White Sun

by The Psychopath

Renewal

"You know, mom and dad would be ecstatic if they knew you were alive," Shining said. He twiddled his hooves a moment. "I'm sure they'd want to know that you're still alive and where you are."

"I'm sure they would," Twilight trailed off.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled and repeated the process several times afterwards when Shining heard her belly growling.

"You're hungry?" the stallion asked. He tilted his head slightly when Twilight nodded and continued her breathing. "Why are you doing that? We can just get you food."

"It's how I dealt with hunger when I was on the run and when I ran out of supplies and couldn't get back to the city to get more," the mare explained. "It's not that great but it helps stave off that sensation." She smirked. "I guess I've grown used to the feeling of hunger," Twilight continued. "Doesn't hurt like it did during the first few months?"

"Months?!" Shining shouted in disbelief. "You were starving for months?" His brow furrowed when Twilight shrugged casually.

It explained to Shining the state of his sister and the bags under her eyes. He turned to see Cadance coming in with a smile on her face and a sweaty forehead.

"I delivered a speech and had the cooks prepare a small meal for us all," she announced.

"Um, enjoy your meal?" Twilight said sheepishly.

The alicorn frowned. "All. That means you as well, Twilight."

The mare started to panic again. "B-but I don't want-gh!"

She found herself headlocked by Shining and gently dragged off the bed. The stallion didn't take his eyes off of Spike. "Now now, sister, let's feed you properly. You're quite malnourished and I shan't have any such maladies afflicting my youngest sibling," he said with a 'high brow' accent.

With some struggling and pulling on Shining's foreleg, Twilight managed to free her mouth. "Why are you talking like that?" she strained to say.

Shining chuckled. "You used to talk like this sometimes when you were a filly." The lavender unicorn didn't say anything. Realizing this, the stallion dug deeper. "You thought that Princess Celestia spoke like this, so you kept practicing with Smarty Pants in your room with the door closed." Twilight's eyes widened and she turned red when she saw Cadance covering her mouth and muffling her laughter. "Mom and dad found it hilarious."

"Shiniiiiiing!" Twilight strained. "Stop talking about thaaaaaat!"

The stallion stuck his tongue out and let go of his sister to push her forward through the door. Shining had the reflex to spin around and lower himself when Spike's feet stomped onto the ground as it followed its master. He growled, upset, and continued to his future meal.

"Now, pfff." Cadance was doing her best to speak, but the image Shining created for her was distracting. "We're going to go to our own, personal dining room," she said. "It's not as big as the royal dining room with a table long enough to be able to handle a hydra, but it's the best one for our little family to eat at. You'll love it," Cadance told Twilight.

"I'm sure I will..."

The mare felt herself being crushed under the gaze of the guards and various servants who prowled the hallways of the spire. Of course, when they noticed Spike the ponies would either flee as fast as their legs could take them or try and remain perfectly still. An ingrained reflex to not move so as to not attract the attention of a predator. An unfortunate time for them to start up again now of all times. It was an unpleasant sensation that was telling her to get out of there as soon as possible.

"You have to get out of there," a voice told Twilight with urgency. "They're going to betray you at some point. They're probably just having their fun with you," it continued. "Some animals like to play with their prey before killing them. Maybe they're doing that too." Twilight became tense. "Keep Spike with you at all times and make sure he can break the ring around your horn," it finished.

The voice had helped pass enough time for the small group to arrive in front of a white door that Cadance pushed open, revealing a small room with a single, large window directly opposite it that overlooked the capital. In the middle was a simple wooden table carrying multiple bowls of fresh vegetables and plates sporting steaming hot dishes. The smells alone made Twilight salivate with anticipation. The floor was mostly bare save for three plain cushions set about the table. The walls were sparsely decorated outside of a few tapestries with varying shapes, patterns, and colors woven into their forms. A few framed pictures could also be seen, but Twilight didn't recognize anypony in them. The room was just big enough for a pony and a half to make it past the sides of the single bit of furniture present.

A mare with her grayish-pink mane combed over her face to hide its left side looked up at the royal couple with a big smile. Her pale-pink coat was in a mess and the strange sheen that Twilight had witnessed up to this point on all the crystal ponies was duller. She was trying to entertain a young filly kept in a foal seat next to the table with a little pony plushy.

"Your Highnesses," she greeted. "I've gotten Princess Flurry Heart ready for her meal." She exhaled a large amount of air and tipped over slightly. "It wasn't easy to get her here." She chuckled, and Twilight could see her going mad. "She's a hoofful."

Shining patted her on the back. "Thank you for your hard work." He leaned to the side to see his daughter patting her plastic to a beat only she could hear. "Take the rest of the day off." He pursed his lips. "Perhaps the next few days, actually. We know how exhausting Flurry can be."

