//------------------------------// // Picking Up The Pace // Story: Becoming Chaos // by LemonDrizzle //------------------------------// Picking Up The Pace Band Aid had returned after Jonathan had finished his relatively short bath, excited smile barely hidden behind a stoic, professional expression that diverted all manner of will to achieve. Jonathan had, of course, been garbed in white robes that were, much to the humans chagrin, actually dresses made by a selection of famous fashion designers in Canterlot, all had not been informed of the usage of said dresses. The “toga” as the human liked to call it, grumbling and refusing to call it a dress, was a nice, carefully stitched piece of art with great rolling swashes of fabric, made to show off the hips of the mare who wore it, now created to show of the slightly extended belly of the human, the dress barely covering his knees with the length. Still, Band Aid was relatively happy that he did not have to see the humans lower area, especially after the first time when he had had to remove its clothing, along with his assistants, True Heart had nigh on dead fainted at the rather revealing sight. Still, best not to dwell on the past. Right now the human was stretching and looking over himself, occasionally hissing and grumbling as his bruised, battered, cut and aching body screamed at him to desist with these foolish acts, to simply lie back down in his nice soft bed. Still, Band Aid had to admire his will and his determination to remain standing despite the obvious agony he was feeling, a brave but foolish act really. Band Aid trotted calmly over to the bath and with a flick of his beige magic, sent the remaining water gurgling and spinning down the plughole where it would land Celestia knows where. The sudden noise had caught the humans attention, who watched the peculiar display with rapt awareness and awe filled eyes. Those eyes though, not matter how happy, joyous or awe filled, always tingled a memory in the back of Band Aid's mind, a memory of dark things and terrible dangers. His attention was quickly captured though when the human spoke up in his incredibly deep voice, the sound like the roar of a dragon or the crash of wave on rock. “Thanks for that, eh, Bandage? I needed that...” Band Aid couldn't help but grin, even despite the name slip-up. Here was an honest to Celestia alien and it was thanking him, him. “Band Aid and think nothing of it...Jonathan? It's my duty to help all those that are injured, even non-ponies.” This managed to bring a shaky, subdued smile to the humans face, though he still looked pale and pasty, as if something was troubling him. No, not troubling him as much as tormenting him. Band Aid had seen a lot of trauma in his time, from broken arms to shock induced injuries but the look in this creatures eyes. It was like nothing he had seen before and he prayed that he would never have to see it again. “Well thanks again. I, ah, have a few questions about where I am exactly. I wasn't really in that great a condition last time Celestia came to see me.” Band Aid couldn't contain his own beaming grin at this sudden development. Getting to actually speak, not to mention bond with the alien was something that would put him down in the record books forever. With much visible and mental restraint, he pulled his emotions down and spoke in an equalised voice. “Ask away.” Jonathan brought a hand up to his nearly hairless chin, pulling on his single white hair, making him involuntary yelp in surprise as a sharp pain shot through him, eyes watering slightly before he spoke up in a partially calm voice with a slight tremor at the end that most certainly suggested that he was pretty damn close to another breaking point. “Where exactly am I?” Band Aid pondered the question for a second, thinking of the best way to reply before he spoke up in a voice that wavered with excitement. “Well, you're in Equestria and are currently staying in its capital, named Canterlot.” The look of you're kidding, right? On Jonathan's face would surely have been visible from the other side of the room. “Camelot?” “Umm...no, Canterlot.” The freshened, delectable smelling human turned his head away for a second, golden eyes darkening and mouth muttering something about ridiculous names before he turned back and asked another question in an oddly detached voice. “Where in Canterlot am I?” “You're in the castle of the royal sisters. Princess Celestia herse-” Band Aid was rather rudely interrupted by a sharp gasp from the human and a garbled exclamation from his mouth, a lightning fast sentence bolting through the air. “Celestia is a princess!?” Band Aid struggled to breath for a second, the foolish, silly question that had escaped the humans lips baffling him. Did he honestly not know? “Why yes, of course she is.” Once more, the human turned his head to the side but this time his eyes flashed in a way that, if Band Aid did not know the mentally troubled