The frozen winds of Magehold were especially chilly today. Not to say that it was unusual for it to be this cold, but the winter had been much harsher this year.
It didn't bother Rosa Maledicta, though. One of the perks of becoming a Lich was no longer being sensitive to trivial matters such as the lack of heat. Still, she wore a basic cloak as she gazed over the dead city from her ivory tower. She was still fond of it, despite the fabric serving no functional purpose.
She'd just recently laid to rest the last of her undead armies, as they also no longer served any purpose. Just yesterday, the last remnants of the living had been snuffed out, and there was no point in having an army if there's nopony left to fight it!
Rosa mused on the moment when she had gotten the news. The poor souls had tried to hide themselves deep underground, but neglected to make sure that there weren't any corpses buried near them. She wondered how they must have felt. Did they know that they were the last?
She briefly considered that maybe she should have let them live a little longer, and invited them to Magehold so that she might share her accomplishment with somepony that could truly understand it.
Oh well, she thought, they probably wouldn't have wanted to talk with me anyways.
What had surprised Rosa most of all were the denizens of Magehold who had clinged to their unlife as if they were still alive. She had made it very clear during her Black Crusade that no one would be spared, yet those lesser necromancers thought themselves exempt from her decree.
She chuckled, Fools.
Now Rosa stood alone. There was nocreature left in the world, save for her. She looked upon Magehold once more, taking in the glistening snowflakes reflecting the moonlight all across the silent city.
Rosa turned her gaze upwards towards the moon. She'd of course heard the story of Nightmare Moon being imprisoned there, so during her crusade she had had her best scryers make sure that nopony was hiding there.
She remembered catching a glimpse of the moon through the crystal ball and feeling awe-struck. A beautiful, desolate landscape in every direction for as far as the eye could see. Nothing lived there, and she was sure that nothing could live there.
The icy wind began to pick up. Rosa sighed, knowing that the otherworldly creatures known as the Windigos would soon arrive. She detested them, for they had manipulated her into creating an immense amount of conflict and strife in the world, which somehow sustained their existence.
But they thought I would stop my crusade eventually. She smirked, knowing that soon, they too would fade away. There was no disharmony left in the world for them to feed off of.
The wind began to swirl behind Rosa, signaling the imminent arrival of those ancient specters. She looked down from her balcony, seeing the stone walkway far below. She still had one final act of petty revenge left for the Windigos: to deny them the chance to take out their anger on her.
Rosa ignited her horn and removed her necklace. She levitated it in front of her, focusing her magic on the crimson locket she had carried since she was little.
With a snap, it popped open, revealing a photograph of a very young diamond dog hugging an equally young filly.
Rosa's heart ached, if but for a moment. It had been so long, but the pain was still there. The moment when she had lost her best friend... the moment she had realized what power she possessed... and the moment she had gotten her cutie mark.
"Come on Rosa, don't be scared!"
"I'm not scared! You're just crazy!"
Rosa looked up at the nimble diamond dog as he climbed the rather large tree in her family's backyard. She had told him repeatedly that he didn't have to show off, but he didn't listen. He never did.
The diamond dog laughed, "The only thing that's crazy is how much fun you're missing out on!" he beckoned her to join him, "I can see everything from up here!"
The young filly wasn't impressed. "It's too dangerous! Please come down!"
Rosa's friend didn't seem to think so. "If it's so dangerous," he jumped to a nearby branch, "then why can I do thi-"
*SNAP*
The old branch broke, sending the young diamond dog spinning towards the ground. He pawed at the air, trying to grasp onto something, anything.
Rosa's eyes widened as she saw her friend in trouble. She had to help him! She ignited her horn, focusing on him, and...
She froze, paralyzed by fear. She couldn't help him. She didn't know how to. She was a blank flank, she had no talents, and she... she...
...She closed her eyes.
*CRACK*
Rosa was terrified. Her body was shaking. She didn't dare open her eyes, afraid of what she might see. "A-Are you okay?" she asked, trying to sound brave. "P-Please tell me you're okay..."
There was silence. Eventually, she slowly took a peek.
