Autumn

by canonkiller

Coruscant

And the same thought found itself again in Obsidian's mind.

It was oddly beautiful.

And it was in the same kind of graceful, desolate destruction that he found this treasured thought. It was on this that he found he had stopped swimming, stopped feeling altogether. And he should have been scared. He had teleported everyone back to Ponyville. They would be safe there. Even Maris's ship had not blocked the full extent of a power beyind celestial in teleporting the kidnapper as well.

And the explosion had happened.

The very molecules of Obsidian's body were moving apart from the blast. The water was filled with a red smoke, and when he looked down, it was not coming from anywhere but his entire surface, leaking through scales and through fur and feathers, and dark and red and draining.

But it was oddly beautiful.

He could feel Kha drawing on the power, absorbing it in his core, simply leaching everything in the water back towards Obsidian, keeping his blood in an almost perfect sphere around him.

He couldn't see. The fog was thick, almost more of the blood than water, burning at his skin and seeping back through his pores.

And somewhere, the first time he had ever seen Kha, a set of eyes opened, black on white, large and dark and deep, and it was all still, everywhere, for a few moments.

And then that stillness broke, and in a sudden rush of what seemed to be glass, everything that had once been was reset, falling back into place. Molecules snapped elastically back in place, blood, in streams as thin and dark as black lightning, surged back into his body, the static hum in the air vanished, and the gills along his neck reopened, thin gills extending from the slits and spreading out to collect more oxygen.

For another moment, Obsidian saw Kha, eyes closing and falling sideways, collapsing with exhaustion on some mental plane, and then he opened his eyes again.

It was still beautiful.

And without Kha's magic reserves, Obsidian snapped his claws, and vanished.

"Is he...?" Sunrise whispered, voice seemingly thunderous in the stunned silence.

"There isss virtually no way he could have ssssurvived a blasssst of that magnitude." The snake replied. "Wassss he really Kha?"

"I still am."

All around turned to look behind Maris, including Maris himssssself, trying to see. And there was Obsidian, covered in blood, still dripping with water, but standing, and very much alive.

"I couldn't have left you guys alone, could I?"

Maris coughed nervously. "Ssssssso... about me not believing you?"

"Whatever." Obsidian went to wave dismissivly, but winced. "It's in the past now."

"So? Should we save him some time and go to him?"

"Nah, he'll come soon enough." Altitudo replied, rolling onto her back. "There's no reason for us to go anywhere."

"I wish I was that strong." Fulmen growled, pricking her claws on the cloud above. "That much power..."

"I have that much power already, sister." Faenum smirked. "I'm stronger than any of you."

"No, we can stop this without him. I... we... should have all the fame." Something added, casting a sideways glance at nothing, who was magic-bound.

<Can't we just kill them all already? Those pitiful Elements make me so->

"Mad?" Corona finished. "Exactly! Don't you realize that we could all fix this? If we go, we'll be back to normal! To... to the way things used to be. Don't any of you want that? When we were all willing to adventure, equal in power, equal in obscurity, and calm? I'm not greedy anymore. Maris isn't... well, you know... anymore. Why can't you let yourselves be changed?" The powerful Alicorn was almost crying. "Why can't you do this?" He paused another plan forming.

This was a semi-complicated spell. Each listener heard something differently. Anyone else would have heard Corona's original words of 'get your butts in gear'.

Altitudo: Once you go, you'll never have to go anywhere again.

Fulmen: You'll have all the power you could want once you're cured.

Faenum: Go, and you'll be the only one. Think about how much you could brag about being so special!

Something: Imagine how famous you'll be once you're the only to be cured!

Nothing: It'll only make them angry if you go. What fights you could have!

And all the recievers of the spell immediantly made up some excuse for having to leave and teleported away.

Corona pumped a hoof in the air. "Yes!"

"Hey Sunrise, don't hug so tight."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean-" He felt her stiffen in hs arms, her head jerking on his shoulder.

"What? Were you expecting me to kiss you? That can be arranged." When she didn't respond, he poked her shoulder. "You okay?"

"Obsidian... look behind you."

He twisted his neck - quite painfully - to see what she was so scared by. His initial response was the same as Sunrise's. In all honesty, they were surrounded by carnivores in the middle of the Everfree. Who wouldn't be scared?

Looking back to make sure Maris was close enough to attack if nessecary, and knowing Kha was still exhausted, Obsidian unhooked Sunrise's claws from his shoulder and limped up.

One dragon, at least triple his size, with an even greater - folded - wingspan, deep blue scales that seemed to be glittering, and black eyes. Two elegant crests ran down her spine from the back of her head to the tip of her tail, where they fanned out majestically. She was looking off into the trees, tapping a claw in boredom.

