Obsidian: Legacy Of Sombra

by Randimaxis

Thirteen: Dire

~>-<~

She was inside a throne room... but not in Canterlot. And not in the Crystal Palace, either.

This one was all black and grey stone, with silver-steel tables and chairs, velvet banners hanging from beautiful darkwood walls, grey marble floors, and in the center of it all there was a black stone throne on a raised dais, surrounded by jet black vines that seemed to grow down from the ceiling and onto the throne itself.

It was dark, foreboding... and utterly magnificent to behold.

Somehow, it didn't surprise Obsidian that she was whisked away to some exotic location once more as she slept. Stupid Amber and her insane war - she'd just gotten married! She deserved to catch a break! Everyone in Ponyville did!

Especially since tomorrow, they would be busy with saving... well, a LOT of things: Ruby, maybe the Element Bearers and hopefully poor Flurry Heart. She could only hope that there would be future opportunities she could use to Equestria's advantage.

What was this place? It wasn't Paradise, but then she hadn't had much chance to explore that area yet. Wherever she was, this place was beautiful to her - in a rather dark sense, as all the black stone brought a more somber and serious feel to it. Oh yes, there was also the throne itself - which she immediately walked straight towards to inspect it a little bit closer...

Possibly even consider the thought of maybe taking a chance to sit on it, juuuuuuuust a bit - to see how it felt, of course. That was all.

"And so... we meet at last!" Rucho's voice echoed loudly, slowly descending from the ceiling down to the throne on adorable pink wings, all while holding a rather irritated-looking white cat in her hooves and petting it slowlywhile smiling in a cutely menacing manner.

She brought herself down to sit directly on the huge throne, which dwarfed her adorably. The cat made a soft, rasping growl in the back of its' throat as it barely put up with its' fur being pet by the young filly; it had large, bright green eyes that were ringed with an orange-yellowish color... and it was not a happy camper, it seemed.

Obsidian pointed her hoof at a filly in a judging manner. "So, it was YOU!" she said with a grave, accusatory voice. Then her expression softened as she considered it. "Well, so... uhm, w-what's the reason for my presence here tonight? Why did you just... make such a show of it?"

"Frankly? I'm a kid, duuuuuh. I just wanted to be... dramatic," the little alicorn shrugged slightly, settling herself comfortably on the throne. Frowning at its squirming, she let the kitty go.

"So, you're surely wondering why such a need to meet your own daughter here in this dream, instead of my uncle or auntie, right? Or do you mean, why are you even dreaming about me at all?" she added.

Obsidian felt shivers running down her spine; was this really some kind of figurative representation of her future foal? The one that was right this very moment growing inside of her? But how was this even possible?

"That is the prominent question on my mind, Ruby," Siddy softly smiled.

"Good! Because I'm wondering about that too... no really, I have no idea! Really really! I mean, I think I was just conceived, so it'll be ages before I'll be able to actually speak like this!" Rucho raised her hooves desperately to the sky, though it hardly made her any bigger.

The cat leapt down and, with a contemptuous glare at the filly, it sat on the marble floor and began to thoroughly clean itself with great strokes of it's little pink tongue.

The Grey Princess was starting to feel a little touch of confusion. Normally during her dreams, she met with ponies (or ancient beings older than Equestria itself) who were far more wise than herself. This time, it seemed she was here, spending time with...

"So... you're really my... daughter? Mine and Cupcake's?" she asked, just to be clear.

In response she received another shrug - and that filly had two additional limbs to shrug with, which only added to the already toxic levels of Cute. "I... think so? I mean, I believe so, but... well, from my perspective, everything is rather blurry; I have a multitude of possibilities, countless branches of destiny are open for me, and I can practically feel the entire world being shaped around me. The more I grow in your tummy, the more of those possibilities that could turn into solid realities."

That, she could understand. She kept wondering about her old choices and options as well - what if Onyx had woken her up on time for her diabolical 'Master Plan'? Or if she would've woken up immediately after Sombra's second defeat? What if she would have chosen Butter Churn as her liaison? And from Ruby's perspective, she was apparently able to understand the flow of time changing with each choice.

