//------------------------------// // Patience Is A Virtue // Story: Darkrim And The Elements Of Harmony // by Lunaexcelsior //------------------------------// As the fearsome hunter slumbered, Twilight, Darkrim and Spike had just returned from their long day. Darkrim was completely covered in sweat and apple residue. “Well, you were really close on the last try.” Twilight tried to comfort Darkrim, whom was visibly frustrated by his failure. “Yeah, the apple exploded after only ten seconds that time,” Darkrim said bitterly. “Hey, at least it’s some progress,” Twilight tried to remain optimistic. “Face it, Twilight, today was a disaster,” Darkrim yelled “If I can’t master this simple spell, then how can I hope to master the really complex ones?” “You just need a little bit more practice, that’s all. Trust me you’ll get the hang of it, in time,” Twilight said. “In time,” Darkrim repeated and huffed. Twilight took in a deep breath. She could see that Darkrim’s emotions were taking over him once more. “Look, I know how hard this whole situation must have been on you and I understand why you are so worried,” Twilight said compassionately to Darkrim “but you have to calm down. “ “How can I do that, Twilight?” Darkrim snapped “Did you forget the impending war and the ongoing instability of Tartarus?! Any second now, everything could fall to pieces and I would be powerless to stop it. Every time I fail, I can feel Radifus and his armies slowly creeping up to the throne of Tartarus. How can I be calm when a blade is looming over my head?!” Darkrim’s flames flared brighter and brighter as he spoke. All these frustrations, all this pent up rage over his failures, everything just came crashing down at that moment. As he finished his tirade, Twilight stood silently. She could hear his pain, his fear and his wraith all in that one speech. If she were to get through to him, she would have to calm his inner storm. “I don’t know,” Twilight said sorrowfully. Darkrim looked at her in confusion. “I really do not how or even if you can be calm at a time like this,” the lavender alicorn continued “but what I do know is that you have to be calm, if you want to succeed in your mission. You have to be patient, otherwise you’re just going to mess up. Trust me, it is better to do it slow and efficient than fast and sloppy.” Darkrim was unsatisfied at the answer.“If you say so,” Darkrim he mumbled, before going up to his room. After saying goodnight to his new mentor and her assistant, Darkrim slumped down onto his bed. The exhaust of the entire day, combined with his little falling out with Twilight, all took a toll on the young prince’s mind. Even as he lay down, he could still feel some residual rage plaguing his mind. “It’s so easy for her to say,” Darkrim thought to himself “She had years to prepare for her battles. I, on the other hand, cannot afford the luxury of such time.” “Then again,” he thought as he turned onto his back “It’s not like I didn’t have the time either. I should have prepared better, studied harder, back then. However, I didn’t!” he scolded himself as he turned to his side. “Things just seemed so simple back then;” he continued his train of thought “Everything just seemed so much easier while I was safely protected by the castle. Everything was given to me and I didn’t have to worry about all of these problems. They were probably still rampant back then, but I just didn’t have to worry about them. I could turn a blind eye to it all and let my father worry about it,” Darkrim’s thoughts suddenly closed in to an epiphany “Maybe that’s why all of this happened. Is this Necessity’s way of showing me the truth? Could my banishment be a wakeup call for me?” As the young prince’s mind became plagued with all of these question, Darkrim could feel his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier as darkness took over his vision. For a few seconds he could see nothing more than inky blackness. All of his thoughts vanished. All of his emotions were relieved as the dark blue unicorn fell into his own mind. As the inky blackness faded away, new visions awakened before his eyes, as Darkrim woke up in a world he could only vaguely recognize. The darkened red skies indicated he was in Tartarus; however, the land did not seem the same as he had left it. Its floor, once covered in ambrosia, now laid barren and cold, much like the one in the prison section. There were no beasts anywhere to be seen as an eerie quiet took over. Only the silent wind howled, causing Darkrim’s flames to simmer in its wake. As he walked, Darkrim noticed a distinct and putrid stench of rotting fruit in the air. The stench grew more and more pungent as the young prince approached his old castle. The place he once called home now lay destroyed with different vegetation growing from its sides. In front of the decayed ruins, of a place he once called home, now stood an odd looking apple tree. Its bark seemed to be peeling off from it and its leaves seemed withered and sickly brown, as if the slightest gust of wind could turn them to dust. However, its ancient form, was still offset by two gaping, circular, holes, similar to two eyeballs, filled with a hellish yellow light glowing from the tree. Its bright glow was so intense, as if it were trying to