The Lockseed's curse

by Equestriasservant

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Crossover, Human, Sad, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Other, Adventure
Length: 47074

Life in Ponyville is disrupted by a human arriving with a strange power, an even stranger past and an EVEN stranger destiny

There is a legend about a tree that can bear a fruit of pure gold. Capable of granting the consumer ultimate power. Guarded by the creature known as the first consumer, this "forbidden," fruit has drawn the eyes of many and claimed the lives of many more. Not one person has managed to gain the power of the fruit. Legends swirl around the golden fruit such as the name of the place the fruit is said to grow. Equestria.
Taking the fruit would mean the end of the world, sparking a war between the bearer of the fruit and those determined to keep the fruit from falling into the wrong hands. One cursed warrior is determined to challenge these guardians, take the fruit and be granted the ultimate power himself.

Published 2015-08-17 20:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-22 21:54:46 UTC

Prologue: The Princess's secret

Princess Celestia stared out at the city of Canterlot from her balcony, deep in thought. The Alabaster white Alicorn stared at the spires of the mountain city, unseeing. Her soft pink eyes watched the citizens of the capital of Equestria as they made their way about their evening duties. She was just about to lower the sun so her sister, Princess Luna could raise the moon. Something felt of. Way off. The Alicorn traced several of her ponies making their way across the streets, dressed in finery. Many Unicorns, a few pegasi and one or two earth ponies. She frowned. Everything looked normal. So why did she feel as though something was wrong. Everything was normal. But it...wasn't. Her good mood had lasted all through the day, even through the courts of the day. Then her mood had started to sink like the sun was now. It just didn't make any sense. Celestia frowned. She supposed that it could be something to do with...

"Good evening sister."

Celestia started as the door to her room opened with a slight crash. Standing in the doorway was her younger sister. Princess Luna smiled as she walked into the room. The waning light played off her dark blue coat and navy blue armor. Her turquoise eyes alight with amusement at the sight of the White Alicorn standing at the entrance to her balcony, with her fur ruffled and her eyes wildly searching for the disturbance. The Princess of the night sat upon one of the many cushions in the room and smiled at her sister.

"We apologize for disturbing you sister, but it is time for us to raise the moon." Luna said, nodding at the continuously darkening sky. Celestia shook herself slightly and grinned back at the darker princess.

"Yes Luna, I apologize for the long wait. I was distracted." Luna nodded understandingly and watched quietly as her sister turned to the open balcony. A golden aura surrounded Celestia's horn. The Sun slowly descended past the horizon and vanished, taking the light with it. Luna joined her sister at the balcony and raised her own horn. A navy bluish aura surrounded the younger princess's horn. Within seconds, the silvery light of the full moon. Luna and Celestia smiled at each other before retreating into the castle. Closing the doors, Celestia ignited the logs in her ornate fireplace with a flick of her horn. The flames lit the room with warmth as she magically summoned a pot of coffee with two mugs. Luna nodded in thanks as she took her cup within her magic adding a few lumps of sugar as she did so. Celestia drank deeply from her cup, almost draining it in one. Luna frowned at her sister.

"We have not known you to drink a cup of tea like that in a long time sister," Luna said tilting her head to one side in concern. "Are you well?" Celestia refilled her cup and drained it again before looking back at her sister with a concerned look. She had considered talking with sister when the feeling first began to bother her but had dismissed the idea almost as quickly as she had dismissed the feeling when it had first started bothering her. She shook herself before answering.

"Luna, has anything felt..." She paused, trying to think about how she wanted to put her question, "Off to you recently?" Luna frowned confusedly. "That is to say," Celestia said quickly trying to avoid embarrassing herself. "Have you had...a sinking feeling?" Luna's frown had deepened. The Princess of the night watched Celestia for a moment before shaking her head slowly.

"No, sister. I have felt nothing of that caliber." Celestia frowned to, not taking her eyes off her sister. The two Alicorns sat facing each other silence for a few minutes before Luna spoke again. "Sister....is it something to do with the..." Luna's eyes darted over to a small painting on the opposite wall. It showed a white furred unicorn with light blue eyes, a wavy blonde mane and a smile, showing shiny white teeth. Celestia turned to look at the picture for a second then got to her hooves and approached the framed picture. She pressed the picture lightly with her horn. There was a small click then a small rectangular slab of wall slid apart.. As the hidden door opened with a great grinding of gears, a bright golden light shone from the opening, growing brighter and brighter as the door slid open. Celestia stood staring into the golden light, her white fur shining gold in the light. Luna stood and walked up to her sisters side. They stood together, staring into the golden light. Luna shook her head.

"It's at times like these that I wonder why we kept it." Celestia said softly, tearing her eyes away from the light. "It's not like we needed it." Luna nodded turning her head to look at her sister with a soft, concerned look. "Was it right Lulu...the decision we made for this? It's something that bothers me immensely." Luna nodded slightly and Celestia smiled at her younger sister. "Still...at least I have you with me Lulu. As long as I have you, my student and the other element bearers with me, I'm confident that we will pull through." Luna smiled at the praise.

"Do you think it is time to tell the elements of Harmony about this?" she asked, motioning with her head toward the golden Light. Celestia shook her head tiredly.

"I don't think so yet Luna. We'll see at the gathering next week. Goodnight Lulu." Luna nodded giving a small smile. She retreated out of the room, shutting the door behind her as Celestia closed the hidden door, sealing the golden light away once again.

Chapter one: The Moons shadow

Princess Luna sighed as she strode down the darkened corridor of Canterlot castle. The guards stood slightly straighter, their golden armor clanking slightly with their movement. She nodded grimly at them, attempting to preserve her rapidly falling mood. Why couldn't Equestria's problems be more trivial like courtroom matters? No, they had to be much, much worse than that. First, her Nightmare Moon problem then the return of that irritating mix-and-match creature Discord. Yeah, those were the problems Equestria had to face. It was never ending. Now this...Luna sighed exasperatedly as she rounded the corner towards the main throne room. Pausing for a second Luna changed her course and pushed open the huge double doors. They swung open with a loud creaking noise that echoed throughout the long empty halls. Luna smiled slightly as she made her way through the hall down towards her and her sisters' thrones. The stain glass windows cast flickering spots of light along the floor and walls. She grinned slightly as she looked at several of the images, such as the bearers of the elements of harmony taking down Discord, followed by them defeating Nightmare Moon.

"I was wandering when you'd get here my lady." Luna flinched slightly as the deep voice sounded right behind her. The princess turned her head lightly to see the Unicorn half hidden in the corner, standing behind her. His sleek, black fur had rendered him almost invisible, due to the long shadows filling the hall. The only thing that actually gave away his position was the blackish crimson mane that ran down to his back. A long grey cloak covered the unicorns body pooling on the ground around him. Piercing ice blue eyes shone out of the shadows. Luna turned towards the unicorn and smiled albeit a slightly forced smile. "What's wrong?" The unicorn asked coldly, tilting his head to the side with a small smirk, showing his pearly teeth. "I didn't scare you did I my Lady?" Luna gave a soft huff of annoyance.

"You know as well as I do that it is not polite to sneak up on an unsuspecting pony, Shadow." she said coolly. The unicorn snorted indignantly, stepping out into the light. Up close, Luna could now see the dark bags under the Unicorns eyes. She shook her head in annoyance. "It really doesn't do you any good to stay up night after night for me, Shadow. You need rest." Shadow rolled his eyes and gave another snort of indignation.

"I'm sorry you have so little faith in me My lady Luna." He said grinning. His voice was soft, but warm, with a fruity tone to it. He stared straight into Luna's eyes, her shining blue eyes meeting his cold blue ones. One full of quiet amusement, the other, full to the brim with sobering ice. Shadow shook his head, giving a short bark of laughter. "Yeah, Luna, see, you seem to get on alright with no sleep every night so I don't see what your excuse is." Luna chuckled softly, turning away from Shadow and making her way over the two thrones at the end of the giant room. Sitting down upon the smaller of the two, she fixed the stallion with a look.

"Anything to report Apprentice?" She asked. Shadow shook his head looking slightly annoyed before replying, in what was clearly a tone of anger:

"No My lady, there's no trace of them anywhere. The riders are nowhere to be found." Shadow paused for a few seconds before continuing, "There again, there's nothing to suggest that the riders are to blame for the...agitation." Luna frowned, gazing at Shadow with such intensity that the dark furred unicorn shifted slightly from hoof to hoof. She sighed slightly, standing and pacing about in front of Shadow. "Luna...."Shadow said tentatively. The night princess turned to look at him again. Shadow grimaced for a second as though chewing something particularly unpleasant. "Don't you think it's time that we told Rainbow and the others about..." Luna sat back down in front of her apprentice and mirrored his grimace.

"My sister does not think the time is right to tell the Element bearers about it. She does disagree with us whether it is time for the truth to come out." Luna nodded at the questioning look that Shadow directed at her. "Yes I do agree that we should tell them about it but our hooves are tied." Shadow nodded in understanding before rocking backwards on his hooves. Luna smiled at him. "I know you miss Twilight and Rainbow Dash but you must be patient Shadow. The time will come for you to reveal yourself to them again." Shadow grunted angrily.

"I...miss those girls." He said standing up. Luna smiled and stood too.

"I know you do Shadow. Get some rest. We'll have a long day at the gathering tomorrow." Shadow nodded with a wry smile before moving away from Luna and beginning the long march back towards the double doors. Just before he reached the halfway point of the room, the unicorn turned back to Luna, who had still not moved from her throne.

"Luna...Is the driver still safe?" He asked. Luna nodded with a grin.

"Yes. Safe under Lock and Key Shadow. Good night."

Good Night Princess

Chapter 2: LEMON ARMS! The rider is here

Twilight Sparkle, though normally a pony of incredible patience was now finding it incredibly hard to restrain her need to tell her friend, Rainbow dash to put a sock in her snout, to stop her from continuously talking. The Violet furred unicorn was sitting next to the impatient cyan colored Pegasus on one of the many round tables in the throne room of Canterlot that had been spread about the hall. Twilight and her main group of friends, five other ponies, each with their own...uniqueness had been invited to Canterlot by Princess Celestia for a special gathering. Though the letter Celestia had sent to Twilight had not been very informative about what the gathering was actually going to be about. The only thing that the letter had said was that it was a "social gathering to celebrate the continued peace." Though according to several of the Nobles that she had talked to, Twilight had discovered that no-pony actually knew what peace the princess actually meant. There had been no conflict with the other countries, nor had there been any sort of fighting or troubles that warranted a celebration on this scale.

"Why the Hay do we have to spend so long waiting like this?" Rainbow Dash complained, banging her head against the side of the table, so that her scruffy, rainbow colored mane flopped about in a even worse mess than it usually was. "It's sooooooo booooooring!" Twilight frowned at the Pegasus. She supposed that Rainbow's complaints weren't entirely unjustified. About half an hour ago, a guard had called out to the whole hall, yelling that the Princesses would be descending from their towers very soon. Rainbow wasn't exactly the most patient Pony and wasn't known for being able to hold still for more than five minutes. Even then, that would be considered five minutes wasted, not spending them on training for her dream to become a flyer for the wonder-bolts, Equestria's most talented flying group. But Twilight was starting to get rather irritated with the lack of patience on their table. She shook her head lightly before tapping her friends head. The Pegasus looked up, giving the Unicorn an indignant glare, her violet eyes alight with annoyance. "What?" she demanded hotly.

"Patience is a virtue Rainbow." Twilight said soothingly. Dash snorted in disdain. "Well it is Rainbow. Anyway, once the others get back and the princess's arrive then we'll be able to get something to eat." Dash perked up then at the mention of food. Despite being a star athlete, Twilight knew that if a pony was hungry, it could make them more miserable than ever. Just then, the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of another of their friends. Rarity was an Alabaster white Unicorn with an elaborately styled purple mane, eyelashes expertly styled and deep blue eyes. Her cutie mark was a group of 3 diamonds. Rarity gave a small wave as she took her seat on the opposite side of the table. She was smiling softly.

"Hello there Darlings." Rarity said. As per usual, the mare's voice sounded as though she had spent several years in elocution lessons. "I have just seen Fancy Pants. I certainly hope he sends me along the designs of his newest suits. I'd love to add them into my own pieces." Rarity owned a fancy clothes making shop in their home town of Ponyville. Dash just gave a soft nod, whilst Twilight lent slightly towards the white Unicorn and asked:

"You haven't seen the Princess's anywhere have Rarity?" The other Unicorn shook her head softly so that the curls of her expertly styled mane bounced slightly up and down. Though right at that moment, further conversation was once again interrupted by a flash of Pink zooming past Twilight and hitting the seat next to Dash. "Hello Pinkie." Rarity said with a slight tinge of annoyance.

Pinkie Pie was a pink colored earth pony with a poofy pink mane and tail, with several balloons as her cutie mark. The pink pony was now sitting next to Rainbow with a wide goofy grin on her face. Her body was practically vibrating in place with how excited she was. Though the Pink pony was normally always excitable.

"Oh-my-gosh-twilight-dash-rarity-I'm-so-excited-for-this-I-haven't-seen-the-princess's-since-the-discord-celebration-it's-gonna-be-so-awesome!" Pinkie said in her traditional mad rush. Twilight shook her head, feeling a smirk growing on her snout, despite the irritation that had plagued her for the past half an hour. "Oh-look-here-comes-AJ-and-fluttershy-I-hope-they-enjoy-this-party-as-much-as-me-because..."

Rainbow waved other the other two members of their group while Twilight used her magic to shut Pinkie's mouth. As Applejack and Fluttershy approached the table. AppleJack was an orange Earth Pony, with a small group of freckles on either side of her face. Her cutie was a group of three red apples. Green eyes stared out from under the brim of a patched stetson hat. Meanwhile Fluttershy, a creamy yellow Pegasus with a long mane and tail of light pink. Her cutie mark was a group of pink butterflies. However, in contrast to the orange earth pony, who was standing straight with a confident smirk plastered across her snout, Fluttershy was standing with her head down with her face marginally covered by her mane. As the other two mares took their seats, Applejack grinned wider at the party pony who was struggling to move the magenta strip of magic covering her mouth.

"Ya'll really need to calm down Pinkie." Pinkie waved frantically at Twilight and made the motion of zipping her lips shut. Twilight shook her head slightly before releasing the magic. Pinkie's mouth snapped open and she took a great gulp of air. Applejack chuckled.

"Ya'll do know ya can breathe through yer nose Pinkie?" she asked with a wider smirk. Rainbow chuckled lightly, even fluttershy gave a small chuckle at the sight of pinkie trying to inhale and laugh at the same time. Though further conversation was drowned out by a loud fanfare from several ponies dressed in fine suits, carrying trumpets. Princess Celestia and Luna had finally appeared at the opening of the throne room. Both of them had long dresses covering their bodies. Celestia's dress was a silvery white with a golden broach in the shape of the sun. Luna's dress was of the deepest midnight blue with a silver broach in the shape of the moon. Both of them smiled and waved as the whole room erupted with loud clapping. The two princesses waved especially hard when they saw Twilight and her friends. Twilight waved back with a wide grin. As the two princesses made their way to the largest table in front of their thrones, Applejack lent across the table and whispered

"Is it jest me or do the princess look a bit tired, or...?" Twilight frowned. Now that she looked a little harder at the two princess, she could see that both Celestia and Luna looked a little drawn. She could see, though only just, though the white fur of Celestia's body, the darkened skin underneath the princess's eyes. Twilight leaned back across the table and nodded at AppleJack.

"I'll go talk to her after the speech and the feast AJ, don't worry." AppleJack nodded, apparently satisfied. Twilight and AppleJack both looked back at the two princess'es finally made it to their table. Sitting down didn't do much to reduce the size of the two princess's who were taller than most of the tallest ponies in Equestria. Even Luna who was the younger sister was now slightly taller than Twilight and her friends. Almost immediately, there was a lull in the conversation and clapping as Celestia stood up again and looked around, regarding the assembled ponies with a soft, caring smile on her face.

"My little Ponies," she said with another wide smile. "I have gathered you all to celebrate something that has been years in the making." She turned her head to smile at Twilight and her group of friends. "I know that many of you have had question about them mysterious nature of our invitation. But now I will divulge..." Her voice trailed away. The assembled Ponies stared at her in confusion. Celestia was staring past the group, with her mouth wide open in a round O. Luna had also frozen. Slowly, Twilight turned to look at the door. She, along with several other ponies in the room gasped. Something was standing in the entrance to the hall. It was tall, about as tall as Celestia herself. It had long, lanky limbs, with the legs ending in flat feet. Muscled arms ended in what appeared to be Monkey Paws, except with less hair. A flat face stared into the hall, with red broken lips and dark green eyes. A greasy mop of what could've been hair was atop its head. A pair of Black trousers covered its legs whilst the top half was covered in a black shirt, with several tears and rips showing pale grayish skin. Surrounding the creatures feet was a half circle of weakly stirring guards.

"Give me it Celestia." The creature said. Its' voice was soft but definitely male. Several of the ponies jumped. The guards nearest Celestia and Luna, who had been staring at the intrude, suddenly jumped in front of the two Princesses, forming a protective circle around them. Rainbow Dash, suddenly jumped out of her seat and flew straight into the creatures face.

"What are you, you creep. Show some respect for the princess's."

The creature didn't seem to like that. It reached behind it and pulled something from behind its back. It was a rectangular device made of black metal. On the front of the object was an octagonal imprint. Right next to it was an attachment in the shape of a knife blade. On the left side of the black object was an image. It showed a mask, almost like one that ponies attending an opera would wear. The creature, ignoring the surprised gasps of the Princesses, pressed the object against its stomach. A silver belt snaked around the creature's stomach before clipping onto the other side of the object. Reaching into its pocket, the creature pulled out a moderately sized object in the shape of a padlock. Embossed on the front was what looked like a yellow pod. The creature held up the object before saying:

"Henshin." He pressed a small button on the side of the Lock. It clicked open. To every-ponies surprise a very loud, cheerful voice yelled:

"LEMON!" There was a flash of light before a massive object, shaped almost like a lemon appeared over the creatures head. It pressed the lock into the object around its chest before shutting the lock again. Once again the cheerful voice shouted out. "LOCK ON!" almost immediately, a loud fanfare blared out. Twilight glanced round at the trumpeters. None of them had moved to play their instruments. She watched as the creature gripped the blade on the object before pushing it down. The Lock suddenly split in half, with one piece locking into the bottom of the object. The Large lemon shaped object descended onto the creature's head before unfolding onto the creatures arms and chest. The cheerful voice called out once more.

"LEMON ARMS! IN-CRED-IBLE RYOMA!"

The creature smiled as the mask that was inscribed on the object around its stomach appeared over its eyes. The dark green was replaced by white. Even the black of the pupils turned white. The creature pulled the long thin sword, similar to a rapier, that had appeared when the armor had unfolded, from its' belt. It pointed the sword at Celestia.

"I have come to far Celestia. GIVE ME THE GOLDEN FRUIT!"

Chapter 3: The Shadow vs the invader

Rainbow Dash dodged out of the way as the rapier swung through the air. She backpedaled through the air, her wings flapping hurriedly beating the air. The creature growled in anger, it's yellow teeth bared in a snarl. Tightening its grip on the sword, the creature swung its' arm in a wide arc. The tip of the blade whistled loudly as it swung. Rainbow dodged once again. She was vaguely aware of her friends shouting at her to retreat and let the guards handle it. But her strong willed attitude was going to let her listen to that. She continually dodged the swinging blade of the creature, who seemed to be getting angrier and angrier with each time she dodged the weapon. She smirked as the creature gave a roar of anger.

"C'mon, creep! you think that'll get me?" The creature howled with rage, swinging his sword round. Rainbow smirked, diving under the sword swing and jabbing one of her front hooves into the creatures chest. Despite the yellow armor the creature was wearing, Rainbows strength, honed from countless hours of training, managed to bend the chest-plate with a loud metallic crunching noise. The creature stumbled backwards and the assembled ponies cheered. She grinned as she caught sight of Pinkie pie jumping up and down on her seat cheering and throwing what appeared to be party streamers everywhere. AppleJack, Twilight Sparkle and several guards where galloping, full pelt towards them. Rainbow was slightly surprised to see that both her and her opponent had fought backwards until they were actually in danger of extending the fight into the hallway. Something whisked past her head, taking off several strips of her rainbow mane. She whirled round, to stare at the creature, who was now grinning. Swishing the rapier, so that several long rainbow colored hairs flew through the the hair, the creature tensed its long legs, preparing to strike.

"Don't take your eyes off the fight, you cocky little horse!" It shouted. Rainbow tensed. By now the guards and her friends had managed to spread out around them. The guards were attempting to get closer, only to be driven back by the wide arcs that the creature was swinging. Rainbow bared her teeth. She wasn't sure why, but what the creature had yelled at her had a rather irritating effect on her. She charged. She saw the creatures arm come round. The thin blade of the rapier came down. Then a white light exploded in front of her eyes as pain shot through her head. It was like a burning line of pain across her forehead. Then another line of pain burnt across her forelegs, then across her back and wings. She hit the ground hard, vaguely aware of her friends screaming her name. She looked up to see the creature standing over her. Its blade raised in readiness to strike the finishing blow. The guards around them seemed paralyzed, her friends rushing forward to help. The last thing Rainbow Dash saw was something armored and black, jumping in front of her. Then the pain took over and everything went black.

Princess Luna had sat and watched as the creature had transformed. She'd shared her sister gasp as it engaged the cyan furred pegasus. But when the intruder had hit Rainbow Dash, she'd stood. Celestia seemed paralyzed, frozen to the spot where she sat, her mouth open in a round O. Luna had prepared a spell, knowing that it would be too late stop the finishing blow. Then some sort of black cloud had zoomed past her with a great rush of wind. It had blown through the small circle of guards. Solidifying. Taking the shape of a black furred unicorn with a red thunderbolt with white wings for a cutie mark. Dressed in a grayish cloak that fluttered in the breeze. Pulling a short sword made of black metal out of his cloak using red magic. Shadows blade caught the creatures sword with his own. Both froze in place, their blades trembling with the effort of pushing against each other. While the two gazed into each others eyes, Luna teleported to the group of ponies still standing at the table, casting a spell so that a blue bubble fell over them. Fluttershy and Rarity both sprang to their hooves and began to pound on the shield.

"Let us out princess!" Shouted Rarity, "That's our friends out there!" But Princess Luna shook her head before fixing her eyes on the two frozen combatants.

"Let my apprentice handle it. Shadow will make sure that Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are safe."

"Your good." Shadow grunted, already beginning to sweat, despite just entering the fight. Luna smiled, while Celestia continued to stare this time in abject shock. The guards standing around the two combatants suddenly sprang to life, some dragging the unconscious form of Rainbow Dash out of the way while several others made to stand around shadow. "STAY BACK!" Shadow yelled, disengaging from the intruder before taking a more aggressive stance. With a yell, Shadow charged, swinging his sword in a frenzy of swipes. The intruder grinned, bringing its' blade up to block. Though Shadows sword moved in a downward arc instead of the upwards swing that it had seemed to be moving in. With a yelp, the intruder stumbled backwards, before retaliating with its own series of swings and strikes. Shadow blocked them all with practiced ease. "Do you really think that'll do it?" Demanded Shadow, smile stretching into a grimace. The circle of guards surrounding the two moved with the combatants as they battle across the hall. Though as soon as one gained the upper hand, the other pressed on attack, taking the advantage. The intruder chuckled slightly before reaching for the black object around its chest. Pressing down the bladed attachment the cheerful voice that had sounded out before, now shouted out again.

"COME ON! LEMON SQUASH!" The creatures rapier began to glow, becoming almost a blinding rod of energy. Shadow smiled coldly. Raising his own sword his horn glowed brighter and brighter. The intruder struck...nothing. Shadow had vanished in a puff of black smoke.

"W-what?" The intruder asked, looking around in surprise. In another puff of black smoke, Shadow reappeared behind the intruder. He grinned raising his sword.

"Game over!" Shadow said. Just as the intruder whirled round, Shadow brought the sword down. There was a short pause as both fights stared at each other, before the intruder dropped his sword with a clang. The armor the intruder had on vanished in a short flash of light. Then the intruders Lock, toppled out of the object around its stomach and hit the floor with a soft crack. The intruder dropped to the floor, clutching the wound in its side. A small stream of blood began to drip from between its fingers. It stared at Shadow for a few seconds before falling face first onto the floor. Its eyes shut. Shadow picked up the Lock device whilst the guards swarmed over to the intruder. Shadow looked up as both Princesses along with Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy walked over to him. Shadow nodded at Princess Luna before bowing to the group.

"Shadow, thank you for the timely arrival." Luna said. Celestia and Twilight both gasped.

"S-S-Shadow? Is...that you?" Twilight stammered, staring at the black unicorn. Shadow looked at her.

"Twilight?" He asked in surprise. "Ahhhh Buck!"

Chapter four: secrets and lies

Chapter four: secrets and lies

While the guards busied themselves with dragging the intruder to the cells, the Princesses, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, AppleJack, Pinkie Pie and Shadow made their way to the medical rooms. They sat around the injured Rainbow Dash's bed, watching the Pegasus brood over being beaten by what she described as, an over-grown chip." Twilight turned to the doctor who was standing by the door, looking slightly annoyed at the amount of ponies crowding the already cramped room.

"Will Rainbow be okay?" She asked worriedly. The doctor nodded, moving past her to check on the bandages wrapped around the cyan Pegasus's wings, forelegs and back. Rainbow shifted slightly, grunting in annoyance as the doctor tightened the strips. Fluttershy whimpered as she watched the white strips stain red. The timid yellow Pegasus had been crying throughout the whole trip to the infirmary. Pinkie and Rarity had tried to cheer her up but they too looked worse for wear. Both of them were shaking badly, whilst Pinkie's mane had dropped slightly from its usual poofiness. She was also staring sadly at Rainbow Dash, blinking her eyes rather rapidly. Rarity was dabbing at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. AppleJack had lowered her hat so that eyes weren't visible however, her teeth were bared in a snarl of anger. Despite being the embodiment of the element of honesty, AppleJack was one of the most loyal friends that any-pony could hope to have, next to Rainbow Dash of course.

"She'll be free to leave in a couple of days, miss Twilight." The doctor said with a sigh of anger as Rainbow twitched her foreleg away from his probing hooves. "Or rather..." the doctor growled, gritting his teeth, "She would be able to leave in a couple of days if she....didn't....stop..." Rainbow glared as the doctor finally managed to trap her flailing foreleg between his hooves and tightening the bandage. With a soft snort, the doctor bowed to the Princesses before picking up a roll of bandage and stalking out of the room. Shadow, who had been lurking in a shadowy corner, moved forward to sit next to Rainbow. She and Twilight both stared at the shadowy Unicorn.

"Shadow, how can you be here?" Twilight asked, whilst Rainbow simply stared in shock at the Unicorn. Shadow watched them, not speaking. "The last time I saw you..." Twilight said while her other friends watched her and the darker Unicorn, "Was at the end of the running of the leafs." Twilight mumbled. "You Vanished after that." Celestia took that moment to look up from where she had been staring at the floor to glare at her sister. Luna shifted under the look on her sisters face.

"Yes," Celestia said coldly, "I'm very curious about how you knew this Unicorns name Luna. I thought we agreed no secrets between us." Luna shifted again, this time looking guiltily up at Celestia. Twilight couldn't believe it, but Luna was blushing. The fur around her cheeks was turning a dark shade of red. Celestia was still glaring at her. "Luna...." Celestia growled, taking a step towards her sister, "Can you please explain who this is?"

Luna sighed. "This Unicorn is named Shadow. He is...my Apprentice." Celestia stared at her sister in shock. So did everyone else. No Pony had ever heard of Luna taking a student, much less an apprentice. Even Celestia only took students, not apprentices. "I understand your shock." Luna mumbled looking down at the floor. "We found him one day wandering outside ponyville. We sensed that he had a similar power to ours. We decided to train him if a certain situation....were to arise." Luna turned her snout to look at Celestia. Both Alicorns glared at one another for a second before Celestia sighed heavily. It was then that Twilight noticed how tired Celestia looked. At that moment, the Alicorn in front her was no longer the strong, yet kindhearted Princess that she looked up to admired. The Princess now just looked tired. The Princess looked up at the group of ponies. Shaking her head, so that her shining mane swung in the magical breeze that made it wave. She held up both the lock device and the object that the intruder had been wearing.

