The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 1: Peculiarity

She was the only one that ever treated me like some kind of being that had emotions. That I was a living, breathing creature with thoughts and feelings. She was the first one to treat me this way, anyway. Of course, most would look at me, and find me hideous.

I don’t blame them. I am pretty grotesque. But, surely it doesn’t mean I’m unworthy of the love and affection of another sentient being?

There was the first girl I ever loved. This girl was absolutely beautiful. She was intelligent, kind, smart, funny, and gorgeous. Everything anyone could ask for. She was impeccable, no one was like her.  I got her a bouquet.

When I approached her, the look of dread on her face told me already how she would react. But, like a fool, and convinced I could sway her otherwise, I persisted. I walked up to her, I approached her, I smiled and I gave them to her.

She was stunned, her eyes large as dinner plates and her jaw hanging open as she stared at me. The moment I opened my mouth, intending to break the awkward silence that had taken over the atmosphere. Then I saw her expression melt.

Her face turned into an illustration of pure, utter disgust. She thrust the roses at my feet, making a point to stamp on them once. “No.” She said simply.

In that moment, my heart became shattered. I couldn’t speak. Tears came to my eyes as she turned around to walk away. I managed to choke out a quiet, “B-but… wh-why!?”

She was snickering as suppressed by her long, flowing hair that now partially covered her face. In what mimicked pure rage, she growled. “You’re so… discordant. Messy. Not to mention, hideous. You’re a monster.” With that remark, she turned around and walked away, her head lifted into the air.

I could barely process what had just happened. Thankfully, no one was around, and even if she was still watching, I no longer cared. I broke down in tears. I was in love with her. Couldn’t she see that? Couldn’t she see I’d treat her like the princess, nay, the QUEEN that she was!?

My sadness slowly began to melt away and turn into hate as thoughts rushed through my mind. Discordant? Hideous? I’d show her discordant and hideous. She had called me a monster. She had treated me like one.

And, so, I became one.

I wreaked havoc upon the precious, delicious little hometown of her. I ruined it; I would ruin her. I hated her for what she had done to me; I despised her with every atom and particle of my very being. I would not rest until I had murdered her in cold blood with my own hands.

One day, I found her again. It took a long time. Causing pandemonium everywhere I went, every path I crossed was destroyed or broken into so many tiny fragments that they would be unidentifiable at this point.  

And she scorned me again. She called me a monster, again. She called me a devil. I rushed toward her and found myself surrounded. A flash of light, and I could no longer move.

“Hey! Dad’s doing something cool!” A young filly called from the nearby window, her nose pressed up against the glass.

At that, the poofy haired pony swung her head around to glance out the window of Sugar Cube Corner to watch a chimera outside, floating trees around with some kind of unseen magic, and replanting them like some sort of strange, sadistic dental procedure.

“That’s Dad, alright~” The pink party pony glanced down at the smaller, brightly coloured earth pony with equally bright mechanical wings. The smaller pony was decidedly neon, with a bright green and yellow mane, red and purple tail, a red body with blue zebra stripes, dark blue horns twisting out of her head, and freckles dotting her face.

“Come on! We need to finish these before the client comes to pick them up~ All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix!~”

The younger pony grinned and continued, “Now you’ve got to take a little something sweet, not sour. A bit of salt, just a pinch!”

The two ponies waltzed around the kitchen, snatching ingredients for cupcakes and throwing them together at record speeds. The ingredients were in unequivocally strange places. A hatch in the ceiling, inside a chair, or in the oven. By the time the cupcakes were actually physically in the oven and they had finished the song, the younger was sweating slightly.

She paused for a moment to examine her surroundings. The house was unambiguously strange, with colourful, checkered, striped, and spotted walls with murals of tornados, cupcakes, and various random items such as chairs, pens, lamps, water bottles. Several of the chairs in the house were hovering upside-down, kept like that by some unseen force. There was a staircase that ran upside-down, toward the ceiling. She plopped down into one of the upside-down chairs.

It was then that the chimera walked in. He seemed to be a long, mishmash of any animal imaginable, attached to a long, thin body. “Pinkie Pie, you’ll never guess what I did to this flower! It’s marve- Ooooh, looks like you finally got up. Disorderly dreams, I hope?” With that, the young pony hybrid made a quick attempt to buck at the creature, unfortunately missing him. He chuckled.

