• Published 21st May 2019
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The Unique Properties of Dark Magic - Shadestyle



Stranded in Equestria's far past in the body of a unicorn without any magical knowledge, the self proclaimed "Weiss Noir" fights for survival in the Frozen North by indulging in sorcery most foul.

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(Present Chapter 20): Blackest Night: Part 1

Weiss Noir has been standing in the snow for over twenty minutes now, lost in thought.

By now, the gigantic bunker doors leading into the Shadow Realm's tunnels had long since frozen over, and the surrounding architecture had long since worn away in the face of the whipping winds.

When he sees Luna slowly gliding in from the distance, a faint smile appears on his face.

Transmuting the snow to textured ice, the Lunar Princess lands a few meters away, magical energy already stilling the nearby winds to ease travel.

"Ahh! Princess! I hadn't been expecting you!" Weiss shouts over the winds, trotting over through the snow with practiced ease as his invisible cloak of flames keeps him nice and toasty without melting the snow beneath him.

"I'm here to cleanse the Shadow Realm of the evil that has infested it," Luna explains simply, turning to the door in the distance.

Weiss's smile widens by the slightest amount. "Funny. So am I."

He huffs through his nose slightly. "Well then, let's get to walking, shall we?"

Before Luna can say anything else, the Dark Sage sweeps his cape behind him, treading off into the snow towards the abandoned courtyard.

Weiss's body shivers as he walks through the deep snow, gritting his teeth as Luna follows behind at a sedate pace.

Before long, the duo reach the center of the ancient courtyard, bare nubs of eroded stone and mounds of ice stretching off into the distance, a pristine white plain surrounding the area for miles and miles.

Weiss halts in the middle of the snow-covered courtyard, staring at where a magma fountain used to be, now nothing but a patch of concave and worn rock.

With a small smile, Weiss trots over to it, casting a small spell that lights the fountain on fire. The ice begins to melt off of the doors and around the courtyard.

He turns to Luna.

"Had to save my file," Weiss jokes, before looking around the wet stone pavement around him.

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Weiss shouts, with his arms gesturing around himself.

His voice is absorbed by the storm surrounding them as it trails out into the endless expanse of white snow.


"Well well, look who it is. The forgotten Sage and the lost Princess," the voice says, igniting a flickering screen near Randy, who jumps, startled.

"You should probably leave, I doubt either of them will be happy to see someone like you in a place like this," she continues, the half of her face exposed on the screen twisting into an amused expression.

Gourmet shakes his head. "My job is to keep an eye on you and secure this place. I'll call for some thugs to slow them down. You need to hurry and get whatever it is you need to fend them off."

The voice chuckles. "Oh it shouldn't be too long. In fact... I wonder if we can make this work for us."

Gourmet sweats.

"Try to lure them to the labs, Gourmet. If we can catch Weiss inputting the security codes, then I'll win in one fell swoop," she continues, distracted with some data that she brings up and begins sorting through.

"I don't believe this is a good idea," Gourmet says pointlessly, calling the thugs that he currently has hired to assist him here before putting away his grey chunk of radio rock.

The voice rolls their eyes as their horn ignites, ripping through some weakly blinking "Access Denied" messages that appear in front of them when they attempt to access the automated defense systems. "Oh where's your sense of adventure, Gourmet? You get to see if your little punks can so much as slow down Weiss and Luna until I can reactivate some of the real defenses."

Sighing loudly, Gourmet walks through the blackened halls, his lamp lighting up the dreary and decayed stone nicely enough.

"Give me a map. And put them on it. I don't want to get caught by them," Gourmet demands, before a holographic screen appears, smoothly floating by him with only a minimal amount of distortion that turns it to static as different projectors activate and deactivate from within the walls, giving the damaged illusion of one unbroken, sourceless hologram.


Of all the times for Luna to run off and pursue the purging of evil, it had to be now. Celestia summons up the tattered remains of her decorum, which she had perhaps unwisely shredded after the Solar Flare. She'll need it, if she's going to stave off these Zebra Jackals.

"As such, we demand the immediate annexation of the Everfree Forest and the surrounding towns, until such time we feel this so-called Mt. Krakatroda is not a threat to the Zebrican way of life. We also demand the immediate arrest of Thiefwitch Malusi's daughter, and custody being ceded to us so she may be brought to justice."

No offense to Zebras or Jackals in general, of course, she's referring to these specific Zebras, who are in fact, metaphorical Jackals.

"To do anything less would be nothing short of an insult to the treaty forged between our two countries centuries ago, and let me assure you, Princess Celestia, that there are those among us who will not stand for insults to the peace we've helped forge. Especially considering your recent behavior."

