"I'm glad to see you could join us.

This time, it will be a trial of character.

Wake up, little one. Wake up."

Discord cackled as the image of a small orange pegasus filly sleeping in a dirty room appeared in the swirling purple vortex. The evil draconequus tilted back, assuming a thoughtful stance. "Hm..." Discord murmured, obviously in deep thought. Then, an evil grin slowly materialized on his face.

"I'm sure Twilight and her petty friends would like to know where there poor scooter-riding friend has gone, right?" He cackled nightmarishly, and with a snap of his fingers, the dark altar disappeared, cutting the only light source in a massive void of darkness.

*******************

" Apple Bloom! APPLE BLOOM! Ya need to calm down! Where did you last see her?!" Applejack shouted while trying to calm the panicking filly. "I-I-I saw her at the tree house y-y-yesterday, and I..." The filly broke down into sobs. Apple Bloom rested her delicate head in Applejack's bright orange fur, and continued to cry.

The sound of a door opening caught Applejack's attention, causing Applejack to look up sullenly. She was greeted with the sight of her older brother, Big Macintosh. "Macintosh! Did they find the filly?" Big Mac hung his head and shook it sullenly. "Where in all of tarnation could that filly be?" Applejack asked while looking up to the ceiling, an obvious look of despair on her face. "They've been searching for three darn days!"

Big Mac and Applejack turned as a certain rainbow-maned pegasus ran in at dangerous speeds. "Applejack!" Rainbow Dash cried, covered in sweat and a look of shock on her face. "I think you need to see this..."

*********************

Even Twilight had never seen the solar princess herself so angry. She and the rest of the ponies were standing in the center of Ponyville, where something had just literally fallen from the sky. Princess Celestia had said it was one of Discord's altars. It was a round object, made out of mysterious black metallic substance. It was about the size of a pony, and it had a large opening on the top. The opening was surrounded by large dragon teeth that pointed inward, and the altar was about as high a a pony's neck. From the teeth, purple beams of light shot into a central point, creating a vortex of purple shades.

Princess Celestia stood in front of the altar, glaring angrily at it. "How dare he send this into my realm!" she murmured angrily.

Meanwhile, everypony in a few mile radius was ordered by the altar itself to come. Everypony, from the school foals to the Wonderbolts themselves was there watching the vortex with anticipation. The princess had said that when everypony had arrived, Discord would show them where the missing filly was, and what she was going through. Celestia had told them that Discord had put Scootaloo in one of his "games" and might die in it. Everypony was shocked and terrified at the fact that this poor filly might die.

"My little ponies!" Celestia shouted in a desperate voice. The entire crowd of panicking ponies was silenced. "Discord is an evil, evil creature, and has demanded everypony's presence at this altar! I am sorry, but we must be here! An innocent life is at stake!"

All of the sudden, the vortex began to change color, turning to a deep black. Then, the image of a sleeping Scootaloo appeared in it. Next Chapter: Chapter 1: Awoken Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes