"Boy, you sure live quite a ways from Ponyville." I said as we continued to walk down the dirt road.
"Oh yes. The cute little animals don't like the noise from town or big crowds." Fluttershy said with a small smile.
We were heading to her house, which was located just near the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Yesterday at the festival, she asked me to come over and help her with a few things. That, and she wanted me to meet Discord. Yes, Discord, the creature of chaos. The same one princess Celestia & Luna defeated a thousand years ago by turning into stone. The same one Twilight & her friends defeated a year ago when he broke free and tried to mess with Ponyville. The same one that betrayed them when Tirek showed up, only to end up being betrayed himself. The guy was a wild card, I'll give him that. Fluttershy still trusted him, even after everything he pulled, but I'm not sure I would have.
I did read two and a half thick books about him, so I had an understanding of what to expect from him. That, and from what I heard about him from the girls. Chocolate rain, cotton candy clouds, missing with night & day, changing animals, and could even change the feeling of ponies. Yet, for all his powers, he didn't do anything truely evil. He was supposed to be a creature of chaos, not a creature of pranks. Maybe it was the dark human nature, or the fact that the Joker from Batman was my favorite villan, but I thought chaos was supposed to be.... well, chaotic. If pranks was all I had to expect from him, then I didn't have anything to worry about. At least until he runs into a former villain friend again.
We soon reached Fluttershy's house, which to be honest, didn't really surprise me. It was less like a house, and more like a hobbit hut, as it looked like a hill bump made into a home. The dirt road went all the way to the door, and near the hill-hut was a small bridge that had a small stream running under it. All around the place was little animal houses spread acrossed everywhere. Bird houses hanging in trees, beaver dens in the stream, and other little houses that small creatures could use. I heard Fluttershy was an animal lover, (wait? Did I just call a pony an animal lover? That seems redundant!) but I didn't think she was this bad. Oh well.
As we walked up near the door, I could have sworn I saw somepony looking at us through the window. But then there was a flash, and a strange looking creature was standing infront of us in a second. Fluttershy only slightly flinched at this, but it scared the hell out of me.
"SWEET JESUS!!!" I yelled as I jump almost a foot off of the ground. I knew it was Discord, but he still scared me. Plus, I had never seen a draconequus before, so that may have been a factor in my sudden cry of fear. He was long like a snake, with the head of a goat, and limbs of a lion, falcon, dragon and house. Complete with wings of a bat and pegasus.
"Hello Fluttershy, my dear." The freaky thing said with a smile.
"Hello Discord. Did you finish you meal?" She asked.
"Yes. It was quite delicious." He replied. It was then he noticed me. "Who do we have here?"
"Discord, I'd like you to meet Mark Less Stevens." Fluttershy said as she pointed a hoof at me.
"So, this is the human turned pony that I've heard so much about." He said as he studied me.
"And you must be Discord, the creature of chaos." I said, arching my eyebrow at him.
"The one and only." He said with a bow.
"Mark here is going to help me feed the animals and pull some weeds today." Fluttershy told him.
"I see." He said, pausing long enough to look at me with his eyebrow arched. "Well, you kids have fun."
"Going somewhere?" She asked curiously.
"Afraid so. Celestia wants me to head to Canterlot today and decuss some business. I shouldn't be long." He answered.
"Oh, okay. Well you have fun. But try not cause too much trouble." She said, patting him on the side with her hoof.
"Ohh.... alright. For you Fluttershy." He said as he smiled at her. "I swear, Tia can be such a stick in the mud." And as he said that, a small flash appeared beside him, and in it's place, was a pole in a mud puddle. The pole had a photo of princess Celestia.
"Bye hon. See you at dinner." Fluttershy said as she hugged him. Hon?!
"Bye sweetie." He said as he hugged her back. And as soon as he released her, he was gone in a flash. Even the stick in the mud disappeared in a small 'Poof'.
"Hun?", "Sweetie?", just how close was their relationship anyway? Applejack told me that she was the first to become his friend, and that they had become close since then. Hell, they even lived with each other! But were they more the best friends, or was my gutter mind getting the best of me?
"Umm.... Fluttershy. Can I you a question?"
"Sure Mark."
"Just how.... close is your friendship with Discord?" I asked. I HAD to ask, had to know that my thoughts were just running away from me.
"Oh, well... Discord and I are the best of friends." She calmly answered. "He makes me smile and I make sure he stays in line."
"Oh, okay." Whew. Glad I got that out of the way. I thought. No need to pry further. Who she was with was HER business. Though, I did find the thought of those two.... together.... a little shocking to say the least.
"Well Mark, are you ready to get started?" She asked me with a smile.
"Sure. Lead the way." I said as we first walked into the house to get the feed.
