Diary of the Necromancess

by Sebbaa

Chapter 15: Necromancers

Chapter 15: Necromancers

I read the letter Rainbow had sent me with great unease. It had reached me at night while I was alone in my study, reading through some texts copied from the Necromancer King's library Twilight had sent my way. I had been uneasy when I read those text before, for the unknown, dead language Twilight had written about, I could read perfectly fine. The scrolls were written in Zhayad, the language used by mages to commune with demons from the nether hells. What is more the words were written on a material I had not thought to see ever again; actual parchment, goat skin if I was not mistaken.

After having read Rainbow's letter, I was filled with a dark foreboding . My fur stood constantly on its edge, my stomach churned violently and even breathing seemed to take effort.

I quickly scribbled a letter for Twilight, telling her of my findings, yearning her to wait for my arrival before doing anything else. I didn't even bother to encode it, quickly sealed it, then opened the window and stood on my hind legs facing the night sky. I crossed my hooves in front of me, wriggled them like beating wings and called out the formula of “Nuntiovolo!”

As soon as I had finished and dropped back on my four limbs, a squall of black smoke appeared before me, and from it formed a pitch black carrion crow, its demonic eyes shining red. The spell used to summon the demonic form of a bat, but ever since I had lost the flesh on my leg, it had become this cursed bird as If to mock me.

“Bring this to Twilight Sparkle,” I ordered and levitated the letter in front of it. At once the creature grabbed the scroll in its talons, flew through the window and vanished in the night. I closed the window behind it and sat down at my desk with a tired sigh.

I let my head sink and rubbed over my face. This was not the time to sit idly by I thought. I should write a letter explaining my absence to my herd, then quickly grab my traveling gear and leave Canterlot with the first train heading west.

I was just about to grab pen an paper to write the letter, when a cold shiver ran down my spine. I looked over my shoulder to find that the room was unchanged, the fireplace lit, the window closed. Yet I knew something was wrong. I quickly whispered “Odem Arcanum”, confirming my suspicion. There was an astral presence hovering right in front of me, gesticulating wildly with hooves and wings.

“Hold on, this will take only a few minutes.” I quickly levitated a burning candle onto the desk in front of me and began concentrating on the smoke. It took awhile to go through every step in the summoning formula, then I invoked the spell of “Phasma Vocatus!”

The ghost took from in front of me as a shimmering specter. “Can you hear me now?”

My lips trembled, and I had to fight for composure as I recognized the pegasus hovering before my already watering eyes. I swallowed hard. “Yes, I can hear you.”

“Finally! I was going nuts. No pony could see or hear me, and I couldn't get into the palace to see the princesses; there was this huge, stupid shining dome thingy blocking my way.”

“The palace is shielded against magic intrusion.” I dried away the tears on my fetlock. As much as the now white and gray form of a once so colorful mare disturbed me, now was not the time for an emotional breakdown, not when somepony was clearly in need of my help. I gathered myself, sat up tall and looked into her ghostly eyes. “Rainbow Dash, why are you here? What happened?”

“I came to warn the princesses something has happened to Twilight she is possessed or something and she's coming here with an army of living dead mummy things!”

I raised a hoof. “Calm down Dash. Twilight has been possessed? What happened?”

She stared at me for a moment in silencer. “I think I died,” she finally murmured and settled down besides me, trying to sit down, but only now finding that she didn't need to beat her wings to hover in place.

I tried to swallow the knot in my throat and nodded. “Yes, you did, and I'm sorry Dash, but I need you to remember and tell me what happened.”

After only a few heartbeats of hesitation, Rainbow nodded firmly, her face hardening with a determined scowl. “Alright, I can do that.”

“Start at the beginning. What happened after you send me the letter?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck, as she tried to gather her memories. Dying can be a very confusing experience; many ghosts are insane and are not able to articulate anything but mournful howling and bone rattling screams. So given the circumstances Rainbow was doing a very good job of keeping herself together. “The letter,” she finally said.

