//------------------------------// // World 5: Chapter 1 // Story: The Worst of All Possible Worlds // by TheTimeSword //------------------------------// Using a rubber chicken, Sunset patted her cheeks dry. She sat there long enough, wallowing in self-pity. There was nothing she could do now for the world that felt too much like home. They’ll stop him, she thought passively. She did not hate Sombra for what he did, though she had every right to. She was definitely miserable though, the sorriest sad sack in—whatever world this happened to be. As she tried to rise to find out just what this world held for her, the platform that seated the pile of rubber chickens began to move. She fell backward into the pile, red and yellow blinding her vision. Lower and lower, sinking deep into the pile, she found it hard to breathe. She pushed as hard as she could until it started to feel like swimming. Gasping for air, she reached the surface, only to fall out of the pile and slam face first into the ground. As she pulled her face from the dirt—which was actually dark chocolate—she looked back up to see the platform was upside-down. The rubber chickens did not fall like she did, however, and her mind tried to rationalize the reasoning. Did Sombra mess up? This definitely isn’t my world, but whose is it? She scoured the area, noting the upside-down buildings, the trees of cotton candy, and the lakes of purple soda. Pushing herself to her hooves, Sunset trotted over to the closest lake. She stared at her reflection, her dull, colorless pupils staring back at her. A few drops of tears rippled the lake, to which she immediately rubbed away. When she looked back at the lake, she saw that another pony stared at her. It startled her so much that she fell on her back, crunching her backpack beneath her weight. She rolled to one side, the effects of the magic forcefully drained from her unsuspecting body were still taking their toll. Trotting away from the lake turned into jogging then galloping. The rubber chickens lined her path, falling from the platform, and revealing the crystal table underneath. Unfortunately, the platform was floating away at a rapid pace. Sunset wouldn’t be able to catch it. Not because she wasn’t fast enough, no, but because the floor had turned into melted marshmallows. Gross, she intelligently described. Shaking her front hooves, Sunset rose to stand bipedal. Waddling much like she did beyond the mirror, Sunset walked across the sticky ground. In the distance, she could see the road, a regular, ordinary looking road. One back hoof in front of the other, she marched through the marshmallow swamp, passing cattails that were literally cat tails, and lily pads that were square and blue. Stepping onto the road, she found that it was not a normal road after all. What a wonderful surprise! her sarcasm dripped. The road was crushed up saltine crackers. She did not stick her front hooves down into the mess, though the stickiness of her back hooves made it incredibly difficult to walk. She followed the path, each step harder than the last, until she came to a hill. Struggling up the upward slope was like attempting to get dogs to meow. Though, in this world, that was certainly a possibility. When she reached the top and glanced at the distance, she saw two clown mares being chased by a creature on a unicycle. It was such an odd sight that Sunset had no comment; she was completely speechless. “Whoa. I’m speechless,” she said, speechlessly. Carefully making her way to the spectacle, she realized that the two mares were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. A big red clown nose sat at the end of both their muzzles. Honking his horn as he chased after them, the magnificent creature bellowed with laughter. Sunset did not recognize the amazing figure that cycled in front of her, nor did she know why the two princesses partook in such a confusing display. The road shifted into a more malleable walkway, allowing Sunset to fall to all four legs—it would be pretty difficult to unicycle on crushed up saltine crackers, after all. The cycler didn’t notice Sunset’s approach, but Celestia and Luna did. They both stopped, causing the cyclist to tumble forward, slamming his butt to the ground in front of them. “Oof,” he groaned. “Now you two have really done it. I will make you eat pea porridge for weeks as punishment! Then I will let you suffer it out in the Not-So-Bad-Badlands.” He stood, pushing his crown from his eyes, and then glanced at the mare with no magic. “What? You two stopped for her?” He turned and looked at them. “You knew the rules. No stopping until I said so!” Celestia didn’t seem to acknowledge the creature’s command. “Sunset,” she mouthed silently. “Oh, so you do know her?” Turning to face Sunset, he casually walked toward her, his eyes so focused. “A student of yours? Pah! That was so long ago. You do not have any students any more. Forget this one.” He waved his hands