White Sun

by The Psychopath

New Plans

"Pass me the larger scalpel and some forceps," Twilight asked her 'assistant'.

The undead fumbled along the table placed next to her, eventually pulling out a thick blade and two forceps. Twilight dug into her latest experimental subject with them and fried several bugs along the way with her magic.

"You got a little infestation problem," she said to the corpse. She stuck her tongue out in disgust. "They ate away at you! Pffff..." The unicorn started calculating and running theories in her mind as she observed the damage. "What are you most fond of in a body that you chomp on first, I wonder." She leaned to the side and gave a smile to the milky-eyed body. "Don't worry. This won't take much longer." She started cutting through the surface of the skin, causing fatty deposits to start leaking out. She pried the meat apart and observed the muscle and fatty tissue beneath. "There's more bugs in the meat than the fat? Interesting. Maybe..." Spike leaned forward, expecting an order. "Maybe I should look for more hefty ponies." She dropped a forceps into a surgical tray and grunted. "But I need civilian records. No way am I going to be able to get any of those."

The mare walked over to a heavy door she struggled to open even with her magic and unveiled a frozen land of ice and blue light. A large, blue orb was floating near the ceiling, slowly bobbing up and down as it dropped sparkles of ice and snow from its base. It would release a freezing wave every few seconds, preventing anything from starting to melt and rot. However, it also caused anything going in, whether living or dead, to instantly start freezing over when hit by one of the waves. Twilight 'restored' the orb, causing it to enlarge from a foal's hoof to just half the size of her head and quickly pulled out several limbs and torsos.

The unicorn slammed the door shut, shivering uncontrollably. "Th-th-th-therrrre. G-g-got th-them!"

Creating a ring of fire around, her, the mare waited that she defrosted and finally stopped shivering. It took a while, but Twilight was now free to do what she wanted. She started cutting off pieces of the limbs and placing them in the corpse she was working on and sewing the bits into place. Spike continued to watch her, immobile and emotionless, as its master toiled for hours on her project.

When she had finally accomplished her task, the unicorn wiped her forehead of sweat with a clean rag. "I think I've got it," she wheezed. "Now let's see if I was right."

With a glow from her horn, the body started to twitch and spasm erratically on the table. Spike pulled Twilight away just in-case. With a sudden 'jump-start' to itself, the zombie was standing lopsided, with its forelegs bent at wrong angles and head completely bent off to the side, making it parallel to the ground.

"Ha ha, oops," Twilight giggled sheepishly. "I forgot to check if there were broken bones." She watched as the zombie fumbled about, trying to walk, but failing due to its unfortunate bone structure. However, when the shards would bend apart further due to the strain, the zombie's remade muscles would force them back into place. "Fascinating!" Twilight said enthusiastically. She pulled out several sheets of paper and started writing her notes and theories meticulously. "Rebuilt muscle is stronger than regular for a zombie. Pushes bones back into place, although they do not heal." She tapped her lip several times with her quill. "Does the source factor in any way? Sex? Age? Mutations could be a beneficial addition. Does the amount of magic introduced do anything?" Twilight continued like this for several more minutes before gazing at the zombie in pity and dumping it down the same chute as all the others. "I'm sorry it didn't work out, but the others will help get you on your four hooves again! I'm always here if you need anything!" she shouted after the zombie.

The unicorn continued noting ideas and got ready to grab another subject from the pile when she stopped herself. She looked at the chute then back at the pile and became furious. She had been using the same subjects in the same region for years now. She needed new subjects from elsewhere. Errant magic in the air was never the same in other places, and they tended to change the state of the inhabitants in those areas unnoticeably. Well, unnoticeably to anypony that wasn't well versed in magic and spells.

Twilight paced about the room, thinking closely about what she should do. If she stayed around her home she would have an easier time getting subjects and evading capture. However, she would never manage to get more information on the changing variable concerning pony bodies in every region, and dissecting some kirin could be beneficial as well, but they were an odd bunch. The mare shook her head. She was getting off track. The first thing she needed to do was get information on any areas further away from her home and reagents for a teleportation medallion...or rune to carve directly onto her bones.

She winced at the idea. She knew many 'unsavory' elements that went about it that way. They wouldn't be able to get the medallions stolen that way, but if there was a magic disruptor around the prison, then the spell could go very awry. A medallion was safer, but if you couldn't hide or disguise it, it tended to give you away to everypony looking at you.