It still didn't explain why they were here!

Finished with the self-bathing, the cat s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d and yawned, then ambled its' way over to Obsidian, where it sniffed around her hooves curiously for a moment. Then, with apparently even less to do than Obsidian and her apparent daughter, the little cat strolled over to the foot of the throne, curled into a little ball, and settled in for what looked like would be a nice nap.

What was this cute little furry creature doing? Was it planning an attack? Luckily, it seemed to be merely curious. Before Obsidian could choose a course of attack or defense, it wisely chose to retreat - intimidated by her sheer power, no doubt.

"So... we're here, but neither of us knows why." It was more of a statement than a question.

Rucho shook her head. "Nope - it's apparently just a strange way for the two of us to meet each other before, uh... well, before I get bigger. It'll take a while, but I'm sure I'll be worth it! You're going to be a great mum, Mum!"

A pointless dream featuring a filly that might become her real-life daughter, immediately after she learned she was pregnant. Obsidian sometimes would really rather prefer if the world around her would make just a bit more sense - she was fine with all the strange events, but she wanted to understand them as well.

Still... her daughter's encouragement certainly felt good.

"Just beat Auntie Amber's butt quickly and get yourself comfortable in Ponyville; I want to be spoiled senseless! Eat the best food, sleep a whole heckuva lot and if you don't have any ideas as to what to do with your free time, just borrow Uncle Tourmy's radio and play me some good music! I like heavy metal and classical symphonic music, so there's a broad choice - also tell my papa 'hi' from me! A-and tell him I can't wait to meet him! Oooooh, I love you two so much already!"

Rucho stroked her chin in thought, a gesture that was already quite familiar to Obsidian. "I'm, uh... not really sure I understand what that means yet, though."

Obsidian couldn't help herself but smile warmly. "And we love you too already."

The cat opened one eye, then gave a sigh and closed it again, preferring to be left to sleep.

"Oh, that's good - I've got a feeling that I'm gonna test that a lot," the little alicorn smiled mischievously and hopped off the throne. She trotted closer to Obsidian, who now had the chance to finally look at her future daughter a bit more closely.

Now, that she more or less knew who this little devil was, the unicorn mare started to notice a few different possible similarities to ponies she knew. Including herself, of course, but...

"Now, mum - please remember that you have something that Amber doesn't have. A lot of things Amber doesn't have. At best, she has the numerical advantage, yes. But you've already countered her ace skill, as well as taken key cogs out of her war machine to build your own resistance... and you know what? She's on the ropes, making her last attempts to be relevant in the world. From where she stands, it must seem like a terrible run of bad luck. But the truth is..."

She smirked. "The whole game was rigged from the start. She signed her own death warrant, the very moment she stood against the Siddy Six... and annoying the very Spirit of Harmony itself was only the cherry on top. So maybe don't worry so much? You just keep being awesome - okay, mum?"

Rucho reached out and hugged Obsidian tightly.

The Grey Princess had plenty of questions at that point: How did this little filly know all that stuff? Was she really going to be born as an alicorn? Why was she able to understand and properly conjugate full sentences at her effectively negative age?

However, the moment Rucho hugged her, all those questions were set aside.

First things first.

She wrapped her forelegs around the precious little filly and held her as close as she could; it would be something to look forward to, in the years that would pass as Rucho grew from a bitty, little thing into the sweetness she lovingly held in her warm embrace, right now.

Her daughter.

Who would be the granddaughter of Pinkie Pie and Sombra's lineage.

May Harmony have mercy upon Equestria.

"And I am fucking EATING this up!" said the cat, grinning fiercely.

As they watched, the feline stretched and grew before their very eyes into a unicorn mare who was about Siddy's size. She had a deep violet, short-cropped mane, a smattering of freckles and vivid eyes that were the same yellowish-orange color as the cat's had been.

"You two, I swear... you're so damned adorable, I feel like I gotta vomit!" she laughed cruelly, then turned her sight towards Obsidian.

