Knowledge is Power

The words kept echoing around in my head long after the Princess had left. "Six entire months" she had said and like that my world had shattered.

There was no way that anything would ever be the same again. My Advisers and my Generals may have been afraid of me but they weren't stupid, they would search vainly for a few days and maybe a week and then they would begin to talk and squabble and before you knew it they would turn on each other, raising their own banners in attempt to take the capital and be top dog of my nation, the ponies nation.

I knew that this was inevitable. All feared me and my power but what would happen when I returned? Would I find a half destroyed castle and a country in ruin? Would I find somepony else sitting at my desk with the star of the Supreme Commander on his or her chest? Or worse would I find that everything was fine and that I had to go back to the same damned routine as before and be the ruthless leader I was expected to be.

I hated this place and I hated its people but most of all I hated Princess Luna because all of them were making me have fun. I hadn't had such interesting conversations in centuries, neither had I ever been treated as an equal in so long nor had to face the emotions of shame or feel genuine laughter come to me like I had with her.

Only anger clouded my vision before, anger and despair but here the despair was suppressed by the fact they were working so hard for a way to get me home and that was why my anger was directed towards them for doing just that.

"They are against everything I have ever stood and will ever stand for!" I exclaimed aloud as I paced the room. The wine had been finished long ago but then the Princess had offered me the castle's services and now I needed a drink so I got another bottle.

It wasn't particularly great and they had nothing stronger to drink since wine was the drink of royals and capitalists and I only drank it at meetings and on the three much spaced holidays the country had every year to celebrate my birthday, the day of the revolution and the day our nation was founded.

"Damn it all!" I yelled as I finished the bottle I'd been wasting away on and let it go, watching it roll across the floor and come to rest by my bed. I should have never been so stupid" I thought, since my troubles started when I got mopey about myself and fell into that damn secret passage that the Royals had been building for Lemming knows what.

"I can barely stand two days without getting punched in the face, how will I last six entire months in a world that tolerates me because of their ignorance to my past" I thought and began to get angry once more.

"All these feelings are too hard for me to bear" I sighed, staggering to my hooves and trotting in an uncoordinated pattern towards the door out of my room and out and down the halls of the grand palace.

I passed guards that stared at me as I went. Unmoving from their stations but their eyes following me, showing distrust and resentment towards me. "I could take you all on even without magic!" I thought to myself as I staggered away from them all.

It was a bright and hot sunny day as I made my way to the throne room where the Princess was apparently having council with a bunch of aristocrats that were dressed as aristocrats always were in there fine suits and bizarre dresses for the mares that were just there to be seen next to the stallions.

"What a bunch, no wonder I exiled them all!" I thought, and considering what I did to all the Royals and their retainers that was merciful although many nobles had died in the storming of Canterlot.

I knew I'd make a scene if I stayed any longer so I moved to the gardens, trying not to hit any pillars as I trotted blindly along, following memory of my home that was quite accurate even to this day and universe.

Outside the beauty of the gardens that didn't exist in my world was fouled by the presence of more aristocrats mixed in with capitalists, their obvious differences showing in how they held themselves differently from the aristocracy, the way they looked to exploit anypony for money with their beady little eyes and the way they dressed in their more expensive suits and dresses to show that they were wealthier than many of the ponies of better title than them.

A waiter coughed from behind me and asked "Would sir like something?" He was a normal Earth Pony with a yellow coat and a brown pencil thin moustached that was made more visible by how his oily hair was combed back to look smart.

I put a hoof around his shoulder and leaned on him, ruffling his waiter uniform and waving with my other hoof over the grounds of the gardens. "Yo-You see all of them? Vultures, d-d-dogs the lot of them! All they fear is yo-you and what Ponyism represents through you. The workers of Equestria!" I declared through slightly slurred speech, prodding his chest as I stumbled away.

He seemed a little unpleased that I was crumpling his precious uniform but asked obediently once more "Would sir like something?" to which I replied "The st-strongest drink you have a-and in great excess. Make that double the excess just g-get some and I w-will make you Secretary of th-the Finance Committee."

