//------------------------------// // Newcomers // Story: White Sun // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// "What are you doing?" the entity asked Twilight. "I'm applying moisture to the meat," Twilight explained through grit teeth. "The flesh is like a blighted soil: The water will not take. You must punch holes into the meat and insert the water into every microscopic section, else the effort will be for naught." Twilight was being taught by this entity for hours now and it was aggravating. Every action she did, no matter how minute, was met with reproach and judgment. She had almost run out of paper for her notes thanks to what it had taught her so far, but that didn't excuse how aggravating it was to listen to its complaints nonstop. The mare decided to apply what her makeshift 'teacher' told her and use a scalpel to cut multiple thin slits into the dried flesh and start pouring the water into all of them at the same time, being careful not to use too much. "Yes. Very good. You learn fast," the entity said. "I've been doing this for years," Twilight rebutted. "You have been cutting into the wet, not the dry. There is an extreme difference between the two corpulent states," it continued. "Just know that bringing your precious skitter back to life means that you must also rehydrate their blood." Twilight smacked her forehead and wrote that down along with several other things that came to mind following that simple line. She continued to 'ply her trade' under the guidance of this entity, finding interest in the irritation of its mere existence. It was like it didn't know how to properly interact with anything. The mare wondered if it didn't simply forget due to the isolation it had been suffering from. Though she didn't like the idea of keeping this thing imprisoned, she felt something holding its body in place that she could not identify, and she didn't know the context for its imprisonment. Whatever it said would only be the truth per its testimony and nothing else. That wasn't a trustworthy source, and Twilight didn't have even a semblance of a molecule close to the power needed to dispel whatever entombed it here. "Now try bringing it back to life," the entity said. Twilight paused. "But...But I'll lose a valuable experimental component!" she panicked. "I-I-I won't be able to observe it and--" "You have been writing notes," the entity interrupted. "Just observe what transpires now and enjoy the benefits of a more controlled environment later." The entity shifted again, the mechanical clicking filling Twilight's ears. "This is part of the tutelage you require." The mare was deep in her mind when she stood up from her test subject. "Why are you helping me, really?" she asked. "Because it is a form of entertainment and stimulation," the entity responded flatly. Twilight furrowed her brows further. "That's not possible. No pony just helps out of the goodness of their heart when it comes to magic." "You just used the word that explains it anyways. No pony. I am not a pony." Twilight shook her head. "N-no, that's just an idiom-You're telling me you're just doing this because you're bored?" "Yes." The mare paced about under the gaze of Spike, trying to comprehend everything happening. She couldn't engross herself in her experiments, but leaving this creature meant losing a treasure trove of knowledge. It wasn't impossible to return, but the trip would be excessively exhausting. At least it wasn't deeper into the desert lands. She didn't want to think about how many days, or even weeks of travel that would have added. Twilight poured her magic into the corpse, watching it rise and its body swell slightly. Its muscles had been rejuvenated somewhat, but they still appeared mostly desiccated, although the skin still flaked and the eyes were lost. It demonstrated far better flexibility and movement compared to the mummy left on the surface. Unfortunately, it still wasn't near a living creature's abilities. The stiffness, while lessened, was still an obvious factor in the mummy's existence, but this one seemed to groan with every movement. "Wh-why is it making noise?" Twilight asked. "That is simply the muscles contracting and pushing air out of the throat," the entity explained. "It is neither alive nor breathing and is just a consequence of these improvements. Let it not infect your mind." Twilight stared at the mummy wandering aimlessly and watched its throat contract and relax. "Although the wandering is concerning. Do you not bind them to your will?" the entity asked. Twilight appeared repulsed. "No?" she said. "Why would I do that?" The mare's 'teacher' was less than amused. "So, then, you can't control them?" the entity responded. "W-well..." the mare kicked an errant piece of sandstone on her 'island'. "I can. It's just that I don't want to enslave them." The creature's two visible eyes shrunk. "They are the corpses. Your magic takes the place of their souls. You are enslaving nothing when you bring them back to life." "I know," Twilight was quick to respond. "I learned that necromancy ties souls to a body and puts them under one's thrall, but I never saw a reason to keep them imprisoned. I don't want them to feel like they owe me anything or they need to suffer under my experimentation," the mare explained. "I see...And what about that one? The skeleton?" "Spike?" Twilight chuckled. "He's my assistant. He's extremely helpful." She pat the undead's legs. "I couldn't have asked for a better assistant, and he gives me suggestions sometimes when I'm confused." "Does he now?" The entity closed its eyes. "Let me rest a moment. This activity in this form after such a long wait has been tiring." Twilight agreed, but just as she was going to lock the mummy in place, it wandered off the platform and was engulfed by the sands. The mare immediately felt her connection to it sever, undoing all her work. While terrible, at least it wouldn't be stuck down