"Hey there, shitheap! I'll give you three guesses as to who I am... and believe me, the first one's probably all you're gonna need, bitch."

Her smile was cruel and wicked, accented with sharp canines that glistened when she spoke. "Right now, you're both my bitches... and I plan to screw you both SO FUCKING HARD!"

She smirked. "You know... the kind of screwing that's sooooooo good... you could lose your SCARF over it!"

Both Obsidian and Rucho glowered at the sight of the mare, finally daring to show her muzzle. Her pointy, pointy muzzle.

"Better watch out, there - might cut yourself on all that edge," the little alicorn grumbled. "I mean, do you really think you're impressing anyone? Or are you simply so profoundly stupid that you feel the need to swear all the time - I bet you can't even SPELL those words, can you?"

Obsidian gave a tired sigh. "You are my insanely stupid sister, DUH."

Amber smiled wickedly. "Stupid, hunh? Soooooo unfazed by everything, are you? Well, I suppose I'll just have to up the fucking ante..."

Thunder crashed outside of the throne room, and the mare's horn lit up like a torch.

"... you know, an alicorn's pretty damned powerful; so powerful, they can even BOOST the powers of anyone they choose - including a crystal-bound entity like yours truly..."

Her eyes wandered sidelong to look at Rucho.

"... but there's always something to be said about having a FULL body... and even though I can't be the fucking daughter of the Princess of Love directly..."

A bolt flashed out of her horn, and connected to Rucho's, sending an INSTANT wave of pain into the little filly's skull.

"... I can always be reborn AS YOUR DAUGHTER!" she laughed cruelly.

Obsidian put up with a LOT of static from Amber, but normally she tried not to let it get to her. But now it was personal. Her worst sister apparently wanted to bother her daughter when she was nothing but a tiny bunch of cells in her womb... and a magical being in her dream, apparently.

"GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!"

A beam of energy rushed straight at Amber - and a clearly furious Obsidian was now sporting a pair of wings as well.

Her dream. Her daughter. Her rules.

The blast from Obsidian was a twining of Dark and Light magics, and it slammed hard into Amber, knocking her backwards and severing the beam of energy between her and Rucho.

"Oh... ooohhhhh, you fucking CUNT..." She got up slowly, then looked at the change Obsidian had gone through... and frowned.

Wait - that was Grey Magic! In any other circumstances, Obsidian would have been overjoyed - she would probably have ended up taking notes and analyzing what just happened and why it happened at this very moment... but she didn't have time for that right now.

"Oh? Is that fucking SO!? Well fine, then..."

And her smile returned. "You know... if I can't have YOUR brat, I can always make one of my own." She chuckled huskily. "After all... I still have Prince Shining Armor... and for what it's worth? He's still kind of a hunk."

She redoubled her wicked smile. "And Flurry's young, feisty and fertile! Bet it wouldn't take much to make a foal from THOSE two, right? And since you won't give me the chance to call YOU 'mama'... then maybe it's time for Flurry to scream out 'YES, DADDY!'"

Her laughter was cold and callous... and her previous taunts about poor Cadence proved that, yes, Amber might just DO something that sick and depraved - just to make Equestria angry.

"You're nothing but a slave to your own whims, Amber - a parasite that tries to prolong its meaningless existence by feeding off of others. At least you can rest assured, no matter how badly your potential foal will be inbred that it shall still be less addled than you are." She shot her an angry glare - preparing to blast her again.

And she wasn't alone; Rucho, despite her rather pained expression, was standing next to her and preparing to enhance her power... just like Amber said.

The mental mare laughed. "Oh, you're SO much more fun when you're all pissed off! You should be thanking me, bitch! Without me, you'd be bored out of your skull! Without me, you'd be getting FAT and LAZY with your bitchass friends - who I plan to kill as SOON as I can - but most of all?"

She grinned grimly. "Without me? You never would have found out about that asshole Moochick's plan for you - and now I know that too, you numb fuck!"

