The Tale of Blight, Emerald and White

by Voltsthevoltvolts

A Necessary Evil

Emerald slowly opened his eyes, he was lying in a double bed in a large room. The room was lit by several torches, a chandelier and a toasty fireplace that was crackling softly. Drawn curtains hid a large window however Emerald could tell that it was late in the day. With a reluctant groan Emerald climbed out of his bed and walked over to a nearby dresser and examined himself in the mirror, surprisingly he showed no wounds from his encounter with the gargoyle.

Happy that no permeant damage had been done Emerald decided to explore the room. There were two bookcases on either side of fireplace and a few trunks were stored under the bed. Emerald pulled one of the trunks out and opened it. Inside the trunk there were a few glass orbs of different shades and a silver staff with a finely cut emerald encased in a glass orb on the top. Without thinking Emerald took the staff out and inspected it closely.

“Having fun looking through my junk?” Emerald heard Bleak call out. The witch was stood in the now open doorway. “Feel free to keep it. I have no use for it. Consider it a ‘well done for not being mauled’ from myself.” Bleak smiled slyly at Emerald and the chuckled gleefully.
“Oh!” Emerald suddenly remembered the gargoyle had been brought to life by Bleak. “Why the heck did you even bring that monster to life!?” Emerald angrily inquired.

“A test Emerald. A simple test. I needed to make sure you were properly taught. The last thing either of us want is for something to go wrong and an angry spirit appear and tear you to shreds before you can even consider what to do.” Bleak replied calmly. “And besides, do you really think I would have let it kill you?”

“Yes in fact, I think you would of. And I think you would have laughed as it did so. You have no idea what I went through.” Emerald barked back.

“I do.” Bleak flatly replied. “Do you honestly think I was blind to what was happening!?” Bleak’s turned angry for the first time since Emerald had met her. “So then, care to tell me who was visiting you?”

“What..?” Emerald replied sounding confused. “You mean, when I was out?”

“Yes. Something was in contact with you while you out cold. It stopped me from waking you up quicker.” Bleak swiftly moved across the room and pinned Emerald to the nearby wall and started to choke him. “So, who was it?”

“No-one…” Emerald struggled with his own magic against Bleak’s, however the witch was clearly more used to using her magic aggressively.

“Alright… I was telling you why I was still in the tavern on the way in… It was her, the mare who left me behind. I don’t know how she did it but she did.”

“Hmmp.” Bleak dropped Emerald. “Now, I trust you and believe you. I expect you to do the same.” Bleak moved back to the door. “When you’re ready, meet me in the main room.” The witch chuckled grimy as she walked out the room, leaving Emerald alone.

Emerald sighed and waited a minute before slowly walking out of the room, the bedroom was at the end of a long corridor. The corridor was filled with several large paintings, Emerald examined the first one. At first he assumed it to be a painting of Bleak’s mother due to the old style of clothing and the date on the frame, however much to his surprise the title read ‘Countess Blight.’

Emerald continued to walk down the corridor, examining each painting as he went. Much to his disbelief they all appeared to be paintings of Bleak, each at a different point in time.

“Surprised?” Emerald heard Bleak’s voice nearby.

“So you figured out how to live forever then?” Emerald curiously asked. Bleak chuckled and walked up to the magician as he examined the paintings.

“I guess you could say I have, it’s either immortality or long life.” Bleak stated. “Either way, I am happy.” The pair started to walk down the corridor, Emerald remained focused on the paintings. Each one of them was a small snapshot into the witch’s life. “I’ve known a lot of powerful ponies in my time. I even know royalty.”

“You know the king!?” Emerald loudly remarked in disbelief.

“Would I lie to you? It’s amazing how many ponies want to know you when you have lived for as long as I have.” Bleak said coldly. “At the end of the corridor you can see my newer paintings.”

Sure enough, as the pair walked towards the exit Emerald picked out a painting of Bleak standing next to the current monarch. “Wow. You know King Grey-Heart.” Emerald remarked. “I’m shocked you never brought this up before.”

“I’m more of a resource then a friend. When the King has an issue where dark magic is needed, he just gets me to clear it up.” Bleak stated. “It’s not like I can just waltz into the royal palace and start preforming rituals or anything.”

“I see…” Emerald sighed. “I have to wonder, what do you do that qualifies you as a witch? I mean, I haven’t see you doing anything remotely bad. Aside from bring a gargoyle to life and make it attack me.” Emerald commented.

“I could kill you now without breaking a sweat. Would you like me to do that?” Bleak coldly replied. “Or perhaps I could trail it out, poison you, take control of your mind or send you to an infernal realm. Maybe if you didn’t spend so much time being half dead you would see.”
“I didn’t mean any offense…” Emerald meekly replied. “I was just wondering what you do.”

“I do a bit of everything. I dabble in a bit dark magic yes, I enjoy making poisons that could wipe out a whole village if a single vial was introduced into the water supply and I can summon demons to do my biding.” Bleak proudly explained. “I could go into what dark magic I use, but I doubt you want to be here for the rest of your life.”

“Can’t you just do what you did to get long life and do it on me?” Emerald inquired.

“I could… But what have you done to deserve it?” Bleak teased. “Maybe later, when you have proven yourself.”

