//------------------------------//
// Infernal Sunset 
// Story: Iron Kingdom Equestria 
// by Bitt_Player 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy made their way slowly through the Thornwood. Or possibly the Everfree Forest. They both had to admit they weren't entirely sure where one bordered the other. What they did know was that Princess Celestia had asked the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to search western Immoren for new allies, new weapons, and -most importantly- answers. Victor Pendrake's knowledge of Immoren was vast, but he could not say how Equestria had come to find itself in the middle of the region. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were planning to accompany Pendrake on his return to Cygnar, while Applejack headed north. Pinkie Pie ended up going with Applejack for reasons which Twilight was sure made perfect sense to Pinkie, but didn't actually know. This left Twilight and Fluttershy to travel west, which meant throwing caution (and Victor Pendrake's fervent warnings) to the winds, and going through the Thornwood Forest. Anywhere, Twilight had concluded, was better than the five-way war zone that was Khador-occupied Llael.
Twilight had talked (or ordered, really) Spike into staying at the library, but now found that she missed him, laziness, wisecracks, and all. Fluttershy was quiet -one of Twilight's favorite qualities in a pony- but she couldn't instantly transport letters to the Princess, set things on fire with her breath, or -surprisingly- make a decent tulip-on-rye sandwich. This last, Twilight speculated, was probably the kind of thing you only learned about a mare after spending two days in the forest with her. And even then, only if she insisted on doing all the food preparation. Fluttershy did not, in Twilight's opinion, appreciate the fine art of sandwich-making. Her inexpert eyes saw sandwiches as nothing more than stacks of food between bread, not as the works of visual and gustatory perfection that Cadance had taught Twilight to make them. She would always be grateful to Cadance for her wise and patient education. While Celestia had taught her magic, Cadance had taught Twilight sandwiches.
Not that Fluttershy wasn't good to have around, of course. Just the previous day, the pair had been suddenly jumped by a huge monster, easily twelve feet tall, that was some twisted combination of human and wolf. The beast seemed to be able to shape-shift to a limited degree, its muscles suddenly expanding, or protective bone spurs emerging from its skin. The monster had clearly been prepared to rip the two ponies limb from limb, but Fluttershy, in her unique way, had declared the monster to be a 'big fuzzy-wuzzy puppy-dog'. Twilight wasn't at all convinced, but the wolf-man clearly was. It had melted like proverbial butter under Fluttershy's hooves, and now seemed to be her stalwart protector.
The ponies and wolf-man moved slowly through the forest. It was approaching noon, and Twilight was thinking rapidly, hoping to find an excuse to make lunch that wouldn't hurt Fluttershy's delicate feelings. Then, all thoughts of sandwiches were driven from Twilight's mind by a sudden awareness of arcane power. The power was unlike anything Twilight had felt before, and was certainly not pony magic. Curious, Twilight looked around, soon spotting what looked like the entrance to a mine or tunnel. It appeared to have been dug recently, with small mounds of loose dirt surrounding it. New-cut wooden spars braced the entrance, which emitted a small, steady stream of greenish smoke.
"Fluttershy, take a look at that," Twilight said, "Do you think someone's mining something over there?"
"I, um, I wouldn't really know," Fluttershy replied, "it looks like there's a fire. Do you think they're cooking something?" Fluttershy took a step towards the tunnel, but before she could go further, her befriended wolf-man leaped out in front of her. The beast crouched low, staring at the tunnel entrance and snarling, teeth bared. Its skin rippled as the muscles in its arms and chest expanded and large spikes of bone emerged from its shoulders.
"Yikes!" Twilight exclaimed, "the big guy doesn't like mines, does he?" Twilight tried to walk past the beast, but it grabbed her in one massive claw without even looking, and pushed her roughly behind it.
"O-kay then," Twilight said with a nervous laugh, "let's not go into the tunnel, okay?"
"I'm... Scared of it anyway," Fluttershy admitted.
