Going Beyond the Pale
The components were prepared. The stars were right. The ritual began.
This, Misty told herself all the while, was a bad idea.
Of course, Misty had never had a good idea that didn’t involve instantly agreeing with what ever Opaline said. Opaline had told her as much plenty of times before. But in terms of bad ideas, this had to be the worst one she’d ever had.
Still, Opaline’s rarely given praise came a little more often when it came to Misty’s willingness to do anything to get what she wanted. So maybe, just maybe, the alicorn wouldn’t mind as much that Misty was using the throne room’s scrying pool for her own purposes while her mistress slept, her efforts lit only by the pale, eerie flames in their sconces and the magic radiance of the pool itself.
Opaline certainly hadn’t minded Misty going through the castle library to find the ritual in the first place… though she just might not have noticed the research when she hadn’t needed Misty herself. Anything Opaline needed took priority; not because she needed Misty specifically but because she'd be too busy with something truly important. Otherwise, Opaline would have taken care of it herself.
The library carried lore from across all of time, from faded, propaganda-filled tales of the usurper Twilight Sparkle to modern gossip rags from Zephyr Heights. Misty didn’t know how Opaline had collected most of it, but as with many things she didn’t know, she didn’t question it. That wasn't her place. She just thanked her lucky stars and worked with it.
Amid the yellowed scrolls and backlogged Sears-Roanbucks catalogues were some truly dangerous texts, ones that even Opaline treated with caution. The nastiest, according to their slightly less perilous contemporaries, could grab a unicorn’s soul through her horn and pull it right out of her body.
That turned out to be true, but the books needed the user’s magic to do so. Blank-flanked and dead-horned as she was, all Misty got from them was an uncomfortable tingling in her frogs as she paged through them.
She found what she was looking for in an especially tingly tome, one that seemed to have a face on its front cover and definitely had a cutie mark on the back. That was probably a bad sign in hindsight, but Opaline wouldn’t let a little squeamishness stand between her and more power, so neither would Misty. Especially when the ritual to reach out and take what she wanted promised to be so simple, even an earth pony could do it. And that was back before they could grow massive plants with a stomp!
The castle’s alchemy lab was as well-stocked as the library, so it was a simple matter to gather all of the components. Only once Misty started trotting widdershins around the scrying pool had her foolishness really struck her. Every poured reagent, every muttered syllable, every mystically significant ear sign made her internal panic build up more and more, but she kept going.
In fact, she couldn’t stop. She tried midway through, but her body was running without her input by that point, behaving like the spell was as much a part of her routine as sweeping the hallways or fluffing Opaline’s pillows. The Neighcronomicon had said that once started, the ritual would want to see itself to completion, but Misty had thought that had been an exaggeration like so many of the mad Saddle Arabian’s other warnings. It wasn't like she’d run into any octopus-headed minotaurs or congeries of spheres while preparing the ritual. She wasn’t even sure what a congery was!
A shudder brought Misty out of her thoughts just in time to notice the mists billowing out of the scrying pool, filling the throne room and washing out its polished golds and deep blues. A similar deadening of sensation struck Misty as the mist coiled around her legs.. The stink of the ingredients, the heat emanating from the pool, even the grit of the stone beneath her hooves seemed to fade from her mind, never entirely gone but shifting into the background.
That just left more room for her panic to claim, especially once she realized she hadn’t moved for several seconds. The ritual must have been complete, at least the parts it wanted to finish itself. That still left asserting her will over the conjured spirits, and Misty wasn’t sure how much she had left to assert after doing all of this under Opaline’s nose. At least the alicorn slept as mightily as she did everything else. No amount of bone-deep loyalty could get Misty to deny that Opaline snored like a sawmill and could sleep through an earthquake.
A shake of her head and a stomp of her hooves put Misty back on task. “Spirits!” she cried, her own voice sounding like it came from the next room. “O, ye departed souls, called back to this land of sorrows, hear me and heed me! By will and wit, be bound to my bidding! Ye dark and fearsome shades who have answered my beacon, know that it is I who control the gate and the key to this world ye once walked!"
