Obsidian: Daughter of Sombra

by Randimaxis


Thirty Four: Thunderclap

And now, they were on a cloud... no really, they were actually on a cloud!!!

Around them was what could only be assumed was the famed city of Cloudsdale... but it wasn't the bright and pleasant place it should have been; the colors and sense of freedom here were dull and listless, and felt like only a sham of what was supposed to be. It was as if something had sucked every single bit of warmth and life from this world... much like Ponyville in Cupcake's nightmare.

Obsidian got the feeling this was going to be a recurring theme.

At any rate, there was an exception to this rule in this particular case, as she saw it across the ground: The crimson stain of blood, bright and wickedly red, was in little droplets that were spattered and flecked, and there was a small drag-trail leading off in the direction of a large structure which was indentified by a nearby sign: Cloudsdale Coliseum.

Cupcake, however, took one single look at the trail and visibly blanched. "Oh no. No no no no no... if these are nightmares, and this is what we're seeing here, and this is Thunderclap's nightmare, then... ohmigosh! Obsidian, we need to FIND her! Fast!"

What exactly was this place? A city in the clouds, it seemed - it looked like quite the perfect place for pegasi, obviously. And a trail of red droplets in these otherwise bland surroundings was obviously the best way to track down Thunderclap that they could possibly find. Hopefully she was okay - or at least alive; this much blood loss could be a concern. In fact, what would possibly happen if you did die in a dream?

Cup charged forward and began to gallop after the trail on the ground. "It would have to be that! It'd be the one thing that I would figure would haunt her dreams..." Cup seemed to be muttering to himself, but the look of worry on his muzzle looked severe and scared.

She darted after Cupcake; what could possibly be in this nightmare that had him so worried? Perhaps a memory of Applejack's unfortunate fate..?

Cupcake made a distinct beeline for his destination, as if he already knew where he was going. How could a unicorn like him know his way around a pegasi city in the clouds? It wasn't like he would have had wings to be able to visit the place frequently enough... unless that was more of his strange Pie magic, perhaps? With everything she'd seen come from him so far, she wasn't certain if such an idea could actually be put completely out of hoof for the stallion...

Regardless, they rounded a corner and the grisly trail led right up to a group of clouds outside of the Coliseum, arranged like decorative hedges in a park-like cloud garden of sorts. There were a number of clouds here that were painstakingly shaped rather artistically, and even with a lack of color, it still seemed like a nice place to while away one's time.

Then, she heard the tiny sniffle.

Behind one of the larger 'hedges', the trail of blood circled and apparently stopped, as there was no trail leading out. Somewhere behind that cloud, someone was crying their eyes out. Cup darted around the hedge, then began speaking rapidly.

"Thunderclap! Listen to me, it's not-... oh, by Celestia's Tears, no!"

Then, she heard Cup himself start to cry. "Those... THOSE ANIMALS! They actually DID it, this time! Oh, Clap, I wish I could... c-could... uhh, C-clap?" He came out from behind the cloud as Obsidian got close; he had been crying, but he now wore a look of stunned shock.

"I don't think she can even see me, Siddy... how can I help her if she can't even see that I'm here?"

Animals? What animals? And what had they done? "It's just a dream, remember; you couldn't see me at first either, Cup," Obsidian reminded him as she stepped around the cloud-hedge herself.

The sight was not one she was expecting; on the ground was a rather small and quite young Thunderclap Dash.

She had her mane done up in little golden braids that made her multicolored roots look like adorable rainbows braided in, and her tail was neatly trimmed and short. She was very small and very thin; she looked almost nothing like the Clap that Obsidian knew.

This Clap looked exceedingly vulnerable and tiny, like someone who might blow away in a fierce wind. This Clap was wearing a pretty sundress, though it was smeared and stained with blood, and a cute little necklace with a picture of a parasprite carved onto the pendant.

This Clap also had two wingless stumps sticking out of her back, dripping blood all over the place and flexing weakly. She was surrounded by feathers, but the remainder of her proud wings were nowhere to be seen.

"When she was still really little," Cup spoke softly into Obsidian's ear, "Clap got a LOT of teasing; it was why she became a great big bully for a while, later on. But this moment's like one of the ones she told me about, where some other pegasi were jealous of her and of who her mother was, so they attempted to... to..."

He choked back tears. "... so, of course, it'd be the biggest, most terrifying thing she could ever see in her nightmares; if they'd succeeded. Oh, poor Clap-"

"Hey! Heeeeyyyyy! Down here, dummy!" One of the feathers on the ground was far removed from Clap's color scheme; it was a feather with red and black stripes, and it was actually a rather pretty feather. "If I hear one joke about being any sort of 'birdbrain', you're on your own, got it?"

"Poor Clap," Cupcake looked at her, his heart breaking, "losing her wings would be like losing herself."

