Rough Edges

by NahB

Chapter Eins

“Hey, wake up,” a voice said with a hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me.

I awoke, yawning. I’d been taking a mid-day nap in the park, enjoying a wonderful autumn day with a perfect breeze and beautifully-colored leaves that signified a crisp, clean autumn.

Of course, when I opened my eyes, I quickly realized that I was no longer lying on a bench at the park. Somehow, I was no longer even in the park at all. “Where am I?” I asked quickly. I thought this was a reasonable question, considering that I was no longer in the place where I had fallen asleep.

“No clue,” the one who had awoken me said. I got a good look around. I was in a large, white, windowless room. Also lacked doors. Damn. I like doors. Past the impossibility of not having doors (how the hay did I get in here then?), it was quite a nice room. Fairly spacious. Suspicious, too.

Around the room were various people. Against a wall sat two girls, a teenaged one with dark skin and hair, while the other appeared to be in her twenties with pale skin and burnt orange hair. On the opposite side lay two more people – a professionally-clad man in his late thirties slept near a woman in a long nightie. I guessed she was in her early thirties. The man next to me appeared near my age with sandy hair and well-tanned skin. I sat up, rubbing my temples. Boy, I better not get a headache from this. I hate headaches. Headaches suck.

“You okay?” The man next to me asked. Reasonable question.

“Yeah,” I said, blinking rapidly to clear my vision, which was still sort of clouded because of a bad case of sleep. I cleaned my glasses, which I had accidentally worn when falling asleep, on my t-shirt, trying to avoid smudging the glass with my fingers. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. For some reason, we were all sleeping, and we were in this room upon waking up. Chrissie over there,” he said, pointing at the pale-skinned woman, “was the first to wake up.” At his words, she looked at me and gave a little wave. I smiled back. “Then she got Robin up, and then me. I’m Geoff,” he said, holding his hand out.

I looked around the room and gave him a firm handshake. “Jason,” I said, nodding at him and the two women against the wall. Robin seemed to be shaking while Chrissie sat next to her, but gave me a wan smile.

“So,” Chrissie said, an arm around Robin’s shoulders. “Where’re you from, Jason?”

I frowned, trying to place her accent. Geoff sounded like he was from the Midwest, like me. “Ohio, America. Is that a Scottish accent?”

She laughed. “Ah, good, glad to have a foreigner present who can recognize that.”

I looked at Geoff, who shrugged. “I guessed Irish,” he told me.

“Well, I was just taking a nap in a park. How about y’all?”

“Napping at home,” Geoff replied.

“Sleeping,” Chrissie told me. I probably should have guessed, she was wearing just a plain white T-Shirt and grungy sweatpants, and lacked shoes.

“I was sleeping too,” Robin replied. I knew that accent – straight out of Wisconsin. I had family there.

I shook my head. “Anybody find out what we’ve got in common for this to happen?”

“You’re taking this awfully well,” Chrissie noted, looking at me strangely.

“Call me jaded,” I replied with a little grin. Hell, I’d been asking for something strange to happen in my life for years. It’d just been granted to me – but of course, I wasn’t going to say that. “Maybe we should wake everyone up, see what’s going on,” I suggested. I mean, come on, maybe one of them knew something!

“That’s what we were doing,” Geoff told me. “We were going to get the girl up next.”

“Well, don’t let me stop you.” I pushed myself off the white ground, looking around the room. Were it not for the single light hanging from the ceiling and the people inside, I would easily lose myself in the solidarity of the room.

Nodding, Geoff sauntered over to the pair on the floor. He crouched down by the woman and gently spoke into her ear. I walked over near Robin and Chrissie and sat near them, away from Robin, who seemed nervous at my approach.

“Any theories?” I asked them, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, I was originally going to go with some sort of UN conspiracy,” Chrissie began, “but you’re really taking this extremely well. I panicked for a couple minutes before trying to wake someone up.”

Robin nodded, still nervous. Chrissie smiled at her and hugged her a little closer. “Robin here is still very shook up. Poor dear doesn’t seem to want to accept the situation.”

I frowned and watched Geoff crouch down next to the woman in the sleepwear. “I’d be nervous too, if I wasn’t me,” I said, not bothering to see what I knew would be a disapproving look. I gave a little laugh to show I wasn’t serious. Truth was, I was extremely bothered – what could possibly be going on here? Chrissie had a good thought – the UN doing this would account for us being together here, from all different locations. “Though, I’m not sure I’d like people talking about me like I wasn’t here. You okay, Robin?” I asked, looking at the girl.

