What do you do when the balance is shifted in the OTHER way than most doomsdays? Well if you're Discord, throw some spice in to fix everything into your favor!
The day Celestia had feared has come, but not in the way she thought it would. In stead of Chaos becoming an overbearing force and plaguing the world with darkness and hate, Order has won and taken it's place. Now, Equestria is not only being drained of Chaos, but of color, emotion, and choice as well. Discord, however, has found a solution. Having found that a race nearly as chaotic as him has been watching them from afar, he offers to let his power pull some to Equestria.
Now, six new heroes find themselves in a rather unique situation. Escape the world they have been brought to, or save it from itself.
Discord chuckled as he looked out from the balcony of one of Canterlot Castle’s many towers. “Well isn’t this ironic.” Down below, ponies were slowly stopping their daily activities and started to look pale, even for a Canterlot pony. “You make me reform so that my chaos won’t destroy the land, and it turns out to be what you needed to keep going in the first place!” He turned around to see Celestia staring sadly out at her kingdom. “I told you that things could be too orderly Tia.”
Celestia scowled for a second before sighing. “Sadly I must admit that you were correct...” She looked past Canterlot and saw the green forests and fields that was Equestria flood with white as the imbalance spread. “But I don’t know what we can do about this. Your Chaos doesn’t seem to be working and this... void, is causing our world to fade.”
Discord grinned. “I do have one idea that might work.” Celestia turned to him and was silently pleading for him to continue. “While I was out and about the first time I was free, I noticed that something was different. It felt like we were being watched from afar. The second time when dear Fluttershy reformed me, It felt stronger. Out of curiosity, I decided to see what was causing it and lo and behold I managed to find something I had only dreamed of!”
“They were as Chaotic as me if not more so! These beings that seemed to live above us in existence. There were thousands of them just watching us to see what we were doing, and some even were affecting our world without us knowing. I don’t even think they believe we exist!”
Celestia narrowed her eyes. “What are you suggesting? That we bring one of these ‘creatures’ that you have found here?”
Discord shook a finger. “No no no no, that won’t do. While they are chaotic as me, they don’t seem to have magic of any kind. No unicorns, pegasi, griffons, dragons. Nothing. If anything they resemble all of those ponies down there more than they do me.” Discord raised his tallon and pressed his claws together. “So I’ll just let my magic do it’s thing. After all, you can’t rush art, nor can you make anything perfect.”
With a snap of his fingers, Discord vanished and Celestia was left to stand and watch as he beloved subjects were white washed. “I hope you know what you are doing Discord.”
A yawn could be heard by everyone in the small classroom as a young man slumped backwards in his seat. The boy in question was wearing a white shirt and jeans, along with a Yin Yang necklace. He looked at his five fellow classmates with his blue eyes and groaned before speaking up. “Man, this sucks. What did we even do to deserve this?”
A girl in a green sweater and long yellow skirt shuffled her sandaled feet. Her own blue eyes were darting between them nervously through her blonde bangs. “Well Zachariah. We did sort of destroy the cafeteria...”
Zachariah sat up and pointed at one of the other guys in the room. “Hey, Jeremy didn’t have to punch the guy into the other tables! If he hadn’t, that food fight wouldn’t have even started!”
Jeremy, a tall boy with jeans and a plaid shirt, facepalmed. “The only reason I knocked that guys lights out is because he tried taking out mine first.” He leveled his brown gaze at Zachariah and shifted his baseball cap. “There’s no reason to go ‘n snap at Michelle, Zach.”
The two boys continued their fight and Michelle could only sigh. “Wish they’d stop fighting so much...”
Another girl, wearing skinny jeans, and a purple v-cut shirt, nodded. “They’re quite the duo aren’t they? With Zach constantly getting into fights and being overly competitive combined with Jeremy constantly having to pull him out alive it’s a wonder that they’re even friends at all.”
Michelle nodded before blinking in confusion and looking at the girl. “What did you do to get detention Alexis? You’re not someone I’d consider a trouble maker. You normally avoid this kind of thing.”
Alexis blushed a little and coughed into her hand. Her brown eyes looking away from her fellow classmate. “Well... I may have gotten a little angry at Tobias earlier when he rigged my locker with a... cream pie.” She ran a hand through her long black hair. “And my hair was styled so elegantly too...”
Michelle gasped. “You didn’t hurt him did you?”
Alexis shook her head. “No no no no!... he’s fine.” She pointed towards the door. “In fact he’s right over there.” They both turned their head and saw a pair of legs in white slacks and torn up socks sticking out from one of the desks seats. “And.... he’s still being weird.”
“What did you expect?” The two girls looked over at the sixth and final student in the room. He was reading a book titled ‘Dragonology’ through a pair of round rimmed glasses. His deep blue eyes never left the pages as he sat upright in his seat. “If Tobias wasn’t being weird, he wouldn’t be Tobias.”
Alexis quirked an eyebrow. “And how exactly did you end up here Mr. ‘Oh so perfect’?”
The boy sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose after closing the book. “Because I was near the scene of Tobias’ prank and I happen to be his brother, the teachers assumed, as they always, do that I was involved.... again.”
A grinning face topped with a mop of uncombed brown hair, popped up from under the desk and turned to the three. “Not my fault Josh! You were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.” His green eyes sparkled with mischief as he flipped into his seat properly, revealing his red and white tie-dye shirt.
Josh sighed and planted his head into the desk. “Shut. Up. Tobias.” He ran a hand through his brown hair and sighed while cleaning his glasses with his violet t-shirt. "How am I even related to you? We're complete opposites." A sudden chill swept through the room and everyone stopped what they were doing. Slowly, Josh stood up and looked around. “Did you guys feel that?”
Zachariah shivered. “Of course I felt it numbnuts! It’s freaking cold as hell in here!”
A meow cried out from behind them before a small cat walked over and looked at each of them. Michelle smiled a little and crouched down to beckon the cat over. “Come on little guy. It’s okay.” The cat exploded into a variety of colored lights which flew over and condensed back into the cat. Which was now purring. “H-HUH!? B-but how did you...?”
Jeremy was looking back and forth between where the cat had appeared and where it was now. “Tell me none of you are seeing this. I need to know if I’m going crazy.”
Joshua looked over at the cat and adjusted his glasses. “I wish that were the case Jeremy, but I’m seeing this too.”
Jeremy nodded for a moment before his head snapped up. “Hey wait a minute! You want me to be crazy!?”
Joshua shrugged. “For science. I never met a real crazy person and studying Tobias is impossible.” Tobias smiled and nodded furiously in agreement. “Trust me, I’ve tried.”
A ripple passed over the ceiling as an orb of what looked like green gelatin dropped on top of Joshua, forming itself into a small green top hat. “What.....”
Tobias quickly took it from Josh and ate a part of it. “Mmmmmm..... lime jello.”
Alexis was looking at him in disgust. “Really Tobias? That’s just so.... revolting.”
Tobias put on the hat and grinned. “What is? The hat or what I’m eating?”
Zachariah stood next to Alexis. “Both.” He turned and started to head for the door. “This is just getting too weird. I’m out of- Omph!” He landed on his back and groaned. “What the hell?”
A small rope was tied around his ankle. It moved the fray up to look at him before quickly wrapping his legs up. “HEY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE D-” He was silenced when the rope made it up to his head.
While Jeremy was laughing at Zachariah’s problem, the top hat on Tobias’ head seemed to melt and move over back on top of Josh’s head. This time looking like a fedora as it secured itself in place. “Hey! Get off of me!”
Michelle was looking at the cat as it sat in a corner of the room. “Please come here... um... I just want to pet y-!” The cat exploded into color again and started to wrap around Michelle, covering her up to the mouth. The floor seemed to melt as she managed to get an arm out of her binding before she slowly started to sink into the tiles.
Alexis ran over and grabbed onto her friend's free hand and was pulling as hard as she could. She glared at the others who were either fighting their own binds or laughing at the captured. “WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING!? I NEED SOME HELP!”
Jeremy didn’t even seem to hear her, and Joshua was busy trying to remove the jello hat, tripping over a desk in the process. Zachariah couldn’t help even if he wanted to. He was too busy trying to yell at Jeremy to get him down so that he could do something period.
