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, and the world became weird and fun–At least to Discord. Ah, what fun indeed!

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 and questioned the puzzle. He needed something that could act independently from himself–Or maybe somepony.

In those days, it was frowned on for Gods to create life from nothing, but deep down that was one of Discord’s secret powers. After all, the primordial soup from which life on Earth was created was nothing but a disharmonious mix of chemicals–And yet here we are as humans, 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. How unfun! 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 bit of his soul filling the clay.

The chocolate milk began to wash away the clay and beneath it was revealed to be something of flesh and blood. A coat of light purple fur and a darker purple mane 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. Gosh, it’s good to be alive!!!

The cloud above her shot lightening 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’s master as she screamed, "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 strangeness. "Thanks daddy!"

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

"REALLY!? Thank you so much daddy!" She was so excited! Exploring 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 more fun though 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 sun shined over the field. The rain was turning rainbow colors too; pretty!

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 looking at it. "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 all cheered and began snacking on their lunch of chocolate milk and cotton candy. They laughed and celebrated until they were exhausted and 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 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, 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 our friends!”

“That’s not how you play!!!”

Another kid bounced up. “Go away! You’re insane!”

The filly whined. 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 the discord’s influence and found three rugged adventurers on their way to help. 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 the 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. Screwball 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. “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 sort of understood that. Ow! Those words hurt a lot. “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 and followed it. 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 from something.

"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 with her hoof 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 kid!" 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 well still clinging to the stone. She pulled with all her might to make the statue fall over but her tiny body couldn't make it 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 and he was lifted into the air by an invisible force.

He gave a yelp of shock before pulling out a whistle from around his neck 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 waved her hands. Suddenly many of the guards found themselves encased in living ice.

“Just have to break this rock!” The filly stared up at the stone, calling all the magic in her body into her. “I’ll call the mightiest thunderbolt to destroy this once and for all!” Dark clouds began appearing above the statue.

The guards spat back. “A demon! She’s a demon!” The guards readied their bows.

The little abomination had that twinkle in her eye as the arrows glinted in the moonlight. “I just wanted to play. I just want my daddy.” She raised 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. Screwball 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... kinda... 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. Screwball didn't know what it was supposed to be.

This was the first creature besides her daddy that had ever been nice to her on her birthday. 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 warn 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 she 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 whined, "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 one arm. "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 it because it reminded her of the foals that had chased her off. Still she didn't have it in her enough 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 adopted son but he's off to live with his big sister in Ponyville. I'm sure you'll meet him soon. You can stay 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 went into the castle and that was that.

###

Screwball’s time at the castle was very boring indeed. The world around them was so ordered and carefully maintained. Celestia and the other guards didn’t seem to like when Screwball would change things, making the whole experience that much more boring. The bottom line was that she was a total outsider with powers that made everyone mad–Just like her dear old dad.

Screwball found herself at her dad’s statue a lot. Even if he was just a statue he was literally the only one that understood what it was like to be different like that. She’d sit by the statue and tell it 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 and look 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”–Things he’d felt when interacting with mortals when he was young. It was all happening again. He wondered if he’d doomed another creature to live the same life over again.

That would definitely be a horrible thing to do–A horrible thing that actually hit too close to home. That feeling stuck with him. It was what later ended up making him wonder if reforming might actually be something he’d be interested in–Anything to be a living breathing thing again! Maybe he could right the wrongs that he’d seen in his youth.

Screwball found herself one day staring up at the statue in the rain. “Hello Daddy.” She was getting all wet and looked miserable. “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, moved from place to place. How dare they tell a demigod what to do. “I wasn’t made to be a statue. I 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 kids 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 kids... While I didn't want to play with then 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. Some part of them wondered if that was just how chaos worked sometimes.

###

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 feel you'll like it."

They came to a big white door. Celestia waved a hoof at it. “Open it; your surprise is on the other side.”

Screwball waved a hoof and the door burst into a cloud of butterflies which opened much like a door normally would. It was the conservatory of the castle, plants and berries in neat planters all around the room. Standing there among the greenery, Discord was waiting. He looked immediately happy on seeing Screwball. “Hello!”

Screwball recognized her father and ran in to hug him. “Daddy!!!” They shared a gentle hug. Screwball looked down unhappily remembering things. “I was sad that you didn’t even give me a name.”

Discord sighed. “Celestia tells me you have the name Screwball now.” He pet her mane gently. “I have been reformed now, thanks to a lovely little pony named Fluttershy."

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

He could confide in her 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 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 her. “You are just right even as odd as you are. 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.

Some part of Screwball felt that was an acceptable answer. She always knew that her daddy was the only one that understood what it was like. Maybe he was right? “Good!” Screwball raised her hooves 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 and waved a hoof and her face jumbled like a Mrs. Potato head. “Look, I’m Picaso!”

