A/N:

This Chapter was a collab with a friend on "Fur Affinity":

" TheGreatestWriterOnThePlanet "

( Their name is ironic, they don't actually think that. Just wanted to make that clear. )

In 1969, somewhere in the heart of San Francisco, a man named Hagbard Celine founded a pagan sect that worshiped Eris, the Greek god of discord. He did so by writing the principia discordia. His exploits went down in infamy in the Illuminatus trilogy, where he toured the universe in a golden submarine.

For what it's worth, this has absolutely nothing to do with this story, except that Hagbard Celine's golden submarine briefly appeared over the discombobulated landscape of Ponyville for a split second and then phased out of existence again.

Yes, the spirit of disharmony reigned supreme in Ponyville, for the short amount of time Discord was in power.

He had such fun taking apart the landscape and "refreshing it" in new and conflicting ways. The streets became ice and soap, chocolate milk rained from the sky, and the world became weird and fun. At least, fun to Discord.

Somewhere deep in his jellies, he knew that this wouldn't last. He knew deep down, that there was always a chance someone would reunite the elements of harmony, and give him the Han Solo treatment.

Discord needed some kind of backup plan, for if that ever happened. The literal gears, in his head, turned in question of the puzzle. He needed something that could act independently from himself, or maybe... somepony. Oh that would be perfect!

In modern times, it was frowned on for gods to create life from nothing, but as a creature of chaos, of change and creation, it was a specialty of Discord's.

After all, the primordial soup from which all life evolved, was rooted in the Chaos of chemicals randomly blending. And yet, here life stands, having sprung from the chaos billions of years ago. That's the power of chaos; it's that air of creativity from which beautiful things flow. All you need is that spark.

The last time he had created life, was when he created the Draconequus, but they wanted nothing to do with him now. Yet, maybe this time, things would go differently. Discord was definitely a fan of the "let's give it a try" concept and giggled with delight at the possibilities.

He snapped his fingers and a pedestal appeared in front of him, with a block of clay sitting on it, ready and waiting. He whacked the block with his paw and began to shape it as it spun.

It quickly took the image of a child, an Earth Pony filly no older than 6. A plain and ordinary looking girl, to blend into pony culture. Still it needed a bit of a kick, so he could recognize her as his. He drew spirals in its eyes instead of pupils. There much better! He doubted the ponies would notice that. After all, mortals could be such dull creatures.

He summoned a cotton candy cloud, and had it rain chocolate milk on the wet clay. He sucked in a breath and blew on the sculpture. A white gas seeping from his mouth and into the statue. A piece of his very soul, filling the clay.

The chocolate milk began to wash away the clay. Revealing something of flesh and blood. She had a coat of light purple fur, while her mane was a darker shade, with white spirals in the curls. He did love how wavy hair had the occasional random curl.

The world is a chaotic place of weirdness and amazement. The universe is naught but a dust of chemicals floating in an endless space. We are stardust; we are golden.

All of this flooded into the filly's mind for a split second, as life shot into every part of her body. The beauty of that big bang, and getting to watch it as it unfurled in the sky. The filly quietly opened her eyes and took her first breath. By Chaos, it's good to be alive!!!

The cloud above her shot lightning bolts. This was not Discord's handiwork though, and he grinned happily as the filly flexed her powers for the first time. Her clothes changed to a mad scientist outfit and she took the voice of Frankenstein. Screaming, "It's alive! It's alive!!!"

"Oh I'm going to like you," Discord chuckled.

"I should hope so, daddy." The filly grinned giving him an unexpected hug as her outfit vanished. Discord's eyes shot wide, not knowing what to do. The concept of fatherhood wasn't really crossing his mind when he created her. That random concept did seem charming for one reason or another. "Happy Birthday," she muttered to herself as she hugged him.

"Birthday..." Discord rolled the word over his tongue, literally chewing the letters a bit before swallowing them. "Right, birthday! You need a present!"

He pulled her off him, and held out his paw. In a flash of white light, appeared a little propeller hat. "Happy birthday, my little abomination!" There was surprisingly more affection then he intended.

"Wow, cool daddy! Can I fly with it!?"

"What kind of propeller can't fly?" Discord stated with a smile.

She put it on her head, and spun the blade. Strangely her butt rose into the air, allowing her to float. She giggled with delight at the oddity. "Thanks daddy!"

