The ghosts of the past return in the tenth and final part of the Genetic Research Series.
A necromantic cult invades as Ponyville sets up yet another festival. What connection could they have to the Apple Family?
Part ten of the Genetic Research Series. Start at the beginning here
Attention: This story includes characters and motivations from Peacevic the Rapper In... While it is not absolutely necessary to read that story to understand this one, it will help.
It was widely believed that the citizens of Ponyville were completely insane.
Peacevic was inclined to agree as he watched the townsponies prepare for yet another festival. Though he supposed he couldn't really fault them for this one. as he was the one performing and subsequently getting paid. All the other ones though...
Sighing, he decided to take a tour of the town itself. He was done setting up, so what would be the problem? Close as Ponyville was to Canterlot, he'd still never been here before.
So, with his bodyguard hovering behind him, Peacevic set off for the town square.
Ponyville wasn't that bad to look at, though it was very small. The entire town would have only amounted to a district back in Canterlot. Still, the architecture was pleasant.
"Please tell me you're not the one they got to perform."
Peacevic turned, and broke out into a grin when he saw who it was that had spoken. "Twilight! My second-favorite princess!"
Twilight wasn't alone, though. Standing to her left was an orange, well-muscled earth pony with blond hair. She had a very pretty face and the best kind of curves. Peacevic figured she was probably quite... vigorous.
"So who's your hot friend?" Peacevic pressed when Twilight said nothing in reply to his greeting. The Princess groaned and facehoofed several times.
"Whoa there," the mare said, smiling slightly despite herself. "Little early to be so forward, don't ya think? We ain't even been introduced yet."
Using his magic, Peacevic snatched her snazzy-looking cowboy hat and gallantly bowed with it. "My name's Peacevic, rapper extraordinaire and close friend of Twilight here."
"I'm Applejack. Can I have my hat back now?" Applejack extended a hoof expectantly.
The unicorn set the hat on his mane, tipped back so his horn could poke out in front of it. "You can take it from me..."
"Seriously, Peacevic?" With another groan Twilight wrapped the hat up in her own magic and floated it back to Applejack.
"You, Twilight, are no fun. Have I ever told you that?"
"Yes." Twilight didn't care.
"There you are!" In an instant Rainbow Dash was next to them, with a beautiful unicorn mare gracefully arriving soon after.
Applejack grimaced. "Rarity."
The new pony, apparently called Rarity, simply looked away with a 'hmph'. Peacevic didn't need to be a mind reader to tell that these two had some sort of issue with each other. Which was really too bad...
"Hello, Rainbow Dash." The look on Twilight's face made Peacevic think she was completely done with the other girls' feud.
That impressed Peacevic, in a way. Twilight had been the most stubborn unicorn he'd ever met, besides himself. Becoming an alicorn hadn't really changed that much. How did they get the Princess of Friendship to give up?
"Hey, Twilight," Rainbow Dash acknowledged, somewhat off-hoofedly. She was focused on Peacevic's bodyguard. "You said we could hang out while you were in town."
"Rainbow, I'm working," Ice reminded his sister.
"So?"
"So we can hang out after the show."
Peacevic shrugged. "I don't have a problem with that."
"Oh hey, there's Fluttershy and Trixie," Applejack pointed out to Twilight.
"Trixie would be surprised to see Peacevic here," Trixie said as she and Fluttershy joined the group, "if Trixie didn't know he took every opportunity to aggravate Twilight."
"Nice to see you too, Trixie." Peacevic would've tipped Applejack's hat to her, if it hadn't been taken away.
"Um, Rainbow Dash, the other weatherponies wanted me to tell you there's a big cloud forming over the Everfree Forest."
"Thanks, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash flitted over to other pegasus. "As long as they're keeping an eye on it, it shouldn't be a problem. It's not very windy today."
"Well, all we need now is for Sus to show up and..." Peacevic trailed off as he saw the aforementioned unicorn trotting towards them. "Speaking of."
"Peacevic, I've been looking all over for you. Tom just sent you a message-"
SusP.E.C.T. stopped dead as he noticed Fluttershy. Given the yellow pegasus' quiet nature, and the fact that Rainbow Dash had been blocking her from his view, that only happened once the two were already very close to each other. Thus Peacevic was treated to the sight of them standing a couple of feet apart, both looking shyly away from each other. Their choices in mane style meant that their unobstructed eye's were on the rapper's side.
It was probably the most adorable thing Peacevic had ever seen.
Pulling his hype-pony off to the side, Peacevic whispered, "If I'm not mistaken, I did a photo shoot with her once. I can put a good word in, if you want."
Before Sus could respond, the knees of every pony with a horn buckled as a sense of dread washed over them.
"Did you- what was that?" Rarity shakily looked around in confusion.
Peacevic ignored her, turning instead to Twilight. "It's them. Did you get a fix?"
Twilight nodded and extended her hooves in two directions.
"Alright everypony, listen up," Peacevic commanded, his tone inviting no interruption. "As of right now, for reasons we don't have time to get into, the lives of every pony in the vicinity of Ponyville are in mortal danger."
"What kind of mortal danger?" Tone or no tone, the hot earth pony was willing to interrupt. Peacevic found he liked that.
"A necromantic cult," Twilight answered. "They're trying to perform a ritual sacrifice."
Peacevic's newest dream mare narrowed her eyes at that. "Then let's get to it."
"Good. Ok- Sus, you and Yellow-Pony-Whose-Name-I'm-Forgetting-Right-Now-Sorry go in one of the directions Twilight is pointing out. You'll find a tiny altar, which might be guarded. All you have to do is mess it up a little, it'll slow down the ritual. But be careful! In and out, no heroics."
Despite their obvious nervousness, the two nodded and set off. Twilight put the corresponding foreleg down.
"Ice, you and your sister head back to the fairgrounds," Peacevic ordered. "Start evacuating everypony, whatever it takes."