The exhausted mare bowed happily. "Oh, thank you so much, your Highness," the mare said.

She rushed past Twilight, ignoring her completely and letting herself disappear within the halls of the spire. Cadance shook her head and sat down next to her daughter at the same time as Shining. The two were filling their plates when they noticed Twilight hadn't moved from her spot and her dragon stood behind her, menacingly.

"Twilight, you need to sit down if you're going to eat," Cadance said. She lifted a bottle of milk and started warming up its contents with her horn. "Even Flurry is sat down."

The unicorn couldn't help but stare at her niece, like she was some kind of magical discovery into finding and reviving Princess Celestia. She hesitantly sat down at the table and did her best to reach out and grab bowls of whatever she could. Cadance and Shining watched her silently, seemingly judging every movement she would make. Looking between all three of her observers, Twilight carefully grabbed a large fork and placed some salad, tomatoes, and onion slices into her mouth and bit down. Her eyes immediately watered from the flavors. There were seasonings she either didn't know or had completely forgotten about due to their rarity and cost of acquisition in the undercity. A hoofful of salt alone would have cost her three months of supplies. Apparently, it was more difficult to acquire such things than it was to grow regular food and have it shipped and carried beneath.

"Is it good?" Cadance asked with a knowing smile.

Twilight nodded, her mouth full. She didn't speak at all while she ate, taking in as much food as she could and realizing what her body was lacking in nutrients this whole time. The rulers of the Crystal Empire had even brought in some fruit juice which Twilight greedily inhaled by the box. The delicious, rare taste of sugar.

"I only ever got to eat dried fruit," she lamented. "I missed fruit juice."

The two smiled to each other and leaned over the table.

"You know, Twilight, if you stay here you can eat like this every day," Shining said.

"And you wouldn't be alone anymore," Cadance added. "Plus, you would get to know Flurry Heart more." She gestured to Flurry who was holding her milk bottle and draining its contents slowly. "She's a growing filly and will likely need a tutor for her magic. You could be that tutor."

Shining coughed and slammed his hoof several times into his chest to free whatever got stuck. "But no necromancy," he said as he pointed a fork at his sister.

Twilight seems confused. "Why would I teach her necromancy?" she asked. "That's not for foals to know." She swallowed another mouthful and started listing things off by tapping her fork onto her near-empty plate. "You need to know the intricacies of magic, how they flow through the body. You need to know how bodies work, what goes where, what works with what, what does what. Then you need to know how to push magic into the bodies to reanimate them instead of making them explode." She took another gulp of what she believed to be a mix of strawberry and kiwi juices. "More importantly you need to know the spells to take out any and all parasites infesting the bodies or the bugs that fly around all over the place when you forget to do that." Twilight cleared her throat. "That's way too much for just a small foal to be able to learn, and the magic needed is quite extensive."

Shining dropped his fork and brought his hooves up. "Wait wait wait. You know how the bodies work?" He balked when Twilight nodded. "So you could teach at a medical facility, provided you passed the tests to become a doctor?"

The mare bobbed her head left and right, unsure. "I mean, I would be better off as a surgeon if we're making such comparisons, but yes."

The stallion tapped the table and hummed pensively. "So you have several alternative routes open to you."

"Oh no!" Twilight protested. "I'm not giving up now! I've almost figured out how to bring her back!" she said.

"It's okay, Twilight," Cadance chimed in. "No pony is telling you to stop. We're just saying that you have alternatives available to you. However, you won't get all these benefits if you remain a necromancer, you understand?"

The lavender unicorn nodded reluctantly and sat back down. She looked again at Flurry and couldn't help but feel a little smirk form at the corner of her lips.

"Not sure what we can do with your dragon, though," Shining Armor said. "Thing scares everypony after what it did to those that captured you."

"Here it comes. He's going to tell you to undo the spell you used to bring Spike back to life as your assistant. Your first success at imbuing something with the strength it had in life and he wants to take it all away."

Cadance noticed the storm brewing in Twilight's mind and chimed in. "Of course, as long as it doesn't do anything to anypony you can keep it as...what was it again?"

"Spike is my assistant," Twilight said. She looked at the two ponies with suspicion and continued to eat. "He was the first one who stayed with me and has been a great help in my research and keeping me safe."

The magic coursing through Spike's body glowed brightly momentarily, potentially as an intimidation display by Twilight, Shining thought.

"Well, as long as he doesn't bother anypony I suppose we can keep him around," Cadance said. "What do you think, Shining?"

The stallion waved his idea away and rested on a foreleg. "Bah. Whatever," he grumbled.

"Bah! Bah!" Flurry babbled.

"Oh, you want to meet Aunty Twilight?" Cadance mused.

