//------------------------------//
// Chapters 1 - 4 
// Story: The Necromancer's Forces 
// by InTheNavy 
//------------------------------//

	
1


"I don't know how he was able to raise the dead, that magic has been lost for centuries!" 
The ponies watched through the massive ornate windows, horrified, as a legion of skeletal remains marched on Celestia's castle. The army had shown up on the border of everfree forest a few days earlier, and the entire populice had been moved from harm's way into the final pony stronghold. The walls were holding, as the skeletons, ghouls, and zombies of many different species clicked ceaslessly against the walls, unable to penetrate the stone ramparts.
"We have time, at least" commented Twilight "maybe the archives contain a reason for this?" 
"No such luck," noted Spike " and we already know where this assault is coming from!" 
Twilight dipped her head slightly in embarasment, the transition spell that she had been working on went awry a few weeks ago. Resulting in her letting a strange creature from another world into Equestria. The creature, standing on two legs and having no fur, wore a skull mask. It spoke in a raspy tone that terrified her, and it eventually was able to outsmart her, allowing itself out of the back of the treehome while she went to find a book on the subject. 
The creature ran, both out of terror and ambition, into the pure world; prepared to spread fear and dissonance. A few days later lights were seen in the Everfree forest at night, and animals began to retreat out of the forest, filling Ponyville with all forms of strange creatures who called the Everfree Forest home. 
"We can't continue to grab food and run." remarked Rainbow Dash. Those who had wings were assigned with aquiring food, as they could grab food and fly before attention could be brought to them. 
"The last time the Wonderbolts and I went down, the creatures had objects that could fire a stick fast enough to hit us. We barely escaped, and Soarin had one of the sticks stuck into his leg when we returned." 
"Then we need some form of tie breaker." pitched in Celestia, who had moved towards the group after comforting a group of earth ponies that were cowering in the edges of the room. "I cannot think of any spells that could damage or remove an army of that size. Even if getting rid of the creature that is controling them stopped them, we could never find it amid that mass of bones" 
It was true, the skeletal army outnumbered the guards a hundred to one. Even when mobilised and at full health and equipment, the guards could only fight the skeletons one on one safely, any more than that and they would have casualties.
“I have an idea, but it may make the situation worse.”
“Can we risk it? Could he be helping them?” asked Trixie, who had heard Twilight's plan. Old feuds had long since been forgotten after a real threat offered istelf to Equestria.
“What else can we do?” remarked Twilight “Just wait here to starve, or worse, allow Rainbow Dash to be captured like Fluttershy? Like Pinkie Pie? Like Rarity?”
Twilight's words cut deep; only a small portion of the populice was able to evacuate before the skeletons overwhelmed them.
“We have to,” added Celestia “but I have no idea where he is or how we can contact him....”
A boombing voice struck out “You don't have to. I'm already here.”
Celestia peered arounf the room, looking for the voice.
“Over here.” The voice called again in a mocking tone, coming from behind.
The three ponies turned to face the throne, atop of which was Discord.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” shouted Celestia, raising into the air as she spoke
“Unfortunatley, no. Although I applaud anyone who becomed powerful enough to simple walk off the elements of harmony.”
It was true. When the force appeared the five, now just two, attempted to stop the advancing army with the elements of harmony. The rays of light emitted from the crowns harmlessly bouncing off the advancing troops.
“And, even I have no effect on them. You see, they are allready in a form of discord. I have no effect on them.” as he was stating this he revealed a wound on his arm, as evidence that this new force was much stronger than even the greatest threat that Equestria had ever faced.
“Then there is only one thing that could stop this. Your spell created this power, maybe brandishing it again will cancel it out?” queried Trixie, stumbling over her inadvertent compliment of Twilight's power.
“And what if it adds?” added Discord, rolling in his seat, mocking Trixie.
“What else could we do? We're done no matter what!”
“Fine! I will perform the spell again!”