“Ah, try twisting your legs more. Then we can work on doing it upside down.” He grinned toothily.

Pinkie Pie hopped over, examining the flower behind his back. “What? What is it, Discord?~”

Discord slowly pulled what looked like a perfectly blossomed rose, coloured and rippled tie-dye out from behind his back, smirking and handing it to Pinkie, whose face lit up. “AWWWW!”

“It used to be a dandelion. I spiced it up.” He explained briefly.

“Bleh. Romance. I’ll stick to myself for now, thanks.” She grumbled to her parents.

Discord shrugged. “Suit yourrseelff.” He grumbled, grabbing a glass and filling it with water, quickly drinking the glass and throwing the water in the trash.

“I still don’t understand that, Cordy~” Pinkie sang.

“I do!” Candied Chaos barked quickly, doing the same, as Discord adjusted many of the pieces of décor in the house to make them slightly more interesting. A change in pattern, perhaps, or some more things upside down or sideways.

“Understand what?” Discord seemed bewildered, cocking an eyebrow at Pinkie Pie.

“… Never mind. Anyway, we made cupcakes!”

“Of course! I heard the song outside, positively turbulent!”

Pinkie nodded. “Yep!” She murmured, placing the rose in a vase. Discord leaned forward, kissing her briefly.

Chaos made a gagging noise. “Eaugh.”

Discord glanced up. “I’ll remember that when you want to get married to some normal pony.”

Chaos only laughed. “Riiight. Because I find normal ponies SO appealing!”

I was alone. Alone for a long time. Silence. Eventually, tour guides came and went, saying I was some kind of memorial, I represented something. It changed every time. I’ve seen so many fillies and colts that they blur together.

At some point, I became free. I was free. Now to get my revenge. I zipped off to get what I deserved. To give Celestia what she deserved. Representing myself in the stained glass, I spoke to her six little bodyguards. I decided to have some fun with them.

Turn them into the opposite of their elements of harmony. Perfect. That was when I first met her. At first, all I really felt was scorn. She was just another filly. I didn’t care for her any more than I cared for the others. I almost got back at Celestia. I came very, very close to ruining her kingdom.

They came for me. They sealed me away again, and threw me into some dark, damp cave. Intending to keep me there forever. Away from the public, they said. I was evil, they said. I was terrible, they said. I was ugly, they said.

I was a monster, they said.

I would come free again some way, somehow. I’d do it. I really, truly would. And I fully intended to. As I sat there, waiting in the damp, frigid air, I suddenly saw a speck of light and one of the most beautiful sounds, to this day I’ve ever heard. A quiet half hummed, half sung song.

“All you have to do is take a cup of flower, add it to the mix!

Then you gotta add something sweet, not sour—a bit of salt, just a pinch!

Baking these treats is such a cinch, add a teaspoon of vanilla!

Add a little more, and you count to four, and you never get your fill-a!

Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty!

Cupcakes, don’t be too hasty!

Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes!”

Outraged, I waited until whatever creature it was came before me. It was the filly. The pink one. The one who liked parties and laughed all the time.

“You should get to bed, wouldn’t want to have normal dreams. Or worse, normal dreams at all…” Discord murmured to his daughter, nudging her neck toward her bedroom. “We can have an EXTRA crazy day tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to.” Candied Chaos grumbled, shuffling her feet and keeping herself. “I’m not tired.”

“You’re being sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo” Pinkie Pie paused to take a breath. “oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo” Another breathed. “Disobedient! I think I’m getting a twitch!” Pinkie’s tail began to twitch. “If you don’t go to bed RIGHT NOW… The monsters are gonna get you!”

Candied Chaos only glanced over her shoulder and snorted. “Cotton candy clouds would rain chocolate before that happens.”

She watched her parents exchange a glance, and Pinkie began laughing hysterically before straightening and coughing. “Uh, young lady! You, err, should, um, go to bed.”

“Ahh, how I do love turmoil.” Discord mumbled contentedly to himself, though, with an ireful glance from Pinkie, he straightened. “Ah, go to bed.”

