Three months after his rehabilitation with Fluttershy, Discord the God of Chaos and Disharmony is working alongside his former foe's; Princess Celestia and her younger sister Luna, who were still keeping an eye on him. He became less chaotic and more mild mannered, he still liked to pull pranks now and again, but nothing on an apocalyptic scale. Discord had visited Ponyville once or twice since then, both visits were met with....mixed results to say the least. Twilight and the others didn't trust him completely, but they gave him some breathing room whenever he needed to 'unwind.' Fluttershy was still his favorite out of the six ponies, being that she was the first friend he'd ever had.
Since he was staying at the castle most of the time he preoccupied himself with reading ancient books. He was still considered a guest and was forbidden to enter the royal archives that were filled with powerful magic and knowledge. He didn't care much for magic, being that he already possessed a vast amount of it. Something scratched at the back of the creatures mind like an itch he just couldn't reach, this feeling had tormented him for years.
"GAH! What is it? What could I have possibly forgotten? I spent the last 1,000 years in stone and I still can't remember!" he cursed at himself as he walked back and forth in the middle of the furnished room. "Okay let's see..... Tormented ponies, drastically changed the landscape, created complete chaos around the world.....then imprisoned by Celestia for a millennium." He began to rack his brain with frustration. "Come on! I know something happened during my rule of chaos....Something BIG but I just can't remember!" he had searched the library from top to bottom in hopes of finding something. An idea struck him and he vanished in a puff of smoke and made his way towards Ponyville.
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In the center of the quiet sleepy town, Twilight and her friends were having a slumber party at the library and had just reached the truth or dare portion of the night. Twilight took the bottle in her hands and gave it a spin. The five mares watched as the bottle landed on the ornage mare with blonde hair.
"Okay Applejack your turn. Truth or dare?" she asked
"Dare!" she yelled with confidence.
"Okay...I dare you to-"
"Kiss Rarity." another voice said.
"What!" the orange and white mare yelled in surprise. The group then hard a familiar laugh coming from the bottle, they looked at the bottle that had formed a pair of eyes and a mouth. Discord flew out of the opening and appeared in front of the mares startling them.
"Hello ladies." He said as he gave them a smug grin.
"Discord! What are you doing here?" Twilight said as she levitated her element of harmony on her head.
"Hey...hey easy. I'm only here to try to find a book, then I'll be out of your manes." He said as he began to levitate the books in front of him. He began to skim the books only to become increasingly irritated.
"Well, what are you trying to find?" Twilight asked as she crossed her arms and stared at the creature.
"I'm trying to remember something. Something I did 1,000 years ago before Celestia threw me in the hoosegow. I thought that you might have a book that might jog my memory or something." He said as he quickened his pace. Twilight looked at her friends who looked at her in confusion.
"You didn't find anything in the Canterlot library?"
"Nothing and I'm still not allowed in the archives, so my search brought me here." He finished the last book and yelled in frustration. "GAH! Another dead end! Every time I try to remember it just slips right through my fingers!" he began to levitate objects around the room in anger. Fluttershy stepped forward trying to calm him down.
"Easy Discord, just calm down and-" she was cut off by the creature shooting a spell from his palm that hit a nearby mirror. The shiny surface began to glow and ripple, the group looked in amazement as they saw a dark figure becoming clearer and larger at a fast rate. A black mass suddenly shot out of the mirror and crashed into the far side of the wall, the mirror stopped glowing and shattered. The ponies ran over to the object to see that it was moving, they saw that it was wearing clothes and it stood on two feet. It looked strikingly similar to an earth pony stallion only that it's body was very fair and the only hair the was on it was on top of it's head. The creature grabbed it's head in pain and looked at the group of mare's who had looks of confusion and fear on their faces.
"What the-" he was cut off as he felt something hard hit his head, the creature fell to the ground unconscious. The ponies saw that a purple dragon was holding a rather large book in his claws over the creature's head. Twilight instantly turned to Discord who had the same look of confusion as they had.
"Discord! What did you do?" Twilight asked as she narrowed her eyes.
"I don't know! I've never seen anything like that thing before!" he said in surprise. Applejack glared at the beat with daggers in her eyes.
"He ain't lying." She said in a serious tone.
"Still, he shouldn't have-" she was cut off as the god of chaos made himself scarce. Fluttershy walked over to the odd creature and put her hand on his head, the creature let out a groan of pain.
"It's still alive. We need to get it to a hospital." Fluttershy said in a worried voice.
"Right!" Rainbow and Applejack ran over and put the creatures arm over their shoulders. "Jeez this thing is heavy." Dash complained as they lugged him towards a hospital with the rest of their friends in pursuit.
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Five hours earlier.
