Chaos is a friend of mine.

Pinkie Pie bounced through the maze, tall green scrubs towered over her on all sides as she merrily hopped along. She was whistling to herself, practising as she'd never been the best at it and what pony could resist learning a new way to make music? Might come in handy for a party. Even while battling evil, Pinkie could find time to work on things for parties. They were what she was best at after all.

She rounded the corner and gasped. A large area of the maze which would normally hold a fountain or sculpture was covered in balloons! All were so happy looking, most even had smiley faces on them!

She giggled as she bounced into the wonderful place, "This is the greatest balloon garden I've ever seen! Heehee it's the first balloon garden I've seen – but still! Woah!"

The pink filly tripped, landing into a big pile of mud. A balloon had wrapped itself around her hoof, and the chime of laughter filled the air. Her coat and mane were covered in mud, and that wasn't funny at all.

"Hay, what gives?"

Discord zapped in beside her, shifted into a smaller version of himself. Threading his claw and paw together he began to talk slightly monotone, "What's the matter Pinkie Pie? I thought you appreciated a good laugh."

"It's different, they're laughing at me." She replied, bearing no issue with the Draconequus. Hay, he even danced on Twilight's head in the window pane! He was funny! And what could be wrong with chocolate rain? Causing so much chaos couldn't be good, but he hadn't done anything too bad yet...

"It's hard being different," Discord said, head ducking behind a balloon. He pulled back and his head was gone, his visage now on the balloon. Pinkie Pie shook and stood up as he did so. "Your friends laugh at you all the time."

"My friends laugh with me," She smiled, "Not at me."

"Oh really?" He circled around her in balloon form, almost offending her by his use of the green latex. He spun faster and faster, laughing as her bright blue eyes tried to keep up. The other balloons chimed in, laughing with him. She turned toward the voices, shaking her hoof.

"No, stop it!"

Looking at all the happy faced balloons made her upset, they were laughing at her! They came closer and she grimaced as the latex took on the faces of her friends.

"Stop laughing at me!" She cried, covering her head with her hooves.

Balloon Discord floated up to her, "Aww, poor Pinkie Pie."

She let her hooves fall to her sides. Discord liked laughter, he said it was his favourite thing about friendship, maybe he could stop the balloons...

"And here I thought laughter made you happy." His eyes began to glow and she found she couldn't look away. Why would laughter make her happy? Laughing at me? How could that possibly make anypony happy?

"Happy?" She near growled, standing, "I don't think so."

The brightly coloured balloons all began to pop, and she was grateful for it. Twilight Sparkle and AppleJack stood in one of the mazes arches, the purple filly looking happy to see her.

"Pinkie Pie, are we glad to see you!" She trotted over, smiling.

Grinning at me, no doubt holding back laughter.

"Oh you are huh? Why, need a good laugh?" Pinkie barked, walking away.

Discord smiled as he heard Twilight's lame excuse as to why her friends were acting so strangely. Stress? Ha, honestly... He'd felt bad destroying and contorting his favourite element. No, she wasn't the element. She represented it. That was almost worse. He sighed, it had to be done if he were to be left alone to seek his revenge on Princess Celestia. Pinkie Pie couldn't be saved just because she laughed at his jokes. Revenge would not wait on his feelings. He shook his head, off to the next victim. Rarity would be a fun one...

"Looks like we might be in for a storm of chaos." I said, opening an umbrella inside out. Thunder crashed and I fell back laughing as Twilight looked on, upset like the goody four-shoes she was.

"And what are you laughing at?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed

"You ponies," I chuckled, wiping a tear from my eye, "are the most fun I've had in eons!"

Pinkie ran forward, getting into my face. That was surprising.

"Well quit it!" She yelled, and I smiled good natured-ly, "You better think before you laugh at the PINK-"

She shoved her nose against mine, and paused as she tried to think of a good comeback, "-IE PIE."

The filly stuck her lip out before Fluttershy piped up. I watched, summoning a couch and some popcorn. This was priceless. Rarity doing kung fu moves to defend her giant 'diamond'? How could it get any better than this? I grinned popping some of the yellow snack into my mouth.

"Girls, why are you acting like this? We need to stick together!" Twilight said, going from one fight to the next. I chuckled, "It's just too entertaining."