Something like sunlight began to glow from the depths of the mist, a warm gradient of pinks and yellows and oranges, fading on occasion to a pure, bright white rarely seen in the castle.
Emboldened, Misty practically shouted the next part of the binding. “And by my name shall ye know thy master! Um, mistress! For I—”
“Are talking like that time Luna went to a Spear Shaker in the Park performance,” said a scratchy voice. “Seriously, when are we? Can ponies call you up before you die?”
“Rarity always said trends go in cycles,” said a more gentle voice. “Maybe it’s the same for language.”
A third, deeper one clicked an ethereal tongue, then spoke in an accent foreign to all of Misty’s limited experience. “C’mon, y’all, yer distractin’ ‘er. I ain’t happy about gettin’ pulled outta Elysium either, but this’ll go by quicker if’n we’re all civil.”
Much of the mist had faded as the three voices had made themselves known, revealing three luminous bodies hovering above the surface of the pool. One of each tribe, the bodies were vague mare shapes with no features but bright glowing eyes—difficult to spot on the entirely white unicorn—and clearly defined if incomprehensible cutie marks, impossibly present on all six flanks.
The earth pony, floating between the others and glowing like the alchemy lab's sodium lamp, nodded to Misty. “Go on now,” it—she?—said, with no visible motion of jaw or tongue. “‘Bout t’ introduce yerself, right?”
“Um, right.” Misty cleared her throat. “Uh, yea and verily, thou shalt know me as, uh…”
The pegasus on the earth mare’s right, like a winged chunk of sunset, brought a spectral hoof to her muzzle, shaking with mirth. “Oh, Celestia. Sweetie, do you remember that play you put on just after we got our marks?”
The unicorn gasped and brought a hoof to her own face. “The one where Rarity’s costumes kept everypony from noticing the awful dialogue? Gosh, I haven’t thought about that in centuries.”
The earth pony huffed out a sigh. “Right. Might as well drop all the fancy talk, filly. We ain’t ones t’ stand on ceremony anyhow. I’m Apple Bloom, the joker with the wings is Scootaloo, an’ Miss Playwright over there’s Sweetie Belle. How ‘bout yerself?”
According to the Book of Whinnied Names, Misty should have been trying to dominate the spirits, to coerce them into her service through force of personality. But this was as welcoming as the slumber party at the Brighthouse, at least while her cover had held out. She didn’t so much slump to the floor as her legs gave out, heavy with relief and exhaustion. “I’m Misty.”
“Pleasure t’ meet ya, Misty. Now, what can we do for ya?” The other spirits moved to Apple Bloom's sides, all three at least interested. Even if Scootaloo was still quietly laughing to herself.
“Um…” Misty tapped her hooftips together as she took in all she’d done. The request seemed a little ridiculous compared to all she’d gone through already. Then she looked to her own unmarked hindquarters and steeled her resolve. Turning back to the spirits, she stood back up, squared her withers, and said, “I want a cutie mark.”
Vague as their expressions were, Misty could still tell the spirits were shocked by that. They just stared at her for a few moments, stock-still and eyes wide.
Just as anxiety began to twist in Misty’s gut, Scootaloo said, “Did we ever try necromancy?”
“Not for ourselves,” answered Sweetie Belle, “but there were a few one-on-one clients where I broke out some parlor tricks. Mostly just burnt sage and spirit boards; it’s not like Twilight ever let us learn anything serious.”
Misty took a step back. “Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle!?”
“Well sure. Ain’t she still around?" Apple Bloom looked around, as though expecting Opaline's ancient adversary to trot in from the mezzanine. "Ain’t seen ‘er in Elysium yet.”
"Hey, where are we, anyway?" said Sweetie Belle, floating higher. Misty knew the spirits couldn't leave the trotted-out circle, but that didn't stop them maneuvering in it, nor taking in the throne room as a whole. "I'm pretty sure this isn't Castle Canterlot."