"I think...I'll just do the medallion. I'll be able to have it locked to here and change it whenever, and if I need to change it it'll be easy, and not painful!" the mare shouted. "What do you think, Spike?" she said with a smile. The skeleton did not respond. "You're right! We need to get you a disguise." She looked around impatiently and huffed. "Let's go back upstairs. Should be able to make you something."

Being unable to find much of anything, the mare grabbed an assortment of old clothes she couldn't wear anymore and linked them together with some basic threading spells. It wasn't as good as actual sewing and would wear off in just a few hours if not maintained, but it did its job in a pinch. Now Spike looked like he was draped in a faded, grimy quilt.

"Close enough!" Twilight cheered. "Let's get back to Silvery Gleam and ask him if he knows anything. You'll love Flarolina. I just need to get my saddlebags first then we can go."

Still doing her best to evade the looks of anypony by taking the least frequented streets, the two still got several looks when anypony spotted Spike, but nobody called out to them. They were too scared of the glowing lights coming from behind the hood of the giant creature accompanying Twilight. Unfortunately, things didn't continue this smoothly as the mare had hoped. Two guards noticed and called out to them, but if they approached, they would realize what Spike was. The chase had started. Even though Twilight was experienced with wandering the wastes, she didn't have the training the two pursuers had. They blew whistles to alert their fellows and anypony else around, realizing that these two were suspicious.

One rule of the underground city was to never lead the guards to its entrances. Anypony around that realized what you were doing would throw you to them no questions asked. Like a good citizen. Fortunately for Twilight, this wasn't her first chase. Twilight had Spike carry her and felt his bones dig into her body, but it was insignificant for the moment. She managed to dodge the guards in an alleyway, and with not a moment to spare, she began casting several spells in conjunction with one another. A spell of concealment to hide among the refuse piling up in the back alleys, a distraction spell that would create seven fake versions of her and Spike, and a quieting spell so the more astute ponies wouldn't notice her even if she were concealed.

When the two guards slid to a halt in the mud just in front of Twilight, she felt her heart stop, her blood freeze, and instinctively held her breath in fear. The two were befuddled and started looking around. Why did this part of the city only just start getting roads placed?!

"Could be they concealed themselves," one guard supposed.

"Could be, but we don't know how to dispel those," the other replied.

The first waved the statement off. "Pshh. You don't need a dispelling...spell...to find anypony hidden by a concealing spell." She looked at the ground and twisted her hoof. "They always leave something behind. Sloppy." The guard looked at the piles of garbage around and grimaced. "Disgusting. Broken wagon wheels, boxes, rotting food. Gross."

"Hey!" the second shouted. "They're over there!"

"What?!"

Twilight and Spike 'accidentally' slipped into view on the other side of the street and quickly ran away, chased by the two guards.

"Ha ha. Told you it would work," Twilight whispered to her assistant. "And look! Right where we need to be down there." She pointed across a large, open space where several ponies were walking about for one reason or another. "Try and rush past them and straight into that street down there. Straight across." The mare grunted. "I'll...keep the concealment going for as long as I can."

Spike obeyed and rushed across as fast as he could. A 'fast' that stunned Twilight. He was somehow going faster than a pony on just his two legs. She wasn't sure what the factor was, whether it be the helix 'muscles', him being a dragon, or something else, but it didn't matter all too much. It was just unfortunate that some ponies were in the way and he didn't bother to dodge them. It was a nasty sight for Twilight to see a pony flying into the air, spinning rapidly then landing limply onto the ground in front of horrified onlookers. The dragon slid in front of the winehouse Twilight used to get underground and dropped her. With a groan the unicorn released the concealment spell, allowing her and her assistant to go into the establishment.

The noises inside went silent when everyone saw the giant accompanying Twilight. Not one to ask questions, the older barkeep gestured to the usual location. Finally underground, Twilight gestured to Spike to remove his disguise. They were 'safe' down here, after all. He obeyed and passed her his makeshift cloak that she folded and placed into her saddlebags. Even though she was proud of her creation and trotting jubilantly across the dirty streets, the frequenters of the city were more than horrified. Several ran out of the way, some even screaming dramatically. A few griffins had even somehow made their way into the city, but even though they were known for their bellicose nature, they moved out of the way of the necromancer and her undead dragon when she neared them. She made her way back to the barrows and once again found her senses flooded by spices and, as she passed the entrance, moldy books and old parchment covered in decaying wax.

