• Published 27th Dec 2012
  • 18,061 Views, 439 Comments

Living the Good Life - Aetherpony



A human(you) lives a boring, meaningless life on Earth. You feel that you'll be stuck in a repetitive cycle for the rest of your life. But Discord, God of Chaos, has other plans in store for you.

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Chapter Seven: Anon's Past, Recovery, and Discord's Master Plan

// Chapter Seven: Anon's Past, Recovery, and Discord's Master Plan //------------------------------//

When you finally stirred, the scent of chicken broth graced your senses. When your head turns to the source of the delectable aroma you hear Eris hum in approval.

“Alright, you’re finally up. I knew it’d work. No one can resist this.” Now that she knows you’re up she wastes no time in using her claws to carefully tear away at the bandages covering your face. It takes a minute or so for your eyes to get adjusted to your lights but when you do, you’re grinning like an idiot.

You see her maid’s outfit firsthand. It’s been made to fit her form and she even wears the black stockings that go along with it. She raises a brow in question before looking down at what she’s wearing. Immediately her cheeks light up and her smile fades.

“What?” She asks, obviously knowing what you’re smiling about.

“I didn’t think you’d really wear something like that. It’s, well, I never thought I’d see a chimera in a dress.” You gauge your jaw’s soreness with that statement. While you were able to speak normally it wouldn’t be wise to speak for long periods of time. You were wincing while talking due to an acute pain shooting throughout that section of your mouth. Plus you sound ridiculous with the wind flowing past your missing tooth.

“I’m a Draconequus, not a chimera,” she corrects you. You see her stir the broth with a spoon for a few moments before dipping it in. When she brings out a spoonful of the off yellow substance you grimace. The steam coming off of it makes you think it’ll burn upon contact with your tongue. You’d rather keep your sense of taste.

“Can ya blow on it or something?” She glares at you as though she’s offended by your question.

“No.” You whimper before giving her the best begging stare you can. You pout and make your lower lip quiver as your eyes take on a saddened expression. The only thing you manage to do is make her laugh at you. She shakes her head.

“Okay, fine. Here ya go, you big baby.” She leans in and blows upon the broth until the steam is barely noticeable. When she places it near your lips you willingly open your mouth and let the spoon in. It’s a bit awkward considering you’re in a reclined position, but the two of you manage to make it work. As soon as the broth hits your tongue the warmth, coupled with the taste, sends pleasurable warmth throughout your very being.

In a way, Eris’ broth brought home to mind. Back when you were a child, when your sister wasn’t tormenting you, if you ever came down with a cold or something along those lines. Your mother would take time to make a little bit of broth for you if you suffered from a sore throat. It always did the trick, much as it’s doing now.

But despite how good it felt to finally have something in your stomach, a few things worried you. You finally noticed what Discord meant about your body not having a necessity to take in food. After it went down your oesophagus and hit your stomach, you didn’t feel any different. You didn’t feel fuller, nor did you feel hungry for more. You could probably drink the broth until your stomach tore open and you still wouldn’t feel satisfied. Eris notices your distress.

“You okay Anon?” You shake your fearful thoughts from your mind and nod.

“Yeah, I’m thinking about what Dis— Fuck.” You rub your sore jaw gingerly with your uninjured hand.

“I’m right here, ya know, you can whisper or whatever. I’m sure the wider you open your mouth the more it hurts.” You take her advice. She’s right, surprisingly; with you barely opening your mouth to speak the sharp pain is now tolerable discomfort.

“So, you were thinking about what Daddy was telling you, huh?” You nod, “What about? He’s told you a lot of things.”

“It’s about the not eating thing.” Eris nods as she readies another spoonful of broth. Just like before she blows on it before having you open your mouth. Another spoonful slides down your throat and she goes back to getting a third serving ready for you.

“Well, you won’t have to deal with it long. Daddy says the magic will run its course here in a few hours. After that you’ll be right back to making more friends.” She doesn’t sound very enthusiastic when she says it. You’re tempted to ask what’s wrong, but you decide to save it for after you’re healed. You don’t need to talk more than you absolutely need to.

The next few minutes is spent in silence as Eris repeats spoon feeding you your meal. Albeit it’s a bit awkward, and her smile has disappeared and she seems distant. She continues her pattern of giving you your broth until the bowl is emptied of its contents. Thankfully, you’re able to fill yourself up without your ribs causing you any issues. Poor Eris doesn’t realize you’ve finished it until she puts the empty spoon into your mouth. You grunt disapprovingly which finally brings her back to reality. Her eyes widen at the realization before she pulls the spoon from your maw. She giggles nervously before floating off of your bed.

