Next Generation: The Emotional Spectrum

by Thestoryteller


Chapter six: Search for the Book of Black (1/2)

The prison created to contain Black Hand was a combination of construct's made by the Corps power. The power of Willpower, Fear, Rage, Love, Avarice, Hope, and Compassion were all used in the prison's creation. But the prison had a flaw in it, one unbeknownst to the Corps. Black Hand wasn't imprisoned, he never was. He could've escaped at any time he wanted to. The reason he didn't was because it would've been stupid to do so.

While he was imprisoned, the Corps no longer saw Black Hand as an imminent threat, therefore they didn't keep a watchful eye on him. He used this to his advantage by secretly passing power from the Black Lantern central battery to his ring and then to Sombra to give him an edge. But Black Hand had decided to take a risk, he sent something that would be very valuable to Sombra.

The Book of the Black. A book written by an unknown author that has very strange abilities. Black Hand knew he couldn't risk the Corps detecting the Book. So to ensure they wouldn't, he sent the book to a random location on the planet Sombra was on. It didn't matter where the Book landed since Sombra could track the Book down wherever it landed. Of course there was the off chance that the Lantern's on Sombra's world would find the book before he did. But that wasn't likely to happen.

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Equestria

Sombra concentrated with all of his might, focusing both the ring's energy and his magic into what he was creating. The ring glowed as it began to create a construct of black energy. But as it began to take shape the construct shattered and Sombra recoiled in pain.

FEEDBACK OVERLOAD.

Once the pain subdued Sombra looked back at the shattered black remains of his construct. He narrowed his eyes, focusing his magic and the energy inside the ring once more.

"If you keep doing that you're going to give yourself a brain freeze." Black Hand chuckled.

"Leave me be." Sombra ordered, attempting to silence Black Hand again so that he would not be disturbed.

"Yeah, no. Look, I just sent you a very powerful artifact that'll give you an edge in this fight and all you have to do is find it." Black Hand stated.

Sombra, taking a break from creating the construct, became intrigued by Black Hand's offer. "Go on."

"The object is know as the Book of the Black, and I had to send it to some random place to ensure the other Corps wouldn't find it. It is, I don't know how important I can make this, crucially vital that you find the book before the other Corps do. In their hands they could...well I'm not sure what they could do with it exactly, just find it before they do okay?"

Sombra raised a brow at his ring before responding. "And just how do you plan on me finding this 'Book of the Black' exactly?"

"Your ring will lead you to the book, just follow its instructions and you'll be there before you know it."

"Very well." Sombra said, lowering his hoof and approached his small army of the undead. "Come my legion, we have a task to complete." Sombra ordered as he stood at the mouth of cave, his mane flowing as the wind blew against it.

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It took some time, but Del managed to explain the situation to Prism. He told Prism about the Corps, their powers, why they're here, who their enemy was, stuff like that. Del wasn't to surprised that it took Prism a while to process everything he had been told by Del. After a minute or two he finally spoke

"So what you're saying is that Sombra, thee Sombra, has risen from the dead and is attempting to destroy Equestria by raising an army of the dead against us and only you, me, and five others wielding this kind of power can stop him?" Prism asked.

"Uhhh...yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it." Del confirmed.

Prism sat on the stump of the tree he had cut down, resting his head against his forehooves. "Geez, this is a lot to take in." Prism admitted.

Del sighed, "I know, to be honest I don't quite understand all of this myself. But right now don't focus too much on this, just give it time to set in."

Prism looked at Del and frowned. "What happened to your accent?" He asked.

Del looked confused, "my what?"

"Your accent." Prism said again. "Whenever you spoke you talked in that country accent of yours but now you're speaking normally."

Del was confused at what Prism said before he understood what was happening. Or who was behind it actually. "Ring, did you do something to my accent?" Del asked.

'I have done nothing. It is Prism Bolt's red ring, as it is capable of translating all languages to suit its bearer. It seems that his ring has removed your accent to allow Prism Bolt to better understand you.'

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" Del asked offended.

"Ring's got a point Del." Prism agreed. "You're more understandable without your accent."

Del pretended that he didn't hear what Prism said and focused on the much larger matter at hand. "Ring, so far we have the Red Lantern, Yellow Lantern, and myself as the Green Lantern. Who are the other lanterns?"

'I'm afraid I can't answer that. When the lanterns landed on your planet only four of the seven sought out bearers. Willpower, Fear, Rage, and Love were the only ones to seek out hosts whereas Hope, Avarice, and Compassion remain in hibernation.'

