Anomalousby benxlabsChaptersHopelessDreamsReturnHumiliatedNaturalizationMiscalculationDisharmonyDeceptionFinaleEpilogue, or the Continuation of the DreamHopelessChapter 1: Hopeless The ring of the solid gold alarm clock signalled the beginning of his day. It also signalled the beginning of his personal, customized hell. He came from a noble family. A perfectionist family. A family that allowed no mistakes. His parents were distant, which might be an understatement. He was but an object to them, a means to an end. He was technically rich, but he wasn't allowed to buy anything with the money. He lived under a totalitarian family. And he was absolutely miserable. Everyday, the same old thing. He followed a strict schedule that allowed no errors. Everyday. Get up. Brush teeth. Go to school. Come back. Get yelled at for not being perfect. Banished to his room. Read himself to sleep. Repeat. His goal in life was to become happier, and endlessly pursued every last glimmering hope. After all, even the oppressed have desires of their own. He read countless books, and asked countless people, whether they be his classmates or somewhat kind looking passerby, how he could become happier. Every time, he got the same answer: “Just do what you love to do!” The problem was, there were no hobbies, no interests, and definitely no favorite things that he wanted to do, or even remotely wished to associate himself with. The closest thing he had to a hobby was staying indoors. Although no one knew it, his anger and frustration towards the years of neglect he had met at the hands of fate were about to boil over. At a glance, there was no way anyone would know he was discontent at all with his life. It all came from years of grueling practice and emotional deadening. He contained the raging inferno of emotion inside him, tucked away safely, until the day it would be welcomed in the world. One day, while browsing through his father’s newspapers, he discovered a way out of his agonizing existential crisis. He remembered that at school, there were computers. And with computers, there was fun. What kind of fun, he didn't know. Of course, as he lived in a very elitist environment, social development was much more important than technological education. Hence, he had never truly experienced the wonders of a well-made computer game or the simple joy in reading a nice email. But a gamble would have to be made, and he decided to take a chance, and set out to obtain one of these little bundles of happiness. It was not like he had never used a computer before, he had simply never had one of his own. However, he was unable to purchase anything by himself, as his bank account had a multi-digit password only known to his parents. Being a child, he had tried guessing the number multiple times. But like a child, he had absolutely no chance of actually guessing it. Having no other option available to him, he turned to the people he would have avoided at all costs in any other situation. His parents. He stressed the educational functions of a computer to his parents, and when that didn’t work, he promised he would be more perfect, and get only the best grades in school. His parents, hearing promise upon promise upon promise, could only grudgingly relent. His new PC was scheduled to arrive in three weeks, during which he gained a slightly more optimistic, hopeful outlook of life. He tried harder in school, and actually showed the teachers that he was not mentally retarded. In fact, he was actually quite an intelligent person. He just never felt the need to complete the schoolwork assigned to him. This happy time for him affected his expressions too. He smiled and actually went outside in the sun for a few minutes once. Quite a while passed, and quite a few calls were made to ensure that his holy grail would be delivered. The day came when the delivery truck stopped taking its sweet time and arrived at his door, and when the doorbell rang, a terrorist compound couldn't have stopped him from rushing to the door. He saw the package. He brought it inside, and savagely tore it open, maliciously destroying the cardboard and packing peanuts inside. After much cardboard box cruelty and some domestic housecleaning, he carefully, ever so carefully placed the freshly excavated laptop on his desk. His finger carefully pushed down on the button that he had awaited for so long, and when the screen flickered to life, he almost exploded with joy. With his trusty new computative device, he was bound for a journey of discovery and possible bunny killing. The computer allowed him to do wondrous things, and his knowledge expanded exponentially. The greatest thing that happened to him, besides getting a computer, was discovering social networking. He slapped together a profile very different from his own, and actually started making friends. He became obsessed with his PC, using it day and night. Once he put on his headphones, it would be hours before he even so much as glanced back into the real world. It has been said before, however, that nothing golden can stay. This was certainly true in his case. His parents became concerned with his ever growing obsession with the fabricated world. Finally, they took action and stepped in like the good parents they were. For once, they did something responsible parents would. But like all victims that have had their beloved electronic devices removed from their lives, he suffered. Without something to preoccupy his days, his idle hours were once again freed up, and once again filled with angry, vicious thoughts. Angry, vicious thoughts tend to be somewhat angry and a bit vicious, so he decided to vent this viciousness by going outside. Throwing open his front door, he winced as warm sunshine caressed his face. The few days he had been in the sun hadn't exactly been able to accustom him to nature. Better late than never, so he set out to explore the mysterious land beyond. Little did he know of what he would find. He stepped onto the street between the two rows of houses. On both sides, massive mansions loomed over well-trimmed lawns and overdecorated front yards. Perhaps adventure would await on the other side. Closing his eyes, he smiled as he imagined himself running across an empty field, with no rules to bind him. He laughed as he thought about it, but then a voice jerked him out of his daydream. "Watch out!" Someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him backwards. He wasn't prepared for the physical assault, and he fell backwards, knocking over both him and his assailer. They both fell into the grass, kicking and flailing. A car whizzed by, swerving left and right, just as he fell backwards. With a start, he realized that his life had just been saved. Brushing himself off, he got up and prepared to thank his savior. He turned around and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His savior was a girl. She was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. Her dirty blonde hair was unkempt, yet it looked completely natural. Her emerald eyes bored into his. They were full of reproach and questioning. "Didn't your parents ever tell you to look twice before crossing the street, you could've died there, you know!" He wasn't sure how to respond. His parents had never told him anything about looking twice before crossing a road. The only thing he was to look twice at was his math homework. The tone of her voice ticked him off though. She didn't talk like his mom said girls should talk. She sounded more like some kind of rebellious boy than a girl. "Didn't your parents ever tell you how to behave? Why don't you go back to your tea party?" It was probably a mean thing to say, and in retrospect, probably extremely sexist, but he was naive, and she was annoying. They stomped away after that, each going their own way. But after a day filled with careful contemplation, he decided it was best if he at least thanked her for saving him. He grimaced, imagining her gloating expression as he kneeled down before her. He shook his head to clear his mind of such frightening thoughts. Chivalry trumped personal honor at this point. What honor would I have if I had been killed by a car like some common squirrel? So he swallowed his pride and headed for the girl's home. "What do you want? Are you here to beg for forgiveness?" she crossed her arms and turned her face away. "Something like that. I realized that I forgot to thank you yesterday. So, thank you. Thank you for saving my life. I am in your debt, my lady." He was encouraged by the fact that she seemed upset. It was much easier to deal with than taunting. "Wha-" she began, her cheeks reddening. The expression on her face was priceless. He was mid bow, but he couldn't maintain the air of formality any more. It was too much. He dropped to the ground and began laughing. "H-hey! Stop laughing! What's so funny?" she kicked him, but she clearly wasn't trying to hurt him. So he just laughed some more. By the time he finally calmed down, she had her arms crossed and face turned away again. It was so strange, seeing her behave like that, but perhaps it was just because he had never really interacted with a girl before. "If you're just gonna laugh at me, I'm closing the door." she began to reach for her door handle. Just then, he felt something strange resound inside of him. It was unlike anything that he had ever felt before. He was an unspoiled child: his parents had made sure of that. If he wanted something, he had to work for it. But at that moment, he felt something. He wanted to stay. It was the first time someone made him laugh. Laughing felt good. Laughter lifts a weight off the soul, if only for a little while. "Sorry, sorry, it's been a while since I've laughed like that." he was still beaming from ear to ear as he tried to apologize. "Um, so, when I finish up my lessons for today, could I come over again?" he asked, averting his eyes. What did I just say? Why did I just say that? Now I've done it. He winced and prepared for a physical assault. To his surprise, it didn't come. Or at least, it didn't come in the way that he thought it would. He opened his eyes and found her face altogether too close to his. She hugged him with a crushing strength, almost suffocating him. He would have protested, but when he saw her tears, he shut his mouth. He couldn't really talk anyway, as his lungs had been completely crushed, but that's beside the point. What was he supposed to do? Hug her back? Stand there? Pet her head? "Thank you. Y-you're the o-only one that e-ever...e-ever..." her words were broken by the heaving of her shoulders and the tears falling from her eyes. He sighed. It was a neighberhood of moneybags, after all. Meeting another distressed child was to be expected. He wrapped his arms around her, and drew her in close. "I have to thank you too. Thank you for showing me that I'm not alone." he whispered softly in her ear, unsure what else to say. And then there was silence. There was no need for words, for it was simply quiet companionship. But there's a time for meetings and a time for partings. He softly released her, and she did the same. She took one last look at him, smiled, and closed her door. He smiled too, and his smile stayed on his face even when he went to sleep. The world was a cruel place. It had allowed him to glimpse at the magnificence of life, but just as quickly quashed that utopia. He worked diligently, putting more effort than ever before into his lessons and work, finishing them faster and faster. Upon finally recieving a respite from the tedious labor, he bolted out the door and to the only other place he could think of. He knocked on the door, expecting her to come running. Instead, he got no response. A bit stymied, but not defeated, he rang the doorbell. This time, a middle-aged lady came after some time had passed. She had the same dirty-blonde hair as her, but the lady's hair was streaked with silver and white. And she was crying. "I'm sorry, our family is going through some tough times right now. Could you come back later?" she replied in an impressively strong voice. He was awed by her willpower. She was clearly distressed, but you couldn't tell at all from the voice. Was this what it meant to be a true blueblood? He wondered why she was crying. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. The stony mask that had masked her expressions shattered into pieces. Dropping her face into her hands, she bitterly wept. "My daughter- my daughter killed herself last night!" she was almost screaming in hysteria. A dull thud resonated through my mind. The world slowed down. Everything faded away. I couldn't hear her weeping. The world around me seemed to become a thick gelatin. My movements were sluggish and everything seemed to be wobbling. A surge of nausea accompanied and was amplified by the wobbling. He fell to his knees, eyes wide with disbelief. She wouldn't kill herself. We were friends right? More than friends, right? I was going to be there for her, and in return, she was always going to be there for me, right? Wasn't that our promise? Wasn't I the one? He couldn't, wouldn't understand. But in some dark recess of his mind, something clicked. It whispered the sinister truth to him, but he pushed it back. He didn't dare believe it, but the thought echoed through the chambers of his brain until it was the only sound pounding in his ears. I said I would be there for her, but I wasn't. It's been weeks since I've visited her. What might she have been thinking, trapped in the prison that she is obligated to call her home? He punched the ground. He punched the ground again. And again. And again. He punched the ground until his fist bled, and then he kept punching it. His parents eventually came and dragged him away, apologizing to the lady for being an inconvenience. He was scolded severely after getting home, but he couldn't hear anything that they said. He was still in a daze, even as he slipped into bed. Night is a powerful thing. While you lie there, alone, with only the weak light of the moon to illuminate your room, you almost become another person. And as he lay there, he could only think of one thing. Death was the only way out of his misery. He vowed to bring it upon himself, the ultimate sacrifice, in order to escape his life. He would search for her in the underworld, as Hercules did. As Orpheus did. And yet he was no hero. He did not seek to escape from the land of eternal rest. No. He would be buying a one-way ticket. Something had died in him that day. Was it compassion? Was it empathy? Was it love? Without it, he lost the sparkle in his eyes that marked his naievity. Tonight was the summation of his plans. Tonight was the conclusion of days of planning. Tonight was the final chapter in his pitiful story. It was show time. His parents had invited half the neighborhood over to have a social gathering at their house. These gatherings were a regular event, but that didn't mean that he liked them. Every gathering, he would shake hands with the guests, excuse himself, and seclude himself in his room to avoid any further unecessary social interaction. But this time, he had a plan, and if it succeeded, would change his life. Literally. The guests were socializing, like they always did, and he decided to set his plan into motion. It was no easy task to make his way to the kitchen, for there was always someone to greet, and someone to make light conversation with. Although he had been horribly shy before, he was now cold and emotionless, the perfect aristocrat. He opened the cooking utensil cabinet, finding himself faced with a difficult choice. There were a multitude of exquisite and deadly knives for the taking. After some deliberation, he picked one of the sharper knives, a modern kitchen knife with a few touches of luxury. Bands of silver sprouted from the ruby inset in the handle, forming a makeshift grip. A ruby knife. How fitting, considering the purpose it was to serve. But now was the hard part- getting back to his room unseen, in order to conceal the knife for later use. Knife in hand, he carefully climbed up the back staircase of his home. He had almost reached the top of the staircase when he heard his mother calling: “Honey, come down and meet our guests!” His blood ran cold. He couldn’t turn back. Not now, not with a knife in his hand. What could he do? He could continue heading upstairs and risk severe punishment from his mother, or head downstairs and risk exposing his plan. “Hurry up honey, we don’t have all day!” He sensed his mother's voice becoming accusatory. He made a split second decision and dashed up to his room as fast as he could. “Do not worry mother. I merely require a few moments to fix my disorderly apperance.” He tried to stall her. And yet, even with victory within his grasp, he encountered another setback. The door was locked. “Mother.” “Yes, Honey?” “Why have you locked my door?” “Well honey, you always lock yourself in there whenever we have one of our wonderful gatherings, and I thought this time you could come out and meet some of our guests!” Just great. Now what was he supposed to do? His mother was becoming impatient with him. And he was locked out of the final checkpoint of his plan. But wait! The bottom of the door didn’t touch the floor. There was a small crack under it, where he could slide the knife under. He just hoped he could get it under his bed so his mom wouldn’t wonder why there was a knife on the floor in his room. He carefully placed the knife under the crack, and kicked it as hard as he could. He heard a satisfying clunk as it bounced off the wall, presumably coming to rest under the bed. His mission accomplished, he headed downstairs toward another evening of absolute boredom. He shook countless hands and said countless hellos. When the gathering was over, he sighed with relief. Finally, the show would go on. He betrayed no emotion, which perhaps should have aroused suspiscion, but his parents were satisfied that their son was finally "maturing". Knowing his parents liked to stay up, watching their silly sitcoms, he also stayed up. When the lights went out, he would go out too. He jolted awake from his bed. How long had he been asleep? He only remembered closing his eyes, just for a second. He checked his alarm clock. 4:59. His parents were most likely still sleeping. Good. He slipped out of bed, and as quietly as possible, tip toed behind his bed. The knife was still there. He picked it up, and slid back into his bed. He gazed at the scarlet gem, and the silver linings wrapped around the hilt. Perhaps it was meant to be? Perhaps the knife was telling him that even death had a silver lining? He touched the knife to his finger. He suddenly felt very nervous. There was no room for worry. There was no room for excuse. There was no room for fear. There was no room for hesitation. He swallowed, and continued on with grim determination. Raising the knife, he closed his eyes and thrust the knife towards himself. Why was he still alive? He opened his eyes, and realized that his arms hadn’t moved. Strange. He tried again. He closed his eyes, raised the knife over his chest, and stabbed toward his heart. He was clearly still alive. How was this possible? He clearly had sent the command to end his life, yet his body was not obeying. Hm. I see that in the end, I am just a coward after all. He spurned himself for his own fear of death. What was their to gain in this life? What was there to live for? His anger reaffirmed, he steeled his conviction in preparation for another attempt. Well, you know what they say: Third time’s the charm! This time, he kept his own eyes open, and thrust the knife deep into his chest. A single, sickening, squelch burst the silence of the night. Soon, blood seeped out of the wound, staining the white blankets with dark red. But he had not hit a vital spot. Through the haze of pain that clouded his vision and thoughts, he realized he must stab again before the adrenaline of injury faded and the true agony of his wound emerged. If he uttered a single scream, it would all be over. With a small grunt, he pulled out the bloodied tool so suited for its task. He stabbed again, this time in the stomach. He almost cried out, but managed to keep quiet by biting his tongue. Pain now resounded in his mouth, but the scream found no foothold and slipped away. Again, he stabbed himself. He felt himself losing consciousness, as blood poured out of his wounds. He smiled, almost blissfully, and knew he had succeeded. Author's Note Anomalous 2.0! Much needed story revamp after WAY too long! DreamsChapter 2: Dreams A dark red haze clouded his vision. The sanguine veil obscured his vision, hiding what might lurk beyond. Formless apparitions drifted about, seemingly randomly, and yet with some higher purpose. I must be dreaming... he realized. He would soon meet the enigma known as death. The voyage could prove to be a long one, but he would dream it away. Might as well enjoy the show while it lasts. Noticing subtle whispers slipping about, he closed his eyes and focused on what was being said. “Death...the inevitable fruit of life...” “And yet it comes before life has fully born its fruits.” “Fate tells no lies. It shall end here.” “Death before life unfinished is harbinger of life again.” “But to steal a morsel from the grasp of death, ruin shall be your companion.” “Ruin may follow if rebirthed in quarter past.” “If indeed ruin follows, what words speak of implausible action? Death comes.” “Rebirthed in quarter once birthed, such is implausible. Yet rebirth in quarter unbirthed yields fruit anew.” “You speak not of quarter which I think?” “I do speak of such quarter.” “Futile. An ill-advised course of action. A path preposterous is a path doomed to fail.” "Mayhap prespoterous it seems, yet none other path suggests itself to me.” “Mind over matter, consider, for words cannot change what will be carved in stone.” “Mind over matter, since time immemorable. Now, life unfulfilled will begin anew. Quarter of old will now become quarter of new. Form of quarter old shall become form of quarter new, but new will yet become old.” “Life of a million years began with a single breath.” “Life of a million years shall too end with one final death.” “What on Earth was that conversation about?” He wondered as the shadows departed. But as he wondered, he felt a shift. The omnipresent sentiment of death no longer loomed over the horizon. The sanguine veil which covered his vision dissolved like so much mist on a sunny day. Death, he realized, had forsaken its grasp on him. I suppose they were talking about me, then? I guess I'm getting a second chance, somewhere happier, somewhere...better? Of course, these might just be the hallucinations of my dream, but either way, I'll win. I either escape my life of torment through everlasting sleep, or escape my life of torment by escaping to another life. he realized, with some triumph. He decided to sit back and enjoy the ride to his new life, perhaps even with a caring family. His journey was not an empty one, for in death, he was not blinded by the necessities of life. In death, he could observe that which no eyes could hope to see in life. One moment he was soaring through the sky, another moment flying through the water. The world revealed its secrets to him, and in knowledge, he found pain. Ignorance is bliss, and in death, all ignorance was washed away. He saw lands of nothing but pain and suffering. He saw people who lived lives filled with nothing but hardship. Each one of them lived a life that put shame to the torments he thought he had felt. And yet, these people didn't waver. Each man, each woman, each child had a purpose, a meaning in life that they strived to fulfill. They did not lament the difficulties of life, they did not cry for what they did not have. His spirit stirred as he watched them. These people were the embodiment of bravery, they were the embodiment of the human spirit. What excuse did I have, what pathetic reason, that I could just selfishly end my life?. Yet as abruptly as his journey started, it ended. He realized he had stopped drifting along his earthly continuum. In a fade to black, the world around him had dissipated into nothingness. “I guess this is where I get off.” he mused to himself. But then, he realized he had no idea how to, well, “get off”. “Hello? Anybody there? Shakespearen shadows? Narrator? Help?” Soon, he got his answer. A strange sensation took hold of his legs. They tingled, and he soon found that he had lost control of them. The tingling spread through the rest of his body, arresting his panicked flailing. He felt as if ants were crawling over his body, and yet he could do nothing about it. If this is what taking drugs feels like, I'm glad I never touched that stuff. was his last thought before the tingling advanced to his head. As it took root in his brain, the tingling intensified into an intense electrical shock that jolted him into unconsciousness. “Ughrgdagh” He mumbled, trying to get his mouth to work again. “Doctor! He's awake!” A female voice resounded in his ears. “Wrrgh...What? How did I get here?” He tried to get a hold of his surroundings. He was lying on a soft bed, and he sensed a presence near him. Forcing his weary eyes open was not an easy task. The electric shock had completely fried him, and it was hard to move at all. But with a display of willpower that was extremely unimpressive to any who happened to be watching, he forced his eyes open. And what he saw did not amuse him. When the fog of sleep finally cleared from his eyes, and his senses finally seemed to resume normal function, the first thing that hit him was the smell. Everything had an overwhelming scent of fresh made fudge. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was slightly overpowering. A concerned looking face leaned over him. It wasn't a human face. He grit his teeth in frustration. He had clearly been reborn into some kind of crazy messed up alien planet. Oh well. At least he had gotten another chance. Maybe the aliens would have some kind of device that would be able to send him back to Earth. For now, he would play along. “Where am I?” He tried to ask. But it came out more like: “Whrgez arv Ahf?” His caretaker/captor (he didn’t know what it/she/he was) raised her head and turned around, saying: "Doctor, he's talking!” With a heavy heart, he slipped into unconsciousness once again. “Is he going to be alright?” He heard the same voice ask someone else. “I don’t know. That was quite a fall, and it looked like he had been hit with quite a shock. Maybe even stronger than a lightning bolt.” A masculine voice responded. He opened his eyes again, and tried to sit up. Immediately he regretted it. Waves of nausea hit him, and he almost threw up. “Slow down, big guy, that was quite a fall you had there.” said the feminine one. “Who are you? What are you? Where am I? And why does everything smell like fudge?” Questions poured out of him as he realized he had fully regained the ability to speak. “Well, first of all, My name is Twilight Sparkle. Second, I am a unicorn, obviously, since I clearly have a horn. Everyone in Ponyville is either a pony, a unicorn, or a pegasus, after all. I mean, come on, you're a Pegasus for crying out loud, you should know this stuff! Third, you are in the Ponyville hospital, and Fourth, what do you mean everything smells like fudge? Have your olfactory senses been discombobulated as well as your memory storage capacity?” Now he was really confused. He was a pony now? This self-proclaimed “Twilight Sparkle” was clearly not a unicorn, as unicorns were mythical creatures. But she did resemble one, as she looked like a horse and had the horn that made a unicorn a unicorn. But then, the true impact of what she had said hit him. “I am not a pony!” he yelled. “I am a human! A normal person!” “Twilight Sparkle” looked at him with some concern. “Of course you aren’t a pony! Silly you, you’re a pegasus! But I don't know about this 'human' thing. Is that the knew street term for pegasi?” That hit him even harder. “Wha-wha-what? I’m a what now?” He stuttered out. “Silly you, stop acting dumb!” Twilight Sparkle smiled. “You know that you have wings! Well, if you're still confused, I guess that fall might have really done something. Don't worry, we can help you remember!” The unicorn had started using a baby voice. He examined himself with horror, and realized that she was right. He had the body of a horse with wings, just like the mythical pegasus. “What have you done to me?!?” He screamed. Suddenly, he felt very, very, angry. He lashed out in a fit of rage and overturned his bedside table. Alarmed, the male doctor ran out of the room to get help. Twilight Sparkle was shouting something at him, but he didn't care. He wanted out. Out of this life, out of this new torment. Not really knowing what he was doing, he crashed through a window and landed on grass outside. His head hurt, not from injury, but because he couldn't accept the situation. He couldn't see. He couldn't think. He couldn't hear their calls. Why? Why? He had been given life, and he had thought it would prove to be a blessing, rather than a curse. Instead, he had been transformed into a monster from a Greek myth, stuck inside a world that smelled like fudge. Now, in his rage, he knew only to run. The rigorous aristocratic training he had undergone wasn't completely useless after all, and he was a relatively strong, despite only having gone outside in the sun a few times in his life. He would only run. And so he ran. He ran away from his new life, and his past. He could only run, so he ran from everything. The raging torrent of anger and disappointment slowly faded, and when he finally looked up, he realized with a sickening lurch that he was lost. Gone were the bright colors of the town that “Twilight Sparkle” called “Ponyville”. Instead, a dark palette of blacks, dark blues, and dark greens dominated the landscape. Worst of all, the sun was going down. He was cold, hungry, and utterly at a loss as what to do. He knew nothing about the wild. He had never even seen such large trees, being housebound for the majority of his life. “I should have stayed in the hospital.” He bitterly muttered to himself. Only now, when he was finally away from everyone, away from everything, was his head truly clear. But his brain couldn’t have picked a worse time. This new, hostile landscape ignited a primitive premonition of danger. But as his anger cleared, replaced by fear, he found he could no longer run. How he had been able to use this form while running in a raging fury was lost to him. As his legs folded and he fell to the ground, he tried to hug himself. His many fears started to overwhelm him. I'm just a coward. I'm just a stupid, sniveling, bratty, spoiled, coward. He almost incapacitated himself through sheer negativity, but doing so would only worsen his situation, so he relented the flow of self-deprecating remarks. Sure, he had finally cleared his mind, but it was when he was in the worst possible situation that the dream finally seemed to end. ReturnChapter 3: Return He was completely lost. The weak rays of the moon did little to illuminate the darkness, and every step only seemed to bring him further away from safety, from shelter. If he couldn't find his way out of this cursed forest soon, there was no doubt that he would die. He would die by himself, alone, in the darkness once again. To make it worse, it started raining. Drenched, freezing, hungry, disillusioned, and disgusted, he continued venturing through the dark forest. Crack. He spun around as his heart skipped a beat, expecting a bear or some other terrifying beast. Well, he tried to turn around, but he forgot he had four legs instead of two, so he ended up in a tangled heap on the forest floor. It was no easy matter trying to learn to control a form so different than what he was used to. My new form... he mused. Wait! Didn’t Twilight Sparkle say something about me being a pegasus? According to legend, pegasus are winged horses with the ability to fly and land on clouds. Perhaps he was unable to coordinate his legs, but something easier like flapping his wings could allow him to escape the forest. Although he was completely lost, being able to rest on a cloud, high above danger, until day came, seemed to be an appealing option. Only one problem. He had absolutely no idea how to even walk, much less fly. “Oof! Ow!” He was on his 35th attempt at lifting himself off the ground. So far, he had achieved sustained hovering for a maximum of three seconds, but his success was often abruptly terminated by the copious amount of trees. “Alright. THINK!” He told himself. “How does a bird get off the ground?” He remembered spending time learning about aviation theories in his science class. Education comes in handy in the weirdest places, huh? A bird’s wing is slightly curved over the top, causing air to flow faster under the wing than on top. This causes a lack of pressure on top of the bird, generating lift. Okay, well I mean scientific theory is great and all, but it's kinda completely useless right now. he thought. I’m going to be an airplane. He spread his wings, took a stance, and started running. Five minutes later... Huffing, puffing, panting,and exhausted, he stopped running. “Okay...that didn’t work. I guess I'll just flap like crazy? That's how little kids pretend to fly...” Up. Down. Up. Down. Flap. Flap. He was exhausted. Flying really is hard work... He thought, trying to catch his breath. “Alright, let’s try this again.” He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, focused his mind, and gave his wings a couple of hard flaps. He kept flapping. Just keep flapping. Flap. Flap. Prepared for disappointment, he slowly opened his tightly shut eyes. Did I get taller or something? Wait... He was flying! He was flying above the ground! Instead of being earthbound, he was steadily hovering at least a foot of the ground. Just keep flapping.. If he stopped flapping, he would fall to the earth, and probably never fly again. With every flap, the danger increased, but with every flap the light of hope shone brighter. Soaring higher than ever before, he let out a whoop as he finally left that dark forest behind. Flying was something special, something that you couldn't explain to someone who couldn't. When you are all alone, surrounded by nothing, hindered by nothing, that kind of freedom you feel is something you can't feel anywhere else. He broke the cloud layer. His relief at finding respite at long last purged him of the adrenaline which had fueled his flight. He slumped down, completely exhaused, on a cloud close by. Unfortunately, it was a thunder cloud. With a crackle and a boom, a peal of thunder split the midnight air. It also gave him a heart attack. Luckily, it was a two-in-one with built-in defibrillation, so he was okay. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” He hadn’t expected that. Feeling rather embarrassed, he crawled onto another cloud, making sure it wasn't another boomer. He smothered his face in the cloud, trying to hide his flushed face. In hopes of venting some of his nervous energy, he testily flapped his wings, and to his surprise, the cloud moved with him. He smiled. Maybe he had some hope of getting back to “Ponyville” after all! The sun was rising, and he finally saw some traces of civilization. In the far distance, he saw a large tree with windows (What the heck?), several buildings, and a city that appeared to be made of...clouds? As he neared the town, he realized he was getting used to the smell of fudge. He was slightly disturbed. Was he being assimilated into this crazy race? He hoped not. As the town became closer, he dismounted from his cloudmobile, and tried to flutter to the ground gracefully. Instead, he tumbled down and hit tree branch after tree branch until the ground hit him. Wow. Even in a alternate dimension, he was socially awkward. He neared the town cautiously...VERY cautiously, for fear of...well...everything. For some reason, whenever he neared someone, they gave him a strange glance, half in question and half in incredulity. Fine by him. He was used to attracting attention. He just wanted to know why. He approached a - a- wait, what did that purple one call them? A pegasus! This one was a creamy yellow, with bubblegum colored hair. She averted her eyes as he approached, retreating backwards towards a corner. But it was a bad way to go, and he cornered her in no time. He wasted no time in asking: “Hi, um, so I'm new around here, so I don't know if I've done something wrong or what, but like..would you happen to know why everyone is staring at me strange?” The cream colored pegasus looked up. An inaudible mumble slipped by his ear, but then it was gone. All he caught was something about something blank. “Excuse me, could you speak up? Sorry, I must have poor hearing.” Instead of an inaudible mumble, this time he got an incomprehensible murmur. He was getting very flustered now. Being socially awkward enough already, talking with a female made it even worse. His face was now very red, and he decided this would her last chance. “Could you please speak a little louder? I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch what you said. Something about blanks?” This time, she spoke at a volume that was recognizable, to his relief. “Well, um, sir, you don't consider yourself a foal anymore, do you?” “Well...I guess...not? But what does that have to do with anything?” He replied, slightly confused. What is a foal? Is that a bad thing? She kind of made it sound bad, so I said no. I hope I didn't mess up again.“Um, so the problem is, most ponies your age already have their cutie mark, and you clearly don't!” She sped up as she neared the end of her sentence, nearly speaking at an incomprehensible speed again. As soon as she finished, she pushed past him and ran away with a speed that made him feel just a little hurt. Just a little. “Aaahh...got it. Thanks!” He shouted after her, hoping that she wouldn't mark him down in her mind as an ungrateful weirdo. Now what in the world is a cutie mark? Why would anyone want something so stupid sounding? He wondered to himself as he plodded along. But no matter. He had returned to civilization. The next sentient being that seemed to have speech capabilities that he encountered was another pegasus. Another female, he presumed, since the creature had long, rainbow toned hair that was unkempt and flowing. The rainbow pegasus took one look at him and started cracking up. Was not having a cutie mark really that bad? If it was, he would have to get one real soon. He decided he needed to get more information about these “cutie marks”, even if it marked him as an absolute idiot for the rest of his life. “Excuse me, miss-” He began. “Miss? MISS? Do I look like I’m that old?” the rainbow-haired pegasus replied in a voice that was much louder than it needed to be. At least he could hear what the other pony was saying this time. “Er...well...how would you like me to address you?” This was not a good start. “First off, my name is Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in all of Ponyville. You are to address me by name, and not like I’m an old lady, got that?” Alright. Got it. At least that name was somewhat easy to remember. “Alright, Rainbow Dash, my question is: what is a cutie mark and how do I get one?” She looked at him for a few seconds, completely silent, and then burst out laughing again. “BWAHAHAHA! You’re joking right? Everypony knows what a CUTIE MARK is!” This was going to be harder than expected. He tried again. “Just tell me, okay? I don’t know, and I can’t stand people looking at me like I’m an idiot.” She just sighed. (Where are all the men in this awful town? At the least, where are the normal women?) “Well, if you don’t know what a cutie mark is, you probably are an idiot anyways, but it’s like a mark that appears on your, um, flank when you learn what you are best at in life. Since you don’t have one, you clearly haven’t discovered what you’re best at yet, or, more likely, you're just too stupid for one.” That last bit stung. But anyways, according to Rainbow Dash, a cutie mark is like a tattoo on your bum that appears when you discover what you meant to do in life. Ah, if only it were that easy in my world...we would be spared so much pain and suffering. “So how can I get one of these cutie marks?” He asked his second question. “Celestia save me, you really are stupid aren’t you? Where did you got to school? Scratch that, you're too stupid for school. You can’t just make a cutie mark appear, it appears by itself once you’ve discovered what you’re good at. Got it? We’ve already got three fillies who are obsessed with getting their cutie marks. We don’t need another one, a full grown pony at that.” Could she not say something nice for once? “Got it. I’ll just be um...on my way now!” She gave him one last suspicious glance before he left. “One weirdo after another. How am I going to survive in this crazy place?” He thought to himself as kept walking down the road. HumiliatedChapter 4: Humiliated Good news travels slowly, but bad news has wings. Like him. Unfortunately, bad news could actually use those wings. Clearly, word had gotten out that he was a complete idiot. They would whisper to one another when they thought he had his back turned, but his hearing was sharper than they thought. He heard their leering, their sneering, their taunting remarks. He did his best to endure it, but he grit his teeth unconsciously as his brow furrowed into a dark scowl. This life was turning out very similar to his previous one. Luck would make it even more so when a very strong looking stallion bumped into him at that moment. He grunted and retreated a few steps backwards. Despite doing his best to ignore the infuriating gossip, it had managed to distract him from paying attention to his surroundings. “Hey! Watch where you’re going, squirt!” growled his assailant. “Hey! It's not just my fault, you should have been looking too!” He protested. “What didtchoo just say?” growled the brawny pony. “Ah, erm, well I was just saying that we should both be more careful in, um, the future, ha...ha...” his voice trailed off into nervous laughter as he perceived only blankness on the face of the stallion. “Oh yeah? You know what I think? I think that you just insulted me.” “Ah, no, I didn't mean it that way, I was just saying that-” he fumbled over his words, desperately trying to avoid confrontation. “Wait...aren't you that completely moronic Pegasus? You're dumber than Derpy aren't you? You don’t even know what a cutie mark is!” The stallion grinned evilly, showing two rows of glistering teeth that could have belonged to a shark. “Erm...well..I suppose that’s true...” He felt the tides being turned on him. “Hey everyone! This is the stupid guy! The one that doesn't know what a cutie mark is!” the stallion sneered at him after getting the attention of everyone in the area. He felt their stares bore into him, even when he couldn't see them. Each pair of eyes felt like a pair of scorching suns, and sweat began to drip from his forehead. Now would be a good time to skedaddle, he decided. Escape was no easy task when you are surrounded by a crowd of sniggering ponies. He spun around as best as he could without embarrassing himself any further. He had to escape, or there was going to be trouble. There! A group of ponies was huddling together, listening to their clique leader entertain them with his ridiculous fabrications about the new pony. Their leaning caused a slight shift in the tide of ponies, leaving him a small gap to run through. He wasted no time in using this opportunity to break out of the encirclement. But now what? Angry shouts followed his every step as he desperately tried to escape. The giant tree! He ducked inside as everyone started laughing. How they taunted him. Teased him. His shoulders gave an involuntary shudder as he took a shaky breath. “Hey there!” called out a voice. The blue Pegasus whipped around, expecting another jeering face. Instead, he saw a draganoid creature clad in purple and green scales. Big green eyes blinked at him, as if expecting a response. “Hi, um, so, sorry for just barging in here like that, I thought maybe it would, uh, be empty, but, um, I was just wondering if I could stay here for a bit?” His face flushed as he stumbled over his words yet again. The small dragon closed his eyes, resting his head on his fist. After a moment's consideration, he said: “Well, I suppose you could stay here...I'd havta ask Twilight though.” Twilight! That name again. Wasn't the pony at the hospital named Twilight Sparkle? He desperately hoped that it wasn't the Twilight he was thinking of.. It was. At first, he thought that the ponies waiting outside would go away after he hid inside, but he could see from the window that they were still crowded around the door, playing the waiting game, waiting for him to come out. He felt his pulse pounding in his forehead, but as far as he could see, he was trapped. The creaking of a floorboard jolted him out of his despairing introspection. He jumped, and slowly turned around, expecting more trouble. Instead, he heard: “Oh, there you are. We’ve been looking for you!” Twilight Sparkle was smiling at him, the draganoid at her side. His pupils dialated in embarrasement. The memories of him breaking the window at the hospital were still burning in his mind. "Hi! Um, sorry about the window, I didn't mean to, erm, well I mean I did, but I didn't really mean to, but, um, you see, I was just really, um, frustrated, and it, um, I mean, I'm sorry...” He mumbled, ducking his head and trying to brush past her. “Hey, where are you going?" Twilight grabbed his shoulder, effectively terminating his rather ill-fated escape. "Okay, okay! How much do you want? I don't have any money, but, um, I'll work really hard, and I'll do overtime everyday, so it's okay, right? Right?" He was getting desperate. Was a stupid window really worth that much? Why couldn't they just let him go? "Window? Oh! You mean that one! You sure were in a hurry to get out of there, weren't you! Don't worry, I fixed it up already. Next time, remember to use the door, alright?" Twilight smiled at him. "Ah, um, yeah, okay...I mean, I will! Yeah! Definitely! I'll use the door next time!" His confusion turned into gratitude as he realized that his vandalous actions had been pardoned. A big grin broke out on his face. "But anyways, what cloud did you drop in from? It doesn't seem like anypony really knows you around here." Twilight changed to a more serious tone as she studied him once again. It was a fair question. He didn't know the answer himself. If he answered her question improperly, it might result in him being sent to a mental institution of some kind. But he trusted her. Taking a deep breath, he began. "Well, um, you see, I wasn't joking when I said I was a human." He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting disbelieving backlash. "A human? Even I don't know what that is, and I've read pretty much every book in the Royal Library!" She gave him a questioning glance. Not good. He had to step up his game. "So, I guess this is a completely different dimension then? Basically, a human is like...well, we stand on two legs, and we have hands instead of these hooves. An-" He was brutally interrupted by Twilight shoving her face in front of his. "DID YOU JUST SAY A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DIMENSION?" She was nearly screaming, but it was out of excitement. Her eyes were wide with anticipation, and he could see her body quivering with nervous energy. He grimaced. Was that the wrong thing to say? "I...suppose...I said something...like that...but wh-" Once again, Twilight's animated antics cut him off before he could finish. "Wow! Another dimension! I'm talking to a creature from another dimension! I've got to tell the Princess about this!" She ran out of the treefort that had sheltered him from the mob outside for all this time. He tried to call after her, to tell her to wait, but she was gone before he could untangle his legs. The mob had dispersed outside of the tree, having finally lost its momentum. He was glad, since he could finally move about somewhat freely within the town again. “Excuse me, did a lavendar unicorn happen to um, pass through here?” He walked up to one of the local townsfolk, hoping to get some answers. “Oh, you mean the Princess' protege? She was running that way, last I saw. She runs pretty fast for an egghead, doesn't she?" The pony cracked up at his own joke. But as he calmed down and took another look at him, he cocked his head, asking: "Say...aren’t you-” He dashed away before the cycle of doom repeated itself. He sauntered along in the general direction that the pony had directed him. Luckily, he was able to ask ponies along the way to redirect himself. Eventually, he got the sense that he was going towards something called "Canterlot". He ignored the fact that it was clearly a blatant rip-off of King Arthur's famous castle. It's not plagiarism if it's in a different dimension, right? Now with destination in mind, he was able to acquire much more specific instructions as to where to go. “Excuse me, but would you happen to know where or what Canterlot is?” The stallion that he had asked turned around, incredulity in his features. “What are you saying? Who doesn’t know where Canterlot is? I mean, come ON! It’s where the Princesses live! Are you new or something?” He felt himself slipping into the exact same situation that he had encountered when questioning Rainbow Dash. “Um, am I new? I suppose you could say that...?” He winced at his awful attempt to defuse the situation before one of multiple disastrous histories repeated itself. To his relief, the pony gave a snort, content with his excuse. “Well that would explain it. Canterlot is right over there. See that giant, unmistakeable, unmissable, super-obvious castle over there that dominates the landscape for hundreds of miles in every direction? That’s it.” Despite the stallion's rather accusatory word choice, his instructions were clear enough for him to follow. He sighed, both in exasperation and at his own ignorance. Had that giant, unmistakeable, unmissable, super-obvious castle always been there? It was still quite a distance to get there though, especially for him. He decided he would have to get used to his new body for the time being, until he could find a way back home. He gave a start. What had he just been thinking? Was he just thinking about how to get home? He had killed himself to escape the very home he now yearned for! He had ended his existence to escape that world! He grunted in annoyance at the conflicting emotions inside him. For now, he would stick with what he had. Perhaps being a pegasus wasn’t so bad after all. He struggled forward, step after unsteady step. Many times, he tripped. Many times, he fell. Sometimes he could save himself with a few flaps of his wings, sometimes he was doomed to bite the dust yet again. Every time, he pulled himself off the ground to continue his journey. Arduous journey conclucded, he finally arrived in Canterlot, only to find that more obstacles awaited him. “Halt! State your purpose or turn back now!” Barked out the guard patrolling the outskirts of the castle. The guard's spear glistened with menacing light, reinforcing his message. “Hi there! Sorry to intrude like this, but um, well, I was looking for Twilight Sparkle, and all the people- I mean ponies I asked said she was going to, um, Canterlot, so...uh, would it be ok if I went inside to look fo her? Please?” He struggled through one of his longest spontaneous sentences yet. None of these situations had ever come up in his formal social training. Spontaneity was not something that was appreciated among socialites. Luckily, the guard smiled. “Sure thing! All you had to do was ask!” The guard stepped aside and let him in. Where’s an easy button when you need one, huh? He slowly advanced through the halls of the castle, feeling strangely at home among the extravagent paintings and lavish furnishings. Canterlot was truly a castle of wonders. Although it lacked the overpowering feeling of luxury that many patrician homes gave off, each furnishing, each piece seemed to fit into place perfectly. Instead of oppression, the entire castle gave off an aura of serenity and harmony. Finally, in the main throne room, he found Twilight Sparkle. She seemed to be in deep conversation with the one that he assumed was “Princess Celestia”. Should he try and get their attention? Breaking in on royaty was usually a big no-no. The "off with your head" kind of no-no. But the decision was taken out of his hands when they noticed him of their own accord. “There you are! We were just about to send the guards out to find you!” Twilight beamed at him, oblivious to the large number of ways that her sentence could be interpreted. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. He gulped nervously. She was about to send the guards after him? Did he accidentally break a law? Did she care about that window after all? What did he get himself into this time? Convinced that he was about to be tossed into the royal dungeons, he staggered backwards, panic in his eyes. “Do not worry, she had no ill-intent in her words.” Princess Celestia smiled warmly and assured him gently. "Um, ah, is that right?" he laughed nervously, still slightly distrustful. "So um, what did you want, erm, Your Majesty?" He hastily tacked on an honorific at the end of his sentence, remembering he was speaking to royalty. “Twilight tells me that you hail from another dimension. I wish to affirm this statement. If it proves to be true, then we shall need to carefully analyze the implications of your arrival.” Her voice was soft, and yet he could hear it loud and clear, even from the other end of the throne room. “Er, well that's great and all, but, um, how exactly would you confirm that I was from, you know, another dimension? Ah, I mean, I apologize for my insolence, your majesty, I assure you I meant no disrespect, so, um, please don't throw me into the dungeons!” Realizing that he had just commited verbal treachery by using an incorrect tone of voice, he hastily tried to amend his error. The Princess gave him a questioning glance, and Twilight laughed. “Don't worry, silly! You don't need to be all "your majesty" this and "your majesty" that! Just talk normally, please, for the benefit of all of us." Twilight seemed to have no qualms about speaking her mind in front of royalty. But again, that stallion had called her the Princess' protege. He supposed that was a permanent "get out of jail free" card. "Anyways, the Princess is just going to do a bit of magical psychoanalysis, it's completely painless. Don't worry, it's so safe that we do it at the hospital on an outpatient basis!" Twilight eagerly began explaining all the intricacies involved with magical memory viewing, but his eyes glazed over after a few sentences. The Princess' voice sent him back in full-alert mode. “The process involves a full disclosure of your memories. If you feel uncomfortable with this, it is alright to try and deduce your origin with another method." She looked at him with concerned eyes. But he was just glad to be hearing English again. "Ah, no, it's perfectly alright. Do I need to do anything to prepare, your majesty?" He glanced at Twilight as he spoke. He grinned smugly as he saw her give a hmph of annoyance. Princess Celestia beckoned for him to follow as she walked into another room. He hastily dashed after her, catching up without any embarrasing incidents, to his relief. They walked down a long hallway, adorned with all kinds of paintings on the walls. He tried to observe every painting, but to his disappointment, the Princess' pace did not allow for him to take more than a fleeting glance at each. From his superficial inspections, he could see that they seemed to be paintings of past members of Royalty. It was not immediately obvious, but he had a sense for these kinds of things. Each portrait emitted the same kind of power, the same kind of authority that the Princess did. The Princess suddenly stopped, opening a particularly elegant door, laced with gold trim. As he expected, she merely used her magic to open it. Of course. Because opening doors with your hands is too pedestrian. But too his surprise, instead of some kind of laboratory or testing facility, the door opened into a room that was much more homely looking. There were tables and stands around the outskirts of the room, each topped with strange artifacts or documents. Beneath a window overlooking the rest of the castle was a stylish desk with a large pile of papers accompanied by an inkwell and quill pen. He almost made the mistake of assuming this was her office, but then he saw the bed in the center of the room. Um...isn't this her bedroom? Well, I suppose it's fittingly decorated. But I woud have expected a few portraits or a fireplace within the room itself, rather than just in the hallway. Maybe having someone watching you sleep at night was a little too unnerving. He noticed the Princess looking at him, seemingly expectantly. What? What does she want me to do? This isn't in the "How to be an Aristocrat" book! Looking up, he saw that Celestia was sitting on one side of the bed. His danger sense was tingling big time. Bad bad bad. And then she beckoned for him to come over. He gulped. He was afraid, but he was even more afraid of dungeons. He slowly scooted over, one small step at a time. But clearly the Princess wasn't content to wait for him to mosy over, as he was pulled onto the bed in a quick burst of magic. He scrambled to get up. His brain was about to fizz out. What did she want from him? Wasn't this supposed to be some kind of mental examination? This was turning out to be an exexexanimation, to put it one way. His worries were unfounded, as it turns out. She touched her horn to his forehead, sending a shock through his brain. It turned his vision white, and seemed to turn off all of his other senses. All he could feel was his own mind, and another presence approaching. The entity radiated with ancient might, but the power was not brutal. Instead, it reminded him of the sun. Overpowering might, capable of consuming all that approached it, and yet it chooses to use its power to nurture life instead of destroying it. Celestia, huh? What a fitting name. And then it was gone. As the warmth retreated, he felt himself missing it. After all, the world seems so much colder in the absence of the sun. “Well? How did it go?” He was eager to find out whether she believed him. “I certainly believe that you are not of this world." She averted her eyes, deep in thought. "But?" He sensed that there was something she wasn't saying. "But?" She looked at him with a questioning glance. "But what? There's something else, right?" He was determined to find out what it was. The Princess sighed as her features became more tense. After a moment's consideration, she seemed to decide. "The reason behind your appearance seems to be the doing of an ancient and powerful force." She spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "But you're an ancient and powerful force too, right?" He said. Then he realized that he had just described her using a word that you should never use when describing any woman, much less all-powerful royalty. "Oh! Um, I mean, but that doesn't mean you look ancient! You're still really pretty! You look really young, don't worry! It's ok to be ancient, ancient means more wisdom, right? You don't look ancient at all, there's no problem!" "Of course not. But if I may continue, the matter becomes much more complicated when ancient and powerful forces are involved, correct?" She was mad. She was definitely mad. "Yeah, definitely! It always gets more complicated!" He chuckled nervously, trying to appease her. "Tch. And thus, I cannot simply interfere with the magic that is coating your mind." Did she just "tch" me? She definitely just "tch'd" me. I'm so sorry, Celestia, I really am! "In order to prevent dimensional transfer incompatability, many of your past memories have been magically archived. More memories will continue to be archived, until only the memories necessary for survival, as well as the memories you have made in Equestria remain.” His eyes widened as his jaw dropped slightly. No way. I was polymorphed into a mythical creature, and on top of that, now I have chronic amnesia? Come ON! Can't I be a Gary Stu, just for a little while? It's just not fair! “How can I get my memories back?” Shaking her shoulders, he asked Princess Celestia frantically. She turned her face away with downcast eyes. “I am sorry. You are the first case. Our experience with this type of magic is shamefully limited. Perhaps if you were able to obtain a source of magic more powerful than the spell, you could break it. But think carefully. The spell is there for your own benefit. It prevents corruption of your own memories due to incompatability with this environment. It may be for the best that you are to lose those painful memories of the past." He felt a cold knife slice into his heart, reopening wounds that were still raw. Blonde, unkempt hair. A brash personality. "Watch out!" "Thank you." "You're the only one..." It came too fast and hit too hard. A torrent of bitter tears erupted from his eyes. A sob escaped his lips, sending a shudder through his body. And then it all came out. He wept without restraint, not caring that he was in the presence of royalty. He felt someone put their arms around him, but he didn't care who it was. He was in his own world of darkness and pain. Sharing memories is both a blessing and a curse. Perhaps both in this case. A few tears pattered on his face. They weren't his own. He might not have known at the time, but Celestia was crying with him. NaturalizationChapter 5: Naturalization As he headed back to town, he tried to get a grip on himself. He had to remember. His mind regurgitated question after question, the same questions over and over again. Questions that he should have been able to answer. What is my name? Where am I from? Why am I here? He vaguely recalled pain and something about dark figures, but his memories slipped away almost as fast as he had could recall them. How was he supposed to break free of this cursed spell if he couldn't even remember who he was? “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!” A pink pony screamed at him moments after he stepped foot into the town. After she finished her maniacal outburst, she dashed away before he could ask who she was, or recommend her to the nearest psycho clinic. It hadn't even been a full minute after returning to Ponyville, and he had already encountered another nutjob. The citizens of this town were not making a very good impression. So far, he had met a shy one, a feisty one, and apparently, a psycho one. Well, he supposed that Twilight was normal enough, but he tossed that idea out the window. He wasn't going to disprove his own theory. At least he could maintain accident-free walking for a full five minutes now. It was an impressive achievement, considering that he had relearned how to walk in merely two days. Although he had been able to make do and find shelter for the previous nights, he doubted his luck would hold up. He had explored most of the town already, but there was no hotel or tavern in sight. He decided to refrain from asking the townspeople, as they had certainly showed him just how friendly they could be. And so, he decided to try the homes that rather clearly did not belong to the simple townsfolk he feared so much. His first find was a cake store, filled with many delicious looking confectionaries. He was tempted to stay just for the possible culinary benefits, but to his dismay, the store was closed. He was greeted with a "Sorry, We're Closed" sign when he found the entrance. He peeked in through the window. There wasn’t even a person- well, pony in sight. He sighed. Time to try the next house. After an arduous search, he discovered another interesting looking structure. The multi-layered cake shape caught his attention. But now that he was closer, he saw that the name was actually "Carousel Boutique". Go figure. But no sooner had he reached the front door did he find yet another "Sorry, We're Closed" sign. What was going on? Did these ponies expect to make a profit off taking a permanent vacation? Was it really that easy to make money here? And so, he wandered on, still in search of a home. By this time, he had made his way to the very outskirts of the town, and he had been about to give up this disastrous endeavor when he encountered a small cottage, that had a roof...made out of leaves? Huh. Approaching the cottage, he hesitantly knocked on the door. Perhaps this was the end of his journey. A while later, the door was opened by an annoyed looking bunny. “Excuse me, are you the owner of this house?” He asked the bunny. The bunny shook his head furiously. “Okay...is the owner of the house available?” He asked again. Once again, the bunny shook its head. “Do you know when the owner of the house will be available?” he tried again. Again, the bunny shook its head again. “Can I stay here for a while then? Pretty please?” he asked another question. As he expected, the bunny just shook its head. Then it slammed the door in his face. “Well, that went well.” He muttered to himself as he turned around dejectedly. What was their left for him to do? He had done a survey of everything around the town, but all of his efforts had been in vain. Maybe he could try to fly? The sky is the domain of the Pegasi, after all. He beat his wings, hesitantly at first, but more confidently as he rose into the air. Flying is something that you can't just forget. Although he was still unsteady in the air, he could fly! He could actually fly! The thought brought him a rush of adrenaline. As he slowly surveyed the area around the town from the air, he spotted something that caught his attention. At first, he thought it was just a rather large and unusually lumpy cloud, but as he approached it he realized that it was actually an entire home, entirely made from clouds. Amazed that the laws of physics could be bent so far, he lowered himself down onto the house, ready to investigate. As he suspected, the cloud home was solid and clearly structured. The flooring sank ever so slightly under his steps, but it provided a cushion to his gait rather than obstructing it. He knocked on the door, but received no response. After a moment of debate, he tried again. Still, no one answered the door. Deciding to explore the premises for just a little longer, he looked around him. As he gazed around, a fountain caught his attention. Instead of water, it was spurting what seemed to be pure rainbow. A thought hit him. Perhaps this was the house of that rainbow-haired pegasus? Remembering his previous encounter, he decided to skedaddle before she came back. Still without a home, he arrived back where he started, in front of the library. He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. It felt wrong to impose himself on them so many times, and he had been hoping to find shelter without their assistance, but in the end he was back here again. He hoped that they would take him in as graciously as they did before. Steeling his heart, he knocked on the door, and was surprised when it opened. It wasn’t locked. A dark thought crossed his mind. Were there bandits in Ponyville? He took a tentative step inside, and whispered: “Hello? Anybody home?” It was very dark inside. He took step after careful step, terrified that any moment a pony would jump out holding the dragon and Twilight hostage, demanding that he turn over all his belongings. And yet his fears were unwarranted, for he made it all the way inside without any incident. He gave a small sigh of relief, glad that he didn't have to deal with anything like that. It was still very dark in the library though. He wondered why. He got his answer a few seconds later. “Surprise!” As the library suddenly lit up, he didn’t know whether to scream first or to jump five feet into the air first. Unable to decide, he did both at the same time. When he regained his senses and was able to look around him, hw was shocked to see hundreds of ponies, pegasi, and unicorns beaming at him. “Um...what?” He wasn’t sure why they were so happy. “Welcome to Ponyville.” A sandy colored pony with a white mane stepped forward. “I am Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville.” The pony continued. At that moment, the pony from before, the pink psycho, stepped forward. “Remember when I screamed at you? That was because I had never seen you before, and since I had never seen you before, you must have been new, because I know every pony in Ponyville, and if you’re new, then you haven’t met anyone yet, and if you haven’t met anybody yet, then you must not have any friends, and if you don’t have any friends, then you must be really lonely, and if you’re lonely, then you must be sooooo sad, and then I had an idea! That’s why I was like ‘AIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!’, because I thought of an idea to invite every single pony in Ponyville to a super-gigantic super-fun welcome party!” The pink one rambled on and on, threatening to drive him crazy. “Um, oh, right, is that so? Hah.” He did his best “I’m interested and listening” expression. It was one of his special talents after all. Meanwhile, he focused on trying to figure out the best way to escape this rather unexpected conglomeration. The purple one...what was she called? Twilight? Yeah, Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, seemed to be amused by his predicament. She approached him, and whispered in his ear: “You can hide out in my bedroom. The same thing happened