Once you learn the secrets of Necromancy you can never turn back
Twilight Sparkle has been living in Ponyville for 7 years now. In that time she has faced great challenges, fought greater foes, and made even greater friends. But one day she finds a book. A book she had completely forgotten about. A book she thought had been destroyed. A book of necromancy. Will she submit to the darkness within her or will she stay true to her values and stay in the light; or maybe a bit of both?
Celestia sat in the chair in her bedroom, looking over a stack of papers over a foot tall. She normally had paperwork like this but for some reason today she had a lot more than normal. She sighed and was about to get started when a young filly barged into the room.
Celestia looked over her shoulder to see who it was. She smiled when she saw a young lavender filly. The filly had a massive grin on her face and she was practically radiating pride and joy.
As soon as the princesses eyes landed on the filly, she blurted out "I want to show you something Princess!" She could barely keep herself from shouting at the top of her lungs. "You're going to be so proud of me!" she yelled with a massive grin.
Celestia stood up and looked at the young lavender filly standing in the doorway with a smile. The filly was jumping up and down with excitement, the book bag she had on flapping up and down with her.
"Is that so Twilight?" Celestia said with a grin "Tell me, what it is I'm going to be so so proud of for?"
"I can't tell you, it's a secret!" Twilight's grin somehow got even larger "You have to come and see it yourself!"
Celestia smiled and shook her head, she was use to these sort of antics from her favorite student. "Then let's go," she walked to Twilight's side and gestured towards the hallway beyond "Shall we?"
Twilight giggled in glee and ran out into the hallway quickly followed by Celestia. Twilight bounced up and down the hallway in a similar fashion to a pink pony from Twilight's future.
Celestia walked alongside the young filly and asked "What is it that you are going to be showing me, Twilight? Is it magic, an invention, a discovery you made, or is it something more creative like writing or art?"
Twilight smiled "It's a type of magic Princess. According to the book I'm reading this type of magic is very difficult to do, especially for someone as young as me. So when I show you that I can do it you're going to be more proud of me then you ever have been before!"
Celestia smiled "Is that so? Well then what is this so-called 'very difficult magic' you're referring to called?"
Twilight smiled and shook her head "I told you, it's a secret!"
Celestia giggled and looked at Twilight with a large grin "Of course it is, my young student."
As Celestia and Twilight walked down the hallway, Celestia silently pondered what the young pony beside her was going to show her. Was it telepathy? Was it teleportation? Was it disintegration? All Celestia knew was that it was going to be a terrific performance from her, admittedly, favorite student. She smiled at that thought.
Twilight walked up to a pair of doors and opened them up. She then lead Celestia outside into the castle courtyard. It was currently night, about 11 o'clock, so only a few guards wielding spears and crossbows patrolled the courtyard.
Celestia began to wonder, why exactly couldn't Twilight just show her this magic inside the castle?
As the pair walked through the courtyard and into the city beyond Twilight said "It's a bit of a walk to where we are going."
"And where are we going exactly?" Celestia asked.
Twilight looked up at Celestia "The Canterlot graveyard, the magic only works in places like that."
"What?" Celestia asked with a tilt of her head "I don't think I heard you correctly."
"We're going to the graveyard. I'm pretty sure it's about fourish miles away."
'What is she going to be doing there?' Celestia thought 'What type magic do you need to be in a graveyard to do?' She shook her head 'I bet it's going to make perfect sense when we get there.'
They continued walking in silence for the next few minutes. Celestia walked with her normal graceful trot alongside her giddy and energetic student.
After about a mile of walking Celestia asked Twilight with a kind smile "How long have you been studying this magic of yours?"
"For about a week," Twilight looked up at Celestia with a massive grin "And I just figured out how to do it about three hours ago! I can't wait to show it to you!"
Celestia smiled warmly at Twilight "Neither can I, Twilight."
Celestia turned her sights from her student next to her to the city around her. They passed next to a massive cathedral, its towers some of the highest in the city. The cathedral was built over a thousand years before she and her sister rose to the throne of Equestria. It was built by evil ponies, who did evil things, who worshipped a false god.
She frowned as she walked past, it gave her memories, memories of a time past, of a city on fire, of a battle against good and evil. She shook her head 'That was a long time ago, just forget about it, they're gone.'
She continued observing the city until Twilight stopped in front of a pair of intimidating iron gates. Along the top of the gates were the words 'Canterlot Graveyard'.
Twilight stood and observed the gates until she asked "Can you get us inside princess?"
"Yes, of course," Celestia responded with a smile. She walked over to the gates and unlocked them with her magic. "Here we are," she said as she pushed the gates open and walked in. Celestia looked around at the graveyard. It had been a long time since she had been here.
Celestia sighed 'Last time I was here I was with Luna, on the thousand-year anniversary of mother and father's death.' She shook her head 'And I was alone three hundred years ago for their two thousand year anniversary.' At this she sighed and looked at the moon sadly.
Celestia shook her head as the two ponies walked into the graveyard. Twilight lead them to the center of the grave yard where there stood a statue. Celestia looked at it with a sad frown. It was a statue of her father in his golden plate armor, the same armour she has worn into battle many a time. Celestia shook her head and looked over at Twilight "Now, what is it that you want to show me?"
Twilight looked at Celestia with a smile "It's magic that can bring ponies back from the dead. It's called Necromancy. I'm pretty sure that's what it's called anyways."
Celestia stood there, blinking, barely able to even comprehend what Twilight had just said. She was frozen in fear and terror.
"Y-you can bring ponies back from the d-dead?" Celestia said in a shaky voice 'Please no, it can't be true, it just can't! Not that evil, not the greatest evil!'
"Yep! Isn't that wonderful?" Twilight yelled excitedly "It's super hard to do but I can do it!" She jumped up and down excitedly "Do you want to see me do it?"
Then Twilight, without an answer, sent a beam of black light from her horn directly into the ground right in front of a nearby gravestone. The whole world seemed to stop in anticipation for what was to come next. Even the crickets stoped chirping. Then all of a sudden a skeletal hoof broke the surface of the ground. Celestia screamed in shock and took a step back.
Twilight looked at Celestia with a confused look "What is it princess, aren't you proud? This is really hard for me to do. Actually the book-" she pulled out a black book from the book bag she had on "-Saids that normally it takes years of practice to do what it took me just a week to learn, just a week! Aren't you proud of me?" Twilight looked at Celestia with eyes full of concern, and a want to be praised. Celestia just looked back, terrified.
The animated skeleton finally finished climbing out of its grave and stood there waiting for its master to tell it what to do.
Celestia looked at the skeleton, and then to Twilight, and then back to the skeleton. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening! Twilight can't be a-a Necromancer!'
She continued to look between the two beings in front of her. She had a mixture of sadness, terror, and shock on her face.
She looked at a very confused Twilight with a fearful and sad frown "Do you know what you have done?"
"I-I was just doing what the book told me to do. I thought you would be proud of me." Twilight looked down at her hooves. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Twilight, Twilight look at me!" Twilight looked up at Celestia with a frown, tears welling up in her eyes. "Necromancy, Twilight, is one of the most evil of dark magics in existence, yes you did something wrong."
From Twilight's eyes began to flow a river of sorrow. "W-what!? I-I-I didn't know..." Twilight then collapsed onto the grown and curled up into a ball, where she promptly began to sobbed heavily.
In between sobs Twilight cried "I-Im s-so so so so so so so so sorry. I-I didn't know that what I was doing w-was e-e-evil."
Celestia kneeled down to her favorite student and gave her a hug "Shh, it's okay, I forgive you. Don't worry about it, it was just a simple mistake."
Twilight kept crying for almost a half hour before she finally stopped. She wiped her eyes of all her tears and then looked up into Celestia's eyes "D-do you still l-love me?"
Celestia smiled "Of course I do, you just made a mistake. I forgive you Twilight." She kissed Twilight on the nose before she looked at Twilight with a stern look "Don't you ever do this again, do you here me?"
Twilight looked up at Celestia and nodded "Yes I do, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't know that what I was doing was wrong, was e-evil."
"I know," Celestia said "Now let's go back home and put this whole thing behind us, okay?"
"Okay," Twilight said, nodding her head. She looked back at the skeleton with a terrified frown "What about him?"
Celestia looked over at the skeleton and shook her head. She looked back at Twilight and smiled at her reassuringly "Don't worry about it," she looked back at the skeleton with a frown and said in a dark tone "I'll deal with him." Celestia looked back at Twilight "Just go home and get some sleep, okay? And what if I got you some pancakes for breakfast tomorrow?"
"Okay, that sounds good," Twilight said with a small smile. She turned and began to walk away towards the castle with her head still bowed from before.
Celestia looked back at the skeleton. She sighed and said to herself "It's been a long time since I last saw one of you." Then in a flash of light the skeleton was gone. All that was left was a pile of ash where the skeleton had stood before.
Celestia sighed, there was going to be a lot of things she needed to think about that night, and even more things she was going to have to talk about with Twilight. Not to mention all of that paperwork.
Blinding rays of Celestia's brilliant light poured into the small bedroom. These rays of light both lit up the bedroom and woke up a lavender alicorn mare sleeping on the bed.
"Uuuhh," Twilight moaned as she rolled over to look at her clock on the wall. When her eyes fell on the small round object her eyes widened in panic.
"No, I was supposed to be at the spa with Rarity an hour ago, shoot!" Twilight shot up and out of bed as quickly as she could. She grabbed her hairbrush and brushed her mane as swiftly as she could. She then ran downstairs to grab some breakfast before she left.
As she emerged from the staircase the voice of a young dragon yelled out to Twilight "Good morning Twilight, slept well?"
"Yes I did Spike, thank you," Twilight sighed "Maybe a little to well. I was supposed to go to the spa with Rarity-" she paused to pick up an apple from the countertop "-an hour ago."
Spike sighed in frustration and yelled "Maybe you should stop studying until two am every morning and we wouldn't be having this problem! I've been telling you this for years now but you never listen to me!"
Twilight visibly winced "I know I have a problem Spike, it just-," she gave him a small smile "-I'm trying to be better, okay?"
"I know you're trying Twilight," he looked up at her and gave her a small sad frown "But it doesn't seem like you're trying that hard, really. You keep staying up and reading until the goddesses knows when then you over sleep," Spike looked over at the wall to where a grandfather clock stood. The current time was 12am. "Or you really oversleep, and miss activities and events you had previously scheduled," he shook his head "It's the same pattern over and over again and it's really starting to get on my nerves."
He sighed "You should go to the spa. Knowing Rarity she's probably still waiting there for you. Don't want you to miss another activity with your friends."
Twilight looked down at her hooves in shame "You're right Spike, I should be trying harder," Twilight looked up at Spike "But from now on I will really, really try my best to get better, I Pinkie Pie Promise! It's just so hard..." she sighed "I guess old habits die hard."
Twilight looked at the door "I should get going, as you said I don't want to miss another activity with my friends." She walked to the door and looked back at Spike "I know I've already said this but I am going to really begin to try and get better, okay?"
"I know that you are Twilight," Spike smiled at her "Just go and have fun with Rarity, okay? We'll talk about this latter,"
Twilight nodded and smiled "Good bye, have fun while I'm gone!"
Spike smiled and waved at Twilight "I will, have fun with Rarity!" Twilight smiled and waved back. She then turned towards the door and stepped outside.
It was a gorgeous day out. It was just the perfect temperature outside, warm but not too warm. All over the place there were ponies going about their normal day-to-day life and having a great time in the superb weather.
But Twilight was to focused on getting to the spa to notice the gorgeous day. She instead quickly ate her apple and concentrated on her magic. In a brilliant, blinding flash of light she was standing in the spa just inches away to the face of a spa pony.
The spa pony gasped and jumped back, looking at twilight with shock (it's not everyday a pony just flashes into existence just inches from your muzzle) but after a couple of seconds she got over her shock and shook her head "What can we help you with, Ms. Sparkle?"
"Is Rarity here?" Twilight asked as she looked past the spa pony and into the spa.
"Yes she is, please follow me," the young pony said as she turned into the spa. Twilight followed her into the spa. They walked through the halls silently until they got to a door with a sign overhead reading "Sauna".
When they got to the room the spa pony opened the door and smiled at Twilight "Have a good time!" As soon as Twilight entered the room the spa pony quickly left the room and it's inhabitants alone.
"Twilight, darling! I was wondering if you were ever going to show up!" Rarity smiled warmly "What took you so long anyway? It's not polite to leave a lady hanging."
"I'm sorry Rarity," Twilight looked at her with a small frown "I overslept ... again."
Rarity shook her head "It's fine Twilight. Just try to be on time next time, please."
"I will, I promise." Twilight took a seat right in front of Rarity and sighed contently, it had been a long time since she had been at the spa and it felt amazing.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes together, enjoying the warmth of the sauna.
Rarity broke the silence and looked at Twilight "How was the IAoP meeting last week? I forgot to ask you when I saw you at the airport yesterday."
Twilight frowned "The first few days went well, we somehow got the Kingdom of Broadfield and the Hiroien Order to sign a white peace. But after that it quickly went downhill," Twilight sighed "Emperor Grayfeather died two weeks ago from a heart attack, leaving his fourteen year old son as the Emperor of the Griffin Empire, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. The entire empire has erupted into civil war with thirty-seven different groups rising up and trying to seize power."
Rarity put a hoof to her mouth in shock and horror "Oh my, that's awful!"
"I know and the worst part about it is that there is nothing we can do. We spent days trying to find some sort of peaceful end to the conflict but they wouldn't agree on anything. It was war and nothing else."
Twilight sighed "Let's talk about something else please. It's making me sad just talking about it."
Rarity, still shocked from what she heard earlier, nodded and said "Of course darling, how about let's go and have a massage. That sounds like just the thing you need to relieve some stress."
Twilight smiled and said "That sounds wonderful Rarity."
Rarity stood up and opened the door "Shall we?"
Twilight smiled "Of course, let's go."
Twilight then got up and followed Rarity down the brightly lit hall.
After a few seconds of walking, Twilight asked "So Rarity, how is your business doing?"
As soon as the words left Twilight's mouth Rarity's eyes lit up. She loved the boutique. It was her business, and her pride and joy. "It's going just fabulously! I'm actually thinking of expanding to Canterlot! The Manehattan boutique is booming! I sell dresses almost as fast as I can make them!" Rarity grinned at Twilight "Thank you for asking."
Twilight smiled back "That sounds wonderful Rarity! I'm so glad your business is doing so well!" Rarity grinned, almost radiating pride.
They turned the corner and to their right there was a door with a sign reading "Massages". Rarity smiled as they approached the door "Here we are, the place where the magic happens!" She then proceeded to open the door and go inside. Twilight was soon to follow.
When they got inside two spa ponies walked up to the two newcomers and asked "How may we help you?"
Rarity looked at the two of them and smiled "Me and my friend here would like to have a nice relaxing massage."
The spa ponies smiled "Well then you've come to the right place! Right this way, please. We will make you feel more relaxed than you ever have before!" Twilight and Rarity happily obliged and followed the spa ponies, both smiling widely.
The two spa ponies lead them to two tables in the center of the room and asked "Could you please lay down?"
Both Rarity and Twilight layed down on their respective tables and got ready for the massage.
One spa pony asked the two friends "You two ready for the best massage you've ever had"
Rarity laughed "Of course darling."
"You miss?" The spa pony asked addressing Twilight.
"Yes, go ahead," Twilight said with a smile and a nod.
Then began the best massage Twilight ever had. She could feel the built up stress in her body slowly be removed with every movement the spaw ponies made with their hooves.
'This is a good day' Twilight thought 'This is a good day'. But little did Twilight know that just around the corner waited a big turn of events. Her life was about to be derailed and completely change forever.
Twilight walked down the street with a massive grin on her face. She just got done having the time of her life at the spa with Rarity. 'I needed that,' Twilight thought 'I feel so much better now!'
She looked around, finally admiring the gorgeous day. To her left Big Mac was selling apples and apple cider at an apple stand and to her right, a couple were aggressively kissing each other. Twilight chuckled 'Get a room, you two lovebirds!'
Twilight kept walking down the street in happy bliss. After a few minutes of walking, Twilight felt a new presence next to her. She looked over and was face to face with an over-energetic pink pony.
"Hi, Twilight!" Pinkie said jumping up and down with a massive smile somehow larger than Twilight's "How was your time at the spa!"
"It was amazing Pinkie. Thanks for asking!" Twilight's smile got a bit wider "We got a massage, and oh my Celestia! It has to have been the best massage I think I've ever had!"
"Ohhhhh, sounds like fun!" Pinkie exclaimed with a massive smile on her face. "Did they hit your back like wawawawah!" She yelled as she punched the air like she was trying to break a plank of wood.
Twilight laughed "No Pinkie, they did it slow and methodically. They rubbed my back in just the right places and got all the tension that I didn't even know I had out of my back, it was truly amazing!"
Pinkie laughed and said "That sounds amazing Twilight! Wish I could get one."
Twilight looked at Pinkie quizzically "Why can't you?"
"Because when I went to the spa last time I thought it would be funny if I turned off the hot water," she frowned "Everypony else didn't think it was that funny though and they said that people who did that were banned forever from ever getting back into the spa." She smiled and looked over at Twilight "But they also said that they would make a special exception for me and I'll get my spa privileges back in just a few weeks! If I pinkie promise I never do that again. "
Twilight smiled "Well I guess that's good." She then pointed a hoof at Pinkie and said "But don't ever do something like that ever again, okay?"
"Oki Doki Loki!"
Twilight smiled "Good," she laughed and added "But I do have to say you definitely got them good!"
"Yep, I did!" Pinkie also laughed "It was a little mean though so I won't do it again." A mischievous smile slowly spread across her face "Doesn't mean I won't do something just as bad!"
Twilight gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth "You would never!"
Pinkie just laughed and smiled at Twilight.
After a few seconds of walking Pinkie said "By the way I've heard that you got something in the mail." Pinkie smiled and looked over at Twilight "Is it a new book for the library?" her smile got even larger "Or is it a pen pal? Ohh, or maybe even a letter from a special somepony!"
Twilight smiled "No, no special somepony."
'Hm, I didn't order anything and I wasn't expecting any letters ... wonder who or what it could be?' Twilight thought.
"I actually didn't order anything so I don't know what it could be," Twilight smiled at Pinkie Pie "But why not let's find out?"
"Okay sounds like fun but-" Pinkie pulled a clock out of thin air and gasped "OH NO! I'M GONNA MISS THE LAN PARTY! GOTTA GO!" and with that she ran off running almost impossibly fast down the street.
Twilight shook her head and laughed "Pinkie, you're so strange sometimes." Suddenly a thought came to Twilight's head 'What is a LAN party anyways. You keep on talking about it but I've never seen you at a LAN party. Is it a party for the land or what?'
Twilight put that thought in the back of her mind and continued walking down the street enjoying the wonderful day. Just a couple of minutes later she was back home.
"Spike, I'm home!" Twilight yelled happily as she walked into the Ponyville Library, also known as her home. Twilight looked around and saw a package on the ground a few meters away. "Now let's see what this is," She said as she walked over to the rectangular package wrapped in brown paper and picked it up in her magic. On top of the package there was a letter.
"Hmm, I bet this is the 'mail' Pinkie was talking about," Twilight said excitedly. She levitated the letter in her magic and brought it to her face. She ripped it open and read the letter.
Your time has come. Go north and climb Totenberg Mountain. Go to the fortress on the mountain. You are ready, your time has come.
She looked at the letter with a confused tilt of hear head. 'What does that mean? Why does a stranger want me to go to Totenberg Mountain?' Twilight thought. She laughed "They do have me intrigued though."
She was about to open the package when Spike came downstairs and smiled at Twilight "Hi Twilight, how was your time at the spa?"
"It was amazing, especially the massage." Twilight smiled brightly at Spike "So what did you do over the last two hours?"
"Oh, nothing really. Mainly just read my comic books and slept," Spike said.
"Oh, by the way, do you know who sent this?" Twilight asked, holding up the package and the letter.
"No I don't, do you?" Spike asked.
"No, that's why I'm asking you," Twilight said, looked at the package inquisitively.
"Well why not open the package, that might solve the mystery," Spike said as he walked towards Twilight.
"Okay sounds good. Here goes noth-" she was cut off by a green flame suddenly erupting from Spike's mouth, quickly followed by a loud belch. Out of the green fire came a letter, stamped with a golden C.
"Ohh, it's from the princess!" Twilight yelled excitedly as she dropped the package and ran over to the letter. She picked up the letter and began to read.
Twilight, I need you to go to Totenberg Mountain. There have been sightings of what the locals have described as "demons of flesh and bone." Please travel there as quickly as possible and make sure that these rumors are just that, rumors. If on the off-chance that there is an evil presence on the mountain you are to leave immediately and go to Canterlot. It is vital for you to not tell another soul. Not even your friends. I'm really sorry Twilight for putting all of this pressure on you but if word gets out about demons there would be mass panic. You are the only pony I can trust to do this and keep it a secret. Your fellow princess and friend, Celestia
Twilight stared at the letter and read it over and over again. 'What the hell is going on!' She thought as she picked up the first letter and re-read it. 'There is no way this is not a coincidence!'
"Twilight what is it?" Spike said looking at Twilight with a worried frown.
It's nothing," Twilight lied, gritting her teeth "I need to go."
"I know you're lying, Twilight," Spike said with a sigh "Come on you can tell me."
"I can't," she shook her head "I'm sorry, I have to go." With that she picked up both letters and the package and ran upstairs, leaving a slightly confused and really annoyed dragon behind. As she ran off Spike sighed in frustration "Or don't tell me, not like I was just trying to help you or anything."
She then opened the door to her room, ran in, and locked the door behind her. She then threw the packages onto her bed and began to think. 'What is going on!' Twilight thought as she began pacing back and forth in her room. 'Some strangers tell me that I have to go to Totenberg Mountain because 'my time has come' at the same time some weird monsters are showing up around the mountain? That can't be a coincidence!'
'What am I going to do now?' Twilight thought. She slowly looked over at the package on her bed. 'Maybe I should start by opening that,' she thought as she walked over to her bed and sat down next to the package.
She lifted the package over to her and dropped it in her lap. Twilight sighed, the anticipation building up within her. What was going to be inside it? A book? An empty box? A box of chocolates? An ancient evil spider of death and destruction?
Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," she said before she ripped off the brown paper and looked at the book underneath. The book had a black, featureless cover.
Twilight's eyes widened in horror as her eyes fell apawn the black book. 'No, it can be! I watched it burn. No I made it burn!' She started hyperventilating. 'Why is it here, and who sent i-' she looked over at the letters. "No," Twilight said as she levitated the letters over to her eyes. She re-read the letters and everything began to fall in place.
"Your time has come," Twilight said under her breath. She levitated Celestia's letter over to her "Demons of flesh and bone." She thought back to the skeleton she had resurrected all those years ago and began to cry. She shook her head "N-no, i-it can't be!"
'Let's just think about this' Twilight thought to herself 'No pony knew about, about that but Princess Celestia, so who could have given me this book?'
'What about the one who gave me the book in the first place?' Twilight though 'What about him?' Twilight's eyes widened with horror as she relieved a part of her life she wished to leave in the past, forgotten.
Twilight walked into a large courtroom and sat down next to Celestia. In front of her sat the pony who had given her the book. A necromancer trying to recruit her into his cult of dark magic.
Besides the necromancer, Twilight, and Celestia there were only six other ponies in the room. Two guards guarding the door, two guards with spears pointed at the necromancer making sure the prisoner doesn't try to escape, a judge, and another guard standing next to Twilight.
