//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Coming to terms with reality........ // by Furstreak //------------------------------// “DISCOOOOOORD! GET YOUR FLANK BACK HERE!” Twilight shouted as she took chase after the draconequus as he flew from the library in a hasty retreat. After a few short moments to avoid random flying objects and beams of magic that had been tossed at him, he managed to duck behind a building just in time to avoid a potted flower that went sailing past his head. “Good grief, can’t that pony take a joke?!” He grumbled as he snapped his taloned fingers, disappearing from sight just as she rounded the corner to see him vanish in an array of light. Twilight gave an audible, annoyed snort, as she stomped the ground in a fury. “That no good... UGH!” She yelled out, stomping a little quicker before turning around and heading back to the library. “I am going to make him pay for turning my books into giant pony eating, fly traps.” “Oh don’t worry your little purple head.” Discord chuckled as his voice resonated from around the lavender unicorn only to make her glare even more as she quickly glanced around to try and locate the draconequus. “I’ve already fixed your silly little book collection and put them back to normal. You should really learn to lighten up a little.” He chuckled. “You know that when I study I have no time for pleasantries Discord. I have a time frame and a schedule. I can’t afford to waste time in such a lax manner, actually, I can’t waste time at all. I have a very busy schedule...” She trailed off as she began to quickly trot back toward her home and workplace, Golden Oaks Library. “But why? You are literally working yourself to the bone so to speak.” Discord groaned as he reappeared at her side as a skeleton pretending to dig his own grave. “You should really take some time to relax Twilight. At least then you could enjoy a little chaos in your life.” He chuckled again but paused as he saw the glare on her face. “I have scheduled time to relax today, twenty minutes before I go to bed, and two hours in the morning for breakfast. I also had several small breaks scheduled during each day to take time to do several other things in my so called free time. If you want to come by and chat, without causing me any chaotic stress, then you are more than welcome to.” She sighed as she picked up her pace, the library coming into view at the end of the street. “But what about a social life? Don’t you make any time for friends, or a special somepony?” He chuckled louder as she came to a halt, her face turning ten shades of red as she began to stutter slightly as she spoke. “W-what?! I don’t have time for a special s-somepony! My research and studies are far too important to even think about starting a relationship!” Discord began to laugh at seeing her so flustered, that was of course until she realized what he had just done. “UGH! Discord! When am I going to learn?” She groaned as she began to trot once again, the draconequus flying up beside her as he spoke. “I wasn’t joking my dear, I was just implying that you are just far too tense in what you do. You don’t take enough time to relax and smell the roses, so to speak.” He grinned as he manifested a small bouquet of roses and pressed them to his face, inhaling deeply before pulling them away and pressing them toward Twilight who just blushed even further. She pulled a hoof up and brushed the bouquet away as she continued on her path to the library. “Like I said Discord, I don’t have time for such things. Besides, there isn’t anypony in Ponyville that interests me. Most of the stallions are simple minded or already taken. I would prefer one that has the same likes and dislikes as me, but even then I couldn’t find the time to have a relationship with them. I have far too little time in which I need to study and become a better pony for the future. The Princess and all of Equestria are counting on me.” She sighed as she lowered her head slightly, feeling the pain that weighed on her heart. In truth, she wanted to find another pony she could relate to when it came to her thirst for knowledge, her ambition to become better at any and everything she could do. “Hmmm, well, if you could find the time, would you?” Discord asked, seeing her give a sheepish expression. “Very well then, let’s see what I can do about that!” He stated as he clapped his paws together and vanished, leaving a stunned unicorn in his wake. “DISCORD! I DIDN’T MEAN FOR THAT TO SOUND LIKE AN INVITATION TO SET ME UP WITH SOMEPONY!” She shouted angrily as she glared into the spot in which he had just vanished from. XXX Discord appeared in a small flash of light in the darkest depths of space, his taloned paw running through his goatee, gently stroking it in thought as he floated there. His vision glanced around as he slowly turned in various directions, his eyes locking onto a star or planet in the far distance as his keen senses tried to detect a planet with life on it. “This is so boring!” He groaned as he continued looking around for several more hours. Every second that passed him by, felt like an eternity. That was until his senses fell onto a bright blue and green planet teeming with life. “Oh! I do say I think I may have found a spot to start.” He chuckled as he vanished from sight, reappearing light years away on the opposite side of the galaxy. Before the draconequus was a lovely looking blue and green planet, teeming with countless life forms of countless different species. Technology and massive cities in abundance laying all around in various spots of the world. People going about their business and working as fast as they could to do anything they could in order to make a few dollars in order to survive into the next day. Some doing this for family, while others did it just to get by. “Now then, let’s try to find a being just like Twilight, maybe then I can cause quite a bit of chaos over a period of time, and not even have to try.” He laughed as he closed his eyes and began to move all over the planet to various different people to see if he could find another being to match his criteria. After several days of looking, Discord began to become very irritated. He had run across countless of available options, but they all had one or more quirks about them that could become a hindrance in his future plans to annoy the poor lavender pony. As he was about