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Chapter 6

Chapter 6

They were finally here. The Lazarus tower. Applejack checked herself and Rainbow Dash for any unwanted slime that might have slipped through the door with them. Satisfied, she lay Rainbow on the floor and tucked her under her cape.

Immediately after removing her cape, Applejack noticed that the room they were in was extremely cold. A staircase lead to a platform made of stone that lay in the middle of the area. She decided to take a closer look at the room. The room turned out to be a chamber. A huge white crystal hung from the ceiling illuminating the room with unnatural white light. Applejack could see the waves of cold air radiating from its surface.

Then she reached the top of the platform. The walls were filled with disgusting pods made of purple matter. Inside the pods she could see shapes of ponies while the pods themselves were frozen solid. It seemed like they had arrived in to a cryo chamber of some kind.

“Whoa nelly...” Were the only words she managed to say.

A grumbling noise behind her made her jump. The one guilty for the noise however was Rainbow Dash and Applejack sighed in relief. She returned down the platform to the blue pegasus.

“Good morning Rainbow Dash! May ah welcome you to The Lazarus tower! Temperature outside yer cape is cold as hay and creepy pods will greet ya on your way in.”

Rainbow Dash turned her head to look at Applejack.

“Applejack...Im sorry, I let you down and...you saved my life.” Rainbow answered wearily.

Applejack put her hoof in front of Rainbows mouth.

“Don’t mention it RD. Lets just say ya wanted to let me play the hero this time . Just like we agreed.” Applejack chuckled and then she hugged her friend.

“...Heh, sure Applejack...” Rainbow whispered and hugged her back.

“Now ah think we should get something to eat after all that running around sewers” Applejack said. She went through her saddlebags pulled out the canteen and some apples.

Rainbow Dash ate greedily like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“Ahhh, thats the stuff!” She said, after gulping down some water from the canteen.
Then she slowly stood up, feeling revitalized. Applejack took her cape back from the blue pegasus.

“Nothing gets you back on yer feet like an good old apple!” Applejack stated proudly.

“But ah still think we should rest a while before we start exploring this here tower. Ah don’t want to be tired if we meet something like that slime again.” She continued.

Rainbow Dash agreed and they set up camp right next to the platform. Applejack went through the map again and located the chamber they were supposed to reach.

“Now we just go gallop through this hallway and we should reach that chamber with the rune.” She said while pointing at the map with her hoof.

“Wait, did Luna tell you how to erase it?”

An awkward silence fell among the mares.

“Darn, Ah knew we forgot something.” Applejack said and stomped her hoof.

Rainbow Dash facehoofed instead.

“Ughhhh....We can figure that out when we get there.”

At that moment both mares were alerted by a flash of light on the platform. They could hear two voices talking, one of them sounded monotone and bored. Rainbow Dash nodded her head towards the platform. Applejack shook her head as an answer. Dash sneaked up to take a look at the owners of the voices anyway. Applejack sighed in defeat and followed.

“Here we are Spikey! I feel so tired but don’t worry! One of my friends here will help me feel better!” One of the voices said.

Rainbow Dash peeked on the platform and gasped.

“What the hay? Is that Rarity??” She whispered at Applejack.

“...And Spike?” Applejack answered.

“Rarity has some explaining to do.” Rainbow hissed but she was stopped by Applejack.

“That dosn’t sound like Rarity at all. And look at him...”

Applejack pointed her hoof at Spike.
“He looks like somepony hit him in the head with a two by four.”

“Duh, thats what he always looks like when Rarity’s around.” Rainbow Answered

“Ah still think that pony is not Rarity. Ah reckon Spike has been brainwashed. And do ya honestly think Rarity could be behind all this?”

Rainbow Dash thought about it for a moment.

“...Umm...yeah?” She answered with an unsure voice.

The two were interrupted however when “Rarity’s” horn began to glow. Dark blue magic enveloped one of the pods and ripped it off the wall. The pod levitated in front of her.

“Here he is Spike! Say hello to Mr.Pony”

“Hello.” Spike answered in a bored voice.

The unicorn touched the pod with her horn and it began to melt. The purple ooze melted away revealing a completely normal stallion. He opened his eyes in confusion.

“Wha...huh?” He said.

“Hi Mr.Pony! Just stay still I have something I need to borrow from you!” “Rarity” answered to him.

Suddenly she pierced the stallion with her horn. The stallion screamed in pain while black colored slime poured all over him. Then the slime was drawn back to the unicorn leaving the stallion as an empty husk on the floor.

“Thank you Mr.Pony! I feel so much better now!” She said.

Spike looked at the corpse but he kept his robot face.

