Chapters It was another day of boredom for Discord, the master of chaos. Since Tirek defeat there hadn’t been a moment in which he had to get involved, no threat that was possible to defy the new and improved elements of Harmony. Not that he wished for someone to hurt Fluttershy and her friends, no, he just wanted to see things getting spiced up. Now everything was so shiny and cutesy, without any kind of thrill left because apparently the elements now where more powerful than ever. It had been one long month of that stuff.
“I can feel your presence, watcher. You’ll better come out now, before I start thinking you having nasty intentions” said the outsider. His voice was cold, deep and, yet, sounded young.
“Ok. Chill out, drake” replied Discord, coming out of his hiding place.
At his sight both the dragon and the raven stared at him with puzzled faces.
“What are you supposed to be?” asked the drake with confusion while he turned his head around and upside down “Some kind of chimera? I’m looking you at every damn angle and I just don’t have clue!”.
“I’m no chimera, drakey, I’m a Draconequus” answered Discord with pride.
“A Draco-what now? There are no such thing from where I come from”.
“Then it must be a very boring place, that alternative land of yours”.
The dragon eyes widened a little, “You know that I’m not from here? How?”.
“Because I’m the spirit of chaos, master of mischief, I am Discord!” said the Draconequus in a theatrical manner while scenic thunders appeared behind him.
At this show the black dragon grinned, not quite impressed with the whole scene, “Well, given that we are introducing ourselves, I guess it’s my turn. I am the Avatar of Darkness itself, representing her most fierce and powerful side, I am NOIR!”. With that said it seemed like the world if not the universe itself were surrounded by darkness while the dark dragon voice sounded like thunder itself. But as soon as it appeared it did also disappeared. “Nice to meet you” added at the end, with a much less scary voice. Suddenly the crow, which until now was just looking at the spirit of chaos, cawed annoyed. “Oh right. This one here is Ezio, my pet” added Noir, flatly. At that said the raven cawed again, this time really angry, “Okay okay, I meant to say my fangs cleaner”. The caws grow even more irritated. “Jeez how cranky are we today, eh? Ok, he’s a friend of mine… sort of”. That seemed to finally calm the raven.
“Well, thanks… I guess” replied Discord, a little bit confused by the scene that he had witnessed and of who the dragon in front of him was. And the power he felt. It was never-ending. If Tirek would have tried to take all that energy he would end up to exploding. He hoped that he wasn’t there for pick up a fight. “Can I ask you—“
“What am I doing here?” said Noir, who by the looks in his face seemed like he saw the question come from a mile away. Discord could sense by looking at his eyes that the dragon was a lot smarter than he looked like. “I should not tell you. But, hey, between spirits of chaos and creatures of darkness there must be a good vibes. So…”.
***
Since Tirek defeat and Twilight discovering the map in her new castle Celestia had little to do in helping Twilight. Princess Luna, Celestia sister, had more to do with them in the recent times than her. In a way it was boring, but on the other side she had waited for a long time for Equestria to be freed from any threat. The elements of Harmony were at their peak, Twilight group will make sure to spread friendship all over Equestria, her sister was no longer tormented by her dark past. Everything was simply perfect. And that left her to sit on the throne, taking care of more political matters and focus on the latest happenings in the big cities of Equestria. This was going to be a peaceful day… or so she thought. In the early morning she had felt dark energies from the core of the Ever Free Forest. It lasted so little that it may have been a daydream, if it wasn’t for how strong she felt it run through her.
“Princess Celestia”, announced the royal guard.
“What is it, Mercury Fall?” asked the alicorn.
“There is an unicorn who asks a chance to meet you”.
Celestia was a little confused by what she heard. There wasn’t an actual meeting signed up for today. But that wouldn’t make her refuse to see a citizens of hers who required to be heard.
“Let him pass”.
The guard nodded and turned to give a sign to the pony. She knew and remember the faces of all the ponies that she had meet in Equestria and, yet, she had not seen this pony before. It’s fur was black as the blackest night, his mane and tail looked like a mess, his horn looked capable to pierce steel and his eyes sent shiver down her spine. And as if those traits weren’t strange enough on his back there was a raven of the size of her Philomena “Who are you?”.
The unicorn smiled. And in that smile Celestia couldn’t help but feel threatened, “The name’s is Noir”.
Author's Note
You didn't see that one coming, do ya?
Noir wasn’t that big of a fan of using his shape shifting abilities. Sure, it was fun to deceive his potential adversaries making them believe to be dealing with a common creature just for then turn into a big scary dragon and admire their expression of fear. But he still preferred to not hide behind a disguise and face the problem directly. Still, Discord was right (heck, even Ezio agreed with him, that stupid bird), if he went to Celestia in his true form that would cause a lot of problems and a possible clash with the ruler of Equestria. Not that he would lose against her, heck not, but getting in a fight with the sister of the one being he had to talk about it would have not helped his cause. So he turned into a pony (An unicorn, because an alicorn would be A) to much noticeable and B) alicorns are way too much overrated in his not so humble opinion), hiding at his best his powers and teleported to Canterlot.
“So, Noir, what can I do for you?” asked the alicorn, trying to regain her composure.
“You? Nothing” was the reply of the dragon in disguise, trying to muster the respect he had for her, which it wasn’t much if not nothing at all, “The one who I’m looking for is Princess Luna. Is she here?”.
Celestia ignored the lack of respect that this mysterious unicorn had given to her kind offer, “She is not here at the moment. And I don’t know when she will come back. At least not with certainty”. It was almost a lie. She knew that her sister would return in the morning. Yet she preferred not say that to the unicorn. There was something in that pony that gave her a bad feeling.
Noir stared at her with his soul piercing eyes for what felt like hours. “Well, patience then, I’ll have to wait her return then” he said, with calm and shrugging his hooves.
“In the meantime I wish to ask you something” asked Celestia, with an hint of distrust, “What do you want to talk with Luna?”.
“None of your business”. Cold was too much of an euphemism for the way the unicorn said those words.
“I think it is, being that it is of my younger sister that we’re talking” replied Celestia, dropping her smile. As for cue Noir got himself surrounded by an half dozen of royal guards armed with spears. Celestia rose up from her throne and marched until she was in front of the group, “Now you will tell me what you want to do with my sister or else you’re going to talk with her with you being behind bars and with me present. Did I make myself clear?” said the ruler of Equestria with a threatening tone.
Noir couldn’t believe it. The alicorn giving order to him? He was unsure to how properly react to that. One part of him wanted to laugh in her face. The other one wanted to teach her a lesson of what happen when you bully a dragon. With difficulty he managed to suppress both those feelings, focusing on what would be a good solution for this situation. He didn’t wanted to reveal to miss sun flank here his true motives and nature. Yet if he wouldn’t do so he would end up either fighting (which will would have make everything more complicated and possibly making Princess Luna unwilling to listen him) or him end in up in a cage (Which was against his free nature, for not talking of getting imprisoned by a bunch of creatures that he could crush with one claw). What was it best in this kind of situation? Ezio cawed, making him notice that the patience of both guards the princess was wearing thin by his silence. He had to choose. Fast.
***
“Ezio please remind me that next time I meet Shadus I have to tear him limb from limb” commented Noir, getting up from the small crater he was in.
Few seconds later Celestia teleported in front of him hovering from the street and releasing an aura of light. The royal sister looked royally pissed off right now, glaring at the dark unicorn with intense anger.
“Ah well that sure is an answer. Quite mature and no racist at all” commented with sarcasm the dragon in disguise.
“Don’t mock me, monster!”.
Celestia made to reply, but then her expression turned a bit more calm and shocked about what she had almost done. Though she was far for giving any credit to her adversary. “Fine, Avatar of Darkness, we will fight somewhere else” she admitted.
“That’s what I wanted to hear” he said with a toothy grin. Before Celestia could say or do something she and Noir got surrounded by a dark mist and, as soon as it had appeared it vanished, revealing that they were in the same open area in which Twilight had faced Tirek. “Here should be fine. It’s you and me. Time for you to understand how utterly unmatched you are” said Noir, mockingly.
