I hummed to myself with a warm feeling in my chest as I put together another little idea of mine, rough blueprints for a machine that might let my three precious little dragons help in protecting their home.
Weapons, of course, but... Stylish ones. It doesn't get much more stylish than Ruby, Sapphire, and Ultima Weapon, after all...
I hear a tapping at the door, one that had grown very familiar in the year since the final assault on the Crystal Empire.
Luna was coming for one of her nightly visits, something that made the warmth in me bloom a bit brighter. With a vague gesture, I wave and let her into my dream.
"How have you been, Luna?" I ask, wheeling around in my chair to face the princess, covertly swiping away the blueprints I had been working on.
"I have been well, Weiss. How goes progress into reclaiming the Empire?" she asks, walking around to my side and taking a seat.
I consider the question, but she catches my pause before I can come up with an answer.
"You were caught in another trap, weren't you?" she says with finality, a sad look in her eyes piercing through me.
I sigh. "Yes, but it's alright, I told you already, my er, my escape spell is more than sufficient."
She shakes her head. "You need not be the sole minesweeper. I remember the last time you set off one of the traps that vile tyrant left behind."
She may have remembered, but I didn't. I think back to that day... I had been searching the Crystal Empire with a shadow clone. It was quickly becoming one of my strongest tools, and it let me take risks when searching. Searching for any remaining traces of Sombra, any remaining ponies that might have somehow been missed.
And of course, the Crystal Heart.
It wasn't where it was meant to be, and when I had used my dark magic to open the hidden passage that was supposed to lead to it, I had been blasted with something painful enough to disrupt my clone.
I remember screaming, but nothing else. I had to be told later that it nearly made me go into shock.
"Weiss, you can't do everything yourself. You have done well to learn that many times before, so I hope you take no offense when I feel the need to remind you of it," she says, leaning closer.
I let out another sigh. "You're right, princess. There's not a chance in hell I could do all of this by myself."
She looks at me, and I feel the unease that comes with your nosy best friend being inside your head with a mastery of the mind arts.
"Something else is troubling you," she asks without asking.
Ahh, that.
"I've just been thinking, Luna. I've ruled over this place for a long time- -by my standards at least," I insist when she smiles a bit at my "long" rule of two years or so.
"It might be possible that... The Shadow Realm needs to come to an end, someday," I say diplomatically.
"Not like you think, I don't plan to dissolve the whole damn thing, but... What I've made here is... Sloppy. Transitory," I continue, the princess of the night waiting patiently for me to explain my thoughts.
I was a bit frightened, voicing them, but time and time again, Luna had proved to be my most precious confidant.
"I've built a kingdom on hatred, and I suppose, then, I have been forced to ask... What happens when Sombra is defeated?"
I wave my hand in a hypothetical manner. "The Kingdom Heart, the source of the Shadow Realm's strength, it is fed by the hatred of the Shadow Realm's ponies, it destroys all which they detest, and in turn, they feel the bond forged by the Kingdom Heart's flame. But right now, it's unified, it's pure. Every Longma under my rule, in their heart of hearts, despises Sombra with a passion."
I swallow. "I have... Theories. Nothing concrete, but there's worries I have as to how stable the Kingdom Heart will be without a unifying hatred to keep it stable, and to keep the Longma under its influence stable."
Luna nods hesitantly. "I have lived long, Weiss, but in so short a time, you have already come to know more about the dark arts than I do. I scarcely believed it possible when we first met, but know this, I have faith in you, of all ponies, to find a way."
I shudder a bit. "I'd never forgive myself if they got hurt because of me."
She grabs my face when I try to look away, her wing forcing me to stare at her dead on.
"You will find a way. You are the Sage of Darkness. Never forget that."
My breath hitches, and I nod hastily, pulling away.
"I have plans, Luna, don't worry. My student, she proposed something. It's naive, but it might hold some value," I begin, and she waves a wing for me to continue.
"I posed a similar problem to the one I explained to you, and..." I laugh.
