Reluctance
"But that's for later," the alicorn mused.
Twilight turned red. "But I need to know where she is now!"
Luna smirked and went over to the couches. "You've been working for years on this, as I was told." She looked harshly at her guest. "You can wait a few more minutes. Surely you have questions."
Twilight's eyes darted about the room rapidly and the red of her face started to flush away. "Maybe..." she muttered.
She was invited to one of the couches by a wing. "Then come. Sit. Have a moment. No pony will find you here."
Hesitant, Twilight did as suggested and joined the alicorn at her reading nook. The two remained there in awkward silence for a while as the unicorn didn't want to bring anything up and Luna was just waiting patiently.
Finally, Twilight decided to break the ice after being unable to handle the silence anymore. "Why did you leave? You could have come to Canterlot and taken over from those...monsters" the mare cursed.
Luna leaned back on her couch, enjoying the softness of the fabric. "As much as I would have enjoyed that, I had just been freed of my hatred and envy and didn't have the power I needed. Plus, the council thought I would be completely destroyed by the Elements of Harmony." Her expression turned somber. "They didn't want a direct relative of my sister coming back to try and take power, especially one that threatened to bring eternal night with her." She sneezed and wiped her muzzle with a foreleg. "No cloth...bugh...I don't know what went through the mind of the holders when they came to me."
"They just wanted to kill you," Twilight growled. "That's what all the ponies always do!"
Luna tilted her head slightly. "And yet you're a pony and you partake in necromancy. Is that not just as negative a trait?" Twilight looked at the alicorn, surprised. "I don't just sit here, waiting for the end of days, Twilight. I'm often invited to the palace of the Lugalik and he teaches me about the outside world while we also have philosophical debates." She snickered. "It was fun to have somepony to talk to, especially one that appreciates the night as I do. They also had to teach me proper Equestrian, unfortunately. I still spoke the old dialect from a thousand years ago."
Twilight scratched her head. "I suppose that makes sense, but you could have come after you recovered," the mare said angrily. "You could have helped me find Celestia's body sooner and helped me preserve it and bring it back!" She paled. "Wh-what if they destroyed her body or chopped it into pieces?!" she panicked.
The unicorn started pacing about nervously, sweat drenching her coat.
"Twilight," Luna called. The mare didn't react. "Twilight!" The unicorn found herself frozen in place and levitated into the air by the alicorn's magic. "She cannot be burned, for obvious reasons, and I think that parts of her body strewn about would lead to some 'treasure hunters' looking for strength." She lowered Twilight back onto the couch. "Alicorns are beings suffused with an extreme amount of magic, and that magic tends to linger." She pointed to Twilight's saddle bag. "I can feel my sister's lingering power within your bags, for example."
The unicorn pulled the mane strand kept in resin out of her bag and looked at it with deep melancholy. "It's all I have left of her."
The alicorn stared at the glowing strand of hair silently. She also didn't like being reminded that her sister was gone, but if what she had been told was true, then maybe...
"If I went to Canterlot now I would likely destroy everything and everypony there, and I know my sister wouldn't have wanted that," she trailed off. She leaned forward, trying to hide her face, but her flaring magic coming off her body like toxic fumes gave away her true sentiments. "I would love to do nothing more than just go there and rip them all apart...Eternal night would have been too good a fate for them...Taking away all the light for them to regress into monstrous, cave-like creatures..." She noticed Twilight looking at her in horror and readjusted herself. "Of course, I don't do that and I stay here."
"Okay..." the unicorn said hesitantly. "So...what do you want me to do before you tell me where Celestia is?"
"I'd rather know what you can do," Luna said. "I was told you've been trying to find a way to bring my sister back to life and have been experimenting with the dead since leaving Canterlot."
Twilight grew furious. "I didn't leave it. I fled it! Everypony going mad and destroying everything! I was left all alone without knowing what was happening! Instead I get to see a horde of angry ponies storming the castle grounds and tackling the guards and grabbing any of the 'nobles' around and taking them who knows where! When they broke into the castle and reached Celestia, she didn't do anything! She just let it happen!" She hid her face in her hooves and started hitting her forehead lightly several times with them. "She could have stopped them all but she didn't! She just let them take her away and...and..." Her words caught in her throat. "I had to sneak out while they were occupied with her. I couldn't do anything..."
She expected Luna to be livid, but the alicorn looked at her with remorse and understanding instead. "I can see why you hold the ponies with such contempt," Luna said. She looked at Spike and felt that it was drawing its magic from the surrounding area to power it. "I can also see why my sister was so fond of you. Brimming with magic power and the intelligence needed to improve yourself and your craft with your own ideas and concepts." She smiled weakly. "Do you like magic, little pony?"
Spike put its hand on Twilight, causing her to jump briefly. "Yes. I always wanted to make the princess proud and learn as much as I could about the world. I could base myself off the work that other, more intelligent creatures had made in the past to help me improve myself, learn, and experiment using what they themselves had discovered."
"I see," Luna said.