"So there's two other lantern's we have to find? Great." Prism sighed.

"I've already met the Fear Lantern." Del stated. "She seems to have the same enemy we do, so I guess she's out ally?" Del said unsure.

"Well then that leaves the Love Lantern, any idea who this pony might be?" Prism asked.

'While I am unable to find the location for the bearer of the violet light, analysis indicates the bearer has a 100% chance of being a female.'

"What makes you say that?" Del asked.

'The bearers of the Violet Light are known as the Star Sapphires, a Corps comprised of only females.'

This caught Prism's attention. "Wait ,hold on a second, how come only girls can join?" Prism asked in a slightly demanding tone.

'The Star Sapphires believe that males are heartless creatures unable to know any emotion whatsoever.'

"What?! That's totally sexis and not true in the slightest!" Prism shouted and Del gave him a flat look. "What are you looking at?"

"A heartless creature unable to show any emotion whatsoever." Del stated.

"Hey! I'm not heartless nor am I unable to feel emotion, look at me! I'm the definition of rage and that's an emotion, so there!" Prism said, grinning triumphantly.

"A male only capable of rage." Del repeated Prism's words. "I can here the ladies sprinting towards you already." He said sarcastically.

"Y’know just because I’m not in ‘rampager mode’ anymore doesn’t mean I can’t blast you halfway across Ponyville, so shut up." Prism growled, a small spark emitting from his ring. "Let's just find this stupid Love Lantern already." Prism said as he began to storm off.

"When did we say we're trying to find the Violet Lantern?" Del asked, causing Prism to stop.

Prism whipped around to face Del. "Well that's the plan right? I mean, what else are we gonna do?"

Del opened his mouth to protest, but said nothing as he thought for a second. Prism did have a point, they had no idea where Sombra was, the Fear Lantern was Celestia knows where, and there was no way they could learn about their rings in enough time. Del let out a sigh, knowing that the best course of action was to search for the Violet Lantern.

"Alright fine, we'll search for the Violet Lantern." Del admitted. "But where do we start?"

'While I'm currently not able to pinpoint the energy itself, I was able to locate the energy somewhere in a town very close to you.'

"The closest town is Ponyville." Del stated.

'Then the energy is somewhere in Ponyville.'

"Okay so here's the plan, I'll cover the east half of the town and you'll cover the west half of the town." Prism said as he took off into air. "We'll meet back at your house once we're done!" Prism shouted as he rocketed off into the sky.

'He seemed strangely enthusiastic to finding the Violet Lantern.'

"Yeah, I know." Del said as he to began to fly above the tree line. "He chose the east side of Ponyville-"


'-and there's only one pony there that he would to see.'

Prism didn't know what was in that blood pool, but whatever it did it made his head less fuzzy. It was like receiving a huge wake up call, his head was clear, clearer than before. When Prism thought about the Love Lantern's bearer he instantly thought of it choosing Whirlwind. The red ring chose Prism because he was filled with rage, so maybe the violet ring worked the same by choosing someone with large amounts of love in their hearts.

And if anyone had lots of love in their heart, it was Whirlwind. The mare was always so kind and caring no matter what came her way. The violet ring would no doubt prey on her kindness and turn her into a Lantern. Prism couldn't let that happen to her, he wouldn't allow her to be roped into this whole mess. He couldn't allow her to get hurt.

Without a second thought Prism rocketed towards Whirlwind's house, flying 10 times faster than he normally did. Prism couldn't believe how fast he was flying, clouds passed him by appearing in a second and disappearing in the next. A cocky grin spread across his face as he ascended higher above the clouds, his speed doubled.

He shot across the sky like a red bolt of lightning, he couldn't believe the speed he now had. He was flying faster than his mother ever could. He came to a halt as he looked down, the town of Ponyville was a mere speck from his height.

"I've always wanted to do this." Prism grinned as he rocketed downward to the planet.

He began to fly faster, his forelegs extended outward as a white crescent force took shape in front of him. The crescent began to push against Prism, Prism's response was pushing back harder. The crescent shape became larger the closer Prism got, until it was no longer shaped like a crescent but instead shaped like an arrowhead. The force pushing against Prism became stronger, so strong that Prism had to pour ever ounce of energy he had into fighting against it. He pushed and pushed and pushed with all of his might until the force ripped, and it exploded.

