Salv-8-Ion

by Akumokagetsu

First published 21st of November, 2013

Rainbow Dash never thought that she would see 'Master' again... until Discord returned with more than she ever expected.

Rainbow Dash was finally pulling herself together again.
Even long months after Discord vanished from the face of Equestria, Rainbow Dash was still managing to stay loyal to her friends and get her life in order.
At least, until Discord returned with a remnant of her previous Master.
His son.

Check out the entirety of The Chronicles 8, listed in order below! Now part of the extended 8-Verse!
Technicolor Dom-N-8-Ion
Reha-Bilit-8-Ion
Condemn-8-Ion
Damn-8-Ion
Salv-8-Ion

A Vicious Cycle

The Saint Claire’s Orphanage of Brooklyn was not the largest orphanage in the city, nor was it the most well-funded. Neither was it the cleanest, nor the safest, or anything above slightly below average. It was a place of refuge to children, it was a home for those lost or castaway with nowhere else to turn.

It was a last refuge of the hopeless.

To William, it was merely another place to keep his books.

“How come you’re readin’ again?”

William Klaskovsky gave a deadpan over the edge of his copy of Of Mice And Men, peering hard at the boy beside him. Ronald had been one of the few tolerable souls that William had the fortune of encountering at Saint Claire’s, as well as one of the most entertaining. They had been friends almost upon meeting, regardless of the stark differences between the nine year olds.

For example, William, whereas the same age as Ronald, was much thinner and smaller than the feral looking, black haired boy. Ronald possessed a fierce soul, as fiery as his temper; however, he was enormously faithful toward the wiry William, which could come in handy.

However, there were times when William would have sworn that the poor boy retained all the intelligence of your run-of-the-mill tree stump.

William sighed, closing his book quietly as Ronald fiddled with his glasses. The short tuft of sandy hair atop William’s head did nothing to cover his clearly agitated look, which burned behind his beady brown eyes as he glared at his ‘comrade’.

“For the same reason that I always read, chum,” William grumbled, inattentively watching the children play before lunch time was over. “Insomuch that I do not crumble into the withering pit of inadequacy that plagues your attention deficit riddled brain.”

Ronald, who had been too busy picking his nose to properly pay attention, blinked.

“I dunno what that means.”

William sighed heavily once again.

“Of course not, you blithering, incompetent, uneducated troglodyte,” William said friendlily. Ronald, who was fairly certain that he had just been insulted, frowned at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly jerked his head off to the side, staring into space for a few long moments, eventually dawdling off.

It was times like these that William heavily suspected that his friend suffered from some measure of acute schizophrenia. Always talking to people that weren’t there.

Ronald Miller was an odd one, to be certain.

Many of William's days went by like this, dreary and repetitive as he devoured book after book, quietly sticking to himself instead of listening to the everyday urges of the orphanage’s nuns to go play with the other children. Generally, at which point, William would politely ask Ronald to cause a distraction so that he could read in peace, which the unruly child was always far too eager to do.

William had no particular sense of discontent, really; no excessive urge to be adventurous, or explore. His mind was a logical one, and he valued reason and related contemporary works over fictional literature. Perhaps this was why he was so completely and utterly flabbergasted to have discovered the leering draconequus standing over him one cloudy morning as he clutched tightly at his book.

“… Hi, there!” Discord grinned at him and gave a little wave, sitting down on the worn plastic bench beside him.

For a long, long moment, William simply sat very still, staring in shock at the bizarre amalgamation of animals and mythological creatures beside him. The odd creature seemed to be part goat, part lion, part dragon, part… too many things. The beaming draconequus sat leisurely beside him, his tail twitching through the air lazily as absolutely nobody seemed to notice.

“… What the bleeding hell is that,” William gawked, and rubbed his eyes hard. Spots appeared after a while, but the insane mismatched creature remained. He wasn’t quite certain whether to be very afraid, or merely confused.

