Diary of the Necromancess

by Sebbaa

Chapter 4: Carefully Waged Heroics

Chapter 4: Carefully Waged Heroics

The demon towered above all those that assailed him, brushing of their every attacks like water. It was a rider, his black, ragged cloak bellowing around him, a white bone lance in his skeletal hand. His undead steed alone was at least three times the size of the ponies attacking him, a cold light burning in the dark pits of its eyes.

It was a guardian of the limbo, set out to destroy any life that gets lost in his formless realm. I don't think that this was its real form, or that it even had one for that matter. It had chosen to appear as a pale rider to mock me, show me that the power I desired was never for me to control.

I grabbed my dagger -my banishing sword- and drew it with a wet and shaking hand. Four ponies were still in combat with the creature, though none of them looked like a soldier.

Twilight Sparkle was there, summoning shield spells to protect her and the others, blasting away at the demon with crackling bolts of purple energy.

The rainbow pony flew around him at unbelievable speed. My eyes could barely follow her movements, as it dashed about in a multicolored blur and struck the rider from every direction with its hooves.

An orange earth pony wearing a stupid hat tried to brawl it out with rider and horse hoof to hoof.

Its strength was unreal; its punches broke the bones of the horse, its bucks send demon staggering backwards.

A white unicorn with the most impossible curly hair was using its telekinesis to throw any object in reach at the demon. It showered him with sharp stones and bludgeoned him with a heavy wooden beam.

I spotted only two other ponies on the fringe of the battle. A pink one who hopped around and carried the wounded out of the creature's reach, and a light yellow one with pink hair who treated their wounds.

Still, it was all no use. Wherever they managed to wound the rider, to break bones or scorch his cloak, the damage vanished in the blink of an eye as though it had never been there. As strong as the orange pony was, she was no trained fighter, and only Twilight's shields had protected her from being skewered so far, but they were rapidly growing weaker and started to break after one or two hits.

I clenched my teeth and grabbed my dagger so hard my knuckles showed white. With vigorous steps I began walking towards the demon while undoing the midnight sash around my waist with my free hand. The last time the guardian had caught up with me it had been noon on an endless waste of splintered glass. Every step I had taken had cut up my feet, the scorching sun had burned in my eyes and I had been on the verge of exhaustion; I had barely escaped with my life. But this time was different. It was night in the magical land of Equestria where small ice spells froze entire stages, and I was rested and felt the magic energies surge through my body. A feral smile grew on my lips, this time would be very different.

I approached until I was less then seven steps from my foe and planted my sash on the ground; a black, silken cloth with a scarlet pentagram embroidered onto it. “Keep him busy! I will try to banish him!” Only now did the ponies notice my approach. Only Twilight Sparkle was not dumbstruck by my presence; she briefly nodded and started yelling orders at the others, while casting even more magic bolts, trying to gain the riders attention.

I described a circle above my head with my dagger, speaking the formula of “Gardianum” and the bright, translucent sphere of the magic shield appeared around me.

I hoped that the spell and the ponies would give me time, time I would desperately need if my next spell was going to work. I raised my hands up high, and began to slash the air with my banishing sword; down to the left, up to the right, to the left, down to the right again, drawing the lines of a pentagram, as if to severe the ropes holding the demon in this sphere. I closed my eyes, concentrated on the magic formula and gathered my arcane energies for the spell. The wind picked up around me, I felt my hair bellow in arcane currents, as I gathered enough raw energy to reduce a grown man to a pile of ash. I wasn't going to ask the demon to disappear nicely. I would pummel it into submission with a magic battering ram.

When I opened my eyes again I saw that the situation had deteriorated fast. The pony with the stupid hat was on the ground, the white one standing over it with a feral snarl on its face. Twilight's last shield spell failed, and she was thrown to the ground by the magic backslash. The rider had finally gotten wind of my presence; he threw his horse around and began to charge at me. The demon pointed its bony fingers at me, and from it shot a magic spear, hurtling towards me like a ballista bolt. It shattered as it struck my magic shield; the barrier flashed brightly, but it held.

Then the rider was upon me, his lance crashed against my shield, his horse threw its body against it. The sphere wavered, flickered in and out of existence, it barely lasted long enough to throw the demon back before it collapsed. I gnarled my teeth, my spell was nearly complete, the air above the pentagram whirring, the arcane energies cracking at the tip of my dagger. All I needed was a few more heartbeats.

Out of nowhere shot a blue streak, it began flying circles around the demon, engulfing him in a tornado of wind and rainbow blur.

