K-M-11 (19)
Experiment 22: Harmonious Magic Use
Hypothesis: By combining the fundamentals of Light and Dark Magics, one can create a magic greater than the sum of the magic used.
Process (abridged): Attempt to combine magics when utilizing either. Start out small. Use more magic over time for more powerful tests.
Results: Total success! By combining Light and Dark magics, I have found a new potential within the field! More powerful magics using less energy.
Extra Notes (143): Do not try experimenting on an empty stomach… I have, also, inadvertently found the ability to shift to a new form, one that would seem impossible. However, I don’t care about this new form. The stigma attached to it would make my experimentation difficult. For now, I’ll live in my own form.
Personal Report: I have found a portal in a cave to the south of Equestria that I intend to investigate.
-\/-
Ponyville, center square, 11:55

Grimoire sat in the square and looked toward the sky. He had been there for just under a half hour. Ponies were gathering around to see what brought him to the square, thinking maybe he was going to perform or something. Now, they were wondering why he sat motionless for so long. ‘What is he waiting for?’ ‘Why is he here?’ They would get their answers soon enough…

Twilight trotted up to the square with her friends close by. She stopped in front of Grimoire. “You know, we don’t have to do this. We don’t have to have this duel…”

Grimoire took in the world and a deep breath. “I know.” He stood up and faced her directly, “That said, before we start, I want to apologize for my actions yesterday. I lost my temper and that spiraled the conversation down to a verbal fight. For that, I apologize.”

Twilight smiled hearing this, “Don’t worry about it. So, let’s go back to the castle and have some tea. I’m sure we have a good blend you’ll like…”

“No. I apologized for the way I spoke. Everything I said still holds. I can’t just let this go.”

Twilight’s smile faded. “Look… I’m sorry, but I’m not here to duel you. I wanted to try to talk you out of it.”

“Well, you can’t. I have my reasons to do this.”

The town clock ticked forward, reaching 11:58. Grimoire looked back to Twilight, “Better talk fast. Less than 120 seconds before our duel begins.”

“I told you, I’m not going to duel. I just want to talk. I know you can be reasoned with.”

“I can. And my reason is why I’m doing this.” The clock struck 11:59. “Sixty seconds.”

“Would you stop? I’m not going to fight you!”

“Forty five seconds.”

“Why are you so obsessed with this duel?”

“Thirty seconds. I want to prove a point to a pony that doesn’t know what right in front of her.”

“Are you seriously going to argue right now?”

“Fifteen. It’s not an argument. It’s my plan.”

“Plan?”

“Ten. Yeah. Came up with it last night.”

“What exactly is this plan?”

“Five. If I told you, it would jeopardize my mission.”

“Wait a second! Why would…”

The clock interrupted Twilight as it struck noon. “Showtime.” Grimoire lifted his head upward and Twilight’s shadow rose up and tangled itself around her, tying up her wings.

“What the…?!”

“Can’t have you flying around and cheating, now can we?” He reared back and slammed his hooves on the ground, creating a torrent of magic moving quickly toward Twilight.

The alicorn dodged the blast, but she remained hindered by her shadow. Wait… That’s it! She used her magic to create a ball of light. She closed her eyes and surrounded herself in the sphere. After a moment, she flew out of the ball and remained in the sky.

“Clever. Realizing the key to the spell is your shadow… Now, it’s your move.”

“I told you, I don’t want to fight you!”

“I don’t see how you have a choice.” He fired a blast of magic toward Twilight, who blocked the beam using a barrier. “Every action has a reaction. My attacks need to be defended or you risk injury.” He let out another blast that Twilight dodged. “So, will you take your turn or will you just fly around and try to run the clock?”

“Why not? You can’t do this forever!”

“Longer than you!” Sections of Grimoire’s shadow peeled off and created spheres. With a sway of his head, he sent the shadow balls toward Twilight at high velocity. “My mastery over my magic has thought me to do more with less. You will tire out long before I do at this rate.”

