There was a certain point in his life where Discord had wondered exactly what he had been going to do when he got bored of ruling Equestria. Granted, he knew it wouldn't happen for awhile, what with all the hilarious ponies around, but still, he knew it would deflate into boredom eventually. Unfortunately, he had gotten turned to stone before that could happen, then there was the thousands years, his release, yada, yada, yada, and finally here he was, floating under a cotton candy cloud, gobbling up milk chocolate, and yet even his favorite drink didn't help!

If this hell was what it was like to be bored, then he was kind've glad Celestia had defeated him. Crazy as it sounded, he could not even begin to imagine what might have happened had this fiendish feeling had hit him a thousand years ago. Being the way he'd been, he might have actually started down a much darker path of amusement. And when that had gotten boring, perhaps he would have...Uh, I need to find something to do, stat! But what fun can I have that won't-

Suddenly, his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of gleeful laughter. Turning his head towards the noise, he thought he spotted three shadows moving through the mist before disappearing again. Narrowing his eyes in curiosity, he slithered down the path that led to the secret portal of his home, which acted as one-way glass did: He could see out at the forest and its residents, but they could not see in.

Following the noise of hooves hitting dirt and rock, he watched from afar as the shadows continued their journey, deeper and deeper into the Everfree. He could tell by their general shapes that they were nothing but fillies. "Well, well, well," he whispered to himself, chuckling in amusement, "what have we here?"

Floating in to get a better look, he quickly realized who the three wanderers were and chuckled again. "Another cutie mark quest?" he mused to himself, keeping directly above them, making sure they didn't get into trouble. After all, it was the least he could do for them after what they did for him...Hmm, this gives me an idea..., he thought, a wicked grin appearing on his face. Yes, he could see it now. Imagine what chaos might be unleashed by granting a wish for three little and creative fillies.

Not even bothering to think it through, he flew down and hid among the bushes, watching their approach with a growing smirk. Of course, the Crusaders didn't really see the yellow eyes peering at them, for they were too lost in their own excitement about the recent search for cutie marks.

"Wow, I have to say this is the best idea we've ever had, and we've had quite a lot!" exclaimed Scootaloo, a grin from ear to ear stretched across her face.

"Yeah, and imagine how proud our sisters will be!" Apple Bloom beamed, her little red bow bouncing as she did a little skip of joy.

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle, who was in front, stopped. The other girls accidentally bumped into her, and they all ended up in a heap. Rubbing her sore jaw, which had hit a small rock when she fell, Scootaloo scowled. "Sweetie Belle, what the hay?"

Disentangling herself from Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle gave an apologetic look. "Sorry, it's just...does anyone else feel like we're being watched?" she questioned nervously.

It was like the unicorn had flipped a switch. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom seemed to see their surroundings for the first time, and the girls quickly huddled into a circle, fear finally creeping in.

"Dang it! We gone and dun it again! And after we promised our sisters too!" Apple Bloom said in a gloomy, yet irritated, voice. Slumping down, she hung her head in shame for breaking a promise, only to screech in fear as an explosion sounded nearby. She and the her friends tried to bolt away, but something seemed to be keeping them in place. In a panic, Apple Bloom looked down, only to see...was that taffy?

Before she had any real time to process the discovery, Apple Bloom was blinded by a momentary flash of light. When it was gone, she squinted in the direction of the light. She could faintly see a shape rolling on the ground, and laughter pierced her ears as she continued to stare.

It didn't click for a few seconds, but then, with the fury of an erupting volcano, Apple Bloom sucked in a huge gulp of air and yelled the prankster's name at the top of her lungs, "DISSSSSCCOOOORRRDDDDD!!!!"

That finally threw the Lord of Chaos out of his laughing fit. Standing up and wiping a few excess tears away, he snapped his finger, freeing the trio. As they collected themselves after the embarrassing display, Discord found his voice. "Oh Celestia, you should have seen the looks on your faces! Priceless!"

Having regained her composure, Sweetie Belle glared at him. "Yes, yes, very funny. Haha," she said sarcastically, her voice dripping venom. Choosing to ignore her sarcasm, Discord flew over and landed between the girls, putting on his innocent female eyelashes. "So little Crusaders," he started in an obscenely sweet voice, "what brings you to my humble part of the forest?"

The trio exchanged a look. "Your part of the forest?" they questioned. The Chaos Lord seemed a little surprised for a moment, just before he burst out laughing again. "Oh you fillies kill me! Everyone in town knows about the agreement by now. I haven't a clue how you three could be so dense!"

"Hey!" choroused the CMC's shrill voices.

Holding up his paw and talon in a gesture of surrender, he smirked down at them. "Well, doesn't matter anyway, considering that you're about to learn something no other pony knows." The three friends shared a look.

"What?" Again, all in unison. It made Discord want to laugh again.

"Oh, just a little piece of info about my escape and the help I got from three cutie-mark obsessed fillies."

"WHAT?!"

Chortling, he patted each of them on the head. "Oh, you simply must stop with the jinxing of each other! It's just too rich, even for my taste. Now, before you ask, yes, I am talking about you, oh precious little CMC. Think back. Remember a time, even if it was short, where you three were squabbling over petty things? Things you don't normally squabble over?"

Each of the trio had a look of utter concentration on their face. Suddenly, Scootaloo's head shot up. "Of course! The Canterlot Gardens trip! How could we have forgotten?! The funny statue, the fighting, Ms.Cheerilee's unexpectedly short temper...that was you, wasn't it?"

The draconequus gave an indulging smile. "Well, whata know, they do know something!" This comment quickly earned him three withering looks. He immediately stopped talking, giving the mini horses time to think.

It was Apple Bloom who realized it first. "Our fight gave ya....and then ya escaped...and now ya are where ya are right now...this means...ya owe us?!"

Silence had decided to grab hold of this entire part of the forest, its grip not loosening for quite some time. Then Discord sighed. "Yep, now, are we gonna stand here all day, or are you three gonna decide what your group wish is?"

"Our what?!" yelled Apple Bloom, shock as clear in her voice as on both her and her friends' faces. Growing slightly annoyed at the repetitive questioning, he snapped his fingers, and a dark grey bubble formed around them. "There, now the sounds of the forest no longer hinder your hearing. Now, I said, I will grant you three one wish, not individually, though. Oh, and it can't be for cutie marks. That would be spoiling your fun," he informed them with his usual smirk.

The Crusaders could not believe what they were hearing.

"CMC meeting!" called Sweetie Belle.

The young friends all huddled in a tight circle as far from Discord as they could get. A whisper battle ensued, with the Lord of Chaos watching in amusement. It did not take long for the fillies to decide. It was odd, really, considering how much imagination they had.

"We wish for you to bring the most exciting, interesting creature you have ever seen to Equestria!"

And as the mist of the Everfree began to close in around them, a deal was struck that would change not just Equestria, but two entire worlds.

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Xenia was not exactly the most popular of girls in school. At the young age of seven, she never understood it, but as her life progressed, she began to see that she and her family were simply cursed to be outcasts from society.

However, that is in the coming, chaos-filled future. At the moment, she was sitting on a bench several hundred feet away from the playground. Her slightly dark-skinned, copper haired head was resting on her little fist, watching as the other children of her class played together. This was just like every other day of her life. Which meant...three...two...one...

"Hey loser!"

Sighing, she turned to focus on the approaching figure. It was another girl, with dark brown hair and a fair complection. She was perhaps a couple years older than Xenia, and wasn't afraid to let the smaller child forget. Of course, it helped that she had backup in the forms of a boy and girl standing at the edge of the playground, watching in anticipation.

The brown haired girl pretended to roll back an imaginary sleeve and look at a watch. "Wow, would you look at that! We almost missed our little...conversation," she said, with a little snicker, which was quickly copied by her groupees.

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Xenia stood and faced the bully, already knowing what was about to happen, and well aware she had no way to stop it.

Bracing herself, Xenia waited for the shove. She saw her schoolyard bully glance at her friends with a devious smirk, then pushed the seven-year-old outcast to the ground. Standing over Xenia, she roughly smashed her foot down over the smaller child, holding her in place.

"Ah, look at that. Little freak still doesn't have any fight in her. You lose it when your daddy waddy left?" sneered the tormentor.

This got a bit of a rise from Xenia. She turned to face her bully, glaring as she shoved her off and stood, trying to look as threatening as possible. "You shut your fucking mouth!!" she screamed at her, fury blazing in her eyes.

At first, the antagonist and her minions were shocked. Then the tormentor smirked. "Oh, would you look at that! She does have some spirit! We'll just have to fix that, won't we?" she said with an evil grin.

Xenia's face paled. She had realized her mistake too late as the ten year old 4th grader pushed down the seven year old 1st grader again. She then proceeded to kick her repeatedly as Xenia curled up into a ball. While she attacked, the bully continued to throw jibes at her.

"Aw, Daddy's little girl is crying! What's wrong, sweety, you miss your dad? It's just so sad!" she said with mock symphany, placing a hand over her heart.

After a moment, however, the fake sadness dropped and she stopped kicking Xenia. Leaning down into the dirtied-up face of the poor girl beneath her, she practically snarled, "Did you really think I would fear you?"

"You should have, Abby."