Isaac, a twenty-one year old college student with short brown hair was listening to his music and lounging on his bed. He didn't have many friends, mostly kept to himself, he preferred not to have an impact on anybody's lives too much for fear that he might screw something up. The only things that kept Isaac company was his music, books and video games. His phone began to ring and vibrate in his pocket, he lifted the devise to his ear and pressed the talk button.
"Hello?...Hey what's up?.......Pool hall?....No thanks man. I have a lot of work to do, maybe some other time...Yeah, sorry.....Say hi to Allie for me. See ya later." He said as he hung up the phone, he thanked god that he was a master in the art of bull shitting. Mason and Allie were his only 'real' friends outside of the barrage of random faces that he saw every day at school and work. He liked to hang out with his friend but....he always felt inferior to them. Mason was taller, faster, stronger, smarter, better looking and always got the girls. Isaac himself was fairly strong and could at least keep up with his friend for a good five minutes before falling behind, he considered himself a nice guy but, he never really liked to be social. Allie was a friend he'd made in high school, she was pretty average in his book, she was short, had jet black hair that only went down to her shoulders and always had the best outlook on life.
He turned over on his side and tried to block out the thought's by blasting his music into his ear drums in hopes of drowning out the voices. Isaac got to his feet and decided to go for a walk down the road. He threw on a jet black T-shirt over his guinea tee, he completed his ensemble with a black hoodie. He grabbed his phone and I-pod with him to keep himself busy, as he left his home he quickly grabbed his survival knife. Isaac lived in a heavily wooded area that and teeming with wolves and bears, he knew that it was better to always be armed out in the wilderness. Isaac had moved there around two years ago, to get away from the flooding he had had to deal with whenever they got a bad rainstorm. As he walked through the woods listening to his I-pod he noticed that it began to rain. He liked the rain, the feeling of it against his skin and the smell of the wet earth just after a down pour. He continued onward until he noticed that he had stumbled onto a wolf den and the adults began to growl at him and bare their teeth.
"Shit!" he yelled as he tried to back away from the group. The wolves gave chase and the boy was running for his life. He stopped as he came to the cliffs edge that over looked a pond, the drop was at least fifty feet and he had no idea how shallow the bottom of the lake was. He looked up at the sky to see that the rain had vanished and that a rainbow was forming. Isaac looked ahead to see the wolves starting to converge on him, he backed away from the wolves causing his right foot slip. As he fell his life started to flash before his eyes. He thought that he saw the water glow like a flash light, he felt himself hit a very hard surface. Isaac opened his eyes to see that he was sitting on a wooden floor, as he tried to stand he noticed that he saw a group of strange colored creatures staring at him in surprise. "What the-" he then felt a blunt object hit his head and everything faded to black.
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Isaac's eyes shot open to see a white ceiling above him. He glanced around the room to see what looked like a hospital bed and a small nightstand sitting next to him. He looked to his right to see that his arm was hooked up to an I.V. bag and a heart monitor.
I'm alive? He thought as he put his face in his palms as he tried to remember what happened the previous day. Okay...I got home...I went for a walk....got chased by wolves....and....I fell off that cliff. Must be at St. Mary's Hospital. He looked under the covers to see that his clothes were still on his body. He got to his feet and stood up, making sure not to yank the tube from his arm. He looked around the room and saw that there were no windows of any kind. He looked up at the corner of the room to see a camera watching him.
"What the hell?" he said as he walked towards the door. "Locked, typical." He reached into his pocket to feel that his knife, I-pod, wallet and phone were missing. "Great. Now what?" he tried banging against the door but no one answered. He looked at the I.V. tube and had a thought. "Looks like I'll have to pull a James Bond move." He sat back down on the bed and gently removed the needle from his arm. Isaac kept the medical tape over the wound to prevent bleeding. He walked over to the door and slipped the needle end into the lock and began to jimmy it. He kept his ear close to the door and he heard a satisfying click. "Success! Thank you Sean Connery!" he said as he turned the nob. The door opened, he poked his head out to see that the hallway was deserted. He zipped up his jacket and threw his hood over his head and walked down the long white hallway.
As he came to the end of the hall way he noticed that there was a bright sign with 'exit' spelled across the door. He tried to turn the nob "Locked. Now what?" He looked up to see a ventilation shaft. "Seriously?" he let out a sigh and got on top of the hospital counter, he the took off the end and lifted himself into the small duct. "Good thing I'm not Mason right now." He army crawled his way through the duct until he saw a light come from the end of the shaft, he looked down to see another white tiled floor. He began to kick the edge until if fell to the floor. Isaac hopped down into a white 20 x 20 room.
