Chapter 2: Who's the White Hair?
It was spring of 2013, in a little town within the mountains of Colorado; called Chesterville. Although this town is not considered to be part of the American map, it was still a town. It was nothing but a rural place with small businesses to give its folks the essentials. Minor traffic swept around the streets with only an average of 12 or 15 cars every day. And the stores houses many homemade supplies to help this town prosper at its best. Not much luxury was lurking in this village, but it was good enough to be considered home to the locals.
At the edge of this town, was a high school. Chesterville High to be precise. Four years of students passed through its education every year, leaving with decent educations for their future. But from most of the students' perspective, it's a prison. Work was grueling and students were a psychotic mess, with little authority to boot.
But one student has had it rough for three years since he registered into this school. Now as a senior, he loomed through the halls with dark brown flat hair, slightly tan skin, and a guitar towed in its case over his shoulder.
His name, was Danny Gilroy.
He has been part of the learning system since his family moved here from San Fransico, California. His dad lost his job as a car salesman and booked a job in Chesterville as a store manager. His brother who lives here, helped him out by retiring and letting his brother mange his store for him.
It's been three weeks since Danny has settled into this hellhole of a place. And so far, he's barely impressed. He was more used to the noisy streets of the harbors back home, and not to the cold mountain conditions of Colorado. He also missed his friends. He has had the most best friends since he was in kindergarden. But by moving away, he felt alone and doesn't seem to enjoy trying to make new friends. Most of the new faces he encountered were more along the lines of country folk than city folk. A distinction Danny doesn't want to be a part of.
But enough of this fellow's personal life, now is the time to see his story.
He walked down the hallway past various students, such as gossiping girls, jocks, and your regular feeble nerds. His guitar case swung against him at every step he took, as it was attached to a sling, lazily hung over his left shoulder.
It was close to his next period, so he was just waltzing to the gym to begin his class. He didn't like gym much, mainly because he doesn't play well with others. He would just sit on the bleachers and play his guitar.
While walking, he caught a displeasing voice call from up ahead.
"Well look who it is." the tall jock sneered, "The surfing turd away from home."
That was a common name to him since he first moved here. People referred to Danny as a surfer because of his background as a Californian. But not all of them are retarded surfers. At least not this guy. In Colorado, students look at him funny because of his tan skin, compared to the pale white folks that live in this hicktown.
"Shut up, Max." Danny talked back, "I'm not a surfer okay?"
"Yeah you are, mister dude. Mister Surfin Bird." Max continued to make fun of Danny. He also takes the liberty to mimic Peter Griffin and his stupid dance. "Well a Bird, Bird, Bird. The Bird is the word." The other boys beside him laugh hysterically at their friend's imitation.
"Whatever Max? Who gives a fuck?" Danny huffed.
The dumb douche did not take his words too kindly.
"What you say, you little spit fuck?" Max snarled intimidatingly at Danny.
"You heard me. Now please move aside." Danny tried to walk past him but Max pushed him.
"I'm not going anywhere." Max growled with hatred as he stood over the Californian.
Danny became nervous when Max got closer to him with a clenched fist. Such actions made Danny do the same. The hatred of his bitter rival brewed deep within himself as he held his ground. But upon this, he relaxed his hand and gave up his adrenaline.
"Mr. Murray." An older voice called from behind the angry jock. He stopped to turn around, to see one of Danny's teachers, Mr. Evans, waving a finger for Max to follow. He turned back to Danny.
"You're lucky this time, boy." Max infuriatingly mumbles. "Just watch your mouth, or I'll come after you."
Danny watched his enemy walk away towards Mr. Evans. At that moment, Danny gave a sigh of relief. At least that walking dunce was finally out of his hair… for now.
***
Gym went by fast for Danny. A bunch of juniors played basketball for a while, so he just played 'Kryptonite' throughout the class period on his guitar. He was getting good with that guitar, playing familiar songs he listened to on his iPod. Most would come up flat, but others were smooth as the tune itself.
