The Discordian's Daughter

by Pumpkin Patch

Appendix A: Deleted Chapter

Author's Note: I wrote this chapter with the intent of it being a Prologue to Part 1. However, after writing it, I decided that it revealed too much of the backstory far too early. Still, I was very proud of it and wanted to include it in the story somewhere. At this point, I was planning on making it the Epilogue to Part 2 since I thought it would make a touching conclusion. After I finished writing Part 2, however, I decided that I wanted the story to end on a happy note and this chapter went too far in the opposite direction. So, I reluctantly cut it out of the main story entirely and put it here as a bonus.

Her eyelids were heavy, but she forced them open anyway. At first, all she saw was a collage of blurry colors, but slowly her eyes adjusted, bringing the sight before her into focus. She was laying on a dark stone floor. Sitting and on the floor near her was a syringe with remnants of a blue liquid in it and standing next to that was familiar set of gray hooves. She tried to lift her head up to look at their owner, but her head was even heavier than her eyelids. The most that she could do was move her eyes upward.

She saw that standing over her was a pony donning the remains of what had been a red sweater vest. The vest was now torn and tattered, as if its wearer had just wrestled with a bear. And its wearer’s facial expression supported that possibility. His eyes were widened to their limit and his jaw hung open as he breathed heavily. He was an older pony as his crooked bifocals and fading blonde mane indicated. Now, however, he had even more wrinkles on his face than usual.

It took every ounce of effort in her to speak. “Da...Daddy?” is all she could get out.

After she spoke, the old mare’s breathing began to normalize and his face slowly retracted from absolute terror to calm but genuine concern. “Are...are you...back?” He asked.

She was regaining her strength, though not as quickly as she wanted. Now able to move, she began gradually adjusting herself with the intention of standing up. “Yeah..yeah I am.” She confirmed. “How bad was it this time?”

Her father didn’t answer, but as she slowly made her way to standing up, her eyes were given a chance to better survey their surroundings and those surroundings spoke for themselves. The laboratory looked like it had been condemned for years. All of the wooden shelves were splintered and broken, with most lying on the ground in disarray. Books and papers were scattered throughout and many of them were not in one piece either. The debris was all coated with the shattered glass from beakers and bottles and painted with the splattering of the chemicals that were in them.

She had been struggling to regain her energy, but now the site of all this had shocked her back to normal. There had been some incidents before, but not like this. What was worse, though, was that it dawned on her why her father’s vest was so disheveled .

She quickly turned back to him. “Daddy! Daddy...I didn’t hurt you again, did I?”

Her father closed his eyes and took a deep breath before calmly stating “I’m fine, child. And don’t worry about the lab. I should have prepared better. It’s been worsening each time it happens.”

This did little to calm her fears. “What are we going to do? If it gets any worse, it’s going to make it outside!”

“I know.” Her father replied plainly.

This was followed by an uncomfortable silence, a silence that only grew more painful as the moments went by. Exactly how much time was passing she couldn’t say. Her mind was too occupied, and her heart too broken. She knew what her father was thinking. He was thinking about a solution to their problem that they had discussed before. However, both of them had hoped it would never have to be discussed again.

The old mare stepped forward, getting as close to her as he physically could, and then opened his eyes to face his daughter.

She lifted up her eyes to look straight into his. They were glazed with the water of tears waiting to form, and she could feel that hers were too.

Her father’s lips stammered as he tried to let out the words he didn’t want to say. “We...have no choice.”

The tears broke free from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “I know.” She began to tremble. She knew what this meant for her. It meant pain and isolation, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. The worst part was that it meant potentially losing her memory. Everything and everypony that was precious to her could evaporate, including the memory of the loved one standing before her now.

She began to tremble. She couldn’t take it anymore. She lunged herself at her father, embracing him with every ounce of energy in her being. “I don’t want to forget you, Daddy! I love you, Daddy!”

Her father didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. He returned her embrace twofold, clinging to her as if they were competing for the tightest squeeze. His tears were flowing now, too, and dripping onto his child.

They held onto each for a seemingly eternal moment, then the old mare finally had enough will to speak. “It...it’s only potentially. And I promise..I swear..that I will find a solution, and get you out of there before it has a chance to do that.

The silent hug continued only briefly, before it was canceled out by her father’s remorseful sobbing. “I am so sorry I brought you into this...Willow..”