//------------------------------// // Agent of Chaos? // Story: Free to Good Home: Talking Pony // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// "You give me what I want, and I will give you what you want," I said, eyeing him a bit warily. His words sounded perhaps a bit too good to be true. I wasn't prepared for what happened next. "Splendid, that's just what I wanted to hear," he said, flashing an evil smile. We teleported us back to his lair, and the experience was quite jarring, since he tended to unzip reality to travel and then zip it back up when he landed. I did not like what I saw in that intervening travel. Reminded me of some of the worst scenes from some of the most disturbing horror movies I had ever seen. Gave me goosebumps, it did. We were now in Discord's "lair" if you wanted to call it that -- it happened to be the penthouse suite on the 86th floor of a high-rise in mid-town Manhattan. Wonderful view from the glass doors and windows, but very Spartan in its decor. The walls were bare, the floor had no carpeting, just linoleum tile, and no artwork to be seen. The only furniture was a couch, and a table with two chairs. The adjoining kitchen, which also doubled as a dining room had a refrigerator and stove, both of which were stainless steel models. There was a divider between the kitchen and the main room. "Where do I sleep?" I asked him. He chuckled. "Your bed is in the room on the left down the hallway," he said. I went to check it out. The room was quite small, about nine feet square, and the only thing was a small round pad, which looked an awful lot like a Papasan chair pad, and a blanket and pillow. Again, there were no decorations, just bare walls and floor. There weren't even blinds or drapes for the window. This being a city that never sleeps, the light was going to be an issue, as I preferred to sleep in the dark. "Would you be kind enough to provide me with a proper bed?" I asked him. "You will be rewarded with a nice bed depending on how well you do your first job for me," he said. "I am still judging you, so only the bare essentials will be provided at this point. Don't fail me. Oh, and here's your list. Get started." I looked at the list. The items were basically an agenda of actions to perform in various locations, some of which would provoke reactions from other groups of people, some intended to cause mischief. I found myself snickering at some of the requests. Since there were only ten items listed, I figured I could get it done fairly quickly. "Do you want me to be seen doing these things, or should I conceal myself to cause more chaos?" I asked. "Oooh, you're already starting to think like me! Excellent! Do what you think is necessary. I will be watching your progress, Twilight." I almost bristled at him calling me that, but I didn't want to jeopardize my situation. Don't want to make the boss angry, I thought. I checked a map to get my bearings and prepare myself for any contingencies. My first stop was going to be south central Los Angeles, and I was to provoke a gang war. Should be simple enough, I thought. There are plenty of gangs in LA, right? And most of them hate it when rivals enter another gang's territory. Simple telekinesis ought to do the trick... I teleported to a spot I thought might be ripe for gang activity, but had some trouble locating and identifying certain gangs. My presence had not gone undetected, though, and I could sense people following me. I started trotting a little faster down Crenshaw avenue, and the footsteps following me got louder. I broke into a full gallop, my heart pounding, wondering if this was such a good idea in the first place. I heard gunshots ring out, and felt a sharp pain through my right shoulder. This was getting bad. I teleported again, landing in front of Disneyland. I had to regroup, and used healing magic to repair my injury. "That was an heroic effort," came Discord's voice. "You did well," he said. "I was being chased, and got shot," I said. "You succeeded in provoking a gang war, believe it or not. You really did well back there." "Why do you say that?" "The guy who shot you was a rival gang member of the gang whose territory you ran into. His friends showed up as the rival gang was readying a drive-by. The resulting shoot-out caused more chaos than I had hoped for. Keep going!" he chuckled. I realized that I was being used to do Discord's dirty work for him. "I just hope the reward is worth the risk," I thought. Next target was Ciudad Juarez, and I was to get rival drug lords to take each other out. "Sounds dangerous," I thought. I don't know Spanish all that well, so I was going to be flying virtually blind. I knew nothing about this city in northern Mexico, and finding drug lords wasn't going to be easy. "Here goes nothing," I thought. I teleported once again, finding myself at the western outskirts of the city. A badly battered Jeep drove up, and a guy got out and grabbed me, putting me in the back of the vehicle. I was so shocked by this I forgot I could use magic. I used telekinesis to lift the vehicle above the ground and used my magic to propel us across the city, above rooftops and around buildings. The driver and his occupants were scared out of their minds as I flew the car using my telekinesis. We reached the north side of the city, and I saw the U.S. border crossing off in the distance. I set the vehicle down about half a mile from the crossing, not on the road, but about a hundred yards to the left of that road. I made the driver floor the gas, and the Jeep lurched violently toward the crossing and Border guards fired warning shots above the vehicle. I teleported out of the vehicle, landing under the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis. I had to catch my breath. This was starting to get exciting! "Ooh, I like your style!" came Discord's praise. "You outdid yourself on that one!" I could get used to being praised like this, I smiled to myself. Okay, Twi, back on the agenda. Let's see here...Ghana. Hmmm. Ghana. Start a civil war? Really? In Ghana? Okay, I guess...but how do I do that? "All you have to do is cause unrest in Accra," said Discord, as if he had heard my question. "Oh, that should be easy," I said. I teleported again, and landed in downtown Accra. Okay, now what do I do? How am I supposed to cause unrest? "Ey! Ey! Whaddayou doin here?" came a male voice which belonged to a police officer. "Why are you harassing folks who are just trying to go about their business?" I asked him. "Ey! Ey! How can you be a talkin pony like that?" I didn't bother to answer him, I turned around and started trotting away from him down the dirt road. He gave chase, but in turn, he was being chased by a mob of people who saw him harassing me. Another officer showed up at the end of the alleyway I had carelessly galloped into, and blocked my progress. I teleported to a rooftop above the dead end. The officer who had been chasing me met up with his fellow officer, and then were shocked to see an angry mob of citizens blocking their way out of the dead end of the alley. The unholstered their sidearms, leveling them at the mob. "Ey! First one who takes a step towards us gets it!" the one who had been chasing me shouted. His partner tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed up, in my direction. The first officer looked up to see me on the rooftop above them. He fired his gun, but I was fast enough to avoid being hit. "Ey! Ey! Why you be shootin at me, eh?" I said, imitating his accent. The mob charged the officers and disarmed them, and then proceeded to beat them severely, punching and kicking them into submission. I teleported back to Discord's lair. "You had me rolling on the floor on that one," he said, still chuckling. "This is actually starting to get fun," I said. "Thought you might like that," he said. "Oh, and you have a new bed. Check it out, if you like. You can get something to eat and drink now, have a rest. You can work on the list some more tomorrow. Oh, and again, nice job. You're making good progress. Keep it up, and you'll be getting some nice rewards," he said, giving me a genuine smile.