Atchmon paced alone around the apple orchard, staring down at the grass with his brain buzzing with questions, after his pathetic self-realization and initial meeting with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

After all their questioning, he grew frustrated and decided to throw some answers just to be done with it. Naturally, he went with things he was familiar with, but they were things he thought wouldn't make him bored to tears, if he had to do them for the rest of his life.

The only activity available was a child's bow and suction-cup arrow set; which he failed miserably to hit the target, if he could even hold the bow to begin with. The base stand was missing too, which would've only added to the discouragement had it been there.

"Is that target regulation size?" Applebloom had asked, after his first failed attempt at a shot.

Thankfully their session was interrupted, when other young ponies came knocking, which Atchmon was thankful for the reprieve.

The smaller foals were fascinated by his size, and shocked by his blank flank, to which he could make out their hushed whispers as he left. But thankfully they were too shy and awkward to say anything about it directly.

His growing list of things to-do, now had 'discovering himself' piled on top of everything else.

He still needed to look for a job... but that could wait, since Rarity offered him repsite, and he wanted some of that 'good life' they talked about.

Rarity and her friends seemed really well-off to him, so being dependent on her didn't phase him much; considering how much he was being forced to adjust to life as a pony. Another pizza or hayburger sounded very appealing right now.

'Grrrrgle' And of course his stomach would growl in agreement.

"Bleh, all this butt-tattoo junk is all about finding who you are and stuff; well, what if all you are is a big, dumb loser!?" He quietly raged at himself.

His pony snout blew irritated horsey snorts, and occasionally his throat rumbled a frustrated knicker. Atchmon even felt the need to flick his head to show off more of his agitation. It was all he could do to avoid pitching a stomping fit.

'What would a loser Cutie mark even look like?' He wondered, imagining a hand with the shape of an 'L' on his ass.

That actually got him to chuckle and sigh. His tantrum momentarily quieted by the depressing melancholy of his thoughts.

He sat down and wiped his muzzle to calm himself. "Ugh, does it really have to be that big of a deal!?" He questioned to no one. "What do I even care, I know it'll never show up..."

This felt like career day at school all over again, where they had to come up with a short and long term plan for their future.
Anything he came up with wasn't good enough, or didn't count as a long term plan. What did they expect from grade-schoolers? Plans sucked. Why would anyone want to get stuck doing the same thing over, and over, and over again all the time?

That's what he felt a Cutie Mark meant, a job with a name tag you could never remove. A label to confine him into a box. He hated labels. He thought himself more than the box. He wanted to be free to do whatever he wanted, and for a long time he was free; but the cost was losing all social connection, his whole world, and all the potential of fame, wealth, and women with it.

Control was something he kept for himself. It wasn't something he sought to take from others. But ever since being transformed into a pony, Atchmon felt like he was falling uncontrollably toward an unknowable destiny. Nothing had gone the way he had planned for the last several years.

Even if he tried, his mark probably wouldn't appear anyway. It felt like a violation of his very being to have something so permanent etched onto his body; to be stuck with a label, a nametag, for the rest of his life. What made it worse, is that he had no say in what it would be or look like.

He felt as if his life wasn't his own.

"My my, aren't we all tied up in knots." Stated a darkly chuckling, disembodied voice.

Atchmon quickly rose to his hooves, looking all around for whomever it belonged to.

"Over here." The voice echoed in a vaguely familiar voice. Atchmon felt a cold chill run down his spine as a sense of dread washed over him.

"Turn around." It echoed again, equal parts metallic and wrong. Atchmon whirled around and lowered into a defensive stance.

Everything in his body felt all wrong. He meant to squat as a human, but his pony body instinctually raised its head, looking all around for danger.

The voiced cackled again in that same wrong, metallic tone, which gradually normalized as he followed where it was coming from. His head slowly turning to see a cackling creature made up of an amalgamation of different animal parts, belly laughing in hysterics on Atchmon's back.

Discord smiled, pleased with himself and cackled again. "Oh the look on your face is priceless; so serious right now!" He imitated before laughing again.

Sweat beaded on Atchmon's forehead, his teeth grit and face twitched at the monster's mockery; yet he refused to take his eyes off the creature, or abandon his defensive stance.... really it was more of a pee squatting stance, but still.

"What the fuahhhhng!"

Discord snapped his clawed hand and became his normal size and weight, squashing the pony beneath him. His lion pawed hand stroked his goatee in consideration, then snapped his fingers again, placing Atchmon under a giant microscope.

