Worth It (A Chaotic Birthday)

Chapter 1: Story

Rarity was busy in her boutique, putting the finishing touches on a very special piece. A week ago, Discord had mentioned to Pinkie Pie that he didn't know when he was born, and couldn't remember ever having a birthday.

So now they were celebrating a day that Discord had picked at random, and Rarity was making a special outfit for the Dramatic Draconequus's 'birthday' present.

The top was a dark blue suit jacket with a white shirt and green-and-purple plaid bowtie. A poofy dress bottom came down the back, though it was open in front, with enough give for his tail to easily slip through; it matched the bowtie.

Though she was guessing at sizes, Rarity knew the sleeves had to be different, and thus had made them two styles and colors based on something she'd seen him wear; one poofy white, the other straight and black.

She added a wide-brimmed orange tophat with a long yellow sash, zig-zagging blue horizontal stripes, and a rainbow of multicolored dots. She finished the piece with many different sorts of jewelry for his tail, horns, and limbs.

She packed the outfit in a simple brown box, putting the jewelry in a smaller box that she packed with it, then wrapped it in a tornado-pattern wrapping paper she'd managed to find. She was careful to make the black ribbon messy but not in danger of falling off, with the bow on one of the sides rather than the top.

She checked the time. 16:55. The party started at 17:00, but Rarity wasn't worried about being late, since Fluttershy had explained to her that Discord was surprisingly punctual and would teleport a pony to his realm the moment they said they'd be there.

Sweetie came bounding down the stairs, holding a poorly-wrapped present that had no particularly recognizable shape. Normally Rarity would admonish her on the chaotic wrapping job, but, well...

"Are you ready, Sweetie?" Rarity asked.

"Yep! Do you think he'll like it?" Sweetie looked at her present, worried.

"I'm sure he'll love it, sis." Rarity pulled her close. They were both dressed in simpler dresses and jewelry, not wanting to show up Discord on his own 'birthday', but still looked positively fabulous.

The clock struck 17:00, and they disappeared in a flash of blinding white light.

Discord peeked out the window, looking at his guests. There were the Mane Six, his Guys Night friends, his saving-equestria-that-one-time friends, Princess Lulu, the CMC, that one lamp trader pony he had a business deal with, the Smooze, the only guard that actually bothered to get the bird poo off his statue after it was revealed who he was, Zecora, some of Fluttershy's animal friends, Parcel Post, and a lot of plus ones from various ponies.

Fluttershy had insisted he invite anycreature he thought might accept, but this was waaaay more creatures than he'd ever hosted at once before. He'd expanded his house for the occasion, but the decor was still basically the same. He'd wanted to change it to something more grand and/or less chaotic, but Fluttershy had convinced him to let everycreature see how he liked his home, not to hide himself behind a false persona any more than he needed to feel safe.

He just hoped nocreature realized why he'd picked this particular date. He shouldn't have picked it, but Pinkie said to pick something special to him, something that represented a rebirth since he couldn't remember his actual birth.

With a sigh, and Fluttershy's grounding hoof on his arm, Discord open his door to excitedly greet his guests. "Hello, everycreature! Welcome, welcome, to my humble abode. Remember to wipe your feet on the mud on the way in, unless you've just gotten a hooficure."

The guests filed in to his greatly-expanded living room, oohing and ahhhing at the stairs to nowhere, musical rugs, chase lounge, literal lava lamp on the ceiling, floating tables, talking paintings, book tree, and snoozing Pinata.

"Discord, your house is really -- IS THAT A COCKATRICE?!" Starlight yelled, spotting the light-red, purple spiked bundle lying in a pet bed by the couch.

The resulting chaos when the cockatrice raised his head would've been delightful, if it hadn't been scaring said Cockatrice. With a snap of Discord's talons, everycreature that had been panicking was on the far side of the room.

"Shhh, Pebbles. Pebbles, it's okay, I'm here. Shhh." Discord scooped up his pet and gently patted his head to sooth him. He sent a glare towards the now-still partygoers. "Scaring a blind Cockatrice, you should be ashamed of yourselves."

Pebbles clucked and cooed, rubbing his beak into Discord's neck.

"Blind?" Starlight asked, finally spotting the fact that Pebbles' eyes were solid grey rather than glowing red. "Discord... Why do you have a blind Cockatrice for a pet?"