"This," Celestia said pointing with her hoof at the lock object, " is called a lockseed." she nodded whilst several of the ponies in the group stared confusedly at her. "Combined with this driver," She held up the black rectangular object, "They can be used to generate powerful armor and weapons." AppleJack finally looked up from under the brim of her hat. Her eyes were slightly red and she sounded as if she had a bad head cold.

"Princess. What do ya mean armor. Who was that creep that hurt Rainbow?" She asked hotly. Rarity nodded. Her eyes mirroring the fury in AppleJack's.

"Yes, what was that Brute? Why did he hurt Rainbow? And even worse, why did he have to fight in such ridiculous clothes? Black with yellow armor, so tacky." The others laughed briefly at Rarity's odd sense of priorities, before Celestia cleared her throat and continued.

"In any case, To understand Lockseeds and drivers, you need to understand what the intruder was." With a flick of her horn and a flash of golden light, a life size replica of the intruder appeared next to Rainbow Dash's bed. Celestia and Luna both eyed the replica with unease. "This creature is a human." The others stared at her confusedly. Fluttershy looked up curiously.

"Is....is....is it some kind of animal?" she asked. The others looked at her. Fluttershy retreated behind her long pink mane with a squeak of fright. Celestia's usual kindhearted smile returned briefly as she looked at the timid Pegasus before her stern gaze resumed dominance as she looked back at the shimmering replica of the human.

"In any case every-pony," she continued, with a saddened tone entering her voice, "Several years ago, about the same time we first sealed Discord away, another human arrived in Equestria." She nodded at the surprised gasps of her audience. "Yes, and he wasn't alone. A party of humans, each wielding a different lockseed..."

"There were more?" Twilight interrupted, her scientific curiosity getting ahead of her desire to listen to the princess. A loud shushing noise next to her made her jump. Pinkie Pie had shifted in her seat so she was facing the princess. She had produced a small sack of popcorn from nowhere and was sharing it with Rainbow dash, who had stuffed her face with so much popcorn that she couldn't speak. Twilight blushed and lowered her head. "Sorry...." she mumbled.

"Yes Twilight, there were more. Way more." Celestia said kindly. "Each one was based off a different fruit, though there was no actual explanation for this, nor was there any explanation of where these Humans came from They just....appeared." She shook her head in annoyance. "This party of humans were convinced that we were protecting some sort of magical object that would grant them unimaginable power." She shook her head. "The poor creatures were so convinced that we were holding it from them they grew violent." Luna, who had been remaining quiet for some time spoke up. To their surprise, the princesses eyes had filled with tears as they stared at the replica of the intruder.

"We had no choice." Luna mumbled staring at the replica. "They attacked us using the lockseeds. So much devastation was wrought that day....we had no choice...." The two Alicorns continued to stare at the replica of the creature. They seemed too distraught to speak. Fluttershy gasped. She seemed to have understood something.

"No...you wouldn't. Please t-t-tell me your lying..." She whimpered. The others stared at her in surprise. AppleJack and Rainbow Dash frowned at her.

"What are you talking about Sugercube?" AppleJack asked. Fluttershy shook her head staring at the princess in apparent dismay. Celestia gave a great sniff before fixing the group with a watery look.

"We...wiped them out." Every single pony in the room gasped in shock and horror. "Please understand my little ponies," Celestia said pleadingly. "They wouldn't see sense. They just kept coming. They wouldn't stop." Celestia and Luna both wiped the eyes with their armor plated hooves. Luna sighed before speaking again. The rest of the group continued to stare at the two princesses in surprise. Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Her teacher and one of her greatest idols....had done something like that.

"After my Sister and I defeated the last one, we gained the last driver in existence. It was kept secret to hide our subjects from the pain. If any-pony gained control over it then there would be a risk of restarting the battle again." Luna sighed looking ashamedly around at the group. "Though how and why this human has come here AND obtained a Lockseed along with another driver, when the only one we knew of is locked in our vaults is our top priority."

Twilight stared sadly at Celestia. "Why didn't you tell us Celestia? I thought you trusted us..." She mumbled. Celestia shook her head tiredly. She looked even more defeated than before as she stared morosely at Twilight. But Twilight didn't care. She wanted some answers. Before she could ask anything else, Rainbow dash looked around.

"Where the hay has Shadow gone? They looked around in surprise. There was no sign of the black Unicorn. Turning round, the group saw that the door to the infirmary was swinging wide open.

Author's Note

Yeah I kind of effed up this chapter but I kinda want to focus on the devolpment of the intruder and Shadow for now

Chapter six: Deciding his fate...and its friendship?

Once again, the large group of ponies, both Princesses included, found themselves sitting in the infirmary. But now they were all seated around not only Rainbow dash's bed but also, the slightly elongated bed containing the slightly miffed human, Jay and another bed containing the limp form of Shadow. The doctor bustled about, clearing away bloodied cloths that had been used to clean up Jay's wounds and mumbling angrily about the amount of work he had to put up with. The human winced angrily, drawing in a sharp breath as the doctor attempted to tighten the bandages covering his newly repaired ribs. Since being dragged up from the half destroyed cells, the doctors had been feverishly working to repair the human's damaged body. Now the sun was beginning to set on the day. The human was sitting up, propped by several pillows, gulping down whatever foul smelling potion that the doctors had handed him. He glared around at the harden looks that the ponies around him were giving him.

"What happened down in the cells?" Celestia asked confusedly, staring at the unconscious form of shadow. Luna shook her head, unable to speak. The Princess of the Night had been staring at the floor for the best part of an hour, her eyes shut and her eyes shut tightly. She seemed just as shocked as Twilight felt. The night Princess was shaking from horn to hoof. Twilight still couldn't believe what she had seen. It was burned into her brain.

Standing over the bloodied, beaten body of the human. The black furred Unicorn pressing his hoof, covered with blood, deeper into the humans chest. A mad chuckle escaping the crazed ponies lips as the crimson liquid stained the black fur. The Human weakly attempting to push the hoof away. Rasping breath, chocked by the bubbling blood pouring out of the humans lips. Twilight calling for the unicorn to stop. The Unicorn taking no notice, swinging his horn in an arc, powering up a spell to finish the human once and for all. Then...Luna's voice, calling out, carrying over the sounds of destruction.

"ENOUGH SHADOW!" The black furred unicorn turned, his manic grin freezing at the sight of Luna stepping forward, with her horn lowered, blue energy beginning to build up around the tip. Stepping off the dying human, Shadows crazed grin widens before Luna releases the blast. Blue energy hits the unicorn. He howls in pain, the grin faltering, fading, twisting into a grimace. The pulse continues, Luna's face set into a grim mask of fury. "YOU WILL STOP THIS!" Luna shouts, gritting her teeth. The pulse increases in power. Finally, with one last cry of agony, Shadow drops to the ground. His eyes shut and his smoking form twitching sporadically. Twilight rushes to the smoking body, her legs shaking so badly that she could barely stand. A small flow of blood flows from Shadows nose, dripping onto the flagstones. Luna rushes to their side, her horn glowing once more. With a puff of smoke, two stretchers appear, one longer than the other and both unconscious creatures are lifted onto the stretchers. Guards join them in the devastated room. Twilight vaguely hears Luna shout for a doctor. But all she can do is stare at the smoking body, of a pony, she thought she knew.

"WHAT?" Jay demanded angrily. The ponies each looked at one another before looking back at the human. Celestia moved forwards, holding up Jays lockseed and driver. "Thank you." The human said curtly, reaching out to take the two objects. Celestia moved forwards, her magic jerking the driver and Lockseed out of the humans reach. Jay glared at the sun Princess. "WHAT?" The human demanded again, leaning back against the pillows as Celestia leaned forward, a hard look on her face. Jay shivered. Twilight smiled, knowing that look from when she was younger. As a student of Celestia, she had sometimes watched the Princess partake in her day courts. Whenever a noble would get particularly mouthy with the Princess, she would fix them with that same glare. Any pony caught in that glare with shrivel up and retreat, often with a whimper. With a sense of satisfaction, she heard Jay give that exact same whimper. Though a braver creature would have averted their eyes from the thunderous look on Celestia's face. Jay however, didn't look away.

"I have some questions for you Human." Celestia said coldly, holding up the Lockseed. "Where did you get this. And for that matter, how did you acquire this?" she shook the rectangular driver in Jays face. "The only driver we currently knew about is locked in our vaults." Jay eyed the driver for a moment before looking back at Celestia. Rarity who had been eyeing the torn and ripped garments that had been taken from Jay with an expression of of distaste, decided to speak.

"Who for that matter, wears such horrible garments?" She demanded, holding up the the torn top. She tutted loudly at the tears and holes across the garment. She looked up to see that every-pony was glaring at her. She blushed lightly. "What, I can't be excited at the prospect of new if not slightly......damaged clothes?" She asked, a bright pink blush beginning to appear on her cheeks. To cover her blush, she hid behind the damaged clothing, muttering about design faults.

Both Celestia and Luna were glaring at Jay, who had appeared to have shrunk under the weight of two princesses glaring at him. Finally, he spoke up. "I forged it." Celestia stared at him. Luna's mouth had frozen in a perfect round O. The other ponies frowned confusedly as Jay looked back up at the ponies with an angry look on his face. "The art was not lost to those on us who knew where to look." Jay shook his head. He glared round at them, then looked at the lemon lockseed in Celestia's grip. "I don't really remember to much about how I got here. All I remember is walking up to the palace to confront you..." He looked up at Celestia, "Then...nothing..."

"You're lying." Celestia's voice had lowered to an angry hiss. The others, even Luna looked round at Celestia in surprise. Her face had twisted into a snarl and her face was steadily inching towards Jay's, until they were almost nose to snout. "No creature I know of had the knowledge to forge a driver" She pressed her snout against Jay's nose, pushing the frightened human back against the bed. "ONE last time...."Celestia growled, "WHERE....DID...YOU.....GET....THESE?" Jay stared back at her, his eyes blinking rapidly. He was shaking so badly that the bed-frame was rattling. AppleJack and, surprisingly, Fluttershy stepped forward and tapped Celestia on the side of her foreleg. The Princess whirled round and glared at them instead. "What is it?" She demanded. Surprisingly, neither the Orange farm pony, neither the usually timid yellow Pegasus did not shrink away.

"Pardn' me, yer highness but I can tell he ain't lyin'." AppleJack said firmly, whilst Fluttershy nodded vigorously. Both of Fluttershy's eyes were visible, as she had shook her mane out of her eyes. Rainbow Dash leaned forward and glared at Celestia.

"If AJ says that this..." she glared at Jay who winked at her, "creep is telling the truth then I believe her. Though..." she continued in an undertone while the others turned to look back at Celestia. "I still don't like him to much. He cheated to win that fight!" Fortunatly, Pinkie Pie, who had been amusing herself, by poking the Lockseed, that was still floating in the grip of Celestia's magic, so that the Padlock object span dizzily through the air, only heard this. She chuckled lightly and winked at her Rainbow maned friend.

"Yes, even I can tell he....isn't...lying.." Fluttershy's voice trailed off as Celestia swung her head about to gaze at both of them. The Princess considered the two for a few seconds, before her fiery look faded as she sighed. She turned to the rest of the ponies then glanced at Jay, who had taken to nodding with a nervous smile on his face. She tilted her head to stare at the ceiling for a few seconds. Then a small smirk began to grow on her face. She looked close to laughing by the time she looked around at the gathered ponies.

"I have had an idea." She winked at Luna, who seemed to have understood what Celestia was talking about, as she too was smiling. "Jay..." Jay looked up, tensing in fright. "Will be staying in Ponyville..." The group of ponies all stared at her, some, spluttering in surprise, others frozen, with expressions of outrage on their face. "At least until we figure out what to do with you." Celestia said smirking at the look of total fury on Jays face. The human eyed them all for a second, before opening his mouth.

"YOU FRIGHTENED THE SHIT OUT OF ME FOR THAT! ARE YOU FU..." Celestia lightly pressed her hoof over Jays mouth. She smiled wider at the look of complete indignation on Jay's face.

"Language Jay..." She scolded softly.

Welcome to ponyville!

"I don't like being trussed up like a pig and being forced to sit in a cage!" Jay growled from his position in the small cage in the middle of the train compartment. The seven ponies seated around the tied up human in the train compartment, all gave a great sigh of annoyance. After Celestia had decided Jay's fate and Rainbow, Jay and Shadow had recovered from their wounds, She had arranged for Jay along with the seven ponies to take a train ride back to Ponyville. Though as part of the joke she was obviously playing on the human, she had arranged for the large cage and chains to be placed in their train car. Jay had been grumbling ever since he had been pushed into the cage with spears at his back. Despite Celestia's assurances that the train ride would not take to long, the captive human had still decided that complaining as loudly as possible for the best part of three hours was the best way to let out his anger. Pinkie Pie jumped down from her seat and sat on the floor next to the cage with a big smile on her face. The Pink party pony had been ecstatic to learn that Jay was to be shipped off to Ponyville with them. She fixed him with the wide grin, her bright blue eyes burning with happiness.

"Aw c'mon Jay-Jay." She said happily. The human looked round at her, his face freezing with an expression of utmost disbelief. The other Ponies in the room looked at each other before Rainbow began to snicker. The other ponies in the train compartment were all trying to hide their laughter at Pinkie's nickname for the captive. "We'll be there soon, then we can have your welcome to Ponyville Party!" She sat there, staring at Jay as though this was the greatest news in the world. The human was still staring at her with the same disbelieving expression on his face. The human looked around at the assembled ponies, who, apart from the still laughing Rainbow Dash, had managed to suppress their laughter. He frowned at the still laughing Rainbow for a second before settling himself back into the kneeling position, a feat quite difficult to do with ones arms bound behind their back with rope and lowered his head. Pinkie stuck out her bottom lip. "What? You don't like Parties?" she demanded. Jay didn't deign to respond. Pinkie returned to her seat next to Rainbow with an albeit slightly disappointed look on her face. Rainbow put her foreleg around the party pony.

"Don't you worry Pinkie. We'll make sure he has some FUN." She grinned down at the motionless human, her face split into an evil grin. Despite the fact that Celestia had told them not to fight the human, Rainbow was still on the lookout for, what she called cheating in their fight. "Anyways," Rainbow said still gazing down at the human. "Why'd you need that "Lockseed" for a fight anyway? Can't fight for yourself?" Jay looked up at her with a small smile. Rainbow stared back, obviously confused about the smile the human was giving her. The rest of the group were obviously just as confused as she was. AppleJack was watching the human closely. Twilight was making notes on the humans behavior, as Celestia had instructed, Fluttershy was watching Rarity, who had disappeared behind a large drawing pad whilst Shadow was smiling at Rainbow, though he still looked slightly shifty and was avoiding looking at the human.

"Rainbow...." He said softly, but his small attempt at a conversation starter was drowned out as Jay chose that moment to reply and Shadows voice drained back into silence.

"Rainbow, I couldn't beat you in a fight without my lockseed, judging by how fast you were. Besides," Jay continued, as Rainbow and AppleJack exchanged incredulous looks. "Judging by the dent you put into my armor during the fight, i got off lucky." Rainbow stared bemusedly at the human as he lowered his head and closed his eyes again. The Rainbow maned Pegasus jumped down and tapped her hoof on one of the bars of the cage.

"Listen Bub, flattering me won't help you!" the Pegasus said angrily. AppleJack jumped down and pulled Rainbow away gently from the cage. The farm pony was smiling slightly but her eyes stayed fixed on the captive human from under her patched stetson. The Orange farm pony had been assured by Celestia that without his driver or lockseed, (as Celestia had told Jay that she would not be giving him back either object as she wasn't sure that the human was to be trusted with them), Jay wouldn't be to much trouble and Jay, much to his obvious embarrassment had agreed that without the devices, under the watchful eyes of several ponies, he was pretty much a captive guest.

"Listen, Sugar cube," Applejack said, "I don' like this as much as you but he is tellin' the truth. I can tell ya that at least." The Human looked back up at the two ponies in front of his cage. He had tilted his head to the side in confusion. He glanced at twilight before asking:

"How do you know i'm not lying um....AppleJack was it?" The Farm pony turned her head to look at Jay with a surprised look. The curious question that Jay had asked seemed to have given her some sort of personal assurance. She nodded with a soft smile at the human, before both ponies returned to their seats. Fluttershy looked out of the window and her face, which had been sporting a slightly worried look throughout the train journey melted into a grin of happiness.

"S-S-Sorry girls and...." she looked down at the human, gave a small squeak before looking back at the assembled ponies who were all looking at her. "I t-t-think that w-w-we're here." The rest of the group, all except Jay, who couldn't turn round due to the chains holding him, turned to look out the window. As soon as the clouds of thick smoke that the train had been making since starting out from the Canterlot station, now cleared. A small collection of thatched roofs had come into view, along with what appeared to be a large spire from a large circular shaped building in the center of the town. Several ponies of multiple colors were milling about the town. The rest of the group gave a great cheer. Though their celebration was cut short as Jay spoke up.

"I hate to interrupt the festivities but....what's going to happen to me now we're here?" The ponies looked around at one another, before looking at Jay with seven identical, evil smiles on their faces. Jay stared at them, his eyebrows raised and his green eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Jay groaned. The seven evil smiles didn't waver. Jay groaned again, shrugging his shoulders resignedly. "Fine....who's got the key?"

A few minutes later, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Shadow had stepped out out of the train carriage and onto the platform, alongside several other ponies. Twilight looked about as her friends assembled around her. They didn't have to wait too long though as a small purple scaled, green spined reptilian creature appeared through the smoke, tripping over the large leather bound book under one of its arms. It noticed them and its snout turned into a wide smile. Its eyes widened with glee. Holding the massive book over its head, the reptile-like creature run at full pelt towards Twilight and wrapped its small scaly arms around her front.

"Twilight!" Spike the dragon cried with glee, smiling up at the violet Unicorn he was hugging. "Your back!" Spike, though a dragon, was still a baby. He had been with Twilight for years, ever since Twilight had started studying under Celestia and even longer then that. He had evidently just come from the library where both he and Twilight usually lived, judging by the heavy book he had put down. Twilight smiled as she managed to pull Spike off her front and smiled down at her assistant.

"It's good to see you Spike." She said happily as the others all made noises of greeting. Rarity, who Spike had long nursed a soft crush, picked Spike up with her front hooves and hugged him tightly, squealing in delight. Spike blushed as the alabaster Unicorn hugged him ever tighter. When Spike's feet finally made contact with the ground, he smiled up at Shadow confusedly, but Twilight smiled re-assuredly at him, "This is Shadow, Spike, he's an old friend. We met during the Summer Sun Celebration. Do you remember?" Spike thought for a moment but nodded as a look of realization stole over his face. He held out a clawed hand and Shadow took it with his hoof and they shook. At that moment, a loud rather annoyed voice yelled out.

"ARE THE CHAINS REALLY NECESSARY?!" Jay had appeared out of the smoke from the back of the train. What was causing the humans irritation was as painfully obvious as the four royal guards, clad in golden armor standing around him. His arms were bound behind his back with chains, as well as his ankles being tightly manacled. This was attracting a large amount of attention as several ponies milling around the station were staring at the human. Spike was staring just as much as any-pony. Jay and his guards stopped beside the group. Jay looked down at Spike, raised his eyebrows before nodding at Spike. "I'd shake your hand...er....claw...." Jay said shrugging his shoulders so that the chains rattled lightly. "But as you can see, I'm kinda tied up." Spike nodded, looking at Twilight for assistance. She smiled, ignoring the snickering coming from both Rainbow and Pinkie.

"This is Jay, Spike." Twilight said lightly by way of explanation. Spike looked back at Jay, still looking slightly nervous. Then his face turned into a frown of anger. He pulled a small note from the inside of the large book he was carrying and handed it to Twilight who read through the letter. Her face darkened slightly as she looked up from the note, before crumpling it with her magic and tossing it into the nearby bin. "Yes Spike, I know he is the creature that attacked Celestia but we've been given a mission by the Princesses. Place nice for me....please?" Spike gave Jay another glare before nodding ever so slightly. The Group began to maneuver their way off the station platform and into the town. Jay did not find it enjoyable. Several ponies stopped to stare at the four golden armored guards along with their chained captive. Twilight and the other ponies in the group had to stifle giggles as a mint green Unicorn stopped dead, before jumping about a foot in the air and screamed as loud as possible. Jay frowned at the Unicorn before he noticed Fluttershy had slowed to walk beside him.

"Um....I w-w-wanted to say..." She stammered looking up at him with a slightly nervous smile. "W-w-welcome to Ponyville Jay!" Fluttershy tried to stammer something else but it ended in a small squeak. Her cheeks turned bright red and she looked away. Twilight and AppleJack grinned back at him as if to say, That's Fluttershy. Jay smiled, feeling a little better and resumed looking around. After a few seconds of walking, being stared at due to the human being led through the town, the group stopped at what appeared to be a large tree, with windows and a large door set into the wood. Tiling his head to look through one of the higher up windows, Jay could see what appeared to be a high bookshelf. "This i-i-i-is the library..." Fluttershy whispered gently. The yellow Pegasus had been standing close to Jay throughout the journey. Jay grinned down at her before looking at Twilight.

"So who lives here?" He asked. Twilight turned to face him with a smile. She took out a small key and inserted it into the lock. She opened it and looked over her shoulder at Jay with a look that suggested she was trying to say: Anything else? Spike snickered slightly as he made his way past the group into the large, hollow tree/library. Jay shrugged. "Okay that's that then. Anything else I need to know?" The group made their way into the tree-house. The guards looked to Twilight with important looking smirks.

"We'll be off then Miss Twilight, if you'll be alright with setting up his lodgings." Twilight nodded as the guards handed over the ends of the chain leashes that were attached to Jay's cuffs. She waited until the guards had left the tree-house before her horn glowed slightly brighter. The cuffs sprang open with a clank. Picking them up, she set them to one side. Jay stared at her, robbing his wrists. Twilight smiled as the group sat down in a circle and Spike entered the main room, carrying a large tray, laden with a pot of tea, several mugs and a small bowl of sugar-cubes. Both AppleJack and Rainbow stood up at once.

"Not for me thanks Spike." AppleJack said as both she and Rainbow Dash moved towards the door. "Me an' Rainbow have to go...We've got a challenge to attend to." She added as the rest of the group stared at them in confusion. "See's you later every-pony. Jay, I'll be see'in you tomorrow!" She tipped her Stetson giving Jay another evil grin and left with Rainbow Dash. Rarity nodded patted Twilight on the shoulder, gave Jay a contemptuous look before leaving as well, her drawing pad still held in her silvery magic. Both Fluttershy and Pinkie looked at one another also giving identical grins. Jay frowned at Twilight as he took a small mug that Spike had handed him. He decided to voice the question that he had been wanting to ask for a long while.

"Twilight, where am I staying?" Twilight smiled softly before handing, Pinkie and Fluttershy a mug of the steaming hot tea. She turned to look at Jay before opening a note pad she had produced from nowhere. A slightly manic look had come into her eyes and a pencil was hovering over the pad, held in the grip of her magenta magic.

"You're staying here of course!" she said happily. "I've wanted to ask you a few questions ever since Celestia asked me to let you stay! So..." Jay rolled his eyes with a sigh. He'd preferred the cage and chains to being here right now. As Twilight's blitz of questions continued and the remaining ponies watched him attempt to answer the probing inquiries, he wondered what sort of sense of humor that the Princesses must have, to place him in this torture.

Chapter 8: AppleJack's training

Chapter 8: AppleJack's training

Shadow watched the girls, along with their human captive make their way to the library in the center of Ponyville. He sighed watching them laughing at Jay as he gazed around in wonder at the thatched roofs and the tree-house where Twilight Sparkle lived. He couldn't understand why he felt so down or why he didn't want to follow the group. He made his way along an opposite path to the group. His head down, Shadow wandered along the the pathways, ignoring calls of greeting from the ponies around the town. Something was making him feel so down, it felt as though a massive metal block was stuck on top of his back. Ever since he'd woken up in a bed in the Canterlot infirmary, with Twilight, Luna and Rainbow exclaiming assuredly that, even though he'd done some damage to the human, he would live with no permanent damage. Though he'd been unable to remember much. He remembered getting angry, so angry that he wanted to hurt the human, then a voice inside his head, then....nothing.

"C'mon Girls, I heard the mah sister's comin' back today." The unicorn looked up at the loud, squeaky voice. A group of three fillies had just walked onto the path ahead of him. One of the fillies, a yellow filly with orange eyes, a red mane and tail and a large pink bow in the mane was the one that was talking. The other two gave squeals of happiness. One was a unicorn, who had fur as white as Rarity's, with a curled mane of pinkish purple, whilst the other was a deep orange Pegasus with a scruffier, deeper purple mane, with light purplish eyes. Each of them were smiling widely. Shadow noticed with a start, that none of the fillies had cutie marks. He smiled slightly, remembering the innocence of youth. He waited for a few seconds, watching the young ponies begin to sprint towards the station, though the running was cut short as a loud voice yelled out.

"Hey Blank Flanks, enjoying being wastes of space?" Two other fillies had appeared in front of the sprinting fillies. The three skidded to a halt. Both of the new arrivals were earth ponies. The new arrivals both bore identical, grins. One was a pinkish color with a mane of light violet with a white strip through it. The cutie mark on her flank was in the shape of a jeweled tiara. The other was grey furred with a ponytail braided into her silvery grey mane. Her cutie mark was a silvery spoon. Judging from the evil smirks they were giving towards the three, it was clear to Shadow that they were hostile. The yellow filly with the bow stepped forward. Her southern accent reminded him strongly of AppleJack.

"Get outta our way Diamond Tiara. Jest leave us alone!" But the two snooty looking fillies did not move. Their smirks only widened. Shadow sighed. This wasn't anything to do with him and he didn't want to get involved with a fight between five little fillies. He turned to leave. Just at that moment, there was a small clatter and a cry of pain. He turned round to see what had happened. The Alabaster Unicorn was sitting o her backside, with Diamond Tiara standing over her. Tears were beginning to pool in the fillies eyes. Shadow felt a familiar fury rising up. He stormed forward his hooves making loud stomping noises with his fury. The two bullies looked round at the black Unicorn rushing at them, giving squeaks of fright before running off. Shadow came to a stop watching the two bullies running away. Breathing heavily he turned round to appraise the three fillies behind him.

"Are you three okay?" He demanded. The three fillies were staring at him with wide eyes. "What?" he asked uncertainly. The three fillies shuffled closer, big smiles breaking out on their faces. "Uh....Ok...." Shadow stammered, turning round to leave. "See ya!" He called out, walking away. He heard soft clopping behind him and stopped. "Anything you wanna say?" He asked turning his head to look at the three fillies still following them. The Orange Filly stepped forward, opened her mouth and yelled:

"That was so COOL!" Shadow sighed irritably. Why was it whenever you wanted to be alone....Something like this Had to happen?

Jay groaned tiredly as he collapsed onto the spare bed in Twilight's library. Four hours.....four hours......of answering questions. He never knew that a QnA could be so tiring or could take so long. Twilight had forced him to sit with her and answer question after question about who he was, where he'd come from and other questions of the like. He wandered if Twilight was slightly deaf. He must've said "I can't remember much," about a hundred times or more. Closing his eyes, he rolled over onto his back to stare at the ceiling. He would never have guessed that anybody....any-pony could be so probing. Then she'd mentioned that AppleJack had managed to secure him some work at the Farm she owned. His eyes still closed, he listened to both Spike and Twilight heading off to bed. Then just as he was drifting off to sleep, he heard Twilight call out:

"Jay?" He answered with a sleepy grunt. "I hope you sleep well. Goodnight!" Jay smiled slightly at the Unicorns goodnight. He wondered vaguely if her goodnight was either a true gesture or....something else. His sleep was interrupted by a loud voice shouting in his ear. Jumping up, Jay tripped over the beds railing and falling flat on his face. Groaning with both sleepy anger and a rising pain in his face, the human rolled over to look up at AppleJack staring down at him with a soft smile on her face. He frowned up at her, licking his lower lip to clear the blood beginning to pump out of the cut on his lip. Jay sat up and glared at the Orange Farm pony. Glancing out of the window, he saw that the sky was still dark. Checking the small clock on his mantle side table, he saw that it was still only three-in-the-morning.