Tobias, however, looked over and started to run to aid Alexis. Michelle was halfway through the floor and crying when he got there and started to pull as well. “Okay, the hat and cat were cool, but this is going too far!” He pulled as hard as he could and Michelle came up a few inches. “Whatever maniacal god is doing this, are you a traffic sign? Because STOP!”
Michelle looked hopeful as she started to get out of the floor when she stopped moving and a look of pure terror entered her eyes. She started to sink twice as fast as before despite the efforts of her friends and tears were cascading down her face as she was now neck deep.
Alexis kept trying to pull Michelle free even after her head sank below the tiles. “No. No no no no no NO!” Michelle’s hand slipped through hers as whatever had made her sink into the floor didn't allow Alexis to follow. “Michelle!”
Tobias was staring in shock before he turned around and saw Jeremy. He stormed over and socked him right in the face, causing Jeremy to fall back onto the floor. “Ow, Dude what was-”
Tobias pointed over to where Alexis was still clawing at the ground. “See anyone missing!? Me and Alexis needed you not two seconds ago and because you were too busy laughing at Zach, MICHELLE JUST SANK INTO THE FLOOR!”
Zachariah had finally chewed through the rope in his mouth and glared at the rest of the students, as the rope started to drag him towards a painting of clouds on the wall that were shaped like a building titled ‘Factory in the Sky’ by whatever nine year old made it. “Would one of you kindly HELP ME OUT HERE!?”
The rope started glowing a dark green before it quickly unraveled, causing Zach to spin around. His whole body glowing green. “Whaaaaaaaaaat theeeeeeeeeeeee fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck?” The floor beneath him shuddered as it turned into a bright orange color, wrapping itself around him and dragging him down.
Jeremy ran over to where he was standing and looked down. “Holy.... Just what the fuck is happening?” The floor underneath him seemed to warp and climb upwards, encasing him slowly in what appeared to be granite. “WHAT THE!?” He tried to move his feet but only managed to fall back as the petrification reached his knees. It started to creep up his back when it hit the floor, causing him to be stuck in a rather awkward position. “Ow...”
Alexis stood up on one of the desks. “Tobias, Josh, Get off the floor!” Tobias jumped onto a nearby desk and Josh tried to follow. However the hat on his head appeared to melt again, covering his whole head in the gelatin.
“Mmmm! Mmmmm!” Joshua stumbled around until he fell backwards into a hole that grew from the floor.
Tobias reached for him only to be pulled back my Alexis. “Don’t! You might get pulled in with him!”
“Hey! Turning to stone over here!” They looked over to Jeremy to see all but his face was now coated in rock. “This fucking sucks! Get me out of he-” The stone covered his lips and he started to glare at it in frustration.
The ceiling above them shuddered again as it began to droop and melt, dropping on top of both Alexis and Tobias, blinding them. They struggled as it slowly pulled them in and warped back into place.
Jeremy’s eyes, the only part still flesh, dilated as he looked up and saw a large pillar above him. Ah shit.... The pillar slammed down and forced him through the floor, leaving a massive imprint of where he should have been. When all was said and done, the room moved itself back into place, erasing all traces of the chaos that had occurred.
Not a moment later, the door opened and a teacher walked in before blinking and scowling. “Oh for the love of...” He walked over to the desk and picked up the phone, dialing the main office. “Hello? Yeah Kate, the six kids in here just up and left. You’re gonna call their parents... Alright.” He hung up and face planted on his desk. “Disrespectful kids.....”
I groaned as I laid down on whatever I had landed on. “Ooooohh. My back.” Whatever that gelatin was had splattered under my head when I landed, freeing my head. I had decided right then that it was best not to move for a moment from how much my back hurt.
That was about five minutes ago. I grunted as I sat up and rubbed my head. “What in the name of God was that?” I looked around and froze for a moment at what I saw. I was sitting in the middle of a road and there was... white buildings everywhere. White to the point it would fit inside an insane asylum. Most of the buildings were old english in design, including the thatched roofs and wooden doors. The only problem was that they looked more like someone had draw the edges of the structures with a ruler and pen rather than having the rounded wood edge that the supports should have had. I ran a hand over one of the edges and it felt incredibly sharp. “How is this even possible?”
“I don’t know, you tell me.” I spun around and backed into the wall. There was this.... thing, floating in front of me. I think it was called a draconequus in the book I was reading. “Hello, young human. Mind telling me your name? No wait! I got it!” It pulled out a stethoscope and placed it on my forehead. It moved the stethoscope around and started to hum. “Hmm.... Likes laughing at myths..... Thinks one Michelle Akerman is hot.... OOOOHHHHH That’s a juicy one, believes science is pure fact! HA, when haven’t I proved that wrong!? Oh, and your name is Joshua Landel. A small detail, but noteworthy nonetheless.”
I swatted the stethoscope away and glared at him. I was pretty sure my cheeks were burning right then from both being pissed at the thing for diving into my mind and... well you just don’t dive into private thoughts about who you do and don’t like romantically. “Now now, no need to be feisty. I’m just making sure your mind is what I need it to be, and I couldn’t ask for a better brain.”
I jabbed a finger at him as I felt my eye twitch. “Okay, just who... and... WHAT are you!?”
It laughed and reclined in the air. “Oh I’m pretty sure you know what I am Mr. Landel, and possibly who as well. Your race has been watching all of us here in Equestria for years now and a friend of mine and I find it quite amusing to stare back.” I blinked a couple times in confusion.
“Wait.... Equestria?” I thought over the name. It was... the setting for that show my brother was watching lately. We stared at eachother before it clicked in my brain. This amalgamation of animal parts was Discord. That.... stupid, reality warping villain from that show Tobias would obsess over and had declared his favorite character right behind.... what was it, Linkie Bye?.. No that wasn’t it. It’s not like I care at the moment though! I had just been told that everything I knew was reality was actually FUCK NOTHING by a CARTOON VILLAIN!
My mind started to break as I looked around at the whited out buildings. “No... No. No no no no. I am not in that stupid little girl show that Tobias won’t stop watching! I am not in some alternate dimension, or other planet, or whatever the hell those stupid fan-fictions Tobias reads say this is! T-this is a crazy nightmare and nothing more! Yes, that’s it! A nightmare that I will wake up from right now.” I closed my eyes and slapped myself across the face. It stung like heck and I started rubbing the point of impact. “Ow...”
I opened my eyes to see the draconequus was rolling in the air laughing at me. “Sorry to burst your little bubble there,” He warped behind me and popped a thought bubble over my head, causing a shower of words and pictures of me in really sissy pink pajamas to fall onto me, “but this is the real deal. You and your friends were brought here by your’s truly.”
I shook the lingering debris off of my head and glared at him. “Then send us back! I don’t care why you brought us here or WHO you brought here with me, send us back now!” I was panting and I could feel my eye twitching again. My glasses were even knocked askew slightly from my yelling.
The draconequus chuckled and I could feel a shiver up my spine. “Now why would I do that? If I did, then it would have been pointless bringing you here.” He landed on the ground in front of me and a few mismatched flowers sprouted. “As much as I love fun and games, let’s cut to the chase. I, along with the rest of this world, need you and your friends help.” I was about to retort when a piece of duct tape formed on my mouth. “No interrupting, now I know how much you seem to loathe Equestria in general, but until it’s back in balance not only am I in danger, but you and your friends are also out of a way home. So here is my deal.”
He turned me to face what looked like a large mass of black. “Help restore balance, and I will send you where you truly want to go and even give you a preview of what it’s currently like. Deal?”
I looked at the claw he had offered me and scowled. “You, a god of Chaos and Darkness, want to make a deal?” I laughed a little, “I might as well be dealing with the Devil himself! Not that you or him even really exist.”
Discord smirked. “Ah, but here in Equestria, I am the 'devil' as you put it. And I very much exist.” He offered to shake his claw as several more claws surrounded me. “So what do you say? Help me and get a free ride home, or wander this boring expanse of white for the rest of your life?”