Without having to worry about hurting her people the ruler of Equestria unleashed on the unicorn. She shoot many ray of magic at him, which Noir dodged, blocked, deflected or tanked with a bored expression which it didn’t even seemed fazed by the explosions surrounding him, which only managed to infuriate her further more. She grabbed him with her magic and throw him against rocks, trees and, in the end, the ground, slamming him down with brutal violence. When he stood up he showed once more to be completely unharmed.
“I’m starting to get bored, sun flank. If this is the best you got is a miracle that this country has not been taken down by the first tyrant passing nearby” commented the dark unicorn, “Let me give you a taste of power” he then added, with his voice getting more cold. His horn let out some dark sparks and, before Celestia could do anything she got herself hit by a dark ray. It wasn’t as powerful looking as the one the alicorn did, but she felt it. As the ray hit her she felt great pain run through her body, which got pushed brutally to the other side of the field.
“No” growled Celestia, getting up, her expression murderous. “I won’t allow you to ruin all the progress that my sister has done in this year’s!” she shouted. She released a powerful aura which cause a strong glimmer of light. When the light turned down Celestia mane was on fire, which burned of such intensity that would have burned everything approached it if it wasn’t for her control. She flew in the sky, putting herself before the sun, “May the power of the sun and everything filled of light… DESTROY YOU!” screamed the alicorn princess releasing her most powerful attack yet, focusing it all on the dark unicorn. Noir stood still, slightly annoyed by the overly dramatic scene folding before him, and got completely hit by it.
“You know” commented the dragon in disguise, “Some philosophers likes to talk about how even a candle in the eternal darkness can spark as powerful as the sun. My honest opinion?” he ordered to his magical shadow hand to increase the strength of his hold on the alicorn, “They know jack squat!”.
Celestia let out a scream of pain as she tried to fight back the dark hold on her, but she could feel her powers dissipate. Inside the dark claw there went a big flash of light, Noir opened it slightly revealing the defeated sovereign, who had turned back to her natural form. Without giving the beaten princess any more thoughts he made his dark claw give a quick jerk while forcing himself to not be too much violent, throwing Celestia to the ground. Noticing that the battle was done Ezio flew off from the far away trees and landed on the back of the dark unicorn. “Enjoyed the battle?” asked Noir. The raven gave a dry caw as an answer, “Yeah, I got to agree with you, it was barely a fight” commented the dragon in disguise, “I say that we have lost enough time here”. With that said he made to leave.
“W-wait”. Noir stopped on his tracks and turned around. He let out a grow of impatience noticing that Celestia was trying to get up, only to fail every single time. “I am not done yet”.
“Then you should check yourself on a mirror” replied Noir, exasperated by the obstinacy of the princess, “There’s nothing that you can do to stop me”.
“What about us then!?” asked suddenly a voice coming to his left. He turned around to face the new challengers annoyed, but then his face lighten up, amused by what stood few meters away from him. Two Pegasi, a unicorn, two earth ponies and, at last, another alicorn.
Author's Note
Will the new and improved Elements be capable to stop the outsider? Or is his power beyond even the power of Harmony?
The group of ponies who had just arrived circled around him, running to the beaten princess. While the purple alicorn (Which Noir guessed her being the leader of that team) talked to Celestia the others stayed on guard, keeping an harsh eye on him. He did the same minus the harsh glare. The avatar of darkness kept his smug smile while he studied their looks.
“How does Princess sun flank doing?” Noir asked, with a sly grin. His nickname got the result he had hoped for as every single member of the Mane 6 (as he had decided to call it) gasped towards that insult.
“How dare you call Princess Celestia like that, you monster!” shouted the white unicorn.
“I dare because I can… and also because she has a damn sun painted on her butt”.
“Why you ugly!” shouted the cyan Pegasi making to rush at the unicorn, only to be grabbed by the magic of the lavender alicorn.
“Don’t be reckless, Rainbow Dash, that pony has just defeated Celestia with easy. You can’t beat him alone!” said the pony.
“Rainbow Dash, eh? Is that your name, hot head? Quite fitting, I got to say” he admitted, yeah, she totally remind me of her… although Yol would never do something as foolish as letting her emotions take such control over her and make her rush alone towards a far more powerful enemy. For not talking about this pony lack of fire power thought Noir. “Well, one out of six. Mind present yourself?”. The group exchanged some slightly confused stares, in the end the pony with the hat made the honors.
“I’m Applejack” then she pointed to the white unicorn, “She’s Rarity” to the pinkie one, “Pinkie Pie” to the shy Pegasi, “Fluttershy” and then to the alicorn “And she’s Twilight Sparkle”.
“You forgot to mention that she’s a princess!” pointed out the pink pony. The lavender pony made to say something but she got interrupted by the dark unicorn.
“What? You’re a princess too?” asked Noir, surprised, “How many princesses there are in this country?”.
“4” answered Pinkie Pie, almost as if she was a student who wanted to answer to her teacher.
“I regret even asking that question” grumbled the avatar of darkness, frowning at the idea of this world having four princess. Why there wasn’t any king, queen or emperor!? What, did those titles sounded too much evil for them?
“We’re not here for talking about me or others being princesses. We’re here because we noticed the fight between you and Princess Celestia and now I know why you two were fighting. We will not let you get to bring Nightmare Moon back!” said Twilight Sparkle.
“Who’s that? Ah, you’re talking about her dark side, aren’t you? Well you don’t have to worry about it, my plans are different”.
“And you expect us to believe you? You’re the Avatar of Darkness!”.
“Indeed I am. So? Does that makes me evil?”.
“I don’t know really” admitted Twilight, taken slightly aback from that question, “But we can’t allow you to put a friend of ours in danger!”.
“Fine then. If it is a fight you want who am I to come refuse it” commented the Avatar of Darkness, shrugging his back.
“You don’t know what you’re going against” said suddenly Fluttershy, “We possess the most powerful magic in the world. For you own good you should leave”.
“Oh really… and how is this magic called?” asked Noir with an hint of interest.
“The magic of Harmony and Friendship”.
.
The Mane 6 stared at him with surprise as the dark pony laughed and cackled. Ezio just stood still staring at the group with an enigmatic expression. Be that because he had no idea what was going on or because he didn’t even started to consider the group as a threat to him or his pal.
“Yes we are!” replied Rarity, with fierce determination.
“Yeah! You’re not going to laugh for long once we will done with you!” added Rainbow Dash, “Come on Twilight, let’s show him what are we made of!”.
Twilight just stood there, staring at the black unicorn with uncertainty. A part of her was contrite at the idea of unleashing the power of Harmony against Noir. Sure, he had fought and defeated her teacher, but in the end he wasn’t going to finish her off. On the other hand she just couldn’t trust somepony who was a complete stranger and the Avatar Of Darkness. She shoved those thoughts aside, ready to unleash the power of her team.
Noir made sign to Ezio to move, just to be safe. The rave complied and flew over to safety. The dragon in disguise looked curiously as the Mane 6 flew up on the sky while they get surrounded by a warm glow. The light grew of intensity and then, in a flash of radiance, the group changed their looks. The wings of the ones who had them grow slightly more. But the most visible change was the fact that what they called Cutie Marks now covered a good portion of their bodies. Celestia watched the scene as a miracle was taking place in front of her and felt the warm feeling of hope that everything was going to be alright.
He just couldn’t believe what his senses were telling him and was way too much surprised to laugh at that absurd sight. The Mane 6 unloaded on the Avatar of Darkness a ray made of shining rainbows which completely enveloped him.
“Yeah, we didn’t even heard a NOOOOOOO or a IT CANNOT BE or a AAAARGH!” added Pinkie Pie.
“What do you think, Twilight? Did we got him?” asked Applejack, unsure.