"Don't mention it sweetie. Now why don't you go, and enjoy the rest of your birthday. Go find some ponies to play with?"

"REALLY!? Thank you so much daddy!" She was so excited! Wanting to explore the world around her? Cool! So she spun her propeller and out the window she went.

Discord walked to the window, that was suddenly just floating outside with him (again not his doing) and watched her go.

Fatherhood. He rather liked that concept! It's a shame it wasn't going to last very long. He couldn't possibly guess what her behavior was going to be like. The concept of creating a backup plan, probably wasn't going to go how he intended it, but such is life!

Discord turned back to his work, fixing all the pesky order in Ponyville as his filly went to begin her life.

The filly flew through the sky with gleeful determination. Oops, have to watch out for that passing cumulo-cute-us cloud. It was raining adorable forest animals onto a bed of pillows. The disharmony in the landscape all around pleased her.

She flew until she spotted a group of foals. They were running around a baseball field, in the patches of chocolate rain, and splashing in the chocolate puddles.

The little girl giggled with delight, before disappearing in a flash of white light, and reappearing on the field. "Can I play?!" She demanded more then asked, as the ponies yelped in surprise.

"Er... Sure?" Replied a gray Unicorn filly. With the strangeness of today, a filly appearing out of nowhere was hardly the weirdest thing they saw. Even a filly with bizarro eyes. "We do have an odd number right now, and not nearly enough players for a full team, but do you know how?"

"I know lots of things!" The little abomination grinned. She really did! She didn't know how but she knew a lot. Reading, Writing, advanced calculus, how to write 'boobies' on a calculator, and especially games. She knew it all, or rather she knew everything her daddy wanted her to know. "Can I be the pitcher!?"

"But I'm the pitcher!" Whined a colt.

The grayish filly rolled her eyes. "You can be a pitcher for my team, but we're batting right now."

"Kay!" The bugaboo eagerly ran to the end of the batting line.

The game was a disaster, but the fun kind of disaster. She was really bad at this. Balancing on your hind legs, while swinging a bat, was really hard. Pitching was much more fun. As she was actually really good at that. The ball kept spiraling through the air, and dodging the bat. Her teammates all cheered, as the raining cotton candy clouds, shined over the field.

They didn't keep score. They just kept playing with the loosest of rules. Only switching positions when somepony declared they were bored.

The only thing they really insisted on, was that the gray filly hold the bat like everypony else, and not cheat with her Unicorn magic. The abomination took that to mean she shouldn't use her magic either, although none of the kids told her that directly.

For some reason, the filly decided that this would be okay. Discord hadn't put much of a moral compass in her, but for some reason she wanted to play fair.

"Look!" One of the fillies cried with excitement, as she pointed at the abomination's flank. "You got your cutie mark!"

"I did?" She looked down, to see the tattoo like image on her butt. It was a baseball and a screw. "Ball screw?" She blinked at the mark. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Not ball screw," One of the Colts snickered. "Screwball, you know like that crazy pitch of yours! You're supposed to be a professional pitcher! That's so cool!"

The other pitcher pouted. "That's not fair! I've been pitching all day too! Where's my mark!?"

"Now don't spoil this for her." The gray Unicorn glared. "We need to celebrate!" She hopped up and down. "Hey Rocket!" She looked over at a Pegasus colt. "Those clouds are made of Cotton candy, right? Go get us one! We'll have our own private party!"

The kids cheered, and began snacking on their lunch of chocolate milk and cotton candy. They laughed and celebrated, until they were exhausted. Nursing their bellies on the wet grass.

For a moment, Tay Zonday's chocolate rain played in the background, faded out, and was replaced by a rain of flower petals. The group had so much fun that day, but it was far from over.

"Hey!" One of the Colts stood up after the sugar high kicked in. "Let's play freeze tag!"

"Cool!" The filly snapped up. Finally, a game with magic! That's how it's played after all, right? "I'll be it!" She hopped on the spot with an eager grin. She reached out and touched the colt, playing by the rules her dad gave her.

The colt cried out as his body was coated in warm ice. He became frozen like a statue, as his eyes darted about behind the ice. He was breathing normally, but completely frightened regardless. As he didn't understand what was going on. No more than she did anyway.

The little abomination grinned excitedly, not understanding the implications of what she had just done. She just looked at her new friends, eager to start the game. "This is the part where you run!"

