The Lockseed's curse

by Equestriasservant

Welcome to ponyville!

"I don't like being trussed up like a pig and being forced to sit in a cage!" Jay growled from his position in the small cage in the middle of the train compartment. The seven ponies seated around the tied up human in the train compartment, all gave a great sigh of annoyance. After Celestia had decided Jay's fate and Rainbow, Jay and Shadow had recovered from their wounds, She had arranged for Jay along with the seven ponies to take a train ride back to Ponyville. Though as part of the joke she was obviously playing on the human, she had arranged for the large cage and chains to be placed in their train car. Jay had been grumbling ever since he had been pushed into the cage with spears at his back. Despite Celestia's assurances that the train ride would not take to long, the captive human had still decided that complaining as loudly as possible for the best part of three hours was the best way to let out his anger. Pinkie Pie jumped down from her seat and sat on the floor next to the cage with a big smile on her face. The Pink party pony had been ecstatic to learn that Jay was to be shipped off to Ponyville with them. She fixed him with the wide grin, her bright blue eyes burning with happiness.

"Aw c'mon Jay-Jay." She said happily. The human looked round at her, his face freezing with an expression of utmost disbelief. The other Ponies in the room looked at each other before Rainbow began to snicker. The other ponies in the train compartment were all trying to hide their laughter at Pinkie's nickname for the captive. "We'll be there soon, then we can have your welcome to Ponyville Party!" She sat there, staring at Jay as though this was the greatest news in the world. The human was still staring at her with the same disbelieving expression on his face. The human looked around at the assembled ponies, who, apart from the still laughing Rainbow Dash, had managed to suppress their laughter. He frowned at the still laughing Rainbow for a second before settling himself back into the kneeling position, a feat quite difficult to do with ones arms bound behind their back with rope and lowered his head. Pinkie stuck out her bottom lip. "What? You don't like Parties?" she demanded. Jay didn't deign to respond. Pinkie returned to her seat next to Rainbow with an albeit slightly disappointed look on her face. Rainbow put her foreleg around the party pony.

"Don't you worry Pinkie. We'll make sure he has some FUN." She grinned down at the motionless human, her face split into an evil grin. Despite the fact that Celestia had told them not to fight the human, Rainbow was still on the lookout for, what she called cheating in their fight. "Anyways," Rainbow said still gazing down at the human. "Why'd you need that "Lockseed" for a fight anyway? Can't fight for yourself?" Jay looked up at her with a small smile. Rainbow stared back, obviously confused about the smile the human was giving her. The rest of the group were obviously just as confused as she was. AppleJack was watching the human closely. Twilight was making notes on the humans behavior, as Celestia had instructed, Fluttershy was watching Rarity, who had disappeared behind a large drawing pad whilst Shadow was smiling at Rainbow, though he still looked slightly shifty and was avoiding looking at the human.

"Rainbow...." He said softly, but his small attempt at a conversation starter was drowned out as Jay chose that moment to reply and Shadows voice drained back into silence.

"Rainbow, I couldn't beat you in a fight without my lockseed, judging by how fast you were. Besides," Jay continued, as Rainbow and AppleJack exchanged incredulous looks. "Judging by the dent you put into my armor during the fight, i got off lucky." Rainbow stared bemusedly at the human as he lowered his head and closed his eyes again. The Rainbow maned Pegasus jumped down and tapped her hoof on one of the bars of the cage.

"Listen Bub, flattering me won't help you!" the Pegasus said angrily. AppleJack jumped down and pulled Rainbow away gently from the cage. The farm pony was smiling slightly but her eyes stayed fixed on the captive human from under her patched stetson. The Orange farm pony had been assured by Celestia that without his driver or lockseed, (as Celestia had told Jay that she would not be giving him back either object as she wasn't sure that the human was to be trusted with them), Jay wouldn't be to much trouble and Jay, much to his obvious embarrassment had agreed that without the devices, under the watchful eyes of several ponies, he was pretty much a captive guest.