Twilight flew higher and tried to remain out of reach and have enough room to dodge his assault. “That doesn’t matter! We don’t have to do this!”

Grimoire glared up toward Twilight. After he was certain she couldn’t see his face, his face returned to his normal curious excitement. “There we go.” He dropped into a lower stance. “Now, let’s see if this will get her attention…”

Grimoire’s body started to tense. Dark magic energy flowed from his eyes, but the green and red eyes that always seems to accompany the magic was absent. He took a deep breath and his shadow started to rise up from underneath him, mixing with the natural glow of his magic. As he exhaled, the magic surrounded him and his body started to strain. With another inhale, he gained an inch or two in height. With the next exhale, his body relaxes at the new height. He rose slightly and slammed back to the ground, creating a burst of magic that shook the town square.

Twilight strained to see what was happening, but her flight to escape his magic made that difficult. After a few seconds, she noticed something flying toward her. She dove out of the way and looked back down to the ground. “Please! Stop this stupid duel!”

“That’s quite rude you know…”

Twilight froze. Grimoire’s voice was too close at this height. She turned around quickly and found something that couldn’t be real.

Grimoire was flying at an even height to Twilight with a pair of wings. “There’s no need to yell. I’m right here.”

“What?! How?!”

Grimoire smiled and tilted his head slightly. “Important questions…”

“How are you an alicorn?!”

“How much do you know about the alicorn race?”

“I… Uh… I know that alicorns are rare in Equestria and that the title is earned.”

“Is alicorn a title? Or a form of the body?”

“What?”

“Alicorn does not mean princess. That goes without saying. But what is it that makes us think that any pony could, in theory, become an alicorn?”

“What are you getting at?”

“Precedent!”

“What?”

“I found a book in the Great Library that details the creation of the first magically-born alicorn, as opposed to natural alicorns. A unicorn that mastered magic gaining a pair of wings for his studies.”

“So… Why are you telling me this?”

“I like to teach almost as much as I love to learn.”

“Okay then… but, how can you just become an alicorn?”

“Oh! You mean in the moment, not the actual process. Right. You see, I actually achieved this form before.”

“But, you were a unicorn not even five minutes ago!”

“If you let me finish…” He sat down on a nearby cloud. “You see, I achieved this on accident. Turns out, that pony from the past was able to achieve the alicorn form through a thorough understanding of Light and Dark magic. Alicorns are often seen as a symbol of harmony between the three pony types; Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus. This can extend to the harmonious relationship between Light and Dark.”

Twilight flies over and sits on the cloud next to his. “You can’t be serious…”

“Can’t I?” He creates a magic projection, showing Twilight and Celestia’s meeting before the fiasco with Sombra and the Crystal Empire. “Notice the Princess using Dark magic without an issue. Still a bit perturbed that she can use a spell in demonstration and nothing happens but I get expelled. But that’s on the Dean of Students at the time… Off topic.” The image shifted to Twilight’s use of Dark Magic in the throne room. “Notice you were able to use Dark magic before getting your wings.” The image changed again, showing alicorn Twilight with Dark Magic wisps around her eyes. “Now look at this moment you used alicorn magic. Notice something familiar but not quite right?”

Twilight wasn’t sure what to say about what she was seeing. Then something snapped in her mind. “Wait… aren’t you supposed to be trying to duel me?”

“I am.”

“What?”

“I want you to look around. What’s missing up here on this cloud?”

Twilight looked around, trying to see what he was talking about. At one point, she noticed that Grimoire had no shadow on the cloud. She looked for her own shadow in a panic, finding it missing as well. “Where are our shadows?”

Grimoire pointed over the side of the cloud and showed a duo of alicorns fighting in the sky. “Right over there.”

“But… what’s the point of the shadows fighting?”

“I needed a flashy display that can be seen from Canterlot. You weren’t helping, so I had to improvise.”

Twilight reared back a moment. “What…?”

