//------------------------------//
// (Past Chapter 11): Turbulent Times 
// Story: The Unique Properties of Dark Magic 
// by Shadestyle 
//------------------------------//

My first experiences with time travel were not at all comforting or enjoyable.

I pace around my office with my latest paperweight.  A single, cube-shaped hunk of Timeshift Crystal.

The blue crystal glitters mockingly in the light of my office, as though taunting me with it's irrational behavior.

My door opens, letting in a disheveled mare who clearly has something to pose to me.

"Sir, I believe we may have a problem.  Violence in the Hidden Palace Zone has been steadily increasing over time, according to our latest reports."

This piques my interest.  "Satisfaction and friendship levels?" I ask, wanting to know if the ponies becoming more violent is correlating with a decrease in their quality of life.

The mare blushes.  "That's... The odd part."

"It seems that, despite the increase in brawling and physical altercations in Hidden Palace, ponies are more satisfied than ever, and the violence isn't impacting relationships negatively, if at all, it doesn't make any sense!"

I'm tempted to quote a certain Draconequus, but I have no desire to accidentally attract him here, if he's even out and about at this point in time.

"Alright.  Here's what we're going to do.  Tell Tablet to send a message to the lab dudes, I need a computerized survey system in every home.  Hook it up to the Arcana Nox so I can send out questions and get a read on the situation by asking the ponies more directly.  Clearly, we're losing a handle on the city's behavior and motives, so this should help me put a hoof back on it's pulse."

The mare nods with some confusion, ready to leave before I stop her to say a bit more.

"Don't worry m'am, I'll figure out what's going on, and correct the problem if one exists."

This seems to assuage the disheveled mare somewhat, so I feel comfortable dismissing her to go do what I ordered.

I need more time to perform my experiments, and, unfortunately, this fucking crystal, in a grand sweeping gesture of irony, is only going to exacerbate that problem.

So let's automate democracy.





"It doesn't make any sense at all.  This is not how causality works!" I growl, as my Chief Materials R&D Dude, a mare named "Bright Bulb", doesn't react much to my ranting as I stare into the sealed chamber where a large sample of the crystal is being tested on by more R&D Dudes using large golem-powered mechanical limbs.

My reaction is perfectly sensible when you consider that, even deep underground, a layer of snow transforms into a patch of surface ocean, complete with tidal shift and what appear to be fish, when Timeshift Stone is activated near it.

"I believe what we are witnessing implies that it is, sir."  Bulb says, typing out her observations onto a holographic screen nearby.

I shoot her a brief glare, before returning my gaze to the chamber, gears in my head already turning at this.

"But it still doesn't make sense.  It's like these damn crystals are just paying lip service to the idea of realistic time manipulation, Or did you forget what happened when we tested the crystals on the snow wall?"

"Sideways gravity-defying oceans didn't exist in the past, Professor Bright."

She shrugs.  "It's clear that the crystals aren't able to perform paradox-threatening or timeline-generating manipulations to the chronal fabric.  It's just projecting a modified field which emulates a hypothetical past distinct enough to be distinguished from the present.  That's why the seawater turns directly into snow, when taken outside of the field's radius."

I chew this over in my mind.  "Effects on living things?"

Bulb looks at me like I just said a bad joke.  "None, as expected."

I decide to coin a term.  "Creatures taken out of... Pasted areas?"

"They disappear entirely, when taken outside the radius of a Timeshift Crystal.  They're just products of the time magic, so they disperse unless maintained, and only form vaguely meaningless animals and certain types of monster in the first place."

I hum at that.

"Continue testing, Doctor Bright.  I need to do some experiments of my own."

What was Sombra's top flightspeed again?





I wipe the sweat off my face with a rag, staring at the crude vessel I've managed to whip up by weaving together sapphires and graphene.  I don't know a damn thing about aerodynamics or whatever, but smooth long shit is better, right?

Walking over to the holographic panel, I have the golemic claw carefully pick up the large Timeshift Crystal I had enchanted, plugging it into the vehicle's middle, exposed on the deck.  It might be a bit oversized, but for right now, this is just a proof of concept, so a larger radius for pasting is fine.

The next step, obviously, is adding the backup Timeshift Crystal, this smaller one's purpose is just to narrow the distorted time, so no living things appear in it's radius.  Nobody wants to fight a sea monster, after all.

Whittle looks at my ship with no small amount of disgust.  "You really should have simply let me make it.  You aren't very good at working with crystal."

