A heartbeat.

Then two heartbeats.

Then three, and so on, and so forth.

I was alive.

Disoriented, groggy, and a little more than confused... but alive.

It took me a second to realize my eyes were closed and I was lying on my back. I slowly opened my eyes... and immediately wished I hadn't.

Upon sitting up and opening my eyes I was greeted with a blurry mix of I-don't-even-know-what. I grunted in annoyance and searched the ground around me for my glasses. I found them after a minute and planted them on my face before looking around again.

I beheld a bunch of swirling purple clouds in an otherwise black void. There were all sorts of weird landmasses floating all over the place and crazy looking trees of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Multi-colored waterfalls that dropped off into a bottomless nothing and suspended pathways that led to nowhere were also a thing. Not too far in the distance I could see what looked like an average looking house on a relatively normal looking patch of floating grassland.

"...Nope."

I laid back down and closed my eyes as I waited for this ridiculous dream to end.

"What, seriously? You wake up in a crazy dimension where nothing makes sense and the first thing you want to do is go back to sleep?"

My eyes snapped back open and I shot up.

I knew that voice.

"No way..."

"Well technically you weren't really asleep per se, but that's neither here nor there at the moment."

I whipped my head around to look back in the direction of the normal looking cottage a little ways away. To my disbelief I saw a very familiar looking draconequus sunning himself on the 'lawn' in front of the cottage.

No joke, he had a pair of sunglasses on, one of those foldable reflective silver cardboard things held in his mismatched paw and claw, and even his own little miniature sun hanging above him.

I furrowed my brow in bemusement as I stared at the reclining lord of chaos. After a moment, what he had just said finally registered and I thought back to what had happened before I woke up here.

"Wait... oh god dammit," I groaned, letting my head sink into my hands, "that wasn't a dream, was it?"

"Nope," the draconequus replied without looking in my direction, "and neither is this, my boy," he finally sat up and looked over to where I was sitting, peeking at me from over the rim of his sunglasses with a smirk, "welcome to the Realm of Chaos."

"You have got to be kidding me..." I muttered into my hands, "out of all the places I could've ended up, all the people I could've met--"

I yelped in surprise as I was pulled into a one armed hug.

"That's right, old buddy old pal! You get to meet the one and only Lord of Chaos, Discord himself!" he poked me in the nose, dislodging my glasses slightly, "now don't you feel honored?"

"Not... really?" I replied, trying to readjust my glasses, "I'm mostly just confused and... well yeah, just confused."

"Ah, but that's par for the course when you're dealing with me, so I'll take that as a yes," Discord replied with a chuckle, "now then..."

He snapped his talons and I suddenly found myself sitting in a small wooden chair... on the ceiling. I looked up above, or rather, down below me and saw Discord sitting in a plush maroon armchair next to a blazing fireplace and staring up at me with a stern, fatherly looking frown.

When I say fatherly looking, that didn't just apply to the frown.

He was wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, a dark grey vest over a white long sleeve shirt and tie, and pressed grey slacks with black dress shoes. He completed the standard fifties dad look with a pipe and and newspaper in hand.

I have to admit, even with my ridiculously confusing situation, that got a quiet chuckle out of me.

Classic Discord.

"I think it's time we had a talk about your... writing habits, young man," the draconequus began, removing the pipe from his mouth, "you see, I've taken a look at some of your work, and frankly... I find myself rather appalled."

I blinked and frowned at Discord.

"Are you serious?" I asked incredulously, "you're... what? Putting me on trial for writing fanfiction?" I raised an eyebrow, "I mean yeah, the things I write are pretty dark, but that's just what I'm into... and besides, there are much worse fics out there than mine, so why me?

"In fact, what even is all this? How did I even get here? What the hell was going on with that... that... hellscape that used to be Equestria? Why am I here? All I wanted was to get a freakin' burrito at McDonald's!"

Discord simply nodded patiently in response to all my questions, bubbles erupting from the pipe he was smoking.

"Now now, dear boy, no need to fret," he replied in a measured tone, "all will be explained in due time."

He grimaced and pulled the pipe from his mouth once more, eyeing it with distaste. With a shrug he threw the pipe over his shoulder and snapped his talons again. After a second of disorientation, I looked around to see I was no longer sitting in a chair on the ceiling of a cozy living room.

Now I was standing on a grassy hilltop with the sun shining overhead. I raised a hand to my forehead to block out the sunlight and blinked rapidly, trying to get the spots out of my eyes.

"What the hell?" I muttered looking around, "what's with the sudden change of scenery?"

