Lying Never Works Forever
Scenic and Bone Marrow were left alone after their interrogation for the entire night. The young necromancer was still shaking with pain hours after the Knights had left and only fell asleep from fatigue.
In the morning, Scenic had pulled the bed's blanket over her friend and noticed that his eyes had stopped their slow bleeding. They crusted onto the colt's eyes and the filly debated whether or not she should wake him in order to apply fresh bandages. She also wondered about the possibility of finding meat for Bone, hoping it would lessen his pain if he was able to heal his eyes even a small amount.
Opening the door to their room as quietly as she was able and moving silently as hooves would allow, she wished her friend good luck with his recovery and shut the door behind her. Scenic found Bone's need for meat to be more of a strange quirk than anything abhorrent or gross, though the idea of actually holding flesh in her mouth made her queasy.
With a light stomp of her hoof to stomp out her metaphorical inhibitions onto the hardwood floor the young pegasus set off to the kitchens where the she and Bone had been run off the day previous by the cooks for attempting to steal cookies. Bone was a particular fan of oatmeal raisin cookies, which Scenic found to be odd when there were much tastier ones to be eaten.
To avoid making noise the filly used her wings to glide down the staircases and come to a soft landing on the rug on the bottom floor. The main hallway was under watch by two of Rich's guards, each glancing at the other and giving a noncommittal shrug at the presence of the filly.
Scenic nodded at the guards with an innocent smile and they responded in kind. She noticed that the door to the kitchen's pantry had been left open and that a small rat had been nibbling away at the manor's supply of hay. With a smile that threatened impending murder, the filly flew to a table top and looked for the best rat-killing device she could hold in her mouth. Her eyes finally rested on a menacing looking meat cleaver and she giggled. Her friend would finally have some of the meat that he needed, since he technically hadn't eaten in the days it took for their group to get from what remained of Galloping Glades to Rich's Manor.
Grabbing the cleaver in her mouth and swiftly turning her head towards the oblivious rat, she steadied her aim as much as possible to ensure there would be little chance of missing. Aligning the blade to the rat's spine would be good enough, she imagined.
"What are you doing in here again?"
Both the rat and Scenic jumped at the noise, the rat scurrying off into the pantry to hide among the food storage and the filly being greatly disappointed at the interruption. Looking to the source of volume with a meat cleaver still in her irritated mouth she was greeted by the sight of a tired chef pony.
"You know you're not supposed to be in the kitchen," The chef pony grumbled while setting down a bag, "And what are you doing with that meat cleaver, anyway?"
The cleaver wielding filly rested her makeshift weapon onto a counter-top in order to speak. "I was going to kill a rat before you interrupted me."
The pony was surprised by this. "A rat you say? In my kitchen?"
The chef took the meat cleaver from the table and wielded it with a precise magical grip. "Where did you last see it, young filly?"
Scenic pointed towards the pantry with a lazy hoof. "It ran off into the back, I think." After further thought she inquired with suspicion, "Why do you have a meat cleaver, anyway?"
Opening the door further with their magic and peering into the dark space of the pantry the chef replied, "We recieve guests from other kingdoms occasionally. Griffons are the most common; rude birds."
The filly's face scrunched with surprise. Griffons? Did that mean they kept meat stored here?
"Aha! There you are, you pest!" The chef called out triumphantly, their magical grip reaching out to pluck a guilty looking rat holding a tomato from the pantry. "Any last words?"
The rat squeaked quite pathetically, holding the tomato in front of its face like a shield to cower behind it.
The chef sighed, placing their cleaver on the nearby counter-top. "It's a shame they can be so cute sometimes, you know? It makes killing them so difficult."
With the chef escorting the rat out of the room in their magic, Scenic was once again left alone in the kitchen.
"If I were a chef," Scenic wondered while looking around the room and scratching her chin, "where would I put meat?"
Sometime later after intense searching that proved fruitless, the Chef eventually notified the curious filly about the location of the meat storage with moderate curiosity. Scenic explained that she had never seen meat before and wanted to take a look, so the chef suspiciously obliged.
