Blessed silence.
The problem with a nice long rest in a quiet corner of the void, is that it’s never quite as long as you hope it would be. Just the fact that I’m conscious is a bad sign. It means I have a concept of time, of existence, of a world I thought I’d left behind.
The memories trickle back one at a time. A cloven hoof, an antler, a clawed hand. My chosen form in my mind’s eye. The vast black expanse begins to light up as white pinpricks of light wake me from my long slumber of non-existence.
The magic is back.
And with it, came awareness. Sorrow. Grief. Helplessness. For all my powers and immortality, I could do nothing to help them. And then I continued on, as I always have, but filled with more regret and sorrow than I thought possible. Because I’d learned what it meant to have a friend, and then they were taken away. They exist now beyond the veil, in a place even I can’t reach.
Never will we be reunited, but perhaps I could do the next best thing...
Hitch walked down the road followed by a long line of flying rodents who had recently moved into Maretime bay. With the city expanding to fit in new pegasi and unicorn residents, he’d thought it wise to move them out into the underbrush outside of towns. It was no forest, but it was a safer and happier place for them to live.
“Alright, you can move in here. I’ll send my helpers to check on you in case you have trouble getting food.” Hitch gestured to a couple of seagulls and a crab.
Several of the rodents ran over to hug Hitch’s leg before retreating into the bushes. He smiled and turned to the lead seagull, who had taken to wearing a small tuna can as a symbol he was the leader of Hitch’s crew. “You got that? Come check on them every couple days.”
The bird saluted with a wing.
“Thanks, now we better get back to town to make sure Sprout isn’t slacking off on his community service.”
The stallion and his animal helpers began to walk back down the road towards town when they were met with a most unusual sight. He looked at it and was shocked at what he saw. The creature looked like some predator out of a horror movie. It had a mixture of paws, claws, hooves, various sharp teeth, and mismatched wings. The elongated body looked like a cross between a snake and a dragon. Hitch wondered for a moment if this creature counted as an animal and had been attracted to him to seek help, or if this might be one of those long lost races that Argyle claimed used to live in Equestria.
“Well, you’ve got quite the way with animals don’t you?” it stated. “Reminds me of somepony I used to know, actually. However, you’re quite a bit uglier than she was.”
For now he decided a little diplomacy was in order. He was out here alone and it would be best to avoid a fight until he knew what it was capable of.
“Uh, hello there. Can I help you with anything?” Hitch asked.
The draconequus smiled. “Oh you certainly can, how kind to offer. Can you point me in the direction of whatever troublemaker restored Equestria’s magic?”
“Me and my friends did that, though I suppose most of the credit goes to Sunny… but why would you want to see her? You’re not a pony, and you don’t seem to be any animal I’ve ever heard of.”
He slithered off the fence post and curled around Hitch. “Oh, I just want to show her my… gratitude for disturbing my slumber.”
Hitch stood his ground as the strange creature continued to slowly circle him. Something about his appearance and mannerisms was unsettling him, giving him the impression his intentions weren’t noble. “I’m the sheriff of Maretime bay, and I don’t like your tone of voice. I’m going to have to ask you to leave Sunny alone.”
He laughed, “Oh, you’re going to stop me? This is rich, you really don’t remember who I am?”
“Who are you?” Hitch asked.
The being snapped his fingers, and a set of stage lights and a wooden platform complete with microphone appeared in the middle of the road. The creature began to sing. “Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a deity of wealth and fa—”
One of the stage lights flickered and exploded, interrupting what was sure to be an exciting musical number full of DMCA-violations.
“Ugh, I can’t get no respect…” The draconequus sighed and shook his head. “I must be a little rusty. Well, then, I’m Discord. The embodiment of Chaos, entropy, randomness, and not a half bad friend if you ask…” He sighed. “Well I guess there’s nopony left to ask.”
Hitch had sat down on the road and was rubbing his temples to stall a headache he felt building. “Okay… well you’re clearly magic, and I’ll help if I can, but I’ve got no idea what you want. At the moment, you’re kinda littering, impeding foot traffic, and making a mess of my town… I don’t suppose you can magic that away please?”
