Chapter 1: Broken
~By The Grimm Reaper
They say letting go is the hardest part; that relief comes after having done so. In most cases that’s true, but not when you let another life go. Not when you helped raise that other life to become who and what they are today. For someone like me, letting go of someone you love is just the beginning of a slow descent into madness. Like breaking up with someone you love, you go through the five steps of grief; ‘Denial’, ‘Anger’, ‘Bargaining’, ‘Depression’ and ‘Acceptance’.
For me, the steps were jumbled up. It began with ‘Acceptance’, then ‘Depression’, followed by ‘Denial’. I tried to bargain with God, even though I wasn’t a religious man. Finally, I came to ‘Anger’. I knew it was coming, and at the time, I assumed it would just blow away over time like the others, but it remained, and festered like a virus mixed with a curse. Several years had passed since she was taken from me by her supposed friends. While we agreed it was for the best at the time, the results on my life were… less than satisfactory.
My anger began to affect my work and I got fired when I finally knocked the boss out. Without a job, I turned to something that would make a load of cash and perhaps help me to vent my anger. In the end, fighting became my life. Street fighting brought in plenty of money, enough for me to keep the farm, but over the years, it also awarded me some enemies. I found myself in the hospital more often than out with my friends whom I’d lost touch with for the last two years.
Everything I did and everything that happened to me as a result helped to sate my anger towards the ones who took my daughter away from me. But recently, it hadn’t been a good enough job. No matter how many fights I enrolled in, win or lose, my anger hungered for more. I felt like some sort of rage monster that consumed all the angry activities and demanded more as it grew and grew; I hated it. I hated everything.
Just last year, I’d begun fighting like a Spartan, taking on everyone in range who was a potential fighter. I found little solace in my empty home, even the picture book which held all that remained of my girl failed to alleviate the pain in my heart. I longed for the days when life just seemed grey and dismal. I wanted nothing more to do with this endless void of torment and hatred. The world seemed so much brighter when she was here, now it had less colour than before.
This morning, I awoke the same way I always did; with little spirit or any real desire to face another day. My routine was thus; get up, brush my teeth, get dressed (nothing too fancy, given my quote/unquote “job”), have breakfast clean up and get the hell out of there. It was a crappy little routine, and that was just the morning. I thought of her and what it would be like to see her again, to hold her in my arms and hear her call me ‘daddy’. ‘Just one more time’ I’d think.
I made my way to the usual haunt where fighters would go to duke it out on each other, some of them trying to alleviate their own lesser pains in life. One thing that slightly amused me, or rather my ego, was the nickname they gave to the reigning champion (three guesses as to who that was). The best among them was called: ‘The Apex Predator’. Holding that title gave me a secondary goal to work towards. I grew to like the title, which was difficult for me given the massive stockpile of pitifully angry that was now labelled ‘My Life’.
The other fighters had started without me and I seemed to arrive just in time for the winner to challenge me for the title. I’d lost it a few times before, but my ever growing anger ensured I got it back the next time. I figured this would be no different.
My challenger was a great hulk of a man with a brain so small it would have made his steroid affected balls seem massive. As we took our places in the ring, I found myself imagining this giant as Celestia. I wanted to kill her for what she’d done to me.
The referee signalled the start of the fight and we began. While the large opponent undoubtedly had bigger and stronger muscles than I ever would, his size and shape made him incredibly slow as opposed to myself. The years I’d spent fighting other people had given me just the right body tone to punch dents in metal without hurting myself. Sadly, the metal had to be no more than two millimetres thick, otherwise I’d break a hand.
The mass of muscle tried to grab me from both sides, but I just ducked under him and punched him in the gut with all my might. I was glad to hear the familiar ‘Oomph!’ as I moved out of his reach after dealing the blow. He faced away from me, clutching his abdominal area. It was like the beginning of a fight between Superman and Hulk.
Taking advantage of the vulnerable state my opponent was in, I ran up to him, jumped on his back and wrapped an arm around his throat, using the other to work it as a vice. I began strangling the large man, aiming to knock him out. As expected, I found myself on the winning side. The fight was in the bag so to speak until something odd happened. The last thing I remembered was the sound of a gun going off. That was followed almost instantly afterward by something akin to having someone blow on the side of your head. I didn’t have time to register any pain as blackness took me and sleep hit me like the bullet from the gun.
I’d been killed; this much I knew. My life would finally end and I could move on. Yet I didn’t feel dead. I felt like I was floating in space. I couldn’t hold my breath for more than a minute, despite no longer needing any. I pinched myself to make sure I had passed away. To my surprise, the area I pinched, hurt. This wasn’t right. I was supposed to lose all sense of life after I’d died, wasn’t I?
