Obsidian: Legacy Of Sombra

by Randimaxis

Seven: Factory Settings

The anchor was brought up, and they were soon on their way once more.

Below, they passed over a number of places where the fighting was beginning to show; a small village where buildings were abandoned and collapsed, more burnt bridges, a farmer losing the hordes in his cornfields, a barricade destroyed at a river crossing, trees being cut down to block the path of an oncoming unit of harnesses...

Equestria wouldn't be able to stand up to this assault for too long; it was already starting to seem as though it was losing some of its' color and warmth. At this rate, there would be nothing left of it within a month.

Opal spent most of her time looking off the sides or amassing spare parts; she had filled at least three laundry hampers with stuff she'd found just lying around (at least, Obsidian HOPED they had been loose parts), and had brought all of them topside. She hadn't made any modifications yet, but it also meant that she as so busy thinking that Lapo had grown dormant for now. Small miracles.

Diamond had brought himself to Cupcake, who was at the wheel, and was asking a million questions a minute... and even though Cup couldn't understand a word he was saying, he simply started making small talk (no pun intended) with the little stallion. Strangely enough, Cup always seemed to answer whatever question Diamond asked; not because he understood, or because Mundy was speaking Equestrian... more like Cup's responses just happened to be the right ones. Pies were weird.

However, as they got close to their destination, Obsidian saw something that was not a good sight: There was a procession of carts, all pulled by teams of two ponies, and every last one of the mares and stallions - and some colts and fillies - were all displaying yellow-orange glows from their eyes. The carts were big enough to require teams of at least four... but it was only two ponies pulling at a time, and a very slow procesion of tarp-covered carts.

Stupid Amber. If Obsidian would have had her levels of power and an alicorn body, Equestria would be conquered in one, single swoop. In fact, there would be hardly any work to conquer it - a swift mind control over Twilight, one rushed marriage with Midnight, and she would be able to start transforming the entire nation from the inside, acting like the power behind the throne, until there would be no opposition to her rule.

Amber, meanwhile, was - at best - destined to rule over fields of ash and soot.

"Cuppy, do you possibly have binoculars or a lunette I could use?" she asked quietly when she noticed the carts. Foolish, foolish Amber... she'd had Opal before, and now she could use Patty's genius mind - so why was she so stupid to rely on inefficient slave work like this?

Cup reached behind him and pulled forth a pair of fancy opera glasses, then held them out to Obsidian. "Will these do?"

Diamond blinked. "{Obsidyan... where did he get those from? I do not even see any pockets..?}"

"Magic, Diamond - simply magic," she replied with a smirk as she put the opera glasses to her eyes, looking down on the carts for any details that could be useful.

The carts were all sturdy steel ones, but the tarps over them kept their contents a secret... for the time being, anyhow. The procession was a solid line of carts that were all going directly into the large open bay doors of Opal's factory. A factory that was now spewing forth thick, black smoke from the once-clean-burning smokestacks.

The sky around the place was thick with smog, and there was a growing pile of ashes near the base of each chimney. The carts were pulled along, up the rise, past the shuttered and boarded candy factory and into the huge doors. Within minutes, each cart came back out through the opposite side - empty.

The line then continued back the way the others had come from, forming two lanes of carts. Those pulling the carts looked to be exhausted, yet they had no other choice but to carry on; as she watched, a stallion fell over onto the ground next to the mare he was pulling with. Her eyes ceased their glow for a moment, and she took one look at the fallen stallion and sobbed loudly... but only for a moment, before the glow in her eyes resumed, and another mare stepped out of the factory to take the stallion's place. His unmoving body was left in the dirt as the two mares pulled the heavy cart, tears streaming down the muzzle of the one who'd suffered his loss.

"That malicious BITCH!" Lapo suddenly spoke up from beside her. "The very NERVE of bypassing my Clean-Air Scrubber System like that! Certainly, it would be more efficient to do things the nasty way, but then it would leave a smog-filled cesspool to rule over! Who does she think she is?"

"Queen Amber," Cupcake intoned in a low and growling voice.

Unneccesary loss of pony lives, toxic damage to the environment, wide-spreaded destruction of property and industry... eeyup, that was Amber's rule for you.

"She incorrectly thinks herself brilliant; why is it that every single invader tries to conquer Equestria in some stupid, arrogant and wasteful way? Do they want to rule over a barren wasteland? Are they all so sadistic? Or perhaps they were simply too stupid to walk and breathe in the same time?" Obsidian growled angrily. "Opal, we need to get into the factory quickly - did you have any possible useful secrets that we could use right now?"

Opal didn't reply... but Lapo did. "Of course we do - we ALWAYS have contingencies in case things turn out other than what we'd planned - or was our Mecha-Arachnid not proof enough?"

She pointed towards the rear of the facility with a hoof. "Between Release Valve number seven and the firewall, there should be a passage big enough to allow a single-file entry to the main factory floor; from there, we should be able to easily reach the Fabrication Center, where all of our tools and resources are kept."

"Patty... we're coming, honey," Cup said, but Lapo looked at him with disdain.

"This 'Patty'... we certainly hope she's not the kind who would misuse or abuse our toolkits or equipment; frankly, from what we have already seen from the Pie family, it would perturb but not surprise us to learn she had baked them all into some fool cake!"

Cup blinked... then, he got his 'annoyed' voice. "Now just one minute there, Doctor Frankenpone... are you implying that my family doesn't know what they're doing?"

Lapo gave him a smug smirk. "Not at all... we're openly stating it, not merely implying."

Obsidian heard Cup grind his teeth together. Not good.

"In fact, we daresay that your entire family consists of-"

"{There will be SILENCE!}" Mundy spat the words at her and stared into her eyes... and, after a moment, Lapo looked away and her eyes went to blue.

"Ah, th-thank you, brother, yeah..." Opal stammered out.

"You haven't actually seen enough of the Pie family," Obsidian noted. A secret passage to the heart of the factory? She certainly liked the sound of that. "Did you possibly have any other contingencies that could be useful?"

Lapo gave a smug smirk. "Why, yes indeed - ALL to be revealed as necessary, as we're still not certain as to how close we shall be working with you lot; no need to hamstring ourselves needlessly." Even Diamond gave her a disapproving glance at that.

The airship would normally have been seen quite easily... but the pollutants in the air seemed to hide the ship admirably, if pollution could ever be considered 'admirable.' With directing from Lapo/Opal, they set the ship down on one of the smaller building rooftops. The (mad) scientist led them to a juncture bewteen a chimney and some unidentifiable machinery, and whipping out a few small tools, quickly opened a hatch that held a ladder descending into the factory itself.

"Quickly! Before we're spotted!" Lapo took the lead, practically sliding down the ladder to get to the factory floor. Diamond loked down... and gulped. But Cupcake surrounded him with his 'magic sprinkles', and gently lowered him down, offering the next egress to Obsidian.

"Milady?" he intoned sweetly.

Walking around in a scarf when it wasn't winter felt a little bit weird; in the airship, she didn't pay too much attention - they'd had other problems, after all - but now on the ground, she could feel her neck was getting a bit warm. Hopefully she'd replace it soon with one of Quartz's suits.

"Yes, yes - I'm going in." Stupid, stupid Amber and her stupid, stupid plans...