The ponies began to move away from the tunnel, followed closely by the wolf-man, which towered over them, still watching the tunnel. Twilight was reminded of a father timber wolf protecting its pups. Indeed, the beast seemed determined to keep itself directly between the tunnel and the ponies until the entrance was out of sight. Even then, it kept both ponies close with its claws while hurrying them along, looking around nervously and growling at shadows. Twilight suspected that at any moment it might simply seize both ponies and go sprinting off into the forest.
It was sunset before Fluttershy was able to convince the monster to let them stop, and by that time the trio were well away from the feared tunnel. Twilight looked back the way they'd traveled and checked her compass, noting that the beast had done a reasonable job of keeping the group on a westward course. She concluded that the big lug was useful, if overbearing, and that having it push her around like a wayward puppy was better than being eaten by it. Still, she wanted to know what magic lay in that tunnel, and whether it could be turned to Equestria's aid. So, late that night, while Fluttershy and her beast-man slept, Twilight composed a brief note asking Fluttershy to stay near the beast, meet with everypony back in Ponyville within a few weeks, and to please forgive her for leaving so suddenly. Using her magic, Twilight then tucked this note gently between Fluttershy's forehooves and made her way quietly away from their camp fire.



Twilight was relieved to find the tunnel entrance easily, guided by the arcane energy emanating from within. In the darkness, the entrance gave off a faint green glow that Twilight found rather sinister. Still, the intrepid unicorn pushed aside her fears and walked slowly into the tunnel. The interior was much like the entrance, recently-dug, with walls and ceiling braced by wooden planks, logs, and what appeared to be scavenged parts of large machines. The green glow seen from the entrance was much brighter from inside the tunnel, letting Twilight see her way ahead without relying on magic.
Turning a corner, Twilight gasped with surprise as she found her way blocked by a trio of strange... humans? Their shape was human, but seemed somehow... wrong. Their bodies were covered in heavy, black coats, and they wore thick gloves on their hands. On their heads were rounded brass helmets with several openings that Twilight took for eye holes, though they gave off a bright, yellow glow. From their backs emerged metal arms ending in blades, claws, or syringes. Twilight noticed that they hovered, their heavy boots hanging beneath them, toes several inches off the ground. Frightened, Twilight began to back away from the strange creatures. The nearest of them turned its head downward to look directly at her, and the glow from its helmet's eye-holes grew brighter.
Suddenly, an intense pain tore through Twilight's head. As the pain grew steadily stronger, Twilight fell to the ground,forelegs wrapped uselessly around her head, her mind filled with a terrible scream that drowned out her own shrieks of agony.
"Stop!" a raspy voice commanded. Instantly the pain was gone, and Twilight looked up fearfully. In the midst of the leather-clad hovering men stood a human dressed in what seemed to be the remnants of a suit of armor. Much of her skin was exposed, and what armor was there seemed cobbled together. Metal lanterns emitting a bright green glow hung from chains wrapped around her waist, a ragged skirt was attached to curved metal plates at her hips, and six metal shafts -each tipped with a large blade- emerged from the back of her armor. her face was obscured by an oddly-shaped helmet with metal horns coming from the sides. The newcomer's skin was as white as paper, and a large, haphazardly-stitched scar ran along her torso. Indeed, it looked to Twilight as if this human had been cut in half at the waist and sewn back together.
"This creature intrudes," explained the foremost of the hovering men, his voice an oddly metallic buzz, "we were eliminating it. You have other requirements?"
"This little one hides significant arcane might," the woman rasped, "my master may find her useful," she turned to look at Twilight, "tell me, creature, do you understand my words?"