When she sat down Celestia looked over at Twilight, smiled, and said gently "It going to be okay Twilight I promise." She looked back over to the necromancer and frowned darkly, her eyes filled with malice "We're going to make sure he gets what he deserves."
The judge stood up and began to speak "Silver Mane, you have been charged with accounts of necromancy and trespassing. What do you say in your defense?"
He just smiled "It doesn't matter what I say I'm dead either way." He looked at the young filly next to Celestia and his smile got even larger "And my mission is complete. That's all that matters." He turned his head towards Celestia and smirked "You know what they say, once a necromancer, always a necromancer!"
Celestia frowned "Let's just get this over with."
"A-a-a!" the necromancer said with the same smirk as before "I'm not done. Your young student there is very powerful. Possibly one of the most powerful necromancers to live since the Lich King himself! She was able to learn magic that normally takes years to learn in just a few weeks, that's just, wow! " He leaned back in his chair and smiled at Celestia. The other people in the room were looking at each other in confusion and fear. Celestia's own face was slowly filling with fear as well.
"Unless," he laughed "She's a part of one of the bloodlines, or ooh! Maybe she's the heir to the throne? Maybe she's a Funkeln!"
Celestia stood up, concealing her fear with rage "That is impossible! I hunted them down, every last one of them!"
He just smiled "Well you might of missed a few of the-"
Celestia yelled and cut him off "Death by guillotine!"
The room went silent as every pair of eyes fell on the princess. "What?" The judge said with apparent fear in his voice "Th-the punishment of necromancy is life in prison not," he gulped "Execution."
Celestia looked him straight in the eye "I don't care. That is his punishment." The judge began to argue but before he even got two words out Celestia yelled with the rage of a thousand suns "I AM PRINCESS CELESTIA, THE SOLE RULER OF EQUESTRIA I WILL DO AS I WISH AND YOU ALL WILL FOLLOW MY ORDERS!" The judge took a step back before nodding and bowing to Celestia. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she looked at the guards by the door "Go get the guillotine in the dungeon ready and bring ... it-" she looked at the necromancer, who just smiled, almost with pride "-down with you.
The guards nodded and saluted before heading out the door, practically dragging the prisoner away.
Celestia looked down at me and smiled "Come my young student, let's never think of this again." I nodded and followed her out if the court room.
Hours later at Silver Mane's execution his last words were "Gott vergib mir meine Sünden und vergib denen, die gegen mich gesündigt haben." He said them sadly just before the blade of the guillotine fell upon his neck, severing his head from the rest his body.
"No!" Twilight sobbed, streams of tears running down her face. 'This was their plan all along, wasn't it?'
'Yes, yes it was,' Twilight thought responding to her own question.
Twilight looked at the book. With a shaking hoof she opened the cover. Inside there were pencil markings, hundreds of notes all written in pencil. 'What?! How! This was my book, but how is it here? I started it on fire and afterwards I disposed of the ashes myself!'
Then she turned the page. On the page at the top was the title "On Necromancy, a Shunned Art." Reading that title made Twilight feel ... nostalgic. It actually brought a smile to her face. Twilight, realized what she was feeling and nearly threw up. 'Twilight, how can you be like this!? You are feeling happy about necromancy! How could you!'
She shut the cover of the book and threw it at the wall. She layed back in her bed and began sobbing even harder. Her bed sheets were wet from her own tears. 'I have to tell Celestia, now.'
Twilight sat up and was about to jump out of bed when a thought occurred to her.'But do I?' Twilight thought 'What if I just don't tell anypony?' She looked over at the black book. "B-but I-I have to," Twilight said, barely audible even to Twilight's own ears. 'I don't have to though, it's as simple as just not telling anypony.' She then levitated the book back over to her and set it down right in front of her.
Twilight sobbed "M-maybe I'm r-right, maybe I-I just shouldn't tell a-anypony," Twilight whispered to herself between sobs. She then touched the cover of the book. A single tear fell from her face and landed on its cover. She then took the book and shoved it under her bed.
She then curled herself up into a ball and cried herself to sleep.
Twilight laughed as she looked down at the fallen and beaten princess of Equestria. Twilight had a look of true insanity on her once purple, now dripping red, muzzle. Celestia looked up at Twilight, eyes filled with terror.
"Did you really think you could take me?" Twilight spat "Did you think you were so powerful you could kill me?" Twilight laughed a long and hysterical laugh, spreading her wings to their full extent. She looked back down at Celestia with a crazed look in her eye "Well you were wrong, and for that you will die!"
"T-Twilight please!" Celestia raised a hoof at Twilight "You wouldn't k-ki-"
"SHUT UP YOU WORTHLESS PILE OF MEAT!" Twilight roared as she looked at Celestia with unadulterated hatred "IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO DIE!"
Twilight laughed as she pulled out a long, black sword already dripping in dark red blood. Celestia screamed in horror.
"Bye princess, thanks for the kingdom!" Twilight then lifted the sword over Celestia's throat and thrusted downwards. The blade went straight through, going inches into the marble stone under the Princess' neck.
Celestia tried to scream but she couldn't. She couldn't move, talk, or do anything but look at the nightmare in front of her eyes as she slowly died. Her favorite student, her greatest allie, and her best friend; now a monster.
Twilight laughed a wicked, evil laugh and looked down at the dying, bleeding corpse at her hooves. She then kicked the dying body as she smiled a horrific grin.
"Thank you for one last lesson, my old teacher. GUARDS!" She turned around to look at two soldiers running into the gateway of the throne room behind her. As soon as they came up to Twilight they bowed their heads all the way down to their hooves."Secure the city, if anyone tries to resist dont kill them." Twilight gave them an evil grin "Instead send them to the torture camps. I've been waiting for some more specimens."
"Yes my Queen, of course my Queen!" They saluted Twilight and ran off to do as their queen commanded.
Twilight smiled and laughed a devilish, deranged laugh. She looked back down at Celestia's corpse. Twilight raises a hoof over her own head and thrusted it down at Celestia's. Celestia's head exploded in a shower of blood and gore, and Twilight smiled.
Twilight screamed as she shot up in her bed. Beads of sweet covering her entire forehead. She looked around at her surroundings; she was in her bed at home.
'Thank Celestia! It was just a dream,' Twilight thought as she curled herself up into the fetal position and began to cry. 'It was just a dream. I wouldn't do that, it was just was a dream,' but no matter what she told herself it didn't make her feel any better.
She sat in the fetal position, slowly rocking back and forth and covered in sweat. She couldn't stop crying.
Twilight couldn't stop thinking about Celestia's dead and unmoving body laying in a puddle of her own blood. The scene where she stabbed Celestia through the neck and when she crushed Celestia's skull. It played back in her mind on loop, never giving her a seconds rest.
She silently bawled her eyes out. Rivers of tears from her eyes onto the bed sheets underneath her.
Then someone knocked on the door. "Twilight?" Spike asked. Worry filled his voice "Are you okay in there? I just heard you scream and I'm-" he sighed. Twilight tried desperately to get herself together. She wasn't doing a very good job at it. "-I'm worried about you, Twilight. Yesterday you ran off to your room after you read Celestia's letter and you haven't came out since. Then in the middle of the night you scream and scare the crap out of me. Twilight, I need to know what's going on!"
Twilight tried to speak but instead what came out was a sob. This was all that needed to happen to tip Twilight over the edge and soon she was bawling her eyes out. She began to sob loudly, not holding anything back.
"Dear Celestia..." Spike said under his breath.
A light purple glow wrapped around Twilight's horn. With a click she unlocked her bedroom door. Spike, seeing this as an invitation into the room, turned the handle and walked inside Twilight's bedroom.
Inside the dimly lit room (the only source of light was the window) Spike saw Twilight sitting on her bed in the worst shape he had ever seen her in.
"Oh my goodness, what happened!" Spike ran up to Twilight and gave her the biggest hug he could give.
"S-s-sppikke?" Twilight said in a shaky voice in-between sobs.
"Yes Twilight?" Spike asked in a soothing tone. He's had to calm Twilight down a lot of times so he's gotten quite good at calming her, but in his entire life he has never seen her cry so hard and with so much sorrow.
"T-thank you." Twilight thanked Spike in little more than a whisper.
For the next hour Twilight shook and sobbed in Spikes arms. She let every tear in her body, and then some, leave her body.
Then she stopped crying and just stared at her hooves, trying to comprehend the events of the last 24 hours.
"You ready to talk now?" Spike asked Twilight in a gentle tone.
"I-I think so," Twilight whispered, even as the tears threatened to fall again.
"Okay, first can you please tell me why your crying?" he looked at Twilight and hugged her a little harder "Please Twilight, you used to always called me your 'Little Bro' when we were younger, you can trust me."
Twilight took a deep, shaky breath and said "I had a really, really bad nightmare that's all."
"That's all, that's all! Twilight you can't say that! You were just crying, no bawling-" he looked over at the clock on her wall "For over an hour, an hour. You have never, ever done that ever in your entire life! You can't just say that's all!"
Twilight cringed "I'm sorry, its just-" Twilight sighed "-a lot of stuff has happened in the last couple of days and all of it just came out right now."
Spike shook his head "Why didn't Luna just pull you out of your dream if it really was that, this, bad?"
"I don't know, maybe she was so disgusted by what she saw..." a sob escaped her mouth. "I'm sorry it's just, C-Celestia..." She couldn't hold it in any more. Another round of sobbing erupted from Twilight.
This time, the only reason she stopped was because she fell asleep. Twilight cried herself to sleep.
Spike looked at the sleeping Twilight with a face full of worry 'I wish I could help you more.' He sighed as he stopped hugging her and laid her down in her bed.
"Good night, Twilight." Spike whispered. He sighed "And sweet dreams." He tucked the sleeping mare in. He then leaned over to her forehead and gave her a kiss goodnight.
He walked out of the room and shut the door as quietly as he could. Then he walked over into his room and sat down at his desk. He took out a piece of paper, a quill, and a ink vial.
'I should tell Celestia about this,' Spike thought. He began to write
Dear Princess Celestia, I'm really worried about Twilight. Yesterday, right after Twilight got your letter she ran upstairs to her room and locked herself in. Then about an hour and a half ago she screamed, waking up from a terrible nightmare and ever since she has been an emotional wreck. Constantly crying or staring of into space. She's scaring me and I'm really, really worried. Your friend, Spike
Spike then rolled up the parchment and lifted it up to his mouth. He then blew light green fire on the piece of paper and it was transported to Celestia for her to read.
After a couple minutes of waiting, Spike's mouth erupted in green fire and a scroll landed on his lap. He unrolled the piece of paper and read Celestia's letter.
Dear Spike This is truly disturbing. For now do nothing but comfort Twilight in anyway you can and try and keep her safe. Keep a careful watch on her and if her condition changes (or goodness forbid, worsens) contact me and tell me all you can. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, you have my thanks. Princess Celestia
Spike set the letter down on his desk with a determined smile on his face "I will Celestia, I promise. I will keep her safe."
The next night, Twilight sat in her bed with a certain black book in her lap. She could hear the sound of the wind howling and of water droplets pouring onto the roof. A bolt of lightning flashed brightly, flooded the room with light and accompanied by a loud bang.
Twilight had massive bags under her eyes, a mane that looked more like a rats nest then anything else, and in her face you could see as plain as day how tired and scared she was.
She looked over at the clock on her wall, it was 4:30 am. She sighed as she looked back down at the book. "I-I need to know," she whispered to herself. She was terrified by what she would find in the book but she needed to know the information it's pages contained. She opened it up to the first page . On the top of the page was the title "On Necromancy, a Shunned Art".
'What am I doing?' Twilight thought 'I can't read this!'
'But I read it before, why not now?' Twilight argued with herself. 'Also don't I want to know what I could be up against? If my guess is right and there are necromancers on that mountain then we need to know everything that they could throw at us and maybe even use their own powers against them.'
"I-" Twilight began but since she couldn't think of any good excuses why not to read the book. She knew she had to read it. She just does not want to. "I'm not going to practice anything though. I'm not a necromancer." Twilight said with disgust.
Then a thought occurred to Twilight 'You don't need to practice, you already know a lot of it. All you need is a refresher and you'll be an A grade necromancer in no time!'
"I said I'm not a necromancer." Twilight said to herself quietly but ferociously at the same time.
She began to read the black book with a sigh. She was sweating from the anticipation. The first and second pages were a introduction of sorts. Showing a basic overview of necromancy as a whole and listing out all the different parts of the subject. There were 2 main areas of necromancy listed in the book. Single Necromancy spells and Mass Necromancy spells.
She went on reading. Twilight began to read the section of the book that was about single necromancy spells. She got just two pages in when she read the lines "Even the most petty of all single necromancy spells takes years of dedication and discipline to learn and use properly. You must also be an extremely powerful unicorn to be able to cast them at all."
When Twilight read this she gasped 'I was able to do this type of magic easily back when I was was just a foal! Imagine what I could do now?' She looked at herself with a mix of wonder and horror. She shook her head "I don't think I can do this anymore. I've had more than enough reading about necromancey for today." She then bookmarked her page and set it down. She shoved the black book down under her bed again and layed down. It took her a long time to fall asleep but when she finally did her dreams were plagued by awful nightmares. Nightmares just as bad, if not worse, then the first.
Spike took a step away from the door. 'What the hell, Necromancy? Why is she talking about something like that, and why does she need to know about it?' Spike shook his head 'I need to ask Celestia about this. She asked me to keep Twilight safe and that's exactly what I'm going to do.'
He tiptoed all the way over to his room. When he got there he opened the door and walked inside as quietly as he could so not to wake up Twilight. He then sat down at his desk and began to write a letter to the princess.
Dear Princess Celestia, I'm really starting to get worried about Twilight. A hour ago I woke up to go get some water but when I walked past Twilight's room I heard her talking to herself so I stopped. I then put my ear against the door so I could hear her better. I couldn't make out full sentences but one word came up multiple times, necromancy. Do you know why Twilight is talking about such things? Please tell me if you do. Your Friend, Spike
Spike then, as always, blew green fire on the piece paper and it was teleported to Celestia. After just 10 seconds of waiting Spike burped and out came a hastily written letter. He read it over and over again, barley even comprehending what he read.
If what you tell me is true then Twilight could be dangerous. Be careful Spike. I'm coming to talk to her personally. Expect me within 4 hours
Spike put the paper down and looked over at his door in worry. Spike walked over to his bed and layed down 'Twilight, what did you get yourself into?'
Twilight opened her eyes and looked around her room. It was early morning, 7:36 am to be precise. She yawned as she sat up in her bed and stretched.
Outside the storm was still going on strong. If anything it's gotten worse with much more rain falling than earlier.
Twilight got out of bed and walked over to the mirror on her desk. As her body went into frame she cringed. Twilight looked absolutely horrendous. Her coat was all matted and dirty, Twilight's tail and mane were both knotted messes, and it was extremely obvious she had been crying ... a lot.
Twilight sighed and tried her very best to get herself at least into a semi-presentable state.
A little over an hour later and she looked like her good old self again. Her eyes were a little bloodshot and red but she could just write that one off as allergies or dust or something along those lines.
She got up and walked to her door and took a deep breath. 'Okay Twilight, you can do this. Just act normal and try and have some fun.' She opened the door. Twilight's eyes widened as she looked at the figure outside her door with shock and surprise. "Celestia?" Twilight asked looking up at the white alicorn's face with a mixture of shock, relief, and fear.
"Yes Twilight, it is I," Celestia responded looking down at Twilight and meeting her gaze with a frown.
"Why are you here? Twilight asked with a confused look on her face. Twilight frowned 'What could she possibly want that is so important she had to come all the way out here? Hope it's not anything dangerous.'
"Twilight, I have came all this way on a matter of great importance." Celestia said letting her eyes off Twilight as she spoke.
"And what is this "mater of great importance", Princess?" Twilight asked with a tilt of her head.
"You, Twilight. You are the matter of great importance." Celestia looked back at Twilight with a stare that could melt metal. "Now tell me Twilight, why have you begun to study necromancy?"
Twilight's world at that moment came crashing down. Her head was filled with hundreds of questions 'How does she know? What am I going to do? Will she still love me?'
"I'm sorry Celestia I-" she was cut when Celestia began to yell.
"There are no excuses, Twilight!" Celestia spat looking down at Twilight. Twilight was looking up at Celestia with eyes full of fear. "Back when you were young I let it slide only because you didn't know what you were doing. But now you have no excuse, now there will be consequences for your actions!"
Twilight spoke in a shaky, pleading voice "Celestia please, let me expla-"
"NO!" Celestia yelled. "There is nothing you can say or do that will change what you have done! You, Twilight Sparkle, will no longer be called a princess of Equestria. You have been stripped of your royal status!" Twilight as soon as she heard this fell to her knees and began to cry. All that work to get her looking presentable, all now being washed away by a waterfall of tears. "And you will not be able get it back until you do something that proves to me that you can be trusted." Celestia looked at the shaking and sobbing shape of the lavender alicorn at her hooves and sighed "Be downstairs in 20 minutes. You're leaving and coming with me to Canterlot." Celestia growled as she walked out of Twilight's bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Twilight was frozen, a statue as she sobbed. 'She hates me doesn't she?' She thought 'Maybe it would be better if I just disappeared...' She jerked her head upright as a plan began to form in her head. 'Maybe I should just disappear! Yes, just leave and never come back!' Twilight's frown got much larger 'I'll have to say goodbye to all of my friends though; but maybe they wouldn't even want to see me.' She sighed as she stood up and went to her closet. When she was there she grabbed a saddlebag and put it on her back. Twilight sighed "I got this for my last birthday from Applejack." She smiled as she remembered that day.
She shook her head and got back to work on the task at hand. Twilight secured the straps on the saddlebags and went to pick up everything she needed.
She ran around the room grabbing everything she was going to need to live in the wild. She grabbed a water canteen, a map of the world, a book called "Edible Plants, Roots, and other Fruits", a compass, among many other things.
She went over to her window and opened it up. Rain water fell on Twilight's face and the wind was almost strong enough to tipp Twilight off balance. She extended her wings and was about to fly off when Twilight realized she was forgetting something.
She turned around and reached under her bed. She grabbed the black book, pulled it out, and stuck it into her saddlebags. She turned around now for the last time and jumped out of her window. She extended her wings and flew away from her home. A home she had lived in for 7 years.
Twilight looked back at Ponyville one last time before she flew through the clouds, away from everything and everyone she ever loved. Tears flew down her face as Twilight said one last time with a voice full of sorrow "Good bye."
Celestia looked at the grandfather clock to her left with annoyance. "Where is she, I told her to be down here 10 minutes ago!" Celestia shook her head as she shifted in her chair.
"Be patient. She needs some time, and after what I heard I think anypony would need a couple of minutes," Spike said with a scowl.
Celestia cringed and looked away in shame. "I know I should have been calmer and more forgiving, but she is studying necromancy," she sighed "and I still haven't forgave them for what they did," Celestia said under her breath.
"Do you know that for sure though, and what if she has a good reason to study it?" Spike asked still having the same scowl as before.
"There is no good reason to studdy necromancy," Celestia spat. She then stood up and turned torwards the stairs. "I'm going up to check on her," she looked at spike with a small smile "And I promise to be gentler with her, okay?"
"Fine, but I'm going up there with you. I still don't fully trust you with Twilight yet."
Celestia bowed her head in shame and said in a very quiet voice "As you should." Within seconds Celestia had regained her composure and was standing up tall.
"Let's go," Celestia said to Spike. Spike ran up to Celestia's side and walked up the stairs with her. When they got to. Twilight's door they both took a deep breath.
"You first princess," Spike said looking up at Celestia with a small smile.
"Okay," Celestia took another deep breath, she has been dreading this moment for the last 5 minutes.
Celestia raised her voice and yelled in a gental tone "Twilight, It's me Celestia. I want you to know I'm not disappointed or angry," Spike raised an eyebrow but Celestia ignored him "but woried. Necromancey is an evil, evil thing, and I don't want you to turn to the darkness." She took a shaky, deep breath "I've all ready seen my sister fall. I can't, no won't, see another pony I care for fall to darkness." Celestia looked over at Spike, who gave her a small smile, and gave him a nod. "Your turn," she said quietly.
"Twilight," he said in a carrying tone of voice "It's me, Spike, and I want to make sure you know that I care and love you and that I want the best for you. Can we come in, or if you just want me that's fine to."
Celestia looked at Spike with a disbelieving look. He ignored her and just looked at the door waiting for an answer. Celestia and Spike stood there outside of Twilight's room anxiously waiting for a response, but none came.
"Twilight?" Spike said "You in there?" Still no response.
Celestia spoke up "If you don't speek right this instant Twilight we will come in uninvited," still no response.
"We are coming in now." Celestia said as she reached for the door handle. She opened the door and gasped as she looked into the Twilightless room.
"No!" She yelled as she ran into the room. Spike just stood there with an unbelieving face. His eyes were moving all around the room, but they kept drifting back torwards the open window.
His eyes suddenly filled with fury "You!" He yelled at Celestia. Celestia looked back at Spike with shock. "You made this happen! You made Twilight leave! This is your fault! Because of you I-" Spike dropped to his knees "-will not be able to see T-Twilight ever again." Spike began to cry.
"Spike, I-" Celestia began but was cut off by a suddenly very angery dragon.
"SHUT UP!" Spike yelled at the princess "THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! YOU MADE TWILIGHT LEAVE! I HATE YOU MORE THEN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD!" Spike ran out of the room, tiers of both anger and sadness falling from his eyes.
Celestia stood still, looking at her hooves. Streems of tiers fell from her eyes and landed on the ground at her feet. 'What have I done?' Celestia thought over and over again 'What have I done?'
Celestia walked into her sister's large bedroom in Canterlot. Luna looked over at Celestia, still half asleep. "How did the vist to Twilight's go?" Luna asked tiredly as she stretched on the bed.
"Aweful," Celestia said as she walked over to Luna's bed. When she got there she sat down next to Luna and began to cry. "I made Twilight leave. She ran away Luna, she ran away." Celestia said, her eyes filling up with tears.
"WHAT!?" Luna yelled "What do you mean 'ran away'?"
Celestia began to cry even harder "I mean, ran, ran away. After I told her about the the news and how she would no longer be a princess, I gave her 20 minutes to pack up and get ready to leave," she took a shaky breath to try and calm herself "After a half an hour Spike and I went upstairs to check on her." A sobbed escaped her Celestia's mouth "But she wasn't there." Celestia looked over at Luna who had moved over to sit next to her older sister. "And the worse part is that I don't even know if she was doing anything wrong. Maybe she came to the same conclusion as us and thought that there are necromancers on the mountain and was just studying necromancy to know what she was up against."
"I let anger and a three thousand year old hatred drive my emotions," she turned her gaze to her hooves in disgust .
Luna sat in though for a couple of seconds before saying "You know, if I was the one who told her then things would have been a lot worse. We both hate necromancers because of what they have done to us," she sighed "Let's just try and right the wrongs of the past, okay dear sister?"
Celestia looked over at Luna. "Yes, let's fix this," she stood up with a determined look on her face "We have to."
Twilight looked up at the beutiful, star filled night sky. She was laying down on a blanket she brought with to try and make sleeping atleast a little bit more bearable. Next to her was her saddlebags filled with all of her possessions.
Twilight was crying. She was all alone, betrayed, and with no ware or no one to turn to.
Twilight cried herself to sleep that night. It was her first day away from her home, and she hated it. She couldn't go back home though so she just had to deal with it for the time being. Little did she know that very soon she would be meeting some new ponys with a very special set of talents.