"Because I saved him from a Timberwolf before realizing what he was, and he followed me home. He was barely a hatchling back then." Discord patted Pebbles' back. "Once I realized that the little guy couldn't turn anycreature to stone, and that he was hurt and weak, I started taking care of him."

"Awww! That's actually really sweet!" Pinkie smiled, trotting slowly over to them. She was talking much quieter than usual. "Can I pet him?"

"If you're gentle, and let him sniff your hoof first so he knows what you're going to do." Discord nodded, carefully holding Pebbles out to Pinkie Pie.

One by one, each of the guests took a turn petting Pebbles The Blind Cockatrice. Soon, the party was back in swing, with presents piled high on the floating table and guests trying to catch chaotic -- yet delicious -- food, while the CMC continued playing with Pebbles and Sneezy the Pinata.

Discord created party games that amazed the others, entertaining them with his magic. He was absolutely amazed to discover that nocreature really minded the chaos when it was in his own home, and he reveled in the attention he was getting, but he kept stealing glances at the presents.

Finally, finally, it was gift opening time! The wrapping paper was delightfully chaotic, spread out across a range of holidays and themes, with few presents wrapped anywhere near properly. Twilight was the only one to actually put a bow on top, though he wasn't sure the misplacement was intentional in Rainbow Dash's case.

And the presents! Oh, the presents! They ranged from the random to the goofy to the O&O themed to the surprisingly insightful. He got books, toys, games, twigs, rocks, and more. He especially loved Pinkie's gift, which was a series of wrapped boxes inside of each other that eventually held the single most chaotically flavored cupcake he'd ever tasted, along with a card revealing that Sugarcube Corner was having a heavy discount on 'chaos pastries' for the next month.

Fluttershy was the only creature that didn't bring a gift, since she'd promised to give him his gift in private later. He was thankful it'd would just be the two of them, but his interest was peaked and patience low. It was for this reason that he nearly missed a gift.

"Oh! Discord, you didn't open mine yet." Rarity smiled, handing over the large box.

"Oh, my apologies, Rarity. Thank you." He took the box and ripped up the wrapping paper, snapping his claws to levitate it out. It was... An outfit. He stared blankly at it.

"Personally, plaid isn't my thing, and I doubt many creatures would want to wear it, but I really think it would look good on you." Rarity nervously scuffed her hoof on the floor as he continued to just stare. "And, um... I mean... I was only guessing at your size, so it might not be a perfect fit, but I can resize it for you. There's some jewelry for your tail and horns and such."

The silence went on, but Discord carefully took the smaller box out and levitated bits of jewelry out, the look on his face completely unreadable.

It looked like somecreature had taken all the leftover bits in the boutique and thrown them together.

The stitching was uneven.

None of the colors really went together.

Not a single piece of jewelry matched.

It was...

Perfect!

With a grin and several snaps of his claws, Discord put on the outfit in ways it definitely was not supposed to be worn, getting chuckles from everycreature (even Rarity! Though it was probably more relieved than amused in her case). Finally, he put it on properly, using his magic to resize it since Rarity's guesses had been wrong. Incredibly close, though, she really was good at her job.

After cake (and pasta, chocolate milk, tea, crackers, broken glass, and blank paper because Twilight would have an aneurysm if he ate a book in front of her), the guests left, waving goodbye with laughter and promises to do this again.

"Ta ta, friends!" Discord teleported everycreature home, except for The Smooze and Parcel Post, since they were his neighbors. Fluttershy stayed behind aswell, helping him arrange all of his presents and put the wrapping paper in the cupboard to snack on later.

He put the CMC's scrapbooks in a chaos-proof safe, along with anything else he couldn't easily replace. He continued wearing the dress-suit-thing, posing in front of a mirror and several of his Copies.

"Discord? It's time for your present." Fluttershy said softly, handing him a simple box.

Discord gently lifted the lid off, pulling out a stuffed doll. It was long, like a snake, but the head, torso, and tail were each a different color. It had a butterfly antenna and an anglerfish lure, with an insect wing and a dragon wing. The back legs were a frog leg and a kangaroo leg, while the front belonged to a calico and a bear.

"I'm not entirely certain what other Draconequui might look like, so I sorta just put together a bunch of random creatures." Fluttershy whispered, not looking him in the eye. "I hope you like it, but it's perfectly okay if you don't."