She let out a crazed skitter of a laugh. "And me? Now I know about the true POWER of those Umbral Altars... and I plan to give my fucking soul to The Umbra, just to watch Equestria BURN!"

She began to fade from view as she waved at Obsidian and Rucho.

"Thanks for the tip, Sidster! I can't WAIT to meet the damned thing myself! HAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

And with that, she vanished.

...give her soul to the Umbra? Oh shit.

"By Darkness, I'm sorry I'm related to her," Obsidian muttered.

"Me too, mum. Well, are you sure grandpa didn't offer up his lameness when he made her?" Rucho's voice was far more angry than her mother's, but it was only to be expected - as a magical being, she didn't even know that she could feel pain; it was not a pleasant lesson.

"I need to go, Ruby - to stop my stupid sister. Preferably before she gives Flurry over to an ancient evil, because fu-..."

She realized at the moment that her daughter was FAR too young to hear swearing like that.

"Er... damnation, but I don't want her to be destroyed by somepony as pathetic as Amber."

"Okay, mum! I'll see you soon enough," Rucho smiled to her. "and don't worry - I'll treat my brothers and sisters real nice!"

Obsidian smiled. "Oh, well that's a good-... w-wait, your WHAAA-"

~>O<~

Cupcake shook Obsidian frantically.

"Siddy Siddy Siddy Siddy!" he said in a bit of a blur, "Siddy stop yelling what's going on Siddy wake up wake up WAKE UUUUUP!"

He looked utterly shocked and was trying desperately to rouse her from a sleep she'd already been roused from. When he realized she was awake, his worried look was not graced with a smile.

"SIDDY!" he hugged her, "Siddy, what happened? I was asleep, then I heard you mutter something about 'stupid idiots', then your HORN started glowing, but it was like it was in the Nightmare, it was all black AND white, are you okay?"

"No I'm not, Cuppy," Obsidian immediately got up, then reached down and grabbed her scarf off the floor next to the bed. Perhaps it would be a good idea to wear a few more glyphed items...

"Call our friends while I collect my siblings; Amber wants to bring back the Umbra - and plans to do so NOW. By Darkness, with her power, the entirety of Equestria would already be BOWING to me, were I her!" She growled with annoyance as she trotted out of the bedroom.

Perhaps she dropped down a stairway when she was small? Or perhaps she was simply suicidal? Contrary to Amethyst's case, Obsidian was more than willing to help her achieve that wish!

"She WHAT!?" That was all it took; Cupcake was up and right behind her and even absently helped her put her scarf back on properly.

"How did she-..." Cup started, then he looked at the scarf again and blushed a bit, "... oh."

They apparently been asleep long enough for Quartz to have gotten his, er... 'rest'... and gone back to work; she could hear the clicking of the sewing machine from down in the basement.

Cupcake looked at Obsidian seriously. "I'll go and get Wart and Gypsy - if you'll grab Clap and Mica, then we'll meet at the fountain."

"Obsidian?" Quartz's voice bubbled up from downstairs. "I'd like to speak with you for a moment, if you could please?"

Cup nodded. "Okay, Quarty first, THEN go get Clap and Mica!"

With that, he pressed a quick kiss to her lips, then he was out the door and gone.

Clap and Mica... she could do it, but she needed to gather all of her OTHER siblings too! Well, perhaps Quartz would be up to the task? She quickly trotted down the stairs to the room that he apparently took from Tourmaline. Obsidian was a bit curious if her other brother knew about this impromptu annexation, but at the moment it was rather low on her list of priorities.

She got to the door and stepped in quickly. "I wanted to speak to you as well, brother..."

Quartz raised a hoof as he met her at the door. "AH! Not one word more, dear sister... until you see..."

He stepped away from the door and gestured grandly to a table. "These!"

There were six suits on the large table - each one was jet black, with very subdued piping of six different colors that not only looked good, but they weren't eyesores. They were sleek and made of the same material that he'd used on the Umbral suits... but they seemed to shine with a light that didn't seem to come from anywhere, yet they simply looked that way - they weren't putting off light at all.

Five pony-shaped suits - one extra large, one petite - and one suit fit for a biped... like a diamond dog.