Since Danny was a senior, he would be dismissed from school after his 4th period class. He didn't own a car to drive home - What with freaks lurking around every corner - In fact, he lived not too far from school. About a mile's length of streets and blocks all the way to a little two story house just by the forest. So he would walk home peacefully without having to worry.
He was walking away from the school property with his favorite guitar in tow. The air was steadily warm, but the dark clouds did him no better. They only made him feel bored of his walk home. Figure, it has been a long day today, learning some stuff, practicing that guitar, and taking bullcrap from redneck jocks.
He strolled past some brick wall buildings that were painted with graffiti of some kind. He never knew what the hell these retards were writing in that squiggly junk they call artwork. Then he would walk past a run-down gas station that had broken windows, grass growing in the cracks of the cement, and one pump rusting beside a space where a pump used to be. As if someone ripped that pump off its cables and oil tubes.
"If this is gonna be home," Danny thought to himself. "Then maybe I should start living like a hobo."
As he grumbled to himself in his thoughts, Danny came across a trail leading directly into the forest. His neighborhood was pretty close to the wildlife, something Danny hoped for in the woods. As he stopped and looked into that trail for a moment, he couldn't help but feel hypnotized by this strange path. It was a long tunnel of tree branches heading away from the small city. Beams of light streamed down through the cracks of branches to produce specks of light on the dirt path. It also had the capability to lure Danny, every time he walked by this path.
Everyday he came home from school, he'd exactly find that trail. As if it was beckoning him to come closer. The woods were at least something that benefited Danny's excuse to stay in this town. He just didn't have the time to explore. So why not give this opportunity a chance?
He shrugged. "Can't hurt to take a detour." he said to himself.
Truthfully, Danny would never take the forest trail when he only knows the streets rather than the trees. But he strangely felt like changing it up a bit. Plus, it might be a shortcut towards his house. So by readjusted the strap on his shoulder he entered the woods.
The trail was plain dirt leading deeper into the foliage. Bits of grass and pine cones were scattered along the path. And the deeper down the trail he looked, the closer the distance felt.
He walked further down the road away from the sounds of cars whooshing past the spot he was at last. He started to feel a little scared now that he was away from civilization. This trail was never used by most students, so navigating was going to be new for Danny. Every turn he'd take would make him feel more scared whenever he will have this sensation of being lost. But he kept his cool and tried to think positive that he wasn't.
Upon walking, he noticed a flock of birds in a V-formation traveling his opposite direction. The tree branches above him hardly showed anything except a majority of leaves that would show the flock more clearly. The sound of multiple quaking helped him guess that they were a band of ducks flying back home after winter. But there was something else that caught his attention; the ducks suddenly scattered in all directions, quaking louder in surprise. Like they were avoiding something. It could've been just some hunters trying to shoot them down, but he didn't hear gunfire for miles.
But it turned out, they WERE avoiding something.
Suddenly, a small storm started to brew within the clouds. Creating some sort of cyclone ring formation.
"What the hell?" Danny whispered, ogling at the cyclone that molded inside the clouds. It kept swirling until a loud thunderous boom shot a beam of light down towards a spot close to Danny's position. It rattled the ground in a tiny earthquake, making him stumble slightly.
He regained his stance when this phenomenon finally ceased. The light went away and the cyclone portal formed back into clouds. The storm also stopped, reverting back to plain blue skies.
Danny was now even more frightened, but he was mostly incredibly curious. He wasn't sure what this strange weather was all about, but he wanted to find out. So foolishly, he went to investigate.
He ran towards the area where the light shined, dashing past leaves and shrubs as they gently scratched his arms or tugged on his case. Some branches were sharp when he grazed them, as if those branches demanded he should not see what lied ahead of him. They left small tears on his teal t-shirt whenever he forced himself against them.