“More on that later. Right now, we discuss. You said you wanted to talk…”

“I… yeah. I wanted to ask why you wanted to duel so badly.”

“At first, it was a spur of the moment. Like I said, my words were genuine. From what I’ve seen and heard about, you are at your best when you think things out rather than acting in the moment; like when you dealt with the Ursa Minor. You thought it through more and knew the consequences if you had done something differently. You’ve accomplished so much; and yet, most of it is because you had to clean up your own mistakes.”

Twilight thought back and saw he had a point. She always tried to find the quick solution when she could. It was when she slowed down and thought it out that she was at her best. “Wow…” After quickly gathering herself, she looked toward Grimoire. “I have another question, though.”

“Go ahead.”

“How exactly are you an alicorn right now?”

“You asked that already.”

“But there’s a lot you haven’t answered. Like how you were a unicorn before and can just become an alicorn, seemingly, at will.”

Grimoire thought a moment, head tilted to the side, and nodded. “Good point. Okay, get comfortable. This is a doozy. There are three ways to become an alicorn and you have actually seen all three.”

“I have?”

“Yes. The first is natural birth. These are few and far between in the modern day, but still very possible. The second route created was the way I use; a form shift using Dark and Light Magics. However, this form is inherently weaker than a natural alicorn. That said, with study and training, I can stand hoof to hoof with any alicorn. Lastly, there is the version that you were transformed with. This used only one side of the magical formula, in this case Light Magic, to fundamentally change your genetic structure. You earned your wings and were given a body as though you were born an alicorn.”

“I guess that explains that much… But I have a few more questions.”

“By all means.”

“Why do you want this duel to be seen from Canterlot?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. Next question.”

Twilight groaned, but she didn’t want to press this for now. “Okay. Did… did you plan everything from the past few days?”

“On a bare bones level, yes. But it wasn’t explicitly planned at first. My original plan was to use the face on the sun in place of this duel, but you and your friends put a damper on that… And when I saw you brought the Leviathan back to Equestria, I decided to change some plans around for new experiments and learning opportunities. So changed my approach. That said, I didn’t account for details as I didn’t really know what would happen, only that you and your friends would succeed. Next.”

“What happened to Leviathan?”

“Leviathan?”

“Yeah. Nopony has seen him since yesterday.”

“Oh! Okay. Well, I had a deal set up with the Leviathan. That gem from yesterday is actually a replacement for his own gem, long since shattered. Now he can take his own form.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“I know. I’m getting to that. Anyway, he left Ponyville last night to… visit family.”

“Oh… Why didn’t he say anything?”

“I don’t know. I just know what I observed. I can’t read minds. Now, do you have anything else to ask? We have enough time for one more question.”

Twilight wasn’t sure where to begin, even after all of this. “Alright then… You said you re-tooled your plan. Why? You could have just repeated your face on the sun while we couldn’t stop it. What made you change your plan this much?”

Grimoire’s natural smile faded a bit. “If I had to say one thing, it would likely be the subject matter, you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me put it this way, of all the alicorn princesses ruling Equestria, how many earned their status though magical study? The Crystal Princess earned her status by saving her home. The sisters had their powers since their earliest years. Out of all the princesses, you are the one that was the most likely to see where I was coming from. If anything, out of the four of the princesses, you are the one I respect the most. Though as a ruler and a student of magic, you still have a lot to learn.” He looked over toward Canterlot. “However, the true ruling princess will have noticed all the commotion by now.”

“Wait, so, this was all to get Celestia’s attention?”

“Of course not. I’m playing the long game, Twilight. This is just the first step.” The shadows flew up from either side of the clouds. “Oh! This is the best part!”

The shadows fighting their duel ascended in a spiral, their magics colliding along the way. When they reached a point in the sky above the clouds, they clash and fly backward in two opposing directions. The shadows flew in place a moment before charging toward one another. On impact, there was a burst of magic so powerful that it cleared the cloud cover over Ponyville. The shadows disappearing in the blast.

