//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20 - Farther to the Right 
// Story: Once a Necromancer Always a Necromancer 
// by ThatOneLittleBoy 
//------------------------------//

Twilight woke up and immediately screamed in agony. Instantly, the pain in her body hit her like a ten ton bugbear. Every breath sent a dagger into her lungs, and every heartbeat made her head throb in an increasingly more painful headache. She then realized something; she was laying down in a puddle of blood. A disturbingly familiar feeling.

Beside Twilight, Sapphire was jerked up by the sound of Twilight's scream. She got to her hooves and ran over to Twilight, grabbing a bag of medical supplies on her way. "Please be okay. Please be okay!" she chanted as she ran over. When she got to Twilight she let out a sigh of relief, and asked in as calm a voice as she could. "Are you okay? How can I help!?"

Twilight groaned in pain. "Do you have painkillers? Please say you have painkillers!"

"Okay, I'll look for some," Sapphire said eagerly. She then opened up the medicine bag and looked through the bags contents. As she looked through the bag she said, "I might need some help through with anything else, I know next to nothing about medicine," After a few more seconds of searching she asked. "Is this it?" as she levitated up a small bottle into the air, shaking it a little.

Twilight looked over and nodded. With a labored breath she added, "Yes, please, give two of the tablets to me, and please can you stop shaking it?"

"Sorry," Sapphire apologized. She undid the top of the bottle and removed two tablets. She then quickly grabbed a bottle of water and gave Twilight both the water and the tablets. Twilight took them both, and with a weak, "Thanks," proceeded to swallow the medical tablets with the aid of some water.

"Thanks," Twilight said again, this time louder. She grunted in pain. "It might take a bit to kick in though." She sighed, "Why didn't I ever try and learn some sort of anesthetic spell? No, I take that back, why didn't I learn any kind of healing spell!?" Twilight said, just before she went into a long coughing fit. She coughed so hard that she coughed up some blood. 

"That's not good," Sapphire said with concern. "That will go away, right?"

"We can only hope," Twilight said darkly. "Also, can you please move me out of this puddle?"

Sapphire nodded, and lifted Twilight up and moved her to a different spot on the hardwood floor. 

"Thanks," Twilight gave a half hearted, pained smile to Sapphire

"No problem," Sapphire responded with a smile of her own, just as half heartedly.

After a few more minutes of silence Sapphire asked. "Are you better?"

Twilight groaned as she stood up. "I'll manage." 

"You sure?" Sapphire asked, concern and skepticism filling her voice.

"I'm sure," Twilight responded, panting a little.

"O-okay…" Sapphire said, skeptical of how much truth was in Twilight's words. She then took a few steps closer to Twilight and kept looking at her like she was an engine about to fall apart.

Twilight then took a second to look at her surroundings. She was inside a massive candlelit grand entry hall. The room was at least twenty feet tall, forty feet long, and twenty-five feet wide. At the opposite end of the room was a large statue of stallion in plate armour holding a sword very similar to Twilight's. To her left and right were two hallways, both going on for about ten feet until they turned in opposite directions. Behind her was a large double door gate. Leading from where she was laying to the gate was a trail of blood. 

"Where are we? My memory of the battle and what happened after the fact is a little foggy, or nonexistent," Twilight asked as she studied the room. Her eyes kept going back to the statue. 'I wonder who that is,' she thought.

"Well, after you got hurt I carried you through the courtyard and into the castle. This is just inside of the castle." Sapphire added with a small smile "Also your fighting out there was honestly impressive for someone with as much experience as you."

Twilight looked at Sapphire and gave her a small smile "Thank you, I just hope I'm better next time." 

She then, with a pained grunt, took a step, then another, and another. Twilight looked at Sapphire with a small smile "I think those painkillers are beginning to do their magic! By the way, what are these painkillers? They’re working extremely well. I barely feel any pain at all now that they've began to work!" Twilight took a step forward and cried out in pain "Okay maybe they aren't as good as I first thought, but they still work wonders!"