Twilight opened her eyes and looked around her. She was in a densely packed evergreen forest. Twilight smiled 'Thankfully it's summer and not winter right now. This area would be under multiple feet of snow if it was. Whinnysota's known for snowy and cold winters for a reason!'
Twilight turned and dug around in her bag and pulled out some food. She lifted up the hay and daisy sandwich up to her mouth and took a bite. She sighed and she swallowed 'This is my last one. What am I going to eat after this?'
She shook her head and dug around for her water canteen. She took it out but with it came out a few pictures. She lifted them up and studied them. When Twilight realized what they were she began to cry.
The photos were of her and her friends. One was of them all one Heart's Warming Eve. All of her friends had a warm mug of hot chocolate next to them. All of them had a bright smile on their faces. Another one was of all of Twilight's friends, including herself, swimming happily on a hot summer's day. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all in the water swimming and having a merry time. Spike was on the beach building a sand castle and Rarity and Fluttershy were talking as they sunbathed.
Twilight shook her head and wiped her eyes dry. "Stop thinking about them Twilight. You moping around all day won't help anything; and you have more pressing matters to attend to."
She put the photos back into her saddlebags and finished eating. She took a sip from her canteen and put it back as well. Twilight then began to think about her current situation.
'Who the hell gave me the note? Why do they want me to go to Totenberg Mountain? Why did they give me the book?' Twilight shook her head, "I need to know."
She stood up and stretched. She looked over at her saddlebags and got her map out. She laid the map out on the ground and at the corners she placed four small rocks.
She looked at the map with a frown. She trailed her hoof over the path that she has traveled over the past couple of days. From Ponyville she went straight north towards Detrot. From there she went north west through the forest Ottawa. Then her hoof moved over to where she was now. A large evergreen forest to the south of the city of Whinnyapolis. About 45 miles northeast of Whinnyapolis was Totenberg Mountain.
The problem was though that the only way to get to Totenberg Mountain would be to go over the Whinnysota River or go an extra 85 miles upstream to go around the river.
Twilight stomped her hoof in frustration "How am I going to do this?" She yelled "I can't just go over the river, I'll be seen. It is the busiest waterway in the world. Every hour of the day it has at least twenty-five boats for every mile of water. And if they see that I'm an alicorn then they will know who I am and if they know who I am then Celestia will know where I am and if she knows where I am then she will get me and if she gets me-" Twilight stopped only because she ran out of breath. She began hyperventilating uncontrollably. Twilight grabbed a paper bag and began breathing in it. In, out, in, out, in, out.
Finally Twilight got a hold of herself and sighed 'Twilight, you have to keep yourself together."
Twilight thought back to her earlier question. She sat down and thought for a minute. A thought kept coming back to her time and time again but she kept pushing it out of her head, trying to think of a better option. 'No there has to be a better way,' she thought 'There has to be.' No matter how hard she thought though she couldn't think of anything better. She had to go through the city of Whinnyapolis and go over one of the city's seven bridges.
Twilight sighed, finally giving up and decided to go with that plan, no matter how much she doesn't like it. "It makes sense though," she said to herself "Celestia has soldiers and police all over the countryside looking for me. If I blend into the general populous and sneak my way through."
She sat up and turned back towards her saddlebags. She looked through the contents of the bags until she found a rolled up piece of parchment. She grabbed it, laid it right next to the map and placed four small rocks on each of its corners.
She looked at the paper, a map of the greater Whinnyapolis area. She stole the map from a library in Detrot about a 5ish days ago. Twilight sighed "I hate stealing. I really, really hate stealing!" She looked down at the map "I had to though. I needed to know the city just in case I needed to go through it."
Twilight thought about what she knew about the city. Whinnyapolis is much like Manehattan, a densely populated center with skyscrapers and other large or important buildings slowly fading outward into smaller, less important buildings. It has one of the most modern police forces in the country. Cutting the city in half was the Whinnysota River. Going over the river were seven large bridges.
Twilight took out a pencil and circled where her current location was, just roughly nine miles south of the most southern edge of the city. She thought 'Now what route through should I take?' She thought for a second, looking over the map. 'Should I go over the southern bridges or the northernmost ones? Or maybe right through the center of the city?" After a few seconds of thought she had made her derision. "I should go through the center, right down main street. Most travelers would go down main street if they were just passing through." She slowly drew a route through the streets of Whinnyapolis to the center of the city, the one she was planning on going through.
'Okay, good. Now that that's done and dusted with I should probably plan on what I would do If I'm caught. It's a matter of life or ... imprisonment maybe?' Twilight thought, shoving her plan to the back of her head so that she could think this now and that later.
Her mind filled with thoughts and images of what would happen if she was caught. 'Would Celestia send me to the Canterlot dungeon? Would she give me mercy and spare me criminal charges?' She gulped 'Would she just kill me? Maybe even public execution?' She shook her head 'She would never do that, would she?'' She shivered just thinking about it.
She looked back down at the map, returning her focus on how to get through the city. She thought for another few minutes before she thought of how to get through the other half of the city. She would keep walking through main street until she got to the edge of the city. She then would go northeast to a forest that would hide her all the way to the slopes of Totenberg Mountain.
She frowned as she thought about her plan and all that could go wrong, but it was the best she could come up with.
"I hope I'm not forgetting anything," Twilight said, worry in her voice. She shook her head "First things first, I need a disguise. I can't just walk through the city like this!" She picked up and packed all of her stuff and put it into her saddlebags. 'I should go at night time though to get the disguise. It will be easier to "borrow" the needed supplies then.' Twilight frowned at the thought.
She then sat down, looked towards the sky and frowned. It was going to be a very long time until nightfall. She looked up at the sky. The sun was directly above her head. 'It looks like it's about 12ish. That gives me about 9 hours to do whatever I like,' she looked around her "But what can I do…" She looked over at her saddlebags and realized how she could preoccupy herself.
She gulped and went over the bags and dug through them until she found what she was looking for. A book with a featureless, black cover. She pulled the book out. It was the first time since she left for the mountain that she had laid eyes on the black book.
Twilight sighed "I've got nothing better to do," she then sat down next to a tree and opened the book back up to the page she left on.
She read as much of the book as she could with the time available to her. Every word sunk into Twilight as she processed the information being fed to her.
Twilight, when she got to the last spell in the "Single Necromancy Spells" section, gasped. It was a spell called simply "Life". Twilight read the words of the book very carefully.
Life is much different from other necromancy spells. Instead of reanimating a corpse and having it do as you command, Life truly brings back whomever you cast the spell upon. Life is the only known necromancy spell in existence to truly bring ponies back from the dead.
The only downside to the spell is that no pony can cast it. Only the most powerful necromancer to ever walk this earth, The Lich King Maradicta, was able to use this power. No necromancer ever since has been able to recast the spell, even though we know exactly how to cast the spell.
Twilight then flipped to the next page and read the step-by-step instructions on how to cast the spell.
Twilight reread this section of the book over and over again. She then bookmarked the page. 'I hate myself and am disgusted at myself for even thinking this but-' Twilight took a shaky breath '-I have to learn this.'
With that she went back to reading the book. She got about three quarters done by the time it got dark.
When Twilight realized how dark it was getting she set the book down and placed it in her saddlebags. Twilight then piled up leaves and branches on top of her possessions so that if anyone walked by they wouldn't realized anything was amiss
Twilight walked towards the great city of Whinnyapolis "Time to go shopping."
Twilight slowly and carefully opened the glass door into the small clothing shop. The shop was at the very southern edge of Whinnyapolis. She moved into the shop, making sure to step as lightly as she could.
Twilight then moved into the shop looking for cloaks. She took a quick glance at the store and it seemed to be void of any sort of cloak at all. 'Come on, there has to be something here!' Twilight thought in frustration 'There has to be something ... wait over there!' She ran over to the one and only clock she could see in the entire store, it was by the cash register. She completely forgot about stealth as she ran over to grab it.
Twilight quickly grabbed the black cloak. It looked like it could cover her entire body. She looked at it and frowned. Her horn was going to be visible but it was the best she got.
She put the cloak on and walked over to a mirror on the wall. Her entire body including her wings were hidden from view. The only parts of her body not hidden were the bottoms of her hooves and her horn. Even her face was hidden underneath the cloak. She chuckled 'I look like a character from a fantasy novel.'
She turned around and began to make her way back to her camp when she locked eyes with a very angry pony staring at her. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds. Twilight's eyes wide and fearful, his were full of burning fury.
"Hand over the coat and you won't get hurt!" the pony said with a snarl. He then pulled out a knife "And we don't want you to get hurt doncha know!" Twilight took a step backwards, her mind beginning to fill with panic. She was backed into a corner with nowhere to run. The only way out blocked by what she presumed to be the shop owner.
Twilight focused on her magic and tried to teleport. It didn't work. 'What the hell? Why can't I teleport!?'
Then Twilight realized what was happening. 'Me and the princesses just equipped the police force in Whinnyapolis and Manehattan with anti-teleportation technology to try and make it impossible for unicorn thieves to just teleport away. How did I forget about this? How am I so stupid?' Her entire body was shaking in panic and fear.
Right at that very moment the entire store was flooded with bright, blinding light. Then a very loud and powerful voice boomed out "Come out with your hooves where we can see them! And if you have wings those as well!"
'No way,' Twilight thought as she began to look around the shop. 'What can I do to get out of here?' She smiled as her eyes laid upon a window to her left, just behind the shop owner.
Twilight formulated a plan. She first grabbed the cash register in her telekinesis. "What are yo-" the shop owner was never able to finish his sentence as the cash register crashed against his head and knocked him unconscious.
The police outside of the store saw this though and ran inside the shop. All of them were running straight for Twilight. Twilight turned and ran to the window and put up a magical shield around herself and jumped through. She landed on the other side on all fours and ran off as fast as her hooves could take her.
Twilight ran through the streets and alleyways of Whinnyapolis back the way she came.
Twilight emerged from an alleyway into the street beyond as she was about to run across when a police car came out of nowhere and almost hit her. Out came two police officers, both of which had guns. Twilight instantly turned around and headed back down the alleyway she came from. Both of the officers were right on her tail.
Twilight kept running until she tried to take a shortcut through a graveyard. Twilight ran in and was about to leave the graveyard when three officers cut her off from her escape route. She turned to the other exit, it was already blocked off. She was spinning around looking for an eskape. She looked towards the sky 'What if I just fly out? No that wouldn't work, I can't let them know that I'm a pegasus! There's no way out!'
'NO!' Twilight was in full on panic mode. 'What am I going to do? I'm trapped with nowhere to go. I can't go anywhere and can't escape. So what can I do...' She realized what she could do. The only thing she could do.
'No, no, no, no, no, no! I will not practice necromancy, ever!' Twilight thought to herself.
"We have you trapped, there is nothing you can do. Give up and come with us peacefully," a police officer with a megaphone just outside of the graveyard yelled. Twilight was not listening to him at all.
'But I have to. It's the only way I can get out of this. I know how to do that one mass necromancy spell. I just read it this afternoon,' Twilight took a very shaky breath, tears falling from her eyes as she realized what she was about to do, what she was about to become.
She looked at the tomb stones around her, reading some of the names as she did. John Turtle, Marry Muffin, Glitter Cherry, all pony's bodys she was going to disgrace.
Twilight concentrated on her magic, grunting in effort as she did. A black cloud enveloped Twilight's horn as she concentrated.
"Everyone watch out, they're doing magic! Take cover!" A police officer yelled as she ducked behind a police car. Twilight didn't even notice.
Twilight then pointed her horn torwards the earth. A beam of black magic erupted from the tip of her horn towards the ground. It hit the ground and nothing happened.
A police officer laughed and yelled "Looks like ya missed mate!" His laugh was short lived and replaced by a scream as a skeletal hoof shot up from the earth. The hoof was followed by many more as hoof after hoof rose from the ground.
The police officer's scream was followed by many others as the other officers realized what was happening. Most of them dropped their weapons and ran as fast and as far as they could. As for the others they were frozen in fear. For one poor officer she watched as the half rotten corps of her grandmother dug its way out of the ground.
All Twilight felt was deep, deep shame and sadness. She watched as the police ran in fear from her and her undead.
She took a shaky breath, rivers of tears falling from her face. She then thought 'All of you things go and chase the police, don't hurt or kill them, and make sure no one knows where I'm going or follows me.'
As soon as the thought was over the undead did as commanded. Twilight watched as just over a hundred reanimated skeletons and corpses ran out and followed the police. The few police who were left ran for their lives.
Twilight then used a type of magic usually only used by miners to blow up large amounts of land and rock on all of the police cars around her. They all exploded in with brilliant, blinding explosions.
Twilight tried to teleport, and lo and behold she was able to. The anti teleportation machine must of been in one of the cars. In a literal flash she was back at her campsite. Instead of celebrating and opening the metaphorical bottle of champagne though, she sat down, crying, and let the sobs she has been holding back all this time leave her throat.
'I'm a monster,' Twilight thought as she cried. 'I'm a necromancer,' she looked up at the moon, her entire face wet with tears "I'm a necromancer!"
Twilight wrapped her stolen cloak around herself. She then put her saddlebags over her cloak and securely fastened them to her body.
Her face had a look of sadness, disappointment, and disgust firmly upon it. Every few seconds she looked at herself with all of those emotions but stronger.
Twilight sighed as she began walking towards the city. 'This is not the time for self loathing, that comes later. First I need to somehow get through the city undetected.' She shook her head, trying to rid herself of as much self contempt as possible. It didn't really help much "Let's just hope that everypony's too busy to look for me."
Twilight kept walking for about a mile through the woods. She looked at the trees and animals of the forest with admiration and a small, sad smile. She loved the innocence and peace of the forest, both things she had lost last night. She shook her head in sadness.
She stopped walking until she was about a mile south of the city and was perched up on top of a tall hill. She looked out at the city below and instantly all of her plans came crashing down around her. Twilight's ears fell against her head as she looked on in horror.
All around the city she saw thousands of pegasus flying around, all of them with guns ready to fire. On the ground there was a small army of police, a sizable militia, and about one thousand equestrian troops. All of them had guns or old muskets around their necks. There were even a few tanks.
All hope left Twilight's body as she looked at the city. Her legs buckled and she fell flat on the ground, her eyes still taking in the scene before her. Twilight was shaking in terror.
"What am I going to do now!" tears began to fall from Twilight's eyes "It's hopeless, there's nothing I can do against an army!"
'But what if I had an army?' Twilight shook her head, tears falling even faster 'NO, I can't make other ponies die! I can't make an army and then send them to kill others, I can't! I'm not a murderer!'
Twilight gave up, it was hopeless. There was nothing she could do against that sort of firepower without killing anypony.
Twilight began to walk back towards her camp. Her head down, defeated. She then suddenly stopped as a plan popped into her head. A plan that might actually work, and best of all no pony was going to die.
'If I make an army and just tell it to scare the soldiers and draw them to one side of the city that means that I can go to the other side of the city and get away! That would work!' She sighed "I'd have to use necromancy though…"
She shook her head and pulled out of her bags the map of Whinnyapolis. Then she placed four small rocks on each corner of the map. She looked at the pencil markings she had drawn the day prior with sorrow. 'It's so weird that so much can happen and change in just a few hours.'
Twilight shook her head again and refocused on the task at hoof. She levitated a pencil out of her saddlebags and erased the old plan and thought of a new one. She thought for a second 'Where can I find a lot of dead body's in one place?'
A small smile appeared on Twilight's face as she thought of just the place. 'The battle of Appleville happened just south of here, I could get an army in the thousands in seconds!'
Twilight's joy and smiles were short lived as Twilight realized what she was thinking. "I really am a monster aren't I?" She frowned "Smiling about a plan that will use necromancy and could get people hurt. Dear Celestia I'm losing it." She frowned as fresh new tears began to rush down her cheeks 'I'm a sick monster, doing evil things with a smile.'
She let a sob escaping her mouth as she turned around and began to walk south towards the ruins of Appleville. She cried in self loathing, her head was bowed low and her ears flat against her head. The only thing that Twilight could think the entire way to Appleville was 'I'm a monster, a sick, sick monster.'
Twilight finally reached the ruins of Appleville. She looked around at the ancient stone buildings of the city. They were practically crumbling under their own weight. Twilight though about the great battle that happened here long ago.
The battle happened between the Solar Loyalists under Celestia and the Lunar Insurgency under Nightmare Moon. The battle happened during the Equestrian Civil War right after Luna became Nightmare Moon.
This battle was the second biggest battle in the war with almost 75 thousands ponies fighting in the battle. The battle was widely considered the turning point in the civil war. Nightmare Moon's forces were completely destroyed. Nearly all 40 thousands of her troops were slaughtered with only about 5 thousands dead on Celestia's side.
'That means 45 thousand dead ponies just waiting to be used,' Twilight stopped dead in her tracks as she took in what she just thought. She buckled over, so disgusted with herself that she began to gag and almost threw up. 'I need to stop thinking like that! If I don't stop now I will lose it!'
New and fresh tears joined the old ones as Twilight rebegan to cry. Her entire body shook violently with each and every sob that escaped her mouth.
Twilight stayed like that for almost half an hour, crying and sobbing, before she finally got a hold of herself and stopped. She looked at her surroundings and sighed. "I-I have to do it," She took a deep and shaky breath "L-let’s just get this over with." She sighed 'I don't even need all of them anyways I can just take a few thousand and that will be enough.'
Twilight concentrated on her magic. A black mist formed around Twilight's horn and seconds later a beam of black light flew from Twilight's horn and into the ground. After she cast the spell she realized something. Even though she was casting a more difficult spell it was infinitely easier this time.
She looked around herself at the countless corpses digging themselves out of their unmarked graves. She was filled with a mixture of dread, disgust ... and to Twilight's great discontent, pride. 'This spell I just cast was a much more powerful spell then the one I cast yesterday, and it was much easier this time! According to the book it normally took a group of nearly 25 necromancers to do the spell that I just cast with ease!'
She just shook her head and thought 'Come with me,' all of the dead obeyed and followed Twilight into the forest. Twilight now had an army of the dead thousands strong, and she was planning on using it.
Twilight looked down at the map below her with a small smile. She had just finished outlining the plan.
Her army was to go to the western side of the city and attack from there. On the other hoof, Twilight would be at the very eastern point of the city looking at the battle from afar. The undead would run at the defenders in a horde like fashion and just case after the soldiers without causing any damage or loss of life.
Hopefully the defenders will move all of their forces to try and stop the undead, leaving the rest of the city empty. This would make it easy for Twilight to get through the city and onward to her true destination, Totenberg Mountain.
'This seems like it will actually work!' Twilight thought with a slightly larger smile spreading across her face. 'Go to your positions!' she thought to the undead. They instantly obeyed and all three thousand of them started walking towards the east.
Twilight grabbed the map, put it in her saddlebags, and walked to the west.
As she walked she once again admired the forest with a small, sad smile. She looked at the forest's beauty and it's brilliant innocence. She glanced at the forest with longing, wishing that the forest's innocence was hers.
She shook her head and said "But you will never regain the innocence you have lost." A few tears fell down Twilight's face before she wiped them off and forced herself to stop crying.
After just over an hour of walking later she got to her destination. A place called Henry's Hill, the tallest point in Whinnyapolis.
She got up to the top of Henry's Hill, layed down, and pulled out a pair of binoculars. She then commanded with a small frown 'Go, attack! Don't kill anypony!'
She watched with her binoculars as her hordes of undead galloped out from the trees and into the streets. The few police who were in the undead's way tried to fire their weapons at the undead but it was to little effect. They began to run away, shooting as they ran.
Twilight smiled as the rest of the city was emptied of armed personnel. The defenders ran and tried to reinforce the area being attacked.
Twilight stood up and ran towards the city with a small smile on her face. Her cloak flapped in the wind as she ran, a wide grin on her face. 'Everything is going perfectly, finally something goes my way!'
Twilight looked up into the sky and her eyes widened in surprise. Above her was Celestia's and Luna's royal chariots, flying above her head.
Twilight's eyes widened with dread. 'No, it can't be!' She stopped running and leaned on a tree for support, her legs wanting to give out under her 'The princesses are here!'
Twilight got back to her hooves and ran as fast as she could. Her eyes wide with terror and fear. Her breathing rapid and sporadic. As she ran, she could hear the sound of explosions in the distance. 'No, no, no! Everything is starting to fall apart!'
She finally got into the city. The streets were empty and the only sound she could hear was the sounds of distant gunfire.
Twilight ran in and out of alleyways, trying to stay in the shadows. She ran out of an alleyway and into an empty street. She pulled out her map and took a quick look at it as she ran. She smiled as she looked at the map 'I'm almost to the bridge! After that it's the home stretch!'
She then rolled up the map and put it back into her saddlebags. She kept running down the road as fast as she could until it went over a highway. She jumped down onto the empty highway and ran towards the north.
She could see the bridge in the distance. It was a black suspension bridge and was just under half a mile away. She ran to it and onto it with a small cheer "Yes! I'm almost through!"
She kept running but as she approached the opposite side a line of royal guards blocked her approach. She came to a screeching halt. She looked behind her and saw another line of guards back the way she came. She was trapped.
'Shit! What am I going to do!' She looked around for any sort of escape. She looked over at the river. 'Yes, I can just jump!' She moved a hoof to her left but as soon as she moved a muscle all of the guards raised their guns directly at her.
"Don't even think of running, Necromancer!" A loud, booming voice spat behind Twilight. She turned around and saw Celestia standing tall with golden plate armor covering her entire body except her head. Her mane flew in the wind. It was a sight to behold.
As Twilight stared at Celestia her face twisted into a look of true horror. Her eyes wide with fear and her mouth agape. She took a step backwards trying to put some distance between herself and Celestia.
Behind Twilight another voice boomed out. Luna using the Royal Canterlot Voice yelled "We have fought your kind before! We are masters at defeating the people of death, and you will be next!" She said in a much quieter voice "I'm sorry Twilight, I wish it didn't have to come to this, goodbye." She nodded at Celestia and both of them then in unison shot a beam of white light directly at Twilight.
In the split second Twilight had to react she swiftly rose a magical shield around herself. The beams of light collided with Twilight's shield. Twilight grunted with effort, all ready beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. The shield slowly got smaller and smaller around Twilight as time went on.
The shield was about to fail when Celestia and Luna gave up their attack. As soon as they stopped Twilight fell to her knees, panting and filled with panic. She raised her head and looked at the guards. She saw that two of them had a lot of heavy explosives. A new plan formed in her mind.
Celestia walked over to the kneeling figure, still protected by the purple shield around their body. She couldn't even believe what she was seeing. Twilight Sparkle, necromancer..
"You are quite powerful," Celestia said not noticing the commotion on the ends of the bridge. Celestia frowned "It's a pity that all of your power and potential was wasted on you."
Celestia looked over at Luna and nodded. Luna cast the same spell as before at Twilight. This time though instead of holding strong Twilight's shield shattered and she was blown backwards towards the northern end of the bridge.
They began to walk over to Twilight when they were stopped by a loud bang. Twilight laughed even through the burning pain she felt where Luna's spell hit her side. 'Can't believe they didn't see that coming!' shethought.
The explosion happened at the piers of the bridge, completely blowing them apart and leaving the whole bridge floating on thin air with nothing supporting it. The entire bridge fell into the river, collapsing under its own weight.
Celestia and Luna flew into the air away from the bridge. Twilight on the other hoof just put up a shield around her again and fell into the water. She looked up at Celestia and Luna with a mixture of longing and sadness. 'I wish things could go back to how they were before all of this,' Twilight sobbed as tears fell down her face 'If only it could.'