“No, I will” interjected Celestia


2


A group of gaurds was formed into a circle, if this new creature was evil too; they wanted to nip it in the bud. Discord stood vigilant to the side, across, Luna and Celestia began preparing the spell. Trixie and Twilight stood at an angle to the circle.
“Do you think it will be fine?” asked Spike, afraid to be in the same room as something on  the same level as whatever controled the vast army outside.
“It will have to be. The three strongest forces of Equestria are in this room, and an entire squadreon of guards. If it can overpower us, no power in the land could stop it.” commented Twilight
“Unfortunatley, that's what we want.” remarked Trixie “we want something that we can control, but it can still go out and smash that army like waves on rocks.”
The three drew quiet as Celestia and Luna, who offered to help, began the spell. Shouting keywords, they began to lift off of the ground without using their wings. Small purple wisps began appearing in the centre of the circle of guards. These wisps grew into larger sprites, which then became a large cloud. A rumbling, sounding distant at first, grew.
Sounds like thunder could be heard, and men screaming filled the room. A thunderous roar of some apparition overhead startled the guards. Metal could be heard scraping across the floor, and something with tracks crossed near Discord. The purple illusion floating softly past him. Suddenly, a voice screamed;
“Affix bayonets and charge the lines!”
The guards shifted uneasily, even these intangible sprites could strike fear into anypony with their screaming, calls and banging. The smoke suddenly changed color; a target had been identified, the spell had chosen a victim.
The smoke, now diffused across the room, becan to coagulate in the center. Forming a shape similar to the beast from Twilight's original spell. The smoke became denser, thicker, and lower to the ground until a figure began to form inside of it.
“Whatever it is, it's here now.” commented Discord.
The creature fell to the ground, the guards standing at attention to face the potential threat. The creature was of the same species as the one from Twilight's original spell. This one wore strange clothes of green and brown that were covered in many straps and bags. A large sack was attached to its back, and an object much like the skeletal stick throwers clattered to the ground next to it. On the end of this object was a sword, although this sword was small and would be of no use against one of the skeletal broadswords.
The creature's face was covered in a mask made of a shiny green material, round eyes potruded from the face, and black lenses hid the eyes themselves from the outside world. A helmet was donned, although this helmet was covered in fabric. The words 'NCS ENG' were marked on the side of the helmet, and a flag with a red leaf was painted on the side. This beast was certainly bigger in stature than the original, if only just. It would have stood taller than even Celestia if it were standing.
“That fucking hurt” commented the beast, scraping itself off of the floor.
As it stood, the front it's body was revealed. Blood poored from a hole in its shirt, and the green and brown fabric was mottled red. The beast looked down and yelped, as a glow of green light came from the hole in the blouse.
A few moments passed, and the beast poked an appendage into the hole in the shirt. And seeing that the would was healed, went about its business. It was at this time that the beast finally looked up to where it was.
“H... Hello?” queried Twilight
The beast looked up to the speaker and immediatley flinched. It grabbed for the item on the ground and pulled a small arm on it's back. It began to circle around itself, noting that it was surrounded.
“I don't suppose you guys like me?” asked the beast, peering at the guards through a tube in the top of the object.
“That depends.” commented Celestia, swooping down infront of the beast. She landed a few feet in front of the beast. “Are you going to attack us?”
The beast replied “Only if you attack me first.” his tone was not one of joy. The tone of his voice made it obvious that he was one inch from attacking. He reached for his throat, and grabed onto a metal clasp that held on the mask.
“Knife!” shouted one of the guards, mistaking the beasts motives. Thinking that the beast was reaching for the knife on his lower shoulder and not for his mask.
The beast swore as the guards advanced on him. They ran at full pace towards the threat, with Celestia jumping, then flying, into the air away from the new threat. The first of the guards reached the beast in an instant, but to no avail. The beast used its longer reach to easily push away the guards pikes as they charged. Once the point of the spear was past him, he would bring the point of which his arm bended onto their head, and a sickly crack was heard. In a few seconds, he was able to disarm or knock out the entire guard force in the room.