Obsidian trotted to the hatch in order to climb down.

The ladder led to a catwalk which was subtly out of the way, above the factory floor. The carts were being drawn in and separated near the front; Obsidian saw what looked like minotaurs, eyes aglow with Amber's control, directing the carts in one of two directions.

Most of the carts were sent towards the machinery floor, where large hoppers were grinding away as tarps were pulled off, revealing metallic minerals which were then tilted and poured into the chutes, where they were undoubtedly being made into materials for more harnesses. The minotaurs looked just as exhausted as everyone else, and there was a general air of sorrow that hung here.

As she watched a minotaur peeked under a tarp, and sent that cart down the side towards a path underneath the hoppers. Down there, the doors to several blast furnaces were standing open, with more minotaurs enslaved down here to shovel fuel into the heat and fires, keeping the hoppers above working at full tilt.

The cart in question came down the ramp and stopped at the bottom; the two mares who brought it here got on one side and tilted the contents out of it and onto the floor in front of the workforce. It was lumber - chopped piles of lumber that the minotaurs began hefting into the furnaces at a rapid pace. But Obsidian's mind picked out a detail - one she never thought she would be able to unsee...

Among the grey and brown logs, there was an occasional log or branch which stood out among them... because the wood was a stark, pure white color.

Damnation... there goes Obsidian's plans to place an invitation to her wedding within the Harmony Tree's roots. Hopefully this time, The Moochick would choose a bit more of a mobile appearance; she had no idea of the extent of his... her... its powers, but she had expected something a little more resistant to attack.

To see such a fantasical being turned into simple, wasteful fuel was a bit disheartening... more than a bit disheartening, actually. Were simple saws and axes enough to take down the Harmony Tree? Did they have to wait for The Moochick's rebirth now? Was The Moochick already present in Equestria again, free from the shackles of its lumber-based body?

She had little doubt that Harmony was still around - if it would have been THAT easy to rid of it, someone would probably have already done it.

It didn't stop her from feeling a heavy mix of sadness, anger and a bit of anxiety at the sight of the pale wood, though.

"Opal - we need to sabotage the furnace and try to grab as much of this white wood as possible, I think." She didn't feel any different; Applejack's death had immediately gotten her attention...

No, even the destruction of the Tree of Harmony couldn't hurt The Moochick; to think otherwise would be absurd.

Lapo turned to face Obsidian, her eyes wide. "We shall do no such thing! We did not put two years of our lives into the creation of those furnaces, simply for some disheartened vagabond of a sibling to come along and tell us to SABOTAGE them!"

She heard Cup gritting his teeth again.

"... however, there ARE cutoff valves; that would be far more accomidating than DESTROYING or BREAKING our inventions, you shallow heel!"

She gave an exaperated sigh, then spoke to Obsidian as if she were a foal. "Since you cannot seem to appreciate machinery properly, then you and your ridiculous coltfriend go find this 'Patty', while we and Diamond will go to the cutoff valves and utilize the PROPER way to stop expensive and delicate equipment. Come, brother - let us go do something WORTH doing."

Lapo began to make her way further down the catwalk, and Diamond - after a sigh & a shrug - followed along behind her.

Once she was out of earshot, Cup grumbled, "I wonder if we could ask Amber about a trade..."

Well, it seemed that after a while, Obsidian found that she was actually getting used to Lapo; she just needed to remember to focus on what the mare was talking about, and ignore how she was saying it. Sadly, Opal Lapo left before she managed to tell her that using cutoff valves was, in fact, a rather effective way to sabotage furnaces.

Stupid Lapo.

"No, Cuppie... no matter how tempting," she grumbled a bit as she started to look around, wondering where they should go. "Let's try to do this quietly; I'd prefer to save any possible violence for rescuing the remnants of the Tree of Harmony."

Cup blinked. "The... what now?"

However, the answer to that question was cut off by the hiss of steam that filled the passage right above them; walking across the gangplank above was a clatter of hooves and voices.

"... almost prepared for your chariot, my most beautiful mistress!" A stallion's voice called out from above them.

"Good... and the modifications are in full swing with the harnesses; soon, that little whelp will have my entire armada AIRBORNE! Oh, I can hardly wait to see the looks on their faces when we storm CLOUDSDALE!"

That was Flurry's voice - AMBER WAS HERE.

"Yes, your majesty, of course! The foolish pegasi will never see it coming!" the wheedling, whimpering voice returned.

"That's fine - now get out of my sight, before I have you walk into a furnace!"

"Y-y-YES, ma'am! Getting lost right now, ma'am!" Hoofsteps scampered away.

Cupcake whispered to Obsidian. "She has lackeys? Of their own free will?"

Damnation! What was she doing here? Obsidian could hope it was some sort of modern technology, or a magical projection, or... well, anything else other than the possibility that they would meet Amber personally!

"Working under the threat of walking into a furnace isn't exactly a working display of free will, you know," she whispered in return to Cupcake, trying to be as quiet as possible. She'd simply love the chance to snap Amber's shard in half, but they had other problems to deal with at the moment. Suddenly, stealth had now become far more important in their current quest - they couldn't afford to fight with a Celestia-damned alicorn!

Obsidian off-hoovedly made a mental note to send a sufficient warning to Cloudsdale.

The hooves above continued on down the length of the catwalk, then paused directly above where she and Cupcake were hiding. "Ah, the sound of my Empire being forged... speaking of forges, I say we should go and check on the little Pie, shouldn't we?"

There was a pause, then a smarmy chuckle. "Oh, I'm sure you'd LOVE to do that personally wouldn't you, Princess? But no no noooo... you'll spend the rest of your rather long life life under MY hoof, MY lead, MY control... or should I find a way to do to your Daddy what I did to your Mommy?"

She cackled loudly, then began to make her way down the line. Cupcake (who looked furious) turned to her and whispered, "If she's headed to Patty, we could follow Amber right to her!"

Obsidian nodded - it was risky, but they would probably find Cup's sister more quickly this way... and then worry about the rest. If this was Amber setting a a trap...

Well, Obsidian reasoned, I'll just have to hope that she's as stupid as she always is.

They crept along carefully underneath the alicorn as she made her way along the lines.

"Oh, that doesn't even sound biologically possible... and how very UNladylike of you to suggest such!" She laughed aloud, then made a non-committed sound. "Bah, I'm not worried in the least bit about the usurpers - after all, they-"

She stopped mid-sentence, then a low growl escaped her throat.

"Yes, by all means, rub THAT in my face! Amethyst got LUCKY with that damnable dagger, and that was ALL! It doesn't matter if I lost a few minds... I have the Element Bearers - which means no goody-goody types coming into the mix to spoil my fun!"

Silence again, then a bark of a cynical chortle.

"HA! Don't make me laugh... she's a joke, and one with a punchline I'll gladly deliver, as soon as I find out where she took my other siblings! It'll really only be over after they're all dead, mind you... and YOU are in this for the long haul, my dear!"

Flurry was still in there, still fighting! Good; to be fair, if Obsidian was in her position, she'd probably already have given up... well, at least she wouldn't have used any offensive language. If this was a trap, then it was not a very good one. but now, she had a few confirmations; Amber had admitted that she gotten hold of the Element Bearers, and that she really did intend to kill her siblings...

And Obsidian did not like it when others messed with her family.