to me when I came here.” He gave her a look of gratitude, and snuck upstairs as stealthily as possible. Unfortunately, that was not very stealthily. “Where're ya' goin'? Ain't you enjoyin' the party?” An orange pony was blocking his escape route. “Um...well, no, er, I mean Yes! The party is great! I love it! I just...uh...” He tried to think of an excuse to be heading upstairs. Twilight stepped in. "Don't worry about it AJ, he was just going to fetch a book from my library for me.” Once again, he silently thanked Twilight in his head. “A'righty then, y'all just make sure you hurry on down once you’re done!” He nodded a few times and scrambled up the remaining steps. He rushed into Twilight’s bedroom and slammed the door shut. Peace at last. The door burst open. “Urgh...just five more minutes Mom...” He mumbled groggily. How in the world had he fallen asleep? He remembered finding a particularly interesting novel, and had gotten onto the bed to get into a comfortable reading position. He had only closed his eyes for an instant, to rest them from reading so long. I guess I really was tired, huh? Life in Ponyville is pretty stressful. Then he heard a cough. It was Twilight. “Sorry to disturb you.” She chuckled. “It’s getting kind of late out, and most of the ponies have left.” He got the hint. “Oh! Yes...it’s just...” Twilight looked at him strangely. “It’s just what?” He sighed. “I don’t have a home.” Twilight gasped. “You’re homeless?” He waved his arms frantically. “No! It's not like that! I'm definitely not a hobo! It's just that I haven't found anywhere to live yet and-” Twilight cut in. “If that's how it is, I'm sure we can find you a home in no time! You can stay here for the night, or as long as you need to. There's a couch downstairs, but it's still a bit messy from the party. Would you be okay sleeping there?” He smiled. “Sure! I’m not causing any trouble for you, am I?” She started. “Oh no! You remind me of myself when the Princess sent me to Ponyville! Well, that is, I guess I had a home at least...” She trailed off, slightly embarrased. She let him be after that, and he was glad for it. Despite already having had a nap, it was no problem falling right back asleep. He was out before he hit the couch. He was surrounded in blackness, but he could feel that something was there. Suddenly, he felt a cold wind. It was a strong wind that pushed him backwards. His foot slipped, and he realized he was on the precipice of an abyss. The wind was more like a powerful breath, sucking everything into the endless abyss. He grabbed onto the ledge as he lost his footing. The wind grew stronger, ripping away even the blackness to fuel its eternal hunger. As the ledge he had been grabbing onto broke off, he fell screaming into the abyss. But his scream served only as the accompaniment to a sinister cackle emanating from the pit. He bolted upright, drenched in cold sweat. The sound of that omnious laughter was still fresh in his mind. He hadn't had a nightmare in a long time, so the dream disturbed him much more than it should have. He sighed. There was no way he could fall asleep after that, so he decided to take a little midnight stroll to calm his nerves. His walk took him to the outskirts of the town and beyond. Soon, he only had a vague idea of where he was, but he kept walking. He felt that there was something up ahead, something that he was meant to find. To his surprise, he realized that he had found a hedge maze. As he made his way through the maze, he noticed many statues, each one meticulously carved with a level of detail that was beyond art. It was as if living creatures had simply become stone. He shuddered. If there were Pegasi, shouldn't there also be a Medusa? He pondered as he walked, until he found his way to a clearing. He was in the middle of the maze. The center of the labyrinth housed only one statue: the figure of a draconequus. He approached the statue, curious. This statue, more so than the others, seemed to be a living, breathing creature. It reverberated with energy, unlike any other statue he had seen. As he got closer, he even thought he could hear the statue speaking. "Come closer." "Yes, just like that." "How does it feel, to see their fake smiles and false warmth?" "You know how they think of you." "How does it feel, to see behind the mask of harmony?" "How does it feel, to be... Alone?" His heart was beating wildly. He felt raw emotion rise up in his chest. He knew what the statue was saying was true, but he refused to believe it. Yes, just like that, feel your anger, feel your fear, feel your- "SHUT UP!" His frustration boiled over as he ran at the statue, slamming into it. A bolt of jagged lightning arched across the night sky, striking the statue and creating cracks all along the exterior. To his horror, the statue began reverberating, shaking off its stone shell. With a final peal of thunder, the statue exploded into a white haze, disappearing into the night sky, followed by a malevolent chuckle. "Yes...just like that." What had he done? MiscalculationChapter 6: Miscalculation He ran back the way he had come, blindly trusting his instincts. As the familiar buildings of Ponyville came into view, he doubled his pace. He rushed back into the library, slamming the door shut behind him. Breathing heavily, he dove under the covers on the couch, shaking with fear. He had done something bad, he knew that much. Nothing good laughed that ominously. But as his heartrate slowed down, his eyelids became heavy once more. He would think about it more in the morning. He should probably have told Twilight about it, but he couldn’t help it. As he drifted back into the dream world, he chuckled slightly to himself. It wasn’t as if anything that bad was going to happen. Once again, he was surrounded by darkness. But this time, he was running. Someone, something, was chasing him. the blackness retreated for a moment, but it only revealed a dead end. He turned around. Something was coming. He could hear its footsteps resonating down the hollow hallway. As it got closer, he could do nothing but scramble backwards pathetically. He heard the monster laugh, and say: “Come now, I’m not going to hurt you.” He managed to stutter out: “Wha-what do you want from me? Leave me alone!” The monster chortled. It was a horrible sound. “My my, What do I want from you? Isn’t it obvious?” And with that prophetic statement, everything faded to black. Someone was shaking him. He forced his crusty eyes open. It was Twilight Sparkle. “Wake up!” Twilight was impatiently waiting. Phew. It had just been another dream. “I heard some noises last night. Would you happen to know anything about that?” She asked him as soon as he got up. Uh-oh. Had his midnight walk really been a dream? “I-I’m not sure...what did you hear?” he stammered, hoping for the best. Twilight sighed. “It was around midnight, and suddenly there was a loud cracking sound, then a explosion. Caused quite a commotion.” His blood ran cold. It hadn’t been a dream after all. He would have to explain now, whether he wanted to or not. “Alright, Twilight, it's like this: I had a nightmare last night, so I decided to go out for a walk. I don't know how, but I ended up inside a hedge maze, and at the center of the maze there was a statue. As I approached the statue, it seemed to whisper to me, and then it...um, well..." he gulped. "...blew up." Twilight looked at him. Then she flipped out. “And you just thought to tell me this now?! Do you have any idea how serious this is? We must report this to the Princess straight away!” The urgency in her voice troubled him. Exactly what had he done? Then he remembered the ominous laughter. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s go.” Twilight threw open the door, and dashed outside. He ran after her, trying to figure out how he was going to explain this to the Princess, when a rainbow colored missile smashed into him. “Oof!” We meet again, jocktard. “Oh, hey dummy! You got your cutie mark yet?” Rainbow Dash teased him as she dusted herself off. “Good day to you too, miss.” He replied sarcastically. Twilight Sparkle broke in before they could start sparring again. “We’re on our way to Canterlot to report to the Princess. “Couldn’t you just send one of your fancy letter things using Spike’s fire breath?” Rainbow Dash did a few aerial somersaults while she asked Twilight. Seeing her move through the air so gracefuly made him feel a pang of envy, which he immediately quashed. Twilight sighed. “It’s really urgent! Discord may have escaped, yet again!” Rainbow Dash fell out of the sky. “Wha-wha? I thought we imprisoned him using the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight sighed again, exasperated. “I’ll tell you the story on the way to Canterlot, okay? Right now we need to get moving!” Rainbow Dash looked annoyed. “Geez. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” He smiled. As they continued their journey toward Canterlot, they bumped into that cowgirl pony. What was her name again? She had that weird western accent that made it kind of hard to understand her. “Where y’all goin’ at this time of day?” She asked them. “We need to get to Canterlot to make a urgent report to the Princess!” Rainbow Dash said, letting out an excited squeal. “Rainbow! This is no laughing matter! Discord might have escaped!” Twilight scolded Rainbow Dash. That made him feel slightly better. “D-Discord? Y’all sure?” the cowgirl pony seemed shocked. “Yes, Applejack, we’re sure. Apparently mister amnesia here had a midnight stroll, and accidentally freed him.” replied Twilight in a rather dull monotone. Mister amnesia? That almost sounds like a superhero. Applejack. Was that her name? He decided that it made sense, since her “cutie mark” was three apples. Wasn’t that a brand of cereal? The memory slipped away before he could grab it. It didn't matter. He would give up all of his cereal knowledge if he could just get his name back. They continued walking toward Canterlot. But as luck would have it, they bumped into yet another pony. This time, they encountered a marshmallow colored unicorn with violet locks of hair. “Hello dearies, where are you all headed this fine day?” Her manner of speaking certainly fit the diamonds that she had as her cutie mark. Twilight Sparkle quickly filled her in on last night’s events. As they continued walking, they bumped into the shy one whom he had met before, apparently called Fluttershy, and the psychotic one, the one called Pinkie Pie, if memory served him. It seemed a bit too coincidential that they could just bump into this group of ponies that all seemed to be good friends. Perhaps they all had some kind of telepathic connection. ~~Or perhaps the author just wanted a convenient way to get all the mane six together.~~ Finally, they reached Canterlot. Seeing the Princess' faithful student, the royal guards quickly admitted them inside. The Princess warmly welcomed them as they found their way to the throne room. “Hello everyone. Seeing how you are all gathered here, I assume that this must be about what happened last night?” Celestia cut right to the chase. Twilight began talking. “We believe that the loud noises last night were the sounds of Discord escaping from his containment.” The Princess looked like she had just been slapped. “How is that possible? The Elements of Harmony should still be holding him in captivity! I still sense the connection each of you has with your element! This defies every law of magic!” He decided to speak up. “Um...your majesty? I think it may have something to do with me.” The Princess looked at him wearily. “As I suspected. Do tell, please.” He took a deep breath, and continued. “I couldn’t fall asleep, so I decided to go for a midnight stroll. I found myself in a hedge maze, and I encountered a draconoquus statue. As I approached it, the statue cracked apart into a white haze, which disappeared in a flash of light. Then I heard this really weird laughter. I ran away after that.” Finishing his narrative, he looked around. The Princess looked extremely concerned. "Each Element is still bound, and yet their power was not enough to contain Discord. I see that there is no choice then...” Twilight broke in. “Then what Princess?” The Princess sighed. “I suppose it is time. There is something I have not told you all about, not even you, Twilight Sparkle. The Elements of Harmony are not the only “Elements” that exist. Besides those, there is one other set.” The six ponies began talking amongst each other, speculating about what they could be. The Princess continued. “I am afraid this is the only way we will be able to defeat Discord. These elements are known as the Elements of Disharmony. They are: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.” Rarity gasped. “How Horrible!” The Princess ignored this interruption. “Unfortunately, I do not possess these elements. You must find these elements. Once united, perhapsthey will be sufficient to defeat Discord.” Fighting fire with fire, huh? He was impressed. But then he thought of something. "How can there be seven Elements of Disharmony but only six Elements of Harmony?" "An excellent observation. I myself am not clear as to why there lies a discrepancy in the number. Perhaps there are meant to be seven heroes this time?" She smiled at him. The smile caught him off guard. He quickly turned his face to conceal his blush. “Where are these Elements of Disharmony, Princess?” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “If we don’t know where they are, how are we supposed to find them?” The Princess gravely began. "I have heard only stories regarding these elements. I am sure of their existence, but how to find them I am not completely sure. In the tales I have heard, seven deadly monsters guard the elements. Wherever they are, I am sure that they will not be easy to find." Deadly silence was the only sound that could be heard. The Princess continued. "Equestria needs you. Equestria needs heroes to save it. I believe that you all can do it." With that, the ponies began to file out of the room with heavy hearts. As he prepared to leave, Celestia pressed something into his hoof. It was a necklace of some sort, with a miniature paper scroll instead of a jewel. The Princess whispered in his ear: “Save this for a life or death situation. This was not easy to create. When in need, pull the scroll out from its holder and open it, and hence shall you be saved.” With that cryptic comment, she sat back on her throne. The thought that he alone was given something so powerful gave him a slight boost in confidence. As they headed out of Canterlot, he mused to himself: “Elements of Disharmony, huh? Ready or not, here I come.” “My hooves are getting all pruny!” Rarity whined. “Are we there yet? I must look absolutely awful!” Twilight looked up at Rarity. “We haven’t even entered the Everfree Forest yet!” Rarity fainted. Pinkie Pie laughed. "Cheer up, Rarity! This is gonna be a walk in a park, literally!" At last, much to Rarity’s relief, they entered the Everfree Forest. From the moment that they stepped foot inside the forest, a dense mist obstructed their vision. It was nearly impossible to see, and Applejack was suggesting that they leave and wait for the fog to lift when the white mist solidified in front of them. It took the familiar shape of a certain draconoquus. The sight of the statue, now living and breathing, sent chills through his body. “Discord.” muttered Twilight savagely. “Ho ho my dearies!” Discord taunted them. “Look at you, all weighed down with those heavy sacks. Here, let me help you.” With a snap of his fingers, all of their provisions turned into sand. “Hey!” complained Rainbow Dash. “Oh don’t worry. I know all about your precious Elements of Disharmony. In fact, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to play a little game.” Twilight Sparkle groaned. “Not this again.” Discord laughed heartily. “I’ve hidden all the elements inside the Everfree Forest. You’ll have to split up to find them in time! And no cheating, or you lose!” They had no choice. Discord was much more powerful than they were, so they would have to play by his rules for now. They split up, grudgingly heading for separate directions in the forest. Discord watched them smugly. He was on his own. Again. They had all gone their separate ways in the Everfree Forest. To his dismay, he suddenly realized that Discord was strolling along beside him. “Chaos. Such a volatile and wonderful thing. You know, you and me, we’re not so different.” He growled. “I’m nothing like you!” Discord chuckled. He seemed to do that a lot. “You’ll think differently once I tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a young dragon. As you know, dragons are noble creatures, filled with pride. This particular young dragon did not care for the lifestyle of his ancestors. He did not want to prove his strength through slaughter of his bretheren. He did not want to show his maturity by ravaging the land. He did not want to live his life guarding useless jewels. Instead of becoming vindictive, the dragon considered himself impure, and decided to purge himself from the rest of the "normal dragons". Throwing himself into a volcano, he only waited for his own demise. And yet, fate would not have it. When he awoke, he was not dead. He was anything but dead. His body had been horribly deformed by the volcano, and he was frighteningly emaciated, but as he soon realized, he had gained an immeasurable power. As it turns out, that day was the Solstice Celebration, the day that magic was strongest in the world. The volcano had erupted with intense, uncontrollable, chaotic power, and he had been imbued with that power. The blast had thrown him far from his home, far from everywhere that he had ever known. Eventually, he ended up in Equestria. But his life here was just as bad. They called him a monster. They threw rocks. Some even created militias to keep him away. He tried to help. He changed clouds into cotton candy and rain into chocolate milk. He tried to add more flavor to their boring lives. And what did he get for his efforts? He was frozen in stone for eternity. Finally, he was freed. Of course, after being frozen in stone for thousands of years makes one very vengeful. He tried to show them that chaos was the truth, that their order was a mere farce, but once again, he was misunderstood. They thought he was evil. "Those biased, moronic ponies don’t understand me. No one ever will. Except you. You know how I feel. You know my life. I can feel the wrath in your heart. I can feel your lust. I can feel your greed. I can feel your gluttony. Your sloth. Your envy. And, I can feel your pride. They blindly look for the supposed ‘Elements of Disharmony’. As a creature of disharmony myself, I understand. The Elements of Disharmony do not exist by themselves. They can only be created through evolution of the Elements of Harmony. I learned these truths as I was locked away in my stone prison. Chaos is the higher form of order. How else can Disharmony come from but surpass Harmony? And yet these Princesses and their stupid ideals get in my way! The world is not so fair that you can always win if you merely do what is 'right'! The world is not so fair that heroes always win. No. There is no such thing as a hero. Those who call themselves heroes are merely the victors. After all, they are the ones who write history, are they not?” He was shocked by the draconoquus’s speech. He wanted to reject it. He wanted to yell at him. He wanted to shout "You're Wrong!". He wanted to shout "I'll become a hero! I'll save my friends!". But he couldn't. Because he knew that what Discord was saying was true. Ever since he had arrived, they had thought he was crazy. He had merely told them the truth. He had been naive enough to believe that they would trust him. Instead, he was made the laughingstock of the entire town. Why? Simply because they didn’t understand him. Discord was right. They would lock him up at the first opportunity. They acted kind, but they would turn on him if he stepped out of line. He was a freak to them. They would never understand him. He was breathing heavily. No. He couldn’t let his anger overcome him. He needed to get in control. “Will you join me?” Discord spoke. His question hung in the air. He thought. He thought again. If he joined Discord, infinite power could be his. He could be a king. No one would dare insult him. He would be respected, instead of feared. He could get revenge. He could have anything he wanted. Finally, he would be able to live a life without rules, like he had always wanted. He smiled darkly. “No.” DisharmonyChapter 7: Disharmony Discord's eyes narrowed as his serpentine body twitched lightly. The lord of chaos seemed to be torn between disbelief and disappointment. But his jovial nature soon replaced his grim expression. Discord gave him one last glance before whispering: “Very well.” With that terse remark, Discord vanished in a flash of light and a burst of white mist, leaving him once again alone in the middle of the Everfree Forest. “I've got to get back to the others!” He muttered. Turning on his hooves, he dashed back towards where they had split up at a speed that would have made Rainbow Dash jealous. As he ran, his mind flew through the information that had been so rudely crammed into it these past few days. Twilight Sparkle was the logical, intelligent one. She would not make rash decisions, and always thought things through. However, she lacked the social skills necessary to truly be successful in the real world. She was also quick to resort to magic, even for simple tasks that did not require it. Her dependence on magic perhaps represented an underlying need to impress others. As the Princess' protege, she would be pressured to constantly do things "better" than others. As time passed, the excessive use of magic may have become a deeply ingrained habit. Rainbow Dash was a rash, impulsive pegasus. She acted on instinct, preferring gut decisions over thinking things through. She seemed to be a talented athlete however, and seemed to be a loyal friend. She may be temperamental, but despite that she was actually very naive. Although she often made fun of others, such behavior is often an indicator of insecurity in oneself. This idea is also affirmed by her frequent boasting. She may have been made fun of when she was younger. Her decision to get revenge through becoming stronger than the ones that once made fun of her instead of hurting them was admirable, but once again showed that her mindset was very naive. Fluttershy was an extremely quiet, timid pegasus. She was kind, and would always be willing to help others, but was often too shy to ever say no. Although having such a personality was probably safe enough in Equestria, it was still too easy for others to take advantage of her. Her future may be a grim one if she does not learn to assert her own opinionis more strongly. Her inability to refuse other's requests seems more to be a result of a lack of social interaction. Her home, situated on the outskirts of the town, confirmed that she did not enjoy the company of other ponies so much as the company of her animal companions. Rarity was a slightly pompous, marshmallow looking unicorn. She was generous, even if she could act a bit overly dainty sometimes. It was understandable, as the type of store she owned required that she present herself as formally as possible. After all, if the owner of the store cannot appear aristocratic, how can she make her clients a dress to achieve that purpose? Despite her outward behavior, she still deeply cares about her friends inside. Although she adores jewels and gems, she would be willing to give them all away for the sake of her friends. Applejack was another one of the more athletic ponies. She apparently worked on a apple farm. Her accent and attire gave off a distinct cowboy personality. Indeed, she, like Rainbow Dash, had a more tomboyish personality. And like Rainbow Dash, although she put forth an outwardly boyish act, she too seemed to be more innocent than she may first appear. Her inability to lie without significant effort showed that she was never exposed to the harsh realities of life that have forced so many to become liars and decievers. Perhaps it is for the better, for there are not enough honest people in the world anymore. Pinkie Pie was crazy. Absolutely, completely, crazy. Well, that's how she appeared from the outside anyways. She enjoyed throwing parties, having surprise celebrations, and saying hi to strangers. All-in-all, she was still crazy. But sometimes you need a little craziness in your life. There is no fun in a life of order and perpetual structure. Pinkie Pie provided something that was very important to any group of friends. Laughter. He was now trapped in the body of a Pegasus, stranded in a land of what at first appeared to be only sunshine and rainbows. And yet, it wasn't quite the Utopia it seemed. Perhaps it had been a land of peace and happiness before he came, and yet through his actions, he unleashed an ancient and powerful being that was bent on twisting the world into his image. He would not call him evil, for he understood why the being did what he did. But he could not call him a hero, for he himself said that heroes are merely the victors, for they are the ones who write history. He grit his teeth. If winning is what it takes to be a hero, then that's exactly what I'll do. He finally saw the familiar trees of the clearing where they had entered the Everfree Forest. As he neared, he saw the other ponies already gathered. Smiling, he waved to them and increased his pace. And yet, a feeling of dread rather than relief began gnawing at his mind. Gone was the bright, cheerful, optimistic air that they had gone into the forest with. Now, the air was so thick with tension that he could almost taste it. He couldn't believe that these were the same ponies he had been with just a few moments ago. Even their colors had changed! Instead of their usual, bright, pastel-like colors, they had become drab, grey versions of their original selves. And yet all these symptoms were merely harbingers of one final appalling transformation. When he came within earshot of them, he heard no words of encouragement or confidence. He felt no laughter or joy. What he saw turned his blood to ice and his heart to stone. They were fighting. They were arguing as if they were mortal enemies rather than best friends. “What's wrong you guys? Discord is still out there! What's our plan?” He tried to intervene. “Shut up, you freak!” The formerly kind Fluttershy snarled at him. His eyes widened. How could they have changed so much in such a short time? He couldn't think of an answer. Fluttershy's words had opened a wound that he had hoped had healed. The worst part was that it was true. He was an outsider. He didn’t belong meddling in their affairs. He never should have returned to this wretched town. He had felt a trace of guilt, abandoning his rescuers like that. But what had they shown him? Only fear and detest. He was like the plague to them. They didn’t care for him. No! He couldn’t let his anger take control of him. The last time that had happened...he shuddered as the memory, unwished for and unbidden, came back to him. He was walking down the hallway of a new school. Being new was a terrifying thing. Walking down the hallway, he could feel predatory eyes following his every step, just waiting for him to stray or misstep. “Hey, Shrimp!” A burly senior shoved him into a locker with his shoulder. “You new here? ‘Cause all the new kids gotta take a test.” He was terrified and in pain. “Wha-what kind of t-test?” He managed to stutter out. The burly senior grinned. It was a horrible sight. Bits of half chewed food and cavities were clearly visible as his lips parted to expose his yellowed, decaying teeth. When he spoke, great clouds of garbage-flavored breath rolled over him, causing him to retch. “Well, shrimp, you’re just gonna have to find out, aren't you?” With that, he dragged the boy kicking and screaming into the toilet. Perhaps the teachers noticed, perhaps they didn't. Regardless, no help came to the wretched boy. The bully grabbed hold of his hair, shoving him into a toilet stall. “I hear it’s your first day here. I’d like to give you a little gift. Welcome to high school, freshie!” He could only stare into the dirty toilet bowl, stupefied by what was happening. Why was he letting this buffoon treat him like this? Well, certainly he wasn't a master martial-artist or street fighter, but it wasn't like he was weak. The senior was all bluff; he was not as strong as he at first seemed. He could feel it in the way that he dragged him. In a fair fight, he was confident that the he could at least hold his own against the senior. But striking back after someone strikes you makes you just as bad as them. So he ground his teeth and endured. Unfortunately, the senior seemed displeased with his lack of reaction. “Hey you! You little bitch, you just gonna to take that? You're just a wimp after all, aren't you, freshie?” Although each repulsive word coming from the senior's mouth was like a branding iron, burning the insult into him, he let the bully have his way. “Why yes, yes I am.” The senior let out an unearthly snarl. “Ha. Fine then. Just for you, I’m gonna make this extra fun.” sneered the Senior. The bully grabbed him by the hair again and slammed his head into the toilet. All he could think about was the amount of bacteria that must be writhing around in this toxic waste dump that they called a toilet. As the toilet flushed, the sound of roaring water drowned out the laughter of the bully. Sopping wet and disgusted, he lifted his head out of the grimy toilet bowl. The bully grinned. “Let’s try that again, shall we?” the bully prepared for round two. No! He wasn’t going to take this. He was not going to let himself be disgraced by this arrogant bastard. As he remembered each searing taunt that the bully had issued him, his blood rose to an uncontrollable boil. His vision turned red as he seethed with rage. He lashed out with his right foot, blindly kicking behind him. He felt the heel of his foot connect with the flabby abdomen of his tormentor. The next thing he knew, their positions were reversed. Now, he was the aggressor, while the senior was trying to ward off his blows with feeble arm swings. But he who lands the first blow is pretty much guaranteed to win. Although the senior was much larger than him, he was able to gain the upper hand because the bully had been winded by his initial kick. It was essentially a fight of telephone punches, with no style, no skill whatsoever. Whoever could punch faster, whoever could punch harder, would win. Gasping for breath, the bully tried to make his escape. But his wrath was not yet quenched. He would make this bucket of lard pay compound interest for what he had done. The senior whimpered. “Please! Don’t hurt me! I didn’t mean to! Please! Have mercy!” He chuckled. It was a cold, hollow sound. “Mercy. What a funny word. The word mercy. Coming from you, of all people. You. The bully. Expecting mercy? From me? Sorry, better luck next time, shrimp." His eyes widened as he came back to his senses. The sanguine haze clouding his vision and mind slowly faded with the adrenaline of the fight. He blinked once. He blinked again. He couldn't believe his eyes. The senior was bloodied and bruised, crawling away like some half-dead animal. What in the world? Did I do that? He vaguely remembered succumbing to a fit of rage, but the specifics of exactly what he had done were unclear to him. He realized the bully was murmuring something. He focused and tried to listen. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm...sor...y..." The bully's voice became an incoherent jumble as he repeated the same line over and over. A broken record playing the sound of abject fear. His fists were painted with the crimson tide of blood. There's no way. Did I did that? Did I...Did I really hurt someone that bad? He dropped to his knees with his eyes glued to the dark red liquid on his hands. As the bully dragged himself out of the bathroom, and the door shut, his eyes widened. I did that. I didn't even have control of myself. I hurt soembody without thinking. I was laughing. I became a monster. I'm a monster. A monster. An abomination. I don't deserve to live. I should die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE. The resounding echo tore through his sanity, and a scream almost ripped itself from his lips. He clutched his head, running from the room, running from himself. He did nothing but run. He could not do anything but run. He ran. And ran. And ran. All the way home. As the terrifying memory faded, he was jolted back into reality, drenched in cold sweat. “Well, well, well. It looks like they haven’t learned anything from last time at all!” A chillingly familiar voice whispered in his ear. He whipped around. Just as he suspected, the lord of chaos was looming over him. “What do you want?” He sighed dejectedly. “Oh ho ho! Look who’s regretting their decision now?” His eyes narrowed. “I don’t regret anything! Just leave me alone!” Discord smiled. “Now now, there’s no need for heroics. You’re the only one who can see me. We can have a pleasant chat without being noticed by your little girlfriends over there.” He growled. “Shut. UP!” Discord chuckled. “Why would I ever do that? I might as well shut down while I’m at it!” He let out an exasperated sigh. This Discord guy was really getting to him. Discord continued: “I’m just here to offer a little...proposition.” He sighed. “I suppose I don’t have much of a choice do I?” Discord grinned maliciously. “No. I suppose you don’t.” He might as well hear him out. “Make it quick.” "As you know, the Elements of Harmony are safely tucked inside Celestia’s vault. Since they are still connected to their owners, your little girlfriends over there-” He snarled. “Don’t. Push. It.” Discord frowned. “No need to get touchy. Anyway, let’s just say...I accidentally disconnected them from their elements. I-” His eyes widened. “Is that why they’re acting so strange?” Discord snorted. “Look who’s pushing it now. You don’t seem to be very bright. Anyway, I owe my release all to you. Normally, someone walking up to my petrified body wouldn’t trigger my release, but all of that delicious chaos inside of you was just yearning to be released. It was enough to give me the strength to escape. The-” He sighed. “I know this stuff already! Just hurry up and cut to the chase!” Discord shrugged. “Your loss. Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I now offer you a proposition. Since the Elements of Harmony have been disconnected from their owners, due to yours truly, their power is now insufficient to defeat me. But if they were to regain their affinity for their element, that would give them enough power to defeat me, and that would obviously be bad, right? Now comes the part that I need you for. Celestia trusts you. I need you to get to the vault where she keeps her precious Elements of Harmony, and...well...'fetch' them for me.” He realized where this was going. “And If I don’t?” He countered. Discord simply shrugged. “If you don’t, then all of your friends die. Author's Note Redid the fight scene with the bully, because I thought it was a bit disturbing. DeceptionChapter 8: Deception “Very well. I accept your proposition.” The dark blue pegasus sighed. He supposed he had no other choice. If he declined the offer, the innocent citizens of this town would die on the spot. If he accepted, he would simply be fueling the fire. However, he would also have bought himself some time to think of a plan. Discord coughed. “If you’re quite done daydreaming, then get a move on.” He started. “Hmm? Oh! Yes! Absolutely!” Discord grinned smugly. “That’s more like it.” He made his way towards the palace, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible. He was able to enter the throne room without much difficulty. Now how would he convince the Princess to open the vault for him? Then he remembered. What had Discord said? Oh right! He had said he had "accidentally" disconnected the ponies from their Elements of Harmony. Now that they were no longer fitting vessels for harmony, perhaps they could now evolve into the Elements of Disharmony? He grinned as the seeds of a plan began to sprout in his mind. A voice startled him out of his stupor. “Greetings. Why have you returned so soon? Have you defeated Discord already? Where are the others?” The questions seemed to have no end. After the torrent of unanswerable questions finally stopped, he was finally able to get a word into the conversation. “Big trouble Princess! We need to hurry! The ponies you sent to stop Discord are in trouble! I need the Elements of Harmony to stop Discord! Quickly!” The Princess looked shocked. An awkward silence hung in the air for several moments. The Princess broke the silence after a few more moments. “I can sense a disharmony among them. Did Discord...” She trailed off, concern in her eyes. He looked at her straight in the eye. “Yes.” Celestia paled. “I shall open the vault right away!” She galloped away, leaving him to ponder about what he was doing. Should he really obey Discord’s orders? Doing so might as well destroy all of Equestria. But did he really care? Should he really care? Before he could answer this question, a flash of light yielded the return of Princess Celestia. Gasping for breath, she forced out a few words between deep breaths. “Go. Bring these to my student and her friends. They need your help. Hurry!” He needed no more encouragement. But just as he was about to leave, he noticed something. “The fabled ‘Elements of Harmony’ are pieces of jewelry?!” The Princess gave him an irritable glance. “Of course they’re pieces of jewelry! They’re not for men to wear, you know!” He suddenly felt very tired. What was this, a matriarchy? Why am I even doing this? Sighing, he turned around and galloped toward his damsels in distress. Halfway back to the Everfree Forest, however, he stopped. Twilight Sparkle had said that the Elements of Harmony were the key to defeating Discord in the past. But what had Discord said about the Elements of Disharmony? He said I was filled with delicious chaos. Ew. That sounds disgusting, but maybe somehow I can use that make these pieces of jewelry into something actually useful? He sat down, or tried to sit down. It was more like controlled trip and headbutting a tree at the same time. He let out an exasperated sigh. He still hadn’t gotten used to this body. He placed his head in his hooves, and began to think. A few moments later, he jumped up into the air triumphantly. Unfortunately, there was a rather thick branch right above him. “Owww!” The branch bounced off his head and thwacked him several more times before finally relenting to the force of friction. “Perfect. Just perfect. My life is just getting better and better.” He grumbled, his voice layered deeply with sarcasm. But at least he had a plan. That was the most important thing. He approached the forest. Before he could enter though, the chillingly familiar voice of a certain Draconoquus stopped him cold. “My, my, my...you’re very so late...” He turned around slowly, heart thumping. As he suspected, the vile creature had somehow managed to sneak behind him. Again. He replied to the threat calmly and without fear. “Of course I was late. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get those necklaces from the Queen? Took quite a bit of convincing.” Discord just shrugged. “Well? Hand them over already!” Discord was getting impatient. He felt his muscles tensing. Then he relaxed. No point getting all worked up. He reached into his pack, digging for the Elements of Harmony. As he grabbed each of the six pieces, he felt the mysterious necklace that Celestia had given him. He steeled himself for what was to come. Celestia had said to save it for a life or death situation. This probably qualified. As he glanced up, he saw that Discord was extending a long, slithering arm towards the Elements of Harmony. He jumped back without thinking, surprised that such a flamboyant character could consistently manage to move so stealthily. "What are you getting all jumpy for, my friend?" Although Discord smiled, his words were poisoned honey. Do or die. He grabbed the necklace around his neck, not caring if he ripped the chain. Pulling it off, he grabbed the small roll of paper fastened in place of a jewel. As it parted from the necklace, the roll of paper seemed to magically enlarge. To his surprise, he was now holding an entire scroll in his hands. As he slowly unrolled it, he saw that inside were strange glowing runes, each one pulsating with ancient and powerful magic. Discord's eyes widened as he saw him open the scroll. "NO!" Discord screamed and lunged at him, chaotic magic shooting out of his hands towards him. He felt his body writhe in pain as the black lightning hit him. But he did not scream. He stared Discord straight in the eyes as the magic in the scroll began pulsating. He felt the Elements of Harmony rising up, out of his hands, forming a hovering circle around him. The glyphs peeled off the paper, filling in the frame created by the Elements of Harmony, surrounding him in a barrier of words. They spun around, faster and faster, until he was enveloped in a cocoon of light. Discord's twisted appendages desperately smashed at the shell, but he could not penetrate it. He felt himself losing consciousness, but he managed to squeeze out one last sentence as the lord of chaos unleashed a final burst of magic. "Looks like it's game over for you, Discord." His eyes snapped open. He felt as if he had been slapped all over. He got up, his body grudgingly relenting. Where was he? Scanning his surroundings, he found himself in an ancient castle. Many of the walls were riddled with cracks, and cobwebs covered every corner. Why in the world would Celestia send him here? But then a thought occured to him. Discord had attempted to reach for him as the scroll's magic had reached its peak. Perhaps he had not managed to break the magic, but he had managed to corrupt it. He shuddered, terrified of the implications of that thought. How was it possible that he was still alive then? And, say, where was he anyway? Looking around more thoroughly, he noticed that he was in a cavernous room of the castle. Their was a doorway just ahead. But as he looked out the skylight above him, the first thing he noticed was that it was no longer day. In fact, he didn't even know what time it was. Instead of a normal sky, it was pink. PINK! Everything seemed different. After he got over the shock of a pink sky, he noticed was that the clouds had become pink and cottony, nearly identical to cotton candy, and were raining...chocolate milk. Okay. The sky is pink, and the clouds have turned into cotton candy, and are raining chocolate milk. Perfectly normal right? No. What in the world is going on? He wanted answers, now. Complaining about the weather wasn't going to get him those answers. He stopped, confused. Since when had he been so decisive? Back in his world, he hadn't even had the nerve to tell a teacher he was being bullied. Upon closer examination, he discovered that he was actually standing in the middle of some kind of ceremonial altar. There were six pillars surrounding him, each about half his height but about two feet wide. There were circular indentations in the top of each pillar. As he examined each pillar, he found that inside each was nestled one of the Elements of Harmony. As his gaze roamed, he found that in the center of the pillars, where he had awoken, there was a hole, about the size of a fist, in the ground. He put his eye to it, but to his dismay, it seemed to be endless. His curiosity aroused, he did what, in retrospect, was a very stupid thing to do in an ancient castle. He stuck his arm inside the hole. At first, he felt nothing but empty space, but then that nothingness was replaced with searing pain. It felt as if his arm was being simultaneously punctured in every possible direction by hundreds of knives. Screaming, he tried to pull his arm out of the hole, but he found that he could not. He felt a liquid dripping from his arm. A liquid he knew to be his own blood. A burst of crimson light momentarily distracted him from the pain that he felt. It felt like his mind was no longer his own. Just like when Celestia had gone through his memories, he now felt something other than his own consciousness in his mind. And yet, this entity was not as gentle as she was. It ripped through his mind, carelessly tearing through his memories. It pressed itself into every crack in his mind, every nook and cranny. As the entity dug further, he felt something awaken within him. Something he never knew he had. It was a Pandora's Box. Once it was opened, it flooded him with a strange sensation. He no longer felt the pain. He no longer felt the other being. All he felt was raw, overpowering, unpredictable chaos. His eyes glistened with a mad light, and he saw that his arm had been free from the hole after all. Perhaps the old him would have been dumbfounded, but the new him knew exactly what to do. Grinning with frightening intensity, he stepped back. As a low rumble sent a vibration throughout the room, a seventh pillar rose up where the hole had been. The pillar housed a helmet, spartan in design. It was not made with any material that he knew of, but he did not care. The midnight black material gave off no light or reflection, despite the smooth surface. He placed it onto his head with a precision that came naturally. Immediately, a black lightning shot from the other pillars, each one striking him. And yet he felt no pain. Instead, he only felt more raw power flowing into him. The Elements of Harmony rose from each pillar, floating upwards. More streaks of black lightning struck each Element, creating a blinding flash. When the light cleared, the Elements of Harmony were no more. Instead, they had become the remaining assets to his armor. Two greaves, two shin plates, a chestplate, and a locket. Each piece magically fit onto him, guided by the strange lightning. His mouth broke into a savage smile as he contemplated his new look. Truly, he was now the lord of Disharmony. But this land was too small for two kings of chaos. Yes. One of them would have to go. And he knew exactly which one that was. It was obvious. It was so frighteningly obvious, he let out a giggle. He found that giggle so amusing, it turned into a laugh. And with the inane weather roaring outside as an accompaniment, his psychotic laughter resounded through every hall of the castle. Not only had the weather changed, but the citizens were acting strange as well. An old lady was tap-dancing, while a large red stallion seemed to think he was a dog. He did not care how these inferior creatures decided to wittle away their pathetic lives. Discord was the false king. Discord was the miscreant towards which his wrath was directed. His powerful wings left a trail of black energy as he streaked through the sky. He arrived at Canterlot without so much as breaking a sweat. Once he smashed his way into the castle, he quickly realized the guards were under Discord’s influence. They were all wearing party hats and pajamas. However, they didn't seem to recognize him for who he was. The moment they saw him, they attacked with party cannons and chinese yo-yo’s. This obstacle was irrelevant. They couldn't hurt him even if they wanted to. But now was a good chance to exercise his new found power. “At ease, gentlemen.” With a flash of black light, the attacking guards were reduced to ashes. He grinned. This was too fun. Along the way to the throne room, he encountered many more guards. The more the merrier. They were simply scratching posts for his new powers. Finally, he turned a corner into the ever familiar royal throne room. As he suspected, Discord lay basking on the royal throne like a fat cat. “I see that you have taken a liking to this lifestyle, Discord.” Discord sat up hurriedly, surprise clearly evident upon his face. But he quickly readopted his haughty figure, smoothly asking: "Oh, how inconsiderate of me to make you come all the way here in this weather! But never mind me, how are you on this fine day?" He simply laughed. The sound was colder than ice. Discord frowned. "Well? Have your manners flown out the window along with your sanity?" He felt mirth rising up in him once again. "My sanity? MY sanity? You think I am insane? Ha! All geniuses were considered insane in their time. Only later did history prove their worth." Discord laughed too. "You, me, we're one of kind. I think this is going to be pretty fun. What do you want to play? Darts?" With that, Discord snapped his fingers. Many deadly arrows whizzed past his head. One came dangerously close to his head, whistling past his helmet. But in a matrix-esque move of amazing acrobatic prowess, he twisted his body to dodge the arrows. Landing on his hooves, he recovered quickly. With his own strength augmented by the sins of Disharmony, he flew at Discord and delivered a solid blow to his jaw, black sparks flying. Discord's eyes widened, clearly surprised that he would use a direct physical attack. The lord of chaos was pushed backwards against his throne. Seeing that he was at a disadvantage, he turned the floor to soap with another snap of his fingers. "On second thought, I don't wanna play darts. Why don't we go ice skating or something?" The Elements of Disharmony would not help him here. The soapy ground was more dangerous than ice, threatening to destroy his footing at any moment. But Discord was not affected. Sliding around as if it was the natural thing to do, he demonstrated his ability to handle the situation. Now he was angry. How dare he use such a...stupid method to fight. And yet, it was infuriatingly effective. He let his wrath handle the situation, burning away the soap beneath his feet. With footing no longer a problem, he launched into the air with his wings and dove straight for Discord. Unable to dodge, Discord took the blow head-on. Discord was winded by the blow, and unable to do much but try and slide away. He moaned and complained about how his opponent was cheating, all the while summoning obstacles to slow him down. But these obstacles were nothing more than second-rate constructions, easily dispatched with sufficient strength. Now completely panicked, Discord started running. But he tripped on an obstacle he himself created and fell to the ground. He looked back in terror, only able to whimper as he saw the approaching reaper of vengeance slowly advancing toward him. “The great and powerful Discord, reduced to a nervous wreck. Who would have thought?” He chuckled again. “After I deal with you, no one will be even remotely powerful enough to stop me. I guess you were right about some things, Discord. The Elements of Harmony are weak and pathetic. I was able to unlock their true power, all thanks to you. And now, when I kill you, I’ll be the most powerful being in this world!” He laughed. "You should feel lucky. You shall be the first to witness the true power of Disharmony. The Disharmony that you once sought. Watch, and tremble!" Total victory was just moments away. This world was his. How sweet it was to feel that success was just waiting for him to claim. He raised his hoof, gathering his magic for one final strike. “Hold on! Don't do it!” Rainbow Dash's voice ran out loud and clear, cutting through the air like a blade. Author's Note Elements of Harmony are now the 7 sins. Because of a certain person. And it's better explained. Because of another person. FinaleChapter 9: Finale “Rainbow Dash?” He asked, amazed. “Why are you here? How did you even get here, for that matter? And can't you see I'm trying to become the supreme overlord of Equestria right now?” He seemed very annoyed by this interruption of his big moment. Then he realized the rest of the gang was there as well. Even the annoying party pony. Twilight desperately shouted. “You can’t kill him!” He laughed. “Why not? It’s not like he’s immortal.” Twilight let out an exasperated breath. “You’re even thicker than Rainbow Dash! Can’t you see? If you kill him, the power of the Elements of Disharmony will destroy you!” He stopped. Twilight continued. “There’s a reason that the Princess didn't tell us about these Elements! They can only be created by corrupting the Elements of Harmony, which is what happened when you were teleported to the cursed castle. Whoever uses them will be affected by their aura, just like the Elements of Harmony. The elements feed on whatever their attribute is, and grow stronger the more they consume. The Elements of Disharmony feed on your negative emotions. When you kill someone in cold blood, it kills something inside of you too! If you let your hatred overcome you, you won't be able to control your own power anymore!” He growled. “Don't lie to me! Why are you trying to stop me? Discord is evil! I'm trying to save you guys!" He turned his back on them. "Tch. I was a fool to think you guys were my friends.” This last statement seemed to sting Twilight. She backed off with averted eyes, and they sadly filed out of the throne room. He realized that he didn't even feel the slightest guilt. He laughed. Finally, at long last, he had defeated those weak emotions within him. Now, he could concentrate only on the task at hand. Then he realized that Twilight was right. He was changing. What had happened to the quiet, timid him that everyone had known? No! He felt new waves of anger wash over him. Who cared what everyone else thought? None of them had ever given a second thought about him. Why should he care about them? But Twilight’s words kept coming back to haunt him. Discord still lay there, groaning. It seemed he had two choices. He could finish of Discord and claim the throne, ruling over this land for eternity. Or, he could spare Discord. He thought about what would happen if he spared Discord. "I told you so..." "I still don't trust him." "What if he's still being influenced by the Elements of Disharmony?" "He's too dangerous." "Lock him up." "Yes. Lock him up." He smashed a fist into the ground, leaving a veiny spiderweb of cracks. The influence from the Elements of Disharmony was clouding his mind. He shook his head, shaking the angry thoughts from his mind. He thouth about all the acquaintances he had made while in this land, and then he looked back at himself. Why me? His teeth ground together in frustration. Why must he perpetually live in a world of chaos and sadness? Why does it always have to be me? Luck has never once shone upon me. Whenever a beam of light seemed to shine down into the darkness, it just turned out to be trick of the mind. Why? WHY? His vision turned red. Why I can't be happy for once? The black lightning of his Disharmony crackled around his fist. He raised it, breathing heavily. Discord squeezed his eyes shut, turning his face away, whimpering. But he couldn't do it. Why can't I be happy? He felt the answer come to him. Because he didn't deserve happiness. All his life, he had been a miser, an embodiment of disharmony. It was just like Discord had said. He was the personification of all the Elements of Disharmony. There was no reason for him to receive any happiness. Why should he? What had he ever done for anyone else? His whole life had been built off of perfectionism and harboring hate. Never once had he ever tried to be friendly. Never once had he gone out of his way to help another. Wrapped in his own world of suffering and pain, he had never looked up to see how others felt. Never once had he tried to console another, to give another the happiness that he himself lusted for. That was why. Everything suddenly seemed so clear to him, and all his anger at the world faded away. He felt a melancholy calm replace the savage anger that had once clouded his mind. His life had been horrible because he had made it horrible. And now, the answer to his dilemma was right in front of him. He felt the Elements of Disharmony crackle in dissent, this time sending pain through his body. He ignored it. There was only one thing that he had to do. “Need some help?” He extended his hoof towards the fallen draconoquus. Discord groaned and looked up at him, disbelief in his eyes. “Y-you would help me?” He smiled. This time, it was full of warmth. “Because everyone deserves a chance at a better life. Even you.” Discord looked at him. It seemed he had touched the darkest recesses of Discord’s heart and shone a beam of light down that dark cave. “I won’t disappoint you.” Discord eventually said with a determination in his eyes that he had never seen before. He smiled again. “Let's make the world a better place.” As he spoke those words, the chaotic, twisted artifacts he had been holding on to fell off of him, and as they fell toward the ground, regained their original luster. Black turned to gold, Disharmony to Harmony. Bathed in Harmony's golden glow, the unbreakable bonds of friendship were formed. “Well done. Your Princess is very proud of you.” He suddenly sensed a warm presence standing behind him. He turned around, and greeted his new friends, beaming at him and offering words of congratulations. Behind him, Discord was busy cleaning up the mess he had made. The fallen Elements of Harmony suddenly lit up, bathing him in a golden light. Suddenly, a splitting headache caused him to keel over and collapse on the marble floor. “Not again!” He managed to squeeze out two more words before his vision blurred and everything faded into nothingness. He remembered. He remembered everything. From the day he was born, his memories came rushing back to him. He remembered how horrible he had believed his life to be, and how he had ended his life. He saw. He remembered. Princess Celestia was right. He had finally discovered his true self. The heroic, kind side of himself. With the help of the Elements of Harmony, and his own determination, he had finally broken the chains that held his memories in place. A few days later... He was seated in front of Princess Celestia, awaiting further orders. After he had regained consciousness, he had once again found himself in the Ponyville Hospital. Unlike last time however, he did not break the window and run away like a madman. He had found himself in the presence of friends. Friends that cared. While he recuperated, they played games with him, told him stories, and taught him about the land he now lived in. Now, once again sitting in front of Celestia on a familiar bed, he was ready for the Princess, and his friends, to know how he came to be in this world. The Princess closed her eyes, touching her horn to his forehead, and after a short while, a low humming sound filled the air. He closed his eyes as he sensed the familiar presence of the Princess’s mind close around him. When the presence faded, he opened his eyes once again. The Princess looked shaken. “What is the matter, your majesty?” He inquired, concerned. She shook her head. “No, the spell was executed perfectly. However...your memories were slightly frightening.” He smiled sadly. “Sorry you had to see that. I just thought it would be best for everyone to know how exactly it was that I came to be in this world.” She thought for a few moments, then answered. “I do not know what the culture of your past world was like, but I am sure that such an act is still frowned upon.” He sighed. “That, it is.” The Princess continued. “I can now understand your actions when you first awoke in this land. I am sure your friends will understand as well. In the meantime, you will continue your lessons about our world, so you do not seem so ignorant to the common populace.” He chuckled. Then he remembered something. “Princess, when I just arrived in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash said something about a “cutie mark”. Will I ever get one?” The Princess smiled sadly. “I’m afraid not. Your body is not Equestrian, despite its appearance, and therefore does not have the ability to generate a "cutie mark". For this, I am sorry.” This was the answer he had been dreading. Still, he tried to smile and said: “Perfectly alright, my Princess. I was simply curious.” His eyes betrayed the truth, however. The Princess sighed. “Yay!” A timid squeak of a shout came from the shy pegasus named Fluttershy. Ever since he had started flight training with Rainbow Dash, she had sat on the sidelines, trying to cheer him on. The sound of her cheering was usually drowned out by the wind though. Today’s lesson was coming to a conclusion, and they decided to have a race. They would start from Rainbow Dash’s home and fly to the library. The first one to get inside won. “Ready, set, GO!” Rainbow Dash shouted. They both zoomed off. He looked back. Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight. Was he really winning? The thought gave him confidence. He sped forward ever faster, and crashed through the library door, triumphantly shouting “I win!” Much to his dismay however, he was greeted by an amused chuckle. “Not so fast, hotshot.” Rainbow Dash was relaxing on the couch, looking smugly at him. “W-what? How did you-?” Rainbow Dash grin only grew wider. "You’re such a slowpoke! I was already halfway here before you even flapped your wings once! I bet even Tank could beat you in a race!” He tried to think of a comeback for this jibe, but found none. Defeated, he slumped onto the floor with a defiant hmph. Then Rainbow Dash started laughing. It started as a chuckle, but gradually developed into a full blown laugh. It was contagious too. Pretty soon, he was laughing too. Then even Twilight, Spike, and the rest of the gang joined in. The sound of their laughter marked the beginning of a new era, one of peace, tranquility, and a stronger friendship than ever before. “This calls for a Friendship letter!” Declared Twilight Sparkle. “A friendship letter?” he asked. “Everytime we learn something about friendship, we write a letter to the Princess detailing what we learned!" Despite the fact that that sounds extremely unnecessary and excessively tediouis, I am going to pretend to think it is productive and helpful for our learning. "Wow, that sounds really cool! Where do we start?" Twilight turned to Spike. Without a word, he dashed off in search of a quill. Twilight nodded at him. “Alright, I’ll start it, then you can talk about everything that we've learned.” Twilight sparkle cleared her throat and continued. “Dear Princess Celestia, today we learned...” He thought for a moment. “Today we learned that friendship is a powerful thing. It can bond ponies together for a lifetime. We also learned that friends aren’t disposable. If a friend is not behaving the way they should, don’t abandon them. You should try as hard as you can to bring them back. Even the most far-gone friends still have a soft spot in their hearts. You just need to show them the path to the light again, just set them on the right path. Also, although sometimes it's sometimes seems necessary to use methods that aren't exactly heroic, these methods are often simply shortcuts that will eventually lead to your downfall. Your New Acquaintance...” He trailed off. He still didn’t have a name. Rainbow Dash cut in. “Alright, alright, done this, did that, give me the t-shirt.” That was it then. Spike then rolled up the letter and sent it away to the Princess. “So...” continued Rainbow Dash, a bit awkwardly. “Now that we have that out of the way, you guys wanna go get some cider from Applejack’s place?” He smiled. It was a new day, and the sun was streaming in from the windows of the library. "Why not?" Author's Note Redid helping Discord scene to go with previous chapter. Epilogue, or the Continuation of the DreamEpilogue, or the Continuation of the Dream "Wake up, sleepy head!" Golden rays flooded in through the windows as curtains were pulled back. A mildly annoyed grunt came from the figure huddled on the bed. "Just five more minutes..." The figure called out in a sleepy voice. The pony pulling back the curtains made a little humph. With the warm sun illuminating the room, the pony was revealed to be Rainbow Dash. "Huh. Well you should feel lucky that you have a nice enough friend to wake you up on important mornings." She was looking a bit upset, possibly because she was expecting a thank you. "I don't really know if I should feel lucky or not..." The figure on the bed was now mummified by the blankets, as to escape the blinding luminescence now filling the room. Rainbow Dash made a small growl of annoyance. Having had enough ridiculous excuses, she marched over to the bed and ripped the blankets away, pony and all. "You'd better get up now, or you'll miss Twi's speech for the Equestrian Science Convention. I'm not really into that kind of fancy schmancy stuff, but I'm going to support Twi. And you should come too. So get your lazy butt off your bed and hurry up!" She stomped her hoof impatiently. "Fine, fine. But remind me to ask Twilight to put a 'Keep Rainbow Dash Out' spell on my house later, okay?" Finally rolling out of bed, the Pegasus smoothed his rumbled black hair and rubbed his brown eyes. Rainbow Dash quickly replied "Sure, sure, come on, we're gonna be late!" It was only after a few seconds of thinking about what she just agreed to before she realized it. "Hey! What is that supposed to mean? I'm just trying to be a good friend, you know?" She pouted as they walked out of the house. He now had his own house, on the outskirts of Ponyville. It was somewhat close to Fluttershy's house, but not that close. But it wasn't really his house, persay, as it seemed his new friends were able to enter and leave without any sort of thought toward his own personal privacy. These random visits were expected, but it was still irksome nonetheless to have your door kicked open without any warning whatsoever. It wasn't going to do any good to complain now, though. He was lucky to have a house, and he was lucky to have such good friends. With that thought in mind, he set out with Rainbow Dash toward the town square, where Twilight Sparkle was delivering a speech about quantum magic and its applications toward chaos theory. Ah, the bed calls me to its warm embraces. Instead I am going to listen to a foreign language for a couple of hours. Yay. After a couple minutes of walking through the streets of Ponyville, they arrived at the town square. Twilight Sparkle was already at the podium, introducing the basics of magical teleportation and such. There was a swarm of white lab-coat wearing ponies at the base of the podium, each of them arguing about the credibility of the statements being spoken. He waved toward the podium, trying to get Twilight's attention. There was a short interlude until Twilight noticed his furiously waving hand. Seeing him and Rainbow Dash, she smiled and gave a small wave back. For some reason, that wave caused a large section of the ponies around him to start clamoring and waving back. Rainbow Dash elbowed him. "Don't mind 'em. They're just jealous." He laughed. The laughing spawned quite a few shushes from the audience, but he didn't mind. After the lecture, it was time for his daily flight lessons. They headed toward Cloudsdale, where his terrible flying wouldn't result in him being hospitalized. Over the weeks, he had learned how to maneuver a bit more artistically, and he had increased his lap times by quite a few minutes. He noticed Rainbow Dash becoming a bit more reserved when around him, although he wasn't completely sure why. He visited Apple Jack's farm for a quick refreshment after that, but he realized when you visit Applejack, there's no such thing as a quick refreshment. He ended up helping to collect barrels and barrels of apples, all the while being coached by Applejack on how to get the most apples in one kick. Afterwards he was sat down to a full family style meal, surrounded by dozens of Apple family members. He sighed. Life was hectic around the Apple Farm. The day passed uneventfully after that, if you can call a day in Ponyville uneventful. After watching a beautiful sunset, he lay in his bed, looking out the window at the moon. Observing the moon, he thought about how lonely it must be. The moon doesn't shine by itself, and relies on the sun to give it light, but the moon's rays have their own kind of beauty. And those rays lit up the town every night, just as the sun's rays would. Reminiscence filled his mind and he fell into deep thought. Shadows hid his face as he pondered. So this is my new life. I've got a house, friends, and I'm living in the most peaceful town I've every seen. It's almost like a dream come true. Ha. A dream, huh? Well, what do I know? This might as well be a dream. I might as well wake up and find myself in the hospital in my world. Or maybe a psycho clinic. Maybe this is all a lie. It would certainly be a cruel lie, but it would be a lie nonetheless. Am I living in a dream? Is this a dream? The moon shone brightly, lighting up the dark night with its quiet brilliance. He gazed at the moon, with its gentle splendor. The sun is harsh. It allows none to look at it, but because no one can gaze at the sun's true form, none can appreciate its true beauty. There's still a lot of things that I don't know. I wonder if there is a god. I wonder how I got into this world. I wonder if I'm crazy. Well, I don't really believe in a god, but I think I will, just this once. I think that just this once, I'll make a prayer. Just this once, I'll make a wish. Even if this is a dream, I'll make a wish. Even if this is all fake, I'm still going to make a prayer. And so his prayer breaks the silence of the night. "God in Heaven, all I pray for is the continuation of this dream." Author's Note Fate/Stay Night reference FTW! Anyway, I got bored so I wrote an extra chapter. Bump bump.