No. He shrank and everything else was huge! Only his great mental fortitude prevented Atchmon from screaming and snarling like a cornered animal, but the vault keeping his emotions and impulses in check was gradually buckling under stress. Years of a survivalist lifestyle, hunting and starving had trained him to be quieter than a mouse and unflinching as a lion.

It was worth precisely dick against a chaos God. Atchmon fought an overwhelming need to run away in a blind panic, but he was paralyzed between fear, amazement, and his survival instincts. Part of him needed to keep eye contact, the other wanted to pound and stomp to drive away the danger.

...

Is what a normal beast encounter would have been. Instead, it was more like he had a mini-panic attack while mentally screaming: 'HorryshiiErmahgaw eetkahn ferkkindo mergic!'

The being muttered aloud as he poked and prodded him, while repeatedly twisting knobs which impressed the cylindrical lenses against his body; making Atchmon squeak like a childs toy.

"Let's see what we have here, a borderline red-and-black OC with a pathetically weak and sad backstory, desperately trying to be special by not being special at all, yet still manages to woo the hearts and minds of all the Ponies he meets, and gets all the mares. Oh, how dreadfully boring and uninspired." He emphasized.

Another snap, and Atchmon flipped end-over-end, having returned to his normal size and floating upside down. Atchmon's head and body whipped around, trying to keep the creature in front of him; though it was impossible being quantum-locked in mid-air.

"I must say, I'm rather disappointed, I thought there'd be something truly, deliciouly horrific going on, but instead it's just another one of those universes here; but no matter." He snapped and Atchmon fell on his back with a grunt.

He scrambled to get upright again. "Who are you, and what do you want!" Atchmon barked. Panic was beginning to settle in, which meant he was about to go full savage on the god-creature.

The donkey-headed beast pouted and sighed. "I suppose I'll play along. Did Rarity not mention me, and here I thought we were 'friends'," he sighed. "Oh well, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Discord, spirit of chaos extraordinaire!" He made fireworks and a lightning storm go off behind him, music came from nowhere, the reports burst into rainbow sprinkles, and the lightning struck the ground, turning into confetti.

A flash and Discord floated onto a hammock to relax with a coconut cup with the little umbrella. "Though here in this universe, you could refer to me as 'the blustering wind', but perhaps I've appeared before my cue." He tossed away the drink, it burst into smaller coconut walking wind-up toys with faces of various expressions. "Oh, do I love meta-humor!" He cackled.

Atchmon swallowed nervously and spoke briskly. "She might've mentioned you." He knew if even one facet of what Rarity told him was true, he was already at the mercy of the Spirit of Chaos.

He gazed up at Discord's tall form. 'I doubt acting ignorant would give me any sort of advantage... huh, this must be what all the short people feel all the time... I dont like it.' There was a constant pang of indignant anger mixed within with the sense of discomfort.

He asked. "So why are you here?"

Discord shrunk down slithered around Atchmon's neck like a snakey chinese dragon thing. "Oh, I know why I'm here, merely sssating a curiosssity, it does get a bit boring in my realm, reporting to the other mes of what does and doesn't achieve the desired destiny of our world, so we occasionally like to switch places and travel the Infinite multiverse to spice things up, but the real question on your mind is, why are you here?" He booped his nose, making an old bicycle honk sound.

Atchmon glared and rubbed his snout. Discord was right. He didn't know why he was here. What purpose he had. What his goals were.

Book. Wealth. Rarity. Would that really be the grand summation of his life? There had to be more. He wanted more. What about finding a way home? Getting his original body back? Wouldn't those be a far more interesting and nobler cause?

Discord whispered in his ear temptingly. "I could do that, you know?"

Atchmon jumped away and swallowed nervously. "Whut?"

"I know what you're thinking, it's practically written on your face!" Discord giggled while hiding a permanent marker, then guffawed as he turned it into a mirror. 'Be a man' was written on his forehead.

Atchmon rubbed at the marking, and was getting irritated, but fear of Discord's power kept his attitude in check. Plus he did say something intriguing. "You can turn me back? What about my home, my world?"

"Of course, both are a snap." Discord did so, and in a flash Atchmon was back to his human body. He checked himself and touched hands to his face. He was butt naked in a pony world orchard, but at least his body was right with the wrong world.

Atchmon was glad to have his body back, but then frowned, considering his offer. "And my world?"