Celestia attempted to subdue the beast next, placing him in a ball of magic. She lifted the ball off of the ground with ease as it's tennant peered around, perplexed. The beast put its hand against the sphere of light, testing it. It immediatley looked down, part of it's mask peeling away, revealing a mouth similar to the one from earlier, but still very different.
The beast raised its leg and stomped on the bottom of the sphere, and Celestia immediatley yelped in discompfort. She was feeling a backlash from the sphere.
“That's impossible.” commented Trixie
“Backlash is possible for weaker magicians and stronger forces, but that mere stomp should have been contained by Celestia” added Twilight, not wanting to be outdone by Trixie
The beast quickly figured out what to do. It began thrashing around in the sphere, smashing the edges of the sphere with the butt of the object that it held. The sphere began cracking and flaking, Celestia's cries becoming more laborious as she slowly lost grip on the spell. Soon it would be free.
The shell cracked and faded, and the beast fell to the ground. It flipped the object around and immediatley brought it to its face. It looked down the tube of the pipe, pointing the weapon at Celestia. He flipped a small dial with a digit and squeezed a small trigger on the bottom of the object. A thunderous bang was heard throughout the room.
Celestia fell to the ground, but not as a repercussion of the beast's weapon. The spell had drained her too much, she could not stand any longer. The beast yelled in anger as it inspected it's weapon. The end of the weapon had flowers sprouting from it, and everyone in the room, the beast aside, knew who had just saved Celestia.
Discord lowered himself infront of the beast. This was the first time that anyone had seen him act seriously.
“If you try that again, I will kill you.”
Twilight and Trixie watched, horrified, as the beast raised the weapon to Discord's face.
In a second he cleaved down, cutting the weapon in two. This did nothing to stop the beast, as it immediatley grabbed the arm that Discord had used to sever the weapon. In a feat of strength, the beast twisted Discord's arm downwards, forcing discord to stand at an odd pose.
He yelped as the beast reached its remaining arm upwards, the five digits wrapping themselves around Discord's neck. The beast, in a very foul mood, whispered into Discord's ear. Through his own struggling breaths Discord could hear, clear as a bell;
“Those who stand against me, do not stand for long.”
Discord blacked out from lack of air, unable to teleport or use magic while weakened by his twisted arm.
The beast began walking towards Twilight and Trixie, who were now huddled together, unable to move out of fear. Luna tried to stop him, using all the magic available to her to stop him. Her sphere didn't last more than three seconds, as the beast pulled a black object out of his belt and with a crack the spell was broken and Luna fell to the ground, the strength sapped from her body.
The beast continued towards the two, neither of them willing to attempt their magic against this unstoppable force. Luckily, he ignored the two ponies. His true motive was the door that they blocked, and with a small show of force, he was able to cleave open the door that took four guards to open.
Twilight listened as the beasts footsteps retreated down the hall, towards the main door. Whatever that thing was, it was much more powerful compaired to the first, and it was going outside.


3


When the necromancer had taken over, the residents of ponyville were forced into their own homes, and anyone who left their homes were attacked by the new 'guards'. The skeletons, ghouls, and apparitions did not appear to be interested in entering the homes and it was assumed that they wouldn't enter unless provoked. Patrols would walk down the larger streets every hour or so, with some of the smaller streets only seeing the apparitions once every day, or even less. Despite having an 'innerumable' amount of footsoldiers, the necromancer's force was concentrated on Counterlot's gates.
Rarity sighed as she attempted to fall asleep, a patrol was passing outside, their weapons, armor and bones making too much of a racket for anypony to sleep on the street. The patrols were much more present in the last day, starting this morning, she had heard or seen the skeletons pass every half hour or so. Their stature and armarment was different too, instead of the small weapons they carried, they now carried great spears, which were overkill for a pony or even a stallion. Their small, leather coverings were replaced by massive iron guardings. Something, or somepony, had angered the necromancer's force, and keeping the populice awake with metal armor was apparently the solution.
