The Lazarus tower

by FacadeArt

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

MEANWHILE...

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. She felt tired, like she had been exercising for hours. Of course she didn't know what exercising for hours felt like, having never done anything like that, but this was probably pretty close to that feeling. She attempted moving her hooves but noticed that something was preventing her from doing that. Twilight was strapped to a machine with weird rings around her horn that were drawing her magic. She remembered there was a fight. Somepony had entered her library and captured her.

"Hello!?" She shouted, but her voice echoed from the obsidian walls with no answer.

It was obvious that she had gotten herself into some big trouble, not to mention Spike was missing as well. Something heard her however when she noticed a figure rise up from the corner of the room. The figure, clumsily, made its way towards her, and Twilight could finally see it in the light.

"Huh? Guess Spike was right, there ARE zombie ponies."

Then she realized that there was an actual zombie pony approaching her and she had no means of escape. That observation was followed by some desperate screams of "HELP!".
The creature came closer and Twilight could smell the rotten flesh on its face. It was just about to take a delicious piece of purple meat out of Twilight when she heard a voice speak.

"Uhh, you naughty little experiment! You wouldn't take a little bite of my new friend, would you??"

The monster turned its face to the direction of the voice and gnarled in response.

"No, she won’t taste like grape and you can’t eat any of her body parts. She needs them all." The mysterious voice said.

"YES I really, REALLY need them all!" Twilight hysterically screamed. The zombie retreated in defeat.
After the creature was gone Twilight narrowed her eyes and attempted to get a glimpse of the owner of the voice. She recognized that the voice was feminine so whoever had just saved her was probably a mare or some other creature with a female voice. With zombie ponies running around, you never know.

"Hello? Who are you!?"

The mysterious figure approached the machine. Finally Twilight could see who was behind everything!

"Rarity!?"

"YES it is I! Rarity, the fashionista of Ponyville! For too long the fashion world of Equestria has evolved with lightning speed! New designs become old in mere hours, and I am left with unsold attire filling my precious store shelves! But now I shall complete my master plan of RESURRECTING OLD FASHION!"

Twilight stared at the white mare dumbfounded. There she was with her white coat and purple mane, complete with the diamond cutie mark. Only she didn't sound like Rarity. The elegant accent wasn't quite there and resurrecting old fashion was probably Rarity's worst nightmare.

"You’re not Rarity, are you?"

"Aww, you figured it out already? I was hoping I could mess with your head a little bit more."

The white mare trotted around the machine observing the various gauges attached to it.

"Hey! Don't ignore me! Who are you really, where am I?"

Suddenly the impostor moved right next to Twilight and patted her head.

"Don’t you worry your little purple head about that! Let’s just say I’m your new best friend who really needs your help resurrecting some ponies."

The impostor was clearly completely insane. Trying to get anything rational out of her would probably be a waste of time, so Twilight decided to just play along for now.

"What kind of a friend ties their so called "best friend" to some creepy machine?!"

"Now, now I wouldn't want you to live with the guilt of knowing that you ran away when your best friend needed you. This way you don't have to choose!"

The mare giggled like Twilight had just asked a really stupid question. Great, here she was at the clutches of some crazy pony who had the ability to look like one of her friends.

"Wow...well... wasn't that awfully nice of you." Twilight said with extreme sarcasm in her tone.

"Well, I am an awfully nice mare!" The impostor answered with extreme honesty in her voice.
Suddenly Twilight remembered that Spike was still missing.

"What did you do with Spike?"

"Little dragon guy? He didn't have some silly magic in his head like you do. So I just asked him nicely, with a hint of magic, if he wanted to be my new friend!"

She trotted out of the chamber humming to herself like she was casually skipping around a forest meadow instead of running around a creepy black chamber. Soon she returned however, followed by the purple dragon himself.

"And he said yes! Here is my new assistant Spike! Say hello Spike."

"Hello."

Spike answered with a monotone voice like a robot. It didn't take a genius to see that he was clearly under some mind control spell, not to mention that he's heart shaped eyes were staring into nothingness the whole time. Now the disguise of Rarity the captor had chosen made a lot more sense.

"Spike it’s me! It’s me, Twilight! Help!"

"He knows who you are, silly!"

Suddenly the mare began to jump around in joy while Spike just stared some more.

"It’s so much fun to have two new friends here! Living in a tower for over a thousand years with zombies is not too exciting..."

