The Other Route

by TechTock

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 1832

My first work. I plan on it being a little dark but deep.

A descriptive journey through the life of a new soul created by discord. Essentially what it is to be alive. Delving into deeper questions involving life, death, order, chaos, and meaning using the My Little Pony universe as a medium.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-11-30 12:16:12 UTC

Step 1: Void

Where am I?

"That's what you choose as your first question huh?"

Who are you?

"People refer to me as Discord. You are free to call me as such as well."

Do you plan to tell me anything about what is going on... Discord?

"Well, for the most part, no. You are sort of a study for myself."

I see... what is the goal of this study?

"That just it. You are doing it. The fact that you show curiosity is the kind of stuff that I want to see from you."

Did I exist before this point?...

"... I um... no. You did not. This is a response I was not expecting. Do you have any memory of what came before this point?"

I remember waking up and thinking where am I. Other than that no.

"Fascinating, I will test you no longer as you have already by far exceeded my expectations. You have been created from chaos, Essentially you are the epitome of raw existence. The place you currently exist is know as the void. This is my true realm. Here you will have no form as you are merely a thought. How do you feel?"

... You expect me to answer that?

"I suppose it is a little too soon for you to understand the meaning of feelings. Better question, what do you want right now?"

I begin to think that I would like to experience being more than just a thought. I begin to see, hear, and feel. Before me floats a strange creature which I begin to accept as the void form of discord.

"Well how about that, you have chosen quite an interesting way to come into existence my child. Care to see?"

Discord makes a reflection of myself appear. Within it I see tendrils of smoke, sparkling here and there. Constantly changing and flashing. I compare this to my understanding of the words storm and magic. I then realize that Discord must have given me knowledge of these words only to be unlocked when I came upon things comparable.

"So what now?"

"Well, There is quite a bit outside of this realm. I would offer for you to go see it but I do not believe you are quite ready yet. I understand that this is probably quite confusing to you, but I seem to have lost my flair with guiding Ponies through this process."

After saying the word pony I instantly gain a form. My reflection shows the tendrils of cloud condense into what I instantly recognize as a pony shape. I still remain swirling within this shape with arcs jumping from the parting of the foggy tendrils.

"Damn, I seem to have given you a foundation from which to build. I suppose that is a fairly important step into creating yourself, however I was fairly interested to see if you would choose an alternate form."

"Does my shape bother you?"

"Of course not my brother, I have come to be quite fond of the shape you currently hold."

"This place is too empty. it makes me feel uncomfortable."

"You are free to change it, after all this is our realm now not just mine. Here let me help you, I will give you a floor to stand on."

Upon saying this he makes a strange noise with his form and suddenly there is a infinite field of green stretched out before me. The void above me begins to sparkle with small dots of what I come to know as light. Discord also changes form.

"I hope that my change does not bother you this is just a more comfortable form for when I am existent. This is also a form that others will be able to recognize when you feel you are ready to meet them."

"There are others?"

"Yes, although here we are alone, there exists another realm on a different plane in which there are a particularly large amount of individuals that like to do silly things like eat and sleep. They do come to this plane on a very different area guided by a god, such as ourselves, when they choose to sleep. They call it dreaming."

"I would very much like to meet this other god you speak of."

Discord burst out into laughter, "If you wish to meet anyone other than myself I believe you will have to meet the god know as Celestia first! Otherwise she would probably have my head for introducing you to her unstable sister before her."

"Does that make us their brothers?"

"Not necessarily. Honestly none of us could really be considered family. We just refer to each other as such to assist in establishing a sort of connection. We are all the same being if you really care to know. At least that's as far as my interpretation on it goes."

"I don't think that creating here is what I am particularly interested in. I want to see this other plane that you speak about."

"Fine... but first you have to be approved of by Celestia after all it is sort of her area. I will hail her now." With that Discord creates a scroll and quill, scribbles a few things down, and then throws the scroll out into the air which instantly burns a bright red and dissolves in a flame of black.

