The first month of the school year had already passed, and things were somewhat getting better for Emerald. Even though Gold Plate continued finding ways to sneakily tease her, even trying to spout her in a verbal argument, she kept ignoring him and Platinum Band, but it kept getting harder and harder to ignore him the longer he kept going. If it started to get worse and she was mere inches away from snapping and beating him up again, she told Mrs. Smiley, who promptly scolded him to stop despite constantly doing it after being warned. At least she was safe back at home, and she even made a few more friends along with Melody.

Today was a Friday, and that meant the weekend was around the corner. So far, Emerald had learned a few things she didn't know from her parents, and they were just starting how to write the alphabet. It took her a little while to get used to writing stuff out with her mouth, but until she was able to keep control of her magic, she could use her horn to write in the future. They had just finished recess and were continuing with writing the letters they were working on, but before the bell rang, Mrs. Smiley caught their attention for a little announcement.

"Ok, everypony! Listen up, please!" she said. "Now, I know you're excited for the weekend, but I just want you all to know that on Monday, we'll be having 'Show and Tell' after recess!" Emerald immediately raised her hoof, hearing Gold utter "freaky nerd" under his breath. "Yes, Emerald?"

"What's 'Show and Tell'?" the filly asked in curiosity.

"A very good question. 'Show and Tell' is actually a fun activity where each of you will bring something from home that you like a lot, and then you tell the class all about it!" Mrs. Smiley said. "It can be your favorite toy, an instrument, a drawing of your favorite thing or a drawing itself!" She noticed Gold and Platinum grinning when they thought she didn't see them, but knowing those two were wealthy and very brash, they think it's a game where they could win a prize. "And this isn't something where the pony who brings the best object wins. It's not a game. It's just a little something to do so everypony can know just a little bit more about them and what they like. Gold and Platinum, that means bring something you own, not something your parents bought this weekend."

School was out as the bell finally rang, student packing up their bags with their homework or any activity they wanted to share with their families back at home. Mrs. Smiley escorted her students out of the building and out front to be picked up by their parents/older siblings/relatives, many eagerly awaiting for the weekend to start. While Emerald waited for her daddy to come get her, she was passing the time talking to her friend Melody.

"So, did your mommy and daddy say you're allowed to come over?" Emerald asked.

"W-Well...They did say it was ok, but you live in the castle," Melody said. "Is it really ok for me to just...be there?"

"Of course, silly!" Emerald exclaimed. "Vivi comes by on the weekends sometimes, and our daddies are friends!"

"Who's Vivi?" As Melody asked, Virtuo made his way out of the building and found Emerald.

"Hey, Emerald," he greeted, only to be caught in a wind crushing hug by the hybrid filly.

"Yay! Vivi!" Her death grip quickly ended, the colt's mind reeling as he was dragged by the hoof over to purple unicorn filly, wondering how she was so strong with those holes in her legs. "Vivi, this is Melody! Melody, Vivi! We've been friends ever since we were babies!"

"A-Actually, I'm two years older than her," Virtuo said, letting out a cough as his lungs regained oxygen. "And my name's Virtuo. Not Vivi."

"But I like 'Vivi'," Emerald mumbled with a pout as she tapped her hooves together.

"Why does she call you 'Vivi'?" Melody asked.

"Because she couldn't say my name and kept calling me 'Vivi' when she was three," he said. "And she still can't say it right."

"I'm still gonna keep calling you Vivi, Vivi!" Virtuo slumped his shoulders and sighed in annoyance. "So, did your mommy and daddy say you could stay over for the weekend?"

"Yes. I'm allowed over." Emerald squealed in delight and caught Virtuo in another death grip, his eyes bulging out as she squeezed him like a stress toy.

"Yay! This is gonna be the best weekend ever!"

"You bet your sweet bippies it'll be the best weekend ever." Confused, the three foals looked around, but didn't know where the mysterious voice came from. It began to chuckle, seeing them looking everywhere to find him. "Down here, you three."

They looked down and saw a poorly drawn draconequus in brown chalk beneath them, which wasn't there earlier. It waved its clawed hand at them, Virtuo and Melody shrieking in fright as it moved and peeled itself off the sidewalk.

"Unca Discord!" Emerald leapt forward to hug her chaotic uncle, but as she touched him, he turned into chalk dust and disappeared, reappearing behind the filly and picking her up. "Hey! No fair!"

"Well, you were glomping chalk, so of course that was going to happen," Discord explained, Emerald officially hugging her funniest of uncles. He snapped his fingers, making a slip of paper appear in his tail as he handed it to the shocked teacher. "Here you go, miss. Signed permission from his royal highness to pick up his daughter and her two little compadres, both their parents giving their foals' permissions to come along for a weekend of fun."

"Oh...Uhh, ok then." Mrs. Smiley took the permission slip and read through it.

"Wait, isn't daddy getting us?" Emerald asked.

"Oooooh. Yeah, about that..." Discord lowered the filly down to the ground, incredibly nervous with the bad news. "You see, Emerald, your daddy had a very important meeting to go to, and both he and your mother were needed...So, they'll be gone for the weekend."

"Awww." Emerald pouted, her ears drooping in sadness. "I wanted Melody to really meet my daddy this weekend..."

"But, I just told you the bad news. You know what the good news is?" He paused for dramatic effect, Emerald unsure what good news there was. "The good news is that you have me as your foalsitter! For the whole weekend!" She was silent as she looked at the grinning draconequus, his own smile faltering as he didn't see any excitement in her. "...What? No fun with the reformed Lord of Chaos? All the fun and wacky things we can do without getting into trouble?...Would saying it as your dad help?" Discord snapped his fingers and turned into Solaris, though the alicorn's face was shaped more like the draconequus's. "Emerald! Good news! Your Uncle Discord is coming to pick you up from school today and will be watching over you and your friends for the whole weekend! Doesn't that sound like fun!?"

