Obsidian: Legacy Of Sombra

by Randimaxis

Five: Family Matters

From the looks of things, the horde seemed to be focused on the airship; some stragglers broke off, but only a few - and with the way the barn's residents were armed, they wouldn't last long.

The airship slowly began to pick up speed, and even with Butter stalking back and forth in frustration, she seemed to lighten up a bit once the horde fell behind the much-faster craft.

"I don't even WANT to know how many rivets are in the bottom of this thing," Cup remarked. However, now a small flock of flying cubes were following them as they made their way off from the larger grouping.

Rivets? Chances were, probably a lot; there would be a lot of repairs later. Getting some weapons mounted on this thing was going to be a priority... but first things first. Obsidian aimed at the cubes with her PPL, waiting for an opportunity to send some baked destruction their way.

>DING!< The gauge's needle was now pointed at the <READY> indicator, and she could smell something burning.

Butter saw the cubes and growled, then scooped up a hoofful of rivets from the deck and slung them at the cubes. "Y'all GIT! We don't need no escort!" The rivets mostly missed, though a few pinged off of some of the cubes... with nothing resulting, except a change of formation, where they spread out a bit more from each other.

Obsidian launched another pineapple pizza at the cubes, slightly annoyed that they'd changed formation - she had hoped she could get all of them with a single shot. To rectify this, she levitated one of the many rivets on the deck, preparing to launch it at them with her magic.

Maybe they were resistant to Light Magic - but were they resistant to magic-propelled pieces of metal? Hopefully not.

The PPL gave a loud >ka-CHUNG!<, and a spinning disc of flaming doom flew forth. The circle of destruction went through three of the cubes... which all exploded like dynamite! Their spread was far enough that the resulting booms didn't take any of the rest out...

But now she knew what was what; if those things reached the ship... or worse, the balloon above...

The gauge was still set at <READY>; did this thing have multiple shots? Well, time to check. Obsidian launched again... and perhaps even once more, assuming she'd still have remaining ammo and enough enemies to shoot at. Hopefully it was more efficient than she thought initially - it would be great to bring doom to the Umbrals on the ground!

The PPL did have multiple shots - she launched out five more disks of fiery death, and was rewarded with the demise of several cubes, all exploding in mid-air with a fantastic burst of flame and smoke. After the sixth shot, however... the needle on the gauge went to <REFILL>, and the top of the PPL's hopper popped open to allow ingredients to be inserted...

But what ingredients did she have?

She had to refill - no argument with that. However, what could she possibly put inside? What were the limits of Miss Pie's work of art? "Cup, do we have anything on board - aside from more rivets - that could be used to restock my ammo?"

Considering her complete lack of knowledge about their supplies, she had to ask... that, or simply try to feed the PPL with little pieces of metal, which she was ready to do - she had already grabbed some rivets and was preparing herself to throw them into the cannon's hopper. She simply wasn't sure if it could handle them.

Cup was busily steering and trying to get more speed from the airship. "Uhhhhh... I don't know! There's probably some in the kitchen cabin!"

Butter then noticed what Siddy had on her back, and balked. "Hang on - is that Aunt Pinkie's Party Pizza Launcher!? Sweet sassafrass, that thang's dangerous! Nearly killed ponies when she brought it to muh 8th birthday party - she said she was gonna fix it t'where it didn't do that no more, but... heck, I guess it's better'n nothin'! Still, you keep that thang away from me!"

Cup then looked at Butter. "You could go to the kitchen and grab stuff, though!"

A single, thoughtful look, and Butter raced to the cabin door, pounding through it to get downstairs. Cup then looked at his love. "You've got rivets? Try those!"

Dangerous? Well, she could see why. She couldn't help but worry about how badly this thing had apparently messed Butter's birthday party - the mere idea of Miss Pie accidentially ruining a party was... painful. Was it this famous 'empathy' thing she'd read in a book once?

First things first, though; she put the hoofful of rivets into the efficient little hopper.

The rivets rattled their way down into the guts of the thing, and after three or four hooffuls, the hopper closed on its' own. The gauge's needle went to <BAKING>, and she could smell the tang of molten steel after a minute or two.

Meanwhile, one of the cubes caught up with the ship. It few in close, then affixed itself to the side, and began to glow a bright red color - but only for a moment, as it then exploded, taking a chunk out of the side of the bow. It wasn't enough damage to bring the ship down... but it wouldn't be able to take many of those, she thou-...

Underneath the shiny and glitzy chunk that had been blown off was what looked to be plate steel, and it was mostly unmarred; it seemed this ship was sturdier than it looked!

Obsidian admittedly had kind of underestimated Celestia's engineers; she'd assumed that they would be too busy preening the ship's appearance to prepare it for unexpected situations like this - but here she was, on a well-armored airship that was able to withstand an explosion.

Burning pizzas were pretty dangerous, but... well, it was a PIZZA LAUNCHER; she had a few reasons to believe that this machine could handle what had been fed into it. For the record, the smell of molten metal made her rather anxious, as she was fully aware that it was right next to her body - a body that would be no match for a flood of molten metal. If there was a single breakdown or accident, she would have to say bye-bye to her hoof... or possibly more.

Just as Butter stormed up the stairs with a basket loaded with food stuffs on her back, the PPL went >DING!< and the gauge slipped over to the <READY> sign. Butter dropped the basket at Obsidian's hooves. "I jus' grabbed whatever ah could find - ah hope it'll do ya!"