"Howdy partner!" AppleJack said, tipping her stetson hat. "Didn' Twi say I was gonna come get ya?" She asked, grinning at the annoyed human. Jay shook his head and stood, stretching his limbs with an grunt. Several loud cracks filled the room and he glared down at the smiling, hat wearing pony that dared to wake him up at three in the morning. The Earth pony gave him a soft nudge with a chuckle and followed him down the stairs into the main part of the library, before out of the door. Every time he turned to ask about where the heck they were going, the farm pony continued to nudge him down a long dirt path. Soon, both of them had walked away from the main part of the town. Several fields had opened up, revealing a large building. It was in the center of a field with a large field of trees, each adorned with a large quantity of apples of varying types.

"AppleJack...?" he asked confusedly stopping for a second. AppleJack pushed him again, smiling. Jay sighed. "Okay, no questions for me then." Jay groaned. AppleJack chuckled before she sped up slightly to walk beside the human. She smiled widely at him with another chuckle. Jay looked down at her, still feeling annoyed about being brought out so early. The stetson wearing pony led the way into the farm. Glancing at the sign hanging on one of the fences, Jay saw the name: Sweet Apple Acres. A large Red stallion with red fur and a deep orange mane with a green apple for a cutie mark was waiting for them at the entrance to one of the giant fields. As they got closer, Jay could see the muscles flexing to beneath the Stallions skin. AppleJack smiled as she led Jay over to the giant red Stallion.

"This here is Big Macintosh Jay. He's mah brother." Jay smiled and extended his hand. Big Macintosh was so tall that Jay didn't need to bend down to shake his hoof. Big Macintosh's shake was so strong that Jay actually felt his arm and indeed his whole body raised up into the air and then forced down into the earth a few centimeters. Jay withdrew his arm, rubbing it to get the aching feeling out of his joints. He smiled at the big stallion. "You ready for work big Mac?" AppleJack asked.

"Eeeeyup!" Macintosh said, eyeing Jay softly. AppleJack and Jay exchanged a smile before the human and two farm ponies walked into the field. The sun was beginning to rise above the tops of the trees before the little group stopped in the middle of the field. AppleJack walked up to one of the trees, turned her back on it and kicked the tree with both her back legs. There was a series of loud clunks as the apples from the tree fell into the multiple buckets underneath it. Jay watched in awe as AppleJack began to move from tree to tree, kicking the trees in the same fashion. AppleJack smiled whilst Big Macintosh walked over to the buckets and picked them up. AppleJack sidled up to Jay and pushed Jay over to one of the trees with buckets filled to the brim with large juicy apples.

"Here's what you gotta do." AppleJack said as Jay looked at her, questionably. "Celestia wants us to teach ya about friendship. Since we're the elements o' Harmony, she thought we'd be the prime teachers." Jay nodded understandably. AppleJack pointed with a hoof towards the buckets. "I want ya to help Big Mac moving the buckets until we're done. Ya'll get some breakfast once we're done." Jay grinned. AppleJack watched as the human got to work, hoisting the buckets over his shoulders. Though, the Farm pony grinned softly as she heard the tell-tale signs of hunger coming from Jay's stomach, that his willingness to work, was coming more out of his desire for food, rather than a desire to learn anything. Smiling to herself, AppleJack returned to work.

The group of three were so focused on their work that they didn't notice a pair of blue eyes staring at them from behind one of the trees. The creatures long limbs were covered in black clothing, almost identical to the ripped garments Jay was wearing. A black rectangular driver was tied around its waist, secured with a silver belt. The black mask covering the creatures head obscured almost everything about the creature. Small streaks of blonde hair stuck out from under the black cotton. A soft chuckle filled the air as the creature moved away, holding up a lockseed.

"You poor sap Jay. I'll see you soon." The creature moved back out of sight as Jay looked around as though he'd heard something. Moving back, the shadows bent around it, wrapping it in shadows. Within seconds, the darkness had faded like the morning mist. By the time Jay made it over to the tree where the creature had stood and looked round it, There was nothing there.

Jay frowned as he looked behind the tree. He'd thought he had heard a voice coming from behind the tree though when he'd finally made it over, there was nothing there. He walked the full way around the tree and even looked up at the branches. Nothing. The human frowned again. He was sure he had heard something. AppleJack called out to him:

"Hey Jay, what's goin' on over there?" He looked round at the two farm ponies. Both of them were attached to a harness at the front of the cart, now laden with large buckets of apples. He shook his head before making his way over to the two ponies. "Hearin' things?" She asked, giving Jay a soft knock on his leg. Jay felt his limb buckle slightly with the force of the punch. As they made their way back to the farm, another pair of ponies opened the door and stepped out. One was an old looking, green furred mare with a white mane and tail with shaky legs, wearing what appeared to be a patterned shawl around her neck. The other was smaller with yellow fur and a big red bow in a red mane. The smaller one ran up to them with a yell of greeting. "Hey there Apple-bloom, Granny Smith." AppleJack said smiling at the pair of them. The other two were staring at Jay. "This is Jay. He's the guy we're teachin' a lesson to." Apple-Bloom walked up to Jay and smiled.

"Hey there mister." She said happily. Jay smiled, knelt down and held out his hand. Apple-Bloom took it with her tiny hoof and they shook. AppleJack seemed happy that both of her relatives had taken to Jay. Granny smith had nodded at Jay with a calculating look before saying:

"You al-right there young un'?" Jay nodded with a smile before standing back up.

"It's nice to meet you both." He said with a chuckle. "I've never seen such a nice farm before!" The four farm ponies all smiled at Jay's praise. With a smile Big Mac took the other harness from AppleJack before moving away to park the wagon. The Stetson wearing pony gave Jay another little nudge to get him moving toward the open door.

"Lets get some food in ya Jay, then Rainbow Dash wants to meet ya in town. I'll take ya there after Breakfast." As the group made their way towards the farmhouse, they failed to notice the black furred unicorn staring at them from behind a large knot of trees. The shadowy unicorn grinned, showing sharpened, pearly white teeth. A feeling of elation was rising inside his stomach. He turned to face the other figure standing behind him. He nodded calmly.

"Did you glean anything useful from the observation." He asked. The creature nodded with a small chuckle. The feminine voice that spoke out from under the black mask, made the unicorn smile even wider.

"Yes. He is no match for me." The creature watched Jay being pushed into the farmhouse, before turning away. "Not yet though." the female creature said walking away. "I need more time before I kill him. But when I do.....oh when I do."

Chapter 9:Cursed blade! Brother vs Sister Part one

Rainbow Dash was not a very patient Pegasus. The cyan furred pony was standing in a secluded field, tapping her hoof angrily against the ground, her eyes searching the surrounding fields. Despite being asked by the Princesses to help with that humans training in friendship, Rainbow still disliked the human. She had never quite forgiven the human for beating her in a fight, nor had she felt like the human had won in any fair way, cheating with that Lock-seed or whatever the heck the Princesses had called it. She still felt a twinge of pain in her legs and back whenever she thought about it despite the fact that the doctors in the Canterlot infirmary had patched her up. Rainbow tilted her head back to look up at the sky. It was bright blue, with barely a cloud to hide it. The sun was shinning brightly, casting a warm glow over the whole village. She considered taking a nap on one of the sparse clouds. She could certainly need one. The painkillers that the Doctors had prescribed her had the annoying side effect of making her tired. But her training came first. The Wonder-bolts wouldn't let her into their ranks if she could be taken down by a small white pill. Or rather, a collection of pills. Flexing her body, she felt the muscles under skin flex slightly. She was about to give up on waiting for the human, when she heard a loud, high pitched voice sounded a little ways off.

"Come on Jay! just one interview!" Rainbow looked round. Walking up the road was the familiar figure of the human, Jay. Surrounding him was a small group of three fillies. She smiled at the also familiar orange fur of her favorite fan, Scootaloo. Accompanying her was Rarity's sister, an Alabaster furred unicorn by the name of Sweetie Belle and the bow wearing yellow-furred sister of AppleJack, Apple-Bloom. The Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies had formed this club, to try and find their special talents and thereby their cutie marks through various activities. Though right now, it appeared that the activity had become pestering the human for an interview. The three fillies worked as interviewers for their school newspaper. "Pleasssse!" Sweetie Belle whined loudly, bouncing along beside Jay in a very good imitation of Pinkie Pie. Jay frowned down that the white filly with an expression most acute to looking down at rather neglected puppy. He sighed as he clambered over the fence. The fillies rushed around the fence in their attempt to continue engaging the human in conversation. Scootaloo suddenly noticed Rainbow Dash and gave a cry of delight.

"Rainbow Dash!" She shouted happily. She galloped over and embraced the Rainbow maned Pegasus. It was well known fact that Scootaloo wanted to be just like Rainbow Dash. Indeed, several months back, Rainbow had agreed to become Scootaloo's honorary sister. "What're you doing here?" the small Pegasus asked, happily. Rainbow smiled bumping hooves with her fan. She grinned at the three fillies as Jay made his way over to Rainbow and Scootaloo.

"I'm here to help Jay here learn about friendship." She grinned down at the three fillies as they sat down, pads out and watching Jay expectantly. "You three squirts tryin' to get an interview with Monkey boy then?" The three fillies nodded as Rainbow looked back up at Jay with a snicker. Jay seemed to be finding it very hard to speak without saying something that he would regret. Rainbow smirked. "So, you ready for the training then Monkey Boy?" Jay's annoyed look didn't waver. The human gave a curt nod, before glancing around. Rainbow grinned. "You've already had AppleJack's version of training." She said with a grin, "Now it's my turn to have a go with ya." Rainbow moved forwards, walked past Jay and into the field. When she was a good few meters away, she turned and took a stance, with her hooves wide apart. "Right then Monkey Boy," she called out, whilst Jay continued to watch her curiously. "We're gonna fight! You said you couldn't beat me without that fancy lockseed. Well....I wanna prove it....right now!" She flared out her wings and grinned at the human. Jay was staring at her in confusion.

"What? You mean like...." But Rainbow Dash had given a mighty flap with her wings and sped towards him. "Oh crap..." He mumbled as her hoof collided with his stomach.

Twilight smiled as she sat on her balcony, reading one of the large, leather bound volumes that her library contained. The hustle and bustle of Ponyville, which had first annoyed her when she tried to study seemed as normal as anything she did during the day. A cup of tea sat beside her, which she periodically sipped from as she turned the pages with her magic. She wondered vaguely, how Jay was getting on with his lessons on Friendships. She hoped that Rainbow Dash didn't hurt him too badly. The last thing she needed was her guest coming back with a broken nose or Celestia knew what else. Though Twilight doubted that Rainbow would openly defy Celestia, after the Princess had tasked them with teaching the human about friendship. Twilight frowned at this thought. She had wanted to ask Celestia what the human had wanted with her when he'd first appeared but when she tried asking her mentor, Celestia had acted as though she was more interested in the clouds or making sure that Rainbow Dash had recovered. Twilight had learned early on that when a pony acted in this way that they had something to hide.

Her musings were interrupted by Spike running up the stairs. He was waving a large rolled up piece of parchment in his claw, with a red ribbon tied around it, emblazoned with Celestia's seal. "Twilight. Twilight!" Spike called, a look of terror on his face. "Somethings happened!" Twilight took the parchment from the terrified dragon and pulled it open. She read from it bemusedly, before her eyes widened in shock. She stood up, already reaching for a quill and parchment. Before she could even write a single letter on the parchment, there was a deep boom, resonating somewhere from the outskirts of Ponyville. Twilight and Spike stared around, in an attempt to locate the source of the explosion. A plume of thick black smoke was rising into the sky, obscuring the sun from view. Twilight froze feeling a horrible sense of dread rising inside her. She wasn't sure why until Spike suddenly yelled: "Isn't that where Rainbow Dash and Jay went to train?!" Twilight turned and ran, the letter to Celestia forgotten.

Jay groaned in pain as he rolled around on the ground. Rainbow Dash had just collided with him, her hoof crashing into his stomach with the force of a freight train. Judging from the dent that Rainbow had put in his armor the first time that they had fought, he had guessed that Rainbow was stronger than she looked. Here was the proof. Jay rolled over onto his back, drawing his legs up to his chest. His vision was blurred. He could barely see anything except a large blue field with a horrible bright disk burning his retinas out. A large shadow appeared over him. Jay blinked and Rainbow Dash's grinning face came into view. The Pegasus was saying something to him but Jay couldn't hear much over the ringing in his ears. The Pegasus above him waved a hoof up and down in front of his face.

"Hello....Any-pony home Monkey Boy?" She asked. Jay gave a loud groan, and rolled over onto his side. Rainbow chuckled lightly as she walked around Jay and placed a hoof on the humans shoulder, holding him on his side. Jay had been about to roll onto his stomach. "Hold still Monkey boy....You'll feel fine in a sec. Well if you're as tough as me that is." she added with a smirk. Jay waited until the agony had passed and he managed to push himself into a sitting position. The cutie mark crusaders had walked over, their writing pads abandoned. Sweetie Belle and Apple-bloom both looked concerned. "Don't worry Squirts," Rainbow chuckled patting Jay on the back. "He'll be fine." Jay nodded massaging his stomach.

"Tough punch you got there Rainbow." He said with a smile, holding out his fist. Rainbow smirked, bumping his fist with her hoof. Her smile widened as she helped Jay get to his feet.

"If you can stand that and still laugh, then your okay in my book Monkey-boy." then she suddenly looked very serious. "Just make sure you don't do anything to hurt my friends and you're okay with me." Jay nodded. Any tender moment between the two was shattered as something flashed between the two. Both human and Pegasus rolled out of the way. Jumping to his feet, Jay saw the creature that had attacked them. It was as tall as he was, covered all in black with the exception of its head. A pair of icy blue eyes glared at him out of a pale face. It was paler than anything he'd seen so far in this world. Jay started in surprise. It was another human. The only exceptions were the humans long crimson hair and lips the color of blood. "What the hay?" demanded Rainbow Dash but the assailant ignored her. Reaching behind it, the human pulled out a familiar rectangular black device. A driver! Attaching it around its waist with a familiar silver belt, the human held up another familiar device. A Lockseed! This one didn't have a yellow pod inscribed on it. Instead, a small collection of five spherical objects, arranged in upside down pyramid in a reddish purple color could be seen. The human pressed a button on the side of the lockseed. The lock clicked open.

"YOMOTSUHEGRI!" It was a deeper voice than Jay's Lockseed. Above the other human, there was a flash of dark red light. Above the creature, a large rectangular shaped box, made of what looked like metal appeared over the human. Pressing it into the driver, the other human clicked the lock shut. Pressing down the blade, the Lockseed clicked open with a snap. The black armor dropped onto the attackers head and unfolded. A black cloud poured out from the armor as it folded over the humans arms and chest.

"YOMOTSUHEGRI ARMS! MEI, KAI, YOMI, YOMI, YOMI!" the deep voice shouted. The attacker pulled a blade from its belt. In contrast to Jay's rapier, this sword was thick, with a serrated edge. The other human pointed it at Jay and advanced on him. Jay stumbled backwards as the human, still ignoring Rainbows attempts to catch its attention, pointed its blade straight at Jay's chest. A female voice sounded as the other human spoke.

"It's time to die Brother!" The other human brought its' sword swinging through the air. A bolt of black energy, shaped in a crescent pattern detached itself from the blade and flung itself at Jay.

Chapter 10: Cursed Blade. Brother vs Sister Part 2

Jay dived to the floor, avoiding the disk of black energy as it flew over his head. The energy bolt hit the tree behind him and exploded. Jay covered his head as burning bits of wood peppered his back. The tree creaked slightly and toppled sideways to the floor with a loud crash. The smell of burning wood was thick in the air. Standing up Jay glared at the other human. The female was smiling crookedly, still with her blade pointed at Jay. Rainbow was staring in open-mouthed shock. Then a soft scream sounded behind him. Jay turned and froze. The three cutie mark crusaders, who had been sitting underneath the tree at the time, were now lying, almost squashed beneath the fallen tree. Thankfully the dark energy disk had carved the trunk in such a way that the fallen part of the tree had been balanced on the broken stump, saving the fillies from being fully crushed. However, it looked like the three fillies were being held by the weight of the broken trunk. To make things worse, the explosion had started a fire at the base. The flames were steadily inching along the tree. Jay would've gone to help them but at that moment, the female human had taken a swipe at him. Narrowly missing him, the Female continued to swipe at jay, whilst Jay hopped and dodged out of the way.

"Rainbow if you wouldn't mind..." Jay yelped just as the large black sword whisked over his head in a wide arc, narrowly avoiding getting an impromptu haircut. Rainbow grinned then dived at the Jay's female assailant. "NO, THE FILLIES!" Jay shrieked, as the attacker swung the blade with such ferocity that it stuck several inches into the ground. Rainbow gulped dodging round the wildly swinging sword and dived to the smoking wreck. By this time several other ponies, including Applejack, Rarity and Twilight. Both the farm pony and the fashion pony both gave cries of shock at the two humans then gave even louder cries as their eyes fell upon the three fillies under the burning tree.

"APPLEBLOOM!"

"SWEETIE BELLE!" All three rushed other, Twilight and Rarity both tried to use their magic, but the tree was too heavy for them to lift it more than a few inches. AppleJack and Rainbow, though they were two of the strongest pony's in Ponyville couldn't touch the tree for too long without risking catching their fur on fire. Twilight, gritting her teeth in anger, charged up her own solution. Casting the spell, she sent a jet of water spraying over the tree. But the flames seemed impossible to put out. Instead, the flames seemed to rise higher and burn brighter, which made the situation worse as they only consumed the tree at a faster rate. The fillies underneath were struggling and screaming for help. Then the tree began to rise. Shocked, Rainbow turned her head and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Shadow standing beside her. Black energy surrounded his horn. He was hardly even sweating as he maneuvered the burning tree off the three fillies. They scrambled out and moved over to their sisters. Shadow placed the tree down and put the fire out with a flick of his horn. Ignoring the surprise exclamations of the others, the black furred Unicorn turned to stare at the two humans. Jay was frantically dodging the blade but it was clear that he was tired. Several ponies stood around in a group surrounding the two. Shadow chuckled.

"He's finished unless we give him some help." He said conversationally. The others stared at him. Shadow shrugged. "Who wants some cake?" he asked, producing a small box of cakes from under his cloak. The others frowned at him as he snacked on a small pink frosted doughnut. He chuckled as Rainbow stalked up to him, glaring hard at the unicorn. "Alright, Alright...." Shadow sighed putting the box of pastries down. Reaching under his cloak, he pulled out a driver and Jays lemon Lockseed. "HEY JAY!" He shouted tossing both objects at Jay. "Catch!" Jay twisted round, narrowly avoiding getting speared on the edge of the female humans sword and caught both driver and lockseed. Securing it around his stomach he clicked open the Lockseed and pressed it into the driver with the familiar shout of:

"LEMON! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYOMA!"

At first, whilst the yellow armor unfolded onto his body, Jay stood quite still. The other human watched, an amused smirk on her face. Jay silently reached round his waist and pulled the thin rapier from his belt. Twilight, who had been watching in silent shock at the fact that Shadow who had managed to get a hold of Jay's Lockseed and driver, now turned her gaze towards Jay as he slowly raised the Rapier to point at his opponent. Twilight frowned. A smile was slowly beginning to rise on his face. It wasn't the normal smile that she'd seen before. It was a cruel, slightly evil smile. Then Jay spoke.

"You know something, girl?" He demanded. Twilight and the others turned to look at each other. Girl? They'd never heard Jay say anything like that. "There are several things you've done wrong today." Jay started walking forwards, still pointing forwards at the female. "First, you attacked innocent fillies with probably pissed off their sisters." Jay continued walking forwards. The other human's smirk had disappeared. She took a step back a Jay advanced on her, slowly raising her sword in front of her as though to shield herself from Jay. "Second, you've probably pissed off the princesses by attacking their subjects and third..." Jay said, pressing down the blade of his driver, three times. "I don't like being slashed up. So you pissed me off as well." Jays sword glowed with a bright yellow light. The woman seemed unable to move as Jay brought the sword down in a swinging arc. As he swung the blade round, a bolt of bright yellow energy flashed forwards. The other human screamed. The gathered ponies covered their ears as the earsplitting scream rent the air. The girls black armor, bathed in yellow light, began to smoke. Jay tightened his grip on his sword. The blaze of yellow light grew brighter. Then, no one was sure how it had happened, the female was gone. Just vanished. As the glow of yellow faded away, Jay replaced his sword on his belt and, with a soft sigh, folded the two halves of the Lockseed back together and pulled the Lockseed from the driver.

"LOCK OFF!" The cheerful voice called out. The yellow armor disappeared in a small flash of yellow light, leaving Jay standing there, with the Lockseed in his hand. Jay turned round to stare at the group of ponies with a slightly confused look on his face. He swayed slightly as Shadow made his way forward silently and took the driver and Lockseed, before vanishing them with a small poof of black smoke.

"W-W-What was I doing again?" He asked confusedly. The ponies stared back at him. Twilight looked at Shadow. The black furred Unicorn was watching Jay, with an expression most acute to that of someone watching a dangerous predator.

Jay, Twilight, Shadow and Rainbow Dash all sat in circle inside the Ponyville library. After making sure that Apple-Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie-Belle along with their sisters had been sent off to the Ponyville hospital to be checked out for injuries, Twilight had dragged Jay, Shadow and Rainbow Dash off to the library, saying something about writing a letter to Celestia. Whilst Spike made tea and Twilight ran upstairs to grab a quill and paper, Jay watched Rainbow and Shadow. They were sitting quite close together, talking about saving the fillies. He chuckled as Shadow laughed lightly as Rainbow mimed Twilight straining to lift the tree then Shadow snacking coolly on doughnuts whilst Jay danced around an imaginary blade. Jay chuckled.

"You two love-birds having fun are you?" Both Rainbow Dash and Shadow stopped dead. Jay chuckled even louder as both Unicorn and Pegasus started blushing rather heavily. "What?" He asked as both Rainbow and Shadow turned to fully glare at him, Shadow looking as though he wanted to do any number of unpleasant things to the human. "I thought it was brutally obvious that Shadow is hanging off your every word Rainbow and I....I" He had suddenly noticed that both Rainbow and Shadow were no longer blushing. Shadow had bared his teeth in a snarl. Rainbow's whole face was going red, which combined with her cyan fur, was turning her face an ugly shade of purple. I'm going to stop talking now." Jay said but it was to late. Twilight, who had finally found both an ink bottle, quill and piece of parchment, returned from the upper rooms of the library, to find Jay lying on the floor, with Rainbows foreleg wrapped around his throat delivering a hard noogie to Jays head with Shadow attempting to punch his stomach. "JUST BECAUSE I SAID YOU LIKE EACH OTHER DOESN'T MEAN...." Jay was shouting until he noticed Twilight. The other two stopped when they noticed Twilight standing at the top of the stairs. She smiled slightly, after replaying what Jay had just said in her head.

"Oho," Twilight said with a small smirk, walking down the remainder of the stairs as Spike came back in from the kitchen, carrying a small tray laden with Tea cups and a teapot, stopping to laugh a the awkward position that Shadow, Rainbow and Jay had managed to get themselves into. "Something you wanna tell us Rainbow? Shadow?" Jay chuckled at the horrified look on Shadows face, though his laughter died when Rainbow tightened her hold around his neck. He gulped lightly when Rainbow hissed into his ear:

"You are going to get it Monkey-Boy!"

Chapter 11: Dates and darkness

Rainbow Dash huffed in anger as she and Shadow ambled their way together down one of the many streets in Ponyville. Jay, being the smart mouthed monkey boy that he was, had decided to blurt the secret that she had a crush on the Black furred Unicorn. Both Twilight and Jay had agreed that they should try to get better acquainted. Shadow, blushing so deep that his black fur had turned an ugly dark purple had denied the suggestion almost immediately, saying he wanted to sit and listen to Twilight's questioning of Jay. Jay smirking like an idiot, had suggested that Shadow was a coward. Shadow after a large amount of book throwing at Jay and shouting at Twilight for laughing at his and Rainbow's embarrassment, had grabbed Rainbow's hoof and dragged her out of the library. Though right after that, they had both been too embarrassed to speak to each other, much less look at each other. They had then both attempted to walk in opposite directions but had, annoyingly walked down the same street. Shadow had attempted to make small talk but every time she looked round at him, his nerve seemed to fail and he looked away again. They made their way down the street, pretending to be interested in the flower pots and the intricate patterns around the doors of the houses. By this time, the sky had turned a pale orange in the evening light.

"So..." Shadow mumbled. Rainbow turned to look round. The Unicorn was looking directly at her, with barely any trace of his old shyness. Shadow was actually grinning. He pointed his hoof. The two ponies had come round into the main square of the town. Shadow was pointing at a small, fancy looking cafe near to the town hall. "Fancy something?" He asked gruffly. Rainbow grinned and nodded. Making their way over to the cafe, Shadow managed to get them a table for two. They sat their, two cups of cocoa sitting in front of them, gently steaming away. They were staring at each other, though neither of them realized it. Rainbow was shaking slightly as she picked up her small cup and attempting to sip the chocolaty liquid. She smiled at Shadow, who smirked at her. "You've got a...." he said motioning towards his mouth. Rainbow frowned. With a small poof of black smoke, a small round mirror appeared in front of her. She stopped. A large amount of brownish foam was smeared across her mouth. She blushed, hurriedly looking away and wiping her mouth with a napkin. Vanishing the mirror with another small poof of magic, Shadow leaned across the table. Rainbow froze as Shadow's hoof landed on top of hers. She looked up at the unicorn. "Rainbow..." Shadow said quietly, a small blush covering his face. "Were you telling the truth when...?" Rainbow blushed and nodded silently. Shadow's grin widened slightly. "Listen Rainbow....I," Shadow mumbled something that Rainbow couldn't hear and look away. She smiled as the nervous Unicorn made a noise, rather like a mouse being trodden on.

Rainbow grinned. "I...." She mumbled something, "You too." Shadow's head whirled round. They both stared deep into each others eyes, then they looked away with small laugh. "Listen..." Rainbow mumbled, leaning her head in slightly, a small blush blossoming on her cheeks. "I'm well...." Shadow leaned in and smiled. "I'm..." Rainbow chuckled, looking away from the Unicorn. "I feel like an idiot." She said chuckling. Shadow, pulled his hoof off of hers. The Pegasus looked back up at him. Shadow had pushed himself off the hay bale he had been sitting on and stood up. "What's up?" she asked, confusedly. Shadow shook his head softly, looking angry and, was it possible, a little sad. Shadow turned away. "Shadow?" She asked confusedly. Shadow shook his head without looking at her. She moved herself round the table and placed her hoof on the Unicorns shoulder. Shadow shook her off, still without looking at her. "Shadow, what's the problem? You Know...we're friends. We can talk if you want." After a few minutes, Shadow looked round at her.

"I'm making you uncomfortable." He said sadly, turning and beginning to walk away. Rainbow jumped in front of him, forcing the unicorn to stop. He sighed. "Listen Rainbow," He mumbled, now sounding incredibly tired. "I don't think this was a good idea. I better go." He attempted to push past Rainbow but the Pegasus refused to move. Shadow, not looking at her, the Unicorn turned round. Rainbow, faster than most normal Pegasi, jumped in front of him. "Rainbow, let me pass." He said tiredly. But Rainbow shook her head, then realized that Shadow was still not looking at her. She gripped the Unicorns head with a growl, between both hooves, seized with a sudden desire, that she couldn't quite explain and pushed the Unicorns head up so that she was staring deep into his dark eyes. "R-Rainbow?" Shadow stammered. The Pegasus shook her head. She felt fed up that the Unicorn was ignoring her, fed up that the Unicorn was trying to ditch her after asking her here. Fed up that she was feeling fed up at all. She pressed forward. Their lips met, just for a brief second, then she pulled back, a thin stream of saliva connecting them. She smiled warmly. "F-Fancy getting a b-b-b-bite to eat?" Shadow stammered. Rainbow let go of the Unicorn and nodded. Taking her hoof, Shadow and Rainbow made their way back to the table, where their cups of cold cocoa still sat, untouched by the two.