Once we were inside, I got a better look at the place. The place was designed in wood, giving it a cabin type look. There was a red carpet in the middle of the floor, a green cabinet in the corner, and a chimney on the side of the wall. I would have noted the other types of furniture, but I was too busy freaking out at the fact THERE WAS A HUGE BEAR IN THE LIVING ROOM!
"F-Fl-Fluttershy... there's a bear in your house!" I studdered, pointing a hoof at it and backing away to the front door.
"Oh, don't worry about him. It's just Mr. Bubbles." She said, as she calmly walked over to the bear and started rubbing the fur on his side. "Did you have a nice nap, Mr. Bubbles?"
The bear nodded at her.
"All right everyone. Hold on while I get your food." Fluttershy said. At first, I was wondering who she was talking to, as it was just us and the bear. But then I noticed all the little houses and holes in the place, as animals of every type came running out of them. Ever see that scene on Ace Ventura, the part where all the animals are in his appartment? Yeah. It was just like that.
"Wow. You sure do have alot of little friends." I chuckled, as I watched them all gather around them.
"Mmm-hmmm. I love all my little friends. Mark, would you please go get the feed bag in the kitchen?"
"Sure, one second." I said before walking into the kitchen. As I looked around, I noticed it was a nice looking little kitchen. One you'd expect in a small little house like this. Well, normal ones anyway. I soon spotted a large brown bag labeled pet food laying beside the kitchen counter. "Bingo!" I said to myself as I walked over and grabbed the bag. It was a little heavy, and was already opened. But years of feeding pet dogs gave me practice with halling around food bags. Granted, I was now a pony, so I didn't have thumbs to use, but that was no problem. I could use my mouth, and I could still use my hoofs to pick up some things. How? I didn't know. I just chalked it up to 'pony logic'. My answer for just about everything in Equestria.
"Got it." I mumbled as I carried the bag in my mouth.
"Thanks." Fluttershy giggled at me as she took ahold of the bag with both hooves. She then used her wings to hover in the air, go over to the side of the room, and pour the food in a big food pan.
All the animals ran to the pan and started to chow down on the food. Even the bear. But then as Fluttershy landed and placed the bag beside the wall, I noticed a little white bunny was standing beside her. It had it's front paws crossed, and was thumping it's foot in a fast rhythem. I found the sight a little strange. A bunny with an attitude, who knew.
"Don't worry, Angel. I didn't forget about you." She said as she walked over to a small table that had a bowl of fruit & veggies, and pulled out about three carrots before walking back to the bunny. "Here you go Angel. Two big juicey carrots." She said, placing them down in front of him.
The bunny just looked down at the two carrots for a seconds, before looking back at Fluttershy and holding out his paw. Almost like he was saying "Give me more".
"Okay... one more. But you better finish it all." She said as put the last carrot down. The bunny squeed with delight, before greedily eating all three carrots. "Angel, I'd like you to meet my friend, Mark."
The bunny paid me no mind. As he waved a paw at me while he continued to eat, never looking away from his food.
"Well, now that the ones in the inside are taken care of, let's move on to the outside." Fluttershy said.
"Okay." I sighed. How many more animals did she have?
Turns out she had quite a few more animals to feed on the outside. Ducks, squirrels & chipmunks, beavers, deers, birds and even a den of chickens. It took us well over half an hour to finish feeding them all, but I had to admit it was kind of fun. The animals were much friendlier then the ones back home, allowing me to even come up and pet most of them. It was so cool. I remember how in my teens, me and my mom would always walk in the park and feed the birds, watching the different type of birds fly down and eat it. After Fluttershy and me finished feeding the animals, we soon moved on to pulling weeds out from around her house. Which actually didn't turn out to be that hard. There were only a few wild weeds sticking out from her garden, and with a small pull, they were gone. That, and even some of the critters helped by eating the weeds.
Soon, we were all done.
"Well, that just about does it." Fluttershy said, as she examine her garden. When she was finished, she gave it a confirming nod. "Thank you again for coming and helping me today, Mark."
"No problem. Happy to help." I answered her with a smile. "While, it's been fun, but I got to get going."
"Already?"
"Yep. I told the CMC that I'd hangout with them later today. And I don't want to keep those girls waiting."
"Oh. Well, goodbye Mark." She said as she waved goodbye to me.
"Laters." I said with a smile, before trotting down the dirt road on my way back to Ponyville.
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Lyra cursed to herself in frustration, as she past by Sugarcube corner for the tenth time. Her plan was to wake up early today, find that Mark fellow, follow him around, and learn all she could about him. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would learn what, if anything, he knew about humans. But from all her excitement from yesterday, she forgot to set her alarm clock. By the time she did wake up, it was well over ten. Mentally kicking herself for the error, she rushed through breakfast before heading out. As she did, her housemate and best friend, Bon Bon, questioned her for her fast paced actions. When she mumbled something about Mark, Bon Bon snapped at her, telling her not to do anything crazy. But when Lyra told her she was still going through with it, with or without her, Bon Bon had no choice but to tag along.