"What is that?" Melody whispered to Virtuo in fear.

"I think that's Discord," Virtuo whispered back. "I heard about him from my mom. He's weird, but he's not dangerous...at least, I hope he isn't."

"...Oh, come on. Not even a smile?" Discord asked, Emerald leering at him for impersonating her daddy, and very poorly.

"How come daddy didn't tell me?" she asked.

"It came up at the last minute before he was ready to pick you up from school," Discord said apologetically, getting out of his fake Solaris disguise. "He would have found somepony else, but most of your other relatives are either in Ponyville, the Crystal Empire, or in the changeling hive. And they're too far away to come and get you in time. So, I was around the bend, bored out of my mind, when I told myself I had not met my favorite little niece in ages! That's when your father begged me to watch over you and your friends for your little weekend of fun!"

"But daddy promised he would play with us." Emerald grunted in disappointment, hating how busy her daddy could get when sudden royal duties come up and get in their way of planned out fun. "Stupid royal stuff."

"Well, that's the life of royalty. Pretty boring work. But if I were a princess-" Discord materialized fake wings, a fake horn on his forehead, wore a frilly dress, a small tiara on his head, and held a scepter with Solaris's face giving a derpy expression, all while prancing around. "Tra la-la, la-la! I'm a pretty little princess! I order all of Equestria to eat cake for every meal, make roads completely out of soap, and turn all the clouds into cotton candy to rain endless chocolate milk for all to consume!"

Emerald snorted at the ridiculous outfit Discord wore, she quickly covered her mouth, not giving in to her Uncle Discord's hilarious antics. He swung the scepter around, using his magic to create a cotton candy cloud over Virtuo and Melody. It began raining on them, startling the two foals, only to realize that the water was actually chocolate milk as it hit their lips.

"Wait...Is that really chocolate milk?" Melody asked as she licked her lips.

"Chocolate milk rain?" Virtuo took a mouthful and swished the rain in his mouth, swallowing his mouthful as it was indeed chocolate milk. "Wow. That's actually good! Discord's awesome!"

The colt tilted his head up to get more chocolate milk in his mouth, but Discord made the cloud disappear, disappointing Virtuo while Melody shook herself, knowing she was definitely going to need a bath after getting rained on by a cotton candy cloud. Discord stood behind Emerald, leaning his head down to see her puffed out cheeks, trying desperately not to laugh when she wants to be miserable.

"You know you can't resist laughing when Uncle Discord's around," he teased. "Don't make me use the tickle machine."

"N-Not the tickle machine!" Emerald begged.

"Too late!" With a snap, a light flashed as a random machine appeared in front of them, Emerald attached to restraints on a conveyor belt that went in from left to right, the middle covering up what lies inside the device. The filly squirmed, but she couldn't break free with her strength or her own magic. "In we go!"

Discord pushed a button and the machine began whirring to life, rolling Emerald inside as she disappeared inside of it. The conveyor belt stopped as she was perfectly set inside, Virtuo and Melody a little worried about what lies inside of the "tickle machine". He soon pushed another button, and in a few seconds, they could hear Emerald laughing hard, whatever was inside clearly hitting every ticklish part of her. A few minutes later, Discord finally stopped the machine, Emerald's laughter slowly dying as she panted heavily. The conveyor belt moved and the filly appeared on the other side, a panting mess, small giggles escaping her lips as she tried to catch her breath.

Freed from her bindings, Emerald fell and was caught by Discord's tail before she hit the ground. "I...don't...like you..."

"Oh, yes you do, you little scamp," he said, patting the filly's head. "Now, let's head back to the castle and spread a little chaos!"

"Wow." Melody looked all around as she, Emerald, VIrtuo, and Discord entered the castle. The draconequus decided to have them walk to the castle instead of teleporting them there in a few seconds. This was the first time the unicorn filly ever set hoof inside, and it was a lot more than her five-year-old mind was able to process. "It looks a lot bigger inside than outside."

"Yeah, I kinda get lost too, but there's so much to explore!" Emerald said. "I haven't even been in every single room yet! Mostly because daddy doesn't want me anywhere dangerous."

"Sadly, exploration is not allowed on your father's to-do list," Discord said, a list appearing in front of him that Solaris gave him to follow. "As much as I love breaking the rules, there are a couple we aren't supposed to break. One of them being no searching around the castle and getting into dangerous objects that could hurt you."

"You never follow rules," Emerald pointed out.

"Of course I don't! But we don't want you getting hurt." Discord burned the list away and stopped before one of the rooms in the hall. "Now, are you three ready for a weekend of fun with your good pal Discord?"

"I am!" Emerald shouted.

"I guess so," Virtuo said, Melody nodding slightly.

"Then...welcome to my domain." Discord opened the door, and what waited for the three ponies made them gasp in awe.

Inside was a gigantic room filled to the brim with chaotic delight that was perfect for Discord to live in: dilapidated roads that connect to floating lands, each floating island a different theme, the chaotic realm floating in a dimension of warped colors, and random floating creatures and shapes randomly passing by as they either made random noises or randomly shifted shapes. The island the doorway opened up to was probably the first of many for them to explore, and it was every child's dream: an island completely made out of candy and sugary sweets.

