Equestria's Tales

by DouglasTrotter

World Between Worlds (Random)

"So, Tree Hugger. How do you like the atmosphere?" Discord said.

An infinite sky greeted two ponies and their misshapen host, and his gelatinous partner. Below them was a bottomless abyss. At the front of the establishment, or what could be classified as the front, existed a simple brown door with four windows embedded in it. Above the door was a sign that glowed in several translucent colors, confined to the strange shapes, "W <-> W."

"Discord, no messing with the other patrons," A voice said, coming from the silhouette of an individual from behind the bar.

"Right," Discord chuckled before he turned toward his group, "I kinda, sorta, may have caused a bit of a ruckus --" Discord said.

"Fracas!" a voice shouted, it's owner protruding from Discord's ear. He pushed the pink party pony back inside is ear.

"-- yes, a 'fracas' amongst the club here. We interdimensional beings need a place to relax, kick up our appendages, and let our powers cool down a bit, but it's so boring. All I did was try to liven the place up a bit." Discord said.

"This place is so unusual... it's aura is like, beautiful yet it's throwing me off." Tree Hugger said.

Fluttershy stared at each patron of the club before she slid down in her chair. The Smooze licked its non-existent lips while gawking at the silver trays the servers used to carry bubbling drinks to their awaiting recipients. Discord snapped his talon and helped Fluttershy adjust in her seat.

"Won't you get in trouble for that?" Fluttershy said. She looked at the bartender behind Discord, the silhouette seemingly staring at her. "...eep."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy. Since my little, 'incident' shall we call it, all of us have to check our powers at the door. We can only use a small portion of them to help our guests or ourselves to acclimate to the environment. Still, I hate these things." Discord said. The two bracelets around his wrists glowed in a yellow light. "They don't match a single thing I have."

"It suits your aura." Tree Hugger said.

"Yes, quite...." Discord said, his speech degrading into a guttural grumble. A slurping sound came from Discord's left side. "Smooze, take that out of your mouth. No snacking."

The silhouette raised its head. Two white dots formed, focusing on the green gelatinous blob. "Discord, I'm warning you. Keep that thing on a leash. I'm only letting things slide since you're a 'good guy' now."

Several audible laughs came as the bartender said "good guy."

"Good... good! Listen here drink slinger," Discord said as he raised his talon with his eyes aflame. The laughter ceased.

"Discord, it's alright. You're who you choose to be. It would be 'boring,'" Fluttershy imitated her friend's voice to the best of her abilities, "if you were one hundred percent reformed."

Discord lowered his paw and talon, the bartender shrugging at him. Fluttershy and Discord returned to their table with Tree Hugger and the Smooze seemingly conversing with one another.

Fluttershy poked her drink several times; the ethereal bubbles formed in the middle of the purple colored drink before disappearing and reappearing at the bottom.

"Fluttershy. Are you sure you don't want some soda water or something? That might be a little... unusual for you?" Discord said.

Fluttershy sipped on her drink. A horn soon protruded from the center of her head with her wings growing out. Her body grew to the size of Princess Celestia before she shrunk down to her original size with the horn shrinking back into her forehead.

"Tastes like grape and honey." Fluttershy said in a cheery tone, soon sipping on the rest of her drink till it was gone.

"Ye-he-he-es, grape and honey." Discord said. He squinted, and then glared at the bartender. The silhouetted individual waved at the misshapen creature while giving him a sinister grin, soon mouthing "good guy" in a slow manner. Discord snarled at the wrist band around his talon.

"Hey Discord, who's the pony?" A creature said. The bipedal entity in a red shirt smiled. "Don't tell me you have a friend?"

Discord remained quiet as he sipped on his drink. The creature patted Discord on the shoulder then walked toward his table with a bald headed individual sitting at it.

"You two are totally in-sync with one another. Your auras match." Tree Hugger said.

"Quite." Discord said. He looked at Fluttershy, "I've been meaning to ask. What was that 'strange' little object your friend brought back with her?"

"You mean Applejack?" Fluttershy said.

"Yes. Applejack. I couldn't help noticing that weird little rock inside Twilight's home. It seems rather, interesting." Discord said.

"Discord! Were you spying." Fluttershy said.

Discord took the security camera off his head and put it back into his eye socket, the camera turning back into his eye. He shrugged at his friend.

"You know I don't approve of spying on friends." Fluttershy said.

"Trouble in paradise." The bartender said, ducking as a drink whizzed past his head. "Hey you stupid imp. What did I tell you about throwing drinks!"

"What did you call me? What did you call me! Only one to take me on is Sups, and you don't have the guts to do it. McGurk, help me out here -- o drat." The small individual in a purple suit said before disappearing. Strange writing appeared on the mirror behind the bar.

"Darn imp always annoys me." The bartender said while he cleaned a glass. "Hey Tap, get out here. I'm going on break."

A door materialized with an earth pony mare coming through it. The pony floated into the sky, nodded to the bartender, and proceeded to pass out drinks.

"Ahh, Tap, how are the little ones?" Discord said.

"You try raising two of your own and ask me." Tap said. She eyed Fluttershy, "Well now, I didn't know you got hitched. Planning to settle down with the missus here?"

