• Published 28th Nov 2016
  • 3,315 Views, 92 Comments

Shelter: New Beginnings - Raikage77



From a world lost, to a life of beautiful loneliness. What wouldn't one girl do to have just one friend.

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Chapter 1: Chaos and Drawing

Chapter 1: Chaos and Drawing

~ ~ (Rin) ~ ~

The mountain range in the distance built itself up, pixel after pixel. She moved her pen along her computer tablet, creating lush green glass and numerous tall beautiful trees that formed into a forest around the glass walls of her bedroom. A large lake formed between the forest and the tall mountains, filling with sparkling blue water like a pool, the sunlight reflecting off the surface of the water.

There was so much more to create and countless other landscapes she could bring into existence with just the swipe of her pen. Soon, she would erase all of her art; the mountains, the forest, all of it, and make something new. She had always tried to make sure nothing was a repeat of something she had done before. No forest was ever the same and neither was the time of day, but it had begun to get more and more difficult after a while as time went on.

Rin was alone in this <world>. It all belonged to her and she could spend her days as she wanted. She was happy here, at least that's what she told herself. However, that couldn't be farther from the truth; Rin didn't hate her world by any means, but she was lonely, so very lonely that at times it seemed to swallow her like an ocean.

Things here never changed on their own. Nothing new happened without her involvement, and everyday was a repeat of the last, even if she tried to make sure that it never was; she'd wake up, check her messages on her tablet, create a new world, big and vast and explore that world until she got bored, then she would go back to her room, sometimes take a long, hot bath, maybe read one of her picture books afterward, then go to bed. Then wake up and repeat the same thing.

It got repetitive. Rin would have lost count of how many days had passed had it not been for her tablet keeping track of it all.

Rin sighed and leaned back into her comfy plush chair, starring out at her world through the clear walls of her room. This would be so much better, if I had someone to share this with, she thought. The young girl wanted someone to talk with, to laugh with, to share her world with. She didn't need everything to herself, and she would gladly share her world if it meant having someone to talk to, even for just a little while.

She got up from her chair, ready for another day of exploring and playing in her created world. Rin look down at the drawing on her tablet and began making a few last minute adjustments. She pressed her pen against her drawing of mountains and moved it to the other end of the forest, closer to the lake; outside of her room, the mountains lifted, glittering pixels sparkling underneath them, moving across the sky and set down in the new area.

Rin couldn't help but take another quick glance at the <messenger> tab on top left corner of her tablet screen. <No messages in 2532 days .> During her first days in her world, she never really thought much about not having anyone to play with. She was always entertained in someway, and always had an idea of what she wanted to draw and create, it was complete bliss, a child's paradise. However, that feeling of bliss didn't last for long; she started to get lonely, so much so she'd cry sometimes. She tried making others, people like her to play with, and even animals to love and care for.

But, they never turned out right. They would appear just like everything else she drew, but they didn't talk or even move, they just stood there like statues, doing nothing and that made her feel even worse. It was the same result making animals. So, she stopped drawing living things all together and started starring at the tablet messenger every morning when she woke up, during the day, and before she went to sleep.

No one ever sent her anything, not even a simple 'hello'. “What's the use of having a messenger, when no one sends any messages?” She had asked more than once, and she never got an answer.

Sighing again with sadness in her eyes, Rin double tapped her drawing and white light covered her vision, then she found herself out of her bedroom, just outside of the large forest she created. The warm breeze blew against her, moving her long pinkish hair. The lonely girl hugged the tablet to her chest and stepped through the rose bushes into the forest.

There no sound other than the sound of the wind and the rustling of leaves. No matter how good the landscapes she made were, she could never shake the feeling that something was missing for her creations.

No animals. She thought, simply. All the picture books she read from her tablet, said that the forest was supposed to be full of birds chirping and chipmunks running up and down trees and bears and so many other animals she had never seen outside of photos, and some she had never even heard before.

What did chirping birds sound like? Do they all sound different from each other? Where real bears as cuddly as her teddy bear, Taro-chan, and did they like to play? She had so much she wanted to know about, things that picture books and photos would never let her experience.

Then there came a tapping sound.

Rin stopped and blinked. What is that? The girl thought, turning in the direction of the noise. This sound was something new, something she had never heard before ever in her forest and it made her curious. She began walking at first, then running towards the sound, a smile spread on her lips as the sound got closer and closer. She hopped over tree stumps and rocks, through some bushes and found herself in a small clearing.

A clearing that she didn't remember making in this part of the forest. In front of her was the oddest looking tree she had ever seen. The truck was thin and white, with a streak of red swirling up to the tips of its branches, and from those branches sprouted pink fluff that acted as leaves or flowers, with white fruit covered in pink dots. When did I draw this? She looked down at her tablet, unsure. “I didn't make this, did I?”

“Of course you didn't.” A voice suddenly came from overhead. Rin gasped and turned her head up, finding the strangest creature she had ever seen looking down at her. “That,” the creature chuckled. “Would be me my doing.” Rin spun around, more than a little speechless, and just starred. The thing was floating. She couldn't even float and she controlled everything in the <world>. “What's wrong, cat got your tongue? Though, I guess I can't blame you,” digging his lion paw into his mouth, the creature then pulled out an actual, living cat with black and orange fur. The cat hissed at him and jump from his paw, pranced up to her and began rubbing its head against her leg, purring. “Cats get my tongue quite often.”

Rin glanced down at the cat, watching as it went from nuzzling her leg to curling up into a ball by her feet.

The young girl truly could not find the words to speak, for the longest time, she had thought about the things she would say if she met someone else, something else. The games they would play, the things they would do. Now, she was so nervous, she had no idea what to reply with.

“You know, starring is kinda rude,” the creature pointed out.

Was it rude? Maybe it was, but Rin couldn't see how that was.

Say something! Say something! Someone is finally here! Rin yelled at herself, glancing down at her toes. “I-I-I, um-.”

“Yes, you what?”

“I-I'm Rin,” she stuttered out, meekly.

“Ah~ Rin,” the creature floated over to her, causing the girl to take a few steps back, “ a pleasure. I'm Discord, Lord of Chaos, Bringer of Pandemonium, Spirit of Disorder, Master of Mischief and titles and titles and titles,” Discord stuck out his paw, grinning widely. Rin just starred at the paw, then back up at him. “What, no handshake?”

“Handshake?” The girl questioned. “What's that?”

“You can't be serious,” the spirit said, raising an eyebrow. “You know, a handshake? The shaking of hands, a gentleman's grip, a friendly shake? No one's ever taught you that?”

The girl shook her head. “N-no,” she said, meekly. “I don't have any friends.”

“No friends, huh.” Discord then shrugged his shoulders. “Oh well, that's too bad. So what do you do for fun around here ...Rin, was it?”

She gave a nod. “I draw,” the pinkish haired girl answered. “And explore.”

“Anything else?”

“I-I sleep.”

“Sleeping,” Discord mused, putting pawed finger to his chin. “There's no fun in sleeping, not really. My sleeping, sure, but normal sleeping isn't much fun. Though, there are dreams, I guess.”

Rin glanced down at her tablet, then back up at the strange creature. His slender, snake like body and right lion arm and left eagle talon. He was made up of so many different animal parts, it was like someone took a hand full of animals from her picture books and fused them at random. “Um, did I, make you, somehow?”

Discord turned his head. He looked down at her for a long moment, making her very nervous. Then, he burst into laughter. Rin couldn't remember what a laugh sounded like that wasn't hers. “You, make me,” the creature said. “Now, that is funny!”

“But, If I didn't make you, then where did you come from?” Rin asked, tilting her head to the side. “Nothing can exist here without me drawing it first.”

“Is that so?” The young girl nodded, slowly. “Well, that sounds interesting. How about show me some of your drawings.”

Rin blinked. “R-really? You want to see me draw?”

“Of course,” Discord said, snapping his fingers. Rin's eyes went wide with wonder, as an artist outfit flashed onto his body and a hat atop his head, with a paint brush in his talon. “I'm also quite the artist, if I don't say so myself.”