“Yes, I remember. Right after I had Spike send you the letter, Twilight came running into our tent. She said she had finally found something and we had to see it. She looked like a wide eyed maniac, strands standing from her mane, her eyes bloodshot with large dark circles around them. I don't think she had slept since we entered the castle.

“We followed her anyway, I mean what else could we do? Knock her out and force her to take a break? She lead us into the cellars beneath the Castle, that place is even more creepy than the rest of it, strange laboratories, large dungeons, and real torture chambers, stuff of nightmare. Twilight led us into a corridor that just stopped in a dead end and presented it like the biggest find in all of history, then touched several stones in the wall with her hoof.

“First nothing happened and I was just about to call her a nutcase and drag her back into camp, when suddenly the stones she had touched began to glow in a green light, and the whole wall just vanished. The corridor went on behind it. Twilight trotted ahead, chirping with excitement. Spike and I were reluctant to follow, we constantly checked if anything was behind our backs.

“The corridor led to a staircase, must have been a hundred steps downwards. The air around us got cooler with every step, we could see our own breath by the time we reached the bottom. We stopped at the base of the steps and just stared at what we saw. The corridor opened into a large chamber, blue flames hovering in midair lit up as Twilight passed through it, lighting the place in a cold, eery half light. The room was not very big, nothing compared to the throne room above. It was hewn from the mountain itself, complete with rows of stone pillars at each side. Faces were carved into them, horrible faces, ponies screaming with their mouths wide agape. To make it worse, the pillars were piled up with bones and skulls.

“Twilight didn't pay attention to any of that, she just walked straight trough the room, to its end where a throne made from bones stood on a platform of black obsidian. Twilight went up the stairs leading to the throne, then stopped and just stared at what was on it.

“Sitting on the throne was a shriveled corpse, like the ones we had seen in the city. It was garbed in the rags of an elaborate attire, a black robe, trimmed with gray fur. A long, curved horn was on its sunken head, protruding from under a shimmering black crown.

“I called out for Twilight, but she didn't respond, so I flew up to her, grabbed her by her shoulder and turned her around. I shrank back when I saw her eyes; she had rolled them back so far into her skull I could only see the white of them. I shook her, yelled at her, trying to snap her out of it.

“Then slowly her eyes turned back again and focused on me, at first I was relieved, but then she began to smile in a way that shivered me to the bones. Then this weird green fog started coming from her eyes, her horn lit up and there was this bright light.

“I felt something pull at me, leading me somewhere, but I knew I had to tell the others that something had happened to Twilight, so I shrugged it off and flew away. Next thing I know I am like this and Twilight is prancing through the City, casting spells left and right and every time she does the dead ponies start to move and crawl onto their hooves. I tried to warn the others from the expedition, but I was too late.” Rainbow shook her head and looked down to the ground.

“So then I flew all the way here to warn everypony. An here I am.” She leaned closer, almost touching my snout, and looked at me with desperate eyes. “You have to help me Sapphire! I know Twilight would never do such things, she must be possessed or something. You have to get her back! Promise me you will get her back.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. “I will do everything in my power to bring Twilight back Rainbow. I promise!”

As soon as I had said that, Rainbow sat back with a relieved smile. “Thank you! I'm so glad I could speak to you. I feel like a huge burden has been lifted of my shoulders.” She rubbed the back of her neck, sticking her tongue out at the side of her mouth. “Oh, one more thing! I got this little lock box I keep under my bed. You know, in my cloud house in Ponyville. Can you give that to Scootaloo for me? And like, as soon as possible?”

“Yes, of course,” I sobbed, for I knew what would come next.

“Thanks. And please tell her that I know she will do great things, even without me!” Her voice became more hollow with each word, her form began to dissipate. “I think I'll go now, bye!” And with that she vanished.

“Good by Rainbow Dash,” I sobbed, “I hope we meet again in another life.” And I began to cry.

So died the best friend a pony could wish for, loyal beyond death.

.oOo.

When I went to warn the princesses, my words were given credibility by a letter that arrived Celestia by dragon fire. So hopefully Spike is still alive, if kept in chains as a trophy by the King. The massage was an ultimatum, giving Equestria three days for an unconditional surrender or face certain destruction, signed by Trot Amon King of the Dead.

