Nine: Makin' Copies
Well, damnation; she'd hoped Stalwart wouldn't just walk away here and now, in case she wouldn't be able to find this supposed shoppe specializing in magical duplication... stuff. She thought they would go rather together, to be fair, and part company at Sugarcube Corner.
Hide the book. Record the borrowing. Close the doors. Aaaaaaand... lock. Done.
Once everything was dealt with in turn, she found herself headed towards Ponyville. The day may have been bright and sunny... but there were many ponies about who seemed to be a bit less enthusiastic about the day as they went about their business.
Upon reaching Sugarcube corner, she didn't see Wart outside... but sitting next to the window was Gypsy Rover, with his nose in the air and his tail wagging happily; he was apparently there to enjoy the sweet smells coming from the bakery. It was no secret the diamond dog loved sweets, and it wasn't too surprising to find him here. He was taking in lots of hungry sniffs, and had his eyes closed in savory heaven as he occasionally licked his lips, dreaming about the cupcakes inside, no doubt.
About three buildings down, there was a sign that proclaimed, [Carbon's Copies]. The building itself wasn't more than a single floor, and the door stood open.
Whew - no problems on the way. No surprise attacks made by mad alicorns, dark unicorns and other various types of villains. She didn't lose her way, and immediately found the place she was looking for. Not bad! And she even found a friend...
With no second thoughts, Obsidian approached Gypsy to get his attention; it was always better to have more friends around, right?
His ear twitched at her approach, and as he turned to look at her, he smiled happily and his tail wagged anew. "Oh, h-hello Siddy! This one is glad to s-see you! He would ask h-how your day has been, but..."
He glanced around a bit at the other morose ponies around them. "He w-w-would assume that today is n-not a good day for a-anyone... least of all, P-P-Princess Twilight. Have you h-heard? She c-cancelled her celebration because her child has fallen s-s-sick... a shame, truly. This one was looking f-forward to tasting the cake that C-Cuppie told him about."
"Gypsy, it's quite difficult not to hear about it, truth be told." Come on, almost every single pony around (and more than just ponies, apparently) was informing everyone else about the most important tidbit of information today. "I'm actually investigating it, and I've already met with Midnight today. Do you possibly have some free time later?" Maybe Gypsy would know something about this 'Libratorium' place? "... have you seen Stalwart come to the bakery, perchance?"
"Th-this one has free time n-now, if you so wish," his muzzle grew more serious, "and it is good of you t-t-to investigate this sad th-thing... and this one would be honored t-to help you in any way he may."
He then turned and glanced into the window, looked around, and smiled. "S-s-stalwart Stance is waiting in l-line, Siddy - and she seems int-t-tent; was she sent for sweets by the P-p-princess?"
"No, for Thunderclap. She's, uh... also sick as well. A long story; I'll explain later, okay?" Whew, Obsidian's personal paranoia over this entire affair made her slightly worried that Stalwart could possibly have been attacked on her way here. "Give me a moment, please - I just need to visit Carbon's Copies first, and I'll come right back."
The Dark Princess quickly turned around and trotted to said shop - too bad she didn't have the spa photo with her, but hey, there was no rush with that one... and possibly further chances to create more of those kinds of photographs in the future.
The shop was small and humble, and a grizzled-looking unicorn stood behind the counter, lazily turning the pages of a book. His mane was a deep blue, but was beginning to get shot-through with grey, and his coat was a pale yellow. The cutie mark she saw looked like a sheet of jet black paper, curved into a scroll-style look. When Obsidian walked in however, he looked up and smiled broadly, stowing the book under the counter.
"Heya, hiya, hoya there! Welcome to Carbon's Copies! I'm Carbon Paper, an' I'm here to do what needs doin'! Expansions, shrinkages, color or good ol' black-and-white, you can get it here! And I'd be doubly honored to do some work fer such a lovely young thing as yourself, ma'am!" He was bordering the edges of old age, so his flirty remark was more compliment than actual pick-up line. He looked excited to have a customer, and was eager to please.