I shrug.  "You'll be the first to know when I need a few hundred of these puppies.  Know anyone who can handle a boat?"

She scratches her chin with a hoof, as she uses her own holopad to control mechanical arms that scrape and polish the hull of my little ship.  "Well, my cousin, Transmittal tried her hoof at sailing once."

"I'll call her up, if you like."

I nod.  "That would be best.  I'll call up a few other ponies too."

"Soon will be the time for this ship's maiden voyage.  I'm thinking..."

"Boaty McBoatface,"  I say with a straight face.

She gives me a look.  "I refuse to let you name it that."

I give her a challenging look in response as I smirk.  "On what authority?"

Her own smirk betrays her attempt at seriousness.  "I will find an authority to deny you riding around in anything named that.  You have a reputation to uphold, so at least make your jokes a bit more subtle, for his majesty's royal ship."

I sigh dramatically. "Oh if I must."

"Fine, then, I'll call it the Holy Diver.  How's that?"

She nods.  "Much better.  Though I hope you're intentionally being ironic.  Ships need neither Holes nor should they Dive, most of the time."

I chuckle.  "Most of the time, yes."





"Are you sure about this, Eclipse?"  Oil Slick wonders aloud as the filly he's questioning glares at the odd, bulbous device that Weiss has stashed in one of his secret labs.

"Oh I'm positive.  They're taking this thing out today, and I want to see what exactly he's up to with this thing.  I've already got a plan for us to get aboard."

She pulls out a bright orange Materia.  "We'll just use Hotbar's Hotswaping Hex, and swap ourselves with the backup Timeshift Crystal aboard the device.  They'll never even notice us."

Oil Slick looks nervous, but decides not to argue with Eclipse.

"Alright, they're hauling the thing to the surface, now's our chance!"  Eclipse shouts quietly as hooks are drawn down and begin pulling the vehicle into one of the Fast Travel Stations to send it to the surface.

She grabs Oil Slick's hoof and juts out the sphere.

"Earth be with earth, Hotswap!" Eclipse whispers, making the materia light up before, in a flash of light, the duo are inside the dark depths of the Holy Diver, and, where they were standing, the backup Timeshift Crystal that was formerly in it plops to the ground with a crack.

"We're in!" Eclipse whispers giddily, before turning to Slick.

"Don't tell anyone I used a mnemonic for that Materia.   I just needed a little extra focus that time, got it?"

Oil Slick nods rapidly, and the pair sit in silence for a while as they feel that odd sensation of moving up at high speeds as the Holy Diver is brought to the surface in a magically powered train.





I walk out onto the deck, putting a hoof to my ear to activate my helmet's radio.

"This is Weiss, Weather Report, please,"  I say, curious where Sombra is right now.

I get a timely response.  "No clouds in sight.  We'll give you a forecast if that changes."

Hmm.  He could be anywhere then, but most likely, he's in the empire itself right now.

I turn to Transmittal Miss Priss, the pilot that Whittle suggested.  She seems unused to the complexity of the craft, but, then again, there's never been a boat like this in existence until today, most likely.

"Is she handling alright, M'am?"  I ask, trotting over to the mare.

She nods.  Quite the taciturn individual, it seems.

To be frank, I had actually heard of her previously, as she had been one of the ponies to help develop the radio crystals.  Judging by her cutie mark, a trio of music symbols wafting off of a crystalline gramophone, it's the sort of invention she was practically born to make.

"Well, keep it up.  I want to do a short circuit around the area for a few hours, and then we'll pack it up.  When you get more comfortable with the controls, be sure to amp up the speed.  We need to test how well this ship handles at seventy knots an hour or so."

She nods again, and I leave her to her business.

Being in the radius of the Timeshift Crystal's glow is an odd feeling.  Especially when you can see the blue border separating temperate, if slightly cold water and air, and the blistering cold that waits beyond the crystal's magical radius.

While I'm not exactly comfortable looking out over the artificial ocean surrounding the Holy Diver, Iron Diamond seems to be enjoying it a lot more.  I've discovered very quickly that he's quite the speed-demon when he gets the chance, first with the Fast Travel Stations, and now this.  I'll have to see about getting him a ship of his own, if he's having this much fun just looking over the edge.

He turns to me with a grin, before schooling his expression back into a more formal, disciplined one.

"It seems that the ship is operating as expected," He says, trying to hide how much he's enjoying coasting around at almost ninety miles per hour.

