Chapters I walked down the dirt road, not knowing where it leaded. All I knew was that Manehatten was behind me and that was enough. I was sick of that town and more specifically, the ponies in it. Everypony I had let close to me had betrayed me, I guess it was everypony for themselves back there. Whatever, that was over, I was no longer in that wretched city. I was going somewhere new. Somewhere where the ponies were nice. The only problem was, I had no idea where I was going.
The sun was setting for the second time since I had started my journey. I walked until I found a suitable place to sleep. I curled up into a ball on the ground and closed my eyes. I tried to find sleep. I was more tired than I was yesterday, I had been walking for two days now. It took about five minutes for sleep to finally come and by that time the sun had just dipped below the horizon. It left a dark purple tint in its wake.
I didn’t dream that night, I fell asleep and just like that, I was awake again. I didn’t feel any more rested than when I had fallen asleep, but I got up anyway. I started walking again. After a while I arrived at a dark forest. The trees were so close together I couldn’t see very far into the woods. I decided to follow the faint trail that curved through it. I walked for about twenty minutes before the trail became so faint that I couldn’t follow it anymore.
I wandered around for a few hours, the heat was getting to me. I needed to get out of the sweltering jungle. i made sure not to touch any of the plants, most looked menacing enough to make me walk five feet away. Hour after hour passed and I still couldn’t find any path. I walked in circles and hid from animals until it was almost dark. I sat down and stared up at the sky. I had completely given up all hope of escaping these woods.
That’s when I heard the sound of wings flapping in the air. I didn’t pay much attention at first but then I saw a gray pegasus fly above the trees. I spent a second just sitting there wishing I was a pegasus instead of a unicorn, but then I came to my senses and galloped after the pony. I wove through trees but kept my course. Maybe the pegasus was going to that place I had dreamed about. I knew it was a long shot and that such a place probably didn’t exist, but i had hope.
I ran full speed for only a few minutes before I burst through the last of the trees. I screeched to a halt. In the distance I saw a small town. By this time the sun had set and the only light came from the moon, the stars, and the town. “Maybe somepony will let me stay with them for tonight” I said out loud. I stood there looking at the town for a few more seconds before I trotted off towards the town. The gray pegasus was nowhere to be seen.
When I arrived at the town it was empty and most of the lights were off. I saw a giant crystal tree and immediately knew I should recognize the monument, but I didn’t. I trotted over and knocked on the door. It was so thick that my hoof barely made any noise at all. I knocked again, harder this time. the knock was much fuller this time. I waited for a bit before a purple unicorn...no, alicorn, was at the door. She had a messy mane and her fur was sticking up in random places. She had a tired and angry look in her eyes. I didn’t think she would let me stay the night, but I had to ask, so I did. “I’m sorry to disturb you so late...but I don’t have anywhere to stay...could I sleep here tonight?”
The alicorn looked at me for a second then responded “Sorry, I don’t let stange ponies into my library.” The door slammed in my face. I turned around and walked away. I had only gotten a few steps when it started raining. “So much for that perfect town…” I thought to myself. I was pretty sure that would be the reaction to every other house I tried, so I walked towards a small tree. That’s where I would spend the night so I wouldn’t bother anypony else. I had just curled into a ball when the grey pegasus landed in front of me.
I could see it...no...her. I could see her a lot better now. The mare walked forward tentatively, as if scared to approach me. I stood up "You were that pegasus who flew over the forest today, weren't you?". She blushed "Yeah...I kinda got lost...". she said kind of quietly. "I saw you didn't have a place to sleep and I asked Carrot Top and she said you could stay with us for the night." "Thank you" I said as she started to walk off. I started after her, after a few feet she began to fly, but only for a second, before she realized that I was walking behind her. She gave a smile that said "sorry about that" and dropped to the ground. I apologized for slowing her down and she responded with "Oh it's no problem" cheerfully. We walked the rest of the way in relative silence, we talked about a few things here and there, but we never actually kept a conversation going. When we finally arrived at the house I was exhausted, as was the mare. That reminded me that I hadn't gotten her name yet. I asked her and she paused and said "Ditzy Doo", as if she was unsure. I shrugged it off and followed her inside. The house was small, yet cozy. The pegasus pointed to a couch and said "You can sleep there. I thanked her and curled up into a ball on the sofa, it was a lot better than sleeping on the ground in the rain.
