To say that Twilight was incredibly bored would be an understatement.
She wandered around her huge castle library, unsure of what to do. Her hooves clacking and the sound echoed against the crystal walls, making it seem like she was inside a thumping heart. She wished for the umpteenth time that the Golden Oak Library hadn't been destroyed by Tirek. She missed that old tree as much as she missed not being a princess. Everywhere she went the press would barricade her and ask ridiculous questions, and if she answered, they would overwhelm her with even more questions. Everypony knew how much she loved spreading her knowledge, but some of the things they asked were completely irrelevant and just plain rude. Twilight hated it. Even when she had just become an alicorn, she didn't have to deal with much press because she was too busy studying. Luckily, they weren't allowed inside the castle. So she was left with a huge, magnificent, cold, and empty castle all to herself today.
She sighed. All of her friends were off doing something, so she had nopony to talk to. She sort of wished that she could be with her friends on their trips and chores. Rarity had to assemble a dozen dresses to be shipped off to Fillydelphia by this afternoon so she wouldn’t be available. Pinkie Pie was bogged down today because Sugarcube Corner was getting filled with customers. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were nowhere to be found. Applejack was plowing her farm, preparing for the next harvest and Spike… he was probably in his room, napping. Recently he started to become lazy, more so than before.
Ughhhh... she groaned. How could a castle bigger than all of the buildings in Ponyville have nothing to do? Well, it did, but Twilight had already done them, she was so bored. Even though she loved reading, she had gone through every book in her library at least three times. She growled in frustration as she magically tossed the book that she grabbed off the shelf earlier. The title read: Offensive Comedy Song Writing for Princesses.
The book crashed into the wall behind her with a crash. The purple alicorn dropped to the floor with a thud, her legs splayed out in all directions. She continued to lie on her stomach for several minutes, feeling the cold of the floor, wearing the pouty face of a foal.
What was there to do? There were absolutely no tasks for the purple mare to complete today, which was strange, considering the fact that she’s usually stressed and worked up about one thing or another, even if it was insignificant. Like organizing her desk for the whole afternoon, but she only did that on Tuesdays.
Days like this were very rare for Twilight Sparkle. She sighed in disappointment as she analyzed her predicament, secretly hoping to discover an errand that she may have forgotten but to no avail. The unicorn could do nothing else but stare at the wall in front of her and ponder about how in Equestria she was taskless today. Hay, even some taxes would do!
Her ears perked up as she heard a sound. Maybe it’s one of Pinkie’s surprise parties? The purple unicorn smiled at the thought of her chipper pink friend conspiring to pull Twilight out of her boredom. Then the lavender mare realized Pinkie didn't give surprise parties anymore after she gave some poor mare a heart attack. Plus, she was, again, flooded with customers at Sugar Cube Corner. Probably. She hadn't gone outside for three days. Twilight stood up onto her hooves and brought herself off the floor to find where the sound had come from. She trotted towards the library doors until she heard it again. She stopped mid-step, ears swiveling and listened. There was a deep hum, but as soon as Twilight turned her head in the direction of where she’d heard it. It was gone. What was that? She couldn’t hear the humming anymore, but she knew where it had come from, at least, a rough guess of the location. Twilight galloped out from the library and went towards the throne room.
She came to a halt just outside of the doors to the throne room, and memories of the week before were brought up in her mind. She couldn’t help but hope that she could go to the spa again and have her friends redecorate. Unfortunately, she couldn’t exactly do a repeat right now with everypony busy. Unless… Nah. Magic can’t solve everything! She sighed.
“I just wish I had something to do.” She wond–
Twilight’s ears swiveled as she heard the humming again. Whatever was making that noise was within the room. Once she discovered the thing causing the sound she would…
Twilight placed a hoof on her chin, contemplating. She had no idea of what she’d do. Saving that thought for later, Twilight’s horn lit up and the doors swiftly opened. By the time her horn stopped glowing, the humming was gone. Her brows furrowed as she examined the room, nothing seemed out of place. All seven thrones, check. Map, check. The roots of the Golden Oak Library, check. Mysterious floating portal, check. Windows– wait a minute… something doesn’t seem right. Twilight walked up to the throne with the cutie mark of diamonds.
“Aha!” She levitated a white unicorn plushie off the cushion. Twilight decided to ignore the very close resemblance that it had to her friend Rarity. “Tsk. How many times have I taught Spike to be more organized?”
