Log Eleven - Chapter Ten

For uncounted hours of the day, after we had arranged our settlement, Discord and I were chillaxing underneath the willow tree in front of the still waters of the lake, watching Celestia's sun slowly descend as half of it had already sunken below the distant horizon, glazing the sky a splendid glamour of autumn orange and dark magenta.

How an astonishing view such as this reminded me of home; the wondrous steep slopes stretched for miles on end, covered in a rich blanket of grass and daisies, the staggering collection of towering maple trees sprinkled around with the addition of the rising sun was always breathtaking to behold each and every morning.  Living in that house for several solitary years were the crowning moments of my life.  I relished every single minute of it.

A decent-paying job to fill the bills, a gnarly BMW vehicle for easy travelling, a wide plasma screen and fancy laptop; I had everything a single man could possibly ever ask for.  But things changed when Fluttershy came along.  When she stepped into the picture, she became my everything then.  When she left, all that I possessed became meaningless to me then.  For the sake of reuniting with my dear Shy, I had to give up the life, even the possessions I earned through hard work, I had on Earth to develop a new one in Equestria.

I never looked back since then.  Though oftentimes I'd wonder how Earth has been doing.  If I were somehow given an opportunity to go back to Earth, would I shy away that chance?  Having living in Equestria for a month would mean it has been thirty years on Earth.  Even if I did return my house and my belongings would likely be gone; I'd be homeless and limping around the streets scavenging scraps of fast food out of trash bins wearing nothing but torn garbage bags as a poor choice of clothing for a living.  So with that said, would I go back?  The answer is plainly obvious: Hell no.  And besides, the air in Equestria is so transparently clean that I would never dare go back to breathing toxic air.

Of course one would have to pardon the populace of ponies that behave hysterical around the alien human.  If I had to look on the bright side to this is I wouldn't have to worry about making too many friends.  One single man, his daughter, and a couple of friends.  That's as ideal as I can manage.

The story?  Ah.  Right.  My apologies for the pointless rambling.

There was me and Discord, a simple mortal and an immortal deity as buddies, reclined against the willow tree as we watched the sun bidding its farewell to us and this side of the world for the moon to take the spotlight in the sky.  Tracking back right after me and Discord formed our settlement, I had allowed myself to take an excursion through my mind about his "Celestia forbidding him to do anything today" and "only him and her to know and for me to find out" statement.  Discord reassured me everything would fix itself eventually.  Sure his reassurance drained the worries, but there was still a lingering puddle of curiosity about Celestia's vague intentions.

What was it she had to be secretive about?  What sort of plan was she concocting if she had to make Discord be secretive too?

Quite a mystery to untangle.  Perhaps the swapped cutie marks were-

I was then snapped out of my train of thoughts when Discord exhaled a dull yawn.

I swiveled my head to see the spirit nimbly spring to his feet.  He arched his back at an impossible, and rather painful-looking might I regrettably add, angle.  "Well this certainly has been an interesting day," he grunted as he bent his back further, meanwhile bending his knuckles with both hands to release a series of shuddering popping noises.  He returned standing straight and massaged his back.  "But I think it is time for me to bid you a humble farewell," said the draconequus with a quick bow.

I slowly got on to my knees and rose to my feet as well.  "From the looks of it I would say so," I weakly moaned as I stretched my arms to their fullest extent which made both my elbows yield a soft POP! sound.  "I'm still concerned for my dear Shy though..."

Walking in front of me, Discord extended an arm and perched a comforting lion's paw on my shoulder.  "As I told you before, Rick, this is nothing you should worry about," he said with a reassuring tone.  He whipped out a smirk.  "Shouldn't you be reminded this is the exact Fluttershy who stood up to a dragon.  The one Fluttershy who blazed through a ruthless swarm of shape-changing, love-sucking changlings.  And who was it that put a stop to Nightmare Moon's reign of terror?"

"Fluttershy," I answered quickly.

Discord nodded once.  "Right, and who was the pegasus that stopped a raging tornado?"

"Fluttershy," I answered quickly again, albeit louder.

"And who was it that reformed I," announced Discord, placing an eagle claw on his chest's center, "The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.  The God of Nonsensical Mischief.  The Witty and Dastardly Dashing Rogue."  I rolled my eyes but went along with it nonetheless.  Discord's brows narrowed.  He leaned closer until the tip of his nose was touching mine.  "Tell me, Rick Gartners.  Who?  Who?!" he repeated with emphasis as he shook me lightly.

There was a brief dramatic pause before I repeated the answer for the third and hopefully for the final time, "Fluttershy."

Discord gently pushed himself away.  "Right.  So there's nothing you should be concerned of.  I'll bet right now everything is back to normal," he said.  I raised an incredulous brow.  "Okay, maybe not as normal normal, but you get the picture," Discord quickly added.