As the two ponies sat down, their eyes were still glued to each other. They did not see the hooded black figure standing on the roof of one of the thatched roofs, opposite the cafe. The figure continued to watch the pair. A black armored gauntlet slid out from beneath the black cloak. The metal fingers clicked together. A small flame sparked into existence, circling as though alive in the palm of the cloaked figures hand. The figure raised its' metal hand and spoke quietly to the flame.

"Follow them." The flame danced in the figures hand for a few seconds, before rising into the sky. Slowly, the fire dissolved into small bursts of flame, dancing away on as though on a summers wind. The small sparks of fire floated high into the sky, before coming to hover over the two love-struck ponies. The creature watched them for a second before stepping back, with a small flare of fire, the figure was gone.

The chamber was large, though it was dark, it was hard to tell how big it actually was. The only light came from a pool of water, casting a gloomy bluish light into the chamber though the small amount of light that it created was barely adequate enough to reveal anything distinguishing about the chamber. There was just enough light to show four stone pillars, stretching high into the darkness. Four banners were fixed around the pillars. Made of a dark black material, these banners, like the water in the pool did not move despite the howl of a cold wind, echoing through the shadowy chamber. The surface of the water was so still, it was almost as if it had been frozen in time. Suddenly, there came the sound of hooves. Echoing inside the dark chamber, the clopping grew louder and louder. A figure entered the small cone of light that the pool cast. Clad in a dark robe that blended the pony almost perfectly with the darkness, a pair of dark red eyes shone from under the hood of the cloak. A shadowy hoof reached out from under the cloak and dipped briefly into the pool. Despite the disturbance, the pool did not ripple at all.

"Obsidian." Said a cold, female voice and another figure appeared, on the opposite side of the pool. Like the first arrival, the figure was clad in a dark robe, though this one was etched with white stars, that barely glinted in the darkness. A pair of deep violet eyes stared at the first arrival. "The dark and powerful..." but another female voice, slightly haughty and extremely arrogant interrupted the second voice.

"Be silent foal. Let our glorious leader rest in silence! Do not speak unless you wish to make a bigger fool of yourself!" A third arrival had stepped up to the pool, this time next to the star cloaked figure. Like the first two arrivals, this figure was cloaked, however, the cloak seemed far too small for the third arrival. Long ropes of dark, greenish strips swung around from under the hood of the cloak. A pair of deep green eyes were staring in adoration at Obsidian as the cloaked pony, who still had his hoof in the pool. "Obsidian..." The newest arrival whispered seating herself by the pool, "When do we strike my lord? The girl was a failure....let me go!" But the pony with the star etched cloak snorted in indignation, seating herself by the edge of the pool. "Why do you laugh foal?" Demanded the tallest of the three, blinking angrily at snickering pony.

"You? Go next?" Laughed the Pony, the cloak practically vibrating with the pony's laughter. "You will fare no better than the girl did!" The two squared off, baring their teeth at each other, until Obsidian finally extracted his hoof from the pool and raised it up. Immediately, though no words had been spoken, both of the females in front of him stopped glaring at each other and stood to attention. Obsidian turned his piercing red eyes upon them and nodded silently. Before getting to his feet. The cloaked pony wandered around the side of the pool until he was standing parallel to the two mares. A soft chuckle filled the dark chamber.

"Listen to me the pair of you." A stern voice said from under cloak. Both mares shivered slightly as Obsidian spoke. "You're both talented enough to have an equal chance on taking him down. Until our other two allies join us, we can do naught but test him again and again. I shall continue to deal with Shadow. You..." he pointed with a hoof toward the mare with the star etched cloak, "shall go next. I believe you needed an excuse anyway." The mare with the star etched cloak bowed. Both of the two cloaked mare's backed into the darkness. Obsidian turned back to the pool and dipped his hoof back into it. He smiled, showing pearly white teeth. "Soon my dear Shadow, you'll be mine. But for now I shall send you a test. What to do....what to do..." He thought. Then a smiled. Reaching under his cloak, Obsidian pulled out a small clay figurine of a dragon. He placed the figurine into the pool. It floated out into the center of the pool and sank. Obsidian waited, counting to ten. He matched it with his own heartbeat. That was the proper way to do things. The pool suddenly began to bubble and froth. Something big moved under the water. The cloaked pony smiled as a large yellow eye opened under the water. "Soon now." he mumbled quietly settling back down by the pools edge.

Chapter 12: The watcher returns

Jay was starting to regret ever coming to Ponyville. Since Twilight had been tasked by Celestia to supposedly learn all she could about him, the violet unicorn had done nothing but constantly question him. He had never known some-pony could have the ability to listen to a person repeat the same phrases over and over again. He'd finally managed to escape the probing questions and go for a walk. Jay smirked, feeling a high sense of amusement, imagining Shadow and Rainbow out on their date. Taking a turn down one of the many darkened streets, Jay chuckled lightly, remembering the sight of Shadow's blushing face. His elation increased at the memory of Rainbow's face, turning an ugly purple, every time he taunted her about having feelings about Shadow. Though, he supposed the punishment he'd been forced to endure was worth the risk. He rubbed his head, feeling where Rainbow's hoof had rubbed hard against his scalp. He decided that he would be far away from Rainbows reach before taunting her again. It was either that or risk getting his head rubbed raw by another of that Rainbow-maned menace's noogies. Groaning in pain, he didn't notice the mint green unicorn that had walked across the street, directly in front of him. Lost in his thoughts, the human walked straight into the pony. He stumbled, falling to the ground with a loud crash. Groaning in pain, feeling worse than ever now. He raised a hand as he pushed himself up, waving at the Unicorn behind him. She was a mare, with a light greenish white mane and tail. Her eyes were a bright gold, while her cutie was what appeared to be a golden harp. He got to his feet with a grunt of pain. He'd bruised his arms on the floor as he'd fallen.

"Sorry." He grunted moving over to check the Unicorn for any bruises. "I didn't hurt you did I?" He asked. The Unicorn looked up at him. Her lips trembled as her eyes went wide. Jay frowned as he knelt down beside the Unicorn. Her eyes followed him. "Are you okay?" He demanded, feeling slightly unnerved by the stare that the Unicorn was giving him. He shrugged, after many moments of silence. "Well, if your okay....see you then." He stood up and turned to leave. Just as he took a few steps, he became aware that something was following him. Judging by the clip-clop of hooves, he guessed it was the same Unicorn as before. Turning his head, he saw that it was the same Unicorn. She still had those big wide eyes and trembling lips. "Did you need something?" He asked confusedly. The Unicorns mouth fell open. She suddenly smiled, about as wide as her eyes had gone. The Unicorn suddenly jumped high into the air.

"HUMAN!" She shrieked. Jay yelped, jumped backwards, stumbled over his feet and landed, for the second time that day, on his backside. "I KNEW THERE WAS ONE HERE! I KNEW IT!" She screamed, jumping excitedly around him before freezing stiff as a board for a second. Then the Unicorn suddenly let out a louder gasp. "I GOTTA GO TELL BONBON, NOW SHE'LL HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!" The Unicorn jumped up and sped off. Jay watched the rapidly receding blur of the crazed Unicorn. He shook his head with a sigh. Brushing himself off, the human made his way down the rapidly darkening street. The night had started to draw in. Something was unnerving him. He wasn't sure why, but he was pretty sure something...or someone was watching him. He turned his head each time he walked past one of the connecting streets. Several of the ponies who strolling about in the evening air, most of whom were used to him by now, either gave him friendly waves or stared at him uncertainly from a distance. Looking up at the roofs of the cottages, he stared keenly at almost every cottage he passed. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was staring at him. He stopped for a second. His eyes closed, listening for even a trace of sound that could give away his stalkers position. He whirled round looking at the tops of the cottages. Something was there. It was crouched on the roof of one of the cottages farthest away from him. From the distance, Jay couldn't see much except the black cloak that covered the creature. With a shake of his head, Jay turned back and started back along the path. Though, his watch of the stalker was distracted by a groan coming from one of the darkened alleyways. A pair of ponies were lying in a heap on the floor. Several empty bottles lay on the ground around them. Jay raised an eyebrow. Judging from the Rainbow mane and tail, along with the red lighting bolt on one of the ponies, he guessed who it was.

"Really, Rainbow? Shadow? The pair of you go out for a single date and now look at you. Both as drunk as..." He sighed leaning down next to the drunken pair. Shadow groaned sleepily, rolling over onto his back. There was an awful lot of sticky liquid staining his dark fur. His eyes opened, glazed over and his mouth open in a lopsided smile. Reaching up with a hoof, Shadow punched Jay hard in the face. "OW!" Jay yelled, falling backwards, clutching his bloody nose. The yelp of pain had woken up the still drunken Rainbow. As the Pegasus sat up, her drunken gaze landed upon Jay, rolling around on the floor, clutching his bleeding face. Her smirk widening, the Pegasus laughed stupidly. "What the SHIT!" Jay shouted rolling over to face the two drunks. Shadow stood up and walked over to Jay. The Unicorn swayed slightly as his horn glowed. Jay felt himself being lifted up before Shadow leaned against his legs.

"That wash for forcing me......out withshsh herrrrr." Shadow slurred, stumbling back over to Rainbow and attempting to hoist her into a more dignified position. But his drunken condition failed him, and he fell face-first into the dirt again. Both of them laughed, rolling helplessly around. "You...know....you're....URP!" Shadow burped loudly as he finally managed to hoist both him and the Pegasus up. Rainbow's head as lolling on Shadows shoulder. "I thought you...were jusht a nuscinshe. " Shadow slurred as Rainbow gave a great grunting snore. "But, now I have a girlfriend....HIC! I know it wash down to youse." Shadow gave a great grunting snort, then with a poof of black smoke, Jay's driver and Lockseed appeared out of thin air. They floated towards Jay, who grabbed them with a confused look. "I think, youse'll need it more than....than....urp!" Shadow screwed up his face....then vomited at Jays feet.

The creature was almost there. It had stopped only to sharpen its claws on the stones in the mountain where it had come from. Where its master had birthed it. Its Master wanted one thing. The creature was going to do what its master wanted. It had to. It was its purpose. Its life. Its reason for living. As it flew through the clouds, its leathery wings beating against the sky, its mind was set on the little village. Despite the cloudy night, its vision was as sharp as though it was looking around in bright daylight on a cloudless day. The village would be in flames by the night was out. The villages population would fill it's belly and the creature would bring the one that its master desired. But first it would feast and rampage. Its master had at least given the creature that task to finish. It dived beneath the cloud cover, feeling the flames within its belly beginning to rise. It was time. It heard its masters voice in its head.

"KILL!"

Jay sighed in annoyance as dragged the large cart through ponyville, upon which the two drunken ponies had been dumped. Both were now snuggled together, still in their drunken stupor. He had bartered the cart from a market-stall owner, who had not been to happy to let the cart go for free. Luckily, the stallion had been a big fan of Rainbow's flying acrobatics and had happily agreed to give him the cart on the condition that Rainbow gave him an autograph. Jay had assured him that Rainbow would give it. Though, when he had never agreed to hauling around two ponies who were old enough to know better. He sighed, angrily. He'd have a little talk about drinking with the two of them when they woke. Though he'd supposed that he'd have to risk it from a distance considering it was Rainbow Dash. Something smelt wrong though. As he made his way through the town, he became aware of the smell of smoke. It was coming from all around. Looking up, he saw plumes of smoke coming from up ahead. Screams could be heard. In his angry state, he hadn't noticed the commotion.

"JAY!" Shrieked a familiar voice. He looked up. Rarity and Fluttershy were running towards him, Sweetie Belle and Apple-bloom behind them, All four ponies were covered in soot. Behind them, several of the buildings were on fire, their thatched roofs burning to charred ashes. The heat of the flames. "You have to help us!" Rarity shrieked, running up to the human, pounding her hooves against Jay's chest. "Some sort of beast is attacking the town. We don't know what to do! Its circling the Library with fire. TWILIGHT'S TRAPPED!" Rarity screamed, before falling to the ground in a dead faint. Jay stared at the Unicorn before what she had said had sunk in. He turned to fluttershy, Sweetie-Belle and Apple-Bloom.

"Stay with Rainbow, Shadow and the others!" He shouted, turning to run down the street. "I'll deal with whatever this is!" He sprinted down the street. Thick smoke obscuring his vision, making his eyes water. Barely able to see, Jay tripped and stumbled over several panicked ponies running in the other direction. He was barely aware of the shouts and screams surrounding him. He had never felt this fear. It was like Acid, sapping his strength, slowing him down. Finally, he made it to the library. A ring of flames surrounded it, though Jay could still see Twilight's and Spikes terrified faces looking through one of the windows. The beast was stalking back and forth in front, every so often spraying more flames. Judging from the long snout and the large leathery wings, he guessed it was a dragon. It's yellow body was about as large as the tree-house itself. Its yellow eyes fixed upon Jay. Baring its teeth, it gave Jay a snarl. Jay smiled, pulling out his driver he fixed around his waist and clicked open the padlock of his lockseed.

"LEMON!" The cheerful voice shouted. Then... "LEMON...LEMON....LEMO....!" Jay stared at the Lockseed. The Lockseed was glowing a bright yellow. It grew brighter, the cheerful voice continuously repeating its name, either lowering its tone or repeating parts of the word. Jay frowned. Then he screamed, as an pain bolted its way up his arm and into his chest. He fell to his knees, screaming in pain. Strange images were flashing in front of his vision, blurring his sight. He dropped the Lockseed, but the pain continued. It grew worse as he writhed around on the floor. He was dimly aware of the dragon walking towards him. Each step shook the floor. Jay's eyes watered as pain began to overcome him. It was the end. The dragon would swallow him then he would destroy the town. It was worse than he thought. He was now seeing double. One dragon was flying down onto the first dragon. Though this one was blackish red, with reddish wings. With a roar of rage, the black dragon sprayed a stream of red hot fire. The first dragon roared too as the flames enveloped it. Its skin was cracking up as it writhed around. It was like the skin was beginning to fall apart. One of the paws fell to the ground, detaching itself from the crumbling dragons body. As soon as it hit the ground the paw crumbled into a large pile of dust and bits. A black figure jumped from the Black dragons head. Something flashed. Then the dragons severed head dropped to the ground. The body stopped moving. Slowly, the decapitated body just as the paw had done, disintegrated. Slowly, the specks floated through the air, coming to rest on the ground. Jay watched as the hooded figure waved its armored hand. The fire surrounding the Library slowly sputtered, then went out. Jays head slumped to the ground. He let the pain take him and he passed out.

Twilight and Spike shakily made their way out the door of the Library. They'd been reorganizing books when something large had crashed down in front of the building. Looking outside, they'd seen it to be a massive yellow scaled dragon. Before either of them could attempt to escape the tree-house, the dragon had belched a large amount of fire in front of the doorway. They'd watched Jay attempt to use his lockseed and fail. They screamed together as the blackish red dragon fell upon the yellow dragon and gasped in tandem as the hooded figure jumped off the red dragons head and decapitated their attacker. Now, the pair made their way cautiously out of the door and over to the figure. the cloaked figure had knelt over the unconscious form of Jay and was checking for a pulse with a pair of two armored fingers.

"Is....Is he gonna be okay?" Twilight asked nervously. The figure turned to her and pulled off the cloak. Underneath, the figure wore a a set of black armor. It was sleek though looked thick enough to withstand any punishment. A spiked helmet covered the interlopers head and features. In the creatures hand was a large hammer, spiked like the creatures armor. Though even as the creature turned to her, it stabbed the spiked handle into the dirt so that it stayed upright even though the armored creature let go of it.

"He'll be fine Twilight. Though I must say, I'm surprised to see a human such as me in the middle of Ponyville." The armored creatures voice was male, though light and friendly. The armored figure gave a soft chuckle before reaching up to pull off his helmet. "I'm glad that you aren't hurt twi. I wouldn't be named the watcher of Equestria if I let an attack like this escape my notice!" Twilight froze as the creature finally succeeded in pulling off its helmet. She walked forward, staring into the dark-skinned face. The dragon snorted but the unicorn ignored it. She placed a hoof on the creatures leg.

"The Watcher of Equestria? Zyon, is that you?"

Princess Celestia stared at the smoking town of Ponyville. When her scouts had reported what was happening in the town, She had rushed to her balcony to fly away to the town, but something had stopped her. She had felt a strange sense of foreboding as she watched the bursts of fire that could only mean a dragon had attacked the town. When she'd seen the second shape, she'd feared the worst and still she couldn't move. It was like her body had turned to stone. Just as she spread her wings to fly, as she'd originally intended to do, a guard burst through the door of her private chambers. "Princess Celestia!" The guard shouted. "It's him. It's the watcher of Equestria!" Celestia froze in mid-jump. She turned her head to look at the guard in shock, positive that she'd heard wrong. The Watcher of Equestria? It had to be a mistake. He was gone...She tensed her muscles, then jumped forwards, flapping her wings to gain altitude. If that guard had been right....Then she had double the reason to fly to Ponyville.

Chapter 13: The Watchers origins

Twilight stared into the brown eyes of the armored human, feeling a sense of elation growing insider her. Zyon grinned softly, kneeling down beside the Unicorn. "Be assured Twilight. It is me. I'm back!" Twilight continued to stare at the armored human. His bright brown eyes shone with amusement. "You gonna stare at me all night or shall we go back inside? This amount of dust is making my eyes water." He replaced his helmet, hoisted the still unconscious form of Jay onto his shoulder and walked past the mound of yellowish dust, that was all that remained of the attacking dragon. Twilight watched him stop to scoop up a large handful of the dust and pour it into a small sack. Just as the armored human made it to the door, he turned and smiled at the still paralyzed form of Twilight. "I haven't come all this way just to watch you stand there Twi. Why don't you and your friends come in." He motioned towards the cart, where Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Shadow were still waiting. Sweetie-Belle and Apple-Bloom were hiding behind the two ponies, making sure as much of their bodies were hidden. Slowly, Twilight turned and walked into the Library. Spike followed her, with the others following behind her hesitantly. Just as she walked into the door, she caught sight of Zyon walking up into the bedrooms. Twilight frowned as Zyon reappeared at the top of the stairs. He had obviously just put Jay on the bed in the spare bedroom. Now the armored human sat down on the bottom stairs, taking off his helmet again. Twilight, Spike and her other friends sat down in a circle around the human, resting the unconscious forms of Shadow and Rainbow, who despite all the commotion had not woken from their drunken slumber.

"Where....have you been Zyon?" Twilight asked quietly, now staring directly at Zyon. Zyon grinned sheepishly at Twilight, his armored hand absentmindedly fiddling with the top of his helmet. The amusement in his eyes had dimmed slightly. The rest of the assembled ponies were staring at Twilight in confusion. They had never heard Twilight mention the fact that she was on speaking terms with the watcher of Equestria. "You...you're so different to when we last met." Zyon smiled at her, his eyes shining alight with happiness. "And what's all this about the watcher of Equestria? That was just a nickname that we gave you. But...then you disappeared. The last time I saw you was..." But Rarity, who had finally managed to recover from her dead faint, decided to speak up. She was glaring at Zyon with the same hard stare that she had given Jay when she'd first laid eyes on him.

"Twilight, who is this brute Twilight? It's bad enough that we have one monkey like creature here...Now we have one that has a dragon!" It was a full ten seconds before Rarity noticed that Twilight had stopped staring at Zyon and was glaring at her instead. With a start, the Alabaster Unicorn's fur was starting to smoke. There was a look in her eyes that Rarity had only seen just once before. It was before Twilight lost complete control of her anger. "So sorry darling," She said quickly, even though she moved her body so that it was slightly hidden behind Fluttershy who had been shaking ever since the first dragon had arrived. "But well...how to you know....him?" She pointed a hoof at Zyon, who unlike Twilight, had not shown the slightest hint of anger. Instead, his body was shaking with laughter. A large smile was dawning across his face, his brown eyes practically watering with laughter. Twilight stopped growling, her fur stopped smoking, though she still stared at Twilight with a glare hot enough to melt steel. Zyon raised a hand, though he was still shaking with laughter.

"Perhaps I can explain....um miss..." He said smiling at Rarity. Though, at that moment, there was a very loud crash from outside the Library. The group turned their heads to look at the door. The was a bright white glow coming from outside the door. For one mad moment, Twilight assumed that a third dragon had arrived in the town. though this assumption was drowned out the moment the door exploded off its hinges. Fluttershy screamed, ducking as the splintering door flew across the room, over the terrified Pegasus's head and smashed against one of the shelves. Standing in the smoking doorway, her wings spread in a wide arc and her horn glowing as bright as the sun, was one very angry sun princess.

"ZYON!" Shrieked Celestia taking a threatening step towards the armored human. "WHERE IN ALL EQUESTRIA HAVE YOU BEEN!?" The angry sun yelled. Zyon gulped.

"Oh....hey Sis." He said shakily, raising a hand.

By the time they'd managed to calm Celestia down, the sun princess had marched across to the armored human, and had repeatedly slapped Zyon across the face with her hoof. Zyon had been cowering under his arms, but even the humans armor had not been able to protect him from the powerful slaps that Celestia had hit him with. The armored plates that Celestia had clipped to her hooves made very loud clanging noises as the sun Princess delivered blow after blow upon the humans head. It went on for the best part of an hour, with the others attempting to hold back the Celestia back. Though, when you're attempting to hold back a princess with the ability to raise and lower the sun every day and that princess is angrier than she's ever been in years....that can be very hard to do. Twilight, and Rarity, were pushing back against the armor across Celestia's barrel, whilst Celestia's hooves flailed at Zyon. Spike was lying unconscious under a large pile of books. He had attempted to ask who Zyon actually was, only for one of Celestia's armored hooves had slapped him, knocking clear across the Library. Zyon whimpered as Celestia attempted once again to hit him.

"WEEKS, MONTHS OF SILENCE....YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT! NOT ONE SINGLE LETTER! NOT ONE! YOU...I WORRIED ABOUT YOU FOR WEEKS!" The princess shrieked, finally succeeding in knocking past both Rarity and Twilight. Zyon tensed.....though instead of actually hitting him, the Princess wrapped her legs around the human. The others watched in surprise as Celestia began to shake. She was crying. Zyon hugged her around the middle awkwardly. "I missed you so much Zyon. Why didn't you...why?" Rarity picked herself up off the floor and gazed at the scene with confusion.

"Princess...who is this....human?" She asked. She'd decided to choose her words more carefully after Twilight's reaction to her last attempt to voice a question about Zyon. "He called you....Sis? Are you two related?" Celestia pulled herself away from Zyon and turned to face the group. Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes streaming. She was smiling though. Her legs still tightly locked around the human. "And for that matter..." Rarity said rounding on Twilight as Fluttershy picked herself shakily off the floor. "How come the pair of you seem to know him? Twilight, darling could you please explain who this Zyon is?" Both Twilight and Celestia looked at each other. They both gave a deep sigh. Zyon chuckled lightly, attempting to extract himself from Celestia's grip. This failed of course as Celestia only tightened her grip. "Well?" Rarity demanded, the urge to pick up gossip overcoming her.

"The truth is...." Celestia said slowly looking up at them. "This is my adoptive brother." Zyon nodded. Rarity stared at her for a full ten seconds. Before falling to the ground in a dead faint again. After waiting for the dramatic pony to wake again, Celestia explained. "I....found him a long time ago, in the Canterlot Gardens as a baby." The Princess said with a chuckle. "This was way before I even knew Twilight. After I banished Nightmare Moon, the loneliness was...." She stopped for a second to wipe a tear from her eye. "Anyway...Yes I found him. He was so weak and defenseless, all he did was stare around," Zyons dark skin turned darker with blush. "I had to take him in." Zyon nodded smiling at Celestia. "That's where the nickname first came from. I took him in, then...well as time went by, he....he grew up..." She stammered simply. Zyon shook his head again with a chuckle.

"What she means is that as I stayed with her, I was essentially adopted her. I was so grateful that I was determined to repay Celestia. That I trained myself in the same style as her guards." Celestia frowned then. Right at that moment she looked more like an angry mother rather than a regal princess.

"Of course I didn't like the idea at first. He was like my own son and he was already putting himself in danger. He was only a child." Zyon gave an annoyed huff but Celestia continued glaring at him. "But still he tried. After all that I tried to do to keep him out of danger, he went ahead and started guard training." She shook her head. "Still, he exceeded his teachers expectations. Though I didn't get much chance to reign in his ambitions," Twilight blushed as Celestia gazed at her fondly, "Because my faithful student came along. Though they became fast friends-"

"Wait you...knew each other before all this watcher buisness?" Fluttershy asked nervously. Twilight and Celestia nodded both smiling. "Well...well could you please explain it to me again..." Fluttershy said nervously. "I'm finding it a bit confusing."

Twilight made her way along the winding path back to her room. She still couldn't believe that the School for Gifted Unicorns had accepted her last year. Her exceptional skills had even gotten the attention of Princess Celestia herself. The little filly swelled with pride at the memory of being selected to be Celestia's own personal student. With the two filly saddle-bags across her back, stretched to breaking point with large books, Twilight wandered along towards the Castle. The guards at the door both winked at her as they pushed open the door. The filly always felt a little intimidated by the massive stairs and giant stone columns. Making her way up the stairs, she smiled at the figure standing beside the door. He was taller than Twilight, with light, chocolate brown hair and eyes, dark skin. Zyon had grown since the last time she'd seen him. Now 13, Zyon was well muscled with a soft smile.

"Hey Twilight," Zyon said cheerfully kneeling down to pat her on the head. "You here for a lesson with Sis?" Twilight nodded happily. Zyon turned and pushed open the door. Sitting in front of the flickering fire, her body supported by several pillows and cushions, Princess Celestia smiled as both Zyon and Twilight entered the room. Zyon smiled as he took a seat at the table on the other side of the room. He watched as both Twilight and Celestia got down to their lesson. "You two never cease to amaze me." Zyon whispered, smiling with pride at Twilight. Ever since he and twilight had become friends, he'd taken a personal interest in the young Unicorns abilities. Though...he supposed he felt closer to her since Celestia had told him about....

Fluttershy nodded understandingly as Celestia finished explaining. Though Twilight and Rarity looked confused. "Why...did you leave out how we met Princess?" Twilight asked. But Celestia refused to look at her. Instead, she chose to focus her gaze on Zyon. The armored human had finally managed to extract himself from the Princess's grip. He was now sitting next to the sun princess. He smiled at her softly. "Okay..." Twilight said confusedly. She turned to look at Zyon. "Since the backstory is out of the way...Why did you come back?" Zyon turned to look at her, then back to Celestia.

"Listen Celestia....there's something you need to know."

The Great and Powerful one returns

The spell had worked. She was now standing on the outskirts of the town. A feeling of evil intent surged through her as she adjusted the fastenings on her black cloak. The silver stars embossed on the fabric shone in the early morning light. She frowned, looking at the devastation that the clay dragon had wrought. She knew Obsidian wasn't very happy. She had watched from afar as the blackish-red dragon had swooped down and destroyed Obsidian's dragon with a few sprays of fire. Obsidian had been so angry he'd knocked down several of the pillars supporting the roof of his chamber. She still winced at the feeling of several giant slabs of stone falling all around her and in some cases on top of her. She grinned softly. The girl had failed to deal with Jay when she had the chance. Obsidian had punished her. She couldn't blame him though. Humans were a weak species and couldn't be relied upon to finish even the most simple of tasks. But she could. She was the Great and Powerful one after all. Well...she would be once again after she dealt with that...humiliating Know-it-all. She'd make her pay, with the new powers she'd been given...But she had to restrain herself. She needed to take care of a little insurance first. She turned away from the town, her sights set on the farm...Sweet-Apple-Acres.

Jay groaned as he came to. His head ached. The last thing he could remember was getting ready to battle the dragon. Then his lockseed had gone haywire. Then, the pain...the second dragon attacking. Then he'd passed out. Opening his eyes, he saw the familiar wooden roof of the Ponyville Library. He wondered vaguely, how they'd managed to pacify the dragon. Maybe Rainbow...no, she'd been drunk when he'd tried to stop the dragon. Shadow? No he was drunk too. Jay shook his head to try and clear the pain. He only managed to make things worse. Sitting up, he took a look around. The bedroom looked the same though the black armored figure sitting in the chair next to his bed was very different. Jay stopped. He frowned. Black armored figure? He slowly turned his head back round to look again. The figure was sitting on one of the chairs that had been placed next to the window. Sunlight was streaming over the spiky black armor. The figure was smiling at him. Judging from the figures strong features, he was a male. He was human. The armored human had dark skin, with an untidy mess of chocolate brown hair and eyes. The other human raised a hand in greeting.