"Darn it all! Where is he?!" Lyra almost screamed, angry that she had circled around Ponyville for almost an hour with no sign of Mark anywhere.
"Maybe he's still in the castle." Bon Bon simply stated, as she just rested on a nearby bench.
"Can't be." Lyra said, thinking hard on what do next. "From what I heard, he usually is out by now and walking around Ponyville to hang with his friends."
"How do you know that?"
"I asked Ditzy last night when the festival was winding down." Lyra said proudly.
"Oh Lyra. Please, let's just stop this and go back home." Bon Bon pleaded to her friend.
"No, not yet. Not until I know for sure if he knows anything about humans." Lyra decleared.
"But what if he DOESN'T know anything thing about them?"
"Then I move on. I'm only going to ask him." Lyra said, sitting down next to Bon Bon, her way.
"Then why is your plan to stalk him?"
Lyra didn't answer. Instead, she just looked around, trying to find any clue to where her mark could have gone. After about ten minutes of sitting on the bench and looking around, she spotted something that caught her eye. Three little fillies ran by before stopping near the bake shop. Lyra quickly recognized who they were. It was Applebloom, the sister of Applejack, Sweetie Belle, the sister of Rarity, and Scootaloo, the adopted sister of Rainbow Dash. They called themselfs the Cutie Mark Crusader, on the fact that they were still blank flanks. Mark had been hanging out with them lately, probably because he also didn't have a cutie mark. As she watched them, she heard Mark's name mentioned, and her ears automatically perked up.
"Where is he?' Scootaloo said, folding her arms. "He's late."
"Calm down Scootaloo, he'll be here." Sweetie Belle reassured her.
"Yeah. Besides, we just got here ourselves, so just relax." Applebloom said.
"Remember, he said he was going over to Fluttershy's to help her this morning, then play with us." Sweetie reminded her friend.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. "I hate waiting."
Hearing all this, Lyra was filled with new hope. She still had a chance to learn what she could from Mark.
"Did you hear all that Bon Bon?" She asked poking her friend in the arm.
"Lyra... Don't tell me your going to stalk kids now?!" Bon Bon asked in surprise.
"Shhhhh! Just listen." Lyra said, putting a hoof up to her lips.
They remained quiet as they watched the three girls, as they waited for Mark to show up. It was about ten minutes in when Scootaloo's patience was wearing thin.
"This is so LAME!" She yelled in frustration.
"Chill Scootaloo. He'll be here." Sweetie said.
"But when? We've been here waiting for like EVER!"
"It's only been about ten minutes." Sweetie corrected her friend.
"He's here!" Applebloom called out, pointing down the street.
Sure enough, there was Mark. Running down a few blocks towards them, sweating as he tried to reach them as fast as he could. Once he was standing next to them, he took a moment to wipe the sweat from his face and catch his breath. After a few long pants, he finally started to speak.
"Well.... I..... made it." He said between breaths.
"Geez Mark, did ya run all the way from Fluttershy's?" Applebloom asked, surprised by Mark's looks.
"Kinda." He said as he smiled at them.
"Why did you do something silly like that?" Scootaloo asked, giving him a puzzeled look.
"I didn't want to be late getting to you guys."
Sweetie Belle just gave Scootaloo a look. "See?" She said with a small smirk.
"Okay, okay." Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes at her friend. "So Mark, what did you have plan for today?"
"Yeah. Are we going ta try to get our cutie marks today?" Applebloom asked.
"Nope. I've got something better planned for today." He said with a smirk. "Let's get your wagon and head on over to Sweet Apple acres. You girls are going to love this!"
As Mark and the girls started to walk away, Lyra was already getting into motion.
"Come on Bon Bon, let's go before they get away!" She said as she poked her friend's arm.
"Fine." Bon Bon said as she got off the bench. "Just don't do anything stupid."
Lyra just giggled to herself as she jumped off the bench and started tailing Mark and the girls.
"This is going to be a loooooong day." Bon Bon sighed as she followed her friend. Celestia only knew what trouble Lyra would get into if she didn't keep an eye on her.
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"Uhhh... Mark? I don't mean to ask, but this is your plan?" Sweetie Belle ask me as she looked between me and the bottom of the hill we was on.
"Yep." I replied as I pulled an empty barrel out of the red wagon and placed it near us.
"I don't know.... it seems kinda.... lame." Scootaloo said with an arched eyebrow as she looked at the barrel.