A lazy day here, eh? This stallion seemed to be rather bored, and Obsidian didn't see too many customers around...
"Hello, sir. I require two copies of this picture," Obsidian said as she pulled the drawing from Onyx's diary out of her saddlebag. She was able to ignore (more or less) the stallion's flood of words - after all, she was living with Cupcake; if she was truly bothered by ponies talking so much, her current living conditions would be absolutely terrible.
Carbon took the picture and looked it over. "Hmmmm... nice artwork, there! I can see why you'd wanna be sure to keep a few copies around!"
He looked up at her. "Sure, I can do this, no problem! Now, you just want direct copies, you want it enlarged? Maybe shrunk copies you could put in a wallet or locket? I don't know that I could colorize it, unless y'want the yellowed paper color transferred over as well... but black-and-white's m'specialty!"
He surrpounded the picture with his magic and brought it to a table near the back. "So, any o' those options something you'd like, or do you want me ta stop rattle-trappin', and just make two regular copies?"
It's not that Obsidian was trying to be rude, or that she didn't want to make the effort to be polite - she just wanted to cut to the chase and get back to her sick friend, among other important things.
"Hmmmm... what is the price difference between a regular copy and black-and-white?" Cash was, of course, important too.
He grinned. "Well, regular copies's are four bits apiece; fancier stuff's a bit more, but I promise I won't break yer piggy bank, if ya know what I mean. B&W's are three bits each, though - a bargain, if ya ask me!"
Four bits each, eh? Well, not bad, not bad - photographs and easy ways to make copies of them; ah, the modern world was fascinating, truly. "Two regular copies then, please," she said as she grabbed her purse in her magic from her saddlebag, to pay the copier for the service.
His grin lit up like a miniature sun. "You got it, cutie pie!"
He turned and levitated out a steel rod and two more sheets of paper. After cutting them with scissors to match the size of the artwork, he then laid them out on the table and a glow surrounded the picture and one of the sheets. His magic levitated the bar towards the table, and he grew a serious look on his muzzle.
As she watched, the metal bar began rapidly zipping back and forth across the blank paper, and slowly the images on the drawing began to take shape on the copy. It was like he was redrawing it exactly... only much faster than she'd ever seen anyone draw, write or... well, about anything!
Meanwhile, he leaned back onto the counter and smiled at her again. "This's the easy part, trust me - you'll have yer copies in no time, honest! With two copies at the regular price... that'll be eight bits, missy. Though I'm tempted to give ya a discount, as you're the prettiest customer I've had in today!"
He gave a chuckle. "Sorry if I'm comin' on too strong, there - I'm just an old stallion, admirin' a young mare, is all. Whoever your coltfriend is, he's a lucky fella."
Ah, wonders of the modern technology. In her good old days, it would take either a very specific magical incantation, or the long and hard work of somepony very talented... most likely in chains. It was saving a lot of time for everypony.
Obsidian paid the said price and waved her hoof dismissively. "Don't worry about that, sir - I'm flattered, I assure you." After all, she was used to it from Cup... more or less.
He nodded, took the bits from her and floated over the first copy. It was uncanny, how much like the original it was - the two could only be told apart by the age of the paper; otherwise, the drawings were all the same on both. While she looked them over, he finished up the second copy - as good as the first one - and floated it over to her as well.
"Give 'em about two or three minutes to dry before you fold 'em or put 'em away; ink needs time to set properly, but it shouldn't take but a moment or two. Otherwise, there ya go!" He grinned kindly at her. "You ever need anything else copied, you don't hesitate to come back and see me, y'hear me beautiful?"
The copies looked just eerily alive as the original, so it was probably just a matter of art quality - not some kind of ancient curse put on this piece of paper - whoever created it was a true artist. "I'll need to come back soon to copy a few other things," she admitted truthfully as she continued to admire the perfect, spotless copies.
