//------------------------------// // (Present Chapter 36) Darkest Hour (Part 4) // Story: The Unique Properties of Dark Magic // by Shadestyle //------------------------------// "I don't know," Eclipse flash said, crying with fear and despair. Priss, at the sight of this, ignored the growing pain, and slapped her friend to the ground with a heavy armored hoof. "Shut the fuck up! You do know! You know a way out of this, so snap out of it and spill it!" she snarled, shaking her friend as the light continued to grow brighter. "I... I-" Eclipse attempted. "Are you weak? Did Weiss pick you for nothing at all? Your dumb ass kept bragging over and over how he kept saying you surpassed him! Now save our asses, you incompetent minion!" she shouted, shaking Eclipse a few more times before yanking her to her hooves. Eclipse Flash felt angry, pissed in fact! She felt confused, angry, terrified. "I... If we just had a buffer, something between us and it, I-" "Do it!" Priss screamed as the light became blinding. Eclipse Flash grabbed at her feelings randomly. All the tension, the confusion, what she felt towards Priss, and her teacher too. With a scream, she unleashed them, and for the second time in her life, she cast Merciful Bulwark, a snowflake of white crystal spreading from her hooves like wildfire, surrounding her in the material as frozen black fire bloomed inside it like ink frozen in amber. It felt like eternity, and in an instant, it ended, as she slumped forwards and her head thumped painfully against the slowly decaying shell of magical crystal around her. Around everyone. The love was gone, and only a bittersweet feeling remained in the air to remind everyone that it was there at all. I felt something crack in my heart as I stood frozen. I couldn't move. My mind refused to comprehend what I was sensing. What I was seeing. The pillar of light, the Vanishing Curse, was returning the city it once stole, and with it, thousands, hundreds of thousands of sensations ignited within my senses. So much hated, and so many sources of it. My arms grew slack and a thrill of horror raced up my spine. The Smoke Devouring Hydra was weakening. My emotions! "No!" I roared. "You won't trick me with this! I've grown beyond such things! Sombra's soul is mine! I cast aside hope!" I screamed at Nightmare Moon, tearing my attention away from the light and the ocean of dark souls I perceived, screaming as I tried to force more power into the spell before Sombra could slip free of it. It had to be her. It had to be her last desperate gamble to try and stop me. 'Just an illusion' I thought desperately. 'Just another horrible dream.' Despite my words, I could feel my resolve cracking, my eyes wanted to look, wanted to see it. The emotions bubbling up were ignoring my force of will! Radiant Hope, the sickening fool that dared stand between me and revenge, actually stood next to Sombra, trying to bolster his shield with her own magic, and I could feel my power waning. "This is impossible, it's literally not possible damn you!" I roared as I could feel my spell shattering. I had control! My emotions didn't rule me anymore since I used the Devil's Machine! I chose what emotions to act on, and I could suppress the ones that didn't serve me! I knew I could! Memories flashed through my mind as a sickening theory started to bubble up through the cracks in Magicant. I could feel my nostalgia growing as everything fell apart. My eyes glimmered with insanity. "I'm running on fumes now... But I've got just enough gas left for this," I said, raising a hand and poising my fingers to snap them, to unleash every bit of Vancian Magic still sealed within my spirit in one final hail-mary. Discord raised an eyebrow. "You're bluffing. You're not the right kind of crazy to throw away your life's work on little old me," Discord says, carelessly, waving me off. I smiled, a slight, small thing. I felt spiteful. Like I wanted to piss him off even if it meant throwing away my life's work. I felt something else, too. A glimmer of desire. Of compassion. I considered the emotion as it prodded me to act. 'Well, I doubt Discord will let me have my revenge anyway. I'll go out on my terms,' I thought, allowing the feeling to guide me in what I thought would be yet another act of spite. The fact that I could go out doing something good... That was just the icing on the cake. Nothing more. I gasp as I snap out of the memory, feeling my focus fray as the dragons began to shatter apart in bursts of white, and I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain the spell. It required pure hatred, and an almost limitless supply of the untainted emotion. Whatever was happening, it was spreading. Magicant was supposed to be a perfect seal on my emotions. Nothing is supposed to be able to break it, and yet the fractures continued to grow! With bitter tears of failure