Prologue Pt. 1: Dan Vs. A New World
“Come on… Come on!” yelled a short pale-skinned man, wearing his usual black “JERK” t-shirt. His hair was a mess of black knots and split ends that were clearly not taken care of. Hunched over behind his upturned couch, Dan glared balefully at a small clip-spring mousetrap in the far corner of his small apartment.
Chris—a tall, brown haired man wearing a light blue t-shirt covered by an unbuttoned orange shirt—glanced tiredly over at his aggressive friend. “Dan, yelling at it won't make the mouse trap work. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re scaring the mouse away.”
Dan turned his dagger-leveling green gaze at Chris. “Then shut up and be quiet!” he yelled back.
Chris could only sigh. This had been the third day straight that he’d been called over to help catch a mouse Dan had spotted eating out of his trashcan. After his first two outlandish ideas involving a funnel, sandwiches, and a claw failed, he supposed that more simple ideas were in order. “You know, I’m actually surprised,” he stated.
“About what?” grumbled Dan.
Chris motioned around the room to the various kinds of clutter that littered the area. There were leftover food items in one corner, a pile of clothes in another, and for some reason, weapons in a third. “Well, with your apartment being this dirty all the time, you’d think that you would have a rat problem sooner.” He took another took around. “Or at least a roach problem,” He added.
Dan scoffed in mock offense. “Chris, please. A bachelor such as myself would never let his pad succumb to the disgusting, freeloading insects that crawl along the bottom of the food chain.”
Chris gave him an odd look. “That still doesn't explain—”
“All right!” Dan screamed, turning to glare at Chris. “Ninja Dave gave me some weird ninja smelling salts to keep the bugs and rodents away! Are you happy now?”
“Well then how did the mouse get in?” he asked, even more confused. Of course Chris knew of the infamous ninja living across the street. Once bent on killing Dan and Chris’ wife, Elise, the now retired black belt owns the local cookie store, and even gives them free cookies from time to time.
Dan’s anger evaporated as quick as it usually did and he gave Chris a flat look. “I think it’s mutated.” At Chris’ disbelieving stare, he continued, “Well there’s no other explana— HEY!” One quick glance back to the trap revealed that the small slice of cheese that Dan decided to use as bait had disappeared. Turning back to his friend, Dan leveled a rage filled finger at him. “CHRIS! IF YOU DON’T STOP EATING THE BAIT, I WILL STRANGLE YOU AND USE YOUR CORPSE AS A REPLACEMENT!”
Chris, all too used to his friend’s frequent outbursts, reeled back and held his hands up in practiced defense. “I swear it wasn’t me this time! You told me that you coated it in poison so I wouldn’t eat it!” he cried out.
Dan visibly calmed but his glare remained. “Oh yeah… That was a lie,” he stated plainly, “The store was out of poison today.”
Chris shot him a hurt look in response as he righted himself and stood up. “You mean I could’ve eaten it without dying? Not cool, Dan. Not. Cool.” Chris glanced over forlornly to the now sprung trap, lamenting over his lost opportunity.
Dan ignored him and put a finger to his chin, proceeding to tap his small beard thoughtfully. Then, putting his other hand behind his back, Dan stood up and began to pace around the room.
“Hmm,” he hummed to himself, eyes darting back to the cheeseless mousetrap, “It seems that this mouse is craftier than I first believed. Perhaps this trap was too simple after all.” He tossed a subtle look at Chris. “That’s the last time I take advice from Chris,” he mumbled.
Proceeding to look down at his cluttered coffee table, Dan’s eye caught sight of a peculiar article. As he went to pick it up, Chris fidgeted nervously, glancing between Dan and the door. “Hey, Dan… I—”
“Quiet, piggy!” Dan shouted back, holding out his hand to silence him. Dan himself had an excited smile on his face as he pointed to it. “Check this out!”
Chris walked over and took up the magazine, beginning to read its contents. “‘Dr. Codis’ semi-patented co-trademarked, completely non-magical pest catcher. 100% Guaranteed to catch any pest and deliver them to where they deserve to be. Use with extreme caution.’” Chris handed the paper back and gave Dan a concerned look. “Dan, you shouldn’t trust back-of-the-magazine advertisements like these. They’re all lies and fake products.”
Dan narrowed his eyes at him and crossed his arms in suspicion. “And how do you know? Have you ever bought one of these so-called, ‘fake products’ before?”
