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.