"She suggested something that seems quite obvious, counterbalance the Kingdom Heart's hatred with Love, of all things. Add Love to the flame, to neutralize its more dangerous aspects as need be,
"Of course, that wouldn't work, Love and Hatred are mutually exclusive. I've tried for years to figure out how to pull it off, but everything I know about Dark Magic is clear on that, Love and Hate can't be combined together. They can coexist, and one can turn into the other, but they can't both be aimed in the same direction at the same time, it just doesn't work," I explain, bringing up graphs and figures calculating my experiments.
I had of course already proven it to Luna time and time again, as part of my way of 'proving' that Hatred-based spells could be turned to good purposes. Black Flames, Killing Intent, spells that relied on hate would utterly ignore, and even protect or save, people that the caster cares for.
I shake my head, banishing the hologram. "But I'm getting off topic, her idea holds merit, if we could introduce emotions other than hatred into the flame, things like pride, and possibly kindness, we could round off the edges and transition the Kingdom Heart to function without a single enemy to rally behind.
"Of course, if my theories don't pan out, I have one other plan that I know will work. It's why I'm so desperate to figure out where Sombra kept the Crystal Heart," I explain, pacing around the artificial dream.
"If we can get our hands on it, that would be the perfect Plan-B. Based on my studies, if we were to network the Crystal Heart's ability to amplify and radiate love with the Kingdom Heart's ability to do the same thing with Hatred, we won't need to combine Hatred and Love into the same magical construct, we can just use two of them!"
To stress this, I bring back up my holograms, Luna looking at the magical diagrams I set out with something approaching awe.
"With the Crystal Heart in the middle of the reclaimed Crystal Empire, and the Kingdom Heart in the Shadow Realm surrounding it, we could create a network that channels both types of magic, regulating the effects of both with their natural counter-agents. Not exactly as my student suggested, but very close," I finish.
She walks around the magical diagram, one showing the Crystal Empire as a gigantic pink starburst, one kept in the exact middle of a deep purple snowflake shape, veins and tunnels intertwining to channel both of the energies safely.
"It... It could work, Weiss, it really could!" Luna exclaims, reading my notes and checking over my enchantments with a careful eye.
I notice her staring at my flank, and furrow my brow at her.
"What?" I ask, looking at my own Cutie Mark.
"Oh. Huh. Well, the irony isn't lost on me, I suppose," I say, realizing the metaphor. My own mark, of a black silhouette of a fire, with a white flame in the center of that.
I shake my head. "But anyway, the most important part of this is yet to come."
She tilts her head with some confusion.
I give her a tired look. "Since taking charge around here, I've had to be a lot of things for my ponies. I've had to be a sword. A shield. A teacher. A scoundrel. A ruler, and more besides.
"But there's one thing that I still have to be, one thing that I must become, so everypony in my realm can be happy."
Luna blinks. "And what is that?"
I smile, a sense of pride welling up in me.
"A predecessor."
I awoke a bit more tired than I was when I had gone to sleep, rolling over on my futon and standing up to face the small mirror I had in my room, using my weak telekinesis to drag my arms over and plug them into my body.
Noting the bags under my eyes with a wince, I decided to get some actual sleep tonight, rather than the facsimile that the Arcana Nox provided.
Looking around my tiny room, just big enough to fit my thin bed, and a few shelves of knickknacks that I had amassed over the past year.
The most precious of which being the small binder I had been filling with printouts of my student's Foeship lessons.
'Speaking of which...' I think to myself, tapping the mirror next to me and forcing it to change into a video-screen. Sure enough, my student had learned a new lesson yesterday.
I read it over, not hastily, but not with the same care I normally did either. I'd rectify that later, of course. I had been taking the time, now that the Crystal Empire has been freed, to really focus on her and her studies.
"I'll print out a copy for the binder. Read it properly then," I mutter to myself as I reach the end of her letter, detailing her newfound experience that taught her how 'Everybody has faults, and depending on how honorable you are, they can range from exploitable weaknesses to chances to make your enemy respect you.'
I smile at this, considering the lesson for what it is. I imagine she probably got caught up in some sort of scuffle where some weakness of hers came to light. I'd have to ask her at some point.
I shake my head, dismissing the screen and running a comb through my black flaming hair. I wasn't sure if it did anything, but the act of grooming helped me feel more lively in the mornings.
As I finished, I tossed the comb aside, opening the sliding door to my room. The minute I did, I yelped with shock as the mechanisms began to spew snow everywhere, quickly flooding the small space.
