The Unique Properties of Dark Magic

by Shadestyle


(Present Chapter 54) Gamemaster


I could tell Eclipse Flash wasn't happy. She had this idea in her mind of law that was incompatible with me going to Celestia and whinging and whining until I got my way.

But this couldn't wait for the slow gears of bureaucracy. I'm too used to solving problems like this as instantaneously as possible.

"So, before I go in here, Eclipse, you need to know some things. I'm going to lie to this bug. I'm going to cheat. I'm going to threaten them horribly, and promise them insane, seemingly impossible things. They'll tell me everything I want to know, and then, I will move on to the next," I explain calmly.

"That sounds..." she trails off. Like what? Efficient? Naturally, it is. All of those things are tools in my toolbox that have been honed longer than she's been conscious.

Checking her face for any telltale signs of moral outrage, I find nothing too horrible, just some nervousness that is normal when people are introduced to my methods.

"Just let me do the talking, and interject if you need to. It's time I do my job."

She looks confused now. "Your job?"

I smirk as I move to open the door into the private room where "Bugsly" is being held.

"Scaring bad little ponies into being good again. Or, I suppose, bugs, in this case," I shrug, before opening the door.

The wannabeetle is chained to the chair, and upon seeing me, begins to thrash, clearly stressed and panicked.

My smile grows. 'Finally, someone who just knows to be afraid. Downright refreshing, at this point' I think to myself. It will save me a lot of trouble, moving forwards.

I snap my fingers, casting a Homeward Portal to drop a small box onto the table as I approach, pulling the chair out slowly, and sitting down as Eclipse finds a spot behind me from which to observe.

The bug has stopped thrashing, and is now just shivering. I open the box, and slide it over.

When the bug sees what is inside it, it stops entirely.

I light my horn, and burn away its chains with some black flames, watching as the wannabeetle slowly takes out the box's contents, a thick roll of magical bandages, retrieved from some evidence locker, and begins wrapping itself with them.

Eclipse looks as interested as I do, watching the symbols sewn into the bandages come to life, glowing with illusion and shapeshifting charms that allow the beetle to quickly take the form of a plain looking pony.

When the final wrapping is in place, she looks no different from any other mare. The illusion is seamless, in the way absolute power is.

'Interesting.' I think to myself. 'It has a preferred form. I can tell how comforting it is to look like that, to this creature...'

Her eyes are red with exhaustion, but she doesn't have a fearful expression. "Just kill me. I'm not going to tell you anything."

I tilt my head. "Curious. You seem to think I'd want to kill you. I dare say, I haven't ever done that before. Why are you so afraid I'll start now?" I ask, plastering a tender smile onto my face.

Her eyes narrow. Clever, she's not immediately barking out that I murdered that one fellow. Gourmet? I don't remember what his name actually was. Very dead, though, I remember that much.

If she did, that would have immediately outed her as Chapter Black. The part that's actually doing the crimes and pissing me off, that is.

I watch as the false pony stares, waiting for me to continue.

"Hmm. Carrot or stick?" I muse out loud.

When I spot the small flinch, my smile widens. Stick it is.

"So, tell me, what do you know about me? What did they tell you? I'm going to be frank, you're a fucking member of Chapter Black, Okay? I know you are. You're the exact kind of individual that would genuinely be useful to them. So, that said, what did he promise you? That he would kill you if you didn't steal my Weapon of Light?" I asked, watching their reactions.

It was obvious they had little practice hiding their emotions while dressed up and wrapped in illusions, but I could tell they seemed disinterested. Their weakness wasn't their fear of death, though they certainly had it...

"No, it was something more than that. A fellow beetle, maybe? 'You do this and I won't smush Mr. Bugsly'? Because if that's the case, I'll be sorely disappointed. That little brat of a prince really seemed to adore you, and he might have had the backup to help, with how obsessive he seems over his precious pet. You couldn't have left him a note? Dressed up and told him before framing him for attempted murder?" I ask, standing up and approaching the Wannabeetle.

I was getting closer, I could feel it. Something was missing, though.

"No... Not a fellow bug then. It had to have been something, though. Unless there was no love lost between you and your wayward master. Was that it, then? You consign the prince to the dungeon, and get this lovely disguise? Play out your fantasies?"

