> My Stepfather Discord
>  by Raikage77
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Chaotic Morning With The Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Prologue: Chaotic Morning With The Family



Date: July/16th/2013


Sleep.

It is one of the best times for an animal or human, rather they like to admit it or not. Mom always says that sleep was one of the three things besides food and water that the body needs indefinitely, and when you're forcefully waken up from that sleep, even a human could turn into a beast.

Snap!

Splash!

I now understand what she meant by that; now don't get me wrong I'm not usually one to complain when it's time to get up. But even the best of us get angry when woken up with a cold bucket of water.

...That's what I thought it was at first, until the smell of chocolate hit my nostrils, along with the slight taste on my tongue. This wasn't water at all. This was chocolate milk.

I shot up into a sitting position the second the cold liquid hit me. Shivering slightly, I opened my eyes and looked up, seeing an ominous pink cloud floating over my bed, still drizzling with chocolate rain. There was only one person who'd pull a prank like this.

And he had the nerve to burst open in semi-insane laughter as I turned to face him.

"Ah ha ha ha~! You should see your face!"

"Discord! What the *beep*!" I covered my mouth the second the censored sound came out.

Discord laughed again, this time wagging his eagle claw like hand at me. He was in his semi-human form at the moment. My little brother, John, was sitting on his shoulder, bursting in laughter at the expression on my face while holding his stomach like the obnoxious eleven-year-old he was. "Now, now, Justin. We wouldn't want to use such language around your little brother, now would we." He said, holding his eagle-like hand over to my brother, getting an high-five from him. "Nice job, by the way."

John giggled. "You look so funny, Justin. I got you really good."

"You mean you planned this?"

"Uh-huh," John nodded, grinning. "Mommy said to wake you up for breakfast. So, me and Daddy Discord decided to wake you up the fun way."

I frowned, blinking a few time. "I hate you, both of you," I muttered, wiping some of the chocolate milk off my face.

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen," Discord said. He had that same stupid grin he always had on his face when he got in a good prank. "It's all in good fun, besides, we're all fair game in this house. You'll get me back ...one of these days." Discord snapped his fingers and the pink cloud disappeared, along with all the chocolate milk that covered me and the bed. "See, no harm done."

I sighed, throwing the now dry covers off of my person, and swung my feet over the bed. "I'll be down in a minute. You can leave now."

"Are you still mad at us?" John asked, making a sad face. "We were just playing, besides, you're all dry now."

In all truth, I wasn't as pissed as I had been when it first happened. Highly annoyed? Yes, yes I was. But, you would be too getting a face full of chocolate milk in the morning, rather then the occasional air horn.

"I'm not mad."

"Oh, good," Discord said. Why was he being so smug about it? God, I wish I had the ability to use magic, it'd be so easy to get him back for this, and all the other times. "Anyway, we're heading back down stairs. You're mom's making those delicious chocolate chip pancakes I love so much, and I'd hate for them to get cold. Ta ta for now." Then he and my brother were gone in a flash of white light.

I rolled my eyes. To everyone else it was Tuesday morning. For me, it was just the beginning to another day of family chaos.

"Discord is such a *beep*hole." I frowned and face-palmed myself. Right, Discord never took off the censor. "*Beep*!"


XxxxX


When I got down to the dinning room, everyone was already eating at nicely decorated dining table. It was mostly normal, if you ignored the hopping syrup bottle pouring more syrup over my mom's pancakes, and other silverware. It was like a scene straight out Beauty and the Beast.

"Well it's about time, your food was getting cold." My mom said, looking up at me with a smile. "Morning."

I walked over and pulled out a chair, sitting down in my spot next to my baby brother, Taylor, who was seated in a highchair. "Morning," I greeted back. I then turned to the baby and smiled, pointing him softly on the nose, he always blinked whenever someone did that. "Morning, Tay'."

Taylor giggled. Then, the two and a half year old said babbled two sounds. "Cha-cha~!" And a sippy-cup full of chocolate milk appeared right in front of him on his plastic table; he drunk the cup, but left the milk in the shape of a cup and bit into the liquid as if it was a cookie, partly exposing his one baby fang.

Now, you're probably wondering, how can a baby do something like that? Well, first, I'll have to explain a little something about my family first. A huge secrete if there ever was one.

So lets start with the introductions: My name is Justin Matthews, I'm a twenty-year-old African-American living in the city of Philadelphia, PA. I have black, bushy hair, brown eyes, cinnamon brown skin. And I'm tall, around six foot five.

I have plenty of extended family, but I'll get to them later. My mom is Dominique Matthews, and my biological father ...well, I can't say I know him like that, all I know is that he's an asshole, that's what mom says at least. Anyway, my little brother is John, and my baby brother's name is Taylor, though everyone calls him Tay'.

And then there's my stepfather, known as David by those outside. But Discord to the rest of us, he's a different story, you see four years back when I was still in high school. He somehow appeared in my world for whatever reason, from another realm in a land called Equestria. He seemed pretty human as far as I, or anyone else, could tell, but he was far from being 'normal'. It took some real research and internet surfing, but I eventually found out who he was, or rather what he was. A chimaera. A draconequus. Or, as he calls himself, Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony.

Now, anyone else would have thrown him out on the street after finding this out, but my mom's not like most people, and even after getting pranked and the house getting turned upside down, literally, she somehow fell for him, even after he showed us his true form.

John thought he looked cool and I did too, somewhat.

He was a shape-shifter, a trickster, an annoyance. And, he ended up marrying my mom (even if I didn't want him to), and a few years later, Taylor was born. Part human, part whatever Discord was. A walking, crawling ball of chaos just waiting to happen, I'm sure you've seen Poof from the Fairy Odd Parents. It was for this reason that Discord had to make a charm for him, a small bracelet to keep his chaotic powers in check until he was old enough to control them.

Things still happened around us, sometimes, but they weren't as bad as before. At least not like the chocolate milk thunderstorm that took half the country by storm. No pun intended; Discord had to wipe everyone's memory of that day, and that took quite a bit of magic that had him worn himself out for almost a week.

"Um, Justin."

I stopped eating in mid-bite and looked up at my mom. "Yeah?"

"Me and Discord have been talking," she spoke, glancing over at the human-looking Discord. "And, we think that it's about time you-."

"Get a job," Discord finished for her.

"A job ...why?"

"Well, why not, you're twenty-years-old, don't you think you should be trying to get your own place soon," Discord mused, sipping a glass of chocolate milk, the normal way for once. "Make your own living. Why, when I was your age I had plenty of jobs to do."

"And, how many of those jobs didn't involve chaos and mayhem?" I asked, plainly.

"Hmm ...it's hard to say, I haven't been twenty for the past few thousand years, I think."

"That's what I thought."

"Anyway, you are taking this the wrong way," my mom said. "We're not trying to kick you out or anything. Far from it. But, you're a young man, you should be out working, making a living for yourself."

"Mom's right, you know," John added, talking with a mouth full of food. "If I was you, I would've been moved out by now."

I sucked my teeth at him. "You say that now. Just wait until you get to be my age. It's a totally different story." I then turned my attention back to my mom and Discord, sighing as I muttered. "But if getting a job will make you happy, then I'll talk to a few of my friends. See if there's anything open for me to do."

"Oh, goodie! That's what I like to hear," Discord clapped his hands together, before standing up from the table. "And if you need any help finding something, I might know a few places you can go. Anyway, I've got to go. When chaos calls, I always answer."

"Do you enjoy causing people misery?"

Discord looked down at me and smiled. "Well, I not gonna lie and say I hate it. Though, you do seem to enjoy it with all of the fail videos you watch all the time."

"Wait ...all of that was you?" I asked, surprised.

"Somewhat, others were just the stupidity of some people."

"Oh, that's good to know."

"So, I'm off. There's a huge storm of chaos brewing in China and I'd hate to miss it." He teleported in a flash of white next to my mom, gave her a peck on the lips, then appeared between me and the Taylor, who he took out the highchair. "Now, you be good, my little spawn of chaos. Don't cause too much trouble today." The baby replied with the usual giggling and non understandable baby babbling. He placed Taylor back in the highchair, and teleported again, this time he was wearing a Bruce Lee looking outfit. "I'll be back, whenever I get back."

"Hopefully before dinner," my mom said.

"And bring me back a toy, please," John added.

Discord shrugged. "I'll try but I make no promises. I'll give an hello to the locals for you all. Zàijiàn~!" And just like that he was gone to do whatever chaos he felt needed to be done. Mom never really had a problem with that, as long as it never resulted in death. Which, it never did to begin with, surprisingly.

This was just another day in my life, and it was always chaotic in someway.

Especially, when your step-dad is the spirit of chaos and disharmony.
> Job Hunting With Discord: Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Job Hunting With Discord: Part 1



Date: July/18th/2013


No one said that getting a job would be so hard.

I walked into the house feeling a bit let down, closing the door with my heel. There was really no need to lock it because John was still outside playing with his friends. We always left the door unlocked when he played outside, just encase there was ever an emergency and he needed to get into the house fast.

I mean it's not like we live in a bad neighborhood or anything. But, it was better to be safe then sorry.

I made my way over to the couch and plopped down on it. I checked with almost all of my friends, even a few people that I barely knew or talked to, to see if any places were hiring. No one was, so I tried looking into a few places on my own: Gamestop, Target, Walmart, and even K-Mart. In that exact order.

But, no one was hiring at all! It was completely ridiculous. It was as if everyone had something against me or something. I know that's impossible, but it was how I felt at the moment.

Two days of job hunting, and I didn't even get so much as a 'we'll see what we can do'. What a waste!

"Jeez, maybe I should quit while I'm ahead. Never was much of a job person. Or …," I thought back to what Discord said before. Despite being a spirit of chaos, he did work. More or less to keep up his ruse as being a normal human being. He even did something that used his magic talents rather well, he worked as a high-class magician in some casino in Las Vegas, it paid rather nicely.

It also helped that he could be pretty much anywhere in the world with just a snap of his fingers, or talons, depending on what form he used at the time.

"I guess I'll ask Discord what he had in mind," I uttered. I hopped up off the couch and checked my cellphone for any text messages or voice mails. Mom was at work today, so that meant that Discord was in their bedroom doing whatever he did on his days off.

I strolled up the stairs and made my way down the hallway to the farthest room. Knocking a few times, I called through the door.

"Discord! ...Yo, Discord, I need some help with that job thing." I didn't get an answer, so after waiting in the hallway for a few minutes, constantly rapping on the door. I opened it and took a step in.

At first, I thought I was in the wrong place. Because this did not look like a bedroom at all. It was a huge, chaotically decorated throne room, complete with pink clouds, pillars made of of what looked like different colored rock candy and rivers of chocolate milk trialing at the sides of a huge red rug. Willy Wonka would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven if he saw this place.

It was a candy addicts dream, which was bad for me; I was getting a major sweet tooth just looking at all the stuff.

I took a breath, steeling myself and I entered the room.

Will power was one thing I can say I have, cause if I didn't, I would've hopped into the caramel stream the second I saw it. As I past all the sweets, glancing at each mountain of candy with a look of longing as I-.

Oh, my, God.

I stopped in my tracks and looked up. "He has a mountain of tarts! There's no way I'm passing this up!" I went over to the pastry mountain and took an arm full. Taking bites as I did so. So much for self control. But, blue berry tarts were my favorite treat ever.

