Obsidian: Legacy Of Sombra

by Randimaxis

Two: Jaded

Two cookie jar shifts and a ball pit later, they made their way into Pinkie's camera-monitoring room... where they found Mica Chip, sitting in Pinkie's chair and studying the monitors with his head leaning on his hoof; eerily, it was a very similar pose to the one he'd had in the dream she'd seen of his, as he'd watched the two Siddys arguing onstage.

He glanced back at them as they entered, and gave a single nod. "Hey."

Gypsy nodded in return. "H-hello, friend Mica - Obsidian wishes to s-s-see the footage of Jade, if you p-please?"

Mica looked at them both with a somber expression for a moment, then turned to face Siddy. "Alright... let me load it up."

He swiveled the chair to face the keyboards and tapped away surprisingly daintily for a moment before the multiple screens went dark, then the middle one lit up with an image.

The camera was focused on the walkway within the science hall; at the far end, the huge double doors to the testing lab buckled once, twice... then seemed to simply melt away from the frame, which warped a bit as well.

Then, slowly and hesitantly, her cursed brother stepped into view.

Jade was quite a tall and muscular pony - he was HUGE - but every inch of his massive frame was glowing a bright green color, and he had an aura about him of the same hue. His mane and tail were limp and greasy-looking, unkempt and filthy. His coat had what looked like small clusters of sores in various places, and every now and then, one would drip a greenish pus onto the floor... where it began smoking.

His face, though...

He had the firm jawline of a strong and mighty warhorse, but those exquisitely beautiful emerald eyes of his were an absolute mirror of misery; green tears ran down his muzzle as he gazed back into the room behind him (which, thankfully, the camera couldn't see into), then faced down the hallway and, looking as though each step was a trial unto itself, he began to walk forward.

As he did, anything around him that was susceptible either melted of caught fire before melting; it was as if he was a living flame of Dark Magic, twisting and befouling everything around him without even trying.

Walking to the doors at the end of the hall, he lifted a hoof to them and found them locked. He then sighed heavily (no sound, but she could see his barrel rise and fall), and turning around, he suddenly let loose with a buck that knocked both doors clean off their hinges! Thankfully, not a guard or guest was in sight.

He walked the hall through the palace, headed for the front doorway; around him, tables warped and blackened at his passing, tapestries caught fire temporarily before becoming ash, and the carpet under his hooves blackened wherever he stepped.

Reaching the front doors, he didn't even have to open them; they simply bowed and folded down from the top, like a banana peel, until they puddled at the threshold. Seeing this, Jade simply walked out into the daylight.

"I really, really want to help him. I didn't even suspect that Amber would be that cruel, to use him as a living weapon," Obsidian said, her throat choked with emotion. For a pony made from the spirit of Sombra's Independence, he was a truly sorry sight, sentenced to eternal wandering.

"At least it should be easy to track him," she said softly.

The camera feed switched to an external one... one with audio.

Stepping out into the daylight, he looked up at the sun for a moment, then he began moving slowly forward, walking to who knew where.

As he reached the gates, three ponies wearing Royal Guard armor came around the corner, and stopped in their tracks at the sight of Jade. Two of them looked uncertain, but one of them spoke up.

"It's another pony, but... he looks diseased..." said a stallion with a lieutenant's insignia on his armor.

The second stallion gasped as he made a connection. "He looks like he's something the Umbrals brought in! Ferry, we have to KILL it before it makes its' way to the others!"

The third, a mare, simply seemed to be waiting for orders, but her maroon eyes were WIDE as they stared in creeping horror at the cursed pony in front of them.

"Halt where you are, abomination!" the second one yelled, and Jade looked up at them with anguish in his big, beautiful eyes.

"A͇̩̫̜͓̙b̞͕o͓m̤i̞n͖̘̬͍̝͇a̮tiͅo̖̥͕̬n̬̪̞̤̦̙̫.͉̮̯̳͚͙̳.̳͚̞̘̼.̺̝̙̲ ͖̲̖̗̬a͙͕p͇̰̘̙̻͔p͎͉̞͈̼̖r̦̖͎̰̮ͅo̖p̪͇͉r̫͖i̪̘̱̲͈̺a̲̯̗͉̯t̝̙̯̪̭̼̼e̪͍̗͚̼ ̺͓͖̼̮͍ͅw͇̱͇̣͓ͅo̪̩̰r̞͙̣̟͉̞d͙̩ͅs̫̦͍,̫͍̱͚͚̩ ̪̝͖̦̤̼͚ỵ̠̝̼̣es̥̦̺͇̺." His voice sounded like it had in Obsidian's dream; cracked, oozing and rather terrifying... yet, he kept walking, seeming to ignore the challenge from the shouting guard.