He returned and must have got me something stronger because everything got very fuzzy from that point onwards and all I remember was stumbling out of the gatehouse and down into the city of Canterlot.

Something else obviously happened although what it was I couldn't tell but it involved at least four mules, a large explosion somewhere and for a moment what looked like a flying train and suddenly I was awake and coughing with a dry throat.

I coughed some more, quite loudly, well more like I hacked loudly as my throat was as dry as a desert and sounded like a chainsaw and sat up from the cold, hard concrete where I had been lying. I was in the middle of a back alley and it was dark, the moon had already risen and the world was now asleep except for a few ponies that worked night shift.

At least I thought it was asleep as I heard a lot of noise and disturbance that shattered the night coming from the North of where I was. Thankfully I was so used to drinking that hangovers were not really a concern anymore but then I was not immune to forgetting what I had done in the drunken bouts I had usually been able to contain in my bed chambers in my castle.

I scratched my head and got up, sore all over and cracking my bones. "Well I've slept in rougher places" I thought as I looked at where I slept and decided that the best course of action was to head towards the noise I'd heard before that I probably had something to do with.

I trotted to what appeared to be the train station of Canterlot, similar to the station in my time but with less rails and the train looked quite ridiculous if not cute. However the train seemed to be good ten metres off the rails and lodged firmly in what might once have been a bakery by the station that had caught fire and burnt down. Four mules were arguing with some guards outside and it looked like the guards weren't doing very well.

I was grabbed by the shoulder from behind suddenly as a guard, different to the usual colour schemes of the others with an orange coat and blue hair with a thunderbolt for the silly cutie marks this world had looked sternly at my slatted eyes.

He was clearly an officer by his differing uniform and he spoke like one as he asked me "You are The Supreme Commander of the U.R.S.P correct?" I looked at the mess I'd made and down at my filthy Uniform that was covered in the grime and mess of a drunken bout of unrepressed magic and replied "I don't know what would give you that idea but yes I am. Is there some kind of problem officer?"

He looked at me and then at the wreckage and tried not to scowl and keep his stern face, failing and replying "You are requested to return to the castle with me immediately and to not destroy any more of the city of Canterlot under punishment of imprisonment."

I nodded my head. I wasn't in the mood to argue now or shout at him, besides I was sore and guessing that the Princess's didn't really appreciate me wrecking the Capital. "Well I know I wouldn't tolerate it in my world" I thought and waved on saying "Lead the way guard" to which he did, although with a disgruntled look on his face at being given orders by the likes of me.

Walking away from the site of the wreckage I could see that the rest of Equestria was about asleep by now, nopony staying up this late and if so then to do the night shift of their jobs that didn't seem like much. It was peaceful and I was glad I had only destroyed one train and not something bigger that might have hurt somepony.

Princess Luna was there when I arrived at the castle gates, atop the guard post and she flew down with a look on her face that looked like she was ready to dish out another slap or maybe a kick this time but then she seemed more controlled this time but even more angry and yelled "When I said help yourself to whatever you wish that didn't give you free reign to do whatever you wanted and destroy the train station!"

I shrugged as the guard who'd escorted me stood back and replied "Well I know that it was disrespectful of me and all but I really couldn't care less about your land Princess. I'm in charge of a completely different world that needs me as much as I need it right now so I thought you could expect me to let off a little steam since I am just a pony after all and not some special hybrid Unicorn, Alicorn thing."

She scowled with the angry look on her face intensifying as she spat "Real leaders don't get drunk and destroy their cities or the cities of others when they've been given bad news! You told me that I should stay strong and act like a leader the other day and that was some of the best words I've heard for a while. You need your people sure and they need you but destroying Canterlot and causing distress is not going to help! My sister almost made the Wonderbolts bring you in the hard way for fear you'd hurt somepony or worse so believe me you are lucky that she had to go to bed or face exhaustion tomorrow."