"You're kidding, right? There's no way I'm letting you guys put yourself in danger without me. I have to help!" Rainbow Dash looked around in outrage, hoping somepony would back her up.
Peacevic waited a few seconds for one of the others to speak up, then sighed. He would have to say it. "Ice's Sister, listen. I get it- seriously, I do. But here's the hard truth. We might fail. Even if you're with us, we could lose. And if that happens, those ponies will die. So you're going to do your job as a former Element, as a bucking hero, and you're going to save them!"
Rainbow Dash seemed as if she was going to press the issue, but Ice put a hoof on her shoulder and jerked his head towards the concert area. Dash slumped in defeat and the two of them shot away.
"Okay, next is the second altar," Peacevic resumed. "Hot Unicorn, you go with Hot Cowgirl. Same deal as the first one, be careful."
"Excuse me, what did you just call me?"
Applejack groaned and started walking in the direction Twilight was pointing. "Come on, Miss Priss. There'll be time enough to buck him when we get back."
"Yes, please do."
"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Applejack's face flushed red.
After they left, Trixie cleared her throat. "So, Peacevic, that just leaves you, Twilight, and Trixie. What are we going to do?"
"We're going to go after her." Peacevic pointed, and the other two turned to see a cloaked pony who was skulking about a block away. Cloaked Pony noticed that they had noticed, spun around, and started running.
The two unicorn entertainers. and alicorn Princess, gave chase.
Fluttershy was wishing she had just stayed home today.
Not that it wasn't nice getting to spend some time with Trixie- it was. They hadn't really had a chance to hang out in the time Trixie had been in town, and the magician had been pretty excited to catch the concert later tonight. But now some crazy ponies were trying to kill others and, once again, she and her friends were caught in a deadly situation. This constant adventuring was almost enough to make her long to be back in flight camp.
Plus, she wasn't all that big a fan of rap music.
"So, uh, my name's SusP.E.C.T. What's yours?"
That roused Fluttershy from her mental hoof-wringing, and she snapped her attention to the unicorn beside her. The green unicorn who'd been ordering everypony around was Peacevic, she recognized him from the promotional poster Trixie had shown her. Peacevic was as famous as Sapphire Shores, or Countess Coluratura, and he seemed to be friendly with this unicorn. Did that mean that SusP.E.C.T. was famous as well? Should she have known his name? She hid behind her bangs in embarrassment.
It didn't help that she thought he was sort of cute. He certainly wasn't the kind of stallion that Rarity would fall for, and Rainbow Dash would definitely leave him in the dust. But there was something about the slight stallion that she just, well... liked.
Finally, she replied, "I'm F-Fluttershy."
SusP.E.C.T. sighed. Did she do something wrong? Was he nervous? He's the famous one, why is he nervous?
"So... How do you know the Princess?" SusP.E.C.T. asked.
"Um, we met while she was organizing the Summer Sun Celebration," she whispered. "On the day of the Nightmare Moon incident..."
Sus' eyes lit up. "You were an Element of Harmony?! You're like... a superhero! Like out of a comic book, or something!"
Fluttershy didn't say anything. She was too busy remembering... less than pleasant events.
"Oh, sorry for nerding out. You probably don't care about comics." SusP.E.C.T. smiled glumly. "Pretty mares aren't exactly the usual demographic, after all."
"Oh- no no no, it's not that," Fluttershy reassured him. "It's just... I was sucked into a comic book once."
"Really? Please tell me it was as awesome as it sounds!"
Fluttershy shuddered as she thought about it. "It was scary."
She didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she decided to change the subject. The girls were always saying she should be more assertive, and Trixie had even been teaching her some confidence-boosting tricks the magician used whenever she knew she'd be facing a tough crowd. Not to mention her monthly correspondence with Iron Will, which she did not mention to her friends because of what happened last time.
Plus, she felt like she could be brave around him.
"What about you? How did you meet Mr. Peacevic?"
It was SusP.E.C.T.'s turn to hide in his hair. "It's... kinda embarrassing."
"Oh won't you tell me, please? I promise I won't laugh." She gently touched his shoulder to lend her support, a feat which was easier to perform when one had wings to maintain their balance while moving forward.
He blushed at her touch and stammered, "I-I gave him my demo at a show."
"That doesn't sound very embarrassing at all," she said. "In fact, it was rather brave of you."
He chuckled. "I didn't know what I was doing at all. Back then I didn't realize that most artists don't actually listen when somepony hoofs them their demo. Even Peacevic doesn't do it very often, and I've never seen him get in contact with anypony when he does. But he called me. Now here I am, fighting necromancers. Life's weird, isn't it?"
"It really is." She smiled, and he smiled back, and her mood lightened considerably.
At least, until he pointed in front of them and said, "Look over there."
Up ahead were two ponies in cloaks, sitting at a small fold-out table. Behind them was a tiny shrine that was stuffed full of old-looking artifacts and decorated with odd pictures and symbols. The hooded ponies hadn't yet noticed them, as they were too engrossed in their card game.
"You think that's the altar Mr. Peacevic was talking about?" Fluttershy squeaked as they ducked around a building's corner.
SusP.E.C.T. gulped and nodded.
"What are we going to do? How do we get past those guards?"
"I think I have an idea." Fluttershy could see the gears turning in Sus' head as he spoke, "It's probably really bad, though."
She didn't say anything, giving him time to work it through.
"I'll distract them. They've been pretty sneaky so far, so I'm guessing they won't try anything too noticeable. Once I've got their attention, you circle around and mess up the altar." Sus poked his head out from behind the corner so he could look again.
"No, I mean for y-" Fluttershy stopped talking when Sus suddenly turned around, looking like he had something to say.
He hesitated momentarily, seemingly concerned he had given her the wrong impression with his abruptness, then swallowed hard and said what was on his mind. "Um, Fluttershy? I know someone like you probably already has a special somepony, but all the same would you maybe like to... go on a date? After all this is over, of course. Assuming we survive."
