Chapter 3
Discord's Maze
Discord's Maze
I wake up to Discord poking my nose multiple times. "Honk, honk, honk!" The rest of my friends are watching attentively. "Okay, okay, I'm awake!" I yelp, causing Discord to jump back. I get up, with the support of Katrina and Heaven. "Thanks, guys..."
Ali jumps in front of me. "How was it, how was it?!"
"Very awkward," I reply. "There were feathers and marshmallow goo.... If I mentioned anything else, you would act like a pervert."
"So... now what?" Lily mumbles.
Discord thinks, but only for a moment. "Who here wants to help me take over the world?" Well, that escalated quickly.
Ali is the first to raise her hand, at a very fast speed. Duh, this is the one obsessed with fire. I slowly raise mine, curious of what events may happen next, because I'm awesome. Katrina grins and raises her hand. Then Heaven, Lily, and finally Sandy.
"Good, good." He grins. "But I don't just take anyone in. I think we should play a little game first, hm?"
Silence followed by a couple of smirks.
"What's going on down there?"
My eyes widen. That's my mom's voice. "Oh no..."
-BLEEPITY BLEEP BLEEP MOTHER BLEEP BLEEP-
"What?" Discord seems to be a bit confused.
"That's my mom! She'll freak if she sees you!" My friends all nod their heads in agreement.
Katrina raises her hand. "I suggest we get out of here, and quick."
Too late. My mom is coming down the stairs. AHHHHHH SPAZZ POWERS, ACTIVATE!
I sprint and tackle Discord, making us land behind the couch. "Sorry," I whisper. I get up on my knees and peek my head over the couch, where my mom is staring at me. I must resist the urge to go completely fangirl.
"Are you okay?" She asks.
"I'm fine," I lie. "I'm just being a ninja." LOLOLOL DISCORD IS BEHIND THE COUCH
"Okay, spazz," she laughs. "I was just making sure everybody down here is okay." She calmly walks back up the stairs, unsuspecting of anything.
The instant she's gone, Discord throws me off of him, gets up, and brushes himself off. "Quite the interesting turn of events, ay? Anyway... let the games.... begin!" With a raise of his paw, all of us fall down holes randomly placed in the ground. "And may the odds be ever in your favor~" HE DID NOT JUST REFERENCE TO THAT.
-----
I now look around to see that the holes are transparent, like glass. I can see everybody else. All of their expressions are flat and calm, as if they were sleeping. I just smile to myself. "So, guys..." I'm trying to break the silence from awkwardness. My eyes finally focus and I see... we're all ponies! And everybody actually is asleep but me. How many times are people gonna fall unconcious today?! "HEY, EVERYPONY! WAKE UP! GET YOUR PLOTS MOVING!"
Everyone lazily opens their eyes.
"What?"
"Plots? What are you talking about?"
"Where am I?"
"Guys," I yell. "We're freakin' ponies, man!"
A bunch of grins follow. Except for Ali, because she is always sleeping when she shouldn't be.
"Surprised, aren't you? This game is going to be so much fun!" Discord giggles. I can't see him, because it's pitch black in here besides the tubes, but he is probably in the distance somewhere.
Let's see here. Ali and Heaven have wings. Lily and I have horns. And Katrina and Sandy are earth ponies.
Ali's finally up. "Hey! Where am I?! Get me out of here!" She's currently slamming her body against the glass continuously while we cheer her on.
BOOOOOM. I think Ali broke through.
After a little bit of investigating, I know that she didn't get out, but now we are at the bottom of the holes, which are now combined all together into one. It only goes foward from now on.
After a bit of wandering aimlessly, singing random songs (Well, mostly just 'Discord' and 'Daddy Discord') about our favorite spirit of chaos and disharmony, I hear a huge tidal wave of rushing liquid behind us.
"Guys," I yell. "Do you hear that?"
"It sounds like..." Katrina begins.
"CHOCOLATE MILK!!!!!" Ali screams.
I resist the unbearable urge to turn around and try to gallop the hardest I can. It's hard walking as a pony when you've been a human for over thirteen years.
Of course, it's nearly impossible to outrun any of Discord's creations. We are now being consumed by the sticky, chocolatey goodness. Discord floats by on a raft. "This isn't even the beginning," he cackles. "Have fun!" The raft grows a motor and speeds away, leaving us in the river of chocolate.