She picked the foal up to place her on the table and cover the sides with a short wall of magic to block her from falling on the sides. The only spot still open was the one Twilight was sitting. The mare was more focused on her meal, shocking Shining with how much she could eat. Cadance and Shining reflexively took on a combat stance when Flurry approached Twilight. Not because they feared Twilight might harm her niece, but due to the strange aura of necromantic energies that seemed to rush out of the unicorn subconsciously the closer Flurry got to her. The discomfort the two grown ponies felt seemed to either be canceled or ignored outright by the young foal. The couple looked at Spike, fearing the worst, but the undead did not react.

Twilight was so focused on the delicious flavors assaulting her weakened tongue that she didn't even notice Flurry sitting next to her plate, so when Twilight put a fork down, Flurry put her two significantly smaller hooves on Twilight's babbling in amusement. The sudden contact caused Twilight to freeze in surprise.

The lavender unicorn looked at Flurry Heart and, after several seconds of debating with herself, finally decided to speak. "Hello, Flurry Heart," she said nervously.

"Let's call the Elements of Harmony," Cadance whispered to her husband.

"That's a terrible idea! This is a family matter!" the stallion protested.

"We need them to assuage the public and help rehabilitate Twilight. They're the best at this sort of thing." She scooched forward. "She's literally the former student of Princess Celestia and your sister, which makes her royalty by proxy even if unintentional. That brings a lot of weight to it, and danger. Plus, with all her knowledge she could do so much better for herself than what she's been doing now."

Shining mulled the thoughts over and hummed pensively. "Fine, but they have to do this extremely delicately." He looked at Twilight trying to carefully move her niece away so she could keep eating. "I think she's a bit fractured upstairs, and she's already on edge. One wrong move and they'll ruin everything."

Cadance's face paled and she leaned over. "You're right. I was just so excited. It's better that we deal with this ourselves, then. I've never been afraid of a bit of hard work!" she proclaimed quietly. "Let's just...keep a very close eye on her and Flurry."

Spike gently picked Flurry up, walked to the other side of the table, and placed the filly back in her seat, making her throw a tantrum.

"Right..." Shining sighed. "I don't know what's what anymore."

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

Spike gently picked Flurry up, walked to the other side of the table, and placed the filly back in her seat, making her throw a tantrum.

Ok this was funny, also involving the elements of harmony, I can't tell if that's a good idea or a bad idea, she already came across Rarity and AppleJack so it would be a bad idea to meet them, however there is a chance she could still be the element of magic so maybe good idea? But that's a small chance, a chance the Arthur might not even do so I guess it all just depends, I'm just gonna say it's a bad idea, I agree with Shining Armor that it's a family matter.

However, now that I think about it, Twilight could still be a necromancer while also not escaping, Cadance said that she wouldn't stop it, Twilight doesn't kill, she works on dead bodies, a possibility that Twilight could work on dead bodies while also staying at the Crystal Empire, there might be a few complications at first, especially with the ones who doesn't like necromancy and hate necromancers, but it could work out eventually, plus reviving the dead after enough research? Could prove useful, just saying, of course there would be complications at first with this, but if you really think about it, what's the difference between a Necromancer and a doctor? A doctor prevents people from dying while a Necromancer would simply revive the dead to be alive again, except ponies that died from old age of course, to many immortals and then you have lack of resources.

An interesting concept though.

I can already imagine a few laws being placed if Twilight was allowed to continue her research, the first one being to not revive the dead that died from old age. If all turns out well, obviously.

Actually the more I think about it, the more i think it's a good idea, Twilight could also help redeem other ponies who studied dark magic or forbidden magic stopping other creatures from viewing them differently, maybe even respect them, ponies that studies necromancy could revive others, ponies that study dark magic could help defend kingdoms and others, the only problem would have to not be corrupted, whatever Twilight is doing.

I think I also figured out what Twilight's new goal could be after reviving Celestia, or if she does. I wonder when Luna will be introduced, I think it would be interesting if Luna appeared in one of Twilight's dreams, now that I think about it, both Luna and Twilight could get along really well, Luna is also (kinda) working on redeeming herself, maybe Twilight and Luna could help each other.

I'm coming up it's so many great ideas! And possibly theories.

[Lost_Data]

11840608
There is always becoming an Undertaker, or the doctor that does autopsies. I always assumed that in a world of magic learning some necromancy would happen in those professions, just because... well... they deal with the dead. Seems like it would just sorta happen no matter what.

That or necromancer would be similar to a Grave Keeper to a large Mausoleum, with some religious and/or conservative nature to them. Like a priest and keeper of the dead that gained necromagic power through rituals, ordinances, and maintaining of the tomb of nobles and kings and such. Just kinda seem like something that the unicorns would do.

[The Psychopath]

11839906
Added the tags. THe chapters with those two are too numerous.