Earning My Name

The room around me was in a constant shift of random object, though because of it's state, it reminded me a lot of my hive. The only object that stayed the same was the chair that I was on. Though this place was much more vibrant than the hive could ever be. Maybe a redecoration could be in order? Why am I thinking of interior design? What is this place doing to me?

“What is this place?” I asked, slamming my hoof on the desk. The grassy terrain exploded into thousands of pink butterflies, spinning around the room and the reconstituting back at the area that the desk was, turning into a molten red and bubbling up cool air from it's depths.

“Come now, Queeny. I am not going to take orders or demands from you. I think you should have known this by now.” Discord scoffed, leaning back in his seat. “You should be more cooperative with me instead of bossy, or else I won't help you get out.”

“There is a way out of here?” If I could just get out of this place, I wouldn't have to worry about the where. But now it's about the how.

“Of course there is. Well, one for you, that is.” He answered, shifting his gaze away from me.

“And for you?”

“Well, I have always considered this place to be my prison for all of eternity” he started, looking back to me with a know all grin. “You see, this place is, yet it is not. Was, but will not be. You are here, but you are not. Nowhere but everywhere at the same time.” He scratched his chin, “So, what is this place?”

A riddle? This was way beneath me. And I could tell he was receiving enjoyment from this as well. But the way he described it. It was nagging at me. I couldn't help myself as I softly muttered, “Limbo...”

I was shocked at myself from that answer. I directed my sight back to him as he rose out of his seat in a burst of fire, engulfing all of the free spirited object occupying the room save my chair. He roared, “Exactly!” and quickly leaned closer to me, eyes locked on mine, “So how are you in my limbo?” He questions with a harsh snarl.

I felt my heart stop for a moment. I've never seen a Draconequus act like this.

“My limbo resides in a stone prison created by six meddling ponies that held powers too great for them to fathom! Yet they used it like it was nothing.” He continued, ranting on in a way that made the walls tremble, floating away from me once again.

“Six ponies?” I sat up in my seat, “One of them wouldn't be named, Twilight Sparkle, would it?”

He sights struck me once again, his chin pointed outward, the lion's paw behind his back and the talon pointing down to me before lifting up, causing me to rise as well, closing the distance between us once more. “Did you say, Twilight Sparkle?” He sneered.

The fear I felt from this being was overpowering. I couldn't bring myself to say anything or do anything on my own behalf. He had more of a grip on this place than I did, this made him more powerful than I was. I knew how to pick my battles.

“How do you know this pony?”

“I...” I took a breath to regain what little composure I had left, “I too was defeated by six ponies, led by the very same unicorn.”

The invisible grip binding me lessened as I levitated back to my seat. I watched him pace back and forth, running his claws through his beard. Soon, he stopped, letting his hooves meet the floor once again. He waved his paw, the floor vanish into a swirling vat of blue and black, swirling violently until the colors warped into a landscape. The landscape of Equestria.

I rose from my seat, stepping down onto the image below me. A pulse emanating from my hooves to the walls and then back to their origin. The image below then started to focus in on the area of Canterlot. I could see my swarm all over the castle. It was as if I was there all over again. But just as it replayed in my mind, it replayed below. All of the events that transpired were shown to Discord. When the blast appeared, launching my swarm from the reaches of the castle, I winced and looked away, closing my eyes.

“Turn it back on!” He yelled. But I couldn't bring myself to look back at the image. “I said” I felt his power overtake me once more, forcing my head down and my eye lids open, “back on!”

The image in my view was dark. All of my instincts were telling me to look away and shut my eyes. But why? My heart was racing, my hooves sweaty, my body squirming against his grasp for freedom, but besides the forcefulness, I couldn't fathom any other reason why I resisted so. Until...

The dark view soon regained color. The terrain was the Everfree Forrest. Drones lay around, stirring slightly, but soon they started to get up and move around. They ran about the area for a little bit, but soon moved on. They had their hooves to their mouths occasionally, but were silent through the imaged floor. They seemed to be looking for me, but soon moved on. When the last one faded from sight, my body started to jolt and fidget more than before against his hold and I didn't understand why.

“Wait... Was this a spell?” He said inquisitively. I caught him out of my peripheral, peering at me and then to the image, his talon back at his beard. “And it seems it has a powerful protection spell. Attached to it... It is taking all my power just to keep this going.”

A movement was seen in the image below. A being wearing a cloak moved around the small hills of the tree covered scape, stopped and dug at the ground unearthing... A horn? The being flinched, and looked as if it looked directly at me. I was flung against the wall behind me, the imaged floor faded to black once again.

“That horn...” I said softly, as I lifted myself back up. “That was mine.”

The room's darkness began filling with a blue hue. I could see Discord looking at the floor in disbelief. A suitcase appeared behind him as he slumped back and sat down on it. The walls around us started to close in. Moving slowly like a cliche trap from stories.

“Discord...”

“They knew...” He said, unmoved from my call.

“Discord.” I called louder. The walls now moving faster, pushing me against him and not showing any signs of stopping.

“How did they do it?”

“Discord!” I exclaimed. When I bellowed, the walls stopped and a burst of green energy forced them apart. I stamped my hoof against the floor, staring at him with a mix of confusion and anger. “I don't know what's going on, but I don't not wish to stay here any longer. You said I can escape! So I wish to leave” I slammed my front hooves down “now!” Another shockwave emanated from my hooves, the walls around us shattered and blew apart.

This brought the Draconequus' attention back to his surrounding and to me. A smirk appeared on his muzzle, twisting to a grin. He appeared over my shoulder behind me and slid the chair under me once more. A table came into existence near the chair along with some water that poured glass around it.

“Please, my little Queeny” He said softly, “don't lose your head. It's a very tricky process to get out of here. But there is definitely a way.”

“Then why are you still here? Why would you not also attempt escape?” I asked.

He popped up over my other shoulder and pulled his lion paw in front of me, “Because this is my prison.” A statue appeared in his paw that looked like him in an odd pose, “It was created for me to keep me in, so it won't let me leave it. But it shouldn't halt anypony else from leaving.”

“...Shouldn't?”

“Well, nopony has ever been in here with me before. But I'm fairly sure it's specifically attuned to my magic alone. Thus trapping only me in here.” He pulled his paw away from me and slithered back to the suitcase, sitting on it as it transformed into a bulbous pig. “I have escaped from here before, but there has to be certain circumstances in place. It's highly circumstantial.”

He was plotting something. Though with his whimsical expressions, it was hard to read him. He was definitely not like the other Draconequus' I've seen before.

“Well, through helping me, what would you get out of it?” I inquired. “I'm sure not even this world would give something for nothing.”

This made him give a hearty chuckle. I knew there was something, and I wouldn't wish to be blind sided by it.

“There is no veil over your eyes, Queeny!” The rubble from the walls started to clear off the edges of the platform, falling a great distance before a soft plop from the depths of the void. “There is only one thing I want, and that is freedom. But...” He straighten his back, looking down at me, “I would like to know more of your current predicament. Nopony should have as much power that we witnessed.”

The one from the image? It seemed like it looked right at me before I was blown backward. Did it know we were watching? But it was a replayed image. It couldn't have known that we would rewatch the events, right?