Sapphire smiled at Twilight. "That's good to hear! And I don't exactly know what they are, I'll look." Sapphire levitated the bottle of tablets up to her face and read the label. "It says that it is 'Magic Enhanced Morphine' or whatever that means."

Twilight smiled "That makes sense as to why they are working so well."

Twilight looked over to the statue again. 'I want to get a closer look at that,' Twilight thought as she began to walk over to the statue. The statue had been really well preserved, looking nearly brand-new. If it wasn't for discoloration and water damage on the stallion's head, Twilight would've thought it was recently constructed.The statue was of a tall stallion wearing plate armor with a long striped main. His left hoof was pointing towards the right door, which Twilight thought as quite odd. His plate armor was intricately designed with emblems and other designs carved into and embedded onto his armour. On his chest was an eagle wearing a crown. On the eagle's chest was an iron cross much like the one on the pommel of Twilight's sword. 'Wait, that can't be,' Twilight thought as her eyes drifted towards the stallion's sword. 

Twilight realized something, her sword and the sword that the stallion held were the exact same sword. Twilight levitated her sword over to her and compared her sword and the sword in the statue and found her original hypothesis true. "Hey Sapphire."

Sapphire turned and looked at Twilight. "Yes Twilight, what is it?" 

Twilight looked over at Sapphire and met her eyes. "Why is my sword the same one as the one in this statue, and why was I never informed of this?

Sapphire walked up to Twilight and sighed "I can't answer that question, sorry."

Twilight tilted her head in confusion and asked "And why is that?" 

"I'm sorry, I really am. But I just can't. Maybe when we get out of this place you can ask Crystal Ember or the King."

Twilight sighed "Fine, keep your secrets," she looked at Sapphire and asked "But why can't you tell me?" 

Sapphire looked away "I can't even tell you that." 

Twilight looking away from Sapphire and back at the statue. 'Why won't she answer my question? Does that mean that it is the same sword? Or just some other random sword. And if it is the same sword why is that such an important secret to keep?'

"So, who is this?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at the statue. 

"That, I believe, is The Lich King Maradicta, and from what I've heard you've already heard his story." Sapphire responded, smiling at Twilight.

'Really? If that's Maradicta then if my sword is the same one as the one in the statue, that means...' Twilight shook her head "I see, " Twilight looked over at Sapphire. "There was something I don't understand about the story."

"And what is that?" 

"How did Maradicta lose? He had necromancy and every enemy soldier dead was a new soldier for him and his army. Just how did he lose?" 

"Ohh," Sapphire took a deep breath. "Well he was at war with almost the entire civilized world at the time. Equestria, The Holy Romau Empire, The Griffin Empire, and so many more. And he was one of the only ponies who could do the things he did. Only about a fourth of the ponies in the kingdom could actually do necromancy and only a third of their army was undead. It also doesn't help that undead are not really that smart. Just remember back to the fight in the courtyard, they were literally running into your sword. It was only a matter of time before we were defeated." 

'Oh my, that's awful!' Twilight thought as she looked at Sapphire, horrified. "You can't be serious, the entire world wouldn't just go to war at the same time with one country for almost no reason! And then be willing to practically erase that nation from history, that's insane!"

"It was insane, but it wasn't for no reason, Twilight. Both the Holy Romau Church and Celestia and Luna declared holy wars or "Crusades" against Nördlichland and with that most of Equiss and Griffonia went to war with us. They were disgusted by our unorthodox practices, our more militaristic way of life, and our religion was considered as an 'uncivil' and even an 'evil' religion by many."

Twilight shook her head. "That's awful."

"Yes, it truly was," Sapphire frowned.

Twilight sighed 'The history of this place makes me depressed. I wonder if one day it could get back to its former glory....' Twilight looked over at Sapphire. "Come on, let's go. I want to get this done and over with."

Sapphire smiled. "You're right, let's go." 

They both then walked back to the gate behind them to pick up their stuff. "Um," Twilight began. "I don't think I can carry anything because," she looked down at her bandaged chest, "Ya." 

Sapphire nodded. "Ya, I can do that for ya, it won't be too hard for me to carry your things." She levitated up Twilight's saddlebags and put them on her back. She then laid her own on her back as well.
 