Okay, so - just in case - she had copies of her siblings' appearances. Maybe Princess Twilight would appreciate one, since it would be probably a bit easier to find these other 'princes and princessess' if their appearances were known.
Carbon's muzzle almost sparkled at those words. "Hon, I'll be here until sunset; you come back any ol' time, and bring anything you want to be copied! I'm yer stallion!"
Outside the door, Gypsy poked his head in and gave a sniff. "Siddy?"
Carbon looked past her at the diamond dog. "Heya, hiya, hoya! How ya doin' there? You need a copy, pupster?"
Gypsy blushed a bit, then shook his head. "Oh, no no no... this one w-was waiting for his friend to come out. W-Wart is already waiting at th-the-"
Speaking of Wart, she stepped through the door and marched right up to Obsidian. "Mission accomplished! Lemon Sherbet pastries, five of them, and fresh from the oven, Licorice assures me. As expected, I have done my duty well."
Carbon stretched over the counter to look down at the little mare. "And ain't you just the cutest thing, all done up in your little suit of guard armor! And it almost looks real! Did yer momma make that for you, little filly?"
The look that came over Stalwart's muzzle told quite the tale... mostly the one about how she was five seconds from angrily correcting Carbon of his mistaking her for a young filly.
Oh dear, oooooh dear... 'I'll be here until sunset' was apparently a lie, as the old stallion was going to die soon in a rather brutal way. Obsidian hadn't seen Stalwart killing anything since the Umbral siege, so it was going to be interesting... though to be fair, Stalwart was kind of cute in her little suit of armor.
Four seconds...
Not that anypony would be stupid enough to say it aloud, as it would both discourage the little mare and possibly end rather painfully for the offender. In the end, emotions might not be the only thing hurt.
Three seconds...
"She's an adult, sir... and a royal guardian. Didn't you hear about the mare who stopped an undead assault on Twilight's castle during the Umbral Invasion?" Obsidian tried to correct him, in hopes to deal with this whole misunderstanding without hurt feelings... or bloodshed.
Carbon blinked at her for a moment, then looked back down at Wart, squinting to see her clearly. When he did, his eyes went wide and he sat back up. "I DO apologize, ma'am - my eyes ain't what they used to be, and I thought, with your height, that-"
"It. Is. FINE." Wart ground out through clenched teeth. She then turned to Obsidian and cleared her irritation with a great huff of a sigh. "Shall we go now, Lady Siddy?"
"Hold up... Lady Siddy? You mean... you're..." he pointed a hoof at Wart, "... which makes her..." and then at Gypsy, who was slightly cowering in the doorway, "... then he's..."
The elder stallion made his way around the counter and gave them all a sweeping bow. "I am so sorry about that! I swear, I didn't even realize who you were! Look, look, here," he rushed back around the counter and took eight bits from his register, "here, n-no charge, honestly! I had no idea that you three were... well, you three! These copies are on the house, I swear it!"
Wart stepped back a pace, looking taken a bit aback by the abrupt change in attitude. "I... um... appreciate your recognition, citizen. Thank you." She tossed a glance at Siddy and shrugged.
At least he believed her quickly; at this pace, soon there wouldn't be anyone around that wouldn't know the story of how Obsidian and the rest of the gang, and even more of them would realize what they look like. "No no, it's fine - really. Eh... see you later, citizen," she repeated the term from Stalwart. Obsidian collected her picture and its copies and quickly retreated from the shop - planning to give the old stallion a few days to calm his nerves. Yes. That should be fine.
Wart and Gypsy fell into step on either side of her. And to think, when she'd first arrived here, the two of them had seemed only passingly interesting, with Wart's initial attitude being somewhat irritating... yet now, flanked by her loyal companions, Siddy felt more at ease. They had grown to become good, dear friends... something the old Obsidian would never have guessed.
"D-d-did this one hear correctly that Thunderclap is s-sick?"