burning in my eyes, I let the spell go. If this kept up... "I won't let you escape me, you bastard!" I roared, leaping onto the barrier the two ponies were creating, slamming my fists into them like a jackhammer, cracks and fragments spewing off of them. I saw Nightmare Moon out of the corner of my eye, flying towards me in that ridiculous form of hers. I threw a wild punch that forced her to back off. "Get away from me!" I could sense the emotions in the distance growing, until I couldn't deny it anymore. It shouldn't matter if they're alive! I'm in control! I threw away what I felt for them! The barrier shatters, and I leap through the gap, grabbing Sombra's neck and slapping away the unicorn mare with his body, swinging the Umbrum as an improvised weapon. Another memory shot through me, familiarity rising to the forefront of my mind as another emotion broke free. As we stood on the Halberd's deck preparing to do battle with Discord, I steeled myself for what was to come. "...Are you afraid?" Princess Celestia asked, after a moment of silence between us. I thought about the question, glancing down as thoughts and feelings bubbled up and demanded my attention. Was I afraid? Would I admit it to her of all ponies, even if I was? "Yes," I said, not realizing it until the word had escaped me. I saw no issue with admitting the feeling, even if I refused to let it control me. "Why?" she asks plainly. She probably knew the answer already. We knew each other for so long... I took a breath. One that served no purpose in my Shadow Clone form other than to calm my nerves. "I... don't want to go out like this. Discord has what it takes to put me down permanently, unlike a certain someone we know," I said, squashing the feeling back down and unmaking it within me as I smirked at her with my signature devil-may-care attitude. It felt good to be in control. I could have moments like this one, where I meted out only the feelings I chose for myself. I gasp, shaking my head as I'm being pulled through the snow. Nightmare Moon's aura! She's trying to pull Sombra out of my grip! "Don't you dare take this from me!" I snarled, trying to pull Sombra away. I saw glowing cracks beginning to form along my black hide, white and purple peeking through my form as chunks of enchanted crystal and graphene began to dissolve into nothing from where I had grown it in my skin and fur. I tried to unleash a portal, but the spell fizzled as I felt Magicant crack more and more. I saw the spires of the Crystal Egg Zone beginning to re-materialize, and it sent a white hot spike through me at the sight of it. "You think I don't have contingencies?!" I snarled. I don't have time to fight both of them at once, If I waste much more time, the return of the Shadow Realm is going to leave me as incompetent as fucking Sombra! 'I admitted it,' I realized with dawning horror that refused to shrink no matter how much I tried to stuff it down. My emotions were breaking through. My Color of Arms was breaking apart. 'I just had to go and admit that they're back' I thought bitterly towards my own traitorous mind. Fear shooting through me, I reached into my mouth and pulled out a false tooth containing a modified Hoi-poi capsule. One of the last things I invented before my imprisonment. Grabbing the Unicorn Crystal off of the ground, I flipped around the thrashing Sombra and grabbed him in a chokehold, before biting through the tooth and crushing the portal inside, snapping it and warping us both away as the spacial distortion swapped us with what was in the Final Boss Room. As we appeared in the deepest basement of the Crystal Egg Zone, The feeling of emotions above me sent me into another memory, even as I felt Sombra breaking free of my grip. I read the last page of Sunset's book that she presented to me. The "Equestrian Grimoire Noir", before closing the book quietly. I kept my feelings off of my face, but inside was a different story. I was still getting used to the feeling of Magicant inside me, or rather, the lack of feeling. I couldn't quite feel out where the enchantment's boundaries were. It was a good sign. The best mind-altering spells are the ones you can't sense, after all. "Is it up to par?" Sunset asked me with a vulnerable look in her eyes that I could practically taste. If I were a snake, I imagined that my tongue would have been flicking out to sample the flavor of anxiety and weakness that the pony was radiating into the air. There was an opportunity to be had. Now that I'm strong enough to overcome paltry things like guilt and pity, I wouldn't have a single problem exploiting that. I could string her along, mould her into something more useful to me. After thinking about it for perhaps a bit too long, I decided not to pursue it, and dismissed the notion. 