Chapter 15

"Curses Sunbutt. Making things less fun as usual…" the figure from behind said.

Luna couldn't see the owner of the voice, but it sounded exactly like her. Whoever it was was talking through her mind, even though she was in a statue. From the looks of it Celestia had heard it as well. Celestia was tricked, and Luna couldn't do anything for it.

"Though I guess it shouldn't matter to me, we're both trying to do the same thing" the voice said.

Luna hated this. It was like being on the moon again. Except while she was on the moon it had a sense of belong to it, even though it was banishment. Like being banished to your house. Here she was literally a prisoner and stone. Is this was Discord felt? No wonder he didn't trust her.

"Sorry for this Princess" the voice said, adding emphasize to 'princess', "but I need to approach this my way. Without anypony to hold me back."

Luna wanted to retort. She wanted to warn her sister. She wanted out of the spell. She tried her best to shout for help. But nobody came.

"But don't worry. I'll fix my dad."

The word 'dad' echoed in Luna's mind. Right as she pieced it together the perpetrator walked into view.

"Good thing Dad forgot I had chaos magic also. If he wasn't so weak I wouldn't have been able to break out so quickly. Being a statue is horrible huh?" Screwball teased. She held up a hoof to her ear as if to try and listen. Luna was furious. She would've yelled traitor if she could.

"Well. I'll see you later. Hopefully when you get out, this'll all be over." Screwball said sincerely as she turned away from Luna and walked towards Ponyville.

"Pinkie! Any sign of them!?" Twilight called up. Pinkie, being held up by a horde of balloons (that Twilight wouldn't question where Pinkie had them), continued her scan from above.

"No sign of them captain!" Pinkie replied. Twilight hoped her 'Pinkie Senses' would help her see through the trees from above. It was a weird idea sure, but Pinkie has done weirder.

"Rarity. How is Rainbow doing?" Twilight asked.

"She's fine. I'm not so sure she'll wake up anytime soon." Rarity replied, shaking the unconscious Rainbow Dash on her back to test if she was awake.

Twilight groaned then sighed. Why did Discord always manage to get the upper hand on them? In fact it seemed like last time they only won because he underestimated them. Clearly he had planned everything out this time. He was outplanning Twilight. She hated that.

"You don't think Discord will hurt her right?" Applejack asked, adjusting her hat.

"I'm not sure Applejack. He's never directly hurt us before. I know little to nothing on his chaos magic and he knows a lot about us. He may even make her his hostage!" Twilight thought out loud worryingly.

"What should we do?" Rarity asked.

"…Before we do anything, we'll need a plan. What we do know is that Discord is cunning and powerful. From what I've seen, he always has a plan and knows exactly what to do" Twilight claimed.

"UGH! I DON'T WHAT TO DO!" Disk thought as he held the sobbing pony on his shoulders. He still didn't understand why she was crying nor where she got the idea that his screw-ups was her fault.

Good thing this was Fluttershy. Just like most of the others things she did, her sobs were quiet and barely audible. Though was that good? Regardless, Disk knew he had to do something to cheer the pony up.

What did ponies like again? Hay and friendship? Disk felt he was stereotyping but, although he had a general idea of what ponies liked, he felt like he would just mess it up or was horribly wrong. Where the heck would he get hay from anyway? If it's friendship she wants then maybe he should just return her to her friends.

Actually that wasn't such a bad idea. Sure they may imprison him but at this point he was ready to give up if it meant finally ending all this. He was tired. Maybe this time when they stone him they'll actually make sure birds don't get on the statue this time. He shuddered at the memory though.

There was one universal like that Disk knew of though. Talking. Every being liked talking to an extent, though some like more doses of it than others. Creatures that can't communicate with each other are either barbaric or doomed to die off. Ponies seemed talkative though. What else did he have to lose?

"Uh… Are you ok?" Disk tried. The response he got was a small whimper. Looks like he'd be leading the conversation for a while. Though what can he talk about?

"Have I told you about…" Disk began and was going to say 'chaos' but he knew she wouldn't understand most of it. Nopony understood chaos like him. Well nopony except…

"…Screwball?" Disk continued. Come to think of it he didn't know much about her. He assumed the memories of her went to Cord. What could he tell her?