There were pizza ingredients in there, sure... but there were also a number of foods in there that really shouldn't go on a pizza - like celery, cauliflower, whole potatoes, green beans, rice. She'd apparently just grabbed whatever was in the cupboards. However, cauliflower in the PPL wouldn't be more dangerous than molten metal.

What in the wide, wide world of Equestria was Miss Pie thinking? Why did her (admittedly awesome) party harness have enough power to melt steel rivets? Obsidian was thankful for its destructive powers - don't get her wrong - but it was designed as a party tool!

Thoughts later - action NOW. Obsidian gripped the trigger in her mouth and fired.

>ka-CHONK!< The pitch of sound was different, but the spinning disk of steel that flew out of the front was a sight to behold. It looked like a ponyhole cover, but was slinging droplets of liquid steel from the edges as it spun; the disk itself took out two, but the drops of molten steel struck another three - and they reacted to the heat and blew up promptly.

There were now only six cubes following them, but these were spread sufficiently wide; each one would take a separate shot.

Obsidian would pay a fortune for some nice projectile weapons, like those she saw with the police force; at least she found out she could shoot molten metal pizzas without killing herself. It was always nice to know that your own weapon wouldn't kill you.

She had no choice but to continue shooting - she had to take down all of these cubes, after all. While she was at it, she did her best to fire at least once at the Umbrals at the ground, with the hope that they would be close enough to each other to take some serious losses.

Her shots flew mostly true, with four out of six kills - on the ground, the disk of steely doom slammed into a harness and almost instantly crippled it, bringing it down as it flew into chunks, decapitated mid-section! Now, there were only two following them.

However, it was still a bad situation; if these things brought Umbral Harnesses wherever they went, they would HAVE to be dealt with before they followed the airship all the way to Washburn's hidey-hole in Ghastly Gorge; revealing the location of her siblings was most certainly NOT a good thing.

Butter reached into the basket and grabbed a cantalope, then turned and slung it at one of the cubes. It grazed it, but enough to bend a propeller, which sent it to the ground rapidly, where a small >BOOM< went off as it hit the dirt.

"YEE-HAW!" she cried out, "now THAT is what ah call a 'one in a melon' shot!" Cupcake giggled at the joke.

Firing at the last little cube with the devastating pizza launcher would most likely be a bit of overkill; instead, Obsidian grabbed a single bunch of cauliflower with her magic, and simply threw it at the thing.

The cube lightly dodged the throw, then kicked into a faster speed as it headed straight up towards the balloon!

Oh, damnation! Obsidian kind of panicked a bit, and quickly threw some of the foodstuffs from the basket into the hungry maw of the launcher as she continued throwing whatever things she could find at the last cube, in a desperate attempt to save their balloon. And themselves, by proxy.

Butter saw it headed up, and grew a firm look on her muzzle. "Oh NO you don't!"

Reaching into her saddlebags, she brought out a length of rope with a lasso at the end, and began to swing it around her head as she held it in her teeth. With a flick of her neck, she tossed the loop.

As soon as the orb was inside the lasso's loop, Butter yanked back, drawing the lasso closed around the propellor stem, which stopped its' flight and brought it down towards the three of them. Butter quickly slung the rope to the side, and the sphere followed, making a >BOOM< as it struck the side of the airship... FAR from the precious balloon above.

"Whew!" Butter said as she began to gather the rope into her bag again, "glad I learned how ta lasso - we'd've been falling like apples offa bucked tree if'n that thang hit th' windbag up there!"

Well, they were once again only mere moments away from a rather painful death... or at least it would hamper their logistical abilities - unless they'd also found out that the balloon was ALSO properly protected by whatever engineers had put it together. At this point, she may have believed it anyway.

"As soon as we get to Ghastly Gorge, I'll ask the orginal creator of these things if she knows how to destroy them any easier," Obsidian said aloud to no specific pony; she'd just wanted to proclaim it out aloud, to better remember. Then, to save time, she started to collect the many, many rivets around them with her magic.

She might need them.

Having dealt with the flying cubes and left the Umbral Harnesses behind, it was smooth sailing over Equestria until they reached Ghastly Gorge. As they sailed above the canyon below, Butter leaned on the wall (that was left) and looked out over the area.

"Y'know... I ain't seen muh brother in a long time... even after me an' Uncle Mac kinda gave up, Mama didn't. She always just sorta felt that he was out here somewheres... an' we jus' thought it was her bein' hopeful. But, t'know he's really alive..."

Her expression fell just a touch. "I wish Mama was here t'see this."

Cup came over to her and put a hoof around her shoulders. "I know, Butter... I know. Me too. Wash was never going to be on the chess team or anything, but... but he was a cool colt, from what I remember. I'll bet he'll be glad to see you though..."

Butter smirked. "You bet yer fur."

Reaching the place where the cactus had once stood (now replaced by a shrubbery), they brought the craft down slowly and safely, Butter practically jumping off the skiff as she looked around for her brother. Cup and Siddy left the craft in time for them both to hear words coming up from the ground below them.

"I say, is there somebody present? I'm hoping you're friendly, but in case you are not, then I shall inform you that I have a sword in my possession..." That was Quartz; no doubt in Obsidian's mind about it.