I continued down the red path set in front of me, and there on a huge throne, was Discord in his normal non-human form. Sleeping away in a upside down position, like a little kid would do on a couch while watching Television. I rolled my eyes at the sight. He may have been over a thousand years old, but he still acted like a goofy kid; mom did too, it was one of the things that attracted her to him. Or, so she says.

At first I was going to shake him awake. But then I thought to myself, this is the perfect opportunity to get him back for yesterday morning. Besides, when did we ever wake each other up the normal way in this family?

My mind being made up, I set down the arm full of tarts in a small pile near the top of the throne steps and walked down to one of the chocolate milk pools. Gathering some milk into a large bucket, I went back up the stairs, grinning all the while as I held the bucket near his face.

"Three, two, one."

Splash!

In an instant, Discord shot up, sputtering out chocolate milk. "What in the world!" He looked around in surprise, until his odd eyes landed on me. Then his face went blank. "Oh ...it's you."

"What's wrong, Dissy, we're all fair game in this house, remember." I said, a smug grin on my face. "Pay back's a bitch, ain't it?"

"Oh. Ha ha, so you got me this time. It's still ninety-three to one."

"You've been keeping track?"

"Of course," Discord floated himself into an upright sitting position, pulling a towel from seemingly out of nowhere, drying the chocolate milk off his face. "So what do you want? I doubt you came here just to prank me." He said, leaning back on his throne, resting his chin in his talon. I would say like a boss, but it's been used.

I sat down on the top step, taking a bite of one of the tarts in the pile. "You're right. Actually, I came here to take you up on your offer. About the job help."

"I see, so you've had no luck in finding something. Nothing at all?" The trickster asked.

"Nope," I answered, simply.

Discord sighed heavily. Was it that he didn't want to help me, or did he just want to get back to his nap? "Well, I would rather return to my nap." Knew it. "But if you really need my help that badly, I guess I have no choice." Discord raised his eagle arm and snapped his talons.

The room changed back to normal, and all the food disappeared, including the fruit tarts that I was eating. I went to take a bite, only to get a mouth full of air, instead.

"Hey, I was eating those!"

"Sorry~." I knew for a fact he wasn't sorry.

"Asshole."

Before Discord came along my mom's room was just your average bedroom, with a bed set, dressers and a large rug. Now, it was a room fit for a king. Which wasn't all that surprising since Discord did say he used to be a ruler once. The bed was one of the hugest beds I've ever seen in my life; not to mention the mattress itself looked like it was made out of clouds.

My stepfather stood up, stretching his arms and legs out. I was tall, but in his natural form he was a full five inches taller then I was. And, that was just when he was standing on the ground.

"So ...what did you have in mind, Discord?"

"Hmm ...I was going to take you to a friend of mine, nice lady, very bossy though." Discord replied, he snapped his fingers and turned back into his fully human looking form, wearing a suit, button up white undershirt and black pants, very classy. Now the only thing weird about him was his odd white and black hair. "Shall we be going, then?"

"Shouldn't we have someone watch the house, Taylor and John?" I asked.

"Right, right. One second," he reached behind his back and pulled out a cage, and inside the cage was John's pet rabbit, Annie.

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing with John's rabbit?"

"Well getting a babysitter, of course," Discord said, as if it was the simplest answer in the world.

This was the stuff I never got about this guy. How the hell was a rabbit gonna babysit? It's stupid! "I don't get it."

"You will, just stand back and watch the master at work."

Letting the rabbit hop out of it's cage, Discord cracked each of his knuckles, then snapped his fingers in the direction of the small white bunny. The change was instant, but though my eyes I saw it happen in slow motion. The rabbit went white for a moment, like a completely blinding white, then it started to transform like a Pokemon evolving. A few second later, the thing that stood there was no longer a rabbit, but a short teenager that looked like she came straight out of the Playboy mansion.

I starred at her, looked over at Discord, then looked back at her again. Bunny ears, white hair, maid outfit. Her ears were real, of cause, it was easy to tell even if you didn't see her change just by the way they twitched.

"Dude ...what did you just do?"

"Well, got us a babysitter," Discord answered. "And who better to babysit then someone who lives in the same house."

"But, she's a rabbit." I uttered.

Discord shrugged. "And, what of it. Rabbits can be responsible too, you know. Besides, I don't see you getting a sitter on such short notice." He said, before turning to the now humanized Annie, giving her his best smile. "Now, Annie, would you be a dear and watch the boys while we're gone?"

Annie didn't answer. She just glared heavily at him, while crossing her arms and tapped her feet on the floor. What the hell did Discord do to get hate like that?

"Why she glaring at you like that?" I nudged him, keeping my eyes on the bunny girl.

Discord stroked his beard. "Hmm ...it could be because of the tiger incident last time."

"Tiger, what tiger?" hold up a minute, did he say last time? "Wait, you did this to her before?"

"Hey, don't give me that look, babysitter are hard to come by these days. So I improvised." The chaos spirit replied. He turned back to Annie; an expression on his face that was serious, even for him, "Ann, I know last time was a bit of a ...problem. But, Taylor's abilities are under control, now. So there will be no tigers, or elephants, or pirates."

Annie starred at him with a blank expression. Then let out a sigh, rolling her eyes, putting up two finger.

"two hours."

Annie nodded. Before, putting up all ten fingers, and making some sort of sign language that I had no idea what it meant.

Discord of the other hand, seemed to understand perfectly fine. "Ten carrots. Five now, five when I get back or no deal." Annie nodded again, placing her hand on her hip and tapping her foot.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

"Fine." Discord snapped his fingers and a small bag with a carrot symbol it appeared next to the bunny girl's feet. Annie grinned, snatching up the up the bag. She made a shooing motion at us before she ...uh, turned and hopped out the room. Didn't know she still had to do that. Oh, and she still has a tail! That's just cute~!

"So, shall we go," Discord said, tapping on a watch that wasn't on his arm before. "The clocks ticking, you know."

"Uh, yeah."

"Alright then, hold on the your hats!" He said, just before snapping his fingers. Wait a minute.

I felt the top of my head.

When did I put on a hat...?
> Job Hunting With Discord: Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Job Hunting With Discord: Part 2



Time: 7:45pm


I would have never known it if I hadn't seen it. But, Las Vegas is absolutely stunning at sunset. All the sites, the sounds, the people. I could see now why Discord decided to work here; despite it's beauty, Vegas was sort of chaotic. If you looked at it from a different view point, that is.

Besides, there was a reason why they have that saying: 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'.

As we drove down the Las Vegas Freeway in a Toyota Discord made via magic, he told me more stuff about his life, before he had married my mom. I always found the his stories interesting, but who wouldn't when their stepfather was pretty much an alien from another dimension.

He also had the radio playing, but the songs were what most would call one of the classics. Like smooth jazz and Dean Martin, it was never something I'd have ever thought I'd find him listening to. I always thought his taste in music was a little ...chaotic, like DubStep.

"-So, long story short, I ended up being turned back to stone, again." Discord finished, as he stopped at the next light.

I patted his shoulder, showing my empathy. "Damn, that's harsh, Bruh. Out after a thousand years just to get put back in the same situation." I commented, glancing out the car window, before turning back to the spirit. "They have some weird name, though. I mean, Twilight Sparkle, really."

"Well if you think that's weird, her brother has an even better one." Discord said. The light turned green and we were moving again.

"What is it?"

"Shining Armor."

I gave him a blank look. "Seriously? Your bullshitting me, right?"

"Nope, I'm quite serious."

My expression became a grin as I started laughing. "Ah ha ha~ Shining Armor! Who name's their kid something like Shining Armor, it so fairy tail sounding it's funny! Even for a unicorn!"

"Maybe one day you'll meet him. Nice guy. His wife doesn't like me so much, though."

"It could be because you used to be evil." I was just throwing that out there.

Discord gave a thoughtful expression. "Evil? I won't say I was evil, more to the point ...misunderstood. Not everyone can appreciate my type of magic like your mother does."

"Yeah, mom's weird like that." She truly was.

The drive lasted for about ten minutes after that, until we pulled up to a place that looked like a old fashion restaurant with a sign on the front that said: Johnny Rocket. We both exited the car and made our way to the building. When we entered, I was surprised to see it was one of those old fifties diners.

I've never been in one, but the smell of the food and the music made it seem like I was taken back to the American golden age. They even had a dance floor, with some couple in the middle of a crowd of people doing The Swing.

"Um, Discord, what is this place?"

"It's your new job, of course. Wait here for a moment." Discord didn't say anything else and walked off into the crowd towards the kitchen area, leaving me here to look around some more. I made my way into the crowd of people on the dance floor; the music had changed from jazzy Doo-Wop blues to a slow song. I felt sort of out of place, everyone had a partner to dance with but me.

That was when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw that it was a girl around my age. She was shorter then me, with long dark hair and black eyes, wearing an white waitress's uniform. The only way to describe her would be doll face; like a Chinese glass dolls.

"You know if your not dancing, you should probably move off the dance floor." She said, softly. Her tone told me that it was more of a suggestion then an order.

I starred at her, nodding like an idiot. "Uh ...right, sorry." God, this girl was cute. I really hope I don't make a fool of myself.

Once we were off of the dance floor, I took a seat at one of the booths and waited for Discord.

"So are you ordering anything?" The Asian girl asked.

I shook my head. "No, I'm just waiting for someone. That's all."

"I could get you some water, it's free."

"No thanks, I'm fine," I declined the offer polity. "Thank you, though."

The waitress sighed, but nodded. "Alright, then." Then she left to wait another table that was on the other side of the restaurant. The place was pretty busy, sure I was a little thirsty, but I didn't feel the need for a drank at the moment.

After almost fifteen minutes of sitting and waiting. The spirit of chaos finally returned, with a slightly younger looking women trailing behind him. I stood up just as the two stopped at the booth. The woman was looking me over, inspecting me with stern brown eyes. It was making me kinda nervous.

Then she spoke. "So, you're David's stepson I've heard so much about?"

"Um, y-yes ma'am. That's me," I answered.

"David tells me you need a job. Just so you know, I don't employ slackers. You have to be here on time everyday." She paused for a moment, before continuing. "You don't have a police record, do you? Anything I should know about?"

I shook my head. "No ma'am. I have a clean slate." And it was something I was pretty damn proud of, too. Not many people I know can say they've never had a run in with the police. For something bad, at least.

"Hm." The lady starred at me, blankly. Then looked over towards Discord for confirmation. "No record, no drug use? Can you vouch for him on this, David?"

Discord nodded. "He's not lying, Julie. Boy's got a cleaner slate then most his age, I can say that for sure."

"I'll take your word on it." She turned back to me, a small smile gracing her face. Julie took my hand and shook it. "Looks like your in the Johnny Rocket family now, kid. I expect you here at eight o' clock sharp starting tomorrow, got it."

I smiled. "Yes ma'am. Thank you."

"Good. I'll be seeing you at your next show, Discord. Keep safe now."

"I always do, Julie. You have a goodnight, now."

The woman, Julie, walked back towards the kitchen area and me and Discord left out of the diner. The old time music fading behind us when the doors closed. Once we got in the car, that was we I took notice of what the manager had called Discord.

"Hey, why did that lady call you by your real name?" I asked.

The draconequus grinned. "She thinks it's my stage name. Discord The Chaotic." He answered as he started up the car. "She was actually the one who came up with it after my premiere show. I think it had something to do with the card trick involving the mini atomic explosion."

