I honestly had no idea what to expect while I was on my way to the new house. Neither did Twilight for that matter. I’m pretty sure neither of us had any good images of what awaited us when we arrived. I had images of an infinite interior, or maybe mansions with what Discord considered priceless art, maybe even the rooms themselves didn’t go to the right places anymore, or even more random things like a pack of wolves being chased by a house cat wielding a chainsaw. Twilight’s imagination wasn’t much better than mine either. She mentioned something about the house being a miniature Everfree Forest and seeing the head of Celestia and Luna mounted on the walls. I think we ended up dragging our feet to get there as well since it was almost sunset by the time we arrived.
The place still looked like it did when we left. It was just an odd looking log cabin near the woods. It even still had the creepy vibe from earlier. However, when we finally worked up the nerve to open the door, we were both quite surprised at what we saw. He had actually done nothing abnormal at all.
“Oh good, you’ve arrived!”
I jumped in surprise as the door morphed into the being known as Discord. He gave a slight chuckle and continued.
“Do you like what I’ve done with the place? I know, it’s quite the normal house. It’s really not my style at all. Then again, I can always do that with my own room. Best of all, it’s not even in the palace with the princesses looking over my shoulder all the time! Unlike any of the other beings here, you actually can appreciate the chaos that I can unleash!”
“So can Pinkie Pie if you remember,” I added.
“True enough, but she’s one of the Elements of Harmony. Other than Fluttershy none of them actually trust me, and she definitely doesn’t appreciate my antics.”
“That’s because you haven’t given us much room to trust you, Discord,” said Twilight.
“Oh let’s not bring that up now. Why don’t take a look at the remodeling that I’ve done instead?” he asked and then disappeared in a flash.
In the front around the, well where the door used to be, was some black and white ceramic tile. The floor was depressed slightly like in a Japanese home where they switch out their shoes for walking sandals in the house. The rest of the room had been carpeted with a nice, fine, red carpet that went into the hallway, but not the kitchen. The room had a sofa that extended along the entirety of the front of the house with enough room for a couple of wooden end tables on either end. It seemed much longer than necessary, but I honestly didn’t care. It was a faded blue color and extended into reclining chairs on both sides.
In the middle of the room stood a coffee table about two and a half feet high, twelve feet long, and about three feet wide. There were two tan colored reclining chairs on either side of the entrance to the kitchen. On the far wall, for some crazy reason, was an entire home entertainment center. I didn’t really know why he made that at first considering the fact that Equestria didn’t have any channels for the television he put in there. Then I saw the Xbox underneath it and my curiosity was momentarily quelled. The walls were painted an alternating royal blue and white which seemed a bit dark, but I still liked it. There was a standing lamp in the far corner. It was a bit odd that the cover for it was rainbow colored. It kind of threw me off.
In the kitchen, it was all tiled white with black lines that I thought was caulk, but didn’t quite feel like it. I still have no idea what it was since the tiles were actually made of marble. Why he made a marble-tiled kitchen floor, I have no clue. Where the wood fire stove used to be was now an electric stove with an oven positioned underneath it. Lined all along that wall, the wall bordering the living room up to the doorway, and around the corner up to the door in the back were white kitchen cabinets with silver knobs. Along the walls in between the hanging cabinets and the ones on the floor were the same tiling only in a smaller size. The rest of the room had been painted an off-white color.
In the middle of the room was a long wooden table about twenty feet long and four feet wide. It was a red color which made me think it was cherry wood, but I wasn’t really good at knowing what kind of wood was what anyway. It had seven chairs on the sides and one on each end made of the same wood. The small hole in the roof had been filled in as well since there was now a different stove. On the wall to the right, there were now two small full-length cabinets. One was a pantry with several shelves. The other was a place for kitchen cleaning supplies.
Upon going back to the front room, I noticed that the door to the house in the front had gone back to normal. I was concerned that it would be different somehow like the rest of the house I had seen since for some reason the inside looked crazily different. The fact that none of the walls inside the house now resembled a log cabin was my primary concern for this. However, it seemed to be okay until Twilight pointed out that the doorknob was made in the image of Celestia. I guess she had to get something right. Still, I probably needed to ask Discord to change that back because I didn’t want something that sharp sticking out around the house. One small trip and my day suddenly becomes ruined.
