Autumn

by canonkiller

Safe and Sound

There was a sudden epiphany of silence in all of the worlds, shared over millions of individual moments and millions of sentenient beings. And it was broken in one place, in a catastrophic explosion that spun the cloudy mist into itself and released the bound minds of thousands of creatures, all turning their eyes to the sky in search of some revelation. And there was one.

NO!

Obsidian's voice rang loud and clear over all of Equestria and the surrounding lands.

It's still mine! You're... you're all mine!

"Sir...?"

"Snkt - Celestia! Shut the hell up... wait, when did you get a mouth?!"

The Alicorn in question lifted her sparking horn. "When I decided that you've gone too far."

"Hey, stick to the plan!" Sky chided, trotting out from behind her thorned tail. "Ah, Obsidian, long time no see! You've certianly changed."

"Who the heck are you?"

The wingless Pegasus stepped back, gasping. "You don't remember me?! Well... I guess I do look a little different. Hooves. Oh, and fur. Okay, a lot different." With a quick run-start, Sky Dancer jumped up into Obsidian's hammock, silently hoping his hooves were still cloud-bearing. They were. "Three guesses."

"Get away from me."

"Uh, I can't say that's my name."

A spark lit up in Obsidian's dark eyes. "A clue?"

"We spent a lot of time together...?"

"Uh... Sunrise in a detailed costume?"

"Wrong again. Do I look like a dragon to you? Although, I am quite sexy. So is she."

Celestia facehoofed in the background.

"KHA!? What the hay are you doing here?!"

"I prefer Sky to Kha. Just saying."

"But... you died."

Sky leaned up against Obsidian's pale side, unknowingly opening fresh wounds in the draconequus's heart. "Just left for a little while. Had to find myself."

"Oh my god." Obsidian breathed, falling back on his haunches. "What... what have I done?" His black eyes surveyed the white ground, spotted with an occansional patch of unwavering green. The sky, clear of fog, spun in a cosmic rainbow.

Sky smiled, trotting in place. "I can fix this, no problem."

"No..." The draconequus was still fixated on the sky. "I could fix the ground... in seconds... but I can't fix..." He lifted one talon, his black pupils shrinking to reveal wide blue irises. "...I can't fix that."

The dead shells of the sun and the moon plummeted to the earth that used to hold the powers controlling them.

The Mist Lord jumped to the ground, spires of stone erupting from the ground around the small group, small enough to see through but thick and interwoven enough to block shrapnel.

"Uh, hey, 'Sid..."

"What?!"

Sky's eyes traveled past the draconequus, out into the glaringly bright world. "Sunrise and Discord are out there."

Obsidian's eyes narrowed and he shot out of the top of the spires, sealing the top and walls as he darted off into pure, untamed power.

"There's no shelter!" Sunrise cried, folding her wings from her high-speed charge. One claw wrapped protectively over her belly. "We can't get away."

"I know Obsidian!" Discord snarled. "There is no way he would let an entire world die. No way in hell."

There was a moment of silence between the two as Discord looked up at the rapidly approaching ball of spacial fire.

"No way in hell." He repeated, planting his feet on the rapidly-drying ground. "He's not leaving us."

The Shard was quick. From the moment the sun began plummeting, it had torn itself away from the weakened magic binds and clung on until the right moment.

With the force of shadows, it lauched away, an invisible black plume, slicing through the atmosphere in silent tears, and meeting it's target.

Obsidian's visoin jarred as something hit the back of his head with a painless tingling sensation. His wings went limp, vision blurry, and began to spiral towards the ground. With what little power he had left in control, he reached down into his grandmother's soul, and pulled on her power, turning the surface of a dying planet into a series of jagged, wide chasms. In less than a minute, he sealed the wounds shut, trapping whoever had been lucky enough to fall in underground. Dark, cool, unaffected underground.

He knew Kha, Celestia and a few of his minions had surely made it, along with his father and wife. The rest was up to luck.

And his entire nervous system failed as he rolled onto his back, the silence behind his faltered heartbeat rang in his ears as the last few moments of feeling ravaged his body with an intense, burning heat and the unbearable light of the sun itself.

The surface of the planet exploded in light and heat, plumes of fire tunneling out into exposed space, atmosphere blown to bits. The moon hit a few seconds later, following the sun, and coated the hellish suface in a peaceful, cold layer of dust.

And the omniverse was once again silent.