Home Sweet Home
Home Sweet Home
Jonathan had no time to move, no time to yell out or protect his face, no time to raise his arms up in a feeble shield. No, the only real thing Jonathan had time for was the peculiar and almost maddeningly hilarious thought which was that the fire racing towards him was not only pure green but also strangely beautiful, shimmering and twinkling in an almost ethereal light. Time seemed to slow as it drew closer and closer, as the heat batted almost lovingly at his exposed face, caressing his cheeks and hair. The flame drew closer and closer, Jonathan's limbs still frozen and rooted to the spot as an odd tingling sensation began to spread like a pandemic across his whole face, crawling across his noticeably pale complexion with a scuttling motion.
And then, in the blink of an eye, time reasserted itself as the green flame engulfed his entire head with licks of emerald fire.
Strangely enough, and much to the almost spine-tingling shock of Jonathan, the flames washed over him almost like the gentle tug of the tide at the seaside, the heat vanishing almost instantly to be replaced by the most peculiar cold, fuzzy sensation that Jonathan had ever felt, like the stuffing on the inside of a particularly tacky toy bear. His vision consisted of the most radiant greens, dancing and twinkling around him like a ballet, winking and spitting but never grazing his eyes or his face, instead seemingly slinking around them as if they feared to touch the human, as if fire itself refused to taint itself. Dimly, Jonathan thought he could feel his hair curling and smouldering atop his head, feeling the black lengths wilt and slowly crisp along with his eyelashes, a faint smell of burning just reaching his nostrils before it was wafted away swiftly. The flames washed over him for what felt like minutes on end, colours spiralling, heat intoxicatedly spreading over him, smell plaguing his nose and then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the torrent of fire was switched off as id by magic, an empty, almost lonely sensation filling the space where it had once been.
Jonathan blinked rapidly as the fire vanished, swaying on the spot slightly as he reached a hand up to massage his partially watering eyes, a little groan of confusion escaping his lips as he rubbed his knuckles into his golden orbs, barely paying any attention to what sounded like angered murmuring occurring right in front of him. His eyes continued to sting and weep, the sight and supposed 'heat' of the fire that had once consumed him causing his pools of gold to flood like a broken dam. Slowly, one hand still fruitlessly scrubbing at his eyes as if they contained dirt, Jonathan lifted a hand up to inspect his hair, noting how dry and frail it seemed to feel now and how, if he rubbed his fingers in it, a faint smoky powder seemed to immediately latch onto his fingers. Jonathan attempted to open his eyes to look at whatever substance lay on his fingertips but was forced to shut them again a few seconds later as the last traces of blinding, strobing lights that had seemed to stick around ever since the end of the fire returned with a vengeance, making the human growl in annoyance just as the sound of an approaching pony rung in his ears, the gentle two beat sound of hooves on wood reaching him.
Wait, two beat?
A male voice reached his ears, childish but most definitely masculine, a sound that made Jonathan conceal a happy grin. It wasn't that he was sexist towards the mare, or mares, that had taken him into their home town but every guy would need another guy to keep him company in the turmoil of a life that seemed to be filled by women and the relief Jonathan felt at hearing the sound of another male in a heavily female populated town was enormous.
“Eh, s-sorry about that. I didn't t-think to aim away from the door.”
Jonathan smiled slightly as he lifted his hands away from his eyes, vision returning. Though he hadn't failed to notice the slightly feared tremor in the voice, he was absolutely sure that once this guy got to know him, they'd be fast friends. Perhaps Jonathan was being a little bit optimistic however.
“Don't worry about it, I'm sure it was an acci-”
Jonathan blinked slowly as he looked down at the library floor. Astonishment flooded his senses as he gazed on what could be one thing and one thing alone. Barney The Purple Dinosaur was standing on the ground in front of him.
And he was tiny.
Timidly, Jonathan spoke again in what could only be described as an awed whisper.
“...Barney?”
Barney the Dinosaur snorted in bafflement, eyes widening slightly as he shook his head from side to side, voice rising up again, this time without the shaky stops.
“I'm not Barney, my name's Spike.”
Jonathan blinked once more, tongue lolling out of his mouth to lick his lips in, not nervousness exactly, but deeper confusion.
