The feathery, pink tip of Discord's dragon tail swishes back and forth across the once elegant, red carpet. Instead, dust now floats inches above the ground, disturbed by the constant motion. It delivers a muffled, "Thump, thump thump." It keeps in time with the times of day and night against the marble floor.
Meanwhile, Screwball walks slowly down the abandoned, mane hall, having gotten easily past the enslaved, pegasus guards the moment they saw her familiar purple swirls. The velvet carpet that lines its way through the dance hall- once so alive and full of ponies ready to party- is torn up and dusty now. No one lives here that Discord didn't chase out. Most of them just fled on their own and the white and grey guards that couldn't make it are now under the draconnequus's command. The stained glass windows portraying the prophecy of his first defeat on one side barely stand, cracked and broken with the sunlight shuddering through them in spots. On the other side lies the prophecy where Discord was defeated this time by Twilight and her friends. The moonlight shows prominently through those and each star reflects through the unchecked cracks. Finally she reaches the end of the darkened, dance hall. The enormous, wooden doors await her arrival, splintered and in shambles. No need to open them. Screwball can easily stroll through the mare-sized hole that cracks between the two brown slabs.
Discord's lazy pupil flicks upward from where he amusingly toys with a smooze kitten by using a flashy, laser baton. The throne room in which he dwells is a lot more vibrant than the run-down, recreation hall. Excluding the marble floor and carpet covered in dust, the windows here glimmer with constantly dancing images of frolicking creatures. None of them being ponies other than Screwball, of course. She is embroidered in the new centerpiece of the throne, her special eyes and giddy face are enough to light the entire hallway. Her body is framed still, all except for the small, fern-colored propeller atop her hat that continually spins around and around. Small insecticides resembling breezies but with sharp teeth and unpleasing hair gnaw about the air. The baton, glow stick emanates light over and over again in a long stream against the dull carpet on the ground. The draconnequus notices a longer shadow cross the stream of light. The same spinning propeller that sits above his head. His co-ruler steps in almost shyly. It would seem as if she doesn't even wish to be there. This time, Discord lifts his whole head, dropping the baton for the smooze to make short work of, "Screwball?"
Shaking off her dark hood with a few flaps of her head, it settled in a rumpled necklace around her neck. She almost stutters, "Yes, Discord. It's me. I-it's nice to see you again! I feel like it has been forever since we've talked! When was the last time we saw each other? Was it when we first took over Canterlot? Stallion, that feels like a long time ago."
Discord's features shockingly beginning to contort into an aggravated expression of distaste and he lifts up skinny hand to snap. The earth pony is cut off of her train of thought as her lips convert into a string which then ties up into a perfect bow, "Oh, just stop it with all your frivolous, small talk. I'm leading a new empire now and don't have a single second for any of it. So if you have something important to say then spit it out already! If you don't then get out."
He makes a pulling motion with his furry arm and the string is undone. Almost immediately, Screwball's jaw drops loose; whether out of shock or because she was waiting to talk is impossible to figure out, "What? Of course I have something important to say! Otherwise, I wouldn't be coming to see you. And you don't really look busy from what I see. From what I see, you have all the time in the world to be listening to my 'frivolous, small talk!' You've got a right mouth if you think you can talk to me that way after all I did for you. Don't you remember we had a deal? You can't just go off running things without consent from me! I'm the reason you're a ruler in the first place! We are supposed to govern this land TOGETHER. That's the entire point of our deal!"
Suddenly, with a great upheaval, the draconnequus uses both his stubby arms to fling himself from his throne, tail sending a gust of wind to engulf the surprised smooze beneath him in dust. He flies across the otherwise empty hallway until his grey horse-head stares at Screwball directly, weird eyes meeting even weirder eyes. The earth pony nearly trembles, feeling his hot, nostril breath so close on her rib cage, "Well guess what, the deal's off." His tongue slithers in and out between his two jaws. "I'm far more powerful than you and that pathetic rabbit, so there is nothing you can do to take back your rule."
"This is mutiny! I don't believe this!" Screwball barks back, her eyes holding a betrayed and confused look. "I'm the one that brought you back. I gave you life and this is how you repay me? You are under no obligation to steal my power from me. We are connected through familial ties. Remember your wife, the would-be queen?"
"Oh, you mean Derpy?" A sinister cackle sends a reluctant shudder down Screwball's spine and from the corner of her eye, a familiar hoof steps out of the shadows from behind the throne near Discord's coiled tail. But the blondness of her shiny mane no longer reflects the light and her eyes are a dull grey.