After their defeat at the hooves of the Knights of Silence, the Undead Knights have returned to destroy all the enemies of Equestria. But an old enemy have returned too seek revenge against her murderers
For centuries, the Power of Harmony have protected Equestria from evil. But when this Power is combined with the desire of revenge and thirst of blood, a new type of menace is created. More dangerous and powerful than antything else in the world.
After breaking free from their prison the Undead Knights have returned to kill all the enemies of Equestria. But they are not the only ones.
An old enemy have returned as well seeking her revenge against the Undead Knights.
In the end 'He' would take what is rightfully His no matter what.
A young pony was dragging his hooves sadly. He had try everything but there was no way out. He have lost everything. All he had now was his desire for revenge, but his opponent was too powerful for him so even that pleasure was stolen from him.
This is why he decided to do this. It would cost his soul, but his soul would go with a smile.
He grinded his teeth as he lighted the last black candle, and used his magic to cut his veins. The blood started to come, he felt a horrible pressure on his hooves as the blood continued to drain from his body. Strong Will grinded his teeth as he continued praying to the Fallen Angel. He hoped that he could make a deal before his last drop of blood left his body.
And right when Strong Will was about to lose all hope, his blood started to move on its own creating a pentagram.
“You’ve called?” asked a voice inside his head.
Strong wanted to respond, doing his best to remain conscious.
“What do you want from me?”
“Revenge. I lost everything, I tried to fight back but it was worthless. Even my request for help to the crown were intercepted. I have nothing, I am nothing. But still want my revenge. I am weak and meaningless. This is why I need to borrow your strength to fulfil my revenge. I have nothing but my soul. Please take it! All I want is to kill him.”
“Your whole live you’ve been an exceptional pony, Strong Will. But here you are summoning me the same way one of my servants would do. Wasting your life asking for a favor that I may or may not do for you. There’s no way back, you would die if I give you what you want.”
“But you keep talking instead of letting me die. That means that you want to help me. Right?”
“You are a perceptive one don’t you? okay, I’ll give you what you want but in exchange, your soul would descend to hell, and your body would be transformed into my messenger of death. An unstoppable force bringing death wherever it goes. If you accept your enemy would be the first of many, many victims.”
Strong Will smiled as his consciousness faded away. “Take it, my body and soul are at your disposition. Use them as you wish.”
…
Celestia’s prized warriors ran attacking the beast trying to get as much time as they could.
They went to a disciplined group of warriors who avoided kill at all cost to a group of scared ponies trying get as far as they could form the beast. They sent them magic attacks, spears and everything they could. But the creature continued to regenerate and chase them.
It even had a spear right on its forehead, and half of its body was covered in swords but nothing stopped it. It was a monster among monsters. There was no way to stop it.
“We need help from her Highness! She is the only one powerful enough to stop this thing!”
Somepony threw an axe to the creature, cut it in half. The wounds healed immediately and the poor pony who threw the weapon was unfortunate enough to be still on the creature’s attack range. The monster ripped off the soldier’s throat with its fangs, and then continued attacking until the soldier died. When it felt there was no life left on the soldier’s body it lost interest and started to look for a new victim.
The soldiers had no choice. They retreated. It was a shameful retreat, but they were too scared. It was the first time they faced something like this.
…
A pony general bowed before the newly crowned Princess of the Sun.
“Your Highness! I know we have failed but trust us! That horrible thing is a real monster. All the squads we send to fight it end up either decimated or too traumatized to keep fighting. We had no choice but escape!”
Celestia listened and could see the fear on her soldiers’ eyes but she did not like to intervene in a battle unless she had no choice. Her power was not to be used for war.
“Glad to help you my little ponies, but I don’t understand. Have you tried to use anti-detection or camouflage spells?”
“Yes Princess but that thing is like a living radar for life. Yes, life. That thing can detect intelligent life anywhere it goes and… please help us! Once you see it you would understand.”
Celestia frowned but in the end she agreed. The least she could do was look at this monster that her soldiers were unable to defeat multiple times.
“Alright, I’ll take a look on this creature and if there’s not another choice I’ll intervene. What did you do with this creature?”
The soldier bowed. “We created a huge hole with magic and threw it there. We’re taking turns to push it back. It tries to climb and we just push it back there. That was the only way we could stop it.”
“Okay let’s go!” agreed the Princess.
Soon the Princess along with an elite squad went to that city ready to stop the creature. The soldiers were nervous preparing their shields and weapons. But most of them were preparing a retreat.
The Princess approached to the hole, and felt a very dark aura coming form it. Celestia shivered. Now she was completely sure that she would have to intervene.
“Take it out. I want to see it!”
“Princess that’s a very bad idea.” warned a soldier.
“Do it!” commanded Celestia.
Several soldiers levitated the creature out of the hole who roared and started to struggle against the magic hold.
Celestia face the creatures, only to see the emptiness on its eyes and the murderous aura it emitted. As soon as she approached the creature started to struggle even more trying to get her with its fangs. Princess Celestia nodded, she had no choice.
The Princess sent a magic beam concentrating all her power reducing the creature to ashes.
She turned to her soldiers. “I owe you an apology my little ponies. I should know that if you summoned me is because you really needed my help. This thing was one of the darkest creatures I’ve ever faced and…”
“PRINCESS WATCH OUT!” warned a soldier.
Princess Celestia jumped just in time to avoid the creature attacking her. She gasped when she saw it was still regenerating.
“It can’t be! I made sure nothing was left from this thing!”
“Princess we’ve tried to incinerate it several times, it always regenerates!”
Princess Celestia used her magic to force the creature back to the hole, and used an especial spell to make the walls frictionless.
“Keep that thing there and be careful not to fall inside.”
“Yes, your Highness!”
Celestia frowned, this was a desperate measure, but they were out of options.
This was the first time the Princess of the Sun faced the horror of the undead.
“What are we going to do now Princess?” asked her captain.
“Send emissaries to Reptilia, the Griffon Empire and even the Changeling Hive. We need to announce the world the existence of this creature. And we need all the power we can gather to seal it away!”
Soon all the leaders of the Great Races have reunited over the improvised prison to take a look at their new foe.
Each of them tried to get rid of it only to realize it would regenerate no matter what. After they gave up when the monster was about to actually kill the Griffon Emperor they ended up combining their power to reinforce the seal over the creature.
“So this is the only thing we can do to defeat this creature?” asked Luna. “Lock it and forget about it?”
The Dragon Lord from that time shook his head frowning. “I like your sister’s idea as much as you do but we don’t have any choice here. This thing has proved to be invincible.”
“Yeah!” said Emperor Velkan of all Griffons, looking at his wounds. “Not even my most powerful spells were able to end it for good.”
“Thank Faust it is a stupid creature who only knows to use brute force!” said Golden Heart, Minotaur King. “Imagine you find a sentient one.”
“Please don’t summon the devil!” said the young Chrysalis.
“We must create especial prisons for the creatures if they show up in our lands. Contain these messengers of death should become our top priority.”
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Perfect to have a nice picnic with friends to forget about all worries and just have fun.
Yes, all sunny and warm. The idea of a picnic came to the girls’ mind as soon as Celestia raised the sun. They even met halfway to their respective houses to invite each other to have a picnic, and this was the result.
They reunited in a small open field looking at the mountains. The six fiends and the good old Spike, who now have gotten taller and with a pair of black wings growing from his back.
They were all chatting and eating happily just enjoying the beautiful day.
“Spikey-Wikey! This is your second basket of gems! You can get fat!” scolded Rarity, after seeing how Spike grabbed more gems to eat. “It feels like you want to get fat and ugly on purpose!”
Spike looked at her annoyed, and expelled some smoke from his nose as a warning, but Twilight glared at him.
The dragon grumbled. “Whatever, I’m taking a walk.”
“You should be more considerate with his feelings!” said Fluttershy to Rarity. “You know Spike haves to eat that much to maintain his size! Also you know how short-tempered he is!”
“Yeah, yeah! Is no like he can’t do anything so why do we worry?” said the white unicorn.
A large shadow appeared right behind Rarity. The unicorn rolled her eyes.
“Oh come on Spike! Don’t be so sensitive darling!”
The shadow laughed. “Who told you I’m Spike, stupid pony?”
That made the girls turn only to be greeted by a large red dragon with royal blue spikes and wings, and sky-blue belly. The dragon smirked and made a sign, making appear a couple of more dragons surrounding the girls. Fluttershy gasped, she was still terrified from full-grown dragons.
“Nice to meet you my little ponies. I am Lord Igneous from the high aristocracy of Reptilia, the Dragon Kingdom. I came to take Princess Twilight hostage. Is she here?”
Twilight walked to face the dragon, despite her friends’ concern.
“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle! What do you want from me, Lord Igneous? What would you get form kidnapping me? Would you like to use my life to make a bargain with my teacher, Princess Celestia? What exactly, Lord Igneous?”
“Between us, I want to start a war. The Dragon Lord would never go to war against Celestia on his own, so I need her to attack us first. And if I take her hostage her faithful student, she will not hesitate to invade us forcing King Flames to crush you for good. Nothing personal ponies, I’m just a patriot looking for the best for my people.”
Lord Igneous raised his claw ready to take Twilight, but she blocked his claw with her magic, burning his claw. Igneous didn’t mind, soon he would make her surrender and do his will. All he needed was to threat somepony dear to her.
Too late. At Igneous’ sign, three of his henchdragons jumped over Spike immobilizing him as the others prepared their fire breath ready to burn the Princess’ friends.
“Don’t make me kill all your friends Princess. Come with me so I can slave you and turn me into my little toy. Have you been fucked by a dragon before?”
Twilight smirked. “Yeah, I’m very used to that.”
“What?” asked Igneous.
Twilight was only smiling and nodded to Spike, who grinned too.
He started struggling against the dragons holding him, “Let me go! Twilight, no! Don’t do what they say!”
One of the dragons kicked Spike’s ribs. “Don’t move kid! If you continue, we’ll rip off your arms.”
“Don’t spill any dragon blood unnecessarily! This kid was raised by ponies, he didn’t know any better.” warned Lord Igneous. “Kill one of the ponies instead!”
The henchdragons obeyed, grabbing Rarity on their claws.
“Last chance Princess! Come with us voluntarily or watch us kill your friend!”
“No, never! I won’t let you start a war no matter what! And even if I go with you I’ll make sure Princess Celestia knows about your intentions and don’t go to war with you!”
“How Princess? I’ll destroy all witnesses here and now. Your friends would be killed, and your adoptive son would be taken hostage with you as well. With no witnesses Celestia would do exactly what I want!”
At Igneous sign, the dragon holding Rarity crushed her.
“NOOOOOOOO!!” cried everypony.
Lord Igneous and his henchdragons laughed at this. “And she was lucky we killed her instantly. We won’t be as considerate with the rest of you filthy ponies.”
The girls were in shock, and soon he would kill them all. Then he would take Twilight Sparkle as his slave and then the war would come. Yes, a glorious future for his race. But then something happened. The girls were sobbing and crying but slowly the cries began to turn into a hysterical laugh.
Twilight Sparkle and her friend where rolling on the floor laughing so hard that made the dragons exchange confused looks.
“What is so funny?” asked the dragon who killed Rarity opening his claws showing them the red mess. “Don’t you see you I killed your friend?”
“Maybe they lost their minds?” asked one of the dragons.
Finally, the pony who looked like Twilight finished laughing and looked at the red paste that was on the dragon’s claw.
“Hey Gothic! How did that feel?”
The red paste regenerated into a white unicorn with purple mane and red eyes with a smile full of fangs.
“Nothing new darling. It was exactly like pissing Night Terror off.”
Igneous was confused and scared at the same time.
“Night Terror? What do you mean? Who is Night Terror?”
The dragon who supposed to be Spike suddenly stopped struggling and with his jaws ripped off his own arms, regenerating new ones much to the other’s horror. Spike’s eyes turned from green to red as he smiled at them happily.
“I am Night Terror! Nice to meet you!”
Then ‘Pinkie Pie’ ripped off her own head only to regenerate a new one.
“Now do you understand the kind of trouble you ran into?”
Igneous was frozen in fear. “How is this possible?”
Undash flew to the dragon’s ear and whispered.
“Oh, you haven’t heard about the undead? Horrid creatures without the capability to think guided by the dark desire of murder, murder and more murder?”
Flesy Smile grinned to the dragons, flying in circles around them.
“But we do have the ability to think, to plan, etc. You see we are experts in planning how to capture our opponents and torture them to death.”
