//------------------------------// // 17 Shadows and Start // Story: A new chance at one HP // by Emeraldleafeon //------------------------------// Throne room, Canterlot castle ‘necromancy... that’s a word I never thought I’d hear used seriously.’ Sans stood next to Celestia, hands in his jacket pockets and a deep expression on his face. From what he could tell, there seemed to be an army coming from the far north, towards Canterlot. A guard had rushed in, telling of how their camp had been attacked by what seemed to be undead ponies. Their eyes had glowed with an unnatural green light, and their bodies falling apart, only held together by dark crystals. They had overwhelmed the meager garrison that was guarding the research base in just a few hours. Perhaps the scariest part wasn’t their sheer numbers, or the fact that when one would fall, three would take their place. It was the fact that every ally that fell would rise, their eyes too glowing green, and join the attackers in fighting what had once been their friends. The guard claimed there were only five guards left at the base out of the twenty guarding it, and six more researchers. Considering he wasn’t followed, he believed himself to be the last survivor. Sans had wanted to question him further, but Celestia had him taken to the infirmary, to ensure it wasn’t a sickness or plague of some sort. Celestia turned to her ‘adviser,’ frown on her face. “Thoughts?” she asked bluntly. “it doesn’t sound natural, that’s for sure,” he answered with a similar frown. “I wouldn’t know how to deal with it, since true necromancy is basically just a myth with monsters. the closest thing we have is dust reanimation, and even then that can only be used with monsters that were close to you. as for what’s actually happening, it sounds like an invasion, but there’s one thing that doesn’t make sense. an army needs a base or a city to start from. there isn’t anything up there, asides from that research base.” “That had been on my mind as well.” “wait, there’s one more thing. it’s a research base. why would some powerful necromancer waste resources and magic to attack a research outpost? ...unless there were some kind of superweapon there.” Sans looked up to Celestia, grinning mischievously. “‘tia, were you researching doomsday weapons up there?” Celestia snorted despite herself. “Of course not,” she told him, “that research base was there to study the effects of permafrost and other northern ecologies upon unicorn magic.” “scandalous.” “If the army truly is undead,” Celestia continued, electing to ignore his comment, “there would not be much needed in the way of supplies, as necromancy is a rather self-sufficient spell. The army being undead also brings up the question of where that many bodies would come from. If the guard’s description of the size of the army was true, there must have been several thousand corpses, if not more. Where would a necromancer get that many bodies?” She shook her head. “You would need to have found a city graveyard or have killed several towns in order to fill up the ranks of their soldiers.” “it almost sounds like there’s some sorta lost civilization up there, coming back for revenge.” Sans blinked at Celestia’s slowly widening eyes. “you don’t have any of those right?” “It can’t be…” “I’ll take that as a yes. so now we have long-lost kingdoms in this world too. exciting.” “It’s not certain,” she told him, although it was more for her sake than for his. “It could be somepony new for all we know. I hope it’s somepony new… If it is, that would be a lot easier to-” “Your highness!” Celestia was cut off by a cry from another guard rushing into the room. He had a panicked look on his face. Celestia hesitated for a moment before asking, “What is it, my little pony?” “I bring terrible news,” the guard gasped. “It’s back!” Celestia was silent. “it’s back,” Sans repeated. “nice. so, uh. what’s ‘it?’” “The Crystal Empire,” Celestia said grimly. “And that means he’s back as well.” She turned to the guard. “Could you please send a letter to Twilight? Ask her to come as soon as possible.” “just purple smart?” Sans asked her. “...All of them,” Celestia corrected. “Ask for all six of the Elements. And Spike. And Luna. No, wait, I’ll get Luna myself. The Elements and Spike. Tell them to come as soon as possible.” “It will be done, your highness.” And with that, the guard ran off. “hey, cel?” Sans’ voice cut off Celestia’s train of thought. “not to push, but just what’s going on here? who’s the big cheese that you’re so worried about?” Celestia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. “Sans,” she said slowly. “Do you remember how I said Soul magic has been outlawed for thousands of years?” She continued, not waiting for a response. “He is why it is outlawed.” Her horn glowed, and the last thing Sans heard was a decidedly not calm “LUNA, WE HAVE A PRO-” before she teleported away. 6 hours later, Throne room, Canterlot Castle. “So… why exactly are we here right now, Twilight?” “Rainbow, I don’t know,” Twilight