Open gates allowed us access to a world quite unlike anything I had encountered before, as before me lay a world more fragmented than a foal’s first sentences. What I assumed had once been complete and normal had become a puzzle of floating platforms, aging stone bricks and crumbling, upside-down towers. I stared at our new surroundings and glanced at my companions for their reactions. Scootaloo and Featherweight were equally as awestruck, but I could feel that Fray was more anxious than ever, as if he sensed something but did not know what it was. His feral mental state, which was increasing in intensity with each passing moment was worrisome to me as well.

“Fray?” I asked, “Fray, what’s the matter?”

Fray shook its head, “We need to go. We have to go. This place is unsafe.” it whispered, “We have to reach the summit before the Moon falls completely.”

Scootaloo tilted her head at my companion, “Why?” she asked, “The only thing I can see that’s unsafe is the fact that not all of us can fly.”

Fray didn’t answer, which caused Scootaloo to show more concern for our situation, though she said nothing further.

I could feel Fray’s mind, despite him being outside my head. It was searching for an answer but unable to find one, causing him to panic silently. I frowned, sitting down on the rocky ground just past the open gate and reached up to retrieve my friend. Flinching, Fray telegraphed its tension as I brought it down to chest level.

“Fray… we’re going to be fine. We’ve been through worse.” I told it as the little cloud-like, bipedal pony-creature frowned at me, “Alright?”

Fray clung to my chest, shaking a little. Its eyes moved about in unison with its ears and I knew something wasn’t right. Fray wouldn’t have been acting that way otherwise.

“Let’s move.” I motioned with my hoof towards the tower, “It’s important that we reach that tower as soon as possible.”

Featherweight and Scootaloo nodded once as I turned to face our objective and we set off towards the tower to which more pathways appeared before us from below. They took the form of floating stones and provided a path where there hadn’t been one before. I chanced a peek over the edge to find that below us spanned a great chasm that seemed to have no end to its depths.

“Best not fall…” I mumbled as we continued forward until I felt something strange pulling on the side of my body, “You guys feel that?”

Featherweight nodded, “It’s weird, like I’m having trouble staying upright.”

I looked to Fray, “Any ideas?”

“Jump.” Fray stated.

“Are you insane, Puffball?” Scootaloo asked, “Sure, Featherweight and I will be fine, but… Air doesn’t have wings.”

Fray forwned, “You won’t need to use wings.” he insisted.

“Scootaloo, Featherweight” I commanded, “Let’s test it. You two jump, if you fall, you’ll be able to hover and come back on your own.”

Scootaloo shrugged as Featherweight nodded.

“Ready?” she asked him.

The two jumped and, within seconds, the most peculiar thing happened. They were standing, but not on air, or some invisible platform. No, the truth was much was stranger. They were standing on what seemed to be a wall, at least from my perspective.

“I’ll be Moontouched.” I muttered, “The gravity’s changed.”

“This is wierd…” Scootaloo grimmaced, “Everything looks… wrong.”

Featherweight just laughed.

“What’s so funny?” the orange mare asked him, scowling just a little.

Featherweight just shrugged, “I guess it’s just a matter of…” he grinned, “...perspective.”

I made a gagging noise, eliciting a frown from the brown-maned, skinny pegasus, “That was awful.”

“Well why don’t YOU jump, then?” Featherweight challeneged, “I bet you’re not as tough as you look.”

Scootaloo just made a rude noise and rolled her eyes.

“We have wasted too much time…” Fray mused, “Jump.”

I nodded and took a look at my companions, who were staring expectantly at me from their sideways position on the ‘wall.’ I heaved a sigh of reservation and ran forward, jumping into the air. The resulting feeling was strange and unfamiliar as my world spun, making me feel a little sick with a feeling of vertigo. Nearly losing my balance when my hooves touched the ground again, I shook my head to regain my bearings and very suddenly found myself agreeing with Scootaloo. Everything really did look weird when you were so used to ‘up’ being a certain direction. Where once the chasm had been below me, I found it was stretching out to the side, as the sky also did where it spanned infinitely out as the chasm supposedly did. The tower was suddenly sideways as well, reached out to the right from where it had been.