The words hurt a little, especially how she had practically called me a drunkard but then again she was right. "I am sorry" was all I could really say at that point but that of course didn't cut it and she shook her head, declaring "Flash Sentry, I realise you do not take Night Shift but you are to pass the word around that the Supreme Commander is not allowed to demand things of the staff as before and will be restricted from the kitchens and armoury from now on."

He saluted and went on to do as he was told but this made me angry since although I had done wrong this punishment sounded a little harsh to my only just awoken mind. "Ok I destroyed a train and might have knocked down a building that exploded but there's no reason to be so harsh huh? I mean come on its six entire months! I can see you pony's don't drink an awful lot but where I come from alcohol is drunken by all" I complained.

Princess Luna looked down and listed explained "That was one of the last things you actually did! Besides that you ruined three weddings, stole a set of antique armour, insulted a mare's foal by calling it fat and then flooded the Canterlot public library by blasting a hole through to the sewers with your magic!"

I scratched my head in a confused fashion. "You know it seems that I have done much worse… well I guess I'm sorry for that as well." Princess Luna didn't look happy at all at my apology and I tried to say something but all that came out was a dry cough.

"I have a night to watch over, ponies need my help in their dreams, and if I can't help my citizens by day then I'll help them by night" Princess Luna said, strutting away in anger with her head held high and not looking at me.

I sat back on my haunches and tried to think how I could correct this situation and make everything better. Another guard was staring at me from atop the castle gate I was under and it seemed strange how he looked at me, his eyes hinting something.

Suddenly he exploded or something and bright confetti fell all around as I stumbled back a few steps, shocked at what had just happened. "Surprise!" said the most strange and misshapen creature I had ever seen that popped up in front of me.

He was a mix and match of animal parts and colours and had a large amount of chaos magic within him though how much was unknown. Parts of a goat, a lion, a griffon, a pony and only Lemming knows were what made him up into a very miss-matched being with two very big, yellow eyes with red pupils.

"Well I can see you are enjoying my gorgeous physique but please I cannot lie I have been working out twice a week" he said in the most comical and upbeat voice I'd ever heard. "I'm still very drunk" I said to him and to myself since this bizarre act could only be from the depths of my dead imagination doing a final waltz before it collapsed back into the ashes.

"Oh come now my friend I am very much real and may I just say on behalf of all things chaotic that you handled that second wedding like a pro, I mean if crashing through the window like the first wedding wasn't enough you went ahead and made all the faces turn when you swept that bride off her hooves and kissed her with such fire and passion" he said, his eyes blinking with a shiny look to them as he sighed, pretending to be admiring me.

I raised an eyebrow and asked "Did I really do that?" to which he nodded very happily and clasped a paw on my back, directing me as we began to walk briskly into the castle. "Oh yes I got it all on film for my collection" he replied and continued "I must say the way the groom and everypony's face looked at you when you kissed her was of shock but then when you dropped her and threw up all over the groom now that was the most funny thing I've seen in years and that my friend is a rarity with me."

I pushed his paw away and began walking back to my room and shot back "I don't know what you are but we are not friends and will hopefully never be. Also I don't remember doing anything like that during my small escapade away from the castle."

He popped up in front of me by some strange force of magic and extended a talon. "Oh where are my manners. The name is Discord, former lord of chaos turned hero of the Equestrian nation." This guy, or whatever gender he was, was certainly not a hero but I kept cool and shook his hand, introducing myself as the Supreme Commander.

Suddenly in a pop of smoke he was dressed like me with the addition of a cap and had a ridiculous amount of medals on his chest as he talked back with a mockery of my accent, asking me "I hear you are from another dimension correct!? Do they have a more dashing me there!?"

I scowled and shook my head stating "If we had them by now we'd have gotten rid of you, all your nonsense and fancy tricks!" This guy was really getting on my nerves now.

He pushed a claw to my muzzle and whispered "Shh, the little ponies are sleeping my friend, come now we must talk quieter because I have a question to ask you. As a lord of chaos I can easily detect magical imbalance and seeing your handiwork today I can tell that you have some magical aces up your sleeves. However I'd like to know why I find it hard to tell what magic resides inside of you. Maybe you could enlighten me a little chum?"