"Hi there!" He had a light, friendly voice, that belied the threatening picture that his black armor created. Jay stared. The other human's smile widened. "It's not polite to stare you know. Names Zyon. I'm guessing your Jay?" Zyon extended his hand, the armor glinting in the light. Jay nodded numbly, reaching over to grasp the armored hand tightly. Underneath the cool metal, he could tell that Zyon had a rather strong grip. Zyon chuckled. "You don't talk much do you?" Jay shook his head, grinning back sheepishly.

"To tell you the truth," He said. "I'm kinda surprised to see another human here." Zyon nodded and Jay smiled at him. The two humans were interrupted by a gasp from the top of the stairs. Twilight had come up the stairs without either of them noticing. She rushed over to the bed and jumped onto it. The unicorn wrapped her hooves around Jays neck and squeezed hard. "URK!" Jay grunted, falling back against the pillows with a soft thump. "Twilight....you're choking me..." Jay grunted, pulling at the Unicorn's iron grip, though Twilight only tightened her grip. "Twi....I get you're....happy..get off please..." Jay groaned, turning blue. Zyon, chuckling reached round Twilight and teased his armored fingers against her sides. Twilight let out a loud squeak, and released Jay from her death grip. She sprang from the bed as though she'd been fitted with springs. Landing by the stairs she glared angrily at Zyon, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red. Jay nodded thanks to Zyon before swinging his legs off the bed and standing up. "Did anyone see my lockseed?" He asked. Twilight and Zyon looked at each other before Twilight motioned for them to follow her. Jay followed her confusedly down the stairs and froze. Sitting at the table, sipping from a steaming mug was a familiar, alabaster white Alicorn.

"Good morning Jay. I trust you slept well enough?" Celestia.

It had been child's play. Simply child's play. She smiled coldly at the struggling form of the orange farm pony laying on the ground in front of her. The farm Pony had even noticed the noise her lockseed had made, engrossed in her apple-bucking as she was. Though she had to admit it had been funny, using her magic to tie the farm pony up with her own ropes. Strengthened for hauling large amounts of apples around, even the bound mare's legendary strength had failed her. It was a funny sight to behold. It brought back memories of the last time she'd tied up the self-righteous earth pony. It made her smile coolly.

"What in tarnation are ya playin' at partner?" Demanded the farm pony, straining hard to escape. The bonds held her tight. "Why're you doin' this?" the mare yelled. She chuckled quietly. The dullard had no idea who she was. Though she supposed that was only natural. The green armor covered most of her body and the mask, that had materialized as she transformed covered most of her face. Though her horn and mouth were still visible, it would be impossible to tell who she was. She watched the farm pony writhe around on the floor for a second. "Stop starin' and let...me...GO!" She grimaced as the loud voice hit her ears. She'd always hated it every time the brute yelled out. She reached behind her and pulled a large piece of cloth out of her saddlebags. "What's that fer? Ya'll had better let me or MMMPH!" The Farm pony let out a muffled grunt of indignation as the cloth was shoved hard into her mouth and tied tightly behind her head. She smiled slightly, watching the struggling farm-pony.

"Try not to annoy me any further than you already have. The great and powerful one..." She reached up and tore off the mask, revealing her face. "Does not tolerate insolence!" The farm pony froze. Her expression changed from anger to shock.

Jay stared at the giant blackish red dragon that had sat itself outside the Ponyville library. It surveyed him back, with a rather haughty expression on its' large snout. The pile of dust, that was all that remained of the first dragon had been taken away by several of Celestia's guards. The other dragon had drawn a rather large amount of nervous tension despite the fact that Celestia had assured the Ponies of Ponyville that it was not dangerous, the appearance of a second human and an armored one at that, had frightened several of the ponies in the town to near hysterics. Celestia and Zyon had both been able to pat Flame, which Zyon had claimed was the dragons name, on his snout. Jay had been subjected to a large amount of smoke and a slight bobbing of Flame's head. According to Zyon, that meant that the dragon thought that Jay was okay, though Flame still hadn't made his judgement. Jay supposed that if a dragon thought he was, "Okay," whatever that meant, then he was doing a good job of fitting in. Even twilight, despite being nervous around the dragon, had received a small lick which made her mane stand on edge. Though when Spike attempted to say hello, the bigger dragon gave a snort of unmistakable indignation and turned its head away. Zyon chuckled at Spike's confused expression.

"Don't worry Spike," He said smiling slightly and patting the baby dragon on the head. "He always does that to ponies or creatures who haven't earned his respect." Spike stared at him, looking hurt. "What I mean is," Zyon said quickly, "Is that he will talk to you soon. You just need to...I dunno..." Zyon tilted his head back and shrugged. Celestia was examining the lemon lockseed, turning it over in the grip of her golden magic. Since Zyon had recounted the events of the previous nights attack, she seemed to be more interested in the facts that the dragon had crumbled to dust and that the lockseed had failed to activate. Jay was watching the princess with rapt attention. She looked from both him and the lockseed with a stern expression. "What's the matter Sis?" asked Zyon, turning to look at the Princess. She looked up at the armored human.

"I'm going to have words with Luna about her apprentice. He had no right to hand over the driver and Lockseed, twice! Though..." she said, holding up a gold-plated hoof as both Twilight and Spike opened their mouths to complain, "I will say that Jay has acted the fashion I wanted." She turned to Jay and smiled. "I wish to thank you for attempting to save my faithful student, you have my gratitude." Jay smiled back as she moved the Lockseed back to Jay. The human caught it with a surprised look. "Though I am confused as to why the Lockseed stopped working. I would like you to stay here until we find the source of these problems." Jay nodded with a softer smile as he stared down at the Lockseed in his hand. It was no longer hot and glowing though and had acquired a rather dull look. He frowned, running his thumb over it. The lemon marking felt slightly...soft. It was almost like an aging fruit. With a sigh he put the lockseed in his pocket. It fell straight through a large tear and clattered to the ground. Growling in annoyance, Jay picked up the Lockseed again and tried to put it back inside his pocket. The tear opened again and the Lockseed fell to the ground. Now that Jay came to look at himself, his clothes were in rags. He looked up as Twilight and Celestia chuckled.

"You better visit Rarity." Twilight said with another snort of laughter."She'll be able to patch up, or even make an entirely new set of clothes for you-" Right at that moment though, a familiar, alabaster unicorn appeared at the end of the street. Though Rarity looked severely different to the last time they'd seen her. Her Alabaster fur coat was stuck out in odd places and her cutie mark had been covered by a large amount of muck. Instead of her expertly style purple mane, the color had changed to the texture of sick. It was piled higgledy pigggldy over head, with many strands obscuring her vision. The Unicorn was sobbing hysterically as she galloped blindly through the streets. It wasn't until the Unicorn turned a corner and crashed into Zyon's legs and stumbled to the ground. "Rarity what happened?" Twilight asked, conjuring a towel to wrap around the sobbing Unicorn. Rarity simply covered herself with the towel, still sobbing hysterically and pointed with her hoof, in the direction of town square. Jay, Celestia, Zyon, Twilight and Spike all turned and ran.

By the time the group of five had reached the town square, several other ponies had run past them, their fur singed in several places. Many of the buildings they past had several holes blasted into them, as though projectiles had been blasted through them. Finally they reached the square. Several large smoking holes had been blasted into the ground. Among the carnage, the figure of a pony, cloaked in black stood motionlessly. The smoke obscured the ponies face. Several ponies lay on the floor, groaning weakly. Celestia took a step forward, towards the cloaked pony. "Who are you to threaten my subjects?" She demanded angrily. The cloak slipped from the pony's head. Revealing blue fur, a horn of the same blue coloring, violet eyes and a whitish-blue mane. Twilight gasped. Celestia blinked confusedly. "Who...?" she said confusedly. The Unicorn smiled, her lips drawn upward in cruel smirk.

"Well well." The blue furred Unicorn said coldly, taking another step towards the group. "Twilight Sparkle....so nice to see you again. The great and powerful trixie is pleased to see that you're still here!" Twilight growled softly, walking forward till she stood beside the Princess. "What's the matter?" the unicorn called Trixie said with a cold look. "Didn't think I'd be back so soon miss humiliation!" The blue furred unicorn looked slightly mad. "This time I have the power to beat you!" Trixie's horn glowed with a light pinkish glow. From under the black cloak, she pulled a rectangular black object and a small padlock like object. A driver and a Lockseed. Strapping the driver around her waist, she held out the lockseed. Instead of a lemon marking, there was a green and brownish fruit marked on the Lockseed. Trixie clicked it open.

"WATERMELON!" There was a flash of green light and a roundish sphere shaped object appeared over the unicorns head. Trixie fitted the lockseed into the driver and pressed the blade down. "WATERMELON ARMS! SCATTER BLAST! B-B-B-BANG!" The sphere clicked open and unfolded over Trixie's body. Instead of a sword, a large shield appeared, strapped to the Unicorns side. It was a rectangular with a circle of green metal embossed on the top. On the bottom, the shield tapered to a cylinder of green metal. Trixie laughed. Celestia, Twilight and Jay all tensed but Trixie didn't stop laughing. Even faced with the Princess of the sun, her mirth didn't subside. With a poof of pinkish magic, an Orange mare appeared on the floor in front of Trixie. AppleJack was bound tightly by a long length of rope and a thick cloth had been stuffed in her mouth, muffling her angry cries. Twilight and Celestia both froze. Trixie smiled her insane smile. The shield flipped round so that the cylindrical attachment to the shield pointed at Applejack who glared at Trixie.

"I want that human," she pointed at Jay, "To bring me the Unicorn Shadow. Or I will this earth pony will suffer greatly." Celestia, Twilight and Jay stood, paralyzed. If they moved, then AppleJack would suffer, but if Jay did what Trixie demanded, then Shadow would be in danger. Their indecision was put to rest by Zyon. He had stepped forward, his right arm raised towards Trixie. "What is this?" Trixie demanded frowning. "A dark skinned human? It makes no difference. Bring me..." she stopped. The black armor on Zyon's arm was twisting and expanding. it morphed into a thin, crescent shaped piece with another thin piece spanning it. Twilight stared. It was a bow. His face a grim mask, Zyon pulled back the metal string. As he did so, a large gold arrow formed. It was pointing directly at Trixie. "What the?" The Unicorn stared frozen. The arrow flew. It struck the shield with a loud clang. The shield flew into the air. Zyon ran straight at her. With a loud crunch, the armored human brought his knee hard upwards into Trixie's chin. The Unicorns head jerked upwards. She staggered backwards crying out in pain. Zyon swung his hammer which had materialized in his hand catching the Unicorn across the armored side. She staggered attempting to pull the sword that had materialized as the armor had unfolded. With another swing of the hammer the blade was knocked out of Trixie's grip and spun out of view. Trixie staggered about, trying to correct her footing. The hammer swung. Trixie flew through the air, carried high by the force of the attack. The green armor vanished, the Lockseed slipped out of the driver which unfastened itself from around her waste. All three, the lockseed, the driver and the pony clattered to the ground and lay still. Zyon straightened himself from the attack stance. He walked over to the lockseed, picked it up, then walked over to check the unconscious form of Trixie. He looked up. Celestia and Twilight were staring at him.

"What?" He asked.

Obsidian smiled as he withdrew his hoof from the pool of water.So Trixie had failed had she? It made no matter. She was exactly where she was needed to be. Obsidian smiled, feeling the anger that had probed him since the destruction of his clay dragon. Though he would need to take some steps now that the other human, Zyon was there. He supposed he couldn't blame Trixie for losing. That Lockseed he'd given her...It wasn't suited for her....Though the fact that its' original user now had it. He sighed angrily as he stood up and reached underneath the cloak he was wearing. Producing another Lockseed he set it on the ground, next to the edge of the pool. He chuckled lightly. Time for another test.

Chapter 15: Missions and memories

The smell of burning was what roused Shadow. He sat up and beheld the flaming city that was Canterlot. The majestic buildings that had once reached high into the sky were consumed by roaring fires. Plumes of thick black smoke rose into the sky, obscuring the sky with pitch black clouds. Ash floated through the air, like foal smelling snow. Shadow felt panic rising inside of him. What had happened? How could he have gotten here? The last thing he could remember was drinking with Rainbow, then...nothing. He turned this way and that, truing to catch a single glance of a pony, any-pony, that could help him understand. But though the air was thick with screams and shouts, there was no sign of a stallion, a mare or a filly. The panicked Unicorn then caught sight of the palace. It made his blood run cold. Several fires burned across the beautiful architecture. The tower that he knew to be Luna's had collapsed. Luna...Shadow tore his gaze away from the smoldering wreck that was the castle. What had happened to the Princesses? He wanted to run towards the castle, to find out what had happened to Canterlot. But as the Stallion tensed to run, he heard a voice calling out to him.

"Be calm Shadow." He looked up. Princess Luna was drifting down towards him from out of the smoke covered sky. Her wings folded against her sides as she landed. She smiled at him. "Be calm apprentice. Drunk dreams often tend to be...slightly warped." Shadow blinked confusedly at the Princess. Slowly, the realization of what she had just said sank in. He was dreaming. He felt slightly foolish. If Canterlot had been attacked, then he probably have been on the first train back to Canterlot alongside Twilight and her friends. His thoughts were interrupted by a closer scream. Turning, he saw a mare, running along the high street. The mare was covered in soot with several burns visible across her coat. The mare, not stopping to notice the pair, ran straight through them as though the pair were made of smoke. Shadow turned back to look at Luna. "This is a place I would not hope to visit again." Luna said, her eyes fixed on the burning wrecks of houses. She shook her head and turned back to Shadow. She smiled, though it was a sad smile.

"Luna...?" Shadow asked confusedly. The Princess continued smiling. "Where are we? Is this Canterlot? Because I don't ever remember reading about Canterlot being attacked to this degree." Luna nodded, turning around and beginning to walk way from Shadow. The Unicorn, getting the message, hurried to keep up. Together they walked through the blazing inferno that the dream version of Canterlot had become. Shadow started to feel slightly unnerved by the amount of devastation that had been wrought upon the city. Every now and then a pony would come galloping out of the smoke and flames. Sometimes it would be a royal guard, their armor blackened and dented, or it would be a citizen of Canterlot, their fines clothing torn or in some cases, bloody. And all the while the two ponies walked through it all, until finally, they came to a stop, in what looked like the square, though because of the debris that littered the ground made it almost impossible to discern wherever they actually were. A group of...Shadow stopped dead. A group of about a hundred humans stood in close, tight-knit group. Each one of them had black, rectangular drivers secured around their waists and each one had a lockseed secured. Most, Shadow did not recognize. Some of the humans carried large war-hammers, others wielded swords, some even seemed to be swinging large halberds over their heads. "No...this was when..." Shadow asked turning to look at Luna. The night Princess nodded, watching the humans with a cold expression on her face.

"Yes...this is the day the humans attacked Equestria. Looking for their precious golden fruit." She shook her head bitterly. By this time, several royal guards had appeared out of the fire and smoke and had surrounded the humans. Shadow had never seen such looks of deep hatred on the guards faces. Despite the guards threatening looks, and the fact that the royal guards were pointing their own weapons at the humans, the surrounded group still yelled and jeered, waving their weapons. "So much wanton death was dealt during those days." Luna mumbled sadly. "The humans refused to give up their stupid search!" Luna said, a growl of anger entering her voice. "Never had an enemy attacked us so fiercely or showed no mercy. It was some of the worst days of Equestria!" Luna sighed as the guards and the humans engaged in battle. Screams rent the night. Despite the humans Lockseeds, the battle was over quickly. Soon there was only one human standing. "That one is the human I remember the most." The human in question was wearing black armor with white parts that gave the armor a skeletal look. The helmet bore the same white, skeletal look that covered most of the humans voice, except the humans piercing green eyes. The sword that the human was carrying looked was large, almost like a broadsword, with a serrated edge. "He was the humans leader." Luna whispered, taking a seat as the human stabbed the sword into the ground, so that it stuck upwards on it's own. The human reached up and attempted to pull off the helmet. "He earned a reputation as a brutal tactical master and a ruthless leader. He gave no mercy to either ponies or humans alike."

At that moment, a shout of, "ENOUGH!" Pierced through the night. Celestia had appeared in the throng. Clad in golden armor, with a large golden halberd held in the grip of her golden magic, Celestia's face was full of anger. Her wide eyes fixed on the human, who was still trying to take off the helmet. "HUMAN!" Shouted Celestia, the tip of her halberd pointed at the still struggling human. "THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH! LOOK AROUND YOU. YOUR COMRADES HAVE FALLEN! YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED! I DO NOT WANT TO FIGHT ANY LONGER! PLEASE GIVE UP THIS FOOLISH CRUSADE!" But the human seemed not to notice. With a click, the helmet clicked open. The skeletal helmet hit the ground with a loud thunk. Shadow's mouth fell open. Despite the fact that he was a few years younger.... The same messy black hair, the same pale skin and the same piercing green eyes...It was Jay. Luna's horn began to glow bright blue. The scene faded out, to be replaced with blackness. Luna stood up and turned to look at the shocked Unicorn.

"Shadow," she said, mournfully. "Celestia won't admit this, but she is worried. We both are. The last time we both saw Jay, he was leading the human forces to war...over 2000 years ago!" Shadow froze, his mouth hanging open in round O shape. 2000 years? But Jay looked as though he was..."yes indeed." Luna said, finishing Shadows thought. "It has been over 2000 years since the defeat of the humans, yet the Jay in Ponyville looks only a few years older than when we last saw him. Something is moving against us my apprentice....playing a very sinister game." Luna sighed again as she too began to fade. "Shadow," she said more urgently. "I must ask you to keep close to that human. When the watcher leaves, it will be up to you to..." but Luna's voice was fading out as her form began to disappear.

"Where did you get this?!" Demanded Celestia, brandishing the Watermelon Lockseed. Trixie snorted and turned her head away.Since Zyon had taken care of Trixie, Celestia had taken it upon herself, after making sure that both Twilight and Apple-Jack had not been harmed, to send the grumbling Unicorn to the Ponyville jail. Like the Canterlot cells, the jail had not been needed for several years, so much so that when Celestia stepped through the doorway, a gigantic white web descended upon the princess, practically covering her in a white veil. Trixie was now locked in one of the cells. With a magic-blocking ring strapped tightly around her horn, Celestia, Zyon and Jay had been attempting to question the Unicorn for the best part of two hours. This was proving to be rather unsuccessful however. Every question they asked was met with the same snort and a look of annoying superiority. Despite the attacker being behind bars, Jay still felt as though he was looking at a ticking time bomb, rather than a blue pony with a knack for looking as though she'd been appointed queen of the universe. Celestia gave an annoyed huff, before holding up the Lockseed and driver that she had taken from Trixie. "Trixie...." the Unicorn sitting on the bed continued to stare at the wall. "Please tell us where you got these. It could..." Trixie looked straight round at Celestia and gave a loud shout of laughter. Celestia recoiled from the cell as though she'd been stung.

"Could WHAT?!" Demanded Trixie loudly. She jumped off the bed and ran over to the bars, a manic smile on her face. "You know nothing. NONE OF YOU!" She shouted. She turned to Jay with another mad smile. "He warned me about you." Trixie said, a chuckle warbling her speech. "The skeletal rider, the Patricide demon!" The laugh that Trixie had been holding in finally broke free. The Unicorn fell to the floor, still laughing. Jay stood, feeling something painful building up inside him. Celestia and Zyon were both staring at him. Turning from the cell, Jay walked quickly out of the Jail. There was a bench just outside the cell block. Jay sat upon the bench, his face in his hands. Something felt wrong. He knew he shouldn't have let that Unicorn's words get to him, but that single word had had the same impact as though he'd been punched. Patricide? From what Jay knew, that word meant that he'd killed his father. But...no matter how hard he tried to think about it, he couldn't remember anything about what Trixie had talked about, nor could he remember much else. Like he'd told Twilight, he didn't know how he had arrived in Equestria, nor what he'd been doing. But those names....The Skeletal rider? The Patricide Demon? For some reason, those names seemed to echo in his head, more painful each time he thought about them. He pushed his knuckles hard into his face. The pain seemed to clear his head. A hoof tapped Jay's shoulder, bringing him out of his revere. The human looked up in surprise, to see Shadow. The dark Unicorn, looking tired but happy, had managed to sit on the bench beside Jay without him noticing.

"Hey Shadow." Jay grinned softly. "Got over your hangover?" Shadow gave him a soft smile. The dark Unicorn's fur was ruffled as though he'd only just gotten out of bed. The harassed looking Unicorn, despite the smile, seemed very fidgety. Shadow kept looking up and down the hall and he kept shifting on his seat as though the Unicorn was sitting on something rather uncomfortable. "What's up?" Jay asked. Shadow's head whirled round as though Jay had just shouted at him.

"N-Nothing." The Unicorn stammered. Though at that moment, both Zyon and Celestia appeared in the doorway to the cells. Trixie's laughter could still be heard, though it sounded as though she had laughed herself hoarse. The croaky laughter was silenced as Celestia shut the door. With an angry expression on her face, Celestia thrust the Lockseed at Jay, who caught it deftly, then fixed Shadow with a stern look. Zyon, was looking rather grave, though his expression brightened when he saw Shadow. "Z-ZYON! Is that you?!" Shadow partially shrieked. The armored human gave a small wave, before taking hold of Jays arm and pulling him purposely out of the door. Zyon's dragon, Flame had somehow managed to fly his way over to the Jail without causing to much damage or panic. He gave a soft snort of greeting before returning to his nap. Zyon whirled Jay around and fixed him with a rather stern look.

"I want you to promise me to look after Twilight for me. Do you understand?" Jay frowned, giving several attempts to stammer out a reply, but Zyon shushed him quickly. "Listen to me Jay!" The other human said urgently. "I have something to do, but it involves me leaving Ponyville, possibly for a long time. Since your the only other human I know to be in Ponyville, I need your help. Please promise!" Jay gave a few more stammers for a second. Then relented with a sigh of defeat and a nervous nod. Zyon nodded with a smile. Putting his helmet back on, he climbed onto the back of Flame. "I'll be back soon. I promise." Flame spread his black wings. Then with a great whoosh of air, the dragon took flight. Jay put his hand over his eyes, shielding them against the mid-afternoon sun. He watched as the dragon flew higher and higher, until it was a black dot, then it flew behind the mountains around Ponyville and disappeared.

The sun was going down in the Canterlot gardens, slowly bleaching the color out of every object in the gardens turning everything inky black. Several Statues stood arranged artfully around the garden. Some were of Ponies, others were cast in the shapes of dragons and other magical creatures. One statue stood out among them. The statue was of a long serpentine bodied creature, with what appeared to be a scaled claw and a hoof for feet. Higher up on the creatures long body was a lions paw and an eagles talon stretched out as though to shield the creature from something. A stone feathered wing and what appeared to be a bats wing stretched out of the creatures back. The creatures face had two long pointed ears, with two oddly formed horns. A pair of tufty eyebrows stood above a pair of wide eyes and a mouth stretched open, with a look of complete shock and fear, with a forked tongue stretching out of its mouth. The odd statue began to vibrate very slightly. Then a crack appeared right in the center of the statue's form. More began to appear, some cracks connecting and spidering out together. A soft chuckle began to fill the air, as small pieces of the statue fell to the ground, like pieces of eggshell, from some oddly, deformed egg.

Chapter 16: Discorded date

"What do you mean he just left?!" Demanded Twilight angrily. Jay sighed. It was like talking to a revolving door. Since he had returned to the library, without Zyon or Celestia, the violet Unicorn had done nothing but question him about why both her beloved mentor nor the armored hero had not come back from the jail cells. "They wouldn't have just left without saying goodbye!" Twilight said angrily. Jay shook his head. He had such a headache from listening to Trixie laugh, that his temper was running very high. Not to mention that his increasingly painful headache wasn't helping matters. Sitting on his bed in the spare room, his head in his hands, Jay attempted to repeat what Zyon had said to him. "Something important to do?!" Twilight repeated exasperatedly. Jay looked up her, feeling his temper beginning to snap.

"If you've got nothing better to do than repeating everything I say?!" Jay growled and Twilight recoiled slightly as if stung. "Then could you go and get me a cure for headaches! Please?" Twilight turned around quickly, then ran out of the room. Jay thought he caught a glimpse of Twilight's face as the Unicorn left. She looked rather hurt. Feeling wholly unconcerned, Jay swung his legs over the bed and laid his head back on the pillows. He couldn't tell what, apart from his headache, was making him so irritable. And why couldn't he get those names out of his head. Trixie's taunts were echoing in his mind, constantly reverberating inside his skull like a drum. Closing his eyes with another grunt of annoyance, the human rolled over onto his stomach. The Watermelon Lockseed fell through the large tear in his pocket and clattered to the floor. Keeping his eyes closed, Jay reached down, groping with his fingers until he picked up the device. Turning it over in his hand, he ran his thumb over the Lockseed's engraving of the Watermelon on the front. It felt like normal metal. Placing the Lockseed on the bedside table, next to his Lemon one, he rolled onto his back as Twilight entered the room again. Her eyes were slightly red and she sniffled as she handed over a small bottle full of clear liquid. "Twi...I'm sorry about shouting." He said softly taking the bottle from Twilight. "I don't really know why either Celestia or Zyon left without warning. I would've told you if I knew." Twilight gave a watery smile as she watched Jay attempt to down the foul tasting liquid. The human coughed. Taking the bottle from him silently, Twilight turned to leave. "Twilight..." Jay said quickly, seized with a sudden desire that he couldn't quite explain. "Twilight...do you wanna go out tonight? I've earned some money from working on AppleJack's farm....so..." Jay blushed as his voice tailed away, blushing almost as deep as Twilight had. Her eyes had gone wide. For a while, Twilight didn't seem to be able to speak. He worried that he'd done something wrong. Then, very slowly, a wide smile began to blossom on her face.

"All-Alright then." She stammered. Still giving that wide smile, the Unicorn turned and walked out of the room. Jay sat there, feeling slightly better that he'd finally....asked....Twilight....out on a...Jay sat up a little straighter. Then he sprang up off the bed and sped down the stairs, ignoring the baby dragon, who was rolling around the floor in fits of laughter, with Twilight standing over him, a look of disapproval on her face and charged out of the door. Ignoring the surprised yells of ponies he charged past, Jay raced through the town, looking for the boutique that Rarity owned. Finally, after grilling several frightened looking mares about the shops where-about's, Jay finally managed to arrive at the door. Carousel Boutique looked more like a miniature palace rather that a clothes shop. It was a three leveled building with many different, ornate patterns decorating the building. Jay frowned. He hadn't been to see Rarity for her lesson in friendship yet, but every time he'd seen her before, she'd glared at him, as though he was something she'd found at the bottom of a lavatory seat. With a deep breath, Jay pushed open the door and walked inside. At first, Jay thought he'd walked into a paper-chain explosion. It was decorated lavishly, with several large mirrors fitted around the sides of the walls. Large pinkish purple curtains covered the windows. Arranged in tasteful podiums, were mannequins in the shape of ponies, on which were several different types of clothing for ponies. Jay had learned from Twilight that ponies sometimes wore clothes in times of special occasions, such as parties and weddings. Jay stood on the doormat, unsure what to do, until Rarity herself appeared from out of the back room. Several tape measures were slung across her shoulders and she was wearing a pair of ornate glasses in front of her eyes. Her smile faded slightly as she saw Jay.

"Oh, it's you Jay." She said rather coolly. Her eyes roved up and down Jays figure, taking in Jay's torn clothes. "What brings you here darling? Clothes?" Jay nodded mutely. Rarity, despite her glare, now smiled happily. According to Twilight, Rarity loved the challenge of making new fashions. Taking a measuring tape from around her neck, the Alabaster Unicorn nodded towards one of the empty stages. "Please undress Darling, so I can take some measurements..." Jay's cheeks, which had just recovered from blushing asking Twilight out, now burned bright crimson. "Oh come on darling," Rarity said testily waving a hoof in annoyance. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I used to dealing with these situations all the time." Jay, realizing that the Unicorn was not going to take no for an answer, tore off the top as quickly as he could. His pale skin, still covered in faded scars made the Unicorn gasp. "Oh my stars darling! Your body!" Jay shrugged. Disconcerted for a second, Rarity shook herself then attempted to take notes on Jay's body. "Darling...may I ask you something?" Jay nodded. "I want to know...what is interest in Twilight? She's a very dear..."