Their first voyage, and their airship was already a bit battered - and it was merely ONE single encounter with the enemy! It didn't bode well for the future, once again reminding Obsidian of her decision to arm themselves as soon as possible. Luckily, they didn't get into any other fights and - to Obsidian's great relief - they managed to get to the Gorge without further incident.

She didn't do much during the trip, except for taking care of the ship's steering wheel and acting as a sentry. She didn't feel right to insert herself into the middle of Butter and Cup's conversation.

She honestly didn't know very much at all about her; a bit ironic, considering the role she almost got.

"Just... brace yourself - he only has three legs now. Though I left him with both Diamond and Opal, so I wouldn't be surprised if the status of his leg has changed already," she warned Butter as she stepped up to the gangplank.

"That's a good thing, dear brother - I was just looking for somepony with a sword... or to be more precise, for you. And for the rest of our little family," she grinned, suppressing the inner desire to tease him a bit.

A nearby rock suddenly stood up, and the grey exterior faded as Quartz was revealed. He placed his sword into his belt, and stepped forward. "Obsidian! Excellent! Glad to see you again... and with your fine fiancee in tow, no less! And who is your newest companion, pray tell?"

"Mah name's Butter Churn - you know where muh brother is?" She was direct, wasn't she?

"Brother? Er... ah, you must mean dear Washburn, yes? Please follow me..." The stately pony turned and headed toward the shrubbery, then simply leaned it to on side. He looked back at Obsidian. "We've added a rope ladder in your absence; easier than 'controlled falling', eh?"

Butter was next to descend, then Cup came to the edge. "You need a hoof, love? Or do you think you can make it?"

Well, the last time Obsidian went underground, she was being carried as a shard. She had no way to compare the act of 'controlled falling' and using the ladder. "I think I should be able to climb down on my own, Cup." Obsidian sighed; as long as it wouldn't damage the PPL, everything should be fine, right? Thankfully, she was slowly getting used to the harness. The PPL was tricky to get into the hole, but the ladder was sturdy and she managed to get down without issue.

The cave was... a little different than the last time she'd seen it.

There were now a number of pipes, supports and other cobbled-together framework that now covered the walls (and part of the floor), and steam hissed and gurgled from a makeshift boiler towards the back. Standing there, using magic to tighten screws in the latest construction, was Opal - humming happily to herself as she worked at what she was doing.

Obsidian could also see Tourmaline and Aquamarine, playing some sort of card game in the far corner - but both turned their attention to the new arrivals as they descended the ladder.

"{Obsidyan! Cupcakes!}" Diamond smiled happily as he made his way to them, giving their front legs a hug when he got close enough. "{I am so pleased you are alright! And you are yourself again - happy day!}"

Cupcake chuckled. "I'll bet you're happy to see her in her proper form, right little buddy?" He tousled Mundy's mane, and the little unicorn smiled.

Butter, meanwhile, was paying almost ZERO attention to anything around her. "Y'all said Wash was here - but ah don't see 'im yet!"

Quartz just grinned. "I can take you to him... yet, Obsidian? I'd ask you to accompany, as there's a... development... I'd like to share with you."

His grin got wider as he began to walk towards the rear of the cave. "Now, please stay as silent as you can... at least until you get to see what I have to show you. Come," he beckoned, "let us go and visit Mr. Washington, shall we?"

Butter had a skeptical look on her muzzle, but followed along anyhow.

If Quartz was smiling, it meant that either Obsidian would be pleased with the development... or that he was possessed by Amber again, and they were all going to die - very, very quickly.

The cavern looked exactly as she'd expected, with Opal around - so she could at least risk thinking that all of them were of a normal mindset, controlled ONLY by themselves and free from any kinds of mental manipulation. She opened her muzzle to respond... but eventually settled on merely nodding.

After all, he did ask her to be quiet, right?

Reaching the rear, he slowly seemed to slip sideways and vanish... but when he poked his head back out, Obsidian could see that there was actually another passage within the cavern; it blended in so well with the wall, you wouldn't see it unless you knew where to look. And thanks to Quartz, she now knew where to look.

Creeping along, she began to hear a voice... a familiar voice...

"... to this one; interconnecting scars just make for a better story. Of course, nothing I have on me comes close to a missing leg - you win that one."

There was a deep, throaty chuckle, and the next words spoken made Butter Churn put a hoof over her mouth in shock. "Eeyup - Timberwolves're nasty critters, but they ain't too sturdy - one good kick's all it'll take ta git 'em."

Looking around the corner, there were two things that caught her attention:

The first was an ENORMOUS mural on the wall of what looked to be Sweet Apple Acres, all made out of gems and precious stones, all cut to fit perfectly into the mural. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and even fine details were included in the art, such as a milk can made of quartz, and what looked like an orange pony wearing a hat out in the orchard. It must've taken years to do... and now Obsidian realized what he was going to carve into her for; she'd have been a part of this mural, had he succeeded.

The second thing was Washburn himself - untied and wearing what looked like a piecemeal mechanical leg, most likely courtesy of Opal. And seated next to him was Amethyst, wearing a bit of a smile as they both chatted.

Quartz grinned. "They've been talking for over three hours now," he whispered, "and I do believe they've both found something worth chatting about together. I think perhaps my violent and angst-ridden sister has found herself a crush."