The encounter had been pretty strange, to be fair. Obsidian had never seen so much shock in another pony's eyes, after learning who they were dealing with. Also lately, plenty of ponies seemed like they were intent on trying to give her money. Not that she was actually complaining about that bit; this way, she was able to save money for pastries for Thunderclap, and didn't have to suffer a setback after that scoundrel from ealier tried to steal a sick pegasus' belongings!
"... yes, Gypsy - and it's the same thing as Midnight has. Did you, perchance, hear about..." Obsidian stepped closer, to whisper without fearing that somepony would overhear her, "... a place called the Delvar Libratorium? It's in the Crystal Empire, methinks."
Gypsy's eyes lit up; he knew of it, no doubt.
"O-o-of course this one knows it! The Delvar Libratorium was built in the d-days before Sombra, as the sole contribution of Ravitz Delvar, a sorceror rumoured to be of great ability and power. The libratorium was called such, as it supposedly predates the more simple word 'library', and many of Delvar's own sp-spells are ensconced within! It is a place of wonder for th-those who would study all sorts of magics, and has been one of the places that this one wishes to visit during his l-lifetime!"
The diamond dog's tail was wagging fast enough to almost make a whisking sound behind him. "Oh, dearest, fondest Obsidian - i-if you were to go there, may this one humbly beg you to t-t-take him along as well? It would m-mean so much to h-him!"
Wart turned a skeptical eye towards Obsidian. "I would say the better question might be if Princess Cadence & Prince Armor would be willing to receive you there, Lady Siddy. Your father's reputation proceeds you, and even if you may have been a local hero to many..." she sighed, "... there are still those who might look... disfavorably... upon your presence there."
Oh... well now, that got Obsidian thinking; why would Gypsy know about it, but the princesses did not? Especially the two older ones - Celestia and Luna - surely would remember this place, if it was that important and famous... or, more likely, perhaps Onyx didn't ask them? And Gypsy had almost stopped stuttering during his explanation.
"Gypsy, you know that I would prefer to go with all my friends - including you - on all of my more interesting adventures. Especially when it comes to the research of ancient, historical monuments and so on."
Stalwart had a point - but there was still something the little mare didn't think about. "Do they have to know, though? At the moment, I don't even look like my father - no Dark energy seeping from me. As far as everypony would be concerned, we would be just a group of young tourists from the Friendship School, interested in vsiting a famous place steeped in history."
The other option would be reconquering the entire place, of course; her father did it, and she defeated her father, so she had to be stronger than him and, by extension, stronger than the Empire could withstand, right?
The diamond dog gave a yip of happiness, and actually hugged Obsidian for a brief moment. "Oh, thankyouthankyouhankyou! This one will d-d-do his best to help out a-and earn his keep! Oh, THANK you!"
Wart, however, remained skeptical. "Perhaps... but understand that, if there are those in Ponyville who know of you from your efforts, then twould not be much of a stretch to say that word may have spread by now about our exploits. Not to mention that there may be advance word as to whom you are already in the Court of Cadenza; doubtless, someone would identify you..."
"Unless w-we disguise her!" Gypsy broke in.
"What? A disguise for Lady Siddy?"
"Y-y-yes! We could make certain she appears a-as another race - p-p-perhaps some false wings, and a-a-an invisibility spell over her h-horn, and she wouldn't appear to be anything l-like herself!"
Wart seemed to ponder the thought, as Gypsy turned back to face her. "Do you th-think it would work b-b-better, Siddy? This one th-thinks it would!"
Obsidian sort of deadpanned at Stalwart. "Come on - ponies that live in this town don't even recognize us by how we look. Do you think that any of us, myself included, would be recognizable in another, completely different country? And it's not like we would just waltz into the Crystal Palace and demand an audience - we can simply avoid everything except our goal. Simple enough."
Wart again grew thoughtful, as Gypsy seemed ready to wag himself to death at the prospect of seeing this Libratorium place.
As she got to her house, she saw the curtains for the attic window draw closed quickly, as Amy was wont to do. She also saw Tourmy's basement window as well... but the curtains weren't drawn at all, and his light was on.