She was getting angry, I could see her muscles tense beneath her disguise. I was finally starting to prick closer and closer to the truth.

I walked behind the disguised Wannabeetle, and leaned in close. "Would it be worth it? Was it really so awful? So terrible, pretending to be a pet, when you're clearly so much more?" I whispered.

She was trying not to listen to my honeyed words.

"You know, your kind wouldn't be the first... I still know it in my heart, how to... Forgive," I said, testing the word in my mouth. If it got this victim to break more quickly, then forgiveness might very well make it into my toolbox once again.

Or at least, the promise of it would.

"Imagine it, all the Wannabeetles, given things to inhabit so much finer than these rags. My ponies could do it, you know... I could do it. One spell, you fall asleep, and wake up a pony. A real pony," I say in a quiet, smooth voice that ripples with truth.

I lean in right next to her ear, the little flap flicking as I deliver the killing blow. "The ponies, I protected... The Windego, I welcomed, I housed their spirits in new flesh... The changelings... I forgave, despite their actions... I could do it to every Wannabeetle. Bring you all under my banner once more."

My body ripples, as I lose cohesion slightly, my voice changing to something darker as I watch her sweat under the heat, the fear, and above all else, the temptation.

"I have no love left to lose for Chapter Black, but Wannabeetles? Your kind was once a prize of the Shadow Realm. Even in that era, they had a place there. Even you could have a place among us. Without fear, and with all your heart desires..."

The air ripples with heat, and they shy away from the threatening aura that begins to underline my promises.

"If you tell me everything you know about Chapter Black, that is," I finish, slipping around in one smooth movement and returning to my chair and returning to dreadfully mundane solidity, as if none of that had happened. I restrain myself and my anger back to manageable levels.

She takes several breaths. I glance to Eclipse Flash, whose eyes are wide. The wannabeetle speaks, drawing my gaze back to them.

"There's nothing I can tell you. I'm not afraid of you," she retorts boldly.

"YES YOU ARE."

I explode, flooding the room with my blazing, immaculate self, a wall of purple and white embers, courtesy of Nightmare Moon's little trick of turning immaterial.

In the next moment, I return back to normal in a flash, coughing lightly.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just, it's this big thing, alright?" I say disarmingly, summoning a glass of water that I sip at while they cower at the back of the room, having flung themselves from their chair and pressed their body against the back wall.

"Weiss!" Eclipse shouts, grabbing me by the shoulder.

I look at her, and she shakes her head warningly.

I sigh. That was my one and only warning.

"Perhaps we've gotten off on the wrong foot here. Hoof, feeler, whatever," I wave.

"Why can't you tell me anything? You've refused to say you don't know anything. Are you being listened to, right this minute? Surely, you can tell me why it has to be a secret. None of this has to leave this room, of course," I say, picking up the panicked victim and placing them gently back on their chair, brushing off the dust with little puffs of prestidigitation.

They look off balance, and I sense a spike of fear from them as I question their reasons.

I summon a sandwich, and another glass of water, sliding them over to the bug.

"Not drugged, I can assure you."

After several moments of silence, I calm down as much as they do, nervously nibbling at the sandwich and sipping at the water, and I begin to finally grasp what their weakness is. I had almost hit the jackpot earlier, but this... That hesitance, that she is afraid someone will find out she told me...

If she isn't afraid of dying, and she isn't tempted by rewards beyond measure, not cowed by threats or allured by promises from me, both personal and societal...

"Ahh. Of course. That ugly four letter word. I was joking earlier, but it seems I was almost right. Someone you love has been threatened, isn't that so?"

They try to school their expression into something neutral. Literally a red flag on its own.

"Eclipse, bring the head of staff for Canterlot Castle here. I believe the secret lies in the pony, rather than the wannabeetle," I say, prompting a sudden spike of panic. I notice them reaching, trying to tap something, presumably on the bandages disguising them, but with a lance of black crystal, I bind their hooves to the chair.

"Ah ah ah. Why would you want to change forms? That one seems to be the one you're most comfortable in, isn't it?" I ask.

It all clicks into place, I wave for my student to stop, she had been going to do as I ordered, but now, it isn't necessary.