“Let’s keep moving. No stopping. We’ll just jump when we feel the gravity’s different and hope for the best.”

And that’s exactly what we did. Scootaloo and Featherweight took up a position behind me just in case I fell, and I headed up the formation as the forward point on our triangle. Heart pumping, and with Fray hanging on as best it could, I galloped, jumped, and with those actions, the world twisted right. Another jump, another counterclockwise twist, my hooves clattering against the quickly forming pathway, I went. Jump after jump, spin after spin, a spin and a fall. A large platform lay ahead of us. We were almost there.

One more jump.

Without warning, Fray was shaken loose and fell away from me and into the abyss. It didn’t even scream, so surprised was it by the sudden drop. I didn’t think, and lept for my friend. The wind howled in my ears as I caught the little being. In retrospect, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Fray could float, but… I guess if I had to think of a reason, it was that I suspected things worked differently in the strange place we were all attempting to traverse. Of course that would have been a lie.

I’m just saying if I HAD to think of something to explain my actions… then that would have been my excuse.

The impact was sudden and jarring. I think my body bounced a few times against the hard stone that made up what I was certain had been a ‘wall’ moments ago, but had become the ‘floor’ after a 20 foot drop. Pain accompanied being dazed and somewhat confused.

“Why did you jump?” Fray asked, still sheltered close to my chest, “... I would have been fine.”

I coughed, “Don’t ask silly questions. I didn’t want to risk losing you.”

The flapping of feathered wings soon graced my ears, along with calls of worry. I grimaced,pain throbbing on the side of my body which had hit the ground hardest, but fading with each pulse. By the time my other two companions had arrived, I was getting up while still clutching Fray close to my chest.

“Are you okay?” Scootaloo asked, a little worried fear in her voice, “You fell… sideways… into a wall.”

I shook my head, standing on my own four hooves. The pain from the impact was almost gone.

“I’m not sure…” I groaned, “I don’t think anything’s broken…”

Fray remained silent. I glanced down at its tiny form between my hooves. My normally un-fluffy friend had a look of contemplation on its face, as if it were unsure what to think.

“We need to move… I seem to be fine, and I’m pretty sure we’re running out of time.”

Featherweight nodded, “You’d be correct. The moon is nearly below the horizon, whatever that means in this crazy place.”

I nodded and we stepped off once more. It took a little time, but my party and I made it to the doorstep of the tower that had been in the distance some hour or so ago. Or so we thought, because right as we approached the door, the world we were in took a turn for the worst.

...and a flash of red light spread across the sky.

“We are too late.” Fray whimpered, “The Moon is below the horizon…”

I was about to ask what exactly was happening, when blue flames erupted from the old torches that lined each floating building, the light casting eerie shadows across the ground which almost seemed to reach out and grab at one’s hooves. The ethereal light mixed with the dull, blood-red sky as each building shifted back into its previous place, with one exception, the bridge that formed between my party and I, extending outwards impossibly before us. The tower was either much bigger than we had observed and was an optical illusion so that we thought we were closer than we had been, or it was actually farther away than it had been moments before.

“This is impossible…” Featherweight gasped, “The tower… it was right here…”

“...and now there’s a mile or more further to walk than before.” Scootaloo added.

Featherweight screwed his face up in an unhappy look of disgust, “I’d say this place is interesting, but I’m willing to admit the obvious.” he sighed, “It sucks here. Truly, truly sucks.”

I grinned a little, “I kind of feel cheated, actually… Like we’re just being messed with.”

“Look!” Fray demanded with a suddenness that cut our banter to a halt, “They are here… We have failed.”

