The Final Evil
The sheltered citizenry of Canterlot watched Bone Marrow from the thin veil of safety their homes offered. Skeletons galloped and stampeded through the streets of Canterlot, the city of marble and gold. The Capitol of Equestria was being covered in ash and frost, screams of the dying and the clash of battle filling their air. They ducked as the necromancer's searching eyes passed over them, tales of horror and death being brought to the front of their minds about the threat that the young colt presented.
Princess Celestia had abandoned the front gate of the city, causing the living to route and scatter towards the Palace. She had more to worry about than the Bright Moon breaching the walls now. From what she had seen, Bone Marrow had lost himself to the void. Frost and ice flowed from his passing, his skeletons chilling the blood of those they fought through both terror and the fog flowing from their eyes.
This would only get worse, she knew. As more ponies died, Bone Marrow would fall deeper and deeper into the void. She had to do something. She had to use the Elements of Harmony to banish him before he could do any more harm to Equestria.
"Princess Celestia!"
Her head whipped around, eyes opening with surprise as Bone Marrow stared in her direction. She readied her axe reflexively, taking a step back.
"I need your help," Bone coldly requested.
"You what?"
"Scenic's soul jar is missing," the young necromancer explained, "I'm missing my pocket watch and I can't bring her back unless I find it."
She hadn't been expecting this development in the slightest. The colt had contained his own friend's soul?
"Help me find it, and I will leave Equestria forever."
The Princess' mind was reeling. He wasn't on a murderous rampage? No, it didn't make sense. He wasn't screaming in madness, though there was a hunger to him. She saw his cold eyes staring through her as if she were a ghost.
"You've lost yourself to the void, haven't you?" Celestia questioned, shielding herself with a magical sphere.
Bone groaned through clenched teeth, his breath hissing like a mist. "What does it matter anymore? I just want Scenic to be alive again; I don't care how that happens!" He reached a hoof out to the princess of the sun, "Help me get her back, and you rid yourself of me forever. I'll live someplace else, I'll bring my madness along with me and you won't have to deal with another necromancer again."
She shook her head. She couldn't let him go off into the world where she couldn't find him. This entire conflict, the Bright Moon, her sister... it had all been born of her own callousness towards non-ponies. Even a colt had become a villain under her singular rule.
The necromancer stomped his small hoof on the icy ground. "Will you help me, or not?"
Celestia looked to the colt. She could buy time if she agreed. Time enough to get the Elements and to banish him. "I will help you, necromancer."
A wide grin spread across his face. "You help me find the pocket watch that I normally wear around my neck, and I'll kill the Bright Moon. No more rebellion, no more Necromancer."
The colt turned before she could reply, speeding off into the dark night through icy fog as screams of agony sounded anew.
Was she really going to betray him? Protected by her magic, she took a moment of self reflection. The Elements of Harmony had barely resonated with her compared to the centuries of the past. She and Luna had protected Equestria from countless evils that sought to annihilate her little ponies, and here she was, making a deal with the closest representation of death available.
She tossed the idea around in her mind, seeking some kind of loophole. She would have to banish him, she knew. But how could she do that without losing the Element of Honesty, rendering the entire set useless? She would have to find the watch that Bone spoke of... but he never said that it would need to be returned immediately.
The princess sighed. No, that would be a betrayal no matter how she spun it. She had agreed to find the pocket watch, and she would have to do that before gathering the Elements.
Her head raised as a scream came from around an nearby corner. She spotted her former captain driving a blade through a griffon's beak and approached him.
"Princess Celestia!" Pure Intent greeted, pulling the blade from his dead foe. "I see you still take orders from the Necromancer!"
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What are you talking about, Pure Intent?"
He gestured in the direction Bone Marrow had run off. "You give him a pocket watch and he leaves Equestria? What, of the kindness in his heart? His word binding him to the truth of what he promises?"
Pure Intent was correct. The Elements of Kindness and Honesty hadn't resonated with the young colt. Was it betrayal if she couldn't trust Bone Marrow to begin with?
"He plans on using you for his own aims, Princess Celestia." Pure Intent explained, "He seeks to eradicate all life in Equestria, just as the other necromancers have in the past. Why would he be any different? He has clearly given in to the madness of the void. There can be no redemption for him now!"