Discord walked in front of them, wearing a purple top hat and suit, twirling a cane around as he nonchalantly strolled over the powdered sugar. "Welcome to my favorite of islands: Candy Island! A land filled with any kind of sweet you can imagine, and then some. But the best part is that, even though the land is edible, it's sugar free, but tastes just like the real deal, and you won't get a single cavity or tummy ache from eating too much! Took me a long while in my youth to make that happen, but I made it work with enough practice." He saw the awed, drooling faces of the three foals, all three of them unsure if what they were seeing was real or a dream too good to be true. "Well, don't just stand there salivating! Come right on in!"

Without needing to be told twice, they cheered and ran inside, splitting up to different parts of the candy-coated island in the realm of chaotic delight. Discord closed the door, not wanting to alert servants or guards to the random doorway to a chaotic world, then followed the three foals calmly as he whistled a little tune. He spotted Emerald running over to a river made of chocolate, the filly immediately dunking her head in and slurping up several mouthfuls of the warm, liquid chocolate, showing her love of it like her mother does. Virtuo leapt up to try and grab branches from a licorice tree, but the twisting candy branches were too high for him to reach. Discord walked by and sliced a few off with his cane. The swirled branches fell on top of the colt, his head poking out from the pile as he began chewing on the colorful licorice.

Melody found herself in a field of lollipops and took one of them, licking the flower-like candies as she looked around the chaotic world. "This place is weird, but I like it already."

"Glad to hear it," Discord said as he appeared behind the unicorn filly as he munched on a cotton candy cloud. "I can be quite entertaining when I want to. Though, back then, I was more of a troublemaker and a psychotic villain over a thousand years ago."

"You were a bad guy?" Melody asked.

"You weren't told about me being turned to stone?" She shook her head. "I guess you're a bit too young to learn about history quite yet, but it is a doozy of a story. To be fair, I wasn't exactly the nicest draconequus in Equestria. And the only draconequus." Discord shrunk down to Melody's height with a snap for her to see every part of him. "I mean, I'm practically a chimera of sorts, but I was born naturally...Or, at least I think I was. Hmmm...I'm going to need to question the designer who created me and see if they have any backstory on me that's officially canon."

"...What?" Melody asked, blinking her eyes in confusion to Discord's sudden rambling that made less and less sense to her.

"Oh, never mind that. The point is, I was evil, but now I'm good all thanks to..." The draconequus sighed sadly as his thoughts drifted to the mare who had befriended him that helped him change his ways. And with her gone, it pained him to have his first ever friend he had ever made in his life be taken away from her too soon. "All thanks to a timid little pegasus who gave me the benefit of the doubt, even when I had planned to use her kindness to plan my next scheme to take over Equestria..."

"Did you like her?" the filly asked, highly invested in Discord's sad tale.

"As a friend, yes. I never had a friend before she admitted it to me..." His tail subconsciously began drawing in the powdered sugar behind him, drawing out Fluttershy's face and long hair. "I really miss her sometimes...Though, I think Solaris misses her more, being so close to her and the rest of her friends when he was a colt."

"The prince knew her, too?" Melody asked.

"Mhmm...Very much." Discord had finished his subconscious drawing as Melody looked behind him, seeing the perfectly made facial image of the pegasus mare.

"Is that her?" she asked, the draconequus looking behind him and flinching in surprise at what he did.

"U-Uhh, yes. Yes, that is her," he admitted.

"...Did you love her?" she asked, Discord sputtering and scoffing at the crazy thought that came from the filly's mind.

"No! We were just friends!" he said as he kicked up the powdered sugar, ruining his subconscious work with a light blush on his cheeks. "I didn't have any romantic feelings toward her in the slightest! I just missed the very first friend I ever made and was in no way romantically interested in her blue eyes, her long pink mane, her soft yellow coat-" Discord heard Melody giggling as he failed to avoid her suspicions, his blush deepening as he cleared his throat. "Ok, I admit she was adorable, but no romantic feelings whatsoever! Besides, she wound up having a foal, and her son looks a lot like her in every way, apparently inheriting her love for animals, though a bit more bolder than her."

"You were in love with her," Melody teased, Discord's hat tipping over his head as he grumbled, keeping his red face away from the filly's line of sight.

"Just eat your lollipop, have your fill of sweets, and meet me over by the Lazy Doughnut River," he said as he walked away. "We have other places to explore before the day's end!"

While the draconequus headed off to where the Lazy Doughnut River was located, Melody stuck her candy stick in her mouth and wandered about Discord's Candy Island. She saw Virtuo chomping down on a peppermint tree, the candy flora threatening to topple over with the bite marks on the trunk, and approached Emerald, who was trying to hunt down chocolate bunnies, actually living chocolate bunnies to munch on them.

"Gotcha!" she shouted and leapt onto the small group of rabbits, but they fled as she fell on her belly where they once stood. "You can't run away from me, chocolate bunny rabbits! I will devour your yummy bodies!"

"Why are you only going for the chocolate stuff?" Melody asked, getting Emerald's attention.

"I love chocolate! And it also tastes like love." The filly tilted her head in confusion, Emerald realizing she was a normal pony and didn't know much about changelings. "Being part changeling, I can also absorb love from ponies. But I like daddy's love more whenever he shares it with me and mommy. And chocolate is kind of like love too, and mommy loves chocolate. Daddy has to sometimes hold her down when anything made of chocolate is around. I think it has something to do with Hearts and Hooves Day, giving sweets to ponies you like."

"Oh. That makes sense...I think?" While Melody pondered what it was like to be part changeling, sucking on her lollipop as she thought, a chocolate bunny poked its head up from a burrow beside the unicorn.

"Aha! Get that bunny!" Emerald shouted, the chocolate bunny disappearing right as she pounced on it and knocked Melody over. "Darn it. I thought I had it."

"I don't think you're gonna catch one," Melody said. "Bunnies are really fast."