“I could guarantee that we did” said Twilight, “I don’t get what” she made to add, but then stopped as she and the others, Celestia included, noticed that there was something going on inside the rainbow vortex. Something dark started to rise from it. It grow more and more, releasing its own kind of dark-purple aura. Then it happened. Not in a flash, but in a explosion which shattered the rainbow as if it was made of fragile glass. Arcane forces got unleashed and suddenly, right in front of their faces, stood a dragon which scales were as black as the blackest night, with fangs, horns and claws of a steely grey. And then his eyes went on their levels, before narrowing them as a slasher smile graced his features. Celestia froze in fear, staring at the big dragon who couldn’t be anything more than Noir true looks. But as great was the fear that the ruler of Equestria felt it wasn’t nothing compared to what the Mane 6 were feeling. They looked at the dragon in fear not only because of his looks, but because he had just tanked the most powerful magic in Equestria and swapped aside as if it was nothing. And that for Twilight it was horrible. Not even in her wildest nightmares she had seen this scene went down. “No… it can’t be” she muttered, too much taken aback to speak.
“Oh yes, my little pony” replied maliciously Noir, his voice deeper than when he was a pony, “It’s totally happening”.
With that said he opened his mouth as dark-purple flames started to pop up from the deep of his throat, just for then rush out fast enough to prevent the Mane 6 to do anything more than rise their defenses, slow enough to make them see what was about to hit them. The group of ponies screamed in pain as the mystic fire strike down the magic shield that had formed around them as a ball, casting it to the ground. There went a short pause, as if Noir was checking out how long they would last, then he breath fire again. The magic barrier shattered, knocking the group to the ground.
“No!” cried Celestia, fearing for her students and friends life and mind-boggled at the defeat of the power of Harmony.
The dragon stood still, towering over the group who was laying on the ground, staring at them with an inscrutable expression. The ponies slowly managed to get up a little but were not yet capable to stand. To the Mane 6 surprise they didn’t felt much of the pain there were expecting to feel, for the most part they were just exhausted.
“Are you alright girls?” asked Twilight, checking them out.
“Eh, I could feel better, but I could feel worst” admitted Applejack.
“Ugh, did somepony took the plaque of that train who just run us over?” asked Rainbow Dash meekly while keeping her heads in her hooves.
“I’m fine” said Fluttershy.
“I’ll survive” said with her usual chirpiness Pinkie.
“Speak for yourself!” shouted Rarity, “Have you seen how dirty my mane is!? This is the… worst…possible thing ever!”.
“I think the mane problem is not our main problem right now” pointed out commented Twilight, who turned her attention to the dragon, who was now staring at them with an amused grin. The Mane 6 glared at the dragon, some with fear, some in awe, some in hatred. What else they could do? He had just mopped the floor with them without breaking a sweat. If the power of Harmony could not stop him then what could? And each member of the team felt angered to have failed to stop the Avatar of Darkness. Probably now he was going to mock them for their failure before deal the final blow. But Noir managed to shock them once again.
“I have to admit that, for how much ridiculous your super powered looks were and of how silly is the idea of being struck down by a rainbow, that power of Harmony was quite something” commented the dragon, managing to surprise the Mane 6. They sure didn’t expect their adversary to compliment on the power who until now hadn’t done nothing but disrespect them and Celestia, “It would probably have blasted me aside… if I had been some of those idiots who claims to be avatar, overlords etc of darkness” he continued, while glaring a little to the small ponies, “But I’m not. I am different from that kind of pathetic vermin’s. And now, if you ponies have finished shooting at me with colorful lasers” he had just completed that line that somepony shoot at him another ray right at his back. His response was to frown at it, before turning around to see the responsible for such act.
“DON’T YOU DARE HURT MY FRIENDS!” screamed the new arrived alicorn. Noir smile got back up, although this time was less evil and more for of the happy kind. At last he had found the princess of the night.
Author's Note
Well, good thing I had to post chapter less often than usual, didn't I?
04: The Pure Heart Of Darkness
Noir stared as Princess Luna shoot other rays at him, only to see how ineffectual they were. She was as stubborn as her sister. That could have be either good or bad, so he had to take it easy with the princess of the night. He made to say something but Celestia did it first.
“Don’t think about us Luna!” she yelled, “He’s far too much powerful! You have to get to safety!”.
“No!” replied Luna, “I won’t let you alone in the time of need!”.
“You got some guts” acknowledged the dark dragon with a sincere smile, “I like that”.
“Your words doesn’t fool me, dragon” replied Luna, glaring the Avatar of Darkness with mistrust, “Not after having attacked my friends and sister!”. Noir made to reply when suddenly…
In a twinkle of light Discord appeared floating between the two, dressing up with a blue suit and a light red tie.
“My costumer is innocent!” proclaimed the spirit of chaos.
“What are you talking about, Discord?” asked Luna, with a mix of anger and confusion at why the Draconequus would defend that creature.
“I’m saying that it’s Celestia who has started the fire. Not the dragon”.
Princess Luna eyes widened and then narrowed when she heard those words. Was Discord lying to her?
“Is that true sister? Did you attacked him first?”. Asked the younger sister to the eldest one. Celestia didn’t find the strength to stare in her eyes, feeling ashamed. That was enough to answer to that question.
“But why? Why you and the Elements have attacked this dragon?”.
“Because I’m the Avatar of Darkness” responded Noir, clearly irritated “and for your sister and those ponies there that makes me evil”.
“Indeed” added Discord, who had now got rid of the lawyer clothes, “He just wanted to talk to you”.
“About what?” asked Luna, turning to Discord and Noir. What could possibly want the Avatar of Darkness from her?
“About you learning to control the dark powers that resides inside of you” answered Noir.
Those words let the second ruler of Equestria speechless as she let them sink. The dark powers inside of her? Does that means that she had still something of Nightmare Moon? And was that a bad thing or a good thing?
“And that’s why I didn’t wanted this to happen” replied Celestia, as she gather enough strength to get up, although not ready to fight again, “Nor Twilight nor her friends wanted this to happen”. She made to say more but she got surprise as Luna suddenly landed in front of her.
“This is not your to decide, sister. I appreciate you and the other concern for me but this is something that regards me and you don’t have any rights to take away my free will” responded the ruler of the night with a calm and yet stern voice.
“I am your sister Luna!” argued Celestia, both her face and tone a mix of fears and anger, “I didn’t wanted you to turn once again in Nightmare Moon! I didn’t wanted to lose you again” she added as a few tears showed up. At that Luna expression soften up a bit more, but before she could say anything the dragon spoke.
“Quite the moving scene” observed, “Although is quite of ruined by the fact that, if I hadn’t been as tough as I am, Celestia would have killed me without dropping a tear”. His voice was filled with sarcasm.
“That is true” lamented the older sister, “And I’m sorry for that”.
“Keep you sorry excuse of forgiveness for yourself, princess” was the rough response of Noir, “It’s typical of you creatures of light to think that is enough to say sorry to fix everything. You just wanted me dead because of my nature linked to the darkness”.
“It’s not true!” claimed Celestia, “I know that darkness is part of the balance of the universe”.
“Oh really? Cause then why there isn’t a bit of darkness in your land except from what hides inside your sister? Why did you attacked me when I’ve reveled my true nature? And why I can’t help but think that if you noticed that your sister had those dark powers yet you would have done something to try to, how you do you like to call it? Ah yeah, heal her from that?” those long series of questions were followed by the dragon face getting closer and closer to the ruler of Equestria, his eyes filled by resentment, “You claim you were attacking me for protecting your sister and I do believe that is true. But its undeniable that in you there is the typical hatred that you creatures of light feel for those who comes from the shadow. And even when some of you claim that darkness is as necessary as light there’s still the fact that darkness is always left in the shade, putting the light in the first place!”
“Enough” said Luna with calmness, placing between the dragon and her sister, “You have claimed your points, dragon, but now is time to change argument. I want to talk about the reason why you came here” and when she noticed Celestia made to say something she added, “As I’ve stated before this is something that regards me and so it must be I to choose”. With that said she turned her attention to the dark drake, “So, Avatar of Darkness”.
“Alright, Noir, exactly what you mean with dark powers?”.
“Exactly what it sounds, princess Luna, in you there is some great power that has been suppressed for quite some time. I want to help you get a hold on it so you can reach your full potential”.
“I thought that my dark side had been healed by the Elements of Harmony”.
Noir laughed a bit, “The Elements may be powerful, but they can’t change the nature of the soul”.
“Which would be?”.
“To be part light and part of darkness. Although some time a soul can be more aligned by one of those two. The latter turned into a more physical manifestation turning into Nightmare Moon”.
“So in a way my sister was right” pointed out Luna, slightly worried.
“Like I’ve said to those six ponies down there I don’t want to do that” said with a bit of exasperation pointing at the Mane 6, who were now staring at the two with curiosity and a fear, “In fact, if you accept my offer you shall no longer worry about her anymore. What do you think?”.
Luna stared at the Avatar of Darkness in front of her with doubt clear in front of her. What he had just said sounded perfect. But was it enough to be true? And if it was true, would have she capable enough to go through this experience?
Noir could feel her doubts, “I see your doubts are giving you troubles”.
“Of course I do. I wish I could believe what you said but”.
“But you’ve spent so long seeing darkness as the enemy that you doubt it’s benign nature, am I right?” he said, giving to the princess an comforting nod, “Yeah, that’s something I expected. So allow me to help you. Let me show you what darkness truly is so that you may see things that will blast your very soul” added while he moved closer an opened hand, welcoming the princess of the night to get on it.
“Things that will blast your very soul!?” commented Discord, slightly staggered by those words.
“What? I thought it sounded as an epic thing to say!” replied Noir, a bit annoyed by how the Draconequus ruined his grand moment.
“Okay then, Noir, but before you show me anything I need to ask you two questions”.
“Ask away”.
“If I reject your offer, what are you going to do then? Would you force me to follow you?”.
“I’m going to be disappointed, no doubts about it, but I will respect your choice”.
“Second question: Why exactly are you doing all of this?”.
“Because it’s my mission given by Obscuritas itself to find and help those who have dark powers and are way too much frighten to put them at use because they fear it’s nature”.
“Obscuritas?”.
Luna sighed, but then jumped inside the open claw, hoping that the dragon would not crush her. Few seconds later she found herself surrounded by a dark purple aura and before she could say or do anything her mind flew away.
***
“Pretty neat, isn’t it?” asked a voice beside her. She almost jumped out in surprise when she saw Noir laying down at just fifteen feet from her. “I remember the first time I saw this place… I was speechless too” he turned his attention to her, “It wasn’t what you expected, is it?”.
“What place is this exactly?”.
“It has no real name. But it is one thing: the heart of darkness”.
“The heart of darkness?” she looked around, confused, “I’ve always thought that darkness was… well… dark”.
“Darkness is much more than a bunch of shades. The problems with most of the sentient life is that they have a view of the world so simple and so they make everything, even the most complex of things simple. Time? A clock or an hourglass. The evil? Some guy with horns, tail and a pitchfork. The good? All winged creatures with wings and a city above the heavens bathed in eternal light” he said that part shaking in revulsion.
“And what do they say of the darkness?”
Noir laughed, although sounded very harsh, “What they don’t say would be a much easier question! Darkness is either a force of evil, of demise, chaos or oblivion itself”.
“It’s horrible” commented Luna with grief, “Why is so feared?”.
“The fault of that are sadly the so many foolish overlords of darkness and of the many entities who claim to be darkness itself, spreading disorder, death and destruction, as I’m sure that you and those six ponies have already faced. Then there are those beings of light who help this belief to grow thanks to their speech of how light is filled with good and darkness with evil. Those idiots wouldn’t understand the true function of the Balance not even if they got bitten in the flank by it. And even if they saw how the darkness truly is they would still disliked how it works”.
“Why? How does the creed of you… us creature of the shades, different from the ones of the light?” asked Princess Luna, curious.
She consider herself part of darkness, that’s a good sign, thought Noir.
“The difference is that, unlike the forces of light, we don’t reject the negative emotions just because of their nature. Hatred, fear, anger, they may not be the best feelings, but they are still part of every sentient being. It would be an insult towards them to treat them as something that doesn’t belong to our being”.
Luna was taken aback from what she had just heard. Indeed her sister would go on and on about happiness, love and stuff like that. It was quite boring to say the least. But then she remember a particular.
“Because as darkness itself command, we acknowledge and accept those emotion, but that doesn’t mean we let them rule over us. It takes a strong heart to push aside the strongest emotions, but it takes an even stronger heart to hold them in their right place and get strength by them. And that’s one of the reason why the so called master of darkness always tend to fail” explained with a smile while staring at the moon, but when he turned his attention to the princess of the night he noticed that she looked sad. “What is it?”.
“I… I don’t think I’m worthy of this power” she replied, “The main cause that I’ve turned into Nightmare Moon was because I left my envy and jealousy take over me. How can I learn to control my emotions if I’m so weak?”.
At that Noir looked as if he didn’t know what to say. But he still had to try, “It will not happen again” he promised, “With my help we will overcome any problems you had. And even without me I doubt you would fall in the same error twice”.
Luna uncertainty seemed to vanish a bit, she smiled at the dragon “Thanks, Noir, I appreciate your kind words”.
The two returned their attention the magnificent view, enjoying the peace of that dreamy land.
“So… have you made your choice?” asked Noir, hoping to not sound inpatient. The blue alicorn remained quiet for few seconds and the dragon could sense that she was thinking.
“Your offer is really tempting. But I think I’m going to need more time to take my choice on this subject” she answered with doubts echoing in her voice.
“I guess is right. After all this is going a big step for your life” admitted Noir. He wished that Luna could take her choice right after seeing the Heart of Darkness in its purity, but he couldn’t nor didn’t wanted to force her to take this path so soon.
“How long can you stay on Equestria?”
“Two weeks is the best I can give you. There are other Tenebrakinetics who may need my help out there in the… existence” responded Noir. He didn’t wanted to reveal to the Princess that there was a whole Omni verse out there. That kind of information can be hard to swallow.
***
“Why are you helping Noir, Discord?” asked Twilight.
“Well, aren’t you the one who always brag about helping a friend?”.
“Noir is your friend?” asked Pinkie Pie, surprised.
“That is such a great news!” beamed Fluttershy.
“Yup. I’ve given some advice to get to Canterlot without unleashing panic or start a fight… too bad somepony ruined it” commented the Draconequus while shooting a glare to the princess of the sun, who turned her eyes away in shame.
“Are you sure he consider you a friend?” asked Applejack.
“Yeah” added Rainbow Dash, “May I remind you what happened to your friendship with Tirek and how turned up to be?”.
“Oh, this is quite different, Rainbow Dash” replied Discord without sounding a bit troubled hearing to what happened a month ago.
“And how is this different?” asked Rarity.
“Simple: Tirek used his smooth talking to make me change sides because he knew that I was too much powerful for him to beat. Noir here didn’t needed such trick because, as I’m sure you have noticed, he’s way much more powerful than my chaos and your harmony. If he just wanted he could have annihilated me, wrecked Canterlot and then forced Luna to do his biddings. Luckily for us he’s not as evil as he may seem at first sight”.
“But how is possible for him to be more powerful than Harmony? He’s the Avatar Of Darkness!” said Twilight, almost screaming.
“Yeah, how can that be? I thought that Harmony was the most powerful thing on world!” added Rainbow Dash, a bit hurt in her pride as much as Twilight.
Discord sighed and then give the Mane 6 a bit of an harsh glare “You know, this is the reason why I didn’t wanted to warn you about his arrival. So that you may clash with Noir in the classic “incomprehension” brawl and get a little bit humbled by it. Since Tirek defeat you have believed to be a force to be reckon with, to be capable to challenge and defy the very foundation of the universe as if they were nothing compared to the magic of friendship. I think that has come the time to realize that there are thing more powerful and ancient that your rainbow power” ranted the Draconequus. Each member of the group made to reply, but they remained silent as the words of the spirit of chaos sink in, making them realize that, indeed, they had grow arrogant in their own. Celestia made to reply, but Discord hadn’t finished yet, “That said, it may patch a little your broken pride to know that Noir is not from this world. But from outside”.
At those words the Mane 6 and Celestia gasped in surprise as they looked at the dark dragon, which stood still as a statue. The bad mood of Twilight got replaced by her curiosity as she thought about the differences that only now she had noticed on Noir. He was actually much less bulkier than most of dragons she had meet, his built slick yet strong looking made him look both fast and powerful. Before she or the others could ask more about the outsider Noir and Luna snapped out from their vision. The dragon let Luna fly to the ground, finding herself surrounded by her friends.
