The Discord Accord

Chapter 7

"Wow..."

All of the unicorn pony's current emotions were pressed into that one word; shock, admiration, new insight. The realisation that the vacant-expressioned creature before her could tell such a tell without hardly any emotion was... unbelievable. Also that he had been through such an experiance with her teacher made her start to doubt many things the princess had told her. Was the tale of the so-called 'tyrantical monster' the only lie fed to everypony in the kingdom?

Twilight Sparkle stared at the draconaquus, who's face was as blank and dry as the deserts of Zevros. She knew that deep down he was hiding how he truly felt about his past, but the face of truth was, once again, smothered with a mask of pride and the fear of appearing weak. Discord was trying hard not to look like an immature little colt with puny issues, which only made her even mor confused. Why would he reveal all of this to me without assuming I'd be his shoulder to cry on? Not that I'd want to be, of course...

Twilight looked down to the floor in thought, trying to process just how she felt about all of this. The loyal part of her wanted to defend the princess, to insist she was only doing the right thing. Then again, Twilight knew that her lies would ever scar the unicorn. Celestia had never once lied to Twilight. Why would she? They were practically familly; mother and daughter. This revolation made her think.

"I... I-I never knew..."

Discord scoffed. "Nopony does. Little miss sunshine would prefer to leave out the fact that she had familly on the other side of the law."

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, who had left with Twilight's request to begin planning for the party to present Discord to trustworthy ponies, were buisy fetching balloons, streamers, baking cakes, treats and beverages, and otherwise finding anything they deemed necessary for the party. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had found several ponies already, giving them invitations for the celebration that would be held at Sweet Apple Acres. The Apples were hesitant at first, but agreed to holding the party in their orchard.

So far, Applejack, Spike, Cheerilee, Rarity, Colgate, Lyra Heartstrings, Bon-bon, even Vinyl Scrath and Octavia were coming to the get together, and more were coming.

Back at Sugercube Corner, Twilight nodded to the door. "Do you think you could disappear long enough to make it to the library?"

Discord grinned, snapped his talons, and suddenly, the fabrics of his being tore assunder, rendering him invisible.

"Ready to go?" A voice that belonged to a very mischievious spirit asked, though nopony could identify where the sound came from. That was one of the effects of the disappearing spell; You were unseeable, untracable, and practically the air itself.

The lavander pony chuckled. "Yeah, come on."

The short journey to the Ponyville library didn't take very long. Moving through the streets was easy, thanks to the spell. Ocassionally, Discord would magic a spider on a random pony's nose or some other prank. But, all in all, he was bearable enough. Besides, he'd refrained from turning Ponyville into the world's largest bag of trail mix.

When they passed the door of the hollowed tree, a rather tired dragon was snoring away on the couch. Memories from the night before flooded Discord's mind. Images of ponies indulging in their desires for the numbing of the mind and rising of the spirits. The dragon, who jumped out of his dreams, startled by the door slamming shut. Twilight Sparkle did not look pleased.

"Spykatus Anubis Flamebreath! Did I not ask you to clean up the library and organize my new books?!"

Spike, matching the unicorn's fiery (smoke was slightly curling out of his nose) attitude, shouted. "You said you wouldn't say my full name in front of anypony!"

"Maybe," Twilight continued, levitating a pile of books and placing them individualy into slots of the bookshelf. "You should've done what I asked."

Spike scoffed. "Whatever. Oh, hey Discord."

Said draconaquus, who had been amusing himself by taking in the massive stacks of wood and paper, the roots stretching out of the ceiling and walls, the occassional insect that wondered around the room only to be magically squashed, turned to the baby dragon. He grinned. "Hello, hehe... Mr. Flamebreath."

Spike glared at him, until Discord realized the assisstant hadn't reacted at all how he'd imagined. No screaming, no running.

"You aren't suprised to see me? And here I thought I was important." He feigned being offended. Spike didn't buy it. He simply crossed his legs, laying on the couch.

"Nah, I know you're cool, man."

Discord, for once, was flabberghasted.

Despite her anger for her assisstant's laziness, Twilight trotted over to the dragon. "Sorry about blowing up on you, Spike." She nuzzled his scaly cheek, to which Spike smiled. "Can you please clean up? I'd appreciate it."

