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.