I clenched my fists and tried not to scream at how freaking... Impossible, it was that he was multiplying his hand, that I was in some children’s cartoon, and that this... this... abomination to nature and the laws of physics was trying to make a deal with me. “Fine. But if you do anything that harms my friends, I swear-”
“-That you will come for me, lop off my head, pierce my heart with some magic sword, banish me for eternity, imprison me in stone, etcetera etcetera,” Discord interrupted, “I’ve heard it all before my dear boy and it’s only worked with one of those. Now since you agreed,” he grabbed my right hand and it felt like lightning was shooting up my arm. I fell back with a scream and clutched my shoulder in agony. “That just now was a gift from me to you, how you use it is entirely up to your imagination. Your friends will get some things as well, but theirs will be more suited to their problems, personalities, and such.” Discord vanished and reappeared towards an intersection down the road.
I started to walk over to him and held my arm. It’s pain was now a numb sensation that traveled up the back of my neck and into my skull. “What the hell did your gift do to me!?”
Discord smirked and pointed to my arm. “Why not look and find out? Unless your eyes are as useful as mine.” He then... took out his eyeballs and rolled them at me. I wanted to scream so much as they bounced off of the ground and landed on my arm, both from the absurdity of the situation and, well eyeballs just landed on me. What would you do? When they did, the eyes popped and a faint light was coming off of my arm in a tribal pattern.
Discord put a paw on my shoulder and leaned in, eyes intact. “And that’s just the aesthetics, you can do so much more than any human back on your ‘Earth’ ever could now. What you can do... I don’t feel like telling. You can figure it out on your own when you solve this riddle.” He vanished with a laugh and I could hear him echoing in the back of my head.
If you wish to seek your boon
Begin your search under the sun and moon
In the center of a maze
She sits with her craze
Waiting for her savior soon.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts and began to muse over the riddle that just played in my mind. “Okay.... most riddles are just gibberish at the beginning... so, the last few lines should be what I focus on. But.... I don’t see a maze anywhere.” I started to walk down the streets of the town and laughed a little. “Man this is one weird dream. Maybe it’s one of those lucid ones that Zachariah told me about. What was it about them? That if you knew that you were asleep you could control the dreamscape? HA, if that was the case, where’s my library of infinite knowledge?”
I turned left from a fountain and saw another massive black sphere. It looked like shadows were melding around something in the center that sort of looked like a tree... with windows.... I had to take a few deep breaths to stop my eye’s twitching. “It’s just a dream Josh....It’s... Just a dream.” I walked over to the bubble of shadows and stood next to it. “So what now? Just jump in?”
“That would be ideal.” I jumped in surprise and turned to look around. I didn’t see Discord anywhere before I felt something bop my head. “Up here!” I looked up to see Discord standing upside down above me. “This here, is something you need to take care of. Because the world can’t exist without chaos, it’s bunching it up into pockets. This is what I brought you and your friends here for. Your kind are like me, beings of chaos, but are also more like the native Equestrians, beings of light. You can exist in almost any dimension and manipulate almost anything in them so long as it’s physical.”
He turned me to face the black sphere and pressed my face inches away from the surface. “In there, is a physical item that will help you manipulate more.... ethereal aspects, such as my Chaos and the Order you’re standing in. I need you to get it and start fixing everything.”
I shook his paw off of my head and looked at him. “Why not get it yourself?”
Discord groaned and made himself a chocolate milk. “You sure are full of questions. By the time I’m done talking to you, your friends probably will have stumbled into one of these on accident.” He drank the milk and burped a brown bubble while leaning against the barrier. “I guess that's more the reason for you to take this specific one. The reason I can’t get the item is because all of the chaos that should be spread out is condensed into a barrier of sorts. As a being of chaos, I can’t pass through it as much as you can pass through a brick wall.”
I looked back to the black barrier and poked at it. My hand fazed right through and I pulled it back reflexively. I looked at it to see if anything changed, but my hand was fine. I looked up and saw that Discord had vanished.
With a sigh, I waded my way through the dark miasma. There wasn’t much I could do otherwise. I was on my own right now, dream or no. And going against chaos gods is not something you do in a dream. Unless you’re Tobias. Then again.... I’m not really sure what he does in his dreams. The only hints I get are random shouting and mumbling when he’s asleep. He even shouted ‘tuna salad’ once.
When I broke through the black, I could see that the white road from earlier had been replaced with normal brown dirt. “Finally, an improvement. All that white was getting....” I looked back up and saw that the tree silhouette from earlier did not do the actual building justice. No matter how... STUPID, the idea of making a house out of a tree by carving into it sounded, I had to admit I was impressed by the sheer size of it. The tree had to rival the great sequoias in height and was as wide as a skyscraper. The ominous clouds full of lightning didn't help with seeing the top of the thing either. “Annoying.....fuck all kinds of duck, I’m supposed to find a single trinket in THAT!?”
Yes, but I did give you a hint at where it is already though. I jumped a little before I recognised Discord’s voice. While I can’t go inside with you, I can still talk through that little gift I gave you. I can’t right now though. I have to help the rest of you little trouble makers. So long for now! Bwahahahaha! I felt a small twitch in the back of my head. It felt like someone plugged something into my brain and started to pump energy into it. It faded shortly after and I shook my head.
“The hell was that?” I deadpanned before tossing my arms into the air. “THE HELL IS ANYTHING ANYMORE!? JUST WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!?” I walked up to the swinging door that was on the front of the tree and pushed it open. There was a small lobby like area made from the inside of the tree. Just a small desk, a couch, nothing much for decoration. What caught my eye was the massive staircase that shot up the middle of the room and the bookshelves lining the walls. If I didn’t know better I’d say it was a giant library in a tree.
That’s because it was a library.... in a tree..... The infamous Tree Library... That thing most intellectuals like myself made fun of for the sheer irony of its existence... I could feel my eyes twitching at the fact that I was standing in it. “FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-”
After what I could only assume was hours of screaming at everything and banging my head into a desk, I had come to a few conclusions. One: This was most definitely NOT a dream. The fresh knot on my head proved so to the utmost degree along side the throbbing pain it was producing.
Two: It was very possible that I have gone insane and this is just my school seen through the demented lenses of madness. In all honesty I kinda hope that it’s not the case. I’d rather be in a world of new knowledge in a giant tree than locked up in a padded room having my brain poked with various needles.
and Three: I needed to find out what Discord had done to me. He said it made me different from any human in the world. I need to know what that difference is. I could be just a little taller, or he could have turned me into a super weapon of some kind that will answer to his beck and call whether I wanted to or not.
I’m really hoping it’s not the last one. Looking between my arm and the books in the immediate area, I decided to see if I could find anything on my arms new tattoos. “Well. When in Rome.” I got up and began to browse through the books for anything that could help. It was rather hard to find anything on the strange marks at all though. It seemed that every book in this section of the tree only covered mundane and silly things like ‘The Best Way To Cook Carrots’ or ‘How Not To Look Stupid At A Fancy Party’. In simpler words, “ALL THESE BOOKS ARE USELESS!”
I tossed the books that I had picked up onto the table that was in the room and decided to leave them there. The staircase seemed to catch my eye every time I glanced at it, so I was starting to get curious. “I wonder what’s up there?” I walked over to the stairway and noted that there was purple carpet running up the steps.
I started up the steps and was about halfway when the other end shot up to the opening and the carpet shot up, launching me into the air. “Whoa!” I landed back down and bounced off of the carpeting, landing next to it on the hard floor. I moaned in agony as I rolled off of my back. “Ow....” I looked up and saw more stairs branching off of the room I had landed in. Only difference from before was that these stairs looked like they belonged in a piece of a modern sculpture, What with the LACK OF WALLS, ALONG WITH MOVING UPSIDE DOWN AND SIDEWAYS! Cause that was completely legit right now! Why bother Logic and Reason at the moment? They seem to be having a great time doing FUCK, NOTHING, but sitting on their asses and playing poker! .... damn it, I sounded like Tobias with how weird that was.