Good thing I know how to swim. I dive down, where there are al sorts of things floating around, from oranges, to furniture pieces made of swiss cheese. I even bump into a wooden box, labeled 'Screwball's Music Box'. I'll keep this, because I'm obsessed with the freakin' song.
I speed forward, bumping into Katrina, who is somehow currently playing Go Fish with Heaven. "Watch it, Candace!" she laughs.
"Oh, thank goodness you guys are alive! Is everypony else safe?"
"Yeah, Ali is flying above keeping a lookout, and Lily and Sandy also found a raft. Go find them, we'll catch up."
I dive once again. I just realized something. The chocolate milk doesn't even burn my eyes, thanks Discord! I see Lily and Sandy are on a raft, watching Howl's Moving Castle, eating popcorn!
"Hey, guys! Mind if I join you?" I climb onto the raft.
"Hey Candace." Ali is flying beside us, drinking the milk with a giant swirly straw, seeming to enjoy it.
"Ali?" I warn. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping watch for any incoming dangers?"
"I got tired and thirsty. Anyways, there's marshmallow mixed with this! It's amazing! Try some!"
I jump into the stream, drinking up whatever is in front of me, milk, marshmallows, whatever. In the middle of sweet paradise, I feel some sort of tune coming from below me. I reach down to the source and find out that I have pockets. Well, at least I learned something new today! I pull out my cellphone. Well, I didn't even know that was there! Also, It's a good thing I have a touch screen phone! I use the tip of my hoof to slide the answer button. "Hello?" I hold the phone to my ear.
"Candace, is that you?" It sounds like Brooke.
Time for another friend description! This one has darker blonde hair, being somewhat short and very straight. She also wears glasses. The most significant things about her are that she has a bean-sized birthmark under her left eye, and that she always tries to see the logic in things, somewhat like Lily. But logic is stupid. Discord will have to fix that.
Okay, back to reality. "Yeah, it is. What do ya need? I'm a bit busy at the moment." I have to use my free hoof to hold onto Lily and Sandy's raft.
"Turn on the news. Now."
"I'm afraid I can't. Can you explain?"
"Discord."
"Oh-em-gee! That's crazy!" I'm such a lier today, lawl.
"Apparently he landed in front of Mengelson's and threatened to turn a bunch of people into marshmallows, then he caused chaos everywhere! Someone even set something on fire!"
"Oh my!"
"I know, right? Even more, he headed off towards your house, mumbling something about 'insanity mixed with nostalgia'."
"..."
"Are you okay, or are you not telling me something?!"
"Okay, I'll tell you the truth." I let out one of my signature fangirl squeals. "Discord came to our house and knocked me unconcious, then showed me a memory that was taken away from me on my tenth birthday, three years ago. When I woke up, Discord sent us into this giant tube where we are currently being washed away by chocolate milk mixed with marshmallow goo. Also, we're ponies! It's so much fun!"
"Candace, have I ever told you how fast you talk."
"Yes. This is about the sixteenth time now."
"Back to what I wanted to say. I know you really like Discord, you think he's awesome and everything, but I want you to be careful. He's and immortal being, with enormous power. Please, don't get hurt."
"No worries! My insanity will keep us covered!"
*BOOP* The call ends. I slip my phone into my so called 'pocket' and continue to swim around, drinking the random when Ali stops me. "Did you seriously say oh-em-gee?" she cringes.
"Yes. Also, that reminds me!" I look up into the nothingness above us. "HEY DISCORD!!"
"WHAT???!!!"
Oh, I wasn't expecting him to actually answer. Oh well.
Ali interrups us. "Wait, he was listening in the whole time?"
"I guess so. I didn't even think he would answer though, I was just joking."
"So, what am I now, chopped liver?" The spirit himself poofs in front of us, sitting indian-style, on a bar made of... lemonade? How does that even work?!
"It turns out you were on the news a few minutes ago. Great job, now we're gonna be chased down by the FBI."
He lets out an exaggerated, "Oh, my! How did I not notice that?" and gives me an, 'are-you-effing-kidding-me' face while crossing his arms. "Look, as long as I have magic, we can't even get caught, no matter how much we try. Chaos forever! How lovely!" he clasps his paw and claws together.
I gasp. "Wait.... my mom is going to come downstairs and find out we aren't there!" I'm freaking out now. Seriously, my mom is a very scary person. "She's going to freak and I'll be grounded! How do we-"
Discord simply brings me into his grasp and puts his his paw over my mouth. "Why must you worry so much? Being a worry wart is no fun at all. Just calm down~" He begins to... pet my mane? If things couldn't get more awkward...
OHMYGODFANGIRLMOMENTHOLYCRAPDISCORDISSOHOOOOTTT
I calm down and inspect the music box I got not to long ago. It's very colorful and filled with chaos. Seems right for a box made for Screwball. I feel a strange vibe coming from this box... is it directed towards me? Nah, that's silly! My nerdy fangirl thoughts are taking over!
"What's that you got there?" Discord gives off a tiny smile and takes the box from me.
"Hey, give that back! I found it first!" I try to stand up on two hooves and fail to even get a glimpse of the box.
"Nuh-uh, it's actually my daughter's. Thank you for finding it though, I've been looking for it everywhere. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some chaos to wreak." he snickers and disappears in a flash, and it starts raining lemonade.
I sigh and get back to swimming when I bump into a table... but Katrina and Heaven aren't on it! I frantically swim around, trying to find some sign that they're there.
"Candace?"
I look up to see Heaven carrying Katrina in midair. "Thank goodness you're alive!"
"Of course we are. What, you didn't think we couldn't swim or something? Discord was right, you're such a worrywart sometimes." Heaven lowers herself and Katrina into the liquid. "Anyway, the table we were playing on just sunk for no reason. So we came here." Heaven takes a dive and ends up tasting the chocolatey marshmallow (Which now has a taste of lemon).
"Okay! I'm going to go check stuff out and make sure we're safe. Don't follow me."
"Alright," Ali snickers. "We won't." She winks to Katrina and Heaven.
They're obviously going to follow me.
I speed off the fastest I can. Not too long later, I get a sinking feeling. I swim downwards and find... a giant hole, sucking everything in. So, this is where we end?
I don't think so. I have a feeling the game hasn't even begun yet.
I go back to try and inform everyone when it turns out they DID follow me! Even Lily and Sandy came along. "Okay, guys," I'm trying to make them all shut up. "GUYS!!!" They all look at me as if I did something scary. Except for Ali, because she doesn't give a flying -BLEEP-. "Okay. We are about to go down a giant drain in the ground. I suggest we get into a small group, to make sure we don't get separated at the beginning of the game.
Sandy raises a hoof. "So... this isn't it?"
"Of course not. Let's get grouped up. Lily, you can get into the center, since you hate hugs." I laugh.
"Oh, joy."
We all group around Lily into a giant hug, when I get that sinking feeling again. "Guys, here it comes... INCOMING!!!!"
FWOOSH. We are all swept inside of the hole, quick as a whip. All of the liquid is gone, but we are all still falling very slowly. I let out a bubbly-sounding, "Everypony okay?" Everyone nods. *SPLASHHHH* All of us are now on sturdy, dirt ground, but covered in... some sort of clear liquid, feels like water, but it tastes like bananas. Seems legit.
After more investigations, I come to the conclusion that we are in a hedge maze. How original. More hedges sprout out of the ground, separating us.
Oh my, how interesting! "Gee, Discord, how less original can you get?" I grin. A giant pie falls on top of me. That explains enough. I'm struggling to get the pie tin off of me when Discord starts to explain the rules. "That's how much. Now, onto the rules. No flying and-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it. No magic."
*SHING*
*SHING*
My horn is gone, and even though I can't see anypony else, I'll assume that Lily's horn is gone too, along with Ali and Heaven's wings.
"Also," Discord adds, "A bit of a twist!"
"Wait!" Ali yells. She grabs a piece of paper and a red crayon, draws some fire on it, and ties it to her flank.
I finally get the pie tin off of me. Holy crap! A giant lion's paw! I wonder who's paw that could possibly be! It reaches over to Lily and taps her on the head, then Ali's. Or at least that's what I'm assuming.
"Ow, what the -BLEEP- was that?!"
My eyes widen. Is that seriously Lily's voice? Uh oh, this won't end well, I promise.
"Owwie...."
And that was Ali. Oh boi.
Next, Discord's paw reaches to Heaven. In less than a few moments, she's.... drunk. "Holy crud, all of the walls are spinny, where are we again?" All of her words are slurred; I can barely even tell what she's saying.
"And one more thing... Ductape! Because that solves everything!"
Katrina is swung into the air. "Hey, I'm barely even talking! If you should put ductape over anypony's mouth, it should be Candace's! She-" And then ductape was put over her mouth.