Fluttershy would've preferred it if he'd stopped a couple sentences earlier, but for the most part... "I'd love to."
"A pony like Peacevic'd probably give you a quick kiss right now, but... y'know."
"Yeah." Fluttershy was nervous, too.
He took a deep breath and blew it out. "Okay, here I go."
Sus walked towards the hooded ponies, one of his forehooves extended in a wave. "Hey, guys! I was looking for the concert area, but I got a little lost and I was wondering-"
"He's friends with the Troubadour!" One of the cultists shouted, pointing at SusP.E.C.T
"Get him!"
"'Kay, bye." Sus bolted, having the presence of mind to gallop away from where Fluttershy was hiding.
Fluttershy waited until she was sure that nopony would see her, then cautiously crept to the altar. It was a shame she had to desecrate it, as some of the designs were actually quite pretty. But on the other hoof, it was about to be used to kill a bunch of ponies. She gently tipped it over. Priceless artifacts shattered as they hit the ground.
Satisfied that it was destroyed enough, she lifted off and started flying in the direction Sus had fled. Maybe she'd be able to help him out.
At first, it seemed like Dash would be able to get this evacuation over with super quickly and go help her friends. She'd arrived at the concert area, Ice only slightly behind her, and found Mayor Mare almost immediately. The mayor had thought Dash was pranking her, until a glare from Ice convinced her to take the situation seriously.
But then Dash's momentum hit a wall of slow ponies.
"Come on, hurry it up! Get outta here!" she shouted at a few stallions who were lingering near the stage. Then she zoomed up to hover by her brother, who was watching the crowd for potential problems. "Can you believe this?! It's the slowest evacuation ever!"
"Most of them probably don't think there's anything to really worry about. We weren't specific about what the threat was."
That set Dash to grumbling, but she couldn't deny that Ice was probably right to insist they be vague. Twilight would be swamped with official complaints if everypony found out there was some crazy cult at large.
"So how are the Wonderbolts treating you?" Ice asked, snapping her out of it.
"About the same as anypony else, I guess."
He nodded. "That's good."
Dash drifted around her brother. "It'd be better if I had some actual competition, though. Don't get me wrong- Spitfire and Soarin are cool and all, and they're great flyers, but everypony knows the only edge they have on me is experience. I'll catch up to him soon enough."
Ice frowned at something and dropped low. It didn't take more than a half-second for Dash to spot what'd caught his attention. She followed after him.
"... and I'm not moving 'till they get here," Granny Smith finished, her hooves dug in against Ice's gentle pushing. Little trenches were proof it wasn't a very effective resistance, though the stubborn old mare redoubled her efforts when she noticed Dash's arrival. "Rainbow Dash, tell this big galoot to mind his own beeswax, would ya?"
"Granny, you've got to get out of here. It's not safe."
"Oh, poppycock! This is Ponyville, we barely have to worry about the Everfree. What sorta danger could there possibly be? I said I'd meet Applejack and Apple Bloom at this here spot, so that's what I'm gonna do."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. AJ's whole family could be ridiculously stubborn sometimes, and that was coming from her! "Applejack's helping Twilight deal with the ne- the problem. And Apple Bloom probably already gotten out of town. You're just about the only pony left."
Granny Smith's eyes had narrowed slightly when Dash almost blurted out a certain word, but she let it pass and sat back, forelegs raised, like a foal asking to be picked up. Ice sighed and lifted her up, holding the old mare so gingerly it was beyond comical. Dash was forced to give them a few seconds head start, as her laughing fit was far too intense for her to fly. She quickly caught up once it subsided, though the occasional snort forced its way out. Ice's scowling didn't help her self-control.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Rainbow," he said after a while. "Equestria's a pretty big place. Somepony somewhere will be able to challenge you, I'm sure of it."
"I already know somepony I can compete with- you." It wasn't the way Dash had been planning to broach the subject, but since he brought it up...
"I'm not sure I know what you mean-"
"Come on, Ice, you're smarter than that! You know exactly what I mean," she interrupted. "You'd be able to get into the Wonderbolts no problem. Or you could be a Captain like Twilight's brother. Or whatever! Why are you doing... this?"
"I thought the point was to save Ponyville," he quipped.
"Ice..."
He groaned. "Look Rainbow, it's complicated. I-"
"Is it me?"
"No! Celestia, no." Ice shook his head vehemently. "It's true that finding ponies that are as fast as we are's hard, but that's why I've never let you win at anything. You've always beat me fairly. You're the most competitive pony I've ever met, little sister, and I don't need my fancy degree to know that my letting you win would hurt you more than any loss. I'd never do that to you, Rainbow."
"Then why aren't you doing something better than just being a bodyguard?"
"Look, I'll admit that I've... drifted around from job to job. I even earned a degree in something I don't care about because I didn't know what else to do at the time. But now I've finally found something that interests me. Peacevic can be arrogant, abrasive, and-occasionally- quite irritating. Despite this, he's never ignored somepony in trouble. He hates seeing ponies get hurt, and he put himself bodily in the way- whether I'm protecting him or not. It's not about him being a popular entertainer, with crowds of ponies in love with his work. It's that he can't help but get involved. A life of going around helping ponies seems like one worth living, don't you think?"
"Such an upstanding young stallion," the forgotten Granny Smith put in.
Rainbow Dash facehoofed, then smiled and shrugged. "Alright, I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. You have to explain it to Mom and Dad, though. I'm not gonna."
Applejack groaned as she saw Rarity stop to brush a bit of dirt off for the third time.
It didn't go unnoticed. "Well, excuse me for always wanting to look my best."
"I'm not sure if ya were payin' attention back there," Applejack snarled, "but we kinda have more important things ta worry about. Like preventin' the murder of everypony in town."
Rarity's eyes flashed with anger. "I am aware of that, Applejack. I would think that by now you'd have realized I am not so self-absorbed."
