Kha sighed. He knew his name, the name he used to be. The name he had lived the life of once. Was it really going to be the same, with no family or friends left to support his newfound dilemma. He had to get out.
Last time, he was pulled through a - very small - leyline, and slammed into a companion bond with some unfortunate creature on the fringe of death. This time, he was going to have to crawl through the same connection. Without an immortal body. Who was now nowhere near asflexible as he had been.
This was not going to be like last time.
Kha shifted his hooves awkwardly, feeling for the magical channels. His eyes dilated as his hoof struck home, dipping into a wormhole. "Heh... I knew I could find it."
He glanced down into the tiny vortex, looking around for any type of moral support. The only thing that looked abnormal was the set of symmetrical smears on his sides, hiding the two patches of skin he realley wished he had.
His wings.
Gritting his teeth, he stepped a single hoof into the vortex. Something on the other end wrapped a telekinetic tentacle around his leg, to his surprise, and it was barely a breath before it had pulled him through and the vortex had closed.
Celestia focused on the wormhole. He twisted horn wasn't strong enough to enter completely, but she knew that Kha was in there. She was lucky he had entered that hole.
The Pegasus was pulled forcefully from the hole, seemingly not startled by the mutant and sitting down to shake residual magic off of his feet. "That was... graceful." He muttered.
Oh, sorry. I'm not as strong as I used to be, so I had to cut off certian... luxeries.
"Like the bag of peanuts and comfortable seating?"
She glared at him.
Kha smirked back.
Ugh, never mind. You've been infected before. How do you get rid of it?
"Wait! My question first. How on Earth did you find me?!"
I'm the freakin' leader of Equestria! I can pick up every single fragment of magic - from simple telekinesis to Luna moving the moon - and I have a flawless track record of picking up wormholes and other space-time ... slips. Knowing your magic by searching the scene of your fight -
"You mean my death? My grand finale? My explosion? There?"
- I could trace your trail into this wormhole. I'm just lucky you went through here and not another.
"And it's not an infection. It is a moment of fatigue in the mind that lets dark things in. You should know. There was one in Luna, but you put her in solitary confinement to keep her safe. Harmony - otherwise known as Balance - cured her, right? And released me after attacking Obsidian. Unfortunately, to keep from exploding in a much more spectacular manner, I absorbed their power and used it to my advantage. This kept a veeeery small piece of me in Obsidian's mind. Also on fate's bad side was the fact this kept a hidden connection between our minds, and his happiness broke through, and our current thoughts traded. Mine were... quite nightmarish, and it's no surprise that they tore deeper into his mind and awoke the Shard."
Shard?
"The Nightmare in Nightmare Moon. What would have, had it infected you, been nicknamed the Nightmare Flare. Not as catchy, but sounds pretty cool."
So what was it when it infected you?
"We didn't know what it was. We, my family, my friends... we were ponies long before you. Before Chaos, Void, something, nothing, Faenum, Fulmen, Altitudo, Corona, Maris, you, Luna, Discord... we existed in a small group on the border of waking and dreaming. When it attacked me... I killed them all. Unlike Obsidian - who is surprisingly not rampaging - I fell into the wayside category of madness over control. I... I killed all of them. And for a long time, I did nothing else. Just killed and cried and screamed. In the end, I broke through for a while, made a plan. Took their essence. And with it... with that aura, made Chaos and Void to be eternal balance. They were there to temper my phsycopathism -"
I don't think that's a word.
" - and I resumed control over myself. And to rid my existance of their bloody faces, I took my entire life... and simply dropped in in bleach. Everything was hidden in a layer of pure white. In time, so was I. And when Chaos and Void spawned something and nothing as a new counterbalance, I hid myself in the furthest corners of sanity and stayed there. And I thought I would be there forever. I've seen so many horrible things..." Kha'dighreel paused, sighing. "I still do. But I see the beautiful things too."
Celestia didn't mention that he hadn't answered her question.
As if reading her mind, he continued. "It was nameless. I made my own name for it, once it attacked me. Kha'dighreel. In fact, it means... what was it again? Umm... ah, yes. Madness's Casket."
Really?
"With a few unrepeatable words." Kha admitted. "My name used to be Galadar." With a boyish smile he stood up, holding one hoof to his chest in exagerrated dignity. "But you can call me Sky Dancer. Sky for short."
Lying in a cloud hammock and surrounded by minions, Obsidian opened his mouth on purpose for the first time in days. "There has to be something I'm missing."
One of the Unicorns uselessly milling around, or at least, one of them blessed with a voice, gave him a quizzical look. "What was that, master?"
"Stuff that master crap up your arse." He growled, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. "And you heard me the first time."
"Ah, yes mas-... yes. What do you mean?"
"I meant..." Obsidian opened one eye, mentally clearing a whirlwind of fog, "...I have everything I could ever want. I could kill all of you, right now, with ease, and I wouldn't care. Nothing would be better, or worse. Indifferent. And... I'm so powerful, but it seems something's off. I'm just not..."
"Happy?"
The overlord fell silent, closing his eyes against the dying silhoette of the moon. With a heavy sigh, his head tilted back again. "I'm dangerously close."
The Unicorn winced, curiousity overtaking caution. "To what?"
"To tipping," he lifted his paw, walking his talons across until they plummeted off the furry edge, "over into the deep."
"Is that, bad, sir?"
"Kind of." Obsidian muttered. "But if I do fall... you won't have much time to contemplate how bad it is."
"Ah."
"I'm just missing something. One thing." He mused, folding his paws back on his chest. "And I just can't put my finger on it."
Do you have any idea on how to lure him into fighting with the Elements?
"Well... after I went mental, I just wanted my crush back. So-o if he's married now, he'll feel empty."
What are you suggesting?
"We use Sunrise as bait."