"Look, I have to run and make sure the other chefs are going to wake up on time, alright?" The chef warned Scenic, "you're free to look, just don't take any of the meat; It's difficult enough to get our hooves on it."
Scenic nodded with the smile of an innocent filly and the chef soon left the kitchen. Not five seconds had passed before she pried her way into the larder and grabbed hold of a large slab of meat the size of her own chest. Her tongue sat in her mouth as far as possible away from the meat, the taste being fairly horrible to her, but it was all for a good cause. Bone Marrow needed to eat too, after all.
Poking her head out of the kitchen into the guarded hallway, she noticed the chef had just left through the front door. With the guards distracted she used her wings to fly up the staircases once more as quietly as she could manage holding the chunk of flesh in her mouth.
It was only then, to her own horror, that a Knight happened to round the corner and spot the filly holding meat in the middle of the hallway. The two stared at each other with worry; The knight for the possibility of a necromancer being present despite their search and the filly for fear that she was about to accidentally give up her friend.
Setting the meat down on the rug and licking her teeth in a futile attempt to wash the taste away, Scenic attempted to explain. "Uh, hello! I was just... taking this meat to the, um, the larder! Yeah. Found it laying around, heh, see ya!"
"Wait just a minute," The Knight called out causing Scenic to freeze mid-bite. "What are you doing all the way up here with a slab of flesh?"
Her mouth still open with the indecision of answering or fleeing, her eyes darted left and right in panic. "Uh..."
"Bring that here! You've got some questions to answer, young filly."
Around mid-day, Bone Marrow awoke to an empty room. His hoof reached over to where Scenic had been sleeping and noticed a worrying absence of his friend.
"Scenic?" Bone called out, "are you there?"
There was no answer. He looked around the room, careful to not move his eyes before realizing that it would be pointless anyway. He could move his ears to listen around the room for breathing, however. Still, he found nothing but empty air.
The colt grumbled to himself, pulling the sheets from his body and doing his best to find the floor with blind hooves swinging over the edge of the bed until they found purchase with the wooden floor. Smiling at his success, he cautiously slid from the mattress onto the hardwood; keeping one hoof on the mattress so he wouldn't stumble around even more blind than he already was. Moving from bedpost to bedpost he now assumed he was in the middle of the room. The door to the hallway was supposed to be opposite the post he now clung to, so he walked away from it with a single hoof outstretched so that the limb might run into something before his muzzle did.
Thankfully, the door opened to the friendly sound of Scenic's voice. "Hey, Storm..."
Bone's left eye twitched with reactive suspicion, causing a lance of pain to run through his face and for him to hold a hoof to his eye, hissing with pain. "Hey, Scenic."
"We... um," his friend began, "We might have some explaining to do."
Bone froze completely, not daring to move a muscle. "What do you mean?"
"Hello, Storm." A very familiar voice stated in gentle tone. "I don't believe we've met, yet."
Oh, I think we have, Bone thought back in reply, That's Deus Vult; or at least the pony that calls himself that.
"Would you mind if I came in? I have some questions that need answering."
He was less friendly now, and the question was in no way a polite request.
"Um... sure!" Bone replied with a small nervous smile, careful to ensure his eyes wouldn't be pained by too wide a grin. "Where are you?"
Scenic's hooves guided her friend to the mattress once more, urging Bone to climb on for a seat. Bone could hear the four legs of a wooden chair impacting the rug nearby and the scraping of plate armor as a pony sat down.
"A few of my guards have raised interesting contradictions with Sir Rich's account of the raid on Galloping Glades; you being the center of most of them. Tell me: why do you need meat?"
Bone looked in what he assumed to be Scenic's direction, his face frozen in a blank mask that hid his mounting anxiety.
"Also, what is the real story behind your eyes? Sir Rich states that the necromancer took them, the survivors state that the bandits are the culprits, and yet you yourself state it was your own parents. That's quite a miss match of information, and I aim to see it corrected with the truth."
Bone heard the noise of plate armor growing closer and assumed the nameless pony was leaning in. "I hope you wouldn't lie to a Captain of the Sun, would you?"
Deus Vult's real name was Pure Intent?