She traveled for about ten minutes downstream until she hit the bank of the river and climbed out. She ran north into the woods, teleporting every once in awhile just to try and make it harder for someone to follow her.
After two hours of running she finally stopped and sat down. She took off her saddlebags and laid them down next to her. She dug in her bags until she found her blanket, put it down, and layed on top of it. As soon as her head touched the ground she was out. She had a dreamless sleep that night. It was possibly one of the best nights of sleep she ever had. If only she had a great day to go with it.
Twilight woke up and looked around her. She was in a densely packed forest with evergreen trees going hundreds of feet up into the sky. She could hear the chirping of birds and the scurrying of small animals in the underbrush.
Twilight was laying in some sort of liquid. 'It must of rained,' Twilight thought to herself as she continued taking in her surrounding.
Twilight tried to sit up but stopped with a scream of pain. Her left cutiemark hurt and stung with blistering pain as she tried to move.
She layed back down, it was the only way it didn't hurt. She pulled off her cloak, setting it down right next to her.
Twilight then turned to her side with a grunt of pain. Her eyes beginning to fill with tears as her cutiemark continued to burn with pain. She looked at it and gasped as she saw what was there, or should I say what wasn't.
Where her cutiemark was supposed to be there was only a blackened, bloody hole. She could see her blooded bone underneath and her charred flesh above. Blood poured out of the wound even now. Twilight realized what the liquid she was laying in was.
She tried to scream but nothing came out. She tried to move but couldn't. She tried to do all of these things and more but was to shocked and horrified to do anything but let the tears fall down her face.
Finally after staring at herself for a good five minutes, Twilight got to work. She used her magic to pull out a first aid kit she had brought along just for an instant such as this. She then pulled out some disinfectant and applied it onto her wound. She got out a bandage and wrapped her cutiemark with it. She then got out a bottle of painkillers and took the recommended dose of two pills. Twilight layed back down, crying in pain. At least she stopped the bleeding.
As Twilight laid down in her own blood she grimaced in pain as a small groan escaped her mouth. She stood up with a cry of agony as her side screamed out to her to stop. But she couldn't, she had to go before the ones who did this to her got here and finished the job.
She slowly turned around and looked at the puddle of blood. It was a lot of blood, almost too much.
Twilight began to cry even harder. Massive wales of pain and sorrow came out of Twilight's mouth. 'My cutiemark mark is gone, gone forever. One of the last things keeping me, me.' Her tears of sadness turned into ones of hatred 'They did this to me. They have scarred both my mind and body and for that I will make them pay!' She slowly calmed down and as the last of the tears fell she thought 'At least I have the other one.'
Twilight grabbed her cloak from where she threw it and examined it. The back of it where it had been laying in the blood was a dark red color. The rest of it thankfully was it's normal black. 'I hope I can get this out. I don't want to go around wearing a cloak covered in my own blood,' she frowned as she thought 'At least it's better than someone else's.'
She pulled out her map from her bags and examined it. She took a quick look around herself and thought of the night before and how she got there. She roughly estimated her position and smiled as she did so. She was about a mile from a stream if her calculations were correct.
She looked down at her saddlebags. She sighed as she held her saddlebags above her back. 'This is going to hurt,' she then slowly lowered the bags onto her back as she prepared herself for the pain to come.
As soon as they touched her back she yelped in pain, but she kept going with it. As she firmly buckled her saddlebags to herself she let out a sigh of relief. She was breathing heavily, her face grimacing in pain but she smiled because she knew the worst of it was over. She could feel the painkillers kicking in and numbing the pain already.
Twilight took a couple of steps forward, grimacing in pain. It hurt but it was bearable. She took out her compass and turned northeast towards the stream.
She walked for about 30 minutes towards the stream. She maybe got her location off by a little bit, just maybe.
She finally got to the stream and looked into it. She gasped as she looked at herself. Twilight was completely covered in her own blood. Her coat was not its normal lavender but a dark red. Only her limbs and belly were their normal color.
She took off her saddlebags with a groan. She then walked into the stream, sighing contentedly as she did so. She layed down, washing the blood and filth off of her body. The water easing the pain in her gash as it moved by.
She sighed with a small grin on her face. 'This is the first time I've felt clean in days,' Twilight thought with a laugh 'This reminds me of when I use to take baths with Spike. I raised that dragon from egg, to hatching, to baby dragon, to where he is now. I wish he was here.' The grin turned into a frown as Twilight thought of the life she once had and would never get back. 'I wish I could turn back time and relive that, just once,' a single tear fell from Twilight's eye 'Just once.'
Twilight walked into a clearing, her once again black cloak flapping in the wind around her. Twilight looked up at the mountain above her. It was a shorter mountain, ended just below the clouds. The mountain was a part of a much larger mountain range that stretched the entire length of the continent from east to west, separating the frozen wastes of the north from the warm, fertile grasslands and forests of the south.
Totenberg Mountaint was not a very special mountain as far as a mountain goes. It was only about 100 meters taller than the mountains surrounding it and didn't even make the top 100 tallest mountains in Equestria. Just by looking at it you wouldn't think it was very important.
Lore and history wise though it was a completely different story. In fact it probably was the most important mountain in all of Equestrian history. It was home of the last known vampire. He lived at the very top of the mountain in a fortress called Dragon's Gate.
When the Equestrian Civil War began he was one of the first to side with Nightmare Moon. He gave her everything from new magic, to food, to armor and weapons. But as the civil war progressed Nightmare Moon was losing territory left and right until she was backed into a corner, and that corner was Dragon's Gate.
The Lunar military fought their last stand on that mountain. When Celestia stormed the castle she killed the vampire and fought with her sister in an epic final showdown between the two sisters. Nightmare Moon eventually was defeated and was banished to the moon for a thousand years.
She shook her head as she began to walk towards the mountain. Her ears perked up as she heard the sound of a twig breaking behind her. She stopped and turned around, looking at the forest. "Show yourself!" She yelled into the forest. As the figure did as she commanded she gasped. Her eyes widening and barely believing what she saw before her own eyes.
Spike picked up his last article of clothing and shoved it into his backpack. He then took the zipper in his hand and with a satisfying "Zziiipppp" he closed the backpack up and flung it on his back.
Spike sighed as he stood up. He walked over to his desk and re-read the letters given to Twilight. He already has read them almost ten times now but he just wanted to read them one last time. He knew where Twilight was headed, Totenberg Mountaint.
He then picked them up and threw them into the fireplace. He watched as they burned and shriveled up into nothing but ash.
He then walked out of his room and into Twilight's. It was empty, has been ever since The Princess made Twilight leave two days ago.
Spike looked on with sadness and determination "I will find you Twilight, and I will follow you to the very ends of the world. No matter what that bitch of a princess thinks. I know you're good and I know you need a friend. No matter what you are doing or what you've done I will follow you. I love you."
Spike started to cry as he walked out into the street, away from his life and the friends he has made, and started on his journey to find Twilight, his family. 'I love you Twilight,' Spike thought as he walked north out of Ponyville and into the unknown 'And I will find you and make sure you are safe.’
"Spike!?" Twilight yelled out in surprise, happiness, and joy all at once. A massive grin spreading across her face. She reached up and pulled her hood down.
"Hi Twilight!" Spike said, returning Twilight's smile. Twilight ran up to Spike and hugged him with all of her strength.
Spike's eyes went wide as the life was squeezed out of him. He grunted in pain and said breathlessly "Twilight, your killing me here!"
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't even notice!" Twilight exclaimed as she stopped hugging Spike. She took a step back and looked at him apologetically. "It's just that it's been a long time since I've seen a friendly face," she looked at Spike with a massive smile "And I missed you immensely."
"I missed you too, Twilight," Spike looked up at Twilight and hugged her. Twilight smiled as she returned the hug, this time not as hard.
Twilight began to cry as she hugged Spike. Streams of tears fell from her unbelieving eyes. They weren't tears of sadness or anger but of happiness.
Twilight broke away from the hug and looked at Spike with a big grin "Why did you come here?" Twilight's smile faulted as she said "It's not that I'm not happy about seeing you it's just ... why do you care?" Twilight looked at Spike, her smile gone and replaced with a sad frown.
Spike looked up at Twilight with a reassuring smile "Because I love you, Twilight. You are my family and more important to me than anything else in this world."
Twilight's frown was turned upside down as she looked at Spike with a happy and caring smile. Twilight's eyes sparkled with happiness 'Finally, someone cares about me. Finally, someone loves me.'
"Thank you Spike. I-" she took a deep breath "-I needed that."
Spike looked back a Twilight with a smile "Your welcome Twilight." He then asked with a look around the clearing "Where are we going?"
Twilight turned around towards the mountain and pointed at it with her hoof "Up there, I-" Twilight looked down at her hooves, her face twisted into an angry frown "-I need answers. I need to know if all of this pain and suffering was worth it"
Spike nodded and looked at Twilight, when he did he gasped. "Twilight! There's blood on your leg!" he said as he ran to Twilight to try to help her.
Twilight looked down at her leg and just sighed. She has seen so much of her own blood it doesn't even faze her anymore. She took of her saddlebags and threw off her cloak.
Spike looked at where Twilight's cutiemark used to be with horror."I-Is your cutiemark okay?" Spike asked, his face beginning to turn green.
"No it's not," Twilight said with a growl as she unwrapped the blood-red bandages. "In fact it's completely gone. All that's left is a massive gaping hole where it used to be," she finished unwrapping the bandages and floated out new clean ones.
Spike saw the massive crater in Twilight's side. It was bleeding profusely and he could even see some bone. "H-how did it happen?" Spike asked with a shaky voice. He turned away, not being able to look at the horror in front of him.
Twilight looked over at the green faced Spike and said with scowl "Celestia and Luna did it. Luna was the one who casted the spell but Celestia ordered Luna to do it." Twilight looked back at her flank and wrapped it up in fresh bandages.
Spike looked back at the wound, his anger building inside him. He balled his hands into fists, his pupils became snake-like slits, and he growled in anger. "How could they have done that to you! How could they betray you like that!" He turned around and with a yell of anger he punched the tree in front of him.
Twilight looked at Spike grimly as she put her cloak and saddlebags back on herself. "I know, I thought the same things. I don't know why they would try to kill me. And I don't know why they hate me so much but what I do know is that they aren't safe." Twilight looked over at Spike with a sad frown "I wish that I could turn back time and relive my old life. Relive the life where all of my friends and family supported me, loved me, and didn't try to kill me." Twilight began to cry. Tears rapidly flew down her face as she looked on in longing.
Spike ran over to Twilight and gave her a hug, Twilight returned the gesture. "All the girls are still your friends, I know that they would still be your friends no matter what you are doing or what you do," Spike looked up into the eyes of the crying Twilight above him "And even if the princesses want you dead you are still loved by your family and friends."
Twilight looked at Spike with a smile "Thanks Spike." She wiped the tears from her face and pulled away from the hug.
She looked up at the mountain with determination and a need for answers. "Are you with me?" Twilight asked Spike "Even if I have to do bad or even evil things?"
"Of course Twilight," Spike responded with a small grin on his face. He thought 'I'm finally with my family again!' He looked up at the cloaked figure of Twilight, her cloak flapping in the wind 'And she looks badass in that cloak of her's. Almost like a character in one of my comic books.' He laughed at the thought and said "I will be with you no matter what happens," He looked up at the mountain and asked "How are we going to climb it though?"
Twilight thought for a second, she really did not think about what she was going to do once she got to the mountain.
"Hmmm, we could fly up there," she looked back at Spike and frowned "But you don't have wings and I don't think I could fly up there with you on my back because of my injury." Twilight laughed a sad, broken laugh "The only reason I can walk right now without being in constant brutal pain is because I'm high on painkillers."
Spike looked up at Twilight with a confused look "That doesn't sound like something you should be laughing at."
Twilight looked back at Spike with a frown "I know." She shook her head and said "Come on, let's set up camp," she turned back towards the mountain and looked at it with determination. "I, no we, will climb that mountain and find out who or what is up there. Then we will find out why they want me up there," she looked back at Spike with a smile "And now I don't have to do it alone!"
Twilight layed down her blanket and curled on top of it. Spike took out a sleeping bag and slid himself into it.
Twilight smiled as she though 'Things are finally starting to look up,' her world slowly faded to darkness 'Things are finally starting to go my way.' Little did she know who she was going to find on the mountain and who she was going to have to fight and possibly even kill.
Twilight and Spike walked up over the hill and looked up at the massive fortress sticking out of the side of the mountain. It had held up well in its thousand years of abandonment, it was in one piece and none of the roof or towers seemed to have clasped or caved in.
"Twilight, that's the place, isn't?" Spike asked looking over to Twilight.
"Yes, I believe so," Twilight looked back at Spike with a worried frown "Be careful, we could find anything in there and I don't want you to get hurt."
"I will Twilight, I promise," Spike smiled at Twilight before looking back at the impressive building before them.
"Shall we?" Twilight said as she gestured towards the fortress.
Spike nodded "Yes let's."
Twilight nodded as they began to walk toward the building. Ten minutes of walking through foot thick snow later they were at the heavy iron gates of Dragon's Gate.
The gates were decorated with the image of a battle. Wolves, bats, and snakes were fighting tooth and nail against ponies wearing full plate armor. In the center of the two gates at eye level there was the face of a pony with two fangs coming out of its mouth.
Spike ran up and tried opening the gates. "Come on, open already!" he yelled out as he pushed on the gates, trying to open them. It was a valiant effort but it was in vain, the gates didn't budge a single inch.
Twilight couldn't help but laugh as she watched the small dragon try to the open metal doors almost ten times his size.
Spike stopped and looked at Twilight with frustration "What are you laughing at!?"
Twilight stopped laughing with some difficulty and smiled at Spike "I'm sorry Spike. It's nothing I promise." Spike was not convinced.
He walked over to Twilight, shaking his head, and asked "You think you can get it open?"
"I think so, shouldn't be to hard," Twilight said as both the doors and her horn were enveloped in a purple glow. Twilight grunted with effort, putting everything she had into opening the gates. The doors didn't budge even an inch.
Twilight finally gave up, panting as she did so. "Wow, how is that door not opening? It should of bee-" her sentence was cut of by a loud voice.
"What is your business here?" Twilight looked at where the voice was coming from. It was coming from the gate.
The vampony's eyes were glowing a blood-red. Twilight raised her voice and said "We wish to come inside this place!"
"What is the phrase we gave?" the head on the door asked. 'What?' Twilight thought, tilting her head 'What could it possibly mean ... wait,' suddenly a thought popped into her head 'It couldn't possibly be...'
She rose her voice and said "My time has come!"
The face on the door smiled and said "Well done Twilight Sparkle." The gates then opened wide to let the newcomers in.
Spike looked up at Twilight with a frown 'I hope she doesn't really mean that,' he thought back to the letter Twilight had gotten almost a week ago, the one that started this whole mess 'but even if she does I will walk by her side the whole way.'
Twilight squealed in glee as she ran in, Spike ran in behind her. As soon as they were in the gates behind them slammed shut with a massive "boom!" and they were shrouded in darkness.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Spike said as he was enveloped in black darkness.
"Everything's going to be fine," Twilight said in a reassuring voice as she cast a spell. From her horn bright white light shone out. "That's better, see? Things ar-" she was cut off by the sound of a explosion not faraway, the ground shook as the building was filled with the sound of the explosion.
Suddenly she was filled with with dread, the persistent feeling that somepony was going to die filled her.
"That's not good,' Spike said with a frightened frown.
"Maybe everything's not going to be okay," Twilight exclaimed with a frightened and grim frown "Get behind me." Spike did as Twilight instructed and walked behind the lavender alicorn.
Twilight knew that a fight in going to happen any second now so she decided to get familiar with her surroundings.
They were in a massive pillared hallway going on into the darkness. To both the left and the right there were smaller but still impressive hallways leading off into the distance. The tunnel was empty of anything. It's only inhabitants Twilight and Spike.
A second later bright, warm light flooded the hallway as guard pony after guard pony ran out of the hallway to her left. They were crystal royal guards. Finally the last soldier came out of the hallway. He looked at Twilight with his light blue eyes and their eyes met.
Twilight looked at him with fear, fear of what she was afraid he was here to do 'No! Why did you have to be here!' Twilight yelled in her head 'Why do you have to be here, Shining!'
Shining Armor looked at Twilight with sadness, his eyes filling with tears "Twilight?" All of the guards stopped what they were doing and looked at the robed figure standing before them.
Twilight stood her ground and just looked at her older brother with shock and fear. One of Shining's guards looked at Twilight and said "She fits the description sir, what should we do?"
Shining looked between Twilight and the guards until he finally sighed. "Celestia warned us it could be her," he wiped away the tears that had been welling up in his eyes and he looked at Twilight with anger and sadness at the same time "Did you raise the dead and attack Whinnyapolis?"
"I-I," she bowed her head and said "Yes, yes I did."
Shining was silent for a second before he punched the ground in anger and frustration and said "Why did it have to be you Twilight, why..." He raised his gun at Twilight and the other guards did the same. He looked at Twilight with tears rolling down his face "I'm sorry Twilight, I truely am. FIRE!"
Twilight screamed as she threw up a magical shield around Spike and herself, protecting herself from the fire. But she wasn't fast enough and a few bullets made it past her and into her shield.
'I should have expected this!' Twilight thought to herself with a sad and angry frown 'I should have expected that even my own family would try to kill me!'
"AHHH!" Spike cried out behind her in terror and in pain. Twilight looked back at Spike and froze. Her blood became ice and her ears fell flat against her head.
He was laying down in a rapidly expanding puddle of his own blood. He had multiple bullet wounds all over his body. He wasn't just hit by one bullet, or two, but four. The worst of these was in his chest. It went straight through his body right where his vital organs would be.
"NO!" Twilight yelled as she turned around and kneeled next to the bleeding dragon. She quickly got out her bandages and wrapped him up in them, using all of them in the process.
'No no no no! I won't let you die!' but now that she had used her bandages there was nothing for her to do but wait and watch.
Her face twisted into a scowl of pure hatred 'I will make you all pay for hurting Spike!'
"Hold your fire!" Shining yelled and all of the guards stopped shooting and looked into the cloud of dust that obscured their vision. As the dust settled they saw Twilight kneeling down, in a puddle of blood.
"Looks like we can hurt her!" one of the guards said "Maybe this won't be so hard after a-" he was suddenly cut off. He bagan thrashing around, clawing at his throat. His face one of true horror. Then suddenly his neck was twisted violently to the side accompanied by a loud crack. He instantly stopped struggling and fell limp onto the ground.
The other guards all looked at their fallen comrade with shock and fear. The guard closest to him took his pulse. "Sir, he's dead." They all looked and the still kneeling figure of Twilight Sparkle in the puddle of blood.
"Dear Celestia," Shining said as he looked at his falled brotherin. He looked at Twilight "Celestia was right, she is evil." Twilight stood up, blood dripping from her belly and her legs. Shinings eyes widened as he saw the figure laying down besides Twilight's blood soaked hooves. He recognized him even through all of the blood soaked bandages covering his entire body.
Twilight's voice rang out, filled with unadulterated rage "You will all pay for what you have done!" She turned around and they all saw her face. It was half covered in dragon blood, her eyes glaring at them with a hatred none of the guards or Shining had ever seen.
Shining yelled "FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" all of the guards obeyed and brought their guns to bear. They all fired in unison but at the last second all seventeen of the remaining guard's guns were flung and they shot themselves in the head. Blood sprayed from their heads in a massive cloud of red liquid and gore.
Shining screamed in horror, Twilight on the other hand laughed. "And now it's your turn brother!" The shield went down and the blood covered Twilight ran out. She tackled the stunned Shining Armor to the ground. She stood over her brother and looked into his terrified eyes.
"You are not my brother! You all an evil murdering monster! I am doing a service to society by killing you and your guards!" She then raised her hoof and stomped down on her brothers head. It exploded into blood and gore as her hoof pushed straight through Shining's skull and to the ground.
She stepped back and looked at what she has done. She then realized how she had laughed as she had killed. Her face turned green as she looked at the nineteen dead body's in front of her, all killed by her hooves. "What have I done!?" She yelled, tears forming in her eyes "I'm a murderer! A fucking murderer!"
She kneeled down next to her brother and cried. She cried until a voice behind her called out "But you aren't, you were only defending your friend, someone you considered family."
Twilight swung around ready for a fight. She then saw five robbed figures, all standing in a line. The one in the center walked forward, pulled down his hood, and looked straight into Twilight's eyes "Hello Twilight Sparkle, we've been expecting you."
"Who are you and what do you want!" Twilight yelled, tears flowing down her face.
"We are five of the six leaders of the Necromantic Council," the pony closest to Twilight said. He was an elderly grey stallion with a massive grey beard.
The pony next to him walked forward, pulling her hood down as she did. She was a young pony, no older than twenty-five. Her coat was a light blue color and she had emerald green eyes. Her mane was grey with dark blue stripes.
She smiled reassuringly as she said "Twilight, it's okay take your time, we will wait until you're stable."
Twilight nodded and cried for another ten minutes untill she ran out of tears to cry. "Okay, I'm better now," Twilight said wiping away her tears.
"You sure?" the light blue unicorn asked.
"I'm sure," Twilight responded looking up at the six unicorns.
"Unfortunately the head of the Council couldn't come. He had to stay back in Zuhause des Nekromanten," the light blue unicorn began.
Twilight looked at the blue pony with a confused tilt of her head "What is Zuhause des Nekromanten? And what dialect is that?"
The same blue mare looked at Twilight with a small smile "Zuhause des Nekromanten is where our people live. A place where Necromancers like ourselves can live in peace and practice our craft without fear. As for what language its name comes from it was our old language. Unfortunately though it's been lost to the winds of time."
She shook her head and said "Where's my manners. My name is Sapphire Rain."
The elderly pony spoke up and said "And my name is Crystal Ember," he pointed to the next pony over. The pony took his hood off and underneath their was a red pony with an orange mane. "And this is Lucky Apple," Lucky Apple smiled and waved at Twilight.
Twilight gasped "You're the pony that lead me into the Everfree Forest!" Lucky Apple chuckled with a smile "Yes I was, and sorry for hitting you with a rock, I couldn't get your attention any other way."
Twilight shook her head "No it's okay, I understand."
Crystal Ember, moving along with his introductions gestured to the last two in the group "The others wish not to have their identity shown to you, I am very sorry."
"And you already know my name it seems like," Twilight said looking at Crystal Ember.
"Yes that is correct Twilight Sparkle," Crystal Ember said as he looked back at Twilight.
Twilight nodded her head. She looked at over at Spike with a sad frown, tears falling from her eyes.
She walked over to him and took his pulse. Even before she put her magic over his neck she knew what she was going to find. There was no pulse, no breathing, no life. Spike was dead.
"Ohh, S-Spike," Twilight stammered out before she fell onto him, hugging his lifeless, blood covered body in her arms.
She stayed like that, crying for what seemed like forever until she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Sapphire Rain said to Twilight in carrying tone "Come on, leave him. It won't help anything. It'll just make you more miserable," she sighed with a sad frown and said "I know from experience."
Twilight looked up into the young mare's eyes and asked "Y-You do?"
"Yes Twilight Sparkle, I have more than enough experience with the death of friends and family," she sighed and began to speak. The other necromancers all sighed in unison having heard the story many a time. Twilight on the other hoof listened intently.
"When I was just a filly Celestia found out that my parents were necromancers and do you know what she did? She sentenced them to death, all records of them were to be erased, anyone who knew them were to be killed or have their memory of them erased. In the middle of the night twenty-four guards came into my house and shot my parents in their sleep. Soon after they found me, cowering in my closet. When they found me they beat me. Then when they were done with me they ran off, laughing as they went."
The mare growled in anger, rage filling her eyes "They didn't laugh long for I was a very powerful necromancer, especially for a filly. I summoned an army of nearly a hundred skeletons and sent them to avenge my parents. They did as I commanded and killed all twenty-four. Then I for the next three days I lived in my house, limping around until-" she gestured to the other necromancers in the room "-Some of my parents old friends came and saved me. They brought me to Zuhause des Nekromanten and after many years of training and honing my skills. I'm now one of the most powerful necromancers alive."
Crystal Ember then added "Come on, let go, it's not healthy to stay in a place like this."
Twilight let one last sob escape her mouth before she wiped her eyes and let go of Spike's body. She then stood up, completely covered in blood. She took a shaky, deep breath and said "Okay." She turned around to look at the other necromancers in the room and asked "Why did you want me here?"
Crystal Ember nodded, stroking his beard with his magic as he did so "I was wondering when you were going to ask that."
He looked at Twilight and said "Because Twilight, we want you to fulfill your potential. You have had a great affinity towards the dark arts ever since you were birthed into this world. We saw this and gave you the book when you were young to see just how powerful you were, you exceeded our expectations ten fold." He smiled at Twilight warmly and continued "You weren't just able to cast necromantic spells but you were good at it. You were even back then, when you were just six, more powerful than most necromancers are by the time they die. This was extremely promising so we decided to wait until you were twenty-five then tell you to come here so we could see just how powerful you are now as a full-grown adult." His smile somehow got even larger "But we have already seen what you can do and it is extraordinary. You are the most powerful necromancer sence the Lich King himself, possibly even more powerful."
Sapphire Rain then spoke up and added "The only problem is that your power is directionless. You don't yet know how to properly handle necromantic magic effectively."
"You're like someone trying to learn how to sword fight. You may be extremely strong and when your hits hit you do massive damage but an experienced sword fighter would be able to easily take you down."
She looked at Twilight with a smile "We want to teach you how to use your necromancy. We want you to reach your full potential."
Crystal Ember asked "Do you accept our invitation to join other necromancers like yourself? To go to a place where you are accepted and encouraged instead of constantly being hunted down and your life and the lives of your friends constantly being in danger?"
Twilight though 'This place I will be safe, this place I will be accepted and loved.' Twilight looked back at Crystal Ember with the best smile she could give "I gladly accept."
Sapphire Rain and Lucky Apple both ran to Twilight and gave her a hug, both getting covered with blood in the process.
Sapphire Rain smiled at Twilight and said "I'm so happy you said yes. I like you and I feel like we could get along quite well together!"
Twilight smiled back and said "I hope we can become friends too, Sapphire," she frowned and said "I'm going to need some new friends now that all of my old ones are dead, trying to kill me, or I'm never going to be able to see again."
Sapphire frowned at Twilight and said "I know it's hard but if you push through you will come to the light at the end of the tunnel, I promise."
Twilight gave Sapphire the best smile she could give and said "Thank you."
Crystal Ember called out to the group of ponies all hugging and said "We should get going. If we stay here for to long I bet some more guards will show up wondering why their prince had been gone for so long."
Lucky Apple pulled away from the other two "He's right, we should get going."
Twilight, Sapphire, and Lucky Apple all pulled away from each other. Twilight, Sapphire, and Lucky all ran up and rejoined the rest of the group. They then walked of together, talking about themselves and getting to know each other just a bit more.
Twilight layed on her blanket inside of her tent. She was twisting and turning, trying to fall asleep, but she couldn't. To much has happened in the last few days to give her any rest.
Twilight gave up trying to fall asleep and thought about where they were. She was still in the hallway that they were in yesterday. It was really a tunnel that goes on for almost fifty miles into the north until it goes up and into the outside world. 'I hope we get out of this tunnel soon, I want to see the sky again,' Twilight shook her head with a sigh 'I still don't know where Zuhause des Nekromanten is or if there are other necromancers waiting for us there, I should ask the others some time.'
Twilight sighed and got to her hooves. She walked out of her tent to stretch her legs a bit and get some fresh air. As soon as her body was through she heard a mare's voice called out to her "You can't sleep too?"
Twilight looked at where the voice came from and found Sapphire Rain laying down and looking over at her. "Ya, I-" Twilight paused, biting her lip "-I have a lot on my mind." Twilight walked over to where Sapphire was laying and sat down next to her.
Sapphire sighed and said "I get it. A lot has happened to you in the last few weeks." She looked over at Twilight and smiled encouragingly "But this also means that you are strong. Most ponies would have given up by now."
Twilight looked over at Sapphire with a small smile "Thanks." Twilight looked down at her hooves "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Sure, ask ahead," Sapphire responded with a small smile.
Twilight took a deep breath. "Am I a good pony?" Twilight asked, tears forming in her eyes. Sapphire looked over at Twilight bewilderedly, her mouth hung agape. "I don't know if I am anymore. I killed my own brother, along with 18 other innocent ponies just doing their jobs. I'm a murderer and I-" she was cut off by a blue hoof covering her mouth.
"No, that's not true. You're not a murderer, not one at all. You acted in self-defense. You were defending yourself and Spike from an enemy who was trying to kill you! You are a good pony, a good pony who was backed into a corner and had to show its teeth," Sapphire gave Twilight a hug and said "You are probably one of the best ponies alive. No bullshit, I promise."
Twilight looked over at Sapphire, smiled, and then returned the hug "Thank you so much. You just helped me more than you know." Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes and looked over at Sapphire "Can I ask you another question?"
"Of course," Sapphire exclaimed with an encouraging smile "Ask anything you need."
Twilight looked over at Sapphire with a small frown "Do you always swear so much?"
Sapphire laughed and said "Yep, I swear a fuck ton!"
Twilight shook her head with a sigh "I'm gonna have to get use to that, aren't I?"
"Yep!" Sapphire said with a chuckle. She looked at Twilight with a smile "But I can try to lessen the use of curse words if you want."
"Yes, I would like that."
Twilight and Sapphire broke away from their hug together. Twilight looked over at Sapphire and asked "What are you doing out here?"
Sapphire's smile became a frown, her eyes became dull and her ears fell against her head "I couldn't sleep. When ever I close my eyes all I can see is my parents, dead, laying together, soaking in their own blood..." She shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks "I'm sorry just give me a minute." She then turned away from the stunned Twilight and let the tears fall. She cried silently and every time a tear fell from her face it hit the stone ground with a small "droop!" sound.
Twilight sprung into action and hugged the crying and shaking mare before her. Sapphire wiped her eyes and turned back to Twilight, hugged her back, and burying her face into Twilight's coat.
A few seconds later Sapphire broke away from the hug and tried her best to smile at Twilight. She had already regained her composure, looking just as she had before she began to cry. "Thank you, I'm better now. It's just ... It's hard to think about them without crying."
"I understand," Twilight looked down at her hooves, her ears falling back against her head "I've lost family too."
She shook her head and looked back up at Sapphire with a sad frown "I wish we were able to do more for Spike. We just left him there to rot, not even a shallow grave or anything," her eyes widened with a thought "What if I could bring him back? What if I could use the spell Life..."
Sapphire shook her head with a frown "Don't try it. You won't be able to cast it and all you will do is just sit there, get exhausted, and look at your dead loved ones for hours. It's a waste of time and energy and all you will do is get yourself more depressed than when you went in."
Twilight frowned, her hopes and dreams being crushed instantly "I'm guessing you tried?"
"Yes, many times actually," Sapphire looked away from Twilight "and every time I just got more and more depressed and hopeless. Eventually I gave up trying, probably one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life."
Twilight sighed "It was a thought at least."
"I'm sorry Twilight, I know that you two were really close but you need to move on, you need to let go. All that holding on will do is give you more pain," Sapphire shook her head "Take it from me, I've been through more loss and pain than most of Equestria I bet."
"I will, it's just hard to just forget." Twilight said as she looked over at Sapphire.
"No don't forget them, never forget, instead remember them but don't let that loss hurt you. I don't think Spike would want you to live in misery because of him, right?"
"Ya, your right," Twilight smiled at Sapphire "Thank you so much Sapphire. This has helped me immensely."
Sapphire smiled "Thanks, I'm glad I could help." She levitated out a clock on it said the time three thirty. "We should go and get some shut-eye. We will need to be rested for tomorrow, there is some stuff we need to talk to you about."
Twilight nodded and with some worry said "It's nothing bad right?"
"No, of course not," she stood up and walked over to her tent "We just need to talk." She then slid into her tent without a sound.
Twilight smiled 'She's right I should go get some sleep.' She stood up and walked over to her tent. When she got in she curled up on her blanket and within seconds she had fallen peacefully asleep.
Twilight woke up with a tap on the shoulder. "Wake up, breakfast is ready!" It was the voice of a young stallion. Twilight opened her eyes and was face to face with Lucky Apple. Lucky Apple smiled at her "Good to see you got some sleep. Come on, let's go get breakfast, shall we?" With that he walked out of Twilight's tent and back into the tunnel.
Twilight yawned and slowly got to her feet. She groggily walked outside of her tent, still half asleep, and looked around. Everyone else was up and already sitting around the fire. There was a spot for her right next to Sapphire and directly in front of Crystal Ember.
She walked up and took a seat. She looked at the fire with a tired smile and asked "What's for breakfast?"
One of the ponies who didn't tell Twilight their name responded "It's just plain old apples," he then levitated out three apples and dropped them right at Twilight's hooves.
"Thanks," Twilight said as she levitated an apple up to her mouth and took a bite. It wasn't as flavorful as Applejack's apples, not by a long shot, but it was still better than the week old hay she had been eating for the last few days.
Twilight thought longingly about her old friends. 'I wish I could see then again. Just one time as if nothing has happened,' she looked down at her hooves darkly, taking another bite of her apple 'But things have happened, things have changed, I have changed. Things can never go back to the way things once were, no matter how much I want them to.'
The group sat in silence as they ate. When they all had finished Crystal Ember broke the silence. "Now to the main course," he looked at Twilight "We would like to tell you about your new life."
Twilight nodded "Okay, what is it that you want to tell?"
"From now on until you finish your studies I will be your personal tutor. If you have any questions about necromancy just ask and I will answer. When we get to Zuhause des Nekromanten you will live with Sapphire until we get you a place of your own." Sapphire looked over at Twilight and smiled brightly, Twilight looked back at her with a smile of her own.
"When you get there you will most likely be swarmed by a crowd of onlookers, you are somewhat of a celebrity in Zuhause des Nekromanten."
Twilight looked back at Crystal Ember and tilted her head in confusion "I'm a celebrity, why?"
"Your coming has been awaited since you were young, ever since we found out how powerful you were. And when you were crowned the Princess of Friendship our people wanted to see you even more than before. You give our people hope, something that has been in low supply for hundreds of generations. You give them hope that we really can be good and that what the princesses tell the world are all lies and deceit."
Twilight looked at Crystal for a couple of seconds, stunned. "I ... okay," She looked at the old unicorn in front of her and asked "Do I really give them such hope?"
"Yes Twilight, you really do." Twilight shook her head as she looked down at her hooves with a small frown. She had something on her mind but decided against asking it, she didn't think it was the proper time. Something must have shown on her face though because Crystal asked "Do you have something to say, Twilight?"
Twilight sighed and nodded "I, yes I do," she looked up at Crystal with a sad, questioning frown on her face "I have to ask you something, is necromancy evil?"
He shook his head with a small frown "No, it's not. Necromancer itself is not evil and those who practice it are not inherently evil either," his frown got larger and his eyes took on a darker tone. Everyone but Twilight and Crystal Ember looked down at their hooves, they all knew what was coming. Twilight however was very confused by their reaction, looking at them with a confused frown. "The princesses however, for whatever reason believe that necromancy is one of the greatest evils in the world and must be eradicated at all costs. For the last few thousand years, ever since they got into power there has been a massive and widespread genocide all across Equestria, directed at us, necromancers."
There was silence for many seconds as Twilight tried to understand what was just said to her. She now understood the reactions of the others around her. Her ears were firmly against her head and she had a disbelieving look on her face. Her mouth was agape in pure disbelief and horror. "W-What? Genocide..." she shook her head, tears falling from her eyes "How could Celestia..."
Sapphire suddenly spoke up, malice in every word she spoke. "Celestial has been doing this for thousands of years, Twilight. She has killed hundreds of thousands of necromancers, maybe even millions. We try to save as many as possible but sometimes Celestia gets to them first," she sighed and looked over at Twilight with an empathetic frown "I bet it's hard for you to hear this. The person you have been looking up to since you were just a little filly turns out to be one of the greatest mass murderers in pony history."
"It is, it's really hard," Twilight said as she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at all five of the other necromancers before her. She looked at them grimly and said "When I first used necromancy again back in Whinnyapolis I thought I was doing something evil, that I was evil," she looked down at her hooves and shook her head "But now I know that I was being lied to, that necromancy is not evil. Now I know the truth." She looked at Sapphire Rain and then to Crystal Ember with an angry determination in her eyes "I now know who truly is the evil one. I will do everything in my power to end this, I promise."
Crystal Ember looked at her with a small, sad smile "I'm glad you want to help. But you can't, you need to learn the proper way to cast necromantic spells first. Then after you learn that I will allow you to leave and help save innocent ponies lives."
Twilight just sighed and shook her head "One more thing, how many ponies are there in Zuhause des Nekromanten? A thousand, a couple hundred, how many?"
Crystal responded with a smile accompanied by a small chuckle "I'm sorry Twilight but those guesses are way off. There is actually about a million, I think just over if I remember correctly."
"A million! What? How? I thought that it was just a fortress where you could learn necromancy, not a whole city!"
Lucky Apple spoke up and looked over at Twilight "It originally was just a fortress but about three thousand years ago the necromancers of Zuhause des Nekromanten saw the suffering and pain of their necromancer brethren and decided to act. They began finding those who practiced necromancy and invited them to Zuhause des Nekromanten. Over time more and more necromancers came to Zuhause des Nekromanten and slowly its population grew until eventually it got to where it is today, over a million necromancers in a single city. It honestly makes sense, it's the only place our kind can live in peace without constant fear of death."
Twilight nodded "It does make sense when you put it that way."
After a few seconds of silent Crystal Ember spoke into the silence and said "We should get going. We will never reach Zuhause des Nekromanten sitting down, will we?"
Everyone nodded and went to pack up their things and take down their tents. Twilight looked at those around her with a smile 'I have finally found a place where I am accepted, I have finally found friends.'
Twilight looked down at the city below her with wonder. It was at the edge of a roaring, black sea. The city was a massive maze of countless roads and buildings. Within the city there were seven walls cutting the city into seven parts. There was not a single skyscraper in the entire city, instead all the buildings were shorter, similar to those in Canterlot but instead of white they all were black. At the edge of the city on a tall hill overlooking the sea was a massive fortress. It was easily bigger than all of Ponyville and it went up hundreds of feet into the sky.
Twilight looked at the city in awe, her mouth agape and her eyes wide. When she had heard of the city she had never thought it would be something like this. "That's Zuhause des Nekromanten, isn't it?"
Sapphire smiled "Yep, that's it! The great city of the necromancers, and the capital of the Letztereich!" She turned her head, looked at Twilight's face, and chuckled. "I had the same reaction when I saw the place for the first time. It sounded too good to be true," she grinned widely with overwhelming happiness "But it is just as real as you or me!"
Twilight's shock turned into a massive grin "This is almost too good to be true! An entire city of people just like me, a city of necromancers." She smiled at Sapphire with a massive grin "I can't wait to get in there, meet some new ponies, and learn some necromancy!"
Crystal Ember smiled at Twilight "Then let's get going, if we hurry up we might be able to practice a little when we get to the castle."
Twilight looked over at him with shock "I'm going to live in the castle? The really big one right there?" she gestured towards the massive fortress on the hill.
"Yes Twilight, you will be. All of us here live there and we would like you to be near us. You will be able to leave and go out into the city anytime you want, we would just like you close in case the worst happens," he shook his head "But that won't happen, I'm sure of it."
Twilight nodded and looked back over at Crystal Ember with a tilt of her head "And what is 'the worst'?"
He sighed sadly "Celestia finding our location and attacking, that is the worst thing that could happen to us. But we have been preparing for thousands of years for such an event. We have countless magical artifacts. We have millions of weapons stockpiled. We have mass graves of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions. And every single one of those dead bodys can become a soldier who will fight for us. Even if Celestia attacked she would have to fight an army of the undead millions strong and then fight another million angry necromancers."
Twilight nodded with a frown "That does sound bad. Really, really bad in fact," she sighed "Let's just hope that never happens."
Twilight looked at the massive black gates of the city. They were plain black with no sort of decoration on them, they were pearly functional.
She looked up and saw a guard pony looking down at them. Around him were hundreds of skeletons all holding bows and aiming them directly at Twilight and the others. "What is your business here!" he yelled at the group down below.
Crystal Ember lowered his hood and looked up at the guard pony "I am Crystal Ember of the Necromantic Counsel and I order you to open these gates, I have a newcomer!"
The guard pony instantly lost his aggressive tone and saluted "Yes sir, I'm sorry sir!" All of the skeletons lowered their bows in unison and stood at attention. The gates opened and Twilight noticed that it was being opened up by ten skeletons. They then all walked through the massive gates and into the city beyond.
Lucky Apple looked at Twilight as they walked through the city with a smile "Welcome to Zuhause des Nekromanten, your new home!" He then did a sweeping movement with his left hoof over the city. As he did this the gates behind them slammed shut with a loud "Bang!"
Twilight smiled at him warmly "Thank you, all of you," she looked around her at all five of the ponies around her "For this opportunity. If it wasn't for all of you I would never had found this place, I wouldn't have found the place I belong. Because of you I found my home."
Sapphire Rain smiled at Twilight "I'm glad you're so happy," she laughed "I know I am!"
"I'm glad your happy as well," Crystal Ember said to Twilight. He took a glance at a nearby clock tower "We should get going. The King wanted to have a council meeting when we got back."
Everyone in the group except Twilight nodded. They then all walked down the street together toward the massive fortress in the distance.
"I thought that there was going to be a crowd. If so where are they?" Twilight said gesturing to the empty streets around them. She yawned "I'm not complaining, I'm really tired and dealing with a crowd sounds exhausting but still, its honestly creeping me out."
Crystal Ember looked at Twilight and said "It's a Wednesday, a day of prayer. Everypony is probably at one of the churches praying to god."
Twilight looked over at Crystal Ember with a very confused look "God? I've only heard of goddesses," she shook her head "And I'm almost positive I've read every holy book in existence."
"The religion practiced here isn't practiced anywhere else in the world. It makes sense that you've never heard of it," Sapphire said with a smile.
Twilight nodded "Oh okay, that makes sense, thanks for telling me that."
Crystal Ember smiled "No problem!"
Five unicorns and one alicorn walked into the fortress. It was only six o'clock but to Twilight it felt like it was midnight. They have been walking nonstop all day and it doesn't help much that she hasn't been sleeping very well the last few days either. Twilight yawned "I'm really tired, I could go for a nap right now."
Sapphire smiled "Well then isn't this your lucky day! Were going to your room and there you can sleep all you want. I'll have to go though, I need to be at the council meeting," she smiled "Also you're gonna have a nice and comfy bed so that'll be good!"
Twilight smiled at her "Yes that does sound good. Let's go."
Crystal Ember looked at Sapphire "Don't take to long, what ever he's got to say is going to be important."
Sapphire looked at him "I know, I won't be too long, I promise."
Twilight waved at the others with a smile and said "See ya, good night!" With that the group headed their separate ways. Twilight and Sapphire one way and Crystal Ember, Lucky Apple, and the other two another.
Twilight walked with Sapphire for only a few silent minutes until Sapphire turned and opened a door. Inside was a spacious room with two beds, one by the window and the other by the door.
"This is our room. Gone are the days of sleeping on that blanket, now you will have a nice bed! We will be living here for..." she looked back at Twilight and stopped talking with a smile. Twilight was passed out, curled up on the bed next to the window "Wow, you must've been tired."
She walked over to Twilight's bed and pulled the covers onto her. Sapphire looked at her for a couple of seconds 'She looks so cute when she sleeps.' She smiled and headed to the door. "Good night, Twilight," she said in a whisper before she silently closed the door behind her and walked off to go to the meeting.
Sapphire Rain looked up at the large pine door leading into the meeting room. She frowned. 'Well, it shouldn't take to long," she though shaking her head. She walked up and opened the door and was greeted by incessant but yet civil yelling.
Everypony else was seated at a long dark oak table stretching out away from Sapphire. The room was lit by large chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. On the walls were large banners displaying the necromancer flag. The flag had a black background with a large crowned eagle. In one claw was a sword, in the other was book.
On the left of the table sat Lucky Apple and Sona Gizmane and on the right sat Crystal Ember and Edhoof Necrom, at the head of the table sat an elderly stallion named Somvus Assenhoof, the king of the necromancers.
"QUIET!" Sapphire yelled, her voice louder than all of theirs ten fold. They all became silent and looked at the newcomer with shocked expressions. Sapphire sat down next to Lucky Apple, enjoying the silence "Ah, that's better," she looked over at the king and asked "Now can we please start the meeting." She turned her head back towards the others in the room, locking eyes with each and every one of them "Quietly this time."
The King nodded "Yes let's," he stood up, grunting as he did so, and said too them all "The main purpose of this meeting is of the manner of Twilight Sparkle." Sapphire and everyone else looked at the king, knowing that this was going to be important. "She is, as you all know, possibly one of if not the most powerful necromancer to ever walk this earth. If we are to end our people's suffering we must use her to our greatest advantage."
He sighed "I'm going to tell you all something that may shock you all."
"And what might this stunning revaluation be?" Sona Gizmane asked raising an eyebrow.
"Twilight Sparkle shows aspects of all three of the Necromantic bloodlines. That includes the Funkeln family."
Sapphire was the first to speek up "You can't be serious, she can't be Funkeln, they all died!"
Somvus nodded "Yes, I know this. That is why she is so interesting. If she is a descendent then that means we have been wrong about the legend of the downfall of Nördlichland for over two millennia. We will also have a true successor to the Nekromanten throne! If she isn't though then she possess power unmatched by any necromancer since The Lich King Maradicta."
"Oh my lord," Crystal Ember said "That - that is some of the largest news I've heard ... ever!"
"There is something else though," the King began "We cannot tell Twilight of her possible descendancy from The Lich King."
"And why can't we do that? Sapphire Rain asked.
"Because I don't know how it would effect Twilight and we don't even know if she is yet. Better not to get her hopes up if it turns out she isn't a Funkeln," the King answered.
"How are we going to learn whether or not she is a Funkeln?" Lucky Apple asked.
"A good question Lucky Apple," Assenhoof nodded "First we will give her Maradicta's sword. As you all know the sword has an enchantment that makes it so that only Maradicta or his direct descendents can wield the sword. That will be the first test. If she can use the sword then we will know of for certain that she is a Funkeln. After that she will go into the Labrinthium to train her for her future and the war that is bound to come eventually."
Lucky Apple looked at the king with a tilt of his head "Did I hear that correctly, did you just say 'war?'"
The king looked at him "Yes, we will have to go to war with Equestria if we want to survive, as much as we don't want to. We have prepared to ask for peace, for forgiveness of our ancestors sins, but that won't be possible. When I got word that the princesses attempted to end Twilight's life, and almost succeeded, I saw that peace is not an option. If Celestia is willing to murder somepony she practically raised, no questions asked, then what will stop her from killing us all?"