Amber/Flurry made her way down another side passage, and came to a stop. "Well?" A knock came, followed by a sigh and a wrenching sound for the front doorway. "Never mind; you take too long!" More hoofsteps, then...

"Hello, my little pony! Good to see you sooooooo hard at work! Of course, not that you have any choice, but it's still good to see the progress on MY armada."

"Okay, let's wait a bit for her to leave first," she muttered to Cup. They now knew where Patty was - so the easy part of their quest was already done.

There were hoofsteps, then... "And what's this..? OH! Oh, that will be NASTY, once they're in the air! You have such a creative mind - I'm so glad I OWN IT!"

More maniacal laughter, then the sound petered out as a large hiss of steam issued from somewhere below them.

"Wait. Hold on just a moment... why is the boiler pressure declining? That's not right... unless..."

It was silent for a moment... then there came a slow and wicked laughter. "Well... well... well... of all the ponies I could ever expect to feel the presence of, I never imagined this sort of intrusion in a million years... or at least a thousand."

Hoofsteps began to make their way back in the direction they had come from. "I think perhaps I should go and see this for myself... and maybe, once I get my claws into his brain, then Diamond can tell me why he's here... and who that is with him..." Cupcake blanched, but stayed where he was hiding.

Okay, truth time - whatever Patty had made, Obsidian really wanted it - at least, to keep it out of Amber's hooves. And, come on - who laughs that much, and so maniacally? Amber was a rather sick individual - in many ways, apparently.

However, first things first; they'd be able to better consider Amber's mental problems when she was completely and utterly destroyed. For now, Obsidian had other problems to deal with.

Diamond and Opal were, as far as she was concerned, safe from mind control; Opal had her glyphs, and Diamond was Diamond. It still didn't change the fact that they had to hurry, unless they wanted to finish a rescue mission with two additional ponies to rescue.

"Cupcake," Obsidian whispered quietly, "do you happen to have have any excessively noisy tools in your miraculous storage space that could possibly attract her attention?"

Cupcake slowly smiled... and pointed a hoof at what looked like a small box that was below them on the wall in the corridor... a small box that had the words [FIRE ALARM] written on it.

"I think the tools we need are already here," he said as he climbed off the catwalk they were on and inched his way down to the floor below, where he marched right up to the box, then grabbed the lever with his magic and yanked on it HARD.

A nerve-shattering klaxon alarm began to wail, and Cup grimaced as he began to try to climb back up... but, due to the way the secret catwalk was positioned, he couldn't quite manuver to it. He glanced around in a bit of a panic, then looked back up at Obsidian. "Get Patty! I'll go get the airship started so we can take off quickly! Try to spot Opal and Diamond on the way! I LOVE YOUUUU!"

He then took off like a shot, headed in the opposite direction from where Amber/Flurry had been; now Obsidian was alone, and had the screech of an alarm in her ears... and a Peppermint Patty to save.

To be completely fair, she didn't exactly mean for him to activate this noisemaker right this very minute! She'd wanted to check in on Patty first, plan an escape, prepare for-...

Regardless, the deed was done. She'd loved to have been able to reply, 'I love you too' or 'be careful' in response... but she doubted her voice would carry over the blaring siren.

Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, and her heart was beating as fast as equinely possible without killing her. They were deep in enemy territory, the Tree of Harmony was going to be used as mere fuel, they still hadn't dragged Patty out of her prison and - damnation - Amber was here!

Fantastic.

First things first - steps. One after another. No time to worry. She practically darted to where Patty was.

Reaching the portion of the catwalk that led under the doorway, she found the way blocked by a concrete wall; there was a maintenence ladder, however, that brought her up to where she could get inside the room. The door was automatic, and let out a hydraulic hiss as it opened...

It was Opal's workshop - it had to be, due to the number of tools and supplies lying around. There were also a few harnesses in the room, but without Umbrals inside them, they were just Labor Harnesses.

Labor Harnesses that Peppermint Patty was installing flight propellers on.

The poor mare looked like she'd been worked constantly since Obsidian had last laid eyes on her; deep circles under her eyes, her bright red mane hanging limp and greasy, worn spots and chips on her hooves, and the telltale amber glow in her vision as she desperately worked to get the propeller in correctly, holding the generator that would spin it in place with her own hooves - no magic for the earth pony mare - as she attempted to screw the boltplate down at the same time.

She looked as though Amber's possession was the only thing keeping her upright; it was Quartz, all over again.

Her vile sister was an intensely foolish evil mare; an inventor like Patty needed resources and help - one can't expect a brilliant mind to do this sort of laborious work all by herself! One or two of the minotaurs Obsidian had seen earlier should be here, ready to help with the heavy lifting, as well as a unicorn to do the more delicate operations... and all the while, she would be well-fed and cared for. That way, she would work faster, more focused... and more importantly, any 'rescue' parties would be terribly surprised to discover that she didn't want to leave before finishing her steady and rewarding job! She would want to finish, because she would be proud of her achievements.

Obsidian was getting so frustrated that sooner or later, she might try to take over Equestria herself, just to show all these idiots how to do it properly!

The Grey Princess trotted quickly to her sister-in-law. "Peppermint Patty! We are leaving... right now," she said as she took off her scarf, placing it around Patty's neck.

Patty looked at her blankly... then, when the scarf slipped around her neck and the glow was cut clean from her eyes, she let out a thin squeak and threw her forelegs around Obsidian, hugging her tightly.

Then, she glared back at the harness she'd been working on and gave it a firm kick across the room. It smashed against shelving that sent tools toppling to the floor. Patty grabbed up a number of them, quickly stuffing them into a saddlebag that she threw onto her shoulder as she led the way out of the rear door of the workshop.

The factory was in chaos as the alarms were going off, and there were a number of ponies whose amber glows had also vanished from sight - and they were panicking... or rioting?... she couldn't tell, but there was no peace on the factory floor at all.

Patty was headed toward what looked like a sewage grating, but she had no clue that there was an airship here!

Obsidian had officially changed her mind; the scarf was totally awesome as a weapon against mind control. Quartz's suits would be useful as well... but at the moment, she was considering her simple, homemade and glyph-stitched scarf to be the best thing ever.

If she hadn't had it, she probably would have had to shake Patty physically, then try to remind her of Miss Pinkie, Cupcake, Blue and so on, until she would finally break herself free of mind control... or Amber would come back and kill them all, either way.

"Patty, wait - we have an airship!" She stopped Patty in her tracks and quickly explained how they'd gotten here. "Cup is already preparing to launch, so we need to be fast!"

Maybe in all of this chaos, she could snag at least a single branch of the Harmony Tree?

Peppermint Patty came to a dead stop, and the look of incredulity on her muzzle turned to one of sheer, utter excitement as the word 'airship' hit her brainpan. She darted back to Obsidian and jogged excitedly in place as she looked around for said airship, looking giddy as a schoolfilly for the chance to see such a marvelous device in the horseflesh.

Meanwhile, there was an explosion from deeper within the factory, followed by triumphant laughter and screamed words.
"A thief can emulate greatness, but only the ORIGINAL can prove the shallow depth of a cheap copy! FEEL THE WRATH OF OUR MECHANICAL VENGEANCE!"

