They had awoken from another night of dreamless sleep. It wasn’t bad but they could not contact Luna once again leaving Spike very irritated. The food they ate was slightly cold from the lack of knowing what time they needed to get up and the constant humming that seemed to be coming from Pinkie’s door wasn’t helping one bit. The last venture had left them nearly frostbitten and not the natural kind. Freya had used a bit more of her energy to pull something out of the two. It was an inky darkness that wisped around in its new containment. The glass tube sat in front of the pair as they finished their food.

“So… what is it?” Spike muttered while he chewed on a very spicy ruby clenching his jaw from the kick.

“It’s evil. At least I think it is. So many of these dark wisp creatures look evil but they actually personify some other emotion or some other meaning. Since darkness isn’t evil just like light isn’t good. Context gives us meaning and we already know harmony isn’t always good since it tore you to shreds already.” Discord chuckled mischievously while drinking from a glass of some juice he had no idea what it was but it did taste tangy at least.

“Don’t remind me. I still feel like I’m missing scales here and there. Since this was inside us do you think it was because of all the death we felt all around us. The spirit didn’t seem to be that strong but when it was possessed all bets were off at that point,” Spike tapped his claws together while his eyes shifted back and forth. “We got really lucky back there that it was really weakened otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten away.”

“Truthfully I’m more concerned about the two worlds Freya mentioned. Seems bot Turner and Lyra are having the worse times out of all the ponies who have been, for lack of a better word, drafted into service. Being a bearer of either harmony or chaos is much harder than it sounds. Especially if they still had to deal with me.” Discord smugly rubbed his knuckles against his chest smirking the entire time

“Luckily they’re not right?” An eyebrow was raised at this statement.

“I’ll be testing the new ones out after talking with the princesses. They need to know what they are getting into and its better I do it than if they had to face someone on Tirek’s level.” Discord stated almost matter-of-factly like. Spike was still unsure of the turn of events but if it needed to be done with the most minimal of risks then this was it.

“Of course Freya. Thanks for the help.” Spike graciously offered a bow. They hadn’t received much information other than the names of the ponies that were involved now. Other than the mane seven as Discord was now calling them they also recognized the other seven ponies involved. Spike had been especially surprised when it turned out that Trixie was involved as well. Discord was more curious about the new six since he hadn’t messed with the lot very often before .

With a quick wave the two set off for Pinkie’s door. Discord’s talons clenched and unclenched as it slowly rose to the knob. Spike was sweating bullets. The world where Pinkie was sent must be something impossible if it can handle her somehow mystical ways of breaking through reality and sense. ‘Are we gonna even be able to handle it?’

The two stepped through the door ending up within a junk filled wasteland. All around them were piles of junk and junkyard dogs roaming around. Spike had to hold his nose from the smell. Discord merely looked amused by the change in landscapes.and the strangely chaotic landscape before him. Out in the distance they thought they could hear something belching and the wet slapping of fish from somewhere.

“Oooh I like this one a lot now. Look at the chaotic architecture and all the random creatures which completely don’t make sense one bit at all. You ever wonder why postmodernism can’t add more pizzazz like that.” He gestured over to one of the mile high towers of what looked like rubber wheels.

“Wouldn’t they bounce around too much? Anyways this is gonna be your expertise I guess. Care to lead the way for now?” Spike mock bowed with a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t patronize me about this. Let’s see… for now let’s just follow the path. Also you should do something first. Remember?” Discord nudged Spike a couple times with his elbow. Spike suddenly looked utterly confused and tried to think back to what had happened only a few hours ago.

‘Oh… right. Almost forgot.’ Spike searched his mind trying to figure out what he got from Applejack. Then his mouth felt heavy. A fireball was forming inside him but it was coalescing more fire. It grew bigger and denser. Without warning he faced out into the distance and released a torrent beam made of fire which lanced through a couple dozen crows that had been milling about. A few seconds later the beam finally fizzled out and let Spike breathe once again. The blast left a small pock mark where it had impacted and left scorch marks against everything that was grazed. The mark on his back was fully depleted and recharging even slower than Starlight’s mark.

“Hm… Good on ya. Or is it good in you in this case?” Discord’s guffawing kept Spike’s unfocused mind clear. The blast had left him on the ground but with new knowledge left in his head.

“It seems… puff… I can control the state of my fire breath… huff… I accidentally used too much power. Mind carrying me for a bit? Heh heh… “ Spike timidly asked while laying flat on his back utterly tired from expounding all that energy in one place.