HopelessChapter 1: Hopeless The ring of the solid gold alarm clock signalled the beginning of his day. It also signalled the beginning of his personal, customized hell. He came from a noble family. A perfectionist family. A family that allowed no mistakes. His parents were distant, which might be an understatement. He was but an object to them, a means to an end. He was technically rich, but he wasn't allowed to buy anything with the money. He lived under a totalitarian family. And he was absolutely miserable. Everyday, the same old thing. He followed a strict schedule that allowed no errors. Everyday. Get up. Brush teeth. Go to school. Come back. Get yelled at for not being perfect. Banished to his room. Read himself to sleep. Repeat. His goal in life was to become happier, and endlessly pursued every last glimmering hope. After all, even the oppressed have desires of their own. He read countless books, and asked countless people, whether they be his classmates or somewhat kind looking passerby, how he could become happier. Every time, he got the same answer: “Just do what you love to do!” The problem was, there were no hobbies, no interests, and definitely no favorite things that he wanted to do, or even remotely wished to associate himself with. The closest thing he had to a hobby was staying indoors. Although no one knew it, his anger and frustration towards the years of neglect he had met at the hands of fate were about to boil over. At a glance, there was no way anyone would know he was discontent at all with his life. It all came from years of grueling practice and emotional deadening. He contained the raging inferno of emotion inside him, tucked away safely, until the day it would be welcomed in the world. One day, while browsing through his father’s newspapers, he discovered a way out of his agonizing existential crisis. He remembered that at school, there were computers. And with computers, there was fun. What kind of fun, he didn't know. Of course, as he lived in a very elitist environment, social development was much more important than technological education. Hence, he had never truly experienced the wonders of a well-made computer game or the simple joy in reading a nice email. But a gamble would have to be made, and he decided to take a chance, and set out to obtain one of these little bundles of happiness. It was not like he had never used a computer before, he had simply never had one of his own. However, he was unable to purchase anything by himself, as his bank account had a multi-digit password only known to his parents. Being a child, he had tried guessing the number multiple times. But like a child, he had absolutely no chance of actually guessing it. Having no other option available to him, he turned to the people he would have avoided at all costs in any other situation. His parents. He stressed the educational functions of a computer to his parents, and when that didn’t work, he promised he would be more perfect, and get only the best grades in school. His parents, hearing promise upon promise upon promise, could only grudgingly relent. His new PC was scheduled to arrive in three weeks, during which he gained a slightly more optimistic, hopeful outlook of life. He tried harder in school, and actually showed the teachers that he was not mentally retarded. In fact, he was actually quite an intelligent person. He just never felt the need to complete the schoolwork assigned to him. This happy time for him affected his expressions too. He smiled and actually went outside in the sun for a few minutes once. Quite a while passed, and quite a few calls were made to ensure that his holy grail would be delivered. The day came when the delivery truck stopped taking its sweet time and arrived at his door, and when the doorbell rang, a terrorist compound couldn't have stopped him from rushing to the door. He saw the package. He brought it inside, and savagely tore it open, maliciously destroying the cardboard and packing peanuts inside. After much cardboard box cruelty and some domestic housecleaning, he carefully, ever so carefully placed the freshly excavated laptop on his desk. His finger carefully pushed down on the button that he had awaited for so long, and when the screen flickered to life, he almost exploded with joy. With his trusty new computative device, he was bound for a journey of discovery and possible bunny killing. The computer allowed him to do wondrous things, and his knowledge expanded exponentially. The greatest thing that happened to him, besides getting a computer, was discovering social networking. He slapped together a profile very different from his own, and actually started making friends. He became obsessed with his PC, using it day and night. Once he put on his headphones, it would be hours before he even so much as glanced back into the real world. It has been said before, however, that nothing golden can stay. This was certainly true in his case. His parents became concerned with his ever growing obsession with the fabricated world. Finally, they took action and stepped in like the good parents they were. For once, they did something responsible parents would. But like all victims that have had their beloved electronic devices removed from their lives, he suffered. Without something to preoccupy his days, his idle hours were once again freed up, and once again filled with angry, vicious thoughts. Angry, vicious thoughts tend to be somewhat angry and a bit vicious, so he decided to vent this viciousness by going outside. Throwing open his front door, he winced as warm sunshine caressed his face. The few days he had been in the sun hadn't exactly been able to accustom him to nature. Better late than never, so he set out to explore the mysterious land beyond. Little did he know of what he would find. He stepped onto the street between the two rows of houses. On both sides, massive mansions loomed over well-trimmed lawns and overdecorated front yards. Perhaps adventure would await on the other side. Closing his eyes, he smiled as he imagined himself running across an empty field, with no rules to bind him. He laughed as he thought about it, but then a voice jerked him out of his daydream. "Watch out!" Someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him backwards. He wasn't prepared for the physical assault, and he fell backwards, knocking over both him and his assailer. They both fell into the grass, kicking and flailing. A car whizzed by, swerving left and right, just as he fell backwards. With a start, he realized that his life had just been saved. Brushing himself off, he got up and prepared to thank his savior. He turned around and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His savior was a girl. She was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. Her dirty blonde hair was unkempt, yet it looked completely natural. Her emerald eyes bored into his. They were full of reproach and questioning. "Didn't your parents ever tell you to look twice before crossing the street, you could've died there, you know!" He wasn't sure how to respond. His parents had never told him anything about looking twice before crossing a road. The only thing he was to look twice at was his math homework. The tone of her voice ticked him off though. She didn't talk like his mom said girls should talk. She sounded more like some kind of rebellious boy than a girl. "Didn't your parents ever tell you how to behave? Why don't you go back to your tea party?" It was probably a mean thing to say, and in retrospect, probably extremely sexist, but he was naive, and she was annoying. They stomped away after that, each going their own way. But after a day filled with careful contemplation, he decided it was best if he at least thanked her for saving him. He grimaced, imagining her gloating expression as he kneeled down before her. He shook his head to clear his mind of such frightening thoughts. Chivalry trumped personal honor at this point. What honor would I have if I had been killed by a car like some common squirrel? So he swallowed his pride and headed for the girl's home. "What do you want? Are you here to beg for forgiveness?" she crossed her arms and turned her face away. "Something like that. I realized that I forgot to thank you yesterday. So, thank you. Thank you for saving my life. I am in your debt, my lady." He was encouraged by the fact that she seemed upset. It was much easier to deal with than taunting. "Wha-" she began, her cheeks reddening. The expression on her face was priceless. He was mid bow, but he couldn't maintain the air of formality any more. It was too much. He dropped to the ground and began laughing. "H-hey! Stop laughing! What's so funny?" she kicked him, but she clearly wasn't trying to hurt him. So he just laughed some more. By the time he finally calmed down, she had her arms crossed and face turned away again. It was so strange, seeing her behave like that, but perhaps it was just because he had never really interacted with a girl before. "If you're just gonna laugh at me, I'm closing the door." she began to reach for her door handle. Just then, he felt something strange resound inside of him. It was unlike anything that he had ever felt before. He was an unspoiled child: his parents had made sure of that. If he wanted something, he had to work for it. But at that moment, he felt something. He wanted to stay. It was the first time someone made him laugh. Laughing felt good. Laughter lifts a weight off the soul, if only for a little while. "Sorry, sorry, it's been a while since I've laughed like that." he was still beaming from ear to ear as he tried to apologize. "Um, so, when I finish up my lessons for today, could I come over again?" he asked, averting his eyes. What did I just say? Why did I just say that? Now I've done it. He winced and prepared for a physical assault. To his surprise, it didn't come. Or at least, it didn't come in the way that he thought it would. He opened his eyes and found her face altogether too close to his. She hugged him with a crushing strength, almost suffocating him. He would have protested, but when he saw her tears, he shut his mouth. He couldn't really talk anyway, as his lungs had been completely crushed, but that's beside the point. What was he supposed to do? Hug her back? Stand there? Pet her head? "Thank you. Y-you're the o-only one that e-ever...e-ever..." her words were broken by the heaving of her shoulders and the tears falling from her eyes. He sighed. It was a neighberhood of moneybags, after all. Meeting another distressed child was to be expected. He wrapped his arms around her, and drew her in close. "I have to thank you too. Thank you for showing me that I'm not alone." he whispered softly in her ear, unsure what else to say. And then there was silence. There was no need for words, for it was simply quiet companionship. But there's a time for meetings and a time for partings. He softly released her, and she did the same. She took one last look at him, smiled, and closed her door. He smiled too, and his smile stayed on his face even when he went to sleep. The world was a cruel place. It had allowed him to glimpse at the magnificence of life, but just as quickly quashed that utopia. He worked diligently, putting more effort than ever before into his lessons and work, finishing them faster and faster. Upon finally recieving a respite from the tedious labor, he bolted out the door and to the only other place he could think of. He knocked on the door, expecting her to come running. Instead, he got no response. A bit stymied, but not defeated, he rang the doorbell. This time, a middle-aged lady came after some time had passed. She had the same dirty-blonde hair as her, but the lady's hair was streaked with silver and white. And she was crying. "I'm sorry, our family is going through some tough times right now. Could you come back later?" she replied in an impressively strong voice. He was awed by her willpower. She was clearly distressed, but you couldn't tell at all from the voice. Was this what it meant to be a true blueblood? He wondered why she was crying. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. The stony mask that had masked her expressions shattered into pieces. Dropping her face into her hands, she bitterly wept. "My daughter- my daughter killed herself last night!" she was almost screaming in hysteria. A dull thud resonated through my mind. The world slowed down. Everything faded away. I couldn't hear her weeping. The world around me seemed to become a thick gelatin. My movements were sluggish and everything seemed to be wobbling. A surge of nausea accompanied and was amplified by the wobbling. He fell to his knees, eyes wide with disbelief. She wouldn't kill herself. We were friends right? More than friends, right? I was going to be there for her, and in return, she was always going to be there for me, right? Wasn't that our promise? Wasn't I the one? He couldn't, wouldn't understand. But in some dark recess of his mind, something clicked. It whispered the sinister truth to him, but he pushed it back. He didn't dare believe it, but the thought echoed through the chambers of his brain until it was the only sound pounding in his ears. I said I would be there for her, but I wasn't. It's been weeks since I've visited her. What might she have been thinking, trapped in the prison that she is obligated to call her home? He punched the ground. He punched the ground again. And again. And again. He punched the ground until his fist bled, and then he kept punching it. His parents eventually came and dragged him away, apologizing to the lady for being an inconvenience. He was scolded severely after getting home, but he couldn't hear anything that they said. He was still in a daze, even as he slipped into bed. Night is a powerful thing. While you lie there, alone, with only the weak light of the moon to illuminate your room, you almost become another person. And as he lay there, he could only think of one thing. Death was the only way out of his misery. He vowed to bring it upon himself, the ultimate sacrifice, in order to escape his life. He would search for her in the underworld, as Hercules did. As Orpheus did. And yet he was no hero. He did not seek to escape from the land of eternal rest. No. He would be buying a one-way ticket. Something had died in him that day. Was it compassion? Was it empathy? Was it love? Without it, he lost the sparkle in his eyes that marked his naievity. Tonight was the summation of his plans. Tonight was the conclusion of days of planning. Tonight was the final chapter in his pitiful story. It was show time. His parents had invited half the neighborhood over to have a social gathering at their house. These gatherings were a regular event, but that didn't mean that he liked them. Every gathering, he would shake hands with the guests, excuse himself, and seclude himself in his room to avoid any further unecessary social interaction. But this time, he had a plan, and if it succeeded, would change his life. Literally. The guests were socializing, like they always did, and he decided to set his plan into motion. It was no easy task to make his way to the kitchen, for there was always someone to greet, and someone to make light conversation with. Although he had been horribly shy before, he was now cold and emotionless, the perfect aristocrat. He opened the cooking utensil cabinet, finding himself faced with a difficult choice. There were a multitude of exquisite and deadly knives for the taking. After some deliberation, he picked one of the sharper knives, a modern kitchen knife with a few touches of luxury. Bands of silver sprouted from the ruby inset in the handle, forming a makeshift grip. A ruby knife. How fitting, considering the purpose it was to serve. But now was the hard part- getting back to his room unseen, in order to conceal the knife for later use. Knife in hand, he carefully climbed up the back staircase of his home. He had almost reached the top of the staircase when he heard his mother calling: “Honey, come down and meet our guests!” His blood ran cold. He couldn’t turn back. Not now, not with a knife in his hand. What could he do? He could continue heading upstairs and risk severe punishment from his mother, or head downstairs and risk exposing his plan. “Hurry up honey, we don’t have all day!” He sensed his mother's voice becoming accusatory. He made a split second decision and dashed up to his room as fast as he could. “Do not worry mother. I merely require a few moments to fix my disorderly apperance.” He tried to stall her. And yet, even with victory within his grasp, he encountered another setback. The door was locked. “Mother.” “Yes, Honey?” “Why have you locked my door?” “Well honey, you always lock yourself in there whenever we have one of our wonderful gatherings, and I thought this time you could come out and meet some of our guests!” Just great. Now what was he supposed to do? His mother was becoming impatient with him. And he was locked out of the final checkpoint of his plan. But wait! The bottom of the door didn’t touch the floor. There was a small crack under it, where he could slide the knife under. He just hoped he could get it under his bed so his mom wouldn’t wonder why there was a knife on the floor in his room. He carefully placed the knife under the crack, and kicked it as hard as he could. He heard a satisfying clunk as it bounced off the wall, presumably coming to rest under the bed. His mission accomplished, he headed downstairs toward another evening of absolute boredom. He shook countless hands and said countless hellos. When the gathering was over, he sighed with relief. Finally, the show would go on. He betrayed no emotion, which perhaps should have aroused suspiscion, but his parents were satisfied that their son was finally "maturing". Knowing his parents liked to stay up, watching their silly sitcoms, he also stayed up. When the lights went out, he would go out too. He jolted awake from his bed. How long had he been asleep? He only remembered closing his eyes, just for a second. He checked his alarm clock. 4:59. His parents were most likely still sleeping. Good. He slipped out of bed, and as quietly as possible, tip toed behind his bed. The knife was still there. He picked it up, and slid back into his bed. He gazed at the scarlet gem, and the silver linings wrapped around the hilt. Perhaps it was meant to be? Perhaps the knife was telling him that even death had a silver lining? He touched the knife to his finger. He suddenly felt very nervous. There was no room for worry. There was no room for excuse. There was no room for fear. There was no room for hesitation. He swallowed, and continued on with grim determination. Raising the knife, he closed his eyes and thrust the knife towards himself. Why was he still alive? He opened his eyes, and realized that his arms hadn’t moved. Strange. He tried again. He closed his eyes, raised the knife over his chest, and stabbed toward his heart. He was clearly still alive. How was this possible? He clearly had sent the command to end his life, yet his body was not obeying. Hm. I see that in the end, I am just a coward after all. He spurned himself for his own fear of death. What was their to gain in this life? What was there to live for? His anger reaffirmed, he steeled his conviction in preparation for another attempt. Well, you know what they say: Third time’s the charm! This time, he kept his own eyes open, and thrust the knife deep into his chest. A single, sickening, squelch burst the silence of the night. Soon, blood seeped out of the wound, staining the white blankets with dark red. But he had not hit a vital spot. Through the haze of pain that clouded his vision and thoughts, he realized he must stab again before the adrenaline of injury faded and the true agony of his wound emerged. If he uttered a single scream, it would all be over. With a small grunt, he pulled out the bloodied tool so suited for its task. He stabbed again, this time in the stomach. He almost cried out, but managed to keep quiet by biting his tongue. Pain now resounded in his mouth, but the scream found no foothold and slipped away. Again, he stabbed himself. He felt himself losing consciousness, as blood poured out of his wounds. He smiled, almost blissfully, and knew he had succeeded. Author's Note Anomalous 2.0! Much needed story revamp after WAY too long!
DreamsChapter 2: Dreams A dark red haze clouded his vision. The sanguine veil obscured his vision, hiding what might lurk beyond. Formless apparitions drifted about, seemingly randomly, and yet with some higher purpose. I must be dreaming... he realized. He would soon meet the enigma known as death. The voyage could prove to be a long one, but he would dream it away. Might as well enjoy the show while it lasts. Noticing subtle whispers slipping about, he closed his eyes and focused on what was being said. “Death...the inevitable fruit of life...” “And yet it comes before life has fully born its fruits.” “Fate tells no lies. It shall end here.” “Death before life unfinished is harbinger of life again.” “But to steal a morsel from the grasp of death, ruin shall be your companion.” “Ruin may follow if rebirthed in quarter past.” “If indeed ruin follows, what words speak of implausible action? Death comes.” “Rebirthed in quarter once birthed, such is implausible. Yet rebirth in quarter unbirthed yields fruit anew.” “You speak not of quarter which I think?” “I do speak of such quarter.” “Futile. An ill-advised course of action. A path preposterous is a path doomed to fail.” "Mayhap prespoterous it seems, yet none other path suggests itself to me.” “Mind over matter, consider, for words cannot change what will be carved in stone.” “Mind over matter, since time immemorable. Now, life unfulfilled will begin anew. Quarter of old will now become quarter of new. Form of quarter old shall become form of quarter new, but new will yet become old.” “Life of a million years began with a single breath.” “Life of a million years shall too end with one final death.” “What on Earth was that conversation about?” He wondered as the shadows departed. But as he wondered, he felt a shift. The omnipresent sentiment of death no longer loomed over the horizon. The sanguine veil which covered his vision dissolved like so much mist on a sunny day. Death, he realized, had forsaken its grasp on him. I suppose they were talking about me, then? I guess I'm getting a second chance, somewhere happier, somewhere...better? Of course, these might just be the hallucinations of my dream, but either way, I'll win. I either escape my life of torment through everlasting sleep, or escape my life of torment by escaping to another life. he realized, with some triumph. He decided to sit back and enjoy the ride to his new life, perhaps even with a caring family. His journey was not an empty one, for in death, he was not blinded by the necessities of life. In death, he could observe that which no eyes could hope to see in life. One moment he was soaring through the sky, another moment flying through the water. The world revealed its secrets to him, and in knowledge, he found pain. Ignorance is bliss, and in death, all ignorance was washed away. He saw lands of nothing but pain and suffering. He saw people who lived lives filled with nothing but hardship. Each one of them lived a life that put shame to the torments he thought he had felt. And yet, these people didn't waver. Each man, each woman, each child had a purpose, a meaning in life that they strived to fulfill. They did not lament the difficulties of life, they did not cry for what they did not have. His spirit stirred as he watched them. These people were the embodiment of bravery, they were the embodiment of the human spirit. What excuse did I have, what pathetic reason, that I could just selfishly end my life?. Yet as abruptly as his journey started, it ended. He realized he had stopped drifting along his earthly continuum. In a fade to black, the world around him had dissipated into nothingness. “I guess this is where I get off.” he mused to himself. But then, he realized he had no idea how to, well, “get off”. “Hello? Anybody there? Shakespearen shadows? Narrator? Help?” Soon, he got his answer. A strange sensation took hold of his legs. They tingled, and he soon found that he had lost control of them. The tingling spread through the rest of his body, arresting his panicked flailing. He felt as if ants were crawling over his body, and yet he could do nothing about it. If this is what taking drugs feels like, I'm glad I never touched that stuff. was his last thought before the tingling advanced to his head. As it took root in his brain, the tingling intensified into an intense electrical shock that jolted him into unconsciousness. “Ughrgdagh” He mumbled, trying to get his mouth to work again. “Doctor! He's awake!” A female voice resounded in his ears. “Wrrgh...What? How did I get here?” He tried to get a hold of his surroundings. He was lying on a soft bed, and he sensed a presence near him. Forcing his weary eyes open was not an easy task. The electric shock had completely fried him, and it was hard to move at all. But with a display of willpower that was extremely unimpressive to any who happened to be watching, he forced his eyes open. And what he saw did not amuse him. When the fog of sleep finally cleared from his eyes, and his senses finally seemed to resume normal function, the first thing that hit him was the smell. Everything had an overwhelming scent of fresh made fudge. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was slightly overpowering. A concerned looking face leaned over him. It wasn't a human face. He grit his teeth in frustration. He had clearly been reborn into some kind of crazy messed up alien planet. Oh well. At least he had gotten another chance. Maybe the aliens would have some kind of device that would be able to send him back to Earth. For now, he would play along. “Where am I?” He tried to ask. But it came out more like: “Whrgez arv Ahf?” His caretaker/captor (he didn’t know what it/she/he was) raised her head and turned around, saying: "Doctor, he's talking!” With a heavy heart, he slipped into unconsciousness once again. “Is he going to be alright?” He heard the same voice ask someone else. “I don’t know. That was quite a fall, and it looked like he had been hit with quite a shock. Maybe even stronger than a lightning bolt.” A masculine voice responded. He opened his eyes again, and tried to sit up. Immediately he regretted it. Waves of nausea hit him, and he almost threw up. “Slow down, big guy, that was quite a fall you had there.” said the feminine one. “Who are you? What are you? Where am I? And why does everything smell like fudge?” Questions poured out of him as he realized he had fully regained the ability to speak. “Well, first of all, My name is Twilight Sparkle. Second, I am a unicorn, obviously, since I clearly have a horn. Everyone in Ponyville is either a pony, a unicorn, or a pegasus, after all. I mean, come on, you're a Pegasus for crying out loud, you should know this stuff! Third, you are in the Ponyville hospital, and Fourth, what do you mean everything smells like fudge? Have your olfactory senses been discombobulated as well as your memory storage capacity?” Now he was really confused. He was a pony now? This self-proclaimed “Twilight Sparkle” was clearly not a unicorn, as unicorns were mythical creatures. But she did resemble one, as she looked like a horse and had the horn that made a unicorn a unicorn. But then, the true impact of what she had said hit him. “I am not a pony!” he yelled. “I am a human! A normal person!” “Twilight Sparkle” looked at him with some concern. “Of course you aren’t a pony! Silly you, you’re a pegasus! But I don't know about this 'human' thing. Is that the knew street term for pegasi?” That hit him even harder. “Wha-wha-what? I’m a what now?” He stuttered out. “Silly you, stop acting dumb!” Twilight Sparkle smiled. “You know that you have wings! Well, if you're still confused, I guess that fall might have really done something. Don't worry, we can help you remember!” The unicorn had started using a baby voice. He examined himself with horror, and realized that she was right. He had the body of a horse with wings, just like the mythical pegasus. “What have you done to me?!?” He screamed. Suddenly, he felt very, very, angry. He lashed out in a fit of rage and overturned his bedside table. Alarmed, the male doctor ran out of the room to get help. Twilight Sparkle was shouting something at him, but he didn't care. He wanted out. Out of this life, out of this new torment. Not really knowing what he was doing, he crashed through a window and landed on grass outside. His head hurt, not from injury, but because he couldn't accept the situation. He couldn't see. He couldn't think. He couldn't hear their calls. Why? Why? He had been given life, and he had thought it would prove to be a blessing, rather than a curse. Instead, he had been transformed into a monster from a Greek myth, stuck inside a world that smelled like fudge. Now, in his rage, he knew only to run. The rigorous aristocratic training he had undergone wasn't completely useless after all, and he was a relatively strong, despite only having gone outside in the sun a few times in his life. He would only run. And so he ran. He ran away from his new life, and his past. He could only run, so he ran from everything. The raging torrent of anger and disappointment slowly faded, and when he finally looked up, he realized with a sickening lurch that he was lost. Gone were the bright colors of the town that “Twilight Sparkle” called “Ponyville”. Instead, a dark palette of blacks, dark blues, and dark greens dominated the landscape. Worst of all, the sun was going down. He was cold, hungry, and utterly at a loss as what to do. He knew nothing about the wild. He had never even seen such large trees, being housebound for the majority of his life. “I should have stayed in the hospital.” He bitterly muttered to himself. Only now, when he was finally away from everyone, away from everything, was his head truly clear. But his brain couldn’t have picked a worse time. This new, hostile landscape ignited a primitive premonition of danger. But as his anger cleared, replaced by fear, he found he could no longer run. How he had been able to use this form while running in a raging fury was lost to him. As his legs folded and he fell to the ground, he tried to hug himself. His many fears started to overwhelm him. I'm just a coward. I'm just a stupid, sniveling, bratty, spoiled, coward. He almost incapacitated himself through sheer negativity, but doing so would only worsen his situation, so he relented the flow of self-deprecating remarks. Sure, he had finally cleared his mind, but it was when he was in the worst possible situation that the dream finally seemed to end.