“Aww don’t worry about him Spikey! I’ll just resurrect him and send him back to the village to be with his family. All his friends are waiting for him there already!”

Spike answered by staring.

“Good, Ok, I think Im gonna finish the project myself! And when she gets here it will be all done! You know what that means, I have to drain all her magic to do it.”

Then she scratched her chin with her hoof.

“Too bad Twilight has to die. I was really starting to grow fond of her. You won’t mind me killing her right?”

Spikes face twitched but he remained still.

“I knew you’d understand Spikey! Now lets get going.”

A flash of light later Spike and the unicorn were gone.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack stared in horror with their jaws open.

“Ok...” Rainbow Dash said.

“That is NOT Rarity.”

They walked over to look at the pod. The purple slime was already slithering into the nearby sewer entrance

“Oh hay! Did she drain that poor pony’s soul somehow?” Applejack said.

“Yeah and then she talked about resurrecting him and sending him back home...” Rainbow reasoned.

“You...you don’t reckon that all the zombies in the village...came from here?” Applejack asked,

“It...it looks that way.” Rainbow answered in a quivering voice.

“That means the ponies in those pods are the villagers?”

“Yeah...I think she’s been keeping them here in some kind of a stasis. Then she drains them and brings them back as zombies.” Rainbow said.

“And sends them back to the village as if nothing happened?” Applejack questioned.

Applejack thought about that.This pony had captured all the villagers and kept them here as her personal fuel. For what reason, she could not imagine.

“I don’t know about you RD, but ah think there’s something mighty wrong in that pony’s head...”

“And she’s got Twilight...”

After the shock of witnessing a ponys death had passed over them. They remembered what the unicorn had said after the draining.

“Wait a minute! Twilight! She said something about killing her” Rainbow Dash gasped.

“Yeah, ah think we’re running out of time here. We have to get to that rune.” Applejack answered.

Rainbow Dash took off from the ground and flew around helplessly.

“No, no, no there is no time! She said shes going to kill her NOW. Not after we get some rune! Where could she be?!”

Applejack thought back to the night they spent in the forest. She had seen purple colored lightning flashing from the tip of the tower.

“Ah saw her magic flashing from the top of the tower one night...ah think she’s being held at the highest point of the tower...”

“Highest point of the tower? Got it!” Rainbow said and was about to speed out of the room.

“Wait Rainbow! We have to get the rune!” Applejack shouted.

“Ok you get the rune, I’ll go save Twilight! Its the perfect plan!” Dash answered.

“But you don’t even know how to..!”

Applejack attempted to hold the pegasus still, by using her old trick of grabbing her tail with her teeth. Then she remembered that she had cut the tip of Rainbows tail hair off a moment ago. Rainbow sped across the room and through the door leading inside the tower. Applejack stared after her helplessly.

“...get there.”

Applejack shrugged and sat down in defeat.

“...Oh Horseapples.” She said.

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Rainbow Dash flew frantically around looking for the staircase. Twilight was about to be killed so there was no time lose. Then she stopped. She should have asked Applejack where the staircase was. She turned around only to find out that the door she had entered the hallway was nowhere to be seen.

"Darn, I should have asked her how to get up there...guess I'll just have to wing it..." Chuckling at her own lame joke she decided to open every single door in the hallway.

She opened the first door and gasped. Behind the door was a towering monstrosity of flesh. A pony made of hundreds of different body parts. Surely this horrible monster would consume her in one...Rainbow slammed the door shut.

"Not that way."

She moved to the next one and opened it. Behind the door were stallion copies of all her friends. Surely they would use their masculine viles and shipping powers to seduce...Rainbow slammed the door shut.

"Man, theres some weird stuff in this tower..."

After a couple of more doors she finally came across the staircase. There was one problem however, the walls of the staircase were littered with the green orbs.

"Oh you gotta be bucking kidding me!" She said after quickly shutting the door before the orbs could react.

It seemed that there was no way for her to get upstairs. The tower had no windows so she could not fly up there from outside. The orbs were probably patrolling the sky anyway, not to mention the horrible wheater made flying outside impossible. Rainbow Dash was startled by a voice. It came from a room next to the staircase. She sneaked over to take a look inside. The room had a pipe in it that read "waste disposal". The pipe came from upstairs and went further down the tower. There was a hole on the side of it, probably meant to throw the waste of this floor in it. She could hear the voices of the crazy pony and what sounded like...

"Twilight?" Rainbow gasped. She took a look inside the pipe. It was full of filth but the voices were definately coming from above her.

"...Oh Twilight...of all the things I'll do for you..." Rainbow sighed. A normal pegasus could have not fit inside the pipe but years of training made it possible, yet not easy, for Rainbow Dash. She crawled inside and began to fly upwards. The pipe was filled with...lets just say, it wasnt nice.