"She said she's… my daughter." Disk said. Fluttershy's whimpering stopped at this. It must be working.

"It's weird. When she told me that at the time I didn't have any memory of her. Yet if she was my daughter then I should know everything about her right?" Disk asked. Of course he didn't expect a response to he continued.

"Though. I don't think she's lying. She remind me of myself if I was… well a pony. She is what I wanted to be. She acts like me yet nopony statues her." Disk said. He thought he heard Fluttershy quietly say his name, well his old name (Discord), but he continued.

"It's odd. I don't think I know a lot about her, heck I didn't even recognize her at the start, but I have some unclear memories of her. She wants my life and I want her life. Maybe she can live a normal life. Though that isn't what she wants." Disk idly continued.

Fluttershy pushed herself away from Disk but he didn't notice.

"I think I remember something. It was long ago…

I was doing my usual 'reign of chaos' that I needed to do. I was making it rain cats and dogs, literally, and everyone was running around freaking out. Everything was normal, I was enjoying myself, some guards tried to scare me away, but then I noticed something odd. There was a filly just silently staring at the sky, watching the animals slowly glide down.

Well Ms. Swirly Eyes, I've been expecting you I told her. She reacted the exact way everypony reacted. Shrieking and falling flat on her back.

What? You've never seen a draconequus? That's insulting. I taunted. She eyes me with a look of interest in her eyes. After a few seconds of silence I got bored and turned to find another pony to freak out.

After a while, I noticed she was watching me. I assumed she was one of Celestia's students and did the only logical thing. I trapped her in a cotton candy cage and left.

She followed me. That meant she managed to eat her way out of the cage and somehow find me. I was impressed, but I never told her that.

I messed with ponies, like turning their hair into jelly, and she would always snicker from behind some bushes or a tree. I would fall asleep and in the morning she'd be sleeping nearby. I would make it rain chocolate milk and she would taste it when I'm not looking. She was always there and always interested.

One day, I got sick of it. I teleported behind the tree she was spying on me from and grabbed her. Of course she yelped and I lifted her up with a fierce expression.

What do you want I yell at her. She has a look of fear in her eyes but then sighs and puts her hoofs together and asks me something nopony has ever asked me before.

Can I go with you?

Of course I responded by shrinking her and, after saying 'make like a tree and leaf', putting her on the tree. I thought I've seen the end of her after I floated away on my cloud but she somehow managed to get on my cloud before I zoomed away. I still don't understand how she did that. Of course I only noticed she was there AFTER my spell wore off.

Either she really hated her old life or she was the most tolerant pony in existence. No matter what I did, no matter how many times I left her in the dust, she would always come back and ask the same thing.

Can I go with you?

It became a game for me. I would find myself waiting for her to return just so I could try out my new method of ditching her. It was kind of cruel but I never hurt her. Hurting ponies is against my code.

Anyways, after a few months, I finally get tired of the game.

Why do you even ask me if you're going to follow me anyways? I asked her. I was genuinely annoyed by her at this point. Her response took me by surprise.

You never said no.

I had no clever retort for that. I was dumbfounded. I could've told her to leave me alone but I didn't. Instead I just angrily sighed and slowly began to fly towards my next city target. She followed closely behind without a word.

Now she wouldn't hide behind bushes, she was just sitting near me and watching. When I laid on a tree to sleep, she would lie down next to it. Eventually she even began sitting in the cotton candy cloud I sometimes rode when I was too lazy to fly.

Then she began asking me questions. She began with asking who I was, even though I was certain she already knew since I was making pony headlines. She asked more and more questions and I would idly answer them. Heh. Twilight would probably be jealous of how much Screwball knows on my species and magic. It was never special. It was more of an interview for me.

But then we went to horseshoe city.

I guess one of the guards there assumed she was a minion of mine, after all she was always near me, and snuck up on us and captured her. I heard her squeal and shout for my help. Discord help me she yelled. Please help followed by they got me and I pretended not to hear. She was finally out of my hair. But then I heard her yell one more thing.

Daddy! Help me please!

I guess that got to me. I turn around, the guard looking just as confused as I am, then after a few seconds of silence I sigh and snap my fingers. I made Screwball grow 4 times her size, effectively scaring off the guard, then I shrunk her back to normal. Then I went back to my chaos.

