Messing up timelines sure does cause mayhem

by ShadowLord Ver50

Kindness and a Retrospective

"Now, now! Remember, Fluttershy works hard to create these tea parties. So whatever you do, do not cause any Mayhem in her house. You can disassemble physics a little, indulge in harmless gags, but anything that causes genuine distress to her is strictly forbidden."

"Yes, yes, I get it. Don't make Fluttershy upset. You've been saying that for the last hour like some sort of broken record!"

After signing all the legal documents that put him under a supervision period, Aster was required to spend time with members of the Mane Six to, "Learn the values of Friendship", as Celestia put it. Of course, this meant asking the Mane Six for permission first before barging into their residence.

However, a problem quickly arose. Almost all of them were simply too busy. The School Of Friendship had just opened up, and while Twilight was laying off the books, the problem was that the girls were simply unqualified for the job of teaching. Sure, they wanted to put their own spins on lessons, but even the most unique of teachers need to know the fundamentals of what they teach.

There was one mare, however, whose schedule fits in a slot for him.

Fluttershy.

Honestly, he feels a bit bad, like he's taking advantage of her generosity. (Or kindness, since she's the Element of kindness.) But he wasn't about to try to talk her out of helping him, that means waiting until another member was free. And quite frankly, he wasn't all that patient.

But there was obviously a catch.

That catch is named Discord.

"Good. Oh! And also remember to say 'thank you' if she went out of her way to do something nice for you! It may not seem like much but it really makes her day." The Spirit Of Chaos stressed, and Aster couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Yes, I get it. Show basic courtesy." Honestly, he normally wouldn't mind Discord being a bit overbearing when it came to Fluttershy...if it weren't for the fact that he just sat through a one-hour class on Tea-Party Etiquette.

"Good! And also, remember to-"

"Discord, please. Stop stressing out so much." Aster interjected because if he had to listen to this one more time he's going to bucking explode. "I'm not a jerk you know."

Discord raised an unamused eyebrow, "Her first impression of you was a mean-spirited young draconequus who plays nasty pranks for his own amusement."
​
"And her first impression of you was a reality-warping chaos lord who would turn the world inside out for his own amusement." He snarked back before sighing. "Discord, trust me, everything's gonna turn out fine. Fluttershy will walk away a happy pony. Now can we please go? We're probably getting late!"

"Bold of you to assume time in my dimension correlates accurately to time in Equestria," Discord retorts, "But...I suppose you have a point."

He grumbles a little, before snapping up a portal. "Come along now," He gestures to it, "We wouldn't want to be late know would we?"

---

Hopping out of the portal, he comes face to face with Fluttershy's home. A large, cozy-looking cottage covered in greenery, resting near the edge of the Everfree Forest. (It's sorta funny how Fluttershy would be one of the only ones brave enough to actually have a house situated in a place like that.)

Discord strolls out of the portal and snaps it away, "Well, here we are! Fluttershy's home! Isn't it positively adorable?"

"It...kinda looks like a Treehouse, not gonna lie." He muttered, a bit quiet so maybe Discord wouldn't hear or take offense. To his relief Discord just snorted.

"Any house made of wood could technically be called a Tree House." He walked up to Fluttershy's home and knocked three times.

After waiting for a while, the door opened to reveal a yellow pegasus standing on the other side. "Discord!" She greeted happily, "So glad you could come! And this..." Her eyes trailed over to him, and he couldn't help but freeze up a little.

Fluttershy's gaze was merely inquisitive, revealing absolutely nothing about her inner thoughts. And yet he could feel the swirl of something else within her...something familiar, something powerful. He resited a shudder, thinking back to his encounter with the Tree Of Harmony.

"I'm Aster," He introduced awkwardly, in the human world he had a tendency to reach out for handshakes but that clearly wasn't practical here for several reasons. "Nice to meet you."

"Oh! Well, it's very nice to meet you too!" She greeted him back, "Why don't you both come in?"

As he walked in, Aster looked around the house. It felt a little uncanny, but still had this aura of homeliness to it. As if he were staring at a cozy inn, a place of respite after a long journey. Fluttershy lead them over to her living room and they sat down, and while Discord and Fluttershy spoke about random subjects, Aster wasn't able to shake how surreal this all felt.

He'd been in Equestria for about 2 weeks now, and even that was still hard for him to believe. It was like living in a dream, some part of him was constantly telling him it wasn't real, but it wasn't constantly being proven wrong day by day.

'Heh, I would love to see how Harris would react to any of this.'

His body stiffened, and then she shook his head a little. 'Stop it', he mentally chided himself, 'You're just gonna work yourself up if you think about him.'

There was no reason for him to think of his old home anymore- and really, did he even lose anything? There's nothing exciting about that old world anymore, just another dull, boring world of humans.

"Um, hello?" Fluttershy's voice brought him back to reality and he glanced up to find her staring at him in concern. He blinked a little, had he spaced out too long?

"Are you alright, you seem...upset a little." Aster stiffened again. In honesty, he shouldn't be surprised the most empathetic of the Mane 6 could read him like a book.

"Um, just lost in thought- Anyway! Uh, what were you saying?"

"She asked you how long you've been in Equestria," Discord interjected. He wasn't sure if there was any force in his voice or if that was him hearing things because of his own embarrassment.

"Ah, I'd say around 2 weeks? Time is a bit hard to keep a track of in Discord's world...." He laughed nervously, he was already making a fool of himself, wasn't he?

"Oh, okay. So, Discord told me you're not from this word originally?" Fluttershy asks.

"That's right!" Discord answers before he could, "This poor, small child crash-landed right into my realm! I have to say, it was quite the surprise actually. I knew my little humble home was a beacon for chaos, but not even I could've predicted it would attract a juvenile draconequus!"

Discord ignores the odd look Aster sends his way as Fluttershy nods, "Oh! That reminds me, you said that juvenile draconequii are rare? Why is that, exactly?"

Discord, to both her and Aster's surprise, actually cringed a little and a look of pure regret crossed his face. "Ahahaha...it's a long story..."

"Well," Fluttershy said, "It's not like I'm busy right now. So if you don't mind sharing..."

"It's not that I don't..." He inserted, "the story is just also...very morbid. Not suitable for a child's ears."

"Oh! I see...I'm sorry for asking-"

"No no, I can't have you apologize when you haven't done something wrong! How about we distract ourselves from the morbid topics with some delicious sandwiches!" He held up the severed crust of the sandwich before dipping it into the tea and taking a bite out of it. "Mmmmmmm, delectable as always! You truly do have the best carrot-ginger sandwiches!"

Fluttershy just laughed, a little embarrassed. "It's really nothing Discord!"

He gave a mock gasp. " 'Nothing!?' How can you call this nothing! Show her how wrong she is, my dear Spirit of Mayhem!"

Aster would've flinched if he hadn't been lectured on tea party etiquette for an hour straight. Gracefully,(well tentatively is the better word but he had to make it look graceful), he grabbed the sandwich and took a bite out of it. And, it was surprisingly good.

Now Aster has always been somewhat of a fussy eater, mostly preferring meats over vegetables, but he'd like to think that died down somewhat later on in his life. But despite his taste for meat-related products, he genuinely didn't expect this sandwich to taste so good. Not long after he took his first bite, he quickly scarfed the whole thing down and was about to reach for another before the sound of someone clearing their throat rang out.

Discord stared at him with an expression that can be best described as 'unimpressed'. Sheepishly, Aster rubbed the back of his head with a nervous smile.

"It is really good!" He agreed, heat rushing into his face. (Not that it would've been obvious, perks of having a skeleton head).

Fluttershy smiled, giggling a little. "Well, if you liked it so much, dig in! I made extra for you."

"Oh, thank you! Y-you didn't have to though!" He replied back, Discord's instructions ringing out in his head.

Fluttershy shrugged it off. "It's no big deal, I like doing these kinds of things."

After that, they eased off into discussions about other topics. A lot of it ranged from what happened weeks prior, to some other topics that Aster genuinely couldn't wrap his head around- likely because there were a few more things happening in everyone's lives than what the show depicted regularly. Come to think of it, what was the time span between episodes?

Was it every few days, or every noticeable event? What even counted as noticeable events- and heck, how is that the show managed accurately to represent so many things? Is there some kind of connection he's not seeing or-

"Aster?"

"Mhm?" Aster glances up from his 5th sandwich to see Fluttershy staring at him. "Um, yes?"

