Picture Yourself in a Paper

It was a sunny day on Ponyville. Princess Twilight Sparkle was just finishing her paperwork of the day along with the day before. The sound of mumbles and a certain seal colliding with various scrolls echoed through the halls of an empty castle.

On that particular day, her friends were nowhere nearby. They were traveling, working, or just sleeping on some cloud, while her loyal assistant was on the Dragon's Lands, attending the call of a very concerned Queen.

Every now and then she looked at the corner, a huge book returned her the look, "The History of History Books" it said, bold black letters in a brown cover. She could feel her heart racing, wanting to read that book, wanting that moment between opening and looking for the first chapter where she sees a glimpse of what's coming, a mere sight of the journey ahead, the excitement of not knowing what's on the next page and the secrets it may content only for her to find them, to go inside the mind of the writer, to see what they wrote, what they found, what they know, as if she could see a piece of the world all between her hooves.

She knew that every seal of approval she put would get her closer to that moment, but despite the hours, the mountain of papers seemed the same as always.

"Spike usually helps me with these..." She said, thinking of him and her friends. "The mirror..." She whispered, "maybe..."

"You aren't thinking about tinkering with alternate realities just to make your work faster, are you? Princess"

A foul voice came from the paper in front of her. Suddenly, the letters swirled and distorted until a face formed.

"Discord? How do you... I mean, of course not! Why would i do that? I have my tasks perfectly organized and..."

"And accumulated from days before, am I right?" He said with a smile, "what I'm I saying, of course you wouldn't do that! that is something I do!" The letters on the paper stormed out of it, creating Discord's shape in perfect black and white.

Twilight recalled the moment she decided to read one more page that eventually turned into three books instead of doing her yesterday's affairs, head down, "well, yeah... You're right... That's... Wait, you do?”

Discord smile went from ear to ear, noticing the sudden change in Twilight's face. "Well, of course I do," he said while laying down on the desk, "you don't become The Master of Chaos by letting others take that title," he said pointing to a crown of paper he made with Twilight's work, "besides, I said I won't let anything harm my dear Fluttershy, and I meant every Fluttershy."

Twilight ignored what he was doing to her papers, she focused on those last words, trying to remember everything she knew about the mirror and the different dimensions she witnessed. "But... When we went to that world where Sombra was actually a good king, you were a hero fighting against her..."

Discord thought for a second, an exclamation symbol appeared over his head soon after, "Oh! That, Princess, wasn't me," he made a box, taking more papers from Twilight's desk and making a clic sound afterwards, "despite how handsome and wonderful this brave specimen of a Draconequus is, that, my little Twilight, is just that, a, and I must empathize, very handsome Draconequus. He can't even tap into the world I live in," the castle walls begin to shift into stars as the ceiling and floor turned pitch black, "the power of creation," within seconds, stars formed and collapsed into novas, the light of the universe spiralled into the floor and up to Discord's paw "and destruction itself!" a massive black hole began to devour the light he was holding, along some papers from the desk, as the room, now covered in darkness, began to turn cold, "Into the primal and raw form of... Chaos."

Everything turned back to normal. The candle began to shine again, revealing one mare clinging to her chair in fear. Soon after, she quickly took her seat again, looked at the floor and touched it with her hoof. The feeling of the hard crystal and the sound it made brought her heart back into her chest, as she saw Discord smiling in front of her, "so..." She said, avoiding his eyesight, "then... What happened to that world 'Master of Chaos'?" she asked, doing a gesture with her hooves.

"Well, that's me, of course" he answered, many arrows floating around him, pointing to his face.

"And this world's 'Master of Chaos'?" She asked.

"I'm offended by the question," he said while more arrows appeared and pointed to him, "it's me, of course. Who else? Pinkie Pie? She totally could," he mumbled, "but no! I'm sure it's me"

"I see..." Twilight said, tilting her head, "and what about Sunset Shimmer's world?"

He stood in silence for a few seconds. The arrows now pointing at the floor as sadness invade them, "I'm afraid, Twilight, that I have to say, that is me of course!" The arrows became bigger and brighter as Discord struck a pose.

"I don't think that that is possible. Is it?" She asked, hoof on her chin, "we all have many versions of us, right?"

"Infinite, right," answered Discord, cutting folded paper into his shape just to become one single Discord the moment he unfold it.

"So... Why don't you?"

"That's very simple question, Twilight, "he said, throwing the Discord shaped paper and watching it run, "I am the many versions of me, in fact, I'm all versions of me" Twilight blinked twice, trying to make sense of what he was saying. "Well, let me explain," he said, taking a bunch of papers from the now smaller tower of work Twilight had. After a moment, he put his glasses and a jacket before clearing his throat, "let's say this papers are, each one, a parallel universe," Twilight nodded as she took the back of one paper and began to take notes, "and this, my dear students, this is a balloon in the shape of a crocodile we like to call 'Gummy'," Twilight tilted her head, still, she wrote notes about that, "but this" said Discord, releasing the balloon and getting out a glass of ink from behind him, "this is me," he poured a single drop of ink in the paper, "can anypony guess what will happen now?"

Twilight instantaneously raised her hoof, the urge to answer that question clear in her face as she desperately moved her hoof side to side to get Discord's attention, "Me!" She repeated,

Discord got his glasses down and looked at the tag in front of the desk, "yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle, what is the answer?"

Twilight wings opened without her noticing as she stood on her hooves on the floor and her desk. "Well, since the ink is black and liquid, it will be absorbed by each paper, each time less and less, until the drop is absorbed by all the sheets, leaving a decreasing black stain in all of them."

Twilight had an immense smile on her face as she sat again, hooves crossed, waiting for Discord to speak.

