Chapter 9

The group of heroes were moving quickly through the forest, going in the direction Rainbow Dash had seen Discord fly in, when suddenly the ground began to shake.

"Whoa! What's happening?" Applebloom asked, trying to keep her footing.

"Earthquake!" Rainbow Dash shouted, taking to the air. But as she was going up her wings suddenly vanished with a comical popping sound. "Huh!" she exclaimed before plummeting back to the ground and landing on top of Applejack.

"Hey, get off me!" the earth pony exclaimed, pushing at her.

"It's not my fault!" she exclaimed. "My wings disappeared!"

"What?" Applejack looked up at her. Rainbow Dash's wings were still there. She glared at her. 'Then what are those?" she asked pointing a hoof at them.

Rainbow Dash looked at her back and saw her wings had returned. "They disappeared, I swear!" she exclaimed.

That's when the shaking grew worse. "I don't mean to interrupt," Fluttershy said, her voice sounding weird because of the vibrations. "But maybe we should try to get out of here before something worse happens?"

The others were totally for the idea and they all took off.

The ground kept shaking under them as the group of mares and Spike, who was clinging to Rarity's back, galloped through the forest but nothing seemed to be falling over or breaking up. In fact, the animals they passed didn't seem to be aware that there was anything bad going on.

Applebloom noticed this and slowed down her pace before stopping and staring at the insane animals with a raised brow. What in the world?

"Hurry up, Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle shouted back to her. "This place looks like it's going to come in on itself."

She frowned at the animals once more then rushed after them. She didn't like the shaking ground either so she was more than happy to get away from it.

Before they got too far a giant Ursa Major suddenly appeared and roared at them.

"Run!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

They didn't have to be told twice. The ponies took off in a different direction with the giant creature chasing after them, growling and snarling.


Discord watched the drama happening, laughing as he did. This was all too much fun! "I should mess with them more often," he said to himself. He bumped the orb and it blinked out. "I think that's enough fun for now. I wonder how my fair Twilight is doing?" The chaotic being vanished, appearing moments later as a chalk sketch on the wall of her cell.

The purple mare was still pacing back and forth in her cell, wracking her brain for a way of escape out of this fun house of a jail.

Twilight lifted her head, spotting the picture of Discord on the wall. She frowned, pausing. Hadn't that thing blown up? How was it still in one piece? She trotted over to the picture and rested her hoof on the picture then quickly pulled it back. It didn't move.

"Hmmm..." she squinted, glaring at the image.

Suddenly it started wiggling as Discord lost his composure and began to laugh.

She gasped and backed up as the image magically became three dimensional and Discord suddenly appeared in the room. He laughed, falling over onto his back as she stood back and watched him. She recovered quickly and glared at him.

"That's not funny!"

"Not to you maybe but I found it hilarious" he cackled.

She grumbled to herself, moving further away from him as he laughed himself silly and rolled on the floor like a fool. Stupid jerk, why did he have to laugh at everything? The world wasn't funny and neither was he, even if he thought he was.

He rolled on his stomach and looked up at her, noticing her frowning. "Aww come on Twilight, why so serious all the time?"

"I laugh when things are funny," she told him. "and you're not funny."

Discord actually looked offended at her statement. He considered himself hysterical and here she was insulting his humor. "What would you know about funny anyway?" he demanded, suddenly serious. "You're just a boring little bookworm."

She stomped her hooves in annoyance. "What does that have to do with anything?" she demanded hotly. "Just because I read a lot doesn't mean I lack a sense of humor."

"Oh yeah?" he smirked evilly and leaned his head forward. "Prove it."

Prove it? She blinked, confused by his statement. "How?"

He snapped his fingers and suddenly she was on a stage with mike in front of her and a spotlight shining down on her. Discord sat in a chair at a table that was covered with a red table cloth below the stage. "Tell me a joke," he challenged, sipping a martini glass full of chocolate milk.

She stood there, frowning. Did he really expect her to do that? If he did he was crazier than she thought.

He frowned. "Come now," he said impatiently. "You said you don't lack a sense of humor. Surely you know a few jokes, Twilight, so go ahead and tell me them," a big set of ears appeared on his head. "I'm all ears."

"You've got to be kidding!" she snapped. "I don't have to prove to you anything!"

He yawned. "You're already off to a bad start."

"I am not going to tell you jokes!" she snapped, stomping a hoof onto the stage.

Discord leaned back in his chair. "Well then my opinion stands, you're not funny and you don't know what funny is." he smiled at her, getting an idea. "How about this; you tell me one joke and I won't ask again?"

Twilight stared at him. Did he really mean that or was he fooling around with her again? Then again that was better than nothing and if she did he might just go away and she could go back to figuring out how to escape this place. It was basically a win win situation. "Do you promise?" she demanded.

He grinned at her. "Of course." he said.

"Fine." she stood still, trying to remember some of the jokes Pinkie Pie had told her occasionally. She said the first joke that came to mind. "Umm... what did the sharpener say to the pencil?"

"What?"

"I see your point."

Silence, except for the sound of crickets.

Ater a moment Discord chuckled, shaking his head. "You're terrible at this." he commented. "Try again."