Inside, she heard from the open window what sounded like coughing and sputtering - in Clap's voice. Followed quickly afterwards by Cupcake, saying: "Look, just drink it - it'll help, okay?"
Okay, it was time to act quickly and check what mysterious thing Cupcake was giving to Clap; hopefully it wasn't even more coffee - in her current state, it wouldn't help much... in fact, it probably might be kind of harmful. Perhaps the pastries would help... as well as her newfound knowledge about the nature of the curse that was put on the poor girl.
It would be wise to check later to see if Madam Zecora gave anything useful to Spike - or perhaps Princess Twilight would remember (despite the grief and anxiety she was currently feeling) that Clap was sick as well, and would possibly send somepony to help her?
Regardless, one thing was most certainly certain: the sooner Obsidian could meet with Luna in their dreams, then head directly to the Crystal Empire, the better.
Inside the house, Cup was holding a glass of what looked like some sort of bright green drink, while Clap had her tongue sticking out and was busy trying to shove Cupcake away from her. "No! I don' wannit! It'sh NAZTEE!"
"But it's healthy, too! My mom used to make it for me when I was sick, and after drinking it, I got better! You can't just lie there and be sick!"
"Watsche meh," she said with weak defiance.
When the three walked in, Cupcake sighed with relief. "Siddy! Wart! Gypsy! Oh, thank Celestia! Will you please tell Clappie she should drink this health-shake? It's really good for her, no matter how it tastes!"
"It tasches like VOMUT!" Clap groaned. Siddy noted that the pegasus seemed to be a slight bit better... but only a bit. Well, at least she was apparently in a bit of a better mood, after a nice little nap - and apparently just strong enough to resist Cupcake's healthy assault. To be fair, it was an improvement over her initial state from earlier.
"Clap, please drink it - we have something to bribe you with, but I won't give you any of it... or tell you what it is... before you drink it." Note to self - never get sick; Obsidian really didn't want to check to see if this taste was as bad as Clap was saying - though in all fairness, some of the gruel that she had to eat back in the days living within the Crystal Empire was terrible, so she was probably prepared for this health-shake... thing. Probably.
Clap pushed out her lower lip in a pout. "Dasche not fair."
Cup grinned and tossed a grateful smile at his marefriend. "See? Even Siddy says so; now you have to." He held out the drink (which smelled faintly of vinegar and ketchup) towards the sick mare, who took it timidly from him and stared into it.
She looked up. "You're BOF meen."
Cupcake winced at that, but sighed and said, "Do it, Clappie. Please?"
Clap eyeballed them all... then tilted the drink back, and swallowed it in two gulps. "BLEEEEAAAAGH!!!!!" she bellowed, and began to cough as though she would throw up... but she kept it down, and with a whimper she settled back onto the couch.
"... now... bribe... gimmeh..." she muttered, shooting Cupcake dirty looks.
Okay, from the sound of it, it would either help her... oooooor kill her. There were no other options; any curse that Peridot or his apprentices could put on Clap would surely never conquer a body that just lived through such a terrifying experience!
Obsidian could only hope that her nose was wrong, and that there was no ketchup mixed with vinegar in this mysterious, cruel potion.
"Warty, it's time for the bribe," Obsidian said to her little friend, "and by 'bribe', I of course mean the pastries."
Stalwart nodded, and brought forth the sack - and as soon as Clap saw it, a smile slid across her muzzle. "Awwwww... you 'membered! Thanksh, Obshidian! Yer a REAL pal... not like Mr. Stuff-Ya-With-Yuck over here..."
"Hey! I was trying to help, Clap!"
She reached for the pastry sack, which Wart gave her. She opened it up and looked inside, smiling as she saw her favorite treats within. Her head then slowly came up and she looked at everyone else. "Ummm... I c'n share..."
Gypsy's tail wagged merrily behind him.