It was Lapo's voice, and it was followed by a very different alarm, and words which came across the loudspeakers:

The words were followed by a shriek of pure, unadulterated HATRED that came in the voice of the only alicorn present. It seeed as if Opal was having some fun... but it was a call for escape, though. Obsidian didn't know what the phrase 'generator meltdown' meant, exactly... but she didn't want to be here to find out. She ran after Patty.

The two of them seemed a bit lost, until they cleared the scaffolding and heard: "{OBSIDYAN!! PATTEE!! THE LADDER!!}"

Sure enough, there was a rope ladder which was swinging through what was now an enormous hole in the factory's ceiling... however, the ladder was still too far up to reach...

But Patty was undeterred.

As Obsidian watched, the mare pulled out a hammer from her tool satchel, and with a speed so fast her form seemed to blur, she used random scrap laying around to rapidly construct a metal staircase right before the Dark Princess' eyes!

She was done within the space of twenty seconds, and it reached up high enough to catch the ladder. Patty motioned to the metal staircase, then quickly climbed it and took hold of the ladder, making her way up partially before turning back to wait for Obsidian.

Oh no.

She now felt the unmistakable YANK of her skull to the left, supposedly indicatng that Amber was trying to take control of her! Perhaps giving her scarf to Patty wasn't the most brilliant idea, as Obsidian had initially thought. She'd hoped that Amber wouldn't notice her presence here...

"Gah!" Obsidian yelped as she grabbed her head in her hooves, trying to fight the control as much as she could. Perhaps it took twenty seconds to build the stairs, but it was twenty seconds too long; Obsidian hit herself in the face, hoping that the busrt of pain would help her keep focus on staying in charge of her own mind.

"Patty... the scarf! I... I need it...!" she desperately ran towards the staircase. More glyphs - next time, they definitely needed to take more glyphs.

Patty looked down at Obsidian, and understanding broke out across her features just as Amber's slimy mental touch wormed into her skull!

Patty leaned down and dropped the scarf onto Obsidian's horn, and Amber's words cut off in mid-threat. Of course, this was followed by an enraged scream, and a blast of pure Dark Magic roared out of a nearby door, taking out a corner of the roof just as the ladder with Patty on it began to ascend.

Obsidian made it to the top of the staircase and, with a stretch, she reached out and managed to grab hold of Patty's outstretched hoof. The earth pony pulled the unicorn to the ladder, and the airship above them began to rise... albeit FAR too slowly.

"Will you cease your slow progress and come aboard, already!? We daresay that this entre plant will be razed to the ground VERY soon! Move your flanks!" Lapo yelled down at them from the airship's rail-... well, where the rails were supposed to be, anyway.

But... but the Tree of Harmony... DAMNATION! Obsidian followed her sister's order and moved her flank; well, after the factory was gone, it wouldn't be used to fuel Amber's warmachines anytime soon.

The two of them climbed rapidly up the rope ladder, and piled ono the ship's deck as Cupcake made to steer it, pushing the throttle as far forward as he could!

He saw them both, and smiled broadly. "Siddy! PATTY! Catch, Pats!"

He then reached back into his 'dimensional pocket' and threw something at Patty, which she caught; it was her black bowler hat, a glyph of warding stitched into the hatband. "Quartz says hiya!" he intoned, and she smiled as she donned it directly.

Diamond gave a cheer from his place at the anchor levers, but Opal - sorry, Lapo - came strolling over and examined Patty with her own two red eyes.

"Is THIS whom we came to fetch?" she asked, sounding offended.

Patty looked at Lapo, smiled and offered a hoof... which Lapo stared at and ignored.

"You're telling us that this EARTH PONY is the whole reason we went through this modern nightmare?!? What a waste of time!"

Patty looked at Lapo and frowned.

"And now, our entire factory will be debris - for what? AN EARTH PONY!"

Patty marched up to her and pointed back behind them where Umbral Harnesses were beginning to take off in groups of four to eaight, propellors turning as they made their way towards the airship and those contained onboard it.

Lapo looked at Patty. "This is YOUR fault! How could we have been so blind as to not have seen this coming!"

"Siddy!" Cup yelled, "We've got harnesses, coming in fast! We'll never be able to best THAT!"

Lapo sneered. "Not unless WE build a superior engine to outrun the damnable things, they shan't! Useless Earth Pony - repare to be AMAZED!"

Instead, Patty shoved her hat forward on her head and pushed her bottom lip out.

Lapo took notice and stared back at her. "Oh - are we going to prove how much of a builder you are NOT!?"

Patty spat over the side, then cracked her neck.

"Can't you possibly focus on building something together, and settle who's the better LATER!?" she asked in desperation. "And you will get your factory back one day, Opal - bigger and better than ever before - but please... first we need to actually succeed!"

Lapo scoffed when Obsidian spoke up. "US!? Working with such a plebian as Earth Pony Pie? That shall not even be DIGNIFIED with a response!"

Then, Patty stamped a hoof and stared at Lapo... who stared back at her... and the bowler-topped mare stuck her tongue out.

Lapo gave a wicked smile. "Oh? So you'd rather have us humiliate you in front of your sibling? Then, by all means, bring your sorry hide to lose!"

With a flash from Lapo's horn, her cavalcade of tools levitated from her own saddlebags, and each was surrounded in a blue glow of energy.

Patty, however, simply dipped into her own saddlebags and brought out her hammer once more, a look of determination in her eyes.

Both geniuses then ran to opposite ends of the airship and began to build like mad.

Lapo started moving at a rapid, yet smooth pace. She gathered spare parts from all around her, leaving much of the ornamental parts as being what she was working with. She seemed to be putting together some sort of deck-bound machine...

Meanwhile, at the other end, Patty was zipping back and forth between her own creation, some sort of barrel, and random places on the deck where she too was using ornamental pieces and fashioning them into something else entirely.

Behind them, Obsidian now saw what looked to be flying harnesses, all drifting up from the factory below and giving chase, though at as slow a progression as the airship was making... until they seemed to catch a breeze and started floating faster towards the hapless crew of what was to be the S.S. Debris!

After only a few scant minutes, Lapo stepped back and smiled broadly at her work - whatever it was - and reached over to spin a few dials and pull a large gold lever.

>FWOOOOSH!!!< Twin blasts of fire roared out from the device, and the entire ship lurched forward, throwing Cupcake against the wheel and sending Diamond sprawling onto the rear cabin's front door with an "OOF!" that was the same in ANY language.

Laughing, she then turned to look over at Patty. "Well now, Earth Pony - we have successfully made this ship more powerful, and with only a fraction of the effort involved!"

She then laid a skeptical eye on the largish trash can Patty seemed to be making. "And what, pray tell, is THIS pile of garbage?"

Patty stepped back and grabbed up a bottle of something labeled 'washer fluid', and poured it into the top of the cobbled-together can, then gave it a firm but careful kick that made it begin rattling and chugging. It then grew wheels, and rolled forward - and right off the side of the airship.

Lapo laughed. "WORTHLESS! Your attempt was pathet-"

Patty held up a hoof, and pointed downward.

The barrel-thing was rolling along the hull, as if magnetized, until it reached the bottom, where it then extended what looked like the barrel of a gun. Suddenly, the barrel began to fire at the oncoming harnesses... and encased them in what appeared to be large soap bubbles.