And right now, Obsidian was currently reminding herself that feeling some very murderous intentions was able to feel quite nice - especially as it was followed with the knowledge that she was more than powerful enough to go through with it. Of course, most ponies would probably disagree with the idea that craving murderous revenge was a good thing... but for Obsidian, it felt quite natural.

She calmly scooped up the Ruby Feather from the ground and stuck it behind her ear, just like she did with the Ruby Twig. It would be far easier to just stick (pun not intented) to a single form, but as she tended to take a nearby example and inhabit it, it was probably something about energy conservation.

But being in the mindset and the right mood for killing anyone was a bad idea, though... especially when there were no ponies to kill around, and someone had to be cheered up. It may have been just a dream, but Obsidian's blood was boiling, nonetheless.

"Well?" The Ruby Feather groaned, "You gonna do that 'comforting' thing again or what?"

And thus, at Ruby's suggestion, she trotted over to poor Thunderclap to make an attempt to heal these stumps and give her a strong, comforting hug. Honestly, after all they'd been through as of late, they both needed one.

The little pegasus jumped when she was first touched... but her little barrel hitched, her eyes watered anew, and she threw her forelegs around Obsidian and began to wail with all the fury and anguish of a child's broken heart.

Cupcake came over to join the both of them, encircling the two with his own embrace; she could see the tears tracking down his cheeks, and his jaw working not to just let go with his own sobbing. He was being strong... which was helping Obsidian to feel strong as well, as she felt an influx of anger at those who would do such a thing (Dark), to the infinite love for the devastated little filly who bawled with her head in her lap (Light).

Tiny Clap looked up into her eyes - her fear, misery and loss being slowly being replaced by a careful look of hope. "How can I ever follow mommy if I can't fly after her?"

A soft blue glow began to roll across the filly's body, coming to settle at the base of her horribly mutilated wings. There was a soft, yet audible crackling sound, and the bone began to grow rapidly from the twisted stub, reforming from nothing more than the sheer POWER inside Obsidian.

She winced cutely as the healing energy began to knit sinew and flesh, recreating her lost wings bit by bit, before the feathers began to sprout along the length of the pinkish, shiny wing skin.

Though it was just a dream, Obsidian really hadn't expected this interesting effect; healing magic looked rather strange and uncanny when it was restoring lost limbs right in front of her eyes. She had felt similarly when her Light Magic was straightening her horn; after all, bones and flesh were simply not meant to react that way...

"You don't need wings to be awesome, Thunderclap. Even on the ground you are quite fast, and even if you wouldn't be able to move at all, you would still be awesome... because you are a loyal, trustworthy and generous friend," Obsidian patted that cute little head as she spoke softly to her, "... and besides, you're already getting your wings back... see?"

The little pegasus mare looked back, then at Obsidian directly with those big purple eyes of hers, made all the more adorable by her tiny visage. "When I thought nobody wanted to be my friend, and that anyone who did was tryin'a trick me, I figgered I could be as mean as they was, 'cuz I was fulla mean stuff too... but... but it wuzza bad thing. But it was Mica who stayed nice ta me, even when I wazzunt nice ta him at first."

She then sniffled, and grinned up at Obsidian. "You make me wanna be nicer, 'Sidian."

"Oh, good grief, I forgot how gushy this stuff was!" Ruby complained, "Just get it over with, okay?"

Her body began to glow as well as her wings fluffed out, proud and strong and once again fully grown.

In fact... when the glow finally faded away, the filly that had been there on the ground was now a fully-grown Thunderclap, lying there with her head in Obsidian's chest fur, smiling as she held her tightly.

"Heya, Siddy... I just knew you'd come for me, I knew it. Oh!" She suddenly sat up. "Hiya, Cuppie! When did you get here?"

Cup's mouth dropped open, but he gave her a tight hug anyway, his muzzle all smiles. Clap stood up and shook herself thoroughly, her wings fluffing and settling into place as she did. All in all, she really was quite a memorable sight to see; maybe not classically attractive, but with a charm and charisma all her very own.

"So, now that we managed that little bit of Tartarus, I'd say we should be good-to-go for anything else that might get thrown our way! Okay, then," she smiled, "care to fill me in on what the fig is going on around here?"

It was kind of easy, Obsidian thought; the Darkness was once again defeated with a kiss and a firm hug. BAH, Onyx couldn't even trap them in nightmares that would twist their minds far enough! If Obsidian was the one trapping ponies in their dreams, they would be begging for the sweet release of death after only a few scant seconds...

N-not that she wanted to trap ponies, no - she was simply certain that she could do it better, was all.

"Onyx trapped us in our nightmares, and we are working on gathering our entire group together, moving from dream to dream to do so, Clap. And now, I say we should look for Mica next; we need to focus on thinking about him and look for something that would pertain to him... after which, we shall search for Stalwart, and then finally we will rescue Gypsy."

