I sat patiently in my awkwardly-positioned throne.  I promised three days to everypony, and that’s how long they would have.  After three days, if I were still in power, my chaos would rain upon the citizens of Equestria with a terrifying force of excitement and confusion.  I allowed the five ponies to go about their business as if I were simply a guest visiting the town.  The princesses went off to some far wing of the castle and were very probably contemplating an attack strategy.  Armor and his alicorn lover went about their daily business, not bothering to try and settle things between the princesses.  But the other stallion, the one that had confronted me earlier that day, stayed and kept his watchful eye on me.

I tried to inform him that his watch was not needed, and that by the end of the day everypony would see how invincible I truly was.  He refused to listen to me, and continued sitting by the door of the throne room for the few hours he needed to.  I was surprised by how quickly the bothersome ponies actually arrived in town.  It felt like mere moments ago I was reading Twilight’s letter to Celestia.  But before I ever realized it, the guards were scattering about the castle, trumpets blaring, and the four ponies of higher-esteem were once again by my side.  The sun had barely started to set when a chariot rolled up to the front gates of the castle and let the six ponies and baby dragon out.

The signs I had posted before for the angry mob were taken down, and every sign of commotion was erased with a snap of my fingers.  I didn’t want the ponies to expect me to be in the throne room when they arrived.  Celestia, Luna, Armor, and the alicorn greeted them as they entered the throne room with smiles.  I, naturally, was nowhere to be found, staying hidden until it was time to make my special debut.  The princesses led the six ponies to the throne, and they began a casual conversation as if nothing at all was wrong.

The ponies immediately took notice of the princesses’ strange behavior.  Celestia attempted to cast it off as a simple illness that had spread during the night.  I assumed the ponies were too stupid to realize what the stained-glass windows around them depicted.  The snobbish stallion still sat by the door, not saying a word to anypony.  I was almost tempted to light a fire and get him started, but I decided it best not to intervene in the meeting quite yet.

Finally, after minutes of waiting in the shadows, the topic arrived.  Celestia let out a sigh as she told the six ponies before her, “You must have noticed the terrain outside of the town.  How badly it’s been distorted and changed.”

Twilight Sparkle cocked her head to the side, suddenly remembering the strange formation they had seen as they flew in to town.  “Yes, Princess.  What exactly is that all about?”

Luna looked out of the closest window to the throne.  “And you’ve surely taken notice of the twisted flare of this room’s decorations, correct?”

The rainbow-maned, cyan-coated Pegasus scoffed, “Yeah, what’s the deal with this stuff, anyway?”

Celestia sighed, “Oh this?  This was just some silly prank that a unicorn thought would be funny.”  She lowered her gaze, attempting to avoid eye contact with the ponies.

The yellow-maned, orange-coated pony laughed, “Uh, sure did a good job, didn’t they?  This place is all sorts o’ messed up.”

Armor chuckled, “Yeah, he really outdid himself…”

Celestia looked at the ponies before her, “I’m terribly sorry to have brought you out here on such a short notice.  You must understand that we are in danger of a threat that we cannot identify at the moment.  I couldn’t risk not having the Elements of Harmony here in case of emergency.”

The pink-maned, pink-coated pony giggled, “That’s not a problem!  We’re always happy to help out!”

Celestia and Luna shared regretful looks.  Luna sighed, “We’re sorry for what we’ve done, ponies.  I hope you can forgive us.”

The pink-maned, yellow-coated pony asked with a timid voice, “Sorry for what?  You haven’t done anything wrong.”

The purple-maned, white-coated pony beside her nodded in agreement, “All you did was call for help.  What’s wrong with that?”

Celestia looked the ponies over.  She looked up at me in my perch before bowing her head low.  This was my cue.  She sobbed, “We’ve done much worse than that, my ponies.  We’ve failed you…  And Equestria.”

There it was!  The code word!  I practically squealed in excitement as I dropped from the ceiling of the room.  The six ponies leaped in place, turning to face me.  I greeted them with a large smile and open arms.  The six of them looked over to Celestia and Luna and then back to me.  They didn’t quite understand how I was standing before them.  They were also unsure of why Celestia hadn’t warned them about me.

The stallion by the door leaped to his hooves and shouted, “This is it, Discord!  The moment of truth!  Ponies, you have to send this guy back where he came from!”  I sent a burst of magical energy at the insolent stallion and watched him crash back into the wall.  He fell unconscious on the spot.  The six ponies scurried away from me, back against the walls of the room.  I opened my arms wide and started to laugh.

