Title:           Dadonequus 4 - Training Paces
Author:          GimmeSomeGumption
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/0yrya5qd
First Edit:      Monday 12th of September 2016 04:12:46 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Wednesday 28th of September 2016 10:35:17 AM CDT

NOTICE: Since writing this chapter, I wrote a couple of Interludes that take place before it, taking place during Chapter 3, following Discord and the Mane Six (Minus Pinkie Pie) as he teases a 'surprise'. It is recommended to read this paste first: http://pastebin.com/Jiwx5kLs and this paste: http://pastebin.com/b8atAp8X before continuing onward, as taking them out of chronologial order can cause some slight confusion.
Enjoy!
 
Dadonequus 4 - Training Paces
 
>DROWNING
>DANGER
>Icy cold splashes against your face.
>The fears that gripped you last night flash in front of your mind’s eye.
>You should have known better than to get your hopes up.
>STUPID
>You flail your limbs, tightening your core to not let a breath out, trying to claw your way up…
>Nothing but air.
>What?
>You confusedly open your eyes.
>You see your room, Discord standing at the foot of your bed with a bored expression on his vaguely equine face.
>”Ugh, finally. I was trying to wake you for at least five seconds.”
 
…
>So you aren’t dying then.
>Neat.
 
>You take a deep breath and feel your sharp, pounding heartbeat calm down.
“Discord…”
>He snaps his talon, and you float into and through the wall into a bathroom.
>He floats in from behind you.
>”What is it?”
>A storm cloud from above discharges, raining water down from above you.
>COLD.
>All your tiny and soft muscles tense and seize, the tendons and ligaments in your neck and cheeks pulling your mouth and eyes into a wide eyed grimace.
>Thousands upon millions of tiny rolling ice like droplets roll down and in between your strands of fur like so many refrigerated marbles.
>VERY COLD
“AH. AI, cold! Discord, cold! Stop! Stop it!”
>”Rainbow Dash says she wakes up with a cold shower in the mornings so she can get out and train, so that’s what we’re doing. Now close your eyes and mouth or you will get shampoo in them.”
>A flash surrounds you and suddenly bubbling suds move and seep throughout your coat, undulating and washing every inch of you.
>Needless to say, it feels very strange, very invasive, and very disturbing.
“Discord! Please! Ju-Achkekshaugh!”
>You are interrupted by the influx of cleaning agent, eager to do its job, flooding into your mouth.
>”Now what did I just tell you? Pipe down. The sooner we are finished with this, the sooner you master your new body, and the sooner we can get you all situated in Ponyville.”
>He mumbles something else…
[spoiler]And the sooner I can pay a visit to certain ponies…[/spoiler]
>He chuckles, a low and menacing sort.
 
>You just spit and cough through the burning and stinging bitterness in your mouth.
>He was acting so considerate before, what happened? Did he change his mind or something?
>Maybe he just didn’t know how to do this.
>That must be it.
>You slow down your thoughts in an effort to calm yourself.
>I mean, he never had a friend before Fluttershy right? That part of the show was accurate? Perhaps he didn’t know how inconsiderate he was being.
>The excess suds are almost sucked down along your body and slip off into the clouds below.
>You decide to tell him.
“Discord, you can’t just-”
>A flash beneath you and you fall, into a pool of lukewarm water, only your head sitting above the surface. Suddenly, before you can continue, the liquid begins to spin around you, slowly starting to drag you along the current, beginning to twirl you around.
“H-heeey-mph!”
>A snorkel and goggles appear on your face, cutting off your speech, as the water levels rise higher, covering your body, leaving you spinning just under the surface of the water.
>A pop, and the water levels rapidly evacuate through several new holes that you don’t notice as you spin too quickly.
>You sit, wobbling and leaning back and forth as your vision swims and your eyes swirl in your head.
>A pressure in your gut, and a sickly weak sensation crawls through your body as your new digestive system threatens to evacuate.
>You put a hoof on your mouth a bit too hard, and the lip of your hoof painfully smacks against your nose. “Hrrmph-mmmhn!”
>Towels snake down from above and rub vigorously throughout your mane and coat. Pulling and tweaking hair every which way.
 