That made sense, I guess. Though I still had one thing that needed answering. "Also, If you haven't noticed, we're in Vegas. But, we live in Philly, how in the world am I suppose to get to work all the way across the country?"

"Oh, that's easy, getting here can be as simple as opening up a door~!" Discord said, smiling widely.

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't get it. "That doesn't make any sense." I replied.

Discord gave a chuckle. That was laced with a slight bit of evilness to it. "Justin, I'm Discord, nothing I do ever makes sense." He stated, as if that explained everything. "Besides, what's the fun in making sense."

"It might not be fun but at least it gives people an idea of what you're thinking, jeez."


XxxxX


The house was quiet, a little bit too quiet. Usually, you could hear the TV or Taylor throwing his blocks around. But, there was nothing, not even the sound of the television. We were making our way down stairs when we noticed that no one was in the house. I couldn't be sure though because the living room was too dark to tell.

As we got to the bottom of the steps, I turned to Discord. "Where is everyone?"

Discord shrugged. "You're asking the wrong person. Though, I do have a few ideas." Then he flicked on the light switch.

I was caught totally off guard by the state the house was in. It wasn't the fact that everything was a mess, it was the fact that the entire house just looked different ...bigger. Like someone had turned in into some type of huge child's playhouse. There were huge over sized letter blocks on the floor, taffy trees, balloons floating high up on the ceiling that was about as high as the sky, and I'm not just saying that. There were literal mountains of chocolate cake, and the ceiling fan was turn into a smiling sun with a toy clown head sticking on each of the fan blades.

Creepy. I probably thought that because I hate clowns with a passion.

"Ahuck~ come play with me!" ...Wait, did the fan just talk? "Come play with me~!" Yep, it defiantly talked. And, had the nerve to sound like Penny Wise. I'm hating this already.

But, where as I was taken by complete shock, Discord seemed to be a little ...was that pride?

"Well, this is surprising. To think that Taylor would still be able to do all the this with the bracelet on." The chaotic spirit, uttered. "He's done an excellent job for one so young, if I do say so my self." He took a hand full of chocolate cake and ate it in one bite. "Marvelous~!"

"Um ...shouldn't we be finding the boys and Annie?"

"And we shall. Right after I finish off this delicious cake."

"Discord," I muttered. "I mean, like, right now."

Discord groaned and dropped the cake he was about to eat. "Alright, fine. You always have to ruin the fun."

And so we began our walk through the candy forest, which was easy since there was a long peppermint trail leading between the trees. It only took us about five minutes until we got to the end, and there we found Annie, John and Taylor sitting in the middle of a clearing having so type of picnic. Taylor was eating ice cream, totally ruining his clothes in the process. John was stuffing his mouth with strawberry short cake. And, Annie had a carrot salad with a ton of other vegetables.

While making my way over to them, I enjoyed the scenery. Despite being a chaotic mess, it was a work of art compared to what Taylor had done to the house the last few times. At least there were no man eating gummy bears trying to kill me this time. You'd think that gummy bears wouldn't have teeth, right?

Well, you would be wrong. Taylor made sure they did.

"Oh, hey bro, Discord! Welcome back!" John waved at us with icing covered hand.

"Hi guys," I greeted back, before adding. "So ...what's going on around here?"

"You know, the usual. Taylor had one of his tantrums, again," the per-teen said, shaking his head. "But, at least it's only the house and not on a country wide scale this time."

I gave a nod. "I can't agree more." If the public could remember, the one time chocolate rain fell from the sky and flooded the streets was one of the worse things that happened in the last decade. And the midget alien invasion made it slightly worse. Don't ask how, just don't.

"Dada~!" Taylor exclaimed, a pair of small wings forming on his back. One similar to an angel wing, while the other looked closer to a bat's wing.

I watched in slight envy as the toddler took to the air and floated towards Discord, landing in his arms, laughing and giggling. Flight, it was one of Taylor's many gifts. As a little kid I always dreamed of flying. Shoring through the air, being able to go anywhere I wanted at any time. Taylor was lucky, once his magic started to awaken as he went from a few months old to the big number one, he'd fly himself all over the place for short periods of time. Discord said his wings weren't that strong yet, which made sense, since he was so young.

Despite being the chaotic little trouble maker he was, Taylor was my little brother, and as such I always tried to help him fly better. That's what big brothers do after all.

"Ah~ if it isn't my little bundle of chaos!" Discord cooed, holding up the laughing toddler, before turning to Annie. "He wasn't a too bad today, was he?"

Annie continued to nibble on a carrot and made a so-so gesture with her hand. Discord nodded, then went back to continuing to play with the baby, making different funny faces that would have been impossible for a human to do to get more giggles out of the toddler. It was during that time that the thought came to mind, again.

If my new job was all the way in Las Vegas, how was I suppose to get there everyday? It's not like I was magic or anything, and taking a plane was out of the question. I was beginning to think that Discord didn't think any of this through at all.

"Discord, mind telling me now how the hell I'm getting to Vegas all the way from Philadelphia. I doubt you'll be taking me everyday."

"Your quite right about that. I'm just too busy, so I came up with a little something to help out." Discord then reached behind his back, and pulled out a card. It looked like a normal card, but knowing him, this was something more. "You'll use this. A sub-trac card, for all of your sub-space traveling needs. It's also Discord approved."

I took the card from his hand and examined it. It was about as big as a debt card, with a key ring in the left corner and a huge yellow star in the middle. There was also a logo on the back, a big stamp with a picture of Discord in his normal form, giving that goofy smile he always gives. The words under it said 'Discord Approved'.

So, this is what happens when you let a spirit of chaos read your graphic novels. They get ideas, that is one thing I'm happy for.

"You got this from the comic book I let you barrow, didn't you?"

Discord nodded. "Why yes. Yes I did. A very interesting story, I might add. What was it called again?" He gave a thoughtful expression. "Something Pilgrim vs. The World?"

"His name's Scott, dad," John said.

"Right! that's the one, Scott Pilgrim."

"So, anyway, I just use this card and I can travel through sub-space using doors?"

"That is the idea."

"So how does it work, exactly?" I asked.

"It's quite simple, you think about the place you want to go, open the door, and you're there. Though, you do have to take the sub-space highway at times for long distances." Discord answered. He snapped his fingers and a door appeared in the middle of the clearing. "Why don't you give it a try."

"Alright."

I made my way over to the door. If this was anything like Scott Pilgrim, all I had to do was turn the nob. So that what I did, I grabbed the door handle and turned it, but didn't open it just yet. I turned back to Discord and gave him a look. He waved at me, then went back to paying with the flying toddler.

Pushing the door open, I sighed as I stepped through. Thinking of one of the many places I'd always wanted to visit.

In front of me was a weird looking highway. it had a glowing checker pattern for the road and it was snowing for some reason, but it wasn't cold at all. I began my walk across the bridge and ended up at another door at the end with a star painted onto the wood. I grab the nob and pushed the door open.

One moment ago I was in my chaotically transformed house. Now, I was standing in the middle of a crowded sidewalk and ended up bumping into someone. The guy turned to me, yelling. But, it wasn't in English.

It was in Japanese.

I was taken by surprise, then something caught my eye. I glanced up and saw, standing in all it's glory, the Tokyo Tower. I was in Japan just like I wanted to be.

"Well, that's ...unexpected." I uttered. My shocked face then turned into a grin. I looked down at the card in my hand, before shoving it into my back pocket. I was already here, so I might as well give myself a small tour of the city.

As I started walking down the crowded streets, I thought back to the great day I was having. I got a job, in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas, just a few hours ago, and now I'm in Tokyo. What's not to be happy about! This was love right here.

"This is gonna be so fuckin' awesome~!" I exclaimed, pumping my fist into the air.

A few people stopped and starred at me, rather any of them knew English or not was completely beyond me. I felt my cheeks heat up and I made continued down the street with my head held down. That was embarrassing.
> A Morning Filled With DubStep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Morning Filled With DubStep




Date: July/24th/2013


Now I'm a person who enjoys his sleep, and I think that that gos for almost everyone I know, even Discord. So when you are woken up as I was, especially when you've got to go to work in a few hours, you tend to be a bit grumpy.

The first thing I was made aware of when I woke up was that my entire room was shaking. It wasn't an Earth quake or anything like that. It was music. Extremely loud; so much that every time it hit the bass it shook the room to it's core.

Thud!

I sat up and looked over. The alarm clock on my nightstand was now lying on the floor. It wasn't broken, but it just proved how loud the music was. I groaned, muttering under my breath, and threw the sheets off of my person.

“How much do you wanna bet that Discord is doing this.”

I threw my legs over the side of the bed and got to my feet. This had to stop. At this rate I wouldn't be able to get the rest of my sleep before I had to get to work, and there was no way I was being late this early on in the job.

As I made my way down stairs, the music only seemed to get louder. Once I got to the bottom step I was about to walk towards the kitchen door where the music was coming from when I realize something. The entire living room was flipped upside down. The couch, the television set and even the coffee table were on the ceiling, while the ceiling fan ...or, floor fan? Whatever, it was on the floor. And, in the center of it all was Discord, sitting on the upside down couch as if everything was normal.

“Discord.”

“....”

“Discord!” I yelled over the music. I still didn't get an answer. Looking closer, I noticed that he had a pair of headphones on. That would explain why he wasn't bother by the loudness of it all. I sighed and reached down, pulling off my left slipper, then threw right at his head, finally getting his attention.

The human formed draconequus looked down ...or upside down-. Whatever, he looked at me and took off his headphones. “Can I help you with something?” Discord said, lifting his left hand into the air. He was holding a book. “If you haven't noticed, I'm in the middle of reading.”

“How in the world can you read with all this noise,” I yelled over the music. 

Discord shrugged. “It not really hard to ignore. I was wearing headphones, too. Makes blocking it out much easier if you ask me.”

“And there's all this music blasting through the house, because …?”

“Oh. Well, that would be John,” the chaos spirit said, giving a nod towards the kitchen. “It was his turn to do the dishes. So I guess you could say I made it a bit more fun for him.”

“You do know this is gonna wake up Taylor, right.” I stated, putting back on my other slipper. “He's gonna have on of his tantrums again, and it's going to be all your fault.”  

“Oh, I don't think we have to worry about that.” Discord replied, as he waved his hand dismissively at me. “I put a sound bubble around his crib. Sound comes out, but he can't here a thing outside of it. So, no worries there.” He was about to put back on his headphones as opened his book back to the page he was on. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to continue. This Yuno girl is really something.”

I got a good look at the he was reading, it was a manga. surprisingly? 

But, it was in complete Japanese. “Wait a minute. Since when could you read Japanese?” I asked. “I thought you could only understand English or ''Equestrian'',” I said, making quotation marks with my finger.

Discord just grinned. “I believe you're asking the wrong question, my boy.” He put back on his headphones and continued. “I think the question you should be asking is since when couldn't I read Japanese.”

I opened my mouth to say something. Then closed it a few seconds afterward, shaking my head. I swear, this guy ...uhh! Jeez, I don't understand him at all!

Sighing, I turned and made my way to the kitchen door. Once I opened it, I was hit was a wave of sound. As loud as it had been from my room, it was way louder at it's source. And to make it worse there were neon lights changing the color of the kitchen every time the beat dropped. It was making my eyes hurt a little bit.

Red, then green, then yellow, then blue. Oh God, this was too much for anyone's eyes to take!

John, who had just noticed me walk in, turned to me and waved. Oddly enough the music wasn't blasting out of a stereo or even a speaker. It was coming from the dishwasher. “Morning Justin, what do you think of the new dishwasher?” He yelled, bobbing his head to the music.

“Why is there music blasting out of the dishwasher?”

Mom smiled, sipping whatever was drinking; most likely coffee if I had to guess. She sat at the table that shook with every bump that came from the dishwasher, but nothing had yet to fall from the table. “Oh, you know you're stepfather. Always making new things with that magic of his.”

“Can you believe he made a DubStep dishwasher? It's like the most awesome thing since, ever!” My little brother exclaimed, grinning at me. “It cleans dishes on a microscopic level. He said he got the idea from some DJ pony in his world named, Vinyl Scratch, or something like that.”

“Ookay, not that I asked that. Do you have to blast it so loud, though?” I muttered, I walked over to a chair and took a seat, laying face down on the oak table, which wasn't much of a good idea because it kept on moving. “I have to work in a few hours. I'd really like to get back to sleep and I can't do that if you're trying to blow my ear drums off.”

“We're sorry, sweet heart. We thought that Discord was going to place a sound bubble over your room, so we ended up playing it pretty loudly.”

“And the neighbors? They are gonna report all this noise,” I stated.

Mom shrugged. “I highly doubt that they can hear a thing. The house is soundproof, so there's no need to worry about that.” She then turned to John. “Could you turn the volume down a bit.”

“But, mom~.”

“Now.”

“Fine,” John uttered. He did what he was told and turned down the volume so that it could only be heard in the kitchen. I sighed and slid back in my chair and stood up.

“Thank you.” I walked to the kitchen door, not even bothering to push my chair back in. to tell the truth I was too tired to care about something like that this time of morning. Plus, I was already half way across the kitchen. “Anyway, I'm going back to sleep. I make my own breakfast when I wake up later, so there's no need to cook or me, mom.”

“Alright, just don't forget to eat something this time or you'll be working on an empty stomach all day at work. And trust me that's the worst feeling in the world.”

“I'll eat something, don't worry about it, mom.” I just waved, pushing opened the door and head back upstairs. When I got to my room I kick off slippers and threw myself onto the bed, covering myself in my sheets like a cocoon. Sighing in relaxation, I looked over at my clock. 

It was only seven-thirty in the morning. That gave me about two hours of sleep.

Man, it was taught having a job. Especially when you had to wake up at early hours you're not used to.


> Day On The Job
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day On The Job



Date: July/26th/2013


"Okay, so you want ketchup, mayonnaise, cheese and fried onions on it?"

"Yes ...oh, and can you add pickles too?"

I smiled at the little girl sitting in the booth in front of me. "Sure thing." I said, writing down the last bit of the order in my notepad. "And pickles," I looked over the order to make sure that I'd gotten everything down, them turned to the man sitting across from her who I assumed was her father. "Will that be all, sir."

"Yep, that'll be it." The man said, smiling. "And thanks for being so patent with my daughter, she can be picky sometimes."

"Dad, I'm not picky." The little girl, whined.

I smiled. John used to act somewhat like that at that age, too. "It's no problem, sir. You're food should be here in a few minutes."

And with that I turned and walked through the dinning area towards the main counter to place the orders. Working at this diner was something I never thought I'd see myself doing before Discord brought me here, and though I was a bit tried, I was really enjoying it. The music here was great and even the uniform was classy, it consisted of a pair of black dress pants, a white button up shirt, black tie and a black vest; it reminded me sort of what a butler would wear, but hey, I wasn't complaining. The waitress uniform was about the same, except the bottoms were a black skirt.

I tore the paper with the order on it out of the notepad and attached it to the rotational rack and rang the small bell, signaling that an order had just been put in. A moment later, one of the kitchen workers came out, took the order, and headed back into the kitchen through the double swing doors. Leaving me there to wait, listening to the smooth old time music that played out of the speakers.

I leaned back against the counter and hummed along with the song, I heard it a hundred times before thanks to my late grandmother, it had a very nostalgic feel to it. I could get used to this type of work, it wasn't too hard and I had a great memory when it came to taking notes. It was one of the things that got me through high school, after all.

"Well, you're looking as calm as ever today." A voice said behind me. I knew exactly who it was the second I heard it.

I turned around and faced the speaker. He was a shorter guy, wearing the same uniform as me, the only difference was that while I was a waiter, he was the restaurant dishwasher. His name was Michael but everyone who knew him called him, Mike. Mike's been working here for way longer then I have, he was also the one that helped show me the ropes; what gos where, how to deal with rude customers, that sort of thing.

"Were you expecting me to be moping around on a day like this?" I said, smiling at him. "The music's great, the works easy and-."

"The costumers aren't assholes." He interjected.

I gave a nod. "Exactly." I glanced up at the clock, and saw that it was close to five, then turned my attention back to Mike. "So ...got any plans for after work? A girl, maybe?"

"Nope, not today. I'm planning on just hitting the casinos, maybe seeing a show," Mike answered, before adding. "Oh, and you're stepdad's having a show tonight, now that I think about it."

"Really?"

"Yep, right at that old uptown show place by Harvey street." He said, leaning his elbows on the counter. "So, you gonna go or what, I've got two tickets."

"Uh ...I don't know, what time does it start?" I asked.

"At eight; we get off work in like an hour or so, that gives us time to change and what not," Mike Replied, taking one of the tickets out of his pocket. "So you in or what?"

I thought on it. I really had no reason to say no, and considering this was Discord's show, I was curious. "Sure, why not, I have nothing else planned," I said, taking the ticket as he passed it to me, putting it in my back pocket.

A voice spoke from behind Michael. "Mike, these dishes ain't gonna wash themselves! Get back in here," one of the kitchen workers yelled, as she poked her head through the kitchen doors.

Mike smiled, and started towards the swing doors, giving me and wave. "I'll see you there, don't be late."

I nodded. "Yeah, see you after work."


XxxxX


The rest of my hours at the diner went on as usual; I wasn't gonna lie, I was pretty excited about the show. I've never been to a magic show before, hell, before Discord showed up I was convinced that real magic didn't exist, and boy did the chaos spirit prove me wrong.

Like most, I was a skeptic. I never believed in things like aliens or ghosts, even fortune tellers had me raising an eyebrow at the stupidity of it all. 

And Then, Discord showed up, and my whole view on life was thrown completely upside down, sometimes literally. The first time he went on telling me things about magic and whatnot, I completely brushed it off, that was until I woke one day, as a bunny rabbit ...that's right, the guy turned me into a freakin' animal, and to make matters worse I couldn't even talk. And mom, she had the nerve to laugh and call me cute and fluffy.

Don't even get me started on John; I swear I've never tasted anything as bad as rabbit food in my life, I still don't know how animals survive off the stuff.

That was the first day that Discord used magic on me, it wasn't the last, but that's a retelling for another time.

As of right now, I was standing outside of the theater waiting for Mike. I took my phone out of my pocket and clicked it on, seeing that it was seven-forty; about a half hour ago there was a huge line for the show that went half way down the street, filled with mostly couples and families. Now the only ones going up to the ticket booth were the last few who just arrived, me being the polite friend that I was, I decided to wait for Mike outside, he was the one who gave me a ticket to the show after all, it was only fair.

It was about ten minutes later when he had finally showed up, wearing a black hoodie, army green cargo shorts and black sneakers. We greeted each other, went up to the ticket booth to give the guy our tickets, then went inside the newly refurbished show theater.

The inside was quite a sight to behind, the walls were freshly painted and it smelled of flowers, and there was a grand chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I followed after Mike, taking the red carpet covered staircase up to the second floor, we walked along the black railing until we came to a red oak double door, Mike pushed them inward and we proceeded inside.

The theater was packed tight; we were on the second floor row, watching over the first floor row of people. We squeezed through some of the people in the front row, and took our seats, waiting for the show to began.

"So, how did you get these seats, anyway," I asked, turning to him.

Mike grinned. "You know me, I have my connections. Someone owed me big time, and the person who owes me just so happens to work here," he answered. "Besides, I've never gone to a magic show when I was younger. Thought I'd give it a shot."

"You're not the only one, it's a first time for the both of us," I said.

"You live with the guy, right?" I nodded. "Does he do magic around the house, you know, normally?"

I nodded again. "Yep, all the time. I've just never been to his shows." Though a part of me did suspected that the magic he did on stage was tuned down from his usual chaotic-ness, if that's even a word.

"Dude, that's awesome. You should ask him to teach you."

"Trust me, I'm not even sure I know how his simplest tricks work," I sighed, relaxing back in my seat as the lights in the theater dimmed. "Besides, a magician never reveals his secrets, even you should know that."

"You're right about that." Mike leaned forward on the black railing in front of us, looking like a little kid at a circus. "Oh, look, it's starting!" He said loudly, getting a shushed by someone in the row behind us. "Sorry."

"Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, put your hands together for Discord!"

The lights all pointed to the center of the stage as the curtains raised, but, no one standing there. People started muttering and such to each other, wondering where the man of the hour was and why he wasn't there, then after a few moments past, someone's voice started to echo around the room, singing.

Different shapes moved on the walls, animal shadows danced on the ceiling, and the entire room changed from it's normal look to outer space. Stars twinkled, and comets shot past over head. The room then turned back to normal, but some of the stars remained, they slowly gathered together towards the center stage, grabbing the attention of the audience.

There was a bright flash on stage, and Discord appeared, wearing a suit and cape with a top hat and draconequus head cane. The audience clapped, myself included, and the chaos spirit gave a bow.

"Now, now. No need to waste applause on the intro," Discord said, standing up from his bow. "The show has just begun. For those of you who don't know, I am Discord, magic extraordinaire and master of chaos." He tossed his cane behind him and it exploded in a mini mushroom cloud. "Prepare to be amazed, for what you will see tonight, will be beyond explanation. That being said," he continued with a grin. "Who in the crowd likes cotton candy, maybe the kids, huh?"

I wasn't surprise when more then half the kids in the audience shouted out: "me~!" and "I do~!"

Discord snapped his fingers, and small cotton candy clouds appeared in front of all the kids who answered. "Do I get a thank you for the treats!"

"Thank you, mister Discord~!"

"Good, now let's start the show!" The stage behind him flared up in sparklers as he took off his hat and threw it into the air. I sat back and watched the show with excitement, I was really impressed with what Discord pulled off without giving away who or what he really was; pulling a tiger out his hat rather then a rabbit, clowns, acrobatic ninjas, and even a talking monkey that got pissed off enough to throw a pie in his face.

The show went on into the night and ended at around ten-thirty, and I wasn't going to lie, I had a hell of a time. For the first time ever I could honestly say, that my stepfather was great at what he did, even if he was annoying as hell.
> Family Game Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Family Game Night



August/7th/2013


In my household we have a time during the week when we all come together as a family and enjoy ourselves, it was our family game night, and it usually took place on the second Wednesday or Thursday of the month. We did a lot of different things, board games, card games, even video games.

But, while most families would be enjoying the norm, game night for us changed quite a bit when mom remarried.

That being said, while I enjoy a good video game as much as the next gamer, things for us got real.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

...A little too real.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

We were currently getting shot at by a gang of filthy people in tribal looking clothes and armor, who at this point, were getting on my last nerve.

"I hate Raiders, I swear to God!" I shouted over the gun fire, back leaned up against a rusted and destroyed prewar car as bullets hit the side of it and flew overhead. I wasn't the only one here, next to me was my step-dad, grinning through all of it like the goofball he was, then again he did have a few screws loose.