human, would have assumed was a malicious glint. Quickly enough though, those eerily familiar golden eyes returned to him as the human asked the next question. “So, how many different types of ponies are there? I've seen you and Cel- Princess Celestia now but are there any more?” Band Aid happily opened his mouth to reply before the heavy, ringing noise of golden horseshoes on marble cracked his attention like ice, making him swivel his head towards the doorway, expecting his one-of-a-kind visitor any second now. The noise though, much to his relief was rather far off but approaching fast, the echo rolling down the greatly acoustical corridors to reach the rather quirky pair, human and pony, minutes before the source of the noise arrived. Band Aid turned back to Jonathan who was like-mindedly staring at the door, expecting the only visitor that had yet to make that particular noise. Band Aid desperately wanted to stay with the human, to answer his questions and then to maybe ask some of his own but, with a sigh, he resigned himself to the fact that that wasn't his job. Celestia would fair much better at it then him. With a grunt of minor annoyance, Band Aid piped up once more, drawing the humans attention as he spoke in an uncharacteristically saddened voice. “Look, I'm sorry but I should probably get out of here so the princess can speak to you properly. I promise you she will answer all of your questions though and don't worry, I'll be back soon enough.” Band Aid was quite shocked at the effect his words seemed to have on the human who looked at him with such gratitude and such a deep set look of happiness that it warmed the doctoral ponies heart. It looked like his words had struck home when they had not meant to, it looked like the human was clasping onto them. It looked like he had grabbed them and held them close like a life preserver in the ocean. With a somewhat stuttering voice, Jonathan spoke up to the little unicorn. “T-thanks.” Band Aid smiled lightly before he began to trot past Jonathan to the wooden door to give him some space. The next thing the unicorn saw were the orange tiles rushing up to meet him. His muzzle collided with the orange stone with a sickening crunch that reverberated around the hospital room, stars exploding in his vision and tears stinging and trailing from his eyes as a few drops of scarlet blood dripped from his nose and onto the floor. Behind him, he could hear a sharp intake of breath as an astounding, uncomfortable realization spewed into his dazed, swirling, battered mind. Jonathan had tripped him. With a loud groan and a quiet whimper, Band Aid shifted himself so he was laying on his back, facing the ceiling as the blood dripped and dried on his face, coating and sticking his beige fur with flecks and tides of red. The stars continued to swirl around his mind, performing a taunting, ridiculing dance that made the stallion shake his head to clear his mind. Through watery eyes, he saw Jonathan reaching towards him and yet he couldn't help but notice the malicious twinkle in those eyes that stored humour and sadistic pleasure at having tripped him. With a blink of tear-filled eyes, Band Aid looked up at Jonathan whose face had resumed its original look, the malice, humour and monstrous pleasure gone to be replaced by guilt and fear, making Band Aid believe that he had, of course, been seeing things in those golden eyes. After all, Jonathan had never seemed violent or cruel, he surely wouldn't have tripped the beige unicorn up, he was simply too nice. Those dexterous, rough but smooth fingers reached down towards Band Aid, who returned a hoof upwards, those slender fingers gripping his furred appendage and pulling the little unicorn up as if he were a fallen book on the floor, startling Band Aid who yelped out in shock at his sudden movement. His hooves firmly planted on the red dotted yet still predominately orange floor, Band Aid experienced a severe moment of dizziness as his head swam and blood sluggishly pumped out of his nose before he shook his head and reached one hoof up to his face, tilting his head backwards and spoke up in a nasally voice, trying to stop the flow of blood from his nose. “Thanks Jonathan. Don't know what happened to me, must've tripped.” Had Band Aid been looking at Jonathan he surely would have noticed the fleeting look of guilt and also a sick sense of twisted mirth fly across his face but with his head tilted backwards he could only see the white ceiling. Jonathan's voice piped up, somewhat shakily but still the same measured, forcefully calm voice as ever. “Oh, no problem. I've slipped up on air quite a few times before.” Band Aid let out a little chuckle before he moved his hoof and gently dabbed his nose, drawing it back to find no fresh blood, tilting his head back down with a content sigh, the sound nearly silenced by the ever approaching ring of armoured hooves. Band Aid smiled at Jonathan and nodded his head in