“I’m sorry if I’m late my lad, Celestia couldn’t make it so I hope I’ll do...” I stared as the creature emerged from behind the door and slammed it shut behind them. It wasn’t hideous, but yet it looked extremely odd. Not a single part of its body corresponded with another, he had the front legs of both a lion and an eagle which he used for arms, and his rear legs were those of a goat and an alligator, horns from both a deer and a goat, and a tail that was obviously that of a dragon.
Dash, Twilight, Applejack and everyone else had told of this being. He was the god of chaos back in Equestria, his name was Discord. The Chimera smiled at me as though he could see what I was thinking. “Has the penny dropped now? Realise who I am?” I said nothing, I pulled myself to my feet and held up my right hand towards him as both an act of protest and a form of defence.
“Keep away from me!” I ordered. The chimera halted his approach and looked at me quizzically.
“Come now boy, if I had meant you any harm, you would be dangling by your ankle over a vat of boiling cheese right now!” His serious tone was the only thing that proved he wasn’t joking. I frowned slightly at the remark he had made, his randomness reminded me of Pinkie pie slightly. I shook from my reverie in time to notice the Draconequus had begun to approach me once again.
“I said stay back!”
There was a flash of light and he disappeared before my very eyes. Had it been another vision? No he had come from the car! He had been here from the moment I arrived! But where was he now? I turned on the spot, unable to see him. “Where are you?!” I called out in the most demanding tone I could possibly use after laying on the ground crying. I heard a soft whistle from the distance, I squinted to see where the sound had come from. There stood Discord leaning against a pillar near the entrance.
“Well, you told me to stay back!” He called out to me, laughing at his joke. I was getting irritated now.
“It was you just now! The one who messed with my head! Those voices making me doubt myself! It was all you wasn’t it?” The chimera chortled and shook his head.
“I’m sorry dear boy, but that was all your own little delicate mind unravelling! You seem to have brought it into control now however.” He paused and sniffed. “Unfortunate, you’d have been a lot more CHAOTIC if you’d lost your mind, but I suppose I’ll have to make do with the chaos you normally create.”
I ignored his strange words and continued to peruse his purpose for being here. “What do you want Discord?” I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned to see the chimera inches from my nose. I jumped in shock and stumbled backwards, How had he done that!?!
“I’ve already told you, Celestia couldn’t be here so I came instead.” I stared at the mismatched creature before me.
“Why couldn’t she be here?” I feared the worse, that Discord had turned Celestia to stone in revenge, or simply killed the princess. The Chimera raised a bushy eyebrow at me for a moment. He turned away and swaggered back over to the bonnet of the car.
“You truly do give that old witch too much credit you know, Just because she KNOWS about the laws of reality doesn’t mean she can act on them. Very few creatures can, and two of them stand here in the dark little hole!” He slumped onto the bonnet and threw his arms in the air to create an air of amazement, it didn’t work. He sighed, then grew serious. “You needed someone with magic enough to take you back to Equestria didn’t you?”
I was taken aback by his sudden businesslike manner, I stayed alert. I knew about his tricks and obsession with chaos, so I couldn’t become to open towards him. “Y-Yes... but I wanted Celestia.”
“Well that’s too bad, you have me.” He said flatly. I stuttered for a moment with trepidation.
“But you’re...” There was an explosion at my feet, fire rose from the ground and darkness surrounded me and the Chimera who seemed to grow in size unbelievably fast.
“BUT I’M DISCORD, LORD OF ALL CHAOS AND RUIN!” he bellowed un an unnaturally low and booming voice.
The fire vanished in a puff of smoke and discord popped like a balloon. He swam into sight back to his normal size from the darkness, floating on his back. “But you can just call me Discord, after all me and you ARE pretty close.” His comment made me feel ill.
“I’ve never even met you, so don’t go making lies!” The chimera twirled into a standing position, a look of mock shock on his face before he let it flop into a bored expression.
“No you haven’t, but I’ve had some time to find out about you boy, and that’s why I feel so close to you.” It made me feel dirty, the thought of him trying to learn all about me like a target for a kill.
“Look, do you want back into Equestria or not?” The sudden generous offer took me by surprise more than any other thing he had done so far. I felt my mouth open and close gormlessly like a fish, unable to bring words from my mind to my lips.
“B-but...why are you offering to...?” The god sighed again, he obviously found the convocation tedious.
“I despise stories, so I’ll give you the abridged version. Long story short: Certain events have taken place in Equestria which brought about my return.” I opened my mouth to interrupt, but the god continued on. “Now thanks to a certain pony, I’m free again. But it also means I owe her, and I HATE being indebted to somepony.”
I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not, so I asked hesitantly. “What events?” the chimera chuckled. He looked at me with a piercing glance, his smiled showed his elongated fang; it flashed as it was caught in the light.
“Now you’re smart, I know that from being you. Take a guess at what the event might be.” Being me? What was he talking about?
“Just tell me!” I demanded. But the Draconequus shook his head.
“No. It’s a game, you have to guess or it’s no fun.” He smiled mercilessly and watched as I stood there in confusion.
An event...wait... “Was it...to do with...me?” the chimera arched through the air and poked the tip of my nose with his eagles hand to show me I was right.
