Bone Marrow had been walking for hours now. The sun had relented and given way to night, and still he was followed by Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
"Don't you ever get tired?" Rainbow complained. "You..." She huffed and pulled her wings up from the dusty ground as they had been dragging behind her, "You haven't stopped all day!"
He could've kept walking. He didn't need either of them, but Twilight was an alicorn. He already had an enemy with Celestia and he didn't need to go around making more enemies.
Bone shook his head and sighed. "Alright, I'll wait for you both to be rested." He turned to face the both of them, "Any ideas where to sit down? This jungle seems to go on forever in every direction."
"Here's good!" Twilight plopped her flank down on the ground and heaved a breath of relief. "I think my legs are numb..."
While the two ponies recovered from their long march, Bone Marrow had a moment of introspection. It had been a thousand years since he was last in Canterlot. A thousand years...
Bone Marrow giggled.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"
"I've missed a thousand birthdays!" He held the side of his hoof to his mouth and continued giggling, "I'm a thousand and twelve!"
Rainbow Dash and Twilight looked to one another with horror on their face. "You're twelve!?"
"Apparently!" He pulled his hood down, revealing his glowing blue eyes and the small skulls in his pupils. "The oldest necromancer to ever live!" The stallion paused for a moment, "I think, at least."
"Wait... if you're twelve, then aren't you technically a colt still?" Twilight scratched her head in confusion. This wasn't at all what she had thought she was getting herself into.
"You mean you two aren't fillies?" Bone raised his eyebrow and took a few steps back. "You're small enough to be fillies..."
Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest, "I'm fully grown and a Wonder Bolt, thank you very much!"
Twilight reached into her saddlebag with her magic and pulled out several books. None of them held the title she was searching for and the alicorn grumbled. "I know I've read something about this before. Ponies didn't grow like we do a thousand years ago."
Rainbow looked to her friend as Bone Marrow continued chuckling to himself. "You mean that he's not even fully grown yet? How big is he gonna be? Big Mac sized!?"
Twilight shook her head, "From what I've read and from what Princess Celestia told me--"
Bone Marrow growled at the mention of Celestia.
"-- Is that ponies from a thousand years ago grew to be around Princess Luna's height." Twilight finished, grumpy from being interrupted.
"Then how are we so... small?" The implications soured Rainbow's tongue to even speak aloud.
"Well, a thousand years ago was just a little bit after Discord was locked away by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. There was a lot more chaotic magic swirling around during that time." Twilight gestured to Bone Marrow with her hoof. "Ponies used to be flooded with all kinds of magic from the moment they were born, just like little unicorn foals have powerful magic that they can't control."
A terrifying thought came to Bone Marrow. "Wait, if it's been a thousand years... you all still have Oatmeal Raisin cookies, don't you? Please tell me you do!"
"Uh, yeah." Rainbow Dash shook her head in disbelief, "We still have Oatmeal Raisin cookies."
Bone sat down with a sigh of relief. "Then everything isn't terrible in the future."
Twilight took out some blank pages from her saddlebag along with a quill and inkwell. "You're taking all of this pretty well..." She wrote down a few notes, "what about all of the ponies you knew?"
The necromancer held a hoof to the golden pocket watch around his neck. "I have all the ones I can help close with me. As for the others... well, I hope they had a good life before they died."
Rainbow Dash was taken aback by how casually the stallion-sized colt spoke of death. "You're... not sad or anything?"
Bone shook his head. "Before Celestia hit me with her weird rainbow-magic, I had killed thousands of ponies, griffons, minotaur and other kinds of folk in a big battle for Canterlot. That, combined with all the times I've died, it's not that big of a deal."
Twilight looked up from her notes. "Wait, what do you mean? You've died before?"
The colt scratched his chin. "There was the first time by halberds and swords... and the poleaxe that severed my spine. Then there was the bandit with a crossbow bolt through my heart..." He rested his head on his hoof. "Then I died to myself to get away from Anvil... the time that Pure Intent threw a sword from my chest and I fell from the battlements..." His expression turned sour. "Then the time that Celestia chopped my head off with a battle axe, but I'd thought she was trying to help me then."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash's mouths were wide open.
Bone noticed their expressions when he failed to remember other ways he had died. He looked between the both of them with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
"How would chopping your head off help you!?" The mares yelped.
The colt winced, "No need to shout, jeez."
Twilight's ears folded down. "Sorry, it's just... it's a lot to take in. Battles, bandits, a... well, a colt like yourself living through all of those things just sounds terrible!"
Bone shrugged, "It's all in the past now, apparently. It's been a thousand years, remember?" He smirked and pulled his hood over his head, his dark blue eyes causing the hood to glow.
The group of two mares and a big colt had spent the night resting next to a campfire they had built with the help of magic and a bit of resourcefulness. Bone Marrow didn't need to sleep as often as Rainbow Dash or Twilight, so he kept watch, wary of the bandits or wild animals that might come. Twilight had told him that there were no bandits anymore, but then again...