I stared at what Fray was pointing towards and at first I was unsure of what it was talking about. However, as I gazed out towards the way we had come, I saw what it was warning us about. shadows that stretched, malformed, and grew without any light changing its position.

My companions shivered, watching the scene.

“What… what’s going on, Fray?” Scootaloo asked, her voice shaking a bit, “What are they?”

Fray was silent, which was foreboding in its own right, and did nothing to allay my orange friend’s fears. Even less so, when I began to hear them speak and I was unsure at first if anypony but me could even hear it, until Featherweight spoke up as his ears twitched about.

“Do you guys hear that?”

Scootaloo nodded, “Y-yeah. It’s really creepy sounding...”

I shook my head, “We need to move. NOW!” I commanded, “That bridge is all we have to cross, I’m sure of it!”

Featherweight took off without a second prodding, but young Scootaloo stood in place, fascinated and fearful of the shadows that reached out for her hooves. At least until I headbutted her side, making her stagger into a run as she looked back before breaking into a full gallop after Featherweight.

The bridge was long, longer than I’d anticipated, and as we ran, the blue flames came after us, lighting along the path, casting shadows that formed into ponies of darkness. Not batponies, but simply shadows that did not belong in the physical world. Some of them ran at us, others cowered in the corners. A few attempted to attack us, and I was forced to dodge along with my friends.

“Fray!” I barked, “What are these things?”

Fray shook against my mane as it answered, “They are the failures…” it said.

“What do you mean?” I asked as my heart rate increased, thudding ever harder in my chest, “What are the failures?”

Fray only shook it’s head and buried itself in my skull.

But our time was up. Two of the shadows latched onto Featherweight and Scootaloo, dragging them down. I did the only thing I could, and lept into the fight, bashing them down with a forehoof stomp. It didn’t hurt them, and certainly didn’t kill them, but it was enough to make them dissipate for a moment so my friends could get free and begin their dash once more. I knew there was only one way to make sure that my friends could get away, and so I ran with them, but only so I could keep an eye on them while I asked Fray something.

“Fray…” I called in my mind, “Fray, I need your help.”

“I can’t…!” it called back, huddled in a corner of my mind, “I’m not allowed!”

That confused me, and I asked it to explain, which it did… but only so much.

“I’m not allowed… if I do, then they’ll take me away, and put me back where I came from!” it explained, almost pleading, “I can’t help you here!”

The thought of losing Fray echoed in my mind again, but I needed Fray’s power to get everypony out alive.

“Fray. I won’t let them take you away.” I told it, softly with a thought, “I don’t know who or what they are… but I won’t let you go. We’ll fight them… together.”

I don’t know how to validate what I was saying. At first, I had only been thinking about Scootaloo and Featherweight. I needed the extra power that Fray could afford me to save them… but… then I think meant it all at the same time. There wasn’t exactly a lot of time to think about it. There was no way I’d let Fray go without a fight. It had become like a son or daughter to me, and we’d been through a lot together.

There was no way I’d let Fray go without dying first. Whatever it was afraid of, I knew that I could take it on, even if I couldn’t rely on Fray to help when the time came to confront it’s fears.

“Do you mean that?” it asked, “You will not turn away?”

I nodded, “I do. No matter what. I’ll be here.”

Once again, a decision I had made would seal my fate and those of my friends… and I wouldn’t really comprehend how until it was far too late.

Fray smiled in the back of my head, preparing something that would help slow the attack of our strange and ethereal attackers. I could feel Fray as he focused an energy that I had never tapped, but that upon feeling it, assumed had always been there. It was a sort of potential energy that almost all ponies have, I’m sure of that, and can be utilized by anypony with enough courage and willpower, albeit with either less effect, or less control.

And who says only Unicorns can use magic?

The energy within my mind reached its peak, and Fray melded even deeper into my conscious in such a way that we were one identity. In those moments, we unleashed a bright, cleansing light from our eyes, and cut down down the shadow ponies, those who failed before us, watching as they disintegrated into a fine, black dust.

