Twilight wasn't sure how she came to be here, hurtling downward through a pitch-black void at what felt like terminal velocity. It was all so disconnected from where her mind insisted that she should be. One moment she was getting lunch, and the next she was here, and she didn't even remember the transition between those moments. Now here she was, falling through total darkness, screaming at the top of her lungs, and with no idea how any of it happened.
Neither the desperate flapping of her wings nor attempting to self-levitate with her unicorn magic seemed to help. In fact, her magic didn't even respond. It was as if she had somehow run out, but that surely wasn't possible. It made no sense. This was like a nightmare. Only it felt too real to be a nightmare. Everything was too vivid. Twilight could feel it all, from the air resistance as she fell, to the strain on her throat from all the screaming, to the biting cold that made the endless darkness feel even more empty.
"Help!" she cried out. "Somepony, anypony, please help me!"
She couldn't even see her own hooves as she lifted them to wipe away her tears.
"Please..."
Then a familiar chuckle echoed in her mind.
"Somepony, Princess? How predictably equicentric of you. Just for that, I think I might not save you at all."
Twilight's eyes widened.
"Discord?" she whispered. "Discord, help! I'm falling, and I don't know where I am!"
"I don't suppose the thought occurs to use your wings?"
"I can't! My magic isn't working either! Please, I don't know how much longer I have!"
"Okay, okay! I'm on my way. Describe your surroundings."
Twilight was about to speak, but words failed her. Was that a joke? Was he serious? If the latter, then how did Discord not know where she was if he could hear and talk to her?
"Helloooooo? I can't help if you don't work with me here!"
"I... I'm nowhere! It's just darkness!"
For a moment, Discord was silent. When he spoke again, it was a grave severity that she wasn't used to hearing in his voice.
"Alright, listen carefully to me. I need you to concentrate on all your worst memories."
"W-What?"
"Bad memories, Twilight. I need you to focus on them. But nothing sad. That's very important. I need moments of shock, anger, and confusion. Concentrate on those. Remember how you felt. Don't question me. Just do it."
Bad memories that weren't sad. Twilight wracked her brain desperately, trying to think of any. All of her worst memories were moments of loss and loneliness. She could think of times that she'd been afraid, but fear wasn't always angry. All she could think of right away was...
The maze. Discord's games, and his dirty tricks, and what he'd done to her and her friends. All the ways he'd broken their minds and twisted their personalities into something ugly. There was so much fighting and hurtful words, and their friendship had almost ended thanks to what he'd done. Those moments were so heated, but also so confusing. Twilight channelled those memories, as instructed, drawing on all her feelings of outrage towards Discord and frustration with her friends.
His voice returned, snapping Twilight out of her haze.
"Excellent! Hold on, I've got you!"
There was a flash of light, so bright that it was almost blinding. Out of the darkness below her, Discord's face emerged from a swirling orange portal, giving her a cocky grin. He grabbed the edges of the portal with his hands and tore it wider, revealing a purple vortex on the other side. To Twilight, it looked like she was about to fall into a whirlpool.
She screamed as she fell through, the portal snapping closed behind her. Then she kept on falling through the vortex. Inside, the energy swirled around her, forming a tight funnel that twisted forever downwards. It was like being inside a hurricane, surrounded by pure chaos on all sides. The vortex crackled and flashed at random, pulsing with eldritch power. Electricity danced on the edges, always threatening to close in and shock her.
Discord chased Twilight down, flapping his wings until he was falling in tandem with her. With a brief smile, he twisted himself upright and moved in front of her as they continued to fall.
"There we go!" he said, dusting off his hands. "Feeling better now?"
"I would if we could stop!"
Immediately, Twilight's momentum ceased, and she felt a sensation of weightlessness on her body. She couldn't perceive a magical field around her, but that wasn't out of the ordinary for Discord's magic. Her heart was still pounding, and she had to take several deep breaths, but at least it was over now.
Twilight looked over to Discord, who casually floated next to her, still wearing that smug grin of his. She pulled him into a hasty hug, closing her eyes and giving a long sigh as she did.
"Th-Thank you, Discord," she said, her voice slightly shaky. "I don't know how I would've gotten out of that one on my own."
Discord's grin seemed to have disappeared when she opened her eyes again, but it quickly returned as she let go of him and backed away.
"Of course! What are friends for, right?"
Once her breathing was under control, Twilight cleared her throat and dried her eyes.
"Where was I just now?" she asked. "And how did you find me?"
"You were in Svartalfheim, the Great Abyss." Discord leaned back and rested his head on his own arms, as if lying in a hammock. "Not sure how you managed to end up there, but of all the places you could've gone to, that's probably the worst. I expected nothing less from you. So what was it? Teleportation accident?"
"I... I don't remember." Twilight looked down and away from Discord, towards the edges of the vortex. "Where are we now?"
"Muspelheim. Better known to ponies as the Warp. This part of it we're in now is called the Eye of Chaos. It's perfectly safe so long as I'm here to keep it under control."
Twilight looked up at Discord.
"And how did you find me, again? What was all that about thinking about my bad memories?"