"Thanks Sapphire," Twilight said with a smile. Twilight levitated her sword up and resheathed it with a satisfying "shing!" 

Twilight turned around so that she was facing the statue. She looked right, then left.

"Which way should we go?" Sapphire said, looking back and forth as well.

"I don't know," Twilight began. "Maybe … we should go right again."

Sapphire looked at Twilight like she had just went insane. "You're joking, right?" When Twilight didn't answer, Sapphire sighed. "Look how well going right went the first time. You got stabbed and hurt, a lot! I thought you were going to die! And you just want to go right again! Why in god's holy name would you do want to do that!?"

Twilight cringed from the incoming barrage of questions and criticism. "We went right and we should keep going right, right? It also just feels … right. I don't know why, but it does." Twilight smiled somewhat nervously. "And he's pointing towards it, that's gotta count for something!"

Sapphire let out a long and exaggerated sigh. "Fine, let's go. But when you die on me for going right again, it's on you!"

Twilight turned right and began walking, looking over her shoulder as she walked. "You coming?" she asked Sapphire with a small smile.

"Ya, sure. Let's go." Sapphire said with a frown. 

Twilight smiled at Sapphire as she caught up with her. They then began walking side by side. "Come on, it'll be fine. No one will die, and we’ll get through this. Who knows, it might even be fun!"

Sapphire sighed, "It's just, it was terrifying when I looked over, and you were..." she trailed off, a few tears falling from her cheek. "And then when we went inside the castle and you were bleeding … your blood, everywhere … I don't want that again. Please, not ever fucking again." She wiped her eyes with her hooves furiously. "I know we've only known each other for a few days, but I'd call you a friend, and I've lost too many of my friends to lose another one."

'Oh my that's ... I didn't know …' Twilight stood there in stunned silence. After a few seconds of her gawking at Sapphire, Twilight got herself back together again and gave Sapphire a reassuring smile. "Sapphire, nothing like that is going to happen, okay? I promise nothing like that will ever happen again." Twilight gave Sapphire a sheepish grin. "And I won't die with someone like you by my side!"

Sapphire chuckled "Thanks, I needed that." She looked over at Twilight with a small smile. Her eyes were still red, but the tears seemed to have stopped. "Let's go," Sapphire looked forward with a downcast expression.

Twilight sighed sadly. "Ya, let's go." Together they walked down the large, candle lit hallway. The hallway was decorated with tapestries depicting great battles, paintings of stallions and mares in regal clothing, and was lined with suits of plate armor. The suits of plate armor all had double sided battle axes strapped on their backs, and they were all made for unicorns. Beneath their feet was a finely woven, red rug that went the whole way down the hallway. The rug was a tapestry of its own, depicting battles, great monuments, and other seemingly great events. 

After about a half an hour of walking later they finally began to see the end of the hallway. "Finally!" Sapphire yelled. "We've been walking for half an hour, and I'd really like a change in scenery!"

Twilight laughed. "Honestly, I’ have been enjoying myself. These tapestries and paintings have been really interesting, if I do say so myself." 

Sapphire looked back at Twilight with an unimpressed frown. "Ya, and you're the egghead!"

Twilight laughed and shook her head. "Okay, if you want to go, then let's go."

They then walked all the way down to the end of the hallway. Beyond the hallway was a large library. But just seconds before they walked into the next room, two heavy oak doors slammed shut just inches away from their faces. 'What the hell?' Twilight thought. She reached out with her magic and tried to open the door, nothing happened. She then reached out with her hoof and tried to open it, but once more nothing happened. "Dammit!" Twilight yelled, punching the door in frustration. 

"Why don't you try and use some sort of disintegration spell, or some other destructive spell like that?" Sapphire suggested.

Twilight smiled.  "Why didn't I think of that, and I thought I was the egghead!" Twilight looked over at Sapphire. "Stand back, this spell is very powerful. I don't want to accidentally vaporize you."