"If you must know..." Jay interrupted, his voice growing slightly higher than usual as Rarity was measuring between his legs. "I just asked her out on a date tonight." Rarity dropped the tape measure. She was staring at Jay in complete surprise. "Yeah I know, I don't what I was doin..." But Rarity had given a great squeal of delight, picked up the tape measure and ran back into the rear-rooms. Jay stood there, feeling exposed without his T-shirt on, listening to the excited Unicorn's squealing. From what he could hear, Rarity was squealing loudly about happy endings, matchmaking and...weddings. "Hang on Rarity!" Jay yelled loudly, "I only asked her out...I don't really know if..." But at that moment, the door burst open and Rainbow Dash burst into the room, saw Jay standing there, half dress and burst into laughter.

A feeling of elation was rising inside of him. Obsidian chuckled lightly as he made his way through the Canterlot gardens. He strode through the hedges as if they were smoke, watching the ignorant guards as they strode right on past. His form was invisible to them, which only made him happier. Striding casually through the gardens, his elation increased as he watched the guards galloping through the hedge made corridors. He continued along, following the panicking guards. It was several minutes before he saw a large group of guards, standing in a large circular group. Taking in the dismayed look on their faces, Obsidian strode through the guards bodies, to see what they were looking at. It was an empty podium, around the base of which, were several cracked pieces of white marble. Several bits littered the floor, some resembling a hoof, or claw. Obsidian smiled, hearing the guards shouting for their precious Princess. He turned to look around at the gardens, there was no sign of the clown prince of chaos. Just as he'd expected. Turning back he walked straight through the Celestia as she appeared from the castle. He smiled as the Princess stopped and turned to look at Obsidian, as if she could tell that he was there. Obsidian chuckled. By the time Celestia knew of his presence, it would be to late.

"Alright Rainbow I get the point!" Jay growled angrily. Since Rainbow had recovered from her laughing fit, she and Jay had been forced to stay inside the boutique for the best part of the day whilst Rarity worked on his outfit. Rainbow had to stay because she wanted to pick up a dress. Though Jay had managed to get a small revenge on Rainbow, by chuckling at the idea at her in a dress. Finally, Rarity had appeared, with a dark blue dress shirt and a thin pair of what looked like a pair of denim jeans. Thanking her, Jay'd quickly changed into the clothes with a few other outfits designed for everyday where. He'd been forced to promise Rarity that he would return. Rainbow had chuckled loudly at this, though her smile had faded slightly when Rarity had given her a rather thick, Rainbow colored dress. They'd both bolted out of the door, chucking thanks over her shoulders. Now they were both making their way back towards the Library. Jay gave a soft chuckle. "Damn I'm nervous...I don't think I've ever been on a date. I mean..." He added quickly as Rainbow gave him a wide smile. "I can't really remember if I have or not!" Rainbow continued smiled just as Twilight opened the door to the Library. She was smiling. Looking normal she smiled at Jay as moved over to her. Rainbow discreetly made her way out of sight. With a flick of her horn, the outfits in Jays arms floated back into the Library. "Ready to go?" Jay asked. Twilight nodded, giving him a small smile. Together, they wandered down the nearest street, not talking. Jay supposed that the Unicorn was as nervous as he was. Finally after the several minutes of wandering along in silence, Twilight finally spoke.

"Hey, don't we go down there?" She asked. Jay frowned, Twilight was pointing at what appeared to be a small cafe. Though most of the lights in the cafe seemed so dim that it looked as though the cafe wasn't open. "I know," She said smiling up at him. "It looks like that to add a more...intimate atmosphere." She blushed. Jay shrugged. The human supposed that he should trust Twilight's judgement. She probably knew where most of the best places to eat. Twilight led Jay inside. Te inside was darkened, thanks to thick curtains covering the windows. The grey furred waiter led them over to a private booth. Sitting down, they both took a look at the menu. "Soooo," mumbled Twilight, putting down her menu. Jay smiled indulgently. "Why did you ask me out?" Jay frowned. Though he couldn't really answer that. He tried to explain that he'd just felt that it was right, though this only made Twilight blush thickly. Luckily at that moment, the waiter arrived, carrying a large bottle of what looked like fine cider. Twilight frowned. "We didn't order that." The waiter smiled. Ignoring her protests, the waiter put the bottle on the table and walked away. Both Twilight and Jay looked at one another, before Jay reached out, undid the bottle and poured two glasses of the amber colored liquid into the small glasses on the table. "I suppose we could enjoy it?" Twilight mumbled uncertainly. Jay shrugged with a wide grin. Picking up their glasses, the two tapped the glasses together, then drank deeply. The apple flavored liquid filled Jay with warmth. He smiled at Twilight, who seemed to equally enjoy the drink. "More?" She asked. Jay chuckled and allowed the Unicorn to refill his glass. "To friends?" Twilight asked, holding up her glass. Jay nodded. They tapped their glasses together. A soft chuckle made them look round. The grey furred waiter was standing next to their table, with a soft smile on his face. The ponies eyes were the thing that made Jay uneasy. Unlike Twilight's bright, sparkling eyes, the waiter's eyes had red pupils with yellow instead of the usual white that most ponies had. A pair of thick, tufty eyebrows sprouted out above the ponies creepy eyes. The pony was smiling slightly madly as he gazed at Jay. Twilight frowned at the Waiter. "Those eyes...have we met somewhere?"

"I knew it was you." The pony said. The waiter had a fruity, rather deep voice. Twilight froze, her mouth half open. The Waiter began to chuckle. Jay frowned. "I suppose the game is afoot. And I love games. I don't suppose you remember me do you Jay?" Jay stared as the ponies body began to elongate. It became longer, more serpentine. The waiters back legs changed. One grew green scales and thick nails. The poofy tail also grew scales, but these were red. The front legs also began to mutate. One sprouted blonde fur and flexed into what looked like a lions paw. The other changed into what appeared to be an eagles talon, though it looked more dexterous. A pair of wings sprouted out of the creatures long body. One was a dark, bat-like wing, whilst the other was blue with feathers. A thick fang sprouted out of the ponies mouth and two massive horns poked out of the top of the creatures head. One was almost like a stags horn with several spikes, whilst the other was rigid and bulbous, with a slight blue coloring. The creature chuckled in its deep voice. "Hello there!" It called. Judging from the deep voice, Jay supposed the mis-match creature was male. He tried to go for his driver but he couldn't move. He was stuck staring at the mismatched creature's...he supposed it was the creatures mid-riff. His whole body seemed to have lost its will to move. Several sharp talons slid under his chin and tilted Jay's head up. The creature was smiling. "I wouldn't try moving, either of you!" The strange creature was saying. He'd glanced at Twilight then laughed. "Where are my manners?" I am Discord, the ruler of chaos! And...between the two of us," Discord's heap suddenly popped off, leaving a stump and floated over to Jay's ear. "Th absolute King of Pranks and fun!" The creature whispered in Jay's ear. Discord's head popped back onto it's neck. The creature smiled. With a click of his talon-like fingers, Discord produced two thick strips of black cloth. With a grin, Discord reached over. Jay couldn't see what the mis-matched creature was doing to Twilight but when Discord turned to smile at Jay, he was only holding one strip of cloth. "Oh don't you worry your head about her Jay." Discord laughed. "You, Twilight and I are going for a little trip!" Then he tied the strip of cloth over Jay's eyes, blocking out all sight.

Obsidian chuckled as he sat by the pool. His meditation had been interrupted by the feeling. The feeling he'd been expecting. It was a strange feeling. A feeling of anger, happiness and laughter all at once. His laughter increased. That power...that chaotic feeling that seemed to be every emotion at once. It was him. It was Discord. He'd come to Ponyville. If he had come for what Obsidian thought he had,...Obsidian stood. It was time to reclaim his captured servant.

Chapter 17: Kidnapped!

Jay groaned as he finally came too. His head hurt, like he'd drunk to much. He was slumped against a cold stone wall, his hands bound above his head by tight metal shackles. He couldn't see anything. Discord had likely left the thick cloth tied over his eyes. Water was dripping somewhere near him. Discord! That strange mis-matched creature had kidnapped him and Twilight. Shifting his body slightly, so that he was in a kneeling position, so as to alleviate the pain beginning to throb in his his wrists, Jay attempted to listen for any indication of where he was. The only thing he could hear was the continuous drip-drip-drip of the water. Apart from that, all he could hear was silence. This continued for a few seconds. Jay's wrists were in quite a lot of pain. No matter how hard he'd twisted, the cuffs bit into his skin with such pain that he'd been forced to stop. Sitting quietly, Jay was beginning to get restless. The silence was unnerving him. He kept shifting from knee to knee, making both his wrist and his knees ache. The skin around his wrists had been turned red raw. Something wet and sticky was running down his arms. He had a rather nasty feeling he knew what it was. There was a loud crash, like a heavy door swinging open. Jay jerked his head up, as a loud chuckled filled the...he supposed it was room.

"Ah I see your awake!" Shouted a voice in Jay's ear. He recognized it immediately. The strange creature that had kidnapped him and Twilight. Discord. Jay clenched his fists angrily. Discord laughed. "Aw don't be like that!" A thick furry paw patted Jay on the side of his cheek. "So I ruined your date with little-miss-friendship! So what?" Jay bared his teeth, jerking his head away from Discords paw. "So I kidnapped you both and dragged you off somewhere. Doesn't mean we can't be friends right!?" Discord asked. It was plain, despite the blindfold over the human's eyes, that Discord was trying Jay's anger at the strange mis-matched creature was increasing the more that it spoke. Not to mention the fact that he was worried about Twilight. Discord seemed to be able to read minds because the next thing Jay knew, the cloth had been torn from over his eyes. Jay blinked slightly as his vision steadily came back into focus. The room seemed to be made of dark stone, which blotted out all color. A small fire was crackling beside him, which provided the only form of illumination. Discord was standing in front of him, the light playing off his red-scaled tail, brown middle fur and graying head fur. His horns were partially shrouded in darkness. The flames were highlighting Discord's yellow-red eyes. The creatures mouth was twisted in a large smile, his creepy eyes alight with amusement. Jay attempted to jump to his feet but his legs had gone numb from sitting for too long. He collapsed back to his knees, gritting his teeth against the pain burning in his wrists. He glared up at Discord who simply chuckled. "Oh don't give me that look. I simply had to meet you again! It's been so long since we last saw each other! Though I don't suppose you'd remember that would you?" With a click of his fingers, a small bag appeared in the creatures talons. Discord tipped out a small pile of what appeared to be jelly babies into his paw. "Hungry?" He asked smoothly. Jay looked away from the creature.

"Let Twilight go. " He looked back to Discord, tying to keep his voice from wavering. It hadn't worked apparently as Discord began chuckling, spraying him with bits of sweets. "Let her go," He growled, trying and failing to stand up again. "If it's me you want, then why did you take Twilight?" Discord froze for a second, then, showering Jay with sticky sweet fragments, burst into a full blown fit of laughter. He jumped into the air, somehow managing to flip upside down and float there, a few inches off the ground. The mis-matched creature was still shaking with laughter, his hoof and scaled paw kicking wildly. Jay glared into the creature's upside face that was now hovering a few inches from his own. Then Jay jerked his head forward. His forehead smashed hard into Discords nose. The mis-matched creatures head popped off again and flew around the room, bouncing off the walls and ceiling. Discords head was still laughing, despite the crumpled look he was now sporting. The headless body flipped itself upright, flailed about for a few minutes before picking up the head. With a small click Discord popped his head back on, spun it as though it was on a swivel chair, then turned back to Jay with his arms crossed and his tongue out. "I suppose you thought that was amusing?" Jay demanded angrily. Discord grinned widely, keeping his tongue out. "What is it you want you mis-matched menace?" Jay asked, finally managing to stand up. Even so, Discord was still slightly taller than he was, which didn't help.

"OOOOH....!" Discord said, crossing his lion paw and taloned hand over a part of his serpentine body. "Getting tetchy are we? Listen I wouldn't be much of a chaos spirit if I didn't do something chaotic. Like ruining a date between two lovebirds! Oh dear I've made you've blush," Discord chuckled, before clicking his fingers again. There was a slash of light and Discord vanished. Something landed heavily on his shoulder. Turning his head, Jay saw to his surprise, that the mis-matched creature had shrunk down and was sitting on his shoulder. "Listen," The miniature version of Discord said leaning his body back. "I saw you dating Twilight and I just thought, Oh Its the skeletal rider and is he....oh no he is!" The miniature version of Discord floated out in front of Jay's face. "He's dating Shadows girlfriend!" Jay's eyes widened. Shadows....Discord chuckled at the confused look on Jay's face. "Oh yes, I know about Shadow. He and I are really close friends. He's like my own little child!" Discord leaned in. He had become so small now that both his yellow-red eyes could stare into one of Jay's eyes. "I bet Twilight didn't tell you that they were dating? Oh yes, they met in magic kindergarten. But that was before...He set his house on fire. Then Twilight was so supportive." Discord smiled slyly. Jay bared his teeth, feeling a sense of despair building up inside him. Was Twilight really dating Shadow at the same time? He hadn't thought that Twilight was like that. Discord returned back to full size with a small popping noise. He patted Jay on the shoulder. "Listen Jay, I know how you feel. Believe me I really do know. I was betrayed, after all..." Discord leaned in, his breath tickled Jay's ear. "You betrayed me to Celestia after all. You can't blame me for wanting to get my own back." Jay simply hung in his binds, staring blindly back at Discord. "Listen Jay." Discord said, leaning back. "You and Twilight are gonna be here for...."The spirit tilted his head back in thought. "Eh...no idea. I wanna find out what I've missed since Twilight locked me back up in that stone prison. Have fun." Discord turned his back on Jay. Then his head flipped round and smiled at Jay, curling his thick tongue around his fang. "Don't go anywhere will you?"

"W-w-wait!" Jay shouted as Discords body began to fade out. "Is she with Shadow still? Do you know if they're still together?!" Discord continued smiling as his body vanished. Soon all that was left was the mis-matched creatures eyes. Then they too closed. Jay slumped to the ground, supported only by the shackles. Something was beginning to stir inside his head. It was a pain, a pain he couldn't quite explain. He lowered his head. A single tear slid down his cheek. "She just used me..." He said quietly. Slowly, his hair changed color from black to dark grey. His eye color bleached to grey. Indeed, it seemed as if his whole body pigment was bleaching grey. The tear fell from his face and landed on the floor with a small plunk. His head fell forwards and he closed his eyes.

Spike ran through Ponyville, feeling panic beginning to build inside his tiny chest. His scales crawled as he hurried through the streets. He had been sent to bed after laughing at the idea of Twilight going out with their human resident. He'd gone to bed with Twilight promising that she'd be back before morning. Though when he'd woken up, Twilight had not been in her bed. At first, he'd thought that Twilight had gotten up early than usual, though when he'd gone into Jay's bedroom, he'd seen that neither Jay, nor Twilight were there. He'd searched the entire library before running around Ponyville. First he'd gone to both Pinkie's then AppleJack's but neither of them had seen the human or the Unicorn. In fact none of them had seen Twilight since yesterday. Scared out of his wits, Spike didn't notice that Shadow had appeared in front of him until he crashed into the Unicorns legs. He hit the floor with a groan of pain. He looked up as Shadow picked him up with his magic.

"Sorry about that Spike." Shadow said, grinning at the dragon. Though his grin faded slightly at the look of panic on Spikes face. "What's up? Something wrong? Did Twilight and Jay have fun on their date?" He asked. Spike shook his head hurriedly, grabbing at Shadows leg with his clawed hands. Shadow was surprised to see that tears were starting to form in Spikes eyes.

"They never came back! I woke up this morning and they were both gone! Shadow I think somethings happened. No-ponies seen anything of them since yesterday afternoon! Shadow...could you please help me find them!?" Shadow stared down at Spike for a second, then nodded, leaving Spike with instructions to send a letter to Princess Celestia, he sped over to the restaurant that Spike had said they were going to. But when he arrived, the manager of the restaurant told him that the pair had not turned up. Shadow frowned as he walked away. Something was wrong. He'd known from Rainbow Dash what restaurant that Twilight and Jay had gone to that particular restaurant because of its intimate, private tables. He stopped. Something felt off. Looking back at the restaurant, he cast a spell. His vision changed slightly. The color of the building turned a deep red, then a navy blue, then finally, a pale green. There! A black shape of Unicorn became visible. It was sitting on a table, opposite a large shape that shadow guessed was Jay. Then another shape appeared. It was a long-bodied serpentine shape, with two thick horns on top of its head. Shadow froze. It couldn't be...Shadow turned and began to run back towards the Library. If that shadowy form was what he thought it was then he'd have to....Shadows thoughts were interrupted by a loud popping noise behind him. He stopped as a deep voiced chuckle sounded behind him. He knew that laugh. He turned to look around him. Something patted his shoulder. The Unicorn knew what it was. Turning his head he saw a large taloned arm wrapping around him and a pair of yellow-red eyes glaring at him. Discord smiled, sticking his tongue out.

"Alright there sonny-boy!?" The chaos spirit asked cheerfully. Shadow stared in shock. Discord chuckled slightly, giving the surprised unicorn a hard noogie. Shadow struggled for a second before managing to pull himself free. Discord chuckled lightly. "Aw don't be like Sonny, It's been ages since the last time we spoke! I'm sure Twilight didn't...oops!" Discord suddenly clapped his mis-matched hands to his mouth. His fang stuck out between the creatures hands. Shadow turned to look at him, feeling anger beginning to rise. Though whatever he was going to say, Discord seemed to realize it. "Oh I don't think that they wanna be rescued by you, especially after I told Jay that you were dating Twilight!" Discord laughed at the look on Shadows face. "Oh don't be to angry. You did kiss her...Ha!" Discord laughed as Shadow's mouth fell open in horrified outrage. "Don't worry. I haven't told Jay that...Yet." Shadow glared. Discord smiled. "Bring me the Lockseeds Jay had to that old castle in the ever-free! Or...I might Just...." Discord clicked his fingers and vanished, leaving behind a small shout of laughter. Shadow bared his teeth. A familiar anger was rising up inside him again. Turning he began to run back towards the Library.

Chapter 18: Things begin to unravel

Obsidian's horn glowed a sickly red and the door swung open. The jail, just as the dark pony had expected, was rather dank, with thick cobwebs all over place. Not the place for one of his servants to languish. He smiled as he wandered through the corridors, feeling entirely at ease. Being so empty of prisoners, there was little need for guards. The only cell being guarded was Trixie's. The two guards froze at the sight of a black cloaked pony walking towards them. They tensed, crossing the spears they carried in front of the bars. Trixie was resolutely staring at the wall, a bored expression on her face. Obsidian chuckled lightly as his horn glowed again. Both guards crumpled to the floor, coughing and hacking. He smiled as he made sure to step on the guards armored bodies. They groaned weakly. Taking the key from the unconscious bodies, Obsidian pulled the door open. He stepped over the threshold and smiled down at Trixie. The Blue Unicorn tutted lightly, swinging her head round in anger.

"I've told you before! The Great and Powerful..." Trixie froze as she saw who she was talking too. Immediately, the blue Unicorn fell to the floor, sprawling in the dust at Obsidian's hooves. "Oh master.....Please forgive me! I didn't know that it was you." Obsidian smiled slightly, using his magic to hoist Trixie to her hooves. She smiled nervously as Obsidian walked back out of the cell and tossed her the star-embossed cloak and hat she was known for. "Master? Does this mean...?" Obsidian nodded with a wide smile. He turned to leave, barely aware of the Unicorn scrabbling to keep up with him. The pair strode through the empty jail in partial silence. Trixie was talking loudly about how she would reap horrible vengeance upon not only Twilight sparkle but Jay, and the dark skinned human. She continued to rant loudly, her voice reverberating around the corridors. Obsidian smiled, enjoying the large amount of malice that Trixie had put into every syllable. Just as they reached the door though, Obsidian held up a hoof. Trixie stopped dead. Both of them watched as a Rainbow maned Pegasus, stepped inside. Obsidian frowned. He hadn't counted on Rainbow Dash arriving. He'd hoped to be gone with his servant by the time any-pony had noticed. The Pegasus smiled happily as she saw Obsidian.

"Yo Shadow! Why're you hear? Carrot Top said she'd seen ya here..." She froze. The Rainbow maned Pegasus had just seen Trixie standing behind him. Obsidian's smile faded slightly. Trixie bared her teeth in a snarl, mirroring Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus had tensed her muscles slightly. She was clearly getting ready for a fight. Obsidian held up a hoof again and Trixie backed off, smiling wider than before. Obsidian's horn began to glow again. Rainbow Dash took a step backwards. "Shadow? W-W-What do ya think you're doin? What?" The Pegasus realized to late what Obsidian was doing. The spell hit hard. Rainbow Dash floated up into the air but she hadn't flapped her wings once. She floated up, her legs stretching out straight. Her wings fanned open, each feather seeming to straighten out. An intense look of pain and surprise was plastered across her face. "Shadow..." Rainbow Dash gasped. Obsidian smiled wider, showing his pearly teeth. His horn glowed brighter. Rainbow Dash screamed. A long drawn out scream, that echoed around the cells, making the bars rattle. Trixie laughed loudly but it was drowned out by the paralyzed Pegasus's screams. Obsidian watched, feeling his elation increase. Finally, Obsidian relented. The Pegasus dropped to the ground. She was barely breathing. Trixie moved forward. Obsidian smiled as the unicorn gave Rainbow a hard kick. Rainbow coughed, sending specks of red flicking across the ground. Obsidian stepped over the prone Pegasus, placing a hoof on Rainbow Dash's body. Rainbow Dash stared up at Obsidian, her eyes beginning to close. Obsidian leaned down so his lips rested slightly against the Pegasus's ear.

"I'll be back for you Rainbow Dash. Shadow may be lucky to have you but luck doesn't last for ever." He pushed down hard. Rainbow Dash gave one last bloodied cough, then her head slumped against the floor. She didn't move again. Obsidian turned to Trixie, who was still smiling widely. "Come with me Trixie." He said, holding out his hoof. Trixie, taking special care to tread on one of Rainbow's limp wings, took the out-stretched hoof and smiled adoringly at the other pony. Obsidian's horn glowed a bright red. Then both of them were gone. Neither of them had noticed the small metal statute of a three headed dog, that had been sitting by the doorway.

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. She was lying on a cold stone floor, tight metal shackles secured around her hind legs. They were so tight that it hurt. Sitting up shakily, she looked around at the dark, almost pitch black room. Apart from a small fire burning in front of her, the room was shrouded in shadow. Since waking up...she supposed it was yesterday, it was hard to tell because the room she was in didn't have any windows, she'd been left alone, except for yesterday. She still shivered. Discord had returned. She'd demanded to know what Discord had done with Jay and had got only a laugh in return. Twilight sighed, reaching her hoof up to rub the space in her mane, where her horn had once been. Like the first time she'd met the chaos loving creature, he'd stolen her horn, removing her ability to cast spells and thereby removing her only way of fighting back effectively. She wondered vaguely, where Jay was. Discord had only told her that "He was busy playing one of Discords favorite games." The sly way that he'd said that had made Twilight nervous. Hunger gnawed at her slightly as she shifted around trying to keep war. Discord hadn't provided any food for her in the last two days. She supposed she'd just have to wait for her friends to rescue her. Though, to her despair, she realized that she had no idea where she was. Discord was known for being tricky and slightly random with whatever he did. Unless her friends had an extremely lucky guess, or Discord revealed where she was then her friends had little chance of finding her. She hoped that Jay was doing okay. Discord had a way of turning even the closest of friends against each other. He could even change a ponies very nature. Twilight still remembered the way that even staunch hearted AppleJack had been changed from the honest, kind-hearted farm-pony into a horrible, dishonest liar.

After a few minutes of sitting there, jumping at every small sound, Twilight began to feel a familiar itch stirring inside her. It was the itch for something to read. Twilight didn't like having nothing to read or anything to distract her from her worries. She found herself thinking about what her friends were doing by now. She guessed that Rarity was over-reacting as usual, Rainbow and AppleJack were butting heads, Pinkie ...Twilight smiled at the thought of Pinkie. The pink party pony could always bring a smile to any-ponies lips, despite the situation that the they would be in. Settling down, she attempted to pass the time by counting the amount of crackles that each stick made, as they burned in the flames. It didn't work. With a sigh of annoyance, she folded her forelegs in front of her and plonked her head down. A small chuckle made her look up. Something was sitting on the opposite side of the small fire. It had the same stature and shape of Zyon and Jay. It was dressed in what appeared to be a thick white robe, with gold threads stitched around the trim. Black gloves covered the creatures hands, which were folded over each other on the creatures knees. A large circular ring was on one of the creatures fingers. Embossed on a bright purple ring were three heads, almost like a three headed dog. Thick silver straps were crossed over the creatures chest, upon which were several other rings, with different colored gems. The creatures head was covered by a white hood. All that Twilight could see of the creatures face was a small amount of pale skin and a pair of red lips. Twilight had guessed that her company was a human.

"You need to stop moping around Twilight Sparkle." The human said quietly. He had a friendly voice but unlike Zyon's voice, this humans voice was slightly higher. "Discord has already broken Jay, not that he wasn't broken already..." Twilight gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves. The human looked up at her. His eyes were covered by a plain white mask. "Jay needs your help. I have seen it." The human said quietly standing up and stretching. Around the humans waist was secured...Twilight frowned. It didn't look like Jay's driver, which was rectangular. This one, while black, had a design of a human hand pointing down. Around the rim was a red outline. "I'm not going to help you to much." The human said staring down at Twilight, who sat frozen. "I'm supposed to only be an Observer. But I find that so boring." The human slid the ring of his finger, clipped it to the harness and replaced it with another ring. "I hope to see you again Twilight. Good luck with Discord." The human pressed down on one side of the device around his waist. The red hand tilted. The fingers had been pointing downwards to the right. The hand switched direction for a second before it returned to normal. The human pressed the hand with the ring on it against the hand. Immediately, a deep voice sounded.

"TELEPORT! NOW!" There was a golden flash and the human vanished. Twilight stood and walked round the fire, determined to examine the space where that human was. She stepped on something with a loud clank. She looked down. A Lockseed was sitting on the floor. She sat down and looked at it. On the front of the Lockseed was a crimson looking inscription. A golden thread twisted around the color, forming into the shape of an apple. Twilight stared at the Lockseed before she realized something. The shackles on her hind-legs didn't have a chain long enough to reach around the opposite side of the fire. They'd popped open without her noticing. Twilight reached up, feeling nervous. Her horn was back! The next thing she knew, there was a loud crash and a door she had not previously noticed before was swinging open. She could see a stone corridor. Taking the lockseed in her magic, she moved out of the room, keeping all her senses alert. Something was wrong though, thick chunks of the stone corridor had been torn from the wall, thick dark stains had been sprayed across the floor. Small bits and pieces were still tumbling from the ceiling. Twilight seriously hoped that she would never find out what those stains were. She continued to walk through the corridor until she reached an old wooden door. Sounds of fighting, told Twilight that she had reached the center of the action. She pushed open the door. The scene that met her eyes made her insides, turn to ice.

Shadow tossed Jay's pillow, now shredded with feathers oozing out of slashes Shadow had made. Since arriving back at the Library, he'd ignored the coughing form of Spike who'd attempted to catch his attention, the panicking unicorn had ran up to Jay's room and systematically dismantled the room. He'd turned over the bed, torn the sheets of the mattress and blown apart the bedside table in his mad search. He looked around the half destroyed room, panting heavily. Stepping over the smashed table, Shadow sat on the floor. His pause was interrupted by the door crashing open again. AppleJack and Pinkie Pie had just burst into the room. Both of them looked ready to explode with anger. AppleJack charged at Shadow with a roar of anger and knocked Shadow off his hooves. Standing over him, the pair of mares glared down at him, Pinkie looking as though she was going to start spitting with rage. Her mane was no longer its normal poofiness. It was down and straight. AppleJack had lost her hat.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TA RAINBOW YOU....YOU.." AppleJack was so angry that she seemed incapable of speech. Shadow stared up at her, feeling frightened. "SHE'S BEEN SENT TA THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF YA...YOU..." Shadow, too frightened for words, simply shook his head in stupefied fear. Pinkie, who was actually spitting with anger, hauled the unicorn to his hooves. "COME WITH US!" Shrieked the angry farm-pony, pulling Shadow out of the room, down the steps. But their angry march was interrupted by Spike. The dragon was sitting in front of them, his spined back against the door. Tears were in his eyes. Surrounding the dragon were large amounts of burnt parchment. AppleJack and Pinkie froze. AppleJack after giving an angry glare at Shadow walked forward and sat in front of Spike. "Spike? What's wrong Sugar-cube?"
The baby dragon looked up. The tears broke free as he jumped up and wrapped his arms around the farm-ponies front.