Twilight quickly started flapping her wings and regained her balance. For all intents and purposes, it seemed as though she and Grimoire had been in the shadows’ place. “What now?”

“Well…” Grimoire blasted Twilight with a weak beam to catch her off guard. He used this moment to send her down toward the ground at a high enough speed that she would have difficulty righting herself.

Twilight was about to hit the ground, unable to catch herself, when she slowed and stopped before reaching the earth. She let out a sigh of relief and noticed that she was being held up by magic. She looked around and found her mentor standing among the other ponies. Twilight chuckled nervously before her teacher. “Uh… Hello… Celestia.”

The older princess put her student down and trotted over. “Twilight… what is going on?”

“Perhaps we can speed this along…” Grimoire floated in place just above the princesses. “I’m certain Celestia doesn’t have all day.”

The Princess of the Sun looked up in shock. She looked around to the other ponies, all of whom had no idea what to say. She looked back to the new face. “And… you are?”

Grimoire grinned before returning to the ground. His body seemed to shatter like glass, returning him to his unicorn form. “Grimoire Maleficarum, your highness. Nice to meet you.”

Celestia shook her head for half a second to make sure what she saw was real. “How did you…?”

Grimoire stomped his hoof to get her attention back in the moment. “Another time. For now, I need to talk to you.”

“And you couldn’t have gone through the traditional means? I’m hardly difficult to find.”

“Traditional means were closed off when I got expelled for using Dark Magic.”

Celestia looked toward Grimoire and squinted a moment before continuing. “I knew your name sounded familiar… you were the young colt the dean told me about from all those years ago.”

“Nice to know I have a reputation.”

“Now, what did you need to talk about?”

“I am a practitioner of Dark Magic. And last I checked, that’s a serious issue here in Equestria.”

Celestia’s gaze turned hostile, but remained calm. She was on guard against this pony.

“Exactly. So, I want to offer myself and my work to be taken under watch.”

Celestia reared back. “Wait. What?”

“It’s like this, I know that nothing I say will change anything. So, I’m offering a sort of middle ground to benefit us all. I get to practice my magic, and you get to make sure nothing bad happens. Even though it hasn’t and never will. Call it, covering your bases politically.”

“Let me get this straight, you want to be put under a constant watch?”

“Not really. But I’ve since had a great idea.” Grimoire walks over and pulls Twilight next to him. “You’re prize student and her friends can be your eyes and ears for my dealings.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. She was still skeptical, but she couldn’t fault his reasoning. “Fine. Twilight…”

The Princess of Friendship trotted to her teacher. “Yes?”

“If you are willing, would take up this task?”

Twilight looked back to Grimoire. “You know… throughout this journey, I thought I knew what he was up to. Now… I realize I didn’t know anything dealing with him. It’s obvious that he’s clever and a bit… eccentric. However, I’ll take up this task. If anything, it will give me time to figure him out.”

Celestia nodded and turned back to Grimoire. “It’s decided. You will be under the watch of Twilight Sparkle.”

Grimoire saluted the princess, but it had a hint of mocking in the gesture. “Understood.”

Twilight stepped forward. “That means you can’t travel around like you used to. And I expect you to check in on time.”

