I have no idea how I got here either, but here I am. Sitting in the middle of nowhere, with a single ray of light from the void around me. It was actually like one of those interrogation scenes, you know. The lamp, the person in front of the victim, questioning them profusely. The whole shebang.
Well, except for the fact my 'interrogator' was a pair of two strangely colored red irides and golden colored scleras. Those eyes watch me from the darkness with sadistic delight. I can't begin to explain how surreal this whole situation feels like, but it's absurd. It felt like I was doped up on acid or something similar, but I knew for a fact I wasn't.
"Ah! So good to see you! I was wondering when you'd get here," The voice paused, "If you ever even got here, that is."
"...Who are you? What exactly do you want?" It's not that I don't approve of the whole mystery thing, it's just I don't approve of this situation. You know, since I'm actually the one in it. This guy could be here for something nefarious after all. The eyes rolled themselves, which showed me the exact nature of this being, who might I add is likely some sort of super natural demon jester, or something of the sort.
"I do hope I didn't get a serious soul," The voice muttered to itself, "That would be quite... Unfortunate."
"Serious? I'm a little serious, when I need to be. But at the current moment, my life is probably on the line." Better not say sanity, offering out my life was much more than enough. The being actually manifested a pair of sharpened teeth that formed a malicious grin.
"Perfect! For the both of us, you see... I require someone with a set of morals, as well as someone who can be serious when the time came."
"But, who are you?" I inquire, once again. Gravely suspicious of who this weird creep is, being all mysterious and what not. "A poltergeist? Please don't haunt me, I swear I haven't done anything to you."
"That's the spirit!"
"No, you're the spirit."
"A real kidder, aren't you!?"
"I want to go home." I stress now, as I'm already tired of playing chicken and running around for every little thing that happens to me.
"Are you feeling it?" I pause, my mouth stretching into a thin line of displeasure as I hear him completely duck my request, or demand depending on how you look at it. "That adrenaline you've been using? That's not adrenaline. You've been feeling magic. And now that you're here," Without making a motion, I can tell the voice wanted to make one. "a place where your magic cannot flourish, your own subconscious, you're starting to feel the effects of terror, from your displaced situation."
I wanted to deny this creature's words, tell him to shut up, punch him in his stupid sharp pointy teeth and vanish back to where ever I came from. But I can't, I can't deny his very true words. Slowly creeping in was the fear I'd felt after escaping the hospital, and the same one I felt in the basement. The fear of the unknown. Here, I'm powerless. I don't have a house, not even an apartment to my name or even a single dollar. I don't have any friends, and nothing but possible enemies. I have no protection, no safety, and no one to teach me right or wrong.
"But," The voice paused, "I can help you. I am your friend, and I am the closest one to helping you find your way home, if you'll even want to go home after awhile." Awhile?
"...Awhile?" I carefully voice out hesitantly, not wanting any tricks. I know this thing is playing me, but I can't help but feel like I should trust it. It's the only one that knows my situation, somehow. But from his earlier words, wasn't he the one who brought me here? "Didn't you bring me here? Can't you send me back?"
"Actually," The voice began, "While it was my spell that caught your nearby soul, it is not I who brought you from wherever you once came from. You see, my spell was designed to only capture the souls of the recently dead that were floating around in the aether of the other world. But the spirits in the aether come from different plains, so how you would have got there from a place supposedly with no magic... I do not know."
Baffled, I could only stare at the strange sight of the two floating eyes and a mouth. My brain eventually caught up with what he'd said when I realized something.
"Wait, you know about my world?" The voice grew silent for a moment, as if pondering something before eventually speaking.
"No, I just know that it doesn't have any magic in it. Your soul was void of any magic, which every creature of Equestria should have. Even those not of Equestria have some small form of magic in their souls, but not you. No, your soul is COMPLETELY barren of any magic. Or, was I should say." I felt a cold pit of dread at the word "was".