KRA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Prism couldn't believe it but he did it, he created a sonic rainboom! Prism shifted his body around to marvel at his work only for his triumphant smile to become a defeated frown. In front of him was the result of him breaking the speed barrier, but it looked nothing at all like a sonic rainboom. It was a large circle that spread out like a ripple of water. Only it was crimson red and was on fire, which was causing it to droop like it was melting. The circle became liquid, dropping onto the clouds that were underneath it, turning their once white coat crimson red.

Prism let out a frustrated roar at his sloppy rainboom. He quickly shut his mouth and took deep breaths while quietly saying to himself, "Don't get angry, don't get angry, don't get angry, don't get angry, don't get angry, don't get angry."

The words did their magic as Prism's temper cooled. Prism then remembered what he set out to do and continued on his goal as he took off towards Whirlwind's house. With the speed he got from his ring he made it there in little to no time.

Whirlwind's house, like all others belonging to Pegasi, was built out of clouds and hovered in the sky. It was two stories tall, with a front porch and backyard made of clouds. Prism walked up the cloud stairs and stood in front of Whirlwind's door. He raised his hoof to knock but paused as an image of Whirlwind with a red mark on her cheek appeared in his mind.

Whirlwind and Prism had been friends since they were kids. 10 years of friendship, destroyed by a single strike of Prism's hoof. Prism thought about how much Whirlwind must've hated him for what he did, and she had every right to. Prism was angry at himself for what he did, and he wished that he could somehow take it back but he couldn't. What's done is done and it cannot be undone.

Prism lowered his hoof and his head drooped. "There's no way she wants to see me...." Prism muttered.

"Hello Prism."

Prism's head whipped up to see Whirlwind standing in the open doorway with a slight frown. The two stood in silence as Prism's mind was going crazy. What should he say? What should he do? These questions flooded his mind as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

‘Say something you moron!’ He mentally screamed at himself and Prism, without thinking, said the first thing that cane to his mind.

"You look sexy." He blurted before covering his mouth and his face turned red as a tomato.

Whirlwind tilted her head slightly and raised her right brow, which caused Prism to start sweating and shaking under her glare.

‘Congratulations, you've just thrown out whatever hope you had at salvaging your relationship!’

Whirlwind continued to give Prism her deathly stare until a grin wormed its way onto her face. She tried to resist it but failed as she burst into a fit of laughter. Which only terrified Prism even more. "Oh mare!" Whirlwind sighed, wiping a tear from her eye. "No matter how much you mature you'll always be bad at introductions won't you Prism?" Whirlwind shook her head jokingly as she walked back inside. "Come on in, I promise not to hurt you."

Prism's body began to relax, easing his mind and tensed muscles. He entered Whirlwind's home, closing the door behind him. Whirlwind entered the living room and took a seat on the cloud made couch. Prism flew to the living room and took a seat in the chair facing the couch.

"So Prism," Whirlwind started. "What brings you to my humble abode?" She asked in a humorous tone.

'Oh you know, just wanted to ask if a weird violet ring thingy came to you and gave you strange powers. Also did you do something with your mane, it looks fabulous.'

Prism ignored the offer from his mind and decided it would be best to address the elephant in the room. "How's..." Prism cringed, finding it slightly awkward to talk about what he did, but he continued anyways. "How's your cheek?" He finished.

Whirlwind remained silent, rubbing her hoof on the cheek Prism had struck. While no longer visible, it still stung a little. "It's fine." She lied.

Prism lowered his head, unable to meet Whirlwind's gaze. "I'm sorry." Mumbled.

"Didn't quite catch that. Can you say that again?" Whirlwind teased, the words were music to Whirlwind's ears as she laid back against the couch, folding her forelegs behind her head while wearing a triumphant smile. It wasn't everyday Prism swallowed his pride, so she soaked up every moment she could get.

Prism spoke, this time louder and audibly. "I'm sorry." Prism repeated. "I'm sorry I...I..." Prism choked. "...I'm sorry I hit you. I let my anger control me and...and I know am I total jackass for doing that...and I'm not trying to get back to-together, you've already made that perfectly clear, I just...I just want to fix our relat-friendship." Prism corrected. "So...do you...you know...forgive me, and stuff?"

Whirlwind gave Prism a chuckle, "wow...that's gotta be the most sappiest, cringeworthy, thing I've ever heard you say." Whirlwind sighed. "But all joking aside, I do forgive you Prism."

