Chapter 1: Chaos of the Mind.

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“Cordi! Cordi Cordi Cordi! Misa very happy to see you! Watch doing boppy?” Jar Jar Binks, the most annoying creature ever devised, poked his irritating face into the draconequus’s dark shelter.

Discord ran a clawed hand through his beard. Today was going to be a long day. And tomorrow. And tomorrow. And-

“Cordi! Weesa going to be the bestest of friendies! Cordi! Cordi? Why is youssa no listening to Jar Jar!”

He shunted his sunglasses further up his nose, doing the best to hide behind one of the few remaining things from home, Equestria. ‘Why do you need to be so far off. I am imprisoned in this absolutely-putrid realm-’

“Cardi! Cardi look at messa!” The call of the gungan made the Lord of Chaos want to hit something.

“Wessa in Purgatory together!” The excited gungan practically launched himself clumsily into the brooding draconequus.

‘Stuck with... him... and I have been robbed of my most wondrous powers. How am I supposed to defend myself from this... foul creature?' The chaos-lord confronted the Gungan. “Look, Jar Jar, my buddy, my-” he inhaled at the thought of his lie, “pal...” Any further talk was cut off by the exploding nuisance.

“Yousa and messa are buddies! Wohoo!” He proceeded to rush around the annoyed draconequus yelling his head off in joy. “Weesa gonna go see Slippy Toad!”

“No!” Discord flailed his arms onto the Gungan to no avail. It was hopeless; Purgatory effectively prevented any form of physical contact. “Actually Jar Jar, I was hoping I could have some free time.”

The nuisance cocked his head to one side, unable to believe his buddy would want to get rid of him so soon. “But if wessa are buddies, then youssa should want to spend time with messa.” Hope shone from the extended eyes.

Discord wished he could just teleport away to somewhere... anywhere... “Jar Jar, I have a surprise for you, but you must leave this very moment!”

With a jump for joy, the gungan eagerly headed for the door. “Meesa getting out of here! Cordi you are the bestest friend ever! In the whole galaxy! Woohoo!”

The door violently slammed shut, giving Discord a moment of brief piece. He flailed sweat off his forehead. ‘Now where was I... oh yes. Bored.’ Long moments stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. The draconequus idly flipped, spinning in slow circles as he attempted to find something better to occupy his mind. Defeated, he settled down once more and proceeded to flip through the pages of purgatory’s daily paper. “Blank page... blank page...” ‘Still,’ he thought, ‘it’s still better than Jar Jar’. “Huh?”

The latest blank page was in fact, not blank. Lines of chaotic mist shifted mysteriously across the surface of the page enticing it’s bored reader onward. Words formed. As did the crazy, grinning face of an old human.

Well... aren’t ye' a little bored in Purgatory? Could use a little MADNESS in yer' life? Well then, Ah am yer' Scottish representation of an immortal, all-powerful entity! The grinning face in the ad held immediate appeal for Discord who couldn’t help but stare at it in mild disbelief. He continued to page through the ad as more lines appeared, drawing him onwards, reeling him in like a fish on a hook.

Anyways... where was Ah... ah don’t have an eternity, oh wait... yes ah do! Anyways, if you choose to work for me, the Daedric Prince of Madness, I shall provide you with plenty of MADNESS, a wide variety of chaotic powers, the right to troll any and every sentient in the multiverse... oh... and access to quality and affordable health insurance. All of these are your’s, if... and only if... ya’ give me your soul.

The text flared into a greedy red mist that begged the draconequus to submit.

“Never!” Discord slammed the pages across his desk. “I will never give up my soul! Never!”

The dark power of the pages continued to beckon. He knew that if he remained in the room, his usual chaotic mindset would deteriorate into madness and he would have no choice to submit to whoever had found him.

Fuming, he addressed the pages, “That’s it! I’m going to make something for myself in Purgatory!”

The Chaos-Master slammed his door shut and slithered out. His steps paced slowly and quietly in hopes to avoid the worst the multiverse could offer. A sinister and vile creature that drove fiery spikes of pain into the hearts of millions of humans. A creature that couldn’t possibly be avoided at any cost...

“Cordi!” The overjoyed voice of his worst nightmare rang out, retching all remaining joy from the draconequus’s soul.

“Jar Jar... I haven’t found your surprise yet... I’ll get it ready... just... leave me-” the angry harbinger of chaos turned to face his hated foe only to be cut off by further explosions of unwanted joy.

“Cordi! Cordi! Cordi!”

The dam burst, unable to contain his anger at the single worst thing that had ever happened to George Lucas’s masterpiece, Discord unleashed his pent up anger upon the poor gunagan. “LEAVE ME AND THE STAR WARS TRILOGY ALONE!”

“Okie-dokie Cordi! Meesa gonna go away for a while. Messa is going to go play with Scrappy Doo.” The boundless energy of the swamp dweller was undeterred by the draconequus's rage.

Jar Jar bounded happily off, still unaware of his buddy’s fury.

“Ugh...” Discord shuttered at the thought. Purgatory’s inhabitants left something to be desired.

He scurried through the two square of Purgatory. Being Purgatory, there were little objects to interact with. Only a few chairs and a fountain that housed the tears of disappointed fandoms. In the distance, a holographic child strolled through the endless whites.

“Oh hi Discord,” an alien creature spoke in an incomprehensible accent. “Anyway, how is your sex life?”

“THAT’S IT! FREE ME FROM THIS PRISON! TAKE MY SOUL! TAKE ANYTHING! JUST GET ME AWAY FROM TH-”

“Ah... Discord... please... have a seat... an' some chocolate-covered chicken,” the crazed southern Scottish voice of the Daedric Prince of Madness echoed throughout the room. Discord shook himself. ‘That was the strangest teleport I’ve ever done...’ His eyes adjusted to the poor lighting of his surroundings and he spotted a figure sitting alone in a chair. Unnatural mist hangs in the air, wetting the pelt of the once free chaos lord.

Discord sized up the creature. The strange human was sitting at a table enjoying some sort of meal. The mysterious creature beckoned to the newly summoned draconequus to sit and join in the served food. At the promise of real nourishment, Discord couldn’t help but seat himself across from the stranger who appeared to pay him no attention.

“A human? I thought... how do you have so much power?” Discord stared deep into the eyes of the mysterious figure.

“Human? Nah. I’m beyond such classifications. I’m actually an immortal spirit. I’m also a communist, a coupon-cutter, and a fan of recent fashion trends. The names Sheogorath. This here’s Pelagius the Mad.” At the introduction of a second being, Discord noticed that there was in fact a second strange human shaped creature suddenly at the table. He stared at him in disbelief, ‘I thought only I was supposed to do that sort of thing.’ A smile crossed the draconequus’s features ‘okay. You have impressed me. Let's see what you do next.’

Sheogorath attended to his unique meal ignoring the two beings he had summoned into his presence. Discord allowed himself to join in and together the three share a brief meal.

Sheogorath broke the silence wearing an evil grin of appreciation. “Ye’ know... Ah like you.” He pauses for effect. “Where are ya’ from? What realm do ya’ call home? What’s the rent like? Is there plenty of beings to torment?”

“Equestria...” Discord hung his head in shame. “I am banished from the realm...”

“More like encased in stone. Don’t ye worry. Ah’ave seen plenty of yer type to know what that feels like. Oh wait. I don’t. You do!” He laughed at himself in a way that made Discord feel envious. Here is he, the lord of chaos getting out done in some far away universe by an immortal freak. “I bet ya’ don’t even know how to create... MADNESS! I could easily do yer job!” The stranger propped both feet up on the table taking an utterly relaxed stance while demonstrating his point with his arms.

“No! It’s not that easy! There are six magical ponies in bright colors that defeated me through friendship!”

A few seconds of silence followed... before an explosion of laughter echoed through the dining room. Discord’s previous feelings of goodwill vanished under the torrent of abuse his ear drums suffered. Pelagius knocked Discord in a bullying-manner and teleported away.

“Sounds like all ye were doin’ was introducing a littl’ discord and they brought harmony to yer rain. I’d say I’d be disappointed in ya’. What you need is madness. Complete and utter MADNESS!”

Discord nodded in agreement. Madness certainly seemed like a far more powerful source of power.

“Right... fetch me my GPS...” Sheogorath commanded as if the mighty draconequus were but his slave.

“GPS?”

“Actually it’s a UPS. Not the postal thingy either. Universal Positioning Service.” The Daedric Prince of madness corrected himself, wearing a thoughtful look upon his ancient face.

“What...”

“Just get me that thing over there!” Sheogorath fetched the UPS and entered Equestria as a coordinate. “Right... let’s go. Be ready...”

Flash!

They appeared in front of a stunned looking Celestia who stared at the impossible sight before her.

“Discord! And some human! What are your schemes now?” she addressed the draconequus in a regal, commanding tone.

“Oh Celestia... I have teamed up with this gentleman. And we’re going to bring MADNESS to this realm, and there is nothing you can do about it!”

Discord motioned with his misfit hands, delighted at the prospect of revenge through madness.

“Discord... you are foolish. My magic is beyond measure...” Her horn conjured several spells and began to face Sheogorath. “Whoever you are, allying with Discord is a foolish mistake, and you will pay for it! This is my land, and these are my subjects! You will fall before they are harmed! I am Celestia, Alicorn of the Sun, and this is my realm!”

“Does it look like ah’ care?” A staff appeared in the ancient hands of the madman. He grinned his mad challenge. With a twitch of his wrist he pointed his stunty staff at the princess. “I think its time that ye experienced... the WABBAJACK!”

Celestia felt a spell of alien power twists into her nerves. Her own spell vanished, leaving her feeling drained as if she had flown all day. The evil sensation overtook her physical body, however, her mind quickly became steady once more. It was not over.

The pure white Alicorn placed her hooves firmly upon the stone floor, ready to face her foes down once more. But something didn’t feel right. She glanced down and became slack jawed, staring down at herself in shock. Her slim, ancient form was wrong. Her body felt and looked more muscular as if it belonged to a royal stallion. In disbelief, she threw her hooves against her cheeks, feeling a foreign texture.

“What!” she cried in a deep bass roar.

“No... no... that weren't supposed ta’ happen...” Sheogorath knocked his staff several times.

