- Ponyville, Equestria -
It was another beautiful and sunny day in Ponyville. Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood in the meadow with Discord.
"So… is there some reason you asked us all to meet you here?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked!" Discord trilled merrily. "You see, my friends, we are all friends now aren't we! Well, I had the most wonderful idea! I thought I might perform some of my magic on your behalf. Make your day a little interesting, what do you say?"
Pinkie bounced up and down, "oooh! Ooooh! Will it be FUN?"
"Oh, yes! Loads of fun!" Discord promised with a smile.
Rarity and Applejack exchanged dubious glances.
"How much trouble is it gonna cause to Equestria?" Applejack demanded.
"And how much cleaning up afterwards will we have to do?" Rarity added.
Discord lifted up his eagle's claw and put his lion's paw over his heart, "Why none at all, my dears! None at all! I promise!"
"Um… um… " Fluttershy hesitated, "will it be… scary?"
Discord glanced at her and looked thoughtful, "Well… it might be just a teensy bit, but if that bothers you, I can leave you out of it."
Twilight blinked, "Fluttershy, you know you don't need to be afraid of anything with us around, right?"
"YEAH! You just gotta chortle at the creepy… remember?" Pinkie Pie declared, bouncing merrily around her friend.
"Oh… yes…" Fluttershy smiled at Pinkie, then shyly glanced over to Discord. "Nevermind... I will go."
"Well, alright then, shall we begin?" Discord smiled, and with a snap of his fingers, the seven of them vanished from the face of Equestria.
Seconds later, they reappeared floating in space overlooking a different world. But they weren't alone. A large crowd of people had gathered from out of nowhere, and all of them looked startled and confused at the sudden change of scenery (some of them in mid action).
Discord enlarged so that he could be seen and heard by all of the gathered peoples.
"Ok, so, here's the deal," He grinned maniacally "I have pulled you seven, along with several people from other worlds out to this, completely separate world, to have some fun!"
Twilight blinked, and upon taking in her surroundings, spotted Sunset Shimmer standing around looking rather perplexed at both her new surroundings and the six other ponies.
Sunset Shimmer had been alone in the school's music room, practicing on the guitar, when all of the sudden a strange power dragged her from Canterlot High into an alternate dimension. She stared in surprise at all her friends… well, all of her friends as they would have looked if they were ponies… (except for Twilight, whom she had met as a human, but had known also as a pony, briefly) and recognized Discord as he floated there explaining what was going on thanks to her studies long ago.
"I'm going to split you all up into groups of six and send you down to that world below." Discord continued, now for the benefit of all gathered, "Your job is to attempt to make your way through the maze provided for you thanks to the nice people who live on that world below. If you make it to the end of your journey, to me, then I will send you home. With any luck, you'll all get to make some new friends along the way! Doesn't that sound exciting?"
"Wait… what?!" Twilight exclaimed in shock.
"Oh, and for the benefit of the majority… you ponies… and any other critters here in the crowd… shall be turned into human-shape. Ok now, have fun!" Discord snapped his fingers before anyone could protest, and all of them vanished to the world below.
Discord laughed to no one, "Let's see how this plays out".
Hades sat in his underground lair, quite bored until a horde of dead souls came knocking on his doorstep. If something exciting was going on causing so many people to die in the human world, Hades just HAD to know where the epicenter of it was. He decided to see The Fates.
"Dear, dear," the Fates cackled merrily as the god of the underworld walked in. "Some grave twist of fortune and despair is occurring. So much madness... strings being pulled from the left and the right, bending around one another. Some god of great power, changing oh so much." They danced with glee over their precious looms and spindles of thread.
"Hey there ladies, what's going on?" Hades looked around the room curious about the answer to his question. He slid up to their viewing screen and observed Discord as the god of Chaos wreaked his havoc and laughed. "Now there's a guy who really knows how to shake things up!" Hades exclaimed, grinning widely. "Where is this guy... I aught to shake his hand!"
One of the Fates shows Hades an image of a location where a massive gathering was taking place. "Ah ha!" He declared, poofing himself to the outskirts of the gathering at the tail end of Discord's speech. Then he saw the crowd disappear.
"Pardon me, but I couldn't help noticing this little set-up you've got going here and I just thought I'd add in my two cents. The name's Hades, pleasure to meet ya." He flicked his hands out and pointed his index fingers at Discord in a friendly manner. "Anyway, what's-your-name, it seems you only had heroes in that crowd."
Discord turned from his musings to blink in surprise at observing the god of the underworld in his presence. He looked thoughtful at Hades' observation. "Discord… and your point is?"
"Well, how could a maze be any fun for heroes unless they have a set of roadblocks, am I right? Some good opposition to keep them on their toes, and maybe squash a few of them in the process..." Hades paused and laughed, "I mean, try to squish them... anyways, I personally would just absolutely love to name myself chief of the villain squad, so here's a list of folks that I think would really add some spice to your little game." Hades takes a piece of parchment from out of nowhere and starts listing names on a piece of paper.
The list reads: - with Hades' commentary
Azula - she seems like a total badass,
The Changelings - no one does espionage like a creature that can turn into you and your friends~,
Daleks - 'cause I can appreciate mass destruction,
Demyx - he's kind of a wuss… maybe being taken away from that gang of his will do him some good,
Doofenshmirtz - because every villain needs a chance to get it right,
Lust - soooo sexy…,
Maleficent - Doesn't Fire Breathing Dragon mean anything to you?,
Nightmare Moon - poor thing, no one appreciates her and she gets defeated before her beautiful plan can go into effect,
Ozai - he was soooo close to winning, I bet without those kids to stop him he will have no trouble this time,
Rumpelstiltskin - Good at negotiation, and keeping secrets!,
The Siren's - I love a good musical group that compels people to KILL each other,
Tom Marvolo Riddle - is a man after my own black heart,
Ursula - I have a special fondness for creatures with tentacles!,
After giving the god the list, Hades says "I trust you can find them. Oh, and why don't you throw in a few of the locals… I've heard some good things about the ones they call 'legendary', feel free to pick whichever ones you like." and then he vanishes.