"I...I can't do it..." He sobbed Quietly. "I can't send any messages to the Princess. That spell only unravels under one reason..." Spike looked up at them, his eyes going very red. Shadow froze. The only reason that spell would've broken was...Shadow fell onto his backside. A feeling, much, much worse than panic was rising inside him. If that spell had unraveled...then something had happened to the Princesses. And if that was the case. That meant that they were on their own. Twilight, Jay, Zyon. Even the Princesses had vanished. Discord was on the loose. Things were going from bad to worse.

Chapter 19: Painful past. Part One

Twilight stared in shock as she looked upon the scene she had come across. The chamber that she had walked into, was almost like Celestia's throne room. It was a large and very long chamber, with large empty arches for stained glass windows. Though the most of the ceiling seemed to have fallen in as large grayish lumps of stone littered the ground, with bright sunlight filtering through the gigantic holes in the arcing ceiling. With a start, Twilight recognized the room. It was the same ruined castle that she and the other elements of harmony had defeated Nightmare Moon. The old Castle of the Royal Pony sisters. Though the scene that she was watching quickly drove her surprise from her. Dark red stains were peppered all over the wreckage. Small fires were burning everywhere. Discord lay upon the ground in front of Twilight. Twilight could tell immediately that something was wrong. The mismatched creature was spread out across the ground, his long, serpentine body barely moving. Judging from his labored breathing, blackened eyes and twisted lion paw, Twilight guessed that Discord was badly hurt. She hesitated slightly, torn between a desire to help and the fact that it was Discord in front of her. Twilight shook her. Whatever he had done in the past, Discord was still a creature in need and Twilight couldn't bring herself to ignore his pain. The Unicorn rushed over, attempting to scan the creatures body for wounds. One of Discord's eyes open. His taloned hand rose, shaking fiercely. Now she was closer to him, Twilight saw that Discord was in rough shape than she thought. His deer horn had been snapped off at the base and his overlarge fang was stained red. Discord coughed as he struggled to breathe. Twilight recoiled in disgust as red drips of blood sprayed out of Discords mouth onto her face.

"T....Twilight...." Discord moaned as he struggled to sit up. But this seemed to take up the last of the chaos spirits energy. Discord slumped to the floor, his eyes shut. With some relief, Twilight could see that he was still breathing. She looked around apprehensively for whatever had done this to the mis-matched creature. She gasped as something stumbled out from behind the fallen stones. Jay. He was covered in blood. It dripped through the torn shirt he was wearing and stained the ground, mixing with the dust to create an ugly brown paste. Despite the amount of blood he was covered in, Twilight could see that Jays, skin, his hair and even his eyes had turned a sickly grey. The human was panting heavily and he slouched to one side as though his shoulder carried a great burden. Jay was staggering towards the prone body of Discord, a look of murder, etched across his face. His grayed lips had parted into a snarl, showing his teeth. His right arm didn't seem to want to work, as it hung limply by Jay's side. Twilight, feeling far more terrified than she ever had in her life, moved around Discord to stand in front of Jay, her body providing small shield. The Unicorn was shaking madly. Jay stopped. He took one look at Twilight, then fell to the floor. Twilight gasped as Jay curled into a ball, pulling his legs up against his blood soaked chest and began to sob. Twilight rushed to Jays side, hearing her own terrified voice echoing in her head.

"No,no,no...Please not him, not now!" She rushed to Jay who was staring at her through his tear filled eyes, the tears spilling across his face, mingling with the blood he was covered in. "Jay...?" Twilight gasped, falling to the floor beside him. No spell came to her. She didn't know a healing spell powerful enough to help any wounds of this size. She too began to sob, her tears falling past her nose. The stink of blood was everywhere. It filled her nostrils, making her feel so sick that she might throw up. She closed her eyes, pushing her snout against Jay's cheek. The blood he was covered in smeared her fur but she didn't care. A firm pressure against her cheek made her halt her crying. Opening her eyes she saw Jay had rolled over onto his side and had placed his bloodied hand on her cheek. His eyes had reverted to their pale green. His hair, underneath the blood was changing back to his usual black. He was smiling weakly. "J-Jay!? You're alive?" Twilight stammered fighting the urge to jump onto him. Jay nodded, slowly pushing himself up against one of the fallen ceiling stones. Twilight followed him slowly, her legs shaking.

"You....came?" Jay asked, pulling at the shirt. His fingers slipped weakly against the blood-soaked buttons. Getting the idea, Twilight cast her magic. The buttons popped off and the shirt fell open, Jays skin, while stained dark red, was unharmed. "Don't look...too upset Twilight..." Jay gasped, his head lolling towards her. "The wounds have healed." Twilight stared. Jay was right. As she watched the human pulling off his shirt, she saw that not one inch of his skin was broken. Jay smiled weakly at Twilight, his breath coming out in soft, sharp gasps. "Twilight....It was me!" Jay gasped. Twilight stared at him. Then it clicked. She looked back to Discords motionless form, then back to Jay. "I don't know...how it happened..." Jay groaned, sliding down the wall. "He was taunting me...talking about how you were just using me...Since you and shadow were dating..." Twilight clapped her hooves to her mouth. "It just made me so angry, I....I struck out, then the next thing I know...I'm covered in blood, out of breath." Jay had finally fallen back onto his side. He was staring at Twilight, his eyes half closed. Twilight felt a terrible pain in her chest. Tears blurred her vision as she slowly made her way over to Jay. Her shaking legs finally failed her and she collapsed next to him. Jay's eyes widened slightly as the Unicorn buried her face into his chest sobbing. "Please Twilight..." Jay groaned, gently pushing her back. "Tell me the truth...While you patch me up.

Twilight smiled widely as she walked out of the door. The filly looked around cheerfully for her parents. The pair were running late. The filly disliked it when her parents were late, though she was hoping that her brother had made time to come and meet her. Maybe he'd bring Cadence, her foal sitter with him. The Unicorn had obviously carried a strong flame for the young Alicorn. It was so obvious that even a filly as young as Twilight could see it. Her amusing thoughts were interrupted as a black furred Unicorn ran across her path. POW! The pair collided with a cry of pain. Both stumbled to the ground. Twilight, rubbing her head and trying hard not to cry from the amount of pain that was coming from the bump, looked up at the other Unicorn.

"Why'd you do tha..." Twilight stammered. Her voice tailed away. The young stallion was sitting there, rubbing his head but looking entirely unconcerned. He had glossy black fur and a dark red mane. She found herself blushing though she didn't know why. The other Unicorn stood up and walked over to her. He held out a hoof with a small smile. Twilight stared at the other hoof, feeling as though she'd been frozen. She couldn't understand why, but the moment she had clapped eyes on the other Unicorn, she seemed to have forgotten how to speak, how to move, even how to recognize the object that was in front of her. After a few seconds, Twilight remembered that the thing that the other Unicorn was holding out to her, was a hoof. With another small jolt, Twilight remembered that she had just collided with the other Unicorn and that the Unicorn was being the nice one and she was just sitting there with her mouth, hanging slightly open. "S-Sorry!" She stammered hurriedly, taking the still outstretched hoof and scrambling to her feet. She smiled at the Unicorn, attempting to cover her mistake by giving a small smile. "Sorry." She repeated again nervously.

"M'sorry too." The Unicorn said casually to Twilight. He had a nice voice, deeper than the usual filly or colt at the magic kindergarten. Twilight took the hoof and stood up. The pair stood awkwardly for a few seconds, just staring at each other. Then a voice called out. The other Unicorn looked round. A pair of ponies stood by the edge of the school. A stallion and a mare. "Bye then." The Unicorn called to Twilight. He turned and began to run over to the pair. Then, he stopped suddenly and ran back. "I'm Shadow." He said quickly, then turned and ran back. Twilight watched him go, a quizzical look on her face. She couldn't remember if she'd seen that Unicorn before. She'd been at magic Kindergarten for a few weeks and she hadn't seen that colt anywhere. Though, if any-pony who knew Twilight was brutally honest, Twilight had shown a far stronger talent for magic, not making friends. She was what her parents called: A child Prodigy. Though Twilight, being as young as she was, didn't have any idea what this might mean. Maybe he was new. Twilight shook her head as a loud voice called out to her. She turned and with a happy cry, saw her brother standing just down the road. The filly charged down the road, determined to give him the tightest hug possible, all thoughts of the male Unicorn forgotten. The excited filly didn't even see the fully grown, cloaked pony that had been watching her from behind the kindergarten building. A pair of dark red eyes watched Twilight run over and jump at her brother, then flickered over to the the black furred Unicorn. The cloaked pony watched for a moment, then retreated back, vanishing as though nothing had been there at all.

Obsidian smiled slightly as he wandered along the winding stone path. His hooves clopping along. His cloak flapped around him in the dry, hot wind that howled through the dank chamber. An orange glow shone from underneath the stone path, though it was so weak that it barely illuminated the darkness. Tartarus was still as dank and shadowy as ever. If any other pony had come here, they would have had to have turned back as the shadows were so thick. But Obsidian continued forward, his eyes still as keen as ever. He smiled as he arrived at the flat plateau. A large cage was perched in front of him. He smiled as he made his way over the cage. The bars were rusted a dull brown. Obsidian was sure, in their pitiful condition that he could snap those bars of with one pull of his mouth. He leaned in, narrowing his eyes. There was a figure, lying on the floor of the cage. Huddled in the corner, it twitched and shuffled, sleepy grunts emanating from it every once-in-a-while. Obsidian's horn began to glow slightly. The figure in the cage stirred. As Obsidian had known he would.

"Enjoying Life?" He asked softly. The figure shuffled over to the bars. A pair of clawed red hands, feeble and bony, gripped the bars. Obsidian smiled wider. "Want me to let you out?" Obsidian chuckled turning away. A soft growl emanated from behind him. Obsidian chuckled lightly. "Okay, Okay. If you insist." He turned back to the cage. Obsidian smiled. "It has been to long...Tirek."

Chapter 20: Painful Past Part 2

"So you met Shadow in Kindergarten," Jay said tiredly, wringing out the ruined shirt as Twilight attempted to heal Discord. Twilight had been trying to cast a healing spell on the spirit. Though whatever Jay had done to him seemed to resist all attempts. Twilight looked up from her work, sweating heavily. She'd been trying to concentrate on both healing Discord and telling Jay the story of her and Shadow. "I understand that but..." Jay frowned, glaring angrily at the shirt as a rip, several inches long appeared as the human attempted another violent wringing of it. "How come you two ended up dating?" Twilight sighed angrily as another of her healing spells seemed to fail. Moving over to Jay, the tired Unicorn sat beside the human, giving a small groan of disgust as her tail landed in a congealed pool of blood. Twilight placed her hoof on Jay's arm. She looked up at him, a look of intense Sadness etched on her face. She attempted to move slightly closer to the human, possibly for warmth as the light outside the open windows was rapidly fading. Wind was whistling through the gigantic open windows, the cold wind slicing through the pair. However, Jay shuffled himself away from the Unicorn, so that the hoof on his arm fell to the floor. Twilight looked hurt. Jay shook his head angrily. "No soft stuff Twilight. It's to late for that. Just tell me. Please." He added, noting the hurt look on the Unicorn's face. Twilight gave a sigh, opened her mouth and continued to explain....

Several years ago

Shadow smiled happily as he pushed open the door to his bedroom. The black-furred young Unicorn felt strangely happy. Since he had come home, he'd thought of nothing else apart from the purple Unicorn he'd met. Since moving to majestic city of Canterlot, he had been, forcibly in his opinion, assigned to the magic Kindergarten. Like most young ponies his age, Shadow had at first refused to obey his parents, disliking the idea immediately. Though the originally, almost absurd idea of Magic Kindergarten had been horrible to Shadow, since meeting that...that purple-pink Unicorn filly, he'd thought that it wasn't so bad. He smiled as he dumped his saddle-bags on the floor and jumped onto the black covered bed. Smiling slight into his thick pillow, the young Unicorn smiled. Shadow held his eyes shut, attempting to fix the image of the filly in his mind. It'd been a week since meeting Twilight and Shadow still felt giddy at the thought of her. With a small smile, Shadow turned his head to look at his saddle bags. The small flower petals, arranged magically by Twilight into a small chain, had been tied around one of the straps. He smiled. Twilight had approached him in one of their classes and handed the small flower chain to him. Blushing brightly, she'd said it was a gift. He remembered the small smile she'd given him. A gift to welcome him? Yeah right. Twilight liked him. Shadow's ego was sure that was the main reason she'd given him that flower chain. That's why he'd

"Shadow! Time for dinner, son!" The sound of his father calling him from the bottom of the stairs, roused Shadow from his revere. Getting up, Shadow smiled wider as the smell of hay fries wafted from the downstairs kitchen. The Unicorn smiled widely as he walked out of his room and down the stairs. His Father was standing by the stairs, smiling up him. Like Shadow, Dark-light had sleek black fur, and a deep crimson mane. Though unlike Shadow, his Father didn't have the mysterious red eyes. Instead, his eyes were light blue. "Had a good day son?" Dark-light asked, chuckling as Shadow joined him. "Looks like you've already made friends, OR..." Dark-light smiled as though holding a very amusing secret. "A Mare-friend?" Shadow gave his father a playful shove, just as they entered the brightly lit kitchen. Shadow's mother was standing beside the stove, watching the vegetable soup boiling in a small pot. Next to it was a large rectangular shallow pan, was a large collection of thin yellowish sticks. Hay fries. His Mother's bright cream colored fur and sunflower yellow mane gleamed in the light of the kitchen, reflected back a dozen times by the kitchen appliances. Like her husband, the Sunlight was also a unicorn. The mare turned her head, flashing brilliantly yellow eyes as her husband and son sat at the table. Smiling slyly at Dark-light, the mare sifted the fries onto plates with her hooves, whilst pouring soup into four large bowls. "Sunlight, darling?" Asked Dark-light, looking curiously at the fourth dinner. Sun-light chuckled slightly and nodded at her son, who smiled widely. "Oooh. So my little Shadow..." There was a knock at the door. Sunlight smiled and stood up. There door opened just as Sunlight reached it. Magically the mare opened the door. There, in the doorway, stood Twilight Sparkle, looking slightly shifty.

"You must be Twilight Sparkle." Sunlight said with a smile, stepping to one side to allow the Unicorn filly to walk nervously into the house. "It's nice to finally meet you. Shadow does nothing but talk about you, you know?" Twilight blushed heavily and Shadow hid his face behind his hooves. Twilight, still blushing heavily, moved over to the table and sat down beside Shadow. Taking his head out from behind his hooves, Shadow smiled at the filly, taking her hoof under the table. "Oh lighten up Shadow!" Sunlight said coolly. "We're just having a bit of fun you know that. What's the worst that could happen?

Ponyville Hospital

Shadow slumped across the hospital bed, looking at the unconscious form of Rainbow Dash who lay upon it. Tears dripped down his face as he stared at the mare he had gone out with on a date, only days ago. He'd been crying by the bedside, ever since both AppleJack and Pinkie-Pie had brought him hear. Though neither of them were actually there. Both had given the pair a bit of privacy. According to Rainbow Dash, who had managed to moan out that it wasn't him when she'd seen him, some black furred unicorn had managed to break into the jail, release Trixie and used some sort of weird spell on her. She'd passed out after that and hadn't woken up for days. It'd been four days since that and five days since Jay and Twilight had disappeared. A few get well cards were stacked on the bedside table. Shadow lowered his head and continued to sob into the blanket, covering the Pegasus's prone body. The doctors had told AppleJack, who had told Shadow, that there hadn't been a mark on the mare's body though according to the healers, her body's inner workings had been somehow disturbed. This was the reason that Rainbow had not woken up. Shadow just couldn't understand why some-pony would do this to Rainbow Dash. She was just so...likable. Maybe a bit arrogant, but still great to hang about with. But then this had happened and after all so many other bad things had happened. Jay and Twilight were both still missing, (The search parties hadn't found anything), Trixie was loose, they couldn't even send fast post to the Princess. A letter had arrived claiming that it was from the Princess. According to the letter, the Princesses had been unable to contact them through magical means, as though something had blocked them. Indeed, the letter had arrived, looking slightly singed, rather as though it had been burnt by something. Not one single Pony in Ponyville could explain. The rather limited contact had hinted at something worse.

"The statue is gone." That had been scribbled right at the bottom, as though some-pony had scribbled it in at the last minute. The rest of Twilight's friends had no clue what that was supposed to mean. They'd dismissed it and gone straight back to the issue of their friends. Though Shadow had guessed at what that could mean. Discords imprisoning statue had gone. He hadn't mentioned this thought to the others though, being right in thinking that anything else going wrong would drive the already panicked Ponies over the edge. He sighed to himself, looking around at the slightly bare, completely empty hospital room. Despite the doctors insistence that they should leave and that Rainbow Dash need to be left alone to recover from whatever her assailant had done to her, a very, harsh, very rude shout of anger from Shadow had convinced the doctors to back off. As fast as they possibly could. The others had left earlier. As the light faded Shadow put his head back onto the bed, feeling his aching eyes beginning to close. It felt like he hadn't slept for days. He was extremely worried about Twilight and Jay, he had still been unable to locate either Jay's driver or Lockseed. He hoped that they weren't hurt. Discord couldn't exactly be called a danger but the spirit of chaos had been noted to go slightly to far during his "Playtime." Shadow closed his eyes, to avoid the pain that his over-taxed eyes. Bloodshot eyes, he decided were not great for oneself.

"Hello Shadow." The voice made him jump. Shadow toppled backwards off his chair and hit the floor with a crash. He'd been so tired, he hadn't noticed the large winged Unicorn sitting on the floor beside him. There was barely any light now. The sun had apparently gone down as the room was almost in pitch-blackness. A small lantern had been lit beside the chair. Scrabbling to his hooves, Shadow managed to see the other pony more clearly. Judging by the lack of eyelashes, the Alicorn was male. He had the same sleek black fur and crimson mane as Shadow. His eyes however, were of a deeper red than Shadow, so deep that it was almost Black. The horn on the Alicorns head was longer than Shadow's and tapered to a sharp point. A smile was splashed across the male Alicorns muzzle, the teeth so white that they glowed in the almost total blackness. "Surprised to see me?" Chuckled the Alicorn moving over to Shadow and sitting back down beside the surprised Unicorn. "Long time." The Alicorn said quietly, looking at the unconscious form of Rainbow Dash. "Quite a lot has changed, well since the last time we spoke. You never visit me anymore." There was a glimmer of hurt on the Alicorn's face. Shadow stammered, unsure of what to say. But then he noticed that the Alicorn had shaken his head and was chuckling heartily at the stunned look on Shadow's face. Shadow blinked, then looked hard at the Alicorn. He knew that he'd seen the Alicorn somewhere before. Then it clicked. Very slowly, a small smile began to form on his face. "Now your getting it!" The Alicorn said with a mock salute. Shadow's smile grew wider and wider. He knew now who this mysterious Alicorn was.

"Hello Obsidian." Shadow said, holding out his hoof. The pair shook. "I thought that imaginary friends weren't s'posed to hang around once you grew up." Obsidian chuckled again, patted Shadow on the back. "I really don't think this is a good time for me...to be..." Shadow looked round. "I'm not dreaming am I?" He asked. Obsidian shook his head with a wide smile. The Alicorn stood up and walked over to the window, with a toss of his horn, the large window opened. Obsidian clambered out onto the sill. The Alicorn turned back to the confused Unicorn who had followed him. "Where are you going?" Demanded Shadow. The Alicorn smiled slightly, looking as though he could've burst out laughing at any minute.

"See ya soon my Shadow!" Obsidian jumped out of the window. With a great flap of his black wings, the Alicorn flew upwards. Obsidian's body was silhouetted by the moon for a second....and then he was gone. Shadow closed the window with a sigh. He turned back to the bed, where the mare he loved lay, completely unconscious. He settled back on the chair, determined to stay awake and to watch her through the rest of the night.

Chapter 22: Going home...

Jay stood in the darkness. Shadows surrounded the confused human. Where was he? For one horrid moment, Jay thought he was back in that cell, expecting Discord to float through the wall, or slide, snakelike from underneath the door-frame. But if that had been the case, would he have not been bound by chains, on his knees, blood dripping down from his ruined wrists? There was a friendlier feel to this darkness. A feeling...as though he'd been there before. From the dusty feeling underneath his bare feet, Jay guessed that he was standing on stone, though when the human looked down, it was like he was floating through space, with nothing but blackness underneath his feet. "Great..." Jay grunted angrily, tentatively taking a step forward. Despite the supposed absence of footing, Jay's foot seemed to strike something solid. "First kidnapping, then odd dreams. Why me?" Nothing was there to answer him of course. Jay frowned. "Okay," He thought to himself, turning on the spot, looking all around him. "So if I AM dreaming...then..." He pinched himself hard. Nothing happened. He did it again. Judging from the pain he felt, this was definitely real. But...Where was Twilight? Discord? The blackness surrounding him did not reveal anything but more darkness. Taking several steps in any direction yielded nothing either. Starting to feel that he was missing something, Jay gave one final glance around before giving am exasperated sigh. "Is somebody there?!" He called out. A light chuckle filled the air. It was emanating from somewhere behind him. Jay spun round. Someone was standing there. Covered in armor, with designs in the shapes of human bones running over the arms, chest and legs. An unruly mop of greasy black hair was perched atop a pale skinned head. Green eyes stared back at him...It was him! The double of him was staring at him with a small smile painted upon his lips. The double was slightly smaller than Jay was now, though the hair upon his head had several patches of gray throughout. Even the eyebrows had turned gray. Fixed to the doppelgangers side was a long, straight sword with a hilt of red and black metal. Jay frowned. "Who the hell...?" He began. The other version of him smiled wider, pulling his pale lips back, revealing sharpened teeth.

"You've forgotten yourself Jay!" The smile faded slightly. The double took several steps towards Jay, seeming, wholly unconcerned about the lack of footing. "Though I see that you are discovering your gifts again all by yourself! Very nice trick with Discord by the way." The double smiled wide again, eyeing the state of Jay's tattered clothing. "Though it isn't as flashy as I'd would've liked." The double gave a shrug of his shoulders before walking in a circle around Jay. Jay, still very surprised that there was double of him here, simply turned his head to watch, until his double passed his field of vision. "You know," His doppelganger said conversationally, coming to rest in front of him again, "I'd never have believed it. You... a rider!" Jay frowned as his double looked him up and down again, with an annoyingly superior look on his face, "You rejected control of our lives you know. Now your vagrant memories are scattered, broken...what have you been doing all this time?" The double chuckled. "Fooling around with that Unicorn. Honestly..." Jay felt a stab of annoyance at this. Whoever the impostor was, Jay felt he had no business insulting Twilight. Jay opened his mouth to speak but the double raised his hand. Jay shut his mouth instantly, though he had no idea why. "I don't have time to debate your dating habits Jay. I only arranged this meeting so I could see what your doing with my body." The double shook is head looking annoyed now. "And I am NOT happy! Get on with what your supposed to do and stop dawdling!" The doppelganger turned and strode off into the darkness. Jay, trying to follow the double, found himself frozen, unable to move. Though it wouldn't have done much good, what little of his vision remained was fading away

Jay started as he finally came too. The musty curtain that had been functioning as a blanket fell off him and landed in a heap. The human gasped heavily as though he'd been underwater. That dream had been...strange. To come face to face with a person that looked exactly like him, though did not act like him...It was a strange experience. Though any thoughts of the dream were quickly shattered as a powerful gust of wind blew through him. The old castle was freezing. Really freezing. Even though he'd only just woken up, Jay was shaking like mad. Trying to ignore the fact that his teeth were chattering hard enough to cut rocks, Jay stood up and stretched heavily. A loud crackling made him look down. The shirt he had been wearing, still covered with congealed blood, had dried badly, the blood that remained was the reason for crackling. Annoyed, Jay picked off several flakes of the stuff, though ultimately, he still looked worse than he was. Twilight was sitting by Discord. The mis-matched creature was awake though he didn't seem to happy. He was talking to Twilight, with an expression acute to finding something stuck to a toilet seat. Though the moment that Discord noticed that Jay was standing behind the two of them, his expression cleared. Twilight turned her head and also smiled upon catching sight of Jay. Despite the happy expression, Jay could see that Twilight's hair was slightly disheveled and that there were dark bags under her eyes. Jay had known that Twilight had not slept well. He had clearly heard the Unicorn moaning in her sleep for most of the night, though what exactly about, Jay had not been sure. He tried to banish the dream from his mind and attempted to force his face into a smile, as he made his way over to them.

"Ah here's the no-good cheater who..." Discord began, but at a warning glare from Twilight silenced him. Instead the mis-matched creature resumed silently gazing at the pair of them. "So now what?" Demanded Discord, looking at Twilight, then at Jay. They stared confusedly back. Discord sighed. "Whatever you did to me," He growled, pointed a clawed finger at Jay, "Has sapped my powers. I can't even make a rabbit fly or a duck bark at this point." Discord frowned at the pair. "So unless you too have a better idea, I guess we're walking out. So what do you say? Friends?" Twilight and Jay both glanced at each other, trading incredulous looks. Twilight shook her head. "Aw come on Little-Miss-Friendship!" Discord pouted sticking his tongue out, "Just one hug?" Twilight turned to look at Jay. Jay, who was now grinning very widely, shook his head with a chuckle. Twilight stared at him before motioning at Discord. Jay shook his head with another small smile. "Friends?" Discord asked again, extending his mismatched arms in a welcoming gesture. Twilight, giving Jay a look that plainly wished something unpleasant upon the human, walked forward slowly, before placing her front legs around Discord. "There we go!" Discord said, laughing heartily as Twilight released him, very quickly. "So," Discord said, pushing himself up on his elbows and fixing the pair with another wide grin. "Who's gonna help?" Twilight glared at Jay who already opened his mouth with an excuse. The human closed it, very quickly. Discord chuckled. "Oh I knew we'd see eye to eye in the end!" He said holding his arms out for Jay to take. "Now be careful!" The mis-matched creature told the human warningly. "I'm a very delicate thing!"

Obsidian strode through the darkness of Tartarus, feeling an intense surge of...anger? Hatred? Whatever it was it was powerful. It poured into him and out of him. It surrounded him. The surge was so strong it made the stone beneath his hooves tremble. Obsidian felt a sense of amusement rising inside of him. That surge of evil intent could only mean one thing. Finally, the dark Alicorn made it to the cage. To his surprise, Obsidian saw that Cerberus had returned. The huge, three headed dog glared at him with three pairs of red eyes filled with blood-lust. Slobber dripped from three mouths, each filled with Razor sharp teeth. Obsidian smiled slightly. The growling beast took a step forward, its' shaggy black fur standing on end. Obsidian felt his magic rise up inside of him. His horn began to glow. Immediately, thick glowing chains sprang from the ground and latched themselves to the thick, spiky dog collars around the three necks of Cerberus. The chains tautened and yanked the dog down hard. The dogs three heads crashed to the floor with a loud crunching noise. The growls stopped. The eyes closed. Cerberus laid still. Obsidian paused to give the mongrel a hard kick, before maneuvering himself past the mass of motionless mound of beast and up to the cage. The rusted bars had been bent outwards, as though something of great pressure was pushing against them. To Obsidian's sharpened eyesight, it looked as though currents of red-misted air were pushing out, pulsing with dark power. The hooded creature sat in the center of the cage. Two clawed hands reached out from under the ragged cloak, gripping the bars with such intensity that they bent even more. Obsidian chuckled.