I kept scowling and asked "Doesn't the Hero of Equestria have stuff to do? Go bother one of the pretty Princess's and leave me be" but he took it all for a game and chuckled saying "Oh but you shouldn't insult them. They have been awfully generous after all, putting you up, putting up with your odd ways and you're such rude behaviour. Wherever you come from must be such a crude place if you treat ponies like that all the time" he seemed serious but kept his sarcastic and annoying tone.

"I know nothing of your damned world! What do you expect of me?" I demanded, wanting this freak to leave me alone and considering blasting him into the wall he was standing against. "Oh such anger, I see a lot of darkness in there" he said grinning and patting to my chest.

I looked up at him menacingly and he sighed and pointed to some tall tower to the North of the castle. "You want to learn about this world? Read then, or maybe books don't exist where you are from. Anyway I must be heading off, ponies too meet and ponies to annoy and oh! Morning tea with dear Fluttershy in a few hours I almost forgot, well ta-ta" he cackled before disappearing into more confetti.

Now that I was alone it was so incredibly quiet I looked around to make sure that the rest of the world was still moving and time hadn't stood still. The moon shone brightly around the grounds and on the bridge leading to the gatehouse and everything looked fine.

"You know I believe that he is right" I said to myself since this Discord fellow had a point that I had no idea about the customs of this Equestria or any of its history. "Hey I have six months so why not spend just a day or so reading to pass the time" I thought despite how I disliked the general atmosphere of a library and had apparently flooded one out fairly recently.

"Maybe then I can apologise to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia and then maybe they'll work harder on getting me out of this dry hell hole and back to a civilization that likes to drink alcohol" I thought, though putting it like that sounded just plain sad.

So I took the freaky Discord's advice and set a course for the tall tower with golden ornaments decorated up its walls and flags bearing what looked like Princess Luna and Princess Celestia making a circle in front of the moon and the sun. "Needs red" I thought as I entered the tower, the guard letting me in despite those mistrusting eyes they all seemed to have.

It was a lovely tower but then it was a royal palace and was supposed to be lovely. "Maybe this tower was torn down when we stormed the capital? I certainly don't remember it being around so maybe it never was" I thought as I trotted up the steps, my hoofsteps echoing in the empty spire.

I was greeted at the top by a large array of multi-coloured books all with different ages and different bindings. Some were pristine whilst others fell to pieces and were crumbly just like the books I'd encountered when I'd found the portal.

Some might call it beauty but I was still quite suspicious of these books. If they ever found the way into the hooves of somepony from my universe then who knows what terrible ideas they would place into their minds.

I picked one up that read "The History of the Canterlot Chess Tournaments" that looked as boring as it read. I never read many books in my five hundred years of life even before I had a country to rule I was never a bookworm but then books were harder to come by back then.

I browsed along sections of the library and unbuttoned the collar of my stained and creased uniform as it got hot and sweaty. I could see out through some observation windows that bathed the library in the lovely light of the moon. "Princess Luna really doesn't give herself credit" I thought as I put down an astronomy guide and began to feel guilty at all I'd done.

"They may be Monarchs but they aren't cruel at all. Everypony adores them and respects them whilst I have earned respect through fear and propaganda and I can't say anypony that would love me so much that they'd cheer for me without the threat of a gun to their head egging them on" I thought as I reflected on all I'd done the past few days with much scrutiny and guilt towards me.

I had complained about being here. I had complained and insulted Princess Luna a number of times, I'd insulted the generosity of both the Princess's by making a mess of their train station and now I had to be watched like some small foal to make sure I didn't do something that would lead to future trouble.

"Well I'll show them all I can be trusted" I murmured with a fiery determination as I picked up "A Brief History of Equestria" and sat down to read. "I'll learn about this world and its ways and impress the Princesses and then maybe we will be square at the very least" I thought, wanting to for the time being get back those conversations and good times with Princess Luna.

If I had to stay here for an entire six months then it would be nice to see if I could make an actual, genuine friend and not just a pony who tolerated me.