Obsidian: Shards Of Sombra

by Randimaxis

Fifty Six: Introducing Amber

Wakey. Wakey. Sister.

Obsidian slowly came to. She was seated on her knees, her hooves bound by some sort of ghostly, glowing chains with a matching shackle around her neck, just barely able to lift herself up.

It looked like she was at some sort of an outdoor location with walls... but no ceiling, and not a single doorway in sight. Around her was what looked to be nothing but white; she was in some place with snow - and lots of it. It was also freezing out here as the wind howled around her, and if she didn't find a blanket or a thick coat soon, she'd freeze to dea-

Her Father was right behind her!

... wait... okay, it was more like his statue was right behind her, but... how did it get here?

And where was this place? How did she get here? What... why... damnation, why was it so cold here? And why she was bound like this? It's not like she was in any shape to fight, anyway... and WHY was Sombra's statue here?

Why? So many questions, so few answers... but at least that horrible mental agony had finally stopped.

"You know," Obsidian spoke as she gathered her thoughts, "I'm still jealous that my siblings seem to have gotten all the amazingly useful powers," she muttered, more to herself than to the world.

The most logical answer to her question? She was probably in some kind of dreamland again... but how did Amber manage to get her here? She had no idea.

Losing was actually turning out to be quite relaxing - once that awful pain had ended, that was.

"And here you are... Obsidian, the 'Lost Sister' that Quartz used to go on about so very often, even though I called him a moron for seeking you out. I suppose I owe him an apology - not that he'll get it." The voice had an odd doubling sound to it, so that it was as if two beings were speaking at the exact same time.

"Not that any of you will." And it was eerily familiar.

"H-hello? Where are you..?" Obsidian said as she tried to look around for the source of the voice. How in Tartarus could Amber be unaware of her existence; with her powers, she should have already been aware of her, shouldn't she? All this time, Obsidian had been raised practically right next to the lot of them... so why was she the 'Lost Sister'?

A smug chuckle wafted through the chilly winds to Obsidian's ears. "Over here, behind Father... where I've spent FAR too much of my life, to be quite honest. So yes, let's finally meet..."

Stepping out from behind the statue wasn't some hackneyed, two-bit villain from a comic book. It wasn't some weird creature from another world, it wasn't some sort of undead nasty, and it wasn't a monster from underwater.

"... Sids."

It was Flurry Heart, walking with a salacious strut in her step as her eyes gave off an unhealthy, yellowish-orange glow. Beneath the muzzle that wore that smarmy expression was a leather cord that was tightly tied around a Dark Crystal shard - one she'd specifically last seen encased in a runic box.

"How do you like my new look? I absolutely LOVE it! Slim, firm, young..." Her grin doubled. "Immeasurably powerful. Just like I like 'em!"

Obsidian's eyes opened wide, and she rapidly tried to sit up, jerking hard at her energy chains... but eventually she came to understand that they weren't giving at all, and were holding her rather firmly.

"RELEASE FLURRY AT ONCE," she howled furiously, "OR... or... or I'll give you a nasty glare." Obsidian sighed at the hopelessness of her situation as her rage petered out into resignation. "Why do you even need her, anyway - don't you already have your own body?"

Actually, the answer to that question was fairly obvious: if Obsidian got the option to settle into an alicorn's body, she probably would have done it as well. After all, Peridot had already attempted such, which meant it was a most logical option.

"Did Aquamarine play a part in this, perhaps?" Maybe letting him go to Ponyville with his magic intact might have been a mistake...

Amber smirked, looking a bit too much like Flur. "Aqua? Oh, he was part of the reason I did this to begin with - if I'm still in my crystal shard form, I won't age..." She then chuckled. "OR be the target of any of Father's ressurrection attempts! No body, no transfer!"

She strutted closer to Obsidian, allowing her tail to slither along the Grey Princess' muzzle with a spiteful smile on Flur's familiar, yet still somehow alien face. "Although... I have been thinking about that, too..."

She walked over to Sombra's statue and placed a hoof on it, giving it an almost loving stroke. "Father might have been some... hot shit... during his time, but I think it's time for someone else to take charge..."

"Well, he has amassed a rather thorough list of defeats; a thousand years ago, a number of decades ago... a few weeks ago..." Obsidian pondered, "and keeping him in stone like that does seem to make it impossible for him to transfer his essence," Obsidian said carefully.