She decided that she would go downstairs and work some more, perhaps if she was sleepy enough she would be able to sleep despite the noise. Down the stairs she went, trying not to step on Opal who circled around her hooves. The lights came on, and her work from the day before presented itslef before her. At least in a time like this, she had something to do. Her thoughts went to that of Applejack, who would have nothing to do at a time like this. She spoke to herself;
“Who knows, maybe Applejack made it out of there.”
Her thoughts turned to her friends who were able to escape the phalanx of skeletons. Some were routed by the force, but many, close to a half, made it out. She began to cut fabric and measure, using her dummy for the praportions. The moonlight shone in through the window, addind to the lamps inside of her workshop, tinting the fabric she used slightly. She heard another patrol move outside, but this one was different; it seemed hurried, alarmed, like it was reacting to something.
She peered outside, unable to see anything against the reflection of herself in the window. Somepony was running from the skeletons, as she heard them running down the allies of the road. She giggled to herself, seeing it fitting that somepony would be able to escape them, and head to salvation only because of their atrocious armor. Her thoughts turned to escape, she continued working, imagining herself overcoming the legions of the undead and reaching salvation. That was dependent on wether or not salvation existed, maybe all of the pony strongholds have been overrun, maybe Equestria already belonged to the necromancer? She grimaced at this thought, and tried to ignore it, returning her concentration to her work.
A loud bang sounded at the door to her shop. Rarity froze, many thoughts of who or what it was crossed her mind. Could it be one of the undead? The pony who was trying to escape? Someone come to rescue her? She stood, frozen by fear, facing the door. Something moved outside of the window, she couldn't tell what it was, but there was movment. A rapping could be heard against the glass of the window, the fact that whatever was out there could see her, but she could not see it, terrified her. She was now obliged to open the door, she could no longer feign innocence, it knew she was in there. Despite this, she still stood, immobilized by her inner terror.
“A lady never fails to help those in need!” she reassured herself, moving towards the door. The latch on the door jiggled, whatever was out there, it really wanted in. Closing in on the door, she heard a loud thump on the other side. It was not like the banging to gain entry, this was something else. It sounded as though the pony on the other side had fallen against the door, or was hit into it. She braced herself, and pressed down on the latch of the door.
Rarity screamed as her new guest entered the house. More of a slump than an entry, the creature fell through the frame of the door. She stood, frozen in terror again, as the creature made a soft, moaning noise, and went rigid. A few moments later she was able to gain a sense of the situation. The creature was, in fact, friendly. At least, it was against the skeletons, that much was apparent by the arrows sticking out of its back. She could also tell that the creature was injured, again, by the arrows protruding from its back. In a moment she knew why the patrols had been moving so much in the past while, and she guessed that this strange creature, able to endure injuries that would kill at least ten stallions, had scared the necromancer causing the necromancer to 'up his game' with the better equipped guards in the area.
“I need to get you inside” spoke Rarity, more to herself than to the body on the ground. The slow raise and fall of the creature showed that it was still alive, if barely. Immediatley she tried to lift the creature with magic, but to no avail. Something about the creature blocked her magic, and she could barely lift the metal necklace that it bore. She dragged the unconscious beast inside, hoping that a patrol would not pass while she was doing so. She tried to hide him in the basment, the main floor offering no resort from the skeletons' peering eyesockets, and the upstairs might have been on the other side of Counterlot. She could barely drag the massive creature, and carrying it upstairs would be nearly impossible.
In an attempt to lower it down the stairs, she sent the creature toppling down the stairs, its weight overcoming her strength. She watched as the body rolled and tumbled down into her store room. It hit the bottom of the stairs, with the side full of arrows down. A sickening crunch filled the room as the arrows shafts broke, some of which dug deeper under the weight. Rarity gasped as she saw the extent of the injuries, its body was peppered with arrows, and the clothes he bore had slash wounds that appeared to be from the massive pikes that the skeleton knights carried.
