> Blue Bones, Necromancer of the Cold > by StockPhotos > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Ch.1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ch.1 "Ticket," asked the conductor of the mechanical wonder known as a "train." I was woken by his voice, my eyes popping in surprise that nopony else was onboard the steamship with wheels. He asked again, "Sir, this is our finally stop for today. May I see your ticket?" I waited for a moment, then pulled out my ticket from my small, white satchel. It was woven by my mother last year as a birthday present. It was insulated to protect against the cold, so any food inside for or from hunting trips wouldn't be frozen solid. As I handed the ticket over to the conductor, he punched holes in it with another mechanical device that I haven't seen before. "Ah, well then Mr. Bones welcome to Baltimare." He welcomed, motioning me downt the isles of seats to the nearest exit. I was sitting in 3rd class. There was hay scattered across the floor, interior was unpainted, and the benches were just planks stretching from one wall to the center leaving a narrow gap between. It didn't have much support either. Only a block of wood every four or five hoofs or so apart, But that was the best I could afford and it really didn't bother me as much. When I stood up to grab my satchel and feather coat to exit the train, I noticed my knees wouldn't bend. And when I figured out why, tears burst from eyes as I remembered the reason for coming here in the first place. I did not cry nor make any sound, but I was exploding with tears. The conductor stood their for a while, watching me weep in silence until he kindly said to me in a soft tone "You may leave when you would like, but the train departs in five minutes and you cannot be onboard when it does." I nodded to let him know I understood and accepted his kind favor. And so I sat there for about four minutes, I could tell because there was a clock on the wall of the train, clearing my mind of my grief. Then I just left. I got up, strapped my satchel to my waist, threw my coat on top of my back, walked through the narrow Isle of seats, and headed through that door into a new world. The streetlights flickered in my vision, Snow was lightly falling and I donned my coat proudly. As I walked in the streets in search of shelter, I heard Snow crunching where I walked. It made me feel happy to hear that sound. So happy that I started running around and jumping. I missed that sound. Walking around in the train and on the platforms sounded like I was in a boat. I didn't like that because on my brother's boat he always made me feel useless when I was young. My brother is ten years older than me. I was forced to respect him. He wasn't a bad brother, he wouldn't treat me like a slave. He made me feel useless on his boat because he didn't want me to untangle the lines. He was about to teach me the different ropes and what they were for, but when he was supposed to return, he did not. We prayed on Lady Nautava (Lady of the Seas) that he would return within two weeks. When we gave up hope for him to return, we held a funeral in his honor. I stopped playing in Snow so I could get going. It was getting late anyway. As I continued to walk down the magically lit street, I noticed somepony at the dock. I silently walked towards who I saw and as I crept closer and closer, I became aware that they had a book. Or what I assumed was a book. As they were unaware I was there, I whispered very quietly the Soul Seeking spell. As I did so, my right hoof began to glow dimmly with a blue shell surrounding an inner white ball of light. the words I whispered were "Faad-ight vor triik." Faad meant sight and Ight was a present-tense ending similar to -ing. Vor stood as "of" and Triik meant "inner-spirit" or soul in this case. Anyway, what I saw inside the ball of light was the symbol for magic, a six pointed star, but there was a second symbol, one I did not know. It was indescribable with countless bends, angles and intersections. I disbanded the spell and tried to cast Shadow Blend (Joor tyu xthaluul), but by the time I looked up from the light she was staring right at me. A purple mare who was a unicorn and a magic user. She had a black mane with a streak of purple that matched her coat. She was furious about my spell. But she also seemed curious about it. As the look in her eyes changed from anger to "what's that?" her head cocked, staring at my hoof with the seeking spell still there. She responded "I haven't seen that kind of magic before and if you're an earth pony, how can you even use magic in the first place?" Her soft voice pondered. "And what is that material, so strange." She had to continue. "I can use magic because I read and practiced the arts of Kalyctas-toov." "Who's that?" She questioned me again as if she were a filly, asking their father why he had to leave and how a war got started. Just how I had asked mine. "You know, it's getting late and I should really find a place to stay. If we meet again I shall answer question for an answer." Just as I turned around, she stopped me. Her mouth opened to say something and what popped out was, "You can stay with me for the night." > Ch.2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You don't even know me and you're letting me stay at your place for the night? Why?" I asked with curiosity and gentleness, not knowing she would say, "Because you can tell me about your magic and where you're from. A favor for an answer?" She attempted to get answers from me, but I am in need of somewhere to sleep for the night. I'll have to let this one slide for now. "Alright deal, but I'll have to tell you your answers in the morning." I agreed with some hesitation to say. She led me further down the docks to a somewhat small ship compared to the others gathered around the crowded port. She showed me to a plank that stretched to the bow of the ship from the docks. It was black with purple accents. I can guess what