Chapter 1
Wings outstretched to slow her descent, a violet alicorn glided gently to the ground. Crouching for a moment to absorb the impact, she then stretched out to her full height. Even without her horn she was easily twice as tall as the average pony and if her size alone didn’t command respect then the star-filled mane flowing in a magical wind certainly told anypony who saw her who they were dealing with. With a thud, another being landed beside her. His scale covered body and leathery wings easily identified him as a dragon. Standing even taller than his pony companion, anypony who was unfamiliar with him would surely see a frightening predator in his claws, teeth, and crest of spines. He turned to the princess beside him.
“Do we have to do this every year Twilight?” He asked as they made their way down a dirt road, “You know he doesn’t even want us there.”
“Yes Spike, we do,” She responded, not even turning her head, “She was our friend too,” she paused, “and he doesn’t have anypony else.”
The pair continued on in silence for a short while. Gradually the landscape around them began to change. Where before there had been green pastures bordering the tree line of a forest, there were now bizarre, twisted flora growing in all manner of unnatural colors. The trees sprouted tentacles that coiled and writhed about with a sickening squelching sound. A flock of bat-winged frogs flew across the path screaming.
The weather began to change as well. An erratic wind buffeted them from unpredictable directions. The blue sky took on a red hue, with yellow spots growing and shrinking all across it. Cracks appeared across the sky and ground so that it seemed like reality itself was broken. After about five minutes everything physical had faded away except for the road which had taken on a checkered pattern. It began to twist and stretch out into the void until it too was gone. All that remained were fluctuating colors and a few floating objects.
Twilight and Spike spread their wings and began once again to fly. They navigated past pulsating energy bubbles, floating doorways, eyeballs and clocks until finally they found their destination. Floating through the multicolor wasteland was a chunk of land with a single small cottage sitting on it. Its rounded roof was covered in ordinary vines and grass and an empty birdhouse sat on the front lawn. Twilight and Spike landed before the simple wooden door. Twilight drew a deep breath and knocked.
With a creak the door opened a crack. Standing there was a small, white bunny with a look of confusion on its face. Its face brightened as it recognized the visitors and it proceeded to pull the door further open. As he entered, ducking to avoid the top of the doorway, Spike looked around. The furniture had been moved around a bit since he’d last been here. A sofa floated past him with several more bunnies sitting on it and munching on carrots.
Twilight walked over to end of the room where a high-backed armchair sat before a fireplace. A few steps away she stopped.
“Hello Discord.”
The chair slowly spun around revealing the draconequus. In his talon he held a bunny with a spot over one eye and with his paw he was softly petting it. Not yet making eye contact he set it down.
“Go play with your friends Gabriel,” he said as the bunny hopped away. Raising his neck up he looked toward a framed image sitting on the mantlepiece. A yellow pegasus sat in a field of flowers and smiled gently as butterflies flew around her.
“She would have been two-hundred and fifty years old today,” Discord said turning toward the alicorn.
"Its hard to believe its been that long," replied Twilight. Discord nodded, but truth was, to a being as old as he was, it might as well have been yesterday.
A Pegasus and Draconequs stood together outside a small cottage. Before them was a small pile of fresh dirt and a stone with the name Angel carved into it. The Pegasus sniffed as a tear rolled down her face. She turned to her companion.
"I'm going to miss him Discord," She said softly, "Even if he could be a bit of a hooffull sometimes."
"Well, look at it this way," Discord replied, "Angel lived a long time for a bunny, all thanks to you. Not everypony is lucky enough to have somepony like you with them for so many years."
"I guess so," said Fluttershy. After a few minutes of silence they both turned and went inside.
That night they sat at the table eating dinner, minus one member. Fluttershy looked up from her salad, her face bore an expression of worry but also deep thought.
"Discord," She began hesitantly, "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course my dear, anything at all."
"You're one of the most powerful magical beings in the world right?"
Discord nodded but didn't reply. He had a bad feeling that he knew where this was headed and he wasn't looking forward to what he'd have to say.
"Do you think...you could...um" Fluttershy 's voice trailed off. She briefly mumbled to herself before all at once blurting out, "Can you please bring him back!?"
Discord sighed, it was exactly the question he'd feared. Fluttershy's tears returned as she continued.
"It's just that, for so long it was just him and me. I took care of him for all these years, and... and, it's like losing a son."
Setting down his half-eaten silverware, Discord looked her in the eye.
"Fluttershy, my dear, I would do anything for you. I'd conjure you up a new sofa, I'd give you a horn, I'd reshape all of Equestria in your image if you asked. But there is one thing even I cannot do, and that is create life."
"But, but what about all those times when you made the dishes dance around or made an apple grow wings and fly around?"
"Those were different," he replied, "none of those were never actually alive. They were just constructs powered by my magic. The things I create might move around and react to things but they have no life to speak of, no soul."
As if to demonstrate, he snapped his fingers and a nearby broom began to dance around the room sweeping.
"I could bring Angel back," He said, "but it wouldn't really be him. It would just be a husk that looked like him and imitated his behavior. I can do it if you really want, but you'll always know that it's not really him."
Fluttershy slowly nodded in disappointed understanding.
It was true, death was the one limit to Discord's power. No matter how much he wanted to make Fluttershy happy. No matter how hard he tried.
Not that he let that stop him from trying.
Twilight and Spike walked out the door, Spike ducking to avoid hitting his head.
“Are you sure you don’t want any help cleaning up?” asked Twilight.
“No, no, I think I have it handled,” replied Discord. He held up his paw and snapped. In a flash all the used dishes were cleaned and returned to their proper places, under the couch.