“What happened?” asked Celestia.
“Noir showed me the true nature of darkness. And after everything I witnessed I’ve decided that…”.
“Yes?” asked simultaneously the Mane 6, Celestia and Discord.
“To take in consideration his offer”. At that answer everyone looked disappointed, some hoping for her to accept, some her deny, other just to know what she would do.
“Well, that was anti-climatic” commented Discord.
“You said it” agreed Rainbow Dash, surprising herself.
“From today” continued the blue alicorn, “I will have 13 day to make the choice. I need time to think”.
“And what will you do in the meantime?” asked Discord to Noir.
“I will explore a bit this world. That is going to make my time fly faster” said the Avatar, then turned his attention to the his soon-to-be apprentice, “I’m sure that you’re going to take the right choice, whatever is going to be” smiled the dragon, smile that turned into a glare when he switched to the elder sister, “And I really hope that no one will try to make you change your mind, for their own sake”.
With that said Noir opened his wings and flew into the skies, surprisingly enough without raising that much of a wind. He looked around searching for something and then he saw Ezio flew next to him. The dragon raised a scaly eyebrow, wondering where this stupid bird may have went when he was busy. But he got derailed from that issue when the youngest alicorn calling him.
“Wait!” shouted Twilight Sparkle, “I have some questions to ask you!”.
“Don’t fret, my little horse, we’re going to meet up sooner that you may think!”.
And with that said he flew away, so fast that it almost vanished like a ghost.
Author's Note
This chapter is, without a doubt, the longest made until now. And it's also the one sporting the most the tag slice of life.
Noir had flew far away from the ponies and the two cities, searching for an isolated place where he could think in peace and more important stuff. He landed on the edge of the Ever Free Forest, making sure that there wasn’t anyone in the nearby. There he started to gather information. Using his powers over the darkness he could see pretty much everywhere. From the smaller shadow to the endless black canvas were the stars rested called space. If he had to stay in this world for so long he had to be informed about the many things it that happened, so to avoid any possible surprises and to know better how to understand the ponies here. And soon enough he knew everything: past, present and even some glimpse of the future. It was a lot of information, though, so he founded himself to take it slow and study every bit. When he had concluded his work the sun was almost set and the skies started to get dark showing slowly the starred heaven. That done Noir started to think about his clash with the ponies. What he had said to the purple alicorn wasn’t a lie; they would indeed meet again soon enough. He needed to study those six closely, to have a better picture of the tons of info he had just got. Then he thought about Princess Luna.
“This is unexpected” commented the dragon while smiling thrilled, “But quite welcomed. Although I wonder what I’ve done to deserve your visit”.
“You know the reason of my presence here, Avatar of Darkness. Your arrival is quite hard to ignore and I had to keep an eye on you to be sure that you would not mess with the Balance” said a deep and gruff voice, followed by a sudden purple flash of light few dozens of meters from the dragon and raven buffet. A figure had appeared, an alicorn. It stood much taller than Celestia, his built much stronger looking yet slim, his wings skeleton like, while a mask that reminded a skull covered his muzzle.
“Your words hurt me, Death, you should know that I’m not that kind of person” replied overdramatic Noir, all but intimidated by the abstract.
“It’s not what I’ve heard from the others abstracts” countered the grim reaper, patient.
“Well, what can I do about it? Since when I’ve find out about this kind of power I couldn’t help but to put it at use. I’m curious”.
“Curiosity killed the cat, do you know that?” reminded Death, more with sarcasm that malevolence, and before the dragon could reply he added, “And you going around in the Omni verse wouldn’t be so bad if you just avoided interfering with the creatures living there. Not to mention when you start fighting with them”.
“In my defense I can say that a good portion of those fights were not started by me”.
“Right” commented the Grim Reaper, for then deciding to get to the point, “Despite you’re not so perfect past when dealing with travelling into other worlds and your… behavior with other forms of life, I know that you will do your best to not mess things up because the importance of your mission”.
“So, Obscuritas let you know about my task?” asked Noir, surprised.
“Of course it did. Elementals and abstracts must be in good terms so that they can make keep the Balance safe”.
“Well then, if you have so much trust in me then why are you here?”.
“Because I wanted to meet you and exchange few words. And because I’m sure that if you would ever find out that I was looking at you without your approval you could get a bit cranky about it… to say the least”.
At that Noir couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh, is the Grim Reaper afraid that the big bad Avatar of Darkness would kick his flank if he had an excuse?” he asked mockingly, as if he was talking to a child.
Death raised an eyebrow, “No. Is just that a fight between the two of us would cause only trouble to the Balance”.
“That… and the fact that you think you would beat me” added the dragon, a bit sharply “And don’t try to deny it, Death, cause for all the mystical and scary stuff that people says about you Grim Reapers you are not that above of the sentient life when it comes to reasoning and emotions. You may be the aspect of Humbleness of Death, but that doesn’t mean that inside of you there is, for how much small, a part of you who isn’t ashamed of the power it wields”.
“I guess that you’re right”, admitted, “And I must say that I’m astonished of you ability to read in a Grim Reaper conscience”.
“Yeah, I’m proud of that myself. Not that is the only thing I’ve figured out about you”.
“Oh really?”.
“Yes, really. I know that you’re quite fond of the ponies. And yet you didn’t had any issues with me blasting them down?”.
“No. Because I knew that you didn’t wanted to harm them… and because they need it” he explained turning his attention in direction of where the fight had took place, “Sadly in this and many others alternatives Equestria the situation has gone… unbalanced. The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony have gathered to much power and any being who tries to take its place as a natural opposite force is either defeated and imprisoned, killed or reformed in an short amount of time even for mortal standards. For this I and others had to get involved, manipulating the forces of evil to be resurrected and even allowing outsiders to remind them that there are other powers outside of Harmony. I don’t like that in the least, but is the only way to preserve the Balance” the pale alicorn stopped noticing the scowl that the dragon was giving him.
“Sort of” said coolly the Grim Reaper, hoping to calm him down. It didn’t work, as the Avatar of Darkness stomped on the ground with one paw and got face to face with the alicorn of death.
“You should know that I don’t like to be used, Death. I’m not like your errand boy that you have adopted! I am the Avatar of Darkness and I don’t take orders from anyone! I obey to Obscuritas because she deserve better than the lot of morons who claims to be her servants or stuff like that. Don’t you ever forget about that because, always unlike that child, I am not one who forgive those who plot behind my back! Did I make myself clear?” roared the dragon, while giving Death a… well… death glare, that the pale alicorn managed to stand his ground, staring back with a strong yet calm glare. Avatar and abstract stood there for one long minute filled with tension that it almost made it look as if the existence itself was holding its breath, hoping that this two beings would not clash into a fight that would have certainly doomed it. Ezio didn’t seemed to give a damn about it. Maybe because he knew better. Maybe because he only cared about eating.
“Transparently” replied at last the grim reaper, “Although I think you’re taking this way too much serious. Like I’ve said, using you is not the right term”.
“Yeah right” said Noir with much less anger while backing off from the abstract, “I should expect you to use words to use words to get out from this situation”. The Avatar of Darkness was rather disappointed of how the abstract refused to be start a fight even if someone offended his adopted son. He truly wished the two could have a nice fight to test their limits… if they had that.
“Anyway” continued Death, “I would beg you to not offend Azrael. If you can really read into my spirit then you should know that I don’t consider him a servant, but a son”.
“Fine then, if that is important to you” agreed the dragon, “Is this all you had to say to me?”.
“No. I wanted to tell you to not be too harsh on Celestia. She may be antagonistic towards you but, compared to what she has done in the other universes, she’s harmless”.
“I can’t make any promises”.
“You tend to forget that not all the beings of light are spiteful towards. You know that”.
“I guess” had to agree Noir, who couldn’t help but smile a little thinking about those two back in his own world… especially her.
“Another thing. During your time here you may see things that could… tick you off for how silly if not downright stupid they are. Please try to not get upset from it and harm the people here”.