the inspiration for the colors were. There is only one mast, but there are three sails. They were curled up and I couldn't see the design. It was a fine ship indeed, but no finer than my brother's. I've been thinking of getting a ship of my own and finding my brother. Or what's left. I followed her down a stairway into a room with four bunkbeds. "Over there are my quarters," she pointed to a door in the back of the ship. I suppose I should've mentioned there are two sets of stairs. One was in the front, the one we went down, and the other in the back. "Pick any bunk you want, I'll wake you up for breakfast." She mentioned, turning to her quarters and went through the doorway. She stopped to look at me and smiled. I cocked my head with a confused expression on my face. I walked over to the nearest bunk and slept on the bottom. It was pretty comfortable compared to the matts made of Coef feathers. Coef were domesticated birds that thrived in cold climates, similar to Burammas, farmed for food and insulated feathers used in most clothing in the Frozen North. I hung my coat on the bed post and laid down. As I closed my eyes, it was black and then an image started to emerge. I was having a nightmare throughout my sleep. Everything was faded as if I were in a thick fog. I saw myself, face to face with a demon. A demon that I could not recognize, but knew it came from the Rift just like all demons. This demon had a worm's face, exposed muscles for a torso, arms made of smoke, and a savage wolf's legs. It seemed familiar like a reletive, but forgotten like something on the tip of your tongue where the harder you try to remember, the more you forget. I tried to use my magic, but failed into sparks. I tried desperately to cast spells several times only to find the results the same. The demon started to grow larger and larger by the second. I backed away slowly, then I turned around and darted in a full sprint! I could not run another step for I had stepped in a sticky trap, glueing my hoofs to the floor. The monster had circled around to face me. It openex it's void of a mouth and had begun to suck the very soul from my body. When my vision turned to the darkest of black shades of the demon's mouth I have ever seen, I woke in the bed I fell asleep in. I was screaming, panicking and my heart racing the seconds of daylight. There were more ponies onboard the ship this time. I counted five others: pale, yellow, blue, pink, and white. They were all staring at me. I was nervous, glancing my sight swiftly to all of them and back to eachother. It continued like that until the captain came through those doors to greet us. "Good morning everypony! Good to see you all up." "We didn't really have much of an option with this one yelling." The red pony said pointing her hoof to me. "Well, let's not bicker like little fillies who are arguing about a piece of candy. How about we get some breakfast, I'm sure you're all hungry." "Yeah, we probably should get some food." We all gathered our things and vacated the ship. While we were walking through the bustling town of businesses and warehouses and normal houses, I overheard the blue pegasus talking to the purple host. "Um, Twi, who is that and why was he sleeping in your ship?" "Well, I don't quite know his name, but I had some questions to ask him and he was looking for a place to stay so I told him he could sleep on my ship if he would answer my questions." "And what were these... questions if you don't mind me asking?" The white one joined in on their conversation. "Things like who he was, where he's from and how he can do magic without a horn." Answered "Twi" "Just to make a guess, where do you think he's from?" The pale pony inquired. "I'm not sure I mean I've never seen magic done by somepony without a horn, nor a coat made from feathers. He could be from anywhere be anypony." "Whitehorse, I'm from Whitehorse. And my name is Blue Bones of the Frozen. If you ever have a question just ask it's not that hard." I said in a very irritated tone for them talking behind my back. "Mr. Bones, do you like parties?!" The pink one was jumping up and down when she was asking. "I don't know, I've never been to one." She stood dead in her tracks by this piece of information she could hardly believe. "And the coat was made by my mother incase you were wondering as well." I directed that to the white pony. It was very silent until we got to a big pink building that read "Sugarcube Corner" in big white letters. I assumed this is where breakfast was. When we stepped through the doorway, there was a dinging sound. I looked up to see a curved brass ... thing. I don't know what that was, but it made a sound nonetheless. I smelled a foreign scent. Curiosity got the better of me when the pink pony went in the back room and came out with a tray that had the source of the scent. "What are those?" I asked "They're muffins, silly." answered the pink pony with the "muffins." Hoofing them out to every one of us. Before I bit into my muffin, I heard a rattling in the kitchen. The stuff of nightmares had jumped through the window between this room and the kitchen. A demon. They've never seen one before and the yellow pony cowered under the table while it came running up to the table and roared the mightiest of roars one could only imagine. The saliva from the beast's moth poured onto our muffins. "What a waste of a good muffin." I sighed. I shoved it forcefully sending it to the other half of the room by using a "Catapult of Souls" spell (Foor-tiig Vhasa Jur). It definitely left a hole in the wall. It had quickly rebounded and lept straight for me, but I had already went to a different spot in the room while it was down. "Get out of here, the demon is too strong for you to face. Run back to your ship!" I shouted to the ponies who were accompanying me. "No, we can't just leave you." "Twi" argued. During that time span the demon had lept from the wall and crashed me through another wall out onto the streets of