"R-really?" Prism weakly smiled, looking at her like a sad puppy, like someone that was in desperate need of a hug. Lucky for Prism, Whirlwind was happy to oblige. She approached Prism and took a seat next to him, it was a tight fit in the one seated chair but Whirlwind made it work as she wrapped her forelegs around Prism and embraced him a hug. Prism sat dumbfounded, his body moving involuntarily as he too embraced Prism in a hug. The two sat in silence, not an awkward silence mind you but a comfortable one as they enjoyed each other's company.

"Are you sniffing my mane?" Whirlwind asked, lightly chuckling.

Prism turned his head away from Whirlwind with cheeks red as a tomato. "I-I-I couldn't help it." Prism flustered. "Your head was underneath mine, my nose was up close to your mane, and it smelled so nice...I mean it didn't smell nice, wait no I meant...uh...um..." Prism stuttered, trying to think clearly.

Whirlwind shook her head lightly as she stood up. "You boys are to easy." She grinned. "All a girl's gotta do is point something out and you start sputtering like a broken engine." She laughed, as though Prism actions were innocent.

Prism joined in on Whirlwind's laughter with a small chuckle of his own. Once Prism stopped he remembered how good it felt to hear Whirlwind's laugh, and how great it felt when he made her laugh. Prism stared at Whirlwind with adoring eyes, entranced by her physical features. Her body, wings, mane, tail, eyes, Prism loved everything about Whirlwind.

Love...

Prism was broken from his trance when he remembered what he had came here to do in the first place.

"Hey Whirlwind." Prism spoke nervously.

Whirlwind turned to face Prism with those beautiful teal blue eyes of hers. "Yes Prism?"

"Um..." Prism rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he tried to figure out the best way to put his words gently. "You'd tell me if anything...strange happened to you right?"

Whirlwind thought for a second before responding. "Define 'strange'."

"Strange like...like a ring came to you or something." Prism winced, mentally slapping himself for his terrible wording.

Whirlwind gave Prism a smirk. "Are you asking if Hot Head's gonna propose to me or something?"

The thought of Hot Head and Whirlwind wearing wedding outfits at a ceremony almost made Prism puke. ‘Don't get angry, don't get angry, don't get angry….’ He thought as he swallowed the red liquid that was rushing up his throat before speaking. "No...you guys have only been dating for like a week now. If he pulls a ring on you this soon I hope you do the smart thing and say no."

“You sure you don’t want to keep me to yourself?” Whirlwind teased, giggling at how defensive he was getting.

“I wasn’t trying to-okay not getting into that now.” Prism retorted with a sigh. "That isn't what I was talking about. When I say strange, I mean like magical strange."

"I...can't say I have had anything 'magical' strange happen to me." Whirlwind answered.

To that, Prism let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." Prism said before remembering he still had half a town to cover. "Sorry to cut this short but I've gotta g-" Prism said as he flew towards the door, but stopped before exiting and he turned to Whirlwind. ‘No…if I leave her in the dark it’ll only make her think I don’t trust her. I have to come clean with her...but...' Prism paused. 'But I also don't want her getting dragged into this if it'll get her hurt...so, what the heck should I do?!'

"Whirlwind..." Prism sighed as he approached her. “There’s… something you should know."


The first mares that came to Del's mind where his friends, Crystal Clarity, Cotten Candy, Annie, and Starbur-

Del held that thought as he asked his ring a question, "hey ring, the violet ring chooses someone with great love in their heart right?"

'Correct. The violet light of love chooses its bearer by their ability to spread and feel love.’

"Someone that spreads and feel love." Del repeated, thinking if Starburst fell under those categories. "I'm gonna be a total jerk for this, but at least I can cross one off the list." Del said. "Actually, thinking about it, which one of my friends is capable of spreading and feeling love?" Del asked out loud.

Del thought about Clarity and how she did love Illusion, but when it came to spreading love...let's just say she needed improvement. Then there was Candy, she was sweet, kind, and Del was pretty sure she was psychic, not to mention she was great at spreading joy and happiness to others. But did that count as the same as love? Then there was Annie, who was the sweetest, most adorable, mare you ever laid eyes on. Only glaring flaw with her was her perverted personality. But the more Del thought about it, the more the pieces fell into place. Annie was able to feel love for Turquoise and she was known for spreading love. Or at least trying to, she came up with the craziest ships.

Del then remembered he had a powerful computer just sitting on his hoof. "Ring, can you somehow calculate which of my friends will become the Violet Lantern?"

'I can. But to do so I would have to access your memories for the process. To access your memory I require your permission. Do you wish for me to proceed?'

"You have my permission." Del answered.

'CONFIRMED. Will access memories on the count of 3.'

