My eyes slowly opened to reveal what could only be described as a popcorn ceiling, simply by the fact that it was made of actual popcorn.

…

Wait, what?

I quickly sat up and did a quick mental checklist.

“Hmm…”

“Yup, still a horse.”

I didn’t notice anything off about my appearance otherwise.

A stab of pain shot through my foreleg. Oh, that.

The bandage on the injury must’ve been changed while I was out, given it was now back to pearly white. Maybe I shouldn’t have ran as much as I did…

On closer inspection of the bandage, there was a small sticker placed on it that sort of looked like—

“Oh no…”

Staring up at me in sticker form was the same face I encountered right before I passed out, smiling and giving a thumbs up. My eyes narrowed in confusion, before panic surged through my mind, lingering on all the things that could’ve happened while I was unconscious. Where even was I?

I looked around, only to grow even more confused. I was laying on my back on a strangely shaped couch, next to a coffee table that appeared to have the legs of an animal, which occasionally shifted and twitched as if trying to find a comfortable position. Beyond that, there was an upside down lamp with the wrong side glowing, a staircase on the ceiling that led nowhere, a china cabinet filled with wheels of cheese, a plaque with a small tree protruding from it, and various other random objects with absolutely no continuity between them. The room seemed more chaotic than hitting a random character generator button a few times, which was really saying something.

There was also a doorway that led somewhere else in the house, and what looked like a front door. The windows surrounding it indicated it was still dark, so hopefully I wasn’t out too long.

“Okay, well I definitely don’t wanna run into that… thing again. I’m gonna just assume this is its house and get the hell out of here.”

Once again, my height was the bane of my current existence, as a considerable drop separated my position on the couch and the floor below. I considered using the coffee table as a stepping stone, but didn’t want to risk finding out if the thing could get upset.

Given my options, and being careful not to put any weight on my injured leg, I sized up the fall and…

Landed flat on my face.

I let out an involuntary squeak of pain. “Ughh, owww…”

Rubbing my aching nose— muzzle?— with a hoof, I shook myself off and took a moment to briefly inspect my body. Luckily, it seemed the only thing seriously hurt was my pride. “Not that there’s much left of it, anyway…”

…Wait, did I just squeak?

I honestly kept forgetting that my voice had changed. Something essential to the way that I regularly interacted with the world was fundamentally different now, and it surprised me every time I opened my mouth. It was embarrassing more than anything at this point…

My trek towards the door continued regardless, half limping on my injured leg.

“I think I’m almost getting used to walking on three legs!”

…

“I cannot believe I got excited about that.”

With no further incidents, I reached the door, struggled with the handle for a moment, then pulled it open.

…

My breath caught in my throat.

Outside, beyond a handful of small floating islands, was a vast, darkly swirling void.

My heart rate quickened. “Wh— how am I— what is this place!?”

I took a couple shaky steps backwards, my body moving on its own. My mind couldn’t help but linger on the empty nothingness that led me here, the experience of being unable to feel anything or do anything, of things being completely and utterly out of my control.

I closed my eyes shut and took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm down my rapidly beating heart, refusing to let my emotions get the better of me again. My attempt mostly succeeded, and I took another moment to assess the situation.

Given the choice between endless void and weird house, I very quickly chose the latter, slamming the door shut and turning back around.

…

But I wasn’t alone in the room anymore.

An amalgamation of animal anatomy leaned against the doorway on the other side of the room… reading a newspaper. Upside down.

My confusion returned. Did it not notice me or something?

Right then, it peeked its eyes over the edge of the newspaper, before widening them in surprise. It exclaimed, “Why, I didn’t see you there!”

Suddenly, its newspaper exploded into a cloud of confetti, before the creature floated off of the ground, slithered through the air, and held out a paw towards me.

“At last, we meet! I am Discord, the one and only Lord of Chaos, former ruler of Equestria, guardian and protector of all things Fluttershy. And who, pray tell, might you be?”

I simply stood there, stunned, staring up at the hovering creature, feeling a mix of immense confusion and a strange sense of dread.

“Cat got your tongue? Let me help you with that.”

The creature, apparently named Discord, suddenly reached forward, right up to my face, and pulled a cat from the inside of my mouth, which jumped to the floor and ran away. It felt like suddenly biting into a cattail plant, my mouth filling with fluff.

I sputtered and coughed, seriously freaked out at this point. Looking up in horror, all I could stutter out was, “W-what was… h-how did you…”

This is it. This is the end for me. This horror beyond my comprehension floating before me, for all I could tell, could bend reality like play-doh.

I felt like laughing bitterly. What was I expecting? That things would just suddenly go my way for once? I really thought this was gonna work out… why did I even bother?

Discord looked back, confused, as if what he was doing was perfectly normal. “Hmm, usually that goes over better with foals…” He tapped his chin in thought for a moment, before saying, “Oh, I know!”

