Quietly excusing himself from the raucous celebrations, Discord made his way out of the gigantic crystal palace full of laughing, dancing ponies. Well, not like anyone would notice, despite him being twice their height.
A quick thought, a little force of will, a white flash, and once again he found himself at the edge of the Everfree Forest.
Discord liked this particular forest. Its nature matched his own; dark and unruly, a senseless chaotic mess of trees intertwined together in the most crookedly fashions, with roots springing up everywhere, prepared to trip the unwary traveller; hanging vines not unlike the decorations at Pinkie's parties, strange animal yowls and grunts which seemed to come from every direction. All in all, a place without order, a place where the draconequus liked to wander around for his broods.
Walking on the mossy dirt path deeper into the forest, Discord started to literally wipe off the mask on his face which displayed a good-natured grin, to reveal something closer to a toothy smirk, and laughed, long and hard, to himself.
Everyone had fallen for it, all right. A thousand years in stone, eavesdropping, always wanting to scratch that nasty itch on his back, but mostly scheming, plotting... Of course everything would fall in place, of course there would be absolutely no loopholes, no mistakes. He had tweaked his plan over and over again, thought over it obssessively, repeatedly to the point of memorization... what else could an entity of chaos trapped in a statue do?
Oh, he LOVED when things go exactly as he had planned, down to the smallest detail, being the puppeteer of everyone's lives, the conductor of a perfect orchestra. And the best thing was, no one even knew someone was controlling them, instead reacting, behaving as they thought was logical, while Discord strung up all their actions and reactions together like beads on a necklace.
All he had to do first was to prod around a little with his powers to create a sequence of events. Given his reality-altering powers, this usually wasn't much of a problem. The sneaky release of Tirek from Tartarus and that annoying Cerebus however, proved a little hard, but wasn't impossible after a little influence in the right places. After all, Scorpan's medallion was needed for the final growth of the Elements of harmony. What the draconequus found golden, however, was that Tirek thought he had escaped solely by his own powers, even in his weakened state.
Ah, that pride in Tirek, which of course led to his downfall.
A rather plump pigeon landed on his deer antler, mistaking it for a branch, and Discord scowled. Of all the animals in Fluttershy's cottage, it was birds that he hated the most. After being a statue for a long, long time, it was natural to loathe them since they took their liberty in relieving themselves on him. The smell was one thing, but if the castle gardener took his time before he hosed the statue off, the itches that came after were unbearable.
He snapped his eagle talons in his trademark way, and the pigeon cartoonishly poofed before transforming into an orange, whereupon it fell to the ground, croaking. Discord laughed at its helpless state before rolling it off into the undergrowth. How he had dearly wished to do that when he was a statue... Pesky birds.
He wondered what poor Fluttershy would think if she witnessed this abuse. Everyone was so sure that he had reformed, even after his 'betrayal' before, and were taken in by his teary speech of friendship. This particular mare had trusted him down to the bitter end. But of course, even all this was an act, a performance, a ploy such that the Elements of Harmony could trust him to an even greater extent, unlike in times before when he was not officially 'reformed', when the ponies saw him as an annoyance, instead of a true friend.
But of course he wasn't, couldn't a true friend, no matter how much guilt his conscience piled on him. How on earth could the God of Chaos be friends with the Elements of Harmony? Friendship was all but a word to him; meaningless. His ultimate goal was to help the Elements flourish and grow, and become even stronger, only to control them, directly or indirectly, such that they would listen to him should he one day propose that the regal Princesses' diarchy actually brainwashes and induces fatalistic mindsets in every pony, and that a democracy was in order.
For example.
Of course he could just face the Princesses directly with all his reality-bending, but that wasn't the way he did things. And his memories of his defeat, his past self full of immaturity, shortsightedness and pride, the time when he wandered around aimlessly, and conjured up chocolate rain merely to annoy, that reminded him exactly why. Now he would work behind the scenes, so if something leaked, he would be cleared of all blame.
Harmony is all well and good, but at its very base, it is merely a tool. Even evil can unite, and thus would be harmonious while working together for nefarious purposes. And so, he was to redirect these Elements, to be a pawn in his own goals, and not just overthrowing the diarchy.
Discord found it hilarious, that the very weapon that originally was used to seal him in stone for a long, long time, would one day be in his own control.
This was just the first step, of course. It would be a long time before the Elements would fully trust him. "You're not quite there yet", were the words Twilight told him when he playfully wondered out loud where his throne was.
Well, he would get his throne himself. One that no one would acknowledge or visibly see, but as a puppeteer, he was fine with that. Discord himself knew that as long as he was steering the world into the messy ideal he was aiming for, he was satisfied.
And not just this world, too. The draconequus absentmindedly placed his eagle talons out in the air in front of him, and pushed gently, as the fabric of the pony universe came away as easily as wet paper. Cautiously stepping into the new dimension, he peered around.
This reality was mostly white, bright enough to make anyone tear, but dotted with black shapes about the size of a molehill arranged in organized lines, which Discord later recognized as symbols. He carefully positioned himself on them and leaned back contentedly.
He influenced the creators of his universe, too, but not in physical ways of course. He was just known by another name. Of course, first the humans here would be confused at the sudden turn of events, then what would follow would be realization, doubt, then dismissal. Humans, like ponies, were so easy to sway. Except for a select crazy few; well, why would the rest ever believe the words of a deluded, insane minority?
He casually kicked aside a letter which was botherin g his tail.
Well.
Step one was complete.
Let the chaos begin.