“Sorry about that,” she makes her way for the door, “I’ll be back to check up on you lat—“ She’s interrupted by your opening door. Screwball bucks it so hard Eris ends up crushed between your wall and it. Using the propeller on her beanie Screwball flies over to your bed, bedpan in hoof. You see that it’s sporting a medical symbol on its front.

“Good morning, Anon! Its potty time!” She cheerfully shouts before raising the bedpan over her head and gently placing it on your crotch. You look down at the little piece of metal and she floats above you expectantly. How she expects you to use the bathroom on your own with only one usable arm and an injured torso is beyond you. Her swirling purple eyes widen when she finally comes to realize that you’re incapable of using the bathroom alone.

“Oh, duh, of course!” she face hoofs before moving your covers away and helping you set up to use the little metal bowl. While it’s a bit embarrassing to do your business in front of Screwball that doesn’t stop nature from running its course. It only delays it. After that little ordeal was over and done with, Screwball’s eyes glow with a dark purple hue. An oval shaped portal of swirling chaos appears next to her. She takes the bedpan and casually tosses it into the tear in space. It immediately closes up after its purpose has been served.

“Where’d you throw it?” She giggles madly, and then promptly stops before shrugging.

“I don’t know, somewhere awesome I bet.”

While the minutes tick on by back on Earth your landlord is currently walking down a set of stairs of a medical center. As it turns out your beating did more damage than you’ll ever know. His face is currently wrapped up in a similar fashion as to how yours was. Though there’s a gap in the wrapping for his mouth and nose. As of right now he’s looking to disobey his nurse’s orders. He’s going out to the front to smoke a cigarette. As soon as he passes by the fourth floor door your full bedpan phases into existence. It slams into the back of his head causing him to lose his balance.

He curses in Italian before promptly falling down the rest of the way. When he hits the ground floor his head slams into the first floor doorway, knocking him out almost instantly. Not only has he suffered more head trauma, but now he’s covered in your urine. He never saw it coming. If only you knew the issues a lazy act of disposal caused…



As Screwball turns to leave, she sees your door slowly push away from the wall to reveal a very two dimensional Eris. Her body’s been forced into a very uncomfortable looking shape. Her eyes are wide with shock. Screwball loses it when she sees her sister in such a state, she falls to the floor and rolls around laughing all the while.

Eris grumbles before she reaches up and peels herself off of your wall. She floats in midair for a few moments before she sticks her thumb in her mouth. After a few seconds of blowing on it she slowly fills herself out and with an audible pop her body returns to normal.

“Yeah, very funny,” she says before snapping her claws. A broom suddenly appears in the air. Screwball’s laughing stops immediately.

“You wouldn’t,” Screwball mutters before slowly backing away from the floating object. When it comes too close for comfort she screams out of fear before scrambling out the door. The broom follows close behind. When she makes it out of your room you can hear the occasional thwack of the broom and yelp from Screwball as the broom makes contact with her flank. Eris lets loose a bout of evil laughter before following Screwball out into the hall. She’s sure to slam the door behind her. You can’t help but imagine the possible horrors that will be lying beyond it.

You breathe a sigh of relief, finally you’re alone. You just hope one of them come back to clean up the broken bowl and warped spoon that now lies right next to your door. You get to spend maybe thirty seconds alone with your thoughts before Discord decides now is the best time to pop in and say hello. A quick crackle of magic assaults your ears as Discord appears to your left. You leap in your bed out of surprise and fear, causing pain to shoot throughout the entirety of your body. Your agonizing scream causes his eyes to widen and the smile to drop from his face.

“Ooh, so sorry Anon, I forgot you’re not used to that kind of stuff.” He looks away while scratching the back of his head nervously. “But hey, at least you won’t feel pain for much longer anyway, am I right?” His anxious laughter only causes you to glare angrily.

You’re sucking in air through your clenched teeth and you’ve gone from docile to absolutely livid in less than five seconds. Only a creature like Discord can achieve such a feat with you. Each bit of breath you take in only enhances the discomfort you’re feeling.

“Fuck you Discord,” You say through gritted teeth.

“Tsk tsk, come now, is that any way to talk to the one with the answer to your problem?” He drives a very hard point into your skull. He’s your ticket out of this constant discomfort you’re feeling. It seems as though not even the morphine can dull everything. While you stop clenching your teeth and glaring you aren’t able to extinguish your anger, at least not completely.

“No, no its not,” Discord’s smile returns and he takes a seat at the edge of your bed, his back faces you.

“Precisely. Now that you’re able to speak, please tell me how you like Equestria thus far.” You sigh quietly before shrugging with your uninjured arm.

"Well, I can say I'm a little on the fence about it," you answer honestly. Discord turns himself towards you.

