Fanfic / Discordant

Hearth's Warming Eve has come once again, which means fun in the snow, warm food, and spending time with family. At least, that's what it means for most ponies. For Scootaloo it means a day off from crusading, loneliness, and the coldest night of the year. When Discord begins to whisper to her from his stone prison, she questions the beliefs held by many. What was so great about Harmony? What could be so bad about a world where chocolate milk fell from the sky?

Can be read here.

A sequel called Harmonics can be read here.

A third sequel called Overgrowth can be read here

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This My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Fan Fic provides examples of:

• Always Chaotic Evil: Averted with Mimic.
• Anti-Magic: The changeling dampening fields in Harmonics. They constantly wear down a changeling's ability to shapeshift. Also, the changeling queen's throne.
• Anxiety Dreams: Discord uses these to manipulate Scootaloo, Spike, and Luna.
• Armor-Piercing Question: While trying to reassure themselves that Trixie's claims about who else was working with Discord were false, Rainbow Dash asks Twilight a pair of these: "Scootaloo saw Trixie the first time she came to town, right?", followed by wondering why she didn't tell them Trixie was with Discord.
• The Atoner:
  • Princess Luna, after coming clean about how she was manipulated, fully accepts how Twilight struggles to deal with her broken trust.
  • Scootaloo sees herself as this at the beginning of Harmonics.
• Bad Liar: Scootaloo. She tells Rarity that ninja alien theives damaged her ironing board, and when Chrysalis needs a cover story, Scootaloo tells Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle that her parents are travelling fortune tellers.
  • Mimic in Harmonics. It's why she's a gatherer, rather than a more highly ranked infiltrator.
• Because Destiny Says So: Shortly before being turned to stone, Celestia remarks to Scootaloo that she never had a chance, and that her cutie mark would have been the same regardless of whatever path she'd chosen.
• Betrayal by Inaction: This is Rosalia's plan to kill Thistleroot and harden Mimic. Mimic saves him at the last second.
• Big Bad: Discord, naturally. Rose Thorn takes the position in Harmonics, at least until Nocturne is freed.
• Big Damn Heroes: Discord of all people, just after Thistleroot and Mimic destroy the changeling queen's throne.
• Blow You Away: Most pegasi have some control over weather. At one point, Scootaloo creates a small tornado to escape from a group of windigos.
• Book Ends: The first chapter ends with Scootaloo falling asleep in the clubhouse. The epilogue ends the same way, at least until Rainbow Dash takes her home.
  • Harmonics begins and ends with Scootaloo meeting with Princess Celestia.
• Brainwash Residue: Happens to Scootaloo after a week's worth of her memories are erased.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In "All Your Fault", Chrysalis reveals to Scootaloo that Gilda was mind-controlled into betraying Rainbow Dash.
• Break the Cutie: Discord's plan for corrupting Scootaloo.
• Breaking Speech: Chrysalis spends much of "All Your Fault" gloating to Scootaloo about the role she played in aiding both her and Discord's schemes and ruining the lives of her friends, culminating in asking whether she intends on betraying them as well.
• Breather Episode: "Foal's Play", a chapter of Harmonics dedicated entirely to pranks and wacky hi-jinks on April Foal's Day. It comes after Scootaloo is outed as a terrorist in the papers for freeing Discord and before changelings crash the grand galloping gala and kidnap her.
• Call-Back: When Thistleroot claims that nobody has ever disliked his singing, Mimic says she doesn't believe him. He tells her, "don't stop believing".
• Casting a Shadow: Specters. As their creator, Nocturne can do this too.

