Chapter one: Miracle?

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[One day a stallion unicorn entered the shop, he was talking with the old gryphon about something I couldn’t hear but I could sense I was brought up at some point. When both of them glanced my way, I was sure of it. I had to step back and gulp my saliva because of the creepy feeling in my gut as the two of them came closer to my cage so they could have a closer look.

"Like I said: Right now, Schizo here is the second best behaving one, the others will need a lot more… ‘guidance’, if you understand. Though, I’d still recommend buying the shock collar as well." Golbeak continued his speech.

"Is he dangerous?" the stallion asked with a hesitation.

"Mmmno, no. He used to have a real temper, but he's mostly calm now. You see, he was working on this very city, so he's used to commands and obeys without a word. It's just that for your purposes, it's better to be safe than sorry. Either way, it's good to have a way to ‘nudge’ him in case something in his head... you know." chuckled the gryphon.

"Hmm. So, and the first best behaved one you mentioned?"

"Right this way, he's the crown jewel of my store. This guy was so eager to serve you ponies, he willingly gave himself to us!"

...And they left through the door to the other room. I exhaled in relief that I got to stay in my boring, yet safe cage for a while longer. It didn’t take too long for them to return, however.

"…Yeah, that is expensive indeed, even for me.” The stallion scratched his chin “Guess I'll take this one. Both with the collar, remote and a chip too."

"Of course." The gryphon bowed as elegantly as his old bird body allowed, donning a grin, but in the middle of it, started coughing like a lung cancer patient on his deathbed "....Pardon me, I'll bring everything right away. Follow me please."

Soon after that I was leashed and led outside by the aloof looking stallion.

...

I’ve been silent for most of the walk, wondering in fear what exactly was going to happen with me. The uncertainty was the worst. “It could be anything,” I thought. From the very best thing you could imagine, to the living hell on Earth or wherever they came from.

"W-where are you taking me master?" I mustered enough courage to ask at some point.

"So you can speak after all?" The stallion carelessly glanced my way, "...hope it doesn't become a too frequent habit of yours."

That was all he said to me. I didn’t dare to ask again.

...

Eventually, we reached a newly built train station; I had helped on its construction. I had never gotten a chance to see their trains before it was finished, however. Now I was standing in front of one and it was… Well, it was colorful like most of the things the ponies built. They really must like bright colors.

As silly as their stuff may look to some humans, I kinda liked it. It reminded me of the LSD trips I used to have.

The wagon my master led me to was resembling my old world though. I think it might have even been an old, repurposed shipping container.

"Get in there, Schizo. I am not asking twice." The stallion nudged me into the open door when I hesitated to enter the smelly interior. He then clipped the leash to one of the hangers and left, closing the door. It was a short wait before the train started to move.

There were two more humans in here with me at the start of the ride, but I barely knew how to even converse anymore, aside from talking to myself when nobody else was listening. The only times I spoke with ponies was when I was asking for my next instructions or commands. I almost never talked with other humans, even they thought I was a weirdo.

...So I stayed silent throughout the whole ride, trying to fall asleep.

***

"Hey, get up Schizo, time to move!" I heard the stallion’s voice, pulling me out of my dreams. I felt his hoof as it was dragging me outside of the wagon.

I squinted my eyes at the unusually bright sun, but as they got used to the light, I realized I was in a city full of these equine creatures. It wasn’t the only strange part though, the whole place looked like nothing I had ever seen before: The buildings, the pavement, the architecture, everything was in a similar style as what they built over my old city, yet all of it seemed as if it had stood there for hundreds of years.

Something was telling me that I was not on Earth anymore and the feeling in my gut only confirmed it. As we waited for the next train, all I could do was to stare at everything with my mouth half opened in realization that I must have left the planet I grew up on...

In a few minutes, our transport was arriving. This time there wasn’t an ugly wagon for humans in the back like the last one had, there were only the nice looking pony ones.

...I was still sent into the luggage area though, with a threat that if I touched “anything” in there, I'd get zapped. I then received a physical demonstration of how much it hurts. It’s not like I was going to search through any pony luggage anyway...

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The train took us to a nearby small village and from there we had to go by foot and hoof.

We entered a leafy forest on the other side of the train tracks, following a thin, dusty road that took us through the woods. We emerged at a small sunlit meadow surrounded by trees. There was a modern looking house on the other side with a few young fruit trees planted next to it.

My heart jumped in my chest over the initial thought that this might be my new home now, surrounded by nature, right under the sun the whole day. It seemed like a paradise too good to be true.

As strange as it may seem from an ex-junkie having lived in the city streets, I do love flora. Maybe especially because of that.

My master took me inside the house where I pleasantly discovered that it was equally gorgeous there as well. It was letting in so much light through its big windows on each side, especially the door sized ones. They were pointing at the little garden with fruit trees and a two seat swing.

Right in front of the view stood a robust chair with another figure sitting in it, gazing outside. Even observing from behind, all the way across the big room, I could tell it was another pony; a mare. Their manes were just so… pretty. This pony’s mane was visibly disheveled though, almost uncared for, yet still beautiful because of its bright, goldish-yellow colour.

