Blinking, I opened my eyes, seeing not my room but another room from which I didn’t recognize. It had bookshelves on all sides with a fireplace as the centerpiece. Some chairs, one of which I was on, surrounded a table which was bare of any decorations besides a sole note residing in the middle my name written on it in elegant hoof-writing. My horn glowed a violet light as I pulled the note closer to read it. Inside the note was a single word.
“Repeat.” I wondered aloud “Repeat what?” I took a moment to ponder this. Coming up with no answers, I looked around the room to see if anything would give away what the note meant. Nothing yielded any information. The tables were bare. The books refused to come off the shelf no matter how hard I tried with or without magic. It was then that I heard a chuckle that sounded vaguely familiar. Whipping around, I saw a door creak open from where the fireplace used to be.
“Who’s there?” I asked, walking cautiously up to the open door and peeking out. I see a hallway void of anything but doors all over the place excluding the cool marble floor. My thoughts went to Discord upon seeing the hallway, but that would be impossible since he should be trapped in stone. My friends and I saw to that. So, I tried to open some of the doors and got peculiar results: one door disappeared at my touch, another grew a mouth and laughed at me before sinking into the floor, the next grew wings and flew away, and the last door I attempted to open tried to eat me before jumping down the hallway. This only confirmed that Discord was out. “Discord! Where are you?” I shouted down the hall to confirm my suspicions.
“It wouldn’t be a secret if you knew now would it?” Discord asked, his laugh echoing through the hall. My eyes darted side to side attempting in vain to find the chaos god.
“What did you do?” I asked, still looking for him just in case he revealed himself.
“Lots of things,” Discord answered vaguely.
“I’m not in the mood for your shenanigans, Discord. What did you do with my friends?” I asked, slightly dreading the answer.
“Oh, them. As I said, lots of things,” Discord said with a sinister chuckle.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I responded growing frustrated with him.
“Alright, how about this?” Discord asked ominously. “I’ll give you a hint.”
“Okay, what is it?” I asked, frustration simmering should he give another empty answer.
“To find what you seek, you must go to the door that eats,” Discord answered, giving me the exact answer that I didn’t want.
“Discord!” I yelled down the empty hallway, frustrated that I didn’t know the fate of my friends. As I started to ponder Discord’s little hint. It was fairly simple. The door that eats is obviously the door that attempted to eat me. I have to find this door. Where do I start? I thought, scanning the massive array of doors, most of which I couldn’t reach. Picking a door out at random, I walked up to it and opened it with my magic, backing up in case something happened.
But, my caution was needless, for the moment at least, I saw a piece of paper with the word hint on it on a pedestal. Didn’t he say that the hint was somewhere else? I shook the thought away. He’s Discord so who knows why it’s here. Proceeding forward, I found it easy. Nothing happened as I walked over and grabbed the paper. Attempting to open the letter didn’t work as it refused to open. I started to walk out only to see the door I came through close, leaving me in the darkness with only the light of my magic to guide me.
“Little dark,Twilight?” Discord asked from the darkness out of sight.
“No, it isn’t, I got my magic to light the way,” I responded smugly
“Oh, really now?” Discord said. “How would you fare without it I wonder?” I was about to protest when I felt a spike of pain where my horn was. Screaming, I fell to the floor. It felt like having a railroad spike driven into my skull. When it was over, I staggered to my hooves in the now pitch black room. Remembering his words, I moved my forehoof up to my head only to feel no horn just my mane and forehead. I felt violated. He had taken something that I centered my whole life around. I shook my head. Discord was just trying to mess with me; I needed to find my friends. It still hurt to have my magic snatched away like that.
I started to feel around for an exit by finding a wall and following it around until I found a door. It didn’t take long. Not being able to see the handle, if there even was one, I used force to open it into the next room which was thankfully lit. It was a dusty kitchen by the looks of it with a sink and a fridge amongst counters and a center island. Opening the paper now that I could, thanks to the light, there was a place to read it. The note was simplistic, so I figured out what I needed to do. I just didn’t want to.