"I said HALT!" the guard repeated, but Jade continued away from them, headed towards the edge of town. With the offender not obeying a direct order, the three all looked at each other... then, pulling his sword, the second guard ran at Jade with a battle cry.

... which died on his lips as he got within three pony lengths from him.

The guard's armor began to twist and melt onto his coat, which brought a shrill scream from him that made Jade turn his head to look back... and the cursed stallion actually winced at the sight.

The guard, still far too close, then began to smoulder as his coat began to scorch and his flesh quickly began to smoke and blister, and finally he burst into flames and gave a high-pitched, steam-whistle-like scream that petered out quickly before he simply fell over - a lump of blackened and smoking flesh and bone, accented with melted steel rivulets.

.̷".̕.͙͓ ̦̱an̩d͈̟̙ ̷͈̪l̴̜͖ọ͔̀,̵̙̹ ̫̘͖a͎͍͎n̩̰͢o̦̗͢ṯ͝h҉̩͎̙er̴͎̣ ̦̯͞f͈̹͟ḁc̺̝e̼̺ ̟ṱ̣͢ọ̻̲ ̻̰͕wi͍̦͠t́n̯ͅͅe͞ss҉̯̦̪ i̧̜̥n̨̬̲ ̤̟̥m̘̱ͅy ̧̬̝ni̢̻̟g̟̭̗h̦̯͢t͎͘ͅm̧͙a҉̹̤͈r͇̣̪è̳̲s̩̞̙.͙̥.͏̘̹.̖͖̹" He seemed to weep silently for the loss, while the other two guards just stared in abject horror, the mare visibly wetting herself on camera from sheer fear.

Jade looked to them both. "Es̳̠̹c̢̳á̘ͅp͜e.͎̟̗ ̶͉̰ F͓͉͟l̮ḙ̪é̳͕.̮͠ ҉R͚͓̙U̖͔̘͖N̰͕̣͕̳̺ͅ, ̲̬̩̲̻da̘̺̜̯m̳ͅn̘̼̰͕̟͙̹ ͓̬̮y̮ou͙̭.̘.͉͉̙ͅͅ.̯"

The two took off like a shot, in tandem with each other's hoofbeats as they let out twin, oddly-harmonizing screams of terror. Jade watched them go, and with a sigh that conveyed centuries of suffering, he continued onward.

This curse was a piece of art, truly; well-planned, well-executed, and terribly cruel. He didn't even do anything - he just had to exist for this spell to torment him in more ways than one. He didn't do a single wrong thing to those guards - he didn't rage at the guards, and he obviously didn't want anypony to die... they just didn't listen to his words of warning. That was all.

"We need to find him, as soon as we can... but I believe I'll need my siblings for that." While she would love to leave right away to claim her suffering brother, it would be a fool's errand without a proper way to deal with his curse.

As they watched, Jade eventually reached the edge of Ponyville. He looked out over one of the makeshift barricades as it burned and melted around him, witnessing the patrols of the gathered groups of Umbral Harnesses. He slowly shook his head - left, right, then center - and then, he simply vanished from view.

"And that's the last he's been seen, since this footage." Mica said as he turned in the seat to face her. "Obsidian... is Jade the type to hide away from others, or do you think Amber would force him to walk through the middle of any town she pleased?"

"Both," she said grimly. "It doesn't matter what type of soul he is; he won't try to hurt anypony on his own, but his thoughts and feelings don't matter to that brazen bitch."

Mica nodded, as if he'd figured as much. "Then Jade may not be our first priority, but he IS a priority; we need to see if there's any trace of that curse's effects anywhere else. Thankfully, I am familiar with Aunt Pinkie's system, so I can probably scout from here. Should I find anything, I'll let you know."

He then turned back towards the monitors... but paused, and glanced back over his shoulder at her. "And my thanks for not holding a grudge; we all felt awful. Glad to see you're okay."

Oh, come on, Mica - a grudge? "I don't hold a grudge towards the pony who, of their own volition, tried to kill me a few times and put a knife in Ruby's back, just because she was acting under Onyx's command. And they all - Onyx and Sombra included - were working for another vile power. Why do you think I would hold a grudge against my helplessly mind-controlled friends?"

Mica blinked. "I don't; I just wanted to show my appreciation for the fact you know better. So... thanks."

Gypsy looked at them both. "N-now, what is it we are sup-p-p-posed to do at this p-point? Your s-siblings, perhaps - should w-we visit them?"

Obsidian trotted to Mica and patted his shoulder to show her appreciation. "Glyphs in the castle... siblings... then we will see what we can accomplish from there," Obsidian said.