“Do...do you know Barney, Mr Spike the Dinosaur?”
Spike the Dinosaur frowned, his head shaking again as his voice came out hesitantly, not scared any more but wary towards why this hairless monkey seemed to think he would know this Barney guy.
“No, I don't. I'm not a...dinesur anyway, I'm a dragon!”
Jonathan once more blinked in confusion, a habit that was growing increasingly common for him as he muttered under his breath, the little dragon barely picking up on what he said before the human cleared his throat.
“Everything we know about Barney is wrong...So...Barn-Spike...eh, you're a...dragon?”
Spike nodded once more slowly, eyes glazed over with such clear, untempered bafflement and small, almost squeaky voice heavily thickened by abnormally reserved quietness.
“Yeah, I'm a dragon from my talons to my spines.”
Jonathan took the time to admire said bodily appendages and the creature in front of him as a whole. The little dragon, Spike, was a deep, glimmering purple colour that sparkled and twinkled from his scales, making Jonathan wince his still sore eyes. A small dappling of green also coated parts of the child-esque dragon, his stomach and the underside of his tail, along with what appeared to be spines that lined his back were all smeared with a leafy, natural green colour. His eyes, though still glazed, were an unsettling green colour also, piercing Jonathan even through the veil of confusion that the young dragon was maintaining fluently. Much to Jonathan's surprise, though it was a pleasant surprise, Spike seemed to have what appeared to resemble fingers on his hands and small, stubby and pointy looking toes on his feet, claws and talons that closely mimicked the appendages which humans had adopted so long ago. The most noticeable feature however, was the small pointy teeth that could just be seen protruding from his mouth like stalactites, looking both deadly and shockingly adorable at the same time.
“Uh, dude, you mind not staring so much?”
Jonathan blinked in bewilderment, immediately shattering what must have been an intense gaze which he had held upon the tiny dragon. Jonathan allowed a sheepish grin and a light blush to blemish his features as he awkwardly shuffled on the spot, the awe and shock that came with meeting a real life dragon coming a close second place in his emotional marathon to the nearly crippling embarrassment he was feeling at what the dragon obviously thought was him checking the little guy out.
“I, ah, sorry. It's just...”
Spike sighed in exasperation, his spines atop his head visibly wilting in sadness, the sight nearly making Jonathan bark out a laugh.
“You've never seen a dragon before? Yeah, I got that a lot here...”
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jonathan heard a dark, sadistic laugh echo at the young creatures misery but he soon squashed the sound out and, much to his own amazement, kneeled down to face the dragon, hand coming up to rest on the scaly shoulder which felt unexpectedly warm, Spike flinching at the motion for a second before his eyes met Jonathan's, green crossing gold and red in an understanding expression.
“Look at me Spike, I reckon over the last few days I've managed to get a few curious glances thrown my way but it doesn't matter because y-y-y-you're worthless a-a-and you're obviously a very diverse creature, full of wonder and magic and-a-a-a-a-anger, hate, burning fire that would torch the land, that w-w-w-w-would spread kindness to all around you.”
Once more, for what must have been the hundredth time that day, Spike adopted the look of stark confusion, mind clashing between the ideas of whether or not that had been a compliment. One moment the strange bipedal creature that Twilight had been constantly talking about had seemed caring and compassionate with a voice as soft as Rarity's mane and the next second his voice had changed, had become hard and desolately cold, barren of emotion and then, in the blink of an eye it had gone, reappeared and then gone again. Perhaps this was the norm for these creatures, “Humanes” Twilight had called them but something in that drastic voice change, something in that almost jagged, twisting feeling of malice that had filled the air seemed to suggest something different to Spike and so, with puzzlement in his heart, Spike asked the question which a solar deity and six of the most powerful mares in all of Equestria had been dying to ask the human since they had first met him.
“Are you normal?”
Jonathan blinked, his golden eyes vanishing and then reappearing quickly.
“What?”
Spike hesitated a moment before he decided that the damage had already been done and his hole had already been dug, therefore, the only logical next step was too see what could have been a disastrous mistake through to its end and so, whilst mentally preparing himself for the full force of a brutal, bloodthirsty attack by the alien before him, Spike asked his question again.