I munched on some more popcorn, waiting for Twilight's hero complex to start up.

"Stop it Discord, you're not playing fair." She said, moving closer.

"I'm not playing fair? Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord." I stood, walking over to her, "Spirit of chaos and disharmony? Hullo?"

What a silly filly.

"How are we suppose to find the Elements of Harmony when you took away the labyrinth before we could get to the end?"

I perked up at this, so they hadn't figured it out.

"Oh wait, did you-?" I leaned back, laughing, "How funny! You thought the Elements were in the labyrinth?"

I flashed the purple filly and myself into a vision of what I had said in the riddle.

"Twists and turns are my master plan, then find the elements back where you began."

I flashed us out again. They fell into my master plan, I even warned them for crying out loud. I grinned, Twilight Sparkle was just like her Princess, thinking she knew best.

"I never said they were in the labyrinth." I said, gloating.

"But- but-" She stuttered, obviously flabbergasted.

"Keep trying Twilight Sparkle." I drew my hands together by my head sarcastically, "Maybe the magic of friendship can help you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some chaos to wreak."

I snapped, and sent chocolate rain towards the group. Pinkie Pie would appreciate it. I floated outside Ponyville, gazing at what was once my home. It had been years since I tried out my power after Celestia and Luna locked me away. I ground my teeth, it wasn't my fault. I needed to test my power, I couldn't be 'normal' any longer.

I began my work, getting used to using my magic once more. One might assume I'd get better with time, but without being able to practice, my magic was much the same. A bit worse if one considered it all.

I checkered the ground, but that was too orderly. I gave it tons of hills and scoffed at the ponies who began to panic. I hadn't ruined their homes, had I? Still too orderly I added spots and different colours to the checkers before getting bored of that. I pulled a couple empty houses and the town hall up from the ground, letting them float in the air. I did the same to a newly blue-dotted tree and laughed. It looked like it had ponypox. More chocolate rain... who didn't like chocolate milk? And the river water was now fruit punch...

A stampede of the horse-bunnies I made trampled by, and I looked behind me to see the lame six trotting towards Ponyville. That didn't take long. Snapping my fingers the time of day changed and I made the road into a soap road. AppleJack slid forward after her sarcastic remark and I held back a laugh as she knocked three of the other back. Twilight Sparkle couldn't even bring herself to stand up properly before she fell back down. No sense of balance, that one. I smiled, and skated past the ponies that had fallen to AppleJack's slip-n-slide.

The sun came out again and Twilight realized that the road had changed into soap.

"Beautiful isn't it?" I asked softly as I skated past, gesturing at the town before us, "This is the new and improved Ponyville and these are only my first changes."

Pinkie Pie skated up, a sour look on her face. Even if I could change her demeanour, I couldn't change the core of who she really was. I could only mask it... and I didn't enjoy masking Laughter. Where would be the fun in that?

"This may look like it's fun," Pinkie said, skating down the road, "but it's not!"

Twilight let out a breath of frustration, and I wrapped my paw around her, before pulling her up to look at the new Ponyville.

"Picture it," My hand swept over the landscape, "the chaos capital of the world."

The moon came up as I held her out, and she whined about not being able to picture anything. I dropped her, bored.

"Well wait a few minutes and you'll see it in the beautiful light of day. Or not." I jumped and flashed out, going to wreak more havoc. I spread a little, but checked on the girls to be sure I had nothing to worry about. The girls were greyer than ever, my personality reverse was growing more and more. Interesting. I waited for Twilight for appear, and it didn't take long.

"Look out! Here comes Tom!" The giant boulder I'd made Rarity fall to crashed through the library's window.

"Well well well," I said as both Twilight Sparkle and Rarity emerged, "I see you've found the Elements of Harmony. How terrifying."

"Discord! I figured out your lame riddle." the purple filly said, "You're in for it now."

I floated down to the ground, "I certainly am. You've clearly out duelled me, and now it's time to meet my fate."

I summoned a pair of red-rimmed sunglasses, "I'm prepared to be defeated now ladies..."

Waving over my chest made a bulls eye appear, "Fire when ready."

"Formation, now!" The leader barked.

Could she honestly not hear the sarcasm in my voice? The hero complex was certainly implanted in her deeply. The other girls came forward with an 'eh'.