"I'll get one of them. Some day." Emerald looked around, finding no sign of Discord, but she did see Virtuo approach them with a mouth full of gummy worms. "Where'd Unca Discord go to?"

"He said he was going to the Lazy Doughtnut River," Melody said.

"'Luhshy Doughnut Rivur?" Virtuo asked with his cheeks stuffed, swallowing the gummy worms to speak a bit clearly. "Where's that at?"

The trio soon heard a fog horn out in the distance, looking over to where it came from. Across a bridge over the chocolate river, they saw a large ship made out of cake, cookies, and doughnuts out on river of milk that lead out to an ocean of it, Discord standing at the helm, now wearing a pirate captain's outfit, along with a wooden parrot to fit the theme of his clothing.

"I'm guessing over there," Melody pointed out.

"Alright! Pirate ship made of cake!" Emerald ran ahead to her uncle's ship as Discord waved at them. "Let's go, guys! We're gonna hunt us some yummy treasure! YARGH!"

"I thought Emerald got her craziness from her mom, but I think it's more from Discord." Melody shrugged at Virtuo's comment of his friend, the colt and filly hurrying to catch up to her and onto the ship of sweets.

Throughout the whole afternoon, Discord and his merry crew sailed out of the Lazy Doughnut River, where doughnuts of varying sizes floated lazily in the river like small ice flows, and out into the Milky Wave Ocean. They explored the vast, white seas, each foal wearing pirate gear as they heeded their captain's orders. They were caught in a battle against their foes: the Health Brigade. The opposing force were fruits and vegetables on a large cauliflower ship, firing brussel sprout cannonballs at them to sink their ship into the milky waters. They retaliated with their own ammunition: jawbreakers that weighed a ton, fired even faster than their opponent's cannons, decimating the healthy food nation that dared to attack them.

Defeating their foes as they fled before they too would suffer the same fate as they would their victims, they scoured the seas of milk and discovered new lands on the massive island made of candy, with new treats to eat and animated animal-shaped sweets to devour. Their long journey of fun and sugar-free, cavity-free eating came to an end as it began to get late, Emerald, Virtuo, and Melody getting very tired from the endless fun and rush of faux-sugar eating. Discord escorted the trio of foals out of his domain of chaotic delight and back into the castle and get them cleaned up from their sticky traveling through a candy-coated world.

Once they were bathed, they headed into Emerald's room so they could get some sleep, the draconequus materializing a few sleeping bags for Virtuo and Melody. "Alright, you three. Time for bed. There's a lot more fun to be had in my world tomorrow." Discord tucked Emerald into her bed as the foals immediately zoned out. "Good night, everypony." He quietly snuck out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him, making his way around the castle as he brought back the list Solaris had given him. "And Solly thought I couldn't handle a few foals.

"I'm a blast around children, especially when I helped raised Butterscotch." His happy demeanor slowly melted into sadness, letting out a sigh as he slumped over. "Now the little colt has grown up into a young adult and can handle himself...I think I'm feeling a bit jealous of the girls when they had kids and raised them...Well, except Twilight..."

Discord had thought back to the day he had seen and heard Twilight for the last time, and didn't even see the outcome of what would happen months later.

Discord hovered over a small town in Equestria. chuckling deviously as he was about to pull a little prank on the ponies living there. Nothing harmful or deadly, just a bit of rain from the giant pink cloud of cotton candy he stepped down on.

"Today's forecast calls for a cloudy day of pink, with a high chance of chocolate rain," he announced to himself. "Percentage of rainfall: 99.99% chance."

"Discord!" The draconequus yelped twisting his neck around to see Twilight hovering behind him, her belly rounded as she was a few months pregnant. She crossed her forehooves against her chest and leered at him. "What were you going to do?"

"Nothing! Just giving the ponies a little rainfall!" he lied, twisting his body in the opposite direction to fully face her. "Of all the random chance to have that 0.01% chance be interrupted, it had to be now."

"Get rid of the cloud. Now." Discord grumbled, snapping his fingers as he obeyed, making the large pink cloud disappear. "We need to talk. And let's speak on the ground. I don't want to strain myself with my foal weighing me down."

"A foal!? You!?" Discord laughed uproariously, Twilight staring at him, unamused at his reaction while she was being serious. "Oh, that is rich, Twilight! Nice lie with that big stomach of yours. You know, you should exercise a bit more, get your nose out of the books, and get off your plot every once in a while. Maybe then you won't get a pudge." Discord snorted as he flew around her, still finding the lavender alicorn's pregnancy to be a hilarious joke than a serious matter. "And who would get you, a royal princess and a nerdy bookworm, pregnant? Must have been a desperate stallion to want to get a piece of-"

Twilight yanked Discord's mouth with her magic, hovering down to the ground, and as they landed, slammed the draconequus face first into the dirt. "I'm serious, Discord. I'm five and a half months into my pregnancy, and if I wait any further, I cannot move for much longer periods of time before the start of my third trimester. So, for once in your life, can you please be serious and listen to me?"

He rolled his eyes up and pulled his head out of the ground, sighing in annoyance as he stood up. "Alright. Fine. What do you want, Your Royal Studiousness?"

"Well, since you don't always show up unless there's something you want to do to irritate most of us, there's some...bad news that will come along in the future." Discord lazily nodded his head, barely paying much attention. "For the past several months, I've been having nightmares of a horrible future that's yet to come, and even now, I'm still haunted by them. I went to the princesses and told Luna about them, and these nightmares were actually a vision...and I'm afraid it'll come true."