"Urrgh...Im...Im gonna throw up..." She said to herself while speeding towards the voices.

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Applejack galloped across the hallway. She was running as fast as she could, Rainbow was foolish enough to go and try confront the crazy pony. The only thing that could save her and Twilight now was the removal of the rune.

"Dammit Rainbow, always moving without thinking first...its up to me now...The rune chamber, the rune chamber...aha!"

She came across the door of the rune chamber. Applejack bucked the door in without hesistation and inside she found a huge pool of water.

"What in tarnation?!? A pool...A POOL? Luna gave me directions to a POOL?" Applejack said and stomped her hoof on the ground. After that She took a closer look at the room.

A huge crystal hung from the ceiling illuminating the area. This time it wasn't freezing the area though.
She walked to the edge of the pool and saw golden symbols glittering under the water.

"Could it be..." She said before dipping her head in the water to take a look under it.

She saw the rune. A huge circle full of markings and symbols. The entire bottom of the pool was covered in them. It was simple, she had to dive down there and...do something about it.

Time was running short so she threw her hat to the shore and jumped down to the water. Applejack gasped when she hit the water. The water was cold, freezing cold but there was no other way. She dived down to the rune.

Applejack attempted to rub off the rune. Nothing happened. She decided to attempt a underwater buck but it was no use. The rune remained undamaged. Frustrated she stomped on the rune. Then in the corner of her eye she could see movement. Applejack shruddered and slowly turned her head to take a look at the giant figure that was speeding towards her.

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"Well Twilight it has been fun! But Im afraid I have to say good bye...for now. Dont worry! I'll resurrect you too after all this is over."

Twilight opened her eyes and saw the impostor standing in front of her. She shruddered when she saw the devilish grin the impostor had on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked wearily.

"Oh its just that I want to finish our project for my Luna. But to do it, I need to drain all your magic. Surely you understand Twilight!"

Twilight winced. This crazy mare had finally come to kill her. She didnt lose hope though. Luna was probably on her way as they spoke. All she had to do was buy some time. Surely Luna would arrive at any moment now.

"WAIT wait! Just tell me about this project of yours! I...I can help you YES help you and you...you wont have to kill me!?"

Suddenly the impostor pushed her muzzle next to Twilights.

"Sure thing Twilight! I was just afraid that if i told you, you'd find some way to stop me but theres not much you can do about it now anyway since soon you'll be dead!"

She gave Twilight a little kiss for some reason and hopped around the room.

"Twilight, Im going to cure death! DEATH! Nopony could cure death but I'm going to do it!"

"How?" Twilight asked after getting over the shock of being kissed by a crazy pony.

"Its simple! Im going to charge this tower using your magic so I can send my resurrection spell all over the world!" She stated proudly.

"Your resurrection spell? You mean...your gonna turn all the ponies into one of those monsters that attempted to eat my face!?" Twilight gasped.

"Monsters? Oh dont be like that Twilight! They arent monsters! Sure they are little on the hungry side but noponys perfect! I know that everypony will be so happy when all the dead rise back to have fun with the living!"

Twilight couldn't believe it. This pony was about to bring all the dead ponies back with her "resurrection spell". Basically she was about to start the pony zombie apolcalypse of Equestria.

"There you go Twilight! My plan! Pretty cool huh?" The impostor said and approached Twilight.

"But now, I'm afraid, I need all of your magic. Do you know what that means!?" She said.

"Umm...you decide that your plan is crazy and you wont attempt to kill me by draining all my magic?" Twilight said sheepishly.

"No silly! That means you DIE!"

Twilight closed her eyes as the impostor was about to impale her with her horn. She wasn't going to scream in front of this crazy mare. She wasn't going to beg for her life. She was going to die like a mare! Then she heard a thump and a sound of crashing.

"AAH! No! I'm too young to die! You can have my collection of Starswirl the Bearded quills! My rare copy of "Dangerous spells that lead to adventures" She shouted melodramatically. Nothing happened though. She opened her eyes. The impostor was nowhere to be seen and in the shadows stood a figure of a mare.

Twilights eyes sparkled with hope. It was most definately Luna! The goddess of the night had finally arrived to save her from the crazy impostor. Using her godly powers she would rain vengance upon this ponynapper ending Twilight's suffering once and for all!

Finally the mystery mare approached from the shadows and Twilight could finally see her rescuer. The heroic, the all powerful...

"RAINBOW DASH!?"

"Twilight! Phew...I made it just in time." The rainbow-maned pony said.

Twilight squinted her eyes. It was definately the sky blue pegasus only she looked beat up and dirty.

