Intro:
An older mare, pink like sakura petals, and mane much lighter, with full, bright green eyes, looks upon her class like a shepherd and guides three students away from a statue they had been bickering at. The yellow coated filly, with a red mane like a ripe apple, still exchanges words with the orange filly, with a purple mane. Applebloom, the first, has a blaze in her already morning sun orange eyes. Scootaloo, with softer violet colour eyes, reflects the same passion in her own sight. The third, a white filly, with soft pink and purple mane, struggles to try to bring reason to the two as Cheerilee attempts to break the argument up.
As soon as the fight began, it is over, and the three friends with their class and teacher are wondering out of the Royal Maze and it's statues. Though through the discourse, and by the time any of them quieted enough to hear, small cracks formed on the statue that was the start of their bickering. From the stone figure of the draconequus, a wicked laugh crept out, rich and dark like blood.
``Show time''
Track 09: Never Ending Strife
Equestria, in a peaceful, happy and calming atmosphere where ponies and creatures of all kinds can come together and enjoy the fruits of their coexistence with everything around them. With two princesses to rule them, and six little mares to protect them, there was so much time to just have fun, and enjoy things like dresses, and cupcakes. Exploring the depths of friendship, and growing relationships. Sisters bond, friendships form, as seasons go on. It would be so hard to imagine such a wonderful place could ever know true suffering or sadness. Not with all the holidays, celebrations, and bla bla BLA!..
Discord spiraled into existence with a grin. ``Please excuse me, I don't mean to alarm, and I certainly mean you no physical harm... Originally performed by H8_SEED, cover by SlyphStorm'' He points to a link on youtube, before going on. ``Give credit where it is due... oh, you are wondering why this chapter is playing out a little differently? Well, what else to you expect from a chapter inspired by a song dedicated to me?'' He floated high up above Equestria, the lord of chaos observed the land below. ``As you might expect, this is where the world truly begins to fall to Hades. Although I did not make the `shit' nor the `fan', this is the point I introduce them''
Track 09: Never Ending Strife (For real)
After escaping his stone prison that the princesses Celestia and Luna had sealed him in those many thousands of years ago, Discord raced to make up for lost time, sowing discourse and mayhem as he took a scenic route to remove those powerful Elements of Harmony from the board. Without those gems, there could be no means by which to seal him again. He wanted to have his fun, but he knew that some steps needed to be taken first. Observing the ponies for a little bit, he created a plan, and then immediately threw it out. Setting up a dart board with the faces of the six new challengers, he tossed a rubber ball. The sphere stuck to the picture of Fluttershy, and a grin grew upon his face.
Snatching the yellow mare, leaving not even a light pink hair behind, he whisked her away to his realm of chaos where he attempted to corrupt her. Her soft colours, including those gentle blue eyes, he thought her a easy mark, but she seemed to resist his games. Every word he used to trigger her insecurities, only made her strengthen her resolve to her ties in the world.
``Have I lost my touch?'' He asked himself.
``Of course not'' He responded from across the room from himself. ``We have our senses, all 11.5''
Handing off a cup to himself, Discord thought about it. ``I would have missed smevision'' They all nodded. ``But why is she fighting our efforts?''
``We must try another, she must be a fluke''
``Right''
One of the Discords took up a noodle, and threw it in no particular direction, and it stuck in the next room to the dart board, and he was gone again.
In the time a way, he had successfully corrupted two other ponies of the six. With a renewed sense of achievement, and his work starting to spread around from several places he detoured before returning, Discord came home. He threw open the door, and it drifted into the void. ``Honey, I'm home!'' He shouted to an empty room. ``Oh wait, I forgot... I'm not married'' He strolled in, and tripped over an ottoman, ans canned laughter played. ``Now I know how the Romans felt'' He said to even more automated laughs.