"Then how about ya quit your fussin' so we can find this altar we're looking for?"
"Snapping at me isn't going to help us in the slightest," Rarity countered. She looked around, then stomped in frustration. "We're almost to the edge of town. We must have missed it."
"Probably too busy lookin' at yer hooves," Applejack muttered.
"Oh, hush."
"So what do ya want ta do, turn around and hope we find it on the second time through?"
Rarity frowned uncertainly. "Well... if we haven't actually passed it, then we'll just be wasting time if we do that."
"We're wastin' time now," Applejack rejoined.
Rarity started pacing. "I know, I now..."
Applejack didn't know all that much about magic, except for what she'd seen her friends use, and none of them had ever even thought to use necromancy. Thus, despite the fact that lately she'd rather buck a manticore in the face, she had to depend on Rarity to handle the know-how department. So she just stood there and watched as the other mare thought.
"When that first surge hit..." Rarity mused after a while. "I could feel it. So could Twilight, Trixie, that Peacevic lout, and his unicorn friend."
"Everypony with a horn, basically."
Rarity nodded. "That's it exactly. So I should be able to pick up the trace again, with a bit of luck."
"Best get to it, then," Applejack urged.
The farm pony watched as Rarity scrunched her face up in concentration. Applejack knew something about focus, a necessity if she wanted to buck a tree just hard enough to shake the apples out of it, but she couldn't begin to fathom drawing magic from a horn. Or maybe she could, if it was like throwing that rope around in the comic book world. In any case, Rarity wasn't Twilight. It took a while for the fashionista to work her way through the spell.
So once again Applejack had to wait several agonizing seconds for Rarity's horn to light up.
"We set?" She asked when it finally did.
"Indeed we are," Rarity affirmed. "This spell should make my horn glow brighter when it's facing anything attuned to that dreadful energy, such as this shrine we're supposed to find."
"Provided ya did it right..."
"I may have been the Element of Generosity, Applejack, but even my giving nature has its limits," Rarity said, glowering as she did.
Applejack snorted. "I'm shakin'. Come on, your nightlight's pointin' back inta town."
Rarity gave a 'hmmph!', but led the way all the same, though she had to stop a few times to reorient herself in the direction that set off the brightest glow. Before too long the pair was standing in front of a certain bakery.
"Sugarcube Corner? Why would these cultists hide an altar here? And how'd they manage it, anyway?"
"Well Mr. and Mrs. Cake have been at the festival all day, so it's not like they would have run much of a risk of being caught while they set up." Rarity tugged at the door, but it didn't budge. "Darn, it's locked. Those nasty necromancers must have stolen the keys and closed it up again after they were done."
The unicorn hurriedly looked around, found a rock, and picked it up with here magic, prompting Applejack to cry out, "What do ya think yer doing?!"
"We don't have time to go and find the Cakes."
"Ya just don't care what ya break, huh?" Applejack scoffed.
"There is no time for- actually, you know what?" Rarity smashed the rock through a window. "Fine. Let's do this now."
"What ya said was rude and hurtful, and it not only belittled my profession, but the struggles my family went through as well. And ya don't even regret it, do ya?"
"Of course I regret it! I regretted it as soon as I said it!" Rarity shouted.
Applejack stomped forward until they were face to face. "Then why won't ya just apologize?!"
"I shouldn't have to apologize!" Rarity countered, not retreating an inch. "You should know I didn't mean it, and that I felt bad for saying it!"
The two of them stayed like that, locked in their confrontation...
Until, nearly as one, they both started laughing at the absurdity of it all.
"Ya know," Applejack forced out between giggles, "sometimes I think our sisters have better conflict-resolution skills than we do."
"This certainly has been one of our sillier disagreements," Rarity agreed, wiping a tear away.
"I'm sorry for being so bullheaded about the whole thing."
"And I'm sorry for being so insensitive," Rarity said. "I really didn't mean to hurt you so."
"I know." Applejack wrapped her friend in quick hug. Then they both turned their attention to the Corner, and the altar inside.
Trixie had never found herself in a full-fledged chase.
This lack of experience was really taking its toll on her at the moment, as she desperately tried to keep up with Twilight and Peacevic. Any embarrassment the magician would have felt from the knowledge that the bookworm was physically outclassing her had been asphyxiated some time ago, and she wasn't faring much better. She gasped out, "Who is that? Who are we chasing?!"
"Her name is Magdha," Twilight replied, her voice grim. "But I don't understand how she can still be alive. My brother shot a beam straight through her lung!"
"It doesn't matter how, just keep running!"
Trixie wouldn't declare herself to be Peacevic's best friend, but they'd known each other for a few years now- mostly crossing paths at various industry events. And yet, in all that time, she'd never seen him this... angry. She'd have to be completely inept to not realize the fact that the rapper had been hiding something from her all this time, something that involved this mysterious Magdha.
Said pony must have tired of being chased, because at that moment twin spirals of magic popped into being on either side of the fleeing figure and two corpses lunged out of the apparent portals. Peacevic and Twilight had said they were facing a necromancer, but the title was little more than a word to Trixie then. She hadn't been able to wrap her head around what it meant, not until she saw the zombie ponies.
Trixie loved her talent, and loved being able to entertain with it. The thought of magic being twisted like that...
"Blow past them!" Peacevic shouted, snapping her back into focus.
Her nausea tamped down some, Trixie quickly realized something Twilight and Peacevic already knew- namely that shambling undead horrors weren't exactly agile. The three of them were able to easily dodge the clumsy grabbing attempts of the zombies. Trixie grinned in exhilaration and called out to their summoner, "You'll have to do much better than that to get rid of Trixie!"
Magdha skidded to a halt and whirled around. Trixie, Twilight, and Peacevic stopped as well. None of them liked the smirk visible beneath her hood.
Another portal blazed open, far larger and more brilliant than the other two. Slowly, another pony emerged. This one lacked any sign of decay, seeming indeed to be an average earth pony instead of an undead monstrosity.