Grimoire bowed to Twilight (again, mockingly) with a smirk, “Naturally. Besides, I’ve already made plans for a living arrangement.”
-\/-
Journal M-A-50
Entry #1
First entry in a new journal and a new home! I am now under the watch of Twilight Sparkle and I’m bound to Ponyville. That’s perfectly fine for me. From my experience here, I like this place. There’s something about this town that just feels like a home. I found a lovely house for sale near the edge of the town. After some work, it now feels like a home to me.
I was surprised when the town party planner, Pinkie Pie, showed up in my home one day with most of the town to welcome me to the community. When I asked why she would just accept me into her community like that she told me, ‘Strangers are friends you haven’t met yet, and I love to see my friends smile!’ I can’t fault her for that one… I could, really, but she can clearly tell when somepony is a threat of some kind. And I learned very quickly that normal logic doesn’t apply for her. The ponies Rainbow Dash and Applejack would glare from time to time, but after bonding over Daring Do and the structure of apple farming economics, this has waned a bit. Fluttershy keeps to herself, but doesn’t seem to outwardly dislike me. As for Rarity… she’s an odd one. When I stopped by to try to get some fabrics to decorate my home, she took over the project and helped design the interior. I can’t complain about the result and price was certainly fair, but she can be… overwhelming.
Twilight is keeping me to a strict, weekly schedule to check in. As it stands, I’ve never been late with my reports. Though, I plan to test her on this. There’s a part of me that wants to see what would happen if I hold back the report and tell her I sent it in. Of course, this might make things worse for me, but it would be fascinating to see.
I can tell that many ponies, the royalty included, still don’t trust me. But that’s fine. Time will help build this trust… That’s all I can do at this point. Until then, I will simply go about my days as I always have. They’ll see soon enough that I am not a threat to anypony, though I know they’ll test me…
In the end, I have a home now, a new journal to write, and a real sense of community for the first time. I’ll call this a win.
-Grimoire Maleficarum

Author's Note

(Have a supplemental Q&A.)
Q&A
Why an alicorn? – A simple complexity. There was a thought process here. 1) Alicorns aren’t inherently special. 2) Huh… Alicorns used Dark Magic pretty often… 3) Alicorns are often seen to represent the harmony of the pony types… maybe it can work for magic as well. 4) Alicorn Grimoire!
Why can Grimoire switch between forms while it seems the princesses cannot? – He explains it, actually. The alicorn princesses were either born or granted their powers (depending on what you choose to believe). However, in this from (of dubious canon) those that gained the power were granted the power through one magics rather than the combination. Grimoire mastered both Light and Dark, so he can use the combination to switch between them.
Why doesn’t Grimoire just stay an alicorn? – Because it would be boring. He knows that alicorns are seen as special and regal. He doesn’t want that. He wants to walk around and observe without ponies staring and thinking he is royal. He’s a field worker by heart. He wants to remain unimpeded and open with his experimentation. He finds the alicorn form to be too inconvenient.
Wasn’t Grimoire the villain? – You’ve activated my trap card! Grimoire was written to appear as a villain when you didn’t have all the pieces. His use of Dark Magic is meant to play on expectations. This story has no villain, just a pony with a different outlook.
Twilight was out of character when she accused Grimoire! – Was she? Consider this: you grow up in a society that teaches you that Dark Magic is the magic of hatred and you’ve only seen and heard about the evil. Would you be so quick to trust someone with that magic?
So… a unicorn that can use Dark Magic can become an alicorn? – Not necessarily. As established, unicorns need to be able to combine the magics on a deeper level. Consider the symbol of Yin and Yang. Though the two halves are balanced and even contain pieces of the other, they remain separated to black and white. Grimoire, through study and a hint of luck for the first transformation, was able to break those halves down and turn them grey. This is a difficult process as it means you need to break down everything you understand and bring it together.
What is Dark Magic to you? – Magic in this reminds me of the Force from Star Wars. We see the Sith as the bad guys; but, if you break down their actual philosophy, it makes things seem different. They use the force rather than act in the wishes of the Force. It’s a difference between active and passive life styles. Being a Sith doesn’t make you evil in the same way Dark Magic doesn’t make you a villain, it’s what you do with it.
How many journals are there? ¬– 12 (A through K) have been completed. He uses the first letter to keep track and the rest of the call number to be more memorable. A-Z-26 (a reference to the Latin alphabet), D-Q-17 (Dairy Queen? I don’t know. It just stuck.), K-M-11 (if you don’t know where I got this one, I can’t help you.), and M-A-50 (the Roman numeral for 50 is L. I’ll leave you with that.).
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King: Here's hoping you enjoyed the story. (If you didn't, it's a little weird that you read the story to its end. Until next time, stay curious, strive to learn, and have fun.