//------------------------------// // Disharmony // Story: Rewriting the stories // by FALG //------------------------------// I woke up the next day, groggy as anyone. One of the dogs was sleeping next to me, so I carefully tossed him out of the bed. "Whoa!" I heard followed by a thud. I rubbed my eyes to regain sight, fully awake, and I saw that Fluttershy slammed to the ground. "Oh shoot! Are you alright?" I asked her. She muttered something but I couldn't make it out, she had her eyes derping in circles. "I guess I have to get used to the idea of you being around," I tried to joke. My dad then entered the room, completely dressed. "Get up guys, we're leaving," he said. "Huh? Where?" I asked. "We're visiting some friends." "Who?" "You don't know them, they are old friends of mine and your mother." "What's going on?" my brother asked just waking up. "We're visiting some friends of dad and mom," I answered. "We can't leave, what about them?" he protested pointing the ponies. "They can take care of themselves with no problem, let's go already!" my dad insisted. "Hey give us a sec will ya'? Gosh," I said. After telling the girls what we were going to do (and some protests from Rainbow), we left the house. But we weren't heading to any friends' house. Dad was taking us somewhere else. "Um, dad, didn't you say we were visiting some friends?" Leon asked. "I'll tell you later, wait a few minutes," he simply replied. He was taking us to the mall, "okay, we're good," he said after a few minutes of being inside. "Good? Since when have we been bad?" I asked. "Let's just go to the food court, I'll explain you there," he sighed Once we had our plates and everything ready to lunch, my dad started to talk: "Okay, now that we have settled down, I have to tell you something," he said to all. "What is it?" I asked. "Well, the truth is, I won't be able to maintain the family for long if those six ponies stay in our house for too long," he said. "I imagined that it would be hard, but believe me, they are trying to get back to their home," I explained. "Oh yeah? Tell me how are they trying to do so if one of them is playing videogames, another plays with animals, and so on?" "The purple one is trying to find a way back, she's probably the main reason they got here, she can do it," my brother said. "But how long will it take her? Our income can't deal with the hunger of that pink thing," my mother said. "I thought horses only eat hay." "Normal equines do, but these aren't the case, they eat what other humans eat, with the exception of meat," I pointed. "And that's a plus, considering how expensive is meat nowadays," Leonard added. "I'll give you that, but still, we can't afford so much loss," dad said. "Are you saying that we're on red numbers?" I asked. "No we're not, but the family upkeep has raised too much, that our cash flow is nearly at zero. And if the inflation keeps striking, we'll eventually be," he explained. "Wait, it's been just a few days since they got here, how can you know that the income is that low?" my brother asked. "You don't need to be a genius to know when the food you bought to last for a week, it's devoured in days," my mom said. "So you don't really know if the cash flow really went down, you just assume it," I said. "Name it as you like it, I don't care, but believe me when I say that we have a trouble," dad repeated. "Oh right! And here I thought we were slacking our asses off since the girls showed up!" I mocked. "Don't you talk to me like that son," he menaced. "And don't you take me for a 5-year-old dad," I replied. "Calm yourselves! The last thing we need is to be angry with each other," my mom jumped. "Ugh whatever, are you at least looking for a secluded place for all of us to stay?" I asked dad. "As a matter of fact I found one place, I have it booked for when my holidays start." "Well good then, how much until then?" Leonard asked. "Several weeks, a month at least," dad answered. "So maybe we'll be going around the start of January. Is that correct?" I asked. "If my holidays don't fall on December, then yes." "Well, let's just hope the ponies don't get mad to wait that much," my mom said. "They will understand, maybe not now, but eventually," I said. At home, I explained the problem to the girls: "So let me get this straight, ever since we showed up, your family is having money difficulties?" Twilight asked. "Not really, but it will have if the economy keeps going on this track," I pointed. "But what do you want me to do then?" she asked. "If it were for me, I'd just ask you to keep looking for your home. But since I'm coming on behalf of my dad, I'll ask you to search faster." "Do you think I'm not trying hard enough on fixing this?" "Must I repeat myself? I'm the one telling you instead of my dad. I trust you, but he doesn't care in who I trust." "I'm detecting disharmony in this place?" she asked. "Believe me, I would be scared if you didn't find disharmony in the whole world." "Why?" "Let me show you why," I said and went to the living room, the ponies following suit. I don't know if I did the right thing, or messed up, but I showed Twilight and her friends the state that our world has come to; just a few minutes watching the headers of the news on TV would be enough for anyone to say that the world has no solution. "This is the world, or what's left of it, that my family lives in," I said. "Why is there so much anger in this world?" Fluttershy asked. "There are many theories, one of them being the mother of all of them by standard," I answered. "Which is...?" Twilight said. "I can't tell you, I don't feel it's right to do so. The truth is, I don't know if it's even true." "How come?" "Twilight, have you ever been told to believe something, and not having substantial proof to do so?" "Where are you exactly going with this?" I shut up for a few seconds. "Nevermind, forget what I said, I tend to say things I don't even understand myself." "Well... okay?" Twilight said unsure. "Trust me. It's better if you don't know." The girls then left the living room in silence, only Twilight stayed. "Why won't you tell us the reason all of this is happening?" she asked. "Didn't you hear me? I don't know if it's actually true," I said. "But you didn't know that Equestria was real either. What if the same applies to this?" "Even so, I just can't." "Why not?" "Because... I, uh... I don't know how to put it that doesn't sound insulting." "Well, say it as you can. I won't take any offense." "You promise?" "I Pinkie-promise if you want to," she offered, but I declined. "So then, why you won't tell me why this world of yours is in such state?" I took a deep breath, and released it at once. "I don't want you to doubt your beliefs with Celestia." She was astonished, "Well, that is insulting alright," she said. "But why would I ever doubt her?" "You consider her as a deity, right?" I said, "People like me worship another deities, depending on their descent." "But then again, how does a deity factor in the problems of this world?" Seeing as I was unable to explain her properly, I brought her an ilustrated bible. "What's this?" she asked. "A shortened version of a book, which was supposedly written by the deity of the religion I follow. Does that word sound familiar to you?" "Which one? 'Religion'? It does, and I have an idea of what it means," she flipped some pages of the book, which was half as tall as her. "But this book is in sponish..." "Spanish." I corrected. "Right, sorry. But how am I supposed to read this if I don't know what it says?" "I can translate it for you, I have no problem with that." "Well good! This might be interesting to investigate. But not right now, we need to process this new stuff you showed us." "Tell me whenever you want to read it ok?" "Will do," she said and left the living room. I stayed in the same place for some time before thinking to myself. "This is bad, incredibly bad. Let's just hope she doesn't take too seriously this," I sighed. "Ignorance is bliss indeed."