The voice had them all immediately whipping their heads towards the field that stretched away from the playground. What they saw froze the blood in their veins.

Floating above them was the very meaning of terror. At least to their young minds it was. For flying above them was a human being cloaked in shadow. At least, they thought it was a human. They were unsure because of the...odd extremities on her, which consisted of a glowing, curved red horn, huge bat and bird wings folded on her back, an odd chest plating with a moon insignia over the unnaturally dark skin on her chest, horse hooves for legs that had holes in them, and then there was her red and black-striped hair, as well as the unusually long tail consisting of the same colors. If not for the human head, which all reminded them of the seven year old currently frozen in shock on the ground, they would have been sure she was an alien.

Her clothing only added to her menacing look. It consisted of a simple black robe that was untied and flapped around in an invisible wind, the ends curling back in on themselves and disappearing back into the swirling mass. As it continued to move about, the robe gave off a thick black smoke, enveloping her body, which they could barely see past, the only real things visible being the aforementioned armor and chest.

But for all the horror her mere appearance gave, it was her eyes and smile that made them feel like their souls were about to leave their bodies. The almost-human's eyes did not have white in the sclera, but red, almost as if blood had been spilled in them. They almost thought that was the case too, except the red glowed. However, it was the midnight blue irises and slitted, cat-like white pupils that frightened them more, for it seemed they were literally chilled over with ice formed from the darkest shadows of night.

All of it paled in comparison, though, to her dark, evil, terrifying, inhuman smile. It was like someone had taken all the evil in the world and had forced it into the shape of smiling lips, then had smacked it onto her face. All who saw it, adult or child, wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, never looking out at the world again.

Unfortunately, no one had real time to even move as the figure stretched out her arm, enveloping Abby in a dark green light and lifting her into the air before the woman swung her arm back, then flung the dark limb forward, chucking the bully toward the school building, making her fly through the playground and crash through a solid stone wall. No doubt she was dead.

Before Abby had gone sailing into the school, few had really seen what was occurring out in the field a short distance away. Now, the disfigured woman and the little girl had their undivided attention.

They watched in fascinated horror as the woman looked now to Xenia. "Ah, how little I was," she whispered, making Xenia shudder. Reaching forward, the woman commanded the smoke around her to surround Xenia. This immediately knocked the girl from her stupor. She tried to run, but the minute she touched the smoke, she recoiled back in pain, letting out a scream.

The woman smirked and floated closer. She stopped just before her feet touched the ground. Lifting her arm again, she pointed a finger a Xenia, the smirk melting from her face, replaced by a serious expression. As she began to speak, her eyes became as black as her robe, emitting a strange, unnatural glow, and the wind picked up, swirling the smoke around the two like a tornado.

"Xenia Mersla, you are hereby cursed to this fate. Dark or darker you will choose, two worlds in the palms of your hands. Through grace and deceit shall you carve your path, until all lay under your feet!"

The words inexplicably echoed throughout the deathly silent schoolyard, everyone stunned to silence by this strange apparent human and her words.

They were drawn from their stupor, however, from the tortured screams of little Xenia, who was clutching her head, eyes shut tightly, trying to curl up into a ball, but in such pain she could barely move.

Xenia was never sure what happened till she saw it later, but the only thing she could vaguely remember was her eyes bursting open, filled with same black as the woman and also emitting the glow, then there was an explosion of dark green, and complete, utter darkness.

Life. It's a bitch. It'll take your perfectly planned day of relaxation and spit it right back in your face, then laugh at you. It was a lesson Xenia had learned well ever since waking up in the hospital bed over ten years ago with no recollection of what had happened the previous day. All she had been told was that several people were dead, including Abby and her supporters, a couple teachers, and her older brother, whom she had always looked up to. Oh, and that it was all her fault, although the disoriented, grief-stricken seven year old had no idea how such a thing could have happened. Everyone was too afraid of a relapse to tell her what they had heard occurred on the playground.

So, over the years, Xenia had grown to be a bitter ass bitch, just as life seemed to have intended, sometimes falling prey to violent seizures in which she always received pictures of an ugly attack with a smaller version of herself cloaked in shadow, as well as visions of a light, peaceful land slowly falling to darkness. Fortunately for the traumatized female, she never remembered any of it after waking up.

But, that was in the past. Right now, we are focusing on the present and future. Currently, Xenia was sitting on her bed, trying to pass the time away with reading. It was one of her very few escapes, taking her places her much darker, crude imagination would never think of. She was especially fond of fanfictions, but she was reading a series she found a close second to her favorite fanfic.

She was actually having a decent time for once in her stupid life. Well, guess it was time for a small lesson that led up to the big one.

Knock, knock, knock

Groaning in exasperation, Xenia got up and walked to her plain white door and threw it open, revealing her little sister on the other side.

Barging past her older sister and invading her sanctuary, the twelve year old plopped down onto Xenia's bed, letting out a relaxed sigh. Probably exhausted from climbing the fucking stairs, lazy ass, she thought bitterly. She kept such things to herself, though, knowing she would only get another strike on her mother's bad side if she mouthed off to her little sister.

As Xenia watched, Serina Mersla reached under her sister's pillow and produced a Hershey's cookies and cream bar. Xenia could swear she saw her sister start to drool a little at the sight of it.

"Ooh, looks like someone's been sneaking some before-dinner candy," Serina said with an attempt at a stern tone. She failed miserably, and before she could say anything else to her elder, the candy was snatched from her grasp and shoved into Xenia's pants pocket.

"Like you're any better! Besides, this was for later tonight, so back the fuck off!" she snapped, earning her a small look of surprise. Serina's shock quickly passed, however, and she went back to being herself.

"Really? And what would mom think?" she practically sneered. Growing tired of her sister's antics quickly, Xenia forced her up off her bed by the arm, hard enough to where she moved, but not so hard as to hurt her.

"Did you come in here just to annoy the living crap out of me, or is there a point to your interrupting my quiet time?" questioned the elder sister, her tone speaking of how tired she was of this little game.

Pretending to have a quick revelation, Serina said, "Oh, that's right! Mom says we're getting low on wood, you need to go bring some in."

Grinding her teeth to keep from yelling in anger, she quickly marched to the door, shoved her sister through it, and followed her out, slamming the door shut behind her. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Don't think I won't know if you go back in there."

Storming down the stairs, she quickly went out the back door of the house and approached a large garage set to the side. Stopping in front of the door, she reached for the handle, twisted it, and let the door swing open.

For almost as long as she had been having her seizures, Xenia had lived in the country. She had grown to be what most considered a country girl. Xenia had seen her fair share of wild critters, and done her fair share of wood-chopping and garden-growing over the years, on top of a few other chores.

Back to the animals. Like previously stated, Xenia had seen a lot of creatures that made their home in the woods. But the thing she saw in front of her defied the very fabric of nature.

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Time was such a subjective thing. Seriously, he didn't even understand why everyone freaked out over it. Oh, I'm late for work!, Ah, school's already started! What was the big deal?

Hmm, maybe I think that cause I'm immortal.

Lost in his thoughts, Discord failed to see the small shadow creeping up on him. They would have surprised him, which was their intention, but they unfortunately stepped on a twig.

Brought back from his pondering mind, he looked around and spotted a familiar orange filly. Well, not such a filly anymore. Ten plus years tended to change ponies, and Scootaloo and her friends had certainly undergone transformation.

We shall get to the other Crusaders later, though. Right now, Scootaloo was hitting herself over the head for having done such a stupid, cliche thing. Knowing exactly what she was thinking, Discord slithered to the ground and wrapped himself loosely around the pegasus.

"Now, now," he said in a fake motherly voice, which held a hint of a teasing tone in it, "don't beat yourself up. You made a valiant effort, and at least we get to both laugh about the way you spoiled the surprise."

Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo leaped out of the coil and turned back to face Discord, who had uncurled himself and was standing back at his full height. "Anyway, what is it that brings you here, Scoots?" he said with a chuckle.

Scootaloo frowned as she looked up at the Chaos Lord. She was used to hearing the nickname come from her friends and family, but Discord saying it really bothered her, and she knew he knew it too. Scootaloo couldn't explain why, it just did.

An impatient throat clearing quickly stopped her pouting and put her mind back on track. "Oh, yes!" Looking up at him, she took a deep breath and put on her most calm, neutral expression.

"You said precisely ten years ago that one of us were to come to see you today. That your 'pick' would be 'of age' to come here."

The statement startled Discord so much he actually took a step back to get a better look at the clearly serious pegasus. Narrowing his eyes thoughtfully, he snapped his fingers and out popped a calender. Flipping through the ridiculously large amount of pages, he paused as he reached the middle. "Ah, yes, here we are, finish off the debt with the Crusaders!"

Snapping his fingers again to make the calender disappear, he turned back to Scootaloo. "Yes, I think the little flower is indeed old enough for some Equestrian adventures! Just give me a couple minutes, and she'll be right here!"

Before Scootaloo could protest, she found herself outside of the gateway portal to Discord's land of chaos, which he had shown them and the Mane 6 several years ago on another one of their adventures.

Eye twitching in annoyance, she promptly turned around and went to tell Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom what Discord had said, then bring them back to meet the mysterious creature the Lord of Chaos was going to bring to Equestria.

