Taken

I drop the newspaper on the counter in shock. There is absolutely no way that I just read what I thought I just read. Yeah, that’s right. My eyes just deceived me. It didn’t say 2073…

I’m almost scared to look back down at it, though. What if it really was what I thought it was? How am I going to reconcile this? This shit ain’t logical, man.

Speaking of logical… “What do you make of this?” I ask Twilight, chancing a glance over at her.

She looks about as confused as I do, but there’s something else about it. Something that I can’t exactly put my finger on. It looks like she’s confused for a different reason than I am.

“You don’t look surprised,” I comment.

“I am surprised,” she responds. “Although I want to know why your reaction was so strong…”

“Well, it’s like this: before I woke up here, I was way further back in time than this. It was the year 2012 where I was.”

She mulls this over for a second before responding: “Yeah, that’s the same year it was for us, as well…”

“So what, is this some kind of time-travel shit? Like that H.G. Wells story or something?”

Twilight turns to the side, and at first I think it’s because she’s mad at me for something- though for what, I can’t imagine. After a second, though, I realize that she’s just finishing up making her sandwich.

“Can you make me one while you’re at it?” I ask politely. She nods, and I go and sit on the couch in the living room. While she’s still in the kitchen, I’m trying to figure all of this out. My mind is racing a mile a minute.

Suddenly, I get an urge to do something that I swore I’d never willingly do. I try to tamp it down at first, but it’s getting too big to ignore. I have to find out answers somehow, but to do something that drastic? I don’t want to…

I feel Twilight settle down onto the couch beside me, and nudge a plate over in my direction. This is enough to bring me out of my reverie for now, and I pick up the sandwich, taking a bite out of it.

“Are you alright?” she asks.

I can’t help but laugh a hollow laugh. “Am I alright? No, frankly, I’m not. I’ve just found out that somehow I’ve been transported sixty-one years into the future, where apparently the world’s come to an end or some shit like that. We’re being hunted by maniacal creatures that want us dead, and I’m assuming these things didn’t just evolve to look like they do… And on top of all of that-“ I turn and look Twilight dead in the eyes. “You still haven’t answered my question yet.”

“W-what question?” She tries to avoid my gaze, but I know for a fact that she knows exactly what I’m talking about.

I’ve brought it back up to the forefront, though, and I know it’ll stick in her mind for awhile. So I decide to take it on a slightly different tack. “Well, let me ask you this. Do you have a special someone back in Equestria?”

She shakes her head. “A few ponies I know have feelings for me, but I’ve never reciprocated any of them.”

“Seriously? No one? I mean, even I’ve had a few girlfriends back in the day, and I’m about as socially awkward as they come.”

“You have no problem talking to me.”

I’m about to respond, when I stop myself short. She’s actually right. I have no problem whatsoever conversing with her. She’s actually the first female that I’ve ever had that experience with.

“Point. Maybe it’s because you’re of a different species than me? I don’t know…”

She gets up and takes the dishes out to the kitchen. When she’s put them into the sink, she comes back out. “I want to go talk to Princess Celestia about something. Don’t leave… please.” With that, she goes into her bedroom and shuts the door.

What did she mean by that last part? I really don’t care, truth be told. I decide I need some fresh air, so I step out back. Immediately, the crisply cool air hits me, and I smile. I’m not smiling for long, though, as I see those fucking wolves at the edge of the woods, staring out at me. I can only see their eyes, but I’m sure it’s them. Sure as I’m alive.

I try to ignore them as I sit down. I don’t know if these wolves can sense fear or not, but just in case they can, I don’t want them to start seeing me as weak prey… and maybe decide to attack me.

Instead, I sit outside for a second, staring down at my hands. What the hell am I supposed to do now? Obviously, things are much more serious than I’d first realized. I’m not going to be able to survive without information.

I think it’s high time I got some answers.

I don’t even know if he can hear me, but I call his name out all the same. Just one word.

“Discord.”

Before I can even say another word, the draconequus- is that what he called himself? I think so- has appeared in front of me. He’s holding a glass of something that looks like chocolate milk, and he’s grinning like a madman.

“Well, now! This is a pleasant change…! Usually, it’s me who’s having to force myself upon you, but now you’re calling upon me willingly!”

“I wouldn’t be having to do this if you’d been honest with me up to this point,” I argue. “You haven’t really given me all that much information to work with.”

“But, of course not. If I’d have told you everything right from the very beginning, then it wouldn’t have been fun at all. Well, not for me anyways. I don’t think there’s anything I can do to make it fun for you, not at this point.”

I glare at him. “You’re not kidding.” I stand up so I can face him like a man. Well, that’s kind of a misstatement; I’m not even close to his height. I can get up as close as I can, though. “I want some answers.”

“And I’d be happy to provide them, if you were ready to hear them.”

“Oh, I’m ready. I’m past ready.”

Discord grimaces and shakes his head pityingly. “Oh, you think you are, there is no doubt about that. But you aren’t. And do you know why?” Before I can answer, he continues: “Because you are still alive. What I have done to you- and for you- if I were to reveal it to you, you wouldn’t want to stay alive anymore. You’d want to kill yourself just to escape, and I can’t have that. Not yet.”