Spike shrugged, rising from the couch. "Sure thing." And with that, he was away, fetching the cleaning gear he was ever so familliar with.

While the smallish dragon went to work on spills, crumbs, dust and anything that needed to be tended to, Discord crossed his arms and asked. "So, what exactly will I do until the whole town knows I'm here?"

"I told you," Twilight reminded. "We are only bringing trustworthy ponies to the party. Like friends."

"Might I remind you, Twilight Sparkle, that Pinkamena Diane Pie is friends with everypony?"

Twilight thought about it, but, as always, turned to logic and hoping that her pink friend would have enough commen sense to know not to bring all of Ponyville. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Discord conjured a tropical drink, complete with mini umbrella, a pair of shades, and lounged in mid air as though he lay on a hammock. "Whatever you say." He took a sip.

Twilight rolled her eyes.

X!X!X!X!X!X!X!X

"Hi Dinky! Hi Applebloom! Hi Lyra! Hi Cheerilee! Hi Cloud Kicker! Hi Time Turner! Hi..."

Rainbow Dash sighed in exasperation. The greetings, though friendly, were continuous and the cyan pegasus doubted Pinkie would ever wear out.

How many ponies had she invited?

That question would forever go unaswered as the crowd of ponies stood, waiting for the suprise guest of the night. Pinkie had gone all out in making Discord's appearance special; A stage had been placed in the front of the enormous clearing in the orchard. Balloons hung from the dozens of chairs and tables behind the crowd. There were delicacies of all kinds on large tables, as well as drinks ranging from water to leminade, soda to liquor, chocolate milk to liquid cheese; this party would be tattooed into Ponyville's history.

Of course, Pinkie Pie had insisted that she pay for the music, courtasy of DJ-PON3, and basically all of the decorations; streamers, seperate hedges trimmed to images of dragons, snakes, lions, ponies, goats, and all the animals that make up Discord's anatomy. Many guests had wondered both why these animals, and how Pinkie had set everything up within a day. The mystery went unsolved, as Pinkius Pieucus could not be explained.

Rainbow and Pinkie had been trotting around and through the crowd of jolly ponies in search of a certain guest who had reluctantly agreed to attend (after being reminded of her ex; Tom the Boulder). But when the fashion freak came into view, speaking to a couple of rather regal-looking musicians, a grey blur crash landed mere inches in front of Rainbow Dash. The pegasus shrieked in fright.

Pinkie Pie grinned. "Hi Ditzy! Glad you could make it!"

Out of the pony-shaped crater appeared a grey pegasus with soft blonde hair and a happy face. It seemed the impact had barely harmed her, and if it had, she made no comment to show it.

"Hey Pinkie Pie! I wouldn't miss this party for Equestria. This has got to be your biggest party yet!" Her lazy floated off to the side while her operational eye turned to the speedster pony. "Hi Rainbow!"

"Uhh.. Hey Derp... err Ditzy." Dash corrected. "Long time no see?"

"Soooo Ditzy, I just saw Dinky somewhere over..." Pinkie waved a hoof around until she chose a direction. "There!"

Ditzy frowned. "I told that filly to wait up!"

"Better go catch her then." Pinkie giggled. Ditzy started to flap her wings to look for her daughter, but remembered. "

"Hey wait! I forgot!" She turned around, looking around. When she couldn't find what she was looking for, she scratched her mane. "Where'd she go?"

"Where'd who go?" Rainbow asked, unaware of a sneaky form behind her.

"BOO!" The form called.

Rainbow Dash practically screamed, rocketing into the air. The crowd watched her fly off into the atmosphere, flutter back to the ground, and returned to their affairs. She searched for the ninja pony, but had no such luck. Noticing Pinkie's and Ditzy's hardly muffled giggles, she looked up, coming face to face with a pair of unnatural eyes, more so than Ditzy's.

"Hiya!" The pony greeted, hopping off of the pegasus' head.

"Don't... you... EVER do that again!" Rainbow shouted, blushing profusely. Her outburst only made the unnamed pony laugh.

"Hehe you're funny! I like you!" And quickly hugged Dash before anyone could react. As quickly as it came, the embrace was ended. The pony held out a hoof. "What's your name?"

Rainbow Dash eyed the hoof, not knowing whether or not to trust this maniac. Glancing at Pinkie, who's smile never ceased during her private conversation with Ditzy, forgetting Dash and the pony completely, the rainbow-maned pegasus took the hoof. "I'm Rainbow Dash."

The pony giggled once more. "Rainbow... I like that name!"

"Thanks..."

"Well, it's nice to meet you! My name's..."

The pony's next words were cut off as the magical voice amplifier on the stage gave a screeching noise as a lavander unicorn held it with a violet glow of magic. She cleared her throat and laughed nervously.

"Heh, sorry about that everypony. I guess that got your attention, huh?"

A few laughs, a boo from a donkey in the back of the crowd, and a single party pony who continued to empty her lungs in hysterical laughter.

Twilight proceeded. "Well, I suppose you're all wondering why you're all here..."

"Ya dern right!" The donkey called.

"No one asked you, Doodle!" Another pony shouted.

Pinkie Pie, AKA Saint Giggles McPartypants, came out from behind the left-stage curtain. Everypony looked back to where she was but seconds ago and found nopony by the pink pony's description there. Eyes turned back to Twilight in confusion, who shrugged. Pinkie took hold of the mic.

"Yeah, that's right Ponyville! We have a super duper important pony here today!" The crowd stomped in exitement. Pinkie thrusted a hoof to the sky. "He's a lean, mean party loving machine! He's the coolest of the cool, the baddest of the bad, and he's the one who brought you this INCREDIBLE PARTY!" The crowd exploded into shouts and 'Yeahs', whistles, and more stomped applause.

Pinkie spun on her hoof. "Awww yeah! You ready to see this amazing stallion?!"

Even more applause. Twilight was more than impressed by her friend's ability to rouse the ponies and really rile them up.

"Mares and Gentlecolts, fillies and foals, dragons and abominations of all kinds! I present to you..."

"DISCORD!"

The crowd became dead silent. Some gasps were heard, but as said draconaquus *poofed* with a flurry of fireworks and falling candy above the ponies, excitement became the last emotion on everypony's minds (except for the ones who already knew of his presence). Despite all of the horror and dread in the air, Pinkie Pie clopped her hooves together, shouting with approval.

"Yeah! Yeah! Whooo! Whoo... wooo..." Her applaud ended when she realised everypony was simply staring at Discord, who was still grinning, expecting them all to start stopming. No such noise came but screams.

"It's Discord!"

"He's going to turn our foals into watermelons!"

"RUUUUN!"

The audience flew into a state of panic and ran around the clearing. When ponies begun to flee to back to town, a jet-black field of repulsion energy formed a dome around the clearing, forcing everypony to stay within. Above the screams a powerful voice could be heard.

"SILENCE ALL!"

Every guest obeyed the voice. When all found the source, they immidiately bowed.

Princess Luna hovered next to the quite frustrated draconaquus, eyes glowing pure white, her voice emitting waves of authority.

The anger died down. Luna's eyes returned to their original color, but her stern look remained.

"Citizens of Ponyville! Hear me and pay attention!"

She landed on the stage, dragging Discord with her. He did not look the least bit happy that his party had been spoiled by these incompetant ponies. Luna, however, bore a smile. She addressed the crowd softly. "I understand that this spirit has done much to you, and you may not forgive him, but I ask of you; see that he has changed, and give him the oppertunity to apologies." She nudged Discord with her elbow.

Discord scanned the crowd, seeing faces that bore hatred for him, but enough respect to hear him and Luna out. He sighed.

"I daresay, my sister is correct. I've lost interest in spreading my chaos where it is not wanted." The crowd seemed to ease up at this, but the hard, stone-cold glares never truly ceased. "I know now that, in Equestria, order prevails. I learned that when these ponies," He gestured to the six ponies who had gathered on stage. "Will never rest untill that order is restored. I underestimated their friendship once, and things didn't exactly turn out how I'd wanted..."

"We kicked your flank is what happened!" Rainbow Dash called.

Discord sneered at her, but cleared his throat and returned to his speech. "Know that I will not harm the land of Equestria for as long as I live." He placed a paw over his heart and closed his eyes to exagerate his sincerity.

The crowd of ponies looked around and muttered to each other.

"I don't know..." One said.

"Why not? Let's give the guy another chance." Another more forgiving voice said.

"I say we gut him open and use his hide to warm our children!" A rather graphic pony shouted. Most of the crowd stared at him in shock. He shrugged. "It sounded better in my head..."

When Discord openned his mouth to speak again, a pony within the mass of bodies shouted in her most loudest, most joyous, voice she could conjure. It was suprising the word didn't break the barrier.

"DADDY!"

Discord searched for the source of the voice, spotting a line puncture through the crowd. Many grunts and 'why I never's were heard, but not over the pony's calls of glee. When she reached the stage, Discord's eyes widenned in shock and awe.

"Daddy daddy daddy!" The purple pony jumped toward him, propeller hat spinning, alowing her to close the distance between her and the open-jawed draconaquus with a tight hug.

"Oh daddy! You're alive!" Screwball nuzzled his chest, tears welling out of her eyes. Everypony in the area were almost as suprised as Discord at this news; The god of chaos had a daughter.

Discord snapped back to reality and returned the embrace. "Screwball! Oh, by chaos, it's so wonderful to see you!"

"I missed you, daddy!"

"I as well, my dear." Discord smiled. The speech he had made had made the ponies a slight more open minded, but, as all of the fathers in Equestria knew, it must've been hell being away from his child for so long. It made everypony's hearts brighten and they nodded to eachother, agreeing that the draconaquus could be given one last chance to live with the ponies.

However, one pony, specifically an alicorn princess of the moon, was not so pleased. Her temper rose, as well as her voice.

"Daughter?! When did you...?! I mean...! W-what?!"

Discord set the crazy-eyed pony on his head, to which she giggled and began feasting quietly on his antler. It had been a habit of hers to randomly appear behind her father and start biting his horns. He'd always thought it adorable. His smile now was as great as it had been ages ago raising his psycotic spawn.

"Luna, ponies," He gestured to the mane six. "I'd like to introduce my greatest creation; Screwball!"

Said pony halted her gnawing and waved exitedly. "Hi everypony!" Then back to the antler.

Luna gave the pony a suspicious look, then back to Discord. "When?" She asked simply.

Discord's smile slowly turned upside down (to Pinkie Pie's dismay). He sighed once more. "It was sometime before I... um... shall I say... took over."

"Oh..."

He raised an eyebrow. "After all of that, you'd never seen her?"

Luna shook her head. "Never. I didn't even know you had ever..." She blushed.

Discord stared at her for a moment, unaware of her meaning. Screwball giggled and bent down, whispering something into his ear. When she finished, he blushed heavily.

"N-no! I didn't..." He sighed for the umteenth time that night. "I spawned her with the same flesh and blood as I, but she is purely a result of my chaotic power." He clarified, partly lying to keep the ponies from knowing of Nightmare's living presence in the world. If they knew of the things he'd done with that entity, he'd be annihalated on the spot.

"But... why would you need a daughter?" Luna asked, still quite confused as to Discord's reasons for bringing such an odd creature into the world.

The god looked away. "I suppose I was... err... lonely." The lie was meant to sound pathetic, and he was rewarded with a sympathetic look from Luna.

"Oh... I'm sorry." She apologised. Then, she asked. "By the way, where were you all of that time?"

"Cervidas." Discord answered honestly. There was no point in hiding that, as it meant nothing now. But Luna gasped.

"Cervidas? But..." She grumbled. "I even told Celestia that we needed to search everywhere! But noooo; she thought it was too dangerous to go beyond Eternity's Crossing. She was such a fool..."

"Wait..." Discord asked, suprised. "What do you mean, search? You looked for me?"

Luna nodded. "Of course! When you just disappeared, we had to look for you!"

"But... but... I killed our father! Why would you even want to see me, let alone look for me?"

Luna sighed in exasperation. "I know, but Celestia told me that it was father's doing that forced you to fight."

"How did she know? The barrier..."

"She wasn't outside of the barrier when you raised it. She had watched your entire fight. She said that father had prevoked you, even threatened to banish you, for aiding Equestria. She was too angry at the time to really acknowledge that, and just focused on your killing him." A tear slipped out of the night princess' eye.

Discord stared at the ground, mouth open, thinking.

She... she was never angry? But... Nightmare told me...

Discord clenched his fist. "That traitor... lyer..."