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Groaning, Xenia lifted her head and looked around. She was still in the garage, but now, instead of being in the doorway, she found herself lying on the ground in front of the wood pile. She tried to remember when she'd gotten there, but her mind was drawing a blank.

Sighing, she got up off the ground, woozily stumbling forward into the wood pile, which she quickly leaned against while trying to regain her composure, already quite certain she knew what had happened.

Another seizure. Dammit. They were starting to increase.

While her oh so brilliant mind pieced that together, it tried to gather her scattered thoughts and memories. Let's see...Serina came in, we fought, I was told to come get wood...I opened the garage door, and then.... And then what? Xenia could not think of what had happened after the door opened. She could feel there was something very important she had seen, but her mind refused to let her see.

Growing frustrated, she began to berate her brain. Come on, you stupid thing, show me what I want to see! Almost a reluctant feeling came over Xenia, but she ignored and pried deeper into her memories. As she pried, she began to see the doorway, the weak light of the winter sun pouring in and illuminating a shape.

Pushing harder, she began to see the shape take form. It was tall, like world's tallest man tall, and there was something grey, she couldn't quite tell what. She saw antlers...or at least she thought they were antlers. They varied in shape, with one longer than the other.

Just as the face began to fully show itself, Xenia felt like her head had literally exploded.

For many years, Xenia had been tortured with headache after headache, bruise after bruise, hell, she'd even once almost completely severed off her hand with an axe, which the doctors said it was a miracle it had manage to reattach itself after a few short months of stitches. But all that pain dimmed to the feeling now erupting inside her head. This was one thing she could not hold her screams back for, this was not another pain to silently endure.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

As she screamed, something flashed in front of her, and her melting brain barely had time to register the swirling black and white hole facing her before she fell unconscious, tumbling into said hole as the barn exploded with the force of Mt. Saint Helens.

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The three supposed friends watched in disbelief as a figure silently landed on the grass in front of them. The portal silently closed as the odd-looking animal continued to lay there, unmoving.

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened in horror as she looked up at Discord. "Did you kill it?!" she screeched at the top of her lungs, making them all flinch.

Blinking, Discord stooped down to examine the human. Poking it, he waited for any response. Sighing, he turned Xenia, who had been facedown on the ground, over, and examined her with a critical eye, a doctor suit appearing on him. He opened her mouth and stuck in a popsicle stick, only to take it out moments later and throw it away. "No, that's not how you do it," he said, his voice giving away his slight amusement.

While he 'worked', Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom watched, all resisting the urge to chew on their hooves in worry. Finally, Discord looked up at them, a devious smirk on his face. "Oh, almost forgot you were there. Was gonna keep the diagnosis to myself, but that would be rude, wouldn't it?"

Unable to stand it anymore, Apple Bloom yelled, "Well?! Is it alive or not?!" She immediately clapped a hoof over her mouth.

Discord pretended to looked shocked and hurt at her sudden outburst. "My, my, and I thought I was rude! Maybe I shouldn't tell you. Perhaps let you figure it out on your own. Or take it to the hospital. Oh, that'd be so much fun to watch you explain how this thing got here!" he hooted, cackling maniacally.

Shocked at what Discord was saying, Scootaloo was now the one who was fed up. Marching up to Discord, she reached up, and much to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom's horror, yanked his face next to hers by his beard. "Listen here, you pompous, oh so special Lord of Chaos. Over the last ten years we've had to help our sisters not only deal with your shit, but the Sombra, Chrysalis, Eviscas, and personal mayhem shit as well. The only thing us Crusaders looked forward to is the fun this thing might bring us. Now you're telling us you won't even bother letting us know if its alive. If you couldn't simply just flash away, I would kick your sorry ass from here to the Crystal Empire!"

A stunned silence followed the pegasus's words, even Discord could only blink as he stared into the fiery eyes of the orange pony before him. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, he spoke.

"Well someone's not very grateful, are they?"

His words only provoked Scootaloo further, and Sweetie Belle had to hurry in alongside Apple Bloom to drag her away before she could do something else she would regret later. This only amused the Chaos Lord, who held no real fear for Scoots.

As the unicorn and earth pony glared at him, still holding back their Scootaloo, Discord burst out laughing. "You three are just so easy to tease! Of course I'll tell you if she's alive, I was just being sarcastic. Besides, it wouldn't be a proper debt payment if I didn't. You have nothing to worry about, for the human is completely and totally..."

His words were cut off by a small moan. All eyes snapped toward the slowly waking figure. After a minute, Xenia sat up and blinked groggy at the blurs in front of her. Squinting, she tried to get a better look, but it took awhile for her eyes to adjust. What she saw made her freeze in confusion and...well, too many other emotions to list.

"...alive."

And with that, Xenia performs the biggest cliche of the day, promptly screaming and falling under the spell of darkness once again.

"Wakey, wakey sleepy head!"

Xenia slowly came to at the sound of that cheerful, annoying voice. Before she had even opened her eyes, she wanted to grab its owner and wring his neck for interrupting her sleep.

Wait...he?

Eyes flying open, Xenia bolted upright, her head smacking someone's chin rather hard, making both of them cry out in pain. Clutching her throbbing skull, Xenia looked around with sight still blurry from sleep. She could barely make out two gray and orange blobs as her brain tried to collect itself, as well as take in as much information from what it was seeing.

While the human teenager sat there practically drooling, Scootaloo turned to Discord. "Great, we broke it," she said sourly. This only served to make Discord burst into a fit of laughter.

"Hahaha...don't...hahaha...worry, Scootaloo...hahaha...she's...haha...fine!" he told the pegasus while calming down. Wiping a tear from his eye, Discord turned just in time to see the human leap at him, arms outstretched, her face revealing she was clearly pissed.

Barely managing to dodge what he assumed would be an attempt at strangulation, Discord watched in amusement as she fell flat on her face, barely containing yet more laughter at her startled look.

Xenia felt a rage within her that she could not describe. She wasn't exactly sure what was up, she knew she should be more confused and scared at this point. The sight of the creature, however, made something in her snap. It was obvious to her that must mean her body knew something her mind didn't, perhaps maybe this...thing was the one who made her have that meltdown in the garage earlier.

The garage!

You could almost hear the brakes squealing as Xenia stopped in her tracks, having gotten up and charged the plainly bemused animal again. Glancing around, Xenia's jaw almost literally fell to the forest floor. She was surrounded by pristine woodland, with beautiful trees and foliage sprouting around her. However, it was not the shrubbery itself, but the colors that shocked her. Deep blues, dark yellows, violet purples, all pristine colors that did not belong in a forest. Plus, these plants didn't look anything like even jungle plants would. It was really beginning to make Xenia's brain hurt again just trying to figure out where she was. Then the last memory she could think of before waking here sprouted in her mind.

She instantly turned her focus back on the disfigured male creature. Glaring, she pointed an accusing finger at him and yelled, "You! I remember you! You were in the garage just before I blacked out, and then I woke, and that portal came! It was all you, I know it! Now, I demand answers! Where am I and why have you brought me here?!"

Discord's expression had gone from amused to confused as Xenia continued to talk, his eyebrows furrowing in puzzlement. "Garage? What are you talking about? Sure, I opened the portal, but I never actually left Equestrian soil."

Now both human and draconequus were very stumped as to what exactly had happened here. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom watched, all of them even more lost than the two different species before them.

"Um, hello?" Sweetie Belle said as she finally stepped forward from the trio. "Does anyone care to explain what's going on?"

This shocked everyone from their intense stares and confused expressions.

"Ah yes, how my manners have slipped!" Scolding himself jokingly, Discord snapped the fingers of his eagle claws and the five were suddenly seated in a circle.

"Alright, I'll start. Hi, my name is Discord, Lord of Chaos, lover of fun and craziness!" Still recovering from the unexpected shock, the other four simply shared blank looks.

Growing annoyed, Discord sighed and rolled his eyes. "Is it not obvious what we're doing? Come now, let's try and get the introductions out of the way."

Once more the four others of the circle shared looks, but this time they were waiting for someone else to speak up, all of them getting the impression Discord would not continue the conversation until they greeted each other.

Sighing, Sweetie Belle went next. "I am Sweetie Belle, musical star of Equestria, and lover of classical music."

Shrugging, Apple Bloom decided to go. "Ah'm Apple Bloom, apprentice alchemist, and lover of all things nature."

Xenia and Scootaloo shared an awkward look, neither sure who should go next. Hmming, Scootaloo sighed and said, "Well, I'm Scootaloo, personal student of Princess Luna, and lover of the stars."

While everyone was sitting and introducing themselves, Discord had grown increasingly bored. Groaning, he twiddled his thumbs, waiting for them to be finished. Maybe he should have just given them each other's names instead of this overly long and stupid share circle. So, when he saw Xenia go to announce who she was, he decided to have a bit of fun. Snapping his tail, he sat back and watched it unfold.

"I'm- grabba googa blewth."

Xenia's eyes widened and she glanced down her nose toward her mouth. "What the- woona larth?" Now the Crusaders were staring as Discord started laughing, finding it damn near impossible to stop, even as the four in front of him turned to give him dirty looks, Xenia's being the most frightening. Of course, it didn't really scare Discord, only made him laugh harder.