“Uh…" Misty cleared her throat. "How about we focus on getting me a cutie mark? Like you said, faster we do that, faster you get back, right?”
The three spirits reconvened, muttering amongst themselves. Misty barely dared to breathe until they turned back and Apple Bloom nodded. “Fair enough. Granny always said it ain’t the dead’s place t’ go pokin’ their muzzles where they ain’t wanted.”
Scootaloo spread her forelegs and oddly tiny wings. Misty must have done something subtly wrong with the summoning. “Besides, if you want a cutie mark, you’ve come to the right place!”
“Necromancy usually isn’t the right answer to any problems," added Sweetie Belle, "but you’ve found an exception.”
That got another nod. “Darn tootin’. The Cutie Mark Crusaders’re happy t’ take you on as our latest client.”
All three thrust a forehoof into the air and shouted, “Yeah!”
“Yeah!” Misty added a beat later. “So, uh, what’s first?”
Sweetie took another turn around the room. “Well, we’re going to need you to get a chart together—”
“Misty?"
Misty's ears folded back. "Oh no." She scrambled away from the archway she should have been keeping an eye on the whole time.
"Who's that?" said Scootaloo, not at all helping.
Apple Bloom rubbed her ephemeral chin. "Almost sounds familiar, don't she?"
Opaline burst into the room, wings unpreened and mane still in curlers. She looked around the room, more furious every time she turned her head. Finally, she rounded on Misty, snarling and stalking towards her. "What have you done? What is the meaning of this!?”
Misty shrank into herself, trying not to tremble. Trembling was an unacceptable sign of weakness. “S-sorry, Opaline.”
“Opaline?” Sweetie echoed.
Opaline froze. She turned to the spirits.
“Diamond’s filly?” added Apple Bloom.
Ears folded back, eyes wide, the faintest shudder down her spine...
Somehow, impossibly, for the first time Misty had ever seen, Opaline actually looked afraid. “No. No, it’s not possible.”
Scootaloo tilted her head as she looked back at her. “How the hay did a Friendship School dropout become an alicorn?”
“Shut up!" the alicorn cried, loud enough to shake make the vials Misty had emptied shake and rattle. "Shut up, all of you! I’m finally free of your insipid lessons and I will not put up with them any longer!”
Sweetie Belle just sighed. “Yeah, that’s Opaline, all right.”
“I said shut up!” Opaline's eyes swept the room. She grabbed a flask in her magic, tugged out the stopper, and tossed the whole thing into the scrying pool.
A pillar of black smoke and foul-smelling water erupted from it, the former filling the room in short order. Misty choked and staggered helplessly until a breeze cleared the air. She looked up, saw Opaline flapping her wing and glaring at her, and immediately wanted the smoke back. Misty focused on the floor, telling herself the tears in her eyes were just from irritation.
“So. What were you thinking?”
“I, I was only trying to—”
“Never mind what you were trying to do." A wingtip forced Misty's head up until she stared into Opaline's furious eyes. Smoke still spewed out of the darkened scrying pool behind her. "What you did was waste countless reagents for some foalish errand that will take valuable time and resources to undo when we can least spare either." Opaline narrowed her gaze. "But before any of that, you and I are going to have a long conversation about not taking what doesn’t belong to you.”
Misty knew that that meant Opaline would spend a long time talking about all the ways she’d messed up, and she’d spend a long time agreeing with the one who knew best. Best to start early. “Yes, Opaline.”
“Yeesh. Somepony took after her grandma.”
Both ponies froze. Misty reacted first, looking further up. All three spirits hovered around Opaline like oversized fireflies. Scootaloo took special pleasure in drifting down, upside-down and hooves behind her head, until she was muzzle-to-muzzle with the alicorn.
Opaline glowered at her. “I dismissed you.”
“You just disrupted the ritual circle that kept us in place," said Sweetie Belle. "Which you’d know if you’d paid attention in Magic class.” She turned to Misty, and one of her eyes briefly dimmed to her background luminance. A wink? "Twilight didn't let us learn necromancy, but I had to prep for substitute classes somehow."