One suit had pink piping, and had a cupcake embroidered onto the front lapel; it had all sorts of pockets and was extra reinforced.

One suit had orange piping with a pickaxe on it, and had a small satchel sewn into it, along with hoofcovers for the front hooves.

The extra large suit had purple piping on it with a thermos and had holes for wings and some extra buckles and even a chain - it looked rather sporty and fashionable.

The extra small suit had blue piping on it with a shield, sporting twin scabbard loops sewn onto the sides, as well as some extra reinforcement around the chest and flanks.

The biped suit had yellow piping, with what looked like a paw print emblazoned on it and had a number of pockets, as well as a hood on the back.

And the last suit had red piping, a dark crystal heart and a detachable crimson cape on it - and it looked to be the finest one in the bunch.

And each one had the number '6' emblazoned on the back, with Quartz's glyph of warding in the number's circle.

"Behold... my masterpieces; the OFFICIAL uniforms for the Siddy Six!" Quartz gushed as dramatically as he could.

Ooooooh... so he really wasn't colorblind, it seemed! These costumes looked awesome; Obsidian could hardly wait to test them out during a real battle - hopefully, they would find them to be as awesome as they looked. They seemed to be practical, too... though she also hoped that what she could see with her eyes weren't the only additions her stylish brother had added.

"Woah," she exclaimed, "I knew it was a good idea to ask you about doing so, but now? It seems that was among the better choices I've made during these last few weeks," she pondered. "Okay, seeing the results in front of me, perhaps it was the best choice - well, excluding the choices I've made concerning Cupcake."

Quartz laughed. "Obsidian, consider these my thanks for saving our family - or at least, saving the parts we want to keep."

He placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Without you, who knows how badly things would have gone for us all, once the plan was executed? At BEST, we'd have been back in the thrall of The Umbra... and we never would have realized anything else COULD exist for us in this world!"

"YOU brought us peace, YOU brought us life, YOU brought us love... and ultimately, YOU brought us hope. There is no way I can ever think for us to repay you for the Light you've given us..."

... and Hope shall guide the Grey into the Light...

"Thank you, Obsidian... for everything." He reached over and hugged her fiercely.

Regardless of how much of a hurry they were in, she returned the hug as fiercely as it was given to her; she wanted to both show her appreciation for the gift and simply give her brother some of the proper sisterly attention that he truly deserved.

Now they could repay her, and she could repay Equestria... and Amber. With INTEREST.

"I only did what any other pony would have likely done in my place," she said humbly. "However, dear brother of mine... I'm afraid the manure has hit the fan."

That was the correct idiom! HA!

"Amber, being the stupid mare she is, has decided to try to strike a deal with The Umbra. Cup and I are gathering our friends, but could you gather the rest of our siblings for me, please? We need to reach her as soon as possible with as much firepower as we can muster."

Quartz's eyes went wide... then narrowed sharply. "We shall be ready in less than ten minutes, my sister - if Amber's madness has reached that point, we must HURRY!"

He grabbed up his needle and thread with his magic, and his sword with his mouth as he stowed them all in their proper places within his suit as he headed up the stairs. "We will take the Celestial Airship, as Opal knows how to operate it best; the Pie airship should still be in port, behind the Carousel Boutique - Darkness Preserve, Amber's gone insane..."

He broke into a gallop as soon as he reached the front door of the cottage, running as if his tail were on fire.

By Obsidian's standards, Amber was already insane, but it seemed as if things were even worse than usual now. The Umbra was evil and such, et cetera and so forth - but thankfully she'd met with the Spirit of Harmony already, or else she'd be truly afraid.

But she'd done so... and learned about her TRUE history. And right now? She simply wasn't in any shape to worry even a tiny bit more - mostly because she'd already gotten rid of any remaining fucks she had to give back in Tambelon and they'd had yet to replenish.

She quickly collected Quartz's suits with her magic and ran off to look for her friends. Mica's home was the same as his parents' home... which was a bit of a trek out of town. Clap's place, meanwhile, was in Cloudsdale. Both places seemed to be rather far away...

