Few ponies remember the origin of the Kurosidae, better known nowadays as the Temnokt.
According to ancient tomes and records, the Temnokt were once normal dragons; powerful, intelligent, but over all, completely devoid of magic. They lived by fighting amongst each other or with other dragon clans, but even in that time, they were known for being much more refined and cultured than the rest of the dragons.
One day, when a tribe of gypsy Unicorns was passing by their homeland, they set up a camp and spend three moons in the mountains of Equestria before leaving, not wanting to cause the dragons' ire. However, in their rush, they forgot various tomes of books forbidden from long ago. Dark magic books. The dragons were curious, and some of the youngest took those books and attempted to read the Equestrian alphabet, but the dark magic in those books allowed them to absorb the knowledge by simply flipping the pages; the dark magic radiating from the very books corrupted every living thing around it.
Soon, the black magic took its toll on the dragons who were foolish enough to read the books. Their once bright, colorful scales became darker and darker as time passed, and eventually they became blacker than ebony, blacker than the night, blacker than a Changeling's carapace. They grew hair, like ponies, but their hair was spiky and often short, sometimes purple, sometimes blue, other times red or even orange.
But the most notable change was their eyes; their eyes became almost like ponies' eyes. They no longer had a single slit as a pupil, but a complete pupil still-shaped as a slit and colored irises with normal, white sclera. Wherever they used the dark magic, their otherwise white eyes became green, their iris changed to a brilliant scarlet and purple mist emanated from them.
But power came at a price.
One day, the Temnokt found two sharp fangs had grown sticking out of their mouth, almost like a vampire's. As time went on, their magic grew weak, and there was nothing in the books which could help them reverse the side effect. Panicking, one of the elder Temnokt kidnapped a unicorn and attempted to force information about magic out of her; when she refused to answer, in desperation, but in a feat of primal instinct, the black dragon dug his two fangs into her neck...
And drained the magic off the unicorn.
Realizing that to use their magic they would need to steal magic from another creature, the Kuros resolved that they would capture Unicorns and suck the magic out of them to preserve their own. Soon, every Unicorn in Equestria came to fear the black dragons with a strong passion, and the mere mention of their species made them tremble and cower. In honor of the dragons' black color, the ponies decided to dub them 'Temnokt', or 'black' in Marejanese.
A Unicorn drained off magic was like a soulless body. The Temnokt's methods involved kidnapping Unicorns, sucking the magic out of them, and then wiping their memories away so that they would not reveal the secret. After this, they would return the Unicorn to his/her hometown, and the rest of the ponies would assume the 'drained' Unicorns were simply ill. However, the black dragons happened to accidentally capture an Earth Pony or a Pegasus, they simply wiped their memories and let them go. They cared not for magic less creatures, only those who were overwhelmed with magic.
But soon, almost all of the Unicorns were drained off magic, and as the Temnokt ran low on sources of magic, they soon found out about a race of immortal ponies, with the strength of an Earth pony, the elegant wings of a pegasi, but overall, an infinite magic source, much powerful that they could ever imagine. A magic source that would keep their craving for magic quenched for centuries, even millennia, if they wished so.
The Alicorns.
Initially, the Alicorns were caught off guard when some of their kindred disappeared, but when they caught on to the Temnokt's strategy, war broke out. The Temnokt and the Alicorns fought mercilessly, and they would have eradicated Equestria in their quarreling hadn't the two species eventually come to an agreement.
The Alicorns made a truce with the Temnokt King, Burning Moonlight; the oldest, wisest and most powerful of the Temnokt race. The Alicorns created another source of magic for the Temnokt to draw their power from; combining their ancestral magic and knowledge, they created the Astral Line, an infinite but invisible magic source to be used only by the Temnokt. It would never run out, so the Temnokt would not need to worry about running out of magic ever again.
But since they had done a lot of damage to the once magical land of Equestria, the Temnokt were asked to leave and never come back. While thankful for the gift of the Alicorns, they became embittered when they were unofficially exiled, and so they flew across the Great Ocean, in search of a new place to live.
However, after that, the Temnokt were never heard from again...
- Kurosidae, A Forgotten Race by an unknown author.