"Why is that?" You scoff in response.

"Probably because I got my ass kicked by a stallion, and because I had an apple tossed at my sack." Discord hearty laughter does nothing but make you dig your nails into your palm. Of course he’d find something like that funny, it hasn’t happened to him.

"I could see how that would hamper anyone's fun," Discord manages to say between fits of laughter. You could feel your anger raising back to the level it was at before, but you maintain a calm tone.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up, Discord.” You grumble. When his laughter finally dies down the two of you sit in silence, neither really looking to say anything to the other after that. When he makes no motion to continue the conversation you turn your gaze to the ceiling. After a minute or so Discord comes up with a question that catches you completely off guard.

“Anon, I have to ask. How bad were things for you before I came into the picture?” You do a double take before raising a brow in question.

“I thought you knew everything about me, you said so yourself.” He chuckles before shaking his head.

“Anon, when we locked eyes that night, I only got a brief opportunity to glance over a few things. I don’t know as much as I led you to believe. That night I was trying to intimidate you, and I daresay that worked.” Is this honesty you’re being given? You look over his features in order to see if he’s lying. He’s showing no signs of a smile, nor is there any sort of mischievous glint to his eye.

His expression is grim, void of the chaotic nature you’ve come to expect. As you mull over his words you can’t help but think about it. It’s as though you’re digging in a pit of memories that you’ve long since buried. Thoughts and feelings you hoped would remain hidden from the world. It’s been many years since you’ve recalled any event of your past that didn’t involve the incident as a focal point.

As you continue to reminisce about your childhood memories you can't help but feel more than a pang of regret. Things didn't exactly go your way growing up. You look from your hands, then back to Discord before nodding. You do so more for yourself than for him. It isn’t easy.

You’re not one to speak of yourself in such a manner. No one ever bothered to ask, because no one cared. As long as you could work, that’s all they needed. The factory supervisor had no use for what brought you to where you were, it only mattered to him whether you were competent or not. But you’ve got friends now, something that was nonexistent back on Earth. It’s in a friend’s nature to ask such questions. You’d have to be willing to answer them, and to do so with honesty.

“Alright, you want to know more about me?” He nods, “I hope you’re comfortable. This will take a while.” As you drum your fingers upon your bed you start by telling Discord that you learned that life wasn’t fair at an early age. You informed him that you wished you knew how to at least soften the blows of that realization back then.

The world around you seems to melt away as you tell him about events long since passed. You picture yourself as a child, and a feeling of nostalgia washes over you. Your house was like every other typical suburban home in a gated community. A white picket fence surrounded your small your two floored home. You still had a vivid recollection of it. The plain and uninteresting asphalt colored shingle roofing, the white paint, the sturdy oak used to help shape your home, and of course, the little gray shutters placed on both sides of each window.

Your home reflected the neighborhood. Calm, or serene, would be two words you'd use to describe it. Nothing seemed out of place and nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. It was simple, it was peaceful, and you loved every bit of it. You can even remember all those evenings when you'd spend the majority of your time outside playing with sticks or running around aimlessly. The soft crunching of grass coupled with your joyous laughter would fill the air as hours seemed to pass by in minutes. Though you spent most of your time alone; your imagination would be all you needed.

To your joy the neighborhood kids would come by and play with you as well. They'd have little stick fights with you; you could recall the adventures you'd have. Of course you never won those stick fights, but that wasn't important to you. Fun was first and foremost; you could stand losing.

You don't really remember spending any time indoors unless a storm reared its ugly head or whenever your parents were away. They were gone a lot more than you would have liked. But whenever they got home from their business trips, or whenever they decided to work from home they'd always squeeze in time to include you when they could. You didn't ask much of them; after all, without Mom or Dad you would have never been born. You owed your mommy and daddy your life even if you couldn't fully comprehend that.

You had friends, loving parents, and you had fun things to look forward to whenever you got home from school. Life was great. Your childhood wasn't a bad one, so why did things go south for you? Discord asked the exact same question. He did not expect the sole cause of things getting worse for you was your sister.

You remember being four, or was it five? You could never guess the right age. You were playing in your living room while your babysitter read one of her little teen magazines. Your mother had been pregnant for the past nine months. When you were first told you were ecstatic. You'd be getting a little brother or sister. You would finally get another playmate when he/she got old enough.

So you waited patiently as the months dragged on. Your mother's belly started getting bigger. You could remember your poor father having to deal with your mother in her hormonal state. Thankfully he took the brunt of that little problem; though it was a small price to pay for bringing another life in to the world. A life that you had no idea you'd grow to hate.