to call it quits, he paused as he finally found a young man, sitting at a desk within his home, in a small town far away from the hustle and bustle of life in the bigger cities surrounding him. “Hmm.” Discord thought to himself as he moved into the small house, making himself invisible and a lot smaller so that he could float around the room without disturbing the young man. He would continue watching this young man for some time as he continued calculating various things about him. As time pressed on into the night, the draconequus smiled with a toothy grin as he watched the young man finally slumped over onto the desk, sleep and exhaustion finally taking a hold of him. “Guess it’s time to have a little fun.” Discord smirked as he vanished from sight. XXX “I hate studying sometimes.” The young man stated while sitting between several very large piles of books that were surrounding him and the desk he was at. “But, things need done, and I want to get the best job I can get in the future. Too bad I’m going to be paying for the tuition for the rest of my life.” He groaned as he closed his current book and placed it to the side before quickly manifesting another book to in front of him on the desk. Wait... manifest? The young man looked at the book that had just appeared in front of him before glancing around the tall stacks of books within his room. “This being’s dreams even look like what Twilight does in the real world.” Discord chuckled silently to himself as he pulled the cover of the book open with his magic, startling the human that sat at the desk. The draconequus then began to write within the book on its blank pages causing the human to lean forward and stare at it in awe. “What... what the hell...” He spoke in broken words as he began to read what was being written. “Would you give everything up to go to another place, one far from your world where no one knew who you were? You would never have to pay another bill or debt; you would simply be wiped from existence within this world and sent into another to start anew.” Read the words softly in Discord’s voice. “This... is seriously fucked up!” The young man stated in slight shock as he began to close the book but only succeeding in reopening it as he closed it shut. The page that he had been reading, reappearing as another open book already attached to the one he had closed. He stood up and stepped back one as he took in a sharp breath from surprise. The soft crackle of Discord slowly surrounding him and causing him to look around the room. “This... this must be a dream or something. This can’t possibly be real, this isn’t scientifically possible.” The young man spoke out in a slightly more nervous tone. “You’re right.” Discord laughed as he became visible behind the human and tapped his shoulder, causing him to turn around quickly and gasp at the sight before him. “W-what are you?” He asked in surprise before squinting his eyes slightly as he moved a little closer, his curiosity getting the better of him. Placing a hand on his chin and looking the draconequus up and down as he walked around him for a minute before stopping in front of him. “The better question would be, why are you dreaming of being at a desk surrounded in books and studying when you should be dreaming of other things?” He snickered seeing the human blush slightly at realizing what was going on. “So this is a dream then.” He grinned slightly as the room, books, and desk all vanished from sight, being replaced by white in every direction. “Hmmm. Not bad. Seems you know how to dream walk fairly well.” Discord smirked. “Still, the question remains.” He grinned as the book he had wrote in, manifested in front of him once again with the same question it had asked before. “Would you leave everything behind to start anew? The only difference would be that you would have a home to live in, and a new life. You would retain all of your knowledge, but would have to learn everything from that world.” The young man stood there as he rubbed his chin in thought before speaking. “What about my parents, and friends.” He asked as he looked up to Discord. “I can fix it so that you would have never been born here if you would like.” Discord smiled as he came to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they began to walk in no particular direction. “But, what about all of my friends, and the memories we’ve created together.” He asked as he looked over to the draconequus. “You mean these?” He asked as several spectral looking glasses popped up to in front of them, each with a bad memory being played within it. The young man took one look at them as he could feel his heart slowly drop within his chest. Every memory was a bad one that he could recall vividly, none of them good at all. That was until he closed his eyes for a moment and caused everything around him to flicker slightly as they memories had been replaced with the good ones he could recall. “Hmm, curious.” Discord stated softly as he raised a brow to the young man who was now looking at each of the good memories being played within the looking glasses. “I do have good memories as well. I take it that you want me to choose that path. The one where I go into another world and leave this all behind.” He stated with a cocky grin. “I guess I’ve underestimated how smart you really are.” Discord laughed as he patted the human roughly on the back. “This may turn out better than I had planned.” “Planned? So then it’s true, you do want me to go to another world. But why? Is the question.” He smirked as he waved a hand slightly, making the looking glasses disappear and be replaced by what seemed like a dark jail cell. Discord cocking a brow at the human as he noticed his snicker. “I take it you require an answer of some sort?” Discord stated with a smirk as he floated around the human. “I would ask that of you, but I have the feeling you aren’t the type of being that gives into demands willingly.” He smirked as he waved his hand again, chains shooting out from the floor and latching onto the draconequus and pulling him to meet the cold stone below him. “Oh, kinky!” Discord chuckled only to cause the human to blush brightly and making the chains evaporate from the draconequus. “Seems you have a very odd sense of humor as well.” He hesitated as he cleared his throat. “Perhaps, but I’m not unwilling to answer your questions.” Discord grinned as he