The propensity for any individual to have some control over their lives is not only desirable, it is necessary. Should this need not be met, one could very well find themselves drifting, as they would down a river, toward a meager and pitiful existence.
As Tim has already discovered, he lost the control of his life the moment Discord chose to bring him to Equestria. His only hope of return remains with that very same offender, who has given him the impossible task of avoiding Equestria’s citizens.
Truly he had failed before he ever began, for his unconsciousness has left him subject to the chaotic whims of mother nature. What remains to be seen is how Discord will continue his twisted game and what lies in store for Tim.
When Tim next awoke, he found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. He was resting atop a bed in the corner of a small room. The change in scenery came unexpectedly, though not altogether unpleasant.
He ran his forehooves across silky fabric, relishing in its soft touch. The sun’s rays filtered in through a window to his left, although it wasn’t yet bright enough to become oppressive. The walls in his immediate vicinity appeared to be made of a warm shade of wood.
It wasn’t hard to sink back into the comfort of the mattress and close his eyes. Sleep didn’t return to him, but he found himself relieved of stress regardless. The tribulations of the prior day were a thing of the past.
“I see that you’re now awake. Did that fall give you a headache?”
Tim reopened his eyes to find a zebra standing nearby. From the way she was looking at him, he concluded that she had been watching him. This place must be her home, though he didn’t understand why she would help a total stranger.
Come to think of it, the pegasus from the previous night seemed to share a similar sentiment. They both seemed to trust others too easily, which seemed as disturbing as it was a blessing.
How common was this behavior, and how deep would it go? He couldn’t help but worry over how easy he could break that trust. At the same time, finding help would not be so difficult as he first imagined.
“If it’s a brew you seek, you only need to speak,” she said.
Tim shook his head. He tried to push the growing pang of frustration down; it wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t aware of his disability. In spite of his best efforts, the feelings were there: embarrassment, anger, and sadness. This was something he didn’t think he would have to go through again.
“Why do you stare off into space, wearing that sad, gloomy face?”
He stared at the zebra and, seeing no other recourse, opened his mouth to point at it. Then, he shrugged and flung the covers over his face. He hoped that she would take the hint to drop the subject altogether.
“If it’s a curse which restrains your speech, then perhaps a talk is out of reach,” the zebra said. “But there are other ways we can chit-chat, instead of holding your tongue like a cat.”
Tim jumped with a start as he felt weight press onto the bed. His host was holding out a quill and paper for him to take. He took the gift hesitantly and stared at it.
“There, now you’re not looking so glum.” She patted his back gently. “Can you tell me from what lands you come?”
He relented and began jotting down everything he could; if she could somehow direct him on the right path home, then he’d take it. He’d already failed Discord’s unreasonable game by breaking the rule of no contact. It was time for him to take matters into his own hand—or rather, hoof.
An ear-splitting pop suddenly resounded through the small hut. The disruption gave Tim a scare, and his hooves tore the half-written message in two. After he calmed down, he scoured his environment for the cause. It had been none other than Discord.
“How dare you intrude my abode,” the zebra yelled, “I think you should now hit the—”
Discord touched her muzzle, and she was sound asleep before she could finish her sentence. He clapped his paws afterward as if to pat dust off them. “Must she say everything in rhyme? We simply haven’t got the time.” He gasped in surprise. “Now she’s got me doing it!”
Tim clambered as far away from the very individual that plagued him every waking second. He briefly wondered if there was no end to this, if he was doomed to forever be a plaything.
“I thought I was very specific about the rules of our little game.” Discord snapped his fingers and a very thick rulebook appeared before him. “No allowing yourself to get caught. Oh well, you can’t win them all I suppose.”
After Discord dropped the book, it began flapping its covers and flew out the window. Tim watched it grow smaller until the draconequus got his attention once more.
“I’m normally not one for giving out second chances, but the fun would be over far too soon if we called it quits here. Still, this breach can’t be ignored. What to do...” The supreme lord of chaos stroked his beard.
There was a moment where Tim was being ignored. He slowly skirted around Discord, watching for signs of being discovered. The draconequus, without pulling away from his reverie, snapped his fingers and stopped the colt in his tracks.
“I have just the thing. Oh, Discord you’re a genius.” Discord’s expression was full of glee.
Another Discord, dressed in a white lab-coat and oversized goggles, popped into existence beside the first. He remained stoic as he said, “Why thank you, Discord. You’re too kind.”
