The following week and a half was… Rather strange, to say the least. Abigail joked to Discord that juggling all her schoolwork, researching his world, and keeping face with her mother, she might as well have become a professional clown. Discord was not exactly amused but he understood what she meant. He had noticed how she was starting to misplace items and on many occasions came home so out of breath she simply flopped onto her bed in exhaustion. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was starting to grow concerned. Not for her, but that one of these days she would get so tired she would either become careless enough to give away his existence to the Witch or give up her search and send him packing. Neither option would do. He couldn't let all his hard work go to waste.
Today was 'Sunnyday' according to Abigail, which meant that she and the witch would be gone for a couple of hours and go… Somewhere. He didn't pay enough attention when the girl explained to him, nor did he care so long as she returned. He did note however that she wasn't in her usual attire, wearing a long dress and smaller shoes instead of her shirt and 'leggings' as she called them. Abigail did however keep one piece of her outfit before she went out, her pink beanie. "I like it for a few reasons," she explained while adjusting said item, "One, it makes me look unique. Everyone always looks so grumpy or too formal, I couldn't act all proper if I tried. And two…" She gave a sad smile as she grabbed her small, bubblegum purse adorned in bows, "It goes with the purse my daddy gave me… Both of these were from him. One of the last gifts I got from him before mom severed ties with him…"
Discord was extremely puzzled whenever she spoke of her "father", it was as if he had vanished from her life. But he couldn't have died, at least, probably not. She talked about him as if he was still alive, but absent. The whole thing was quite perplexing, none of his business but still perplexing. He almost wanted to ask about it, but the better part of him reminded himself that this could be seen as him caring about the girl and her life, which he didn't. So in the end he convinced himself that it was not worth thinking about and if she so happened to talk about it he would maybe listen. Maybe.
He was waiting impatiently under the bed with the strange device that Abigail called, a "laptop" when he heard a commotion from outside the room.
"YOU AND THAT STUPID HAT OF YOURS! WHAT GIVES YOU THE IDEA TO EMBARRASS ME LIKE THIS?"
It seemed the Witch had brought Abigail home and was once again screaming and yelling, hurting his ears with her high-pitched screeching.
"I like it that's why I wear it! And the only one embarrassing yourself, is you!"
There was a loud slap followed by two separate thuds, the first was accompanied by a small crack and the next as Discord saw Abigail's body fall to the floor. Frozen in shock, he could only watch in horror as the Witch leaned over Abigail menacingly,
"You… will learn respect in my house… Or else…" The woman stood back up so all Discord could see were her legs and shoes, "You are just like your father… Disrespectful and ungrateful…" She turned away and headed out of the room, closing the door shut and locking it, "You've left me no choice but to keep you in here until you want to apologize to your mother…"
After hearing her footsteps fade away, Discord scurried out from under the bed and ran over to Abigail's face, which was tearstained from her silent crying, "...What was that about?" He asked, his concern evident in his voice. Abi sniffed and shook as she tried to sit up. The side of her head was throbbing, most likely due to hitting it on her be post when she got slapped by her mom, "Just… a disagreement about my clothes…" She inhaled shakily and wiped her face with her hands, "Please… forget you saw anything Discord…" Discord, not one to argue, simply nodded.
Abi tried for a smile and gestured towards her laptop, "I was wanting to tell you after I got back but I think I found your world. Let me show you…" The Lord of Chaos' eyes widened in disbelief, "NO! You are pulling my claw here! It has only been a week and-" He quickly shut up when he realized he was wasting time and scrambled to get the device, "Here! I have missed my chaos! No limits! No restrictions! Just pure creativity at my fingertips!" He climbed up her arm and leaned forward to watch as she pressed the buttons making strange images appear on the "screen" as she called it.