“For your species, are you normal? Do you fit the mu-the mou-the muld-”
“The mould?”
Spike nodded at Jonathan's answer.
“Yeah, the mould! Do you fit the mould?”
Jonathan rocked backwards on his knees, his hand now falling limply from Spike's shoulder as he spoke up in a hushed, timid voice.
“What...what would make you think I'm not normal?”
“Well, and please don't take this badly and hurt me with all of your alien might, but you seemed to stutter a lot and then you said some rud-”
“Wait, what?”
“You, ah, stuttered.”
“What...what did I say?”
“Umm, some stuff about fire and burning and me being worthless. I mean, those are, like, compliments to your species right?”
Jonathan felt sick, sick, sick to his very stomach, the light felt bright, way too bright, the air felt too constricting, too close and invading. The smell of bile and blood filled his nostrils, not from outside but from within as he choked out a simple word.
“Y-yeah.”
Spike frowned, noting the pale complexion and green tinges that coloured Jonathan's cheeks.
“Uh, are you alright? You look a little sic-”
“Spike, what did you do to him!?”
The little dragon bolted into the air at speeds which would surely have shattered the sound barrier had they gone on for a few more seconds, his little infantile head swivelling swiftly to stare at the purple unicorn who was now standing in the doorway of the kitchen, a look of aggravation on her face which was severely ruined by the smattering of oat crumbs which surrounded her mouth. However, at this precise moment in time, Spike realized that any sign of mirth at this point would result in a rather messy conclusion, probably filled with some form of horrible Twilight-esque punishment and for that simple reason alone the minuscule drake shrunk into himself and feebly pointed at the ill looking Jonathan, his voice squeaking out in fear.
“N-nothing Twilight, I just asked him if...he...was...normal,” Spike swivelled his head to face the pale face of Jonathan, guilt splayed across his features like a sunbathing cat, “Oh Celestia, I didn't upset you did I? I'm so, so sorry!”
Jonathan grunted in a small sign that he had heard the dragon, his thoughts currently trying to process what the dragon had said to him, desperately searching for the exact words he had said to the young drake, exhaustingly looking for the blank spaces that registered in his memory from only a few moments ago. And yet they did not return, those words that had left his mouth refused to come back to him now that they had escaped his lips. What horrors could Discord make him spout, what horrible, monstrous lies could the demon make him say and then, and then not remember!? It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying knowing that your voice is no longer your own any more, that even your memory is turning against you and Jonathan shivered from the fright and the fear and the uncertainty. Jonathan closed his eyes and took a deep, if somewhat broken breath, before he reopened his eyes, the glitter of gold now hardened and determined as he banished those feared thoughts from his mind, a task he had been handed time and time again.
The sound of arguing, very one sided arguing that it was, reached his ears as Jonathan lifted his head up and stretched his knees so that he was now standing, his head immediately turning to find the source of the noise which just so happened to be an angry looking purple unicorn and a rather chastised but irritated looking dragon. Twilight's entire face seemed to have taken on an ugly, blotch red colour from her anger whilst Spike's was a similar red colour that painted his cheeks, a flush of embarrassment and aggravation. Jonathan's eyes locked onto the purple dragon instantly and, with a slight flicker of hopelessly frightened eyes, Spike beckoned Jonathan to save him from this horrid fate.
“And another thing, you can't just ask whether or not somepo-someone is normal, it might hurt their feelings! What were you thinki-”
Jonathan coughed rather noisily, clearing his throat and bringing his hand to his mouth as Twilight's head bolted around to face him with the same penetrating, manic look that she had been captivating Spike with before her expression cleared like dispersing clouds and her face adopted a softer look as Jonathan spoke up in a hesitant voice, noting the Spike's sigh of relief out of the corner of his eye, the little drake clutching at his chest in reprieve.
“I don't mind Twilight really, I just feel a little...sickly. I guess I'm still not entirely better from the fall.”
Twilight's expression softened further, half of Jonathan wishing to simply belt out a loud d'aww at how adorable she looked and the other half of him suppressing feelings of sickness and bile that weren't truly his own, a diseased choking sound issuing through his mind as Twilight spoke up in a quiet voice, as if she were afraid she might spook him if she spoke up too loudly.
