Autumn

by canonkiller

Red as Blood

"We reallly should be getting going. You know, your mission and all?"

Obsidian had truly forgotten about what he was doing over ten thousand miles underwater and only breathing and staying uncrushed through the magic of a priorly-unknown eternal over-god.

"Ah. Yes. Maris." As always, his brain was taking unsteady clicks to turn on all of the switches. "Yes, the quest. Let's get started on that." He paused, looking around the dark abyss surrounding them. "Um... where are we starting?"

Ah, sorry. Just say Corona sent you.

He glanced off into the darkness, aware of Sunrise beginning to freak out and pressing into his side, the light from their shared teleport fading away.

"Um... Corona sent me?"

The surrounding area suddenly lit up in pale blue light, in spaced out watery orbs floating along the now-visible rock face. The sand underneath was still settling from the newly-arrived beings, and bubbles rose from those beings... gills?

"Wooo... that's weird." Obsidian played with the large flaps of skin now slightly raised from his neck. "I was in no way expecting that."

Sunrise was in the same state of shock, but over the little orbs of light. She had managed to remove one from the wall, and was passing it from hand to hand to figure out what type of magic it was made of.

The water stirred, and a massive head emerged from the darkness at the end of the lights. As little as either knew about the Firstborn, this was not one of them.

This was a massive underbite, lined with narrow, long fangs arcing back over the flattened nose and avoiding the eyes sitting liquidly on the sides of the flabby jaw. This was a set of bladed fins flickering in and out of the darkness as the thing bearing them waited. This was so titanic it could barely fit in the chasm. This was massive enough to hold all of Ponyville in it's mouth alone. This was a monster.

"Sunrise, get away."

She didn't move, simply stared at the monstrous enemy. Her grip tightened around the ball of light in her palm.

Obsidian looked up, seeing the slight movement. His voice changed from a warning to a command. "Sunrise, get away."

She kicked away from the wall, opening her wings to propel through the water. The fish-thing jerked back at the sudden movement before charging. Sunrise spun, throwing the orb at the peak of her speed before flapping backwards and out of the way. The ball of magic exploded on the fish's face, sending what looked like lightning and acid spraying into it's eyes and mouth.

Blinded, the monster kept charging, missing Obsidian by hairs and plowing into the darkness on the other side. A silence of both sound and movement following, stilling eerily.

"O-Obsidian?" Sunrise whispered, lost without her ball of light.

"I'm fine. Can you see? Can you get back into the light?"

"Maybe... I can see you a bit..."

A steady thrum began pulsing through the water. An odd tingling feeling not unlike Kha's control began to creep over Obsidian's skin. "It's sensing us! We won't be able to hide!"

Sunrise came plowing out of the darkness, grabbing more of the little orbs along the way. Obsidian kickstarted into action, doing the same. When the fish returned, blood drifting from it's face in a dim red fog, it was met with more of the offensive magic, scoring hits along it's face and it' blubbery, slimy flank. Sunrise even managed to blow a hole through one of it's fins.

There was a downside to this that neither of them rationalized. It was getting darker.

Sunrise launched the last orb she was carring, and although it managed to explode directly on top of the creature's eye, the light went comletely out, plunging them all into the darkness the fish could easily navigate.

"Sunrise!" Obsidian called out, hoping she would be able to find him. Within moments, she had pressed up against his side, chin on his shoulder, gills moving eerily against his shoulder.

"I'm scared."

"You aren't going to go all helpless on me, are you?"

"No."

Kha, you have to find some way to get us to Maris.

Get eaten.

"What?!?"

"Huh?"

Are you crazy?!?!

You dying is not something I'd hope for. You have to trust me.

"Sunrise, can you trust me?"

"Yes. Why?"

He grabbed her shoulders and held her close, flapping his wings to float up to the middle of the now-dark chasm. Still keeping her still, the sensing pulse resumed.

"What are you doing? Obsidian, it's going to kill us!"

As the bulk of the monster fish surged forward, Obsidian turned Sunrise and kissed her again, and they stayed together until the gaping, fanged jaws of the fish closed over them.

Tigerjay landed in front of the group, nodding for them to find a place to rest. Slowly, the herd seemed to glide across the ground, vanishing in shadows and leaving hoofprints that only dented the thick grass. Tigerjay took a head count before flying ahead to scout a trail. After leaving the tired group behind, a watchful side of Tigerjay began to emerge as he slipped intp his primal instincts, dropping to the ground and weaving silently, paws quiet and and talons barely brushing the ground.

There was something eerie about the nightly silence in the Deep Everfree, and it turned into a sense of home and belonging once one could meet that level of quiet. Any sudden noises were easily locatable.

Which is why the yell of "Hi there!" nearly killed Tigerjay.

He lifted himself into a normal standing position and glared at the pink pony that had just appeared. She was grinning widely, which was unnerving, and her mane and tail looked like they would eat any nearby brush. From his angle, her cutie mark seemed to be... balloons?

"Um... hi?"

"It's been forever since I was in Ponyville last, and I haven't seen you before, which means you're new, so I have to throw you a party-" She cut herself off, and her rapid speech slowed. "I guess it's me who's new. You guys will be the ones throwing the party..."

"Slow down." Tigerjay interrupted, sitting down. "I have no idea who you are... or how you managed to sneak up on me."

"Oh, I only snuck up on you because of that tree." She shot a hoof out sideways, into the forest, and continued talking before Tigerjay could question her further. "And I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"Pinkie... Pie? The Element of Laughter? And formerly best partier in Ponyville?"

"Yep, that's me! I'll have you know that I perfected the piñata while I was gone! How cool is that? Not as cool as glaciers or dry ice, but pretty cool."

"What are you talking about?"

"Where's Dashie? She around at all? Or is she in the Wonderbolts?"

Tigerjay actually understood this, and remembered the rumors circulating Ponyville until Twilight set them all straight. "Rainbow Dash... she died a long time ago. She was practicing a new trick, and... and she went out of control and crashed in Sweet Apple Acres..." He didn't mention the last part of Twilight's angry explaination, before she had burst into tears; ...and there wasn't enough of her left to bury...

"Can I see... the grave?"

Tigerjay looked up from his claws, and realized that, not only had the pony's pink coat gone dull, but her tangled mane had gone flat and perfectly straight. "It burned down... there's nothing left..."

Of course there's nothing left of the graveyard... there's nothing left at all...

"How do you burn down a graveyard?" She sighed. "I guess my Pinkie Sense was right again."

"Hm?"

"I've had a numb hoof for a few months. It meant something was going to attack Ponyville."

"And you didn't tell anyone?!"

She stood up, looming surprisingly taller than he thought. "I loved Ponyville with all my heart, all my soul. When I left, I kept it a pretty little pastel paradise in my head, because it was all that kept me sane for the last one hundred years! Do you even begin to understand how much it meant to me that my home was still happy when I wasn't? Do you?"

Tigerjay flinched at her words. "I bet Twilight wants to see you." He growled. "And Rarity and Applejack."

"I came here for only one thing, Tigerjay." Dipping her head quickly, she touched her chin to his forehead, and a flash of rose light echoed through the trees.

When the spots faded from Tigerjay's eyes, he realized the pony was gone. Just like before, he had heard and seen nothing. And, before contemplating that, he saw something red in the bottom of his vision, and looked down.

He was BRIGHT RED. Fire red. Cherry red. Blood red, even. A happier ideal came to mind. Icing red. He was icing red.

And for some indescriable, cosmically flawed reason, he was happy about it.