“How did you do that?”

Discord grinned. “I can do many things, my dear. It comes with being, well, me,” he said, proudly. “Now, about that drawing.”

“Um ...okay,” Rin looked down at her tablet and tapped the screen with her finger on the <pen> option, causing her drawing tool to appear from tiny sparkling, pixels. She took hold of the pen and used it to tap the <erase> option on the screen. The mountains, forest, and everything surrounding the two, expect for Discord's tree and the black cat, began to fade away like dust, pixel by pixel until there was nothing but a void of white.

Rin took a seat down on the white surface, and bent her knees, using her legs to support her tablet. She tapped the back of the pen against her temple. What should I make? I've never had someone watch me draw before. She smiled at the thought. I actually have someone to watch me draw. Rin didn't want to do anything random, she wanted to do something nice, something way better than anything she had ever done. I'll draw ...a beach and a beautiful sea.

And so, she brought her pen down to the tablet screen, and started to create her world with practiced ease. The first thing she did was set the weather, a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds but not too many, with the sun shinning down. As the world around them began to build itself around the girl and chaos spirit, Rin took a moment to glance over, seeing Discord looking over her shoulder. She turned her eyes back to the tablet and continued drawing.

The sand that appeared underneath her was a whitish brown, and tall palm trees with deep green leaves and brown coconuts digitally grew from the ground. She pressed her pin to the screen and picked up a few trees, placing them where she felt they should be, just as sea came rolling in like a tide, licking at the sand a few feet from her toes, sparkling in the sunlight as if made of sapphires.

The breeze blew against Rin's pinkish hair with the smell of the sea. She got up and turned to her guest, as weird as that word sounded to use. A guest. I have a guest! She hugged the tablet to her chest, shyly. “So, w-what do you think?”

“Hmm,” Discord gave a causal gaze at the landscape. “It alright. Impressive, really, being able to create all of this,” he then pointed a talon at her computer tablet. “And you can do all of this by drawing on that?”

Rin nodded. “Yes, I can do everything on here.”

“I see,” Discord said. “Well, as good as your world building skills are, you're missing something that would make this better. The icing on the cake, the cherry on the sundae.”

“Really,” she looked at her tablet screen. “What am I missing?”

“You, my dear, are missing a fair bit of chaos,” Discord said with a wide grin. “Luckily for you, I happen to be an expert,” the Spirit of Chaos snapped his talons and the enter world began to change in the most bizarre ways. The sand under the young girls feet now had a black and red checker pattern, tall palm trees became chocolate trees holding marshmallows and clouds turned pink and the sea, from sparkling blue to chocolate brown and the sun overhead had a large smile and blushing cheeks. Even the air itself now held a sweet scent.

During the whole chaotic change, Rin watched in awe. For so long she had been the only one who could change the world around her. But, this was new, and though it was odd and strange, to her it was also exciting.

“Amazing,” she said, softly, looking at the alter environment. “This is absolutely amazing.”

“Thank you,” Discord said. “I'll tell you, finding someone who appreciates chaos is a hard.” He leaned closer to her. “And between you and me, I'm sure you'd cause quite a bit of chaos where I come from.”

“Where do you come from?”

“Oh, a little place a few dimensions over. Chaosville is my neck of the woods, but when I'm not there I'm in Equestria, having tea with Fluttershy, or helping out ol' Celestia with her subjects needs from time to time,” Discord said.

"What were you doing before that?"

"Its a long story, honestly."

"We could have tea, and you can tell me about it," Rin said, meekly. She had read once that tea was something a good person did for their guest. Wait, I don't know how to make tea. She suddenly realized.

"Tea time, hm," the Chaos Lord pulled up his lion paw fur like a sleeve, looking at a watch. “Well, I guess I could stay a little while. I have to be getting back soon, from the looks of it.” The draconequus snapped his talons and two chairs, one looked like an expensive pink chair and the other looked like it was a throne fit for a king. A small round, gingerbread table was between the chairs, holding a pink teapot, teacups and two plates of sliced cake with white icing, appeared on the beach near them. Rin starred at the setup, until Discord told her. "Have a seat, my dear."