Discord snapped his fingers and all of his body parts jumbled up too. “I definitely 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 can 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.

Discord snapped his fingers and they both disappeared in a flash. Celestia rolled her eyes at the mess in the conservatory. “Discord!!!” A hand appeared out of a void then, snapped the conservatory back into an ordered looking place, gave a thumbs up, then disappeared.

###

So, in the end Celestia kept her word. She freed Screwball's daddy but it took her several moons 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. Pah, what a trying concept!

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 she lived there, she learned more about her powers and the world of the chaos dimension. She met the other draconequus there 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.

They weren't even immortal. Well they kinda were but not really. They couldn't die of old age, and were immune to things like disease. Even if they did die of unnatural causes (likely a ponies doing, Screwball was sure), they turned into Wisp like creatures. Other creatures, such as Asgardians and some of the higher born dragon races, could do that to. As Wisp, they were very powerful, but it took a lot of effort to talk and they were vulnerable while doing so. If they tried hard enough. The Wisp could make a physical body around itself and turn it into solid, and quite real, flesh. However it took some effort to learn and many Wisp just took the easy way and merged with an egg to reincarnate themselves.

Draconequus didn't exactly lay eggs... or really had Genders unless they wanted to (but that took a lot of effort and Discord refused to tell Screwball why they would want to do that). Traditionally they reproduced by, well, a lesser version of the ritual that created Screwball. Two Draconequus would pour their magic together and blend it together into an orb that would harden into an egg. The egg had a hard shell but was still filled with energy that slowly shaped itself inside the egg and became flesh.

Sometimes a stray Wisp would merge with the energy in the egg. The extra magic would help it take physical shape and hatch with a flesh and blood body. It was considered good luck to have a Wisp merge with an egg, as the child would be more powerful and generally was better at minding their parents.

However they would be like any other Draconequus child (a "Cute Little Abomination" as Daddy called them) with no memory of their past life. They would slowly remember their other lives as they grew up, but as they were unlocked the children would perceive the memories differently, due to their soul having the added shards of their parents' own life force. While they couldn't remember their parents lives, it still affected their perception of the world and slightly altered their personality.

Draconequus don't even age like mortals. The more powerful they get the older they get, with time having no effect on them. That meant that adult Draconequus kinda... deage a bit as they permanently sacrificed a portion of their magic to create a child, which is why they needed another to help them as creating a child with a sole parent required ALOT of magic. Although to feed the child they only needed to use the excess magic created by their magical pathways. Basically the magic that could replenish itself over time was enough to feed the child... but the child needed to eat a lot of magic so they needed at least two parents.

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

Screwball saw some of the parents feeding their infants out of bottles.

Screwball aged like Draconequus did, by increasing in magical power, and like them it was a slow process. In the decades that passed, she only aged a few months. Which was typical for Draconequus children no longer nursing.

The other Draconequus children looked a lot like pony children... well if you ignore the limbs being random animal parts, but they had the basic body type. Their middle didn't start getting longer until they had enough magic to be considered adults.

Adult Draconequus were all spell casters and archers. 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 then. He tormented them as he did countless other races. He was their god and they were terrified of him–And 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 they treated them.

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 other 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 monsters to them 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 in person, 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, waiting for the ponies to strike.

But long before that, Celestia was kind enough to give her an enchanted book. Whatever she wrote in it 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 planet of Equus marched forward into the future. Even gods face that march of the universe. Except for one. Who, as it would happen, ended up visiting the chaos dimension some time after the coronation of Queen Twilight Sparkle.

The Doctor knocked on the door to Discord’s house. It ended up melting into the ceiling and Discord smiled. “My my! A visitor, and an auspicious one!”

The doctor narrowed his eyes at seeing Discord again for the first time in many moons. “Discord.”

“Come in, come in.” Discord moved aside and walked into his house, he snapped his fingers and made some old clocks appear to float around the house. “You must forgive me, I haven’t had time to clean up.” One of the coo-coo clocks went off and booped the doctor on the nose. “Maybe you could gift me some sometime.”

“I don’t do that.”

“Oh, you’re no fun.” Discord floated by and lounged about. “For a God you certainly don’t like to shake things up.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and huffed. “Can I see your daughter, please?”

Discord sighed. “All business...” He looked to the side knowing that the Doctor was here for a purpose and that he was being a bad host. “Before I call her I wanted to tell you something.”

“Yes…?”

“When I worked at the Q, weighing the integrity of pocket dimensions connected to the universe... Well, I was a very different person back then. I wanted to say–” An alarm clock went off, buzzing and ringing until Discord banged on it until it fell apart into gears and marbles. “Sorry about that. Yes, sorry. Exactly what I wanted to say. I’m sorry about those times.”

