Tombstone

by Fullmetal_Pony

Chapter 4

The train ride back to Ponyville for the most part was uneventful. Her friends were getting Twilight caught up on what she had missed over the last month when the train pulled into the station. They disembarked and the train departed. On their way back to the castle everypony they came across met them with a warm greeting, happy to see their princess back from her “vacation.” As they approached the castle they saw Tombstone already there waiting outside with what looked a pack mule carrying a heavy load. Most likely one of his undead servants made to look normal so it wouldn’t scare the locals.

“Are you sure about this Twilight? This guy’s bad news.”

“Oh Rainbow he’s not that bad once you get to know him.”

“Well why does he have to stay with you? Why doesn’t this guy stay at his own place?”

“I second that.”

“Rainbow, Spike it’ll be fine, and he hast to stay with me so he can properly reintegrate into society.”

“How are you even going to introduce him around town, hi there this my friend Tombstone he a walking corpse wanna be friends with him, they’re liable to run him out of town with torches and pitchforks.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight paused for a second and took a deep breath. “I’m working out the details but for the moment we’ll just leave out the part about him being a lich and having tied to destroyed Equsetria in the past until the time is right.”

“Alright sugarcube, but if ya need anythin or are in any trouble we’ll come runnin ok.”

“Thanks.”

They finally made their way to where Tombstone was waiting. Twilight’s friends tried to put on a brave face, all except for Fluttershy who was trying to hide behind Rarity and Spike who was hiding behind Twilight. Although Tombstone had lived long enough to know when a pony is being genuine or not and saw right through them, but decided to let it slide, for now anyway.

“Hello Twilight. And company.”

“This a friend of yours?” said Rainbow.

“Him, no he’s just one of my servants I dressed up so as not to standout. He’ll be leaving once I get settled in.”

“Speaking of which let me show you to your room so you can unpack and then I can give you a tour of the castle later. Follow me.” Tombstone, Twilight, and the others made their way through the castle halls in an eerie silence with tension in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife. Twilight had to find some way to break the ice. “So Tombstone maybe later we can stop by Fluttershy’s cottage and you can meet all her little animal friends. Would that be alright with you Fluttershy?”

“I-I s-suppose so.”

“That would be a bad idea. Animals don’t like my undead presence, it activates their fight or flight response. Either they go on the attack or flee in fear.”

“Well, ok then. Oh there’s still the party to look forward too, and you can start to get to know the other ponies in town.”

“Party?”

“OH MY GOSH! I completely forgot about your welcome to Ponyville party!”

“Can’t say I’ve ever been to one let alone had one thrown for me.”

Pinkie let out a loud draw out gasp. She had never met a full grown pony that’s never been to a party before.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve been to a Pinkie Pie party,” said Twilight.

“Huh, is it that good?”

“As Ponyville’s premier party pony, I guarantee you will have the best night of ever! That’s a pinkie promise. Oh I still need to do the baking, setup the decorations, get the word out, there’s so much left to do! See you later Twilight.”

In a pink blur Pinkie dashed off and was out of sight a second later.

“How did she?”

“We’ve known Pinkie long enough to know not to question how she does anything anymore.”

“I should get going too. I uhhh promised Scoots I’d help her learn how to fly to day.”

“Yeah I reckon I should get back to the farm.”

“Well since they’re all leaving, I might as well too. Bye darling, see you at the party later.”

“Twilight is it ok if I go over to Rarity’s for a bit.”

“I suppose so.”

“Thanks. Hay wait for me!”

“Well things have been off to an interesting start. I take it your friends don’t like me very much and I’m having a hard time liking them as well. At least the pink one had a legitimate reason for leaving. ”

“They just need some time to warm up to you that’s all. When we first tried to reform Discord Fluttershy was the only one willing to give him a chance. The rest of us were suspicious and wary of him as well.”

“Can’t say I blame them, I didn’t exactly make the best first impression.”

“Yes well let’s get you to your room.”