Flurry had a nice, soft tail; as soon as she was back, Obsidian had to remember to compliment her on it.

Amber/Flurry grinned. "Oh, impossible just isn't good enough for me..."

Her horn flashed, and a bolt of sinister, jet-black lightning shot down out of the sky, slamming directly into the statue and instantly shattering it into a million pieces that flew in every direction, coating the surrounding area in gravel... and Obsidian's head throbbed HARD.

"There now," Amber giggled as she looked at her sister, "I like THOSE odds better, don't you?"

"NO!" Obsidian cried out as she once again tried to rise - but the ethereal chains continued to hold her in place. It wasn't for some kind of deeply-hidden scrap of affection for her father, or any other nostalgic memory; it was more the concern for all of the knowledge he possessed, the answers to so many questions which were begging to be answered. Not to mention a somewhat vocal reaction to this strange throbbing in her skull...

"Why?! Why did you do that!?" It was just in the dream realm, right? It had to be! IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE OTHERWISE!

The possessed alicorn grinned widely. "Well, you see... I've been working VERY hard to fulfill a plan put together by Onyx, to ensure Father had everything he needed to make a glorious return: an army, insiders, power, money, and a kingdom. But see, looking at all that, I thought 'well, he's still dead - and I'm right here.' And with Onyx turned into pony soup all over P-Ville and unable to stop me... well, I just decided I'd be the better choice for the role."

She now strolled over very closely, and leaned down to purr in Obsidian's ear. "And I want to thank you too, Onyx; without you spying on Obsidian and relaying things back to me, I never would have found the Umbral Altars."

Obsidian's head throbbed once again, even harder this time.

Amber stood up and looked down at her sister. "Which, if I recall correctly, is where the Umbral Empire's Capital is hidden? I'm making that my FIRST kingdom..." She now leaned in close enough to be muzzle-to-muzzle with her. "... which is where the ORIGINAL Umbral Pools are!"

She then stepped back, smiling at her smugly. "You know... since the Black Pool is sealed off? I have to get my Umbral Undead Horde from SOMEwhere, don't I? And there are countless pools there, too... at least six for every temple." She giggled again. "And the Umbrals LOVED their temples."

Good work, Onyx! Stellar job there, Obsidian! What was this throbbing she felt in her head; was it Onyx screaming in agony and anguish? Hopefully it was... because the other possible alternative, so closely on the heels of the destruction of Sombra himself, was far, FAR worse to contemplate.

"The Black Pool? Amber, by Darkness, those zombified Umbrals are absolute SHIT! Why don't you just invest in Opal's mechanical armada? No stench, no rotting, and they were much harder to defeat! Trust me, I know firsthoof!" Obsidian protested.

Amber sat down in front of Siddy and fixed her with a happy grin. "But I have... Obsidian, don't you get it yet?"

She sighed, then spoke as if she were explaining to a child. "The suits that absorb Light Magic go on the undead Umbrals, and the Umbrals get into the Labor Harnesses, which are proofed against everything but Dark Magic - the suits then absorb the inevitable incoming Light Magic from the mewling Equestrians and convert that energy into Dark Magic, which in turn fuels the harnesses - which means little things like water or electricity won't cause them any problems anymore!"

She gave a rather snide laugh as Flurry's muzzle sneered at her. "Nearly invincible, Light absorbing, undead Umbral monsters in powered armor, complete with cannons. Equestria will fall in DAYS, not years or months or even weeks..."

She then sat back on the alicorn's haunches and sighed happily. "Not that it matters much; I already control almost every mind in Equestria at the moment, so... not much of a challenge to scrape the resistance off my hooves. Not that I won't enjoy it..."

"THAT... that... that's actually pretty clever, sister; I didn't even consider putting the zombies into the machines - a nice touch. That, and inside the harnesses, nopony will be able to see the awful, mismatching colours of Quartz's eye-bleedingly gaudy suits - which is a nothing but a boon to all of Equus, if you ask me. I mean, his designs are nice... but somepony should give him a few tips about coloration and pattern taste..."

Obsidian found herself far too relaxed and calm, considering the current situation - but it was like a numbness was slipping over her senses, and she found she was detaching herself from what was quite the disheartening development for the Grey Princess.

However, Zombies in mobile war machines, fueled by stolen and converted Light Magic..? Well, that sounded really... effective. Unfortunately.