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I looked to my left to see Discord floating next to me with an uncharacteristically solemn expression. He looked like he was staring off into the distance at something, so I followed his gaze and couldn't help but be impressed at what I saw.

The hilltop I stood on overlooked a large open field full of flowers, various trees, and the occasional critter darting in and out of the nearby bushes. Butterflies drifted lazily in the air, birds happily chirped and sang their little hearts out, and I could see a picturesque little village a little further in the distance.

A picturesque and rather familiar looking little village.

"Wait a minute... is that...?"

I shifted my gaze left and right for a moment until I spotted what I was looking for.

far to the right of the village, even further into the distance, was a tall mountain. On that mountain -- just barely visible to me -- was the silhouette of a castle.

"Well I'll be damned," I uttered with a small smile, "the capital city of Canterlot, and it's not on fire," I looked back to the village, "so that's obviously Ponyville then and it's also not on fire."

"Quite a relief, I'd imagine," Discord said with a nod, "it's definitely a far cry from the unfortunate universe you ended up arriving at."

"Wait, universe?" I asked, turning to Discord with a frown, "are you telling me this is gonna be one of those multiverse deals?"

"Oh ho, you do catch on quick, don't you?" Discord replied with a smirk, "but we're getting ahead of ourselves it seems," he turned to stare at the small village in the distance, "if I'm not mistaken, you wanted to know the reason for your pointless and tragic end in a not-so-unfamiliar land, did you not?"

"Yeah, I did," I responded, turning to fully face the draconequus, "apparently it had something to do with my preference in fiction."

"Ah, but it's so much more than that," Discord said with a shake of his head, "you see, when you and other fanfiction writers like you create a story about Equus, it creates another universe -- thereby adding to the already infinite My Little Pony multiverse."

"Okay..." I replied slowly, "this just took a sudden and uncomfortable turn into metaville."

"Oh, I've been to Metaville and this is nothing like that," Discord said, "I wouldn't recommend a trip there. Things can get... weird. Even for me."

I opened my mouth to answer, but ultimately decided against it and shut it again. I looked back to Ponyville in the distance as I tried to parse what Discord was implying.

"So... I imagine this is the same with every story that's created, not just My Little Pony?" I asked, "each story having their own multiverses?"

"Exactly," Discord replied with a nod, "and this is true not just for writers, but those who create stories within any type of media. Whether it be written word, animation, comics, even the fictional live action shows that exist in your world. Every story created becomes a reality somewhere, and each reality has it's own multiverse."

"So where do I fit in all this?" I asked, trying to push Discord to get to the point, "out of the infinite amount of multiverses you could've plucked anyone or anything from -- and yes, I'm assuming it's your fault I'm here -- why was I chosen to do... whatever you're having me do? I'm obviously here for something."

"Indeed you are, my boy!" Discord cried jovially, "I need you to do me a small favor, you see," he raised his paw and gestured to the land before him, "this is my Equestria. In this universe, I'm a Discord that's... mellowed out as it were. I've fully embraced peace and prosperity, and while I do still wreak chaos every now and then, it's all completely harmless and in good fun."

"And the Realm of Chaos?"

"Did you see anything dangerous or terrible there?"

I thought on it for a moment before giving a small shrug.

"Fair point," I conceded, "but you're still dancing around the issue of why I had to bleed to death. For someone who's fully embraced peace and prosperity, that was a pretty messed up thing to put me through -- again, I'm assuming that was your fault."

Discord sighed and snapped his talons.

In a flash I landed in what I thought was Ponyville itself, but then -- looking around -- I immediately noticed something was off. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, but then two giant talons lowered themselves down next to me and placed something on the ground.

I scrambled back and fell over with a cry of surprise. As the talons rose back into the sky I couldn't help but gawk at what they had left. Placed next to me was what looked like a life size plastic figurine of Twilight Sparkle -- her wings spread and a look of determination on her face.

That was when it hit me.

Picking myself up and scanning my surroundings once more, I realized that every single object -- from the buildings to the too bright green grass below me -- had that same plastic look and feel to them.

Am I in some kind of... Ponyville playset? I looked back to the Twilight figurine, that thing's not life size...

I looked up and sure enough, there was a giant Discord looming over me and wearing an amused grin at my reaction. I furrow my brow and gave him a very unamused frown.

...I'm just small.

"IS THERE A POINT TO THIS?" I shouted, presuming Discord couldn't hear me otherwise.

"Not particularly," Discord replied nonchalantly as he placed a Pinkie Pie figurine frozen mid pronk next to Twilight, "I'm just keeping myself entertained while I explain a few things."

"SERIOUSLY?"