"Listen, Sugar cube," Applejack said, "I don' like this as much as you but he is tellin' the truth. I can tell ya that at least." The Human looked back up at the two ponies in front of his cage. He had tilted his head to the side in confusion. He glanced at twilight before asking:

"How do you know i'm not lying um....AppleJack was it?" The Farm pony turned her head to look at Jay with a surprised look. The curious question that Jay had asked seemed to have given her some sort of personal assurance. She nodded with a soft smile at the human, before both ponies returned to their seats. Fluttershy looked out of the window and her face, which had been sporting a slightly worried look throughout the train journey melted into a grin of happiness.

"S-S-Sorry girls and...." she looked down at the human, gave a small squeak before looking back at the assembled ponies who were all looking at her. "I t-t-think that w-w-we're here." The rest of the group, all except Jay, who couldn't turn round due to the chains holding him, turned to look out the window. As soon as the clouds of thick smoke that the train had been making since starting out from the Canterlot station, now cleared. A small collection of thatched roofs had come into view, along with what appeared to be a large spire from a large circular shaped building in the center of the town. Several ponies of multiple colors were milling about the town. The rest of the group gave a great cheer. Though their celebration was cut short as Jay spoke up.

"I hate to interrupt the festivities but....what's going to happen to me now we're here?" The ponies looked around at one another, before looking at Jay with seven identical, evil smiles on their faces. Jay stared at them, his eyebrows raised and his green eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Jay groaned. The seven evil smiles didn't waver. Jay groaned again, shrugging his shoulders resignedly. "Fine....who's got the key?"

---

A few minutes later, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Shadow had stepped out out of the train carriage and onto the platform, alongside several other ponies. Twilight looked about as her friends assembled around her. They didn't have to wait too long though as a small purple scaled, green spined reptilian creature appeared through the smoke, tripping over the large leather bound book under one of its arms. It noticed them and its snout turned into a wide smile. Its eyes widened with glee. Holding the massive book over its head, the reptile-like creature run at full pelt towards Twilight and wrapped its small scaly arms around her front.

"Twilight!" Spike the dragon cried with glee, smiling up at the violet Unicorn he was hugging. "Your back!" Spike, though a dragon, was still a baby. He had been with Twilight for years, ever since Twilight had started studying under Celestia and even longer then that. He had evidently just come from the library where both he and Twilight usually lived, judging by the heavy book he had put down. Twilight smiled as she managed to pull Spike off her front and smiled down at her assistant.

"It's good to see you Spike." She said happily as the others all made noises of greeting. Rarity, who Spike had long nursed a soft crush, picked Spike up with her front hooves and hugged him tightly, squealing in delight. Spike blushed as the alabaster Unicorn hugged him ever tighter. When Spike's feet finally made contact with the ground, he smiled up at Shadow confusedly, but Twilight smiled re-assuredly at him, "This is Shadow, Spike, he's an old friend. We met during the Summer Sun Celebration. Do you remember?" Spike thought for a moment but nodded as a look of realization stole over his face. He held out a clawed hand and Shadow took it with his hoof and they shook. At that moment, a loud rather annoyed voice yelled out.

"ARE THE CHAINS REALLY NECESSARY?!" Jay had appeared out of the smoke from the back of the train. What was causing the humans irritation was as painfully obvious as the four royal guards, clad in golden armor standing around him. His arms were bound behind his back with chains, as well as his ankles being tightly manacled. This was attracting a large amount of attention as several ponies milling around the station were staring at the human. Spike was staring just as much as any-pony. Jay and his guards stopped beside the group. Jay looked down at Spike, raised his eyebrows before nodding at Spike. "I'd shake your hand...er....claw...." Jay said shrugging his shoulders so that the chains rattled lightly. "But as you can see, I'm kinda tied up." Spike nodded, looking at Twilight for assistance. She smiled, ignoring the snickering coming from both Rainbow and Pinkie.