Doubt rose in the princess, "What of the other Elements? What of his loyalty, his generosity?"
Pure Intent scoffed, "Do you see generosity around you, Princess Celestia? Do you find loyalty in a necromancer only out for himself? Whatever good in that colt is gone now. He must be killed. There is no laughter left in him, only the magic of the void calling him to slaughter the living."
Celestia glanced at nearby skeletons chasing a Diamond Dog through the streets. "I still have hope for him, Pure Intent. He clings on to the knowledge that his friend might be revived."
The former captain raised a brow at that. "What would he do then after his filly friend is returned to life? Leave us all in peace as he promises? You should know better than anypony how trustworthy a Necromancer is."
"I would rather keep a necromancer with a chance at redemption than to cast my dice for a new one I know nothing of, Captain." Princess Celestia explained, shifting her golden axe to her back. "I have a chance to turn a villain into an ally; of turning a monster into a guardian."
Pure Intent scowled. "He has truly tainted your mind, hasn't he? Even now, with the evidence of his evil rampant through out the city, you advocate for the monster, the abomination against all that is right in Equestria."
The princess stared down at Pure Intent. "Find the pocket watch, Captain. I will gather the Elements."
He grinned as Celestia spread her large wings, catapulting herself into the sky towards the palace. "As you say, Princess."
Bone was losing hope. He couldn't find Scenic's Soul Jar no matter how hard he looked, no matter how many houses had been searched and rooftops scoured. His worry was combating the hunger of the void itself within him. If he couldn't find Scenic, he would have no reason to fight the voices in his head that commanded the death of every beating heart.
Gone was his worry for the lives of other ponies; the void had seen to that. His body gripped in the icy talons of the void, every inhibition was shattering under the void's pressure on his mind. The Bright Moon couldn't hope for mercy as skeletons tore them limb from limb, impaling them with sword and cleaving their bodies apart with axes and halberds.
Skeletal Griffons, Pegasus and Bat Ponies alike soared through the sky, circling the city and preying upon any Bright Moon that had made their way past the wall. He no longer cared if Canterlot fell. His one concern in life was his only friend, Scenic Sights.
She had been with him through most of his time as a Necromancer. She understood him better than anypony else, and nothing he did disturbed her. She didn't cower in fear at the sight of his eyes, she didn't beg for her life. She cared for him. Other ponies had sought to use him like a tool or a weapon for their own aims or had been polite and courteous to save themselves from death.
He scowled as a Bat Pony crashed in front of him, a bloody stump in place of her left wing. It looked like her bones had broken on impact with the cobblestone and he approached the wounded mare.
Looking up, her pupils shrank in horror and pain as she attempted to shuffle herself away from the necromancer.
"Where are you going?" Bone questioned, slowly walking after the crippled bat. "Do you think you're going to live; that you'll survive this battle in that condition?"
The bat pony had her back pressed to a marble wall, the frost of the necromancer's madness chilling her body causing it to shake with building hypothermia.
"Why are you even here? What did you think would happen?"
"P-please!" The mare begged, her one good hoof holding her broken ribs, "Please d-dont kill me!"
"Why shouldn't I?" Bone countered, "Why should you live when my only friend lays dead on the ground at the hooves of the Bright Moon?"
"M-my friends are dead t-too!" She squeaked, her own pain causing her to yelp in pain as shards of broken bone shredded flesh. "I-I'm the last one!"
The necromancer's icy gaze narrowed on the wounded mare. Her eyes were wide with terror, her breathing was rapid and her heart was faltering under the strain. Blood drained from her broken body; from her dismembered wing. She would be dead soon, with or without his involvement.
"I n-never wanted any of this t-to happen!" The mare stammered, slumping down against the marble wall behind her. A streak of blood followed her descent to the ground. "I just w-wanted to stop killing, t-to live in peace, to go h-home to my f-family..."
A pang of regret stirred inside of the necromancer, the mare striking a chord within his icy heart.
She was losing her senses to bloodloss, beginning to babble. "D-do you have a family, n-necromancer? I'm sure m-most ponies do... why wouldn't you have one t-too?"
Her eyelids drooped as she fought to remain concious, "C-can I see them? Can you let me speak with m-my family again before I die?"
The void called for her death, but Bone Marrow had other plans.