Chris’ eyes shrank in surprise and he glanced around nervously. “N-No!” he squeaked back.
Dan let his arms dangle by his sides and simply looked at him. “You’re a bad liar, you know that?” he said matter-of-factly. “So, what did you buy?” he continued to ask, genuinely curious.
Chris smiled sheepishly and struggled to avoid eye contact. “I, er, ordered a shrink ray. I thought if I shrank all my food I could eat more of it and enjoy the taste longer.”
Dan facepalmed. “Okay, two things… One: why not just use a gigundo ray? Then, instead of WASTING INGREDIENTS, you can just eat one—” he looked up and down Chris’ body, “two sandwiches a day!”
Chris’s face lit up in realization. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Dan ground his teeth. “And two… your wife already has a gun that does both of those things!”
“Well she won’t let me use it! Why do you think I wanted to buy one from a magazine?” defended Chris, “Anyways, that’s beside the point. The point is that these things don’t work and will only be a waste of—” A loud buzzing noise cut Chris’ speech off. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled his cell phone out to check who it was. After a few seconds, he put it back and gave Dan an apologetic look. “Sorry Dan. Elise needs me to hurry home for a… special project.”
Dan fumed. “What is with you these days? It’s like you get called home every few hours! Is Elise that needy?” Instantly, Dan’s tone shifted more towards a sorry, more pleading one. “Come on, I need help with this mouse! And I can’t sleep at night knowing that it might jump up on my bed and claw my face off…” He smiled softly and held up the rest of his pack of square cheddar cheese. “I’ll let you have some if you stay.”
Chris stared at the cheese for a long while, a gaze of intense desire flaring in his eyes. Finally, he shook his head and made his way towards the door. “N-no. I’m sorry, Dan! I’ll see you tomorrow… maybe.” With that, Chris ran down the outside stairs and towards his car.
Dan, nearly bursting with animosity, ran out the door and screamed down the stairs, “FINE, YOU TRAITOR! THIS FRIENDSHIP IS OVER! YOU CAN LIVE IN A SHALLOW GRAVE WITH THAT SUCCUBUS OF A WIFE OF YOURS FOR ALL I CARE! GOOD RIDDANCE!” At the end of his rant, Dan slammed the door closed as hard as he could, while Chris simply looked up at it expectantly. After a few seconds, the door cracked back open and Dan looked down with a flat stare. “See you tomorrow.” Once again, he slammed the door.
Inside his home, Dan continued to vent his frustrations to himself. “Stupid, no-good, best friend! Choosing family over me. Who does that?! And what is this ‘secret project’ that’s been so important recently?” Dan then let out a sigh, dragging a hand down his face. “Ahh, forget it. I have better things to do anyway then worry about whatever weird fetish movies Elise is making Chris try out.”
Grabbing the magazine, Dan pulled out his phone from his pocket and began to dial the number written along the page. “Hello, Chaos Industries? I’m calling for Dr. Codis…”
~~~
The very next day, Dan opened his door with a grin and picked up the medium sized package that was laying in front of his apartment. “Wow, that was fast. I need to order from that magazine more often.”
“Merow.”
Closing his door, Dan turned to see his faithful scruffy black cat standing behind him. Smiling sweetly, he bent down to pick her up. “Mr. Mumbles! You wanna see me kill a pest?”
Mr. Mumbles cocked her head, gazing up at her owner with wide eyes. “Meow?”
Dan reeled back in shock. “Goodness no, Mr. Mumbles. I would never make you catch that filthy rodent yourself. Who knows what kind of diseases it might be carrying!” With that, he rubbed his face against hers affectionately. “Come on, let’s go watch the show.”
Skipping excitedly towards the center of his living room, Dan set down the box on his table, speedily using his handy pocket knife to slice open the top. Sticking the tool slash weapon in his pocket, he eagerly opened the box.
“Ohh, packing peanuts!” Dan reached in and held up a handful of styrofoam peanuts. “I’ll hold onto these. You never know what kind of vengeance scheme might have use for them, Mr. Mumbles.”
Stuffing handfuls of peanuts in his other pockets and delving deeper into the box, he felt something cold brush against his hand and pulled out a small silver cube. Examining it curiously for a few seconds, Dan picked out a single piece of paper that had been sitting right next to it. Unfortunately, the writing only served to confuse him more. “What is this?!” he yelled out furiously, squinting his eyes at it, “It’s just a bunch of wild scribbles and lines!” He showed it to his cat. “It’s like someone wrote this with their mouth! You could write better than this.”