I chuckle, giving him a shove in the side.  "Don't you play coy with me, you dog you.  I'm no stranger to speed either, you know."

Iron Diamond gives me an eyebrow raise at that.  Right, he was one of the ones who heard about the first time I used the Fast Travel Station...

"I mean, I'm not as gung ho about it as you are, but I can appreciate watching the horizon try to catch up with us as much as anyone else."

Iron Diamond allows himself to smile a bit more loosely.  "I like this.  Ma always said I aught to have wings, as fast as I liked running.  And this is even faster."

Well, that's a bit more sharing than I'm used to from the gruff captain.  I'm definitely getting him a speedboat then.  I'll have to splurge on features.  What kind of Captain of the Guard doesn't have the fastest vehicle in the fleet, after all?  Not a Captain I'm willing to let exist, that's for damn sure.

As for wings, though...  Ehh.  I probably shouldn't try for any flying contraptions just yet.  Not until I find a better way to deal with the various ways that one can stop flying.

After all, flying is just an elaborate way to throw yourself off a great height with minimal injuries.





I manage to heft myself off of my comfy folding chair, to stretch my hooves as Transmittal makes the last pass around.

I chuckle to myself when I spot Iron Diamond with a fishing pole, and can't help but walk over to poke some fun.

"You know you're not going to get any bites, right?  There's no fish in those waters."

Iron gives me an odd look.  "What do you call those, then?"  he points into the crystal clear water, where fish can be clearly seen.

My eyes widen.  "That's not supposed to happen."

I turn in place and begin quickly walking to the door leading below deck.  "Hold on.  I need to check on something."

I enter the bowels of the ship, beelining it towards the backup Timeshift Crystal that's supposed to be blocking out any living things forming in the water.

Pulling the hatch open, I clip my way down the stairs, ignoring the occasional hiss of steam and magical glows.

Finally making my way over to the chamber where the padded, well-secured Timeshift Crystal is supposed to be, I twist the valves, pull the door open, and experience my own blood quickening.

My eyes widen, and my mood instantly sours at the sight of that colt that's been hanging out with Eclipse, and of course, Eclipse herself, both sitting in the giant socket where the crystal is supposed to be.

"Please tell me this is an elaborate prank, and the backup crystal is like, behind a fake wall," I groan, yanking the two out of there by their ears as they yelp, and Eclipse drops her book with a shout of protest.

"What's the big deal?!  It's just a backup, right?  I already heard you talking about it!"  Eclipse says, managing to grab her book as I pull them up onto the deck.

I hiss back.  "Idiot!  It's not a redundancy, it's a failsafe!"

I turn to Transmittal Miss Priss, barking out orders.  "Captain, take us to the nearest Fast Travel, we need to get this thing shut down as soon as possible."  

"If I know my narrative conventions, this is exactly the kind of shit where something goes horribly wrong, and I'd like it if we could simply avoid that nasty business."

"What, like some kind of sea monster popping up the exact instant that you've caught us?  Isn't that a bit unrealistic?"  Oil Slick asks with a raised eyebrow.

Huh.  So you can be blinded by rage.  Or maybe it's the spray of seafoam that just washed over the deck from a gigantic horror emerging from the water near us, swimming alongside the ship.

So it's just metaphorically blinding rage.

As the monster rears up, I can see the clearly magical winds that surround it's backside whipping and churning visibly, the long, sharp teeth, and the eight, massive tentacles that whip out and grab hold of the Holy Diver's hull.

"Transmittal, push max speed, if the monster falls out of our range, it'll cease to be!"  I shout, shoving the children behind me as my armor grows and my Divine Words whip out and around me.

"Death Beam!" I shout, enchanted crystal shards forming into a lens as a black beam lances out of my horn, and, hitting the lens, becomes a pencil-thin ray of Black Flames.  The laser rips through the beast's head, revealing glittering time magic underneath instead of grey matter and blood.

"Damn, of course it wouldn't be that easy.  Iron Diamond, any ideas?"  I shout, dodging a flailing tentacle as he tries to keep a grip on the boat while the Sharktopusnado fires balls of slicing winds over the deck.

"Little busy here!"  Iron says, pulling out his spear and jamming it into the tentacle nearest to himself to pin it down.

I look up at the Timeshift Crystal pretending to be a mast for the boat, the main one that's supposed to be sustaining this whole thing.  I'm loathe to destroy this prototype after the work I put into it, but it might be necessary.