And he was painfully familiar.
"Dad..." Trixie gasped.
Twilight's eyes widened. She looked from the retreating Magdha, to the stunned Trixie, and finally to the newly-resurrected Lulamoon the Magnificent. Then the princess' horn lit up.
Trixie didn't realize Twilight's magic was wrapping around her until she felt it lift her up and set her back down in a sitting position. When she opened her mouth to ask why, Twilight simply said, "You need this."
As one Twilight and Peacevic dashed past Lulamoon, who nonchalantly examined his hoof instead of moving to stop them. Once they were gone, Lulamoon strode towards his daughter.
"D-Dad... I..."
He shushed her, and gently touched a hoof to her horn. The contact brought an unexpected shock, causing Trixie to recoil from the pain.
"Ah, there we are," Lulamoon said with a crack of his neck. "Sorry about that, but that necromancer laid some sort of compulsion on me. Would've made me say all sorts of things to hurt you, like psychological warfare." He shrugged. "You'd be surprised at all the neat little tricks you can learn when you die. I just borrowed some of your magic and broke the spell. Always remember, Trixie, that no matter what the living may think, the dead are the only true masters of the dead. Especially when the dead pony is as brilliant as I-"
He shut up as Trixie threw her forelegs around him, sobbing. "D-Daddy!"
"Come now, my dear, it hasn't been that long since we last saw each other." Despite his words, Lulamoon didn't try to pull away.
"I've missed you so much..."
"I've missed you too, Trixie." After another few moments, far too soon for Trixie's liking, Lulamoon disengaged from the hug. He looked around. "So, where are we?"
Trixie suddenly realized, to her surprise, she had followed the hooded necromancer out of the town proper. The only hint of the village were a few of the taller buildings, just barely visible behind a rise. "We're in Ponyville, Dad. Or close to it, rather."
"Ponyville? What are you doing in a place like that?"
"I... I found my sister."
Lulamoon's face fell. "Oh. You, uh... you know about that, huh?"
"I know about Detrot, too." The dead pony said nothing. For a while, neither of them did. Then Trixie continued, "You left them. You left her."
"Yeah," Lulamoon affirmed.
"Why? You were so great to me, and then I find out you just abandoned your wife?! Abandoned your unborn filly?! Why?! Why does it seem like you had two different personalities?"
"Why do you?" Lulamoon countered. "Even before I died, you would only refer to yourself in the third person around anypony who wasn't me."
"Because... Because that's what the crowd expects. The pride, the mystique. That's the image they have of a magician, and I have to live up to it."
Lulamoon nodded. "That's how it was with me, in a way. You only ever saw the pony I wished I could be. The pony I hoped I would one day become. Until you figured out what I did to your mom. Then I was worthless all the time."
"You're not worthless, dummy. Not to me." Trixie sniffled.
"But I am worthless, Trixie! What I did to Ingenue, to your mom." He pointed toward Ponyville. "To the mare from this town. We have a filly together, and I can't even remember her name!"
"Her name's Applejack," Trixie told him. "My sister's called Apple Bloom, and she's amazing! I've never seen anypony try as hard at anything as she does. She's kind, and honest, and forgiving."
Lulamoon chuckled ruefully. "Then I guess it's a good thing she never met me, I would've just ruined her."
"You don't think you've ruined me, do you?" Trixie demanded.
"No! You're the best daughter I could ever have hoped for, and a better pony than I ever was. You're so smart, and skilled at magic. Teaching you was so easy." He smirked and finished with, "Not to mention you would always drive the colts wild when we rolled into town..."
Trixie blushed. "Dad!"
"I can't help it- I'm your father, I'm supposed to embarrass you. Even when there's nopony around."
It took a while, but eventually Trixie recovered. Once she did, she quoted, "The worth of a pony is the legacy they leave behind."
"See what I mean when I say you were easy to teach? You've never had a problem remembering what I told you," Lulamoon said. Then he frowned. "I do hope you're not still following that, though. Turns out a pony's reputation in life doesn't mean all that much. You can't throw a rock in the afterlife without it hitting a pony who was 'the greatest of their era'. Don't poison your life adhering to one of my ego trips."
"Dad, you idiot, you don't get it. 'The Magnificent' isn't your legacy, I am. Apple Bloom is. You may have done some awful things, but we turned out okay. Kind of. So... maybe you're not so worthless. Right?"
Lulamoon sighed. "I don't know, Trixie. I wish I could agree. Maybe I will, one day. After all, I've got a long time to mull it over. But with what I've done..."
"About that," Trixie pushed. "I asked you 'why', and you kind of answered, but mostly just deflected my question. Just like you always used to. Well, that's not going to happen today." She stomped in irritation. "You're going to explain what drove you to act the way you did. You're not evil, Dad. After seeing that necromancer, I can say that for sure. So, why?!"
"I was pretty evasive, wasn't I? Sorry. Old habits are hard to break. I'm just not one for talking about my feelings. I guess..." He trailed off and slowly turned towards the town, his eyes dampening.
Worried, Trixie asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"It seems like we're out of time. You should go, your friends might need your help," he replied, an easy smile replacing his previous expression. Trixie had seen it before, as it was his default reaction for when life chose to be ironic.
That fact didn't make it any less exasperating. "But- I-"
"Before you go, there's one last thing you should know."
One time, Apple Bloom asked to borrow one of Spike's comic books. The dragon had said it was pretty popular, insisted really, though she hadn't ever heard of it. The cover proclaimed it to be 'The Trotting Dead', and the story certainly lived up to its moniker. At no point did the filly ever actually feel scared while reading it, however. The book tried- hoo boy did it try- but, despite the quality of the art, there was a thought that kept surfacing in her mind and ruining the tension. How could something like a zombie apocalypse happen when the zombies themselves were so unthreatening?