She tried to teleport the plushie into Spike’s room until her magic suddenly died.
“What the heck!” Twilight pointed her horn towards the plushie and attempted to lift it off the floor, but it wouldn’t budge. She focused, trying to weave the thaumatagical strands to pull that plushie up. Slowly, but surely, the plushie started to lift up. She hated these, almost every unicorn experienced this. When the thaumatagical ambient got a little thin, any magic user started having trouble using even basic telekinetics. She glanced above and noticed the ominous rift floating below the chandeliers. The plushie dropped, her gaze focused on the black rip in the fabric of dimensions.
Twilight trotted closer to inspect the mysterious rift. It was about the size of a pony. The humming increased as she neared the fissure.
“What are you?” The mystified pony wondered. She didn’t expect a response since portals couldn’t talk. It just helped clear her mind when she said thoughts aloud, but som–
CRACK!
“Woah!” A sound like thunder made Twilight lose her balance and fall onto her side. When she looked up, the rift had grown bigger and was glowing erratically. The hum was louder than before, more so than a swarm of insects. Twilight covered her ears with her forehooves. It became very hard to focus as the humming increased, the pressure it caused dulled her other senses. She could hardly keep her eyes open as the rift shone brighter than the sun.
CRACK!
The rift continued to grow, and small cracks had branched off from it. By the time it extended farther than the chandelier, a wind had picked up. Twilight panicked when she felt the suction of the rift pulling on her mane and tail. She tried to stand, but instead she stumbled over her hooves. Landing on her back with a small yelp, Twilight faced the magnificent display of lightning bolts arcing all over the room. She was completely mesmerized until one bolt of lightning struck too close for comfort. The frazzled pony was afraid to move from her spot. She didn’t know what would happen if a bolt hit her, she could even feel the amount of power that they had in them. It was much more powerful than the lightning bolts that the pegasi use.
Twilight frantically charged up her horn out of reflex. She prepared to teleport out of the room, but it was all for naught as the energy in her horn dissipated. It seemed that something was actively blocking her magic.
Then Twilight noticed it, or to be more specific, she sensed it. There was a presence coming from wherever the portal led to, but she hadn’t much time to ponder what it was as the suction of the rift increased ten-fold, pulling her in. If one stood outside the castle, they would hear a distant scream echoing throughout the halls.
Meanwhile…
Princess Celestia sipped her herbal tea and watched the scene across the table. Prince Blueblood was being a pain in the flank, again. He just wouldn’t stop complaining.
“Maid! Bring me some sugar! Bring me some sugar for my tea!”
“Give it to me now, or I'll have you fired!” his yelling could be heard throughout Canterlot castle.
“Oh, um here you go, sir.” A petite unicorn in a maid’s outfit levitated a sugar bowl and placed it on the table.
“That’s Prince Blueblood to you peasant! And this is table sugar!” He snorted and glared at the maid. “You think of me as some commoner? Bring me brown sugar!”
“I’m sorry sir–” When Blue Prince Blueblood’s glare somehow hardened even further, the mare flinched and corrected herself. “I’m sorry Prince Blueblood, but we’ve run out of brown sugar so–”
“Then what use do you have here?! Throw that filthy bowl away and bring honey instead.” The maid hastily left the royal dining room.
Celestia loved all of her little ponies, but some less than others. Blueblood was a particular case. He could be intolerable, as most nobles were, yet she still loved him. Perhaps she should assign him some real royal duties. He’d deserved it.
“Now Auntie, as I was saying before that pony rudely interrupted me,” The princess was oh so very tempted to roll her eyes, but after years of dealing with nobles, it was very hard to break out of her composure. “I think that the renovations on the castle shoul–”
Suddenly, a wild Discord appeared.
“Did somepony say renovation?” He wore a hard hat and a yellow vest, the typical uniform of a construction worker.
Blueblood yelped and hid under the table. Celestia wasn’t fazed at all.
"Discord, if you're just going to mess up everything, please leave," she said.
“Oh Tia, always thinking that I’m up to no good.”
“That’s because you are,” the princess retorted.
“Well… you’re not wrong about that, but you’re not right either~” The mischievous draconequus singsonged.
“Cease your games Discord. My patience is wearing thin right now, so I’d prefer if you’d state the reason of your visit.”
Discord turned his back towards her and folded his arms. Somehow his uniform had disappeared. He huffed. “So selfish Tia. Can’t a dear old friend drop by to pay his most treasured friend a visit?” he crooned.