Seeing a ball of wind flying towards Oil Slick and Eclipse, my decision is made for me, as I leap in front of them and fire off another spell at the Timeshift Crystal.

"Space Ripper Stingy Eyes!" I shout, firing a thin lance of black water and slush from my eyes this time.  The high-pressure fluid strikes the crystal, sending splinters flying off off it as it cracks.

"Yes! It's a hit!" I shout as the field of warped time begins to shrink, and the huge chunk of crystal goes flying out of it's socket as I block the ball of air intending to harm the two children.  The ball cracks my armor, but fails to shatter it completely, leaving just a few tufts on my chest and neck exposed.

Unfortunately for our continued health, the Sharktopusnado is a grabby son of a bitch, and actually snatches it out of the air as our boat goes flying away from it, crashing into the snow.

"Nobody get off the ship, that thing's still coming, and you don't want to be in the snow when it does!"  Iron Diamond says helpfully as the beast swallows the Timeshift Crystal whole, it's wounds healing up from the energy inside of it.

Shit.

Ok, I've got this.

"Everyone stand back, I'm not out of tricks yet!"

I wait until the beast begins charging, before planting my hooves and shouting with confidence.

"Flarus Sword!"

The crystal shards of my Divine Words instantly assemble into a complex lens array as my horn ignites with white-hot fire and unleashes a beam of pure flame energy.

The beam passes into the arcane golem construct, which refracts and redirects the laser, sweeping it across the Sharktopusnado's center of mass the moment it leaps out of the water to attack us.

With a hiss of steam and a violent shout on my part, the laser actually clips the hull of the Holy Diver a bit by mistake, sending a splatter of molten metal back at me which hits me in the chest as I back up and try to slap at it to get the painful bits off of me before they cool.

The sea monster, however, has a much less pleasant time of it, crashing onto the deck as the ship is suddenly floating in water again.  It's body is cleaved in two, with the Timeshift Crystal inbetween it's halves being the only thing holding it together.

Despite this, the monster is clearly even more pissed, even as the crystal it's feeding on flickers and dims slightly.

"Transmittal, hit the gas!  I've got an idea!" I shout, backing away from the flailing monster.

Before I can elaborate, the creature builds up magic in it's eight tentacles, a white aura of whipping razor sharp wind that leaves me extraordinarily concerned.

I'm already down two B-Rank Spells and an A-Rank, so I'm about to be running off of little-baby-Weiss magic, and that is not up to the task of slaying a creature like this.

Ergo, it's time to break out the fun stuff.

"Alright you big bastard, I hope you've enjoyed your little blast from the past, because it's time to stop!"

"Dragon..."

"Of the Darkness Flame!"

My entire body ignites with black flames, growing larger and larger as the Sharktopusnado unleashes it's Octuple Slash at me and my crew, the black flames absorbing them all as they tear at the magic and devour it.

Two white eyes ignite in the corners of my bonfire as the Vance's blueprint activates and forces the Black Flames to pull themselves free of my body and take shape.

"Now, witness what a real monster can do!" I shout, gesturing at the beast as my new, dragon-shaped spell unleashes a silent roar and rushes the aquatic monster, crashing into it's body and ripping at it with it's eradicating claws.

Our boat plops back down into the unaltered snow as the Dragon forces the shark clean off the deck of the Holy Diver, and into the false ocean below.

Although the ocean water spilling in instantly turns to steam on contact, the Dragon isn't quenched in the slightest, as it uses it's black flaming fangs to rip and tear at it's foe, who lashes back with whips of water and wind.

A regular battle of the titans, really.  Watching to make sure none of the attacks come close to us, I step to the edge of the ship, and prepare to use my last major spell.

"That's right, now just hold still.  Dragon!  Full Nelson!"  I shout, hoping my spiritual beast can hear me and actually opts to listen.

Oh it certainly hears me, but it seems to be enjoying itself far too much to let this end just yet.  To be frank, I can hardly blame it, an opportunity to rip apart a monster with your bare claws doesn't come along every day, so it's pretty much exactly what I would do in that situation.

Oh well, looks like I'll just have to eyeball this one.

As soon as enough of the Timeshift Crystal is exposed by the Dragon clawing away the fish's magical timeflesh, I prepare my spell, targeting the ship, everyone on it, and of course, the crystal itself.

Wait for it... There we are.