This thought was back with a vengeance now that she apparently was in the midst of one.
Apple Bloom skirted around another undead pony, then continued down the street at a leisurely pace. In spite of what the book claimed, the dead didn't really trot. It was more of a stumble. A slow, extra-uncoordinated stumble. Outmaneuvering them was fairly easy.
Given the fact that it wasn't much of a chore to evade the rotting husks, she began to notice a couple things. The first being that there were no destroyed buildings or dismembered bodies lying around. This alone was strange for Ponyville, as even stampeding bunnies were enough to cause some property damage.
The second thing was that she didn't recognize any of the zombies. Ponyville wasn't a large city and, while she wasn't friends with everypony like Pinkie, she was familiar with the faces of the townsponies. Her inability to do so with these zombies was an unexpected, and welcome, relief.
That relief aside, she still couldn't find Applejack. The two of them were supposed to meet at the square a few minutes ago, but the only thing waiting there was a zombie. Apple Bloom didn't think her mom would've just run away. Not for a second. So where could she be?
Apple Bloom's musing halted abruptly when she spotted a strange, ritual-looking stage just ahead, with two hooded ponies standing nearby. On it were two stone tables and a wooden podium.
Luckily, the guards hadn't noticed her. Dropping down low, she slowly crept closer
As she approached, a third hooded pony came galloping to the stage. Following just behind was Princess Twilight and some stallion. They didn't seem to be happy.
From her vantage point behind a corner, Apple Bloom noticed a cup on the podium and muttered to herself, "Could that be what he meant?"
By the time they had looped around and re-entered Ponyville, albeit on the other side, Twilight figured the chase was near an end.
Magdha proved her right a few moments later, as they arrived at a familiar-looking stage. Two other ponies were already there, dressed in the same way as the necromancer. Twilight skidded to a halt. She had learned her lesson about charging in too recklessly, and wasn't about to repeat that mistake with a pony so casual about killing. Peacevic followed suit.
"So glad you could make it," Magdha crowed as she threw back her hood, grinning wickedly.
Peacevic growled. "Don't give me that mess! We've been following you this entire time! 'So glad you could make it'."
Now that she could see her clearly, Twilight was struck by how little Magdha changed. Her face was a bit more gaunt, true, but it was as beautiful as it had been on that night. She knew it had only been a few years, and that most ponies didn't change all that much in that span of time. But Magdha had been roughly twice her age. According to the studies she'd read, Magdha should be exhibiting signs of her age.
Not to mention the fact that the last time Twilight had seen the necromancer she'd been dying of a magic beam through the lungs, courtesy of Shining Armor.
So, clearly, there was some sort of magic at play here. If she could-
"Mmmh, as spirited as ever," Magdha purred, jerking Twilight out of her contemplation. "I can't wait until we're finally together, Troubadour."
"That's never going to happen, you psycho." Peacevic was shaking, his face contorted with rage.
Twilight worriedly nudged the rapper. "Peacevic, calm down."
"You're so angry. What, did I kill somepony?"
"Yes!" Peacevic exploded.
Magdha frowned. "Oh. Sorry about that, then. It's a little quirk of mine. But once I become immortal I won't need to kill anymore, so it's all okay."
"You won't need to, but you'll do it anyway. Won't you?" Twilight demanded.
"Probably," Magdha conceded. The lackadaisical way she said it made Twilight hate the fact that the earth pony's coat reminded her so much of Pinkie even more. That two pink ponies, or ponies in general, could be so opposed to each other personality-wise boggled the mind. "After all, there will most likely be ponies that resist the reign of myself and my husband."
"No."
"Oh, Troubadour, you forget. Your consent is not needed. Only your blood."
Twilight had heard enough. She let loose with a blast of magic at the necromancer's smug, smiling face.
But the smile didn't so much as twitch as a rune appeared in the path of Twilight's shot. It just stayed where it was, smugness intact, until the symbol finished its job of absorbing Twilight's attack. Magdha giggled. "Did I forget to mention the stage has been proofed against your little powers? I won't be interrupted this time, Princess. Oh- I haven't had the chance to congratulate you on that yet, have I?"
"I'd rather you not," Twilight retorted. "Anyway, how are you even doing this? I mean you're, you know, an earth pony. How are you using this magic?"
Magdha took a deep breath in irritation. "Obviously, Sun Writing's a writing-based system. I'm as literate as you are, racist."
"I'm not-"
"Normally, I'd agree with you," Peacevic put in. "But this is Twilight Sparkle you're talking about. She takes literacy to a whole new level."
"Umm... thanks?"
Peacevic placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "Don't mention it, Twilight. You horrible bigot."
"I'm never going hear the end of that from you, am I?" Twilight groaned, though she was glad some of his alleged humor had returned.
"Well he's going to be dead soon, so..."
"Shut up!" she snapped at the pink cult leader.
Before she could berate Magdha further, the sound of galloping hooves coming up behind her pulled her attention away. It wasn't long until Trixie barreled into view, and only a few more seconds until she joined them.
The magician was furious.
"What are you doing here?" Trixie demanded.
"I'm trying to become immortal. Didn't they fill you in on-"
"Not you." For all the anger in Trixie's expression as she cut Magdha off, it seemed the dominant feeling was... betrayal? She pointed at one of the hooded ponies. "You. What are you doing here, Ingenue?"
"How could you possibly know I was here?" Despite the response, the indicated pony's smokey voice sounded more amused than anything else. The cloak fell away, revealing a light-brown pegasus mare.
This new pony had clearly once been exceedingly fair, but now she just seemed rundown. She was also completely unfamiliar to Twilight. "Trixie, how do you know one of the cultists? Who is this?"
"Well, obviously Trixie didn't know she was part of you and Peacevic's little secret. Trixie only just met her a little while ago!" The magician's face flushed and she started twiddling her forehooves. "She, um, is Trixie's dad's wife. That he sort of abandoned."
"Lulamoon was married?!" Peacevic gaped.