Under Twilight's scrutiny, Discord's smile slipped away. He averted his gaze and gave a short cough.
"Well... I'm the Spirit of Chaos. I'm attuned to that sort of thing."
Twilight blinked.
"Do you mean... you can hear me any time I'm scared?"
Discord rubbed the back of his neck.
"Not when you're scared," he muttered. "I can hear you when you panic. Fear isn't chaotic by itself."
"But how? How does that work?" Twilight moved closer to Discord, making him back away from her. "Is it part of your magic? Can you do that for everypony? Or everyone? Is there a range on this ability? Wait, do you use this power to spy on us?"
"Okay, I think that's enough question-answering for today!" Discord shoved Twilight away. "It's time we got you home to your little tree-castle. I don't think this realm can handle any more of your insatiable curiosity."
Before Twilight could react, Discord flew down into the vortex, spiralling along the outside. The spell that he had been maintaining to keep her weightless expired. Twilight plummeted once more, and still her wings and magic were failing her. This time, however, she refrained from screaming. She had to trust that she wouldn't be in any legitimate danger. Discord's humour was frequently annoying, but to her knowledge, it had yet to result in actual physical harm.
As Twilight fell, Discord continued circling the outsides of the vortex, descending at the same speed as her. She briefly glimpsed him snapping his talons, but there was no obvious effect. Then he snapped again. Still nothing.
"Is something wrong?" Twilight called out.
"No! It happens to everybody! It's nothing to be ashamed of!" Discord replied.
Twilight rolled her eyes, and Discord tried and failed again at whatever he was attempting. A frown crossed the draconequus's face.
"Actually, this might be an issue. Hold on, Twilight. We're going to have to take the scenic route back to Equestria."
He tapered off from his spiralling descent and began to fall down the middle of the vortex with Twilight, but far quicker than her. Twilight angled downwards, trying to catch up, but Discord with a straight posture was much more aerodynamic than she was, and he seemed to have no trouble outpacing her. Then, far below, a portal opened, similar to the one that Discord had opened before. This one was green, and something churning and grey waited just on the other side of it.
"Brace for impact!" Discord called.
Impact?
There was a splash, and the grey seemed to swallow Discord whole. Twilight's eyes widened. She went to pull up, but her flight still wasn't working, and Discord had left her almost no time to react anyway. She shot through and hit the water hard.
Initially, Twilight expected the impact to give her a concussion. Instead, she somehow emerged on the other side with only a terrible sense of disorientation as gravity changed directions, as well as a very sudden chill. She held her breath and struggled to right herself. There was light somewhere to her left, so that seemed to be the way to the surface, and sure enough, she was already drifting towards it.
Then there was a groaning somewhere below.
Oh no.
Twilight looked down, or in the direction that she thought was down, and saw a monstrous squid creature with thousands of eyes coming her way. Bubbles flew from her nose and mouth, and she tried to swim away from it, but her wings got in the way. Fortunately, it was not long before she breached the surface anyway, buoyancy carrying her away from the beast regardless of her swimming abilities.
Once free, Twilight shook the water from her wings and tried to take flight, only to be reminded yet again that she couldn't right now. With no alternative, she began paddling towards a nearby rock.
Before she could make it, a tentacle closed around one of Twilight's legs and dragged her down. She slipped beneath the surface, in the grasp of the creature. To her surprise, her breathing didn't seem to be impeded at all. There was no air bubble around her, and she couldn't feel any gills, but she seemed to be able to breathe water just fine. More of Discord's handiwork, no doubt.
That didn't solve the immediate problem, however. One of the creature's many slick, slimy appendages was now curling around Twilight's midsection and slowly crushing her. From between its clusters of eyes, a mouth revealed itself, filled with thousands of jagged, razor-sharp teeth. Then it began to pull her towards it. Not for the first time that day, Twilight screamed, and tried and failed to summon her magic.
I'm going to die, she thought. I'm going to die here, and I'll never see my friends again.
There was a flash, and the ocean was gone. The monster's eyes all widened in unison, and Twilight slipped completely out of its grip. Both of them fell, the monster shrieking and wailing the whole way like a dying cat. As she twisted in the air, Twilight could see that they had both been teleported a mile upwards, and were now falling back towards the ocean.
"Alley-oop!"
From out of nowhere, Discord barreled into Twilight and caught her in his arms, falling with her the rest of the way. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, but they shot open again when she and Discord bounced off the surface of the ocean like they'd hit a trampoline. Meanwhile, the squid monster fell straight through, drenching them both in the splash even as they rocketed back into the sky.
Once they reached a certain height, Twilight felt the weightless feeling from before return, and Discord flapped his mismatched wings to hover beside her.
"Ta-da!" he said, stretching his arms out either side of him.
Shivering and soaked in seawater, Twilight could only glare at Discord, who kept smiling back at her regardless. He was just as drenched as she was, but he plainly didn't care.
"...Well, that could've gone worse," he said, cheerfully, arms dropping to his sides.
"Speak for yourself!" Twilight snapped. "I was almost eaten by that thing!"