"RainbowDash, get over here!"

The little dragon peeked out from behind Tom, looking terrified. He still trotted over, the Element of Loyalty resting around his neck. That would never work. I leaned against a tree, smiling.

"All right, let's get this over with." Twilight said, tiara of Magic beginning to glow. Wind whipped at their manes as it started up. I stood there coolly, knowing nothing was going to happen. Spike might be wearing the Element, but that didn't mean he could unlock it's power. The purple pony rose in the air, eyes shining a brilliant white as her Element became activated. The others rose in the air, beginning to glow as they looked on with scepticism. I pulled my sunglasses down, I hadn't expected them to be able to even incur that much power with how much I had skewed their personalities. And then as quickly as it had come, the brilliant light disappeared, landing the fillies on their rumps.

"What's going on?"

"Mine's working," AppleJack lied, "There must be something wrong with yours."

"I hate the Elements of Harmony." Pinkie declared as Fluttershy threw her necklace to the ground.

"Hm, garbage."

Rarity jumped onto the Element of Kindness shrieking, "MINE!"

"Sorry Twilight." Spike laid RainbowDash's necklace on the ground beside her, "I guess I better get back upstairs and clean up the library. Good luck with all this-"

He tripped over the tail Fluttershy had carefully placed, "Oops, sorry RainbowCrash."

I came forward, clapping my hands, "Bravo ponies, bravo! Harmony in Equestria is officially dead. Discord rules, Celestia drools."

I poked mini-lestia's nose and she glowered at me as I laughed and skated down another soap road. Some more chaos had to be sewn.

I bounced away, angry that I had to deal with those fillies for so long. My magenta hair flopped in time with my bounces, and I went home. What a waste of time... Elements of Harmony, eh. Some part of me realised that something was wrong, but magic quashed it.

"Pinkie Pie." I turned at the sound of my voice, listening carefully when I saw nopony. Looking back into my path Discord towered over me.

"Come here to laugh?" I growled, growing upset, "People won't stop laughing at me. You're going to, but I'll make you stop!"

My vision went a little blurry and I shook my head to clear it. Discord looked really uncomfortable a moment before saying, "But I've never laughed at you Pinkie Pie. We laughed together, remember dancing on Twilight's head?"

I didn't say a word, I could remember it, but any emotion I'd felt was gone - wiped from the memory.

"I wanted to show you something, it's hilarious!" Discord pointed, one arm draped around my shoulders. He's changed the schoolhouse into a gingerbread house and a bunch of animals were licking frosting from it as Cherrilee ran around, trying to scare them off.

"It's priceless!" He laughed, and my eyes narrowed.

"Stop laughing at me!"

"Pinkie, I'm laughing at..." He looked at me, and frowned. "Never mind."

"No! You never mind! I won't let you laugh at me!" I was so upset I charged him, but he poofed away before I could hit him. I looked around, but he was gone. I began trotting home, tears falling now that I was alone. Why was everyone laughing at me? I walked along, without any energy for bouncing. I sniffed, trying to gain control of myself. If they saw me like this they'd laugh for sure. I paid more attention to my hooves than where I was going and bumped into a wall.

"At least no one's around to laugh at me..." I looked up to see where I had wandered to and saw walls made from the checkered earth all around me. I frowned, had I been trapped into this place? Were they going to find a way to laugh at me?

"Pinkie Pie, you must know how difficult it is for me." I turned toward the voice and Discord appeared. "Here I am wreaking havoc, and the one person who could understand the joy of it all... I can't release you from this spell. As much as I'd like to."

"Y-You did this to laugh at me didn't you?" I ground out, holding back tears of fury.

"No Pinkie. I wouldn't have done it at all if I didn't have to. I couldn't be in that statue any longer."

I sat, there was nowhere for me to go, and he wasn't laughing at me. Not yet.

"Must have been hard, being a rock for so long. Were you... did you know what was happening around you?" If I kept the conversation on him, he couldn't have time to laugh at me. Right?

"I..." He faltered, eyes looking at the tops of his crater, "I could, yes. It was hard sometimes, because people rarely came to visit the garden. I was left alone with my thoughts for a long time."

"Why did the Princesses lock you away?"

