//------------------------------// // Return of Harmony Part Two // Story: Manticores, Crushes, and Alcohol // by Hidden Brony //------------------------------// It was the week after the strange events of the Gala, and Streak had not yet joined the ranks of the Night guard. There was all kinds of red tape that had to be plowed through that he wasn't likely to transfer for another few weeks yet. Good news, though: nothing incredibly odd had happened for the past week. Until that morning, when Streak walked outside to see the world in the strangest state it has ever been in. The sky was pink, the sun and the moon appeared to be doing the cha cha across the sky, and the ground was coated in a checkerboard pattern. He blinked slowly, taking in the chaos outside. A quick glance showed him dancing buffalo, long-legged bunnies, and floating houses turned upside down. The door slammed shut. “Change!” the stallion yelled into the house. “Did you spike the water supply again?” “I didn’t do nothin’!” a muffled, slurred voice shouted from farther inside. “You did something!” Streak shouted back. “I’m seeing all kinds of weirdness outside!” “Well, maybe it’s just weird outside!” the drunk said, stumbling into the room. He yanked the door open and groaned. “You have got to be kidding me,” he sighed. “You see it too?” Streak asked. “Of course I see it too,” his companion groaned. "He promised. Promised." "Who promised what?" the blank asked. "What's going on?" The drunk ignored his friend, instead choosing to storm his way through Ponyville. Streak shrugged and walked along behind Change. While they were heading through the town, the blank noticed terrified faces sticking out of houses at the two of them passed. After a few moments, they reached the epicenter of the chaos and found the strangest being Streak had ever seen sitting on an ornate throne, a glass of chocolate milk in his hooves. Paws. Hands. Whatever. His head was that of a goat, with a single fang in his crooked smile. He had two different types of horns on the top of his head, and his body was an amalgamation of different beasts, from the lion's arm to the dragon's wing. He was cackling madly with glee and more than a bit of insanity. "What. The. Tartarus." Change wasn't phased by the appearance of this strange creature in the slightest. He stalked up to its throne and hopped up on the arm. Its chuckles faltered as it asked, "What is—" He—his gender confirmed by his voice—yelped as the drunk clamped his teeth on the creature's ear and hopped off the seat. Change walked backwards, dragging the strange creature behind him as he walked to an alley between nearby houses. Streak followed with trepidation. As soon as the trio was out of public view, Change started shouting at the creature. “You promised! You promised me you were done with this! You said it was in the past!” “Well, yes, but then I—” he started to say, rubbing his ear. “No! No excuses!” Change snapped. “I thought I could trust you! What else have you lied to me about? What did you lie to Screwball about?” “This is the only promise I have broken!” the creature defended himself, holding his claws up in front of his body in a defensive position. “Every single one is still being followed faithfully. I wouldn’t dream of hurting you or your sister.” Streak blinked. Sister? This was new. “You just did!” the drunk shouted, stomping his hoof on the ground to accentuate his point. “You just freaking did! I can’t believe you anymore. Any word out of your mouth has to be examined for lies now! Every. Single. Word.” “I had a good reason,” the chaotic creature exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide. “There is a method to my madness, I promise.” “I don’t believe you,” Change said softly, sitting down. “I can’t anymore.” “The Queen is making her move,” the creature said. “You told me that the loss of her husband would delay her by at least half a century.” Change’s eyes hardened. “You told me that Equestria would be safe for my lifetime, and at least half of the lifetime of my children.” “I was wrong. It accelerated the process by an order of magnitude,” the creature said, settling down on the ground next to Change. “Instead of taking a hundred years to prepare, she finished in ten. She’s going to hit in the next year.” The drunk jumped up, stumbling slightly. “Why don’t we just tell the Princesses? They can do something about it!” “What is going on here?” Streak finally asked. His voice seemed to jolt the duo out of their conversation, and they beheld their eavesdropper for the first time that night. “Who and what are you?” “I,” the creature said, standing up and placing a claw over his heart, other hand going out wide, “am Discord. I am the freedom of the wind, I am the relentlessness of the waves, I am the hunger of the fire. Anything that is, is me.” “A little dramatic, don’t you think?” Change