"But you weren't!" Discord slapped her on the back. "Congratulations! I knew you had it in you! The Deep Ones have nothing on Twilight Sparkle!"
Twilight kept frowning for a while, but eventually sighed and gave up. Discord, meanwhile, began looking around erratically, before summoning a telescope to examine the horizons. This prompted Twilight to look around as well, and the first thing she noticed was the clouds.
The sky above them was entirely covered in black and grey, and the clouds were at a great altitude as well. This was unusual to see. Most of the Equestrian coastlines had proper weather management, just like the midlands, and there was usually no point to having clouds out over the ocean. Was she really so far out to sea that she was looking at actual wild weather? If so, just where exactly had Discord taken her?
"Uh... So, where are now?"
"Jotunheim," said Discord, throwing away his telescope and donning a pair of reading glasses. "Another of the Realms of Chaos, but less actively chaotic than Muspelheim. Hopefully, I can make a more stable portal here."
He summoned a map, which he began poring over, not looking directly at Twilight as he muttered to himself. Eyes still on it, he snapped his talons, and then looked aside at the portal he had created. This one was yellow around the edges, and smaller than a dinner plate. It sputtered and died in seconds. Discord raised an eyebrow, and Twilight did the same.
"I'm honestly not sure what this is." He shrugged and removed his spectacles. "My magic is working fine otherwise, and I shouldn't have trouble with a simple little thing like cross-realm teleportation."
Twilight gave a sardonic smile.
"Well, you said it yourself. It happens to everybody."
"Haha," Discord said, dryly. "But this actually doesn't happen to me. Something's off with the realms themselves, and I'm not sure what. I didn't have any trouble opening portals to anywhere else, but for some reason, the way back to Equestria is blocked."
There it was again. That sense of gravity and seriousness in his voice. It felt wrong hearing Discord talk like that. It brought to mind their first meeting, the one time when Discord wasn't just being annoying or making stupid decisions, but had instead been actively trying to destroy her. Twilight's smile disappeared, and her brow knit.
"We are going to be able to get home, right?"
"I hope so..." Discord whispered.
"...Okay, that's it."
Twilight tried to move out in front of Discord. Since her wings were no good, she just flailed her limbs and pushed herself through the air until she was in his way and commanding his attention.
"Discord, I'm very thankful that you came to help me, but right now, you've landed us in what sounds like serious trouble. I need you to explain to me what's going on. Can you give me a clear answer, please? What is all this, and what do you know?"
Discord looked out across the ocean, and then back to Twilight. With a sigh, he crossed his arms and pouted.
"What do you know about the Nine Realms?" he asked, joylessly.
"Nothing," Twilight replied. "This is the first time I've heard the term."
"Well, then let me give you the short version."
Discord clapped his hands together. When he moved them apart, a small-scale model of the solar system appeared between them. Twilight's eyes widened. The models were in motion, with the sun, moon, and other planets all orbiting the Earth in as close to an accurate representation as possible.
"Your planet, Earth, Equus, whatever you want to call it, exists in a wide universe. I'll spare you the astrophysics lesson and assume you already know all about that, and that your telescope is for more than just making Princess Luna swoon."
He clapped again, crushing the model. When he drew his hands apart once more, this time there was just a model of the Earth, much larger this time, with a glowing red outline around it. Twilight blinked.
"Your world is special. We call it the Borderworld, because for whatever reason, it's chock full of portals and gateways to other universes, such as the one your mirror relies on, and it has a habit of growing pocket universes around itself."
Discord pulled his hands further apart, and the red glow stretched outwards from the Earth in both directions. When it finally snapped away from it, the glow formed into eight red orbs of light that resembled the Earth.
"There are eight such pocket universes now, each one about the size of your entire solar system, and each one containing a parallel version of it in its entirety, including Earth."
Finally, the representations of the planets all turned to dust and blew away on the wind. Discord's arms fell to his sides. He looked at Twilight with a half-lidded expression.
"Collectively, Earth and its eight parallel versions are the Nine Realms, connected to each other by magic as ancient as the worlds themselves. You ponies are familiar with a few, even if you don't know it. The breezie homelands, the Dreamscape, and even Tartarus itself are all located elsewhere in the Nine Realms from Equestria.
"Somehow you ended up in the Great Abyss, one of the Realms of Order, and now I've taken us away to a different realm, but for whatever reason, I can't take us straight back to the Borderworld. I don't know why, but I can only assume that something is reinforcing the dimensional walls around us. Maybe it's natural, or maybe something wants to make sure our coming here is a one-way trip. I may be able to get us back home, but it could take a while."
Twilight stared blankly at him.
"Does that answer your questions, Princess?"
"It, um..." Twilight cleared her throat. "Yes. Thank you."
"Good. Because I'm not your teacher and I don't like giving lectures. You want to play student again, ask Princess Celestia." He rolled his eyes. "And ponies wonder why I prefer not to answer their questions."
Her lips pursed, Twilight looked down at the ocean.
"So, you're the expert. Where do we go from here?" she asked.
Discord shrugged.
"No idea. Let's just pick a direction and hope for the best."