The next day I brought the rest of my friends with me and asked Discord to make a platform outside the Dungeon large enough for at least ten people to stand on comfortably. Sunset was surprised that I’d asked her to join my friends and I on the platform if Discord and Chrysalis thought she was well enough. Seriously those two are amazing doctors, Discord thanks to knowing what’s going on through his magic and Chrysalis due to all the training she did before becoming the first Queen.
[All Minions are to report to the surface for a meeting, with the exceptions of Imps who are to continue digging at Gem Seams and reinforcing the Dungeon’s walls.]
Once everyone was present I stepped forward and said, “It was brought to my attention yesterday that all of you should know a little about our enemies. Their names are Celestia and Luna, the Empresses of the land known as Equestria.”
As I said their names Starswirl lit up his horn and created images of the two Alicorns. Celestia golden crown had several white and yellow diamonds and she had the boots, chest plate, of her golden armor act as royal regalia. Luna’s crown was very similar to Celestia’s only it was made of silver and had black and white diamonds and her regalia is midnight blue armor.
[Before I continue have you asked Sunset about becoming your apprentice Starswirl?] I asked.
[I have, and she’s accepted.] Starswirl replied.
“These two have wronged my friends and I, through a torturous form of petrifaction," I continued, "We were trapped in stone but still aware of the world around us while Sunset here was banished to the dungeons just because she has a different opinion. Not only that but these two are the ones most likely responsible for sucking the life force of the planet dry to fuel their own twisted goals it’s only thanks to Discord being so attuned to Chaos that he could undo the damage," Here some of the minions cheered to which Discord gave a small bow.
"Thanks to Sunset we know much of what has happened since our petrifaction. We now know that while they appear to be the perfect kind rulers that many kingdoms wish for, they are in truth vicious tyrants. They treat all members of ANY race that aren’t their own like trash and they use some unknown threat to make sure none of them rise against them. Now onto their fighting styles. Celestia is a master of Fire and Wind magic while Luna wields Earth and Water magic. Celestia’s weapon of choice is a war-pick while Luna prefers to use a halberd.”
A Bile Demon held up a Warlock who yelled, “When do we attack Master?!”
“Not for many years,” I said, “Thanks to them, I never got the chance to learn about my powers once I became a Dungeon Keeper.” Growls and murmurs filled the air, I raised a hand for silence and continued, “Learning exactly what I can do and where my specialties are is one reason for the wait, another is that I’m not just going to attack them as if we are a hammer and they are a nail. When we attack I want them to feel powerless, to feel exactly what they’ve done to others. So we wait, we train, we gather information, and we plan. Now let me introduce you to my friends and generals. First Starswirl the Bearded and his apprentice Sunset Shimmer.”
Starswirl dismissed the images of the two sisters and took a step forward with Sunset right next to him, “From now on he is in command of all magical research, therefore, Warlocks will be under his command. Next we have King Sombra…”
In the crowd I heard a few murmurs, “Wow, Master already has a King working for him?”
Ignoring them I continued, “Queen Chrysalis…”
More murmurs, “And a Queen as well? This is a very strong start.”
Once again, I ignored them and said, “…and Discord, a Draconequus of Chaos. Depending on a few things, in the future, you might be transferred to work under them. Now one last thing before you return to the tasks I gave you, Feroha Dobone step forward.”
Slowly she walked towards the platform, “For showing you have the forethought to learn about your foes, I am promoting you to the position of Captain. Be warned, if I feel you’re not living up to my expectations then I will find someone else to do the job. Do you accept this position?”
Dropping to a knee, Feroha said, “Yes Master, I accept and will do everything in my power not to disappoint you.”
Discord held out a long box towards Feroha, as she took the box I said, “Then take this weapon as a sign of your new station. You also have a new set of armor I whipped up waiting for you next to your bed,” Feroha stood and opened the box.
From it, she pulled out a longbow, and as she held it in her hands she gasped, “Is this…?”