Standing, Xenia folded her arms and glared down at Discord, tapping her foot impatiently. This continued for several minutes, until Discord managed to rein himself in. "Ohohohaha, you should have seen the looks on your faces! I love seeing such startled expressions, it's unbearably funny!"

Growing angrier and angrier by the second, Xenia resisted the urge to try to pound him in. "Look, just fi- helala jusen!" The draconequus and ponies could swear they saw her eyes burst into black flame, but before they could be sure, Xenia took a deep breath and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself.

Rolling his eyes, Discord snapped his fingers, ending the prank.

When she heard the snap, Xenia opened her eyes to see Discord giving her a very bored look that she think meant, well, go ahead.

Huffing she nodded and continued with what she was trying to say earlier. "My name is Xenia. I don't really do anything special, and I have no particular love of anything."

Three ponies eyes blinked at her, while Discord raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face. Put into another awkward silence, the group stood around shuffling their feet or hooves. That was, until, a new voice drifted into the clearing.

"Apple Bloom? What goes on here, faithful student?"

Five heads whipped toward the pony, or more accurately, zebra, emerging from the shadows. The first to speak was Apple Bloom. "Oh! Teacher! Sorry I did not come back much sooner, as you can see, things have gotten messy."

Chuckling, Zecora sat before them, shaking her head. "It is all fine my student. Now tell me, what brings you all here?" It was only after this question that she acknowledged Xenia's presence. Her eyes instantly widened and she stood, backing up a step, the skin under her fur paling. "What has thou done?! Bringing such danger, it is very wrong!"

Tilting her head in confusion, Xenia took a step toward Zecora. "I mean no harm, zebra, I swea-"

"Make no promises that you cannot keep!"

The outburst startled Xenia, who stopped moving toward the clearly nervous zebra. "What are you talking about? Of course I can keep it! I may have no idea where I am or what I'm doing here, but considering I'm not dead right now or being dissected, I see no reason why I would bring harm."

Zecora studied the human for a few seconds more before shooting a glance at Apple Bloom, who trotted over to join her mentor. "Best intentions you may have, the future now holds grim for all of us." Turning, she began to head back into the forest. "Come Apple Bloom, home we must go, and leave the presence of ignorant deceit."

With a shocked, puzzled, and apologetic glance back at the silent ponies, etc. behind her, Apple Bloom disappeared after her instructor.

"That was....interesting."

"And that was the understatement of the day, Scootaloo," Xenia said sarcastically, still stunned by the striped cousin of horses' words. "Exactly what the fuck did she mean? Ignorant deceit?" A thought popped into Xenia's head, and she narrowed her eyes, looking at the for-once silent draconequus to her left. "Did you do something to me when you brought me here? Mess with my future? Screw with my head?"

Realizing he was being addressed, Discord shook himself from his quiet stupor and looked at Xenia. "Huh? Oh, no, of course not! Granted, the thought of messing with your mind sounds fun, but most of this was merely all part of a deal. A deal that had nothing to do with playing with anyone's mind, sadly. Which is the only reason that dear Zecora's behavior shocked me as well. She's usually so sweet and gentle, which always makes me want to gag. Hmm, maybe she saw something about this. I know alchemist can sometimes brew concoctions that let them see into the future."

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. "She can do what now?"

"Enough!"

That shut them all up. Letting out a relieved sigh, Xenia turned her attention on Discord. "So, let me get this straight. You're some sort of magical chaos lord who struck a deal with three ponies to bring me here? Why?"

Stroking his beard, the Lord of Chaos glanced around for a second, apparently thinking, before his eyes met with Xenia's again. "Well, to explain it, I'd have to start from the beginning." Two groans immediately sounded behind them, from Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Oh, come on!" complained Scootaloo. "You cannot seriously be thinking of telling her everything! That'll take forever!"

Scowling, Discord looked at the pony. "Geez, aren't you just the party pooper? Fine, fine, I'll do it the quick and simple way." Before any of them could ask what the quick and simple way was, Discord had placed the tip of one of his eagle claws on top of her forehead.

Xenia could feel him trying to pry into her brain, and it set her to panic mode. She tried backing away, but her body was frozen in place by some unforeseen force. This only set her mind and body into overdrive, and as Discord finally pulled back the curtain and entered her mind, they could both see a black shadow suddenly form with the force of a wildfire. Speaking of fire, it was what the shadow shot at Discord. 'What the fu-' Discord tried to say, but then the fire, which was as black as the shadow, hit him. He gasped in shock, falling to his knees, clutching the place the flame had struck. 'I don't understand', the Discord inside my mind gasped, 'my power is...'

Standing, the draconequus ran headfirst into a bright light.

Out in the living world, the two finally managed to break apart. Discord went as far as he could from Xenia as she stumbled back and landed on her ass.

"What the hell was that?!" Xenia screamed, she couldn't believe what she had somehow witnessed take place in her head. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle jumped at their sudden movements, both taking a step back from the two.

Discord, physically shaking, lifted his eagle hand to his face and saw the fingertip which he had placed on Xenia was now blackened and smoking. "I- I don't know," he stuttered, for once trying to make sense of things. "I've never seen anyone's brain defend itself like that, and only one creature should have the power to..." Discord let his sentence drift off as he tried to collect himself. Breaking down in front of the two old Cutie Mark Crusaders and a stranger he was now perceiving as a very big threat was not a good idea.

Growing impatient, Scootaloo boldly stepped forward. "Will you two just stop the blabbering?! What has you both so freaked out?!"

Exchanging a look with Discord and seeing the look in his eyes was all Xenia needed for conformation. It was unnecessary conformation, really, for she could already feel it trying to fuse with her blood.

"Oh my God. I drained Discord of some of his power."

Everyone in the clearing stood completely silent, as if a spell had been cast to take away their vocal cords. Then, in unison, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo yelled, "What?!"

From there, things went pretty much downhill. There was a lot of yelling over each other, Discord trying to zap Xenia far away from him and failing, cause she had taken that much power, the remaining Crusaders blabbering on and on while looking between the draconequus and the human, and Xenia trying to give Discord the power back, which meant both of them going in circles as Xenia hoped touching him would reverse the process, while Discord refused to let her near him, not keen to have all his power drained again, like with Tirek.

Finally, a voice shouted, "Enough!"

All four heads snapped towards the owner, while the rest of their bodies froze. Standing there was Zecora and Apple Bloom. Zecora had a saddlebag on her this time, and a less fearful, but still hard, look in her eyes. "For a few seconds I leave, and already there is disharmony!"

Discord pointed an accusing lion paw at Xenia. "Yeah, well, she took away my power!"

While Apple Bloom gasped, her mentor sighed. "Afraid of this I was, no stopping this there appears to be." Discord's mouth dropped. "You knew this would happen?!"

Wincing at his screeching tone, Zecora lifted a hoof and turned it from side to side in a 'so, so' motion. "Suspect I did it would be true, I just wished it wasn't so soon."

Even more confused than Discord, Xenia tilted her head. "What are you talking about? And can you please stop rhyming?"

Ignoring her second question, the zebra answered, "Alchemy, it is true, will bring the future to you. It is here that I see a darker awakening."

Apple Bloom, who was simply going along with this now, for she was used to her teacher's weird antics, nodded. "She's right, you can see the future with alchemy. I haven't reached that level yet, but I should know, I have a cutie mark for it after all," she said, showing her flank, which had something that appeared to be a tattoo on it. The tattoo, or cutie mark as Apple Bloom called it, was an erlenmeyer flask with a strange green liquid inside that was giving off a red smoke. The red smoke rose from the flask and took the shape of an apple.

"Uh....cool tat- cutie mark. So, let me get this straight. You're saying I'm going to bring about some sort of Dark Age?" At Zecora's unsure look, the human girl sighed. "Oh for crying at loud. No one has a straight answer these days."

Feeling a little offended, even though she wasn't really supposed to give straight answers in the first place, Zecora said, "The future is uncertain, change it can and will, but for any case, things will not be easy."

Raising an eyebrow, Xenia looked at Zecora again. "So, there's a fifty-fifty chance I could end up destroying this place, wherever I am."

Now it was Zecora's turn to give a raised eyebrow in Discord's direction. The draconequus instantly found his twiddling talon and lion paw to be more interesting than the ponies around him. "Ah, yes. We told our names, but nothing else. Well, Xenia Mersla, welcome to the Everfree Forest, in the domain of Equestria, land of magical talking ponies. And other mythical things."

Xenia snorted, shaking her head. "Ya don't say?" she said sarcastically.

That was when another awkward pause began. Glancing around at the strange creatures surrounding her, Xenia noticed something. It was about the thing Apple Bloom mentioned earlier, she had just now noticed almost all of them had the same things. "Hey, what's with the tattoos you call cutie marks?"

This seemed to bring a more lively mood about in the clearing, at least when it came to the old Crusaders. They all were about to reply, but Discord beat them to it. "Cutie marks represent the one thing that makes a pony different from every other pony. When anypony finds that one talent they're really good at, their cutie mark will magically appear and let them and everypony else know it."