“Fine.” She grumbled, turning trotting up the upside-down staircase, though her pace was mockingly slow as she whinnied into her room.

When he was sure that his daughter was gone, Discord turned to Pinkie Pie, chuckling. “At least you didn’t have to sing the song again. I might have to remix it.”

“Which one? I have lots of songs!”

I  was unsure how to react at first. I suppose I couldn’t react either way. Perplexed by her sudden appearance, she stopped before me and set the lantern in front of her. “Hi.” She said quietly. The blue eyed pony hung her head.

“Sorry.” She mumbled, shuffling her feet. “I don’t think you’re really a super bad guy! I think you’re just mad!”

How dare she!? The foal stumbled in here, singing some sort of song about cupcakes and told him she was sorry. Sorry for what? Sorry for turning me into STONE? For damning me to an eternity in the darkness of this horrible cave?

“… I think someone was just mean to you. No one’s really bad on the inside. Even Nightmare Moon wasn’t just bad, she was just jealous…”

Pinkie inched toward the stone figure, rubbing her head against his leg. “I think I’m right. Someone didn’t like a party you threw! Or someone didn’t throw you a party. Should I throw you a party?”

The pink pony glanced up at him, forever frozen in the fearful, terrified pose. Discord desperately wanted to nod. Damn Celestia! Damn her and her arrogance!

Had he been able to move, a tear would have fallen from one of his eyes. He was so desperately in love with her. He had been. He wanted desperately for her to love him. No more did he bother.

“… You should, uh, visit your friends.” Discord suddenly muttered.

Pinkie paused. “Whaa?”

“Your friends. The other elements. Have a crazy party or something. Play some songs backwards, dance on the ceiling.” He mumbled thoughtfully, half to himself.

“… They all moved away, I can’t! I have other friends now. Apple Jack is still in Ponyville! I’m happy with you and Candied Chaos!”

“AppleJack is all the way over in her estate, which happens to be quite bland for my tastes.”

Discord suddenly stopped. “What about Chaos?” He blinked for a minute, “Her life is going to be pretty boring, even for such a damper little town like this, if she doesn’t meet any ponies!”

Pinkie blinked. “She doesn’t have her cutie mark, though! She’ll be made fun of, I knew these three fillies when I was younger who spent all their time trying to find their cutie marks! All the fillies and colts her age have them. You know about the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“She’s half chimera, we have no idea if she ever will get one. Hell, she has chaos in her name. We never know what to expect. That’s what makes every day exciting, I suppose.”

“I…” Pinkie sighed. “I think you’re good!” With that, I would watch, half in interest and half in anticipation, as she began to pull something out of the bag she had brought along. It was a necklace. It wasn’t until she was putting it on that I could fully see what it was that she had around her neck. It was the Element of Laugher.

It took some extra effort for Pinkie to get me back to my chaotic self. A flash of light here, a burst of sparks there, but at one point, her eyes opened, glowing brightly, and the layer of stone around me shattered, leaving nothing but me, darkness swirling around me and beginning to swallow me up.

I woke up a long time later, seemingly hours, with a small pink filly sleeping next to me, the element still around her neck. I must have been out for a while.

I did consider leaving. But, in the end, I decided to stay, at least until she woke up if nothing more than to make sure that she would be okay. Hours passed, until she finally woke up and looked up at me. “You’re okay! And Equestria isn’t all uppy sidey downy!”

Sometime, perhaps, in that moment did I decide that I may be content just like that. To stay with Pinkie Pie. Of course, we talked of the consequences of bringing me back to Ponyville, and we talked of me having to live far, far away. In the end, I did something I would have never considered, and it was all because I realized I wanted to stay with the poofy haired party pony.

I swallowed my pride, bowed before Celestia, and gave her my sincerest apology and promise that I would, never again, cause trouble to Equestria, or I should be smited before her. She looked down upon me with scorn, of course.

I didn’t care. Time passed, Pinkie Pie let me stay with her, and I grew to love Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie Pie’s spontaneity and momentary insanity.

At this point, the original owners of Sugarcube Corner, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, had long since been gone to fulfill their lifelong dreams to create the world’s largest gummy bear, which would stand at over 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide. They had left it to Pinkie.