Canterlot was having a good, sunny morning. The pegasi had made sure the sky was clear of clouds, and yet there were still a few clouds there and there to prevent the sun from giving too much of its lights to the city. Things had been calm for some time now, with no signs of any threat to Equestria or its citizens, which put everypony on a really good mood. There was a sense of calm which made everypony feel at ease, and you could find most of the ponies of Canterlot with a big smile on their faces.
The Princesses were no exception.
Even though they still had a lot of work to do, all that paperwork and the pending business from the short time they were turned to stone caught them by surprise, but that didn't impede them from acting with all the grace of a princess. Princess Celestia, in particular, was actually enjoying the paperwork, it was the first time she was calm and in silence, with no interruptions. As usual, Silver Quill, the mare in charge of administering paperwork, helped her with the duty, using her magic to hold the papers in front of the Alicorn and flipping the papers as soon as Princess Celestia had signed them.
Most of the paperwork involved approving new laws or renewing old ones, but lately, the paperwork involved asking for permission to cross the Great Ocean, probably to trade rare items with the Zebras and the Gryphon Kingdom, but all of the papers seemed to be written with hesitation, as if they were reluctant. However, what could be so important that ponies wanted to cross the Great Ocean so badly? These days, the only way to cross the Great Ocean quickly was to board a Intercontinental Zeppelin, designed for long trips, which could last from a few days to weeks, depending on the climate.
"Princess!" Suddenly, a member of the royal guard crossed the doors of the throne room, panting heavily as if he had come from far away, "News from across the Great Ocean!"
Knowing at once that the matter had to be tended to immediately, Princess Celestia motioned Silver Quill to put the still-long pile of paperwork aside for the moment, putting her attention on the guard who had just entered in, "What is it? Does the Zebra kingdom need our aid? Do they need supplies for the villages?"
Recovering his breath, the soldier shook his head grimly, "No, your Highness. It's much more serious this time, I'm afraid. They have finally answered to our letters."
Letting out a small gasp of surprise, Celestia inquired, "What have they said?"
"They say it won't be that easy to make it, but they are willing to give us a chance. Their people still distrusts our race, but they refuse to tell why, I suppose they don't want anypony to know."
Princess Celestia looked down in disappointment. She had hoped that they would be open for the idea of peace, but unfortunately, they were not precisely fond of Equestrians. The reason for that xenophobic behavior had yet to be explained, but she didn't recall any events in the past that could have made them act this way. Sure, the two races had been at odds with each other for a long time, but they had never gone too far as to declare war. No, she knew war was not the solution, what she needed was somepony who could see past their intimidating appearance and demeanor, somepony who could speak their language, somepony who knew enough about the race.
It clicked.
"Please send a messenger to the Crystal Empire to ask Princess Cadence and Shining Armor to come to Canterlot."
The soldier bowed, "Yes, your highness," then he was galloping out of the throne room.
Princess Celestia used her magic to levitate a quill and paper near her face, and started writing a letter addressed to her most faithful student.
Who better than her to help her in a situation like this?
The morning rays shone down upon Ponyville, notifying the ponies that a new dawn had arrived. The princesses were back, the Changelings were gone, and everypony was safe. Soon, ponies walked out of their homes, some of them for the first time in weeks, and went to visit their friends, to hang out at Sugarcube Corner and have a milkshake or to restock their fridges.
Twilight Sparkle sighed in exhaustion as she used her magic to levitate books back into place, flashcards back into her drawers and accomodated the cushions of the couch. It had been a rough night with the triplets, especially for first-time parents like them. Spike did everything he could to help, but even he had trouble with the triplets, considering he himself was still a baby, and Screwball... well, she wanted to help so badly, but sometimes she just ended up startling the triplets.
Once she was done, Twilight caught her reflection in the mirror: her mane was a complete mess, with a few strands sticking out, and bags under her eyes, due to not having slept for three nights in a row. In fact, she was surprised she still hadn't fainted out of exhaustion. Sure, she knew that having children would be hard, but she never imagined it would be that exhausting, especially since Discord's blood ran through their veins. Feeding them was not a problem, since they had inherited Discord's magic and could feed themselves. Unfortunately, they were also quite unpredictable; Astral Aurora had magic outburst every now and then, and she often appeared and disappeared at will. Night Charge had the habit to nibble on anything he found, including books, quills, and the plushes decorating the foals' room. Lavender Dusk turned out to be quite a troublemaker, he just loved to pounce on things and knock objects over, mainly the piles of books.