I got up and looked at the immediate area (because looking at the stairs again was going to drive me insane) and saw that the floor was about twenty feet wide in diameter, and had small paths about five feet wide going between it and about four others. I cautiously moved over to the edge and looked down. “Oh.... fuck me.....” There was nothing...... just..... nothing. Your classic black bottomless abyss of fuck all that spread up the walls and covered the area above. Not even a trace of the room I was just in was below me and as it turns out, the floor was about as thick as a piece of paper. I backed away from the edge and turned to look at the other paths. Most of them had doors that sat between them randomly and seemed pointless if you dared to shimmy around them onto the path’s other side. THAT strategy was made impossible because the doors were two hole feet wider than the path.
I looked around the doors and saw more doors sitting on the paths that connected the other platforms as well. “These doors better not be freaking locked, or I’m going to beat the shit out of that fucking dragon thing.” I walked towards the one that was directly in front of the stairs, I’ll dub it north in this cacophony of mess, and pressed on the door. It swung open and a wave of black and white flooded out before pulling me in, I almost blacked out until it faded away and I was standing in the first room again. Only this time, there wasn’t a staircase and the door seemed to float behind me. I turned back to the room and saw that there was a... purple unicorn with wings reading a book. “This entire scene has all of my NO!”
It didn’t seem like she(?) didn’t hear me... I’m assuming it’s a girl from what I’ve heard Tobias rant about. She looked up for a minute as the book floated away and landed on a shelf. “Spike? Did that letter from Celestia show up?”
I grumbled a little. “At least I know that it’s a she now... no male being can have a voice like that.”
A small, purple, bipedal lizard, Spike if I assume correctly, ran into the room holding several books in a stack before placing them on the table at the center of the room. “Not yet Twilight. But it should be here any moment.” He turned around to leave before letting out a belch of green flame. The flame formed a scroll and was brought before ‘Twilight’ where it unraveled and she began to read.
As she read, her face contorted from one of calm to confusion and concern. “That’s odd... and rather alarming.” She turned towards some books on the far side of the room and they hovered in front of her.
Spike ran up and looked at her. “Is something wrong Twilight?”
Twilight kept looking through the books at a speed that I could only envy. “Celestia sent a letter stating that there seems to be an ‘imbalance’. She didn’t specify what was imbalanced though.” She stopped for a moment and looked at the tiara on her head. “Could it have something to do with Discord?” She shook her head and smiled. “No, that’s silly. Fluttershy reformed him almost a year ago. He couldn’t have turned evil again... could he?” I small twinge of doubt could be heard in her voice as she frowned.
Spike was looking at her nervously. “Twi? Should I go get the girls?”
Twilight nodded her head. “Yes, Celestia also said that she wanted to see us at the palace as soon as possible.” A pair of bags floated over to her and landed on her back. “I’ll be back soon Spike.”
He followed her to the door with a look of confusion. “Wait! What about me!?”
She looked back and nuzzled him. I had to admit.... it was a little heartwarming. “The letter said that it would be best if it was just me and the girls that came over Spike. So I need you to watch over the library while I’m gone.” Spike looked saddened by this but sighed. “I know you don’t like being left behind Spike, but I’m sure Celestia has her reasons.”
He waved a claw lazily. “Ah, it’s fine Twilight. You go on your adventure and I’ll hold down the fort.”
I looked at the act and couldn’t help but chuckle. “Kinda reminds me of when Tobias doesn’t want me to be concerned about something.” I frowned in concern and looked up in thought. “I sure hope he’s okay back home.... It would be a nightmare for mom if we both vanished, especially at the same time.”
Twilight smiled before nuzzling him again. “Thank you Spike. Be sure to take care of Owlowiscious and keep everything organized.” He gave her a salute and she cantered off out the door.
When she was gone and the door had closed, Spike slumped over with a sigh before moving over to the couch and flopping onto it. “I wish she’d take me on some adventures more often.... It’s pretty boring being stuck here in the library.”
I was about to say something when the room and lizard faded to white. The area shattered and I was on the other side of the door I had opened. Or I would have been if there still was a door. Now the path had a small diamond with a picture of that ‘Twilight’ character leaving her home. Looking back, I noticed that the other doors that connected the first room with the rest also had been replaced, probably with the same image.
I turned around and looked back at the room I was now in. It had a bed and a small basket that lead to what was supposed to be a balcony, only... yeah, the whole nothingness issue. I looked over to the bed and let out a large yawn. “Whoa.... didn’t realize I was so tired...” I walked over and sat down on the extremely plush bed. “A few minutes wouldn’t hurt.”
The moment my head touched the pillow, I started to drift into sleep. “I wonder....who else.... got dragged in....?”
I was weightless. After getting pulled up by... whatever that was (It sure as hell wasn’t a ceiling), I was flung up higher than I thought possible. Or at least, it felt like that. That was....about half an hour ago. I had stopped going up by then and had been floating in place in this white void for a while now. I could see a couple black dots below me... but, I really hope that those are only about an inch across. Cause if not, I’m really freaking high right now. And not in the good way.
“Hmm... one would think that if I really am that high up, I would have run out of oxygen or something by now. What with how thin the air is and all.” I just kept floating and decided to act like a cartoon by pretending to swim in place. “Maybe if I fall I’ll turn into a pancake.” I laughed a little at the idea. “Yeah right, I’d just break my neck along with every other bone in my body. That and die.”
I heard a poof next to me and it was followed by a voice I recognized. “On your world, maybe, but you'll find that this one is much more forgiving. From the look of you I’d say you would be a triple decker, chocolate chip with extra chocolate syrup.”
I turned my head and froze for a moment. Discord, Master of Chaos and one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on television, was sitting in a recliner drinking an ice cream sundae. No, I mean he was tipping the glass bowl up like a cup and it poured the ice cream out like a soda. I decided to vocalize my thought processes about then while waving my arms like a ninny and doing a pose at the end that had an epic ninja face that mocked any old time kungfu movie. “HolyshitwhatthehellDiscordisrightnexttomeHwaaaOoooooo.....!”
He laughed at my reaction. ”Oh, you humans are funny with how you all jump when I get show up. Much more of a reaction than those silly ponies.”
I started to grin from ear to ear with glee, even as I felt the wind pick up from under me. “This. Is. AWESOME! I mean if you’re real that means Equestria is real! Oooooooooooo, I am going to have SO much fun rubbing this into Josh’s face! Take that Harvard science monkeys! Transdimensional travel was just proven possible by an eighteen year old idiot and a cartoon character! WOO! The fourth wall has been decimated into pebbles!”
Discord just looked at me and blinked. “Well, That’s a new one.” He snapped his fingers and I felt myself slow down to the sound of tires screeching. A quick glance down showed that I was now about an inch from the ground. I stared at it until it clicked in my head that the rushing wind from earlier was me falling to a possible doom. Needless to say, I paled in fear and nearly crapped my pants.
I was dropped onto the white road and straightened up my posture, brushing off dust that wasn’t on my shirt. “Um... thanks for um.... yeah.”
Discord waved a hand and shades formed on his face. “Anything for a fan~!” He laughed a little before standing in front of me. “And as much as I like games, we don’t actually have time for any at the moment. If this fiasco blows over then I’m sure we will, but onto more pressing matters.”
I was about to ask what he was talking about when I finally decided to focus my attention on everything other than Captain Awesome. “Um... Is this Ponyville? Cause if it is, why is everything all white and....neh?”
Discord put his claw on my shoulder. “Good eyes, by boy! Now before we begin, I need to check something.” His paw poked at my nose and all I could see was swirls of color. “Okay, you’re name is Tobias Landel, knows much about Equestria already (although there are some sides left untouched), has a rather strange personality, and judging from your reaction earlier,” the colors faded away and I was staring at Discord as he was reading papers that were coming out of a floating printer, “perfect for the job. You’re hired!” He through the papers into the air and had a small cheer as they showered down.
I grabbed one of the papers that had flown in front of me and looked at the chaos god. “Hired for what?” I looked at the paper and read the title. It said ‘Application for Dark Hero’ at the top. HA! Dark hero. I’m going to be freaking BATMAN! I almost laughed when I saw my photo on the paper. Somehow, he had managed to put groucho glasses, a rainbow afro, and a polka dot bowtie on me. “Well, don’t I look charming as always.”