“Bingo.” He lay back lazily once again and floated around, “Some ponies took you’re death a little harder than others, and it resulted in a little bit of chaos. Fortunately for me it came close enough to me so I was able to escape because of it.”
My next question burned inside me, “What did you mean ‘being’ me?” Discord chortled. “Now Tom, if everyone told you everything up front than life would be no fun! You need to find some things out for yourself! Now like I said, I owe a pony a debt back in Equestria and bringing you back would mean we were even.” He licked his lips wickedly, “Also, you seem to have a knack for making chaos yourself. In this world it all goes to waste, but back in ponnyville I can watch and enjoy it all!”
“I don’t make chaos!” I protested loudly! The Dracoequus began to tut at me.
“Don’t sell yourself short kid, You have both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle smitten with you. Surely you’ve realised that makes enough chaos by itself! Two friends in love with the same... MAN” He sniggered and faded into the shadows once again.
“But I don’t mean to do that! I only ever wanted to be with Dash, it wasn’t my fault Twilight decided she liked me too!” Who was I confessing to, Discord or myself?!
His whisper seemed to emit from every angle, “It doesn’t matter, you still make the chaos. You arrived and made chaos, you fell in love and that created chaos, you died and that created chaos in the hearts of your friends... If you came back, after so long...” he left his sentence unfinished, knowing I knew how it would end. But his last words were what haunted me, ‘AFTER SO LONG.’
“How long has it been?” I asked quietly.
“Hmmm? I’m sorry how long has it been since what?” The voice sounded overjoyed at his breaking my constitution.
“How long has it been since I died back in Equestria. The visions I’m seeing... there not of the future are they? They’re from the present day back In Ponyville.” The slow sound of clapping hands emitted from the shadows, straight ahead of me the chimera emerged. He was simply walking now, no floating and no illusions. He knew I was in enough chaos inside to need any help with his tricks.
“To you, you passed away yesterday. Am I right?”
“Yes...”
“When in reality, back in Equestria it’s been just over a year. The anniversary of your death is only tomorrow.” The truth hit me like a ton of bricks, and I crumpled beneath them. I fell to my knees, looking at the floor just between me and Discord.
“A-a... a year? Really? So long... but how?” Discord lay down on the ground, and flipped to his back so he could look up into my face.
“Meta-physics is a tricky thing. Even Celestia doesn’t truly understand it, because it is pure chaos and there is no harmony within it. So naturally the only one who can best explain it to you...is me. You aren’t the first to travel to Equestria from earth, but whenever they died in that world they were brought back to earth. Just like you.”
I simply listened to the chaotic lord, not responding. I was still shocked by the bombshell of how much time had passed. “The reason you’re still breathing is because technically you still BELONG on the planet earth. No matter what your beloved princess told you, in the eyes of the universes you are a human and so you belong on earth. When you first went to Equestria it was by accident, it was only after did you realise you belonged there. So the universe saw you as taken, not moved.”
The Chimera yawned, “You see, if you willingly went to Equestria, the universe would have seen it as you accepting it as your new place of belonging. And when you died, you would have stayed dead. Now, do you understand? That’s why you’re still breathing, but the universe believes you belong here. That’s why this!” He suddenly took hold of my right hand hard and thrust it into my face. “Has no mark on it anymore!” he released me, and I took hold of my hand and cradled it as it throbbed with pain.
“The others who died in my world and came back here were never able to prove to the universe that they belonged in Equestria. That is because they didn’t have enough magical power to actually take them back by their own will. By contiously seeking Equestria, and getting there, the universe will understand and take that earth is no longer where you belong.”
I looked at the chimera, My heart was racing at the prospect of returning. “B-but I have the magic to get me there?” The chimera laughed.
“No, but I do. All I have to do is channel it through your mind. You’ve already seen what that does I believe...” My mind raced back to the street an hour or so ago. How My fingers had seemed to move of their own accord and used their magic to turn on every car alarm in that car park!
“That was you?”
“Yes, and I do admit it was quite fun. I’m sorry I won’t get to really try it out though. You see I promised not to cause any trouble in Equestria for one hundred years, well only ninety-nine more to go. But you’ll be long dead by then...” He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, but then he came back to his senses.
“So?” He asked briskly, “What will it be? Live on earth, lonely and unloved constantly trying to fill a hole in your being? Or return to Equestria, knowing it’s what I want? Knowing that you being there is my way of bringing a little bit more chaos back to my world until I can really start to party? Your choice kid.”
I knelt there, unsure. How much pain would I bring I showed up on the anniversary of my death? I remembered how it had only been under a month before me and Dash’s first anniversary together before I had passed away. If she hadn’t moved on by now, she would still be in a world of mental pain. That is if she cared for me as much as I did for her. Did I want to screw her up even more by showing up again? Discord began to speak again. “Going once...”
My heart plummeted at the thought of staying here, Dash meant too much to me! Would she even be hurt? Surely she’d be happy, overjoyed in fact, at being with me once again. So would my other friends, I thought about striding down the drive of Sweet Apple Acres. Starting my shift as normal, waiting for Applejack to come out and see me there. She would be happy! “going twice...”
What should I do? Damn it! WHAT SOULD I SAY?!?!