Discord pulled a magician’s top hat from behind his back, reached inside it, and with a snap of his fingers and a flash of light, the room was instantly covered with small, white rabbits.

My train of thought immediately halted. I glanced back and forth a few times between the collection of bunnies and a smug looking Discord, passively floating in the air. By now I was feeling like I had jumped the gun on my apparent death sentence.

After a few moments of hesitation, curiosity won over caution as I slowly approached the nearest rabbit and shakily held out a hoof. The rabbit hopped near and gave it a small sniff, before rubbing its head against my foreleg. It may as well have brushed against my heart, as the urge to cry nearly overwhelmed me.

Slowly but surely the other bunnies in the room surrounded me, and I gained a small smile as I alternated petting each bunny in the group. Against all odds, I temporarily forgot about the sheer absurdity of the situation I was in.

Discord piped in suddenly, saying, “Feel better now?”

I looked up, a little startled, and gave a timid nod, replying, “I… guess so.” As silly as it was, it somehow did help to calm me down.

Discord looked very satisfied. “Ah, I knew that trick from Fluttershy would work! Now then, let’s start over, shall we? You know my name, but what’s yours?”

I hesitated slightly, before replying, “Um… I’m Terra.”

Discord raised an eyebrow, as if he was going to comment on that, but seemed to move on instead. “Well, Terra, I know you’ve been wondering why I’ve brought you into my home…”

“Uh, yeah, I’m wondering a lot of things actually,” I replied, considering this was genuinely the most confusing interaction I’ve had with anyone ever.

Is this just my life now? Absurd thing happens, I freak out, then I end up just going along with it. Repeat ad nauseam.

Discord settled into a comfortable position in midair, his head leaning on his front limbs. “Do go on.”

I took a deep breath, and spoke as clearly as I could, “What are you, where are we, how are you doing all of this, why does nothing in here make sense, and uh, yeah… why am I here?”

Discord gave a grin. “A draconequus, my humble abode in Chaosville, fueled by the finest chaos magic, because chaos is spectacularly fun, and, well… how about I just show you?”

Before I had the chance to fully process his response, Discord snapped his fingers again and the house around us dissolved into a blur of motion. After a few seconds, the environment coalesced into a forest at night, with us hovering above it.

“Ugh…” I groaned. The change left me disoriented and dizzy, but it still felt like I was standing on solid ground, so I decided to not risk questioning it. Who knows with this guy.

“Now, let's go back a bit…”

At another snap from Discord, the moon began to shift, following along its regular path, and in a few moments it had already set. The sun in its wake rose and set just as quickly, and continued until the celestial bodies had completed two full rotations, leaving a full moon in the dead center of the sky.

I grew a little wary, but wasn’t sure why yet. This forest seemed familiar though…

A few seconds passed where nothing happened. “Uh… what are we here for?” I asked.

“Give it a moment…”

…

Without warning, a bright light and deafening sound exploded from a point in the forest not far from our current position. I nearly fell over from the shock, shutting my eyes and holding my hooves over my ears (which in their new position, was quite strange).

The sudden blast left me disoriented, and I had to take a moment to recover. When I opened my eyes, trees were still swaying from the force of the shockwave.

“What was that!?” I shouted, bewildered.

“Let’s go take a look, hm?” Discord said, before snapping once again, our position in the sky shifting to just above a small clearing that seemed to be the origin of the explosion.

My wariness increased. “Oh no, is that—”

Before I could finish that thought, my fears were already confirmed. In the center of the clearing was an unmistakable duplicate of the body I was in now, lying on its side, uninjured.

I had no words.

Discord knew about me.

I fearfully turned my head towards Discord. He lazily hovered in the air, staring down at the clearing below with a thoughtful look. Without glancing my way, he casually said, “I have a certain affinity for sensing strong magic, you see. Your arrival was on a level unlike anything I’ve ever seen, which is really saying something.”

Discord finally turned to face me. “Parading under a false name, withholding vital information, making ponies assume the worst about your situation, running away from the ponies trusted with your care…”

My fear only grew. Maybe I was right to think this was the end for me.

A few tense moments passed.

“Well done!”

Discord’s demeanor suddenly shifted, taking on a jovial look and reaching out to shake my hoof. The air around us seemed to erupt with confetti and streamers.

I was confused beyond comparison. “Wh— wait, what?”

“The level of chaos you’ve caused has been enough to reach all across Equestria! I must thank you, dear, for gifting me a much-needed holiday!”

“Huh? A holiday from what?”

Discord looked at me with a genuinely curious expression. “Why, spreading chaos of course! What else would it be?”

I blinked. “Uh, sure…” I halfheartedly replied. I took a moment to calm my nerves, before asking, “So you wanted to talk to me… because I spread a lot of chaos?”