Discord melted into a puddle in his chair. Fluttershy chuckled at her friend.

"Hey! Didn't E.H. tell ya not to bring that thing back in here?" Tap said, pointing a hoof at the Smooze. "Keep it on a leash, or I put it in the smallest bottle I have."

"Can't you be a little nicer? The Smooze isn't just some puddle of goo." Fluttershy said.

The bar went silent. One patron shook his head toward the yellow pegasus. Tap and Fluttershy's eyes locked onto each other. Discord reformed then hid underneath the table.

"Fluttershy, is it? I like you. Your little spark reminds me why I love this place. Sure, this thing on my flank says I was meant to bar-tend, but it didn't exactly point me towards what bar. Ol' Event Horizon, E.H. as some call him, is the one who gave me this job." Tap said with a smile. She winked at Fluttershy, and a drink appeared near the pegasus pony. "On the house... besides, we don't exactly accept bits here anyways. As a friendly tip, you'll want to slug it down vs. sippin' on it. That drink shivers my wither, if ya know what I'm sayin'."

"She's sweet." Fluttershy said, gritting her teeth after slugging down her drink. "How did she make my drink appear like that?"

Discord raised an eyebrow, bringing it back down with his paw. He shook his head then chuckled at Fluttershy.

"How about we talk about that little 'rock' Applejack brought back." Discord said. He stopped himself with the food coming. Bits of hay came for Fluttershy, a few bits of grass for Tree Hugger, teacups for Discord, and some ruby jewels for The Smooze. "Don't -- you did."

The three watched their gooey friend polish off his plate, including the plate itself, in under three seconds. An audible sound emanated from the Smooze. He gurgled then regurgitated the plate.

"Ha! Got ya this time. Can't digest that thing, can ya." Tap said from behind the bar. She laughed then went back to serving a patron at the other end of the bar. The patron tapped his digits on the bar, his double horned helmet sitting near his motionless hand. "Hold yer horses pal. Make sure ya keep that scepter in check too."

"I'm glad we came to this place. Life is always like, good when you mix things up." Tree Hugger said.

"Yes. I'm glad we took Discord up on his offer. This place is 'out of this world.'" Fluttershy giggled.

A slight smile came to Discord as he watched Fluttershy chatting with her friend and the Smooze. The group finished their meals, and Discord materialized his coin purse, soon stopped by Tap. He slouched over and sighed at the earth pony mare. With a snap of his talon, the coin purse disappeared. His lion's paw reached into his leg with a small wallet appearing.

"Good. Didn't think ya learned your lesson last time." Tap said before she eyed the flickering coin. She sighed, "You're seriously going to make me break this down? Do you know how hard it is to do that."

Discord waved at her, grinning before he turned back toward his friends.

"Thank you for the nice time, Discord. It was enjoyable." Fluttershy smiled. She floated to the invisible ground with Tree Hugger brought down by The Smooze. "He really likes you."

"Yea, he's totally calm right now. This place, it like, makes his aura all mellow." Tree Hugger said.

Discord chuckled to himself. He stopped then stood straight up. "Hey, what ya do that for? I gave you a tip with it."

Tap snarled at Discord, "E.H. wasn't too happy about having to break that thing down. When E.H. ain't happy, I ain't happy."

The small coin, missing its center, rolled onto the floor before jumping back into Discord's leg. He shrugged at the earth pony before moving with his friends towards the door.

"Come Fluttershy. We're going." Discord said.

"What did you give her anyways?" Fluttershy said.

"She'll find out later." Discord said in a snarky tone.

Fluttershy's eyes widened before she covered her ears. She closed her eyes.

"Goodness Fluttershy. I may be a chaotic god with a touch of madness, but I'm not insane. Those entities would rip me limb-from-limb without a second thought." Discord said, pulling off his two legs and lion paw with his talon. The appendages resumed their normal position on his body. Soon, an explosion blew out the door. Discord shielded his group with an umbrella.

A taller, more muscular Tap appeared. She clenched down on a small object and chucked it out the door. The earth pony returned to her normal stature before slamming the door behind her.

"Told ya I would be back. We're outta here McGurk. This place stinks." The little creature in the purple suit said before disappearing.

"Well, that was certainly, interesting. Thank you for the entertainment, Discord." Fluttershy said.

"Yea, that was, awesome." Tree Hugger said.

Discord snapped his talon, causing the group to appear in Fluttershy's house. The two ponies, Discord, and The Smooze conversed with one another before leaving. Fluttershy sat on her couch. A small book about to fall of the bookcase caught her eye. It floated towards her.

The small book opened, levitating in place. It displayed a picture of the group at the bar. Discord winked at the camera with Fluttershy smiling. Tree Hugger appeared to chant some sound with The Smooze jiggling in place. The picture vanished, and a flash of light appeared in her scrap book on the shelf. Fluttershy's eyes followed a small piece of folded paper that drifted towards her after the blue book that floated in front of her vanished.

"Fluttershy. Thank you for the 'nice' little outing. Just a little note here, a little 'FYI' of sorts, you should tell Princess Bookworm to let those three 'adorable' little fillies near that rock. It'll save her some trouble. -Discord"

Author's Note:

Went 100% random with this. As to how the group picked their location, Discord is Discord after all.