You Wouldn't Believe Me if I Told You

by PinkiePiedPiper

Chapter 5: Dark Horizons

Here is the disclaimer: I don’t own MLP: FiM, aside from my Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack figures. Oh, oops! I don’t own the RIGHTS to MLP: FiM. That belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro.

You Wouldn’t Believe Me if I Told You

Chapter 5: Dark Horizons

Suddenly, as they sat in sullen silence, a fourth figure shrouded in a plume of green and red smoke made an appearance in the center of their circle. They would have reared back in surprise, but not one of them could move.

As the smoke cleared, they all recognized the newcomer, who promptly broke into a maniacal laugh.

“Muahahahaha! It is so nice to see you two again, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash! I have missed playing with you these past few years. We simply do not catch up often enough.”

Twilight and Rainbow could only motionlessly glare at him.

“Oh bother that Sauron and his paralysis spells; takes all of the fun out of gloating.” Discord continued, frowning emphatically and stroking his beard. He then turned to Steve, who had been sitting behind him the whole time so far.

“You and I, on the other hand, have not met.” He moved toward Steve, placed one arm around his shoulders and pressed his head to the side of his own. A sharp pain shot into Steve’s head as he felt a vile, foreign presence enter his mind. It groped around his thoughts and memories slowly, searching for and discovering ever deeper information. The presence voiced distinctly in his head, “I simply love making new acquaintances; you never know what they will do or how they are going to turn out. It’s beautifully chaotic, don’t you think?”

Do you find chaos in everything?

“Yes, indeed I do. Chaos can make even the dullest of situations and people more interesting. You humans base all of your entertainment on chaos as I do. Your video games, movies, shows; everything begins boring and orderly until something extraordinary disrupts the peace. That is chaos, and chaos is wonderful!”

Before Steve could think up a response, Discord severed the mental link and shifted back to the center of the 3 friends. Steve noticed that he had left his arm around his shoulders. This did not seem to faze Discord, as he would often leave various limbs in different locations just to mix things up.

“I am going to give you two ponies your beloved distinguishing body parts back, but mind you they are just for show. I’ll have no magicry or flying around. It won’t work, so you may as well not even try.”

Twilight’s horn and Rainbow’s wings reappeared immediately, returning the comfortable and familiar weight of their presence to their respective owners. Rainbow nearly cried again.

“Now listen up, my little ponies, and brony of course. Sauron and I have come up with a fun little game we can play. To be totally honest, it was nearly all me; that guy lost his imagination around the same time as the rest of his body. Anyways,” he continued as he conjured a cushioned stool with one leg and perched on the top, “here is the game!”

He motioned as if he was attempting to clap, but he currently only had the one arm. With a snort, he detached his left leg and placed it where his wayward limb should have been and continued.

He clapped his mismatched appendages together with the sound of a foghorn, and a puff of flower petals enveloped the three immobile participants, blocking out their view of anything else. When the petals cleared, they were no longer sitting on their square of floating sod, but rather were standing on the edge of a forest at the top of a rolling hill. Steve, noticing he could now move, looked around himself at the new surroundings. Beyond the hills and the forested area, he saw a huge ring of jagged stone cliffs, effectively trapping them in a gigantic bowl. On the upper edge of the rim stood the huge black tower still holding its sole ocular occupant.

While Steve was noticing this change, Twilight and Rainbow were occupied with an even stranger, more worrisome sight. Lying prone and unconscious on the grass just down the hill from them were ponies. More ponies. Lots of ponies, perhaps two dozen of them.

“Rainbow, are you seeing this?” Twilight inquired worriedly.

“I wish I wasn’t, Twi. They look as if they were summoned right out of their beds! This cannot be a good thing for anypony of us.” She replied.

The nearest tree at the edge of the forest made a shuddering sound. The three spun and stared as the bark peeled off, and the wood split in two down the middle. Amidst the carnage was Discord, upside down, doing single handed push-ups.

“Oh, but it is a good thing, my dear Rainbow Dash,” Discord said with a twisted grin. “And now it is time to explain why, after these lazy ponies get up that is.”

With that, he sank into the ground, only to emerge as a large flat sheet underneath the sleeping ponies. He then raised his head suddenly and brought it back down right after, sending an undulating wave along his length, sending two dozen abruptly awakened ponies sprawling and screaming into the air. Each one landed rather softly, however; bowing the ground they hit as if it were a stiff version of a trampoline.

“No sense in injuring anypony before the game has even started, am I right?” Discord said with a laugh, collapsing into his regular form with a quack.

All of these sound effects make it really hard to take this guy seriously, Steve thought.

As the various ponies found their balance and some form of stability, Discord whipped up a podium and lectern higher up on the hill than Steve, Twilight and Rainbow, with everypony else just slightly behind them.

“Hello everypony! As you may remember from a few short years ago, I am Discord, the very Spirit of Chaos, rightful ruler of the land you call ‘Equestria’.” He made a bit of a grimace as he spat out that last word. “Welcome to Battle Royale.”