“A dragonbone bow,” I answered with a small nod, “We don’t have many materials to use at the moment so we use what we have. Now then, this meeting is over, return to your duties.”
“Yes Master!” was the response the crowd gave as it turned and headed back to the Dungeon.
Looking at Feroha, I said, “Feroha right now your job is making sure no one starts slacking off when you’re not improving your own skills. I also want you to keep an eye out for any you think would make a good captain.”
Feroha bowed and left.
“So what do we do?” Sombra asked.
I turned towards Sombra, “Well Discord is to return to his current job and the rest of you are free to explore the Dungeon and do as you see fit,” I said.
“So what are you going to do?” Chrysalis asked.
“I’m going to start my training on how to fight and use my magic before I get started on doing a little Necromancy,” I replied before jumping off the platform and making my way to the Dungeon.
After a few weeks had past I'd found much to my dissatisfaction that my Prison didn’t resurrect skeletons like it should have and for some reason whenever I try to cast the spell nothing happens.
After walking out of my personal Workshop which is where I was trying to make undead I saw that Chrysalis was waiting for me.
“I see you’re still having trouble with Necromancy Akuro.” Chrysalis said after seeing my sour expression.
I nodded, “I just don’t get it, Necromancy is one of the most basic tools in a Dungeon Keeper’s arsenal. The Prison is a great example of this and I still don’t understand why it’s not working properly.”
Chrysalis brought a hoof up in thought, “Maybe it’s because you’re magical strengths lie elsewhere. For example, I can learn and cast most combat spells almost perfectly within a week, but give me one designed to heal and it fizzles out seconds after I cast it. It's why I learned how to become a doctor, I had to find a way around that problem as best I could.”
“If that is the case then I’ll need to find a work around for this problem, maybe find a Lich who wouldn’t mind working for me,” I pondered before shaking my head, “But that will have to wait for later, for now, I need to find something else to train in now that Necromancy is out of the question.”
Chrysalis grinned, “Why don’t you start with asking Sombra to teach you Shadow Magic?"
"As good idea as any right now," I nodded, "Do you know where he is?"
"Last I checked he was in the training-library that you made for spellcasters," Chrysalis grunted in both anger and annoyance.
Raising an eyebrow, I smirked, "Still not having any luck courting him?"
Chrysalis rolled her eyes and sighed overdramatically, "Nope, it's almost like he's blind to my advances."
I chuckled and shook my head, “Well most men are dense when someone’s flirting with them.”
Parting ways I made my way through the Dungeon, taking note of those I passed. Most of them were Imps rushing around from place to place, but there were a couple Bile Demons just wondering around, yet as soon as they saw my glare they hurried back to one of the many training rooms. Shaking my head in annoyance, I continued on, but was soon stopped by Feroha.
“Master I found someone who might make a good captain,” she stated.
“Oh?” I asked raising an eyebrow, “Who?”
“A Troll who goes by the name of Zulkaz,” Feroha answered, “He’s a bit smarter than most of the Trolls in the Workshop but at the same time he can be a bit too stubborn for his own good, especially when it comes to working on some of his personal designs.”
Nodding, I said, “Thank you Feroha, I appreciate this news, but from the sounds of it, Zulkaz’s stubborness will do more harm than good if he was made captain. Is there anyone else you think would make the cut?”
“Hmm,” Feroha brought her hand to her chin as she thought, “There’s an Orc named Urakk who seems to have his head on straight and is at least decent when it comes to getting the others to do coordinated attacks.”
“Thank you Feroha, once I’m done talking to Sombra, I’ll find Urakk and talk to him,” I said with a small smile.
Feroha saluted before walking away. Returning to my walk I past an open door that lead to a library and saw Starswirl teaching Sunset how to improve her magical control by levitating several books in various patterns around her. Starswirl noticing me gave a small nod which I returned before he returned his attention back to Sunset who’d just dropped three of the books.
“Damn it!” Sunset cursed, “I thought I had it that time!”