'3'

Before Del could understand what the ring meant his body went limp and he fell to the ground. His eyes remained opened, locked in place but unable to move or blink. He tried to move his body but it refused to respond.

'DATA COLLECTED. Releasing mind suppression, beginning calculation.'

Del blinked, showing that he had control over his body once more. He groaned as his sore body rose and he rubbed his head before glaring at the ring. "What the hay was that for?!" Del demanded.

'When a power ring is given to its bearer the ring is instantly connected to the users brain. But only parts of it, not all. The reason behind this is if your brain found out the ring was trying to access the brain it would assume it as a threat and attack the ring, causing damage to both the ring and brain. To prevent this, I released a neurotoxin that numbed part of your brain while I accessed your memories.'

"Well you could've warned me!" Del shot.

'NEGATIVE. Your brain would've known of the access and attacked. Pacifying it was the only option.'

"Well...alright I guess." Del said, not to sure how to feel knowing that the ring didn't tell him about its action. But it was necessary Del supposed.

'DATA COMPLETE. Would you like to hear the results?'

"Yes." Del answered.

'Very well, from least to greatest,
'Starburst: 06%'
'Clarity: 13%'
'Api: 24%'
'Nidra: 32%'
'Candy: 69%'
'Annie: 93%'

"...is that it?" Del asked.

'I only had enough time to gather data about your friends. But it matters little, data indicates that the bearer of violet light will most likely be the mare known as Annie.'

"Thought as much. Then we have no time to lose." Del said taking off into the air and flying at high speeds.

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It took little to no time to get to Fluttershy's cottage with the green power ring. He touched down gently at the front door and knocked.

"Hold on, I'm coming." A voice said from inside as the door opened, revealing a smiling Annie. "Hello, who might you be?"

"It's me Annie." Del answered. "It's Del."

Annie gasped. "Oh Del, what a surprise. Come on in." Annie offered and Del walked inside.

"Woah." Del said in surprise as Fluttershy's cottage was crowded with animals of all kind. Almost as though every creature from Everfree Forest was in the cottage.

"Yeah, sorry about the mess." Annie apologized. "All the animals are scared of something in the forest. So my mom and I let them stay here."

"Where is your mom anyways?" Del asked.

"She left to go get some food for everyone." Annie answered as she began to walk up the stairs. "Come on, we'll talk in my room."

Del thought to himself as he followed Annie up the stairs. "Good, her mom's not here. That'll make things easier, if she is the Violet Lantern of course."

While the downstairs was mostly filled with large animals, the upstairs was mostly filled with smaller creatures such as mice, birds, squirrels, etc. Annie made her way to her room door and entered as did Del. She quickly shut the door before any of the animals could get in. The last thing she wanted was her neat and tidy room messy.

Annie's room was the spitting image of clean. Her bed was made perfectly, her furniture void of a single speck of dust or dirt, and her wood floor seemed to almost sparkle with its shine. Del wished he could keep his room neat and tidy like Annie could.

"Alright," Annie took a seat at the front of her bed, "so what didja want to talk about Del?"

Del took a seat at the end of Annie's bed. "Well...it's gonna sound very strange I admit, and you're gonna probably think I'm very weird for saying this so just bear with me-"

"Ooh!" Annie exclaimed in delight. "I almost forgot, I have something amazing to show you. But, I'll show you it after you tell me what you want to say."

"Not at all." Del smiled cheekily. "You're the host, as a guest I should let you go first." Del said, hoping that by letting Annie speak it might break the ice a little.

"Ohmygosh thank you!" Annie squeaked, giving Del a tight hug before entering her bathroom.

Del wondered what Annie seemed so excited to show him, and then Del remembered that this was Annie he was thinking about, and then Del became frightened of what Annie wanted to show him. Annie was well known for her dirty mind and the things she came up with it. Del shuttered at the memory of the shipping game.

"Okay, I'm gonna show you. Are you ready?" Annie asked from the other side of bathroom door.

"Um...sure." Del hesitated answering.

After that the bathroom door opened, pink smoke fumed from the creaks and crevices as a bright light blinded Del. The light began to dim and Del started to slowly make out what he saw. It was Annie, only she was wearing a violet suit that tightly hugged her body, while leaving the majority of her flank and belly exposed, a pair of violet goggles rested on her eyes that was connected to her violet mask, and she had a violet ring on her right hoof. It didn't take Del long to figure out that Annie was indeed the Violet Lantern he was looking for, which meant that things were gonna get complicated, and then things got even more complicated when Annie asked,

"Does this suit make my butt look big?"