Frustrated, Dan irritatedly tossed the cube against the back wall, ignorant of the whirring noises that began to emanate from it while he continued to mumble bitterly to himself. He turned the sheet of paper this way and that, desperately struggling to read the strange writings.
“Maybe it’s a different language?” Dan then peered back to floor, or rather where the floor should be. He was unable to see it with all the garbage and clothes scattered about. “Where did that magazine say this was shipping from?”
While Dan looked around to find the magazine, Mr. Mumbles managed to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon happening in front of them. The cube began to release a white light as it expanded. The top of it soon burst open, fully releasing the pent up energies within. The magic covered the back of Dan’s wall, turning it into a veritable door made of light.
“Merow! Meeeow!” Mr. Mumbles pawed Dan’s leg to get her owner’s attention. Dan turned and opened his mouth to say something, but when he noticed the large wall of light that had replaced his back wall, they died in his throat as his eyes widened. Before his speech could recover, a fierce wind thenbegan sucking him and his cat into the wall. Letting out a shocked yelp, the first thing that Dan grabbed was his couch as he fell down, but even that was starting to drag.
“What’s going on?!” he screamed over the wind. Next to him, Mr Mumbles also dug her claws into the couch for support. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the strength that her owner did, and was quickly sucked in, Dan yelling after her. “MR. MUMBLES!”
Panicking, Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to dial Chris’ number. He didn’t live all that far away, and if Dan held on long enough, could probably do something to help.
Putting the phone to his ear, Dan heard one ring then the telltale sound of Chris’ answering machine. However, this time, the message was slightly different. “I’m sorry I can’t come to the phone right now. My wife and I have decided to go away for the next few months on vacation, and you will be unlikely to reach us for the majority of that time.” Dan’s jaw fell to the ground but the message continued.
“And if this is Dan, then I’m really sorry that I couldn’t tell you in person. I—” there was the sound of the phone being passed. A familiar redhead’s voice bragged through the speaker. “Ha! Finally got away from you, Dan! You’re not coming with us this time. We are going on vacation in a place you won’t find us, and I made sure that you won't find us this time.” The phone passed back and Dan heard Chris’ voice once again. “Elise, please stop that. Sorry Dan, Elise bribed me pretty hard not to tell you. Sorry. I’ll see you in a few months. Don’t get arrested before I get back.” he finished cheerfully.
There was a beep and a few seconds of silence before Dan utterly exploded in a chorus of furious screams. However, his screaming accidently caused him to release his hold on the couch and fly back into the portal. Yelling in shock, the familiar sights of his apartment vanished as he followed Mr. Mumbles into the unknown. Dan was overcome by a sense of free falling, almost as if he had leapt out of a plane. Complete white enveloped his vision. Then complete red. Then green. Then azure. Then citrus. Then chartreuse. Then the colors came at him randomly. Xanadu, falu, fulvous, even wenge. Eventually, Dan lost track of the colors as they came at him far too fast for his brain to recognize them, much less recall their weird obscure names.
Then, all at once an invisible wall slammed into Dan, stopping his fall. Realizing that he must’ve hit some kind of ground, Dan got up and stretched his back, surprised by the fact that he felt no pain. Looking around, confused as to where he was, Dan began to feel a sense of panic rushing through him. It seemed to him that he had landed in some weird color space. It was mostly white and black, but blotches of many other colors existed there. They moved around ethereally, some mixing with others and creating whole new colors that Dan had never seen before.
Before he could voice his thoughts, a splotch of brown flowed off of the space and flew right past him. Turning around, Dan noticed that he wasn’t alone in this this strange place. He watched as the brown flew right into what seemed to be a tall clear glass, held in the arm of a strange creature with its back turned. The second the color touched the glass it seamlessly transformed directly into a liquid state. Dan watched in befuddlement as the creature seemingly drank from glass itself, tossing the color so that it splotched right back onto some invisible surface.
Finally, Dan had enough of this confusion. He wanted answers. “Hey!”
The creature jumped in surprise and turned back to Dan, leveling a cocked finger at him. “Oh,” he sighed with relief. “It’s only you. For a second, I thought Moon Butt found me.” Uncocking his finger, he went back to lounging in the air, this time facing Dan.
