//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Good Bye // Story: Once a Necromancer Always a Necromancer // by ThatOneLittleBoy //------------------------------// The next night, Twilight sat in her bed with a certain black book in her lap. She could hear the sound of the wind howling and of water droplets pouring onto the roof. A bolt of lightning flashed brightly, flooded the room with light and accompanied by a loud bang. Twilight had massive bags under her eyes, a mane that looked more like a rats nest then anything else, and in her face you could see as plain as day how tired and scared she was. She looked over at the clock on her wall, it was 4:30 am. She sighed as she looked back down at the book. "I-I need to know," she whispered to herself. She was terrified by what she would find in the book but she needed to know the information it's pages contained. She opened it up to the first page . On the top of the page was the title "On Necromancy, a Shunned Art". 'What am I doing?' Twilight thought 'I can't read this!' 'But I read it before, why not now?' Twilight argued with herself. 'Also don't I want to know what I could be up against? If my guess is right and there are necromancers on that mountain then we need to know everything that they could throw at us and maybe even use their own powers against them.' "I-" Twilight began but since she couldn't think of any good excuses why not to read the book. She knew she had to read it. She just does not want to. "I'm not going to practice anything though. I'm not a necromancer." Twilight said with disgust. Then a thought occurred to Twilight 'You don't need to practice, you already know a lot of it. All you need is a refresher and you'll be an A grade necromancer in no time!' "I said I'm not a necromancer." Twilight said to herself quietly but ferociously at the same time. She began to read the black book with a sigh. She was sweating from the anticipation. The first and second pages were a introduction of sorts. Showing a basic overview of necromancy as a whole and listing out all the different parts of the subject. There were 2 main areas of necromancy listed in the book. Single Necromancy spells and Mass Necromancy spells. She went on reading. Twilight began to read the section of the book that was about single necromancy spells. She got just two pages in when she read the lines "Even the most petty of all single necromancy spells takes years of dedication and discipline to learn and use properly. You must also be an extremely powerful unicorn to be able to cast them at all." When Twilight read this she gasped 'I was able to do this type of magic easily back when I was was just a foal! Imagine what I could do now?' She looked at herself with a mix of wonder and horror. She shook her head "I don't think I can do this anymore. I've had  more than enough reading about necromancey for today." She then bookmarked her page and set it down. She shoved the black book down under her bed again and layed down. It took her a long time to fall asleep but when she finally did her dreams were plagued by awful nightmares. Nightmares just as bad, if not worse, then the first. Spike took a step away from the door. 'What the hell, Necromancy? Why is she talking about something like that, and why does she need to know about it?' Spike shook his head 'I need to ask Celestia about this. She asked me to keep Twilight safe and that's exactly what I'm going to do.' He tiptoed all the way over to his room. When he got there he opened the door and walked inside as quietly as he could so not to wake up Twilight. He then sat down at his desk and began to write a letter to the princess. Dear Princess Celestia, I'm really starting to get worried about Twilight. A hour ago I woke up to go get some water but when I walked past Twilight's room I heard her talking to herself so I stopped. I then put my ear against the door so I could hear her better. I couldn't make out full sentences but one word came up multiple times, necromancy. Do you know why Twilight is talking about such things? Please tell me if you do. Your Friend, Spike Spike then, as always, blew green fire on the piece paper and it was teleported to Celestia. After just 10 seconds of waiting Spike burped and out came a hastily written letter. He read it over and over again, barley even comprehending what he read. If what you tell me is true then Twilight could be dangerous. Be careful Spike. I'm coming to talk to her personally. Expect me within 4 hours Spike put the paper down and looked over at his door in worry. Spike walked over to his bed and layed down 'Twilight, what did you get yourself into?' Twilight opened her eyes and looked around her room. It was early morning, 7:36 am to be precise. She yawned as she sat up in her bed and stretched. Outside the storm was still going on strong. If anything it's gotten worse with much more rain falling than earlier. Twilight got out of bed and walked over to the mirror on her desk. As her body went into frame she cringed. Twilight looked absolutely horrendous. Her coat was all matted and dirty, Twilight's tail and mane were both knotted messes, and it was extremely obvious she had been crying ... a lot. Twilight sighed and tried her very best to get herself at least into a semi-presentable state. A little over an hour later and she looked like her good old self again. Her eyes were a little bloodshot and red but she could just write that one off as allergies or dust or something along those lines. She got up and walked to her door and took a deep breath. 