"So," Pure stated officially, "What is the reason for your filly friend to steal meat from the Manor's larder, and how were your eyes removed? Do not lie to me, Storm. I will know the truth sooner or later. Lying never works in the long run."
The young injured necromancer had only so long before his reply would become suspiciously late, so he decided to tell a judiciously modified version of the truth instead. He couldn't use the excuses that the other ponies had come up with in his defense and he couldn't tell the same lie he had already used. He would have to come up with something as close to the truth as possible...
"W-well... um..." Bone stammered, stalling for time, "Can a necromancer hear what you're saying if they know your name?"
"Not as far as I am aware, Storm..." Pure Intent answered with great suspicion laced through his tone.
"Uh..." Bone looked to Scenic apologetically, "Well, I... I was the necromancer's friend when he came to town..."
"His friend?" The captain was surprised by this answer. "How in Equestria did you manage that?"
Bone wasn't sure if he should smile in delight that the ruse had worked, or to frown that he was basing this ruse off of his friend. He went for a blank expression instead, doing his best to play the part of a pony in shock.
"Well, my mother found him out in the Everfree with a crossbow bolt in his heart. She came back to the house to tell me, and when we both went back out to find him the bolt was gone. The forest was all nasty and covered with ash all around him and we didn't know he was a bad pony then."
The necromancer tried to keep his voice as innocent as he could through his altered retelling of events. "We brought him home, washed him up and gave him something to eat. I showed him around town and he seemed like he was having fun and everything. I only started to worry when he asked if there was any meat in town. Ponies don't normally eat meat, right?"
More shifting of plate in what Bone assumed was a nod. "That's right. Go on."
"Well," Bone replied while taking a breath, "Eventually he wandered off into the forest in search of something to eat. While he was gone, bandits attacked the town and started killing everypony..."
He took a pause to breathe for a few moments, partially from the pain in his eyes and from the memories of him running through the burning town in search of Scenic.
"My parents were being killed in front of me by the bandits when the necromancer came back, and he just... their bodies melted into ash, piece by piece. I haven't seen anything like that from any other unicorn I knew, and I only made the connection then because his eyes started to glow really bright with those big blue skulls in them."
Pure Intent hummed with sympathy. "And your eyes? What happened to them?"
"Well, the necromancer left the town along with everypony else that survived. He raised a few of the dead bandits and used them to finish off the other surviving ones and escorted us away from the town. When Rich needed a way to get a letter to his mansion, the necromancer sent a bird he had eaten to do the job. I guess he wasn't expecting anypony like you to be here at the manor, because when Rich read the letter to him he ran off into the forest with his army."
Intent took a deep breath, his armor shifting once again. "Then why are your eyes cut out, Storm? Who did this to you?"
Bone bit his lips shut, looking to Scenic once again. Was he really going to have to throw one of his friends off a metaphorical cliff to save his own hide?
"You're safe now, Storm," Pure Intent replied gently, placing a cold armored hoof on Bone's leg. "No pony will hurt you while we're around, you understand?"
Bone choked on his words for a moment before blurting out, "I did; I was the pony that cut my eyes out!"
Intent's hoof immediately retracted with shock. "You what?!"
"He could look through my eyes, right?" Bone replied in a panic, hoping that his own desperation to throw the captain off track as well as his own narrow avoidance of placing one of his friends in danger would pay off, "I didn't want the necromancer to find out where we were, so I cut my own eyes out! He knew my name and everypony was treating me like I could turn into a spy at any moment, so I did what I thought was right so everypony else would be safe."
A breath of sympathy escaped Pure Intent's pursed lips as he leaned back into his chair. "Horrible. Just horrible..."
There was a tense pause in the room with only breathing being heard.
"So," Pure stated with cold detachment, "why was this filly carrying meat to your room, then?"
"U-uh, I wanted to see if it would help his eyes!" Scenic replied in a blurt of panic. "I remembered reading someplace that meat was good for sore muscles if you put it on wounds, so I figured I could try it with Storm!"
The captain's voice was pure skepticism. "Then why are you so guilty? You behave like you've been caught in a trap, young filly."