She played exactly as her daddy taught her. She didn't understand these weren't the proper rules to freeze tag. She thought they were having fun too. They were running around, screaming their heads off. It looked like lots of fun! The filly couldn't wait until it was her turn to run away, but for some reason one of the kids called a timeout. Oops, that's definitely something she had to stop for.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Unfreeze my friends!"

"That's not how you play!!!"

Another foal bounced up. "Go away! You're insane!"

The young demigod held back a whimper. That hurt! They wouldn't let her play with them anymore. She didn't understand what she had done wrong. They must be sore losers! "Fine! Be that way!" So she unfroze the other kids, and floated off to find other things to do.

Maybe grown ups would be more fun to play with. She floated to the edge of Discord's influence. Finding three rugged adventurers, on their way to help Ponyville.

There was Grimley, the earth pony fighter; the Stallion who had fended off a pack of Timber Wolves. There was Errorgorn, the pegasus knight; the Stallion who had united the jackalopes. Finally, there was Randolf, the unicorn wizard; the Stallion who had faced demons and lived to tell the tale.

Those folks looked like they'd be fun to play with, or so thought the filly. Maybe they'd like to see some of her daddy's pets, from the Ever Free Forest! So in a white flash, she summoned a Kitty Scorpion. All deadly on one end and cute and adorable on the other. Not surprisingly, the adventurers immediately took it to be hostile.

"Celestia! A Manticore!" Cried Errorgorn. "Randolf! Help! It's coming at us!"

"It just wants to be your friend!" Mused the filly, floating nearby.

The Kitty roared and slashed at the ponies, with his scorpion tail, eager to play. However the ponies slashed at it with swords. The Demigod gasped, as they drew blood from the poor kitty.

Randolf summoned a giant cage, which fell around the kitty scorpion. The magic of the cage, put it to an eternal sleep. Ready to be shipped off to Tartarus. "Take that, foul beast!"

The filly was livid. "He just wanted love!"

Grimley barked at the filly. "We'll be coming for ye next if you keep up your dark magic!"

"Dark magic?"

Randolf stepped forward. "Begone, demon! You vex reality with your existence!"

The filly didn't understand the words. But she got the Stallion didn't want her around. Like the foals had scorned her.

"You're mean, I hate you!" She childishly screamed, before disappearing in a flash

She reappeared miles away, under an apple tree. No pony was getting hurt, but they were acting like they were in fear for their lives. They were afraid of her! Some even tried to hurt her. What's wrong with them!? She was just playing! It perplexed her why the other ponies were so mean. Why did they have to hate her?

Suddenly the beauty of the world disappeared, for something more orderly, and less colorful. A part of her just knew, felt it deep inside her bones, something was wrong with daddy.

She felt something pull her, telling her where to go. She vanished in a white flash, following the call.

She found herself in Canterlot, in a garden late at night. Staring at a statue, with the screaming face of her father. It looked like he was trying to shield himself.

"D-Daddy," She tried to reach the statue's foot, but it was too high up. "Daddy please!!" She begged him to answer. She spun her propeller, and floated up to his face. "Wake up Daddy! Please wake up! I don't like this game!" She touched his stone face, but nothing happened.

"What am I supposed to do?" She landed on his shoulder, and hugged his neck. "This has been a horrible birthday... All the ponies were mean to me. I just wanted to play... Daddy?... I don't think you made me right." She clung to the statue as tightly as she could.

"Halt!" Somepony yelled as they ran over. It was a Stallion dressed in golden armor. He blinked, when he realized what was on the statue, wasn't one of Discord's hell monsters, but a child. He couldn't see her well in the dark, "Get down from there foal!" He urged. "If you accidentally break the statue, you'll release him all over again!"

"I will!?" She gaped. "Thanks for telling me!" She pulled her body in the opposite direction. Clinging to the stone, she pulled with all her might, but her tiny body couldn't get the statue to budge.

"What are you doing!?" The guard yelled, "Are you insane!?" He ran over to her to get her off, but she raised her hoof. The guard was lifted into the air, by an invisible force.

He gave a yelp of shock, before pulling out a whistle, and giving it a harsh blow. More guards quickly poured out from the castle.

"Not so fast!" She warped the plants around them, and grabbed at them with the roots. Before she began frantically punching the statue with her hoof.

"Kill it!" Somepony screamed. "It's one of Discord's monsters! Just look at it's eyes!"