The walls collapsed to reveal a massive hall with humanoid like creatures staring at him. They looked human, but at the same time they weren't. They stood on two legs had arms and a tail coming from their lower backs. Some of them had wings sprouting from their back or horns sticking out of their foreheads. Their skin color was like something out of a crayon box, one was purple, another was orange and one was lightish blue with rainbow hair. From their physique they appeared to be female. Isaac then noticed the tallest one of the group had snow white skin, equipped with wings and a horn. She was sporting a crown that laid upon her flowing sparkling hair that seemed to move while there was clearly no wind blowing and had a long flowing white dress. She easily stood at eight feet tall and towered over his 5'8" stature. She approached the cage and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"So this is the THING you found?" she asked as the purple girl walked up next to her, she was wearing a dark purplr blouse with a brown skirt the twent to her knees.
"Yes, Princess." she one answered. Isaac saw something reflecting the light in front of him, he walked closer to them and saw that he was in a glass cage. He put his hand on the surface, the creatures looked at him in confusion and tilted their heads. "I think this is one of Discord's pranks. Even though he claimed that he's never seen anything like it before."
"Hey! I really don't appreciate being called IT." Isaac said as he started to frown.
"It-..He can talk?" Celestia said in surprise.
"Nice job captain obvious." He said in a sarcastic tone. "Who are you guys and why am I here?" he asked in a demanding tone. The taller white one stepped closer to the glass and looked down at him.
"My apologies. My name is Princess Celestia, I'm the reigning monarch of Equestria." she said in a calm tone.
"What's Equestria?"
"The name of this country. You must not be from around here."
"What gave it away? My pasty color, my lack of wings or a horn? Take your pick." The large woman frowned at him. "Sorry. What are all of you?"
"We are ponies." The lavender girl answered.
"Ponies?" he said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes."
"But, you have a horn and she has wings." He said as he pointed to Rainbow that was sporting a hoodie and was standing off to the side.
"I'm a unicorn and she's a Pegasus." She answered. Isaac's eye twitched and he fell on the floor in a fit of laughter. "What's so funny?"
"Oh man! You guys really had me going there! Who put you up to this? Mason? Allie?" he said through the laughter.
"This is no joke."
"Yeah right. Do you honestly expect me to believe that you're a unicorn and she's a Pegasus? I must be on Punk'd, wheres Ashton Kutcher?" he said as he looked around the room. The women looked at each other in surprise. "I must say though, very realistic costumes. Where'd you get them?"
"This is serious!" the purple girl yelled.
"Wait...Aren't unicorns able to do magic?" Twilight nodded. "How about if you show me some then I'll believe you." He said still laughing. Twilight looked at her mentor with a raised eyebrow. She nodded and her horn began to glow. Isaac felt himself being lifted off the ground and being tossed around like a toy by and invisible force. "Hey what the hell is going on?"
"You asked me to demonstrate. Believe us now?"
"FINE WHAT EVER! JUST PUT ME BACK DOWN!" he yelled. The glow from Twilight's horn extinguished as he was lowered down on to the ground, he was breathing heavily as he got to his feet. Isaac saw that five more creatures had appeared, including the light blue one. Each a different color they all looked female. "Okay. Let's say I buy the whole pony thing. What do you want with me?"
"Just to talk." Celestia said calmly.
"Well, no offense, but I'm a bit hungry and I'd prefer to have a chat over some lunch. I would also like to be let out of this cage. If this is how you treat your guests then I'd hate to see what you do to your enemies." He said as he crossed his arms. Twilight looked at her mentor who had an eyebrow raised. She turned to her student and nodded her head. The large woman's horn began to glow and the cage disappeared. "Thank you." He said as he stepped forward.
"Follow me." The tall woman ordered. Isaac pulled his hood back and followed her, he glanced from side to side to see the other ponies surround him. He was catching some nasty looks from the blue and orange girl who was sporting a Stetson hat and a leather vest, while the yellow winged Pegasus seemed to be afraid of him. The pink one kept giggling to herself for some reason, he kept feeling the white unicorns gaze on him.
"What?" he asked as he looked at the unicorn.
"I was just wondering where you got your attire." She said as she ran her eyes over him.
"At Walmart."
"What is a Walmart?"
"It's a convenience store where I buy clothes, food and other items."
"Well, you certainly have.....interesting taste." She said as she eyed his jacket. Isaac rolled his eyes and kept quiet until they reached the dinning hall. They all took their seats, waiters soon arrived carrying plates of fresh food. He didn't care what he was eating all he knew was that he was hungry. After he had had his fill he sat up straight and looked at the creatures.
"Thank you. You held up your end of the bargain and now I'll hold up mine. What do you want to know?"
"Well, first off, who and what are you?"
"My name is Isaac and I'm human." The ponies jaws dropped at this statement.
"Y-you're a human?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, it looks like we owe Lyra twenty bits." Rainbow whispered to Applejack.