“If you blatantly ignore the rules, then you just need a bit of encouragement to walk the straight and narrow.” He then tapped Tim on the nose. A faint glow emanated from the colt before it subsided. “There, all done.”
The draconequus guffawed as he and his double vanished, leaving Tim very confused as the laugh echoed throughout the hut. Despite his ominous message, nothing seemed different.
Soon after Discord’s departure, the zebra finally came around. She groaned through clenched eyes. “I know not what has just transpired, to make me so suddenly tired.”
A fascination overcame her as she saw Tim. She encroached upon his personal space, draping an foreleg around his shoulder, with their faces mere inches apart.
“After seeing you stand in my place, I must coddle that charming young face.” She wore a horrifying smile and pinched his cheek.
Tim pulled away. He then launched himself under the zebra’s grasping hooves as she tried to give him a smooch on the cheek. If it weren’t for the smile, given as if she’d snapped, then he might have welcomed the show of motherly affection.
When she looked back at him with hearts for eyes, he bolted for the hut’s entrance. She wasn’t far behind him, and he was nearly caught by the time he reached the door and slammed it in her face.
After a few laborious breaths, and her knocking on the door died down, he emitted a sigh of relief. The smashing of glass from a nearby window and her leaping form snapped him back into motion.
Together they weaved through the trees of the Everfree Forest. She acted like a lovesick puppy, refusing to be yield in her pursuit. Neither the branches she ducked under nor the bushes she bounded over slowed her in the slightest.
There wasn’t much time to think his actions through. He made a turn around a nearby tree, jumped for one of its branches once he was out of her sight, and climbed in very quick succession.
All of his efforts were in vain, for she immediately caught onto his evasion. She rested a hoof on the tree which he found purchase on. “What a great honor I would bear, and I’d be a good mother, I swear.”
She tried to climb up after him, but just as she reached the branch he stood upon, he flung himself off the tree and fell into a roll. He was then able to right himself once more with a deftness he wasn’t aware he possessed. He was so proud of himself that he chanced a look back at her and immediately regretted it. She had recovered quickly, abandoning her position on the tree, and was still on his tail.
With their chase reinvigorated, Tim nearly tumbled as he broke out into a run. Though his freedom was in peril, he couldn’t ignore the twigs and leaves his mane now adorned. This discomfort was accompanied by his aching muscles, which protested against his awkward movements.
The zebra called out to him. “Maybe I should make a few toys. Something flashy and fun for boys.”
He resisted the urge to look over his shoulders. Instead, his eyes quickly scanned through the flora around them for a quick escape. Nothing immediately revealed itself to him as advantageous, but he did spot gully fastly approaching. It wasn’t large, but it was deep and wide enough to present him a problem.
Panic almost set in, and he was already picturing himself being caught when he spotted a nearby tree which stood at a forty-five degree angle. It looked ready to fall at any moment, and an idea popped into his head.
He went straight for it, hoping that his estimate wasn’t far off. One after the other, they scaled up the side of the tree. It wasn’t too long before they reached the end, and by then they were standing just over the gully.
Unfortunately for him, the tree still hadn’t given under the stress of their weight. He turned toward the zebra, and slowly backed up. His pursuer was carefully in her ascent. With every step she took, he could feel the wood underneath their hooves buckle a little more.
“This is quite dangerous, little one. We should go back where it’s safe and fun,” she said.
After they each took one final step, in which Tim very nearly fell due to lack of walking space alone, the tree finally snapped. The two of them clung on for dear life as they approached the ground as one.
Tim closed his eyes, waiting for the whole world to implode. At some point, he lost grip of his support and slipped away. His body tumbled down into the gully, where his fall was cushioned only by the foliage below.
The zebra, who similarly clenched her eyes shut, and when everything finally settled, she looked at her surroundings in search of him. The tree which she stood upon now acted as a bridge, but she was now alone. She had finally lost sight of the colt.
After a few moments without any contact with him, she seemed to have finally regained her senses. “I don’t understand how I got here, or where that colt has gone, I fear, but I have so much to do today, and little time to be led astray.”
She walked away, acting as though she hadn’t just been chasing him. Once she disappeared from the edge of the gully, Tim was left alone to wonder what had just happened. There was no doubt in his mind that Discord played a role in all this, but he was unsure what could have caused the zebra’s sudden loss of interest.