Then her muzzle fell. "And we should collect Princess Cadance's... remains... and bury her properly." She deserved that.

Mica and Gypsy's expressions fell to the floor at the mention of the lost Princess of Love, but Mica nodded solemnly. "Yes. That would only be right. Poor Flurry Heart... and poor Shining Armor, as well - if he doesn't know already, he'll be devastated."

Gypsy added, "And a-a-ANGRY."

Mica turned back to the monitors. "If you are headed to the castle, I can watch you from here - possibly even warn you, maybe? Still, I'm on it - I'll do what I can from here, but I still don't know what ALL the buttons do... but Cup does. When he wakes up, I can get him down here to help out."

Gypsy motioned with a paw. "Come - let th-this one show you the p-p-p-passage."

Let's hope that Amber wouldn't be doing something with Shining Armor that would end with his death as well... or his possible suicide, after the return of his mental freedom. Obsidian tried not to think about anything that Amber could possibly be doing right now to the current rulers of the Crystal Empire.

Getting angry or worried might have been pointless... but she was worried anyway.

"Did Miss Pie implement anything that lets us interact with the ponies on the other side of the monitor?" Such an assurance from Mica still wasn't making this whole system any less weird - it was quite a strange thing to find in your future mother-in-law's basement. "I suppose we shall see - thank you, Mica."

As she followed Gypsy, Mica gave a quick wave, then went back to studying the monitors.

The diamond dog made his way back through the warehouse, winding through the seemingly endless shelves to reach what looked like a large cooler, one that was once yellow, but was now spotted with rust; otherwise, it was fairly clean. Gypsy opened the door to it... and instead of shelving and treats, there was a passageway where cool, dank air blew out from.

"This leads to the p-p-palace; whenever you are p-pr-properly pr-prepared, this one will gladly lead the w-way," he offered with a grin and a light wag.

This whole place was just one big can of surprises, wasn't it? A secret passage to the royal palace... hidden in a basement warehouse. What other secrets was Miss Pie hiding here? Hopefully, none of them would turn out to be too creepy or weird...

Obsidian glared into the darkness. Well, if Gypsy told her that the palace was on another side, then she was going to go right ahead and believe him.

"... I think I need a shower first," she admitted, reminding herself of the disastrous kitchen adventure. At least everypony was nice enough not to comment on her current appearance; she had a reason to avoid Clap for a moment.

Gypsy looked at her with a smile. "Would it not be m-more efficient to b-b-bathe after the sneaking and th-the travel?"

Right - she would obviously need another shower after that, of course.

"Perhaps I'll be able to pretend that I'm a pancake - that would shock our enemies, for certain," she shrugged slightly with resignation. She started to try to consider what they could possibly do with the princess' body when Obsidian realized that, well...

"I... I'm sorry, but I don't know what to do with Cadance's remains. I really don't; I'm not familiar with any passage rites or funeral customs that the Crystal Empire might employ. At the moment, the best I think I could do would be to dig a hole for her... but that's hardly better than leaving her in the room where she met her fate." To think that her brother's curse was powerful enough to kill an alicorn!

Gypsy nodded solemnly. "This one kn-knows of some of the traditional ways to lay a b-body to rest, and would be honored to d-d-do so for her." He ducked his head as he stepped in, and brought out a small flashlight from his pocket. Turning it on, he held it upward, pointing at the ceiling which lit a good portion of the cavern.

"Sh-shall we go?" he asked.

Siddy was going to say they might need shovels... then she realized she was talking to a diamond dog. "Yes... let's."

The two of them made their way into the darkness of the tunnels, and they were mostly rock at first... then, little by little, she began to see more and more crystal of the type that Twilight's Palace was made of, lining the walls and slowly replacing the rock and dirt they'd first encountered.

Eventually, they came to what appeared to be a large stone disk in the ceiling, and a sturdy-looking ladder reaching up towards it. Gypsy smiled as he walked over to a junction of rocks, then stuck a paw in between them and seemed to pull on something there. The disk slid sideways with a quiet grinding sound, and light from above shone down. Gypsy went up first, as he had a better means to defend himself with claws instead of hooves, should they not be alone.

Who came up with this idea of a secret tunnel? Princess Twilight, after yet another enemy attempted to conquer Equestria? Miss Pie, to easily plan the famous surprise parties Obsidian had heard about? Both - and they met mid-way? Obsidian could only guess. She followed Gypsy up into the room above... though as a pony, she was less used to ladders, so it took a moment.

Reaching the top, she found herself in what looked to be a room pre-prepared for a party... except there was a bed here, which was decorated to look like a giant cake, complete with frosting-colored sheets and peppermint-colored pillows. There was a dresser that resembled a giant boxed present, and a mirror vanity table that was COVERED in little yellow sticky notes, each one with some sort of reminder or recipe or some other bit of information. The walls were filled with pictures of balloons, confetti and streamers, and the floor was carpeted to look like it was a huge plate - which the hole was centered in.