… Dust reminiscent of Cold Thorn’s power.

But I would reflect on that later. There were still attackers in front of us, separating myself and Fray from Scootaloo and Featherweight, and they were gaining.

“Will this hurt them?” we asked ourselves.

“No.” we answered, “I do not know why or by what means, but it will not hurt our friends.”

“Good. Then let us fire away.”

We turned. I could feel a merciless grin spread across our face as we spun on one fore-hoof as it clasped the ground and allowed us to fire the remaining energy that Fray had accessed accurately. At first, I hadn’t noticed it’s depletion, as I had never felt the energy in question, but after the second blast, I knew we were almost out and Fray cut off our access, decombining with my conscious.

“Why did we stop?” I asked, coming out of the almost trance-like state that Fray had entered us into, “Is something wrong?”

Fray yawned mentally. I could feel its activity slowing, as if it were going to sleep.

“If I had kept it up, you would not have had enough energy left to move…” it explained in a weary tone, “I am tired… I need to rest.”

I called to him mentally, at first in fear that it’s power would be needed again, but then I found myself fearing for its life, wondering how much that burst of energy had cost my tiny friend.

“I just need to rest…” it whispered in my head, “Please do not let them take me…”

And with that, silence. I could feel Fray’s presence, but it was weak and smaller than usual. I glanced up, looking once more towards my friends, who seemed to be limping towards the end of the bridge. There were no shadow ponies to be seen, as Fray and I had completely obliterated them, so at first I was afraid that Fray and I had concluded wrongly, and the blast had injured them. With that in mind, I galloped forward, hooves striking the ground as hard as they could to reach my friends.

“Are you two okay? Did the blast hurt you?”

Featherweigt shook his head, “No, but it scared me half to death! I thought we were going to die.”

Scootaloo just laughed, “Sure was awesome though, right?!” she asked the tan stallion, “I mean, all of a sudden, they were just, WOOSH! Gone!” my friend exclaimed, “What was that anyways?”

I shook my head, “I’ll explain later. It’s a little something that Fray and I-”

That’s when I noticed it. A dark scratch one Scootaloo’s wing, and a small incision on Featherweight’s left hind-leg. It looked like it was spreading too, from the site of the mark and outwards.

“What?” Scootaloo asked, “Is… something wrong?”

I could’t believe they didn’t know, “Scootaloo, doesn’t that hurt?” I asked, pointing at her wing.

Scootaloo nodded, “Yeah… a little. Something bit me when we were piled under the shadows.”

Featherweight acknowledged the same, stating that he felt it on his leg as well.

“What… what do you think it is?” my orange pegasus friend asked as she stared at her wing, “... Do you think it’s bad?”

“Well, it’s obviously BAD!” Featherweight exclaimed, “I mean… does that LOOK like any kind of bite you’ve ever seen before?”

“Quiet down.” I commanded.

“No! I’m not going to be quiet!” the tan, panicked stallion screamed, “Here we are on a bridge in some Tartarus-forsaken place, with no medical help and-”

“SHUT UP.” I roared, stomping a forehoof and glaring at Featherweight, subsequently calming down as both Scootaloo and Featherweigt flinched backward, “Now, listen. I know things aren’t looking up right now, but we can’t sit here groaning about it. Infected or not, if we sit around, it’s only going to get worse.” I explained, “So, let’s get inside, and see if there’s some explanation about what it is that attacked you, and see if there’s a cure or some way to slow it down until we get to a doctor.”

Scootaloo nodded, a defiant look striking across her eyes, “Gotcha. ‘Sides… It only hurts a little, right?” she asked and ribbed Featherweight.

“I’m going to die.” he mumbled in a high-pitched voice before walking towards the great door at the base of the tower we had been trying to get to for the past few hours, “... I knew this was trouble, and now I’m going to die.”