“That's fine Jonathan. I'm sorry I left you alone with Spike,” Twilight shot the reptile a glare which made him shrunk into himself again, “but I haven't eaten an awful lot since Rarity, and you, went into the hospital. I was just so worried.”
Jonathan smiled, opening his mouth to reply before a slight tug at his wrist made him jump and swing his head downwards to stare straight into the face of Spike who had managed to move silently and swiftly from his place beside Twilight without Jonathan knowing, his little face full of guilt and regret, a few tears sparkling in his eyes as he spoke up.
“I'm really sorry Mr Alien, I didn't mean to be rude.”
Jonathan recovered from his fright easily as he spoke down to Spike in a accepting tone.
“That's alright Spike, you weren't trying to be rude.”
The tiny drake heaved a sigh of relaxation, all of the guilt and regret leaving his face in an instant, the tears vanishing mysteriously as if they had never been there as he began to waddle away, his head turned back to Jonathan as he trudged through an open doorway.
“Cool, see ya around.”
Jonathan turned to Twilight deliberately with a singular eyebrow raised as he spoke up in a quizzical voice.
“What was that?”
Twilight's whole face had once more resorted back to its red colour as she seethed in anger, her teeth grinding together loudly before she spoke up in a voice that sounded strained.
“That was Spike apologizing, badly.”
Jonathan waited for Twilight to speak up again, to welcome him to her home but she remained staring angrily at the doorway that Spike had disappeared through moments ago, seconds ticking by languidly before Jonathan coughed and drew Twilight's attention back to him, the purple mares ears twitching at the sound as she turned back to him, a light blush of embarrassment over her silence painting her face as she began to speak.
“Sorry for falling off of the conversational plain there. Anyway, I expect you want to have a look around your new home, don't you?”
“No, the thought never crossed my mind.”
Twilight blinked and took an automatic step back as the sarcasm and hatred behind that voice hit her full force, Jonathan's face moulding into a malice filled, almost insane expression before it shifted back into its normal, fluid look as he spoke up again in the voice she had come to recognize for the human.
“I'd love to Twilight.”
Twilight shifted slightly, obviously confused but allowing the speech switch to slip from her mind for the time being, mentally making a note to jot the incident down on her letter to Princess Celestia later this evening before she immediately plunged into her tour-guide mode.
“Well, where we are at the moment is the living room and the main body of the library. You can take your time to admire the collection of books, arranged in alphabetic and genre related order of course.”
Finally, after what had felt like hours of constant talk between himself, Spike and Twilight, Jonathan allowed himself to glance around his new home more keenly, taking in all of its features in quiet awe.
In the centre of the sunlit yellow flickering room there rose a great wooden horses head, extending from a circular wooden table that was littered with multicoloured books. Small vines snaked down from the ceiling and crawled down the wall like great, green snakes, choking the wooden walls. The rough, swirling barked floor twirled round and round in great ringed circles, indicating that the tree had been perhaps three hundred years old when it had been carved out and formed into the house that it was now. The walls themselves were a browny orange colour that seemed to mix together like paint swilling around a pallet, the resulting colour creating a beautiful shade of colour that brought much needed light to the interior of the house. Ladders lay perched on the walls, wooden poles tied loosely together with fraying, brown string that looked like they would crumble after their next use. Darkened windows lined high above the spiralling tower of hollow wood, metallic black lines criss-crossing their lengths like a spiders web. That however, was not what had amazed and astounded Jonathan.
The whole area was littered with great spectrum coloured books. Hardbacks and paperbacks lay strewn across the floor and in the nooks and crannies of the great bookcases that spiralled around the library. At least three hundred hues of books cluttered the library, spilling out from shelves in great bursts of papered knowledge. There was so many classifications, history, science, fiction, non-fiction, storybooks, horror, adventure, action and romance alone decorated only one fourth of the whole area. Tomes of old lay on great wooden displays, locked by glass cabinets to signify their importance. A single staircase snaked upwards from the floor, curling around the wall of the library to reach what appeared to be a landing which held a rather large, rather heavy looking bookcase piled with books. A midnight blue and night sky decorated bed sat on the orange floor of the landing, pristine white pillows laying on its complexion as sunlight from the yellow curtained window on the wall seeped into the room and onto the bed. A painting of the same etching of the sun mark that decorated Celestia's flank was scribed into the wood above the bed, along with a much smaller moon and stars picture underneath it.
Jonathan stopped his numinous gazing around the room when he felt a light poke in his side, his head swivelling down to meet the expectant face of Twilight's, purple eyes glimmering with barely concealed excitement as she piped up in a voice that was high with anticipation.
“Do you want to see your room?”
Jonathan couldn't restrain a broad smile from breaking out over his face, both at the cuteness that Twilight was displaying for him and also for the sheer, unbridled fact that she had taken the time and the energy to make him up a room instead of just pulling out a mattress and plopping it on the floor like so many of his old friends used to do. The memory of his friends made Jonathan's smile waver slightly but his voice remained steady as he replied.
“That'd be great Twilight.”
Twilight visibly bounced up the staircase to her right, an eager smile plastered on her face as she shot occasional glances at the human who was following behind her, his eyes resting on every shred of detail, from the colourful plants littering the room to the vast array of books littering the floor around what was obviously Twilight's bed. When Jonathan had stopped for a little over five seconds to inspect what appeared to be a small basket on the floor beside Twilight's bed, the enthusiastic but irritated unicorn had made a covetous noise that resembled a growling bear and had proceeded to trot her way back over to Jonathan, position herself behind his still pondering form, crane her neck upwards and poke him with considerable might in his butt, making Jonathan jump and immediately dash forward, the lavender unicorn following with a happy smile as Jonathan rubbed his bottom and glared at her. With the imminent threat of Twilight's horn poking, Jonathan no longer felt it safe to stop to admire the room and so meekly followed Twilight as she led him to a small wooden door in the back of her bedroom wall, her horn lighting up as she grabbed the handle with a purple aura, the door screaming out in terror as it was yanked open and sunlight was allowed to flood it.
Jonathan peeked his head in, only to discover another long staircase that wound upwards, nearly completely concealed in darkness before Twilight trotted forward, her horn glowing purple and vanquishing the shadowed zone, the little pony trotting calmly up the stairs, followed by a quizzical looking Jonathan. After an intensive game of 'count how many stairs there are', the duo reached the top, another wooden door greeting them which Twilight opened with a flick of her magic, the pair walking in one after the other as Jonathan got a look at his room for the very first time.
Thought the entire room was bathed in darkness, Jonathan could still easily see that the walls remained the same orangey brown colour, apart from the areas that held a few scarce paintings of what appeared to be astronomical signs and bodies. A large window, smothered by a sanguine red curtain, sat quite snugly on the far wall, blocking out the light to the room effectively and methodically. A large bed with fluffy white pillowed and a blood red sheet sat in the direct centre of the room, a small cabinet resting beside it topped with a few books, a small lamp and what appeared to be a quill. On the right side of the window sat a balcony which was carpeted by similar curtains, the faint silhouette of something large and relatively cylindrical casting a larger shadow onto the room. Discarded pieces of paper, quills and books lay scattered around the walls of the room, the centre remaining remarkably clean whilst the exterior of the room seemed to have fallen into disrepair. Pieces of what appeared to be telescopes lay littered around the room as well, along with some actual telescopes which ranged from tiny ones to large ones that nearly grazed the roof of the room.
With a light flicker of magic, the lamp in the middle of the room flared to life, making Jonathan wince somewhat as the darkness vanished, Twilight trotting into the centre of the room, eyes lingering uncertainly on the junk and misplaced items on the floor before her purple orbs returned to Jonathan's eyes, full of doubt but also small traces of excitement.
“It used to be my old astronomy room. I know it's not perfect and that it's kinda dirty, but what do you think?”
Jonathan pretended to ponder over the question, part of him enjoying the way Twilight fidgeted and shot him nervous looks, his darker side revelling in the feeling that she was being so emotionally vulnerable around him, egging him on to shoot her down and make her cry because it would be funny, so hilariously, superbly, insanely funny.
“It's brilliant Twilight, thank you.”
The nagging, pestering, vicious voice receded into his mind as the lavender filly beamed happily, happiness sparkling in her eyes. It had obviously been the answer the filly was looking for and the slight quiver of joy that made her legs shiver somewhat brought s grin to Jonathan's face and a quiet chuckle out from under his lips.
“Oh it was nothing. Now, do you want anything to eat from the kitchen?”
Jonathan opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by his stomach exploding into action with a loud rumbling sound which made his cheeks flush and made Twilight burst into silly little giggles. With the obvious question answered for him by none other than his betraying body, Jonathan proceeded to drive the point home by nodding eagerly before Twilight spoke up.
“I'll get Spike to fix you up some vegetable stew then. Just stay here and relax for a little while, read maybe,” she gestured towards the pile of books, “Celestia knows you need some time to relax and recuperate.”
Jonathan smiled at her, dipping his head to show that he understand and was fully behind both the idea of vegetable stew and a chance to recuperate, even if he had been in the hospital for a few days. The time spent there was not one for much relaxation and relief, instead it had constantly left him horribly bored and desperately seeking a sanctity for his wandering mind to lock onto instead of dwelling on the oppressive, terrifying thoughts that seemed to occupy his life nowadays. Jonathan paced around his room, touching the walls, the dust, the various instruments and books as Twilight exited the room, her vibrant tail disappearing down the dark staircase before a blinding flash of purple light illuminated outwards, bathing Jonathan's room in a lavender glow. Jonathan cast his eyes to the staircase once more before he turned away and bent over to pick up what seemed to be the body of a small telescope, flinching and tossing the thing far, far away as a lone spider crawled over it, hearing the metal clatter against the floor and wishing that Twilight hadn't heard. When no sound of approach was heard, Jonathan went back to inspecting his room, now steering clear of the arachnid infested telescope junkyard.
With a hesitant touch, Jonathan ran his fingers down the sanguine curtain separating him from the light outside, feeling it sink and caress into his skin, a small civilization of dust rising up from its depths, making the human blast out a sneeze and back away from the curtain, already content with the warm, hopeful flickering light cast by the lantern. Jonathan slowly approached his bed, eyes locking onto the cabinet that lay beside it as he reached forward to grasp the one of the three books that sat snugly on its surface, hugging the wooden box with paper pages. Jonathan picked up the top one, a chunky, red covered book with the image of dual mares with wings and horns on the front, the font carefully crafted and titled 'Ancient Equestrian History: Volume 1'. With a light flick of his fingers, Jonathan skimmed through the book, gazing as the pages whizzed by him in the blink of an eye, almost instantly noting the lack of images in the book and how it seemed to be pretty heavy reading, something he wasn't entirely accustomed to. He put it down next to the other books and picked up the next, a yellow tome with cracking pages titled 'Ponyville Through The Ages'. This book had no clear illustration on the front, what appeared to be copious amounts of dark brown dust coating its surface and hiding the image from view but, like before, with a flick of his fingers, Jonathan shuffled through the book and noted the vast array of colourful pictures, smiling to himself before he put it down and picked up the next book.
This book was undeniably strange and, as soon as Jonathan touched it with his fingertips, a small bolt of lightning seemed to arc from him into it, shocking Jonathan's hand and making him recoil slightly before he frowned and picked it up. The cover was black as night, with curved golden writing spiralling across the top, flicking and twisting almost maliciously as Jonathan read the title, 'The Monsters Behind The Fairytale'. Jonathan flicked through the book similarly, noting the dark pictures that greeted him, all evil looking, twisted, malformed, vicious, blood red or deep dark. Jonathan continued to flick through the book until his hand rested on a single page that had caught his eyes due to the splash of colour and the horrifying memory that the picture had brought to him. Brown body, lion and eagle talons, twisted horns, a pony head, bleached bone beard, bat and pegasi wings, dragon and goat legs and a long, malicious red tail that snaked across the page, the image of Discord stared at Jonathan from the pages of the book.
He slammed the book shut with a loud thud, causing dust to be expelled from the pages, rising into the air around him as Jonathan held the front cover down firm, breathing hard and staring intently at the book. Underneath his fingers, there seemed to be some sort of indent in the book, some shape rising from the thick cover just barely, less than a millimetre tall. With a light gulp, Jonathan has hands over the front cover of the book before he froze in fear as his hand crossed to the other side, exposing the front and the illustration that lay naked to the air. The face of Discord, God of Chaos, Image of Evil, the Legendary Trickster sat upon the front cover where there had once been nothing and just for a hint of a second, Jonathan swore it was looking directly at him.
And then the picture of Discord narrowed its eyes and smirked victoriously.
Jonathan shrieked as the picture moved, immediately throwing the book away, watching it soar across the room and smash into the opposite wall with a thud, sliding down and landing in the pile of telescope remains with a clatter. Silence descended upon the room as Jonathan stared ferociously at where the book had disappeared, worried, nervous and scared but still determined to hold his ground if anything else happened, if the book tried to return to him. After seconds and minutes that ticked by like hours and days, Jonathan turned away from the wall and began to back slowly towards his bed, legs quivering as the absolute silence choked the life out of the once happy, joyous and warm room. He tripped backwards, arms pin-wheeling before he landed on his bed, sinking into the sheets and immediately thinking about how soft they felt, how warm they felt and how desperately tired he was. He was so sleepy, so very sleepy after all and he needed his rest. There was a perfectly good bed right here, just for him and he would be damned if he didn't use it. It was so warm, so comfortable and so soft, so very, very soft that Jonathan's eyes began to droop and close, his thoughts began to become muddled and distant, his mind drifting away from the book and the horrors that had greeted him.
With a loud yawn, Jonathan stretched his arms and scratched the top of his head, feeling small bumps in his scalp before he drew his hands away and rested them on the bed, legs swinging up so that he laid fully across the silky smooth surface, not even bothering to snuggle under the duvets as his head slammed into the pillow. Somewhere inside of him, a tiny voice screamed at him to run, to get up, walk around, to wake up and to never, ever sleep again but he ignored it because it was so warm and so comfortable and so, so soft. His eyes folded shut, his breathing slowed, his chest rose and fell and a single, lone thought wormed its way into his head before he collapsed into the bed completely.
'Horns', he thought, 'the bumps are horns.'
Jonathan's snores reached the lavender unicorn just as she trotted into his room with a tray balanced carefully on her back, a small smile gracing her features as she beheld the slumbering form of the giant human laying in his bed, exhausted but relaxing. With a light sigh, she turned back around and began to trot down the stairs, noting the smell of the soup and how the duty of soup-devourer had fallen to her.
'There's still a letter to write to the princess and I can't waste even a single moment' she thought to herself as she trotted from view.
If she had waited a moment longer she would have heard the moan of fear and the muffled, timid, broken voice of Jonathan mumbling from his sleep.
“Help...me...”
[.]
Dear Princess Celestia
The human Jonathan has now settled into the house, he's upstairs sleeping as I write this to you actually. Now, you asked me to write down anything suspicious about him and there were a few...quirks he showed today that I think you should know about, so here goes.
He demeaned Spike. I spoke to Spike today, whilst I was making vegetable soup and apparently Jonathan had called him worthless and there was something else about fire. I told him that he shouldn't have taken that, that he should have asked for an apology but he shrugged it off and said that it was an ancient alien custom that Jonathan had told him about, mocking each other was his form of a welcome apparently. I don't believe a word of it and...there was something else about this incident as well. He stuttered, just like back at the hospital in Canterlot and according to Spike his voice changed, became more aggressive and deep.
And then today, there was a moment where he looked at me like I was filth, when he spoke to me like I was a buzzing, pestering parasprite and it scared me princess, it scared me. And then, just as quickly, he was back to normal.
I don't know what's going on, I don't know what Jonathan is going through but I can tell you that you were right, that this human is suspicious and there is a mystery around him that is threatening to draw me in. I trust you to figure out the truth though, you are my mentor after all!
So, with best wishes and kindest regards
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
[.]
She had read it three, four, five times now and it had done nothing to alleviate her growing sense of apprehension and fear. Something was going on at Ponyville, something was going on in Equestria and Celestia knew, she just knew that it revolved around the human.
She had been expecting a reaction from the human when she had asked Twilight to slip a copy of 'The Monsters Behind The Fairytale' into the other books that she had lent the human but she had been surprise when there had been no mention of it in the letter. Perhaps this human was simply misunderstood, perhaps he wasn't lying, perhaps he was merely being his usual self. Or perhaps he wasn't, Celestia did not wish to be sorry in the future so she would play it safe for now. She would play it safe until the human showed his true colours and then she would swoop in and either apologise for her behaviour and her suspicion or she would make sure he couldn't hurt her ponies, no matter what.