Discord was beside himself with laughter at the dumbfounded look worn by the royal Stallion who stood before them, too shocked to retaliate. He reflexively reached into unreal space and conjured into being a big bag of popcorn. Upon realising what he had just accomplished, the lord of dissension teleported a few feet backwards in surprise. ‘I have my powers back. I really. Have. Them. Back...’

He teleported to the madman’s side once more and scooped up the fallen goodies with renewed magic.

“I didn’t know you would restore my power.”

“Not now. Not now. Can’t ye see Ah am a tad busy.” Sheogorath kept his focus upon his strange device that appeared to channel his powers.

“Hm... yes... here we go!” Another blast impacted the gender-blended alicorn. “Yes.. but it could be better...”

“She has... he has antlers...” Discord was humbled at the talent of his new business partner.

“Have another! Or two! Or three!” The Daedra withdrew his staff and smiled softly. “It’s beautiful. And very fitting.”

An enlarged, white crustacean with multi colored claws angrily rushed forward. Sheogorath simply knocked it over with the tip of his shoe. “A mudcrab. I do say, quite fitting for her.”

The instant transformation caused Discord to look on in glee. ‘Chaos, no... utter MADNESS will be mine’ He snapped his pawed hand together, “I have the most brilliant of plans, your madness.” The draconequus cheered like a schoolyard colt.

The doors to the royal chambers crashed open, revealing several dozen iron-clad ponies. A sturdy unicorn stood above all and conjured a spell from his horn. “What have you done?” the leader questioned with the authority of royalty, failing to piece together the situation. “You will pay for your crimes!”

A tiny mudcrab migrated toward the newcomer like its life depended on it. The tiny, pearl white carapace retracted it’s figure and basked in the protection of the guards.

“Oh, ah’ know!” The madman cried out in glee. He waved his weapon towards the guards and opened fire, firing random spells of pandemonium at the startled defenders of the realm.

Shining Armour deployed a hasty defensive spell. The hazy wall of magic covered the group. Rogue spells from the wabbajack deflected against the outline of the barrier, bouncing off in random directions.

“A ward spell? Pony please...” Sheogorath grinned maniacally, clearly enjoying himself and continued to bolt magic forward for kicks and giggles.

The bolts of magic flew in every direction, breaking windows and warping walls. A potted plant became a victim as it’s leaves became multicolored and irregular. Discord bathed in the glory of the chaos as his partner in crime continued to blast all manner of warped spells at the shield the guards cowered behind. Sheogorath’s grin became even wider and he unleashed a yell accompanied by an extra large rainbow coloured bolt. It bounced off the ward and bounced back towards its caster. The Daedric prince of madness laughed in the face of his own spell and flashed out of existence. The rainbow of chaos flew on and impacted with the royal throne. The majestic feature immediately warped into a spiked pincushion.

An irresistible idea popped into Discord’s chaos filled head and he clapped his paws in glee. The draconequus vanished, only to reappear behind the shield right next to the defending unicorn. With an evil grin on his face Discord begun tickling the unicorn with a forepaw. He reached his clawed hand round and joined in, imbuing his ticking with dark magic. Shining Armour’s face contorted in concentration as he fought to maintain his defenses.

An accompanying guard lept forward, attempting to defend his commander. An extra large baseball bat appeared in Discords paw and he hit his attacker for a 6, continueing to tickle Shining with his feet. The stoic unicord strained under the pressure of maintaining his spell under the dual assault. A second unicorn jumped in to assist but Discord teleported to the opposite side of the defending pony and his attacker rammed into the commander forming a stallion pile.

The barrage from the wabbajack continued, breaking the last vestiges of defense and slamming into the two downed ponies. They vanished, leaving the remaining guards with looks of panic upon their faces. One bold pegasus charged through the barrage of chaos toward his hated foe Discord. The dancing draconequus pulled out a pink umbrella and acted as if he were dancing in the rain. He teleported around the flying assailant inviting him to a deadly dance to the end, or whatever it is that happens when you get hit by a blast from the Wabbajack.

The stallion picked his moment and roared with anger, making one last desperate assault. Discord chuckled with glee, planting himself directly in the path of an upcoming barrage. With a final delighted look upon his face the lord of chaos vanished and the unlucky pegasus found himself stuck in the streams of nightmarish magic that continued to escape from Sheogorath’s device of madness. Sounds of maniacal laughter filled the air as the insane man changed target. He aimed a burst at the dodging Discord who powered up his umbrella and began battling the incoming spells at the attacking ponies as if he were in some game. An incoming armoured knight sensed an opening and dived toward his target, a look of grim determination upon his face. He knew he could not hold out much longer. Suddenly a spell struck him square in the face and a scream rang out, accompanied by the laugher of the two lords of bedlam. The scream rose in pitch and became a light feminine one. Wearing a look of shock the stallion cut short his screech to gaze down at his well toned body that no longer fitted his masculine armour.

A second shot from the wabbajack collided with the surprised mare, shrinking her to the size of toad. Discord piped up, “My Madness, I have an idea!”

“Spew it mort- fellow immortal!” The humanoid corrected himself at the last moment, suddenly irate by the interruptions to his fun.

“Overcharge the wabbajack and we could gender-bend all of Equestria! Oh, the madness!” Discord twirled his arms in joy.

“Well... Ah'll need some juice for me wabbajack.” Sheogorath pointed the staff towards Celestia and began to siphon all of her magical energy out of her tiny, defenceless crustacean body. “Hmm... goddess of the sun... that gives wabbajack a power of... 1.21 gigawatts! Perfect!” His amplified voice rang out through the citadel.

He held up the wabbajack, twirling it expertly. “And... Here. We... GO!” All movement ceased. The wabbajack glowed ominously as its bearer held it high, victory written all across him crazy face.

It was as if time itself had frozen. The two trolling tricksters shared a grin as a burst of light engulfed the room. All throughout Equestria, every pony, foal and elder found their lives changed in an instant. Every creature big and small discovered they were different. Every filly became a colt and every stallion found himself a mare. It was reality-warping in it’s most simple and complex.

In Equestria, life stood frozen in shock. The only movement that followed was the retreat of two madness gods.

Chapter 2: Chaos of the body

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In the nobel city of Cloudsdale....

Rarity daintily meandered her way through the Ponyville market place. She stopped at her usual stalls and collected all the required items. Everything had a place, every purchase and bit, safe in her stunning purple pack that looked as if it belonged to royalty. The peaceful day was certainly something to relish. The birds were chirping happily in the tree tops, the glorious sun shone, making Rarity’s alabaster coat shimmer wonderfully in the light breeze. Yes... everything was perfect.

She wandered up to a stall owned by one of her good friends. The farmer was busy with a few customers so the designer chose to wait patiently in line. As she stood she hummed a sweet tune to herself and imagined the delightful dress she was soon to put the finishing touches upon back home.

Suddenly an unnatural blast of magic stifled the happy banter taking place. Rarity felt a strange itch work its way across her body. She wanted to scream in pain but found herself transfixed by the unwelcome magic. She could feel it in her horn, whatever was doing this was not from their world. She fought it with all her strength and yet it was all pointless. The unnatural magic finished its business and she found herself released from the vice-grip. Her horn ached and her manly body felt peculiar. 'My body! What's happened?' Panic immediately filled her mind.

With the descending haze of anxiety, she gazed around at the shocked ponies around her. After a moment she realised something was wrong. Very wrong.

"What the hay!?!" Applejack's baritone voice rang out across the hush. Rarity turned his gaze to the muscular orange stallion that stood behind his stall.

Rarity rushed at the surprised orange farm pony, enveloping the poor stallion in a hug and buried his face in the blonde mane.

"Oh Applejack. What's happened to us?" The white stallion began balling his eyes out in front of the shocked crowd.

"Ah… ah' don't know gal."

The miserable fashion pony continued to soak the shoulder of his good friend. "I'm ruined! How can I be the queen of fashion now? How am I ever supposed to fit dresses onto this ugly body! Out of all the things that could happen... this is the worst possible thing!”

Not knowing what else to do, AJ settled for running a comforting hoof over his friends back. "Ah, know. How about we go an' find Twilight. Ah'm sure she'll know what's goin' on."

“What’s going on? Is this some game? What am I ever supposed to do now? Charm a prince with my stunning... mustache? Oh Celestia! Applejack I feel as if I am going to faint!” A faint flush overgrew Rarity’s cheeks.

“Snap out of it!” Applejack’s massive muscular forelegs gripped Rarity and shook him several times. “We ain’t gonna get any better if ya’ don’t calm down!”

Sudden quiet filled the marketplace. The panic in the air simmered for a few seconds as everypony absorbed the wisdom of the bold farmer.

“Thinking at a time like this... I have an idea. We should panic!” Rarity exclaimed as he withdrew from his friend to stand on his own four hooves.

“Come on sugarcube. We’ll go talk to Twilight and get this all figured out. Okay?” The orange stallion hoped he could still salvage some of the rapidly diminishing sanity in the situation.

“Just get this preposterous facial hair off my ravaging face!”

Applejack shook his head sadly, his friend needed help and fast.

In one of the meadows on the outskirts of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash pulled out of a dive as her body tingled. The strange sensation rippled through her like wild fire, tearing her apart from the inside. She crashed into her loyal spectator whose soft cheering suddenly became a rich bass cry of surprise.

“What was- WHAT THE?!?” She jumped into the sky in surprise. Her normally high pitched voice sounded all too masculine and deep for the tomcolt mare.

Her eyes locked with her friends cyan ones and she stared at the once rounded muzzle in shock. Fluttershy well and truly looked like Flutterguy. Despite the hilarity of what she beheld before her, she couldn't’ bring herself to laugh. Something felt wrong. Her body felt alien. She raised a tender hoof to her muzzle and confirmed her fear.

Both close friends were now stallions.

The magic of shock hung in the still air, Fluttershy was the first to notice something else was off, the birdsong had ceased. However, the still air wasn’t the only worry on the shy pegasus’s mind.

The shy animal caretaker focused his stunned gaze at his fillyhood friend in complete and utter shock. ‘This just can’t be happening... this really can’t be happening. How am I supposed to take care of my animals now? They won’t know me anymore? Angel bunny... I hope he will still recognize his mommy. I’m... I... I feel so weird. This can’t be real.’ His glazed expression shifted into focus as he looked upon his best friend.

The once well toned tomcolt mare had become a beautifully toned stallion. A heated blush overcame Fluttershy's cheeks as his eyes were now unsure of where to look.

Dash noticed the eyes of creamy stallion before him wander and smirked. “Like what you see?”

Fluttershy immediately hid behind his well cared for pink mane, emitting a soft bass ‘eep’.

Dash expelled a sigh. “Still the same old Fluttershy.”

“W-what happened to us Dash?” The slender stallion began quaking in fear at the thought of the unknown.

“Twilight should know. Come on.” Dash grabbed his buddy’s hoof, tugging his long time friend into the sky, unwilling to deal with the rising issues at hoof like how they had become stallions. “Wow! I’ve had an upgrade! These wings must be 20% more powerful,” he joked to his distressed companion.

It fell flat as Fluttershy failed to get the joke. The distraught, timid pegasus slowly descended toward the ground below, his half hearted attempts at staying aloft falling just like his moral.

With a powerful tug from his now more muscular forelegs, Dash yanked his companion back up and into his firm grip. With the timid stallion perched in his embrace as if they were colt and wife, Dash continued resolutely onward.

After flying in silence for a few moments Dash attempted to break the silence once more. “You know ‘Shy, at least the only thing that’s changed is our genders.” He attempted to comfort his creamy friend.

However, it was as if Discord had heard him, for just then a nearby tree lifted off and began floating as if it were encased in an antigravity field. It was soon joined by more plant life and shocked birds took off into the skies around them. However, some of the birds were now flying upside down. Pain crossed the animal caretakers face, he hated seeing his precious creatures distressed. But it hurt more knowing there was nothing in Equestria he could do right now to help them. With that knowledge, a whimper escaped.

“Please... I want to see my Angel bunny.” He sniffed back tears as he gazed up into the stunning rosy red eyes of his best friend. “Please... I need to know he’s okay.”

Although the thought did not please him, the athletic pegasus changed his flight path. “Okay. Lets see what these babies can really do.” With increasingly powerful wingbeats, mighty blue wings drove the duo of aerial pegasi onwards toward their new destination.

“This... Spike! Check my books! Check anything!” A purple stallion rushed through a maze of recorded history with massive confusion.

His rich tenor voice summoned his helper, a now female baby dragon who was quickly becoming exasperated at his older siblings' panic. “Twilight? Twilight? Twilight! How can books help at a time like this? We need to see Celestia!”

“Oh shut up! You don’t look much different! Just a few eyelashes! But look at me! What is Celestia going to say? I’m supposed to be the best with magic, and I get turned into a stallion? This is not good Spike. Not good at all...”

The young female dragon tossed several books towards the lavender unicorn. A select few crashed against the floor, while one impacted his head.

“Sorry...” Spike said. “Wait... this isn’t probably a funny time, right?”

“Funny? What part of this is funny to you?”

“Your mane style hair is kinda funny...” Little girly giggles followed and Spike found himself unable to contain himself as he rolled around on the wooden floor in a fit of laughter.

“I don’t have time for this! I need to see what happened to the rest of Ponyville! I need to formulate a hypothesis, test the results... Discord...” A look of sheer horror crossed his features and he stopped dead in his tracks. The thought of the greatest threat to Equestria escaping his stone prison sent chills down the purple stallion’s spine.

“Huh?” replied Spike, batting her feminine eyelashes.

“That’s just weird...” Twilight shrugged at the bizarre sight of Spike. “Discord is behind this! I just know!”

“Twilight!”

A voice that edged on masculine cried outside of the library’s door. Powerful hooves kicked the edge of the door, thundering echoes alongside several giggles. Twilight hid in shame, hoping to delay her new gender for as long as possible.

“Fine! I’ll kick it down then! Here comes Mr. Bubble Berry!”

An energetic muscle-bound ball of pink exploded into the room, brightly coloured streamers trailed him as he bounced toward the shocked unicorn.

“Bubble Berry?” Twilight gasped at the sight before her. The moment was beyond reason, beyond logic. And for a first time in all of recorded history, it was beyond Pinkie Pie. It now belonged to Bubble Berry, or whatever Pinkie Pie had become.

“Oh my gosh! This big magic wave came and turned me into a stallion! Just how funny is that? I’m bigger, stronger, and my hair isn’t as poofy! I have a deeper voice, and I have new priv-”

“Pinkie!” Twilight dismissed his friend’s immaturity with a hasty shout. “I know! Don’t make this any more awkward than it already is!” A hot flush crossed the unicorn's face as his crossed his forehooves protectively across himself in desperation.

However, as usual, there was no stopping the force of a rambling party pony on a mission.

“But it’s so funny! Oh my gosh, this calls for a party! Nopony else can be Bubble Berry; I called it! What is your new name Twilight?” Bubble Berry bounced with joy, his more powerful frame propelling the lively pony into a speedy orbit around his shell shocked friend.

“I’m still Twilight Sparkle!” It was all the new stallion could manage as his mind fought for control against the swirling void of confusion inside.

Upon confirmation of Twilight’s name, Bubble Berry lept into the air tossing his streamers in a celebratory fashion. “Then let’s party! And Twilight, you look hot as a stallion!” Twilight’s jaw almost hit the floor at the unexpected, unwanted news.

“Pinkie!”

“Just saying...” Bubble Berry trailed off, saddened that he was currently unable to lighten the stormy mood that hung over his good friend. “You know... you do.” He grinned cheekily and attempted a bounce to restore his sense of well being once more.

Twilight didn’t want to hear or deal with his friends complements right now. Bubble Berry’s normally joyful manner was only serving to worsen the ex-mares attitude. He wanted to be alone, to study, to figure out how to reverse Discord’s spell of madness. Remembering his previous task, the lavender stallion utilized his magic to summon the books he was studying to his side once more. Books, his safe zone.

“Well Pinki- Bubble Berry,” Twilight replied whilst opening several books. “I’m just saying that we should probably check out at the magnitude of the spell here! Like really! Imagine all of Ponyville!”

“They are going to be partyin-”

“Pinkie!” Twilight threw his head into a pile of books.

“Ugh... that is like the third time you’ve said that. It’s Bubble Berry now. Don’t make me remind you of my awesome new powers! Let’s find a solution... get rid of all this silly, funny stuff and go back to being boring. What do you have there?” Pinkie rushed forward and began to page through several books with gusto.

Discord hovered above Canterlot. She gazed over the cityscape below as ponies ran around panicking. Chuckling softly to herself, the draconequus pointed to one of the majestic towers on the side of the palace. "And now you can get bent."

The structure warped and twisted, slowly wobbling in the breeze

"AAAAAAAARRRRHHH!!!"

Discord jumped at the sound as two stallions plummeted past. "There you two went…" She chuckled as they bounced off a massive cotton candy cloud and fell onto ornate floating building below.

She teleported down to meet her two fellow new females.

"You!" The angry voice of Shining Armour rang out as she staggered to her hooves.

"Oh yes, poor little old me. Oh look at Discord he's so bad… Really…" The draconequus teleported again, this time re-appearing seated upon the unicorns back as the other pony stared on in shock. "But look…" She held out a feminine paw, "I'm just like you."

She giggled as the angry mare took a swipe with a forehoof, actively attempting to dislodge the slippery draconequus on top. This time, the lord of chaos vanished reappearing inside a cloud above smiling out through the pink puffy layers.

"You know… this stuff always tastes divine. You should try it." She suggested grinning, with a mouth full of candy.

Shining fired a blast from her horn into the cloud, shredding it. Puffy chunks of candy fell around the duo, revealing no sign of the elusive foe. Shining helped her companion to her hooves and the two looked around with uncertainty. Where had the trickster gone? They both knew it would be foolish to assume the draconequus had vanished. Preparing for another conflict, Shining turned and spotted a miniature figure of her hated foe siting on the windowsill. The glazed glass the supported the image cracked as the angry unicorn rammed her horn through it.

"Oh you're going to have to do better than that dear. Oh bother it's stranger than I imagined it would be, stuck as a shemale and no wabbajack in sight…" The voice taunted the two guardians of Canterlot as Discord flitted from pane to pane, waving and pulling faces at them.

"You know… how about we have some fun. I'll borrow your horn." Shining felt her precious horn disappear from her head as the magic of chaos took hold of her.

"Don't worry. I merely want to have some fun with it." The draconequus appeared in front of the pair as a massive image on the wall, larger than life. "Now that you don't have your magic, how about we play a little game… I'll give this back." She bounced a lifelike image of the stolen horn in her claw, "if you can make it down to Canterlot again. Something nice and simple, I don't have all day." The cheeky creature appeared in reality sitting on Shining's back once more. "You know this back of yours could make a great deck chair."

Twisting in a violent attempt at her enemy's removal, Shining once again removed the menace from her back.

The sad faced, cheeky draconequus poped into existence in between them. "Awwww... poor little ponies... You two are only small fish to fry, I have greater things to take care of."

Both mares tried to attack her again, hitting each other as the laughing lord of chaos vanished at their touch. "Silly ponies… I'll now add to your deal. If you don't make it down soonish then I'll take Canterlot with me. I have a few locations in mind that would absolutely love to have this decor."

Knowing it was no good, Shining spoke for the both mares, anger clear in her voice. "Fine. We'll play your little game. I will get my horn back!"

"Yes yes, now chop chop now. Please do this, I really need a pre-show party and you two are my ticket." She smiled down at them as popcorn appeared in her grasp.

"Oh and one last thing… this will be our little secret. I don't need other ponies knowing I'm this warped. Ta ta." With that, the trickster disappeared, happy to leave the immediate presence of the angry mares in favour of the clouds above.

Shining turned to her companion, sighing. "Lets get a move on soldier."

As the two ponies searched for a safe path down through the floating buildings, two beady eyes watched from behind the draconequus's signature sunglasses.

"My return… it's already so much fun!" She chatted happily to herself as she settled down upon a cloud to watch, sipping an ice cold drink of lemonade. “Although... It would be nicer if that lord Sheo could get back already. I feel the urge to become more... masculine once more. This whole being she thing has got old a lot faster than I thought it would. Oh well... at least I have some free entertainment while I wait.” She glanced down her slim form, confirming her desires before becoming enthralled in the plight of the two perilous guards below.

“Oh hi gal- oh hi guys! Don’t you just love my new body? Bubble Berry here, nice to meet ya’!”

An eager pink hoof was violently dismissed by a contrasting white slap. Pinkie met the new arrivals with a cheery look upon his face that was not mirrored by anypony else.

“Oh come on guys! This is going to be heaps of fun. And Applejackie, you could now buck trees even harder than ever. Imagine the work you can get done on the farm now?! Rarity... I like your mustache?”

Rarity burst into his third consecutive set of tears for the day. Applejack kept the drama-king on her hooves with a strong grip.

“Please leave him alone. Rare is taking this... uh... badly...” The farm pony continued to attempt to sooth the waterworks.

“Well jeez... it’s not like anything serious happened. I mean, think about if all of the donuts in the world disappeared! Think about it guys! That would be awful! Does that make you feel better Rarity?” Pinkie smiled with prideful ignorance.

The ex-fashion mare’s tears continued.

“Oh well. Um. Please come in and close the door behind you. I’d prefer it if the rest of the town didn’t have to see me like this,” Twilight asked in mild desperation.

“Uh... Sugarcube... the whole towns like this ere’.” The shocking reply caused the lavender unicorn to freeze. 'This cant be real...'

Before anypony could shut the door, in burst a frizzly rainbow mane.

“Dashie! You look awesome!” The party pony was the first to open fire upon the newcomers, bounding toward them as if he hadn't seen them in months.

Fluttershy hid behind his protector, afraid to show his new face to the others. Dash glanced down at his friend and sighed. He petted his companion with a comforting hoof, attempting to assist the creamy pegasus into the room with the others.

“I feel weird.” The speedster grumbled. “But I gotta say... being a stallion isn’t all bad. I had an awesome time testing these out on the way here.” Cyan wings flicked in illustration of his point.

“Does anypony else have a cool new name?” Bubble Berry asked, buzzing with his usual unstoppable energy.

“How about Complete Catastrophe!” Rarity cried.

“Uh... nope.” Applejack replied as he continued to rub the distraught stallion's back.

The nigh berserk party pony pulled a suggestion out of thin air. “Oh I know! How about Purity?” Rarity looked unsure at the offered suggestion.

“I... I don’t know darling.”

“I’m thinking... Rainbow Blitz!” The athlete announced, demonstrating his point with action, gathering a startled yelp from the pony hiding under him. “Rainbow Blitz, that flies in style!”

“Really darling? Such an uncouth name.” Rarity allowed the disdain to ring through in his rich tenor voice.

“Hey. It’s cooler than your name, Purity.”

“I did not ask to be called that.” The alabaster unicorn retorted. “But I dare say, I shan’t allow my glorious name to be marred by such a horrendous figure... so that will have to do.” The defeated tone rang out from the shattered unicorn.

“Okay everypony. Now that we have that sorted I think we should try and arrange a town meeting. Maybe we can piece this together logically.” Twilight drew his attention towards Rarity, “And not panic.”

“Logically? What’s logical about a magic wave that destroyed my feminine charm? Oh... woe is me!”

Never before had a Ponyville town meeting been so chaotic. Gender was apparently as serious as Rarity suggested it. The title of town meeting was somewhat misinforming. A better description would be a town riot. Demands for answers, demands for original gender, and finally, demands for demands.

“Everypony! Everypony! Please listen! Our best expert on magic, Ms- Mr. Twilight Sparkle has agreed to speak to us. Listen, you must remain calm at this moment, and listen to what Mr. Sparkle has to say,” the mayor of Ponyville said to the angry mob. Just like the old stallion he had become, the mayor rested on the chair behind the podium.

Sugarcube corner floated peacefully along behind mayor. Bubble Berry raced out the flying building's front door and sailed into the assorted ponies like a canon ball. He deposited Pound and Pumpkin Cake beside their parents who were quick to scoop the rescued foals up.

Twilight eyed the family for a moment before he spoke up, "the mayor is right everypony. I know that I myself am having quite the difficulty understand the situation, but panicking won’t help. Now, Spike, fetch me checklist!”

The girly dragon threw the checklist into Twilight’s pulse of magic.

“Now let’s see... I need everypony to calmly tell me what time the ‘change’ happened...”

A universal consensus of answers was thrown the scholar's way and promptly written down on Twilight’s notebook.

“Okay... now... we need to identify the scale. See if this only happened to Ponyvillle or it spans a greater area...”

The mayor popped out of his seat. “Twilight, that’s a great idea. You and your friends should go to Canterlot and ask for help! If anypony can fix this problem, it’s Princess Celestia. All in favor?”

A cheer racked the packed meeting space as the answer to mayor mare’s suggestion.

“Celestia has the strongest magic in all of Equestria. You are right mayor. We are off to see the princess!” Twilight turned her vision to the six stallions beside her. “Right girl- guys?”

“Ugh... can I possibly get my identity officially changed beforehand?” Purity asked in an annoyed tone.

“Yea! I’m up for some action!” Rainbow Blitz shot into the air hoofpuming the sky in anticipation.

“Um... I can stay here... I-if everypony doesn’t mind...” Fluttershy trailed off, locking his gaze with the ground underhoof.

“No. You're with us Fluttershy. What would we do without you?” Blitz lifted his chin up.

“I know Flutterguy! You're very important to us guys. And Blitzie!” Bubble Berry bounced, not realizing the insulting nature of his nicknaming.

“I’m still a year older than you... even though we are boys...” Fluttershy replied with a slight edge to his deep voice, inching closer to his defender.

“Come on ya’ll. Equestria ain’t gonna save itself!”

“Yay! Cutie Mark Crusaders gender seekers!” Three excited young colts dashed over to the departing adventures.

“Oh no ya’ll don’t. Ah’ want ya’ young troublemakers ta stay an’ watch over Granny Smith.”

“Awwww... But he don’t need our help.” Cried Apple Bloom.

“Girl- young colts. Ah am’ telling ya’ll to stay here.” The blond farmer put his hoof down, denying his young brother and troublesome accomplices passage.

The trio of trouble wandered off to sulk as six stallions moved out, advancing towards their goal. They bore the weight of dozens of ponies responsibilities. A fern floated past, borne aloft on the magic of chaos. Purity kept close to Applejack, his eyes darting between the various floating objects that littered their path. Fluttershy mirrored his actions, sticking close to the bold Blitz. Bubble Berry bounded from tree to tree to ground then back onto a floating rock. With a cry of delight, the party pony nimbly hopped across a random wave of chocolate milk that flew past. Twilight strode ahead of the group, neither confident nor happy. Yet the spellcaster knew that somepony had to lead and he felt a burning desire to make sure his mentor and mother figure was safe. While they had tackled many dangerous adventures before, none were quite like this.

Chapter 3: Canterlot of Chaos.

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Discord gazed over the landscape below. The bored, gender-bent draconequus ran an idle claw through a patch of grey cloud. It flashed all the colours of the rainbow at her touch causing a smile of satisfaction to ripple across the otherwise annoyed looking face. ‘Well I guess I at least still have my powers. What a shame I can’t turn myself back to normal. I don’t need all those useless ponies knowing the lord of chaos is under the same spell as they are. I’m above them.’

As it turned out, the lord of disharmony between ponies had simply become bored with not being her usual self. It just seemed to drain draconequus's will and need to be herself.

The unreal noise of the UPS brought the brooding harbinger of chaos back to reality. "Sheo," she called out, turning around to face the man who had changed everything. The gender warped draconequus fluttered her eyelashes at the figure in front of her.

"Ahh mh' favorite draconequus. Ah’ see ye’ got bored o’ playing with yer toys down there. What can ah' do ye' fer?"

Discord waved a hand, motioning to her own body. "Well? It’s not going to change itself!"

"Oh tut tut tut. Ah'd have thought a lord of discord such as yerself would have loved a grand ol' laugh."

"I do ponies. Not myself." Discord stated defensively.

"Weel... Ah guess... If ye' can win a game I'll offer to change ye' back. How aboot it?"

Being no stranger to tricks and twists, the cunning draconequus just had to ask, "What's in it for you, oh Lord of Madness?"

"Ye’ got me there.. That ya do." he scratched his chin staring off into another dimension. "How aboot... If ah’ win ye’ come down as ye are and meet them ponies that are coming to get ye’? That’ll be a grad ol’ laugh fer me. Ye’ll be no allowed ta just hide up here all day and play yer games from afar. That would fix ya." He grinned in a haphazard way at the gender-bent immortal before him.

"Done." The master of disharmony between ponies offered a claw. The madman before her shook it, wearing a grin upon his crazy old face.

"Right. Now, what game?"

"Ah was thinking. How bout a game of madness and questions, tricks and traps.”

Sheogorath waved a hand and what looked like a chess set appeared on a giant mushroom. The fungus expanded and flattened to accommodate the warped looking pieces that maneuvered themselves into place upon its slowly shifting surface. The Daedric prince seated himself calmly, grinning a challenge to his chaotic counterpart.

“Are ye’ ready to ‘ave some fun?”

Discord rubbed her forepaws together, eagerly anticipating victory. The draconequus teleported to her side of the board, clapping odd paws together. A tree floated up, positing itself under Discord who immediately reclined upon it.

“Oh and tis good that ye’ve found a nice place to relax because some parts of this ‘ere domain migh’ disappear as we play. We migh’ also wind up on th’ other side of Equestria... but ye’ can ferget that ah’ ever said that.” Sheogorath grinned as he made the first move.

Canterlot.

The most magnificent city in all of Equestria. Home to the royal alicorns who had ruled their kingdom with kindness and love for as long as any pony can remember. Today however, discord reigned, very close to complete madness. The normally clear sky was dominated by enough brightly coloured balls of cotton candy to keep Pinkie Pie busy for a week. Several buildings were floating up and down like objects in a 2D video game while others meandered slowly through the skies upside down, side to side with no sense of gravity. The upper class ponies trapped inside found themselves too busy hiding to take notice of the horrors of the outside world.

The train pulled up to Canterlot Station, right on schedule. Many of the Royal Guards stationed in and around the station were now noticeably female, considering many of the guards had been stallions. Despite that they were trying their hardest to maintain their cold, hard, stoic stares as they stood in place, there was no denying that they looked incredibly embarrassed and out of place. It was apparent in their eyes, which oftentimes shifted about, as if nervous.

Passengers from the train disembarked, heading in all directions to their various destinations. A group of six stallions made straight for their goal, the royal palace. Everypony was hoping that nothing too evil had befallen their rulers.

Twilight strode out ahead of the group. Trying to look as confident as he could be in the face of the madness that Canterlot was suffering. Bubble Berry bounced alongside the lavender unicorn, it seemed nothing could get that stallion down. Fluttershy stuck close to Rainbow Blitz who placed a wing over his frightened companion. Purity, Spike and Applejack brought up the rear with nervous glances. Spike kept close beside her crush, shocked at what had befallen her home city.

The Elements of Harmony made their way to Canterlot Castle. Together. As a team. Ready to face this. Whatever might mean.

“Look. There’s Shining Armour!” At Twilight’s cry the group's attention was cast upon a lone white unicorn who stood majestically atop one of the upper towers. Defensive magic radiated from the strong guardian. It was clear he was in the middle of trying something important. However no pony had any idea what he was trying to do.

The alarmed group broke into a full on sprint in their effort to get to the safety of the palace. Rainbow Blitz took flight, an areal guard over the group. He broke up several cotton candy clouds and one storm cloud which exploded into tingly, zappy bolts.

The main gates entered view. To everyponies horror they were bent open revealing a whole range of strange changes within.

The regal form of Prince Luna appeared from behind the munted gates. The now dappled prince rushed up and gave Twilight a surprise hug. The stallion on the receiving end wholeheartedly hugged back despite the clear shock upon his purple face.

Bubble Berry grinned at the pair. "Twi-Twi looks hot as a stallion, right?"

Luna nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed," the night blue stallion added a shy nuzzle to the exchange.

As the two blushing stallions withdrew Luna continued to gaze star struck at the purple unicorn. Or, more specifically his flank. "Thou has been well endowed and look most divine."

Twilight spluttered, "e-excuse me?"

"Thy eyes shine like the moon and thy flank is more breathtaking than the stars." Luna replied.

"No, I didn't mean like that!" Twilight's blush was so deep even her horn grew darker. "I meant- ugh... why did Pinki-"

"Bubble Berry!" With a bounce, the party pony was quick on his correction.

"-Bubble have to say that. Shouldn't Celestia be meeting us too? We need her to help fix whatever has gone wrong."

The midnight stallion faltered, his gaze briefly turned to the castle "We -actually... Celestia... we must show you. It is beyond words.”

"Is she okay?" Twilight drew near once more to the bringer of the moon.

"She- We shall show thee."

Luna led the stallions through a massive maze of unproportional chaos. Stairs were warped, widows floating without support and candles shone with every colour of the rainbow. Candy grew along the leaves of potted plants. Bubble Berry happily devoured each and every one, finding himself euphoric in the presence of the abundant sugary sweets.

The small party quickly came to the royal bed chambers of the princess of the sun and Luna nodded to the two uncomfortable guards who stood on either side of the closed door. “Behold... this is what has become of our- my sister.”

The dark blue horn lit and the doors opened to reveal-

“Oh my Celestia... look at... Celestia.” Twilight became nothing short of an icicle. His mentor, teacher, idol...

“Oh! Can you make me into a lobster? I’ve always wanted to be a lobs-”

“Bubble!” the chorus of annoyed ponies quietened the source of comic relief.

“Thou shall not make a mockery of thy sister!” Luna quickly rose over the pink stallion, his tone nearing that of the royal canterlot voice.

“Hold on... Luna... it’s just Pinkie. Or Bubble Berry...” Twilight gazed into Luna’s eyes. “I need you to tell me everything. Who did this? And why?”

Luna spread his wings apart and dramatically rose above the stallions. “We saw the chaos master... we believe you know the foul creature as Discord.”

“Chocolate ra-”

“Bubble! Be quiet or I’ll make you quiet!” Blitz threatened.

“There was something else with...” Luna paused for a brief second. “Discord. Whatever it was, it took the appearance of a human. However, this being was much more powerful...”

Tiny pincers clapped here and there in tiny rage. Bubble Berry rushed over to the Royal crustacean and took a seat. “Pattie cake? I’m never too old for pattie cake!”

“Just ignore him,” Twilight said to Luna. “He’s like a child in an adult’s body.”

“Thou, I mean... Twilight, do you have any ideas? We must save our- my sister.”

“Well... we gotta find out what was helping Discord. Anypony have any ideas?”

Luna scowled. “We remember very little. The foul creature took the appearance of an old male human. With a multi-colored suit and a staff.”

“Did you say a staff? And a multicolored shirt? I know that guy!” Bubble Berry sprung towards Luna and bopped him on the nose. “That’s Sheogorath; the Daedric Prince of Madness. I once got teleported to his dimension and had to mess with pony’s minds. And turn humans into bunnies. And trolls into mice! He turned out to be pretty cool.”

“Thou must tell us immediately! For Celestia’s sake!” Navy hooves gripped the energetic pink figure.

Bubble Berry bobbed his again. “Calm down Mr. Nighty Pants. He’s from a realm called Nirn to the morties there... it was so much fun! I met this really cool girl who was part dragon and part khajiit or something. She taught me something awesome! Are you ready?”

“Get on with it!” Thundered the agitated prince.

FUS RO DAH!

Luna was thrown like a ragdoll down the hall by the power of the dragon shout.

Twilight rushed to the crash site. Everypony else just stared in shock at the impossible event.

“What has thou...” Luna ungainly floundered around on the floor, stunned thanks to the impact upon stone.

“Princess! Are you okay?” Twilight threw his grip around Luna, completely forgetting the change in title, attempting to lift the alicorn.

The stunned prince collapsed forward and the two horns met like loves lips in the night. "Owwww!"

The two night sky themed ponies clutched their horns. "That hurt more than it should..." Twilight muttered.

“Where- ugh... did thou learn such dark arts?” Luna replied as she shrugged off the pain.

“Yea’ where did ya’ learn that, Bubble?” Applejack added, slowly recovering from the experience of witnessing the power of the dragonborn for the first time.

“I already told you. Jeez...” Bubble took another seat and began to play with an unwilling Celestia. “We can’t get there unless we are summoned, silly.”

Purity aggressively rushed the party pony, glaring into Bubbles’s eyes as he were trying to burn them out. “Listen to me. I must have this fixed. Now! Tell me how we can get summoned.”

A pink goof ball rolled with uncontrollable laughter across the warped floor. The tiles vibrated with the party pony's mirth. All others found no humor in the situation.

“Oh silly! We can’t summon ourselves! We need to be summoned! But look at it this way, you have a rocking stache! And Dashie and Fluttershy are still going to fall in love! So we’re all good! Party time! Let’s go get a pool for ‘Tia! Come on guys! Mudcrab party!”

Bubble Berry bounded energetically out of the room, leaving nothing but silence.

Twilight Sparkle and Prince Luna searched through the royal Canterlot library.

“Princess- Prince, are you sure you don’t know anything about Daedra?” Twilight asked, paging through several encyclopedias.

“We are sorry Twilight Sparkle. We know- I know nothing of which you speak,” Luna frowned, continuing to leaf through his volume before dropping it and hastily grabbing another.

“Okay... so Pinkie- Bubble Berry says we can’t summon ourselves; we need to be summoned. This Sheogorath... we need to get his attention. And maybe he’ll summon us. Surely you Luna, with your power power and status, could draw some attention?”

The royal alicorn shut his books and turned his gaze upon Twilight, “Are you sure Twilight Sparkle? We are not sure...”

“Luna... just Twilight is fine,” she smiled, admiring the Prince’s innocent eyes.

“It shall be done Twilight! But we need a plan to get his attention,” Luna paused. “SURELY THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE COULD DRAW ATTENTION!” The loud bassy tone rang out across the castle, the shelves, walls and ceiling shook from the force.

“Nice... but I think we might need to be a little more creative than that...” the purple stallion trailed off shaking his head trying to stop the ringing.

“Did somepony say creative?” The unwanted bundle of joy appeared, knowing, as usual when he was needed.

“What is thy business Bubble Berry?” Luna said, mildly annoyed at the sight.

“I’m super-duper creative! Like super-duper! Sheogorath and I, we’re good buddies. But he only talks with us morties when he goes on vacation! He’s so funny about his vacation spots! But if we can get his attention when he’s on vacation, then we might be able to find him!” Bubble spoke, occasionally throwing confetti to lighten the atmosphere.

“How dost thou know when Sheogorath is on vacation?” Luna investigated.

“He’s probably still here, but I don’t know where he is, silly! You don’t either! And you! And you! It’s would be like finding a sprinkle in a pool of frosting... yummy! Let’s do that! I’ll get it ready! Pool-frosting party!” Bubble disappeared as quickly as he arrived.

“While thy Bubble has odd priorities, I sense truth in his words. Finding this Sheogorath is challenge massive in scope.” Luna took a seat and slowly exhaled, “Twilight, you must have some sort of idea.”

“Well. Do you know how the two arrived?” Twilight asked the prince with an inquisitive look upon his face. After a moment of silence he decided to continue, “we could try a tracer spell. They will show up if they are anywhere in Equestria.”

“A most excellent idea Twilight! We- I, will search the library for the spell. You must ready your companions. Time is of the essence. We must locate Discord and Sheogorath before it is too late! Celestia’s sake depends on it!”

“Right. And the rest of Equestria. I better go round up the guys!”

Twilight galloped out leaving the alicorn in peace to continue his research.

Breathing deeply, his body quivering, as were his lips, Fluttershy opened his mouth to speak, “...Rainbow....?”

“Yeah?” Dash whispered, his eyelids lowering as he leaned closer to Fluttershy, smirking.

“I....I....” Fluttershy leaned closer also, their breaths intermingling, their lips just barely inches apart. Oh, he was so close! Just a little more and he could finally kiss him.

The bold cyan pegasus peeked out of his closing eyes at the pretty pony in front of him. This was going to be great! He was about to kiss his first ever stallion. And it was Fluttershy! What could’ve been better about that?

“Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash! Come quic- Oh!” Twilight skidded to a halt in front of the two frozen stallions. “What’s going on here?” The purple stallion asked with a worried look upon his face.

At the sight of the interruption, the quivering shy pegasus ‘eeped’ and hid himself behind his protector.

“Twilight...we were... Wait...what’s wrong? I mean, more than usual?” Blitz said, throwing a wing over Fluttershy’s cowering figure.

“Luna and I got a plan. We need your muscle and Fluttershy’s knowledge of nature. We meet in five. Get ready guys!”

Twilight was already off to the other ponies before Blitz had finally lifted Fluttershy up. Purple hooves thundered across the warped royal floor towards the royal pool in hopes of finding a very certain stallion and prince.

“Bubble Berry! We’re going to go capture Discord and Sheogorath. Hand over Celestia and get ready! You're our expert on Sheogorath and we need you. Playtime is over!”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!”

Twilight reached for Celestia with her powerful magic. She could sense that even now her mentor was one powerful creature.

“Oh Twi’, I got an awesome idea! Check this out!” Bubble conjured a large saddlebag and strapped it onto Twilight. “It’s a little home for our Prince of the Mud crabs!”

Twilight sighed impatiently before placing an unwilling Celestia into the saddlebag. “Fine. It will do. Come on Bubble or Pinkie- whatever you are! Let’s go!”

The tiny arthropod inside of the saddlebag rocked back and forth as the stallions galloped toward their last targets. There was nothing for Equestria's ruler to do except hope that her student and sister could uncover the answers.

Twilight burst into sight of his last three targets. Purity was clearly still in distress and Applejack had a forehoof around his quaking shoulders in a comforting manner. Spike daintily patted his crush's leg, otherwise ignored by the two stallions.

“I hope ya’ got a plan Twilight. You wouldn’t come a runnin’ if ya’ didn’t,” Applejack dryly asked as he looked up at the intruder.

“Get Purity on his feet! We need him and we especially need you! I’ll explain later! Lets go!”

Twilight thundered along past them, leaving no option but to follow the galloping unicorn.

“Are we leaving this place? I must disguise myself! I cannot be shown in such a sta-”

The farmer gently shook his friend, trying to shake some sense into his distraught mind. “Snap out of it! We need ya’! So get on yer feet and let’s save Equestria! Come on!”

Applejack hurriedly assisted his friend up. Spike found himself ensnared in Purity's magic and deposited on his broad shoulders. Holding his head high, the white fashionista took off in pursuit alongside Applejack.

The pair quickly found themselves in the massive library. The lavender stallion and prince of the moon stood before them waiting for the others to show up.

Bubble Berry burst in, energetic as always. "Oh sorry I'm late guys. I first had to go to the toilet. It was wild! I never knew that-"

"Bubble Berry please, contain yourself. Prince Luna has something important to say." Twilight did his level best to contain the excitable party pony. Applejack facehoofed while Purity blushed lightly.

"Okey dokey lokie." A pink hoof maneuvered an invisible zipper across the muzzle, making it clear he was listening.

Prince Luna opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of a pony crashing into a bookshelf.

"Are you okay?" The quiet voice of Fluttershy made the source of commotion crystal clear.

Twilight winced at the thought of the poor books. Before anything could be done about it the sound of a crashed stallion taking off hit his ears and the scholar threw a protective spell over the nearby books.

"I'm fine Fluttershy. Now keep up. We must be nearly there."

Moments later, the last two members of the group rounded the corner. Blitz crashed to a halt in the middle of the assembled stallions. Twilight felt glad he had used his magic as a safeguard.

Fluttershy gave unnecessary assistance to her crashable friend, who sprang up "Okay egghead why are we in this boring place?"

“Yeah Twilight, tell us yer’ plan!” The farmer added.

“Okay... Luna... take it away,” Twilight said as she stepped backward.

“THOU MUST LISTEN! TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND I HAVE DEVISED A TACTICAL APPROACH TO THIS PROBLEM-”

“Luna... they can hear you just fine,” Twilight winced.

“ACKNOWLEDGED- oh... okay Twilight. We shall cease speaking in such a tone. Now, we must prepare. I have devised a spell that will track Discord and Sheogorath. If the spell finds success, we should surely be able to find them and confront them for a solution. I know the aspect of facing them is intimidating, but have no fear, FOR PRINCE LUNA, ALICORN OF THE NIGHT IS HERE TO PROTECT YOU!”

“You ready guys?” Twilight asked before beginning the spell. “We’ve been through worse, right?”

“Do it Twilight!" Purity confirmed, hope swirling in his eyes.

The spell began to chaotically cover Twilight’s horn. Tiny sparkle swirls of magic pulsed through her nerves. All four hooves were planted firmly on the ground as a countermeasure to the massive mental-recoil of the spell.

“Almost... there...”

Pow!

A magical aura spawned from Twilight’s horn. It slowly formed a two dimensional pool that hovered in the air facing the wide eyed assembly of ponies. The glazed pool floated in front of everypony like a still lake. Suddenly ripples spread outwards, as if a stone had been cast into the middle. An audience of confused stallions and a single mud crab gazed into the strange spell as it simmered slowly. After a few long seconds, the ripples faded out and an image appeared, almost as if it were in a mirror or screen.

A male draconequus was perched upon a tree. A tree in the middle of the sky. Discord was also grinning, as if victory was within his grasp. A slight distance away, Sheogorath spread his wings across a pink cloud. A chess set hovered between the duo, waiting patiently for it’s masters to make a move.

“IN WHAT PART OF EQUESTRIA DO TREES FLY?”

“Ssh Luna,” Twilight whispered. “We might hear something.”

Indeed they did, for the two crazed beings were in the middle of something important. “My madness... what is our next plan for ruling Equestria under the fist of chaos and madness?” Discord asked before moving a chest piece forward.

“Rule? That wasn’t part of the plan! Ah' was a thinking... How about after Equestria, we could go tae another realm and force th' United States to use an outdated measurin' system!” Sheogorath laughed at his cunning plan of madness. “Oh... then we could go ta the Mario Universe and put a toad in every castle Mario goes to. An' have him say ‘But oour Princess is in another castle.’ Oh, ain’t ah’ just a hoot?”

"Yes, but what about Equestria? I want it."

"Well ye' can have it. If ye' can win th' next round."

“Okay. I will just have to add that to my winning streak as well.”

“Don’ ye’ get cocky ma’ ol’ Discord. Ah has a few fun moves in store fer ye’.”

The draconequus grinned in reply to the challenge, moving a chess piece with an aloof claw before opening his mouth and continuing the idle chat, unaware that a group of ponies were watching on from afar.

Petty squabbles exploded onward between the two immortals as they continued their banter. Squabbles that didn’t suggest the massive scale of their egos.

“I can’t- I can’t hold it much longer!” The call from the straining unicorn brought everypony back to reality.

The mighty madman glanced in the direction of the invisible portal and smiled to himself as he continued to play.

“THE EVIL-DOERS ARE ABOVE THE EVERFREE FOREST! THOU MAY REST TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” The royal voice boomed out across the quiet room.

The magic halted immediately with a big rainbow puff that smelt like cinnamon. Twilight and Celestia were on the ground as quickly as the spell ceased. Navy hooves wrapped and the exhausted mage. “Twilight? Is thou alright? Speak to me!”

The drained stallion unsteadily rose “Yeah... I’m okay. How about you guys go off and save Equestria? How about I take- take a week off.” He collapsed once more upon the floor.

“Come Twilight Sparkle! I shall assist thee! We must depart for the Everfree Forest at once!” Luna declared, grabbing Twilight and galloping off towards adventure.

Chapter 4: Impending Tide of chaos

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A small traveling group of flying two chariots pulled by awkward looking female pegasi guardspoines sped across the sky toward Ponyville. Close by Rainbow Dash flew with Fluttershy in his slipstream. Luna held a still recovering Twilight as he too powered along through the air. In the first chariot Spike was doing her level best to comfort Purity. Applejack and a rather bouncy Bubble Berry shared the other chariot. Bubble Berry would swipe chocolate rainclouds and floating candy out of the sky while Applejack gazed at the farmland around Ponyville with concern.

As they drew near, Pound Cake appeared in a poof of magic in the air between the two chariots. Bubble Berry was quick to notice and shot out from his perch like a canonball. The stallion grabbed the golden yellow unicorn foal, impacted with a bounce on a cloud below and with a spinning motion landed back on the chariot beside a rather confused Applejack.

“Wha- how?” The farmer managed, his eyes wide.

Bubble giggled as he placed the dizzy tiny colt down between his forehooves. “Can we please make a quick stop off in Ponyville? There will be two worried parents down there.”

“Right!” One of the guards squeaked.

“Did thou know that foal was about to appear?” Luna asked as he flew closer.

“Yeppers,” Bubble nodded briskly. “My Bubble sense bubbled and tingled and then everything went really sparkly. That’s how I knew!”

“But how did ya do that thing where you bounced off a cloud?” Applejack asked.

The pink stallion shrugged. “I just did. Easy.”

The other stallion’s shared a confused look but put the episode behind them as the pegasus guards began to descend. As the chariots touched down near Twilight’s library Bubble Berry leapt out and rushed to the gender swapped Cake parents who were quick to smother their little girl- now boy in kisses and hugs. Bubble Berry found himself pulled in for a hug too.

Luna touched down slowly, placed his precious load on the road then stood awkwardly in the middle of the street with Twilight by his side. Both stallion’s nervously eyed the citizens of the town as they took a knee in reverence of their prince.

Delighted with a successful mission, Bubble Berry bounced happily back to his ride as though nothing were wrong. Along the way he snagged a floating bottle and it filled itself with chocolate milk. The pink stallion took his place beside Applejack, who he was quick to lean upon. “You’re like- a super good friend Applejackie. You know that?”

“Uh... yeah?” The farmer replied slowly.

“You want some of my chocolate milk?”

An orange head shook side to side. “Na. Ah’m good. Thank you.”

“Okie!” Pinkie chugged the lot then allowed the bottle to continue upon its merry way.

“Villagers! Hear me now! Your Prince Luna and our heroes are at your service! We have identified the source of the gender-conflict and are about to confront the perpetrators. Is there anypony willing to offer us help?”

A slight shuffling of hooves was heard in the silence. This was less than surprising as they had not expected any to be eager to help anyway. It seemed that few ponies were feeling brave in such a chaotic new Equestria.