told her friend in exasperation. “I told you this when we first got the letter from the Princess, I told you again when we were on the train up here, and I told you again when we were walking to meet the Princesses! I. Don’t. Know. If it were just me I’d think it were a test of some kind, but we’re all here, so it’s surely not that, unless Celestia plans on testing all of you because I was actually supposed to teach you what I know about magic and I didn’t know that and-” “Geez, Twi, breathe,” Rainbow told her. “I’m just askin’. And besides, I doubt she called us all here for a pop quiz.” “Rainbow Dash, dear, I know you are curious- I am as well- but please stop pestering Twilight and let’s wait for the princesses. You too, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity added to the distressed pink pony beside her. “But Raaarityyyy,” Pinkie whined, shaking in place, “I’m bored! I wanna do something!” “Now, now, Pinkie,” Applejack drawled. “Ah’m not rightly sure why the princesses’ve called us here, but Ah’m sure it’ll be somethin’ important.” “Oh, I hope it’s not too important…” Fluttershy quietly added. “I’ve already had a lot of excitement recently, after the wedding. I was hoping to spend the day gardening…” “Relax,” Spike assured her confidently. “Even if it’s something big, we can take care of it.” At that moment a golden flash caught their attention as Celestia and Luna appeared on the thrones in the room. Sans walked out from behind Celestia’s throne, causing Fluttershy to quietly squeak and hide behind Pinkie. She was sure he hadn’t been there before. “I see that you have arrived, my little ponies,” Celestia began. “Now, onto the reason I called you here. Earlier today a guard delivered grave news to me.” Sans allowed himself a small smile, before returning his face to the neutral expression he had on before. “A research base that was stationed in the far north came under attack from an army of undead creatures. This base is presumed to have been wiped out completely, with only the guard that reported this news to me having been confirmed to been alive.” Twilight gasped. “Don’t tell me it was Winter Weather’s Outpost for Frozen Sorcery!” “It was Winter Weather’s Outpost for Frozen Sorcery,” Celestia sighed, knowing it was one of her favorites. Luna then cut in before Twilight could respond. “We presume that this attack was led by a powerful sorcerer of the dark arts from many centuries ago, named King Sombra. We had defeated him and sealed him beneath the ice, but in a final act of defiance he cursed the kingdom he had conquered with a spell that caused it to disappear with him. It seems that he has released the spell and is now back for vengeance. To counter any attacks that may happen, We have sent an advance force led by Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance to the closest city to the outpost, Stalliongrad. You six will be going to the place where this all began, the Crystal Empire.” “The Crystal Empire is an important place in Equestria,” Celestia continued where her sister left off. “Can anypony tell me one of the more defining aspects of a crystal?” “They’re sparkly?” Pinkie asked. “They’re made of repeating patterns of geometric shapes?” Twilight rattled off. “Ooh, ooh!” Rarity cried. “They reflect and refract light!” “Very good, Rarity,” Celestia told her. “All of you,” she added upon seeing Twilight’s ears fold down. “Much like a crystal, the Crystal Empire reflects light all throughout Equestria.” She flared her horn and grew a small crystal on her floor, as well as a map of Equestria just before it. “If the Crystal Empire is filled with love and warmth, that love and warmth will spread throughout Equestria.” The alicorn lit her horn, and a soft pink glow spread through the crystal, landing on the map. “If the Crystal Empire is ruled by fear and hatred, however…” Celestia’s horn suddenly began to glow darker, her aura becoming a cloudy, purple and black disaster. She shot a beam at the crystal, and it began to grow in size. The Elements and Spike watched in horror as the crystal’s shadow overtook the entire map, dark crystals shooting out from the shadow and turning “Equestria” into something unrecognizable. Sans threw a single bone into the pile of crystals for good measure. Celestia returned her horn to normal and dismissed the crystals, leaving the bone lying there. “You will be going to find King Sombra’s core,” she began again, “a blood-red horn that his death was sealed into, allowing for him to come back even after complete destruction of his physical body. Sans,” she nodded to the skeleton, “Flowey and a squad of six of Luna’s best Lunar Guard will be accompanying you in your mission to find and destroy the horn. We have information of an artifact that will make your job easier. It is called the Crystal Heart. If you are able to find this and activate the heart, your job will be significantly easier, as its power will weaken Sombra. However, be warned that if the Heart falls into his hooves, he will be nigh unstoppable. Luna and I will be leading separate forces to other cities in Equestria where Sombra might strike. They will be little more than distractions Sombra set out to divert us, but we still cannot let him spread damage and panic.” Sans then spoke up from his spot leaning next to Celestia. “celestia’s going to be teleporting all of us to the edge of the city or as close as we can get without setting off alarms. from that point we’re gonna try and infiltrate to the central castle and take out the core before sombrero realizes it's being attacked. if he realizes we’re there you six need to go and search for the crystal with flowey while me and the squad try and hold him off. from what lulu and ‘tia told me,” Twilight seemed horrified at Sans’ use of nicknames for the princesses, while Spike held back snickers, “taco boy was pretty strong before he made his kingdom disappear, and with the reported size of his army he seems to have gotten significantly stronger while waiting for his time to come back. so that means you’re definitely going to be on a timer before we need to get out or be killed.” Celestia nodded, unfazed by Sans’ choices of names. “We have little time to prepare, I’m afraid. Elements, go retrieve your respective pieces. Sans, go inform Flowey that he will be needed for the mission soon. Luna, go tell your guards what they will need and prepare them for their mission. I will be preparing the forces for defending the other cities.” Four hours later, Celestia’s bedroom. Sans sat down next to Celestia, who had just come out of a meeting with several officers. “Sans,” began Celestia, “Do you know how long it's been since I’ve been in a battle? Besides Chrysalis of course.” Sans shook his head. “It has been nearly seven hundred years since my last real battle. It was against the Gryphonic empire. That battle secured the right for my ponies to live without them being threatened by a large outside force. I lost several friends in that last push against the Gryphonic forces, all of which I still mourn to this day.” The Solar alicorn looked out onto the window overlooking her city. “Now those I thought to be gone are coming back to haunt me and the ponies I sacrificed so much for to protect. I don’t wish to lose more of my friends and subjects. Sans, I don’t want to lose you. You are more important to me than you think you are. I’m not sure what I would do if I lost you, I’ve lost Luna before and I’m not sure I could take another being removed from my life that is as close to me as you are.” Sans chuckled lazily. “no worries, ‘tia. I’m not going anywhere. even if I die or something out there, I cheated death once, so it can’t be that hard. like riding a bicycle.” “Only you would compare death to a bicycle…” Celestia trailed off, her conviction wavering. “...‘tia?” Sans couldn't see her face from the angle she was standing, but he could tell just from her voice that something was off. “Sans, I wanted you to know I…” Celestia stopped, before sighing. “I hope you do well in your mission.” It would have been unfair to burden him with that knowledge just before he set off into danger. She just hoped he didn’t catch on. “well, alright then. it’ll go well. like I said, no worries. I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon… that’s a promise.” Either he hadn’t caught on or he had chosen to let her be, and Celestia was horribly certain it was the latter. Maybe she should just tell him, to get it out of the way and so he wouldn’t keep thinking about what she meant to say… But if she did, he would definitely be thinking about it on his mission… But if she didn’t and she lost him- A knock sounded at the door, interrupting her mental argument, and a guard poked his head in. “Your highness? I’m sorry to interrupt, but we just received word that Stalliongrad has come under attack. Prince Shining Armor is requesting reinforcements and reports the amount of undead is in the thousands. He also says that he saw a shadowy figure in the rear of the formation that he suspects may be King Sombra.” Celestia closed her eyes, thinking about all the potential outcomes, before standing up and turning to the guard. “Get two squadrons of wonderbolts and three of the ERAF to Shining Armor in support,” she told him. “Tell Luna that her force that is headed to Mareiland is going to need to be rerouted to Stalliongrad in order to reinforce Shining, and tell Steel Hoof the same for his force towards Vanhoover. I will still lead my forces to Galloping Gorge just in case of a separate group coming to attack. It will be close enough that if they need a quick reinforcement I can send some over or come myself. Sans, go retrieve Flowey and be ready to teleport, we now know where Sombra is.” By the time she had finished her sentence, Sans was already gone. “Private,” continued Celestia, “go inform the Elements of Harmony and the infiltration squad that they will be moving out to the Empire within the half hour. We must not let the sacrifice of these ponies in Stalliongrad go to waste.”