When the front door finally opened and when your mother and father came walking through the threshold you saw them carrying that little pink blanketed bundle of joy, you knew your life was about to get all the more exciting. But you had no idea just how wrong you were. As an infant you knew she'd require more attention than you, and the way your parents would coddle her didn't sit right with you. Your sister would grow up to expect things to be given to her. Even as a child you knew there was something wrong with what they were doing but you're a kid and they're the adults. Back then you could probably chalk that feeling up to jealousy, but it doesn’t matter now.

You explain to Discord that you took the back seat so to speak. They were busy with the baby, so much so that your mother stopped going out on business trips. She would work from home while your father was the one who travelled. You, however, would have to stick to your toys, and you'd have to learn to leave mommy alone while she watches the baby. No matter, in a few years she'll join you and things would be normal again, but with a new addition!

The years went by for you in a blur, soon both of you had grown older. Elementary School was just getting started for you, and already you had to deal with her spoiled attitude. She would constantly cause a fuss if she didn’t get what she wanted. You realized that it was better to simply keep your wants to yourself rather than blatantly spout what you want.

It didn't help that your parents kept folding and giving her what she asked for. On the occasion where you did ask for something your father would end up pulling you to the side and explaining to you why it'd be bad to act like that while being the older brother. He described how the younger sibling would take on the values and behavior of the older sibling, so you had to steer clear of things that would make you seem greedy or spoiled.

However, no matter what you tried to do, she never picked up on your mannerisms or morals. In fact, she seemed to go towards the opposite end of that spectrum. She even started trying to make your bus riding time full of grief. They made you sit with her and she took advantage of that. There were times where she'd ram her head in to the seat and start crying. She'd blame you, saying you were the one who hurt her. No matter what you'd say no one believed you.

They believed the younger sibling over the older. Your bottom received constant 'rehabilitation' from your father's belt because of her antics. Eventually you grew to despise your sister altogether. You could never get away from her because she was your sister.

At home she'd continue her terrible behavior. She came to understand that your father was away often and that your mother would be in the basement hard at work on her computer running her business via documents, various emails, and of course a fax machine. She had a little at-home office down there. That meant she could do anything and they wouldn’t see until after it happened.

Your mother would hear thumping noises and your sister crying, she'd automatically assume it was your doing, considering her little angel could never do anything wrong. You were growing tired of it. After a while you'd start yelling at her to leave you alone, or you'd avoid her completely whenever you got the chance. Either way she'd tell your mom or dad what you were doing and they'd both reprimand you.

Your mother would do so with her words, and your father with his actions. Things continued on in this state for years to come. It didn't help that she started becoming smarter as she got older; and not only in the sense of pranks, but academics as well. Soon she'd excel in places where you'd be coming up short, leading her to skip two grades. Now you had to share the same school building, along with everything else it seemed.

Being a conniving person, she learned to start spreading rumors early. Your middle school years became your most embarrassing. You couldn't walk down any hallway without someone cutting a glance your way and snickering. You learned to simply ignore your peers and whatever they'd be saying about you.

You figured out how to cope with her lies, and that only made her angrier. It seemed as if ever since she met you she hated you, and your school years only helped prove that. Needless to say your opinion of her only became poorer and you'd start finding yourself releasing your irritation in small bursts. Whether it was throwing your items in your room or simply punching things.

Soon you learned to bottle up your anger. Your parents never believed a word you said about her and that bit of frustration became too much, so you learned to stop caring about it. It was infuriating! You never did a thing to her, you tried to show her how she should behave, and all she did was make your life miserable! But you had to set an example; you had to be a good older brother.

And there was no way in hell you'd give her the satisfaction of letting her know she got to you anymore. That was one of many factors that caused her to get worse. It wasn't enough for her to get more things than you, more friends, more popularity, and better grades. No, she had to make sure you had no friends. When you were midway through high school her rumors started becoming nastier. She'd tell various girls around school that you were stalking them among other things.

Because you'd do nothing to dispel the rumors your friends started to believe them. Soon you had no friends to call your own. You couldn't talk to anyone because they'd shun you. You had no chance at getting a girlfriend because the girls at the school started finding you disgusting. It grated on your nerves and you could only repress your displeasure for so long.

This combination of anger, regret, depression, sadness, fear, and loathing ran amok within your being. It was twisting you into something you weren't. But still you would not relent; you would not give your sister the satisfaction of knowing how miserable you were.

In a weird way it made you happy that you could get under your sister's skin by simply living your life. It was as if it made her sick to find you enjoying yourself even if it was an elaborate hoax. And so she kicked it up a notch. Because she had the looks that drove teenage boys wild she was able to get the dumb jocks to listen to her.

