Realms of Discord

by Chilly Quill

Chapter 1

Many ponies overlook the statues that make their home in the Canterlot Gardens, and for good reason. While most are just decorations of which have been seen by passerbies too many times, one had held a malevolent spirit that threatened the world with his powers. And while he was locked back into his stone prison, none dare go near his statue, fearing that he would come after them.

But to all but those most sensitive to magic, the stone was eternally still. All the scholars and the royal sisters themselves insisted that, despite the magic that still leaked out of the statue, the spirit inside would remain trapped forever.

If one would listen close to the stone for long enough, however, they would hear the ancient spirit in his prison, laughing and plotting.

Discord rolled in his black throne, laughing and trying to keep breathing. “I mean, what kind of pony would actually eat the dirt? I didn’t think even MY magic could warp a mind that badly!” Discord fell off of his throne, rolling on the floor of his dark room and trying to rein in his humor.

With a gasp, he silenced his laughter, standing up and dusting off his legs. “Well no matter. I’m afraid that my time in Equestria is over once again. I think I left them with enough chaos to balance out their disgusting amount of order. Honestly, the kind of ponies that can stand that much melancholy every day is beyond me. The same routine day after day; it’s only gotten worse since the last time I showed up!”

A voice echoed from the corner, out of reach of the single light above the throne. “Well master, you’re forgetting all the danger that Equestria still holds. I believe that it is far from boring.”

Discord huffed. “Please. Most of the danger was locked away in Tartarus a long time ago. The creatures of the Everfree and other monsters tend to keep to themselves as well; the only ponies in danger of them are ones that deserve a Darwin Award.”

“Darwin award?” The voice coughed. “Well what about nightmare moon and the changelings? Or Even King Sombra?”

“Nothing more than a princess with too much pride, a bug infestation, and a freak obsessed with Stairs! Face it, Nigma; Equestria is too peaceful.”

Nigma walked up to the black throne where Discord sat back down. He was a simple unicorn with a white coat and grey mane cut short. His cutie mark was a question mark and his eyes were a ranging spectrum of colors, shifting constantly from color to color. “Well my lord, it’s not like we can go back. I do believe that the seal is tightly bound, for now.”

Discord scratched his beard. “True, it will be a while before we can go back. I shouldn’t have let my guard down so easily. There was so much chaos left to be done!”

“If I may speak freely, how didn’t you notice those ponies had color in them? You had turned them grey a while and they were all colorful when they came back!”

“Don’t remind me.” Discord snapped his fingers, summoning a glass and a bottle of vintage wine. “Regardless, I suppose that we should find something to do while we’re here. No telling how long the incarceration will be this time.”

Discord held his glass out to Nigma, the bottle of wine floating next to him. With a sigh, Nigma grabbed the bottle’s cork with his magic and pulled it off, letting the sudden flow of wine fall into the glass. The glass filled up as one would expect, from top to bottom, and gradually filled to the rim. “So,” Nigma began, “What does my lord wish to do?”

Discord sipped his wine, eying it critically. “Fix your form of addressing me, first. I told you time and time again for quite a few millennia now; call me Discord.”

Nigma’s eye twitched for a moment before he shook his head. “I’m sorry. What do you want to do, Discord?”

Discord downed the wine with a quick gulp, placing his glass on the arm of his throne. “I was thinking of making our own world, Nigma. Equestria has become too peaceful for me to stand anymore. While I still have a duty to keep chaos in the land, I certainly can’t enjoy it if there isn’t any danger. So while we’re in here, we can create a better Equestria, with all the chaos and danger that I please!”

Discord clapped his hands together, the sound echoing through the dark room. The stone floor rippled for a moment as powerful energy ripped through the air, lighting up what once was dark. Light kept expanding, revealing a massive corridor leading to an open door. Discord walked off to the door, leaving Nigma standing in front of the Throne. Nigma glanced behind the throne, noticing a massive marble statue of the Draconequus standing in a regal pose. He gazed at the statue before Discord called him, making the unicorn dash towards the door.