"I've heard from Discord...you wanted to attend the School of Friendship, right?" Ah, so the conversation was at this now.

"Mhm," Aster nodded, devouring the sandwich in a single bite. "That's my current plan."

"Ah, well," Fluttershy shifted a little, "I've been meaning to talk to you about your behavior towards those students that day."

He sweatdropped a little, "Um, what about...the incident?" In all honesty, he was really starting to question his decisions that day.

"Well," Fluttershy stated, placing her teacup down, "we interviewed the six students regarding their encounter, and they told us you said some..." mean things" about friendship and harmony."

He gulped, suddenly being reminded of the mighty energy that swirled in the seemingly harmless pegasus in front of him. "Is...that so?"

"Yes," Fluttershy nodded, "But looking at your behavior right now, you don't seem to be acting like you follow those same principles you said you did."

"It was a joke!" Aster said hurriedly, "I just thought it would be- I don't know, funny? I don't actually believe any of that nonsense!" He shuddered a little, the phantom feeling of Tree of Harmony's might bouncing at the back of his brain. He
really couldn't call Friendship weak, not after experiencing THAT.

"Oh...," Fluttershy replied, her expression becoming thoughtful. "But, a mean prank wasn't much better, was it? Look at how much trouble you are in now. If you'd just asked nicely in the first place, you could've gotten into the school much easier."

"Well, it's hard to fully blame him," Discord said offhandedly, "He's a creature of Mayhem and Havoc! In the same vein that I'm the Spirit of Chaos, any opportunity to send society in uproar sounds just as delicious to him as turning the world upside down sounds to me!"

Fluttershy carefully digested the information, glancing at Aster again. "You have a point...Aster, do you mind explaining yourself more clearly?"

"U-um," He stammered, "I-I guess I just...wanted to...m-meet them? Like, I h-haven't really spoken to anyone since I got here and-well, making an impression just...s-sounded fun I guess?" Aster was acutely aware his pitch and tone were bouncing around like a kid on a trampoline but he's probably made a fool himself more than a couple of times in this meeting. And it's not like he can say: 'I'm trying to not mess up the order events too much so the Tree Of Harmony doesn't turn me into a lawn decoration.'

"Well, If I'm not mistaken, It's very clear to me at least, that he just wanted to play with them!" Discord theorized. Well, covered would be more accurate in this context.

"Play with them...is this the truth, Aster?" Fluttershy asked him.

The boy shifted in his seat for a moment, "Sure? I guess that sounds about right?"

"Hm," She observed, "You don't sound very sure of yourself..."

"He's a bit of a lone wolf, you see," Discord interjected, "I'm likely guessing he's been on his own for a bit before crashing landing here. He likely doesn't have that much of a grasp on his emotions or what he's feeling, just a few chaotic impulses."

"I see..." Fluttershy placed a hoof to her chin in thought, "So...you just wanted to have fun?"

Aster nodded, "I...guess so?"

After what appeared to be a second of thought, Fluttershy flew up, 'Excuse me, I'll be back in a moment," and then left the room. A few seconds later, she was back with a clipboard.

"You might already know this," She began, sitting down with a pen, "but you are under an observation period. So, we as the Elements of Harmony have been entrusted to note down all of your behaviors to see if you're eligible to join the School of Friendship."

"I see," He replied awkwardly. "How did...How did I do?"

"It's an examination or anything, so you're not being judged on performance," She assured, "As far as I'm concerned...you seem to be doing pretty well. Maybe we can just write your previous behavior off as an isolated incident-but, Twilight is ultimately the one making the decision here..."

"Does she not trust you with this?" Discord asked, arms crossed. "I personally think the Element of Kindness is most qualified to determine the kindness of an individual."

"It's her school," Fluttershy replied, "if anything happens- and I'm not saying it will-she takes responsibility. I don't think I have the right to undermine her authority when it comes to the school like that..."

Discord just grumbled, though Aster could tell there wasn't much heat behind his actions. "Great, so we have to wait for her to be free. Oh joy."

"It won't take that long," Fluttershy reassured him, "Twilight's already been meaning to talk to him for a while, though she specifically stated that you can't be present when she does so."

"Huh? Why not!?" Discord pouted in indignation.

"Well...she's afraid that your presence might influence him to act a certain way somewhat..." Fluttershy explains.