"I assumed that the bug was in the perfect position to plant evidence, and that's true, but also not true. A member of staff would be equally poised to do so, and easier as well. The prince's pet, moonlighting as castle staff, given bandages of disguise by a mysterious backer with knowledge of illusion and dark magic combined..."

I stood up and began to pace as the wannabeetle's face soured.

"But of course, you can hardly have a constant presence in and around the lovely prince's room to plant up to date evidence without dealing with him and his... Unique charms. I guess there's no accounting for taste, is there?" I smirk.

"So no matter how it started, you've got a fine motive, after all, what place could be safer than the dungeons? Certainly safer than the casket he would be in if you didn't obey, if you didn't do these small, but increasingly obtuse favors... Prepare him as a scapegoat, for minor crimes at first just in case, then for bigger ones, again, just in case..."

"Be quiet," they whisper.

'Oh, what a wonderful pair of words! What music to my ears!' I think to myself.

"Then of course, I don't need to bloviate on about what you already know. There's no need for pontificating here. Either Prince Blueblood goes to the dungeons, or he goes into a casket, is that the promise you were made?"

I wait for her to shout at me to shut up, as that's usually the next step, but little miss Bugsly here seems willing to surprise me with a return to silence.

I take a deep breath, approaching her, sliding the table quietly away, so I can walk right up in front of the chair she's bound to.

"Let me tell you a little secret..." I begin conspiratorially.

"The ones responsible for fouling up my plans, for convincing your tiny bug brain to steal my Great Sacred Treasure... The ones responsible for threatening my wonderful, wonderful plans... The ponies who are a threat to my little ponies, my precious Longma. You seem to believe otherwise, but..."

"I won't fucking kill them." I snarl, and the implication is clear.

"Is your precious Prince Blueblood one of them?"

The wannabeetle hangs their head and shakes it, defeated. Either they tell me what I want to know, or, as far as they know, I inflict on the prince a truly horrible fate.

Eclipse grabs me and forcibly pulls me out of the room.

"What the hell was that?" she barks, and I can tell she's disturbed in spite of my warnings.

"Hey, I told you I would use lies and threats, you already know I'm not going to fuck with the prince. It's just part of the narrative I'm spinning," I say, trying to defend myself.

The silence is long and awkward.

"Just let me do the rest of this interview, will you, Weiss?" she asks, and I shrug.

"Go for it. I softened em up for you, and we're pretty much done anyway."

She walks in and plays an adequate good-cop. It doesn't take long for the quietly crying bug to give Eclipse a list of names, while she assures them that Blueblood would be protected from "Black Angel", though Eclipse doesn't recognize the name offhand.

"You've been through a lot. We'll make sure they don't get away with making you do all of this," my student says, finally jotting down the last of it.

It takes a long time for Eclipse to do what I planned on doing, following up my threats and disturbing behavior with compassion, kindness, and every form of schmoozing under the sun, but eventually, the Wannabeetle, or "Miss Shelly", as she prefers, spills the beans in full.

Black Angel approached her, first with Shadow Realm Magic that gave her a crude facimily of pony form, then, later on, a more advanced version, produced by a unicorn named "Gatekeeper".

After that, came the threats. Black Angel's signature play. It was really elegantly simple, he would simply threaten to murder someone, prove that he could have it done, and things would fall into place from there.

It was the kind of strategy that only fell apart when someone finally decided that dying was a superior alternative, or, in this case, that there was no choice but to disobey. No alternative to the threat in question.

'Honestly, shit like this is what made Black Angel's 'schemes' so pathetic the first time around. When your entire 'conspiracy' is just people scared that you personally will kill them, all it takes is one person falling out of line for it all to collapse,' I thought disdainfully to myself.

Eclipse finally finished with the rest of the interrogation, approaching with a notebook filled with evidence that a small mechanical limb slipped into a metal pouch on her armor.

I followed her out of the room, and she whirred on me.

"You want to explain that, Weiss?" she says, clearly trying to restrain her anger towards me.

"It was all calculated to pull out her weaknesses and exploit them. Thanks to that, she told you everything we needed to know," I said simply.

She shook her head. "No, Weiss, that's not the problem, the problem is that you were enjoying it. When did you get a taste for this sort of thing?"

She sighs. "This is going to be more work than I thought, Weiss. You were clearly having the time of your life, breaking that Wannabeetle down."