Twilight cleared her throat. "It's just...no pony talks about necromancy, so I couldn't really find anything useful on it. I found a book, but it was torn and damaged." She exhaled and kicked an imaginary stone. "I've been stuck trying to build up my own theories and acting on them, and I've learned a lot this way, but it's still way harder to do than just taking what has been done before."
Luna chuckled. "I understand the sentiment fully. Even as foals my sister and I dreaded the tasks we were given. I'm unsure what she would have thought on the matter, but for my part, I grew to love working on the night sky." She flew over the puddle and used her magic to float on its surface without modifying it too badly. "Adding constellations, rearranging stars, discovering nebulae to show my little ponies!" Her serene smile turned into a frown, and she kicked the water. "But no pony wanted to see my work. They were always sleeping or hiding away in their homes, and none would ever come to me in my court." She grumbled to herself. "No pony appreciated anything I ever made, but the Saddle Arabians do, at least," the alicorn added. "I can make my craft here and modify the night sky, and they always see everything in awe."
The unicorn shifted in place. "I don't know what else to talk about. I don't want to ask how the princess was when she was younger. I just want to know how to bring her back now."
Luna nodded. "Well, I've delayed the inevitable enough. I suppose I can tell you, but would you be willing to come visit me after? You're always welcome here."
Twilight smiled weakly. "I can try, but coming here takes a month, if not longer."
"I see..." The alicorn thought deeply, holding her chin up with a hoof. "I can potentially solve that problem for you to come and see me or I you, but I suppose it will have to wait. For now," She stood up and deployed her wings. "I want to see my sister one last time. I have...so much to tell her."
Trembling from nervousness, the unicorn stared at the alicorn of the night standing before her. "So you'll tell me where she is?"
Luna nodded. "As I have told you, my sister and I have always had a sort of connection, making us sensitive to each other's magic. That's why I can tell you with utmost certainty that the entirety of her body lies somewhere within Canterlot castle." Twilight's colors flushed. "Why are you so surprised? I did tell you that alicorn bodies are so overly saturated with magic that they can serve as an artifact to the foolish?"
"A-are they u...us..."
"No. They are not using her body. They cannot incinerate the body of the alicorn tied to the sun. Heat does not phase her. They cannot cut her up because they would have to find where to store her pieces and keep them under lock and key. That would take time and resources. Their only option is to sit on her and wait."
Twilight gulped audibly, but even with Spike pressing down on her back, the mare wouldn't stop trembling. She didn't know if it was because of anger or fear or something else, but she couldn't stop it. It wouldn't go away. Luna wouldn't look away, her eyes seemingly boring a hole into Twilight's skull until she looked up and saw the alicorn's face damp with tears.
"Princess?" Twilight managed to squeak out.
"I was consumed by my own vitriol and was banished by my sister for a thousand years. I wanted to get my revenge on her after coming back, but she was nowhere to be found." She wiped her eyes using her wings, but the tears continued. "Then I learned she was executed and didn't even bother to defend herself. Just...find a way to get her body back. Please," Luna pleaded. "It is all I ask."
The lavender unicorn stood up and stomped on the ground. "I'll do better than that," she started. "I'm bringing her back to life!" she declared. "And now I know where she is!"
"And how will you reach her?" Luna asked.
Twilight grew dour. "I know how."
She muttered to herself, ignoring Luna's panicked words as Spike blocked her from intervening. Then, in a flash, Twilight was finally back home. It was worse off than when she was stuck in the Crystal Empire and finally returned, but she didn't care about that anymore. She brought a blank parchment from her damaged shelf and unfurled it under the light of a wickerlit candle. The mare immediately went to work on devising a way into the castle and figuring out where Celestia's body was. If anypony knew Canterlot it would be her, and so she used this intimate knowledge to experiment with her plans as she furiously scribbled draft after draft of what to do and how to reach the castle, but then, how would she find Celestia? It was unlikely that the ponies there would be keeping her corpse out in the open after what Princess Luna told her.
A light flickered in her mind. The strand of her mane. If Twilight enchanted it, then she wouldn't have to worry about searching high and low for her beloved teacher. That said...she would have to sacrifice what she had left of Princess Celestia for the spell to work. Once she found Celestia, it would burn up from the magic...What if she failed to reach the princess? What if it was taken from her before she could finish?
The mare continuously tried to reason with herself but eventually gave up and sat on her bed, lamenting her inability to come up with a plan.
"Why not use the ponies in the city below?"a voice suggested. Twilight's eyes started opening. "They're all grateful to you for bringing them back to life. Imagine how happy they would be if you brought Princess Celestia back to life."
"That's...not a bad idea..." Twilight said to herself. "And...and I can bring them back and heal them if they get injured." She furrowed her brow. "Time to use the tunnels and dig our way to Canterlot," she growled. "But first, I need something made from the inspiration Saddle Arabia's architecture gave me."
"Look over here," a guard called out. "It was hidden behind an enchanted bush."
Shining and his soldiers hurried over to see a cave opening and peered at the ground. It was frequently traveled enough that the ground had smoothed somewhat.
"This must be where she is," Shining said. "Keep together and keep your light spells on at all times. We can't afford to be ambushed."
