From the Increasingly Complicated Mind of Discord

by Scootareader

Because That's What Friends Do

Ah... free again. Pretending to stretch, and immediately getting to work toying with my would-be captors. I know that Twilight Sparkle pony won't do anything; she'll just bluff and posture and pretend she and her friends have me under their control. Fluttershy, the pony that Princess Celestia instilled confidence in, is trying to stop me, of course. Oh no, the Stare? My sides can't even take the ridiculousness of that sentiment! She thinks that she can stop me with nothing but a look? I'll feign coyness, telling Twilight Sparkle that I'll be submissive for now, but I'm really more interested in what Fluttershy is going to try to do. This will be so much fun, playing with a few helpless ponies.

The yellow one is “inviting” me to stay at her house. Well, all right, I more invited myself there. But that's what I do! Or don't. She doesn't know how much fun this will be yet, but I'm sure she'll love it. Even if she doesn't, then what does it matter? At least I'll be enjoying myself! After all, my satisfaction is pretty important.

Make myself at home, hmm? This will be my new favorite spot in the entire cottage. Poor little bunny, losing it to me. He never really stood a chance. I already know what Twilight Sparkle is going to do next, as well. She needs to be in control of everything. She'll go and look up a spell or something to help Fluttershy, and she won't find the pages because they'll be gone. Then I'll tell Fluttershy I'm getting better, she'll invite the other ponies, then she'll call me a friend and I'll have this in the bag. It's all planned out and ready to go.

Fluttershy seems to think it's odd that I'm eating paper. That's fine. She'll learn soon enough why I did this. Twilight was going to go around behind her dear friend's back and thwart me, so I took the initiative and stopped her. It's all for the best, after all. I'm sure she wouldn't mind me upending her home and spinning it, either. Whatever it takes to make myself comfortable, right? Oh, what a gullible pony.

A dinner party, hmm? This will present a unique opportunity for me.

Ah, the esteemed guests arrive. “May I take your... *ahem*... hats, ladies?” Ah, they all suspect me so much. The only one who thinks anything of the task Celestia set for me is the one she nominated for this. Not even her friends support her. So much for friendship.

Time to make things as uncomfortable as possible for our guests. Ah, a gravy boat for our most favored of all the guests, Pinkie Pie. And for Rainbow Dash, perhaps a little gravy in her lap. Serves her right for calling the poor thing creepy.

Dancing candles is innocent, is it not? And once again, Rainbow Dash is being bothersome. She's asking to be a target for insulting such wonderful chaos. Perhaps the fish spraying everypony is overdoing it a bit, but hey, what's life without a little surprise?

Ah, and it's time for the speech. Blah blah blah, none of you giving him a chance...

“Because that's what friends do.”

I, um... what? “We're friends?”

“Why, of course! I can't even remember my house being this lively before you came along!”

“Oh, well I... I've never really had a friend before....”

“Well, now you do.”

That... felt good. Friends.

And the rabbit decides to interrupt the proceedings. Yes, yes, all is being executed perfectly. Time to finish putting my plan into action. I already know the outcome, and I'll be free to wreak havoc upon Equestria once more. Oh, it will be so much fun!

The ponies come to Sweet Apple Acres to see the results of trying to tame Discord. I'm enjoying what I've done, of course; nopony else will, so I will get all the enjoyment that they're missing out on. Water-skiing around an apple farm isn't a very common occurrence, after all. Or perhaps it will be from now on. Ah, chaos is such a wonderful thing.

Time to bait Fluttershy into the trap. “Ah, Fluttershy, there you are! A sight for sore eyes.” And now it's time for her big speech about me being inconsiderate of other ponies, yeah yeah, her home, and now I need to fix it. “Ah, yes, very well, I willl fix it, I only ask one thing in return.”

“Yes?”

“I ask that you never use your Element of Harmony against me... as a sign of our friendship.”

Of course she'll say yes. She's so easy to manipulate. Checkmate, Celestia. “I will never use my Element of Harmony against you.” She throws her Element to Rainbow Dash. Ah, so now Rainbow Dash is the new Fluttershy.

“Excellent!” A snap of my fingers, and the flooded farm turns to ice. “I do prefer ice skating to water-skiing, don't you?”

And now it's time to force her to make a decision, one that she'll come to regret. The day she tried to fix Discord. What an easy feat. How did I ever get trapped in stone again? And now, time to flaunt my victory.

“Haha, you see? She wants to have fun with me because 'We're friends.' She can't use the Elements against me because 'We're friends.' I'm free, forever!” I let out a triumphant laugh. It's all over. I can enjoy myself from this moment forward.

“NOT. YOUR. FRIEND!”

“Who cares? I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm Discord, the master of chaos! You think you can boss Discord around? You think I'm just going to turn all this back because you say so? Because if I don't, I'll lose the one friend I ever had?”

… Oh. Wait a moment here. That... feeling. I've felt this way before. When I crushed Twilight Sparkle. Did I... want to be friends? Was I reaching out to her, just as I'm now reaching out to Fluttershy? Except this time, she actually became my friend... have I been doing everything wrong this entire time?