Discord laughed a little before wiping a tear from his eye. “Oh, you are so much more fun than your brother was. Now onto your questions.” I raised a hand, but Discord cut me off. “First off, yes your brother is here in Equestria and he’s here for the same reason as you. Just with a different pony.” I lowered my hand and Discord nodded before continuing. “Secondly, It seems that things here in Equestria have been tossed for a loop and into a storage box, and for once it wasn’t me that did it. I can’t seem to get anything back into balance on my own so I brought you and a few friends over for assistance.”
He grabbed my shoulders and I was lifted up off the ground. We started flying between the whited out streets and I could recognise a few places. There was the Joke shop that Pinkie and Rainbow bought most of their pranks from, I could see what I assume was Town Hall and a whited out mare standing in the doorway staring at me, and I think I saw a building that had square candies on it.... it was strange. Fun to look at and picture silly things, but strange nonetheless.
We stopped in front a massive ball of wibbly, wobbly, Inkey, black, stuff. The chaotic, swirly mess resembled Doctor Who’s interpretation of how time works almost to a tee. I looked up at the space above me only to see that I was being held by a pair of arms, while Discord was standing next to me. “So, What’s with the big ball of nasty? Did someone put a booger magnet in there or what?”
Discord looked at me with an amused grin. “This is what happens when too much chaos is bunched into one spot. Ever since the imbalance started to spread, The elements of harmony started to draw in as much chaotic energy as they could.” Discord leaned onto the mass casually. “This has made it impossible for me go get near them. You humans however, seem to just walk right through it with ease. I need you to go in to there,” he pointed to the black mass, “and find the element that’s in there. And don’t think that you’ll be without help.”
I could feel... something creep up my spine. It was really hard not to start laughing right then as the feeling that continued to crawl up and around my chest felt like a dozen feathers grazing my skin. I almost didn’t notice the glowing that came from under my shirt. “There, that should suffice. Travels aren’t any fun without a partner. Don’t you agree?”
I looked down my shirt and at my chest and saw a five pointed swirl that was surrounded by squiggles and zigzags in a sun-like pattern tattooed on my skin. “So.... what does this doohickey do?”
Discord turned me to face the sphere again (I somehow turned around at some point, I DON’T KNOW! I’M WITH DISCORD FOR PETE’S SAKE!) and gave me a push. “That is for you to find out. It wouldn’t be fair to the others if I told just one of you now would it?” I fell onto the ground and laid there for a moment as echoing started to ring in my ears.
Laughing till the end of time, This mare’s joy is simply divine, But the laughter has changed, and she has become deranged, until someone answers her rhyme.
I shook my head as I got up again. The world spun for a moment until I got my bearings by staring at my shoes. “Well.... that happened.” Looking up I blinked a couple times at what I saw. I felt the blood drain from my face as I looked at where I was. “And....that’s much darker than what I pictured my first piece of Equestrian adventure would look like.”
I stood at the entrance of probably the most demonic and over all LARGE carnival I had ever seen. The sky was black and starless and the only light came from the lamps around the carnival. Off in the distance, I could see a large spinning statue of Pinkie Pie that was smiling as it was illuminated by spotlights. The eyes looked lifeless and dull as they panned over the carnival, as if they were watching your every move. The stalls and tents that were pitched up were barren of any fairgoers, and I could hear the echo of a laugh amidst the eerie wind.
I gulped as I felt a sweat drop run down the side of my face. “Oh boy....” I took a deep breath and started to walk into the carnival. On the way in, I noticed a few things. One: My attire had changed. My pants were still slacks like before, but now had hot pink lining on the sides, and my shirt was now a black t-shirt with a familiar trio of party balloons on the center. “Well that’s pretty cool. Better than that plain grey one I was wearing earlier by far.”
Two: The laughing I heard earlier was periodic. About every... five or six minutes I’d hear it again like someone was playing a broken record to a ghost movie. I really didn’t like hearing it all that much and tried to block it out both mentally and physically. To no avail, the laughing continued despite my hands blocking out the rest of the sounds.
Third, and creepiest of all, was that I could feel like there was something moving between the tents, watching me, sizing me up, wanting a nice Tobi snack right before dinner. I stopped moving and shook my head. “Where did that thought come from?” It was a little disturbing, but I shrugged it off. “It must be something with this place. It’s....” I couldn’t really find a word to describe the feeling I was getting. “...I’ll think of a word for it later.”
I kept moving into the carnival and stopped when I hit a dead end. Where there should have been some way to move forward was a large tent. I could see an exit on the other side but... I really really really reeeeeally didn’t want to go in there. “Hmm.... Head into creepy tent, or stand around doing nothing and feel disembodied eyes following you.” I sat in the road and tapped my chin. My face was scrunched in thought and I quickly came to an answer that had half of me screaming at me that It’s a trap! and the other half saying like I have any other options.
As I got inside the tent, I could hear something new for a change. There was a distant roll of thunder as it started to rain outside. It started as a trickle at first, but in seconds it was a downpour. “Good thing I got inside. I hate rain.” I turned back around and walked deeper into the tent.
It seems that the tent was a lot bigger on the inside than the exterior. There was a walkway that lead up to the center stage where you would see lion tamers, clowns, and other sorts of things you would see at a circus or state fair. The round podium that the ring master would stand on was crumpled in and the clown car that sat in the back was split in half by a fallen beam. The cages were empty of any lions, tigers, bears, or elephants, and the stands were bare of all but an occasional abandoned cotton candy, or popcorn.
There was a rattling noise as I got closer to the center and, in a mild case of panic and fear due to the overall atmosphere of the area resembling a slasher film, I ran to the underside of the stands and hid like a chicken with it's ass on fire. I took a peek around the side of the stands and saw something that I hated more than rain.
Puppets. So... many.... puppets. Wooden, life-sized marionettes of ponies I was unfamiliar with were walking around in the center of the tent. They varied from unicorns, to pegasi, and most were just regular ponies. The strings were cut and tangled around their bodies and limbs, but they still somehow walked around as if they were flesh and blood. The sound of them rattling as they moved about was constant as they moved into, around, and through the area of the tent.
I started to search around under the stands to see if I could find... well I didn’t really know what I was looking for, just something that could have the potential to be useful. And a useful something I found! There was a baseball bat that was left underneath the stands like some kid had dropped it while in the awe of a quadruple backflip somersault from an acrobat and then quickly forgot about it. It was.... a little small. Most baseball bats would be about the length of my arm at the least, but this one only got three fourths of the way to my elbow. “.... Eh, if anything I can use it as a club.”
I looked again and the puppets were leaving in the direction I had come from. When the last one exited the tent, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I slumped back and rested against one of the support beams to the stands and started to rub my head. “God, I hate puppets.”
I walked out from behind the stands and looked at the outside again. The rain had let up some, and I could see only about four stands away from myself. “Great. The weather is against me too. As if things weren’t already weird with the fact that I’m in some demented, off-balance, nightmare-or-nothing Equestria.” I walked over to the other exit and jumped a little before quickly diving off to the side. One of the puppets from earlier was standing in front of a stall and trying to climb over. The moment it’s hoof knocked over some of the cups that were placed there I could hear a little girl scream. Oh that is not flying.... no matter how...freaking...creepy.... SUCK IT UP TOBIAS! BE THE HERO!
I snuck closer to the puppet as it fumbled to get over the counter of the stall. In one quick motion I slammed the bat into the head of the puppet and quickly jumped back. I was posed to make another strike when it jumped at me and that creepy as fuck puppet was not going to best me!
At least... if my initial blow hadn’t made it poof into black smoke and vanish that is. I just managed to look stupider than usual by standing in the rain holding a tiny baseball bat like some cheesy samurai movie star. Oh.... well then. I SHOWED HIM! Yeah! Like some stinkin' puppet's gonna get the better of this piece of amazing. After mentally praising myself for being the awesome hero that I am, I walked over to the stall and whispered. “Hello? Is anyone there? The puppet’s gone.”
I could hear some stuff get knocked over and a very scared and trembling voice came out. “W-who’s th-there?”
I hopped over the counter and crouched down to the ground in case more puppets showed up. I also kept my voice to a whisper... did I mention that PUPPETS ARE FREAKY AS HELL AND SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED!?!? “My name’s Tobias. But you can call me Tobi!”