Now that Dan had an upfront look at the creature, he could see that it was worse than he had originally thought. “My god… I KNEW IT!” Dan threw his hands up into the air and started doing a small dance in celebration.
Discord simply looked at him in confusion. “Knew what, pray tell?”
Dan turned and threw a finger his way. “I knew my mouse was a mutant! A filthy mutant… chimera... thing!”
Discord staggered back in shock and disgust. “My word! I’ve been called a lot of things, mutant and rat included, but what part of me even resembles a mouse?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Mickey Mouse! I can see your round little mouse ears!” Dan gestured up the the round black ears that currently sat upon Discord’s head.
Discord scoffed and removed his hat. “I will have you know that this is a present from my dear Fluttershy. We just returned from a theme park… well… banned from a theme park is a bit more accurate. Either way, I suppose that this is enough to convince me.”
“Save your dirty mutant double talk for the X-people! Where am I?!” yelled Dan.
Discord proudly gestured around himself. “Welcome to the transitional world. Or as I like to call it, my first apartment. I’ll send you along shortly.” A piece of paper and a pen appeared in his claw with a flash. “I just need your name and what dimension you came from.”
Dan shook his fist at the chaos lord. “I’m not telling you anything! Putrid scum of Marvel!”
Discord calmly wrote down what he heard. “Dan Mandel. Home world: Vs. Earth, Los Angeles. Got it!” The paper and pen disappeared and Discord gave Dan a bright grin. “Perfect! Listen, you look like an fairly vengeful and angry little man. I have an important job for you.”
By this point, Dan was fuming from being so ignored. “YOU CAN TAKE YOUR ‘SPECIAL JOB’ AND STICK IT UP YOUR MUTANT PIE HOLE!”
Discord nodded. “Yes, I can understand your excitement. It is very important. The Princess herself bestowed it upon me, but I’m lazy and in no position to complete it. Just know that as soon as you finish it, you’ll be sent home immediately.”
“ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO—
“Good luck, Daniel!”
Dan’s jaw once again hit the ground. When he recovered, his face had turned red and he furiously bumrushed the mad lord. “WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!? I’LL—”
Discord snapped his eagle claw and the mad man vanished in a flash, and the second he was gone, Discord burst out in a fit of laughter. Wiping away a tear, he stuttered out one final phrase.
“This is gonna be hilarious!”
Prologue Pt. 2: Sunset Vs. Friendship
Sunset Shimmer scoffed at the scene before her, disgusted by the behavior she was seeing from her new-found friends. She was hanging off to the side as she leaned against a locker, her hands in her jacket's pockets as she observed what was unfolding. There was Applejack before her, a crying mess as she curled up on the hallway's floor, sobbing like it was the end of the world. Her friends were all there with equally sad looks at AJ, putting comforting hands on her back and murmuring reassuring words.
Ugh, how dumb… Sunset thought, looking away for a moment.Like, I know she’s sad and all, but it’s over nothing… She then glanced back over to the group. At least, I’m pretty sure of that… But another look at them just made her shake her head and scoff at herself. Pft, who am I kidding, this is really dumb and really, really… idiotic!
"Don't you worry dear, I'm sure it was a, er, painless death," Rarity then mumbled into Applejack’s ear as she sat down by her side, holding onto Applejack's hand with her own as she rubbed her back and comforted her with the other.
"Soarin’ had lived a pretty awesome life, AJ. Nothing to be sad about there. Hell, he had, like, a scholarship for college and everything! No help at all either, just himself working towards those things! That's, well, really good. I can't even get out of bed in the morning without help!" Rainbow Dash shouted from her own locker, pushing the door closed as she finished retrieving her history book and slid it into her backpack.
"Rainbow, try to be a bit more comforting!" Rarity hissed back, narrowing her eyes at Dash before turning her attention back to Applejack, who had responded by hiding her head with her legs. Rarity tried to do something, but she only continued to bend her legs and pull forward, becoming as small as she could. "Oh, you poor dear."
"Wimp," Sunset muttered to herself through clenched teeth, not believing how pathetic everyone was being.
How could she be so sad? He was just some boy! Weird and not even that cute, too. I mean, those weird-looking things under his eyes!? And a creepy knowledge about soccer!? Ew.