"Oh, pooh. I guess taking that turn a few miles back was a bad idea after all," Discord said, tapping on the screen of the Pipboy 3000 he was wearing. It was just like the one I had on, but rather then it being black, it was bright orange. "I thought there wouldn't be anyone on this road ..should really get this thing looked at."

"Yeah ...yeah, you do that," I uttered. As much as I loved the annoying chaos lord, there was an equal amount of dislike to go along with it. "My mom's gonna be upset when she gets back her, you got her killed, again."

"Well, she was the one whole choose to play the game on realism mode." Discord shrugged. "And head shots get you killed, realistically speaking. Besides, if she is upset, we'll get to that bridge when we cross it," he said, starring at his Pipboy. "Maybe a little be sooner then I'd like, here she comes."

I looked down at my own Pipboy, and saw a yellow triangle coming towards us from the Southeast. It looked like she was gunning for us at the speed of an Olympic runner thanks to Fast travel, a few moments later, and we heard additional gun shots being fired.

"What the fuck, kill that crazy bitch!"

"Who the hell you calling a bitch, that's not very nice!" I heard mom yell. There were a few more gun shots, then she came tumbling over the hood of the car right between me and Discord, sending dusting flying up in my face. I coughed and waved the dust from in front of my face.

Discord grinned. "Welcome back, my dear, I must say that was faster then last time-," the chaos spirit began.

Mom interrupted him. "Cut the crap, Discord. Dying may not hurt, but it get's annoying having to run all the way back here from Goodsprings, under the hot sun, no less," she muttered, tugging on the collar of her shirt underneath her light armor. "Christ, it's hot out here." She sat up and leaned against the car; the gun shots had started up again, these guys couldn't be very smart, all they were doing was wasting ammo.

All of our clothes were pretty much different in game, we were a courier squad, but even so we didn't wear anything similar. Mom wore a pair of dirty blue jeans, with metal pads on the knees, a green T-shirt and over that, plain gray armor.

Discord had on a fancy prewar brown suit, and a bulletproof trench coat over it. How he made the coat bulletproof, I've yet to find out.

As for me, I had on an customized armor vault 22 jumper. Mom and Discord said I should wear something with a bit more protection, but I was just fine with it, besides it was comfy and snug.

"So, about our little problem with the Fiends. We still need to take out that sniper in the building if we want to get anything done," I reminded them, pointing my thumb towards on of the crumbling apartment complex on the other side of the car. "Any ideas?"

Mom gave a small smile, ejecting the empty magazine out the bottom of her nine-millimeter handgun, then adding another from her fanny pack. "We could shoot the asshole with a rocket, you still have it, don't you, Justin?"

"Yeah, but we don't have a launcher."

"We didn't have a launcher, you mean." Mom sat the handgun on her lap and starting flipping through her wine red Pipboy. She clicked a couple of buttons, then a rocket launcher appeared in front of her from a mass of green partials. Grabbing it out of the air, she held it with her finger near the trigger, a grin on her face. "If we use this baby, we'll be done our quest in no time."

"It's always a surprise with you, isn't it, Dominique," Discord said.

Mom nodded. "You know it, hon," she said, glancing over at him. "Don't think just because I re-spawned, you're off the hook, mister."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Discord uttered, offhandedly, pouting.

"Good. Now, sweetie, if you'd hand me that rocket you have, please."

I gave a nod and began scrolling through my Pipboy. When I finally found what I was looking for with all the other ammunition, I pressed the button in the bottom right corner of the device and a average rocket appeared the same way my mom's launcher had. I picked it up and held it out to her; she took it and inserted the rocket into the launcher, getting a click when it locked into place.

"Alright you two, here is what we're going to do," she started, holstering her nine-millimeter. "We've been in Fallout-verse for a good two days now, which means it's been a few hours at home," she turned to Discord for a moment. "It has only been a few hours, right?"

"Yep, almost three. I have been keeping track, ya know."

"So, we finish this up, get rid of the Fiends, and we should be back home to get John in the bed," Mom said. "But, first things first, we need to finish off the Fiends so we can get the holodisk from the dead body over there. What I want you two to do is cover me while I take out the guy in the building with the rocket launcher, then we start picking off the ones on the ground."

"Well, it's a better plan then mine. Looks like I get to use this after all," Discord smiled. He went through his Pipboy and what materialized in front of him was something you'd find in a old cartoon.

"Is that, a punch-gun, seriously," mom mused, raising an eyebrow.

The spirit of Disharmony nodded, excitedly. "Why yes it is, dear~! A little something new I crafted, and all without magic, mind you, I call it ''The Punch-Gun 2.0''."

There was more or less a rule mom came up with to make games fair for everyone, Discord was not allowed to use unnecessary magic. Mom was a true gamer, always had been since the Atari; even though she doesn't play video games as much anymore, when she did, she got serious, hell, she got farther then I did playing Skyrim and I started playing the game first.

Of course, my stepfather wasn't a slouch when it came to games either, but he joked around a lot.

"Um ...didn't using that last time get you hammered through a window by a Super Mutant, not to bring up bad memories, but still," I reminded him.

Discord shrugged it off. "Yes, but that was the last one, this one however is the next level up. You'll see," he said, before turning his attention to my mother. "Now, my dear, we will begin if you're ready."

Mom raised up the rocket launcher and held it over her left shoulder. "Never been more ready then I am now, babe! Let's get this started~!"

"Oh ho~ this is gonna be fun!" Discord turned around and aimed his punch-gun over the hood of the car, index finger on the trigger. He pulled, and the boxing glove at the end of the gun went flying out, a mini rocket booster in the back of it.

"Oh shit! Move-!"

Then an explosion happened, followed by yells in pain. I peaked out over the trunk of the prewar automobile, and whistled at just how much damage the weapon had done, there was a huge crater where at least three Fiends had been standing before; all that was left now was the smell of burning earth and blackened body parts.

"Ah ha ha ha~ now that's what I call a knock out," Discord laughed, hysterically.

"Nice job, hon." Mom stood up and aimed towards the apartment complex's rooftop. "Now for our friend, mister sniper!" She pulled the trigger and the rocket went shooting off. One explosion later, another red triangle on the Pipboy's HUD (heads-up display) disappeared. "I believe you can handle the left overs, Justin? Exp doesn't grow on trees."

I gave a nod, holstered my pistol, and brought out my Grenade Rifle. "You're not wrong about that, mom." I held it towards the wall where the last bit of Fiends were hiding behind as I leaped over the car, pulling the trigger. After this I'd be that much closer to level eighteen. "Here's Justin~!"


XxxxX


I brought the rifle barrel up to my lips and blew the smoke out of it. In front of me lay the bodies of the last two fiends that I'd needed to get rid of, completely blown to bits by the blasts of the grenades. I reloaded the rifle one last time, then slung it over my shoulder.

The body we had to retrieve the holodisk from was just a few feet away, and with mom and Discord checking the area for weapons and extra ammo, I decided to get it myself.

When I got close enough to the corpse, a small transparent menu appeared over it, asking if I wanted to search the body. I selected 'yes' and the inventory screen flashed open.

"Let's see, scrap metal, cigarettes. Nine-millimeter ammo, I'll be taking that," I pushed my finger on the item of choice, adding it to the rest of my stash, then began looking for the holodisk again. "Junk, junk, cherry bomb, empty Nuka-Cola bottle ...ah ha, holodisk!" I pressed on the item box and a grayish metal tape materialized into my hand.

I exited out of the menu, strolling over to the others with a smile on my face.

"I've got the holodisk!"

"Well done, Justin, though your shoot out with the Fiends was a wee bit sloppy," Discord comment.

I just sucked my teeth and shrugged. "Tch ...whatever, I got the job done, didn't I," I replied, waving the holodisk in the air. "If anything, you should let me use that punch gun sometime."

"I don't know, it took me quite a while to craft this," Discord said, thoughtfully. "We'll have to see, anyway, let's get back to the Crimson Caravan, Alice is probably still waiting for the stolen tape-." he was cut off when a small beeping noise started coming from his Pipboy. Lifting his arm up eye level, he gave a sigh. "Well, it appears that game time is over for now."

I gave a small groan. "Aw man, come on."

A small yellow circle flashed over our shoulder, showing me that the game was saving and overwriting everything that we had done up til this point, then Discord snapped his fingers.

There was a flash of white, then we were all standing in the living room in our normal house clothes. I looked over and for some reason, John was leaning over the back of the couch.

He looked up at us. "Hey, what gives, I was at the final boss," John whined.

"Sorry about that, kiddo, but times up. It's past eleven-thirty, that means it's time for bed," Discord said, in a somewhat fatherly tone.

John gave a groan, just like I had. "Oh man, this sucks and blows. Daaad, come on-."

"John, don't get ahead of yourself. Watch your mouth, young man," Mom said, sternly. Whenever she spoke in that tone, it was a sign that you'd better go back to your lain, and stay in it. "And no back talk, you hear?"

"Yes, ma'am," John uttered.

"Now go get ready for bed, and check on your brother, I'll be right up."

John nodded and didn't waste any time going up the steps; once he was up stairs, Discord turned to my mom and smiled. It wasn't one of the normal smiles either, it was one of those smiles he had when he had something planned.

"Dominique, I was planning on bring a friend over sometime next week for lunch," Discord said.

Mom put a hand on her hips. "A friend, huh, and you planned to tell me this, when?"

"Oh, you know me, I think of this stuff at the last minute."

"Discord," and there mom was using that tone again.

Discord sighed, letting his shoulders go limp as he gave a pout. "Alright, you caught me, I've been planing this for a while, I just didn't know when it was going to be," he said.

"It's fine with me. Who is this friend of yours, anyway," she asked.

"That's a surprise, my dear. She did help me help me with my ''reformation''," Discord said, using air quotes. "To be honest, I don't really think you can call me reformed just because I'm not trying to take over the world, but you know ponies, can live with em', can't turn their clouds into cotton candy either."

Mom smiled. "Well, you've got me interested, Discord. Anyone able to get you to shape up must be something," she said, strolling over to him and hugging on his arm. "Tell me more about her, what's her favorite food, I need to know what to make."

"Now, dear, it's a secret."

"You know, Mr. Discord, I do have other ways of making you talk."

Discord grinned. "If you insist on trying, who am I to stop you." He turned to me and waved. "Nighty, night, kiddo."

"Don't let the bed bugs bite, Justin," mom added with an equally wide grin.

"Uh ...yeah, good night." And then they were both gone in Discord's usual white flash, most likely to their bedroom. I tend not to think about it much, whatever they do is their business, and I'll be damned if I think about something like that.

Anyway ...so his friend was a pony, which meant she was from Equestria.

"Guess that means we're eating vegetarian for lunch," I uttered, throwing myself down on the couch. I wasn't really tired yet; so for the rest of the night, I watched TV until around one-fifteen, then I went to bed, wondering what rest of the week would have in store for me.
> Chaos With A Side Of Lunch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chaos With A Side Of Lunch



August/12th/2013


This afternoon was as peaceful as it could get in our household. No chaos, no pranks, just the simplicity of a family hanging out on a good day; the only one who wasn't accounted for was Discord, and that was because he was off in the magical land of ponies to pick up his friend for the big lunch he had planned.