She was brought back from her thoughts by a knock in the door. Twilight Sparkle quickly ran her hooves through her mane to fix her hair and made sure there were no strands sticking out. She opened the door and saw Stormfly and Fukkuteru standing outside, with little Mist Wing nibbling her father's ear.
"Hey Twilight," they both said.
"Hi, guys, come on in." Twilight replied, standing aside and letting them in. Actually, only Stormfly was able to enter the library. Fukkuteru could only, barely, fit to his shoulders. "Sorry for the mess."
"No problem, I know parenthood is hard," Stormfly replied, removing a few books from the couch with his magic to take a seat, "Especially triplets."
Twilight sighed as she finally collapsed on the other couch, not minding to remove the papers on top.
"You have no idea..." she whispered, "For the first time ever, I envy oviparous animals. All they have to do is incubate their eggs, and after that they simply feed their offspring."
Fukkuteru lifted his head, offended, "For your information, Twilight, incubating is as hard as taking care of foals. We have to roll over the eggs to keep them warm at both sides, and we have to keep an eye on them all the time, not to mention that clutches are all put together in nurseries, so it's a headache to point a particular egg out!"
Before Twilight could reply, her husband soon walked down the stairs, but he looked older than... usual. He had bags under his eyes, and much to the others' amusement, he looked like Rarity each morning, before she fixed herself to meet other ponies. He had hair tubes on his black mane, a sleeping eye coverer just above his eyebrows and Twilight's cream on his face, almost making him look like an old mare.
"Morning, honey," he spoke, letting out a yawn, "I didn't know we had visits. I would have removed all of these things from me," Discord snapped his fingers, and in a flash of white light the hair tubes, eye coverer and cream was gone.
"Actually, Discord, I invited them here," Twilight replied, "I thought it was a prefect chance to document information about the Temnokt species, without being burnt to ashes, at least."
Fukkuteru exclaimed, "Hey! I heard that!"
"Twilight!" Suddenly, Spike ran down he stairs holding a scroll in his claws, in his hurry not noticing Stormfly and Fukkuteru's presence, "Letter from Princess Celestia!"
"Oh, no!" Stormfly suddenly panicked, and took a cushion to his head, "Surely she is going to arrest me for something! I have to hide!" Ten seconds later, he was trying to hide under the couch, earning giggles from Mist Wing, who decided to imitate her father and hopped off the couch to slid underneath it.
"Seriously, Stormfly," Twilight sighed as she levitated the scroll with her magic, "Why would the Princess arrest you if you haven't done anything wrong? Maybe she needs something," the unicorn started reading out loud, just to prevent another 'incident' with Discord.
My dearest Twilight
I know you must be busy, with your newborn foals and resuming your studies at the same time. But I have something to ask of you, my faithful student. I have been trying to make peace with the Temnokt, but I'm afraid they won't open up for the idea of a treaty. My attempts to negotiate have been futile, and more and more ponies keep crossing the Great Ocean, I believe they are headed for the Temnokt Empire, but their business there I do not know.
That's why I need you to bring that Temnokt friend of yours, Fukkuteru. He may be just what we need to accomplish our goal. The Temnokt Empire won't negotiate with a pony, but they might negotiate with one of their own kind, all I can do right now is hope it will work out. That's why I need you to come to Canterlot immediately to discuss what will be done on this matter. Your friends and your family will accompany you in this quest, and if you were to accept, you will be crossing the Great Ocean, to the Temnokt Empire.
Yours faithfully,
Princess Celestia.
"Fukkuteru?" Stormfly, who had just crawled from down the couch, started waving his hoof in front of the paralyzed Temnokt's eyes, "Are you okay, buddy?"
"S-She... Wants to make me an.... Ambassador?" was all the Temnokt said.
One day later...
"Are you sure you don't want me to go?" Luna inquired, staring at one of the stained glass windows, "I have connections over there."