Rosa screamed.
Her parents rushed outside upon hearing their daughter's distress. "What is it? What's wrong?" Her father said, having not seen her friend yet.
"NOOOOO!!!" she wailed, running over to her limp friend.
Her mother gasped as she saw what Rosa was running to. She firmly tapped her husband, fiercely whispering, "Get her away from him, I'll go get a doctor!"
Rosa threw herself on top of her friend. His neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, and Rosa tried her best to twist it back in vain hopes that she could fix him.
Her father's telekinetic grip pulled her from her friend. "Rosey, come on. A doctor is coming... everything will be okay."
"No!" she screamed again, resisting her father as much as she could, "I need to help him! I need to help him get better!"
Rosa's father bit his tongue as he kept pulling her away. He took one look at the poor diamond dog, and he knew that there would be no recovering from that. He took a deep breath, and decided to just be honest with his little filly. "Rosey... he's not gonna get better. He's gone."
He's gone.
Upon hearing those words, Rosa squirmed even harder. She slipped through her father's grip and ran back towards her best friend. Though consumed with sorrow, she felt an unknown strength inside her. When she reached him, she suddenly felt like she knew how to fix him.
Her father reached towards her again, "Rosa, stay away from him! You can't help him anymore!"
"YES! I! CAN!" she shouted as tears strewn across her face. A sickly green aura formed around her horn, and with gritted teeth she focused her magic on the dead dog before her.
Her aura enveloped the diamond dog. The green energy seemed to focus around his head before spreading across the rest of his body. Rosa grimaced, channeling all her power into her friend. She didn't know what she was doing, though the power she felt coursing through her horn seemed to have a mind of its own.
Rosa's father stopped briefly, having recognized the tell-tale signs of healing magic. His daughter had never been magically adept, but here she was, attempting a spell well beyond her years. He didn't know why it was slightly off-color, though. Perhaps it was because she was so young? Regardless, he grasped his daughter, trying to pull her away again. "You can't heal him, Rosey..."
Rosa's intense aura began to taper off. She couldn't maintain her focus anymore. She sobbed, having given it her all, and fell against her father. The aura around her friend persisted, however, but remained much fainter than it was before.
"Dad..." she cried, trying to hold back her tears, "Why does it hurt so much?"
Her father was at a loss for words. This was something nopony ever looked forward to discussing, much less with their own child. He simply held her close, opting not to answer her question. "There, there..."
*CRUNCH*
Rosa and her father whipped their heads towards the noise. The only thing they saw, though, was her still-dead friend. The sickly-green aura still surrounded him, though Rosa had long since stopped using magic.
Rosa's father was perplexed. He was trying to determine exactly what his daughter had done. Though he was not the most skilled unicorn in his family, he did know a fair amount of healing spells from his time working as a nurse. He surmised that she must have cast a spell to force the bones in her friend's broken neck back into place... but then why did it happen after she cast it, and not during?
Suddenly, the dog's front paw rose into the air.
Rosa's father was aghast. He looked at his daughter to confirm that she wasn't still using magic, and then back to her friend. "But... that's impossible..." he quietly uttered.
The paw reached down to the ground and began to push up the body. Another paw moved to steady itself. The third and forth paws moved in unison, raising the corpse off of the ground.
Rosa stopped sobbing long enough to look into her friend's eyes, which now glowed a slight yellow. His pupils looked absent and unfocused, like there wasn't anybody there. Somehow, this didn't bother her. She stared at him, and he at her. She now felt much calmer, despite everything.
Her father was focused on the standing corpse, trying to ascertain its motives, if it had any. He held his daughter away from the creature, equally parts protective of her, and terrified at what she had done. "Rosa... what did you do?"
There was a bright flash behind Rosa. She looked behind herself, and her heart fluttered. A wilted rose had appeared on her flank, and though she was still distraught at her best friend's death, she no longer felt like an aimless filly. She had her cutie mark now, and somehow, that made everything okay.
The Queen of Bones would have shed a tear if she could. Her friend's death had been the key to her future, yet there were still private moments where she had wondered what her life would have been like had his life not been cut short. She raised her hoof to gently close the locket.