"We can leave," continued Scootaloo. "We just don't want to."
Both made way for Apple Bloom, who'd found a way to crack her fetlocks despite being a disembodied spirit. “Now yer ma an’ I made peace a long time ago, Opaline, but if you talk t’ this filly like that one more time, I’m still gonna smack you so hard Diamond’s gonna feel it.”
Sweetie giggled. “And if you think we’re bad…”
If Opaline had looked afraid when she'd first seen the Crusaders, she looked outright terrified now. Her pupils were pinpricks, her horn sending off useless sparks, her speech sputtering and incoherent.
Scootaloo patted Misty on the withers, which felt a little like a leg falling asleep. “How about we get out of this gloomy castle and help you find that special talent?”
It took a few moments for Misty to catch up with everything. She furrowed her brow. “I thought you’d find me a cutie mark?”
"Ooh, we've got a lot of work to do."
“Wait," said Opaline, "you summoned these three just to—”
Apple Bloom jabbed a hoof into her side, making the dread mistress of all ponykind flinch back like a startled foal. “Hush now. This here's adult talk.”
Opaline gave her a flat look, absently rubbing her ribs. “Really?”
Sweetie tossed her mane far more effectively than she had any right to, given how it was just an extension of her soul. “We’re more adult than you've ever been.”
"I'll have you know that I—"
“Yeah, sure, whatever." Scootaloo drifted to another archway. "Come on, Misty. Toxic home environments are another specialty of ours. Step one's getting out of them.”
And Misty, at least half as bewildered as Opaline, followed the three ghosts out into the dawn.
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I find it hard to believe the CMC didn't also try necromancy.
Oh, this would be such a great reveal if it turned out Opaline was Diamond Tiara's daughter. The question is how she became an alicorn, though— she certainly doesn't deserve to have been…
Even after passing on, a Cutie Mark Crusader's job is never done.
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I like to believe that Twilight was one step ahead of them on that one.
Misty: Right Opaline? If it was something really important, you'd handle it all yourself!
Opaline: (on her couch, rewatching Power Ponies: The 97th Reboot for the third time that week) Definitely, now get going.
Cutie Mark Crusader Ethereal Beatdown, Yay!
And I'll thank you kindly to stay away from my pole position in the charts, dammit! (Ah, who am I kidding...)
A very fun little post-spooky season treat, and as good a speculation on Opaline's lineage as we're likely to get.
Well, at least you didn't go for the nuclear option:
There'd be nothing left of Opaline if she ran afoul of Best Pony.
A question we'd all like answered, Scoots. Seriously, Opaline, you're a bit of an enigma still, at least in regards to your past history.
It does seem to be the trend, doesn't it?
I guess this isn't a generic summoning, but one to summon who can grant you the wish you hold! Which is a better ritual than summoning any random demon / spirit and just hoping they can provide!
And such a good choice! Unexpected history between the summons and the "mother"!
I thought it was the Mane 6 who was summoned, the "pinks and yellows and oranges" didn't clue me in. Took me until "Sweetie" to figure it out, because no one in the Mane 6 uses that as a general term, so I figured it out, eventually.
And yeah! Don't spend time dealing with Opaline, do the good dead you were summoned for! Except maybe after Misty falls asleep, then they can deal justice and stuff when they're off-task.
...
Thanks to FanOfMostEverything, now I know what a congery is; a pile, a collection, a conglomeration.
A Conglomeration of Spheres.
*loads M1918 BAR with malicious intent*
You know, I think you're back story for Opaline is better than the theory that she's just Luster Dawn as an adult. Also, I am really disappointed in myself for not thinking about Misty meeting the CMC first.
Oh I loved this. So much. Misty and Opaline’s messed up, abusive, codependent relationship is the most interesting thing about Make Your Mark, but also upsetting. I hope for canon healing for Misty, but in the meantime stories like this will do.