He appeared in the space he had been holding Fluttershy, who upon seeing him coward in her cornering, whimpering. This was an annoying sound to Discord, so he snapped his fingers to place earplugs in her ears, silencing her. ``How is it you are of the same stock as those other Elements of Harmony ponies?'' He asked, not really expecting an answer. His goal was to invert the six mares, and possibly turn them to agents of chaos, but after dealing with the other two, he knew they would not work quite that way, though they were spread the insanity just as well. As the pony in his keep started to tear up, he threw back his head, and as it bounced around his body floated around her. ``Is this all you are, all you are capable of? No wonder no pony has come looking for you''
``L-liar...'' She said, with an unexpected bit of defiance. Discord pulled himself together, as his claims roused her spirit. She believed in her friends, and could not find truth in his words. ``My friends wouldn't abandon me''
He loomed over her, a shadow cast over everything but his mouth. He spoke each word clearly, and moved his lips to be clearly read. ``Ya sure? Because not one of them even knows that you are missing, not one even cares. I've been a little distracting, but not a thought has drifted to their poor, pathetic little friend. A pegasus who fears flight, a pony who spends all her time with animals of other species''
Feeding on his challenge of her believe, she continued to fight back his falsehoods. ``If you are causing them trouble, I can't blame them for not worrying about me. You also can't hurt me with things like my fears, I accept them. Plus, I like my animal friends, so that's not much of an insult''
``How much do you like them?'' He gave an uncomfortable look, hinting to something that the pony caught on and shook her head too. ``Save it for Derpibooru''
``I don't care what you say or do, I won't distrust my friends because... a big MEANIE says so!''
Discord's eye twitched, and twittered too. He was loosing ground on her again, as she refused to be broken by his manipulations. Inside his head he gathered him-selves. ``She is more of a challenge than any pony I've faced. There must be a way to crack this omelette...'' Returning to an outward conversation, he pressed on. ``What sort of friends don't keep you at their forethought? If we were friends, I would notice anytime you were in trouble. Although, if I had any friends, they would be worthy of my attention, so there is that'' He tried to two pronged attack, at her friendships, and self worth.
Fluttershy took this in and gave it thought. ``Well,'' she started, stubbornly not effected by his strike. ``I've never really tried to give them the impression that they needed to so obsessively watch over me, or come off as somepony who needed to be protected all the time. That's not really the point of friendship. You are there when you can, they are there when they can, but seeing how you are giving them so much trouble, I can understand why they are thinking about more immediate things. Friendship should not be a burden, but I guess you don't have friends, like you said, so I suppose you don't understand that'' Though not her intention, she had landed a blow on the draconequus.
With a mixture of shock, and anger at her resolve, with a light dusting of frustration, stirred to a soupy consistency, Discord was brought to a full boil before he simmered. ``I'll go out there and prove that they don't care, now or ever, about you! You are just a burden, only kept because of the ties to the Elements of Harmony you all share!'' He turned around, ready to serve. ``Need to do more than this bit any way, there is plot to develop'' With a sharp wave of his single finger, he was gone in a flash.
Back in Equestria, Discord formed together from several little dots, becoming a stallion, that to those who knew what to look for, was Discord. To those not so familiar, he just seemed like a strangely coloured pony, possibly with some disease. He was in a hospital hall, and could hear down the way the voices of two ponies. He knew them, through his observations, as Rainbow Dash and her super fan Scootaloo. ``Ah, one of my little liberators'' He thought, as he moved closer. He could hear the frustration in the older pony, as she complained about her status and boredom. ``Perfect timing... I have to work on that''
Scootaloo came rushing out of the room, exclaiming that she would help solve the problem. She crashed into the Discord pony, and was put off by his appearance. ``Uh, sorry dude''
He raised one of his different sized brows. ``Quite alright... homie'' This put a sour expression on both of them. ``I couldn't help but hear that your friend there is feeling blue'' He pushed past the awkward start of their conservation to the point of his arrival.
``Rainbow Dash is blue, like all the time. It's her colour'' Scootaloo remarked. ``Some day her coat will be a legendary shade for those who want to have their stuff tons cooler, she is the greatest flyer in history!''
``How fortuitous!'' The filly seemed lost on this word, and Discord groaned a bit in silence. ``You speak of legends and history, well I have here a book of both'' He placed it on the ground before her. ``This will change her life, and I bet all of Equestria''
She scoffed. ``Book? She's no nerd, books are for dweebs with no talents'' She mocked, but soon was gripped by the spell placed on the object. ``... but, not all books are bad... I bet Rainbow Dash will know what to do with this!'' She picked it up, and galloped full gait to the room.
Forgiving her rudeness, Discord grinned and was off again. Where he appeared, he was almost trampled by a group of ponies flocking to a newsstand. ``Hey!'' He shouted out, taken off guard by this crowd. ``I must have time skipped... what is this, an anime?'' He thought. ``What is all this?'' He was still in pony form, so he did not stand out in the crowd... too much.
``You haven't heard?'' One stopped, shocked that anypony had not been alerted to the story of the century. ``There is another princess in Equestria!''