"Goodbye, Silverpaw."
Rosa took a deep breath, charged a magical beam, and focused it on her locket.
It quickly shattered, its pieces disintegrating into dust.
She felt a shocking pain suddenly course throughout her whole body. She gasped, nearly collapsing from the agony. In that instant, she knew she was mortal once more.
She had destroyed her phylactery; the very thing which had ensured that she would never truly die.
Taking a moment to recover from the trauma of losing her immortality, Rosa turned her gaze to the edge of the balcony from which she stood. It was a very long way down. Emotions of all kinds flooded into her: Satisfaction, relief, comfort, regret, jo-
Rosa frowned. Regret. Why did she feel regretful?
She picked herself up, turning her thoughts inward. Was it because of him? She shook her head. No. It was something else... Rosa leaned against the balcony, still recovering her strength. She scanned her memories, looking for anything that she might have felt regret for.
Killing her parents during her crusade? I came to terms with that long ago. It was necessary.
Reanimating dead foals as soldiers to demoralize the living? No, that part was fun.
That blasted griffon knight from those Arcturian fools who offered himself to spare his comrades? Especially not that.
The wind suddenly stopped. The silence was deafening. Rosa's ears froze, she knew that the Windigos had arrived.
She turned around to face them all, but was surprised to see only one: Queen Spectre, the supernatural entity that had tormented her for years.
Queen Spectre did not speak, it never did. Instead, immense hate radiated off of its ethereal form. Before Rosa had destroyed her Phylactery, Queen Spectre's presence was merely overpowering. Now however, it choked the very breath out of her, threatening to snuff out her existence then and there. It was filled with more fury than Rosa had thought possible.
Rosa struggled to keep herself awake. She knew that no matter what the Windigo did, it would still fade into nothingness, that much was certain. It could kill her right here, and that would have only sped up its demise.
However, as quickly as Queen Spectre appeared, it began to fade. Without any disharmony left in the world to feed off of, the Windigo's power was greatly diminished. Evidently, it couldn't manifest itself for long. Rosa glared at the apparition as it dissipated. She knew that it wasn't fully dead yet, but its days were numbered. She estimated a week at most until it was nothing more than a cold breeze.
Soon, Rosa was left alone once again. She breathed heavily, struggling to stand upright. She held onto the balcony's railing for support, and focused on her thoughts on the regret she had felt earlier. Almost immediately, she recalled something from her past. That encounter with Queen Spectre must have jogged her memory.
She thought back to when she had first killed another living creature.
"And that's why we always wash our hooves before handling the sick!" proudly declared the professor, "That way, we don't risk getting sick ourselves!"
Rosa sat amongst her peers in Canterlot University, idly listening to the instructor. Ever since she'd had that traumatic experience as a filly, her parents had done as much as they could to prevent her from learning more about her special talent. She wasn't allowed to have pets, because they might have died. She wasn't allowed to read about medicine, since the topic of death would inevitably come up. They had hoped that her curiosity about her talent would wane, but as fate would have it, their efforts only magnified her interest in death.
Once she was old enough, she had applied for Canterlot University. She'd told her parents that she was going to major in agricultural studies, a lie which only served to let her learn about what she really wanted to become: a doctor.
But not just any doctor, Rosa wanted to be the greatest doctor in Equestria.
And so she had worked for years, practicing her talent in secret on insects and other small critters. Eventually, she was able to reliably bring them back from even the most gruesome of deaths. Some even retained parts of their autonomy, surprisingly.
She was going to revolutionize the medical field.
"Any questions?" asked the professor. Fortunately, nopony raised their hoof. He smiled, "Splendid! Then we will begin with our hooves-on exam."
The professor walked over to a small curtain set up near his desk. "Today we have a special guest! Everypony, say hello to Bright Light!" He flung open the curtain, revealing an immobile, old-looking mare laying on a long table.
Many students gasped, and the whispering began in earnest. One stallion raised his hoof, catching the eye of the professor.
"Yes! You there! Have a question?"
