Risa's sun was slowly sinking under the horizon, its brilliant light reflected off the ocean, causing the surface of the water to sparkle and shine. A warm and gentle breeze swept over the beach and ruffled through Luna's feathers. Her mane ignored the breeze and instead rippled to an unfelt wind, as the stars inside it shimmered and shined. Two alicorns and a not-quite-human stood on a walkway adjacent to the sandy shore.
"What, pray tell, is the hold up Discord?" Luna asked, tapping her hooves impatiently on the sand covered walkway.
For the last year Celestia and Luna had enjoyed a much needed vacation. Apart from a small adventure here or there, most of their time had been spent relaxing on the pristine beach that stretched out before them. The native inhabitants of Risa had initially been confused over Luna and Celestia's appearance, having never met another species quite like the two ponies, but after they had gotten used to the two alicorns, they had proved extremely hospitable. A small and private bungalow had been assigned to the two sisters, who preferred to spend most of their time enjoying peace and quiet. Occasionally they ventured into the more populated areas to enjoy the local entertainment and learn more about Risa's culture.
The vacation had been a good one, but now it was time to return to Equestria. Luna watched the demi-god. He was still in his human form and still wearing the same ridiculous red and black uniform that he had donned the moment they arrived in this dimension. A large portal sat directly in front of the three immortals. As Discord rapidly snapped his fingers, the surface of the portal phased from solid to permeable as it jumped through dimensions.
Unusual for the chaos god, he wore a grim mask of determination on his face that betrayed the fact that something was not quite right. Luna hadn't noticed it yet but Celestia picked up on it the moment his lips twitched into a frown.
"Discord, stop," Celestia said.
Discord snapped his fingers one last time and the portal vanished.
"You're having trouble opening the portal back to Equestria," Celestia stated, looking at the draconequus in human form.
"Yes," Discord said as he hung his head in shame.
There was a thud as Luna dropped her piña colada in surprise. The cup bounced off the sand, spilling the rest of her drink. She had been paying more attention to the final drink of her vacation than to Discord's attempts to open a portal. That changed when she heard him confess his difficulties, she frowned, partially over the lost drink but mostly over the news itself.
If Celestia was nervous about Discord's statement, she didn't show it. Instead her horn lit up, glowing dimly. She concentrated, focusing her magic as best she could as looked for the source of Discord's issues.
"The alignment between dimensions has shifted... but they still should be close enough to form a portal... barely," Celestia said. "That much I can still feel."
During their extended vacation, both sisters had recovered fully, but the nature of the universe they now occupied prevented them from accessing their full range of magic. They were mostly limited to holding their pony forms, magical levitation, simple spells and flight. It had been disturbing at first, but since the two were trying to refrain from using magic, in the end they had grown to enjoy the restriction. That however, meant they could not assist Discord in opening the portal back to Equestria. If he was having problems, they could be trapped.
"You had a portal open, and it did pierce the veil, where did it lead too?" Luna asked.
"I can get close... dimensionally speaking, but I can't reach Equestria itself. I've tried everything I can think of," Discord said.
"Breaking through the barrier between dimension is the hardest part of the spell, how is it that you can handle that but not aligning it with our home universe?" Celestia asked.
"The alignment isn't the only issue. There is... there is a time differential between the dimensions as well," he admitted as he took a seat on a chair that he materialized out of nowhere.
"What!?" Luna asked as she started to tap her forehooves nervously. "If time flows differently in Equestria we could be late. Very late. This is serious."
"What is the differential?" Celestia asked, maintaining her clam.
"Faster... or slower... I can't tell, it might not even be consistent," Discord said.
"That would make opening the portal more difficult, but it shouldn't be impossibly so," Celestia said. "Unless you were having trouble summoning the energy to overcome the temporal gradient and the dimensional shift at the same time, but I know you should have the power to do so."
Discord winced, then quickly tried to hide the fact by looking away. This time even Luna noticed.
"You said you have come to this dimension before, many times in fact. That captain seemed to know you quite well, if by a different name. What hath changed?" Luna asked.
"Never directly from Equestria before, but yes, I've been here before," Discord said as he slumped in his chair. He snapped his fingers and a marble chess set appeared in front of him. The pieces began to move around the board, playing out a game. He watched for a few moments and then shuddered.
"I tried to plan this out, but in the end, it's just not my thing. I've never really cared for this, too many rules and too orderly," he said, looking at the chess set. "It's more Celestia's game."
"Discord, you are not acting like yourself. If something is wrong tell us, we may be able to help," Celestia said, gently placing a hoof on Discord's shoulder.
Discord slumped even farther down and let out a sigh.
"I have been maintaining a spell on an individual in Equestria," he said.
Both sisters stared for a moment before Luna spoke up.
"That would take an enormous amount of magic," she said. "You are not originally from Equestria so maintaining an active connection to that dimension for this entire time... if you were mortal you'd have killed yourself."
"Who, and what was the spell for?" Celestia asked.
"It was a translation spell, more or less, and it was for a human."
"There is a human in Equestria? How in Tartarus did a human get into Equestria?" Luna asked.
"Discord, if that human is anything like the humans from this universe, Equestrian magic would quickly poison them," Celestia said with concern.