HA! Obsidian had been one hundred percent correct about his leg! She simply knew that Opal wouldn't be able to stop herself from making a replacement for him. Siddy was regretting that she didn't make any bets about this - she could have been rich!

However, it wasn't the most interesting thing to see here. Even the grand and well-made mural didn't attract her attention as much as... well...

Obsidian looked at Quartz with silent shock on her muzzle. Now this was quite an abrupt change - in one moment, Amy was... well, Amy... and in another, she was Mare-Do-Well... then she became a loving sister, and now...

And now she might end up in the Apple family? Obsidian had gotten her hooves on Miss Pie's colt... Amy was smiling fondly at Applejack's child... you know, it would be funny if they all managed to find themselves involved with the children of the Mane Six, but she kind of doubted that would be possible... unless Onyx somehow managed to seduce Midnight. Blech.

"... Wash?" Butter said aloud, and both of the ponies conversing instantly went silent.

The stallion looked towards where they were hiding, and his own eyes went wide. Butter, meanwhile, started walking towards him... then trotting... then almost went into a full gallop as she crossed the span between them. Washburn's eyes began to tear up, and he looked intently towards her. She too looked as though she were next to tears as she came up on him...

And slapped him across the muzzle with her hoof! "Washburn Wilson Washington! Whut in tarnation do you think yer doin' out here!? You got any idea how SICK you made us all, worryin' 'bout you - then thinkin' y'all were just plain DEAD!? How could you do that t'Mama!? T'Uncle Mac? How could ya do that t'ME!?!?"

He stared at her, and she stared back... until she finally burst into tears and wrapped her forehooves around him. "Wash, consarn it... I am SO glad t'see ya, ya big galoot..."

He stood there stunned for a moment... before wrapping his real forehoof around her and squeezing her tightly.

Amethyst, looking a little flushed herself, looked over at Siddy and Quartz. "Obsidian! You, uhh... you're whole again. G-good," she said directly, trying not to blush or fidget... and failing at both.

Ah, a touching family reunion. Obsidian could only watch in awe at this pure and wholesome display of family values, longing and even a little bit of well-earned violence. Who would ever have thought that, only a few days ago, she would ever have found the long lost member of the Apple clan? Nopoony, that's who.

World was truly an amazing place, where every single bit of information, sooner or later, seemed to come in handy.

She still couldn't really understand why he decided that falsifying his death would be any sort of a good idea.

However- first things first; she turned to face Amethyst with a completely serious look on her muzzle. "Amy... You. Me. Sisterly hug. Right now."

Amethyst looked at her for a moment, then glanced unsurely at Cupcake, who nodded vigorously. She then returned her gaze to Obsidian...

And smirked. And came over to her. And hugged her.

"I am SO glad I didn't manage to kill you," she whispered in her sister's ear, "because I think I needed someone like you. I think we ALL did..." She then looked right into Obsidian's eyes. "... thank you... sister."

"EEOUUUFF!" Quartz let out a grunt as Cupcake hoisted him into the air with a hug, giddily giggling as the prim & proper Quartz goggled and struggled a bit... then, with a resigned sigh, he simply hung there.

"Everyone else is hugging, so I wanted to too!" Cup gushed.

"... I noticed," Quartz groaned.

HA! Another family member hugged, converted completely to her side, assimilated into modernity - Obsidianed! With this simple act, Amy had now confirmed her new role as... well, as a sister who wouldn't be known mostly for her hostile behaviour towards Obsidian.

"I'm glad you survived our first few meetings as well, sister," Obsidian pulled out of the hug and nudged Amy slightly.

"... and Cuppy, you could have simply waited for your turn, you know?" she smirked.

Cup grinned and set Quartz down (much to his relief) and threw his forelegs around both of the shard sisters. Now it was their turn to gasp as his hug was surprisingly strong!

Meanwhile, Butter separated from Wash and looked over towards the gathered group, specifically at Obsidian. "Y'all don't know whut this means t'me... with all th' Apple family's been through lately, this is a ray of sunshine in a world that was goin' dark. T'have muh brother back... ah can't even begin t'thank ya..."

She then smiled sweetly. "Mama'd be proud t' call ya a friend o' th' family... and I am, too. You ever need anythang, sugarcube - we're there."

"Eeyup," Washburn added with a smirk.

"All well and good," Quartz said as he straightened his suit, "but right now, I'd say the best assistance we could request would be a helping hoof in dealing with our erstwhile sister Amber... or, to be more prcise, her armada of walking dead."

Butter and Washburn both nodded. "Then, y'got it - just tell us where, an' we'll be there faster'n a jackrabbit onna lettuce patch. We'll even spread th' word, so's we can try ta gather a few more folks fer this brawl!" She then turned to Wash. "Now... you an' me got a few thangs t'catch up on... includin'..."

The sorrowful look that crossed her features said that she and her brother would probably need some time alone.

Gaaaah... Cup's hugs were far better when they were one-on-one, Obsidian mused; they tended to be more tender and loving... and a lot less reliant on brute force. But, ah - the Apples once again had her attention when Butter decided to thank them.

Obsidian was perhaps a bit skeptical when Washburn confirmed that they would 'be there'; she still was rather wary of him - after all, their first meeting almost ended terribly... but she appreciated it. That was why she brought Butter here in the first place - to raise their spirits, especially after the Umbrals had ended Applejack's life during this terrible tragedy.