She gave me a quick grin that convinced a grand total of no one, and nodded. My frown grew, but I looked over to Geoff and listened to him.

“Wake up, please. I really don’t want to have to touch you, it’s really weird,” he was saying.

“Apparently we only wake up by touch,” Chrissie added. “Geoff yelled in your ear for a good couple minutes.”

“Okay, fine,” he relented, and then crouched down. He put a hand on the woman’s shoulder, and she sat up with a gasp.

“What the hell are you doing in my – this isn’t my room! What the hell?!” She yelled out. I frowned, unable to place her accent, something I was usually proud of. Of course, the fact that my first thought had been that should tell you something about my priorities – they’re seriously messed up.

“Please, calm down,” Geoff said in a calm tone. “No one here is going to hurt you,” he said.

“What do you mean, here? Tell me what’s going on!” She screeched, looking at him with wild eyes. She scanned around the room, taking us in. “What the hell is this place? Why are all you people here?”

I decided not to butt in. This clearly was a situation for a level head, and I definitely didn’t have one right now. Seriously, yelling gets you nowhere, ever. Just makes you look like an idiot, and if I spoke right now, that would be the first thing coming out of my mouth. Clearly, that would be the worst possible thing right now, insulting her.

“Ma’am, if I knew that, I’d be a truly happy camper,” Geoff replied, standing back from the frantic woman.

It seemed like she finally took a moment to check her surroundings completely. Her gaze rocked across the three of us against the other wall, seeming at ease (except for Robin’s nervousness). She looked again at Geoff, with a softer, but still suspicious gaze. “So you don’t know what’s going on?” she asked, this time in a level tone.

“No, Ma’am. I’m Geoff,” he told her, reaching out his hand. She took it, but instead of shaking it, she used it to pull herself off the ground. He grunted in surprise, but stayed on his feet.

“Sam,” she said, looking around. She stared at us, and I gave her a little wave.

“Jason,” I said, giving her a smile I thought would be reassuring. She just frowned at us. Worrywart. Not like I was gonna get up and start beating her up.

Of course, she had just woken up in a strange place with five strangers. Dat Fundamental Attribution Error, always messing up my already screwed-up day.

Chrissie and Robin said their names as well, and Sam stood there staring at us. Eventually, she leaned against a nearby wall. “So. We all wake up here, and none of you know what’s going on?”

“Not a clue,” I chimed in, trying to sound positive. It was becoming difficult, fast, to keep my spirits up. Every second that passed made me realize more and more that we were seriously screwed – in a place like this, help could be here in moments – or not for days.

Hell, on that line of thought, how could we tell time? By the feel of my jeans, I could tell my phone was gone, and I didn’t see any watches. I just hoped something would happen before we all got really, really hungry.

But, I guess if anything were to happen, we should wake everybody up.

“I vote that we wake the last guy up here, see if something happens,” I put out, thinking it’s a nice idea.

“I agree,” Chrissie… well, agreed. “We should try and figure out a way to get together and escape, or something.”

“I think we should as well,” Geoff added.

Sam looked around, then sighed. “Might as well,” she grumbled, sliding down against the wall opposite us.

Yay! I – oops, Robin. “Robin?” I asked, wanting to include the girl as much as possible.

She looked at me (as did everybody else) and gave a little nod and a wan smile. I gave a sad smile back to her to reassure her, and she looked away.

Ugh. She reminded me of me a couple years back. Ah, well, she’d get over it in her own time.

“Alright! We’re in agreement, then. Geoff, if you’d do the honors…” I said in a grandiose manner, sweeping my arm out

“I guess so, I’m already here,” he replied. He crouched down next to the man, and I took the opportunity to more closely look at him while he still slept. He appeared peaceful (probably because he’s asleep), and a bit worn-down. Likely a professional businessman, little settling down in his life. I didn’t envy that lifestyle – I’m a homebody.

Geoff gently touched his shoulder, and immediately the man’s eyes popped open. He looked around, attempting to get his bearings. Blinking rapidly, he focused of Geoff. He stuck his hand in the air and began to speak. “Daniel. Daniel Miller, at your service.”