No doubt about it - they were in the Pinkie Suite.

It looked a bit less chaotic than Obsidian had expected. In fact, it looked quite nice for a room where the main decoration theme revolved around sugary stuff and baked treats. She trotted over to the mirror vanity table to take a peek at the notes, just in case; Destiny sometimes had strange ways to tell her what she should do, after all.

There were more, but they all had similar cryptic writing on them.

That was a lot of notes, and it seemed as if most of them were pretty much out of date. Who were these 'crusaders' she was speaking of? A wedding, birthdays, middle names for Cupcake... and exactly where did she even get that idea? As far as Obsidian was aware, none of them had any real meaning - was it some kind of modern naming convention?. Wait, lice? Nitro gylcerine?

"We need to go to the princess' room," Obsidian said aloud after finally reading all the presented notes. She hadn't missed the note about the prison gylphs - as improbable as it was - and to be fair, she had kind of hoped that she would be able to take a quick peek in there.

So she was curious, so what!? But it was nice to have a good excuse to do so at hoof.

Gypsy nodded. "It is th-this way," he said as he began to make his way to the door and opened it slowly, trying not to make noise...

... which was absolutely ruined when a speaker IN the Pinkie Suite cut on.

"<Hiya! Welcome to MYYYYYYY ROOOOOOM! It's always good to have visitors - but I'm not here to visit! You might wanna come back another time, or you can help yourself to the snacks I have in the dresser! Glad you stopped by; have a GREAT day!>"

The mare's voice echoed down the halls, quite loudly... but luckily, there was no response. None at all.

Gypsy, who had yelped and hid behind Siddy, now crept out with a light blush on his muzzle. "Th-that did not happen, y-y-yes?"

With that, he now poked his snout into the hall, sniffed... then cocked his head at an angle. "There is a scent... w-w-we are not alone w-within the palace." He stepped lightly into the hall, sniffed again... then suddenly made a face. "... and s-s-s-something else. Something n-nasty."

By Darkness! It was always the same with the Pie family - expect the unexpected! Who would have thought that Miss Pie would hide a speaker here? There were guests, from time to time! Obsidian herself spent some time in at least three out of five of the suites - what possessed the pink party pony to think it would be a good idea to scare the living Tartarus out of ponies like that!? Damn, she could've at least placed a note on the mirror!

"Let's avoid running into this... nasty, whatever-it-is. Is it the only thing around that you can identify? How many of these nasty things are nearby? Do you think we could completely avoid them with your nose's help?"

"This one sh-shall ask his nose..." He sniffed about, then made a slow circle on all fours around the area around them. After a moment, he stood up again and came back over to her, speaking softly. "To our l-l-left smells burnt, rotten, foul... l-l-likely where Jade was w-walking. To the right, this one sm-smells a pony... and that p-pony is Stonewall P-P-Peavine; the nose does n-not lie."

"Of all ponies, what is HE doing here?" Obsidian asked, dumbfounded. Could it be possible that he was under Amber's influence as well? Or maybe he was simply looting the palace? For some reason, Obsidian automatically assumed that he probably wasn't doing anything useful.

"Which way we will take us closer to Princess Twilight's chambers?" She had to choose between a path of destruction... and a meeting with an idiot. In this case, she could simply avoid the choice and find out which path would be shorter.

Gypsy looked at her with an apologetic expression. "Towards P-P-Peavine, this one is s-sorry to s-s-say..."

Of course. Had she really expected any other answer? "Let's go to the right, then," she sighed.

They headed down the path to the right, which led to the main hallway. In here, there was a bit of a change.

The large, ornate front doors of the palace had been ripped away from their hinges, it seemed; they were lying in the middle of the Grand Hall Entrance. All over the floor were small metal rivets - thousands of them - and there were little holes all over the once-regal walls.

Obsidian also noted a number of utterly destroyed Umbral Harnesses, their pilots unresponsive, chunks of steel all over the place - Princess Twilight hadn't made it easy for them, that much was apparent. The destruction led all the way to the Throne Room doors, which were smashed inward and broken.

Gypsy's ears and tail drooped when he saw the destruction. "Th-this is... is not g-g-good..."

Well, it seemed that, at least this time, the Siddy Six weren't there to save the day. To be fair, it was probably a good thing for them - Obsidian doubted they would have been too useful against the Umbral Harnesses... at least until they found a way to damage them with alternate means of magic, or possibly acquire some nice, flashy weapons from Opal, or at least they should make sure that they wouldn't be mind-controlled first.