Scootaloo, although a little sour she didn't get to tell, beamed, proudly showing hers off. "Yep!" she exclaimed, grinning down at hers, which was a midnight blue scooter that seemed to have stars in it, with a moon that almost actually seemed to glow directly in the middle of the handle bars. "Not only does it show how good I am with my scooter, it also represents me as Princess Luna's personal student!"

Shrugging, Sweetie Belle stepped up next to Scootaloo, allowing Xenia a peek at hers. "It's not as interesting as Scootaloo's and Apple Bloom's, but I still love it," she informed the human with a much more gentler smile than Scootaloo's. Her cutie mark was a trio of different colored bells, one purple, one light blue, and one yellow, all tied together with a red string. The bells were obviously being rung, for a rainbow of musical notes surrounded them.

Xenia blinked and looked back at Apple Bloom's. "Huh. Very interesting. You ponies all find your purpose in life and stick to it. That never happens in the human world. Most die without knowing what they were really meant for."

Sweetie Belle gasped, shock clear on her face. "That's terrible! I cannot a imagine a world full of wandering, uncertain souls! Perhaps it really is a good thing Discord brought you here, and the dark future refers to if you go back!"

Xenia considered the thought and shrugged, saying, "Guess it doesn't matter now. Because of several peopl- I mean ponys' stupidity, Discord no longer has the power to send me back."

More silence followed as the group mulled over their options. Then Zecora sighed. "Stay here, you cannot. To town must you go till we fix this, hopefully within the next season," she said, then thought for a second more and added, "perhaps a trip to the princess may help. Her skill of knowledge might be quite a help."

Xenia shot her attention to Zecora, only having been half-listening. "Princess? Like princess, princess?"

Nodding her head in confusion, Zecora watched Xenia leaped to her feet, having taken a seat on a rock. "So, if you guys are powerful, I'm assuming this Princess is even more so. Which means she might know just what spell or whatever to use to straighten this mess out!"

Apple Bloom spoke up, shaking her head. "Twilight and the others may have a lot more magical skill than us, but I think interdimension travel is a Diacord-only thing."

Xenia rolled her eyes, turning her attention to Apple Bloom. "Who said anything me going back just yet? I meant maybe they know how to get Discord's powers out of me and back to him."

Suddenly, an arm was wrapped around her back, and she was being pushed forward. "Alright, to Twilight's we go!" exclaimed Discord, who was still forcing Xenia to move forward. The human raised an eyebrow at this. "Uh, Discord? Don't ya think it unwise to have even a clawtip on me? My brain might react again, since it clearly doesn't like you now."

The draconequus immediately backtracked, flying away from the human. "Oh, uh, yes. How about you lead the way...Zecora?" he asked, saying the name of the first pony his eyes landed on.

Huffing, the zebra silently turned and walked into the woods. Taking this as a yes, the others followed.

While they traveled, Xenia found herself at the front of the group, standing directly besides Zecora. It was then a thought occurred to her. "Hey Zecora, if you were so freaked out about me, why did you come back there to explain?"

The zebra looked up at the human, who was taller than even Celestia. "All that blabbering, you see, reached even my hut of alchemy. Shut you up, I had to, for listen to much more I wished not."

Laughter followed them all the way to Ponyville.

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Of course, the first thing the ponies of the town did was open their mouths to scream. When they saw Discord, however, they shut their jaws and continued as normal. Damn, dude must be weirder than I thought.

On the outskirts of the town rose a giant crystal castle tree thing. Honestly, I had no idea what the fuck it was meant to look like. We were heading straight for it, and it was pretty clear this was our destination. However, before we could get there, a violet pony with both wings and a horn emerged, followed by some weird green and purple lizard that reminded Xenia of a dragon.

One look at us, and she forgot what she had come out here for, marching directly over and shooting daggers at Discord. "What've you done, and what is this thing?"

Xenia was about to speak, feeling greatly offended, but Scootaloo spoke first. "No, don't blame him, this one's on us. Kinda. Look, when we were fillies, there was this whole thing, and then Discord owed us, and we had to wish for something other than cutie marks...and well, here we are about ten years later, and our wish is granted!" she told the princess with an awkward laugh.

Twilight looked puzzled. "Owed you? How did he-" Discord interrupted that train of thought before it left the station. "Anyway, this a human girl named Xenia. She's here from a place called Earth in another dimension."

The princess sighed and facehoofed, then began massaging her forehead. "Discord, what have us princesses told you about bringing things from other dimensions to Equestria? Just send it back already."

Now extremely miffed, Xenia said, "Excuse me, but I am not an 'it'. And he can't send me back, cause, well...man, I'm fucked when I tell her this, aren't I?"

Nods from everyone but the confused and concerned Princess Twilight. "Ya see, Princess, I kinda, might sorta done something when Discord entered my brain to give me flashbacks about how he came to make the deal with these three. Ya know, my mind kinda reacted, and, well... I drained Discord's power," she finished flatly.

Twilight stood there a while rebooting her brain. Then she asked, "Say again?"

Xenia threw her hands up in frustration. "Oh for crying out loud! Look, it was purely accidental! I don't even know how the fuck it happened! I don't think it's exactly normal for a person's brain to conjure up a shadow-fire-shooting shadow to defend their mind and drain an all-powerful chaos being of its magic! That's why we came to you! You're supposed to be some real smart princess, and we were hoping you might find a way to figure out what's wrong with me, as well as siphon Discord's magic back to him!" she said, stomping her foot in frustration.

Pop

"Oh sweet baby Jesus..."

Floating directly over Xenia's head was a familiar pink cloud, which was already starting to drip chocolate rain. Everypony stood there gaping as a yellow flash brightened the inside of the cloud, then the sweet rain started to really pour, soaking Xenia in seconds.

Shoulders drooping, Xenia put on a very unamused and scowling face. "Well shit."

Discord could not help himself, even knowing how it was the human had come to possess the ability to make cotton candy clouds appear. His laughter filled the town, making some ponies pause to look over, then immediately away, not wanting to be part of the crazy scene going down in front of the castle.

As Discord began to calm down, he realized he had six pairs of eyes giving him their best death glares, there would have been seven had Spike not left when things got too weird for him, which was just after him and Twilight stopped in front of the odd group.

Putting on his best horrified face, Discord gasped, clutching his chest. "Oh no! Your looks are actually killing me! Ahhhhh!" he said in fake panic, his body slowly dropping toward the ground, like a flower petal that had broken off from the rest of the flower.

He then laid there, trying his best not to move while the mares and human girl continued to glare. Finally, Twilight sighed. "Ok, I'll see what I can find. In the meantime, until this whole power thing is figured out, I want you inside my castle. The last thing we need is another Tirek disaster, even if it wouldn't be on purpose this time. Agreed?"

Xenia only needed to think for a second, then she nodded. "Sounds fair. Besides, all these ponies are way too weird for me, this whole 'equine ruling the world' business will take some getting used to."

And so began Xenia's long and exhausting, yet fulfilling, stay in Ponyville. Too bad only Zecora was ready for the future they had been warned about. Had they been more prepared, many deaths could have been avoided.

Several months had passed since Xenia had been forcefully dropped into Equestria. Months full of many disappointments, but also the occasional good day. No real progress was made in discovering how to get Discord's power back, but everyone seemed fine with this, despite Xenia sometimes losing control. At least it wasn't as calculated as Discord when he used it.

However, a whole new time was about to begin, and it all started on Xenia's eighteenth birthday.

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"Surprise!"

Xenia took in her rather quickly decorated room, eyebrow raised at the pink mare no doubt behind it all.

"You really are the fastest thing I have ever met. I only went to the bathroom for a minute."

Pinkie Pie hopped up to her, a grin splitting her face. "Yepparoo! Now come on, birthday girl, it's time to get your biggest, most ubber super duper important birthday party started!"

Chuckling and shaking her head, Xenia stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

The bedroom she had been given by Twilight was stuffed to the brim with decorations, streamers, banners, confetti, balloons, and a very large dining table filled with delectable birthday treats.

How the hell did she manage all this?

Shaking her head again, Xenia joined the ponies gathered in her overly-festive bedroom. The party guests consisted of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, and of course, Pinkie, as well as Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and even Zecora had grudgingly made an appearence. There were several more ponies she barely recognized, like Derpy, Ditzy, Carrot Top, Bon Bon, and.... Xenia shuddered. Lyra.

The aquamarine mare was out on the door floor, eyes closed, grooving to the beat provided by Vinyl. The first meeting with the human-obsessed mare had gone a little, oh what was the word... Fucking crazy! Xenia had no idea what was wrong with that pony, but she didn't really want to know. At least Lyra had cooled down quickly after Bon Bon's intervention.

As Xenia reached for a cupcake, she paused, realizing there was one party guest missing.

Where is Discord?

It's true that the two still didn't get along all that great, but they managed to tolerate each other's presence. You'd think Twilight would have made him come, to at least show a little bit of manners and support her.

Oh well.

Shrugging, Xenia went to take a bite of her chocolate with vanilla icing cupcake, but then then the door opened, and the whole party froze, Vinyl stopping her disks with a very cliche screeching sound.

Standing at the door was Discord, and two ponies stood next to him. Two ponies Xenia had only heard others talk about in reverent whispers. Two ponies she had never hoped to meet, for they had only two equals, and one of them was the lavender alicorn standing next to her.

Striding into the room, Celestia glanced around the party. Her eyes stopped when they landed on Xenia, and she beckoned her sister into the room. Together, Celestia and Luna walked gracefully over, their manes flowing calmly in an invisible wind.

Stopping in front of the human, who still had her mouth open to eat the cupcake, Celestia cleared her throat.

"You are Xenia Mersla, I presume?"

Snapping her mouth shut, Xenia set the cupcake back on the table before giving back Celestia her whole and undivided attention. "Yes. Princess Celestia, isn't it? And Princess Luna?"

The two sisters nodded, then exchanged a look. Celestia spoke up again, saying, "I know this is probably an inconvenient time, since, judging from the banners, it is your eighteenth birthday party, but we feel we need to speak with you. In Canterlot. We were hoping you might accompany us."

Pinkie now spoke, a slightly aghast look on her face. "But what about her birthday? You can't not have somep-"

The pink earth pony was quieted by a wing in her mouth as Rainbow shut her up, a sheepish, awkward grin on her face. "Ehehehe...continue," invited the rainbow-maned pegasus.

Xenia's eyes found that of the raiser of the sun. She knew the suggestion wasn't really a suggestion. These alicorns had probably wanted speak to her since she got here, but had held off, probably because of Twilight. Now, there was no more time. It was time to talk to the ones in charge.

Slowly, everypony began to realize what was really going on, and the room began to empty out, ponies shuffling awkwardly though the door. By the time it was all said and done, only the Mane 6, Discord, Xenia, and the royal sisters were left. Even the old CMC and Zecora were gone.

As soon as it was just them, Xenia answered the Princess.

"Alright. Let's get this over with."

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The city of Canterlot was a majestic sight, perched on the side of a mountain, a large marble castle towering over the city and its citizens.

It was in this castle where Xenia now sat with the three alicorns, silence stretching between them as a servant pony poured them some tea then left.

Blinking, Xenia picked up the cup and inspected it, sloshing the contents inside as she looked at the dark green liquid, cleary uninterested.

Celestia was the first to speak. "So, I have heard of the predicament between you and Discord. I wish I could help you, but even I have no spells to help. I presume my sister doesn't either."

Luna shook her head as she took a sip from her cup of steaming green tea. Xenia sighed, shrugging as she looked at the sisters. "It is alright. I just wish I knew how it even happened. I'm not really certain since I can't look into other's head, but I don't believe the way my mind reacted was normal for humans. I know power draining isn't. I just wish the future didn't look so uncertain right now."

The three princesses exchanged a look, then Celestia said, "I will further discuss that with you in a minute. Right now, I want to show you something."

Standing, Celestia headed towards a set of stairs. Shrugging, Xenia got up and followed the solar princess. At the top of the stairs were a set of glass doors, which lead out onto the second highest balcony of the castle. It offered a beautiful, unobstructed view of Equestria, all the way to the distant cloud city of Cloudsdale to the shining lights of Applewood. Even Xenia could not resist letting out an awed wow as she looked across the country.

Standing besides her, Celestia smiled. "Many things are unclear when it comes to the future, Xenia. We have no real hope of knowing what is coming. All we can do is prepare. Are you ready for the challenges you will face?"

Shifting her gaze back to Celestia, Xenia nodded. "Of course, Celestia, I'm not about to let- URK!"

As she spoke, Xenia had glanced back at Equestria, but instead of the beautiful twilight-washed scene from before, there now stood an empty, black, desolate landscape. Blinking and rubbing her eyes, Xenia opened them to find it back to normal, until she blinked again. For each confused and horrified blink, the landscape flickered, turning from awe-inspiring to an empty husk.

It was then the familiar migraine sensation began. Unprepared after all her semi-peaceful months, Xenia gripped her head, exclaiming, "Fuck!"

Celestia, concerned, raised a hoof to place on her shoulder, but the human girl shied away, her breathing starting to come in irregular gasps. "No...don't...," she panted out, a war raging on in her head as she tried to contain her pain.

As her migraine pushed harder, Xenia could no longer take it, and she let a scream fill the calm Equestrian skies. The sound of running hoofsteps was heard as Twilight and Luna rushed up the stairs to find out what was wrong. The sight they found, and what happened just after their arrival, horrified them.

Xenia, still clutching her head, her face contorted in pain, was stumbling away from the princesses, a voice at the back of her head telling her not to let them near her. Unfortunately, she did not watch where she was going, nor where her feet landed, and before anyone could do anything, the teenager had tripped over her own feet and plunged over the edge of the balcony, three terrified yells following her as she fell towards the mountainside.

The last thing Xenia remembered seeing was a dark grey blur rushing towards her, then nothing.

Xenia did not know where she was. It seemed like a forest, but everything was all topsy-turvy. None of it made any sense. That was when she began to suspect Discord, but looking around, she realized she was merely upside down. This confused her even more.

Why am I hanging from a branch? And what the fuck am I doing here?

Unsure of how to answer herself, Xenia reached up and grabbed ahold of the branch. Letting her feet slip, she now hung onto the branch, everything right-side up like it should be.

Looking down, Xenia judged the distance to the ground. Feeling it was safe, she let go and dropped, landing among a pile of old pine needles. Getting to her feet, the human girl glanced around again. Ok, so, I know this isn't the Everfree. Walked around in there enough to get a feel for it. What other woods are in Equestria?

Contemplating the answer, Xenia began to walk around, looking for key signs. Finding nothing, she sighed. "Guess I'll just have to walk until I get out of here," she said, her voice echoing in the darkness.

It was then she began to feel eyes on her. Growing suddenly nervous, Xenia looked around. She thought she saw something moved behind her, and turned to face it fully as it emerged from the shadows.

Xenia gasped as terror and realization hit her. "You," she whispered.

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Xenia awoke gasping, bolting upright and glancing about in a wild daze. It wasn't until she realized that she'd only been dreaming and had just woken up that she began to calm down.

Wait...what was I dreaming about that got me so panicked?

Before she could collect her thoughts and piece it together, a door to her left opened, shedding light into the dark room, and an unfamiliar pony walked in. He was dark grey, with a black, flowing mane and tail, and his eyes were green where the white should be, with red irises. Both gave a faint glow, like the one his curved red horn did. That was all Xenia could see, and it was only thanks to the small amount of light seeping in that she could.

"Ah, good, you're awake."

He had a deep voice, and very pointed teeth. As he walked closer, Xenia began feeling that this pony was either royalty, or had once been. Of course, it helped that she finally bothered to acknowledge the silver and black crown on his head.

It hit Xenia like the force of a tornado. "You're...Sombra."

The dark pony chuckled. "So you've heard of me. I'm not surprised, what with you having stayed with that little dragon and his princess for so long."

Extremely weirded out, Xenia raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. Now, this is all a little odd, even to me. It's not that I'm ungrateful for you saving me when I fell over the balcony," she said, her memory of the previous night returning, "but I must inquire as to why."

Sombra chuckled again as he sat next to her bed, taking care to not let his red, white-fur lined cape touch the dark marble ground. "I can understand your confusion at the sudden approach I had, but there are quite a few things I think it appropriate to discuss with you."

Xenia studied the ex-tyrant with eyes used to merely observing things. "What could you possibly have to discuss with me? I can't really help you take over the Crystal Empire again, if that's what this is all about. I may have Discord's power, but I have no real control over it, and it only shows up spontaneously, like its real owner."

Sombra waved a hoof, dismissing the notion. "No, I have no intent to storm the Empire for now. I've come to talk to you about the recent disturbances I have felt."

Blinking in confusion, Xenia questioned, "Disturbances?"

The dark king nodded. "Ever since your arrival, I have felt many flashes of dark magic that are not my own. Granted, they feel slightly like mine, but much more twisted. I am unable to locate who is using it, but it seems to always be focused around one being."

Xenia only needed to see the look on his face. "Me."

Sombra nodded again, standing up as Xenia swung her legs around, preparing to get up and pace in thought. "Yes. I know you'll probably have no idea what's happening either, but I thought it better to bring you here. Whoever is trying to mess with you is not joking around. Whatever they're up to is very serious."

What Sombra was saying put a damper on Xenia's pacing, her eyes narrowing as she glimpsed something in the back of her mind. "Yes... I have no idea who is causing this trouble, but I too have no doubt that they intend harm. Although...," Xenia started to say, but let herself trail off.

Sombra raised an eyebrow. "What is it? Do you remember something that could help?"

Xenia shook her head to clear it, her mind having gone all fuzzy as something tried to make its way to the surface. "Well, I thought for a moment I did, but I lost it! Oh well, I think I have somepony who does have some answers though."

Sombra watched her mull some things over for a second before she nodded. Then she looked back at the dark unicorn king. "There's an alchemist who lives in the Everfree. When I first appeared, she warned us about some evil thing appearing in the future. I could never get the full story from her, but perhaps you can."

Sombra had a thoughtful look on his face, his eyes far away as he considered her words. "I remember seeing the zebra sometimes. I never really gave her much thought. Maybe...yes, I will retrieve her. I should go now, while it is still night. I will be back shortly. Meanwhile, feel free to look around. My palace is made entirely of black crystal, so you should find it very interesting."

