• Published 6th Apr 2021
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The Stereotypical Necromancer - JinxTJL



Ever since he was a foal, Light Flow had always known he was destined to be a villain.

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Chapter 17 - The Friend

Light Flow was hit in the head with a brick.

Or at least that's what it felt like when consciousness unmercifully brought him crashing back into pain.

He moaned into the pillow he was lying face-first in. The cushion may have been soft, but it may as well have been made of rock for all the good it was doing his splitting headache.

It was a deep, throbbing pain. Pulsing throughout his body in time with his heartbeat. He had no idea why it was there, but he could at least take a few guesses.

He was still lying in his mother's bed, which was good. There was a large part of him that thought the letter had been some sort of wild dream his subconscious had cooked up to try and make him feel better.

Though, just because he was in his mother's bed didn't mean the letter was real.

He shifted his face just enough so that one eye was free from the dark confines of comfort. The first thing he saw was the burning morning light filtering through a nearby window. If he had been a different sort of villain, he would have hissed or maybe disintegrated or something.

Luckily, the only thing he was inclined to do was groan in pain as the light irritated his headache.

The vanity wasn't giving him any clues from where it was just sitting there against the wall, so he would have to get up to check the existence of the letter. There was just one problem.

He really didn't want to get up.

He couldn't really remember what happened last night, but the random dark stains on the bedsheets and pillows led him to believe he had cried himself to sleep. That, or he was developing some sort of complex.

It wasn't a big surprise to learn that he had cried so much. He felt weak and weary, probably a side-effect of the total emotional drain he had experienced yesterday. He had been trying to pretend he wasn't feeling anything for a while, but it became pretty obvious he was lying to himself.

So finally having a chance to metaphorically lay it all out on the table had been really cleansing. Aside from the headache, he felt better than he had in days. He was lucid enough now to recognize the serious mental deterioration he had been undergoing, and he wondered how he hadn't seen it sooner.

He remembered the screaming in his head, the voices overlapping and meshing together. How they were all telling him to forget the consequences, and just take what he wanted. The horrible sight of a stolen soul in his bloodied hooves. He had been so close to making that vision a reality.

He was just going to accept the fact that he wasn't perfect, he supposed.

He shut his one free eye and made a noise not unsimilar to a dying animal as he stretched his back hooves out behind him. The strange popping noises his joints made probably weren't a good thing, but he could deal with his potential body problems at a later time.

He reluctantly gathered his hooves under him and forced himself up. His legs shook as they fought to support his own weight, and he squinted at the shining beams of light as they seemed to actively take up some sort of cause against him. Eventually, his eyes became accustomed to the light, and he could keep him eyes open without wincing.

He looked down at the bed beneath him, and went right back to wincing as he saw how dirty the sheets were. Bits of dirt and other unidentifiable stuff had stuck themselves to the sheets, and he could only wonder at how dirty he must be.

He was going to have to take a shower. And get a new cloak at some point, since his was obviously thoroughly ruined.

'Rarity is gonna kill me.'

He was going to try and put that particular errand off for as long as possible, and not just because of the potential physical danger. There were just a lot more important things he needed to be doing.

For instance, he needed to make sure that letter was real.

He reluctantly hopped off the bed, instantly beginning to miss the soft mattress under his hooves. He trudged over to the nearby vanity, and opened up the drawer that supposedly held the letter.

It was still there, good.

He just stared at it for a moment, feeling a a small smile worm its way across his face. Even now, his mother was still helping him. She had really saved him from himself yesterday.

He closed his eyes, and the horrible memories of red hooves and dancing lights were washed away. His head was filled with the soft sounds of love and acceptance, and the sweet smell of cinnamon. He felt warmth suffuse itself throughout his body, and his headache seemed to lessen a bit.

He opened his teary eyes, and closed the drawer.

"Thank you." he whispered softly.

He turned away from the vanity, and towards the door.

Forward. Into life.

He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him. He took a moment to trot over to his room, slipping his cloak off as he did so. He opened the door slightly ajar and tossed the dirty garment inside, before closing it.

He turned his attention to the bathroom door. First on the agenda was cleaning himself.

He trotted into the bathroom, and turned on the light. He was momentarily blinded by the light bouncing off the white tile, but his eyes quickly adjusted.

The bathroom was the same as ever. Just an ordinary bathroom, with a sink, a toilet, and a tub. Nothing special or emotionally devastating to be seen.

It was refreshing.

He stepped into the tub, and turned the cold water knob.

Freezing cold water cascaded down from the overhead nozzle, and he smiled into the stream as it quickly matted his fur. Most ponies liked hot showers, but he had trained himself to enjoy colder water when he was a child. It was one of those things he had thought real villains would enjoy, so he had spent every shower possible acclimating himself to colder and colder temperatures.