"Carefully, carefully," she said under her breath. She could probably deal with a few harnesses, thanks to the Dark Magic she already knew, but she needed more extensive training to thrash them as easily as Amethyst could.

But it was just a place; the things within could be replaced; Obsidian was more concerned about finding any bodies at their destination...

The Throne Room was a mess. There were rivets and jagged chunks of blasted machinery everywhere, plus a scorchmark that stretched across the back wall, slicing through tapestries and leaving three stained glass windows shattered into pieces.

There was also an occasional splash of blood... and two corpses wearing Royal Guard helmets. One was utterly burnt to a crisp... and the other was missing her head and part of her torso. If Wart had been on duty when this had occurred...

The throne itself bore a blackened magic scar across the back of it, but was otherwise unharmed. There was a doorway towards the back of the throne room, but it was COVERED with furniture and other items, creating a barricade that neither of them could see through.

Thankfully, there were no other bodies; the two guards were all they had found.

They still hadn't found Stonewall - unless he was one of the dead guards. However, Obsidian doubted that was the case; otherwise, Gypsy probably wouldn't have been able to smell him - the stench of his burnt body would cover anything else from him.

"You know, I thought that Amber would have been able to take over in a more or less peaceful manner, due to her mind control being powerful enough to end just about any sort of resistance. I guess I either overestimated her, or Amethyst syphoned off more of her magic than I originally thought," Obsidian mused as she trotted closer to the throne to inspect it. Why was the damage on the back of it - did somepony hide behind it and miss their target very, very badly?

Behind the throne, on closer inspection, were two things: A pair of red-lensed goggles, and what appeared to be a puddle of... something yellow.

Gypsy wrinkled his snout at the sight. "The n-nose tells this one, th-th-that is urine..." The diamond dog then went over to one of the guards' corpses, and holding out a paw over it, he began to chant softly to himself.

The red goggles were putting off magic - she could feel it - but otherwise were unremarkable... except for some letters scratched onto the inside of the rubber headband: P. P.

Hopefully it meant 'Pinkie Pie'... on another hoof, it would most certainly mean that her future mother-in-law had some frankly terrifying skills in the realm of clairvoyancy. She grabbed it with her magic, respectfully avoiding the puddle of piss (not that she blamed whatever poor bastard that had left it - Umbrals were terrifying, their harnesses were terrifying, and whoever it was got both at once). Then, lifting the goggles up, she carefully put them on over her eyes.

Thankfully, they slipped on easily enough. As soon as they were on, everything around her gained a red tint to it, but what was extrraordinary was looking at Gypsy through them; he had an aura of bright blue around him, and a diagram above his head identified him as a [Diamond Dog, Adolescent, Healthy]... and then began to give Obsidian a view of his skeletal structure, overlapped on Gypsy's form to move with him.

Then, little points began to appear on him, with lines that led to the sides of her view. These lines read things such as: [Head] - [Torso] - [Left Leg] - [Right Leg] - [Left Arm] - [Right Arm]... and then, the goggles began to list off the kinds of materials that could reinforce his current outfit.

Obsidian took off the strange goggles, peeked at Gypsy again with her bare eyes, then put them back on. Huh, quite neat. Pretty useful little things, especially if it would be able to point out weak points in the harnesses. And if not, then Opal and/or Patty would surely appreciate a tool like this that could obviously help them greatly with their tinkering.

But now, it was time to address part of the reason Obsidian had originally come here for to begin with. She looked straight at the bodies of the two guards, wanting to identify them, if possible. They were heroes who had died to defend others; they deserved at least a bit of respect, even if Obsidian and Gypsy were in a rush.

[Pegasus, Adult, Deceased]
[Earth Pony, Adult, Deceased]

After a moment of looking at them, more readouts came:

[CAUSE: Magical Destruction]
[CAUSE: Decaptiation]

After that, little readouts began to point out the damage sustained to the armored suits, and the materials needed to repair them... but it said nothing further on the ponies themselves.

Gypsy finished his first blessing, then moved to the other one and, trying not to look at the headless corpse, he extended his paw again and began chanting once more.

[Unicorn - Adult - Dehydrated] suddenly popped up as her view rolled idly past the barricade piled in front of the doorway at the back.

Well, it helped a bit with their identification... but just a bit. But it was good enough, at least for now. However, on the other side of that debris-stacked doorway, they were going to meet somepony they really didn't want to meet with. "I suppose we must get this over with - shall we?" she asked, sounding utterly dejected and resigned to having to encounter the petty pastry thief.

It had been a while since she was able to see the effects of warfare so closely, and all because Amber was completely insane, yet too mentally weak to take over everything instantly.

