Broken Harmony

Nova followed Discord through his home admiring the different rooms and their distinct feelings. Now that he was able to he let his chaos magic freely move about and as a result objects were resting upside down above Nova as she walked beside him. He glanced down at Nova and saw her face lit up taking in everything his home had to offer.

“It’s not as exciting as my chaos dimension but, I needed somewhere I could be myself while in this dimension so I made sure to put up some safeguards around the property and well, let myself free here.”

“It’s exactly the way a home of a chaos lord should look.” She smiled and ducked as a pillow floated between them to find it’s home on the couch that was balancing on two legs on top of an end table.

“Anyways,” said Discord clearing his throat, “ let’s settle you in your room and then we can continue talking as I’m sure you have just a teeny bit on your mind.”

Nova nodded and Discord snapped his finger teleporting them to his second bedroom. He had left this one untouched and standard. It was a very calm presence in his home. Nova stumbled when she was suddenly shifted to a different room. She sat solidly on the bed looking up at him catching her breath. She blushed and turned her eyes down, her hair falling around her face to block him from seeing her.

“Are you ok my dear?”
She thought about the question not sure how to answer it truthfully. Was she ok? No, she was for sure not ok. She was terrified, excited, nervous, tired, exhilarated, so many emotions flew through her mind. What was happening right now was fantasy brought to life. This didn’t happen, maybe she had simply lost her mind. Maybe, she had had an accident at the theme park and was in a coma or something? None of this made sense. She wanted desperately to understand everything and know she was safe, that this was real. The only thing was if this was real, if Discord wasn’t simply a result of an overactive imagination coming from some very intense dream, then everything that had happened, that had been said was real.

Was there really another land with real ponies? Were they under attack? Was she really the ponys of harmony formed into one being. One being to hold their souls together as they had been ripped apart and destroyed? If she held them all together what was she? Did she belong here on earth or in the pony world. Was she really even a individual or was she simply them blending together and controlling a body? Nova sighed and shook her head. She started to shake and brought her knees up to her chest wanting to have all this disappear in a way but, when a lion's paw touched her arm and she looked into the worried eyes so close to her she very much wanted this to be real.

“I’m not ok.” She fell against his chest and started to tremble and cry. He stroked her hair and held her tight. Slowly he was able to crawl onto the bed and wrap his body around her. He tried to keep all the pieces inside as he could see her falling apart. She slowly began to still, relaxing into the strange body that held her. She felt his strength and his fur was so soft he was so warm. “I’m sorry, I’m overwhelmed,” she said brushing the tears away with her sleeve.

“ My dear Nova, I was so relieved and shocked to see you handling everything so well. Your reaction makes perfect sense. You my silly girl do not need to be sorry. Of course you are overwhelmed, I simply can’t see why you would assume that any of this was just par the course. No one wakes up, takes a walk and hears this bombshell dropped to be like okie dokie. I couldn’t believe your strength when you were packing up your belongings without blinking. You, are such an amazing creature dear Nova. I’m in awe that it took till now before the world caught up to you.”

Nova snuggled in against him and started to really cry in earnest. Her whole world had been once again ripped apart and reformed into a new type of reality. She mourned the girl she had been a week ago and was scared of the unknown that had presented itself in the form of a creature that was supposed to be unreal. Discord turned her towards him and hugged her tighter he could feel her crying she felt so small when he was in his normal form.

“Nova, I need you to talk to me. What can I say to make this better? You must have questions and feelings that need to be addressed. I can not change what is happening or who you are but, I can try and make what I can better for you.”

She calmed a bit not making the desperate pleas only a good cry will make you do. Tears still falling she looked up at Discord and took a deep breath. She needed to talk to him as much to let him know how she was feeling and so she could sort out what was happening.

“ I need you to just listen to me and let me get this all out Discord, please,” she said to him quietly. She looked him in the eyes and he nodded wordlessly to her. “I remember waking up on a hill. The smell of the grass was one of my first memories. I was alone and in the dark, there were trees surrounding me but I could hear rumbles of something in the distance. I know now that they were cars from the freeway but, then I was terrified of the noise. I remember how cool the night was and that I was laying down when I went to stand up I found I couldn’t walk. I stumbled and rolled down the hill falling into a stream at the bottom. I sat there for a long time stunned by the pain a few rocked had caused and how cold the water felt.

I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I didn’t know if I had a name or who I was. Were people looking for me? I could tell I was in trouble but I didn’t know where to go to get help. Everything was foggy in my brain. I had a terrible headache and I swore I heard voices trying to talk to me. They scared me so I blocked them out as fast as I could. I remember one saying to stay strong and be brave… another saying find him he’s a friend. I stopped listening and made them quiet by screaming as loud as I could. I felt everything well up inside and I just let it out as I sat in the water, with blood dripping down me from my fall down the hill.

