Timeless

Applejack groaned, and prepared herself for one of two things.

Either she or Rainbow Dash would be engaged in a fight against Discord, or they would have to have a thoroughly infuriating conversation in an attempt to work out what had happened.

The first option didn't appeal to Applejack, as she would have to: Find her friends - assuming they weren't frozen as well - and convince them that time was frozen and that Discord was behind this, convince Fluttershy to use her element in order to encase the 'reformed' Discord in stone, go and get the Elements of Harmony from Twilight's Library, find Discord, and finally, defeat him again.

The second option appealed to Applejack even less. Conversations with Discord tended to be incredibly tedious, and they made no sense to her whatsoever.

Steeling herself for something ridiculous, Applejack spoke.

"What the hay are ya doin' in mah apple tree Discord? An' more importantly, why in the name of Celestia is time frozen?" Applejack attempted to make her voice sound calm, but it somehow came out as a yell of anger. The stress was getting to her more than she thought, it would seem. She turned around, reared her back hooves and attempted to buck Discord out of the tree.

"Dear me Applejack, I thought you'd have caught on by now that that just won't work!" He slid down the tree, a smug grin on his face. Standing in front of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, he coughed loudly before speaking.

"So, you want to blame me? Well, as much as I may have done such a thing before, you seem to be forgetting that I was reformed by the 'magic of friendship'," Discord's voice dripped heavily with sarcasm.

"Hah, like we're supposed to believe that! You totally just pretended to be reformed so you could do all your evil time stopping... stuff! I'm on to you!" She edged close to Discord, and poked a hoof in to his face, her eyes narrowed. He yawned, rolling his eyes.

"While I'm honoured that you think I could be so very chaotic as to stop time itself, you're missing three rather major points." Discord smiled sweetly, in an attempt to look innocent. Applejack wondered if he was constipated or something.

"And these three points are?" Applejack questioned.

"Why, what a good question Applejack!" Discord put on a more serious expression, preparing for his defense.

"Firstly, as I already mentioned, I'm reformed! As much as it may surprise you - and it surprises me more - I treasure my friendship with Fluttershy far too much to just throw it away like that! After all, friendship is magic!" He paused for a small breath before continuing.

"Secondly, while I may be the embodiment of chaotic power itself, I'm afraid that I'm not strong enough to stop time itself. Why, the oh so great Princess Celestia herself was unable to do such a thing! If I could freeze time at will, don't you think I would have just done that before you defeated me with your magical rainbow friendship beams?" Rainbow giggled slightly at 'magical rainbow friendship beams'.

"Thirdly, and most importantly, something about this little conundrum is cancelling out my powers of chaos! Just take look at this!" Discord snapped his fingers, and a nearby lampost wobble feebly, before falling over. Discord placed a paw to his forehead, before crashing to the ground.

"Oh, what is a draconequus to do!" Discord began rolling around on the ground, making faint crying sounds. Applejack thought nothing of it, which, she admitted to herself, was slightly worrying. Perhaps she was just growing used to this insanity by now, much like how she had built up a tolerance to physical pain from years of farmwork.

Rainbow walked next to Applejack, her body shaking from hysterical laughter.

"This is amazing! Just look at this guy!" She wiped her brow with a hoof, still giggling madly.

"The great and mighty Discord reduced to a crying baby! Hah! Embodiment of chaos, destroyer of Equestria, complete wuss!" Her laughter was infectious, and Applejack couldn't help but join in. Soon the two found themselves rolling on the floor, crying from laughter, while a disgruntled Discord picked himself up, brushed himself off, and stood in front of them, frowning.

"If you two are quite done, I believe we have business to attend to. I, for one, would like to sort this mess out, and regain my beautiful chaotic powers!" Applejack smirked and chuckled quietly, but stopped laughing. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was paralysed with laughter, completely unable to get up.

"We could be here fer a while... ah suppose y'all should tell me what happened to ya," Applejack gestured for Discord to speak.

"Well, it all started this morning..."

As you might expect, I started the day by waking up. Incandescent rays of sunlight beamed in through the hazy glass panes of the window to my nature-filled room, streaming in to my shining golden orbs!

"What the hay was that?" Applejack's jaw was wide open.

"Why, it was my glorious storytelling! Do you find it to be too loquacious for your liking?" Discord smirked.

"Fine, I shall speak in a manner that even you can understand..."

Me wake up in Fluttershy's house. Big yellow ball in sky bright. Me go downstairs. No see Fluttershy or Angel bunny rabbit. Me confused.