An uneasy chatter broke out in the crowd as none of the ponies in attendance got the reference; even Twilight had a confused look on her face. Steve did get it; he got it all too well. A heavy weight fell in his gut as he realized just what was going to happen to all of these peaceful, loving, and friendly ponies he had become so fond of in the past year on earth. But they would find out what lay ahead soon enough.

He felt like throwing up.

Discord continued, the sound of his voice silencing all other chatter. “Each pony is to receive a pack of supplies containing the following: some food, water, first aid, a random weapon, and a neck belt adorned with a star. Everypony will then be sent to a random place in the valley to begin the game.”

Suddenly, everypony felt a weight on their backs as they each received a set of saddlebags, and tightness as a belt cinched itself around their necks. A single golden star sat sparkling in the center. Steve stood awkwardly as the saddlebags fell off and the belt hung loosely around his neck, as his neck was much thinner than a pony’s.

“Now you may be wondering what the point of those belts are.” Discord went on with little pause. “Those stars signify your points. Should one of you ponies kill another, the victor must touch the belt of the fallen, and he shall receive all of the loser’s accumulated stars. As the game is set to be over in a week, only the three ponies with the highest number of stars at that time will be allowed to leave alive.”

A revolted murmur swept through the crowd. Murder was not a common thing in Equestria, almost unheard of. In fact, Twilight had read the newspapers every day for the past 10 years, and only one account of murder had been recorded in that time. Princess Celestia had seen to his punishment personally with a one way trip to the moon, and regular ponies cannot survive there for very long.

It was then that Discord noticed that Steve was fumbling with his unwieldy equipment.

“Oh my, that will not do, not in the slightest! We simply must do something about this. What do you think, my little brony?” Discord said with a grin.

Steve, unable to think of anything clever to say, or anything stupid for that matter, nodded dumbly.

“Excellent!” Discord clapped once again and Steve was enveloped in a black cloud of vapour. Everypony took a step back, their jaws hanging open in fear and surprise. Twilight and Rainbow cried out in fear and worry and took another few steps back due to their proximity to the happening; both dreading what was to come next.

Steve on the other hand was not aware of anything at the moment. As soon as the black fog had blocked out his vision he had passed out entirely, totally oblivious to the changes he was undergoing.

Discord let loose a good laugh as the dark mist dissipated, revealing an unconscious steel blue male pegasus with a red mane in the place of their friend Steve. The colt was wearing a black vest and black shoes on his hind hooves. A set of saddlebags and belt rested easily on his form.

Realization dawned on Twilight, and she sped across the short distance towards the downed stallion. Rainbow followed close behind.

“That colt didn’t replace Steve,” shouted Twilight to Rainbow Dash, “that IS Steve!”

They both stopped by his side, and Twilight prodded him to get up.

Rainbow blurted “He’s cute.”

Twilight froze and glared at her.

“What? Can’t a single mare call a colt cute?”

“But he’s not a pony, Dash, he’s a human!”

“Not anymore he’s not.” She said with a grin “HE is a cutie… and YOU are blushing!”

“I am not!” she said with a swing of her forehoof.

…which connected with Steve in the ribs.

“Ooomph! Oww! What was that for, can’t a guy get some sleep around…”

His voice faltered as he looked up at the girls. “What’s up?” he asked as he got up. But he did not get up as far as he was used to. His eyes stopped just higher than theirs were. He looked down. He saw hooves. He began breathing quicker.

Rainbow put a leg around his neck. “It’s OK. Calm down, don’t panic. We can figure this…”

“AWESOME!” Steve exploded in happiness, taking a leap into the air and knocking Rainbow off to the side. “I’m a pony now!” He landed on the ground once again and focussed on his forehead. No horn. Oh well. So he proceeded to glance behind himself, only to be greeted with a set of steel blue wings. BOOYAH!

“No freakin’ way! I’m a red and blue pegasus! This is way too cool!” He turned to Rainbow and Twilight, who were not only still shocked by his transformation, but also by his unexpected response to the revelation. “How do I look?”

“You look good, I guess.” Rainbow said reluctantly. Twilight shot her a smug look. “I mean, relatively speaking. You know, like, better than a human kind of good,” She finished awkwardly.

“That’s a relief!” Steve said smiling, letting out a sigh and a chuckle. “I’d hate to be a pony and end up as an ugly one!”

Discord, pleased at his handiwork, resumed with his announcement. “The games will start in one hour. Do not look inside your, or somepony else’s bag until after the game has started, or you will be eliminated, and we all know what that means.” He paused and smiled maliciously. Everypony gulped nervously. “In the meantime, you ponies get acquainted. I’d suggest making alliances now, and size up the competition! So long, my little ponies!”

And he was gone.

Comments

[PinkiePiedPiper]

Well, im back from cambodia and ready to write. this story has a long way to go, so stay tuned for the next installment, probably in the next few days.

[Paladin Redflare]

Death by Steve, INCOMING MORTAR!