Predator returned to his nest. He was the only one who called it his nest, since everyone else, especially Dark Lord, referred to it as the “Prey Zone”.

He had destroyed a total of six universes. There were escapees, but they only escaped because he let them escape. King Sombra was the most recent one to escape his wrath. The plan was to recruit them into the Horde of the Void.

Predator stepped onto his bed. It was a dog bed. Magical Douchebag replaced the original haystack with this as a joke, but Predator didn't mind. He circled around it three times and took a nap.

When he woke up, Fortnite was standing in the corner menacingly. Predator stood up from where he slept. “Void Creature questions your loyalty. You did not assist me when I required help, and Satanic Cultist’s life was put in danger because of you.”

“You killed my best friend,” Fortnite said bluntly. “You killed him without any reason. I’m loyal to him, not you. As for the others, they didn’t care at all. You left Backwards for dead, you let our allies die.”

“And even now, you dare enter my lair?”

“... aren’t you supposed to be preparing for that one demon horse guy to destroy the world?”

“This isn’t over.” Predator flicked some fire from his tail onto Fortnite, teleporting him away.

Ah, Canterlot. The capital of Equestria. Or it was, in another world. One lost to time. In those days, Canterlot was a bustling metropolis. Filled with mostly unicorns, though there was the occasional pegasus or earth pony. There were important ponies here, once. Slowly but surely, everypony, from Fancy Pants to Captain Shining Armor and even that random pony that arrived from Manehattan to sell hats all were imprisoned.

Now only Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie wandered the streets. Rarity had avoided the trip due to “Not wanting to fight ‘uncouth’ changelings without a wedding to attend afterward”.

That was entirely understandable. No one wanted to do battle without a victory party afterward. Twilight had guessed based on previous patterns that they would have to fight Queen Chrysalis in Canterlot next.

As they were still on the streets, a manhole cover (wait should it be called ponyhole or something?) slid open. Twilight half-expected some creature to come out of the sewers, and half-expected the cover to turn into Discord. Neither were true. Instead, the sewers transformed into the same gray unicorn stallion which was once a statue on Discord’s throne.

The unicorn looked worse than before. He now had eyes so yellow anyone would be forgiven if they thought he had jaundice. A single fang poked sideways out of his mouth. Two new horns grew out from his head, one a deer antler, the other a goat horn.

Everything about the unicorn screamed Discord to Twilight. So she asked the strange pony a question, “Who are you?”

“I go by many names,” the unicorn said in a strange, almost mystic voice. “Some call me Chaos Theory. Some call me Insurgency. The serpent Apophis.” Chaos Theory vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a hat he wasn’t even wearing.

“Ooh, free hat!” Pinkie picked up the hat and placed it on her head.

“But most know me as...” The voice came from nowhere and everywhere. It was from above, from below, from the sides, coming out of the walls, out of my fridge... wait, that shouldn’t be happening. I’m gonna go check on it. Parentheses Guy, it’s your job now!

(Wait I don’t know how to narrate- oh uh, let’s see. Pinkie’s hat just popped off her head and a head that realistically shouldn’t have been able to fit in there popped out. A very recognizable head. Kinda unmistakable, since it was one of a kind, and there was only one of his species known to the entirety of the world wide web, not counting OCs. Unless you count Eris but I don't. Oh wait I’m getting off track. This is why they don’t let me do the narrating. Oh hey he’s back.)

Okay I’m back so it turns out Discord invaded my fridge. Not the Lord of Chaos or anything, but the app. The one for chatting and stuff. Let’s get back into-

“You aren’t going anywhere, Mr. Narrator.” Discord’s disembodied head seemed to be speaking to no one in particular.

“Hi Mr. Narrator! Do you want a party?” Pinkie Pie also seemed to be able to see this Narrato- wait one gosh darn second, that’s me!

“Why yes it is you [REDACTED].” Haha! Editor prevented you from swearing! Take that, Discord!

“You’re no fun.” Discord’s head plopped out of the hat and rolled to a stop at a very conveniently placed potted plant. A lion paw reached out from within the plant and placed the disembodied head of Discord on top of the plant. The plant slowly morphed into Discord’s more familiar body. “And could you also stop narrating everything I do!?”