Soon reports came in, frantic pegasi telling of an army on the march towards Canterlot, killing everypony who didn't manage to flee.

With the Elements of Harmony incapacitated and an army of undead between them and the king, the princesses didn't dare face this threat on their own. The royal guard and the army were mobilized, through the later would take days to muster, as a large portion of it were reservists who had to be drawn in. Whatever fighting pony was available gathered in and around Ponyville, getting ready to face the Necromancer King's forces on the hills and fields before the town. This must be the first time I ever wished for a cold, damp Bosperan castle with thick stone walls.

Celestia took the message of her former student marching on her hard. She withdrew to her chambers, not admitting anypony. Luna took control of the army in her stead, leading the troops herself.

Me and Serene went to Ponyville, Lionheart was of course deployed with her Nightguard, leaving only Merry and Wisp behind in the relative safety of Canterlot.

The first thing I did after arriving in town was making sure Rainbow's last request was taken care of. I send Serene to get the box and give it to Scootaloo. She handled these things well better than I did. After all her special talent was death. From making dying ponies comfortable in their last hours, to giving counsel and solace to family and friends, preparing the body and organizing the funeral itself, she had overtaken and expanded that part of the family business with great conscientiousness. And ever since a mourning couple had thanked her for the beautifully funeral, and told her that they had no idea how they could have lived through their son's death without her help and consolation, she had a white lily on her flank to show it.

After meeting with Twilight's friends, telling them of Rainbow's fate, trying to give them counsel and repeating my promise to do what I can to save their lost friend, I sought seclusion to think how I could actually fulfill that promise.

I went to my old house at the edge of the Everfree forest. I had kept the property even after moving to Canterlot. It kept secrets there I didn't want to have in Canterlot, and in its cellar was my ritual room I used for actual necromancy. But right now it was my refuge to ponder what I could do, and curse the world in general for its unfairness.

When the day had passed, I still had not come to a solution. Several ideas, doom promising ideas and dangerous strategies with little chance of success had come up, but nothing that looked promising. Finally, when the moon had risen high over Equestria, I had come to a decision.

I finally got up, stomped the ground in anger, then I threw on my saddlebags, sheathed my banishing sword, strapped my wizard’s staff onto my back and headed out into the night.

My first stop was at the backdoor to my cellar. I opened the three locks and removed the heavy shackles, then threw the door open and called into the darkness beneath. Three figures emerged from the shadows, their bones clacking, their empty eyes staring at me, waiting for my command.

Three times had I invoked the Resurectio Infinitus since I came into this world. The first time when I relearned how to cast magic in a pony's body. The result was the a skeleton lioness I called Felicitas.

The second time I used the spell was when I taught it to Serene, and the skeleton of a lion joined the pack. I called it Furvus.

The last time I used the spell when I found an extraordinary specimen. With Seren's help I raised the skeleton of a Saber-tooth tiger and I called it Invictus, for I could not imagine anypony overcoming this monster.

For a moment I marveled at my creations, as always glad that I had chosen skeletal corpses for they do not stink like rotting zombies, then I turned west and let them slip into the shadows behind me.

I had not walked more than a mile when my ears twitched, picking up the rustling of leaves. I came to a stop and looked back over my shoulder. “I know you are there! Come on out.”

From the bushes emerged Serene, she too was carrying her saddlebags and had her banishing sword -an actual slim and elegant longsword, not a long dagger like mine- strapped to her side. “If you are thinking about sending me back to Ponyville, you can forget about it, mom! If you are going to face the Necromancer King, I'm coming with you.”

I chuckled at the stern look she gave me and shook my head. “Wouldn't dream about it. Actually I was counting on you following me in secret. But since you are doing such a poor job of it, why don't you come here and walk with me?”

She curled her lips and walked up to me. She hated it when I showed her up like this, and she looked so adorable whenever I did. But opportunities were getting fewer, soon I would have nothing left to teach her.