Discord gave me a hard look before sighing, "For being who I was. Luna didn't want to, she and I were... friends."

"You weren't friends with Princess Celestia? I guess not if she did that to you." I murmured, more to myself than anything.

"She was certain that my tricks and games would hurt people." Discord shook his head. "I don't want to talk about this. I need someone to laugh at my jokes. With me. I might have to change you back."

"You haven't hurt anyone though, right? So why is everypony so upset?"

Discord grimaced, "Now I must change you back."

"Change me back from what silly? Haha I've always been like this!"

Discord smiled, "Of course Pinkie Pie. Interested in some chocolate rain?"

"Am I ever?" I bounced, old misconceptions forgotten. A cotton candy cloud rolled over and I held my mouth open wide. I'd explain to the girls later.

That turned out to be a lot sooner than I'd hoped. The chocolate rain cloud disappeared, and I looked around to see my friends approach. Seeing Rarity, I started remembering all the silly things my friends did. I started laughing and couldn't stop, barely getting a couple words in. Twilight had come up to me, and she was either happy I was happy, or she didn't want to ask how I stopped being grey because she didn't have the time. I was plopped into a nearby wagon, carted off as I was giggling.

"I turned gray! Heehee! Can you believe it?"

I was happy. Happier than I'd been in a long time. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been this happy. I stretched, letting my limbs get used to the freedom of movement. It was glorious.

"Pigs that fly, watch out below!" I laughed, turning my attention to a large stack of playing cards I'd made. I stacked them neatly on top of each other, but each triangle made led out a different way. Not to the other side of the stack. I would like to sit I created a throne. It had been far too long since I'd been able to enjoy the luxury of sitting down. I paused, thinking. They think me evil? Let me give them what they want. A black throne formed, but that certainly didn't shout evil. A skull-like topper with red diamond-shaped eyes. And why not some antlers? Red covered the seat, and the stone face on top was carved with intricate swirls. A little too cliché, but it served its purpose. A chocolate cloud rolled over and I smiled sitting down. What was wrong with this chaos? No one was being hurt, like Pinkie Pie said… It was only a matter of time before the group got their act together, I knew. Perhaps they'd learn the truth and allow him to stay… no. Celestia wouldn't let that happen. Of that I am certain. She banished poor Luna to the moon after all. What would the fillies believe? Their queen-like princess or someone they thought evil anyhow? I grit my teeth, forcing myself to relax. If I were caught I would be punished. For being who I was. What I was. No one really understood, did they? A herd of deformed rabbits ran past, followed by ballerina buffalos. I couldn't help but laugh. Pies fell from the sky and I reached over to the chocolate rain cloud with my claw - producing a glass for the milk to fall into.

"Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing!" I was about to take a sip when I heard Twilight Sparkle's voice.

"Not as wonderful as friendship!"

I groaned, "Ah, this again?"

Swallowing down the glass I faced the six, throwing the chocolate milk behind me with a satisfying bang.

"That's right," The orange pony said, "You couldn't keep apart our friendship for long!"

"Oh AppleJack, don't lie to me," I pulled her magically forward by her necklace, "I'm the one that made you a liar."

I pulled the others too, my magic getting a work out.

"Don't you ever learn?"

Suddenly, Twilight was there, forming a protective bubble from the middle of the group.

"I'll tell you what we've learned Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!"

I came forward, "Uh, gag, fine go ahead. Try and use your little Elements - 'friend me'. Just make it quick, I'm missing some excellent chaos here."

I sat back down, bored.

"Alright ladies, let's show him what friendship can do!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Pinkie called, filling her belly with under a chocolate rain cloud. I tried my hardest not to laugh. Even now she couldn't take anything too seriously. Her magenta hair bounced as she jumped back in line with her friends, looking overly determined. I faked a yawn. I would not be seen as a coward. I would not. Their Elements began to glow brightly, emblems from their necklaces shooting past me. That was a lot more than I expected.

"What's this?" The aura was blinding now.

"No."

A rainbow came forward from their presence, as it had from the princesses so long ago. I was suddenly very afraid. I had tasted freedom, I didn't want to be in a prison any more. But it was too late, the rainbow held me in place as it began sealing me in stone. I yelled for my freedom, know it was a lost cause.

My body, now stone, fell to the now green again grass.