Cause and Effect: Discord's Truth

by Coltsguy

Waking Up is Hard

“Wake up, sleepy head.”

I opened my eyes a bit to the sound of someone in my room. It was a little odd since whenever someone comes into my room, the drag on the carpet wakes me up instantly. I turned over and saw the most unusual sight.

“What the heck are you supposed to be?”

It was some kind of amorphous creature. An amalgamation of different creatures, if you will. The parts I could recognize most easily were that of a dragon and a goat which basically gave me the vibe of weird Chinese dragon. I couldn't really tell that much with my blurry vision and tired eyes. Wow, this thing was strange. Yet, why did I get such a familiar vibe from it? It was like I knew it from somewhere.

“Does it really matter what I am?”

“I guess not since I think I’m half asleep and dreaming you up. You do look kind of familiar though.”

“Perhaps. However, you have places to go, creatures to meet, and things to do. So, up and at 'em!”

“The only thing I have to do is go back to sleep and get ready for my job tomorrow after I get up.”

“Oh phooey. Then I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way.”

A snap of his fingers later and the covers flipped off of my bed on their own. I flinched quickly, but I realized I still had something on. I was inwardly glad that I still wore underwear when I go to bed. I’ve just never been comfortable without wearing something. It’s the reason I never take off my watch.

“You have a big journey ahead of you. A journey in a fun new world. A journey that I know you won’t forget.”

At his point, I figure I’m still dreaming so I decide to roll with it. I rarely ever get a self-aware dream and I wanted to have a little fun with it.

“Alright, whatever you are, what journey am I going on?” I asked as I put on my glasses.

His features came into a better view, but I still couldn't place him since my mind wasn't exactly running at optimal speed yet.

“Oh no, that would be spoiling the fun.”

“Can I at least wear some pants for my journey?” I asked as I rolled out of bed.

“Why would I let you wear pants? Leaving you like this during your journey would be much funnier.”

“Yeah, I bet it would,” I said as I moved past him and reached down to my pile of dirty laundry in order to grab a pair of said pants off the top. I could have just as easily grabbed another pair out of the dresser directly behind it, but my mind was still booting up.

“Humph. Well, I do suppose you can have some pants. After all, you’ll need them if you want to carry this around.”

“Carry what around?” I asked as I finished putting on my pants.

“Why, this of course!”

As I turned around, he tossed something shiny to me. I basket caught it while nearly tripping on the bedpost, and took a look at it. It looked to be made out of gold, but it was too light to be real gold. On one side, there was the image of a horseshoe. It’s pretty plain, but I like it simply because I’m a big Colts fan even after I moved out of the state. I flipped it over and on the other side it’s a lot more intricate. There were small symbols all over it. There’s a large ring of six symbols and inside of them there are another three symbols. The only two I recognize are a horseshoe, again, and a crescent moon since the rest are a bit too tiny to make out the details of with me being so sleepy and all.

“Cool coin. Is it supposed to be some kind of currency?” I asked as I looked back at him.

“Of course not. It’s your lifeline. Don’t lose it.”

"Well, it is a pretty nice coin. I doubt I would lose it around the place here."

"Didn't I tell you this not a few seconds ago? You're going to need it on your journey."

He snapped his fingers again and I heard a whoosh sound behind me. I turn around and see a tunnel bathed in a soft gold light right where my air hockey table should be. I then feel a push on my back and I’m sent hurtling into the shiny new tunnel. As I fell down the tunnel, I sighed and tried to figure out how to fly. It’s a dream, right? I should be able to fly... Wait, why can’t I fly?

As I continued to fall, and right before I start to process that sensation, the tunnel started to taper off and I started to tumble my way down instead of free-falling. Eventually, it goes horizontal at which the end of the tunnel appears. I tumbled clumsily out of the tunnel and finally finish face down in the grass.

“Well, this is bad," I said with a groan. "I am hurting all over. That means that this can’t be a dream. When I'm dreaming, the pain usually wakes me up.”