She looked around and started getting worried when she couldn't see Silvery Gleam anywhere. A few of the patrons picking out books or reading and taking notes stopped briefly to stare at Spike. They either displayed apathy, vague intrigue, curiosity, or outright fear. Those that perused the contents of this 'illegal' library weren't strangers to Twilight's craft.

The mare smiled when she heard Gleaming's strange accent loop around a corner. He was speaking with a tall pegasus covered head-to-toe in gray-blue armor that had been singed black in many places. The pegasus nodded to him and made to leave when they spotted Twilight and her assistant.

"Hi!" Twilight greeted.

The pegasus looked at her undead and gave her a nod of acknowledgment before continuing their way.

"Ha ha! Look at you!" Silvery declared loudly. "Ya yeer own assistant!" he said more quietly. "Didn't think yeed manage ta bag a big dragon from tha' tilly! Came here just ta gloat?" he teased Twilight with a gentle jab to her ribs.

Spike made to crush the stallion like it did to the farmer, but Twilight blocked it. "No, Spike! It's okay! He's a friend. That was just some fun, is all."

The dragon backed away and let its arm drop to its side, once again motionless.

"Hoo. Still havin' trooble controlling it, huh?" Silvery said nervously.

"He's learning. Don't worry," Twilight brushed the problem away. "I didn't come here to show him. I came here because I need some reagents for a teleporter medallion for me and Spike, and I want to know the best places to get samples outside of this region." The mare's expression went from lighthearted to serious. "It's extremely important for my research."

"Ya neemed it?" Silvery said in monotone. "Well, Ay can manage tha'. Come. We're goin' tee the resehrves." Twilight felt her excitement increasing once again. It was almost palpable. "Oh, and we haveen't managed tae find Celestia's body yet. They hid her tilly well, the bastards."

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

Oh so Twilight doesn't have Celestia's body and there currently finding it, I'm gonna guess they either dismembered the body and placed it all around Equestria or burned the body leaving only the skeleton somewhere.

I do have one quastion though, if Celestia is dead, who is raising the sun and moon? And whatever happened to Luna, the story hasn't gotten into much detail about that.

[Dormi_san]

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It makes sense that "they" would have done that with Celestia's body, much like what Rey Sombra did with Amore's remains. My theory is that Luna is dead or sealed again, maybe in this Celestia AU if she was able to defeat her. I also have a question, what happened to Cadence and Shining Armor? They are both very important in Celestia's government and I doubt they agree with her death.

[DarkSnowGaming]

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Yes however I am wondering about the crystal empire, we don't have a clear point in time where this story takes place but I am guessing that since this seems to be taking place several years after the events of Nightmare Moon than I'm going to guess that maybe the story takes place around season 7 which does bring up some concerns of some other major plot points, like Discord, the changeling attack, Tyrek, and alot of others, unless they simply never happened however with Celestia dead I am wondering what happened to the castle, was it torn down? Or is it simply abandoned.

With Celestia dead and Twilight not having access to the elements of harmony, it does bring up alot of questions.

As for sealing away Luna that would be impossible, the reason why Celestia never killed Luna in the first place was because she had access to the elements of harmony and they bannished Luna to the moon, however, after Luna was bannished she couldn't use the elements anymore so if Luna was to ever attack again without finding the new bearers than she would have no choice but to simply attack Luna until one of them is dead or knocked out and maybe then capture the other, I mean there are magic suppression rings to stop Unicorns and Allicorns from using magic but than that would also bring another quastion such as where would Luna be if she was successfully captured, and if she is than does that mean she is still Nightmare Moon since the darkness wasn't expelled from her? And following up on the previous question, even if she did get captured, was she also killed just like Celestia?

[The Psychopath]

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I missed these theory debates so much.

[Cozy Cottage]

People are sleeping on this story because its absolutely fantastic. I'll probably binge it all tonight.

[Blewfire]

My interest is peeked. Story telling us pretty good and interesting. Looking forward to reading more.