“Shall we say opponents or victims?” asked Pin-Kill-Die.
“Whatever!”
Panicking, one of the dragons closer to Night Terror tried to rip his belly with his claw and rip off his heart.
Night Terror smiled.
“Oh, take-a-heart! My favorite game!”
Night Terror ripped the other dragon’s heart. The dragon looked at his own organ before he fell dead.
“Hey! Have you died already? Wait, you cannot play this game if you die after the first turn! Oh, whatever!”
Night Terror ate the heart and smiled at the other dragons with blood dripping from his teeth. “You know? This is the first time I try dragon meat. I must say I prefer it than pony flesh!”
The other dragons gasped in horror and jumped over the cannibal dragon. This is something they could not allow something like that to exist. Night Terror let them do as they pleased as all his injuries automatically regenerated.
A lasso wrapped around on one of their claws.
The dragon looked at the earth pony who have trapped him.
“Heya!” greeted Jack the Reaper.
A pony was nothing for the mighty dragon, he raised his claw lifting the poor earth pony, but this was what the monster wanted. She used the additional impulse to get over the dragon and stab it with her knife on the eye.
The dragon roared in pain as she continued to turn his eye into mush.
“Ya’ know parner’? A’ never go for the eyes but dragons are too damn solid and need to hurry before our others selves notice us!”
The other dragons tried to attack the creatures at least to get some time to run but there was no way back. The Undead Knights won’t let them leave.
Midnight used her magic to immobilize them as the other Undeads started to massacre them to the horrified Lord Igneous who tried to run away but he was held by Night Terror.
“No, no, no. You caused this the last you can do is stay to watch the show. How about a snack?”
Igneous felt a horrible pain from his tail, and then Night Terror forced a piece of meat on his mouth as he ate the other piece. Horrified, Igneous wanted to puke but Night Terror forced him to swallow.
“It is rude to reject a snack!” said Night Terror. “Come on! How does your own tail taste?”
Igneous tried to scream and to run but it was too late already. All his henchdragons have been killed by the creatures and now only he remained.
“No wait! I made a mistake! I swear I won’t try anything anymore! Just let me go!”
The undeads grinned.
“Sorry pal, you played your cards and you lost. It is time for you to pay for your stupidity!”
“We are the Undead Knights, we protect Equestria from all evil. Unfortunately for you we are invincible!”
The Undeads laughed at the creature, as Night Terror looked at him with a blank stare and before Igneous could react the undead dragon used his sharp claws to rip his belly off and take all of his organs off.
“Night Terror?” asked Midnight confused.
The dragon ignored her and continued rip all the organs off until Igneous was blessed with the bliss of death.
Night Terror roared, unable to control himself until Midnight sent him a magic blast.
“Night Terror!”
“Huh? Midnight? What happened?”
“That’s what I’m asking. Are you okay? I thought we were going to share!”
“Huh?”
Night Terror looked at his hands covered in blood and then at his friends who were staring at him confused.
“What happened to me?”
In the peaceful town of Ponyville, a young dragon woke up screaming.
“Spike! Spike are you okay?!” asked Twilight entering to his room.
He looked at Twilight and shook his head.
“Twilight…”
“It’s okay Spike! You had a bad dream! That’s it!”
“No Twilight, it wasn’t a dream. It was a warning.”
Midnight yawned after she finished the reading she stole from a store about a strange notebook that allowed the user to kill anypony whose name is written on it. The undead creature supported the protagonist’s idea that the only way to achieve world-wide peace was to exterminate all evil. But killing by a heart attack seemed boring. Where was the fun in that?
She preferred to use a knife or her own magic. Also looking at Night Terror eating them was kind of funny.
And speaking of Night Terror, she could use some dragon dick.
“Night Terror! Night Terror!” she called by entering the room where her dragon was lying.
The enormous dragon seemed asleep but she knew that was impossible for undead creatures.
“Night Terror!” she called seductively.
The dragon ignored her.
“Night Terror!” she shouted.
Night Terror finally opened his eyes, noticing Midnight moving her tail around his nose to call his attention. Night Terror finally smiled to her and sniffed Midnight’s mane making her moan in pleasure. The reptilian tongue invaded every inch on her body making Midnight shiver. She was lost in an ocean of pleasure.
But Night Terror was somehow distracted as he was pleasing Midnight, scared of what just happened. Why did I not react to her? I smelled her, I felt her presence but I didn’t react. Is because she is not… alive? He shivered. No, no. It can’t be.
“Night Terror, are you okay? You are not into it as much as you use to!” said Midnight.
“I am terribly sorry Midnight my dear, is just that…”
“Oh, I know! Would you prefer go straight to the act? I won’t mind skip foreplay for you.”
“Thank you, my beloved.”
Canterlot was a city of students. Most of the greatest universities of Equestria were located in Canterlot. With the obvious exceptions of Wonderbolt Academy, and the Manehattan Tech.
For many years Celestia’s Academy for the Gifted Unicorns was the best school in Equestria, but now another school held the title. A school founded six years ago, the Academy of Silence. There were no entrance exams and it wasn’t very expensive. And if a family was too poor to afford tuition in the Academy, they lowered their fees.
All because of their most sacred belief:
EDUCATION IS FOR EVERYPONY
The faculty members never gave up for any students, they never let them cry or do anything to hurt their learning process. And in the cases that the student was unable to learn for some reason, it was determined that the teacher was at fault and not the student. And the faculty members did everything on their power to make sure that all knowledge was shared
After all the school was founded by the Knights of Silence, and they were well-known for their fight for education and how far they were capable to go for their cause.
Barely six years ago the Knights of the Silence were wanted criminals who broke into Academies, libraries and other restricted sources of knowledge to steal everything and then give all this knowledge for free saying that nopony had the right to monopolize it.
The Crown tried to stop them but they were an exceptionally strong group who have gained the heart of everypony, and in the end the Crown had no choice to come to an agreement. They would modify the educational system to make it more inclusive and they would allow the Knights of the Silence to found their own Academy where they could continue teaching and promoting their ideology freely.
In exchange the Knights should stop stealing knowledge from others, and the former Leader of the Order should answer for the crimes of her Order.
But they only get to an agreement after the Knights joined forces with the Crown to defeat an enemy in common, monsters from the pits of hell.
Those who participated in the battle agreed to never speak about what happened ever again. They lost somepony important that day and agreed to honor her memory by following her teachings. Not mentioning the horrible way she died.
…
Spike flew over Canterlot at first hour, and landed in front of the Academy of Silence, making appear his black robe, his blue cape, and his smiling mask. The students looked at him and bowed. Spike was not a faculty member, but they recognized him as part of the High Council and the most powerful Knight after the Great Master.
Spike greeted a few students with a quick nod and knocked at the door of the Great Master’s office.
“Irish! Irish!” shouted Spike banging the door.
“I heard you the first time, calm down for Faust sake!” said the Great Master Irish Coffee opening the door. “What’s wrong with you anyway? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
“Not ghosts, they are more like zombies. Seven of them!”
Irish Coffee paled. “NO, NOT THEM!”
Spike nodded.
Shacking in fear, Irish let pass Spike to her office and he took a seat.
“Tell me everything.”
“What do you want me to tell you? I had this nightmare, but it felt different. I was watching everything from the perspective of… well, it doesn’t matter. What matters was that it was too real.”
Irish nodded. “It was a warning, right?”
“So do you believe me?” asked Spike.
“Of course I believe you! Spike, you are my best friend and you have a direct connection with one of those things. Also your powers are far superior than mine… only an idiot would not believe you.”
Spike sighed. “Tell that to Twilight! I tried to tell her I was serious, that I received a warning in the Dream Realm. But she dismissed saying I was having a bad dream!”
Irish frowned. “Okay in her case is not stupidity but fear. Midnight is a reminder what would have happened if Starlight Glimmer have defeated her.”
“And ironically if it wasn’t for Midnight they would have ended up like the Undead Knights.”
Irish Coffee nodded.
“The Undead Knights have made them realize they have a dark side that could emerge at any time in case they are defeated. Is not that she doesn’t believe you, she is too afraid to.”
Spike nodded. “Thank you Irish, you always know what to say.”
Irish gave him a smile. “In the meantime let’s inform their Majesties about the situation. I’ll go with you!”
“Thank you, Irish.”
The two of them went to the Castle, just in time for Day Court.
“Hey Emerald!” called Irish.
“Yes Great Master? How can I help you?” asked a green unicorn, reading in a table.
“I need you to please cover my class for today. Also reunite the High Council, we have an emergency in our hooves.”
Emerald bowed to the Great Master as she and Spike ran to the Castle. They had no time to lose.
A few guards bowed before the Great Master and Spike when they entered the Castle. Just like the regular ponies, lots of them owed a lot to the Order.
Back in the days when the Knights of Silence were wanted criminals, the Crown had lots of difficulties tracking them down since they had allies in all over Equestria. Even among the Royal Guard.
Not only the Guards but also servants and other ponies bowed before Spike and the Great Master showing them their respect.
They arrived to the line to Day Court. And as expected, there were at least a dozen of ponies before them.
“Great!” complained Irish.
“Yeah, but we’re lucky we arrived here on time. A few more minutes and the line would become twice as long.”
The two of them sighed and get to the line.
“Hey! Is that the Great Master?”
The ponies turned to the newcomers and immediately bowed before them.
“Great Master, Knight Spike! You can go before me! My issue is not that urgent!”
Irish smiled awkwardly. “Seriously?”
“Of course Great Master! I owe everything to you and the Order, please go before me!” smiled certain mare.
“No, I am further in line! Please take come here Great Master!” offered another pony.
“No, I am second in line! You can have my place Great Master.”
Spike and Irish thanked the gesture, and they went second in line and thanked the ponies profusely. Usually they would not abuse their position like this, but the situation was urgent.
After the next pony finished his audience with the Princess, they entered to the Throne Room.
“Thank you, Princesses! Thanks to your help my city would finally get out of this crisis!” said a pony exiting the room.
Celestia and Luna waved a hoof to the happy pony when Irish and Spike entered to the Throne Room looking very worried.
“Spike? Irish Coffee? What are you doing here?”
Spike bowed before them. “Hi Princesses, sorry for coming out of sudden but this is an urgent matter. I just had a dream. No, it wasn’t a dream it was a premonition. A warning. The Undead Knights have returned!”
The Princesses shivered at the memory of the creatures.
“You can’t be serious. Those things are sealed under the Sprout of Harmony!” said Celestia.
“Spike what if you share your dream with them?” suggested Irish Coffee.
The young drake nodded and used a window spell sharing with them the dream he had about the undeads massacring those dragons. The two Princesses were shacking in fear.
“It can’t be! Luna, the Dream Realm is your specialty! This is some sort of mistake, right? There’s no way the creatures have broken free? Right Luna?”
The Princess of the Night was pale.
“Tia, seriously shut the buck up. We all knew we were just buying time, and that dream was far too detailed to be a ‘just a dream’. Get Twilight Sparkle and the Bearers, we are going to take a look at that place. If they have freed we’ll notice right away. But if they don’t I’ll personally watch your dreams from now on. Is this okay Spike?”
The dragon bowed before the Princess. “Thank you, Princess Luna!”
Celestia didn’t seem very convinced. “Are you sure we are not overreacting? They are trapped in the roots of a Tree of Harmony! There’s no way creatures like them would be able to free for a prison as perfect like that!”
“Isn’t Harmony itself what allows them to think rationally?” asked Spike. “They may be undead monsters, but Harmony is part of them.”
In the end Celestia nodded. “Okay, we can take a look. But once we prove that they are still underground where they belong, we’ll go back to our lives. Agreed?”
“Agreed!”
…
Three pegasi-pulled chariots crossed the skies to that forbidden land, halfway between Canterlot and the Crystal Empire where a Sprout of the Tree of Harmony was growing in silence, sealing the most dangerous creatures in Equestria.
“I seriously don’t understand why are we doing this!” complained Rainbow Dash.
“Yes! Those things are really scary! Can’t we just forget they exist?” asked Fluttershy.
“Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are right! The Undead Knights are defeated! We don’t have to come back to this horrible place!” said Rarity as she remembered the last battle against the creatures.
Twilight shook her head as she looked at Spike with concern.
“I think you are overreacting over a bad dream Spike. I get it, I would worry too if I had a dream about those things but you cannot waste the Princesses’ time like this!”
Irish glared at Twilight. “You know that Spike wouldn’t do it on purpose! If he is wrong I’ll admit we are overreacting but there’s nothing wrong with taking a look.”
