“She’s fading fast!” a purple unicorn filly shouted. She and two others were standing around a body. A white unicorn with a blue mane and tail moved his hooves as carefully as he could. “Spike, get us a clean scalpel!” A baby dragon turned around and grabbed a small knife. He held it out in front of him and it was covered in a purple glow.
“Her heart rate is still dropping!” the dragon exclaimed. “Doctor Armour, Nurse Sparkle, what do we do?!”
“If you would both calm down,” the blue maned unicorn said. “And let me do my job, we’ll be able to save her. Now, Nurse Sparkle, siphon out this green goo. I can’t work on this area if that’s there.” A clear tube was brought over to the body. It was placed inside and a green liquid moved inside it. The white unicorn moved a pair of retractors inside where the liquid was.
“Good, Spike,” the baby dragon brought his head up. “I need you to reach into there and inject the solution, understand?” He nodded and reached for a hypodermic needle. The needle was brought over and placed in the body. A glowing blue solution moved when the plunger was pushed down. Spike moved his hands away from the area and the white unicorn did the same with his hooves.
“All done,” he said. “Nurse Sparkle, would you like to close her up?”
“Gladly,” the purple unicorn said. A needle and thread was brought towards them. The flaps on the body were closed and she began sewing them shut. Half way through her work, the assembled group heard rapid beeping. “What’s going on?” The white unicorn looked at a nearby heart monitor.
“Her heart rate has spiked to an incredible rate!” he shouted. “That’s impossible! We did everything right! This shouldn’t be happening, the chemical should have stabilized her. The only way that this could happen is if…. Spike, what colour was the solution in that needle?”
“Umm, blue,” Spike said.
“Oh… oh no,” the white unicorn pressed his hooves on the body. “Help me, we need to put weight on her or else we’ll lose her!” The filly and dragon followed the older unicorn’s example and put their weight on the body. As they pushed down, the heart monitor continued beeping at a fast pace. The sound became louder and louder with every passing second. After a few moments, a single continuous beep was heard. Spike looked at the heart monitor.
“She’s flat-lined,” he said. The three of them stepped away from the body.
“Twily, I’m so sorry,” the white unicorn said. Tears started to form in the filly’s eyes.
“No,” she said. “It’s not over yet.” Her horn was covered in a purple aura and brought towards the body. She lowered her head and touched the body’s chest.
“Clear!” she screamed. Purple energy moved to the body causing it to spasm. The monitor beeped once before returning to the continuous beep. “Clear!” Again, purple energy moved to the body. A white hoof stopped the filly from trying again.
“She’s gone,” the filly sobbed. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“I know,” the white unicorn looked at his foreleg. “Smarty Pants, deceased. Time of death, 2:30 pm.” The three of them sat in silence for a few moments.
“Twily? I hate to break the mood, but I have to go. I’m meeting Cadence and…”
“Don’t worry, Shining. I understand. Go.” The white unicorn turned around and left the room. Spike walked to the stuffed doll that sat in front of Twilight.
“You know,” he said. “There is a way we could bring her back.” Twilight brought her head up.
“Really?” Spike nodded. “How?”
“I read about a kind of magic called necromancy,” he explained. “The book said that it was magic used to bring the dead back to life. This particular spell I read required us to sacrifice a virgin in exchange for the soul we want.”
“That’s perfect! We can bring Smarty Pants back to life with that,” Twilight cheered. “One question though, what’s a virgin?”
“I have no idea,” Spike shrugged. “We can ask Shining Armour when he gets back from his date.”
“That won’t be for a while,” Smarty Pants was picked up and placed on Twilight’s back. “Until then, what do you want to do?”
“Can we play Storm Book Fort?”
“Okay,” Twilight ran to a nearby book shelf and started pulling books from it. “I get to storm the castle!”
“No fair! You were on the offensive last time! I want a turn!” Twilight stuck her tongue out.
“That’s what you get for losing,” she teased. “Come on, help me construct Book Fort.” Spike walked to the shelf and reached for a book. His hand stopped just as he was about to grab one.
“You know what, no,” he said. “I’m not going to help you build Book Fort. I’m going to make my own Book Fort. I’ll call it Castle Atlas, I’ll rule over it with an iron fist, and I’ll take Book Fort for myself.” Twilight stopped stacking books.
“Did you just declare war on my kingdom?” she asked.
“I did, Queen Sparkle,” Spike said grinning. “What are you going to do about it?”
“You can’t take Book Fort if I take Castle Atlas first!”
“I’d like to see you try!” The two of them began stacking and grabbing as many books as they could.
“May the best leader win, General Spike.” Spike grabbed a nearby piece of loose parchment.
“Not General,” he said folding the parchment. When he was done, he was left with a kepi made out of paper. The paper kepi was placed on his head. “It’s Emperor Spike. And I swear on my honour that Book Fort will be part of the Atlasian Empire.”
“Prepare to lose your honour then,” Twilight said with a smirk on her face. Both her and Spike began constructing their castles of books. They were fully prepared to risk everything for their upcoming battle. No matter who won the war, a paper kingdom would fall to ruin, unless dinner time came first.