"That, Ms Sparkle, is correct!" Twilight clapped and smiled as she began to take notes again, "the same drop went across almost all the sheets, that means..." He said, prompting Twilight to continue.

"Everywhere there is ink, it's actually the same droplet?"

"And that means?"

Twilight tilted her head, moved her lips and tapped the floor with her hoof, "you came from a single source...? Therefore, there's no other 'you'?"

Discord raised an eyebrow, "I was thinking more of 'you are the one and only' but that works too," he said, taking off his jacket and glasses and throwing the sheets to the trash bin, "any doubts?"

Twilight noticed that she didn't have a trash bin, but she was glad that now she had, "I have one: if you are the droplet... What is the flask?..."

"The force of nature of Chaos itself, of course," he said while appearing on a chair behind him just to float over it as if he was sitting, "there is only one single spot from where everything came to exist, but we don't talk much about it, he's very annoying."

"We?" Asked Twilight.

Discord noticed his own words, "that's a lesson for another time," he said, looking at Twilight from the corner of his eyes, "what I say is that-"

"We are all alternate versions of a single reality?"

"Well, sure, but-"

"So, there is an origin... " Discord gulped, noticing the train of thoughts Twilight was on now, "but what about those sheets without stain?..." She asked.

"Well, that-"

"Those are realities where this primordial pool of Chaos doesn't reach, right? So, technically, you cannot exist there, at least not the you that is part of the chaos magic,"

"Right... Just like-

"Like when you tried to not be chaotic and almost disappear! You are an extension of this primordial energy, like, like-"

"Very well, I have to stop you there."

"A F- Wait, what?"

"You are now getting into things you can't comprehend, not even *I do if I'm honest, which always am of course."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you see this, Twilight?" In a flick of his paw, the whole castle evaporated. He took the Sun with his fingers from the sky and put it in his mouth. He began to chew, his mouth shone with blinding light on the now dark floor of the Castle. Soon after, he blew what was on his mouth as a Bubblegum as the bright balloon turn into the star once again. "This is just a bit of that droplet. Not even I know how much ink is in that flask," he noticed the whole town watching him and Twilight, as he remembered the now gone walls. He flick his fingers and recreate them in an instant, "they love me," he said with a smile.

"I.. I see..." Said Twilight, awestruck. "And... How do you know about the beginning of the universe?..."

"Oh, that is a simple one, I exist!"

"What does that mean?..." Said Twilight, her eyes fixed on the empty space between her and Discord.

"Since there's only one version of me, it means that I'm my past, present and future," said Discord while holding a photo of himself with a pacifier on one paw and another one of himself with a cane and glasses on the other. "Because I can go back in time-"

"You can?!"

"-The simple fact that I haven't seen myself in the past or from the future only means that I just exist, or something like that."

"But... Why?..."

"Because the flask cannot be created or destroyed, it's beginning is the beginning of everything and it will last until time itself run out, and trust me, she doesn't get tired that easily," he said, winking

"... She?..."

Discord's eyes opened wide, "what I was saying is that I'm the Discord who traveled back in time, and the Discord who lives until the end of the world," he said while taking another sheet from Twilight's desk and folded it until it disappeared.

"But... That... That doesn't-"

"Look, Twilight. I stopped asking these questions to myself a long, long time ago."

"You don't want to know what you are? What will be or what has been?"

"Does it really matter?" He replied, smiling at the ceiling of the castle. "It doesn't matter if I disappear tomorrow or never. It doesn't matter if there are infinite versions of me or none at all."

"Why? Why do you say that?... I understand that I'm just one between an infinite, I will disappear in a blink for you, I'm just too small, I won't even live long enough to finish all the books I want to read!"

Discord smiled, "then, you should start doing it, don't you think, Twilight?"

"It's easy to say... You have all the time in the world..."

"And I decided to be here, in this world, in this time. There are infinite Fluttershy, but none like my dear Fluttershy."

Twilight kept silent. She looked at her hooves, her mane falling through her chest, noticing her stature, "everything is changing soo fast..."

"I exist because of that, because things change, except for me of course, I'm perfect."

Twilight let out a smile, "what if I run out of time...?"

"Even with all the time in the world, you will feel like it isn't enough," he said, looking up. "What matters is what we do now. Not even I can be my past self or my future self. I can't not change. I can't meet Fluttershy again for the first time."

"We are not that different I suppose"

"Of course we are, that's the best part! In all the time and places I have been, I had never met anything like you and your friends with your friendship and stuff."

Twilight smiled, "I guess you're right... After all, what is a day of work in an eternity."

Discord took another sheet from the desktop and folded it into a plane, "and what is eternity without friends..."

They both kept silent. Twilight was watching the floor, the crystal on it returned a reflection she knew very well, it was different, it was tired, it was bigger, but it was her. While Discord looked at the window, looking at the sunset, at how she looked at that same thing over and over, but this time, it seemed different, it meant something.

Seconds after, the paper plane crashed on the floor. Twilight ears perked as she recognized the floor, "wait... That's my work!" She said, noticing how she has now only two papers and one of them had her notes from earlier. She looked at the windows, the orange sun showed through the glass, marking the end of the day, and her time, "Celestia is going to banish me..."

Discord let out a laugh, "well, I guess my time is out too, have a good night, lit-”

"Discord!"

"Oh, fine. It's fair. We are friends. Right?"

Twilight tilted her head, trying to remember when was the last time he said that word, "Do you mean...-"

In a flash, Discord disappeared, the mountains of papers were now on Twilight desktop, each and everyone now with Twilight's seal, all of them completed.

She looked at the one in front of her. Her notes still in the back with Discord face on it, his own seal of approval. She smiled, "thanks..." She whispered.

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