What many didn't know about Discord was that he was a word-class gardener. Also, a shucked karaoke singer, but that wasn't important at the moment.

In his time (or what he would consider time, since it was a fact of the universe that was more of an opinion in regards to him) he had planted entire forests, each tree and individual pursuit made sure to grow up all healthy and strong.

There was something so strangely appealing about planting. While he himself was a Spirit of Disharmony, he took great pleasure in having his will imposed on those around him. He wasn't known as the Twisted-Limb Puppeteer for nothing. Chaos in all its entirety was just fine for him, as long he had a claw/paw/talon gripped tightly around it.

But, back to gardening. His latest crop was coming along nicely now. Why, it was utterly majestic, even.

"Trimming, priming, grinning, grinding, allllllll the joys of gardening!" Discord sang, cutting off another branch from his latest creation.

The tree screamed a wailing shriek at this action, the ground itself cracking from the noise.

"Oh, quiet you," Discord said, slapping the tree against its trunk. He adjusted his flowery hat and regarded his most brilliant work yet.

It was a hybrid of minerals and plant growth the world had never before seen; a crystal tree, to be exact, beautifully woven together with magic and a bit of something darker to the mix.

Better than that latest hybrid he had created: who knew that a chicken mixed with a lizard could turn things to stone? Not him or that entire village of innocents, that's for sure.

Taking off his gloves, Discord dusted his hands and sighed in content. "Ahhh, finally done! But now for the test drive!"

Reaching into a pocket (a pocket dimension to be exact, with one entirely filled with chocolate pudding to be even more exact), he pulled out the unsuspecting victim: a pony.

The equine was utterly frightened, and being dangled in front of an alien tree certainly didn't help. Ignoring its screams and begs for mercy, Discord dropped the pony before the tree and said, "Okay, let's see if this works!"

He snapped his fingers, and the crystal tree moaned. A strange rainbow-hued glow surrounded tree and pony alike, and before too long the pony had been lifted out of the air and was spinning faster and faster in the magical glow of the tree.

After a few minutes the tree shrieked, and spit the pony out of the glow, where it tumbled about before stopping at Discord's feet.

Picking the pony up delicately by the tail, Discord poked its flank and grinned. "Aha! It did work after all!"

What had once been an entirely white coat was now changed with a strange marking. It appeared to be a sun symbol of some sort. The specifics didn't matter to Discord at the moment, only the result, which appeared to be a complete success.

"Happy days are here to stay for Discord hey hey heyyyyy!" Discord cheered, throwing the pony up and then catching them in a talon with little regard to the pony's nausea.

"Wh-what happened to me?" the pony asked, curled up in a ball.

Discord focused on the pony with a crazed eye (the other one was up to its own business and didn't bother to join in). "Why, my dear little pony, you just got a... a..." Discord snapped his fingers a bit and frowned, "Haven't come up with a specific name yet. Cutie mark? Eh, that works for now. Anyway, you're the first pony to ever get a cutie mark!"

"B-but why?" the little pony asked.

"Why not? After creating monstrous creatures and magical nightmares, I decided to try my hand at something entirely different! A race of adorable little ponies bent entirely to my will." Discord poked the pony's new mark. "And these bad boys are what's going to keep you all on my leash. With one, you surpass your limitations. But without it, you're more useless than ever. And now with this--" Discord kicked the crystal tree, which shuddered at his touch, "--I have complete control for all of eternity."

Already Discord's latest abomination was spreading out its roots to cover the entire land. It could already sense new ponies arriving from a frozen wasteland to the north.

New bearers of the mark.

"So," Discord said, lifting the pony closer to his grinning face, "what's your name, sunny-buns?"