I drew her into a hug when she reached me. She was reluctant at first, but then overcame her moping and returned it, wondering what she had done to earn this unfounded sign of affection. I patted her back, then let go of her and turned back into the direction I had been heading and set off in a slow trot. Serene fell in step beside me. “So, what's the plan? You have a plan right?”

I gave her an exaggerated shocked expression. “Of course I have! I am a master sorceress after all. I always have a plan!”

Suddenly a voice from above interrupted our conversation. “And what plan would that be?”

With a gust of wind an armed and armored Lionheart landed and looked at us very crossly. “What are the two of you doing out here? Where are you going?”

“Is this becoming some kind of running gag? Will Rarity show up next, followed by Lyra and Trixie?” I gestured dramatically with my hoof and turned towards the nearest bush three ponies could spring from.

That response managed to boggle Lionheart. “What? How?” She walked up to us shaking her head. Her next words had lost their sharpness. “No really, why are you heading out on your own? We got the guard assembled to take care of things. The princess got it well under hoof.”

I shook my head, and dropped all pretense of gaiety. “You can't fight a necromancer with a conventional army; it will be a massacre! Undead don't know fatigue, pain or fear. Living ponies do. And once the first of them die, and get reanimated to fight their former comrades, panic will spread through the ranks.

“I have seen battle hardened soldiers drop their weapons and run when walking corpses came at them, arrows and axes still buried in their heads, their intestines hanging out of slashed bellies. I have seen veterans cower on the ground and weep, welcoming death when they saw their wives and children bore onto them with dead, empty eyes.”

Lionheart stared down at the ground, gnawing her teeth. She must have known before that they wouldn't be facing a normal enemy; she is no foal! But only now the magnitude of the horrors her soldiers would be facing sunk in. “Alright,” she eventually said and looked back up. “I didn't expect it to be a walk in the park. But what will the two of you do? Why do you think you have any chance where an army would fail?”

“Because,” On a wink of my hoof the three skeletons jumped from the bushes and formed a half circle behind me and Serene. Lionheart jumped backwards, eyes wide. Another wink with the hoof made the three sit down on their haunches. “We are necromancers!”

My wife stared at me, my apprentice and our three thralls for a long moment, before she eventually managed to gather her yaw from the ground. “What? You are what?”

“Necromancers,” Serene repeated with a soft voice. “We are mistresses of corpses, paragons of black magic. Death holds no secrets to us.”

That only managed to put Lionheart into a paralyzed stupor. After a moment of just watching her stare into nothing, Serene took pity on her, walked over and embraced her in a reassuring hug. Eventually the sarosian stirred, and put a hoof around her shoulder. “OK, so my wife and daughter are both necromancers, and kept me in the dark for years. Luna, what crimes did I commit to deserve this?”

I had to smile at this, walked over and pressed a short kiss on her lips. “I'm sorry love, but I couldn't risk anypony finding out. Necromancers have a bad reputation, ever since that stupid Trot Amon tried to conquer the world.”

“Yes, for a very good reason! Necromancy is evil.”

I shook my head. “Necromancy is just a tool, no other than an ax or a sword. It is ponies that are evil, or would you blame the ax for the murder, if somepony used it to split another's skull?”

That gave her to think. “I. . .don't know. You are still raising the dead, that's just unnatural!”

“It's not really raising the dead, more like using corpses to make elaborate dolls. These creatures have no soul, nothing that makes a living thing what it is. And I wouldn't call it unnatural, just unusual. It was commonplace where I'm from.”

Lionheart looked between me and Serene for a few seconds. “OK, OK, I know you and will just trust you with this. But we will have a talk about this once this is all over. You hear me?”

“Yes mom/ yes love!” me and Serene chirped at the same time and nuzzled our herd mate's face, until she blushed and shoved us away. “But if you think I will let the two of you go alone you are dead wrong! I'm coming with you, no discussion. Now let's go, we are wasting moonlight!”

I sighed and studied her lovely face, all tense with fierce determination as she took the lead. I remembered the first time I had met her. How the neglectfulness of her subordinate had eventually lead to me wanting to grow old with this mare. I gnawed my teeth and fell in step besides her, before my herd mates would notice me staring.