I inclined my head to an affirmative nod.  "I get it," I said.

"Good," Discord confirmed with another satisfied smirk, crossing his mismatched arms.

Before Discord snapped his fingers, I raised a hand to interrupt.  "Oh, and Discord."

The spirit halted his movement and stared at me attentively.  "Hm?" he hummed.

I sort of stood around in silence, my mind having an apology prepared yet my mouth refused to let it out.  Why do men have to make it such a chore to say their sorry?

I idly scratched the back of my head, gathering the nerve to speak while kicking the dirt.  "Y'see.  Well.  I..."  Damn it, Rick.  Just spit it out already.  It's two simple words.  "I have something to tell you-" I was abruptly silenced when Discord planted an eagle talon over my lips.

"No need to say any more, Rick," he said knowingly, reeling his talon back.  "I completely forgive you.  Sometimes we let loose our wild emotions out of our cages."  He summoned a bird cage, and, I kid not, letters 'N', 'A', 'E', 'R', 'G' which my brain automatically spelt them out as 'Anger' with avian wings fluttered frantically about inside.  "Should we do so, we abandon all sense of rationality."  He lifted the pin locking the cage's door, freeing the frenzied letters.

The first thing they did with their newfound freedom was hurl themselves at me at the velocity of a speeding bullet.  On instinct I crossed my arms in front of my face to block the oncoming attack.

A loud sound of fingers snapping was heard beforehand.  After some seconds, nothing happened to me.  I peeked through the slit between my arms and saw that the aggressive letters were back in their metallic prison.  With another snap of a finger, the cage turned -- along with the letters -- into mere grains of beach sand.  A calm wind blew and carried a milky way of sand toward the yonder.

"As such we tend to hurt those close to us.  While we never mean to, what's done has been done; it'll leave a permanent scar that'll haunt you for the rest of your days," said Discord sagely with a somber demeanor.

I was standing here speechless at Discord's profound display of wisdom.  Another side of him I never thought I'd get to see.  I couldn't help but feel a tad sympathetic at his last sentence.

I wittingly shook myself out of my awestruck state.  "Well, I'm still sorry," and finally I spoke.  "I shouldn't have been so reckless with my accusations without evidence or proof."

Discord waved a dismissive hand.  "It's all water under the bridge.  Besides, I already forgave you."  The deity again lifted up his hand, but suddenly froze.  "Oh, I almost forgot," he said as he dove an eagle talon into his pockets that was his skin.

It's at this point I'd given up questioning Discord's illogicalness and went with the flow.  The draconequus spent a whole minute digging profusely through his pockets, his expression being that of slight annoyance.

"Now where did I put that thing?" Discord grumbled in irritation, still unable to find what he was deliberately searching for for another wasted minute.  He stopped to give himself a soft slap to the forehead with his lion paw.  "Of course!  How silly of me."  He quickly pulled his eagle talon out of a pocket and plunged it into his left nostril.

I would say if he weren't doing this just out of cartoon humor I would have sprayed my yesterday's lunch all over the ground.

Plucked out of his nose, which surprisingly but thankfully wasn't coated in mucus, was my revolver Silver.  "I believe you dropped this while you were, well," Discord then coughed, "out of commission."  Pinched between a finger and thumb, he dangled the six-shooter by the barrel.

My eyes widened.  I reached two hands to pad the backside of my pants to guarantee what he had wasn't just a makeshift copy of the real deal.  No lump, no nothing.  The revolver Discord had was genuinely Silver.

With a snap, the weapon took flight on its own and levitated in the air.  "I thought it was best I'd hold onto it until your temper would simmer down."  The revolver leisurely floated towards me.

I grabbed the handle with uttermost care and inspected it thoroughly; I flicked my wrist to swing the cylinder out, seeing all chambers loaded with rounds.  I went on inspecting the hammer.  I pulled the hammer back and prompted a firm squeeze on the trigger.  The hammer gave a loud, functional click.  I skated a finger delicately across the barrel to check for any feel of dents.  The harsh, cold steel bit the sensitive nerves of my skin, but vividly smooth nonetheless.  I flicked the cylinder back in and spun the chamber.

Amply pleased with the results, I holstered the revolver into the back of my pants.  "Smart thinking," I remarked fairly.  Not paying attention to the time that's passed, I noticed that it was getting rather dark.  Being that it was a night of a full moon, it was bright enough to illuminate the ground.  "I wonder if everything is back to the way it was," I mused aloud.

"Still mulling over that, huh?  Well why don't you go and find out?" quizzed Discord deviously.  It was dark, but I was certain that I saw a sly smile crested on his face.  Without giving me a chance to react, the spirit clicked his fingers.  My vision was recently re-acquainted with a bright flash of white.