Discord's Pet Human

Chapters

Slavery
Dreams
Trying
Magic
Chaos
Equality
Everything
Interview

Slavery

I follow Twilight downstairs to the palace’s underground chamber. I can hear music thumping louder with every step we take until we enter a small dance-room where the rest of the six throne-warmers and the baby dragon are all dancing to some music played by a white pony with blue hair and sunglasses at a DJ table. They all welcome me and try to dance with me, but it’s all so weird. The more they try to make me fit in, the more I feel like I don’t belong. A bunch of ponies are dancing all around me, and I’m just standing and sort of moving. I don’t want to look too uncomfortable, or they’d stop and talk to me. They mostly don’t notice. If I was at a human party, I’d assume the blue one, Rainbow; I’d think she was flirting with me.

The party drags on, and they’re all having fun. I walk away and grab some punch or whatever it is as often as I can without getting called out on it. I know Twilight sees that I’m not having fun, but she doesn’t bother me. Either she wants someone else to deal with it, or she’s just sick of me. Or both.

The more the party drags on, the more I wonder how I can get out. There’s nothing I can do though, so I just continue to move around. I start to watch them each, watching their expressions and movements. I don’t know why they’re partying, why they’re so happy. There’s nothing to celebrate at all, but they’re all so genuinely full of joy. It doesn’t make sense.

I lean on the punch table, starting to feel in my stomach that I drunk too much. I almost feel sick, but this is my only way away from the dance floor. I take a deep breath, closing my eyes. When I open, Fluttershy is standing right in front of me, scaring me so badly that I nearly throw up. I hold myself together. Clearly, I stood over here way too long.

Her mouth is moving. I swear she’s saying something. I can almost hear it, but I might just be imagining words for her.

“What? I can’t hear you!” I say, really not that loudly. The music is loud, but not concert-level.

She starts mouth-moving again. I wonder for a second if she’s messing with me, but I know this is just her. I heard she’s usually very shy. Go figure. It’s in her damn name. If I had been named Shy, I would have made it my goal to be the loudest damn kid in town. Everyone would have known my name, and I wouldn’t have to apologize for anything cause they’d know when you mess with Shy Tobin, he ain’t gonna shy away from knocking you back!

I nod toward the door, and she smiles back, nodding slightly. We walk out together, and the noise vanishes instantly.

“What’s up, Fluttershy?” I say. We keep sauntering slowly away from the party.

“Oh,” she mouses. “I’m very humbled that you would remember my name. Thank you.”

Something tells me she didn’t have much humbling to do. Whatever. “Of course I know it. We did lots of introductions before the party began. Twilight put together a stupid name game and everything.”

“Yes, she’s very thoughtful that way. Still, I didn’t think you’d pay attention to me, I guess.”

I ignore it. I don’t know what kind of person she thinks I am to ignore someone just because they seem weak. The fact that she expects that in people; it shows how messed up society can be. In her world and in mine.

“What do you wanna say to me?”

“Oh, yes, of course. I just wanted to know why you couldn’t seem to have any fun?”

I keep my eyes on the ground as we walk up the stairs. The party was drowned into silence a long time ago.

It’s weird. Fluttershy is different from anyone I’ve ever met. Usually, when you decide not to respond to a question, the other person just asks a new question that gets to the point another way or changes the subject. Fluttershy doesn’t say a word as long as I don’t. It’s kinda nice having that respect, I guess.

We make it outside into the cool night air. The breeze blows by ever so gently as if the leaves are waving it across our faces. The smell of the grass is wonderful. The darkness feels like a warm blanket rather than a warning to get indoors. I look up at the moon and wonder at how it can shine so brilliantly on its own, not needing magic or technology. The moon and the stars around it simply light the sky with their own incredible beauty like a calming smile from a mother for her child, telling him that everything is right with the world.

I look at Fluttershy. She smiles kindly at me, not feeling any rush or discontent. It’s a welcoming feeling.
We continue to walk down the path away from the palace, but the more I realise how considerate her patience is, the more I feel a need to respond. How can I answer that? I can’t just tell her that it’s because I don’t trust them yet. She wouldn’t understand that. I have to say something kinder. If I don’t, I don’t know what could happen to her. If I’m kind enough though, she’ll believe me.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t having fun, Fluttershy.” She seems happy that I said something. “It’s just hard for me. I’m making a big transition, and this place is different. It’s not you or anyone else. I guess it’s just me.” There. Some of that was true.

She waits a moment. Everything seems very relaxed with Fluttershy. It’s like I have more time in my life when she slows it down. She turns off the main road slightly, and I see a big tree/house in the distance. I’m guessing that’s hers.

“That’s understandable, Caleb. I don’t mind if you need some time, but I’m willing to help you feel more comfortable here. We all just want you to feel free to be our friend.”

Friend. They all want me to be their friend. I haven’t decided what I want yet though. My only decision was to leave a horrible place. Now though; now that I’ve found a very peaceful place, can I find myself able to believe it? I’m not sure that I can. I’m not sure that I can be at peace with a world so ignorant to suffering.

Maybe I need to calm down. There’s just so much happening right now, it’s hard for me to take in. I need to focus on what I can do now that I’m here. After all, Discord never said that I would be stuck here forever, so I don’t think he meant that. He seemed to want to tell me the truth, but I should know better than to ever trust anything that snake says. His promise is worth as much as a used toothbrush. That’s why I bought it though. I was desperate. I couldn’t afford to wait for something better, and he played on that. He preyed on my weakness. Maybe he left it up to me, but he knew that I couldn’t say no.

I’m starting to think that’s what everyone here is really like. Sure they want me to be their friend, but why do they want that? Until I can find a real reason for them to want to be friends with me, I won’t believe them. I don’t have anything to offer. I’m a selfish, dishonest, angry man. If I had stayed where I was, I would have been on the street in just a couple months. I would eventually have had no choice but to turn to a life of drugs, selling and using. I resisted so long only because I had that hope that someone would save me from that hell. I never thought it would be a reformed devil who would save me. But who am I to–

“Eh hem,” I hear. I look over. Fluttershy is sitting across from me on a raised cushion. She balances a cup of tea very gently between her hooves as she takes a sip. She nods to the table beside me. “Your tea will get cold if you don’t drink it.”

There’s tea on the table next to me. I look at it. I pick it up and take a sip. I put it down. The chair I’m in is red and leather-feeling. I have no idea if it’s real leather, but I somehow doubt that it is given the circumstances. The rest of the room has a very classic feel to it, like a Victorian-era small home combined with a modern cabin. It’s interesting. I guess it really feels comfortable if I was to describe it.

“Th-thank you,” I say. I don’t remember coming inside. I hear some light movement coming out of the kitchen, so I assume it’s some of her animals. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“I haven’t said much, Caleb,” she says. I take another sip of tea. “I just wanted to know what I can do to be kinder to you. I know that not everyone responds to kindness in the same way. Some people like the ‘tough-love’ sort of kindness, and I’m not great at that, but I’m willing to give it all I have if it would make you feel better about yourself.”

I don’t understand. I keep staring at her. I look down at the tea and see my own reflection very faintly in the brown liquid as it stills. I pull it up and take another sip. It’s very tasty; not too sweet, but it doesn’t taste bitter either. I’ve never tasted anything like it.
I look up at her. She’s still waiting for an answer. I should hurry. I don’t know how long I made her wait when she asked the first time. “You don’t have to change for me. Just do what you want. I–”

I stop. I don’t know why. I just don’t know what else to say. I guess I don’t have anything else to say about it. I smile at her. She smiles so genuinely back that it gives me those weird goosebumps that Twilight gave me. I take a long sip from the tea, looking down at it to stop myself from blushing. I don’t understand how they can make me feel so strange.

“I’m sorry,” she says after a little. “I guess it’s too soon for you to decide. You hardly know us after all. I shouldn’t assume so quickly, but I really do want you to feel welcome here. I was so sorry to hear about your experiences in your home, and I want you to know that you can always have a home with me.”

“And me of course.” The fluttering in my stomach burns up in an instant with distrust. “You do belong to me after all.”
I turn and look at the kitchen as Discord walks out of it, drying his hands on a bleach white towel before tossing it into a laundry basket across the room as a few sparkles erupt from it. A white bunny crawls out of the basket and shakes its fist at Discord.

He continues to walk closer before he pops down into a recliner as it bursts into existence. He crosses his legs and sips honey from an active, yet calm beehive at his side-table. The honey and table vanish as quickly as they appeared, but a single bee continues to float around. It dives into a cup of tea, then pulls a very long straw out of it to Discord’s mouth. He sips. The bee flies out the window and morphs into a car with several mechanical, scifi movements before driving away off Fluttershy's pathway.

I look back at Discord and close my mouth. Fluttershy didn't watch that happen at all. I'm assuming it's because she either expects him to do weird things and isn't surprised anymore or because she just doesn't want to see him doing anything to animals. I guess there's still the possibility that she's just dumb. Maybe that old, crazy hobo on the corner of my street was right when he said, "kindness begets stupidity."

"What's the matter, Caleb?" Discord asks me. There's something about his voice that makes me so angry. It's not even what he says. It's just that patronizing, insulting tone. If he spoke like that on the streets, he'd get shot and everyone would think he asked for it.

But this isn't the streets. I'm playing by his rules; and by pony rules. "I'm fine. Just a little tired." I try not to let any emotion out when I say it. I'm not sure I could fake happiness, so emotionless is the best I can do.

"That's fair," he says, taking another sip. I notice that part of the chair is gone all of a sudden. "You've had a very eventful day after all; it's only natural that you would feel absolutely tuckered out."

"So are we sleeping here?" I ask.

"Oh, yes!" he replies emphatically. "Ms. Fluttershy was so gracious as to offer us her home for the evening!"

"Yes," Fluttershy says with a nod and a smile. "You're more than welcome to stay here. Discord is my friend, and if you're his friend, then you're mine as well."

That's strange. I thought she'd say pet. No one has called me Discord's friend since I arrived in Equestria, especially not me. I smile anyways. It’s hard to be mean to Fluttershy, I guess.

“Aren’t you glad we’re friends, Caleb?” Discord chimes in.

I give him as subtle a sneer as I can as he takes another sip of his tea while more of his chair vanishes slowly. When I look down, the bunny’s giving a much less subtle sneer. If it had five fingers, I think it would be flipping him off. It’s not nearly as hard to be mean to Discord. That’s a damn fact.

I sigh and start to stand.

“Oh, where are you going?” Discord asks.

“To bed,” I say, trying to keep my voice nice and clear. “I’m tired, and it’s late enough.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind, we’d like for you to stay just a little bit longer,” Fluttershy says. Keeping me in the same room as Discord is not the best way to make me a friend, girl.

“Yes, very sorry, Caleb,” Discord says. His chair starts to shrink very slightly. “We do have a few tiny things to discuss with you.” The chair bursts open, and he looks around as if he’s surprised by it. Why would he be surprised by his own magic? He’s such an idiot.

I don’t sit back down. I stand in front of the chair and cross my arms, barely resisting to tap my foot. I look straight into the snake’s eyes.“What do you want?”

Discord’s little fang curls itself into a tiny smile across his lips as he starts to pace in between Fluttershy and me. “Try not to get testy now, my boy. We’re on your side after all.”

I’m sorry. What was that?

“I said, ‘we’re on your side.’”

I heard you. That was sarc– Wait. No.

“Yes, I can read your mind, Caleb.” His words echo around my skull. This is impossible. “How else would I have chosen the perfect human to want to leave Earth if I couldn’t read their minds?”

I don’t know what to do. If I can’t even keep my own thoughts private, then what can I do? “How can you do that? Isn’t that illegal here or something?”

“I’m afraid I can’t defend you from that, Caleb,” Fluttershy says. “Discord’s argument for choosing a suitable human without revealing himself to too many humans made sense to me even if I didn’t like it earlier. I want to respect your rights, but I’m afraid it’s perfectly legal for an owner to read their pet’s mind if they have the magic to do so. It’s sometimes necessary for treating problematic pets.”

“But I’m not problematic,” I say desperately. There has to be a way out of this. I can’t let him in my mind like that.

“You’re more of an issue than others are able to understand,” Discord says. Reading glasses appear on his eyes, and a huge book with the title Things Humans Say appears in his hands as he starts to flip through it. “What is it that humans say? Ah, yes. You can take the dog out of the fight, but you can’t take the fight out of the dog. My dear friend, you have much desire to fight. From the little that I have used this power on you, I have seen an enormous quantity of hate within you.”

I narrow my eyes at him and sit in the chair. I won’t look at Fluttershy. Even for being so kind, if she feels that way about me, then I see no reason to feel any way about her. “Fine then. What do you want?”

Fluttershy speaks up. “We want to know what’s causing all this hate, Caleb. We want to help you, and we don’t want to make a big scene about it. We so want you to feel comfortable in Equestria. This is your home too, and you should feel welcome here.”

I stop myself from sneering at her by forcing myself to look straight into Discord’s red and yellow, snake or devil-like eyes. I guess he notices me staring because his eyes immediately pop out and land on my head.

“Isn’t it rude to keep your eyes on someone, Caleb?” Discord asks calmly, looking extra creepy without eyes in his black sockets. I keep staring at him, and his eyes sockets start to ooze gummy worms and green Jell-O.

I give up and look at the ground, letting out a sigh. I know I can’t win. I’m against the animal-lover who doesn’t care about me and my ‘owner’ who thinks he knows what’s best for me when he’s violating me by invading my mind. I can’t even look at the ground though because just as the weight of his eyes on my head disappears, the disappointment of seeing them materialize in the floorboards sets in. He slithers his way out of the ground and wraps an arm around me. Fluttershy walks up as they both stand by my side, locking me between their fake-caring attitudes.

“Please tell us, Caleb,” she says. Her voice is angelic and kind, but I can’t trust that kindness. A kind person would respect freedom. Not only am I the thing’s pet, but I can’t even have my own thoughts to myself. She’s just as bad as he is.

“Right now, the only thing making me hate is you two,” I snap and push them off me. I walk as fast as I can out of the house, only to find myself entering another room. I’m sure this is where I entered the house. It’s the only big two-part door in the room. I turn around. They’re both watching me with those fake-sad faces.

“If you must leave the room,” Discord says, “then you may go to your bedroom for the night. I can’t allow you to leave the house.”

“That’s right. You could get hurt or lost after all,” Fluttershy says in agreement, giving another ridiculous smile.

I just look at them. Even now, they act as if they’re sad or something that I’m leaving them. Sad that I hate them. They’re just taking advantage of me.

“I promise that I will respect your privacy tonight,” he says. “I will not read your mind as long as you are in your room. That will be your private space whenever you feel a need to be alone. That’s the truth.”

“Yeah, right,” I say and slam the door shut. I lock it behind me and walk over to the bed in the dark room. I sit down and shake my head. That’s the truth, huh? The truth and what you say are as different as your right arm from your left, Discord.

I fall back on the bed, kicking my shoes off. I don’t bother with the rest. I don’t bother getting comfortable. I just stare at the ceiling for a little. It’s stupid that they can control me like this. There’s nothing I can do but go along with whatever anyone says. Before, I was poor. Now, I’m a slave.

I wrap the blankets around me and curl up with my head on the pillow. I try not to think about any of it. All I can see are Discord’s eyes; Fluttershy’s eyes; Twilight’s eyes. They all seemed so genuine earlier. Now, I can’t trust anyone. It’s just like before. Everyone else may be happier in this place, but I guess I won’t be happy no matter where I go.

Author's Note

Glad I'm able to submit a second chapter so quickly, but that's just cause I didn't submit the first one until a few days after I was finished. I had problems making an account here and whatnot, but that's all behind me.

Speaking of putting things behind oneself, Caleb doesn't seem like he can put his distrusting past behind him, treating even the kind Fluttershy like a regular crook. We'll see how this develops as the journey continues!