at the unicorn, shooing her. “Go on. Get out of here. No audiences without a VIP pass. Well, except for her.” He thumbed to a pony standing upside-down on a platform, her swirly eyes and magenta coat were not something Sunset recognized. “What?” Sunset replied. “Who are you? What is this place?” The creature looked on confused. “Well, how incredibly rude!” he shouted, crossing his arms. “It is impolite to ask who someone is before introducing yourself!” “I’m, uh, Sunset Shimmer,” she replied. “Uh Sunset Shimmer?” he mocked. “Sunset,” she replied, more firmly. “Sunset.” He smiled. “Perhaps we have not met. I am Discord.” He lowered his hand for her to shake and she did so without fail. Of course, that ended with the oldest trick in the book, a zapper in the palm of his claw. The creature named Discord let out the loudest of guffaws, his head falling backward from laughter. Her hair frazzled, but other than the immediate shock, Sunset was fine. She shook her head and stepped back, glancing over the creature named Discord. “You’re Discord?” she repeated. The creature wore a crown and a cape but she could see all of him. One green scaly leg, one cloven hoof leg. One lion paw, one eagle claw. One batwing, one pegasus wing. One deer antler, one goat horn. And one, the only one Sunset could see, horse head. “Yeah, you’re definitely Discord. Not sure what I expected from all the stories Twilight told me. I’m guessing this is your world, which means Sombra was not nice enough to send me home.” She sighed, the sting of the last timeline still stuck to her like a bramble. “So you have heard of me.” He glanced her over, which is when he noticed something odd. Of course, there were many things odd in his world, but this one even shocked him. “You are magic-less!” He coiled down to become eye level, staring deep into her grey eyes. “I certainly did not do that. I have done a lot of things but I would never be so rude.” Leaning from side to side, the scepter he held was whacking against his outer thigh. “We certainly cannot have that, can we? You are special. A very special gal. This is chaotic. Pure chaos. An undefined, unknown, anomaly! Ohhh, it has got me so giddy!” “Actually, I’m just from another world. I’ve been traveling through so many worlds now, it’s getting hard to tell what’s different.” She glanced around at the upside-down buildings and floating platforms. “Well, not too hard, I guess.” “Another world, you say? So many worlds, you say? Traveling through them, you say?” He leaned on his lion’s paw, staring at her. “Well, why not say so sooner?” He snapped his fingers on his other hand and Sunset felt a sudden boost in power. Her eyes glowed for a moment as she hiccupped, surprised by the magic pouring through her body. She shuttered once the feeling passed. “My magic is back!” she gawked, a happy smile coming to her lips. “Oops,” Discord said. “Looks like I overdid it.” He reached behind Sunset’s mane and pulled on something. At first touch, Sunset wasn’t sure what he was pulling on. She glanced over her shoulder, noticing where the paw sat. Underneath my backpack? She then leaned forward and shrugged the bag off her shoulders. That’s when she felt the full breadth of her new wings. “An alicorn!?” Celestia shouted. Sunset had almost forgotten that the two sisters were standing only a few yards away, but she was just as surprised as they were. “I have wings!?” She extended them to full glory. A few quick flaps and she found that she could hover, though her skill certainly lacked any sort of finesse. “Discord… Thank you. I don’t know what to say. Wait till Twilight sees this!” Her face reflexed at the thought. What will she think of me when I tell her what happened? Gloominess returned to the new alicorn, her head hung low like the largest apple on a tree branch. “I’m not sure I deserve it, though.” “Oh you most certainly do not,” he replied. Sunset hadn’t noticed that the spirit of chaos stole her backpack, a plethora of school supplies dwindled in the air. “Books, books, and more books. How boring!” His eye drifted over the book that Sunset had been given now three worlds ago. “Community? How awfully tragic of a name. Lots of… signatures? Yet I do not see mine on here. Let us just fix that!” “No!” Sunset yelled, yanking the book out of Discord's hands. “That was the last world. I keep them separate for reading purposes later. I don’t need them jumbled,” she explained as she opened to the page that held the encouragements. She couldn’t bear to look at Sombra’s or Tirek’s, but the next page was blank. “I don’t have a name for this world yet. I know it’s not my home because Princess Twilight left as soon as I entered, so I’ll have to name it something relating to you.” Discord’s face popped up in the blank page, startling Sunset so bad that she dropped it on the ground. “Discord’s Playground!” the face yelled. Discord himself appeared on her shoulders, his snake-like body coiling around