A jackrabbit on a lettuce patch? What, uh... a-anyway, the Apple children apparently needed some time alone. Besides, Obsidian wanted to talk with her siblings too - especially Tourmaline and Opal.

"Oh - yes, of course. Come on, family; let's give them a bit of space." She turned around to return to the main... er, room? Cave? Atrium? Her family followed her out of the cavern to give the Apples their private time, and they made their way back out to the main area.

When they arrived, Tourmaline was leaning against the wall and grinning at them. "Glad to see you up and ambulatory," he smirked, "you're easier to talk to when I can see your muzzle."

"Yeah, yeah... good you're YOU again," Aqua grumped, but his tiny grin was still visible on his aged face.

Opal, meanwhile, turned back and looked at them all with a bit of surprise. "Oh, ah... h-hello there, umm, Obsidian, yes, it's good to, ah, see you walking around, true."

"It's nice to see you all as well, dear siblings of mine." Who would have ever thought that she could put most of her siblings into a single room without massive amounts of angst and bloodshed? Nopony, that's who.

However, she didn't come here just to exchange pleasantries or to integrate with her dear family, unfortunately.

"Tourmaline, I..." It felt strange, to talk about three of her siblings this way, but there was no other way to tell it - they were gone. For now.

Oh, she hoped so much that it was only 'for now'.

"...I c-couldn't contact Ruby, Onyx or Peridot since our escape from Amber's clutches. Some strange alicorn filly told me in my dreams that they were gone for now, but that I should ask you about it. Do you know of anything that could change this situation, possibly?"

Tourmaline blinked, then he stood off the wall and walked over to her. Reaching back to his own pouch, he brought it forward and opened it, holding it out for Obsidian to look into.

Inside the pouch was a bunch of small gemstones; red ones, green ones and a few scant purple ones. "When they... appeared to help Amy and I through the tunnels, I... well, I just felt it was important to scoop up a hoofful every time they... um, fell apart," he shrugged, "just had this feeling it was important, was all. I guess... this is what's left of them?"

To be honest Obsidian had no idea, but considering that it was the only possibility she had, she could safely bet that the filly alicorn had meant these. Hopefully, it would be enough, and by Darkness, the spell to re-create the bodies of her siblings was lost along Peridot and Onyx... at least until she might be able to locate it in one of his books, perhaps. How could they fix this?

"Opal, I was told by a very powerful and wise being that you should be able to create some modern machinery able to restore the lost bodies of our siblings, creating new forms for the souls hiding within my mind. I also had some contact with the spell used to create all of us, and even though it was enhanced by the Umbral altars, your inventions should be able to replace that need. Do you possibly know what I'm mos likely talking about?"

Opal grinned and nodded. "Er, oh yes, heh, we've been studying, yes, some of the magics, hmmm, and we've discovered, right, that we can possibly do, gee, what you're suggesting..." She then gave a bit of a frightened look. "But well, er, that is to say that we, eep, might be able to do, hrm, such a thing... but, eh, we could only do it, umm, once, yes, as the materials are very difficult, sigh, to come by anymore."

"Sounds like you'd have to choose carefully, Siddy," Cup said, "but what about the other two?"

"Well, you see, umm, in time, perhaps, we could possibly duplicate the effects... but, like, for the near future, we'll have to settle, oh my, for ONE."

Amethyst shrugged. "Well... isn't there some way to get in contact with them through these?"

Opal gave Amy a glare. "Have you ever been, maybe, in pieces before?"

Amethyst went quiet... but Tourmaline spoke up. "These came from YOU, Obsidian... maybe... if you... well..."

"Swallowed them?" Cup guessed.

Tourmy nodded hesitantly. "R-right... that."

Opal's way of talking was a bit... well, annoying. With each sound that wasn't an informative word, Obsidian's brain kept shutting down bit by bit... which was actually a good thing, as the only alternative was for her to grow more and more irritated with each 'um' and 'ah' her sister muttered.

"Well, the choice is rather obvious, isn't it? Peridot doesn't want to be revived at all, unless we find a way to silence the voices he hears, and I think I'd prefer to keep Onyx safely hidden away in my mind, acting as an advisor to our small resistance." That, and Obsidian would sleep far better knowing that she wasn't walking around. The current situation was already rather stressful enough.

"...so that leaves Ruby as the first candidate." At the beginning of her path, Obsidian had wanted to bring Onyx back first - but as a research project. Now... well, she'd become a bit less malevolent towards her oldest sister.

Tourmaline looked into the bag and sighed. "Well... I suppose we'll have to sort them out by color - wouldn't want Ruby to have Peri's headaches."

"Yeah," Amethyst added, "and I don't want EITHER of them to have even a sliver of Onyx in them."

"Give me a bit," Tourmaline said as he moved to the table and cautiously dumped them out, "and I should have them sorted enough to try to test out 'eating' theory; purple or green first?"

"I'd think green," Cup spoke up, "since Peridot doesn't like it out here in the world. If it works, he'll be back in your head in no time!"

"And if it doesn't?" Aqua chimed in.

Cup shrugged. "Well, then... we just have to, eh... wait a while... and we should get them back, right?"

Quartz made a disgusted face. Cup shrugged. "Hey, I didn't say it would be pretty..."

At this point, Obsidian would think the easier option might be asking Diamond to cut open her stomach, look for the shards and remove them - that would be far cleaner than waiting for the 'natural' method.

