//------------------------------//
// Fifty One: Shards Of Fate 
// Story: Obsidian: Shards Of Sombra 
// by Randimaxis 
//------------------------------//


~>-<~


The sound of a creaking door greeted her ears, followed by soft, barely-felt hoofsteps, as she got the distinct impression that she was sneaking quietly along.  She could even feel some cloth padding wrapped around her hooves, to maintain the silence. The lights may have been out, but everything around her had a light blue tint to it - the obvious results of casting a Night Sight spell on herself.  The door she'd been slowly pushing slowly on finally fell back...

It was a regal bedroom, but decorated for simplicity instead of grandeur.  Well-made yet simple curtains, dressers, a mirror and a four-post bed that seemed to be the only thing in the room that seemed a bit more royal.  And there, in the bed in front of her, was Sombra himself... asleep.

Quietly, Hope entered the room and closed the doorway enough so it would appear closed in passing, but still she left it ajar for her eventual escape. She began to quietly make her way towards Sombra's side, moving slowly and smoothly.

So... then it wasn't the final argument after which Radiant Hope disappeared?  But... but she held the book with the spell in it... so if she was going to try to use it, that should have been the perfect moment - unless, of course, her dreams were not in the correct order.  But then - why was Hope here?

Questions at this point were meaningless and futile; for now, Obsidian could only watch and learn.

She crept up ext to the bed and simply looked at him sleeping for a moment. Obsidian could feel her throat choking up, Hope trying not to cry as she stood over him.  Little by little, she steeled herself accordingly, reached into her saddlebag with a hoof and brought out a bottle. The bottle was dark brown and unremarkable - except that it was spotlessly clean and empty.

"I can't... I don't want to do this spell without you," she whispered ever-so-lightly, "but you won't come with me - probably because of that thing inside you.  Well, if I can't have you come with me..."

She held the bottle above him, and her magic surrounded the cork stopper at the end. "... then I'll just have to borrow a little bit of you." 

As Obsidian watched, Sombra's shadow seemed to twist out a small ribbon of darkness which began to trail off of him, going directly into the bottle itself.  They were only the merest of wisps, and the bottle didn't take long to fill. The only sign he'd have felt anything was a momentary grumble from the sleeping stallion.

Quickly corking the little brown bottle filled with shadows, Hope then made her way back to the bedroom door... where she stopped and looked back at him. "Soon, my Soul Friend... soon, there WILL be a new presence among us... and they will help bring back your light."

So he didn't create them - at least not ALL of them - but instead she made some of them?  Oh, it would be so ironic if it turned out that Hope created Onyx, and that her actions here cut a hole in Sombra's very soul, making him more unhinged...

After all, Obsidian held Hope in rather low regards; if anypony could make situation even worse, Radiant Hope seemed to be the right mare to fuck it all up.

She closed the door, then made her way down the hall to a bookshelf, where she moved a book on the topmost shelf... and the bookcase slid back, revealing a stairwell. Hope took the stairs down, moving with the rapid comfort of a well-known place, and when they finally stopped, she pushed through a wooden door to reaveal a magical laboratory that left most modern ones in the dust.

There were diagrams and charts everywhere, many of them in Ancient Crystallian, all of them related to magic and magical theory.  There were shelves upon shelves of books, packed practically to the ceiling, and tables filled with all manner of arcane devices.

She went to the large table in the center of the workshop, set the brown bottle down on the tabletop, staring at it for a moment.  Then, Hope began to weep - great, hitching sobs that rang out in the laboratory as she slumped onto a well-worn stool.

Sombra's bedroom, down the hall, book on the topmost shelf.... that was something worth learning, right?  If Obsidian was lucky, she possibly still find this place - unless Sombra destroyed it, of course.  Oh, so many charts, so much knowledge... and knowledge meant power!

And instead of showing Obsidian any of these marvelous riches of wisdom... Hope started to cry.  Feh.

Sombra's Grand High Magus put her head down on her folded forehooves, and just let herself vent tears of frustration and misery for a few scant minutes, allowing herself the luxury of time to deal with her emotions.

It was only a few minutes before she'd gotten the initial pain out, and she looked up at the bottle itself. "When I first came up with the idea as a filly, I knew I just had to make it happen.  The couple that had come in to adopt Copper Kettle had gone on and on about not being able to have foals of their own, but I knew magic could do anything, if we just knew how to do it."