“Yeah sure. Like I haven’t done this before. I’m going to enjoy some of the bounce house though so I hope you’re ready for that.” Discord smirked. He was in a chaotic environment and he was reluctant to not enjoy it. Spike merely nodded looking as though he was steeling his jaw for the inevitable bouncing he was about to endure.

Once to the left. Two times higher. Three times to the right and down a zip slide. Spike turned a little green as his mark beeped on once again. Once the two landed the pair took off running as the murders of crows flew after the pair. A quick snap caught all the crows in multiple clouds of cotton candy causing the murders to fall to the ground writhing around the gunk they flew into. Spike stepped forward only to stop in front of a sheer cliff with a toilet in front of them.

“I don’t understand… I really don’t get it but I am seeing something this asinine in front of me. It made me even use the word ‘asinine’ correctly as well but I still don’t believe it. Discord. Is this really what I think it is?” Spike facepalmed swiping his claws down his face in exasperation while a large grin just appeared on Discord’s face.

“Your throne awaits Spike the Brave and Glorious. Just take a seat and take it for a whirl.” Discord’s laugh actually got the crows to also laugh strangely enough. Then they all got drenched in chocolate milk after he had snapped his talons together. With a small hop and a whip of his tail he jumped onto the toilet seat only to be warped to an entirely new location.

The landscape before them changed entirely to something out of nightmares. The entire area was filled with lava and the screams of the damned being tortured for all eternity. The music in the background which shouldn’t have even been a thing swelled to its crescendo before the needle scratched out. Then the soundtrack changed to something that would be played when you were waiting for something punctuated by the screams that sometimes broke through the calming music. Spike’s eyes twitched at the sudden shift of reality while Discord merely scoffed at the decor.

“Seriously the old fire and brimstone is quite old. Whomever is master here really needs to get their interior designer to refurbish the place up. Everyone already expects a hellish design for hell.” Discord scowled at the flying shadow demons that were for some reason hanging with what looked like lawyers.

“What do you mean ‘hell’? I don’t understand anything that is going on right now!” Spike slammed his claws against his face certain that he was suffering some sort of concussion or something of that nature. There had been too many uncertain elements that made up these worlds but one that could match Pinkie on the same scale was something even he knew was something he never wanted to deal with. A quick breath and he decided his path.

“You know what. I don’t care. Let’s just find what you need and let’s leave this place behind. I’m not going to overreact at all.” Spike closed his eyes and calmly lowered his arms to his sides. When he opened his eyes they had already moved on. A line of bills flew around them flowing in a twister of paper cuts. They all seemed to come from some weird being wearing suits and the utterance of 'lawyers' under Discord's breath named the foe before them.

The lawyers all turned their suitcases towards the pair firing off their whirling bills of death at the pair. A quick gout of flames turned all the paper to ash freaking the lawyers out into running when they realized the paper they received from hell could still be burned by dragon fire. The smug look on Spike’s face disappeared when the floating shadow demons flew through the flames unharmed with gnashing fangs pointed directly at him. Discord formed a cloud around them as the fangs nearly sunk into Spike’s scales.

“That was too close.” Spike took stock of his body and ran his claws over his scales. The little blighters, in the tartarus style world they were on, had really sharp teeth which had left small marks against his scales nearly piercing them.

“Looks like demon beats dragon in this case. I’ll need to keep an eye out for them so that they don’t get the drop on us. Still they are quite the chaotic creature and a cat seems so apropos for an environment like this. Not my first time seeing such a hellish landscape.” Discord peered around wistfully almost lost in his nostalgia.

“You’ve been in an area like this? Plus you keep using that word ‘hell’ over and over. What is that?” Spike looked incredulously at the confused draconequus. He didn’t understand what this place was.

“Well hell is another version of Tartarus. Basically it’s the fire and brimstone version. Tartarus enjoys the cold and desolate style of prison for evil beings who are to be reformed through time or suffering. Same here but it gets much worse with active tortures being part of the curriculum. Now how about we get out of here.” Discord led the way making sure the pair weren’t surprised by the sudden gouts of flames being shot out of nowhere.

It was at that point when they noticed a car far off in the distance grooving to the music. They said nothing about it and just stared in apt confusion over the sight. As the reached the end of the path a giant floating green gem came into view. Spike’s eyes immediately went wide dilating bigger than when he had met Rarity for the first time.