He began to see a clearing approach him. He jumped out of the last bit of shrubs into a wide clearing with a giant boulder resting beside him.
He was expecting to see some sort of UFO, but all he saw was… a guy. Just a plain guy standing in the middle of the clearing. Although "plain" shouldn't have been the correct definition for this particular man.
His hair was as white as snow, fashioned to cover his right eye, while a goatee under his chin was colored the same as his hair. He wore a brown overcoat, over a yellow shirt wearing khakis. And for some reason, he had a yellow glove on only one hand. But what was the most odd about this fellow, was an overgrown tooth sticking out of his mouth.
Danny just stood there utterly confused.
"Oh what a trip." the man chimed to himself, "I might take a snack or two next time." He didn't seem to notice Danny staring directly at him.
"Hey!" Danny called the gentleman who turned around, "What are you do-"
"Wha-WHAAT!? Oh by the goddess, what a horrific sight you are!" he shuddered in astonishment.
"What the... I'm not horrific, dude!" Danny replied. "Now what the hell are you doing here? Didn't you see that... that thing... up there?" Danny pointed to the sky above him.
He followed the teen's hand, leaden towards the clouds where the light show was. "Oh, that? I didn't see it. Must've missed it."
"What? But you were just under it, you didn't see it?"
"Nope, sorry sir. Now would you kindly tell me where Celestia took me?"
"Who the hell is Celestia?" Danny asked a little frustrated.
"Heeelllooo!" The man knocked on his cranium like knocking on a door. "The almighty Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, and deity to all pony kind?" He sounded like Danny didn't know any of this. Well, he didn't.
Danny rubbed his head from the man's knocking.
"Dude, Seriously?" Danny queried annoyed, "There is no Princess Celestia or an Equestria here."
The man jolted his head in realization.
"Oh, that's right." he said. "The princess teleported me to fix this flimsy little world or something like that."
"Alright, hold up for a second. You… were teleported here... by a princess?" Danny skepticism was present, with a smug written on his face. "Toooo... fix this world?"
Danny had a feeling this guy was just a loon who wandered into the woods. And went insane thinking he's some traveler from some sort of world called' Equestria.'. Most crazies he finds aren't like this, usually they're so annoying that they're considered insane. Look at how Max was like.
"Dude, what the fuck are you talking about!?" Danny exclaimed.
The man was taken back by Danny's use of language in his sentence.
"Tsk, Tsk young boy." He wagged his finger. "Using such bad words to the master of chaos."
At this point Danny's eye began to twitch as he stood silent.
"Okay I'll ask again. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Danny yelled, making the man flinche at his behavior.
He coverd his mouth with the gloved hand.
"Shhh, easy on the tone." the man shushed Danny.
But when he held Danny's struggling mouth, he suddenly noticed his hand.
"What the... What happened to my paw?" The man yelped in shock as he looked closely at his fingers. He then wriggled them, inspected the back of it, and even touched it with his other hand. But upon that, it lead his attention to his other hand. "What happened to ME!?"
"Dude, chill." Danny tried to comfort the frightened man, "There is no paw on you. Just calm down." He tried to ease him but was clearly not working.
In desperation, the man ran to a nearby puddle conveniently located right by the two. He kneeled down and looked into the reflection of himself in the water. Revealing a pale-skinned man with a white comb-over hairstyle and a gauge pierced into his ear.
He gasped.
"Oh no! Not my goat complexion! Why Celsetia! WHHYYY!!!" He shouted dramatically into the sky with his hands in the air.
Danny just had about enough of this freak's antics. He rolled his eyes as he walked over to the sobbing man.
"Uh, Dude? You done?" He deadpanned while resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah I'm good." The man blankly replied.
"Okay, now let's start over." The two men stood up. "What's your name?"
"Oh, well if you must know, it's Discord. MASTER OF CHOAS!!" He dramatically shouted while, for some reason, lightning flashed in the air. Danny assumed it was just the storm's lightning.
