I'm sorry to bother you, Sunset, but Weiss has taken to modifying the landscape to his whims again. If the Grimoire Weiss has an explanation for this, I would ask to know it, if it does not trouble you too greatly.
It's not a problem, Princess. I believe there is an entry that should help explain it, closer to the end of the Grimoire Weiss. According to the entry, this was shortly after Weiss obtained Zebra Magic.
Entry Number Five-hundred and Ninety-Nine, Year Two-hundred and Eighty-five.
I met the most wonderful person. A zebra named Malusi. She tried to rob me, poison me, and then rob me again.
And that was in the same day. She's a real angel.
She's also a genius of Alchemy, an art that had been eluding me for hundreds of years. Previously, I had only the crudest methods of practicing potion brewing and alchemical experimentation. Namely, trial and error. But Zebras, a Zebra doesn't go through this process.
Instead, a Zebra's magic gives them the knowledge they require. The magic derived from their cleverness. Born from it, and feeding into it, every living Zebra feels a novel emotion whenever they are clever, or see something clever. This would certainly explain why, without fail, every Zebra I know of speaks with some sort of verbal quirk. The cultivation of a clever mind through carefully chosen wordplay.
I guess I'll have to get into the habit of practicing that as well too.
Where I have to carefully consider what is required to achieve an effect when combining magical ingredients, Malusi does not. Instead, her magic grants her certain instinctive understandings, which allow her to simply comprehend the ingredients required to achieve a goal. I want that.
Of course, the plan was to simply take it. She has even been willing to perform a ritual which would give me access to this sacred Zebra Magic, as thanks for my altrusim and mercy towards her. She's a liar, a thief, and antagonistic, even ignoring that she cannot help it. But I guess I can't help it either.
It's endearing.
That said, she is still a wanted criminal. I'll need to keep her association and presence in the Shadow Realm a secret, for the duration of her employment.
The first moment that I had obtained Zebra Magic from her ritual, my mind instantly went to the highest peaks. Literally.
I wish the Frozen North had mountains. For what I had in mind, nothing less would do.
Most instances of alchemy require several qualities in the ideal vessel. Durability, a high volume of capacity, heat, a narrow mouth to enforce magical pressure.
And what is the sole object in existence which therefore is the true ultimate vessel for alchemy? The answer is a volcano.
The problem with simply using an existing volcano lies in Alchemy's secrets. Ones that I am now privy to. It's about symbolism. A volcano alone is not a suitable vessel for performing alchemy of any kind, simply because it isn't shaped like a pot.
But what if a volcano were shaped like a pot? What if a mountain could be hollowed out, and made into an artificial volcano, such that it qualified as the perfect alchemical vessel?
The answer, my newfound magic tells me, is "Whatever I want".
Of course, this entire idea was born from the magically amplified memory of Rocket Slime. So it would be frankly rude to not call such a hypothetical mountain by it's true name.
Mount Krakatroda.
Of course, even with Zebra Magic Vances, I wouldn't be able to cover up Malusi's participation in my newfound minor ascension if I attempted to produce this fabled mountain outside of the Shadow Realm itself.
Actual Zebras participating in the investigation, or the princesses themselves simply choosing to disbelieve my excuse that I had found a lesser-known Zebra genius to give me my newfound powers, either of those things could blow this operation wide open. Malusi's crimes make her a difficult woman to work with, but It's worth it, I feel, to partake in her genius.
Of course... Councilman Oh Lord. Weiss had always attributed some of his more impossible scientific discoveries to members of his council. We always suspected, but we never saw reason to pressure him at the time.
But to think he was harboring Thiefwitch Malusi, and managing her eccentricities, apparently.
"Thiefwitch Malusi"?
A Zebra witch from an older time. From what I remember, she was banished for her treachery and kleptomania, and later hunted by those she had wronged. To think Weiss of all ponies would harbor someone like that, as paranoid as he can be, well, I never would have expected it.
Once I had learned to piece out her behavior, and manage the consequences of her actions, Malusi became more and more useful to me by the day.
Every potion recipe I had, refined. Every scrap of information from the Grimoire Noir's material sciences, improved. She has been nothing but my single greatest asset. And all I have to do is put up with her poisoning my tea with sleep poison, and her pocketing every shiny thing she sees?
Hardly even a blip on my radar, compared to some of the pranks I've undergone in the past.
It's even become a sort of game. She performs minor acts of betrayal, and I shore up my security tighter and tighter in response. She seems to have been pleased about that, which I suppose makes sense.
I'll never forget the time she had sprayed down my room with time-delayed Slushious Bath Bombs.
The resulting room-full of snow took me right back to simpler times.
I've always been weak to nostalgia, and Malusi has prodded that nostalgia too often to earn anything but my friendship.
Apparently, she's grown interested in something I've had to cheat at until now. An Immortality potion.
As a friend, I'm obviously going to help her out with this. I might not need it myself, but if she's going to pursue the matter independently, I see no reason not to provide my support, considering how much she's helped me.
Whatever happened to Malusi, I wonder?
I do not know. If Malusi were alive after Pluck Night, she did not emerge from hiding. Anything could have happened in the time between then and now.