The stallion lowered his hoof. "Professor... is that mare really... you know..."
The professor finished his student's thought, "Dead! Yes indeed! This cadaver was recently donated to us by their family to advance the medical field."
Whereas before Rosa was only half-awake, now she was paying full attention.
The professor continued, walking around the cadaver as he spoke. "For today's exam, instead of a traditional essay, each of you is going to come down here and I will ask you a question about our patient, and you use your medical knowledge to give me the answer! I hope you've been studying!"
The entire class, save for Rosa, groaned.
With a grin, the professor asked, "So! Who would like to go fir-"
"Me! Mememe!" shouted Rosa, waving her hoof frantically in the air.
"Eager, are we? Well then," the professor raised an eyebrow and beckoned the young mare down, "Come on down, Ms... ah, do forgive me, I seem to have forgotten your name!"
"It's Rosa, professor!" she practically sprinted down the steps, slowing just as she reached the bottom. She nearly tripped over herself, earning a few snickering remarks from her peers.
The professor waved his hoof towards his class, "All right, settle down now. You'll all get your turn, don't worry." He stopped over by his desk to pick up a clipboard before returning to Rosa, "Okay! Ms. Rosa, if you would please examine Mrs. Bright. I'd like you, using what knowledge you have, to tell me what her cause of death was. Did she pass away from natural causes, a pre-existing medical condition, or some other reason?"
Rosa looked over the body laid before her. It was serene, almost. As Rosa took in every detail about Bright Light, her breathing quickened. "Professor?" she asked, an idea popping into her mind.
The older stallion scratched his beard, "Yes? Something wrong?"
Rosa shook her head. "No, its just... I don't know how she died, but... I think I know a way to find out how."
The professor turned his head slightly. "Well, I did ask you to use what you know, so by all means, tell me how you'd find out her cause of death."
The young mare smiled, her horn beginning to glow. "By asking her, of course."
"What? You can't, she's dead." said the professor with a slight chuckle, "Unless you think you're some mystic who can reach beyond the veil!"
"No, nothing like that," Rosa closed her eyes, concentrating on the old mare's body, "Like I said, I'm going to ask her myself."
Rosa's horn glowed brightly, her magic feeding into a glowing orb. Slowly, it descended onto Bright Light.
The professor narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what his student was doing, "Whatever it is, I will not allow you to damage this cadaver. Cease your magic at once, young mare!"
"I've already cast the spell, professor." Retaining her slight smile, Rosa looked towards her class. She was a little afraid, but she also felt exhilarated. Finally, after so many years of hidden practice, after being told so many times by her parents that she should never use her special talent, she was now able to realize her potential.
"What spell? What did you do?!" the professor asked incredulously.
Rosa gestured towards the old mare's body. A sickly green aura enveloped her, with most of it concentrated on her head. Soon however, the magic aura faded away.
The professor was furious at this point. "Ms. Rosa! Tell me what you did at once!" He examined every inch of the cadaver, eventually examining her face for magical alterations.
Bright Light opened her eyes.
The professor fell over backwards in shock, hitting the ground with his head. His breathing became erratic as he clutched his heart.
Bright Light slowly rose, and the entire classroom screamed.
Rosa panicked. "Wait! It's fine!" she cried, trying to calm everyone, but to no avail. "It's just temporary! She's... she's..." Rosa turned to her new friend, whose eyes now glowed a faint yellow.
Bright Light looked directly at Rosa. Her face contorted into an expression of agony. "K-kill... m-me..." She pleaded, "Y-You... m-monster..."
Rosa's heart sank. She'd never attempted to reanimate a sentient being before... aside from her best friend, but... she was less skilled then. She thought that if she was careful, she could bring back Bright Light's sentience along with with her body. She didn't think that it might hurt her!
All around Rosa, the other students were shouting hurtful things at her.
"What in Tartarus did she do!?"
"That's just wrong!"
"She's using the magic of demons!"
Rosa couldn't handle it. Tears formed in her eyes, and she ignited her horn again, intending to remove her spell on Bright Light.