I could see some cups and other things piled over to the side and a bunch of cabinets that were built into the stall. I could hear the voice coming from the cabinets as the scared kid spoke again. “Y-y-your n-not gonna-a e-eat m-me.... are you?”
My face scrunched into the ‘Fry not-sure’ face. “Um... why would I do that? I don’t even know who you are... or what you are for that matter. Can you come out?” The stall was silent aside from the pitter patter of the rain. Eventually one of the cabinets started to open and... HOLY SHIST IT’S DINKY HOOVES! The moment she saw me Dinky eeped and slammed the cabinet closed. “Whoa whoa whoa whoa hey!.... It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Dinky poked her head out enough that she could see me. “Y-y-y-you’re not?”
I shook my head and smiled at the little filly. “Nope. From that little glance I got of you, I’d say that you’re too adorable to do that too.” She came out the rest of the way and I was shocked at her appearance. Her coat was messy with dirt and grime and her mane was completely disheveled. She also had a fair number of scratches and cuts on her body.
She looked up at me while shivering. “A-are those thingies gone?”
I peeked over the edge of the stall and couldn’t see a single puppet. I looked down at her with a gentle smile. “Yes. Now could you please tell me your name?” Score two for me! I managed not to look like a total creeper! Woo!
Dinky nodded. “M-my name’s Dinky.” She looked down before trotting up to me and giving my leg a hug. “Th-thank you for helping me Mr.Tobi.” HNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!
I patted her head and tried desperately not to strangle her with loving hugs of adoration and fandomness. “No problem Dinky.” I looked over the edge of the stall again and still couldn’t see any puppets. “Hey Dinky? I’m a little new here. Could you tell me what’s going on?”
Dinky nodded. “W-well.... A couple days ago, mommy started to feel sick. Th-then almost everypony started to get really pale. a-a-and then when mommy took me to S-sugarcube corner, Pinkie just stopped and started to shiver really bad. I started to feel really dizzy... and when I woke up... I was in a stall down that way.” She pointed behind her and started to sniffle and shake. “I-I couldn’t find my mommy an-and... I got scared.... th-then the puppets found me and... and...” She started to cry into my leg. “I-I-I miss my mommy!”
To say I felt bad was such an understatement, it would make underdog hit himself in the face a good number of times. I scooped up the crying filly and hugged her to my chest. “Shhhhh, shhhh shhhh, It’s alright Dinky.... I promise you that we’ll find your mom.”
Dinky looked up at me in tears. “R-really?”
I nodded and smiled. “You betcha!” I started to feel rather drowsy and almost toppled over. ”But first, let’s find someplace to rest... I’m bushed.”
Dinky hopped out of my arms and trotted further into the stall. “I-I-I think I saw a b-b-bed in here when I was trying to hide e-earlier.” I nodded and followed her into the back. Certainly enough, there was a bed there. There was also a bookcase and dresser that I pushed in front of the doorway before laying down.
“There, now they can’t get in.” Dinky yawned before nearly falling on her face. I could only chuckle. “Looks like-” Interrupt the moment with a yawn, “-I’m not the only one tired.” I laid down on the bed and popped my back as Dinky hopped up next to me. I relaxed my arms and dropped one over the now sleeping Dinky as she curled up next to me like a cat.
I couldn’t help but feel worry now that I had found Dinky. Cause now not only was I supposed to help restore balance to Equestria itself... but I had to help keep this little innocent girl... er... filly safe while getting her back to her mom... who I assume is Derpy... the Derpy I will promptly fanboy at the sight of.... I closed my eyes with a sigh and let myself drift off to sleep. This just keeps getting better and better.... Well of course it got better, I’m cuddling freaking DINKY! HA! Take that fandom! I’m cuddling your adorable and you can’t stop me! I will find a way to weaponize it and take over th-
I hate spinning. It is by far the worst thing in existence. Even more so when you’ve been spinning in some white void for GOD KNOWS HOW LONG! Stop spinning, stop spinning, just fucking stop spinning for the love of god STOP FUCKING SPINNING ALREADY!
I think my complaints finally managed to sway some deity, cause I felt myself start slowing down. I stumbled a lot before falling onto my hands and knees on what looked like an enlarged version of my Yin-Yang necklace. I tried to stand up, only to be slammed back into the ground by severe nausea. “Oh god.... gonna hurl.” I crawled over to the edge of the circle and started to vomit over the side.
By the time I was done I had got a good look at what was below me. “Holy...” The circle I was on was only an inch thick, but the ground was at least seven stories below me. “...Shit.” I moved back to the center of the platform and sat down. “What in the holy hell is going on?”
“I don’t know.” I looked behind me an..... holy fuck.... Discord is right fucking next to me. He shrugged and started to walk along the rim of the Yin-yang platform while twirling an umbrella, “but I never really know what my magic does to begin with. Chaos and all that.”
I stuttered as he looked down at me with a grin. “H-h-how....” This shouldn’t be possible. Sure I occasionally.... indulged, in watching the show.... but how in the everliving fuck is Discord right next to me?
He started to float before diving beneath the platform and vanishing. I looked down and saw the black half had his eye in place of the dot while his grin formed under it. “How isn’t what’s important right now.” The image circled wildly before it was just him sitting in the white dot. “It’s the why.” I stared in confusion as he started to drink.... the coconut’s husk leaving the milk? I thought he did that with chocolate milk?
The platform slowly spread apart and I was forced into doing the splits between the two. “Whoa!” I looked directly below the platform and saw a large writhing mass of black. “What is that!” My feet were starting to slip from the distance of the platforms. I couldn’t have been more than ten to twelve feet from the surface.
Discord’s head popped out if my shirt with an insane grin. “That is a massive ball of chaotic energy. It is the ‘why’ I was talking about.” I felt his hand clamp onto my shoulder and was soon followed by excruciating pain traveling down my right arm. “That should help with what’s about to happen. Toodles~”
I looked around for the crazy god only to find nothing. “Wait, wha-” The two halves vanished and I started to tumble down into the black. “FUUUUUUCK!” I soon passed into the black and landed on my back into a hard surface with a loud clang that started to echo around me. “Owwwwww, fuck me that hurt.”
I sat up clutching my head and back in pain as I started to hear chuckling from the back of my mind. “Undoubtedly, Now here’s a hint about what to do next if you want to survive.” I started to space out as a rhyme hauntingly echoed into my thoughts. With my eyes still closed from the pain, I actually could see little images with the words.
Deep inside the factory of lights
I could see a lights pouring out of Rainbow’s cloud house
She’ll hunt you down just out of sight
Black wisps started to swarm around it and the light started to flicker
Her thoughts shattered
The wisps formed the ball that I had fallen into.
The prism has scattered
The color around the mass started to get sucked in.
All shall feel her mind’s blight
A small black and white dot formed above the mass.
I blinked back into reality and shook my head. “Wow, that was creepy.” What did I just see? Talk about an A grade mindfuck. I opened up my sore eyes and looked around to see where I was now. The mass I saw had formed around Rainbow Dash’s house... but I’m pretty sure that her house has less metal to it. This better not be what I think it is....
I was on a metal catwalk and was surrounded on all sides by large metal pipes. The ambient glow from whatever machine was running down below me caused the whole area to be bathed in blood red. Drops of water were leaking down from above and when I looked up, I could only see fog lit with that same red glow. Down below wasn’t much better, meaning that there had to be something really bright down there, or there were some very well hidden lights where I was. Fuck..... Rainbow Factory. Just fucking perfect. Now I wish I’d read that story when I had the chance.
I stood up and brushed off my shirt and pants before picking a way to walk. I headed forward from the direction that I landed which made the wall the catwalk was attached to towards my right. I kept walking down the path until I hit a fork and had to choose where to go from there. “Hm...” the choices were, go forward, go right and head up some stairs, or go left and cross the chasm that was below me using a bridge that looked VERY unsound. “Well shit, where to go?”
I could hear something from above and looked at the catwalks that were a few floors above me. I could have sworn that I saw a flick of color go into a door before it slid closed. Out of curiosity, I started up the stairs and got to the catwalk the door was on. When I got closer, I could see that there was a rusty nameplate on the door. “Extraction Chamber #23..... Why do I have such a horrible feeling about this?” Looking down at the floor in front of the door I could see blood red hoof prints leading both in and out. “Yeah.... that’s a good reason why.”
