The clopping of tiny hooves reverberated through the halls as the young filly stopped by a doorway and peeked inside to see if the coast was clear. Nopony was there. Good. The filly tip-hoofed past the doorway and continued her trotting. There was almost nothing that could stop her as she bounded down the hallways to complete her mission. Not her aunt, not her mother and especially not her father. She giggled and fluttered her tiny wings in glee. She was now so close now to make it! She saw the door into her room wide-open. She prepared to use her magic to slam the door shut behind her, but to her horror, a goldish-grey stallion which she could recognize everywhere positioned himself in front of the door. She planted her flanks to the floor and skidded to a halt, ending up just in front her father. The stallion harrumphed and reached out with his right forehoof and flicked it twice. The filly pouted and crossed her forelegs in protest.

’‘Era...’’ Discord wasn’t exactly in a mood to play around, as he had been chasing the filly through the entire castle most of the day, as she had visited the castle kitchen and claimed some confections for her own. Before dinner. The filly made a puppy-dog look and stuck out her lower lip and making it quiver.

’‘But daaad~!’’ She tried to argue with the spirit, who just smiled and shook his head. The filly’s forelegs crossed once more as she huffed and turned away. Discord bent down and nudged her daughters back softly.

’‘You know that that look only works on the servants, your aunt and mother. It doesn’t work on me, remember?’’ He laughed as the filly smiled sheepishly and tried to look the other way than on her father. ’‘Now, the jig is up. Hand it over.’’ His expression sat in determination as he reached out once again with his right forehoof.

The filly shuffled awkwardly and cast glances on her father’s stretched hoof from time to time. She slumped her shoulders and sighed as her horn started glowing. Celestia and Luna had trained her from young age to be skilled with her magic. Even Twilight Sparkle had helped her from time to time with some spells. A null-space appeared in front of the filly, and out levitated a small tin box. The null-space pocket closed almost immediately after. She levitated the tin box to her father’s waiting hoof, who withdrew the hoof and placed the box on his back. ’‘There.’’ She huffed. She certainly had inherited some aspects of her father’s behaviour...

Discord grinned and started trotting down the hall, with Era following close behind. They had decided to name her that, as her birth pin-pointed the beginning of a new era. Era fluttered up on her father’s head and sat down with her tiny wings spread in full display. Discord chuckled as Era started telling him to go faster, but he ignored her calls for speed and continued in the same pace as before. ’‘You know that you shouldn’t run around in the castle like that. Remember when you got lost?’’ He chastized the filly on his head.

’‘But when that happened, I was little!’’ She protested in a squeaky voice, which cracked just before the sentence was finished. She pouted and laid her ears back. ’‘I’m a big filly...’’

’‘That happened two months ago, just before your birthday. Besides, you’re always gonna be little from my point of view.’’ Discord laughed as Era tried to bite his ear, who just flicked away from the filly. ’‘You’re just five years old, after all...’’ He smirked.

’’Oh yeah?’’ She said challenging. ’‘How old are you then?!’’ She grinned.

’’Oh well, I’m only Three thousand seven-hundred forty eight.’’ He smirked as the filly’s jaw dropped. ’‘It’s not a big difference, but you know, I still look good even with my age.’’ The filly snickered and punched her father playfully. They passed some servants, and all of them just rolled their eyes and smiled. It was a common sight in the castle to see the spirit walking with his daughter, as Princess Luna still had duties that needed to be tended to and her sister couldn’t do it all on her own. Era nuzzled her father’s head as he started trotting a little faster.

Princess Luna sighed and rubbed her hooves to her temples as she sat on her throne next to her sister. Today had been a stressful day, with arguing nobles and irritating Diamond Dog dignitaries roaming the court and trying to buy more space for their caves, but Luna and Celestia had been unmovable during the conversation with the dogs. They couldn’t move any further into Equestria, as then the ponies would protest and throw massive fits over one single thing.

Luna cast tired eyes to her sister, who seemed to be just as exhausted as herself. They weren’t finished with their duties yet. Oh no, they still had to go through the economy with some members of the court. It didn’t help her situation that she had gotten to know that Era had went on another adventure through the castle. Goodness knows that filly could get into trouble just as easily as her father... But she at least knew when she had crossed the line, unless her father aided in her antics time to time. Discord still had his own fun with the castle servants, guards and the occasional diplomat temporarily residing in the castle.

But Discord took great care of Era when she was working, as he taught her some of the magic he knew just by telling her how to do it, and not showing her how. He had also taken it to himself to teach her how to fly. Her wings hadn’t really grown in yet, but he was still helping her train her wing-muscles so she’d become a strong flier when the time was right. Celestia told the court member closest to her to bring the folders containing the economic reports to them. Luna sighed as she returned to the right mindset to work once more.

But before she could start working again, the doors creaked open, making both of the Princesses and the workers inside to turn their heads toward the doors. Inside sprinted a pale cornflower-blue filly with a short, bouncing navy mane. The filly was grinning from ear to ear during the entire sprint through the room, but as she came to the staircase, she had to slow down and climb it step-by-step. Discord stepped through the doors, but not as enthusiastically as his daughter. He still smiled, though.