She could only stare unamused at her so called friend. An awkward silence passed as Celestia waited for Discord to reveal his true purpose of his visit. Finally, he relented with a sigh. His head turned one-eighty degrees to face the princess.
“Fluttershy is busy.”
Celestia raised a brow. “Is that it? She’s busy? Why don’t you–”
“No, I will not hang out with her friends.”
“I wasn’t–”
“And I won’t go outside to make new friends.”
“But–”
“I’m definitely not going to–” Celestia magically sealed his mouth. She thought of telling him to go find something else to do, like a hobby, but the idea died when she thought about what Discord would do for a hobby.
“Why don’t we chat over a cup of tea instead?” she suggested. Discord, the ever so amazingly great friend he was, nodded at her suggestion. Celestia removed the magical charm she placed on his mouth and gestured towards a seat.
“Please, sit. I’ll have a maid bring in your tea. What will it be? Herbal?” she asked.
“No thank you, chocolate milk will do just fine.” Discord teleported into the nearest seat next to her. Celestia’s horn briefly lit up to inform a maid of his request.
“So how’s the weather?” he asked out of the blue.
Celestia facehoofed, but she decided to play along with his poor attempt of conversation. She glanced over to the open balcony doors which showed a perfect view of Equestria’s land and sky.
“Well… it’s definitely not raining milk and the clouds are not pink.” She looked back at Discord with mirth in her eyes. “So I’d say it’s a pretty nice day.”
“Well I think it’s an atrocious day,” said a voice that was under the table. When the voice realized it had spoken aloud, it squeaked.
“Oh, I don’t believe you two have ever met.” Celestia grabbed Blueblood’s tail with her magic and pulled him into view. He tried to scamper back to salvation, but his hopes were dashed as his hooves had difficulty gripping the floor. The prince was levitated in front of Discord.
“Discord, I’d like to introduce you to my nephew, Blueblood.”
Discord could only watch in amusement as the pony wriggled in the air before him. He pulled out a top hat and monocle from somewhere and wore it upon his head. He then proceeded to speak in the most unbearable accent that the prince had ever heard.
“It’s such an honor to finally meet you my fellow pony! I have been waiting for this very day to ask for your hoof in– whoopsie! Wrong line.” He chuckled and flipped over the page he was reading. “I am Discord, but you may call me your new best friend!” He wore a huge grin and extended a paw towards the frightened pony.
Blueblood could only tremble in fear at the creature that was attempting to befriend him. He would never associate with a being like… as… whatever that thing was. Just looking at the mismatched creature hurt his eyes. He looked towards Celestia and gave her a pleading look, hoping that she wouldn’t make him converse with the strange being. Alas, the princess shook her head.
“Go on Blueblood. He won’t bite.” Celestia lowered him to the floor beside Discord. He tried to compose his princely self, but the sight of Discord sent shivers down his spine. He raised his hoof, albeit reluctantly, and shook Discord’s paw.
“It–it’s a pleasure to–to meet you,” he stammered, avoiding eye contact. “My name is Bluey–I mean, Prince Blueblood.”
Discord’s smile widened. “The pleasure is all–” He suddenly stopped mid-sentence, motionless. The smile he wore turned upside down. His pause made Celestia and Blueblood stare at him confused. Then his body spasmed rather violently. It lasted only for a few seconds, but it was enough to worry the princess.
“Woah! That was a doozy!” Discord exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air (I’ll leave it up to you to determine if it was literal or not). “That was some powerful magic.” He looked at Celestia. “Twilight isn’t doing anything she’ll regret is she?”
“What?” The confused princess tilted her head. “No, she usually informs me when she’s practicing new magic, and she hasn’t sent any letters recently. Is there something wrong?”
Discord hummed. “Well, there’s definitely something wrong. Unless Twilight using chaos magic is a common occurrence”– Celestia looked at him in horror –“then I’d say everything is just fine,” he spoke in nonchalant manner.
“WHAT?”
Author's Note
So, what's your opinion on this?
A teen trudged through the thick forest. The leaves brushed against his face. One of the many downsides of being a city boy was that he never had much experience with this kind of thing. Exploring? Clearly not for him. Walking for hours on end wasn't very pleasant, and he could still feel the ache in his legs from the day before. So every time his clothes got caught in the endless sea of branches and bushes, it irritated him to no end.