“Yeah,” Discord tapped his talons together sadly, staring into his lap as he crossed one leg over the other. “That’s what my parents said, too.”

William stared at him so hard that it felt like his eyes were going dry. He whipped his head about to some of the adults, spotting the familiar form of Sister Francis picking up a young girl that had recently scraped her knee. William stood up on the bench and waved wildly to her, pointing wordlessly toward the draconequus.

Sister Francis merely smiled and gave a little wave back before tending to the young girl, completely oblivious.

“… Interesting,” William crossed his arms. “Either I have completely lost my mind with absolutely no prelude to mental degradation, or you appear to have developed a form of imperfect cloaking technology.”

“Hmm?” Discord asked as he was tilting himself upside down, his face somehow still managing to remain right side up. “Oh, that,” he said in a bored tone. “You’d be amazed at what mortals fail to notice from time to time. Being an infinitely powerful god does tend to help matters along,” he admitted.

William slowly sat back down, thinking heavily.

“I daresay that no such thing as gods exist,” William pronounced carefully. “Although I now take my previous statements into careful consideration. Also, if you’re here to take me to hell for hearsay, Ronald started it.”

Discord snorted, righting himself and blowing a couple of toucans out of his left ear, which fluttered off into the air.

“Well, I have to concede,” Discord grinned toothily at him again. “You are most definitely not what I came here to find.”

William frowned, multiple theories running through his mind simultaneously.

“I see. And what, may I ask, oh god of nightmare fuel, do you happen to be in search of?”

“Actually,” he stuck out a single talon for William to shake. “The name’s Discord! My birth name is Discord, although I had to change it to Discord when I moved. But my friends call me Discord!”

For a moment, William wondered if the bizarre creature with mismatched eyes just might be utterly insane.

Were that the case, he would probably be right.

“You are dodging the question with inane repetition, ‘Discord’,” William scowled at him, desperately wishing that one of the nuns would assist in making sense of this situation. Then again, it wasn’t as if they were much help to William before.

“Bah, you’re so frown-y!” the draconequus turned his face down to match his, stretching it like silly putty.

“… I need an adult,” William said slowly as Discord disturbingly overextended his face to look like a mockery of an anteater before snapping it back into position.

“Ha! I am an adult!”

William pinched the bridge of his nose, and sat very still. It was possible that he were hallucinating; however, this seemed far too lucid to be an ordinary hallucination. Perhaps someone had drugged his orange juice?

“So…” Discord tapped his talons together with a hint of discomfort in his voice, and slouched a bit further. “Wouldn’t you know it, Pinkie Pie managed to get to the guy before I could. And while I’m all for reanimation and wild robot-dinosaur-zombie caged death battles, I think this idea might be better.”

“I have no idea what you are blathering about,” William stated. Maybe he could find a way to net the creature? But it was much larger than him, and he had no net. There might have been a small possibility of requesting help, but nobody even seemed to notice that the monster existed…

“Well,” Discord waved an arm over the orphanage. “I’m unhealthily impulsive, and I guess that you could say that this seems like a pretty dismal place to spend an entire childhood-”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“ – and you seem to be pretty bummed out all by yourself!” Discord continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “So, kiddo; want to get adopted?”

William gave the draconequus a look cold enough to make an ice cube shiver.

He looked around once again, as if he were certain that this were some form of ridiculous prank, and that at any second ‘Discord’ would pull off the mask and reveal a sweaty man with a video camera for reality television inside.

“… Is this a joke?” William asked suspiciously, crossing his arms again defensively.

“Sure, why not!” Discord shrugged. “And adoption is the punchline!”

“… Why?” he asked incredulously.

To be fair, that was a very good question.

“Like I said,” Discord yawned, emitting a high pitched whistle of steam from his nose. “I’m impulsive, and revenge-seeking isn’t going to get me anywhere positive.”

“That sounded ambiguously ominous.”