“Spike want!” He lunged at the gem dragging Discord, who had grabbed him with his tail the moment the jewel came into view, with him due to his enhanced strength flinging the two on top of it. Within seconds the jewel glowed and teleported the two away from the gem leaving behind the fiery landscape and glittering jewel far behind.

The two landed in a pile dazed at the sudden teleportation but were still in one piece. Spike was doubled over crying his eyes out. Discord silently scoffed at the notion rolling his eyes in exasperation. With a little prodding Spike did eventually dry his eyes and toughen up though he still muttered something about his precious. The two took a few steps forward finding the floor squish every time their feet touched it. Then they finally smelled it. All around them was meat. Fully cooked steaks, strips of bacon, large patties of beef and several grills surrounded the pair.

“Well this would cause nightmares to any pony walking around. Wonder if Pinkie is still… sane? I don’t know if that’s the right word… still Pinkie, sounds better. Seeing something like this would make any vegetarian society probably try to kill themselves from the shock.” Discord looked around slightly interested but blaise about the spectacle around him.

Spike’s eyes were still wider from the splendor around him. While he had been raised strictly on a vegetarian diet he would not deny that he was curious about what meat actually tasted like. He had been able to partake of fish a few times when he was working as a liaison between Twilight and Ember and had found it delectable enough provided he cooked it. Now before him was a chance to eat some meat without needing to feel guilty or hate himself for eating someone he might have known.

‘Don’t think about it, Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.’ Spike sweated heavily as the two ran forward being attacked by giant sunny side egg yolks and flying salt shakers. The cotton candy clouds didn’t hold up much better when the salt managed to pierce through seemingly absorbing moisture from the clouds. Flame breaths merely made the eggs into flaming yolk meteors forcing the two to run away from the assault.

“Food doesn’t work that way!” Spike screamed out as the two passed by the jutting forks which held on to more platforms covering the two from the salt showers that had plagued the pair. Slightly burnt and highly annoyed they reluctantly took a break underneath one of the platforms managing to keep hidden from everything that had attacked them. They quickly took out the meals from Spike’s backpack eating as peacefully as they could while the chaos around them was still erupting. Discord seemed fully at peace in his habitat while Spike greedily ate the meal and several gemstones.

“Can’t handle the sight of meat?” Discord mused slightly while finishing a vegetarian taco he had found.

“Not really… I’m curious but I don’t want to risk my way of life just to try something new that could change me entirely. I can’t say I haven’t had meat before but it was fish. This is much worse when I think back to Applejack’s farm. I know most of the pigs and cows that board there and I know what these particular meats are and where they come from. It just feels wrong but even I know I have carnivorous tendencies.” Spike merely sighed as he crunched on another gemstone. He had covered his eyes again thinking back to what he had felt.

“Is that all? I mean meat isn’t that big a deal. It’s nice and flavorful but nothing to write home about.” Discord thoughtfully chewed on another taco answering very bluntly.

“You’ve eaten - when? How?” Spike merely looked up at the quiet draconequus who was merely staring out at the salt shakers as they danced around one another. He turned back to Spike though his face seemed more solemn at this point.

“Long time ago. Way before I terrorized Equestria I managed to find a world where animals didn’t really have sentience and some were treated as livestock. Basically bred to feed others in a sense. That was their culture and their way of living and animals didn’t really care one bit because they had found shelter and were kept alive longer living to near symbiotic relationship levels with them. Anyways that led to society that advanced leaps and bounds while remaining omnivorous and only slightly aggressive. Nothing to worry about with meat but since you’ve never had it I would refrain from eating it. Besides some of this stuff smells rotten already and I doubt you want to be violently sick for the next few days.” Discord poked at some of the bacon strips noted how rigid they had become and some of the charred flakes fell off.

“Right ignore the meat that’s all around us. Maybe we should just get out of here already then. Have you felt anything at all since we got here. Something tells me that this world has more in common with chaos at this point.” Spike quietly replaced the backpack on and took stock of his surroundings. He had still been hesitant of using Applejack’s mark for much seeing as the last time he did he nearly knocked himself out from the power output. Discord had laughed the whole time they were bouncing around.

“Honestly I have felt a pull but everytime I think we’ve found it it moves position and then we get teleported somewhere else. Right now all I have is a general direction and nothing more.” Discord grabbed Spike in his tail once again and ran off in a specific direction weaving around the floating salt shakers and hopping over the lit burners that got in his way letting the cotton candy clouds douse them whenever he didn’t have a clear place to jump.