"You said I only had to tell you one!" she exclaimed.

He grinned at her. "I lied."

She stomped a hooves in frustration. "I'm not going to tell you another joke!" she shouted, irritated.

Discord folded his arms and leaned back in his hair. "Then I guess you're going to be standing on that stage for a long time." he retorted.

Twilight sighed, flopping onto the stage. Great, just great.


"How are we going to get that thing to stop chasing us?" Rarity asked Applejack as the group of rescuers galloped through the forest as fast as their hooves could take them. The Ursa Major was still right behind them, not slowing down at all. "If we don't it's going to eat us and I don't want to be dinner! I'm too glamorous to be the meal of an ugly monster!"

Applejack looked back at the creature, trying to figure out how to deal with this thing. It was huge, mean, and quite possibly hungry. It also looked like it had no intention of giving up the chase any time soon. Whatever she did she would have to do it fast.

"Umm... let me think," she said, looking back at Rarity. "We have to make it stop chasing us, but I'm not exactly sure how we're going to be able to do that."

"Well think of something!" Rarity screamed right into her ear making her grit her tetth and pull her head away.

"I have an idea!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, shooting into the air.

The pegasus flew up into the trees and came down with some vines in her mouth. She flew back at the creature with the vines and wrapped them around it tightly. "Ha! I'd like to see you get out of that!" she said smugly.

The Ursa roared and easily broke free from the vines.

"Uh oh.." she stared at it.

The monster roared and swatted her, knocking her away. She yelled, flying backward until she slammed into a tree and crumbled to the ground. She didn't get back up.

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy exclaimed, looking back at her. "We have to help her!"

Applejack was about to suggest something but Scootaloo ran past her. "I'll save her!" she exclaimed.

"Scootaloo!" Fluttshery shouted after her, taking off into the air as if she was going to fly after her. "Get back here, it's too dangerous!"

"I'll get her!" Applejack called to her, rushing after the filly.

Scootaloo didn't even look back as she galloped toward Rainbow Dash. She fully intended to rescue her and teach this creature not to mess with her idol. She didn't care how big or mean it was.

By then the Ursa Major was looming over Rainbow Dash who was attempting to get back on her hooves. She saw the beasts's shadow cast over her and she looked up, her eyes widening. "Uh oh..."

The giant bear drooled and roared into her face, blowing her main backwards.

"Hey you!" Scootaloo shouted, rushing at it. "Leave her alone!"

The creature looked away from the rainbow mained pegasus now focusing all its attention on the filly dashing toward it. It faced her fully, placing its paws on the ground and leaning down to roar into her face.

Scootaloo skidded to a halt right in front of the thing, her face screwed up in terror and her main blown behind her.

"Move!" Applejack shouted, galloping over to her. She had a lasso in her mouth and was twirling it. Hopefully it would work better than the vines Rainbow Dash had tried to use.

Scootaloo didn't hesitate. She rushed away from the creature which decided to follow her, growling and snarling.

Applejack cursed, and changed course, rushing after both of them. She came up behind them and just as she was about to lasso the creature it disappeared!

"What in tarnation!' she exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Huh?" scootaloo looked over her shoulder and stopped, causing the older mare to run into her.

The other ponies came running back moments later. 'What happened?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking around for the creature. "Hey, you guys did a great job scaring that monster away!"

"We didn't care it away," Applejack corrected, getting up off the ground. "It disappeared."

Rarity and the others looked around, confused. "Disappeared?" Rarity asked, sounding like she didn't believe her. "Really Applejack, surely you don't expect us to believe such a thing."

"She's telling the truth," Rainbow Dash replied, walking over to them, her main blow to the side of her head in a comical way which made Pinkie Pie burst out laughing. "I saw the whole thing. The moment she tried to catch it is vanished into thin air!" she shot the pink mare a dirty look.

"What?" Rarity looked around, trying to come up with a rational explanation for it.

She saw nothing though and that made this all the more confusing. "Where did it go?"

"I told you!" Applejack responded, shaking dirt off her hat. "It disappeared!"


Twilight Sparkle continued to try staring Discord down. She was not going to tell him anymore jokes and he wasn't going to trick her into doing it. He could sit there as long as he wanted to for all she cared.

"Come on now, Twilight," he said, resting his chin on the bird claw of his left hand. "Surely one joke isn't going to hurt you."

"I already told you a joke!" she shouted at him impatiently.

"I meant a good joke," he responded, smirking as he sipped out of a martini glass. "The one you told was lame."

"I told you I don't know any good jokes!" she snapped. "I'm not Pinkie Pie! If you want someone to tell you a good joke go ask her!"

"I don't want to hear a joke from her," he responded. "I want to hear one from you, now get to it."

She groaned and got back up on all four hooves, trying to think of anything that sounded like a joke. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" it was the first thing that came to mind, even if it was the oldest and lamest joke in the book.

He blinked. "What?"

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" she said again, annoyed. Did he always have to make her repeat herself?

He stared at her without a word.

"To get to the other side!" she grinned goofily though it hurt her face.

For the longest time Discord gave no reaction then, after about ten minutes, he burst out laughing.