Upon entering the hallway, I first went into the bathroom to see how that had changed. After opening the door, I noticed first that the floor had been tiled up with a grey colored ceramic tile that also went up some on the wall. The sink was now larger and properly set for human height. However, it looked very odd. It actually looked like a clear bowl sitting on a countertop with a standing faucet perched over it. The countertop itself was an odd little white table looking thing with steel legs propping it up. At least it had a good sized mirror hanging over it now. The toilet barely looked any different. It had been reshaped for a human size, but I don’t think it had changed any other way. The tub was a completely different story. In fact, there wasn’t a tub at all now. Instead, a shower was in it’s place. It had a slightly upturned edge in the front and was tiled in a brown color along with the rest of the shower area most of the way up the wall. The shower head was on an adjustable bar for changing it’s height. I guessed Discord needed it for that extra room since he was taller than me. What kind of got me a little uncomfortable was the lack of a shower curtain. That was a horrible gag waiting to happen. I’d have to ask Discord to put one in or I could install one myself if I could figure out where to get one.
I left the bathroom with Twilight closing the door behind us and I opened the door to the guest room. I could tell that Discord had made this my room. It was easy to see since it looked like an explosion of Colts paraphernalia in there. It was hard to describe since everything was in the same style. The walls were blue with white horseshoes spaced all over the place. The floor still looked wooden slightly, but it was in appearance only since it was definitely carpet. There was a carpet that surrounded the bed that was white with some blue specks in it and had several horseshoes on it. The bed that was atop it was a double sized bed with an intricate pattern to the frame. The blankets and pillows were different from each other with the pillows being mostly white and the blankets being mostly blue.
The light for the room was hung in a chandelier style, but was actually four lights hung on a four-way bar with lampshades hung over them. To the left of the bed was an end table with a tiny flowerpot on it.on the far wall was a white dresser with some blue drawers in it. Also, this was the only room so far with any curtains. Those too had Colts designs all over them. Underneath the window on the far wall was a flower pot with a small plant growing out of it. The pot was also white and covered in blue horseshoes. There were also several posters and frames with Colts players and memorabilia in them. There were so many other little touches in there that I couldn’t even describe them all.
“I’m a little concerned about you having so many things with the word Colts on them Seth. I’m starting to think that maybe-”
“I’m going to be a little rude and cut you off right there Twilight,” I interrupted her. “Back where I’m from there’s a sports team called the Colts and they are my favorite team of all. I can tell you right now that the line of thought you probably were having was completely wrong.”
“Oh… Um, okay?” she replied a little uncomfortably.
I sighed and left it alone. I guess it would be a little awkward for the time being. Instead of dwelling on it we both left the room and went over to Discord’s room. I opened the door and took a step inside.
And was promptly met by Discord’s face.
I jumped a little and took a step back. Discord simply chuckled a bit.
“Now, now, Seth, I don’t want you or anypony else going into my room without me to escort them. You wouldn’t want to get lost now would you?”
“It’s just a room,” said Twilight. “How could we get lost in there?”
Discord simply chuckled again. He followed that by stepping back and opening the door wide for us to look inside. I was instantly gratified by what I saw.
Looking inside, it was as if we stepped straight into the Everfree Forest. Or perhaps a better analogy was the Everfree Jungle. It still gave off the feel of the Everfree Forest, but was much denser and more humid than the its counterpart. I was so caught up with it that I almost missed the other side of the door. It contained the fake mounted heads of each princess. All four of them for those counting. I kept myself in between Twilight and those to keep her from freaking out. I felt all more so considering that she had basically called her shot like this.
“Do you like what I’ve done with the place?”
“I have to say that I am very impressed,” I said dumbly.
“I’m so happy to hear that!”
“Discord! What did you do with this place?” demanded Twilight.
“I used a trick from his home and created an extra-dimensional space to put more things in my room. Like I said, don’t wander off because this door here is the only entrance to this place.”
She looked back to the door and unfortunately I didn’t cover it well enough for her to see what was on the back.
“Is that Princess Celestia’s- Is that MY head on that door?” she asked.
“I hope you don’t mind dear Twilight. I just had to decorate it with something.”