“Look, I’m trying to be nice,” Discord glowered at him. “I can always put the paperwork back if you’d rather grow up in this dump, instead.”

“Paperwork?”

“Well, duh!” Discord facepalmed. “Adoption doesn’t work without paperwork – that’s just kidnapping!”

William paused, thinking.

“If you could make it so that absolutely nobody but me noticed you, couldn’t you just do the same and have whisked me off scot-free by now?”

“It’s up to you, kid. Just say the word, and I could just go away right now, and you’d never hear from me again. Heck, you wouldn’t even remember me again. Also, it looks better on my resume if it’s legal,” Discord deadpanned. With that, he flicked his talons together and a stream of paper erupted out of between them. He caught a random one, pulled a large and feathery blue quill from inside his ear, and presented it to William.

For the longest time, William quietly sat on the bench, staring at the draconequus and the document he presented.

“Nine year olds aren’t legally qualified to claim responsibility,” he grumbled weakly before signing his name.

“He’s what?”

Rainbow Dash pushed past a clearly disgruntled Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, mouth hanging agape as Discord himself stood at the door to Golden Oaks library, with something very unexpected in tow. Not even Applejack or Fluttershy could bring themselves to speak, and Pinkie Pie’s eyes seemed to have glazed over slightly.

The small human child hiding behind Discord almost managed to escape Rainbow Dash’s gaze, but it was the eyes that caught her attention.

His eyes.

He had Master’s eyes.

“So…” Discord tapped his talons together awkwardly as a long, uncomfortable silence settled over the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.

“… Can we keep it?”

Author's Notes:

Huh.
Who knew.

The Prodigal Progeny

Journal of William Zachariah Klaskovsky

In the increasingly likely event that I am somehow either horribly killed, dismembered, devoured, trampled, maddened beyond repair or transformed into a block of blue cheese, I suppose that these records shall leave some semblance of my previous self before my passing.

My name is William Zachariah Klaskovsky, age nine, from the Saint Claire’s Orphanage for Wayward Children. Whereas I would dearly enjoy simply cutting directly to the ‘juicy bits’, as it were, I am nearly completely certain that should anyone find these records, I shall be deemed irrevocably deranged. I assure you, while thoroughly unsettled at the recent events, I am quite sane.

Or at least, I believe so. This accursed draconequus forces me to question even my own mental integrity every few minutes.

Where to even begin…

Day 1 –

It would appear that my new adoptive father has little to no actual understanding of adoption processes; regardless, all was said and done, paperwork was quietly filed, and then we had a quiet lunch of greasy hamburgers as the revolting visage of a plastic clown loomed over us menacingly the entire time. Perhaps one thing (of many, I assure you) that I cannot bring myself to fully grasp is precisely why this ‘draconequus’, as he deems himself, does not seem out of place to any wandering eyes.

Although, according to ‘Discord’, being a living God of Chaos has numerous perks.

… And I still refuse point blank to call him ‘Daddy’.

He genuinely seemed a tad disappointed by this revelation.

I believe that Discord was attempting to give me a sort of ‘last meal’ before returning to his home planet, or something to that effect. He continuously snickered on, muttering about ‘exotic tastes’.

I would have asked him out of sheer curiosity, before he began slurping down an enormous milkshake glass.

Not the milkshake, the glass around it.

While the milkshake remained in place.

And then it exploded.

God of Chaos, indeed.

The entirety of our day, any questions that I asked of Discord that pertained to our destination were either ignored or answered with babbling about a love of surprises, and I wound up keeping mainly to myself for the majority of the day. Eventually, however, he checked a watch that had somehow appeared on his wrist (I find that I am slowly beginning to question these impossibilities less and less, as I am obviously losing my mind completely) and snapped his… well, I can daresay that those are fingers.

His talons, I suppose.

Discord snapped his talons, instigating instantaneous teleportation.

Of all the potential methods of travel that I expected, I must admit, that was definitely not one of them.