Oh dear. She better take care of this before continuing the rest of her internal monologue.

Her eyelids sink to half-mast as she glares at the Zebrican delegates, making half of them erupt with a white-hot rage, and the other half shudder slightly from an invisible chill.

"Perhaps your grandfathers could tell you the exact circumstances under which our treaty was forged. It's ironic that you act as you do, considering precisely why one exists," Celestia says simply, her horn igniting to display an image of the past.

"I remember when the Great Pyramid of Geezer was first built. A Zebra alchemical marvel, like none the world had seen before, not quite a mountain, but it got the job done, certainly. Harnessing the suns rays to boil it's fluids, and built exactly on the Equator, such that it's mirrors could harness sunlight from dawn to dusk to produce works of alchemy, it's construction heralded delegation after delegation demanding land and tithes from Equestria, in the face of the military power Zebrica could now afford." Celestia reminisces.

Turning away from the magical display, she smirks in a very familiar, soft way. "So I changed the Equator."

"Now our respective countries have peace. And you know what? We will continue to have peace. Because I don't respond well to threats, and you've taken your one and only opportunity to be reminded why.

"Mt. Krakatroda will remain in the possession of Equestria and her Princesses, and I myself decree it and it's land ceded to none other than Zecora of Equestria, who will be its sole master and administrator.

When the delegates don't get the hay out of her throne room, she continues. "You have my permission to leave, Senator Ahirisha," Celestia says, motioning towards the doors behind them.


"Weiss, we cannot afford for you to keep taking these breaks. We must move quickly, to settle this matter before whatever dark force has possessed this place can enact its plans," Luna says when she spots Weiss frozen for the fifth time, staring at the empty room that once held a fast-food building.

"Apologies. Right, so, we should be prepared, if this place has been truly commandeered, the defenses may have been arrayed against us. I still remember the tunnel layout, so our main goal is to avoid any of the Boss Rooms and reach an access point to the Arcana Nox," Weiss says, snapped out of his memories by Luna's words.

Turning in place as though he hadn't stopped at all, the Dark Sage begins once again stalking down the tunnels, Luna following after him.

Weiss suddenly stops, looking from left to right, scanning the various smooth doors lining the hall.

"Do you smell that?" Weiss questions, confusing Luna.

"What is it, Weiss?"

His eyes narrow, before with a snap of his fingers, two portals open behind and in front of Luna as a massive explosion rips through the hall, eradicating everything in its path aside from the Sage and the Princess.

Closing the portals, Weiss snaps his fingers again, summoning six scimitars into his hands. He begins walking forward calmly, blades whipping around him as his limbs swivel around his body freely.

The blue dragon that suddenly rushes out with a sword in its hands is shocked when Weiss is right in front of them, his gigantic axe-shaped crystal sword sending the crude steel bastard sword flying off into the distance, skittering along the ground.

Flinging the swords away, Weiss's hand flashes out, clamping the dragon teenager's mouth shut before three pummeling blows are flung at the opponent's head, dazing them long enough for Weiss's poisoned dagger to poke them in the arm.

The Dragon is out cold before they even realize what had happened to them.

Luna, attempting to break up the silence, begins to make small talk. "You know, walking into enemy territory as though we own the place-"

She suddenly interrupts herself, lifting the mercenary's discarded sword and flinging it down the hall with a burst of telekinesis, knocking out the bull that had been planning to shoot them with a crossbow.

"Kobe," she interjects as the pommel of the sword breaks the bull's nose and the small charm she had placed on it paralyzes them completely.

"Walking into enemy territory as though we own the place, taking names and farming kills, It reminds me of old times," Luna finally finishes.

Weiss chuckles, growing crystals around the dragon's arms, and the bull's legs, pinning them to the ground for later.

"I guess. Although this time, we do own the place, and we don't have the names of the ones responsible."

Luna guffaws at that, as her contingency spells automatically slam heads together as the thugs not on her internal whitelist come into range. By the time she reaches Weiss, she's still chuckling at the joke.

Weiss's smirk improves in its sincerity and the two move deeper inside, mood improved by the occasional whack of some random mercenary being pummeled into submission.


"My, your thugs are certainly useless, aren't they?" She says, watching the screen of Weiss and Luna massacring anything that gets in their way.

Gourmet scowls. "My men deal in hunting monsters and breaking ponies. They aren't paid enough for alicorns."

She guffaws at this. "The world would be a very interesting place if one could simply pay enough to defeat an alicorn."

Huffing, Gourmet slams a nearby control panel to make it activate, matching up the locked doors he can see to the ones on the map.

