Timeless

Applejack was worried. She wasn't worried because she had just seen a ghostly figure of Fluttershy turn in to an eldritch abomination and knock Discord unconscious.

No, Applejack was worried because that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. Most ponies would have run away crying and screaming with their tail between their legs before you could say 'stop', and yet Applejack just stood there with a slightly puzzled expression on her face.

"You know, for all intensive purposes you should be in the fetal position right now." Applejack glanced over her shoulder to glimpse a pair of red eyes staring at her. She should have been more scared of Chronus, but recent events had shown that Applejack was apparently fearless.

"Yeah, Ah reckon Ah should be." Applejack expected to sound more angry, but the voice that came out was calm with just a hint of venom in the words.

"So then, why aren't you? I'm almost insulted. Am I not evil enough for your tastes?" Chronus dissapeared in front of her eyes, and rematerialized beside her, facing 'Flutterbeast' and the unconscious Discord. He sounded slightly hurt, although Applejack imagined that he was just playing it up, much like Discord.

"Ah don't know. Ah really wish Ah did, 'cause then Ah'd be sure whether Ah'm goin' insane or not, but right now Ah just think Ah've built a resistance t'this madness," Applejack said.

"Hm. How sad. You're no fun, you know that? There's nothing I can do with you... for now," Chronus spoke softly, which did little to put Applejack at ease.

"Y'know... if y'all're so darn powerful, how come Ah ain't never heard of ya before?" This was a question that had been bugging Applejack for some time now, as she figured that she would have heard of this all-powerful time controlling god beforehand if he were so great.

"Hm, good question. The simple answer is that I was just created a few hours ago. Or was it a few days? I always get those mixed up. The complicated, needlessly elongated answer is that I am an immortal creature of time itself and I have been around for aeons but my mortal form has only just been created in your timeline," He said absentmindedly, his thoughts apparently somewhere else. Looking in the same direction as Chronus, she saw that Discord appeared to be moving slightly, his eyelids fluttering open.

"Hush now, the draconequus wakes. Perhaps something interesting will happen with him," Chronus laughed quietly, clearly looking forward to future events. Applejack sighed, and considered attempting to attack him, but common sense told her that that was a bad idea. He would just dissipate before any damage could be done, and she'd be in a worse position than ever. The only thing she could do was grit her teeth and wait for the right time.

Well, on the bright side, it seemed that Applejack would have all the time in the world.

Discord yawned heavily, and raised a paw to his eyes, wiping them roughly. He looked around the room he had awoken in, confused. But after a few minutes of puzzled headscratching and defeated sighs, he remembered how he had gotten there.

"Oh yes. What was the name I thought of for that thing? Ah, 'Fluttercthulu', of course," Discord muttered to himself, before glancing around nervously. He had no desire to be attacked again. especially not by that thing.

"You're awake, I see," A voice echoed behind Discord, causing him to turn around and be greeted by a familiar pair of red pupils.

"Ah Chronus, I was just wondering when the great villain would arrive. It seems you turned up instead!" Discord laughed hysterically as Chronus' eyes narrowed in anger.

"Aren't we hilarious? You really shouldn't be laughing considering your current position," He waved a hoof towards the giant beast who had mysteriously reappeared during their conversation. "Perhaps you two should become better acquainted? I hear you know the pony I based that particular design on quite well." He laughed quietly, before disappearing in to the darkness.

"I'm starting to see how infuriating that is..." Discord said to no one in particular, before turning to face the current problem. He coughed to make himself known, and whimpered quietly when the giant creature started moving. This... thing had a mass of tentacles coming from every visible orifice, with yellow slime dripping off of them. Atop that mass of tentacles stood a small pile of goo with a few hundred spheres sitting inside of it, which Discord assumed were the creatures eyes - or perhaps brains.

I guess not every villain can be as incredibly handsome as me, thought Discord, as the creature shuffled to a stop, apparently facing him. He couldn't really tell which way was which with this thing.

He steeled himself for a fight that he probably wouldn't win, the calm expression on his face completely at odds with his urge to run away crying and screaming like a little filly.

"Bring it on!" He shouted, before running at Fluttercthulu, screaming like a madman.

He stopped immediately when the creature flew twenty feet in to the air, making a loud gurgling sound; but resumed his escape when he saw it was going towards him.

"Oh no, no no nononononono!" The creature crashed in to the floor repeatedly, and every time it did so it bounced back up, steadily gaining on Discord.

"How the hay can you FLY? I can't fly!" Discord looked to his wings, and let out a small sigh before bringing a claw to his face. "Ignore that, I can fly!" He began flapping his wings as quickly as he could, achieving liftoff mere seconds before the creature crushed him.