Rin took a seat in the normal looking chair and Discord sat on the throne, the teapot sprouted thin black legs and moved around the table, pouring tea into each teacup. So strange, but I like it. Rin thought, smiling. Discord is truly something amazing, I can't even do stuff this amazing. The young girl watched in wonder, and looked up, about to ask something of Discord, when a voice spoke, that didn't belong to her or her guest.

"Ah, you are very pretty, ma'am," Rin looked down and saw the filled and steaming teacup starring up at her. "Your hair is nice as well, love the sparkles."

"Um ...t-thank you," she said, blinking at the teacup.

"You're quite welcome, ma'am," the teacup turned around with its handle facing her. "You can drink from me if you wish."

Rin gently picked the cup up with her index and middle finger, the steam of the sweet smelling tea raising to me her nose, almost as if it were alive. She brought it to her lips and took a sip; her eyes widened, for the first time ever since waking up in her world, she could taste something. Rin didn't need to eat or drink, she never got hungry so food never seemed that important to her and even if she did draw food, it never had any taste. But, this ...this actually tastes like something. Rin lowered her teacup and picked up the fork near her slice of cake, then dug her fork into it and took a bite.

The flavor was magical, and familiar, right on the tip of her tongue. She had eaten this type of cake before and whatever the connection was, it made her sad and happy at the same time. Inside her head, she could see the flash of a man's face, and hear voices.

"Happy birthday, Rin."

"Wow~ a teddy bear! Thank you, Papa!"

"Are you alright?" Discord asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rin looked up at him. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, the sudden water works," Discord reached behind his back and pulled out a mirror and held it in front of her.

Tears were flowing down her cheeks and she hadn't even noticed. Rin wiped her eyes with her hand, both confused by the emotions she felt and the image that flashed in her head. "S-sorry," she said, shyly.

"No need to apologize, I won't belittle you for crying over good cake," Discord said, picking his slice of cake up in his paw and taking a bite. "Now, you said you wanted to hear my story?"

Rin gave a nod. "Yes, please."

"Then I'll start from the beginning of my reign over Equestria," Discord said. He cleared his throat and continued. "Long ago in a distant land I, Discord, ruled over the ponies of Equestria with an iron fist, and by iron fist, I mean chaos-."

~Some Time Later~

"And so, I turned everything back to boring, old normal, got to stay friends with Fluttershy, and found out that friendship wasn't as bad as I had first thought," Discord sipped the last of his tea and tossed the cup, causing an small mushroom cloud explosion behind him.

"So, they turned you to stone just for making the world the way you wanted," Rin mused, taking another bite of her cake. "That's kind of mean."

"Really, now," the chaos lord asked, looking amused.

"Yeah, I mean, I make the world the way I want all the time and no one ever showed up to turn me into a statue."

Discord chuckled. "That's because no one else is here, my dear. You have this little reality all to yourself," he suddenly floated up from his throne-like seat. "In fact, I really shouldn't intrude on you anymore than I already have. Its time to take my leave."

“You're leaving?” Rin stood up quickly, her eyes widened. “So, soon? B-but you just got here.”

The thought of being alone scared her. They hadn't talked long, not even an hour, but for the first time in forever, Rin felt that she wasn't alone and, maybe, she could finally make a friend.

Now, she was about to be all alone, again. Discord might not even come back for a long time, if he even came back at all. Rin glanced down at her tablet's messenger. <No messages in 2532 days.> She had always told herself that she was happy and perfectly fine, that she didn't feel lonely at all. That's a lie. She told herself.

“Yes, a shame, this setup you've got here isn't that bad.”

I don't want to stay here alone. Not again. Rin thought. She looked up at the mismatched creature. “Is there no way to make you stay? We could play games, or-or draw some more. I even have books.”

“Afraid not, I'm on a bit of a tight schedule,” Discord said, pulling a calendar from behind his back and showing it to the girl. “See, tea time with Fluttershy tomorrow, and I can't keep her waiting.”