I noted that he laughed a little, and that it was almost manic, before we continued. Scootaloo strode at my side as we moved, explaining that Featherweight wasn’t exactly the bravest pony, but that he was smart, if not a bit of a dramatic.

“Great.” I thought, “I just had to recruit the crazy one.”

The doors, once we arrived, we found that it was indeed a massive illusion. The trick was so well crafted, in fact, that all the details that we had seen from across the bridge were now massive relief-carvings that gave the door the impression of being very rough and unsculpted, which had to be just the opposite of the truth. At the center, at just about eye-level, there was the symbol of Chaos again, and no doorknob in sight.

Not surprising, considering the size.

“Now how to open it…?” I asked aloud, “...how to open it?

Scootaloo shook her head as Featherweight stood shivering off to the side, then turned to ask me if Fray might have the answer. I shook my head.

“Fray is… sleeping. The blast took a lot out of him.” I explained.

“That was you guys?” she smiled with a little bit of excited envy, “Wicked, how’d you do it?”

I shook my head again, becoming frustrated, “That doesn’t matter right now… we have to find a way in. Start looking.”

Scootaloo frowned and begrudgingly started looking around the door with me for any sort of lever, pressure plate, or anything at all that looked anomalous or that might give a clue on what we were to do next. Unfortunately, because everything looked so strange, what with the doors being misshapen, and the walls having bumps and warpings all over them, there was really no way to be sure that EVERYTHING wasn’t a clue as much as just one or two things. I sat on my haunches, unsure of how to proceed, which wasn’t something I did for very long as I watched Featherweight back away from the entire door, looking up at it.

“Featherweight?” I called, “Featherweigt, there’s no where to run. You know that. Going back would probably be just as disastrous as coming here has been.”

The skinny stallion shook his head, still looking up, “I’m… not. I’m not running anywhere… just… Come look at this… It’s crazy.”

I stood, trotting over to where Featherweight was.

“I’ll be damned.”

Featherweight nodded, “Discord.” he whispered.

A rolling laughter filled the air. A joking, playful, but undeniably evil-sounding laughter. My gaze darted around the scenery, from the bridge, to the sky, to the guard-posts at the tops of the gates that lined the bridge itself. Unable to identify it myself, I looked to my companions to see if they had, and judging by their expressions and the way they looked to me for guidance as well, I could tell they had not.

And then I glanced up at the doors, only to find that they were moving. That they were the source of the laughter. The mischievous form of Discord stood as a part of the relief carvings themselves, before they began to to move, shifting, breaking my perceptions of impossibility as it shrank down to our level, leaving a smooth spot where he had once ‘stood.’

And then he was gone.

“You rang?” the Draconiquus asked, appearing behind us and peering over me from behind.

We all jumped, Featherweight collapsing on his injured leg, while Scootaloo came crashing down to the ground, I assume because her wings had involuntarily flapped in surprise when she’d jumped. Me? I didn’t leave the ground, but the sudden appearance had scared me enough to make me back into him, which prompted a forward scuttle-and-spin so I could face the chimera-like creature from a ‘safer’ distance than right under him.

“Now, now…” Discord said as he raised his paw-and-claw, making a ‘calm-down’ gesture, “Don’t be so alarmed.”

“Why are you here, Discord?” Scootaloo blurted angrily, “Is all of this your doing?”

Discord put his paw-and-claw...

You know what? We’re just going to call them hands. I’m not doing the whole “paw and claw” thing. It’s ridiculous and takes way too much effort when dealing with both the paw and claw at the same time.

Discord put his hand on his hips and frowned, “Now why is it that every time I make an appearance, somepony” he extended the “o” in exasperation, “always assumes I’m the one causing the problems?”

Featherweight grimmaced, “We all remember what you did to Ponyville.”