there, swirling for eternity." The mare sat down and pulled out her rations, realizing that her experimentation cost her a significant amount of water. She would have to go back home today, sadly, or else die of thirst. "I've been wondering," the mare said as she bit into some dried fruit. "How is it that you know so much about necromancy?" The entity groaned but responded without opening its 'eyes'. "I was an aspect of death to some. I hold secrets of my own craft afflicting reality." Twilight paled. "But there are many like me. We all approach the concept differently. I was more interested in seeing how the skitters would react to the idea of defying death or reanimating the expired. Even some 'deities', as you called them, were intrigued. Oddly enough it was those affiliated with life that were more intrigued with such a thing, though the reason eludes me." Twilight raised a shaky hoof to point at the resting entity and gulped. "S-so you're a g-god of d-d-death?" She heard that weird, echoing sound reaching her head again. "I said before that I am not a God. I am to a god what they are to you, and there are those above even I, though the higher you climb the more abstract things become." It shifted slightly. "I am more connected to you because of my ejection, thus am I forced to exist in this miserly plane, but things are quite relaxing despite my state." A contented sigh reached the mare's ears. "It's not so bad when you get used to it, and I will not be trapped here forever," it added. "So I just wait and enjoy the relative silence this new existence affords me." Doubt crept through the unicorn's mind. She wasn't sure what this thing was saying was true, but it would explain the strange feeling coming from it. The aura surrounding it felt far too abstract for Twilight to properly comprehend. "Well, this was extremely fun," Twilight said. "But I have to pack up and bring everything back home with me." "Very well. If you are able to leave then I wholly invite you to return whenever you feel like it. If you feel like it." "Ha ha, yeah..." The mare said with a fake smile. "That's not happening any time soon," Twilight mumbled to herself while packing up her tent. She laced the stock of mummies to herself and pulled out her amulet to start her return spell. It was possible to activate it instantly, but the sensation of being completely drained of your magic on your return was not a pleasant one." The eyes of the entity shot open when it felt Twilight's medallion, and the unicorn fell to the ground, clenching her head. "What is that?!" the 'teacher' shouted. "It exudes something far detached from here!" "I-it's a teleporter medallion!" Twilight screamed. The crushing pain in her head slowly receded, leaving her a panting mess. "I just...It was built by something I encountered under where I live." "I see..." The mare wasn't certain, but she thought she could see the crystalline roots above trembling. "On your way, then. I want to see what becomes of you in the future now." Its maw squeezed itself back, revealing the glint of roots inside. Unsure of what it was trying to portray, Twilight cast her spell and became engulfed in a swirling vortex of purple magic and sand. In a few seconds she and Spike, along with some extra cargo, found themselves back home. All the stress that had accumulated within Twilight almost instantly dissolved, leaving her to finally relax and her whole body to lose tension. As one final unfortunate gift of her trip, the relaxing also brought with it searing muscle pain. Without getting the chance to put the mummies in place, the mare dragged herself to her bed and wrapped herself up in her sheets as she did her best to try and sleep. She was wracked with pain and fatigue and felt like she was dying. From all the efforts and magical expenses she endured, Twilight now found herself sickly and unable to do much except barely wander around the first room of her home, read, and take in liquids and simple foods. If it weren't for Spike then it could have been so much worse. It aided her in her movements and kept her from falling to the ground and just staying there. With Twilight's guidance, the undead dragon took all the mummies and plopped them in a corner of her lab. Twilight just had enough strength to create an orb of searing heat to place above them. She was so sick and delirious that she was seeing hallucinations of Celestia everywhere, bringing her tears and joy at the same time. With no one around to help her aside from an undead, Twilight was unable to be taken out of her reverie and placed back into bed with some medication. While it was a good assistant, Spike could not do anything Twilight did not tell it to. It did not have the capacity for thought, let alone comprehension outside of set guidelines, so it watched Twilight mutter incomprehensibly and wander around in her delirium before seeing her collapse and bringing the mare to bed to hold her down until she finally fell asleep. When Twilight finally came to, she was still far too weak to work on her experiments, let alone get extra supplies. She sighed in relief, realizing she still had an ample supply but that her water was running low. The mare looked at her assistant and smiled. He had kept her hydrated the whole time, just as she wanted. While she still had her wits about her, the pony was tired and needed her rest. She would bathe and work another day. Realizing the medallion was still stuck to her chest, Twilight pulled it off her, gazed at its strange surface again, and then placed it on the table next to her bed before finally dozing off. She would start her experiments soon, get more supplies, and then get ready for her trip to the Crystal Empire. This time she would be prepared for the backlash that her body would suffer. The more Twilight went through this, the stronger she would get. It was only a matter of time until her expeditions caused her neither physical nor mental anguish.