Celestia grimly shook her head, "I'm afraid it must be another Temnokt who negotiates with them. Our ambassadors never had any luck in getting an audience with the Temnokt King, perhaps Twilight Sparkle and her friends will somehow figure out how to make them open up to us."
"But the Temnokt Empire is one of the most powerful races in the world," Luna continued, "If they were to declare war on us..." the moon princess looked down in worry, "I'm not sure if we would make it through. And If they were to conquer Equestria..."
Celestia put a comforting hoof on her sister's shoulder, "I understand your fears, but they wouldn't go as far as to do that anymore."
"Princess," one of the guards entered the throne room, his expression as serious as ever, "They've arrived."
Luna sighed in resignation and walked towards the door, knowing her sister wouldn't need help in what would happen next.
Fukkuteru was the first to enter the throne room, sweating uncontrollably, his pupils shrunk and dilated. He was followed by the mane six, who were as confused as to why Princess Celestia would need Fukkuteru. Discord waved at his wife from the entrance, holding their triplets with some difficulty, with Astral Aurora on his tail, Night Charge on his head, and Lavender Dusk on his arms. Stormfly had also stayed behind in the hall, with Mist Wing nibbling on his ear.
"P-Princess Celestia," Fukkuteru gulped, still afraid of her being angry for something, "Have you requested to see me?"
Celestia nodded and gave the black dragon a reassuring smile, "Indeed. But do not worry, I did not summon you here to scold you for something," she noticed the Temnokt's sigh of relief, although he attempted to dissimulate it, "But to ask a favor of you."
"A favor?" Fukkuteru inquired, "What would you need of me, your Highness?"
The ponies in the room felt chills run down their spines when the princess's expression became grim, and even Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but to shiver ever slightly. Celestia fired a thin beam of golden magic at one of the stained windows, and suddenly the carvings began to move out of place to accommodate in new shapes, and the color started to change from the brightest pink to a dull magenta, then to a dark fuchsia, and finally to solid black, almost as black as Fukkuteru's skin. The drawings in the stained glass window depicted a majestic black dragon, wearing a regal cape under battle armor, and a helmet hiding most of his face, but what made the ponies shiver was to see Unicorns at his feet, apparently lying on the ground with no strength to even stand.
"The Temnokt Empire," Celestia spoke solemnly, "Your homeland, has finally answered to one of my letters. The Temnokt King says that while he is eager to talk about a treaty, his people are not as excited as him, and I'm afraid that for a reason that they refuse to disclose, ponies seem to be..." Celestia closed her eyes, "... Unwelcome."
"I don't understand," Rarity pointed out at the picture, "Why do those Unicorns look like they're dead? And why are they at his feet?"
"My little ponies, I don't know if Fukkuteru has told you about this, but millennia ago, before Luna and I ruled Equestria, before Discord came to power, the Temnokt were like any other dragon species. But they tampered with black magic, and it not only changed their appearance, it tainted their personalities permanently. While the magic they used was powerful, it was not eternal, and they needed to obtain magic from a source to keep using it." Celestia stared sadly at the poor Unicorns at the Temnokt's feet, "They drained the magic off Unicorns."
The mane six let out gasps of shock, and the worst came from Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, who could not believe that Fukkuteru's race could be so... cruel, when he himself was friendly, honest and likable.
"Wait a second!" Rainbow Dash lifted her hoof, "How can dragons use magic?"
Fukkuteru, ashamed for the revelation of his race's dark past, gave the pegasus a sorrowful look, "The black magic that tainted our blood forever was not normal. It could be used not only by Unicorns, but by other living beings as well; however, while Unicorns could use it as they pleased with no need to refill their magic levels, other beings needed to drain magic from a different source. Our race opted to drain it from Unicorns, since they were filled with magic, magic ran through their veins and they used it more than any other kind of pony."
"Can we see it?" Twilight Sparkle inquired, hopefully, "I mean, I would like to document the first being other than a Unicorn to use magic."
Fukkuteru sighed, "I would like to, but I'm afraid that I haven't had any use for my magic for years, the only times I actually used was when I went exploring in Saddle Arabia. Besides, without the Astral Line, there's no guarantee it will work."