"A-heh-heh," Twilight gave her trademark nervous laugh and started backing away again, "I'm pleased to meet you, really, but I'm afraid I should get goi-AH!" Twilight turned to find herself face-to-face with a massive, metal thing. Its curved, blackened hull featured a pattern of glowing runes, and a similar glow emitted from gaps in its blade-tusked head. Its piston-driven arms ended in claws nearly as big as Twilight, and each finger on those claws ended in a long, curved blade. Eerie, green flames and foul-smelling smoke emerged from the smokestack rising from the machine's back. She backed slowly away from this massive machine, suddenly remembering Victor Pendrake's description of the warjacks -war machines made in imitation of men- used by many armies in western Immoren. Twilight realized that the humanoid machine before her must be what Pendrake had called a helljack, a horrific type of warjack used only by Cryx. No other warjacks emitted the green glow of soulfire from its eyes, or produced smoke that smelled like burnt flesh. Then Twilight recalled Pendrake's warning that Cryx had apparently established a tunnel network under the Thornwood. The mare's heart sank as the full impact of her situation hit home: Her curiosity had taken her straight into a bastion of the Nightmare Empire. She realized that the raspy-voiced woman must be a warcaster, one of the soldier-wizards who controlled warjacks with their minds.
The woman with the raspy voice chuckled, evidently enjoying the pony's terror. "Wondering how my Nightmare got behind you?" She asked. Without waiting for a response, she explained, "Nightmare is so steeped in death that it can slip into the shadows between life and afterlife. It can become as a specter and move through any obstacle."
"You're... telling me..." Twilight began, her curiosity overcoming her fear, "it walked through the cave walls?"
"Well, I'm glad I didn't need to spell it out," the woman affirmed, a sinister grin spreading across her face, "now, let us away. My master will be interested to meet you."
"I really must insist on leaving," Twilight replied, preparing to cast her teleportation spell. As she started to draw power, however, a searing agony pierced the unicorn's mind, causing her to fall to the ground again, writhing in pain. The Cryxan warcaster looked to the cave walls, smirking, as several glowing runes appeared, suspended in the air.
"That ritual took a lot of work, but I see it was worth it," she said with satisfaction, "after one of our bases was so rudely intruded upon by a Khadoran warcaster, I decided to create wards that would prevent intruders from using their magic." She looked down at Twilight, who continued to writhe on the ground, teeth clenched and tears running down her cheeks, "the pain will stop when you stop trying to cast your spells."
Twilight released the stored energy she'd been trying to use, and the pain instantly stopped. Blinking the tears from her eyes, Twilight noticed that the group had been joined by a new horror. A creature in a flowing black robe, with no flesh at all on its skull, and runes carved into every inch of its dessicated skin and exposed bones. The sinister, greenish light Twilight was becoming unpleasantly used to emitted from its eye sockets, and a large, gold symbol hung from a chain around its neck. This symbol was in the shape of a skull, with one perfectly-circular eye socket, in front of a long-hafted weapon of some kind, surrounded by curved runes.
"Ah, Caligari," the warcaster greeted the creature, obviously recognizing it, "I trust you have noticed our new arrival? I was about to bring it to your master."
"That creature is why I am here," Caligari replied, its voice a deep baritone, "Master sensed its presence and sent me to see the creature to him. He prefers that it be unharmed, though if need be, though he allows that we could break its legs and carry it if it prefers not to walk."
"It is quite defiant," the warcaster said, making Twilight wish the two horrors would stop talking about her like she wasn't there, "I suppose the necrotechs can always build it new legs, if need be."
"I'll do what you say," Twilight interrupted, staring at the ground, "just please don't hurt me." She felt ashamed at having been so easily defeated, but she couldn't see a way out of her predicament. Behind her stood a a twelve-foot, seven-ton iron-and-steel killing machine. In front of her were a mad warrior-sorceress, three leather-clad men who could cause agonizing pain just by looking at her, and an undead fiend whose powers she dared not test. To either side where tunnel walls, and to make matters worse, she couldn't use magic.



Twilight Sparkle had frequently pondered what writers meant when they referred to someone as having a 'sepulchral voice.' How, Twilight had wondered, could a person's voice be like, or representative of, a tomb? Well, now she knew exactly exactly what a sepulchral voice sounded like. Every word spoken by this voice brought to mind death, burial, and oblivion.