As I pushed my way up to my feet, I noticed that I’m in the middle of a forest. As I finished dusting myself off, I took a look at my surroundings. It’s a little creepy looking, but not too bad. Maybe a few weird looking blue flowers, but nothing that really stood out any. It wasn't really somewhere I wanted to be, but it wasn't like it was a toxic wasteland. I looked up and caught a glimpse of the sun where there was a break in the trees and quickly shielded my eyes with my hand.

Surprise lit up my face. I stared with a ridiculous look on my face since now there was a tattoo on my left hand. A blue horseshoe tattoo.

I’m really not a tattoo person. I don’t really like needles. Or pain. Tattoos combine both of those, so while it may be cool, I obviously didn’t get this myself.

“You know, this looks similar to the horseshoe on the coin that that thing gave me.”

I suddenly realized that I don’t have that coin in my hand. I searched around and located it quickly underfoot. Whatever that thing was, he said it would be important so I better hang onto it. I turn it over to look at it again and notice something different.

The large horseshoe on the one side is gone.

“Well, this could be bad. Unless, of course, the coin is like some kind of stick-on tattoo," I said and then scoffed. "Yeah, right. I doubt that thoroughly.”

I stuck the coin back in my pocket and looked around again. I noticed that there seemed to be a small path in one direction. It wasn't a very well-traveled path, but I was pretty sure that it would lead somewhere. Noting the fact that I really didn’t know which way to go anyway, I figured that it was as good a starting point as any and then thought to look at my watch. It was currently 4:17 a.m. I guess that it’s still synched up to the time at home. Maybe I was in China or something. I don't know. Most trees look the same to me.

Several uneventful hours went by walking down that path and I finally made it out of the forest. It was a nice stroll, and I came out to a nice grassy field. A nice breeze was flowing across the the vast expanse. It actually felt pretty refreshing. It had quite the view as well. The birds were flying high. There were a few rabbits skipping across the field. A nice rainbow was forming in the sky.

Wait a minute.

Since when does a rainbow actually form in the sky? Don’t they just appear at random when it rains?

I had to squint to take a look at the front of the forming rainbow. It just seemed odd that something like that was happening. Then again, compared to what happened earlier this really didn’t rate quite as high on the weirdness meter. Still, strange is strange and I kind of like that. Well, within reason of course.

The rainbow actually looked like it changed course in midair. It was good because it was getting closer for me to see now. However, it was bad because RAINBOWS DON’T CHANGE DIRECTION IN MIDAIR!

Irrationality finally subsiding, I finally got a look at the front of the rainbow. I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

It was a horse.

“Why is there a horse guiding a rainbow?”

Then it hit me. It hit me like a train.

Rainbow Dash.

The character from My Little Pony.

Except this wasn’t on my television. It’s in my eyeballs.

My last thoughts before I passed out from shock were this:

“I wonder where this would put me on the hierarchy of bronies?”

Comments

[Lucien Chance]

Not bad, not bad at all. I'll be watching.

Some notes; interesting premise, with the whole Discord thing, and the coin. It isn't something I've seen before, which is definitely good. One thing you really need to work on though is expanding. This has excellent potential, but if you want it to be really good, add tons of details. The way you have it now seems short and rushed, and I find myself having a hard time picturing what the whole scene looked like.

Other than that, good luck, and have your first fave!

[Coltsguy]

Sounds like a good idea. I'll work on that.

[Dragonlover553]

Thou hast been thoroughly doubted.

[Snow]

Hmm. ... ... Does anypony else thing it'd be way too damn funny if a human instead made their first impression on Equestria walking up to Ponyville whistling the Andy Griffith theme, and Equestria's background magic provides the instrumental? Just like, hands in their pockets waltz right down the street whistling, ponies headtilting and all going 'Wat' entirely unsure how to react. Not even stopping mid-ponyville, just going from one side of town to the other and clear through into like, Whitetail Woods or something, then the next day, doing the same backwards.

[Draskos]

7475186 That would admittedly be pretty hilarious.