Eh. No matter how much Obsidian disliked Peavine, it wasn't fair to keep him waiting. She made a mental note to check these new goggles out on one of harnesses later - but for now, she started to magically tear down the barricade, piece by piece.

Strange... why it was barred from this side? She would have expected it built on the other side where the survivor was hiding.

"NO! Stay away from me, you rotten, foul abominations! BEGONE!" Panic was prevalent in his voice, but it was Peavine Stonewall, alright... and he sounded terrified.

A glow began to issue from behind the barricade. "Stay back! I HAVE A GUN!" he cried out, and Gypsy instantly flinched back when he heard that.

"Then put it down please, as I don't want to get shot. You're in need of assistance, Stonewall," Obsidian said with a calm voice. It figured - of all the ponies around, she had to find him. "And I'm fairly sure I'm not a rotten, foul abomination."

"... Obsidian? Get me OUT of here! Princess Twilight barricaded me in here when SHE showed up, a-a-and I can't get out!" Peavine sounded somewhere between desperate and irritated, and the glow receded as he spoke.

Gypsy looked at her with a smirk. "M-m-must we?" But of course, as soon as he said it, he went to the pile to help move things to get the obnoxious stallion free.

Of all ponies around, Twilight had saved him? Why - was he her secret lover or something? In fact, she realized that she had no idea who Midnight's father was. Some of the resulting visions that appeared in her head made her fairly sick to her stomach.

"Did she say why she chose you to remain here?" she asked as she returned to tearing down the barricade again.

"GET ME OUT!!!" Well, he apparently wasn't in the mood to talk just yet.

Gypsy pulled away a lot of debris, but upon reaching the doorway, they came upon the remains of an Umbral Harness jammed tightly into the doorway; probably the reason Peavine was still inside Twilight's room...

Wait - he was in Twilight's chambers! Maybe he saw the glyph in there!

Obsidian looked down and used this opportunity to glare at the harness, to check to see if her goggles would work on it. Especially as she was a bit nervous at the discovery of the mechanical-undead abomination stuck in the doorway. After all, things that weren't alive could turn out to still be active - and she wanted to be absolutely sure that this thing wouldn't try to kill them after digging it out.

[Mechanoid Hybrid - Ancient - Deceased] Well that answered that question, but Obsidian was still careful. She was quite aware that it was deceased; it was undead, after all. The fact that the goggles were showing possible adjustments could come in handy if they could list repairs and potential upgrades.

"OUT OUT OUT OUT OUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!" Gyspy covered his ears and gave Siddy a look that said they should either get him out... or seal him up in there.

This bastard was going to bring disaster upon them if he wasn't quiet! "Shut up in there! We're working as quickly as possible!" Obsidian growled as she kept doing her best to drag away the broken harness from the doorframe. It finally gave with her magic and Gypsy's paws pulling, and it fell into pieces as soon as it hit the floor.

And Stonewall Peavine followed shortly after it. He looked positively ragged; his mane and tail were a mess, his eyes wide and looking everywhere, his gait nervous... and his suit definitely showed telltale signs of wetting himself. But the most notable thing he had with him was what looked like a steel tube with strange nubs and other things attached to it.

"Are they gone!?" he said shakily as he swept the front of this 'gun' in each direction he looked in.

"We believe so - now put that thing down before you hurt somepony," Obsidian glared, not in the best mood to deal with him. "Why did the princess put you back there? Is there any specific reason?"

Peavine looked at her for a moment, then slowly lowered the gun to point it at the floor. "N-no... I had been sent to procure some glyph scrolls at Her Majesty's request, but when I showed up with them, I barely had a chance to say a word before... before..."

He steadied himself, then continued. "... when they got to the Throne Room, Princess Twilight magically shoved me into her quarters, then sealed the door with whatever she could cram into the doorway. I couldn't see what was happening, but apparently Princess Flurry Heart is attempting a COUP! How could this BE? Princess Twilight is her AUNT!"

"Oh, that's not Princess Flurry Heart - it's something far, far worse that possessed her body," Obsidian explained as she attempted to calm him down. "Do you still happen to have those scrolls, as I require them... and did the princess happen to say anything else? Did you hear what became of her, mayhaps?"

Peavine gave her a skeptical look. "You... you need them? But Princess Twilight Sparkle ordered them specifically from the Penitentary Center - these aren't for civilian eyes!"

Gypsy facepawed, then stepped forward and gently placed his paws on Peavine's collar, straightening it a bit for him. "P-p-pony, we are the only backup y-you can expect, and should you n-n-not wish to help us, th-then we are under ZERO oblig-gation to protect or save you... and we shall l-l-leave you here, among the d-debris, for when she returns."