Nigma ran outside where Discord was now floating, staring out past their platform. Out past the platform was nothing but barren stone, red rock as far as the eye could see. The building behind them wasn’t much either, being a simple block of grey stone. “How could we have any chaos or danger in this?” Nigma asked. “There isn’t anything around here!”

Discord chuckled as he snapped his fingers. In the blink of an eye, the red stone became covered by a tide of green grass. Some of the green raised itself up, becoming trees of various sizes. The flat quickly rippled about, curving the landscape and creating hills and depressions in the flatland.

With a wave of his lion’s paw, Discord sent another wave of energy out. The energy struck the land, bringing up stones high up above the hills. Mountains stood up out of the world, giving the land spines across its skin. A particularly tall mountain caught up with the building from below and continued to rise up behind them, enveloping the building.

Nigma turned around as Discord became enveloped in his work. The building had begun morphing as well. The flat front had already curved and twisted until it resembled a pantheon. A quick glance inside revealed that torches now lit the extensive corridor. The corridor led only to the statue, which had now replaced the black throne. It was a shame too; Nigma could remember the black room holding more space before.

By the time Nigma had turned back around, Discord had fashioned a myriad of sprawling plains, vast oceans and mountains crossing the world’s earth. The new earth was full of elegant curves and beautiful scenery. But Nigma wasn’t impressed. “My lord, this place is quite beautiful.”

“I know.” Discord beamed, unaware or otherwise unconcerned with Nigma’s relapse to royal titles. “It’s quite a work of art, if I do say so myself.”

“It seems a little incomplete, though. I see no animals on the earth, no native fauna. And where are the ponies? A planet can’t be simply plants.”

Discord placed his paw on Nigma’s back drawing him close to the draconequus’ side. “My dear Nigma, you must realize that chaos can only be directed. I can’t meerly create sentient life as I see fit. No, I can only direct my powers towards the growth and development of those species.”

Nigma paused, pondering the statement. “So you’re saying that you wouldn’t know how to make sentient life even if you wanted to?”

“Exactly.”

Discord snapped his fingers and summoned a sun over the planet, flooding it with pure light. Almost as quickly, however, the sun began to fall to the edge of the horizon, replacing itself with the glowing white beauty of the moon. The two began to spin rapidly around the earth, not pausing for a single moment. “Now let’s see if we can encourage some ponies to grow.” Discord mused.

For Discord, this was but another day as life flashed by. For Nigma, however, it was as if history itself was replaying, with bits and pieces broken off. He watched as ponies crawled out of hiding in the forests, first noticing the true light of the world. He gazed at mighty empires being erected by the three pony species, only for them to be encased in ice. Moments later, he saw as cities began to form, some large and dense, others small and sprawled about. Soon, the planet’s celestial bodies slowed to a near halt, settling on the new face of the world.

To be honest though, it looked exactly like Equestria, in Nigma’s opinion.

“My lord, I hope I don’t sound too critical of your work, but doesn’t it seem a little too much like the old Equestria? I thought the point of this whole endeavor was to create a new kingdom.”

Discord howled with laughter. “But Nigma, my boy, this IS a new Equestria. Can’t you just feel the pure chaos floating above the cities?” Discord picked up Nigma, holding the unicorn in front of him. “Go on, kiddo, and feel the magic in the air. Feel the chaos that I have wrought.”

Nigma had to admit that, during his many years around the spirit of chaos, he had picked up a trick or two in identifying order and chaos by the magic. He closed his eyes and lit up his horn with unfocused magic, letting it flow out past him in an arch. A powerful light lit up in his mind, showing streaks of red flowing across the earth. Blue also flowed through the land as well, almost mapping out nature as blue and civilizations as red.

“Oh my.” Nigma gasped, opening his eyes and cutting off his flow of magic. “How did you manage this?”