I made a face. "She did try to kill several ponies. Pity well is a bit bottomed out there. Look, do you want to deal with my sadistic tendencies right this minute, or do you want to stop Blueblood from getting killed, because that's what happens now that she's spilled the beans," I jerk a head back to the interrogation room, where royal guards are already running in to restrain the prisoner.

"What?" Eclipse said, suddenly looking sober and at-attention.


Prince Blueblood scratched his chest, annoyed by the horrible itching there. It had started itching as soon as one of the ebony-coated guards shoved him in here, and hadn't stopped since.

"I loath this horrible place so much," he whined, sure that the itching was some horrible disease from being touched by a mere guard's filthy filthy hooves.

The itching intensified, and he began reaching for his coat, prying apart the seam in places, trying to get at the piano wire kept inside it. Why did his coat have piano wire sewn into it?

Something suddenly felt terribly wrong as he pulled the hidden metal wire from out of his coat where it had been cleverly sewn in by the tailor.

"Aunty?" Blueblood's voice came out quietly, hesitantly.

He realized what was going on. Any noble worth their salt is warned about it. Mind Control Magic, or Body Control. He had been 'trained' to resist it, but in this day and age, it was a pitiful sort of training that was quickly abandoned in favor of more "enriching" pursuits like mapmaking and complaining about poorly made maps.

"H-Help!" he screamed, realizing with dawning horror that the guards in front of his cell were frozen still. If he could see them, he would have seen their pained expressions, and their darkened eyes, sure signs that they too were enchanted by some sort of dark magic spell.

He didn't want to look at what his body was doing with the wire, wanted to squeeze his eyes shut. He called out for help once, but now, whoever was controlling him forbid it. He couldn't cry out again.


I smashed open the door, and with a roar of hatred, unleashed black flames that flooded the entire room. They weren't as strong as they could be, I didn't have my Vancian Magic anymore, but I still had so very much hatred to use.

After a moment, I cut off the flow. The guards in the dungeon had collapsed, like puppets with their strings cut. I felt my black fire eradicate the Corrupt Crystals controlling them, little fragments embedded in their skin, erased because I demanded it.

I ran forwards, as two guards dashed into the room, more thralls, who were cleverly ordered to hide outside for just such an occassion.

"Go! Get the prince!" I roared, and Eclipse's armor shrieked with steam as she leapt forwards like a wrecking ball, while two of my arms exploded into meaningless black scrawls, the symbols forming gigantic arms that let me slam the two guards into a wall, knocking them out.

I ran after her, and without paying any mind to her horrified, saddened expression at what she saw in the cell, I unleashed a wave of cursed dark magic. I didn't have time to distinguish targets, the curse spread over everything, petrifying it in black crystal. I had no choice but to unleash the curse in a wave, to make sure I hit him in time.

"Weiss! What are you doin-!" she yelled before being turned to stone like everything else. I could cure them later.

As Blueblood's petrified body fell from the ceiling and shattered into pieces, the thin wire suspending him to the dungeon ceiling snapping after being turned to frail black glass, I simply passed through the bars and got to work reassembling the parts.

The buffoon wasn't dead yet.

With a twitch, I fired a spell at Eclipse's petrified form, black fire washing over her and freeing her from the curse. She stumbled, choking down a half-formed scream.

"Get over here." I order. I use Royal Crystal Growth, but only tiny, tiny amounts. Just enough to tack-weld the prince's statue back together. With the prince's current state, I didn't dare to try and repair everything with my own crude crystal magics. Mine were ultimately meant for lavishness, not strength or quality. For that, only an Earth Pony, Longma or otherwise, would do.

To her credit, she approached me without too much horrified screaming. Any at all would be too much when I'm working on something this delicate. "Weiss, that pony is dead, I don't-"

I half-scoff, half-sigh. "Shut it. You're beginning to sound as dumb as this one," I joke, zapping the statue one last time to glue it all together, just enough to hold everything in place. This was hardly the first time I had to do something like this.

"Earth Pony Crystal Growth Magic. Fill in all the gaps, both internal and external. Do not grow crystal outside of that," I order brusquely, and Eclipse obeys, I see hope glimmer in her eyes, and the sensation of it so close to me makes me hiss as my skin feels suddenly sunburnt.