Never Trust Strangers was one of his rules.
Despite the short time they had conversed, Bone was very wary of Twilight and her friend. It was a thousand years into the future and to Bone Marrow, it had felt like he only blinked for that time to pass. How old was Twilight? She was an Alicorn after all, and he had no way of knowing how long ago it had been since a third alicorn had popped into existance.
At least, that's how he thought alicorns worked. Nopony had every talked about how Celestia and Princess Luna came into being, so Bone assumed they simply appeared one day. Besides, the Princess of Friendship? Please. That sounded like a lie no matter how much she tried to explain it.
What hung at the back of his mind was the changes he'd undergone while he was a statue. His voice was different and he was a bit bigger, certainly, but he couldn't be more than a teenager. Besides, what would happen if he died again? Would he become a colt just like he had been when he first died, or would he remain as physically old as he was now? He shuddered at the thought. To be a colt forever sounded horrible.
Another thought entered his mind. When he was first learning his powers, a raven had helped him learn. Enough to get him moving on his hooves, but not a whole lot beyond that. The few necromancy books he had read had no mention of a helper to guide them through their lives, but at the same time it couldn't be that hard to find another raven, could it?
He looked up at the surrounding jungle as the wind rustled the leaves of the trees. "Right... ravens don't live in the jungle, do they?" The colt frowned and pulled his hood from his head. "I can't really go looking for a raven either, can I?" He huffed at the two sleeping mares as they dozed peacefully near their campfire.
Bone wasn't really obliged to keep either of them safe during the night, but at the same time he didn't want either of them to get mauled by some magical tiger or other kind of beast. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were strangers, but they hadn't done anything against him either. They just followed him around, asked questions and complained about being tired.
The necromancer scratched his chin. He had been in a few battles before, and he had healed the wounds of ponies who would've certainly died if he didn't use his magic. Would the same magic work on making Twilight and Rainbow not tired anymore?
He grumbled. One of the books he'd read had told him that necromancer magic wouldn't work on an alicorn... yet at the same time, he was able to look through Twilight's eyes easily enough. Maybe the book was lying? Or, Bone thought, maybe the pony who wrote the book didn't want to test out their abilities on the Princess of the Sun.
"Yeah, that's more likely..." Bone sat down and stared at the two mares in thought. He could try his magic on the both of them, or he could let them sleep. Waiting for them to wake up was boring, but he didn't want to scare either of them by using his magic when they weren't expecting it. He certainly didn't want them to use strange magic on him when he wasn't prepared for it.
"Fine, have your sleep then." The colt looked around the camp to see if anything was moving, and he was pleased to find everything had remained as dreadfully boring as it had for the last few hours.
When dawn came, Bone Marrow shook Twilight and Rainbow Dash awake.
"Aww." Rainbow Dash groaned, "Come on-n-n. Five more minutes?"
Twilight yawned and moved her hair over her eyes to block out the morning sun.
The necromancer-colt rolled his eyes. "The longer we stay out here, the more likely it is that a bandit or some kind of monster is going to find us."
"There's no bandits, Bone Marrow." Twilight rubbed her eyes and used her magic to clean dirt from her body. "Nopony does that kind of thing anymore."
A deep roar sounded out through the jungle that shook the trees and caused birds to flee.
All three ponies jumped to their hooves. Rainbow and Twilight's wings expanded and they were about to take off before they realized that Bone Marrow was a unicorn and couldn't fly.
"Aw, crap." Rainbow held a hoof to her face. "How fast can you run?"
Bone Marrow's ears had perked up. "What kind of a monster roars that loudly?"
Twilight sounded nervous. "From past experiences? Probably a hydra."
The necromancer's tail flicked. "Can they do magic?"
"No?" Twilight was curious now. "What are you planning?"
"Well, if the hydra thingy can't cast magic, then it can't make a shield. Is it made of gems?"
Twilight and Rainbow Dash were now very worried that the colt had sparkles of hope in his eyes. Twilight shook her head.
"Awesome, let's go kill it!"
The two mares were dumbfounded as Bone Marrow raced off through the jungle towards the source of the hydra's roars.
"Are you insane!?" Twilight shouted after the necromancer, taking flight along with her friend to chase after him.
Bone's horn charged with magic and icy hooves hammered into the swampy water. He moved faster and faster through the forest as plants withered and turned to ash behind him.
Twilight and Rainbow couldn't believe what they were seeing. Was he moving so fast that the jungle turned to ash behind him, or was he actually killing the jungle to move faster?
The colt was smiling. He hadn't run this fast in... well, from his perspective it had been a day or so since he was speeding through the streets of Canterlot. In actuality, he had been frozen in stone for a thousand years until now, so he was technically stretching his legs after a long nap. The excuse suited him just fine and he continued speeding along the jungle. He weaved around trees and leaped over thick brush and winding rivers.
