Back in my old world, I was a curious creature. My body was always very slim. People usually amounted this to the fact that I never ate. Or, at least, I never seemed to. When I woke in the morning I would go downstairs and begin my day with, not a bowl of cereal, but the television. When Christy would wake up, I might go and eat something with her, but it would be nothing larger than a protein bar, or something of the like. When I focused on something, like one of my infamous projects, I could go the whole day without a bite of food or sip of water. Because of this, many of my friends would joke about my weight, saying that I would curl up and die if I kept fasting myself, or, on the rare occasion that I did eat something substantial, that I might get fat; playing on the thought that the reason I didn’t eat was because I was worried about gaining pounds.
Of course, none of this was true, but when I have something better to do, I often forget about food.
This is why when Discord appeared with a plate of pancakes I nearly fell to my knees in hunger.
“Michael, are you ok?” Asked Luna worriedly.
“Perfectly fine!” I said as I stood once again. “Just a bit hungry, is all.”
“Then it’s good that I brought something for you to chew on!” Discord chirped. “Here, have some breakfast!” he held the plate out to me, and I’m ashamed to say that I was on the brink of tackling that plate and feasting on its contents.
At the last moment I pulled myself away. “I’m sorry, Discord, but I can no longer fight as your champion.” I said, making sure to keep the plate out of my line of sight.
“What? You're backing out on me? And after everything I’ve done for you!” he shouted melodramatically.
“Yes. You have lied to me, Discord. You said that you are fighting to keep freedom, but you are fighting for your own form of slavery.” I said, anger entering my voice, if dulled by the pain in my stomach.
“Oh, that really is a shame. I would have given you power beyond all belief if you’d helped me win. Enough to get you home.” He said, looking to me hopefully.
I considered it for a moment, decided that it wasn’t worth getting home if I left this world in shambles, and subsequently told him so.
“Sorry, I don’t think that I want your food.” I tried to put as much anger as I could into the word “your” but it sort of fell apart around “want”.
“ENOUGH!” Luna yelled out, loud enough to blow the plate out of his hand. “Discord, stop enchanting Michael with your confectionaries.” She said as she stood between us.
“Ok, I will, but have the pancakes.” He snapped and a new plate appeared in his hand. “It’s the least I can do to apologize.” The plate was held out towards us.
“Luna, I’m kinda hungry. What’s the worst that can happen?” I whispered to her.
“Fine, take your cakes of the pan.” She said as she walked back to her place beside me. “But you’ll end up like Celestia.” She mumbled to herself.
I ignored her, seeing as I face similar comments all the time and I was very hungry at the time. I grabbed the plate, quickly cutting a piece of the cooked dough and stuffing it in my mouth. The moan that followed was one of ecstasy. The next few slices were slower and dipped in syrup, but just as good.
When I’d finished the entire plate, leaving only small splotches of syrup and a fork, I stood up and handed the plate back to the Draconequus.
“Thank you for the food, now we should get go-” I wasn’t able to finish the sentence as I crumpled to the ground, clutching my stomach.
-----
LUNA’S POINT OF VIEW
Michael had just finished his pancakes. He handed the plate back to Discord and returned to my side.
“Thank you for the food, now we should get go-” he was interrupted by himself falling to the ground, groaning in pain in the fetal position.
“What did you do to him, Discord? Reverse the effects!” I yelled angrily at him as he simply floated there, smug expression and all.
“Oh, I did nothing, though his pancakes don’t seem to be agreeing with him.” Discord stopped floating, walking over to Michael with a newly donned lab coat and stethoscope. “Open your mouth and say ‘ah’.” He held a small wooden stick out towards Michael’s face.
I scanned him for magic, but unlike before, where he had no magic at all, he now had a steady flow of arcane energy streaming in his veins. I attempted to pull this energy out of him, but that only caused him to scream a bloodcurdling cry of agony, which halted my attempts.
Moments later Michael stopped writhing on the ground, instead becoming eerily still. I took a tentative step forward. But I had no need to move any closer because his head whipped up, suddenly looking around as if he were a scared animal.
“Michael, are yo-” before I could finish he was at my throat, holding me down against the ground.
“HOW COULD YOU!” he yelled in my face, spittle flying all over. “You lied to me, just like he did! Only you… your lie was much worse. How could you do that to a little filly? What would possess anyone—anything—to do something so horrible? What is wrong with you?” he whispered the last question with tears in his eyes.
“What?” I choked out, not understanding what he was saying.
“You administered your tests and you play dumb afterward.” He took a moment to think. The pressure on my neck decreased, followed by Michael standing up and walking over to Discord.
“What’s wrong? I don’t understand.” I coughed, trying to clear my throat.
“I’m going to stay with Discord. The lesser of two evils, as they say.” He turned his back to me. “Tie her up, and I’d appreciate it if you gagged her, too.” the words were hurtful, but the way he said them showed just how much pain he was in just saying them.
And my bindings were instantly replaced, along with some cloth in my mouth to discourage speech.
-----
MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW MOMENTS BEFORE
“Thank you for the food, now we should get go-” the world turned black as I was saying “going”. I took a moment to blanch at what had just happened.
