//------------------------------// // Trapped // Story: "Is that you, my love?" // by Hopefullygoodgrammar //------------------------------//             Author’s Note: I’m gonna keep doing these because it’s too late to back out now                                                                       Trapped Discord stared in horror as the red and white tear in reality that he had made was destroyed by Luna. “NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO!!!!” he howled. Luna paid him no heed, he doubted that she even heard him from beyond the veil of worlds, but that made it no less saddening, if anything it actually made it worse, knowing that even though he could see and hear Luna, she couldn’t see or hear him. Discord frantically clawed at the spot where the tear had been, but it was useless. Discord slumped to the ground, his long, serpentine body going completely slack against the slimy stones under him. That’s just about the last of my magic he thought Oh sweet Celestia I’ll never get back to Equestria. Panic began to set in, the emotion wasn’t entirely new to him, he had felt panic both times that he had been imprisoned by the Elements, but that panic had died out when he realized that he would get out eventually, but this time there was almost no hope that he could get back. He was trapped in this world, his magic was almost completely gone, he was malnourished and the eyes that he was using weren’t even his, they belonged to some poor homeless creature that he had found dead in a gutter. Discord hated death, to him it was the ultimate buzzkill, in Equestria he knew of tyrants like King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis who would commit murder, but he himself had never once physically hurt anypony, he had never actually witnessed death until now and it made him sick just thinking about it. This place is tainted  he thought  Their type of chaos is a type that I want no part of. There’s no fun in this, no mischief, no laughter or mommy-style reprimands from Celestia or Fluttershy, all there is is war and murder and…. that other thing…. Discord shuddered as he remembered That Other Thing, in Equestria it was never mentioned amongst polite society and it rarely ever happened at all. But this world seemed to be much less….. restrained in terms of that kind of thing; it really was disgusting. Discord heard the sounds of approaching feet and slithered into an upright position, not having the energy to float, he waited until the creature passed before he crawled out into the dark street. After he had escaped the mansion he thought that he could find a way to replenish his power, fully expecting the outside world to be at least a little bit like Equestria, but his hopes were utterly dashed when he saw that the town was the same as the mansion: lots of stone and wood, not many trees and a buck-load of odd gadgets that would have interested him had he not been in a hurry to leave. At first he had been awed at all of the chaotic goodness this new world had to offer: kids (he assumed that they were kids) ran willy-nilly in the streets playing pranks and games, carriages were pulled by creatures that looked remarkably like ponies (He made a mental note to try bringing one of them back with him), creatures using curses that made even HIM blush and a sun and moon that weren’t controlled by magic! All of it seemed like his kind of place, but then he noticed the filth and stench, he saw the homeless creatures gathered around shop windows, basking in the meager light, he saw starving animals rummaging in garbage and he saw many a drunken rampage, soon after he got his paws on a newspaper and was horrified by the reports of all the uprisings, full-blown wars, murders and cases involving That Other Thing. The next few days were spent slithering in the shadows of alleyways and avoiding the gaze of the creatures, he saw a few unpleasant things during that time, but he knew that he couldn’t do anything about it; he couldn’t afford to waste the magic that he was building up within his body. After spending a whole week like this he was finally ready to make the tear and return to Equestria, but something went wrong, he ended up in the mind of a human in his world, a human whose mind was also inhabited by a creature made of darkness and hatred, Discord knew that if it continued to remain undisturbed within the human’s mind then it would start to corrupt him. So Discord began to play the part of a conscience, managing to actually communicate with the human, who he learned was named Alois, he told him to meet with Celestia and, to his surprise, he heeded his words, he had felt overwhelming relief: he would be saved and the Shadow would be destroyed. At least half of his relief was vindicated, the Shadow WAS destroyed, but in her anger Luna had also destroyed the tear that he had made. Now he was completely and utterly bucked. Discord felt tears begin to well up in his borrowed eyes, but he held them in.  No  he thought as his despair turned to anger  I can’t die this way, I absolutely refuse to die in a place that has no chocolate rain! Then he sensed it: magic. Hope filled his entire being and he got up from his spot on the ground with renewed confidence. Discord channeled the last of his energy and teleported himself back to the only place that might hold the key to solving his problems: the mansion. He appeared right in the lofty foyer not five feet from a maid who took one look at him and ran screaming out of the door, Discord watched her go with a slightly annoyed look on his face, Well I suppose it’s not every day that you see a draconequus wink into existence in front of you, but did she really have to be so rude about it? Discord sniffed the air, trying to smell the source of the magic, to his shock it was close, very close indeed. Discord put his nose to the ground and began sniffing around, not caring that he looked like a pig hunting for truffles (Yummy, yummy truffles). 20 minutes later he found the source: a white orb sitting on a velvet cushion. Discord picked the stone up and was surprised by how jagged and rough it felt despite how smooth it looked, Discord tossed it from one paw to the other, testing it’s weight, which seemed to change ever so slightly with each toss. Discord hmmm-ed and then spun the orb around on a talon like a basketball, he watched in interest as the orb spun, faster and faster, until it was a blur on the tip of his talon.  After about 2 minutes the orb was still spinning, despite the fact that he wasn’t doing anything to it at all, Discord looked at with more intensity as it continued to spin. The orb began to glow and spark, it levitated off of his talon to hang in the air; the more he looked at it the more it disturbed him. This isn’t natural magic  he thought worriedly  This is…. wrong and not MY kind of wrong either, this thing’s magic reeks of blood and the kind of arcane mumbo-jumbo that ponies like KIng Sombra practiced, I bet it reacts to negative emotions, that’s why I could only sense it when I was all weepy. Discord was too distracted to see that the orb had stopped spinning and was now glowing blue and white. He didn’t notice the lengthening of the shadows or the lights going out until he was shrouded in darkness with the only source of light coming from the orb. Discord turned to the orb and looked at it with fear rising in his gut, far off he could hear, or imagined that he could hear, the whispering of many voices. Then the orb flared with red light and Discord was pulled into the Void.