One of the harnesses tried to shoot through the bubble's wall - and was rewarded with the sheer destruction of 500 rivets all bouncing around inside the apparently impenetrable bubble! The harness and it's undead occupant were torn to shreds in seconds.

As the bubble barrel did its' thing, Patty turned and gave Lapo a smug smile... and Lapo looked livid.

Patty turned and began to work on what seemed to be another device, while Lapo simply glared at her for a moment, before turning and starting work on another project herself - determined not to be upstaged.

Now, the harnesses that weren't being encased were picking up a LOT of speed, and streams of rivets began to ping off the hull, as well as other places around the little crew onboard - only the two builders seemed to be unfazed by this.

There now - that's how a free market should work; a competition of two brilliant ponies working in the same field, leading to the greater satisfaction of their client and innovation borne of necessity. And the possible development of better tools of war, as well.

It was extremely satisfying to see Lapo proven wrong, as well as a complete overwhelming of the flying Umbral Harnesses. Obsidian sparked her horn up and cast her shield on the deck, to protect the other ponies onboard - normally, she'd be collecting rivets to load her PPL with, but right now she was pretty sure that her sister and sister-in-law would deal with it marvelously.

Lapo glared at Patty a moment longer... then a slow smile spread across her features. She then turned and began working on another project as well... and began to magically take parts from Patty's device to do so.

Patty didn't notice at first... then, when she finally saw a piece drift past her vision (quite possibly deliberately), the earth pony mare glared back at the smug unicorn.

And with a zip of motion, she snatched a piece off Lapo's work!

Within moments, both inventors were constantly snatching parts fro each other, back and forth, in a somewhat comical display of spite on both ends - parts being grabbed up and shuffled back and forth until it was clear that neither one of them were making even a bit of headway in their inventions.

"Your creations are mud and sticks, compared to our own!" Lapo bellowed, "We suggest you simply allow us to build, and standing aside for a superior mind is no shame! We would at least allow others to think you may actually have some intellect!"

Patty stuck out her tongue and made a very rude gesture towards the unicorn mare before snagging another piece of her project and dashing off to her own with it.

Lapo growled, and with a flick of her horn, a hammer flew over to Patty's project and slammed down on a jutting piece, snapping it off at the base. Patty, seeing this, tossed a wrench behind her and bucked it into the device Lapo was working on, leaving a moderately-sized hole where it went through.

The two of them suddenly dropped all pretense, and came muzzle-to-muzzle, each one gritting their teeth and glaring daggers at each other.

"Waifbrained polyp!"
"Thp-p-p-p-p-p-p-th!"
"You DARE stick your tongue out at us!?"
"MMM-HMMM!"
"Why you-"

And that was when a stream of rivets finally found a vulnerable target... and the dirgible balloon above BURST.

And they began to fall.

Cupcake screamed as he frantically jerked and pulled on the now unresponsive wheel. Diamond whimpered and dove at Obsidian, wrapping himself around her left foreleg and shivering with fear.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!" Cupcake shrieked.

And right when Obsidian had thought that everything would go smoothly, those two started to fight and bicker like unruly foals... and instead of getting two wonderful pieces of technological marvelousness, they got a rivet to their balloon (further proof that this airship wasn't quite fitting for their needs). If she wasn't so livid at Patty and Opal, she would be utterly terrified of their incoming death.

Patty and Lapo looked at each other for only a moment... then, without a single word, Patty became a whirlwind of activity, as Lapo's tools quickly went to work amidst the middle of the tornado. Right in front of Obsidian's very eyes, the two inventors built a massive propellor from scratch - including an engine for it - and sparks flew from it as it began to whir to life; they had accomplished this in seconds flat.

But would it be enough?

As the ground came rushing at them, she felt Cupcake put his forelegs around her barrel, and he kissed her fiercely as... as...

As they narrowly missed the ground, and the entire gondola leveled out and began to rise, barely clearing the treetops and now travelling at a decent clip.

"Ha! Ha-HAA!" Lapo turned and looked to Patty and smiled. "OUTSTANDING!"

Patty smiled back, and tipped her bowler to the unicorn.

"Well, if our genius is truly going to be blessed with a partner who actually understands it - then let us make the best of it, yes?"

Patty nodded firmly.

The two, now working in perfect Harmony, began to put their skills together, and started building in earnest all around the hapless crew.

Cupcake finally let the kiss end, and looked around. "We're... not all gonna die?"

Luckily, in face of a quick demise, the two geniuses seemed to work out their differences and - in a ridiculously short amount of time - they built something together and saved them all.

Well, at least she got a kiss from her Cuppy... though she was a little less happy about Diamond's wrapping around her leg - he was strong, after all.

"It appears that we are not," she glared a warning at both Lapo and Patty... just in case. "Now, I hope you two will continue working together, as I'd like to turn this airship into something more useful. And... where are all the Umbrals?" She looked around to find the last of their attackers.

She could hope that perhaps Amber believed that they'd died after the balloon was damaged? As far as she could see, there were no harnesses pursuing them... possibly they were unable to, as the airship was now speeding along rather quickly - far faster than it was previously capable of.

Lapo looked over at Obsidian and gave a light grin. "Well, nobody told us directly that the Earth Pony possessed such a talented mind; had we a demonstration of such, then there would have been less issue with it!"

She then looked to Patty, who gave back a grin of her own.

Lapo's eyes shifted to blue, and Opal smiled sweetly. "She has quite a way, yes, with invention, right? Such is the, er, way things will sometimes go, heh."

Patty lifted an eyebrow at the sudden change in her construction partner, but Opal simply picked up her tools in her bright red magic, and began to take up directly where Lapo had left off.

The Pie inventor watched Opal work for a moment, then shrugged and simply started doing whatever needed to be done.

Slowly, Obsidian felt the blood rush back into her hoof as Diamond let go of her foreleg and sighed with relief. "{That was NOT pleasant... please, do not bring me with you again, if you are going to gather these two together.}"

"{To be fair, dear brother Diamond, I would prefer to keep our two most brilliant technical minds at our hideout, preparing defenses and inventing useful equipment for our missions. I believe they should be able to do quite a lot of good together.}" Obsidian replied to her brother, for a change using good, old imperial language.

"Well, let's get back home... by the way, did anypony manage to at least touch the remains of the Harmony Tree? No? What a shame," she quickly replied to her own question and sighed.

Cupcake gave a little grin, reached behind him and pulled out a single small white twig, which he placed lovingly behind her ear. "Well, I... kinda got that on the way out; does it count?" he smiled sheepishly.

Obsidian sighed again, this time with relief. "It counts, yes; thank you, Cupcake." It was either the very last remainder of the Tree of Harmony... or the beginning of something new. For now, it was good enough for her.

The newly boosted airship - should it still be called an airship? - made it's way back to Washburn's hideout; by the time it arrived, it was also sporting two more propellers, a catapult and a fully contained pilot's cabin, along with several bubble cannons and the beginnings of a magnetic repelling system to use against the exploding spheres.

Opal and Patty chose to remain onboard to continue their work, though they sequestered Diamond to bring them supplies, which the little stallion was more than happy to do - now that they were safe on the ground, of course.

