Child of Chaos [Chapter 1: Welcoming Party]

>Just as quickly as there was nothing, there was everything.
>Your eyes shoot open and you roll to get into a fighting position, but are met with a strange resistance.
>It was extremely difficult to stand on your own two feet, though upon quick inspection, it’s clear as day why. 
>They were no longer there.
>They were replaced by flat, furry, hard stumps, as were your hands as well.
>Sitting in a strangely natural position, you take a moment to run diagnostics on yourself, from which you can conclude that you’re some kind of equine being, though not anything you’ve ever known about.
>Hmm…
>Well, you’re not particularly sure how to feel about this situation, but one thing is for certain: Discord wasn’t lying.
>So… The only question now is what to do…
>For the first time, you take note of your surroundings.
>You were in a vast field of grass, expanding well beyond your sight, all the way over the horizon. The sky, clear and cloudless, was letting the sun’s vibrant rays shine down onto your back. The air around you was calm, not flowing in any detectable way or direction, but rather stagnant in its very nature. It was indeed calm, but it also left you with a very uneasy feeling in your stomach.
>Not one to be caught unawares by any situation, no matter how strange, you go to put your skills to the test.
>You place your, for lack of a better name, hooves deep into the lush grass and extend your very energy, your very consciousness, into the unlimited connections between the roots of the grass, feeling and mapping out the entire landscape in your mind.
>It’s been so long since you’ve even been able to do such a thing with such a wide expanse of land.

>Besides the many individual blades of grass, you could feel no other energy in at least a miles radius, which is, to say the very least, strange.
>There was one stranger thing about the field that you had found when mapping it out, so you turn around to face it.
>Not too far off was a prominent hill, a blemish in the middle of the otherwise flat expanse, from which a modest willow sprouted, allowing its leaves to drape nearly all the way to the hillsides in a fair circle. The strange thing was not that there was a hill, or that you hadn’t noticed it at first, but rather that you were unable to feel the tree’s energy. 
>It, especially for a tree of its size, should certainly be giving off some kind of energy, but it was absolutely barren of any sign at all. It was simply a blank spot on the map.
>You ponder for a moment what you should do in this situation.
>...
>Well… Is there really any other option?
>You try to stand up once again, only to be reminded of your new form and the complication that might come with it.
“This is gonna take some getting used to...”
>The fuck… What happened to your voice?
>It was slightly higher in pitch than usual and had a distinct squeakier timbre to it than you remember.
>Meh, you can worry about that later.
>Time to get onto finding out what the fuck’s going on here.
>Settling onto all four of your hooves, you slowly, methodically start to walk, attempting to familiarize yourself with the new joints and muscles that were now part of your body.
>Surprisingly, after moving a few feet, your movements seemed to be completely natural.
>Alright, let’s kick in up a notch then!
>You pick up more speed, into a sort of “trot”, which also seemed to come very naturally to you.

>Fuck yeah!
>You could really move with this new body.
>Stepping it up yet further, you move to a full on sprint, now simply circling the tree-hill from afar.
>You could naturally move much faster than you’d ever be able to with your old body.
>Assuming that your old body is different from this one.
>Hmm…
>Planting your hooves into the grass, you drift to a smooth halt and sit your ass on the ground.
>You wonder…
>Focusing on your hoof, you channel some energy to the area, willing the cells and chemicals to move and change composition.
>And sure enough, there where a hoof used to be, now sat a paw similar to a cat’s, brandishing claws of the same size and nature as razor blades.
>Phew. So you’re still in your body, that’s for sure.
>Well, In that case, you believe there’s nothing else that needs to be taken care of, so you once more start your trek to the nearby hill.
>As you reach the base of the mound and make your way to the top, you wonder what this could all be about.
>You’re now some kind of horse in the middle of a barren field, barring a hill and a willow.
>Maybe you should’ve had Discord elaborate on more details than you did.
>You reach the top of the hill, letting you get a better view of your surroundings and the tree itself.
>As expected, there was nothing to be seen for miles on end, even from your elevated position.
>Something you weren’t expecting however, was a small horse creature, a pony, lying near the base of the tree. Perhaps that’s what you were. A pony…
>Thoughts for later.
>It was female. How did you know? You have no idea.
>You sniff the air and smell the very subtle presence of pheromones distinct to most female equine beings, verifying your assumption. Still, it’s strange that you would be able to tell just based on sight.
>Focusing back on the situation though…