If the time came and the human was a threat then she would destroy him, she knew that. She would destroy him and scatter his ashes across Equestria because whatever was wrong with him, whatever infection seeped through his veins, it was one that harmony could never, ever fix.
It was one that would destroy Equestria like a plague.
And she would not let that happen.
Silently, Celestia turned from her desk and trotted over to her bookcase, sliding out her own copy of a very rare, very informative book titled 'The Monsters Behind The Fairytale' and flicked the page to the panel about Discord.
She would be ready for him.
She would be ready to fight him.
She would be ready to do whatever it would take to stop him.
A/N: Took me long enough, eh?
I am truly sorry for the time taken to get this out but I've been on holiday and school started again and bleh, it was a hectic time. But here it is, the filler before the next few chapters that will revolve around the Mane 6 and Jonathan, along with a smidgeon of spooky and scared Celestia. I hope no one notices what I've done in this chapter though, Oh I feel like a criminal.
The next chapter may take a while before it comes out since I will be finishing my Doctor Whooves story first so be prepared for a bit of a wait, again. I promise I'll make it up to you all, heck, I'll even treat you to ice cream. How does that sound, because I think it sounds delicious!
Anyway, enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think.
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"Twilight's expression softened further, half of Jonathan wishing to simply belt out a loud d'aww at how adorable she looked and the other have of him suppressing feelings of sickness and bile that weren't truly his own"
I guess that should be "half" as well?
Don't get me wrong, your descriptions are very well done but I do think they might be a tad long winded, maybe try to condense or combine descriptions a bit? I feel as though the time between characters speaking is very long. Love the story though, cannot wait for more.
1254166 Matter of time... Discord is not especially discreet about this all. Hair, beard, eyes.... when horns are going to showed up in they full glory.... well. Or ponies are dumb as parasprites or just ignorant more than we think.
Damn.. this fic is going to give me nightmares about Discord. Any darker and this could be on CreepyPasta... please don't.
Is it wrong that I want to kill Discord?
Poor Johnathan
But I have to wonder one thing, what was Celestia expecting to get out of John by showing him the book "monster behind the fairytails"?
Fear, Anger, Guilt, what reaction was she expecting?
1255090 Yeah and thats why they are keeping him free to go and under eye of Twilight. Cause Celest is not sure if he is Discord, some of his creation or possesed by him. We can only have faith in Johnathan, he is resisting to Discord quite well. But without outside help he is doomed one way or another.
I was just thinking of this story, happy to see it updated. Celestia sure is scary when it comes to Discord. Though, who wouldn't?
1255133 Most likely any reaction would've sufficed. It would show a connection to Discord in some way. Discord making John smirk at his image would have told a lot.
Jonathan blinked slowly as he looked down at the library floor. Astonishment flooded his senses as he gazed on what could be one thing and one thing alone. Barney The Purple Dinosaur was standing on the ground in front of him.
And he was tiny.
Timidly, Jonathan spoke again in what could only be described as an awed whisper.
“...Barney?”
I have tears in the corners of my eyes. Good show, man. Good show.
Moar! Why you ask? BECAUSE I AM DISCORD!!! DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN!NN!N!N!N!N!N!!!!!!
1267630
sure you are buddy
Here's a mistake I found
''brought s grin to Jonathan's face''
ANOTHER UPDATE!!! EXTRA PLOT DEVELOPMENT!!!
i2.ytimg.com/vi/EeaqOzQV2Mc/mqdefault.jpg
new to fimfiction (ive been here but just made the account) found your story read the description and its already an instant fave.
The tensions killing me
Since Discord is more or less not allowing Jonathan to retreat into insanity, does that mean that when he finally leaves him or is excorcised out by the elements.... Jonathan gets a mental breakdown and develop a split personality (a innocent one and one "big brother") because of the sudden emotional shock?
When did this go on hiatus?
Awaiting for an update!
I just have to say this but I'm reading this chapter as I'm eating an ice cream shake.