"Everything has a price tag. Anyone who knows how the game is played could tell you that."

The grim half-smile conveyed across the screen fails to capture the sheer condescension of its owner.

"I'll take your word for it. Now finish locking those doors. I can't do it from here," she says, just as a green light flashes across her screen.

"Oh good, that's online, call your men back Randy, Weiss's paranoia does him few favors when..."

Her jaw drops, giving Randy a reason to look at her funny as he calls off his mercenaries, telling them to retreat.

"Oh my, he's as dumb as he is obsessive. He's even got contingencies made to deal with himself laying around," she claims, swiping through file after file.

The voice chuckles at the sight of one of them and laughs at the next one.

The last one, however, makes her eyes widen, and her smile becomes downright vicious.

"Oh I like this one," she finishes, rubbing her hooves together before she taps at the screen, losing interest in whatever it is Gourmet is doing.

Seeing how distracted she is, Gourmet takes this opportunity to roll his eyes slightly, trudging off to the next control panel with the intent of locking some more of the doors to hopefully slow them down that little additional bit.


"What do you mean 'Weiss is busy'?" Sunset Shimmer demands, as Tempest Shadow idly files her hoof, examining the polished appendage to see if it's up to her standards.

"I mean he's at an appointment. He's in a meeting," Tempest leans back in her chair, some unknown plush material dyed a deep red french plum color.

"He's busy."

Taking a deep, calming breath, Sunset Shimmer restrains herself as much as possible, the past several weeks having been an exercise in misery, sleeplessness, and frustration.

"Do you know when he'll be back?" Sunset Shimmer asks, trying to figure out when she'll finally be able to present the translated Grimoire Noir to Weiss for approval before she sends it off to be mass-produced.

Tempest shrugs. "Nope," she says, her lips popping lightly as she speaks.

Sunset takes yet another calming breath. "Please, it's really important-"

Tempest tunes out the rest of the borderline begging, instead considering what to do with some of her free time.

"I've been working really hard, all so-"

Weiss kept saying she should play Blitzball, but he never actually elaborated on what that is. Maybe Zecora would know?

"I've got the bucking Grimoire Noir right here, I spent all this time translating it, and I think I deserve a better answer of just where Weiss is!"

Oh dear. She better take care of this before continuing the rest of her internal monologue.

"Look, I don't really care why you need to know where he is. He's not here, and he won't be back for a short while. Now, if you'd like to leave the book with me? Fine. I'll give it to him when he gets back. Otherwise?

"Leave," Tempest finishes, finally convincing the frazzled unicorn to vacate the premises.

Tempest sighs to herself. 'It's like pulling teeth, trying to keep negative influences away from Weiss.'

'You think that crooked-horned pony would notice how much stress her interference costs him,' Tempest finishes, digging up a hoofball magazine from her desk to read through.

For the articles, of course.


Weiss groans as they walk into a wide-open room. "So they got that up and running."

Luna looks around at the spartan surroundings with confusion. "Got what up and running? What are we dealing with?"

Drumming his fingers on his shoulders with his arms crossed, Weiss responds plainly. "They're swapping the rooms around to disorient us, it's one of the countermeasures I devised in case of someone, either me or someone like me, attempted to infiltrate the Shadow Realm using knowledge of its layout and inner workings. By teleporting entire rooms, this can be done imperceptibly."

"I know where to go, ~ But I don't know where we are. ~ I will need your help." Weiss says, straining his mind to recall the layout of Wacky Workbench Zone.

Nodding, Luna's eyes flash with the power of her Wizard Eyes, allowing her to see through the stone walls.

"When we teleport, ~ I will need you to tell me. ~ I've memorized them," he claims, as hints of magic worm their way through his mind, enchanting his memories with firmness charms and recall charms.

Luna nods again, and they continue their trek through the halls of the ruins.

She sees a flash of light from outside the hall they're in. "We've been teleported."

Weiss smirks, turning down a side path.

"The one in control, ~ No idea what they're doing. ~ They haven't been trained," Weiss explains, knowing full well that a pony who knows how the Arcana Arachne is meant to be used could keep someone wandering blindly through Wacky Workbench for months without getting anywhere.

And whoever is operating it now is just teleporting them at random, exhausting the hotswap batteries buried in the rooms for only a minimal delay.

Eventually, however, they cross into a foyer, empty now, but once holding couches and shelves. The otherwise empty room lights up with an all-too-familiar face for Luna and a mostly unknown, but easily recognizable one for Weiss.


Gourmet, watching over his own screen, has an idea. Checking the security footage, sure enough, Weiss Noir just...