Sputtering, I cough and hack as I burn my way out of the pile of snow, glaring down at Priss, who brought a bucket of some sort of metallic popcorn to smugly watch me fall for her latest prank.
"Why and how," I grimace, snapping a finger, which triggers one of the golems embedded in the wall nearby to pop out and begin burning away all the snow.
The young teen smirks. "I had a feeling you needed it," she taunts, displaying her talent perfectly well.
After a moment of glaring, my lips betray me, quirking up in amusement. I sigh, rolling my eyes.
"What did I do to deserve such cruel subjects?" I muse, walking past the filly and her snacks.
She trots up behind me, tossing the bag onto her back. "So, you going to tell Eclipse the news yet? She might be too dense to figure it out, but I'm pretty sure I've cottoned on to what you're planning," she comments casually, doing a little hop that rustles a popped bit of metal into the air for her to snap up, crunching loudly.
I frown, glancing at her. "I've been considering it," I venture. "What exactly do you think I'm planning?"
She shoots me a deadpan look. "Don't play coy. She told me you've been teaching her how to maintain and operate all the Shadow Realm junk. The same stuff you had to figure out."
I look down. "I've still got time. It'll be years before-"
"You should tell her now, Lord Weiss," Priss says, startling me. The filly had mostly gotten out of the habit of using any sort of honorifics since we met.
After a long few moments, we reach one of the portal networks that make up the Arcana Janus. "Alright. I'll tell her."
Priss nods. "She's my friend, Weiss, so trust me when I say it's the right call," the filly explains, walking through one of the side portals to her own home.
Milling around in the middle of the portal hub with the various other Longma and assorted Equestrians going to their destinations and taking care of their own business, I take a deep breath and nod to myself, portaling to where Eclipse Flash is waiting for me at the training grounds.
"Alright, again," I repeat, igniting my horn and firing a bolt of dark magic at my student.
She responds by rearing up and stomping the ground, making a flaming pillar sprout up from the ground, blocking my attack entirely. As she does so, I can tell that the hatred she summons is under her complete control, without even a mote of corrosive emotion influencing her.
Priss still hadn't managed to recreate her Merciful Bulwark, despite our heavy training, but even without it, the filly's mastery of dark magic had rampaged forwards even faster than my own.
"Now, use the Wave Motion Gun," I demand, charging towards her and leaping over her flaming defense.
The moment I see her, I realize she had been preparing that spell this whole time, grey sparkling crystals growing into a massive cannon that erupts as soon as she spots me, the water blasting me into the ceiling painfully.
A B-rank Wave Motion Gun, by my standards. Maybe higher. Teaching her secrets from the Grimoire Weiss was quickly proving the staggering potential I saw in her.
As I land, I gallop around her first pillar and fire a beam at her that she responds to with another quick stomp that blocks it with more flaming crystals.
Firing another beam that curls around her defense, the blast of hatefire splashes harmlessly off of her.
"Point," I exclaim, ending the session.
"I still have no clue why you use that against me instead of something like a simple force or wind spell, my lord," she says, walking around the pillar and giving me a funny look.
I just smirk. "It's to keep you on your toes," I explain, tossing her a bottle of some kind of sports drink I hadn't bothered to find out the name of. She doesn't even flinch as I accidentally say 'toes' instead of 'hooves', having long grown used to my verbal quirks due to how frequently I slipped up around her.
She walks over to the bleachers nearby, plopping down on one and taking a deep slurp from it as I approach. Today's session hadn't been as rough as the ones I normally subjected her to, and I could tell she knew something was off.
I needed her fresh for the conversation we were about to have.
I plop down next to the filly. "So, you're thirteen now," I begin.
She nods. "Yeah? What about it?"
I think about this. "We both started learning Dark Magic at nearly the same time. I had a little bit of a head start, but I think it's fair to say we started at nearly the same time. Would you agree?" I ask.
She nods, taking another drink.
"You're about to surpass me," I finally admit.
Her face scrunches up. "Doubtful," she responds.
"I've seen what you pull off, Lord Weiss, I... I can't do half of what I've seen you do."
