Rainbow kept to the skies and clouds and stopped only when nature called for as long as she could.
“It’s been two frickin’ days, mare! C’mon… that city has to be close. This dumb thing is blinking and everything is bucked up,” she screamed as she wiped with a cloud and took off again, rocketing faster than she had in hours, “the whole world sucks! I just wanna go home and be cool again… I miss being awesome,” she whimpered as her emotions began to swirl.
“Oh, do you now?” a voice whispered in her ear. She stopped suddenly and waited as the air from her flight rushed past her.
“Who was that? Discord?! Get out here and show yourself or I’ll-”
“You’ll what, my dear? Wipe me away?” Discord chuckled darkly as he slithered from her ear and into her mane. “Don’t pay attention to me… Fly, you fools. If they notice me then we’re in a whole new world of trouble.”
“Yeah, right. Who could possibly know you’re even here, and why should I listen to you? You’re supposed to be-” A zipped appeared over her mouth and zipped shut, a lock appearing and securing it shut.
“I said go, I’ll explain on the way, now go.”
Rainbow growled, used her hooves to push against the object covering her mouth, and even went into a freefall, using her wings to attempt to manipulate the lock. Opening her wings she flew back into the sky and snorted in frustration. She began a slow flight, with sagging shoulders and slow flaps, in the direction the gem pointed her.
“That’s my little pony,” Discord said. She felt him pat her head as his weight suddenly appeared on her back. “Now, the reason for this hide and don’t get found by the chaos sensing monsters that attacked you a couple days ago,” Rainbow turned to glare at him, “is because… oh, well, I suppose I just told you.”
The zipper vanished and Rainbow shouted. “What the hay is your game this time?”
“No,” Discord grumbled, “no games. No fun. No jokes. This time, it’s personal.”
“You sound like a badly written story.”
“Can’t help that; it’s up to the author,” he shrugged, “if that were the case. But, I digress, Rainbow Dash, this is personal.”
“Why, did those freaky voiced things steal your plans?”
“No, those Lepurics are merely extensions of another, more sinister, Agent of Chaos. Currently, that agent is taking over your home and has figured a way to block most of my own magic and, thus, fun.”
“So? What’s that gotta do with me?”
“Simple, while he’s there, his magic has less effect here. I’ll help you as I can and in exchange, you keep me entertained. Now, before you use more language as colorful as your mane… which I love, by the way,” he said flying next to her, his wings flapping and his mane the colors of Rainbow Dash’s.
“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes, “it’s one of a kind. I’m not here to play your games.”
Discord continued as though he weren’t interrupted. “All you have to do is keep doing what you’re doing. Bathe in the waste of others, make water and chocolate rain on unsuspecting caravans below you,” Rainbow blushed and glanced back the way she came; a mobile dot indicated where her leavings had fallen, “and don’t forget to eat,” he said as a plate full of vegetables appeared in his paw. He offered it to Rainbow who didn’t hesitate to fly to it and chomp, gobble, and scarf the succulent meal down her throat.
She stopped and fell back onto a cloud Discord created for her. “Okay, Dishturd,” Rainbow snarked, “I’ll play this game for a little bit; but you gotta promise to keep Fluttershy and my other friends in Equestria safe, and to get my friends here to safety.”
“Choose one,” Discord replied as he sat on a cloud shaped beach chair with a crescent moon in his paw and a berry in his claw. “Here, or Equestria.”
Rainbow looked between her choices and blinked. As the option dawned on her she shook her head, slowly. “W-what? N-no way, Discord! No way! That’s not fair,” she growled as she rolled to her hooves then took to the air, hovering near him.
“I can’t save them all; simply some. I can save a couple from each group if you wish,” he said, juggling the moon and berry, “but you can’t save any of them if I do that. Choose.”
Rainbow looked, her eyes darting between the items being tossed around by the God of Chaos. “The berry. I choose my friends here. I know that Twilight and the others can keep home safe from whatever you’re talking about,” Rainbow winced at her choice, “and if you lie to me, if they get hurt… I swear to everything that I’ll-”
“Let me stop you there, Dashie,” Discord said as he leaned forward and popped the berry into his mouth, “I can help them, but this land is rife with danger. To guarantee their safety is to guarantee their death by Lepurics, or worse.”
“W-worse? Fine, do what you have to and I’ll do the same. How far to the place I’m being led to?”
“Oh, it’s closer than you think,” Discord vanished, his chuckle remained for a moment before she was left in silence.
“What a butt,” Rainbow said as she flapped and turned to fly away; and slammed, head first, into a minotaur. Falling to a street floor she grunted in time with the minotaur she had impacted. As her head ached and ears rang, she made out the sounds of different creatures talking and shouting words she didn’t understand.
“Ugh,” she groaned moving her hooves under her and pushing herself up, “who installed a city in my path?” she asked looking around through her hazy vision. A hand grabbed her from the back and her blood chilled, her heart began to race and her vision sharpened. The last thing she did was inhaled deeply before beginning to thrash and shout unintelligible words until she was dropped. The only word the humans and minotaurs knew was ‘Lepuric’.
When Rainbow touched the ground she couldn’t open her wings out of fear, so she galloped ahead until she felt a tingle across her body. She began to scream and thrash as her body was lifted into the air until she noticed the magic field around her. Panting she looked back and frowned at a white unicorn she recognized.
“You?! What’re you… wait, where’s-” she paused to see Pea Gravel standing on all fours, in the crowd, with a puzzled look on her face. “P-Pea? What the hay’s going on?”