"You've done something truly evil!" said the professor, breaking Rosa's focus. He still laid on the floor, hoof at his heart, but he seemed to have recovered enough to speak again.
"I just wanted to help!" cried Rosa, blinded by her tears.
The professor jabbed a hoof in her direction. "You can never help ponies with black magic like that!" he spat, "Where did you even learn that spell?!"
Rosa was shaking. She'd made a mistake, her parents were right. Why did her talent make ponies react this way? Why, WHY?!
All she wanted to do was help.
Rosa's voice cracked, "I... d-don't..."
"Get out!" screamed the professor, "Get out of my classroom! Get out of this school! Never show your face here ever again! And if you know what's good for you, you'll never cast that wicked spell again either!"
Something inside Rosa snapped. She was tired of being yelled at like that, especially after she'd poured her whole heart into being the best pony she could be. She stopped crying, and her face became filled with outrage.
"No, you listen to me!" she shouted at the professor, fed up with his reaction, "Why does this have to be evil? Why can't I use this spell to help ponies?"
"It's unholy! Your spell isn't good for anything other than causing suffering!" replied the professor with hostility.
"NO IT ISN'T!" screamed Rosa, stomping her hoof.
*CRACK*
Rosa gasped, all her anger vanishing in an instant. "Oh no. No, no, no!"
In her rage, Rosa failed to see what Bright Light was doing. She had forgotten that her puppets reacted to her emotions. She was so angry at her professor, and didn't think about the what could happen, and...
Bright Light had swung a hoof at the professor's face with immense strength, enough to crack his neck. He collapsed to the ground, immobile.
"W-Why...?" croaked Bright Light, frozen in her act of violence.
Rosa released her. Bright Light fell to the ground, as lifeless as the professor next to her.
"SHE KILLED HIM!" screamed one student.
"SHE'S A MONSTER!" screamed another.
Rosa was distraught. She just killed somepony. She murdered somepony. It may have not been by her own hoof, but it was still her fault. Maybe the professor was right... her spell only caused suffering.
Tears began to flow again as Rosa realized the consequences of her actions. She'd be arrested and tried for murder, and then her hopes and dreams would truly be over.
She fled, running as far away as she could.
The Queen of Bones pondered on that moment. If she hadn't decided to reveal her powers that day, she'd never have been forced to leave Equestria. She'd never have found her way to Magehold, and trained with others who shared her talents. She'd never have festered her hatred for those that scorned her for who she was. She'd never have called herself Maledicta in honor of the first necromancer.
Was that her regret? Killing that irritating professor?
...
Yes.
She continued leaning against the balcony's edge in silence, contemplating her realization.
She had killed billions and not batted an eye, but one measly old pony's death had her second guessing her entire career? Why?
The wind began to pick up again. It wasn't quite as cold as before, so Rosa knew that it wasn't the Windigo's doing.
Maybe it's because I didn't mean to kill him.
Rosa coughed, closing her eyes. She now understood why she had felt that pang of regret. Out of all the living and unliving beings she had killed, there was only one where she didn't do it on purpose.
The wind blew off her crown, sending it tumbling down to the street below. She didn't react, for such trivial things didn't matter anymore.
As Rosa took a deep breath, she looked over the edge of the balcony for perhaps the final time. She asked herself one last question: If I could go back to that moment, would I have done things differently?
The railing cracked slightly against the pressure Rosa was exerting on it.
...
...
I don't know.
She sighed in defeat. She was tired, and she didn't feel like debating morals with herself anymore. She could stand here alone, forever, until her mortal body deteriorated, or she could finish her mission. And if that meant not coming to terms with herself, then so be it.
Rosa Maledicta started her Black Crusade because the Windigos amplified her hatred of the living, and she finished it because of her hatred of the Windigos.
She climbed on top of the balcony railing.
This was Rosa's final revenge. To liberate the world of strife, which also liberated the Windigos of their very lifeblood.
This bitter satisfaction was a very nice emotion to exit with.
Rosa took one final breath, closed her eyes, enjoyed the peace and quiet, and...
Leaped.