//------------------------------//
// TMP #537: Creation 
// Story: Pearple Juice With Bits 
// by Pearple Prose 
//------------------------------//

I woke up.

I didn’t know how I knew I’d woken up, however. I didn’t know how I knew what ‘waking up’ meant, either. I don’t remember ever going to sleep – in fact, I didn’t remember anything.

It was as if I’d just… popped into existence. Sensations made themselves known: the straps cutting into my skin, the blinding light in my eye, the smell of… things. Undesirable things. Things I could not yet put a name to.

There was a sound, a burst of noise and light, and suddenly there was something – somebody – there, beside me.

“You appear to have awoken,” it said. “Interesting. I hadn’t quite finished you yet.”

The thing hummed. I felt something shifting in my gut. Literally, I could feel my organs moving around inside me.

“The heart appears to be beating, which is nice. Lungs are working, too. Your brain? You apparently have enough IQ to know how to breathe, so all may not be lost.”

The light suddenly vanished, and my vision was filled with a beady red eye. “The eye is responding to stimuli. Good sign.” The eye pulled back to reveal a face, peering down at her. “Hmm. Can you hear me? Hello?”

I look at this thing, this creature, and I nod. He seems so very familiar, as if he were extremely important somehow.

He tilted his head. “Good, good. Can you speak?”

I moved my lips and attempted to form a word. “...Oui?” 

He blinked. “Oops. Seems I made an error somewhere.” He disappeared out of my limited view, then returned with a metal instrument in his claw. "Allow me to fix it."

And then the metal instrument was shoved down my throat,  and I felt something intrinsic to my being twist and change. He pulled the perverse device out of me and said, "Try again?"

"Yes."

"Marvellous!" He laughed, high and mighty. I did not. 

The painful straps disappeared and I fell, hitting the cold marble floor. The creature snickered when I attempted to stand.

"I wouldn’t try that if I were you . You're still missing a wing, among other things." The creature slithered down to my level, and smiled harshly. "Welcome to the world. I am Discord, King of Chaos and your creator."

I stared at him. "Who am I?" I asked.

"You are... Whoever you want to be. What is your name?"

I looked out the window of the laboratory, and saw the sun rise over the horizon, lighting up the sky with gold. A word sprung unbidden to my mind.

"Celestia. I am Celestia."