//------------------------------// // (Past Chapter 45) The Thief-Witch (Part 1) // Story: The Unique Properties of Dark Magic // by Shadestyle //------------------------------// "So, are we all clear on the plan, then?" Blackbeak asked, turning to their newest, youngest recruit. A Longma colt of no more than fourteen years. "You know, if this doesn't work..." one of the other griffons said, trailing off nervously. The one that came to them with a plan to steal the Chaos Emeralds laid it out simply. Weiss Noir enchanted every single defense leading to the emeralds himself. He refused to risk another person's enchantments having a flaw that would allow them to be bypassed. He, in addition to that, used only lethal enchantments. His paranoia for this treasure was so great, even the slightest attempt at prodding it, any attempt at all, would be met with utterly lethal force. There was no containment foam. No capture golems. No portals or cameras. Only blistering hellfire, razor sharp blades, collapsing ceilings, and even more horrible things. It was a vault that nobody would be dumb enough to try and steal from, when made by the most hateful pony in all Equestria and beyond. The pony who even now produced enough hate for the Kingdom Heart that it could be felt by anyone who saw it. His hatred was the only single source powerful enough to be sensed above and beyond all the hatred of the others. What kind of flaw could he possibly have, that someone could break into his most paranoid vault? The one he was so confident in the safety of, that it didn't even have guards to stand outside it, in the middle of Chaos Cacophony Zone? The Black Griffon who approached them was very explicit. The sage was psychotic, a total nutcase. He could hate someone with mind-shattering intensity in one moment, and be utterly unable to muster up even mere annoyance to someone else. He would never harm a Longma, a young colt or filly especially. That was the theory that would be tested. The little goblin of a colt they recruited was rude and crass enough to fall in with the gang, and this would be his initiation. If that griffon was wrong though... The colt scoffed, not fully internalizing the danger he was going to be putting himself through. "You chickens going to keep clucking, or can I go in yet?" he asked, looking into the swirling vortex of black fire that marked the entrance of the vault. Their sympathy was quickly diminishing as the colt kept opening his mouth. "Look, fine, alright, just do it," Blackbeak said, shoving an empty sack into the colt's hooves. With a glare, he draped it over his back, and walked into the flames. One moment, then two... Nothing happened. The thugs breathed a sigh of relief. "See? Simple as," the colt said with a snide look, before walking deeper inside. The black flames refused to touch the little Longma. The spiked ceiling dropped down, but halted a mere inch from his head. The floor below him rumbled, but refused to fall into the bladed pit below. Saws ground, and more besides, but because all of the defenses of the vault were meant to brutally kill a thief, and Weiss lacked the purity of hatred to hurt a little longma foal, the brat was able to walk all the way into the vault's inner sanctum. "Nice," he smirked, grabbing the rainbow-colored Chaos Emeralds from their pedestals, stuffing them into the sack on his back. He strutted out with confidence and surity, and the gang, seeing him return in one piece, cheered and barked out praise to the new member of their gang. "Come on! Let's see the loot!" Blackbeak shouted, grabbing the sack from the child who complained loudly, opening it up to look at the gems inside. "By god, you really did it, didn't you? Alright brat, you're in. Let's see what these things can do. Lord Weiss wouldn't have set all that up if these weren't powerful," he said with a grin. The gang stalked away, not seeing the little spider on the wall, with black, glassy eyes. Blackbeak grinned as he felt the green gemstone softly clattering in the pouch tied to his side. He could feel the magical power flowing into him from Chaos Cacophony Zone, bit by bit. All the confusion, the jumbled up uncontrolled emotions of those around him. Somehow, these gemstones were letting him and his gang tap into it! 'With these, we can become more than just a petty gang. We could take some real power for ourselves...' he mused, clenching a talon and feeling the tendons flex underneath. To think, the big secret treasure of Chaos Cacophony Zone would be this, a relic made to draw power from the very chaos it made by letting ponies run around acting crazy and raising a ruckous. The colt, who insisted everyone call him "Emerald Thief" now that he proved his chops, had the white stone for himself. The jewels were most powerful when they were all together, but you couldn't run a gang that way, gathering up treasure for yourself and keeping it all on your own. Blackbeak knew he'd have to divvy up the loot, and so he did, giving the seven gemstones to each of his gang's most valuable members- And the colt, of course. "Alright boys, it's time!" Blackbeak shouted in the middle of the zone. He could feel the gems were at the peak of their strength. The various longma and other individuals in the zone looked curiously to the gang, who had assembled smack dab in the middle of the zone. "Greetings, ponies and all! I am Blackbeak, the leader of the wonderful fellows you see before you!" he roared dramatically, gesturing to the rest of the crew he brought with him. "Today, we've done the impossible! We've