Dreams

Chapter 3 Dreams

My sleep comes in spurts. I turn throughout the night. The bed's possibly the best I've ever had, but I can't turn my thoughts off. Everything I saw today constantly flashes in front of my eyes, no matter how tight I shut them. When I do fall asleep, I only know because an hour passes on the big clock above the door. The clock ticks like a time bomb. Once morning comes, I'll be back in that hell outside. There's nothing I can do about it. I'll have to answer questions again, and I'll be treated like a kid.

I wake up fully, but it's still late at night. I feel better, rested, but it's still dark out. I decide to walk to my door. I don't hear Discord or Fluttershy, so they must have gone to bed. I crack the door open, but what's outside isn't the living room. It's the neighborhood I grew up in.

I nod at the ground and let out a sigh of relief. “I guess Discord realized I wasn't going to work out in Equestria, so he sent me back. That was smart of him. I'm glad I got to see some place new, but this is where I belong.”

"Why do you say that?" someone says.

A tall, dark blue pony walks toward me from a foggy corner of the neighborhood. Her mane and tail flow beautifully, shining with unbelievable grace in the moonlight. As I look around, it's just us in the empty street. All that's around us are the same brick buildings and broken concrete that I grew up with. We're right in front of the orphanage where I'm due to graduate in two months.

"Who are you?" I ask as she walks out of the fog, becoming slowly clearer. Her eyes are a shining dark-green, like an emerald-shaded obsidian. I can't look away from them.

"Call me Luna," she says.

I stare, almost in a trance. "Luna,” I repeat. I feel speechless, but the brilliant light of her smile breaks me out of it. I stutter out, “W-why did you follow me here?"

"I am the Princess of the Moon, child. The night is my home, and your dreams are where I set up my shield from evil. If you live in Equestria, I will be your dream catcher to defend you from suffering while you sleep."

"Oh. Then I'm asleep? I'm still in Fluttershy's house?"

She nods. I look down and sigh.

"What's wrong, Caleb?" she asks me. "Why don't you feel that you belong with us?"

I keep my eyes down. She's only a few feet from me, so I see my feet and her hooves at the same time. "Just look. I have feet. You have hooves. We're different." I look up to see her smiling. "How could I belong in a world of ponies? It doesn't make sense."

"Caleb, many different creatures are friends despite their appearances," she says. She nods along the road, so we start to walk together in the middle of the street. There's not a car in sight; just fog. "Do birds and wolves not share the same water?"

"As long as the birds keep their distance," I say back. She laughs, but I'm serious.

"You're right about that," she says. "If the wolves were hungry, and the birds weren't careful, there would be less birds in the world very suddenly. But neither of us are predators, Caleb. We are not hunting for you. Quite the opposite, we desire the best for you."

The fog thickens even further, slowly crowding around us so that I can't see the neighborhood. I can barely see to either sidewalk.

"Why am I here, Luna?" I ask her. I don't know why I feel like I can trust her. Maybe it's a spell. Maybe it's because she's different.

"No one knows why fate changes our course. We can only walk the path before us. If we may choose to walk a different path, we do so with our best judgement and with a full heart, not an empty one. Whatever path we take, we must never turn back or stay motionless."

I don't think I know what she means, but I don't really wanna ask. She's the only one I've liked yet except for Twilight sort of.

The fog surrounds us completely so that we’re walking on nothing but dream clouds. It feels freeing to be so conscious of what’s going on, yet surrounded by such a surreal fantasy. I've never had a dream like it in my life. I feel like I'm flying, and for once it doesn't feel like I'm going to fall. It feels like Luna is holding me up, keeping me in the air with her so that we can fly together.

"If my path is split, then what way should I go?" I ask. I can't say the words I need to say. I know what they are. I know that I need to say them as much as I need to breathe. But every time I feel about to say them, I freeze.

"It's hard to know, my child," she says. Every word she says is like cool water, flowing gently over me. "I only know so much about you. I know that our home is not where you were raised, but I know that this chance was given to you for a higher reason. Truth about your life is something you may only find within yourself."

"I know, but," I try to say. I feel like I'm about to cry. Something here is flooding me with emotion, and I can't handle much more. The fog is darkening. I feel panicky. The dream can't be ending. I need her to stay. "I don't think I can do it."

"Finding truth is a mere matter of admitting your fears, Caleb. There comes a time when we must begin to trust the truth rather than our past. Trust the future." She starts to slip away as the fog begins to fade into shadows.

"Princess, wait!" I cry out to her. "I–" I try to say. I have to say it. The world stops for a moment. She doesn't move. She stands in the fog, neither slipping farther nor coming nearer; neither becoming clearer nor harder to see. Her mane and tail flow as the only movement besides my breathing. It's so quiet, I feel as if I've gone deaf. "I–"

I have to say it. She waits for me. She is patient. I almost see her crack a smile in the fog. Does she know what I mean to say? I can't disappoint her.

"Luna," I whisper with a cracking voice. "I– I need your help." I said it. My eyes fall to the floor of clouds as they start to swirl once more, turning into that peaceful fog once more. "I need help."

I feel her hoof on my cheek. It doesn't feel hard or sharp like it looks. It feels soft, warm, gentle. My legs collapse and I fall into her, but she holds me up with her leg and her soft wing. I've never felt so comforted. I know this can't be just a dream if I can feel so vividly.

"Caleb," she whispers, holding me tight. I grab her fur between my fingers and hold tight, sobbing into her neck. "Child, I'm here for you. I know that your life has been tough, but I can help you if you only open your heart to me. I need you to trust me."

"I trust you, Luna," I mumble into her soft mane. "Please. Please help me."

The fog is swept away all at once like dust blown off an old book, and I find myself high above Ponyville, still clutching her tightly. I hold on even tighter but now out of fear of falling.

"Trust me, Caleb," she says, letting go with her leg. I look in her eyes. My legs are dangling beneath me. I feel as if I'll fall. "Trust me, and let go of fear."

I swallow and close my eyes, letting go. I don't fall. I open my eyes and find myself standing right in front of her in the sky. I can taste my tears, realizing how much I’ve been crying. I wipe my face with my sleeve and smile at her as she beams back with an angelic laugh. Her eyes shine just as brightly as the clearest stars.

“How do I start?” I ask. “I’ve never told anyone too much before. Opening as much as I did to Twilight was hard for me.”

“I know, Caleb,” she says, still standing right in front of me. She gazes at the moon. “Maybe you’ll do better if I show you. I’ll take you into my memories, child; then, I want you to take me into yours.”

I nod. The stars begin to dance, racing around each other for a reason I can’t understand. The fog swirls around and envelops us both. When it disappears, the moon looks much different.

“There’s a face in the moon,” I say.

She nods. “That was me. I was cursed with 1,000 years to be trapped on that moon.”

“1,000,” I repeat. “1,000 years?”

“I was alone,” she says. The fog starts to swirl around us again as she continues, “I was remorseful, but I had been taken over by dark magic. I knew what was happening, but I had reached a point in my sorrow that the dark magic I had studied for centuries began to take over my mind and my body. Before I could hold onto who I was, I became Nightmare Moon.”

Luna is suddenly enveloped in the fog as well, and I reach out to her. The fog is consumed with a midnight blue and suddenly dissipates to reveal a much darker, crueler-looking pony. I step back, but she reaches out to me. “It’s still me, Caleb. I just wanted to show you how I had been changed.”

Her fur is black and her mane has been swept down. Her wings are larger and sharper, and her eyes are narrow. Most importantly, I can no longer see the beauty and hope that was so clear in her eyes before. All I see now is regret and anger.

“This is Nightmare Moon, my child,” she says, and I can tell that this memory is hard for her. “My sister and I had long served alongside one another; she raising the sun and I the moon. However, one day I began to consider that our subjects worshipped her who rose them for the day and lit their way. They saw the day as good, but they saw the night as evil. I grew jealous of her, but she ignored my sorrow. When I raised the moon, she was too tired like the rest of the world and retreated into sleep. When she raised the sun, she was too busy to listen to me. When even my sister, who I would have given my life for, I had left me in the dark; that was when I truly became consumed with shadow. I declared my hatred for the world, for life itself, and the dark magic possessed me, transforming me into the feared, loathsome creature before you.”

“Could you still feel what was going on while you were trapped inside?”

She nods. “I knew everything that was happening, but I was not nearly powerful enough to overturn it. Even as my body was filled with vengeance, my soul inside felt regret for every action I made. Even when I was trapped on that moon, I could feel the rage building inside my possessed body as guilt pooled in my heart. I've never known helplessness like that."

Fog consumes her and dissipates just as quickly, revealing her original beauty. I'm glad to see her back to normal, but now I know what she can be capable of. I know that she has suffered as well. 1,000 years of loneliness, being hated and then forgotten; feeling both hatred and regret; consumed by an evil parasite of magic; to have everyone else's life move on without knowing the suffering she endures; I can't imagine a life like that.

"I don't know what to say," is all I can mumble.

"I've opened to you, Caleb," she says, and the fog begins to take us both. "Tell me about your past. Why do you find trust and love so difficult?"

My throat feels so dry. I look around at the fog, watching it grow darker. I know I have to tell her. I promised. I just– I don't– I–

"It's alright, Caleb," she says. "Take your time. Once you start, it won't be so hard anymore. I’ll help you along the way."

I swallow and nod. My head is hot and my palms are slippery. "Okay. I was born and raised in a very poor neighborhood. I never really knew my dad or my older brother. They both died in a car accident when I was just two years old. My mom talked about them a lot, and I could tell she missed them both so much. Still, she told me every day how grateful she was to still have me. She was the person that I always trusted.”

"What happened to her?" Luna asks in her silken voice.

I sigh. I can't stop now. "I don't know why, but one day she gave into the thing she desperately told me to stay away from. She started using drugs when I was young, and her life fell apart so quickly. The whole time she was using, she still told me to never use, and one day she told me that she didn't want me to end up like her. A few weeks later, I came home from school and found her dead."

"The drugs killed her?"

I nod. "I don't know if it was intentional or what. She was using some bad stuff."

"I’m sorry, Caleb,” she says. “What did you do then?”

“I stayed with her,” I say and pause for a little. I remember how I felt, looking at my mom’s eyes rolled over; feeling her cold hands; barely able to see through my teary, swollen eyes. I can feel my mouth swell and my eyes getting watery, but I can avoid crying if I just talk my way through it. I just have to tell the story. I don’t have to get my head involved in it. Luna just wants to know what happened because she already knows how I feel.

I look into her eyes and see her feeling for me. I swallow and hold back my thoughts back to keep going. “I don’t remember much of that day except for however long I was with her. Everything else blurred into memories of looking at her when she was happy or when she was suffering or when she was gone. I know that the police questioned me, but I don’t remember anything they said or anything I told them. I was only 12, so I got placed into an orphanage. I’ve been there for about five years. I was only two months away from being forced out when Discord came to me.”

“So he saved you in a way then?”

I grimace and sigh. “I guess. I mean, yeah, if he hadn’t come then, I would’ve been on the streets. I had a minimum wage job with no way of improving, which just couldn’t be enough to pay rent anywhere, and I had no hope of doing anything with my education. I’m just not that smart.”

“You were smart enough to take your chance to get out,” Luna interrupts.

I stop and look at her. I want to say something to refute it because I hate to admit that Discord could have helped me or that this whole thing is really good instead of just a desperate chance at something different, but she might be right. She cocks her head and smiles.

“So what did you do in your five years at the orphanage?” she asks.

“Right.” I guess I need to move on from Discord. We can talk about him later. “I never talked with anyone in the orphanage. When my mom died, everything just happened so fast. I stayed quiet most of the time, and I just didn’t want to make friends. I wanted to be alone. Plus, when I saw some of the other kids start using drugs, I couldn’t help but stay away from them. Honestly, I got scared. Every time I saw someone using drugs, I couldn’t stop thinking of my mom. I thought of her telling me to never use, of her starting to suffer and give in to it, and then when she was lying dead in front of me. Every time I saw someone else use drugs, I just turned away. When people called after me, I didn’t turn back. Sometimes people would tell them about my mom, and I knew because they didn’t stop me from walking away again.”

“So you never talked to people about drugs?”

“I wish. It was completely impossible to avoid talking to the dealers. Sometimes, they had me cornered, and I was too scared to run. If that happened, I used to just try to explain to them that I didn’t wanna use because my mom OD’d.”

“That didn’t work?”

“Not at all. The always said things like they would help me to avoid overdose, like they would be there for me.”

“You didn’t trust them?”

“No. Hell no! I could see through what they were saying. They were trying to get me hooked, and I think they maybe even pressed harder because they heard about my mom’s problems; like, as if her problems would make me weaker to the drugs.”

“Do you think they’re right about that?”

“I don’t know, but I never wanted to find out. I had to find a way out just in case it was true, so I decided the best way to beat their lies was with my lies. So I would tell them that I couldn’t use cause of sports, and some of them surprised me and respected that, but said they would try to catch me later. Sometimes, I would say that my father was a policeman, so they should avoid talking to me, and that bluff worked sometimes. Sometimes, it dug me a deep hole of threats though, and I had to dig it out by promising that I would never tell anyone about them. If they knew I was at the orphanage though, they would get really aggressive. Sometimes, all I could do was keep going until they beat me up, and just hope that I could survive.”

“Those are all very dangerous ideas.”

“I know, but I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose. I felt like if I got caught up in drugs at only 12 or 13, and if my mom died within just a few years after starting, I would basically be dying anyways by using drugs. Plus, I felt like I had to get back at them for taking my mom away from me.”

“Hold on. Now, being afraid of drugs I can understand, but avoiding something wrong to do something wrong is an impossible way to live.”

“What?”

“You can’t declare yourself against drugs because you’re committed to revenge. Once you’re in that life cycle, you can only go down. And how did you even know that these people were the ones who had killed your mother?”

“I didn’t know. But they represented the same thing. They sold drugs, and they didn’t care who they hurt as long as they made money, so I had to fight back.”

“But that attitude can only lead to you getting–”

“And besides, I was too young and too weak to actually get revenge. I just wanted to fight back by resisting. They were bigger, there were more of them; all I had was my will and memories of my mom, and I wanted to prove that was enough.”
She sighs. It’s the first break we’ve had in the story for a while. I can feel my breathing start to slow down, and I realize how heated I was getting while trying to defend myself.

“Very well, Caleb,” she says. She sounds like she was getting upset too. I never meant to make her mad, and I kind of feel bad about it. “I may not agree with that motive completely because I still think it ultimately harmful, but I realize that this is your story and your life, and these are your decisions. I should not demand you to make perfect ones, and I should not pretend that I could have made perfect decisions given my history and my current ability to look clairvoyantly on your situation.”

There isn't much more of the story that I can tell. I almost change the subject, but I get curious. “What would you have done?”

“I would have resisted just as you did. I may have told lies to get out of the situation as I have experience telling lies when I need to. I’m different from my sister in that way. But I know the danger of harboring feelings of hatred, and I would have maintained a deep desire to avoid that feeling, that vengeance.”

I nod. I guess I shouldn’t disagree. If anyone else had said that, I would have just said they didn’t know what they were talking about, but I know that Luna has experienced feelings like that, and she paid for keeping them until the feelings literally acted for her. “I know that magic can’t take over me like it did for you, but I guess feelings like that could lead me to doing something I would regret. I still felt like I had nothing to lose though.”

“When I was in my most dire moments of pain and loneliness, I also felt as if I had nothing to lose. I know that these feelings seem empowering, but they are deadly. You cannot forget that you always have something to lose.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought I had lost my sister, but she still loved me. You may have thought that losing your mother made you alone, but how can you say that when your memories of your mother became your ultimate courage and strength? She was with you in your darkest moments, even more so than I felt my sister with me.”

I look down. The fog swirling around us constantly changes, shifting between the asphalt of my old neighborhood and the dirt roads of Ponyville. “I never thought about that.”

“Just because she isn’t physically there for you doesn’t mean she isn’t still worth fighting for.”