“Eh, I couldn’t do it even if I wanted. I doubt that Luna will ever trust me if I brought some real pain to those close to her”.
“You would guess right. And about that I want to wish your objective to be fulfilled, both here and in the other worlds you will visit” said Death with sincere tone, “It’s about time that Darkness is saw in a different…”
“Way. I was about to say way”.
“Right” commented Noir with a sly smirk, “I appreciate your words, Death” admitted the dark dragon.
“I know. Now I have to leave. It seems that an alternative Princess Celestia had done the insane thing to keep for herself another of those damned magic portals”.
“What would that thing be?” asked Noir, confused.
“Pray to never find out, Avatar of Darkness, for the good of your mind”. With that said Death left, vanishing like a phantom.
“Well, that sound swell, am I right Ezio?”.
As for answer, the raven burped.
“I couldn’t say that better”.
Author's Note
Surprise guest by Death part! And this is not going to be the last time that the pale alicorn will interact with Noir, be sure of that.
Chapter 06: Ponyville, Bullies And Stuff
When the dark dragon woke up from his slumber the sun already got pretty up in the sky. He didn’t remembered what he had saw in his dreams because of how chaotic it were, but he could swear that he had saw a baby alicorn female looking disgustingly cute and adorable with gigantic wings. That view made him almost puke. Shaking off those thoughts he got up, noticing right away that a certain raven wasn’t in the nearby. And just as the thought crossed his mind Ezio appeared in a cloud of black smoke.
“Where have you been today you sack of feathers?” asked Noir with is typical gruffness. The raven refused to answer, cawing what sounded like “mind your own business”. “Sorry but my curiosity needs to be fulfilled” and with that said he used his powers to see in Ezio mind, ignoring the loud objections of the raven. What the dark dragon saw surprised him, for then cracking down smiling and laughing at the angry bird. Apparently when he was busy kicking some flank and show Luna the heart of darkness yesterday Ezio flew back to palace in an attempt to find something entertaining and there, in one of the private chambers of Princess Celestia he meet up with the ruler pet, Philomena, a phoenix. The phoenix looked very different than the ones back in his world: smaller, incapable to talk and of course much less powerful. Ezio got a crush on her and tried to court her, making a fool of himself. “That’s too rich!” claimed Noir, between his fits of laughs, “I never thought you would fall for something as silly as for love at first sight, even less with a creature of light like a phoenix!”. Ezio cawed in anger, offended for being mocked and for the lack of respect for his privacy. Despite laughing at that view Noir was intrigued by the fact that he wasn’t alone to have a crush on a creature of light. Of course he wouldn’t ever admit it to anyone, even less that dust collector that was Ezio. After a minute of snicker the dark dragon finally stop poking fun to the bird, “Fine. I would say we have been fooling around for long enough. Time to go and meet again those Mane 6”. With that said he opened his wings and flew in the sky, followed by the raven.
“…blank flank!” finished the bratty bully.
“Are you seriously accusing us for what happened to the Equestria Games?” questioned annoyed more than anything Sweetie Bell.
“Of course you did! You blank flanks jinx everypony anywhere!” added Silver Spoon.
“You realize how absurd that sound, do you” asked Noir, who had got closer to the group in silence.
“And who are you supposed to be?” asked irritated the pink filly, while the CMC stared at the black pony with surprised eyes.
“Somepony who has the same passion as you two, in a way” said Noir, “Although instead of bullying innocent fillies who only fault is to be without a… cutie mark, mine is taking such bullies and make them cry like the pathetic trash that they are” this last words were followed by him grinning at the two brats.
“How dare you say that to me!” screamed in anger DT, “You don’t know who my father is and what is his occupation!”.
Noir kept a innocent smile on his face, not even the slightest bit scared by the words of the brat, “Oh, please, do go on”.
“My father is Filthy Rich, one of the richest ponies in Equestria! He has friends in the high places in Canterlot, Fillydelphia and Manehattan! If you” and then, after noticing the raven standing on his back, “Or that stupid bird of yours would dare insult me in any way or form you will regret it for the rest of your life!”.
“That sounds disappointing” commented the dragon in disguise, “I was hoping for your father to be somewhat of a challenge, but it’s just as dangerous to me as a piece of rock is dangerous to the universe”.
“How dare you say that!? Who do you think you are?!” shouted Diamond Tiara, while both the CMC and Silver Spoon were in lack of words for what the mysterious unicorn said, disrespecting someone as Filthy Rich.
“Tough question” huffed ironically the dragon in disguise, “Maybe I dare because I’m a dragon. Or because I’ve defeated your powerful leader and the power of Harmony as if they were nothing”. As he said those words he started do unmade the spell slowly, “And for who I think I am allow me to present myself: I’m Noir, the Avatar of Darkness!”. And with that loud words the spell vanished, revealing his true giant dragon form, making the already small fillies look almost like ants in comparison.
***
“Whoa calm down you three!” she said managing to get on her hooves and getting an hold of the CMC. After she got sure they calmed down a little she spoke again, “So, what in the tarn nation is going on here? Why are you scared?”.
“We… we were coming back home when we crossed paths with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who, as usual, tried to feel bad for our lack of Cutie Mark” Apple Bloom explained. Applejack sighed. When those two fillies would have stopped being bullies, she asked herself. “Then, suddenly, a mysterious unicorn appeared and started pocking fun to Diamond Tiara and when this last one tried to menace him he turned into a dark dragon!”.
“A… dark dragon?”.
“Yeah. Not enormous, but still big enough to make us look like bugs!” added Scotaloo, almost shouting.
“In a way yes. He’s not dangerous” said the Element of Harmony, trying to calm down the young ones. Or at least I hope he isn’t, she thought, “Now why don’t you go into your club-house and relax. I have to talk to Twilight”. With that said she trotted off at good pace.
***
“Ok, but after you’re done reading that you should go out and take a breath of fresh air. And a rest. And eat something. You know what? Why don’t you just quit for today? You’re just going to get an headache if you go on like this” said Spike, worried.
“I appreciate your care, Spike, but I can’t help it. When there is something unknown I feel it deserve more attention. And that dark dragon sure is something that must not be ignored”.
“Aw, how nice to know you couldn’t help but thinking to me” said a voice that echoed through the room, “I would have never expected that my good looks would work so well with a winged, horned horse”.
Twilight turned her head to the left and to the right, trying to find the source of the noise. The she noticed Spike watching her with his eyes wide open and clearly scared off his scales. “Spike? What’s wrong?” she asked. The young dragon didn’t opened his mouth, but used his claw to point something behind her. Yes, he wasn’t staring at her, but what lied behind her. Slowly, reluctantly the lilac alicorn turned around. Noir stood there, hunched over to fit in the room and was staring at her with a creepy grin.
“Sup, princess”.
Twilight scream could be heard from miles.
Author's Note
It's been a while, but here it is a new chapter, enjoy!
07: The One Who Watch The Watchers
CHAPTER 7: THE ONE WHO WATCH THE WATCHERS
“I think Noir has decided to play a little surprise to Twilight” suggested Applejack.
“Noir? You mean that black dragon of yesterday?”.
“That’s right”.
“Then what are we waiting for!?” asked Rainbow Dash, rushing at the door, followed by the others. They didn’t know what the Avatar Of Darkness could want from Twilight, but they didn’t wanted to leave her friends alone with somepony, well, some dragon who could treat an alicorn as if it was nothing but dust. As soon as they ventured inside the castle the group started to call for Twilight and keeping their eyes well opened to see where that dragon could hide.
“Over here!” said a familiar voice. Spike stood in the door of the library, concerned, making them sign to come in. The Mane 6 rushed inside vast room, finding their friend sit on the chair with eyes wide opened and holding the part of her body where it was placed the heart while taking deep breath to calming it down. Oddly enough, Noir was nowhere to be seen.
“What happened, Spike?” asked Applejack. She had decided to wait until their friend would calm herself down before asking her for.
“Until some minute ago Twilight was searching for any kind of information about that black dragon you had clashed recently and then, out of nowhere, that very own dragon appeared right behind her, scaring the living heck from both of us!” explained the young dragon.