• Complexity Addiction: Rose Thorn's plan to get Scootaloo to retrieve an artifact from the mad lands involves wiping Scootaloo's memory three times and failing to kill her twice.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The contest between Trixie and Twilight goes about as well as you would think.
  • Celestia has two against Lirian, the new changeling queen.
  • Celestia and Luna are on the receiving end of one against Nocturne.
• Deadpan Snarker: Everyone has shades of this. Thistleroot lives for it.
• Death by Adaptation: Rainbow Dash's parents, who are still alive and well in the show.
• Dream Tells You to Wake Up: Discord wakes Scootaloo up while talking to her in her dreams.
  "You're about to miss the song." Time to wake up...
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: After Trixie claims to be Twilight's Evil Counterpart as the Element of Power, Twilight comments that it makes no sense — 'Power' isn't the exact opposite of 'Magic' or Friendship. Puzzling through this out loud, she realizes that Trixie is actually the Element of Loneliness, realizing too late just how insensitive that sounds.
• Family of Choice: By the end of Harmonics, Mimic feels this way about her new friends.
• Face–Heel Turn: The first half of the story revolves around Discord trying to corrupt Scootaloo, until she finally agrees to free him.
• Final Battle: In Harmonics, the fight against Nocturne at Night's End..
• Foreshadowing: Al A. Kazam (Starswirl the Bearded) makes an offhanded comment about the changeling version of an alicorn.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: During their confrontation, Rainbow Dash asserts that Scootaloo isn't the only one who's had a rough life, and that she's still a 'stupid little foal' who arrogantly assumes she can change the world.
• Heel–Face Turn: Mimic, once Scootaloo agrees to speak to Princess Celestia on her brother's behalf.
• Hive Caste System: The changelings follow one of these. The queens sit at the top, followed by the Overseers and Caretakers. Soldiers and infiltrators are near the middle, and builders and gatherers are at the bottom.
• Locked Out of the Fight: Happens to Discord during the final battle of Harmonics. At least, he lets everyone think it does.
• Look Behind You: Thistleroot distracts a pair of changelings long enough for the mare they were terrorizing to get away. Naturally, they turn on him.
• MacGuffin: The stone tablet hidden in the Mad Lands.
• Master of One Magic: Thistleroot isn't particularly powerful. Or athletic. Or brave. But get him around plants and he can do some impressive stuff.
• Manipulative Bastard: Discord constantly manipulates everyone he comes into contact with, particularly Scootaloo and the other prospective Elements.
• Monster Progenitor: A few of the eternal spirits. Nocturne for the changelings and Cinder for the dragons, to name a few.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • When Rainbow Dash discovers that Scootaloo is homeless, she does the responsible, adult thing and tries to send her back to the orphanage. Scootaloo sees the decision as a betrayal by her hero, and is convinced to take up the Element of Betrayal as a result.
  • In Harmonics, Scootaloo manages to retrieve a stone tablet from the Mad Lands and brings it to Canterlot. She believes it's a key that can seal away a large amount of magic. She's sort of right, but it had already been used once. Using it a second time releases Nocturne.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After months of careful planning and manipulation by Discord, Chrysalis forces Scootaloo to turn against their cause by throwing every terrible choice she made and the consequences of those choices (including a coming changeling invasion) in her face all at once.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Celestia's reaction when she realizes the true purpose of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
    Scootaloo had never heard the princess curse before. It sounded odd in such a calm, regal voice.
  • Chrysalis reacts this way upon realizing that Luna is about to seal her away into the moon.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Rainbow Dash loses her usual bravado when she finds out about Scootaloo's situation.
  • Thistleroot briefly loses his goofy nature after he realizes Mimic almost let him die.
• The Power of Friendship: The Elements of Harmony run on this, as usual.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Celestia delivers one while facing Queen Lirian and her changelings.
  Celestia: I don’t need guards or walls. I can protect my citizens from you myself.
• The Psycho Rangers: Part of Discord's plan entails setting up a group of his own Elements, each of which mirrors one of the Elements of Harmony.
• Rage Against the Mentor: Scootaloo calls Rainbow Dash on the later's decision to send her back to the orphanage without talking to her first.
• Rage Breaking Point: Rosalia pushes Mimic to this on purpose in order to provoke a reckless attack.
• Retired Badass: Al A. Kazam (AKA Starswirl the Bearded) just wants to get back to his beach down in Mexicolt.
• Saying Too Much:
  • Gilda accidentally falls into this trap when she tries to comfort Rainbow Dash, referring to Scootaloo's betrayal without realizing only a select few know about what happened.
  • During her Breaking Speech, Chrysalis inadvertently gives Scootaloo an idea about how to prove to Spike that it wasn't Rarity he was dealing with all that time: by taking him back to Carousel Boutique and finding the fire ruby necklace Chrysalis!Rarity had claimed to have lost.
• Shock and Awe: Scootaloo uses a bolt of lightning to escape from a group of changelings.
• Taken for Granite: Discord's fate at the beginning of the story. Later inflicted upon Celestia.
• Talking to Themself: Happens to Scootaloo in Harmonics, as a side effect to having her memories blocked.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Discord gets one when Scootaloo tricks him into focusing on her and her packs full of rocks while Spike takes the Elements of Harmony to Twilight and the others.
• Time Skip: Ten years pass between Discordant and Harmonics. Another year passes between Harmonics and Overgrowth.
• Traintop Battle: Scootaloo fights a group of Windigos on the roof of a train as well as in the air above it.
• Tranquil Fury: Rainbow Dash after Scootaloo turns Princess Celestia to stone. She doesn't stay tranquil for long.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Trixie has one when Twilight concludes that she's actually the Element of Loneliness rather than 'Power'.
  • Rosalia, once she realizes the Elements of Harmony turned her into a pony.
• Villain Song: Lirian sings one after capturing Scootaloo to the tune of "My Lullaby".
• We Can Rule Together: Discord says this to Scootaloo, almost word for word.
  Discord: Think about it. We could rule Equestria together. Wouldn’t that be exciting? You could be a princess. A queen.
• Why Won't You Die?: Rosalia's attitude toward Scootaloo once she's outlived her usefulness.

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