“So shouldn’t I have been fighting just like I was?”

“Well, you did make it out, but you certainly didn’t make it unscathed.”

“What do you mean?”

The fog and Luna both start to darken and haze. “Your heart is broken, Caleb; by memories and mentality. You know what can mend that, but you have to be open to it.”

“Where are you going?”

“Morning is here, Caleb. I will return to your dreams any time that you need me, and I thank you for letting me into your heart. I hope that we may become friends.”

“Thank you, Luna!” I shout with my last moments to her as the dream starts to fade. I feel like I could cry again, but I don’t. I hope that we can be friends too.

Just as I start to see her smile fill my mind with joy, I open my eyes and shriek, thrashing about at the disgusting monster right in front of my face.

Discord laughs and falls back on the ground, holding his belly to contain himself. I sit up in my bed and stare at him. “I didn’t even have to use magic for that one!” he squeals between gulps of air. I bury myself under the covers and pray to fall back asleep.

Author's Note

I'm so glad to see this story starting to get some good opinions after that last chapter, and I don't know how this one will turn out. I realize it's taken a bit of a turn, but I hope I've written it well enough that you all can enjoy it! All of this writing is great practice for me, so I'll keep going with it as I get ready to venture into my own writing career. I know where I want to go with the story for the most part, and I'll see how close I can get to that vision while making the story as real as my current abilities as a writer can make it. I have a long way to go, but I want to work hard to become a good writer if it's God's will.

I highly recommend Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis to everyone. It's an amazing and scholarly piece of Christian literature written by one of the greatest writers of all time, and I just finished it today. It's awesome for answering questions about Christianity whether you're Christian or not, and it provides some great direction that anyone can follow. It's wonderful on both the deep and the simple levels of understanding, so I say check it out!

In other news, did anyone else see those amazing Brawl sets at SKTAR 3?! My man ESAM was amazing even though he wasn't using his awesome TrixE tag (confirmed Brony loljk). It wasn't just Pikachu that was great though. Even the Ice Climbers dittos were awesome! That was one matchup that I never thought could be entertaining, but 9B and Vinnie proved me wrong! If you love Brawl, check out some of those awesome matches and see just how far Brawl has come in 6 years! It's incredible, and I'm so hyped for Smash 4 as I'll likely continue to main Luca Luca Cario.

Trying

Chapter 4: Trying

“Oh please come to the party!” Fluttershy says. “I promise we’ll have so much fun!”

“Come now, Caleb,” Discord says. “You can’t really expect to stay inside all day can you?”

“No,” I grumble. I finally stand up. “It’s not like I can stay here, so yeah I’ll go. I just said I don’t want to go.”

“Oh, how wonderful!” Fluttershy says as if she wants to sing, and I pray she doesn’t.

“You should be excited, my boy! You’ll be able to have wonderful conversations with all of your fellow pet-friends!”

“Oh, gosh. This day is going to be perfect,” I say.

Discord raises his eyebrow at me, then shakes his head and snaps his fingers so that Fluttershy’s front yard rolls away like a rug to reveal a giant apple rising from the ground. “Behold our mode of locomotion.”

“We’re riding in an apple?” is all I can ask. “Can’t we just–”

“Hush now,” Discord interrupts as a roll of duct tape unrolls itself in front of my face and slaps me with the non-sticky end and disappears. “Our ride is inside!”

As he says that, the apple releases steam and laser lights from inside as doors slide apart. I look at Discord to see he’s got his arms crossed and piercings all over his face, not to mention his horns have molded together into a mohawk. I look back at the apple and see the rave within calm down to reveal a giant bat. Well, it’s a car, I think. It’s a black car, but it looks like a bat kind of with the wings on the side and the tiny ears in front, not to mention the fangs underneath the front. Its engine roars as it spirals out of the apple in a burnout, stopping in front of us with its blacked out windows. The driver-side window rolls down to reveal our chauffeur, a tuxedo-wearing Angel Bunny. He nods up at us and pulls his shades down.

“We could just tele–”

“Quiet now, Caleb,” Discord says and opens the door for Fluttershy and me to step inside. It’s a limousine actually. I’ve never been in one before, so this is kind of cool. I sit down next to Fluttershy on the comfy leather seats and start to wonder how Discord is going to fit inside. He closes the door behind us and starts climbing into the passenger-side door. I hear Angel Bunny screaming and shouting in weird bunny noises. I can’t see what’s going on, but there appear to be pots and pans clanging, and it suddenly stops.

Our door opens, and Discord shrinks down to a manageable size and sits next to me. I notice he has a black eye, which makes me smile a little. I guess Angel Bunny doesn't mess around.

I feel the car boost off in every direction but forward, but I can't see out any of the windows to tell where we're going. I look at Fluttershy and she smiles back.

"You're going to have so much fun today with all of our pets, Caleb," she says. "I know that you're a little different from them, but I know you'll just love them anyways! They're all so lovely. Even Angel is nice when he wants to be."

"Oh and that cherub just wants to be nice so often that it kills me," Discord retorts, but I don't think Fluttershy pays any attention to the sarcasm. She just keeps smiling happily.

"I just can't wait ,” I say, letting my eyes roll. At least I think they roll because Discord moves the entire limo around me so that they never seem to move.

“Careful with rolling your eyes like that,” he says. “Someone could get their feelings or internal organs hurt.”

“What the–”

“Let him be,” Fluttershy says, sounding very motherly. “I mean, that’s what I do. I find it easier to just accept what he does and try to enjoy it.”

I open my mouth to say something, but I notice that we’ve stopped. Discord has already teleported outside the car and opened the door. She thanks him and steps out, so I just shake my head and follow. I’m not sure what I would have said anyways.

When I step out of the car, I see a small lake and a lot of grass around it. There are six ponies, six pets of various species, and a draconequus. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I become incredibly thrilled to see my vision filled with curly pink hair.

“Caleb! Oh my gosh, I’m so happy to see you! This is gonna be just the best day ever, and you know why? Cause you get to see all your new pet friends and you can talk to them and they can talk to you and you’ll play all sorts of games and go swimming, running, jumping, flying, hopping, wagging, napping, teething, turtling–”

That’s about where I stop listening and see what everyone else is doing. Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack look like they're setting something up. It looks they might be grilling, but I worry about what ponies would grill. Fluttershy is already talking to the pets, and whenever she turns her back on one, Discord ties a balloon to it or makes its tail disappear or anything else that could be considered magical violation if that exists. Rarity is lying on a couch and mumbling and moaning. Twilight looks like she's overseeing; very princess of her.

Luna told me to let people into my heart to fix it. I don’t see how I’m supposed to let these idiots in, but they did make an effort in their own way for me. It just seemed to mean more when Luna made the effort.

I sigh and give in. “–and I don’t know what Apple Jack is making for lunch, but I hope it’s grilled apples with some caramel sauce – I love caramel sauce! I love apples too, but caramel is better cause I love sugar more than anything and I haven’t even had that much today yet! I can’t wait to start having a ton of sugar because that’s when I really get hyper and everybody has more fun that way!”

“Uh, cool,” is my effort for the day.

“K bye!” she shouts and bounces off in a way that makes it look as if Discord made her do it, but he looks squeamishly at her as she bounces past him.

I walk closer to where everyone is, and just as I get close enough to the grill to smell the delicious apples on them, Rainbow Dash floats in beside me and settles into a lawnchair.

“So how’s it going, Mr. Limelight?” she says smoothly while slipping her sunglasses on.

“It’s alright,” I say. She takes off her sunglasses and breathes on the outside, then shines them with her mane.

“That’s cool man,” she says. “I’m doing pretty alright too. Just chilling and soaking up how awesome this day is.”

“It’s nice,” I say. The weather really is nice now that I take a second to notice it. It’s a little hot, but that just makes the breeze so much more refreshing. There are a few clouds, but they look so perfect that Rainbow must have left them there on purpose. “You did a good job.”

“Oh, yeah. I always do awesome.” She stretches back. “How did you know I do the weather?”

I shrug. “I think I found out while half-ignoring Pinkie.”

“Ignoring, huh? Yeah, Pinkie was hard to deal with for me when I first met her too,” she says. “It’s not healthy to ignore her though. If you do, it only makes her try harder in the long run. If you just act like you’re her friend, then you’ll eventually realize she’s pretty cool too.”

“Isn’t that really fake though?” I ask.

“Eh. I think there’s a difference between faking and trying something new. Like if you think you hate broccoli, you won’t like it when someone makes it good. So you gotta pretend like you like it at first and give it the B.O.D.”

“B.O.D.? And wait, you guys have broccoli?”

“Yeah of course we do! Anyways, the B.O.D. is the benefit of the doubt, man. You just gotta try some things out, and thinking positive about ‘em is the only way to like ‘em at all.”

I wonder if that’s what Luna meant. Maybe, I need to pretend that I like things in order to enjoy them. I guess always thinking how you don’t like somebody isn’t the best way to open up to them.

“Thanks, Rainbow. I’ll try.”

“You got it, Caleb. I gotta help friends when they need me. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be this awesome.”

Right. Awesome. I knew you were cocky, but you’re starting to come off as stupid.

“Oh, Rainbow,” Rarity says from behind us, relaxing on her red couch. “Do remember that your self-confidence is sometimes, oh, overbearing, I must say. Especially for those who don’t know you well.”

“I gotta be loyal to myself, Rarity!” she shouts back, raising her hoof in the air. “If I’m not loyal to me, I can’t really be loyal to anyone!”

“That’s very good, Rainbow dear.” Her demeanor seems as fake as I imagined it, but maybe she’s doing that whole ‘fake being nice to actually be nice’ idea. “I do love your enthusiasm, but you must learn to attempt some form of modesty.”

“Modesty, shmodesty! I’m me, and that’s that!”

Rarity sighs. I feel like she’s probably attempted this talk before, but Rainbow is pretty thick-headed. “How are you doing, Caleb? Has Discord been unbearable as always?”

“Uh,” I start. Well, yes he has, but I guess I should try that fake acceptance thing now. “No, he’s great.”

“There's no need to lie about it, dear," she says. I guess it was hard to not see through that one. "He's the most detestable creature I've ever met. It's only with much trial and forgiveness that I now call him my friend."

"If you don't like him, then why are you his friend?"

"Caleb dear," she says, and her light laugh makes it sound as if she's stuck up on that high-horse. "It is in my nature to be generous, and the greatest generosity I can offer is my friendship."

"Oh." Wow. She might just be cockier than Rainbow Dash. I mean, damn. I knew she was all hoity-toity, but I didn't think she could be that far into the clouds as to see her friendship as a gift; as if her personality is Heaven's grace on Earth– uh, Equestria.

“Are y’all just gonna sit there chattin’, or will somebody get over here to help me plate this lunch?”

The accent in Apple Jack’s voice annoyed me before and it still does, but I’ll try to be open. She might be the best one yet after all.

“On it,” Rainbow shouts and rushes to the side of her orange, cowboy hat-wearing friend.

“Thank you, Rainbow dear,” Rarity says, barely moving. “I’m glad I can count on wonderful friends like you to help when I’m not feeling well.”

“Shut yer piehole and git over here too, Rarity!” she commands. “I need help, and I ain’t got time for yer half-baked excuses.”

“Oh, fine!” Rarity moans and drags herself off the couch toward Apple Jack and the grill. Apple Jack flips apples behind her while Rainbow catches them on plate in the air. Rarity quickly uses her magic to fix the picnic table and plates on top of it to make it look like an expensive steak dinner– I still don’t know if steak is a thing here– rather than grilled apples at a lake. Meanwhile, I look around to see Fluttershy and Discord working together to feed the pets, Pinkie waddling behind a family of ducks, and Twilight making more check marks.

"Hey, Caleb," Apple Jack calls at me, "you like apples, right?"

"Uh, yeah," I say. "Apples are fine.”

“Good! Cause I got a whole lot of em for you to eat, and I cook the best apples in all Equestria!”

“Uh, great,” I say. She’s kind of making a big claim, but it’s hard for me to say that it’s a cocky one. It’s cooking after all. Everyone says they’re the best at it once they have something good. And I can’t really dispute apple-cooking. I’ve had an apple pie once, but I never thought of apples needing to be cooked. Pinkie did say something about honesty with Apple Jack, so I should give her a little benefit of the doubt as Rainbow said.

Rarity finishes setting the table, and the six ponies plus Discord gather around and start eating as soon as they each take a seat.

“Caleb, you should come and eat with us,” Twilight says with a smile on her face after she swallows her first bite.

I don’t know what to say, so I just sit down next to them and start eating. The apples taste so juicy and sweet that I can’t believe it. I can taste the smoke from the grill really caramelized on the apples, and the heat makes the juice flow so quickly almost as if they’re candy skins filled with hot apple cider. By the time I swallow my first bite, all I can see is my plate full of apples. I tear into them as quickly as I can, forgetting anything I feel besides the sweetness exploding across my tongue. Suddenly, I reach for another apple and don’t find any. I already finished the plate and fall back to reality.

I cringe as Discord’s face is right next to mine with his mouth raised weirdly high in a creepy smile next to his pair of tiny eyes as he says, “You like grilled apples, don’t you Caleb?”

“Yeah! Sure! Just move that freaking weird face of yours onto the other side of the table!”

Rainbow laughs so hard that apple juice squirts out of her nose, and the rest of the ponies join in laughing obnoxiously. I can’t even help from laughing with them. Pinkie laughs so hard that she falls over, making everyone worried for a second and then start laughing all over again, and I keep laughing with them.

“Well, look who’s here!” Apple Jack says, and I look over to where she is and see Winona next to her and all six pets around the table. “They must have come over in a fright when they saw Caleb giggling with us!”

Rainbow, Rarity, Apple Jack, and Discord laugh away at the joke. Fluttershy and Twilight lightly laugh and smile at me. Pinkie’s just gone. I guess too much laughing makes her disappear.

Meanwhile, all I can think is that she better watch it with that honesty bullcrap. I'll laugh if something's funny. It's not my fault these idiots are always such losers. I bet she wouldn't be pretending honesty like that if it was just her and me with no friends to have her back. She'd be respectful and shut the heck up.

"It's just a joke, Caleb," Twilight says, floating another apple to my plate. I don't touch it.

"Lighten up, boy!" Discord shouts heartily, strapping a few balloons to my back before they fall like lead weights.

"I'm fine!" I say and get up.

"You can't lie to your friends, partner!" Apple Jack says.

Stop calling yourselves my friends.

They all go quiet. I look back. Everyone's in their chair and either looking at me or at the ground. Even Pinkie's back from who cares where.

Did I say that out loud? I didn't think I was actually talking. I thought I kept that one to myself. Well if I did, I'm not gonna pretend I didn't.

"Enjoy the honesty, Jack" is all I say.

I walk away. I don't know what to think about them, but I guess I'm partially glad that I said it. Now they know how I feel, and maybe they'll finally start treating me with some respect rather than Discord's little pet. I'm a man –not a damn dog– and I deserve to be treated like one!

Author's Note

Sorry the chapter was so short, but I decided to cut it short or I'd end up with it being too long by combining it with the next one. Besides, it's already been too long since I've posted, and it's time to get the story moving again! The last chapter didn't get a ton of attention, probably cause I posted it at midnight PST, so I won't do that again!
Sorry for not posting for so long. I got a little writer's block, even though I don't believe in writer's block, I guess. And then E3 happened, and I just couldn't not pay attention to the amazing Smash Bros. stuff going on! I can't wait for that new game to come out!
I think I found the way to break my writer's block though. A little light-reading always helps, and I started going back through Eragon. I never did finish that series, but I'm determined to do it now! I always have wanted to write a serious essay about that series, so maybe I'll be able to once I finish it!
Have a great day and God bless!

Magic

Chapter 5: Magic

They haven't stopped me. I look back and see that I'm alone. I'm in some light woods now, so I can't see the picnic area anymore. I haven't thought for one moment about where I'm going, and I haven't thought about going back.
I don't cry. I don't spend my time worrying about them. I don't even think really. All I really do is walk, not paying attention to myself, to anyone else, to the woods, to anything.