asked. He turned to face his friend. “This is Discord, as he said. He is pandemonium personified, a living conduit of chaos. Everything that happens where two or more outcomes were possible is him.” “I am your job, I am your encounter with Derpy and Gilda, and I am your friendship with Luna,” the newly-dubbed Discord said. “Snarl of substance, at your service.” “He is also the manticore that chased you into town, the animals that ran from Fluttershy at the Gala, and the timberwolves that nearly ate you alive,” Change commented dryly, earning the conduit of chaos a glare. He held his claws up in the same defensive position as before. “There is only so much I could do there,” he said. “Free will is a finicky thing. One day you can get some dumb creature to not eat six stupid mares that bother it, and the next it decides to just eat the pony anyway." “Whatever,” Streak scoffed. “I assume that you’re the worker of the weirdness around us?” “Of course,” he said, sounding hurt that Streak had to ask. “Who else could it be?” “I know some ponies that are capable of something like this,” Streak said. “It wouldn’t be too hard to pump hallucinogens through the entire town, after all.” “This isn’t a hallucination,” Discord said, frowning. “This is chaos, and it’s real.” “Yeah, I get that,” Streak said. “However, I’m going to wake up tomorrow and this will all be gone, won’t it?” “Of course,” Change said, glaring at the chaotic mish-mash of creatures. “He’ll fix the Element Bearers and be back in stone by sundown—real sundown—won’t you?” Discord looked down at the pony at his feet. “Of course, Change,” he sighed. “Just for you.” “I’m serious, Dad,” the pony said, getting a look from the other present pony. “No tricks, no gimmicks, just releasing them from your control and losing.” “Why of course,” Discord said. “On purpose,” the newly-dubbed son of chaos said, glaring at his father. “Fine,” the dejected being said, kicking the ground. “But with my rules.” “As long as your physical form is back in the statue by sundown and those six mares aren’t traumatized any more than they already will be,,” Change said, “I don’t care how you do it.” The living totality of turmoil nodded. “Alright. Tell your sister I said hello, would you?” “You know as well as I do that she got more of you and less of Mother than I did,” Change said. “I couldn’t find her if I tried. I have only enough chaos to make things fall on me and the like.” “You’d have more chaos if you stopped drinking,” Discord said, giving what could only be described as the ‘dad look’ to his son. “I drink because I don’t want chaos!” Change snapped at the chaotic being. “I don’t want to be like you! I want to be me! I want to be normal! I. Want. To. Be. A. Pony! Is it that too hard for you to understand?” There was silence in the alleyway. Streak stared at Change with a dropped jaw and wide eyes. Somewhere in the background, there was a rumbling crash as Discord lost control of one of his floating houses, sending it careening into the ground. “I—” the entity of entropy started. “I had no idea.” “If you had ever paid attention to me,” Change growled, “then you would have already known.” He turned around and started walking off. “Change!” Discord called out, futilely reaching out a claw at the retreating pony. He didn’t turn around. Streak watched as his friend walked away from his father with sadness. Here was a pony that didn’t want to be like his father—a sentiment shared by Streak. The difference between the two of them, is that Change loved his father. It was obvious. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have reacted as badly as he did upon seeing the conduit of chaos. Streak—while he had to give the two of them credit for making him—didn’t love his parents. He couldn’t. That was why he couldn’t let this argument end as it had, only to potentially never be fixed. “He loves you, you know that?” Streak asked. “No he doesn’t,” Discord said dejectedly. “He hates me. He wishes that I wasn’t his father, and that he was never my son.” “No,” Streak said, walking up to the creature. He wasn’t nearly as intimidating when as sad as he was. “I wish I was never my parents’ son, he wishes he was normal. There is a difference.” Discord scoffed. “And what did your parents do? I have too many things to keep track of to remember them all.” “They were. . . negligent,” the blank said. “That is beside the point. The point is that I want you to know that even though it might not seem like it, he cares for you.” Discord sighed. “I didn’t even get to tell him what I wanted him to do, and I don’t think I will, now.” “You don’t want to be commanding a pony that you want loving you,” I said. “You want to command a pony like me. Lay it on me.” The conduit of chaos sighed. “I need to do this the old fashioned way, it seems.” Right as Streak was about to ask what he meant, Discord