The Lockseed's curse

by Equestriasservant

Chapter 19: Painful past. Part One

Twilight stared in shock as she looked upon the scene she had come across. The chamber that she had walked into, was almost like Celestia's throne room. It was a large and very long chamber, with large empty arches for stained glass windows. Though the most of the ceiling seemed to have fallen in as large grayish lumps of stone littered the ground, with bright sunlight filtering through the gigantic holes in the arcing ceiling. With a start, Twilight recognized the room. It was the same ruined castle that she and the other elements of harmony had defeated Nightmare Moon. The old Castle of the Royal Pony sisters. Though the scene that she was watching quickly drove her surprise from her. Dark red stains were peppered all over the wreckage. Small fires were burning everywhere. Discord lay upon the ground in front of Twilight. Twilight could tell immediately that something was wrong. The mismatched creature was spread out across the ground, his long, serpentine body barely moving. Judging from his labored breathing, blackened eyes and twisted lion paw, Twilight guessed that Discord was badly hurt. She hesitated slightly, torn between a desire to help and the fact that it was Discord in front of her. Twilight shook her. Whatever he had done in the past, Discord was still a creature in need and Twilight couldn't bring herself to ignore his pain. The Unicorn rushed over, attempting to scan the creatures body for wounds. One of Discord's eyes open. His taloned hand rose, shaking fiercely. Now she was closer to him, Twilight saw that Discord was in rough shape than she thought. His deer horn had been snapped off at the base and his overlarge fang was stained red. Discord coughed as he struggled to breathe. Twilight recoiled in disgust as red drips of blood sprayed out of Discords mouth onto her face.

"T....Twilight...." Discord moaned as he struggled to sit up. But this seemed to take up the last of the chaos spirits energy. Discord slumped to the floor, his eyes shut. With some relief, Twilight could see that he was still breathing. She looked around apprehensively for whatever had done this to the mis-matched creature. She gasped as something stumbled out from behind the fallen stones. Jay. He was covered in blood. It dripped through the torn shirt he was wearing and stained the ground, mixing with the dust to create an ugly brown paste. Despite the amount of blood he was covered in, Twilight could see that Jays, skin, his hair and even his eyes had turned a sickly grey. The human was panting heavily and he slouched to one side as though his shoulder carried a great burden. Jay was staggering towards the prone body of Discord, a look of murder, etched across his face. His grayed lips had parted into a snarl, showing his teeth. His right arm didn't seem to want to work, as it hung limply by Jay's side. Twilight, feeling far more terrified than she ever had in her life, moved around Discord to stand in front of Jay, her body providing small shield. The Unicorn was shaking madly. Jay stopped. He took one look at Twilight, then fell to the floor. Twilight gasped as Jay curled into a ball, pulling his legs up against his blood soaked chest and began to sob. Twilight rushed to Jays side, hearing her own terrified voice echoing in her head.

"No,no,no...Please not him, not now!" She rushed to Jay who was staring at her through his tear filled eyes, the tears spilling across his face, mingling with the blood he was covered in. "Jay...?" Twilight gasped, falling to the floor beside him. No spell came to her. She didn't know a healing spell powerful enough to help any wounds of this size. She too began to sob, her tears falling past her nose. The stink of blood was everywhere. It filled her nostrils, making her feel so sick that she might throw up. She closed her eyes, pushing her snout against Jay's cheek. The blood he was covered in smeared her fur but she didn't care. A firm pressure against her cheek made her halt her crying. Opening her eyes she saw Jay had rolled over onto his side and had placed his bloodied hand on her cheek. His eyes had reverted to their pale green. His hair, underneath the blood was changing back to his usual black. He was smiling weakly. "J-Jay!? You're alive?" Twilight stammered fighting the urge to jump onto him. Jay nodded, slowly pushing himself up against one of the fallen ceiling stones. Twilight followed him slowly, her legs shaking.

"You....came?" Jay asked, pulling at the shirt. His fingers slipped weakly against the blood-soaked buttons. Getting the idea, Twilight cast her magic. The buttons popped off and the shirt fell open, Jays skin, while stained dark red, was unharmed. "Don't look...too upset Twilight..." Jay gasped, his head lolling towards her. "The wounds have healed." Twilight stared. Jay was right. As she watched the human pulling off his shirt, she saw that not one inch of his skin was broken. Jay smiled weakly at Twilight, his breath coming out in soft, sharp gasps. "Twilight....It was me!" Jay gasped. Twilight stared at him. Then it clicked. She looked back to Discords motionless form, then back to Jay. "I don't know...how it happened..." Jay groaned, sliding down the wall. "He was taunting me...talking about how you were just using me...Since you and shadow were dating..." Twilight clapped her hooves to her mouth. "It just made me so angry, I....I struck out, then the next thing I know...I'm covered in blood, out of breath." Jay had finally fallen back onto his side. He was staring at Twilight, his eyes half closed. Twilight felt a terrible pain in her chest. Tears blurred her vision as she slowly made her way over to Jay. Her shaking legs finally failed her and she collapsed next to him. Jay's eyes widened slightly as the Unicorn buried her face into his chest sobbing. "Please Twilight..." Jay groaned, gently pushing her back. "Tell me the truth...While you patch me up.