"Ooooooooh! Scary premonition!" Discord mocked, wiggling his claw and paws digits. "Seriously, what kind of danger can make it impossible for you and your friends to take care of with the 'power of friendship'." The draconequus hummed in thought, having been bested by them with their power of friendship that turned him into stone again and Fluttershy easily breaking him into learning about it. "...Actually, that does work now and again. Then again, I was a bit cocky and thought I could easily best you, but I wound up being wrong and failed. Curse my hubris."

"Celestia knew who it was that was coming to render Equestria to the ground, and it all started a thousand years ago, just like yourself, Sombra, and even Luna." Discord yawned, growing bored to the millennial disaster concept since that always seems to happen. "It was her first student and adoptive son, Lucifer."

Discord's eyes widened in shock, looking down at the alicorn with legitimate fear. He had heard of that name before while he was turned to stone, and witnessed some destruction made by the innocent colt turned into a manic, darkness wielding stallion with a heart purely made of stone.

"Him?" he asked, confusing Twilight with his sudden fear.

"You know him?" she asked.

"I was turned to stone for a thousand years! Of course I know him!" Discord began biting his nails, no longer pretending as his heart began racing at the thought of that stallion returning. "You have no idea how much damage he had done after he had grown into an adult. I'm actually surprised his magic and deadly ethereal weapons didn't slice me into rubble when he attacked Canterlot during the time!"

"...So, you can't stop him either," Twilight said with disappointment.

"I may have chaotic magic, but that doesn't mean I'm powerful!" Discord shouted. "What, were you hoping I could just kill him with a snap of my fingers!? Unlike Lucifer, I was a psychopath who wanted a laugh when I used my magic, not kill or maim like he does! If you think I can slay him for you, then you're dead wrong, Sparkle!"

"...I...I thought as much...I really do have to resort to Plan B, then..." From her bags, Twilight pulled out a golden pendant in the shape of half a sun. "I also saw a young stallion who would appear one day and stop him, but he was an alicorn, just like the princesses and I."

"A male alicorn exists?" Discord asked, stroking his beard in thought. "I haven't heard of one ever being born...or other alicorns being born...In fact, I don't think Sun and Moon Butt were born alicorns, either..."

"I don't know who he is, but he's the only pony who can stop Lucifer." Twilight levitated the pendant into Discord's paw. "Can you pour some of your magic into that for him to use? In order for him to be at his fullest potential, I've enchanted four other pieces of armor he'll wear where he'll need to complete a trial to prove his strength, wit, courage, skill, and determination to face the worst. Will you give him one of these tests?"

"Hmm..." Discord didn't want to believe what Twilight told him would end up being true. But the thought of Lucifer returning brought a shiver down his spine, and if he sought him out, it was either serve him and be his chaotic soldier or die without barely having a chance to fight back. He chose neither option and resorted to a third: trusting this stallion to come to Equestria's, and the world's, rescue, snapping his fingers and enchanting the pendant with his magic, an image of his face appearing in the accessory. "I'll do it."

"Thank you, Discord," Twilight said, suddenly hugging him and surprising the draconequus. He was about to push the mare away, only to feel her trembling in fear, struggling to hide her emotional breakdown. "When my baby is born...can you meet me in the hospital when the time comes?...I'll tell you where you need to go..."

"...Uhh...Ok?" Discord awkwardly pet Twilight's head to assuage her worries, glad to see no one from the nearby village wasn't watching them. "I'm not going to be the godfather, am I? Because that won't be easy to tell your kid I'll take care of him if you wind up passing away during childbirth."

"...I don't really know, Discord..." Twilight sniffled, holding back her tears as she knew what will end up happening to her, Celestia, Luna, and eventually her friends. "I just want you to see everypony before I have you hide away until he comes to save us." She backed away, steadied her breathing, and began flying off. "I need to go to a few other places to store the rest of the alicorn's armor. I just hope one of them will trust me and hear me out."

Discord watched the newly ascended pregnant princess fly off to the east, the draconequus scratching his head in confusion at her reaction. Twilight was more likely the mare who wanted to hold a grudge against him and barely show any signs of weakness to him, especially after his attempts to turn the Elements of Harmony bearers to lose touch with their Element to gain the upper hand. But he felt genuine fear come from her, not just from Lucifer and her visions, but something else she neglected to tell him that was worse than the fear of death. He looked down at the pendant, feeling a strange magical presence inside it along with his own chaotic powers, but he couldn't decipher what else was inside it.

After several months, Discord appeared in Ponyville when Twilight's foal was born. During that time, he had mostly been lost in thought, mostly about the future of the kingdom with Lucifer's return, what else was inside the pendant he kept a hold of, and who he was supposed to be looking for to give this test and pendant to. She was so brief with her descriptions that she actually stumped the draconequus, and he was the one who was supposed to make convoluted riddles and tests. He walked inside the lobby and found Twilight's friends and family, though they were highly shocked and greatly depressed more than happy and excited to see a new foal.

"Hello, everypony," he greeted, but they were still in shock, barely noticing Discord or anyone else around them. "...Well, this is nice. I arrive to get a peek at the Twilight's newborn foal, and everyone isn't all happy and the mares aren't bouncing around in joy to the newest member of the Sparkle family...Unless the worst has happened and either Twilight died while giving birth, the baby was a miscarriage, or they both kicked the bucket-"

Shining Armor growled and shot a beam of magic at Discord in annoyance, but the draconequus tilted his head back to avoid getting blasted right in the face. "Will you just shut up, you insane chimera!? We're not in the mood for any of your horseapples!"