“But the Undead Knights are sealed for good! There’s no need to take a look because there is no way they can escape from the Sprout of Harmony!” insisted Fluttershy
Irish sighed. “I know we are all scared, but please keep your mind open. Denying the existence of this monsters won’t help us.”
Finally they landed in front of the Sprout of Harmony. The Tree was growing in silence, keeping the undead monsters under irs roots.
“See? The Tree is still here! Now let’s go!” said Celestia.
Irish Coffee glared at her as she jumped from the chariot and began to explore the place. The others did the same, just to make sure.
Applejack was the first to notice a bunch of dirt, along with a hole with broken roots. The cowgirl trembled in fear.
“No… no, it can’t be. IT CAN’T BE!”
The others ran to see what the problem was, and paled. They could see not one but seven holes. It looked like something emerged from the ground, breaking some roots in the process.
They went silent and gulped as they examined the holes.
“Let’s not jump into conclusions yet!” said Celestia. “It could be just an animal!”
“There’s no animals here. Even if the undead are sealed they can feel their aura of death! No animal in their right mind would approach here!” said Flutershy.
“Seven holes, seven monsters!” said Rainbow Dash examining the terrain from the air.
They shivered but Twilight and Celestia refused to believe it. If the Tree of Harmony could not keep them asleep what could?
“But, this doesn’t prove anything, right?” asked Celestia looking at the others.
They all glared at her.
The way back to Canterlot was full of tension. It was obvious that the Undead Knights have returned. The question was when did they freed and what they could do to stop them?
“Your Highnesses! Glad you’re back!” said a Guard bowing before them.
“Master Sword, what’s the matter?” asked Celestia.
“Somepony send you a package. The servants took a look to make sure it was safe and then…”
He showed them. It was a dragon’s head perfectly embalmed with gems where the eyes were. Spike recognized the dragon. It was Lord Igneous from his dream
Celestia gulped. “No… please this haves to be a sick joke!”
“Enough! You cannot deny this for much longer! Those things are free and they started to kill again.”
“And worse, they know we know.” said Luna.
“What should we do now?” asked Twilight.
“This can’t be! The Tree of Harmony only got us six years of peace!”
“We have to think in something. There haves to be a way to get rid of those creatures once and for all!”
Spike looked at Irish, who nodded and the two of them began to leave.
“Spike! Where are you going? We need you!” called Twilight.
“Sorry Twi, but this situation require a meeting with the High Council. Remember that the Knights of Silence are the primary target of the Undead Knights.”
“And we cannot afford to lose any more lives. We would not allow that the history repeats itself, we will make sure all our students are safe!”
“So if you excuse us, we’ll have to watch over our own people!” finished Spike as he and Irish Coffee left the room
III In the end, He would claim what is rightfully His
That morning most of the students of the Academy of Silence were sent home early with no explanation by a very agitated Great Master and Knight Spike.
“The High Council haves an important meeting! Classes are suspended for today! Go home!”
Also as a safety measure, Irish sent the most skilled Knights to escort the students back home to make sure everypony went back home safely.
Luckily most of the students lived nearby the Academy and in less than an hour, all the members of the Hight Council were back at the Academy where Irish and Spike told them the bad news.
“So those things are back?” asked Emerald Horn. “The damn bush only gave us six years of peace? ONLY SIX YEARS?”
Irish nodded sadly. “I’m afraid so.”
“So, what now? Are they going to hunt us down and kill us again? The same story cannot repeat itself.”
Spike and Irish shook their heads.
“No. We will not let them touch you, we’ll think in something, I promise. We cannot let East Wind down! She sacrificed herself in order to give us a future, and as the new Great Master is my duty to ensure that future.”
“Please don’t sacrifice yourself in vain!” scolded Emerald, still hurt by the lost of East Wind.
“Yeah, there has to be another way, you cannot waste your life just like that!” said Eternal Wings, touching her eyepatch.
“We need a plan!” said Spike thoughtful. “Also we need to warn all active Knights. The beasts have returned, we have to watch our backs.”
Flash Sentry frowned as he rubbed his chin. “I know the students won’t like it, but I think we should close the Academy until further notice. We cannot endanger the students.”
“At least now we don’t have to hide from the Crown, and they’ll help us protect the students, but I agree that we have to close the Academy for safety.” agreed Irish Coffee.
They continued discussing their next course of action not noticing that they were being watched from the sewers by two pairs of red and dead eyes. Finally, when they considered that they have watched and heard enough, they went back into the sewers.
“Great! Now they have an Academy officially recognized by the Crown, we messed up the timeline great time!” complained Midnight.
“Yeah, shit happens! But there’s nothing we can do now, right?” said Undash.
“We can travel through time one more time but we may mess up big time a second time!” joked Gothic.
“Shut up! We already proved that traveling through time didn’t change anything. Ironically it would be a waste of time.” complained Midnight.
“At least we’re back at the point when we turned into this and we already know what will happen from now on.” said Pin-Kill-Die thoughtful.
“Like the idiot of Igneous? Poor bastard, he was one of our first kills remember?”
Undash laughed. “Yeah, we couldn’t keep him alive more than ten minutes! We didn’t know how to kill dragons yet and we overdid.”
“Well this time Night Terror overdid too.” said Fleshy Smile.
“I already told you I’m sorry!” said Night Terror crossing his arms.
“Yes, darling but you had already kill your share. Why did you had to kill him too?” asked Gothic.
“I told you that I kinda lose control!”
“Awww, Nighty-Tighty is getting older even if he’s a corpse!”
Midnight ripped her tongue off.
“Shut the buck off.”
Gothic giggled, as she regenerated her tongue. “Awww, are we getting too sensitive darling?”
“Enough!” scolded Fleshy Smile. “No, no, no, girls! No fighting between us. We have to decide what to do now! Obviously it would get a bit more difficult to kill the Great Master now that they are under the protection of the Crown. So what we do now?”
Undash raised a hoof.
“I say let’s forget about them for now. They know we’re back, so they’ll have their eyes open. And we know the Knights of Silence are the worse kind of plague. No matter how hard we try they always come back. We need to know how the Griffons got rid of them first!”
They all turned to Undash.
“What?”
“Yeah, the Griffons. Wasn’t East Wind’s master a griffin?”
“You know? That’s a great idea! They originated on the Griffon Empire, so they should know how to get rid of them!”
“Ya’ have more brains than A’ thought Dashie!” congratulated Jack the Reaper.
Undash took a knife with her wings and cut the top of her own head to expose her brain to her friend. “Well, I have!! A pretty big brain if you ask me!”
The monsters laughed and then went to the Griffon Empire. The bird would tell them what then needed and if they not, they’ll find out one way or another.
As they were walking, Jack noticed the two skeletons hung with shackles on a corner. It was all that was left from Flim and Flam. Flim died out of fear on the first night, but she managed to keep Flam alive for a while. Then they got sealed so probably the unicorn died of starvation.
It was past midnight, on Canterlot Central Library. Twilight have been reading book after book, and when she finished she threw it on a pile that was getting larger. This wasn’t unusual in her, but that night she seemed a bit more agitated than usual.
Basically the problem was that she didn’t even know what she was looking for.
Looking at her with concern, Moon Dancer approached and refilled her lamp with oil.
Twilight turned to her and smiled; she had been here longer than she expected. But again, this was normal for her.
“Thank you, Moon Dancer!”
“My pleasure!” smiled the unicorn.
Twilight nodded as her friend examined the pile of books. Moon Dancer had aged gracefully. Her mane was as long as usual, but she didn’t tie it anymore, and it fell beautifully over her shoulders. She replaced her glasses from contact lenses and finally she replaced her sweater by an elegant denim jacket.
“Today is larger than usual.” said Moon Dancer. “I think you should stop.”
“Stop? You have no idea of the situation we’re into. If I don’t find an answer soon…”
“Let me rephrase it, you need a break. I know for experience that a tired brain cannot focus. Just calm down, breath, and take a break. Is also time for my break, would you like a cup of tea?”
Twilight sighed. “Yes, tea sounds good!”
Moon Dancer smiled at her, as she gave Twilight a cup of tea at the employee break room.
“So what’s on your mind, Twilight?”
“The usual, I don’t know what to do and came to the books looking for an idea or some inspiration. The problem is that there isn’t that much information about Demonic Pacts.”
Moon Dancer frowned.
“What? Okay I don’t know why you want to read about that but, why are you all by yourself? What about Spike, or your friends?”
Spike sighed.
“My friends are looking for some information in the Canterlot Archives and the Crystal Empire. And Spike haves his duty as a Knights of Silence.”
Moon Dancer groaned.
“Pst! The Knights of Silence, really? Huh, I used to like Spike.”
“You don’t like the Knights of Silence?”
Moon Dancer sighed.
“Nothing against them personally, is just that after years of studying and getting more prestige on the Academy, I finally got access to the most restricted documents. My efforts finally paid off. And, a couple of days later they publish all the restricted documents for everypony. All that effort for nothing!”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” said Twilight.
Moon Dancer sighed. “I graduated and all and got a couple of documents from them that I’m still thankful but I don’t like them. Anyway, we’re talking about you!”
“I don’t know where to start…” said Twilight.
Moon Dancer rubbed her chin. “Well, you mentioned Demonic Pacts. What did you mean by that? What are you looking for exactly?”
“Thanks Moon Dancer, but I don’t think you are able to help me.”
“Give me a chance, I’ve read every single book on this library.”
“Okay, what do you know about the undead?”
Moon Dancer frowned. “Oh, not much about them. All I know is what Celestia made public after she revealed their existence to the world after the first Great Master died. Creatures who have no ability to think, guided only by the dark desire of…”
“Murder, murder and more murder. Yeah, they are known as the invincible beasts.”
“The only way to defeat them is to use the Elements of Harmony to put them to sleep and then seal them in especial prisons.” said Moon Dancer.
“The thing is, there’s something nopony knows. That there are some kind of sentient undeads. We thought we sealed them for good but then they freed, and we don’t know where they are or how are we going to stop them.”
“Sentient udeads? But how’s that possible? When you become an undead your soul descends to hell automatically and only your body remains!”
“It’s hard to explain but their souls are stuck into their bodies, making them sentient but also they have the undead obsession to kill and their invincibility. Those are truly frightening things.”
Moon Dancer frowned. “I’ve heard the rumors. They are actually you, or an alternate version of you. Right.”
Twilight nodded.
“Yes, and we locked them up but they escaped and now we’re out of ideas.”
Moon Dancer sighed.
“I cannot help you with this, nopony can. But if I were you I would keep an eye open. You cannot make deal with the Devil and then walk away just like that. I don’t know how did your other selves manage to get away from him as long but in the end he would claim what is rightfully His.”
Twilight shivered. Moon Dancer was right.
In the end the Devil would claim the souls that were denied to him. He would claim it their other selves would be forced to return to Him.
Sunset woke up as usual. Like every other morning she made herself a cup of coffee and a plate of oatmeal (sometimes it was difficult to separate from her pony side) as she mentally made her plans for the day. Today it was the due date to hand over her latest paper to her professor. She only slept four hours because of that, but she was okay with it. It was the usual for college students, especially now that she was about to graduate.
Sunset planned to sleep in her card around noon before going to her job, but then she took her first sip of coffee and looked at the morning paper. She almost spitted the precious drink because of the surprise.
Mane-Hattan Tech joins the list of affected universities
Frowning, Sunset opened the paper and started reading. Just as she feared, the Knights of Silence have attacked again.
Last night, right after closing time, the group known as ‘Silence’ broke into the main offices of the Mane-Hattan tech and stole all their documentation. None of the authorities of the university noticed the attack until two hours later after all their thesis, post-grade publications, investigation reports and all the licensed documents were available to download for free in hundreds of sites in the Internet. Most of these links were immediately deleted but as usual, for each deleted page two more appeared. The damage is already done and beyond repair.
Just like the other attacks students from all over the place received an SMS with Silence famous motto ‘Education is for everybody’ along with several links to download the documents they just got. The authorities are unable to track the origin of the massive message. There’s no official declaration from the group Silence except for the message on the official website. Knowledge is for everyone, as long as we exists we won’t allow anyone to monopolize it. Education is for everybody.
As usual they enter and vanish in the shadows. Is like magic, says the police spokesman.
Sunset threw the paper angrily. She could forget about her nap at noon. She had to say a couple of words to certain girl.
Sunset finished her breakfast really quick and went to the university. Luckily for her the professor just received the paper and class ended, so Sunset could sleep a little before facing East Wind.