Still, I slowly start to notice the odd things appearing in the woods. Trees start to repeat. Animals start to look at me. The woods turn into a forest and eventually I find myself in an enclosing, not even realizing how I had walked in because the trees are surrounding me fully now. I don't think I could even squeeze between them, and they're too tall to climb. I turn around looking for a way out. When I face ahead again, I see Discord, and he looks angry.

“What?” I say, opening my arms wide. “You gonna get more satisfaction from messing with me? Or are you gonna just admit that you made a mistake and send me home?”

He snarls at me, but I keep my eyes hard and glare right back. He walks forward slowly. “I could say that you need to watch your tone when talking to me, but I see that there isn’t much I can threaten such a stupid boy with. You feel as if you’ve seen the worst of your life, and I don’t mean to threaten, but I am warning you for your sake. If you don’t act more carefully, you’ll feel regret and despair the kind of which you’ve never known.”

“Shut up!” I step forward and get ready to fight him with all that I have. “I’m sick of you saying everything vague, and I’m sick of your damn games! Just tell me why you brought me here!”

“Why don’t you tell me why you came first?”

I look at him. He doesn’t move an inch, and for a second, I don’t either. “I thought life couldn’t get any worse, so I figured it could be better somewhere else. But I can’t live in a world that’s so fake.”

“Is the world fake? Or are you just so used to being worthless that you’re starting to miss it?”

“Stop talking around it and tell me why the hell I’m here!”

“You’re here by your own choice. You wanted a new life, and it’s not my fault that you wanted that new life to be miserable so badly that you wouldn’t take friendship from six beings absolutely dedicated to the word.”

“That’s not true! You read my mind and knew that I was desperate!”

“No one here has once read your mind except for that one moment when I needed to convince you that I could. Fluttershy and I told you that so you would know that you couldn’t keep anything from us.”

“You’re lying! I know you’ve been in my head since we met!”

“Calm down,” he says as if he can make me do anything. “I could force you to sit down right now, but I want you to listen to me in your own way.”

“If you’ve been reading my mind, and I know that you have, has everyone else been doing it too?”

“Mind-reading is dark magic, so very few ponies can learn it. I can do it, but I don’t need to use magic to know. You’re simple. I can read your face and figure out almost exactly what you’re thinking.”

“I can’t trust a single word you say.”

“No one ever has, Caleb, so don’t think yourself to be so special.”

I look around, but this isn’t a real place. He’s made the illusion that we’re in this meadow surrounded by trees that are suffocatingly and impossibly close to each other. Nothing moves. There are no animals, no breeze, no sound. Discord and I are all that's here in this fake meadow in a fake world.

"So why did you pick me over any other human? Am I more fun to mess with because I'm so stupid and miserable?"

"Don't be so confident in yourself," he says, still not showing emotion. "Actually, I much prefer to play those sorts of games with ponies that think themselves to be incredibly intelligent like Twilight and Celestia. But that's a different story. You want me to tell you why I picked you, is that right? Because I don't think you'll like the answer."

"Just tell me already."

He rolls his eyes. "You're such a disrespectful punk."

"Yeah, whatever," I say. "Just say it."

"I'm afraid that's it."

"What?"

"I picked you because of who you are. Not that you're alone in being disrespectful, or that you're special for being miserable. I picked you because you actually seem to enjoy it."

"What are you talking about?"

"You are aware of why I was to take a pet, correct?"

"Yeah. Fluttershy said you needed one to become a better person."

"Eh hem. Spirit actually. Well she also is allowing me to take a pet because she feels that I have reached a point in my reformation to being 'good' where I can begin to have responsibility and take care of something besides myself."

"So?"

"So that is the reason I chose to take a pet. Now why did I pick a human of all things? Animals that can't talk tend to bore me, and enchanting them is only fun when they can make a mess of things. Plus, I prefer controlling by mental possession rather than forced slavery."

"Huh?"

"Now why did I choose you out of all humans? Yes, I did my research. I knew that you would be more likely to accept. I also knew that you probably wouldn't like me or Equestria at all. I picked you because I truly felt that you needed a chance for a change."

"I don't believe you, but why not just send me somewhere nicer?"

"Because that would be a wasted effort. If I was going to help you, I was determined to follow through until you had gotten better."

"Gotten better? I'm poor, not sick."

"Caleb, you are very sick. You're one of the most masochistic beings I've ever seen. Enjoying pain to an extent is one thing, but you see no reason to live unless you're suffering. Can't you see the problem in that?"

“Whatever. Can we go back now?”

The look on his face is priceless. He stares at me open-mouthed for a second; not with any magic, just an open-mouthed and wide-eyed Discord unable to believe that someone didn’t respect his oh-so-humble opinion. It makes me smirk a little. Then he grinds his teeth together so hard that his fang cuts his lip open. He looks around the forest trap and pulls on his face.

“I don’t know how you didn’t get shot in that hell-hole with that cocky, ungrateful attitude of yours. No, we’re not done yet, boy. I know that you don’t like me, and I know that you don’t have any friends. I know you didn’t have any before you came, but I’m hoping you can make friends with the pets back at the lake. Animals are often easier to get along with for some humans and ponies, but I can’t really understand why. Fluttershy always tries to explain it to me, but she can’t do it without using multiple forms of the word ‘cute.’”

“Hooray, now I can be friends with furries, a feather-brain, and a freaking turtle.”

His hateful glare makes me smile. “I’ve decided to give you the power to talk to animals, but I can’t enchant humans or ponies in such a way. I’ve found I can only animate things that are inanimate or worthless like forest creatures. Therefore, I will be giving you some of my magical power to use for this purpose.”

“Alright sure. Abrakadammit.”

He turns around and walks away as the world starts to spin around me. I get dizzy and start falling.

I wake up in damp, soft grass. My eyes are still closed, but I can feel the warmth of the sun again, and I can hear the shallow lapping of the lake behind me as a gentle breeze pushes it around. I take a deep breath in and wonder what I’m gonna have to do to get out of here.

I open my eyes and see a turtle standing still in front of me. It cranes its neck to the side and says in a low, scratchy voice, “He woke up.”

Fantastic. I can understand and talk to animals. I can’t wait to hear what sponges have to say.

“Finally! Holy shit that piece of shit took forever to wake the hell up!” I look over and see Angel Bunny hopping toward me. He stops right in front of my face and waves his carrot at me. “Get the hell up! What you think you’re better than us? We’re on the same damn level! You’re a damn pet and I’m a damn pet, so you better listen to what I got to say!”

I sit up and raise my eyebrow at the puffball.

“Don’t even have the respect to say you’re sorry or introduce yourself even. You worthless piece of shit! Say something damn it! Or I’ll stick this carrot so far up your–”

“Calm down,” the turtle says slowly. “If Fluttershy wants us to be friends with Caleb, then we need to listen to her.”

“I don’t care one stinkin’ bit what that bitch says! She didn’t even make my salad right this morning! For the fourth damn day in a row!”

“Who?”

“Fluttershy, you dip-shit owl!”

“I heard you, Mr. Bunny,” the owl says, flapping and landing in front of me as well. “Forgive our friend’s rudeness, Caleb. He hasn’t seemed to learn what the word ‘filter’ means.”

“I can tell,” I say.

“He can understand us?” Tank asks.

“Fluttershy failed to inform of us that he’d been enchanted so,” Owlowiscious says. “No matter. Let’s use this to make friends with him.”

“Right. Friends,” I say.

“Don’t you agree with him, bucko!” Angel threatens, waving the carrot in my face again. “You and me: we ain’t friends! You and them: I don’t care, but I don’t trust you. Just cause you can talk on our level doesn’t mean you’re on of us.”

“I thought you said we’re on the same level?”

“Nah, I said you ain’t better than us! And that’s damn right cause you’ll never be on our level! You got some spell put on you so you can talk to us, but you ain’t one of us!”

I roll my eyes and try to turn away, but I’m surrounded by stupid-looking animals with attitudes. Actually, not all of them have attitudes. Applejack’s dog, Winona, just looks at me and wags its tail. I raise an eyebrow at her, and she barks. She can talk to me, but the dumb bitch still barks.

“What do you want?” I ask her.

“Oh! Oh! You got any apples?” She starts running around and chasing her tail. “Applejack can make so much yummy food with apples!” She bites her tail and yelps.

“Oh, Winona, do stop being so stupid,” Opalescence says while stirring in her curled-up laziness. Apparently, she’s such a lazy cat that she can’t even get off her ass to insult her friends.

I turn around and look at Gummy, the baby alligator. Its big, purple eyes looking opposite directions and its inward-turned feet exude uncanny amounts of intelligence. I look at it for a moment, and then decide to ask, “You got anything to say?”

It opens its mouth for a second, smiling wide with its toothless grin before saying with the intelligent delivery of a scholar, “Candy.”

I turn back to Devil Bunny and Owlfishes.

“What are you looking at, fatass?” the white punk says.

I blink, wondering how to put this statement together. Finally, I say, “I guess I’ve just been thinking that stupid owners breed stupid pets.”

I can't help but grin as big as the night sky when I see the look of fury on that furry freak's face. He walks right up to me and points at the ground. I assume that means that I should come down to his level. I decide that I want to, so I lie down on my belly, holding my grin up with one hand as I look at his silly scowl.

He lowers his voice really low and says with intended menace, "Did you just call us stupid, bub?"

I decide to whisper just as quietly, but with a little more mockery while I say, "Why no. What would make you think that I said something like that?"

"Good," he says with his full angry voice again. "Cause if you ever insult my friends and me again, I'm gonna make you wish you were never born, bucko!"

"I already do, pal," I say with as much hate as I can muster. "Next time you make a threat at me, make sure you can deliver something threatening. Otherwise, you could sound– oh what's the word? Oh, right. Stupid."

His eyes light up with anger and he throws himself at me, so I try to smack him away. Instead of my hand hitting him though, he vanishes. I hear a splash behind me and turn around to see him splashing about and cursing everything.

"I swear if that was Princess Can't-Fly-Right I'll rip her damn wings right off!" he shouts, turning around. I look to see who did it too. But there are no ponies near us. Discord isn't here either. I look way across the lake to see the 7 of them not paying us any attention. "Who did that?"

I look back around to see every animal looking at Angel, except Owlowiscious. He's looking straight at me.

“Well, who did it?” Angel demands as he swims to shore.

“Who indeed,” Owlowiscious says as he floats over to my side, cocking his head to the side at me.

“If you know who did it, you better say something right–” Angel stops.

I look down at my hands. There are no blue sparks flying out of them or anything, but they definitely feel heavier. It feels as if something pumps in my veins besides blood. My heart beats in my head, and the hairs on my arms stand up straight. Is it possible?

“I think you understand what I mean,” the owl says.

“Owlowiscious,” Tank says sluggishly, “what are you talking about?”

“That’s simply not possible, Owlowiscious,” Opalescence says, walking in front of the owl. “The human could not use magic any more than we can.”

“You’re right, Opalescence,” he says, starting to pace in front of me with his wings behind his back. “The human could not use magic; that is, before he went into that forest. Something happened in that forest. The human could not use magic before he could talk to and understand we animals. He can now speak to and understand we animals through some magical force. Therefore, whatever happened in that forest to give the human the ability to speak to us also gave him some amount of controllable magic powers.”

“Who gave you magic, bub?” Angel demands, wringing its tail out and stomping up to me.

“None of your business, fluffy,” I spit at him.

“You better–”

“Actually,” Owl interrupts, “I think it’s quite plain who gave him magic. He was not in the Everfree Forest, so it could not have been Zecora or any dark enchantment already living in the woods; no one knew that he had entered the woods except those of us at the lake; and none of the ponies here would have given him magical power, knowing that the consequences could be dangerous. There is only one suspect remaining.”

“Then it truly was Discord,” Opal says. “Oh, how could he?”

“Cause he’s a damn maniac, always thinking of himself and how to mess things up; that’s how!” Angel shouts, stomping around more, shaking water onto the grass.

“But the question is why would Discord give Caleb this magical power?” Owl asks, insinuating that he has an answer.

“Didn’t he just want Caleb to talk to us so that we could help him?” Tank asks.

“Course not!” Angel attacks. “That freak is getting some kinda laugh over there watching this whole thing. He doesn’t like to help people. He gets off to watching everyone else suffer!”

“Don’t be so quick, Angel,” Owl says.

“Oh dear,” Opal says. “You can’t really believe that Discord truly meant to help Caleb, can you? After he just betrayed the entire continent mere weeks ago? He cannot be trusted!”

“You’re damn right, he can’t!” Angel screams, finally starting to sound as if he’s losing his voice.

“Actually, I can believe that,” Owl says, flapping his wings and floating around the circle again while I watch them all, still not adding anything. “It only makes sense that Discord would have good intentions.”

“Now, I know you’re full of shit,” I chime in.

“Apparently, I agree with a human,” Angel adds. “I never wanted that crap to happen.”

“What do you mean, Mr. Owl?” Tank adds.

“Discord needs the trust of the ponies back right now,” Owl begins, “so I can only believe that he is undertaking this task to further that trust. I doubt he would make such a controversial decision right now if he thought it was not for a good purpose. Therefore, I think that he is in fact trying to help Caleb.”

“I’m afraid that I’m not quite convinced, friend,” Opal retorts. “You said that ‘it only makes sense,’ and your argument is very logical, but Discord is neither of those things. How can you so surely assume that he suddenly is?”

“Fat cat’s right,” Angel says, nodding along. “Discord doesn’t make any sense no matter how you look at it.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, my friends,” Owl continues. “Discord’s agenda may not be sensical to us, but he does have one. He has goals, and he strives to achieve them in one way or another even if we can’t understand his methods.”

“I highly doubt he had such methods when he faked his sickness,” Opal responds. “Do you really think that he wanted to check on Twilight’s affection for him?”

“I don’t,” Owl says, “but I do think he had intentions. One of them may have simply been entertainment. Another may have been to check on our princess’s ego.”

My attention starts to fade. I have magic now, and I’m not using it for anything but listening to a bunch of woodland creatures debate why I have magic. It doesn’t matter why have magic. I have it, and I don’t intend on wasting it like Rarity and Twilight do. I’m not going to set up a picnic with a wave of my hand; I have the power to change things right now. But I can’t do that while sitting with these idiots.

I look at them without hearing a word they’re saying. I’m not sure if I’m actually tuning them out with magic, but it would explain how Rarity and Twilight can stay friends with Pinkie Pie. I need to leave and start getting to work on making some kind of difference. I focus on illusion. I need to leave a decent decoy so that they don’t notice anything while I leave. I focus my thoughts on leaving an impression of myself, an illusion that mimics the way I’ve been behaving the last few minutes. I focus on that illusion, and it appears over my skin, fitting like a glove.

Now, to get out of here. I should go right back to the woods. It’s the only place I know where I can be alone for a little. I focus my mind on the trees out of sight, and without lifting a finger, I hear no faint voices surrounding me. All that remains is the quiet chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects. I’m alone, but I’m more than myself. There’s a new person within me, and that person can change the world for good.

Author's Note

Oh no! Caleb has magic! What sort of crazy writer would give magic to a crazy person? Well, Lauren Faust did when she made Discord lol.

It's been a while since I posted the last chapter, but it looks like I'll be posting with more Rarity. Ha. Sorry. Very sorry for that one. Anyways, I'm trying to write other non-fanfic stuff, so I'm not putting quite as much effort into this as I used to. Plus, Pokémon VGC Nationals are this weekend in the US, so I'll be paying as much attention to those as possible! Unfortunately, I can't be there, but I have several friends participating in VGC and TCG, so shoutouts to them, including Johnchkrow who is a Brony as well.