Good thing they were both still in Ponyville.

Last night's celebration had left the town square looking a bit rough - but frankly, no rougher than it had been lately.
Besides, the signs of merriment somewhat livened the place up a bit.

She found the two of them at Sugarcube Corner, seated out front with some of last night's desserts on a plate between them... kissing. Since she wasn't exactly sneaking, the two turned towards her as she made her way over.

"Yo, Siddy! What'd you think of..." she stopped speaking as soon as she saw Obsidian's muzzle.

"What's going on?" Mica instantly asked.

Such a shame that she had to break up this lovely scene... but after defeating Amber, they would have all the time in the world to do anything they wanted with their loved ones.

"Amber got pissy and wishes to free The Umbra; Cup's already on his way to fetch Gypsy and Stalwart. We need to hurry to the Pie Airship as soon as possible. By the way, have you perchance seen Peppermint Patty? We will need as much genius onboard as possible."

Mica and Clap both jumped up.

"WHAAAAAAT!? That dumb bimbo! She'll kill us all!" Clap gawked.

"I'm getting the impression that's the idea, Clap - we'll get to the airship and get it started." Mica headed that way quickly.

Clap blinked. "Patty? Uhh... wasn't she with Opal, last I saw her? I mean, they've been attached at the friggin' hip since you all came back from Cincineighti..."

"Attached at the what now?" Was it another idiom? Or perhaps she hadn't heard her correctly? "At any rate, Quartz will likely gather them both. I'm right behind you, I just..." she looked around, "... need to see if there are any others who can help us."

Aside from Clap and Mica, there was NO ONE outside, on the streets... maybe everyone else had gone home?

"Siddy... if Crazy Amber's talking about waking that thing up... from what you've told us?" Clap looked spooked. "We are SO screwed! How in the wide, wide world of Equestria are we supposed to stand up to both Amber AND Umber - I mean, Umbra!?"

Obsidian had hoped to catch Lemon Custard; he was good at thinking up the important stuff. Their reinforcements, the assault on Amber's tower, the rescue mission to save the Element Bearers, joining forces with Celestia and Luna, alerting everypony to the incoming danger... he would have known how to handle all that while Obsidian and the others headed off to the fight.

"Preferably, we should try to stop her from summoning the cursed thing. And if not, well... friendship is magic, remember?" She reached out with a hoof to give Thunderclap a reassuring pat on her shoulder.

Clap gave an uncertain chuckle... but she smiled, all the same. "Yeah, sure... we g-got this, right?"

She was trying to be chipper, but it was obvious the upcoming situation was weighing on her a good bit. Still, she began to make her way toward the Carousel Boutique, where the Pie airship was waiting for them.

Perhaps the fact that Obsidian (almost) died had changed her attitude, but for now she was aware that they had all been through so many terrible events and seemingly hopeless situations that-

Nope. She couldn't fool herself; it could always get worse. She could lose her friends, her husband... even possibly lose her child. She shuddered at the mere thought of it.

Amber was droll, insane and absolutely the Stupidest of the Stupid; the kind of enemy that was nowhere near invincible, but who would continue fight out of pure spite. One without any sort of plan in mind - just destructive for destruction's sake. But, lousy queen or not, if she paired herself with The Umbra...

Obsidian made her way towards her waiting transport... and while it was on her mind, she simply HAD to find that seed.

Reaching the ship, Mica was already onboard - and so was Cupcake, who was at the helm. Gypsy was fidgeting as he waited next to the gangplank, but his tail wagged lightly when he saw Obsidian and Thunderclap coming.

"Th-this one has h-h-heard," he greeted them, "and he is r-r-re-ready to g-go... as is-"

"Lady Siddy!" Wart cried out from the cabin door, "I am prepared to fight the good fight!"

She came out in her Royal Equestrian Guard armor, including her helmet, cape, and twin longswords. Though the situation was supposed to be grim, she was smiling jauntily from ear to ear. "And now, we shall endeavor to kick her flank so hard, she will end up with a mouthful of her own manure!" Wart laughed, a look of excitement in her eyes.