Discord set the pony back down. “Well it was simple; I didn’t allow the alicorns to stay around in this world.” Nigma just stared at the draconequus as though he was crazy. Discord sighed and pressed on. “The Alicorns were the reason that the old equestria was so sickeningly happy; they were the perfect representation of harmony among the three ponies. This Equestria, while harmonized with Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, still has discontent and a faulty government. Crime and murder is still an issue, as the governing bodies aren’t threatening enough to dissuade ne’er-do-wells.”

Nigma frowned. “I suppose two all-powerful princesses capable of frying an entire city would be quite the deterrent. But where do you fit in with this world?”

Discord grinned. “This world still needed something to think of as a true god, otherwise there wouldn’t be much religion. Believe me when I say religion is the fastest way to generate chaos in the world.”

Discord snapped his fingers and two small statues materialized in front of Nigma. One was a brilliant marble statue of the Royal pony sisters, Celestia and Luna. The other was a sharp obsidian statue of Discord, similar to the one in the Pantheon. “While I didn’t allow the Alicorns or myself to be seen often in the world, I did allow us to be seen often enough to plant seeds of admiration and fear among the ponies. Soon enough, I found that temples and cults were being formed around the globe worshiping the Lost Race and the God of Chaos. I’m rather fond of my own title, but I suppose the Alicorns got an interesting one as well.”

Nigma glanced at the statues, poking each one with his hoof. The Alicorn statue faded to dust at his touch, but Discord’s Statue settled into his hoof. He smiled as he set the statue down next to him.

Discord sat down on the ground, leaning against the Pantheon. “Now there is a rather difficult request I have for you, my dear Nigma.”

Nigma’s head shot over to discord, a smile plastered on his face. “Anything you desire, my Lord Discord, I will do without hesitation!”

Discord flashed a challenging grin. “I want you to leave my side and go live in this new Equestria.”

Nigma frowned. “Why would you ask such a thing?”

“Well so much for no hesitation.” Discord sighed. “I’ve been thinking for some time now, Nigma. You’ve grown up by my side ever since I adopted you from a struggling Manehatten all those centuries ago. You’ve learned a great many things, but even now I can tell that you don’t know much about yourself.”

Nigma’s eyes flashed green for a moment, holding the color longer than his eyes normally would. “My cutie mark wasn’t very helpful though. A question mark could mean any number of things as a special talent.”

“That’s my point, Nigma. A cutie mark only represents the talent which most defines a pony. It won’t tell what that pony is also good at, but only what is most practiced.” Discord poked Nigma’s cutie mark. “That question mark means that you are best at being a mystery, always having another trick up your sleeve. You are a naturally chaotic pony, which is why I kept you by my side.

“But now it’s time for you to find out your hidden talents.” Discord said with a grin. “I’d also like you to bring out the hidden talents of other ponies that you meet.”

Nigma frowned, his eyes watering. “But what about you, Discord? I don’t want to leave you all alone.”

Discord’s own eyes watered a moment. “I won’t be alone. This entire planet can be a playground for me if I so wish. All I have to do is disguise myself and have some fun!” discord snapped his fingers, bringing the obsidian statue up to his claw. He tapped the head of the statue, imbuing it with a light blue glow. “And if you ever need me, just give me a call. I’ll always make time to help out my favorite kid.”

Nigma sniffled, grabbing the statue in his hooves. “So I guess this will be goodbye for now, then.” He glanced down at the closest city from the pantheon, ignoring the bustling splendor that was Canterlot next to him. “I guess I’ll go live in Ponyville for a while, see what sort of things I can find.”

Discord and Nigma sat side by side for a few hours, staring out at the horizon until the stars came out in the night sky. Nigma would always glance at Ponyville below, but his gaze would always return to the stars. “I wish you would have changed Ponyville’s name.”

“It is a little strange for a town, isn’t it?”