He had done a lot of things like that as a kid. Though he technically was still a kid. Now that he thought about it, there were probably lots of weird things he did now that he would regret when he was older.

Like spending three days in a forest.

He swore he could feel the accumulated grime wash away under the force of the much-needed cleaning.

His short mane stuck itself onto his face, and he ran a hoof through the wet stands, feeling them cling together messily. He knew at this point that it was unlikely to ever grow past this length. His childhood dream of a long swishy mane was officially dead.

The cold water ran down his back, over his cutie mark, and pooled on his red and brown tail. What a journey it was, descending the metaphorical mountain.

He looked down, and scrunched his face up in disgust at the sight of the brown water flowing into the drain.

He really had been dirty.

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After his shower and subsequent drying, he had just spent some time loitering in his own living room. Trying to recall everything he possibly could about the room.

Anything that had happened here, no matter how small, he wanted to remember.

At the moment, he was sitting on the familiar lumpy couch trying to remember every story his mother had ever told him.

Soft whispers of fantasy creatures and far-off lands filled his ears, and he closed his eyes to hear them better.

..Here's one about Abyssinia...

...Kingdom of Cats and endless summers...

...Wonderful place....

..Hear they have this festival called...

'Knock Knock Knock'

Light Flow frowned. He didn't remember that in the story.

He opened his eyes and turned his head to the source of the intrusive sound.

There seemed to be somepony at the door, though he had no idea who would be coming to see him. Well-wishers, perhaps?

"You in there, sugarcube?"

Oh. Well he supposed that answered that.

His annoyed expression grew melancholy, and he briefly considered hiding somewhere. He wasn't especially sure he wanted to see Applejack right now. An emotional reconciliation would kind of ruin the bittersweet mood he had going.

But another insistent knocking at the door pushed the thought from his mind. He needed to see her, so now was as good a time as any.

He had to apologize. He had promised.

He stood up from the couch, and made his way over to the door.

He stared at the wooden surface for a moment, trying desperately to collect his thoughts.

So he would start with an apology, alright. He would say he was sorry that he had tried to get rid of her, but would that be enough? Maybe he should buy her a present or something. What did she like? She liked apples, but that was a given. He was pretty sure he had once seen her checking out poetry books though, so he would get her a book of poetry. But that would come later, so what would he do now? Well, he could give her a nice long explanation, but what would that entail? 'Hey, so I almost went insane. Forgive me?' That was dumb, he should be less concise. Speaking of verbosity, what was he doing just standing around thinking? Maybe he was crazy.

'Knock Knock Knock'

"Are you there, Light Flow?"

He took a deep breath. He was keeping her waiting, and his mother always said that was a big thing to avoid.

He grasped the doorknob in his magic grip, and heard a small gasp from the other side of the door.

Well, she knew he was here now, so no turning back. No matter how much the feeling in his stomach was making him want to throw up.

He swung the door open, and immediately saw an orange hoof.

Attached to the hoof was one flustered looking Applejack who had been in the process of knocking again. She quickly lowered her hoof and rested it against her other one in a very familiar nervous pose.

He flicked his eyes up to her head, where she was wearing a hat that was still a little too big for her. She had been saying for a while now that It would fit right 'any day now', but he never saw any difference.

He lowered his eyes to a very distressed orange face. She didn't look very good, and that was saying something coming from him.

She didn't look as if she was brushing her coat, and the fur on her face was ruffled and sticking up. Like she had laid her face against something for hours, and then didn't look in a mirror.

Her mane was also sort of crumply, and it wasn't set into her ponytail very well. Little strands of blonde hair stuck out from the band, which was itself also sort of loose.

Her eyes were baggy and slightly red, and he guessed she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep. He could only wonder why. After all, his problems didn't really affect Applejack that much, so why would she be losing sleep?

His words hadn't effected her that much, had they? Actually, what had he said to her? He couldn't quite remember, there were just hazy memories of sadness and mania.

He knew he had said something bad to her, at least.

He realized he was staring, which was something he knew he did a lot, but usually somepony stopped him. But Applejack was sort of just letting him stare at her. Of course, she was similarly staring at him with sad, vacant green eyes, so he had to wonder if she was spacing out like he usually did.

Maybe he was the one influencing her?

That would be a bad thing.

He would have to be the one to speak first. Not a common occurrence, but also not the weirdest thing that had happened recently.

"Applejack?"

She started at the sound of her name. Her eyes went wide, and she stuttered ineffectually for a moment before finding a word.

"Y-Yeah?"