"Sheesh. Nopony can take a joke anymore." Shining was about ready to clobber the draconequus, but Cadence gently pulled him back down in his seat. "Seriously, what is going on? Have times changed that much where a newborn foal is considered a bad omen? Twilight told me to see her once her baby's due-" Discord summoned a calendar with a snap, days marked off in random shapes on the month as he pointed at a normally circled date. "-and after last seeing her a few months in her pregnancy, which I didn't believe at first, it's apparently the time. She was supposed to tell me where I was supposed to give this prophesized male alicorn for his test and what he also looks like. Twilight was very vague on those details."

"She trusted you, too?" Cadence asked in confusion.

"I doubted she trusts me after messing with her friends' heads after breaking free, but yes," he said. "Am I going to have to find her room myself and get everything from the rest of you?"

No one answered. They seemed even more miserable now, Pinkie's mane deflating even further, which told Discord that if she was this upset, then there was clearly bad news. After waiting for an agonizing few minutes, Fluttershy finally spoke up.

"She's...in the maternity ward," the pegasus said, her voice shaky and depressed, which broke Discord to hear his friend like this. "Room 205..."

"205, Maternity. Thank you, Fluttershy." With a snap of his fingers, he waltzed his way through the corridor as a pen appeared in front of the surprised hospital receptionist as he signed his name down. With a bit of wandering, appearing out of a supply closet on the second floor. He passed by the nursery, seeing the newborn foals sleeping or curiously looking around them for the first time. Reaching the ward, he found Twilight's room and opened the door slightly, poking his eyes through as he found the lavender alicorn on the bed. "There you are, Twilight.

"You will not believe how unhelpful your overprotective brother could-" Discord paused as he walked inside, noticing the somber, depressing air in the room. Twilight was distraught, just as upset as her friends, but even worse. In her hooves, she held a foal in her hooves, wrapped in a blue blanket as he wriggled around in his warm covers. She had a colt, and any new mothers should be happy to see their foal, but Twilight looked miserable, shocked, and horrified. "Twilight?"

She looked up at him, tears welled in her eyes as some had left streaks down her face, her eyes bloodshot and tired. "Discord..."

Twilight began to choke up, her voice hoarse from not only screaming out from her labor, but also from crying. "You did ask me to come here when your foal comes, and it's here, so here I am." Discord approached the bed and peered down into the blue blanket, seeing the little colt's face as his blue eyes spotted him in his vision. He saw the horn on his forehead, along with a few strands of gold for his mane. The newborn tilted his head, awed at the strange, chaotic creature looming over him. "Well, he's going to be a prodigal genius like his mother with those eyes of his: curious, questioning, and waiting for answers."

The colt began to squirm, trying to pull his forehooves out of the bundle of a blanket to try to touch Discord. He managed to break them free, along with something else that shocked the draconequus. Flapping out from his sides were a pair of white feathered wings that matched the foal's colt, Discord seeing the first ever born male alicorn in all of history. His jaw dropped, literally off his head and onto the ground, bending down to pick it up and reattach it, though upside down.

He looked at Twilight for an answer, but she was still in shock, but not in the same way as he was. "...H-He..." Twilight began to sob, holding her foal close as more tears continued to fall down her cheeks. "H-He's..."

"What?" Discord asked, quickly re-righting his mouth back in place. "Adorable? Not what you expected? Not the kind of foal you wanted?"

"...He's...the one..." Twilight said with a shaky sob, not helping Discord with the answers he was seeking.

"So you do like him? Then why are you upset?" he questioned. "I came to see your baby, and I'm also here to figure out who I'm supposed to wait for to give him that pendant you made me hold on to and infuse my chaos into it. So, who is the alicorn I'm supposed to be waiting for and what does he look like?"

"...Y-You're...l-l-looking at h-him," she finally said.

"...What?" Discord looked down at Twilight's foal, the mare sobbing hysterically now, mumbling apologies, but to who was unable to be deciphered. It took him a moment to figure out what she meant, only to gasp in shock as he looked down at the colt wondering why his mother was so upset. The stallion she was talking about, an alicorn stallion, he didn't exist until now. Twilight Sparkle's son was the pony she saw that would save Equestria from Lucifer, far older than the foal she held in her hooves. That meant her nightmares showed her son, several years in the future, fighting against one of the most dangerous ponies erased from historical records because of Celestia's attempt to protect his name and lineage, and it would be a deadly duel where the draconequus would test him when he was old enough. "...No...You can't be serious...You're son is the savior?"

She was unable to answer as she nuzzled her baby, only pointing her hoof to the bedside table. Discord looked at where she was pointing, finding a piece of paper with writing on it, lifting it up to read it, addressed to him from the depressed alicorn, some tear stains lingered on the paper.

Discord,

Right now, I am in quite a terrible state of shock over the discovery of who the alicorn would be that will free Equestria from Lucifer's eventual return. My son, who I named Solaris, IS that stallion. He looks so much like our savior: his gold mane, white coat, and blue eyes. He may not have his cutie mark yet, but I know it will be the same as what I had foreseen in my visions. Everypony else is also surprised and understandably miserable as I am, my own foal destined to defeat the mad stallion who will return at any moment.

Spike will take him up to the mountains several miles away from Ponyville, where he'll be in hiding until the time comes for him to fulfill his destiny. My friends will also care for him when they can, but I won't be around for much longer. In my vision, I saw myself dead before Lucifer, along with Celestia and Luna. Solaris will grow up without a mother, and I don't know who his father is. I didn't want this to happen. Not to him. I'm so sorry. Why did I not see this coming? I'm going to hurt everyone more than what I had planned. I'm so stupid!