"Sunset, show a bit of respect," Dash growled back to her as she reached the wall Sunset was leaning on, giving her a light punch on the arm as she glared at the red and orange haired girl.
"Hey, it's true!"
"Just keep it to yourself. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
Grumbling, Sunset let out a long sigh, muttering an angry "fine" under her breath as Applejack continued to cry before her, the rest of her friends all sitting down on the floor beside their depressed friend as they exchanged worried glances. She'd gotten considerably worse in the last few minutes, her blonde hair a complete mess as pieces of it stuck to her bright red face, her eyes refusing to open as she began to hiccup between each wail.
"Shouldn't we, um, get someone to help?" Fluttershy whispered over to Pinkie, whose hair had completely deflated with her previous happiness ever since the whole thing had begun, "We're missing fifth period, and someone is bound to notice sooner or later."
Pinkie looked over to Fluttershy with sad eyes, her bottom lip quivering as she threatened to lie down with Applejack and cry as well. "I-I guess. Want to go get principal Celestia?"
"Sure, Pinkie."
The light-pink-haired girl then stood up from her spot on the dirtied tile floor, walking down the hallway to the front office and leaving the five remaining girls to watch as Applejack cried for what seemed like a never ending amount of time. Well, at least four. Sunset continued to rant about Applejack in her head.
Not five minutes later Fluttershy was still gone, but Applejack's sobs had seemingly increased over that time. Sunset was still leaning against the wall, though her ears were now pressed against her hurting ears, beginning to scowl as the high pitched wails racked her already pained head.
"This is ridiculous, where the heck is Fluttershy?"
A girl shouldn't be this sad about some guy she liked, well, dying! Sure, someone died and that’s enough to be sad about, but it’s not like they knew each other well… She paused for a moment before continuing. And I've been there, done that, and certainly didn't *cry!** Flash was boring and dull, kissing and all that disgusting mushy stuff too. It was like we weren't even dating, just hanging out a bit more than usual! Ugh, I just don't get it. Why is love suddenly a whole big deal around here!?*
An especially loud cry made her flinch as her ears burned painfully in response. Finally, it all became too much for her to listen to. "Gah, I'm out!"
Letting her arms fall from her ears, Sunset began to storm off and away from her friends in a rage, only for Rainbow Dash to put a cyan hand on her shoulder and force her to turn back to face her.
"Hey, Sunset, you can't just bail out on u-"
She cut her off with a quick gesture of her hand towards Applejack.
"This is absurd!" she uttered back sharply, "How long can the girl cry her eyes out about some dumb boy!?"
"That ‘girl’ is our friend, and you're going to help her through her time of need!" Rainbow Dash spat, deciding that she'd be just as rude to Sunset as she was to her if it would get the point across.
"What ‘time of need!?’ She's just being a big crybaby!"
That last line came out a bit louder, and ruder, than Sunset had expected, and everybody turned her way, including Applejack. Sunset instantly felt her muscles tense and a huge sense of regret as Rainbow Dash gave her a "you did this to yourself" look, walking away to let the rest of the group deal with her. They all wore looks of disgust mixed with shock on their faces, especially Applejack, who was leaning towards disgust as she narrowed her eyes at her so called "friend.” Sobbing coming to a halt, Applejack rose to her feet and pushed her friends aside as she fiercely walked up to Sunset.
"What. Did. You. Just. Say!?"
Seeing as the deed was done, Sunset let herself relax a bit as she rolled her eyes, proceeding to stare right into Applejack's own green eyes. She could see they were puffy from all the crying she’d been doing for the past few minutes, with a few stray tears still running down from them as they glared at Sunset Shimmer mixture of despair and anger. And for a moment, Sunset felt as if she was the most horrible person in the world.
No, she then thought, shaking away the thought as all kindness left in her faded away. Applejack’s just overreacting! She doesn’t need my sympathy over something so juvenile.
"I called you a crybaby. Angry much?"
With that, Sunset suddenly found herself being slammed against the wall she once leaned upon as Applejack pushed her against it, knocking the air out of her lungs as she raised her fist to punch her. All Sunset did was snort in response, and would've folded her arms if they hadn't been pinned. Staring up at the girl towering before her, Sunset raised an eyebrow.
"Go on, farm girl. Do it."
That was all Sunset Shimmer remembered before searing pain shot up her face and she passed out.