With not any better options on what to do, I slowly pushed open the rusted metal door and peered inside through the crack. The catwalk on the inside was less worn out then the one I was just on, and passed between several large machines for about thirty yards. The machines themselves looked like large claws, surgical tables, and many sharp blades and scalpels were haphazardly replacing what was originally at the end of the long metal arms that came out of the mechanical mess of gears.
I was about to just leave and keep headed down the first catwalk when I saw something run between the machines. It looked like a small dog or cat or something, but it was moving too fast to really get a good look. “The hell was that?” I went into the room and jumped when the door slammed shut behind me. So much for stealth. Not a second later, what I think were the main lights came on and the machinery began to move. The clawed arm was descending into a cage to grab something, but it was constantly coming up empty.
I heard hooves clopping on the catwalk from around one of the machines. Oh shit! I may not have read the actual fic, but I’m pretty sure that being found in here would be very bad. I felt my skin go cold as I looked around for a place to hide. I cheered silently as I found a bunch of pipes to squeeze behind. A quick peek from behind and I saw a large, burly pony in some sort of metal super armour with mechanical wings moving down the hall. The armour covered everything on it to the point that there was a visor on his eyes, and his mane and tail was nowhere to be seen. After raising it’s hoof next to it’s ear, a deep male voice spoke. “Security unit Beta 5, have you found the source of the disturbance? Over.”
There was some static before a second voice came from the pony’s helmet. “Negative, Beta 1. It seems that whatever got in has managed to sneak into some rathole without us finding it. Over.”
The pony groaned and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. “Damnit.... first that brat escaping and then this?” He raised his hoof again and the static turned back on. “Alright then, Relay to Beta 2 through 4 that we’re falling back to Guard post 2. Report anything that seems suspicious. Over.”
“Roger that.” The guard let go of whatever earpiece he was pressing and looked around the room.
“ALRIGHT YOU LITTLE SHIT! I KNOW YOU’RE IN HERE!” One of the wings extended and a blade shot out of where the primary feathers should of been. “If you come out quietly, It’ll make this easier for the both of us!”
I slipped a little and bumped into the pipe making the guard look in my direction. Shit.... shit.... shit.... The guard was slowly moving closer and I looked around frantically. There wasn’t anything to grab onto or use as a weapon in this cramped spot. When he was only about two feet away or so I groaned and threw my arms up. “FUCK IT!”
I jumped out of my hiding spot and kicked at the guard. My shout must have surprised him or something cause he flinched just before my foot connected with his head in a shower of sparks. There must have been something that I broke in the helmet because DAMN that was a lot of electricity flying off his head. He stood for a moment and twitched until he slumped onto the floor. I looked at the guard and could only stare in disbelief. “Did I just take him out with nothing but a kick?”
I looked down at my foot and... I think I saw sparks on it. Just.... what the fuck..... I looked back down at the pony and pulled off the helmet. His coat was a dark green and his mane was just a plain red that was sorta spiked. If it wasn’t for the fog coming out of his mouth, I’d have thought he was dead. The helmet was sparking and I could hear something staticy come through. “Be..a 1.....at’s....ing on?... We l....t cont...... with ....u.... Bet....1 com......n!” I cursed inwardly and looked around. Shit shit shit shit gotta hide this guy, gotta hide this helmet!
I looked over to one of the claws and saw it descend into one of the pits. PERFECT! I quickly tossed in the helmet and picked up the guy. Just before I tossed him in though, The claw had grabbed his helmet and cut it to ribbons. ..... not perfect..... I pulled the stallion back over the railing and looked back at my old hiding spot. You’ll do.
A hasty stuff job later, and the guard was now wedged between two pipes in such an awkward way he was not going to be happy when he woke up. Nor would he be able to talk with his back hoof in his mouth. “There, that oughta do it.” I could hear something coming from the door I came in and started to run though the room. “And just in time too!”
I ran down the hall and found another doorway that had a key card reader on it. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” I slapped the reader in frustration and it suddenly was sent into a shower of sparks. A second later, the door opened and I could hear banging on the door on the other side of the room. ....... Okay, that was weird. I decided that it would be better not to look a gift horse in the mouth and ran through the open door. I opened the first door I could reach down the new corridor and closed it behind me.
I pressed my back against the door until I heard a small stampede run past me. I let out a sigh of relief and slid to the floor as the adrenaline faded. Looking up, I could see that I had managed to find an old abandoned janitor’s closet. I mean really, not even the school’s had this many cobwebs.
I spotted an old cot that was in the corner of the room and moved over to it AFTER I barricaded the door with a chair. I laid down and cracked my neck before closing my eyes and yawning. Man, today’s being some kind of crazy.... just what the hell is going on?
Just before I fell asleep, I think I heard something shuffling in the back of the room. If it’s something dangerous..... ah fuck it, I’m too tired.
I was floating, or at least, I think I was? I wasn’t really all that sure anymore. My mind seems a little foggy. I remember getting into a food fight unintentionally... then the teachers yelling at us.... getting detention.... and then.... I think there was... a cat?
I gasped as I remembered what had happened and looked around frantically. There was just white in every direction and looking down I could see a cloud pass by me. I started to scream as I fell past the cloud. I couldn’t see how far the ground was and I didn’t want to. I was still screaming when I noticed that the wind had stopped and I could feel something tickle my legs.
Looking down again I could see.... white grass? Before I could question anything, there was a pop and I landed down on the grass with a thud. “Ow.” I leaned forward and rubbed my now sore backside before standing up. “That, hurt.” I looked around and gasped slightly at what I saw. I was near what looked like a forest but... everything was... white. There was no color in the trees, the grass, not even in the rocks or road. I noticed that everything was evenly spaced out as I got onto the road. “What is this place? Everything’s so.... dull.”
I looked over to where the road was leading and saw what looked like a town. Just like everything else, it was completely white and ordered. At least, that’s what I thought at first. As I got closer, I noticed a few spots of the town that were different. Instead of being white and even, they seemed to be swallowed by large black balls of.... something. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt.... wrong. Like it was what you were so afraid of when you were little and thought there was a monster in the closet.
I was going to turn the other way when I noticed something moving closer to me from the direction of town. It was the first sign of life i’d seen and immediately perked up and waved at it. “Oh, um.... Hello, can I get-” I stopped and watched in confusion as what had come over the hill walk past me without even a second glance.
It looked like a pony of some kind, but was white like everything else and lacked a mane and tail. I couldn’t even tell if it was male or female and it’s large eyes were nothing but white globes. It seemed to move more like a machine than a creature as it walked passed me with solid, steady, measured steps. I wasn’t sure of what to do until it stopped and turned to face me with it’s lifeless eyes. It stood there staring like it was examining me... I think.
“Um... are you alright?” It started to walk towards me and I started backing away. “H-hey, what are you doing? Stay back!” I gulped when I saw more come over the corner. There were so many of them coming from town, I ran past the first one and started running through the whitened trees as fast as I could. It seemed to have to stop for a moment before it could turn around and follow me.
I don’t know how long I ran, but I eventually found one of those black spheres nearby. It was covering a small patch of land and had a white bridge sticking out of it while there were some bird feeders near the bridge. There was something else I noticed about the spheres now that I was up close to one of them. The bridge and grass weren’t completely white in the immediate area. The grass was green, and the bridge was wooden with a small stone path going across and grass covering most of the wood. The water under was clear and looked clean enough to drink from if anything needed to.
The bird feeders, however, only seemed half colored. It was like they weren’t close enough to be painted in properly by whatever this large black mass was. I looked at the white forest behind me and then back to the dark sphere while thinking to myself. I could stay out here with those strange... things. Or.... I took a deep breath and took a few tentative steps towards the black barrier. “Oh, this is such a bad idea....”
“It absolutely is.”
I froze in fear and shock before slowly turning to look to my right. Instead of seeing one of the white horses, I could see a large dragon like creature that I remembered Tobias talking about before. I also remembered him from the opening of Season 2. “D-D-D-D-D-D-”
He leaned closer to me before he placed his paw on my shoulder and giving me an exaggerated bow. “Discord, at your service m’lady.”