'Okay Twilight, you can do this. Just act normal and try and have some fun.' She opened the door. Twilight's eyes widened as she looked at the figure outside her door with shock and surprise. "Celestia?" Twilight asked looking up at the white alicorn's face with a mixture of shock, relief, and fear. "Yes Twilight, it is I," Celestia responded looking down at Twilight and meeting her gaze with a frown. "Why are you here? Twilight asked with a confused look on her face. Twilight frowned 'What could she possibly want that is so important she had to come all the way out here? Hope it's not anything dangerous.' "Twilight, I have came all this way on a matter of great importance." Celestia said letting her eyes off Twilight as she spoke. "And what is this "mater of great importance", Princess?" Twilight asked with a tilt of her head. "You, Twilight. You are the matter of great importance." Celestia looked back at Twilight with a stare that could melt metal. "Now tell me Twilight, why have you begun to study necromancy?" Twilight's world at that moment came crashing down. Her head was filled with hundreds of questions 'How does she know? What am I going to do? Will she still love me?' "I'm sorry Celestia I-" she was cut when Celestia began to yell. "There are no excuses, Twilight!" Celestia spat looking down at Twilight. Twilight was looking up at Celestia with eyes full of fear. "Back when you were young I let it slide only because you didn't know what you were doing. But now you have no excuse, now there will be consequences for your actions!" Twilight spoke in a shaky, pleading voice "Celestia please, let me expla-" "NO!" Celestia yelled. "There is nothing you can say or do that will change what you have done! You, Twilight Sparkle, will no longer be called a princess of Equestria. You have been stripped of your royal status!" Twilight as soon as she heard this fell to her knees and began to cry. All that work to get her looking presentable, all now being washed away by a waterfall of tears. "And you will not be able get it back until you do something that proves to me that you can be trusted." Celestia looked at the shaking and sobbing shape of the lavender alicorn at her hooves and sighed "Be downstairs in 20 minutes. You're leaving and coming with me to Canterlot." Celestia growled as she walked out of Twilight's bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Twilight was frozen, a statue as she sobbed. 'She hates me doesn't she?' She thought 'Maybe it would be better if I just disappeared...' She jerked her head upright as a plan began to form in her head. 'Maybe I should just disappear! Yes, just leave and never come back!' Twilight's frown got much larger 'I'll have to say goodbye to all of my friends though; but maybe they wouldn't even want to see me.' She sighed as she stood up and went to her closet. When she was there she grabbed a saddlebag and put it on her back. Twilight sighed "I got this for my last birthday from Applejack." She smiled as she remembered that day. She shook her head and got back to work on the task at hand. Twilight secured the straps on the saddlebags and went to pick up everything she needed. She ran around the room grabbing everything she was going to need to live in the wild. She grabbed a water canteen, a map of the world, a book called "Edible Plants, Roots, and other Fruits", a compass, among many other things. She went over to her window and opened it up. Rain water fell on Twilight's face and the wind was almost strong enough to tipp Twilight off balance. She extended her wings and was about to fly off when Twilight realized she was forgetting something. She turned around and reached under her bed. She grabbed the black book, pulled it out, and stuck it into her saddlebags. She turned around now for the last time and jumped out of her window. She extended her wings and flew away from her home. A home she had lived in for 7 years. Twilight looked back at Ponyville one last time before she flew through the clouds, away from everything and everyone she ever loved. Tears flew down her face as Twilight said one last time with a voice full of sorrow "Good bye."