Twilight couldn't fault his flabbergasted state, she was more or less feeling the same way. "Wow Trixie, I totally get why you didn't want to talk about that before."
"That- That's not important right now!" Trixie was still blushing slightly, but her expression regained its seriousness as she rounded on this Ingenue again. "Why are you helping this... madpony?!"
"That's the nicest compliment I've gotten all year..."
"You're right, what could I possibly need a necromancer's help for?" the pegasus replied, the comeback rife with sarcasm.
Trixie blanched. "You don't mean..."
"Of course I do. My Prouesse will be returned to me, and all it will take is helping Magdha here with her silly little ritual."
"You cant do that!" Trixie insisted. "If you do, everypony will die! Do you really think Prouesse would want that?!"
Ingenue snarled, "Prouesse is dead! You know, I heard your father had another kid here in Ponyville. Why don't we kill it, and see if its mother wouldn't do anything to bring it back to her?"
"Are you even listening to yourself?!" Trixie shouted.
Everything Twilight knew of the various psychological disciplines was telling her that none of Trixie's words would have any effect on Ingenue. Sweatiness, trembling, rapid breathing. She wasn't a professional, at least not in any official capacity, but recognizing the symptoms of a nervous breakdown was foal's play.
This meant that not only were they facing a merciless psychopath, but an unstable, unpredictable pony as well.
Twilight dropped back a half-step and whispered, "What should we do, Peacevic? The mare's not really like Magdha. We can't just-"
"Yeah, we can," he replied curtly, before jabbing a hoof at Ingenue. "I don't know what the buck your problem is with Trixie, but that... thing... beside you is going down. So either get out of the way or go down with her!"
Ingenue sneered. "Forgive me if I'm less than moved by this bluster. Perhaps if you were a real musician, I'd be impressed by your passion."
"And ponies say I'm a snob..." a demure voice said drolly.
"Rarity! Applejack!" Twilight sighed in relief as the two trotted over to stand by her side. Only a couple quick hugs disrupted the formation.
"Really," Rarity resumed. "Peacevic may be less than couth, and slightly full of himself, but any artist could see that he puts everything he has into each track. To deny him the title of 'musician' is the mark of one who's never created anything of their own."
"Mind fillin' us in on who these folks are, Twi?"
"The pink one's the necromancer in charge. Keep your guard up, she's... not right."
"She's a necromancer, Darling. That is to be assumed," Rarity deadpanned.
"The other one's name is Ingenue. Apparently she was married to Trixie's dad."
"Practically family, then," Applejack said with a frown. "So, what's she doin' here?"
Ingenue hissed, "I have my reasons."
"Wait, why are you ignoring me?" the still-hooded pony asked.
To be honest, with all the dramatic revelations Twilight had forgotten that he'd been standing there the whole time. Peacevic snorted. "You weren't interesting the last time either, buddy. Just shut up and stand there."
"As riveting as this exchange has been, I've got immortality to attain," Magdha announced before the hooded pony could reply. "And, even though my barrier is more than enough to keep you out, I don't want you to stare at me all day. Well- Peacevic, maybe. Too bad I still need your blood. Might as well murder two birds with one monster."
Twilight was going to point out how Magdha's phrase didn't make sense when the necromancer started chanting in a language she didn't recognize. More glyphs formed in the space between the two parties. They spun around and slammed into each other, before repelling each other like magnets. Though instead of magnetic field, bits of flesh and bone materialized in the gaps. Within moments the ragged, reanimated corpse of a manticore loomed. Defying its lack of lungs, the beast roared fiercely.
Peacevic simply smiled and leaned over to her, muttering, "Remember when I told you Ice once took out a manticore bare-hoofed?"
Dual streaks of color dropped like meteorites on the creature, the impact blasting debris everywhere.
Twilight raised a wing to shield herself from the shower of rocks. When she was able to look again, she saw Rainbow Dash and Ice standing at the rim of a newly-formed crater. The monster at the bottom of it... wouldn't be getting up again. Together, the pegasi declared, "Not on our watch."
"Seven on three now, Magdha. Odds of you getting my blood are looking pretty long," Peacevic crowed.
"Why do you keep mocking the insane pony?"
"Because, Twilight, the last time I saw her she tied me down and tried to murder me. I'm feeling a little petty." He cracked his neck and refocused on the necromancer. "So like I said, any bright ideas on how to deal with seven of us?"
"I think you mean nine."
A bit of the worry lifted off Twilight as SusP.E.C.T. rounded a corner and joined them, Fluttershy following hesitantly behind. The whole team was okay. Well, at least so far.
"Hah! Nice line, dude." Peacevic punctuated his compliment with a hoof bump.
"The dork's got a point," Dash chimed in. "A Wonderbolt, a princess, a bodyguard, a vet, a farmer, a dressmaker, a rapper, his hype=pony, and a magician. How could you possibly beat all of us?"
Magdha snickered at her. "Well... they say if at first you don't succeed, use more."
The various pieces of the manticore started to glow, then floated upwards. From each of them grew a new undead monster. The pack then divided and divided again, until there were scores of them leering at the ponies- all of them as large as the first.
Fluttershy let out a little 'eep!'
Rainbow Dash turned to her brother. "Ice, what do we do?"
"Don't let them surround us," was the terse reply.
"Uh, Princess?" Peacevic gulped. "Now would be the time for the awesome alicorn magic."
"I- I don't study that kind of magic," she sputtered.
Applejack doffed her hat and set it neatly on the ground. "Only thing for it's to buck 'em one by one, then."
"We don't have any other choice." Rarity grimly concurred. "For Ponyville."
"For our families," Trixie added.
SusP.E.C.T. looked sidelong at Fluttershy as he said, "Not like I'm gonna die now..."
"You don't have a choice," Magdha dismissed cruelly. "Get them."