Abi smiled as she discreetly glanced down at the tiny Lord of Chaos eagerly grinning at the computer screen. Over the past week, she had come to appreciate and care about him, to her mild surprise. He had a nice change of pace, being there to listen to her rant about her life while also providing a good distraction by telling about his own. Hearing about his world and how different it was from hers made her all the more interested to help him find his way home. A land where most of the inhabitants were magical creatures, ponies, or possessors of great power (aka the Lord of Chaos himself), fascinated her. Ponyville, in particular, seemed like such a quaint little place, filled with "pony folk", all living in harmony; Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth ponies living in the same community. Much nicer than the slog her own life tended to be.
"Here we are… Let me know if this looks familiar Discord…" She stopped on a webpage for a defunct children's tv show, 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'. The cover art for the short series, about two seasons long, had a small group of colorful ponies smiling with the background being quaint houses in a village. Discord's eyes widened as they scrolled down the webpage and continued to look at other pictures of the show and the reasons it was discontinued. "Apparently… "After the ark with the main antagonist in season two disappearing fans boycotted the show and future episodes flopped as writers were scrapped for ideas'... Discord I think your world is a TV show here!"
He refused to believe what he was seeing and hearing, a show? A form of entertainment for fillies? Or children these kids were called. But this couldn't be true! He slipped off and went to take a closer look at the screen at himself, "This is insane! Even more so than I am! Surely this device lies!" Abi shrugged, then quietly winced as the motion made her head pound, "That's….. Just what it says. Look I even found you, the 'disappearing antagonist that mentioned earlier…" She fiddled with the device and suddenly Discord's likeness was smirking right back at him, only less detailed. The current him was covered in small hairs in his fur and forced to follow the rules of reality. Whereas the picture was-
"You look so cartoony. This was the version I saw when you appeared in that advert Discord- Or the "small portal window" you called it…" Abi tried to focus on the picture but she could feel her vision get blurrier by the second, "But… the point is, that is where you're from… Equestria is a land from a television show…" Discord sputtered and gestured at the screen, "Surely not! This is just… Too…" He sat defeated and sighed curtly, "This is so stupid. I suppose that the 'adventures' of that Mane 6 make more sense… My world is nothing but a figment of someone's imagination made into reality…" He paused for a moment to ponder what this meant in terms of how he was going to get home. "I suppose if you could pull up a way to… see this show I might be able to make a portal for us to go back,"
Abi nodded and as she reached over her head started to throb with such immense pain that she accidentally knocked over both Discord and the laptop onto the floor, "Aah! My head!" she screamed as held her hand up to the pained area. She froze when she felt her hat was, "Sticky?" she pulled her hand away and close to her face, "WhY iS It RedD?" she gasped in shock. Time slowed down and for a minute she felt she was flying, then she was on her back with the wind knocked out of her.
Discord had managed to scramble and stand up just in time to see her holding her bloody hand and promptly falling backward, "Abi!" he yelled in a panic as he ran forward to her. Her eyes were glazing over as she stared at the ceiling, "I think… I'm dying…" she whispered with a laugh in her voice, her pupils were about the same size as the rest of her eyes, "Take that Mom… I knew you'd always push me over the edge…" Discord seemed to be in a frenzy, "Nonono! No! NO! You aren't dying on me! Not when I'm this close to going home!" He grew to full size in a flash, his tail knocking over things in the vicinity as it swished back and forth anxiously.
Abi laughed shakily, "I'm sorry Discord… I let you down… Like everyone else…" He pulled her over desperately and snapped his fingers, changing her hat into a gauze to slow down the bleeding, "You can't die! I won't let you! You can get me home! I know you can! Hurry!" His red pupils seemed to shake in fear, that or Abi's eyes were playing on her in her final moments. "My... computer…" She tried reaching out to grab it. Discord desperately looked around for it, finding that it had been flung across the room, "Nonono! Please don't be ruined!" He swiftly made his way over and wrapped his tail around it. Without realizing it he accidentally inserted part of his tail into the USB port, giving him a shock and making him drop the computer again.