I've already given instructions to a few others who will give Solaris his trials, my brother included. For you, Discord, I want you to head to the abandoned temple out in the deserts of Saddle Arabia, where it has already been looked over thoroughly by archaeologists many years ago. Give him his test there and wait for him. I understand if you are restless at times and want to spread chaos, but please don't make yourself known to Lucifer. Until Solaris's fifteenth birthday, he will finally leave his safe haven and be lead by my friends to each location, starting in the Everfree Forest, then you, the Crystal Empire, the griffons and minotaurs, and finally the changelings.

I wish there was another way, but there wasn't enough time, and it's too late to change it...I didn't realize my own foal would have to do this...To lose everything he will love while fighting for us...I'm so sorry, everypony...I'm so, so very sorry...

After reading Twilight's letter, Discord lowered the paper and looked at her, passed out on the bed while holding Solaris close to her, tears still trickling down her cheeks. She was heavily exhausted from all the stress of planning Lucifer's return and the months of her pregnancy and giving birth to the colt on her chest, still awake and looking at his mother curiously. Discord, for the life of him, couldn't remember his own parents, if he had any, and it pained him to know that some foals would have never known their birth parents until they were old enough to understand what happened to them, finding out too soon in their youth, or never knowing at all. He let out a sigh and folded the letter, knowing where he needs to go and who to wait for, but he never imagined it would have been the child of the Element of Magic that would save everyone from Lucifer's dark magical power.

Being careful not to wake Twilight or make her stress anymore than she already was, the draconequus lifted the colt up to get a better look at him. "Your mother has had it rough. I don't know why she's sorry if you're our saving grace, but I will believe her and leave her friends in your care." Solaris didn't understand him, only reaching out to grab his beard and try to tug it as it would be funny to pull it. "I won't go easy on you, either. You'll have to earn what I'm going to give you." The infant managed to grab his goatee and tugged, making Discord yelp in pain while Solaris giggled at the reaction. "Cheeky little guy, aren't you?"

Discord gently pulled the colt's hoof away from his beard and laid him back down on Twilight's chest. He began to fall asleep, nuzzling into his mother's fur as her hooves subconsciously wrapped around him, a pained look spreading across her sleeping face. Discord sighed and backed away, teleporting away to where he would be staying for the next decade and a half, leaving behind a final word to Twilight and Solaris, his voice echoing in the hospital room.

Thank you for trusting me, Twilight. I will give him a test he won't forget. And Solaris, I'll see you again in fifteen years.

Discord had wandered the castle while lost in his thoughts, winding up in the hallway of mural windows. He had stopped in front of the one where he was beaten for the second time by the Elements of Harmony. As he looked at the six mares besting him with the six mystical gems, mostly due to his own ego and neglect at seeing his plan had been foiled, he pulled out the same letter Twilight had given him many years ago after Solaris was born. He didn't understand the parts where Twilight apologized not just to him, but everyone else she knew as well, but he did a few days after Solaris's coronation.

He then pulled out a small crystal, which held a magical recording made by Twilight as a final message to her son through the magical realm alicorns were able to traverse to. He didn't need to replay it as the prince told him what his mother's plan was, and it was horrifying to hear. Discord stole this crystal from Solaris one day, he wanted to break it, he wanted to unleash his chaotic might over how stupid Twilight was, not only putting her own son through a traumatic experience losing his family and the pressure of being Equestria's savior, but also having her friends sacrificed, without their consent, just to give Solaris the power to unleash his hidden potential. But even after all that anger, losing his first friend he ever made in his life, hearing how she died, and even attending the funeral for those lost during the fifteen years of Lucifer's rule, he didn't do anything. He couldn't.

"Was there really no other choice, Twilight?" Discord asked, hoping the gem would talk back and tell him the answer he sought. He looked up at the windows, staring more at Fluttershy's image. "After all this madness had ended, I actually looked through every single tome that was still readable, finding any other option that was available...But, being as smart as you were, you really did your homework.........There was no other way...And you knew it would have been both a happy and sad ending: happy for the world, free from being destroyed by a monster...depressing for those you and your son held close, forcing him to suffer losses you didn't intend to give him..."

Discord was unaware of someone watching him after putting Emerald and her two friends to bed and following him. Twilight could sense the draconequus's sorrow, sighing sadly at the result of her solution. She truly wished there was a better way and regretted not knowing beforehand that who she saw that would save everyone was her own son. Maybe if things were different back then with Celestia's relationship with Lucifer, things wouldn't have escalated so badly back then.

"Fluttershy misses you too, Discord," Twilight said, even though he couldn't see or hear her, lowering her head in sadness. "I'm sorry..."

"...Well, I don't think there was anything you could do against somepony that powerful." Twilight lifted her head up, Discord still staring at the window with the letter and crystal having disappeared into whatever dimensional space he created to store any normal objects. He didn't shatter the crystal or rip the letter, just staring at the window with a solemn look. "Even Solaris had some trouble with the added armor, most of it destroyed in the fight. He truly was a ray of hope for all of Equestria...At least you girls left your legacies behind with your children." He snapped his fingers, making a photo appear in his paw. On the picture were the Mane Six's children, all of them fully grown as adults, a majority of them looking similarly to their mothers in some way. "The Elements of Harmony will still live on, Equestria and the world is at peace, and things seem to be returning back to normal just like the good old days...

"Wherever you are up there, Twilight Sparkle, you stopped another threat, even if it was fifteen years too late." Discord made a picture book appear in front of him, flipping through memorable images he snapped with his mind of the past few years, continuing walking through the castle as he reminisced. "And your granddaughter looks like you too. Let's just hope she doesn't become a crazy bookworm like yourself during school."

The alicorn smirked and rolled her eyes, Discord making fun of her still whether it was behind her back or not. "I'll just take that as a 'thank you'...but it was all Solaris's hard work in the end. He fought, despite the pain I made him go through, and he won."