"Chimera Wing!"

With that, my horn instantly erupts in a massive aura, locking my armor to protect my body from the recoil as I emit a massive wave of force, launching the Holy Diver in a long and tall arc towards the nearest Fast Travel Station, and yanking the Timeshift Crystal out of the monster's chest along with us.

In an instant, it's left behind as the Timeshift magic rushes away with the crystal it was tied to, and the Sharktopusnado is no more.

Eventually, we all crash land and skid across the landscape for a while as the ship weathers the impact, with the Timeshift Crystal itself finally giving up the ghost as it shatters completely as it lands.

Iron Diamond looks way too fine with his first aerial experience, while everyone else is suitably terrified from having been so high up, and having been moved so fast.

As for me, it seems the adrenaline that was keeping me from feeling the fairly intense damage my body had just underwent is starting to wear off.

Oh cool, I haven't blacked out from exhaustion.  I guess that's one benefit of storing your spells instead of draining yourself dry in combat.

"Could one of you cut me out of this armor?  I locked it up to keep me from breaking every bone in my body.  But I don't think it worked."

Good old Iron Diamond to the rescue.





Eclipse looks suitably ashamed of herself as she looks over my full body cast.

"I'm... So sorry.  I never meant for all of this to happen," She explains.

"I just...  I don't think I deserve to be your student now,"  Eclipse hangs her head, clearly ready to isolate the shit out of herself and start avoiding me.

I would shrug if my shoulders weren't fractured.  "Ok, idiot."

She looks at me in mildly offended shock.  "Excuse me?"

"Go ahead.  Ditch your responsibilities, if you don't have the stomach to own up to your mistakes," I explain in a simple, even tone.

"Do you think this is a game, Eclipse?  If it were a game, I'm sure I'd be having a lot more fun.  In the real world, when a student makes a mistake, they are chastised, corrected, and taught.  Just because I don't have expulsion in my curriculum doesn't give you the moral high ground to drop-out when you think you deserve it."

"I'm the only person here who decides how badly you've fucked up, and to be frank, you caused me a lot more problems the last time you screwed things up on this scale.  This is just a flashier mistake that left me looking a bit more hamburger-helper than usual."

"But here's what you're actually going to do.  You're going to do the right thing, learn your lesson, write me a letter detailing that lesson within the week, and then you're going to work harder than ever to expose my evil plots and help your fellow pony."

"Because if you run away now, all that tells me is that you didn't learn anything from this.  And that means you've wasted my time."

I painfully shift so I can lean up and looker her in her wide little eyes.  "And I assure you, wasting my time is a far greater offense than merely causing me injury."

Eclipse seems to realize what I'm trying to say, finally, and nods.  "Yes, Lord Weiss."

I wave her off.  "Good.  Now begone with you.  I expect you to study the blueprints of the Holy Diver as well, so you know not to remove vital components from machinery in the future."

She nods rapidly, and runs off to do just that.

"Oh good, she's gone."  I say to myself with just a hint of delirium before unleashing a loud stream of intense pain-induced curses until a nurse can sedate me due to how much I aggravated my injuries just now to gesture at my student and move around in general.





Two times, Weiss had just leapt in front of her and Oil Slick, just to block that monster's attacks.  Three months, and she doesn't have even a scrap of evidence to imply Weiss is anything other than what everyone says he is, aside from his own testimony and melodrama.

Eclipse tries to think of what to write, but eventually, there's only one thing she can write.

She's going to have to admit that she made a mistake.





Lord Weiss Noir,

Today I've learned a valuable lesson.  I'm not sure I can continue to be your enemy.  I wanted to be, I very dearly wanted to believe that you were everything you had implicated yourself to be.  But I am no longer sure I can consider you my foe.  I am no longer certain of a lot of things.  You have terrifying power, and gain more by the day.  You have the undying support of the ponies, and their resolve to follow you only deepen by the day.  You have plans that run deeper than I could possibly understand until you've already executed them, and all of them, I now realize, have only served to help the ponies that live in the Shadow Realm with every day you rule.  

Despite all of this, you have expressed the desire for me to uncover you for what you really are.  To understand the nature of what an enemy is.  And, if I am to grow in my understanding of what an enemy is, I have no choice but to confront what an enemy isn't.  I will continue my studies under your tutelage, but I believe I will learn more about Foeship from this point forward, if we were instead friends.

Your least traitorous student, Eclipse Flash.