I believe that I have Discord to thank, in some aspects. In retrospect, he had probably spent his day slowly but surely allowing me to acclimate to the bizarre and unusual aspects of himself that seemed to warp the fabric of reality around his whims. Had it not been for this, and my miniscule level of desensitization to the sheer irrationality, I may have suffered from a complete meltdown.

Actually, I stand corrected. I believe that I may still suffer from a complete meltdown, as this first day has been thoroughly surprising enough on its own.

Discord allowed me some time to collect myself as he showed me a strange sight; however, I fear that I could not get a proper view of this ‘Ponyville’, as he referred to it, as I was thoroughly obsessed with the sudden yet inexplicable shift in sight. I daresay that I shall handle the culture shock in a similar manner, and I brace myself accordingly.

The colors of this world (and I am quite certain that we just leapt between dimensions, opening up an entire slew of theoretical conundrums) seem to be much brighter than anything on Earth, the pigments much more solid and colorful. The air is crisper, cleaner; although this may simply be a byproduct of living the entirety of my life in Brooklyn.

Now, on to the next mindboggling observation.

The majority of the inhabitants of this world (thankfully) do not seem to be immensely overpowered mad gods comprised of too many creatures.

They are ponies.

Walking, talking equines.

At first, I merely assumed that they were small horses, but these inhabitants appear to be a bit smaller than that. From their size, I surmise that they are around the size of Shetland ponies, and some are slightly under that size as well. A great number are multicolored in a way that makes my eyes irritated from watching them for too long.

Of course, I did not exactly have much time to gawk and dilly-dally, for bare moments after we arrived in the center of a wide dirt road that all hell proceeded to break loose.

Ponies stared at us for several moments, before a great abundance of screaming and panicking began, followed (surprisingly) by what one could expect should something of the sort occur in the streets of Brooklyn. There are similarities between our worlds, it would seem; I wonder just how many.

Discord seemed to be enjoying the mayhem far too much, and led me toward what he assured me was a library as he whistled a jaunty tune. I was also expectant of being taken for questioning by these creatures, or at the very least interrogation; although my fears are either completely unwarranted, or the ponies of this place know Discord a little too well.

This also terrifies me, for reasons unknown.

The ‘library’ in question, which I was actually looking forward to visiting, was actually built into a large oak tree. Out in the front of the ‘building’ stood a small sign, aligned with numerous strange symbols. I was thoroughly dismayed by this; whereas it would appear that these ponies have developed a knack for a structurally sound phonetic system, I shall be forced to relearn an entire alphabet should I wish to pore over their books.

No matter. I shall accomplish it in time.

I am loathe to admit that I was caught in my distraction, staring in awe at a wooden sign, of all things, that I first clearly heard other voices. In English, to be sure, although the accent was a light and strange one.

They seem to speak English fluently, but write in different languages comprising of whorls and symbols.

More questions.

So many questions!

Upon the front door to the library being flung open, I did my best to hide partially behind Discord, gripping at the tip of his tail and assuming a posture that belayed childlike innocence so as to make myself appear less threatening.

Alien or not, I sincerely suspected that this race held the same weakness for adorable and frightened children that the human race does.

And weaknesses can be exploited.

Discord appeared to know the equines within the library personally, and I managed to peek past him far enough to catch a glimpse of more of them; five, possibly six in total, each colored with a base color of the rainbow.

Including one which really bore every spectrum of the rainbow in both her mane and tail, and it was then that I caught my first sight of a pegasus. It would appear that this world has more than one species of pony, mythological or not.

More questions.

She (and I assume that it was female, judging from voice and the length of mane) was actually in the middle of probing, with a shockingly human expression. Within the span of moments, the pegasus ran the entire gamut of emotions from shock, to elation, to grief, back to elation, confusion, anger, and as her eyes finally landed on myself, outright horror.

Yes. Definitely female.