“Where did he go, Spike?” asked Rainbow Dash, who wouldn’t allow some dragon to scare one of her friends, no matter how powerful he was.
“Oh, I didn’t go anywhere, Rainbow Dash” said a voice coming from right beside them. The group entered so fast and were so focused on their friends that they had completely missed Noir. He stood near a pile of books where on the top sit the crow that he called Ezio, reading them with not that much interest yet careful to not damage them. “Nor I plan to go anywhere in the next days, unless I want so” added, closing the book and giving his full attention to the Mane 6.
The group of mares got surprised noticing that Noir was not as tall as the last time they had meet him. Now on all four he was taller than Celestia, but he didn’t seemed to have any problem standing on the two hinder legs and moving around, making him as tall if not a bit more of Discord.
Twilight, who had finally managed to catch her breath and calming herself, got up from her seat and confronted the yet towering black dragon.
“What do you want from us?” asked, trying to not sound too harsh. While she couldn’t completely trust him and being quite frustrated for having lost some year of her life because of his lack of care for scaring the living heck out of her, she didn’t wanted to give him an excuse to get angry.
“I’m here to keep an eye on you”. His reply made every single pony (And the young dragon) look quite surprised. Predicting what the next question would have been he answered it right away, “I have seen part of how you deal with the threats that wants to take over the world. And I’ve studied your power of Harmony and friendship. While it may sounds all nice and harmonious, I couldn’t help but notice how it’s deep nature. Of how it can easily wash someone (And no, I won’t say somepony) minds, turning him/her/it into something completely different”.
“Is it really a bad thing?” asked Fluttershy. She backed away in front of the glare that Noir gave her.
“Of course it is. Do you seriously think that changing a person whole life is a decision yours to make just because you wield such power? Are you so arrogant to believe that filling someone minds with happy and nice thoughts is any different from filling it with evil?”. At those questions none of the Mane 6 could reply, some of them were quite taken aback from those armor piercing questions. “You didn’t thought about it, did you?” it wasn’t a real question, “So, because of this, I’ve decided that in the meantime that Luna clears her mind from the doubts I will make sure to understand exactly what you do to protect this world without abusing of that powers of yours”.
“Just out of curiosity, what happens if we do?” asked Pinkie Pie, curious.
Noir didn’t answered with words. He walked till the solid wall and placed a sharp claw on it. Applying the same strength that someone would use to make a hole in a layer, he scratched it as if was made of paper and not near indestructible crystal, even getting close enough to shatter it. The view, united with the sound it made, was enough to send a shiver to the group of ponies and the young dragon.
***
“In short… yes” answered Twilight Sparkle who, just like the others, was still thinking about what the black dragon just told them. For how much she hated to admit it Noir was right. Maybe… no, no maybes. They really didn’t thought about the power they wielded. Twilight felt horribly knowing that she didn’t even tried to study the magic of Harmony, taking it just for what it looked from the simple appearance: a force of good. And instead things were much more complicated that they may appear. She could only hope to not fall again in such mistake… or else Noir would make sure that was the last error in their short life.
“And exactly how does it works? What is the connection between this thing and your marks”.
“I… don’t really know” had to admit the lilac alicorn, making the dragon facepalm in frustration.
“So you never took your time to study how this maps works and just obeyed whatever thing it told you to do without even asking yourself why?”. If I’m going to meet again those 4 dudes I will have to apologize for having mocked their will to obey those three talking statues, at least those things made more sense compared to a map that works because some butt sign, thought Noir.
“No” muttered Twilight, even more ashamed.
“And you follow this map because…?”.
“Because as the Bearers of Harmony is our objective to spread friendship all over Equestria” said Rainbow Dash.
“Spreading friendship? You know how absurd it sounds?” asked Noir, irritated.
“Hey, we have helped a lot of people. AND without using our brainwashing powers” pointed out Rarity.
“And you think that friendship will fix everything? You are more naïve than I thought you were the first day” mocked the dragon.
“How dare you say that?” asked Applejack.
“I open my mouth and it happens. It helps that I have this uncanny ability to be brutally honest” answered Noir, “Now, as I was saying, you have quite a simplified vision of how or what Harmony truly is. Not that I’m surprised giving how dumb your ruler is” at those words the Mane 6 and Spike had to swallow the offense, knowing full well that they lacked the power to defend the name of the princess, “Harmony is not about making every single creature a friend to each other. Nor is archived by annihilating the forces of evil or, in the case of Discord, redeem them. No, the TRUE Harmony is when two opposites exist at the same time and both have their victories and defeats. What you have here, what you are trying to get is not Harmony. The only thing your action actually do is to bring this world into an order that will bring utter chaos in your sugary world. Or, in the least worst of the cases, it will only help your dearly beloved Princess Celestia who, despite being the damn ruler of this syrupy country doesn’t do anything to defend it, leaving this job to a team which has much less experience and put their lives on the line continuously”.
At rant completed Noir remained silent, staring how his words had strike down the right nerves of those foolish foals he had in front.
“Then what do you propose to do? How can we truly help Equestria?” asked Twilight, almost pleading.
The tone of her voice and the concerned expression of the other ponies and young dragon were met with lack of concern from Noir. “Sorry, I’m not here to help you out. I’m here to help Luna and in the second place to keep an eye on you to make sure things doesn’t go awry in the meantime”.
“But—“
“Do you really expect me to give you the answer to such question? Are you already so corrupted by the naiveté of this world that you think that every single answer in this existence will be delivered to you without you had to do any kind of sacrifice to actually deserve it?” he stopped, noticing the troubled expression of the group. “Oh FOR THE LOVE OF- Would you please stop moping?!?”. His sudden outburst managed to snap them out of their self-pitying, “You’re supposed to be the defenders of Equestria and yet is so easy to break you down? Do yourself a favor and try to put yourself together” with that said he turned to the exist, “Now I’m going to take a walk around town. And I hope that once I will be back to find you have snapped out of your emo self”. At rant finished he walked out of the room, ignoring the calls of the Mane 6.
“Oh great, I’m sure the people of Ponyville will not panic at his sight” commented Spike, sarcastically.
***
“Dumb ponies” muttered Noir, turning his head to Ezio, who had placed himself on the right wing of the dark dragon, “Death wasn’t kidding when he mentioned that there were some dumb stuff going on here”.
“Is nothing to be ashamed of, to be angry at those ponies” commented a voice behind him. He turned around, noticing that behind him stood a female pony with pink fur and a purple mane with a bit of green.
“Is that you Diamond Tiara?” asked Noir, surprised, “I can’t believe it! I’ve scared you so badly that you turned into an adult?”
“I’m not—“
“By the way, nice trick changing your mane, I didn’t recognize you at first”.
“I—“
“And you finally got rid of that stupid tiara. Let me tell you, that thing made you look like a complete brat. Not that you weren’t a brat before, mind you”.
“SILENCE!” screamed the unicorn, furious for getting interrupted over and over by that dragon. Noir got silent for a second… and then smiled softly at her.
“Oh, your voice still sounds as bratty as before. It’s true what the old said say: some things never change”.
“I AM NOT DIAMOND TIARA!”
“Really? You sound almost the same” commented the dragon confused.
“Just listen to me!” said the not-Diamond Tiara, trying her best to calm herself down and avoid undesired attention from the other citizens, “My name is Starlight Glimmer and—“
“Starlight Glimmer? Really? Is just another variation of the name Twilight Sparkle! What’s going to be next? Sunset Shimmer?” asked Noir, annoyed.
“Would you just listen to me!?” asked the pink unicorn, who was getting exasperated by the rambling dragon.
“Fine, fine. What do you want?”
“I’m here to make you an offer, Noir”.
“Oh, you know my name? How quaint. Can I ask you how?”
“Let’s say I’ve been watching that little scuff that you had yesterday” said Starlight, with a confident smile. Actually she was just following Twilight Sparkle when she and her group ran to help Celestia, but she didn’t reveal that particular to the dragon until he didn’t joined her, “I have to say, your power is truly amazing, Avatar of Darkness”.
“Thanks. I do my best”.
“So, I wanted to ask you if wanted to join me into—“ before she could complete her speech she got once again interrupted by the dragon. Only that this time it wasn’t fooling around.