Then suddenly there was a sickening crunch and it was gone; the tornado disappeared and gave sight to the rider discarding the rainbow haired pony, he had impaled through the side, with a twist of its hand.

But the distraction the pony had provided had been long enough. As its body slid free from the lance and fell to the ground, I cast my spell. “Pentagramma Sphaerabann!” A black portal appeared in the middle of the pentagram; with a deafening, slurping rush it began drawing the demon in. The creature struggled, turned its horse around and spurred it on, but its hooves dragged over the ground fruitlessly. In a few heartbeats the rider began to be sucked into the portal, its form deteriorated, twisted, lengthened, and disappeared. The hole closed, and nothing was left in this world of the guardian's demonic presence.

“Rainbow Dash!” As soon as the demon was gone, Twilight stumbled to her hooves and rushed over to the fallen pony. The others came as well, even the orange one, who fought to gain her hooves, limped over. I sheathed my dagger and took a few steps closer to get a better look.

Twilight was sitting on the ground, cradling the winged pony's head in her fore legs; desperate tears were running down her face. The other ones cluttered around her, their faces a mixture of shock and helpless confusion. “Quick, we have to get her to the hospital!” The orange earth pony urged, but Twilight just shook her head.

It took me only one glance to see why. The rainbow pony had been impaled by the rider's lance all the way from one side of her ribcage to the other. Blood was running from the wound and mouth, quickly turning the snow around her red. She had already lost consciousness. “It's no use to get her anywhere, she's dying.”

Shocked, defeated and even angry eyes turned my way, as I stated the obvious. Then they all broke out in tears and various degrees of unsightly emotional displays, yet that was everything they did.

“Don't you know any healing spells?” I snapped. Twilight looked up again, no idea what I was talking about. I waged my options for a heartbeat. Clearly these ponies were emotionally attached to the rainbow one, including Twilight Sparkle whose help I needed.

“Out of my way!” I shoved two of the ponies to the side and knelt down in the red snow beside the dying pony; ignoring that I stained my clothes in the process. I pressed my right hand over the now barely bleeding wound and summoned anything that was left of my astral reserves. “Balsam Salabunde, Balsam Salabunde. . .” I began chanting the incantation of the only healing spell I knew, concentrating on the pattern, slowly channeling my magic into the body of Rainbow Dash.

The spell began working at once; it stopped the bleeding, ripped arteries grew back together, broken bones mended and flesh returned to its original form. I kept chanting all the while; sweat formed on my brow from the arcane effort. After what could only have been a few minutes, but felt like half a lifetime, the spell was complete; a thin layer of new, pink skin had grown where two bleeding holes had been. As soon as I withdrew my hand, Rainbow began coughing, spitting out bloody phlegm. Once she had cleared her lungs she looked around herself, blinking, confused.

Before she knew what hit her, she was beset by her friends, hugging her, crying in her hair, and generally doing nothing to make the situation any less confusing for her. I leaned back with a groan. My head hurt with a vengeance; a well known sign, telling me that I had used up all of my arcane powers. But I too had no time to recover; without warning I was embraced in a crushing hug from the pink and pink pony.

“Idon'tknowwhatyouarebutyousavedRainbowDashthankyouthankyouthankyouyouaremynewbestestfriendever.”

“Can't. . .breath.”

Luckily, before I passed out from too much gratitude, I was saved by the other earth pony. It grabbed the pink one by its hair and pulled it away from me. “Slow with the young horses there sugar cube, you don't want to smother Rainbow's savior to thank her.”

I took a few deep breaths and worked out my arms that had been crushed against my body. “Thanks.”

“Don't sweat it non. I have to thank you! Not only did you just save Rainbow with that spell of yours, but I think you also saved the whole town from that monster thingy.”

I stood up, cleaned my right hand with fresh snow and brushed of the worst of the bloody slush from my robe. “She was lucky I was around. I can't believe Twilight Sparkle doesn't know any healing spells.”

Twilight shook her head. “I have never even seen magic such as this! I don't know how to thank you. If you had not been here. . .”

“Think nothing of it, you were the one to help me out first after all.” I held up my bandaged left hand to remind her what research she had been doing.

“Right! The cure. I will get back to research as soon as I can!”

I nodded, then looked down my wet and bloodstained clothes. “I think I'll have to wash up before I join you again.”

As soon as I had mentioned that, the white unicorn shoved itself into my field of vision. “Oh darling, look at you! Your clothes a ruined, and your poor hair! I cannot leave you like this, please, come back to my place and I'll take good care of you, it's the least I can do.”