Discord smiled menacingly, then using his claws he tore open a rift between worlds. And on the other side was some guy in a shower cap taking a shower. He noticed Atchmon and the Draconiquis watching him, then proceeded to scream hysterically, unsure whether to cover up behind his clear shower curtain, or keep from dropping the soap.

"Oops, sorry about that," Discored smiled sheepishly to Atchmon, closing the rift like a zipper, and then reopening it like a banana peel.

The Golden Gate Bridge was in the distance. Atchmons heart dropped as a deep sense of longing replaced whatever little resolve he had from staying.

Discord swiped left and there was the Seattle Space needle. Another swipe and the St. Louis arch showed.

Without a thought Atchmon took over, swiping left over and over again. The Russian Kremlin, the Australian opera house, Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, Eifle Tower, the White House. It was all there!

Then the swipes became more personal. He knew that dirt road. That mom and pop shop. The Lake! And finally, the dingey trailer home he grew up in. It wasn't new, but wasn't in bad shape either.

Atchmon wanted to know what would happen, if he swiped right. Would that be it? Could his adventure really be over, just like that?

He felt drawn to his old home for a moment, until the familiar dread of disappointment tempered any feelings of hope that welled within him. "This isn't real." He stepped away.

Discord floated on his back. "Oh, I assure you, it's very much real." Discord's lions paw snapped, and Atchmon returned back into his pony body, and the portal spun away into nothingness. Already the restrictive, wrongness of his body felt confining.

'It's gotta be a trick, no one has ever helped me for nothing.' Atchmon stared ahead at where the portal was, then addressed Discord. "Why would you help me?"

Discord laughed. "Oh, I'm not helping you, per se; I'm helping me, myself, and most of all 'I'." He explained, after seeing the stallion's look of confusion. "This might not be my original universe, but I can't bear the thought of poor, sweet, innocent Fluttershy being lewded on... speaking of..." Discord rushed forward, eyes boring into Atchmon's as they faced off muzzle to muzzle, his pupils glowing red. "Fluttershy is off-limits." His voice dripped with venom.

Atchmon stared back into his eye slits, heart racing despite keeping a deathly stillness of his body. Fear or wisdom stayed his hoof from striking out. Discord relaxed and floated around him, speaking nonchalantly.

"Don't worry," he made quotes and spoke in a bored tone. "I swore to use my power for 'good', most of the time, so you needn't fret, but don't do anything to anger me. You wouldn't like me, when I'm angry." Discord turned into a hulking caricature of himself with two dozen abs, his massive musculature prevented his tiny head and nonexistent neck from turning, and biceps that had no chance of allowing him to scratch his own back. "Flutteryshy is a dear friend of mine, and I don't want the likes of you hurting her feelings." Discord deflated himself like an out of control balloon.

"So long as you do that, then I, and my other selves, will assist you on getting back home with haste; those are my conditions."

Atchmon got his breathing back under control. "Just like that? How would you even be able to tell I'm ready to go?"

Discord used his clawed hand to rap against a nearby apple tree. "Just knock on tree, and my power will allow you to transform one time only." An apple fell from the tree, to which, Discord caught it in the small tuft at the tip of his tail. Effortlessly handling and eating it like a third hand.

Atchmon still didn't trust him. For all he knew, which was all of what Rarity told him, Discord would intentionally put an evil Genie twist on whatever he says. "'Knock on wood', is how the saying is supposed to go." He answered, looking perturbed.

Discord gasped in mock shock. "Is it, how strange, could that be the differences in our parrallel worlds, or perhaps it simply slipped my mind?" Atchmon didn't like how devilishly devious Discord was grinning at him. "Welp, time for me to make my exit so your 'journey of self discovery' may continue, just remember..." Discord rushed ahead and faced off with Atchmon. His slitted eyes were glowing red, and he hissed with venom from his forked tongue. "Fluttershy is off-limitssss."

Discord became a swarm of butterflies--Discoflies-- which then popped like soap bubbles one by one, until all were gone.

Despite the warm weather, a gentle breeze sent a chill through Atchmon. He was living in a world of gods and monsters. How could any man, much less a little pony, stand up to such power?

Author's Note

Nit sure about the multiverse thing. Thought it was a fun idea. Didn't want two whole "fluttershy is off limits deals" but it still reads good, so it stays.

Cut parts for maybe future use

Rarity told him about the Elements of Harmony. They might have grown from a tree, but despite that, they were a one-of-a-kind set.