I suppose I shall have to end my summary of the main events of the first day here, as ‘Twilight’ did not supply me with an adequate source of ink. Honestly; if these ponies still use quills, I am willing to bet that I could market the simple pen and brand myself as an inventor. Doubtlessly, I could possibly claim sole ownership of numerous of Earth’s inventions, and I could have these creatures bowing before me as a technological god within a matter of days.

I shall conclude my summary, along with my thesis on the grounds of interdimensional travel in the morning; that is, should days progress here as they do on Earth.

Ah, one last thing.

I did manage to finagle a name from Discord (finally) of the name of this place.

Equestria.

Rainbow Dash paced ever so slowly back and forth before the grinning draconequus, leaving Fluttershy rather antsy. She was afraid that Rainbow Dash was going to begin throwing things again for a moment, and her poor cottage couldn’t withstand much more of her wrath.

“Discord.”

“That’s what they call me!”

Rainbow Dash seethed, the clop of her hooves filling the air as she paced in front of the reclining and thoroughly unrepentant God of Chaos.

“You were gone for months, Discord – months! I don’t even – how could you – this is the most – I am so angry right now!” she bellowed, unable to contain herself. She ruffled her wings agitatedly, barely containing her frustration.

“Discord, just what have you done this time?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Explain yourself!” Rainbow Dash shouted before he had time to reply.

“I would, if you’d stop interrupting,” he replied with a snarky grin.

“NOW, Discord!”

“I missed you too, rainbow-butt.”

Author's Notes:

I am now incapable of reading William's parts in anything aside from Sideshow Bob's voice.

Sunrise Surprise

“I dunno, Twilight,” Spike said uncomfortably, drumming his fingers across his mug of morning coffee as Twilight sipped her own in her place across from him at the table. “I mean, this is kind of a big surprise…”

“I know, Spike,” the unicorn nodded quietly, pondering. “It’s only for a little while, though. Consider it being an ‘assistant foalsitter’ for the day.”

Spike groaned into his mug, frowning.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Twi,” he grumbled. “Discord didn’t exactly bring back a foal. I don’t even think it can be called a proper colt, really.”

Twilight sighed, finishing off her hot brew. “It’s just for today, Spike. He only asked us to wait until he had the chance to sort things out with Rainbow Dash. And after that, you won’t have to worry about it anymore. Besides,” she scolded him. “’William’ is a guest. And to top it off, despite his… odd appearance, he is still just a little colt.”

“This is Discord we’re talking about,” Spike said suspiciously, refusing to give ground. “And besides; there’s just something a little… off about the guy.”

“Probably because he’s the God of Chaos,” Twilight snorted.

“Not who I was talking about,” Spike mumbled.

“Good morning.”

Spike nearly leapt out of his scales at the sound of the light, lilting voice of William as he stood directly behind him. He let out a yelp of surprise and almost fell out of his chair, struggling to right himself and force his heart back down from his throat. Even Twilight jumped a little, but she wasn’t nearly as surprised as Spike was; or if she was, she didn’t show it quite as much.

The pale young boy with evenly parted hair stood quietly with his hands clasped behind his back, complimented by the pressed pants and crisp blue shirt. He remained utterly silent as Spike, with some embarrassment, collected himself and attempted to clean up the spilled coffee.

“Er…” Twilight started. “Good morning, William. How did you sleep, little one?” she asked kindly.

“I found the makeshift bedding relatively adequate, regardless of the insatiable urge to scratch myself throughout the night; I suspect that I may potentially possess an undiagnosed hay allergy. In addition, your guest room appears to have a draft approximately forty-six degrees and fourteen centimeters to the left of the window.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rose slightly at the boy’s speech, but she said nothing. He took this as a sign to continue.

“In conclusion, I also appear to have entirely voided the miniscule vessel of ink I was presented with. I request a larger quantity, and extensive reams of parchment; or paper, should you have it. I would be most appreciative.”