A groan sounded from the ground, as Rainbow strained herself to stand up. “You!” I took a quick step towards her and thrust my finger downwards. “You stay down. You just survived being run through by a lance. My spell may have closed the wound but it is not fully healed and you will rip it open again if you strain yourself.” I quickly looked around for the yellow, winged pony that had been taking care of the wounded. I found her hiding behind the orange one. “You there! Take care of her, make sure she doesn't move and get her cleaned up and into bed.” She jumped, made herself as small as possible behind her friend; she was shaking, but nodded nonetheless.

“Right then.” I stepped out of the group and looked back at the white unicorn. “Shall we go?”

She looked back at Twilight, who nodded. “Go ahead, you take care of our guest, we take care of things here.”

As the two of us walked away, she had already begun to work things out. “Applejack, Pinkie Pie, can you put out the fires and organize the cleanup, while I explain everything to the major?”

.oOo.

We shared introductions on the way. Her name was Rarity; she lived and had shop in a round building whose name was raped to “Go around tailor shop” by my amulet. It was quite the fancy place, with multiple stories, lots of windows and decorations.

Very soon I was standing inside of the unicorn's bathroom. The room was lit by dozens of candles my host had magically ignited just as she entered it. A large bathtub, easily big enough to hold three or four persons, was set into the floor. A wide mirror stood at the wall, tall as the room itself. Last but not least was a vanity case with beautiful floric wood carvings, bristling with brushes, bottles of perfume, makeup and ever more beauty products.

I walked around the tub one time, looking at all the various soaps and bath salts in the shelves, marveling over the perfectly white and fluffy towels and the robe of the same make hanging from a hook on the wall. “I see you are a woman who not only takes her personal care quite seriously.”

“Of course, a lady always has to look her best.”

“True, but I can see you spending lots of time in here, it's quite cozy.”

“You got me figured Darling, there is nothing like relaxing bath after a long day of work.”

“Indeed. So, please tell your servants to fetch scalding hot water, and lots of it. I seldom get the opportunity for a real bath on my travels, I wish to make the most of it.”

I turned around and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, when she didn't call for her servants immediately.

She cleared her throat. “I fear I don't have any servants, but you shall have your hot water nonetheless.” Her horn glowed, and under her magic a knob on a pipe at the edge of the tube turned. Water began flowing out of it; it soon began to steam.

“Now that's running water if I have ever seen one. Fascinating!” I crouched down beside the pipe to get a closer look. “Have you got a magic artifact providing the hot water? A bound djinn perhaps?”

She gave me the same look Trixie had given me, when I had asked her about the whistling kettle. “Eh, no its just regular hot water, heated by the central fireplace.”

I found myself smiling again. “Your world has the most impressive technology, you know that?”

“Really? Your world must be quite. . . different, if you are this impressed by simple running water.”

“It is,” I said, wrinkling my brow. I shook my head, stood up again, unbuckled my belt and placed it with all its pouches on a free hook on the wall. As soon as she noticed me undressing, Rarity turned to leave the room.

“If you need anything else, just call. I'll be in my workroom.”

“Thanks, I will.” I watched her leave and close the door behind her with her telekinesis, as I slid down my robe.

I discarded my underwear next and threw all of it on a pile next to the door, only then did it occur to me, that no servant would come to pick it up and clean it for me. “The only thing I can't live without is luxury.” I shook my head and went over to the large mirror.

It had been a while since I had seen all of me in a mirror, but it had not improved since the last time. Once I had been a striking beauty; men and women fought to gain my attention. But all that was left of it were the symmetric, noble features of my face, and my hip long, night sky black hair. My body, even the part that was left untouched by the decay looked like that of a dead; my rips showing, no bosom or hip to speak of and skin as pale as snow.

I shook my head and turned around, I couldn't stand to look at what I had become. While the tub was still filling with water, I selected a soap that smelled strongly of lotus blossoms and had a caressing, smooth feel to it; I placed it together with a sponge and towel next to the tube.

I stopped the flow of water, turning the knob on the pipe with my hand; I turned it in the wrong direction at first, increasing the flow, but then managed to make it stop. I turned it on and off a few more times, marveling at how precise I could regulate the flow of water.

But eventually the hot water called out to me, and I lowered myself into the tub. It was scalding hot, giving me the feeling of stepping into a cooking pot as I submerged my body, but I quickly adjusted, and what was left was the blissful feeling of being completely warm. I sighed deeply and leaned back, enjoying the first good soak I had since I joined a caravan to travel through the desert long weeks ago.