"I agree; I think I'd prefer to try Peridot first. Opal, what resources do you need to build this machine of yours? Oh, and I wanted to move you - all of you - to Ponyville. Spreading our forces would make more sense only if we didn't have them so thinly dispersed already. In a more whole gathering, we should all be safer."

Amethyst, Tourmaline, Diamond and Quartz all seemed to approve of the idea to move... but Aquamarine scowled, and Opal simply blushed and fidgeted.

"In case you haven't noticed," Aqua said, "I'm not exactly a very sociable type; can you GUARANTEE that nobody there will irritate me? And what about Opal? Will they still accept us if Lapo makes an appearance?"

"Of course they will," Opal said as her eyes shifted to red, "as they won't have much choice in the matter; genius before stupidity, after all - and we cannot be bothered to deal with such plebian rabble... they'll simply accept and leave us alone. We'll give them no chance to say otherwise!"

Aqua lifted an eyebrow at Obsidian, as if to say 'see my point'.

"{Obsidyan... would there be anyplace else for us to gather? OH! What about your home? It would have space for all of us, and it looked wonderful to me!}"

"Your own home?" Quartz smirked. "My my, already have your own real estate? And you've only been active in the modern world for how long?"

Meanwhile, Opal Lapo began gathering materials and stuffing them into her saddlebags. "We already have all the necessary items to build the device with; what we shall require will be different.... you see, as much as we're certain it strains your brain to imagine it, we will need to set up the device somwhere we can syphon off the energy necessary to complete the mixture... and, unfortunately, grow the crystals needed to make the shard itself."

She then shrugged and gave a cynical laugh. "Unless, of course, you would just so happen to have any pieces of shard simply lying around somewhere - which we sincerely doubt you do."

Well, they had a point. However, she was sure that the advantages of having a genius like Opal around would outweigh any potential problems, and... well, her home sounded like a good place for them to live for the moment. After securing Ponyville, they should be able to relocate to Princess Twilight's castle, maybe?

... or would that count as a coup?

But first things first - and at the moment, the firstest thing of all was bringing back Ruby. And of course, showing Lapo her place. With a smirk, Obsidian reached to her saddlebags to produce Onyx's shards, the remains from the last battle of Ponyville. "Learn to believe, dear sister."

Lapo looked... and INSTANTLY, her eyes went a bright blue. "OH! That's marvellous! These are, ha, perfect for, yes, what I need to do!"

She gently took the shards from Obsidian and inspected them carefully. "Yes... these are... p-perfect..."

A slow look crossed her features; one of concern. Her eyes tilted up to look at her slowly. "These... are actual, eh, shard pieces... who-"

"Onyx," Cupcake answered, and Opal gasped. "It's what the museum found; they put it in Siddy's care, and now we know why."

"Know?" Tourmaline asked, "what do you mean? Did you see this coming or something?"

Cup just looked at his love and smiled. "The impossible always seems to happen around my Siddy!"

Opal nodded, then turned and carefully placed the shards into her saddlebags. "Yes, well, um, er... good. Now that we have these, hmm, we can certainly put this idea, yes, into motion... but..." She looked at them all now. "The device, ooh, will have to be constructed, yes, in an appropriate place... a place, my oh my, where we can gather energy, mmm, from a viable source, yes, of Dark Magic..."

Quartz stepped back. "You don't mean..."

"We're, ah, afraid so..." she looked at Obsidian, "... we'll have to, erm, use the Umbral Altars, oh geez, for this - but only for their energy, yes - no rituals, by Darkness no."

Cup looked at Obsidian with a touch of worry.

Rats. Sending Lapo packing was less satisfying than Obsidian thought it would be. In fact, she'd hoped to see at least the look on her muzzle when she realized that yes, Obsidian had exactly what she had needed.

"Well Tourmy, let's just say that I've already learned to believe in destiny. A number of things that happen around me turn out to have some hidden use or deeper meaning," she nodded. Now that she thought about it, she should probably try to maintain a more constant vigilance. Everything could be important!

But at the moment, the most important thing was something that Opal said. Dark Magic? Viable source?

...Umbral altars?

"Dear, dear, deardeardear sister of mine... allow me to confirm that I heard your words correctly." She cleared her throat. "We need to go right to the gates of Tambelon, not too far from the place where our crazy, murderous and horribly bitchy relative has fashioned herself a cozy little tower, to syphon some magical energy from an ancient artifact that took part in the corruption of our father. Did I get that right?"

Opal gave a sheepish grin. "Er, um, ah... y-yes?"

Quartz and Tourmy looked at her cautiously, however. "Ancient artifact that... Obsidian, exactly how much research have you been doing on this? You say these things corrupted our father... are you certain?" Quartz asked, looking as if he were a bit shocked.

"{If Obsidyan says she is certain, then I believe her,}" Diamond added in, but Quartz remained a bit hesitant.

"I trust your judgement, of course, but... perhaps you could enlighten us as to how you know these things?"

Cup smiled a bit. "Siddy just finds things ou-"

"Nope," Aqua insisted, "ain't buyin' it'; spill the beans, filly. Tell us where you learned this stuff from."

Well - it was story time, eh? "Soooooooo... ah. how should I put this... does anypony here know about a legendary being called The Moochick?" she asked, as this knowledge beforehoof could make the discussion far more smoothly.