>That is it.
>You had a good lid on your temper, you needed it to survive as you were before, but this got you.
>Perhaps it was a combination of just waking up suddenly by cold water being splashed on your face and this, leaving you unable to control yourself, but nevertheless.
>That familiar fire burns through your core as you get pissed off.
>When you feel a towel move your hoof aside and smush and irritate your face, you snap and push the towels away.
“DISCORD.”
>Suddenly everything stops and Discord bends over you, one bushy eyebrow raised.
>”Yes?”
>You inhale and puff up your cheeks.
>That smug son of a whatever the hell made him!
>Time to give him a piece of your mind!
 
…
A few minutes later
…
 
>A red dodgeball whizzes by your face, exploding behind you.
>You yelp out to Discord.
“Jesus Christ! Is this shit really necessary?”
>At the other end of the cloudy gymnasium, Discord perches on his tail, with several additional arms, including those of some sort of reptile, a monkey, and others, all holding different balls.
>Discord lets out a cheshire-cat grin.
>”Now now Anon, remember what I said about language? I’m afraid that’s an extra 10 minutes of… ‘agility training’ for you…” Discord chuckles as his new insectile arm heaves a ball up in the air and behind him, and it explodes into opened staples.
“I said I was sorry!”
>You brace your hooves against the rubbery tile beneath you and breathe.
>Reason with him.
“Look, I know I went too far, like, way too far, but come on, I just woke up and you did all that, isn’t this going too far?”
>You try on a small, hopeful smile at him.
>No change on Discord’s face.
>”Really don’t think of this so much as a punishment, you said you wanted to get a hold of your new body in a controlled setting? Think of this as a crash course in pony physiology!”
>Your brief smile drops as Discord’s new maroon tentacle suddenly whips forward, launching a ball at your hooves, you leap to the side and tuck and roll away. You don’t see what the ball burst into, but it makes a wet sound.
>”And really, a ‘controlled setting’? You should know me better than that, you will have to settle for semi-controlled.”
“I changed my mind!”
>”Oh?”
“I, um…”
>He taps his chin with his new ursine limb as he thinks it over.
>”Hmm, if you told me that yesterday when you walked up stairs for nearly an hour I would have said yes, but now that we can have fun together?”
>Your eyes widen.
>His grin, if at all possible, became even more shit eating, as every arm discharged at you.
 
…
Later that afternoon
…
 
>”Punching bag!”
>You gallop over the barbell left on the ground to the punching bag.
>For the past hour you’ve been ‘circuit training’ which really meant DIscord just called out whatever exercise he wanted you to do next.
>The sun began to shine down more intensely, leaving a sharp and metallic heat to all the equipment. Sweat was running down in between the strands of your fur, causing you to glow and shine, soaking your new basketball shorts and sleeveless t-shirt.
>You also began to notice you were giving off a different kind of smell, kind of earthy and sharp, but with a different sort of organic, lighter more fragrant smell lilting on top. Not nearly as sharp and punchy as the somehow more ‘pure’ stench a human would give off when exercising.
>It was different.
>Not worse, just different, you didn’t nearly mind it as much.
>You rear up on your back hooves and start to snap your front hooves forward, impacting the bag with a smack far louder and more effective than earlier this morning.
 
>”C’mon kid! You’se gonna become a very dangerous pony! You’re gonna eat thunder-bees, and crap like a butterfly!”
>Discord, dressed in a pink sweatsuit, drops the accent and begins to snicker.
>”Or did I get that wrong?”
>You lose your balance and fall on all fours as you begin to laugh from his butchering of the two quotes.
>Snapping back into character, he continues.
>”C’mon kid! Don’t give up yet! Spin around and start bucking! Hit ‘em with the left and the right! Hit ‘em!”
>You suck back your laughter and do as he says, spinning on one hoof and bracing, pulling up in the air and start striking with your posterior chain.
>You now knew where those were! With Discord’s magic enhancing and backing up your training, you progressed more in roughly twenty-four hours than would ever be possible in even half a year naturally. Going from a foal-like state occasionally managing to activate a muscle, to actually achieving a respectable level of fitness for your body’s age.
>It’s ridiculously hard, but actually, it’s kind of fun putting in the work.
>You mean, you aren’t going to become the next Rainbow Dash, and it is mostly Discord motivating you that makes it worthwhile, not to mention his magic speeding up results, but still.
>You could see yourself starting to work out more after this, you begin to wonder why you never really did gym class in school.
 
