Circa 1042 A.N.B., 3:00 PM; Thunderstorm Plateau
Lightning flashed between clouds above the giant, flat rock. No pegasi were here to guide it, so the bolts were at completely random intervals. Frigid winds flowed over this place. A windigo breathed it in and galloped in circles in the air. It was leaving its prey rather hot and dry in comparison. Said prey was chained up to a jagged boulder by some dark magic chains.
A broadsword slashed through the ghastly neck of the windigo. It shrieked in pain before fading into a mist. The sword spun around a full circle before sliding into a sheath. Its wielder sighed as he trotted up to the chained up victim.
"My love, I'm here now." Zephyr reached up a hoof.
"Wait, how did you get over there so fast?" Krusty wondered. "You were the last one to come through your portal."
"Yeah, that was the first question on my mind." Smolder nodded.
Nightingale held out a hoof. "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first."
The couple tilted their heads. Smolder crossed her arms. "You say that like it explains everything, but it really-"
Crystal and Nightingale were already scampering toward their parents. Smolder sighed and walked after them. Krusty trotted beside her. A stray lightning bolt zapped the position that they had all arrived. This convinced the dragon and changeling to step faster.
"Mother!" Nightingale called out.
"Mom! Wake up!" Crystal shouted.
Their mother stirred, but her head still hung. Her eyes remained shut. Zephyr flew up and performed a few diagonal slashes with his sword. Pebbles flung off the boulder as well as some of the chain links. After putting his sword away again, Zephyr caught his wife with his front hooves and held her close. He flew down to gently bring her to the ground.
"Is she going to be okay?" Nightingale stepped up and looked at the sleeping pony.
Crystal sniffed the air. "Something's wrong. Normally, there's a constant scent of love surrounding her. But right now, it's almost gone."
"Is she... leaving this life?" Smolder stared in concern.
"It must be similar to Zephyr Ward's imprisonment." Krusty waved his front hooves around for emphasis. "You know how he was completely drained after summoning that portal to bring us to him? Well, this mare must have lost a lot of strength too. Maybe we can bring her back to normal in the same way."
"Mom's not a changeling." Crystal tilted his head. "She can't absorb love magic the same way we can."
"I mean, Papa managed to feed it to her before." Nightingale turned over her wing toward her brother.
Crystal looked at her funny. "Huh?"
"Well, kind of." Zephyr scrunched his face. "She was pregnant with Crystal at the time. I think she was only able to taste it because he was feeding on the love I gave through her." He tapped underneath his muzzle. "Maybe I can still try it."
He took a deep breath. He opened his mouth and exhaled a mist of blue. It flowed down toward the mare. The mist covered her body briefly, but immediately dissipated. Her body still looked worn down. However, she did manage to open her eyes a bit.
A whisper escaped her lips. "Z...Zephy?"
He smiled lightly. "I'm here, my love."
"Mom! / Mom!" Nightingale and Crystal crowded her at the same time.
"Kids?" She coughed. "Great stars, you're... growing up so fast."
"Can you stand?" Zephyr asked.
"I...I think so." She slowly moved her limbs. But they weren't lifting more than an inch. "Why am I so tired this morning?"
"It's more like the middle of the day." Smolder looked up. "Well, it would look like it, if this storm weren't here."
The mare's eyelashes fluttered. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"
"Name's Smolder." The dragon pointed at herself, then at her significant other. "This is Krusty. We met your children on the other world. And you are...?"
She took a moment to really breathe. "White Snow." Then, she did a double-take. "What other world?"
Zephyr helped lift her up to hang onto his shoulder. "Let's get you clear of this storm first. Find a safe rest area and talk as much as we want."
"You're not going anywhere, Abomination!"
A giant lightning bolt struck down in the middle of the group. There was a collection of yelps and cries as the force knocked them all closer to the edge of the plateau. The electrical stream lasted long enough for a caped figure to trot out from the middle of it. There were black and white stripes along the hooves. The right, front limb stood apart as a crimson monkey's paw, stitched in place of a hoof. Red irises glowed in the figure's eyes.
