Emma smiled, leaning back as an explosion echoed off the TV. The young girl couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the robots on screen as they were all blown up by their machine. On the screen parts of a tall chicken robot and a short, green mole robot rained down, all of them forming into a neat pile next to the show’s hero. The short blue hedgehog then winked at the viewers and sped off, leaving behind a large dust cloud that covered the two robotic henchmen.

Suddenly, before the episode could continue, the young girl’s mother had stepped in front of the TV, blocking her view. “Sorry Emma, but it's already late.” She said apologetically. “You know the rules, no TV after 9.”

The brown-haired girl groaned, pouting at her mother. “But mom, can’t I just stay up a little longer?”

Her mother shook her head, turning off the TV and putting away the control. “Sorry, but it's already past your curfew. Besides, you have your online classes tomorrow, and I don’t want to hear you complaining in the morning just because you didn’t get enough sleep.” She pointed at the stairs, gesturing for her daughter to go up to her room.

The young girl groaned, getting up from the sofa and walking up the stairs. Once inside her room, she turned on the lights to it, immediately noticing all of the comic books, TV shows and video game posters around the room. At first glance, the room seemed like it belonged to a boy instead of a young girl, something which the girl’s mother and friends seemed to tease her a lot about.

As she walked towards her bed, she quickly made sure to pick up all of her discarded games and comics off the floor. Many of the comic’s covers featured famous villains like Joker, Magneto, and even Dr. Eggman in the IDW comics. Taking one last look at the IDW issue, she couldn’t but feel a bit excited, noticing all of the zombots surrounding the series’ heroes. She couldn’t wait to see what Eggman would think of next after the zombot arc was over. Though she doubts that anything he thinks up of next will trump the literal robot zombie virus he created.

Setting down the comics on top of her desk, she pulled up the covers of her bed and laid down. She stared at the ceiling of her room for minutes, her mind occupied with guesses of the doctor’s next scheme, with just who else would get infected before the arc ends.

Emma sighed, glancing to where her comics were. “Zombots are impressive and all, but what's even the point of them? Once everything is done, who are you going to rule over when everyone is just a zombie.” She looked away and closed her eyes. “I bet I can do better than that, I bet I could conquer the world… and not lose it after six months.” She muttered, opening her eyes for a bit, as she turned towards her nightstand, raising an arm to turn off her lamp. She stopped, her eyes narrowing as she glared at an oddly shaped shadow at the corner of her room. Trying to focus on the shadow, she could just barely see the shape resemble a snake or dragon, one that had a deer antler and a bumpy, goat horn. Rubbing her eyes, she looked back at the corner and noticed it was gone.

She blinked a few more times at the corner, trying to see if it would come back before a yawn reminded her of her drowsiness. “Was probably just my imagination anyways.” Emma turned off her lamp and laid back on her bed, pulling the covers to wrap herself up. Her mind drifted back to the comics. She yawned and snuggled deeper into the covers. “I bet I could do better… as long as I had his smarts… I bet I could conquer the world.” Her mutters stopped, being replaced by light snoring as she drifted to sleep.

From under her bed, a large shadow slithered out, looming over the sleeping young girl. A pair of mismatched horns grew out of the shadow, as it gave a deep chuckle. A shadowy pair of claws pushed out of the flat surface, reaching down towards the sleeping girl, the claws quickly snatched her up from her bed and pulled her into the shadow, causing her to disappear into its body. Quickly, the shadow sank towards the bed, disappearing from view and returning to its home. Leaving no trace of its existence behind, besides it's fading laughter.

Discord looked down on his catch, staring at her as he slowly walked around her. Humming in thought, he pulled down on his goatee. “Well she’s not my first pick, but unfortunately beggars can’t be choosers.” He grumbled, crossing his arms in disappointment. After the elements had petrified him, he had come close to giving up on all hope of ever escaping again, he certainly didn’t think that Screwball would be able to save him, especially not after she had abandoned him to the mercy of those ponies. But fortunately for him, he didn’t need to place all of his hope onto the pink filly, for even though the ring was stoned with him, it still had enough power to allow him to do one thing. He couldn’t free himself with the power he had, but he did have enough power to find someone who could free him, and then some.

He glanced down again at the child and grimaced. “This is my last hope for freedom huh.” He groaned. “If only the ring had enough power to pull someone older, and bigger.” While the ring could pull someone older, it would drain too much of the energy and he would be left with a powerless minion with no hope in accomplishing their mission.

Sighing, the draconequus decided to stop stalling, and snapped his claws, summoning a bucket of water and emptying it on top of the girl. Causing the young human to bolt straight up cough. “Rise and shine champ, for a brand new day awaits you!”

Emma looked around the area she was in, her eyes wide with shock. “What… where am I?” She asked, nervousness and fear slowly enveloping her. “This doesn’t feel like a dream…” Turning around, her mouth dropped in shock when she spotted the draconequus. The young girl took a few steps back, tears threatening to escape. “A-a-a monster?!”

Discord smiled, revealing his sharp teeth to the scared girl. “Now now, calm down. I’m not going to eat you. I just want to talk to you.” He leaned down, his head at the same level as her’s.

“Stay back!” She yelped, throwing a punch at the creature in pure instinct. Discord’s eyes widened in surprise as he yelped, pulling his head back and grabbing his snout. Emma’s eyes widened further as she stared down at her first in surprise.

Discord growled, rubbing his nose as he glared at her. “At least you’re a fighter.” Clearing his throat, he took a step back to give her space in the empty void they were in. “Please calm down little Emma, I am here to offer you a job.”

“How do you know my name?” She said fearfully.

Discord smirked, looking down at the small child. “Simple, I heard your mother say it when she was sending you off to bed.” The girl’s expression suddenly turned fierce, as if angered by what she had heard. Discord chuckled, raising his hands in the air. “Now, now. As I said before, I just want to talk.”

Gaining a little confidence from her defiance earlier, she gave the monster a small glare. “My mom said I shouldn’t talk to strangers. And movies taught me that I shouldn’t make deals with demons.”

Discord chuckled. “Oh you are a feisty one aren’t you?” He leaned back, pulling on his goatee. “First off, I’m not a demon, I’m a draconequus.” He clarified. “Second of all, are you going to do everything your momma says? Aren’t you already a teenager? You should be allowed to do whatever you want, be allowed to stay up late, and talk to whoever you want!”

Emma hummed, liking what the draconequus was saying. “Yeah, I’m 14 now! I should be allowed to talk to whoever I want!”

“That’s right!” Discord nodded, clasping his hands.

“Which is why I don’t want to talk to you!”

He facepalmed, dragging his paw down. “Fine, you don’t have to talk to me, but can you at least listen?” At her silence, he continued. “You see, I am looking for members to join a special team I am putting together. And I chose you to be a part of it!” Discord paused, waiting for the sound of the girl’s dramatic gasp, or excited squee, but was only met with silence. Glaring at her, he crossed his arms. “Okay, what gives? You should be excited!”

Emma glared, crossing her arms as well as she met Discord’s eyes. “This whole thing sounds fishy, why would you want a little girl to be a part of this special team?” She asked. “And second of all, what do you even want a team for?”

Discord sighed, rolling his eyes. “You are a cautious one.” He commented, placing his hands on his hips. “Look, I chose you at random okay? I didn’t have any control over who I summoned.” Discord lied, really it was because of all of his options, she was the most appealing one. A child with a natural leaning towards evil, that wasn’t psychotic, trigger happy, sociopathic, or needlessly edgy. “And as for the team… well I’m glad you asked!” He said, finally glad that they were moving along.

Snapping his claws, he created a large red curtain behind him, covering whatever was behind it. “I am putting together a special team, of which you are the second member! I am going to send you to a world full of magic, and harmony.” He said, pulling the curtains open to reveal a large tv screen showing off Equestria’s beautiful landscape. “A land in which friendship is magic.” The screen zoomed in to a random field, showing off some of the pony-like inhabitants smiling and playing together. “This team is dedicated to doing one thing!” He paused for the dramatic effect before yelling. “To spread as much chaos and disharmony as possible!” Discord laughed, changing the image on the screen to show it's previous chaos-filled state. “All of this chaos will spread across the land, creating enough chaos energy for me to break free from my stone prison! And have chaos reign forever!”

As Discord laughed, Emma couldn’t help but gape at him. “You’re a bad guy.” She then pointed at herself. “And you want me to be your minion?”

Picking himself up from the floor, he nodded. “To simplify it, yes.” Snapping his claws, he magicked the large screen and curtains away. “But I know how much of a free spirit you are, so you don’t have to worry about taking orders from me. All I want you to do is to cause chaos. The how and what are all up to you.” Teleported to her side, causing her to jump away from him in fright, only for her to be pulled back to his side. “So do we have a deal?”

Emma glared at the spirit. While the offer was extremely tempting, the offer allowed her to fulfill her greatest wish of being a supervillain, she however didn’t want to leave her family, nor her world. Letting out a sigh, she hesitantly shook her head. “I can’t take it, what about my family?”

Discord scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. “Well you don’t have to worry about a thing! Tell you what, once you fulfill your end of the bargain, I’ll take you back to your family. Better yet, I’ll take you back to the exact point in which you left your world. Time and space are nothing compared to me.” He then offered her his claw, giving Emma a fanged smile. “So do we have a deal?”

Seeing her still be conflicted, Discord decided to continue. “Just think about, this is your chance to live out your fantasy. Weren’t you talking about earlier how if you had the chance you would conquer the entire world? That as long as you had the smarts of a certain mad genius, you wouldn’t lose control of the planet after six months?”

Emma’s eyes widened as she thought back to a certain individual from her favorite series. “You could make me as smart as Dr. Eggman?”

Discord smirked, leaning back and spreading his arms out. “Why of course! Didn’t you see what I did with my magic? I can make you as smart as you want to be.” Discord couldn’t help but chuckle, while it was true that a feat like that was simple, he was by no means going to just give her what she wanted. No, he was going to have fun with it.

Emma glanced down at the white floor below her and sighed. “And after this is done, you’ll send me back home? And at the exact moment you took me?” Discord nodded, continuing to give her a smug grin. Emma let out a heavy sigh and nodded, reaching out and shaking Discord’s paw.

The draconequus grinned, “Excellent! Congratulations!” Around them party poppers popped and confetti rained down on the two of them, startling the young girl. “Allow me to welcome you to the Super Special Stone Statue Search and Save Squad! Or the S.S.S.S.S.S.S. for short!” He said, giving her a wink.

Emma blinked at the name, finding the name too familiar. Her eyes narrowed when she remembered just why it sounded familiar to her. “Hey wait a minute, isn’t that the name of Scra-” She was cut off when a green portal appeared under her, causing her to fall through and scream.

Discord waved at the girl as she fell, before his eyes widened as something came to mind. “Oh! And before I forget!” Discord picked up a gift-wrapped box and dropped it onto the portal. “A little gift to welcome you to Equestria!”

Emma screamed in terror as she continued to fall through the multicolored wormhole, while the changing colors would’ve normally served to awe the girl, right now all it did was further scare her. She paused in her screams, letting out a shocked gasp when she saw her body be enveloped by a bright light. When the light faded away, she noticed that all of the clothing she was wearing disappeared, being replaced by a new dress.

Looking around herself, she couldn’t help but notice the top half of the dress was colored red, with yellow lines spanning up and down the upper half of her body, a black dot at the middle where the yellow lines crossed. The skirt of the dress was black and went down to her knees. On the upper half of the dress was a pair of sharp shoulder pads. A yellow cape tied around her neck, and finally a pair of grey gloves and boots.

Before Emma could say anything regarding the new costume, a cold gust of wind hit her, causing her to look around her once more. Her eyes widened as fear gripped her heart, all around her was the night skies, clouds, and a few birds flying around, looking down she saw a lush green forest, water, and hills. Emma flailed around the air, trying to reach for something that would break her fall or save her.

Emma screwed her eyes shut, her body smacking the lake’s surface, creating a tall wave of water to briefly rise into the air before falling back into the water. Emma’s eyes widened as she breathed in the water, the pain from the impact causing her to lose all the air she had in her. Panicking, the young girl flailed around in the water, trying to swim up to the surface and failing.

Her eyes flared up in fear when she spotted a black and white creature swimming towards her. Trying to swim away, she gagged, feeling the water around her fill up her lungs, leaving her without any air. Clawing at her throat, she didn’t resist when the black and white creature grabbed her and pulled her out of the water. As the creature swam towards the end of the lake, Emma continued to spit out the water that invaded her body, at one point even spitting out a small goldfish.

Finally reaching land, Emma pushed her rescuer away, getting down on all fours and emptying out the rest of the water in her lungs. Taking one deep breath, she collapsed on the small puddle she made, not having any energy to even be grossed out by resting on it. Taking a few more shallow breaths, she turned towards her rescuer, intending to thank her before her eyes widened in shock.

Standing in front of Emma was a bipedal zebra-like woman, similar to the creatures that Discord showed her, the woman wore a grey tube top covering her upper body, she also wore a brown-furred skirt that was tied around her with what seemed to be rope. Covering her hooved feet were a pair of grey-furred boots. The zebra woman knelt in front of her, placing her palm on her back. “That’s quite a sight. Prey tell, are you alright?”

Emma gaped at the alien woman in front of her, realizing that she was being asked a question, she nodded slowly, and answered. “I’m fine. Thank you for rescuing me.”

The zebra woman smiled softly, “That's good to hear. I was worried that I wasn’t going to make it on time.” Offering the small girl a hand, she helped Emma get back to her feet. “I have to ask, how and why were you falling from the sky?”

“Ummm....” Unsure as to how to answer that, Emma weakly smiled. “Magic?”

Giving her an unamused look, the woman sighed, shaking her head. “You should be careful when practicing your spells. I won’t always be there to save you.” The zebra then offered her hand, giving her a small smile. “Why don’t you come with me for now? I can make you some warm soup while you wait for your clothes to dry, don’t want to get sick now do you?”

Emma frowned, feeling unsure about the offer. “I don’t know… I’m not supposed to follow strangers.”

She grinned. “Well then why don’t I introduce myself? My name is Zecora, my hut isn’t too far from here, and it has remained unchanged from Discord’s magic.”

Emma’s eyes widened at the mention of her new boss’ name. Shaking her head, she hesitantly answered her. “My name’s Emma.”

“Emma, that’s a very nice name.” She turned around, waving at her to follow. “Come along now, you don’t want to be caught by one of the forest’s monsters. Ever since Discord changed the land, they’ve been getting even more vicious than before.”

Hesitantly Emma followed, being motivated by not just the promise of a meal, but also by her fear of the mentioned monsters.

Emma stared at the mirror in front of her, her face was pale and her eyes were wide in surprise. While she knew that Discord’s magic had changed her clothes, she didn’t think that he would change her appearance as well. Pulling down on her eyelid, she wasn’t able to see any hint of white in her eye, the entire sclera of her eyes were completely black. Both of her irises were red, the two of them giving off a soft glow. While her eyes did scare her a bit, she was mostly worried about her mother’s reaction to them once she returned home. “She’d be terrified of me.” She whispered, ruffling her new orange hair.

“Emma! Soup’s ready!” Zecora called out from the living room.

“I’m coming!” She replied, giving her reflection one last look before she left the restroom. She looked around the house she was in, noticing all of the tribal masks around the walls and various vases on the shelves. Seeing the large cauldron in the middle of the room, she sat down near it, waiting patiently for the zebra to hand her a bowl.

Upon receiving her bowl, she began eating, happily digging in. Zecora sat down beside her, a bowl of soup on her hands. “Don’t eat too fast, you’ll choke if you do.”

Slowing down, she nodded, being more mindful of how fast she was eating. Putting down her spoon, she turned towards Zecora. “Where am I anyway?”

Swallowing the food in her mouth, Zecora put the bowl down before answering. “You’re in what was formerly the Everfree Forest.”

“Formerly?” She asked, tilting her head.

Zecora nodded, looking out the hut’s window. “Ever since Discord used his magic to change the forest, calling it the Everfree Forest just doesn’t feel right anymore. The layout of the land, and much of the plant life has changed so much.” She answered, sighing as she recalled the panic the change had caused to the animals. “I was just exploring the forest when I found you.” Zecora then started staring at her more closely, frowning as a thought just came to mind. “You’re not from Ponyville are you?”

Emma shook her head, suddenly becoming much more interested in her bowl of soup. “I’m not from anywhere around here really.” She answered, grabbing a spoonful of the soup and slowly eating.

Zecora frowned at the answer, her chest tightening from worry. “And what about your parents? Do you have anyone nearby waiting for you?”

Emma grimaced, having a feeling of where exactly this conversation was heading. Wanting to delay answering, she raised the bowl to her mouth and tilted her head back, quickly finishing the rest of the soup. Sighing, she placed the bowl down next to her and shook her head. “Not exactly…”

Zecora got up from her seat, shaking her head at the answer. “I had a feeling that was the case.” She set down her bowl next to the cauldron, and walked out of the living room, only pausing for a second to gesture Emma to follow her. The two walked for a few seconds in silence, before stopping in front of another door. Opening the door, Zecora moved aside, allowing Emma to enter the room. “For now, you can stay with me. I can’t in good conscience allow you to fend for yourself in these woods. Will this be okay with you?”

Truthfully, Emma simply wanted to go back home, she had just begun her adventure and she already felt like she was over her head. But she didn’t want to risk going out in the woods alone, especially not this late. Emma took a deep breath and sighed. “Thank you Zecora for letting me stay with you. I’ll try not to be a burden.”

Zecora smiled. “You don’t have to worry about burdening me, with how well behaved you are, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine. Would you like to head to Ponyville with me tomorrow? We can find some new clothing for you, and some other things that might help make your stay more pleasant.”

She shyly nodded, looking around the large empty room, already missing her old things.

Seeing her nod, Zecora turned away, closing the door behind her. “Goodnight then Emma, we’ll head out to Ponyville first thing in the morning.”

Hearing the door close behind her, Emma let out a shaky sigh, tears threatening to burst free. Rubbing her eyes, she made her way towards the plain wooden bed and sat down. As Emma pulled the covers over her, she didn’t notice the small gift-wrapped present appear just at the side of her bed.

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to read this chapter! I hope you've all enjoyed it, and if you did or didn't, please tell me why in the comments so that I may improve. Special thanks to Kye and Way for once again catching my mistakes, and keeping me on track. As you may have noticed Zecora doesn't rhyme, that's because I've decided to just not have her rhyme at all, since it would be too frustrating to make sure she rhymes every time she speaks.
Thanks again for reading, hope you all have a good rest of the day.