I’ve been here before.
I don’t know when I was here before or how I’ve gotten here in the past. I just know that I’ve been here many times before.
It’s strange to think that I can sense such familiarity in a place that is fully coated in black. Light is fully void of presence. Perhaps my own body is not a presence here. I trace my claw along my cheek. No, I’m still here. I choose a direction and start walking into the unknown. That is, until my face smacks right into a wall.
“Ngh…” I place my paw against the surface. Black as night, but there is still a wall there. I feel a lump in my throat starting to form. My paw traces the wall until it comes to a corner. Then, another corner and another and another. Four corners. Four walls. I’m trapped.
My pulse begins to quicken and my eyes widen. No…no, I can’t be trapped. I can’t! My breathing kicks into overdrive and I can feel my face getting warmer and warmer. My balled up fists pound on the wall. No, no, no, no! There has to be a way out of here.
“Cease such violence, Draconiquis.” A voice creeps up from behind me. I haven’t heard that title used as a name for me since…
As if it is second nature, I snap my fingers, waiting for a door, a light, something to appear and accompany me. Nothing appears. Instead, the moment my snapped fingers create the noise, a buzz arises within me. The pit of my gut burns and rises up to my throat, coursing through my body. It burns through every fiber of my being. I let out a scream until I fall to the ground. My heartbeat pounds a mile a minute and I fall into a coughing fit.
Whispers pour in through my ears. I lift my head, cringing in the pain to find hundreds of pairs of glowing eyes, red specks among the darkness. They all whisper around me, their voices getting louder and louder. “Stop it.” I hiss. I snap my fingers again, pleading for my magic to work this time. I need something, anything to get me out of here. All I get in response was that same burning sensations crawling up my skin. My muscles go limp and I curl up on the ground. “Stop it, stop it, stop it…” I plead to the glowing eyes. Tears stream out of the corner of my eyes.
“Discord!” A voice calls from above. I glance upwards to see a faint, blue light descending from the sky. As the light gets closer, I make out the figure to be a dark blue alicorn. She land hard in front of me, her back turned to me and growling at the glowing eyes. “Are you alright?” She calls back. I swallow hard and make out a name to fit the alicorn.
“Luna?”
“Listen to me, Discord. This is a dream. It’s not real!”
“Draconiquis…” I hear the haunting, raspy voice behind me along with the faint jingle of bells. My breath catches in my throat. I snap my fingers repeatedly. Over and over again, praying for something to happen. Anything… The burning coursed through my body once more. I howl in pain as my body thrashes on the ground. I feel my tail whacking the side of the invisible walls, a cracking sound reverberating through the realm of nothingness. Finally, the burning subsides, leaving my muscles exhausted and limp. “Calm yourself. I’m only here for a visit.” I strain my eyes to find the source of the voice, the hoofsteps and curly white beard of that wretched pony emerging from the shadows. His chin is upturned and he looks down at my crippled state all the while I glare in malice at him.
“Star Swirled the Bearded…” Luna whispers in shock. “What is…?”
“Luna, get out of here. Now.” I hiss at her. She can’t see this. She just can’t… Not like this…
Star Swirled circles around my cage, looking me up and down as I struggle to push myself up off the floor. “Such power… such drive. If you would only share that with me, this would be over. Please, Draconiquis. Just show me. Let me understand and you can leave.” I grit my teeth harder at that his every word.
“Y-you’re a monster.” I manage to make out before I fall into a coughing fit. Star Swirled growls as the ground begins to crack under his feet. Light streams through the ground, sending dark shadows on his face.
“Perhaps you should look in a mirror, Draconiquis.” He stops circling and looks at me dead in the eyes. “All I want is to make sense of your chaos magic abilities.” My coughs begin to slowly transform into slight giggles. I gradually erupt into a rasp laughter, the thunderous noise traveling through the place, reaching every corner. With each laugh, the ground cracks more and more until the surface beneath my hands and feet are a mosaic of black and white. I can hear Luna calling out something that I can’t make out from behind me, but I don’t want to stop. I need to get out.
“Make sense…what fun is there in making sense?” As that last word leaves my mouth, the ground falls through. The world goes from pitch black to blinding white as shards of black pieces fall. My whole body succumbs to the force of gravity dragging me down into the brilliant white word. I hear Luna call my name, but I don’t answer. My breath feels lost in space and my heart goes silent. I roll my head back, diving headfirst into nothingness and close my eyes, letting myself fall further and further into whatever lies below.