"What's going on?" Shining asked as Cadance dropped him into the base.
One of the soldiers saluted both him and Cadance. "Y-your hignesses! It's about that prisoner you asked us to watch during her reformation."
Cadance rushed in front of the guard, her face flush with worry. "Did something happen to her?!"
"W-we're not sure. There's a group of ponies here asking about the medical discoveries she's managed to do, b-b-but then there's anoth-another group that is claiming she's the necromancer that caused the deaths of two soldiers just outside of the capital with her undead monster."
Shining and Cadance cursed under their breaths.
"Who blabbed?" Shining wondered to his wife.
The mare shrugged. "The only ones who knew about what Twilight was doing were the medics, and they were under oath to not speak of anything."
Shining grumbled. "Being under oath doesn't mean you leak things out or not. They aren't machines but ponies." He looked at the crowd breaking down the gates of the barracks. "If we can't solve this then who knows what will happen to Twilight?"
In the spire, a few ponies had gathered outside of Twilight's room with cleaning equipment in hand. They gulped nervously from seeing the immobile undead paying them no heed.
"Why doesn't it move? Doesn't it need to?" one of them squeaked quietly.
"I don't know, but that room hasn't been cleaned in nearly two weeks. It's becoming super dirty."
"Then you go in and clean it! You're our senior!"
"You're right, so you should clean the room to father experience in this profession!"
"What experience?! It's just cleaning!"
They flinched when the undead's joints cracked and it very slowly began to move.
The rulers found Twilight cowering behind a group of soldiers and Butterscotch. Fluttershy was petting her head, hoping it would relax her while Pinkie and Applejack stood guard, worried out of their minds.
"What's wrong with her?" Shining asked Orange.
The medic shook his head. "I don't know. It's like she's completely shut down from trauma this event has caused." He dragged a hoof across his face and let it fall limply. "I don't know who leaked what she was doing, but this is clearly not going to end well for anypony involved," he lamented. "And she was trying to figure out how to reattach limbs lost to gangrene or other injuries."
Cadance walked over to the unicorn and tried to gather her attention while Shining spoke with the Elements. "Twilight?" she called out calmly. "Twilight? Can you hear me?" She waved a hoof in front of the unicorn's face.
Twilight could hear Cadance. In fact, she could hear everything, but it was a muffled mess. She could perceive the sounds, but not their meaning. She found herself in the Canterlot Observatory again with an angry crowd storming the castle and getting rid of anypony in their way. Her heart was beating uncontrollably and she couldn't manage her breathing. Celestia was going to solve everything like she always did and get Twilight out of this mess. She would need some rest after this excitement.
"She's not reacting," Cadance said to her husband.
"She just shut down when the ponies all popped up and started calling for her," Fluttershy explained. "At first we thought it was going to be okay, but then they started banging on the gates."
"And the sounds turned her into this," the alicorn finished. Her brows furrowed. "Has she done anything since?"
Applejack stepped in when Fluttershy shook her head. "Can't say she has," the farm pony explained. "Just plum went stiff like a tree 'n has been sittin' there with her eyes wide as the moon." She readjusted her hat and shook her head to loosen her ponytail. "Thought we could get her insahd, but the mare starts screamin' a' soon as ya trah 'n pick 'er up."
Wanting to test that theory, Cadance wrapped Twilight up in magic and began to lift her carefully, but as soon as her body started lifting from the ground, the screaming came. The alicorn was quick to place Twilight back down and heaved a sigh of relief when the screaming stopped.
"Oh dear," Fluttershy said. "There there. It's going to be okay."
Fluttershy spoke softly to Twilight in an attempt to reassure her, but the unicorn was starting to hallucinate. Her body didn't know how to react and was making her feel like she had a terrible disease. High fever, tongue dry, breaths scalding. Her dream was becoming a reality.
"Told ya," Applejack said matter-of-factly.
Cadance stood tall and looked at the crowd. "I'm not letting this continue any longer."
"I'll rally the soldiers," Shining added. "I'm not losing my sister again, not after all that has happened."
The alicorn forced herself past the soldiers and stopped at the gate. "What's going on?!" Cadance bellowed at the top of her lungs, startling everypony. "Why are you trying to destroy the doors of this base?"
"Barracks," Shining whispered to her.
"You know this thing is too big to just be barracks," the mare snapped back.
One of the ponies, a mare, pushed past her fellows. Her grape-purple face was stained with tears. "I know that white unicorn in there is the one who killed my son!" she explained. Every word was filled with sorrow and malice. "I want her head on a pike!"
