Waving goodbye to them, I watch as the train moves away at high speed and smile.

Finally, I get a day to myself! I mean I love them as characters, especially Pinkie Pie now, but sometimes they can be very overbearing. Besides, I have business today. I haven't had the time to enchant what Rarity made for me. I'm glad to know such a skilled seamstress that also dabbles in advanced magic.

Reaching towards my bag, I pull out a long, almost trench coat like piece of clothing with a hoodie attached. On the inside of the hoodie, right where the seam of the hood is, lies the gem that Luna gave me as an apology. It's expertly sewn into the fabric, with a small flap above it that drops down when in use that hides the gem. I put it on, feeling how perfect it sits on my body and wraps around it. I can't feel the gem at all, which just shows how amazing Rarity is at her profession.

I still haven't enchanted this, but it feels so snug and comfortable that it might as well be already! I still have a very vague idea of what commands to give this gem for enchantment, but I suppose it's my first time so I should just wing most of it. Obsidian isn't around to give me any pointers and Rarity just left. I'll need to be careful and be ready to be channeling more than a few spells for a while, hours probably. I need to find a calm place so I don't lose my concentration, and I've been waiting for this episode to happen so they wouldn't bother me while I do this. Obsidian's home should be empty, that'll be a good place to do it.

Walking through the town, I wave at each pony I recognize. Sweetie Drops and Lyra are the first I see, both giving me interesting looks. Sweetie's is one of contempt and suspicion while Lyra's is a simple and happy smile. Next up is Big Mac who gives me a nod that I return. Zecora is in town resupplying and doesn't even notice me waving at her. I shrug and move on, making it to the hideout Obsidian used and where I lived temporarily not too long ago. As I go inside I notice that Xirandine is still transformed into Obsidian for the sake of keeping her daily life in check and is washing some dishes. I pat him on the butt and grin with deviousness.

"Wow, you look good for an ant." I say jokingly.

Xirandine turns around slowly with a blush on his face along with a pout. A thought crosses my mind, making me discern that this might actually be Obsidian. I feel my face flush with embarrassment as I stumble backwards, registering that there are a few bandaged parts on her pony form that are most likely hiding her true form underneath.

"O-Oh, y-you're... O-Obsidian." I say, stammering completely.

Obsidian nods with a heavy blush before turning back around and continuing to wash some more dishes. I, on the other hand, decide to reevaluate my life, go take a shower and consider being less of an idiot in the future.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the shower I took, I retrieve some new and fresh clothes in my room and put them on.

Alright.. Time to go say sorry and ask for help in enchanting my gem. I have a few ideas, but I'm sure she could help improve upon them.

I go back downstairs and she is sitting at the table, messing with a seed in her hoof by making it grow and spread on her hoof. She notices me and smiles warmly before putting the seed in the middle of the table and watching it grow, creating a natural table cloth, flower included. I marvel at the beauty of her magic and sit down across from her, putting my hooded trench coat onto the table with the gem showing. She looks down for a second and her eyes widen immediately. Moving closer to the gem, she inspects it closely.

"Is this real? Gems like these are... Extremely rare. I suppose the Princesses had something to do with it? They are the only ones I know would have some supply of them sitting around. What is it attached to? Looks kind of strange..." Obsidian says while inspecting the rest of the clothing,

"Something from where I am from. I plan to enchant the gem today, if you would like to help me with my enchantment decisions." I say with a warm smile.

"Huh... First you touch my rump, then you ask me to help? What a bold being you are Devan. I suppose I can take the time to help, after all, I need to stay inside and heal today anyways." Obsidian replies with a cheeky grin.

I feel my cheeks burn again.

"Right.... Sorry about that... Thank you for the help." I say, rubbing the back of my head before continuing. "I want it to do a plethora of things, mostly just react to my command in certain ways. I want it to be able to change color according to what I want as well as stretch or shrink to certain sizes and shapes. But the main part I want no matter what is a three command system. Absorption of all energy, physical or magical. Release of energy in a specified way. Storing of energy, either magical or physical converted to magical. I realized I had a major problem the other day and this would solve it. Even if I couldn't do the other basic things, I wanted to at least get these three major commands."

Obsidian stares at me in the same way that Luna did when I explained my plans for enchantment. I stare back and roll my eyes.

"I see that everyone is underestimating me when it comes to enchantment choices. I know I might not seem like the smartest being, and I haven't really mastered magic at all, but I mean come on!" I say in an annoyed huff.

"Well, you said less than I thought. What you described is nice, but this is a very, VERY powerful gem. It can hold dozens of enchantments. You only listed a few things, and gems naturally act as a storage unit for magical essence. For example, try to take some magical essence from that sword you got. Choose any of the gems, take only a little and give it a command to not fill itself using your power." Obsidian says in a monotone voice, pointing her hoof at my belt-sword.

Really? I think I would have known that... No way I've been sitting here with tons of magical essence around my waist! I... I guess it would make sense that I haven't felt as if I had as much magical power as I did before I got the sword enchanted.

I put my hand on the hilts gem and tap into it. In an instant I feel the well of power twisting around in the gem. I actually feel my body freeze up at the realization of how much is contained inside of it. I grab some of the magical essence that is bound inside of the gem and pull it out, feeling my body get energized slightly before allowing the gem to take it back into itself.

"That's what has been on my sword this whole time? All of these gems have that much in it? It needs THAT much plus more from me to function? I get tired after using it for a little while... I suppose I should only use it fully if I need to." I say, bewildered at the lack of knowledge I had on my own weapon.