I awoke the next day to see a yellow pony with an orange mane staring at me strangely. “Who are you” she asked cautiously. “Um...my name’s Star Chord...Ditzy Doo said I could stay the night.” I answered a bit confused. “Oh...okay then, my name is Carrot Top by the way.” I got up and stretched. That couch had felt like heaven after sleeping on the ground for two nights. “Where’s Ditzy?” I asked, knowing that she probably wasn’t up yet. As expected Carrot Top answered with the simple answer of “asleep” then yawned. As she sluggishly moved into the kitchen I walked outside.
In the daylight I could see the hundreds of carrots growing in a field next to the house. I assumed that was how Carrot Top got her cutie mark and how she made her money. I started walking around the property, I didn’t know why, I just felt like walking. Maybe it was because I had been walking for the past two days. I hadn’t gotten far before my mind drifted back to my old life in Manehatten. All my friends that had turned on me of abandoned me. Their faces flashed before my eyes.
This is what hurt the most, thinking about them. I could remember each of them perfectly. as if they were frozen in my mind. I stopped walking. I just froze in place. I couldn’t bear it, I needed these ponies more than anything else in all of equestria and they all turned their backs on me. I wasn’t mad anymore, I was just sad. I felt betrayed, and for good reason too, I was betrayed. I felt a solitary tear run from my eye before I could catch it.
“Mister? Are you okay?” I turned around to see the grey pegasus staring at me with her flipped eyes. “Y-yeah, I’m fine” I said slightly shakily “I just wanted to take a small walk” I’m pretty sure that was the cheesiest fake smile I’ve ever done. “Suuuure...I wanted to see if you wanted me to show you around Ponyville today” so that’s where I was, Ponyville. “You’d be willing to do that?” I asked, kind of surprised at the generous offer. “Sure, it’s no problem. It’s my day off, all I have to do is drop Dinky off at school. “Who’s Dinky?” “Oh, Dinky’s my foal...she is at a sleepover tonight and I need to pick her up.” she grinned “D’you you want to come meet her?” I agreed and followed as she trotted toward the street.
After a short walk we arrived at a house that was considerably bigger and nicer than the house where Ditzy lived. She walked up and knocked on the door. A few moments passed before a white, well dressed colt opened the door. I glanced inside and was suddenly aware of every molecule of dirt in my coat(which was a lot given that I hadn’t had a bath since I was in Manehatten and I was starting to smell). The colt gave me a quick, slightly disgusted, look before he said “The girls are this way” and motioned inside.
The ceiling looked incredibly higher from the inside. That freaked me out a little, but it seemed to have no effect on Ditzy...as if she had grown used to it. I had seen some pretty expensive houses in Manehatten, but most were smaller because of the fact that it was a city. I guess in Ponyville the price-to-size ratio was a bit different. I followed the colt to a room near the back of the house. there sat a white earth pony and a light purple unicorn, both young foal, playing with small toy dolls. I didn’t have long to ponder which was Dinky because one of the foals jumped up and ran to Ditzy and yelled “Momma!” which was received with a hug and an equally enthusiastic “Muffin!”