She reached out with a hoof, and lightly stroked the bottle's side as she put on a sad smile. "By the time I'd met you, I was almost done with the initial theory.  You said it was my masterpiece, and that was the day you promised me that, when it was ready, you and I would be the first ones ever to try it.  We even shook hooves on it..."

She sniffled. "Then, I discovered that book about those thrice-damned altars... which I think your little parasite steered me towards to begin with, thinking back on it... and then we cast the Kayfadd Spell on it, where you became King, and I..."

She began to tear up again. "... and I lost my future."

She sat back, fighting tears as she stared hard at the bottle. "I have to make this work for you!  I don't... d-don't know what plans it has for me, but I REFUSE to leave you here all alone!  I just KNOW it's going to take me away from you, and then you'll have NOBODY to help you fight the Darkness!  I won't have it!  I WON'T LEAVE YOU TO DEAL WITH IT ALONE!!!"  Now, the tears sprang forth again, and she just sobbed like her heart was broken.

So she'd finally realized that it wasn't by accident that they'd found the altars.  Obsidian was curious if her discovery of this 'spell' was led by the endless cruelty of this ancient being as well.  After all, most of her siblings had been doing a grand job in service of 'The Second Umbral Dynasty', hadn't they?  Perhaps it was yet another part of this incredibly and endlessly frustrating plan; to destroy every bit of Sombra's soul that could be used against them... well, it was just a quick theory.

Sniffling, she reached a point where she felt drained... and Hope sat forward. "I can't wait any longer; I can almost FEEL it, drawing me in, licking its' lips... I have to do this TONIGHT; if it senses what I've done, it may take me on the spot.  Got to hurry..."

She stood up and, with a quick wipe of her forehooves across her eyes to clear some tears, she picked up her thick winter cloak/coat and a pair of goggles, and put them into the travelbags. The last thing she collected was a notebook bound by twine, which Obsidian recognized instantly - Hope's Spellbook!

She looked at it lovingly, even gave the cover a gentle pat... then, she crept out of the room and back up the secret stairs, opening the passage again and slinking into the hallway once more. Looking about frantically, she began to quickly make her way down the hall, towards the palace's front doors.

Oh, by Darkness, please, please, please let her finish this dream!  Don't let it end without showing her something, anything important... don't go wasting her time over a crying mare!  GIVE HER SOME ANSWERS!

Obsidian was so excited that she could barely breathe... assuming she could breathe in this strange vision.

As she reached them, she heard a commotion going on to the left side, down a large and drk hallway; a contingent of the Royal Guard were speaking to some of the servants.

"... stole from him?  But how could this be?"
"It is so, Filigree - he will not say WHAT was stolen, only that it was Her Grace, Lady Hope who took it."
"By the Heart, are you certain?"
"YES, Filigree!  I am certain I was ordred to find her... like every other guard here tonight!"

She could feel Hope's heart sink even further... and the tremors of panic began to rattle her nerves.  Obsidian felt herself sweating, shivering and trying not to faint, all at once - Hope was not far from merely turning herself in just because she couldn't take the stress.

"Hope?"  said a soft, melodious voice behind her - and Hope didn't jump; she apparently knew this voice, and knew it well enough to not jump at it, even as keyed up as she was.  She turned around...

... and was almost muzzle-to-muzzle with a mare in a long white cloak.  All that Obsidian could see of this new mare was her pert, slightly smirking lips; there were no eyes or other features visible due to the cloak's hood, except for what looked like a waterfall of straight platinum mane that hung all the way to the floor.

"Whistle!" Hope gave a soft, relieved sigh as she recognized her. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you!" 

Oh, by Darkness, no! Once again, Obsidian was sure that she would be left with nothing but useless scraps of solid knowledge, mere trinkets - utterly worthless compared to the riches in knowledge she desperately wanted.  Granted, while the opportunity to see a long-dead artist was a bit interersting, she would pretty much prefer Hope to finally do something that could help HER for once!

The white mare seemed to look Hope over, then cocked her head. "I will guess that you are not willing to accept Sombra's invitation from his guards, then?"  Her voice was mildly jaunty, warm and smooth; it was actually a joy for Obsidian's 'ears' to experience - a balanced harmony of a single voice... but Obsidian also noticed that the mare had an Equestrian accent.