As they re-entered the underground cavern, Obsidian could hear what sounded like talking. "... as much as we could! We still don't know where the rest of them went, but if they followed us back here, in any capacity-"

"C'mon now, Tourmy! We ain't that dense! We knowed them thangs'd track us t'th' end o' th world an' back - I toldja we were FINE out there!"

"Then explain to me why I got hurt?"

"Look, ah said ah was sorry - but as many o' them thangs showed up, ah don't thank we coulda done much better'n we did!"

"Right - you saved each other, but somehow, you're saying I just happened to get spotted?"

"Ain't our fault you wouldn't hush up none!"

"I was supPOSed to BE proTECted!"

"Yyyyyyyeeahhh... an' yer s'posed ta stay with US, too..."

"Look, can we jus' agree ta disagree, an' get this all fixed up afore Miss Obsidian comes back? I'm sure she'd be AWFUL sore that you got yer leg broke."

"SHE'S sore!?!?"

Oh, by Darkness, who broke a leg!? To say that Obsidian's steps got much faster would be an understatement. Wasn't Tourmy just supposed to be researching?

Coming around the corner, Obsidian found Washburn, Butter and Tourmaline all grouped together - and as soon as she came in, the two Apples stepped in closer around him.

"Uh - MISS OBSIDIAN!" Butter yelped.
"Ulp!" Wash gulped.

"Uhhhhh... hhheeeeyyyy, sister! Umm... were you successful in getting Cupcake's sister back? I mean, you can tell me from over there, right?"

The Apples stood between her and Tourmaline, both smiling nervously.

There was something suspicious going on here... a lot of suspicious things, actually. Obsidian put on a pleasant smile and trotted forward to see what were they hiding Tourmaline from her. "Oh, of course I can... but I want to see all of my dear siblings up close and personal - Tourmaline included. We managed to gather up Patty, so no problems there. How about you?" she asked cheerfully.

Wash tried to move in the way... but Butter gave a hefty sigh, and held a hoof against her brother's barrel. "Miss Obsidian? I gotta be straight with you... Amethyst couldn't find where y'all had escaped from, so we came back an' got Tourmaline here, so he could show us..."

She then sighed. "We found it, alright... an' it was plum COVERED in them harness-thangs. We tried ta leave right off th' bat, but yer brother-"

"I saw purple stones," Tourmaline filled in the blank, "and I had to get as many as I could. So... I did."

"Yeah, an' it almost cost you yer LIFE, you dummy!" Butter yelled back at him. She then turned and stepped aside.

Tourmaline was laying on one of the makeshift tables, looking a bit dirty but otherwise okay... except that his right rear leg was bent in four different ways that legs shouldn't bend, and had part of a bone jutting out of his knee.

"... but I got more stones," he said with a grimace. "And now that Mundy's back..." he added with emphasis.

Well, now - that was a sight that Obsidian couldn't even begin forgetting about; it looked terribly painful.

"Oh, all right - I'll get him," she stepped back, to quickly fetch their medically gifted brother. It seemed like the Apples were right; she was feeling both sore and sorry, just looking at this anatomical horror.

But they got more of Onyx!

One quick explanation later, and Diamond was by Tourmaline's side, his horn healing the greivous wound. Tourmy grit his teeth and moaned as it happened, while Mundy looked a bit upset.

"{And what will we do next time we have to go on a dangerous mission?}"

"We'll... uuurgh... take care not to... RRRGH... get seen..."

"{Yes, Tourmaline - that is correct; you will NOT foolishly run to your goal immediately, will you?}"

"RRRRRGH!... n-n-no..."

"{That is correct, my brother - no more risking yourself for others!}"

Tourmaline groaned and laid back, trying not to grimace too much.

Butter Churn hung her head. "M'sorry we wasn't fast enough t'get to him first; them thangs were all over him like newborn fleas on an old dawg. Wash made short work of 'em, but there was still a heap of 'em there when we left."

She gave a worried look. "Ah hope she wasn't looking fer 'em, too..."

"Do you mean Amethyst isn't here?" Obsidian asked with a sudden touch of worry in her voice. Luckily, she knew that Amber was with Patty while Amethyst and the rest had ventured to look for Onyx's crystals - but Umbrals were dangerous in their own right, and even such a great warrior as Amy could possibly be hurt during the battle.

"Amethyst's kinda put-out by whut happened; she says she wanted ta train summore; she's out in th' Gorge, lookin' fer Rockworms. She said she'd handled one afore, so I figgered she knew whut she was doin'..."

Was she talking about - the giant thing Amy had killed while Obsidian had been sharded?

"Obsidian!" Quartz's voice called out, "That would be you, yes? Splendid! I've made some more articles of clothing to wear for blocking out mind control - yet I still haven't finished any of the suits you asked for just yet; I could use more material, however... perchance do you know of somewhere I could find more and better material?"

"Okay, Amethyst may be capable enough to handle rockworms, but I'll be still going to look for her. And yes, Quartz - I know!" she raised her voice, so he could hear her. "I want us all to go back to Ponyville. I'm sure Miss Rarity won't mind sacking her Carousel Boutique a little bit..."

The search didn't take very long; Obsidian only had to follow the trail of carnage for a small distance before she reached a rocky clearing where there were a pile of worm-things lying dead... along with some horrific-looking birds, some timberwolf remains and what looked to be a young adult hydra - each one, stone cold dead.

Amethyst sat atop the pile of bodies, staring out at the rest of the Gorge... yet, her ear flicked towards Obsidian as she approached. Without turning, she spoke. "You get Diamond to Tourmaline?"

So that's how she was spending her time without Obsidian - having fun and playing out in the wilderness! Obsidian had wanted to take her on a hunting trip to spend some quality time together... of course, Obsidian was only jokingly irritated - in reality, she was rather relieved that Amy was just fine.

"Oh yes, dear sister of mine - that injury to his leg looked rather painful. So, how are you? I hope you weren't too bored, waiting for our return?" she asked.

Amethyst was quiet for a moment, then spoke softly. "Obsidian... what's gonna happen to us?"

She sighed. "I mean... what, are we just going to exist in Equestria like this? What about the Crystal Empire... will we be there? What's the future of our existence? Are we just gonna BE here? What will be expected of us? Why can't we-"

She suddenly stopped, then s-l-o-w-l-y lowered herself towards the ground, and began to creep towards Obsidian.

"... don't... move..." Amy whispered as she began to stalk towards where Obsidian was at.

"The future? That shall be whatever we will want it to be, dear sister! There will be no master over us; all of us will be known as saviours of Equestria," Obsidian said with a dreamy voice. "The gates of Tambelon will open before us, we will be lauded as heroes and-... oop," she froze, not daring to move even a single muscle.

Amethyst crept up closely, then paused for a moment. Just as Obsidian was beginning to wonder if she'd ever get to move again, Amethyst's horn gave a quick flash, and a broken chunk of Timberwolf from the pile was flung into the bushes, which produced an 'eep' sound as Amethyst made for them.

Wait. Waaaaaaaait... bushes didn't 'eep'.

Amy landed in the middle of the scrubby shrub, and Obsidian heard another yelp, then a hoof-connecting smack... and something small, bundled in rags, came rolling out towards her.

"Obsidian! Stomp on it!" Amy yelled.

What came to rest at her hooves looked up at her with big, fear-filled blue eyes, and quivered in its' little ball. "NOH! Noh, pleeze, no stompies!" it whimpered up at her.