As usual she was very easy to find. She was always at campus surrounded by a group of students who respectfully bowed before her. How could the authorities be so stupid to notice this was not normal, huh? It didn’t make any sense.
“East Wind! Great Master!!” called Sunset.
Everyone around East Wind turned to the yellow-skinned girl who was walking angrily toward East. Some of them prepared to stop her, but East dismissed them with a single gesture and smiled warmly at Sunset.
“Let me guess! You read the morning paper, right? All I have to say is, education is for everybody. I will not allow anyone to monopolize knowledge.”
“Damn it East! You know that most of us dropped the Order because of this reckless behavior. If you continue like this there would be consequences.”
East Wind sighed. “Believe me, the consequences I could face in this world are nothing with what I faced in Equestria. You have no idea…”
East shivered.
“Still, you know that this world is not ready for magic!” insisted Sunset.
“Maybe not but my magic is ready for this world. And the era of internet have helped me to expand my ideology faster than ever. Admit it Sunset, I am doing more good than wrong with my actions.”
Sunset shook her head. “East, please! You know I am your friend and I’m worried for you! This world is far more violent than Equestria!”
“I’m not sure, you don’t have anything like the seven demons I fought back when I was in Equestria.” said East.
In the end she smiled at Sunset. “Thank you for worrying about me, and your two friends that still are part of the Order. Twilight and Fluttershy are extremely powerful, and they can take care of themselves. But if something happens, I’ll make sure to protect them.”
Sunset just sighed. “You can read souls, tell me what I want to know please.”
East Wind simply smiled at Sunset, and nodded slowly. “Fine, Twilight took part on the attack yesterday. She is the more skilled to break into the firewalls with her magic and she insisted to do it. Fluttershy did not.”
Sunset frowned but sighed. In the end she went to her job, as she looked back at East Wind. The Great Master, what kind of dangers she faced in Equestria that made her that confident and calmed?
In the meantime East Wind went to her class in the other building. She bumped into a girl wearing a pink hoodie that covered her face. But East could see her purple hair with an aquamarine strip.
“You are not safe. They are back and they know you’re alive.”
East Wind froze and turned around but the girl was nowhere to be seen.
“Great Master?” called someone.
“Sorry, I spaced out. Let’s go to class!”
East Wind was scared, there was something horrifyingly familiar about the girl’s aura.
She had to keep her eyes open from now on. She had a feeling that there was a new battle ahead. And probably this would be the final one.
It was late night, the undead dragon known as Night Terror was daydreaming in the ruins of the Royal Sisters’ castle, when he felt a presence. He smiled, as he was waiting for him.
“I got your letter! What do you want, Night Terror?” said Spike, materializing from the shadows.
The undead dragon smirked. “You haven’t learned anything on this five years. Aren’t you worried that this may be a trap?”
Spike smiled, releasing his aura of shadows. “I have my own tricks. Thanks to certain dragon and the Great Master, I’m not a sinner anymore.”
Night Terror’s smirk grew wider. Yes, this Spike was quite different to his past self. He had the confidence and the strength he lacked back on the day. He would never become an undead monster as he did.
The undead monster raised his claw and attacked his counterpart, but his own shadows solidified and grabbed his claw stopping the attack. Spike remained quiet, looking at Night Terror right to the eye without a hint of fear. But he semed sad.
“I don’t get what are you trying to prove. Can I leave now?” asked Spike.
Night Terror sighed, falling on his knees. He looked at his own claws with a sad smile.
“Aren’t they beautiful? I ripped off countless heads, teared apart body after body, crushed one enemy after another. I am the ultimate killing machine, and my beloveds were my ultimate weapon. But they are useless when it comes to protect the one I love the most.”
Spike gave Night Terror a blank stare.
“Enough! Just tell me what the hay do you want!” said Spike losing his patience.
Night Terror jumped over Spike and he raised his claws and buried them on the ground. Night Terror roared in annoyance and ripped his own hands off to grow a new pair.
“Do you know how it feels to lose your friends and family out of sudden, and know you are not strong enough to protect them? To have them aback only to realize that who they were is nothing but a distant memory, and that they had become something hideous and terrifying? Mom, what happened to her? All was left was a bloodthirst monster. But she kinda looked like her old self and I thought that was good enough. At least for a little while. Then, I decided to become her equal and here we are. Spike and Twilight are long gone, now we just are Night Terror and Midnight. Two undead creatures who exist only to kill and fool themselves saying is for the greater good.”
Spike shivered, something changed out of sudden.
Night Terror’s eyes lost focus, turning dead and empty. The monster raised his claw one more time and he was about to crush Spike. But unlike the other times Spike felt that his life was truly in danger and teleported in shadows to dodge the attack. Spike used his own shadow and Night Terror’s to immobilize him.
This infuriated Night Terror who began to struggle against the two shadows.
“What is wrong with you?!” shouted Spike in fear.
But Night Terror did not answer. He roared and tried to reach Spike with his jaws. But what confused Spike was the fact that his counterpart was using brute strength only. Why he was not using his magic, or his fire breath?
Finally, Night Terror trembled and stopped struggling. Spike felt how his aura went back to normal.
“What was that all about?” asked Spike.
“This is what happens if I lose focus only for a fraction of a second. It is time for me to pay the prize of my choices.”
“What do you mean?
Night Terror sighed sadly.
“I am losing myself Spike. The only thing keeping my soul is my deep love for Midnight. But unlike the Elements of Harmony my love is not enough to prevent the inevitable. It is only a matter of time for my soul to descend to hell and my body to become what you just saw.”
Spike gulped.
“A true undead.”
Night Terror nodded. “I know what is waiting for me and my family. During these small periods I lose my mind I’ve had some glances of hell. I know there’s a plan to retrieve their souls. I won’t be here for long, but as for the others the only way for Him to claim their souls is to destroy their bodies.”
“What? You mean that…”
“Yes, He created a tool capable to kill us for good. I want to save the rest for what is stored for us, so you must destroy them first. It won’t be easy but please, help me. You are the only one who can save them!”
“Okay, tell me what I need to do.”
“Whatever it takes… don’t let her take their unlives!”
…
Midnight, Griffon Empire Royal Library:
A group of black shadows were moving around pushing around shelves and throwing away the books after taking a quick glance.
“Hey you!” shouted a security guard. “What do you think you’re doing? Huh… ponies?”
Six pairs of rede eyes stared at the guard.
“What are you waiting for? He works here, he should know where to find the information we need!” commanded Midnight.
The griffon then squealed. A horrible high-pitched squeal that shattered all the glass in the library. The undeads flinched to the horrid sound and Jack the Reaper had no choice but choke the griffon to shot him off.
“Seriously, stop it!” said the cowgirl.
“Yes, cooperate with us and we’ll let you go. We don’t hurt anyone with no reason.”
The scared griffon nodded in silence as a group of soldiers broke in showing their claws and knives as a warning.
“You are surrounded ponies! Surrender now or we’ll have to use brute force!”
The undeads exchanged a confused look.
“Oh! So that’s what the squeal was for!”
“Kind of clever.”
“We are losing our time here!” said Fleshy Smile. “Let’s be nice for once and ask directly!”
“Fine, whatever.” shrugged Undash.
Then Fleshy Smile turned to the guards. “We’re just looking for some information about the Knights of he Silence, we’ve been looking all over the place to find something about them but there aren’t any books about them.”
“Knights of the Silence?” asked the soldiers, confused.
The only one who seemed to recognize the word was the captain, a few years older than the rest of his unit.
“So you know!” said Midnight.
“What are you waiting for! Arrest them!”
The griffons jumped over the undeads, who simply jumped away eluding the attack. Then each of the undeads raised their hooves and the soldiers were immobilized by their own shadows, and then thrown away against the shelves.
Only the captain remained.
“Magic of Silence. I never thought I would see it again.”
Midnight smirked.
“What do you know about that?
“How do you know about that? We chased the knights to their extinction.”
Midnight rolled her eyes. “You obviously didn’t do a very good job. One of them escaped and recreated the Order in Equestria. Now Celestia, as weak and naïve as she is let them create their official academy despite all they’ve done.”
“They are worse than the plague, huh? Because their ‘education is for everybody’ philosophy there are always more of them.”
Midnight sighed. “Yes! And because they can read souls it is impossible to sneak among their lines. Really difficult, right? Now tell me why you chased them! They should have a dirty little secret.”
The griffon captain shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. I was a young recruit just joining the Army and followed orders. Never ask or cared, just did what I was told. This is how you climb ranks faster; you know?”
Midnight nodded, made sense.
“Who knows?”
“The old generals from that time, they’re all retired or dead now. Also the Royal Family.”
“Okay thanks. Undeads, we’re leaving!”
The six monsters nodded and began to walk away when the captain took a knife form his wings and threw it at Midnight with perfect aim. The weapon hit her right on the back of her head.
The other were about to react but Midnight stopped them. “We are invaders here, he is just doing his job. Anyway don’t bother. We are invincible.”
She ripped her own head off and regenerated a new one leaving the old one behind much to the soldiers’ horror.
“What we do now leader?”
“Inform the Royal Family. If the Knights of Silence are still active, they should know. Also, did you see what she did? I’ve seen this only once, and it was an undead creature. Sentient undeads? Knights of Silence? This is far beyond our league.”
Days passed slow and boring for the old griffon general. When he was a rookie he used to dream about old age and live of a juicy pension from the Government. He dedicated the best years of his life to serve the nation, and he was proud of it. Now that he achieved his goal everything seemed pointless and boring.
All that was left for the old General Garan was to wait to reunite with his wife and his unit in death.
“Sometimes I wonder why the Gods let me live this long.” sighed Garan, as he took a sip of a canteen.
He looked at sunset when he saw six shadows moving unnaturally toward him. The griffon smiled.
“Aw, shadows of silence. I never thought I would see them again. Hahahahaha! Come on, are you telling me that you’ve been waiting for me to be too old and weak to give you a fight? You could have same a few years, you know? Just end me already.”
The shadows stopped and then materialized one by one. The Undead Knights have appeared.
The griffon was surprised that they were ponies but he shrugged it off. “You are not what I expected, did the Order escaped to Equestria after we finished them here? Are you here to seek vengeance on behalf of your Great Master?”
Undash’s eye twitched, and she took the griffon by the feathers of his chest and smashed him to the ground, as Jack the Reaper kicked his chair destroying it.
“You speak more nonsense than Pin-Kill-Die.”
Midnight nodded. “Yes, we’re not here on behalf of anypony, we’re here on behalf of ourselves. It seems that you know things about the Knights of Silence. For what we’ve investigated it was you who lead the massacre against the Knights of Silence. Why did you destroyed them? What dirty little secret does the Order have? What are they after? And most important, how do we get them out of Equestria?”
The old griffon smiled, as he took another sip of his canteen.
“So you are the reason why I’ve lived this long. Let’s make a deal. Since there’s nothing left for me in the modern world, you kill me right after I tell you what I know.”
“What? For real?” asked Pin-Kill-Die.
“If you want to die this much why don’t you just go kill yourself?” asked Fleshy Smile.
The old griffon seemed very offended by the suggestion. “Because there is not greater dishonor for an ex combatant than commit suicide. Now, do we have a deal or what?”
Midnight nodded. “Okay, no problem. Killing is what we do best. Now, can you please tell us what you know mister former combatant?”
The old griffon looked at what was left of his chair, and looked at the pony. “I need to take a seat.”
Midnight rolled her eyes and repaired the chair with her magic.
“Thank you!”
Gothic helped the old griffon to sit as the others came closer to hear him. The old griffon sighed deeply, as he began to tell.
“First you have to understand that the little civil war between the Knights and the Crown was because of the Crown’s own stupidity. Emperor Velkan was teenager with way too much power on his claws and ended up creating a disaster. It all started when we discovered magic and each family developed its own version of the magic. We were on a way to a new era of prosperity. But it wouldn’t last.”
“Why I’m not surprised! Griffons are stupid and quarrelsome!” sighed Pink-Kill-Die.
Fleshy Smile only ripped off Pin-Kill-Die’s tongue. “Sorry for the interruption. Please continue.”
The griffon took another sip of wine before continuing. Seeing that tongue regenerating was quite unpleasant.
“Where was I? Oh right! The problem began when our most powerful schools understood that magic meant power. And if used a certain way it could be used to dominate others. The most powerful Orders joined to create the Holly Council. They decided that only the Orders they considered worthy would survive. The others should be destroyed.”