"Ha! Can't catch me now, can you? Who's the best villain - oh, right -  it's me!" He put on his best smug grin and hovered in place just outside of the reach of the creature, who had skidded to a halt. The smug grin was immediately wiped off of his face when the laser beam narrowly avoided him. He turned around and flew away frantically, shouting angrily.

"Now you can fire LASERS? LASERS? Why in Equestria can you fire LASERS AND JUMP TWENTY FEET IN TO THE AIR? FLUTTERSHY CAN'T DO THAT... I think." Of course, Fluttershy was neither a giant tentacled monster or a villain, so the other inaccuracies were forgivable.

"I hate you so much, you know that?" Discord shouted over his shoulder while he fled. He had a feeling it was going to be a long day.

"It can shoot lasers? Are ye kiddin' me?" Applejack looked at Chronus incredulously. She'd seen some ridiculous villains, but this was just silly.

"I thought I'd give it something more interesting than tentacles. Lasers seemed like the obvious solution. Your friend Twilight Sparkle can shoot lasers, can she not?"

"Well, yeah... but she's all kinds'a powerful, 'specially when it comes te magic. That thing, on the other hoof... ah ain't even sure what that thing is!" She motioned towards the creature, who was bouncing after Discord, sending laser beams everywhere. It was almost comical.

"Well, if you had listened to Discord, or anything I said, you'd know that I took the form of that thing from his mind, so the ridiculous laser shooting lovecraftian horror is merely a reflection of his psyche. There's a certain comical irony to it, isn't there?"

"Ah suppose that's why it took the image o' Fluttershy. But why not just make somethin' evil te take him down, rather'n go te the trouble o' diggin' round in that messed up head o' his?" Applejack would never understand the minds of villains, and that was perfectly fine with her. If she started to think like those ponies then she'd know that she'd gone insane.

"Oh, I just felt that it was poetic justice. He nearly destroyed Equestria with his madness, and now that's the very thing that will destroy him. I'm sure you find it strange that I'm bringing justice to a former villain, no? Especially considering I'm something of an antagonist, at least by your standards. Well, nopony shall escape the wrath of Chronus, or to be more specific, nodraconequus." He sounded perfectly calm as he spoke, even while saying that nopony would escape his wrath, which disconcerted Applejack greatly.

"But anyway, while it was fun talking to you, I believe a little chat with your friends is in order. I'll be sure to say hello to them from you. Good luck with the creature, by the way," He let a short laugh, before dissapearing, leaving a few particles of shadow in his wake. Applejack didn't have much time to procrastinate, however, as the invisible walls protecting her from the beast sputtered out of existence, with a small 'poof'.

"Ah, horseapples."

Discord was beginning to wonder how much longer he could keep flying for. He winced in pain with every flap of his wings, and let out a small scream of terror with every narrow dodge of a laser beam. He had to find someplace safe to land, and fast. However, just as suddenly as it had started, the barrage of lasers stopped. Glancing over his shoulder nervously, he saw the creature change direction, clearly having found a new target. He hovered above the ground, before coming to a stop.

However, as soon as he found his balance on the floor, he was knocked over by a blur of orange. It stopped beside him, and dragged him to his feet.

"C'mon now, this ain't a time te rest!" Applejack shouted, before turning to face the creature, bending her back legs, and leaping on to it's head with some form of battlecry. She narrowly avoided a burst of lasers, before crashing down on top of Fluttercthulu.

"Oh, what the hay," Discord shrugged, before shrugging and running towards the beast.

Applejack turned around and bucked the creature in the face before it had the time to react, sending a large blob of glue flying through the air with a satisfying 'smack'. The spheres that had been contained in the slime flew on to the creatures back, colliding with it and exploding in a burst of energy. It screamed, and waved it's tentacles wildly, it's laser ammunition depleted. Lacking it's goo and main method of attack, the creature gurgled, and slowly but surely it's appendages began to stop moving, before the creature itself was still. Applejack jumped off, and pulled Discord away from Fluttercthulu as it collapsed to the ground.

The pair stood there, panting and covered in slime. They looked to each other, and back to the creature, before bursting in to raucous laughter at the whole ridiculousness of the situation. After a good few minutes of mad giggling, they picked themselves off of the floor, smiling.

"Ah still hate you, y'know that? Yer the reason we got dragged in to this mess in the first place," Applejack attempted to look stern as she spoke, but she found it difficult to keep the smirk off of her face.

"Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, perhaps we should find a way out of here?" Discord said, before walking towards a small beam of light a few feet in front of him. He stepped in to it, and disappeared, with Applejack following swiftly behind. When they reappeared, they found that they were on the other side of that river that they had been unable to cross earlier.

Of course, it seemed a little inconsequential after fighting a giant lovecraftian monster.