Instead of being smashed to bits, however, the computer reacted to Discord's 'chaos magic' and upon impact became a large doorway leading straight into the Everfree Forest of Equestria. Discord's eyes widened in surprise, "How…-"
"ABIGAIL WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOUNG LADY IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE DESTROYING THE PLACE!" Discord turned back to find the bedroom door opened by the Witch. It was almost comical to see her change from mad as Queen Chrysalis to terrified in seconds. Discord snarled at her, his eyes burning from rage and contempt, "You are not worth my time. Or whatever amount of time she has left, so get out!" He held Abigail close to himself as he went through the portal, feeling both of them transform into simplified versions of themselves. He breathed a big breath as he could feel his magic flowing through him once more. Turning back to the shaking figure of the woman he gave an evil smirk as he snapped his claw and caused the portal to close, leaving the woman screaming for her daughter behind.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Good riddance…" He was about to ask Abigail how she was doing but the words got caught in his throat. The girl he was holding had become a pink pegasus with a bright blue mane, similar to how her hair was dyed. Her head wasn't bleeding anymore, thankfully, but her muzzle was covered in pastel-yellow freckles. He blinked in disbelief but shook his head as he had no time to ponder on the strange situation, "You need help. And I can't be seen… at least not like this," He snapped his tail and transformed himself into a unicorn with a titled tophat and suit to match. Whenever he shapeshifted into another creature he had to keep a few defining features: his horns, his facial hair, and his teeth. Everything else about him could change but no matter what those would be the telltale signs of his true identity.
He covered his antler with the hat and used his other blue horn as a stand-in for a unicorn horn as he carried Abigail on his back and teleported to right outside of Ponyville. He looked around to see if there was anyone around and breathed a sigh of relief as no one saw them. He trotted down the road as he racked his mind to think of a place to leave her when he heard the soft sound of hoof steps. 'Chrysalis' hoof! Now what!' he thought to himself as he braced for a barrage of questions from the pony. To his surprise and relief, it was just the shy yellow pegasus. She seemed to be on edge and was still wearing the element of kindness around her neck, annoyingly.
Ignoring the nagging voice in his mind he ran up to the wimpy pegasus, "Please you have to help me! I was traveling and I found her unconscious in the Everfree! Is there a doctor around here?" He altered his voice slightly to not give his identity away, opting for a rich pony accent to complete his 'Canterlot passerby' character. The yellow pegasus squeaked in surprise and fear at being approached so suddenly but tried to act brave after seeing the unconscious pony, "Oh! O-of course, I'll take you to Twilight, she'll know what to do…" She spoke barely above a whisper and quickly lead the stranger to Twilight's tree, "W-wait here…" She opened the door and flew in to go look for help.
Discord meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief and let Abigail down gently, "I will keep an eye on you but I cannot stay. I…" He paused and leaned down as he gently brushed some of her mane out of her face. She looked tranquil and peaceful, unlike the Abigail he knew; Constantly with a frown on her face and worried all the time despite her many attempts to hide her true feelings. "...I'll leave you with this gift as an apology. Forget your past. Enjoy the next few years here in peace. My chaotic takeover can wait…" He placed his hoof on the side of her head then pulled away slowly as a dark grey wisp followed and formed a grey ball of smoke. It seemed to whisper angrily and swirled furiously in his hoof. He pocketed the smoke bowl and bowed to Abigail, "I bid you adieu, my dear…" His tail snapped once more and he disappeared as if he was never there.
Twilight had never seen Fluttershy so scared before or acting so urgent. She burst into Twilight's room going on about an unconscious pony on her doorstep and as Spike went to go set up a place downstairs for the pony she tried to calm Fluttershy down. "Deep breaths Fluttershy… It's okay, I'll help her. What happened?"
"W-Well I was just leaving Sugarcube corner with Pinkie Pie w-when a colt ran up to me asking for help with a pony h-he found in the Everfree and-"
"Twilight come quick! I don't think she's breathing!" Spike, Twilight's young purple dragon helper, and pseudo little brother yelled as he was checking the unconscious pony. Both ponies turned to each other, paling significantly, and ran downstairs to help. As the trio tried their best to get the visitor revitalized, Fluttershy had a strange feeling that they were being watched. But when she turned to look at the windows, all she saw was a small blue butterfly with white spotted, pink wings looking back at her.