Baltimare. Everypony that was outside threw into a huge panic and ran to their homes, fleeing the scene. I was knocked unconcious, and entered a black mist. The only thing I could see was the demon and it had me in its grip. It was sucking my soul into it's mouth. Black as void. Then it hit me, this was my nightmare from last night. My life was going to end right here. Something wasn't right though, it wasn't growing any larger. I took my chances and yelled Hierta bi Wyk, meaning Soul Rip. The demon had dropped me onto the ground and returned my soul and shattered like a pane of glass, fading away and left blood every where. I snapped out and becam concious once more. I gasped for air and took deep breathes and when I attempted to lift myself from the ground, my right arm was bleeding where the monster's claws were piercing my flesh, leaving deep wounds. > Ch.3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh Celestia! Are you alright!?" Twilight inquired with great concern and fear for my injury to be too terrible to mend. "We need to get you to the hospital as soon as we can! AJ, help me-" she was cut off by me pulling my spell tome, Vol.2 of the Forbiden Arts and Practices of Death, from my saddle bag. At that moment time froze as the six just watch me turn the demon's remaining blood into a black cloth that had changed color and texture to be identical to my coat. "You're a... a necromancer. A scholor of the dark arts!" Twilight had practically shouted as if calling to the gods themselves. And I'm sure that Xol, god of fairness and justice and anything right, was listening. "Not so loud," I hushed, "do you want me to be thrown into dungeons and hated by everypony to the point where I'm forced to leave." I had snapped in a low wisper. I didn't want to be exiled again and definitely did not want totalk about how I got here. It took a while for anypony to speak of anything. Still dumbstruck of me being a necromancer I assume. But eventually the blue ranbow maned pony had to say, "So you just expect us to forget what we saw?" "No," I responded almost instantly. "You can remember it, but what I ask of you is that you keep this secret." "Hold your horses, you expect us to jest say nothing happened. Say for that huge hole in the wall." AJ tried to catch me off guard, but it was I who held their tongue. "What hole could you possiblybe talking about?" I smirked when they all turned arouned to get a good look at the wall. It was repaired, seamless except for when the wallpaper met at the corners. "But...but...but how!" Twilight had exclaimed, stuttering at first clearly amazed. "You never answered, how can you do magic?" Still prodding me for the answers she seeked. I swear by the oath of Ulon, god of promises and deals, I said, "I thought I told you I read the tomes. Spellbooks of the grandmaster mage and high counsel member during the second blizard." I told, somewhat annoyed and tired in my voice. "If it's so secret, why don't we go elsewhere?" Inquired the white, regal looking pony. I hadn't noticed before, but she had a horn! Not that it's important any, I mean you rarely get to see one in the north. Which reminds me of a story, a story I shall bring up later. "Now there's an idea, but where would be a good place for stoytelling? The boat seems a bit small no offense, but we can't stay here after what just happened. Anypony?" I hurried to say. "There is an old fort that isn't being used. It's more of a ruin now so there wouldn't be many around." Rainbow had answered, after which there was a brief moment of silence Brief enough to tell time passing, but long eternities passing by. "Yes, yes I suppose that will do nicely. What is it's current condition?" Now I had engaged in a conversation with Rainbow by this point. "Weathered away and ignored by anypony else. It isn't cool enough for even me to look at personally." "Indeed, it is no longer noticed. I find the fortress too rough of a condition for a lady of leisure, such as I." Joined in Rarity. "Point me the way." I demanded hurriedly, for the guards were sure to come to investigate. "Why point when I can lead you?" "This is where we split." "What! Why? Why leave? You said you would tell me how you got the ability to do magic without a horn!" Twilight had now snapped at me for wanting to be left alone. "You heard me and I have my reasons. I must leave. A single mouse is harder to catch without a herd following." I had riddled, for knowing she would understand or not and let me go. "Alright, It's north of here and I will pay visit tomorrow at noon." At last she had cooperated, but with a price. A price that was kept promise. I don't know why, but I felt hurt as I said: "Va es nu hatura do miv" And in a flash of black smoke and flash of light, I had turned invisible or unseen by pony eyes. I had crawled out the window that had been kept open so I could escape and unseen. Now on the bustling streets, I had to be careful not to bump into any pony. My first move was getting to an ally way. I went upstream the rivers of populous, and managed into an ally. This was my downfall for as I de-cloaked, a pony emerged from the corner with a knife. I backed away slowly, but I was halted by another pony with a similar knife. They were both dark gray, but the one infront of me had a hard leather saddle bag. "Here's how this works, you give me your bits and my buddy and I won't beat you up an take 'em." The pony with the saddle bag had given me an idea. "Can I say something first?" I had cornered him with my words." "Yeah sure, whatever. Just don't call for help or take too long." He fell right in my trap. "Gol tur huo zes" As this chant was being performed, a sword materialized in my hooves and I readied myself in the stance only captains and kings were taught. "You sure about this?" I had immediately bucked the pony who was behind me and sent him toward the crowd in the streets. They instinctively fled, but the guards had come. "Shite." I sighed once more before this chapter closes.