Discord sighed and snapped his fingers, clearing out the road and turning some of the grass purple. “Now you’re reminding me of the annoying cyan one…” He began to stroke his chin as he thought things over. “You say you want to help? Well, I suppose you could be of help. I’ve lost somepony very dear to me, my first and most important friend long ago. Perhaps you can replace them?”
Hitch smiled. “Uh, sure I’ll be your friend.”
Discord smirked, “excellent. Let’s take it slowly so I don’t turn you into a puddle of ectoplasm.” He snapped his fingers.
There was a smell of burnt toast that reminded Hitch of that thing Phyllis had once told him about strokes. His skin felt itchy, and Hitch looked down to see the white spots on his legs and stomach turning yellow. The fur over his whole body was quickly changing to a smoother and more buttery complexion.
As he looked down, a long set of pink bangs spilled down his head, blocking off his vision to one side. “Wait, what are you doing to me?” Hitch asked. His voice had gotten a few octaves higher, and much quieter, than he was used to.
There was a sharp pain between his hind legs causing him to gasp. Hitch didn’t take long to notice something was absent that shouldn’t have been. Before he could complain, a sharp pain shot down his spine causing him to collapse as two wings quickly sprouted out of his back.
Hitch panted and managed to get back to his hooves, noticing his bandolier and sheriff’s badge had fallen off while the spell had worked it’s magic. He turned his head as an unfamiliar muscle flexed, and he saw two golden wings. Behind that was a long pink tail that barely kept from dragging on the ground.
“What the hay?” Hitch whispered. “What did you do to me? Why am I a mare?”
Discord smiled and seemed to stand a little taller. “Guess I’ve still got it, though I was trying to overwrite your personality and memories too. A little more chaos like this and I should get right back into the groove of things!”
“What? No! You need to stop this right now Mister!” Hitch stomped a hoof, or at least he tried to. He tapped the ground so daintily that he couldn’t even be sure it had happened.
A large mirror appeared, courtesy of the lord of chaos, showing Hitch a full reflection of the mare he had become. On his flanks were three pink butterflies, and he’d lost several inches of height.
“No… please, change me back. What even is happening?” He sat down and felt panic brewing as his brain tried to process his sudden transformation.
“We’ll work on your personality, but your name is Fluttershy. You’re my best friend,” Discord explained. “Once I’m feeling a hundred percent I’ll get the cottage set up… maybe there’s a town nearby to turn upside down and warm up with.”
Hitch whispered something, then walked over and tapped Discord on the shoulder. “Hey, I said can you change me back?”
“Oh, you’re still here… right.” Discord cleared his throat. “If you want to get back to what you were before, you must seek out the special four. Bring them back to the place you began, and I’ll turn you into a stallion again.”
“What?” Hitch scratched behind an ear in confusion.
He sighed. “It’s a riddle, run off and solve it while I get some work done. In other words, scram! Get lost! I’ve got to figure out what’s happened while I’m gone and then I can finish your transformation into Fluttershy.”
And with that, the draconequus snapped his fingers and vanished. In the distance, Hitch could see one of the houses on the outskirts of Maretime bay float up into the air and turn upside down, slowly rotating in mid air. A moment later the home imploded, sending out a shockwave of air that hit Hitch a few seconds later.
“Crap, I better go find Sunny and the others and see if they’ve got any ideas. Maybe we can use the gems to give him a friendship concussion or something before he blows up anymore homes.”
Hitch knocked on the door to the lighthouse. It had only finished being rebuilt a week ago, but it looked as good as new. The light was functioning again, the stones were freshly painted, and they had even added a little extra space to the floor plan. Sunny may have lived alone, but with her renewed interest in studying friendship and archaeology, it had seemed prudent to give her some extra space.
A moment later, Sunny opened the door. She took one look at Fluttershy and froze, her eyelids slowly raising as her mouth widened. Her growing surprise manifested in a full volume squee of joy. “Fluttershy! Oh my goodness, I’ve got so many questions.” She turned and ran into the lighthouse. “About four hundred fifty for one of the guardians of friendship!”
