“The first thing I should warn you about is that I’m not about to tell you a couple of things. Specifically, what happened for the first part of my undeath.” She frowned at that. “There’s a reason, and it all ties back to this one man named Arthas. I refuse to call him by his title, as he is no longer deserving of any.”
“What was his title?” she asked. She probably had a good idea though.
“Prince, then later, king. A bad one, one of the worst in our history.”
“I know of terrible kings and rulers, unfortunately,” she sighed.
I paused, contemplating. In my experience, the new ruler wasn’t always better than the previous one. My face didn’t change from its relaxed appearance. “Well,” I continued, “I’m fairly certain Arthas was worse. Did those kings and rulers of yours try to destroy the world using a plague of undeath?”
She frowned again, deeper. Uh-oh. “Are you diseased with this?” she asked in a low tone.
Whoops. Probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. “No,” I replied, “not anymore.”
Her face didn’t change, but she continued. “The first ruler threw the whole world into unending, random chaos. The second attempted to enslave it. There has also been the rare petty necromancer or warlock throughout the ages that attempted something similar to your Arthas’ methods.”
‘So things are still like Azeroth,’ I thought. ‘Wonderful. She might be the “good” queen, however. Actually, what’s her name?’ My eyebrows furrowed at that. “I just realized that I don’t know your name.”
“Neither yours,” she countered.
“Mr. Icara, husband to Ira Icara,” I responded, with a bit of an emphasis on husband.
She got the hint. “Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. And while I did say that I will help you find your wife-”
I tensed slightly. ‘Another obstructing politician? Seems like Azeroth and this ‘Equestria’ aren’t so different after all. Could she be the “evil” queen instead?’
“-I first need to know what you two are planning to do and if you two will possess any threat to my ponies.”
‘Oh. That’s actually a good reason.’ I deflated, and gave a mental snort. ‘Not quite what I had hoped for though.’ Relaxing a tad, I said, “Return to Azeroth.” Plain and simple.
“And how will you do that?” she said, taking a sip of tea.
“The same way we ended up here, hopefully. I told you my scrying spell went awry,” I swore there was a mildly amused smirk behind that cup, “but I’m certain that something else was in play.”
“‘Awry’ is putting it mildly,” she murmured. “What is this something?”
“Probably the same reason why the workers who were tasked with fixing my lab left a couple of hours early. I can’t think of anyone who might want to get me...” not off the top of my head, anyways. I had made a few enemies because of my attitude and undeath, but for the most part we just avoided each other. “...so I don’t actually know,” I finished lamely. Was I missing something important? I found that I had unconsciously pursed my lips in thought.
Celestia was silent for a while, going over what I had said. Our thinking was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door, to which Celestia responded, “One moment, please!” She turned to me with an apologetic look. Before I could comment, I saw a bright flash, more teleportation, and found myself dumped into an empty bedroom.
“Really?” I asked nobody flatly. It made sense as to why she did it, but a bit of warning would have been appreciated. I sighed. More delays. With a mildly bored look, I looked around the room. Not much, even if it was made for royalty. A plush bed, a window, a dresser with a mirror, a closet, and a bathroom with all of the necessities. Curious as to what the city I was in was like, I turned my head to look outside, catching the predawn rays as they painted the city in shades of purple, pink, and blue. It reminded me of Dalaran, actually, seeing the spiraling architecture soaring into the air and the fields sprawling off below it.
Was this city flying too, I wondered? With a curious frown and a more intrigued look, I stood up from the bed, walked over to the window, and peered outside. Then I looked down, and backpedaled away from the window, nearly tripping on the edge of the bed in my haste.
That was a long fall down into the courtyard below. But I could confirm that the city wasn’t flying, it was attached to the side of a mountain. I exhaled, now busying myself with finding out why the bed was far more comfortable than what I had ever experienced before. Mattresses just don’t feel this way.
I peeked under a bedsheet, and found out that the “mattress” was actually a cloud with a bit of magic running around in it. Interesting. There were priest spells for levitation, but this was a tad different. How does water vapor do that? I took a closer look, getting onto my knees and peering at it from just a few inches away.
This is where I shone. Understanding and making complex spells and formulae was my forte, and the exact reason why me and Ira were chosen for…
Oh. Right.
And just like that, my curiosity gave way to gloom as I remembered why I was here. With a heavy sigh, I put the sheets back and flopped onto the bed to just stare at the ceiling and plan ahead.
Sometime later a pony maid walked in with a gait that could only be described as dainty. I lifted my head up, one eyebrow raised in annoyance as she managed to cross the room and start cleaning it with her eyes closed. How she did that, I don’t know.
The scene came to an end when she opened her eyes and looked at me sprawled on the bed. She froze up, mouth agape in an attempt to say something, pupils contracted to pinpricks.
“Yes?” I snipped.
As if someone flipped a switch, she screamed at the top of her lungs and galloped out of the room. Realizing at just how bad that boded for me, I took what little time I had before the inevitable guards showed up to dive under the bed.
Then I realized at how much worse I would appear if I was found just as two guards barged in, their golden horseshoes the only things I could see. The maid was standing behind them, her hooves shaking in fear.
“It was right there, on the bed,” she stuttered, “and I swear, it talked!”
If I still had eyes, I would roll them at a statement like that. One guard muttered something to the other, and then said, “Can you describe it, ma’am?”
“W-well, it was… it was like nothing I had ever seen! It had glowing eyes, was wearing a cape-” It’s not a cape, it’s a duster! “-and it had bone sticking out from its arm!”
“Arm?”
“Mm-hmm. It didn’t have any hooves, so it had arms!”
There was a moment of silence I imagine the guards used to look at each other. With the faint *clink* of armor sliding across armor, they moved from one end of the room to the other, searching the wardrobe, the bathroom, even peering out the window.