"Oookaay..." Danny mused. "Well... my name's Danny." He extended his hand. Discord hesitated for a minute observing Danny's hand.
"Umm, nice to meet you?" He curiously replied and shook his hand.
"Okay, intro went smooth." Danny muttered under his breath, "Now, can you explain to me what you're doing out in the middle of the woods?"
"Certainly, Danny." Discord chimed. "I was just sent by Princesses Celestia to-"
"Yeah, yeah I know that already. But could you tell me why you're here?"
"Oh, um, sure." He coughed a little. "I've been sent here to help restore the harmony in this universe." Discord replied casually.
Danny raises an eyebrow. "Universe? What are you, some sort of inter-dimensional demon?" He chortled.
Discord smiled smugly. "You could say that." He replied mischievously. Discord then turned to the giant boulder Danny came out of, and snapped his fingers.
Danny was awe struck when he saw the rock actually transform into live stone elephant. It bellowed loudly just like any other pachyderm would do. Discord then snapped his fingers again, causing the rocky beast to crumble into gravel on the spot. He then looked to Danny, who's jaw was hitting the floor.
"Still not impressed?" Discord sneered.
Danny shook his head. "No, no... t-that won't be necessary." he stammered, still bewildered by what he just witnessed.
"Well, now that that's out of the way," Discord said, "what say we get on with the day, huh?"
Danny wasn't quite sure how to react to such a predicament. Being with a real demon, it was nerve wrecking to this guy. A fear of selling his soul to this guy crossed his mind. But when he said something about this 'restoring harmony' business, the thought quickly vanished.
"Ummm... sure?" Danny finally uttered.
"Great, now where's the nearest restaurant?" Discord rubbed his hands together. "I'm quite famished after that trip." Danny suspected that that cloud formation earlier was possibly a portal.
"Well, what do demons normally eat?" Danny asked. "Souls? Cause mine's not on the menu."
"Souls? Why no dear Danny." Discord replied a little disturbed, "I'm not that kind of demon. I could settle for just about anything."
"... Okay." He was hoping he didn't mean anything like flesh or blood. "Well... follow me." Danny waved his hand back to the road he was on. "I'll feed you some leftovers my dad made."
"Oh, wonderful. I'm so hungry, I'm nothing but skin and bones." Discord then pulled his coat open, revealing a bare ribcage and spinal column where his abdomen should've been.
"AHHH! Put that away, man!!" Danny was horrified as he raised his arms to cover his eyes.
"What?" Discord cocked his head.
***
The walk back to Danny's house was pretty short, what with the shortcut cutting past the cities so no one could see Discord behind him. He would swivel his head taking a gander at the suburbs. Looking at house after house as he followed the human. He became both interested and disgusted. Interested, because of the way these house were fashioned compared to pony built houses or castles. And disgusted because of how they look, with yellow grass, foreclosed signs on the windows, and trash in certain parts of each lawn.
Danny managed to ignore the filth that portrayed his neighborhood. Because it didn't really matter to him at the slightest. He walked by these houses day and night, and quickly got used to it. Although the streets back home were never always this trashy, he didn't care.
The two boys were about 50 yards closer to the house. Danny could instantly see the familiar light blue paint that he burned in the back of his brain to find his house so easily. It had some chipped places due to harsh rains, but the rooftop and garage were decent enough to pass as a regular house. But something else caught his attention: His dad's car parked on the driveway.
"Shit! My dad's home!" whispered Danny incase his dad was aware of his presence. He turned to Discord in shock. "You need to hide."
"Why?" Discord asked.
"Because my dad doesn't let me bring guests home." Danny's father was also vigilant towards this hellish village. And he made sure of that by not letting anyone within his property. It was kind of a phobia he developed when a lone robber attempted to break down his door back in California. From there, he took many precautions, even telling his son not to invite kids from school, or anywhere for that matter.