She'd tell them how you acted at home. Of course she'd tell nothing but more lies. But when she started offering ‘favors’ in order to help make school a miserable place for you, who were they to think she wasn't telling the truth then? And that's when the real bullying began. You have to stop your little flashback for a moment. You’re grinding your teeth together so hard it hurts.

“Anon, if it’s making you feel like this you don’t have to keep going. We could just—“ you hold your hand up in order to silence him.

“No, I’m okay. I can keep going; I can’t even feel what’s wrong with my jaw. I gotta take advantage of that, heh.” When you start back you recall times where your books would be pushed from your hands; and when the straps of your backpacks would be cut so you were forced to carry your things. There were times in between classes where you'd be pushed in to lockers or tripped.

You could vividly picture the times where food would be thrown your way in the cafeteria, and the times where people would mark things in your textbooks. Phalluses were ever present. You remember shelling out money you didn't have for damage you never caused. Little did you or your sister know, you were reaching your breaking point.

Your senior year of high school was when that point was finally reached. It was a few weeks before your graduation. You had gone through school successfully. You were considered to be one of the better students of the school, despite your reputation. The bullying was dying down, and people stopped being rude to you. Life was getting better, slowly but surely.

You had a plan ready to go. Your parents were still supportive, even helping you shape your future as a journalist. Even though it seemed like they were hurrying to get you out of the house, things were going great. You couldn't complain. But your sister still had plans to make your final year the most memorable. One day, when you were in weight training, the instructor had to step out to take an important call.

You knew four of your bullies where in that class with you. When the teacher left they approached you. They brought you outside and in to the cold rain that was pouring down. You could still remember shaking from the bitter wind that brushed past your exposed skin. It was there no one would see what would happen next.

Apparently, they thought you were having too easy of a final year and that it was time for a little senior 'prank.' This prank consisted of the four of them taking turns hitting you. You had gotten stronger from lifting weights over the past few months, but you were no real fighter. Needless to say you were getting beat pretty badly.

But you could not feel their strikes, you couldn't hear them as they berated you, and you ignored when they brought up things that never happened. The only thing you could focus on was the mixture of feelings you kept bottled up for so long. It was time they came out. It was like a disease, a poison to you.

Something that ate away at you until you became a mere shell of what you were before. Your happiness, your carefree attitude, it was all lies. To help convince yourself that everything was fine and that your sister would stop. It was because of her you were like this, it was because of her these teenagers were beating you, and it was because of her your parents were treating you like a stranger in the family.

The last thing you could recall before snapping was a fist flying towards your face. When you finally came to you were lying on your back. You saw immediately that you were holding a bloody piece of concrete in your right hand. Try as you might you could not remember when you picked that up and used it.

You could feel tremendous discomfort from the swelling in your right eye and right knee. You could barely keep yourself standing. You tried to move your index and ring finger on your left hand. When you did pain shot up your entire arm. You looked to see that said fingers were bent in awkward positions, and they broke your leg right at the calf. Once you saw the blood you really started to freak out.

You shuddered as you came to terms with it all. At some point you bit your lip, it was bleeding worse than the various cuts you had along the exposed pieces of skin from your torn shirt. Your bullies were in a worse state than you. One of them was on the ground. He was reclining on the side of the building to keep himself propped up. Upon closer inspection, his shoulder was out of its socket and his head was bleeding. He flinched when he noticed you were moving.

He screamed at you to get away, he called you an animal, and a freak. It was then it dawned on you; you did a lot more damage than you thought. The others had various injuries just like you. The most prominent were the bite marks. Unlike the one sitting up, the others were out cold. You ran your tongue along your teeth to find bits of skin caught in between them.

You were physically sick as you thought about what you did. It disgusted you to know that you went to such a place, to lose control and fly off the handle like that. It was something you thought you weren’t capable of doing. In your rage induced state you seriously injured a bunch of people. You did the first action that came to mind: you flipped over on your stomach and tried to crawl away. But it was too much; you managed to get a few feet before being unable to continue.

This was something you couldn’t run away from. Someone would come looking for the five of you, and they wouldn’t have to look far. You were dreading how it would go down for you and for them. It scared you to no end, at this point you thought your life was over. You believed you would be arrested for assault with a deadly weapon.

Because you were unable to lose consciousness you were forced to suffer through the injuries inflicted upon your person. It only piled on to the problems you knew you were going to face. Eventually a student came out to find your little group.

The ride to the ER was a blur of faces you didn’t recognize and blending colors. Disoriented wouldn’t even begin to describe the condition you were in. Light headedness and the injuries you sustained kept you from being able to move a muscle as your adrenaline left you. You don’t know how many hours were spent in the hospital, but you do know that when you were finally alert they had already performed the necessary surgery for your battered body.