Definitely loved this one-shot. Really appreciated the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and general wrap-up. Yeah, I could DEFINITELY see Misty being desperate enough to resort to necromancy (though, in this case, it's a good thing, since the three ghosts she summoned were probably three of the best that she COULD have called). REALLY loved the Crusaders' ghosts ripping into Opaline (and, yeah, I could see a post-reform Diamond charming some Unicorn stallion into staying long enough to have a kid with her, even if the kid went worse than Diamond ever was). And, yeah, the Crusaders have a point about getting Misty away from a toxic home being the first major step. The next step is, of course, finding out what she is best at and loves doing the most (though it will probably be a long time before she tries enough things to be able to fairly judge what she loves doing the most).
Anyway, really looking forward to more of this.
... I look away from fimfiction for a minute, and suddenly there are G5 episodes I didn't even know about.
"You do remember Cosy Glow, right?"
"Yeah, but she at least was getting top marks before she got stoned, so the point still stands!"
Gotta love when necromancy works just right!
You know, this might actually lead to Misty getting a mark in necromancy, since she changed her life for the better with that spell!
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After literally giving them the recipe to love poison, Twilight was a lot more careful about what she let the Crusaders study. Part of that was Twilight Time, part was just greater oversight over what they were checking out.
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We do see the Bewitching Bell among Argyle's collected Twilit Era artifacts. Opaline having an ill-gotten ascension would explain a lot.
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That reminds me, I now have enough background to read your latest story. I need to get on that.
And yes, that mini-scene perfectly captures their dynamic.
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Yeah, that summoning ends in the entire castle collapsing. Somehow.
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The spell is guided by one's deepest desires. The problem is that most ponies who used the spell had rather destructive desires, which led to predictable results when they didn't cast it perfectly.
You know me, I love double meanings.
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"Congery of spheres" usually refers to Yog-Sothoth, but bullets also work.
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It's one of those team-ups that seems obvious in hindsight, yet no one seems to have stumbled upon it yet. I love finding that sort of idea.
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Agreed on both counts. The dynamic is equal parts fascinating and heartbreaking. And yet there's also surprisingly rich comedy potential there.
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I can't promise any more—I seem to specialize in scratching the surface of far deeper ideas—but I'm glad you enjoyed this!
11415520
An octet of them are up on Netflix, with a holiday special coming later in the month. Not the greatest pony media ever rendered, but it's a good foundation for stories exploring the setting in greater depth.
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I had a hope they might be a cute villain couple, but canon jossed that so hard that I had to add an AU tag to my pre-canon fic about that.
"I keep trying to explain to them that dark magic isn't inherently evil, it's all in what you do with it."
"Yes, Star Swirl, but what you did with it kept convincing ponies that it was inherently evil actually."
"Ingrates, all of you."
A fun story for belated Halloween, nicely done.
This is quite a nice story and I like how Misty tried something so extreme partially out of ignorance. Opaline doesn't teach her anything that doesn't help her be a usefull and controllable minion.
Ok, this was fun.
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Ah, I misunderstood. I thought you were referring to the Bubble Bath of Death here, not Yog-Sothoth:
derbk.com/ancientevils/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/02103.jpg
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The last "Make Your Mark" episode had Misty remark: "For somepony made of fire, I've never met a heart so cold." "Made of fire" seems to imply that Opaline used some crazy forbidden magic to cheat the system.
11415893
And from what's been shown, it's quite likely that Misty's blank flank is due to Opaline discouraging her from having a life outside of being a minion. So it seems that Misty got exactly what she needed here.
At any rate, I was just thinking that having Misty meet up with the Cutie Mark Crusaders could be wildly entertaining.
11416329
I don't know if the show actually meant that as literally as you're interpreting it, but at the moment, with as little as we know officially, it's as good a theory as any.
Well, Discord's flashback in the comics showed what was heavily implied to be a unicorn version of Opaline, and she certainly doesn't seem like the type who'd ever perform any sort of "princess-worthy task". Though I suppose she could have been wearing clothes to hide her wings.