Screwball asked. "Who? You mean Ghmph Nhtmhr?"

Discord flipped his arms around and covered his daughter's mouth before she could say 'Grandpa Nightmare'. Luna gave him a suspicious look, to which Discord smiled nervously.

"What traitor? Discord..."

"No one! I mean..." He quickly tried to change the subject. "Wait, so if Celestia isn't mad at me, then why do I have to be all cloak and dagger?"

Luna shook her head. "It's not that simple. She isn't upset about before, but what you did to our race... She'll never forget that."

"What do you mean," Twilight Sparkle, who'd been quietly observing the two, asked. "'What he did to your race'?"

The princess faced the unicorn with an upset look. "Twilight, why do you not see any other alicorns in Equestria?"

"You and Princess Celestia are the only ones, right?"

"Correct," the night goddess continued. "But we weren't always the only ones. Long before Discord's rule, the alicorns were aplenty in the far away land of Cervidas. They were the strongest force in the world. The alicorns were also the ones who helped settle the dispute between the three pony species."

"But I thought..."

I know." Princess Luna said. "Many stories have been changed to keep safe the ponies of Equestria. My mother and father, the old king and queen, had been the ones to defeat a mighty foe and bring order to Equestria, perhaps even the world.

"But I'm off track. The alicorns had, indeed, been a might race. That was untill... well... the plagues."

"Plagues?" Twilight asked innocantly. Then she turned to Discord, who was looking away in shame, unable to look her or the princess in the eyes. However, he clarified.

"My plagues. I sent the pestilence all through Cervidas. I sent swarms of parasprites and locust to devour everything of green. I created a drought to empty the land of water. When I cast down hails of fiery shards of ice and diseased the alicorns with a deadly plague, the land was all but destroyed and devoid of life." He finally looked straight into Twilight Sparkle's eyes. "I was at my most powerful and most ruthless. Nothing could stop me, no one could stop me. I was indeed an almighty god.

"Then came Celestia and Luna." Discord's gaze shifted to the night princess, who's eyes glimmered with tears. Discord himself was on the verge of spilling a few as well. "I couldn't fight them. I knew that even though I had completely lost my mind, I could never harm my familly and love of my life. So, they... cast me into stone with the Elements. But even though I would spend a thousand years in solitude, I would know that my familly was safe from me."

By now, Screwball had stopped chewing and silently listened to the tale, as did the Bearers of Harmony and the teary crowd below. When Discord's eyes finally wetted with the salty liquid of sadness, the crowd quietly stomped. The applause gave Discord the slightest sliver of hope that Ponyville had accepted him, as did the smiles on the faces on the mane six and Luna.

"Oh Discord, I... I-I..." Luna sniffed, then ran to the draconaquus and hugged him, wrapping her dark hooves around his chest. "I love you, brother."

"Discord, If I had only known what you've been through..." Twilight wiped a tear from her eye, then trotted over and shared Luna's embrace with the hybrid.

"I suppose I shouldn't have been so rude to you either, dear." Rarity smiled, joining in on the rapidly-growing group sympathy hug.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. "I guess you aren't that bad. It's not like you wanted to end our friendship."

"I'm so sorry!" Pinkie Pie burst into immense tears, which flowed out like a waterfall, which confused a number of ponies, due to the non-realisticality of the crying. She also gripped Discord's body.

"Oh my gosh. You poor thing. I-I hope you can forgive me, Discord. I didn't mean to call you a big meany. I'm sorry." Fluttershy whimpered, softly hugging him.

Applejack, who stood a few feet away, was the only pony to not to crush the draconaquus in affection. "Ah don't know..." The members of the hug-fest all looked at her.

"AJ, cmon, give the guy a chance." Rainbow suggested.

"A chance?!" The farmer rose her voice, pointing an accusing hoof at the god, who looked extremely uncomfortable in the middle of the hug now that the sympathy had just about died with Applejack's reluctance. "He made me LIE, he made poor 'lil Fluttershy a huge JERK and Pinkie into a complete HORSEAPPLE, he possessed Rarity into loving a BOULDER," the fashion-loving unicorn frowned at the reminder. "AND, he turned you into a no good, unfaithful, disloyal little FOAL! Not to mention nearly ending our friendship and turnin' Equestria into a second Tartarus!" Applejack stomped her hoof. "He's lucky I'm not beatin' him into a PULP!"

