Entry #16, Day 169
The purpose of this report will be to collate what information I've obtained on the black flame furnace, or, it will be called from this day forward, the Kingdom Heart.
According to the research we've performed, the Kingdom Heart is perfectly safe, it has been growing in magical weight since it's inception, slowly aligning itself with the hearts and minds of those living in the Shadow Realm. It draws out the passions of ponies, and absorbs their hatred, easing the burden of hatred on one's mind, and transforming that hate into an offensive shield.
The Black Flames that flood our kingdom now are in almost every way a guard dog. Protective, smart, and loyal to a fault. It visciously and murderously attacks the things that we hate until they are gone. Whether that be from them running, or them ceasing to be. The garbage which has no use, the monsters that scrabble at our doors, and Sombra's works alike. None can enter our kingdom, unless we will it.
When I say that it is an "Offensive Shield", I mean that it is different from other protective barriers I know of. Where an ordinary barrier magic repels harm, the Kingdom Heart instead emits it. Where a barrier born from something like safety or caring simply keeps out threats, the Kingdom Heart does not push away things that enter it's field of effect, instead pulling at them and assaulting them directly with eradicating fire.
I have seen Tetralisks from time to time roam into our borders, only for the geysers of blackened fire to suddenly rip free from the earth, creating pitfalls that leave everything but their "drops" in ruin and ash. I suppose, having tried it myself, Tetralisk meat is exactly the sort of thing that the Shadow Realm's people would not want the Kingdom Heart to destroy, and so, it doesn't.
Indeed, I have even seen odd things growing among the flames, plants that have sprouted up in the ashes coating this land. Possibly dropped by birds, or even by ponies who have been venturing out to explore. I know at least one group of Longma have decided to cultivate this wild flora, and their work is stunning. Obsidian trees are certainly the sort of foliage to invoke a mood, especially as of late, where the ponies had decided that it was now the season for their pink, blazing leaves to fall, like embers on the wind.
The effects of the Kingdom Heart are born from the hearts of it's cultivators. I suppose in that respect, it should have been expected that a city of ponies so in tune with nature would strive, even subconsciously, to ensure that it's plantlife is appropriate to it's tone.
Those among you who are now Longma, I and my researchers have poured over data, surveys, and studies done on those who were willing to undergo experimentation. Thankfully, the results are good ones. It seems that the blazing hair that Longma ponies possess is the direct result of something known as "Passion Peaking", a process that can occur, even in ordinary ponies, when their emotional state reaches levels far above the average.
It is the direct result of your body preparing you for the resulting magical spike and power spike that occur when your emotions are sufficiently intense. A social fight-or-flight response that gives the subject a method of enduring the recoil of any accidental high-order magic they may cast during a state of emotional duress or intensity.
While our research is still ongoing as to the long-term effects, in the short term, we believe that Longma will experience consistently stronger emotional states, and that their body has adapted to handle the higher state of raw emotion. Once again, the flaming hair is not a cause for concern, and indeed, it's temperature is within perfectly safe levels, so long as the pony in question does not experience an even more unnaturally strong spike in emotion, which may trigger very brief periods of ignition temperatures.
Thankfully, the flames created by this "Hair-fire" are magical in nature. Even should you ignite something, do not panic, when your emotional state normalizes, the fires caused by it will also extinguish. Panicking in such a situation will only prolong the effects.
Lastly, on the subject of scales, I feel the need to state once more, this time, immortalized in text format, that Longma should not attempt to pull off any of the scales on their legs, they are rooted more firmly than hairs, despite being enchanted crystallized keratin, pulling one off has been described to me as being more akin to pulling a tooth than plucking a hair. If you have found stray scales sprouting in aesthetically displeasing locations, see a medical professional, they will be far more able to remove the scale with minimal pain and risk of infection, and magic has been developed in order to suppress their regrowth for upwards of weeks.
We have reason to believe that the scales are another indicator of emotional potency, as the amount of a pony's legs that are coated with scales can actually increase or decrease magically, based on the pony's mood. While we have not seen any instances of a Longma's scales spreading above their cutie mark, there is no reason to believe that a sufficiently strong emotion couldn't result in any part of the body being temporarily coated.
We also believe the scales may be another form of adaptation, in this case, the combination of Longma living in an environment containing extreme heat, in the form of the Kingdom Heart's black flames everywhere, and actual flames that can occasionally crop up as a result of those. The magic of the Kingdom Heart may have noticed my dragon arms, and taken them as a modified template to apply to Longma when their traits manifested.
An extreme resistance to temperature has been noticed among Longma, even in areas where scales have not formed. Keep this in mind, as you may find yourself unaware of how hot a surface is until it causes ignition in something flammable. There have been a small number of reports of chefs accidentally causing fires while cooking food due to what they perceived as faulty oven equipment.
I wonder, if the Kingdom Heart is a protective magic, does that make it Shellfire?