Amber stood up again, dusted herself off, and looked at Obsidian with an all-too-condescending grin on Flur's muzzle. "It's okay - Onyx's plan was a bit advanced, but once I saw what she was up to, it was obvious how to exploit the FUCK out of it. All the funds are now under my accounts; all the supplies are in my reach, all the undead will be under my command..."

She laughed with a jagged, egotistical lilt to her voice. "Empress Amber... I do like the sound of that, don't you?"

Meh, Obsidian still thought it lacked any real majesty. "Sounds better than 'King Sombra', I suppose... er, could you loosen these chains a little bit? I can't even shrug properly in these things."

Damnation, what was this place? Obsidian was actually starting to suspect that this may not be a dream... which meant that Sombra really was-... and Flurry really was-... a-and they couldn't-... SHE couldn't-...

Obsidian didn't know how... but she was certain that, somehow, this was all Hope's fault.

The alicorn snickered and gave Obsidian a sardonic look. "Oh, don't try to take me for a fool; I outfoxed Onyx, so YOU don't stand a chance, my little cupcake. OH!" She suddenly smiled wickedly. "Speaking of Cupcakes..."

She strolled over to the standing wall of white... uhhh, whatever it was... where she then looked it up and down critically before she turned and leaned back against it, standing on her two rear hooves as she crossed her forelegs over her barrel. "You know... I could just kill your little friends, right now, without batting an alicorn's eyelash - even THIS alicorn. Though she'd certainly know it... oh-ho-ho-hoooo, she knows about it already! I mean, just because I have control of her doesn't mean I can't let her watch..."

She licked her lips cruelly. "You should hear the names she's calling me... such a mouth on her."

So Flur was still in there, somewhere - good to know.

"Take you for a fool? Outfoxed? Amber, what exactly do you think I can do to you right now, eh? All of my fighting between any of us started only because my siblings seem to have a bad habit of trying to kill me!"

Obsidian raised her eyes to the sky in a gesture of complete exasperation. "What do you think I could do if you loosen the chains - sneeze at you? Glare harder, maybe?"

Amber sighed softly as she looked on Obsidian with mock pity. "Obsidian, if there's one thing I've learned from studying your mind, it's how easily the hero can find some sort of miracle to save the day at the last minute, if you give them even an inch of freedom."

Then, a slow chuckle bubbled up from the possessed alicorn. "You want to stand up, you say? Okay then-"

There was a distant >PING< sound, and like a bullet shot directly into her forehead, a silver ring slammed into place around her horn, and she felt her magic simply STOP. It wasn't gone... it just was blocked; it felt like she had to use the chamber pot, but was stuck somewhere she couldn't, and had to hold it in. It was... uncomfortable, at best.

Was THIS what Tourmaline felt every day?

"... stand up." The ethereal energy chains fell away as if they were made of dust, crumbling apart into the snow beneath her, yet leaving no trace of their existence behind.

Gah! It was almost as if somepony had shut down one of her senses, like taste or scent! It felt as if she needed to scratch a place that was just a teeny-tiny bit too far out of reach. It was a terrible feeling, really - but at least she could finally stand fully up.

Obsidian slowly got to her hooves and stretched some of the soreness out of her legs. What was this place she'd been brought to... and why it was so cold here?

"Thank you, sister," she said with a miserable note of resignation in her voice... something that was becoming pretty commonplace, lately. "So, where are we? This doesn't exactly look like anywhere I know of..."

"Oh, you know it, alright..." Amber said with an ominous overtone as Flurry's horn began to glow, and Obsidian felt herself rise up, up, up into the air rapidly as the alicorn flapped upwards next to her, soaring their way up the wall of-

no...

No...

NO...

"Yes! If your memory serves me correctly, it was riiiiiiiiiiiiiight up here somewhere, wasn't it? Oh-ho-hoooo SHIT - it's so close, I can almost TASTE it!" Amber giggled gleefully, sounding more and more manic as her anticipation mounted.

Obsidian's view of the wall falling away beneath her revealed something that told her all she needed to know about where they were, and it chilled Obsidian's bones more than even the snow and wind blasting around her right now ever possibly could.

There they were, frozen in time and suspended within the massive wall of perma-frozen ice that shot past them...

Two ropes.

Amber lit her stolen body's horn and blasted the frozen-over hole; the ice shattered like glass inward, leading to a tunnel that Obsidian had only seen reactions to from others... but being there, in the horseflesh...

Something inside her both gathered itself in anticipation... and cowered back in fear.