Twilight disappeared in a flash of lavender light, heading back to Emerald to continue watching over her. Discord's ears perked up and he looked behind him, thinking he saw something flash down the corridor. Seeing no sign of anything, the draconequus shrugged his shoulders, brushing it off as he might actually be going senile, or not, looking through more pictures.

The weekend came and went as Sunday evening came around, Solaris and Trill walking through the castle, the changeling mare sighing in relief. "Thank goodness that boring weekend long meeting is over! I don't know how you can deal with all those boring sessions for the last decade with some of the most annoying ponies!"

"Maybe if you did this along with me, you wouldn't be complaining," Solaris chided, Trill giving him a pout as she bumped her flank into his. "Now, where the hay are Discord and the kids?"

The two parents heard blast come from behind a door in the hall they walked down, both looking at each other with worry, wondering what had just happened. Luckily, that door was close by, Solaris opened the door, only for him and Trill to gape in confusion at what they were seeing. Inside Discord's crazy dimensional realm, they spotted Discord in a shogun outfit, wielding a large katana that was comically bigger than a normal one, and facing him were Emerald, Virtuo, and Melody, all three of them wearing differently colored ninja outfits, leaping around on trampolines placed everywhere in the rural looking setting, holding wooden daggers as they leapt around the area. They made a bunch of yells and screeches as they attacked or defended, both adults watching a terribly made far eastern ninja movie.

"Ha ha! Foolish foals!" Discord said, his mouth moving but not matching what he spoke as if he was actually speaking in another language. "You can not beat me, the Chaos Shogun of the Insane! My blade deflects all slays when it wants to!...Wait, that is bad for me if I can not attack foals under the age of ten!" As the draconequus was about to let out a battle cry, he noticed Solaris and Trill staring at them with utter confusion, dropping the random mouth movements as he talked normally. "Oh. Looks like mom and dad are home."

The foals stopped bouncing and looked at the doorway, Emerald taking off her green mask and waved at her parents. "Hi, mommy! Hi, daddy!"

"...Uhhhhhh...What is going on here???" Solaris asked, both seeking answers and not wanting to know them to avoid a migraine.

"We're playing 'Ninjas'! Unca Discord's the evil bad guy who rules the kingdom of Neighpan, and we're trying to stop him!" Emerald explained as she began bouncing on the trampoline floor. "Wanna play!?"

"...As fun as that is, and also dangerous, it's starting to get late. That means your friends are going to have to go back home to get ready for school tomorrow." The two fillies and colt groaned in disappointment as their fun ended too soon. They made their way over to the door and back inside the castle, their ninja outfits disappearing as they left. Trill escorted Virtuo and Melody back to their homes, but as Discord stepped out with his outfit off, Solaris stuck his hoof out in front of him. "You made a chaotic realm in the castle without my consent, Discord?"

"What? It's not like that's a bad thing. It's contained, and all four of us have had a blast this weekend." Solaris leered at Discord, then looked down at Emerald as she held a big grin in agreement, then back at Discord.

"Was there anything dangerous in there?" he asked. "And is that going to be permanent? I don't want maids to randomly walk in there and get lost in...whatever plane of existence that is."

"Completely harmless and only temporary for this weekend." Discord snapped his fingers, the chaotic realm returning back to a normal bedroom. "Unless, somepony wants me to foalsit again to have more fun with the Lord of Chaos, then I could leave it open to a certain world a certain filly would certainly like."

Emerald gasped and grinned, but her daddy clearly did not want that. "No, Discord. But next time you decide to create a gateway to your world, tell me about it first. I don't know what crazy things you can come with, and there are an infinite number of things you can make."

"Infinity plus one, actually." Solaris groaned in annoyance as Discord poked his snout with a talon. "Alright. Next time I'm offered to foalsit, I'll tell you if I make a portal to my domain. But, honestly, I left in all the fun and best places to be in, and nopony can resist Ninja Land!"

"Yes. Who can?" the alicorn said sarcastically. "Thank you for watching the kids, and if we need you again, and that's a big IF, then I'll call you again."

"Wonderful! We'll continue our little game at a later date!" Discord leaned down and ruffled Emerald's mane, the filly giggling happily. "So long, Emmy! Until next time. Or on holidays or birthdays. Whenever I'm over for a visit. Au revoir!"

"Bye, Unca Discord!" Emerald said, the draconequus teleporting away to help others or bring a little chaos to a dull city or town. "Daddy, can Unca Discord foalsit for me again!?"

"I'll...think about it," Solaris said, nudging his daughter forward. "Now, let's get something to eat, then a bath and right into bed. You got school tomorrow."

"Aww. Ok, daddy." Emerald began making her way to the dining room to eat, skipping happily from all the fun she had from her favorite draconequus uncle.

Before Solaris hurried after her, he slowly opened the door to where Discord had created his chaotic void, thankful to see it back to the way it was supposed to be. "Ok, good. I don't want too much chaos around here." He shuddered at the last time he experienced a bit too much chaos magic to his liking with the Discord pendant he had before Lucifer shattered it. "I'll take the cotton candy clouds and chocolate milk rain over...everything in there. Or that window with that...thing sitting there..."

Not wanting to delve further into his first and thankfully only glimpse beyond what he could comprehend, Solaris made his way down the hall to catch up with Emerald to get her fed and be sure she went to bed on time. Next time he had an important event or meeting to attend that he was aware of, he needed to get a hold of his Aunt Cadence so she can finally watch over her and stop pestering him like a whiny foal asking when she can foalsit for her. Maybe she could even bring Flurry along since those two were close whenever they came to visit.