He had been gone since this morning, and if I knew anything about the chaos spirit, he was probably making a few side trips along the way. So, here I was with my mom in the kitchen, chopping up lettuce to put in the salad, with Taylor watching us from his highchair, drinking a sippy-cup full of chocolate milk. Thing was, he was drinking the sippy-cup itself, along with the milk.

John was sitting next to him, with his Nintendo 3DS; from the bgm coming from the game it was obvious that he was in the middle of one of his battles on his new Pokemon game. I asked him once why Pokemon had so many colors, I mean there was Pokemon blue and red, now there's what, X and Y I think it was called. Not even he could give me an answer to that question.

"So mom, what did dad say ponies eat?"

Mom glanced over her shoulder at him, then went back to making her homemade salad dressing, which was one of grandma's old recipes. "Well, they don't eat meat, that's for sure," she answered. "Other then that, I think they can eat everything we can."

John gave a nod, and went back to playing his game. "I hope they can eat cake," John uttered. "You spent all night making it, I'd hate for his friend not to be able to eat any."

"Speaking of cake, what kind did you make, mom?" I asked her.

Mom smiled. "The same kind we had for your birthday." She answered, "red velvet with vanilla frosting. But, no matter what kind of cake it is, it's not like it'll stop you from stuffing your face, right, Justin."

I nodded, chuckling. "Yeah, that's true."

"Cake~! Cake~," Taylor exclaimed, waving his half sippy-cup in the air. It was one of the many words he could say fully without messing up; he was smart for a toddler and could already count to five, even though he was only two and a half.

Mom smiled at the baby, as she continued adding spices to the dressing. "No cake right now, sweetie. You can have some after lunch, okay," she said to the half draconequus.

Taylor pouted. "Ice cre~!" He said, banging his cup in the highchair table.

"No ice cream either, Taylor," mom said with a sigh. "After lunch, then you can have ice cream."

Bam! Bam!

"Ice cre~!"

"I said no, Taylor."

"Ice~! Cre~! Now~!"

It was at this point that two things happened; now, usually a toddler throwing a tantrum wasn't a big deal, but with Taylor, it was a completely different story. He didn't know how to control his magic, and what he could control was just barely. Which was why that whole chocolate thunderstorm incident happened in the first place, we had no idea he'd even be able to do magic before then.

Anyway, the first thing happened was that John let out a loud yelp, I turned around just in time to see him drop the 3DS and dive out of his chair, the hand-held glowed a deep red, then exploded in a mini mushroom cloud, sending a corner of the table with it.

Me and Mom starred in shock at the toddler, mouths a gasp. He had done a lot of things during his tantrums before, like making things levitate and turning the couch into chocolate, but he never did something as spontaneous as making something explode, that was new.

"H-he ...blew up my game. He blew up my game," John uttered, still starring at the spot where his 3DS had been. He looked like he was about to cry, and it was understandable, that game was new.

A frown made it's way onto my mom's face, and she took action, marching over to the two year old and began scolding him."Bad boy! You don't do things like that just because you can't get what you want, you hear me! That was a very mean thing to do to your brother, Taylor!" The toddler's bottom lip started to quiver, and his eyes started tearing up. A moment later, the dam broke.

"Waahhhh~!"

"Oh God, here we go again," I uttered with a sigh, rubbing my hand down my face, before looking over to John. He was sitting on the floor, muttering something under his breath. "Hey, you alright, John?" I asked; I placed my knife down on the cutting board and walked over to him. "You know Taylor can't control what he does, it was an accident."

John looked up at me with a glare, then stood up. "I don't care if it was an accident! Every time he does something, that what you always say!" He shouted, before pointing at the white haired baby. "He's so annoying! He's always destroying stuff, and you act like it's okay!"

"John-," I began.

But he cut me off. "No, I can't stand him," John said. He whipped away the tears that were about to fall from his eyes, before stumping out the kitchen. As he went, I caught the last last bit of what he was muttering. "...I wish he was never my brother."

"Now, John, wait a minute!"

"Leave me alone!"

I groaned and sat down in one of the chairs at the table. Mom was still trying to calm down the bawling toddler.

This ...was gonna be a problem. And Discord was going to be here soon with his friend; that meant that if anything was going to get done, I'd either have to calm Taylor down and watch after him, or I'd have to cook in Mom's placed.

I tried to decide on what to do, but it ended up being decided for me.

"Justin, I'm going to calm down your brother in the living room." Mom said, picking the crying child up out of his highchair. "If you could finish up the salad for me, I'd really appreciate it."

"You don't have to ask, mom," I replied with a small smile. "Just let me handle it, and you go take care of Taylor."

"Thanks, sweetie. Remember to add only a little bit of pepper and cinnamon to the dressing, that's all it needs. ...Oh, and I almost forgot, slice up the tomatoes and cucumbers."

I nodded, and she walked out the kitchen, cooing to Taylor to try and get him to stop crying. I stood up and walked over to the cabinet. Opening it, I took out the two spices I needed for the dressing and closed it. I wasn't much of a cook, but I knew how to make the basic meals.

I glanced back at the corner of the table Taylor had destroyed, and let out another sigh. "Just when I thought things were going to be calm for at least one day," I muttered. Then I picked up my knife and got to work on lunch.


XxxxX


It took me about ten minutes before I was finished preparing the last of the food for lunch, I also checked the cake in the refrigerator while I was at it. Tossing the knife into the sank, I turned and looked at the table, placing a hand on my hip.

"Jeez …what are we going to do about this," I said in thought. The edge of the table was completely gone, and the wood around it was charred, making the kitchen smell faintly of burnt oak. "Discord's gonna have to fix this when he gets back." It was times like these, that I was happy to have the lord of chaos around. He could be real handy when he wanted to be, and the magic helped, too.

After pondering over it, I chose to leave the table for Discord to fix, I walked out into the living room to chill out for a little bit.

Mom had finally gotten Taylor to stop crying, now all he was doing was babbling and sitting on her lap watching television. John hadn't made any noise at all, so he was probably talking to his pet rabbit about everything he hated and how life wasn't being fair, he did that sometimes when he was angry.

I plopped down in the arm chair at near the end of the coffee table. "So ...about the table, I think Discord's going to have to fix that," I said to mom.

She gave a nod. "Yeah. I thought the same thing," she replied, before starring down at the toddler. "I still can't believe he blew something up. I thought that maybe he'd have to be a little bit older before he could do something like that. He's not even three, yet."

"Well, considering who his dad is, I'm not really that surprised," I said.

Mom sighed, then shook her head. "It's not just that I'm surprised. I'm worried more then anything, I mean, what if he does something like this when he starts school, and God forbid he gets someone hurt or worst with one of his outbursts."

"The best thing I can think of to do, is to talk to Discord about it," I said, watching the two-year-old as he giggled loudly, clapping his hands to Jerry hitting Tom in the face with an hot iron. He was alright for now. I just hoped it stayed that way.

"You're right," she agreed. "Your stepfather knows more about this chaotic magic then the rest of us. He'll know what to do." Mom then looked down at the toddler on her lap. "Isn't that right, sweetie. Your daddy knows a lot about magic, doesn't he," she cooed.

Taylor gave a toothy smile, showing off his one sharp tooth. "Aba~!" He stuck his hands out and a new sippy-cup full of chocolate milk appeared within his reach, it wasn't like when his father willed something to appear magically with the usual white flash. It just wasn't there, then it was. No flash. Taylor took the cup into his hands and started drinking, and the same thing happened as it did every time, the cup started to vanish from the bottom up.

For the next few minutes we sat there passing the time, watching old cartoons on Boomerang.

Then there was a flash at in front of front door, and there stood Discord in his normal draconequus form, in his own fur rather then wearing clothes.

"I'm back, everypony, did you miss me~!"

Mom smiled as she stood up. "It's everyone, Discord. You tend to forget that this isn't Equestria whenever you come back from visiting."

"Well, rather it's one or the other, you understand what I mean," Discord said with a goofy smile. "What are you going to do, sue me?"

"I just might, hon," Mom said, teasingly.

"Dada~!"

Discord gave a grin and floated over to the pair. "Aha~ and there's my little bringing of chaos," he said, as he picked up the toddler. "You're gonna spread chaos where ever you go, aren't you, little one?"

"Aba~! Aba~!" Taylor giggled, waving his arms about in the air.

Of course, my full attention wasn't on Discord anymore. It was on the small creature that was left standing by the door. It looked timidly up at me, and took a backtrot towards the door.

The small creature had a pastel yellow coat, along with a pink mane and looked to be female. Her muzzle was shorter then a normal pony's would be, and her eyes were bigger then normal. I tilted my head to the side, to get a better look at the appendages I had spotted on it's back behind her mane.

...They looked like folded wings. Which meant that she had to be a-.

"Pegasus, huh …?" I said, before turning my head in Discord's direction. "Dude, your friend is a pegasus?"

The chaos lord abruptly stopped playing with Taylor, and gave me a nod. "Why, yes she is, Justin," Discord said, appearing in a white flash next to the Pegasus in question. "Allow me to introduce you all to my good friend, Fluttershy. Go on dear, don't be shy, now." He nudged the pony a bit.

The yellow pony glanced up at him, before turning back to me and Mom, hiding slightly behind her mane. "I ...I-I'm ...uh," she stuttered out. "H-hello."

I decided to help her along by introducing myself. "Hi ...I'm Justin, and this here is my mom." I greeted, kneeling down on one knee. I had the feeling that my height was what was intimidating her the most.

Mom walked up beside me and smiled as she greeted the timid pony. "My name's Dominique; I'm a nurse at the city hospital, I'm also Discord's wife," she said.

"W-w-wife?" The yellow pony squealed out in surprise, turning her attention to the draconequus and toddler. "B-but since when …? When did this happen, if you don't mind me asking, that is?"

"I don't mind you asking at all," Discord said, laughing a bit. "Ah ha ha~ you should see the look on your face, though! Priceless!"

"I'm just surprised, you've only been set free for a year, and you're already married," She uttered. I noticed that she wasn't only starring at Discord anymore, but Taylor as well. "A-and, um ...is he yours?"

"Why, yes he is." Discord said, holding closer to her a bit. "Fluttershy, this is Taylor, my heir and son of chaos. Isn't he just the most wonderful thing."

"Pony~!" Taylor shouted out, happily, reach out and gently touching the yellow mare's muzzle.

The pony, Fluttershy, giggled at the baby. "Awe~ he's so cute. I didn't even know you could have foals with different creatures that weren't like yourself."

"Neither did I, but you know me. Even after a thousand years I still manage to somehow surprise myself from time to time," Discord replied. "And believe me I was very surprised when I found out about the little tyke."

"So, how old is he?"

Discord was about to answer, but Mom beat him to it. "He's two and a half," she answered. "Taylor will be turning three in a few months."

"Really, I thought he was at least a few months, since Discord has only been free for about a year now," Fluttershy said.

"Well, believe it of not, time moves differently here then it does in Equestria. A few months there, is about a few year here." Discord informed her. He glanced around the room, and a sudden look of realization made it's way onto his features. "Um ...I probably should have asked this sooner, but where is Johnny boy?" He asked, using the nickname he sometimes used for my little brother.

Mom sigh, before she answered. "Upstairs in his room. He would be down here right now, but someone threw a tantrum over ice cream and made his game explode," she said, plainly.

"And when you say explode, you don't mean-."

"That mushroom cloud thing you do? Yeah, that one."

"Oh ...that is ...marvelous~!" Discord cheered, lifting the chaotic toddler into the air. "Not even three and he already found out how to make things go boom, that's my boy! Ah ha ha~!"