Levitating her inside (and 'accidentally' bumping her head into the ceiling as she did, invoking a painful sense of deja-vu), the two of them slowly floated downward, and ended up standing in a slushy, foreboding cavern. Amber shook the snow out of her mane nonchalantly; she looked fine - Obsidian, meanwhile, was FUCKING FREEZING.

And then... she saw THEM... or, more like IT.

There were three bases, yes... but the altars on either side were nothing more than shattered rubble, strewn across the cavern floor; only the middle altar remained intact. And seeing it up close like this... for some reason, the artifact scared the living Tartarus out of Obsidian.

Cold... terrifying... it had truly been quite a while since Obsidian really found herself scared of anything - she had her paranoia (such as it was), but that was more connected to her sense of feeling powerless and worrying about everything. She was worried about her friends, how they were, and what Amber might have already done with - or TO - them all.

These things, though? She was scared out of her mind, now that she was standing there in their presence. And, due to her own fear choking her throat and the freezing coldness numbing her body, she couldn't even say anything clever.

"Ah, good... the markers are still here..." Amber stepped towards some unseen mark lightly... but was paying the altar not a single bit of attention; she was scanning the wall behind the two of them, it seemed.

"Now, if I were a magical lodestone," Amber spoke distantly, as if lost in thought, "where would I... hide..."

This wasn't good - quite the contrary, it was terribly, awfully, exceedingly BAD. Obsidian stepped back, wondering about the state of her climbing skills...

Oh, and before she forgot, good job, Moochick; nice of you to give Amber all the knowledge she needed to turn Equestria into a rotting Umbral Nightmare.

"AH! Here we go!" The alicorn stepped back from the wall, kicking some of the shattered altars out of the way in a most disrespectful manner before looking over her flank to Obsidian. "Watch this shit, Sids," she winked, mimicking Flurry far too closely for the unicorn's comfort.

Her horn sparked up an overglow, and she fired a straight beam of amber-colored energy directly at the top-right corner of the wall... which responded with a deep rumble that made both of the mares have to keep their balance.

Slowly, there was a grinding sound, and the walls began to part. A dank, moist and cold air poured over her entire being, washing her in scents long gone from Equus, the dust of an empire gone to time.

In front of her was an ENORMOUS cavern that extended further back and down than she could even see... which she found she surprisingly could see back somewhat because of the eldritch blue flames that burst to life within the ancient torches lining the walls as the doors opened. The entire cavern was filled with a massive city - one that dwarfed even Canterlot - that was a study in black; shadows lurked at every corner, and a dark haze began to wisp up along the edges of the streets. The buildings all seemed to lean in towards the viewer, no matter the angle, and there was a stone and steel framework that even had buildings on the cavern's ceiling!

In the very center of it all, there was a massive black stone spire jutting up from the ground, and what looked to be some sort of bell hanging from the center of it. Surrounding this column was an enormous Black Pool, the dark waters still and calm... and foreboding.

"Behold... the Umbral City... Tambelon..." Amber whispered in quiet awe.

Was the whole mountain carved hollow inside? What kind of species would waste so much time and energy just to built a metropolis cut off from the warmth of the Sun? And even more importantly, why Amber was dragging her along to witness this? One would think she'd prefer to take either Sapphire or possibly Aquamarine with her. Why was it she'd decided to expose Obsidian, of all ponies, to the ravages of the elements and the sight of this city?

Tambelon, the fortress city of Grogar - that was interesting. Normally she would have been a bit more interested, perhaps even overjoyed at the idea of seeing the well-preserved city of a long-gone race... yet sadly, at the moment, Obsidian was simply worried that it could end up becoming a bit too interesting.

Amber gazed in at the ancient city for a moment... then turned to Obsidian. "So... now that I've gotten the means to summon an army, I need to prepare for the ritual. Which unfortunately means that I need to find something to do with YOU." The smile she wore said she already knew.

"I know!" She stepped closer to Obsidian. "Let's play a game - ooooh, it's been SO long since I got to play a game!"

Her horn flashed... and now, the two of them were inside the Crystal Palace itself, standing in the throne room. Standing on either side of the throne were Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, both with the same glow in their eyes as Flurry had.

"So, games, games, games... hmmmmm..." She made her way over to the throne and gave it a light caress as she then turned and sat her stolen rump in it. "I could always have pairs of those you know show up, and have you choose one each time to die - that one gets intense, especially when I let them hear your reasoning... or maybe I could simply have them all run until the last one standing..."