“Holy fuck! Why! Why the stairs?” the disoriented creature screamed, awaking from the pain of both its descent and the arrows being pushed further. Rarity stared as the creature lifted itself, and began to rip the arrows out of its front. After neatley removing all of the arrows, it addressed her.
“Thank you.” Rarity just stared at the beast, shaking off the wounds that should have killed him.
Upon a quick inspection of its surroundings, the beast inquired.
“Is this some kind of tailor's shop?”
“Y...Yes.” replied Rarity, too astonished to speak coherently.
“Do you have a needle and thread? Preferable larger? And maybe a rag?”
Rarity immediatley turned around, going to grab the requested supplies. When she returned to the top of the staircase, she saw the beast for what it was. During her absence it had removed its garments. She now saw that this beast had no fur, aside from the top of its head. It bore a face like no other in Equestria, and its hide was taught, with muscles bulging beneath the skin. Red blood was ebbing out of the wounds, and Rarity began to feel sick. She brought the supplied to him using her magic, an offended look came across his face.
“Fuck, and I thought you weren't like the shitlords in the castle!”
“Who is in the castle?” she cried, excited to hear about her friends.
“A bunch like you, they used their magical fuckery to bring me here, only to attack me!”
“Was there someone like me, but purple?”
“Aye.”
“What about a pink pony?”
“One.”
“Blue?”
“With wings?”
“Yes”
“Bastard followed me for miles, I lost her in the forest.”
“Yellow, with wings?”
“No, none like that.”
Rarit's heart sunk. She had hoped that Fluttershy, of all ponies, had made it out. She was the least likely to last in this situation. She was in the middle of nowhere, alone.
“What are you doing?” shouted Rarity, as the beast bent the needle that she had given him. He began to thread the needle, and placed the rag in his mouth. He began to sew his wounds shut, a small scream coming through the rag. Rarity, disgusted, turned away from the gruesome sight.
The pain from this act was too much, even for the beast. A few minutes after finishing, he fell to the floor, destroying a chest of gems that he fell on. Rarity understood that there was nothing that she could do to help him now, and she didn't have the guts to retrieve the needle or thread.
Retreating to her bedroom, she decided that that was enough excitment for the night. She had a difficult time falling asleep, both from the excitment of her new 'guest' and from the increased guard activity outside. Eventually, she fell asleep, allowing the warm embrace of the night to take her.


4


Rarity awoke to a banging at her door. She descended down into her shop, forgetting about what had happend the night before. The banging continued as she approached the door. Glancing at the floor, she noticed a smear of blood across the ground. In an instant she remembered the night before, and about what lay dorment in her basment. The knocking on her door intensified as she approached it. If a group of those skeletons wanted in, they could just rip the windows from their panes to get into her house. Resisting them was not worth it. She opened the door and was met with a grizzly sight.
Five of the skeletal ponies stood before her, the bones clicking slightly as they swayed in the wind. The closest had dirt on its face, mixed in the dirt was traces of blood. It was apparent that these 'guards' had followed the bloody trail back to her front door. They shoved her aside, she was of no importance to them, they wanted him. The largest of the skeletal intruders carried himself across the store, following the smeared red trail intently. He came up to the door to the basment stockroom and guestured for his accomplices to come and assist him.
The four ghouls pushed open the door, but they were soon standing face to face with the beast. The intrusion had been heard, and the beast knew that a choke point like the door would leave him in the advantage. The hulking figure advanced upon the skeletons, who backed away from him to avoid being at a disadvantage.
The beast immediatley struck the largest, bringing the massive boot he wore up to the neck of the animal. A crunch like snapping twigs was heard, and the remaining three skeletons attacked the beast while he was occupied with the large skeletal stallion. They jumped onto him, clinging to him, hoping to bring him down to the ground where they could buck him into submission. The polearms that they carried were far too long to use indoors, and had been left outside. Despite the weight of three skeletons, of whome were biting his uniform to no avail, the beast did not falter. Extending his arm to the large skeleton, he wrapped the appendeges he bore around the skull of the disoriented construct. He lifted the remains with one arm, and crushed the skell, the muscles in the arm flexing and distorting as they worked. He turned his attention to the other three attackers.