A voice rang out from within the crowd. “You and Princess Celestia can save us! Why do you need our help!?!”

Twilight considered for a moment, before he then spoke up on Luna’s behalf, “That’s because even our Princesses...sorry, our Princes, can’t do this alone. As powerful as they are, even they need help sometimes. And we all work together to keep Equestria safe! With the power of all of us, helping in all kinds of ways, big and small, we can make a difference! We can help this along if we just all put our efforts into it! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have always been able to prosper with all of us, and they work with us too!”

Mr Cake stepped forward, presenting herself to the scholarly unicorn. “Well I know I won’t be any good out there with you. But my wife and I can still help by making something for the road for you and your friends.”

“Oh! Cake!” Bubble Berry knew the right moment to appear, startling everypony else. “I love cake! Do you have any wonderful cake ready for the road?”

“Yes Bubble Berry, I think we might. You will know where to find it.” The mare replied to her, smiling kindly.

“Thanks Mr Cake!” Bubble Berry exclaimed then zapped off down the road.

“That’s great, Mr. Cake!” Twilight praised. “That’s exactly what I mean!”

A sudden crash was heard from above and a muliti-coloured pile of stallion fell from the roof of Twilight’s library. Blitz lept up, angrily shaking himself off. “Sorry everypony! Still getting used to these new wings!” He strode over to stand next to the two horned ponies who were trying to lead the meeting.

An embarrassed looking Fluttershy landed behind him, quickly making his way back to his friends.

“Hey, there you are, Fluttershy!” Blitz cheered up upon seeing his friend there. “I didn’t think you’d catch up!”

“U-Um...sorry...” Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind his mane.

“Don’t worry darling. We’re all a little embarrassed here.” Purity played with his mane as he sulked.

Twilight smiled at the sight of his friends. He had not noticed Rainbow Blitz sneak off with Fluttershy, but he was glad they were back now. The purple stallion took a deep breath then turned to once again address the crowd. “I think it would be best that you all band together and look out for each other. With Discord on the loose, it’s impossible to tell what’s going to happen next.”

Frightened murmurs ripped through the assembled townsponies.

"That sounds like a plan Twilight.' Mayor Mare replied, hopeful that the scholar would continue to have all the answers his townsponies required.

“Then let us by on our way,” Prince Luna nodded to the guards in signal for them to take to the skies. When the purple stallion continued to linger by his side, the prince picked up his precious Twilight in his forehooves as he led the way into the skies.

Rainbow Dash snickered at the sight, ganced at Fluttershy then scooped his yellow buddy up. Fluttershy ‘eeped!’ and blushed but allowed himself to be carried this time as they headed for the Everfree forest.

Bubble Berry appeared with two cakes just in time to board his ride beside Applejack. The farmer scooted out of the way of the large cakes as the two pegasi pulling their chariots took to the skies after the alicorn.

The townsponies watched for as long as they could before their heroes vanished into the sky. With great care, those who still had ground bound homes were quick to vacate the crazy outdoors.

With a teacup in one hand, Discord picked up an ornate looking chess piece. The imprecisely carved model matched the warped design of the board as well as the other pieces scattered about. Some pieces were hard to the touch while others had the consistency of jelly. Madmen’s chess was living up to its description, nothing was as it seemed and yet one foul move could spell disaster. Despite winning all the games so far, Discord still felt a sense of unease sitting alongside his enjoyment from partaking in such a game.

“Speak ye’ pathetic excuse fer a chaos lord! Wha’ is yer’ terms!” Sheogorath maniacally laughed, carelessly placing a half full wine glass upon the playing field. Said ornate glass warped out of existence as soon as it’s master left it alone upon the dangerous set.

“I get to rule Equestria. You will still be the big bad boss, but I get to be in charge of this world,” The draconequus replied, placing his warped chess piece aggressively upon the board.

“If ah’ win, then... hmm... Ah’ll banish you to the most evil, despicable, and putrid realm ever created... fer’ five minutes.”

“What would that be, my Madness?” Discord grinned eagerly back, feeling a sense of imminent victory as he eyed up the board, already scheming his next move.

“Th’ realm of the Twilight Saga!” The Deadra looked all too pleased with himself at the wild and cruel idea.

Discord cowered at the thought, “I must win! For if there was a world worse than Purgatory, the universe you speak of claims the title!” It certainly sounded like an unusual place.

“Must ye’ Nao?” The maniac promptly made his move, no apparent thought given to placement of the dark knight.

“This is why you lost last time, master.”

“Ah’ why might that be?”

“This is why.” The grinning draconequus took the knight with warped pawn from across the board. The Knight exploded into tiny pieces, reappearing as 4 pawns, boxing in the conquering chess piece.

Time appeared to freeze for a moment as Discord stared at the impossible play. His opponent grinned gamely at him, shrugging the move off.

“Ye’ were sayin’?” the madman leaned forward, making his next move before laughing in the face of his surprised adversary. “Remember Discord. Ah’ like mah’ game filled with jus’ a hint o’ madness.”

Discord grinned back, reclining upon his tree. “Okay. You got me there. But I’ll still win again.” Exuding confidence, the draconequus continued his play.

They continued in silence, both parties feeling supremely confident in their own abilities. Move after move flowed from the two lords of chaos as they fought for control over the crazy broad.

Soon the game reached its climax. Sheogorath paused as he reached out for a piece. The madman sat back up and grinned like a sly wolf. The chessboard removed itself from their presence before they could finish. “Surely ye mus’ know wha’ time this be right Dis?”

Said draconequus smiled smugly back. “Yes.” With delight written all across his warped body, Discord pulled off a small flip before teleporting away.

Sheogorath grinned evilly to himself. “Ah’ ain’t gonna let ye win tha’ easily yet again.” Pulling out his Wabbajack, he blasted the small cloud he was recalling upon. It teleported away, in hot pursuit of his trickster of a gaming partner.

Discord was the first to arrive at the new location, hovering above the city of Manehatten. “Oh this is absolutely wonderful!” He clapped his forepaw and claw together in excitement, pulling up a cotton candy cloud to reline upon. “Now we get to visit the inhabitants of yet another city. Who knows what fun I may have here!”

With a loud bang, Discord’s chaotic chess partner appeared alongside him earning an excited look from the keen player. “Ah see ye’re ready ta’ go there ya’ eager excuse fer a draconequus. Oh wait...” He thought carefully to himself for a moment, contemplating his crazy words. The mad man caught sight of his companion gazing down at the city below. “Ye can get ta’ ‘ave some fun after ye’ beat me.”

“That can be arranged.” The draconequus rolled back his imaginary sleeves, preparing for the mad game to continue.

Slowly returning to reality between them was the elusive game board itself. “An’ ‘ere she is...” Sheogorath caressed the apparition of madness idly.

Both lords could feel it, victory. Discord shuddered with glee, his next win was within his grasp. Sheogorath slowly reached for his next chosen chess piece, settling down for the game upon his cloud as he did so. Both manics laughed as the rook tumbled through a warp hole that appeared on the board. “Well at least that wasn’t mah’ King.” Joked Sheogorath before laughing as an explosion rang out from below followed by screams of the ponies below.

“I look forward to ruling this land. These ponies need to be taught the meaning of madness.” Discord continued his advance upon the game board, the taste of victory upon his lips. It tasted like a soft cotton candy cloud, freshly squeezed.

The mane six, plus Luna, Celestia-crab and Spike landed in a clearing on a cliff deep in the bounds of the Everfree Forest.

“The evildooers, they were here.” Luna exclaimed as he set Twilight down. The prince scanned the sky, thoroughly annoyed that there was a lack of bad guys up there.

“Should I use my spell again?” Twilight asked softly.

“Nay, we may yet need thy magic to combat this diabolic force.” Luna replied.

Bubble Berry giggled as he dismounted from the chariot. He bounced over to the prince, “How many times do we adventure monthly? Oh, but now we have Luna with us! How awesome is that? Bro-hoof Luna!”

Bubble Berry buzzed beside the downtrodden prince who simply gave him a guarded look in return. “Luna! Bro! Hoof! Come on silly! Hit me right here!” The pink bundle of joy bounded into the air, trying his darndest to encourage the alicorn.

“What is this ‘bro-hoof’ thou speakest of?” Luna asked. His eyes slowly lit up like an innocent toddler.

“It’s easy! Just like this! Hold out your hoof!” Luna followed Bubble’s instructions and awaited for a response. “Okay Luna, now just stay still.”

Bubble knocked the hoof hard. “Bro. Hoof. See?”

Bubble Berry grinned at the prince for a moment. With no response forthcoming from the thoughtful stallion, the pink bubbly pony sprung up like a giant spring.

“I shall try myself.” Luna exhaled softly. The energetic pony immediately held out a hoof. The prince did his best to smile as he sent his hoof thundering down onto the pink offering, recoiling the stallion several feet backward. “Haha, the bro-hoof has been doubled!”

“Prince,” Twilight asked. “Are you ready for this? I mean... magically. No offense to Purity, but we are the strongest mages here. And if this ‘Sheogorath’ could beat Celestia so easily, then we need to make sure we are ready as a team.”

“Right Twilight Sparkle! Come nightfall if we have not vanquished this demon, we shall practice our moves when everypony is resting.” The noble alicorn declared, becoming visibly excited.

“Hehe, that sounded dirty,” Bubble Berry snorted.

“Bubble!” Twilight roared.

The royal alicorn turned in confusion to the bouncing bundle of joy. “We are in agreeance with Twilight Sparkle. We shall be clean during our magical unison acts!”

Twilight facehoofed. “Look Prince... Pinkie was implying something else. You know, not appropriate for ordinary conversation. Something... you know?” The lavender stallion hoped that he would not have to continue that sentence.

However, the prince now wore a look of confusion, feeling lost in the conversation. “We are not sure we understand.”

Twilight withheld a strong sigh of annoyance, trying once more. “Something between two ponies?”

“Informal and formal greeting style?” Luna was clearly still perplexed.

Twilight resisted the urge to facehoof once more. He decided the only remaining option was spell it out for his friend. “Sexual. Pin- Bubble Berry said that sounded sexual...”