I’m sorry! I haven’t really met that many people that could see me before! Can you two just not acknowledge my existence long enough for people to enjoy what’s happening?

“Sure!” Pinkie enthusiastically agreed.

“Okay, fine,” Discord said defeatedly. “This does not mean I will stop sending Other Discord to invade your fridge.”

Can you don’t? Thanks. Anyway, where were we?

Twilight had a really, and I mean really, confused look on her face (Sorry Twilight, it’s not our fault). Her mouth was open as if she was going to question something, but she closed it, remembering not to question Pinkie, or Discord for that matter.

“So uh, Discord, are we friends now?” she asked.

“Absolutely not!” Discord exclaimed, taking on the appearance of a quadrupedal creature with white fur and a blue body. A single curved horn in the shape of a slightly deformed crescent moon jutted out of one side of its head. “Get it? Cuz Absol?”

Discord. Like Takiza said in Shark Wars: Razor’s Edge chapter 5, don’t make jokes unless they’re funny.

“Sorry.”

Discord poofed himself away, as did Parentheses Guy, who had actually just fallen asleep on his keyboard (iafoghjklsfdjklsadgjlk).

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie continued onward. The city seemed deserted, as if not even a single rat dared to make a wrong move lest they be instantly incinerated where they stood (I swear to god this isn’t foreshadowing for Daybreaker being the villain of this chapter(s)! It’s just a coincidence that Daybreaker rules over Canterlot and they’re here looking for Chrysalis!). Oh so now you’re awake (yep. Nice ten second nap).

“Can you not have a conversation without us?” Pinkie asked no one in particular ayo it’s Bracket Guy don’t know why you guys don’t ever call me in for these things [why u bully me?] Because you don’t have proper grammar. [oufch]

“Okay so let me tell you about my day-” Pinkie attempted to get a full sentence out to the gods in a higher dimension known as ‘Reality’.

“CAN YOU NOT TALK TO THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD FOR FIVE SECONDS!?” Twilight almost initiated her Royal Canterlot Voice. If she had, the entire city would have heard, and she, Pinkie Pie, and all of the random potted plants littered around the road (why are they there?) would have been arrested.

“Sorry.” Sorry (sorry) [sorry] {sorry} (no one invited you) {*cries*}.

Pinkie Pie bounced onward, trying to ignore the fact that she could somehow hear me even though I am literally just words on a screen combined with the figment of the Author’s imagination (aren’t we all?).

Twilight tried her hardest to forget what had just happened. It was too strange to comprehend, even with her somewhat superior mind.

They soon arrived at Canterlot Castle, the successor to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Except not really since said two sisters each had their own castle, one in Canterlot, one in the Everfree.

The castle wasn’t white and gold like they were used to. Instead, the castle was colored orange, red, yellow, and a teensy bit of black, as if the architect built it for a being made of fire.

“This doesn’t look like where we would find Queen Chrysalis,” Twilight quietly noted to herself.

“Of course not, my little Twi-Twi,” a familiar voice that sounded suspiciously like someone named John said, “That would be me!” A poof came from somewhere behind them. Both Twilight and Pinkie turned to face the newcomer.

“The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trrrixie!” a pony that sounded nothing like a John and instead sounded more like a Trixie popped out of some conveniently placed bushes. “Seriously though, Trixie needs money. Gold, silver, magical artifacts, Happy Meal toys, whatever you have.”

“Uhh…” Twilight stood there for a solid ten minutes. Twilight.EXE has stopped working.

“Don’t worry about her!” Pinkie brushed off her friend’s glitching.

“Trixie thinks that’s not natural,” Trixie pointed out the obvious. “Twilight should get that checked out.”

As IT Guy rebooted Twilight, the lavender alicorn finally spoke, “I’m okay!” Trixie stared wide eyed at what just happened. Meanwhile, Pinkie paid no attention.

“I can speak in emojis! Look! 👻🥳🥸🎃🤜🐱.” Going against the laws of basically everything, somehow Pinkamena Diane Pie spoke in emojis. The Physics Police did not like that.

“Pinkamena Diane 🥧!” the Physics Police shouted (with the last part somehow actually being an emoji). “You are under arrest for violating the laws of physics!”

NightFlame poofed into existence at that exact moment. “Calm down guys, she has a license.”