A couple people mentioned the upvote/downvote ratio on this story. It is not as positive as I would have preferred, and I would like more attention/comments on the story as well. What can I do to get more views? Much more importantly, how can I get you all to enjoy the story more? Let me know in the comments below. Let me know anything in the comments below, or PM me if you like. We can talk Pokémon, Smash Bros., MLP, and whatever else. Love you all and God Bless!

Chaos

Chapter 6: Chaos

Magical power. Almost unlimited magical power. It's mine to use however I want, but I'm going to use it right. I won't waste this power.
I have to see what I can do though. There’s no point using this magic if I’m not sure what it’s capable of, and I know that Discord gave me an incredible amount of power. I’m just realizing that my ability to use magic so conveniently and easily must mean that I have a ridiculous amount of magic. I had no idea my first two spells would work, but Discord's magic is strong. I feel so comfortable using it that it feels as if I mastered it years ago. Discord was an idiot for giving me this much power. He should know that I have no intention of using it to talk to animals.
“I have to change this world,” I say to myself, thinking of what I could do. “No! I have to change my own world! I’ll bring all the poor up and let the rich see what it’s like to be at the bottom. I’ll bring justice to Earth. Real justice.”
I can feel my magic welling up inside me. I’ve never felt so powerful, so whole. I won’t waste this opportunity.
“First, I’ll show these freaks in hoofland what reality is. I’ll show them that the weak suffer and the strong die as weakly as the frailest butterfly in an inferno. I’ll show them what it's like to be powerless and hopeless. Then they'll wish for the opportunity, the freedom, the ease of life they once had. But I won't give it back to them. I'll put them on their knees not so they can worship me but so that they never stand again. Then they'll understand true frailty.”
"I have to take over Ponyville. Then I'll take over the rest of Equestria. I'll kill Discord. I'll kill Twilight and the rest of them. Then I'll return to Earth and I'll become its ruler. They'll have no way to stand up to me.
How do I begin? I've heard how Discord once tried to take over Ponyville, how he failed to take over Equestria twice. But I'm different. I have direction. I won't go soft. That's why I will be able to rule these worthless, stupid ponies. It's why I'll rule even Earth.
I have to research what Discord did to gain control and, more importantly, how he failed to keep it. I'm sure the Canterlot library has tons of information on this, and I should be able to go through it all easily. The magic flows violently inside me, and I can envision my destination despite having never been there. My eyes close as I let the power of chaos guide me through darkness, through confusion, through a portal of endless fear. Suddenly, I’m in the library, and I'm not sure if the lack of light is comforting or miserable.
I look around myself, watching the ever-extending shelves of books as my eyes adjust to the darkness and bring them into focus. I expected the library to be large, but the enormity of it blows my mind. Even as my eyes begin to adjust to the dim lighting, I still fail to see the wall on any side. The next section, alone, is over a hundred yards away.
I don’t need to worry about any other section though. I’m in the middle of the history section of the library, amidst an entire wall fully dedicated to Discord’s plans, possible reasons, musings on his psychology, anything I would want if I cared about it all.
I see right away the book that I need as if I had picked it up a thousand times before, and I take it from its shelf. It feels relatively new, which I realize makes sense since it includes Discord’s schemes with Tirek. I pop open the book and skim through the stories, scanning for his failures.
After the uniting of Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies in the founding of Equestria, unrest slowly claimed the various ponies as they strove to determine a form of government. Despite the guidance of friendship, harmony was still far from within grasp. As unrest transformed into argumentation, argumentation transformed into chaos. Amidst this endless turmoil, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, was born. Discord grew to incredible power with ease, taking over much of Equestria before many knew that he existed. Within a few weeks of his birth into the world, he had conquered the land, ruling it and ever maintaining its disharmony between ponies, animals, and all of his subjects.

After the passing of a half-millennium, two brave sisters stepped forth to oppose him. The young Alicorns Celestia and Luna had discovered the Elements of Harmony, and were able to defeat Discord using these powerful tools, locking him away in a stone coffin where he would have remained for eternity.

However, when Princess Luna was disconnected from Princess Celestia, the magic from the Elements of Harmony began to slowly deteriorate. Eventually, all it took was a slight nudge to awake Discord and his endless magic of turmoil. Discord was able to hide the Elements of Harmony and once again rule amidst chaos, but his reign was cut short as Twilight Sparkle led her friends to once again harness the power of the Elements of Harmony and bring Discord back to his stony prison.

“Well, that didn’t help at all,” I mumble to myself. “All I know is that Twilight and friends have an unbeatable trump card that they can throw out whenever they want. Discord was able to separate them from their harmony though. Maybe I could do the same thing, but do it better.”
“Talking to yourself is a bad habit when you want to sneak around, Caleb,” Princess Luna says calmly as she walks into my aisle. I turn around, and almost try to hide the book. But I stop myself. I have nothing to be afraid of. I have the magic of Discord after all.
“Since you’re curious about the Elements of Harmony, I’ll tell you about them,” she says.
“When did I say I was curious?” I snap back.
“I simply assumed so.”
“Well, don’t assume anything about me!” I shout.
She looks at me for a moment, waiting a long while before responding. “I won’t tell you much about them then. I’ll simply say that they’re gone. Not completely of course. They’ve effectively been absorbed into the ponies you know so well, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her fellow princesses-to-be.”
I almost ask about the ‘princess-to-be’ comment, but I don’t want to get sucked into her emotional yapping. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“I heard that Discord gave some of his magic to you,” she says. “Is this true?”
I turn the book into a flock of paper birds and let them fly away. I don’t need it anymore. “It must be,” I say back.
“I feared as much,” she says and turns her head aside. “If only you knew the burden of such power. You must be consumed in turmoil with all the chaos he has let loose within you.”
“I don’t have any turmoil. I know exactly what I want.” I stare at her until she looks back up at me. I see the glimmer of a tear forming in her eye, and it nearly catches in my throat. I hold back my feelings, holding close to my ideals. “I will change this world. I will make it understand what it is like to feel powerless. Then I’ll return to my home, and I’ll make every human in the world feel as powerless as I felt my entire life.”
She shakes her head and lets her eyes fall to the floor; tears fall to the wooden floor immediately. She doesn’t sob. She simply lets the tears fall as they splash against the ground, sparkling as they fall in the pale moonlight from the windows above.
“I tried to help you,” she whispers as if she doesn’t want me to hear it.
“I never needed help,” I say proudly, making sure she hears me. “I never needed the emotion you gave me. I never needed anything you told me. I just needed this one chance, my chance. This magic is my chance, my destiny; I will not let it pass without this world and my world feeling the effect of my power and will.”
“You don’t understand, Caleb,” she says. “This will only lead to your heartbreak. You don’t know how much worse your life could get.”
“You served a sentence on the moon,” I retort. “I served a sentence in my home with no family and no hope. I’ve done my time.”
“Who’s to say that you won’t serve a longer sentence, Caleb?” She walks close to me so that I can see her. Her face is serious, laden with creases of concern and exhaustion. Her tone is urgent. Her tears seem to be burning down her cheeks. “Who’s to say that your sentence would not be worse? Caleb, this very action of hatred will be your sentence for holding hatred in your heart. You don’t understand how horrible life can be when you take everything away from yourself. You will die, Caleb, and yet you will be forced to live.”
“You’re just spitting nonsense now,” I say as I walk away from her. “Saying I don’t know how horrible life can be? I grew up in the cell of hopelessness. You say that this action, this freedom is my punishment? Then I want more! Give me more of this easy, empowering punishment so that I can keep putting you all under my foot.”
“No, Caleb!” she pleads. “Please, don’t do this to yourself. I don’t want to see you in any more pain. You’ve already suffered so much–”
“As if anyone would know that better than me? I know exactly what suffering is, and I want to end it! I want everyone to understand my suffering so that no one causes it ever again! My suffering will be the last suffering ever.”
“Your suffering will only grow worse. Suffering cannot die except with death.”
“Then death is what I’ll give this world.”
“No,” she cries. “No, no.” Her tears fall like the stars of the end of time, shining brightly before crashing to the ground. I stand straight and watch her cry. I watch every teardrop fall, and I force myself to feel nothing for any one of them. I watch even as she turns away and mumbles more nonsense about how she couldn’t save me.
I watch until she is long gone from sight, long gone from earshot. I try to wait until she is gone from my memory, but I don’t have that much time. I mean, I have to get moving. I have to begin my attack. I know what I have to do to take out Twilight and her worthless friends. I’ll attack them personally, and I’ll destroy their lives until they can no longer feel connected to each other. Therefore, they will be unable to summon their magic, and I’ll be able to conquer them all.
I don’t need to spend another minute here. I know my plan, and I have to get on with it. Something about this place makes me uncomfortable anyways.
I teleport once again, aiming straight for Fluttershy’s cottage. If any pony’s suffering will make them all suffer, it’s her. I find myself high in the sky above her home, waiting for a shift in the wind. Why am I waiting? I could just destroy her house right now, and so I will with this fire.
Nothing happens. I throw my hands in an exaggerated motion at her house, but nothing happens. I can’t let it burn.
A whisper flies past my ear like a fly in the wind. “Who’s there?” I shout, but there’s no one.
I shake my head and look back at the house, around the house. The only thing I see is a tree. “Hmmm, it might work.” I let the tree transform across time and become an incredibly large match as the birds all fly away from their vanished homes. I watch as the side of the cottage turns into a striking strip, and I release the match to fall into the striking strip, igniting in a glorious blaze. Within moments, it catches to the cottage, and the inferno burns as hundreds of creatures crash through the front door, escaping over each other as some are trampled to the floor. Some get up.
I look for Fluttershy, but she’s nowhere to be seen. I shrug and set course for the next target, Applejack’s home in Sweet Apple Acres. She loves her honesty. I'll give her an honest end.
Sweet Apple Acres seems as empty as it could be. All the cattle are gone, and I don’t see a pony in sight. I shrug as the grass below turns into acid, enveloping everything it touches into a horrible-smelling flame. It’s too late to stop, but I’ll never burn property that way again. I wanted to enjoy Applejack’s burning home, but this damn smell ruins all of it.
Screw it. I’m off to Rarity’s house. It’s probably the most disgusting waste of wealth that I’ve ever seen. Everything is so modern and expensive-looking that I don’t even know how to burn it right. Nobody’s home to see it happen unfortunately. I look at some of the jewels laden about the inside of her windows and watch as they sprout lit fuses in preparation to burst into flame. I feel hundreds and thousands more jewels in her house sprout the same angry fuses, and I let a smirk crawl onto my face. I don’t stay to watch this one since the blast will be so large.
I find myself sitting on a cloud where Rainbow Dash must live. The house is fairly modest, seeming smaller in its emptiness. Lightning comes straight from the clouds in this world, so I decide to summon some lightning from the earth, watching as it penetrates and slices the cloud-riding home. The cloud dissipates, and the burning, splintered house falls toward the earth like so many falling stars.
I turn my attention to finding Pinkie Pie’s house, and I immediately find myself right in the middle of Ponyville, in an alley between two buildings. I see a box. This stupid pony is filthy rich and famous, and yet she chooses to live in a box. That makes absolutely no sense! What a total imbecile. I find another box, turn it into a grill, and toss Pinkie’s stupid box on top, letting it sizzle and burn.
I turn around and see Twilight’s palace. I don’t need to teleport or let Discord’s magic guide me to this place. I’ll simply float there and set it aflame slowly. I hope everyone can see it too.
I behold the palace in all of its beauty, and I hate it. A palace dedicated to friendship. I wonder where the palace of people who can’t afford food is. This is all so ridiculous.
“Get out of here!” someone shouts. I ignore her.
“Why are you doing this?” someone else shouts. I wish I was experienced enough at this to tune them out completely. Maybe I’ll get there someday.
An apple clocks me in the side of the head, breaking my focus completely.
“Who threw–”
Nearly the entire town of ponies is standing behind me as I turn around to face them. Hundreds of ponies with all sorts of colors and cutie marks, and they all wear vivid anger on their faces. I show them no emotion. More of them start to pick up apples from nearby trees, but as they get ready to hurl them at me, the apples float gently into the sky.
“What do you think you’re doing, Caleb?” the mayor shouts at me.
“That’s what I meant to ask all of you,” I boom, using magic to amplify my voice. “What are all of you doing here?”
“We’re here to stop you from messing up our town, moron!” a particularly boorish stallion shouts.
“Yeah, quit it!”
“Get out of here!”
“Stop it!” I command them. “All of you, stop your useless shouting! I did not ask why you stand in the middle of town; I meant to ask why you are all here in Ponyville, living off of the work of others, living off of your magic and your unearned possessions and abilities. Why are you doing this rather than sharing everything you have with those who do not have?”
“What the heck?”
“Are you an idiot?”
“Go get a brain!”
“What are you talking about?”
I shake my head and turn away from them. “You’re all such imbeciles,” I say to myself. “If any of you worthless morons had a brain, you could understand that I’m trying to do something good for all rather than simply standing by to allow your unquenchable selfishness.”
“Get back here, Caleb!”
I ignore them all, finally starting to tune everything out as I focus on the palace ahead of me. I will burn it to the ground. I’ll crush it, leaving it in dust and ashes. I look at intently. If they wish to throw apples at me, I’ll throw one at them.
I summon a great tree as it sprouts from the ground, growing larger, wider, taller and bearing a single gigantic fruit to hang over the palace. A small ant hill between the palace and tree rages amidst the chaos around it, so I seize the opportunity to make one final demonstration. I turn them all into fire ants the size of horse heads, dripping with flaming acid from their mouths. They rush from their home to attack the intruding tree and its fruit, lighting the whole construction aflame. Finally, the blazing apple falls from the tree to be penetrated by the castle’s sharp pillars as the fruit spills its fiery liquid all across the cathedral of friendship. I watch as friendship is engulfed in a sweet-smelling fire.

Author's Note

Sorry about the format in this chapter. It's been so long since I've touched this story, but I decided I want to finish it! To fix the pacing in this chapter would require some editing of the already published story (i.e. justifying Caleb's mindset better, showing his world more, showing more of Equestria, and spending a whole lot of time that I don't want to lol). But I am gonna go ahead and just finish the story because while it may be rushed, I do think it is still pretty good, and I hope you all like it! Happy Sunday!

