//------------------------------// // 1 - Called To Action // Story: Journey to the Center of Discord // by lunabrony //------------------------------// The usual games and merriment that typically went around when the girls were not on a mission or accidentally causing some comedic misunderstanding were underway, although to a lesser capacity than usual. It was early evening, and all of them had completed their associated chores and tasks for the day. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep on Rarity's shoulder, but was pushed away with disgust when she started snoring and drooling. Pinkie was attempting to build a house of playing cards, and had somehow managed to create not just a house but a sprawling mansion of impossible proportions, while Applejack looked on with confusion. "How in the hay did you do that with only 52 cards? That there tower is fancier than a rattler with a monocle," she said. Pinkie only had one deck, and there were was at least a hundred cards and counting in the monstrosity. "I dunno," Pinkie said, and pulled another card from the seemingly endless deck. "What's that mean, anyway?" "It's a colloquialism," Applejack said. "They don't always make sense." "You know you can't just throw random words together and call it a colloquialism," Rarity countered. Further banter was prevented by the sudden lighting up of The Map, and all attention was immediately drawn to it. "We're being summoned!" Twilight exclaimed suddenly, as the formerly smooth and polished table suddenly blazed to life with a scaled down replica of Equestria. All the ponies and one dragon crowded around it, eager to see what far off, exotic lands they'd be drawn to next. The map twinkled and twirled, then slowly began zooming in on one area, fixating around Canterlot and Ponyville. "A trip to Canterlot!" Rarity exclaimed dreamily, eager to have any excuse to go there. The map zoomed in farther. "No... it's...Ponyville?" Twilight sounded confused now. The map zoomed in again. Fixating entirely and completely on Fluttershy's Cottage. "Aw, what?" Rainbow Dash sounded disappointed. Understandably so, that wasn't far off OR exotic. "Is my house being bad?" Fluttershy squeaked. "I'm sorry..." The next step, following the reveal of the destination, was the actually summoning of the contestants, as if the map worked like some sort of ridiculously unfortunate game show. All of the mares looked at their flanks both out of habit and expectation, and a few were not disappointed. There were three symbols swirling around Fluttershy's Cottage on the map, a set of three apples, a set of three balloons, and a flaming green scroll. "Tingly!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed cheerfully. Applejack was not particularly enthused at the idea of going off somewhere with Pinkie Pie, but knew better than to fight the power of The Map. "Well ah guess that settles that," she said. "But what's that third one? Ah ain't never seen it before." She realized the significance on her own, however, practically before the words had finished leaving her mouth. She turned her head, and looked directly where the other five mares were already looking. "Alright!" Spike grinned, and fistpumped, jumping up on his chair. "Finally, I get to do something! How's it feel to be the one left behind, Twilight?" Twilight glared at him. "I mean... uh... aw, that's too bad..." He turned red, embarrassed by his outburst, and took his seat again. "I'll fill you in with regular journal entries, of course." Twilight just sighed. "Alright, well, as unusual as this situation seems to be, The Map has spoken. The three of you go over to Fluttershy's house and see what's going on. Fluttershy, you go to, of course, but just sort of hang back and watch, alright?" Fluttershy sighed. "It's Junior High softball all over again." --- The quartet left Twilight's Castle and began the winding path that led up to Fluttershy's cottage. Before they even reached it, they noticed unusual occurances in the surrounding area. Trees which were, of course, supposed to be green and full of leaves were bare and dead, their trunks black and rotten. The perfectly manicured lawns surrounding the area were dense and overgrown with ivy and weeds, and several houses had been turned completely upside down, their slanted roofs digging into the ground while the floors reached towards the sky, pipes and support beams visible under the upturned bottoms of the buildings. As they got to the front door of the cottage, the door swung open and a two headed sheep bolted out of it, bleating stupidly while its hooves clacked on the stone pathways. Fluttershy squeaked in fright. "That's Angora! But she's not supposed to have two heads... Angora, wait! Wait!" She ran after the sheep, intending to catch it and calm it down, and they both disappeared around the side of the house. Spike was sitting comfortably on Pinkie's back, so it was Pinkie and Applejack who exchanged a glance before entering into the Cottage proper. Discord stood inside, dressed in a bathrobe with a thermometer sticking out of his mouth. "Well, can't say Ah'm surprised," Applejack deadpanned. Discord turned to look at them, his eyes dull and bloodshot. "Girls! Thank Celestia you're here. I have an enormous problem." "No kidding," Spike said. "Oh, it's not what you think! I seem to have come down with a rather severe case of Magikitis." "Who the what now?" "Magikitis, it's a very rare ailment only caught by magic users, and draconequui are especially prone to it. I'm afraid that I've gone and lost all control of my magic, which is, as you must understand, a dangerous side effect." He drew back his head and erupted a violent sneeze that suddenly caused a brutally ugly tentacle to rise up from the ground outside, snapping a petal-shaped mouth full of teeth. "I've read enough manga to know where this is going," Spike said dryly. Pinkie snorted with amusement. "That's terrible, Spike." "Can we focus?!" Applejack cried. "Yes, well," Discord continued. "I'm afraid I've gone and caught Magikitis, as I've said." He sighed. "And the only way to cure it is for you to go inside me, and-" "Discord!" Pinkie scolded. "This is a PG fanfiction, mister!" "Go inside me," Discord continued, ignoring her, "Find the virus, and eliminate it. I know it's a lot to ask, but you two are the craziest," he looked at Pinkie, "strongest," he looked at Applejack, "bravest," he looked at Spike, friends I have. Will you help me?" Applejack sighed again. "Well, it don't sound like we got much of a choice, and Ah don't fancy seein' mah home destroyed, so yeah, Ah'll help." "Me too!" Spike agreed. "Me four!" Pinkie chimed. "No wait... three! Me three!" "Excellent!" Discord sounded relieved. "The virus usually resides in the tail, so if you can find your way down that far, you stand a good chance of exterminating it. Just make your way down, and you shouldn't have much problem. I don't have much control left over my magic, so we really only have one shot at this." He took a deep breath, and spread open his arms like he was making a sacrificial offering. A heavy and inescapable wind began to blow through poor Fluttershy's cottage, only adding to the already significant mess. A mini-tornado, of all things, the base of the funnel spiraling out of his antlers while the wide opening thrashed wildly through the room. It picked up both ponies and the dragon with little effort, all three of whom were terrified and hugging each other tightly. The tornado swept in all three of them, miniaturizing the trio at the same time as it drew them in, pulling them into the hollow tunnels of his antlers as neatly as milk through a straw. Discord shuddered once, and sneezed again, turning the lovely paintings hung around the walls into identical pictures of Twilight with her nose stuck in a book. "I really hope this works," Discord sighed. --- Pinkie landed first on a soft, spongy material that covered the ground. Applejack landed on top of her, and Spike fell straight into Pinkie's mane and disappeared as neatly as a manhole in an old silent film. He pulled himself out of her mane, covered in sticky candy and gasping. "I've seen some things, man," Spike whispered. "We must be in the brain," Applejack whispered, marveling. The ground below was bright pink and covered in zig-zagging indentations that didn't seem to have any set or consistent pattern. It was from these indentations that occasional arcs of bright blue lightning were shooting from the ground. "I'm gonna say we should try not to get hit by those," Spike observed. "Good idea, Spike!" Pinkie agreed. "Now the next idea... how do we get down?"