25 Elements of Insanity - Chapter 19 Meeting Discord

Midnight and her friends were walking through the Everfree Forest as the dark moon shone down. They were told that the legendary draconequus himself lived in the deepest, darkest cave with the Everfree Forest. Very little ponies knew whether or not he was still alive, but Midnight knew the only way they'd find out is if they looked for themselves.

"It would be much more helpful if we knew exactly where we were going." Cookie said with a hint of sarcasm. 

"Got any better ideas?" Midnight asked.

"Yeah. How about we barge into the castle and whoop their flanks ourselves?"

"We're trying to save Equestria, not commit suicide."

"Well it's much better than this stupid idea. We don't even know if this thing exists."

"Uh, girls?" Lucky said, trying to butt in.

"Complaining isn't gonna help us find this cave." 

"Neither is walking around in circles!"

"Girls?"

"Well at least I'm trying to do something about this! You've been doing a lot of barking and not enough biting!" 

"Maybe I'd do more biting if we fought those tyrants straight on!" 

"GIRLS!"

They turned to look at Lucky, the friend who interrupted their argument. 

"Two things. One, where is Spike? And two, what are those?" Lucky said in worry, pointing to a direction behind them. 

They turned and heard low growling, gasping at pairs of glowing eyes. They backed away as the creatures in the dark slowly walked closer.

"Timber wolves." Midnight said. "Run!"

The three maresturned and, without hesitation, ran frantically through the forest. The timber wolves snarled and chased after them, predator and prey having a showdown. The girls ran for dear life, not caring where they were running as long as it was away from the wolves who were chasing their tails.

Suddenly, a branch smacked Cookie hard in the face, knocking her down. Midnight and Lucky skidded to a stop and rushed back, helping her up quickly.

"Hurry!" Lucky said.

They continued running, the timber wolves now much closer now due to Cookie's slip. They panted, hoping their stamina was higher than the wolves.

"We need to find somewhere to hide!" Midnight said.

"There is nowhere to hide! We have to outrun them!" Cookie said. 

"Right now is not the time to argue with me, Cookie!"

They jumped over obstacles such as large rocks, branches and logs on the ground and kept dashing through the forest.

"I don't know if we can keep this up much longer!" Lucky said.

The three mares skidded to a stop when they found themselves in front of a large boulder their path. 

"Dead end!" Lucky said. 

They turned around and gasped, seeing a dozen timber wolves slowly closing in on them, growling. They backed into the large boulder that so happened to be in their way of escaping, each trying desperately to think of a plan. Cookie threw a few rocks at them which managed to hit one of the timber wolves, making it yelp, but instead of scaring them away like she hoped, this only made them angrier. 

They gulped, eyes widening and hearts pounding. 

"I-I'm not ready to die, Midnight…" Lucky said, her eyes teared up.

"Don't worry, Lucky. It'll be okay." She said, hoping to reassure her friend but knew everything was not okay right now. 

The three huddled up together, slowly beginning to accept their fate as the wolves were now inches away from them, growling and snarling, revealing their deadly and dangerous canine teeth. But out of nowhere, one of the wolves was lifted up and tossed aside by a strange invisible force. The wolves stopped and turned.

Standing there was the master of chaos himself, smirking mischievously. 

"My my my, what a show!" Discord said. "Unfortunately, we're going to have to end this show a little early." 

The timber wolves looked at each other with a hint of confusion then growled at Discord and slowly walked towards him. He playfully gasped.

"Oh no, I'm shaking!"

He snapped his fingers. The timber wolves all turned into small baby timber wolves, growling and yapping at Discord with a high-pitched tone. 

"Awe, how cute ~" He said, throwing one a mini bone.

The three mares stood there and watched in shock, speechless. After having a little fun with the now miniature timber wolves, Discord looked up at the girls.

"Why hello there! I didn't even notice you three." He said sarcastically. 

They didn't respond, but instead kept staring at his physical features. Lucky then leaned over and whispered to Midnight and Cookie.

"Is that…?" 

"Discord…" Midnight finished.

Discord laughed.

"Oh, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. As you all may know, I am Discord, the master of chaos!"