Equality

Chapter 7: Equality

The palace burns in front of me, molding with the deep orange of the blazing sunset behind it. I stop to enjoy my accomplishment before continuing on. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, preparing myself for the second part.
For a moment, I consider the idea that this is all a dream. Perhaps, Luna gave me this dream to get all of my anger out, or to show me something I don’t understand. Perhaps, Discord made it all by illusion, just to mess with me as some cruel joke. If either case is true, I am sure of one thing: this is exactly what I wanted.
With a booming voice and a confident mind, shout out at the ponies behind me, “This is my power.” I turn to see them. Some cry and hold their family. Some stand strong in idiotic rebellion. One sits on the grass eating a muffin. “This is the same power that you have used your entire lives. You have held it over those less fortunate than you, and now I hold it against your beloved palace.”
I float slowly into the midst of the crowd, staying high above it as I continue, “Using magic that others cannot; flying to heights that others cannot; doing any task that someone else cannot; all of these are the kinds of things that selfish, ignorant, inconsiderate ponies and humans do every day. I show you now what that power can feel like. When someone has the opportunities or the power that you could never have, it is devastating. You begin to realize that you are worthless while he is worthy, not by choice or hard work but by birth. He is simply greater than you, and today, I am greater than every single one of you ponies here.”
“So what?” says a stupid-looking horse with an orange and white bowtie, holding a crying blue pony that I assume to be his wife. “So what if you have magic that we don’t?”
“What can you do against me? What can you do against this power?” I raise my hands to the sky, letting them see my might.
“He doesn’t have to do anything!” someone else shouts. I can’t find the speaker.
“Yeah! What can you do against all of us?”
“You’re just one po-human!”
“Shut up!” I demand, stomping my feet on the air and eliciting a thud. “Don’t you all understand my power? Did you not see me destroy your princess’s palace? Do you not see what I can do to your town?”
“Go ahead and try!”
“Burn it down and you’ll go with it!”
“We can rebuild houses!”
“Yeah, but you can’t rebuild your face when we finish! Oh!”
Some of them start laughing. They are actually making jokes at me. They laugh at me. They don’t understand obviously. They’re too stupid to understand their situation.
“Your princesses won’t save you! I can kill all of you!”
“Yeah, right!”
“We don’t need princesses! We have each other!”
“We can take you out together!”
“Together! Together!”
They start to chant it. They all chant it.
“Together! Together! Together!”
I feel myself backing away, but I stop as I feel the heat of the fire at my back. They walk toward me.
“Together! Together!”
How can they be so stupid? They think they can beat me given my power?
What can I do? I won’t be forced to run away by a mob of useless ponies. But what can I do? I don’t know how to stop all of them. There are just too many, and I can’t hurt them directly. I can’t do anything to them, not all of them, not all at once. They’re advancing. They’re closing in on me.
“Pegasi!”
A swarm of Pegasi in V-formation fly straight for me from above the clouds ahead. I’m out of time.
“Take him out of the sky!” their leader shouts.
I ready myself to fight back. I won’t run.
“Bring him down so we can rip him apart!” an Earth Pony shouts
I dodge the leader’s attack easily, and I barely get around the second hit. They surround me. What sort of magic could I use? One strikes my shoulder with a strong hoof, nearly throwing it out of its socket. I have to do something. I dodge a kick to the face. What can I do? I block a kick to chest, but it breaks my hand anyways.
“Run,” says a voice in my head.
A kick in my back sends me forward, arms flailing. This last kick to my face might kill me. Run? I have to run.
I’m outside of Ponyville, bruised and aching. I can still see the smoke from the palace, but I have at least a few moments to rest. I lie on the grass, hoping to become one with it, to hide and rest under everyone’s feet. They would never know I was there. It was my fate all along. I wish I had the magic in me to make it so.
“Did you learn anything, Caleb?” says a particularly smug voice lying next to me. I won’t look at him. I don’t want to see his taunts. I just want him to kill me or let me be.
“Ponies aren’t as willing as you to let themselves be ruled,” he says. “They don’t just admit defeat so quickly. In fact, most humans are much slower to admit defeat than you. I guess humans and ponies have that in common.”
“What do you want, Discord?” I ask.
“I want you to look at me and take this seriously,” he says. I’ve never heard him sound so forceful.
I look at him. He’s the size of my finger, and he’s sitting in a black leather chair with an identical chair six inches across from him. “Take a seat,” he says. It isn’t an invitation. It isn’t a taunt. He honestly means for me to take part in his circus.
I shake my head and accept it. It’s better than getting hooves between my teeth. I shrink myself down proportionally to him and sit in the leather chair.
“Fluttershy, dear,” he calls. She walks from behind me, shrunken like us, and pulls out a roll of white tape from a bag slung across her back.
I pull my hand away from her as she reaches for it, but regret the decision instantly as pain shoots up my arm and nearly brings me to tears.
“Relax,” Discord says. “She just wants to dress your wound. You stayed in that fight a lot longer than any intelligent person would have.”
“Yeah? What would you have done?” I ask as she reaches for my hand again. I don’t move, but I don’t resist as she takes it as gently as possible, keeping it so still that I can hardly feel it moving as she wraps bandages around it. I can already feel them starting to cool and soothe my hand.
“In my prime of chaos, they would have been kicking a dummy made of glue while I watched from within the crowd before making my next trick,” he says. “But now, I think differently.”
“What would you do now?” I ask. Fluttershy pulls out some ice and bends me forward slightly as I feel my back screech in protest. She gently places the ice on my wound, knowing where it is without looking at the bruise under my shirt.
Discord turns away, looking off to the side at something. I try to follow his gaze, but all I see is tall grass and some bugs. “What are you looking at?”
“Your world, Caleb,” is all he says before a long pause. “This is the world you have always imagined yourself within. You see yourself as worthless as a bug, shorter than a blade of grass, as important as a speck of dust in the wind.”
“What are you talking about?” I demand as Fluttershy releases my back from pain and leans me back. She moves on to my shoulder, massaging away the pain gently despite her hard hooves.
“You tried to bring Ponyville down to your world, Caleb,” he says, shaking his head. “You wanted them to see your point of view, that everyone was worthless compared to something else. You forced on them something they did not accept, and you had no answer.”
“So what should I have done differently? How could I make them understand me?”
“Sometimes,” Fluttershy says as she pulls her hooves away from my comfortably healed shoulder, “you don’t need to be understood by others. Sometimes, you need to understand them.”
I start to object, but I stop myself and look at her as she walks to Discord’s side. She looks at me with as much love as she ever has. “Why are you helping me?” I ask.
“We’ve told you, Caleb,” she says. “We’re helping you for your sake.”
“Sure, but I just burned down your house,” I say. “I attacked your hometown. Why are you helping me?”
“Because you need it,” she says again. Discord pays full attention to her, not making any kind of disruption besides silently and calmly nodding in agreement, which is disrupting enough in contrast. “Houses can be rebuilt. No one was hurt by any of your attacks because of Discord’s warning, so you really haven’t done anything wrong.”
“How can you say that’s not wrong? And how to did Discord know I was coming?”
He laughs obnoxiously before saying calmly, “How could I not keep track of my own magic? I gave it to you after all, and it’s not like I forgot to keep some for myself.”
“Then why didn’t you just stop me?” I ask. I look down at the huge rocks that must be dirt between grass blades. A lone ant as big as me crawls inattentively by our side. I watch it, hoping that it could make more sense than Fluttershy and Discord’s lecture.
“I promised to fix everything you broke anyways,” Discord says. “No one was ever in danger, except you for a short moment. I’m not sure the ponies were willing to let you off the hook as easily as I asked.”
“You don’t make any sense,” I say.
“Darn, and I’m trying so hard too!” He looks at Fluttershy with his hands face-up, waiting for an answer, but she just shrugs.
“Why would you let me break so much stuff? There’s no point! You let me burn down the palace for nothing!”
“Oh, no, Caleb!” Fluttershy says. “We would never let you destroy the palace.”
“What you saw was just some of my wonderful illusion,” he says while sparkling his fingers over a magic hat. He drops it as Angel Bunny hops out, holding a carrot. “I moved the real palace a short distance away and hid it in camouflage.”
“But why? Why would you do all of that?” I’m nearly crying now. My voice is raised and cracking, and I don’t know how to calm down. “Just tell me why you did that because I don’t get it.”
“Exactly,” Discord says. “You don’t get it, Caleb.”
“What?” I nearly shout, grabbing the attention of the ant.
Fluttershy shooes it away as Discord waits for her. She looks at me and explains, “I’m sorry, but you just don’t understand others, dear. All creatures have something inside that makes them go forward in life. Ponies live for each other.”
“You threatened them and tried to hurt their friends. It only makes sense that they would retaliate. They’ve seen scarier things in their lives than an angsty teenager with a smidge of my magic. I commend you for trying to get creative, but you certainly did not impress anyone with that sort of green skill.”
“I thought I was really doing well,” I say. “I felt like I mastered your magic.”
“Boy, you didn’t even scratch the surface!” he shouts with wide eyes, nearly jumping out of his chair in surprise. “You think that with all my power, I would even have to think about getting 6 Pegasi out of my way? Goodness, I must remind you that I ruled this entire country for years, that I nearly took it over again in a single day after my release. What must a spirit do to get some respect?”
Fluttershy giggles, but I feel as if her laugh is directed at Discord rather than me. “You’ll have to excuse him. Immortality must be hard to stay humble with.”
I shake my head, almost cracking a smile. I can’t believe how close they are when they used to hate each other. Fluttershy doesn’t just tolerate him, but she seems to actually like him. And if Discord could ever love a friend, he loves Fluttershy.
“I still don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me,” I say. “What am I not getting?”
I look at them both, but neither of them say a thing for a moment. Fluttershy looks up at Discord, and he nods back at her. He sighs, stands up, and reverts us all to our regular sizes. I wait for him to speak, but he still doesn’t. He just turns to look at the town with the few burning, empty spots of what I used to think was a palace and the various ponies all returning to their homes.
“You wanted to make everyone understand that they were wrong to abuse their talents, their magic in the way they did,” Discord says. “You tried to make them understand by threatening them with power. You wanted to bully them into being kind.”
“Well–”
“Can you think of a time where bullying has ever made someone kind?” he says, cutting me off.
“But it’s more than that!” I try to protest.
“It’s really not, Caleb,” Fluttershy says in agreement. “I don’t mean to be rude, but your demonstration didn’t make any sense since you were contradicting it so much.”
“I just wanted–”
“We know you wanted something good, Caleb,” Discord says, interrupting me again. “But is it really good to stop others from being their best just because someone isn’t as good as they are?”
“Not only that, but we are all good at different things,” Fluttershy adds softly. “If we don’t become our best at those things, how can we help anyone at all?”
“I’m great at magic and making chaos. You might even say I’m divine at it. However, I had never had a friend before Fluttershy showed me real kindness. She is so incredibly kind that she made me want her kindness more than I wanted my own happiness, or more properly, my perversion of the idea of happiness. She made me realize that there is no greater happiness than someone being kind to you.”
“So then what’s wrong with me wanting to make people equal? It’s just to make people happier,” I say, hoping they’ll understand.
“Wanting everyone to be equal is great,” she says, “but it should not happen by bringing everyone down to the lowest level.”
“Caleb, you are the one who doesn’t make sense,” Discord adds. “Forcing everyone to be the same will not create any equality in the world.”
Fluttershy chimes in, “Part of growing is seeing what makes others special because of their differences.”
Discord smiles as I let my eyes fall. He sits down and looks up at me. “If we are all the same, we won’t love each other more. If we are all different, we can learn to appreciate difference. We can make ourselves better at things we struggle in. We can make hopes and dreams based on what our friends and role models have done. We can learn what success is because of our failure. We can really start to live.”
“I guess everyone has it all figured out but me,” I say, looking away from Discord again. As soon as I do, Fluttershy walks into my view and gives me such a genuine and comforting smile that I nearly break down in tears.
“Everyone grows at their own pace,” she says. “You have to grow at yours too.”
“I don’t even have a pace to grow at,” I say. “I can’t get better at anything if I’m this stupid.”
“You’re not stupid, Caleb,” she says.
“I just – I wanted to do something right,” I say, and I finally let the tears flow down my cheeks. “I wanted to do something really good. I wanted to make something happen and be somebody for the first time in my life.” My legs are shaking. My throat is swelling, and I can hardly speak. “I – I – I just wanted to be – to be –”
“It’s okay, Caleb,” Fluttershy says, resting her head against my chest. “We’ll love you.”
I fall down and bury my face in her fur. I hug her so tight that I muffle my crying. I feel her fur getting wet from all my tears. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I look around in shock. It’s Discord’s. He’s sitting next to me, letting out a small smile to complement eyes that could not show more kindness.
“We’ll forgive you no matter what,” he says.
I can’t stop myself from rushing into his arms so fast that I surprise him. I hug him even tighter than Fluttershy, and he hugs me warmly. I feel Fluttershy curl up next to us. For the first time in my life, I feel part of a family.
“It’s okay,” she says. “I know you’re not bad.”
I try to say, “Thank you,” but the fur on Discord’s neck muffles it. I don’t want to let go.
I’ve never felt so comfortable. I turn my head and see the fading light as it prepares to reveal the stars, and I close my eyes slowly. Before long, I fall asleep, and for the first time in a long, long time, I fall asleep happily.

Author's Note

So I didn't lie and do one and done lol. Here's Chapter 7. Super rushed pacing cause Sonic taught me how to design a plotline, but it's chill. I hope you dug the character development and get a feel for where I'm taking all this! Enjoi!