"Rainbow? How? Why? And...what happened to you?" She asked.

"Don't ask...just don't. Cause then I'd have to actually think about what this stuff is, and I really dont want to know!" Rainbow answered while she unstrapped Twilight from the machine.

Twilight collapsed on the floor exhausted.

"Uh...I don't think I can walk..." She said.

Rainbow lifted Twilight on to her back.

"Dont worry. I'll get you out of here." Rainbow said.

Twilight glanced around the room.

" What happened to the impostor." She asked

"Oh I just gave her a little nudge thats all."

Twilight saw a pile of tables and other magical equipment laying on one corner of the room.

"A little nudge huh?" Twilight whispered.

"Look, as much as I hate to admit it, I wasn't called "Rainbow Crash" for nothing."

Then the pile shook violently. The tables burst into flames and a glowing unicorn of magical fire lifted from the ashes. The unicorn had a coat of almost black dark green and a bright green flaming mane. Her eyes were completely white and a emerald aura was around her. Rainbow Dash's jaw hit the floor as she watched the unholy creature before her.

"That...is..so...AWESOME!" She gasped.

"You dare attack me!? You dare spoil my moment of victory? THE MOMENT I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!?" The unicorn boomed and the ceiling of the room shook.

"I shall kill you slowly! I shall tear you to pieces in..." She boomed but was suddenly interrupted by Rainbow.

"WAIT!" Rainbow shouted.

Both unicorns looked at Rainbow. Rainbow slowly raised her hoof and pointed at one of the skeletons hanging on the wall.

"He did it." She said sheepishly

Twilight facehoofed and the green unicorn stared.

"Rainbow...that is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. You cant possibly expect this to..." Twilight whispered.

"What...BONEY! HOW COULD YOU!?" The green unicorn gasped suddenly.

Rainbow stared at her dumbfounded. Then she regained her composure

"Uhh..Yeah! He totally just walked over and bucked you! I saw it all happen, what a jerk that pon...skeleton is!" She said while smiling sheepishly.

"You're right! I should just attack him instead and let you two just leave. I mean, its obivious he did it!" The green flaming unicorn stated.

Rainbow sighed in relief and began to trot towards the door. Suddenly a ball of green flame flew towards her and she barely dodged it. She sped out of the door in panic. The green flaming unicorn followed after them in fury.

"LIKE HAY HE DID IT! COME BACK HERE!" She boomed behind them.

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Applejack watched in horror as the gigantic purple zombie seapony approached her through the water. The monsters jaw was open with huge white fangs sticking out of it. Applejack swam for the shore while the monster gave chase. She was losing the race as the creature got closer and closer.

Thinking quickly she unstrapped all of her equipment getting rid of the extra weight. The cape floated on the monsters face while it chewed on the saddlebags. This gave Applejack just enough time to reach the shore and scramble out of the pool in panic.

She lay there on the shore panting for a while before standing up and shaking off the water. The white light of the crystal hanging on the ceiling illuminating her. Then she saw her hat laying on the floor and put it back on her head.

"Atleast you survived...phew...Darn! that monster just took all my stuff..." She said to herself.

The situation was hopeless. Not only was the rune guarded by a sea monster but it also seemed to be indestructible. She looked around the room. A broken wooden crane lay on the shore. Applejack trotted over to inspect it. The crane was apparently used to lower ponies down to the bottom of the lake. That meant there must have been a cage of somekind that would protect, the pony that was being lowered, from the monster.

Applejack looked around for the cage. Then she glanced at the bottom of the lake. There it was with a skeleton of a pony inside it. So the crane itself would be of no use to her but maybe she could use the parts of the crane. She saw the rope the cage used to be attached to and grabbed it. Then she looked at the crystal hanging on top of the room.

"Uh..well if ah can't destroy the rune itself, maybe ah can destroy the surface its on. Its a long shot...but its time to put those lassoing skills of mine to use."

She tossed the rope and sure enough it wrapped around the chain that the crystal hung from. Applejack gave the rope a pull. Nothing happened. The crystal didn't budge. She gave the rope a couple of more pulls but to no avail. The crystal remained in place.

Pulling the rope would not do. Applejack was left with only one choice. She had to climb up on the crystal and buck the chain in hopes that it would break. It wasn't the safest of plans, the rope was old and could break under her weight. Falling would mean death. This time she didn't have equipment to distract the monster with, if she fell into the water.

She attached the other end of the rope to the knob of the door (Since It was the only thing she could tie it to) creating a makeshift rope bridge. Climbing up to the rope she gave it a little test. The rope wobbled dangerously and Applejack swallowed nervously. She adjusted her hat and took a step on the rope.

"Allright...lets do this."

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