"There's no need to shout you know," the draconequus responded, placing a bucking Applejack figurine next to the other two, "I can hear you just fine."

"Okay, you know what? Fine, whatever," I said, throwing my hands up in surrender, "can you please just tell me what's going on?"

"Oh, very well then," Discord huffed, slamming a Rainbow Dash and Rarity figurine down onto the 'grass', "take all the fun out of beating around the bush why don't you."

I just crossed my arms and waited as I stared up at the titanic mishmash of creatures.

"Here's the deal," Discord began, "with my Equestria practically drowning in peace and prosperity I admit that I've... gotten rather bored."

"So much for embracing peace and prosperity..." I muttered.

"So rather than go back to my old ways, I've taken up traveling through the multiverse of My Little Pony."

"Alright, I think I know where this is going," I interjected with a roll of my eyes, "let me guess, you came across some 'unpleasant' versions of Equestria and they put a damper on your vacation?"

"Oh please," Discord scoffed, "I'm not so soft that I can't handle a doomed or corrupt Equestria," he then frowned, staring at a Fluttershy figurine between his talons with a troubled expression, "no... what bothered me was the rather alarming frequency with which I stumbled across these horrifying universes."

He sighed and gently placed the Fluttershy figurine with all the rest as he began speaking once more.

"I was indeed the one who plucked you from your cozy little world and dropped you into that Tartarus-on-Equus universe," he admitted, "I wanted you to get an idea of what I was seeing on an almost regular basis."

"But why me, though?" I asked angrily, gesturing to myself, "why did I have to die? That was not a pleasant experience, Discord!"

"That was to prepare you for that little 'favor' I mentioned earlier."

With another snap of his talons, Discord had teleported us in front of his cottage in the Realm of Chaos. I looked around for a moment before turning a questioning gaze to the draconequus.

"It's like this," Discord began, pacing back and forth, "I'm afraid if this keeps up, all these 'grimdark universes' are going to start encroaching upon my own universe, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to stop that," he whipped around to face me, "that's where you come in."

"You... want me... to do something about these grimdark universes?" I surmised, giving Discord an incredulous look, "you're kidding me, right?"

"Nope, you pretty much hit the nail on the head," Discord replied with a shrug, "fact of the matter is, I'm completely good now, I can't be seen going around destroying entire universes."

"So you send me to do the dirty work?!" I cried in indignation, "that's not being completely good, Discord! That's being a manipulative asshole!"

"Call me what you want," Discord replied, unshaken, "I told you I'd do whatever it takes to protect my universe."

"Except take responsibility and get this shit done yourself apparently."

Discord frowned and shook his head before leaning over and poking me in the forehead with his paw. I gasped and shivered as an unpleasant tingle shot down my spine.

The odd sensation traveled back up my spine and spread throughout my entire body as I continued to shake uncontrollably. I raised my hands and looked at them for a moment before clenching them shut, trying to get the shaking to stop.

"W-What the fuck?" I said through chattering teeth, "w-what the hell d-did you do t... t-to me?"

"Just hang on," Discord replied, stepping back and eyeing me critically, "it'll stop in a second."

Sure enough, the odd tingling sensation and violent shivering stopped all at once, leaving me feeling no different than I did before. Wary of any sudden changes, I began searching my body for anything that shouldn't have been there, or that should've been there, but wasn't.

"Oh stop it," Discord said with a roll of his eyes, "you're physically the same as you were before."

"Okay," I replied, giving Discord a suspicious look, "so what changed?"

"In order to carry out my plan, I've given you a small amount of my power -- albeit with some... heavy restrictions and caveats."

"Such as?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, admittedly curious as to what the draconequus had done.

Discord snapped his talons and an image of a planet -- presumably Equus -- appeared in mid air in front of me. The planet split apart into another planet, which then split into more and each planet began to slowly circle around me.

"You now have the ability to traverse the My Little Pony multiverse, but I've rigged it so that you're only sent to what we'll call the Grimverse worlds -- and you can only leave when one of three criteria are met... oh, and you can't control where you go by the way."

"What? Why?" I asked frowning bemusement.

"Because I'm Discord and being difficult and random is fun, that's why."

"That... is a completely bullshit and incredibly contrived reason for not at least giving me control over where I go."

"I know," Discord replied with a smirk, "deal with it. Now then..."

The planets disappeared and a small image of me appeared. A tiny black and violet crystal appeared and the little image of me reached out to it as Discord continued to speak.

"In my travels through the MLP multiverse, I've discovered that each universe holds a crystal that binds that universe together," Discord explained, "without that crystal, the universe itself comes apart at the seams and is completely wiped from the fabric of reality in short order."

The little me grabbed the crystal and looked at it for a moment before crushing it in its hand and vanishing in a blinding flash of light.

"So let me get this straight," I asked, turning back to Discord with a glare, "you want me to commit what is effectively omnicide on a universal scale by destroying that crystal? You do realize how fucked up that is, right?"

"You can do that, or you can meet the second criteria, which is to save Equus from whatever made it that way in the first place through your own power," Discord said with a shrug, "I'm just giving you the easy way out."

"Gee, thanks."

"The crystal is invisible and intangible to any creature other than myself as far as I know," the draconequus continued, ignoring my sarcastic remark, "but since I've given you some of my power, you should be able to sense where the crystal is and interact with it."

"Okay, so what would happen to me once this crystal explodes or whatever?" I asked, furrowing my brow, "I'd just die then too, wouldn't I?"

"Nope," Discord replied matter-of-factly, "the instant the crystal is destroyed, you're poofed off to the next universe no worse for wear. Same goes for if you, by some ridiculous miracle, manage to save a universe from itself."

"And how will I know when I've unfucked the universe?"

"Well first, you have to find the root of the problem and take care of it by whatever means necessary. The moment you do, you'll be poof out of that universe and into the next one."

"What, so I don't even get to enjoy my victory?" I crossed my arms and frowned at Discord, "seriously, what the actual fuck, man? You can't at least give me some kind of respite for accomplishing an impossible task?"

Discord just chuckled and shook his head.

"Trust me, pal... odds are you'd be sticking around for quite some time waiting for the victory celebration to take place."

"Meaning?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Discord gave no response other than to shrug innocently.

I removed my glasses and pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh.

There's no way out of this, is there?

"Alright, Discord, if I at least have the chance to save Equus rather than destroy it, I'll play along with your plan -- as bullshit as it is," I said wearily as I placed my glasses back onto my face, "What's the third option?"

"You die."

I raised my head and gave Discord an incredulous look.

"Come again?"

"I've... well I haven't made you immortal per se," Discord said cocking his head with a slight frown, "it's more like I've... oh, what's the word you kids use nowadays? I've made it so that you... respawn in a different universe when you die."

"What?!" I cried, "that's... why? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of sending me there in the first place? I'm not cut out for this shit, Discord! The only reason I'm even agreeing to this is because I have no choice!" I shook my head, "I'm bound to die at some point!"

"Oh, I'm aware," Discord replied matter-of-factly, "which is why I've prepared a failsafe."

"...A failsafe?"

Discord nodded with a mischievous smirk.

"In the event that you do die -- and only in that event -- your death will trigger a burst of chaotic energy powerful enough to destroy that universe."

I gaped at the draconequus in open mouthed shock.

"You can think of it as... extra incentive to not die," he said with a shrug, "I have enough power to destroy a universe without the crystals, but like I said--" he raised his arms and both his paw and claw popped off and scurried away "--I'm strictly hands off on this little endeavor, so I've given the power to you by way of a jury-rigged bomb."

"You... are a sick son of a bitch, you know that?" I muttered, slowly shaking my head as I stared at Discord in disbelief, "how in the fuck do the ponies in your Equestria trust you? How can you say you've embraced peace and prosperity when you go and do shit like this?"

"Because sometimes you have to do messed up things in order to protect the ones you love," Discord replied with a solemn frown, his claw and paw reappearing on the ends of his arms, "I'm doing all of this for the sake of my Equestria's peace and prosperity."

"But why?" I growled, my frustration boiling over, "why the fuck did you choose me to do this?! You still haven't answered that!"

Discord chuckled and snapped his talons, causing a sun chair to appear before making himself comfortable with his reflective cardboard thing and miniature sun.

"You want to know why I chose you, Salvatore?" Discord pulled a pair of sunglasses out from under the chair and flipped them open, "I chose you because I had no other choice."

He slid the sunglasses over his eyes and raised his claw.

"This story was written by you after all."

"Wha--"

*SNAP*

The story this spawned from was written for several reasons, but one of the main ones was as an HiE story prompt -- something that I could look at and say 'where could I go from here?' and 'what story could I write that has an interesting premise that I haven't seen done before?'

Well ladies and gentleman, this is what I came up with. Hopefully you all find the premise as interesting as I do, and if you don't, hey that's okay too.

I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm honestly kind of excited about this one because it'll give me a chance to flex my creative muscles to the limit so to speak.

That said, updates on this one might be a bit slower than my other stories, but we'll see.

Just in case I wasn't clear, all worlds will be of my own creation, though I may decide to have a few chapters take place in some more... familiar universes.