I laid there on the table with my face burning worse than my new burn marks. I stared at Discord, barely hearing the words he said after I blurted out the truth. How did that freaking happen? Why did I even call him Master? I can’t believe I just told him that. He probably knew, anyway. Ugh. Shame and embarrassment and a hint of guilt flowed freely around my body, and I wanted to hide my face. Stupid, stupid Chance. Now he has an upper hand on you. “I think you’ve have enough punishment for now,” Discord said, facing the fire. “What do you think?” “Um, uh… I- I, eh…” I stammered. Why can’t I even talk? He turned around and got within a few centimeters of my face. “Unless you want me to go further…” I looked for words to say, but found none, so I gulped hard and shook my head. “Hmpf. Figures. No more fun for Discord. Oh, well… I’ve got more important things to do than watch you cry and whine.” He went through the door, leaving me still on the table. “You’re not coming back, are you?” I said, more to myself than him. I sighed and looked at the ceiling, deep in thought.

I think at one point I had fallen asleep. I had this weird dream where I felt like I was under water, intentionally going deeper and deeper. I tried to reach out to something underneath me, but no matter how fast I swam, I could never touch it. Suddenly the water got freezing and everything went black. I heard a snarling “Wake up.” and realized Sombra had thrown a bucket of ice water on my face. “Sombra, what the hell!?” He growled and punched my snout again. I felt something pop, and blood started trickling down in a steady stream. “You will speak only when I ask you a question. Understand?” I stared him down and decided another hoofed face wasn’t worth it. “…Yeah.” “Good. Now, since Discord is away for the time being, I’m allowed to have my share of games with you,” I gave him a weird look. “Meaning I can ‘train’ you like the mutt you are.” Shit. I think I know where this is going… He went and grabbed a bunch of wiring connected to a black metal box, and set it next to me. He wrapped a single metal wire around my right forearm. Oh. Oh, no. I know what he’s going to do. “Now,” he said, with a restrained yet unsettling glee, “Answer my questions wrong, you get punished. Answer them right, and you won’t. Depending on how many questions you get wrong, I might intensify the pain.” I swallowed hard. His horn glowed and I lost my vision as if I had gotten up too fast, and suddenly all of my memories came back at once. It was painful and I jerked to one side and gasped. “Twilight… Twilight!” I panted, still unable to see at the moment. Then, without warning, an equally painful shock came from my arm and surged through my body. “SILENCE. You do not listen well, equine.” I wanted to scream, to fly and get as far away from here as possible. All my friends. I remember seeing most of them back in Ponyville, in pain and the worst look on their face. I started to cry silently. I could have saved them. Sombra held up a picture of a familiar pony. It was Pinkie with her trademark mile-wide grin. I gasped inwardly, recognizing her. “Friend or foe?” What was he talking about? “Friend,” I quickly said. “Wrong.” He switched on that box and sent surges through me, amplified by the water he had thrown on me. It hurt pretty bad, but not enough to satisfy his needs. “You have no friends, only attackers and enemies.” He intensified the electricity to strengthen his point. He turned it off, and waited until I looked at him. “Princess Celestia.” He said. My ears perked up at the name, and in return I got a stronger dose of pain. I could feel muscles tensing up involuntarily. He stopped it once more, and held up another picture. This time it was a picture of my best friend, Tonrar. Only he was beaten and broken and twisted in grotesque and unnatural positions. That’s it. I snapped. “You BASTARD SON OF A BITCH!” I started to bawl and scream and flail, despite the extremely intense, sharp pains of the electricity. I didn’t care. I went bat shit insane, and an adrenaline rush allowed me to somehow rip off the restraints on all four legs, and I brought up my wings and launched myself as hard as I could at Sombra, hoofing him hard in the jaw. He doubled over in shock and pain and I took that chance to dislocate a shoulder. I was on top of his chest now, beating away at his chest and throat. He bucked me off and I flew across the room, hitting my head on a table. I looked up just in time to see him awkwardly charging at me, so I dodged and he hit the same table as I did. I laughed. “Smooth, ya asshole.” He stood there, not moving, but breathing really hard and growling. “I… am going to fucking… murder you.” I felt cocky even though I was in pain both emotionally and physically, and it was funny to see him mad, so I said, “Is that a threat or a promise?” He looked up at me and his whole demeanor screamed hatred and anger. His eyes were crazy as he lunged towards me. Uh oh. I flew as fast as my body would allow out of that room and into the void, remembering where I was chained to the floor. I would have tried losing him by turning the corners a bunch of times, but I really didn’t want to get lost here. As soon as I reached the spot, I stopped and turned around to see if he had followed me. Big mistake. He was right there, blood oozing from his nose and mouth. He pinned me down with a spell and started to laugh maniacally. He lost it. He brought up his hind legs and was about to end my breathing when Discord tackled him to the ground away from me. I heard curses and punches landing and struggling. I couldn’t see what was going on because the spell rendered me literally immobile. Finally that stopped and the spell on me was released. Panicked, I started to fly away, but Discord snapped his fingers and my wings were gone. I fell and a collar was put around my neck again. Great. I got up and looked at the ground. Without moving my head, I looked to see Sombra not too far away with a black eye and a scowl on his face. “So, Chance, look at these amazing souvenirs I got when I was out.” Discord held out what looked like some white feathers, indigo feathers, and a white horn. He also had a few pieces of dark blue and off-white chunks of… stuff. I looked away, half knowing what they were. “Oh, come on. It’s not that bad here.” He picked me up from underneath my arms and held me above the ground so I would look into his eyes. “Look at you, you’re all messed up. Sombra, what did I say about your harshness level?” Sombra just dropped his jaw in complete shock. “I told you not to hurt her. I guess I’ll have to do this my way, like I do with everything else.” He set me down and created a hammock out of nowhere between two palm trees. “Now,” he said, “You got your memories back, right?” I shifted my weight, making the leash he held clink quietly. “Ah, yes, good. But I have to break some news to you,” He paused. “Your ‘friends’ thought of you poorly, you know.” “That’s a lie!” I snapped back. “Is not. Think back. Remember when Rainbow Dash said you could make it to The Wonderbolts? Or when Miss Sparkle said you could get into one of those high-end colleges? Or how about when the pink one said you could have won that bakery contest if you had entered? Those were all lies. They all think you’re not good enough, sadly.” I thought back, and it did seem like that was true… “I'm good at some things…” “Well of course. They just think you’re not good enough. They laugh at your failures. They don’t take you seriously. Rainbow Dash thinks you can’t fly, Twilight thinks of you as a fool, Pinkie laughs at you, Rari-” “STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT. Get out of my head! I know what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work!” I started squirming, trying to get that damn collar off. He lifted me up by the collar, choking me temporarily, and set me down on his chest. His jaw tightened and took a deep breath. “Now listen. I don’t yell at you… A lot… And I’m certainly nicer than afro-corn over there,” I heard a growling sigh come from somewhere. “Basically they all thought you were never good enough, and that you were a nopony, and you would have never been able to get somewhere in life. Sad, really,” He paused again, letting the information sink in. “I, on the other hand, don’t think that at all. You could have been a great achiever. Flown in a rocket ship, invented something amazing, wrote successful novels. I actually think they were all just jealous of your capabilities.” I felt my eyes water. My friends really thought that? Were they just agreeing to shut me up? Shock overwhelmed me. I really thought they cared… “Oh, and one last thing…” I looked up at him and he put his paw under my chin and grinned. “Obey your Master.” He slid his paw off my chin and suddenly my eyes widened as I felt a strange, hypnotic peace take over me. Everything made sense just then. Nopony was my friend. They were all enemies. I hated them. Hated them with every fiber of my being. They all scoffed at me behind my back, I knew it. I felt angry, hurt, betrayed. I wanted revenge… No. I wanted more than that.