The three of us and our undead entourage set of in a moderate trot, heading down the road west toward Whitetail Wood.

“Now tell us, what actually is your plan?” Lionheart asked after we had traveled in silence for a few minutes.

“Alright, I'll tell you, listen up you two! We will force our way through the endless hordes of the undead. The pack should have no trouble clearing a way, and I will cast a shield spell that should keep most of the undead off. Anything that gets through, we have to dispose of the old fashioned way; hit it until it stops moving!

I looked to my right where my daughter was trotting. “Serene, I want you to keep in the back and conserve your powers. I will try to force the Necromancer King's spirit out of Twilight's body. Once I do that, we need to banish it immediately with the Pentagramma, and I may not have enough arcane power left to do so. Then it is up to you! Forget any fancy subtlety with the spell casting, just force it with everything you got!”

I looked to the other side to Lionheart. “Once Twilight is free, you grab her and fly away with her to safety, no discussion! Me and Serene are in far less danger then your are once you leave my shield.”

Lionheart nodded but gave me a curious frown. “However can I be part of your plan? Don't say you knew I would come along.”

“Let's just say I modified the plan a bit.”

“Which sounds way better than admitting that you make everything up as you go.” Serene chuckled and gave me a wide grin.

I shook my head and let the matter drop. My mind was already elsewhere, for I had not told my herd mates that there was no actual spell or method to make a ghost leave its host, and that part of my plan had me greatly worried.

.oOo.

The sky was already brightening on the horizon when we trotted over a hilltop and finally found the enemy we had set out to fight. We stopped in our tracks, and both Lionheart and Serene stared at what we saw beneath us with wide eyes. I gnarled my teeth; It was even worth than I had suspected.

The land stretching before us was alive, a mass of moving, shoveling bodies. Thousand and thousand of them, walking towards us in huge waves. They were already at the base of the hill, close enough for me to make out that most of them were the shriveled corpses of the citizens of Cavetown, but a few recent victims had joined their ranks; ponies who had been taken by surprise or were to slow to get away from the horde in time. The blood had not yet dried on their mutilated corpses, but they too staggered towards us with deadly intent.

“This is it.” I glanced back Lionheart and Serene, sending a silent prayer to Celestia that they would be alright. “You know what you have to do. These ponies are already dead, so you are not killing anypony. Don't weaver! Crush everything that comes into our way with extreme prejudice!”

They nodded, and we embrace in a brief hug, then we turned towards the enemy. At a wink of my hoof the three undead cats took point. I drew my staff with my telekinesis and gave it a testing swing, then described a circle above my head and spoke the word of “Guardianum”. The translucent, shimmering sphere of the magic shield appeared around us. Serene drew her sword, Lionheart readied her hoof blades, and we charged.

The pack drove into the mass of undead ponies like a wedge. The Necromancer King might have had an army of walking dead, but I always preferred quality over quantity, and the King's sorry excuses for undead stood no chance.

Felicitas tore into them like they were made of straw, their spears trusting harmless between her exposed rips, their hooves and teeth not even leaving a scratch.

Fruvus merged with the shadows around him. Wherever he went, darkness followed, and broken bodies were left.

And Invictus was a maelstrom of claws and fangs. My masterpiece threw the shriveled corpses through the air like they were little ragdolls. He moved with the same supple speed he had in life, murderous intelligence burning in his eyes. Whatever damage his enemies might strike through sheer luck repaired itself as quickly as it appeared.

In the packs wake we made good speed through the horde, barely slowing down to a trot. The few undead that managed to get close to us stood no chance against our hooves and blades.

So we fought on for minutes, until we had crossed about half of the army and had undead crushing in on us from every side. But suddenly they just stopped and drew back from us, clearing a circle around us. Then their ranks parted at the front, and through it, carried on a throne carried by four massive rotting stallions, came Twilight Sparkle.

