//------------------------------// // Stupid Dog, You Make Me Look Bad! // Story: The Queen of Shadows // by megabyte97 //------------------------------// It takes a special kind of individual to lock someone away until they lose track of time. I’m not talking about the mothers who send their kids to their rooms, I’m talking about the people who throw others in jails and forget about them until even their bones have turned to dust. Had I known what was going to happen, I would have gladly taken the chimera up on his offer of world domination. “Hey Shadow.” A gravely voice speaks up from the darkness. ‘Now, however…’ I think with… well I couldn’t really sigh without a body but manipulating the air, I make a fairly decent imitation of it. “Yes, Tirek?” I ask the feeble red and black centaur, not even bothering to focus on him. “How did you get to this world?” “...” Our prison is in complete darkness, but I focus on my cellmate with such a deadpan expression that I am positive he could feel my thoughts on his question. “What?” “You’re just now asking me this?” I ask in a stupefied tone, “After we’ve been in here for how long?!?” “By the stars Wraith, just answer my question!” “You know what?” I ask the incompetent moron as I feel something snap. After what has felt like an eternity I can feel the chains keeping my anger in check finally being pushed to their limits and shattering like fine china. Gathering the fumes of magic left in me, I force myself to manifest for the first time since the alicorn sisters locked me away. Lighting a fire in what I believe to be the palm of my hand, I illuminate our prison. Spires of black rock contrast against the red cave walls, the only other color being the grey of Tirek’s cage, built out of a magic dampening material, heck even the giant double doors to our prison are red with black markings. My incorporeal form towers over everything else, phasing through several pillars of stone. Bringing both of my giant star filled hands up, I brush my purple locks of hair over my shoulders and adjust the crown on my head before lunging for the doors to my prison and jamming my giant hands between them. With a roar, I try to force the doors to bend to my will and open. The doors start to resist immediately, sending magic back through my hands, it feels like I am being burned by the sun and I use the agony the magic brings to fuel my rage further. The doors start to give, but just as I feel victory is in my grasp something changes. The light filtering through the crack in the door changes the magic, instead of a burning sun racing down my arms I can feel the incorporeal appendages growing heavy. Gritting what used to be my teeth I force the door to open a smidgen more before I realize that I can hear music. ‘Those fucking horses!’ I think, trying to fuel my rage faster than the mystic song can drain it. Forcing the doors open a sliver more, I take my chances and squeeze my form through them. I scream in agony as something is torn from my being, but the moment I collapse on the cool damp night grass on the other side I can safely say it was worth it. I pick my incorporeal purple head up off the grass when something starts growling at me. Glancing up I come face to face… to face… to face… “Really?” I hiss at the cerberus. Putting my dwindling anger into my voice I whisper to the mutt, “Sleeeeeeep.” The dog staggers from the amount of magic being thrown at it before collapsing into a deep dreamless slumber. Dragging myself up, I allow the wind to move my form towards the surrounding forest and away from the mutt guarding my previous cell. Gathering the wisps of my magic, the effects of the door are made known to me. I can feel the pain that the door made me endure, but there is nothing beyond that. This should have me panicking, but the effects of the mystic song grip my emotions in a death hold. ‘Which means I’m on a time limit...’ Once the pain is gone there won’t be anything driving me, basically crippling me and inducing an eternal slumber. With this in mind I summon my magic and fling my form in a random direction. Forests, plains, and even a desert speed by below me before I am forced to go to the ground. The pain is dwindling, and as much as I don’t like it, I know what I have to do. ‘I need to find someone weak, someone as weak as I am right now.’ Gliding along a dirt road I feel someone just up ahead and put everything on being able to… use this being. Lying against a tree on the side of the road, a pegasus mare is asleep. She has a tannish brown coat of fur with a two tone grey and black mane, and is wearing what I can only describe as a pair of shorts, a very sturdy hat, and an explorer jacket that barely fits over her mammaries. The most important features however, is that her waist is wrapped in red bandages under her arms, and her breathing is shallow… very shallow. Turning around, I force my form to mimic the mare before lying down against the tree, adjusting my form until it perfectly overlaps the mare’s. Shutting off my senses, I come face to face with the mare once again, but in an endless darkness. She is laying down with a sleepy expression on her face and I quickly walk around behind her before laying down next to her and wrapping my arms around her form, almost like I am comforting her. I open our eyes with a strangled gasp, only to flinch and shut them again as I feel the damage to our body. I latch on to the mare’s pain, making it my own and using it to guide my healing capabilities. Opening our eyes a crack I glance over my memories and open our mouth. “My name is Daring Do,” I whisper between steadying breaths. “I am twenty six years old, and I am known as A.K. Yearling, a famous author.” Taking a deep breath that turns into a yawn halfway through, I come to terms with my situation and allow us to drift off to sleep once my wound stops sending waves of agony through our body. ‘My name is lost to time, but I am remembered as the Shadow Queen.’