"Was?" I hesitantly voice out, half not wanting an answer but knowing I would need one. The voice did not disappoint.
"Indeed, was. Your soul was an anomaly in itself. A creature with no magic cannot exist by magic law, it is simply impossible. It would be like an Earth Pony suddenly flying without wings or without the assistance of magic. It's that same impossibility that brought my attention to your undying soul." Undying soul? "You see, your soul began absorbing the magic of everything in the aether. Remember as I said, all souls have magic. The moment your soul suddenly came into existence, it began eating ALL the magic in the aether simultaneously. All the souls awaiting their time to move into the next life, to reincarnate or otherwise live in the aether. Wait, did that mean I became Shang Tsung briefly? Oh god I hope I didn't end souls, I couldn't live with that on my conscious.
"Keep in mind, I said that you came into existence. Not teleported in. You suddenly arrived, as if you had always been there. Fearing the worst had yet to come, the guardians of the Aether tore open a hole into the world of the living and tossed you in so you couldn't absorb any of the souls. What they didn't predict, was that the world of the living wouldn't react very well to your soul either. The moment your soul existed within the reaches of the world of the living, you began to eat EVERY bit of magic in it. All the magic began to slowly be absorbed, and I believe you would have eaten all of the world's magic within but a year. That's quite a bit of magic, Equestria has far more magic than I've seen in any realm thus far. I could take hundreds, no thousands of realms and they still wouldn't have as much magic. With all that magic, you'd be unstoppable to any force... If you could use that magic, that is . Which I doubt you could have, as you are just a fledgling soul. You're not even older than the elements of harmony, younger actually. I did the only thing I could have possibly done to save our universe. I gave you a body." The intake of information was far too much for me.
"Whoa, I... That's kind of a hard pill to swallow don't you think? There's no way I'm... But I did, I guess... How did this happen?" I sat down on the 'floor' that consisted of absolutely nothing.
"Your guess is as good as mines, I suppose. There's much more to the story than that. However, I'll spare that information for another time. You need my help, and I need your help." Help? What could he possibly help me with? I'm pretty sure he can't get me home, from anything he's told me. "I will help you learn the secrets of magic, and you will acknowledge yourself as my child truly." What.
"What?" I express vocally this time, my eyes widening some in disbelief. "Why? I don't think a pair of eyes and some teeth can replace my parents."
Then it hit me.
I had to get home, I didn't tell my parents goodbye, or my siblings, or my best friends. I just suddenly vanished, and supposedly I'm dead. Did they even discover my body?
"Hello? Equestria to Screwball? I understand all this information is likely giving you an internal crises, but we need to sort this deal. Yes?"
"Why? Why would you want to be my Father? Who ARE you? What the heck is going on right now?" I stomp my hoof on the floor for good measure to show my pending frustration.
"Let's start with the, technically third question." A luminescent green swirl of magic suddenly shatters the illusion of the black void and illuminates the darkness. "Hello, I'm Discord. It's nice to meet you, my child."
Yes! I've been waiting so long for another chapter to come out.
Finally please keep it up
7349897 Dont hold youre breath kid the likelihood of this geting more updates is abysmal at best.
And I continue waiting for more content; I just keep devouring it!
i.imgur.com/QMacxc7.jpg
>tfw a series you like gets updated
IT LIVES
Thank God! I've been waiting for this. Send out ALL the warriors!
i wonder if discord shall be a "real" father with all the up and downs of a technical adopted child not easy.
This pleases me greatly.
this ought to be interesting.....
This... this is going somewhere.
It pleases me greatly.
While this was a bit interesting, the 'plot twist' was obvious since the start of the chapter. I must say, short chapters aren't my thing, but I'll let you pass for previously good chapters.
Yes it's alive! Alive I tell ya.
Nice twist I wonder if I'm accepting discord as far out protagonist will forget about his true parents due to some crazy magical rule.
Awww not long enough.