“What is this nonsense? Who dares defying my army?” Her voice sounded eery, as if a mare and a stallion were talking at once. She was wearing a cloak of black fur, and her face was hidden behind the skull of of a large horse-like beast, she wore as a helmet. Only her eyes were visible, and those looked down on us with utter contempt, aglow with green miasma. “You? The host knows you. Yes, you are Sapphire, master sorceress. Very interesting.”

She stood up from her throne and walked to the edge of the platform carrying it. “I have to say you got impressive thralls sorceress Sapphire. Why do you oppose me? You are a necromancer yourself, are you not?”

I took a step closer, stomping my hoof on the ground. “Because power hungry warmongers like you gave necromancy a bad name and I have been forced to practice my art in secret!”

She waved that off with her hoof. “Pff, please! Once I conquer Equestria, necromancy will be regarded the highest art there is. Joi. . .”

“And what is far more important,” I interrupted him with an angry yell. “Is that you occupy my dear friend Twilight Sparkle. I demand you set her free at once!”

“Pha!” The king raised raised his nose. “Who are you to demand anything of me? I am the Necromancer King! Together with the powers of the Element of Magic I am unstoppable!” He walked backwards and settled back onto his throne. “Let's see how you can plead for mercy.

“Airborne guard, kill them!” He raised a hoof, and from behind his throne shot six pony forms and took to the sky, lead by a rainbow maned mare. The undead ranks closed again, then the horde began to descend on us from every side once more.

Lionheart craned her head back to keep the new, flying enemies in her sight. “I'll take care of them!” And with a gust of wind that made me shield my eyes, she took after them.

My pack tore the bodies shambling at us to shreds, Serene cut down with her Sword whatever remained to pound against our shield, and I absentmindedly crushed things with my stuff, as I watched the battle unfolding above us.

The airborne unit was circling above us, when Lionheart shot up to the sky. The undead mare leading them actually pointed her hoof at her when she saw that, and the other pegasi changed their course to intercept.

But Lionheart was too nimble for them. She passed them with a corkscrew, then she began to climb straight up. The undead fliers tried to follow her, the rainbow mare at their head. It was fast, soon out climbing the others. It was indeed very fast. But while it is possible to give an undead the resemblance of the skills the pony had possessed in life, the magic spark that animates them is a poor replacement for a soul. It does not posses the living pony's dreams, its love, or passion.

While in live, Rainbow Dash had been the fastest flier in all of Equestria, her reanimated body was but a shadow of a great mare, and Lionheart finally out climbed her by a hundred pony lengths. Then she rolled around and angled herself towards her enemy. With a single mighty clap of her wings she sped down, and dropped a hundred pony length faster than the eye could see, before coming to a standstill once more.

Her soldiers called this move the Lion's roar. Thunder rolled across the sky, and all around the captain of the Night Guard fell the broken bodies of her enemies, crushed by the shock wave she had created.

I watched how Rainbow's body crashed to the ground and vanished among the horde with grim satisfaction. I swore that Trot Amon would pay dearly for murdering her.

Now it was my turn. I reared on my hind legs and spread my hooves wide. “Just who do you think I am!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “I am Hela Regina Mortium! A necromancess from another world. I know secrets of sorcery you ponies could never dream off! Your pitiful minions mean nothing to me! Watch!”

I briefly concentrated, then pointed my hooves at the horde before me and bellowed the formula of “Pandemonium!”

The ground under the undead before me turned black, then skeleton hands, shadowy tentacles and hungry yaws appeared from the darkness and began hacking and slashing and biting, obliterating everything within a hundred steps.

That caught the King's attention again. Engulfed in the aura of a spell, he floated over the battlefield. “Nopony knows more secrets of sorcery than I do!” he thundered. “Have a taste of true power.”

His horn came alive with bright green and purple light. The sky above us darkened, then it began to rain fire. I barely managed to circle my staff over my head, and yell “Gardianum!” once again to strengthen my shield, before a thick hail of burning rocks crashed down and annihilated the whole area around us. For long moments the magic attacks drummed against the flashing sphere above me, but when the fire ceased, the shield still held.