“Yes!” Discord said enthusiastically. “With all the work you must have taken to get here, I couldn’t have just let you perish out in the woods, now could I? A little nudge here, a little warping of spacetime there, and you were on your way to Ponyville.”

“Wait, so I would’ve— you… saved me?”

Discord looked nonchalant. “Oh, I suppose so. But that was all really Applejack’s doing, don’t you think?”

I looked at Discord with a strange sense of awe. I wasn’t even mad about the fact that I still had to walk for hours, considering the alternative was not being alive. I had thought my odds of finding ponies was low, but I didn’t think— wait, what was that about—

“Hold on, what do you mean by ‘the work I took to get here’?”

“Oh, well, I’ve never met a creature from outside this realm before! Your entire existence here is the very definition of chaos!”

That response left me entirely baffled. I decided to address the most pressing of my questions first.

“So you’re just… totally okay with me being from another universe?”

“Oh, I’m more than okay,” Discord declared, almost bursting at the seams with energy. “The multiverse is a wildly chaotic place, and you’re going to tell me all about it!”

“Wh— hold on, if you can do all sorts of crazy things at the snap of your fingers, why haven’t you just gone out into the multiverse yourself?”

Discord seemed to deflate slightly. “See for yourself.”

Discord, now somehow wielding a pickaxe and wearing a miner's helmet, swung the tool down, striking something invisible. A deafening noise like shattered glass filled the air, and a small crack appeared in the space in front of us. Almost as quick as it appeared, the crack repaired itself, leaving no trace of its existence.

I blinked in shock. “What.”

“As much as I’ve tried, chaos magic just simply isn’t strong enough to break a universal barrier.”

…

“Uhh. Noted.”

Discord cleared his throat, tossing the pickaxe and helmet into the forest below. “Well, I’m sure you can see now why I wanted to meet you. Now that we’ve had our fun, let’s dive into the delicious details, shall we?”

Discord snapped again and we were suddenly back in his house. I took a moment to shake away the disorientation.

By the time I recovered, Discord and I were sitting around his coffee table, with me on his couch and him on an armchair that definitely wasn’t there before. In that time, Discord had also procured a teapot and a couple teacups. The teapot then poured itself into the two cups, then whistled a jaunty tune before spontaneously vanishing in a puff of multicolored smoke.

All I could do was look entirely baffled.

Discord picked up a teacup, took a careful sip, then glanced down at me, looking a little impatient. “I’m listening.”

I took a deep breath in, then let out a sigh. Should I even be telling him this?

“Well um, I’m sorry to disappoint, but… me coming here was entirely an accident.”

Discord did a dramatic spit take, the liquid forming into a miniature rain cloud that slowly drifted away. “What?! You’re telling me you figured out dimensional travel by accident?!”

“Nonono, I didn’t figure out anything!” I protested. “I just fell through this tear in reality, into… the void between universes. Or something like that…”

Discord gave me an incredulous look. “You really think I’m going to believe that?”

My expression shifted to confusion. “Huh?”

“How is it that you’re sitting before me right now, if you had ended up there?”

“Oh! Um… there was this… voice. It was somehow talking to me, even though I didn’t have a body or any senses at all there…” I shivered, remembering just how terrifying that was. “The voice wasn’t able to send me back to my home universe, just to the sort of… same area or something. I think it could also read my soul?” I sighed again. “I don’t really know what that voice was, but it seemed pretty powerful…” I trailed off.

As I spoke, Discord’s expression turned downcast. “Well, that’s disappointing. Of course there’s a being more powerful than me out there…”

Discord took a bite out of his teacup and floated back up into the air. “No matter. You’re in this universe now, Terra. That’s not changing anytime soon, correct?”

I nodded, trying not to think too much about that fact.

“Then just keep doing whatever it is you’re doing, hm? I’ll be right by your side, cheering you on!” Discord said, now inexplicably wearing a cheerleader outfit and waving around pom poms. “Well, from the sidelines, of course. If Celestia or Luna caught wind of my involvement…” Discord let out a shutter, the outfit sliding off of his slim frame.

“Huh? Who?”

“Oh, just the two most powerful ponies in all of Equestria. Nothing you should worry about,” Discord said, waving a paw dismissively. “I just have very specific guidelines I must adhere to when interacting with their precious ponies.”

“Wait, but I’m not—”

“Oh my, look at the time!” Discord interrupted, looking at a watch that spontaneously appeared on his wrist. “I mustn’t be late for my train; I hear the Bahaymas is great this time of year! Ta-ta!”

Before I had the chance to protest, Discord snapped his fingers, and I found myself once again surrounded by the walls of cottages in the small town of Ponyville.

Author's Note

All apparated animals are humanely sourced through chaotic means :3

Special thanks to Lilyheart for helping to edit this chapter!