The gathered crowd looked around at each other; nope, not the first sign of recognition.

It brought a sigh of relief from her; Obsidian had been a bit worried that her lack of knowledge about such powerful and ancient beings meant that she was just ignorant.

"So... I've... spent quite a few nights dreaming of Radiant Hope's memories. I've seen how she and our father found the Umbral Altars, wanting to test her pet-project spell to produce a magically-crafted offspring... but to test it, they gained power in the Crystal Empire through another spell. Then, throughout his apparently benevolent rule, I saw her grow weary and impatient for our father's lack of time - so she decided to steal a fraction of his Dark soul to try this spell herself - without him. To say the least, it went awry, and she ended up trapped inside a shard. However, The Moochick, an ancient being of Harmony, was there with her! Then, while Amber had turned me into a shard, this being visited me more directly to explain some things about all this to me. While our father was Umbral - at least partially - he used most of his normal, ponylike being to create us, attempting to free Radiant Hope. Each time he was getting more... controlled by The Umbra in his mind. What's worse, Radiant's fate was part of Umbra's plan - this creature had subtly tricked her into sacrificing first her Destiny, and then herself... oh, and I also saw all of our creations. It was a rather strange experience, to be fair."

Amy leaned in towards Tourmy. "... I told you not to drop her..."

"{Shhhhhh! Obsidyan is speaking - and she deserves some respect!}" Diamond scolded them, then turned back to face her again. "{Please, tell of the creations, Obsidyan - I do not remember mine.}"

"Nor I," added Quartz, "what did we look like?"

"Er, if I might ask, please, a bit more clarification on , mmm, how this 'Moochick', hee hee, got to Hope's side?"

"Yeah," Aqua gave her a slight sidelong glance, "and how have you been dreamin' about all of this, when all WE get is bits and pieces of dreams; the mares get Hope's dreams, and us stallions get Sombra... but it's always so jangled up!"

To be fair, Obsidian also would have preferred to not be dropped.

"Oh, that's fairly simple, Aquamarine: all of you were created out of the original shard when our father was trying to free our mother. I was created from everything that was left of this shard, afterwards. That's also the reason why I happen to be able to store our souls in case of death, like in Ruby's, Onyx's or Peri's cases. I'm the closest thing to the original Radiant Hope left after so many rituals mutilated her essence," Obsidian explained quickly.

"And The Moochick appeared in the Empire as Whistlewhite, the painter. And, well... we all first formed as, I'd say... ten years old? Diamond was even smaller than that, and you, dear brother Quartz - you looked rather lanky."

Quartz seemed to take a mock umbrage at her words, but then spoke up to her. "Wait... you're saying that Whistlewhite, the Crystal Empire's most renowned artist, was this 'Moochick' deal? What, was it some sort of honorary title or something? What was the significance... was she significant? Eh, besides her artwork, that is?"

Tourmy then gave a sigh from where he was seated. "Well... that's the best I'll get them separated; these gems are sorted out by color now." On the table was a healthy pile of little red stones, a smaller pile of green stones... and a woefully small pile of purple ones.

"There's what we've got," he stated.

"Wait - so... Radiant Hope WASN'T there for our creation?" Aqua tried to guess, but Amy spoke up.

"No - she was the SHARD, right? The one that became Obsidian?"

"Ludicrous!" Lapo threw in her two bits worth, "Such a thing is empirically impossible! If the shard contained Radiant Hope, then it wouldn't possibly have room for your soul as well, Obsidian; two souls cannot fit within the same shard - we have researched this!"

These piles were... well now. "You didn't lose any significant bits of them, did you, Tourmy?" Obsidian asked, eyeing the purple pile. Could they bring them back at all? Or perhaps they would appear without body parts? Or younger...

"Oh, well - do remember, sister Opal, that Hope's soul was in shambles at this point. There was also a bit of our father's soul too, methinks. We are all products of the union between the pieces of souls of two ponies; like, uh... some kind of mystical conception, but with souls instead of sperm and egg." That was the best comparison she could come up with.

"Wait... why did you research it?" she asked Opal/Lapo.

Lapo rolled her eyes. "Oh, for crying out loud - Obsidian, we were trying to discover ways to resurrect father WITHOUT one of us needing to explode like Onyx did; manufacturing a shard was only ONE of our brilliant ideas, as well as researching the possibility of holding two souls within a single shard."

She then sighed as her eyes shifted back to blue. "And well, it was not possible, true, to do such a thing as that, right. It's where we, er, got the idea for creating shards, okay, in the first place."

Tourmy shrugged. "Kinda hard to scoop up little crystals when you're running for your life; this was the best I could do - I'm sorry."

Okay, it made sense... though she was kind of surprised that Opal had found time for research while working for Amber.

"Well, let's hope it'll be enough, Tourmy. So, does it mean it's time for a snack?" Let's hope they had some clean water here; Obsidian doubted that Onyx would go down without fight. Heheheheh.

Tourmaline stepped away from the table and gestured to the piles. "Pick your poison," he said... though she could tell he regretted it as soon as he had said it. "I mean, er... here you go."

Opal went to one of her many tubes - one of which sported a spigot - and with a few lever pulls and dial twists, she produced a cupful of slightly murky water... slightly murky cold water, she noticed. "Well, we're still working on getting, um, the filters installed properly, but they are treated for, yes, disease so you won't get, hmm, sick from it, okay?"

