//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 
// Story: Weakness of the Flesh 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight paced in front of her troops.  She was nervous, but tried to keep it off her face.  Applejack and Rainbow were warming up with practice kicks and bucks.  Pinkie was preparing her party cannon and passing out cupcakes.  Rarity, atop Spike, groomed her mane back into place after lying in the hospital bed.  Fluttershy looked meek.
The two vampires stood a little apart from the group.  Technically, they were still under Princess Luna’s authority, but it was important to coordinate with the pair.  Twilight knew some of the others were finding it hard to trust them, but she recognized their capabilities and felt that being under orders of the Princess was good enough for her.
“All right girls, let’s get going,” said Twilight.  “Does everypony have their Element?”
It seemed perverse to carry the Elements of Harmony into conflict like they were some kind of armor, but it was unfortunately necessary.  Twilight’s battle plan had been laid out carefully.  Cheerilee and Golden Ring, supported by Princess Luna, would go ahead and take care of things while the Element Bearers defended the town.  The backup plan, which would hopefully prove unneeded, would be evacuation.
Twilight swallowed hard as the group approached the edge of Ponyville.  She’d made good plans and led her force effectively, but a hoard of undead ponies would give even the bravest pause.
Cheerilee nodded to the librarian and the two vampires separated from the group, walking towards the forest.  Golden asked, “What’s the plan?”
“Take them out,” said Cheerilee.
“All of them?”
“If we have to.”
“Sounds simple.”  Golden looked back.  “Are we going to let Tea keep following us?”
“No.  I saw him hanging outside the library earlier.  Let’s at least let him make it to the trees so we won’t embarrass him so soon.”
They entered the forest and stopped for a few minutes to let the stallion catch up.  He stepped into the trees, looking nervous.  “I want to help you.”
“I appreciate it,” Cheerilee told him sincerely, “but you’re out of place here.  Your talent is making china and china accessories.  You’ve got a good job now.  Go home.  I promise that if I ever come back to Hoofshire, we’ll talk.”
Cheerilee snagged his pack of cigarettes.  “Mind if borrow this?”
Tea shrugged and lit a smoke for her.  He gave her a last, sad look before turning away and walking towards the train station.
“You know, you don’t have to be here either,” said Cheerilee to her student.  “You never agreed to be a part of this spectacle.”
“After all you and Princess Luna have done for me, I feel like I owe you something,” said Golden.  “I can’t think of any other way to repay you.”
Cheerilee shrugged.  “Just learn something from this, that’s all I ask.”
“Princess Luna is supposed to be supporting us, right?” asked Golden.  The words were no sooner out of her mouth than the moon went completely black.
“That’s her version of support,” said Cheerilee grinning in the darkness.  Her keen eyes saw Golden staring in wonder at the empty sky.  Their opponents may have been undead ponies controlled by magic, but they still had limited night vision.
The lavender mare puffed some smoke and replaced the cigarette in her mouth.  “Let’s go.”


▼▼


Princess Luna was at very high altitude.  The long, dark duster she wore flapped in the wind behind her.  She’d enchanted it to aid her invisibility spell, which would free up more of her magic for other things.  Combined with the inky sky and the black coat, she was certain that nopony knew she was there.
It was a shame that Ponyville’s defenses had degraded to just the Elements of Harmony.  Granted, they were very effective, but it would have been nice to have something else.  When Luna asked about it, Twilight had shrugged and indicated a pile of rusty, weed covered junk beside the library.   Luna remembered a time when there was actually somepony around who knew how to use it.
No matter.  Luna would just have to make effective use of the tools she had available.  Right now, that was two vampires.  Well, and a bundle of things she carried with her.
The Princess took a mental inventory.  She had several spellbooks that could help defuse the complicated and multilayered magic the necromancer had woven over his undead army.  There were a few good titles in there.  Oh, and some explosives.
Luna peered down through the gloom, engaging her alternate vision.  Dim grey shapes moved among the trees.  The only way to distinguish Cheerilee and Golden from them were the small magical locaters Luna had created.  By energizing small crystals that she had asked the two of them to carry, the Princess was able to “see” their positions as bright glimmers among the trees.
She had promised Celestia not to be involved in direct action, and she wasn’t.  If push came to shove, however, Luna wasn’t about to deny any help she could give.  
On the ground, Cheerilee and Golden were beginning to mix it up with individual hostiles.  They didn’t have much problem, but a large mass of the undead ponies were coming their way.