She does it slowly, carefully. More guards rush in, thankfully not mind-controlled, with Celestia in tow.

"Do not interfere, or the boy will die," I say, glancing at Celestia and her retinue. She sent for medical staff, but kept away from the magical workings.

I halt the guards she sends to do so. "Not yet."

Celestia looks at me warningly, but I shoot back an equally heated glare. I would explain later, and she would just have to deal with it.

They all watch, some of the guards looking at their fellow petrified guardsponies with barely restrained horror, only the presence of an alicorn sufficient to stop them from panicking.

Finally, it was done. Black Crystal from my own curse and White Crystal from Eclipse Flash's undoubtedly skilled cultivation mingled, and the result was a single, cohesive petrified prince. The wire around his neck, which had been petrified as well, was unfortunately not really removable without chiseling it out. The best I could do is have Eclipse simply grow everything closed around it.

Surgery would have to solve the remainder of the problem.

"Step back," I said neutrally, igniting my horn.

Emotions began to fill my heart, and magic began to swell my spirit. I hated this curse. I hated Sombra. I hated his corrupt crystal magic.

It. Would. Be. Gone.

With one final blast of black fire, I utterly eradicated the curse, sending the unicorn thumping to the ground, gasping and clutching at his neck. The wire was still there, just with flesh seamlessly grown around it. He would survive, even with all the choking and gasping.

Celestia cast a sleeping spell on the prince, and picked him up in her telekinesis. She looked at me only once, before I finally began to explain, freeing the other guards from their own petrification curses.


Prince Blueblood woke up in an unfamiliar bed, one not nearly to his high standards. His neck felt horribly stiff, and his throat was dry.

He clapped his hooves with a groan, and only when he didn't hear the clip-clop of a servant coming to bring him his icewater did he finally open his bleary eyes.

He was in a hospital, but a suspiciously empty one.

"Welcome back to the realm of the living," a pony said, sitting in the corner of the room, reading a magazine.

"W-where am I? What happened?!" Blueblood demanded, jerking up.

Aunty Celestia approached from his blindspot, sitting down next to the bed.

"You do not recall, nephew?" she asked him, and he tried to remember. Something about his coat getting torn up while he was in the dungeon, and then...

"You got mind controlled, then necked yourself. Chapter Black bullshit. Everything was set up to off you as soon as your pet bug squealed," the ashen-unicorn said... Wait...

Blueblood recognized the individual, blinking away sleep. It was that terrifying brute who dared to strike the princesses! Who insulted even him!

"You!" Blueblood shouted, pointing dramatically.

"Damn it, I wish I knew you were going to say that, so I could make a Matrix reference," the sage muttered, scratching his chin.

"Whatever. Look, Uncle Weiss just helped save your life, and your little bug too. A bit of... Well, I guess gratitude is a bit too much to expect... I guess tolerance is a bit too much too..."

He muttered more, before shaking his head.

"You are not my uncle! Stop saying that!" Blueblood shrieked with outrage at this buffoon trying to humiliate him.

"Shush. I also helped you fake your death, so that's another point in my favor. When I walk out of here, do you know how pissed I'm going to have to pretend to be to sell that illusion?" He retorted.

"Not very much, I'm blindingly furious right now, but still, the point stands so-"

Celestia interjected. "Perhaps I should explain this. You may go, Weiss," she interrupted. Despite her tireless nature, she seemed to be some flavor of exhausted with Weiss's shenanigans.

With a shrug, the sage burst into flames, flying out the nearby window.

Blueblood could faintly hear him screaming with faux-fury as he flew out over the countryside.

"What in Equestria is going on, Aunty? That callous sorcerer said something about Bugsly?"

The princess sighed. "Nephew, I'm afraid things are going to change for you, for the next two days, at least. You and your pet Bugsly will need to be in hiding, at least until I can ensure things are safe for you. You've survived an assassination attempt, Blueblood, and it was one even I hadn't been anticipating."

She offered the shellshocked prince a brief hug.

"We very nearly lost you, if it hadn't been for that 'callous sorcerer', I'm afraid you would be in Elysium right now. No matter his lack of tact, I hope you understand the severity of that," Celestia said softly.

The prince was quiet.