“Sunny…” Hitch cleared his throat and tried louder. It was very disconcerting to be in a mare’s body, but the fact his voice was so adorably soft was already wearing thinner than his other changes. “Sunny!”
She rushed back to the door and set her journal down. “Is it true you can talk to animals? Who was your favorite friend and why was it Twilight? Did you really have a bunny that started a war?”
“Sunny!” By now, with several shouts to warm up, Hitch was able to get her attention.
“Huh?” She looked up from her journal.
“It’s me, Hitch!” he explained.
Sunny tilted her head. “What?” She smiled. “I have a friend named Hitch. But you’re Fluttershy, I own tons of stuff based on you. I have a couple carved dolls, a pillow case, a blanket with those three pink butterflies… You must have time traveled here. Is there a robotic unicorn from the future on it’s way to kill me and you have to ensure my survival so that the resistance can save all of Equestria in the future?”
Hitch let out a long groan and shook his head. “Now you’re just telling me the plot to Judgement Neigh. Plus your friendship heroes are from the past, not the future.”
“Okay then. What happened to you?” She raised her hooves to do air quotes. “Hitch.”
“I ran into this half goat half pony half dragon half bear half pig… actually, the details aren’t important! He was complaining about magic being restored, then he snapped his fingers and did this!” Hitch raised and lowered a hoof in front of his now female pegasus body.
She giggled, “that’s quite a story. Did Izzy send you? Or maybe this is a costume and makeup, something for one of Pipp’s klip klop videos? I guess she must have found a decent look-alike in Zephyr Heights.”
Hitch sighed in exasperation, before a thought occurred to him. He stuck a hoof out in the air. Sunny looked at it in confusion, until he shook it a couple times. “Come on, I’m not on duty.”
Sunny reached out to touch the hoof, and the two began to chant in unison. “Up high, down low, hitch it to a post. Flip it sunny side up and on a piece of toast!”
It took her a moment, but it finally seemed to click. “Hitch? It’s really you?”
“Yes!” he whispered at full volume. “Do you have your cell phone? We need to get Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp here and the gems… we’ve got to do a friendship explosion or something before that crazy thing gets back.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I guess you better come in. Just, wow. You make a pretty cute pegasus” Sunny bumped him on the shoulder.
He frowned and shot her a pouty look, “come on don’t joke like that.”
I love this keep it up
11022607
Thanks, I will! I discovered the import from google docs feature and have attained new levels of power! Mostly an ability not to lose paragraphs to copy-paste errors.
This looks promising.
Well I'm intrigued
You should do more to this like how about the rest of the new mane 5 of the new generation characters start to become the mane 6
God dammit Sunny.
“New Fluttershy.” You’re funny.
Kinda odd. The ponies prior to this freaked the heck out about members of the other tribes showing up. While Hitch is a bit better about this and this seems like post movie, I would expect a bit more reaction to something as odd as Discord showing up. It's not even clear if Hitch has ever met another non-Equestrian species, after all.
Overall, an interesting start. Discord is being...Discord. I suspect the time asleep and losing Fluttershy hasn't been well for his mind. I liked how random the initial TF was and that Discord wasn't quite to 100%, either, or that his powers worked as intended.
Oh wow now this is a different turn of events and once again and and I said this so many times about Hitch that he could be a distance related to Fluttershy since he has some abilities that Fluttershy has and apparently Discord can sense it and because of his loneliness he turned it into Fluttershy which that was kinda disturbing but I guess because he's been alone for a long time but still this is not good and now he has to call for help and he asked Sonny to help him alongside with the others and something tells me Discord is going to mess with these kids let's see how this works out
11022617
The only problem is there's only five of them
11022617
I did start it out as a pure Transformation fic, because I don't think there's many of those still being done. Then it sort of changed, but I do like the idea of all the ponies getting body swapped.
11022655
Either we have to skip worst pony, or we throw Sprout in for the 6th member.
11022630
I really want to see more of Sunny asking questions, that could be a whole story right there. Maybe she needs to accidentally time travel to gen 4 and be like a 5 year old just constantly bombarding Twilight with questions.