“And the ‘worthy’ Orders were only the ones that were part of the Council or the ones that submitted to them. Right?” asked Fleshy Smile.
“One Order saw the incoming danger and decided to fight back. They gathered all the knowledge they could from the orders they could, and decided to do the unthinkable. They shared all their secrets with those who weren’t part of the Order. Their idea was simple, you cannot exterminate the Knowledge if this Knowledge is shared with enough people.”
He took another sip. “When the massacres began the other Orders shared their Knowledge with this Order who have perfected their method to teach everyone. And one day, they managed to steal the secrets of the most powerful Orders and shared them with the others. They made everyone as powerful as them, so they could fight. All the weaker Orders joined this one turning them into the Knights of Silence we know today.”
Garan looked at the Undeads with a sad smile. “I see that you can use Shadow Magic. Do you know something about the Knight’s doctrine?”
“Refresh our memory.”
“Shadows are not evil by themselves. Shadows are emptiness, the beginning of everything both good and bad. The base of magic itself. Shadow is the basic element of magic; this is why the Knights are so good at learning all kinds of magic and teach it to others.”
“But if they were that good teaching everyone, how did ya’ stopped them?” asked Jack the Reaper.
“I was young rookie at the military academy with a brilliant future awaiting. But I needed more power, but since I was not part of the families chosen by the Council, I could only get this power from the Knights of Silence, so I joined them.”
“The Great Master knew he would need some insiders in the army so he welcomed me with open wings. I would give him insight of the new plans of the Crown to defeat them and in exchange I would become more powerful and when I get to the top I would do everything to stop the Crown from chasing the Knights. My intentions were pure… idealistic. Foolish.”
Finally, the griffon general emptied his canteen.
“I was the one who betrayed the Knights of the Silence. I told the Crown where to find them and pointed out the soldiers who were working from the inside with the Knights. I’m not proud for what I did, but in the end, I felt so betrayed when I found their secret that they gave me no choice.”
“What secret?”
“I told you, remember? Shadows are the basic element of all magic; it is extremely strong and because of it causes lots of stress over the body. Prolonged usage of Shadow Magic would have very serious consequences.”
“Which type of consequences?” asked Midnight.
The griffon coughed. “Are you worried about what could happen to you?”
“I am technically immortal. But I have a son. A dumb son who…”
The griffon shook his head. “Then I’m sorry about him but maybe is not too late for him yet. This is a secret protected by the Great Master of the Knights for generations. I just happened to overhear when the Great Master from my time told his successor right before he died out of premature old age.”
“Premature old age?” asked Midnight.
“I told you. Using Shadow Magic puts too much stress on your body. You can use it, sure. But if you use it for too long you’ll end up aging twice as fast. I’m actually surprised that they managed that they were able to keep the secret for that long. The Old Master didn’t care about what could happen to us, all he wanted was to spread knowledge.”
The griffon sighed sadly. “I betrayed them so I could get my revenge. I stopped using Shadow Magic and you know the rest. We chased them to extinction, but I always had the gut feeling that they were still alive and were going to take their revenge against me sooner or later.”
The undeads exchanged a confused look.
“Did we witness any of this in our timeline?” asked Gothic.
Midnight shook her head. “We killed every Knight on the Silence we saw, so we didn’t give them the time to notice.”
The griffon coughed calling for attention.
“There you go! I told you what I knew. What about my part of the deal?”
“One last question, how did the Great Master kept this as a secret for this long? Knights can read souls, damn it!”
“Oh, those who have completely mastered the Shadow Magic are able to hide their true intentions even from those who know how to read souls. Also the Great Master was convinced that he was doing the right thing so hide his intentions was not difficult. In the end stupidity is more dangerous than pure evil.”
The undeads didn’t know what to think, but in the end they nodded.
“Pin-Kill-Die, go on!”
The pink undead walked toward the griffon, and then she broke his neck.
General Garan left with a smile.
“What do you think?”
“I highly doubt that East Wind knows this. Neither Irish Coffee.”
“I don’t care about those morons! Spike, he is the one who worries me!” said Midnight. “It is already too late for Night Terror, but I can save Spike. I will save Spike even if that means chase them to extinction! They may not be bad but they are stupid, and as this griffon said, stupidity is more dangerous than pure evil.”
And they disappeared in the shadows, ironically. But they didn’t mind since they were dead already. Now they just had to think in a way to destroy all the Knights of Silence.
…
It was very late in night when Spike returned from his talk with Night Terror. Now he knew what to do, but it would be difficult. He had to defeat the monsters no matter what.
“Spike!” called somepony behind him.
He turned to see his mother.
“Oh hi Twilight. What are you doing awake this late at night?”
“Oh, I don’t know… waiting for you obviously! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? Where were you Spike? DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS NOW THAT THEY ARE BACK?!”
Spike just looked down.
“I am sorry, okay? I had something to do. Something important.”
“Spike please! Nothing is more important than your life, and now that the Undeads are back the Knights of Silence are no longer safe. And you are a Knight of Silence! Please, you need to be more careful!”
Spike sighed. “I am sorry Twilight, but you have to stop worrying about me!”
“I am your mother! Is my job to worry about you!”
Spike sighed. “Look, I wish I could stay and help you to calm down but there’s something I need to do. If there’s something I can do to save my family, I will. Being useless it’s a sin, and I am not a sinner. Not anymore.”
He ran to his room. “In fact I just came to grab my stuff. There’s something I need to discuss with the Hight Council. I leave to Canterlot immediately.”
And before Twilight could react, he fused with his shadow and got lost in the night.
Twilight just watched the door he escaped and fell on her knees as tears began to show in her eyes. This was the last straw, she realized something horrible. Something that she refused to see back on the days when she realized Spike had become a Knight.
A young woman was busy carving a branch she took from a tree on a nearby park using a knife. With no reason. Only kill time. It was a simple shape, a Y-shaped cane. She already had like 6 canes but she continued carving more.
She looked at her new cane. It reminded her of her best era, right before those six came to ruin everything. And right after she planned the perfect revenge, she was stopped by those creatures. She smiled evilly, exposing her fangs as her dead red eyes sparkled with joy as she pictured her ultimate revenge.
“Soon we’ll see each other again. I’m looking forward to destroy you all!”
A mirror forgotten in a corner of her room started glowing, calling her attention.
“Hey!” she greeted.
“We have to start moving.” said a voice from the other side of the mirror.
“For real?” asked the girl relishing her fangs.
“The Shadows have realized they are free. We have to start moving before their other selves intervene.”
The girl cheered in excitement, punching a wall so hard that she broke her hand. But she regenerated in an instant.
“So finally, we’ll fulfil our revenge!”
“You know what to do, right?”
The girl rolled her eyes. “I know, I know! I have to approach to the Great Master and their other selves. And you know what to do, right?”
“Of course! We have to accomplish our mission no matter what.”
The girl ended the communication with Equestria and went to get her hoodie and exited her apartment. It was time.
…
“Thank you for joining us for joining us to our sessions with the Great Master!” said Twilight, hugging her friend Sunset Shimmer.
“It’s okay Twilight! Even if I left the Order I must admit they show us interesting things.” smiled Sunset as she practiced a little ‘flashlight’ spell with her hand.
“You know? I never imagined I would be able to do such thing after I left Equestria!”
Fluttershy smiled. “Even if you don’t agree with our methods to make sure ‘education is for everybody’ I’m glad you wanted to join us for today.”
“And you are not the only one who thinks we are acting recklessly and stupidly.” said Twilight with a shrug.
“Yes they are!” said Sunset frowning.
“But we’ve helped lots of people by using them!” continued Twilight.
Sunset sighed.
“I can’t really argue with that. Thanks to you and your games I got my hands over some research papers I would have to pay a fortune for in normal circumstances!”
Twilight smiled. “I knew you would like it! We hacked that because of my suggestion. I knew they had something you needed!”
Sunset preferred to change the subject, she didn’t like the idea of her friends joining such dangerous and reckless people, but she better changed the subject. After all Twilight was an adult and could make her own choices.
“Are you sure the Great Master won’t mind me coming tonight?”
“Of course not! Lots of people who have left the Order join us every session and the Great Master receive them with open arms. You know her Creed. Education is for everybody.”
“The only ones she rejects are those who come wanting to destroy us, spies from the Government or the universities but since we can read souls, we catch them every time!” said Fluttershy happily.
“Yes the Great Master is very skillful and powerful. And since our enemies don’t know how magic works there’s nothing they can do against it!” smiled Twilight.
“You know you keep spreading knowledge with everyone eventually the others would be able to use it too, right?” asked Sunset.
“Yes but in the meantime we would do as much damage as we can to the system, and when they realize it would be too late and won’t have any choice but change it!” assured Twilight.
Sunset didn’t say anything but she was clearly upset with their friends for being this stupid. Their actions would have consequences. Why none of them thought why East Wind had to run from Equestria on the first place? But she knew arguing would let her nowhere.
In the end they arrived at East Wind’s home, and as the girls told Sunset she received her with open arms.
“Sunset Shimmer is so great having you with us! How are you, have you finished your thesis?” smiled East Wind.
Sunset smiled at East. As stupid as she was, at least she was a genuinely nice person and always willing to help.
“I just finished, and I hate to admit it but thanks to you!”
East Wind bowed before Sunset. “We are at the service of all knowledge.”
Sunset smiled and joined the knights and the other visitors to their night session.
It was just some basic equestrian magic. Sunset knew a few tricks, but the Great Master showed her more things that she ever imagined she would learn.
And as usual, the most distinguished students were East’s closest friends. Irish Coffee, Cream Cone and Emerald Horn.
The Great Master was happy to have them around, but always seemed sad for some reason.
It was a nice evening, they learned some magic, shared a few drinks and generally having a good time.
Then the door opened, revealing a girl dressed in tight yeans with a = mark on her tights, and a purple hoodie covering her face. Only a few locks of purple hair with an aquamarine strip were visible. And two red eyes glowing.
The Great Master shivered.
“Everyone behind me!” she commanded.
East Wind threw a magic attack to the creature’s head making it explode immediately.
Everyone turned to East, looking at her horrified.
“What have you done?!”
“You killed someone!”
But East Wind shook her head. “Kill her? You cannot kill an undead.”
The newcomer laughed as she regenerated her head.
“So, you are the one I’m looking for. You have faced our kind already don’t you, East Wind?”
East Wind charged her shadow power on her hands.
“What are you waiting for? RUN! I’ll keep her occupied! SAVE YOUR LIVES!”
The others nodded and started to run, but the stranger lift her hand askingfor peace.
“I am not at threat, not to you. Unlike the creatures who are still looking for you in Equestria, I am not here to kill the living. On the contrary.”
She took a dagger from her pocket and showed it to the Great Master.
“This dagger was forged in hell, is the only tool in the two worlds that is able to kill our kind. This would send those six to hell where they belong. My partner and I were sent back with by Him to hunt them down and bring them where they belong. On His hands.”
The Great Master glared at the creature.
“What do you want from us? If what you’re telling me is truth go and chase them in Equestria and don’t bother us!”
“If we go, their other selves would intervene and I know they won’t be happy to see me or my partner. We have to lure them here where their counterparts don’t know how to use their power. But you do. Help us exterminate them Great Master, and free your Knights from this darkness once and for all!”
The room was dead silent.
“Who are you, really?”
“No one an inhabitant from hell. I don’t need to tell you who sent me here on the first place.”
Sunset shook her head. “I don’t get it. Hell? The Undead? What is happening here?”
“Don’t interrupt us Sunset!” commanded the Great Master. “At least not now.”
She faced at the stranger. “Why are you doing this? What is in here for you?”
The stranger sighed and continued. “Well, you may never find this out but being in hell literally a torture. I’m not gonna lie, I deserve every single moment of it. But my torture is nothing compared with what He haves in storage for them for escaping for so long. When my mission ends I’ll go back to hell where I belong with the only satisfaction that they are having a worse time than I do.”
“Who are you?”
“A sore loser. I still want to kill them for daring to stop my utopia twice. So what do you say? Show them where you are, lure them to me and me and my partner will finish the job.”
The Great Master frowned. “This smells like a trap, if I lure them here they’ll start killing us in this side of the mirror too.”
The girl smiled revealing her fangs much to everyone’s horror. “Oh believe me, they’ll forget about you as soon as they see me. We have some history together.”
The Great Master glared at the girl.
“Why should I trust you?”
“We share a common enemy, come on! Don’t you like the opportunity to get rid of the Undead Knights once and for all? I am your only hope to end this once and for all.”