"Astral Line?" Applejack inquired, "What in tarnation is that?"
Celestia explained, "During the Equestrian-Krussian war, the Alicorns made an agreement with the first Temnokt King, Burning Moonlight. They created a source of infinite energy, so that the Kuros would not need to drain Unicorns off their magic. However, they were forced out of Equestria because of the harm they had done to its denizens, and the Astral Line moved along with them."
"In other words," Applejack connected the dots, "The Astral Line is in Krussia, the energy doesn't reach Equestria," she gave the black dragon a glance, "And Fukkuteru's magic is limited."
"You know, you would have been a nice scholar back home," Fukkuteru joked, letting out a chuckle.
"It doesn't have to be long," Twilight pleaded once more, "I just want to take a glance at black magic. King Sombra was the only Unicorn I ever saw using that kind of magic," the ponies noticed Fukkuteru growing uneasy when the lavender Unicorn mentioned the evil king's name.
Seeing Twilight would not give up so easily, "All right, I'll try," he turned his head around to look at Celestia, "If you have nothing against it, your Highness."
Celestia shook her head gently, "You may proceed."
The black dragon closed his eyes shut to concentrate, and after a while he clenched his teeth and started to sweat, as if he was struggling to lift something. Soon, his horns started crackling with black electricity-like energy, after a few seconds they were engulfed in a purple haze, and finally strong violet mist started flowing from the corners of his eyes. Finally, he opened his eyes, now glowing an eerie, phosphorescent luminous vivid pistachio green. The Temnokt extended his bat-like wings, apparently not himself any longer, and the aura from his horns expanded on the whole room, causing black, obsidian crystals to grow on the ground, startling everypony present, Celestia included. However, the sun princess's eyes gleamed white and she extended her own, feathered wings, using her own magic to make the obsidian crumble away and put Fukkuteru out of his trance.
The Temnokt felt like he had just spun around at top speed, and it took him a while to recover, "Huh... What in the...?" When he noticed the looks the Mane Six were giving him, he realized what had happened, "I did it, didn't I?"
Twilight was completely speechless; that magic, she had seen Sombra use it in the past, back at the Crystal Emprie. She still could recall when Princess Celestia first replicated Sombra's magic; the purple mist, the eerie green eyes, the violet haze in her horn. Then the time she saw Sombra for the very first time as a shadow, he had those very same eyes.
"Is that... Temnokt magic...?" Fluttershy whimpered, attempting to use her wings to cover her face.
Fukkuteru nodded, "It is. I apologize for causing such a mess, but as I said, I haven't used this type of magic for a long time. In fact, I'm surprised I got to manifest it."
Celestia coughed softly to call everypony's attention, "As I was saying, I would like Fukkuteru and you to cross over to the Temnokt's capital, Krussia, and arrange a peace conference with the Bittercold, the Temnokt King. But I must warn you, the Temnokt can be very tricky and cunning when they intend to, and most of them won't be welcoming to you. King Bittercold has a short fuse, if you make him angry he won't hesitate to punish you, and the Temnokt are known for their..." Princess Celestia felt uncomfortable when she said the next words, "... grotesque."
With a spark from her horn, the image of a black dragon clad in a regal black armor, similar to the one wore by the Temnokt in the stained glass, glaring at them with eyes as cold as the ice of the Frozen North. Suddenly, the projection extended its wings and let out a soul-shaking roar, like the roar of Cerberus, that resounded in the throne room. Celestia used the magic in the her horn once more, this time to make the projection disappear before Fluttershy got a heart stroke.
The Temnokt spoke, "How do I begin with the task you're commending me, your Highness?"
Celestia smiled, "I have already prepared a vessel that will take you across the Great Ocean, where you will stop for rest at the Zebra village of Greva. From there, you shall take a train that will take you to Kruscow; I have already sent a letter to King Bittercold about your arrival, so you should have no trouble with Immigration once you're there. When you arrive at Kruscow, Ambassador Meteoric Sun will meet you."
Twilight Sparkle looked back at her friends, and they all had determined looks on their faces; even the timid Fluttershy had a small look of confidence upon her face.
Their newest adventure was about to begin.