>She was mainly dark grey in color, the only contradiction being her hair, or rather mane, and her eyes, which shone with a vibrant mix between emerald and jade green.
>Her mane flowed smoothly down her neck, very straightly and with such perfection in each individual strand’s placement that she would be the envy of every higher-up back on Tetra.
>Her eyes were exactly of the same quality of her mane, glittering and bright like you’ve never seen on another creature before.
>”Hello Ano.”
>Her voice was calm and unbelievably soft, so much so that, just like the air, it filled you with a certain uneasiness and dread. 
>You’ve heard many voices like that, and none of them were too kind to you as far as you can remember.
>But all that aside, time to get down to business.
“How do you know my name?”
>She giggles in such a way that it sends a tingle down your spine.
>”I know,” She says, standing and slowly walking towards you, “because I’m the reason your here right now.“
>Your muscles tense instinctively, ready for fight or flight at any moment.
>She plops down onto the grass right in front of you, not a single strand of hair falling out of place during the action.
>”Though, before we get into the down and dirty of the matter, maybe you should have a good look at yourself first.”
>She places her hoof into the grass in front of you, twisting it slightly. Originating from underneath her hoof, a small circle of grass recedes in a spiraling motion, the revealed ground underneath turning into a shiny, metallic substance, one which you would easily be able to see your reflection in. The whole thing was completely alien to you. 
>That being said, your not gonna let it slide.

“Okay, what was that?”
>You say, looking at her rather incredulously.
>She doesn’t seem taken aback at all by your gaze, instead she actually seems to brighten up at the question.
>”That, my dear Ano, is but a demonstration of the supernatural phenomenon of this world known as magic.”
>She takes her hoof from the metallic surface and throws it up to the sky, producing from it a stream of fire far larger than you could have ever imagined.
>You contract your pupils to get a better look at it, but the heat alone is enough to make you squint.
>She then retracts her hoof back to the ground, and just like that, the column of flames dissipates without a single trail of smoke remaining.
>You stand there in awe for a moment, before you’re snapped out of your trance.
>”I know it’s amazing, but don’t sit there like a useless pile of garbage. Have a look at yourself.”
>You go to do as she says, not wanting to piss off the fire magician, but are interrupted by her sudden interjection.
>”Oh, and by the way, my name is Khordaea [spoiler](Core-DAY-Ah)[/spoiler] Luster, but you can just call me KK.” She says, extending a hoof out towards you.
>Not entirely sure how a handshake works around here, you do the next best thing...
>FIST BUMP!
>And so you bump…
>And that’s about all you do... 
>*cough*... 
>[spoiler]lurkers...[/spoiler]
>But yeah, she seems rather pleased at the action.
>Fuck yeah! First time success at social interaction with a weird magician horse thing!
>That’s a fucking win in your book if you’ve ever had one!

-----------------------------------------------------

>Now, hopefully without any more interruptions, you shift forward to have a real look at yourself.
>As you lean over the mirror, what stares you back is fairly what you would expect from your initial diagnostics, though there was nothing in there that would have ever let you know how goddamn cute you are. 
>Easily cute enough for you to get on lewdy duty with yourself…
>...
>Where the fuck did that thought come from?
>Anyways, the more valuable part of what you see is not what you gained, but what you kept: your eyes.
>Just as you remember them, deep crimson in color.
>Also your hair, or mane now. It’s a little longer than you remember, but that’s not all that bad.
>Besides that, everything else seems to be as predicted by the scan.
>Having that settled out, you go to stretch out cat-style before you take a seat, but something hard to explain makes you stop for a moment.
>There seems to be some...new muscles in your back…
>KK must have noticed your reaction, because she taps the mirror on its edge, causing it to float up above you to give you a better look at yourself.
>That’s…
>Fucking…
>Cool…
>Not the floating mirror, but the amazingness that is now connected to your shoulderblades.
>You have fucking WINGS!
>Not only are you now a cute ass horse, but now you’re also a cute ass bird horse.
>Fuck yeah!
>You try your best to move them around using your shoulders, but sadly the movements don’t come to you as naturally as running or bumping.
>Whatever. If Discord was telling the truth, there’ll be plenty of time to learn how to use them.