Heal.
The mare coughed blood onto herself as a shifting rib punctured her lung. She screamed in agony as she doubled over on the cobblestone, dark blue magic flowing over her body as it grew limbs and mended bone and flesh.
"Tell your family that you love them," Bone replied, "Tell them how much you care for them, Bat Pony. Some of us never get the chance. Sometimes our families get taken from us and there's nothing we can do about it. Tell Anvil to withdraw his forces. I will give him one last chance. If he assaults Canterlot and ignores my warning, I will not care what kind of story a dying pony tells me. If I find you on this battlefield again, you will die. Your friends will die, your family will die."
The mare was astonished at her recovery and equally chilled by the necromancer's cold tone. "T-thank you, necromancer!"
Bone scowled, "Don't thank me, Bright Moon. Flee for your life before I take it from you."
Her ears folded back in shock and she took to the skies immediately, skeletal minions allowing her passage through the skies of Canterlot. Cold fog vented from the colt's nostrils as he looked to the bloody ground in front of him.
"I'm trying, Scenic." The necromancer muttered, "The void hasn't fully taken me yet..."
Princess Celestia had reached the Palace's Reliquary, the Elements of Harmony dominating the far wall on their pedestal. Passing through the hall she recollected other events in her life. The killing of King Sombra, the defeat of Discord, the sealing of Lord Tirek in Tartarus.
Luna had been with her every step of the way, until now. She had given far more for Equestria, Celestia realized. Luna was the protector of her ponies' dreams and their bodies while she had remained in Canterlot, far from the conflicts that she thought necessary. It was all coming back to haunt her. She had banished Nightmare Moon but her legacy was outside the marble walls, killing the ponies she sought to protect.
Bone Marrow was running rampant, slaughtering all in his path. Her Knights had been disbanded; the force that she had assumed gave only good to the whole of Equestria. Only now in recent days had she begun to doubt her judgement.
Looking up to the Elements of Harmony, she extended a hoof once more. Loyalty and Kindness had grown brighter since her last visit, causing the princess to wonder.
"What are you trying to tell me?" Celestia questioned, "Have I truly fallen that far?" She gestured towards the entrance with an armored hoof, "The necromancer has given in to the void, and you would have me show mercy to him?"
Kindness dimmed at her outburst, the princess sighing in frustration. "What must I do, then? What do you want from me?"
The Element of Magic flashed brightly, the alicorn's mind swimming with visions of the future. She saw a purple alicorn surrounded by five friends, each bearing a single element in their hooves. She saw a statue of Bone Marrow in a ruined temple surrounded by hooded ponies, his golden pocket watch dangling from its stony neck.
Blinking the images from her sight, Celestia was even more confused. She looked to the Elements, each one emitting a face she had never seen. Each Element now glowed with a steady brightness in Celestia's presence. She had no idea what any of it meant, but she knew that as a Princess she would live to see the Element's plans come to pass. For whatever reason, the Elements had shown a statue of Bone Marrow. Perhaps they didn't plan to banish him, as they had with Princess Luna?
She gathered the Elements with her sunny magic and placed them into sockets on her armor. She would need to find that pocket watch after all, it seemed.
Chants of battle and the drumming of war continued as Bone walked along the battlements of Canterlot's walls. Some ponies had retreated into the forest though a stubborn few remained. He guessed they numbered in the thousands; The remnants of destroyed nations that had vowed revenge.
It didn't matter to the necromancer if they chose to stay or not. They had allied themselves with the Bright Moon, and they would die if they attacked. His own skeletal army perched on rooftops, towers and the battlements themselves as the rest flowed from the main gate.
Canterlot still stood against the siege. Magic had burned homes and destroyed entire districts, but the walls had held. Bone guessed the golden trim was for more than show.
The Loathing Heart still remained on the ground outside of the gate, Bone's skeletons keeping their distance from the destructive artifact. Bone Marrow saw little point in bringing it closer to himself or interacting with it at all. If he left it where it lay, then it couldn't harm him. Anypony stupid enough to walk into it deserved the death that would quickly come.
It was a standoff against Bone and the Bright Moon. The necromancer keeping to his word and the remaining forces of the Bright Moon working up the courage to attack.
"Necromancer!"