thanks, disregarding the shivering, pale humans appearance as nothing more then shock at his little tumble. Blood was not a usual occurrence in Equestria, only young fillies and colts would draw the scarlet liquid from scrapes and bruises, the older the pony, the more careful they seemed to get. “Well, thanks again. I'd better be on my way.” Jonathan nodded his head jerkily as Band Aid passed by him, the beige unicorn trotting calmly through the infirmary, reminding himself to find a bathroom and clean himself and then, when the pair had finished talking, the hospital floor. With a low creak and a mighty slam, Band Aid moved through the door and left Jonathan alone, the almost ominous sound of heavy hooves drawing closer and closer like the tolling of a church bell. [.] He had tripped him. That single thought charged around Jonathan's head like a bull in a chine shop, crashing and knocking any wandering thoughts out of the way. He had tripped him. And afterwards, seeing the dazed unicorn on the floor, blood around him, he had wanted to laugh. Jonathan swallowed bile and repulsion, his hands shaking and his body drained and pale white, eyes dilated slightly as he shivered both from the cold and from a deeper feeling of dread. He had enjoyed that, that feeling of power at having the unicorn at his feet, grovelling and bleeding upon the floor. He had wanted to laugh and bellow chuckles, he had wanted to stomp down on the beige head and make the doctor scream for mercy. An exquisite taste of humour, isn't it? That cold, hard, distressing voice followed by a harsh bark of laughter was enough to send Jonathan into deeper shivers before he swallowed his fear with an audible gulp, drawing himself up and narrowing his eyes in anger at nothing in sight. He wouldn't, couldn't show fear. He couldn't lose to this monster, he couldn't allow himself to appear weak. He had to be strong, had to be courageous and brave because if he wasn't, he feared the process that the monster, that Discord had described would speed up and his mind and his body would be consumed. Another round of patronizing, perverse, vicious laughter echoed around his mind, whispering to him that it knew his fears, that he couldn't hide how he felt from it for it was him and, soon, it would be so much more. Jonathan growled in anger and smothered fear at the sound before he noticed that the hooves of Celestia had fallen silent, the thick emptiness of the air making him feel nervous. With a quiet creak and muffled click of a locking door, Celestia strode into the room, magenta eyes immediately flicking downwards towards the drying but still distinguishable pool of blood, those caring, comforting orbs widening in alarm as she let out a slight gasp that barely reached Jonathan's ears. The sight of her worrying over a pool of blood that he had caused made Jonathan feel rotten and corrupt, it made him feel monstrous and disorderly but just for a split second, he felt a jolt of happiness belch from him, as if he enjoyed that beastly emotion before it was swallowed up by guilt. With a rather rapid approach, Celestia walked up to Jonathan, whose eyes were glancing everywhere but at her as she stopped to inspect him, worry pricking her usually calm voice. “Jonathan, what happened here?” Jonathan gulped as the voice inside him screamed and shrieked to tell her the truth, to say that he had tripped Band Aid, to say that he had liked him but once more, that hand clamped his mind and forced lying words from his mouth. “Band Aid tripped and fell onto his nose. I helped him up.” His voice sounded disjointed and wrong, like a puppets but Celestia didn't seem to notice, her expression changing from worry to relief at the news. Band Aid could look after himself, he was a doctor after all. “Why that sounds very gentlecoltly of you Jonathan. How are you feeling?” Celestia could have sworn that she saw a deep look of revulsion and unsettling guilt at her words but Jonathan's expression returned to normal in the blink of an eye as he spoke up in that same calm, if somewhat shaky voice. “Better then yesterday, plus I had a bath so I don't smell quite as bad as I did before.” This brought a small smile to Celestia's ancient face, a sight that would usually warm the humans soul but now it left him feeling dirty and disturbed, as if he had robbed that smile from her with his lies and treachery. He barely heard Celestia's next words through the crippling wave of rolling emotions that exploded through his mind. “I did wonder why you were wearing one of Hoity-Toity's dresses. It rather suits you.” Jonathan forced a worn, pale grin onto his face at Celestia's teasing, yet motherly tones, his own voice, real and whole this time, rose up to answer her in a fake hurt voice, surprising himself with his apparent humour talk with a princess. “Not a dress, this, this is a toga!” The infirmary rang with little peals of tinkling laughter that flowed from Celestia's mouth like