ReturnChapter 3: Return He was completely lost. The weak rays of the moon did little to illuminate the darkness, and every step only seemed to bring him further away from safety, from shelter. If he couldn't find his way out of this cursed forest soon, there was no doubt that he would die. He would die by himself, alone, in the darkness once again. To make it worse, it started raining. Drenched, freezing, hungry, disillusioned, and disgusted, he continued venturing through the dark forest. Crack. He spun around as his heart skipped a beat, expecting a bear or some other terrifying beast. Well, he tried to turn around, but he forgot he had four legs instead of two, so he ended up in a tangled heap on the forest floor. It was no easy matter trying to learn to control a form so different than what he was used to. My new form... he mused. Wait! Didn’t Twilight Sparkle say something about me being a pegasus? According to legend, pegasus are winged horses with the ability to fly and land on clouds. Perhaps he was unable to coordinate his legs, but something easier like flapping his wings could allow him to escape the forest. Although he was completely lost, being able to rest on a cloud, high above danger, until day came, seemed to be an appealing option. Only one problem. He had absolutely no idea how to even walk, much less fly. “Oof! Ow!” He was on his 35th attempt at lifting himself off the ground. So far, he had achieved sustained hovering for a maximum of three seconds, but his success was often abruptly terminated by the copious amount of trees. “Alright. THINK!” He told himself. “How does a bird get off the ground?” He remembered spending time learning about aviation theories in his science class. Education comes in handy in the weirdest places, huh? A bird’s wing is slightly curved over the top, causing air to flow faster under the wing than on top. This causes a lack of pressure on top of the bird, generating lift. Okay, well I mean scientific theory is great and all, but it's kinda completely useless right now. he thought. I’m going to be an airplane. He spread his wings, took a stance, and started running. Five minutes later... Huffing, puffing, panting,and exhausted, he stopped running. “Okay...that didn’t work. I guess I'll just flap like crazy? That's how little kids pretend to fly...” Up. Down. Up. Down. Flap. Flap. He was exhausted. Flying really is hard work... He thought, trying to catch his breath. “Alright, let’s try this again.” He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, focused his mind, and gave his wings a couple of hard flaps. He kept flapping. Just keep flapping. Flap. Flap. Prepared for disappointment, he slowly opened his tightly shut eyes. Did I get taller or something? Wait... He was flying! He was flying above the ground! Instead of being earthbound, he was steadily hovering at least a foot of the ground. Just keep flapping.. If he stopped flapping, he would fall to the earth, and probably never fly again. With every flap, the danger increased, but with every flap the light of hope shone brighter. Soaring higher than ever before, he let out a whoop as he finally left that dark forest behind. Flying was something special, something that you couldn't explain to someone who couldn't. When you are all alone, surrounded by nothing, hindered by nothing, that kind of freedom you feel is something you can't feel anywhere else. He broke the cloud layer. His relief at finding respite at long last purged him of the adrenaline which had fueled his flight. He slumped down, completely exhaused, on a cloud close by. Unfortunately, it was a thunder cloud. With a crackle and a boom, a peal of thunder split the midnight air. It also gave him a heart attack. Luckily, it was a two-in-one with built-in defibrillation, so he was okay. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” He hadn’t expected that. Feeling rather embarrassed, he crawled onto another cloud, making sure it wasn't another boomer. He smothered his face in the cloud, trying to hide his flushed face. In hopes of venting some of his nervous energy, he testily flapped his wings, and to his surprise, the cloud moved with him. He smiled. Maybe he had some hope of getting back to “Ponyville” after all! The sun was rising, and he finally saw some traces of civilization. In the far distance, he saw a large tree with windows (What the heck?), several buildings, and a city that appeared to be made of...clouds? As he neared the town, he realized he was getting used to the smell of fudge. He was slightly disturbed. Was he being assimilated into this crazy race? He hoped not. As the town became closer, he dismounted from his cloudmobile, and tried to flutter to the ground gracefully. Instead, he tumbled down and hit tree branch after tree branch until the ground hit him. Wow. Even in a alternate dimension, he was socially awkward. He neared the town cautiously...VERY cautiously, for fear of...well...everything. For some reason, whenever he neared someone, they gave him a strange glance, half in question and half in incredulity. Fine by him. He was used to attracting attention. He just wanted to know why. He approached a - a- wait, what did that purple one call them? A pegasus! This one was a creamy yellow, with bubblegum colored hair. She averted her eyes as he approached, retreating backwards towards a corner. But it was a bad way to go, and he cornered her in no time. He wasted no time in asking: “Hi, um, so I'm new around here, so I don't know if I've done something wrong or what, but like..would you happen to know why everyone is staring at me strange?” The cream colored pegasus looked up. An inaudible mumble slipped by his ear, but then it was gone. All he caught was something about something blank. “Excuse me, could you speak up? Sorry, I must have poor hearing.” Instead of an inaudible mumble, this time he got an incomprehensible murmur. He was getting very flustered now. Being socially awkward enough already, talking with a female made it even worse. His face was now very red, and he decided this would her last chance. “Could you please speak a little louder? I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch what you said. Something about blanks?” This time, she spoke at a volume that was recognizable, to his relief. “Well, um, sir, you don't consider yourself a foal anymore, do you?” “Well...I guess...not? But what does that have to do with anything?” He replied, slightly confused. What is a foal? Is that a bad thing? She kind of made it sound bad, so I said no. I hope I didn't mess up again.“Um, so the problem is, most ponies your age already have their cutie mark, and you clearly don't!” She sped up as she neared the end of her sentence, nearly speaking at an incomprehensible speed again. As soon as she finished, she pushed past him and ran away with a speed that made him feel just a little hurt. Just a little. “Aaahh...got it. Thanks!” He shouted after her, hoping that she wouldn't mark him down in her mind as an ungrateful weirdo. Now what in the world is a cutie mark? Why would anyone want something so stupid sounding? He wondered to himself as he plodded along. But no matter. He had returned to civilization. The next sentient being that seemed to have speech capabilities that he encountered was another pegasus. Another female, he presumed, since the creature had long, rainbow toned hair that was unkempt and flowing. The rainbow pegasus took one look at him and started cracking up. Was not having a cutie mark really that bad? If it was, he would have to get one real soon. He decided he needed to get more information about these “cutie marks”, even if it marked him as an absolute idiot for the rest of his life. “Excuse me, miss-” He began. “Miss? MISS? Do I look like I’m that old?” the rainbow-haired pegasus replied in a voice that was much louder than it needed to be. At least he could hear what the other pony was saying this time. “Er...well...how would you like me to address you?” This was not a good start. “First off, my name is Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in all of Ponyville. You are to address me by name, and not like I’m an old lady, got that?” Alright. Got it. At least that name was somewhat easy to remember. “Alright, Rainbow Dash, my question is: what is a cutie mark and how do I get one?” She looked at him for a few seconds, completely silent, and then burst out laughing again. “BWAHAHAHA! You’re joking right? Everypony knows what a CUTIE MARK is!” This was going to be harder than expected. He tried again. “Just tell me, okay? I don’t know, and I can’t stand people looking at me like I’m an idiot.” She just sighed. (Where are all the men in this awful town? At the least, where are the normal women?) “Well, if you don’t know what a cutie mark is, you probably are an idiot anyways, but it’s like a mark that appears on your, um, flank when you learn what you are best at in life. Since you don’t have one, you clearly haven’t discovered what you’re best at yet, or, more likely, you're just too stupid for one.” That last bit stung. But anyways, according to Rainbow Dash, a cutie mark is like a tattoo on your bum that appears when you discover what you meant to do in life. Ah, if only it were that easy in my world...we would be spared so much pain and suffering. “So how can I get one of these cutie marks?” He asked his second question. “Celestia save me, you really are stupid aren’t you? Where did you got to school? Scratch that, you're too stupid for school. You can’t just make a cutie mark appear, it appears by itself once you’ve discovered what you’re good at. Got it? We’ve already got three fillies who are obsessed with getting their cutie marks. We don’t need another one, a full grown pony at that.” Could she not say something nice for once? “Got it. I’ll just be um...on my way now!” She gave him one last suspicious glance before he left. “One weirdo after another. How am I going to survive in this crazy place?” He thought to himself as kept walking down the road.
HumiliatedChapter 4: Humiliated Good news travels slowly, but bad news has wings. Like him. Unfortunately, bad news could actually use those wings. Clearly, word had gotten out that he was a complete idiot. They would whisper to one another when they thought he had his back turned, but his hearing was sharper than they thought. He heard their leering, their sneering, their taunting remarks. He did his best to endure it, but he grit his teeth unconsciously as his brow furrowed into a dark scowl. This life was turning out very similar to his previous one. Luck would make it even more so when a very strong looking stallion bumped into him at that moment. He grunted and retreated a few steps backwards. Despite doing his best to ignore the infuriating gossip, it had managed to distract him from paying attention to his surroundings. “Hey! Watch where you’re going, squirt!” growled his assailant. “Hey! It's not just my fault, you should have been looking too!” He protested. “What didtchoo just say?” growled the brawny pony. “Ah, erm, well I was just saying that we should both be more careful in, um, the future, ha...ha...” his voice trailed off into nervous laughter as he perceived only blankness on the face of the stallion. “Oh yeah? You know what I think? I think that you just insulted me.” “Ah, no, I didn't mean it that way, I was just saying that-” he fumbled over his words, desperately trying to avoid confrontation. “Wait...aren't you that completely moronic Pegasus? You're dumber than Derpy aren't you? You don’t even know what a cutie mark is!” The stallion grinned evilly, showing two rows of glistering teeth that could have belonged to a shark. “Erm...well..I suppose that’s true...” He felt the tides being turned on him. “Hey everyone! This is the stupid guy! The one that doesn't know what a cutie mark is!” the stallion sneered at him after getting the attention of everyone in the area. He felt their stares bore into him, even when he couldn't see them. Each pair of eyes felt like a pair of scorching suns, and sweat began to drip from his forehead. Now would be a good time to skedaddle, he decided. Escape was no easy task when you are surrounded by a crowd of sniggering ponies. He spun around as best as he could without embarrassing himself any further. He had to escape, or there was going to be trouble. There! A group of ponies was huddling together, listening to their clique leader entertain them with his ridiculous fabrications about the new pony. Their leaning caused a slight shift in the tide of ponies, leaving him a small gap to run through. He wasted no time in using this opportunity to break out of the encirclement. But now what? Angry shouts followed his every step as he desperately tried to escape. The giant tree! He ducked inside as everyone started laughing. How they taunted him. Teased him. His shoulders gave an involuntary shudder as he took a shaky breath. “Hey there!” called out a voice. The blue Pegasus whipped around, expecting another jeering face. Instead, he saw a draganoid creature clad in purple and green scales. Big green eyes blinked at him, as if expecting a response. “Hi, um, so, sorry for just barging in here like that, I thought maybe it would, uh, be empty, but, um, I was just wondering if I could stay here for a bit?” His face flushed as he stumbled over his words yet again. The small dragon closed his eyes, resting his head on his fist. After a moment's consideration, he said: “Well, I suppose you could stay here...I'd havta ask Twilight though.” Twilight! That name again. Wasn't the pony at the hospital named Twilight Sparkle? He desperately hoped that it wasn't the Twilight he was thinking of.. It was. At first, he thought that the ponies waiting outside would go away after he hid inside, but he could see from the window that they were still crowded around the door, playing the waiting game, waiting for him to come out. He felt his pulse pounding in his forehead, but as far as he could see, he was trapped. The creaking of a floorboard jolted him out of his despairing introspection. He jumped, and slowly turned around, expecting more trouble. Instead, he heard: “Oh, there you are. We’ve been looking for you!” Twilight Sparkle was smiling at him, the draganoid at her side. His pupils dialated in embarrasement. The memories of him breaking the window at the hospital were still burning in his mind. "Hi! Um, sorry about the window, I didn't mean to, erm, well I mean I did, but I didn't really mean to, but, um, you see, I was just really, um, frustrated, and it, um, I mean, I'm sorry...” He mumbled, ducking his head and trying to brush past her. “Hey, where are you going?" Twilight grabbed his shoulder, effectively terminating his rather ill-fated escape. "Okay, okay! How much do you want? I don't have any money, but, um, I'll work really hard, and I'll do overtime everyday, so it's okay, right? Right?" He was getting desperate. Was a stupid window really worth that much? Why couldn't they just let him go? "Window? Oh! You mean that one! You sure were in a hurry to get out of there, weren't you! Don't worry, I fixed it up already. Next time, remember to use the door, alright?" Twilight smiled at him. "Ah, um, yeah, okay...I mean, I will! Yeah! Definitely! I'll use the door next time!" His confusion turned into gratitude as he realized that his vandalous actions had been pardoned. A big grin broke out on his face. "But anyways, what cloud did you drop in from? It doesn't seem like anypony really knows you around here." Twilight changed to a more serious tone as she studied him once again. It was a fair question. He didn't know the answer himself. If he answered her question improperly, it might result in him being sent to a mental institution of some kind. But he trusted her. Taking a deep breath, he began. "Well, um, you see, I wasn't joking when I said I was a human." He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting disbelieving backlash. "A human? Even I don't know what that is, and I've read pretty much every book in the Royal Library!" She gave him a questioning glance. Not good. He had to step up his game. "So, I guess this is a completely different dimension then? Basically, a human is like...well, we stand on two legs, and we have hands instead of these hooves. An-" He was brutally interrupted by Twilight shoving her face in front of his. "DID YOU JUST SAY A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DIMENSION?" She was nearly screaming, but it was out of excitement. Her eyes were wide with anticipation, and he could see her body quivering with nervous energy. He grimaced. Was that the wrong thing to say? "I...suppose...I said something...like that...but wh-" Once again, Twilight's animated antics cut him off before he could finish. "Wow! Another dimension! I'm talking to a creature from another dimension! I've got to tell the Princess about this!" She ran out of the treefort that had sheltered him from the mob outside for all this time. He tried to call after her, to tell her to wait, but she was gone before he could untangle his legs. The mob had dispersed outside of the tree, having finally lost its momentum. He was glad, since he could finally move about somewhat freely within the town again. “Excuse me, did a lavendar unicorn happen to um, pass through here?” He walked up to one of the local townsfolk, hoping to get some answers. “Oh, you mean the Princess' protege? She was running that way, last I saw. She runs pretty fast for an egghead, doesn't she?" The pony cracked up at his own joke. But as he calmed down and took another look at him, he cocked his head, asking: "Say...aren’t you-” He dashed away before the cycle of doom repeated itself. He sauntered along in the general direction that the pony had directed him. Luckily, he was able to ask ponies along the way to redirect himself. Eventually, he got the sense that he was going towards something called "Canterlot". He ignored the fact that it was clearly a blatant rip-off of King Arthur's famous castle. It's not plagiarism if it's in a different dimension, right? Now with destination in mind, he was able to acquire much more specific instructions as to where to go. “Excuse me, but would you happen to know where or what Canterlot is?” The stallion that he had asked turned around, incredulity in his features. “What are you saying? Who doesn’t know where Canterlot is? I mean, come ON! It’s where the Princesses live! Are you new or something?” He felt himself slipping into the exact same situation that he had encountered when questioning Rainbow Dash. “Um, am I new? I suppose you could say that...?” He winced at his awful attempt to defuse the situation before one of multiple disastrous histories repeated itself. To his relief, the pony gave a snort, content with his excuse. “Well that would explain it. Canterlot is right over there. See that giant, unmistakeable, unmissable, super-obvious castle over there that dominates the landscape for hundreds of miles in every direction? That’s it.” Despite the stallion's rather accusatory word choice, his instructions were clear enough for him to follow. He sighed, both in exasperation and at his own ignorance. Had that giant, unmistakeable, unmissable, super-obvious castle always been there? It was still quite a distance to get there though, especially for him. He decided he would have to get used to his new body for the time being, until he could find a way back home. He gave a start. What had he just been thinking? Was he just thinking about how to get home? He had killed himself to escape the very home he now yearned for! He had ended his existence to escape that world! He grunted in annoyance at the conflicting emotions inside him. For now, he would stick with what he had. Perhaps being a pegasus wasn’t so bad after all. He struggled forward, step after unsteady step. Many times, he tripped. Many times, he fell. Sometimes he could save himself with a few flaps of his wings, sometimes he was doomed to bite the dust yet again. Every time, he pulled himself off the ground to continue his journey. Arduous journey conclucded, he finally arrived in Canterlot, only to find that more obstacles awaited him. “Halt! State your purpose or turn back now!” Barked out the guard patrolling the outskirts of the castle. The guard's spear glistened with menacing light, reinforcing his message. “Hi there! Sorry to intrude like this, but um, well, I was looking for Twilight Sparkle, and all the people- I mean ponies I asked said she was going to, um, Canterlot, so...uh, would it be ok if I went inside to look fo her? Please?” He struggled through one of his longest spontaneous sentences yet. None of these situations had ever come up in his formal social training. Spontaneity was not something that was appreciated among socialites. Luckily, the guard smiled. “Sure thing! All you had to do was ask!” The guard stepped aside and let him in. Where’s an easy button when you need one, huh? He slowly advanced through the halls of the castle, feeling strangely at home among the extravagent paintings and lavish furnishings. Canterlot was truly a castle of wonders. Although it lacked the overpowering feeling of luxury that many patrician homes gave off, each furnishing, each piece seemed to fit into place perfectly. Instead of oppression, the entire castle gave off an aura of serenity and harmony. Finally, in the main throne room, he found Twilight Sparkle. She seemed to be in deep conversation with the one that he assumed was “Princess Celestia”. Should he try and get their attention? Breaking in on royaty was usually a big no-no. The "off with your head" kind of no-no. But the decision was taken out of his hands when they noticed him of their own accord. “There you are! We were just about to send the guards out to find you!” Twilight beamed at him, oblivious to the large number of ways that her sentence could be interpreted. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. He gulped nervously. She was about to send the guards after him? Did he accidentally break a law? Did she care about that window after all? What did he get himself into this time? Convinced that he was about to be tossed into the royal dungeons, he staggered backwards, panic in his eyes. “Do not worry, she had no ill-intent in her words.” Princess Celestia smiled warmly and assured him gently. "Um, ah, is that right?" he laughed nervously, still slightly distrustful. "So um, what did you want, erm, Your Majesty?" He hastily tacked on an honorific at the end of his sentence, remembering he was speaking to royalty. “Twilight tells me that you hail from another dimension. I wish to affirm this statement. If it proves to be true, then we shall need to carefully analyze the implications of your arrival.” Her voice was soft, and yet he could hear it loud and clear, even from the other end of the throne room. “Er, well that's great and all, but, um, how exactly would you confirm that I was from, you know, another dimension? Ah, I mean, I apologize for my insolence, your majesty, I assure you I meant no disrespect, so, um, please don't throw me into the dungeons!” Realizing that he had just commited verbal treachery by using an incorrect tone of voice, he hastily tried to amend his error. The Princess gave him a questioning glance, and Twilight laughed. “Don't worry, silly! You don't need to be all "your majesty" this and "your majesty" that! Just talk normally, please, for the benefit of all of us." Twilight seemed to have no qualms about speaking her mind in front of royalty. But again, that stallion had called her the Princess' protege. He supposed that was a permanent "get out of jail free" card. "Anyways, the Princess is just going to do a bit of magical psychoanalysis, it's completely painless. Don't worry, it's so safe that we do it at the hospital on an outpatient basis!" Twilight eagerly began explaining all the intricacies involved with magical memory viewing, but his eyes glazed over after a few sentences. The Princess' voice sent him back in full-alert mode. “The process involves a full disclosure of your memories. If you feel uncomfortable with this, it is alright to try and deduce your origin with another method." She looked at him with concerned eyes. But he was just glad to be hearing English again. "Ah, no, it's perfectly alright. Do I need to do anything to prepare, your majesty?" He glanced at Twilight as he spoke. He grinned smugly as he saw her give a hmph of annoyance. Princess Celestia beckoned for him to follow as she walked into another room. He hastily dashed after her, catching up without any embarrasing incidents, to his relief. They walked down a long hallway, adorned with all kinds of paintings on the walls. He tried to observe every painting, but to his disappointment, the Princess' pace did not allow for him to take more than a fleeting glance at each. From his superficial inspections, he could see that they seemed to be paintings of past members of Royalty. It was not immediately obvious, but he had a sense for these kinds of things. Each portrait emitted the same kind of power, the same kind of authority that the Princess did. The Princess suddenly stopped, opening a particularly elegant door, laced with gold trim. As he expected, she merely used her magic to open it. Of course. Because opening doors with your hands is too pedestrian. But too his surprise, instead of some kind of laboratory or testing facility, the door opened into a room that was much more homely looking. There were tables and stands around the outskirts of the room, each topped with strange artifacts or documents. Beneath a window overlooking the rest of the castle was a stylish desk with a large pile of papers accompanied by an inkwell and quill pen. He almost made the mistake of assuming this was her office, but then he saw the bed in the center of the room. Um...isn't this her bedroom? Well, I suppose it's fittingly decorated. But I woud have expected a few portraits or a fireplace within the room itself, rather than just in the hallway. Maybe having someone watching you sleep at night was a little too unnerving. He noticed the Princess looking at him, seemingly expectantly. What? What does she want me to do? This isn't in the "How to be an Aristocrat" book! Looking up, he saw that Celestia was sitting on one side of the bed. His danger sense was tingling big time. Bad bad bad. And then she beckoned for him to come over. He gulped. He was afraid, but he was even more afraid of dungeons. He slowly scooted over, one small step at a time. But clearly the Princess wasn't content to wait for him to mosy over, as he was pulled onto the bed in a quick burst of magic. He scrambled to get up. His brain was about to fizz out. What did she want from him? Wasn't this supposed to be some kind of mental examination? This was turning out to be an exexexanimation, to put it one way. His worries were unfounded, as it turns out. She touched her horn to his forehead, sending a shock through his brain. It turned his vision white, and seemed to turn off all of his other senses. All he could feel was his own mind, and another presence approaching. The entity radiated with ancient might, but the power was not brutal. Instead, it reminded him of the sun. Overpowering might, capable of consuming all that approached it, and yet it chooses to use its power to nurture life instead of destroying it. Celestia, huh? What a fitting name. And then it was gone. As the warmth retreated, he felt himself missing it. After all, the world seems so much colder in the absence of the sun. “Well? How did it go?” He was eager to find out whether she believed him. “I certainly believe that you are not of this world." She averted her eyes, deep in thought. "But?" He sensed that there was something she wasn't saying. "But?" She looked at him with a questioning glance. "But what? There's something else, right?" He was determined to find out what it was. The Princess sighed as her features became more tense. After a moment's consideration, she seemed to decide. "The reason behind your appearance seems to be the doing of an ancient and powerful force." She spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "But you're an ancient and powerful force too, right?" He said. Then he realized that he had just described her using a word that you should never use when describing any woman, much less all-powerful royalty. "Oh! Um, I mean, but that doesn't mean you look ancient! You're still really pretty! You look really young, don't worry! It's ok to be ancient, ancient means more wisdom, right? You don't look ancient at all, there's no problem!" "Of course not. But if I may continue, the matter becomes much more complicated when ancient and powerful forces are involved, correct?" She was mad. She was definitely mad. "Yeah, definitely! It always gets more complicated!" He chuckled nervously, trying to appease her. "Tch. And thus, I cannot simply interfere with the magic that is coating your mind." Did she just "tch" me? She definitely just "tch'd" me. I'm so sorry, Celestia, I really am! "In order to prevent dimensional transfer incompatability, many of your past memories have been magically archived. More memories will continue to be archived, until only the memories necessary for survival, as well as the memories you have made in Equestria remain.” His eyes widened as his jaw dropped slightly. No way. I was polymorphed into a mythical creature, and on top of that, now I have chronic amnesia? Come ON! Can't I be a Gary Stu, just for a little while? It's just not fair! “How can I get my memories back?” Shaking her shoulders, he asked Princess Celestia frantically. She turned her face away with downcast eyes. “I am sorry. You are the first case. Our experience with this type of magic is shamefully limited. Perhaps if you were able to obtain a source of magic more powerful than the spell, you could break it. But think carefully. The spell is there for your own benefit. It prevents corruption of your own memories due to incompatability with this environment. It may be for the best that you are to lose those painful memories of the past." He felt a cold knife slice into his heart, reopening wounds that were still raw. Blonde, unkempt hair. A brash personality. "Watch out!" "Thank you." "You're the only one..." It came too fast and hit too hard. A torrent of bitter tears erupted from his eyes. A sob escaped his lips, sending a shudder through his body. And then it all came out. He wept without restraint, not caring that he was in the presence of royalty. He felt someone put their arms around him, but he didn't care who it was. He was in his own world of darkness and pain. Sharing memories is both a blessing and a curse. Perhaps both in this case. A few tears pattered on his face. They weren't his own. He might not have known at the time, but Celestia was crying with him.
NaturalizationChapter 5: Naturalization As he headed back to town, he tried to get a grip on himself. He had to remember. His mind regurgitated question after question, the same questions over and over again. Questions that he should have been able to answer. What is my name? Where am I from? Why am I here? He vaguely recalled pain and something about dark figures, but his memories slipped away almost as fast as he had could recall them. How was he supposed to break free of this cursed spell if he couldn't even remember who he was? “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!” A pink pony screamed at him moments after he stepped foot into the town. After she finished her maniacal outburst, she dashed away before he could ask who she was, or recommend her to the nearest psycho clinic. It hadn't even been a full minute after returning to Ponyville, and he had already encountered another nutjob. The citizens of this town were not making a very good impression. So far, he had met a shy one, a feisty one, and apparently, a psycho one. Well, he supposed that Twilight was normal enough, but he tossed that idea out the window. He wasn't going to disprove his own theory. At least he could maintain accident-free walking for a full five minutes now. It was an impressive achievement, considering that he had relearned how to walk in merely two days. Although he had been able to make do and find shelter for the previous nights, he doubted his luck would hold up. He had explored most of the town already, but there was no hotel or tavern in sight. He decided to refrain from asking the townspeople, as they had certainly showed him just how friendly they could be. And so, he decided to try the homes that rather clearly did not belong to the simple townsfolk he feared so much. His first find was a cake store, filled with many delicious looking confectionaries. He was tempted to stay just for the possible culinary benefits, but to his dismay, the store was closed. He was greeted with a "Sorry, We're Closed" sign when he found the entrance. He peeked in through the window. There wasn’t even a person- well, pony in sight. He sighed. Time to try the next house. After an arduous search, he discovered another interesting looking structure. The multi-layered cake shape caught his attention. But now that he was closer, he saw that the name was actually "Carousel Boutique". Go figure. But no sooner had he reached the front door did he find yet another "Sorry, We're Closed" sign. What was going on? Did these ponies expect to make a profit off taking a permanent vacation? Was it really that easy to make money here? And so, he wandered on, still in search of a home. By this time, he had made his way to the very outskirts of the town, and he had been about to give up this disastrous endeavor when he encountered a small cottage, that had a roof...made out of leaves? Huh. Approaching the cottage, he hesitantly knocked on the door. Perhaps this was the end of his journey. A while later, the door was opened by an annoyed looking bunny. “Excuse me, are you the owner of this house?” He asked the bunny. The bunny shook his head furiously. “Okay...is the owner of the house available?” He asked again. Once again, the bunny shook its head. “Do you know when the owner of the house will be available?” he tried again. Again, the bunny shook its head again. “Can I stay here for a while then? Pretty please?” he asked another question. As he expected, the bunny just shook its head. Then it slammed the door in his face. “Well, that went well.” He muttered to himself as he turned around dejectedly. What was their left for him to do? He had done a survey of everything around the town, but all of his efforts had been in vain. Maybe he could try to fly? The sky is the domain of the Pegasi, after all. He beat his wings, hesitantly at first, but more confidently as he rose into the air. Flying is something that you can't just forget. Although he was still unsteady in the air, he could fly! He could actually fly! The thought brought him a rush of adrenaline. As he slowly surveyed the area around the town from the air, he spotted something that caught his attention. At first, he thought it was just a rather large and unusually lumpy cloud, but as he approached it he realized that it was actually an entire home, entirely made from clouds. Amazed that the laws of physics could be bent so far, he lowered himself down onto the house, ready to investigate. As he suspected, the cloud home was solid and clearly structured. The flooring sank ever so slightly under his steps, but it provided a cushion to his gait rather than obstructing it. He knocked on the door, but received no response. After a moment of debate, he tried again. Still, no one answered the door. Deciding to explore the premises for just a little longer, he looked around him. As he gazed around, a fountain caught his attention. Instead of water, it was spurting what seemed to be pure rainbow. A thought hit him. Perhaps this was the house of that rainbow-haired pegasus? Remembering his previous encounter, he decided to skedaddle before she came back. Still without a home, he arrived back where he started, in front of the library. He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. It felt wrong to impose himself on them so many times, and he had been hoping to find shelter without their assistance, but in the end he was back here again. He hoped that they would take him in as graciously as they did before. Steeling his heart, he knocked on the door, and was surprised when it opened. It wasn’t locked. A dark thought crossed his mind. Were there bandits in Ponyville? He took a tentative step inside, and whispered: “Hello? Anybody home?” It was very dark inside. He took step after careful step, terrified that any moment a pony would jump out holding the dragon and Twilight hostage, demanding that he turn over all his belongings. And yet his fears were unwarranted, for he made it all the way inside without any incident. He gave a small sigh of relief, glad that he didn't have to deal with anything like that. It was still very dark in the library though. He wondered why. He got his answer a few seconds later. “Surprise!” As the library suddenly lit up, he didn’t know whether to scream first or to jump five feet into the air first. Unable to decide, he did both at the same time. When he regained his senses and was able to look around him, hw was shocked to see hundreds of ponies, pegasi, and unicorns beaming at him. “Um...what?” He wasn’t sure why they were so happy. “Welcome to Ponyville.” A sandy colored pony with a white mane stepped forward. “I am Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville.” The pony continued. At that moment, the pony from before, the pink psycho, stepped forward. “Remember when I screamed at you? That was because I had never seen you before, and since I had never seen you before, you must have been new, because I know every pony in Ponyville, and if you’re new, then you haven’t met anyone yet, and if you haven’t met anybody yet, then you must not have any friends, and if you don’t have any friends, then you must be really lonely, and if you’re lonely, then you must be sooooo sad, and then I had an idea! That’s why I was like ‘AIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!’, because I thought of an idea to invite every single pony in Ponyville to a super-gigantic super-fun welcome party!” The pink one rambled on and on, threatening to drive him crazy. “Um, oh, right, is that so? Hah.” He did his best “I’m interested and listening” expression. It was one of his special talents after all. Meanwhile, he focused on trying to figure out the best way to escape this rather unexpected conglomeration. The purple one...what was she called? Twilight? Yeah, Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, seemed to be amused by his predicament. She approached him, and whispered in his ear: “You can hide out in my bedroom. The same thing happened to me when I came here.” He gave her a look of gratitude, and snuck upstairs as stealthily as possible. Unfortunately, that was not very stealthily. “Where're ya' goin'? Ain't you enjoyin' the party?” An orange pony was blocking his escape route. “Um...well, no, er, I mean Yes! The party is great! I love it! I just...uh...” He tried to think of an excuse to be heading upstairs. Twilight stepped in. "Don't worry about it AJ, he was just going to fetch a book from my library for me.” Once again, he silently thanked Twilight in his head. “A'righty then, y'all just make sure you hurry on down once you’re done!” He nodded a few times and scrambled up the remaining steps. He rushed into Twilight’s bedroom and slammed the door shut. Peace at last. The door burst open. “Urgh...just five more minutes Mom...” He mumbled groggily. How in the world had he fallen asleep? He remembered finding a particularly interesting novel, and had gotten onto the bed to get into a comfortable reading position. He had only closed his eyes for an instant, to rest them from reading so long. I guess I really was tired, huh? Life in Ponyville is pretty stressful. Then he heard a cough. It was Twilight. “Sorry to disturb you.” She chuckled. “It’s getting kind of late out, and most of the ponies have left.” He got the hint. “Oh! Yes...it’s just...” Twilight looked at him strangely. “It’s just what?” He sighed. “I don’t have a home.” Twilight gasped. “You’re homeless?” He waved his arms frantically. “No! It's not like that! I'm definitely not a hobo! It's just that I haven't found anywhere to live yet and-” Twilight cut in. “If that's how it is, I'm sure we can find you a home in no time! You can stay here for the night, or as long as you need to. There's a couch downstairs, but it's still a bit messy from the party. Would you be okay sleeping there?” He smiled. “Sure! I’m not causing any trouble for you, am I?” She started. “Oh no! You remind me of myself when the Princess sent me to Ponyville! Well, that is, I guess I had a home at least...” She trailed off, slightly embarrased. She let him be after that, and he was glad for it. Despite already having had a nap, it was no problem falling right back asleep. He was out before he hit the couch. He was surrounded in blackness, but he could feel that something was there. Suddenly, he felt a cold wind. It was a strong wind that pushed him backwards. His foot slipped, and he realized he was on the precipice of an abyss. The wind was more like a powerful breath, sucking everything into the endless abyss. He grabbed onto the ledge as he lost his footing. The wind grew stronger, ripping away even the blackness to fuel its eternal hunger. As the ledge he had been grabbing onto broke off, he fell screaming into the abyss. But his scream served only as the accompaniment to a sinister cackle emanating from the pit. He bolted upright, drenched in cold sweat. The sound of that omnious laughter was still fresh in his mind. He hadn't had a nightmare in a long time, so the dream disturbed him much more than it should have. He sighed. There was no way he could fall asleep after that, so he decided to take a little midnight stroll to calm his nerves. His walk took him to the outskirts of the town and beyond. Soon, he only had a vague idea of where he was, but he kept walking. He felt that there was something up ahead, something that he was meant to find. To his surprise, he realized that he had found a hedge maze. As he made his way through the maze, he noticed many statues, each one meticulously carved with a level of detail that was beyond art. It was as if living creatures had simply become stone. He shuddered. If there were Pegasi, shouldn't there also be a Medusa? He pondered as he walked, until he found his way to a clearing. He was in the middle of the maze. The center of the labyrinth housed only one statue: the figure of a draconequus. He approached the statue, curious. This statue, more so than the others, seemed to be a living, breathing creature. It reverberated with energy, unlike any other statue he had seen. As he got closer, he even thought he could hear the statue speaking. "Come closer." "Yes, just like that." "How does it feel, to see their fake smiles and false warmth?" "You know how they think of you." "How does it feel, to see behind the mask of harmony?" "How does it feel, to be... Alone?" His heart was beating wildly. He felt raw emotion rise up in his chest. He knew what the statue was saying was true, but he refused to believe it. Yes, just like that, feel your anger, feel your fear, feel your- "SHUT UP!" His frustration boiled over as he ran at the statue, slamming into it. A bolt of jagged lightning arched across the night sky, striking the statue and creating cracks all along the exterior. To his horror, the statue began reverberating, shaking off its stone shell. With a final peal of thunder, the statue exploded into a white haze, disappearing into the night sky, followed by a malevolent chuckle. "Yes...just like that." What had he done?