'It wouldn't do me any good,' I rationalized, and I still felt somewhat bad about the idea. It wasn't as if Magicant erased or weakened my feelings, after all. Growth doesn't work like that. I decided not to manipulate her because it wasn't worth the effort. That it assuaged my guilt meant nothing. Nothing other than the fact that I was right to not completely erase the feelings, if they so often coincided with the most optimal path for me to take. I shook my head, and struggled to tamp down on my magical senses. I could sense all the foibles, all the quirks and flaws that I loved about my ponies, and a helping of confusion that had been building up in them. I have to hurry and finish off Sombra. I have to get out of here before my power fades. I just need a little more time. I looked down and saw as the white scales that coated my hooves were beginning to retract, and around my chest, white fur was breaking free of my dark self. Sombra was on the ground, dragging himself away from me. I just need a little more time. I walk towards him quickly, shoving him on his back and pinning down the unicorn as my grip tightened on the red crystal in my hand. "Please no," the unicorn whispers, and for a brief, fleeting moment, I can feel the emotions I tried for centuries to defeat quiet, as sadistic satisfaction, my familiar friend, returns to the forefront. I hold the crystal in front of his face, the glow lighting us both up in the dusty ruined chamber that was meant to house my most powerful defenses. All dust and gone now. His essence was too weak, I could sense him being drawn into the crystal as his fake unicorn form began to break apart, revealing his Umbrum nature. There was no reward or punishment. No family waiting for me in Elysium at the end of my task, whether to welcome me or judge me for my sins. There was only this moment, this sadistic moment as I took pleasure in watching Sombra cower like a child at what I was about to do to him. "I'm afraid of the dark," he whimpered as I pressed closer to the tyrant, kneeling down with the crystal pressed in his face like a weapon. For a moment, I could see through our bond the words that he plucked from my mind. Where he had gotten those words to say now, at the end of his freedom. A memory washed over me, one tinted with realization. The pod that I had constructed looked exactly like the one from the videogame. Pale, flesh-colored rubber hoses all plugging together into one gigantic machine. The Star Rod of Dreams was plugged into the machine, prepared to seal my soul, to perfectly bind it as it was when the systems detected me awaken. When I awoke from the dream I soon would have, The Star Rod of Dreams would use its power to finalize my growth. It would crystalize what woke up within me. Whether it was my victory over my hope and justice, or my revenge being quenched once and for all as my love for my friends and family finally abolished my revenge. I turned to Tempest. She had been so loyal to me, she cared so much for my well-being, ever since I had given her her horn back, and ever since I gave her and her crew a job in my employ. Maybe there were ponies I trusted more than her right now, but none of them were alive to monitor the machine. "What do you think, Tempest? The last thing I need to do before I make my way to the Shadow Realm to clean up shop," I asked, watching her face to see how she reacted. Tempest kept her feelings in reserve, a blank mask that I saw through easily. "Is it safe?" she asked. I had already noticed her poring over the design documents for the machine. She knew how it worked, and how to operate it by now. She knew the truth, so I saw no reason to mislead her, and shook my head in the negative. "If the machine fails, I would be lucky to die. I didn't name it the Devil's Machine for nothing, after all." "And what exactly do you want that is worth risking your life by using this thing?" Tempest said seriously, turning to scan my face for any sort of doubts. She finds quite a few. She was right to be afraid of the machine. If I was wrong... If my desire for revenge wasn't my heart's desire, then my sentimental past self would win. The Star Rod would crystalize that moment, and I might never have the power needed to truly make Sombra suffer. I felt my determination growing. In that machine, I would face my destiny. "Revenge," I responded to her question. Climbing into the machine, my eyes met hers. "Guard the machine. If that light blinks green..." I pointed at the control panel next to the Devil's Machine. "...Go looking for a new job," I finish, settling in and counting backwards from ten as a needle of slumber-sugar pierced one of my legs, the soporific taking effect immediately. My eyes began to slip shut, and the glassy dome of the Devi's Machine began to close on me, powerful dream magic worming its way into my mind, and forcing me to confront my inner demons. As I fell asleep, I saw Tempest approach the control panel