beckon Darkrim to come closer to it. The young prince was hesitant, but ultimately gave in to the tree’s temptation. Its golden gaze possessed an almost a hypnotic quality, luring the young prince closer to its clutches. Darkrim began to slowly creep towards the tree as it seemed to grow with every hoofstep Darkrim made. Once Darkrim was but three feet away from the tree, its bark in the middle began to crack open, forming a gaping fissure similar to a mouth. Darkrim could hear silent hisses emanating from the very bowels of the infernal plant as small emerald eyes began to peer back at him. Darkrim stood petrified as little serpents began to slither out from the fissure and move slowly towards him. His sense quickly kicked in as he fired away beams of red energy at the slimy beasts. Darkrim began to back away, trying to evade the hoard, only to discover he was backed against a wall. As the serpent’s continued their onslaught, Darkrim looked up at the tree. To his horror it had turned into a fearsome creature. Red apples adorned the behemoths head as its wooden claws conducted the nightmarish serpents to rise from the ground. They did so as they were commanded as the tree beast directed them towards Darkrim. As if one, the serpents descended from the skies in an arrow like shape towards the helpless prince. Before it could hit him, Darkrim heard a whisper that shot him back to life. “Run to the side!” a stern feminine voice commanded him. Darkrim did as he was told, barely escaping the barrage of serpents. Before the tree beast could comprehend what happened, Darkrim fled inside the ruins of the castle, trying to compose himself. He breathed quicker, fearing the wicked tree beast. He could hear its roaring footsteps as it searched the castle for the prince. “What does that thing want from me?!” Darkrim panicked. His heart rate sped up, sweat beads poured from his forehead. “Ease your heart, Darkrim,” that same feminine voice spoke to him. The unicorn looked around himself, trying to see the image of this disembodied voice. However, the only thing he could find was that blasted beast, still searching for him. “I must be losing my mind,” Darkrim thought to himself. However his thoughts were interrupted as the tree monster set its glare upon the young prince. Darkrim attempted to run away, but the monster was too quick. It stretched out its roots, enticing Darkrim in its snare. Darkrim squirmed and struggled against its grip, but he was unable. The beast’s mouth opened up as serpents began crawling up its roots, heading towards Darkrim. “Listen to me prince!” the feminine voce commanded “This creature is not real! It is an illusion created by your mind. It cannot harm you, unless you allow it to! Fight against it!” “It is too strong,” Darkrim said silently as his breath began to evade him. “Don’t fall into its trap!” the voice persisted “Ignore your fears. Fight against it!” As the voice repeated itself, Darkrim suddenly felt something wash over him. Images of his friends, his parents and his country all flew in front of him, as if they alone were lending their strengths to him. At that moment, the young prince remembered what he was fighting for. In their voices and their smiles he found strengthen and he was not going to allow an old piece of firewood defeat him. With his newfound strength, Darkrim began to focus his fire. Slowly, sparks of red magic began to fly out of his horn. Sparks turned into a beam and that slowly grew larger and larger, until Darkrim could not control it anymore. A bright red ray unleashed itself from the horn and scoured the serpents that were heading towards the prince. In a blinding speed it hurled itself towards the tree monster’s gaping mouth. The monster could barely react as the immense force, unleashed from Darkrim’s horn, hit it right through the gaping moth. Its grip loosened, as Darkrim was finally free. However, the beast was not dead. It was injured severely, with a giant hole right in the middle of it’s being, but its undying thirst for blood was still present. It attempted to lunge itself at Darkrim once more, however it was struck by a blue light of energy. It collapsed to the ground, seemingly dead. The young prince looked up only to see a familiar midnight blue alicorn, flying in the corner of the room. Her horn had been pointed towards the tree beast as smoke could be seen coming from it. “Took you long enough,” Darkrim smiled to his friend. “I had to ensure you could take it on your own,” the alicorn “It was your own machination after all.” Before Darkrim could respond, he noticed the being twitching once more, trying to get up. “It seems our friend still has some fight in him,” Darkrim spoke confidently. “Well, let us fix that then,” Luna smirked to Darkrim as both of them pointed their horns to the rising tree monster. It roared once more, lunging its claws towards Darkrim. However, this time the young prince came prepared, as he unleashed one final blow of pure red energy towards the monstrous apparition. As he did so, Luna called upon her lightning, shooting it towards the oncoming beam. As the two magical energies combined they created an orange, dragon like, beast. Its blazing jaw unhinged and thunderously roared as its flames engulfed the weakened monster. Their