The Draconicus simply laughed, his eyes glazing over as if revelling in it, “And wasn’t it glorious? Those few days of my rule were just so memorable! I’ll never forget all that CHAOS I was able to sew in those few days… Even though they only lasted about fifteen seconds apiece.”

“Twilight put an end to your reign.” I mused, “I remember that much.”

Discord eyed me for a second, “Wait just a moment…” he tilted his head as he snaked his way around me, examining me from every angle, “I recognize you…” he grinned, “You’re the only pony who actually enjoyed my wonderful soap roads… So… what brings you here? Come to bask in a little more chaos than Ponyville can afford?”

I saw Scootaloo and Featherweight exchange a glance of confusion.

“What does he mean?” Featherweight asked, “Do you know Discord too?”

I shook my head, “I’ve never met him… but apparently he’s met me. And he’s right. I’m here for a reason. I want answers.”

“I’m right here~.” Discord sang, “And right this way, my little ponies… There is much… so MUCH to discuss. But first, would you like a cup of tea?” he asked, producing a cup with a wave of his hand, along with a kettle that poured little… “T’s” out of it.

I bit. I had actually enjoyed the Discorded Ponyville, remembering back. The soap roads had been really fun, and the chocolate milk rain… well… I didn’t run out of chocolate milk for a week or two even after Twilight had done whatever it was she and her friends did to defeat Discord. I hadn’t really cared much, so I was a little murky on the details

“Sure… I’d like some tea, actual tea… but we’re in a bit of a hurry. Scootaloo and Featherweight are injured… I’m hoping that you know a way to fix it, or at least can help us fix their wounds.”

Scootaloo growled, “I wouldn’t trust him… he never helps anypony without a cost or a reason.”

To our surprise, Discord appeared next to Scootaloo, pulling a coin from her ear with a picture of his face on it that spoke as he did, “Dear Scootaloo, if I needed money, I could just… conjure it up, I don’t need bits to do what I do.” he grinned.

“Not what I meant.” she grumbled.

“Discord. Please.” I stated with a starkness that actually seemed to make the Draconicus stop and consider my presence, “I know you like games. I know you enjoy playing tricks, but I need answers, and they need attention. Can you help us?” I asked.

Discord rolled his eyes and sighed, “I suppose.” he said and crossed his arms, “Come on inside, someone wants to meet you anyways.”

A door opened, creaking with ancient dust and rust, and our ‘host’ stepped inside.

“You ponies really are no fun.” Discord muttered, “Always so serious…”

I looked back at my friends. Scootaloo was clearly in pain, her wing was looking worse, the infection quickly spreading. The same went for Featherweight, who whimpered a bit, limping his way across the dusty, stone floors that marked our path towards a light at the center of the tower.

“Kain is rather… dramatic.” Discord said, rolling his eyes as he bent backwards and over to look at us upside-down, “He likes to make grand gestures. I think you’ll like him, though. He’s just as depressing as your senses of humor!”

Discord laughed a little, before deadpanning at us, “Tough crowd. If I weren’t just as interested to find out why you’re here, I’d definitely be trying a tad harder.” he said before disappearing in a small explosion of smoke, confetti, and ceramic bowls, “Just go on ahead, straight forward, into that light there. We’ll meet up at the top.”

And with a deep, foreboding laugh, we heard nothing else of Discord.

“Who the hay is Kain?” Scootaloo asked as we approached the light at the center, which reached all the way to the top of the massive, seemingly hollow tower.

“We’re about to find out.”

I stepped into the light, which flashed in response, taking me upwards and towards the top of the tower. Blackness surrounded me on all sides beyond the light, but I could not be sure if it was because there was really nothing beyond it, or if it was simply an illusion brought on by the fact that it was just a lot darker beyond the light itself, like the opposite of being in a dark room and looking outside. I stared upwards, stretching my neck and squinting at what I was certain was the end of my ride.