"Boom~!" Taylor chirped, mimicking the draconequus.

I couldn't help but frown at this. Discord was a good dad all in all, making the best out of the small things that Taylor did, and he always cleaned up after the toddler, but somethings you just can't encourage from a child. This was one of them.

"Discord, you can't make it like what he did was a good thing," I said, seriously. "He destroyed someone's stuff and took some of the table with it."

"Um ...I know I'm not the one to tell you how to raise your foal," Fluttershy added. "B-but, if he did something bad, you should let him know it's not right."

Discord sighed, and gave a nod. "You're right. I guess I have to do what any good father would do." With that being said, he brought Taylor to eye level and began talking to him; though, in truth, it was hard to tell if he was scolding him or giving him a pep talk. "Now, listen here my little spawn of chaos, even though I'm proud of what you can do, and truly I am. You did a very, very bad thing to your brother."

"And the table," Mom interjected.

"Yes, and the table. So the next time you see John, I want you to say sorry." Taylor scrunched up his little face at the word, for a two-year-old, it seemed funny that he disliked the word 'sorry' so much. He rarely said it, if ever. "Am I understood, Taylor."

"Aba~."

"Goodie! You see, he understands. Now for the table."

Snap!

"Done, now I'll go talk to John, then we can all enjoy lunch." Discord passed Taylor off to my mom and flashed away to John's room; me and Mom started towards the kitchen and Fluttershy followed, trotting behind us, her hooves clapping against the floorboards.

The table in the kitchen was now fixed back to it's former state, with a sky blue table cloth draped over it. Discord did way more then just fix the table. He also setup the plates and had the food placed in the center. We all took a seat, though I'll admit it was quite weird seeing the pegasus pony climb into the chair between mom and Taylor and sit on her hind legs.

Discord and John appeared a moment later, the latter still looking upset, but not as much as he did a while ago.

"John," the lord of chaos began, leading the per-teen over to Taylor. "I believe your brother has something to say to you."

Taylor looked up at John. "I Sorry~!" He chirped out.

John didn't say anything for a moment. Then he sighed. "It's fine, just don't mess up my game again," he uttered. "Dad made me another one."

After everything was settled and the food was passed out among ourselves, we happily ate and had quite a few interesting conversations with Fluttershy. She told us about how she took care of the animals and even ran an animal care center of sorts from home, she even told us about her bunny rabbit, Angel. Apparently, one of her best friends, another pegasus named Rainbow Dash was apart of the weather team in ...Ponyville; one of the oddest names for a town I've ever heard.

But, then again, she did come from a world where ponies talk.

"So, Fluttershy, what is your favorite animal?" I asked, taking a bite of tomato.

She thought on it for a moment, and said. "Well, I really like all the animals, and I enjoy their company," Fluttershy answered. "But I really love bunny rabbits, especially my little Angel."

"Ya know, that might be something you and John have in common," Mom said, smiling. "He has his own bunny he takes care of. Most boys his age would've asked for a dog, but all he wanted was a rabbit."

"Yeah, she's really nice," John announced. "Her name's Annie. She loves all type of vegetables. But, carrots are her favorite thing to eat."

"That's wonderful, maybe we can have an animal play date for her and Angel," Fluttershy suggested, before turning to my mom. "Um, if that's okay with you, that is."

"I don't mind at all, Shy," Mom said. I shook my head, a smile appearing on my face. We just met her and Mom was already giving her a nickname. But, we were really hitting it off, and Fluttershy didn't seem to mind. "As long as Discord is there and I know he safe, I don't see the problem in letting him visit sometime."

"Yes! Looks like I get to go to Ponytown!" John exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.

"Um, it's actually, Ponyville," Fluttershy corrected him.

"Yeah ...right, that's what I meant, Ponyville!"

And so the rest of lunch continued like that; after about an hour of so, it was time for Fluttershy to head home to take care of her animal friends, John was pretty sad about it, but Discord said he'd see when she'd be able to visit again, along with the animal play date. Mom gave the yellow pegasus the rest of the left over cake to share with her other friends.

"And remember, dear, you're welcome to come by anytime," Mom said as she handed Discord the tray of cake to hold for her.

Fluttershy gave a shy smile. "Thank you. If you are okay with having me, I'll be sure to visit."

"Alrighty then, are you ready to go, Fluttershy," Discord asked, putting a paw on her mane.

She nodded, then sent us a wave. "Bye, it's been a pleasure meeting you all."

"See ya, and don't forget about our play date."

"And be sure to stay safe, Shy," Mom said, waving back.

"Aba~ Pony~!" Taylor chirped.

I gave my own farewell, then she and the lord of chaos were on their way just like that.

It was too bad I had to work tonight, but I wasn't complaining, I had a pretty great day so far.
> Ginger Crush
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ginger Crush



September/3rd/2013


The beginning of September to me has always been the period of 'getting back on track', adults work longer hours, and for kids and teenagers, they start stocking up on supplies for the first semester of the school year. It was also the time when good ol' summer was in it's last stride before Autumn rolled in to claim it's place.

Of course, for the kids that went to my brother's school, William Penn Private School (or WPS), they got an extra week or so to stay on break because they get out of school for summer vacation later then most of the other schools.

That being said, today had been a nice day so far. Mom had been given time off from work, and Discord had nothing to do for the day, so we all went out to Fairmount Park for a small picnic. I was seated under our usual tree, reading one of my Stephen King books, and John was at the basketball courts across the field playing with some slightly older kids. As for Mom and Discord, they were busy trying to teach Taylor better flight control, because as Discord put it, if Taylor could control his flying better, he would be able to control his chaos magic better.

This had been going on with little progress, but no one said flying was easy.

"Okay, sweetie, just a little more. You can do it," Mom encouraged him, from her spot on the grass a few feet away from the toddler. Discord had put up some sort of magic bubble thing around our picnic area, so even if someone looked in our direction, they wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Discord was walking next to the child of chaos, holding his petite hand as Taylor kicked his legs and flapped his mismatch wings way harder then needed. "C'mon, Taylor, flap those wings~! Good job!"

"Is all the flapping really necessary, though?" I asked, looking up from my book at the pair. "I see you fly all the time, and your wings barely move at all. Not counting when you fly without them."

"Well, as true as that may be, I've been flying for thousands of years, thus I have experience. It's our magic that allows us to take flight, the same goes for Pegasi," Discord explained, not taking his eyes off the toddler. "As for newborns and toddlers, however, flapping the wings hard and fast works as a crutch of sorts, like training wheels."

"So ...flapping their wings helps them concentrate their flight magic," Mom mused.

Discord grinned. "Exactly, in the future he won't even need to flap his wings as much. Flying will come as natural as breathing." He said, then quickly adding. "And so will chaos."

I nodded. So that's why Discord wanted to teach Taylor to fly before teaching him to control his chaotic magic, his flying was connected to his magic. Or at least partially ...it actually made a lot of sense.

...Oh, my, God.

Discord's actually making sense!

"Alright, dude, who are you and what have you done with the real Discord?" I asked.

The spirit of chaos raised as eyebrow. "What in the world are you talking about? I haven't switched places with anyone," he said, before putting on a thoughtful expression. "I don't think I have, anyway ...I would've noticed something like that."

"Discord ...you're making sense, and if there's anything I've learned about you over the years we've lived together, it's that you never make sense," I said.

Mom nodded. "You know, Justin's right, Dissy," Mom joked, smirking a bit. "Whatever happened to 'what's the fun in making sense'. I think even Taylor understood what you just said."

"Aba ba~!" Taylor babbled out.

"See, even the baby understood that."

Discord frowned. "Hey, now. Just because I say what's the fun in making sense." He said, giving a shrug. "Doesn't mean that I can't make sense when I want to. I just find it funnier when someone can't understand half of what I'm saying, keeps them guessing."

"So you don't make sense just so you can annoy people?"

"That, my boy, is putting it lightly ...but, yes."

I sighed, and shook my head, a smile forming on my face. "See, Mom, this is the guy you married. He doesn't even need the internet to be a troll."

"I guess that makes me, Ms. Troll, then. Cause I do find his antics pretty funny," Mom giggled.

Shaking my head again, I went back to silently reading my book. My Mom is truly weird, there's no other way to put it. Just weird. She's weird, Discord's even weirder then her; it's as if them finding each other was nothing short of a match made in heaven. Either that, or Cupid shot the both of them with an arrow the first chance he got.

Whatever the reason, though, they found each other, and nothing short or a natural disaster was going to make a split between them.

Taylor's little flying lesson ended about a half hour later. The little guy was so tuckered out he fell asleep the second Discord laid him on his blanket; I would've been lying if I said my little brother wasn't cute when he slept. Though, another weird thing about Taylor was that he had the oddest snore ever, it was like a mix between feline purring and soft neighing. Odd, but cute. He defiantly didn't get that from Mom's side of the family, thing was that Discord didn't seem to snore any time I've seen him sleep, so it was probably something Taylor got through his father's random genetics, he was a sorta mix and match of all types of creatures after all.

A few minutes into my book, I pulled out my cellphone and checked the time. It was around noon, which meant lunch. Something that after reading a good book for a few hours, I was happy for.

"Mom, did you pack anything to eat when we left?"

"I didn't need to, everything's already taken care of," she answered, looking up from her I-Pad screen. "It is time for lunch, though." She then looked over to her husband. "So what did you have in mind for lunch, dear? ...Something that doesn't give us high blood sugar, I hope."

"Well, that's not really what was on the menu, cotton candy is a favorite of mine." Discord said, rolling up his shirt sleeves. "But I believe I can make an exception ...this time, anyway." The human formed draconequus snipped his fingers, and a spread of food appeared in a flash of white light. There was a plate full of sandwiches as cut in perfect fours, a cooler filled with canned sodas and bottled waters, more then enough freshly made apple pies (that smelled good even from this distance), and a salad with some type of red dressing.

Mom looked the spread over, picking up a lettuce leaf in her fingers tips and eating it, then gave a nod of approval. "Not bad, tastes almost like my grandma's recipe."

"Almost, huh." Discord took a taste of the salad, taking a bit more then Mom had. "Well, I'm not that far off, I'll admit ...something is missing."

"Discord, the one thing you should know about my grandma's Jamaican salad is that it always has a kick to it," Mom said.

"Oh, you mean Scotch Bonnet hot sauce?"

"Yep, thing is you never add too much or too little, it has to be just right." As Discord conjured up a bottle of the Jamaican hot sauce, Mom turned to me. "Justin, call your brother, tell him it's time for lunch."

"Uh-huh." Came my reply. I bended the corner of the page to save where I was in my book, and put it in my shoulder-bag for later, before pulling out my phone and dialing John's cellphone number. The phone rang a few time and no one picked up, some I tried again and finally got an answer.

John sounded slightly winded. "Yeah ...What is it?"

"Um ...it's time for lunch," I said. "The foods already out."

"Really, but I'm still in the middle of a game here."

"Well, you can stay over there and play around. I don't mind," I said, dismissively. "But when all the foods gone, don't say I didn't call you over here. Besides, you know how much Discord and Taylor can eat. Remember last Thanksgiving."

"Man, don't even remind me," John uttered on the other end of the line. "Fine ...I'll be right over ...oh, and is it okay if I bring a friend over to eat with us. There's enough food for one more, right?"