She sighed. "Dull, dull, dull. No fun at ALL in that."

For a moment, Obsidian thought that Amber's goal was to force Obsidian to participate in some sort of vile ritual - as a sacrifice, obviously. Luckily for her, it seemed that Amber was simply dragging her along because she was bored, and wanted to brag about her perfect plan that she'd managed to pull off, using only the powers she was created with... and others that she damn sure didn't deserve to have. And, just like Onyx, she was just too excited and pleased with herself to plan anything but sadistic things.

For a moment, Obsidian agreed with her - it was dull; each time somepony conquered Equestria, they were eventually going to lose because they were being too sadistic, too treacherous and so on. How could they be so blind as to miss the fact? It's not advanced math, for Darkness sake - it's just history!

Amber regarded Siddy for a moment, then grinned. "You know those chains you were in? They never existed. You could have simply gotten up and walked away, right there on the spot... but you couldn't, really. Because I wouldn't allow your mind to NOT see them, so your brain was convinced that you were chained up."

She giggled. "Fun trick, right? Just convince someone that something isn't what they think it is... and then, control the part of their mind that won't believe you, and you've got a GRAND amount of things you can accomplish!"

She then returned to her previous track. "But yes... games... AH! I know! How about a nice, rousing game of..."

Flurry's eyes flashed wickedly. "Goalpost?"

Obsidian could easily believe Amber about the chains; she'd tried to get up, but couldn't... she wondered, would her muscles be deceived as easily as her mind? She had no idea. Of course, Amber could be bluffing about bluffing, and the chains could be real... really, Siddy should have thrown her sister's thrice-damned shard into a rock crusher and been done with it!

She tried to focus on her horn. Was there really a ring there, or was it just another one of Amber's tricks? Of course, Obsidian had no idea what this 'goalpost' game was - so even if it was skinning ponies alive, she simply didn't have enough information to react with any sort of horror - only a mild yet weary stoicism.

Amber/Flurry smiled smugly. "Oh, this game takes a little bit of explaining; don't worry, you'll know the rules before we get started, I promise."

She stood up and began to strut her way towards Obsidian. "First, we start by killing you... well, in a metaphorical, illusory sense, anyway. We'll say that some horrific miscreant - an earth pony - broke out of jail while the lot of you were handling Opal... and maaaaaaybe this pony decided he didn't like your muzzle so much, hmmm? So, when nobody was prepared, he simply jumped up and slit your throat... right in front of all your little friends!"

Her eyes flashed with that same orange-yellowish energy Obsidian had seen earlier, and somewhere in the distance, Obsidian could swear she heard something... a voice, multiple voices maybe... crying out in anguish. And inside her, Obsidian felt something twist, break and then curdle... like milk that had gone completely sour within seconds. It felt awful, especially as it wasn't a physical pain; it was more a pain for the soul.

Amber chuckled lightly. "Awwwww... Sids, they're SO heartbroken! Especially Cupcake - oh, you should FEEL what it's like, having the joy and life just leak out of you like that! Oh, they are devastated! I didn't think it'd be THAT good!"

She laughed and then held her forelegs out in a grandiose gesture. "Obsidian, thou art dead! You have ceased to be! You have expired, your life force is snuffed, you have gone on to that big stable in the sky!" she laughed, "you are... an EX-PONY!"

It was too much for poor Obsidian, who had endured such a long fight with Opal's machines, saw a mortally wounded Gypsy bleeding out, realized that the constant fighting was taking a toll on her friends, stood against the insane berserker that had turned Mica's hoof into jelly...

Fight after fight, again and again, there was always something awful happening, something that could quickly turn into a danger to all of Equestria - even when she found the shards of her siblings, she had to worry that they could be buried in concrete (which would merely have locked her away from brother Diamond, while it wouldn't have changed Amber's situation much at all!)...

Amber's cruel mention of Cupcake soured her a bit; Amber wasn't going to be invited to the wedding, that's for sure... though Obsidian didn't know if there would even be any wedding now...

She sat down hard on the cold cavern floor, hanging her head as tears rolled down her muzzle and dropped to the ground. Her head hurt... her heart hurt... her very soul hurt...

They had lost.

Amber/Flurry crossed her forelegs and gave a mocking pout. "Awwwwwww... what, living in the lap of luxury while being the perfect tool for not one, but TWO sisters got you down? Oh, Obsidian... you're making my nips hard, it's just SO good! I knew I would break the rest of your little Glee Club, but to have broken the mare who took down Onyx?"