“Well, now that you’re fed, I can show you the truth and what I mean when I say ‘freedom’.” Discord appeared in front of me out of the darkness. His face was that of dead seriousness.
“Discord, I know what you do to the ponies. If you are here to trick me again-” he cut me off.
“Of course not. I’m just here to show you the information that the Celestial Sisters have hidden from you. My secrets have been revealed, why not theirs?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“What secrets?” was the only thing I said before he motioned behind him.
I promptly vomited in the void.
Or I would have, if I were able to.
“What is that?” I gagged out.
“That is what the sisters have been doing to their subjects for over a thousand years. This pony has been exposed to a virus, one that mutates the host. If this is what you want to fight for, then be my guest, but know that if they win this battle they will continue this ‘research’ for the ‘better’ of pony-kind.” He did air quotes, but his face remained stern.
“How do I know that you’re not lying to me?” I asked, still not comfortable looking at the… thing before me.
The image changed, thankfully, this time to a normal stallion. “This is Inkwell.” Discord gestured to the pony. “He is the leader of Ellura, the company that conducts these experiments.” I watched as Inkwell walked down a hall, looking through panes of glass that held subjects in similar shape to the one shown before. It took all of my willpower not to gag once more. The image changed to show the same stallion walking down a hall that was much better furnished. He walked through a large set of doors that had a large sun symbol carved into it. “And this… is Celestia, Luna’s sister.” Discord said as a pair of guards opened the doors to uncover a normal sized horse with a pure white coat, wings, and a horn.
“No… this can’t be true!” I barked as I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the cold, hard facts that have been disclosed to me.
“It is true. And if you need more incentive…” he trailed off as I opened my eyes once more, only this time I couldn’t close them again.
It was madness. Pure, unaltered madness. Hundreds of ponies were strapped to tables or chairs and injected with several needles, their bodies thrashing around violently shortly afterwards. Some died on the spot, others kept thrashing for minutes, and others stopped. The ones that didn’t survived were… disposed of; the ones that did were hauled off. From there they were put in cells—like the ones I’d seen Inkwell walking past—and observed. When only a little time had passed their fur began to fall out, showing the rotten flesh beneath. Very few didn’t have some form of decay by the time they were next interacted with. After days, weeks, months, even, the subjects became brain dead or were shipped off to a facility where they’re put in combat situations. From there they’re deemed useful or disposable. The useful ones are dubbed B.O.Ws. You can guess what happened to the “disposable” category.
The view in front of me flashed pictures of ponies. But they weren’t ponies, they couldn’t be. How could something as beautiful as life ever be distorted into something so grueling? The pictures I had seen were enough to nearly make me go mad, for they were all dead, dying, or somewhere in-between.
Finally, it zoomed in on one image. This image was one of a little filly, no more than eight or nine years old, sitting in a white room. She didn’t move for a while, her head facing down so I couldn’t see her face, which made me think that the madness was finally over. That’s when I looked at the image more closely. There, at the very edge of the “screen” was a lump- no, two lumps. They were motionless, but fairly large—about the size of two fully-grown ponies.
Realization struck.
They were her parents.
She’d killed her own parents because of this thing.
And it was all the royal sisters’ faults.
The madness continued. For several hours, the madness continued. It never stopped, and the images were burned into my brain. The thousands of screams of agony, the hundreds of deaths, the willingness of the team that did this to the poor beings all bounced in my head like a sick rubber ball.
I cried. I cried for these ponies that had died for no reason.
The vision returned to the little filly in the cell. Suddenly a pony in a hazmat suit burst in, put a metal collar on her neck, and pulled her out of the room forcefully. She struggled the whole way, screaming incoherently. Somewhere in the garble of her shouts I swear I heard “mommy” and “daddy”, but I’ll never be sure.
A voice tickled my ear, but the sound it emanated was not humorous in the slightest.
“Her name was Christina.”
Alright... I need to say this. Michel was an IDIOT to agree with the pancakes. I mean COME ON! Doesn't he remember that hes dealing with Discord? Luna already lead his way to see what Discord was really doing. I think he should have been a little more cautious. At least a LITTLE bit!
YAY!!! murder them! MURDER THEM ALL!!! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!! Did I over do it?... nah
4669430
Additionally, he has NO confirmation that any of this is true. From Michaels point of view it COULD be true (after all, Michael doesn't know the sisters any better than he knows Discord), but they are on opposing sides and Discord has already proven himself to be both untrustworthy and a master of illusion. Why not an outright liar as well? Oh wait, that's right, Michael already knows he's a liar too. If he's gullible enough to fall for this without doing any of his own investigating then he's really not that smart.
Damn dude.
4669467
but is it really a lie?
4669430
have you ever spent a day and a half fasting? no? then shut up. (sorry )
people get hungry, and Discord put a spell on the pancakes (hence the visions Michael was shown) that also made them seem more enticing. it was ambient magic that matched the airs magical wavelength so Luna wouldn't suspect it.
4669459
of course not.
Crossover...
4669467
4669820
read my message. now, add on the fact that Discord is sprinkling a bit of his "discording" power into this. Michael won't be acting like himself for the next few chapters.