"So, this strange, lavender creature is our mysterious fount of arcane power?" The sepulchral voice inquired. Its owner was a distressing being, made almost entirely of blackened metal, with a bright green light emerging from its iron ribcage. He wore flowing robes much like Caligari's, and several of the metal lanterns worn by his warcaster minion. No less than six smoke stacks emerged from the steam engine integrated into the speaker's back, and his one human part -his skull- seemed to hover within the protection of its huge, iron collar. One of the skull's eye sockets was covered by a metal structure that had a perfectly-circular lens in the center, and in one hand he gripped the haft of a massive polearm, the blade of which had a large, apparently still-living eye embedded in it. Twilight knew, based on Pendrake's descriptions, that this could only be one of the iron liches, undead madmen who comprised Cryx's social and military elite.
"It is, my lord," the warcaster replied, "it has immense power within it, which I believe could be turned to your benefit."
"Yes, I sensed its power even from here," the iron horror replied, "I believe introductions are in order. As the host, I shall begin." He extended a metal claw to Twilight, who very reluctantly placed her hoof in it, "I am Lich Lord Asphyxious, master of the Death Below and all mainland necrofactoriums, and eternal servant to Lord Toruk the Dragonfather. This skilled and powerful warwitch" -Asphyxious motioned to the warcaster who had brought Twilight to him- "is my loyal right hand, Wraith Witch Deneghra. And you have also met my faithful skarlock thrall, Caligari. And before I forget," Asphyxious brought his polearm's blade close to Twilight's face, forcing her to look directly into its eye, "This is Daemortus, the former lich lord whom I crushed to attain my place among Lord Toruk's inner circle. I forged this weapon using what was left of his body when I was finished with him, and I then did seal his immortal soul to it, forever binding Daemortus to mine own will."
"Nice to... meet... you?" Twilight managed, hoping a little politeness might reduce the seething hatred she could feel coming from the weapon's eye as it stared at her. It didn't help.
"Now, then, what shall we do with thou?" Asphyxious asked, drawing himself to his full height, "Thy power could prove valuable, if it is cultivated. However, we do not have time for such cultivation."
"Oh! Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Twilight said, perking up hopefully, "I'll just be going th-"
"No you will not," Asphyxious interrupted, "we do not have time, but I believe we can make other arrangements."



Twilight Sparkle was getting used to being discussed as if she were an object. Deneghra had taken her to see a truly massive iron lich. Even taller than Asphyxious, with a chassis nearly was large as a helljack and similarly built, this iron lich was clearly constructed for combat. His hollow ribcage had several insect-like mechanical arms mounted at the front, which moved and twitched at random. Inside his ribcage were several skulls, although Twilight could not fathom what purpose they served.
"I cannot believe you would ask this of me," the iron lich told Deneghra angrily, "I am a servant of Lich Lord Malathrax, what justification does a self-important warwitch have to demand that I drop all of my absolutely vital work to teach necromancy to a strangely-colored talking horse? If you had brought it to me for proper examination that would be tolerable, but to educate it? To keep it alive, at that? You overstep your bounds, witch".
"My bounds, perhaps, but Lord Asphyxious's?" Deneghra asked, "this request comes from my master, not myself."
The iron lich paused at this, the movements of its ribcage-mounted arms stopped briefly. Then it spoke, "I see. Although Lord Asphyxious is not my master, I am in no position to turn down an order from any lich lord. Very well, I will teach this creature necromancy and loyalty to Lord Toruk. Can I at least expect this to be a short-term arrangement?"
"The sooner it is ready for battle, the sooner you will be rid of it. My lord hopes the creature will earn the right of intelligent undeath on the battlefield." With that, Deneghra turned and left, leaving Twilight and the iron lich alone. Twilight looked around the chamber. The walls were lined with shelves, each of which contained several skulls of various shapes. More skulls stood on tables, some of them in metal clamps.
"Well then, I suppose we should begin," the iron lich said, "I am Lord Exhumator Scaverous, creator and foremost expert in the field of forensic necromancy, and loyal servant to Lich Lord Malathrax. You, unless I am mistaken, are Twilight Sparkle, faithful student of Princess Celestia."
"How did you know?!" Twilight gasped, eyes wide.
Scaverous lifted a skull from one of the metal clamps and held it close to Twilight's face, causing her to back away. "Do you know what this is?" Scaverous asked.
"A... skull?" Twilight offered fearfully.
"A human skull," Scaverous replied, "the skull of a ranger of the Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service. One Swift Sergeant Aaron Wallace, whom I believe you met." Twilight gasped again as Scaverous continued, "some of my minions happened upon his unit as they were traveling to the south. While two of the rangers escaped our reach, the rest were slain and their skulls brought to me."
"But... how could you find out anything from a skull?" Twilight asked. Despite her horror and disgust, she found herself puzzled.
Scaverous laughed, "necromantic interrogation is one of the primary tenants of forensic necromancy. By the application of necromantic rituals and runes -you see them carved into Sergeant Wallace's skull?- I can summon forth an echo if the person to whom any part of a body belonged. This shade can then be questioned, even made to suffer pain, in order to gather information. Bones are preferable for this process, because they hold the runes perfectly without losing integrity or shape. The skull is the best part, it is the bone closest to the brain, where knowledge is of course housed in life."
At this point, Twilight was shaking in fear, "and... you're going to do that to me?" She asked, terrified.
"Didn't you hear that egotistical minion of Asphyxious's?" Scaverous seemed annoyed, "you're to be kept alive. As much as I would enjoy having more detailed knowledge of Equestria, it seems I must make do with Wallace's limited understanding. At least until a few Ponyville residents can be made to disappear in the night, as it were."
"Well, you seem like a really, really busy man -I mean, lich," Twilight made one final attempt at diplomacy, "so maybe it'd be best if I just disappeared myself. You don't want to waste your time on me, anyway." Twilight started to walk towards the door, but was suddenly dragged to Scaverous's feet by a magical force she could not resist. There was a loud, whirring noise as the blade of what could only be called a chainsaw-scythe tore into the floor just inches from Twilight's snout, showering her with dirt.
"You seem to think either of us have a choice in the matter!" Scaverous shouted, suddenly enraged, "let me disabuse you of that notion right now, my little pony! We are Cryx! We serve Toruk the Dragonfather, and his twelve lich lords! The lich lords have no use for disloyal subordinates, so out of true fidelity or basic self-preservation, you had better get used to the idea!" Scaverous ripped his chainsaw-scythe's blade out of the ground and continued, somewhat more calmly, "Asphyxious wants you alive only because he thinks you might be able to earn the exalted, intelligent undeath that we enjoy. If he begins to think you're not worth the trouble, he won't hesitate to kill you. If that happens, he's likely to capture your soul in order to experiment on it, and see what sort of thralls can be made from your body. if we're both very lucky, he'll let me keep your skull."
Twilight cowered, well and truly unable to see an escape.
"If you want to live, or better yet, to earn exhalation, I suggest you abandon all thoughts of leaving here and consider yourself lucky no one's killed you yet," Scaverous continued, "Now get off the ground, dry your tears, and come with me. I am going to make a necromancer out of you, and for both our sakes you had better be a good one."