“Helping you to get revenge on Twilight Sparkle. Yeah, I know that”.
Those words were enough to make the pink unicorn lose a bit of her cool, “How do you know that?”.
“I’m the Avatar of Darkness. That should be good enough for an answer.”
“Well, yes, I want Twilight to pay for what she has done to me” said Starlight Glimmer, seeing no reason to keep a secret to somepony who apparently knew everything about her, “I had created a perfect town where everypony was equal and she ruined everything! But I know I can’t face her and her friends alone. Will you help me?”.
“No”.
“What?! Why? You hate them as well!”.
“Let’s put things clear, StarLightYear, I don’t hate Twilight nor her friends. I’m just annoyed by theirs arrogance and stupidity. That doesn’t mean I want to destroy them for it” although I have to admit that I wouldn’t lose my sleep if I turned them into ashes, thought Noir, “I have a far more urgent matter at hand that requires my full attention. I won’t lose my focus by helping some random mare who can’t keep her emotions in check”.
“You” muttered the pink unicorn, glaring at the dark dragon with anger, “You will regret this!”.
“Oh” Noir replied with a large and sharp smile, “And how do you plan to do so? Should I check out your plans? I’m sure Twilight would be intrigued to know that”. At those words Starlight rage almost vanished, while a surge of panic showed on her muzzle. “You know what? I’m going to make you a favor: I will be kind enough to not get too much interested into spoiling your plans and revealing them to Twilight. As long as you get out of my way… NOW” roared the Avatar of Darkness, suddenly and with pure malice.
Author's Note
Noir sure didn't hold back in his "Reason of why you suck" speech. Hopefully the Mane 6 will react, learning the true meaning of Harmony.
08: Plans, Chats And Intruders
Starlight Glimmer teleported back in her temporary hideout: the old castle of the royal sisters. “DAMN IT!” she shouted while stomping on the ground. She was furious. Part of it because of how that arrogant dragon had mocked her. But that was nothing compared how much anger she felt for herself. She shouldn’t had to meet with Noir without having been sure that he would accept her offer. Instead she went on and reveal herself and her intentions like a damn idiot, which now had put her whole plan in jeopardy and there was nothing that she could do to fix it! Trying to regain her composure the unicorn took some deep breaths, after all which minds works when under stress? Once she managed to calm down, she started to point out the situation.
***
“A penny for your thoughts, if their worthy it”.
“Nice to meet you too, Discord”.
The Draconequus had appeared five feet away from him and had snatched one of his cupcakes.
“Make yourself at home” commented ironically the Avatar of Darkness, ignoring how the spirit of chaos had token one of his snacks.
“Funny, I didn’t knew that dragons like you could eat cupcakes. Other than Twilight assistant, Spike. Most of the times they feed on gems”.
“In my home world dragons have much better tastes than the ones here”. And, added Noir in his mind, they are on another level.
“Interesting. But let’s digress. I’ve went meeting the Mane 6. They told me of your rant towards their way to spread friendship and the whole “map” thing”.
“And what do you think about it?”.
“I agree with you. Although I think that you could have avoided the whole menacing part”.
“Hey, unless they will try to brainwash someone they don’t have to worry about it. And speaking of it there is one question I wanted to ask you”.
“Go on” said Discord while throwing the cupcake down in his throat.
“You are the spirit of Disharmony, right? Then how is it that your friend with them?”.
“Well at first I was one of their most infamous enemy, but then one day Celestia decided that my magic could be useful and so she made them free me and reformed me”.
“Just like that?”.
“Yeah I know, is weird even for my standards that sudden change of mind of hers”.
“I don’t think is so weird at all” replied Noir, grimacing, “I simply think that sun flank wanted to have another important piece for her chess table; having both Harmony and Chaos under her rule of sure made her sleep well at night”. At those words the Draconequus went silent as the words of the Avatar of Darkness sink in his mind. He had never thought about it too much since he got out from his prison, enjoying so much his newfound freedom to think the reason behind such choice. “Or maybe” added suddenly Noir with a sly smirk, “Celestia has some sort of crush on you”.
“Ah-ah, very funny” said Discord with the most not-funny voice he could muster.
“Jokes aside, how does it feel to have been… reformed” asked the dragon, trying to make the word sound too much insulting.
“Is hard to explain” commented Discord, “One part of me enjoys having some friends rather than being alone. Yet I can’t help but feeling nostalgic when I was free to make the most dire of pranks on this world. Also I’ve noticed how my powers and even my intelligence have grown weak in the latest months. I’ve got infected by some worm thing and fooled by someone who clearly wanted to use me to start to finish”.
“Is no surprise why you’re getting weaker. Your element is chaos, not harmony. You should talk with those ponies and make a deal with them which would allow you to play all the pranks that you want as long as you will fix them. That should be enough”.
“Do you think they will accept it? Celestia too?” asked Discord, a bit hesitant.
“Hey, if they really want to prove me wrong on their morals this is the least that they should do. If they wouldn’t that would prove how weak their creed is”.
Discord nodded. Noir was right. Maybe a good part of the Elements of Harmony would be doubtful of him going back to his old ways for a day, but he knew that Fluttershy would have been on his side.
“With that said, what do you think if we go check out if those Mane 6 have finally recovered from my rant?”.
“Right behind you” said Discord.
Ezio cawed annoyed at the idea to leave behind the rest of the crumbs, but obeyed as he flew on his usual spot on the wings of the dragon.
“Nice to see you have stopped cry over yourself” said Noir.
“Yes, we have been talking for a while about what you said” said Twilight Sparkle, “And, for how much rough your words sounded, you’re right” admitted the princess, “And we want to show you that we don’t force our ideal on other ponies not just because you threatened us” added Rainbow Dash.
“Although it is a fairly good point” added Pinkie Pie.
“But because this is what we are!” concluded the whole group (minus Fluttershy) at unison with positive voice as she and the other smiled satisfied. Probably they were expecting some sort of compliment for the speech. Noir instead just looked at them with a neutral expression.
“So?” asked the dark dragon, “What are you waiting for? An applause?”.
“We thought that you would be happy to hear that” pointed out Fluttershy, disappointed.
“I’m sure glad that you are not moping anymore. But I will wait to show you any kind of praise for when you will actually show me through actions and not words. Got it?”. The group simply nodded, knowing that the dragon had a good point, “Good. Now I’m off to find a nice place where to spend the night”.
“Don’t you want to stay here? There is a room for guests” proposed Twilight.
“No thanks” replied Noir, the simple thought to spend any more time inside this excuse of a palace made him cringe, “I prefer sleep in the open”.
“Are you sure? If you want you could stay with us. I’m sure we may find a place where you can stay in our homes” asked Rarity.
At least they act as their element should be thought the dragon, “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think any of you would feel comfortable with having the Avatar of Darkness and a annoying raven whom has a bad habit to lose a lot of feathers”.
“Caw!” said Ezio, angry at Noir comment.
“Fine, then we shall see tomorrow… right? I have some questions for you” said Twilight, looking at the dragon with pleading eyes.
“Possibly. I have to spend time while Luna take her choice” he said before turning to Discord, “Hope your conversation will go well”. With that said he teleported away.
“What conversation?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Well… there is something I need to ask you” started the Draconequus.
***
“That I should stick as far as possible from this part of the multi-verse” managed to utter the Charizard.
“Or else?”.
“Or else you’re going to beat me up again”.
Any other living thing would have simply nodded in fear before such threat. But the Charizard was a bit too much stubborn to get that. “Yes… and I think is not fair! There have already been tons of interference in the multi-verse by non-Displaced, why get so much mad at us?”.
“Because you are much more chaotic than a good portion of those beings. But there will be the time in which they too shall answer to their intrusion. But this doesn’t regards you. Now. LEAVE”. With that said he throw the Charizard to the “ground”. This one got slowly up while massaging his neck, sent a glare to the grim reaper and then disappeared in a portal.
Author's Note
No, there won't be a Discord X Celestia pair in this story. In fact there will be no romance at all.
Drakon Future: Important!
I want to tell you that this story is going to stop here. Why? For a series of good reasons: