Obsidian teleported away from his creations, leaving the lower ones to bear the brunt of Celestia's spectral fury. Gently alighting on a cloud above the fog layer, he watched the shadows of ponies run on the edge of madness, a single misstep able to send them plunging into it... forever.
Except that he knew he was not the only one immune to the smoke. His father, for one. And there would be others, but none as strong.
Sighing, he looked up towards the stationary, dim orb in the sky that had become the dying shell of a celestial body in the past few hours. The moon beside it looked just as expired, craters visibly crumbling from even the ground.
No night. No day. Dim. He concluded, the weight of the pictures pressing on his mind. It is... dim. Twilight.
Sighing again, he looked back down, easily finding the breach that contained his father. And on his back, glancing around almost as wildly as he was, there was a dragon.
An inner twitch made Obsidian's corrupt heart skip a beat. What? He looked down at his chest, prodding the white fur. What's wrong with me?
Kha lifted his head slightly from the ground that was now premantently imprinted with his body. It's love, Obsidian. It's love.
Discord shifted the dragonness on his shoulders. "Claws!" He reminded her.
"Sorry. I'm stressed." She blushed, quickly unhooking her talons. "Any sign of him?"
"Because I can see so much better than you can."
"Oh, I don't know. Can't you use some special draconequus powers or something?"
He frowned. "I almost dropped you there. Maybe you should use special dragon powers. In other words, I don't have any hidden powers." As he shrugged, something began to appear beneath them, flashing through the mist in a way that would have been faster if it was going straight.
"What is that?" Sunrise whispered.
In response, Discord sped up, hoping to get away from this stealthy shadow. It just matched his pace. "What in Equstri-AHH!"
The creature shot upwards with a single beat of shed wings, tackling him from below with a set of jagged hooves. The draconequus slowed, looking dumbly down at the deep wounds across his belly. Sunrise was quiet for about .5 seconds before she started screaming.
In direct reaction to her panic and fear, the Element of Magic materialized on her forehead, pale white magic shooting out in a deadly lance, spearing the attacker and carrying it to the ground. The fog consumed whatever happened next, while Sunrise shook the white glow from her eyes. The gash on Discord's body sealed up, soft new fur covering the scar.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a few moments. "Where was I? Oh yes, I remember. What in Equestria was that?"
"Hopefully, dead." Sunrise growled. "Or we're up against something near-immortal."
Cautiously, Discord spiralled closer to the ground, almost crashing into the upright, sparkling bolt that Sunrise had conjured. Luckily, whatever had attacked them was speared right through the middle, still as stone.
As Discord moved the bubble of air around the body, Sunrise jumped down, padding to it's side and feeling for a pulse.
One black globe of an eye opened on the creature's face, rolling slowly to look at the dragon. Opening it's mouth slowly, it let out a drawn-out moan, kicking weakly at the magic.
"Oh my god." Sunrise whispered. "It's still alive."
She was surprised to be moved aside by a bird's talon as Discord took her place, running his other paw along the creature's flank, outlining the bolt. "Are you ready?" He muttered. The creature moaned again. Gritting his teeth, Discord grabbed the bolt and jerked it out, moving his paw to block the blood flow immediatley after.
Tossing the bolt aside, he leaned on the open wound. "Hey, magicbutt, I need some help."
"Oh, sorry!" Sunrise yelped, pressing her paws over Discord's.
He glared at her, dissatisfiededly frowning. "Magic, imbecile."
Stammering and blushing, Sunrise once more lit the stores inside her, and the black ooze creeping out from between Discord's fingers slowed and cooled back to white. The thing lay still for a few moments, eyes blinking slowly, before it's wing lashed out and knocked the two aside. Quickly righting itself, the creature flared out it's wings, crouching close to the ground.
"Well, if this is how it has to be." Discord growled, a yellow magic beginning to glow around his fingers. "I'll fight."
Sunrise stepped in front of him, as far as the bubble of air would allow, crouching down in front of the creature, which had backed up as she came forward.
"Shh, shh, shh... it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry for attacking you." The creature looked back at it's side in confusion, before meeting her gaze again and making a tiny mewl. "I know. I hurt you. But it's better now, right?"
"Huh. Maybe Chibi should've gotten Magic instead." Discord commented.
She reached out, not slowing when the beast winced. "It's okay."
Leaning back on an invisble pillow, Discord watched over Sunrise's shoulder. "Huh. Odd, I could have sworn I've seen this guy before. Yeah, he woke me up. Kinda creepily. Soooo... what is it?"
"I don't know. It looks like a Pegasus. In a haunting, abstract way. Do you think that...?"
"No, I think it was all Celestia's fault." Discord drawled, putting his paws on his hips as the creature scrambled to it's feet and cantered away. "Of course it was Obsidian."
--~*~---
Obsidian slammed his talon down onto his father's chest. You're going to wish you died sooner!
"I do." Discord whispered, looking up through a black-ringed eye. "I miss you."
I NEVER MISSED YOU!