Rarity watched as the beast showed an impressive amount of strength, throwing the skeleton on his back over his head, and bringing his foot down upon the skull of the attacker in a curb stomp that managed to crack both the skull and the wooden board of the floor below. Reaching around himself, the beast grappled the other two adversaries, bringing them to bear infront of him. With ease, he pressed their skulls together, their bodies flailing to no avail as their seemingly weak skulls cracked, flaked, and eventually shattered between his gloved hands.
He opened the door to the basment and kicked the shattered remains of the defeated warriors down into the storeroom. He turned to Rarity, who was equally shocked and terrified, as a look of sheer excitment crossed his face.
“Breakfast?”
“Um... Okay?”
“What?”
“Nothing...”
“What!”
“I saw Big Mack, one of the strongest ponies that I know, defeated by a single ghoul.”
“And?”
“You have killed five of them before breakfast.”
“That's the CDF. We do more before you wake up than you do all day.”
Rarity chuckled at this remark, feeling at ease that this seemingly calm individual could easily deal with any problem that would arise. She would no longer need to fear the patrols outside, or intruders. She quickly made breakfast; hay and daisies. It was simple, and lacking in elegance, but what it lacked in taste it made up for in availability. Most of her food was gone, as she had been unable to leave her home in a week.
“Breakfast is ready.” she announced, the beast had made himself busy while she gathered breakfast, removing his blood from the floor with a mop and overturning the sand in the street to hide which house he had gone into. He walked over to the table and sat upon the ground, his massive form coming up to her level while she sat on a chair.
He peered at the foilage on the plate, and a look of both disappointment and disgust came across his face.
“Um. Here. You have it.” pushing his plate before her.
“What, too snobby to eat this simple meal?”
“No. I can't eat it.”
“If you don't eat this then what can you eat?”
“Meat.”
The answer terrified Rarity, there were meat eaters in equestria, but they were all nonsentient carnivores, unable of complex thoughts or remorse. He noticed the terrified look on her face, and felt bad for making her afraid again.
“No. My species does not eat ponies. I will not look at you when I'm starving.”
“My word.”
He was lying, he could have easily eaten any living thing.  He was an omnivore, but closer to carnivore than to herbivore. His mentality for killing came from thousands of years of hunting, killing, and warring.
“We have to leave town.”
“Why? We're safe here, and I still have food. You can hide in the basment during the patrols, and they will never find us.”
“Aye, but I want to go and piss off the people in the castle some more. And you're running out of food, so you might as well come with me. Do you know of anywhere where we could stay outside of town?”
“Yes, but you will not antagoinse those who are in the castle.”
“Fine.”
They sat there awkwardly, Rarity trying to eat as politley as possible as he produced a small package from his pack. He opened it and becan to scoop out the contents with his fingers. The smell baffled Rarity, she had never smelled anything like it. The package read 'Pre Cooked Steak'.
“So...”
“What?”
“What is your name?”
Rarity felt like kicking herself, her savior had delivered himself to her doorstep and she never even thought to introduce herself.
“My name is Rarity, and you?”
“Captain Bradley, at your service.”
He had finished his small packet, and upon checking the pocket it came from for more, he stood up and stretched. The belts, buckels, and straps on his uniform moving slightly, he reached down and adjusted some, and pulled a rubber hose off of his shoulder and began to suckle on it. He paused for a second, motioning to Rarity that he was offering the water that he carried, but she declined with a shale of her head.
“As soon as your done your breakfast go and pack your crap, we move ASAP.”
He ducked down the stairs to the storeroom as another patrol shuffled past, proving that his work earlier was a sucess.