"Whistle, I don't have time to explain, but please - you have to help me get OUT of here!"  The unicorn mare looked around in a paranoid fashion, as if expecting guards to pop out from behind every corner.  "They're looking for me, and I can't-" 

"I know, dear, I know," she soothed, "do you think I go wandering the halls at night merely for inspiration?"

Hope looked at her with confusion.  "You knew?  How... h-how could you-"

Whistlewhite shrugged.  "Educated guess?  No matter; now, quickly - if you would follow me, I shall steer you clear."

The white mare, looking reverent and pure in her spotless white cloak, turned and quietly made her way down the hall, with a relieved and grateful Hope right behind her. The path they took to leave the Crystal Palace was convoluted; Hope would never have discovered it by herself, and even Obsidian lost track of where they were.

After roughly twenty minutes of hoof travel that felt like wandering a labyrinth, they ended up at a hatchway in one of the kitchens.  Whistle opened the hatch, slid down into it, then reached up to help Hope climb down...

And Siddy knew EXACTLY where they were.

The two mares made their way down through the crystal-lined, cavernous tunnels until they reached a particular bend that the Grey Princess was all-too-familiar with.  Whistle led her to a very familiar wall and looked about while Hope turned to watch for guards, her anxiety still potent enough to compel her to do so.

Whistle put her hoof right on the trigger without error, opening the hidden door and heading inside - dragging aclueless Hope in by her tail and closing the door behind her.

It was HER old room; there were very few differences, as the cot, the dresser, the desk were the main things that had been in Obsidian's room (and Whistlewhite's Sanctuary painting), and they were here as well.

"Whistle?" Hope spoke curiously as she looked around, "This isn't the way out of-"


"RADIANT HOPE,"


Whistlewhite's hood suddenly began to glow brightly enough that Hope had to turn her muzzle away to prevent being blinded by it.  A light which seemed to fill the small chamber quickly and easily, one that was bright enough to make the sun jealous... yet there was no heat... no pain.  In fact, the light itself seemed to calm Hope's rapid breathing, and soothe her jangled nerves.


"THE UMBRAL STIRS, CHILD - TO HAVE ANY POSSIBLE CHANCE TO DEFEAT IT, YOU MUST CAST YOUR SPELL WITHOUT DELAY."


The voice, still beautiful, now sounded more like a vocal chorus then a single individual, fluted melodies playing out with every syllable spoken; it was like the Royal Canterlot Voice... but it was so much more... and the very sound of it sang to Obsidian's soul.

Hope stepped back from the bright visage, shielding her eyes with a hoof.  "Wh-Whistlewhite..?"

What... was... this?

Another piece of the puzzle - as if everything wasn't already too complicated.  What was worse, with her past experiences, Obsidian could only expect another 'accidental' awakening soon, leaving her again with even more questions than before. Including why or how any spell cast by Radiant Hope could help defeat The Umbra.

Hope blinked.  "But... b-but my spell doesn't have anything to do with that THING!  How could my spell have any chance to defeat it?" 

Whistlewhite now reached up and pulled down her hood... and she looked beautiful beyond compare.

Her bangs seemed to slide down across her high cheekbones, framing her porcelain face perfectly, and her full lips were pale and soft.  Her eyebrows were thin and curved, her forehead impeccable, and her snout was elegant and pert.  Her eyes, however, were the source of the glow, and Hope couldn't look at them for longer than a second.


"YOUR SPELL SHALL SHAPE THE FUTURE OF EQUUS... AND WILL LAY THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE UMBRA'S FINAL DESTRUCTION.  IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU SUCCEED..."


Now, she stepped forward and reached a hoof out to Hope's cheek, and her voice went back to the soft, sweet lilt it had before. "... and you must have total faith in it, for it is your creation; it won't work unless you believe in it completely, my dear friend.  Your name is far more apt than you will ever know..."

The moment that hoof touched her cheek, Obsidian felt her entire SOUL leap for joy!  She had no idea what was being done to her, but there was a surge that ran through her, as if she'd caught a bolt of lightning square in the heart!

"... and it is HOPE that will guide the Grey into the Light," she finished with a look of such joy and concern on her features that she seemed almost motherly.  Radiant Hope herself was simply stunned by Whistlewhite's touch; she couldn't speak a word.

