***

Discord stormed into the Everfree Forest with no hesitation, never caring about his own life for even a second. Discord couldn't care less about the timber wolves glaring and growling at him or the cold wind ripping through the air, all he cared about was finding the villainous scum that took his one and only love from him. Tirek and King Sombra...Discord's unfortunate targets, the targets of pure chaos. The Chaos God wasn't called a "god" for nothing, he could turn the world upside down quite literally with just a snap of his fingers and would not have any second thoughts,

Through the darkness, a fine black mist seemed to be watching Discord despite not having any eyes, "Diiiiisssssssccoorrrrdd..." its distorted voice seemed to vocalize.

Discord turned around at the voice and spotted the mist which retreated into the brambles, and the chase was on.

The black spiky brambles caused great pain to Discord, who was whacked repeatedly with those branches of discomfort. They hit his long neck and pulled several feathers out of one of his wings. Discord gritted against the pain and trudged on, nothing could stop him now.

Except for a tiny rock sticking out of the ground in front of Discord with a large hill-like slope in front of it.

As you can probably imagine, Discord stubbed his toe on that tiny rock, causing him to tumble down that steep dead grass covered slope with piles of dry as a bone dirt to break his fall. Dust floated in the air for a quick second until it settled a second later, causing Discord to sneeze.

"Owowow...that's a ride were I want my bits back..." Discord muttered as he stood up and brushed off. In his line of sight a few steps away, he saw something along the lines of a crystal statue...getting closer...he realized his true fear...

The pony statue was Fluttershy, with the expression of fear plastered onto her face.

Discord touched Fluttershy's cheek in shock, looking for a speck of warmth. But there was none, there was no sign of life at all. Discord felt his heart shatter, "Fluttershy..."

"If it isn't the great and powerful god of chaos..." the black mist seemed to hiss, "Discord..." the black mist formed into a grey unicorn with a black mane and those ever iconic red and green eyes always glaring, "It's been a long time..." the unicorn growled with a smirk.

Discord didn't even bother to turn his head or cast a glance, "Sombra...you're supposed to be dead..."

Sombra laughed evilly, "I was dead...but thanks to Tirek...I am reborn..."

"...Where is he...? Where is Tirek...?"

A much deeper laugh was heard behind Discord, "Are you...looking for me?"

Discord turned around, glaring at the tall monster, "You've grown..."

"Thanks to the Crystal Heart..." Tirek growled with a smile, "I crept my way into the Crystal Empire, drained the energy of the Crystal Heart, and in turn...awoke Sombra..."

Discord's fists clenched in rage, "You know, it's one thing to betray my trust..." his teeth grated against each other, "But if you....DARE..." he poked a claw at Tirek's chest, "DARE...bring Fluttershy...MY FLUTTERSHY into this..." Discord's eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as he smirked with a look of insanity, "I have no choice but to make your life more...chaotic..."

"Oh...is that so?" Tirek challenged, "I doubt you have any real power...after all...all you do is hang around ponies..."

Discord was losing his sanity inch by inch, "Why did you send that ransom...? And why did you tell me to come alone...?"

Tirek smiled deviously, "Join us..."

"Join us...and you shall be spared..." Sombra said.

"There is no way on Celestia's green Equestria I would EVER join you!" was Discord's heated response.

The sound of a deep rumbling hearty laugh came from Tirek, "If you join us...I'll make Sombra return Fluttershy back to normal..." he growled as he pointed to the crystal statue in front of the group.

Discord was hesitant to ask the next question, "And what if I don't...?"

Tirek walked over to the statue and raised his boulder-like fist, "Fluttershy...becomes Flutterdust..."

Discord was then silent.

***

Back at Canterlot, the ponies waited feverishly for Discord's return. Cadence had to return to the Crystal Empire due to emergency, the Crystal Heart was dying and along with it the kingdom.

"This is horrible..." Twilight muttered as she paced back and forth in the throne room, "Fluttershy is kidnapped and Discord went after her...and hasn't come back..."

Rainbow Dash looked at the stain glass windows, "And now we just figured out that Tirek MANAGED to drain the energy of the Crystal Heart without anypony knowing!" she looked back at Twilight, "Do you have an explanation? ANY explanation?"

"Sadly I don't..."

Rarity sighed, "How could this possibly get any worse?"

"Simple! We could be on the brink of a major apocalypse some zombie ponies that want to eat our brains and possibly put them into brain cupcakes or any kind of sweets really... Or we could be in a sugarfree universe or kids are only allowed to eat vegetables..." Pinkie exclaimed.

Applejack sighed, "Y'all are fussin over a cat playin' with yarn..." she said, "Have faith in Discord, and we can get through this...you do have faith in him...don't y'all?"

Each of the ponies from then on were silent, for deep down their faith was waring more than thin. For the very first time, everypony was losing hope.

Author's Note

Hey, Inkwell here! Thanks for reading!