---

Twilight smiled widely as she walked out of the door. The filly looked around cheerfully for her parents. The pair were running late. The filly disliked it when her parents were late, though she was hoping that her brother had made time to come and meet her. Maybe he'd bring Cadence, her foal sitter with him. The Unicorn had obviously carried a strong flame for the young Alicorn. It was so obvious that even a filly as young as Twilight could see it. Her amusing thoughts were interrupted as a black furred Unicorn ran across her path. POW! The pair collided with a cry of pain. Both stumbled to the ground. Twilight, rubbing her head and trying hard not to cry from the amount of pain that was coming from the bump, looked up at the other Unicorn.

"Why'd you do tha..." Twilight stammered. Her voice tailed away. The young stallion was sitting there, rubbing his head but looking entirely unconcerned. He had glossy black fur and a dark red mane. She found herself blushing though she didn't know why. The other Unicorn stood up and walked over to her. He held out a hoof with a small smile. Twilight stared at the other hoof, feeling as though she'd been frozen. She couldn't understand why, but the moment she had clapped eyes on the other Unicorn, she seemed to have forgotten how to speak, how to move, even how to recognize the object that was in front of her. After a few seconds, Twilight remembered that the thing that the other Unicorn was holding out to her, was a hoof. With another small jolt, Twilight remembered that she had just collided with the other Unicorn and that the Unicorn was being the nice one and she was just sitting there with her mouth, hanging slightly open. "S-Sorry!" She stammered hurriedly, taking the still outstretched hoof and scrambling to her feet. She smiled at the Unicorn, attempting to cover her mistake by giving a small smile. "Sorry." She repeated again nervously.

"M'sorry too." The Unicorn said casually to Twilight. He had a nice voice, deeper than the usual filly or colt at the magic kindergarten. Twilight took the hoof and stood up. The pair stood awkwardly for a few seconds, just staring at each other. Then a voice called out. The other Unicorn looked round. A pair of ponies stood by the edge of the school. A stallion and a mare. "Bye then." The Unicorn called to Twilight. He turned and began to run over to the pair. Then, he stopped suddenly and ran back. "I'm Shadow." He said quickly, then turned and ran back. Twilight watched him go, a quizzical look on her face. She couldn't remember if she'd seen that Unicorn before. She'd been at magic Kindergarten for a few weeks and she hadn't seen that colt anywhere. Though, if any-pony who knew Twilight was brutally honest, Twilight had shown a far stronger talent for magic, not making friends. She was what her parents called: A child Prodigy. Though Twilight, being as young as she was, didn't have any idea what this might mean. Maybe he was new. Twilight shook her head as a loud voice called out to her. She turned and with a happy cry, saw her brother standing just down the road. The filly charged down the road, determined to give him the tightest hug possible, all thoughts of the male Unicorn forgotten. The excited filly didn't even see the fully grown, cloaked pony that had been watching her from behind the kindergarten building. A pair of dark red eyes watched Twilight run over and jump at her brother, then flickered over to the the black furred Unicorn. The cloaked pony watched for a moment, then retreated back, vanishing as though nothing had been there at all.

---

Obsidian smiled slightly as he wandered along the winding stone path. His hooves clopping along. His cloak flapped around him in the dry, hot wind that howled through the dank chamber. An orange glow shone from underneath the stone path, though it was so weak that it barely illuminated the darkness. Tartarus was still as dank and shadowy as ever. If any other pony had come here, they would have had to have turned back as the shadows were so thick. But Obsidian continued forward, his eyes still as keen as ever. He smiled as he arrived at the flat plateau. A large cage was perched in front of him. He smiled as he made his way over the cage. The bars were rusted a dull brown. Obsidian was sure, in their pitiful condition that he could snap those bars of with one pull of his mouth. He leaned in, narrowing his eyes. There was a figure, lying on the floor of the cage. Huddled in the corner, it twitched and shuffled, sleepy grunts emanating from it every once-in-a-while. Obsidian's horn began to glow slightly. The figure in the cage stirred. As Obsidian had known he would.

"Enjoying Life?" He asked softly. The figure shuffled over to the bars. A pair of clawed red hands, feeble and bony, gripped the bars. Obsidian smiled wider. "Want me to let you out?" Obsidian chuckled turning away. A soft growl emanated from behind him. Obsidian chuckled lightly. "Okay, Okay. If you insist." He turned back to the cage. Obsidian smiled. "It has been to long...Tirek."

Comments

[HopeForTheFew]

The only problem I see about this chapter is that, in the beginning it sais that twilight noticed Discords blackened eyes and twisted lion paw. And then when she nears Discord she can see that his horn was snapped off. How does one not notice a snapped off horn the size of Discords first and instead notices a small twisted paw? And your grammar still needs to get better.

But other then that, this story still holds my attention and I will continue to read it. And you are definitely getting better at your writing. Keep up the good work.