What was going on here?  What was Whistlewhite?  What was Hope going to do?  Obsidian didn't want assumptions, she didn't want guesses - damnation, she wanted to know!  To know everything!  To finally learn about her origins!  The actual, factual history of this fucking tyrant!  Even the sheer wonder and greatness of Whistlewhite's true appearance couldn't stop the absolute and all-consuming thirst for knowledge buried in Obsidian's soul.

Whistlewhite stepped back and donned her hood again, hiding her incredible face from the world once more.  The light faded away, until it was just the two mares, standing in Obsidian's room.

"... what... are you?"  She asked directly, in a tone of hushed reverence.

Whistlewhite's mouth smiled softly and sweetly. "I have had many names and incarnations, over these many eons... but I have to admit, the one I found the cutest was the first one you ponies came up with for me in that incarnation..." 

She gave a light giggle that made the room brighten a bit.  "They called me 'The Moochick'," she grinned.

Whistle then walked to the door and opened it again, motioning for Hope to follow her... which she did, in a sort of haze, still mystified by what she'd witnessed.

"A simpler name, for a simpler form, for a simpler time... but oh, I DO miss those days.  Yet, time does march on, true?  Still, I suppose you could say I've been watching over you ponies - and dragons and griffons and yaks and seaponies and kirin and what-have-you - for quite a long time, now."  The painter mare rattled along as the two of them went through tunnels with enough twists and turns to practically guarantee that anyone simply wandering down here would find themselves hopelessly lost in no time.

"What's a... kirin?" she heard Hope mumble.

Whistlewhite waved a dismissive hoof at the unicorn.  "Never you mind, never you mind - your work is far more important, my dearest Hope... and it's about time you got to it, unfortunately."

Through a small tunnel, she could see light ahead of them.  Whistle stopped, then turned and reached out to her, giving Hope a big, motherly squeeze of a hug. 

"Ohhhhh... I am SO sorry, Hope, but... this is where we say goodbye.  Someone has to be here to help prepare for the future to come, and that job falls to me.  Yours is to go out and meet your Destiny."

Hope's muzzle, her heart, her entire being suddenly felt the crushing weight of sorrow; even from where she was sleeping in the future, her body let out an involuntary groan. "I... I d-don't... h-h-ha-"

Whistlewhite swiveled to face her, the hood drawn back enough to reveal her soft, sky blue eyes as she placed a hoof under Hope's chin and lifted it gently to look her directly in the face.  "Your Destiny is the one you make for yourself, Hope," she smiled.

Obsidian had at least learned one detail from all of this: The Moochick...

Whatever this completely alien name could possibly mean, she could at least hope to find something in the history books about it, or hope that Gypsy would perhaps know something useful about it.  Diamond knew Whistlewhite, right?  Perhaps he'd know something more about this strange, shining form of hers...

Hope, tenatively, smiled back.  "It's... something to wish for," she said softly.

Whistle giggled.  "Sometimes, wishes DO come true... now, look," she stepped next to Hope, turned and pointed toward a pair of mountains in the distance, then looked at her as if she was looking through her... or, at least, through Hope.

"YOU remember where it is, right?  Straight towards the Fangs of Ice, leftmost peak, then hit the inside curve when you reach the crossroads, and upward on the path with the black ice..."

Hope raised an eyebrow at her.  "Y-yes, I know this... I mean, I found it; why are you telling me?  A-and how do you-"

"Never you mind, never you mind."  She winked at... Hope?  "Just making sure the way is known, that's all."  With that, and a skeptical glance at Whistlewhite, Hope set out towards the edge of the city, where she donned her cold weather gear before leaving the warmth of the Crystal Empire's border... and started the trek towards the twin mountains.

At one point, she looked back and saw the Crystal City - which, combined with Whistlewhite's directions, gave Obsidian the EXACT location of where the Umbral Altar would be!

Finally... FINALLYYYYYY!!!  Now, Obsidian - for the first time ever - could watch Hope without the frustration of not learning anything useful!  She'd gotten something at last!  Something tangible!  The location of the Umbral Altar!

Even within the boundaries of this dream, Obsidian found herself following alongside the mare through the snow and ice; HOURS passed, where the only thing she knew was that it was cold, she was making progress, it was cold, the mountains got closer, it was cold, the wind howled around her, it was cold, she found a path of black ice, it was COLD, she followed it up the side of the left peak, it was COLD, she reached the apex where two ropes were frozen solid against the icewall, which was REALLY COLD as she freed it with her magic and began to climb.

