"Why did I ever agree to this?" Twilight mumbled with an upset voice, "And who does he think he is just throwing lightning around like that? He could have seriously hurt somepony!" she continued her way towards his tower with a pouting face. She had lost the duel with him the day before, and she still felt a bit numb in her legs. Not to mention that it taken her a full two hours to stop twitching when she had regained consciousness. Right now though, something else was troubling her... her debt.
For a moment, she hoped that maybe, just maybe... the necromancer had already forgotten about the terms of their duel. Surely, he had already found some other insane way to entertain himself? That short moment of hope was crushed though, when Twilight saw that one of his imps was already waiting for her at the entrance of the necromancer's tower.
"You're late." the imp greeted her with an impatient voice, "And you're not dressed as demanded."
Twilight cringed, "Do I really have to?"
"The conditions were clear." the imp put its fists to its side, "If you lost, which you did, you'd have to be his maid for a whole day..." it raised an eyebrow with a smirk, "In a maid uniform no less."
"Urgh..." Twilight groaned, "Does it really have to be with a maid uniform?"
"It does."
Twilight eyed the imp with a small smile, "Well, I don't have one so..."
"No problem." the imp interrupted her, "We have one for you." Out of nothing, the imp reached behind itself and pulled out a uniform which Twilight could already tell, was more than degrading, "Now put it on and get to work." the imp tossed her the uniform.
Twilight gave an undignified humph, but seeing as there was no alternative she put it on. She wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. The imp watched her with an impassive face, "You're unbelievable, by the way..."
"What?" Twilight asked as she struggled with the uniform, "What makes you say that?"
The imp frowned, "Challenging the boss to a duel? That's just foolish in more ways than one. You're lucky you're up and walking again so quickly. Either he was in a really good mood..." the imp sighed, "Or something was troubling him. One way or the other, don't do something like that again... I don't even understand what made you challenge him in the first place."
Twilight's gaze searched the imp's face, "How powerful is he really?"
"How powerful?" the imp asked with a surprised huff, "The fact that you ask that question shows that you don't understand a single thing." it held up a finger, "Here's a little lesson... Power is nothing."
"But..."
"Power is nothing." the imp repeated with a stern voice, "When he called that lightning blast, did you even for one moment feel him channel the magic? Could you feel the flow as it passed between him and the sky?"
Twilight's eyes widened with sudden realization, "No.. I couldn't. Nor could I whenever he did any other spells before... But how does he do it then?"
"As I said..." the imp repeated, "Power is nothing. It's about control. A whisper is enough to move mountains sometimes."
"That doesn't make sense." Twilight frowned, "How do you move mountains with a whisper?"
The imp groaned in dismay, "Like I said, you don't understand a single thing." it started to head for the doors, "Come on, lets go inside and get you started. You've got a lot of work waiting for you, egg head."
Twilight pouted, "Well at least tell me how powerful he really is!"
The imp stopped and turned around for a moment to look at her with a strange look in its eyes, "Just so you know, I'll tell you this. There are two necromancers behind those eyes of his... one smiling, and one that's not. You should pray that you never meet the other one."
"Two necromancers? What's that supposed to..."
Before Twilight could finish her question, the doors of the tower were opened from the inside, and a sight that would forever haunt her stepped forth.
"That was the most beautiful night I ever had!" slurred a clearly intoxicated queen Chrysalis, wobbling on her hooves as she held onto the necromancer for support.
"It certainly was, my dear." he replied with a chuckle, "Are you sure I can not interest you in another tour of the tower? There are still so many fun challenges to be seen!"
"I'd love to, but I do have a nation of my own to take care of..." she sighed, "But I'm sure we'll meet again."
"I can hardly await it, my dear." the necromancer chuckled.
Chrysalis leaned up to give him a peck on his check, "Neither can I, my dear..." she noticed Twilight's petrified expression, "Oh my, is that Twilight Sparkle I see? In a maid uniform no less?" she gave the necromancer a smirk, "You certainly are a devious one... I shall look forth to our next encounter with impatience." she detached herself from him, "I shall leave you to your games for now." she chuckled, "Males need their playtime after all, so long then."
"You are too gracious, my dear. Have a safe journey!" he waved her a goodbye as she took off.
As Chrysalis' form started to shrink in the distance, the necromancer turned to Twilight, "Up and about already? I must say, I am impressed... and that uniform is just stunning, if I may add."
"I..." Twilight was at a complete loss of words, "What... Do you even know who that was just now?! That was queen Chrysalis! I have to inform the princess..."
"She already knows." Aergad interrupted her, "The three of us have made a deal concerning the future development of your country, so you should be thankful."
"What?!"
The necromancer sighed, "Celestia will explain it to you in due time, I am sure. But for now..." a grin spread his lips, "I think there is a debt you have to fulfill. Isn't there?"
---
Somewhere during the second hour of her duties, Twilight gave off a shout of frustration, "What do you need all those crayons for anyway?! This whole place is a mess!" the flying baboons only shrugged, they were enjoying watching her clean up the challenge room they had left in a complete disorder.
"If you have time to complain you've got time to work." the imp commented from its seat on a small chair, "Now get to it! The kraken needs to be fed next..." a small smile appeared on its face, "And I think it left a small surprise for you in its den. Actually, it's a big surprise, if you catch my drift. You might want to bring a shovel."
---
In the depths of the tower, far under the earth and hidden from spying eyes, the necromancer finished a summon that he had performed many times before. As his chants took effect, a small figure bent over a long stick started to rise from the glowing ground within the symbols he had written on it.
"Ahh! Aergad! I had been wondering when you would call me again." the demon leaned on its staff with a happy smile, "How can I be of service today?"
"Just a few things that are hard to get a hold of in this world, Zhergons." Aergad replied, "Only commodities today, I'm afraid."
"Huh? That's an unusual one." Zhergons raised an eyebrow, "But trade is trade. Though I probably won't be making much of a profit when you're not buying rare ingredients like you usually do... So, what can I supply you with?"
The necromancer tossed him a scroll, "Here's a list, can you supply?"
Zhergons' gaze traveled over the list with a short motion of his eyes, "A bit unusual for me to supply things like this... but nothing I can't handle. The question is... can you pay?"
With a smile, Aergad pulled out a small vial with a drop of red blood suspended inside it, one of many he had already collected. The demons eyes lightened up considerably as it saw the contents, "What do you think?" the necromancer put on a wicked grin, "I'm sure I can offer something you want in exchange for your services."
The demon grinned, "That, my dear friend... I am sure of as well."
---
After another grueling hour of feeding the kraken, Twilight had finally made her way up into the necromancer's chambers. The mess that awaited her there was even worse than anything she could have imagined.
"How can anypony live like this?" she growled, "This place looks like a battlefield!"
Immediately, she got to work, picking up books from the ground, rearranging overthrown furniture and cleaning up liquids and stains she would rather not try to identify. Had there been a celebration? Not even Pinkie left her parties in such a mess. As she continued her work though, her gaze traveled over the many books scattered on the floor and she realized with a moment of surprise... these, were spell books.
Twilight quickly checked on the imp to the side, it was sleeping on its chair.
She returned her attention to the countless little books, the secrets within them calling out to her. Would she really steal them to sate her curiosity? No... she shook her head, it wouldn't be stealing. She would borrow one, just one. He probably wouldn't notice anyway and she would finally get some answers about his magic. She'd simply sneak it back in on the next occasion.
Making a fast decision, Twilight quickly picked up one of the books at random and hid it under the folds of her costume. Unknown to her, the writing on the cover said 'Advanced Summons' in bold letters... a warning to the reader to what was hidden within it.