"Stay here," commanded the stallion as he stopped me at the door, continuing on to the living room by himself.

From peeking around the corner, I could see him tapping on the mare’s shoulder, right before the chair turned around.

The room was stretching over the whole house, so I wasn’t able to see much in the way of detail other than the fact that she did not have a horn or wings and that she had a blanket on her lap, covering her rear legs. From that distance, her face seemed just as young and elegant as any other mare. But it was her eyes with big black circles under them that made her look somewhat… unhealthy.

The stallion faintly smiled at the mare when she glanced at him. She didn’t smile back though, her neutral expression stayed almost the same for most of the time.

I couldn't hear what they were talking about but it probably wasn't about me at the start, just some casual conversation. I could swear I almost saw her smile at some point.

But then the stallion brought up my name, pointed my way and all 4 pony eyes were fixed at me. The mare frowned, "I don't need an assistant Papyrus! Especially not... something like this!"

The stallion said something I couldn't hear and then called me closer. I hesitated whether I should go or not, but then went because my master said so.

Up close, I was afraid to look at their faces even though I was taller than them, so I stared into the ground between us.

"...He's ugly. And he smells," the mare muttered.

"He doesn't need to be pretty to be useful. And he can be washed. More importantly, he's tall, strong and obedient,” said Papyrus. He then turned his attention to me, “Schizo, look up.

I did what I was told to do and glanced at the mare, looking into her big eyes. Each of them had a different coloured iris. Her right one was hazel brown while her left one was yellow, just like her mane. They’d be stunning and glamorous if it wasn’t for the scary looking black circles underneath them combined with the hostile expression the mare was adamant in showing to me.

Despite her best efforts at intimidation, I felt like I knew exactly what was hiding behind those eyes. Melancholy, bitterness, boredom of living… It was like an old man’s gaze, one who’s lived way too long and has seen way too much. Everything else about her seemed way too young for that, though. It was as if there was something tragic troubling that mare, causing her wretched appearance. As if she was longing for her own death while being unable to kill herself, just like...

...Just like me.

At least, it was just like me from back then. The resemblance was uncanny; unnerving.

I gulped.

The mare didn’t care to properly look at me though, just grumpily frowned at the stallion to see whether or not he was going to tell her that this was all just some kind of joke. Papyrus would then tell me something like: “Good job Anon, you can go,” pat my back and we would all have a big ol’, hearty laugh together. That wasn’t the case of course.

"You know I don't have enough time to properly take care of you,” replied the unicorn. “He can do many things you can't or make them easier," he said to her silent disapproval.

"...So you're only doing this so that you don't have to come home at all, aren’t you?!" she spat.

"What are you saying? I'm just trying to help you," reasoned Papyrus. He was on the losing end of the battle.

"If you did, you'd be here yourself!" the mare angrily yelled, almost as if I wasn't standing right in front of them witnessing it, as if I wasn't even there. I was pretty sure if she had something in her hoof, she’d throw it at him as well; or at me.

It was then that the Stallion swiftly asserted dominance with his way deeper voice, ”You know well I have duties in my work that I can’t abandon!! What happened isn’t my fault!”

His outburst was followed by a dead silence that filled the room for a few, yet very long seconds.

...

"I know..." the mare sniffled eventually "I'm sorry..."

"...Me too.” The stallion slightly lowered his head and eased up his posture “I know it's not easy, but please give it a chance."

To which the mare softly nodded, without even eyeing at me.

"I'll send him to the shower before presenting him. Yeah and I got this for you too." the unicorn called "Papyrus" levitated the remote for my shock collar into her lap and took out a one shot syringe pistol out of his saddlebag "It's so that he won't run away."

"What is it?"

"Use the remote if he misbehaves. And this is to prevent him from fleeing. Hold still, it'll sting a bit." he put the syringe pistol to the mare’s shoulder.

"Wait, I don't want that- Ow! What the hay was that?!"

"If he gets too far from you, the collar will start zapping him. You can set the range on the remote. Pretty neat huh?"

"I don’t like things under my skin. ...Especially if it's connecting me to this weird and stinky creature." She grumbled.

"It was necessary, dear." smiled Papyrus, then firmly looked at me "Come on Schizo. This way."

My master sent me to the shower tub and left me there with some clean, simple clothes he had bought back on Earth.

The size was okay, surprisingly.

I was happy to feel warm water on my skin once again, finally being able to get rid of all the dirt and smell from all parts of my body.

Once I was done and finally looking almost like a normal human after such a long time, he took me to the living room once again, stopping before opening the door.

"Schizo, I'm gonna say this only once, so you better remember everything as best as your brain allows it. My wife, Lemon Scribble, is now your new master and the single most important thing in your life, understand? I won't always be here, so your allegiance lies to her. If she tells you to jump, you’re supposed to ask how high. If she tells you to run in circles, you better start running. Any questions?"

...I had a few, but I was afraid of asking them, so I just shook my head, saying "No."

"Good. Better than I hoped for. Now come..."

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