Equestria is sometimes referred to as the land of second chances, all the more so after Luna's return. Songs are sung of Princess Celestia's benevolence and forgiveness, and legends are told that she can look directly into a creature's heart and see whether there is good in them. Others whisper that she is soft, and weak, and will let anypony off with a slap on the wrist.
Neither is quite true, but there was quite a firestorm of rumours when she decided to set Discord free. Many would like to know what precisely she was thinking to attempt to put a leash on a being who could plunge the land into chaos with a casual thought, but Celestia has kept the reasons close to her chest.
She's pretty sure nopony would believe her anyway. Sometimes the truth is stranger than rumours.
A standalone entry in the Eventide Verse.
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Great stuff. I love how completely blindsided Celestia was by this development, and how her first impulse was to kill it with sunfire. Even when he’s trying to be nice, Discord can’t help but be a disruptive and disorienting presence, to say nothing of the ensuing bootstrap paradox.
A most enjoyable read. Thank you for it.
You know, I always did feel like a scene like this was missing from the actual show...
You did a wonderful job of making the seemingly disparate parts of the show into a rather elegant whole. You tied together not only Celestia's attempt to reform Discord, but also why Fluttershy had to be the one to do it better than the show itself did. Bravo! Have an upvote & a follow.
How did that magnificent bastard manage to make his release a self-fulfilling prophecy?
One tiny remark:
> and he was laying on his back
Should be "and he was [lying] on his back." "Laying" means putting something down.
11510836 There is no greater chaos than that caused by time travel. If you go into the past to any significant degree, a paradox is all but unavoidable.
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In my experience, I won't find that to be true.
11512032 I went back in time... the modern world is the result.
PROOF!!
Based on what Celestia describes Discord as, a trickster, he never seemed to get anypony killed directly. It seems like Celestia may have some really bad PTSD going on if her first reaction was to literally execute someone, even more so because it is the power of the Sun
11512249
It's worth recalling that Tia and Luna were basically children when they first met Discord, and he didn't exactly have much in the way of social skills back then. Childhood trauma is powerful stuff, especially when it involves a physical god with a tenuous grasp on the proper number and ordering of body parts. "Kill it with sunfire," as 11510836 put it, was a perfectly understandable reaction.
Is the chapter title a reference to this? https://youtu.be/oiWw_tk3bYQ?t=195
This basically makes discord a self fulfilling paradox
I like to think that Discord is also manipulating Celestia a little. I imagine that he knows how Celestia would think in this situation, like with her trying to stall for time. Even with as something as simple as rendering her tactic unnecesarry might implant something into her mind and help his case. Of course, this isn't because he's being dishonest in his apologies, but I think he'd use some sort of trickery if he thought it would bring results. Or if it amused him.
Either way, very good fic. Very epic. :D
That was a good story.
Or he was telling the truth.
I like how this is the *only* reference to that word in the whole story. You know that when Discord is actually down to Truth, he has played every other card in the deck and instrument in the orchestra.
It's nice to have an explanation for Celestia deciding to let Discord loose.
If only the show had done that.
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Thanks for the catch! Edited.
11513669
Close! It's a reference to the original source:
I would say this was a very nice story so it looks like Discord run back in time to visit an old friend Celestia and despite her surprise visit and she looks like she was going to attack him he apologize for everything even though the things he done or not change but he still trying to make things better for the future even explain everything about what's going to happen and with that he left to go to his present time and Celestia really don't know what to think of it but she thinks that things could be better this was a pretty good story keep up the good work