Lord Exhumator Scaverous guided his lavender-coated charge through the winding tunnels of the Cryxian outpost. The pony hung her head, apparently despondent. Scaverous found himself frustrated and confused by the whole situation. If Deneghra hadn't been Asphyxious's favorite minion, he might have cut her down for her impertinent behavior. In addition, being expected to keep anything alive and free-willed when it was so clearly unwilling to join Cryx was unheard of. Any human who had wandered into a necrofactorium and didn't want to be part of the Nightmare Empire would be on a one-way trip to the nearest charnel pit within minutes. The same held true of trollkin, Iosans, or indeed any race Scaverous could think of. It was obvious that Asphyxious wanted to do with this pony the same thing he'd done with Deneghra: Corrupt her heart and soul until she became a sentient weapon utterly devoted to his will. But then, why turn Twilight Sparkle over to another? Not just another iron lich, but one outside of Asphyxious's purview? By being placed in her care, Twilight had become essentially Lich Lord Malathrax's property, and Asphyxious very openly hated Malathrax. Was this all an attempt to undermine Malathrax's organization? It couldn't be, Scaverous concluded. Asphyxious and Malathrax despised each other, but both recognized that they both needed the other -and the other's power structures- to advance Lord Toruk's goals on the mainland. Scaverous didn't like any of it. Asphyxious acted half-mad and highly eccentric, but he didn't become a lich lord by accident. Scaverous was sure that Asphyxious had some plan that involved this Twilight Sparkle, and it was possible, even probable, that this plan would not come into fruition until Twilight's great-grandchildren were dead, buried, and forgotten about. It was highly likely that even when the goal behind Asphyxious's scheme was reached, only he would understand Twilight's contribution. Scaverous decided that it would be fruitless to continue to speculate on such things, and turned his mind to more immediate matters.
"Twilight Sparkle," Scaverous began, "The echoes of Sergeant Wallace tell me that every one of you ponies has some 'special talent', at which you are particularly skilled. Tell me, what is your special talent?"
"Magic," Twilight sighed, still hanging her head, "Most unicorn ponies can learn only a few spells, and those are connected to their special talent, but I can learn nearly any kind of spell. Of course, some spells are more difficult than others, and just because I know a spell, that doesn't mean I can actually cast it."
If Scaverous still had eyebrows, he felt he might have raised one. Clearly he was fortunate that he hadn't been handed some pony who's special talent was farming, laughter, or some other useless thing. Perhaps Twilight Sparkle might make a decent necromancer after all.
"Interesting. We may find some use for you yet," Scaverous said, leading the pony to a warjack no taller than a man, with a long, low-slung body. The warjack had short legs with back-bent knees, no arms to speak of, and the skull of some large, tusked animal bolted to its front to serve as a head. At a command from the iron lich, a bloated, once-human engineer on four spidery, mechanical legs filled the 'jack's coal hopper with a combination of ordinary coal and some sickly-green rocks Twilight could not identify, then lit the machine's steam engine.
As the warjack's soulfire grew stronger, its eye sockets began to glow with the same green light now coming from the vents on its sides. The machine looked around the room, and Twilight got the impression that it was almost alive, driven by a cruel, predatory intelligence.
"This, Twilight Sparkle, is a bonejack," Scaverous explained, showing great interest in the machine, "specifically, a Deathripper. They are small for warjacks, but they are fast, vicious, and more than capable of tearing a man apart. Most importantly, they each carry an arc node," Scaverous motioned to a curved brass device atop the machine's back, in front of its foremost smokestack, "A warcaster can send spells through the node, you see, extending our range and increasing available attack vectors. Now, touch it".
"What?" Twilight said, surprised.
"Touch the warjack," Scaverous said, as if speaking to a particularly unintelligent foal, "I want to see if anything happens".
Hesitantly, Twilight planted a forehoof on the bonejack's front cowling, but she gasped and pulled it back almost immediately. "Wha-what? What just happened?! I..." She looked up at Scaverous for the first time, "I think I saw through its... eyes! I don't understand!"
"Good, good," Scaverous said, nodding, "you have what is known to humans as 'the warcaster talent'. With training, you'll be able to control bonejacks and helljacks using only the power of your mind. Necrotechnology allows us the same powers without the random fortune of birth, which means any necrotech can become a warcaster. However, having the talent at the start will significantly speed your learning. Now then, I am going to teach you to reach into the cortexes of warjacks. Pay close attention".
Twilight fearfully looked back at the warjack, and saw that it was staring directly at her. "Celestia's in her castle, and all is right in the world". The unicorn muttered to herself.