“God dammit we’re useless,” the Physics Police said. They left soon after, without explanation, and without going through any sort of door or any conceivable way to leave an area.

Unfortunately, Twilight.EXE stopped working again.

“Screw this,” NightFlame muttered, “I’m not gonna be a part of this.” He vanished as quickly as he appeared.

“Trixie shall come back another day,” Trixie offered. Trixie reached into her cloak and removed the Alicorn Amulet. She placed it inside a wooden box, which she promptly shipped to Zecora. She then dropped a smoke bomb and ran away.

Twilight.EXE failed to process what just happened and collapsed. As she was unconscious, Pinkie pulled out two train tickets to the Crystal Empire.

Pinkie Pie dragged her unresponsive friend all the way to the train station, somehow hitting every bump in the road on the way. When Twilight.EXE finally started up again, she seemed visibly confused.

Princess Luna landed in the Farlands, near the end of the world. She sensed a threat to Equestria in the area. The island she was on had a dense forest. She carefully proceeded into the trees.

Unlike the Everfree, there was no clear path to follow. She was in uncharted territory. Even though she wasn’t like her sister in the way that she would have prophetic dreams, she did know that her dreams would never lie.

Luna continued onward. There was a beast on the island. A wolf, to be precise. One that seemed like it should be familiar. She looked back. There was no one behind her, yet she still felt like something was hunting her.

She had dispatched King Longhorn very easily. Rabia was like nothing. Princess Eris, two Windigos, the Sphinx, and some white-furred mountain creature called a Yeti all fell to the Princess of the Night. Hopefully, whatever this was, it wouldn’t be too much harder.

Luna stopped. Paw prints. She was on the right track. Luna heard the sound of wood on dirt behind her. She whipped her head around. She was right. The beast had followed her. The Alpha Timberwolf’s gaze fell on her.

She stopped all moving. The creature was now almost as tall as a fully charged Lord Tirek. The Alpha Timberwolf sniffed Luna. When the massive beast backed up, its tongue fell out to the side. It barked (pun totally intended). It playfully rolled over and licked Luna all over.

And Luna let it happen.

McFlap placed his pistol on the counter and plopped himself down on a chair. He waited for what seemed like an eternity until NightFlame arrived out of the door in the back.

“I know you’re not the real McFlap,” NightFlame said without even greeting the man. “McFlap is dead, and he has been for a long time.” The false McFlap acted as if nothing happened.

“My name is Douglas MacArthur. Not the real one of course, but I am McFlap’s brother, and would be a great asset to you after what happened.”

“I don’t care at this point, welcome to the squad.” NightFlame handed MacArthur a sheet of paper with several dates written on it next to some names. Some of the names were perfectly normal, like Lars, Phil, and Jack, but some were pretty out of place. Those names included Sunset Shimmer on one column, and Chrysalis, Starlight Glimmer, Tirek, and Grogar on the other. The only difference was column one was filled with hand-written names, and column two’s names were printed.

“What do I do with this?” asked MacArthur.

“Sign your name on one of the empty boxes in column one. We’ll provide you a date, and you’ll go fight them on that date.” NightFlame left the area.

MacArthur decided to sign his name on ‘Starlight’, because it seemed like the least threatening name. Before he could put pen to paper, however, NightFlame poked his head back through.

“By the way, some of them might already be defeated before you can fight them, so you can’t even be ten minutes late to the time we’ll give you the day before you fight them. Do not miss your opportunity. If you succeed, you’re in the team. If you fail, you’re fired. Not like you can’t work here anymore, more like I’m firing you from a cannon into the trajectory of a rocket headed into space.”

MacArthur took in what NightFlame said, and signed his name on ‘Starlight Glimmer’. NightFlame took the form, grabbed a random potted plant, and left.

Author's Note

Uh, this is kinda getting out of hand, since there’s so many fourth wall breakers now. Oh dear god why is Rick Sanchez in my living room?

Rick Sanchez: Morty, I think we entered the real world.
Morty Smith: Oh geez Rick can we go back yet? I really need to study for a science test.
Rick Sanchez: Morty, this guy has pickles.
*sound of window breaking due to a jar of pickles being yeeted into the neighbor’s house*

Anyway potted plants yes