East Wind remained silent, as the other smiled.
“I’ll give you time to think about it. I’ll come back on three days, what do you think?”
The Great Master turned her hands into fists as she charged more shadow power.
“We won’t be here. We’ll disappear now that an undead have found us.”
The stranger shrugged. “Fair enough. You’ll find me at the park nearby. You know how to recognize my aura, right?”
With that she turned and walked away not caring that the Great Master was ready to shoot her as soon as she saw something suspicious.
But she stopped after a few steps and turned to East Wind. “You are an admirable pony, Great Master. I remember when we met in Canterlot back in my timeline. We both fought for Equality but you did it the right way. And unlike me never isolated yourself, you straight forward fought the Crown. I wish I was like you.”
And with that the stranger disappeared in the night.
“What was that all about?” asked Emerald after an uncomfortable silence.
The Great Master turned to her students and Knights on this new world. Just like six years ago she had to protect them from the incoming threat that were the Undead Knights. And she would protect them, even if it meant to work side by side with an undead.
But the hardest part was about to come. To tell her Knights the dark truth of her self-exile from Equestria.
“It’s a long story folks. But I guess I owe you the truth. Let me tell you the truth of why I escaped Equestria, and everything I did.”
She told them about the Undead Knights, their origin. About her first encounter with the Undead Knights and her encounter with Spike and Night Terror. About the students demonstration and their desperate attempt to seal the creatures under the Sprout of Harmony.
In the end everyone was looking at the Great Master in awe. Too surprised to react.
“Impossible! You went this far only because of your thirst of knowledge?” asked Twilight in disbelief.
The Great Master sighed.
“I did. But this time I won’t make the same mistake twice. This is between the six nightmares and me. If you want to leave the order do it now. I won’t risk your lives, and I’ll protect you with mine as I did with my last Order. I came here to start from scratch away from those creatures, but it seem I cannot escape them.”
Sunset roller her eyes, annoyed. “If there’s something I learned is that you cannot escape your past. I get it, okay?”
“I know I can’t escape. And I have no choice. For the sake of my Knights back in Equestria I must get rid of those things to protect them. I hate working with that maniac but I have no choice.”
“I guess I’ll help you. I seriously don’t understand this whole timeline and undead thing but I cannot leave you alone.”
“Neither do I” said Twilight. “You’ve helped us so much that it would be cruel from us to leave you at the mercy of those undeads.”
“And what do you want to do now, Great Master?” asked Fluttershy.
“I have no choice but go to the other side to discuss the situation. It can’t be helped, the Crown things I’m dead but I have to face consequences. But my best friends know I’m alive. It would be nice to speak with them again.
Then she turned to the others. “So what do you want to do? Do you want to fight this battle or do you want to run away? Please take the second option, I don’t want to risk your lives fighting the undeads.”
Most of the Knights excused themselves and East Wind sighed in relief. But a few bowed before the Great Master and decided to fight at her side. It were Irish Coffee, Crean Cone, Emerald Horn, Flash Sentry, Eternal Feet and gardener Bushroot.
“Thank you, guys!
“Don’t thank us Great Master, let’s wait until the fight is over.”
“We have to cooperate with the other Twilight and her friends, right?” asked Flash.
The Great Master nodded.
“Yes, and the Knights of the Silence from the other side as well. Let’s hope everything goes okay and those things are done for good. I really hate with work with an undead but it seems that we have no choice.”
Spike was crossing the skies of Canterlot at great speed. He was in a hurry. Even if the undeads were careful and haven’t show up yet he knew he had to be extra careful to beat them.
As he flew he couldn’t help but feel a bit bad of how cold he treated Twilight. Lately he felt like they were getting farer from each other. But he also understood that mothers and sons ended up getting apart. It was the natural order of things.
He landed in front of the Academy of Silence where he was received by Irish.
“Hey! I felt your aura. I guess you have an idea of what to do, right?”
Spike nodded as he made appear his Knight tunic. “Bring everyone together, we have to plan our next move carefully. Dealing with those things any mistake could be our last.”
Irish nodded. “The High Council is just waiting for you; we had a feeling that you’ll show up eventually with a solution. We’ve been trying to think on something the whole evening but haven’t think on anything.”
“Well, I think we got some sort of solution. But I don’t like it.” said Spike uncomfortable.
Irish sighed. “I don’t think none of us would like it, but we don’t have a choice.”
Spike sighed too. “Yes we never had.”
They started walking inside the Academy on the conference room to speak with the High Council.
Irish smiled at Spike. “You know Spike? You should have the position of Great Master instead of me!”
“Less jokes and let’s focus.”
Irish smiled.
“I wasn’t joking.” she thought.
Emerald Horn, Cream Cone, Eternal Wings, Flash Sentry and the gardener Bushroot were already on the conference room waiting for them. As usual they bowed before Knight Spike.
The usual protocol said that the Knights only bowed before the Great Master, but everypony knew Spike was the most powerful Knight. Even more than Irish. But he declined the position of Great Master, so Irish took it instead. Still Spike was considered the second in command.
“So what do you have to tell us, partner?” asked Emerald.
Spike sighed.
“It’s a long story. But let’s start from the beginning. It all started this morning when I received a letter from my other self via messenger breath. He wanted to discuss something urgent with me.”
“And?”
“First, he is about to become a full undead. Unlike the others there’s no Element of Harmony holding his soul. Only his own will, but in the end that’s not enough.”
“A true undead?” asked Eternal Wings, shivering.
“A monster without the capability to think guided only by the dark desire of murder, murder and more murder.”
“So those things can lose their minds and being locked like the rest of them?” asked Flash, thoughtful.
“Aren’t you listening? The others have the Elements of Harmony with them!” scolded Eternal.
Spike nodded. “I’m afraid so. I’m not worried about him, the Elements can seal him and he won’t be a problem for anypony else. As for those six…”
They looked at the worry on his eyes.
“What is it Spike?” asked Bushroot.
“I don’t really understand what is happening, but it seems that the Devil has sent somepony to claim what is rightfully six. Their souls.”
“What?”
“As I told you I don’t understand what’s going on. The only thing I know is that an enemy from the past have come back as His messenger of death armed with a weapon capable to kill them. The only thing that can destroy an undead.”
“So, everything is okay then. They would be destroyed, and we can forget about them!” said Flash trembling.
Everypony glared at him.
“Okay, sorry but I’m scared okay? You all know those things!”
Spike just smiled tiredly. “And I don’t blame you. The thing is that I know what they are and that they’ve done some horrible things, but in the bottom of their hearts they’re still my mom and her friends. If we let their enemy take their unlives… they would be punished in the most horrid ways.”
“So what would happen if somepony else destroy them?” asked Irish.
“They’ll still suffer but their enemy would suffer twice as much for fail their mission. This is the only thing I can do for them, make sure that the one who forced them into becoming what they are suffers more than them. This is what she deserves.”
Spike punched the wall.
“I know is stupid. It would be easier for us just to let her kill them and forget about the Undead Knights once and for all. But I have to do this for my family! A last favor.”
“Are you truly willing to do this? Sounds dangerous!” said Irish.
“I know. I’m not asking you for your help, if there’s any Knight who can do this without actually risking life that would be me. This is why I plan to do this on my own.”
Irish frowned. “But you’re scared.”
“Of course I am! This is why I’m asking for help, even if I know it’s selfish and dangerous but…”
Emerald smiled at him. “Easy pal. You don’t trust this ‘enemy from the past’ don’t you?”
“Is only natural not to trust in monsters. Of course we’ll fight at your side. I’m not sure we’ll be a big help, but we don’t forget the sacrifice the Great Master made for us.” said Eternal.
“Yeah pal, wanting to protect your family and your loved ones is the natural thing to do.” said Emerald.
Cream Cone patted his back. “Yeah, you can count on us Spike!”
“Sounds crazy but if you remember well we are kind of crazy. Remember our last battle with the Undeads.”
“We may not face them directly but we’ll do our best to support you!” assured Flash.
“Yeah, we are in this together! We owe it to the Great Master.”
“Remember, we have to plan our strategy very carefully. We are dealing with the Undead Knights, any mistake can be our last! Where can we find this pony and this weapon?” asked East Wind.
“At the other side of the mirror, the land where the Great Master escaped.”
“Okay, let’s plan around that information!” said Irish.
They began planning. When they realized it was almost midnight.
“It’s late Spike, you better spend the night here!” said Irish as they exited the conference room.
Spike smiled at her. “Is there any empty faculty rooms?”
“Of course! Follow me!” said Irish.
The Academy was originally East’s student residence, and one of the reminders of its humble origin was the vast variety of empty rooms that the faculty and the scholarship students used.
Spike was happy to have somewhere to spend the night. And maybe a few more since he didn’t want to face Twilight, or she would try to stop him. He didn’t like the situation but he made a promise to his dark self. And also there was a chance to redeem the Undeads. Really small but it was a chance.
And mostly Spike was scared. Six years ago he lost a dear friend and mentor, and he was sure he would lose somepony else. He did not want that.
“Spike, are you okay?” asked Irish, reading Spike’s soul.
“I’m scared. Just like six years ago all of you are in grave danger. We won but we lost the Great Master! And now I’m not sure who we’ll lose. I don’t like this feeling!”
“Is only natural Spike.”
“You guys are my second family. I don’t want anything to happen to you. But I also know it is inevitable… so I want to, no I need, to spend as much time as possible with you guys. Before something happens to any of us.”
Irish sighed. “Just like six years ago, right?”
The earth pony stopped halfway to the empty room, and used her magic to open a new door.
“Is this my room?” asked Spike.
“No, mine. Come on in.”
Spike scratched her head. “Sure, what’s going on? Is there something else you want to talk about?”
“Yes, it is.” said Irish.
Spike followed her into the room, and she made two cups of Irish coffee, her speciality.
“Remember when the Great Master sacrificed herself, and Emerald told her at the very last moment how he felt about her?”
“Of course. A bittersweet moment.”
“Such a long wait to say the most important thing. And it seems that we never learn!” sighed Irish.
“What you mean?” asked Spike.
“I had to wait until those things returned to finally tell you how I feel.”
Spike smiled at her. “Me too! We are a couple of fools!”
“Yeah, we totally deserve each other!”
Spike and Irish kissed deeply as the two of them removed the veil of shadows hiding their feelings from each other. It required additional effort to hide their true feelings for those who could read souls.
“Spike, please stay with me tonight. And all the other nights until this is over!”
Spike hugged her tightly. “Of course, and all the other nights as well.”
…
Twilight have stayed inside her room the whole day. All because her last interaction with Spike have left her exhausted. And scared. It made her realize how much they’ve been grown apart from each other the last six years.
All he talked about was ‘Great Master this’, ‘Great Master that’, ‘the High Council that’. But this could be avoided. If only the Knights and the Undeads have never existed, she could have a happy life with her son.
But now he didn’t need her anymore and risk his life to save strangers.
“I’m losing him! Why?”
A dark shadow materialized right behind Twilight.
“Was I really this pathetic when I was alive? Grow up kid. Eventually, mothers have to say goodbye to their children. He is a grownup now; he can do what he wants with his life. If you genuinely want to stay with him the nature of your relationship must change. He is great in bed, you know?”
Interlude: You broke my heart, so I’ll rip apart yours
It was a gray day in Equestria. The sky always reflected Celestia’s mood, and a gray day indicated that she was depressed. And everypony knew why.
That day was the anniversary where the Bearers of Harmony have vanished forever. And nopony have heard from them for over eleven years. Last time they had news about them was when they joined the Knights of Silence.
As a matter of fact Equestria had to face the greatest threats unprotected for three long years until the creatures arrived. A group of six murderous ponies that the rumors said were actually monsters from the pits of hell whose victims list only grew larger.
This group have self-proclaimed as the Bearers’ replacements. And those who dared threaten Equestria would suffer the consequences. Being murdered in the most horrific ways imaginable.
In the end everypony understood why Celestia was feeling especially depressed. Not only she have lost Equestria’s greatest hope, but she also lost a pony she loved as a daughter. And the whole deal about this mysterious group only made her reach her breaking point.
But she had more important things to think about. For example, there were some creatures that still blamed Celestia for the Bearer’s fate. Discord never accepted the loss of her first and dearest friend, and since she got missing eleven years ago he was depressed and bitter. He spend countless nights looking at the emptiness of his Realm hoping he would come to him and everything would be back the way it was.
When the rumors about the murderous ponies have final reached him, Discord understood their friends would never be back. They would never allow that such ponies get away with that many murderers.