A wave crashed onto the shore with a loud splshhh noise from behind her. It was a huge, dark-blue one, its thunderous movements causing the rising water to ripple as it shone with the setting sun as it began to lean in over itself, white froth forming at the edge of it's curl. With pinpricks of light still on it, it came rumbling over to the fiery orange sand, where it finally collapsed and spread out as far as it could. Sunset stood in the middle of it, watching as the icy cold ocean water lapped at her ankles. As she stood there, Sunset Shimmer looked back in front of her, staring into the array of colors before her.
Dark yellows, pinks, reds, and oranges all glimmered brightly in the sky as the sun began to fall under the horizon, letting out its last few rays of sunlight for people like herself to gawk at. It was definitely one of the finer sunsets, the clear sky letting her eyes take in all of the beauty sparkling right before her.
A gentle breeze then blew straight into Sunset as a few distant seagulls cawed out into the sea. The wind flew through her hair and pushed it back, giving it an ethereal look along with her short pink shirt and orange mini-skirt.
Looking down, Sunset Shimmer clenched her feet a bit, feeling the wet, slimy sand of the beach seep through the spaces in between her toes and watched as more of the murky brown stuff covered each foot.
I was right, she silently thought to herself, letting her previously crossed hands fall down to her sides. Applejack shouldn't have overreacted about some guy dying. They weren't even dating, just a bit flirtatious.
But as another gust of crisp, chilly air thrust against her under-clothed body once more, Sunset Shimmer let out a long sigh.
Then why do I feel so bad?
She felt yet another small wave crash against her leg, teeth chattering a bit as coldness spread throughout her body.
I'm... I’m a jerk... Sunset shook her head to banish the thought. But, he was just some random guy! Applejack was way too upset about that.
Sunset staggered back as her vision suddenly blurred. She quickly brought an arm to her face, assuming that it was simply the sand flying into her eyes as the wind began to pick up speed and power.
Yet I was so sad when Flash left me. To think about him dying though... But then again, what does he really mean to me?
"Sunset!?"
Sunset turned back to Applejack and scoffed. Of course she’d be here. To make her feel worse. Noticing something wet on her cheeks, Sunset lifted a hand to her feel her face.
How silly of me, coming up with something as stupid as sand. I'm crying right now.
The memories of Applejack, along with the rest of her friends yelling at her flooded her mind as she remembered what had unfolded after she left Principal Celestia's office.
"You jerk!"
"How dare ya say somethin' like that!"
"You big meanie! Her boyfriend just died!"
"I... can't believe you, Sunset!"
"How rude!"
Sunset turned around to hide her face from Applejack, refusing to let weakness be shown.
How could I think of myself getting such wonderful friends and being able to keep them. I screwed up. I always screw up… even if I was right… right?
"Sunset! Stop!"
And finally she did stop, turning around with her cheeks puffy and clearly visible tears streaming down her face as her thoughts became jumbled and lost. Applejack stood a few feet in front of her, looking up at Sunset with what seemed to be pity and regret written across her face. But she didn’t care. All she knew was that friendship was too confusing and depressing, and that walking through the ocean could help… somehow.
Applejack took a cautious step forward through the water, now up to her knees, and let out a sigh before looking Sunset straight in the eyes.
"Look... ah know ya ain't got a lot of experience with these kinda things, Sunset. And when I saw ya jumpin' into that car after school, driving off to here, I just knew I'd dun goofed up. Yer still learning what it means tah have friends. We... I, overreacted 'bout yer own reaction, even if you were bein’ a big ol’ jerk like ya were when you tried to take over the school.... Wanna come back an talk 'bout it?"
It was Sunset’s turn to respond. Instead of turning around and continuing her walking like she planned, her tears came to halt as she narrowed her eyes at Applejack and clenched her hands into fists. Sadness turned into anger as she caught on to just what Applejack had said. Taking a step forward to the blonde haired girl, she scowled as she looked her straight in the eye like Applejack had to her, only it wasn't as friendly. Applejack was puzzled at first, as evident by how she raised an eyebrow, but then her own eyes widened as she realized what she had done, her own hands falling down.
“Wait! Sunset, I didn’t mean to--”
But she was cut off, an accusing index finger being shoved into her chest as Sunset closed the gap between them.
“Oh, I see how it is. You’ll bring up my past to make me feel all bad about what I did,” Sunset hissed through clenched teeth.
“Now, Sunset, ya’ll know that ain’t what I meant,” Applejack replied hesitantly, putting her hands up to her chest as she tried to show she meant no harm. She didn’t want to further upset her angered friend.
“Sure, Applejack. Sure."
"It's the truth, I swear! Ah'm the most honest person in the 'ntire school!"
"You may be honest and all, but how do I know you aren’t just lying to yourself? Making yourself believe those things? If you were being honest, then why would you even bring that incident up?”
“Sunset, please, it was a slip of the tongue--”
“DON’T SAY MY NAME! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO AFTER WHAT YOU’VE SAID!” she yelled back as all of her pent up anger at her friends' reaction broke loose, stomping a foot and causing seawater to splash up.
“Please, ah know it wasn’t right of me to bring that up. But let’s face it, Sunset, ya’ll was acting like a huge jerk when mah boyfriend died. You didn’t even try to comfort me once!”
“He wasn’t even your boyfriend! He was just some guy you ogled during six and seventh period like he was a piece of eyecandy!”
Applejack gasped in response, her own concern turning to rage as she furiously spat back at the yellow and red haired girl before her.
“YOU KNOW THAT AIN’T TRUE!”
Sunset merely snorted in response.
“You know what, Applejack, we’re done here! I was beginning to regret what I did. But after seeing you come here, I think I now remember just why I called you a crybaby.”
With that, Sunset whipped around to storm off somewhere into the ocean, only to feel a ton of seawater smack into the front of her body and push her down to the ground and underwater as she let out a yelp, Applejack’s muffled screams reaching her ears before everything turned black.
Discord hummed a merry tune to himself as he skipped about his land of colors, finishing dusting a rather dirty blotch of red. He was rather satisfied with the way it shone in the non-existent light of the Transitional World, and couldn't help but grin that his former home looked so clean. Skipping off to the next part of it, he was just about to change out of his maid's outfit when he heard a high pitched scream, along with a loud thud and groan of pain.
Confused, he looked down at the watch on his wrist, seeing it was 12:03 pm.
"Sweet Rarity's butt glitter, Sunset's here already?!" he exclaimed, realizing his chaos had bested him once more.
Poofing his getup away in a flash of white magic and a clap of his eagle hand to lion paw, Discord looked around to see Sunset Shimmer face down on the jumble of reds and yellows he liked to call his "floor,” mumbling some rather nasty curse words to herself as she attempted to roll onto her back. Chuckling to himself, he watched from the other side of the void as she finally succeeded with her task at hand.
Perfect.
Discord then quickly teleported over to hover right above her face just as she laid on her back.
"Hello."
Sunset looked up to see Discord staring over her, smiling with a crooked grin as his snake tongue flickered out of his mouth. Her eyes widened in fear at the creature above her, and Discord's smile only widened as she opened her mouth to speak.
She then let out what could easily be called the loudest scream ever, scrambling to her feet with frantic movements of her legs and arms as she attempted to escape the beast before her. Heart pounding in her chest as her breathing became rugged and uneven, Sunset tried to run away, only to find that she couldn't as a white glow suddenly formed around her body.
"Now, now, dear Sunset, is this a proper way to treat somebody trying to help you?" Discord said disapprovingly, watching as she tossed and turned in his grip like a fish caught out of water.
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU... RAT!" she screeched back, flailing in the grip of his magic as he pulled her closer to him.
"Hmm, not too different of the reaction I expected from your angry little friend."
"I DON'T HAVE AN ‘ANGRY LITTLE FRIEND!’ NOW LET ME GO!"
Discord chuckled and pinched her puffy cheeks. "Aww, isn't this precious? You two will be perfect together."
"UNHAND ME-- wait, what?"
All of her anger suddenly shifted to curiosity as she stopped her panicked and desperate movements, raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms while still being lifted up by magic.
Discord's reaction was almost instant as he quickly stopped pinching her cheeks and instead gave her a sheepish smile.
"I... er..."
In lieu of offering an explanation, Discord quickly released his magic, letting her fall to the ground with a thud.
"Ow! Hey, what was that for?"
Her words fell on deaf ears as Discord directed his gaze to the grandfather clock on his wrist. "Well, would you look at the time! Time for you to go!"
"Wait, you still didn't answer my question--"
Sunset didn't get to finish her sentence as a blinding white light flashed all around her.