her. “Chaos Reigns?” he suggested. Princess Luna threw in her own suggestion: “Abomination Station.” “That’s good rhyming,” praised Princess Celestia. “You are no fun,” spat Discord’s face. With her newly obtained magic, Sunset lifted the book and shut it, taking all of her things and fitting them back into her school bag. “I’ll come up with one later. For now,” she paused. What do I do now? She glanced up at Discord, his patchwork face smiling down at her. “To be honest, I’m a bit lost, Discord. In the first few worlds I visited, I was so adamant in defeating the big villain and saving Equestria. But, after the last world, I’m not even sure if I am a hero—or if I want to be. I stopped Chrysalis and saved the changelings, but Sombra blindsided me with his betrayal.” “Sombra? King Sombra?” Princess Luna remarked. “You were… friends with King Sombra?” Beating on his thin chest, Discord countered, “I am the only king here, remember that!” He pointed up at his bulky crown, which comically tilted forward to cover his eyes. “Oh geez,” Sunset shuddered. “Let me start at the beginning. This may take a while.” And it certainly did, especially with every question asked by the spirit of chaos. She had started with the mirror, then spoke of the portal, then of the first world, moving slowly to the third. Princess Luna remarked with glee of the Nightmare’s Night timeline. When Sunset continued to the Community timeline, the two princesses were in tears by the end of it. Even Discord had cut his cackling and puns. “And that’s my story so far. He sent me through the portal to this world, now I have to figure out where I go from here,” she explained. “Do I go find the table, gather the girls, defeat Discord, and move on? The worlds aren’t infinite, after all. But on the other hoof, I know firsthand Discord can be reformed. He is in my Equestria.” “Of course I can, and of course I am!” he replied in his happy-go-lucky voice. “After all, there is only one Discord!” As soon as the words left his mouth, Sunset thought she saw two Discord’s appear behind him. One held a finger to their lips while the other shook his head and waved his hands. “I seriously doubt you’re the same guy from my timeline,” Sunset responded. “I mean, you wouldn’t betray Fluttershy. From everything Princess Twilight told me, you and her are best friends. Besides, if you are the same Discord, you should know who Princess Twilight is.” He snapped his fingers and a scroll appeared in his lion’s paw. “Of course I know who Princess Twilight is!” He unraveled the parchment, a cartoony stick horse sat pathetically drawn on the inside. Its shape was fat, it had a horn and wings, and the cutie mark of a star, though it looked more like a smudge to Sunset. As she examined the drawing, she grimaced. Would it be offensive to say it kind of looks like Twilight? “Well, I’m not sure that’s good enough of a picture, Discord. I mean, if you are him, why are you here torturing this world?” “A draconequus of my caliber requires as much chaos as possible! If I cannot create chaos in one world, creating chaos in another does not seem like such a big deal, now does it?” he replied, confident in his answer. “Draconequus?” Sunset had forgotten that was Discord’s species. “Right. But what would Fluttershy say if she knew?” He waved a hand in the air, dismissing the idea. “She will never find out. Fluttershy? More like Flutterwho?” “Well, except for the fact that she’s going to find out when I tell her once I get back to my world,” Sunset replied, a shake of her head. “Who says you are going anywhere?” His voice was dark, his eyes peered down at her with venom. But it only made Sunset laugh. “Are you kidding? I’ve been through four worlds now where villains have said the same exact thing. I’ve been trapped in cocoons, battled brainwashed armies, stopped a coup, and overcame my own anger. If you think for a second that you’re able to stop me, you have another thing coming.” He shriveled backward, his hand pulling on his goat beard. “That is quite the list of accomplishments. A palpable threat if I have ever heard one. Though threatening a friend is not the smartest of ideas. Especially not when I have two of the world’s most powerful princesses in existence running around as clowns.” “I’m not in the mood to play games, Discord. I’ve just been through a lot. If you don’t want me to tell Fluttershy, you better work with me. First things first, fix this world so it’s not chaotic. Secondly, bring all the bearers to me. Thirdly, I need that crystal table,” she demanded with a firmness in her voice that she obtained during the last world. The draconequus looked appalled. Had he met his match? No, Discord was one of a kind. “You are just going to move on? Head for the next world and hope to catch up with Princess Twilight? That is quite a cowardly thing to do. I would have expected you to ask me to send you back a world to stop your rampaging friend.” His words