"My dear, I love it!" Discord chuckled, hugging her closely. "It doesn't precisely look like a Draconequus, but that just makes it better."

Before he could think, Discord kissed the top of her nose. He stiffened when he'd realized what he'd done, but was interrupted from his apology by something soft on his lips. It took him a second to figure out this soft thing was Fluttershy's own.

Fluttershy pulled away, blushing, a nervous smile on her face. Discord could feel a goofy grin growing on his snout.

A few days later, Discord was pulling some minor pranks in Ponyville's market place. He jumped with a yelp when somecreature cleared their throat behind him, twirling around to come face-to-face with Twilight Sparkle.

Busted...

"I wasn't doing anything, honest!" Discord lied.

"Discord, I'm not here to yell at you for pulling the same kind of pranks Pinkie and Rainbow get up to." Twilight rolled her eyes.

"You're not?" Discord asked, both confused and insulted; his pranks were far more original than any ponies'! "Then why-?"

"I have a question, but I'd rather ask it where nocreature else can hear." Twilight looked around the rooftop they were on, startling when a plaid bubble surrounded them, blocking out all noise. "What the...?"

"Bubble of silence." Discord shrugged. "Now, what's your question, dear Princess?"

"Why did you pick that date for your birthday?" Twilight asked softly. "And don't say it was random, because we both know you wouldn't forget that day."

Discord felt his blood freeze. He sighed. "When'd you figure it out?"

"Once I saw the invitations." Twilight answered. "Celestia figured it out aswell, it's why she didn't come. Discord, why?"

"Pinkie said to pick a day of rebirth." Discord curled up like a snake, not looking Twilight in the eye. "That day, I broke, Twilight. I had made the worst decisions possible and the universe beat me for it. That was the day I truly learned how much I wanted friends. The day I finally accepted that I didn't really want a world of pure chaos, and I certainly didn't want to rule it. The day I swore..."

He could hear his voice cracking, but he didn't care. "I swore I'd never let anything hurt Fluttershy ever again. Ever. I was reborn on that day, Tw- Princess. I was reborn in misery, pain, and fire, but I was better off for it."

"That's why you chose the day of Tirek's defeat?" Twilight asked. She thought for a moment. "Discord... I think I understand that. It sorta makes sense."

Discord growled, but there was a relieved and playful aspect to it. "Make sense? You wound me, dear Twilight!" Discord looked away for a second. "You really aren't mad?"

"I was a little upset at first, but not anymore." Twilight admitted. "If you let me explain to Celestia, I doubt she'd be angry either. She thinks you've learned nothing and are gloating, but I can see that you truly have reformed and are trying to not forget the hard lesson you've learned."

"You can explain if you wish, but let her be mad if she wants." Discord smiled a small, tired smile. "We have a very long history. I have done a lot to her, and she's done a lot to me, believe it or not. We're never going to fully forgive each other, and neither of us should have to. So let her hate me, she has every right to."

"Do you hate her?" Twilight asked.

"Yes." Discord nodded. "I respect her, and I accept her as Equestria's leader. I have fun with her, and I even like her. But I still hate her. She turned me into stone for a thousand years. I deserved every second of it, a fact I've only told Fluttershy before so you'd better not tell anycreature I said it, but it's true. I still hate her for it, and a lot of stuff that happened before that. I don't hate Luna, she hasn't done as much to me and was mostly following her sister, but I hate Celestia. Perhaps I always will. Perhaps someday I won't. But I don't begrudge her hating me back."

"I understand." Twilight sighed. "I'm still telling her why you picked that date, though. Maybe... She'll hate you a little less?"

"Yes, maybe." Discord chuckled, the bubble disappearing as he stretched. "Well, Your Royal Friendliness, I've got pranks to pull. Good day."

"Discord? Don't pull too many pranks, alright?" Twilight got a mischievous sparkle in her eye. "Or I'll give Pinkie, Rainbow, and The Crusaders the idea to prank you back."

Discord playfully shivered. "Oh, not that! Anything but that, you horrible torturer! And by horrible, I mean you're not very skilled at it. But very well, I'll only do a few more and then call it a day. Ta ta, Princess Of Friendship."

"Farewell, Lord Of Chaos." Twilight chuckled, flying towards her castle.

Discord grinned. He didn't know exactly how it had happened, but he had quite a few friends now. He'd never had that.

Perhaps... Perhaps a thousand years was worth it.

Chapter 2: Art