Keeps stopping to stare at various things. Gourmet knows that expression. That sort of expression is only made by a pony when they're trapped in their own memories.

Gourmet wouldn't be one of the richest ponies alive if he wasn't able to catch expressions like that. 'Expressions like that,' Gourmet thinks to himself.

'Expressions like that can be exploited.'

The only question is how. Black Angel said not to make contact with the Sage, but that batty fool doesn't have nearly the business acumen that any other member of Chapter Black does.

Looking around at the decaying ruins, it finally strikes Gourmet like a bolt of lightning

All he has to do is separate Weiss from Princess Luna and make his pitch. That chick's plan is clearly falling apart, and Gourmet has zero intention of being arrested like his mercenaries. But Weiss? He was able to fight Celestia to almost a standstill. If anyone can turn things around for Gourmet, it would be Weiss Noir.

He looks over the screens that he's able to access from the control panel, tapping his way into the Arcana Arachne arrays, if he can get Weiss into this room, he could teleport the room over here, giving him enough time to sell his idea to the Dark Lord before Luna can reach them.

Sure, it might hit Gourmet's savings, but he's almost certain this place could be fixed up with a bit of polish and spit.

It's downright genius, this little plan of his.

He returns to the security feed of that chick monologuing at the Princess and the Sage.

He'll wait until she's done, and then do an override to send his offer over the intercom system.

Ugh, she sure does like to ramble on, huh? This might take a while.

Yes indeed. Everything has a price, and for this so-called Sage, the price tag couldn't be clearer if it were sticker-ed to his flank.


As Rarity lifts up the final bolt of crystal cloth, she begins to weep, knowing that, unless the princess herself provides more of it, this would be the last bolt of this wondrous lost material that she will ever get the chance to use in her work.

"Oh, this truly is the worst, possible, thing!" she wails, hugging the cloth tight to her chest, as Pinkie comes by with a comforting, but weirded out expression.

"Uhh, sorry for asking but why are you hugging that pile of rock weeds?" Pinkie asks, setting the diet diet-cupcake in front of Rarity, who daintily devours it before her fountain of tears dry up in an instant.

"Oh, dear Pinkie! This isn't a weed, it's Crystal Cloth, only the rarest and sought after textile in existence! Lost to time! Lost to fashion! Princess Celestia herself delivered some to me as a most generous royal gift, but now that I've used it all for our gala dresses, this is all that's left of it, and I will nevermore have access to this most glorious of textiles!"

Pinkie coughs slightly. "Rarity, that's a rock weed. I swear it's a rock weed, look,"

She pulls out a rock from her mane, with a wig of glistening moss-like stuff hanging off of it.

"See? This stuff is all over Ma and Pa's farm, we used to have to clear it out every spring because it would grow over all the rocks!"

This doesn't comfort Rarity at all. "Are you telling me that I've made all our dresses from mere weeds!?" she wails, burying her face in the table.

Pinkie plops down next to her, rubbing the unicorn's back. "There there. Are you going to be alright?"

The unicorn shakes her head woefully from within the limbs she has imprisoned her weeping face within.

"...Do you want me to see if I can get some rock weeds from Ma and Pa's farm so you don't run out?"

The unicorn nods her head, equally woefully, while Pinkie tries not to giggle at how ridiculous this entire sequence is, and take the matter seriously.


"Oh yes indeed Luna, though you betrayed me, it really has been for the best. Now, in the Arcana Nox, I have grown so much further beyond anything you can imagine, no more begging and whinging for control, no more piggybacking off of you filthy ponies, just to exist!

"I hope you're ready to witness history, you foals, because this place will be my kingdom, with myself as it's ruler!

"The kingdom you promised me, Luna, the one you promised us all!

"Once I gain full control over the Arcana Nox, I will rule this land, under my new name!"

"Nightmare!"

By the end of her rambling, ranting speech, the half of her face displayed on the holographic screen is heaving with a smile filled with glee plastered on her face while her hooves are spread wide, gesturing madly.

Weiss's expression of vaguely bored disgust remains a staple after she's done monologuing at him and Princess Luna. Luna's expression, in contrast, is a rictus of horrified realization.

"Surrender now. Return command of the Shadow Realm's remaining systems to me, and you will not be harmed. I'll show you mercy. I swear to god I'll show you mercy."

Before Nightmare can respond, Weiss holds up a hand, continuing further.

"I want you to understand just what it is I'm offering, to understand just how sincere I am, and how much I want to spare you what comes next," Weiss explains.

"Because if you don't surrender, here and now-"

Weiss's head tilts slightly to the side.

"I will show you a nightmare."

Nightmare returns his apathetic speech with an equally placid smile of her own.