sweet music, making Jonathan blush and suppress a heightened feeling of joy and happiness, his old, deceptive feelings vanishing like mist. “Well, it is a very handsome toga. Now, if I may be so bold, since our last meeting was stopped quite suddenly I have gathered a few, small questions for you if you would allow me to ask them?” How could he refuse her, the radiant ruler of Equestria. Jonathan spoke up once more in a devoted, happy voice that overflowed with tranquillity and peace, his previous thoughts drowned and forgotten. “Of course Celestia.” Celestia let out a small smile at this, making Jonathan smile similarly before she began her questioning. “Now, where is it you come from exactly?” “Its a place called Earth, Celestia. I live in a rather large city called Southampton which is in a country called England.” Celestia appeared baffled by the new information, her head tilting to the side slightly and her eyes sparking with curiosity and confusion before she spoke up again in a calm but quizzical voice. “And of your race, the humans, how many of you are there?” Jonathan pondered the question for a moment before he opened his mouth to reply. Just as he did so, a strong, reminiscent gust of wind tore through the room as his words twisted once more. “Three.” Celestia frowned before she spoke up again with disbelief. “Excuse me?” Jonathan shook his head, aghast and horrified that he had attempted to lie to a princess again, not noticing the cackling laugh that quietly moved around his head. “S-seven billion of us I think.” At this Celestia's eyes truly widened and Jonathan heard her whisper the number under her breath before she spoke up once again in that carefully crafted voice. “And what are your people like?” Jonathan paused for a second, eyes narrowing as he tried to come up with a fair, just, true term to use for what humans were truly like deep down and yet he found nothing that suited them, nothing that expressed who they were or what they did. So instead he opted to go out using the easy route. “Different. Every one of us is different and spectacular, capable of great good and great evil.” Celestia seemed to accept that answer without any distress or frustration, instead bowing her head as she continued to speak in that serene, beautiful, perfect voice that washed away all worries. “And what do your people do exactly?” Jonathan frowned at the question, small traces of aggravation leaking into him as he desperately tried to scrabble for an answer to the very wide, very varied question. “Anything and everything. If we set our minds to it, I doubt there's something we couldn't do. We humans have all sorts of jobs.” Celestia smiled a little bit more at the answer, making contentment explode inside Jonathan before she carried on her questions. “What kind of magic do your people have to get these jobs done?” At this Jonathan smiled and responded in a cheerful voice, no sign of Discord or his madness tainting his mind. “None. We have a very advanced level of technology to allow us to do certain things, like fly.” Celestia seemed to take this in her stride, eyes darkening with confusion but head nodding as she ploughed onto her next question. “And what is your job?” Jonathan opened his mouth to speak, only for his ears to be met by his own voice, whispering and hissing, filled with anger and brutal pleasure. “Causing chaos.” Celestia narrowed her eyes somewhat as the incoherent, hushed voice of the human spread to her, the words distorted and indecipherable and yet the tone of voice, the anger and the malice were not to be mistook. “Pardon?” Jonathan spluttered in astonishment and unbridled fear as the chuckling laughter returned louder then ever, smashing around his mind as he wheezed out his sentence through a thick layer of cloudy terror and deep bafflement. “I'm a-a maths teacher.” Celestia seemed to struggle for a second, trying to decide between asking over the peculiar, chilling change of voice or merely going onto the next question, choosing the latter after a moment hesitation. She needed to know more about him, to put her mind at ease. “And, do all humans look like you, the golden eyes, the...the tooth?” Jonathan longed to scream the truth, to tell her everything, to explain, to reply, to just speak in his own voice, in his own body and yet, once more, that hand grasped his mind and compelled his lips to move and his tongue to quiver, his voice to rise up and escape from his throat. “Yes.” Celestia pondered the rather short, sharp reply with a hint of trepidation at the humans refusal to enlighten her further on the subject of his appearance before her curiosity got the better of her and she began to dig further and further into the subject. “So, every single human is born with golden eyes and a sharp tooth?” Jonathan's eyes flickered for a second as he glanced at her eyes and for a minute moment, Celestia could have sworn that they screamed for help before the juvenile, happy voice of the human spoke up again. “Nah, only the handsome ones.” Celestia raised her eyebrow at this, not out of anger, nor rage but out of a sudden and deep surprise at the once nervous, jittery humans humorous antics, trying to suss out what had gotten him in such a joking mood before the expression of mirth fell from his face to be replaced by a swift look of shock and guilt as he spoke up once more in that happy but partially anxious voice that she had accustomed him to. “I didn't...I mean I...” Celestia let out a forced, nervous laugh at the humans peculiar antics, her emotions shifting between pity for the confused, broken human and fear from the sudden change he seemed to keep experiencing, as if he had an entirely different personality. “Oh no worries Jonathan, t'was merely a joke. Now onto t-” Pain. That terrible, keening, screaming, tearing, shrieking, boiling pain was back, bombarding through his senses, sending him screaming and writhing to the orange floor, eyes exploding with tears, mouth open and jaw wide enough to ache. Red, blue, purple and green blurs tore through his vision, intermingling and swamping the scenery with strobing, flashing lights, watery eyes dousing the view with blurred outlines. Sobs rose from his chest, breaking into the air and ricocheting off of the walls and the ceilings to bounce around every aspect of the room, screams pouring from his throat, drowning in his salty tears as the pain intensified. Celestia backed up, fear and horror written across her face as Jonathan fell to the floor shrieking and convulsing, sweat already forming around him as he continued to stare straight ahead with those tear-filled, pain-filled eyes. She wanted to run, to flee the scene. Only seconds ago she had been having a somewhat rational conversation with an alien, a real alien but now something had occurred and all Celestia could think about any more was how much she wanted that dreadful keening, terror inducing noise to stop. He could hear nothing but distant screaming and a cold, harsh laugh. He could see nothing but blurs of colours, red tinged eyes and watered tears soaking his body. He could smell nothing other then the metallic smell of blood and the reeking stench of sweat. He could taste nothing but scarlet blood and dust kicked up from the floor. He could feel nothing but the endless, stabbing, clawing, biting pain that wormed its way across his face, the jabbing, roughly caressing needles digging into the skin above his eyes, the same, jaw-stretching, dislocating agony creeping into his chin. He needed this to stop, he couldn't go through this again, he couldn't. It would kill him and, right now, that didn't seem like such a bad thing. Celestia back-pedalled even more furiously as the screams and the flailing intensified, feeling tears of her own trail down her eyes, tears of pity and tears of failure at being too cowardly, too weak to help him. It was those eyes, even now she didn't want to get close to him, she feared him even when he had done nothing to her. Those eyes. Those wicked, cruel eyes. Celestia whimpered as the screams tore through her ears once more, as the sobs rose up from the huddled, weeping, shrieking, shaking mass that was once a human, tears and sweat pooling around his shivering body, eyes wide open and filled with licks of flames and tales of unbearable agony. The howls and wails grew higher and higher, the sobs grew more powerful, the eyes drew upon a manic, satanic look, the gold orbs sparking with life, the objects of terror, the symphony of horror reaching a crescendo as the human curled into a tight ball. And then quite suddenly, everything fell silent. Jonathan lay in a tightly clenched ball on the floor, rocking back and forth, his face hidden within the folds of his toga and his hair jutting out between his fingers, two hands clasped and grasping his head viciously. Celestia took a quivering, hesitant step towards him, hooves ringing around the infirmary as she placed one golden horseshoe to the tiled floor. Soon enough, she had gathered enough courage to make her way over to the rocking Jonathan, placing one cold but still gentle hoof onto his shoulder in a sign of comfort and friendship, care and compassion. Dimly, Celestia could hear the rapping of six sets of hooves echoing down corridors to worm their way into her ears, the sound vaguely reminiscent, as if she should remember something about them, something important. Still, she could not let her thoughts wander, not now anyway. Jonathan the human was hurt, in pain and she had nearly let her own fright overcome her compassion and she was not about to let go of the human that she had so nearly abandoned. That sound, of hooves on marble, seemed to draw closer and closer, seemed to get louder and louder before, without her consent, a single, pulsing thought sprung to Celestia's mind, a single smidgen of an idea of who the owners of said noise could possibly be. Celestia's