MiscalculationChapter 6: Miscalculation He ran back the way he had come, blindly trusting his instincts. As the familiar buildings of Ponyville came into view, he doubled his pace. He rushed back into the library, slamming the door shut behind him. Breathing heavily, he dove under the covers on the couch, shaking with fear. He had done something bad, he knew that much. Nothing good laughed that ominously. But as his heartrate slowed down, his eyelids became heavy once more. He would think about it more in the morning. He should probably have told Twilight about it, but he couldn’t help it. As he drifted back into the dream world, he chuckled slightly to himself. It wasn’t as if anything that bad was going to happen. Once again, he was surrounded by darkness. But this time, he was running. Someone, something, was chasing him. the blackness retreated for a moment, but it only revealed a dead end. He turned around. Something was coming. He could hear its footsteps resonating down the hollow hallway. As it got closer, he could do nothing but scramble backwards pathetically. He heard the monster laugh, and say: “Come now, I’m not going to hurt you.” He managed to stutter out: “Wha-what do you want from me? Leave me alone!” The monster chortled. It was a horrible sound. “My my, What do I want from you? Isn’t it obvious?” And with that prophetic statement, everything faded to black. Someone was shaking him. He forced his crusty eyes open. It was Twilight Sparkle. “Wake up!” Twilight was impatiently waiting. Phew. It had just been another dream. “I heard some noises last night. Would you happen to know anything about that?” She asked him as soon as he got up. Uh-oh. Had his midnight walk really been a dream? “I-I’m not sure...what did you hear?” he stammered, hoping for the best. Twilight sighed. “It was around midnight, and suddenly there was a loud cracking sound, then a explosion. Caused quite a commotion.” His blood ran cold. It hadn’t been a dream after all. He would have to explain now, whether he wanted to or not. “Alright, Twilight, it's like this: I had a nightmare last night, so I decided to go out for a walk. I don't know how, but I ended up inside a hedge maze, and at the center of the maze there was a statue. As I approached the statue, it seemed to whisper to me, and then it...um, well..." he gulped. "...blew up." Twilight looked at him. Then she flipped out. “And you just thought to tell me this now?! Do you have any idea how serious this is? We must report this to the Princess straight away!” The urgency in her voice troubled him. Exactly what had he done? Then he remembered the ominous laughter. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s go.” Twilight threw open the door, and dashed outside. He ran after her, trying to figure out how he was going to explain this to the Princess, when a rainbow colored missile smashed into him. “Oof!” We meet again, jocktard. “Oh, hey dummy! You got your cutie mark yet?” Rainbow Dash teased him as she dusted herself off. “Good day to you too, miss.” He replied sarcastically. Twilight Sparkle broke in before they could start sparring again. “We’re on our way to Canterlot to report to the Princess. “Couldn’t you just send one of your fancy letter things using Spike’s fire breath?” Rainbow Dash did a few aerial somersaults while she asked Twilight. Seeing her move through the air so gracefuly made him feel a pang of envy, which he immediately quashed. Twilight sighed. “It’s really urgent! Discord may have escaped, yet again!” Rainbow Dash fell out of the sky. “Wha-wha? I thought we imprisoned him using the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight sighed again, exasperated. “I’ll tell you the story on the way to Canterlot, okay? Right now we need to get moving!” Rainbow Dash looked annoyed. “Geez. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” He smiled. As they continued their journey toward Canterlot, they bumped into that cowgirl pony. What was her name again? She had that weird western accent that made it kind of hard to understand her. “Where y’all goin’ at this time of day?” She asked them. “We need to get to Canterlot to make a urgent report to the Princess!” Rainbow Dash said, letting out an excited squeal. “Rainbow! This is no laughing matter! Discord might have escaped!” Twilight scolded Rainbow Dash. That made him feel slightly better. “D-Discord? Y’all sure?” the cowgirl pony seemed shocked. “Yes, Applejack, we’re sure. Apparently mister amnesia here had a midnight stroll, and accidentally freed him.” replied Twilight in a rather dull monotone. Mister amnesia? That almost sounds like a superhero. Applejack. Was that her name? He decided that it made sense, since her “cutie mark” was three apples. Wasn’t that a brand of cereal? The memory slipped away before he could grab it. It didn't matter. He would give up all of his cereal knowledge if he could just get his name back. They continued walking toward Canterlot. But as luck would have it, they bumped into yet another pony. This time, they encountered a marshmallow colored unicorn with violet locks of hair. “Hello dearies, where are you all headed this fine day?” Her manner of speaking certainly fit the diamonds that she had as her cutie mark. Twilight Sparkle quickly filled her in on last night’s events. As they continued walking, they bumped into the shy one whom he had met before, apparently called Fluttershy, and the psychotic one, the one called Pinkie Pie, if memory served him. It seemed a bit too coincidential that they could just bump into this group of ponies that all seemed to be good friends. Perhaps they all had some kind of telepathic connection. ~~Or perhaps the author just wanted a convenient way to get all the mane six together.~~ Finally, they reached Canterlot. Seeing the Princess' faithful student, the royal guards quickly admitted them inside. The Princess warmly welcomed them as they found their way to the throne room. “Hello everyone. Seeing how you are all gathered here, I assume that this must be about what happened last night?” Celestia cut right to the chase. Twilight began talking. “We believe that the loud noises last night were the sounds of Discord escaping from his containment.” The Princess looked like she had just been slapped. “How is that possible? The Elements of Harmony should still be holding him in captivity! I still sense the connection each of you has with your element! This defies every law of magic!” He decided to speak up. “Um...your majesty? I think it may have something to do with me.” The Princess looked at him wearily. “As I suspected. Do tell, please.” He took a deep breath, and continued. “I couldn’t fall asleep, so I decided to go for a midnight stroll. I found myself in a hedge maze, and I encountered a draconoquus statue. As I approached it, the statue cracked apart into a white haze, which disappeared in a flash of light. Then I heard this really weird laughter. I ran away after that.” Finishing his narrative, he looked around. The Princess looked extremely concerned. "Each Element is still bound, and yet their power was not enough to contain Discord. I see that there is no choice then...” Twilight broke in. “Then what Princess?” The Princess sighed. “I suppose it is time. There is something I have not told you all about, not even you, Twilight Sparkle. The Elements of Harmony are not the only “Elements” that exist. Besides those, there is one other set.” The six ponies began talking amongst each other, speculating about what they could be. The Princess continued. “I am afraid this is the only way we will be able to defeat Discord. These elements are known as the Elements of Disharmony. They are: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.” Rarity gasped. “How Horrible!” The Princess ignored this interruption. “Unfortunately, I do not possess these elements. You must find these elements. Once united, perhapsthey will be sufficient to defeat Discord.” Fighting fire with fire, huh? He was impressed. But then he thought of something. "How can there be seven Elements of Disharmony but only six Elements of Harmony?" "An excellent observation. I myself am not clear as to why there lies a discrepancy in the number. Perhaps there are meant to be seven heroes this time?" She smiled at him. The smile caught him off guard. He quickly turned his face to conceal his blush. “Where are these Elements of Disharmony, Princess?” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “If we don’t know where they are, how are we supposed to find them?” The Princess gravely began. "I have heard only stories regarding these elements. I am sure of their existence, but how to find them I am not completely sure. In the tales I have heard, seven deadly monsters guard the elements. Wherever they are, I am sure that they will not be easy to find." Deadly silence was the only sound that could be heard. The Princess continued. "Equestria needs you. Equestria needs heroes to save it. I believe that you all can do it." With that, the ponies began to file out of the room with heavy hearts. As he prepared to leave, Celestia pressed something into his hoof. It was a necklace of some sort, with a miniature paper scroll instead of a jewel. The Princess whispered in his ear: “Save this for a life or death situation. This was not easy to create. When in need, pull the scroll out from its holder and open it, and hence shall you be saved.” With that cryptic comment, she sat back on her throne. The thought that he alone was given something so powerful gave him a slight boost in confidence. As they headed out of Canterlot, he mused to himself: “Elements of Disharmony, huh? Ready or not, here I come.” “My hooves are getting all pruny!” Rarity whined. “Are we there yet? I must look absolutely awful!” Twilight looked up at Rarity. “We haven’t even entered the Everfree Forest yet!” Rarity fainted. Pinkie Pie laughed. "Cheer up, Rarity! This is gonna be a walk in a park, literally!" At last, much to Rarity’s relief, they entered the Everfree Forest. From the moment that they stepped foot inside the forest, a dense mist obstructed their vision. It was nearly impossible to see, and Applejack was suggesting that they leave and wait for the fog to lift when the white mist solidified in front of them. It took the familiar shape of a certain draconoquus. The sight of the statue, now living and breathing, sent chills through his body. “Discord.” muttered Twilight savagely. “Ho ho my dearies!” Discord taunted them. “Look at you, all weighed down with those heavy sacks. Here, let me help you.” With a snap of his fingers, all of their provisions turned into sand. “Hey!” complained Rainbow Dash. “Oh don’t worry. I know all about your precious Elements of Disharmony. In fact, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to play a little game.” Twilight Sparkle groaned. “Not this again.” Discord laughed heartily. “I’ve hidden all the elements inside the Everfree Forest. You’ll have to split up to find them in time! And no cheating, or you lose!” They had no choice. Discord was much more powerful than they were, so they would have to play by his rules for now. They split up, grudgingly heading for separate directions in the forest. Discord watched them smugly. He was on his own. Again. They had all gone their separate ways in the Everfree Forest. To his dismay, he suddenly realized that Discord was strolling along beside him. “Chaos. Such a volatile and wonderful thing. You know, you and me, we’re not so different.” He growled. “I’m nothing like you!” Discord chuckled. He seemed to do that a lot. “You’ll think differently once I tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a young dragon. As you know, dragons are noble creatures, filled with pride. This particular young dragon did not care for the lifestyle of his ancestors. He did not want to prove his strength through slaughter of his bretheren. He did not want to show his maturity by ravaging the land. He did not want to live his life guarding useless jewels. Instead of becoming vindictive, the dragon considered himself impure, and decided to purge himself from the rest of the "normal dragons". Throwing himself into a volcano, he only waited for his own demise. And yet, fate would not have it. When he awoke, he was not dead. He was anything but dead. His body had been horribly deformed by the volcano, and he was frighteningly emaciated, but as he soon realized, he had gained an immeasurable power. As it turns out, that day was the Solstice Celebration, the day that magic was strongest in the world. The volcano had erupted with intense, uncontrollable, chaotic power, and he had been imbued with that power. The blast had thrown him far from his home, far from everywhere that he had ever known. Eventually, he ended up in Equestria. But his life here was just as bad. They called him a monster. They threw rocks. Some even created militias to keep him away. He tried to help. He changed clouds into cotton candy and rain into chocolate milk. He tried to add more flavor to their boring lives. And what did he get for his efforts? He was frozen in stone for eternity. Finally, he was freed. Of course, after being frozen in stone for thousands of years makes one very vengeful. He tried to show them that chaos was the truth, that their order was a mere farce, but once again, he was misunderstood. They thought he was evil. "Those biased, moronic ponies don’t understand me. No one ever will. Except you. You know how I feel. You know my life. I can feel the wrath in your heart. I can feel your lust. I can feel your greed. I can feel your gluttony. Your sloth. Your envy. And, I can feel your pride. They blindly look for the supposed ‘Elements of Disharmony’. As a creature of disharmony myself, I understand. The Elements of Disharmony do not exist by themselves. They can only be created through evolution of the Elements of Harmony. I learned these truths as I was locked away in my stone prison. Chaos is the higher form of order. How else can Disharmony come from but surpass Harmony? And yet these Princesses and their stupid ideals get in my way! The world is not so fair that you can always win if you merely do what is 'right'! The world is not so fair that heroes always win. No. There is no such thing as a hero. Those who call themselves heroes are merely the victors. After all, they are the ones who write history, are they not?” He was shocked by the draconoquus’s speech. He wanted to reject it. He wanted to yell at him. He wanted to shout "You're Wrong!". He wanted to shout "I'll become a hero! I'll save my friends!". But he couldn't. Because he knew that what Discord was saying was true. Ever since he had arrived, they had thought he was crazy. He had merely told them the truth. He had been naive enough to believe that they would trust him. Instead, he was made the laughingstock of the entire town. Why? Simply because they didn’t understand him. Discord was right. They would lock him up at the first opportunity. They acted kind, but they would turn on him if he stepped out of line. He was a freak to them. They would never understand him. He was breathing heavily. No. He couldn’t let his anger overcome him. He needed to get in control. “Will you join me?” Discord spoke. His question hung in the air. He thought. He thought again. If he joined Discord, infinite power could be his. He could be a king. No one would dare insult him. He would be respected, instead of feared. He could get revenge. He could have anything he wanted. Finally, he would be able to live a life without rules, like he had always wanted. He smiled darkly. “No.”
DisharmonyChapter 7: Disharmony Discord's eyes narrowed as his serpentine body twitched lightly. The lord of chaos seemed to be torn between disbelief and disappointment. But his jovial nature soon replaced his grim expression. Discord gave him one last glance before whispering: “Very well.” With that terse remark, Discord vanished in a flash of light and a burst of white mist, leaving him once again alone in the middle of the Everfree Forest. “I've got to get back to the others!” He muttered. Turning on his hooves, he dashed back towards where they had split up at a speed that would have made Rainbow Dash jealous. As he ran, his mind flew through the information that had been so rudely crammed into it these past few days. Twilight Sparkle was the logical, intelligent one. She would not make rash decisions, and always thought things through. However, she lacked the social skills necessary to truly be successful in the real world. She was also quick to resort to magic, even for simple tasks that did not require it. Her dependence on magic perhaps represented an underlying need to impress others. As the Princess' protege, she would be pressured to constantly do things "better" than others. As time passed, the excessive use of magic may have become a deeply ingrained habit. Rainbow Dash was a rash, impulsive pegasus. She acted on instinct, preferring gut decisions over thinking things through. She seemed to be a talented athlete however, and seemed to be a loyal friend. She may be temperamental, but despite that she was actually very naive. Although she often made fun of others, such behavior is often an indicator of insecurity in oneself. This idea is also affirmed by her frequent boasting. She may have been made fun of when she was younger. Her decision to get revenge through becoming stronger than the ones that once made fun of her instead of hurting them was admirable, but once again showed that her mindset was very naive. Fluttershy was an extremely quiet, timid pegasus. She was kind, and would always be willing to help others, but was often too shy to ever say no. Although having such a personality was probably safe enough in Equestria, it was still too easy for others to take advantage of her. Her future may be a grim one if she does not learn to assert her own opinionis more strongly. Her inability to refuse other's requests seems more to be a result of a lack of social interaction. Her home, situated on the outskirts of the town, confirmed that she did not enjoy the company of other ponies so much as the company of her animal companions. Rarity was a slightly pompous, marshmallow looking unicorn. She was generous, even if she could act a bit overly dainty sometimes. It was understandable, as the type of store she owned required that she present herself as formally as possible. After all, if the owner of the store cannot appear aristocratic, how can she make her clients a dress to achieve that purpose? Despite her outward behavior, she still deeply cares about her friends inside. Although she adores jewels and gems, she would be willing to give them all away for the sake of her friends. Applejack was another one of the more athletic ponies. She apparently worked on a apple farm. Her accent and attire gave off a distinct cowboy personality. Indeed, she, like Rainbow Dash, had a more tomboyish personality. And like Rainbow Dash, although she put forth an outwardly boyish act, she too seemed to be more innocent than she may first appear. Her inability to lie without significant effort showed that she was never exposed to the harsh realities of life that have forced so many to become liars and decievers. Perhaps it is for the better, for there are not enough honest people in the world anymore. Pinkie Pie was crazy. Absolutely, completely, crazy. Well, that's how she appeared from the outside anyways. She enjoyed throwing parties, having surprise celebrations, and saying hi to strangers. All-in-all, she was still crazy. But sometimes you need a little craziness in your life. There is no fun in a life of order and perpetual structure. Pinkie Pie provided something that was very important to any group of friends. Laughter. He was now trapped in the body of a Pegasus, stranded in a land of what at first appeared to be only sunshine and rainbows. And yet, it wasn't quite the Utopia it seemed. Perhaps it had been a land of peace and happiness before he came, and yet through his actions, he unleashed an ancient and powerful being that was bent on twisting the world into his image. He would not call him evil, for he understood why the being did what he did. But he could not call him a hero, for he himself said that heroes are merely the victors, for they are the ones who write history. He grit his teeth. If winning is what it takes to be a hero, then that's exactly what I'll do. He finally saw the familiar trees of the clearing where they had entered the Everfree Forest. As he neared, he saw the other ponies already gathered. Smiling, he waved to them and increased his pace. And yet, a feeling of dread rather than relief began gnawing at his mind. Gone was the bright, cheerful, optimistic air that they had gone into the forest with. Now, the air was so thick with tension that he could almost taste it. He couldn't believe that these were the same ponies he had been with just a few moments ago. Even their colors had changed! Instead of their usual, bright, pastel-like colors, they had become drab, grey versions of their original selves. And yet all these symptoms were merely harbingers of one final appalling transformation. When he came within earshot of them, he heard no words of encouragement or confidence. He felt no laughter or joy. What he saw turned his blood to ice and his heart to stone. They were fighting. They were arguing as if they were mortal enemies rather than best friends. “What's wrong you guys? Discord is still out there! What's our plan?” He tried to intervene. “Shut up, you freak!” The formerly kind Fluttershy snarled at him. His eyes widened. How could they have changed so much in such a short time? He couldn't think of an answer. Fluttershy's words had opened a wound that he had hoped had healed. The worst part was that it was true. He was an outsider. He didn’t belong meddling in their affairs. He never should have returned to this wretched town. He had felt a trace of guilt, abandoning his rescuers like that. But what had they shown him? Only fear and detest. He was like the plague to them. They didn’t care for him. No! He couldn’t let his anger take control of him. The last time that had happened...he shuddered as the memory, unwished for and unbidden, came back to him. He was walking down the hallway of a new school. Being new was a terrifying thing. Walking down the hallway, he could feel predatory eyes following his every step, just waiting for him to stray or misstep. “Hey, Shrimp!” A burly senior shoved him into a locker with his shoulder. “You new here? ‘Cause all the new kids gotta take a test.” He was terrified and in pain. “Wha-what kind of t-test?” He managed to stutter out. The burly senior grinned. It was a horrible sight. Bits of half chewed food and cavities were clearly visible as his lips parted to expose his yellowed, decaying teeth. When he spoke, great clouds of garbage-flavored breath rolled over him, causing him to retch. “Well, shrimp, you’re just gonna have to find out, aren't you?” With that, he dragged the boy kicking and screaming into the toilet. Perhaps the teachers noticed, perhaps they didn't. Regardless, no help came to the wretched boy. The bully grabbed hold of his hair, shoving him into a toilet stall. “I hear it’s your first day here. I’d like to give you a little gift. Welcome to high school, freshie!” He could only stare into the dirty toilet bowl, stupefied by what was happening. Why was he letting this buffoon treat him like this? Well, certainly he wasn't a master martial-artist or street fighter, but it wasn't like he was weak. The senior was all bluff; he was not as strong as he at first seemed. He could feel it in the way that he dragged him. In a fair fight, he was confident that the he could at least hold his own against the senior. But striking back after someone strikes you makes you just as bad as them. So he ground his teeth and endured. Unfortunately, the senior seemed displeased with his lack of reaction. “Hey you! You little bitch, you just gonna to take that? You're just a wimp after all, aren't you, freshie?” Although each repulsive word coming from the senior's mouth was like a branding iron, burning the insult into him, he let the bully have his way. “Why yes, yes I am.” The senior let out an unearthly snarl. “Ha. Fine then. Just for you, I’m gonna make this extra fun.” sneered the Senior. The bully grabbed him by the hair again and slammed his head into the toilet. All he could think about was the amount of bacteria that must be writhing around in this toxic waste dump that they called a toilet. As the toilet flushed, the sound of roaring water drowned out the laughter of the bully. Sopping wet and disgusted, he lifted his head out of the grimy toilet bowl. The bully grinned. “Let’s try that again, shall we?” the bully prepared for round two. No! He wasn’t going to take this. He was not going to let himself be disgraced by this arrogant bastard. As he remembered each searing taunt that the bully had issued him, his blood rose to an uncontrollable boil. His vision turned red as he seethed with rage. He lashed out with his right foot, blindly kicking behind him. He felt the heel of his foot connect with the flabby abdomen of his tormentor. The next thing he knew, their positions were reversed. Now, he was the aggressor, while the senior was trying to ward off his blows with feeble arm swings. But he who lands the first blow is pretty much guaranteed to win. Although the senior was much larger than him, he was able to gain the upper hand because the bully had been winded by his initial kick. It was essentially a fight of telephone punches, with no style, no skill whatsoever. Whoever could punch faster, whoever could punch harder, would win. Gasping for breath, the bully tried to make his escape. But his wrath was not yet quenched. He would make this bucket of lard pay compound interest for what he had done. The senior whimpered. “Please! Don’t hurt me! I didn’t mean to! Please! Have mercy!” He chuckled. It was a cold, hollow sound. “Mercy. What a funny word. The word mercy. Coming from you, of all people. You. The bully. Expecting mercy? From me? Sorry, better luck next time, shrimp." His eyes widened as he came back to his senses. The sanguine haze clouding his vision and mind slowly faded with the adrenaline of the fight. He blinked once. He blinked again. He couldn't believe his eyes. The senior was bloodied and bruised, crawling away like some half-dead animal. What in the world? Did I do that? He vaguely remembered succumbing to a fit of rage, but the specifics of exactly what he had done were unclear to him. He realized the bully was murmuring something. He focused and tried to listen. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm...sor...y..." The bully's voice became an incoherent jumble as he repeated the same line over and over. A broken record playing the sound of abject fear. His fists were painted with the crimson tide of blood. There's no way. Did I did that? Did I...Did I really hurt someone that bad? He dropped to his knees with his eyes glued to the dark red liquid on his hands. As the bully dragged himself out of the bathroom, and the door shut, his eyes widened. I did that. I didn't even have control of myself. I hurt soembody without thinking. I was laughing. I became a monster. I'm a monster. A monster. An abomination. I don't deserve to live. I should die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE.DIE. The resounding echo tore through his sanity, and a scream almost ripped itself from his lips. He clutched his head, running from the room, running from himself. He did nothing but run. He could not do anything but run. He ran. And ran. And ran. All the way home. As the terrifying memory faded, he was jolted back into reality, drenched in cold sweat. “Well, well, well. It looks like they haven’t learned anything from last time at all!” A chillingly familiar voice whispered in his ear. He whipped around. Just as he suspected, the lord of chaos was looming over him. “What do you want?” He sighed dejectedly. “Oh ho ho! Look who’s regretting their decision now?” His eyes narrowed. “I don’t regret anything! Just leave me alone!” Discord smiled. “Now now, there’s no need for heroics. You’re the only one who can see me. We can have a pleasant chat without being noticed by your little girlfriends over there.” He growled. “Shut. UP!” Discord chuckled. “Why would I ever do that? I might as well shut down while I’m at it!” He let out an exasperated sigh. This Discord guy was really getting to him. Discord continued: “I’m just here to offer a little...proposition.” He sighed. “I suppose I don’t have much of a choice do I?” Discord grinned maliciously. “No. I suppose you don’t.” He might as well hear him out. “Make it quick.” "As you know, the Elements of Harmony are safely tucked inside Celestia’s vault. Since they are still connected to their owners, your little girlfriends over there-” He snarled. “Don’t. Push. It.” Discord frowned. “No need to get touchy. Anyway, let’s just say...I accidentally disconnected them from their elements. I-” His eyes widened. “Is that why they’re acting so strange?” Discord snorted. “Look who’s pushing it now. You don’t seem to be very bright. Anyway, I owe my release all to you. Normally, someone walking up to my petrified body wouldn’t trigger my release, but all of that delicious chaos inside of you was just yearning to be released. It was enough to give me the strength to escape. The-” He sighed. “I know this stuff already! Just hurry up and cut to the chase!” Discord shrugged. “Your loss. Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I now offer you a proposition. Since the Elements of Harmony have been disconnected from their owners, due to yours truly, their power is now insufficient to defeat me. But if they were to regain their affinity for their element, that would give them enough power to defeat me, and that would obviously be bad, right? Now comes the part that I need you for. Celestia trusts you. I need you to get to the vault where she keeps her precious Elements of Harmony, and...well...'fetch' them for me.” He realized where this was going. “And If I don’t?” He countered. Discord simply shrugged. “If you don’t, then all of your friends die. Author's Note Redid the fight scene with the bully, because I thought it was a bit disturbing.