stolen from Lord Weiss Noir himself, and with that, we're bringing greed back! Behold! The Chaos Emeralds!" He pulled his gemstone free from its pouch, holding it to the sky. "We stole it! A gang of griffons stole one of the most well-kept secrets of the whole damn Shadow Realm!" he proudly proclaimed. "So keep your eyes on the news, because the Blackbeak Gang is heading to Griffonstone! We're bringing back greed!" he roared one final time, before pocketing the jewel. He and his crew glowed with the power of the gems, the crowd's delicious confusion feeding into them to make them even more powerful. Without another word, he began to walk straight towards the exit. With power like this, even the Sage of Darkness himself wouldn't be so quick to stop them. Pushing through the crowd, he stumbled as a Zebra slammed into him, and sent him and the other gangsters tumbling over. "Hey, watch where you're going, you dumb zebra!" he shouted. She winced, and her eyes looked watery. The zebra had a set of plain, ragged saddlebags, and looked hungry. "I-I'm sorry. I was going too f-facet," Blackbeak glared. "What did you just say?" "I-I didn't mean to rebuff you, polish forgive me. I didn't look where I was g-glowing," the mare stutters. Looking at the emaciated zebra, he could see signs of frostbite on the mare. She had just come in from the frozen north, clearly. He shook his head with a scoff. Despite those disgusting puns, he had more important things to worry about. "Watch where you're going then," he gruffly demanded, pushing past her with his crew in tow. She looked incredibly sad, and ran off crying as soon as he did. "I'm so sorry," she responded, as if she had done something particularly horrible. The Blackbeak Gang didn't even make it to the portal to Griffonstone, before they were faced with the same dark griffon who met them originally. "Greetings. Have you found the treasure you were seeking?" the emotionless griffon asked, tilting their head just so. Blackbeak smirked. "We sure did. Why? You looking for payment? You didn't ask for any when you gave up the info." The griffon shook their head. "Show me the gems. I need to confirm that you've obtained them." Blackbeak felt something dark burning inside him. "Out of the question," he growled, shifting to keep the satchel away from the bug, putting his body between them and his treasure. The griffon tilted their head further, before disappearing in green fire, leaving them all confused and unnerved. "Come on, everyone, let's go show Griffonstone just what greed got us," he grinned maliciously, glancing around nervously for signs of the weird annoying griffon in the tunnels. The rest of his gang looked equally uneasy. As they walked through the portal, they came upon the sight of Griffonstone, filled with all the puny smallminded griffons that Blackbeak hated. He stalked down the cobblestones, watching as shopkeepers glared at customers, and customers leered at products. He watched as griffons argued over a fair price, both of them growing angrier and angrier at their own haggling. He watched two griffons in the street brawling over what Blackbeak assumed was some silly conflict of egos, coins scattered all over the pavestones around them. All that pride, and not a hint of ambition. That all changed today. With a raised claw, he let a blast of bright energy fly into the sky. "Griffonstone! Hear me! I am Blackbeak, and I bring you all proof! Proof that the Idol of Boreas is a mere trinket! That the true nature of griffons cannot be so easily extinguished beneath shallow pride! Behold, what greed has brought me and my gang, what we stole from the Sage of Darkness himself! What even the dragons couldn't steal!" The rest of his gang begin glowing, firing off magical blasts and cackling with laughter as they caused fear and shock in the city of Griffonstone. Guards began approaching them, spears leveled, but with a wave of his hand, Blackbeak and his gang teleported away, high into the air onto a nearby building. "This is the power of the Chaos Emeralds! The power of Chaos itself!" he laughed. His laughter began to trail off, as a shadowy figure stood on the building across from him, casually reclining on the brickwork of the small tower, crunching an apple. "You've got some showmanship, my little subjects," Weiss Noir said, taking another bite from the apple. Blackbeak sneered. "Finally noticed your little missing treasure, eh? It was so easy, even a child managed to steal it. You're losing your touch, oh mighty Lord of the Shadow Realm." Weiss smiled, tossing away the core. "Nah. I had an eye on things. I'm just here to make sure you don't hurt anyone, yourselves especially. Hand over the emeralds, my subjects. You've proven to the world what you set out to prove. It's time to come home," he said, hopping over to the building Blackbeak's gang was on, holding out an open palm. Blackbeak glared. "I will not." The answer seemed to make the sage's soft smile grow. The griffon and his gang members prepared to fire blasts of the chaotic emeralds' magic, only for nothing to happen. Weiss blinked. "Where are the gems," he said in a monotone, stalking towards the gang, who were beinning to panic as they realized the powers they were toying with minutes before had suddenly cut out, exhausted of power. "I have them, stay back!" Blackbeak shouted, reaching for the pouch, only to realize with a chill of sudden sweat as he grasped at it that it was soft, formless. The pouch was empty. Someone had stolen the gem! Weiss's arms exploded into smoke, throwing all