>”So you like your new body, I’m guessing.”
>You look at KK with more joy than you can ever recall experiencing in your life before this moment, nodding with vigor.
>”Good. In that case I think everything is in order for us to get down to business.”
>She stands and walks over to the base of the willow nearby.
>”Before we start though, I think we need the last missing piece of this puzzle.”
>She suddenly slams a hoof into the tree before swinging it back out towards you, pulling a glob from it as if it were made of a liquid. As the glob is pulled further away from the bark, its shape becomes familiar. As it is finally separated from the tree itself, you can recognize the figure as Discord who, via the momentum of KK’s swing, is thrown forward, tumbling face-first into the grass beside you.
>Very slowly he floats up from his position, still slumped over with a mouth full of dirt.
>Turning around mid-air and emptying his mouth of grass, he glares at KK.
>”Yes?”
>His tone is one of annoyance instead of the anger you expected from such an action.
>Still, to you it’s a pretty funny sight, so you giggle. It’s clear that he is getting pretty mad from this entire situation, but he doesn’t act on it.
>”Discord, I’ve been eager to talk to you since we made our deal the other week. This is about our contract.” She says, an impressive stack of papers materializing in between them both.
>Discord rolls his eyes.
>”Oh great.” He says sarcastically, “It’s about time you pay back your debt.”
>KK lies on the ground, keeping a calm smile regardless of her “debt”
>You’ve never noticed before, but now it’s almost unnoticeable that her smile has been constant, never vanishing since you’ve first seen her. Now that you’re thinking about it, it’s almost as unsettling as her voice.
>Speaking of which.
>”Well, that’s not exactly what I was referring to. I’m here to talk about your follow-up duties to our deal.”

>Discord’s eyes flare up with a captivating, vicious severity at her words.
>He speaks through a clenched jaw, practically spitting his words with ferocity.
>”Are you trying to tell me that I’m not getting my payment?”
>KK slightly flips a misplaced strand of hair right back into its expected place.
>”I assure you, everything will come in-”
>He flies straight at her with the swiftness of a viper’s strike, only stopping once directly face to face with her, puffing a thick black plume of smoke out from his nostrils.
>”...time.”
>You can see the pure indignation smothered into every inch of his face from where you sit.
>”When am I getting my payment Khordus?” [spoiler](CORE-Dus) Jesus it’s like you can’t sound it out...[/spoiler]
>The words come spilling out of his mouth with such ferocity that he might as well have growled incoherently.
>Without even a flinch, KK stands and walks around Discord and over to you, never letting her penetrating gaze leave his.
>She walks around to your back and sits herself down behind you, the fur of her chest lightly touching your back.
>”You, Mr. antsy pantsy, will get your reward once you’ve completed your side of the contract. No sooner, no later.”
>He flies up to you quickly, though not with as much intensity as he did with her just before.
>He is now screaming though.
>”What do you mean!? I’ve fulfilled my side of the contract plus some! I brought you a child from the dimension you specified! I was even nice about it and got him here quickly! What HAVEN’T I done!?”
>She lets out a rather cheerful giggle at his blatant rage.
>”You” She says calmly, the stack of papers from before reappearing directly in front of you “obviously haven’t read the contract. THAT is what you haven’t done.”