“Ditzy smiled at the colt and said “Thank you for letting her sleep over.” “It was no problem, they had lots of fun and even had a pillow fight that resulted in a broken lamp” he glared playfully at the girls when he said the last part. This brought a nervous smile and a quick apology before she exclaimed that Dinky would be late for school if we didn’t leave right away, then proceeded to rush Dinky and I out of the house at incredible speeds. Afterwards, before I could say anything Ditzy exclaimed “Why did you break his lamp!” and glared at Dinky. “It was an accident, I swear...I didn’t mean to let go of the pillow”. Ditzy sighed and started walking toward the street, presumably toward the school. Dinky and I followed her. “So who are you?” she asked quietly. “My name’s Star Chord, I’m new here. You’re mom is going to show me around town today.” Dinky didn’t seem all that interested and just nodded and said “cool”
We dropped Dinky off at the school and Ditzy showed me the way to Sugarcube Corner, which was a bakery. The whole way there she talked about muffins, it seemed strange how much she loved the things, but I shrugged it off and walked with her. Once we got there she bought herself a blueberry muffin and she generously bought me one with some sort of nut in it. we sat and ate our pastries in the corner of the shop. “So, where did you come from, I haven’t seen you in Ponyville before...ever” I told her I was from Manehatten, but didn’t want to tell her about my ‘friends’ back in the city. Fortunately I was saved from that awkward situation by a pink, earth pony with a even pinker mane, which was extremely messy and frizzy.
She made a small gasp when she saw me and zipped up and said “Are you new here?!?!” I was taken so aback I couldn’t find any words, so I simply nodded. A huge smile spread across her face and she zipped out of the bakery faster than I could process what had just happened. Not five seconds later, she zipped back in at full speed and stopped less than an inch away from my snout. “Are you that creepy colt that tried to sleep at Twilight’s?” “Well...yes, but-” I never got to finish because she zipped out of there faster than she had the first time. I looked down sadly, wishing I hadn’t knocked on that door last night. “Hey, cheer up, you probably didn’t know a princess lived there.” came a voice from across the table. I looked up and saw Ditzy giving me the most sincere smile I have ever seen in my entire life. “What!?” I exclaimed “She was a princess?! … Well that would explain why she wasn’t too keen to let me in.” I stood up and walked toward the door, leaving my muffin half-eaten on the table when I heard the massive explosion a few blocks down.
I ducked as the building across the street exploded and blew out all the windows in the bakery. "Ditzy!" I called and looked back in her direction. She was sitting there still in her chair, shocked. I ran over to her "Are you alright?!" She gave me a confused and terrified look,"What happened?" "I don't know, but the building next to us exploded." she suddenly snapped back to earth, "What!?" There was suddenly another explosion from the other side of town. "Maybe it's time for us to leave" I said and ran towards the door. Ditzy followed me and we ran into the street. Ponies were running this way and that, it was mass panic and Ditzy and I were in the middle of it. "Follow me!" I yelled over the shrieking ponies at Ditzy and ran into a back alley that was pretty hidden from sight.
Ditzy was only a few seconds behind me, and was running so fast she had to screech to a stop. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I got a word out the bakery exploded as well. Only this time it was different, the building gave off this huge sound. Not bigger than an explosion, but still deafening. Suddenly a million white bodies started piling out the windows and doors...chickens! The building had exploded with chickens! Suddenly there was deep, sinister laughter behind us. I spun around to see the strangest animal I've ever seen. He had body parts of several different types of animals, and one fang that looked dangerous.
"Who are you?!" I said, angry that he laughed at the town being blown u to bits. "Why me? The real question is who are you? I've never seen you around Ponyville before." Suddenly Ditzy yelled "Discord!" I immediately recognized the name from a history class I took when I was younger in Manehatten. "You're the one who's been blowing the whole town up?!" I screamed, the panic out on the street was still quite loud. "Naturally" he replied and floated in mid-air. I took a step back, "But aren't you supposed to be better now?" I asked cautiously. He laughed, "I was being reformed, and besides, that was just a bunch of crap, I never liked those ponies. They turned me into stone for crying out loud!" "So why stay friends with them?" I inquired. "Pfft, like I'd tell you. But that's not why I'm here, you two seem...different. Much more entertaining than these boring ponies who just scream and run in circles." he pointed to the street where chaos still had its grip on the citizens.
"So I've decided to make a game," suddenly Dinky appeared next to him, floating in midair. "Dinky!" yelled Ditzy. I turned to look at her and I saw a murder in her eyes. "You don't...touch her" was all she could manage to get out. "Oh don't worry, I won't hurt her" a floating cage appeared around the foal and closed. Discord locked it and blew on the the key, which fell like dust "...you'll just never see her again unless you manage to stop me" he said with an evil laugh. "Now, nighty night" he said and snapped his fingers. Everything went black and I lost control of my body. I fell to the ground and was out cold.