4669516
what?
4669639
what?
4669836 Just saying, that the stuff he saw was crazy. That's what I always say when something insane happens to me.
4669888
yep, he's seen some crazy s***. he was inches from going insane himself.
You know, if Michael sees two sides as lying assholes, then he should just stay neutral from now on.
4669990 What was in those pancakes anyways? I kinda want some.
For a friend obviously.
4670072
one with his powers would get sucked in eventually, and if he stays neutral then the princesses might win. he doesn't want that.
4670075
um... just... just normal pancake... ingredients... yeah...
lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gI3EvxlQuwo/Tod6gq6M0TI/AAAAAAAAQDI/YMZxh1R8DFw/s500/Completely%252520Honest.gif
Alright, all caught up. So far, I love it. The main character is bit interesting in the retrospect that he is so easily condemned through discords manipulations but it gives us a sense of bewilderment and fascination to see where it will lead through the story of his past, and why he has come to still sit by Discords side. Which brings me to my second notion, the perspective/time shifts throughout the story between characters, and the past and present is very smooth, and easy to follow. A lot of other authors could easily confuse and lose their readers there, but you are doing very well at keeping this all fluent and coherent. Kudos, mate. Looking forward to more
4670558
thanks! i like to think i do an ok job.
4669467
Discord: "This is the absolute truth...(in another universe)"
4670728
*ahem-exactly-what-has-happened-ahem*
i don't know what you're talking about.
...Well that was a bit sudden.
4671658
Yep.
It's the Mercer virus!
Edit: Nevermind. Came to a conclusion too quickly and posted this before I read the rest.
I've been playing & reading too much Prototype stuff..
4667226 Ok...
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSxss_OQNghLfrUj3Zm4vP85xawA344ItY79EXjpVXhgD2uoXE1dg
This chapter annoyed me so much.
Why would he accept the pancakes? It feels like it was all for plot convenience...
And the 'Evil person kills children' thing is so cliche.
4671867
that's ok, worse mistakes have been made.
4671789
so could Michael.
4672019
... meh, milkshakes are just as good.
4672061
1. have you gone a day and a half without food? seriously, have you had a point in your life where you've been fasting for 36 hours? Michael has just done this, so to him those pancakes are a god sent.
2. have you watched Fate/Zero? one of the main-ish characters's main shtick is killing kids. it's gruesome.
i watched this episode right after i wrote the chapter about Michael untying Luna with his gun. scared the crap out of me.
4672778 Pwease make your decision
4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xw9L4mq__J4/UCNlM_UodXI/AAAAAAAAKjg/e9Z5ScpU4Mw/s640/woona_wants_snuggles_by_zedrin-d5aj6k8.png
4672813
Aggghhh it just felt bad. He could have easily picked up some food from Las Pegisus. The fact that he was extremely annoyed then instantly like"oh food? Cool, sure!" made it very weirdly read.
4672061
As the creator of this universe that Discord showed Michael I think I can shine some light.
You see, what Ellura's doing is not simply 'killing' children. Or a child, because so far they've only acquired one.
Fillies/colts have a unique magic all their own, wild, untamed, and unpredictable. To Ellura, they are not fillies, but experiments, they don't see them as ponies, they see them as a possible variable they can use to create a new virus, one that they can use on other ponies to further their own ends.
I think that the really f**ed up situation here that's getting to Michael is not the fact that they simply 'killed a foal', but they corrupted her so beyond pony intelligence that she killed and ate her own parents in a fit of hunger, and then continued to use and experiment on her for nothing more than jsut to 'see what would happen' so to speak
As for the pancakes part I can't explain that, it's his story not mine
edit: It's not even alone the fact that they did this to a filly, what they're doing to everypony is wrong and disgusting in every way, which is why Michael is so upset by it.
4670647 Indeed, and as the ancients from my homeland would say "Keep on trucking, big wheel"
how dare you youse that food...how dare you to youse pancakes to show someone pain and misery, DISCORD!!
4672820
what am i deciding!? which is cutest?! because if that's the case then ALL OF THEM ARE THE CUTEST!!
4672905
i think it was more "oh food... well, maybe just this time, just cus i'm so hungry.", but to each his own.
4673036
this is exactly right. read this instead of my post because he actually knows what he's talking about.
4673184
um... thanks? i think.
but seriously, thanks.
4673821
yep, he's a sick bastard, ain't he?
4674132 yes he is, but know I wont to see him burn in the hellfire's of the pancake god instead of just dying.
4674169
well, when he does die you and your gods can have him. though i'm not sure when the immortal chaos incarnate would die.
4674179 he will die by my hand that is how a immortal's like him die.
4674247
keep telling yourself that, Hercules.
4674267 Hercules? I'm no Hercules but I will kill him when he is in stone by throwing him in lava.
4674285
... i guess that would work, though i'm not sure Celestia would allow it.
4674289 to bad for her.
4674296
: Yeah, i don't think i can allow you to kill -- or attempt to, anyway -- the spirit of chaos. it would wreak havoc on our world, allowing that much chaos magic to flow freely.