Bone couldn't think of a good reply to that. What could he say that would get Scenic out of trouble? He couldn't say he was hungry; normal ponies don't eat meat. Play it off as an innocent mistake? That wouldn't work either, not with the Knights on the hunt for a meat eating necromancer.
His lips trembled as he looked to his only friend. "S-Scenic?"
The mattress moved along with the scraping of armor, and he assumed that both ponies were looking at him now.
"I'm sorry," Bone numbly apologized, "I have to tell him the-"
"Don't you say anything, Storm!" Scenic replied in panic, clamping down Bone's mouth and knocking him onto his back. "Not one word!"
Bone yelped with muffled pain as his eyes once again hurt from the pressure on his muzzle and the sudden jolting of his eyes from being knocked over.
"One of you explain this instant what is going on!" Pure Intent demanded loudly, "What were you going to tell me?"
The two foals faced Pure Intent, frozen with fear and having no good excuses left. Tension was thick in the air, soon cut by the slow drawing of a sword.
"You will tell me where the necromancer is hiding this instant, do you understand me?"
The blade was leveled at Scenic's muzzle, the tip of the captain's sharpened sword cutting soft skin. The standoff was interrupted by a swift knock at the door, distracting Pure Intent.
"Not now!" The captain shouted, his blade moving away from Scenic's head to face the door.
"Captain, I'd like to have a few words with you," the silky voice of Obscenely Rich demanded, "Open up this instant!"
Pure Intent growled, sheathing his sword with a metallic click before pulling the door open. "What do you want, Rich?"
The golden pony marched through the doorway, shouldering the captain aside. "I, " he paused for dramatic effect, "have just been informed of something most unsettling."
"And what would that be?" Pure Intent challenged.
Obscenely Rich was delightfully pompous in his retort. "You, dear captain, do not have a warrant for this manor. You have taken up residence in my home without my express permission, as well as that of the Court of Canterlot. In effect, you are trespassing on my property."
The captain and noble stared at each other, Pure Intent's gaze withering and hateful. His mouth twitched from restrained anger at Rich's calm and superior demeanor.
"You would impede my investigation of Necromancy?" The captain challenged once again, his head lowering like an angry sentient battering ram. "You would stand in the way of law and order?"
"It is you, dear Captain, that breaks the law. I merely house the poor and unfortunate souls of Galloping Glades within my secure walls. You and your Knights have done nothing but harass, interrogate and torture poor victims of brutality that could've been easily prevented under your watch! I should report your entire group for gross negligence. It's almost criminal, I would say, counting all those ponies that didn't survive the attack."
Rich's grin was as wide as it was golden, his eyes sparkling with the certainty of his argument. "Would you like to leave my Manor of your own will, or would you like to be escorted?"
Pure Intent could only muffle a scream of his own frustration as he shouldered past the noble, storming away from the room. A few moments later the three remaining ponies could hear the angry shouting of a very livid Captain of the Sun.
Bone and Scenic practically melted into one another with relief. "Oh, thank Celestia..."
Rich gave a short laugh and corrected the foals, "Ah ah, you shouldn't be thanking her, you should be thanking me. I was the pony that just saved our hides, didn't I?"
"Rich," the young necromancer stated with a relieved grin, "I think I love you."
The three paused for a moment before sharing a stress releasing laugh as the Knights left the noble's Manor, the metallic grinding of the drawbridge lowering and soon followed by clatter of plate fading into the distance.
Another Chapter! Hurrah!
Also, behold this magnificent Fan Art done by FimFiction user Backlash91 !
Give 'em some love, and be on the lookout for more Fanart! Any that I receive, I'll post in the Authors notes from now on.
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Help support me through Patreon or Paypal, and since I've been receiving a lot of requests for help with Fanfiction writing, I'd like everyone to know that my Discord server (Which is free to download) Has its own writing help section! Myself as well as a few other people frequently help those who ask questions there, and everyone is free to join.
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I logged on this morning and was disappointed to find no new update... I came back a few hours later and was overjoyed!
On the flip side, I hope you aren't overworking yourself for our sakes. We'll understand if you decide to take a few days off from writing.
Also, Bone has about a day to ditch the castle with a believable story, or he's dead meat. (See what I did there?)
The suspense is real!