“T-then, then,” she paused for a moment. She felt like crying, but she held it in as best she could. “Then take me with you.”

Discord raised an eyebrow. “You want me, to take you to Equestria?” She nodded. “Away from all of this, a world you can control and create anything with no rules or worries. You want to leave that behind?”

She nodded, again. “You said its easy to make friends where you come from. I don't have any friends, here its just me,” Rin let out a sob. “I don't want to be alone.”

Discord gave her a thoughtful look, his mismatch eyes starring at her. Then, he shrugged. “Fine.”

“Huh?”

“Fine,” Discord said. “If you want to go make a friend so badly. I'll take you.” The strange creature was caught off guard when the young girl suddenly climbed onto the table and hugged him.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Alright, lets calm down,” he said, wiggling his way out of her grasp. “You're getting tears in my coat.”

Rin rubbed the tears from her eyes and smiled. “S-sorry.”

“Remember what I said. No need for apologizes,” Discord said, before he added. “Now, how to send you there, you need to make an entrance, after all,” he thought for a good moment or two, then a small grin spread widely on his face, and he looked over at the girl. “I know exactly the place?” The draconequus snapped his talons and the world around them slowly began to fade from her vision, then she was falling down a long black tunnel covered in stars, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Above the hole in the ground, Discord waved to her, getting farther and farther away. "Until we meet again, Rin. Tata~!" Then he was gone in a flash and it was just her and the fast blur of sparkling pixels.

~ ~(Applejack)~ ~

It had been a good day on the farm, the apple ripe to enough to eat were bucked into baskets and squared away for selling, her brother Big Mac finally got around to fixing the hinges on the barn doors, and Granny Smith had made the best tasting dinner to end the day off with. After a shower and brushing her teeth, the apple farming mare made her way to her bedroom, ready to hit the hay.

The floor boards creaked a bit under her hooves with each step, not loud, but loud enough that anypony with good ears could pick it up. I outta repair these floor boards, too. The last thing we need is one of them breakin' and Granny gettin' hurt, Applejack thought. She made a mental note on that and entered her bedroom, removed her hat and plopped down on her mattress with a small sigh as she crawled under her huge blankets.

Applejack rolled onto her side, taking a short glance at the starry sky through her window and closed her eyes. "Hopefully, tomorrow is jus' as great as today was," she uttered. She was close to being fully sleep not long after.

However, she was not fated to sleep well this night.

A loud explosion went off in her ears and the ground shook like a giant had fallen just outside her house. Applejack was up the moment she heard it, a bit light headed from waking up so quickly, but the feeling soon wore off and she was out of bed and galloping towards the front door in seconds. Of course, the blonde mare wasn't the only one to be woken up by the sound.

"What in tarnation was that," Big Macintosh asked loudly, racing out the front door after his sister.

"How should I know," Applejack replied. "I just came out here like you."

The big, red farm pony looked up, spotting a vanishing smoke trail in the sky, heading over the farm house towards the orchard. "Well, whatever it was, it crashed over there," Big Mac said, pointing a hoof towards the orange light in the distance. "Started a fire from the looks of it. We should go check out the damage; I reckon we might be needin' a few rain clouds, too."

So much for ending the day on a good note, Applejack thought, frowning. "What about Apple Bloom and Granny?"

"I told 'em to stay inside until we got back. Lets hurry before the whole farm lights up!"

"Right behind ya!"

Applejack let the big red farm pony take the lead and they galloped towards the eastern most part of the farm, moving through the rows of huge apple trees like swift wind. As they got closer to the crash site, the smell of smoke and burning wood got stronger and stronger until they came upon it. Big Macintosh had been right, a fire had started; the tops of five apple trees were burning in a rage of red and orange flames, fruit and all, though some had fallen loss from their branches.

The sight made the blonde mare's heart sank. "Our apples are burnin', Mac!"

"I can see that, AJ," Big Macintosh said with a heavy heart. "Nothin' we can do about it now. The fires not spreadin', lets be thankful for that."