"That's the spirit!" Obsidian nodded - at least one of them wasn't in such a grim mood. In fact, Obsidian herself would prefer to simply return to her previous, slightly bored attitude where she was content just to insult Amber to her face.

"While it's on my mind, does anypony here have any spare glyphs available - just in case?" It didn't help that they weren't as fully prepared as they could have been, but time was of the essence. Obsidian took off her saddlebags to look through them; she HAD to locate the precious seed given to her by Whistlewhi-... er, the Moochi-...

The Spirit of Harmony. Yes, that worked.

Oh, there was also one more thing left to do...

"Everyone? Quartz made us some special suits, though we don't exactly have much time to test them out... but I believe we should wear them, all the same." She reached into her saddlebag to retrieve the outfits.

Cupcake rolled his eyes. "Oh no... we're gonna look like clow-..."

Then he saw them; they ALL did.

"WHOA-Ho-HOOOOOO NELLY! Look at that!" Clap admiringly cried out as she saw them. "Those are TOP-NOTCH, Siddy!"

"... I have to admit; they are pretty cool," Mica agreed.

"I-i-is... Is that for th-th-this one's use? Oh - i-it is hooded!" Gypsy smiled.

"Lady Siddy... are those... 'sixes' on the back?" Wart looked to her. "Are these our uniforms for being the Siddy Six?"

"... okay, I admit it," Cupcake grinned, "I COMPLETELY underestimated him; these are nifty!"

"Nifty!?" Clap stressed, "they're at least 20% cooler than just 'nifty!'"

"I was surprised too," Obsidian admitted, "as his previous designs for clothing were done simply because he was amused that, no matter how ugly, they still sold due to his growing fame."

She still didn't understand the motivations behind such a choice... but she wasn't Quartz, so she simply chalked it up as 'his mind, not mine' and let it go.

"And yes, Stalwart - for the Siddy Six." Well, it looked as though that ridiculous name had stuck. "Let's try them out. He says he made each of the suits proofed against Amber's magic... and yet, I wonder if they have any more surprises for us to discover?"

Each of her friends began to don their outfits, as did Obsidian herself.

"OOOH! Mine's got LOTSA pockets!"
"Hoof covers - nice."
"This fits like a glove, Sidster! Even my Wonderbolt training suit doesn't fit this good!
It's almost like I'm wearing nothing at all! WOW!"
"It... it fits me! Lady Siddy - did he already have our measurements? This fits WONDERFULLY!"
"Oh... ohhhhhhh, the p-p-pockets! It is l-like he knows what w-w-we needed!"

Each of her friends, wearing their suits, looked... well, they looked like heroes.

"I could get used to having this many pock-... p-pockets to... uhm... w-wow..." Cupcake tapered off his words, which prompted the rest to look up.

"Yo, Siddy... is that YOUR outfit!?" Clap's eyes went wide, as did her smile. "It looks TOTALLY AWESOME!"

"We all do!" Obsidian exclaimed happily. At least they'd stopped worrying so much about Amber and The Umbra... and if they were going to die, they'd do it looking sharp.

... oh THAT wasn't a nice thought. Nope. No thinking about death. Nope, nope, nope.

"Okay... let's go. To the Empire, my friends!"

A few lever pulls, and the anchor lifted; though the setup for such was far more 'showy' on Celestia's airship, the Pie ship (oddly enough) seemed to be more practical... plus, it was much faster to reel up.

"Okay," Mica gathered them around the wheel, so Cup could listen in too, "what's the plan here? How are we doing this? I have a few ideas, but I want to know what YOU have in mind, Siddy - so spill it. What are we doing, exactly?"

"Are we gonna sneak inside?" Cup asked.

Bold of them to assume she had any plan.

"My siblings are onboard Celestia's airship and hopefully, they shall have more luck with finding anypony else who could also be alerted and gathered. We need to get our airship as close to the cave with the Umbral Altars in it, where Amber may likely - it should be safer and quicker than climbing the ancient ropes there."