>Suddenly, papers from the top of the stack start to flip onto the ground beside it, very similar to how a book would flip open, except this book doesn’t have any binding, making the sight that much more implausible.
>It goes on for a while before it drifts to a halt on a single page, which gently floats up from the pile to Discord.
>He snatches the partchment from the air grumpily as he pulls out a set of rimless glasses and puts them on.
>”If you look carefully at paragraph 464 in section JH, you’ll notice that it says that, and I quote, ‘...based on the actions of the cooperating party, should the child be successfully returned to the dealer, while it is on the dealers behalf that the child is brought, the imperative and undenyable task of raising, protecting, overseeing, introducing, and partaking (in/to/from) any activities and other individuals falls upon the cooperating party. I *Discord, Master of Chaos* acknowledge that I am responsible for all of these tasks, am responsible as the proper guardian of the child, am not eligible for payment until such duties have been fulfilled to their fullest extent on my part, and recognize that for such fulfillment of this contract to be met, the child must fulfill the set list of requirements stated in corresponding paragraph 777 of section AL, including but not limited to the factor of the child healthily reaching the age of 18 in M.O.T., starting at the optimally decided age of 8 years old M.O.T.’ Now, does that sound like you’ve successfully completed your contract Discord?”

>Discord doesn’t respond.
>You’re not sure he even has the capability to, since he’s now as frozen as a statue, his face completely obscured by the piece of paper currently plastered to his face.
>Hmm. Seems like they had some kind of deal going on between them for bringing you here. It’s pretty strange that they would bring something like that up at random, so it must be about you.
>In light of that…
“Wait, what the fuck does all of that mean for me?”
>You turn to look at KK behind you, but find only air where you expect her.
>Glancing over the area, you initially can’t find a single sign of her, but a subtle voice from the tree branches gives you all the help you need.
>”All of that, my dear Ano, simply means that you will be living with him for your time here.” She points a hoof towards the still-frozen Discord.
>...
>Well…
>That doesn’t particularly mean anything to you, since you don’t really know what Discord is like for real. If the last few minutes mean anything at all though, it might not be such a good idea for you to be around him for long…
“Are you fucking crazy? He looked like he wanted to kill you just a few seconds ago.”
>KK rolls over on the branch lazily.
>”Don’t worry about that too much for now. He might have wanted to kill me, but I’m not dead, am I? Look, if it makes you feel more comfortable, it’s a loss on his side of the deal we made if anything happens to you, which means he shouldn’t do anything too bad.”
“That still doesn’t sound that good.”
>In reality it’s starting to sound worse and worse, as if she was expecting him to do something to you if you weren’t valuable to him.
>Now the question is…
>Do you dare defy a horse wizard to try to get out of it?
>...
“Yeah, fuck that, I’m not going with him.”

>She yawns.
>”Well that’s too bad, because it’s either that or go back to Tetra.”
>No fucking way are you going back to that hellhole.
>...
>You sigh and lower your head.
“Fine, I’ll stay with him.”
>From the moment you woke up you understood that this is not a ground for negotiation in your favor. Frankly, you don’t know why you even tried.
>KK rolls off of her spot on the branch, landing on the ground with nary a movement of the air indicating that she had done so.
>”Good then there’s only one thing left to say.”
>She walks towards you, practically gliding across the grass before she reaches you and sits.
>”I need to tell you Ano, you remind me of when I was young. You’re not showing it right now, but I can see that hotheaded know-it-all behind your mask. I can tell your just trying to stay on my good side. It’s all a facade. It takes one to know one after all.”
>She chuckles.
>”I can appreciate that though, unlike most others. Some will say that you’re dangerous. I understand why. They look at others like us and laugh, not able to comprehend who they are laughing at. I’ll let you know now Ano, you can make anyone stop laughing at any moment, but the way you do it with even one person can and will change your life forever. I know it probably seems useless to you now, but trust me, I was in your shoes once, you’ll grow to appreciate my words.”
>”And with that Ano, I bid you adieu.”
>She taps you on the nose, making a ‘boop’ sound with her mouth as she does so.
>The world around you starts to fade out, simultaneously being replaced with a completely different environment.