There was a distant sense of deja-vu as Obsidian recalled this climb from the first memory/dream she'd experienced; this time, SHE was the one climbing... and she gained a whole new respect for Sombra's having done it the first time.

At about the right place, Hope turned towards the wall, kicked through the resealed cavern opening and, thinking ahead this time, she tied off and dropped a safety rope down into it before descending.

The cave was just as chilling and silent as it had been the first time.  Hope lowered herself to the floor of the cavern and turned... and beheld them once again.  Three altars, carved with unknowable runes, each as black as pitch.  The Umbral Altar, at long last, was there in front of her...

And yet, Hope hesitated.

She pulled out the darkness-filled brown bottle and held it for a moment, just looking at the altars with its' weight in her hoof. "You know... last time we were here, we made you a king..."

She now walked over to the altars and, with her magic, began to bring out a number of arcane preparation tools from her pouches and saddlebags, arranging them accordingly and setting up things as she continued to hold the little bottle in her hooves, stroking it lovingly.

"... this time, we're going to make you something even more important..." The notebook with the twine binding came out, set down on the middle altar, and opened. "... a father."

The first time the possibility was there, Obsidian had felt rather uncomfortable with the idea that she might one day watch the creation of Onyx; right now, she was practically craving it.  She knew of the spell that was used to make it, and she knew the path to the lab where she could hope to find the theoretical knowledge for it; now, she just had to witness the ritual itself, and its effects.  How would it look?  Would Onyx appear as a mere filly - innocent and untouched by evil - or perhaps she would already be the age of an adult mare?  Shards were able to age (as Aqua was the prime example), but Obsidian never considered the possibilities for her own age's true number or appearance.

Whatever this 'Moochick' thing was, it was playing the 'long game' if using this specific spell could be turned into a weapon against The Umbra.  Obsidian truly only sought it to use to create new bodies for the fallen...

And so... after close to twenty minutes of setup, everything seemed prepared.  Hope took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and spoke to the brown bottle again.  "Just wait right here - I have to prepare the spell first, and it has to be PERFECT; one mistake could do almost anything, so... make sure to keep your jokes to yourself!"

She smiled at the bottle... then, realizing it was only a portion of her friend - and NOT her entire Soul Friend, like she'd wanted - she sighed and put on a serious look, her heart aching but her mind ready. Then she looked into her spellbook...
...
...
...
... YES!  There it was!  All of it, right in front of her eyes! She hadn't been awoken, she hadn't fallen out of the dream, and it hadn't been hijacked by any chatty siblings in her head!  The Crystal Shard Simulacrum Spell!  IT WAS HERS!

... now, how would she go about remembering it all?

At first, Obsidian felt an explosion of enthusiasm - now she knew everything!  Except... uhhh... well, she didn't exactly have any way to actually learn it, which kind of cooled her head.  Hopefully watching the whole ritual would help Obsidian remember it; if not, she could eventually try to find the unicorn mare within her own mind to chat a bit about its nature. She figured she still had time for that; after all, she didn't plan to go immediately to the Empire and bring back all of her dead siblings.

Trying to learn something this complex through merely a peek of a stranger's eyes was impossible; maybe she could at least try to remember some key phrases.  Hope seemed to know the spell so well, she only glanced at pages before turning them; even IF Obsidian had a way to somehow write it all down, she wouldn't have had the chance to.

But here, Radiant Hope showed some of her real skill and talent; as she chanted the lines to the spell itself, her magic poured and mixed ingredients and used them as appropriate on the third altar, while keeping the finished products and mixtures on the first, the second being the table she was using to hold up the spellbook.  She was accomplishing all of this simultaneously and effortlessly, like she'd practised it a thousand or so times - and chances are, she might well have done exactly that.

It felt as if a solid hour passed while she watched the spell being performed; at this point, Obsidian almost thought she'd been in this dream for almost an entire DAY.  Hope didn't seem to flag from her activities, but Obsidian could feel the strain and effort the unicorn mare was putting out for this spell.  Hope was set and determined to accomplish her life's work tonight - and was undeterred by such things as fatigue and sorrow... even though she most certainly felt them the entire time.

An arc of red energy suddenly jumped from the second altar to the first, a staticky-sparking sound buzzing lightly through the chamber as it did.

Hope's eyes widened, but she didn't break her chant - she didn't even pause.  As she completed more and more of her concoctions, her magic whirled and moved, effortlessly working the spell as she chanted on, sweating but never dropping or misspeaking. When it came to magic, Radiant Hope was top-notch.