Gypsy would do no such thing, and Obsidian knew it; he was too kind-hearted, to caring to ever allow anyone to have to endure such a thing alone. But Peavine didn't know that.

The stallion's face blanched, and he numbly reached into the vest of his armor, and brought out a fancy scroll casing. "... h-here," he said in shock, holding it out.

"Th-thank you," Gypsy responded as he looked to Obsidian with a nod.

"I know that they aren't for civilian eyes - which annoys me terribly. We wouldn't even be in this mess if I'd gotten my hooves on them back in Manehattan," Obsidian huffed as she reached out and took the scroll, which she then opened immediately to make sure it was what she hoped it was.

The scroll contained a grand total of sixteen different protection glyphs - and she had not a single idea of which one was the key element, as ALL of them were magical blockers of some sort.

Peavine looked at them both for a moment, then hurriedly made his way to the door.

"You sh-should not go out there w-w-without one of us!" Gypsy warned... and surprisingly, the guard stopped at the threshhold. He looked back at them both, his expression somewhere between nervous and impatient.

"Fine, yes, a good point, now can we go? I have had FAR enough of being stuck, and I need a shower, a meal and a bed, in that exact order - and I do NOT want to wait long for it. If you have things to do, then do them... just hurry!" He aimed his gun at the open doorway and paced, too unnerved to stand still.

"Is it wh-what you seek?" the diamond dog asked her.

By Darkness, it was never easy, was it? Now they had to either find some way to paint all of these glyphs on their armors, chariots and so on, or they would have to take the time to try to figure out which one was the correct one. Obsidian's dream of using an anti-mind controlling glyph as some kind of resistance symbol - which would logically mean that everypony who stood against Amber, by definition, was safe from her most powerful weapon - would have to wait a bit.

"I think so, yes. I will check the princess' chambers; Stonewall, you've waited for this long, so you can wait a little bit longer. And please don't go out there on your own, as it's certainly not safe around here."

Actually, there was one other thing to see to. "We still have one task to do while we're here in the palace - the scroll wasn't the only thing we'd come here for."

Peavine practically panicked at hearing that they weren't done. "NO! No no no no NOOOO! I do NOT want to stay here another second! There's NO REASON to - Princess Twilight is GONE! Her visitors are GONE! NOBODY is left here, so we can LEAVE!"

Gypsy stepped forward and locked the unicorn with a HARD stare. "NO. We will d-do as we came t-t-to."

"What in the wide, wide world of Equestria could be so damned important!?!?" Peavine shrieked angrily.

The diamond dog stepped forward and took hold of the guardpone's collar again... but not so gently, this time. He shoved him backwards until he connected with the wall, and came muzzle-to-muzzle with him.

"Because Cadence's remains will not stay HERE!" he yelled into the stallion's face, tears now rolling down his cheeks... and, unknown to him, he didn't stutter a word of it - it meant that much to him.

Peavine's entire body language shifted at once, and all the fight seemed to just fizzle out of him. He stared at Gypsy in total shock. "... Cadence's... remains?"

Gypsy let go of his collar and turned away, covering his face with hs paws and facing away from them. Peavine just stood there, stunned for a moment, before he looked to Obsidian.

"I... I'm sorry, I... y-yes, of course, it would only be..." He stopped talking; he knew he'd said enough.

Obsidian nodded grimly. Gathering herself up, she made her way into Princess Twilight's room. Just a quick peek, as they didn't really have the time to explore it properly - and besides, it would be somewhat disrespectful. She just hoped that something useful would catch her eye.

The room was just like one of the suites, except it was themed to the alicorn herself; shades of purple were all over, and the general feeling she got was that it was supposed to be neat and orderly...

Supposed to be.

Instead, things were a bit disheveled; the bed was unmade and shoved against the wall, the dresser was on top of it, and a few chairs were scattered about. The chaise lounge was in the far back corner, and smelled vaguely of pee - probably where the unicorn had been sleeping. Otherwise, the only thing that might be interesting was her desk; it was untouched, except for what looked like little metal tubes lined up in rows on it's surface.

The drawers held very little of interest until she reached the main drawer; it had two books and a pencil case, and not much else of interest... unless Obsidian was after paper clips or a slide rule.

The first book looked well-worn and cared for, was bright purple, and had the words 'Twilight's Diary' written on the cover... and a hefty-looking padlock.

The second book, however, was a black-bound ledger that looked positively ancient... and had Sombra's banner on the cover.

The pencil case had pencils, yes... but inside it was also a key of some sort, its' purpose unknown. And it didn't fit the lock on the diary. Not that she tried it; nope, nuh-uh, not a bit... well... okay, at least it was good to know it didn't fit THAT lock. Don't judge.