Twilight’s ears perked at that. Had she really been here for over a thousand years? That was impossible! Only the royal sisters were known of having the power of immortality. Maybe it was just another thing the crazy mare had come up with.

"Was that a figure of speech?"

"Huh?"

"When you said you have been here for over a thousand years, did you actually mean it?"

"Of course I meant it! Would I lie?"

Twilight wanted to mention that a moment ago the impostor had tried to introduce herself as Rarity but kept her mouth shut about it. She looked around the chamber. Bones and rags were scattered on the floor. There were some obsidian tables with numerous different magical items that, Twilight thought, she had seen in some history books. The whole room was topped off with some good old fashioned prisoner wall chains, complete with pony skeletons hanging on them, to give it that nice "creepy dungeon" feel.

"Why would you stay in a place like this for a thousand years?"

"Oh, Twilight, you of all ponies should know why! We aren’t so different, you and I!"

"Yes, except you’re not strapped to some weird machine. You actually know who I am. I didn’t brainwash your personal assistant and you know where we are, and finally I’M NOT COMPLETELY INSANE!"

Twilight was tired of playing along and she had let that last sentence slip out. The white mare was unfazed however and kept her creepy grin.

"Lets put it this way: if Celestia gave you an important project that would help everypony, would you agree to do it?"

"Of course I would."

"See? We aren’t so different!"

"Are you saying that Celestia told you to do this?!"

"No...well kinda... but like I said, you don’t need to worry about that! Just lay down on that nice little machine and borrow some magic for your friend!"

The imposter turned around and trotted towards the door.

"Come along Spike! I have something I need you to do."

"Anything for you Rarity." Spike answered and floated behind the impostor.

"No Spike! She’s not Rarity! Come back here!"

Twilight tried to shout after him but the dragon was already gone. The door was shut behind him leaving her, once again, alone in the dark room, with her thoughts.

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The sun was shining high up in the sky as the morning arrived. It was the most beautiful sight imaginable, with the rays of light dancing on the clouds. Too bad Rainbow Dash and Applejack couldn't see any of it, for they were trotting on a cursed island covered by stormy clouds. Luna had warned them about the unpredictable weather surrounding that speck of land in the middle of nowhere but the two mares had forgotten about it. Naturally the weather decided to remind the ponies of its existence by launching an attack of rain and wind on the ground.

The two friends made their way through the forest and arrived at a clearing. The weather had turned the ground into muddy goo, and advancing was providing itself to be more than just a little bit difficult. Luna’s capes gave them some cover from the weather however, turning out to be surprisingly water proof.

"This place could really use some weatherponies!" Rainbow Dash shouted through the rain and wind while pushing herself forward in the mud.

"And some pest control, and a tree expert and some dark magic banishment team and..." Applejack answered, but then decided to go with the best solution. "They should just blow this whole island up!"

"You can say that again!"

Applejack tried to raise her hoof to take another step, but it wouldn't budge.

"Uh oh..."

"What do you mean "uh oh".?"

Rainbow Dash turned around and noticed that her friend was stuck in the mud.

"Looks like the mud got the better of me!"

"Don't worry, I got you!"

Dash reached her hoof to grab Applejack but noticed that she was stuck as well.

"Uh oh!"

"I know!"

The ground was turning into a swamp unnaturally fast, as though it were alive. The mares began to sink into the ground.

"AJ we have no choice! I’ll have to fly us outta here!"

"In this wind? Keep on dreaming, sugarcube."

"Is that a challenge? I’m serious Applejack, I can pull this off if I have to!"

"I’m serious too! Ya’ll just get flown off somewhere by the wind!"

"Its either that or we drown in the mud!"

Dash tested the wind with her wings. Applejack was right. The wind was relentless, and any pony foolish enough to fly on a weather like this would get carried off by the wind. However, Rainbow Dash wasn't just "any pony". She was the fastest flier in all of Equestria so she decided to give it a try anyway (After all, what kind of a future Wonderbolt would lose to some wind?) She took off from the mud but immediately regretted the idea. The wind grabbed her like a rag doll, tossing her high up in the sky.

"RAINBOWWWwwwwww..." She heard Applejack shout in the distance as she attempted to regain control of her flight.
Damn, this wasn't how it was supposed to go. Applejack was down there in the mud by herself, and she had left her there. What if she thought Rainbow had abandoned her to save her own flank? Rainbow gritted her teeth.

"I won't leave my friends behind!"