struck its intended chord, just as he planned. “You can do that? You can send me back? I could stop Sombra!?” She almost wanted to cry again. “Of course, sending you back a world would quite possibly mean you might be trapped there. Forever.” He let out a little chuckle. “I am quite certain you would be trapped there, in fact.” She raised a brow at him. “Why would that be?” “If he can send you there, he can trap you there,” Princess Celestia answered for the draconequus. Her answer infuriated him. “You spoiled it! Alright, that is it! Timeout for you two.” He snapped his fingers and the two princesses were sealed in a steel cage which floated up into the sky and out of sight. “Spoilsports, those two. Never letting me have any fun.” “So, if you sent me back, you’d trap me there. But I could stop Sombra.” Discord could not believe his ears. Was Sunset actually contemplating his deal? Did the previous world mean so much to her that she’d sacrifice saving time itself? He wrung his hands together, grinning maliciously at the new alicorn. “Of course you could, but I cannot allow you to just choose. I would not be Discord if I just gave you a choice and left it up for you to decide!” He waggled a finger at her. “No, no, no! You must play a game first! Oh, stop with the frowning face. Have some fun before you run!” “I don’t want to have fun, Discord. I just want to stop Sombra.” “But would fixing time not stop Sombra, too?” he asked before floating around her. His body shifted into a different form, his cane, crown, and cape were gone. Now, Discord had taken the form of King Sombra, though his face remained his own goofy face. “I mean, surely these worlds will be gone once you fix everything. Unless of course, these worlds existed before you. That would mean you are the one who caused so much trouble. Were you a problem child, Sunset Shimmer?” “Stop it, Discord. I don’t like that,” she growled. “Oh, but by all means.” His form changed again, this time taking on the form of Lord Tirek. The centaur body was like Tirek’s, but the upper torso remained looking like Discord. “When someone does something you do not like—you get angry. Upset. Furious. What would your previous mentor say?” “You don’t even like Tirek. He betrayed you in my world.” She squinted. “What do you care what he’d say? You wouldn’t.” She stopped and thought about what the draconequus was saying. She took the time to think, copying her old ex-friend. “Wait. Why bring up these worlds existing before my arrival? If this is your playground, then you’d already know they exist without me.” He grinned, his body shifting back to his normal, abnormal self. “It has got you curious, I can see it in your eyes. The wonder, the imagination. You are going to be my new plaything.” He clapped his hands excitedly. “Oh, what fun!” Pulling on his arm as if it were a sleeve, the draconequus lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Sunset fell onto her rump, a plastic faculty seat beneath her. She looked back and then forward, surprised by the school desk that sat in front of her. The whole world turned into a classroom, the lights were out, and a projector shined on the whiteboard. “Quiet down. Quiet down!” Principal Discord snapped his baton against his desk. “Today, we are going to be learning about the rules of the game. What game is that you might be asking?” The projector flipped a slide, displaying the crystal table. “It is a very simple game, even slow learners like Sunset Shimmer should be able to play along.” His baton slapped the whiteboard where the image of the crystal table sat. “All you have to do is find your friends. That is all! Nothing more, nothing less! Gather them up and you win!” The projector’s slide flipped again, this time displaying Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. “I will even give you lifelines! Three should be enough to make you a millionaire. What was that? Oh, right, the prize is not money. Silly me!” He chuckled and the slides changed again, this time showing off three areas. Sunset only recognized Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, though they were definitely altered. “What are these three lifelines, you might be asking yourself? Call on the princesses is one, of course.” “Another one, which I am very generous is allowing, is to completely negate the need to obtain one of your friends.” The draconequus crossed his arms, the baton tapping his shoulder. “That one is a bit overpowered, but what can I do?” The slides flipped, revealing a picture of Discord in nothing but a towel, brushing his teeth in some bathroom. “Ah, but this third lifeline is my favorite! Ask Discord! You can use this to ask me anything and I will have no choice but to answer honestly!” Sunset suddenly jolted up a hoof, it was as if she never left CHS. “Yes, Sunset?” “Not that I really want to play your stupid little game, Discord, but why exactly are you giving me lifelines?” she asked. “Well, it