If that second book was what Obsidian thought it was - and she certainly doubted that it wasn't - then it was her family's property. Princess Twilight wasn't around right now to keep her out of it, and as far as Obsidian was concerned, Amber hadn't read it, so it was practically her DUTY to keep this book out of her hooves! She immediately checked the key from the pencil case, impatiently attempting to finally get her hooves on Sombra's diary.

Since the ledger had no lock, it was simple enough to check... and lo and behold, the first words written inside were:

It was written out in simple, shaky block lettering; his penmanship was okay, but obviously not complete.

Well, that certainly seemed like the Sombra she'd seen in her dreams - the real one, not the parasitic monster living within his body. In a way, it was Obsidian's first actual contact (well, except for the snippets of Hope's memories she kept dreaming - and in all honesty, she hadn't appreciated him very much during those visions) with the pony that unknowingly gave her life and then saved it. It was a strange feeling; almost as if her throat was choking - but it was coming from her chest.

Obsidian took up the key and Sombra's diary and stashed them away before returning the princess' diary and pencil case to the drawer. "Okay - now, let's make our way towards the testing labs." She was ready; glyphs, her father's diary, and even a rescued pony... she had accomplished much.

When she left the room, Gypsy was wiping his eyes on his hoodie sleeve, and Peavine just glanced at her, but said nothing. The three of them made their way back down the hall, past the Suites... and towards the main hallway. Obsidian smelled something acrid as they got close - then, she saw the hoofprints.

Jade's steps, measured and even, were blackened spots on the carpet where he'd passed. Around them on the walls were the remains of decorative tapestries and framed pictures; all burnt to blackened and tattered remains. Then, they made it to the doors to the Scientific Wing... or what was left of them. They were a melted heap on the floor, and Gypsy held up his paw as they drew close.

"Stop... the nose t-tells him that th-this is... still w-warm..." Sure enough, even Obsidian felt the lightest bit of heat coming from the glob of steel in front of them - how could it still be putting off heat?

Fascinating... but they didn't really have the time to investigate it properly. Whatever curse was put onto Jade, its residual effects were even more terrifying than Obsidian had initially thought. In fact, she was concerned if they would even find any remains of the murdered princess...

She'd been misled into thinking that the cursed shard was her hurt child; she could've been trying to embrace him.

And the longer Obsidian thought about it, the more she wanted to experiment to see if she could forcefully tear Sombra's and Hope's energies from Amber's soul and let them return to their proper owners. "Give me a moment," she muttered with irritation as she focused herself, trying to cast a Water Spell directly onto the doors to cool them off.

It took a moment, as the spell worked faster with the given element present... but eventually, a light magical rain began to fall above the hunk of twisted steel - and it gave off a loud, fierce hissssss as steam instantly rose from it.

Gypsy placed a paw on Obsidian's barrel and pressed her gently back a step, making certain they avoided the steam. "It smells... st-st-strange..." Peavine hadn't said a word, but he took note of their activity and took two steps back, just to be certain. The steam just kept coming; it didn't seem like any amount of water was cooling it off; every drop continued to turn to hissing steam - even after a minute-long deluge.

"Bah! This would work much faster if we could simply blast open another hole next to the doors!" Obsidian growled, becoming more and more frustrated with each uneventful second as she watched the water continue to turn to steam. "Peavine! You've supposedly spent more time within this castle than either of us; are there any other ways to get inside the laboratory area?"

"Yes... yes there is, in fact; this way," he said, then turned back out into the hall and went out of a side exit, into the palace gardens. The covered area where her father's statue had been dragged out of looked as though there had been something grinding up dirt in the area - it seemed as though somepone had been made to drag it out of the magically protected shelter it had been in. Aside from that, nothing else seemed to have been molested; even the statue of 'The Villainous Trio' was still there.

Peavine led them along the path, and back around to the castle's far side where there was a small, iron-wrought gate. "This is Her Majesty Princess Twilight's entrance to her personal laboratory... if you'll wait a bit, I can try to pick the lock; I am unfortunately quite certain that she had the only key."

Who could have possibly moved that statue? Well, now that she considered it, Amber had access to plenty of industrial-purposed mechanical harnesses and kept a number of zombie Umbrals on her side; it shouldn't have been all that difficult to move it from where it was to where it had ended up. She wouldn't even have had to mind-control anypony.

"By any chance, would it happen to be this key?" Obsidian pulled out the key she'd 'acquired' from Twilight's pencil case and showed it to Peavine.

The unicorn stallion stared at it as his jaw dropped open. "H-how... how did you-"

Gypsy smirked and patted him lightly on top of his head. "She d-d-does that; you shall get used t-to it, in t-time."