I smirked. I hoped the rest of what would come from Mister Miller over there would be just as entertaining. Geoff took Daniel’s hand and gave it a weak shake, a little confused. “Geo-“

“Ffffff,” Daniel finished for him. He let go of Daniel’s hand and leaned forward into a sitting position. He looked around. “Robin Jameson, Jason West, Chrissie Schumacher, Geoffrey O’Brian, and Samantha McIntyre. Wonderful, you’re all up.”

“How do you know all of us?” Sam asked, backing away from him and towards us. Geoff was doing the same.

“Oh, I thought it was obvious.” Duh, he’d brought us here. “Correct!”

Wait, what? “What do you mean, correct?” I asked, staring at him. Did he just –

“Read your thoughts? Why, yes! I did.” Oh crap, is this going to be some stupid 1984 thing?

“I wouldn’t suggest attacking me, miss Schumacher. I’m your only way out.”

“Then what was correct?” Chrissie asked through gritted teeth.

Daniel Miller laughed, an actual belly laugh, not one of those polite, evil fake laughs. “Why, the fact that I’m the one who brought you here, of course.”

“Um,” a voice began. We all looked at its source – Robin, of all people. “If you brought us here, how did you do it and how come you were asleep too?” She asked, a tad nervous. I think I’m going to ignore her nervousness now – she’s always nervous.

“I’d like to know the answer to that as well,” Sam said, staring daggers at him. He just laughed again. “You can get all the answers you like, but you have to find the common link.”

“Common link?” Geoff asked.

“Yes! The one thing that connects you all together, of course.”

I scowled. I like scowling, but in this case it was because he kept saying ‘of course’ like everything he said was obvious. He just turned towards me and gave me a shit-eating grin. That’s what I do, dammit. He’s stealing my lines. Or actions. Whatever.

“Welp,” I sighed. “I guess we should figure it out. Daniel over there, or whoever he is, obviously is a maniac who can do weird things, so why not? Just ignore him in the meantime.”

I looked around and saw the others mulling it over. Chrissie was the first to say something. “Might as well,” she agreed, motioning. “So. Let’s see. Jobs?”

“Unemployed,” Robin stated.

“Already nothing there. I’ve got a job. How about… birthdays?”

“December tenth,” Geoff said.

I raised my eyebrows. Could we be on to something? “December thirteenth,” I offered.

Sam shook her head. “February sixth,” she added.

Chrissie made a grunt of unhappiness. I think it was unhappiness. “June twenty-third. This isn’t getting us anywhere.”

“You’d better try harder, or you’ll be staying here a while,” Daniel said with a guffaw. I was seriously beginning to dislike this guy. I enjoy laughter and fun as much as anyone(probably more), but I didn’t like sadism. “Challenge Accepted, asshole,” I said, frowning at him. That just made him sit down, holding his stomach and laughing.

“Not sure if insane,” Chrissie began, “or just sadistic.”

I looked at her. That was a meme. Right there. “Um, this is a shot in the dark, but are we all denizens of the interwebs?”

Sam looked at me. “Denizens?”

“You know,” I said, waving my arms. Hey, gotta keep the funny. “Spend a ton of our free time surfing the internet.”

“I do,” Robin said, giving me a smile (I think that one was actually a real smile, woohoo!). That’s me, the charmer.

“I do too,” Geoff said, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning against.

Chrissie just shrugged and nodded when I looked at her. I turned my gaze to Sam, who pressed her mouth in a thin line. She hesitated a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah. I do.”

I turned to Daniel, smiling. That was easy! We were all nerds! “We-“

“Close,” he began, “but no cigar.”

I scowled. The humor was leaving me completely, which was weird in itself – I was ALWAYS stupidly upbeat. This was unacceptable. “I am not amused,” I growled. He just cackled again and began unbuttoning his suit.

“Arrgh, he just makes me want to scream!” I fumed, turning towards our now-closer-together group. I inhaled deeply, closed my eyes, and gave out an “aaaaaaah!” quietly, mimicking Fluttershy. Upon opening them, I found the other four staring at me strangely. “What?” It was weird. I don’t really like being stared at.

“Did you just…” Chrissie began, but trailed off, looking uncertain. Robin smiled at me and reached out a fist. Blinking, I met it. Well, butter my biscuits, Robin was a brony. Or a pegasister. Whatever she preferred.

“Brohoof,” I said to Robin, giving the girl a smile. Nice to meet another one who wasn’t afraid to show it in public. As I brought my attention back to the others, I noticed something strange. Instead of looking at Robin and me, they were looking strangely at each other. I opened my mouth, but Sam beat me to the punch.