Bone turned to look behind him, spotting none other than Pure Intent. The void demanded his death immediately, as it did with any beating heart he could sense.
"What do you want, Captain?"
He held a hoof into the air, a golden shimmer coming from it. "I believe this is yours?"
Bone's ears shot up in surprise. "How did you find that!?"
"I watched the Bright Moon take you, Necromancer. I was going to kill you myself before they interrupted me." He dangled Scenic's soul jar from its golden chain around his hoof. "I never imagined that you would contain your own friend's soul, though. That's a new level of evil that I didn't know existed!"
The void suggested he could kill Pure Intent and take back the pocket watch from his ashes. For once, Bone agreed.
Die!
A dark blue bolt of energy lanced out to the Captain, striking him in the chest and sending him flying back into a marble wall. He stood back on his hooves, coughing. "Betraying the Princess so soon?"
Why aren't you dying?
The stallion tapped an armored hoof against his chest. "I am shielded from your vile magics, Necromancer!"
"Oh," Bone grumbled, "Enchantments."
Just in the same way that he couldn't kill Obscenely Rich when they encountered each other the first time, magical enchantments barred him from killing Pure Intent. The book had mentioned even a foal's shield could protect them and Bone wondered why he never considered that necromancer hunters would be protected against necromancer magic.
"What do you want, Pure Intent?" Bone called out from the battlements to the captain below.
He pointed to the pocket watch. "I want you to trade places with your friend! I want an Equestria free from evil, from necromancers like yourself preying on the innocent and slaughtering thousands!"
Bone's horn lit with a dark blue glow, pulling on the pocket watch to wrestle it from Pure Intent's grasp. He wasn't going to play a game of keep-away when he had magic to take back what was rightfully his.
"You will break your friend's soul jar!" Pure Intent shouted, desperately attempting to hold on, "You fool, you will doom us if it shatters!"
The necromancer rolled his eyes. The pocket watch was invulnerable.
"No!" Pure cried, the watch being plucked from his grasp as he fell to the ground in a heap of metal. "How is this possible!?"
Bone held the pocket watch in his hoof. "Enchantments."
The Knight's ears folded as skeletal Griffons and Minotaur gathered around him, drawing his sword in a futile attempt to defend himself. "Back, you undead abominations! Back!"
A minotaur's bony fingers clamped on Pure's head, crushing his helmet in its grasp. The Knight slipped from his armor and pulled away only for talons to rake his sides and peel away metal from his chest plate. "No! This isn't how this was meant to be!"
Pure looked up at Bone Marrow on the wall, noting that the Necromancer had opened the pocket watch and seemed more concerned with what was inside than his own fate. Grinning, the Knight reared onto his hind legs and hurled his blade at the colt.
Spinning through the air, Bone didn't notice the blade headed for his body. It embedded itself in the necromancer and caused him to fall from the battlements onto the concrete below, driving the blade through his spine. Nearby skeletons disintegrated to give their magic for their master in an attempt to heal him.
Bone struggled with the blade in his chest, unable to breathe as stomach acid melted his insides from the blade's entry into his gut. Reaching a hoof for Scenic's Soul Jar, Pure's armor pressed down on it. His next step shattered the necromancer's horn into dust.
"I've got you now, necromancer."
Princess Celestia flew overhead in search of the necromancer when she spotted flickering lights at Canterlot's main gate. Skeletons were falling, and a white colt lay on the ground. She realized that it was Bone Marrow and swooped down with great speed.
Coming to a heavy landing in her armor she spotted Pure Intent looming over the dying body of the colt. "Captain!" Celestia shouted, "What are you doing!?"
"I've found the pocket watch as you asked, Princess. I've also crippled the necromancer! Use the Elements of Harmony; kill him while he is weak!"
She saw now that the young colt had a sword impaled through his body, severing his spine below the rib cage. His horn was shattered, his skeletons were nowhere to be found.
"W-why?" Bone coughed, his hoof still grasping at Scenic's Soul Jar. "I... I didn't..."
"Silence!" Pure shouted, crushing the colt's hooves under him. "You will answer for your crimes against Equestria, for the deaths of thousands!"
"I didn't break..." The necromancer grunted, "my promise..."
Pure Intent gestured to Celestia, "You have the Elements, Princess Celestia. Use them! Free Equestria from this evil!"
The Elements of Harmony flickered in the Princess' armor. They whispered of injustice, of cruelty and misery. She looked between the two, her captain and the necromancer.
"As you wish, Captain." Celestia's golden axe was drawn from her back in a golden aura of the sun and pointed itself to Pure Intent. "Back away from the Necromancer."
The Knight grinned wide, stepping away with eager anticipation. Celestia approached Bone Marrow, leaning her head close to him.
"I'm sorry for this, Bone Marrow, but I don't have the magic to heal your wounds."
Pure Intent looked on with horror as the necromancer weakly smiled. The axe raised into the air and aligned itself with Bone's neck.
"What are you doing!?" Pure shouted, "He'll come back!"
The axe decended on the colt's neck, severing his head from his body in a single strike that chipped cobblestone from the street; Her magic tearing the captain's blade from the necromancer's body and casting it over the wall.
"I'm well aware of that, Pure Intent." Celestia replied, moving towards the former captain. "I have seen evil today, as have the Elements of Harmony..."
The captain backed away from the golden princess, his terror deepening. "W-what do you mean? I crippled the necromancer! He wasn't able to harm anypony anymore!"
She shook her head, "How many ponies have you harmed, Pure Intent?"
"B-but everything I've done was in service to you! To the protection of Equestria!"
The axe was held steadily in Celestia's magic as Bone Marrow began to resurrect behind her. Dark creeping tendrils of death searched outward for life, consuming the blood of the fallen and the freshly slain corpses of Royal Guard and turning them to ash.
"You are correct, Captain." The princess conceded, "But my ideals were misguided. I was wrong."
The former captain's world was crashing down around him. "What!? How could you be wrong? You're Princess Celestia!"
"Do you regret the things you've done?" Celestia countered, "Do you lay awake at night thinking of how things could have been different?"
Pure's bewildered stare answered her question.
"I've fought evil countless times, Pure Intent. I've become too detached from the ponies I sought to protect. I've become cold; heartless." She gestured to the fallen Bright Moon nearby as their corpses were devoured. "Perhaps my sister was right all along. I've lost touch with who I used to be before we ruled Equestria, when we were together."
The Knight's gaze was still focused on Celestia's threatening axe.
"I ordered Luna to destroy nations in the name of Equestria's defense. I've sought to protect everypony by ensuring that nothing could rise up to harm them. I've become the evil that I sought to purge from the world, Pure Intent." Celestia continued, pointing to Bone Marrow. "This necromancer wouldn't have harmed a soul had I not ordered you and the Knights of the Sun to hunt him. He would have lived his life in peace as best as the void would allow him. Perhaps I could have even helped him control it..."
She sighed, "Now however, I fear that the possibility might be out of his reach." Her magic plucked Scenic's Soul Jar from beneath Pure Intent's hoof and carried it towards the princess. "There is hope, but not now. Not in these times of strife and conflict."
"What... are you planning to do?" Pure replied cautiously.
"The Elements of Harmony have given me a vision of the future, Captain. They show Six ponies embodying the Elements, rather than Luna and myself. Perhaps my own judgement has become too clouded over the centuries of my life to see the actions of others as benign. Maybe it is a lesson they seek to teach me."
The captain pointed to Bone Marrow. "What of him? Will you kill him?"
Celestia shook her head. "I will see what the Elements of Harmony wish of him. Then, I will speak with Anvil."
Pure Intent blinked, "What!?"
"This war is pointless." Princess Celestia snapped, taking a moment to control herself. "My ponies kill each other because my own arrogance and hubris prevented me from hearing their side of the argument, just as I refused to listen to Luna." She pointed to Bone Marrow's nearly finished form as the last few tendrils of dark magic withdrew into his body. "Foals should not be slaughtering thousands because of my own paranoia, of my mistakes. They should live happy lives, just as this necromancer wanted. It was my actions that drove him to madness, my own actions that caused a civil war and the banishment of my sister!"
Her axe slammed down into the cobblestone street. "No more, Pure Intent. No more will I ignore the suffering of my ponies while I live in a golden palace in Canterlot. No more will my armies march upon unsuspecting nations for the threat they might pose Equestria one day."
Bone Marrow's eyes opened slowly, a hoof reaching to his neck. He remembered that the pocket watch had been taken from him as his vision came into focus.
Celestia's golden hoof reached towards his muzzle and he backed away onto his hooves. "You betrayed me!"
He looked to the Princess' side, spotting Pure Intent. His anger grew once again to chill the air, his teeth grinding with malice.
"Bone Marrow," Celestia interjected, "I have your friend's Soul Jar."
The colt's view flicked to the golden pocket watch held in the princess' magic. His own dark blue reached out and he once again held it lovingly in his hooves.
"I am sorry, Bone Marrow."
Bone looked up, a growing energy coming from the Princess. The spectrum of a rainbow was assembling itself as she rose into the air.
"No! What are you doing!?" The young necromancer backed away, shielding his eyes from the blinding light. "We had a deal!"
A wave of energy slammed into Bone Marrow and he could feel his body harden. His hooves stiffened in place as he was quickly encased in stone. His eyes were the last to freeze, promising death and destruction to Princess Celestia.
Skeletons all across Canterlot fell, the flying dead turning to an ashen rain as their master was enveloped. He stood as a statue, his hood frozen in an unseen billowing wind and shielded from a light that no longer existed.
The clattering of gems came from the Princess as the Elements of Harmony fell to the ground, becoming grey stones. Celestia lowered her head. "I am sorry, Bone Marrow."
Her golden magic floated Scenic's Soul Jar across the small gap between Princess and Necromancer, fastening the pocket watch around him.
Pure Intent pointed to the soul jar. "What of the necromancer's friend? Will she not be tormented until his return?"
Celestia shook her head. "A soul without a body knows no pain or suffering, it knows no memory." She looked to the shocked captain adding, "What can you tell me of your life before you were a pony?"
"Huh?"
She gestured to Bone Marrow. "Just as we don't know what happened before our life began, the necromancer and his friend will not feel the passage of time. Should he ever awaken, it will be as if a second had passed." Lowering her hoof to the soul jar she added, "Scenic Sights may be dead, her soul contained, but she is unaware of it. To her, she has died today as much as she will have died in the future."
"What do you plan on doing with them?" Pure asked, now less worried that the Princess might use her axe on him.
"They will be secluded, far away from prying eyes." Celestia explained. "He will return in the future... I only hope that I will have become wise enough to fix my mistakes."
For once during the long night, the city of Canterlot was quiet. Ash soon stopped falling and the ice covered streets melted. Blood was washed away into the drains and citizens began to poke their heads from their homes. Royal Guard returned to their posts and assisted the surviving wounded of their own side as much as the Bright Moon, on Celestia's decree. The Loathing Heart had been contained in a crystalline case once again and securely stored within the palace's reliquary.
The Princess of the Sun sent word to Anvil, the leader of the Bright Moon, for a parley. Both sides were tense after the night's battle and the thousands that had been turned to ash, but Celestia's own mask of calm allowed for diplomacy to function.
Griffons, Minotaur, Diamond Dogs and other species voiced their outrage with Celestia, and she accepted their viewpoints. She vowed to rebuild their nations as an effort of good will, understanding that it would be a long time before any of them viewed herself or Equestria in a welcoming light.
Peace came at a cost, however. The civil war that had raged since Luna's banishment had left the nation of Equestria weakened to conflict for the time being, even with the remaining Bright Moon being integrated into the Royal Guard. Splinter factions from destroyed nations pillaged the land for decades before finally being captured.
Captain Pure Intent lead several skirmishes with the combined forces of Equestria, eventually being slain by a dragon known as Scald when he ventured too close to the Dragonlands.
Bright Idea continued a good life, extended partially by Bone Marrow's magic that had healed more than just his eye and horn. He eventually died peacefully of old age, surrounded by loving family members.
Obscenely Rich stayed true to his word in creating a town for the few survivors of Galloping Glades. He hadn't come up with a better name than Ponyville, but his descendants did what they could to maintain and allow the town to prosper.
Granny Smith went on to have a family of her own and settle down in Ponyville, curiously looking younger than her years as she never let on about how old she really was.
Radiance, Obscenely Rich's tailor, went on to open her own shop in Canterlot where she designed dresses before settling down herself, finding the perfect stallion.
Of Bone Marrow's royal guard friends, only Shy Sprint survived. He had been frightened during the battle of Canterlot and stayed behind in the city to protect civilians that had been unwilling to assist in the defense of the city. He lived a long life as well, raising a family of his own.
Countess Lulamoon continued her own illusory magic in the courts of Canterlot's nobility before retiring, her own age the one thing she was unable to defeat. She raised a family, passing on her own unique brand of speaking to the generations that would follow.
Frosty Pie, the young filly saved from Galloping Glades along with her father, soon settled down in Ponyville. Her father had tried a hoof at being the town's baker, but his hooves just weren't right for it. In the following years, Frosty Pie would attempt to open a shop and eventually succeed, finding a partner with a comparatively boring stallion that managed a rock farm on the outskirts of the town.
Princess Celestia opened a school of her own, hoping to teach the young unicorns of Equestria before they could end up like Bone Marrow from being unaware. Any gifted foal was brought in, their magical abilities honed along with a distinct set of values in tune with the Elements of Harmony. She didn't want disaster to strike and be caught unaware of a threat brewing within her own borders.
Through the passage of time, Celestia slowly realized their plan for Bone Marrow.
Over the course of his short time as a necromancer, he had secured the future lives of the ponies that her student, Twilight Sparkle, would soon befriend. She traced their lineage through the centuries back to the ponies that had been alive over a thousand years ago, noting that the young colt had protected, saved or interacted with each of them in some way.
Little over a thousand years later, Princess Celestia sat across from her sister once again at their shared dinner table. Luna was enjoying the breakfast that had been prepared for her. Celestia slumped in her chair, a hoof propping up her muzzle as she peacefully dozed off, enjoying her sister's company as the moon rose in the distance.
With a flash of green fire, a message arrived to ruin her peaceful moment. It had the seal of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Luna raised an eyebrow, a fork hovering with a pancake near her mouth. "What is this?"
Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Celestia unfurled the scroll with her magic and read aloud.
Dear Princess Celestia,
The Cutie Map is acting strangely. There's a Raven Skull on it?
Do you know anything about this? Any advice would be appreciated.
-Princess Twilight Sparkle
Celestia sighed heavily, setting the scroll down on the table.
"I know that look..." Luna commented, taking a bite of her breakfast.
Looking up to her sister's eyes Celestia replied, "He's returned."
The Princess of the Moon nearly choked on her food, "Who, Tirek?"
Celestia shook her head. "No, Luna. The last living necromancer."
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8530080
if you don't like the story, write your own ^.^
8529986
*C H E W*
I definitly want to know where this is going! That Raven Skull hints that he (and hopefully Scenic) might return. Great work overall.
Celestia is right, war is pointless, it brings only death and destruction, no matter the cause. And I don't think Bone would be very happy upon returning.
I think a new book, with a more apt name, would be better. But that's just me personally.
On the flip side, others might not realise there's a sequel, and never read on. It's your choice.
I'd rather you stick to this story. I can't wait for more!!
Bone is going to be very very angry when we see him again, isn't he.
Also, I vote second book
A second book would be appropriate, as this arc is complete, and many novels are separated between arcs or years, even if the grander tale is unfinished.
Just remember how disappointed future readers would be coming across this as complete if the sequel was never finished though! :O
Yeah, I figured Pure Intent would be a douche. At least Celestia finally came to her senses. It just took a necromancer nearly going crazy to do it.
8530126
I might just label the first chapter with [Book One] and then have the start of the next be [Book Two].
Besides, I have an $80 piece of commissioned art waiting for the next book :D
I still gotta finish I Am A Pet Changeling, though.
I love this story. It is absolutely amazing.
I feel that is a really good ending point for book 1, but whether it be continued here or continued in another story I hope to see a lot more of our dear friend Bone Marrow.
8530136
That does sound like a good idea, honestly.
A second book (sequel) would make for a better break since this new arc will have an entirely different time and setting, but it's up to you.
8530136
Well, if Bone and Scenic "reborn" to princess Twilight's time, I can't help but think that both would catch the interest of the CMC, due Bone's special talent and Scenic's having no cutie Mark (Or has she ad I overlooked it?) and that Bone would talk with them about his talent in a similar way the TF2 medic did about his medical license, with Toothpick showing up the same way as Archamides
This came to a good endpoint. A new book, an apt title and great coverart would be the perfect next step.