Slowly, I emerged from the light, being deposited on a landing in front of another pathway, with another light at the end. Moving forward with caution, I could hear something, but it was far away, and very similar to the noises I had been hearing before the moon settled below the horizon. Voices, hundreds, maybe thousands, calling out various ideas and things all at once. My hoof entered the light, and then everything went dark. The voices silenced.

“Hello…?” I asked, “Is… is there anyone there?”

Flames. Blue, ethereal flames erupted about a pony-and-a-half’s height above my head. At first it was just two, two eye-like slits in the darkness. Then it was three, making the slits into a complete face.

Once more, a blinding light, this time I reeled back, confused and scared. When my eyes opened once more, a new figure stood before me. It was bipedal, and dressed in robes. Where the flames had been, there was only a soft, pulsing light, and the “mouth” was gone, probably closed. The figure had true hands, hands with nails at the end which were cut back, hands which were soft-looking and white like quartz crystals. Those hands reached up, and removed the hood that hid the figure’s face, which had a white beard that reached to the ground, and bushy, unkempt eyebrows. Its ‘mane’ fell out behind the cloak, about half as long as the robe itself, which was a deep red under further inspection, and inscribed with strange glyphs and symbols that were similar to those which had been outside the gates from which my group and I had entered.

“I have been waiting… a very… very long time to meet you.” the figure said, breathing as if for the first time in hundreds of years, “Though… I did not expect it to be so soon…”

Discord appeared suddenly, next to the figure.

“Watch out!” I called.

The figure just smiled, “Don’t worry… I know what he is… and where he is.”

Discord put his paw up to the side of his mouth and whispered, “He cheats, almost as bad as I do, but he is so much less fun about it.” and used his clawed thumb to gesture at him.

“You must have had something to do with this, then…?”

Discord rolled his eyes, “Well… maybe a little. It was just a bit of amusement”

Once more the robed figure sighed, breathing only once, “Why must you do this?” he asked, “We don’t have that many chances left. Imagine if the Shadows had gotten to him.”

“Oh they’re only playing. They don’t mean any harm.” Discord insisted as he conjured a seat for himself to sit in, a little bit of his joking nature seeping through, “They only nip, after all.”

I shook my head, having had enough of whatever was going on. I had so many questions, so few answers, and I knew that Scootaloo and Featherweight might be running out of time. Ethereal megagod of Chaos or not, Discord and whoever-or-whatever-it-was’s conversation about who did what, and why it was wrong, had to wait.

“Where are my friends?” I asked, “In fact… where am I? And who are you?”

The figure shifted just slightly enough for me to see its movement, “Your friends are safe. For now.”

His voice and the way he said it, made my coat crawl.

“That doesn’t answer my other questions.” I growled, dropping low, into an attacking stance.

The figure sighed, “He’s a fighter… that’s good.”

“Stop messing with me!” I demanded, “I didn’t ask for this!”

The figure stepped forward, grabbing my chin. I don’t know how he closed the distance so quickly, but it was sudden, almost instant. Discord only smirked in the background as I peered over towards him, then defiantly back up at someone who I was quickly considering an opponent that I might not get away from without a fight.

“It doesn’t matter where you are… it’s more worrying the “when” you are, than the where..” he said as I struggled to get free before I tumbled backwards from the force of my own backwards lunge, “But, to answer one of your questions... you may call me Kain… and I have the answers that you are really looking for.”

The figure was once more at the center of the room, as if he’d never moved. I picked myself up, and glared at Kain. He only smiled through his white beard, those blue, glowing eyes, cutting me down to size despite the smile.

“And you…?” Kain seemed to consider, “...You have so much more left to learn.”

Author's Notes:

There may be something about Discord's actions in Ponyville and whether or not Air Ramp was actually in Ponyville at the time of his 2-episode reign. If you find this in indiscrepancy, please let me know what chapter it's in so I can retcon it, and fix the continuity.

I may have taken it out, though.