He teleported behind them, making them gasp.

"And you must be…"

He pointed at Lucky.

"Lucky Foot-"

He pointed at Cookie.

"Creamy Cookie-"

He lastly pointed at Midnight, smirking. 

"And lastly, precious little Midnight ~"

Their eyes widened.

"H-How did you know our name?" Lucky asked. 

"Oh, just a lucky guess ~"

He examined them. 

"And I heard you were looking for me."

Midnight snapped back to reality.

"Oh, yes! Yes, actually we are! You see, we need your help with...what are you doing?"

Midnight raided a brow, watching him eat a large bowl of Everfree tree leaves with a fork. He stopped and looked at them.

"Oh sorry, how rude of me."

He tossed the bowl aside. 

"Please continue."

Midnight stared for a second.

"Right...so uh, anyway, you see we have a plan to take down the Elements of Insanity, but we - Hey!"

Midnight blushed darkly when Discord lifted her up and examined her.

"Hmmm, you look familiar." Discord said.

"Uh, mind putting me down?" Midnight said, now becoming agitated.

"Oh, whoops ~"

Discord dropped her.

"Oof-!"

She landed on her stomach and groaned. Her friends helped her up. They glanced at Discord, Midnight's glare the deepest.

"Sorry Midnight, it's just hard for me to take you seriously, or anyone seriously for that matter." Discord said in a playful manner.

"Clearly." Cookie said.

"Awe, come on. Why the frowny faces? Besides, what's the fun in making sense?"

Discord teased them while flying over them.

"What's the matter, hmmm ~"

Her magically grew four more hands and lifted their cheeks playfully, forcing a smile on their faces.

"Loosen up!"

He laughed then released them. They growled.

"We're not messing around here!" Cookie said.

"But I am ~" Discord said.

"Well then stop messing around!" Lucky said.

"I can't help it. I guess I'm just…"

He magically made all his body parts scatter across the floor. 

"Messy!" 

He laughed and transformed back into his normal form, clutching his stomach and kicking with laughter at his own silliness. But the three mares were not laughing. Finally, after tolerating Discord's ridiculousness long enough, Midnight stomped her hoof.

"ENOUGH!" 

Discord went silent and looked at the angry gray mare in front of him.

"I've had it with you! If I knew I was looking for some child I would've asked a filly to help us with this quest! We are trying to win our land over and return peace back Celestia damn it and all you care about are some stupid jokes and silly pranks!" Midnight said angrily.

Discord put his hands up in defense. 

"Geez, calm down misses hostile." Discord said.

"No! You either help us or don't! Now what's it gonna be?"

Discord thought, staring off into space and stroking his chin before turning his attention back to the girls.

"What's in it for me?" Discord asked.

"Uh, freedom from the biggest, cruelest tyrants in all of Equestria?" Cookie said.

Discord scoffed. 

"Oh please, they don't scare me. Although they definitely are cruel...Nonetheless, I can live with being in the Everfree Forest the rest of my life. You'll have to think of something else." 

Midnight sighed.

"Alright, um...how about your own land where you can wreak chaos whenever you want, as long as it's in your territory?" Midnight said. 

"Hmmm, tempting, tempting. What else do you got?"

"How about friends?"  

They all went silent. Discord looked over at the white coated mare and got close to her face. 

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Well, it's just...it must be lonely being here all by yourself. And with the Elements of Insanity around, practically everyone is lonely…" Lucky said. "If we get rid of them...we could actually have ponies and other creatures to communicate and bond with. Somepony to comfort and comfort us. Somepony to talk to and spend time with. Somepony to love and be loved by. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"..."

Discord was silent. The draconequus was never really the best at friendship, and was actually known for destroying friendships. But he had to admit, it did get lonely after the Elements of Insanity took over. He missed toying with Princess Celestia and Luna, and he missed the good old days when he could get away with mischievous acts. Nowadays, mischievous and pranks were the very least of everypony's problems, and with the dark horrible deeds going around in Equestria, nopony was in any mood for pranks. 

Discord finally made a decision and looked over at the three friends. 

"Meet me in my cave. We need a plan." 

Discontinued