Selfishness. That's what's wrong with me. I've never had friends before because all I cared about was enjoying myself. The ponies could afford to let loose and enjoy the chaos a little more, but... I need to let them have things their way, too. “Well played, Fluttershy... well played.”

Time to turn everything back. I can't let myself lose the only friend I've ever had because I was selfish yet again. I sit upon an apple tree and let all return to how it should be with my magic.

The ponies congratulate her, of course. Nopony ever thanks Discord for being noble and giving up his lifestyle for others. But I've never been in this for the glamor. I guess... having friends is worth this. I appear next to them. “I like it better my way, but I guess when you're friends, you can't always have things exactly your way all the time, eh?”

This wasn't exactly a victory. I can't do whatever I want anymore. On a plus, however, I'm not stone right now, am I? Nothing is as incredibly boring as that. Even the normal pony world is more exciting than that. And I have a wonderful new friend to appreciate even the boring and mundane with. I guess it was somewhat of a victory.

“Yes, Princess, I'm ready to use my magic for good instead of evil... most of the time.”

Gag. This is the moment I was looking forward to the least. That smug look on the Princess's face. Her congratulating the pony she put all of her trust in. She won. She thoroughly defeated me, broke me, and made me her submissive servant. Yet, I feel no remorse. I don't regret what has happened. For once, Discord is happy with things going as planned.

Fluttershy nudges me with her nose. “Go on.. say it.”

I can't believe I'm doing this right now... “Um... all right...” let's get this over with: “friendship is magic!”

My time in Ponyville over, it's time to go back to Canterlot and help the Princess with whatever trivial matters require my talents. I say my goodbyes, thank Fluttershy again for helping me see the magic of friendship, and depart. I still have a bone to pick, however.

“So tell me, Princess. What schemes will you force me into now? How will you utilize Discord, the latest pawn in your game of thrones? Shall we overthrow Luna? Cadance? How about we take Saddle Arabia? No? Ah, the Changeling Kingdom! Your wish is my command. I shall help you use your forces for 'good.' Relatively speaking.”

Princess Celestia shakes her head and smiles. “That was never my intention, Discord. I never wanted to see you imprisoned. I want ponies—and draconequii—to enjoy themselves, and you surely weren't enjoying yourself while you were trapped in stone.”

“Ah, yes, being trapped in stone can be very difficult for a creature that craves change so much as myself. Where was my happiness? My enjoyment? My rights?”

“You'd forsaken those the moment you stopped taking the feelings of others into consideration. Now that you've realized that you can't always have what you want if you want to make friends, I feel you're ready to stay with me in Canterlot... as my friend.”

Friends? With my nemesis? She's got to be joking. She... no, she's being serious. She really... I can't believe it, she wants to be friends with me! Discord! The mascot of everything that she despises! “You have got to be joking!”

The smile still hasn't left her face yet. “No, I'm not. I know how wonderful friendship can be, and I want you to be happy. I don't want to control you, and I don't want to imprison you, either. I want you to have fun, and entertain ponies, and be who you were meant to be... but you can't ignore the feelings of others. You have never been evil, Discord; you simply never considered how your magic was making others feel.”

This is ridiculous. I can't believe I'm even listening to her. She'll use me, and when she's done, she'll discard me and turn me back to stone until she needs me again. This is the most obvious ploy at buttering me up that I've ever seen.

Friendship. I have to give her the benefit of the doubt... just as it was given to me. “Fair enough. We shall see.” The smile fades from her face. “I... believe you, Celestia.”

The smile reappears. I think I'm beginning to enjoy this. I like making ponies happy.

It's nice to finally have friends, too.

If I had one actual reason why I wanted to write this fic... it's for that part you just read.

--Scootareader

Comments

[Scootareader]

2101187

Oh, I just realized that I should have replied to this, like, 3 weeks and 19 hours ago. Haha, busy me.

The cunning and mischievous portion comes in later; he has over 1000 years to plan and plot for his return to Equestria, but he's running out of ideas before he gets turned to stone the first time, in my headcanon. He is cunning and mischievous, just not immediately.

This is also something I never expected to write. I'm not an eager fan of first-person, and I definitely don't have as much experience with it. I just thought up the idea, presented it, and was told to write it, so I did! If I polished my first-person writing skills, I'm sure I could have delivered it better, but I guess you'll have to enjoy it as much as you can as is :p

2100444

I meant for the chapters to be somewhat short; things don't need to be particularly verbose with something like this. Putting myself into the shoes of Discord, I imagine he would get pretty bored with looking too closely into things for any amount of time, hence 3/5 of the chapters being under 1,000 words, and the entire thing only amounting to 5,700 words. When you look at things from his perspective, events tend to go rather quickly. That being said, I *could* have extended them at least somewhat, but I felt that would have begun to bore the reader. I intended the short chapters to be part of the appeal of the fic.

[Smoker]

discord changed rather abruptly, but other then that, i really liked this whole story. nice work.

[Scootareader]

2503125
Thanks! Glad you liked the story.