eyes bolted wide open, small tingles of panic shooting through her. They're early. It couldn't possibly be them! Yet those six unmistakeable hoof-steps drew closer and closer to the shivering ball of pain and fear and the standing form of a regal princess whose mind was shrouded with irritation, terror and panic, a mixture that swirled and dived into one disgusting huddle of emotions. Jonathan felt destroyed, empty. He felt like a shell of what he once was. That terrible sweeping pain had returned and devoured him but that was not the worst part for him. No, the worst part was that he knew that someday, he would have to experience that kind of pain again, that horrifying, gut-wrenching agony. So he lay in a ball and he rocked back and forth, tears spent, mind numb, body desecrated, soul destroyed. Vaguely he felt something like hair tickle his arm, caressing his skin but he didn't care. He was lost in a world of fear and desperation. Celestia's eyes widened as six voices joined the sound of six hooves, each tone, each tremor of a sound instantly recognizable by the solar princess and yet, instead of lending her comfort, it sent a jolt of alarm through her body as she turned to stare at the wooden door of the hospital, glancing away from the twisted, soul-blackened human. No, it's too early. They're too early! Still the hooves and the voices came closer and, quite groggily, Jonathan heard them though to him it didn't matter. He just continued to curl into his tight, protective ball, trying to cry and yet unable to. Celestia frowned at the door for a split second, her agitation eating her up as the voices drew closer before she turned back to the unfortunate, beaten and decrepit human to whisper softly to him and him alone. “I am truly sorry Jonathan for what is about to occur.” That voice, filled with both comfort and a sense of one giving up, of consternation and suppressed distress roused Jonathan from the confines of his mind, his worry at what new horror may happen next, what fresh terror may envelop him making him uncurl himself from his defence just as Celestia turned to face the door, the voices now closer but no less incoherent. The door opened with a mighty crash and a roar of voices. Jonathan looked up, his sight from the floor muffled and drenched by crusted tears that settled upon his eyes, distorting reality, blurring colour with colour into a medley of tones and shades. Six. There were six hazy blobs of colours. Six barricading and barring the doorway. Six gasps of shock. Six nervous fidgeting. Six different voices. There was a butter yellow blur, a sunset orange haze, a sky blue daze, a snow white figure, a lavender purple character and, the most astounding of all, a bright, bubblegum pink blob. The crusty, dried, concealing tears filled his vision, halting any true features of the new forms and yet Jonathan knew that they had to be ponies, the clip clop of hooves, the high pitched gasps of breath. And quite suddenly, Jonathan felt a shiver of fear run through him but it was not his own. That beast, the monster that had stalked his dreams, that had turned him satanic and corrupt was scared of these new arrivals and that alone gave Jonathan the strength to struggle to his knees and gaze at the new ponies more closely. Celestia turned around to face him, having silenced the chattering group with a single, penetrating look but what she saw when she turned to face the human, his new features made her gasp out of shock and fear for she had seen them before on the face of chaos embodied. Jonathan noticed the gasp, the intake of surprise and fear from Celestia but he didn't have the time to turn to look at her, didn't even have the time to let out a single word before the pink blob literally appeared in front of him, deep pools of blue staring into glazed eyes of gold as a bubbly, overjoyed, hyperactive voice bounced from her throat filled with warmth and happiness and yet her words, her statement sent chills of fright through Jonathan's body. “I really like its beard!” A/N: Sorry for the delay on this chapter but here it finally is and I decided to speed things up a bit since some people were getting bored. Firstly, I will be going to Berlin for a week starting sunday so new chapters won't be out for a little while unless I manage to slip one in rather quickly before sunday. Secondly, sorry for taking things slowly at first and from now on I won't be spending an entire chapter with Jonathan only doing one little thing. I hope. Thirdly, Celestia is acting all scared because, well, she knows that the most powerful creation in all of Equestria recently snapped, his stone statue seems suspicious and Jonathan was in her bloody bed. Finally, the next chapter will unveil what Jonathan will do now that he is here and will also delve into the scared, childishly foolish mind of Celestia as she tries to swallow her fear over the memorable sight of Jonathan. Enjoy and tell me what you think.