I stammered and fell back on the ground staring at him. I was more than a little thrown off by how he was acting... more so that he was even here in front of me. “B-b-but you’re supposed to be fiction! H-h-how...” I stopped for a moment and shook my head. “Maybe Tobias’ multiverse rants had some merit to them.” I’ll need to apologize to him later. If I ever see him again.....
Discord grinned and placed a claw on my shoulder. “Indeed they do young Michelle.” His claw stiffened for a moment before he furrowed brows and derped his eyes. “Hmm.... this is an interesting development. Looks like all I need to do is hit the on switch.”
I looked at him in confusion as his claw withdrew and he pointed at my shoulder. “What are you-” A small jolt ran down my arm as if I had gotten too close to an exposed wire when he flicked at an imaginary lightswitch. “Ow!” I rubbed my right shoulder where the jolt came from and it felt.... warmer? I’m not too sure how to describe it. It was... so many things at once. “What did you just do?”
Discord grinned and it looked genuine. “Originally it was meant to be a gift, but I think what I just did is more helpful in your eventual endeavors.” He looked over to the black sphere and sighed. “I need your help. There is somepony in there that has something of great importance. I need it out here for it to be of any use in fixing this.” Discord looked down at me and pointed to the sphere. “I am asking for you to retrieve it for me.”
Um....okay, now I’m very confused. Discord was being genuine,sincere even. It was nothing like how he acted in the show... but... maybe the show was off on some details on the characters themselves?... Or maybe something happened between the last episode and now... okay, dumb assessment, everything is white. Something obviously happened.
Looking over at Discord, I felt conflicted on what I should do. Despite everything that I’d seen of him in the show..... I could tell that he was being honest, and truly needed my help. “Okay. I’ll help.” His smile grew and he nodded. “But, um..... what am I looking for?” I don’t want to be running around blindly....
Discord’s smile fell as he looked at the sphere. “The Element of Kindness.” He vanished in a gust of wind and I started to hear a rhyme playing in the back of my mind.
Inside the forest of black
A heart of gold has turned it’s back
Her charges’ minds
All warped through grime
Till the last one to fight is attacked
I looked over to where the wind was blowing and saw Discord flying away. What happened to him that would make him so.... serious. I examined the black sphere and realized that the bridge and bird feeders were where Fluttershy’s cottage was supposed to be. And what does Fluttershy have to do with it? I looked at my shoulder and pulled my sleeve back to look at it better. There was a small black diamond surrounded by six circles that were looped into one larger one. The top circle had what looked like a small rabbit head in the center. I couldn’t really see if any of the other circles had something in them with how the mark was placed on my shoulder. Two of them were located more on my back and the rest that I could see were empty.
I pulled my sweater back where it was and looked back at the sphere. “Well.... Here I go.” I closed my eyes and started to walk into the black sphere. Immediately, I felt pins and needles run up and down my body. It was like I was being watched by several sets of eyes. Each one filled with hatred and malice at anything with a shred of light in it.
The feeling soon stopped and I took a deep breath before slowly cracking open one of my eyes. Gone were the white bark and grass and in their place was a sight to behold. “Oh god, oh god oh god....”
I was surrounded by twisted and gnarled trees that were covered in pitch black bark, and had knots in them filled with sharp points shaped like teeth. The green grass from before was now rotted and brown, or gone entirely from the path. The path itself was rugged, and I couldn’t see more than fifteen feet ahead. I quickly turned around to leave only to find that the black barrier was gone, and the trees and path continued on into the distance. Very little light was coming from the canopy of branches, and I could barely see a sliver of a moon through them.
It was like I was in the forest from ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarves.’ Only with fewer little men to help a lost girl like me. “Oh god what have I gotten myself into?...” I looked down both paths wearily before sighing and moving down the one I had originally been facing. This is a very bad idea.
A little ways down the path, I heard a snap from a twig behind me. I froze before slowly turning around. “W-W-W-Who’s T-T-T-There?” There was only a bush and the trees that I had-
Wait.... that bush wasn’t there before....
Not a second later, something leaped out of the bush letting out a battle cry and hit me in the leg. I yelped in pain and fell back onto the ground before whatever was in the bush jumped onto my stomach. “HAHA! I’ve vanquished th’ monsta!” I looked down at the attacker and..... saw a small pinto pony? What was his name again?... oh, I know I saw him in one of those episodes....
The pinto colt was puffing out his chest and was holding a small wooden sword. He had a small pith helmet on his head and a pair of tan saddlebags that had some papers and a rope sticking out of them. He also had a ball shaped compass around his neck that was pointing down the path I was heading. He had this smile on his face that showed how proud of himself he was for taking down ‘th’ monsta’.
That is.... until he looked at me and saw that I was looking back. Then he squealed like a girl and dropped his wooden sword. The scream was loud enough to startle a bunch of birds into flying away. “IT LIVES!” He jumped off of me to run, but I managed to catch him before he hit the ground. “AH! DON’T EAT ME!”
I covered his muzzle and looked him in the eyes. “Um... could you please be quieter? I don’t know where I am and I don’t know want to know what lives in this place.” Unless it’s a cute furry little mouse that can’t hurt me in the slightest. The colt started to tear up and I shied back a little. “Oh, and I’m not um.... going to eat you.” I put him on the ground and stepped away a little. “My name’s Michelle. Michelle Ackerman.”
The colt ran over to his sword and picked it up from the ground before pointing it at me. “I-I-I-I’m not scared of you! And whatever an Ackerman is, I shall vanquish you and save my cousin!”
Something large toppled over down the path and sent up a massive cloud of dust. Both of us looked over and paled when we saw that a tree was toppled over. There also was what had toppled the tree. Is that a lion....WITH A SCORPION’S TAIL AND BAT WINGS!? It was a dark brown and it’s mane was almost completely black aside from red tips. It’s fangs were blackened and stuck out at least two inches from it’s mouth. It’s claws weren’t much better, and it’s yellow eyes were scanning for anything through the dust cloud it had sent up by toppling over the tree.
I grabbed the colt before diving into the bush that the colt was using earlier and held him close to my chest. We just held our breath as the large predator stalked nearby. Oh god oh god oh god! There was a deafening roar before we could hear it crashing through the underbrush and toppling over anything unfortunate enough to cross its path. I poked my head out of the bush and saw the trail of destruction it had left behind.
After I picked up my jaw, I looked over at the small pony. “W-W-W-Was that a manticore!?”
The colt shakily nodded as he looked down the path. “Yep.... Nothing like the ones I’ve seen before though. Normal ones are less,” he waved a hoof in front of his face for a moment before pointing down the trail, “violent.”
I took several deep breaths and stepped out of the bush. The colt followed soon after and looked down the trail. “Darn.... That’s where I need ta be going.” He looked over to where his sword was laying and picked it up. “Maybe I can find a way around it.”
I looked at the small pony like it had grown a second head. “Y-you’re kidding right!? You want to follow that thing!?”
The colt looked back at me and nodded, albeit hesitantly. “Yep. My cousin needs help, and I’m gonna help ‘er!” He looked down the path again and gulped. “Just..... gotta get to ‘er first.”
I took a few nervous glances at the trees before looking down at him again. “You’re going to go in no matter what I say, aren’t you.” He nodded and I sighed. “Well..... I can’t just stand here and let you wander into danger.....” Ohhhhhhhhhh this is such a bad idea! “So I’m coming with you.”
The colt turned around and looked at me for a moment. “Wait, what?”
I gulped a little before getting up and standing behind the small pony. “I-I said I’m going to go with you.”
He looked at me in confusioh before shrugging and putting his sword on his back. “Eh, You can come if ya like. You better now slow me down though! My cousin could be in trouble and I need ta save her!” He posed and shouted into the air after turning around. “ONWARDS TO VICTORY!” He ran for a little bit before turning back to me. "My name's Pipsqueak by the way." That's where I saw him before! Oooooooh He. Was. So. Adorable~!
As Pipsqueak ran off, I stumbled a little to catch up to him “H-hey! Wait for me!” We ran headlong into the underbrush and I couldn’t help but have this small nagging thought. I have a very very very bad feeling about this!.....