“Don’t feel discouraged Sunset,” Starswirl said, “You’ve made amazing progress over the past few weeks. In fact, I’m beginning to think you might have a more innate talent for magic than even my old student, Clover.”
I didn’t hear Sunset’s reply however and soon I entered the training room that Sombra was in. Currently he was studying a book bound in dark brown leather. Hearing me enter Sombra looked up from his book.
“Oh, hello Akuro. I thought you were working on your Necromancy,” he said with a raised eyebrow.
“I was, until I called it quits, because nothing was happening,” I replied. “So after talking to Chrysalis I decided to ask if you could start teaching me what you know about Shadow Magic.”
Sombra nodded putting down the book, and began to speak, “Alright, so like with all forms of magic, the first thing you need to know are the rules of said magic. Now unlike other kinds of magic, the rules of ‘Dark’ magic isn’t as obvious as, say, Fire magic.”
As Sombra spoke, I sat down on one of the library couches and tried to memorize everything I could. “So, as you probably know, most magic can be fuelled by emotions, Dark magic is the same way, but mainly by the negative spectrum of emotions. Depending on who is using it, different negative emotions will affect how powerful the Dark magic is. For me, most of it is empowered by Rage, or Wrath whichever you prefer at the Empresses for what they did to me and my home. So being angered, even in the smallest of ways, would allow my Dark magic to grow more powerful, and therein lies the problem. It’s so easy to focus on such emotions to gain power easily, that one can lose themself in said emotion and power.”
“That is one of the main Rules of Dark Magic: don’t let your emotions rule you.” Sombra continued firmly, “This is one of the most basic, but most hidden rules, it’s also the one that most, if not all, Ponies, who’ve been Corrupted by their power, break.”
“I see,” I said, nodding. “So, one of the biggest challenges is training, not just the power, but also the mind. I wonder how that will affect me due to my magic naturally being Dark.”
“That’s true,” Sombra said rubbing his chin, “It took me many, MANY years to master, not only my magic, but also my emotions, but your magic is naturally Dark so the ‘corruptive nature’ of Dark Magic might not affect you. Tell you what, why don’t I teach you a basic, if a bit ancient, spell and we’ll see what happens?”
I couldn’t help myself and smirked, “Well, we ARE in a room made for training spellcasters, so what’s the spell?”
“It’s called ‘Shadow Flame’ and while it’s relatively simple it’s also very dangerous,” Sombra said, going over to a shelf and picking up one of the books with his magic, “It’s a slightly more complicated version of the normal Fireball spell that adds Darkness to the fire, however it can also damage the user if they haven’t used Dark Magic before or have no intention of using it. Now because we both have Dark Magic that’s not an issue, just know that the area where your gathering the magic to use it will get a bit warm.”
Sombra opened the book to what I assumed to be a page with the spell, then passed it to me. After reading over the spell and the mechanics on how it worked, I passed it back to him and turned my attention to one of the training dummies in the room. Holding up my right hand, I focused on what I learned in the book and a ball of fire, colored dark purple and red, appeared in my hand. As it formed, the area around me grew brighter, as if the fire was absorbing the nearby shadows. A few seconds after it was completely formed, I sent a burst of magic through my palm, making it fly out of my hands and hit the dummy square in the chest, igniting the entire thing in the purple and red flames.
I let the fire burn for ten seconds before retracting my hand to bring the fire back, revealing that the dummy had been turned to charcoal. As I extinguished the flames Sombra said, “Never… never in my life have I seen someone with such an innate talent for Darkness Magic!”
“As long as you don’t call me a ‘prodigy’ I’ll be fine, I’d rather be known for what I achieve through hard work then what I do by being a ‘prodigy’,” I said, turning back to him, “now let’s see if I can learn any more spells as easily shall we?” As we worked a thought flickered through my mind, “Looks like Chrissy was right, I did find my magical talent. I guess I’ll give it about thirty more minutes before going to talk to Urakk.”