Princess Luna sighed. "Dear Applejack, I know how you feel." The alicorn trotted to the fuming earth pony's side and put a foreleg around her, pulling her close. "But you mustn't keep yourself locked away in the sorrow of the past. You must understand that everypony has made mistakes and done things they regret..." She looked down, remembering how her jealousy had swallowed her whole and turned her into something she despised. "I would know, child."

Applejack reluctantly realised that the princess did know how this felt. Despite how much pain she had gone through, both self inflicted and through Discord, she still forgave the chimera. Through it all, they were still familly. The southern mare suddenly felt embarrassed for her inappropriate behavior. However, the flame of trust for the draconaquus was very weak, and she would not lie and say she was completely on his side. She sighed.

"Ah guess 'yer right, princess." Applejack gave Discord a watchful look of terror, sending chills down his spine. "But that doesn't mean Ah trust him... yet. Ah'm watchin' you, ya varmit."

Discord smiled. If he could get the stubborn mare to at least give him the oppertunity to earn her trust, then he knew he was in the clear. While the mane six shared the spirit's grin, Luna kept a serious expression. Though she also forgave him, she knew that the Bearers of Harmony wouldn't be enough to excuse him. He needed the ponies' approval. She turned to Discord.

"I forgive you, brother, and I know these six, very sweet ponies may as well, but unfortunately, this is not enough. The ponies of Equestria must also agree to your release." She said, addressing both the god and the crowd. To confirm, she turned to the crowd.

To Discord's suprise, everypony (including Cranky Doodle Donkey) within the barrier stomped, whistled, and shouted phrases of acceptance.

The feeling of all of these ponies welcoming him was quite foreign to Discord. He had once been a prince, yes, but he would always recieve odd looks and overhear insulting rumors. There was even a group of ponies that was dedicated to discriminating him in every way they could. He was never accepted as part of the Equestrian society, he was merely the princesses' adopted brother that happened to suckle on the tit of power and royalty. It had infuriated him, but the queen would always reassure him, telling him that 'they did not know better', that he was 'special' in some way. So, he suppressed all of his hate and anger.

Now... he felt like the ponies really liked him, as though he weren't some strange creature. Now they saw him as a misunderstood spirit that only seeked to be welcomed by the world and send joy into the bland lives of the equines that truly needed to be reminded of the happiness of life. He was not a monster any longer.

Discord reached up and took his teary-eyed daughter into his arms and addressed the crowd. "Thank you all. I swear on my oh so very long life that I doubt will end very soon that I will serve the ponies as well as I can!" Then, above the mass of ponies appeared the largest ursa pinata in Equestrian history. It popped open, sending all sorts of candy raining down; Kit-Klops, Horseshys' chocolate bars, even a type of new candy bar that very well please three specific fillies; Three Cutie Markskuteers. The less dignified ponies reached up and jumped around, laughing, trying to catch as many of the delights in their hooves as possible. Discord summoned a Reignses peanut butter cup in mid air and floated it in front of Screwball, who took it in her hooves with a giggle.

The barrier around the party area faded, and the ponies present continued to revell in the joy that was thick in the cool night air. They danced to the replaying music, munched on the treats, and over-all lived life to the fullest.

All was well and good in the orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. As Discord held his dear daughter, giving his most cheery laugh he'd ever sounded in eons, Luna smiled. This night would forever remind her just how powerful love and friendship could really be...

A/N- I dearly hope that this chapter makes up for lost time. Also, hopefully, SOMEPONY could identify that Nightmare, while I made him his own little character and personallity, derives from the G1 Pilot episode. As well as the Rainbows of Light and Darkness. If you have seen that episode, then you'd know who his 'servent', who is still quite alive, is. After all, those scaly little guys live for some time *wink*. Anywhoooo Thanks for the reviews. I sincerely Apologies in ADVANCE to anyone who was offended by the drug-usage scene. Know that I DEFINATELY did NOT intend to make anyone feel so. It was merely to raise the spirits of this very drab story (which I failed epically at doing). Thank you for telling me that you did not like the usage of substance, and I will NEVER make this mistake again. Thank you, and good day to you all!