would not be very fair if I let you play without some sort of help. Even the hardest of games have tips and tricks! And this is certainly going to be difficult.” He grinned, his snaggletooth biting down on his bottom lip. The projector suddenly sped up its pictures, the slides displaying all sorts of horrendous environments. Lava pools, rusty tools, snake pits, poisonous gas, spinning blades, falling logs, large dogs, icy roads, strange toads, and tax collectors all appeared in the set of pictures. “What peril you will face!” The projector shut off rather suddenly and the lights came on. “And what do I win for this game? I gather the bearers and I can use them to defeat you. Why would you want that? What’s in it for you?” she asked him. “A showing! A spectacle! Participation! Oh, how I love good television. You will certainly be an excellent performer. Everyone in the world will be watching you! Your hardships, your victories, even those nervous breakdowns where you stuff your face with ice cream! We will be watching it all!” She hadn’t noticed, but cameras appeared in the room that was no longer a classroom. Instead, she sat at a school desk on a stage in front of a crowd of Discords. “You asked what I want from it all—I want you to win, of course! If you give up, I win!” He applauded himself and the crowd went wild. “Well, I don’t see any other choice. You’re not going to send me back to stop Sombra, moving forward is my only option.” Not that I even thought about returning to that world before you opened your big mouth, she begrudgingly thought. “Where’s the table?” The audience laughed when she asked the question, and Discord refused to answer. “Where is the table?” she repeated her question, rousing even more laughter. She looked around the room. There was nothing above her, nothing behind her, nothing in front of her. It wasn’t until she looked down below her school desk that she noticed she was sitting atop the crystal table. The audience became full laugh track mode by then, causing a bit of red embarrassment to crawl across Sunset’s muzzle. Throwing the chairs off the table, she climbed down and watched as the map of Equestria sprouted up. “Lookie here folks!” Discord said, pointing to the hologram. Another Discord, this time portraying a cameraman, came close to zoom in. “She’s got an entire map to go through to find her friends. No trains, planes, or automobiles to help her here! I would give up right here, right now if I was in her horseshoes!” Sunset ignored the draconequus. Pulling out the notebook from her backpack, she quickly sketched down the map as best she could. The Crystal Empire floated upside-down, though looked relatively the same. Canterlot floated too, this time right side up, and Sunset knew there was more to it than just that. When the cutie marks of her friends appeared, Sunset jotted their locations down. Pinkie Pie was in the Badlands, or the Not-So-Bad-Badlands, as Discord earlier named. Rarity was in Griffonstone, a place Sunset recognized by location only as the actual hologram displayed giant pants. She grimaced when she found Rainbow Dash in Las Pegasus, a city whose giant name sat on the side of a mountain—though it was now Las Discord in this world. More than that, she could only tell that it looked a bit more like Cloudsdale than Las Pegasus, and that Cloudsdale was missing altogether. Twilight Sparkle was in the Crystal Empire. Applejack sat in Canterlot. But for some reason, the only one missing from the map happened to be Fluttershy. Maybe this is my world’s Discord I’m dealing with. Hiding Fluttershy away sounds like something he’d do. That was when Sunset noticed the Tree of Harmony sprout up on the map. Looks like Celestia placed the Elements of Harmony back into it in this world. That’s good to know. “Where is Fluttershy?” she asked the host of the show. “Already using one of your lifelines!?” Discord sat up, the biggest grin sat on his face. “No, but I assumed you were going to play fair. If I can’t find her then it’s not fair. Getting to her was supposed to be the challenge, wasn’t it?” she argued. “If I played fair, I would not be here! Your little map shows every piece of Equestria. Clearly, she is not in Equestria! You will just have to resort to some good ol’ detective work to find the friend you seek.” Sunset sighed—she was already growing tired of dealing with the draconequus and his crazy personality. I’ve been here for a whole three seconds and he’s getting on my nerves. I suppose it’s not really his fault, though. I bet this would be a whole lot more fun if I hadn’t… She stopped herself from thinking of the dark stallion. “Alright, Discord. Any advice on where to go first?” she asked, deciding to play along. “Your closest friends are in Canterlot or the Not-So-Bad-Badlands. It would be quite troublesome to have to go north and then turn around and head back south,” he replied, honest advice which sounded too genuine from the