She didn't say anything on our ride back to my sort-of tree base. I guess she was embarrassed.

Look kid. I can't babysit you. I got a job to do. I tell her. She looks very frightened like I was about to drop her off in the everfree forest. But before she could say anything, I continued with so I'm going to show you some basic chaos magic so you can defend yourself.

If you thought Pinkie Pie was hyper, you haven't seen Screwball. Heh I still chuckle at the thought of how high she jumped. Though I of course found it annoying.

So I postponed my chaos reign for a while to show her my magic. She surprisingly learned quickly, but I never showed her the advanced magic. I guess she self-taught herself after I was captured. Anyways after a few lessons I finally decide she's ready and assign her a task.

If she can pull off a good chaos raid on any pony village, I would show her how to summon cotton candy clouds. I knew it was her favorite and so she gladly accepted. Though right before we could go to any village, we ran into the good old' princesses of Equestria.

They thought I hypnotized Screwball, because she had swirly eyes that I never questioned her on, and they used the elements of harmony to statue me. After that they dragged Screwball away from my statue. I guess they took her back to her real parents.

…After a few days of being statued, she somehow sneaks past the guards to visit me. The training must've done wonders for her to be able to do that. I guess she thought I was dead because she looked like she had been crying. Then she silently levitates up to eye level, places a hoof on my frozen statue face, and mutters two words.

Thank you.

Then she teleports away. I don't think I taught her that. It was unicorn magic.

I still don't understand her well. I don't know much on her past because I never cared enough to ask her. I will admit that I enjoyed being a teacher for a while but, at least at the time, it was only in the hopes that she'll leave me alone. Yet she thought of me as her father.

…Looking back. I wish I was nicer to her…"

After a few seconds of silence, Fluttershy finally spoke up.

"Is that the end?" Fluttershy asked. Disk shook a bit and looked at Fluttershy, face full of embarrassment. He forgot he had an audience.

"Oh! Uh… No. I guess she figured out how to make cotton candy herself. After I got free and she found me, she was on a cotton candy cloud and slightly older than I remember. I guess learning the advance chaos magic has a few… never-aging side effects." Disk wondered. He always assumed his immortality was a trait of a draconequus.

"So… You were both alone for a hundred years?" Fluttershy asked. Disk shrugged.

"I guess, but I'm used to it already so it's fine." Disk responded.

"No! It's not fine!" Fluttershy (quietly) shouted, taking Disk by surprise. "It's horrible that you've never had a friend before Discord. This is why I want to help you!" Disk rolled his eyes and put Fluttershy down.

"Yeah sure." Disk sighed as he sat himself down.

"I'm serious" Fluttershy tried. Disk forcefully chuckled.

"Sure. Let me just ignore the fact that Celestia literally forced you to befriend me." Disk harshly said. Fluttershy looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"It might've started like that, but now I genuinely want to be you friend. I… know what it's like to be lonely Discord." Fluttershy tried, taking a seat next to him.

"For a thousand years?" Disk asked.

"A thousand years? That's awful!" Fluttershy (somewhat) yelled. Disk shrugged.

"It took a few hundred years for Celestia and Luna to finally give up and statue me." Disk responded.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well I met them when they were fillies" Disk responded.

"Huh? How old are you? Um… if you don't mind me asking." Fluttershy asked.

"Much older than any pony" Disk responded. Fluttershy looked down.

"And you've never had a friend before?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nope" Disk said.

"You know… I never had a friend until I met Rainbow Dash. We have a lot in common." Fluttershy tried.

"I guess we do" Disk shrugged. Fluttershy looked down uncomfortably.

"Um… can I ask you something?" Fluttershy asked.

"Go ahead" Disk responded, not seeing the harm.

"Um… Can I stay with you?"

So finally Summer Break has begun for me. I hope to find more time and interest to continue the stories I've started. My inspiration looks like it is returning! :D

This might be considered filler but I thought it'd be nice to explain Screwballs' presence in the story as well as some development on Disk's personality. Maybe there's hope for him yet? Probably not! xD

(Last note: I put two references in the story. See if you can find them! [One of them is probably really obvious.])

Well thanks for reading my story. I hope you have a good summer and enjoy the rest of your day/night.