"My point has been proved. Any more smart-alecy comments?"
Silence.
"Good! Let the games.... begin!" He is gone in a flash and there's more lemonade rain. I have no idea where I'm going now and I'm a little bit scared. I gallop at top speed and I come across my first split road, with two signs pointing in different directions.
The one pointing left says 'Chocolate Covered Bedbugs' and the one pointing right says 'Memory Lane'. Not wanting to take either direction, I attempt to climb over a hedge.
"Now, Candace, why must you try to cheat?" He picks me up by the tail and tosses me into the path marked 'Memory Lane'. I guess the only way I can go now is forward.
-----
Sandy
Sandy
I slowly trot through the maze, constantly trying to keep my new dark pink bangs out of my face, looking at the random scenery, floating pianos, and giant slices of chocolate cake.
But then I notice that there are materials on the ground as well! Candace might want me to keep some of these for later, I think to myself. I pick up some rope into my mouth, hoping that it'll be useful.
I continue to trot along until I nearly trip over something white and fluffy. It's Candace's cat, Kitty! I spit the rope out of my mouth. "Kitty! What are you doing here?"
"Meow." She calmly walks away and I follow her picking up the rope. Knowing how random this is, she might be here to show me something! We stop at a trail made of rainbows lined with gumballs. "Meow." Kitty walks away. Well, I guess I might as well. I walk along the 'road' until I hear some unsteady breathing.
"No..."
I think someone's crying! I gallop faster until I find a discolored earth pony crying to herself, in a crouched position. I spit out my rope. "Candace!" I yell. I sit next to her. "What happened?"
"NO!!" She screams. "GET AWAY! YOU WOULDN'T CARE! NO ONE DOES!" She continues to sob loudly to herself.
"Candace." She looks at me. I put on a stern face. "I am serious. I want you to tell me what happened. We can't get anywhere if you don't."
She looks at me with reddened eyes. "I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone. Do you understand? Good. It all started when..."
----
Candace
Candace
I walked down 'Memory Lane' until I got another sinking feeling. But this was no drain. There were.... memories. Bad ones. Terrible ones. I needed to get away. Fast.
I galloped the hardest I could until I tripped. Over a box. My curiosity was peaked; I had to open it. Maybe there was the answer I needed. I open the box....
"Boo!" Discord popped out, laughing to himself. "Aww, someone seems to be scared. You might wanna run before those memories get to you."
I stood there, shaking. He was mocking me, I knew it. I couldn't move because he wouldn't let me. Tears started to come out of my eyes.
"Hmm, looks as if you're crying. That's too bad, considering the fact that no one cares."
I bit my lower lip. I couldn't take it. I couldn't cry in front of him, although it was too late. Tears were coming out of my eyes. I usually didn't cry like this, unless it was a really bad day. But it wasn't just the mocking. The memories had caught up to me by this time, and all I could think of was conflict.
My parents fighting to the point where they would throw stuff.
My dad stealing money from my mom and taking drugs.
The.... bedbugs. The ravaged my home during my summer transitioning into 7th grade. My mom's fiance got bit all over the place, and there were bumps everywhere.
"Your mom leaves you at home just so you could do all of her chores, she yells at you when it's not 100% perfect. Your parents fight constantly, leaving you in your room to avoid them, and to this day, they still wonder why."
Anger. So much of it boils inside of me.
"Even on Christmas your parents you fight, yell, and scream at each other just to get their way. You'd end up being about two hours late just because they wanna be right."
"Hay, your mom even considered keeping the infested apartment you were in just so she could save money, and convenience herself and nobody else."
"..."
"Doesn't that just make you so mad?" he chuckled.
My color drained almost instantly.
"I'll just let that sink in a bit." He flew away to go make more chaos against the other girls.
-----
Sandy
Sandy
"Oh my goodness, Candace, that's terrible."
She continues to sob to herself.
Sandy....
I open my eyes. Wait, my eyes were closed?
...
I think I have the solution.
"Candace."
"What do you want?" she sniffles.
"Open your eyes. That wasn't real."
"What are you talking about?" she says with and annoyed tone. "They're already open."
"Open them. Now."
She looks at me and opens her eyes. "Wha... how does that even work?"
"Candace," I inform her, "What Discord said was a mirage. He was tricking you. He never actually said that."
She gives me a confused look.
"You brought that on yourself."
"That's beside the point. What he may or may not have told me was true. No one cares. No one did. And nobody ever will. Do you get what I'm saying? Just leave me alone now. I've had enough of your 'help'."
I turn her around brashly and look her straight into the eyes. "You think you have it hard? Just because your mom has you do a few chores? Well, take a look from someone else's perspective for a moment. There are kids all around the world who are starving and abused, and other children who are diseased and can't even walk or won't even last past their thirteenth birthday. Man up, Candace."
The color slowly returns to her body. "Well dang."
"It's fine, Candace," I smile. "Right now, we have a game to win. Let's go look for everypony else."
She grins and stands on all four hooves. "Alright!" she grins.
I put the rope back in my mouth and we gallop like there's no tomorrow.
-----
Discorded Lily
Discorded Lily
"HECK YEAH! LET'S DO THIS!" I yell, even though I already had gone a long way. I just stopped to eat an apple that was floating in midair.
You probably want to know what it's like being discorded, right? Well, basically, it's just like watching yourself (You are currently inside their head, seeing everything from their eyes,) being the opposite. You sit on a leather couch while you watch the person that's replaced you do... whatever. There's even free refreshments!
I continue on and sprint my way through the maze, until I run into something. "HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING-"
"Ouch," Ali picks herself up and brushes herself off. "I'm very sorry, I'll just be on my way the-"
"HAHAHA, IT'S FINE! STICK WITH ME, AND YOU'LL GO FURTHER THAN YOU EVER IMAGINED! YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE I'M GREAT, AND I'LL SURPASS GOD!"
"Oh... okay." Ali steps towards me.
"TAKE MY TAIL!"
"Okay..."
I sprint like I never sprinted before, dragging Ali with me.
"Lily, ouch. Why do we have to go so fast?"
"DISCORD'S GOING TO PAY FOR DOING THIS TO YOU, SO WE'RE GOING TO BURN HIM WITH.. FIRE!! HAHAHA!"
"Oh, my, are you sure that won't hurt?"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SURPASS GOD, THAT'S WHY!"
"Oh, okay."
You'd think that this arrogance will get me into some trouble right? Well... you're absolutely right! I fall down a decent-sized hole with Ali.
"HEY, WHAT THE -BLEEP- WAS THAT FOR?! WHO ARE YOU, SHOW YOURSELF!"
Discord lands in front of me. "Why hello there, arrogant child? What brings you here?"
"You... you made me fall down a hole with this kid!!" I point my hoof to Ali.
"Oh my, how terrible!" His words are dripping with sarcasm. "There is a way I can get you out though." He gives a little smile.
"How?"
"Duel me."
"Heh, heh... NO PROBLEM! I CAN SURPASS GOD! THIS'LL BE EASY!"
"Well, if you wanna surpass God, you'll have to get through this guy first!" He tosses me... a foam sword. Made of marshmallows. Seems legit.
I give Discord a Double-you-tee-eff look and say, "What? How do I defeat you with this?"
"Silly Lily, you don't understand! You need to be just a bit more creative."
I roll my eyes. "Okay, whatever. Let's get this over with, I wanna get out of here."
"I'm scared," Ali whispered. She crouches down and sits in a corner. Wait, holes don't have corners.
----
Heaven
Heaven
Whoa, dude, is this thing on? Anyway, hey, bro, I'm Heaven. You know, the filly who got drunk due to the powers of Discord. I'm really dizzy. I can't even think clearly. I've been crashing into walls the whole time, and probably haven't even got past the first split end.
Maybe I should just quit taking my time and run like a drunkard. Hey, that sounds like a great idea! I stumble around, trying to get on my hooves correctly. There. I try to get my hooves going in the correct order, but I keep failing over. "HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS -hic- -BLEEP- THING?! AHHHHHHH"
I just slam into more walls until I accidently crash through one of the hedge walls. Well, they're plants, I guess that makes sense. Wait, this is Discord! That doesn't make any- Oh... I see what he did there.
My hooves hit some sort of bouncy material. I think it's a trampoline! Too bad I can barely see, it's too blurry. Bounce, bounce, bounce.
"Heaven?"
"Heaven, where are you?"
"I -hic- ugh, blurdadlkfnrei.... where are you? God, brrreing drunk! Sucks..."
Two funny looking blobs standing in front of me. One of them is dark purple, and the other one is light blue.
"Heaven! Can you hear me?" It sounds like Candace, but I can't tell.
"Whoa! You... blobs, can spreak English? Holy moley, quit a -hic- maze we got here, huh?"
"Oh, my, Heaven, you must be worse off than we thought! Can you see us?"
I'm squinting my eyes. "Uuurgh... Not really, you look like blobs, and I kind of -hic- want some apple juice."
"Good enough. Heaven, follow us. We need to get out of here before someone starts crying again."
"Candace? You er... -hic- crying? What hapen..."
"Just come with us. We-"
"Ohohoho, you think you'll get out of here that easily? After you got this far? I don't think so." That voice... I really don't know. I think it was Discord's but I can't tell. Everything's too blurry...
Both entrances slammed shut.
"By the way, I got your friend Lily. Too arrogant for her own good, she was."
Sandy is growling very loudly. I can't see her facial expression, but I'm pretty sure it's full of rage. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?! GIVE HER BACK!!!"
"Hmm.... nah. By the way, this is a good test for your mental strength. Have fun!"
We hear a -SHING- sound and I can hear moving stone.
I start moving in circles and breathing heavily. "The- the -hic- walls... THEY'RE CLOSING IN ON ME!!! BLARGHALKJDFOINE-"
"Heaven, calm down! We can do this! We just gotta find out another entrance..."
-----
Candace
Candace
I look around frantically, hoping to find some sort of hole to crawl through before we're squished. But then... I hear a familiar tune. Screwball's Music box! Why does that tune keep popping up?! It's beginning to get a bit overused. Oh well, I'm a bit obsessed with it anyway.
Anyway, I follow the music to fine an orange-sized hole, where the tune comes out of. I trot casually over to it and try to look inside it, but the light! It burns my eyeeeees! "Ouch!" I shout, stumbling back.
Sandy catches me. "Candace, what's wrong?"
I look at her. "I think I found our way out." I'm pointing my hoof over to the small hole in the ground.
"Are you sure we'll be able to fit in there?"
"Only one way to find out." I walk over to the hole and Sandy follows while dragging Heaven by her tail.
"OoooOOOOWWW, THAT -hic- HURTS!"
"Well, then," Sandy yells, "Grab my tail, ya little wimp." she giggles. Heaven chomps on her tail and begins to... chew?
"Mmm, hay...."
Sandy rolls her eyes and quietly steps next to me. "Candace, the walls are still closing in, we need to get in. quickly."
"I know, I know, let me figure something out." I try fitting my hoof in like a puzzle piece.
I hear a vaccuming noise and my whole leg is being sucked in. "Ahhh! Guys, hold on! We're in for one heck of a ride!"
FSHOOOOWWWWWWAAA
The only thing still outside of the hole is my head. Since Sandy is connected to my tail, and Heaven is connected to hers, they're already inside.
The hedges rustle, and out of it pops... Ali! Of all ponies. "Candace, Sandy, Heaven where are you? Oh... I need your help!"
"Ali! Over here!"
She looks at me and gleefully hops over. "What can I do for you?"
"Ugh, this is so embarrassing.... Ali, grab my bangs."
"Okay...." He teeth chomp onto my bangs. This is kinda awkward. No, scratch that. This is REALLY awkward.
"Here we GOOOO" Both Ali and I are inside the hole now.
"Candace, are you here yet?" Sandy!
"Yeah! Ali's here too!"
"Oh, hello..." Ali meekly replies.
Heaven is thrashing everywhere. "Ahh, I can't -hic- see! WAHHH"
"Calm down Heaven! We'll be out of here soon enou- Oof!"
We all fall back onto the hard, dirt ground, landing on top of somepony else. We hear groaning coming from the bottom. "Mmmrrrf. MRRF!"
We all get off of each other. It turns out we landed on Katrina! But she doesn't seem too normal. Her mane is all matted with mud, and there a scrapes all over her body, but nothing is bleeding, so that's good.
"Mmmf, mrff mrrf merf"
"Hold on a sec, Katrina." Sandy walks towards her and rips the ductape off.
"OOOWWWW!!!!"
"Terribly sorry, Katrina, but we couldn't understand you."
"What I was trying to say is that since I couldn't talk or do anything interesting, Discord made me go through a really annoying obstacle course. I got covered in mud and there were these giant colorful birds shooting themselves at me with slingshots. It sucked."
The giant doors in front us slide apart and Discord is standing there. "Welcome, girls, to the arena."
Aw, -BLEEP-.