11416394
Neither did
Darla DimpleCozy. At the very least, temporary alicoronation or shapeshifting is possible.Made of fire, though... longshot bets on Chrysalis in disguise, anyone? She's got the 'tude.
11416329
Fire, in the context of cheating the gods, isn't considered nearly as negative as it was when Prometheus actually did it.
As to the name thing, think its pretty clewr ponies legally change thier names after getting a cutie mark and last names aren't really a thing for ponies. Diamond Tiara's copy right name is Diamond Dazzle Tiara, so gotta assume we was born Diamond Dazzle not Diamond Rich and added the Tiara part added when she got her mark. Like how Ms Cake is Cupcake but was Chiffon Swirl before she got married.
The idea of Opaline being Diamond's kid is interesting, being a result of Spoiled Rich well spoiling her granddaughter. Opaline doesn't come of as ture evil, more a egocentric, selfish, judgemental narcissist. Just the kind of thinking Spoiled Rich would teach her.
Misty does deserve better, but I think they plan to milk the "good guy working as the evil minion" thing a while yet.
I had to read this when I saw who wrote it and for how long it was on the featured page, good thing because this story has a good twist.
11416634
Opaline also managed to live from not long after "The Last Problem" to present-day G5, which had to be a couple centuries at least. Then again, "Magic Duel" established that anti-aging magic is a thing - technically, the magic she's using to avoid growing old need not be the same magic that she used to grow wings.
11416914
As long as you aren't using it to take over the world, at least.
Now I really hope to see them helping her with getting a cutie mark.
...that makes waaaaaaaaaaay too much sense.
That makes so much sense it hurts.
11415143
I think this counts as a heavenly crusade.
The book: *angry screaming*
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/4/24/608771.png
Source.
Opaline: "What? She is very good at that. My pillows are never too hot nor too cold."
Guess she called the right spirits for that.
Opaline: "When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the
master- uhm, Alicorn."Good story!
I enjoyed reading it.
But what would/can the ghost do to Opaline?
I mean despite everything they are technically still ghosts.
On the other hoof it's implied they have at least limited ability to interact with the world, but to what extend?
But at the very least they can give her a stern talk, which may be the thing Opaline fears the most.
11415133
- MLP: FiM
- Dark
- Comedy
- Horror
- Random
Apple Bloom wants to see her parents, the Cutie Mark Crusaders want their cutie marks, so they do the the only logical thing and try to raise the dead.'tingling in her frogs?'
Your missing a " at the end of the paragraph.
Wait what!?!?
Huh, I was not expecting to see the cmc in this!
Wait, how does she have her magic? She doesn't have it atm where G5 currently is.
Says the one who wants a baby dragon from the Mane 5.
Proud of you Misty.
11440420
The soft flesh at the bottom of a horse's leg and surrounded by the hoof wall is called the frog. If you thought Froggy Bottom Bog didn't have any horse puns in its name, now you know.
Opaline has demonstrated basic telekinesis. However, if she doesn't have the kind of power to make the world (and everyone in it) tremble, she feels like she's completely powerless.
That whole paragraph was meant to be incredibly hypocritical, yes.
Glad you enjoyed this!
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Got it thx.
Recorded reading this for an Audiobook to come soon :)
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Looking forward to it! Be sure to send me a link.
11449940
Oof-da, someone always beats me to it! Bah! Fukkit! I'ma still do one myself anyway!
Hello! Have a review. I imagine everyone with a heart likes Misty, but you gave us all a good-natured, cute, smooth read. I'm not going to complain about that!
An oddball ghost happened across your fic and read it. Have a review!
an
Anyway, I haven't watched any G5 material since the film, so whatever I know is largely via osmosis, but this was a fun story. Thank you for it.
Still not caught up on all of MYM, and I'm glad I found this story before continuing. I was half expecting DT's ghost to show up and start chewing out Opaline for how she treated Misty.