"This is Jay, Spike." Twilight said lightly by way of explanation. Spike looked back at Jay, still looking slightly nervous. Then his face turned into a frown of anger. He pulled a small note from the inside of the large book he was carrying and handed it to Twilight who read through the letter. Her face darkened slightly as she looked up from the note, before crumpling it with her magic and tossing it into the nearby bin. "Yes Spike, I know he is the creature that attacked Celestia but we've been given a mission by the Princesses. Place nice for me....please?" Spike gave Jay another glare before nodding ever so slightly. The Group began to maneuver their way off the station platform and into the town. Jay did not find it enjoyable. Several ponies stopped to stare at the four golden armored guards along with their chained captive. Twilight and the other ponies in the group had to stifle giggles as a mint green Unicorn stopped dead, before jumping about a foot in the air and screamed as loud as possible. Jay frowned at the Unicorn before he noticed Fluttershy had slowed to walk beside him.

"Um....I w-w-wanted to say..." She stammered looking up at him with a slightly nervous smile. "W-w-welcome to Ponyville Jay!" Fluttershy tried to stammer something else but it ended in a small squeak. Her cheeks turned bright red and she looked away. Twilight and AppleJack grinned back at him as if to say, That's Fluttershy. Jay smiled, feeling a little better and resumed looking around. After a few seconds of walking, being stared at due to the human being led through the town, the group stopped at what appeared to be a large tree, with windows and a large door set into the wood. Tiling his head to look through one of the higher up windows, Jay could see what appeared to be a high bookshelf. "This i-i-i-is the library..." Fluttershy whispered gently. The yellow Pegasus had been standing close to Jay throughout the journey. Jay grinned down at her before looking at Twilight.

"So who lives here?" He asked. Twilight turned to face him with a smile. She took out a small key and inserted it into the lock. She opened it and looked over her shoulder at Jay with a look that suggested she was trying to say: Anything else? Spike snickered slightly as he made his way past the group into the large, hollow tree/library. Jay shrugged. "Okay that's that then. Anything else I need to know?" The group made their way into the tree-house. The guards looked to Twilight with important looking smirks.

"We'll be off then Miss Twilight, if you'll be alright with setting up his lodgings." Twilight nodded as the guards handed over the ends of the chain leashes that were attached to Jay's cuffs. She waited until the guards had left the tree-house before her horn glowed slightly brighter. The cuffs sprang open with a clank. Picking them up, she set them to one side. Jay stared at her, robbing his wrists. Twilight smiled as the group sat down in a circle and Spike entered the main room, carrying a large tray, laden with a pot of tea, several mugs and a small bowl of sugar-cubes. Both AppleJack and Rainbow stood up at once.

"Not for me thanks Spike." AppleJack said as both she and Rainbow Dash moved towards the door. "Me an' Rainbow have to go...We've got a challenge to attend to." She added as the rest of the group stared at them in confusion. "See's you later every-pony. Jay, I'll be see'in you tomorrow!" She tipped her Stetson giving Jay another evil grin and left with Rainbow Dash. Rarity nodded patted Twilight on the shoulder, gave Jay a contemptuous look before leaving as well, her drawing pad still held in her silvery magic. Both Fluttershy and Pinkie looked at one another also giving identical grins. Jay frowned at Twilight as he took a small mug that Spike had handed him. He decided to voice the question that he had been wanting to ask for a long while.

"Twilight, where am I staying?" Twilight smiled softly before handing, Pinkie and Fluttershy a mug of the steaming hot tea. She turned to look at Jay before opening a note pad she had produced from nowhere. A slightly manic look had come into her eyes and a pencil was hovering over the pad, held in the grip of her magenta magic.

"You're staying here of course!" she said happily. "I've wanted to ask you a few questions ever since Celestia asked me to let you stay! So..." Jay rolled his eyes with a sigh. He'd preferred the cage and chains to being here right now. As Twilight's blitz of questions continued and the remaining ponies watched him attempt to answer the probing inquiries, he wondered what sort of sense of humor that the Princesses must have, to place him in this torture.