The two stared at William for a few quiet moments, after which William added “Ma’am,” as an afterthought.

“Uh…” Spike blinked.

“Very well,” Twilight nodded, evidently pleased at his extensive vocabulary. “I shall see to your request accordingly, young man. Would you care to join us for breakfast? I was just about to make some toast and eggs.”

William took a seat beside the clearly unsettled Spike, quietly pouring himself a cup of the coffee from the finely crafted pot. Did these ponies have foreknowledge of men?

“Interesting,” he mused conversationally. “You equines appear to have collected information on homo sapiens.”

“I’ll hazard a guess and assume that you are referring to humans,” Twilight’s horn alit with a violet glow as she cracked open a few eggs. “And only what I’ve gathered through inquiries from… observers,” she said cautiously. Twilight wasn’t too eager to divulge information on precisely how she obtained her information, as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash probably wouldn’t care to go over it again.

The banter continued between them for a while, eventually drifting from Twilight’s current knowledge on humans (which William politely informed her that he would gladly share information, thoroughly pleasing her) to more benign topics, such as the weather processes of Equestria and their cycles. William seemed completely absorbed in her explanation of Pegasi and their tasks, and sipped his own coffee quietly as Twilight basked in the chance to lecture someone that was actually listening.

To Twilight, it was a breath of fresh air.

To Spike, it was one of the strangest mornings of his life.

He silently watched the pale young boy and Twilight engage in conversation, and at times, he could have sworn that he was secretly an extradimensional male alternate-species Twilight that Discord had brought along just to mess with their heads.

To William, it was both a learning opportunity and the slow but steady increase of Twilight’s positive attitude toward him.

Precisely as he had planned, of course.

“So… you’re a dad now.”

“Eeyup. I’m a dad,” Discord agreed quietly, staring up at Rainbow Dash’s bedroom ceiling as she lay beside him. The morning sunlight creeping up over the horizon peeked in through the window shades, pooling into the room gradually.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Rainbow Dash snuggled warmly against his chest, resting her chin atop him.

“Okay, deadbeat dad.”

“What were you thinking, Discord?” she asked almost noiselessly.

“If I told you, your mortal brain might ooze out your ears,” he joked.

“I’m serious, Discord,” Rainbow Dash furrowed her brows, straddling him.

“So am I, for once,” he replied, meeting her gaze. She leaned downward slightly so as to better face him.

“Discord,” Dash said softly, a hint of sadness in her voice. “Do you have any idea what seeing… seeing him did to me?”

“I have a pretty good idea,” he replied gently, cupping her head in his paw. “My machinations are my own. Suffice to say, I believe that it is better for you in the long run, as well as for him.”

“How can you say something like that?” Rainbow Dash pressed angrily, glaring at him.

“Easy. Orphan, Rainbow Dash. He just looked so sad!”

Rainbow Dash pushed down hard on his chest, staring a hole in him.

“You know what I meant, Discord.”

For a long moment, he merely held her loosely as he tried to find the proper words.

“I’m not asking you to do too much, in my opinion,” he stated slowly, returning her stare. “All I’m asking you to do is give him the chance he never would have gotten otherwise.”

Dash’s gaze softened momentarily, and she returned her head to his chest with a sad flump.

“… He looks so much like him, Discord,” she struggled eventually, and he could tell that her voice was beginning to crack. “I don’t know if I can. I don’t know. I don’t know if Pinkie even can. I don’t know how you could ask something like this of me – me, of all ponies. I don’t know why you would do this to me.”

“Because if I didn’t,” Discord responded, tilting her head up tenderly to kiss her again. “Then I would hate myself for the rest of my days, knowing that you could never truly find peace.”

After a long while of each of them simply listening to each other’s breathing, he quietly added “Besides; single dads get way more nookie.”

“… You’re a devious bastard,” Rainbow Dash grinned, hugging him tighter as he kissed her back.

“Don’t I know it.”