He blinked at her dazed reply, before frowning. He couldn't recall anytime she had been like this. Even at her worst, Applejack always had something to say. It didn't matter what the topic was, or where the conversation was going, she would at least interject with something.

So it was his fault. She must've been scared of him or something. He would have to ask her what he had said to her during that strange missing part of his memory.

Enough stalling, it was time for him to apologize. Then he could get on with re-establishing their friendship.

He licked his lips, and opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry!"

Two pairs of eyes blinked owlishly at each other.

They had just apologized at the same time.

"What are you sorry for?"
"What are you sorry for?"

He groaned out loud. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. He reached up to place a hoof on Applejacks lips, intent on stopping this before it got ridiculous.

"I'm sorry, but I'm stopping this now. I refuse to be a part of such a dumb cliché. Tell me why you're sorry."

Applejack nodded behind his hoof, and he took it away. She immediately began speaking, her voice colored with obvious regret.

"B-Because of what I said to y'all! I'm so sorry sugarcube, I didn't mean it! I don't know what came over me! I was actin' nuttier than a squirrel in an apple tree!"

Okay, he could have gone without without of her bad countryisms, but he was pretty sure he understood. She was upset because she hung out with him out of pity? That was one of the few things he remembered, and it wasn't what he imagined was the cause of her distress.

"Um... Okay... If you don't mind me asking, why are you upset about it?"

Applejack seemed taken aback by his blunt response. She stuttered for a moment, before replying in a much more lively voice.

"Wha- What d'you mean why? Because it was a horrible thing to say, that's why!" Her face had taken on a hard edge during the sentence, and she had shouted the last part.

He couldn't even kind of understand why she was getting angry. Wasn't she supposed to be apologizing?

"Okay, well. You know I'm not upset about it, right? I mean, It's not like I didn't already know that. I don't even know why I asked in the first place anyway."

Seriously, why else would she have stuck around all this time? He wasn't exactly a good friend. Sure, hearing it from her own lips had kinda hurt at the time, but he wasn't angry about it. It didn't even change anything.

Nothing at all.

Applejack seemed to metaphorically deflate at his nonplussed reaction to her confession. Her aggravated expression slowly turned into one of defeat, and she sighed. She closed her eyes as she spoke again, almost like she didn't want to look at him.

"Sugarcube, I- I don't even know what to say to that.."

She opened her eyes, and turned them back up to him. He was taken aback by the desperation there. It seemed she wasn't finished.

"But that's not the end of it! Y'all never let me finish what I was gonna say!"

Not the end..?

What else could there possibly be to say?

He saw something in the background, and unfocused his eyes from Applejack so he could see better. It seemed they were an interesting spectacle, because he could have sworn he had just seen somepony duck into his neighbor's bushes.

He frowned at the offending foliage over Applejack's shoulder, and she turned around to see what he was looking at. When she found nothing, she turned back to him with a question in her eyes.

He kept his eyes on the bush as he answered her unasked question.

"We should continue this inside, Applejack. It'll.. uh... be more comfortable that way."

He was almost certain Applejack didn't believe that, but she accepted easily enough anyway.

"Alright sugarcube... If'n you say so."

He pressed himself to the side so that Applejack could squeeze by him. He didn't know why, but he had a really bad feeling about that bush. He didn't want to take his eyes off it for as long as possible.

Once Applejack was inside, he squinted his eyes at the bush one more time before shutting the door in front of him.

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It was ten minutes later when a cream-colored mare stepped out of the bushes across from Light's house.

She frowned to herself, and quickly trotted away.

Her face had turned outwardly pleasant, but her mind was a whirlwind.


"That was bad, I was almost seen. I must be losing my touch just sitting around in this town. As nice as it's been."

"I don't think my cover's been blown, but I should probably lay low for a while, just in case."

"Her Highness isn't going to be happy....."

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Light stared at Applejack from his spot on the couch next to her.

She had been hemming and hawing for a bit now, and it was very clear that whatever she was trying to say was hard for her.

He, in all his infinite patience, had been content to just sit and watch her try and gather herself. Specifically, he was taking some time to try and recognize some of the things he had read about souls.

Nothing he had read did anything to explain the strange blot at the center of her soul, but he could see other things. Things like a little periodic flash at a very specific place. It was near the corner, just below a seemingly random whirling of color he couldn't identify. He was pretty sure that was the area of the soul that governed feelings, but he wasn't one hundred percent.

The book hadn't said anything about it, but he figured that with a sharp eye and a wise mind, a skilled Necromancer may be able to read the way a pony was feeling.