▼▼


Cheerilee spit out the pony she’d been shaking like a rag doll.  The old, dead blood in its veins tasted terrible.  Neck nearly severed, her target flopped on the ground, unable to keep functioning.  It seemed that the magic fueling the dead ponies kept them moving through injuries that were physically impossible to survive.  The trick was damaging them enough to keep them down efficiently without spending too much time on any one enemy.  
Golden seemed to be getting the hang of it, establishing some kind of rhythm.  A few of the undead ponies were pegasi, and the white mare seemed to have volunteered to take care of them.
Cheerilee spotted a group of about a dozen ponies rushing towards them as fast as their undead coordination would allow.  Something like a bolt of lightning flashed out of the sky and struck them all down, driving a deep crater into the ground with an ear-shattering explosion.  
“Is that what I think it is?  Who I think it is?” asked Golden.
“Do you know any other pony that could have done it?” said Cheerilee, glancing skyward.
Golden grabbed the other mare and pulled her into the cover of the crater as a jet of magic whizzed by.
“Thanks,” murmured Cheerilee, spitting out a mouthful of dirt she’d collected by landing face first.
“Where did that come from?” asked Golden, popping her head up for a brief glance around.  “Was it the sorcerer?”
“Doubt it,” said Cheerilee.  “A lot of his army is still out there.  He isn’t desperate yet.”
More bolts of magic were fired at the two of them, this time from different directions.  The schoolteacher gritted her teeth.  Great.  Zombie unicorns.
A burst of rapid-fire spells slammed into the ground, stopping the incoming magic for a moment.  Cheerilee jumped out of the crater, silently thanking Luna for the cover.  Golden followed the lavender mare as fast as she could.  The two of them dodged between trees, heading deeper into the woods.


▼▼


Twilight held steady despite her fear.  There was a lot of magic being thrown around.  As a unicorn whose special talent actually was magic, she had a good feel for the amount of power going into those spells and what they could do.  Every time Princess Luna released another burst of destructive energy, Twilight’s heart sank a little further.  The undead army wasn’t eliminated yet?
The purple mare and her friends watched in silent awe as the one-pony lightning show continued.  Against the black sky, the effect was truly spectacular.  
The six ponies and one dragon had their attention drawn from the sky by a wobbly figure stumbling out of the treeline.  It was clearly a pony who had escaped the initial assault.
“Um, who’s going to take care of this?” asked Spike.  The seven of them looked at each other in silence.
“You have the party cannon, Pinkie,” said Rainbow.
“But that’s only for parties!” the pink pony replied.
“You used it on Changelings,” commented Rarity.
“Don’t you have a whole bunch of sharp things like needles and scissors?” Rainbow asked the white unicorn.
“I think I should be responsible,” said Twilight.
“But Twi,” responded Applejack, “you don’t have to do this alone.”
“You’re always claiming to be the strongest, AJ,” Rainbow pointed out.
The orange pony looked pointedly at the pegasus.  “An’ you’re the fastest, Rainbow.”
The conversation was interrupted by Spike spitting a ball of fire at the undead pony as he shambled very near their group.  The stallion erupted in flames and fell to the ground.
“S-sorry,” stuttered the dragon.  
Rarity patted his neck.  “There, there, it had to be done.”
“We could have used the Elements of Harmony,” said Rainbow.
“It’s not just a one-size-fits-all magic charm,” explained Twilight.  “You should know this, we’ve been the Element Bearers for twenty-something years now.  For one single magic-enchanted thrall, using the Elements would unfortunately be a huge waste of energy.”
“Thrall?” asked Applejack.
Twilight rolled her eyes.  “One single magic-enchanted zombie.  I’ve been trying to avoid saying that word.”
Just then, branches rustled and several dozen more shuffling enemies stepped out of the forest.
“The cannon, Pinkie,” said Applejack.
“But…but…I don’t want to tarnish its image with something like this!” argued the party mare.
“It’s like a big teamwork party,” said Rainbow.  “We’re working together to save the town.”
Pinkie nodded and her smile returned.  She lined up her cannon and shouted, “All right you undead sillies!  Let’s party!”
The cannon thundered and several opponents went down.  The defenders of Ponyville rushed forward into battle.
Right after leaving the hospital, Rarity had asked Spike to stop at her boutique and had quickly sewn up a quiver to sling over her back and hold various objects she’d taken from the shop.  From her place atop the dragon’s back, she plucked out two knitting pins with magic and drove them through the eye sockets of two separate zombies.  It put them down but not out, and Spike finished the job with fire.
Fluttershy and Pinkie distracted other undead ponies while Applejack and Rainbow struck at them.  The farmer may have been approaching middle age, but her kicks were just as powerful as ever.  The colorful flier still had plenty of speed and could put plenty of force behind her attacks. 
Twilight was performing a new spell she’d just learned.  It was a weaker, modified version of the breathtaking magic Princess Luna was using.  Her horn lit up, pointing into the air above her target.  The purple pony jerked her head down, crushing the zombie flat as if a ton of bricks had just landed on it.
In the back of Twilight’s mind, a small voice suggested that they would all need serious emotional counseling after this was over.