seven of the gang members off the building, and into the pavestones. "Where are they!" he roared into Blackbeak's face. "I don't know!" Blackbeak shouted, now afraid without the weapon he planned to use. Weiss's eyes softened at the sight of the various Shadow Realm inhabitants, gang members and thieves or no, he felt something soft and annoying bubble up. He sighed. "Get up and stop blubbering. I'm not going to hurt you," Weiss admitted, with a bitter pang of defeat. He couldn't help it. They were cruel, petty, criminal little bastards, even down to the little Longma colt who hung out with them... But they were of the Shadow Realm, and some cruel hook in his heart kept him from properly putting fear into their hearts. He couldn't lose any more of them. As he forcibly lifted the gang members to their feet, he turned to the crowd. "See what happens when you try to fight me, even with my own damn artifacts? You get bodied! I'll be taking these ones back. They will face my justice," he said loudly, his voice carrying out to the frightened Griffonstone natives. The griffons began to bark out insults and slander at the sage, demanding they face justice in Griffonstone. The sage looked pleased with the result. "Good, I haven't lost my touch quite yet, it seems," he mused, grabbing the fearful gangsters and forcing them back through the portal to the Shadow Realm. The stone archway slammed shut at his command, preventing the angry population from following him through the tourism portal. "All of you, my office. You know where it fucking is," Weiss said with an overwhelming aura of malice that stabbed into the gang, making them back away in newborn fright. As they all made their way to leave, he stopped them with a raised hand. "Before you go, I want you to understand something," Weiss said, coldly. "You fucked over my plans. The only thing you proved with this stunt is that the Idol of Boreas isn't working. You all got it through your fool heads that it's because the damn thing doesn't work, but that's not the case at all. It's because the damn thing is gone. Stolen, and you just let every-fucking griffon know that," he snarled, before pointing harshly down the tunnel, making them scramble down it. About halfway down the tunnel, they screamed, and he glanced over. The griffons (and colt) had turned into pigs (and a chicken.) Seemingly without cause or reason. Weiss could tell it wasn't a spell, dark or otherwise. The fools must have been exposed to some kind of magical substance or artifact. Panicking and confused at what triggered their transformation, Weiss raised a curious eyebrow. "Hey! I didn't say stop! Keep walking!" he screamed, shocking them out of their confused polymorphic panic. He wasn't sure where they had been poisoned with whatever toxin did that, but he didn't care. Just another problem to deal with. He rubbed between his eyes with a groan. Problems problems problems. It always seemed to be something, ruling over the Shadow Realm. "Forget the fourth one, where are all my damn chaos emeralds?" The zebra mare collapsed into a chair at her "designated housing," shuddering with revulsion at herself. Walking to the back of the small apartment, she dumped off all the things she stole, including the seven magical gemstones she pilfered from those gangsters. She was still thin, and her coat still blackened with bits of frostbite, but the free food and medical care this "Shadow Realm" was giving away for no reason was helping both of those problems. With a sigh, she closed the hatch over the hole she melted in the floor of her new apartment, and covered it up with a rug. A bottle of mole-acid solved the problem of where to stash things well enough. The abode was spartan, if you wanted a room packed with goodies, you had to earn that. Despite this, what little was actually in the room was stunning in its quality. Purple and Black crystal veins spun around the room's walls, toilets were built into their own rooms, a bed, a small couch, and some sort of device she couldn't make heads or tails of, made of bright glowing crystals. It was so beautiful. So wonderful. She was going to lose it all again. "Why can't I just stop? Is there some hole in my heart I just can't fillch?" she says tearfully, stomping the ground angrily. She resolved to not go outside tommorow. The less she dealt with other people and ponies, the less opportunities she would have to steal from them, or worse. When she was out there, there was no stopping those sudden little urges. A pocket picked here, a drop of poison there. All it took was a vial of "Switcheroolaid" and so soon people's possessions could be swapped with ironic petty poisons. It happened without her sayso. As soon as the urge struck her, it was over and done before she could think about it. Regret came later for her impulsive acts. It (and the puns) got her kicked out of her own village. It got her driven out, further and further, banished over and over, until all of Zebrica was forbidden to her. It got her into the Frozen North, dying of cold. Her damnable desire to live, however, is what drove her to the signs of civilization. It drove her to walk out of the blizzard that she was suffering inside of, out into the warm, dark depths of a vast kingdom. To do the simple "online" steps somezebra needed to take to become a citizen of the Shadow Realm. To get the free food alotted to her every day. To get a home to call her own. She was Malusi, a mare known to Zebrica as the Thiefwitch, and she wished she didn't have to be such a horrible zebra in such a kind place.