Then it occurred to him what Discord had said to him just before the start of all this. Whatever he had done, it had something to do with ponies’ perception of him. He presumed it was to prevent him from asking for help. He still didn’t know to what extent Discord’s manipulations affected other ponies, whether it was limited to somepony he sought help from or it applied to all ponies regardless. He wasn’t too keen on finding that out though, and as long as he kept out of sight, there was no need to worry.
The smell of food, which prompted his stomach to rumble, distracted him from his thoughts. He briefly entertained the thought of roughing it out, but he quickly discounted that option. He may have been knowledgeable enough of the flora back on his home to do it, but there were too many unknowns here.
After feeling another grumble, he decided to risk subjecting himself to further torture. He might luck out and receive no penalty for his actions.
As it turned out, he wasn’t too far from society. In fact, it only took him a few steps before the grove of trees gave away to the outskirts of a small village. The source of the aroma wasn’t quite in sight, but he couldn’t have been far from it.
He took a few steps tentatively, checking for any signs of movement. There was nothing so far, but he was ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. He eventually honed in on a cabin and closed his distance from it.
It wasn’t particularly spectacular, but it was fairly sizable. There were a number of wild animals loafing about it, which he found out, but none of them minded him in the slightest.
The sound of shrieks, followed shortly thereafter by laughter, suddenly pierced the quiet. He winced, both because he was scared of being caught out in the open and because the cries hurt his eardrums. The back door then opened, revealing three excited fillies. One of them was a pegasus with an orange coat of hair and purple mane. Another appeared to be a white unicorn who had a head of violet and pink hair. The final pony with yellow hair wore a pink bow in her red mane.
Tim was frozen in place, though the girls didn’t immediately take notice of him. He watched as they hopped around in circles with smiles upon their faces.
After they calmed down a bit, the yellow pony said, “Today’s the day, girls. I can just feel it. I reckon we’ll get our cutie marks in raising animals!”
“My cutie mark will be in taming ferocious beasts.” The pegasus growled and reared onto her haunches in mock imitation of one.
“Oh, oh! I can’t wait to take care of Fluttershy’s insects, the butterflies especially. They’re quite majestic,” said the unicorn.
An older pony Tim recognized as Fluttershy stepped out into the yard and joined them. “Now, girls. There’s no need to rush. You’ll each have plenty of time to get your chance.”
The fillies shouted as one in glee. They scattered, and as it turned out, they didn’t have to go too far to reach their destinations. The elder pony’s request for patience was utterly ignored.
“Oh dear.” The mare seemed uncertain whether she could keep up with them. She then, unsurprisingly, noticed Tim along her way to the nearest filly. “Oh dear.”
It all happened so fast. She was standing next to him before he had the chance to recover. Tim spent the next few moments questioning the pondering the meaning of life as Fluttershy set herself to the task of clearing out the filth in his mane and then straightening it.
He tried to protest, to extract himself from her unsolicited kindness, but his stomach betrayed him. The last traces of his freedom shriveled up with its gurgling. He whimpered inaudibly before resigning himself to his fate and giving one last prayer.
“You poor thing. It sounds like you could use some food,” Fluttershy said. “How does a nice cucumber sandwich sound?”
Fate had miraculously spared him. There were no chaotic surprises waiting to jump out at him, no overbearing motherly affection yet, and, most importantly, no Discord to intervene. He had found respite in this cold and inhospitable world at last.
“Look girls, somepony’s come to join us. And he’s handsome, too.”
Tim wasn’t sure which one of the girls had said it, but it didn’t matter. They all crowded around him in the blink of an eye, staring at him longingly. He suddenly wished that he hadn’t tempted fate.
“You reckon we can get a cutie mark in romance?” the filly wearing the bow asked.
“With those good looks, I don’t even care about a cutie mark anymore. Just look at those defined muscles,” the orange filly said.
“I really like his mane!”
The three girls hopped around him in circles. They didn’t do anything more than look at him, but they tried to cajole him into becoming an amicable partner. Though his life wasn’t in any danger, it was enough to shatter the remnants of his sanity.
He brushed past them as he broke out into a run. They called back to him, but he didn’t pay close attention. Instead, he trained his attention solely on the brick road opening up to him. It spilled out into what appeared to be the town square up ahead. The journey there was sure to attract even more attention to him, but with the girls following him close behind, he had no other choice.
The hunger still gnawed at him as he fled the cottage, begging him to stay with Fluttershy even in the midst the chaos, but there wasn’t much that could be done about it now. He would just have to wait until another opportunity presented itself. It would have to be in the evening, when most of the ponies were asleep; he wished he didn’t have to resort to stealing, but the alternative was unthinkable.