"We're gonna have to find a way in." Danny quietly said, before concocting a plan in mind, "Okay, I think know a way to get inside. Come here." Danny gestured for his companion to follow him to a bush right beside his driveway.
"Okay here's the plan: You wait out here until I give a signal-"
"What signal?" Discord asked.
"Uh, I don't know... I-I'll yell out a word while I talk to my dad. If you hear me, carefully walk inside while I keep him distracted. Okay?"
Danny was worried Discord wouldn't understand, but the demon man had a confident look of agreement. And for that he nodded his head.
"Okay, just wait by the door." Danny gave orders and Discord obeyed.
He went up against the door frame while Danny walked up to the white door that had an oval window design on the front. He looked at Discord waiting right beside him. Danny twisted the knob, allowing him to push the door and enter.
"Dad! I'm home!" He called into the house.
"I'm in the kitchen!" an older voice responded from another room.
Danny was starting to feel a tad nervous about this plan. All sorts of thoughts brewed in his mind as to what would happen if he is caught smuggling a stranger. But he took a deep breath as he approached the kitchen.
His dad was sitting at the dinner table, paying bills as usual. He wore a light blue button-up long sleeve shirt that had his name tag pinned on his chest. His hair was comb back hiding slightly noticeable gray hairs. And his reading glasses brought out his dark-brown eyes, which were now staring at Danny.
"Hey son, did you have good day?" He put down a bill on the table.
"Hey dad, and... yeah it was great."
"Oh yeah. REEEAALL great." He thought in mind.
"Well that's great. Do you have any homework?"
"Uh, no. But..." Danny hesitated, "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What is it?"
Danny walked to the other end of the kitchen to turn his dad's head away from the lobby. He hoped his new 'friend' is waiting behind the front door as planned.
"How do you feel if I brought a friend over?" Danny sheepishly said.
His father looked his son in confusion.
"I'd say 'No' of course." his dad replied. "You know better than to bring home someone I've never met."
"No, no I'm not asking." Danny quickly exclaimed. "I just wanted to know why. But that's okay, I won't bring any friends over, I promise." He smiles.
"Good. Now why don't you head to your room while I work?" He gestured his pen telling his son to go.
"Uh, yeah. Sure thing dad. I'll GET MOVING right away." Danny added emphasis to his sentence as his signal. But there's another problem to handle.
The sound of the door creaking open.
His face wrinkled in fear as he began to hear the door slowly opening. He had to think fast, so he devised a quick plan.
"Uh, so dad?" Danny enhanced his volume in the room. "How was your day?"
"Good actually." his dad replied happily. "We had a lot of customers come in for our special sales." The door continued creaking. But at least his father hasn't taken notice at all, so Danny kept the conversation going.
"That's good!" Danny panics. His dad paused for a minute and looked at the boy, now terrified by the loud creaking.
"You alright son?" he asked concerned.
Discord was finally visible under the archway, bringing joy to Danny at an instant.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, totally alright. I just uh..." Then without warning, the phone rang.
"I'll get it." His dad said and started to rise from his chair.
Everything was going according to plan, but Discord was still in the lobby. Danny panicked and started flailing his arms up and about, trying to signal Discord to hustle across the room.
"WHAT are you doing!!?? Get outta here!!" Danny whispered as he waved his hands telling Discord to head upstairs while his dad was on the phone. Discord actually understood and made haste upstairs.
The father then grabbed the phone. "Hello?" he said. "Oh, hey Chuck…. No I'm not busy at the moment…"
Danny's dad was completely unaware, and so Danny attempted to make a break for his room. But before he could exit the kitchen, Discord poked his head out, and hungrily eyes the refrigerator on the other side.
"Head upstairs, now!" Danny whispered.
"Hold on Dan." He licked his lips. "I could go for some dinner right about now."
Without heeding to Danny, the demon man unexpectedly flew over him. Astonishing Danny like never before. But he didn;t care about some flying magic act.