He shook his head "We must strike first, we must attack, or we will die!" he stomped his hoof on the table making the table shake "I will not let our people die! I will not let our people suffer in Equestria any longer! The princesses are killing them, it's a goddamn genocide!"
He took a deep breath "In Equestria they have stepped up their game, anypony who is even just suspected of practicing necromancy is being killed. Princess Celestia has created a secret police force called S.M.I.L.E. whose entire job is to find necromancers, exterminate them, and make sure that the general Equestrian public doesn't find out. A day ago I got a letter from one of our spies telling me they he had to kill sixteen, sixteen ponies in just a single day! The princesses are killing hundreds of necromancers every week! We have to end this before they're all dead!"
They all looked at the king in stunned silence. Sapphire brought a hoof to her agape mouth "Oh my god."
The king looked at her with a frown "I'm sorry, you don't like it, I don't like it, but it must be done."
Sapphire looked at Somvus and asked "What about when Twilight finds out about her descendancy from Maradicta? That is if she is one that is."
"If she learns that she is one tell her the truth. Tell her that she is a Funkeln and that we were keeping the information from her, waiting for the opertoon moment to enlighten her. Let's just pray to Gott that she doesn't find out until we tell her."
Princess Celestia paced around her room deep in thought. 'Where are they? I've already invaded the north many times, they would quickly be discovered if they were in Equestria, so where are they?
The door to her room opened and in came a dark blue alicorn. "Sister, you should get some sleep," Luna said walking over to Celestia and wrapping her arms around her older sister "It's not healthy to spend hours pacing and thinking these dark thoughts."
"But I can't, there is too much to think about, too much to do." she sighed "I'm scared, scared that they might be back. That in the last few hundred years they have been silently building up in the dark, preparing for war," she looked at Luna with a frown "And what of Twilight? Where is she?" She began to cry "I'm scared that they might have her. That they might be doing evil things to her. She might be dead!"
Luna shook her head "I hope she's not, the elements of harmony may be our only hope, especially if he is back."
Celestia's face contorted into one of pure rage "If he is back then I can't wait until I can finally get revenge for what he has done!"
Luna squeezed her sister tighter "Celestia, don't let the rage fuel you, don't let it control you, that's what he wants."
"I know, it is just so hard after what he did," Celestia said with a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down.
Luna sighed "Something has been troubling me dear sister, S.M.I.L.E, is really needed? All it's doing is killing and-" she let go of Celestia and looked directly into her eyes "-it just doesn't feel right."
Celestia met her gaze and frowned "It is needed, Luna. We must exterminate this plague on the world before it spreads and kills everything we hold dear," she sighed "I don't like it either but we have to do it, for the greater good of Equestria and her people."
Celestia was about to say something else when her door was flung open and Prince Blueblood ran in holding a letter. "Princesses, we just got this from the soldiers up by Whinnyapolis," he levitated the letter over to the princesses. Celestia grabbed it and began reading the letter.
Celestia read the letter over and over, not believing what was on the letter "No!" she yelled terror, sadness, and disbelief in her voice.
"Celestial, what is it?" Luna asked, worry filling her voice.
"T-Thay found Spike's body in Dragon's Gate," she looked at Luna, tears falling from her eyes "He's dead."
Luna looked at Celestia then to the letter then back to Celestia "This is much worse than we at first believed. We must prepare Equestria for war."
Celestia shook her head "No, first we must save Twilight, the letter said that there was a sighting of her and Spike heading north together. We need the elements of harmony or we will lose this war." She looked at her sister "And I will not let harmony fall to disharmony, not until the day I die!"
Applejack looked at her Dinner with a frown "I'm not hungry," she stood up "I'm gonna go and get some shut-eye." She began for her room when the voice of her little sister spoke up from behind her. "Applejack," Apple Bloom said from across the table "Yah should eat that, you havn't been eating much lately and it's beginnin to worry me."
Applejack turned around and looked at her sister with a reassuring smile "I'm fine sugarcube, I'm just not hungry."
Apple Bloom just shook her head with a sad frown. Applejack sighed as she walked over and sat down next to Apple Bloom with a small smile "What is it? Ya can tell me."
Apple Bloom looked up at Applejack with a frown "Applejack, ya realize that yer not fooling anypony with that. Everypony knows yer hurtin," she hugged her older sister, Applejack returned the gesture "Ah just wish you'd let us help."
Applejack let go of her little sister and looked at her with a frown "I'm sorry Apple Bloom. Ah just don't want anypony to be worried about me." She stood up and looked at Apple Bloom with a small smile "Ah'll try ta be better, okay?"
"Okay Applejack, I just wished-" Apple Bloom was suddenly cut off by a massive bang on the door. "What in tarnation!?" Applejack yelled as she turned towards the door.
She ran over to the door and opened it. Outside the door was a dazed mail delivery pony on her front porch. The pony shook her head and quickly get back to her hooves and yelled "You have mail!" She then dug out a letter and a newspaper out of her saddlebag and handed them to Applejack.
Applejack smiled "Thanks Ditzy Doo," she then gave her a concerned frown "Ya okay? It sounded like ya hit this here door real hard." Ditzy Doo smiled brightly at Applejack "No, I am perfectly fine. By the way you're welcome!" she then turned around and flew off into the sunset, hitting a few apple trees as she did so.
Applejack shook her head as she turned around and walked back towards the diner table "They really shouldn't let her do that there job. She'll hurt herself one of these days."
Apple Bloom shrugged "If she gets the job done and she likes it then Ah don't see no problem." Applejack just shook her head and sat down across the table from Apple Bloom and took out the newspaper, setting the letter down for latter.
Applejack opened it up to the front page. She gasped as she read the big bolded letters on the top of the page. Prince Shining Armor goes missing. Ponies going missing left and right. Are we safe?
"What is it?" Apple Bloom asked, hearing Applejacks gasp. When Apple Bloom saw Applejack's face her own filled with worry "Applejack?"
Applejack reread the newspaper header again and again. Her mouth was agape in shock and her ears were firmly against her head 'First Twilight and Spike, and now her brother as well? What da hell going on?'
She looked at Apple Bloom and though 'She can't know about this. Ah'm her big sister, Ah need to keep her safe.' She stood up and grabbed the letter "Ah gotta go Apple Bloom. I'm gonna be in ma room." She began towards the stairs when Apple Bloom yelled "Applejack, what is it? Come on, talk to me here!"
Applejack looked back at her sister "Ah'm sorry, I've gotta go," and with that she ran off up the stairs and into her room. She then locked the door behind her.
Applejack walked over to her bed and sat down. 'I hate it when Ah need to do that,' she thought with a sigh. Applejack put the newspaper on her lap and looked down at it with a frown.
Prince Shining Armor went missing last week along with some of his most trusted royal guards. They were sent on a mission into the frozen north of Equestria after a recent sighting of a monster in the area. This has led to mass panic in the Crystal Empire as the fear that that this monster (some are calling it "The Totenberg Monster") has killed their beloved prince. The princesses have yet to comment on the matter.
Applejack looked down at the paper with a worried frown 'Ah hope he's okay,' she shivered 'And ah really hope Sombra isn't back. If he is back and we don't have Twilight...' She shook her head 'But he's not back, he can't be.' She looked back down at the paper and continued.
All across the nation hundreds of missing persons reports have been filed, a seven hundred percent increase since last month. The princesses say that there is nothing to worry about but even with this reassurance many ponies still fear that they or one of their loved ones could be next. The FPIA is currently investigating these recent disappearances and have been on record saying quote "We're on their trail, we'll get'em soon." There a few ponies pointing the blame on Princess Celestia and Luna, even a few who say they are the ones behind the disappearances! There is no evidence of this being the case. Let's just hope that soon this will all be over.
Applejack turned the page and saw that was the end of the article. She tossed the newspaper to the side and sighed 'The whole world seems ta be falling down around me. Twilight goes missing then Spike goes after her. What if they'll never come back? What if they're dead?' Applejack shook her head 'Stop thinking like that, Ah know that we'll find them and Ah know that they will be okay.'
Applejack turned to the letter and picked it up with her hooves, it had her name on it. She opened up the letter with her teeth and read the paper inside, at the bottom of the page it was stamped with a large golden C. Quickly her frown became a joyous smile, she could barely keep her excitement and joy in.
Applejack, I have some news for you, we know how to find Twilight. There was a sighting of her going north from Whinnyapolis about a week ago. I believe that she was following the necromancer that attacked Whinnyapolis and was trying to stop them. There is much, much more I must tell you, too much for me to write down. Go to Twilight's Palace this Wednesday night, all the other elements of harmony will be there and we will talk about everything we know. I have a mission for you all. Sincerely, Princess Celestia
Applejack's smile was too big for her face. She looked over at a calendar on her wall, it was Wednesday. "Yes!" Applejack yelled, jumping down from the bed. She ran to her door and down the stairs.
Apple Bloom looked at her sister with a very confused look "What is it? What's got ya so happy all of a sudden?"
Applejack looked over at Apple Bloom with a massive smile "The princesses know how ta find Twilight!" Applejack gave Apple Bloom a grin "We're gonna find her and bring her back!
She then turned around, opened the door, and ran into the twilight. She galloped through Sweet Apple Acres towards Ponyville "I'm comin for ya Twilight. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to bring ya back."
Twilight woke up with a yawn. She stretched all four of her legs and opened her eyes with a content sigh. 'That was the best sleep I've ever gotten I bet,' Twilight thought as she got up out of bed and stood up.
She took a look around her room. It was quite spacious with a kitchen, a pantry, and a bedroom. On the opposite wall from her bed was another bed. Inside it was a still sleeping Sapphire.
Twilight looked at herself with a sigh, she was filthy and covered with blood 'I really need a bath, but where's a bathroom?' She looked around the room again and found what she was looking for.
She walked into the bathroom, took off her cloak, and examined it. She winced as she looked at her cloak. It was covered in dried blood, her own, Spikes, and her brothers. She shook her head and through it aside.
Twilight walked over to the mirror on the wall and looked at herself, saying she needed a bath was an understatement. She was no longer a purple pony but a red one. The entire front half of her body was covered with blood. The only part of her body still its normal color was her back and her wings.
She looked at herself, her mouth open with shock 'I knew I had blood on me but not this much! How did I not even realize it was like this until now!' She sighed "At least I'll be clean soon."
She twisted her body and looked at her bandages, they were soaked with blood. She quickly unwrapped them and looked at the wound underneath. It has scabbed over since the last time she checked on it. She frowned, it was going to be a long time though until it fully healed.
Twilight shook her head as she through the bandages into a nearby trash can. She then floated her cloak into the other room and laid it on top of her saddlebags.
She looked at the bathtub with a smile 'Now, let's take this bath of mine," and that's what she did. She filled the bathtub with water and got in. She washed all the gore, filth, and drowsiness from her body.
A half an hour later Twilight got out of the bath and dried herself off with a nearby towel. She walked to the mirror and smiled. She was her normal self again... well mostly.
Twilight squinted at herself, something was off. She didn't look the same as she remembered herself being back in Ponyville. Then she realized what it was and took a step back 'I look ... sad. Not like normal sadness but true, deep sorrow.' Twilight thought of Spike, her brother, Her battle with Celestia in Whinnyapolis, all her friends she will most likely never see again. Her face was filled with sudden anger and sadness 'I have a good god damn reason to be sad.'
She then walked over to her bed and opened up her saddlebags. She then pulled out some bandages and applied them to her wound.
Just as she was finishing up she heard a knock on her door. She walked over to the door and opened it up. Outside the door was Crystal Ember. He smiled "Hello Twilight, how did you sleep?"
She smiled back "Great, that's got to be one of the greatest nights of sleep I've ever gotten!"
Crystal nodded "You have been sleeping on a blanket for two weeks and have been constantly on the move," he chuckled "I am surprised you still aren't asleep." He looked her up and down and smiled "Looks like you took a bath."
"Ya, I really needed one. I feel so much better now, also..." She turned around, grabbed her cloak, and returned to Crystal Ember "I need this washed ASAP."
Crystal nodded "Of course, right away," he turned around "GUARDS!" Just seconds later a unicorn wearing black plate armor without a helmet came around the corner and saluted "Yes sir?"
"I need you to take this down to the washroom and clean it. When your done bring it back and place it inside," Crystal said to the guard pony, gesturing towards Sapphire's room.
He nodded "Yes sir, right away sir!" he then grabbed the cloak and ran off down the hallway.
Crystal Ember turned back to Twilight and smiled "Follow me, today begins your training." Crystal Ember then turned around and walked down the hallway. Twilight ran out, shutting the door behind her as she did.
After a few seconds of silence Crystal Ember spoke up "When I first heard about you and how powerful your necromancy was I was truly shocked."
Twilight looked up at him with a tilt of her head "And why is that?"
He looked over at Twilight "Because Twilight you are somewhat of an anomaly. Necromancy is possible for those who aren't a part of the three necromantic bloodlines but it is impossible for somepony outside of these three bloodlines to be born with extreme necromantic power. And your family doesn't have a single drop of necromancer blood in it."
Twilight looked at him with wide eyes "Really? I've done the impossible?"
"Yes Twilight you have," Crystal Ember said with a smile.
Twilight shook her head, trying to comprehend what Crystal just told her. A few seconds later a new thought appeared in Twilight's head "Necromantic bloodlines? I've never heard of them."
"Then why don't I enlighten you!" Crystal Ember said with a smile. "The Necromantic Bloodlines are ancient family trees dating back thousands of years. The most powerful of all necromancers come from one of the three bloodlines. The royalty of the Letztereich come from two the families."
"What about the third?" Twilight asked.
Crystal Ember sighed with a frown "The third family was the most powerful and arguably the most important as well. The original line of kings came from this family, the family was known as the Funkelns. The Funkeln family is the oldest known necromancer family with the oldest known member of the family living back nearly seven thousand years ago, before the founding of Equestria."
He looked forward and frowned "But it was not to last. According to legend, Celestia attacked the ancient necromantic kingdom of nördlichland. The Lich King Maradicta, the last king of his line, fought with an army of the undead and fellow necromancers for months on end in a desperate defense of their homeland. But a year after the war began the king was killed by Celestia herself. Soon after his two children were killed as well. His son was murdered in the siege of the ancient city of Stadtwissen, and his daughter was lost at sea a month after that. The day his daughter died was the day the Funkeln clan, the greatest necromancer family of all time, ended."
He looked over at Twilight "And that, Twilight Sparkle is the story of the great Funkeln family's fall from power," he frowned "It is an old story, a story older than this city. It also is the story us necromancers look back on with great sadness. Back then was a time when we were great, when we were not just a city but a country, a kingdom!" His face filled with longing "Many necromancers wish for those days to come back. For us to restore our honor and dignity. For us to restore the great Nekromantenreich!"
He bowed his head "But most of us have given up all hope that we will ever see those days return. All we do now is live and pray to Gott our god that Celestia never learns of our existence and wipes us off the map ... for good."
Twilight followed Crystal Ember in silence down the hallway for what seemed like hours. From hallway to hallway, staircase to staircase, they kept going deeper and deeper.
Finally Twilight broke the silence between them and asked "Where are we going? It seems like we've been walking for hours."
Crystal smiled "We are going to the Labbrinthium."
Twilight looked at him with a look that said 'I have no idea what you are talking about, duh.'
Crystal laughed and shook his head "Sorry, sometimes I forget that others don't know everything that I do." He looked at Twilight with a smile "The Labbrinthium, Twilight, is a massive Labyrinth with monsters, traps, and other things that can kill you. It was built to test necromancers after they finish advanced necromancy training. Anyone who is qualified can try and go through it. They come down here and test their strength and skill in battle. And I believe you are ready for such a challenge."
"So you're telling me that I am going to a massive maze with things that can kill me to see how good I am in battle?" Twilight said, baffled.
Crystal nodded "Precisely."
Twilight looked at him with worry in her eyes "What if I get badly hurt, even killed?"
Crystal looked at Twilight with a reassuring smile "You won't I promise. We have medical teams on standby in case, ready to come to your aid at any moment. And we can teleport you out of there if need be."
Twilight nodded not really reassured. Crystal Ember just sighed.
After a few more minutes of walking the pair walked up to two massive iron doors. Crystal smiled as he opened the doors and said "Here we are, the Labbrinthium!"
As the doors opened Twilight gasped as she looked at the Labyrinth. It went on for miles in every direction. Every once in awhile there was a castle, village, or other structure within the massive maze. And she could even see it move, the maze was moving, changing.
Twilight starred in silent awe and horror. 'How am I going to get through that?' she thought 'I'm so screwed.'
Crystal looked at Twilight and sighed "I know that look, you think you can't get through, or will die trying," he looked at Twilight straight in the eye and said "But I know you can do it. You're smart, you'll get through."
"But what if I don't?" Twilight said with fear obvious in her voice.
"You will, I promise," Crystal said reassuringly. He smiled "Come on, let's go. If you want to do it, that is. If you really don't want to..."
Twilight shook her head "No I want to," she paused, biting her lip "I just might need some training to help me fight, I've never picked up a gun or sword in my life." She thought back to Totenberg Mountain, and what so did there ... and how she did it... She grimaced and asked "Um, do you have any guns?"
Crystal Ember shook his head "No we don't, we only have swords and bows and other outdated weapons such as that. I'm sorry."
Twilight let out a sigh of relief "Don't be. I'm actually happy about that, I don't really like guns."
Crystal smiled "I don't either," he looked at Twilight "Follow me."
Crystal walked of to his left down a hallway that Twilight didn't even notice was there. She quickly followed after him.
They walked into a small armory filled with every type of weapon you could think of. That didn't use gunpowder that is. Swords, crossbows, axes, maces, spears, there was everything.
Crystal smiled as he looked around "This is your selection of weapons you can bring into the Labyrinth. Pick one and it will be yours."
Twilight looked at him and rose an eyebrow "To keep?"
"To keep," Crystal said with a nod and a smile of his own.
Twilight looked around weighing her choices. 'A bow would be nice, I could use it at a range but would take a lot of skill I simply don't have. Want about a mace? That would be to heavy, and gruesome. A spear?' She picked up a spear with her magic and tried using it and sighed 'Don't like it. What about a sword?' She picked up a sword and swung it around. A small smile broke apawn Twilight face.
Crystal smiled himself "Looks like we have a winner!" He walked up to Twilight and took the sword from her grasp and asked "Do you think you will take a sword?"
Twilight nodded "Yes I do."
Crystal nodded and pulled out a long wooden box and handed it to Twilight with a small, inquisitive frown.
Twilight looked at it for a few seconds before Crystal said "Don't be shy, open it." She nodded as she lifted the lid of the box. Inside there was a cloth wrapped around what Twilight presumed to be a sword. As she lifted it out of the box with her magic and unwrapped it her suspicions were proven true.
The sword was a beautiful pure black. It's hilt was meticulously carved, the cross guard looked like the wings of a Pegasus extended outward to there full extent and the pummel was an iron cross. Along the blade Twilight could just make out the words "Leben und Tod sind deine Verbündeten". It was obvious that the sword was old, really old, even ancient.
She looked at Crystal, slightly stunned "This... Why are you giving me this?"
He stood there for a few silent and stunned seconds until he shook his head and smiled "Because it seems like it belongs to you." He turned around and said under his breath quietly so that Twilight couldn't hear him "So the king was right."
He turned back around and smiled at Twilight "Come on, let's go. You said you want some sword lessons?"
Twilight nodded as Crystal walked out of the room and into a staircase on the opposite side of the armory. He and Twilight both walked up the stairs and Into a large open room with a large window looking over the labyrinth.
Crystal Ember walked ahead of Twilight and stood in front of the window. He looked at Twilight and pulled out a sword, Twilight followed suit and pulled out her own.
He then looked at Twilight with a small grin "Ready?"
Twilight sighed "As ready as I'll ever be."
Crystal nodded "Good." He then ran forward and brought his sword down apawn Twilight. She screamed and just barely moved her own sword to block the incoming blow.
Crystal smiled "Good, your reflexes are good. But how good?" He then ran forward and slashed at Twilight from the left and tried to kick her with an apple buck. Twilight jumped backwards and brought up her sword and blocked the incoming attack.
Crystal looked at Twilight with a grin "They're better than expected, that's for sure." He looked at Twilight who was just staring at him and shook his head "You have to attack Twilight, just standing there won't get you anywhere."
She nodded and ran forward, slashing at Crystal Ember, he easily avoided the blow and backed away from Twilight. "Gotta do better than that!" He teased "You're not gonna kill a rabbit fighting like that!" Twilight turned towards Crystal and charged at him. As she got close she swung her sword at Crystal, once again he jumped out of the way.
"Come on Twilight, you can't do the same thing twice and exp-" he never got to finish his sentence as Twilight kicked Crystal with an apple buck of her own, making Crystal fly across the room and hit the wall.
He laughed as he stood up "Taking advantage of a boastful opponent, good strategy."
Twilight ran forward and slashed at Crystal. He smiled and raised his sword and blocked Twilight's. He then twisted his sword, got it just into the perfect position, and threw Twilight's sword across the room. He then pushed Twilight down to the ground, got on top of her and pointed his sword at her neck.
Twilight laid there for a few seconds panting until she laughed "You have to teach me how to do that."
He smiled and got off of her "I will, don't worry."
Twilight stood up and looked at Crystal with a small, nervous smile "So... How did I do?"
Crystal grinned from ear to ear "Wonderfully! Your reflexes are great and you use your enemies weaknesses against them. You could become an amazing swords mare with enough time and effort."
He lifted up his sword and smiled "Ready for round two?"
Twilight sighed "As ready as I'll ever be." Then a smile broke out on her face as both of then charged each other.
Twilight charged Crystal with her sword drawn. Sweat poured down her brow as she ran, they had been at it for hours now.
As Twilight got close she swung her sword at Crystal, aiming for the legs. She hoped to catch him of guard. He easily saw it coming though and dodged the blow.
Twilight yelled in frustration "Why can't I just hit you? This is getting really goddess dawned annoying you know!"
Crystal looked at Twilight with a smirk "That's because I've been doing this for over thirty years Twilight. And you have been doing it for two hours. Yes, you may be better than the average newbie... It still means you're a newbie!" He chuckled and added "Also, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm having a great time!"
Twilight, once again yelled in frustration "You know what?! Fuck this!" 'I'm going to beat him,' Twilight thought 'I need to beat him!' She proceeded to flapped her wings and raise into the air. She then dive-bombed Crystal, forgetting about her sword entirely, and punched him over and over again.
Twilight, finally realizing what she was doing, took a step back and covered her mouth in shock and horror as she looked at Crystal Ember. She was frozen in the shock and dread at what she just did, what she was capable of. 'Was that really me?' she thought 'It's just like Totenberg all over again.'
But when Twilight was about to begin panicking about what she did to Crystal the old stallion looked up at her. Twilight finally realized something, he was laughing, and had been the whole time. He stood up, bruised and bloody, laughing his head off. "Now that's more like it!" he yelled.
He walked up to the stunned Twilight Sparkle and pointed at her "Now that's good fighting! I want to see more of that!" He looked down at himself and smiled "Maybe not against me next time though."
Twilight looked him up and down and asked in a very confused and baffled voice "You're ... You're not angry at me? I almost killed you!"
He smiled at Twilight with a gentle smile "Yes, I'm not angry. How could I be when my student passes my test with flying colors?" He sighed "It's okay Twilight, don't worry about it."