I grew to love Pinkie Pie. I was happy with her. She was bright, bubbly, and if fizzy is a proper adjective to describe a pony, then she was fizzy. In my eyes, she was positively perfect and I’d have no one else.

My own fear kept me back. What if she was like Celestia and didn’t care for me back? What if she looked at me and thought that I was some ugly fiend, some hideous monster? That I was just another ugly chimera?

The moment was spontaneous. In an attempt to teach me to bake, she looked over, grinned, and mumbled, “I love you, Cordy~!”

That was the first time in my life I’d ever heard those words being said back to me. I’d dreamed of the moment, I’d thought about it. I never thought I’d ever had it. And it was the first time I cried. This was the first, directly kind thing I’d ever had said to me. By a pony, one of Celestia’s subjects!

It took a few months for me to fully grasp where I was in life. Time passed. Going down the roads to go pick up some sugar or candy or flour or whatever odds and ends Pinkie requested, I’d get strange stares, whispers, looks.

It was Discord. The evil chimera that tried to kill Celestia. The evil guy who turned everyone into their opposites. The guy that loves chaos.

But, no. It didn’t matter anymore. I had Pinkie Pie. She loved me. She really did, because I could see it in her eyes. This didn’t stop me from the initial worry that she may be lying because she felt bad for me. But as time passed, I saw the truth.

Pinkie Pie’s friends, of course, were worried. They were downright concerned when I had first come back to Ponyville with her, sheepishly looking around and terrified of the judgmental stares I would receive.

That Sparkle girl, in particular, was suspicious. I overheard her expressing concern to Pinkie. She didn’t like me. Sure, her friendship with Pinkie didn’t really suffer. But she despised me. Oh, did she hate me. I could see it in her eyes. I read her like those books she loved so much.

The apple one, what was her name? … Apple Jack. She was openminded. One day, she pulled me to the side and simply told me, “Ah ahprecciate ya takin’ care of Pinkie, Discord. But don’t ya think that if ya lay a finger on her the other four of us won’t be turnin’ ya back to stone faster than a jackrabbit runs. Ya hear?”

I had smiled, finding it almost funny. “Never, my dear Apple Jack, would the thought cross my mind.”

The farmpony had grinned. “Then ya have mah blessin’.” And removed her hat, pressing it to her chest and nodding, before replacing her hat and turning.

I liked her. She trusted me. The first one of them to trust me, aside from Pinkie Pie herself.

Sparkle hated me, and the feeling was mutual. She tried to be nice to me, though it was awkward. She distrusted me, and I could see the hatred in her eyes. Though she tried hard not to be angry with Pinkie, it seemed almost as though she had a grudge. I wouldn’t blame her. They worked rather hard to seal me away. It wasn’t worth trying to apologize or talk to Twilight Sparkle about.

I rarely talked to Fluttershy, she seemed much too quiet. Though when we did speak, she was courteous to me. That was to be expected, after having to manually reverse her personality. Rarity seemed uncaring though judgmental due to my appearance, constantly insisting I could get a makeover, but Pinkie would push her off and laugh, saying she thought my ‘freakiness’ was cute. Ah, well. Pinkie’s opinion solely mattered.

Rainbow Dash was very suspicious of my relations with Pinkie Pie, at first. Seldom did she speak to me, and it took several weeks before finally, she pushed me to the side, raised an eyebrow, and paused. “… Ya know, Discord…” She grumbled. “I’m stubborn, but I think I was wrong about you… I think maybe you’re an okay guy.”

Unfortunately, the friends began to drift as the years moved on. Neither Pinkie nor I had talked to them since Candied Chaos was born, they moved away, all to different places, scattering across Equestria. From what we had heard, Applejack was still in Sweet Apple Acres, though everyone else had moved to different areas. Including three of the pony’s little sisters. It seemed sad to me.

A group that had so often had so much in common and had loved each other, now broken apart. They moved past their childish dreams and lived their lives. I seemed to be the only one that saw something wrong with the picture, because Pinkie seemed perfectly content.

I just had to wonder if someone was wrong with me.

Everything was far too harmonious in Equestria. But, what could be wrong?

I suppose I’m the only one that hates harmony.

Image credit to irkenvampyer777 from DeviantART. Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Rebellion Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 38 Minutes