I looked around, to see that the King's spell had wiped out at least a thousand of his own troops clearing the area around us, while from my own thralls only Fruvus was destroyed. Felicitas picked herself up from the ground and shook off some flames as her bones knot back together. Invictus didn't even appear bothered.

I looked up at the Necromancer with a cocky grin. “Is that all you can do? It's my turn again.” And with that I threw at him the spell of “Frigifaxius!” and a leg thick ice lance shot at him from my hoof. In the last instant he managed to bring up a shield of his own, deflecting the spell.

Then erupted a mage's duel. We traded spell after spell, while our minions ripped each other to pieces, trying to get to their enemy masters. Ice and fire flared across the sky, magic shields flared, broke and were cast again.

I yelled every spell at the top of my lung, gesturing wildly with my staff and hooves, making an exuberant show of it, but in truth I was holding back as much of my arcane powers as I could. Not because I was afraid I could hurt Twilight, but because I had to conserve energy. I tried to match the Necromancer King spell for spell, wrestle the control of his undead from him and send them back and smack everything else with my ram headed staff, and all the while I tried to make it look easy.

I knew I was hopelessly outmatched. While Twilight Sparkle knew more spells than I, she had wasted much time learning to turn apples to oranges and similar useless magic, and I was confident to be more versed in combat magic than she was. But I could not hope to ever match her for raw magical power. And now that her arcane reserves were added to the King's own, all I could hope for was that he had already spend much of it on raising his army, or I would collapse from magic exhaustion long before my plan came to work.

I fought a desperate battle for time, using techniques to save on arcane power unique to my school of magic, leading many attacks with nought but rocks and bones I threw at my enemy with telekinesis or bare hooves. I danced around between the shattered corpses, raised burning skulls from the ground with the “Ressurcetion Definitus!” and threw them against the King's shield, where they exploded in smoldering balls of flame. I dashed across the battlefield, avoiding spells rather than deflecting them, battering undead to the side with my staff as I went.

But none of it seemed enough. I felt my magic come to its end, my legs felt heavy and I had to force myself to breath steadily or reveal my exhaustion to the enemy. Felicitas lay on the ground in pieces, and even Invictus was already missing a leg. Yet the saber-tooth was still writhing on the ground and killing. Soon my reserves would barely last for a teleport spell of a single mile, and I was just about to call at Serene and Lionheart to make an expeditious retread, when finally the King's voice bellowed across the battlefield.

“Enough!”

I looked up and saw that Twilight's chest was weaving fast to draw breath. Her coat was torn in several places, and the bone helmet broken, revealing half of her wet, shining face beneath.

“This host is inadequate!” The Necromancer King cursed. “But your power is impressive sorceress.” A vicious grin came to Twilight's lips. “I shall make it mine!”

With that words the miasma faded from her eyes and the rolled back into her head. The aura of levitation around her faded, and she began plummeting towards the earth. Lionheart was there, she shot down from the sky and caught Twilight before she crashed to the ground. Lionheart grabbed Twilight's body firmly in her hooves and began speeding off towards Ponyville.

I smiled, for my ruse had worked. With an effort of my last magical powers I shattered Invictus into pieces with an ice lance, less he might fall into enemy hooves, then I sat down on my haunches, closed my eyes and began humming a lullaby I remembered from my childhood.

With this came the uncomfortable phase of my plane, the one I had found no way around, no matter how much thought I had put into it. With the force of a battering ram hitting my head, Trot Amon invaded my body. I could feel his revolting presence in each of my limbs, yet most strongly in my chest, where it seemed to crush my heart into a frozen rock filled with nothing but despair.

You are mine!

I heard his voice within my mind, then I lost all feeling, as he pushed my conciseness into the far corners of my mind. I heard him laughing, gloating as he made himself comfortable inside of my head.

But his laughter soon stuck in his throat.

What is this? You arcane powers are all but depleted. You are nothing compared my former host! What trickery?

“Mom!”

A voice penetrated through the darkness surrounding me, just as the king realized he had fallen into my trap. I stopped humming the lullaby, and re-erected my mind's barriers in an instant, trapping the king within it, while wrestling control over my body back from him.