touched his forehead with a finger. The cutie mark-less guardspony’s mind reeled as images flew through his mind. “Hmm,” Discord hummed. “Interesting. You aren’t a pony.” Streak couldn’t even ask what he meant, he only half heard what he said through the tumult of visions flashing across his vision. “Ah, there it is. You are a pony.” There was a pause. “No, you aren’t. Wait! There, you are.” He turned and looked at the pony. “You are one messed up being, I have to say. At least I keep my different parts for a century or two before changing them. You’re what, twenty years old? Keep these for as long as you can, kid. “Now I can’t have you remembering what just happened,” the personification of pandemonium said as the visions ended. “I’m sorry for this.” “Sorry for wha—” Streak started, before falling to his side. The last thing he saw was the apologetic look he was given from Change’s father, then he saw nothing. —*~*~*— Streak groaned as he woke up. His eyes weren’t open yet, but he could tell it was way too bright in the room for whatever time of day it was. He couldn’t remember being this unhappy with light since he woke up after drinking. Wait, there was that fiasco in Hive. He couldn’t remember being this unhappy with light since waking up in Hive. “You’re awake,” Change’s voice said from next to him. “Good. I’ll fetch her.” “Don’t shout,” Streak groaned as the drunk’s voice assaulted his delicate eardrums. “I’m barely not whispering,” Change sighed. “What did he do to you? Streak assumed the question was rhetorical, since the hinges sent spikes of pain into his head as Change opened the door. Streak exclaimed, only making the pain in his head worse. He decided that he wasn’t going to make any more noise for as long as he could. Three seconds later he was proven wrong. Another railroad spike was shoved through his head as the door opened again. He felt the thumps of hoofsteps on hardwood flooring as strong throbs of his head more than he heard them. The next noise made had the most paradoxical mix of feelings Streak had ever encountered. “Are ya alright?” Applejack asked softly. He felt pain from the noise, but he was happy she was there. He hissed in pain, however, at her voice and hoofsteps. “Fine,” he said, straining to get his voice out without exclaiming. Her voice was faltering. “Oh, ah’m hurting you,” she said. He could tell from her voice that she was frowning. “Ah’ll just leave ya until yer feelin’ better.” “No!” he exclaimed, shooting more pain into his head. He winced, then said softer. “No, please stay.” She sighed. “Ah’m hurtin’ ya, Streak,” she said. “Ah can’t let that happen.” “Stay,” he begged. “It’s not that bad, and I’m already feeling better.” He heard her hooves shuffle on the floor for a moment in indecision, before he heard hoofsteps. Forward or backward, he couldn’t tell. After a few seconds, he felt a weight settle onto the bed next to him. He cracked an eye open to see her laying half on the bed, with her back hooves planted on the ground. “If’n it gets too painful for ya, just tell me,” she said upon seeing him wince and close his eyes.. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “What happened to me?” “Ya don’t know?” she asked in surprise, still managing to keep her voice down. “No,” he said. “It’s all just. . . blank. I woke up, everything was odd, then nothing.” “Change said ya talked with Discord after he broke us,” she said softly. The blank felt his eyes harden. “He did what to you?” “It’s nothin’,” the farm-mare lied. She was horrible at lying. Streak cracked an eye again, to see her looking adorable trying not to lie. Her face was screwed up, she was looking to the side, and her eyes were wide open. It was very obvious, even if her voice hadn’t given it away, that she was lying. “You’re lying,” he said. “It bothers you.” She deflated upon being discovered. “Ah really need ta learn how ta lie,” she grumbled, looking down and frowning. “No, you don’t,” he said, reaching out a hoof and pushing her face up, locking eyes with her. “You are an honest mare. That is reflected in your inability to lie. You don’t do it a lot, so you can’t. It is nothing to be ashamed of.” “Ah’m not the one that was bed-ridden for two days,” she said. “Ah don’t know what’s with you and gettin’ into some long sleeps.” Streak chuckled. “Maybe I’m just waiting for some princess to come and kiss me awake.” The mare blushed. “Well, ah know a couple of Princesses if’n ya want one.” I’ve got one right here, he wanted to say. You’re one, at least to me. Instead, he said, “I’m sure that I’ll be fine.” Something in her eyes told him that he missed an opportunity that he wouldn’t get back. He wanted to take back what he said, to figure out what he was supposed to say to get rid of that disappointed look in her eyes. Instead, he sat awkwardly as she shuffled her back hooves and tried to think of