circled the human, seeing how red his face actually was. “What are the conditions, and what is the world like?” He asked, seeing the draconequus’ eyes light up. “You will love it. The world has almost no violence, there are several nations that get along fairly well with one another. No war, I’m sure you would love to hear that one.” He laughed seeing the human nod slightly. “The female to male ratio is about twenty to one, so you know you have at least a decent chance to find a mate.” He laughed seeing the humans face erupt into a bright red. “Not to mention that there is no pollution, everything is hoof grown, and there is a whole other plethora of knowledge that will be completely alien to you!” “Wait, did you just say hoof?” He asked in surprise. “Uh... yes?” He chuckled nervously. The human stood there giving him a skeptical grin as he spoke. “So I take it that you are going to change my species as well, right? So that I can fit into the populace unnoticed?” “I guess you could say that since you’ve practically ruined the surprise.” Discord groaned. “Cool, so what species does this world have?” The human piped up in a cheerful tone, only to cause Discord to look at him surprised. “You don’t seem to be at all surprised by this. Are you sure you’re human?” He asked with a skeptical glare. “As sure as I know that you’re a draconequus.” He grinned seeing Discords surprised expression grow even more. “Before you ask, you’re a myth in my world.” Discord chuckled as he placed his arm onto the human’s shoulders once again, waving his other hand in front of him to open several portals to show the various species of the world he was speaking of. The human gawked slightly at seeing them all. Minotaurs, chimeras, hydras, wolves made of stone and wood, griffons, dragons, and... “Ponies?” He asked, cocking a brow at seeing them. “Not just any ponies.” Discord laughed as he brought up various windows to the world, showing the four different species of ponies. Pegasi, Unicorns, Earth Ponies, and even an Alicorn which quickly vanished from sight. The human gave the draconequus a slight glare. “I can’t turn you into an Alicorn my dear boy. Far too much power for even me to conjure.” He sighed slightly. But I can turn you into the next best thing. A unicorn that has quite a bit of power, possibly even as much power as the most powerful unicorn on the planet.” He grinned seeing the human smile slightly. “Can you make me equal in strength to the strongest unicorn? I would like to have at least someone to challenge in time.” He laughed. “So I take it you...” He stopped as he watched the human nod. “As long as you hold up your end of the bargain, I don’t care to change lives from one to another. But couldn’t you just keep me as a human and give me unicorn powers?” He asked before seeing the draconequus begin to pat his back roughly, each pat causing his form to rattle with each blow. “Now what would be the fun in that?” Discord laughed loudly as the final pat jolted him awake. The young human was staring quietly into the blue sky above him as the clouds began to slowly creep by. He gave a wide yawn as he pulled a hoof up to rub his eyes. Wait... He opened his eyes as he stared silently at a pair of hooves in front of him. “Bullshit!” He spoke as he turned over, pulling his hooves below him as he sat up on his haunches as he continued to look himself over. After a minute he began to try and lift himself up and try to walk, only to succeed in face planting into the ground. “That... hurt.” He groaned as he rubbed his nose with his hoof. “And why the hell am I blue?” He asked as he looked his body over one more time. Quickly noticing that his tail was also a darker blue with black streaks in it. “At least I have a decent color scheme.” He smiled. After slowly standing once more he managed to get a good look at himself and his surroundings. A few hundred yards away was a long line of trees leading into a dark forest that looked a little intimidating. In the opposite direction was a wide open field with wheat stalks growing about knee high to him. In front of him however was a small cottage, or house, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure as to what to call it. It was like a small two bedroom home you would see in the suburbs of a city. White paint, red shutters, and a green roof to match the grass that grew all around it. “Hey, Discord!” He shouted out only to be blinded by a small flash of light in front of him. Once his vision returned he looked up to see the draconequus standing in front of him smiling. “I take it you approve?” Discord smirked. “Yea, but I have a few questions.” He began as Discord tilted his head, waiting. “Is this my house that you promised?” He asked as he nodded to the small home in front of him. Discord only nodding back. “Am I stocked with enough food for at least a week or two?” He asked seeing the draconequus nod again. “Where is the nearest city or town?” He asked only to see the draconequus point to the small dirt road a few yards away as he spoke. “Follow that road to the east to get to Ponyville. You will find plenty of ponies there willing to help you at a moment’s notice.” He smiled. “Alright, and what about currency? Does this world require it like the rest?” he asked seeing Discord nod again. “Sadly I cannot give you any currency. The princess has placed a spell across all of Equestria to prevent such a thing from happening. Hence why I have given you several weeks of food to keep you sated until you can find a job.” The human turned pony gave an annoyed sigh. “Yup, just like every single world out there. Have to have a job in order to live.” Discord laughed softly as he patted the pony on the back once again. “There is one other thing I forgot to mention.” He said with a grin as the pony looked up to him in slight worry. “I have to erase your memories of me and your past human self. From this moment on, your memories will be replaced to the point where you think that every moment was as if you were a pony instead of a human.” He chuckled, quickly tapping the ponies head before he could get away. After a second of seeing his eyes warped into several different colors, he passed out. The draconequus smirked as he quickly placed the pony into his new home and vanished from sight. Awaiting the first day of chaos that would commence from his little trip outside of the realm of Equestria.