With a sigh of relief, Scootaloo turned to see where Starlight had brought them. Stars shimmered. A bright comet streamed past and… a tiny rhino on roller skates sped by?
“Where are we?” Scootaloo whispered. She could barely hear Starlight’s voice echoing after her.
“Discord’s realm…”
“Discord?” Apple Bloom yelled. Three umbrellas flapped by behind her, squawking at one another loudly. Scootaloo looked down. They were standing on a fluffy marshmallow.
“We’re in the realm of chaos,” Starlight explained. Her horn flashed, and Scootaloo saw the protective bubble come back to life. “Stay close to me,” Starlight reminded them.
“Right. The curse,” Sweetie Belle muttered as she watched the three umbrellas open up to catch a breeze and soar off into the distance.
“The curse and the chaos,” Starlight added, looking around nervously. “This is no place for ponies. If we get separated, we might never find one another again.”
Scootaloo jumped as something touched her hoof. She looked down. A tiny saucer of milk nuzzled against her, purring.
“What exactly are we doing here?” she asked.
“Escaping,” Starlight said as she stepped carefully along the top of the marshmallow. “Our objective is still the same: get rid of this curse and get you to Twilight. This is just a… detour.” She hopped from the edge of their marshmallow to another one. The Crusaders looked at one another, shrugged, and followed after.
“Why didn’t you just teleport us all to the castle?” Scootaloo insisted. “Wouldn’t that have been easier?”
“Not with your curse.” Starlight glanced back. “Teleporting four ponies across Ponyville? That could have been bad.”
“How is this any better?” Scootaloo could feel the frustration building up inside her. She hated being so helpless, and the weirdness of this place was making her feel completely lost and out of control.
Starlight paused and turned to the Crusaders. “Sorry. This is kind of a lot, isn’t it?” she said sheepishly. “Okay. The realm of chaos is right next to our realm, the regular world. They’re like… peanut butter and jelly!”
Scootaloo’s stomach growled.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Magically moving all of us from one place to another is a big move, with lots of ways for the curse to harm us. You saw what happened when all you did was sneeze.” Scootaloo didn’t need to be reminded. “So instead of risking something big, I ripped a tiny little hole between our realm and the realm of chaos, so we could slip through and get out of that library. Still dangerous, but a much smaller step.” She gestured to their strange surroundings. “Now we just take a quick walk, open another small hole, and we’re right back in Ponyville.”
“That… actually sounds pretty simple!” Apple Bloom said, relief in her voice.
It wasn’t simple.
They walked for a long time. They hopped over marshmallows, crossed rivers of chocolate milk, climbed up what seemed like a really long cat’s tail… and it just kept getting weirder.
Occasionally, Starlight would make them all stand perfectly still, disable her protective spell, open a glowing door, and peek out.
One door opened in Yakyakistan.
One door opened near Mount Aris.
One door opened on the moon!
Scootaloo yawned. She had no idea how many doors they had tried to open, all she knew was that she was tired, hungry, and hoofsore. Her friends looked just as exhausted as she was. None of them had slept in what felt like days.
Starlight stifled a yawn of her own. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” she said as she opened yet another door. Salty water rushed through. The door must have opened at the bottom of the ocean! Scootaloo was suddenly immersed in the raging water. She choked and flailed helplessly. She tried to swim toward her friends, but the current was too strong. She felt herself getting swept away.…
And suddenly found herself inside a large bubble, alongside Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Starlight!
“You know… it really is rude to rip a hole into somecreature’s realm and sneak in without at least sending a letter first,” a cultured voice said with a hint of annoyance. Scootaloo turned toward the voice.
Discord sat on the back of a turtle, sipping tea from a snail shell.
“Hello, Discord,” Starlight said, shaking her mane dry. “Always a pleasure.”
“A pleasure?” Discord said incredulously. “What is pleasurable about popping into my realm unannounced and causing all kinds of trouble? Annoyance is more like it.”
“Well, now you know how it feels when you do it!” Starlight smirked. Discord arched an eyebrow, reached up, and poked a hole in the bubble. Water slowly poured in.
“With an attitude like that, I’m not sure why I should bother helping you,” he said airily. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom backed away from the water, panicked.
“Discord—” Starlight began, annoyed.
“Stop messing around! You’re friends with our friends. You have to help us. That’s what friends do!” Scootaloo yelled. Discord looked down, as if seeing her for the first time.
“You’re the little Rainbow Dash,” he observed. “You may not fly like her, but you certainly have her attitude.” He snapped his talons.
Scootaloo found herself in a comfy chair in front of a warm fire. She glanced to her left and saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wrapped in cozy blankets on a couch next to her. Starlight was curled up in front of the fire with a ball of yarn in front of her. She knocked the yarn away with her hoof and sat up.
“Discord, seriously—” she huffed. The Draconequus held up a claw, shushing her.
“Hold that thought; I want to speak with the main characters in this story.” He turned to the Crusaders. “Now, why are the mini Mane Three wandering around in my backyard?”
“Starlight was tryin’ to help us get to Twilight,” Apple