"Bleh!" He stopped grumbling to spit out the bug that had flew into his mouth. "If I have to spit out one more stinking bug, I'm gonna burn this forest down!" He angrily waved a fist in the air.
It was obvious that the teenager was pissed. He always had difficulty keeping his temper in check, since he could easily be irritated. Usually, he would respond harshly to things or those around him whenever his temper rose, like right now.
"Bleh!” He spat out another bug. “Tepig ember!" Trevor yelled, pointing towards the forest that had the audacity to annoy him. The nerve of this forest! Doesn’t it know to not mess with me?!
A creature that resembled an orange pig emerged from a bush behind the teen.
“Tepig,” it croaked weakly. Then the creature laid down on its stomach. Its short legs splayed out underneath.
“Come on boy! There’s no time to rest now! We still have to find another Pokémon!” Trevor nudged the exhausted Pokemon with a foot. “Get up!”
Tepig looked at him with begging eyes. “Tep–”
“No! Stop that!” Trevor exclaimed.
He turned his head and brought a hand to block his view of the worn-out creature. His anger had immediately dissipated once he glanced at those adorable eyes.
“Tepig…” the Pokémon croaked again.
He just couldn’t help himself anymore, these creatures would always find someway through his typical hard demeanor. And he loved them for it, which absolutely made no sense to him.
“Alright buddy,” Trevor relented. He crouched and lifted Tepig off the forest floor.
He fished around in his pocket and brought out Tepig's Pokéball. He pushed the button and Tepig vanished in a flash of red light.
“I guess I'll just have to go on this alone,” Trevor said sadly.
He turned around to continue his wandering around the forest, where he found and captured one of the rarest Pokémon ever known to mankind, and became one of the best Pokémon trainers in the world.
At least, that’s what Trevor hoped would happen. But Fate in his world thought his idea was so conventional, and it decided to introduce his face to the earth. So what really happened was…
“WOAH!”
As soon as Trevor turned around, he tripped over something – a rock judging by its large size – where his face promptly said, “Hello earth!” and blacked out.
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Twilight rubbed her head heartily. The ground sure was hard, more so than that rock Pinkie Pie had accidentally placed in her party cannon. The purple alicorn's vision was blurry; all she could make out was some green and brown figures.
“Ugh… What happened?” she groaned.
Once Twilight was sure there were no birds flying circles around her head, she took in her surroundings. There were trees surrounding her, bushes
Immediately, she noticed two important things. One, she was in a dense forest. Two, there was something off about it, but she couldn’t place her hoof on what it was. The magical aura of the place felt... different. It felt more like the Everfree Forest, but subdued.
Twilight tried to recall exactly what happened before she lost consciousness, but nothing of recent events came up to her mind. She could feel pain in her horn, so perhaps there was a magical mishap? Misteleportation? The curious pony needed more information.
She got off her belly to inspect the forest. For all she knew, she could be in a different region of the Everfree, which would probably explain why the place felt more subdued. She gasped as a horrific thought occurred to her. What if I’m on the other side of the world! Twilight began to pace, just didn’t know.
Well, I’ll need more information about this place if I want to determine where I am. She trotted towards the nearest plant she could find. It looked like a small tree with blueberries, but they were encased in leaves similar to corn. I don’t think this is the Everfree. I've never seen this type of fruit before, at least, I think it’s a fruit. In fact, I’ve never seen this in any of my books!
She was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard a small proud voice behind her.
"Snivy!"
Twilight zipped around and craned her neck at the strange creature in front of her.
Most of its body was green with a whitish underside. A yellow stripe ran down the length of its back and tail, and it had yellow markings around its large eyes. Two curved yellow structures that resemble leaves or small wings protruded from its shoulders and bend backwards. It has a large, palmate leaf with three prongs on the end of its tail.
Twilight rubbed her eyes and looked at it again. The purple alicorn was starting to freak out.
"What the buck are you?" She yelled at it. It tilted its head to the side questionably, implying intelligence. She backed slowly away from it, and then turned and ran the opposite direction, screaming all the way.
Suddenly, she ran into something blue and tripped over a black rock with white stripes on it.
She yelped and stumbled onto her face. The big rock she tripped on suddenly fell on her and knocked the breath out of her. She gasped for air under the surprisingly soft rock and struggled for dear life. Unfortunately, Twilight couldn't find her breath or her way out. She gasped one last time before the lights went out.
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