Twilight whipped around and for a second it looked like she was going to go all rapidash on me.
“I do mind! It’s this very kind of thing that makes us not have any trust in you!”
“Calm down Twilight,” I said. “He’s just messing with you.”
“I am being calm!”
That is not calm, I thought.
“Listen to me Twilight. Do you trust me?”
She looked at me oddly.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you trust me.”
“I don’t know. I mean I just met you.”
“Exactly. Trust is something that you earn over time. It’s harder to trust someone you just met than someone you’ve known your whole life. Likewise, it’s harder to trust someone who you used to dislike or betrayed your trust before. I know that we’ve just met for the first time again, but believe me when I’m telling you that Discord is just doing this to mess with you. Do you trust me?”
I could tell she looked conflicted. Her past with Discord warring with belief in trusting new ponies, and in my case people. Eventually, she relented.
“Alright. I guess it makes sense that he’s trying to mess with me.”
That was a relief. It was also nice how Discord didn’t mess with that speech too.
“What did you mean by us meeting for the first time again?”
And there it goes. Well, I guess it was as good a time to try getting their memories back as any.
“Let’s get out of this room first before I start talking about it, alright?”
She took another quick look at her own head mounted on the door and nodded. We then promptly left the room.
“Ta ta all! I still need to put the final touches on my room,” Discord said and closed the door behind us.
The two of us walked back to the living room and up to the front door. I put my shoes back on and then led the both of us outside.
“So, are you going to tell me now?” she asked impatiently.
I turned back to her and brought myself down to one knee in order to look her in the eyes.
“Twilight, do you remember the first time you saw me?”
“Yes I do. I was in the throne room at the castle and you came out of that dimensional tunnel and fell on the floor.”
I closed my eyes and sighed.
“That’s not really true. Do you remember the times where your friends forgot who they were? After all, there are quite a few.”
“I do remember that happening several times. How does that relate to now?”
“It’s kind of the same thing. Right now, you and your friends have had your memories altered. The memories of me to be specific. All of your memories of me have been taken away.”
“They have? But why would that have happened? Why didn’t the princesses try to restore them?”
“They tried, but nothing worked. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I at least want you guys to get your memories back. So do the princesses. Heck, I think even Discord might want it as well and that's saying something. Hopefully we can try to do it together. Me and you, not Discord. You know what I mean I hope.”
“I do, but I’m not sure I believe you, but I know how sad it is to lose your friends. I’ll ask the others to see if they can think of anything.”
“That’s fine. I guess if I have to start over again, then I’ll have to accept that. I mean, I was barely here a couple of weeks last time. I bet I can make even better memories this time.”
“Maybe so. For now, it’s getting late. We can start on this problem tomorrow.”
“Alright. See you later Twilight,” I said and waved.
“See you later,” she replied and trotted back up the road.
I stood back up, turned around, and opened up the front door.
And was promptly met with Discord’s face. Again. Like last time, I jumped a bit and took a step back.
“Soooo, how’d it go with Twilight?” he asked in a suggestive manner.
“Well, I told her about how none of them remember me and we’ll pick that up tomorrow. For now, I am starving. Is there anything to eat in the fridge?”
“What fridge?”
I stopped and thought about that for a second. He was right. There wasn’t a refrigerator in the kitchen. I brought my forefinger and middle finger to my forehead and started rubbing it.
“You renovated an entire house and didn’t put a refrigerator in?” I asked exasperatedly.
“Where was I supposed to put it? There isn’t exactly much in the way of electrical outlets in this house.”
“Then what’s with the lamps?” I asked and pointed to the lamp in the corner of the room.
“It’s for show! The only lights that work in the house are the ones overhead,” he said and started to float.
“So the hanging lights in the kitchen, the light over the mirror in the bathroom, and the wall light over the bed in my room-”
“Are pure decoration!” he finished.
“What about the stove and the oven? Aren’t they electic too?”
“And totally useless!”
“Can’t you use your magic to put some electrical cables through the house?”
“Dammit Seth I’m a draconequuis not an electrician!” he yelled and promptly started laughing.
As I stood there watching him laugh his tail off, literally, I wondered just how the hell I was going to get through the month with him?