“You are?” The Doctor looked a tad shocked before becoming angry, "You're 'sorry' for sentencing TRILLIONS of entire dimension to die! Each with billions of trillions of lifeforms! All DEAD!!!"

"I nevet took part in the deed itself." Discord waved off.

"No you just played the role of judge!" The Doctor glared. "And your still doing it! My counterparts are still at war with your counterparts across the multiverse!!!"

"Where do you think my Draconequus come from?" Discord asked leaning back against a wall that wasn't there a moment ago. "My race is made up of the souls of every creature that died in those dimensions before they were cut off. I save all I can."

"THAT'S NOT ENOUGH!!!"

Discord sighed, "Regardless. I have no control of what my counterparts in those dimensions do. They believe, as I do, that the lose of a few dimensions, already doomed to destruction, is necessary to insure they don't turn cancerous and harm the main body of the universe. Then EVERYONE would die. It might not be pleasant work but it is necessary."

"I thought you said you were sorry." The Doctor dangerously growled.

Discord looked at him, strangely serious, "I'm sorry it's necessary."

The Doctor scuffed.

"I truly am... you still cling to mortal values but I was never mortal. I am a manifestation of chaos itself. I am a fundamental law of the universe given conciousness. My point is. I NEVER had mortal values. I think about the good of the whole... though my friendship with the ponies has caused me to think more about... the individuals needs. Which is why I look after the souls of all the lifeforms that would normally be lost and reincarnate them as my Draconequus."

"And you think that makes everything all right."

Discord waved a hand. "Your young, give it a few trillion years and you'll understand it is more important to look after souls and the Universe herself. Regardless, I believed you wanted to see my daughter,” A rope fell beside Discord and he pulled on it, which made a bizarre farting sound. With a snap Discord disappeared and Screwball appeared.

The Doctor tried to calm himself. Not wanting to take the sins of the father out on the child.

Screwball interrupted the Doctor’s thoughts. “Oh hello. You must be the Doctor?”

The Doctor adopted his goofy grin. “Oh, yes. Hello, I was almost expecting someone else to appear instead of you.”

“That wouldn’t be uncommon around here.” Screwball giggled. A floating pair of crochet needles floated by them, quickly knitting an ugly Yule sweater.

“My daddy respects you, though.”

“Does he?”

Screwball grinned and bounced a but, "He told me all about his work and called you 'a worthy adversary'. He even likes to watch those 'Doctor Who' cartoons with me, and weirdly cheers you on when your trying to save a dimension he's sentenced to doom."

The Doctor frowned, thinking on that. Then forced his goofy grin to return. That was something to consider for later.

“So what can I do for you?” Screwball smiled back, clearly awed to be in the Doctor's presence.

“I’m here to invite you to a school I’m creating.” The Doctor eagerly hopped in place, before looking down at the child, “I know you are struggling with control and while your powers aren't our specialty, I know a think or two about reigning in demigods. You would make a fine addition to my first class of students.”

“A school?” Screwball looked slightly nervous. “You mean with other ponies?”

“Not just ponies but races from all over the Equus system. Even a certain Equus dragon."

“Equus dragons?” Screwball dreamed for a moment. “You mean like Prince Spike?”

“Prince Spike will be in attendance actually.”

Screwball blinked. The fact that she might actually get to see her only friend in the world again, had already settled in her head that she was very interested in attending. However that was more a fantasy, she knew, for the Draconequus filly doubted she could handle being around all those mortals. Even if Spike was there to watch her back.

“But more to the point." The Doctor went on, not realizing the filly already made up her mind, "You’ll be learning magic and academics. The catch is that at the end of the program you’ll be offered the opportunity to be one of the first generation of Equus citizens to leave the system. You’d be able to represent Equus to other space faring races.” Screwball was still off dreaming of meeting her friend. “Obviously the program is voluntary, but you’d be trained to do it if you wanted to.”

Screwball bit her lip, however awesome it would be to see Spike again... she just couldn't. When she was about to say "No thanks"

Discord suddenly appeared behind the Doctor, "I think that is a lovely idea."

The Doctor turned to look at him and Screwball started waving her hooves and shaking her head. However Discord ignored her. "I believe it be good for her."

“Well...I suppose it’s settled then;" the Doctor eyed the Spirit of Chaos, "I’ll just need some signatures and-"

"Why do mortals have to be so bucking obsessed with paperwork." Discord exclaimed, just as another Discord appeared beside Screwball and covered her ears. Glaring at his duplicate for using such horrible language around a child.

Strangely the Doctor could sympathize with Discord over his hatred of paperwork. Even when he was a mortal, himself, he had issues with that. Unfortunately it was necessary for a mortal school. The Doctor sighed, as Discord rambled as if he was talking with an old friend instead of an arch nemesis.