11022648
Yeah it's a little ominous how dozens of races on the planet are just completely gone, and there wasn't much variety in wildlife. Movie has a real "Last Ponies on Equus" vibe. I guess it would be more shocking to meet what's practically an alien in a world that doesn't even have cows than I made it seem for Hitch.
Discord being Discord is a lot easier to write than good dialogue. I'll have to work on that and resist the urge to just keep things moving.
Kaidan here speedrunning G5 ficwriting :V
Keep up the good work!
Can’t say I’m necessarily surprised that Angel (or his offspring) allegedly started a war.
This story is certainly going to be interesting. I’m a little curious about the ‘sad’ tag, as well.
This got my interest.I hope we get more stories involving Team S.H.I.P.Z and any g4 character.
11022676
Caught me! And Thanks. I love speed-writing fics, even if it makes my longer format incomplete stories cry.
11022678
Discord continues to share his story which is a bit sad, compared to the present day which is a bit more comedy. Discord is also random. It was kind of hard to figure out the tags on this one. Then I just embraced the utter chaos and stopped worrying.
11022684
I love the name team S.H.I.P.Z., and this story also involves at least one Ship! Well played. I do have a couple ideas for gen4/5 crossovers but I'm like a dog chasing squirrels ever since gen 5 came out.
O&O was a pain without anypony ... What's taking Discord so long?
No no no I got to pee!
Fluttershy I thought you died in the war?
🎆
Weird, but interesting. I personally do not see Discord acting that way, but there's surely a lot more left to explain.
A little pet peeve of mine : I dislike the commonly used phrase "few octaves higher," usually there's like an octave (octaves are huge!) or even less between the median tone of male and female vocal ranges (unless one compares octavists and other outliers). And there's usually a lot of overlap in the ranges. However, the usual tones that are used to speak are not necessarily the median, so that's a thing that could make up for more than one octave. Now, I know I'm being pedantic, don't fight me pls, you don't need to change anything.
11022670
I mean, it made enough sense to me: if ponykind couldn't even get along with each other, then what hope did the other sentient species have?
My guess is we'll start seeing more and more of them as the show itself goes on.
A most interesting beginning.
Not my usual cup of tea, but I am interested nonetheless.
I'll be honest, it's funnier to imagine Fluttershy with Hitch's voice, but I still love it
"Friendship Concussion'? Back in the day, it was a Friendship Rainbow Laser Thingy.
11023168
And instead of gems it was necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace, big crown thingy.
11023535
Yeah, but what can ya do? Time change.
11023583
Indeed. I have to wonder if there will be info on how Twilight ruined everything, how magic went away, and where the three crystals came from.
Discord, the replacement goldfish strategy doesn't work
cuz the replacement dies just as fast, if not faster and then you're hurt all over again
11023606
Yes
11023607
Also yes.
Why can't carnivals give out pet ponies instead?
I'm not gonna lie, Hitch with Flutters hairstyle actually works really well and I love it.
11023607
That's actually kind of true sad but true
11022755
Changelings in particular would die out very quickly when the magic went away; dragons also raise questions but we're all going to shush them in favor of Spike showing up.
11022655
Applejack was also a G1 pony with her exact colors and a G3 pony with different ones, so we can safely assume an actual G5 Applejack will be introduced at some point in the show.
11023842
G5 Applejack will be a direct descendant of G4 Applejack named after her.
Yeah, that sounds like Angel all right.
11022670
Unless G5 eventually says otherwise (not that I'm expecting it to), my theory is that they're all still out there, they've just likewise gone into seclusion like the pony tribes had and aren't really interacting with others outside of their claimed areas currently.
A generous application of friendship should sort that out in time, if true.
This is amazing!! This is the first g5 fic I’ve read and since discord is in it my brain is fighting so hard over how to imagine the scenes in my head lol…should it be in g5 or g4 style?? Ahhhhhh!!
Damn it Angel... what did you do this time?
This is not the Sunshy you are looking for.
*waves hoof mysteriously*
11025079
It's not his fault those squirrels stole all his carrots.