For a moment Obsidian couldn't help but wonder if this creature, whatever it was, would hurt her - poison, claws, quills, teeth... there were plenty of things that it could possibly do to her. She did not expect, however, that it would speak.

"Amy, stop! No stompies!" she repeated after the quivering ball, slightly shocked that anything they could find here was able to produce coherent speech!

Amy froze where she was, but continued to eyeball the thing in front of her. Slowly, the little ball unfurled, and it turned out to be... a diamond dog?

Yes, a diamond dog - but a very young one. The creature couldn't have been more than six summers; it had brownish fur with grey bands at the ankles and wrists, a mane that was done up in mismatched pigtails and a cute little muzzle that wore a long, jagged scar directly down the center of it. All of this topped off with what looked to be a very piecemealed outfit of rags and belts, barely holding together.

Big blue eyes looked up at her from the creature, and it trembled where it lie. "Is not hurtingz yu - pleeze, iz no hurtingz diz pup! Iz heer tu findz YU..."

The poor thing was trembling with fear as it... she?... lay there in fear.

"Awwww... don't worry, little one. We were only afraid you might have been dangerous; we won't hurt you. Did my sister hit you too hard? Do you need healing?" Obsidian had a soft spot in her heart for creatures like this one - especially as it was far, far more scared of her than it should have been.

"If you like, you can ride on my back?" she offered.

Amethyst looked at her sister for a moment. "Is... i-is this what we're doing here? I just... wanna be sure we're not killing anything here, right?"

The little ball of diamond dog whimpered when she said 'kill', but then slowly began to get up and looked at the Grey Princess with a bit of awe. Then, she gave a cute but wary little curtsy.

"Iz okay, Miz Obziddiun... diz pup noh hurted; iz been battied by badder thingz den poneez! Iz pleezed to meetchu - diz pup iz 'Biscuit', an' iz been looking for yu!"

She brought her little paws up front and fidgeted with them as she spoke, looking down at the ground. "Iz went tu go find Bruvver Gypsy, but iz no poneez in Poneetown - even doh diz pup smellz Bruvver Gypsy dere - but noh finded him! Soh, diz pup sez 'de NOZE noze', an' she find scent of Miz Obsiddiun in pritty howze wif Bruvver Gypsy scent... so, follow to lotza placez, 'til find noze bringz HEER..."

She now looked up timidly. "Bruvver Gypsy is breathingz still, yah? Pleeze, yah?"

Oh, no - not accents. Accents were terrible, annoying things; why couldn't the entire world speak in the normal, standard Equestrian... or even Imperial, that would be fine too. But Obsidian had already experienced enough to understand what the little pup was saying and-... wait, brother?

"Yes, Amy - 'killing' is hardly the first choice we have. Or second. Third... well, perhaps." Obsidian thought that was already obvious; she wasn't leaving a heap of dead bodies in her wake, was she? "And dear Gypsy is fine and well; we can take you right to him, okay?"

Her little muzzle lit up like a small sun. "OHH! Iz so nice! Iz just like Bruvver Gypsy sez yu iz - nice an' smard an' pritty! Yis yis, iz goh to Bruvver, pleeze!"

She then held up her little arms towards Obsidian. "An' if iz okies, wood like tu ride like yu offur, pleeze!"

Amethyst cocked an eyebrow skeptically, but the look became a slight grin as she watched the pup cheer. "Okay, so maybe... maybe that's kind of, er... 'cute'? Is that the right word?"

"Yis," Biscuit answered, "iz rite word, yis."

"Yes, Amy - that's the right word." Obsidian surrounded Biscuit with her magic and lifted her gently up, planting her steadily on her back. "So let's go back to the airship, and then we head to Ponyville. Say, what about the rest of the diamond dogs, Biscuit? Are they okay?" she asked as she started to trot back towards the hideout.

"Airshipz? Miz Obsiddiun, yu haz AIRSHIPZ?" However, with her question about the other diamond dogs, Biscuit's ears drooped. "... noh, Miz Obsiddiun... deyz NOH fine..."

She looked at them both as she spoke. "Iz been bad - dayz ago, sum uv us gets a goldey-glowey in dere eyez, an dey leef Howler Hollow... an dey noh comez home. Biscuit poppie iz wun whut gone..."

She sniffled, but continued. "Den, poneez go poofsy, an noh find dem too - den, dragons go poofsy, an DAT iz bad stuff, cuz dragon noh go poofsy for anywun afore... den, juz today, diz pup seez dragons in sky again - an' poneez ryde on bax! Diz pup hopez dat poneez find dogs, tu - did poneez find dogs?"

She had such a look of hope on her little muzzle...

Damnation! Amber, even with her lack of intelligence, was still a dangerous enemy. A mass-production of mind-warding glyphs was going to become a top priority soon enough; otherwise, they'd risk terribly high fatality rates. Considering the number of mistreated creatures Obsidian had seen at the factory, she had no doubt that Amber's 'rule' was poised to be a complete disaster.

"No, Biscuit, we didn't... but we will save them. We will save the entire nation of Equestria - as always," she said to the little pup.

Biscuit hung her head and gave a soft, sad little whimper.

Amethyst wore a look of slight anxiety... but stepped closer to Obsidian and gently reached out a hoof to awkwardly pat the little pup on her head. "UH, er... there there, I guess... uhh, it'll be, um... o-okay? I mean, they're probably NOT dead-"

Biscuit's eyes went wide, then began to water. "I MEAN, uh... A-Amber's probably not killing them-"

The pup sniffled loudly. "... NO, I mean, she's probably just working them to death, not-"

Biscuit began to cry, and Amethyst shut her mouth and picked up her pace. "How do you DO it?" she whispered to Obsidian as she caught up to her.

Well, at least Amy was trying to be nice; it was a promising start, even if, at the moment, she was truly terrible at it. Good thing that Obsidian herself didn't have to deal with this kind of trouble at the beginning of her modern history - otherwise, she would've turned out to be as bad at it as Amy apparently was.

"Just a thought, here... but I usually avoid talking about death, Amy," she whispered back to her.

"Biscuit, you really don't need to worry - we know how to stop the glow in their eyes, and as soon as we apply the cure, they'll be free again. I promise, we will find them and bring them back home," she assured little pup in an attempt to cheer her up.

Biscuit looked up from her paws, her eyes all watery and blue. "Yu dooz? An it makez the goldey-glowey go way, an nevur comez bax?" She nodded, then gave one more sniffle and wiped her eyes with a ragged sleeve. "Diz pup iz thankiez you, Miz Obsiddiun... an, um, Miz Ponee..."

"Amethyst," she supplied.

Biscuit nodded hesitantly. "R-rite... 'Amy-Fist'... diz pup thanx yu so much; iz all Bruvver Gyspy sez yu waz... an more." From where she was perched on Obsidian's back, she leaned down and gave her spine a little hug that felt warm and fluffy.

Amethyst looked a bit jealous that her sister could ease things so simply, but she just shook her head and shrugged, continuing with them back to the cavern.