Sapphire took a few steps back and Twilight got herself ready. "Okay, here goes nothing!" Then a beam of purple light flew out of Twilight's horn like a tornado of destruction. Everything in its path was destroyed … at least that's how it should have been. The beam of destructive light hit the door like water hitting a stone. Twilight stopped the spell, panting. She looked up and her eyes widened in horror, the door was unscathed. 'What? That's impossible! That is fucking impossible! That's not supposed to happen, that can't happen!' 

"What, that's not, how!" Twilight stammered out. 

Sapphire sighed. "There goes that plan. Now we have to walk all the way back and go left! See I told you we should have gone left!"

Twilight got a hold on herself and looked over at Sapphire. "What now?" 

Sapphire sighed. "We just have to walk all the way ba-" she stopped when suddenly the lights went out. Every candle went out, instantly leaving the two mares in complete darkness.

'What the hell?' Twilight thought.

"What just happened?" Sapphire yelled, her voice edging on panic. 

"I don't know," Twilight began. "But I can help a little bit." She cast a light spell and … an axe came out of the darkness and was heading right for her!

Twilight screamed, and brought her sword to bear. Then Twilight realized that the axe was being levitated by a suit of armor.

Sapphire brought out her own sword and yelled, "I fucking hate this place!" before she swung her sword and cut the head of a suit of armor clean off its body. 

The suit of armor in front of Twilight lifted its axe up for another swing. Twilight was faster than the armor though, and swung her sword in a clumsy upward ark, cutting clean through the armor. Twilight then caught it's axe, and threw blindly down the hall, and by luck alone it embedded itself into the helmet of another suit of armor.

Sapphire parried the next axe that was swung at her and in one quick, blurred movement she cut the suit of armor in half, horizontally. 

Twilight blinked, and when her eyes opened another axe was coming right for her! She screamed and lifted up her sword in front of her to intercepted the axe. The axe hit her with so much force she was forced backwards, so far backwards that she slammed up against the doors behind her. She looked to her left, and saw another suit of armor raising its axe ready to cut her in half. Her eyes widened in terror. 'What am I supposed to do!' she thought in full panic mode. 'How am I supposed to stop that?' Then she smiled as she realized how dumb she was. 'Come on Twilight, you have a horn, use it!' She cast a low-power disintegration spell at it. It hit, and the whole suit was reduced to ashes.

Sapphire swung her sword and decapitated another suit of armor before yelling, "Twilight, could you cast that spell you just tried on the door on these fucks?!"

"Sure!" Twilight yelled as she thrust her sword into the head of a suit of armor. Twilight took a quick deep breath. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Twilight yelled as pointed her horn down the hallway and cast the spell.

The hallway was filled with brilliant purple light as the beam of magical destruction pushed its way through the hallway. Everything in its path was reduced to dust. Twilight ended the spell, and the hallway was submerged back into darkness.

"Woo hoo!" Sapphire yelled excitedly. "That was fun! Twilight, you okay?"

Twilight cast her light spell and looked over at Sapphire. "I'm fine," she panted. "Just give me a second." Twilight sat down, still panting, and sheathed her sword with the same satisfying "shing!"

"Okay, take your time," Sapphire said, smiling at Twilight.

Twilight sat for about a minute before she spoke again. "I'm better now. That was just … intense."

Sapphire laughed. "Yes, it truly was." She looked at Twilight with a big grin. "You fought really well Twilight, you should be proud. And that axe throw you did," she shook her head. "That was insanely cool!" 

Twilight smiled a prideful smile. "Thanks Sapphire, that means a lot!"

"No problem, you deserve it! That magic too, I need to learn that spell!" Sapphire said, her smile getting bigger.

Twilight smiled. "I could teach you, but later. I kind of want to just sit here and rest. Maybe even take a little nap." Twilight shut her eyes "Ya, that sounds just fine."

Sapphire nodded. "Sure take one, I'll be sitting here waiting for you to wake u-" she looked over and saw Twilight all ready asleep. The light coming from her head getting dimmer and dimmer until it finally went out completely. Sapphire chuckled. "Wow, you really must of been tired!" 

That night Twilight had a dream. A dream like no other. A dream that she would remember for the rest of her days. A dream where she wasn't alone...