Finally, after all the preparations were in place and the chanting finished... she closed her eyes and held her hooves out over the first altar, and dropped the final ingredient into the cauldron there: The little brown bottle.

The entire cavern lit up in bright red and purple energy, and the temperature dropped further than it had been outside in the blizzard.  All three altars began to glow a searingly bright red, and the cauldron simply melted away from the boiling brew inside... which strangely stayed put as a bowl of violet liquid, hanging in midair.

She lifted her hooves and spoke.


"A Life within, for Life from without; a spark from two entities to make one; from two galaxies, a star..."


The mixture now began to shrink in size, and took on a familiar, slender and angular shape.


"... and this star shall Light up the world, and bring hearts together..."


The mixture began to solidify; it was becoming a crystal shard!


"... and the future shall welcome them, always, as one of our own."


The shard began to lift into the air, floating steadily and calmly, and moved to hover directly in front of Hope... then, without warning, a voice that sounded like every angry roar and miserable moan in existence piled together, spoke:


"YOU SEEK THE POWER OF THE UMBRA."


It wasn't a question; it was a statement.

"Yes, you foul thing," she said without fear (and without even jumping when it spoke, though Obsidian mentally did), "I wish to cast this spell!  FOR US!"


"NAME THY SACRIFICE,"


Obsidian felt a teardrop roll down Hope's cheek.  "I present to thee... m-my-"

"HOPE!"

From behind her, Sombra stood within the cavern, looking at her with huge and fear-filled eyes.  Hope turned to look at him... and saw his muzzle hurting for her...

And then a roar of anger rolled off of every wall in the cavern.  Hope just stared back at the sight of her friend in shock as the roar simply grew and grew...

As Obsidian watched, Hope's vision faded to white... 


~>O<~


And she just woke up.  Not scared awake, not startled awake, just... awake.

Did... wait, no, d-did it mean than Onyx was created by Radiant Hope herself, who used her own body as a sacrifice to make the power in the altar obey her will?

Actually... after watching this Obsidian didn't know if bringing back anypony would be a good idea.

This entire time, she simply thought that the altars were complicated tools - and nothing else.  Nopony said anything about sacrifices of any kind!  And what was it Hope wanted to sacrifice if Sombra agreed to her plan?  She was still reeling from the fact that she'd actually managed to learn something important: there was another power at play here, standing against The Umbra... apparently, a rather manipulative one.

The train had stopped chugging, and she could feel Cupcake gently kissing along her rear right hoof.  "Love?  We're here - I've already got us all packed up, and I waited to wake you until we were ready to walk off the train.  You sleep good?"

"Yes, actually... I really did."  Well, that was probably going to be the last dream with Hope; whatever the result of the spell had been, she probably didn't live to see it happen.  Still - Obsidian had discovered so many fascinating things this time!  It still didn't explain how she'd ended up with Hope's memories in her head, but she was going to find out one day.

And to think that Onyx was made by Hope - well, first things first.  Obsidian rose from her bed and shook off the remnants of sleep.

Cup smiled at her.  "You're so cute when you sleep; I wanna paint you that way, so I can look at it even when you're not with me.  Plus, I wanna do one of you in a clown outfit - for my Momma, of course.  She LOVES clowns!"

In the hallway, Mica and Clap were playfully arguing about the pegasus hogging the bed, while Gypsy was holding Diamond up to see out of the window.

"{And ALL of that is the city?  It's HUUUUUUGE!}" Diamond's voice was filled with foal-like wonder.

Gypsy smiled.  "{Indeed - it is one of the larger cities in Equestria, when the car craze began; it and Deltrot were neck and neck for manufacturing them for many years.}"

"{And those metal things which move so swiftly,}" the little stallion pointed a hoof out the window, "{are they cars?}"

The diamond dog let out an amused chuckle.  "{Yes, friend - those are cars.}"

Mundy's eyes went wide and glistened with fascination.  "{WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW...}"

Siddy walked down the hallway, looking out of the windows to see the twon itself.  So... this Cincin-... thing... was a city? 

"Hello, everyone; did you all rest well?" she asked nopony particular.  ...Whistlewhite...

Clap laughed, "Yeah - if MICA hadn't been bundling all the sheets under himself!"

Mica lifted an eyebrow.  "It was the only way I could have any room, Clap - did you have to spread out to sleep?"