When they arrived, Tourmaline was walking about gladly, shaking his once-busted leg every few steps for good measure. He looked up as they came in. "Obsidian, Amethyst... and who is-"

Suddenly, there was a gasp. "{OH MY GOSH, LOOK AT THE CUTE PUPPY!}"

In an instant, Diamond's magic whisked Biscuit off Obsidian's back with another 'eep', and brought her directly to Diamond's embrace, where she looked rather shocked at the development. "{Oh look at those little paws those ears those BIG blue eyes oh how aDORable you are sister look isn't she adorable oh WOW you are so unbelievably cute I want to name you Margarite and make little coats and hats for you oh my GOOOOOOSH!!!}"

Amethyst paused next to Obsidian. "I think Diamond might like her... just a little bit."

Well... that was unexpected. And perhaps a bit insulting towards diamond dogs; they were real, living, sentient creatures - not toys or slaves, after all. "Her name is Biscuit, Diamond. And she's the sister of your liaison," she informed her small sibling, "and, uh... perhaps you shouldn't squeeze her that hard, I think."

The trip so far had ended rather well; the factory destroyed, Patty saved, their airship upgraded, nopony was hurt and they had even met Gypsy's sister. Great!

Now, there was one thing left to ask about. "Sister Amy... did you manage to find any more of sister Onyx?"

Amethyst sighed. "No... I couldn't find where we'd come out of the tunnels from..."

"But I did!" Tourmaline spoke up, "And it almost cost me my leg, but the pile is at least twice the size it was before!"

Diamond set Biscuit down, but his eyes were locked onto the little diamond dog. Biscuit looked at him for a moment, then smiled sweetly. "Mistur Ponee, yu ar very smol, like diz pup!"

Diamond let out a squee. "{And she can speak too!?}"

Biscuit blinked at him, then laughed. "Yis, diz pup can speek! Iz the DUH!"

Diamond laughed too. "{And you are so very, very adorable, little one! Gypsee has the BEST little sister diamond dog of all time!}"

Biscuit blushed and gave another curtsy. "Thanx yu very much!"

Tourmaline looked back at the two of them as he sidled up next to Siddy and Amy. "I'm not sure what's more astounding; how they both just seem to be little versions of bigger things, or how the diamond pup can understand Crystallian."

"She's the sister of Gypsy Rover; I don't think it's that surprising that she's a genius too," Obsidian admitted. Perhaps her special talent, had she been a pony, would be connected with language? Learning ancient Crystallian was not an easy feat... and sadly, not an important one, either.

"Anyway... I think it's a good time to start packing. Before we leave, I'll devour Onyx; I'll have some time to take a nap during the trip, so I'll know if it worked or not."

Tourmaline and Amethyst both chuckled.

"Never thought I'd see the day where I'd hear about Onyx being devoured - typically, she was the one who talked about devouring others!" Tourmy grinned.

"Maybe the experience will cure her of it?" Amethyst pondered.

"Maybe - okay, we'll start getting everyone to the airship; there's a glass of water on the table already, so help yourself." Tourmy offered.

"And good luck," Amy added. With that, they both headed back into the cave to share the news.

"{Would you like to meet my dear friend Pancho?}" Diamond smiled at Biscuit, who nodded vigorously in return as he led her back into the caverns as well.

The irony wasn't lost on Obsidian; what else was it that sister Onyx had liked to talk about? Skinning, enslaving, wearing vests made out of others... to be fair, none of these options sounded too interesting for the Grey Princess.

"Thanks," she said simply with a small smile on her muzzle as she trotted to the table to do the deed - and show Onyx that's she was so literally above her in the pecking order that she was going to literally peck her! Well, almost literally.

The pile was there... and though it was bigger, it was still a smaller pile than Peridot's or Ruby's had been - would it be enough? Taking the stones in hoof, there were just enough of them to require at least two mouthfuls of water to swallow them all; the stones had a not-unpleasant fruity flavor to them, like candy almost...

Then, it was done. Obsidian felt a burp come up, but nothing more than that; she would have to wait until she slept to see what results were to be had... and to discover whether or not they had found enough of her to matter.

Hopefully it would be enough; Sister Onyx was not exactly the nicest pony around, but she was still her sister - and she had some care in her heart, contrary to Amber. Also, there was her great strategical skill and vast knowledge. Until Obsidian could read Sombra's diary for herself, she'd like to have easy access to the information there.

But, well... first things first. She decided to go check on the others and see if they were preparing to go.

Making her way through the cavern, she could see a number of things that were memories of their own; the hole in the ceiling, the varied pipes and tubes that now lined the walls, and the mural she was almost a part of in the back... er, then again, maybe it was a GOOD thing to leave it behind; after all, whenever she looked at the chisel lying on the table nearby...

So, outside, right?

As she got topside, she could hear giggling laughter coming from the airship itself as she saw Mundy levitating Pancho in little circles around Biscuit, making the diamond pup happy as she chased it merrily.

By Darkness, Diamond was cute... Diamond with Pancho was even cuter... Diamond playing with Biscuit and Pancho? Keep beating, heart... and don't stop just because you're overloaded with sweetness, please!

Opal and Patty were now working on what appeared to be armored plating for a cabin they'd built around the steering wheel - in fact, it seemed as if they'd replated the entire top deck, making it safe to walk about on even in the midst of a storm.

Tourmaline and Amethyst were both helping Butter and Wash pack a few more things onboard - mostly scrap metal, for the inventors' use, most likely.

Aquamarine was standing at the bow and looking up at the lack of an air balloon. "This thing'll never get off the ground! There's NO WAY IN TARTARUS!" he griped.

Quartz, she assumed, was probably below deck, working away once more. In a way, he hadn't changed jobs - only bosses. But Obsidian doubted he was being worked as hard as he had been.

Well, everything seemed to be fine for now; time to get back home and plan their next steps. There were so many things to do! Save the innocent. Save the Element Bearers. Save Jade. Bring back Ruby. Learn more about magic, and maybe try to see what she could do with the Tree's single remnant - maybe eat it? It worked with her siblings...

Once again, Obsidian was feeling a bit overwhelmed... but the fact that they'd just scored an important victory was keeping her spirits up for the moment. Right now, Obsidian went to help Tourmy and Amy with packing, as she had hardly any other ideas.

"How? Just... just HOW!?"

Aqua was at the bow of the airship, looking back and forth between the propellers and the booster machine, his eyes agog at the fact that they very much were airborne... despite the lack of a balloon.

They were now making their way across Equestria once more, headed for Ponyville as the sun began to set in the west; she'd heard somewhere that Celestia & Luna had once controlled the sun and moon, but that their brilliant pupil/replacement had arranged for it to be controlled by a perpetual shifting spell; both day and night now lasted for equal amounts of time, and it took a good part of the responsibility off of Twilight's shoulders.

A good thing, too - there'd be no telling what sorts of calamities would have happened, were they simply left where they were once the princess and her friends (the remaining ones, anyway) had been captured.

Ponyville was now in sight, but... why was there smoke coming from there?

Obsidian smirked at Aqua's surprise, hearing his disbelief. "Opal is wonderful, brother... and Patty is wonderful, too. Both of them together? Well... you see the effects!" she said happily, enjoying the trip far more than before. The airship was not only faster and safer, but now it was also armed! At this pace, they'd be able to assault Amber just with this flying fortress!

"Prepare for battle, everypony; whatever caused that smoke, we will eradicate it," she said with a grim voice, masking her intense worry.