Twilight nodded and gave Crystal a small smile "Thank you," she then levitated up her sword and sheathed it.
After a few seconds of awkward silence Twilight tilted her head and gave him an unsure smile "So I'm your student now?"
He smiled "I'm teaching you skills and giving you knowledge that you didn't know before. I'd say that fits the definition of "teacher" really well."
Twilight nodded "I guess you are right." She looked at Crystal and gave an inquisitive frown "And you said something about this being a test and how I passed said test?"
He nodded "Yes, I did say that. Well let's just cut to the chase, the test was to see how well you fought on your own and for extended amounts of time." He looked at Twilight with a smile "And you did amazingly. You fought Surprisingly well for somepony who had never wielded a sword before and you kept up the same ferocity up to the very last swing."
He smiled with a cheeky grin "And I also wanted to see how you responded to frustration during a fight and how that changed your fighting style. Let's just say I was happily surprised by what you did."
Twilight looked at him, bloody because of what she did to him, and with a look that said 'Are you insane?' and asked "How can you be happily surprised by me beating you up and almost killing you. I thought I killed you there for a second, and if I wanted to I probably could of. So how could you be happy about that?"
He looked up at her with a grin "Because it shows me just how good of a fighter you could be, that you could become, and that you are." Crystal sighed "I believe your training today should come to an end. We should get to the gates of the Labbrinthium so that the true test of strength and endurance shall commence."
Twilight took one last look of worry at Crystal and sighed. He seemed fine but what she did to him...
Suddenly the sound of clapping filled the air. Twilight and Crystal both stopped and looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. Crystal found it first and smiled "Sapphire! You're just on time."
Twilight looked over and saw Sapphire Rain standing in the hallway leading back up into the armory. She was smiling at the pair and had a folded black robe on her back.
Sapphire walked up to Twilight and Crystal with a smile "Hi guys," she looked at Twilight "That was some great fighting you did Twilight," she gave Twilight a cheeky grin "And I heard you swear for the first time, that's gotta count for something."
"Thanks," Twilight exclaimed with a smile.
"You're welcome!" Sapphire responded. She gasped "Oh, I almost forgot!" She levitated the folded robe off of her back and levitated it over to Twilight "Here's your robe, Twilight."
Twilight looked at her and smiled "Thank you Sapphire. I like having my robe on. I feel, I don't know, kind of..."
"Safer?" Sapphire suggested.
Twilight nodded "Yes, that sounds about right. I feel safer with it on"
"So," Sapphire began as Twilight put her now spotless robe on "You ready for the Labbrinthium?"
Twilight sighed and took a deep breath "I guess... I'm just really nervous."
"Me too," Sapphire said with a sigh of her own "It's my first time going down into the Labbrinthium as well."
Twilight's ears perked up. She looked at Sapphire and asked "You're coming with me?"
"Yes, you did know that, right?" She asked looking at Crystal for confirmation.
He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment "Ya, sorry about that Sapphire. It just kind of slipped from my mind," he looked at Twilight "Yes she is going with you. The Labbrinthium is normally done with others, and not alone."
Twilight smiled at Crystal and Sapphire and sighed a sigh of relief "Thanks so much for telling me. You just lifted what felt like a hundred pounds from my shoulders."
Sapphire smiled "No problem, Twilight!" She looked over at Crystal and added "No thanks to you!"
"What? I made a simple mistake and forgot to tell her," Crystal said as they all began walking into the armory "I'm not supposed to be able to forget to do something just because I'm "The Smart Pony?""
Sapphire chuckled "Ya! Obviously!"
Crystal sighed as they walked through the armory and into a large hallway "You are so infuriating sometimes, Sapphire."
Twilight thought back to just a few minutes ago and chuckled "I could say the same to you, Crystal." Crystal just shook his head and sighed.
They all walked through the hallway and into a large courtyard. On the far wall was two large iron double doors.
As they walk up to the doors Sapphire looked down at the sword at Twilight's side and gasped. Crystal looked up at Sapphire and whispered the words "The King was right, it is her."
Twilight looked back at them and asked "What was that? Sorry I didn't hear you."
Crystal smiled at her "Nothing you need to worry yourself with Twilight."
Twilight raised an eyebrow "Really?"
"Yes Twilight, nothing," he looked around and said "But, anyways, we are here, in just a few minutes you two will begin a journey that will take you days to complete, possibility even weeks."
"I wish you luck and may Gott bless you on this adventure."
Twilight looked over at Sapphire and smiled nervously "You ready?"
Sapphire sighed "I guess," she looked over at Twilight and smiled nervously "Let's go do this!"
Crystal waved to them as he opened the gates and allowed Twilight and Sapphire to enter the Labbrinthium. Twilight smiled. Maybe with Sapphire it won't be to hard ... right?
Twilight and Sapphire both walked down a long and desolate hallway together in silence. The initial excitement of entering the Labbrinthium has faded, leaving only worry and nervousness behind.
They continued until they came to a fork in their path.
Sapphire walked forward and looked both ways. Both sides had what seemed like hundreds of forks and paths branching off in all directions, even up and down.
Sapphire looked back and forth with a look of indecisiveness on her face. "Which way should we go, Twilight?"
Twilight walked up behind Sapphire and to her side. "I don't know," she looked around, trying to decide, but then something in front of her took her eye "What's that?"
She walked up in front of her and found a metal plate engraved into the wall.
On the top of the plate read a language Twilight couldn't read but did recognized, the same language that inscribed her sword, the language of the necromancers. Twilight sighed and looked further down the metal plaque. Just below the foreign language there was another block of text, this time in Ponish.
Here you are at a crossroads. Go left and you will find the journey to be long and tedious but also relatively easy and safe. Go right and the difficulty will be high but your journey will take much less of your precious time. Good luck and may god bless you.
"Sapphire, you should see this" Twilight said looking back at Sapphire.
Sapphire walked up and read the plate. "Hmm, I think we should go right. That way we can get out of here faster," she looked at Twilight and smiled "There is a lot of stuff I want to show you around the city once we get out." Sapphire looked around at the empty hallways around then and shivered "And this place gives me the creeps."
Twilight looked at Sapphire, then the plaque, then back at Sapphire "I don't know if that is a good idea. It said that going right will be more difficult, probably meaning more dangerous. Maybe left would be a better idea."
"Come on Twilight. Even if it is more dangerous we'll get out of here faster. And who knows maybe it'll be fun!"
Twilight looked at her and sighed "Fine, you win," she turned right and looked back at Sapphire "But if one of us gets hurt it's on you!"
Sapphire chuckled "Okay, fair enough."
They continued down the hallway, turning every so often in the direction of "forward". Eventually they came to a big open courtyard. On the opposite side of the courtyard was a large castle with two massive wooden gates at the entrance, they both stood wide open.
"Well," Sapphire began "I don't expect to find a whole castle down here."
Twilight looked around and nodded "Me either."
They began to walk forward and got about halfway across the yard until they were stopped by a massive boom. "What the hel-" Sapphire stopped when on either side of the two mares the walls went down and opened up two gaping holes into the courtyard walls.
"This isn't good," Twilight said nervously. Her eyes darted from left to right looking for trouble.
Sapphire drew her sword and Twilight did the same. Then out of each hole came ten skeletons. The skeletons had chainmail armor and each had a broadsword or a spear.
Twilight began to shake "Maybe going right wasn't a good idea."
Then the twenty skeletons charged the two mares, coming from two directions at once, and the mares were right in the middle. Twilight and Sapphire stood flank to flank with their swords ready to swing at anything that came close.
Twilight swung her sword in a wide arc at the skeletons, it cut cleanly through the four undead in front of her. Twilight took a second and examined the sword with a shocked expression on her face. 'How did it do that? Cut cleanly through five skeletons wearing armor like it was nothing? What is this thing made of?'
Twilight was snapped out of it by a wave of pain originating from her thigh. She screamed and jumped back, almost jumping into Sapphire. She blindly swung her sword and, by blind luck alone, cut the skeleton's head in half.
She looked back and saw the massive gash in her thigh. It was bleeding profusely and running down her leg into a growing puddle of blood.
Sapphire yelled back at Twilight "Are you okay!?"
Twilight hissed between her teeth and responded "I'm fine!"
She lifted her sword and swung at another skeleton's head as it mindlessly charge at her, its head was cut in two. 'These skeletons may have numbers on their side but not smarts,' Twilight thought.
A skeleton charged Twilight and swung its sword at her, she rose her sword and blocked the incoming blow. She looked behind her and saw a skeleton running up with its sword swinging wildly. As quickly as she could she shoved the skeleton in front of her away and turned to meet the other skeleton. She wasn't fast enough though and the skeleton swung its sword and dug deep into Twilight's shoulder.
Twilight howled in pain as she swung her sword through the skeleton right up the spine, spitting its body into two halves.
Sapphire looked back and her eyes widened In horror as she looked at her injured friend behind her. She looked at the castle and it's opened gates and yelled back at Twilight "Get to the Castle! If we stay out here you'll get hurt more!"
Twilight yelled through the pain "Okay, let's go!" She turned towards the castle and was face to face with another skeleton. She quickly stabbed it with her sword. She then realized that, well, stabbing a skeleton, where most of it was air in-between bones, isn't the most effective way of killing said skeleton.
The skeleton she tried to stab then stabbed Twilight, doing a lot more damage to her. Twilight swing her sword upright, killing the skeleton. But even as the skeleton fell its sword stayed up, embedded into Twilight's chest. She looked down, barely even able to comprehend what she was seeing. "I think that going right was a very bad idea," she said weakly as she began to sway from side to side.
Sapphire began to turn around "Twilight this is not the time for talk-" she then turned fully around and stood there like a statue as she looked at Twilight. A sword coming out of her chest and het sword levitating next to her. Twilight began to fall.
"Twilight!" Sapphire screamed, rushing forward and grabbing Twilight in her magic as she fell. Sapphire lifted her up and onto her back. Somehow Twilight was still levitating her sword and swinging it at enemies.
"I don't feel so good," Twilight said with a frail voice.
"Just stay in there okay!" Sapphire yelled up at her as she rushed past the skeletons and towards the castle. She run up to the doors of the castle and turned around, looking at the courtyard. More and more skeletons were filling the confined space. If they didn't decide to leave they would have been surrounded and both of them would have died.
"Twilight, just hold on!" Sapphire yelled up to the still somewhat conscious Twilight Sparkle. They ran inside the castle and Sapphire slammed the doors shut. Sapphire then found a lock and locked the door. As soon as the door shut she felt Twilight go limp and her sword fell to the ground.
Sapphire laid Twilight down on the ground and pulled out some bandages and began to wrap Twilight in them. Tears fell down Sapphire's face as she tried to stop the bleeding.
"Please don't die!" She said over and over again "Please." She then pulled the sword out and got a needle and some string. She stitched up the massive wound and for good measure she wrapped it in bandages.
She put her ear up to Twilight's chest, hoping to hear a heartbeat. As the seconds ticked on without any sound Sapphire began to lose hope.
"No," she said, tears falling down her face and a sob escaping from the confines of her mouth. She was about to pull away when she heard it. The soft beating of a drum inside if Twilight chest. It was faint but there.
Sapphire instantly let out a sigh of relief. She laid there for hours, waiting for Twilight to wake up. And every few minutes she put her ear to Twilight's chest, just to make sure.
Twilight woke up and immediately screamed in agony. Instantly, the pain in her body hit her like a ten ton bugbear. Every breath sent a dagger into her lungs, and every heartbeat made her head throb in an increasingly more painful headache. She then realized something; she was laying down in a puddle of blood. A disturbingly familiar feeling.
Beside Twilight, Sapphire was jerked up by the sound of Twilight's scream. She got to her hooves and ran over to Twilight, grabbing a bag of medical supplies on her way. "Please be okay. Please be okay!" she chanted as she ran over. When she got to Twilight she let out a sigh of relief, and asked in as calm a voice as she could. "Are you okay? How can I help!?"
Twilight groaned in pain. "Do you have painkillers? Please say you have painkillers!"
"Okay, I'll look for some," Sapphire said eagerly. She then opened up the medicine bag and looked through the bags contents. As she looked through the bag she said, "I might need some help through with anything else, I know next to nothing about medicine," After a few more seconds of searching she asked. "Is this it?" as she levitated up a small bottle into the air, shaking it a little.
Twilight looked over and nodded. With a labored breath she added, "Yes, please, give two of the tablets to me, and please can you stop shaking it?"
"Sorry," Sapphire apologized. She undid the top of the bottle and removed two tablets. She then quickly grabbed a bottle of water and gave Twilight both the water and the tablets. Twilight took them both, and with a weak, "Thanks," proceeded to swallow the medical tablets with the aid of some water.
"Thanks," Twilight said again, this time louder. She grunted in pain. "It might take a bit to kick in though." She sighed, "Why didn't I ever try and learn some sort of anesthetic spell? No, I take that back, why didn't I learn any kind of healing spell!?" Twilight said, just before she went into a long coughing fit. She coughed so hard that she coughed up some blood.
"That's not good," Sapphire said with concern. "That will go away, right?"
"We can only hope," Twilight said darkly. "Also, can you please move me out of this puddle?"
Sapphire nodded, and lifted Twilight up and moved her to a different spot on the hardwood floor.
"Thanks," Twilight gave a half hearted, pained smile to Sapphire
"No problem," Sapphire responded with a smile of her own, just as half heartedly.
After a few more minutes of silence Sapphire asked. "Are you better?"
Twilight groaned as she stood up. "I'll manage."
"You sure?" Sapphire asked, concern and skepticism filling her voice.
"I'm sure," Twilight responded, panting a little.
"O-okay…" Sapphire said, skeptical of how much truth was in Twilight's words. She then took a few steps closer to Twilight and kept looking at her like she was an engine about to fall apart.
Twilight then took a second to look at her surroundings. She was inside a massive candlelit grand entry hall. The room was at least twenty feet tall, forty feet long, and twenty-five feet wide. At the opposite end of the room was a large statue of stallion in plate armour holding a sword very similar to Twilight's. To her left and right were two hallways, both going on for about ten feet until they turned in opposite directions. Behind her was a large double door gate. Leading from where she was laying to the gate was a trail of blood.
"Where are we? My memory of the battle and what happened after the fact is a little foggy, or nonexistent," Twilight asked as she studied the room. Her eyes kept going back to the statue. 'I wonder who that is,' she thought.
"Well, after you got hurt I carried you through the courtyard and into the castle. This is just inside of the castle." Sapphire added with a small smile "Also your fighting out there was honestly impressive for someone with as much experience as you."
Twilight looked at Sapphire and gave her a small smile "Thank you, I just hope I'm better next time."
She then, with a pained grunt, took a step, then another, and another. Twilight looked at Sapphire with a small smile "I think those painkillers are beginning to do their magic! By the way, what are these painkillers? They’re working extremely well. I barely feel any pain at all now that they've began to work!" Twilight took a step forward and cried out in pain "Okay maybe they aren't as good as I first thought, but they still work wonders!"
Sapphire smiled at Twilight. "That's good to hear! And I don't exactly know what they are, I'll look." Sapphire levitated the bottle of tablets up to her face and read the label. "It says that it is 'Magic Enhanced Morphine' or whatever that means."
Twilight smiled "That makes sense as to why they are working so well."
Twilight looked over to the statue again. 'I want to get a closer look at that,' Twilight thought as she began to walk over to the statue. The statue had been really well preserved, looking nearly brand-new. If it wasn't for discoloration and water damage on the stallion's head, Twilight would've thought it was recently constructed.The statue was of a tall stallion wearing plate armor with a long striped main. His left hoof was pointing towards the right door, which Twilight thought as quite odd. His plate armor was intricately designed with emblems and other designs carved into and embedded onto his armour. On his chest was an eagle wearing a crown. On the eagle's chest was an iron cross much like the one on the pommel of Twilight's sword. 'Wait, that can't be,' Twilight thought as her eyes drifted towards the stallion's sword.
Twilight realized something, her sword and the sword that the stallion held were the exact same sword. Twilight levitated her sword over to her and compared her sword and the sword in the statue and found her original hypothesis true. "Hey Sapphire."
Sapphire turned and looked at Twilight. "Yes Twilight, what is it?"
Twilight looked over at Sapphire and met her eyes. "Why is my sword the same one as the one in this statue, and why was I never informed of this?
Sapphire walked up to Twilight and sighed "I can't answer that question, sorry."
Twilight tilted her head in confusion and asked "And why is that?"
"I'm sorry, I really am. But I just can't. Maybe when we get out of this place you can ask Crystal Ember or the King."
Twilight sighed "Fine, keep your secrets," she looked at Sapphire and asked "But why can't you tell me?"
Sapphire looked away "I can't even tell you that."
Twilight looking away from Sapphire and back at the statue. 'Why won't she answer my question? Does that mean that it is the same sword? Or just some other random sword. And if it is the same sword why is that such an important secret to keep?'
"So, who is this?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at the statue.
"That, I believe, is The Lich King Maradicta, and from what I've heard you've already heard his story." Sapphire responded, smiling at Twilight.
'Really? If that's Maradicta then if my sword is the same one as the one in the statue, that means...' Twilight shook her head "I see, " Twilight looked over at Sapphire. "There was something I don't understand about the story."
"And what is that?"
"How did Maradicta lose? He had necromancy and every enemy soldier dead was a new soldier for him and his army. Just how did he lose?"
"Ohh," Sapphire took a deep breath. "Well he was at war with almost the entire civilized world at the time. Equestria, The Holy Romau Empire, The Griffin Empire, and so many more. And he was one of the only ponies who could do the things he did. Only about a fourth of the ponies in the kingdom could actually do necromancy and only a third of their army was undead. It also doesn't help that undead are not really that smart. Just remember back to the fight in the courtyard, they were literally running into your sword. It was only a matter of time before we were defeated."
'Oh my, that's awful!' Twilight thought as she looked at Sapphire, horrified. "You can't be serious, the entire world wouldn't just go to war at the same time with one country for almost no reason! And then be willing to practically erase that nation from history, that's insane!"
"It was insane, but it wasn't for no reason, Twilight. Both the Holy Romau Church and Celestia and Luna declared holy wars or "Crusades" against Nördlichland and with that most of Equiss and Griffonia went to war with us. They were disgusted by our unorthodox practices, our more militaristic way of life, and our religion was considered as an 'uncivil' and even an 'evil' religion by many."
Twilight shook her head. "That's awful."
"Yes, it truly was," Sapphire frowned.
Twilight sighed 'The history of this place makes me depressed. I wonder if one day it could get back to its former glory....' Twilight looked over at Sapphire. "Come on, let's go. I want to get this done and over with."
Sapphire smiled. "You're right, let's go."
They both then walked back to the gate behind them to pick up their stuff. "Um," Twilight began. "I don't think I can carry anything because," she looked down at her bandaged chest, "Ya."
Sapphire nodded. "Ya, I can do that for ya, it won't be too hard for me to carry your things." She levitated up Twilight's saddlebags and put them on her back. She then laid her own on her back as well.
"Thanks Sapphire," Twilight said with a smile. Twilight levitated her sword up and resheathed it with a satisfying "shing!"
Twilight turned around so that she was facing the statue. She looked right, then left.
"Which way should we go?" Sapphire said, looking back and forth as well.
"I don't know," Twilight began. "Maybe … we should go right again."
Sapphire looked at Twilight like she had just went insane. "You're joking, right?" When Twilight didn't answer, Sapphire sighed. "Look how well going right went the first time. You got stabbed and hurt, a lot! I thought you were going to die! And you just want to go right again! Why in god's holy name would you do want to do that!?"
Twilight cringed from the incoming barrage of questions and criticism. "We went right and we should keep going right, right? It also just feels … right. I don't know why, but it does." Twilight smiled somewhat nervously. "And he's pointing towards it, that's gotta count for something!"
Sapphire let out a long and exaggerated sigh. "Fine, let's go. But when you die on me for going right again, it's on you!"
Twilight turned right and began walking, looking over her shoulder as she walked. "You coming?" she asked Sapphire with a small smile.
"Ya, sure. Let's go." Sapphire said with a frown.
Twilight smiled at Sapphire as she caught up with her. They then began walking side by side. "Come on, it'll be fine. No one will die, and we’ll get through this. Who knows, it might even be fun!"
Sapphire sighed, "It's just, it was terrifying when I looked over, and you were..." she trailed off, a few tears falling from her cheek. "And then when we went inside the castle and you were bleeding … your blood, everywhere … I don't want that again. Please, not ever fucking again." She wiped her eyes with her hooves furiously. "I know we've only known each other for a few days, but I'd call you a friend, and I've lost too many of my friends to lose another one."
'Oh my that's ... I didn't know …' Twilight stood there in stunned silence. After a few seconds of her gawking at Sapphire, Twilight got herself back together again and gave Sapphire a reassuring smile. "Sapphire, nothing like that is going to happen, okay? I promise nothing like that will ever happen again." Twilight gave Sapphire a sheepish grin. "And I won't die with someone like you by my side!"
Sapphire chuckled "Thanks, I needed that." She looked over at Twilight with a small smile. Her eyes were still red, but the tears seemed to have stopped. "Let's go," Sapphire looked forward with a downcast expression.
Twilight sighed sadly. "Ya, let's go." Together they walked down the large, candle lit hallway. The hallway was decorated with tapestries depicting great battles, paintings of stallions and mares in regal clothing, and was lined with suits of plate armor. The suits of plate armor all had double sided battle axes strapped on their backs, and they were all made for unicorns. Beneath their feet was a finely woven, red rug that went the whole way down the hallway. The rug was a tapestry of its own, depicting battles, great monuments, and other seemingly great events.
After about a half an hour of walking later they finally began to see the end of the hallway. "Finally!" Sapphire yelled. "We've been walking for half an hour, and I'd really like a change in scenery!"
Twilight laughed. "Honestly, I’ have been enjoying myself. These tapestries and paintings have been really interesting, if I do say so myself."
Sapphire looked back at Twilight with an unimpressed frown. "Ya, and you're the egghead!"
Twilight laughed and shook her head. "Okay, if you want to go, then let's go."
They then walked all the way down to the end of the hallway. Beyond the hallway was a large library. But just seconds before they walked into the next room, two heavy oak doors slammed shut just inches away from their faces. 'What the hell?' Twilight thought. She reached out with her magic and tried to open the door, nothing happened. She then reached out with her hoof and tried to open it, but once more nothing happened. "Dammit!" Twilight yelled, punching the door in frustration.
"Why don't you try and use some sort of disintegration spell, or some other destructive spell like that?" Sapphire suggested.
Twilight smiled. "Why didn't I think of that, and I thought I was the egghead!" Twilight looked over at Sapphire. "Stand back, this spell is very powerful. I don't want to accidentally vaporize you."
Sapphire took a few steps back and Twilight got herself ready. "Okay, here goes nothing!" Then a beam of purple light flew out of Twilight's horn like a tornado of destruction. Everything in its path was destroyed … at least that's how it should have been. The beam of destructive light hit the door like water hitting a stone. Twilight stopped the spell, panting. She looked up and her eyes widened in horror, the door was unscathed. 'What? That's impossible! That is fucking impossible! That's not supposed to happen, that can't happen!'
"What, that's not, how!" Twilight stammered out.
Sapphire sighed. "There goes that plan. Now we have to walk all the way back and go left! See I told you we should have gone left!"
Twilight got a hold on herself and looked over at Sapphire. "What now?"
Sapphire sighed. "We just have to walk all the way ba-" she stopped when suddenly the lights went out. Every candle went out, instantly leaving the two mares in complete darkness.