The alicorn almost exploded as he realised Twilight’s meaning. “WE ASK THAT THOU NEVER SPEAKEST OF THOSE WORDS AGAIN! IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ROYAL CANTERLOT CODE, THOU MUST NEVER IMPLY SUCH!” The Royal Canterlot voice rang off the mount and through the valley below scaring birds out of the floating trees.

“Sorry Prince. That’s just Bubble Berry...” Twilight trailed off, wincing from the sudden change in volume.

“What, you’ll just be two dudes knocking about in the dark,” the party pony re-interjected bouncing around happily, choosing to be unaware of the annoyance he was causing his friends.

Rather than deal with the cheeky pony any more, Twilight chose to storm off. The uncomfortable alicorn briskly followed in a huff.

Undeterred, Bubble Berry glanced around for a few seconds before spotting another pair. “Applejack and Purity. Now there’s a funny pair!”

Spike glared at the party pony and latched onto the pure white foreleg of her oh so secret crush.

Grinning, Bubble Berry bounced toward the trio, his energetic presence demanding attention. “What do you guys think about Luna and Twilight? The best pair ever? Nah’, I think that goes to Dashie and Flutters. But they are so cute! Oh, I should bake them a cake!”

“But Pink- Bubble. They aint a couple.” Applejack interjected. “An... speakin’ with honesty, I think ya’ should just be quiet for awhile.”

“No silly. What fun would that be?” The pink party animal failed to see where his friends were coming from and he continued to bound around the pair.

Purity spoke up, putting in an effort of his own to get rid of the pink annoyance. “Dear, please leave us alone. You’re not making our lives any easier at the moment.” The alabaster unicorn ran a hoof through his mane, turning his attention inwards. “Oh I can’t wait to get back to my shop. This mane needs a lot of work.”

The pink ex-mare bounded toward Fluttershy and Rainbow Blitz. The two ponies whose personal space he invaded, stared at the happy earth pony. “You know what I think?”

Rainbow Blitz sighed, “what?”

“I think my buddy Sheo moved his little game with Discord.”  

“But I thought Twilight’s spell was like, undetectable or whatever...” Blitz shot back.

“Maybe they thought it would be more fun to move, or maybe they totally knew we were watching?”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Blitz glanced at each other, neither liked the second option but the first could lead to an extended game of cat and mouse. Fluttershy hunkered down a bit, unhappy with the prospect of being away from his critters for a long period of time.

“Ah’ see ye’ have victory on yer’ mind.”

“Yes.” The cunning of a serpent leaked from the lord of voice as a claw placed his next piece.

With a grin, relishing the moment, the eternal madman slapped his next chess piece into place. “Well tha’ is misfortunate... becaus’ checkmate!”

“NO!” Discord jumped up, instantly fired up by rage.

Before the draconequus could further react, he vanished, forced by the rules of the cruel game to temperately dwell in the realm of the Twilight Saga.

“Ah’ weel. He’ll be back.” Sheogroath nonchalantly kicked the mushroom game board out of existence, grinning to himself. “Nao... Ah’ wonder if that pink rascal remembers me.”

The regal madman pulled out his wabbajack. Pointing it at the cloud he sat on, firing a quick blast off. “No. Not tha’ one.” He laughed as the vaporous substance turned into a mammoth.

As the woolly creature and it’s rider plummeted toward the ground the laughing Deadra send another blast into his ride. The mammoth turned into a mouse. Another blast of deadric magic lit the sky, the mouse turned into a mighty blood dragon. Sheogroath was absolutely delighted! He had just found an excellent ride.

“This be more like it! Fly me beauty!”

The ancient rage filled creature gave a roar, opening its wings and twisting its head around to face it’s madman of a rider.

“If ye don’ like it, Ah’ll turn ye inta somethin’ else... But if ye be good... Ah’ll let ye taste some ponies!” He let the threat hang in the air like his wabajack, poised at the ready.

The creature gave a snort and flew onwards happy enough with the prospect of getting to kill something else first.

“Right, now where was ah’....” He gazed around for a few moments, lost in his own thoughts as they wandered across multiple galaxies. “Equestria... Hmm.... Wait ah know!” You could almost see the light bulb turn on above his head as he grinned manically to himself. “Ah need ta see tha’ Pinkie Pie... Ah do believe she owes me a favor or two...”

A soft roar was heard in the distance. Fluttershy panicked, rushing into the nearest bush cover, quaking in fear. Despite how far away the sound seemed, it was the low evil rumble gave away the intent. Something dangerous was now present in the normally peaceful lands of Equestria.

Strong hooves wrapped around the quaking pegasus and before he knew it, he found himself receiving a soft peck on the nose before being placed back on the ground. He gazed hopefully up into the eyes of his helper.

“There you go Flutters.”

“R-Rainbow...” Fluttershy squeaked, looking at the strong pegasus with wide eyes.

“Who else?” The cyan stallion grinned back. “Sounds like we have ourselves a dragon!” He sounded all too eager at the thought.

“Meeeeeeeeep!!!” Fluttershy squealed in fright, holding to Rainbow Blitz tightly, burying his face in his neck. “N-N-N-N-No! I was afraid of that!”

“It’s okay. It sounds like it’s far away. If he comes any closer... I’ll kick his flank into next week.” Blitz declared with the utmost confidence.

A little whimper sounded from the quivering yellow pony.

“Yes but what if that dragon has a rider on it and that rider just happens to be carrying a Wabbajack?!” Bubble Berry burst into the private moment, bounding around with far too much joy for his implications.

“Oh! Then I might get to meet Sheo again! How cool would that be!?!” The bubbly party pony clapped his forehooves together, delighted with himself.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to feel then. More scared than anything, but there was also a feeling of annoyance at having his little moment disturbed. “That’s nice, Pinkie...”

“So yea... we should prepare a nice BIG welcome party for him!” The party pony continued bouncing around, adding streamers to the mix.

“Great idea, now-” Blitz began but was cut off by the pink pony spazzing out.   The three stallions all gazed at the pink tail that continued to twitch erratically.

Bubble Berry gazed at the two pegasi with wide eyes. “Woah, my Pinkie-Now-Turned-Bubble senses are doing something crazy! We have to go now! We are about to have a visitor!”

“Visitor?” Blitz asked as Bubble Berry attempted to shove both pegasi toward Applejack and Purity.

“Well you see...” Bubble gave a harder shove, this time dislodging the pair, “the last time my body acted this weirdly.... He pointed to his still twitching tail. It meant that my buddy Sheo was coming to get me. This time I bet he’s on a big ol’ nasty beastie and headed right this way so we need to go right now!” The warning was followed by the party pony looking like he wanted to explode with tension. Instead he bolted off and appeared moments later with a shocked Twilight and Luna.

Blitz fought to keep his quaking yellow friend under control as the rest of the group quickly assembled in the middle of the clearing. A very serious looking Bubble Berry stepped into the middle of the group. “Guys! Big and I mean HUGE change of plans!”

The normally ecstatic party pony looked both terrified and excited. “Sheogorath is coming this way! My Pinkie-turned-Bubble senses are telling me he’s on his Wabbajack made ride and his pet dragon will try to eat us and that will be very very bad! So we need to move! NOW!”

“Move where?” Twilight asked, tapping his friend. “Where should we be headed?”

The party pony frantically glanced around their rather plain forest surrounds. The most exciting thing was the cliff that led to the forest floor below. “Well we need to get someplace that only Sheogorath will find us. Someplace like a cave or something big enough to throw a great big party but small enough to stop a dragon from coming in! So let's go already!”

Full of energy, the bouncy party pony took off, desperate to evade capture for the time being.

Twilight was, however, still confused. “So, we’re going to a place where the enemy is going to find us...so we can avoid his...Wabbajack pet...? I’m not seeing the better alternative here.”

To answer his question, the pink pony zipped up to the lavender stallion, meeting him forehead to forehead. “Yes. Because you and Luna need to beat Discord but first my buddy Sheo is on his way alone! He is even crazier than Discord. Lets go!” He was off again, without giving a moment's notice for Twilight to recover.

“W-What...” Twilight looked around at his friends, blinking his eyes. “I’m still lost here. I thought they were together...”

“Ah hear ya, sugarcube...” Applejack mumbled, shaking his head. “Ah ain’t got no idea what we gotta do.”

“I suppose the best we can do is just follow him...” Purity sighed. “We’re not getting anywhere with any of this.”

“You guys go ahead, I’ll stay here and guard this... place.” Fluttershy volunteered, slinking away, clearly not wanting to come face to face with the big bad guy or his monster.

“Come on, Bubbles said we need to go right now!” Urged Twilight as he pawed at the ground, desperate to follow after his spastic friend.

“Come on Fluttershy. Fly with me!” Blitz added his urging to the mix, hoping to get his cowering friend off the ground as the rest of the group galloped off after Bubble Berry.

Another roar echoed through the hills. This angry sound was much closer than the previous roar. Fluttershy seemed to teleport in fear, latching onto the airborne Blitz who almost crashed into a flying rock with the impact.

Taking the opportunity, as annoying as his friend was becoming, the speedster took off like a rocket in search of a cave. “You know Fluttershy...” He cast a glance down at his clingy companion, annoyance written all over his cyan face. “No offense here but you really need to grow a pair...”

Fluttershy just looked away, unable to respond to that. Knowing that he was right, not to mention irritated with him now, he felt all the courage he could’ve had just melt away like a snowflake in a furnace.

Despite the extra weight, Rainbow Blitz quickly found a small cave and rushed back to his friends who were thankfully headed in the right direction. “Guys! I found a cave!”

“Is it big enough for a great big party?” Bubble eagerly asked.

“No.”

Another roar.

Blitz grunted as Fluttershy clutched even tighter. “Now. Let’s go!”

Bubble Berry laughed as he bounded along behind the impatient pegasus, he couldn’t believe that he was finally getting to meet the eternally crazy Daedric prince of Madness once more. He knew that it would be a crazy meeting, a very fun one too, at least for himself. He only hoped that Sheogorath remembered him.

“This is going to be GREAT!” The excited party pony cried out before dashing toward a cave up ahead.

Madness vs. Discord. Stallion vs Mare

by lillytheomegawolf

Chapter 1: Chaos of the Mind.

Chapter 2: Chaos of the body

Chapter 3: Canterlot of Chaos.

Chapter 4: Impending Tide of chaos