“I’m a brony, too,” She blurted, looking at us. I gave her a reassuring smile. It sounded like she didn’t even like admitting it to herself. New to the herd, probably.

“Me, too,” Geoff said, grinning. We all looked at Chrissie, who shrugged.

“I’ve watched all the episodes… about a dozen times,” she said, a big grin on her face.

That clinched it for me. Five bronies randomly gathered? That had to be it.

“Bravo!” Daniel yelled, bringing our attention to him. “You’ve figured out your common link.”

“Great. We’re bronies. What is this, some kind of stupid social experiment? See if we all immediately start gushing about ponies? Commence dirty behavior? What?” I asked, angry again. I scowled as he laughed at that.

“Oh, don’t be so stupid, Jason. This is no experiment,” he responded with a jolly expression. However, all of a sudden, he leaned forward, a dark look on his face. “Oh, no, my dears. This is definitely not a social experiment. It is not research. It is not even in the slightest bit benign.”

My anger was turning towards fear, which was DEFINITELY not a good thing.

“So what’s going on?” Chrissie asked. I could tell she was nervous too. In fact, we were all backing away from Daniel, who was walking towards the middle of the room, glowering at all of us.

“What’s going on, she asks? I’ll tell you,” he growled, his tone angry and dark. “I have plans. You all are going to help me with them.”

“What sort of plans?” I asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep my voice level. He laughed again, only this time it was laced with malign undertones, as if he knew something that we didn’t, and it was going to be very bad for us.

“Plans that would work better without constant scrutiny of me. You five are going to make that nag regret she ever imprisoned me.”

My mind, which normally worked quite logically, began to entertain thoughts of horrible misdeeds done to us by this psychopath.

“It seems one of you has figured out who I am, albeit only part of the way,” Daniel announced, looking straight at Chrissie. “If you would, dearie, tell them who I am.”

She stared at him, eyes wide open. “Discord,” she breathed. He laughed, a great big sound that filled the entire room.

“So close, yet so far. You see, the magical world of Equestria really does exist. But I introduced it to you stupid humans, in order to cull out a couple of you for my plans. But there are very important things left out. But the biggest one is that everything, I repeat everything, is so dumbed down it’s not even funny. Well, maybe a bit,” he said, a grin on his face. “The Discord brought to you by your beloved television is a namby-pamby wimp compared to me. I, my new allies, am Chaos, and will only be referred to as such. And you are going to spread me like a wildfire, because I am very unafraid of killing.”

He snapped his fingers, and the world went white.

At least, I thought it went white. I looked around me, and saw nothing but more pasty white. Upon looking up, I found the lamp that had been hanging up. Where did everybody go? What had happened?

“Ever hopeful that something would make your life significant, ever hopeful that you could make your dream come true and come to your dear Equestria,” I heard Daniel say, though he wasn’t in the room anymore.

“Where are you?” I asked, angry again. This was seriously some fucked-up shit. I was tired of games now, only wanting this to be over. “Chaos, or Discord, or Daniel, what the fuck is going on?”

“Oh, only your fondest wish! Ever patient, ever hopeful, and ever the pacifist. You’ve always prided yourself above discrimination, trying to treat everyone equally.” He laughed again. I was getting tired of the laugh. “Well, let’s see how you do in Equestria, where you’re going to be the target of such discrimination you so hate.”

Suddenly, a mirror appeared in the opposite wall of the room. As I watched, my reflection slowly melted into rippling waves of silver. The longer I watched, the more distinct a new image became.

“Purple though, so gaudy! I can’t believe you actually like it so much. But whatever. It’s time for you to live your dream, Jason. And in doing so, destroy it.”

The mirror slowly stopped sending out waves, and the image flattened. It was now just a flat screen of a dull violet color. Not knowing what to do, I walked over to it and inspected it. No matter where I looked, the angle never changed – it was just a blank sheet of purple.

I touched it. Idiot. I gasped as an indescribable pain filled my head, and my vision faded to black.

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Pre-read by Chaotic Dreams and GaruuSpike.

Comments

[omega-ze-wargod]

L O V E I T

[Tome Turner]

Oh crap, is this going to be some stupid 1984 thing?

That was an awful book.
Don't even reference it!
EVER!

Also, the start reminded me of Saw.