something to say. “Try n’ think,” she said suddenly. “Try to remember something about the day Discord was here.. Anything.” He wasn’t going to try, but since Applejack asked him, he had no choice. He traced the day before Discord arrived. After he reached the end, he started with the beginning of the next day. Right as he started yelling to Change about spiking the water supply, his memory blanked. He focused hard, not wanting to disappoint the mare that mattered most to him. After a moment of trying, he got something. He remembered a being that was a chaotic mish-mash of creatures. His mind called up many names for this creature. The conduit of chaos, the personification of pandemonium, the snarl of substance, the worker of weirdness, the totality of tumult, and the sultan of swag. The name that stuck out the most in his mind was one word, and didn’t sound like a title. Discord. Discord looked at him with a disappointed face. “I expected better from you,” he said. “I figured the rumors of who and what I am would keep you from trying to break into the memory lock if its mere existence didn’t already dissuade you.” He shook his head, before continuing, “These memories are blocked for a reason, Streak. You are not yet ready. You serve a purpose, a purpose that serves Celestia and Luna as much as it serves me.” He paused before smirking. “Also, tell that farmer girl, Applejack or whatever, that she has a nice flank. She’ll love it, trust me. “But I digress,” the conduit of chaos said. “Even if she does have great flanks. Your time will come, and what I have done to you will become apparent. Don’t prove my trust in you misplaced.” Change opened his eyes to see them looking right at the bright green eyes of the farm-mare. “Did ya get anything?” she asked. “He blocked them on purpose,” Streak said. “He said that whatever he did to me is for a purpose that serves the Princesses as much as it serves himself, and when it needs to, his modifications will show.” He frowned. “I’m not happy with how my life has gone. I liked being a pony, and now I’m a freak.” His head was filled with nothing but pain in the next few moments. After a second or two, it died down to a sharp ache on his cheek. He blinked as he saw the anger in Applejack’s eyes. “You aren’t a freak,” she said confidently. “You are odd, sure, but ya are in no way a freak. Ah don’t want to hear those words from you again, do ya understand me?” Streak lifted a hoof up to his stinging cheek. She’d hit him. He’d said something that she disagreed with strongly. He couldn’t believe she’d hit him. It was because she thought he was being stupid. No, she’d hit him, that was bad. She had a reason. She’d hit him. She cared for him. She’d hit him. “Ah’m sorry ah hit you,” she said softly, bringing a hoof up to his cheek. “Ah just couldn’t let ya talk about yerself like that.” “Why not?” he asked. “Why did you hit me for saying the truth? I’m different. Alien. Freakish.” “Because ya ain’t,” she said, “and ah wanted to make sure ya understood that. Ya aren’t normal, there’s no denyin’ that. But ya aren’t a freak.” “I am, Applejack,” I said. “Just look at me! I’m half grey and black, half black and blue! I’m a unicorn that has no idea what to do with his horn because he just got it a week ago! I have this Celestia damned stripe down my damned mane that made my damned life difficult! Nothing about me at this point is normal. Nothing!” She was silent for a long moment. “Ya aren’t a freak to me,” she said softly. His face fell as she turned around and started to walk away. Remembering Discord's words, he spoke up. "Applejack?" She turned around. "I can tell you work out." She stared at him in silence for a moment, before asking, "Of course ah do. What's that got ta do with anythin'?" "Because it gives you fantastic flanks," he said.. Outside the room, Change had decided that Applejack was likely on her way out, if the second exclamation of pain from the bed-ridden stallion was any indicator. The door opened, and a heavily blushing mare hurried out. She slammed the door behind her and looked over at Change. "Do you think I have nice flanks?" she asked after a slight pause. "I know better than to answer that question," the stallion said. "Any answer is a wrong answer." "I'm honestly asking," she said, cheeks still dusted with pink. "Do I really have nice flanks?" Change sighed. "Do you want me to answer as you want me to, or how will get me slapped?" "Don't just tell me what I want to hear," she answered. "They are perfectly perky and superbly spankable," he said. She stared at him for a moment before he added. "You asked for it." Inside the room, Streak was holding his cheek, shaking his head. Discord had lied to him. He didn't even know why that surprised him, honestly. He heard a smack and a yelp from the other side of the door and smirked. Change made a comment on her flanks.