Whichever choice is made, I love this story. Thank you
Oh I'm loving this >3> I don't care if it continues in a second book or just in the next chapter, as long as it continues instead of suddenly dying like so many other stories have :D
yes please I would like to see a book two of this.
8530136 That is a viable option, yes.
I vote for continuing where this leads off.
3:46
As incredibly shitty of a thing for Celestia to turn him to stone, it was literally the best outcome to do.
1,000 years ago was a complete shithole for Bone Marrow to live in. He'll have a better chance succeeding in the "present" than he would having to live back then.
This didn't feel like an ending, so much as a timeskip so that we could see Bone interact with the mane six +twilight. I hope for you to continue where you left off in the same story.
Wonderful chapter... even thou Celestia did MAJOR d
ck move on Bone. And she WILL need A LOT more that wisdom, element's/mane6, other alicorn's etc, etc to dig herself out of this "stoning" of a colt... Necromancer or not, he was/is still a child.
Second book
I don't care if you make another story, continue on with this one, or just make a new website just for this for all i care. Don't. Let. This. Die!!!!!
HMM it seams I was wrong....
I kinda like this now
all lesser authors should bow down to you
this is how you do a fic, well written, blisteringly fast production, amazing and original plot.
ten out of ten mate
8530152
"Toothpick, shoo! It's filthy in there" pause "Birds"
[Disgusted Twilight pone]
Another book sounds nice, and makes sense. But yes, it doesn't have to be an entirely different story, like so many of us seem to think.
8530197
My thought exactly!
Aaaagh why cliffhanger DDD:
8530180
That’s why the fic is marked as incomplete still
Given this vision, the impression Bone Marrow had on the lower classes of Canterlot, and the rumors that were already being spread about necromancers, I wouldn't be surprised if a necromancy cult has formed in his absence. Acolytes patiently waiting for their "master's" prophesied return, hoping for him to grant them eternal life (healing/soul jars), slaughter their enemies and create a kingdom of death. Of course, after 1000 years of passed down hearsay their religion will be mostly fiction, and they'll be sure to have a lot of false assumptions about Bone Marrow's personality and motives.
Yeah, thought this would happen. Realized a short time before Celestia started thinking of banishing him.
This went great I think. Love the story, love how quickly it updates.
Really excited to see how the mane 6 will deal with Bone Marrow. And how angry he is with Celestia.
how long till the next chapter!!!!???
You know, it would be interesting if somebody *cough* accidentaly reanimated Angel bunny.
Either works fine for me, but if you do make a second book, i would love if you made a chapter for this one with a link, so i dont miss it
This feels like a good point to stop this story and start a sequel. Whatever you think is best
Why didn't you respond to my comment?
as long as its marked somewhere here it doesn't really matter if its a sequel or a continuation, though continuation would make it easier to keep following
8530136
Please make sure to put in a small chapter with a link to the next book so we won't miss when it comes out.
Aww, I liked living in the past. I wonder what happened to Scoria over the thousand year gap.
I'd like to see a second book.
Sequel time
8530254
i would imagine after what happened there and the passage of over a millennia its probably not on any maps anymore, but we'll have to wait and see.
Well, if you link the new story in this fic once you post it, i think separating them woulx be fine. Cause i really want to read more about Bone.
Also, yeeeeaaah... Bone isn't going to be reasonable once he awakens. Elements or no Elements, that was a dick move on Celestia's part. Curious to see how this all plays out in the sequel.
8530205
I'd like if this were to happen, but it is likely that Celestia kept a close eye on where the statue was placed.
I feel like this is a good end point for this novel and a good point to start a sequel.
Can't wait for the continuation regardless
While I want there to be more to this story, I am against the idea of you looking at how much we want a sequel and going "yeah, guess I should make a sequel."
This story ended. Better yet, it concluded. It is satisfied. It's right.
If you don't already have some sort of an idea in your head of the story you want to tell, don't. Tell the story you want to tell. Doing anything else will leave us with a soulless bunch of words on a page. Don't give us what you think we want to hear, look deep into your heart and your truth and bleed for us. If you just aren't feeling it, do something else that you actually want to do. Understand?
Loving how this is going! There isn't really much story to explore if he stayed in the past, so this is absolutely the perfect path for the story to take.