Chapter 1: Discordant Debacle
Discord paced in his house, letting out a long sigh. "Oooh, goodness. What to do, what to do..." He mused. Boredom did not suit him. Fluttershy and her friends were busy with their jobs and their families, and Guy's Night wasn't for another few days. An ottoman bounded up to him, barking happily and dropping a ball at the draconequus' feet. "No, not now. I'm not in the mood for non-Newtonian fetch." Discord said, sending the sentient ottoman away with a snap of his fingers. As he did so, there was a sharp crackle behind him, followed by a low hum. Discord turned to find a circle, floating in the air in his living room. The circle held an image, Canterlot at dusk. The city was instantly recognizable, but something was different. On further inspection, there were several noticeable differences. Some of the buildings and doorways were much larger than they should be. "Well well well, what do we have here." Discord said, grinning, happy to have something new to alleviate his dreadful boredom. As he continued to pour over the image of this strange Canterlot, he noticed movement from a cave set high into the mountain behind the city. Discord grabbed the image and pulled his hands apart, zooming in on the mouth of the cave. A great white dragon came lumbering out of the cave, it's spines shimmering blue, green, purple, and pink. It looked awfully like... "Haha!" Discord let out a hearty laugh as he figured it out. It was a window! A window to an alternate dimension. It appeared he was looking at an Equestria where ponies were replaced by dragons! He touched the window, running his claw along the surface, and to his surprise, the image changed. Now it was showing Twilight, clad in strange grey armor, vomiting into a trash can in Celestia's chambers. "Oh, this should be good. I better make popcorn!" Discord said with glee, turning from the portal towards the kitchen.
A while later, Discord was sitting on his couch, surrounded by popcorn. A remote was in his hand, and he was using it to flip through different dimensions on his new window. He had paused for now on one in particular. It wasn't a different version of Equestria this time, but something entirely different. He was looking into a grand room, white metal walls, polished grey floors, planters set into them. There was a lake in the background, with more of the grandiose and notably un-Equestrian architecture beyond that. What held his attention most, however, was the strange creatures in the foreground. One was a biped, tall, thin, and oddly enough, seemingly amphibious, with large black eyes and some kind of protrusions from its head, wearing some strange red and white garment. The other was a quadruped, large, with thick forearms holding up it's stocky frame. The strangest thing about this creature was its face. It was flat, with small beady eyes and several vertical flaps where it's mouth should be.
"I'm telling you, these Keepers have gotten even more nosy since they finished rebuilding. This is the fourth time this week I've had my office rearranged." The amphibious biped said, it's voice quick and jumpy, almost like it was nervous.
"Calmly; I have not had any problems. Perhaps they simply do not like how you have your things arranged?" The stocky quadruped asked, it's voice a deep monotone, with almost no inflection at all.
"No, no, that can't be it. I've had my office set up the same way for five years, and it's only in the last few weeks they've been really messing things up. Maybe it's because my office is so close to the Tower?"
"Curious; Possibly. Have you brought the issue up with C-Sec?"
"Yes, yes, several times. They always give the the same lines. 'We can't do anything about the Keepers, it's illegal to interfere with their operations, yadda yadda, deal with it.' It's frustrating to no end!"
Discord couldn't help but laugh at the amphibian's irritation. This was wonderful! So strange, so weird! He absolutely had to show someone. Where was Fluttershy when he needed her! "Now you don't go anywhere, alright?" He said to the dimensional window before disappearing.
He reappeared in Fluttershy's cottage, eliciting a gasp from the yellow mare. "Fluttershy, you absolutely must come see this new thing I've found. It's oh so fascinating!"
Fluttershy calmed down immensely once she saw the source of the sudden disruption. "Oh Discord, you scared me! I wish I could but Angel is sick, and I need to find him to give him his medicine. I swear, that bunny just lives for getting up to trouble." She said, looking around her cottage.
"Oh, your rabbit can wait. This is unprecedented! I won't take no for an answer!" Discord replied. Before his friend could say anything in rebuttal, he snapped his fingers, and the two of them were whisked off to his own corner of unreality.
“You did what?!” Twilight yelled, stomping a hoof at Discord. The rest of the Mane 6, minus Fluttershy, were gathered about the room. Pinkie Pie was bouncing excitedly around the floating portal, gazing curiously at the strange alien architecture it showed. Rarity stood with her, admiring the design, as well as looking for any trace of pink or yellow. Applejack was looking between Twilight and Discord, ready to step in if things got too heated. Rainbow hovered off to the side, ready to dive in and join the scuffle if Discord decided to try something.
“I told you, Twilight, she got pulled in!" Discord lamented, pointing to the portal to another world. "This thing appeared in my home, and it was so fascinating I just had to share it! I brought Fluttershy here, and... I don't know! She got too close, or she touched something wrong, or... Whatever she did, she got sucked in to who knows where! Please, you have to help her!"
"And how do we know you didn't just push her in?" Rainbow asked, flying up to Discord and fixing him with an accusatory glare.
"Push her? Why in Equestria would I do that? Get rid of my first and closest friend? Rainbow Dash, you wound me!" Discord rebutted, clutching his chest, a cartoonishly large gash appearing beneath his paw. "I would have thought you knew me long enough by now to know I'd never dream of harming a single hair on her head!"
"Maybe not, but you might have hid her!" Pinkie Pie said, turning from the portal. "Discord, did you get Flutter-greedy?" Pinkie gasped, sticking her hoof in her mouth.
"No, of course not, I learned that lesson a long time ago!" Discord replied, in the middle of stitching up his chest.
"Now that's enough ya'll." Applejack cut in, stepping between her friends and Discord. "He's reformed now, remember? If he says it was an accident, I believe him. What's important now is that we help get her back."
"I for one wholeheartedly agree, but that does raise one question." Rarity said. "Why hasn't Discord simply snapped his fingers and brought her back? Or gone in after her himself?"
"Believe me, I've tried! But the darned thing just won't let me through! I can only manipulate the view." Discord grumbled, running his hand along the portal's surface for emphasis. The view in the portal spun wildly for a moment before coming to rest, now showing a large statue of some alien creature set in the middle of the lake.
Twilight stared at the portal, deep in thought. Who knew what was on the other side? It was obviously a world utterly alien to them. It could house all kinds of horrors... But on the other hoof, Fluttershy was trapped with whatever was over there. If it was truly as bad as the worst of her imagination, they had no choice. "Well, I guess that settles it. We're going in after her."
A short time later, the five mares stood in front of the portal, staring into it with various faces of determination and fear. Each was tied to the others by lengths of rope. Twilight swallowed, steeling herself. "Alright, girls. We can do this. We have to do this. For Fluttershy." She said, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. "The rope should help keep us together during the journey. Is everypony ready?" She looked back at her friend, each giving her a nod and a smile, though she could see the apprehension in their eyes. She just hoped everything would go smoothly.
"Alright. On the count of three." She turned to the portal, preparing to take the leap. "One. Two..." Twilight spared a thought for her home, silently hoping that that morning wasn't the last time she'd see it.
"Three!"