When I woke up it was night again. I stood up and looked around, I wasn't in the alley anymore. There was nopony around, but then again I couldn't see very well, so I gave my eyes a second to adjust. When they finally did, the sight I saw crushed me. I was in Manehatten, and the city was in shambles. It looked like a nuke went off in the city. There was smoke hovering above the ground and there was a strange glow coming from the distance. I looked around to get an idea where I was. It took me a few minutes to realize where I was. The building in front of me was the apartment of my friend Shadow Eclipse, my only friend who didn't abandon me. He was a strange pony who never went outside his apartment. He hadn't talked to me in a few weeks before I left town and I had assumed he had forgotten about me.
He always wore these strange clothes and had really strange sleep patterns. I trotted inside and stood inside the lobby. I stopped when I heard a sickening crunch beneath my hoof. I looked down to see the skull of a unicorn which was now crushed. I fell backwards and scrambled away. I looked at it for a second, studying it, before I threw up. "Such a shame, isn't it? That's all that's left of poor Shadow. Or what will be left if you don't make the right decision." I was confused. "what do you mean?" I asked "Simple," He said "You have to choose to stay in Ponyville and save that retard's foal, or save the only pony who hasn't given up on you yet."
"What do you mean!?" I snarled and jumped at him. He floated out of the way with precision. "There is a bomb in both cities, one will go off if the other is disarmed." a sinister grin formed on his face. "However, to add more fun to this game, if you don't deactivate either of the bombs in two days..." he made an explosion sound with his mouth and a small mushroom cloud appeared over his head, like some sort of dark halo. "Why are you killing people?" I asked angrily, "The answer is simple" he replied with that cocky tone in his voice, "It's because I can." "And you couldn't before?" "No, I'm not from this dimension, so it takes an immense amount of power to affect what lives here. Especially ponies. But I was living for a year with the most magical beings in equestria, so magic isn't really a problem anymore. All I had to do is absorb their powers little by little. Wasn't that smart of me to do? Pretend to be one of them but then stab them in the back." He snickered then looked me in the eye again.
"Anyway, I'm getting lost in my evil schemes. Whatever, you have to choose who to save. A small town full of nice people, or a huge city filled with jerks. Doesn't matter to me, I'm bored and now I can kill." he took a deep breath of the musty air inside the building "And there is nothing like the smell of fear." another one of his crazed smiled crossed his face and he snapped his fingers and disappeared. I was left in the building's lobby looking at the skeleton of my friend. I sat down on the floor and looked at the crushed bones. I was overcome with a powerful sadness, I had left him because I hated everypony else, and when I felt bad I made up the excuse he had forgotten about me.
I felt I was a bigger monster than Discord. I left a pony to a life of loneliness because I couldn't take the other people being mean. How could I have been so selfish? I should've stayed and been friends with him in his last days. I remembered what Discord said. I could save him! I jumped up but then stopped. If I saved him then I would be killing everypony in Ponyville, but if I save Ponyville, I would cause all this. I walked outside to see the ruins of the city. Buildings lay in their sides, most had collapsed, and there wasn't a single window pane still intact. I looked harder and saw that there were skeletons littering the street, but it was night so I could hardly see them without squinting. That was fine with me, I did not want to see them anyway.
Suddenly there was a hoof around my shoulder, I glanced back to see who it was. Ditzy was standing there with the saddest expression on her face. She looked me in the eye and I could see tears welling up. She wispered the words "I'm so sorry", but the sounded so small in the face of all this destruction. She gave me a long hug then said, "Thank you" and I realized that she was from this place too, she was from this alternate reality that would become real if I didn't stop it. "Where's Dinky?" I asked, scared suddenly. Ditzy gave me a strange look "She's in Ponyville, safe", that relieved me greatly. Now I knew if I stopped the bomb in Ponyville I would get Dinky safe...or at least I would definitely have a chance. I knew what I had to do now. "Discord! You freak of nature, get out here! I've...I've made up my mind."