//------------------------------// // True to his word // Story: Free to Good Home: Talking Pony // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// I won't go into the details, but Discord was indeed gentle, and took his time. I saw a side of him few rarely see. He was genuinely concerned about my safety and health. I never would have thought him capable of this, as I had always been under the impression that he was as evil as they came. My needs were addressed, and he was always doting over me, asking me how I was feeling, and when my pregnancy began to show he would rub my bulging belly, smiling gently while doing so. He still liked to play pranks, but as the birth date came closer, he behaved even better, He would sometimes be out doing various things, but he was always willing to tell me what he had been doing. "You know, some of these areas were in really bad shape," he said. "Cleaning them up was a bit harder than I thought." "I appreciate everything you're doing. I can't wait to see what it looks like," I said, smiling at him warmly. "You mean my child? Or the outside?" "I want to see what your child, or should I say, OUR child looks like! I would like to hope that maybe I could see him some times," I said. "Will I be able to remain my sparkly self after he is born, or will I be returned to the ranks of humanity?" "The choice is yours," he said. "Whatever you wish." "You know Alonzo killed my wife a while back, don't you?" I asked him. "I'm so sorry! What do you want me to do about it? I can bring her back," he said. "No, no, that's okay. I would prefer to remain in this body, as I have become so used to it. To be honest, I actually enjoy being Twilight more than my old human self. I couldn't do any of the things as a human that I can do now. I am curious to know what's left of humanity, and if things have returned to some semblance of normality." "That's some pretty rough sledding there. People are people, and survival for them is difficult for them right now. I am still working on this, but it seems beyond my ability to maintain any kind of order, as the law enforcement agencies have been pushed to their limit trying to survive themselves. I suppose that by the time our child is born, I should have it all ironed out." ----------------------------- The fateful day had arrived, and I was going into labor. Discord was quite excited, and for some reason or other, he knew exactly what to do. That, and he had brought in a veterinarian to help in the delivery. The veterinarian expressed a great deal of surprise to see me ready to give birth, but the real surprise came when I answered a question for him. "What? You can talk?" he asked. "Of course! You see Discord over there, don't you? He's the father," I said, smiling gently. "Well...he IS paying me pretty well, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything." Giving birth as a pony was the most unusual experience I have ever had, and the child looked like a mix of me and Discord, but mostly grey. He had two equine legs which were much more muscular than standard equine legs. Looked like he was going to be able to walk on those hind legs pretty easily. The fore-arms were those of a dragon, and the body and head were more equine than serpentine, but there seemed to be a uniformity to the child that was missing from Discord. "I shall name him 'Equanimity'," Discord said proudly. "How about calling him 'Jeffrey'?" I asked. "He's my child, and I shall name him. I will give you a few more days to recover from child-birth, and I will take you to whichever location you want to go. I have a few properties I can give you, and all the creature comforts you wish." "How about San Diego?" I asked. "Oooh, excellent choice! In fact, I have a very nice oceanfront house I can give you right now if you wish." "Looking forward to seeing it," I said. He took me with him again, and we landed in the house. I still couldn't get used to his teleportation, and let him know about it. "Sorry, Twilight, but that's the way I teleport. I can't help it, it's just always been that way for me. I don't know how you do it, but I apologize if it disturbs you, if that makes you feel any better." "Thanks for caring about me, Discord. I hope to see you again -- perhaps we can trade stories or something." "I will be checking on you from time to time. Thank you so much for giving me something truly special. I hope that I have made everything satisfactory, but there are still some hot spots left. Some places got hit so badly that even I couldn't clean them up. Chaos is still the norm, but I guess I have always been that way. Hopefully it will settle down a little more soon. I have a child to take care of now! Be seeing you!" And with that, he took his child and left. ----------------------------------- It took some time for me to get used to living alone as Earth's Twilight Sparkle. My cutie mark still had not returned, but I guess I was okay with that. My red streak had started to fade back towards pink, but was still about half-way there. Some semblance of normality was finally starting to return, and a fair amount of humanity had been spared. Unfortunately, about two-thirds did not. As Discord had said, there were still some hot spots, namely New York City, Washington D.C., Moscow, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beijing, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and a few others I couldn't recall. The loss of computers was a very serious blow, and the rest of the world aside from the U.S., Russia, China, Israel, and Iran, along with nearby countries, was leaving us behind to try to fend for ourselves the best we could. It would probably be a good century or so before things finally got back to normal, but at least humanity had been saved, to some degree anyway. I decided to see if I could send a letter to Princess Celestia to let her know how things had been going. Dear Princess Celestia, Many things have happened since I last talked to you. I have learned that Discord is not as evil as you might think him to be, as he has treated me with great kindness and respect. I only hope that he might be able to find some common ground with you in the future, or maybe because he was THIS world's Discord that he acts differently here than in your world. I hate to say this, but I carried a foal for him, which he is now raising. I don't know if he might ever show up there, but he did quite a bit of cleaning up around here. It is my sincere hope that I might visit you some day in the future, but as you said in our last meeting, the mess had to be cleaned up. I did what I thought was necessary, and I apologize if you disagree with my methods, but I felt it was for the best. Warmest regards, Twilight Sparkle of Earth I opened a window to Equestria, the Royal Throne Room of Canterlot Castle, and sent the letter. I was surprised to see a return letter appear just a few moments later. My Dearest Twilight Sparkle of Earth I must admit to some degree of shock that you carried Discord's offspring, and even more so at his behavior. It is my opinion that this must differentiate him in your world from our Discord, who still remains a statue. I seriously doubt that our Discord will ever act so kindly, and I harbor no desire to hazard such an experiment. It was difficult enough to defeat him last time around, and I fear what chaos his return in our realm would ensue. As to your methods of saving humanity, you have made a tremendous sacrifice, and while I don't approve of such methods, clearly it has resulted in saving your planet, if not all of humanity as you mentioned. As for making a return visit, I am sure you would be welcome to return, but I would have to grant approval for such a return, and it will take a considerable amount of time before I decide whether or not to grant you such a request. As always, you are free to communicate with me at your pleasure, as I look forward to such missives in the future. Take care of yourself, and stay out of trouble! With kindest regards, Princess Celestia of Canterlot P.S. Please give me the details of the encounter, I could use a good laugh. ----------------------------------- "Well, it looks like that's finally settled," I thought. I went to my bedroom and laid down to get some rest. Life had established a new normal for me, and even though I had been through a lot, I was happy to have my own home. I now had the rest of my life to look forward to. FIN