Rainbow Dash sped up enough to keep pace with Bone Marrow, but she was still impressed by how fast he ran. With a shudder, she was reminded of Pinkie Pie's ability to catch her no matter where she went or how fast she went there.
Twilight, on the other hoof, was detailing all of this in expansive notes written in her own personal code. Easier to write while on the move, or flying in this case, and still leaving out none of the details.
When Bone Marrow finally found the hydra in question, it was feasting on several slain manticores. He grinned.
"Hey!" Bone shouted, "I wanna have a word with you, Hydra!"
One of the hydra's heads turned to face the colt and tilted in curiosity.
"Die!" The necromancer shouted, and swirling bolts of icy magic shot out from his horn to head straight for the hydra.
It had barely enough time to drop the meals from its mouths before the spell struck, and the hydra tilted its other heads in confusion.
Bone Marrow raised an eyebrow at the hydra. Usually things were dead by now. "Um..." he took a step back, "please?"
The Hydra roared in defiance of the necromancer's magic and started running towards him. How dare a pony cast magic at him.
"Bone Marrow!" Twilight yelled from above, "run!"
The colt turned tail and sprinted through the forest. What had gone wrong? He had killed thousands from simply thinking or speaking that very same word. Was he weaker, somehow?
He growled as realization struck him like a rainbow-colored wave of magic, "To Tartarus with you, Celestia!"
Rainbow Dash held her hooves to her mouth and gasped. "Bone Marrow!"
Bone Marrow looked behind himself as he ran and shouted towards the hydra, "Die, you great big monster!"
The hydra didn't even seem to notice the spell.
The necromancer colt then decided that speed was clearly the key to not dying horribly yet again and ran faster through the jungle. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were far above the scene and kept track of Bone Marrow from the path of ash and rot that he carved through the foliage.
Did he need more power? Was he weakened by being in the statue for so long? Bone shook his head, this wasn't how he thought things would go at all.
The Hydra took a deep breath and shot out a torrent of fire at Bone Marrow, toasting the ends of his cloak and his hind legs. The colt shouted out in pain, his muscles tearing from being lit on fire. He tossed his cloak to the side, sad to see it go, but he also didn't want to run around with a burning cloak on his flank.
Another of the hydra's heads shot fire out at the necromancer, incinerating one of his legs.
Bone screamed out in pain and toppled head over hooves through the forest before slamming into a tree's trunk.
"Not again!" Bone hissed through clenched teeth. "Heal!"
His wounds were repairing themselves, but the icy-cold relief wasn't progressing fast enough. Bone hobbled onto his legs and tried to run, hoping that his wounds would mend before his muscles tore.
Twilight was horrified by what she was witnessing. She had encountered Hydras before, but none of them had injured her so grievously as they had Bone Marrow. Was it because she was an alicorn, or was it because she was an Element of Harmony? She shook her head; it didn't matter right now.
She started hurling bolts of lavender magic at the hydra's heads, attempting to get its attention.
"Over here, bad-breath!" Rainbow taunted from above, blowing raspberries at the hydra. "Pick on somepony your own size!"
The hydra was momentarily confused. Should it eat the flying ponies or the injured pony?
A larger bolt of magic made up the hydra's minds for it, as Twilight sent the Hydra flying with a massive blast of energy that caused a silhouette of ash behind the giant monster.
The hydra coughed, clouds of smoke coming from its many mouths.
"Twilight, look!" Rainbow pointed to the trail of death that was left behind in Bone Marrow's wake. He was far enough away now. "Let's get out of here!"
Twilight nodded and sent another bolt of magic to stagger the Hydra before following after her friend.
When Twilight and Rainbow Dash eventually caught up with Bone Marrow, he was leaning against an ashen stump. He was breathing heavily and nursing one of his legs. The fur was gone, his muscle tissue and bone exposed by the scorching fire of the hydra.
"Come on, Heal you stubborn leg!"
Twilight cleared her throat. "Do you want to tell us what that was?"
"Yeah! Why'd you go after a hydra?" Rainbow added.
Bone grimaced in pain. "I thought it would die, alright?"
The mare's ears folded down. This wasn't the time for scolding. Twilight pointed to Bone's injured leg. "Are you going to be okay? You've been saying a bunch of weird words that I don't understand lately. Are they spells?"
The colt was caught off guard for a moment before remembering a passage of the necromancy book he had read. "Tell me what you heard, Twilight."
"Eh... Morietur?"
He nodded. "I was telling the Hydra to die. For some reason, it didn't die."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "You thought that just telling something to die would make it die?"
"Why were you even trying to kill it in the first place?" Twilight inquired.
Bone sighed and his ears flattened. "That's never happened to me before. Everything else I've told to drop dead did as I told it to. I've done it--"
"Thousands of times, yeah, we heard you." Rainbow rolled her eyes, "try not to pick fights with hydras, please?"
The colt grumbled as his leg continued to slowly heal. "F-i-i-ine."