▼▼


Golden paused, following Cheerilee’s lead.  They’d dealt with a few more scattered members of the undead, but the Princess had mostly taken care of the densely clustered enemies.  The white mare glanced up once more, spotting another quickly-descending spell that smacked into the ground somewhere nearby.
It was not enough to distract her from the extreme downside to the battle.  Ponies were dying.  To be fair, they were already dead, but it seemed terrible that citizens of Equestria should be mowed down like faceless mannequins.  The pegasus knew that there was nothing that could be done—and in fact some of the undead they’d encountered were quite decomposed—but it still felt wrong.  All the more reason to get this finished quickly.
Cheerilee advanced again and Golden followed.  They broke out of the trees into a small open space, facing the entrance to a cave.  The air was charged with so much magic that even the two non-unicorns could feel it.
Princess Luna came plummeting out of the air, slamming to the ground so hard her hooves buried themselves several inches into the topsoil.  She carefully stepped out of the ruts, advancing towards the entrance of the cave.
“We need to get these spells unraveled,” said the Princess.  She slipped on her reading glasses and took out a very old book.  It had been found buried deep in the restricted section in the Canterlot Archive.  As soon as Luna was done with the book, that’s where it would be returned to.  Texts on necromancy were to be handled with care.
The wind picked up a little, blowing Luna’s duster around and dispersing some steam that rose in a corona around her head.  She’d been radiating so much magic through her horn that it practically glowed with heat.
The Princess had just dropped her eyes to the book when spells began flying from the mouth of the cave.  She ducked and jumped out of the way.  Cheerilee and Golden were hit and knocked off their hooves.  Luna straightened up, casting a shielding spell large enough to protect the three of them.
Echoing laughter issued from the blackness inside the cavern.  Luna gritted her teeth, glaring back in challenge.  Cheerilee got up and walked forward with hesitant steps.  She looked in to be in pain from the sorcerer’s spell.
“Princess, let us handle this,” gasped the schoolteacher.  Golden stepped up, shaken and barely standing.  
Luna looked at the two of them.  “Neither of you are qualified to handle something like this.  I know you’re both very capable, but this is a pony that specializes in manipulating death.”
“You have to be tired after doing so much already,” Cheerilee pointed out.
Luna shook her head.  “I’m going to go in there.”
“Let us come with,” pleaded Golden.
The Princess looked at the two vampires.  Their spirits were willing, but much more necromantic magic would render their flesh unable to comply.  Luna shook her head.  “No, my little ponies, I want you to stay here.”
From her pack, the Princess took out the demolitions she had carried with her.  “Ten minutes, Cheerilee.  After that, I want you to destroy the entrance to the cave, no matter what.”
The schoolteacher nodded gravely, glancing at the fuse on the bundle of explosives.  She lit another cigarette with the burning stub of her previous one.  Luna had been planning the sealing of the cave as a backup contingency, and that required something to light the fuse with.
The Princess nodded to Cheerilee and Golden before turning away and entering the cave.  A few minutes passed.  The lavender mare continued chain-smoking nervously, lighting up another cigarette.  Both vampires turned as the sound of running steps reached their ears.
Six mares and one dragon showed up.  Twilight seemed to be following her horn.  "The Princess must be in that cave!"
Cheerilee got in her way.  "Princess Luna wanted to go in there alone.  I'm supposed to blow up the mouth of the cavern in a few more minutes, regardless of whether she comes out by then."
"She needs our help," argued Twilight.  The schoolteacher didn't move.  The purple unicorn stared her down.  "Get out of our way."
Cheerilee hesitated one more second, and then stepped aside.  Twilight and the others ran into the cave.