“Why? Because I haven’t learned my lesson yet?”

Discord smiles a bit. “Has Twilight told you what she’s doing when she goes into her room to ‘talk to Princess Celestia’?”

“I assume that’s what she’s doing. She does have that-“ I stop myself. If Discord doesn’t already know about the amulet that provides her with that direct link to the Princesses, then he doesn’t need to. “That method of contact.”

“I know that. But do you really trust that she’s really doing what she says she’s doing?”

I’m about to reply in the affirmative, but something prompts me to stop and think first. When I do so, albeit reluctantly, I realize that Discord actually has a point. I have nothing to draw upon to come to the conclusion that Twilight is actually telling me the truth.

Still, I don’t feel like inflating Discord’s massive ego any more than it already has been. So like I’ve been having to do way too much lately, I decide I’m going to play innocent. “Like I’ve already said, she hasn’t given me any reason not to trust her. So until she does so, I’m going to believe her.”

“You shouldn’t.”

The abruptness of his statement surprises me somewhat. “What do you know, that I don’t? Specifically relating to this topic of conversation.”

“Twilight has her own loyalties, let me just put it to you like that. She doesn’t want to protect you for purely unselfish reasons. She wants to get back to Equestria, just like you want to get back to your time. She feels, correctly by the way, that she cannot survive without you and your Flame.”

“But she has her own magic, and that’s gotta be one hell of a lot stronger than my Flame ever could be.”

“It is powerful, yes, but it can’t do anything. For one, it can’t be used to kill, because killing is not a part of pony society. Because it is a part of yours, though, your Flame can be used to kill. If you wanted to, you could kill Twilight without breaking a sweat. In the same way- well, no I can’t say that. You couldn’t kill me. You could try, and you’d probably be able to do quite a bit to me. But you couldn’t kill me. Not with your power at the level it is.”

“But if I were stronger…?”

Discord laughs. “Don’t press your luck.”

My eyes involuntarily flutter over to the edge of the woods, where sure enough, those wolves are still lurking just inside the field of my vision. Damn, it’s creepy, just seeing their eyes floating out there in the darkness.

Discord apparently can sense what I’m thinking, because he speaks up now: “That’s not a bad idea, Matthew. Why not try your powers out on one of them? I’m sure it won’t matter if one of them is dead. I mean, look at how many of them there are. They won’t miss one dead wolf.”

“They haven’t done anything to me, though. They’re just sitting there, watching us all the time.”

“I could make one of them do something, if that would be enough motivation for you.” As if on cue, one of them steps out of the woods, its hackles raised and sharp teeth bared. Now that I’m really looking at it, I realize just how big it actually is. Its head probably comes up to my chest, and its body looks lithe and muscular.

“Well?” Discord asks. “Nothing?” I shake my head.

He snaps his claws, like a regular human would snap their fingers. Suddenly, the wolf growls deeply, then charges at me. Its eyes reflect the light of the moon, and they look… evil. Like a red moon is giving off its light, even though the moon is its regular color.

I don’t have time to react before it lunges at me, knocking me off my feet and pinning me down onto the deck of the patio. It snaps at my face, but I manage to get my head out of the way just a split second before my nose would have been in its jaws.

“Are you not going to do anything?” Discord taunts. “Are you just going to let it kill you?”

As it’s coming back down for another snap at me, I raise a hand and summon the Flame. I blast it in the face with a bolt of the Flame energy, and send it flying off the deck. It lands on its feet, skidding for a few yards, before it shakes off the initial surprise and charges again.

“You don’t have it in you, do you?” Discord asks. “You really can’t kill. You’ll never survive if you can’t-“

Before he can finish, the wolf lunges again. I’m getting sick and tired of his antics, and I just want it to be over with. So, I channel my rage into the Flame, and rear back and throw a punch. As my fist is coming forward, I can see that my Flame has turned from its regular light blue, to an almost jet black.

My fist makes contact with the wolf’s snout, then keeps on going as its head practically explodes into a fine red mist. Its body falls down in front of me, missing everything above the neck.

Discord laughs gleefully. “You did it! You killed, finally! Well done, my boy. You’re gonna go far, kid.”

I turn to him, still letting my anger control me, and he actually cringes a little bit. “Fuck off.” I fire a bolt of the death-Flame at him. He disappears right before it’s about to hit him. Of course he wouldn’t let it just kill him. He’s smarter than that.

I let the Flame disappear and go back inside me. All of a sudden, I feel very drained, very tired. I sit down hard onto the bench area. As I do so, I sit on something very hard. It takes me awhile to fish it out from underneath me, but when I do I’m rather surprised as to what it is.

“This… this is Twilight’s communication amulet… But if she doesn’t have it, then how is she talking with Princess Celestia?”

I think it’s about time I got some answers from her now. I go to walk back inside. As I do so, I think about the wolf that I killed, and I come to a conclusion that quite frankly scares me.

Now that I’ve made my first ever kill… I realize that I liked it.