They continued to make their way through the castle, up a flight of steps, and then they finally arrived. Twilight used her magic to open the doors and they stepped inside. It was a moderately sized room with a bed, a dresser, a window, and a desk.

“Hmm cozy. I can work with it.”

“I’ll let you settle in. The party probably won’t be until after sunset so you have plenty of time.”

Twilight then started to leave.

“Twilight wait.”

Twilight stopped and turned back around to face him.

“What is it?”

“I uhh…on second thought never mind, forget I said anything. I’ll just start unpacking.”

“Ok, but now that I think about it there is something I wanted to ask you.”

“What?”

“With you being a necromancer and all. Why didn’t you…did you ever try to bring Vibrant back from the dead?”

“Oh that. Yes I did actually, but was unable too.”

“Was her body too far gone?”

“Her remains weren’t the problem I could have restored them back to her original from. The problem was I couldn’t locate her soul in the afterlife. That only meant one thing. That it wasn’t her time and her soul entered the cycle of reincarnation. She could’ve been reborn the next day or centuries later, I’d have no way of knowing.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s ok. Though I always had this silly notion that the bond we shared was strong enough that we’d end up running into each other without even realizing it and that I’d somehow figure out it was really her. Ridiculous right.”

“I don’t know, stranger things have happened I suppose. But I’ll leave you be for now and stop by later.”

“Until then.”

---

Celestia sat on the balcony outside her room looking in the direction of Ponyville contemplating the day’s events as she lowered the sun onto the horizon. Luna made her way into Celestia’s room and saw her on the balcony deep in thought.

“Something on your mind sister?”

“Oh Luna I just don’t know about this. I fear for Twilights safety while in his company. What if he tries to corrupt her instead? This still could be some elaborate scheme of his to gain our trust and lower our guard, only to betray us when the time is right. At least Discord was only slightly twisted and mischievous. Tombstone is something else entirely. Even Sombra and the others we’ve faced seem better by comparison.”

“I understand you’re concerned but we must also have faith in Twilight’s ability to reform him. She has managed to overcome every obstacle she’s faced so far and I have little doubt that she will fail this time.”

“Maybe your right Lulu, but still I don’t like this arrangement. I should have just finished him off when I had the chance.”

“I am having trouble understanding. Why out of all the villains that we’ve encountered do you hold such animosity toward him in particular? And why have I not heard about that incident either? When I returned I read up on all the history I had missed but there was no mention of your encounter with him.”

“That’s because I had covered up the incident and made the guards and castle staff swear too take what they saw to their graves. I didn’t want the public to know how weak I was at the time, that I almost failed to properly protect them from harm.”

“No pony would have thought less of you, besides that was back when it was just you. Between you, me, the element bearers, and Twilight in possession of his phylactery we are more than a match for him. But that still doesn’t explain why you hate him so.”

“I didn’t mention everything that happened on that day earlier. Luna what I’m about to tell you is the part of the story that not even Tombstone knows about. You see there were some casualties that day, all of them guards. One of which was the current captain at the time. His name was Vanguard. We were in a relationship you see. I didn’t find out he was dead until after I got back from imprisoning Tombstone in Tartarus. I loved him, losing him hurt just as much as when I sent you to the moon. I made up a story about them dying in a training accident which the public bought. I just don’t think I can ever forgive Tombstone for that. Besides you haven’t seen him in action, I looked into his soulless eye sockets that day and saw no mercy, no remorse, only hatred and death.”

“I’m sorry to hear of your loss, I suppose only time will tell how this will play out. Though I hope this comes to a peaceful resolution. Sweet dreams sister.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you in the morning Luna.” What are you hiding Tombstone? I know there’s a reason behind why you’re doing this and I’m going to find out what it is.

Comments

[The Library]

and so it goes. can't wait to see what happens next.

[booklover41]

“It’s ok. Though I always had this silly notion that the bond we shared was strong enough that we’d end up running into each other without even realizing it and that I’d somehow figure out it was really her. Ridiculous right.”

real subtle, there.
Twilight the reincarnation