I shake my head firmly. "Eclipse Flash, I use trickery to amplify my power, and... To be honest, it won't work much longer against you. I store up power for hours, sometimes days, to make sure I can keep up with you during our training."
I wave my arm, summoning a golem to project a hologram of her latest letter.
"But that's not the only reason, let's ignore your monstrous power with the dark arts for a moment, alright?" I ask, waiting for her to nod again, skeptical, and a bit confused.
"You need to understand, I've been improvising so much of what I do, scrambling to make things up as I go along. You have an advantage, learning from my mistakes, and learning on your own on top of that.
"Already, your power is growing at an astonishing rate, but what's more incredible is your maturity. You've learned lessons that I didn't even know until I read your letters, gained emotional stability that even I can't manage, when using dark magic," I explain, making the child blush from the praise.
"I've just been doing my job as your student, Lord Weiss," she explains bashfully.
I nod. "That's why I wanted to have this talk with you. I'm not going to be around forever, Eclipse Flash. I'll be around for a long while, but not forever," I clarify. I've already built up years, years of time donated by thousands of ponies that had chosen to lend me some of their lifeforce. But years aren't eternity, and a long life isn't an eternal one.
"...And, to be frank, I've done a shoddy job keeping this kingdom running. I've made a lot of blunders, improvised every step of the way, and so much of my success, if I'm being honest, is just pure luck on my part. I've come so close to failing you all, and maybe one day I'll really do it," I explain, watching her expression dim and turn concerned.
"Lord Weiss, that's bull, you've been doing a great job! Everyone is happy! You saved the empire, and it won't be long until we get the last of those crystals out of the ponies we brought back!" she exclaims.
I nod. "I did. But this entire kingdom relies so heavily on my success and failure, and that's what I've been working to solve. A system of government that relies on one specific person being alive is a lot like a jug of milk," I explain, making her look even more confused.
I smirk. "Something something expiration date," I joke, making the filly cringe in horror at how awful the joke was.
With a sigh, I school my expression into something more serious as I speak. "There's someone who won't need to improvise as much as I had to, or as quickly. Someone who will be mature, and experienced, someone who understands Dark Magic not because they bumbled around into it, not because they've been burned by it, and learned all the nuances of not getting burned the hard way. Someone who was instead taught, taught to avoid its pitfalls, and to cater to its strengths."
I stand up as well.
"Someone who will one day be the new Sage of Darkness," I finish, looking down at her.
The filly's eyes widen, and she backs away. "M-me?! No, I... I couldn't, I'm nowhere near what you are, Weiss, I'm-"
"Not ready yet, don't worry," I insist, putting a hand on her back.
"But one day, when you're grown..." I trail off.
"I will be? I don't know," she responds doubtfully.
"I can't do what you do, Lord Weiss."
My face softens as I look down at her, and lean down to meet her at eye-level.
"I know you can't. You're too good to let yourself settle for just doing what I can. One day, you'll do even more. More than I can with the Dark Arts, and more than I can with our little ponies," I explain softly.
Standing up, I bid the filly to follow me.
"Weiss, my lord, what makes you so sure? How can you believe in me so much, when I'm just... I'm not that special!"
"Why do you believe in me?"
As the sliding door opens, and we begin walking down the halls of the Mystic Island Zone, I feel something bubbling up inside me.
"Because I'm a silly pony, who believes in silly things. But... I believe in silly things that I believe can change the world," I begin, as music faintly begins to play from nowhere at all.
♪"I believe the evening sun... Always gonna set again! And,"♪ I begin singing, trotting down the street as my student follows.
♪"I believe a pile of gold... Waits in every dragon's den! Oh!"♪ I exclaim, leaping off off into one of the Mystic Island Boss Rooms, sliding down the pile of treasure serving as its bait it as she follows nervously.
♪"I believe in gems of ev~ry hue!"♪ I shout flinging jewels everywhere, before looking at my student.
♪"Why shouldn't I believe the same in you?"♪
She looks away shyly, and I grab her, leaping up and dashing through a portal to the Wacky Workbench Zone, where a variety of videogames are being made and played on the gigantic holograms projected all over the cavern.
♪"I believe in make-believe,"♪ I say, grabbing a lightgun and blasting several aliens on an arcade screen.