"But it was so comfy!" she whined back, "Better than my own bed - and that's a cloud!"

Diamond saw her, and his little legs went nuts as if he were trying to run in the air.  Gypsy, chuckling, set him down and he was at Obsidian's side in less than a second.

"{Obsidyan!  The city is enormous!  Was the Mane's-Hat-On this big?  I can hardly WAIT to see more!}"  He scampered to the doors, while Gypsy followed after him.

"A g-good sleep has invig-gorated him," Gypsy smirked, "and this one h-hopes we can keep up."

Cupcake stepped next to her, kissed her cheek and smiled.  "Ready to take on Cincineighti?"

You know, they'd already lost Diamond once, back in the forest... but what alternative did they have, though?  Putting a collar and leash on him?

"I think so, Cuppy."  She was feeling a bit strange over the fact that she was once again going into a large city.  She always imagined Opal's factories in the middle of a desert, or hidden somewhere in the mountains, far away from any sort of civilization... she must be hiding in plain sight, then?

It was a city, alright... but not like Manehattan; where the Big Applecore had been a tall, bunched together city, Cincineighti was shorter, but broader.  The buildings weren't as high, but they also weren't as shoved together as Manehattan had felt to be. If Manehattan was the tall, distinguished fellow... then Cincineighti was his squat, broad-shouldered brother.

And the CARS...

They were everywhere!  Even moreso than she'd thought possible, it looked as though cars were crammed into every available spot on the roads, with two wheeled cycles taking up the leftover space. The air here smelled... funny.  Plus, there was a haze of what looked like a grey fog that hung over the entire city - and it wasn't rainclouds, she could tell that much. But the place looked as though it were more developed than Clearwater, yet not quite as far as the Big Applecore.  In other words, a happy medium.

The curb was lined with taxicabs; they wouldn't have to wait for one at all!

... especially because there was a blue and green mare in a police uniform who was standing at the end of the line outside the train terminal, holding up a sign that said [OBSIDIAN AND CO], looking endlessly bored.

Well, if this was some sort of trap, it was a very strange one.  Manehattan wasn't that bad; nature was terrible.  Obsidian supposed she would see what an industrial city has to offer - beyond strange air.  "Well, team... it seems like somepony already awaits us."

As the group made their way to the officer, a few of the surrounding locals began to take notice.  There were timid waves and looks of awe as they passed by... hopefully, this wouldn't bring the dreaded paparazzi again!

The officer stood there looking at them as they approached.  She was chewing gum, and looked as bored as anyone could possibly be without dying of it.

"Obsidian, yeah?" she said as they got close, "I'm s'posed ta take ya to the station; Chief sez you got backin' by Princess Twilight, so's we got ta bax ya.  I'm here ta get ya; follow me ta da parkin' lot."  Her voice was as bored and listless as Maud Pie's sounded.  She turned and began to make her way outside of the terminal... not really even looking to see if they were following her.

Obsidian felt that the chances were good that it probably wasn't Markannus; he may have been a master of disguise, but even he couldn't sound THAT soul-crushingly bored.  "Thank you, miss - okay, let's go guys. Hopefully we will get some reliable support for this trip."

Maybe this time, their 'support' wouldn't try to destroy any funeral pyres.

They were led out to a police van, which was a good thing, as there was no way that Obsidian, Cupcake, Mica, Gypsy, Diamond and especially Thunderclap would have fit in a single police car.  The morose officer got in the driver's seat and started it up.

"{THIS CAR IS ALIVE, GYPSEE!}" Diamond suddenly yelped when the engine turned over.

"{No, no, friend,}" the diamond dog explained patiently, "{it is attached to an engine; that is what is making the noise and rumbles.}"

The mare checked her mirrors, sighed with the weight of the world on her shoulders, and started driving.

"I'm Officer Cynic Sentry, and I welcome you to Cincineighti, home of universal love and the best cars in the world." She sounded like Clap did when she first described the Friendship Academy.  "As we're in transit, is there any question I could answer for you?"  She didn't sound like she wanted any questions, but she did offer.

Listening to her voice was almost physically painful; any love advertised by it would surely end in terrible heartbreak. Obsidian quickly shook her head at the mare's sullen invitation - if she had any questions, hopefully she could find the answers at the police station... and hopefully from someone who had at least experienced happiness ONCE in their lives.