>”Alright, good job junior! Now move on over to-”
>--BWEEEOOOWW----BWEEEOOOWW--
>Suddenly an alarm blares, and Discord’s eyes pop out.
>”Change of plans, it’s a rest for you.”
>He claps his paw and talon together, in a blinding flash, all of the equipment vanishes, and clouds move up and roll into a more natural position, and Discord dives for you and pulls you underneath the clouds.
>Panting and wiping the sweat that flung itself from your mane into your eyes, you gasp out.
“Wh-what? What’s, ah, happening?”
>Duct Tape attaches to your lips and you begin to breathe roughly through your nose, trying to peel off the tape.
>”Be quiet. Now.”
>You freeze.
>He sounded deadly serious. The first time since you came here.
>You attempt to still your breathing, but your lungs still burn.
>Suddenly shadows move overhead.
>That halts your breath plenty.
>A multitude of pomfs sound out from above and in front of you.
>Ponies?
>Those had to be pegasi right?
>What were they doing over the Everfree?
>Right then, a male voice appears.
 
>”I told you, I saw… I saw a flash coming from right here... What? I’m serious! You were both looking away, it was as bright as the sun almost! How did you both miss it?”
>A female, and strangely attractive sounding voice responds.
>”I didn’t say anything! But, if there was a flash, what could have caused it? These aren’t storm clouds.”
>Another, scratchy, all too familiar voice interjects.
>”Yeah, which is weird enough as is. How long has this cloud formation been here? Two days?”
 
Holy shit.
Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash is right there.
That is 100% her.
>The boring-not-Rainbow-Dash male voice answers.
>”Actually it’s been here for three, it just yesterday got all huge like this.”
 
>Rainbow Dash finishes her thought.
>”Yeah. Weird. Should have done something by now other than just sit here and grow bigger. Where would the clouds even get the necessary updraft? Plus there weren’t any rouge fronts recorded out east right? Were there?”
>The female answers. “Nope.”
>A moment passes before Rainbow Dash yawns, and a shadow passes over yours and Discord’s cloud. A soft thud occurs above shortly after.
>Did.
>Did Rainbow Dash just land on your’s and Discord’s cloud?
>You turn your head to look at Discord; he’s just rubbing his face with his lion paw.
>The duct tape peels slowly and painlessly off of your mouth.
>”Well, whatever, it isn’t doing anything right? I don’t get why Storm Chaser is all riled up about this. Even if it became a storm right now, we could handle it. Easy.”
 
>Suddenly Discord shifts. He lifts his head and an amber glow flashes from his eyes as he develops a grin. He looks down to you, and wiggles his eyebrows while raising his lion paw, threatening to…
>You shake your head furiously. Absolutely not-
>You furiously whisper.
“Absolutely not.”
>Discord whispers back.
>“Absolutely yes.”
>The other mare from before speaks up again,
>”Weird weather, Thunder saw a flash, and we all heard that alarm sound…”
>Discord flexes his snapping fingers, preparing to-
>”Think you-know-who is behind this?”
>And just like that, the wind is taken from Discord’s sails. His face darkens and creases, and he drops his paw.
 