Everything

Chapter 8: Everything

It’s still dark when I wake up, but Fluttershy is already up and moving. I look up at Discord, but he’s looking ahead at the town. I start to get up, and he moves to lift me to my feet. When I look out at the town, I instead see Fluttershy joining her five friends. I also see Princess Celestia and Luna behind them. Everyone smiles at Fluttershy, at Discord, and at me.
Everyone smiles but Princess Celestia.
“Good evening, ponies,” Discord says with his hands clasped politely behind his back.
I stand close to him, trying to seem polite. I don’t know what to say though. I just smile.
“I have heard what you’ve done, Discord,” Celestia says. “Giving incredible magical power to such a volatile soul as you’ve done would usually be grounds for imprisonment.”
Discord doesn’t reply. He looks to Fluttershy instead, and she nods in understanding.
“I don’t mean to intrude,” she says, turning to Celestia, “but I think we should give Discord the benefit of the doubt. He did have a plan, and I think his plan worked.”
“I find it hard to believe that any plan could justify such destruction and potential harm to others,” Celestia replies, “but feel free to explain.”
“I’m ready to hear this as well, Discord,” Twilight says. “You yanked us from our homes in an instant and moved the palace without any explanation.”
I step forward and get ready to speak, but I feel Celestia’s harsh eyes on me immediately. She stares me down, but I have to speak up for Discord. I take a breath, and steel myself in spite of the princess, but Discord puts his talon-like hand on my shoulder and gently pulls me back.
I look up at him, and he looks calmly ahead. He steps forward this time and begins. “I could tell this story in a hundred different ways with all sorts of magic and rhetoric, but it still might not seem right, and you might never believe me.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much right,” Rainbow Dash says. Rarity and Apple Jack nod in agreement.
“I’d still like to hear your side of the story,” Celestia says.
Discord nods. “Very well. Then I’m afraid I’ll need help to tell this story properly.” He looks to me. I nod back at him. “Caleb, I need you to tell everyone the truth.”
My stomach sinks. My eyes grow wide, and my heart starts to race immediately. Truth? He can’t mean– no, he said that I would never have to tell anyone. He must mean something else. His eyes are somber and serious though. I know what he means.
“Caleb,” he says, “I need you to tell us the truth about your past.”
My neck feels almost paralyzed as I nod and turn to look at the ponies. They stare at me. Some of them raise their eyebrows. Some look calm. Fluttershy smiles patiently. I swallow, and choke in a deep breath.
“I–” I start, but my voice cracks as I let it out. My face flushes with nervousness, but everyone keeps waiting. “I’m sorry.”
That’s all I can do for the moment. I take a few breaths. No one says a word though. They expect me to do this. I have to do it. Discord needs me to tell the truth. I nod and breathe in again. “I lied about my past. I lied about who I was and what my life on Earth was like. My name is Caleb Tobin, but I did not grow up poor. I grew up in a wealthy house. I was never hungry, I wasn’t adopted; I was taken care of mostly by our steward-slash-babysitter.”
I pause and look up. I look at Fluttershy and tell my story to her. “My father didn’t leave the family. He was just never home because he worked so much. When he was home, he was still working, so I started to feel like his work meant more to him than I did. He made money and was going to put me through college, but he never spent time with me, especially after my mom died.”
I take a moment. Talking about this memory is going to be tough for me. Last time I talked about my mom’s death, I was able to distance myself a little because I was hardly even talking about my own life. Then again, lying may have made that even harder. Lying about my mom felt awful. This time, I’m really acknowledging her and what she meant to me. And I have friends to support me.
I take a breath. “One thing I didn’t lie about is that my mom did die. She had gotten cancer, and it took a heavy toll on her life and on our whole family. With my father never around, and never seeming to care really, she had no hope of winning. She was eventually cured from the cancer after several years, but the pain she had physically and emotionally eventually made her addicted to painkillers and depressants. We didn’t think anything of it for a long time. She was in pain. Why would we be worried that she wanted something to ease it? But she could never get past it. She started sneaking the drugs.”
I shook my head. I hated remembering my mom this way. “She was good. She was so good to me. She was a great mom who cared for me and loved me and told me to never get involved with drugs. I feel like she might have been when she was younger. Maybe that made her more prone to addiction, I don’t know. I’ll never know what happened. All I know is that when she felt pain, there was nothing I could do. I tried to be there for her. My father didn’t. And I think that’s what made her feel like it was okay. She just needed something to ease the pain, to make her forget that she was-” I shuddered a sigh out. I was tearing up, and my throat was so dry. I could barely speak at all, but I had to. I had to be honest. All I had done was lie, and I lied about my mom. She deserved better than to be lied about. I wanted them to know what she really went through. Even if my life wasn’t hard, I wanted them to know that hers was, even if she wasn’t poor.
“I think she wanted to forget that she was forgotten. He never cared, but I did, and it was never enough. Before long, she was gone. Even while she was looking straight at me, she couldn’t see me. She couldn’t remember who I was or why I was with her even though I was at her side every day. I didn’t know what to do. And before I knew it, she had taken too much, and she died. I don’t know if it was on purpose. I think it was. She was made to feel so worthless.”
Discord placed his hand on my shoulder. I was about to shake it off, but I felt reassured by it. So I nodded and went on. “I found her dead, and the way she had been recently, I had no idea if she was dead or just worse than usual. But I realized it eventually.”
I barely get it all out. I stop and breathe deeply. I made it through without crying, but I can still feel the tears about to burst through the dam of my weak emotions. I feel Discord’s warm gryphon hand on my shoulder, and the dam gets stronger. The tears relax and flow back. I look up and see that everyone is still waiting patiently for me to go on. Princess Luna is already crying. I know she cares so much, and I hope she can forgive me. I look at her as I continue the story.
“I almost decided to be a doctor because of that. I wanted to make sure that no one else would have to be so helpless while their mother died in front of them. I wanted to help.”
My emotions vanish as I get ready to tell the next part. That’s not true. The sadness vanishes. I can feel my anger waltzing in, and Luna can see it in my face. I can see my anger reflected in her eyes all the way across from me.
“That changed when I found out about her treatment. How they had purposefully given her drugs just to sell medicine when there were solutions she was better able to handle. The doctor made money off of her treatment, off of her drug use. I was disgusted, and of course my father did nothing to help. It took me over a year to find all of this out, and maybe it’s not all true. It’s just what I’ve gathered from bits and pieces.”
I shook my head. “She was weak and had no one to support her. I was just a boy. Father didn’t care. Her family left her to take care of herself. After all, her husband had the money, but she needed more than money then.”
I sigh loudly. “After the funeral, I ran away. So, I really was homeless then. Though, that was only for a few weeks before the police caught me and took me home. My father beat me for running away, and that was the end of it. I didn’t care. I knew better anyways. I learned a lot while I was on the streets for that short amount of time. I saw people living in real poverty, like I’d never seen before. I saw them suffering, hungry, lonely, sick, desperate. Some had gone insane from lack of real human connection, and some had decided enough was enough. Some had not enough food to eat, and some had not enough water to drink, and some were simply waiting for whatever disease or addiction they had to kill them off. I was horrified by all of it.”
“So after I went back home, I decided I had to do something. Being out on the streets, I obviously couldn’t do anything. What would I do? Talk to them? No, I had to make a change by becoming powerful. I started looking toward a career in politics. Then, I could really bring all of them out of that hell and back into the real world where they could be happy. After all, they were all only there due to the selfishness of others. I had to counteract that somehow, but I needed power.”
Twilight nods. “Hm. That’s starting to make sense.”
“Yes,” Celestia says, “that certainly explains your motives and actions when you received the power from Discord. I’m guessing you intended to bring that magic from Equestria to Earth?”
I nodded. “I looked into politics for the power to change that messed-up world. I had always heard things like communism and socialism were evil, but capitalism killed my mom. So I looked into them, and I started to find the answers I wanted. I read up on Marxism, and I found some hope.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for me to realize my ideas would never work. My country was too hateful toward the idea of helping others without getting something in return. Just by talking to people, I realized my political dreams were a waste of time if we I wanted to change things that drastically. I lost hope in the world. I lost hope in life. I was as depressed as I could imagine being.
“That’s when Discord showed up. He was so strange that I knew something was wrong with the world compared to the normal messed-up crap. I didn’t scream when I saw him just because I figured I was still dreaming – he showed up right when I was waking up in the morning. When I realized he was real, I knew he was some kind of magical and definitely a little bit insane. Part of me was scared of him, but I was mostly excited. Something had given me the chance to change the world. I focused on that. I was searching for power, and a powerful being showed up to help me.
I look at Discord, and he watches me. He doesn’t change his facial expression at all, not even to encourage. He just wants me to keep going.
“He invited me to a world where everything was different. People were kind and friendly in this world. They helped each other and truly cared. He knew too much about me, things he shouldn’t have known, for me to think that he wasn’t magical and powerful. So, I believed him. I had lost all my ambitions on my world, so I decided to try going to a place where things were just better. He told me I would basically be his pet, and that it was for his development according to Fluttershy. I didn’t care about that though. I just went along with his plan. It was all I had. I didn’t feel bad about leaving my ad behind. He couldn’t do anything for me anymore. He could have put me through college, but it didn’t mean anything at that point. He definitely couldn’t help my mom.
“So I left. I followed a weird creature to a weird land, and I ended up in a weird interview.”
“Discord,” Celestia says, assuming me to be finished, “is that all true?”
He nods. “Absolutely.”
“And you knew every piece of it?”
“I’m afraid so, your highness.”
“Do you have anything to add?” I guess she doesn’t want to hear any more from me.
“As you know,” he begins, “Fluttershy was the one who told me to get a ‘pet’ in order to further my reformation into becoming the main protagonist of my own spin-off show, My Friendly Discord: Friendship is Chaos. The idea was to get a pet that I could train and learn to love even though that pet had done nothing for me before. I was intrigued by this concept. I had never become close to any of the ponies in Equestria except for Fluttershy, who did everything she could to become my friend, Twilight, who saved me from Tirek despite my betrayal, and Celestia, who first believed in me and wanted me to try being good. However, I just could not get behind the idea of developing a relationship with an animal like a cat with no sort of intriguing intellect, folly, or troubles.
“So I researched day and night. I knew that Fluttershy would never approve of me taking a pony as a pet, and a dragon or gryphon would just be such annoyances in my life. Suddenly,” and he taps himself on the head as if acting out his revelation, “I remembered Twilight’s trips to another world. I looked into what sort of creatures she found there, and I realized that a human would be the perfect candidate for a pet. After all, they come fully trained, they can hold a conversation, they do plenty of stupid things for me to laugh at, and they just adore chaos. I spent some time learning about their world, enjoying their hobbies, studying their discourse. Eventually, I felt ready to make a selection.
“I was going to simply pick the smartest-looking human around. I always take more pleasure in raising the smart ones of course. They’re just so capable and enjoyable.” He pauses, and I think he’s looking at one of them. I can’t tell which though. “But something was bothering me. It went back to what Fluttershy said about loving a pet who had done nothing for me. If I were to choose a pet who could be so enjoyable, then they would of course be doing something for me, and that just would not do! So I searched for a human that could never do a thing for me, and I stumbled on Caleb.”
Something twinges at my lip. I know it’s not Discord’s magic this time. He continues, “He was so depressed, so miserable, so thoughtful that I could not pass him up. No matter which human I looked at, I could not help but compare them to Caleb. Everything in the world seemed so pointless to him, and he wanted to change the world to have a point. I had never seen such stark contrast with one’s outlook on the world except for in myself, wanting to take away all the points of the world. I felt kinship with him already though I had never formally introduced myself. By the time I gathered up the strength to meet him, he was nearly intent on suicide.”
“Fluttershy,” Celesta says as she looks at the gentle pony, “did you know anything about Discord’s actions up this point?”
“No, I’m afraid,” she says. “I only knew that he was looking for a pet. I respected that he wanted to take his time because I knew he was searching hard. I could see him reading all the time and looking for answers, but I never guessed that he was using Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Journal on Earth and Human Experiences could have been used for finding a human for a pet.”
Twilight raises her hoof slightly, then lowers it and shakes her head.
Applejack isn’t so polite. “Fluttershy, did you really see him looking at a book about Earth and not think he was up to something?”
“Come now, Applejack,” Discord says. “Think in context. For all she knew, I was looking at what animals humans took for pets.”
“Oh, don’t you start, two-face,” Applejack says as she walks forward, but Twilight stops her.
“AJ, you have to understand that Fluttershy would always give Discord the benefit of the doubt as she would to any of us,” she says kindly, glancing at Fluttershy with a smile as Fluttershy smiles back. “It’s just her nature.”
“Well, alright,” Applejack says, a little defeated.
“Now, I admit that all of this makes me feel a little easier about Discord bringing Caleb into this world though I still will not condone that choice,” Celestia says. “However, I have yet to see any reason, Discord, for you to give him magic and let him destroy an entire town and even put the lives of others at risk.”
Discord looks at Celestia for a moment. Then he looks at me and says, “Caleb, do you know why I did that?”
I don’t have any idea, but I have to say something. Discord needs me to say something obviously, or he wouldn’t have asked. Except, there’s no reason. Why would he let me do so many horrible things? I wanted to change the world, and I was completely wrong. He knew I was wrong, but he let me try. My mouth’s open. Discord looks back at Celestia.
“I didn’t expect you to,” he says. I guess that was for me. I’m not sure if he felt disappointment in me or if he was just confirming something. “He had to learn somehow. He needed something to wake him up from his ideals and his goals. Explaining to him simply was not enough. It would be like trying to calm down a rabid bear; there’s simply no doing it! I needed something to bring him understanding by breaking apart what he believed in right in front of him. When he left Earth, he thought he was coming to a world where all were equal and joyful. What does he find when he shows up in Equestria though? He meets princesses, showing a clear divide in political power in his eyes, and he sees that some ponies have magic while others do not, which shows further difference in birthright. This broke him. He was sure that the circumstances of one’s birth decided his fate. He was sure that a single being could stand above all others if he had enough power, but it’s not true. Enough people gathered together with motivation can stand above any challenge.”
“Well yeah,” Applejack says. “Why’s that so important?”
“The child had lost hope in the world, in humans, even in equines,” Discord explains. “A belief was growing in him like an infection that whoever was in power would remain in power, that whoever was underprivileged would simply stay there forever. Given his disposition and determination to create change, he was headed down a dangerous path whether on Earth or Equestria.”
“Get to the point,” Rainbow Dash says.
“If Caleb was not shown for sure that anyone can make his or her own destiny through hard work, determination, and the support of true friends,” Discord says, pausing for a moment as he surveys the ponies, “why would he ever have tried? Why would he try to help others if he thought they would always fall? Why would he try to become his best if he knew he would never make it? Why would ever value friendship?”
“I see,” Celestia mumbles.
“All of you talk about the magic of friendship, and I have finally come to believe you,” he continues. “How could you not support the desperate attempt to explain to Caleb the value of friendship? He needed a family, and he did not believe that he had one. He needed friends, but he could not trust anyone enough to be one. He was on the verge of murder or suicide! I apologize greatly for inconveniencing a few ponies, even ruining some of their days. However, you will not make me apologize for saving this young man’s life.”
“Discord,” Fluttershy says, a tear falling from her eye to above her smile.
“There is nothing in the world that could make me believe that it was not the right decision,” he says. He looks exhausted. All the magical power in the world, but justifying a good cause takes the wind out of him. It’s obviously not his forte, but he did it. He did it all for me.
Everything he did was for me. Everything.
How can I just realize this now? Everything he did was for me! Taking me as a pet wasn’t done because Fluttershy told him to do it; he did that because he wanted to help me. Letting me meet the ponies wasn’t so he could justify himself by not keeping a secret; it was so I could have friends. He didn’t read my mind, and he was honest about that because he wanted to respect me. He gave me magic power and let me attack his close friends not because he wanted to have fun watching, but he did it all because it was to save my life. My life was in danger, and I didn’t even know it. I didn’t care about it, but he did. I never did a thing to deserve it, but he saw within his heart to help me, to save me, to love me. It wasn’t for him; it was for me. It wasn’t because of me; it was because of him. Everything. Everything was for me, and all because he was truly good.
I struggle to keep standing. Discord puts his hand on my shoulder again, holding me firmer than before. He must have sensed my weakness. I hold him and pull myself back to balance.
Celestia looks at me, and she looks at Discord. She looks across at the ponies, seeing the tears on Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and – most emotionally of all – on her sister Luna. She nods. “Very well. I accept your apology for the damages, and I expect you to fix it all immediately.”
“Of course, Princess,” Discord says, snapping his fingers as everything in and around Ponyville slides into its former position, fixing itself magically.
“No one was hurt, and you’re right,” she says. “We may have saved Caleb’s young life. That’s something worth celebrating. It’s late now. I expect an interview broadcast across Equestria in the morning. Would you be willing to do this, Fluttershy?”
“Oh, no, no, no!” she mouses, backing away slightly even. “I couldn’t! I’d love to, but I simply cou–”
“That’s alright, Fluttershy,” Twilight says. “Would it be alright if I did the interview again? I think we can get a better look at Caleb for the whole world if we take just one more chance.”
“That sounds wonderful to me,” Celestia says. “Does that sound nice to everyone else?”
General noises and declarations of approval emit from the crowd of friends.
“Wonderful,” she says. “Then, you’re all dismissed. Sleep well, and prepare yourselves. Tomorrow will be a busy day for all of us.”
I hope it isn’t too busy. I’ve had enough busy days recently.
All the ponies begin to disperse. Everyone but Celestia leaves. She smiles at Discord, and even he leaves. She stays though, and she walks right up to me as her smile fades slowly.
“I support what Discord did for you, Caleb,” she says. I smile through my tears to show my agreeing support. “I’ll gladly forgive him for whatever damage he has caused. His methods are unconventional, but his potential good deeds are beyond measure, and he showed that tonight. His heart was in the right place, and he had a logical plan to back it up.”
“That’s true,” I say. “Even if I was trying to do good things, I just didn’t know enough to do anything right.”
“Quiet,” she says, leaving no amount of kindness in her voice. “I may forgive Discord, and the whole world may forgive both of you, but I want to make something very clear. I promised 1,000 years ago that I would never let my sister cry in pain again. After the agony and torture she was put through, I vowed to never let her be hurt even once. You forced me to break the promise that I held above even raising the sun every morning. For that, for making Luna cry, I will never, ever forgive you.”
She looks at me for a moment. My eyes are wide. I can’t breathe. My lips are barely parted, but I can’t close them or even move at all.
She turns her head and vanishes without warning. I let air rush back into my lungs, and I fall back onto the ground. I look straight ahead for a long time.
When I finally calm down enough to look around, I realize that Fluttershy’s cottage is just down the hill. It’s in perfect shape too. I walk down and pray for sleep. I know who I expect to see there. She’s the only reason I can even bare to try sleeping, now that I see what I’ve done.

Author's Note

Hey friends. Hope you enjoy this week's entry. With the break this week, I should be able to get a lot of writing done and continue the pace of weekly posts. Thanks for checking in!

Interview

The lights blind me as I walk into the small studio. I close my eyes hard, feeling the bright light slowly become less offensive. I open them and find a recording studio different from anything I’ve ever seen before. Well, it’s not that different when I start to make the connections. There are no chairs, just cushions on the floor. Ponies don’t usually sit in chairs after all. Everything is very low to the ground, but I guess that’s so ponies can do things while standing on all fours or sitting on the floor. Buttons and gadgets are pretty huge, but I guess they have to be when the only way to move things is with hooves and long mouths.

“Come, come!” the stuck-up one says, ushering me to my cushion. Her name’s Rarity, but where I come from, she’s just a stereotypical rich girl. Well, except she’s a pony. “Sit down! We’re about to start!”

I sit cross-legged on a pretty purple pillow with nice gold stitching and all sorts of things that make me wonder if I’ll ever see a urinal or a football again. I’m worrying that this whole universe is girly.