"You won't stop me!" The little filly jerked her hoof. The magical static cling within it clashed together, causing a 'SNAP' sound. Suddenly many of the guards found themselves encased in living ice.

A hand formed from the tip of her tail hairs. It snapped and the guards behind her became ice as well.

"Just have to break this rock!" The filly stared up at the stone. Then raised her front hooves to the sky. Calling all the magic in her body, she gathered the clouds. She wasn't particularly good at weather manipulation, as that was some advanced magic, for non-pegasi. However, she believed that if she created a powerful enough lightning bolt, she could destroy the statue.

The guards started panicking at seeing an Earth pony use pegasus magic. "A demon! She's a demon!" The guards readied their bows.

The little abomination glared at the guards, as the arrows glinted in the moonlight. "I just wanted to play. I just want my daddy." She jerked her hooves. "I'll show all of you!"

"Enough!" A mighty voice echoed across the garden. A white Alicorn appeared in between the abomination and the guards.

The filly gasped as a yellow beam hit her storm, instantly dispelling it. The filly went limp, as she didn't have it in her to summon another. It had taken everything she had. She began to fall from the sky, but was encased in yellow energy. However, unlike the ponies it felt... warm... kind... the energy gently laid her on the ground before dissipating.

She weakly looked over, to see a giant horse. Definitely not a pony... her soul felt... big... The majestic white horse was beyond beautiful, and while she looked like a pony... she felt... different... her aura wasn't pony like at all. The Filly didn't know what it was supposed to be.

This was the first creature, besides her daddy, that had ever been nice to her. Even if she wanted her daddy back, some part of her really wanted to hear what this powerful mare had to say.

"That's enough." The tall mare scolded her guards. "What is wrong with you!" She demanded, "This is a child!"

"She's one of Discord's monsters," One of the guards insisted, "She was trying to release Discord."

"Even if she was trying to release all the monsters in TARTARUS, how dare you ATTACK a child with spears and arrows. Regardless of her power, she is clearly attempting to show you mercy." Her horn glowed yellow again, and all the guards were released from their frozen prisons. Revealing all were completely fine.

The guards looked around, many becoming shame faced, when they realized what their princess said was true. Their friends were merely put in some kind of stasis spell, not dead as they feared.

The Alicorn gave one last glare at her guards, before turning kinder eyes on the child. "Are you alright?" The filly backed away from her, panting heavily from the exhaustion of summoning such a mighty storm. "I won't hurt you," the Alicorn promised.

"Liar!!!" The filly accused. "You turned my daddy into a statue!"

"Your daddy?" the Alicorn puzzled, sparing a glance at Discord, "I see..." looking back to her. "You're a Demigod." She took a single step forward, and the filly tried to scamper away. The girl ended up falling down, and couldn't stand back up.

"Easy," the Alicorn picked her up, with her front leg. "You're suffering from magical exhaustion. It fatigues the body," she explained.

"I know what it does!" The filly snapped but was too weak to struggle.

"My name is Celestia," Said the Alicorn. "What's yours?"

"I..." The filly looked annoyed, before the realization hit her. "I... I don't have a name..." Her ears drooped sadly. "Daddy forgot to give me one."

Celestia turned a glare at Discord's Statue. "I see." She turned a far more compassionate eye back to the filly. "Well let's fix that, shall we? You have a very distinctive Cutie Mark, for such a young filly. Did your daddy give you that?"

"No..." The filly reluctantly admitted. "I earned it playing baseball. I was a pitcher,"

"So young to earn your cutie mark! You must be an extra special filly." Celestia smiled. "How about 'Screwball' for a name?"

The filly looked down and shrugged. "I guess..." Some part of her didn't like the name, because it reminded her of the foals that had chased her off. Still she didn't have it in her to complain, as she was lost in her thoughts. Why hadn't her daddy given her a name?

"Well come on Screwball." Celestia smiled, "It's late and your obviously tired."

I'll put you to bed in Spike's old nursery. He's my adoptive son, I share joint custody with the Sparkle Family. So he went off to live with his big sister, from that clan, in Ponyville." Celestia spoke soothingly, of such personal things... it couldn't help but put Screwball at ease.

"I'm sure he'll visit soon. Then You can meet him. Until then, I would like it if you stayed with me, for as long as you need."

"What about Daddy?" Screwball whined, "Are you going to leave him like that?"