fire devoured the nightmarish apparition. Before fading away into ashes, the tree beast unleashed one final shriek. As the monster disappeared, Darkrim slumped down to his hooves, panting heavily. Luna descended down from the skies, gracefully, and approached the exhausted unicorn. She stretched out her hoof, but Darkrim declined it. “I’m fine,” Darkrim panted “I just need to catch my breath.” “As you wish,” Luna said and observed the ashes of the fallen beast. As Darkrim recollected himself, he joined her. “What was that thing?” he asked. “A physical representation of your deepest fears,” Luna said, wrapped up in her thoughts “I just don’t understand why it took the form of an apple tree? It just doesn’t make sense,” Luna tapped her chin. Darkrim blushed and scratched the back of his head. “Well,” he hesitated “That could, possibly, maybe be because I kept failing to transform an apple into an orange today.” The night regal chuckled a bit, but quickly wiped her grin off. “I see that Twilight followed my instructions quite nicely,” Luna said and winked to Darkrim. “You instructed her to teach me that spell?” Darkrim said in surprise. “Well, yes,” Luna responded “I noticed you had quite the accuracy problem from our training session so I advised Twilight to teach you to control your powers. In retrospect, I should have known she would start with Trottinsky’s transformation spell. It was one of Starswirl’s favorite spells after all.” “Perhaps, but it’s still just a huge waste of time,” Darkrim responded bitterly. “Do you say this because you truly believe it or does this come from your own inability to perform it?” Luna inquired. “A bit of both,” Darkrim said and sighed “I’m just afraid that I’m running out of time. Yet, Twilight keeps telling me that I should be patient and slowly master the spell.” “Sounds like you should listen to her,” Luna advised the young prince. “But how can I? I don’t have the time she has!” Darkrim protested. “And that’s exactly where your problems lie,” Luna interjected “Instead of focusing on the problem and trying to resolve, you worry about time. Come with me, I want to show you something,” Luna said as she led Darkrim outside. She pointed her head towards the sky as Darkrim looked up. He could see the dark red sky moving faster and faster as Luna’s eyes glowed a pure white glow. Plants blossomed and died, right in front of his eyes. Rains fell, birds flew, seasons changed, yet he remained the same. Everything around them changed and conformed to Luna’s will, yet they stayed the same. Luna finished her cycle as plants themselves were in bloom and Tartarus thrived once more. She led him through the new fields that formed in front of their eyes. “Time is nothing more than a concept we formed in order to keep our world in harmony,” Luna spoke as everything around them stood frozen solid “It moves along, unconcerned for our feelings. Yet, we have to master it, if we want to live our lives to the fullest. If we concern ourselves too much about time, we become slaves of its whim. We allow it to control us and thus we become ensnared in its eternal grip. However, if we are patient enough,” Luna said as they stopped in front of a tree, nearly in bloom. Its plants were still shy from opening up to the world. “We can truly do wondrous things,” as she finished Luna closed her eyes, making her horn glow pure white. With a simple thought, the flowers themselves opened up, showering the world with their beautiful colors. “Maybe you’re right, but what if something terrible happens soon? I don’t think I would be able to face it all on my own,” Darkrim continued. Luna smiled kindly. “Don’t you see, you’re not alone, at least not anymore,” Luna spoke softly as she placed one of her wings over Darkrim “Not only do you ha me, but you also have my sister and The Elements Of Harmony, all willing to stand by you, no matter what difficulties you face. All we ask for in return is just a little bit of your patience.” As Darkrim watched into Luna’s motherly eyes, he could feel tears overflowing his eyes. The words she said combined with her soft tone, reminded him of Persephone. In her he was able to find compassion and kindness of the same kind he had seen in his mother. He let out a deep sigh and wiped away his tears. “Thank you, princess,” Darkrim said with a nostalgic smile. “I truly meant every word of it,” Luna spoke. Their moment was interrupted asa loud gawk could be head in adistance. “What was that?!” Darkrim questioned as he prepared his horn for battle. “That was the Auralia songbird,” Luna explained quickly “My duties seem to call for me elsewhere. Are you going to be alright?” “Yeah I think so,” Darkrim responded. “Good,” Luna smiled and waved goodbye. As the nocturnal regal disappeared from Darkrim’s dreams, the prince decided to rest a bit more in the calm and quiet of his dreams. In this serene place, he finally understood Luna’s message. “Time is just a concept, nothing more and nothing less,” Darkrim repeated to himself, as he watched the flowers that once bloomed, now bear fruit, before withering away. With a little bit of his own magic, Darkrim was able to recreate new flowers to replace the old ones. “And from now on I will control it,” Darkrim said deteremenantly as he watched his creation.