♪"Magic games and playing cards, and~"♪ I continue, tossing the gun to her and forcing her to pay attention or lose a life to the digital aliens.
♪"I believe in promises-"♪ I turn away from her for a moment.
♪"-Spoken as you cross your heart, oh..."♪ I exclaim, slyly winking to an unseen audience as I cross my heart with a single claw.
Grabbing Eclipse Flash and heaving her onto my back as we walk through the crowds, we listen as they all begin humming in the background, providing a faint choir that supports my song.
As I look at my student, I jab a thumb at the giant crowd of singing Longma, ponies that have chosen to live in the Shadow Realm under my rule.
♪"I believe I bit off more than I can chew!" I snark quietly to my student.
♪"Why shouldn't I believe the same in you?"♪
I trail off, noticing that she still looks unsure.
♪"You may say I'm a fool,"♪ I begin, catching her attention as I lower her off my back, reaching one of the obsolete minecart tracks still connecting the various zones. As I sing, I hear various miners nearby humming in sync.
♪"Feelin' the way that I do..."♪ I say, plopping down onto one of the benches nearby.
♪"You can call me Pollyanna, say I'm crazy as a loon!"♪ I shout, grinning at her frantic silent denial as she shakes her head at the idea.
♪"I believe in hearts of gold and that's why I believe in you!"♪ I finish, pointing a finger at the filly as another portal opens and we walk through to an outpost on the surface.
Walking to the edge as we stand on the walls of the outpost, I watch as a burning petal from an obsidian tree falls on my palm.
♪"I believe there'll come a time,
Maybe it will be someday soon.
When a new song starts to shine..!
All we have to stay is in~ tune!
I believe that dream can still come true!
Why shouldn't I believe the same in you?"♪ I ask, turning to face my student, who swallows tearfully.
♪"You may say I'm a fool,"♪ I repeat, soldiers behind us humming along.
♪"Feelin' the way that I do,"♪ I shrug, letting the petal fall, before leaping up onto the battlements and grinning widely.
♪"I believe in fights and rivals
And the wonders hate can do,
I believe in songs and magic
And that's why I believe in you!"♪ I exclaim, holding out a hand to pull her up with me.
Our eyes meet, and I can feel my student's confidence finally start to grow. She begins to sing along in her own way as we reach the final verse, hesitantly.
♪"You may say I'm a fool,"♪
♪"I'm a fooool...~"♪ she harmonizes.
♪"Trusting in what you can do"♪
♪"What I can dooo!~"♪
♪"I still think that it's true,"♪
♪"Think it's truuue!~"♪
"I'm gonna see this whole damn thing through!"♪ I curse merrily, gesturing to the blazing firepit of the Shadow Realm, showing her what could one day be under her rule.
♪"'Cause I still believe in miracles,
I swear I've seen a few.
And the time will surely come-
-When you will see what you can do!
So do you believe in gravity?
Cause' that's why I believe in you!"♪ I finish our song, the two of us smiling brightly as we look at the Shadow Realm before us, a broad field of dark ashes, molten rivers, and glittering trees of metal and crystal.
For a while, we just stand there quietly, the guards going back to their business now that the magically mandatory bursting-into-song has been executed to everyone's satisfaction.
"Even if I don't feel like I can surpass you... I'll still do it one day, I promise," Eclipse Flash finally says in a quiet voice, one that radiates newfound resolve.
'Well, if you ask me...' I muse to myself, watching the horizon with my student as our flames burn brightly in front of the raising sun.
'I think you already have.'
Suddenly, I hear a shout.
"Lord Weiss! There's a matter that requires your urgent attention," Captain Helmsplitter shouts, running up the stairs to the battlements, breathing heavily.
"What is it?" I ask, turning to face him.
"We-" he breathes heavily, coughing from the long run.
"We've found a foal that had been frozen in one of the glaciers nearby, a pegasus! We're working on healing the filly now, but your presence is required," he frantically explains, seeming to leave out exactly why.
My mind races. My studies implied that Crystal Unicorns and Pegasi were unimaginably rare, and I couldn't think of a single individual I knew who actually was one from my memories of the show, even as faded as they were.
It didn't matter though. If my captain deemed my direct attention necessary, then I had no intention of stalling.
"Show me," I insist, following after him as fast as I can.