“I’m not quite sure why I attacked him.  He is correct, after all.  This is the moment of truth.”  I waved my arms at the windows around the room.  “Can you tell me what you see in these windows, little ponies?”  I grinned as their eyes darted about the room.  Each of the six windows depicted something that would very possibly fill them with fear.

I waited for a few moments to allow the ponies to try and decipher the images.  To my disappointment, they shared unsure looks and turned to Celestia and Luna.  I shook my head and slapped my paw to my face as I floated away from the group of clueless ponies.  Celestia sighed to them, “Perhaps…it’s best if…he tells you what they mean…”  She bowed her head and turned away.

I chuckled, “You silly little ponies, can’t you see?  The gorgeous figure standing in the center of the image is none other than yours truly!  And the little orb in my claw, why that’s an Element of Harmony!”  I pointed at the purple window, in which I was depicted crushing the Element of Magic.  I continued, “And these small specks here, these are the dust that the Element became!”  The ponies looked at Celestia, unsure of just what exactly I meant by that.

She refused to say anything.  Even Luna refused to speak.  The other alicorn started to say something, but immediately stopped herself.  Armor stamped his hoof on the ground and shouted, “He means he destroyed the Elements, Twilight!  The Elements of Harmony are broken!”  He stepped back to the alicorn’s side, looking as if he were about to cry.

Twilight Sparkle gasped, “B-But that’s impossible!  Right, Princess?”  She gave a confused and worried look to Celestia.

Celestia didn’t respond.  Instead, I laughed, “Of course it’s impossible!  But that’s the beauty of chaos and disharmony!  Something doesn’t have to be possible to happen!”  I warped to the ponies’ sides, each of them flinching in their own style.

The cyan pony, Rainbow Dash, stamped her hoof on the ground and stepped toward me.  She called my bluff, “There’s no way you destroyed the Elements, Discord!  Why don’t you just call it quits with your lies?”

I placed my paw on the pony’s shoulder and chuckled, “My dear pony, can’t you see that these aren’t lies.  If they were lies, don’t you think Celestia would tell you?  Or do you not trust your own all-powerful leader?”

Twilight scoffed, “But the Elements can’t be destroyed!  They’re supposed to be the most powerful things in all of Equestria!”

The white pony, Rarity, spoke with a tone of disbelief, “You must be mad to believe you could destroy the Elements.”

I shook my head and warped over to the door of the room.  I groaned, “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you see for yourselves?  C’mon, follow me, little ponies!”  I drifted through the doorway and headed for the Elements’ chamber.  The six ponies followed close behind me.  The alicorns and Armor followed behind them, not looking forward to what was to come.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the room.  I stood right outside the door and waited for everypony to catch up.  Once they had all gathered in the larger of the two chambers, I snapped my fingers and opened the door to the chamber.  I chuckled, “Ladies first.”  Keeping a close eye on me, the six ponies walked cautiously into the room.  The other four simply waited outside, not wanting to see their reactions.

I followed the ponies into the room and warped above the large pedestal at the far end.  Behind me, the wall was still flashing images of the different areas of Equestria.  The ponies stared in wild disbelief at the empty pedestal below me.  Twilight’s eyes filled with horror as she realized I had been telling the truth.

She stuttered, “B-But this i-is impossible!  Y-you couldn’t h-have destroyed th-them!”  The other five ponies watched as she fell to her plot in shock.

I laughed, “So you finally get it, don’t you Twilight?  This is it.  It’s all over.  The Elements are gone, and not even Celestia’s power can subdue me.  I am invincible!”

Rainbow Dash opened her wings and dashed through the air, colliding into me.  Unprepared for this sudden attack, I flew backwards into the large circular image behind me, actually feeling a slight stinging sensation in my back.  I also heard the wall crack behind me and the image fade away.  The wall returned to its original state, much to my annoyance.

I looked at the proud Pegasus with a dropped jaw.  I said calmly, rubbing my back where I had felt the sensation, “You hit me!  Celestia never hit me!”

Her expression changed from one of pride to one of anger as she scoffed, “Not so invincible anymore, huh?”  She flew back a few feet, readying herself for another charge.

I laughed, “Don’t be so quick to assume things, you cyan-colored nuisance!”  I snapped my fingers and she immediately collapsed to the ground in pain.  I could only imagine the burning sensation in her wings as I essentially readied them for removal.  A magical surgery was just as painful as a regular one.

A blast of purple magic hit me square in the chest, disorienting me and causing me to lose my focus on the Pegasus.  I looked at Twilight just in time to see another burst of energy leave her horn.  I laughed as I swatted the energy to the side, causing it to fly from the open window.   Raising my chin in pride of my blocking skills, I didn’t notice the orange pony, Applejack, as she started a mad dash at me.  She leaped from a few feet away and delivered a kick square to my stomach, causing me to lurch backwards into the wall.  Another stinging sensation filled the same spot as it had before.

I slapped the pony to the side with my claw, an anger starting to flare up in the back of my mind.  These games were starting to annoy me.  I snapped my fingers and a powerful gust of wind blew the six ponies from the small chamber into the larger one.  I warped to the other side of the door, watching the four regal ponies attempt to comfort the other six.

I spoke through clenched teeth, “If you ponies want to play games, we should go someplace with a little more room.”  I snapped my fingers and let the room around us melt away.  In an instant, we were all in a wide open field of grass and hills.

The pink pony, Pinkie Pie, sighed as she regained her footing, “That wasn’t very nice, meanie!”  She rubbed her head in disorientation.

The yellow pony, Fluttershy, helped Rainbow Dash to her hooves.  She looked at me and asked, “Why are you doing all of this, anyway?”

Seeing the gentle Pegasus’s expression made my anger dissipate slightly.  I sighed, “My reasons are my own, Fluttershy.  But I simply cannot allow you ponies to stand in my way and jeopardize my plans.”  I snapped my fingers and lifted Twilight from the ground with my magic.

Celestia’s eyes grew wide as my black magical aura wrapped around Twilight’s neck.  The helpless pony started gasping for air.  I snapped my fingers again, casting a magical aura around the pony’s friends so that they wouldn’t intervene.  Armor closed his eyes and turned his head away, clenching his teeth tightly.  The three alicorns stood in awestruck horror as they realized what was happening.

“I simply cannot let you intervene.  If I dispose of you now, there’s no chance of anypony stopping me.”  I lowered my gaze as I tightened my magical grip around Twilight.  Her friends squirmed in an attempt to attack me, but it was to no avail.  My paralysis magic was simply too strong for them.

After a few seconds, Celestia darted in my direction.  She stopped a few feet short and screamed, “Don’t do this, Discord!  They can’t hurt you anymore, not without the Elements!  Let her go!”  I could see the horror in her eyes and hear the desperation in her voice.  Tears swelled up in those horrified eyes.

I scoffed, “But if I kill them now, I have nothing to fear.  What if by some freak chance they are able to create another set of Elements using their own hearts, their own personalities and traits?    It would ruin everything for me.  Invincibility can so easily be mine if I dispose of them now.”  I looked back at Twilight, noticing her strength waning as I slowly choked the life from her.

Celestia stepped the last few feet up to me and placed her hooves firmly on my side.  I looked at her as she cried, “Please stop this, Discord!  You don’t have to do this!  Equestria is already yours, what more do you want?!”  Tears fell from her eyes as she screamed at me.  Those tears reminded me ever so much of that day so long ago.

I looked at the group of ponies gathered beside us.  They each had regretful, horrified, or sorrowful expressions glued on their faces.  They had already accepted what was happening.  The only one that hadn’t given up hope was Celestia.  I placed my claw on her shoulder as I sighed, “I want another chance to change to world.  This time, not for the better!”  I tossed her away, refocusing on the unicorn I had in my grasp.

That familiar feeling returned to my gut.  Those familiar tears called memories back to my mind.  I lowered my head and let out an angry scream as I let go of the unicorn’s throat.  I let my magical aura disappear and let the ponies regain their footings, clambering to Twilight’s side.  I couldn’t believe I was actually going to let them live.

I snapped my fingers and let the entirety of the castle reform around us.  We were back in the throne room, where we had been before journeying to the Elements’ chamber.  I cradled my head in my paw, wondering why this strange feeling wouldn’t go away.  Essentially paralyzed by their own fear, none of the ponies bothered trying to leave.  They were too focused on not getting killed to try and flee.

I felt my face flush red with anger as I thought back to those last few days we shared oh-so long ago.  I looked at the ponies with fiery eyes and screamed, “Leave me, now!  Don’t return to this castle ever again, unless you truly wish to die!”  The six ponies that had been helpless moments before leaped to their hooves and darted from the room, not taking time to say their farewells to the four older ponies.  

They remained in the room, unsure as to what to think.  Celestia lay on the floor beside her sister, tears pouring from her eyes.  Luna attempted to comfort her, but I felt that it was to no avail.  Armor and his lover left the room, trying to avoid unnecessary conflict.  Besides, Armor needed to see his sister off.  I thought to myself as I listened to the two princesses’ talk.

My mind drifted back to that time three-thousand years ago.  Anger swelled up in my mind and my heart began to ache as I remembered the words we had shared and the betrayal that had torn us apart…