You can vividly picture lying in your hospital bed with a breathing apparatus attached to you, along with other assorted items in order to help keep you nice and docile. Unfortunately nothing they gave you could hope to dull what happened next. Your parents came rushing in to your room; they were worried sick about you. They assaulted you with question after question.

They wanted to know what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. You weren't surprised to find that your sister wasn't with them. That was a good thing; now there would be no one around to defend her or deny the truth. You told them everything that you could in your condition, about how your sister acted in school, about how she got those bullies after you in the first place, and everything you could recall in between.

Needless to say they were sceptic. They still couldn't believe their own daughter would be behind something like that. What could you say? She had gotten good at putting up a facade. You and she were one in the same in that aspect. She still had that spoiled attitude, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was when she was a child. Plus she actually learned to fake showing respect for others. She got good at being bad.

So your accusations weren't taken as seriously as they should have been. They believed you were bullied and they believed you were being treated unfairly, but they didn't believe it was your sister's fault. In the end got away with it, just like she always did. It pissed you off to no end, but at least they were willing to address half of the problem.

So instead of pressing the matter and digging a metaphorical hole for yourself you instead took joy in knowing things would be taken care of. Your parents were sure to let you know that you'd receive no backlash for what happened. After all, you did what you did in self-defence, at least from your standpoint.

Whether your bullies would try to press charges or not were up to them...

Your thoughts are cut off when water is poured in your face. You gasp out of surprise and the shock from having such cold assault your senses. That was a big mistake. Your day just got a whole lot worse. Immediately after breathing in, you start coughing incessantly in order to expel the water you've accidentally consumed. This puts unnecessary stress on your body; each cough causes your torso to erupt in pain. You could feel your ribs apply pressure to your expanding lungs. You couldn't breathe, your chest was flaring and your head was pounding from the lack of oxygen.

After what feels like an eternity you calm down enough to where you're able to take in a calm breath of air. Even then the discomfort in your chest doesn't go away. Suddenly you hear Discord's voice yell out.

"YOU IGNORANT FOOL! WHAT CAUSED YOU TO DO SOMETHING SO IDIOTIC?!" Discord shouts with rage. You turn to look at what he’s looking at to find Screwball on her hind hooves. She’s holding an empty bucket in her hooves. She looks mortified at what she did to you.

"I wanted to get his attention and I thought it'd be funny! I didn't know that'd happen! I'm sorry!" Screwball shouts, you can tell from her sniffling she's holding back tears.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to him!" Discord growls before pointing to you. Eris is next to speak; apparently the yelling and your coughing fits caught her attention. She’s leaning on your door frame.

"Actually, I think it'd be better if you leave, Screwball. I don't think Anon is in the mood to listen right now.” She crosses her arms and glares her sister’s way. Both she and Discord are giving Screwball such a look it’s causing the poor mare to shrink away and try to hide.

The fury behind his eyes sends a shiver of terror down your spine. Discord is quite a fearsome sight to behold when he's mad. Suddenly Screwball fills your field of vision. She props herself up on your bed using her front hooves, and then she looks upon you with sad, swirling purple irises. Her lower lips quivers.

"I-I'm sorry Anon, really, I didn't mean to," she says in a low voice. You can see the tears starting to pool around her eyes. The irritation you're experiencing is keeping you from feeling anything but anger for this mare. You say the only thing that comes to mind at this moment.

"Get. Out." you say in a firm tone. Screwball sniffles a bit before the tears start flowing down her cheeks. You start to growl when she makes no move to leave. Finally she gets the picture.

"I'm sorry," she repeats before galloping out of your room with her head hanging low. When she’s out of your room Eris sighs before turning to look out into the hall.

"Here let me grab a few towels." She says before disappearing from sight via teleportation. You groan out of annoyance before turning your attention back to Discord. He shakes his head in disappointment before turning back to you.

"I swear that pony needs to learn when to pull a prank and when not to. I had already covered that lesson with her, but it appears as though she wasn't paying attention." This comes as a surprise to you. You figured he would have encouraged his daughter's actions but you guessed wrong.

"So wait, you're angry at her for what she did?" you ask out of curiosity, when he shakes his head you're even more confused than before.

"No, I'm angry at the WHEN, not the WHAT," Discord explains in an agitated tone, "We're supposed to cause chaos in ways that bring little to no physical harm. If a creature ends up with a scraped knee or something like that, then it’s no big deal, but if someone experiences what you just did then it becomes a problem. If some pony sustains a major injury from chaos that means they can die from it.” He snaps his claws that bring a cup of chocolate milk into existence. He grasps it in his claws before continuing.

