The Other Draconiquus - Story 1: Imaginary Friend

Draconiquus storytelling is the most remarkable, beautiful, immersive, and unexplainable experience you one can ever have in being told a story. It is in fact one of the top 100 abilities specific only to one particular species that are the most pleasurable to others around them.

What's so great about it? I'm glad you asked.

Draconiquus storytelling is unique in that the listener isn't stuck having to imagine everything going on in the story in their minds, for the sound of a draconiquus telling a story gives the listener a very unique sort of hallucination, in which allows one to believe they're actually seeing the events of the story play out in front of them. They see the story unfold as an observer following the main character(s) in everywhere they go, watching everything they do, as long as it is actually written about in the actual text. Even with seeing, hearing, and smelling all of the action that goes on in the story, they can still hear the voice of the Draconiquus as the narrator in the background, so not a single word in the narrative goes unheard.

This allows for the listener to become more emotionally involved in the story as a whole, as well. One who might be able to read a story with a sad ending by themselves and not shed a single tear, will be bawling their eyes out when the same story is read aloud to them by a draconiquus. Any feeling of happiness, anger, envy, hatred, awe, fear, bliss, etc., that the main character(s) feel, the listener feels just as much of said emotion as they do. They become more fond of the characters themselves. It is simply a beautiful emotional ride, that no other form of storytelling could ever manage to come anywhere close to.

If you ever become friends with a draconiquus, ask him/her to read you a story. Choose one of your own favorites, or let him/her read you one of his/hers. Believe me you will not regret it. You won't even care about how many hours you had spent in that hallucination, how many appointments you missed because of it. It will have been completely worth it!

Sadly, however, audio recordings of these readings seem to negate the hallucinogenic effects of hearing it in person, and so once the draconiquus finishes the story, the experience is lost forever except in memory.

This is how Twilight Sparkle experienced for the first time Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She felt herself falling down the rabbit hole right next to Alice. She shrank and grew in size every time that Alice did. She smelled the fresh scents coming from all the plants that Alice went by. She was at a loss for words on how to describe the experience later on.

"That was... that was... amazing..." was all she could get out, after the story was over, and the hallucination wore off. "I've never heard of any kind of magic like that before! I'd love to be taught how to do that!"

"Sorry, Twilight. It's a kind of magic that only draconiquui have. Not chaos magic, necessarily, as it can be explained scientifically. The audio waves of a draconiquus voice have a very peculiar hallucinogenic compound inside them, in which, when they are reciting any kind of narrative, be it a short story, a novel, a poem, or a song, those who are around at the time to listen begin to believe that they're actually a third party witnessing the narrative take place before them. Well, I say third party rather loosely, because if the story is told in either first person or second person the listener takes on the role of the main character."

"What's second person?"

"It's when the story's main character has no name, because he/she is supposed to be the reader him/herself, the narrator will speak in second person by referring to the main character as 'you'."

"I've never read a book like that."

"I doubt you would have. Anyway, you are the first Equestrian pony in history to have heard this story. It just so happens that, at this point in time, the race who wrote this book have yet to make official extraterrestrial contact, but when they do, they begin to publish translated copies of their own works to many other planets of the world. It just so happens, that, three hundred years later, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carol became the second highest selling children's book of all time."

Twilight's jaw dropped in awe.

"Don't believe me, take a look for yourself." He opened the book to its copyright page, and pointed to where it said the following:

Original Publication: Earth year 1869 A.D. (393 years before first Equestria edition).

First Equestria Publication, Year 1242 C.R.

"But, this hasn't even been published yet! How could you even own this book?"

"Normal ponies do things in chronological order. I'm neither normal, nor pony."

"But that's impossible!"

L snapped his fingers, and an orange with a slice missing, and frog legs appeared on the table. "Oh look, an orange frog. Your argument is invalid."

The frog went ribbit.

"You change that frog back to normal at once!"

"I wasn't the one who made him like this in the first place."

A fruit fly flew close to what it thought was an ordinary orange, in hopes of a nice meal, completely oblivious to the fact that it was flying towards its bane.

"Oh, then who did?"

The frog shot out its tongue and reeled the fruit fly inside of him.

"Spoilers."

The frog began to hop across the table knocking over and smashing up the tea pots that L set out on it.

"Spoilers?"

"Okay, I'll make this easy for you to understand. I'm a time traveler, which is how I got that book that hasn't been published yet, and that is how I do things outside of chronological order. And when I answer a question with just the word 'Spoilers', that means that the answer is an event that happens in your future, and you have to find out for yourself in your own time. Telling you could cause the sort of chaos that even the draconiquui who lived back thousands of years ago strictly forbid." He proceeded to pick up the orange frog as it hopped his way. "But, I can tell you that sometime after this frog was turned into this, he (well, technically he's now an it, but I call it 'him' just so as to not be rude) has become my pet."

Twilight considered this for a moment. "Well, I guess they at least had some sense of order after all. So, you're a time traveler? What's time travel like? Does it hurt? Do I ever make a significant contribution to my species? No wait, that's a spoiler. What-"

L placed one long iguana digit on Twilight's mouth, which is universally known to mean "be quiet". Twilight wasn't even sure how it was physically possible for him to be doing this while still sitting in his seat.

"Yes, I'm a time traveler. Time travel is complicated. Chaotic, and very complicated. No, time travel itself doesn't hurt, but what you do in the past or future certainly can. And although I can tell you nearly nothing about it, I can, however, say that your own contribution to ponykind will be remembered forever. Let that be a very encouraging thought to remember in the future."

These last two sentences made Twilight happy. That was the most wonderful thing anypony had ever said to her at that point in time. Tears of joy began to form in her eyes.

And then a loud thump was heard upstairs, ruining the beautiful moment.