Jahzara

By the kindness of her newest King, Jahzara had been graced with a second chance at redeeming herself to the World's Edge. It was only a few days ago that her world had been shattered, her sheltered mind thrown into a fit of anxiety and self-pressure to admit to strangers that she had problems that simply couldn't be fixed. There were certain matters of the mind, the sparks of electricity that race through the brain and travel in waves, that could never be avoided no matter how much the golden mare tried. There were many that knew of her hallucinations; specifically the purple pony that was now traveling with her to the Threshold. Yet there was only an inkling of others that knew of the terrifying monster that lurked in her mind, the draft stallion of smoke and mist that called for Jahzara when her depression threatened to rise, when the world of reality around her seemed too much to bare. It was her anxiety personified, every personal fear that she could ever imagine wrapped up into a massive beast that would swallow her whole into the darkest pits of her mind.

That is where she had been, lurking within the World's Edge as an empty vessel of a mare, her conscious long gone from her eyes to any that tried to speak to her. It didn't matter how much she cried and pleaded for the beast to set her free, Charles refused to release her until he deemed worthy. He cared not for how it affected her life, it mattered not to him that it would only make matters worse for her in the end. If anything, he welcomed the fragile state her mentality was left in when she was released from her mental prison. It made her all the more susceptible to capture once again, it made him stronger with each passing day as his voice rasped in the back of her mind, calling her, telling her all the fears she didn't want to admit to having and spinning lies about how everything would come unraveling in the end. Still now, as she trotted towards the Threshold, she could hear him.

It was all Jahzara could do to keep moving forward, holding on to the words of Tembovu as she sought out anyone that would be in need of a home, any being that she could offer a home to in the World's Edge. 'Jahzara, I am more than happy to help you fight Charles, if ever he threatens to take you again.' It was a burden that she had never asked her new King to bear, a fight that she doubted that he could even fight, yet it brought her reassurance. It was exactly what she needed to hear to soothe her just enough to calm her, just enough to shine a glimmer of hope that she stood a fighting chance. That glimmer of hope lingered in her eyes as a reminder that her fairy tale was not necessarily over. After all, what a boring story it would be to have a fairy tale without a villain, a tragedy to overcome, an unseen battle of epic proportions that raged in her mind...That glimmer reminded her to simply turn the page.

'Hey Jay, I think...I think I smell something...It's familiar...' The imagined voice of Jahzara's best friend pulled the golden mare away from the rasp of Charles, Lily's words a welcome change. The golden's nares flared at the suggestion of a recognizable scent, her heart faltering for a split second as she stopped dead in her tracks. The scent was absolutely familiar, though she never expected to come across it again. Lily stopped to look back at the Arabian cross, raising a brow with confusion as the golden girl flicked her ears back into her mane. 'Jay? What is it? What's got you so-' The pony cut off her own words as she made the connection, her fuzzy mane bobbing while she jerked her head to the direction of the scent. 'It can't be...Can it?' Jahzara merely shook her head slightly, unsure on whether or not she should continue forward. "I don't know...I thought..."

A knowing nod from the figment of her imagination saved Jahzara from uttering the words she feared to say, the worry that she never wanted to admit, the fear that had nearly crippled her after she awoke from one of her blackouts. Alone, afraid and without any familiarity or friends from before the Edge had changed after the invasions. She had missed that majority of the invasions, Charles had deemed it too stressful for her and only set her free a short while after the invasions were over. Once she had realized how much she missed, she found that many of her original herd had vanished. Her friends and family, the familiar faces that she knew only in passing...So many of them were gone, including him. To this day, she had never truly known what had become of the majority of them. Whether they had left the herds, or even lost their lives in the fights. Unfortunately, Charles fed on the dread of the latter and managed to escalate it into something that she had merely accepted. Until now...

With her eyes wide, Jahzara suddenly burst forward with such unexpected energy that even Lily barely had time to get out of the way. 'HEY! Stubby legs, remember?! Wait up!' But the pony's complaints fell on deaf ears as the spotted girl raced through the trees, barely even aware of her surroundings as she rushed towards the scent. 'Alright....Nah, you're right...I'll catch up...' Lily's grumbles faded as the scent grew stronger, adding fuel to the fire of her desperation to find him. It wasn't until a feminine perfume filled the air that she slowed, just in time to turn around that last tree blocking her already poor vision. The sides of her barrel heaved, flaxen tresses wind-blown and wild around her face as she stopped the instant her eyes fell on him.

"Ar...Artor?"

Jahzara's voice shook as her nickname for the ebony stallion escaped from her lips, her own body trembling as she took a tentative step closer. There was an uneasy look etched into her expression, a timid feeling that if she came to close to Artorius, he would vanish before her. While only seconds had passed since she had rounded that turn, to the girl it felt as though time had frozen. An eternity passed in a passing glance, the air heavier in that moment than a thousand years under the pressure of a stormy sky. He was exactly as she had remembered him, everything that she had never been. The sleek darkness of his ebony coat; the peaceful night sky to her playful afternoon gold. The freedom of his feathered wings to her grounded hooves. The deep emerald of his eyes, the color of life to her earth and sky gaze. Even the small puffin he had was still perched on his shoulders like always, albeit older and less...fluffball. If it wasn't for the fact that there was another mare with them, Jahzara could have closed her eyes and imagined that they had never left the fields where they raced and she danced with the temporary magic of the Earth God.

'Ahem, Jay...Say something, there is still that unicorn chick...' Lily whispered, bumping her hip into Jahzara's leg as she appeared in the Arabian girl's imagination. Glancing over to the bi-colored mare, beautiful and unique in so many ways, Jahzara gave a brief nod to her in greeting. "I'm Jahzara, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. I just..." Like a magnet she was drawn to look back at Artorius, her voice fading slightly as she tried to word the flood of thoughts that ran through her mind without overbearing them. "I thought you were gone."

"Talk"
'Lily - Hallucination'