This caught Discord's full attention. The last he had known, that there was Celestia, Luna, and that third one no pony seemed to know about until she had been abducted by that Changeling Queen, then it was like she had been there the hole time.
Popping into an alley, Discord held a paper with the headline ``Pony Princess Parade: A Forth Royal Alicorn!'' He quickly skimmed the pages, muttering parts as he went. Princess Twilight Sparkle joins the Equestria elite and small pantheon of Alicorn royals. Still fresh from the battles at Canterlot during the Royal wedding of her own brother, Captain Shining Armor, and now Sister-in-law bla bla... Their heroine adventures against bla bla bla... The return of the Crystal BLA! Fight with so much bla...'' Having his fill with the filler, he pressed ctrl F and typed until he found what he was looking for. ``-her many adventures seem to have awoke her as another of the rare Alicorns. She is marked as the Princess of Friendship, in spite of the loses of her closest friends, the drive to find and help them, and all of Equestria during these troubled times has been the pushed needed to find her true calling. In a statement by our newest princess, she said `Equestria has become a cauldron of dark forces, and drawn much of our once peaceful, happy and calm home into despair. The same reasons that allowed me to become an Alicorn, are the ones that drive me to undo the wickedness of those villains who threaten all we hold dear. We have lost much, and my own friends rank in those numbers, but I swear that I will not stop until I have returned Equestria to a place were ponies can feel safe. No villain will go unchallenged, and I will continue to work against them. Six of us stood against Nightmare Moon, and awoke as the Elements of Harmony, and those some are gone, we all swore to fight for Equestria. My heart is divided, but the Elements cannot be destroyed, so long as we all stand together and embody what they mean. Equestria will prevail''' With a sneer, Discord crumpled the paper. ``Oh gag!'' He remarked, tossing the rubbish into a trash can, that soon self-destructed. ``Wowzers'' He turned, dressed now in a gray trench coat, and matching fedora. ``What ever happened to there only being two Alicorns in this generation of My Little Pony? Lauren won't be happy''
Returning to his home, Discord traveled purposefully, and proudly to the room with Fluttershy, who seemed to be distracted by a strange creature that even Discord did not know what it was. Shooing it away, he addressed her. ``Well, it seems that your friends have all moved on, the ones left. You will be happy to know that Rainbow Dash has taken up reading, and Twilight Sparkle becomes a Princess Alicorn... I like Pegacorn better, seeing how the alicorn is what the horn of a Unicorn is called'' He gave a shrug. ``At any rate, you seemed to be holding them all back''
Without hesitation, she responded. ``Well, I'm happy for them. I hope they keep growing and becoming better, despite what ever you try to do to them''
Letting out a roar of frustration, Discord could bare no more. ``How can you be so relentlessly positive?! You're afraid of your own shadow, can't sing in front of anyone, and get used by that horrid little rabbit, and yet you are so damn happy for every other pony, when your own fate is questionable. I can snap my fingers, and you would be inside out, or tormented to an inch of life with death always beyond your desperate reach! How can you, the frailest of all the mane six, be the one who resists me?!'' He panted, staring at her with all his exasperated fury. ``They left you to rot here, does this not bother you, do you care so little about yourself?''
``I rather be here, face what ever... t-torment you can image'' Looking around, she could assume that his imagination was vast. ``I rather that, than hold anypony back, or keep them from being happy. Am I happy here? No. Do I get scared? Yes. Is Angel difficult? Of course. Being nice, doesn't always mean you are happy, but really, I am content in others happiness''
``Well, it's about time to change all of that, and you'll be happier than you have ever been, when you become cruel'' His finger began to glow, ready to place a curse upon her that will force her to become the opposite of who she is.
Fluttershy gave a heavy, accepting sigh. ``If that is what you wish, then go ahead. Just please don't hurt my friends anymore''
Discord froze, dumbfounded by this request. A plea in the final moments before she was turned to a monster, but not for herself. ``Y-you would stay here, if I personally don't hurt your friends?'' She gave him a nod. ``You are such a fool... yet, so fascinating. Even the most selfless have cracked under less, yet you remain dedicated to this... kindness'' He retracted his hand, and stopped the glow. ``Very well, you will remain here as a pet, of sorts, and I shale do no more direct harm to any your friends'' He muttered out of a second head. ``Not to say anything about indirect, or incidental''
Outro:
Discord, are we your prey alone,
Or are we just a stepping stone,
For taking back the throne?
-Lyrics by Odyssey-