Those two better oughta leg it while they can, I bet Pure Intent will be back with a warrant quicker than anyone will expect. That or they'll set up camp outside the manor.
Nice chapter once again! I don't know what you thinking but with every chapter, the friendship between Bone and Scenic is shown better abd vetter and how they care for each other. Overall, this was a close call. And that picture of bone is just beautiful!
Mister Rich? Bone Marrow? Scenic? I love them all...
Heh, poor Bone and Scenic were KILLED by the evil guard captain during intense questioning under magic. You couldn't fault Scenic for trying to attack the guard after Bone succumbed to his eye wounds. You could fault the guard captain for using lethal force against Scenic.
Rich had no choice really but to expel the captain from the Manor.
8498041
What? None of what you just said even happened...
Is there some bootleg version of my story out there or something?
8498044
I was giving a story that would WORK for them.
Especially since the poor foal had his eyes cut so as not to be a tool of the necromancer. This could be further damning for the captain if Bone Marrow tries to see through his eyes at some point.
Captain Pure Intent really is the classical zealot; he thought he could cow a member of the nobility, trespass all over the estate of said noble, and throw legal procedure out the window.
Some of the most horrific acts of evil ever witnessed throughout history, where committed with the very best of intentions; the problem with Zealots, is that they never stop to ask themselves "What if i'm wrong?"
Did Pure Intent actually suspect that 'Storm' was Bone Marrow, or did he just think they knew where he was? Because threatening someone who can't be killed, and who can kill you with a mere thought, is not a very good idea. Sure, Bone forgave Bright for killing him that one time, but Pure doesn't know the little necromancer is so merciful. And if Pure had hurt Scenic, there'd be hell to pay.
I think it's now good time to give his eye back and figure out a plan.
That is some MAGNIFICENT fan art.
Also, I'm so, so glad Bone decided not to throw Scenic under the bus. Hohgod am I so glad he didn't do it. I was on the edge of my seat!
8498068
Another problem with zealots is that a good number of them are so easily convinced that if they're doing bad things in the name of their god that it'll absolve them of their sins. The crusades are a pretty good example of this.
I wonder if he tells Scenic about his time in the mine's how everyone he knew and loved died?
That's some awesome fan art, man. I'm jealous.
That's some awesome fanart! I always pictured his entire eyes glowing purple though with tinny skulls in them... Still, it looks awesome... I enjoyed this chapter much better than the last one. It kinda fixes what I was talking about the last chapter... GG good sir! I really enjoy the concept of this story along with the story itself. I'd like to see more like it lol... But yeah keep it up I'm liking it!
I suspect that it has been years since the first chapter. That's why this captain hasn't grasped Bone Marrow's identity despite the disguise. He's expecting a grown up Bone Marrow, and that's preventing him from making the leap from 'colt mysteriously missing the most obvious trait of a necromancer' to 'colt necromancer' .
8498115
It's been established that several months have passed since the encounter in the mines.
Pure Intent's zealotry actually works in Bone's favour here, as the Captain is not thinking very logically right now; his anger and obsession with finding the dastardly Necromancer is preventing him from putting the pieces together, and realizing the answer was right in front of him the whole time.
Dayum, thats some good fan art. Kudos to the artist!
A new ship emerges over the horizon. Bone Rich... Or Rich Marrow. Hehe
Noice art for a noice story
Love the art in the AN!
Someone please either kill Pure Intent most painfully, or have him answer to Celestia. I'm getting a little sick of him as a character.
So thats what he looks like. For some reason, i imagined the skulls were larger, filling and replacing his pupils.
8498253
This was only his second appearance in the story and you're already tired of his shit. That's how you know the author cares about his villains, if he made a designated hate sponge for the order of hate sponges.
Nice save there, Bureaucratic permit's and all that; even zealot's working for government have to obey them, or they get FINED... And wonderful fan-art you got.
Also; sleep? What is that? Somekinda food?
8498280
I hate good hate-sponges. They make me angry. Which is good because it means the writing is evoking emotion in the reader but, it is also making the reader hate a part of the story. It is a fine line. If you want another good story with a character that is hate-fuel, look into Through the Well of Pirene.
Loved the update!
So, Pure Intent is coming back, with a warrant and as many reinforcements as he can muster, unless Rich has sufficient contacts in Canterlot to get him tied up in red tape. This will get ugly.
Bone Marrow needs to reinforce his physical form, starting yesterday. He's still so vulnerable, and he's going to take a large part of the keep's population with him if he dies again. He seems to have little knack for anything outside of necromancy, so he needs a necromantic solution.
And then, he can just say 'fuck it' and give himself wings too, because why not?
How does one make better pictures than the show staff themselves
8498451
i mean, if they do try to storm the mansion. he can just jump off the rampart onto the draw ramp, die from the fall and kill pure's little army.
Ah, right. Pony skulls, not human skulls.
I'm an idiot.
Hah, Bone could so totally screw Pure Intent, just by looking through his eyes at the right moment.
8498481
But dying hurts
8498481
Along with everypony ELSE who happens to be in the manor/his radius of life absorption.
8498466
Because the show staff don't only have to make one picture. They have to make a bunch to make, and it takes a lot of time for them to do that. It is a really great picture, and if every single scene of the show was made up to that standard it would be magnificent, but it would take far too long.
8498202
I think a more fitting metaphor would be, a new ship comes into the harbor.
Man, Rich is pretty rich. I like his character.
8498 maybe? i mean, how big is the death spell? does is just grow till it gets to, i dunno a level of life force? or does life force make it grow more.
like if he dies and four ponies are next to him, is the death spell bigger cause it has more power, or is it small cause it has all the energy it needs to bring bone back? and that brings another question, how BIG is the death trap spell? we never got a size.
8498762
not if he just breaks his neck.
Another great chapter, I am loving this story. Also Cujo to the great fan artwork.
Just a reminder to the Authors on this site. Much like chocolate is poisonous to dogs, potatoes are very poisonous to horses. This is why the writers for the TV Show created hayfries.
(Yes, I know that the potatoes are most likely for the griffons, much like the meat is. Im just making the comment because some Authors here aren't familiar with horses. For example, the reason Applejack has a red ribbon on her tail is because she is a known kicker. In real life, if a horse is known to buck or kick people, a red ribbon is placed on its tail as a warning to those not familiar with that horse at public events like rodeos. )
The Monk
8498878
Pantry edited for horse safety
8498801
K
Poor Bone! Mercilessly persecuted bigoted zealots whose blind adherence to their dogmatism is going to end up creating the very monster they fear—
Bone is an evil abomination and an affront to all that is good and proper in the natural order and must be eradicated with extreme prejudice!
8498935
I agree, I find it funny that the Knights can't understand why all the natural born Necromancers eventually storm Canterlot after many years of hiding. If I were chased, killed and persecuted like this for years on end, I would loose my sht too. You can only push someone so far before they won't take it anymore.
The Monk
8498481
Necromancer bomb.
I like it.
I gotta admit, I expected the standoff to be finished with someone having a full belly and someone else being a pile of ashes.
8498101
First, you have to convince them that what they're doing is bad.
Trying to get into the Captain's mindset, here... He's doing what is absolutely needed, to protect the ponies of Equestria from an evil greater than the Nightmare.
Starting from that, how would you persuade him that he should not do what he regards as his sworn and sacred duty, more important to him than his own life?
8499158
Well, starting with a partial truth would help.
The necromancer was found in the woods, and brought back to town.
Bandits attacked the town, and the necromancer used an undead army to kill the bandits and save innocent ponies. None of the townsfolk were killed by undead, ONLY by bandits.
The necromancer guarded the townsfolk while they fled to safety, and sent word along.
When the response came back, the necromancer said they had to blame him for everything so they wouldn't be punished for knowing him, and vanished with his undead.
Every part of that is true.
That just leaves explaining away the eyes, and the meat:
The eyes were ruined in a fire and became infected. They had to be cut out or he would have died. The townsponies blamed the bandits because they started the fires, the necromancer because they were told to, and etc...
That makes the meat easy: Necromancers like meat, so the filly thought that if she left meat out the necromancer would come by.
8498859
Moving it back will still hurt
Oof