Obsidian's head throbbed again; the headache she was dealing with was getting lousy.

Amber laughed cruelly. "How could this day get any better at all, hmmm? Goals realized, plans achieved, foes in tears, throne taken... I'd say I've had a very satisfying day! I'm almost feeling sorry for the rest of my days, because they just will NEVER match up to today!"

She watched Obsidian cry quietly for a moment, then sighed with exasperation. "Okay, bored now - you gonna play, or do I have to make you play? C'mon, time is entertainment!"

So, she broke the mare who took down Onyx, eh? What a novel idea that was. Unsurprisingly (unless one already knew Obsidian's strange behaviours when she was insulted), she almost wanted to giggle at that. But she didn't - and not only because of her recent crying jag - which, to be fair, allowed her to release some of that tension - but because of how Amber spoke to her.

"So... in other words... all your following days will always be worse for you? I almost pity you," she said with a completely calm voice. She raised a hoof to dry the tears off her face, and swallowed back any remaining tears inside her.

Flur's eyebrow lifted, and she grew a small smirk. "Yes, yes... more's the pity, right? But now, here's where the game gets interesting..."

She stood up and stretched languidly, strutting towards Obsidian. "All YOU have to do, Sids, is get from your house in P-Ville to Twilight's throne in her palace. All you have to do is TOUCH it... and you win. And for your trouble, if you DO win..." She pondered a moment. "... tell you what, IF you actually win, I'll let your friends go. No longer under my control at all - and I won't be so gauche as to let them go into a trap; they'll be free to leave, no strings attached... after all, I may be a conniving, advantageous creature, but I'm not an absolutely uncouth beast."

Just to Twilight's throne, eh? As if Amber would play fair, even for a moment! Of course, Obsidian was still a bit annoyed that none of her siblings had ever entertained the idea that they could have simply offered her a nice place next to the throne, well-paid, and maybe even let her friends and their families live... though she didn't know if she would even take such an offer...

But it didn't change the fact that it would've been nice - it would have shown that they cared, at least a LITTLE bit!

"What are the defeat conditions?" she asked morosely.

Amber grinned. "Oh, well... you're defeated when you DIE, Sids - isn't that, like, totes obvi?"

"You see... you're going to have just one obstacle you'll have to overcome; I'm going to clear out Ponyville, so nobody gets in the way... or provides you with help of any kind. Then, I simply make you look like this," the alicorn pointed to a display which had a mirror as a centerpiece, "and send you on your way!"

The mirror didn't show Obsidian in it; instead, there was a middle-aged earth pony stallion with a rough, sketchy look to him, the kind that would probably belong in jail. He moved the way she did, he blinked when she did... it was HER, just not HER muzzle.

"Not bad, eh? His name's Jack Knife, and he's the one responsible for slaughtering Obsidian right in front of her friends' eyes. So, as you can imagine, thney would make the perfect defenders for our little game!" She smiled broadly at Obsidian.

"So, as Jack Knife, you'll just have to get through your VERY PISSED OFF friends and touch Twilight Sparkle's throne - and you'll win! Death equals failure... and if you fail, I give you my solemn oath that I will do everything in my power to shame, humiliate and torture every one of your friends until their poor bodies just give out... 'cause that's just how I roll, Sids."

Well, THAT was rather obvious - though Obsidian was somewhat disheartened that Amber seemed so eager to let her die. Come on, now - what happened to 'sisterly love'? Was it a concept that only Ruby and Diamond knew of? The nerve of some ponies, really...

Siddy trotted closer to the mirror, looking at herself. It was an exceedingly strange sensation; seeing a foreign and alien body looking back at her from the reflection, yet it reacted exactly as she did. Did Amber feel like this all the time?

"You know, if you wanted to make me a stallion, you could've at least made me look a bit better than this," Obsidian mentioned, apparently completely care-free about the grave conditions of this 'game' and how she looked at all. She wasn't going to give Amber the satisfaction of watching her mourn the defeat that didn't have to happen. Not at all.

In fact, to show just how care-free she was, she lowered her head to look below herself, between her rear legs. Gelded, she noticed. How nice...

"Eh, appearances are all that matter, not specific tastes. At any rate, they'll only see HIM when they look at YOU. And you can try to communicate with them... but i'm pretty sure whatever you say is gong to be misinterpreted as you slandering poor, dead Obsidian, so it's your call." She giggled a bit, sounding too much like Flur while being the exact antethesis of her.