"NO, NOOO!" Danny squeaked. Discord wasn't listening and swooped around the man on the phone. Floating idly towards the fridge like an eel in the water stalking its prey.
Danny was much too terrified of this situation when his dad started to turn around. Under the overwhelming fear of getting caught, Danny just looked away from the scene and waited for his dad to scream. He sweated profusely with anticipation, and he cringed in fear. But strangely enough, there was no shout emanating from the room. He just kept hearing him converse with his friend.
"...That's great, when is it... REALLY!? Chuck, that's awesome!"
In a curios state, Danny peaked his head out. Thankfully, Discord was no where in sight. He quickly glanced about the room to try and locate him, but he was just gone. Not even in plain sight, just vanished from his dad's eyes. He kept wondering where Discord was lurking, until someone tapped his shoulder. He gasped slightly as he turned.
"Do you have any rye bread?" Discord smiled while holding a sandwich on a plate.
"Ugh! Come on!" Danny yanked Discord's arm with frustration. He lead them up the stairs, and safely into his bedroom. With a slam of his door and twist of the lock, he turns to his friend digging into his well-prepared meal.
Danny put his guitar bag down on the bed.
"What the fuck was that about!?" He shouted at him.
"What? I'm hungry." Discord calmly replied. "Oh, and I must say you creatures have the most delectable food I have ever eaten."
"Okay, first of all: We're called humans. Second: You didn't have to make dinner by floating into there and risk getting caught. I could've just made you a sandwich and bring it up here."
"I told you, I'm the master of chaos. I can do anything." He smiled mischievously. "And by anything, I can also remain silent to the naked eye." He then transformed into ninja attire and performed silly karate moves around the room.
"I don't care. If you're staying here, you listen to me, okay?" Discord ceased his getup and looked at Danny.
"Wait, you're... letting me stay here? With you?" He asked quizzically.
"... Well... yeah." Danny shrugged. "Figure, you came from another universe. So I'll let you stay here till this Celestia person takes you back."
Discord stood there for a moment, holding his half-eaten sandwich. He started to think of what influencing off this human is going to provide for him, and it might be positive.
"Okay, Danny." He smiled at him firmly, "I'll listen."
Danny smiled back.
"Okay. Noooww..." Danny trailed off while looking around his room for something to do for the rest of the night. There's some CDs he could listen to. Some movies to watch. But he looked at his PS3 which laid flat in front of the TV. With one controller plugged into the console. He does have a spare controller for Discord to use, but he's going to have to learn the basics of the buttons of this device. He wasn't sure if this demon kid knew how to use a technologically advance machine.
"Never under estimate a God of chaos." He shrugged his shoulders and reached for the system.
"You know how to use a PS3?" Danny asks as he's reaching into the dresser drawer for another controller.
"A what?" Discord tilted his head.
At an instant, their conversation was halted by a few knocks at the door.
"Shit! Quick hide!" Danny whispered for Discord to evade. He does so by shapeshifting into one of his posters. Blending into a L.A. Laker poster as Kobe Bryant with white hair, in a dunking pose.
Meanwhile, Danny opened the door, revealing his dad standing on the other side wearing a coat over his grocery uniform.
"Hey dad." Danny sheepishly smiled.
"Hey Danny." his father replied, holding his satchel. "Listen, I've got to go back to the store for something. Will you be fine here by yourself?"
Danny looks over his shoulder to glance at Discord still holding that pose in the poster.
He smiled. "Yeah, dad," he answered happily. "I'll do great."
"Okay," his father nodded slightly. "I'll have my number if you need me."
He then went walked down the staircase and headed out the door. Once Danny heard that appeasing shut, he felt safe to expose his guest into the house.
"Okay, Discord." The demon got out of the poster in a mist of fog, reappearing in front of Danny. "What do you say we play a little Call of Duty?" Danny implied smugly.
"Call of What-now?"
"Nevermind, just grab a controller and follow me."