"The translation spell had some additional properties, it didn't straight up protect the human, but it reduced the effects," Discord said glumly. "Or it did, it was terminated not too long ago."
"The human will die!" Luna shouted. Discord merely laughed.
"I don't think so. It was Twilight who severed my connection, though I do not think it was on purpose. I could tell that mare's magic even from here. That human isn't human anymore. She found some way to transform him. He's probably learning to walk on hooves now," Discord said with a smile. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the thought of a human bumbling about on all fours sent him giggling.
"Why did you send a human to Equestria?" Celestia asked, her expression turning serious.
"If there's one thing that's surprisingly consistent across the dimensions, it's that humans are... special. More often than not, they lack any sort of magical abilities, yet even in the dimensions that this is true, they still tend to thrive, against all odds. They are curious, adaptable, unpredictable... chaotic. They overcome their own limitations through an almost innate ability to master technology. Look at the humans in this universe. Not a single drop of magic, but they travel the stars," Discord said.
"They are a curious and interesting species, but that hardly answers the question," Luna said.
"There is one other skill that seems almost innate to humanity," Discord said grimly. "One other area that they seem excel at."
"What is that?" Luna asked.
"War."
Neither Celestia nor Luna spoke up for several moments. Even Celestia's normally unreadable expression had changed to a look of shock. Finally, she opened her mouth.
"Why...?
Discord didn't even let her finish.
"I warned you that Chrysalis was not the only threat to Equestria. I felt something coming, something that you would not have been able to handle in your condition. Equestria's future is not clear to me, I could not determine the exact source of it but something happened in the not-too-distant future. A war, leading up to some event that was so chaotic it sent ripples back in time that I was able to feel. The only thing I could tell with any certainty was that a massive conflict, larger than any Equestria had seen before was coming, cumulating in a final event that involved my own powers, that of your own and destruction beyond belief."
"WHAT?! Why didn't you say anything!?" Luna demanded.
"If I had, would you have left?" Discord asked. "I knew something had to be done, but every action I took only made the ripple stronger. Our very presence seemed to agitate things, the only solution seemed to be to remove us from the game."
Discord turned back to the chess game and removed the kings and queens from the board. "I did what I could, I gave Equestria a fighting chance. The portal spell I cast as we left fragmented into thousands of shards. Each was designed to scour a multitude of dimensions and find something or someone that would tip the balance in Equestria's favor. When it latched onto a human, I was at first concerned something had gone wrong, but the more I think about it, the more I think it went right."
"Is this human some great warrior from another universe?" Luna asked.
"Perhaps, I am not sure, all I really know is that it pulled in a human and if my spell was woven correctly, it pulled in the right one."
"What do you mean, the right one?" Celestia asked.
"The spell was supposed to analyze any beings it could find and choose one that had a high probability of being able to help based on a number of criteria. Celestia, you of all ponies should know, a warrior isn't always the right tool for the job. Twilight certainly isn't one, but look what she's accomplished," Discord said.
"That is true," Celestia said. "Sometimes, the right pony in the wrong place can make make all the difference in the world."
"Or in this case, the right man," Discord said with a laugh.
"I still think this is grave news. The fate of our world lies in the hands of an unknown human with unknown abilities," Luna said. "How do you know this human will be able to do anything at all?"
"As I said, the future is hazy, even more so since we are separated from Equestria. I can only sense probable outcomes based on the strength of ripples and clouded visions of the future. Removing us from Equestria shifted the odds, favoring a positive outcome for ponykind, the great cataclysm we were involved with seems to have all but vanished, but war it seems, is still inevitable. All I can really say is ever since the human arrived, Equestria's odds have steadily improved."
"What are they now?" Celestia asked.
"A coin flip," Discord said, pulling a bit from thin air and tossing it into the air. "They aren't getting any better than that, but neither are they growing worse."
"We can't just sit here, what are our options?" Luna asked.
"I can't tell what would happen if we returned while the human was still there, too many variables. We may be able to help or we may make things worse. One thing is for sure though, I'm too drained to open a portal to Equestria, we'll have to wait till I recover." Discord said with a shrug.
"Unacceptable," Luna said loudly as she stamped a hoof down, kicking up some sand.
"There is one other option Discord," Celestia said. "You can open a portal to other dimensions, but not back to Equestria. We can't assist in this universe, but in another, where we had access to more magic, we could."
"That would be risky sister, not every universe has a path to Equestria. We may have to travel through several before we find one that does," Luna said.
"I could do it, but the number of dimensions I can reach right now is limited. And even I have not explored them all. The more we travel through though, the more energy I will have to use. Eventually we're going to get stuck somewhere for a very long time," Discord said.
"That's just a chance we will have to take. Luna is right, we can't just sit here," Celestia said.
"I can try to steer us towards a dimension where your magic will work better in, but we may have to make several jumps through a chain of universes. None of the ones I can reach directly right now will improve our situation at all," Discord said.
"Let us be off then," Luna said.
Discord stood up and snapped his fingers again. A portal opened, swirling and pulsing with magical energies.
"Ladies," he said. "After you."
Luna and Celestia stepped through and Discord followed. A moment later the portal vanished, leaving no trace of the three beings who had stood there just seconds ago.