//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17: Kidnapped! 
// Story: The Lockseed's curse 
// by Equestriasservant 
//------------------------------//

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.