"A zebra?" Krusty wiped off a patch of dust from himself.
"They can control thunder now?!" Smolder gripped her shoulder and rolled it.
"Be silent, dragon!" The figure glared at her. "My business is with the forbidden twosome and their spawn."
Smolder tried to retort. However, a black chain had magically appeared. It squeezed her mouth shut. She grunted, scratched her claws at the chain, and attempted to cough up fire. None of these efforts did a thing.
"Hey!" Krusty stomped the ground. "You leave my girlfriend alone!"
"Girlfriend? Don't be ridiculous." Red eyes glowed as the zebra waved his monkey paw. "You are incompatible."
"Whoa!" Krusty fell forward. More dark chains had appeared and tied up all of his legs.
"Now, where were-" His eyes stared at what should have been another occupied space.
Zephyr had moved around and pulled out his sword. He had already sawed through Smolder's chains. Now, he was working on cutting Krusty free. Smolder chucked a grenade at the zebra. Then, she spat out a burst of flame in the same direction.
"How naive." The zebra snapped two fingers on his paw. The burst of fire was blown out by an unseen force. However, the grenade was still approaching fast. "What? But that should have been countered."
After bouncing off the ground once, the grenade exploded just under the zebra. His head and limbs spread out several feet from where he was standing. His eyes were wide open and unblinking.
"Heh!" Smolder snorted. "Your dark magic didn't account for man-made tools, huh?" She turned to look at her group. "Well, that was easy."
The stray monkey's paw twitched. It started "walking" on two of its fingers. It grabbed the zebra's body parts, one at a time, and threw them into a pile. Negative bolts of electricity flowed through the body parts, causing them all to shake about violently.
"Th-That's impossible!" Crystal took a step back.
"Guys, we need to go now!" Nightingale grabbed her mother's other side and lifted.
"Right! Moving!" Zephyr lifted as well and they flew along.
Krusty and Smolder moved their respective wings to follow. Crystal shape-shifted into a vulture and flew with them. Meanwhile, the body parts on the plateau were glowing red and shifting around. In another bolt of lightning, the caped zebra was standing on all fours. He appeared more angry than physically harmed.
The necro-lich's next move was to reach out his paw to the sky. He fired lightning directly out of his fingertips. The vulture squawked and flew down. The bolt zipped over his head and passed the dragon and changeling. Zephyr turned his head back just in time for the jolt to hit him dead-center. He lost altitude rapidly.
Without her father lifting, Nightingale had no balance to keep White in the air. They too tumbled down. The three family members crashed through some tree branches before landing in the middle of nowhere. The rest of the group swooped overhead before landing to check on them.
"Aw, chitin..." Crystal shifted back to default and galloped over to his sister's side. "Is anything broken?!"
Nightingale grunted while standing up. "I don't think so." She shook herself about. "Really, that somehow hurt a lot less than zombie-dog claws." She looked around. "What about Mom and Papa?"
"Well, Mom's right there." Crystal pointed. "And... Dad's a few trots that way."
Smolder and Krusty touched down near Zephyr's landing spot. Krusty lifted the pegasus-changeling's head a bit. "Hey, can you hear me?"
Zephyr twitched a bit before opening his eyes. "That didn't feel good at all."
"Well, no crap!" Smolder threw up her claws before letting them dangle on either side. "You just got electrocuted! I'd be more worried if you thought it was enjoyable."
Another lightning bolt crashed into the middle of the clearing. The revived zebra stepped out with an unreadable expression. Smolder pulled out another grenade, but held it steady, pin still inside. The zebra waggled his monkey paw's index finger.
"You may be able to surprise me, dragon. But you cannot truly defeat Zab the necro-lich."
"So what if you can pull yourself back together?" She whacked her tail against the ground, making the dirt crack. "There are six of us and only one of you! You can't win either!"
"So naive." Zab snapped his fingers.