He could make a pretty good guess at how Applejack was feeling, so the way it was moving was probably a good benchmark for nervousness. He would have to remember it, or write it down or something. Would Applejack mind if he went and got a notebook? She probably would.

He flicked his eyes back up to Applejack's face just as she breathed in to speak. He was startled by ponies so often, he had begun to develop a certain sixth sense for when he should probably focus back into reality. Just a little extra awareness of deep breaths, or subtle twitches.

A useful skill, though it's unlikely anypony besides him would ever have need for something so mundane.

"Um... Well.... Like I said, sugarcube. I... I never got to finish what I was gonna say... on that day..."

Ah yes. Two days after the funeral. After he had run off to hide in the woods...

He still didn't like thinking about it.

"When... When I said that awful thing to you, I... I should have followed it up with the rest of the truth."

"When I met y'all... I admit, I was hangin' around you 'cause I felt bad for you."

He really wasn't seeing why Applejack was so keen on repeating the same thing over and over again.

"But that changed!"

....?

"At first... I thought you were really weird and creepy. And you still kinda are, sugarcube. But I've gotten to know y'all so much better since then!"

Applejack stood up from the couch suddenly. She turned to stare at him with fire in her eyes, and any hesitation she had before seemed to melt away.

"Sure, you can be really distant, and strange, and even a little mean sometimes; but I know there's somethin' else underneath all that!"

"You're.. you're really funny! Even if it's a really weird kind'a funny.. Sometimes, I have 'ta bite my lip to stop myself from laughin' at some new odd thing you've said!"

"And you're so smart too, sometimes I don't understand half'a the things that come outta your mouth! Honestly sugarcube, sometimes I can't believe it's you who would hang out with me!"

"And you're so kind, underneath all that bravado. I know how much you care about stuff, even when you act like you don't! I've seen how you hide yourself, and I hate it!"

"Cause.... Cause you're my best friend!"

A heavy silence fell over the room in the wake of Applejack's declaration.

Light was having a hard time processing all of the things she had just said to him. It felt like there was a skipping record in his head. Screeching and scratching as it played snippets of phrases over and over again.

...Funny... Kind.... Smart... Best Friend... Funny... Kind.... Smart... Best Friend... Funny... Kind.... Smart... Best Friend...

Best Friend... Best Friend... Best Friend... Best Friend... Best Friend...

"Best Friend..?"

Applejack was his best friend?

"Y-Yeah, sugarcube... I'm sorry I never told you... I've never had a friend like you, ever."

Huh? Had he said something out loud?

Did he say something out loud?! What did he say?! What in Tartarus did he say?! It could have been anything, and he had barely heard what Applejack said, so he couldn't infer!

His thoughts were so unorganized, he could have said anything!

Okay, don't panic. He could just look at Applejack's face for clues.

....

Okay, 'nervous anticipation' didn't help!

Oh no. Now she was beginning to look disappointed. What did he do in a situation like this?! She was starting to look like she was going to cry! Wasn't she supposed to only cry on the inside?! Why had nopony prepared him for this?!

"I-I'm sorry, s-sugarcube.. I s-shouldn't have bogged you down with s-somethin' like this so soon after... I'm sorry. M-Maybe I should just..."

She was edging towards the door. She was going to leave! He had to do something!

He quickly stood up from the couch, and Applejack watched him warily with wet eyes.

His mind still wasn't coming up with any actual words besides 'what', so he was going to have to improvise.

"Sugarcube, I'm sorry, but-"

He heard her gasp out, and he closed his eyes.

It's weird that a hug had been his first instinct.

He nuzzled his face into the soft fur of Applejack's shoulder, and he felt the way she was shaking slightly. It was only a moment before he felt two hooves close themselves around his back, and a face make itself similarly comfortable.

He had only ever hugged Applejack once, and he wasn't even the one to initiate back then. He didn't think he had ever directly hugged anyone besides his parents before.

It was nice. She was warm, and soft. And he could feel her heartbeat in her chest, unsteady as it was.

He felt so... safe. Safe and secure in another pony's comforting grip. So warm, and so alive.

He shifted his face into her mane, and took a deep breath.

She smelled like apples, predictably. He was going to have to start buying more from now on, he supposed.

After all, what kind of a best friend didn't support another's business?

"You're mine too, Applejack."

He felt her begin to shake harder in his hooves. He didn't know why, though.

It was obvious, really.

Author's Note:

Hey so, fun fact!

I heavily debated making this a love thing, just to see how many people would get mad!

But I decided I didn't want to take the story in that direction, no matter how funny it would be.

It's been done to death and back, so best friends it is!

Maybe I'll write a separate one-shot about it or something?

isn't it funny that i said i was going to write less but i've been putting chapters out at pretty much the same pace

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