He the cried loss of his friends for many moons, especially Fluttershy. And when the sadness has passed all that was left was anger.
“Flutershy. The only one who always believed in me. Even if I betrayed more times than I can remember. I did not deserve her forgiveness, but she still gave it to me. My dear Fluttershy, why did you left? You were an innocent victim, you never asked to become Equestria’s protector but there you were forced to this role that ended up taking your life.”
His anger just grew every single day. And slowly his anger became desire for revenge. Who was truly at fault that his dear friend have died? Who forced the six ponies to this life as Equestria’s protectors on the first place?
Celestia and Luna. And they would pay.
Yes, they would pay a price higher than death.
“No idiots I won’t kill you. That’s far too king for daring to endanger Fluttershy. But yes you’ll pay, and continue paying for the rest of your immortal lives. I’ll avenge you Fluttershy, and the others too I guess.”
With that last thought he teleported into Canterlot Castle ready to attack.
“Discord?!” gasped Celestia scared after feeling the draconequs’ anger.
“What’s going on?” asked Luna looking at Discord charging his power on his claws.
“I just realized my first true friend would never come back. But then I wonder, who’s fault is it? Starlight Glimmer, just murdered? The other enemies that she was forced to face during the course of years? No, the culprits are none other than the immortal goddesses too coward to protect their people in person. I am going to avenge Fluttershy, my other friends too but especially Fluttershy.”
He trapped Celestia and Luna under his magic aura. They barely manage to create a shield but Discord was so angry that he crushed their weak attempts to defend themselves. He would not give them time to respond since he was more powerful than them.
“Take this!”
He started to generate a ball on energy on his paw and then he threw it to the Princess. The impact sent them to the other side of the room cracking the wall.
They tried to prepare themselves for the next attack but he destroyed their shields only with the power of his aura. He prepared a new attack.
“This is for Fluttershy.”
“Are you going to kill us Discord?” asked Luna.
Discord grinned. “I’m not that kind and you know it. You let my friends die, so I’ll fry you a few thousands of braincells. You’ll live the rest of your immortal lives as retarded morons who would not be able to do anything by yourselves. I hope you like to live in a mental facility forever and ever!”
The two alicorns screamed in fear.
“I know this seems scary now, but after a while you won’t care anymore. You would be nothing but a couple of retarded ponies who won’t care about anything anymore.”
He sent the magic attack to the two alicorns and there was nothing they could do about it. He won.
“Now Celly, Lulu do you want me to spoon-feed you now that you have the mental capability of a two-year-old?”
His answer was an idiotic laugh, much to his delight.
Then he realized, why only one of them was laughing?
Then he looked at the pony, it was not Celestia nor Luna, but a pony in a black hood. She laughed like a moron much to his surprise.
“Look! A cow! MOOOOOO!” laughed the pony in the black hood looking at Discord.
Discord started to look around to see that there were more five creatures surrounding him.
“Dang it! She became an idiot just like Discord said!” complained one of them.
“Gothic!” called somepony else.
One of the newcomers shot a magic beam to the pony’s head. Her head exploded in a million pieces covering Luna and Celestia with blood and pieces of flesh.
The two alicorns threw up in disgust and fear.
Discord could not believe it. “Did you just killed your partner?”
But they all muttered when the headless pony regenerated a new head.
“What?” asked Discord.
“This is not the first time I’ve lost my head. Luckily, I can regenerate.” explained the pony who have protected Celestia.
Discord shook his head in disbelief.
“Who are you?”
They surrounded Discord showing him their fangs.
The draconequs shivered, as his instincts screamed, DANGER! Something really bad was happening there. What were these ponies? Finally, the six figures stared at him with their dead red eyes.
“Undeads… it can’t be…”
“Oh yes. Yes, it can.”
Celestia and Luna have passed out by the fear as the Undead Knights came closer to Discord.
“You are the murderers… the creatures who have killed one by one the enemies of Equestria.”
The leader shrugged.
“We conceive ourselves as invincible warriors at the service of their Majesties!” said one of the hooded creatures.
“We call ourselves the Undead Knights.”
Discord gulped, he have seen the undead a couple of times and knew that locking them out was the only option, but those things were sentient. Not a good sign.
Panicking, Discord shot a powerful magic attack that turned them into pieces. But one of them jumped just in time and shot a magic beam from her hoof sending him to he ground.
“What?” asked Discord.
“What did you expect moron? Even if you are stronger than an alicorn, you have wasted most of your energy already by fighting Celestia and Luna. You are tired, this is easy for me.”
Discord attacked again trying to escape, but the other just received the attack without a problem and regenerated in less than a second. She grinned and shot another magic attack to Discord that immobilize him.
Discord tried to use all his power to release himself but it was pointless.
“Don’t bother. You are already exhausted, and I am a corpse and cannot feel tired.”
In the meantime the Princesses had come back to their senses, looking at the scene trying to make sense at what they were looking at. They saw Discord surrounded by the six murderers and he seemed scared. Why? Wasn’t him one of the most powerful creatures in the world, why?
Obviously, there was more about these ponies that they thought. Now they only had to wait and see the outcome for their fight with Discord.
The hooded pony took a long knife from her hood and stabbed Discord on the side, as he screamed in pain. He tried to run but the others use their own magic to keep him from running away as she continued to torture Discord with her knife. Finally she took a large spoon and put it under his eye.
“This would only hurt you a lot!”
And she pulled his eye out as she laughed cruelly.
Discord’s screams of pain were heard all over Canterlot. Which kind of monsters were them who could defeat the God of Chaos himself.
“Gothic, gem!” asked the pony torturing Discord.
Gothic threw her a gem that she inserted on the empty eye socket.
She then kicked him on the open cut as she stabbed him on his chest and slowly opened it.
“Go on… do it!” said Discord weakly.
“Have you accepted your fate?” grinned the other pony.
“Yes, at least I’ll reunite with my dear Fluttershy…”
The pony laughed.
“Reunite with her you say? And what would she say if you told her what you were planning to do, huh?”
Discord smiled. “She would forgive me! As she always does.”
The pony shook her head. “Not this time.”
And then she removed her hood revealing her face to Discord who gasped in horror.
“I don’t forgive you. And I would never reunite with you.”
“Fluttershy?” asked Discord, trembling in fear.
“You threatened Equestria. The Kingdom I love. Then you tried to hurt those who I swore my loyalty. I do not forgive you Discord. You broke my heart, so I’ll rip apart yours.”
She opened his chest and removed the vital organ with a single move.
A solitary tear came from Discord’s left eye as he embraced death.
VIII: I’m going to save him, even if you don’t allow me to
Midnight entered to her home, expecting to be received it by a big hug and a kiss from Night Terror. That would quickly escalate to something better.
But instead he found him digging a hole with his claws. It was very deep and width, enough for him to fit inside. A grave.
The dark alicorn looked at him worried, what was wrong with Night Terror? And why he wasn’t reacting to her presence as he used to? Something as wrong. Something had been going on his mind for a while and Midnight knew it.
“Night Terror!” she finally called.
The dragon ignored her and continued to dig his grave.
“Night Terror! What’s happening to you Night Terror?”
The undead dragon sighed, and finally turned to Midnight, looking at her with sadness reflecting on his dead red eyes.
“I’m losing myself, Midnight. We both know this time would come, but never accepted it. My love for you and my will is not enough to keep my soul in my body. He is going to claim it soon, and my body would turn into a real undead. I’m about to reach my limit.”
Midnight gasped and flew to her dragon trying to shake him. “No Night Terror! Don’t leave me please! Let me find a solution, I’ll use my magic to keep you in stasis until I find a solution. As a corpse I cannot feel tired. We have all the time in the world!”
Night Terror stroke Midnight’s mane with sadness.
“As skillful as you are my love you would never defeat Him a second time. You already got away with cheating on what’s rightfully His once. Do you think He would allow it again? There’s only one thing to do left, and that’s sealing me where I cannot hurt anypony. Please Midnight, you know we have no choice.”
Midnight grinded his teeth. “You know I can’t use Light Magic. Those type of spells can be used only by a kind soul. I am no longer a kind sould and you know it.”
“Then make your other self do it. Please Midnight, don’t let me do any harm. Seal me before I lose my mind completely. I’ll go to hell but at least I won’t kill any innocents.”
Midnight sobbed.
“How much time do you have left?”
“Not much. Tonight would be my last night, please call your living self to seal me!”
Midnight could not what to do. For the first time since she turned into an undead she did not know what to do.
“Don’t do this to me Night Terror! Please! You forced me to accept you at my side, please don’t leave me!”
“I’m sorry Midnight, but it’s time to say goodbye!”
For the first time in millennia, Midnights started crying.
“Understood. I’ll as you ask. On one condition.”
Night Terror looked at the alicorn. “What is it?”
“Fuck me one last time. Please!”
Night Terror kissed Midnight deeply.
“As you wish my dear”
…
Midnight did not lose any time. With her ability to teleport in shadows she silently directed to the Castle of Friendship to meet Twilight Sparkle.
Luckily she found her home, but she was on a depressed state. Crying helplessly and mumbling some nonsense. Midnight only rolled her eyes sighing.
Finally Midnight materialized in front of Twilight.
“Was I really this pathetic when I was alive? Grow up kid. Eventually, mothers have to say goodbye to their children. He is a grownup now; he can do what he wants with his life. If you genuinely want to stay with him the nature of your relationship must change. He is great in bed, you know?”
“What do you want here, Midnight?” asked Twilight tiredly. She was too tired to deal with the Undead Knights.
Midnight took a deep breath. How to explain this?
“I want to save Spike, of course. And my son.”
Twilight looked at her uninterested.
“Do you want separate him from the Knights? He has chosen his side and is not with me. Get out Midnight, knowing your methods I won’t like what you have in mind.”
Midnight shook her head in annoyance.
“Listen to me stupid Princess. I don’t have the time to argue with you, this is urgent. My Spike, Night Terror, is about to lose his mind and I need your help. Please.”
“What do you mean?”
“His soul is about to descend to hell and we cannot stop him! Unlike us he doesn’t have an Element of Harmony tying him to this world. Only his will had keep him on his body but in the end we all knew it was only a matter of time. He is about to descend to hell and his body would turn into a real undead. And, as we’ve been repeating along these three fanfics an undead is an extremely dangerous creature. And with his size a lot of innocent ponies would be harmed. His last will is to be sealed before he hurts somepony.”
Twilight finally released the urgency of the situation.
“You want me to seal Night Terror.”
“Yes. The sealing spell is considered ‘Light Magic’ and as a creature of darkness I can’t use this type of spells. Please, help me help Night Terror! His last will is to be sealed by his mother, and I’m not that pony. Not anymore, but you are!”
Twilight looked away. “Don’t look at me, I’m not a good mother. I am losing my son, I cannot help you. I’m sorry Midnight.”
Midnight roared in anger and used her great power to destroy one of Twilight’s sofas.
“DON’T STAY THERE FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF! DO YOU THINK YOU’VE LOST SPIKE?! LOOK AT ME STUPID! LOOK AT ME!”
Twilight gasped at monster’s anger. But Midnight wasn’t over. She immobilized Twilight with her magic. Twilight tried to struggle but Midnight kept holding her tight.
“Fight all you want, I am a corpse, I can’t feel tired.”
The door opened, and Twilight’s friends rushed inside the castle to help their friend. At first they just planned to comfort her since she seemed down. But then when they listened the undead yelling at Twilight they knew they had to help.
Midnight knew they were coming, as an undead, she was sensitive to life. But she didn’t care. She continued looking at Twilight right to the eye, and the lavender alicorn looked back noticing the sadness on her dead eyes.
“You think you lost Spike? Don’t make me laugh. When that bitch of Glimmer took our Cutie Marks we wandered around for over ten years. Our ten years of darkness. And what did Spike do during that time? HE WAS LOOKING FOR US! He hoped he could find us and help us if possible. And when he finally found us it was too late; we had already turned into this. Still, he did not give up on us. He refused to leave our side, even if I tried to push him away over and over. He loved us so much that he decided to become a monster himself if that meant never leave our side. In my selfishness I allowed him to perform the ritual, knowing there was no way back.”
Midnight released Twilight.
“You lost Spike you say? I made him lost himself.”
Twilight did not know what to say.
“I am sorry Midnight.”
“He does not know I know this, but there’s a saying that Night Terror bases his life on. Being useless it’s a sin. He refuses to be a sinner, and Spike feels the same way. They’ve been in contact for a while, it was Night Terror who inspired Spike to pursue more power so he can protect you when the right time comes. He wants to succeed where Night Terror failed.”