“What's the point of causing chaos if there's no one around to revel in it? If all my chaos did was kill others then there would be no fun to it. Screwball knows this all too well, yet she did something that could have done that to you. What if your ribs punctured a lung from your coughing? We’ve still got an hour before I can heal you. With you being in the state you're in I can't find it funny.” You manage a nod before looking at the ceiling yet again. You find it refreshing that someone is looking out for your well-being.

"You have a good point Discord, but what about the ponies of Equestria?”

“What about them?” He asks as he takes sip of the glass, rather than the milk itself.

“You can't sit there and tell me that they aren't dealing with a great amount of pain from what you're doing. You're hurting them with those bulls, and from what you're doing to their homes. I'm sure there have been accidents from what you did with the Sun and Moon too." You look to see him smiling at you.

"I guess that would make me a hypocrite then?" He chuckles. You look at him incredulously.

"How can you laugh at something like that?" you ask in disbelief. Your jaw would hang loose if you could open it wide enough. All he does is laugh in response.

"Because, Anonymous, it's all in good fun. Even if these ponies end up hurt it's not as if anything major happens to them. No pony has died from what I've done.”

“"Somehow I find that hard to believe," right when you finish your door opens to reveal Eris carrying in a handful of towels.

"We'll continue this conversation later Anonymous. For now, let Eris dry you off.” As Eris floats over to you Discord reaches under your covers and produces a thick, worn tome. The cover appears blank; you believe the pages themselves are blank as well. He's probably using that book as a means to avoid conversation while his daughter is in the room. At least that's your assumption.

Eris doesn't say anything as she snaps her talons. Her chaotic magic forms a purple aura around the entirety of your bed. Soon the magic gets to work removing the collected moisture from your blankets, sheets, mattress, pillows, and pillow cases. You could feel warmth radiating from your bed as her magic ran its course. Her methods are confusing you though. After all, you're still covered in ice cold water.

"Wait, if you could just remove all the water with magic, why leave me soaking wet?" you ask before quirking a brow. She’s quick to respond

"So you wouldn't mind me super heating your flesh until all the water evaporates?" She accentuates her question with an evil grin. You gulp nervously before answering.

"Actually I would mind that very much." You say before promptly shutting up.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." After that she gets to work drying you off. She has to work carefully though, with you being in the state you are the slightest touch can hurt worse than anything you've ever been forced to experience before.

Somehow she's able to dry you without making your pain any worse. She's a lot better at this recovery bit than you thought. When her job is complete you thank her before she departs. As she leaves she informs you that your dinner will be ready soon, you manage a nod before she opens and shuts your bedroom door behind her.

"Now where were we?" Discord folds the corner of the page he's on in his book. When he closes it and puts it back under your blanket he turns to face you.

"I said I didn't believe you when you said no ponies died from your chaos."

"Well, whether you believe doesn’t concern me," His smile widens.

"I knew you'd answer like that," you say, obviously annoyed by your lack of a direct answer. Discord chuckles before saying:

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask me?" you did have more questions, and you had the time to ask them, so why not go ahead and do so?

"Here's one, why did you choose me? I'm sure there are other humans who met your qualifications." Discord scratches his chin in thought.

"I already explained this to you back when we were in your apartment, Anonymous. As I said, I saw the potential you have. I really can, but you can't. At least, not yet. You just need to be put into the right setting and the right condition for you to see it yourself." his explanation causes you to laugh.

“What do I have the potential to do? To make friends with ponies you've messed with? To fix the problems you've caused? Or is it to get my ass handed to me by ponies who wouldn't know a fair fight if it came and slapped them across the face?"

"See, there it is again. You still don't see what I see, do you? Don't you find it amusing that you're able to persevere, despite the odds stacked against you? Not every human could make friends with the ponies I've corrupted."

You argue his case and point. "Yes Discord, any human could. All it takes is patience and the willingness to accept others faults," you explain as if it’s something obvious. You only seem to make him happier with your response.

"You can honestly say that all HUMANS are capable of doing that? Because to my knowledge it seems like that's a lie, especially since humans are afraid of the unknown." you nod in agreement.

"Yeah we do, I don't know what's going on half the time and when I don’t I'm afraid for my life. I'm on some random planet which is probably in another dimension as far as I know. I have every right to fear this place. I've barely come to terms with it let alone understand it." Discord nods, he seems to understand where you're coming from.

"What do humans typically do when they fear something beyond their understanding?" He doesn’t wait for you to answer, “Nine times out of ten they will destroy that which scares them. They won’t seek to know it. They’ll erase its existence simply because it’s scary.” Discord's knowledge of extremists strikes you as odd.

"How do you know all of this?" His response is quick and it was not something you were expecting.