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So Luna isn't coming, but atleast she supports in what Twilight is doing, she also seems to like Twilight and they might become friends.
Next chapter will probably involve Shining Armor finding Twilight, I'm gonna be expecting a war in the next coming chapters, undead creatures vs the living, Twilight, Allicorn of the dead, or Allicorn of Necromancy, actually it would probably be Allicorn of dark magic and Princess of Necromancy.
Imagine Twilight accends to being the Princess of the dead, that would be awesome. I don't expect Twilight becoming an Allicorn but it would be ironic considering what she is doing. They killed an Allicorn who didn't fight back, what would happen if they fight an Allicorn who will fight back?
One thing that does concern me is what Celestia's reaction would be when she finds out everything her student has done and been through, disappointed? Grateful? Angry? Happy? Confused?
Oh boy, I have a feeling that we are already more than halfway through the story, and in the end the simplest but most realistic theory was the true one, Celestia's body is in Canterlot and Twilight has to return to where it all started... ...that won't be good for her mental health.
Personally, I would have liked the interaction between Luna and Twilight to be developed more since they had the potential to be good friends, it is also good that Luna is in a place where they know how to appreciate her work... it is possible that at the end of this story she decides to stay there, I wouldn't blame her because she has nothing that attaches her to Equestria, maybe she knows Cadence and Flurry but they are in the Crystal Empire.
I knew that all those undead that are in the city below Twilight's house would be useful at some point, she does not plan to use them as an army but she will still use them, now it is possible that the map calls the 6 elements of harmony to Canterlot (we will finally know who the element of magic is), if Twilight with a whole army of undead doesn't count as a threat to that map, then I don't know what to believe.
I imagine that Twilight builds a giant like the "Elements of War" to protect herself when she goes to Canterlot... she is worth dreaming.
I pray to any deity that Shinnig or one of those guards DOESN'T do something stupid in Twilight's house, I doubt she wants to do anything bad to them but it's very likely that the place is full of traps, it's also funny that they managed to discover that place just when Twilight had returned from her trip.
11857075
I think it depends, if the map or elements doesn't work for the council than the map will probably want them gone, if the map does call for the elements than it probably means it doesn't want Celestia back.
Unless the map deams Twilight unstable and needs to be stopped? (Most likely that voice in her head)
I don't understand the voice though, like who is it, is it Twilight's conscious, nightmare, an evil influence? And it seems it wants Celestia back just as much as Twilight so it's either a part of Twilight or for an unknown reason. Maybe it doesn't want Celestia back but is luring Twilight somewhere.
Oh yeah, as for being over half way through the story, I gotta agree, I'm actually kinda worried if this story won't reach 100,000 words. I can actually see this story ending in just a minimum of 5 chapters.
11857121
Didn't Twilight specifically tell the entity that was her goal before it became apart of her medallion? It is clearly a necromantic entity, that is for sure... I think that it is an aspect of death, or just death itself. If so, it make sense that the trap aspect thing of death was so afraid of the medallion as the medallion is all of death or necromancy.
Or it is just some pseudo evil entity that wants to spread necromancy. Or a chaos spirit... If it has no rhyme or reason then it probably is a chaos spirit.
11857215
Most likely possibility.
11857215
It's a bit tiring seeing the 'necromancy = evil' trope.
11857411
That's why this story is a good way for me to experiment with my necromancer book I plan on writing and publishing where the MC is an accidental lich who wanders the world trying to figure out how to use necromancy without enslaving souls to do it.
11857459
...how can you become a lich on accident?
As for souls, in the story I may or may not write, one of the techniques involves binding stray spirits to a body; however without precautions, the necromancer might end up binding a non-docile, or worse, aggressive spirit, creating an undead wight, which is basically a mindless killing machine with no 'off' switch and no friend-or-foe recognition. Which usually kills its maker, anyone near said maker and then wanders off leaving trail of death in its wake. And it is then hunted by a specially-trained squad of sanctioned necromancers.
Also I really like the idea of necromancy knowledge being used for necrosis injury treatment.
11857411
I say that as, if it isn't any of the other things then it probably is evil. Given the way this story is written I don't think it is going to be evil, but one can never strike out the possibility, even if it is less likely then the spirit just kinda sorta being a chaos spirit.
As for 'Necromancy=Evil' itself? Well, you can't say there is any GOOD reason to even begin to use necromancy, or at least the higher tier necromancy (All heal magic is the lowest tier of necromancy and no one can change my mind). Because- if we leave out healing magic -the only reasons you would use necromancy would be grief, power, or madness, with every now and then universe just kinda bringing something back to life because a lover sang so sadly and sweetly or an army coming back to life because a general's speech was THAT encouraging.
The only way I can think of that necromancy could start WITHOUT it being evil at first, is if it started through priests who perform the rites of the dead, and those that maintain the dead's tombs.
Though like many things once one gets over the stigma of dark magic, necromancy could be quite useful or beneficial like almost all magic.
11857560
By being at one of the locus points your teacher is using for their spell to become a lich and neither realizing the position of the other. MC ends up catching the spell and becoming the new locus while their teacher loses their life.