'What the hell?' Twilight thought.
"What just happened?" Sapphire yelled, her voice edging on panic.
"I don't know," Twilight began. "But I can help a little bit." She cast a light spell and … an axe came out of the darkness and was heading right for her!
Twilight screamed, and brought her sword to bear. Then Twilight realized that the axe was being levitated by a suit of armor.
Sapphire brought out her own sword and yelled, "I fucking hate this place!" before she swung her sword and cut the head of a suit of armor clean off its body.
The suit of armor in front of Twilight lifted its axe up for another swing. Twilight was faster than the armor though, and swung her sword in a clumsy upward ark, cutting clean through the armor. Twilight then caught it's axe, and threw blindly down the hall, and by luck alone it embedded itself into the helmet of another suit of armor.
Sapphire parried the next axe that was swung at her and in one quick, blurred movement she cut the suit of armor in half, horizontally.
Twilight blinked, and when her eyes opened another axe was coming right for her! She screamed and lifted up her sword in front of her to intercepted the axe. The axe hit her with so much force she was forced backwards, so far backwards that she slammed up against the doors behind her. She looked to her left, and saw another suit of armor raising its axe ready to cut her in half. Her eyes widened in terror. 'What am I supposed to do!' she thought in full panic mode. 'How am I supposed to stop that?' Then she smiled as she realized how dumb she was. 'Come on Twilight, you have a horn, use it!' She cast a low-power disintegration spell at it. It hit, and the whole suit was reduced to ashes.
Sapphire swung her sword and decapitated another suit of armor before yelling, "Twilight, could you cast that spell you just tried on the door on these fucks?!"
"Sure!" Twilight yelled as she thrust her sword into the head of a suit of armor. Twilight took a quick deep breath. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Twilight yelled as pointed her horn down the hallway and cast the spell.
The hallway was filled with brilliant purple light as the beam of magical destruction pushed its way through the hallway. Everything in its path was reduced to dust. Twilight ended the spell, and the hallway was submerged back into darkness.
"Woo hoo!" Sapphire yelled excitedly. "That was fun! Twilight, you okay?"
Twilight cast her light spell and looked over at Sapphire. "I'm fine," she panted. "Just give me a second." Twilight sat down, still panting, and sheathed her sword with the same satisfying "shing!"
"Okay, take your time," Sapphire said, smiling at Twilight.
Twilight sat for about a minute before she spoke again. "I'm better now. That was just … intense."
Sapphire laughed. "Yes, it truly was." She looked at Twilight with a big grin. "You fought really well Twilight, you should be proud. And that axe throw you did," she shook her head. "That was insanely cool!"
Twilight smiled a prideful smile. "Thanks Sapphire, that means a lot!"
"No problem, you deserve it! That magic too, I need to learn that spell!" Sapphire said, her smile getting bigger.
Twilight smiled. "I could teach you, but later. I kind of want to just sit here and rest. Maybe even take a little nap." Twilight shut her eyes "Ya, that sounds just fine."
Sapphire nodded. "Sure take one, I'll be sitting here waiting for you to wake u-" she looked over and saw Twilight all ready asleep. The light coming from her head getting dimmer and dimmer until it finally went out completely. Sapphire chuckled. "Wow, you really must of been tired!"
That night Twilight had a dream. A dream like no other. A dream that she would remember for the rest of her days. A dream where she wasn't alone...
Twilight woke up and looked around her, suddenly filled with the feeling of overwhelming fear. She quickly realized she was still in the hallway and that the suits of armor were still smoldering from her earlier magic. Twilight realized something else though, something quite a lot more concerning; Sapphire was gone. "Sapphire!" Twilight yelled, the panic edging into her voice. When she got no response she yelled even louder and more frantically this time. "Sapphire! Where are you!"
Twilight let out a massive sigh of relief when she heard Sapphire yell back, "I'm here! Come over here for a second. There's something I want to show you!" From the sound of Sapphire's voice it seemed as if she was on the other side of the doors at the end of the hallway.
"Coming!" Twilight yelled. 'Everything is fine, Sapphire is just over there,' Twilight thought to herself, 'But if that's true then why do I still feel so … afraid?' Twilight shook her head, blaming it on nervousness, and walked up to the two doors. As she tried to open the door, though the feeling of "Something bad is going to happen!" slammed into Twilight's like a bag of bricks. "Come on Twilight!" Twilight whispered to herself. "Nothing is going to happen. Everything is going to be fine."
Twilight took a deep breath and opened the doors. "So Sapphire, what have you been u-" Twilight was cut off by a sword cutting into her chest. Twilight screamed in agony as her chest got stabbed for the second time in twenty-four hours. The sword was pulled from Twilight's chest, and the pegasus holding the sword laughed, almost as if Twilight was the funniest thing in the world.
Twilight tried to pull out her own sword, but she wasn't fast enough. An earth pony apple buck kicked her right in the stomach, flinging her across the room and making her sword fly out of her grasp. It hit the wood floor over ten feet away. Twilight weakly tried to get to her hooves, but didn't even get halfway there before a unicorn cast a laser spell right at her, cutting a hole straight through her left forearm. Twilight screamed in pain and fell to the floor. Twilight tried to cast offensive spells at her unseen foes; laser, disintegration, pyrotechnic spells, even paralysis spells. Anything that would stop her enemies! But before she could cast a single spell, a different pegasus from the one before came up to her and kicked Twilight in the head, breaking her horn right off of her head.
Twilight screeched an animalistic scream of pain. The pain was so bad that her mind couldn't even comprehend it, nor it's intensity. Then the laughing started again. They laughed like a chorus of evil, their song the definition of pain. Twilight looked up, and looked at the ones laughing with their insane laugh. Her eyes widened in terror, and her chin dropped in horrified bewilderment. They weren't just a bunch of randoms off the street, or a bunch of soldiers, or highly trained assassins sent to kill her. No, they were none other than the other Elements of Harmony, Twilight's friends.
Rainbow Dash barely got herself together before she yelled excitedly "Did you see that! I was twenty percent cooler than all of you combined!"
"Are ya sure about that, sugar cube?" Applejack asked, also barely getting herself together. "All ya did was stab 'er, while Ah sent her flying across the room!"
"Um, mine was pretty cool too, I broke off her horn," Fluttershy said in her normal quiet and calm tone.
"Ah darlings! Stop arguing, you're making a scene!" Rarity added in her regal tone.
Twilight couldn't believe what her eyes were telling her. Her friends insane and trying to kill her. 'No.' Twilight thought through the pain. 'It can't be!' Tears were already rolling down Twilight's face, but now they weren't all tears of pain. Twilight tried yelling for help, for Sapphire, for Crystal Ember, for anyone! But no one came.
The Elements of Harmony looked over at Twilight. A few of them looked on with disgusted frowns, a few with insane grins. "Oh, looks like our old friend over there is still kicking!" Rainbow Dash said with delight. "Means I can play with her more!"
"No Rainbow Dash!" a new voice said from behind Twilight. "You can kill Twilight, just wait a tiny itsy bitsy bit, okay?"
The new pony entered Twilight's vision. Twilight gasped; it was Pinkie Pie. 'Not you too!' Twilight screamed in her head.
"Hi Twilight! How's it been?! Pinkie said, smiling down at Twilight. She looked over at the others "Hey, I have an idea. How about we have a little party everypony!"
"What kind of party?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow as she said it.
Pinkie smiled darkly down at Twilight. "Why, a happy death day for our old friend here of course!" She looked over at Rainbow Dash and nodded. Rainbow squealed in joy and ran up to Twilight, pulling out a wingun as she ran. She smiled at Twilight and rested the barrel up against Twilight's temple.
"Goodnight! Hope you have a happy death day!" Rainbow Dash pulled the trigger, and Twilight's world was flung into darkness.
Suddenly, all of Twilight's pain went away, her sword was placed back into its sheath, and she was moved to somewhere else. Further inspection of her surroundings revealed she had been teleported into Canterlot castle. 'What the hell!' Twilight thought as she looked around the familiar halls of the royal palace. Then a thought popped into Twilight's head, one that terrified her to her very core. 'What if Celestia's here, what if she finds me?!'
Then the sound of hooves on stone reached Twilight's ears. Twilight swung around and her eyes widened in terror, her ears fell flat against her head, and she nearly spoiled herself like a filly. Just a mere five meters away stood the one, the only, Princess Celestia. Twilight began to shake in terror.
"Twilight," Celestia frowned in disgust. "My greatest disappointment."
"C-Celestia, please, just listen-" Twilight tried to say before she was cut off by Celestia's booming voice.
"SILENCE FILTH!" Celestia roared, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, very nearly blowing out Twilight's ear drums. "There is no explanation you can tell, or any excuse you can give that will make me forgive you, or will get you out of your fate! You will pay for your crimes against Equestria and her people. Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby sentenced to death!" Celestia smiled. "And I am happy to be named the executioner!"
Celestia chuckled and pointed her horn at Twilight. 'Oh crap' Twilight thought, dreading what was coming next. Then a beam of white light flew out of Celestia's horn with terrible power. Just milliseconds before Celestia's magic hit her, Twilight managed to get a shield spell up and block the spell. Celestia was relentless, however, firing spell after spell at her until finally cracks began to form in Twilight's shield.
Twilight looked around her at her weakening shield with newfound panic. "Shit!" Twilight yelled as she frantically tried to think of something to do, some way to get out of her current predicament. 'What can I do? What could I possibly do…?' Then she thought of it, not just that, but her escape could also be an attack on Celestia. Twilight concentrated, trying to do two things at once.
Then it happened; Twilight teleported out of her shield! Just in the nick of time too, for her shield collapsed in upon itself just as she teleported out. She didn't teleport just anywhere though, she teleported directly above Celestia. Twilight quickly unsheathed her sword and pointed it at the ground as she fell down towards Celestia. Twilight imagined her sword cutting straight through Celestia. Her defeating Celestia, and finally, after a month of living in fear of her, never being afraid of Celestia again.
Then Twilight stopped in midair as a white magical glow encompassed her. 'Oh no…' was all Twilight could think before she was slammed into the wall so hard it cracked the stone behind her, and the ribs inside of her.
She groaned in pain and got on her hooves again, ready for a fight. She never got the chance for a fight, however, as Celestia flung her like a ragdoll into the opposite wall, cracking it as well.
Twilight stood up, screaming in pain as she did so. But even against her body's greatest protests, Twilight stood up and brought her sword to bear. Twilight could feel the sticky sensation of blood in her coat. Twilight used a free hoof and wiped away some blood off her chin.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Still have some fight in you, do you?
"I'll have fight in me until I lie dead and broken on the ground!" Twilight added. "And who knows, maybe even then I won't stop fighting!"
Celestia laughed. "So brave, and so foolish.” She sighed. “Well, now our fun must come to an end; GUARDS!”
From behind Twilight came running a dozen royal guards, each carrying a rifle held up by a neck strap. Twilight looked back and forth, trying to think of some way, any way, to win, to hide, to run, anything! She couldn't think of anything.
"AIM!" Celestia yelled. All the guards lifted their guns. A hoof against the trigger, ready to fire at any second. Twilight began to hyperventilate, frozen, as she looked at the barrels of the guns aimed right at her. "Fire!" Celestia yelled, her voice full of cruelty. Twilight screamed, and brought her hooves up in a vain effort to protect herself from the incoming projectiles.
But the bullets never came. Twilight looked up from behind her raised hooves, and her eyes widened in surprise, confusion, and excitement. Everything around her was frozen in time, like someone pushed the pause button on life. Just inches from Twilight's face were twelve bullets suspended in midair, aimed right at her. Then the whole scene swirled away, and Twilight was left in a black, empty void.
Then a voice Twilight knew very well spoke behind her. "What has happened to you Twilight? Where's the sweet and innocent alicorn princess I knew and loved?"
Twilight spun around, ready for a fight. When she saw who it was though, she was taken aback. "L-Luna?"
The dark alicorn smiled kindly at Twilight. "Yes, it is me."
'What the … you!' Twilight thought. She looked at Luna with fire in her eyes. "You're working for Celestia aren't you?" Luna looked at Twilight sadly. "You're here just to mess with me!"
"Twilight, I mean you no harm," Luna said, looking at Twilight with sincerity.
Twilight laughed. "You mean me no harm? You mean me no fucking harm! Why would I believe you after what you did to me in Whinnyapolis! Why would I ever believe anything you tell me after Whinnyapolis!"
Luna looked at Twilight with the same sincere expression. "I'm sorry for what I did then. I thought you had turned to darkness. That you were going to do unspeakable acts if I left you unchecked." Luna sighed. "Oh how wrong I was."
Twilight looked at Luna with confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I came into your dream to try and track you down, or find out what your plans were. I wanted to be a step ahead of you in case you were to decide to attack Equestria. But then when I saw what your dream was really about … your friends betraying you … Celestia…" Luna shook her head. "I realized that you are just scared." Luna smiled kindly at Twilight. "And I want to help you in any way I can."
'What, why, whaa!?' Twilight thought barely even making sense of what Luna said. She couldn't even make words as she processed the information. Finally, when she got herself together she said. "But I can't trust you. How do I know you won't stab me in the back?"
Luna sighed sadly. "I wish there was a way, but you can't."
Twilight shook her head and sighed. "Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say. Tell me, how will you help me?"
Luna smiled. "I'm going to try to convince my sister, Celestia, to stop hunting you."
"You didn't know?" Twilight shook her head, and Luna continued. "She has been ever since Whinnyapolis. She was planning on killing you if you were ever found."
"You- you'll do that?" Twilight asked with skeptical tone.
Luna nodded. "Yes I will. You don't deserve death, Twilight. I want you to be happy." Luna smiled. "You're waking up. When you fall asleep again, I promise I will update you on the situation. Happy waking!" The world around Twilight began to blur, and the hallway in the Labbrinthium was rapidly replacing the black void.
Luna yelled. "Goodbye Twilight! Stay safe!" Then Luna was gone, and Twilight was back in the hallway, back to the Labbrinthium.
Twilight woke up and began thinking about her dream. 'Should I trust her? She almost killed me. She also made my cutiemark … go away. But she did seem sincere… What about the part with my old friends? They would never hurt me, much less kill me, right?'
She shook her head, and was about to ask Sapphire about it when she heard somepony singing. She looked over and saw that Sapphire was quietly singing to herself. She was singing the strangest song as well, one that Twilight couldn't understand.
Sapphire finished her current song with a sigh. She then took a deep breath and began a new song:
"Wir traben, wir traben ins rote Turnei,
Wir fliegen an Gräben und Hecken vorbei.
Die Sonne verloht, das Käuzlein ruft hell,
Und der Tod, der Tod ist unser Gesell',
Und der Tod, der Tod ist unser Gesell'.
Heut sind wir geladen ins flammende Zelt,
Von Kaisers gnaden; wir reiten ins Feld.
Die Klinge sie droht von hufe uns hell'
Und der Tod, der Tod ist unser Gesell',
Und der Tod, der Tod ist unser Gesell'.
Die daheim mir geblieben, du Mägdelein schlank,
Deine Augen, die Lieben, wie schaun sie so bang?
Die Blümlein rot verwehn im Wald,
Und der Tod, der Tod küßt den Ritterstute bald,
Und der Tod, der Tod küßt den Ritterstute bald."
Twilight, once Sapphire was finished, smiled at her. "I didn't know you sang, Sapphire."
Sapphire looked over at Twilight. "You're awake?"
Twilight smiled. "How do you think I'm talking to you?"
"Oh ya, I guess you're right," Sapphire said, shaking her head with a small embarrassed smile.
"What was that song?" Twilight began. "And was it in the ancient necromancer language?"
Sapphire nodded. "Yes, it is in our ancient language. Even though we know the lyrics to the song, we don't know what the words mean," she looked at Twilight sadly. "It's actually quite sad, really. We hold onto them because they are some of the few things we have left from our ancient past, from our culture. As for the name, most people just call it 'The Ritterstute Song.'"
"Oh, that answer was a lot more depressing than I was expecting." Twilight sighed. "There is something else I need to tell you."
"And what is that?" Sapphire asked.
"Luna visited my dreams last night."
It took a few seconds for Sapphire to comprehend what Twilight said. When she did though, her smile was flipped upside down into a worried frown, her eyes went wide, and she got visibly tense. "You're joking, right?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, I'm not. It's not as bad as you think though. She doesn't know where we are or what we are doing. She did say some interesting things though." Sapphire had a sigh of relief. "She said that she doesn't think I should die," at this Sapphire looked at Twilight with intrigue. "And she is trying to make Celestia stop hunting me."
At this Sapphire looked genuinely happy and somewhat excited "Are you serious?" Twilight nodded. Sapphire grinned "That is great news! If we have Luna on our side, that means we might actually have a chance! It might not be all gloom and death and sadness after all. We might be able to win!" She chuckled. "And here I was, thinking you were going to say something along the lines of 'Luna knows where we are and is coming to kill us all!'"
Twilight looked at Sapphire, surprised. "I didn't think you would be so happy to hear that news or that you would be so quick to believe Luna."
Sapphire stopped her little one pony party and looked at Twilight with disappointment. "You don't think she's telling the truth?"
Twilight sighed. "I honestly couldn't tell. She seemed sincere and like she was telling the truth. But why would she help me? She almost killed me just under a week ago, and she doesn't like necromancers just as much as Celestia; or at least that's what I am led to believe. And how would she think I'm a good guy after what I did in Whinnyapolis? I really screwed up there with the whole attack the city plan."
Sapphire sighed. "Ya, maybe you're right. It's best though to be optimistic though, right?"
Twilight sighed. "You're right, I should be optimistic. It's just so hard after all that's happened…" she shook her head. "Well anyways she said she would come back tomorrow in my dreams and tell me the outcome of her confrontation with Celestia. Who knows, maybe we will get Celestia to stop trying to kill me."
Smiling, Sapphire responded, "That would be good. Very good, actually."
After about a minute of silence Sapphire asked, raising an eyebrow. "Um, should we get going?"
Twilight nodded. "Ya, let's." Twilight tried to stand up but as she did so pain erupted in her chest. Screaming in pain she fell back to the ground, laying on her back. Twilight breathed heavily, every breath brought the pain right back. "Fuuck!" Twilight yelled, bringing a hoof to her chest as she laid there on the ground.
"Are you okay? What happened!" Sapphire asked with a worried gaze.
"Please, painkillers, now,"
Sapphire nodded. "Okay, sure thing," she levitated over the bottle and took out a tablet. "Here you go," she said as she gave it to Twilight. Twilight eagerly swallowed it and took a drink of water to wash it down.
Twilight grinned at Sapphire. "Thanks!" She then stood up, wincing a bit as she did so. She took a few weak and painful steps, walking in a small circle in front of the door. Twilight grinned. "Those things right there," she pointed at the bottle in Sapphire's magical grasp. "Are literal life savers!" She looked at the door and said. "So, how do you think we can open the door?
"I don't know, I still can't open the door," Sapphire emphasised this fact by grabbing the handles with her magic, trying opening the door. It didn't budge.
Twilight sighed and reached out with her own magic and tried to open the door. "How are we going to open yo-" she stopped as she felt the door give. She applied more force and the doors swung wide open, revealing the library beyond. "What the... why does it work for me, and not you?"
"l, I don't know…" Sapphire said trailing off. She took a quick glance at Twilight's sword before she continued. "But it might have something to do with," she gestured down the hall at the still smoldering suits of armor behind them. "Well, that! Well anyways now that it's open should we go in and take a look around?"
Twilight walked into the room. "Yes, let's." As she walked in she gasped as she looked around. The library was massive. The bookshelves went up and up for at least three stories. The room itself was much larger that the Canterlot library, almost twice the size! Twilight squealed in excitement as she ran in.
"Just think of all that we could learn here Sapphire!" Twilight yelled as she ran to the nearest bookshelf. Neither of the present ponies noticed that the door closed behind them. "All the magic! The history! The Culture! Everything!" She pulled a random book off the shelf and excitedly opened it up to the first page. "Just look at this! This book is about-" she looked down and read the Title of the book "... Detche Geshichtee? Dutche Gesichte?" She turned the page and deflated. She turned another page and another but it was all the same throughout the whole book, it was in the necromancer language.
Sapphire looked at Twilight with worry. "What is it Twilight?"
She sighed, "The book is in the necromancer language, and I can't read it. Hopefully the other ones are in Ponish and I just got unlucky with this one."
Twilight pulled another one off the shelves and opened it up. Once again it wasn't in Ponish. "It's like it's taunting me Sapphire. All this knowledge, locked away by a simple language barrier."
Twilight shook her head and pulled another book out off the shelf. She looked at the title and it said "Deutsch zu ponench." She opened it up, and after a few seconds of observation she gasped.
"What is it?" Sapphire asked, walking up and looking over Twilight's shoulder.
"I recognized some of these words," Twilight responded "I just don't know where from…" Then it hit her, "Wait a second … that's Old Ponish!"
"It is?" Sapphire asked. She raised an eyebrow. "Why though is it in this book when all the other books use the old necromancer language?"
"I'm not certain but the only thing I can think of would be some sort of translation book. If that's the case though and we could get a book that Translates Ponish to Old Ponish…" Twilight trailed off.
Sapphire thought for a few seconds. "That means we could translate it and relearn our old language!"
Twilight nodded. "Exactly."
Sapphire stood there speechless for a good ten seconds until she finally got out. "This is big, Twilight. I mean really big. Ponies in the Letztereich have been trying to find stuff like this for almost three hundred years! Once we get out of here ponies will treat you like a national hero just for finding this!"
"Really?" Twilight asked. "Ponies really care about it that much?"
"You, I don't think, can even begin to understand how badly the ponies of the Letztereich want to learn their old language. It's like this, imagine being an Equestrian but not knowing Ponish and you don't have a way to learn it, or being a Romau Zebra but doesn't knowing Zatin, or a Heartland Griffin who doesn't know Griffish. If you were any of those beings you would want to know their respective languages so very bad. And we aren't any different."
"That … that makes a lot of sense." She smiled at Sapphire. "And I'm glad to help you all learn your old language!"
Sapphire smiled. "I'm really glad to hear that. Maybe that can be your next project! Also, as a plus, you could learn what all of our songs mean!"
"Sounds like a plan!" Twilight said actually somewhat excited by the concept.
Twilight put the book into her saddlebags right next to her book on necromancy. She looked back at the library and sighed. "I guess I'll have to wait to read all of these as well."
"Well if you can learn to read the language you can just, well, read them!" Sapphire said with with a reassuring smile.
Twilight perked up at this remark. "Ya, I just have to learn the language. Shouldn't be too hard with enough time and effort. I think I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hooves once we get out of here and that will be a perfect way to spend it."
"It does sound like a good use of time." Sapphire said. "Well, what now?"
"I guess we should try and find an exit to this place. It doesn't seem like it's to any use to us right now because of, well obvious reasons." They looked around the room for a good ten minutes for an exit but they couldn't find one.
"You can't be serious, this is it?" Sapphire sighed. " I want there to be more! And just when things were getting interesting."
"I guess we just have to go back and take a left," Twilight said. She gave Sapphire a goofy grin. "We get to walk all the way back, and I know you're gonna love that!"
"Ugh, shut up. Let's go." Twilight chuckled and headed for the door. She opened it up and looked around. “What the…" The whole hallway was different, almost like it was replaced with a new one. It was larger and was made of bare rock stone instead of the wood and stone brick of the hallway before. It was pitch black. Not a single light source for as far as she could see.
Sapphire looked over Twilight's shoulder and smiled. "Maybe we don't have to go left after all!"