It didn’t take long for Tim to reach the junction. The population wasn’t as dense as he expected, but it still had its fair share of townsfolk. A small cafe stood out to him in particular. A couple was seated in one of the chairs near it, and they were in the middle of an enjoyable burger of some kind when they spotted him. Like most everyone else he’d come into contact with, they were not immune to the chaotic whims that plagued him, and so they soon joined in on the chase of the century.
“We saw him first!” one of the fillies yelled to the couple. “He’s going to be an honorary member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
“He looks like the long lost son I never had,” said somepony else who had also joined in on the chase.
Tim tuned out the rest of the conversation and others like it that sprung up all around him. There was simply too much going on by then for him to keep up.
The route he took wasn’t well thought out, but all the planning in the world couldn’t have prepared him for any of this in the first place. The best that he could hope for at that point was to keep himself from being cut off by any newcomers and keep up long enough to shake the half a dozen or so pursuers he had by then.
One of them nearly grabbed him, and after he rounded the corner, he became worried over how much longer he would be able to keep this up. Exhaustion, from the hunger as much as it was from running, crept up on him.
Try as he might, his worst fears had come true when he toppled end over end. With his capture all but ensured, he clenched his eyes shut and hoped that it would be over quickly.
After several moments of waiting, he realized nothing was happening. The sight he found when he opened his eyes only served to befuddle him even further. Everypony near him was enshrouded by an energy field of some sort. They continued trying, with no avail, to reach him.
“Anyone care to tell me what in Equestria is going on?” Somepony, a mare by the sound of it, yelled.
Tim didn’t bother trying to answer her. If there was one thing he learned from by this point, it was that doing anything that didn’t fall in line Discord’s rules immediately resulted in being torture by his magical devices. There may have still been a way home for him, by his help didn’t lie in others. For all he knew, this mare would behave just as the others had before her.
Except that she didn’t, and that was never more evident than when she approached him. “Is everything alright? You don’t look too well.”
Something about the pony in front of Tim set her apart from the ponies he’d met up until now. Whereas the others possessed wings, horns, or neither, she had both. She had an immaculate coat of purple hair. Her mane was a shade darker with a pink streak. As the wind blew, she had to brush it away from her face with a hoof. That same hoof was then extended out to him to take.
She was perfect in every sense of the word, and her very presence alone made him forget about all his problems. The contact between their hooves was brief, as it was only meant to help him up. It felt like an eternity for him, though, and when it ended, his hoof felt as cold as ice.
“So...” She scratched the ground slowly. “You seem new to Ponyville. Welcome. Trust me, this sort of thing doesn’t usually happen to our newcomers. That doesn’t come until after you’ve been invited to a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, and since Pinkie Pie’s not here, I know that can’t be it.
“I imagine after the trouble you’ve been through, you’ll want to get some rest. I don’t usually have guests, but Spike and I would be thrilled to have you over. My castle is over this way.” The mare then started away.
Tim was rooted in place, scarcely able to believe the embodiment of beauty, the very pony who captured his affections, was royalty. He had died and gone to heaven.
The mare must have noticed by now that he hadn’t moved up to her side. “I’ll understand if you have other matters to attend to.”
When he saw that she was awaiting for an answer, he shook his head and caught up with her. Now that they were side-by-side, all was as it should be.
No sooner than Tim was sure, once and for all, that he had peace and quiet with his soon-to-be beloved, Discord popped into existence once more. The draconequus appeared positively furious, as if Tim had committed a faux pas.
“No! This isn’t how it was supposed to go down at all!” He slammed a book he’d been reading shut, and it exploded into flames. Dust was all that remained of it a mere moment later.
He then mumbled, “I swear, you give them an ounce of freedom, and they go a mile. I might as well undo our little charade.” He snapped his fingers, undoing a spell he had cast on the colt. It was as Tim had predicted. “There, I promise no permanent damage has befallen him.”
What Discord hadn’t predicted, however, were the consequences of exposing to much chaos magic to someone not indigenous to Equestria, or the rest of their world for that matter. For as soon as he undid the spell on Tim, the colt felt utter agony coursing through his body. He crumpled over, his consciousness fading fast.
“What did you do?” he heard the mare yell.
“I don’t know. I didn’t expect this to happen...” Everything gradually faded into darkness.