"Well, don't worry about that. Luna probably made it take your magical power and use it to fill itself. I recommend not doing that to this gem and manually fill it. Of course, if you want it to absorb energies from any blow that happens to this clothing, then it would be able to be charged rather effortlessly. Though it won't be able to absorb larger attacks and when it is full, which will happen quickly, it will no longer be able to store further attacks and will let you take the brunt of it. The releasing idea is quite nice because it allows expelling of unnecessary energy that's gathered in it, causing your makeshift barrier to continue to absorb attacks made upon you. Changing the size and shape of the clothing as well as color will allow for easy getaways and other various applications. You did think of this quite hard didn't you?" Obsidian states while in a thinking position, staring at the floor in a daydream like state.

"I.. I suppose I did." I say in response.

Not that much! She totally explained crap I didn't even think of! It's just a damn coincidence!

"All of what you said are very useful. Enchanting it wouldn't be out of your alignments either. Air for the manipulation of energy both magical and physical. Earth to change the size and shape of the cloth around, since it is made from earthly materials. Color changing is a simple arcane art, though water can enhance it's effects. It shouldn't take much time at all since it is only one gem. I'm thinking that Luna took as long as she did because there were so many gems to enchant and she had to tie you to each one." Obsidian says with a nod of confirmation along with a confident smirk.

"Alright then... I'm gonna try now." I say with anxiousness flowing out of my words.

I pull the gem part of my hooded trench coat to me, focusing on tying my magical essence to it. A bit of my magic escapes my finger and flows into it until I feel as if the gem is another part of me. I then simply feed it preset commands that activate when told to.

Change shape to X when commanded to. Change size to X when commanded to. Change color to X when commanded to. Absorb magical and physical energy when commanded to. Release X energy in Y way when commanded to. Alright... That should be good enough.. Though perhaps... Protect from mind altering spells passively unless commanded not to. Harden X section when commanded to. There! That will passively help out my combat and not let a spell like Luna's interfere with my life. Now, let's wrap it up.

I seal the gem with some more of my magical essence and look around to see that it has been much longer than I thought. Obsidian is asleep while leaning on the table, resting her head on her front legs.

Huh, it isn't too late. It's still light outside, though I did see them off early in the morning. How did I lose track of time that much?

I flick Obsidian's nose and she immediately sits up.

"I'm up!" she yelps.

"I want to test this out, since I'm finished and all. Sorry for making you wait." I say, somewhat embarrassed that it did indeed take that long.

She yawns and stretches cutely before getting up and grabbing what I assume to be coffee before replying."Well you did better than I thought. Enchanting for the first time is strange. You have to put your mind basically in the gem while enchanting it, giving it commands and etching it within. Keep in mind that the more commands you need to give out to enchanted objects, the harder it will be to function as yourself. The sword works well because the commands are simple and don't need to be monitored much. This cloak like coat you have well need to be monitored heavily to make sure it's magical levels are stable and released often enough."

So a lot of management. I feel like I'm getting into more advanced magic than I can handle, but there's nothing to do but try and fail until I get it right!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Obsidian and I arrive at a clearing in the forest. The view around us is beautiful and filled with every color imaginable. I put on my trench coat and give it a command to change it's shape to wrap around my body, almost like a skin-tight suit. It does so quickly and with no pain to me at all. I find a small pond nearby and look in it, revealing an almost stereo typically ninja like look.

"Wow! You look really... Well, awesome!" Obsidian says, almost fangirling over my look.

I mean... I look cool and all here. But I'm sure everyone from my world would just laugh at me.

"This way my whole body is covered, and I had another interesting idea as well with applying color, though I don't know if it'll work. You tell me!" I say before commanding it to change color in a specific way.

A second later, Obsidian seems to blink a few times quickly and then get wide-eyed before looking around frantically.

Seems like it worked... Time for the big reveal!

I command it to turn to the brown color and shape it was originally when I finish walking towards Obsidian until I'm right in front of her. She stumbles backwards in surprise, tripping over a stick ironically.

"Surprised?" I say with a cheeky tone.

"Yes! How did you do that!?" Obsidian says while getting up off the ground.

"I gave it a command to match what is behind it completely in color. Even while moving It still apparently copied everything to the point where I was camouflaged. It did however drain more than I thought, since it started to take from me at quite the rate." I answer.

Obsidian nods along with my words and claps her hooves in a delighted way before replying. "So a kind of in front of you invisibility. I imagine it'll be much more efficient and useful when in front of a plain and non-moving surface."

"Right! Now for the other applications!" I state confidently, walking over to a tree and punching it after activating it's absorption command and changing it's shape to wrap around my fists like a glove.

After my fist slams into the tree, I feel nothing at all. I tap into the gem and monitor how much it gains as I keep punching the tree until I notice that it's almost half way filled.

"So, it took about ten punches? That's it huh... Doesn't take much I suppose." I say, changing it back to it's original form yet again. "And now, the release."

I command it to simply release half of it's contents outwards from my body, except below me, with a concentrated push of air. The grass closest to me in a three foot radius rips out of the ground and flies away from me.

"Well now... It's stronger than I thought. Though it's more for simple spells and commands, since I can basically do the same thing without it. I can make it do a separate spell while I cast another by simply thinking of a small command. I think that's all for now, I guess that long enchantment process took more out of me than I thought. I think i'll just sit down and.." I say, yawning before sitting down against the tree I punched.

Obsidian lays down on the other side of the tree, then we both gently drift off to sleep.

Author's Note

Is he overpowered enough yet? Hmm.. Let's find out, on the next episode of A Strange But Familiar Place!!! I'm sure it'll be a blast...