The horde of undead manticores started toward them. The others dropped into ready stances as Twilight shot off a couple beams. They weren't overly effective. The monsters drew closer. There was the sound of glass shattering.
Sudden'y, the monsters burst into shadows and disappeared. Twilight looked at the cultists in confusion. Magdha was clutching at her chest as a wide-eyed Apple Bloom backed away, the shards of the chalice at her hooves. The necromancer spasmed horribly. Light began pouring through her hooves, from the same spot where Shining's beam had pierced her years ago. The light turned into flames, and in moments she was consumed. Only the echoes of her final shrieks remained.
"No!" Ingenue cried. "No! No! No! Why?!"
She collapsed in a heap. For his part, the final cloaked pony looked around, then took off running.
"Apple Bloom!" The little filly ran and leapt into her mother's embrace.
SusP.E.C.T. perplexedly scratched his head. "Peace, what was that? Why'd she just... disintegrate?"
"No idea," Peacevic told him. He turned to Twilight. "Twilight?"
"I... I think it was the ritual. Do you remember what she said back then?"
"'The Word is manifest'. I think."
"And this was after she'd killed the colt, right?" There were several narrowed eyes at that, but Twilight ignored them for now. After Peacevic nodded, she continued, "His blood must have activated the magic, pooling the Word in the cup. The Word is Immortality, right? So that meant that as long as the cup was intact she would be immortal. At least until she sacrificed you, The Troubadour, and the immortality became permanent."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that would make sense to an egghead like you, Twilight, but how about you simplify it for us. She's dead for good, right?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, then."
"But how'd ya know what ta do, Bloom?" Applejack asked the filly.
"That Doctor said 'The Vessel holds the Word'. I just figured he meant the cup."
"The Doctor? How could he know about all this? It's literally a state secret." Twilight's instincts were setting off alarm bells and warning klaxons.
Rainbow Dash snorted dismissively. "Who cares? We just saved all of Ponyville! Good guys: 1, evil cultists: 0."
"Indeed," agreed a voice Twilight didn't know. "You all were very impressive."
He loved making dramatic entrances. And as the victorious group turned his way, he decided this one was one of the more enjoyable of his career as a magician.
"Wait, you're Trixie's dad," the purple alicorn gaped.
"Lulamoon the Magnificent?" the white, and extremely attractive, unicorn breathed. "But you died..."
"That I did. But you know I just loved my baby girl so much, I had to visit."
Though they all looked like, well, like they'd seen a ghost, a certain earth pony was taking it a bit worse than the others. He frowned. This wasn't going to be easy.
"How are you still here?" the alicorn asked before he could say anything else. "Magdha was disintegrated."
He nodded. "The summoner might be gone, but a chunk of her power's still floating around. Until it dissipates fully, I have some leeway on when I go back. Might as well make use of the time I have."
Lulamoon strode over to where filly and mother stood, stopping in front of the younger. He didn't really see much of himself in her. There wasn't a lot of her mom either, but that was okay. Uniformity was for marks.
"So, you're the daughter I never met." He scratched his head awkwardly. This really wasn't easy. "Trixie was telling me you're pretty awesome, and I guess you kind of proved it just now. Thing is, that's something you're going to have to prove over and over again- otherwise the crowd will start doubting you. So try not to make a liar out of her, okay?"
"O-Okay..." Apple Bloom agreed, a slightly confused look on her face.
He shifted his gaze to the mare beside her. "Applejack."
"Surprised ya remember my name," she responded bitterly.
"I'm too dead to lie to you- Trixie had to remind me."
"Figures it was somethin' like that," she scoffed.
"I... I am sorry. For leaving you like that. I know it doesn't mean that much after all this time, but it's true."
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, she muttered, "It means more than you think."
Lulamoon dipped his head in gratitude, then slipped past the two of them and marched over to... her. He felt the eyes of the ponies clumped behind him, but the weight of their stares wasn't much compared to the agony curled up before him.
"Ingenue." He hesitantly reached for her.
"No, go away!" she sobbed, slapping his hoof away. "Go away!"
He sighed and knelt down. "I'll be gone soon enough. But first, there's something I have to tell you." Another steeling breath. "There are no words in my language to express how sorry I am. I used your pain to justify my own weakness, and I never stopped hating myself for it. I literally carried that regret to the day I died."
"Good for you," she choked out, "you're over it."
Undeterred, he continued, "But that's when I realized- all that self-hate, that was nothing compared to the hurt I caused you."
"You stole my joy and left me all alone, and now I've lost my only chance to be happy again. Might as well-"
"Hey, none of that! We may have been apart for a while, but I'm hoping you're not going to join me too soon. Prouesse is, too."
"You- you found him? He speaks with you?" she gasped, fresh tears welling.
"He's our colt, Ingenue. Of course he's a talker." He gently cupped her cheek. "And you'll have plenty of time to find that out for yourself, trust me. But for now you still have a life to live. Make the most out of it, won't you? What about visiting Prance? With all this time in Equestria, you've lost your accent. Maybe you can find it again there."
"That sounds like a great idea! Accents are totally amazing!" the pink pony suddenly beside them agreed.
Lulamoon yelped and sprawled back, with Ingenue doing much the same- though she had slightly more decorum. Then there was a rush of ponies passing him. One of them shouted, "Pinkie!"
"That might have been the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen you do," Trixie quipped as she trotted over.
"Well... I've got a few stories, but they'll have to wait until you're older." He stood and dusted himself off. As he did, he noticed that one of his hooves had faded away a bit. He shook his head ruefully. "Looks like our reunion's coming to an end, Trixie. I'm sorry, I know this probably wasn't the closure you wanted."
"It's fine," she reassured, as she pulled him into a hug.
"I'm gonna miss you."
The princess' voice caught their attention. "What have you been doing, Pinkie? Why were you gone for so long?"
"Oh, Celestia asked me to go on a double-cherry-on-top-secret spy mission. There were parties, and dancing, and ninjas. It was really fun!"