Considering that their diamond dog companion was terribly scared of Jinx, Obsidian really didn't think it would be a safe idea to rescue him without a lot of firepower behind her. Just in case.

Cup and Clap began looking around, both thinking things over as they did... which, interestingly enough, led to Miss Dash blushing hotly.

"Uh, guys," she asked hesitantly, "do you... really think that... y'know... me and Mica... well... y'know... would make a good, uhhh..."

"Couple?" Cupcake filled in. Clap's blush deepened, but she smiled.

"Y-yeah, that." Cup nodded vigorously.

"I think so, yeah - you two are always together anyway; might as well stick with the pony you know, right? And you two know each other pretty well, I'd say!" That got an even deeper blush. "N-not like that!" Cupcake hastily amended.

"Yes, I concur. Such a pairing would leave only Stalwart and Gypsy in our group without a mate... well, maybe we should get them together as well?" Obsidian mused.

Cupcake pondered, "A diamond dog and a Shetland warrior? Would that even work?"

"Hey," Clap shrugged, "you never know - look at me and Mikey, yo."

Well, it would at least leave no romantic deficiencies in their group... and what was this 'Shetland' that cup mentioned? She may have to ask the little mare about that particular detail herself.

But, as always, first things first.

Mica. The only pony in their group wise enough to leave Obsidian's company behind and not even bother with her when she was still seeing them as useful tools, or at the very least as a shrill and unwanted nuisance. He also managed to see that her apologies were as honest as water was dry, at that time. All in all, he was a pretty sharp guy... Obsidian wondered what could possibly be happening in his nightmares.

A small slip of paper, from the looks of it, was caught up in the fluff of a nearby cloud hedge, simply sitting there. Upon closer inspection, it looked as though it may have had some sort of picture on the other side of it. Cup and Clap were busy looking over everyplace except where the paper was.

Was there some kind of curse that made it to where they couldn't see anything like that? Or was it just an accident that Cup couldn't find anything twice, each time looking in all the wrong places? Obsidian levitated the slip of paper down, closer to herself.

It wasn't just a paper - it was a photograph... and on the other side was-

Darkness preserve!

It was a picture of Thunderclap Dash, wearing a fetching and rather revealing swimsuit of high fashion that made her appear sultry, even with her grand size! It was undeniably racy, and in the photo, Clap was tossing a wink casually at the camera. She may have been a bit bigger than average, but with the right clothes and style, Clap was quite a looker!

"See anything?" Cup asked over his flank, searching the cloud hedges on the other side.

But it puzzled her a bit - why would ponies ever wear swimsuits in the first place? Wearing something when it was cold, now that made some sense. Wearing official uniforms made sense. Wearing armor made a lot of sense.

Wearing something that couldn't even truly make you less wet while you were swimming? Now that made no sense whatsoever to the Dark Princess. Modern ponies were weird.

"Yes, here, uhhhh... well now. Cup, Clap, come here, please; I believe I have made the proper discovery... um, I think."

Cupcake made his way over, a look of curiosity writ large over his muzzle. "Did you find something? Oh! Looks like you did!" He trotted up, looking. "What did-"

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "WHOA! Now that is a photo!"

"What's a photo?" Clap said as she made her way over to them as well.

"This!" And Cup showed her.

Thunderclap's expression went from curious to extremely embarrassed in the space of a single second. "Where did you get that oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh I'm gonna KILL him he was NEVER supposed to show that to ANYONE it was for Spring FOOLS Day but I swear I'm gonna knock his fool HEAD off!"

Cupcake just started laughing uproariously.

Obsidian could only blink, not understanding in even the slightest way what was happening. So, what was the purpose of this photo? Why she was wearing such an outfit in the first place? Why was she reacting this way, and why was Cupcake laughing about it? And, for the love of Darkness, what was this Spring Fools' Day?

"Well, he didn't exactly show that to us, per se. Considering that only you and he know about this, er... this picture, it can be safely assumed that it took this form because of your own shared memories," she said with a completely straight face.

Clap eyeballed them both for a moment. "Yeah, well - whatever this spell is, it needs to stop doing that!!!"

Cupcake smiled. "Oh, I dunno, Clap - you look way hot in that outfit! Totally not kidding, either - it looks good on you!"

Clap's blush dimmed a moment. "Y'think so? I mean, yeah, it's a bit racy, I guess, but the suit's made to accent curves and such; I just figured that it- HEY!" she suddenly bristled, "Don't go staring at me like that in my swimsuit, Cup!"

"And why not?" he teased with a salacious grin.

"'Cause," she motioned to Obsidian, "you've got a special somepony already! And it ain't me!"

With that, Cup began to give quite a blush, and Clap started laughing at him.

Obsidian blinked, looked at the picture, looked at Cup, looked at Clap... "So, is this perhaps some kind of... uhm, tradition of sorts?"

The world around them melted away (with good timing, too)...