It took a moment for Applejack to notice. The five trees that were on fire were too far apart from the rest and as bad as she felt about losing the precious she had worked so hard to make sure grew big and strong, AJ knew her brother was right. It could have been much worse. The wind blew the dark smoke to the side, and the two farm ponies got a glimpse of something; big and black as the smoke itself and its bottom covered strange dull lights of red, blue and white, it had been perfectly hidden until just then.

Applejack trotted forward, her eyebrows narrowed as she focused on the object. "What the hay?"

"AJ, I don't think we should go near that thing," Big Mac said, cautiously. "Could be dangerous."

Applejack turned her head, about to respond to the older pony, when a loud series of beeps came from the object. She looked back at it, and Big Mac quickly trotted over protectively in front of her, despite his own warning. The beeping came to a stop a minute later, then the object let out a hiss and a cool, white mist pushed away the black smoke as, what could only be a door, lifted and groaned. The light from inside the objected blinded the two for a moment, causing them to cover their eyes and where they lowered their hoof, they saw it.

By Celestia. Applejack thought, taking a step back.

The thing came crawling out of the inside of the object, one thin limb after the other, and rolled down the object's long front until it hit the blackened earth below with a weak moan. The two farm ponies didn't move an inch and just starred as the odd creature weakly got to its knees and looked at the two with what Applejack could only guess was confusion and fear. Its body was much too thin and it was hairless, save for the long brown hair on its head that shrouded most of its pale skinned body illuminated by the flames of the burning trees. And it was much to close to the fire.

As odd as the thing looked, it seemed weak and harmless and was obliviously starving. Regardless of where it had come from, the last thing the blonde mare wanted was for it to get hurt by the flames close by. Applejack slowly trotted forward, until she was stopped by her brother.

"What are ya doin'," Big Macintosh asked, putting a hoof in front of her.

"What do you think, I'm tryin' to help it."

"We don't know whatit is."

"Well, we can't just leave it be, Mac," she said, pushing down his hoof and pointing at the creature. "I mean, look at it. Its more scared of us, than we are of it and I doubt it could put up a decent fight even if it wanted to. Beside, you're one of the strong ponies I know; something happens, your right here."

Big Macintosh glanced over at the odd creature, then let out a groan. "Fine ...just, be careful, AJ."

"I know."

Applejack turned her attention back to the thin creature and slowly made her way over to it as she would a frightened animal. The creature's eyes widened and it weakly back away from her against the black object it had come out of when she got too close, clutching something its chest. Is that a stuffed bear?" The blonde mare thought. It was. However, she decided to worry about the toy later. "Calm down, now, it's okay," Applejack said, softly. "I'm not gonna her ya none." The creature just starred at her, not saying a thing, so AJ continued. "Listen, its not safe right here-." A loud cracking from overhead caught her attention and Aj looked up just as Big Mac shouted.

"Applejack, move!"

Applejack looked up and gasped, just in time to see a thick, burning branch gradually coming loose, showing tiny embers of her and the creature. She moved before she could even think about it and reached out, taking the creature by one thin limp and yanked it forward into her and hopped out of the way only moments before the branched crashed where the creature had been sitting. AJ let out a huff. "Sweet applesauce, that was too close," then she looked down at the being in her hooves. "You alright?"

Wide brown eyes starred back up at her in utter silence, and as Big Macintosh came over to make sure she was alright, it spoke meekly and tilted its head, saying something Applejack was surprised she understood in the slightest.

"Is this ...Equestria," It asked. No, she said, the creature was obviously a young girl by the voice.

Applejack blinked. Not really sure how to respond to the girl thing. "I ...um, yeah, it is."

The girl let out a sigh and closed her eyes, her head leaning against the blonde mare's chest. "I'm glad," she uttered, tiredly.

When she suddenly went limp, Applejack feared the worse. "Hey, are you alright? Hey," only then did she notice its side still moving and feel quiet breaths on her coat. The girl had fallen asleep.

"Am I hearin' things, or did it just talk," Big Macintosh said.

Applejack nodded. The girl need some serious help, and there was still the fire to worry about. "We should get her to Ponyville General, she ain't lookin' so good."