Armored hooves began approaching the bed, and I made an inadvertent motion backwards, crawling closer to the wall. Slowly, silently, I pushed myself up into the mattress, stopping when I was an inch away from the sheets. White cloud filled my vision, obscuring it, and, hopefully, the guard’s as well.
Five agonizingly long seconds passed before I could hear the guards moving away, and I exhaled softly in relief. I relaxed when I heard the gruff voice of the first guard say that the creature wasn’t here anymore, and walked the maid out of the room. The second guard stuck around for a bit to peer out the window again before he also left the room.
The door clicked shut, and I crawled out from underneath the bed, muttering under my breath. I popped my entire spine, one vertebrae at a time, and I sat back down onto the bed to wait. It wasn’t long before Celestia reappeared in a bright flash of light, looking slightly stressed. She did a good job of hiding it, however.
“You missed the show,” I said, irritated. “A maid came in to clean and saw me lounging on the bed. I managed to hide from the guards she brought in, thankfully, but we both know that I can’t be kept here for long.”
She murmured something about cleaning schedules before exhaling. Whether it was relief or annoyance, I couldn’t tell. “I’m aware of that, Mr. Icara, but I don’t have anywhere I can hide an undead. Which is why I’m going to give you a crash-course in Equestrian basics and a pony illusion while you’re here.”
‘Oh, this’ll be fun,’ I thought. “I can think of so many ways this could go wrong.”
“I can to, but it’s the best option we have right now. Do you have a better idea?”
I thought for a moment. “No. Put your illusion up, I’ll keep my mouth shut, and we can get through this as soon as possible. Barring any unforeseen complications.”
With that flash of light that always signaled Celestia’s spells, I watched as I became invisible, and as a fake unicorn with my colors appear in my place. Gray fur, teal mane, and yellow eyes. Celestia studied the illusion for a bit, viewing it all around.
“What do you want for your mark?” she said, gesturing to the illusion’s flank.
“Mark?” I replied, a tad confused. I didn’t recall seeing any marks on the pony group at the beginning, but I wasn’t paying attention at the time. The maid’s and the guard’s flanks were covered up by their respective uniforms, so I couldn’t tell if they had anything like that. I assumed Celestia’s was a tattoo reserved for the crown, what with being a sun. “You mean that those aren’t something unique to royalty?”
“No. Where did you get that idea?”
“You’re the only one I saw with one.”
“Despite having a close-up with my student and her friends just a few hours ago?”
“I was panicking. I was focusing on where I could get assistance, not tattoos.”
“They’re not tattoos,” she said flatly, “they’re cutie marks. They appear whenever a pony finds his or her special talent.”
‘I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like that. Seems constraining,’ I thought. “Then I suppose mine would have to be something relating to magic. Or death. Or study and research.”
Her horn flashed, dimmer than before, and I looked down to see what changed. The illusion did the same, following my head’s movement to look at what I was. There was a closed scroll, candle, and quill on its flank now.
Not quite what I expected, but I can’t complain. “Now what?”
“I cannot ask you any more questions as of now, as I have business I have to attend to. I was merely taking a break to check on you. My ponies are in panic, since the night lasted much longer than it should have…”
‘Really? I didn’t notice, actually.’
“...so I am now going to teleport you to the castle library to read up on Equestrian history.”
“Homework, then,” I said, watching as my voice came from the pony’s mouth as Celestia refined the illusion even further. “I can do that.”
‘I can’t promise that I won’t look up a couple other things, however. Ira would love seeing a brand-new library that doesn’t kick us out on sight.’
I hid my emotions from my face, how successful I was, I didn’t know. I did know that Celestia gave me one last curious look before teleporting me into an empty hallway, facing a direction.
‘I suppose she wants me to go this direction.’ I rolled my invisible eyelights, the copy doing the same, and began walking down the hallway. Rather, I walked while the pony illusion trotted. It was interesting to watch, but I kept my head forward on account of the pony illusion continually looking down whenever I did.
After a minute of walking, I passed by a maid and two guards at a door. Not the same ones from before, thankfully. I watched them for a second or two before looking forward again, half-expecting something to go wrong as I passed them.
I walked past them without incident. I let out an exhale of relief as soon as I couldn’t see them around the hallway’s bend, and kept walking. Perhaps I should place a little more faith in the princess’ spell.
Another minute of walking, and I reached what appeared to be the library. I also found out why the princess didn’t just teleport me into the library, or near it. There were a number of scholarly types around, and I could feel enchantments in the room preventing teleportation.
Walking inside, avoiding the trickle of ponies going in or out, I took a look around. Like the city, the library was designed to be spiraling, shining, and showy. A massive bay window let in the sunlight and another sweeping view of the city. Light blue shelves made out of what might have been a mix between stone or crystal held books of all sizes and colors.
I asked the librarian for a book on general Equestrian history, and received a dozen books after a quick search, all of them at least six hundred pages thick. The one on the top was titled History of Equestria, with the other books below it all titled in reference to some specific time. No doubt the librarian got a lot of people who were more interested in specifics. I gave the stack a startled look and picked it up. The pony illusion’s horn lit up, encasing the books in a yellow glow while I simply used my arms and hands.
How some of the ponies got around without magic or hands was another question for my ever-growing list. I chose a secluded table over in a relatively dim corner of the library, picked History of Equestria up, and began to read.
I looked up after I had read the first page. The book was written like a fairy tale. I grunted in annoyance, and resumed reading.
* * *
“Have you reconstructed the spell yet?”
“We’re working on it. Most of his notes are, for lack of a better term, vaporized.”
“What?”
“They were left out by the spell. Considering the blast shield was only a strong illusion…”
“...It held against casual observation, but not brute force. Fine. You have a week.”
“Yessir.”