"Thank you, but I don't want any, Clap - you need to eat to get stronger... and perhaps to also get rid of that aftertaste. But don't worry; I'm sure Cupcake will sooner or later reaffirm himself as the better baker by making something even tastier than this stuff." Besides, sweets were, uh, sweet. Too sweet, sometimes. Equestrians surely loved their sugar.
"Later on, I will try to cast a healing spell on you. Mister Spike was going to visit Madam Zecora, and I informed him about your state, so I hope he'll remember to visit us and tell us whatever she tells him." Obsidian started to explain what she did to help her friend feel better. "Hmmm... will your mother possibly worry over your whereabouts? Maybe we should send her a message... and perhaps Mica, as well."
Clap mumbled something unintelligible, but began to munch on the pastries. Gypsy, effectively separated from his beloved sweets, hung his head and tail... until Clap held out one of the pastries to him and waggled it. He leapt up and took it, a look of infinite gratuity on his happy face.
Wart sighed and looked over at Cupcake. "Any other word from the palace?"
Cup shook his head. "Nothing. Auntie Twi has kinda sequestered Midnight into his own room, and is pacing the throne room while she waits for Spike to get back to her. Otherwise, I've been here since I finished up there... so if anything's changed, it'd be more likely that YOU would've known, Warty."
Gypsy looked at Clap with what could almost be called 'puppy love', but he then looked over at Siddy. "This one thinks it might b-b-be wise to summon Mica here, and we sh-sh-should speak about all of this together."
"Yes. Yes, it would be." What about Clap's mother, though? Why did it seem like the only pony around that was thinking about the poor pegasus' family was the one pony that didn't even have a mother in her family tree? "I have to talk with my brother - he is in his room, I presume?"
Cup nodded. "Downstairs, eeyup; Gunther's with him, as he said it'd take a bit for Zecora to finish mixing her potion up. Spike's still there waiting, but Gunny decided he didn't wanna wait."
Gypsy sat next to Clap on the couch and grinned as she smiled and handed him another pastry, on her second one herself. Gypsy happily took the treat and munched away. Wart actually sat down, which was a feat unto itself for her to relax even in that small way. Cup went back to tending to Clap, fluffing her pillows and straightening her blanket.
Obsidian went downstairs to find Tourmaline's door cracked open just a bit. Inside, she heard soft voices talking. Tourmy and Gunther, no doubt... but they were speaking very low and softly.
Okay, it was an important bit of information that Madam Zecora was preparing something - good. Hopefully it will help. Also, it was hard not to eavesdrop, just a little bit. It wouldn't hurt anypony... but then again, it would be sort of mean. Besides, Obsidian kind of trusted her brother - far more than their sister, at least. So she simply walked up and knocked on the door.
"Dear brother of mine, I'd like to talk with you a bit..."
Her knock opened the door... and revealed both Tourmaline and Gunther in a rather close embrace, muzzle to beak and seemingly about to kiss...
Gunther looked up and his eyes went wide. "Duh, uh, uh..."
Tourmaline, however, jumped up to his hooves. "OBSIDIAN!"
Oops.
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Just... Wow.
10596423
Good wow, or bad wow?
10596797
Surprised wow. Didn't see it coming. Not a bad one. We don't see Siddy's siblings around a lot, so what they get into would come as a surprise.
I love Gypsy Rover so much! He is an absolute gem of a character. Why has Obsidian not considered that the Alicorn who visited the ancient library withing thr Crystal Empire might be Midnight?
I believe Obsidian's mind was a bit shaken by the implications of Peridot's hoof in things, and just wasn't considering it.
And love for the diamond dog is always welcome!
10598713
Hm? But she considered it in the previous chapter.
10598821 Only very briefly. It seemed like it was a flash in the pan then she dismissed the idea. I would have latched onto it like a vice and moved forward with it in the forefront of my mind as being the most likely scenario. Even if it may not be what happened, the coincidence is pretty strong.
Finally, a surprise I managed to see coming ahead of time.