"Demanding bloodshed won't solve any issues you have with her!" Cadance said. "We need to stop this madness and--"
"And what?!" another asked angrily. "You said you were going to try and rehabilitate a necromancer, but then they disappeared soon after. Now we see this mare here that looks similar to her suddenly pop in out of nowhere and is adept at surgery?"
Cadance became confused. "How did you learn about--"
The previous stallion was shoved by a mare, prompting his group to catch him and hold him up.
"So?! Even if she is a necromancer, it's obvious she can do more than just kill and raise the dead with that knowledge." She stepped towards the gate, pleading. "She cured necrosis. You can't cure necrosis! She needs to enter the medical world and share everything she knows with all of us." The mare pointed accusingly at the others. "Even if she's a necromancer, her knowledge is invaluable."
A mare with a prosthetic foreleg raised a hoof. "Many ponies suffer from issues that cause them to lose limbs. Why should our children and our fellow ponies suffer like many like me have? We need her knowledge!"
The mother was appalled. "Are you kidding me? Just because she's working now doesn't mean that she hasn't killed hundreds in the past!"
Shining watched the whole issue unveil and saw that the fighting was starting to push against the gates. "They're too engrossed in their ideas that Twilight is a necromancer regardless if it's good or bad." His eyes widened in horror when he saw the stonework holding the gate's hinges in place was starting to cede. "Soldiers! The gates!"
It was too late. The more aggressive ponies broke down the gates, letting a veritable tide of equines flood in and push against the struggling soldiers.
"Samhill!" Applejack exclaimed. "Y'all're crazy!" she shouted. "Quit shovin'!" She looked back at Twilight who was getting worse. Her eyes were shooting in every direction and her mumbling was getting louder. "Ah wish we could just move her somewhere!"
A dome of pink energy surrounded them, cast by Cadance. She looked back and smiled. "I covered the Crystal Empire in a dome of magic when it came back. Something small like this is nothing."
"But I don't think Twilight agrees," Pinkie regretted. "I really wanted to throw her a party," she said. "A quiet party can always work in the future. She might like that. Somewhere far away and quiet."
"Just try and keep her calm," Cadance begged. "As calm as you can, at least."
As the crowd gathered, some were starting to push through the soldiers even as more came in to reinforce their comrades. It was becoming a three-way battle between those trying to lynch Twilight, those trying to protect her from the lynchers, and the soldiers trying to push both away. The more aggressive were pounding on the dome while Shining and his guards did their best to pull the ponies off and away from Cadance's spell, but the banging was having an adverse affect on the lavender unicorn.
"...ia...help..." she mumbled.
Fluttershy leaned in. "What?"
"All this fer a single pony! Can't believe this nonsense," Applejack cursed.
"Need Celestia!" Twilight muttered. "She'll stop this. She always stops it. Nothing wrong in Canterlot."
Fluttershy's eyes started to water when she looked at Cadance. "Sh...She's calling for Princess Celestia."
The alicorn's face paled. "Oh no. Shining!"
The stallion turned around to see the ring on Twilight's horn starting to warp from the magic it was holding back. His stern and aggressive face quickly faded to fear.
"Spike!" the necromancer shouted.
One floor of the spire exploded outward, showering the city in crystal shards and damaging everything close to the base of the royal tower. The smoke produced was pulled down in a trail by something small that created an audible 'thoom' in the air.
"Oh no," Shining said.
The crowd gradually started to quiet down and look in the direction of the explosion as more and more resonated in the city, each becoming louder and louder as whatever was producing that sound was getting closer.
"You idiots!" Shining shouted. "What have you done?! She was recovering! Now your greed and selfishness is going to destroy the city!" Several larger buildings had started collapsing from the approaching abomination. "Get out of the way if you don't want to be killed!" Shining commanded the crowd and the soldiers. "Keep away from the unicorn on the floor."
Those that bore witness to Twilight panicking and crying on the ground, holding herself in the fetal position felt a tremendous wave of guilt and pity wash over them, even those that wanted her death. Fluttershy didn't want to leave her, determined to help her recover, but it was too late. Applejack and Pinkie had to pry her off the unicorn as Spike erupted from the walls of a house and continued in a straight line to Twilight.
Unfortunately, because the crowd had become so condensed, many were unable to move away in time, and several were injured by the debris. Spike, however, did not care what was in front of it. It trampled ponies underfoot and swiped others away it thought were actively trying to impede it. Cadance dissolved her barrier and hopped out of Spike's way as the undead tore through the guards.
"There. She's safe," Shining said. "Keep her that way. We can handle the rest."
Shining hoped that Spike being next to Twilight would help her regain confidence in herself and give her the feeling of being safe. It seemed to be working because she almost immediately started to breath more softly. Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed when Spike reached for the mare's horn and cleanly snapped the warped ring off, letting her magic finally go free.
"Twilight! No!" Shining cried out. He immediately started pushing through his soldiers and the debris to try and reach her. "Don't leave! We can fix this!"
But it was too late. Twilight had tapped the medallion around her neck and immediately vanished with Spike, leaving behind an empty space like reality had just been pulled into an opening before being pushed back out.
Twilight collapsed on a very dusty ground in her home and coughed from the powder burning her throat and lungs. Any attempt at shifting that she attempted failed. She had used up all her magic to teleport instantly, rendering her immobile. Spike gently lifted her up and placed her next to her bed while it shook it free of any bugs, arachnids, and dust that might have taken residence there. By some miracle, there was no damage to her home, and only the typical cave denizens had decided to take up residence in what they thought was abandoned space. The mare continued trembling violently, trapped within her waking nightmare.
The undead placed her in her bed and covered her with several layers of comforters to apply weight to the mare. Her panic and bulging eyes both gradually started to recede until she found herself drifting off into a dreamless sleep, finally safe under the glowing gaze of her undead assistant.
Welp, We all new how that was going to end. Poorly... Now the question is, will she be able to reform now that she is away from her family or will she descend into the dark powers now that she is not near them? Or possibly... a third option? There is no way she is going to quit necromancy at this point, but the question is where will she go.
Well, it was gonna happen eventually. (Referring to her escaping and her dealing with to much stress, anxiety, and trauma)
She only killed 2, and the 2 that died, died because of there stupidity, and it wasn't Twilight, it was spike. And even if she did kill hundreds, like they said, it would have been in the past. They also probably took the time to notice that Twilight could have escaped anytime she wanted, but because of their stupidity, now she did escape, I hope they realize that and realize how stupid they were, that would make me happy with no limits.
Twilight was gonna escape eventually, I didn't expect so soon, I was expecting a couple more chapters at the Crystal Empire, but I was correct with the theory on why she would escape, I think, I forget if my theory was she would escape because of to much trauma or something else.
I don't think Twilight is gonna go back to the Crystal Empire anytime soon, if at all.
Cadance and Shining Armor Should have told the truth.
"Twilight is a necromancer with a goal to bring back Celestia, she has never killed anyone directly, she has been working on dead bodies all her life bringing ways to bring them back to life in certain conditions wether it be by frostbite, decay, etc. we plan on redeeming her to give her a new purpose in life, due to her experience with working on bodies, she can use her knowledge and magic to help others from losing limbs, dying from diseases with unknown cures, and stop others from dying in general. She has been on the run ever since Princess Celestia died, she has PTSD and is in a fragile state, please refrain from crowding around her or yell at her."
And everything probably would have worked out! Probably.
Honestly, I don't know what the crowd wanted to accomplish, they wanted her dead? What will that solve? To stop her from killing others? That was self defence. If they knew what Twilight has been through instead of assuming just because she is a necromancer, they would feel guilty, and they would be ashamed of themselves.
But anyways, with Twilight now back home, she will probably rest for a few days, wash herself back to her original colors, and than continue her research.
Twilight's PTSD is really bad, and I guess it shouldn't be surprising, with what she has gone through that's traumatic enough, however she didn't have friends to run to, she couldn't go to therapy, all the trauma clearly has been building up over the years due to having to be on the run and avoid others, Twilight doesn't only need help with her situation, but she needs help mentally as well, and with her being a necromancer, I don't think that's a good thing either.
In other news, whatever AppleJack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie's mission was, they clearly failed, and AppleJack failed a second time. The map will probably send others of the main 6 to Twilight again, eventually. I'm more concerned about Shining Armor and Cadance, they finally found Twilight after several years and now she's gone again.
Welp next chapter will be interesting, I do hope that the chapter takes place a bit in the Crystal Empire to see what happened right after Twilight disappeared, that would make it interesting.
Why do I always right a frickin novel in the comments? I don't even realize how much I typed until I Finnish typing.
11847736
Probably continue what she was doing before she went to the Crystal Empire, I don't think Twilight will descend into the dark powers or reform, atleast not until she revives Celestia.
Although there is a chance Twilight will start learning more powerful spells to avoid getting captured again, she was lucky that time because it was her brother and her brothers wife, plus she knew Cadance personally, but if she was captured by anyone else, she would have been dead a long time ago.
I wonder what their cutie marks will do when the Map tells Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy that they failed their mission.
Hmm... I wonder if ponies even understand the concept of PTSD?
Wow......I can only say wow, this chapter went from 0 to 180 in less time than I expected, it seems that my theories they were partly correct, there were both ponies who appreciated Twlight's work and ponies who They wanted to lynch her, so I think I can say that with this chapter the third arc of this story ends, that of the "Crystal Empire". I have my theory for the next arc:
"The castle of the two sisters"
11847736
To be honest, I don't think it's appropriate to use the word "reform" with Twilight, she has the potential to be a villain, but she hasn't crossed that line yet...for now, the best thing to do would be to "understand" Twilight's motives and help her heal her mental and emotional wounds.
11847766
I also considered that, but you have to remember that Twilight left a mess when she escaped, they could help calm the entire crystal empire and try to change the opinion that the ponies have about Twilight, is it that or maybe now the map of friendship guide all the mane 6 to Twilight's house.
11847746
Bro, I'm going to be as honest as possible, I think this time I don't share the same opinions as you regarding Twilight.
I realize that you are leaving aside the two deaths that Twilight caused indirectly, they were doing their job and died for it, we cannot discredit that, remember how Cadence and Shining Armor behaved with "the necromancer" in the room from the throne before discovering it was Twilight.
I don't agree with the part that if Twilight had killed hundreds, it would be forgotten because she did it in the past. Bro, death is a great crime, depending on the context it can change, it is not the same to kill hundreds in a war defending your home and family, to kill hundreds for self-defense and defend innocents, to kill hundreds to hide and survive because you are doing something morally frowned upon (that is, necromancy).
As for the mother who asks for Twilight's head on a pike, we cannot forget that she lost a son, she is within her right to have those feelings.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I'm realizing that you are defending Twilight TOO MUCH, we know that she will never become a Grogar 2.0, but we can't forget that Twilight's actions have consequences. We know that she has desecrated graves of the deceased, I am sure that the families of those deceased will not be happy with her, Spike killed two guards indirectly but still 2 lives were lost (they were guards, they are not stupid just for doing their job for him who were trained), and now Spike (again) walked past everyone destroying buildings (with possible civilians inside) and maybe hurt some of the ponies in the crowd, Spike did that but we know that Twilight called him and those ponies in the crowd they may have been bad but in no way were they a real threat to Twilight if Cadence and Shining Armor were there.
Twilight is a victim of all this but she is definitely not innocent in some ways, and in her search for it she may leave many victims behind her, and not only because Twilight should be forgiven for that.
11847893
Ah, right.
A say "stupidity" mainly because, just because she was a necromancer, she was a criminal therefore treated her as such, as for spike, he is an entirely different entity, Twilight simply called for spike and he came in to defend her with any means necessary. As for if Twilight killed hundreds, when I typed that I was thinking of when Nightmare Moon wanted to cause eternal night which could have killed every creature on half the planet since the lack of sunlight means crops wouldn't be able to grow, they would all die from starvation, and kingdoms would be abandoned and be a wasteland.
Yes Twilight isn't exactly innocent, but she doesn't have any intentions of hurting and especially killing, so far it's spike doing all the work.
I don't have anything else to comment, yes I might be defending Twilight to much, but the way I see it, she is just someone who wants to learn necromancy and learn how to raise the dead while also being alive as much as possible as if they were never dead in the first place to just to bring back someone she once loved and idolized. There simply judging Twilight just because she is doing stuff that others don't agree upon, in fact want her dead, even the ones who didn't lose a loved one so it isn't just the mother, she has a reason atleast.
11847893
By reform I mean any change in the way someone thinks is a reform so long as it is a gradual change (otherwise it would be an epiphany or realization) to a better state. (One can reform into a better person without needing to be an evil person.) In other words reshaping one's ideas and way of thinking to a better path, because while she isn't evil, (at the moment of writing) she still isn't good and needs some reforming to be a better pony.
At the moment, without reforms, she drifts closer and closer to the dark powers. 90/10 good to evil ratio more or less at the moment though I might be a bad judge of character.
Ooof. I sense that quite a few heads are gonna roll in the Empire now. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but the big brother instinct is not too far away from it.
11847766
Maybe it will just redirect them to a new location. [Operation area expanded]
Or maybe that friendship problem was not about Twilight, but rather of the aftermath of the events of this chapter.
11847908
I don't want to sound discouraging but taking into account the recent emotional crisis she had, I think she is already in the 15/85 ratio between good and evil (with the plus of the voice in her head that speaks to her) .
Remember that she is already used to poverty, corpses and a certain antipathy among the ponies (we cannot blame her for everything she has experienced)
11847898
As I said before, the fear of the unknown can alter the judgment of even the wisest or most conscientious. I cannot deny that Twilight is breaking with the status quo that necromancers have in Equestria, but the other ponies do not know that and only act on instinct. , something that is curious since ponies have a more developed instinct to run than to fight (the latter is more common in depressors) but in this story it is shown that they can be as cruel as depressors.
11847863
I want to assume that yes, the doctors in the crystal empire were well versed in serious injuries, and remember that that empire was ruled by King Sombra, someone must have been traumatized at that time.
11847990
If that's true than next chapter might focus a little bit on the Crystal Empire after Twilight left, either that or it could be described in one of the future chapters, i don't really see a point of the next chapter focusing only on Twilight since after what had happened, she will most likely be resting for a couple days (or should anyways), unless the next chapter is a time skip to a couple days or a week or 2.
11847863
Probably not, otherwise Cadance and Shining Armor probably would have either had a personal therapy session or got a professional.
Actually I think it would have been a great idea, if Twilight were to have therapy, it would actually help her and she would be able to talk to someone that she doesn't know personally about her problems, someone who can learn to understand what she is going through and how to cope with it, or it could be a bad idea and would have caused Twilight to escape sooner.
11847999
Well clearly they never learned "learn your enemy" instead of fighting blind, plus Cadance is an Allicorn, Shining Armor was once a Captain and both are the rulers of the Crystal Empire, I'm pretty sure they can handle Twilight, it kinda seems that the crowd wanted "revenge" although they don't realize that they would simply kill an innocent instead, or atleast mostly innocent, if they want revenge than pressure the rulers to get rid of spike. Pretty sure it would only cause Twilight to escape but atleast the outcome would have been better.
11847746
I think the crowd will be out for blood as soon as they hear the word 'Necromancer'.
11848014
But didn't they already know she is a necromancer?
And maybe instead of saying:
"Twilight is a necromancer with a goal to bring back Celestia"
They could start off with saying:
"Twilight has a goal to bring back Celestia" or "Twilight wants to bring back those were were wrongfully killed who didn't of dying of old age" or something.
11848014
They will even be putting wood on the bonfire.
11848011
I realized exactly something similar in this chapter, if I'm right then what happened in Canterlot was darker than I imagined.
If you think about it in a certain way this can take on a very dark meaning, one can think that the mob just broke into the castle and took Celestia, but you have to remember that in that castle there were servants, royal guards (loyal to Celestia) and representatives. politicians from other nations that respected Celestia...my question is: What happened to them? What if instead of just executing Celestia...they also executed ALL those who were truly loyal to Celestia, whether they were civilians? innocent or simple servants, that makes that "revolution" take on a very dark side, that explains why they went after Twilight and why the representatives of other nations were the only ones who defended her... that's because ALL the ponies who could having defended her, they are already dead like Celestia. That theory is a bit depressing but it would show that the ponies in this AU can be complete idiots.
It also explains why there is no civil war within Equestria, the only ones capable of that would be Cadence or Shining Armor because anyone else who could start a rebellion is already dead.
11848032
Oh.... Ok wow... Uhmmmm.
I wasn't actually thinking someone would be willing to actually say that. Or I guess more specifically, even thought of that theory.
A part of me already knew, I assumed Shining Armor has something to do with Celestia being dead since he is the captain of the Royal Guard, but than I realized that would be completely unlikely, he cared for Twilight and Cadance, they both liked Celestia, and so I pieced 2 and 2 together and basically came with the exact same thing but slightly less dark, i wasn't 100% sure until i read over that 1 paragraph, dismissed it and you pointed it out. If that's true than Twilight's PTSD is probably worst than I thought, this could actually be bad, and with the fact that there's a voice inside her head telling her or misleading her to do things, her PTSD could lead her to make bad choices, kinda like how Luna's jealousy towards her sister made her become Nightmare Moon.
I guess we'll only have to wait until future chapters, but with what you just explained, it does awnser some questions, and 1 of them being "what was Twilight's first reaction after working on a dead body?" Probably not as bad as I originally thought. 1 thing that I do know though, is next chapter could be quite interesting, a part of me wants the next chapter to explain what happened at the Crystal Empire after Twilight left, now another part me wonders if next chapter will feature Twilight having a nightmare going into every little detail on what happened during that day, or maybe a backstory, although it would basically be the same thing.
WAIT A MINUTE I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING!! Was Shining Armor the captain of the royal guard at all? I don't believe he was, I don't think he got promoted yet, never watched that much of the show (I don't know how accurate this is) but 1 story explained Shining Armor was only prompted to being captain 11 months before Nightmare Moon appeared.
11847863
I think they would.