"Oh, fine!" He bemoaned, deflating into the couch before quickly reinflating, "I swear, Starlight Glimmer gets more trust than I do despite me being reformed longer..."

"It's not that she doesn't TRUST you, it's just...this situation is very complicated, and your current decisions aren't really being seen as...helpful in solving it." She told him gently.

Discord sighed in resignation, knowing there was not much he could do at this point. "Oh fine. I guess I'll find something else to do in the meantime."

Aster fidgets a little, tail swishing lightly behind him. Looking back at it...why did he decide that was the best way to enter the scene? It was far easier to just join the school when Cozy did, and it would've been far less trouble for everyone involved. So why did he...

'He's a creature of Mayhem and Havoc! In the same vein that I'm the Spirit of Chaos, any opportunity to send society in uproar sounds just as delicious to him as turning the world upside down sounds to me!'

Those words played in his head once more, and suddenly, everything clicked. He hadn't truly taken his title seriously, he just thought it meant that he now could also warp reality. He hadn't even thought of it then, far too excited about the prospects of what could be done with his magic, but looking back at it now...

There was a cost. For both him and Discord there was a cost to such power. They were practically bound to their element. It made more sense now, why Discord constantly did things that hardly made sense and ended up making things harder for everyone. It wasn't right for him to do so, but it made sense.

Chaos is chaos. It seeks to disrupt order, to break normalcy, and throw the world on its head. And just like that, Havoc and Mayhem seek to send society into an uproar, to cause panic, confusion, anger, and fear. Looking back at it...the glee he felt when the Student Six were surrounded wasn't fabricated. He genuinely felt ecstatic, excited, almost like he was playing with some new toys.

'This is going to be a problem,'Aster muttered internally. He can't let himself get carried away. If he does so, not only is he actually too dangerous to be in The School Of Friendship but there's not a single way any one of his plans could ever see light.

If this went on, he could end up becoming the Discord to Cozy Glow's Tirek. And he knew well that she was likely to going to stab him in the back the moment she was done with him.

"Oh well, would you look at the time!" He snapped back to reality, watching as Fluttershy floated up to her clock, the time read: 6:30 pm. "I am terribly sorry, but I'll be having to go soon. Twilight got us all tutors for our subjects, and I can't be late for my lesson."

"Oh no no, it's quite alright," Discord assured, washing his hands with a tap that certainly wasn't there before. "We are the ones that took up your free time when you clearly had a very busy day."

"Mhm," Aster agreed, hoping down. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us, Ms. Fluttershy."

The yellow pegasus gave a flustered laugh, "Oh, it's really nothing! I look forward to seeing you in the School of Friendship, Aster."

"Likewise," The Spirit Of Mayhem responded.

---

"Well, well, someone was certainly a spacey mess today." Discord grumbled as they walked through the portal.

"Sorry," He apologized sheepishly, "I just had my mind filled with...other matters."

The Spirit Of Chaos just sighed, dismissing the interdimensional gate behind him. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. What were you even thinking about anyway?"

"Um, about our nature as Spirits," He neglected to mention anything about his old home, in all honesty, Discord would have no interest in that.

Discord looked vaguely bemused by that, "Ah, I suppose then you're one of those that tea helps stir into a philosophical mood?"

"Um, not really, I was more thinking about my actions and how they didn't make that much sense in the long run, but then what you said about being the Spirit Of Mayhem clicked with me and everything just kind of...spiraled from there." He answered.

"So, what conclusion did you come to during your thinking?" Discord asked.

Aster stayed silent for a moment before answering, "...Power comes with a cost. We as Spirits, for all our power, are effectively... trapped by the element we embody."

"I wouldn't use the word 'trapped'," Discord mused, "Perhaps governed by is more fitting. To be trapped is to be held against your will."

"But, aren't you basically trapped if your own element starts interfering with your choices?" He asked.

"Not quite," Discord responded, "We, as Spirits that are aligned with fairly broad concepts have a lot more freedom than you'd imagine. Chaos isn't bound by anything, and Mayhem and Havoc revolve around creating a complex situation. Both can be channeled for good, or bad."

"Take for instance," A whiteboard appears in a flash of light, "A tyrant king is using order to suppress the people."