"How old are you?" Celestia asked.
"Twenty-one."
"I see. How did you get here?"
"Don't know. One minute I'm falling off a cliff and the next I land in a library surrounded by these guys." He said as he pointed to the other mares.
"Strange." She commented.
"You're telling me. Now it's my turn for some questions, who are all of you?"
"My name is Twilight Sparkle." The lavender mare said.
"Rainbow Dash."
"Applejack."
"F-Fluttershy." she said in a timid tone.
"Rarity."
"Hi I'm Pinkie Pie!" the pink one said in a happy tone.
"Nice to meet you all and thanks for dragging my sorry ass to a hospital." He said with a nod. The ponies returned the gesture. "Which brings me to another question, what was up with that whole fake hospital scene?"
"That was for your treatment. I'm surprised that you managed to unlock the door." Celestia said.
"Humans have a habit for getting out of difficult situations." He said as he put his arms back.
"We found these things in your pockets." Celestia said as he levitated his missing items. "We recognized the wallet and knife but what are these things?" she said as she levitated his I-pod and cell phone over to him. Isaac took the items and displayed the phone.
"This is an I-phone. It's a way for humans to talk to one another over long distances." The ponies looked at him in surprise. "This is an I-pod, another device that allows us to listen to music whenever we want."
"Oh so they're like a P-pod and P-phone." Twilight said. He started to chuckle at the statement.
"Yeah...what ever you say." He said as he rolled his eyes. He put the items back in his pocket. "Can I have my knife back?"
"Why do you have this?" Celestia said as she levitated the knife.
"Back home I have to deal with some.....unfortunate pests."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Wolves. I take that with me for protection." He heard the yellow Pegasus squeak in fear. "I've never had to use it. 'Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.' An old saying by one of my people." Celestia levitated the knife and handed it over to him. Isaac put the knife in it's sheath and the wallet in his pocket. "Well, now that we're all aquatinted let's get down to how I'm getting back home."
"We don't know what brought you here." Twilight interjected.
"So I'm stuck here until you can find out how and then reverse it?"
"Yes." Isaac face palmed at the answer.
"So what do I do until then?"
"You will go with Twilight and the others to Ponyville." Celestia answered.
"WHAT!" they all yelled in shock.
"It only makes sense. Twilight will look after you while I search for a way to send you home." She said as she looked at her pupil. "Twilight do you still have the guest room in the library?"
"Yeah but-"
"Then it's decided."
"I'm not to sure about this your highness." He said as he looked at the staring ponies.
"Well, I can always put you back in that cage." She said in a joking tone.
"No thanks." He said quickly. "What about money? I doubt the eighty bucks I have in my wallet will count for anything here." Celestia levitated a small pouch with some odd coins inside of it over to him. "Well, that answers that question....what's the currency called anyway?"
"Bits."
"Thank you Princess." He said with a smile.
"Your welcome. I will send Twilight a message when I have found a solution, until then enjoy your stay."
"Are there any special rules I need to follow?"
"I'm sure Twilight and her friends will explain them to you, if you have any questions then feel free to ask her." She said as she got to her feet and walked away. The group did the same. Isaac put the small bag of bits in his pocket and followed the group of mares outside the grand dinning hall. As he rounded a corner he was grabbed by two sets of hands that forced him against the wall, he opened his eyes to see the orange and blue women with cross looks on their faces.
"Can I help you two with something?" he breathed out.
"Look here mister! Just because yer a guest here doesn't mean you're invincible. If you do anything to hurt Twi or another one of our friends Ah'll beat you so hard that you'll feel it eighty years form now! Ya hear?" the orange on bellowed in a thick southern accent. Isaac put his hand on the mare's wrist that was holding his neck and he started to squeeze it. He forced the hand off his throat and began to talk.
"Look cowgirl. I don't know what your deal is, but trust me if I had wanted to hurt you or your friends you can bet your ass I would've already tried too. I just want to get back home, that's it. So for the remainder of my visit I suggest we at least try to get along. Okay?" he said as he let her hand go. She started to rub the sore spot as Rainbow had let him go and he was now standing up straight.
"Fine." She said as she spat into her palm and offered it to him. Isaac did the same motion and the two shook hands.
"Good to know that somethings are universal." He said in a stagnant tone.
"Are you guys coming or not?" Twilight said as she looked back at them.
"We'll be right there!" Rainbow yelled. She then turned back to Isaac and made the 'I'm watching you' expression with her two fingers. Isaac rolled his eyes as she took flight and went after her friends. Applejack stayed beside him in case he tried to make a break for it. As they made it outside Isaac put his hood over his head and tried to blend with the group. They arrived at the train station and boarded. Isaac took a final breath as he entered the train, bound for the small town.