"Now now, don't be too hasty my lord." The Alicorn said coolly, waving a hoof at the bars. "The moment these break, your enemies will sense. Besides..." Obsidian leaned in as though to deter eavesdroppers. "All the peaces are not yet in place." He whispered. The hands retreated underneath the cloak. Obsidian smiled. "I thought you would see things my way. Now get some rest." Obsidian turned from the cage and walked away. He could feel it. The time for the next phase of his plan was drawing near. But there were things he still needed to do. Obsidian felt a thin snarl curl his lips as he reached the dog. Obsidian, his snout twitching in distaste, gave the motionless form one final kick before making his way out. "Now to inform Chrysalis...and prepare the army." He thought grimly. It wasn't his first choice to make an appearance...but he supposed that the early bird did catch the worm after all.

Jay grunted as he once again tripped over a tangled tree root. Since he'd agreed to carry Discord as he, Twilight and the mismatched menace made their way through the Ever-free forest, Jay had been subjected to Discord's continued ranting about how he'd been beaten by a human. Despite Discord having a long, serpentine body, he was way heavier than he seemed. Having the mis-matched creature hanging off him, constantly dragging his claw and hoof didn't help as the roots of the tangled trees constantly caught on Discords feet, constantly slowing them down. Twilight was trotting in front the two, throwing a look over her shoulder every once in while that plainly said: You deserve this. Jay stuck his tongue out at her, though ceased this when Discord started mentioning that he looked like a "Less handsome version of himself." Jay sighed as he once again caught himself on one of the trees.

"Twilight?" He called out after tearing himself free. The Unicorn stopped for a second to look over at him. "Could we please take a break?" Jay complained, hoisting Discord slightly higher on his shoulder. "This lump is heavy." Twilight chuckled before nodding towards one of the many empty clearings that they had passed. Setting down Discord, who had chosen that point to fall asleep, Jay collapsed onto the dirt ground. He frowned as Twilight settled herself a little ways off. She been acting uncomfortable around him ever since the night before. "Maybe..." Jay thought to himself as Discord let off several loud snores. "I shouldn't pushed her so hard. I guess I could...but she did hide her dates with Shadow..." He sighed, realizing that he was getting nowhere with this internal argument. He looked back at Twilight, with a small smile on his face, resolving to make it up to Twilight the moment they got back to Ponyville.

"TWILIGHT! JAY!" Jay's head snapped up. AppleJack had just appeared in the clearing, covered in twigs and dirt. Apple-Bloom stood beside her sister staring at Discord. "WHAT IN TARNATION IS HE DOIN' HERE!" Shouted AppleJack, pointing her hoof at the sleeping Discord. Jay and Twilight looked at one another, before Apple-Jack jumped forwards and grabbed hold of the Unicorn. "Please explain Twilight! Right NOW!" Twilight and Jay once again looked at one another. Both were sure the other was thinking the exact same thing. This was going to be very hard to explain...

Chapter 23: Meeting Matt

he natural cavern was a darkened place. Abandoned for several years, a silence filled the chamber, a silence so thick that if any creature did venture into this place, they could cut it with a knife. Though it was not dark. Large clear crystals shone from the high, stone walls, providing an almost unnatural light into the cavern. A larger crystal, stood rooted in the center of the chamber. The giant crystal was twisted into the shape of a five branched tree and glittered madly in the light, as though it was covered with diamonds. The silence in the Chamber was shattered as a sudden wind picked up inside the chamber. There was a flash of light. A large golden circle, decorated with intricate markings appeared, floating a few centimeters above the ground. A human appeared, as though stepping through a doorway. The human was dressed in a short white robe, that ended in several flaps covering certain parts of the long black trousers the human wore over its legs. Two thick silver straps covered the humans chest, upon which were several rings embedded with several colored gems and upon one of the humans hands was another ring. This one had a golden gem embedded in it with several silver lines cast around it. Around the human's waist was secured a black and silver metal belt, upon which was inscribed a human hand pointing downward to the left. A hood covered the humans head covering everything but a shred of pale skin and lips. The human looked around as the golden circle faded into nothingness, before moving to the giant crystal tree and bowing to it slowly.Then the human straightened suddenly, as a rough male voice sounded.

"You shouldn't have done that Matt." Another human stepped out from behind the giant crystal. This human was not cloaked in robes, but was clad in a thin silver suit, over which was a thick, metal armored chest-plate and armored shoulder pads colored in a light purplish color. The new human had shoulder length blonde hair, though his eyes were covered by dark glasses, completely hiding the humans eyes. The new arrival lent against the side of the crystal tree, watching the white robed human, with his mouth fixed in a downward grimace. "You know it was a stupid idea Matt and yet you still think it's the right way?" The White robed human, Matt shook his head, a small smile gracing the pale lips. The other human gave a soft snort of annoyance before pushing himself off the crystal before striding around it. Matt, who had not moved from the same spot, simply turned his head to watch the other human. "Honestly," The other human said exasperatedly, wheeling round to face Matt, "Did you ever stop to consider that his sister, who is possibly still out there, might be watching?!" The white robed human chuckled, though Matt did not see nothing funny about the situation. "And Eclipse..." At this, the two humans fell silent. That word was enough to fill the cavern with an icy silence. Matt shook his head, pulling back his lips over his teeth, in a tight grimace of anger. Immediately, the crystal tree behind the pair of humans began to emit a loud groaning noise and some of its luster began to fade. Matt allowed what features his hood showed, to relax and immediately the crystal tree returned to its normal state.

"I'm going." Matt said coolly. The other human opened his mouth to speak but Matt held up his hand. "Robin we need to act. If Eclipse comes back, we won't last long without Jay. You know it to be true." Robin, frowned, though it was impossible to tell what was going on behind those dark lensed glasses. Finally, Robin nodded. Matt reached down and plucked one of the rings from the straps across his chest. Holding it up, Matt examined the ring in the light of the crystal tree. Embedded in the ring was a purplish crystal, over which was embossed the golden symbol of a crescent moon. Robin raised an eyebrow. "No." Matt said coldly, placing the ring back on the strap, where it hung, swinging slightly. "Not yet." Matt said shaking his head at the hard look Robin was giving him. "Eclipse won't have this ring while I still draw breath. Or at the very least," Matt fixed Robin with a very thin smile. "Not as long as the situation denies it." Ignoring the snort of indignation that Robin chose to respond with, Matt turned away from the other human Matt pushed one of the paddles on his belt. The hand part of the belt flicked over to point to the right. Matt placed his hand over the hand symbol. There was a flash of golden light and then Matt was gone. Robin shook his head, giving another sigh of annoyance. He turned to give one last bow to the crystal tree before making his way back behind the crystal.

Jay smiled lightly as he wandered through Ponyville. The sun was out, the birds were singing and best of all, He, Twilight and Discord, had finally made it back to Ponyville. Or rather, he and Twilight had finally made it back to Ponyville. Discord, still deprived of his powers, had been locked in a jail cell by several angry ponies, AppleJack, Rarity and to Jay's immense surprise, Fluttershy. Since being brought back from the Ever-free forest, Jay and Twilight had been treated to several rounds of welcome home parties, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. Jay, who had declined being detained, had taken his leave after the fifteenth round of drinks and party poppers. Twilight was still stuck in the hospital though, alongside Rainbow Dash, who Jay and Twilight had been horrified to learn, had been attacked by some weird stranger who resembled Shadow and who had released Trixie. Though most of Twilight's friends were also concerned with the amount of problems that had been springing up. Apart from some Unicorns having problems with their magic, not to mention the unraveling of the spell that Spike usually used to transmit mail. Though the ponies had been able to make do with several harassed looking messengers traveling from Ponyville to Canterlot and back again. Then there were several reports of unrest springing up around the kingdom. Everything from small groups complaining of natural disturbances to large scale geological disasters. Jay frowned at this thought. He wasn't really sure why but this made him feel uneasy. Though he had other thoughts on his mind. The dream...His doppelganger. That was something he hadn't stopped thinking about. Was it just a product of his own, tired mind or...was it something more? Jay rubbed the chafing marks around his wrists. The local Nurse, an earth pony by the name of Redheart, had assured him that the marks would vanish eventually though she'd been unable to heal the welts and cuts using their traditional methods. He supposed it wasn't bad. He'd just have to put up with the occasional stabbing pains across his wrists. In any case, the new clothes that Rarity had provided for him, a pair of silken tracksuit bottoms and a silken shirt, as thanks for rescuing Twilight, had long sleeves which were perfect for hiding the wounds. His walk, had taken him to the Ponyville town square. The human, distracted for a brief second due to the gigantic, almost majestic town hall, did not see the black furred Unicorn that had walked out in front him.

"OOF!" Jay yelled as his legs hit the Unicorn. Jay, not prepared for the collision, stumbled and hit the floor. He rolled over, feeling annoyance building inside of him. "Really?" He demanded at nothing in particular. He knew that the residents of Ponyville could be slightly absent-minded, Twilight had warned him so during one of his first excursions out of the library. But this was ridiculous. Couldn't he go five minutes without running straight into something...anything? But the annoyance faded as he noticed who he had actually walked into. It was Shadow. The black furred Unicorn looked worse for wear than the last time Jay had seen him. At that time, Shadow had been drunk. Though this time Shadow looked slightly worse than that time. His fur was sticking out in odd places. Patches of it seemed to have something sticky in it. Indeed, the fur was so utterly unkempt that the Cutie Mark on his flank was barely visible. Shadow's eyes looked sunken, bloodshot and slightly faded. The Unicorn's front legs were shaking heavily rather as though Shadow had just gotten up or as though he had barely enough energy to keep himself up. "Oh. It's you Shadow!" Jay said, smiling as he stood back up again, brushing the dirt from his clothes. "What are doing out here?" Shadow didn't seem to hear him however and continued walking. The Unicorn's head continued to swing from side to side, his bloodshot eyes sliding rapidly, seemingly unable to focus on anything. Jay frowned as he watched the Unicorn. He tapped Shadow slightly on the shoulder. "Shadow?" Jay asked uncertainly. The Unicorn's head whipped round so fast, Jay jumped backwards with a shout of fright. Shadow's wide eyes were starting to frighten him.

"Huh, who, what?!" The Unicorn shouted, his head whipping round from side to side. Finally Shadow's eyes seemed to focus on Jay. Even then, the eyes focused on the human for about second, then slid over to the nearest shop. "Oh...h-hello Jay. I didn't see you there." Jay could tell that was the case. Something was obviously distracting the Unicorn. He figured asking Shadow outright what the heck was bothering him when Shadow suddenly smiled wide. The transition from depressed, distracted Shadow to madly happy Shadow was slightly unnerving. "Well...I'll see you later then Jay...I have to...go do something." Jay watched Shadow walk shakily away. He shook his head. He supposed that Shadow was just having an off day. He couldn't exactly blame the poor guy. The Unicorn must've been worried sick about Rainbow Dash after her attack, not to mention Twi...Jay stopped. He felt the twinge of annoyance again. That was the main reason he'd gone for a walk. Not only that dream, he'd needed time to think over Twilight's story. He'd noticed that Twilight had been extremely distant with him, ever since they'd gotten back. He'd tried to catch her eye all the time they'd been together at the hospital but she completely ignored him. He supposed he couldn't really blame her though. He had practically forced her to relieve one of her old dates, admittedly over something that Discord had told him. And anything that Discord said could be a bare-faced lie. Jay smirked to himself as he realized the idiocy of his situation. He risked his friendship with the Unicorn on something that for all he knew, could've been over for years. Feeling slightly better about himself and finally making up his mind, Jay spun round....and almost collided with the human that had been standing silently behind him. Jay, caught off-guard, tripped over his feet and toppled to the ground again. In an attempt to recover himself, Jay staggered back to his feet, fixing the human in front of him with wild eyed look. The other human was dressed in a pure white robe with gold edgings. His face, which was hidden mostly by the large white hood, was set in a thin smile.

"Geez Jay you really have lost your touch huh?" Jay stopped dead. This human knew his name. Not to mention the fact that the human was now holding out his hand to Jay, as though...."Names Matt." The other human said, with a soft chuckle. "I'm glad I managed to find you in this lot. But let get somewhere private." Several ponies were starting to stare in the direction, with slightly curious looks on their faces. He reached for Jay's arm. Jay who was still staring dumbfounded at this possibly miraculous new arrival allowed this Matt to take his arm. Matt guided him into one the slightly less crowded side street and smiled at Jay. "So, where do you wanna start?" The white robed human asked.

Chapter 5: Demon in the shadows

Chapter 5: Demon in the shadows

Shadow made his way past the guards into the cell blocks, feeling fury building in his chest like a pool of acid. It couldn't be him. It just couldn't. Shadow strode past empty cell after empty cell until he reached the end of the block. As a peaceful nation, there hadn't been much need for the cell blocks for years. Now however, there was only one occupant. The cut shadow had made across its side had been wrapped with bandages, though a thin red mark still stained the bandages. The intruder was sitting on the slightly too small bed, its head hidden by its hands. The humans top layer of clothing had been removed to cover up the cut, revealing pale skin, tinged an ugly grayish color. Several faded scars covered the humans left shoulder and side. Shadow waited a few minutes, pacing back and forth in front of the captives cell but the human made no sign of movement or even gave any indication that it had noticed that Shadow was there. It just sat there. Shadow stopped in front of the humans cell, feeling his already fragile temper beginning to break. He cleared his throat. Then again. Finally, when he couldn't take anymore of the humans silence, stamped his hoof hard on the stone floor.

"I thought I sensed your presence....JAY!" Shadow growled angrily. The human looked up. A pair of green eyes widened in surprise. Taking his hands away from his face, the human stood up, smiling at the Unicorn. Shadow felt his temper rise higher than it ever had before. The smirk. That most irritating smirk. "What are you smiling at Jay. Surely you realize the position you're in." Jay tilted his head to the side, that irritating smirk never leaving his face. It only widened. Shadow couldn't stand looking at that smirk. It ticked him off. More than it should have done. He was getting angrier and angrier every second he had to look at that face. Shadow resumed pacing up and down in front of the barred door. The human didn't move from its position, moving only his eyes to track the irate Unicorns pace. Shadow breathed in and out heavily, feeling as though a fire had been lit inside him and was getting hotter and hotter, the flames licking his stomach and clawing up his throat, searing the inside of his mouth. He didn't understand why he felt so angry. He tried to think about what he caused him to come down here and talk to the human. But nothing came to mind. Even that made Shadow angry.

"Come to gloat?" asked a cold voice. Shadow looked round at Jay. The Human still had that smirk on his face but it was cold. It didn't quite reach Jay's eyes. "You know," The human continued, conversationally, "I would have thought that you be in the infirmary with the rainbow maned fool." Shadow's eyes widened in rapidly building fury. "That cocky blue bitch could never...." Jay began. Shadows hooves hit the barred door so hard that the metal began to bend.

"Don't you DARE speak...of...her....like that you.....you...." Shadow stammered, his fury burning in him like an inferno. He bared his teeth, in a furious snarl, grinding his teeth together so hard that they hurt. His head was beginning to pound like a drum. It hurt, more and more, each time he blinked. "You...standing there with your....smirk....and....and..." He couldn't seem to speak without spitting with rage. Jays grin had widened so much it was in danger of splitting his face. "Stop...it..." Shadow growled, feeling the pain in his head begin to reach its peak. He was pressing the bars of the door with such force that the bars were bending inwards with loud grinding noises. Jay was staring hard at Shadow. The Human was no longer smiling but Shadow did not care. He wanted to hit Jay as hard as he could. To make sure this stupid..foolish.....thing who dared hurt his friend could do no more harm. But...something felt wrong. It was almost as though a voice was whispering in his ear.

"Go on....Do it....tear the doors off. Rip this pathetic human limb from limb....do it!" Shadow shook his head furiously, attempting to clear the interfering voice. It only made his head hurt more. It was as if something was trying to tear his horn off. "Dooooooooo it, you foolish Unicorn. Stop fighting it." The voice whispered. Shadow began to pound the already damaged bars again. There was a metallic snap as several of the bars tore away from the housings and clattered across the floor. The pain was climaxing now. His vision was blurring. Blood was leaking out of his nose, dripping over his teeth. The taste made him feel worse. Then the voice spoke again. "Right...I've tried being nice kiddo. Now it's my turn to take the wheel." Then Shadow's head burst open and he knew no more.

Twilight Sparkle galloped down the hall, fear pulsing through her chest. Luna was matching her pace, her face drawn in a grimace of concern. The violet Unicorn, alongside Celestia had bolted from the infirmary the moment a resounding boom had sounded from under their hooves. Leaving the rest of her friends behind, Twilight had sped out of the infirmary, knocking over the very surprised doctor in her haste to discover the cause of the explosion. Grabbing a passing guard, she'd grilled the frightened Pegasus about what had happened. The shaking guard had mentioned that straight after the explosion, smoke had begun to pour out from the steps leading down into the cell blocks. Ignoring the yelps of the guards she was bowling out of the way in her haste to get to the cells, she turned her head to glance at Luna. The Princess of the night was galloping so fast that her dark crown was on the verge of flying off her head. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Celestia struggling to keep up with them, whilst simultaneously attempting to avoid the groaning mass of ponies twilight had knocked down.

"I hope Shadow hasn't done anything stupid." Twilight gasped as she skidded around a sharp corner, almost slipping on the marble floor. Luna followed, righting herself with her wings. Luna wasn't as lucky with her grip and she skidded into a pedestal holding an ornate vase of flowers. The marble podium toppled over with a loud crash, followed by the smashing of the vase. Cursing, Luna hurried to catch up with Twilight.

"Shadow is our pupil." She gasped, just as Celestia skidded round the corner, lost her balance on several shattered pieces of porcelain and crashed into another servant pony. "Shadow won't harm a prisoner. Not if he was in his right mind anyway." Luna frowned, looking thoughtful as they finally made it to the hallway leading down into the cells. A large cloud of thick black smoke was pouring at into the corridor from the broken doorway. The door had been blasted off its hinges and had smashed on the opposite wall. Splinters of wood and metal lay everywhere. The two guards that usually stood at the entrance to the door lay under a small pile of rubble and glass. While Celestia moved to check the unconscious ponies, both Luna and Twilight made their way down the stairs. The smoke was so thick that almost immediately, their eyes started watering and it hurt to even breathe. Finally, the two ponies cleared the smoky corridor. The cells had been torn apart. Metal bars lay everywhere. the beds had been torn from their hangings on the wall and trashed in the corners. There were several small fires burning. Standing at the end of the cell block, where the humans cell had been, standing over the feebly stirring, bleeding, injured form of the human was a familiar, black furred Unicorn.

"Sh-Shadow?" Panted Twilight. The Unicorn turned to look at her and Luna. Twilight heard Luna gasp. She felt as though ice was spreading through her veins. The Unicorn in front of her was not Shadow. It couldn't be....

Jay was slightly surprised when the black furred Unicorn suddenly tore the cell door of its hinges and flung it to one side. He took a step backwards, in an an attempt to shield himself from the raging pony. Too late. The Black furred Unicorn gave a scream of rage, before shooting forward. Pain like nothing Jay had ever felt before shot through his stomach, branching out into his limbs. Shadow or, whatever raging demon he'd become had charged forward, moving faster than Jay could see, and speared the human on the end of his horn. The human screamed just as the unicorn gave a great jerk of its head and flung him straight at the other cells. The bars bent inward and snapped off on impact. Jay felt several of his ribs break. Blood bubbled up, through his throat and spraying out over his teeth. With a sickening crack, he hit the wall and slid to the floor.

"Well....that hurt Shadow..." The unicorn smiled madly as he stalked over to the prone human, pressing a hoof down hard onto his blood soaked chest. "If...only...you'd arrived.... before I hurt Rainbow.... Shadow...." The unicorn pressed harder, preventing Jay from speaking. More blood dribbled down Jays chin as he coughed and hacked. The Unicorn leaned in, Jays blood dripping down his horn into his face fur, dying a grisly crimson. The mad grin on the Unicorn's face had not wavered, even as the blood dripped into his mouth.

"Oh no my dear human." the Unicorn whispered. Jays eyes widened, even as his vision began to grow darker. Shadow's voice had changed. It was deeper, darker, smoother. The fur was growing longer, tangling itself. "Shadow isn't here anymore. Obsidian is." Jay moaned as he tried to keep his eyes open. His vision was growing darker and darker. Blackness was creeping in on the edge of his vision. This...Obsidian smiled, pushing his blood stained hoof harder into the spreading pool of Jay's blood. "Shhhh, little human. The demon will keep you company, all the way till your death. Just know...." Obsidian leaned over, so his mouth was directly next to Jay's ear. "I'll be the one to take the power. I'll look after it for you. Loser!" Darkness clouded Jays vision, just as a purple....something burst into the cells and called out

"SH-Shadow. STOP!"

Chapter 21: Who he was...Who he shall be

Obsidian smiled slightly, feeling a twinge of pride as he glided away from the Ponyville hospital. He should have known that Shadow would be with that interfering Pegasus. He'd been unable to finish Rainbow Dash like he'd wanted. Gliding through the night air, Obsidian grinned coldly to himself. Just like he'd planned. He had hoped that Shadow would fall for Rainbow Dash, though he hadn't foreseen that brash young Pegasus mistaking him for Shadow. Another thing he had not foreseen was Discord taking Jay. That had been rather irksome. The night air ruffled his blackish-red mane as the Alicorn glided through the night. The surge...Obsidian knew that Celestia and Luna would have felt it. Tartarus did not release one of its prisoners without some....side-effects. Though this side-effect was one that Obsidian had to admit, was rather entertaining. Obsidian's thoughts strayed as the Alicorn flew through the air, now passing over the boundaries of the Ever-free forest. He hadn't bargained on Jay's disappearance this early. At least, not without his influence. It was disconcerting. But there again, Discord was known for playing by the rules. Obsidian chuckled to himself as he dived slightly, careful to keep his appearance obscured from the many predatory birds that flew throughout the airspace of the forest. He'd have to take steps to deal with Discord, make the clown prince of chaos pay for damaging his plans. Nighttime in the Ever-free was often clouded over by mist, reducing visibility in the air too an almost impossibility. But as Obsidian flew towards the cloud, the mist parted as though it was curtain on a stage, drawing back to reveal the forest-scape. After several minutes of flying, Obsidian saw the familiar ruin appearing through the misty night. He couldn't see anything. The ruin was dark, silent and still. Obsidian glided over the ruin a few times, feeling slightly suspicious. His slit-like pupils tightened, ever so slightly. The wrecked stone walls of the castle turned intangible, transparent. Through this magical gaze, Obsidian noticed three blurry shapes of something...something in the old throne room. He smiled slightly and floated down. Through the wrecked rooms, the dark Alicorn descended, until finally he reached the old throne room.

To his surprise, Obsidian saw that both Jay and Twilight Sparkle were snuggled up against each other against one of the fallen roof stones. Both the human and the Unicorn had their eyes and closed and they were both breathing very slowly and deeply. They were both asleep and judging from their position, the pair had fallen asleep holding each other. Jay's arms were still slightly curled around the Unicorn. Discord lay a little way off. The spirit of chaos was covered by one of the musty, old curtains that had once fluttered through the wrecked windows. Jay and Twilight had also wrapped themselves in a tight bundle of old drape. Several charred sticks were in front of the sleeping pair, smoking slightly. Obsidian frowned at the pair. He had not expected the pair to sleep together. He had thought that the revelation that Twilight and Shadow had been dating would have been enough to drive them apart. Clearly, he had been wrong. Striding around the remains of the fire, using his magic to quieten his steps, Obsidian moved over to the unconscious form of Discord. Obsidian thought for a second about dealing the blow there and then. He even lifted a hoof, feeling a surge of power flow through him. But at that moment, Twilight gave a sleepy snort and Obsidian reconsidered. He turned himself back to face Twilight and Jay. Moving closer to the sleeping pair, Obsidian smiled coolly. The dark Alicorn closed his eyes. He felt another burst of power flow through him. He knew the spell had worked. Obsidian heard a small rumbling noise, rather like a small earthquake. A crackling noise started up and a powerful smell of smoke filled his nostrils. The dark Alicorn opened his eyes. The castle had changed dramatically. The whole room looked as though several years had retracted. There were no open holes or fallen stones. The thick drapes were no longer musty or faded but made of a vibrant red fabric. A thick cloud of smoke had filled the room. It was coming from the gigantic golden doors, standing open at the end of the hall. Obsidian could see several small fires burning outside in the halls of the castle. Obsidian moved over to one of the windows. He could see several groups of ponies, all dressed in the golden armor of Celestia's personal guard, battling several figures, though the armor the creatures were wearing obscured the creatures identity. Obsidian frowned slightly. Then, there came the sound of loud footsteps. Obsidian smiled slightly. Footsteps, not hoof-steps. He turned to look back at the door. Three humans had stepped into the doorway. One was dressed in armor, with what appeared to be skeletal designs all over it. This human was slightly shorter than the other two. The other two humans were dressed in black armor, though it looked slightly more fluid than the leader. One of the humans had a long plait of strawberry-blonde hair stretching down the human's back.

"The castle is overrun Jay, as you planned." One of the taller humans said. His voice had a hurried quality to it. This human was carrying a long, straight sword, with a black and red handle at his side. The skeletal armored human nodded his covered head without speaking. "Jay...I need to ask you a favor." The Skeletal armored human stopped for a second before turning to face the other two humans. They turned their armored heads to look at each other. Obsidian now noticed that the human with the long hair was carrying a small bundle of dirty rags. "We can't continue this anymore." The taller male said calmly, undoing the sword at his side an tossing the sheathed sword at the younger human's feet. The skeletal designs on the armor gleamed in the light of the fires. Obsidian chuckled as he watched Jay bend down and pick up the sword that had been thrown at his feet. "Zyon will reach the age soon," The male armored human said, the hurried tone in his voice growing alarmingly faster. "And we don't need anymore stress in our lives. We really hope you can..." But the human had stopped as Jay dropped the sword. It hit the ground with a clatter. Jay turned his back upon the pair, who, after a few moments of hesitation, turned and ran out of the room as fast as they possibly could. Jay now stood alone in the room. Reaching up, the human pulled the helmet off, revealing a thick mop of sweaty, messy black hair. The humans skin was paler, the eyes not as sunken. Then the young version of Jay turned his head to stare directly at Obsidian. Obsidian tensed slightly. The Alicorn was sure that the humans in the vision could not see him but the strange look of surprise that the vision of Jay was giving him, made Obsidian nervous. Then the young version of Jay, blinked several times, grinned widely and spoke.

"I knew you would have come Obsidian." Obsidian froze. How could Jay see him? Questions filled the dark Alicorns mind, slowing his response time. "So I did fail then." The vision of Jay said with a sigh. "No matter though. Those two," Jay,seeming not to notice the small fires slowly burning their way into the gigantic throne room, pointed over his shoulder at the empty doorway, "Have seen fit to deny me. But Zyon will not impede you or my...replacement. Ha." Jay chuckled lightly. "Well then Obsidian, You've seen me now for what I was. I wonder what you will think of me in your time." Jay shook his head contently, before putting the helmet back on. The human turned smartly on his heels, before walking out of the hall, seemingly impervious to the fires that burned around him. Obsidian, recovering too late, closed his eyes with a snort of frustration and released the spell. Again, the rumbling occurred. Opening his eyes, Obsidian saw that the hall had returned to its original dilapidated state. The hangings were once again musty and faded, the roof had several holes in it and there were now three sleeping figures surrounding him. Obsidian frowned slightly, staring down at the sleeping form of Jay. The Alicorn sighed in partial disappointment, before he stretched out his wings again, gave on last appraising look at the sleeping human before gliding out through one of the holes in the roof. Obsidian smiled thinly, feeling his elation dropping. How could he have been so stupid. Visions like that were dangerous to use at the best of times. As the dark Alicorn floated hurriedly higher and higher up into the sky. He knew now what he most do. He'd have to report back soon. Despite his allies following him like trained dogs, Obsidian knew that they did not enjoy being kept in the dark, nor being denied the pleasures that he had promised them. Obsidian allowed himself a rare feeling of amusement. Tirek did not like being kept waiting for too long either. Well that was the impression that the imprisoned creature had given him at any rate. Being cooped up in that dark place would probably do that to some-pony. The Alicorn smile widened once again, when he thought of the pleased expression on his allies faces when they heard the news. Even though one part of his plan had failed, he supposed that this part could be considered a success.