As confusion continued to riddle me with questions, I heard a familiar voice snaking its way into my ears over the distance. I tried to find the source of the voice, but all I saw was black, other than myself which I could see as clear as day.
“Would you like to see your little girl again?” the voice asked. I heard the humorous tone it tried to hide, mixed with the toying sound the question was laced with like poison.
“What do you want, Discord?!” I shouted out to him. The voice simply chuckled, seeming to circle me like a predator.
“Don’t think you can surprise me by knowing my name. Celestia told me all about your little glimpse into our reality via television. What I want, is what I’ve always wanted; to spread chaos and disharmony throughout Equestria. However, thanks to a certain princess, I have to do good by the ponies. Fortunately, my good man, that’s where you come in.” he said. I’d forgotten how much the Draconequus liked to prattle on about his plan without revealing the entire truth at first.
“What do you mean?” I called out, trying to follow his voice with my eyes. Another chuckle was the response.
“Well, you’re the loophole, aren’t you? Humans and Ponies don’t mix well together, your histories are too different. While a Hierarchy governs the overall progress of Equestria, humans have progressed through war and judgement based on subtle differences like the colour of one’s skin, or the shape of one’s eyes. Even religion has played a huge part in it.” I felt myself beginning to grow tired; whether it was from his dull explanation, or his own personal doing, I wasn’t sure.
“Get to the point! A century may be pocket change to you, but it isn’t to me. Don’t waste my time, I’ve been in a bad mood for seven years and you’re accelerating it tenfold.” I growled at him. Discord just laughed with joy.
“Ah, but my dear boy, that is *the point! Your dear daughter has been feeling a little… unfulfilled as of late. She knows something’s wrong but she doesn’t know what. I’m supposed to regulate chaos equally in order to keep the balance. That’s where you come in. Because your kind has such a violent history, you would make the ultimate threat to Equestria. That’s the chaos part over with. In order to balance out this transaction, Rainbow Dash, the famed Element of Loyalty, has the chance to benefit from this by remembering what really happened. Celestia’s meddling in your personal lives will be undone and you will become, quite literally: ‘The Apex Predator’. What do you think?*” he finally asked.
Amidst the blackness, Discord’s visage appeared in front of me, along with a pair of weapons similar to Earth’s Smith & Wesson revolvers. I took them without hesitation. I knew what he wanted me to do, and I had no problem with that. I was in the mood for a little chaos. I pointed one of the weapons at him.
“I think you talk too much. Hurry up and send me there.” I said, pulling the trigger. There was a loud bang, and the blackness lit up like Hiroshima, blinding me with white.
I found myself staring at the midday sun. I squinted my eyes and turned my head way. I went to bring my arm over my face to shield myself from the light, when I felt something heavy in my hand, and in the other too. I looked at the objects with half closed eyes. The guns were there and they were gleaming like polished silver.
“These weapons are styled after your Earth technology, but they’re also fused with Equestrian magic; my own little design. Do you approve?” Discord’s voice called out. Almost immediately afterward, He managed to snap a large roof overhead for shade to block out the sun. I sat up, trying to get my bearings. I was still a little dazed from the sudden transaction between my world and the next. I got to my feet and looked around. We were in the middle of a grassy plain, the only other thing out here aside from us, was a dead tree that had failed to come back to life. I lifted one of the guns up and fired at it, trying to test my accuracy with such a heavy and unfamiliar weapon. The recoil was virtually non-existant, and instead of a bullet, a stream of light shot out from within, like a laser.
“Condensed magic, I presume… I most definitely approve. But I have to know,” I said, turning to the Draconequus. He looked at me with curiosity written all over his face. “Is all this really happening? Or is this simply my mind releasing my greatest desire during my death so I can die happily?” I asked. Discord smiled at me and shrugged.
“Does it really matter? As life has proven to you with Rainbow Dash, even what appears to be the imagination can simply be another reality. How do you know I didn’t just pull your dead spirit from one reality into another and gave it a new body to reside in?” he teased.
“Did you?” I asked with mild curiosity of my own. Discord said nothing as he proceeded to snap his fingers. In a flash, he disappeared, and I was teleported into what I assumed was the Everfree forest, given the strange sounds that emanated in the distance.
“You’ll find yourself better protected by the wildlife here should you need an escape. Just show them who’s boss before you rely on them, hmm?” his voice echoed before vanishing altogether. I found myself at the mouth of a cave, a chorus of growls sounded from within. I had no plan on what to do, no resources other than the guns Discord provided me with, and even then, the amount of ammunition was unknown. Did I have just the twelve (ten since I’d used two up already) shots, or did they reload themselves over time? With a sigh, I hoisted my weapons in front of me and pointed them at the source of the growling.
“Here goes nothing.” I mumbled, walking into the cave.