with a funny look on her face. I didn't understand it. I couldn't understand whatever emotion she was feeling, I had spent so long twisting my own emotions. Her hoof reached towards the machine, and began to tamper with it, and I realize only now, as my true emotions threaten to undo everything I've worked for, that the emotion on her face was shame. Shame for not stopping me from using the machine. Shame towards herself for flipping a little "W" on the control panel around, making it an "M" instead. My own little joke that I added to the machine, a little reference that I had worked into the machine's mechanism for connecting or disconnecting the Star Rod for testing purposes. Tempest Shadow stopped me from forging the true Magicant within my soul, from crystalizing the feeling of overcoming my emotions, and now that self control was decaying as I faced emotions too great for the unfinished magical structure to hold back. It was never a magical relic that had given me the power to escape the lamp. It hadn't given me the power to cast the Smoke Devouring Hydra. It was just my own fleeting willpower. Willpower that had just ran out. My eyes opened, and I saw Sombra, reduced to nothing more than a scared colt who had made so many mistakes. Caused suffering that boggles the mind to even try to imagine. Only a single pony who truly believed he still had the capacity to change, faced down by something truly evil, something that only wanted his despair. I really did share his fate. I felt horror when I realized that my friends and family weren't dead, and now I know why. I won't ever be able to face them again, after everything I've done. He told me he was afraid of the dark. I could tell that it was a reference to OFF, an obscure videogame that I only remembered thanks to the eidetic memory that stolen zebra magic offered me. It felt ironic, and the words came without me fully deigning to say them as I leaned down. "From now on, there will be no more darkness," I said quietly to the shivering tyrant, before, with a quiet gasp, his form collapsed, and the smoke of his Umbrum self was sealed within the Unicorn Crystal in my hands. I limped towards where a worn, ancient looking crystal was sitting in the corner of the room. Smacking it a few times, I managed to get it to produce one tiny, flickering portal after pulling up a panel and snapping several of the thin wires inside it, welding them together with hasty crystal growth. I didn't have time to do more. As I hucked the crystal through the portal, watching it smack into the Umbrum's Prison with a clatter, I blasted it with one last bit of greed, to ensure it was fully stuck back to the giant crystal it had once been hewn from. As I leaned back and fell onto my rear, I began to notice that the magic that had held me in my own empowered form had failed as well. I looked down at my purple claws, and my plain white hooves. I had shrunk down as well, and the magical armor in my body had dissolved in the face of my wild uncontrollable emotions. My body was swollen and bruised from the damage that the temporary sub-dermal growth had inflicted on me, but it was clear that no trace of it remained. There was no grand destiny. Nothing to fight for anymore. No more Noir Weiss, the Symbol of Evil, the Anathema of Hatred. Just me now. Weiss Noir, a pony who traded everything he had... For nothing at all. Nightmare Moon, flying high overhead, managed to see the faint shock of his blazing black hairfire as he was galloping away from the Shadow Realm. When he teleported away, she feared the worst, and if it weren't for one singular thing she could see as he ran from her while she glided towards the maddened sage, she would have suspected that he had finally fallen into a darkness he would never emerge from. That he had become Restless under the strain of defeating Sombra, that without an enemy to fight, his hatred would spiral out of control and wash over everyone around him. She could hardly believe what she saw from the infinitely stubborn, utterly confident pony who she could scarcely remember showing any weakness at all since he had grown so practiced at hiding it. She still found it hard to believe, even as she landed in front of him, and yet, as the unicorn ran into her and she grabbed him tightly with a wing that he snarled at and tried to escape from with weak, mortal blows that she barely felt, she could see it as clear as the dawn that was rising over the horizon by her sister's magic. Weiss Noir was weeping. His eyes were red with ugly tears, and she watched as his vitriol for once in his nigh-immortal life faded into nothing as he lost the will to resist her while she pulled him closer. She could barely hear his words as they sat in the snow, but he had the good grace to repeat them, over and over, until she did. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."