Several spots in the dirt parted. Out of those new holes, zebra bodies pulled themselves out. Each had solid, purple eyes and lumbered about with a limp. There were at least twenty zombie zebras now in the clearing.
"I am never far from my family." He smirked.
"Aw, chitin... / Aw, chitin..." Nightingale and Crystal muttered at the same time.
"How dare you, Zab?" Zephyr shook while standing up and reaching for his sword. "You've robbed your family the ability to rest in peace."
"On the contrary, Abomination." Zab basked in the attention. "I have ascended beyond necromancy. I have created new life!"
There was still a bit of electric shock randomly going through Zephyr's nerves. He grunted as his back left leg bent involuntarily. His right front hoof felt like it was burning. Krusty tried to hold him steady.
Nightingale reached over and shook White's shoulder. "Mom...Mom, get up. Please!"
A couple zombies clambered close to them. Crystal put up his barrier spell and pushed the two undead back. But two more stumbled closer. He was already worn out from what was essentially a whole day of events. His barrier waned as he kept stepping back and magically pushing out.
Krusty and Smolder fought against the zombies crawling toward them. He kicked them in the head while she blew some fire. When the numbers of the undead looked like they were dwindling, Zab snapped his paw. The zombie zebras immediately replenished in number and continued their advance.
"Die to them or die to me." Zab snorted. "Your choices don't matter."
Nightingale took off her mother's sword and set the sheathed weapon down. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her phantom dove and phantom snake tucked themselves close to her.
~Storms may rise up
Flooding lands out
Yet we stand upon this rock
Pour out your cup
A joyful shout
You lead the strays to the flock~
White's ears swiveled. She rolled her head and her eyes opened slightly.
~There's no one like you
There's only one you
Don't let us give up on you!
In the brightest day
On the darkest day
There's hope to be found today~
A zebra zombie broke away from the main horde. Crystal's barrier sputtered out and he fell down. He could only watch as the zombie slammed into his sister. Her voice went silent. Yet, her spirit animals remained. In fact, they both were on the move. The dove immediately appeared above her father. The white serpent coiled around her mother, and it hissed at the nearby zombies.
Zab shot some lightning from his paw at the struggling sword wielders. Zephyr's hoof drove his broadsword into the ground. White's hoof immediately took hold of her katana and slammed it into the dirt. The approaching lightning stopped at both of the blades and was nullified.
White's eyes glowed white. Soundlessly, she was standing on three hooves while the fourth raised her blade. Her onyx wings spread wide. At the same time, the phantom dove loosed black feathers to dance around Zephyr. His pain was relieved and he lifted up his sword.
"What? But I drained you both! You shouldn't even be standing!"
Zephyr seemed to focus, and his sword glowed with green at the tip. He slashed out, sending out magic in a wave. The zombies all paused in their actions. Krusty and Smolder blinked in surprise. When the magical wave reached White, it seemed to funnel right into her sword. Wisps of white and blue light swirled around the katana as she moved it to the side.
White swung her blade, mirroring Zephyr's original slash. This time, the wave took the form of an icy saw. It hit all of the zombies, freezing them in place. Zab barely had time to cry out as his body joined his alleged family in frozen statues. The ice cracked right through, rending the undead bodies to unrecognizable pieces.
The crimson paw fell last, freezing up and cracking into pale dust.
...
"Holy..." Smolder was wide-eyed.
"... crap," finished Krusty.
White and Zephyr sheathed their respective weapons. The mare's eyes went back to their usual, bright sapphire color. She blinked and trotted over to the unconscious filly. Zephyr's wings buzzed as he hurried over to Nightingale's side. Crystal crawled up to his sister and turned her over.
"Sis? Come on." He shook her slightly. "Mom and Dad won! It's okay to wake up now."
As if to respond, Nightingale's chest rose and fell in a steady beat. Her three close family members sighed in relief.
"It's good to hear you sing again, Nightingale." White nuzzled her daughter.
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