"It's as I said back in your apartment. When I find something of interest, I try to learn everything there is to know about it. Look at Earth. You and I both know humans wage senseless wars against each other; whether it is out of fear or for some other petty excuse. You and I both know how corrupt humans can be when put into a position of power. Your species interests me more than the creatures I've been around. You humans are some of the most chaotic creatures I've ever seen, how could I not be interested in learning?!" Discord's enthusiasm and wide smile scares you.

He sighs and in turn his demeanor becomes more relaxed. "You're different though. Despite fearing the unknown you don't seek to conquer it. You don't see these ponies as lesser creatures. Do you find them so threatening that you wish to kill them?" You immediately shake your head and his smile returns, "See? That answer puts you on a level higher than the rest of your species. There aren't that many humans out there that see things as you do. There are even less with your patience."

"Yet there are those that do Discord, so why, why me? There's more to it than just me having a mediocre life, my patience and understanding, or because I had a less than stellar childhood. Tell me why you chose to yank me off of my planet rather than another poor schmuck!" Your body seems to hate your shouting because your chest flares with pain anew. You growl angrily before deciding to stop the Q&A. Your body's condition is infuriating, as is Discord's answer.

"Anonymous, that's not something I can explain. Think back to what I just said. You need to be put into the right setting and condition. Then the answer will become clear as day." and with that your discussion comes to an end. You now know that your answer will never come to you and you'll just have to accept what you were told; albeit it could have been done without his incessant rambling. You didn’t need a history lesson on your species from something that isn’t human. As you lie back and relax your thoughts drift back to Twilight and the others.

How are they doing, have they gone on with their lives as normal, or are they genuinely worried about you? You haven't gotten the opportunity to get that close to them so you honestly do not know. But that, like your question will be answered in time. Patience is the key. The rest of your hour continues as normal. That is until Discord starts to vibrate and he emits a high pitched alarm from his maw.

You assume that means your time is up. As soon as he stops he snaps his talons. You grimace when you feel your body heat up and your bones rearrange themselves within. After a minute or two passes the warmth fades and your insides stop shifting about. Thankfully you now have another three days to get a good amount of water and food in you. With your body back to some semblance of normal you no longer see why you need these needles to stay in your arms…


The next few hours are spent eating the delicious turkey dinner Eris managed to cook. You’re absolutely gushing over her meal as you dig into each delectable gravy covered bite. Having gone without good food for so long it’s as though you’ve reached heaven. She naturally sucks up all the compliments with poise and insists you continue to praise her. You would, but at this point you’d be virtually licking her boots so to speak.

Thankfully Screwball was nowhere to be found at the dinner table. You were afraid that if you did see her you’d crack her skull under your feet. Rage didn’t even being to describe how you felt about her at this moment. For her to have such blatant disregard for your well-being did not sit well with anyone at that table. You hope she wouldn’t get anything to eat today. It would serve the little mare right for being so rude.

With your belly full of something that isn’t ramen noodles or soda you dress yourself in a pair of jeans, your high tops, and a long sleeved black shirt. To you it felt great to finally be clothed again. It was rather awkward being without, and even more so considering you ate dinner with them in the nude. But it’s not as though they stared at you, after all, they’re naked all the time. With a full belly, revived determination, and a goal in mind you set your sights on the darkened edge of the hallway.

Discord wanted you to make friends and you feel you've made good progress. Despite spending little time with the equines, you've come to believe that the friends you've made will be the best you've ever come to know. At least you hope. You turn to them and offer a final wave goodbye before stepping through the threshold and out of sight. As soon as you’re gone Discord sighs.

"You know, I withheld some information. The reason why I chose him instead of another human is for one reason. There isn't another human alive that has the potential to ruin my plans.” He chuckles to himself, “Good Luck Anonymous. After you crawl out of that bed, you'll be right back to it. I expect to be beaten within a week or two. Don't disappoint me," With that being said Discord promptly snaps his talons and teleports away.

Eris floats alone for a few moments before giggling to herself, “Daddy, if you think I’m just gonna let Anon win you’ve got another thing coming.” She laughs so hard she starts holding onto her stomach. “You said to find them back where you began. It’s too bad they never figured it out.” She finally calms down enough to where she’s able to hold her lion’s paw out in front of her.

Purple ethereal flames coat her paw as she summons a very particular item. A single book, a golden unicorn’s head graces the front cover. As soon as she opens it she reaches in and pulls out a single artifact. A brilliantly crafted gold necklace with a single red lightning-shaped gem now lies in her gryphon hand.

Author's Note:

After almost a month of trying to figure it all out I finally get it done.
Any comments, questions, feedback about this particular chapter, or previous chapters is appreciated and encouraged.

Also, please point out any mistakes you find and PM me your discoveries please. Hope you guys enjoy.

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