I wanted them dead. I needed the satisfaction of seeing their blood spatter everything. Who will be inferior then?! I lowered my head and growled, wallowing in hate. “Chance, my dear, I need your help with something.” I looked at him without moving my head, hatred the only thing I felt. “Yes, Master?” I said gruffly. He grinned. “Remember these little things I picked up?” He held up the pieces of horn and feathers with his paw, and snapped his fingers with his claw. The items had turned into two long spears with feathers at one end, with sharp as hell spear points. My eyes lit up and I grinned ear to ear; I knew what these were. Discord chuckled. “I knew you might know what these are. You are clever, after all.” These were the horns, feathers, and bone pieces from the princesses of Equestria. The only way to kill an alicorn is by impaling them with a weapon made of their horn and feathers. The bone was to ensure the death. It’s complicated.

“Anyway, what I need your help with, is to go into Ponyville and bring down the princesses. I already broke off their horns and was able to get a few feathers and some bone fragments,” I looked up at him, unsure if I can bring out the responsibility that now rested on my shoulders. “You want to make Master happy, don’t you?” I perked up my ears. “Of course! Master’s happiness is important!” He smirked contently and snapped his fingers, returning my wings back. He took off my collar and led me out of the void. I held the two spears tucked underneath my wings.

We entered Ponyville, which was still a wreck. Discord had some fun too, by the looks of it- a chocolate rain hurricane raged through the town, surprisingly not knocking houses off their foundations. I looked up at him for direction. “You’ll probably find everypony you’re looking for in a shelter of some sort. This chocolate rain hurricane probably isn’t the best for wounded ponies.” He laughed. “Yes, Master.” I started to walk into town, hatred gradually building up in me. I had to focus on finding the two pitiful excuses for princesses and end them, and anypony who gets in my way.

Author's Note

WHOA WHAT A TWIST
Sorry this was published so freaking late, you guys. I was dealing with a bunch of emotional crap and had major writer's block to boot. It's here now, though. I actually have a feeling this won't reach anywhere near 30 chapters... 20, tops. Oh well. We'll just see where it goes.