One tiger, about his size, with black claw-tipped bat wings and oversized talons and fangs. She seemed to be sizing him up as well.

One wolf, with golden fur and bird's wings - each feather green-tipped, was standing tall, chin up and chest pushed out, tail high in pride. For some obscene reason, Obsidian thought she seemed familiar.

One Alicorn, silver fur and golden mane, who Obsidian knew was the embodiment of something.

Beside her, seemingly invisibly restrianed, nothing was glaring at them through tiny bulbs of light, metallic mass quivering in anger. Why? Who knows.

"Uh... hi?"

Corona popped into existence beside Obsidian. His voice little more than a whisper, he explained. "The Elements are faster than you. I brought the rest of us so you could finish this up quickly.

"Thanks, but-" Something stirred in his mind with a yawn. "-thanks."

Ugh. Maybe I shouldn't have used that much energy.

Hate to shove this on you right now, but is there any way you could look around right now?

There was a few seconds of silence. "What's going on with your eye, it's-"

Corona went quiet as the individually moving object fixed on him, focusing once before moving back to it's original position.

Well, this isn't what I was planning on, but whatever.

With no further words, once again something changed. The air itself seemed lighter all of a sudden, and the Cacophonic creatures in front of them seemed brighter, stronger... clearer.

And strangely, nothing still looked like he wanted to rip the heads off of all present.

Rainbow Dark suddenly stopped. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot."

Scootaloo, who was hovering nearby looked up, before remembering that, although Dark's voice was almost the same as Dash's, that her idol was still dead. "Hm?"

"Get over here, kid."

"I am older than you, you know."

"Look, I know I haven't been much of a replacement for my mom. You're a better flier than me anyway. I want you to know that there was something she told me to do even as she was dying." The blue Pegasus tilted her head forward, black mane with a few genetic red streaks brushing Scootaloo's own mane. "She told me... to make you... to make you know... that she loved you like a daughter... and to give you... the most precious gift of all." Dark was trying so hard to keep speaking, tears running down her face and clumping in her throat. "She wanted you to have... Loyalty."

Their foreheads touched. A dazzling rainbow light sparked around, a loud noise following. A Rainboom.

Scootaloo blinked away the last spots from her eyes and turned to look at her back, for any visible changes. And what she saw made her jaw drop.

Her tail... her mane...

They were rainbow.

"HAHAHA! YES!" She flew a happy loop before squeezing Dark in a tight hug. "This is the best gift ever."

Now nothing could think straight.

And in some horrible twist of fate, this clearing of his once-violent mind would ultimately destroy him.

"The final... lock..." Discord whispered. "I can't believe it."

The entire door was turning into small panels rearranging and flipping to different colors. Each color had once been a regular section of wall, now emerging as a cube and twisting, twirling, changing. Where a solid set of six basic colors had rested, there was living mechanics.

There was a quick set of clicks, and the panels settled again. It was a faintly pixelated mural of six creatures, each different.

A red Griffon, with the necklace of Laughter.

An orange Earth Pony, with the necklace of Honesty.

A yellow-pink Zebra with the necklace of Kindness.

A white Unicorn with the necklace of Generosity.

An orange Pegasus with the necklace of Loyalty.

A pink dragoness with the crown of Magic.

Before Discord's stunned eyes, the panels began moving in snyc, the images coming to life, flying and running, playing and silently laughing, the background constantly changing - from Ponyville, to charred wrekage, to the Dome, to the Everfree, to Canterlot... and yet, no matter the situation, they were still smiling, confident in their seemingly helpless lives. And then, slowly, panel by panel, another creature emerged, a draconequus, with a glorious glow emenating from him in thin streaks of white, lancing through the background, until there was nothing but the glorious whiteness. And then, around his neck, a black pendant began to form, an opal gemstone in the shape of a puzzle piece shining and it's spectric surface ever-changing.

And then the pictures stilled, before the door spilt in two and slid away into the wall.

The room inside was small, but the same type of tiles slid along the wall, an endless, happy circle, blocked only by a waist-height diamond pedestal. On the platform surface there were six necklaces, and one crown. Slightly fearing for his mortal flesh, Discord touched the surface of one of the gemstones. Nothing happened.

"Have I changed that much?" He whispered, wiping away the smudge he had made with the back of his paw. Gathering the Elements in his magic, he sighed. He looked at the pictures, saw something he hadn't noticed before. On the tiny, distant balcony of Canterlot Castle, he could see the two princesses. And himself. He was beside Celestia, her head on his shoulder, his arm around hers.

"I miss you, Tia. I really do. I'm sorry. For... for everything."

And he snapped his fingers, and was gone.

Gone home.