Unsure what he meant by that, Xenia watched Sombra disappear in a flash of black smoke. After standing there a while, she shrugged. "Well, guess I better take him up on his suggestion."

She promptly stepped out into the hallway. Her jaw instantly hit the floor.

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The moonlight gently caressed Canterlot Palace, giving it a beautiful silver glow that many inside Canterlot admired.

Deep in this castle was a large group of ponies, four alicorns, three unicorns, three pegasus, three earth ponies, a draconequus, and a zebra.

They were seated around a large table, a large lamp burning above their heads. At the front were the alicorns, with the draconequus at the opposite end, and the others all scattered along the sides.

Celestia was addressing them all, her usually calmly flowing mane flapping about uneasily as she said, "You have all no doubt heard about what happened yesterday evening as I was lowering the sun. Be assured you are not alone in your confusion over Sombra, whom we all thought was gone. We tried piecing it all together while we awaited your arrival, but so far the only remotely possible reason is his use for Discord's powers. Unfortunately, even that seems a slim chance, for there is no way for him to get them, nor could he control Xenia in any way to help him. So, we are here to discuss what else there might be to this."

Silence followed her words, everypony obviously thinking. Then Applejack spoke up. "Don'tcha all find it a midge suspicious that Sombra suddenly appeared right aft'r Xenia came ta Equestria?"

Rarity blinked at her friend. "Why, whatever do you mean? Surely you don't suspect Xenia to have anything to do with bringing that brute back?"

Rainbow laughed as she though about the idea. "Maybe she accidentally brought him back with all that sneezing after the pepper joke!"

The laughter quickly faded after the plausibility of that idea sank in.

Fluttershy glanced between her friends, almost too afraid to speak up, but knowing she wouldn't be judged on her opinion. Hopefully. "But, um, why would he, uh, bother? Wouldn't he just go to conquer the Empire again? Surely he didn't take her just to thank her. Right?"

Twilight sighed, glancing at the shimmering marble table that was carved right out of the floor. "That would return us to option one, he took her to use Discord's power. Many things about that theory still don't add up, but it's the best we got. That being said, what would we do about it? And more importantly, how would he hope to help her use the power properly even if that is the plan? She might be able to just stroll into the Empire, but without the ability to control chaos, that would be useless. Besides, as Celestia said, he couldn't outright get her to go along with it."

At this point, Luna suddenly smiled and spoke up. "I've got it! Next time she goes to sleep, I'll enter her dream!"

Several of the others got excited, but Celestia was shaking her head. "No, sister. We might not have time for that. Besides, he could have easily thought of you, and put up a sleep barrier or something. Maybe even keep her from sleeping."

As they continued arguing over the matter, Fluttershy thought of something that had been bugging her for a while. She wanted to ask, but didn't want to interrupt. Besides, it was probably not important. Maybe. Possibly.

"Hey Flutters, what's wrong?" asked Rainbow.

Fluttershy jumped as she realized everypony was looking at her. Her cheeks lit up in embarrassment, realizing Celestia had been speaking to her. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry your Majesty, I was just thinking about something you said earlier. I'm, uh, sure it's not important," she muttered, hiding her face behind her soft pink mane.

Celestia smiled softly, trying to put the pegasus at ease. "Come now, Fluttershy, what is it?"

Peeking out at those around her, Fluttershy gathered her courage and stuttered, "Y- you said Xenia fell over the balcony while freaking out and telling you to stay away. Why d- do you think she panicked like that?"

The table went quiet again as all eyes now turned to Celestia, who had traded her smile for a troubled frown. "To be honest, I've been trying to figure that out as well. When I took her up onto the balcony, everything was fine, but after she looked away from the view to address me, then looked back, it's like she saw something. I'm not sure what, but it frightened her. I think, maybe, perhaps, she saw a glimpse of the future Zecora said was coming." The princess shuddered. "I dare not think about what would even scare an odd being such as Xenia."

Just then, the aforementioned zebra spoke up. "A brew I could set and seek the answers to it all, but first a cauldron you must call."

Everypony at the table stared at her in confusion. "Uh, what?" Celestia asked, her eyebrows scrunched in puzzlement. Zecora sighed and facehoofed. "Ask a servant to bring a cauldron, summon ingredients I list, and answers maybe I can give."

Although a few were still confused, Celestia's face cleared. "Oh, I see. Yes, that seems viable. Kinda. I guess I don't understand alchemy all that great, but I can certainly get you a cauldron, our master chef uses one for the Hearth's Warming Day Feast every year. As for your ingredients, summoning spells are very simple for me, and we may even have what you need here. The castle is home to many odd plants and spices."

As Celestia called in a guard to tell him to get the cauldron from Bon Appètit, the chef, Zecora made a list of everything she would need. Celestia was easily able to get all of them by simply summoning the shelves from Zecora's home. Of course, the zebra wasn't happy about this, but let it slide cause she knew Celestia would send them back after she was done.

Finally, when everything was ready, Zecora began. The things she had listed were all thrown in one by one, and when she had finished with them, she stirred the pot, then frowned. "Of this afraid I was, without a fire, nothing will we learn."

Now Celestia frowned. "I knew this was coming. Alright, I know I said earlier you couldn't have one, but if this is truly the only way to learn what we need to, I suppose I have no choice. I'll just have to control the flames from getting out of hoof, as well as the smoke."

Ordering the guard just outside the door to get some wood, the ponies and draconequus inside waited, twiddling their thumbs or hooves in the awkward silence.

Finally, the guard came back, hauling on his back a small cart filled with wood. Leaving it next to the cauldron, he went back to his post.

It took Zecora less than ten minutes to get the large pot boiling. When she felt it was ready, the zebra went to stir it again, ready to reveal what Xenia had seen, possibly also Sombra's reasoning for taking her.

Yeah, that didn't go down.

Instead, a blast of red hit the cauldron, spilling it's contents, and ruining the spell. Celestia, startled, lost her hold on the bubble which she had trapped the rising smoke in, purging the room into a stinging mist. Coughing, eyes watering, Celestia yelled, "Sombra!"

The grey king did not reveal himself as pounding sounded on the door, the voices of royal guards sounding on the other side.

Running over, Discord tried to open the doors, but found them sealed shut. Cursing the loss of his magic again, he himself started to cough.

Already some of the ponies in the room were starting to stumble from smoke inhalation. Seeing this angered Celestia even more, who sent a random blast at the shadows creeping along the wall. "Show yourself, you coward!"

Trotting over to her, Luna put a hoof on her sister's shoulder, holding in a cough of her own. "Sister, we have to get out of here! The others are not able to breath as easily in this smoke, we can't risk them dying from this!"

Seeing the wisdom of her words, Celestia turned to the door to blast it open. Unfortunately, at the critical moment, Rainbow accidentally ran into the princess. The spell misfired as Celestia's head was pushed to the side. The blast intended for the door instead hit Luna, who went flying into a wall, sliding down it seconds later, unconscious. Celestia, horrified, cried, "Luna!"

It was then she realized most everypony else had fainted. Her and Discord exchanged a panicked look, knowing this was not good.

After seeing the accidental attack on the night princess, Sombra could not keep himself from laughing. His dark laugh echoed around the room as he knocked the lamp from the ceiling, extinguishing their only light source. Then he swooped down like a falcon and wrapped the fainted Zecora in his magic. He and she then promptly vanished with a hiss of black vapor as the guards burst in, having used a statue as a battering ram to finally get in.

All they and Celestia could do was stare in shock as the last of the vapor vanished into the air.

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Xenia had never seen anything more amazing, and considering the view she had gotten of Equestria yesterday, that was saying something.

The castle actually seemed to pulse, like it was a living thing. Inside the see-through walls, veins of red magic magic shifted around, lighting the hallway with an eerie glow.

Looking in both directions, Xenia chose to go left. As she started down the hallway, it became apparent that this place was huge. She supposed it shouldn't be a surprise, the king had said it was a castle. Still, Xenia had trouble grasping just how anyone could not know about this place. Judging from the huge, sprawling throne room she had just waltzed into, it was easily the size of the Canterlot Palace.

As she poked around, Xenia had a growing feeling in her that the story she had heard about from Twilight had a whole other side to it. Why would someone powerful enough to make their own kingdom try to take over another? Was there something nopony knew about Sombra?

As she though these things over, there was a sudden flash, and Sombra appeared, a sleeping Zecora next to him. As Xenia raised an eyebrow, he smirked.

"Now, let's get some answers, shall we?"

Xenia straightened herself out, regaining her composure as she nodded. "Sounds good to me," she said. Then she thought of something. "Oh, I'd better go get one of those pot things you see in cliche witch movies for her to use."

With that, Xenia turned and left the room.

It was then Zecora began to stir. The zebra suddenly sat bolt upright, her head whipping from side to side. Sombra chuckled at the humorous sight, drawing her attention to him.

She immediately got to her hooves, glaring. "Cruel you are, it is true, not to mention rude." This only served to make Sombra burst into an outright laughing fit.

"Hmph, amused you may be, but you act like a little filly."

That shut him up. Eyes boiling with rage, he turned on Zecora. "How dare you insult me!" Ignoring his anger, Zecora asked, "Where is Xenia?"