"More then enough, I'll check and see first, though." I lowered the cellphone from my ear and turned my attention to my parents. "John wants to know can he bring someone over to eat with us."

Mom and Discord looked at each other, the latter pausing in mid-bite of a slice of apple pie, then gave a shrug.

"I see no reason for him not to," the trickster spirit replied, raising his apple pie. "The more the merrier~!"

"Tell em' to come on over, before the food runs out," Mom added. She was making a plate for Taylor, who had just woken up from his short nap. He rubbing his eyes tiredly, but seemed happy to be getting food all the same.

I gave a nod and put the phone back up to my ear. "They don't mind. So bring your friend over."

"Yes! I'll be right there ...Katie, our picnic spot is this way!"

"Oh ...lead the way, then." A rather tomboyish female voice spoke, the accent was different. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, though.

I grinned over the phone. "So, little brother, your friend's a girl, huh?"

"Sh-shut up, it's not at all what you're thinking. And you had better not try to embarrass me," John whispered harshly, before hanging up.

I put my cellphone back in my pocket, and crawled my way over from the tree to the food spread. I sat across from Discord, who was getting feed pie from my Mom, and he was doing the same for her, only the fork was floating on it own rather then him holding it. He snapped his fingers and a can of whipped cream flashed into existence; he sprayed an abnormal amount of it over one of the whole pies, before shoving it do his month, sliver tray and all.

Mom slapped him on the shoulder for that one. "Honey, eating like that at home is fine, but outside please try to control yourself. You are going to freak people out."

"Oh~ you act like a few freakouts is a bad thing," Discord said, licking the whipped cream off his lips with a tongue long enough to cover his entire face. "I, on the other hand, would find them quite intriguing."

"That too, Dissy," Mom continued, sternly, grabbing his tongue and forcing it back into his mouth. "No body altering, and no chaos magic. John's bringing over one of his friends; remembering, act normal."

"Right, normal," Discord uttered, using air quotes. As in to quoting marks appeared in the air for a moment before vanishing. He grinned. "Normal is so overrated, way too mane stream if you ask me."

"Discord," Mom said, in a warning tone.

Discord gave a sigh. "...Fine, I'll be on my best behavior. The perfect little angel." And out popped the white wings, and a halo appeared over his head. Mom just starred at him, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "What?" She pointed at the top of his head. "Oh ...right." He snapped his fingers and the halo and wings flashed away. "Old habits, dear, you can't teach a master new tricks, as the saying goes."

"Master, really? ...Goofball is more like it," Mom stated smugly, as she fed Taylor some pie. The classic airplane spoon was something Taylor really enjoyed. "Isn't that right, daddy's a goofball, isn't he," she cooed to the two-year-old.

Taylor ate his food with a wide smile. "Goofy~!"

Discord gave a hurt expressed, that was way too exaggerated to be real. "Dominique, why must you two wound me so~."

"Please, as if the most horrible trash talk could hurt you in the slightest."

"Quite true, my dear, quite true indeed."

"Anyway, Mom," I finally spoke up, munching away at a half of sandwich. "What's this I here about Uncle Charlie having to go to the hospital or something like that."

"Oh, that," Mom sighed. "Well, as it turns out your Uncle got himself a bad case of the clap. I would say that'll teach him not to sleep around with every girl who spreads their legs for him, but we both know once it's taken care of he'll go right back to doing his usual shit."

I took a bite of my food. "Wow, it sounds like you've given up on him," I said.

"It's not that, I'm just sick and tired of him and his baby mama drama and other issues. Lord knows I've talked to him countless times about getting his shit together."

We talked about the subject of my Uncle Charlie for a few minutes. It was a topic that got Mom highly annoyed, hence, her swearing much more then she usually did. Luckily, though, the conversation shifted to something else; it was around that time that John and his 'friend' showed up at our picnic spot.

"Aw, come on, did you really starting eating without me," John said, as he approached us. We turned and looked a girl standing just behind him, near his left shoulder. She was a bit taller then my brother, wearing a white shirt, black basketball shorts with tights going to her ankles and her red hair in a ponytail, it's length going past her neck. She even had small freckles that spotted the bridge of her nose and cheeks.

Discord grinned at the two, keeping most of his attention on my brother. "Well, isn't this something," he mused. "So, Johnny-boy, who's your lady friend?"

"Yeah, bro, introduce us, will ya," I added. Mom just smiled at him, saying nothing.

John gave a nervous, half smile, and shifted his weight slightly. It was something he did sometimes did when he was nervous, embarrassed, or put on the spot.

"Sure ...everyone, this is Katie," he then turned to the girl. "Katie, this my brother, Justin, my mom, and my step-dad, David. And the youngest one is Taylor."

His friend gave us a wave, smiling. "Hi, um, thanks for having me over for lunch. You didn't have to."

"Oh, it's no problem at all, sweetheart," Mom said, gently. "There's more then enough here for extra company. So sit, and enjoy yourself."

Discord held up a slice of pie to the ginger girl. "Could I interest you in some pie, Katie?"

"Sure, sir, thank you."

"No need to be some formal, my dear," the trickster replied, tossing the plate next to her place on blanket. "Just call me David, everyone does."

"Oh ...okay. Thank you, David."

They sat down and dug into whatever happened to be in front of them, John's new friend was eating the pie Discord had given her, and the boy his self began eating one of the many sandwiches Discord conjured up, as if it was his last meal on Earth.

"So, Katie, how long have you been playing basketball for?" I asked, suddenly.

Katie glanced up from her pie. "Hmm, about five years, actually," she answered. "My dad sighed me up for an official team a little while back. He says I have a real gift when it comes to playing any sport, really, mostly basketball, though."

"Well, he wasn't lying," John said. "You should have seen her in the game we where in, she made a shoot from half court, and even got us a lead by like five points."

"That's really impressive. A girl your size making a shoot from half court," Mom mused, starring at the girl. "I've never heard of such a thing before."

Katie chuckled. "Oh, it's really nothing at all, I just practice a lot. My dad helps me, too. He used to play basketball in collage." She replied. She sat there quiet for a moment, before adding. "By the way, the baby has white hair, is that, ya know, normal?" She asked, glancing at the toddler next to Mom.

John gave a nod. "Yeah. It's been that way since her was born."

Katie raised an eyebrow. "...Um, not to be rude or anything, but doesn't that seem sorta weird? I mean, it's so ...odd."

"Believe me, dear, there are a lot more things out there that are weirder then my baby boy's hair," Mom said, smiling, stroking Taylor's hair a bit. "He may not be as ...normal as the other kids, but he's a good boy."

"When he's not blowing up stuff," I uttered into my soda can as I took a sip of Coke.

Mom shot me a glare, and Katie turned to me. "What was that …?"

"Nothing," I said, quickly, shaking my head. "Nothing at all." I decided that now was the best time to change the subject, before she started asking questions. "Anyway, Katie, how long have you been in Philly? I can tell by your accent that you're not from around here."

"You're right, I actually from England. Dad said it would be a fun trip to come here for summer vacation. He was right. I'm having a blast!"

I nodded. "That's good to hear. How much longer with you be around for?"

"Uh," Katie put on a thoughtful expression, looking off to the side. "A few days, give or take. My dad's been taking care of business, so we should be leaving after he is finished, whatever."

"At least you've got a few more days to play before school starts," I said.

"I know, right," Katie agreed. "Summer's almost over; it sucks, but I can't wait to see my friends again in school."

"I guess that's one advantage to the school year."

"Speaking of school," John interjected, facing her. "Got any funny stories to tell? I'll share mine if you share yours."

Katie smiled a mischievous sorta smile. "John, look who you're talking to," the redhead said. "I've got tons and tons of funny things that happen at my school on a regular bases. I mean, just a few months back before summer break started, me and my friend started a food fight in our school's cafeteria, and that's not even the best part."

For the rest of our time together, we talked and laughed at Katie's misadventures in school. I even shared a few of my many, many high school misgivings about the trouble I got me and my friends into; God knows how many times mom had gotten calls home for my bad behavior. Soon after, the sun started to set, and it was time for us to leave.

Katie went back to play on the playground until her dad came, and we packed up our things and headed home. The day had ended faster then I even realized.


XxxxX


We got in the house a few minutes after six; I was currently sitting in my room on my bed, playing Resident Evil Zero on my old, but still usable, Nintendo GameCube. I've yet to actually beat the game, but I was close to the final boss, give or take a few more puzzles to solve. I was about a half hour into the game, when I got soft knocks at my door.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

"What?"

"It's me," John spoke through the wood. "Can we talk for a minute …?"

I glanced over at the door, then back at the television screen. "Yeah, sure, come on in." The door creaked open, and the pre-teen walked in, taking a seat next to me on the bed. I kept my eyes on the TV, giving him a glance every once in a while, when he didn't say anything I noticed that he was probably waiting for me to pause the game so that he had my full attention, rather then just talking to me when my mind was on two things at once. So I paused the game, and turned to my brother, giving him my undivided attention. "Alright, so what did you need to talk about, John?"

"It's not really anything big, I just wanted to know, how do you know if someone has a crush on you?" John asked, meekly.

"Is this about, Katie," I asked, smiling, knowing full well it probably was.

John shot me a nervous grin, tapping his hands on his knees. "Uh, yeah, sorta." He said. "Is it that obvious?"

"John, I've had my fair share of crushes. So seeing the obvious comes easy," I said, giving him a playful nudge. "...What makes her stand out?"

"Stand out?"

"Yeah, what makes her seem so special to you?"

John seemed to think on it for a bit, then answered. "Actually, I really don't know," he uttered, loudly. As if speaking to me and himself. "I mean it could be the hair, maybe. ...It just sorta happened, we looked at each other and I got this weird feeling in my stomach." He looked over at me, frowning. "Is that weird, to just like someone like that out of the blue?"

I shrugged. "It depends, when I was your age I ran through crushes like that," I said, snapping my fingers. "I'd be into one girl one day, and a week later be into another. I never went out with any of them, but the feeling came and went. Thing was I never acted on any of my crushes, I'd just ...sit back and let it pass." I then turned to him, beaming at him. "You, on the other hand, baby brother, should at least ask this girl out. Give it a chance."

"B-but, she'll be going back to England soon. It'd be a waste of time," John muttered. I shook my head, and flicked him on the forehead. John let out a surprised yelp, rubbing the spot with his hand. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You must have forgotten. We have Discord, remember, spirit of chaos and all that jazz. I'm pretty sure he could help you with a little distance gap, he did get me a job in Vegas after all, that's as far from philly as you can get."

"Okay, but wouldn't that be weird. Going from here to another country for a girl. How do you even know Discord will help?"

"I don't. And you didn't ask him, either," I said, simply. I picked up the controller off my bed and went back to playing the game. "Just think about it. If you like this girl, try and go after her. It might work out, it might not, but you'll never know unless you try."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," John sighed. He hopped off the bed and strolled over to the door, opening it. He step out half way, and turned back to me. "Thanks for the advice, by the way. I guess coming to you first about this was better then talking to Annie. Now, at least." I gave him a nod, and he left out, closing the door behind him.

With my focus on the shooting down a zombie doberman, It took me a few seconds to register what John had said.

"Wait a minute," I paused the game, my lips in a thin line. "Did I just get put as option B, to a rabbit." I didn't know what felt worse; knowing the John would rather work out his problems with the help of a rabbit rather then his own brother, or that he rarely came to me for advice at all since he got the fluffy, adorable thing.

It made it even worse that the rabbit could understand him.