the correcting of Discord is a great premise that doesn't get enough attention as is and I enjoyed this take on it. I especially appreciate that you bothered to bring up A Matter of Principals since most writers don't bother to try and address it. All in all a enjoyable read of a story and I appreciate you writing it, although you might want to find someone who can work out some of the kinks in your writing if you wish to grow your skills for future attempts.

[nightshroud96]

A certainly nice read seeing Discord facing more consequences of his iffy plan.
I feel like his plan did more damage than he realizes.
Such as how it damages the Royal Sisters' reputations further.
On their very last days as rulers, they ended up being "failures" again(no, distracting the trio and turning the powerless trio to stone doesn't fix that. In fact that last part made them look bad big time).
Even if Discord's plan didn't went haywire, Luna and Celestia are most likely going to get taken out and fail again.
While his plan would boost Twilight's confidence, it would most likely damage the sisters' confidence.
I feel like Luna would take it worse due to she didn't rule for much long and since her return from the moon she kept falling flat on her face when some villain attacks or she gets sidelined. That happening to her on her last days as ruler would damage her confidence badly. Especially since her track record looks worse than Celestia due to losing a 1000 years of ruling due to the NMM mess.
Discord really screwed the Royal Sisters there..

Heck, Discord sure is right to fear Spike would be mad at him. His plan affected Spike badly too.
With how Spike ended up brainwashed by Sombra(basically Discord shafted Spike due to he wasn't an Element Bearer pretty much) and most likely his status in the Crystal Empire got screwed up. And the fact he nearly had his wings torn off in the finale(and he might end up getting PTSD from that a certain fic showed the possibility of that)

I am sure Discord's plan also messed up Shining Armor's and Cadance's reputations at the Crystal Empire too with how Sombra easily took over again. Heck, the Crystal Ponies are probably traumatized by that and will never feel peace now that the very monster they thought was dead CAN come back somehow. Flurry Heart would most likely be traumatized too.

[A Man Undercover]

10285225
Scratch that. I’m suddenly planning on making my own story involving Discord and the aftermath of “The Ending of the End”.

[Pete100]

Honestly, I’ll give discord a pass.

[Starlight Fan]

10420084
Why?

[Starlight Fan]

Well done. Discord is gonna be let out and thank goodness for that, I feel he does somewhat deserve this, not only did his plan cause two invasions, it traumatizes the Crystal Empire with the fact Sombra can come back, and it also affects his little friends Spike and Starlight since they were both mind controlled by Sombra, and the former almost got his wings ripped out and the latter had to deal with a vengeful Chrysalis trying to make her suffer.

[Pete100]

10677084
At first when I put the comment, it was because he had a good motive, I still do think that, but now it’s because I’ve seen worse. It’s to the point where I’m like “you know what? Just forgive him/her and get it over with.” You know what I mean?

[nightshroud96]

10382265
Would it address the issues of how Discord screwed the Royal Sisters over?
And the other damages such as what happened to Spike due to that plan?

[A Man Undercover]

10737586
At the moment I’m uncertain.

[nightshroud96]

10737593
I see..

[GrandAdmiral MitthRawN]

Should have been the same as the other 3. He was the benefactor after all.