Sweetie opened her eyes to see a large pair of eyes looking back at her.
‘’What?’’ she muttered, as she stood up.
Flurry Heart sat in front of her, wiggling her hooves at her.
‘’What?’’ Sweetie repeated, before looking around and gasping. She was not in her home, but in a green forest of pines. Not the Everfree, but somewhere else.
She could figure out where she was later. Right now, Flurry was sitting in the mud and dirt in front of her, and that wouldn’t do. So Sweetie picked up the foal with her telekinesis and cleaned her off, then placed her on her back.
‘’Funny that I’m using those cleaning spells on someone other than myself and my friends,’’ Sweetie thought.
‘’How are you, Flurry? Any idea where we are?’’ she asked the foal, neither expecting nor getting a response. Well, if you count making baby noises a response, then technically she did get one, but semantics.
There were a few things she had to do, which was what kept her from going into panic mode (that and the foal on her back, which she had to protect for now. Panicking would only make her panic as well.)
Item one: How had she gotten here?
Answer: no idea. She had just gone to bed and presumably fallen asleep, and the next thing she knew she was here. And how was Flurry Heart here? Had she unconsciously teleported? But Sweetie didn’t really have a connection with the foal.
Item two: Where was here?
Answer: no idea, once again. A forest that was not the Everfree, with mountains to her south and east. She was definitely not around Ponyville anymore. If this was Equestria, it was to the north, near the border with the Crystal Empire, which would explain why Flurry was here. Well, it wouldn’t, but at least the distance would make sense.
Item three: What now?
Answer: she had options. In any case, she should try to find somewhere where she could determine her location more clearly, though not too far from where she was. If this was some sort of teleportation accident, it wouldn’t do to be away when help inevitably arrived. Food was not a problem - grass appeared to be readily available - and there was probably a stream or river nearby. At least, she hoped there was.
‘’Come on, Flurry. Let’s go find out where we are.’’ Sweetie didn’t know why she was talking to the foal, but she needed something to keep her mind from wandering into panic.
Carefully looking around, she trotted forward. There was more than enough space between the trees to move freely, and the sunlight warmed her coat.
‘’Ah, there you are!’’
Sweetie turned around to see Discord floating lazily in the air behind her. Flurry squealed at the sudden turn, then giggled and stretched her hooves at Discord.
‘’Dissy!’’ she intoned with conviction.
‘’Hello, Flurry.’’ Discord reached over and ruffled the foal’s mane. ‘’And hello Sweetie Belle.’’
‘’Discord, what’s going on?’’ Sweetie asked without preamble. ‘’Where are we and why am I with Flurry?’’
‘’Ah.’’ Discord pulled his claw back and awkwardly scratched his goatee. ‘’Well, something happened that transported the both of you to a different universe.’’
‘’What!?’’ A different universe?’
‘’Quite,’’ Discord agreed sagely. Then he turned serious again. ‘’There’s a problem: I can only transport myself between universes. I can’t take you back with me or take anyone from Equestria here.’’
‘’So I’m stuck here?’’
Discord nodded. ‘’I’m afraid so.’’ He actually managed to look sad about it. ‘’And this world is a tad more dangerous than Equestria, I’m afraid. I’ve never been here before, but I can tell just by looking around.’’
Sweetie nodded. Focus on the here and now. ‘’What should I do?’’
‘’Try to find civilization,’’ Discord suggested. ‘’I can’t stay for too long, unfortunately, but I can point you in the right direction.’’ And he pulled a map out of nowhere. ‘’Use this to mark locations, and then you can instantly travel to them once you’ve been there.’’
‘’Thanks,’’ Sweetie took the map from him with her magic, ‘’but, uh… where do I leave it?’’
Discord looked at her for a long moment, before blinking and pulling out a pair of leather saddlebags from thin air. ‘’You can carry as much as you want in these two.’’
‘’Thanks,’’ Sweetie repeated. ‘’Can you lift Flurry up for a moment?”
Without replying Discord grabbed the foal with his claw and held her up as Sweetie slipped the saddlebags on her back. ‘’You can put her back.’’
Discord dropped the foal on her back.
‘’Anything else?’’ Sweetie asked him.
Discord shook his head. ‘’In the saddlebags, you’ll find some food and drinks for Flurry and for yourself, an unlimited supply of diapers since they don’t have those here, a couple of bandages should you need it, and… that’s it, I think.’’
‘’Okay.’’ Sweetie looked up at him. ‘’Can you take a message?’’
‘’That’s… why I’m here.’’
Sweetie hesitated. What to tell Rarity and the other Crusaders? ‘’Just tell them we’re alright, and that I’ll take care of Flurry.’’
Discord nodded. ‘’I’ll do so, and I’ll try to pop by once a day. If you ever need me, just think of that and I’ll come help you however I can.’’ He sounded more sincere than Sweetie had ever heard him be.
‘’I’ll be sure to do that,’’ she said. ‘’Thanks, Discord.’’
Discord smiled sadly. ‘’We’ll find a way to get you back, don’t worry. Until then, good luck.’’
‘’Bye!’’
Discord vanished again.
Sweetie stared at the air he had been for a few more seconds, before sighing and pulling out the map. ‘’Right…’’
The map didn’t look like a normal map; it looked more like the Cutie Map did. It was three-dimensional, and even showed clouds hanging above certain parts of the country. Nine dark grey and black symbols dotted the map, each looking different from each other. The first one that caught Sweetie’s eye was the one that resembled a horse. As she looked at it, a name appeared over it.
‘’Whiterun,’’ she read aloud, before seeing another name appear in the far right corner. ‘’The Province of Skyrim, 4E 201? What does that mean?’’
She also saw a needle-like marker, and when she looked around at her surroundings to try and see if she could figure out where she was, she found the marker moved with her line of sight!
‘’Thanks, Discord,’’ she said aloud, and Flurry garbled something in reply, before Sweetie felt the foal snuggle into her coat and mane. She chuckled softly, then sighed and looked over the map again. Out of all the places on the map, she was closest to Whiterun.
‘’Well, here goes nothing.’’ And the pair of ponies set out into the lands of Skyrim.