"There we go, she should show up pretty quickly, I hope you don't mind I am going to change the place up a bit so she feels a little more comfortable." Upon saying this I find myself in what I know to be a room. Well furnished with an odd assortment of items.

"By the way, you may want to choose an actual color, as the color of void can be a little eerie to those who have not come to terms with it." He then brings forth a scroll with a rainbow on it. "Go ahead and pick any color on here for your coat and mane. There are no wrong choices."

I see a color that seems to resonate with me, this color I know to be called blue. I choose this for my coat, then choose a much darker shade of purple for my mane.

"Very good choices, I hope that I have not influenced your choices on this as the starting colors can be very important to coming to terms with yourself. Ah, and it would seem you are just in time too as here comes our guest!" He says as a bright light that seems much more pure than flame appears before us and shapes itself into a much larger pony.

"Dammit Discord, this is unacceptable behavior! We had agreed to make no more since the... Is this him?"

"Why yes my loving sister, feast your eyes on the one who has been seeking knowledge since his existence!" Discord begins to laugh. "After all, this may be another twilight for you to fiddle with the brain of. Oh, I forget you don't like to admit to that kind of stuff." He spouts as he rolls around in the air laughing.

Celestia ignores his comment as she begins studying me. "What is your name young one?"

"Name... I have yet to label myself."

"Well then how am I supposed to refer to you?"

"I guess if I had to choose... I'd say... oh I don't know, pony?"

"Hmm, you will have to work on that for now until then I will call you young one however. Now, as for you Discord..."

"Hold it there princess, be aware that you are in my realm." He states, again laughing.

"Why did you call me here anyways."

"Ah, much better. My friend here has a curiosity that I can not curb, I also do not believe he is ready to make his life in my existence. Thus I have asked you here to take him with you and guide him through your world. I assume that you would also be more comfortable with this since you probably do not another one of me wandering about existence. That being said, I like my individuality as well and fear that such a thing would happen if you did not."

"Is this what you want?"

I stop to ponder whether this option is truly what I want.

"Yes, I believe that I need to learn more in order to help myself understand what it means to exist."

Discord interjects, "So it's settled! I bid you all adieu, as there are things I feel the need to attend to." He says as he pushes us twords the door. After pushing us through we find ourselves flashing away from the land I had come to know. What lies ahead, I find myself overwhelmed with the urge to see.

Step 2: Order

I find myself taking a step through the doorway and everything changes. The first thing I realize as I step through is that there is now a feeling I had never experienced before. I know this now as warmth. The second thing I notice as my eyes begin to adjust is that I am within a large hallway many times larger than would ever be practical. Within this hallway coloured lights dance across my vision from the mighty stained glass windows spread across the entirety of the gold trimmed walls. Painted all along is majestic collages depicting what I assume to be historical events that helped shape this world. Beneath this are intricately carved displays holding what I could only assume to be relics, as I notice that some of the relics are depicted in the art itself.

"Welcome to the palace young one. From here all things relating to Equestria are dealt with. Ranging from simple political misunderstandings, to things pertaining to the balance of our universe." Celestia states sweeping a hoof through the air.

"You're universe requires maintenance? Seems a little impractical if you ask me. Why not just create a law by which those who live here must abide?"

"What do you mean? Of course there are laws here. All must abide by them or face punishment. Do not think for a moment that they are empty threats either. I have never taken mercy on those that break them, even Luna...."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this. You can't reinforce that which cannot be broken. This is from my understanding of course."

"Law is what creates order am I wrong?"

"I think I now understand what it is that you are trying to say. This is a world in which the ponies are free and able to think for themselves. The same as you. Implementing a universal law would not allow for change, as such this would not allow for progress. I speak not of laws that create balance from chaos. We refer to that as order. I speak only of spoken rules that are not to be broken.