Seed. Glyphs. Important...

"Do any of you happen to have any additional glyphs? Or perhaps you know about any sort of weapons this ship has available? Cuppy, we can't plan ahead without knowledge of what we already have..."

Cupcake grinned. "We have exactly sixteen glyph-blankets, eighty-two pre-filled water balloons, twenty one bottle rockets, a dozen smoke bombs, and seven parachutes. Aside from that - we have... uhh, good intentions, a can-do attitude, and... minty-fresh breath?"

"And," Clap added, "I brought the duffel bag with the lightning rods in it, so we've got those, too!"

"I have brought only one other thing, aside from my equipment, Lady Siddy..." Wart's horn lit up, and a blanket-wrapped long object floated over to Obsidian. When it was right in front of her, the little mare whisked the blanket away to reveal...

It was a LANCE!

"Happy Hearthswarming," she said with a grin.

A LANCE!

Obsidian grabbed it and hugged it... then she grabbed Stalwart and hugged her too. "Thank you, Stalwart! I am now ready to groove a smiling face into Amber's shard!"

Wart grinned and returned the hug, "Aye, Your Majesty... and we shall do exactly that!"

She released her smol friend and turned to face them all. "It seems we have plenty of weapons that could be used to distract Amber. Remember, Flurry Heart is still in there, fighting to regain herself - we can actually try to use our glyph-blankets to possibly provide any bit of help we can to disrupt Amber's control over her. However, the main goal here is to stop her long enough for my siblings to join us. Together... well, I sincerely doubt even stupid Amber would be able to stop us!"

Hopefully. And there was also a chance that Opal could actually succeed and bring Ruby back to them.

Now, she just had to find that seed...

"Hey, nobody said we were supposed to bring presents," Mica joked in his typical deadpan manner.

"Yeah - but we brought some anyway!" Clap smirked. "I figured a whole bag full of lightning rods would be helpful!"

"True," Mica pondered, "but when-"

"E-e-excuse, please.... b-but you sh-should all come and s-see this..."

Beneath them, veritable rivers of Umbral Harnesses were following the ship from the ground... no, not following... they were all gathering somewhere ahead of them; somewhere like the Crystal Empire, perhaps?

"Hopefully they're not planning to combine into one gigantic Umbral Harness - I don't think we would be even the slightest bit prepared for something like that," Obsidian mused, both relieved that the morbid machines weren't coming after them... and worried that they were doing something else entirely. "Cup, what about the weapons already onboard this ship?"

Cupcake saluted with a smile. "Aside from what I listed before? Well... we can always throw Wart at the enemy, but I'd rather save her for the big push! She technically counts as an army all by herself!"

Wart grinned at that.

"But otherwise, we hav-"

>BOOM!<

The airship shuddered, and everyone looked back to see what had caused to problem... and saw that their airship was being followed by flying orbs...

Thousands of them.

The air behind them was a black cloud of the winged explosives; the flood of harnesses beneath them were releasing the little balls of death into the air as they passed, and the whole mass of them were making their way towards the airship!

Clap gawked for a moment, then looked to Obsidian. "You guys keep this ship in the air; I'm gonna find us a place to land - the LAST thing we want is to get blown out of the air!"

With that, as if someone had proposed a race, the pegasus took off like a shot ahead of their flight path.

Author's Note:

Amber, Daughter of Sombra

BITCH QUEEN OF EQUESTRIA

=[XOX]=

And here we go, friends - the final battle is rapidly approaching, and Obsidian and company are headed directly into the proverbial lion's den. They might not have an army of machines to do their bidding, nor access to alicorn magic... but they have the power of Friendship, and if you're ANY sort of fan of My Little Pony, you already know what THAT is capable of!

And finally, Amber reveals her true form - the picture here by Magfen does her absolute justice, and she looks incredibly visceral and wicked. I love the artwork of each of the shards, but this one has to be the most visual translation of a character I've ever seen.

Hold onto your butts, folks - this ride's about to get BUMPY.

};)