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7351469 HA
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At least it is Discord and not Mister Demon Lord, even if I thought I would read more about her and the main six or Diamond right now.
Not sure what I want, Screwball simply betraying everyone and learning that she actually likes Fluttershy and Diamond. (I don't want Filty to marry Fluttershy or something just because they want to raise her, just saying.)
Or Screwball is learning about her power, starting to like the others and before she can decide who she really likes Discord happens and makes her decide after a short adventure with him.
Another option would be he isn't helping Discord and fighting him once he made his Plan b work.
One would assume he's much younger than the ancient, thousands-of-years-old artifacts. I'd compare them to the bearers of said Elements .
Obligatory "it lives" line.
This story pretty good so far.
Other than the few complaints pointed out by the guys under me, the story is easy to follow and the premise is interesting. It's interesting just by the character's reactions. I hope you keep writing this story until completion.
Can't wait for more!
EDIT: after viewing the author's other fics though, I really hope this one doesn't get abandoned like the others :/
So the question is: Was the soul always with Screwball's body from the moment it was made, or did the soul enter the body after the fact it had been around for some time?
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loophole.
or its possible to make a soul without magic with a little science.
I prefer science.
hmmm.
Technically that does make Discord her father, but why does he need her to confirm it?
It'd be really amusing if she refused to call him anything but her designer, or assembler, or fabricator or something.
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That would be like saying you can make a human in our world without mass, because science. Some things just can't be done.
I interpreted the whole absorbing magic thing to be like the magical version of a paradox destroying the universe. It obviously didn't happen instantly, but if the paradox(non-magical soul in a universe where every soul must have magic just as every physical object must have mass in our universe) was left alone it would have done it eventually. Discord fixed it by essentially isolating the soul in a container like you would isolate a vacuum in a box.
You have to wonder if the same problem will still exist if she dies and her soul is released again though.
Dam its over all ready. I cant wait for the next chapter.
sadness... I feel... sadness. I'm so sad that I have read all the chapters in this story so far :(
but it is an awesome story [for me anyway] keep up the good work
More? It's been a month.
Please don't be a stranger,
Become an update power ranger!
Aiiiiiiiiii why isnt this longer????
*Still waiting for more content* Surely, OP will deliever...
This story is perfect! Please continue it! I'd love to see more!
I think I remember you saying something in the direction of not being able to write so much, but I admit that I expect a chapter after a month. I mean surely you could find a day or something in a month, where you could update the story and not making it to short at the same time.
Don`t get me wrong, I know no one can force you, I just want to let you know, that I would really like to have a new chapter.
I think I would even enjoy it, if you could try to play a bit with the emotions, or let him act a bit longer like he would really be one of them.
I just got the feeling, that I don't want him to just go full OP right from the start, solving every problem and having full controll of his powers. Normally I wouldn't like it if a body is affecting the main char to much, but I would like it if he could feel or remember how Screwball felt in different situations, giving him an idea to how bad it has been for her.
He should have to learn about his powers first I think, and starting with a small amount of controll over it, pretty much like the story explained it when it was the former Screwball.
i think it's time to ask for a new chapter....
Please
Please... please come back.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO OFFEND YOU?
7891977 Nothing at all, it's just I keep thinking I'll have time to brain storm and write, and well... Life keeps showing me nothing is simple. And I don't want to force things, something I did for my past writings and I didn't feel like it did my plot's justice. Though, a little known fact is most of my stories are connected on a deeper level.
7918388
I want more suddenly young again. In fact, this and that one could have been made into one story with a bit of reworking in my opinion.
sorry if I should have asked that already, but can you help me remember ? Is Fluttershy her mother or was it that she, because of Discord likes to think she is her daugther too?
Hmm, that's quite a lot of sudden Discord Ex Machina exposition. Feels a bit forced.
sorry I know I said it already, but after rereading it, I noticed that it "really" feels annoying to have that Discord moment here, where you expect the other stuff to continue that was just in the middle of an important moment.