Celestia looked back at the statue. "I'll see what I can do. Your father was very hard on the ponies, living in Ponyville. What he did was a very bad thing, and we are afraid he'll do it again, if he comes out of the statue."

"But…"

"But." Celestia smiled. "There may just be hope for him someday. We'll see what happens, okay?"

Screwball sighed and nodded. "Okay." She was willing to be patient. Maybe Celestia would be good to her after all. They made their way into the castle, for Screwball to begin her new life

Screwball's time at the castle was very boring. The world around them, was so ordered and carefully maintained. Celestia, nor the guards, didn't seem to like when Screwball would change things, making the whole experience that much less pleasant. The bottom line was that she was an outsider, with powers that made everyone mad. Just like her dear old dad.

Screwball found herself at her daddy's statue, multiple times a day. Even if he was just a statue, he was literally the only one that understood...

She'd sit by her father's stone feet, and tell him about her day. Much to the disapproval of the glaring guards, in the garden. When she'd come, she always seemed to be bored and unhappy.

What she didn't know was that Discord was still in there, listening to every word. In the early days, he was simply reminded of how his little abomination had failed to be an appropriate backup plan.

Some part of him was touched at how she would come every day, without fail. Looking up at that statue as a father. Some part of him was almost guilty for having mistreated her. Almost.

In another part of him, he was reminded of how he'd been as a child. She'd come and say things like "I don't think you made me right," and "I wish I wasn't so different"... disgraceful wishes for conformity... that every lonely or awkward child has begged the universe for... Wishes even Discord has made, in his youth... it was all happening again... he'd doomed another creature, to live his life.

The realization cut Discord deeper then he expected... A horrible tragedy, that hit far too close to home... he was no better then Starswirl. As the months passed, watching the filly suffer within her gilded cage... that feeling only deepened.

He was genuinely considering giving "Reforming" a shot... if only for the sake of his daughter... daughter? When did he sincerely start thinking of her as his child?

As with every day, Screwball found herself in front of her father's statue. The only difference was now it was raining. The guards scowled, seeing their plan to keep the filly monster away didn't work... and so Celestia was likely going to chew them out, for making the filly sit in the rain.

"Hello Daddy." She muttered, looking rather pathetic, as her coat got soaking wet. "I didn't have a very good day today." She sat down in front of the statue unhappily. "I turned all the apples in the castle into confetti and the cook looked like he nearly wanted to kill me." She stared down in a guilty fashion. "Not that I could help it. They looked festive."

Discord wanted to respond. "Oh how awful. I'm sure they would have made good party decorations." He couldn't though. He couldn't console this poor miserable creature. It almost made him feel pity.

"Celestia might be better then the ponies, but she really doesn't like when I do that. She just shuffles me from one room to another." She sighed. "There are spells everywhere, in the castle, that clean up anything I do."

Discord wanted to get angry. He'd been in that position once. He'd been cast out, spit on, made miserable, chained. How dare they tell a god what to do. He wasn't born to be controlled. To him, neither was Screwball.

Then the girl admitted, "Most of it is an accident... weird stuff just... happens... around me... then I get yelled at for it... I don't mean to be strange, but the ponies don't care...

"Celestia is more understanding... but I learned today... she's not really a pony at all... apparently she is a living planet. She just likes using a pony Avatar, to interact with them... I don't get why, ponies are so mean, but she likes them, and insist I 'play nice'. But I don't know how... some of the staff has children of their own... but Celestia keeps me away from them cuz ponies are 'fragile'... I heard the staff talking about how they asked Celestia to keep me away from their foals... Well I didn't want to play with them anyway... I don't need them... I don't..."

The rain kept falling. The girl kept crying. Nothing ended up being at all how it was supposed to be. Some part of Discord wondered if that was just the fate of chaos.

Screwball found herself stuck at the castle, more often than not. Celestia, while helpful and nice, was at a loss for how to teach Screwball to control her powers. It wasn't like she could keep her in a gilded cage forever.

The world was more complicated and planet Equus was changing. Things were moving in a direction Celestia could predict, but could not control.

Screwball seemed like she could help with that, if only she could control her powers better. Like her father could.

So one day, Celestia told Screwball she had a surprise for her.

"A surprise?"

"Yes. I think you'll like it."

They came to a big white door. Celestia waved a hoof towards it. "Go on inside."

Screwball raised her hoof, but instead of touching the door, she limply snapped her wrist. Again the magic, in the hoof clashed, and made a sound like snapping fingers.