Okay. Time to go green. What was the worst thing that would happen?

Actually, there were plenty of potentially terrible side-effects; after all, they were shards containing bits of soul from her already dead brother, created with help of Umbral Magic! Oh, and the water was rather murky, too.

She eyed all of the tubes. There were plenty of them, to say the least. "Tube number seven, there - does it produce the least murky water?" she asked a bit nervously as she levitated the pile of green shards into the air with her magic.

Opal lifted an eyebrow. "Obsidian, um, they're all, uhhinterconnected, you nitwit - or are you incapable of following the lengths of tube with your eyes?"

"Hey," Amy bristled, "watch it, Two-Fer."

Lapo herself glared at Amy... but was quiet. For now.

Was Lapo some kind of magical disease? A mental sickness? A side-effect of something? Whatever it was, Obsidian was kind of hoping to take care of it soon... in a very permanent way.

"Well... here goes nothing." With that, she swallowed Peridot.

The stones went down without a problem... however, it was strange to note that Peridot tasted sort of like some of Cup's sour candy; sweet with a touch of bitter. At least he didn't taste like poison or some such thing.

"{Obsidyan... has it worked? Is brother Peridot back inside your head?}"

Quartz looked at her as well. "Well... how do we go about testing this theory? Can he speak to you like this? Do you hear him at this very moment?"

"Did he taste like candy?" Cup asked earnestly.

"Like sour candy, to be fair - rather strange. And normally, I kept meeting him in my dreams, so perhaps... I should take a nap?" Obsidian wondered. "A quick one - half hour, at best. In fact, it wouldn't hurt at all; we are in a safe place now and usually our adventures are rather exhausting. We should take an opportunity to rest whenever it's possible, right?"

There was a general air of disappointment from her siblings, but each of them agreed it might be best to actually get some rest for a bit. Many of them went to different parts of the cave to sleep - except for Amy, who waited at the rear for Butter & Wash to finish their talk, and Opal/Lapo, who was busy looking over the tubes and pipes to make even more connections.

Cupcake led Obsidian toward the side, where the makeshift couch was, and sat down on it. He smiled as he patted the 'cushion' next to him, then laid out in a way that not only gave her room to join him... but had the extra bonus of giving her quite a view of her fiancee's wiry body. His grin went wide and soft as he held out his forelegs.

"C'mere, my beautiful Dark Princess," he smiled, "I've been hankering for a nuzzle for too long!"

Did they expect her to immediately want a discussion with Peri? She never talked with him outside of the realm of dreams before! There was no way to check without going there, unless he turned out to have a much stronger connection with her after devouring him... which, to be fair, might be logical.

But for now, first things first. Obsidian happily joined Cup on the ratty couch, going straight for a snuggle. She was really lucky to score him.

He cuddled her closely and nuzzled her neck lovingly... and gave her rump a light pat with a hoof, as well. "I'm so glad we're together here... heck, when we're together anywhere, really. Even among all this stuff happening to us, I feel like you're the one steady rock in my stream of consciousness, y'know what I mean?"

He kissed her deeply... then did it again. Nestling down into the couch, Cupcake settled his muzzle into her chest floof and sighed... then lifted his head juuuuuust slightly to allow him to sniff at her mane once or twice before settling back against her chest with a deep, contented sigh.

Nearby, Amy looked in their direction, then turned her attention elsewhere - she enjoyed the sight of her sister being snuggled, but she was making sure not to be downright nosy. Cup's sigh felt like a cool breeze on a hot day.

"And you are the best thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life... but you already know that, don't you?" She blushed a bit at the pat - he was rather bold, especially considering that Amy was still around. The rest was more acceptable, and let's be fair - Amethyst should be more or less used to their cuddles.

Obsidian closed her eyes, pulling herself a bit closer to Cup. Now she could only hope that she would meet Peri here... or perhaps one particularly cute little alicorn? She still had no idea who she was, and she'd kind of forgotten to ask her siblings about that.

Perhaps one of them would be able to identify her? There weren't that many alicorns around, after all.

Author's Note:

Tourmaline, Son of Sombra

-=)))@(((=-

Sorry this one took so long to get to; been working on a few different projects, even though I did try to get a bit done each day. Hopefully, it won't take as long for the next one. The story is still going - just been working other errata as well.

Apples reunited! I enjoyed giving them this bit, as they'd pretty much been the subject of a lot of trauma; this was one way I tried to make up for it.

Re-enter the siblings! And so, the Shards return to the tale, and are now being gathered together - soon, we'll see them all gathering together, like a thunderhead before the storm breaks. Will it be enough? Well, they ARE the Shards of Sombra; they're gonna be getting involved, so maybe Amber should start writing out her Last Will now, right?

Washburn an' Amethyst, sittin' in a tree... K-I-S-S-I-N-G...

And so... now, we get to see if gulping down a bunch of crystals will help Obsidian retain her lost siblings once again. Do you think it'll work? Will she find her poor brother Peridot where she'd last seen him... or will there be something new awaiting discovery?

Ah, it's good to say it again... no spoilers.

Comments

[Truthseeker]

Another great chapter. The PPL kind of reminds me of the sawblade launcher from Unreal Tournament. I love the destruction and development and ... well everything. Thanks again.