DeceptionChapter 8: Deception “Very well. I accept your proposition.” The dark blue pegasus sighed. He supposed he had no other choice. If he declined the offer, the innocent citizens of this town would die on the spot. If he accepted, he would simply be fueling the fire. However, he would also have bought himself some time to think of a plan. Discord coughed. “If you’re quite done daydreaming, then get a move on.” He started. “Hmm? Oh! Yes! Absolutely!” Discord grinned smugly. “That’s more like it.” He made his way towards the palace, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible. He was able to enter the throne room without much difficulty. Now how would he convince the Princess to open the vault for him? Then he remembered. What had Discord said? Oh right! He had said he had "accidentally" disconnected the ponies from their Elements of Harmony. Now that they were no longer fitting vessels for harmony, perhaps they could now evolve into the Elements of Disharmony? He grinned as the seeds of a plan began to sprout in his mind. A voice startled him out of his stupor. “Greetings. Why have you returned so soon? Have you defeated Discord already? Where are the others?” The questions seemed to have no end. After the torrent of unanswerable questions finally stopped, he was finally able to get a word into the conversation. “Big trouble Princess! We need to hurry! The ponies you sent to stop Discord are in trouble! I need the Elements of Harmony to stop Discord! Quickly!” The Princess looked shocked. An awkward silence hung in the air for several moments. The Princess broke the silence after a few more moments. “I can sense a disharmony among them. Did Discord...” She trailed off, concern in her eyes. He looked at her straight in the eye. “Yes.” Celestia paled. “I shall open the vault right away!” She galloped away, leaving him to ponder about what he was doing. Should he really obey Discord’s orders? Doing so might as well destroy all of Equestria. But did he really care? Should he really care? Before he could answer this question, a flash of light yielded the return of Princess Celestia. Gasping for breath, she forced out a few words between deep breaths. “Go. Bring these to my student and her friends. They need your help. Hurry!” He needed no more encouragement. But just as he was about to leave, he noticed something. “The fabled ‘Elements of Harmony’ are pieces of jewelry?!” The Princess gave him an irritable glance. “Of course they’re pieces of jewelry! They’re not for men to wear, you know!” He suddenly felt very tired. What was this, a matriarchy? Why am I even doing this? Sighing, he turned around and galloped toward his damsels in distress. Halfway back to the Everfree Forest, however, he stopped. Twilight Sparkle had said that the Elements of Harmony were the key to defeating Discord in the past. But what had Discord said about the Elements of Disharmony? He said I was filled with delicious chaos. Ew. That sounds disgusting, but maybe somehow I can use that make these pieces of jewelry into something actually useful? He sat down, or tried to sit down. It was more like controlled trip and headbutting a tree at the same time. He let out an exasperated sigh. He still hadn’t gotten used to this body. He placed his head in his hooves, and began to think. A few moments later, he jumped up into the air triumphantly. Unfortunately, there was a rather thick branch right above him. “Owww!” The branch bounced off his head and thwacked him several more times before finally relenting to the force of friction. “Perfect. Just perfect. My life is just getting better and better.” He grumbled, his voice layered deeply with sarcasm. But at least he had a plan. That was the most important thing. He approached the forest. Before he could enter though, the chillingly familiar voice of a certain Draconoquus stopped him cold. “My, my, my...you’re very so late...” He turned around slowly, heart thumping. As he suspected, the vile creature had somehow managed to sneak behind him. Again. He replied to the threat calmly and without fear. “Of course I was late. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get those necklaces from the Queen? Took quite a bit of convincing.” Discord just shrugged. “Well? Hand them over already!” Discord was getting impatient. He felt his muscles tensing. Then he relaxed. No point getting all worked up. He reached into his pack, digging for the Elements of Harmony. As he grabbed each of the six pieces, he felt the mysterious necklace that Celestia had given him. He steeled himself for what was to come. Celestia had said to save it for a life or death situation. This probably qualified. As he glanced up, he saw that Discord was extending a long, slithering arm towards the Elements of Harmony. He jumped back without thinking, surprised that such a flamboyant character could consistently manage to move so stealthily. "What are you getting all jumpy for, my friend?" Although Discord smiled, his words were poisoned honey. Do or die. He grabbed the necklace around his neck, not caring if he ripped the chain. Pulling it off, he grabbed the small roll of paper fastened in place of a jewel. As it parted from the necklace, the roll of paper seemed to magically enlarge. To his surprise, he was now holding an entire scroll in his hands. As he slowly unrolled it, he saw that inside were strange glowing runes, each one pulsating with ancient and powerful magic. Discord's eyes widened as he saw him open the scroll. "NO!" Discord screamed and lunged at him, chaotic magic shooting out of his hands towards him. He felt his body writhe in pain as the black lightning hit him. But he did not scream. He stared Discord straight in the eyes as the magic in the scroll began pulsating. He felt the Elements of Harmony rising up, out of his hands, forming a hovering circle around him. The glyphs peeled off the paper, filling in the frame created by the Elements of Harmony, surrounding him in a barrier of words. They spun around, faster and faster, until he was enveloped in a cocoon of light. Discord's twisted appendages desperately smashed at the shell, but he could not penetrate it. He felt himself losing consciousness, but he managed to squeeze out one last sentence as the lord of chaos unleashed a final burst of magic. "Looks like it's game over for you, Discord." His eyes snapped open. He felt as if he had been slapped all over. He got up, his body grudgingly relenting. Where was he? Scanning his surroundings, he found himself in an ancient castle. Many of the walls were riddled with cracks, and cobwebs covered every corner. Why in the world would Celestia send him here? But then a thought occured to him. Discord had attempted to reach for him as the scroll's magic had reached its peak. Perhaps he had not managed to break the magic, but he had managed to corrupt it. He shuddered, terrified of the implications of that thought. How was it possible that he was still alive then? And, say, where was he anyway? Looking around more thoroughly, he noticed that he was in a cavernous room of the castle. Their was a doorway just ahead. But as he looked out the skylight above him, the first thing he noticed was that it was no longer day. In fact, he didn't even know what time it was. Instead of a normal sky, it was pink. PINK! Everything seemed different. After he got over the shock of a pink sky, he noticed was that the clouds had become pink and cottony, nearly identical to cotton candy, and were raining...chocolate milk. Okay. The sky is pink, and the clouds have turned into cotton candy, and are raining chocolate milk. Perfectly normal right? No. What in the world is going on? He wanted answers, now. Complaining about the weather wasn't going to get him those answers. He stopped, confused. Since when had he been so decisive? Back in his world, he hadn't even had the nerve to tell a teacher he was being bullied. Upon closer examination, he discovered that he was actually standing in the middle of some kind of ceremonial altar. There were six pillars surrounding him, each about half his height but about two feet wide. There were circular indentations in the top of each pillar. As he examined each pillar, he found that inside each was nestled one of the Elements of Harmony. As his gaze roamed, he found that in the center of the pillars, where he had awoken, there was a hole, about the size of a fist, in the ground. He put his eye to it, but to his dismay, it seemed to be endless. His curiosity aroused, he did what, in retrospect, was a very stupid thing to do in an ancient castle. He stuck his arm inside the hole. At first, he felt nothing but empty space, but then that nothingness was replaced with searing pain. It felt as if his arm was being simultaneously punctured in every possible direction by hundreds of knives. Screaming, he tried to pull his arm out of the hole, but he found that he could not. He felt a liquid dripping from his arm. A liquid he knew to be his own blood. A burst of crimson light momentarily distracted him from the pain that he felt. It felt like his mind was no longer his own. Just like when Celestia had gone through his memories, he now felt something other than his own consciousness in his mind. And yet, this entity was not as gentle as she was. It ripped through his mind, carelessly tearing through his memories. It pressed itself into every crack in his mind, every nook and cranny. As the entity dug further, he felt something awaken within him. Something he never knew he had. It was a Pandora's Box. Once it was opened, it flooded him with a strange sensation. He no longer felt the pain. He no longer felt the other being. All he felt was raw, overpowering, unpredictable chaos. His eyes glistened with a mad light, and he saw that his arm had been free from the hole after all. Perhaps the old him would have been dumbfounded, but the new him knew exactly what to do. Grinning with frightening intensity, he stepped back. As a low rumble sent a vibration throughout the room, a seventh pillar rose up where the hole had been. The pillar housed a helmet, spartan in design. It was not made with any material that he knew of, but he did not care. The midnight black material gave off no light or reflection, despite the smooth surface. He placed it onto his head with a precision that came naturally. Immediately, a black lightning shot from the other pillars, each one striking him. And yet he felt no pain. Instead, he only felt more raw power flowing into him. The Elements of Harmony rose from each pillar, floating upwards. More streaks of black lightning struck each Element, creating a blinding flash. When the light cleared, the Elements of Harmony were no more. Instead, they had become the remaining assets to his armor. Two greaves, two shin plates, a chestplate, and a locket. Each piece magically fit onto him, guided by the strange lightning. His mouth broke into a savage smile as he contemplated his new look. Truly, he was now the lord of Disharmony. But this land was too small for two kings of chaos. Yes. One of them would have to go. And he knew exactly which one that was. It was obvious. It was so frighteningly obvious, he let out a giggle. He found that giggle so amusing, it turned into a laugh. And with the inane weather roaring outside as an accompaniment, his psychotic laughter resounded through every hall of the castle. Not only had the weather changed, but the citizens were acting strange as well. An old lady was tap-dancing, while a large red stallion seemed to think he was a dog. He did not care how these inferior creatures decided to wittle away their pathetic lives. Discord was the false king. Discord was the miscreant towards which his wrath was directed. His powerful wings left a trail of black energy as he streaked through the sky. He arrived at Canterlot without so much as breaking a sweat. Once he smashed his way into the castle, he quickly realized the guards were under Discord’s influence. They were all wearing party hats and pajamas. However, they didn't seem to recognize him for who he was. The moment they saw him, they attacked with party cannons and chinese yo-yo’s. This obstacle was irrelevant. They couldn't hurt him even if they wanted to. But now was a good chance to exercise his new found power. “At ease, gentlemen.” With a flash of black light, the attacking guards were reduced to ashes. He grinned. This was too fun. Along the way to the throne room, he encountered many more guards. The more the merrier. They were simply scratching posts for his new powers. Finally, he turned a corner into the ever familiar royal throne room. As he suspected, Discord lay basking on the royal throne like a fat cat. “I see that you have taken a liking to this lifestyle, Discord.” Discord sat up hurriedly, surprise clearly evident upon his face. But he quickly readopted his haughty figure, smoothly asking: "Oh, how inconsiderate of me to make you come all the way here in this weather! But never mind me, how are you on this fine day?" He simply laughed. The sound was colder than ice. Discord frowned. "Well? Have your manners flown out the window along with your sanity?" He felt mirth rising up in him once again. "My sanity? MY sanity? You think I am insane? Ha! All geniuses were considered insane in their time. Only later did history prove their worth." Discord laughed too. "You, me, we're one of kind. I think this is going to be pretty fun. What do you want to play? Darts?" With that, Discord snapped his fingers. Many deadly arrows whizzed past his head. One came dangerously close to his head, whistling past his helmet. But in a matrix-esque move of amazing acrobatic prowess, he twisted his body to dodge the arrows. Landing on his hooves, he recovered quickly. With his own strength augmented by the sins of Disharmony, he flew at Discord and delivered a solid blow to his jaw, black sparks flying. Discord's eyes widened, clearly surprised that he would use a direct physical attack. The lord of chaos was pushed backwards against his throne. Seeing that he was at a disadvantage, he turned the floor to soap with another snap of his fingers. "On second thought, I don't wanna play darts. Why don't we go ice skating or something?" The Elements of Disharmony would not help him here. The soapy ground was more dangerous than ice, threatening to destroy his footing at any moment. But Discord was not affected. Sliding around as if it was the natural thing to do, he demonstrated his ability to handle the situation. Now he was angry. How dare he use such a...stupid method to fight. And yet, it was infuriatingly effective. He let his wrath handle the situation, burning away the soap beneath his feet. With footing no longer a problem, he launched into the air with his wings and dove straight for Discord. Unable to dodge, Discord took the blow head-on. Discord was winded by the blow, and unable to do much but try and slide away. He moaned and complained about how his opponent was cheating, all the while summoning obstacles to slow him down. But these obstacles were nothing more than second-rate constructions, easily dispatched with sufficient strength. Now completely panicked, Discord started running. But he tripped on an obstacle he himself created and fell to the ground. He looked back in terror, only able to whimper as he saw the approaching reaper of vengeance slowly advancing toward him. “The great and powerful Discord, reduced to a nervous wreck. Who would have thought?” He chuckled again. “After I deal with you, no one will be even remotely powerful enough to stop me. I guess you were right about some things, Discord. The Elements of Harmony are weak and pathetic. I was able to unlock their true power, all thanks to you. And now, when I kill you, I’ll be the most powerful being in this world!” He laughed. "You should feel lucky. You shall be the first to witness the true power of Disharmony. The Disharmony that you once sought. Watch, and tremble!" Total victory was just moments away. This world was his. How sweet it was to feel that success was just waiting for him to claim. He raised his hoof, gathering his magic for one final strike. “Hold on! Don't do it!” Rainbow Dash's voice ran out loud and clear, cutting through the air like a blade. Author's Note Elements of Harmony are now the 7 sins. Because of a certain person. And it's better explained. Because of another person.
FinaleChapter 9: Finale “Rainbow Dash?” He asked, amazed. “Why are you here? How did you even get here, for that matter? And can't you see I'm trying to become the supreme overlord of Equestria right now?” He seemed very annoyed by this interruption of his big moment. Then he realized the rest of the gang was there as well. Even the annoying party pony. Twilight desperately shouted. “You can’t kill him!” He laughed. “Why not? It’s not like he’s immortal.” Twilight let out an exasperated breath. “You’re even thicker than Rainbow Dash! Can’t you see? If you kill him, the power of the Elements of Disharmony will destroy you!” He stopped. Twilight continued. “There’s a reason that the Princess didn't tell us about these Elements! They can only be created by corrupting the Elements of Harmony, which is what happened when you were teleported to the cursed castle. Whoever uses them will be affected by their aura, just like the Elements of Harmony. The elements feed on whatever their attribute is, and grow stronger the more they consume. The Elements of Disharmony feed on your negative emotions. When you kill someone in cold blood, it kills something inside of you too! If you let your hatred overcome you, you won't be able to control your own power anymore!” He growled. “Don't lie to me! Why are you trying to stop me? Discord is evil! I'm trying to save you guys!" He turned his back on them. "Tch. I was a fool to think you guys were my friends.” This last statement seemed to sting Twilight. She backed off with averted eyes, and they sadly filed out of the throne room. He realized that he didn't even feel the slightest guilt. He laughed. Finally, at long last, he had defeated those weak emotions within him. Now, he could concentrate only on the task at hand. Then he realized that Twilight was right. He was changing. What had happened to the quiet, timid him that everyone had known? No! He felt new waves of anger wash over him. Who cared what everyone else thought? None of them had ever given a second thought about him. Why should he care about them? But Twilight’s words kept coming back to haunt him. Discord still lay there, groaning. It seemed he had two choices. He could finish of Discord and claim the throne, ruling over this land for eternity. Or, he could spare Discord. He thought about what would happen if he spared Discord. "I told you so..." "I still don't trust him." "What if he's still being influenced by the Elements of Disharmony?" "He's too dangerous." "Lock him up." "Yes. Lock him up." He smashed a fist into the ground, leaving a veiny spiderweb of cracks. The influence from the Elements of Disharmony was clouding his mind. He shook his head, shaking the angry thoughts from his mind. He thouth about all the acquaintances he had made while in this land, and then he looked back at himself. Why me? His teeth ground together in frustration. Why must he perpetually live in a world of chaos and sadness? Why does it always have to be me? Luck has never once shone upon me. Whenever a beam of light seemed to shine down into the darkness, it just turned out to be trick of the mind. Why? WHY? His vision turned red. Why I can't be happy for once? The black lightning of his Disharmony crackled around his fist. He raised it, breathing heavily. Discord squeezed his eyes shut, turning his face away, whimpering. But he couldn't do it. Why can't I be happy? He felt the answer come to him. Because he didn't deserve happiness. All his life, he had been a miser, an embodiment of disharmony. It was just like Discord had said. He was the personification of all the Elements of Disharmony. There was no reason for him to receive any happiness. Why should he? What had he ever done for anyone else? His whole life had been built off of perfectionism and harboring hate. Never once had he ever tried to be friendly. Never once had he gone out of his way to help another. Wrapped in his own world of suffering and pain, he had never looked up to see how others felt. Never once had he tried to console another, to give another the happiness that he himself lusted for. That was why. Everything suddenly seemed so clear to him, and all his anger at the world faded away. He felt a melancholy calm replace the savage anger that had once clouded his mind. His life had been horrible because he had made it horrible. And now, the answer to his dilemma was right in front of him. He felt the Elements of Disharmony crackle in dissent, this time sending pain through his body. He ignored it. There was only one thing that he had to do. “Need some help?” He extended his hoof towards the fallen draconoquus. Discord groaned and looked up at him, disbelief in his eyes. “Y-you would help me?” He smiled. This time, it was full of warmth. “Because everyone deserves a chance at a better life. Even you.” Discord looked at him. It seemed he had touched the darkest recesses of Discord’s heart and shone a beam of light down that dark cave. “I won’t disappoint you.” Discord eventually said with a determination in his eyes that he had never seen before. He smiled again. “Let's make the world a better place.” As he spoke those words, the chaotic, twisted artifacts he had been holding on to fell off of him, and as they fell toward the ground, regained their original luster. Black turned to gold, Disharmony to Harmony. Bathed in Harmony's golden glow, the unbreakable bonds of friendship were formed. “Well done. Your Princess is very proud of you.” He suddenly sensed a warm presence standing behind him. He turned around, and greeted his new friends, beaming at him and offering words of congratulations. Behind him, Discord was busy cleaning up the mess he had made. The fallen Elements of Harmony suddenly lit up, bathing him in a golden light. Suddenly, a splitting headache caused him to keel over and collapse on the marble floor. “Not again!” He managed to squeeze out two more words before his vision blurred and everything faded into nothingness. He remembered. He remembered everything. From the day he was born, his memories came rushing back to him. He remembered how horrible he had believed his life to be, and how he had ended his life. He saw. He remembered. Princess Celestia was right. He had finally discovered his true self. The heroic, kind side of himself. With the help of the Elements of Harmony, and his own determination, he had finally broken the chains that held his memories in place. A few days later... He was seated in front of Princess Celestia, awaiting further orders. After he had regained consciousness, he had once again found himself in the Ponyville Hospital. Unlike last time however, he did not break the window and run away like a madman. He had found himself in the presence of friends. Friends that cared. While he recuperated, they played games with him, told him stories, and taught him about the land he now lived in. Now, once again sitting in front of Celestia on a familiar bed, he was ready for the Princess, and his friends, to know how he came to be in this world. The Princess closed her eyes, touching her horn to his forehead, and after a short while, a low humming sound filled the air. He closed his eyes as he sensed the familiar presence of the Princess’s mind close around him. When the presence faded, he opened his eyes once again. The Princess looked shaken. “What is the matter, your majesty?” He inquired, concerned. She shook her head. “No, the spell was executed perfectly. However...your memories were slightly frightening.” He smiled sadly. “Sorry you had to see that. I just thought it would be best for everyone to know how exactly it was that I came to be in this world.” She thought for a few moments, then answered. “I do not know what the culture of your past world was like, but I am sure that such an act is still frowned upon.” He sighed. “That, it is.” The Princess continued. “I can now understand your actions when you first awoke in this land. I am sure your friends will understand as well. In the meantime, you will continue your lessons about our world, so you do not seem so ignorant to the common populace.” He chuckled. Then he remembered something. “Princess, when I just arrived in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash said something about a “cutie mark”. Will I ever get one?” The Princess smiled sadly. “I’m afraid not. Your body is not Equestrian, despite its appearance, and therefore does not have the ability to generate a "cutie mark". For this, I am sorry.” This was the answer he had been dreading. Still, he tried to smile and said: “Perfectly alright, my Princess. I was simply curious.” His eyes betrayed the truth, however. The Princess sighed. “Yay!” A timid squeak of a shout came from the shy pegasus named Fluttershy. Ever since he had started flight training with Rainbow Dash, she had sat on the sidelines, trying to cheer him on. The sound of her cheering was usually drowned out by the wind though. Today’s lesson was coming to a conclusion, and they decided to have a race. They would start from Rainbow Dash’s home and fly to the library. The first one to get inside won. “Ready, set, GO!” Rainbow Dash shouted. They both zoomed off. He looked back. Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight. Was he really winning? The thought gave him confidence. He sped forward ever faster, and crashed through the library door, triumphantly shouting “I win!” Much to his dismay however, he was greeted by an amused chuckle. “Not so fast, hotshot.” Rainbow Dash was relaxing on the couch, looking smugly at him. “W-what? How did you-?” Rainbow Dash grin only grew wider. "You’re such a slowpoke! I was already halfway here before you even flapped your wings once! I bet even Tank could beat you in a race!” He tried to think of a comeback for this jibe, but found none. Defeated, he slumped onto the floor with a defiant hmph. Then Rainbow Dash started laughing. It started as a chuckle, but gradually developed into a full blown laugh. It was contagious too. Pretty soon, he was laughing too. Then even Twilight, Spike, and the rest of the gang joined in. The sound of their laughter marked the beginning of a new era, one of peace, tranquility, and a stronger friendship than ever before. “This calls for a Friendship letter!” Declared Twilight Sparkle. “A friendship letter?” he asked. “Everytime we learn something about friendship, we write a letter to the Princess detailing what we learned!" Despite the fact that that sounds extremely unnecessary and excessively tediouis, I am going to pretend to think it is productive and helpful for our learning. "Wow, that sounds really cool! Where do we start?" Twilight turned to Spike. Without a word, he dashed off in search of a quill. Twilight nodded at him. “Alright, I’ll start it, then you can talk about everything that we've learned.” Twilight sparkle cleared her throat and continued. “Dear Princess Celestia, today we learned...” He thought for a moment. “Today we learned that friendship is a powerful thing. It can bond ponies together for a lifetime. We also learned that friends aren’t disposable. If a friend is not behaving the way they should, don’t abandon them. You should try as hard as you can to bring them back. Even the most far-gone friends still have a soft spot in their hearts. You just need to show them the path to the light again, just set them on the right path. Also, although sometimes it's sometimes seems necessary to use methods that aren't exactly heroic, these methods are often simply shortcuts that will eventually lead to your downfall. Your New Acquaintance...” He trailed off. He still didn’t have a name. Rainbow Dash cut in. “Alright, alright, done this, did that, give me the t-shirt.” That was it then. Spike then rolled up the letter and sent it away to the Princess. “So...” continued Rainbow Dash, a bit awkwardly. “Now that we have that out of the way, you guys wanna go get some cider from Applejack’s place?” He smiled. It was a new day, and the sun was streaming in from the windows of the library. "Why not?" Author's Note Redid helping Discord scene to go with previous chapter.
Epilogue, or the Continuation of the DreamEpilogue, or the Continuation of the Dream "Wake up, sleepy head!" Golden rays flooded in through the windows as curtains were pulled back. A mildly annoyed grunt came from the figure huddled on the bed. "Just five more minutes..." The figure called out in a sleepy voice. The pony pulling back the curtains made a little humph. With the warm sun illuminating the room, the pony was revealed to be Rainbow Dash. "Huh. Well you should feel lucky that you have a nice enough friend to wake you up on important mornings." She was looking a bit upset, possibly because she was expecting a thank you. "I don't really know if I should feel lucky or not..." The figure on the bed was now mummified by the blankets, as to escape the blinding luminescence now filling the room. Rainbow Dash made a small growl of annoyance. Having had enough ridiculous excuses, she marched over to the bed and ripped the blankets away, pony and all. "You'd better get up now, or you'll miss Twi's speech for the Equestrian Science Convention. I'm not really into that kind of fancy schmancy stuff, but I'm going to support Twi. And you should come too. So get your lazy butt off your bed and hurry up!" She stomped her hoof impatiently. "Fine, fine. But remind me to ask Twilight to put a 'Keep Rainbow Dash Out' spell on my house later, okay?" Finally rolling out of bed, the Pegasus smoothed his rumbled black hair and rubbed his brown eyes. Rainbow Dash quickly replied "Sure, sure, come on, we're gonna be late!" It was only after a few seconds of thinking about what she just agreed to before she realized it. "Hey! What is that supposed to mean? I'm just trying to be a good friend, you know?" She pouted as they walked out of the house. He now had his own house, on the outskirts of Ponyville. It was somewhat close to Fluttershy's house, but not that close. But it wasn't really his house, persay, as it seemed his new friends were able to enter and leave without any sort of thought toward his own personal privacy. These random visits were expected, but it was still irksome nonetheless to have your door kicked open without any warning whatsoever. It wasn't going to do any good to complain now, though. He was lucky to have a house, and he was lucky to have such good friends. With that thought in mind, he set out with Rainbow Dash toward the town square, where Twilight Sparkle was delivering a speech about quantum magic and its applications toward chaos theory. Ah, the bed calls me to its warm embraces. Instead I am going to listen to a foreign language for a couple of hours. Yay. After a couple minutes of walking through the streets of Ponyville, they arrived at the town square. Twilight Sparkle was already at the podium, introducing the basics of magical teleportation and such. There was a swarm of white lab-coat wearing ponies at the base of the podium, each of them arguing about the credibility of the statements being spoken. He waved toward the podium, trying to get Twilight's attention. There was a short interlude until Twilight noticed his furiously waving hand. Seeing him and Rainbow Dash, she smiled and gave a small wave back. For some reason, that wave caused a large section of the ponies around him to start clamoring and waving back. Rainbow Dash elbowed him. "Don't mind 'em. They're just jealous." He laughed. The laughing spawned quite a few shushes from the audience, but he didn't mind. After the lecture, it was time for his daily flight lessons. They headed toward Cloudsdale, where his terrible flying wouldn't result in him being hospitalized. Over the weeks, he had learned how to maneuver a bit more artistically, and he had increased his lap times by quite a few minutes. He noticed Rainbow Dash becoming a bit more reserved when around him, although he wasn't completely sure why. He visited Apple Jack's farm for a quick refreshment after that, but he realized when you visit Applejack, there's no such thing as a quick refreshment. He ended up helping to collect barrels and barrels of apples, all the while being coached by Applejack on how to get the most apples in one kick. Afterwards he was sat down to a full family style meal, surrounded by dozens of Apple family members. He sighed. Life was hectic around the Apple Farm. The day passed uneventfully after that, if you can call a day in Ponyville uneventful. After watching a beautiful sunset, he lay in his bed, looking out the window at the moon. Observing the moon, he thought about how lonely it must be. The moon doesn't shine by itself, and relies on the sun to give it light, but the moon's rays have their own kind of beauty. And those rays lit up the town every night, just as the sun's rays would. Reminiscence filled his mind and he fell into deep thought. Shadows hid his face as he pondered. So this is my new life. I've got a house, friends, and I'm living in the most peaceful town I've every seen. It's almost like a dream come true. Ha. A dream, huh? Well, what do I know? This might as well be a dream. I might as well wake up and find myself in the hospital in my world. Or maybe a psycho clinic. Maybe this is all a lie. It would certainly be a cruel lie, but it would be a lie nonetheless. Am I living in a dream? Is this a dream? The moon shone brightly, lighting up the dark night with its quiet brilliance. He gazed at the moon, with its gentle splendor. The sun is harsh. It allows none to look at it, but because no one can gaze at the sun's true form, none can appreciate its true beauty. There's still a lot of things that I don't know. I wonder if there is a god. I wonder how I got into this world. I wonder if I'm crazy. Well, I don't really believe in a god, but I think I will, just this once. I think that just this once, I'll make a prayer. Just this once, I'll make a wish. Even if this is a dream, I'll make a wish. Even if this is all fake, I'm still going to make a prayer. And so his prayer breaks the silence of the night. "God in Heaven, all I pray for is the continuation of this dream." Author's Note Fate/Stay Night reference FTW! Anyway, I got bored so I wrote an extra chapter. Bump bump.