The door burst into a cloud of butterflies. Which then immediately opened, much like a door normally would.

Screwball lowered her head in shame... she had just been trying to open the door... not turn it into anything. She spared a guilty glance at Celestia, who thankfully was still smiling at her, understanding it was an accident. She was much more patient then the rest of the castle.

Inside the room, was the main Green House. Plants, and berries, and flowers, all growing within the room.

However, something so Mundane clearly wasn't the surprise... for standing there, once again flesh and blood, was Discord. He was no longer a statue, but the real him. The god of Draconequus brightened, shining so bright, he wilted the closest plants. But Screwball didn't care, she just ran into her father's awaiting embrace.

"Daddy!!!" Screwball wept, "You're back! You're alive!!!"

"Yes... and I must thank you for visiting me. I enjoyed our talks, but I think we'll both like them better, now that I can answer them back."

Screwball looked up, at her no longer glowing father. At his sad smile... no longer the frozen scream.

"You heard me?" Screwball felt such happy tears slide down her face. Her tears literally cheering as they flowed.

"Every word," Discord promised.

However, Screwball needed to ask an unpleasant question. Something she wanted to know since Celestia named her. Something she needed to know, and couldn't wait a second longer for an answer.

The Demigod asked, "Why didn't you give me a name?" and saw Celestia flinch, out of the corner of her eye.

Discord sighed. He knew this would come back to bite him, but he couldn't tell the little filly, that he created her as a simple tool... especially since he really had come to think of her as a daughter.

"Celestia tells me your Screwball now." He pet her mane gently. "A worthy name... I let these ponies chain me, with their reforming programs, so that I could be reunited with you... don't doubt that I love you... I'm just a tad absent minded."

Even as Discord spoke the words, he knew he was lying... He did love the filly NOW. Allowed Fluttershy to reform him, so that he could be with his daughter again... but his feelings were newly founded... he hadn't always loved this filly... hadn't made her out of love... but refused to ever let her know that.

Although originally he planned to con Fluttershy... she had a way about her... she asked Discord questions about things no pony ever bothered with, and actually enjoyed the display of his power... while teaching him that, although it was fun to do what he wanted, you can't have things your way all the time, if you have friends... yet somehow... the trade off was worth it.

He could confide in Fluttershy, and she actually listened, and offered support. Especially where Screwball was concerned. Discord was able to work out the strange feelings he had for Screwball, and realized he actually wanted to be her daddy.

Discord flashed his little abomination a smile, "I plan to be around for good." unlike other gods, that largely just ignored their children, until they had need of them. It seemed only natural Discord would break away from that, and actually take a more active role with his child. He wasn't one for rules, even the unwritten ones of his fellow gods.

"But why didn't you make me right, when you started on me?" She whined. "Why wasn't I given a name?" She had tears in her eyes. "Why do I have to be so different?"

"Screwball." The draconequus had a hand appear out of a void, below the filly, to gently pull her face back up to lock eyes with him. "Your perfect in your oddness. I'm going to try and show you that." Discord smiled. "I have learned… A bit." He muttered, "Enough to know how not to get turned to stone again." He winked at Celestia.

Some part of Screwball felt that was an acceptable answer... even if it answered nothing. She always knew that her daddy was the only one... the only one that could understand what it was like. Maybe he was right? "Good!" Screwball hugged him tighter, and the plants in the room burst into flowers.

"Wow!" Discord laughed. "You've learned a lot since I was gone!"

"I sure did!" She laughed with confidence she didn't feel... she hadn't meant to do that. However she did want to show off for her daddy. She stepped back, breaking the hug, and waved a hoof over her face. Her skull jumbled up like a Mrs. Potato head. "Look, I'm Picaso!"

Discord snapped his fingers and all of his body parts jumbled up too. "I was a fan of your cubist period."

Celestia cleared her throat. "Now." She walked up to them. "You're reunited. Maybe you can do something for me?"

Discord turned his neo-cubist body to regard Celestia. "That's right. Screwball will come to live with me, and get a good idea of how to use chaos magic." He muttered. "For good, obviously."

Celestia nodded. "You're released then. You may go as you wish."

Discord grinned. "Excellent!" Discord and Screwball were slowly morphing into lava lamps as they talked. "Would you like to come see your new home then?"