That’s where I was found by the police. Apparently someone had heard me and wasn’t sure if an animal was in trouble or if it was a person but, it had spooked someone enough to call for help. The light from their flashlights was so bright, they were speaking to me but I didn’t hear them I was so scared of what was happening. I tried to back away from them to crawl and hide but, I wasn’t able to get far. I remember them touching me and I panicked, I remember swinging myself around and trying to get away and then I remember my eyesight slowly fading until the world became black.

When I woke up I was in a hospital room. It was dark in my room but the hallway was bright. The smells were overwhelming and very strong. I heard beeping and saw that I was connected to different wires and tubes. I started to panic and my machine went haywire sending alarms off as my vitals spiked. The nurses who came in saw that I was awake and scared. Four had came to the door but, only one stayed. She talked to me quiet and calmly, telling me her name how long she had worked at the hospital and just other silly things that came to her mind. I was so surprised when I figured out I could understand her. I knew what she was saying and I knew what she was talking about.

Eventually I was able to talk to her and when I was asked about .. well about anything I didn’t have any answers. There were no records of me anywhere I was a complete mystery. The staff started to call me Nova because the night I was discovered there had been a beautiful flash of light that had brightened the sky. The joke always was I had come from the stars since it was just a valid as any other theory.

It took a year, for me to rehabilitate and start a life outside of the hospital. I was lucky and the staff had become friends, some even felt like what I believe family feels like to me. I was offered a cleaning job there and accepted happily. I was able to have a little apartment set up for me and that was it, I started my life. For another three years I moved through my daily motions and did what needed to be done. I never felt right or real though, never felt like I was apart of normal society. I didn’t know what it was but it was just a feeling that never went away. I had friends and did enjoy being with them. I loved seeing them smile and wanted to do anything I could for them. I wouldn’t have been who I was today without them and I always wanted to repay their kindness.

That’s why I was out the night I met you. I was out for the night with the girls for birthday fun and to show them I cared and wanted them all to be happy. They had wanted me to go clubbing with them so we could all kick back, relax, have fun. Then, I met you.

I felt like the last couple of years had been erased in a week after meeting you. I couldn’t breath, couldn’t sleep, I could do nothing without thinking about you. You spoke to me with more than words… I felt truly alive, I wasn’t just moving and going forward I was blissfully alive. The power bursts were scary and I hated that they reminded me of the first night that I could remember. I could feel the voices start to swirl in my head screaming at me but I couldn’t say what it was they were saying. I didn’t care though the pain of those episodes was nothing compared to the feelings I had when with you.

Then, yesterday happened, it hurt this time the power that went through my body jolted and rolled through me, I thought I was coming apart. You were there though, putting me back together. I knew something was different when you told me to sleep I felt the calm of your power and that I simply didn’t have a choice. Then waking up and seeing you watching me, making sure I was ok. I knew I had found someone who I would go to the ends of the earth to be with. I don’t even know what that means yet, I can’t explain it, just that I felt that you also shared the feeling as well.

Which brings us to today, this morning and now. I don’t know what to think now. I shared a bed last night with a man. Who not only told me something completely insane but then revealed that it was all true .. right before my eyes it all changed. You, you changed …..right before my eyes…..

I’ve changed too. The moment you blinked into your true form my whole world shifted from what I thought was my path. What was real or what was a firmly in reality. Everything is different now.”

Discord had stayed silent taking everything in, he wanted to interject but knew if he had, she would have stopped talking. He needed to know her reaction and hearing her speak about the past hurt. She had been scared and alone, just like him except, unlike him she had no memories or knowledge to pull her through. What an awful way to begin to exist. What worried him though throughout the conversation was one thing..

“You could hear voices?”

Nova snapped her head up startled from her own thoughts. She stood up and started to pace the room. “Yes, at least at the beginning. I thought it was done though, until meeting you everything had been silent. Why?”

Discord looked up from the bed as she walked past and grabbed her hand. Nova stopped seeing his expression. “Nova, what happens if it’s the girls calling out to you?”

“What?!” She started to pace again walking to the door and walking back. She kept it up in silence and then the third time she went past the door she opened it. Discord got up making to a move towards her.

“Stop! I just I need a moment. I just I need to be by myself for now.” She looked around the room and it seemed so normal, glancing into the hallway there was nothing normal. The way the colours moved on the walls the carpet was made of grass. Things were so out of sync. “ I need some time Discord. Please, don’t follow me.” She ran from the room, Discord following her out into the hallway. Tears in his eyes he floated after her. Watching as she bounded down the stairs and ran through the front to the door.

“Please Nova...don’t leave me…. Please”

She turned and saw his tears he looked so heartbroken. Her body sent a shock of power through her, reacting to his pain. More overwhelmed than ever Nova turned from him grabbed the door and opened it. The last sight Discord had was her bright long hair flying out the door.