“Didn’t think you would.” Emerald flatly said. “It was worth a shot.”

“I never said I wouldn’t. Just not right now. If I went around giving out potions that make you live forever it wouldn’t really be a unique ability.” Bleak stated. “And besides, it takes a while to gather all the components for the potion.” The witch gently patted Emerald of the back and left the corridor.

“Huh, Bleak Blight the Countess. Still sounds funny.” Emerald remarked to himself as he left the corridor.

Emerald entered a large room. Bleak was sat down in the middle of the room on a sofa and was reading a book. Several large bookshelves lined one of the walls and a large stairway lead to the second floor. Emerald slowly shuffled over to Bleak who hadn’t noticed Emerald yet. Emerald cleared his throat rather loudly to get Bleak’s attention.

“Yes?” Bleak replied, sighing and shutting her book. “Oh I know! You’re looking for work. Well I have a vast amount of alchemy ingredients in my brewing room. If you could sort them out I might be able to find something more fun for you.” Bleak opened her book and began reading it. “Second door on the second floor. Right side.”

“Uh…” Emerald rubbed his forehead and sighed. “I guess I can do that.”

“Good. Would be a bit pointless getting you here if you couldn’t.” Bleak replied without taking her eyes away from her book.

Emerald sighed again and head towards the stairs, the magician slowly ascended the stairs to the second floor. The landing was clean and Emerald could see the majority of the main room from it. Emerald looked the right and saw several doors, he headed to the second one and gently opened it.

The as soon as Emerald walked into the dark room several torches illuminated it. There were several shelves filled with jars containing various items and a large distilling table with several green flames and various points for boiling liquids. Emerald moved to the shelves with the jars. While the jars were labelled they didn’t appear to be any sort of organization.

Emerald levitated a random jar towards him and inspected it. The jar was packed with a strange flora that Emerald had not seen before. “Hmmm, grimbloom.” Emerald read the label out loud and then placed the jar down. With a reluctant sigh Emerald began sorting the jars out alphabetically, feeling more like a cleaner than an apprentice.

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After hours of sorting and rearranging Emerald had finished, just as he placed the last jar on the shelf the door to the room swung open. “Hm, finished already?”

“Wha?” Emerald fell back, nearly knocking all the well placed jars off the shelf. “Have you been waiting for me to finish?” Bleak chuckled lightly and moved into the room, she was wearing saddlebags that were packed full of various leaves, flowers and herbs.

“No, I have kept myself busy. I was out gathering some more herbs. I just happened to walk in just as you finished.” Bleak remarked. “I must say, I am rather impressed. I should start expecting more.”

“Huh?” Emerald shook his head in disbelief.

“Well for starters, you didn’t take anything. That would have meant removing your body and restocking the supply.” Bleak chuckled. “Some of this stuff is addictive, with lethal consequences. Take this for example.” The witch levitated one of the jars down and inspected it. “This is brain rot. A highly addictive root that decays your brain. Even taking the smallest bite will leave you with permeant damage. However brew it with yeast and various hops and you have a tasty drink.”

“Wait, when you say a drink… Do you mean alcohol?” Emerald asked curiously.

“Yes, I know a few taverns that stock the stuff. It’s good stuff if you want to forget something… Seeing as you won’t remember the last month.” Bleak happily replied. “Not that I will give you any.”

“Wait, you have some?” Emerald half-shouted in disbelief.

“Well yes. I have to let loose some time.” Bleak flatly responded, the witch chuckled and placed the jar back neatly in its place.

“I guess you’re full of surprises then…” Emerald rubbed his neck. “I guess we both had expectation that were smashed.”

“Oh, do tell.” Bleak insisted. “What did you expect of me?”

“Well… To be honest, not much. A bit crazier and a bit less pony. You seem like you would fit in any city.” Emerald explained. “Minus making poison and dark magic.”

“Hm, you think I’m normal then?” Bleak sighed. “Nopony is normal in this day and age Emerald.”

“But, you don’t really do anything overly evil.” Emerald stated. “You don’t kidnap ponies, you don’t turn them into frogs, you don’t raise the dead and you don’t attack any town or cities.”

“Sorry, but who made you the grand judicator of what’s good and bad?” Bleak exclaimed. “And besides, if I did anything like that ponies would hunt me down.” Bleak chuckled and left the room. “You can see yourself to your room right?”

“Yeah…” Emerald mumbled quietly as he heard Bleak descend the stairs. With a hefty sigh the magician left the room and made his way to his room. Much to his surprise Emerald hadn’t spent as long as he had though in the alchemy room. The sun was just about to finish setting on the horizon and the torches were still burning brightly.

Emerald noticed the staff he had picked up earlier and the memory of Bleak choking him suddenly came rushing back into his head, Emerald picked up the staff with his magic and inspected it closely. The amount of effort that had been put into crafting the silver and engraving it was exquisite and the emerald that sat on the top was cleanly into a perfect square.

Emerald then moved over to the bookcases and inspected some of the books, they all seemed to be journals on various experiments done by Bleak over the years and a few were on magical theory and offensive magic. Picking up a selection of books Emerald sat down on his bed and began to flick through the pages.

Author's Note:

Phew, took a while to get my new/old laptop working. Hence the delay.