It took all her strength, but finally she managed to regain some control. The wind was tossing fallen branches and other debris at her, but Rainbow didn't let up. She was going to get down there, grab that orange earth pony and fly her to safety, no matter what. She swooped down towards Applejack. Rainbow Dash winced in pain when the cut she received yesterday opened up again with the wind ripping off the bandages.

"HEADS UP AJ!" She shouted and grabbed Applejack from the mud, leaving a rainbow colored streak behind. The additional weight made controlling her flight surprisingly less difficult, but she was already exhausted. Fighting the wind had sapped her energy.

This was it. They would drown in some mud in the middle of nowhere unless a miracle would save them.

Dash scouted around the wind looking for that miracle. There it was! To others, it would have been nothing more than an old stone building, but to Dash, it was the only thing that could save them from certain death.

She sped towards the building in a desperate race for life, noticing that the first floor of the building had already sunk halfway in the mud. The second floor window acted as an improvised door when the blue pegasus crashed right through it, still carrying Applejack in her hooves.

Both ponies fell on the floor,Rainbow Dash panting heavily. Applejack wasted no time. She got up on her hooves and galloped next to her. Rainbow looked at her with a smug grin on her face.

"See...phew...I told you I could pull it off..."

"Oh hay Rainbow! Ya almost got yerself killed!"

"Nah...I did the opposite...I got us..uh..saved?"

Applejack sighed and hugged her friend.

"Ya sure did sugarcube...I just hate seeing you get hurt like this. Here, let me play doctor for ya again.

Applejack reached for her saddlebags and noticed that the cape had once again defied the forces of nature by remaining undamaged. She pulled out the bandages and proceeded to patch up her rainbow-maned friend.

"Now ah hope this is the last time I’ll have to use these."

"Believe it or not, AJ, but I hope so too...Ugh, I could really go for some water right now."

Applejack took out her canteen from the saddlebag and gave it to Rainbow.

"I guess I owe ya another one...I mean ya saved my life...If ah can repay ya somehow I will."

Rainbow Dash put down the canteen after greedily drinking its contents.

"I dunno...I could always use a barrel of Sweet Apple Acres cider."

Applejack chuckled at that and stood up.

"Ah think ah can do that but you just rest now ya hear? I’ll go take a look around this here building we stumbled into."

With that Applejack examined the room. The worn out toys littered about the room and the small bed in the corner gave away that she was in a foal’s room. A quick look through the window, opposite to the broken one, gave away something even more interesting. Outside Applejack could see the silhouettes of ruined buildings.

"Rainbow! There’s buildings outside! Ah think we’re in the village!"

The only answer she got however was the soft sound of snoring. Rainbow had fallen asleep under her cape. Applejack decided to let the blue pegasus have her well earned sleep and turned around to take a closer look at the village.

She squinted her eyes and noticed pony-shaped figures walking around on the abandoned streets. Applejack had heard her share of ghost stories but these ponies didn't look like the ones wearing sheets. These ponies looked like walking corpses that had escaped from the local graveyard.

Applejack quickly decided that this wasn't where she wanted her friend to sleep, and she proceeded to shake her friend awake.

"Rainbow, there are zombie ponies all over the streets.”

"Whu...huh?!"

"Shh! Ah don't think they know we’re here, and I would like to keep it that way."

Both mares trotted over to the window, and Rainbow took a peek outside.

"Whoa...that’s freaky...we gotta get outta here."

The ponies were interrupted however by a squeaking noise, and they turned around in horror. The door to the room was open.

At that moment they waited for the flesh hungry, creatures to flood right through the doorway to feast on them, yet nothing happened. They stood in silence staring at the doorway.

Applejack had pulled out her moonblade in panic, which illuminated the room with a faint light. Then the mares saw it. A ghost filly walked right into the room.
They could see that she was clearly a spirit of some kind and not one of the walking dead. The filly noticed the light of the moonblade and tracked its source.

She stared directly at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Both ponies were certain that they were doomed when the filly suddenly spoke in a ghostly voice.

"Hello, are you the foalsitters? I’ve been alone here for so long..."

Applejack quickly put her sword back into its sheath.

"We’re, uh, we are actually..."

Rainbow Dash noticed Applejack’s failing attempt at lying and decided to take a hold of the situation.

"Yes! We are your totally awesome foalsitters!"

The filly squeed in happiness and proceeded in jumping around the room.

"Yay! Finally I can have somepony to play with!"

Both mares just collapsed on the floor and sighed in relief.