“Your powers are back!” Exclaimed Spike.
“They were never gone really,” explained the draconequs as he levitated a glass around his head, “just drained. I’m limited to parlor tricks for now, but don’t worry I’ll be my old world-conquering self soon enough.”
Both Spike and Twilight stared, not sure if they should be amused or terrified.
“Just kidding.”
As the two flew away, Discord admitted silently that he was glad they were still around. He hadn’t been quite himself, even more so today of all days, and it helped to have somepony who understood. He’d be his old chaotic self eventually but for now, it was too soon.
A Pegasus lay in a bed covered with blankets. Her golden fur was muted and her mane had long since gone gray, but to the Draconequs sitting in a chair beside her, she was just as beautiful as the day they'd met.
"Discord," she asked, "do you remember when I first asked you out?"
"Of course I do my dear," he replied, taking her hoof in his paw, "how could I forget. I thought maybe I'd imagined it."
"Well I'm glad you didn't," Fluttershy said, a small smile appearing on her face, "Discord, until I got to know you I didn't think anypony would ever be more than a friend to me. The years I spent with you have been the happiest of my life."
"But there will be plenty more, won't there?" Discord asked with a hint of desperation, "I mean, it's not as if you're going anywhere..."
"Discord."
"And don't forget the Summer Sun Celebration is next month!"
"Discord."
"Oh! And of course there's Hearthswarming. Can't miss that."
"Discord!" Fluttershy said in as close to a shout as she could muster. The Draconequs stopped his rambling and looked at her tired face.
"It's time," Fluttershy whispered. She put a hoof on top of the paw covering her other one, "I love you Discord, and I'll wait for you as long as it takes"
She closed her eyes and her body lay still.
"Fluttershy? Fluttershy? This isn't funny. I know you're just faking it. I know you're not really de..." He stood up, "No. You're going to be just fine.
He held up his talon and snapped. Nothing happened.
"Please don't do this to me." He begged, "You can't leave."
Discord knew it was a useless endeavor, but still he snapped again. This time a spark of magic lit up the room. Fluttershy remained still.
"I just need more power, that's all!" he reached out with both arms and ripped holes in space. On the other side lay the pocket dimension he originated from. Smokey tendrils of purple and orange energy leaked through. Discord wrapped his arms around Fluttershy's body and drew the energy through himself and into her. As more and more power rushed through him he began to lose control. Arcs of magic exploded forth from his body like solar flares.
The more magic Discord pulled from his dimension the larger the tears in reality became. The edges became frayed and tattered as pure chaos poured out into the surrounding area. In the nearby town of Ponyville. the citizens screamed and ran for cover as an enormous multi-color cloud formed over the Everfree Forest. The world around it began to warp and restructure itself in bizarre ways, but Discord payed it no heed as all his focus was on the pony before him.
Minutes turned into hours until suddenly the Draconequs felt something inside him snap. He could no longer feel the chaos in his veins. He'd expended so much magic that he'd drained himself dry. Discord looked up. Outside the window it seemed as if the cottage had been swallowed by a living storm, the fruits of his labor.
Saying nothing, he knelt down beside the mare he'd loved and wept.
A draconequs floated through the nothingness. There are few things worse than boredom, and now there was nothing but that. Discord tried to pass the time by remembering everything that had happened over the last few billion years.
Twilight Sparkle had reigned over Equestria for another 2000 years before handing it over to yet another alicorn. During that time, she’d heavily funded scientific research and in a few centuries, ponies had traveled not only to the moon but to other stars (he did wish he could have seen Luna’s reaction to that). By the time she’d joined her predecessors the Equestrian empire spanned nearly a quarter of the galaxy.
Spike had stuck around for a few hundred years longer. In the last couple of decades, he’d taken to sitting his enormous bulk in one place. Any time they spoke the, now elderly, dragon would ask about Rarity. Finally, his petrified body found its home as a new mountain outside Canterlot.
Of course, this had seemed like no time at all for Discord. Over the millennia he saw empires rise and fall. Ponies, griffons, and who knows what else spread across the universe. They discovered new lifeforms and wonders beyond their imagining. And through it all the Lord of Chaos had been there: watching, helping when he was needed, and maybe having some fun at their expense.
The last living thing, a cockroach, had died 4.3 million years ago. Now there was only one star left in all the universe. Discord sat in the void watching its pale red glow. He’d been sitting there for a couple of centuries as the light slowly went out. Soon it would be gone forever. Finally, it vanished and nothing but darkness remained. Discord closed his eyes as the world collapsed around him.
“Don’t worry Discord, it’s okay.”
That voice, He knew that voice. He’d dreamed about it for countless years. Even with everycreature he’d known and befriended over the eons, She was the only one he’d ever loved. Now, at the end of it all, her voice was there to comfort him one last time.
“Discord, look at me. Open your eyes.”
Wait what?
Discord could feel a light through his eyelids. He opened them a crack. At first he was blinded by the intense brightness. As his eyes adjusted he saw a form standing before him. The only word he could think of to describe her was: breathtaking.
Her fur and feathers seemed to be made of pure gold, and her perfect pink mane flowed in a magical wind. Her whole body seemed to glow with an internal light. She smiled.
“Hello Discord,” She said with a giggle,
“Fluttershy? You’re here!” Discord scooped her up in an embrace that lasted for what could have been minutes or hours.
“I missed you so much,” he said, “I didn’t think…’
Fluttershy pressed a hoof to his lips.
“Its alright now Discord,” she said, “I told you I’d wait.”