At the end of the path was a large pad on the floor and nothing more. The two were utterly confused at the straightforwardness of the path before them that they almost didn’t notice the large T-bone steak break out of the bacon strip and stomp after them while breathing fire.Utterly shocked by the sudden turn they fell backwards on the pad and were warped away from the sudden danger while the T-bone shrugged somehow and melted back into the bacon.

The two got back up from their fall only to notice that they were underwater. Every single wall around them was made of glass and faced out to a sprawling city deep beneath a sea. Discord looked around noticing that there were glass tubes leading in every direction and beyond.

“I really don’t understand this world at all. We keep following a set path and going… wait there’s that feeling again… It’s stronger now. Looks like we’re about to get lucky now.” Discord smirked noticing that the feeling was moving. Within the building. Spike looked out through the window and saw no sign of fish swimming through.

“We’re really far… underwater, huh? Think we’ll get out of here safely?” Spike trailed his claw against the glass his eyes locked on the other buildings in the distance. The vastness and constant shifting from different locales had started to get under Spike’s scales leaving him anxious.

“Yup. Now follow me cause I got a lock on the things we need. Don’t know how long it will be here for still but we should investigate it before it goes too far.” Discord picked Spike up with his tail and raced off through one of the tubes taking care to knock the floating bags of hot air patrolling through the area. For the most part it was a straightforward path leaving no unnoticed turns or dead ends.

The first real problem came up when a huge burly dog was patrolling the area. A few flung clouds and sudden lightning bolts did absolutely nothing to the beast except singed his fur and leave the scent of ozone in the air. Spike charged up his breath to full power and fired into the creature’s back near point blank range. It was only knocked to the next tube completely unharmed and capable of moving in its patrol albeit in a different tube. Spike was worn out once again from unleashing full power but recovered much faster letting him try some regular fireballs. They did nothing.

“Well that’s unsettling. These guys seem to be stronger than I thought. Full power blast didn’t even do much but push it away.” Spike huffed in annoyance. The fact that his blast still did more damage in the long run was comforting but dread washed over him afterwards. ‘I’m so glad I didn’t miss and hit the glass.’

“They do seem a little stupid. I don’t mean Canterlotian stupidity either. This is genuine stupidity probably from being created as muscle. Whomever did this to them probably hated them as a species but knew he still needed to have loyalty in some doses. They’re well trained I suppose. Hm… Let’s try something more dangerous this time.” Discord placed his talons against his chin stroking his beard thoughtfully while he formulated his plans.

“Am I gonna regret asking what are we getting into?” Spike crossed his arms still lost in annoyance and migraines. This plan would probably end in tears but he wasn’t sure who was going to be crying.

Discord grabbed Spike and summoned as many cotton candy clouds around the dog trapping it in one place as he slithered around the edges barely staying out of reach. Then the dog got mad and harmony energy started to fill it. It’s eyes finally realizing sentience and immediately tried to break the tube. The pair jumped into the next room just as the blast doors shut and the tube flooded. The monster drowned being crushed incessantly by the pressure it was feeling. The energy left it where it floated disappearing into the aether once again. Drowning seemed to be on the sphere’s itinerary and mercy was lost at the moment.

“That was nuts! I thought they didn’t want to kill us!” Spike screamed out while he clutched his belly to keep himself from shaking too much.

“They probably wouldn’t have let us but they still need to be credible as a threat. Can’t make this easy on us nor can they let us be cocky about the abilities we get from these marks. Not to mention that these cooldown times that kick up whenever we overtax our abilities make them slightly more dangerous. We’re playing with a roulette wheel at this point. It’s interesting wouldn’t you say?” Discord smirked maliciously while his talon clenched tightly around a cloud he had summoned.

“I guess. Still we need to find whatever we need to find in this area. We couldn’t find a way to contact Luna in Dash’s area and I don’t think that our message got through either. It’s not that I don’t trust Bandanna Dee but I think that something happened before he could do anything. All we got from Starlight’s realm was a message and Applejack was nowhere to be found. You can’t blame me for being a bit pessimistic.” Spike let his arms dangle off to the sides. His frustrations finally got the better of him and he couldn’t hide it anymore. Too many ways to die and too little ways to survive them all even if he did have powers to protect him.

Discord said nothing. Once again another of those comforting moments and it nearly flew over his head. While he kept the stoic mask on his mind was swath full of anecdotes and tales he could say that might be beneficial to keep Spike from wallowing but most of them were also from his days of being an overlord of chaos. Mulling around with his ideas he reached as far back into his mind to his conversations with Fluttershy. Mentally wincing from one of her ideas but steeling himself to do the deed he hugged Spike. It was short and uncomfortable to him and after finishing he doused his whole body in chocolate milk just to get the feeling off of him.

“Thanks… I’ll do better of keeping the emotions in check,” Spike picked his voice up managing to break the sadness out of his tone. “ Also let’s never speak of this again.”

“Agreed.” Another cotton candy cloud quickly scoured all over Discord wiping off the chocolate milk shower he had finished.

Reluctantly the two continued down the path managing to get lucky and run only into the small gas bags that had flown around. When they reached the end of the largest room they had seen they noticed something right above them. It looked to be like a pod with small jets attached to its sides. Discord facepalmed at that moment and let out a frustrated groan.

“We’re gonna have to go through with that to get somewhere new. And the direction to where I have that feeling needs that pod as well. This is gonna be tricky…” Discord grabbed Spike in his talon and jumped up into the pod using the cotton candy clouds for platforms to climb into it.

They were instantly popped off the building and forced to control the pod through the floor panels that jutted out on the pod’s floor. Then the timer started up revealing sixty seconds before the air would run out. The trip took them past many obstacles as they followed the circular path towards one of the other buildings off in the distance. A quick jet past meshing led them to one of the weird metal tube that were jutting out of the rock faces. By coincidence the two locked onto one and the timer had jumped up from the twenty-five it had been at to a solid fifty-five. They soon jetted on their way with only the smallest of winces whenever the terrain decided to be uncooperative. Several cracks had appeared on the glass pod leaving the two oddly nervous and Spike wouldn’t use his fire breath to patch them up.

“The change in temperature would cause the cracks to burst out and kill us immediately!” Spike yelled out.

“Only if you do something wrong I’m sure we would be safe if you got the timing right!” Discord shouted back.

The enclosed space left the two over anxious and out of their safe zone. Mercy was at an all time low until the building finally came into sight. Ten seconds remained of air in the pod and they threw caution to the waves and made a beeline for the entrance. At two seconds left they reached the entrance and plopped to the floor of the building elated to be alive. The pod shattered right after they had gotten off leaving them stunned at their fortuitous luck.

With wild abandon they raised mugs of cotton candy filled with hot chocolate courtesy of some well timed flames and chugged in celebration. There was nothing sweeter than hot chocolate after almost dying for the fifth time that day. ‘At least I hope it was only one day.’ Discord quickly downed his drink and took stock of the area around him. More glass tubes led off into the distance and the feeling seemed to be moving closer to them. Shaking off the feeling for the moment he noticed these small cats that seemed to be guarding the area. They all looked angry slowly eyeing each side of the tube but when their eyes had locked for a moment there was no recognition that Discord was even there. The eyes were dead to everything around them but it didn’t look like zombism. They seemed controlled like one of his discorded ventures but with less free will.

“How good are you with control right now on your fire?” Discord waved his paw at Spike trying to usher him over to the tube.

“Lousy. Why? Think I can break through something this time and not just push it backwards?” Spike raised an eyebrow as he stepped forward seeing the strange little cat creature before him.

“Found some enemies you might have an easier time with. Also not mocking you about the power this time. They seem more shoddily built.” Discord waved his arm before him pointing at the cats in the tubes.

“Right… This should be fun.” Spike rolled his eyes and charged up his breath. The apple mark started to lose color from the first apple when he released the bolt of fire out. It quickly found its target vaporizing the creature to ash. There was a small cough on Spike’s end but he didn’t feel that bad from the preemptive strike on his part. For the next twelve tubes they were forced to take out a cat creature with a well placed fire bolt letting Spike recharge every four tubes. Strangely the charge time on the apple mark was faster than the star mark whenever it ran out which Discord kept track of if for no other reason than to curb his boredom from not doing anything.

Finally reaching the final room of the building they made it to a large teleportation room with another pad before them. What caused them to pause and be utterly stunned was the being working on the controls. Standing around and fiddling with the levers and buttons was a pink pony with cotton candy styled mane that was incredibly dark pink. On her flank were the same marks on the door, three balloons of yellow or blue. To say they weren’t overjoyed would be an understatement.

“PINKIE!” Both shouted aloud causing the mare to fall over and spin around landing a triple salchow from her falling position before facing the two. Her eyes went wide with shock then tears started to flow freely.

“Guys… Guys. Guys!” The loud ‘eee!’ sound that followed let them know just how much they were missed and the hug that nearly crushed both their spines together cemented that notion immediately.

Author's Notes:

Finally happy with this chapter.