The beloved Princess Twilight sits her beloved bottom down in front of me, intentionally avoiding eye-contact. She acts like she’s busy checking to make sure everyone is doing everything right, and everybody acts like she’s doing the right things. Someone– excuse me– somepony offers me a glass of water. I nod at the ground, and she places it there nicely.

“Thank you,” I say. She smiles. It’s a nice gesture, but this is all way too weird. Everyone thinks so.

“Quiet on the set!” commands Rarity. Somepony rushes the jabbering pink one out. I pray I don’t get stuck at a dinner table with that balloons-for-brains. “Interview between Princess Twilight Sparkle and Caleb Tobin, the first human in Equestria, is live in... 3! 2! 1!”

The princess fixes her eyes kindly on the camera in front of her, and speaks in her soothing political voice, “Thank you for joining us tonight, viewers. This special edition of Rarity Meets will be hosted by me, your devoted Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. Tonight, I’ll be interviewing one of the most controversial figures to appear in Equestria since the famed reformation of Discord.” She turns to me, keeping her princess-face on strong as she turns her attention to finally look me straight in the eyes. Her smile stays perfectly, excessively still. “Please introduce yourself, sir.”

I clear my throat and look straight back at her as I was directed earlier instead of at the cameras. “My name is Caleb Tobin. I’m a human from Earth, and I was brought here by Discord’s magic to be his pet.”

The room goes silent. I don’t want to dance around the subject right now. Everyone knows the reason that we’re having this interview. Some want to put Discord back into stone-encasement for bringing a human into Equestria without consulting anyone. This coming so shortly after his recent betrayal of– well, everyone actually.

The princess turns away from the cards and cues. I guess she wants to get straight to the point as well. She hasn’t been very fond of Discord historically. “Alright then, Caleb. Can you tell us why Discord brought you to Equestria?”

I nod. It’s time to tell everyone, so I may as well jump into it. “Discord, my loving master,” I say, forgetting for a moment to keep the sarcasm low, “was given the assignment by Fluttershy to take on a pet. She determined this was the next step in turning him into a true friend, and she told him to choose whatever animal he wanted for a friend. I assume that immediately after that, he appeared in my world, talked to me for a little, and brought me here after I agreed.”

The princess nods, giving the audience a moment to consider that thought, I assume. She seems to be playing her role very well; very professionally. “Now when Discord appeared to you, what did he say? Did you feel pressured to come with him?”
I shake my head. “I felt completely as if it was up to me, but it was quite clear that he was set on taking a human as a pet. He certainly didn’t threaten me or anything like that, but it was obvious that he would continue asking humans until he found someone who said yes.”

“You mentioned family. Did you leave behind anyone you loved?”

I shake my head again. I try not to let my voice fall low. I try not to think about what I’m saying at all. “No. I was a foster-child actually.”

“What do you mean ‘foster-child?’”

“My family, parents and one brother, died when I was young. I’ve spent the last 6 years in a foster program, waiting to turn 18. No one else was close to me. That’s why it was easy for me to leave, and I think it might be why Discord chose to ask me.”
“I’m terribly sorry to hear that, Caleb.” She pauses, letting the emotion fade away. Just when I feel ready to answer more questions, she says, “You think Discord chose you? What makes you say that?”

“There are 7 billion humans on my planet. I don’t really believe in 7 billion to 1 odds, so I think he narrowed it down somehow.”

“How do you think that process went?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was watching a few people. I don’t know, Princess.”

“You can call me Twilight,” she says, smiling politely. It’s her first effort toward me tonight, so I guess she must be feeling more comfortable with this.

I nod.

Her smile fades just slightly, but she talks to avoid showing emotion, I think. “Can you tell us about your home?”

I break eye-contact a little. I remember they told me not to do that, so I bring it back. “I don’t know what part of Earth you went to, Princess, but I was never there. From what I’ve heard, you found a suburban paradise.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, I’m not from a good place. Where I lived, people didn’t have much, you know?” I start with that. She seems to want me to keep going. “Uh, well, I mean I grew up in a very poor part of town. In the streets, people were always fighting. Nobody had real friends, I don’t think. There were just gangs.”

“Tell me more, “ she says. “Why did people fight? Why didn’t they have friends? How did you deal with all of this?”

I look away again. Rarity points at the princess, silently mouthing, “Look at her! Not me!”

I sigh. I look back at the princess. “It all comes down to what someone has and what someone else wants, I think. Nobody ever got things, at least not legally, you know? So, uh, if a guy had something valuable, he’d try to sell it illegally or use it illegally. And if somebody else found out, they’d try to take it from him so they could sell it or use it. That was the only way to make it through the day there, you know? People would just take things. And if it wasn’t easy, if somebody said no, then they would fight.” I pause for a second. “And one of them might kill the other.”

“Kill?” she repeats. She seems completely shocked, confirming that she’s never seen anything like that. She’s never had to deal with the stuff I went through every day. “Why would someone kill over just,” she hesitates, “just a thing?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know, man.” Someone shoots me a look. Oh, right. “I mean princess. Sorry.”

“It’s alright, Caleb,” she says, reassuring me. “Tell me what you think of that place. What made it that way?”

I try to nod. It’s hard for me to think and make eye-contact at the same time. I look away while I talk. “You know, I guess it’s cause not having anything makes people afraid. They’re afraid people that have things will hurt them. When they’re afraid, they don’t trust anyone. Everybody says, ‘the only person you can trust is yourself,’ and everyone agrees with that, right? So cause people don’t trust, they keep everything to themselves. They’re always lying about what they have to make sure nobody ever takes anything, and all. So nobody ever has anyone to be honest to cause no one trusts them, you know? So when somebody acts nice down there, people get all afraid that the guy’s trying to make a move on ‘em. Like the nice guy is just trying to get your guard down or something, and then they’re gonna scam you or steal from you or just kill you when they get the chance. Cause it happens, man, uh princess. Sorry again.”

“It’s alri–”

“So who do you laugh with if you have no friends, huh?” the pink idiot shouts as she jumps in front of me before a blue pony with a rainbow-colored tail tackles her and drags her out of view. “Tell me!” she yells while holding her ground.
I shrug and look at her while I answer. “There’s nothing to laugh at. If you’re not happy, why would you laugh? If nobody’s happy, then they’re only gonna make jokes about other people. And that’s fine till that person’s you. Then you gotta defend yourself and fight that guy or you’ll always be the joke, and they’ll always disrespect you. If you’re always disrespected, you’ll always stay beneath everyone. You can’t go anywhere if you’re beneath anyone, and we all just wanna get out.”

“That’s stup–” she tries to say, but the door closes on her. Big words from you, Lollipop, calling anything stupid.

“Sorry about that,” the princess says. “Pinkie Pie is very curious. Once her mind’s set on something, it’s hard to stop her. Luckily, Rainbow Dash cleared that up quicker than anyone else could have.”

Two more names. Hooray. I actively stop my eyes from rolling.

“So maybe something to calm us down a little?” the princess suggests. “What do you think of Equestria so far? Have you seen more than Ponyville?”

I shake my head. “I’ve only been here for a day. Discord kind of just brought me here and dropped me off in the middle of the town so he could go grocery shopping, I think. He put on some weird clothes, got into a car, and then just vanished while the car floated away somewhere.”

“Well, I know we’re talking about the same Discord now,” she says, laughing. I laugh a little. She keeps smiling and looking me in the eye, so I turn away until I can get rid of my smile.

“So I walked around the town,” I say. “Everyone hid, but I didn’t really pay any attention to them. I thought Discord told me everything about how different this place was, so I wasn’t really surprised by anything until I started to notice that it was just like a small town. From Earth I mean. Ponyville seemed like a small town from Earth that I’d see in a movie or something. With the apple farm, and the animal shelter, and the cake shop, and the kids playing everywhere. I mean it all looked normal except for when they saw me and freaked out. That and this giant castle thing in the middle of the town.”

She laughs a little at that. “I guess the palace does look a little out of place, doesn’t it?”

I half-smile, mostly out of obligation. She looks away at the cues, looking for her next question, I guess. She’s finally figuring out that I don’t want to be here, I think. I don’t like her high-and-mighty attitude, and I don’t like anyone else’s worshipping attitude toward her either.

“So one thing we haven’t talked about is what you think of Discord,” she says. “I’m sure you’re aware that Discord’s behavior is one of the main reasons we’re having this interview. How do you like him?”

“Well, I don’t trust him,” I say, and the ponies off camera look at each other, nodding, “but he told me not to trust him. In a way, that made it okay. I heard what he had to say to me, and it was hard to tell when he was lying, but it seemed like he genuinely wanted me to choose for myself if I wanted to come. So I don’t think he would have lied to me about Equestria. I mean, he pitched his side like a politician would. He made points that I agreed with. I hated my life on Earth. I could have a fresh start in a place where people don’t suffer or worry about being shot or where their next meal will come from. He didn’t say it was perfect. He even said that he was far from perfect, but that I should give it all a chance.”

“From what I understand, It sounds like he’s being a very good friend to you.”

I shrug. “Yeah,” I start to say, but I can’t think of anything else. I just leave it at that while the princess waits for me to continue.

“Thank you, Caleb,” she says, giving her most genuine smile yet. She turns to the camera. I guess the smile is so genuine because she’s glad to be finished. “Thank you to all of our viewers for tuning in this evening for this special edition of Rarity Meets. Remember to wake up bright and early tomorrow for Rainbow’s Sports Breakdown Dash as your favorite element of loyalty Rainbow Dash gives you all the highlights of this week’s athletic excitement across Equestria at 6 AM. That’s all we have for tonight. So let the rainbow remind you that together we will always shine!”

“Cut!” Rarity calls and runs on set to give the princess a hug, which looks weird since they have no arms, so she’s kind of just jumping on her and wrapping her legs around the princess’s neck. “That was wonderful Twilight! You truly were a star! But we’ll have to shorten that motto if we want anyone to remember it.” She smiles at me and says, “Well done, my dear. I couldn’t have asked any better from you!”

It almost feels like there’s an insult hidden in there, but I guess I just don’t know her very well.

The princess smiles at Rarity and starts to stand. She looks at me and gestures with her head for me to follow. “Can we talk a little more, Caleb?” she asks.

I nod and stand up. It’s weird being almost twice as tall as anyone here. I forgot when I was sitting down how big I am compared to them. The only one I’ve met so far that’s taller than me is Discord, but I think the sun princess is taller than me too. That’s what one pony told me at least.

“Is something wrong?” she asks me. I didn’t notice, but we were already outside.

“What?” I ask.

“I’ve been talking to you this whole time,” she says. “Have you listened to me at all?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, well what–” she stops. I think I know what she was about to ask. What did I hear? Nothing. She already knows it. She knows I wasn’t paying attention, and it’s not worth calling me on it. So now what does she want? “Caleb, just tell me what I can do to make you feel like you belong here. I know this isn’t your home, but from what you’ve told me, you didn’t have a home before. So what’s wrong?”

I sigh. “I don’t know. This place just feels,” I say, pausing to think of a better word, but there isn’t one. I have to say it. “Fake.”

“Why is that?”

We’re walking down the dirt road outside the castle. I think she just wants to show me the town herself. We walk past several houses, but no one is surprised to see me now. Actually, they wave and say hi at the princess and me. They’re all so joyful. As long as the pink one doesn’t show up, I’ll–

“Oh my gosh, Twilight! That was like the best thing ever! You’re totally the best interviewer person ever, you should totally interview me and then we could talk all about cake oh my gosh I love cake and then you can bring Rarity on and start a tea party won’t that just be so much fun?! Then we can–”
Freaking beetlejuice. I swear. If she didn’t talk or exist, she’d be half as annoying. But even if she died, I’m pretty sure the damn memory of her stupid voice would haunt me till the day I died.

She’s still talking, but I can tune anyone out, so this– and then when he answered my– damn it! If I think about her, she’ll– I couldn’t believe you let him answer me even though he’s so different– shit! leave me alone you cotton candy creep! I just want to– like he’s still really cool, and I know we’ll be best friends cause I’m best friends with everyone!

I sigh. I need to calm down, or I’ll never get her out. Alright, I don’t like her, but I guess I should be glad there’s no one else like her. If I ever find out she has sisters though, I’ll take the next flight to North Korea and piss off the government.

“Okay, bye!” she shouts and bounces away.

“Thank God,” I say. Oh. I meant to say that silently. She’s probably too dumb to get it anyways if she heard me. The princess heard me though. I can tell by her raised eyebrow.

She shakes her head. “You haven’t answered yet. What’s bothering you so much? Why is Ponyville fake?”

She stops. I sit on a rock and look around us. We’re outside the town now, and the only thing on either side of the dirt road is miles of grass and a few lonely trees. Nobody– nopony– is out here with us. She’s still waiting for me to say something.

“It’s just not like what I grew up with,” I finally say. She nods as if she expected me to say that. “Everyone’s nice, but it’s hard for me to trust them. I’m sure I’ll get past it.”

“Is that all?” she asks. But she isn’t just checking. She doesn’t believe me.

I look at her. I thought I gave her the answer she wanted. It wasn’t enough.

I look at the grass at my feet. “I don’t like how much you waste magic here. Like, you use it for the most useless things. Holding clipboards. Cleaning rooms. Even for eating. It doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s just what unicorns do. We have magic, so why shouldn’t we use–”

“Yeah, yeah. I know, and it’s cool that you have magic for anything you want, but I think it’s stupid that you have all that and no one else does.”

She walks closer and puts her hoof on my knee. I tense up, but she’s really gentle. It gives me goosebumps, but it’s weirdly calming. It makes me wonder if she’s using a spell on me.

“I know you grew up in a hard place, Caleb,” she says with a voice so kind and smooth that it’s almost seductive. But that’s completely the wrong word. I don’t know what it’s like. “Ponyville– Equestria– is different. You don’t have to worry about food or violence here. Sure we have our problems, but that’s only when someone’s trying to take over the world or something, and it’s not like that’s every day. Most of the time, we’re just happy to be where we are. We’re just happy to be alive.”

I look back at the grass even though she’s so close, but she doesn’t move away. She stays with me.

“You don’t have to be sad, Caleb,” she says. “We all try to be happy. I’m not asking you to change who you are. That’s really hard, and I know it’s gonna take a lot for you to trust us and be friends with us, but I know that everyone here is willing to work to make that happen.”

The goosebumps crawl all over me like insects, and I can’t take it. I stand up and nearly hit her. I finally get a little distance. It feels better. She doesn’t look offended. She just smiles kindly.

“It’ll take time.”

“Thanks, Princess.”

“Please, call me Twilight.”

I pause for a second. “Thanks,” I start. I decide to say it. “Thanks, Twilight.”

I don’t look at her when I say it, but I can tell it made her happy.

“C’mon, let’s go back,” she says after a moment. “You need to meet everyone before Discord comes back for you!”

“Why was everyone so pissed that Discord brought me here?” I just blurted it out. I couldn’t take it anymore. It feels better now that I said it, I think.

“We were just upset because we thought he took you against your will. When we heard ‘pet,’ it sounded like slave to us. We had to make sure that wasn’t the case.”

I look down at the dirt. Even the rocks seem pretty and happy. It’s just not real.

She walks past me and says, “Let’s go. The sun’s going down.”

I watch her walking away. I almost turn around and walk the other way, but I wouldn’t know where to go. I can’t just leave if I don’t have a plan. Actually, I guess that’s how I got here in the first place. I just went for it.

I stop thinking about it and follow her.

Author's Note

Yo Brony pals. Glad to submit my own entry into this wonderful world of creativity. I'm always looking for criticism, so don't be afraid to tear up my story if you don't like what's going on! If it's a question about where the story is going or why something is happening, give me a chance to explain it later in the story please.

Caleb's got his hands full with these emotions of his! If Discord's going to keep his new pet, he'll need all the help he can get to house-train the thing! When it comes to helping with pet-trouble, there's only one pony for the job! Obviously, it's Maximus from Tangled!