Discord was quickly cut off when he was punched in the face by an orange hoof.

"Fine, fine, message recieved. I'll switch to a different method of storytelling."

You wake up one morning in Fluttershy's cottage, and go downstairs. Looking around, you notice that both Fluttershy and her rabbit friend, Angel, are missing. This is rather odd, considering the fact that they are always awake this time of the morning, and you can't remember a time when this wasn't the case. You decide that you have one of two options; either you can go upstairs and check on your friends (In which case, go to page 63), or you can wait for them (In which case, go to page 42)

This didn't go down well with Applejack either, and she glared at Discord.

"Can y'all just speak in a way that ah can understand fer once, and stop being so darn stupid?" Discord nodded.

"Why, most certainly..."

Ah woke up one darn-tootin' cotton-pickin' mornin' in mah friend Fluttershah's cottage. Ah went down the stairs, and was plum surprised when she weren't there. Mah simple farmin' mind couldn't cope with this, as all ah know 'bout is apples, so ah cried in a corner for 3 hours, which was okay 'cause it were dawn. After mah little sobbin' session, ah went to check on mah farmin' buddy Fluttershah, 'cause ah was a good friend like that.

A strong kick to the stomach saw Discord being thrown to the floor, shouting in pain.

"Ah swear, if y'all don't speak normally, yer head'll be shoved so far up your tail that the only adventures y'all are gonna have'll be in yer intestines! Ya understand me?"

Discord let out a sigh of exasperation, and nodded glumly.

"Very well, let's try this again..."

I woke up one morning in Fluttershy's cottage. I went downstairs and she wasn't there. You know this, don't you? Anyway, I went upstairs, and crept in to her room, being careful not to disturb her, as it appeared she was sleeping. However, being such a good friend, I noticed that it was past the time she normally woke up, and took it upon myself to wake her up, by violently grabbing and shaking her. This didn't work. I attempted to cure her with my marvellous powers of chaos. This didn't work either. Remaining calm and rational, I deduced the best plan of action, and reacted like any normal citizen.

I ignored the plan and ran out of the cottage shouting at the top of my lungs for help. The first place that I thought to visit was your dear friend Twilight Sparkle's library, as she always seems to have some sort of sensible solution. Kicking down the door, I walked in to see her standing in the centre of the room, horn alight, apparently midway through a spell. Yes, it seemed as if she, alongside her assistant Spike, was similarly frozen. I dashed all around Ponyville, but it appeared everypony had suffered a similar fate.

All hope was lost, I thought to myself, when out of the blue comes a polychromatic burst in the sky, heading towards Sweet Apple Acres! I ran towards it, and arrived here. Then we had a conversation in which you accused me of causing this fiasco. I then explained to you why I couldn't have done this, which made your friend laugh hysterically. Then you asked me to tell you this story, a request which I happily obliged to. And thus, we're here, in the present.

Discord bowed, smiling broadly. Rainbow and Applejack just laughed loudly.

"Y'all ain't too good at storytellin', are ya?" Applejack giggled, and Rainbow nodded. Discord groaned, wondering why he even bothered putting up with this.

"Oh for the love of... that doesn't matter, you foals! Time has frozen, and I've lost my powers! Your other elements of harmony are stuck, and somehow you two aren't! This is serious business!" Discord raised his arms in to the air angrily.

"Well, don't worry. We got all the time in the world." Applejack smirked. Discord muttered something under his breath, and turned to leave.

"Well, I intend to sort this mess out, whether you're coming with me or not." He walked along the path towards the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres purposefully.

Applejack looked over at Rainbow Dash, who merely shrugged.

"We might as well follow him... we haven't got any better options." Applejack nodded, and so the two set off to follow the Draconequus, in an attempt to restore the flow of time.

Octavia had somehow found herself in a rather strange position, merely an hour after waking up. She was clinging on to her cello for dear life as it hung in midair, refusing to move from a spot above her chair. This annoyed her immensely. All she wanted to do was practice a song, was that too much to ask?

Apparently so.

Her attempts at making breakfast had been similarly disastrous, leaving her kitchen a mess with ingredients floating everywhere. Octavia knew this wasn't normal, not even in a place such as Ponyville, where disaster is always around the corner. Sighing, she steeled herself and let go of the infuriating instrument, landing on the floor with a loud 'thud'.

Her mood wasn't improved when her door was opened by the embodiment of chaos himself, who proceeded to collapse in to fits of laughter for around five minutes, with no signs of stopping.

Sometimes you just know when it's going to be one of those days.