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.