’’Hi mommy!’’ The fily chirped and clung to her mother’s neck. ’‘Hiya Auntie Tia!’’ The energetic filly was lifted off Luna by a navy aura and was sat down just in front of the princess of the night.

’‘Hello, dear.’’ Celestia smiled at the filly, who just grinned back. Celestia knew that the filly had been up to something, as she was smiling awfully much in an innocent manner. She winked to the filly knowingly, who rolled her eyes and continued to play as innocent as she could.

’‘Hello to you too, Era. But do you remember what your father and I said about running around on your own in the castle?’’ She looked straight into the eyes of the filly, who just looked down at the floor in front of her and kicked the floor sheepishly.

’’To not to...’’ Era said beneath her breath, while making sure not to look up to meet her mother’s chastizing gaze. Luna nodded and smiled. She was still young and still had much to learn, but one is only in her age once, so she had to learn certain things on her own. Luna placed her left hoof under her daughters chin and lifted it, making Era look up at her.

’‘Good. Now, what kind of trouble have you been putting your father through today?’’ Luna smiled knowingly as the filly started shifting her eyes from side to side nervously. Discord rolled his eyes and sighed. Oh, she had been putting him through some trouble alright... Discord counted silently to ten and smiled.

’‘Nah, she hasn’t been that troublesome...’’ He waved a dismissing hoof and Era nodded in agreement with her father. Discord grabbed the filly by the scruff on her neck and placed her yet again on his head. They had walked back to the castle kitchen and left the box there, and Era had apologized. Discord would normally never apologize, but he had to raise Era properly. If he didn’t, there would be raining hell from Luna’s direction to him.

’’We should get going and leave you ladies to your work.’’ Discord reasoned and Celestia nodded. They really needed to work in order to get this finished by today. Era squeaked her goodbyes as Discord started walking out of the throne room. ’’I have something special to show you today...’’ The spirit said mysteriously as he started walking in the direction of the royal garden. Era squee’d in anticipation, when he said that he had something to show her, it was often something totally awesome!

’‘It’s a statue.’’ Era deadpanned as she looked up at the stone ornament of a creature she had never laid her eyes on. She had been in the garden plenty of times, but she had never actually stopped to look at the statue. The statue looked like some strange animal. It had something that looked like a pony’s head, when the rest of its body was mismatched and funny. It had a lions paw and even a dragon’s tail!

’’It is...’’ Discord said breathlessly as he looked up at the statue which ignited some memories, and a reminder for his predictament. Discord looked away from the statue and sighed. He had to tell her some day, and it was better now than never. ’’Do you know what this creature is called?’’

’’I think mommy said something about draconek... Draco...’’ She furrowed her brow as she tried to think about what she had called it. Her face lit up immediately as she realized what it was called. ’‘Draconequus!’’

Discord smiled down at his daughter, and looked back up at the statue. ’‘The draconequi are a very special race. I should know, as...’’ Discord took a deep breath. ’’As I am technically a draconequus in mind.’’ The filly turned toward him with enormous eyes. She tried to say something, but not a single word came from her mouth. ’’I did many things that should never be done again, and of course, I regret doing many things. What I did back then felt...right for me.’’ Discord felt himself starting to tear up, but Era stood up against his right foreleg and embraced it, all while looking up into his eyes with her own.

’’I was, and still am Discord. The Embodiment of Chaos, Spirit of Disharmony and all-around nutjob.’’ Discord smiled weakly. ’‘But your mother made me see the errors of my ways after I became a pony. Before that, I was imprisoned in a statue. Much like that one.’’ He motioned toward the statue. The filly looked up at the statue in a different perspective, but looked almost immediately back at her father and pressed her head toward his side.

’’B-but you’re a good pony, right? You wouldn’t hurt anypony, right?’’ She asked frantically. Discord sat down, lifted her up and embraced her. The filly held him closer than before.

’’I am a good pony now. And I have never hurt anypony, now or ever.’’ He whispered to her and the filly accepted it. Discord looked away from Era and back up at the statue. It was only a matter of time before he would begin to feel the effect of time on his body, as diseases or illnesses could harm him much more efficientely when he wasn’t an immortal.

’‘Good...’’ The filly nuzzled deeper into his chest and sighed contently. ’‘You’ll always be here for me, right?’’ She looked straight into the spirit’s crimson eyes with her pink orbs. It felt like somepony just stabbed the entire poor spirit’s entity as the filly uttered those words. ’‘You won’t change right..?’’ She whispered with tears in the corners of her eyes. Discord sighed and wiped away the tears with his left hoof.

For a spirit based on deceit, destruction and lies, the next lie had to be told to spare the filly the brutal truth behind what could be Discord’s fall. He nuzzled the filly, who calmed down significantly. He looked straight into the filly’s eyes, and spoke up in an unwavering, strong, certain voice.

’‘I’ll never change.’’

A/N: And there we are! I'll try to write chapter 1 and 2 before posting any of them. Plot progress and all that jazz. Pre-read and edited by frieD195, as usual.