draconequus’s mouth. “We are here in Discordville, aptly named after mwah,” he chuckled, and then continued, “It is smack dab in the middle between the two, and Las Discord is close too.” “Not-So-Bad-Badlands sounds rather nice,” Sunset remarked, more to herself than Discord. “I’ll go there first.” “You heard it here first, folks! She listened to me and is going to the Not-So-Bad-Badlands! What a terrible idea that is! Let us all give her a big round applause for the massive undertaking she is about to take on!” the host Discord shouted, and the audience clapped their hands in circles. The studio abruptly melted away, and Sunset was left alone with the crystal table. She glanced around, expecting Discord to appear suddenly, but the draconequus was gone. The world returned to its jumbled mess once more with upside-down houses, cotton candy trees, and patchwork roads. When she glanced to the sky, she realized both the sun and moon were high. There was no way of telling which way was north or south. “This isn’t going to be easy,” she said to herself, gulping down her concern. Shifting her backpack around, her wings managed to extend to full width, allowing Sunset to take flight. A few test flaps and she felt confident in her abilities. Taking a running start, she managed to get off the ground only inches before a lake of purple soda appeared. Gliding was easier than flapping, but gliding didn’t help in going up. The tips of her hooves sunk into the colorful liquid, stressing her more as she tried to gain elevation. It took her a few good hard flails to soar higher into the sky, which only caused her to get mixed up with the floating platforms of dirt, trees, and homes. Grinding her shoulder into one, she bounced off and landed with her hooves against another. With a big push, she flapped her wings and rushed out of the floating minefield. The sky was clearer out of Discordville, but the Not-So-Bad-Badlands were quite the distance. Her new wings did not have the strength built into them just yet, nor did her stomach have the steel needed to fly so high above the ground. I did say I wanted to fly—wait, no more flight jokes! I promised! Her whole body shuddered as the air grew cold, forcing her to a lower elevation. She didn’t know exactly where she went, but the forest that would have been the Everfree disappeared. Valleys and dry hills replaced the floating jungle scenery. The coldness of the sky was replaced with a nice, warm sensation the lower she went. Passing over an ordinary, water-filled lake, Sunset chose to stop and get a drink. Of course, stopping was a difficult process for someone not accustomed to flying—but Sunset didn’t think of that until it was too late. Skidding on her knees, she slammed jaw first into the ground. She sat up with a mouthful of little plastic beads. Spitting them out, she inched forward to the lake, pressing her muzzle into the cooling waters. Of course, the water turned out to be more plastic beads. After pulling her head out of the water, she spat out the beads and ruffled the ones that stuck in her mane. Glancing around, nothing in the distance looked like it was made of the plastic beads, but up close was a different story. Her eyes drew to the closest object, a bright green cactus with a pink flower budding on one side, it sat on the opposite side of the ‘lake’. Each step felt weird to Sunset, the beads were like sand except nowhere near as soft. When she came closer to the cactus, it too was made of the plastic beads that surrounded her. She groaned. Well, there goes any hope for cactus water like in those old western movies. Even the needles on the cactus were beads. Pressing her hoof into the side of the cactus moved the beads out of the way, eventually sawing the top half off, which promptly fell to the ground and exploded in a shower of the green beads. She decided to keep moving on hoof, which proved to be a mistake. It gave her time to think of past regrets, an activity she avoided like the plague. Sombra. How could you? You spent so long buttering me up just to turn on me. Was any of it real? For some reason, Flash Sentry suddenly appeared in her mind’s eye. She thought about him for a second, which turned into a minute, and then a few dozen. I only used him and then tossed him aside like a piece of garbage. Like Sombra did. That wasn’t very nice. I should apologize to him when I get back, though I don’t how he would react to starting over, to being friends. She then thought of Princess Twilight, the mare Flash had shown affection for. I wonder if he’s ever going to move on from her. It’s not like she was able to come back to help out at the Friendship Games. She’s got her own villain problems. In the far distance, after a long walk, Sunset stumbled across a town that she never expected to visit. Appleloosa. She recognized it was Appleloosa thanks to the big sign that stood as entrance into the pokey town—which was also made of beads. In fact, the whole town was made of the plastic artsy baubles. The frames for buildings, the stationary carts that sat full of supplies, even the glass for windows was made of transparent beads. The pony citizens were also made of beads—a surprising revelation to Sunset. More surprising when one of the citizens came up to her, greeted her, and she poked their nose. “M-my nose!” he yelled, holding the spot that had been his nose—which only aided in more of his muzzle beads falling off. “Ahhh!” he screamed, and those around him started to scream as his body fell to the ground. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Sunset yelled, still holding the nose beads. She quickly threw them away as she backed off from the puddle of plastic that had just been a stallion. “Monster!” a mare yelled, covering the eyes of a young colt. Both were, of course, made of plastic beads. Some of the other citizens saw what happened and ran to their homes, only to return with pitchforks and torches. Yes, the fire on the torches were also somehow beads. A sight that frightened Sunset more than it intrigued her. She chose not to wait around to see if the plastic beads could burn her. Taking to the sky, she flapped her wings to get as far away as she could. She was at least heading south, Appleloosa was her confirmation. However, as she hit the sky, she found that the clouds had changed. When she tried to pass through one, it was like hitting a wall. Plastic beads rattled down around her, falling to the earth below. Pushing her way back out, she noted that all the clouds were beads—and more importantly, they were starting to bunch together. Wasting no time, she soared below the tightening atmosphere, steering clear of the plastic clouds. Some turned grey, which worried her, but they were in her direct path to the Not-So-Bad-Badlands, so she chose to head straight under. A terrible mistake. Being pelted with rain was one thing, being pelted with a constant barrage of a hundred plastic beads was another. Hitting her fur like hail, each the size of a pea, Sunset immediately regretted her decision to fly south. Of course, she certainly regretted it once the actual hail started. Cold balls of plastic beads shattered over her body like geodes being opened by a miner. As she sailed lower, it only made the pain worse, the beads now had time and distance to fall an even greater height. The rolling plains that surrounded Appleloosa provided no cover. She dealt with the pain for as long as she could, but eventuality succumbed. Passing out in the sky was obviously not the right option, nor would it have been her first choice if a choice was given. With another clunk of bead hail against her cranium, she felt the world go dark. “Sunset,” a voice called to her. “Sunset.” Opening her eyes, she saw the underside of golden petals. “Sunset. S-Sunset.” “Sunset,” voices spoke her name. Raising her head, she felt with her hand on the place she’d been struck—no lumps came to dreamland, though there certainly would be once she reached the waking world. “Why do I still dream of this place?” she wondered out loud. “I thought this place was part of my self-conscious. I’ve beaten my anger issues. Just because I’m upset about what happened doesn’t mean I should be coming back here.” “Sunset,” a voice said. “What? What!?” she shouted, her anger seething through—clearly the issues were still a work in progress. “Look out, Sunset.” That was when she opened her eyes, waking to the world that fast approached. She tried to turn, tried to put her shoulder into it, but it was far too late. She tensed up for what she thought was solid, brown earth. Instead, the ground splashed in an unexpected surprise. Rushing to the surface, the chocolate milk stung her eyes, a hefty gulp made itself into her lungs. She coughed and hacked after emerging from the depths. With the back of her hooves, she rubbed her sockets, crying out the milk that swept around her lids. Upon opening her eyes, she saw the river of chocolate milk sat running down the mountain of strawberry cake. In the distance were pillars of ice cream cones, sprinkles splattered the caked ground. Candy corn and chewy gummies sprung up like trees. With her newly returned magic, Sunset teleported to the side of the river, shaking off the chocolate milk. Of course, that didn’t stop the frosting from clinging to the underside of her hooves. “Well, this is certainly better than bead country,” she remarked as she followed the river down the mountain. She reached the Not-So-Bad-Badlands. The Badlands had been a desert, the heat an unbearable deterrent for anyone who wanted to make accommodations of the brutal area. In Discord’s world, the Badlands had become a dessert, the cold a bearable enticement for anyone who wanted to quench their sweet tooth. There were plenty of creatures whose entire mouths were filled with nothing but sharp teeth meant for sweets. And they weren’t interested in sharing.