"Would I!" The filly hopped about as ooey gooey wax lava, and the plants and various flowers danced with her. What a mess, yet it was all intentional this time... she just wanted to show her daddy how powerful she was.

Discord snapped his fingers, and they both disappeared in a flash. Celestia rolled her eyes at the mess in the Green House. "Discord," She patiently called. A hand appeared out of a void, snapped the Green House back into an ordered state, gave a thumbs up, then disappeared.

So, in the end, Celestia kept her word. She freed Screwball's daddy, but it took her several months before she tried. Even then, it was on the condition that Discord change his ways, and bend to mortal law. Ponies were so arrogant, they thought even gods should obey their social norms.

Screwball found herself in the chaos dimension, living with her daddy. She had a room that floated about the dimension, but which always seemed to connect back to Discord's house somehow. It would morph and change in creative ways; that was her daddy's gift to her. She was finally comfortable in her own space.

As time went on, she learned more about her powers and the nature of chaos.

She met the other draconequus, as well. They were an entire race of mischievous and reality warping misfits. Still their abilities to bend reality were only on par with a Unicorn, who had gotten a cutie mark in magic.

Draconequus were a race of "Spirits", so could survive without a physical body. However, they may be immortal creatures, but they were still... lesser, then Discord. Only being as powerful as a Unicorn, with a cutie mark in magic.

Draconequus don't even age like mortals. As the more powerful they become, the more mature they grow, until they reach their Prime, at which point they start getting longer, instead of older. They slowly take on the appearance of an Eastern Dragon, but maintain their unique mismatch of limbs.

Draconequus, being spirits, reproduce by blending their magic together. Sacrificing a small portion of their power, to create the child. However, unlike Discord, they needed multiple partners, in order to shape an egg. Which, once the egg was formed, it took several months for the soul to develop a physical form.

Once the egg hatched, the Draconequus parents would then take turns, feeding the child more of their magic, so it would slowly grow.

The reason they needed to do this, was because they used their excess magic to make the child. Created by their magical pathways, the excess magic is what is usually used to cast spells. It exhaust the caster to use it, but doesn't permanently effect their magical limits.

Draconequus liked to pour their excess magic into a bottle, because they thought it was funny, and eventually it just became a cultural norm.

Screwball would often see some of the parents feeding their infants, out of bottles. Giving them a mix of chocolate milk, and magic.

She aged like Draconequus did, by increasing her magical power, but like them, it was a slow process. In the decades that passed, she only aged a few short years. Which was typical for Draconequus children, no longer nursing.

However, where most Draconequus are born as... well new borns. She was conceived with the body of a 6 year old mortal. So a 6000 power level. That's just how Draconequus age... her body wouldn't start getting longer, until she reached a power level of 25,000. Where most creatures would start deteriorating, once their body reached it's physical Prime. Draconequus just got longer, instead of older.

Draconequus were usually spell casters, though often studied archery as well. Their limited power might be exceptional by mortal standards but they were physically very weak. They preferred to fight from a distance, casting spells or shooting arrows when their magic reserves ran low.

They were fragile things and just as fearful as mortals. Daddy, Screwball learned, was not kind to them, when he first created them. He tormented them as he did countless other races. He was their god and they were terrified of him. So they were terrified of her. Certainly, it helped that her daddy had reformed, but it didn't appear to have much of an effect on how the Draconequus viewed their god.

As such, Daddy was always trying to get her to follow him, on his visits to the mortal plane. He wanted her to make friends, but she knew exactly what ponies were like. Even Celestia had kept her sealed in the castle, hidden away from the world. Screwball saw the true face of pony kind, and couldn't understand how her daddy could love them. They were bigger monsters then monsters, and she always felt like an outsider.

Hiding from ponies, in her daddy's chaos dimension, meant she never did get to meet Spike. While she did meet him the one time, during a ceremony after his molt. Screwball was all proud of herself, for leaving the safety of the Chaos realm, to see Spike on such an important day... but she had been terrified, the entire time. Just waiting for the ponies to turn her to stone.

But long before that, Celestia was kind enough to give her an enchanted book. Whatever she wrote, appeared in it's sister journal. She used it to talk with the young dragon. They became pen pals, dimensions apart, but still friends. Her only friend. In a way it mirrored Discord's friendship with Fluttershy.

Time passed. Equestria, and the Flat Island World of Equus, marched forward into the future. Even gods face that march of the universe. So Screwball had no hope of avoiding it.