"Actually girls, ah've heard of this before. Big Mac told me he used ta do something similar with his friends when he was a young colt." Applebloom explained. "You get into the barrel, and someone pushes ya over the edge of the hill. Then ya roll down the hill until it stops, making ya all dizzy."
"Exactly!" I confirmed. "I also used to this with my cousin when I was younger. It was a blast!" I said as I recalled all the fun I had rolling down a hill in a barrel until I hit my uncle's garage. He was a little pissed at that, but I still recall the fun I had. Thankfully, here in Equestria, I didn't have to worry about anything like that happening. We were a good two or four miles from Ponyville, in the plains between Whitetail woods and Ghastly Gorge. That way, we could have all the fun we wanted, without having to worry about hitting anything important.
"This is supposed to be fun?" Scootaloo asked as she eyed the barrel questionly.
"Well, why don't you try it out and see?" I asked with a smirk. "Unless your chicken."
"Nobody calls me chicken!" she huffed, before walking up to the empty barrel and snugging herself in.
"Okay, Micheal J. Fox." I laughed as she got in the barrel. Once her body was in and her head was sticking out, she looked up at me.
"Now what?" She asked me.
"Now..." I began, smirking as I walked to the side of the barrel. "Now, just try not to vomit!" I yelled before I gave the barrel a good push, and watched as it rolled down the hill. Scootaloo was screaming the whole time as it rolled down the hill at lightning speed.
Once it finally stopped at the bottom of the hill, Scootaloo crawled out of the barrel. She tried to stand up, but dizziness got the better of her and she fell backwords on the groud. It was at that point that me and the other girls walked down the hill to join their dizzy friend.
"Are you alright?" Applebloom asked her.
"I'm... fine." Scootaloo weakly said.
"So, how was it?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"It's dizzying.... but fun." She answered with a smile.
"Ah'm next!" Applebloom called out.
"No way, I'm next." Sweetie Belle said.
I laughed at the girls as the fought over who would try it next, all while Scootaloo tried to gain her balance back. "It's okay girls, everyone gets a turn." I told them as I began rolling the barrel back up the hill.
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Meanwhile, not too far from the hill where Mark and the girls were playing, Lyra & Bon Bon was in a bush watching them. Lyra was studing them with a pair of binoculars, while Bon Bon just sat there impatiently. They had followed them for almost an hour, watching them from out of view. Bon Bon Stayed quiet for the most part, hoping her friend would give up her silly plan after a few minutes of watching them. But now here they were, hiding in a bush, as the watched Mark and the kids roll down the hill in a barrel.
"Lyra, why are we even here?" Bon Bon asked, annoyed.
"Studying." lyra simply answered. She never took her view off Mark, watching as he laughed as the girls took turns rolling down the hill in the empty barrel. He would walk up and down the hill to help them roll the barrel back up the hill so the next one would have a turn.
"Studying what? All their doing is playing right now." Bon Bon said.
"Don't worry, we'll watch for a few more minutes." Lyra said, as she moved her binoculars up to the top of the hill. Trying to get a better view of Mark, as he took his turn getting into the barrel. "Once they finish playing their game, I plan to walk over and... and.... What is that?!" Lyra suddenly asked as she pointed her binoculars up in the air.
"What is it?" Bon Bon asked, as her friend looking up in the sky with worry.
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"Ready?" Applebloom asked me, as she and her friends stood next to the barrel I was now in.
"Hit IT!" I told the girls, readying myself for the spinning that was about to happen.
The girls grunted a little, as they pushed on the barrel off the side of the hill. The barrel started rolling down the hill, and everything started spinning as the barrel picked up speed. But before I reached the bottom of the hill, I felt the barrel come to a sudden stop as something pick it up. I felt myself being carried high in the air, as I heard the girls calling out to me with worry in their voice. But before I could question what was going on, whatever was holding the barrel suddenly let go of it, and now I was falling straight to the ground below.
"Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!" Was all I had time to say before me and the barrel came crashing to the ground. My vision went white as pain shot through my body. The barrel smashed on impact, as wood shattered and flew everywhere. I just layed there on my back for a long moment, as throbbing pain coursed through my body, keeping me from moving. I heard the girls call out to me as they tried to run up to where I was, But they stopped as something flying landed next to me. More wing flapping joined the first one as more landed around me, sounding like three of them were now surrounding me.
"This is him?" A female voice asked, with a tone of discuss in her voice. "Don't look like much."
"If this is all we have to deal with, then this job's going to be one easy job." A male voice said with a chuckle.
I moaned as I opened my eyes and tried to at least sit up and see what was going on. But as I did, I was totally caught off guard. As three griffons were standing around me, staring at me with a look that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Something tells me you guys aren't here to sell girl scout cookies." I weakly joked, as I tried not let fear get the better of me.
"Mark Less Stevens, I presume." The black one said with a venomous tone. "We've been looking for you!"