Bleh. "You've put a lot of work into this little roleplay, sister dear. And pray tell, what would be the reasoning behind Jack Knife's presence in my... I mean, HER house?" she asked with false interest and forced calm.

"Doesn't matter; it's just the starting line." Amber/Flurry strolled over and got mere inches from Obsidian's reach. "So... any last requests? Notable comments? Attempts at bravado? Questions? Or do you just want to give some vague promise of returning to 'deal with me' in the future?"

She fixed her with a happy glare. "Because any way you slice it, your time doesn't start until you leave here, so take advantage of it while you can..."

Bravado, questions, comments... Obsidian was pulling blanks. She simply had no idea what to ask of her - especially as Amber could simply lie about anything under the sun. Perhaps a snarky comment, a pre-ass-kicking one-liner would make her feel a bit better... but she couldn't come up with any.

"How about a hug, sister?" Obsidian said softly.

The possessed alicorn cocked an eyebrow, and actually tilted her head at her as she gave a distasteful sneer. "Eh, no... I don't do hugs, not while I exist at the end of a cord, hanging from some alicorn's neck... and honestly? I don't do hugs anyway - you and Diamond, what's with the hugging thing? Physical touching is for SEX... which I am SO looking forward to experiencing in this body!"

She walked back towards the throne and stepped close to Prince Armor. "This one's older, but so distinguished... I bet he'd make a wonderful first time, eh? And of course, I can feel them both squirming in their heads at just the thought of it..." She leaned over and gave the side of Shining's muzzle a slow and sensual lick.

"... which will make it SO much better," she said as she eyed the stallion hungrily.

At first, the mere idea of using Flurry's body for any sort of sexual interaction made Obsidian affect a disgusted look on her muzzle. Then, it clicked who Prince Armor was in relation to Flurry Heart; mental images of herself and King Sombra in a similar situation flashed through her head (thankfully swiftly), and an expression of sheer horror, disbelief and sickness rolled across her face.

"...that's pretty fucking low, Amber," Obsidian muttered as she stared at Amber in disbelief.

The false alicorn smiled broadly. "Oh, why thank you! It's always good to know when you cross someone's boundaries... thanks for informing me!"

With that, she began to lean seductively against the regal stallion, nuzzling him and leaving a little trail of playful kitten-kisses down his powerful neckline. She then turned and smiled over at her sister, with Flurry Heart's muzzle locked in a wicked and sinful gaze that almost invited Obsidian as well.

"Now, I have a ritual to prepare, and YOU have a throne to touch!" She then did a very chillingly accurate rendition of her host's personality and expression as she said, "So like, ciao, Sids! Call ya later, mmmkay?"

With that, there was a FLASH of light... and Obsidian was standing on her own front stoop, at her door, at home. And Ponyville looked as barren of other life forms as it had been in her dreams.

[Good luck... and tick tock, bitch.]

Author's Note:

... oh, my head... what-... oh yeah...

So, Amber. Yikes. Now that she's up and about and you've all had a chance to see what she's like... well, it makes the other siblings look kinda tame in comparison, eh? Oh, and for the record, IT GETS WORSE; just figured I'd give you folks a heads-up.

'Hiya Sids' by Lazzari; I have to say, I like the jagged and edgy look to Sombra, and that wicked smile is delicious. An excellent job, if you ask me. I wish there was more artwork for the story to show you all, but at least there are gems like this to tide you over. Thankies, Lazzari!

So, how did it happen, you ask? Note back a good bit to the Crystal Empire, and Siddy's convo with Flur; didn't she say that she meditated in the same chamber as Amber's shard? Well, when you're a mental dynamo, exactly how hard would it be to slowly build a backdoor into someone's head - even an alicorn's? Then, Flur came to Ponyville, where Amber's shard was being held... do the math. (I may do a side story which shows this scene, but only if enough folks would want to see it.)

Hate Lemon Custard... loathe Stonewall Peavine... but by the end of the entire tale, you'll be SCREAMING for Amber's blood. You'll see - no spoilers.

Comments

[Edguy0009]

I'm not the only one imagining an OC of theirs appearing then punching Amber while telling her to shut up/you talk to much during her monologuing, right?

[Truthseeker]

There can be no possible redemption for this 'catch up next Tuesday'. I hope she suffers.