//------------------------------//
// DbzOrDie 
// Story: At The Drop of A Hat 
// by Tchernobog 
//------------------------------//

Applejack managed to run a grand total of five steps, before her hooves hit something and she fell to the ground. Cursing her luck, Applejack looked at her hooves to see a dirty and rusty oil lamp lying there. Applejack took the lamp in her hooves and was almost about to throw it away, when she suddenly noticed the faint outline of some letters, hidden by the dirt. 

Applejack gently brushed away the dirt on the lamp, and a word was starting to become readable. The word revealed itself to be ‘disorder’ which Applejack silently mouthed in confusion. No sooner had she uttered the word, than a stream of blue smoke flowed out of the lamp.

The blue smoke materialized outside of the lamp in the shape of some kind of blue humanoid shape, with a loud cry. “Who dares disturb the slumber of Genie Havoc?!”

The big, imposing genie turned to look at Applejack before every powerful emotion seemingly left his body and he slumped down. “Oh, it’s you.”

Applejack’s confusion changed to understanding when the genie suddenly snapped his fingers, and changed into a very familiar draconequus. Said draconequus reached behind the lamp and turned a valve which wasn’t there before, making the stream of smoke smaller and smaller before going out.

“Discord? What are you doin’ here?” Applejack asked, scrambling backwards, away from the lamp as if it was poison.

Discord laughed at Applejack and poofed himself in Applejack’s still outstretches hooves. Lounging on them as if they were a chair at the beach, he turned to Applejack. “Really now, what do you expect me, the god of chaos, to do all day? Even Fluttershy had to politely refuse to send any more letters, with all the free time that I have.”

“So, what IS it that you do?” Applejack asked. She knew that Discord had some good to him, but knew that when bored, he could get a lot more disagreeable. If this was some kind of hobby for him, then she was glad for it.

Discord looked everywhere but at Applejack as he tried to look as innocently as possible. “Oh, you know… A stallion comes across this lamp, is foolish enough to rub it and I grant him a wish,” Discord then looked straight at Applejack before continuing, “But I guess that you know, that those wishes tend to turn out a lot more chaotic than intended.”

Applejack shuddered, thinking of the poor ponies that Discord got into a mess. “Does Princess Celestia know of this?”

Discord blew a raspberry at Applejack, which actually ended with Discord’s mouth falling off his face and landing on the floor. “Oh please, she’s actually the one who suggested it to me. She said that a little bit of chaos at a time could be therapeutic,” finished the disembodied mouth, while Discord emphasized the last word with air-quotes. A snap of his fingers and his mouth reappeared in its proper location.

Applejack mulled this over and figured that if the Princess was okay with it, she would be too. “Well, while it was… uh, nice to see ya again, I have to get goin’ and find some way to get to Dash and get my hat back.” Applejack turned to start running again, when she got an idea. Turning to Discord again, she asked, “Discord, you said you were grantin’ wishes right?”

Discord twisted around Applejack like a snake, suddenly very interested in the conversation. “What is this? Does sweet little Applejack wish to make a… well, wish? You do know that you will not be excluded from the chaos that might follow, hmm?”

Applejack had to give this little thought, as this meant she would be able to get to Dash faster. “I don’t care, I want you to zap me to the Applewood sign. I need to check on Dash, my hat be damned.”

Discord looked behind him, straight at the hat that occupied the head of the donkey pulling the cart. With a smile on his face, and little flourish, he snapped his fingers. “As you wish, master.”

Seconds later, Applejack winked back into reality with way more sound than she would’ve liked. Recovering from the sudden impact on her ears, she noticed that she was dressed in the most ridiculous outfit she’d ever seen. That, and she was currently falling from the air yet again, heading straight for the Applewood letters. 

Oh, Buck