Sombra was trying to keep himself from freaking out. "None of your damn business! I brought you here for a different reason anyway. You are to tell me why you freaked out when you first saw the girl!"

Zecora snorted and turned away, her head held high. "Answer you I will not, for this news a fool cannot use." The dark unicorn's head just about exploded. Anypony there could have swore they saw flames come out if his ears.

Shadows erupted from under Sombra's hooves, splitting into serpent-like tentacles. Four wrapped around her hooves and lifted her off the ground, while another slid around her neck. Wherever they touched, they burned the zebra's skin, making her cry out in agony.

Yanking her closer, he snarled in her face, "Stop the fucking rhyming, and just tell me what I want to know already damn it!" Zecora tried to answer, but the shadows kept constricting as he talked, and it felt they were melting her throat. As the zebra gagged, Sombra continued to seethe, his anger not just because of the annoying rhymes. There were many other things his brain was bringing up that pissed him off. It was something to tended to happened when he got this furious.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

The shadows instantly vanished as Sombra whipped around, his eyes widening at Xenia, who looked as equally miffed as he had been a second ago.

The human stalked into the room, depositing the cauldron on the floor. "We brought her here to tell us what the hell is up, not kill her! The fuck is wrong with you?"

Sombra huffed and looked at Zecora, who was trying to regain her breathing. "Well, she wouldn't stop rhyming! And she refused to tell me, plus insulted me! Of course I lashed out!"

Xenia sighed and rubbed her temple. "You are so impatient it hurts. You are in serious need of an attitude adjustment." Sombra felt shadows gathering under his hooves again, but attempted to contain himself. "Look, let's just get her fucking talking," he snapped, turning back to Zecora again. "As you've seen, I have little care for bullshit, zebra. Now, tell, or better yet, show us why there is so much fucking dark magic around her!" he commanded, pointing at Xenia.

Zecora paid no attention to him as she limped up to Xenia, her scorched hooves hurting like hell. "How is it you help an enemy, while we set for a rescue mission?" Xenia sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm sorry, Zecora, but he told me a few things about some stuff that's showed up since Discord yanked me from Earth."

Zecora closed her eyes and let her head droop. "Fearful of this time I was. Perhaps answers are indeed in order."

Sombra bobbed his head in satisfaction. "Finally," he muttered, nearly rolling his eyes.

Shooting him a look, Zecora took a couple steps before collapsing. "Huff...huff...nowhere can I go as I am, my hooves too injured they be."

One look at the zebra's hooves had Xenia turning another deadly stare at him. "Great, you fucking idiot. Now how is she supposed to do her mumbo jumbo?"

Zecora, looking deeply offended, was about to speak, but Sombra cut her off. "Well, I could always set up her little fire pit and light the thing, then set up her stuff. Of course, I'd probably have to get the stupid plantlife she needs. You, though, with your size and strength, perhaps..." He gave Zecora a very meaningful look.

The zebra objected at once. "Hurt though I may be, a foal I am not!" Xenia, though, had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, she is only the size of my little sister, and I could still carry her a couple weeks ago. It shouldn't be all that bad. Besides, Zecora," Xenia added before the zebra could protest more, "you can't exactly stand on your own. You said it yourself. Someone has to hold you up while you work on the potion or whatever."

Sombra snapped again, and another shadow tentacle lashed out, hitting Zecora across the side. "Stop being such a stubborn bitch!" he yelled.

The look Xenia gave him just then trumped all other glares he'd seen. It was like Tartarus had decided to make its home in those burning orbs. "You. Stupid. Fucking. Asshole." Each word was loudly pronounced, and it made even Sombra, self-proclaimed Lord of Fear, flinch. He had plenty of experience with rebellious mares, but this human trumped them all. Maybe it was just the way of her race.

Without another word, Xenia left, yelling, "I'm gonna go gather everything Zecora needs, and if I come back to her being injured again, I will let these damn chaos powers burst forth, and things will not end pretty."

Sombra and Zecora stood in awkward, and in Sombra's case, slightly frightened silence. That creature scared him like no other before. And judging from what Sombra had overheard a couple months ago, she wasn't even the scariest of her species. What the hell kinda world was Earth?

"You know, avoided this could have been, if asked politely you had."

That made Sombra snort in amusement. "You do know who I am right? Surely you can't be that dumb." The zebra did not look particularly insulted, she was beginning to think of Sombra as she thought of Discord, a childish being stuffed into a powerful body. He wanted everything his way, just as Discord had. Why he did was an entirely different matter. What happened to make the unicorn so desperate for power and attention?

It was at that moment Xenia returned with wood and a flour sack on her back. "You know, I almost thought I got lost the first time I went looking for the kitchen. Thank God you have so few rooms in this place. Mostly just walls and crystals."

Sombra murmured something under his breath before nodding. "Yeah, that was a thoughtless move on your part," he remarked snidely. Xenia decided to ignore him this time.

Setting down the sack, she arranged the wood and looked at Sombra, who sighed and lit his horn. A red beam blasted into the pieces of what was once a tree. It ignited almost instantly. Picking up the cauldron, Xenia placed it on the fire. Then she paused. "Hey Zecora, don't you make small potions too? Why can't one of those be made, instead of this whole stupid thing over and over again?"

The zebra sighed and shook her head. "True it may be, but potions are not made from air, first a brew must you prepare." Xenia sighed as she dumped the contents of the flour sack, which, obviously, did not actually contain flour, but every herb, spice, and plant she had found around the kitchen. There were also some weird-looking things that may have once belonged to living animals. Xenia did not dare ask Sombra about them.

Putting the ingredients in some semblance of an organized line, she turned back to Zecora. "Alright, I'll just find some way to carry in some water, then we can begin."

Sombra felt a nerve twitch in his eye. "No. I'll just use a water spell and fill the damn thing myself. We have no time for you to be making trips back and forth." He did not answer the question clear on their faces as his horn glowed red. A slurping sound was heard, then splashing, and the cauldron started to fill with a dark, murky water.

Zecora looked at it skeptically. "Trust this I do not, why is it so dark?" The eye twitched again. "Because, I had to transfer it from a muddy pond nearby. What, you think I have the power to create something from nothing?"

Rolling her eyes, Xenia fought the urge to punch them both. "Enough! For God's sake, let's get this stupid thing started already! Since Zecora isn't inclined to tell us a damn thing, we need this brew to be braver than her!"

The zebra shot her a glare as Xenia went to pick her up. She forced herself to her hooves, shaking her head stubbornly. "Carry me you will not, my own four hooves shall I only let me up."

Xenia threw her arms up in defeat as the zebra half dragged herself to the things that had been contained in the flour sack. She was mumbling under her breath, listing things located in front of her that could replace certain other ingredients for the magical reveal potion spell.

After cleverly laying down and swiping her hoof out along the floor, moving the things she picked out, next to the giant pot, she stood back up and stumbled clumsily over. Sitting, she began picking things up in her forehooves and throwing them in.

It took no less than three minutes before the makeshift spell was ready. Picking up a small wooden cooking spoon, which Xenia had also thrown in the sack, she slowly stirred the top of the brown alchemist stew.

Sombra had grown more agitated with every passing second. After the three and a half minute mark, he lost patience again. "Hurry fucking up!" he roared, more shadow tentacles appearing and lashing about randomly. Of course, this did not go well, for it hit both Xenia and Zecora this time. The zebra hissed in pain, but Xenia ground her teeth, nearly biting off her tongue, keeping herself from yelling out. When the sensation passed, she prepared another glare for Sombra, but one look told her that wouldn't help this time.

The king's fur was beginning to darken, and he paced back and forth uneasily, his eyes gaining a red tint. Zecora and Xenia exchanged an alarmed look. "Is it ready?"

The zebra looked at the bubbling liquid and nodded. Wordlessly, she grabbed Xenia's left wrist in her forehoof and jerked her forward. The moment the human's body made contact with the sludge, there was a small flash of purple, and then the brew began to spin. Zecora yanked the hand out as it began forming a murky, undistinguishable shape.

Sombra barged up at that point, almost sinking his teeth into Xenia's wrist as he snapped his jaw shut, having had it drop open as he suddenly realized why he was so frantic. "Come on, come on, show us, damn it! Whatever this human has attracted the attention of is-?

He was cut off as the image cleared. Zecora was the only one who was not surprised, having seen slight glimpses of this creature before. Of course, it puzzled her why the picture was so clear now, it had never been before.

Meanwhile, Xenia could feel the horror and terror of ten years worth of fear hit her all at once. She backed away from the pot, her movements jerky as it all came flooding back. "Oh shit. Oh shit, I remember. I remember what happened all those years ago. What I did. What that did to me. Oh God. I know why I'm here. I know why she's after me. This was not an accident. None of it what."

Xenia was overwhelmed, it felt like the memory was so fresh, she could turn around and see the thing that had made her life a living hell.

That was when she saw her companions' faces. It was like something out of a dream, no, a nightmare. Inch by little inch, Xenia spun herself around, till she was facing the one being she had hoped to never see or hear from again.

Herself.

"Hello," she said, her red, midnight blue, and white eyes gleaming menacingly as she floated above them.

"Oh fucking sweet holy baby Jesus."