A crude drawing of what appeared to be Sombra and the Crystal Empire appeared on the map as he continued explaining. "Now, in a situation like this, you need Chaos to do something good. Whether it be an opposing Kingdom declaring war or a rebellion, ultimately, you'd need both Chaos and Havoc to rid of the tyrant king."

"So, in the end, we're rather lucky." Discord said, getting rid of the whiteboard, "because we have something a lot of Spirits don't. Freedom. The Spirit of Rage is always destined to be a rage-fueled blockhead while the Spirit of Happiness, as cheery as they may seem, is always forced to have that cheery facade, leaving no room for the negativity that being realistic has. We, on the other hand, are free to choose how we channel our element, and that is how we convince the world of our position."

"So, what you're trying to say is, everything's gonna be fine if I'm careful?" The Spirit of Mayhem asked.

Discord nodded, "Precisely, don't make reckless, overconfident mistakes such as trusting a backstabbing centaur, and you should be good."

"I'll...keep that in mind," He promised, "So now what?"

"As of the moment, we decide what to eat for dinner. As for the plans for the future, we wait until another Element or hopefully Twilight herself is free. Also, I'd say Pizza sounds good for tonight."

"Sure- wait, are we going to Equestria or-"

"Absolutely not," Discord interjected, "Equestria, due to being a nation of herbivores, has no meat options for pizza. And while I do enjoy a good veg pizza, I'm a Draconequus, not a pony. So we're heading over to a place that actually serves Omnivores while also serving decent food, and I don't feel like going to Seaquestria at the moment and the Griffins are much too disorganized to have good food. Dragons are dragons, and have shifted over to a mostly gem diet now, and don't even have the concept of a restaurant. Changelings are basically just following Pony Culture at this point and are likely going to fully become herbivores by the next century or so, so I'm thinking visiting one of the human worlds seems like a good dinner plan."

"Okay- wait which Human world!?" Aster asked.

"The one where Sunset Shimmer dragged herself off too," Discord replied.

"Huh, that one...hey wait, is the portal gonna turn us human also?"

"The portal in Celestia's castle is a natural gate, one that attempts to convert anything that walks into it to an entity of similar nature of that which it acts as a gateway too. However, natural order isn't something I'm too fond of If I do say so myself." Discord drawled, making his way towards the house.

"We are still going to have to turn human to avoid causing a mass panic though." Aster pointed out.

"Look at you, you're already getting the hang of channeling your element!"

Aster laughed a little at his comment, before his mind trailed off again. He needed to be careful about he makes his choices, otherwise, he could land himself into a big mess that could potentially threaten the entirety of Equestria. Thinking back at it now...he needs to be on his guard when he finally meets Cozy. There's not a doubt in his mind she'll try to rope him into helping her with her schemes.

Mayhem and Havoc likely don't care about consequences or attachments, but If Chaos can be taught to care about Friendship, he can teach himself patience and foresight. He has to, otherwise, he's going to cause more problems than solve, and the last thing he wants to do is end up a jerk that causes problems on a whim.

'Isn't that already what you are though?' He stiffens as the familiar voice whispers in his head. Another memory flashed before his eyes. 'Face it Aster, there's a reason you were so easy to pick on.'

He clenches his claws, lightning crackling from them. 'Calm down...there's no point in looking back at those old memories...'

The past was gone, there's no point in getting emotional about it now. But still...

'Nothing but a jerk, huh?' He mentally gave a bitter laugh as he trailed after Discord, eyes flaring red for a moment. 'Ironic coming from you of all people, Harris.'

Author's Note:

Look who finally rose from the dead!

Don't worry, I've just been really busy these past few months and didn't realize how much time has passed (seriously, how is it already May-), and didn't really have much of an interest in MLP in general at that time. But I don't plan on letting this story go unfinished either. It may take a while, but it will be done.

Anyway, writing Fluttershy was...surprisingly hard. Especially after I took a break from MLP only to come back to this. I hope her characterization was good enough here.

Also, I appreciate any constructive criticism/feedback on the general follow of the story. I've not written anything for a while, so I'm undoubtedly a bit rusty. If anything felt a bit drawn out or wasn't written well please let me know.

Anyway, that's all for now, see you next time!

Comments

[SethFilms]

great chapter!! been awhile though....

keep it up and post more god dang it!!!