“Yeah, but you’ve got to admit; it is at least a pretty nice sunrise, eh, Billy?”

“William,” the pale young boy corrected his adoptive father, sitting adjacent the grinning draconequus on the grassy knoll as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. “And I find such sentimentalist values both repugnant and time wasting.”

“Bah,” Discord rolled his eyes. “Kids these days.”

They sat in silence for a while, watching as the sun powered into the sky ever so slowly. Or at least, until Discord began pointing a talon at it, wriggling the sun back and forth across the horizon. He cackled, eventually releasing his grasp on the glowing orb.

“Haha, boy, Celestia’s going to be infuriated,” he chortled, tail snapping back and forth like a metronome.

“I assume that you brought me here for a reason?” William asked drolly, evidently unamused by Discord’s antics.

“Wha~at?” Discord shrugged innocently. “Can’t a good father take his new son to see a sunrise without arousing suspicion?”

“No.”

Discord harrumphed crossing his arms.

“Poo. Yeah,” he shrugged again. “You caught me. I’m not really much one for sunrises, either.”

William rolled his hand expectantly, deadpanning as he awaited the draconequus’s final explanation.

Discord sighed heavily, a pained look appearing on his face.

“Look, kiddo.”

“William.”

“Yeah, that too. Look, I’m going to be… going away for a while,” he tapped his talons together guiltily.

“You’re abandoning me in an entirely different world.”

“No, no,” Discord scoffed. “Not abandoning. That’s such a harsh word. I’m just going to be really, really, really, really distant for a while. God of Chaos is a full time job, you know.”

At William’s narrowed gaze, Discord added “If you must know, I’ve got some unfinished business to attend to.”

“And I can’t stay with you?”

The child honestly did look disappointed, and Discord fought against his emotions in favor of his task.

“Not where I’m going, kiddo. I’ll be back before too long; you just behave yourself, get along with other kids. Make some friends, listen to your mother, take out the trash on Tuesdays.”

“Hold on, what?” William stood suddenly, confused. Discord righted himself as well, cracking his back and spiraling into the air, and snapped his talons. The moment he did so, several dozen enormous books full of documents burst from the air, dropping heavily to the ground around them.

“Yep,” Discord beamed. “Every single Tuesday,” he flicked his wrist and displayed a small sheet of paper to him, which he recognized as the same one that he had himself signed. “It’s in the contract.”

William spluttered, evidently flustered as he attempted to catch up to this latest development.

“I-you can’t- that doesn’t – that’s not how contracts work!”

“But you si~igned it,” Discord said in a singsong tone, wiggling it floppily in front of his nose before flicking the paper into the air, where it fizzled and vanished. “And I don’t know when I’ll be back, so remember to spread mayhem and destr- I mean, be on your best behavior,” he grinned weakly, spinning into a circle to grasp his own tail. The moment he did so, he vanished with a flash so brilliant that it left spots dancing in Williams eyes for several long moments.

And, for the second time in William's short life, he was left standing completely flabbergasted. He stared idly at the spot that Discord had been only mere moments ago, sheets of legal documents filtering quietly through the air like so much snow. He stood stunned for a while, still attempting to process the information.

Did he say ‘listen to your mother’?

Rainbow Dash finally cleared her throat, prompting William to whirl on the spot. She chuckled, softly placing a cerulean wing over his frail shoulder. In silence, William walked alongside her as she pulled him a little closer, the rising sun behind them casting a small shadow before them.

“Come on, kid. Let’s go getting you properly introduced.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“There’s a good boy.”

Alas, this is the end of the Chronicles 8.
That doesn't mean there's no sequel, of course.

Author's Notes:

Because this story was essentially finished for NaNoWriMo, this is technically the end of the line.
No more Chronicles 8.

... However, that doesn't mean that there isn't totally going to be an entire sequel novel.
I'm such a bastard.
WARNING TO ALL READERS: If you thought that CHRONICLES was dark... hoo, boy.