"Oh come now, Weiss. That's my job!" She giggles, shutting off the holographic screen as the door into the sitting room opens with the low grating of sliding stone.

From the darkness, paw pads thump against the ground as a titanic wolf begins plodding into the room, water dripping from it's left half, while it's right half occasionally emits puffs of black ash, twin heads weakly snarling at Luna and Weiss.

The Ice-Fire Wolf Ghost.

While Luna prepares to fight the monster, Weiss holds out his hand. "Luna, stay back. It's not safe.

"I'll handle this."

With that, Weiss steps forward, while Luna cautiously takes up the rear.

Suddenly, the Wolf pounces, pinning Weiss to the ground as its enchantments demand that it track down and eliminate all hostiles.

Weiss slowly raises a hand up to the magically spawned beast's side, trailing his palm down the monster's leg in a firm pet.

"Good doggy," Weiss says softly, the magical automaton growling as it's left side trickles out a firm spray of water, trying to activate combat techniques that it lacks the energy and systems to support within the Shadow Realm itself.

Unable to harm Weiss with its extinguished fire, or it's depleted water supply, the beast rears up into the air, a gigantic paw slamming back down onto Weiss's chest, as he flinches at the blow.

Reaching up again, he continues petting the enchanted mass of portals, whispering to it.

"You can go back to sleep, pup. There's no danger here anymore. There aren't any ponies in danger."

Slowly, but surely, the Ice-Fire Wolf Ghost's snarl shrinks, before returning to a blank expression as it's own magical weight begins bearing down on it.

By the time Weiss returns to his hooves, the mass of enchantments has already dispersed, the magical energy stored in it unable to continue fueling its existence, once it had been made aware that there was nothing for it to protect.

"I had hoped that wouldn't happen.

"I had really hoped that," he sighs.

"It seems it's systems were too strained without any maintenance to its core enchantments," Weiss says simply, brushing his chest off.
Suddenly, Nightmare's voice rings out. "What are you doing, you dolt?! Get off of that right now!"

To Luna's and Weiss's confusion, a voice suddenly sounds out, a gruff, old male voice. "Lord Weiss Noir, I have an offer to make you regarding the restoration of the Shadow Realm, get away from Princess Luna and I'll send you over."

Cutting an eye to Luna, who shakes her head, Weiss emits a burst of force that halts her briefly as he gallops into the next room, a flash of light teleporting it somewhere else, moments before Luna can reach the doorway to follow him.

She turns her gaze around, searching for Weiss's magical signature.


Weiss walks calmly into the room, his careful gaze scanning across the old security room's various panels, several of which seem to have been ripped up to access the magical crystals inside of them. An effective way to gain access to any system is to get access to its physical components, Weiss supposes.

In front of him, a large Earth Pony with a carefully coiffed beard and mane smiles.

"I'm glad you were willing to listen, Lord Weiss! You see, I'm with a group known as Chapter Black, we're quite large fans of your work! Really, we are!"

With a continued smile, Gourmet brushes off his fine leather suit and steps forward. "I'm known as Gourmet, but my real name is Randy Ropes. You see, I've just realized that we shouldn't be fighting at all, as much as that crazy pony Nightmare wants to scuffle with the two of you. I happen to be a Businesspony at heart, you know, and I've decided to put my best hoof forward on that front!

"Black Angel thought it was a poor course of action to contact you, directly, but having watched you so far, I can help it no longer."

Weiss doesn't respond immediately or react aside from his mane flickering rapidly, like a rattlesnake's tail shaking, which Gourmet takes as an opportunity to continue.

"I'm a very rich pony, with quite a lot of connections, even outside of Chapter Black, and the Shadow Realm? It could use a touchup. With my money and a few workers, we could get this place up and running and repopulated in a matter of weeks."

Weiss's flaming mane has begun sweeping wildly around, crackling like a grease fire while his expression remains carefully unaltered.

He holds out his foreleg, offering a hoofshake to the Sage of Darkness "We could work together, bring these old ruins back in working order, revive the Shadow Realm itself!"

A thin purple beam flickers from the pony's forehead, it stretches back to Weiss's outstretched finger as Gourmet drops to the floor, dead.

Weiss's face is blank as he lowers his arm, crossing it behind his back with the rest of them.

"Trouble my people's memory no more."

Luna bursts through the door, breathing heavily before she sees Weiss, standing perfectly still in front of the Earth Pony's body. As blood just starts to reach his hooves, he turns his head to face Luna.

"We're late, Princess. There weren't any ponies when I came through the door.

"Not a single soul."

Author's Note:

The song of the day is "To Zanarkand", from Final Fantasy X

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