>The shadow above you both thinks for a moment before answering.
>”Eh, nah I don’t think so. Discord would probably cover it in tiger stripes or something weird. This is way too… er what’s the word… subtle! Too subtle for Discord. Plus I remember Fluttershy saying he’s been on vacation for the past few months.”
>Oh how wrong she was.
>However, this only seemed to infuriate the other mare.
>”Oh that's just rotten! First he turns the world upside down, then Celestia lets him go free, he betrays all of us, and what does he do only a year later? Go on vacation like he deserves it! I'll tell you what sort of vacation he deserves! A thousand year one like last time!”
>The shadow above you seems to tense up.
>”Hey, I already told you, I've been keeping a close eye on him since last time, and he’s actually been pretty cool about stuff. Besides, the Princesses say he's been doing good work up in Canterlot.”
>”Oh they just can't admit they made a mistake!”
>”Listen, I know all four princesses personally, and none of them are like that. Why do you even have such a problem him anyway?”
>”Why are you defending him all of a sudden, ever since Tirek stomped into Ponyville you acted like he’s your friend! You should be-”
>”What I should be doing, Cloud Chaser, is supporting my friend’s decisions, and if they all decided to give him a second chance then I’m going to give it to him. You know how I really feel about him, but he’s one of Fluttershy’s best friends, and that makes him a friend. I don’t talk bad about friends behind their backs. Period.”
>”You’ve changed Rainbow.”
>The shadow shoots off of your cloud.
>”What is that supposed to mean.”
>Thunderlane shakily speaks up.
>”Listen, hey hey! Yeah, okay. We’ve all had a really long shift last night, having to cover the receiving team’s shift and bring in all those storm clouds, and now we have to go out here in the morning after no sleep and study this weird stuff way out here, yeah, I get it, I’m here too, I’m feeling stressed out. It’s really no use talking about Discord of all cre- topics when we’re like this. How about we just do our job, write down what we have to, then head home. We get some sleep, go over to Cafe Eat’s or something, and talk about this when we aren’t strung up on caffeine? Isn’t that better?
>Cloud Chaser, you assume, hmphs and trots away.
 
>Discord takes you downward through the clouds, away from the interlopers.
>Ouch.
>You feel Discord’s talon dig into your shoulder, and you turn to look up at him.
>There is a strange, subtle look on his face. He looks… older somehow. The bags of his eyes are deeper and a sallow glow emanates from his eyes. His ears are also turned down and backward.
>That’s a bad sign right?
>He stares down at you, his older face illuminated by his own deathly serious eyes, the clouds around you darkened by the increasing mass of clouds as you both float downward.
>Shit. That’s a bad sign.
>A real bad sign.
 
>”Do you see now? Why I’ve been obsessing over your proper nutrition, exercise and all those boring things? Why I need you to be on your best behavior out there?”
>He closes his eyes and blows a puff of steam out of his nostrils.
>”Because if you tell even one soul about where you came from. One. Even a pony as simple as the cake twins, even if you utter anything hinting about it while you think you are alone, and ponies find out… It’s all over for me. No one will ever trust me again. I don’t know that much about all the niceties and subtleties of pony society, but I know that adoption and families are seen as almost sacred. You don’t mess around with something like that. At least, if you aren’t the Spirit of Chaos.”
>You don’t even think, you are too creeped out by his chuckling. It wasn’t light and happy like before.
 >His grip on you tightens.
>”So please, whatever you do… In the words of your own people…”
>He pulls you up to his face, as his glowing eyes take up all your vision, he growls,
>”Do not. Fuck. This. Up. Am I clear?”
>All you can do is nod.
>You put everything you have into nodding.
>”Good.” His grip slackens and you can breathe fully.
>You both float down through the ceiling of a glowing under-cloud corridor, and Discord flies you off.
>”You know, I must say, of the words your people invented, that one is very interesting. Perfectly harsh! Great for expressing frustration, and far more effective than ‘buck’ wouldn’t you agree?”
“Umm, heh, yeah…”
>Discord lowers his eyelids and looks down at you.
>You seem a right mess, covered in sweat and slightly shivering as you avoid his gaze.
>”Oh stop quivering. I just wanted to emphasize a point. Now then, what say we get a bite to eat, then go for a swim? Hmmm?”
>He was just doing that to emphasize?
>Yeah, he was just messing with you.
>Heh
 
>Right?
 
>One thing is for certain, this was the performance of a lifetime, in more ways than one.
 
>As you trained for the rest of the day, that was the one thing that never left you. Not even when you tucked in for bed.
>This was real. This was big time.
>This wasn’t some fantasy land where you escaped from all your problems, but a new and real world, where you were likely to encounter new issues over time.
>Then again…
>You had a far better start this time around.
>You stared at the slowly rotating dream-catcher as you mulled over this.
>As intimidated as you were by Discord earlier, you still owed him that.
 
Tomorrow's the big day.
 
Might as well try to get some shut eye.
 
End of Chapter 4