Started: 13th September 2022

Rewritten Finished: 8th October 2022

Uploaded to A03: 8th October 2022

Uploaded to Fimfiction: 9th October 2022

Uploaded to Fanfiction: 9th October 2022

Discord made a move to speak first, though for a few seconds his mouth opened and closed in thought of what he was going to say until he decided on what to do.

He spoke up, frowning, "I would try and explain my innocence but I know who you are and I assume that you'd prefer to sit here with a serious expression on your face, looking at me disappointed?"

He placed a brown arm on the desk that he and the princess were sitting at and propped his head up with a claw, a bored expression on his face.

Twilight sighed, "I know it's who you are to cause chaos but I have to admit, that was the wrong move. It was the middle of a meeting, Discord!"

Big violet eyes met red mismatched ones and silence rang once again.

Discord huffed and then thought to himself, 'This serious stuff really is hurting my poor head, how do the princesses do it?'

He shrugged. "It's chaos magic, sometimes it doesn't appreciate being placed in the naughty corner."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "You're saying that you had nothing to do with this?"

The draconequus did a mock gesture of thinking, "Well, it just so happens that I share similar views to my magic. That's probably for the best, after all we all know what can happen when the pony and her magic don't co-exist." He sent a knowing look to the purple alicorn.

Twilight felt a small flicker of anger flash through her and was about to retort until she saw the smug look on the chimera's face.

She exhaled slowly and relaxed, setting an indifferent look on her face once again. "This is about you, Discord, not anyone else. You can change the subject as much as you may like but it doesn't change the fact that you just disrupted a meeting, an important one may I add, that many creatures are mad at you about."

"Why should I care what they think about me?"

That caught her off guard.

He took it as an invitation to continue.

"I mean, it's not like I haven't had to deal with ponies— and other creatures— hating my guts before." He slumped in his chair, crossing his arms, an intrigued look on his face for what the reply might be.

The princess shook her head, frown still etched on her face and Discord pondered back to the time when the once youthful face was not plagued with such maturity for her age.

"Discord, it's bad enough that you had to deal with others not trusting you after you were reformed and I find it just as bad that you seem to shrug it aside and act like it doesn't affect you. You're doing a good damned job at hiding it but I know it must negatively affect you in some way, it would hurt anyone in that situation."

Discord felt a familiar smirk tug on his face once he heard that. His relatively hidden and quite small amount of considerateness could argue that the words had some impact on his damaged heart because someone understood that as much as he may argue that he's always fine it isn't always true.

However, if he was being honest the slip up of language that the Princess only shows to her closest friends when she gets too emotional was very funny to him, he didn't know if she even noticed it but if she did she was probably too proud to admit it.

He then paused when he realised that there was an awkward silence once again, "Well what if I don't fit into the definition of 'anyone.'"

The noise of a face…hoof…radiated through the room.

He smiled.

No heart wrenching feelings on his watch.