I opened my eyes, and looked into the worried face of my daughter standing over me. “Cast the Pentagramma spell now!” I shouted.

“But mom, he is still inside you.”

“I know, and I can't keep him there for long.” I stumbled onto my legs and laid my right hoof on Serene's shoulder. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, she clenched her teeth and shook her head. “You must! If he gets free he will just search for the next host, and I won't have my daughter enslaved by an old, rotten ghost.”

Hesitantly she stopped shaking her head and looked me in the eye. “It's okay,” I hushed and let go of her. Finally she wiped her eyes on her fetlock, took off her cloak with the pentagram stitched onto it and drew her banishing sword to cast the spell. “I love you,” she sobbed, a tear falling from her chin.

I wanted to say, that I loved her too, that she meant everything to me and how sorry I was to force her to do this. But all I could do was swallow the lump I felt stuck in my throat. I closed my eyes, sat down on my haunches and waited for damnation to come. Trot Amon raged against my mental barriers, frantically trying to break out of my trap before Serene would finish the spell.

Foal! The spell will banish us both! You will be thrown into the nether hells together with me!

If that means my family and friends are save from a monster such as you, it is a price I am willing to pay.

His struggles became even more desperate, but I paid it no more heed. For the last seconds on this world I recalled the memories I had made since I crashed into Trixie's show. The ponies I had met; human crazed Lyra; oh so clever Twilight; ever gracious Rarity; Lionheart my first true love; Serene the apprentice that had become my daughter; Merry whose foals I had wished to bear; and little Wisp, sun of my live. Though I would never see any of them again, I couldn't help but smile, thankful for all the wonders they had shared with me.

Finally Serene raised her voice, and I could already feel the arcane winds pulling at me. “Penta. . .”

“STOP!”

A bellowing voice, carrying the undeniable force of divine order echoed across the hills. I opened my eyes in wonder. Serene dropped the spell; the arcane powers dissipated in dancing whirlwinds and colorful sparks. Both of us looked to the east where the voice had come from.

With the raising sun at her back -ironically- Princess Luna hovered high above the hill we had come from, her Night Guards fanning out behind her. With a few flaps of her majestic wings she descended towards us and landed on the scorched area we stood on. Behind her some pegasus chariots touched down, and ponies spilled forth from them before they even came to a halt and rushed to the princess' side.

“Why did you interrupt the spell? The King is trapped inside of me, and I can't keep much longer!” I barked at her royal majesty as she walked closer.

She just looked down on me with a benevolent smile. “Your courage is admirable Sapphire, but your sacrifice is of no need.”

I blinked and stared at her in confusion.

And from behind her stepped six mares, wearing the most powerful magical artifacts in all of Equestria. Twilight was at their head, still beaten up, but standing tall, her face and eyes burning with fierce determination.

The Element of Loyalty was worn by a new face of orange coat and pink mane. Scootaloo looked at me with an unsure simper, trying to fit into place best as she could, and in her being here, I sensed the presence of another pony at work; Rainbow Dash, loyal way beyond death.

“OK girls, you know the drill. Scootaloo? Take it easy, just focus on the friendship you felt for Rainbow and you will do fine. Everyone, let's do this!” And with that Twilight's eyes started blazing in white light, and the six of them were lifted from the ground. I motioned for Serene to stand back, so she would not be caught in the blast, then closed my eyes one more time.

I think we should start getting more acquainted, since you and I are going to share a prison cell for a long time. Hope you like being trapped in stone Trot Amon!

I saw the Rainbow of the Elements even through my closed eyelids. Warm light engulfed me. The world became white, then it went black.

Author's Note:

As always special thanks to Daring-Do Books for his help with editing.

Comments

[Gilgamesh King of Heroes]

The princess got it well under hoof

I don't understand what do you mean by that is hoof also the pony word for control or something?

[Sebbaa]

2462685
A pony pun for "got it well under hand" which is, as I understand, a metaphor for "got it well under control"