My plan was perfect. I had my goal in my hoof. But it was ripped away by six little ponies that somehow prevailed. No matter. I was get to my goal. There was just a lot of planning in store to get my revenge. I already had the basic outline. All I need to do is--
“Oh my” A voice echoed in my head. “What have we here? A visitor to this plane or is it that you've been locked up as well?”
The voice was annoying. It sounded so happy, so obviously, I disliked it. Where on Equestria is it comi-
“Not the talkative type I see. Wait... Thinkative? Whatever. Why are you encroaching on my solitude?”
I don't know what you- Wait... I cannot speak? As a matter of fact, I cannot see or move whatsoever. What is happening? What did those ponies do to me?
“Maybe it's that you don't know how? Oh ho ho my my dear. You must be brand new! But if you want, I can teach you. Just think the words that you wish to verbalize and I'll be able to understand!”
“This is stupid. How could something like that even work?” I thought to myself.
“Yet it does work!” The loud voice proclaimed louder. “Oh my if I knew I was going to have company, I would have tidied up!”
“Where am I?” I demanded. “Who are you? Why can I not move? Tell me now!”
“Well well, aren't we bossy. If you're going to act that way, I guess you don't want anymore of my help.” The voice echoed with disdain.
“Wait!” I called, but I heard no reply. “Hello? Answer me!” Silence. “I...” I sighed heavilly, “I am sorry.”
“Oh my word you apologized! This is too good! Oh, but I guess I could help you out a little more.” He said, making it sound more like a chore that assistance. “Now, this place is a different plane of reality. It's a special place where specific laws cannot control us, but other laws do.” He explained, “A lot of the laws governed are from your own thoughts.”
“If I wanted a history of this place, I would have asked.” I seethed.
“Ah but that's just it! There is no history in this place!” The voice proclaimed, “Or rather, it is you that is history! This place exists and doesn't at the same time, but just because you reside in it! That's the best part about it!”
“So how can I move, or in that case, see?”
“My my, have you not been listening? You can control this place just by thinking! If you think about motion, you'll be right on your little way! Just give it a try and see what you can do!”
Well... I guess there were dumber ideas. I thought hard, Thought about my own appearance. There I was! It was as if I were looking at myself in the mirror. Like I wasn't connected with my body at all. But I thought about moving my hoof and it moved. I was in control again, limited as it might be. Then I noticed a widely spread white void around me. A vision of pure nothingness. It was completely dismal. But it was the first look at my regain of control. I looked back at myself and realized the only thing missing was my crown. Nevertheless, I was starting to figure out this place, a small piece at a time.
“Hello? Who are you?” I asked, taking a wobbly step forward. It was more difficult to consciously think about your actions when your whole life, you just been able to do things without thinking about them.
“My aren't we rude? Why would I tell you my name before you introduce yourself to me?” He said gruffly.
“I am the queen of the changelings.” I stated, looking around the vast void to see if I might be able to spot the one speaking with me.
“That isn't a name, it's a title! Queens come and go. So which one are you?”
“I...” I started, but was unsure of how to answer it.
“But, it does narrow it down, at least. I tell you what, navigate your way to me and I shall introduce myself. That should be befitting to someone in your case, am I wrong?”
“My case...? Very well. But how do you navigate this vastness?” I asked, looking at the surrounding.
“I do believe I've already told you how! Come now, the eons don't wait around!”
This cretin was insufferable. But, he was willing to help me, so I guess I would just have to follow along until I could figure a way out of whatever, or rather, where ever this is.
So, I can control this place with my mind. Well, let's create a path. I closed my eyes and thought of a trail before me, but when I reopened them, all that appeared were small patches of dirt floating around me. I closed my eyes again, trying to imagine an outside trail that was on the ground. When I looked again, there was even more dirt than before. It was floating around as far as the eye could see. Some of it slamming into each other, making the others jet off in every which direction.
I shut my eyes again thinking of the trail harder this time. When I opened my eyes, all of the patches were floating in a stationary place. Then, they all started zooming towards me slamming into me hard, knocking me over. It was covering me, more and more piling on top of me, making it difficult to breathe.
I winced in pain, “Stop!” I yelled. The dirt stopped.
I looked down at myself and then at the dirt.
“On the ground...?” I half asked. The obedient dirt patches flopped to the ground. The patches that covered my body fell into line as well.
“M... Make a trail...?” I asked as I rode to my feet, feeling bewildered by this whole affair. The dirt obeyed. Forming itself together to make a twisting road that seemed to stretch on forever.
Well, I'm sure it would take forever to follow this trail. I'm even more sure this trail wouldn't take me to the other being that is here with me. “So me the way to the one that was talking to me.” I demanded of the dirt.
The trail then popped itself out of formation and back to it's previous floating state before it slapped back together and spiraled around, making a trail that led straight up like a staircase. I started walking forward, still a bit shaky. When I reached the ascending trailcase, I was suddenly lifted off of the dirt laid around and was launched straight upward through the center of the spiral before stopping suddenly and thrown off to my left, the dirt spiraling around me as I shot through the void.
The force kept shooting me left and right, up and down until halting at a large stone cube, floating in the suspended void. The dirt that spiraled around me smashed into the stone, engulfing the entire structure. Then the brown faded away and it was the same gray that the stone was. But now, instead of the large solid, featureless object that I arrived at, it dawned a door.
I reached out to the door, pushing on it lightly, it creaked open to a dark room. In the middle of the room, the only object I could see was a single wooden chair. In the blink of an eye, I found myself sitting in that same chair. The door slammed closed behind me and a blue light burned into view as a being rose from the ground, laughing loudly. A being that looked as if it was pieced together by a foal. But a familiar being nonetheless. A Draconequus.
The blue light faded to a checkered pattered room that now contained more items than before, namely, a desk that looked as if it were made of water and another chair that looked like seaweed shaped to form a chair. The walls had pictures of the Draconequus in various poses and settings. There was a fireplace that has a frozen fire in it. In the corner, there was a spoon and a hat dancing together and on the ceiling, there was a toad standing near the center, motionless, but staring at me.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Queeny!” He said, giving a bow as he slowly lowered from the air to the seat behind the liquid-form desk. When he sat down, the desk solidified and changed into a grassy meadow with tiny woodland creatures running around on it. The chair transformed into a cloud, bobbing up and down, “My name is Discord!”
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?