The door that eats must be lured by the meat of that of which it hunts.
This unsettled me. Nevertheless, I searched the cupboards first. Finding nothing, I moved around the kitchen until I was met with the fridge. No amount of preparation could prepare me for what I might find on the other side of the door. Releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding in, I pulled back on the fridge handle only for it not to budge at all.
“Whoops! Did I lock that?” Discord’s said mockingly “I wonder if magic would unlock it?” Ignore him I said to myself ignore him and focus on the task at hoof. Wait, this is Discord. Opening the fridge door is too easy, I needed to look at the fridge in a new light. I had to look for something that you normally wouldn’t use to open a fridge. Maybe there’s an entrance on the top? I thought. Climbing onto the counter, I could see top of the abnormally tall fridge which was. if it was possible, even dustier and dirtier then the rest of the kitchen. There was mold on what was once food, milk long expired, and the horrible smells.
Oh, the smells! I couldn’t describe it, but the putrid stench nearly made me collapse and fall off the counter. I tried to block the smell out as best I could as I searched for a latch or button or something, anything that could be the switch. Feeling strange object next to my hoof. I smashed it, thinking it might be the switch I was looking for, but I felt warm liquid on my hoof instead. Pulling my hoof back, I saw blood on it. I felt horrified. I just killed something. Now that I think about
it, wasn’t whatever it was a little bit furry? Moving all the junk and molded food, I found the body of a malnourished bunny. Not just any bunny however, it was Angel, Fluttershy’s pet. I felt guilt. In my eagerness to find a switch, I killed one of my best friend's pets.
“Ah, look at you! Finding the key so quick! Guess you really are smart,” Discord said with a sadistic laugh. After he finished talking, I heard the click of something unlocking. “The fridge is unlocked. Why don’t you go get that door? You have the meat already!” I started to shake as Discords words sunk in. I would have to feed Angel’s body to the door to find my friends. What would they say if they knew what I did? I asked myself, as my mind created scenarios that ended with them not being friends with me anymore. How I got there I’ll never know, but there I was in the hallway with Angel’s body, waiting. When I saw the door coming, I didn’t move or react in any way. I just wanted to see my friends again and that was it. The door reached me, its maw wide open and ready to swallow me whole. Before it could, I threw the body at it which it ate, and I watched as it chew up Angel. This added to my guilt. After a uncounted time, the door sat down, mouth disappearing and a handle appearing in its place.
Eagerly I ran up to the door and smashed it open, only to see Discord floating in the air leisurely. I felt my anger stir to a boiling point, and I was going to start yelling when control of my body was stolen completely, rendering me a sack on the floor.
“Tsk, tsk, Twilight. Did you really think I would lead you to your friends?” Discord said “I was playing with you.” I tried to say something, but my mouth refused to move. "I’m sorry what was that? Do you want to know what happened to your friends? Oh, alright, it won’t matter anyway. Once upon a time, there was a Draconequus who was trapped in stone. Then he broke free, only for six ponies to challenge him and they ‘won’, or so they thought. To make a long story terribly short, I won, with cunning might I add, and you lost. They didn’t last as long as you. Not even Celestia and Luna lasted this long, so you are my toy, my plaything for all eternity,” Discord finished, snapping his fingers. I felt drowsy. My eyelids drooped and my thought process slowed to snail’s pace. Before sleep took me, I heard Discords voice one last time: "You should have known that I made this way too easy for you. Too bad you didn't figure it out at the start. Then again, you won't remember, just like last time, and the time before that, and the time before that."
---[]---
Blinking, I opened my eyes, seeing not my room, but another room which I didn’t recognize. It had bookshelves on all sides with fireplace as the centerpiece. Some chairs, one of which I was on, surrounded a table which was bare of any decorations besides a sole note residing in the middle with my name written on it in elegant hoof-writing. My horn glowed a violet light as I pulled the note closer to read it. It confused me, inside the note was a single word
“Repeat,” I wondered aloud “Repeat what?”