I closed my eyes, trying not to think of anything, but eventually began to reflect on this strange world I had landed in.

I ranked it third strangest in my list of strange worlds. Not as strange as the inside of a limbo whale, or a plane of floating rocks, but far stranger than any human inhabited world I had been too. Yet it was amazing; the technology alone was worth studying for at least a month. If I were to bring any of this knowledge back to Bosperan, it would make me rich and famous.

But then what? I would still be a decaying freak. Worse, everyone would know about it. No, finding a cure was all that mattered right now, and this world's magic was my best chance so far. After I restored my body I could go back my original goals I had before the incident.

What had that been? Create the perfect undead? Was that even my own goal, or had it been pummeled into my head along with necromantic spells by my masters in the circle?

I drove the thought away by immersing my head in the water, the hotness on my face blocking out anything else for a moment. Pondering such possibilities was pointless at the moment, I would wage my options when they were to present themselves.

.oOo.

I left the bath with the largest towel I could find slung around my shoulders, carrying my clothes in a bundle. I had only left the tube when the water became cold, and my skin was wrinkled like an old woman's. I felt better than I had in a long time; I was clean, my hair smelled like lotus flowers instead of smoke from a camel dung fire, and even my headache from magic exhaustion was gone.

Rarity looked up from some kind a sewing work. She was standing behind a table covered in cloth of different colors, yarn and needles. There was some kind of machine on the table as well, I wondered what it was used for. I couldn't possibly be a machine for sewing, could it?

“Did you enjoy the bath darling? I almost feared you'd fallen asleep in the tube.”

A quiet smile crept to my lips. “Not far from it. It was very nice.” I began heading for the door, when the unicorn took something from the table and levitated it in front of me.

“Here sweetheart, try this on, I think it should fit.”

I placed my cloths on the floor and took the thing in my hands. I lifted it before me and stretched it out to get a better look at it. It was a robe, open on the front with a sash to close it. It was made from the same soft, white fabric as the towels and the robe I had seen in the bathroom. “How did you make this in such a short time?”

She waved my comment away with a hoof. “Oh, its just a little bathrobe, no highlights or embroideries there. Hardly took any time at all.”

I was still amazed, either she had several seamstresses work on this, used a spell to sew it together or that thing on her work table really was some kind of sewing machine. I discarded my towel, and began slipping into the robe.

“Celestia! What happened to your arm?”

I followed her shocked stare, and of course she had noticed my freshly bandaged appendage. “Just a skin condition, think nothing of it.”

I finished putting on the robe, and found it to be an almost perfect fit. I looked down on myself and nodded approvingly. “First time making something for a human. Taken all the measurements by eye. This is amazing!”

A modest blush came to the unicorn's cheeks. “Oh it's nothing. The least I can do is make you new clothes after you ruined yours while saving the life of my friend Rainbow Dash.”

I gave her a slight bow. “You are very generous Mistress Rarity.” I picked up the bundle of my clothes and went for the door. “But my clothes are far from ruined.” I opened the door, put the bundle on the ground again and picked up the first piece. “Watch this!” I held my shirt out of the door and brushed over it with my hand, letting a little bit of magic flow through it. Under my touch the white fabric began glowing again, and all the dirt, the stains were just stripped from it and fell to the ground.

I looked back at Rarity, presenting my shirt that was as clean again as on the day I had bought it. She was visibly impressed. “That's a very useful spell you have there.”

I shook my head. “It's not a spell, its a property of the fabric. Just let a little magic flow through it and it sheds any stains from it. It's even possible to repair cuts and rips, a little magic and it weaves together again as if it had never been apart.”

Rarity took a few steps closer and eyed the shirt with big, sparkling eyes.
“Wherever did you get cloth as amazing as this?”

I smiled, relishing the opportunity to show of my clothes, showing them off to someone who appreciated beautiful dresses as much as I did. “I got it in a world of eternal night, where everyone only ever spoke in lies. They called this fabric starlight. See how it shines? Feel how light it is? It's like wearing nothing but woven light on your skin.”

I left my shirt with her to get a better look and got back to my other clothes. I picked out my robe and repeated the process of cleaning it, before showing the dull, gray cloth to Rarity. “This is made from what they called half shadow; it has a quality like heavy silk, but it feels light and is soft to the touch like a cool shadow under a tree on a midsummer day.”

I left the robe with her too, almost giggling at how she marveled over the cloth. I quickly cleaned my pants, then I got the last piece of my attire, my cloak. The thick black fabric fell heavily into her waiting hooves. “This is my favorite piece, made from moonshadow. It's thick and heavy, impenetrable by wind or rain and keeps warm like finest wool. But see how it is not simply black, but seems to absorb the very light around it? It's like always carrying your personal shade with you.”

“I have never seen fabric such as this! It's amazing, think of the possibilities!” She looked up from the cloth and direct into my eyes, a feverish gleam in hers. “Can you get any more of this?”

I shook my head. “I fear not. I came into the realm of night falling from the skies in a ship made out of stone, and I left it jumping into a bottomless pit. Believe me, I wish I could, but traveling between worlds is no easy feat.” She frowned, I think I saw her eyes watering up. I quickly changed topic.

I snuggled my face into the collar of the robe she had made me. “But I find this fabric amazing too. It's nice, so soft and warm. We have nothing like this in my home world. Can you tell me, what else you make dresses from in this world.”

When I looked up, she was smiling at me again; I think I had found her soft spot. “Would you like some tea?” she offered.

“Gladly!” I said. I didn't add that I disliked the grass one. I couldn't imagine a sophisticated person like her drinking something so vile and common.

.oOo.

The evening was growing late, but me and Rarity were still idly chatting away. I had learned quite a bit about pony fashion. Having a fur to keep them warm, they didn't really need clothing and wore them solemnly for esthetic reasons. “When I make a dress for a pony,” she explained, “I try to make it as to ascend the features of her body, not hide them. To make them stand out in the most favorable way.”

She showed me some of her designs, and I could easily tell that ponies were not in the least concerned about modesty. Much like the dresses the high society of Bosperan wore, they hid just enough to make the onlooker's fantasy fill out the blanks. But I swear I had never before seen a dress that guided one's eyes as unfailingly to a person's posterior as some of the 'summer dresses' the fashionista showed me.

Eventually our conversation deteriorated to merry gossiping, and we began sharing embarrassing stories of our closest friends. I couldn't remember when I had that much fun talking to anyone, or when the last time was that I had a proper chat with another woman at all.

At one point I had mentioned, that I needed to brush my hair, and she had instantly offered to do it for me. I was sitting with my back to her, while she was carefully brushing out every entangled knot with a soft brush she held in her telekinetic grip. She had just shared a story about her and her friend Applejack -the orange pony- spending a stormy night with Twilight in the library.

"No way!" I said. "That's just like my friend Morlea. I tell you, that woman has the most amazing hair. Black like ebony, hip long and so thick you could make a rope from it. But she doesn't care for it at all. It's always an entangled mess with like twigs and leaves stuck in it; you would think a bird had made its nest in there! One time we had to go to an official reception of a local caliph, and I couldn't stand it any longer. I dragged her into my room, rubbed her clean until her skin was all pink and put her in a traditional tulamydian dress. But then I came to brush her hair."

I shook my head, only slightly because Rarity was still brushing it. "I broke three brushes trying to untangle it, then I gave up and just put it up in a knot."

Our bright giggling filled the room, when a knock on the door interrupted us. We fell silent, and Rarity went to answer the door.

"Oh Twilight! It's good to see you. How is Rainbow Dash doing?"

"She's fine. We had her checked out in the hospital. The medici couldn't believe me when I told them about the injury. They said even if something like that could heal, it would take weeks, maybe even months to get to the state of healing it is in."

I had to chuckle from back where I was sitting. I waved at Twilight when she looked past Rarity and spotted me. "I have to say, for all the magic in this world you have a real lack in healing spells, if even your studied medici are astonished by my spell."

The comment made Twilight look down on her hooves, biting her lower lip, contemplating for a moment. "Can you teach me that spell?" She finally looked up, her eyes boring into me with determination.

I slowly shook my head. "I don't think I can. Your way of casting spells is completely different from mine. It would take days, maybe weeks to teach it to another human of a different school of magic. But to a unicorn. . . " I shook my head. "that would be all but impossible."

Twilight frowned at this news, but she quickly recovered. "That's too bad. But anyway, I came to bring some good news." With that she had both mine and Rarity's full attention. "The Princess is coming to Ponyville tomorrow. She wants to personally thank the hero that has saved her subjects from a rampaging monster."

I forced a slight smile upon my lips. "Oh, that is great," I said. But what I was thinking was quite different: Just what I need, an immortal empress to see through my act and banish me into a dark oblivion!

Author's Note:

Special thanks to Daring-Do Books for his help with editing.

Comments

[angel4520]

Nice chapter. Cant wait for the next!