Midnight sighed. “Help me.”
“I’m not doing it for you. For Spike.”
Twilight looked at her friends. “Girls do you think we can use the Rainbow Power once again?”
“You don’t have to ask darling. We’ll do anything for Spikey-Wikey.”
No one else said anything else. They agreed that they should help Midnight at least for this time.
“Okay it’s a truce I guess.” said Rainbow Dash.
“Let’s hurry!” said Midnight.
The group went through the Everfree Forest to the Royal Sister Castle in silence. No animal dared to come near them, completely afraid of Midnight’s presence. Living creatures naturally tried to get away from the undead.
They finally arrived, where Midnight greeted her lover with sadness.
“I’ve brought help, Night Terror.”
The dragon nodded sadly.
“Thanks Midnight. Girls, thank you.”
Twilight and the Bearers approached to the pit that Night Terror had dig for himself and lowered his head.
Midnight grinded her teeth and ran away. She did not wanted to see this.
“You don’t deserve this!” cried Twilight “Midnight told us what happened, there has to be another way!”
Night Terror closed his eyes.
“I deserve hell, Twilight. I’ve taken countless lives forcing them to witness how I ate them limb by limb. I am an undead by choice, a stupid choice that I have to pay the price for. Please, just finish this already. I don’t want to become a threat to the citizens of Ponyville.”
Finally the Bearers of Harmony summoned their power sealing Night Terror, as he closed his eyes in a deep sleep.
But before the sealing spell took effect, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Twilight.
“Please, protect my mom! Beware of Glimmer. The two Glimmers!”
And before they could ask what he meant he was completely sealed.
The Great Master East Wind was looking reluctantly at the mirror that would take them to the other side. As she was enchanting the mirror she revived the events from six years ago. The student demonstrations, the undeads’ massacres, and finally the last battle. Since she arrived to the human world East Wind avoided thinking about the other side, it was too painful for her. Back on the day everypony opposed to her plan to sacrifice herself but in the end she knew she had to sacrifice herself. She knew she would never come back if the plan worked for her.
Or that was she thought until the new undead appeared.
“Are you okay?” asked Sunset Shimmer.
“It’s been six years Sunset. How much have the world changed in my absence? What would my Knights say when they see me? Most of them think I’m dead.”
Sunset Shimmer simply put her hand on East’s shoulder. “You left a clue behind, right? They know you’re alive, right? And I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you. But it’s a shame that you have to see them under these circumstances.”
East Wind gave her a sad smile before she started to cross through the mirror. “Sunset, if it wasn’t for the circumstances, I wouldn’t be seeing them at all.”
Sunset followed East Wind as she saw her worriedly. This was very different that the East Wind that Sunset knew. All cheery and dynamic. What have happened six years ago? Were the Undead Knights that dangerous? She wished her friends goodbye before crossing completely.
When Sunset appeared at the other side, she looked around to know her surroundings. It was a humble house in a small town. Lovely.
She began to practice how to walk in four legs, as she used her horn as a flashlight channeling her magic on it instead of her hands. Now that she trained Shadow magic with he Knights she was perfectly capable to see in darkness but it felt nice to do magic as a pony again.
Then she looked at East Wind. She was not expecting an alicorn.
“Unbelievable, you were a Princess all this time, East Wind? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I’m not. You complain that we are playing a dangerous game breaking into universities and steal all the information we can to make it public. That is nothing compared with what I did back on the day. In the human world they don’t know about magic and can’t do anything to stop magic users. But here I had to work my way through the most powerful defensive spells.”
“You really are crazy don’t you?”
“I was dedicated to my cause.”
“Damn it, no wonder why the Undead Knights considered you a threat.”
East Wind sighed. “You don’t say! But in the end, they helped the Knights to be recognized by the Crown. We joined against an enemy in common.”
“East, you may have done some good to Equestria but it seems like you haven’t learn anything. You ended up paying the ultimate price, and you still do the exact same thing in our world.”
East Wind nodded sadly. “Is my passion, and I achieved more than any other Great Master in the history of the Order.”
Sunset preferred to change the subject. Arguing with East Wind always put her in a bad mood.
“Where are we, anyway?”
“In the Great Master’s home. The one-true Great Master” said East Wind looking at a chair in a corner as she touched it with the tip of her wings. “I remember this chair! This where I sat when the Old Master taught me magic for the first time. I made lots of memories on this chair.”
She then continued to look around lost in her memories.
“Oh and look at this window! This is the window that I broke back when I met him. All kids were afraid of him but when we spoke for the first time I realized how amazing he was!”
Sunset knew she was having fun, but she had to pop her bubble.
“I understand that you are having fun but we don’t have time to waste. Why didn’t we appear right in Canterlot?”
“I am supposed to be dead for over six years. If I show up like this in the city, there’s a huge chance that the ponies panic or try to crown me the newest Princess of Equestria. I’ve caused enough problems already, I don’t want to make things worse. Besides we’re not that far from Canterlot.”
Sunset nodded and the two of them went to the door. East wanted to stay a bit longer but she knew they didn’t have time to waste.
“Goodbye Great Master. My good old Great Master.”
“Old?” asked a voice in the shadows.
The two mares turned, to see a pair of red eyes glowing in the dark.
“What the hell?” asked Sunset.
Fleshy Smile came to light. Sunset shivered when she saw the red eyes and the fangs on a familiar face, even if it was in pony form. She smiled widely.
“He was not an ‘old griffon’ as you think. He looked like he was eighty, but he was barely forty-two. It haven’t affected you yet, right East Wind? I bet that turning into an alicorn bought you some time.”
Fleshy Smile jumped over the Great Master who barely created a barrier to keep her away.
“HOW?!”
Fleshy Smile cracked her neck.
“It’s been six years since you escaped. So, this is where you’ve been all these years? On the other side?”
East Wind touched the scar on her neck, it was Fleshy Smile who did it to her.
“How did you know I was going to show up here?”
Fleshy Smile laughed. “I didn’t. I was just investigating the Old Great Masters’ belongings when you just showed up here.”
She relished her fangs in anticipation. “You escaped last time. Today you won’t be that lucky.”
The undead creature over the Great Master with her mouth open exposing her fangs. Knowing what was coming, East rolled away avoiding the creatures’ attack and she sent a magic beam from her hoof. The attack was so precise that it went through the undead’s heart.
Fleshy Smile lied on the ground, and she did not move again.
“Is it over?” asked Sunset Shimmer pale as a ghost.
“You wish!”
Sunset cried in pain, as a diamond pierced her right flank, and another on her left one.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” said Gothic coming to the light. “Your blood is practically turning that diamond into a ruby. Do you want to model my new gem collection?”
Gothic started to throw diamond after diamond to Sunset cutting her all over her body but making sure she did not touch any vital point. Sunset cried in pain as she tried to protect herself from the attack. Gothic laughed exposing her fangs.
The Great Master tackled her and destroyed her body with a magic beam.
The undead unicorn regenerated indifferently as she took a chair’s leg and threw it to the Great Master. This was what East Wind thought, but out of sudden the improvised stake turned to Sunset. Luckily for Sunset she was able to create a force field right on time, but she was too weak. She have lost too much blood, and to make things worse Fleshy Smile was throwing everything she could at her.
But she was not giving up. Sunset used her magic to throw back the projectiles to Fleshy Smile who did not bother to avoid them. A couple of sapphires inserted on her eyes and she smiled.
It was a terrifying sight.
“Care to help me, Gothic?”
“Of course, darling! I’ve always used this to torture victims, it is my first time doing it to my friends.”
She took a big ice cream scoop, and much to Sunset’s horror and disgust she removed the two gems along with the eyes.
“It was a great experience!” giggled Fleshy Smile.
Gothic nodded. “Would you mind do it to me as well? I want to try!”
Fleshy Smile happily obliged and removed Gothic’s eyes with her ice cream scoop and replaced it with two giant emeralds.
Sunset Shimmer threw up, this was too much to handle.
But East Wind took the chance and used her magic to heal Sunset calling the two monsters’ attention.
“What are you doing here anyway?” asked East Wind.
Fleshy Smile shrugged. “Oh, you know the usual. We went to the Griffon Empire to find more about your Order of morons. Do you think we would face you again without some sort of preparation? Anyway, we found all the skeletons in the closet of your Order. And we came here to see if we could find more.”
“We were about to leave when we felt the magic power coming from the mirror. It’s a shame the others are busy with their own mission. All of us want to take a piece of the only pony who have escaped from us.”
Sunset Shimmer shivered.
East Wind only looked around not trusting the creatures. She released her aura to feel any hidden threat.
The interlude was over and the two undead disappeared inside the shadows. Sunset was about to do the same when she was stopped by East Wind.
“No! It’s suicidal!”
East Wind used his power to create a blinding light forcing the undeads to materialize. Then East Wind destroyed Gothic with her power as Sunset took care of Fleshy Smile.
“You are getting better. It’s a shame it’s pointless!” laughed Fleshy Smile regenerating.
Sunset used her power to immobilize the undead and threw Gothic over her and then she impaled them with what was left in a chair. East took a bed and squished the two undeads turning them into a disgusting red paste.
Sunset threw up again, this was too much for her. East telling her about the creatures was one thing but fighting them in person was a completely different story. And the worse part was when the paste started to reshape into ponies again.
“Swallow this!!” shouted Sunset incinerating the creatures.
The paste turned into ashes, and the fire started to extend through the house.
East Wind pushed Sunset out of the window, and the tow of them ran as far as possible as the undeads continued to regenerate. The fire continued to extend through the town. Good thing it was abandoned.
“We have to leave!”
“Not so fast! I have to buy us more time!” said East Wind using the sealing spell.
With that the two of them fused with their shadows and they disappeared in the darkness of the night.
They ran as far as possible, but they had to stop at some point since Sunset was too weak after the undeads’ surprise attack.
“Are you okay?” asked the Great Master.
“Yes, thank you. So, these are the creatures that you’re afraid of?”
“A justified fear, don’t you think?” asked East.
Sunset started shacking and tear up. “Oh Lord! And there are six of them? God!”
“Seven. The Bearers of Harmony plus a dragon.”
Sunset shivered. “What I’ve got myself into?”
The two of them heard something in the shadows. After exchanging a look the two of them disappeared into the shadows.
East Wind was worried and thoughtful. What they were looking for at the Great Master’s home? And what did they found on the Griffon Empire? She had a feeling that she would not like the answer.
…
Twilight was busy looking document after document on the Canterlot Archives. If half of what Midnight have told her was true she had to find a way to save Spike. But she was hoping that Midnight were wrong. She had to find the answer, and the best place to find answers was the Canterlot Archives.
Princess Celestia entered to the Archives and after giving Twilight a sad smile, she touched her with her wings calling her attention.
“Princess Celestia?” asked Twilight.
“Twilight, I understand that you are worried and that this is top priority for you, but the Knights of Silence just requested an emergency meeting with us. Reunite your friends, I think we must listen what they have to say.
“On it!” said Twilight. She needed to see Spike and there was a huge chance that he would be at that meeting.
They reunited in the Court Room, where the Knights of the Silence were already waiting for them. Spike and the Great Master Irish Coffee.
“Spike! I’m so glad to see you!” said Twilight hugging him.
Spike hugged her back, but he broke the embrace. “I am happy to see you too Twilight, but we have something very important to discuss.”
Then he and Irish bowed before the door.
“Spike?” asked Twilight.
Then the door opened one more time.
Everypony froze in astonishment. What?!
The Great Master East Wind entered, followed by no other than Sunset Shimmer.-
“You?!” asked Celestia. “But you died! We saw you die six years ago!!”
“Alicorns are more durable than ponies, you should know that. But we don’t have time to discuss the technicalities of my miraculous escape. The pieces have aligned on the board and we have to make our move.”
X: Some came back from the grave, the others have a hoof inside
East Wind looked around the Court Room with a nostalgic smile. As she thought the Bearers and the Princesses were understandably surprised. Everypony but Twilight Sparkle, who already knew she was alive but she did not expect to see her again though. East then raised a hoof and both Irish and Spike raised.
“I know must of you are surprised to see me alive. I was surprised myself that I escaped alive. And believe me, the last thing I want to do is to cause more trouble that I already had, but we have an urgent matter between hooves. The Undead Knights are back and like the last time we have to work together if we want to stop them.”
The ponies were shocked to say the least. There were too many questions in the air. Not only about East Wind’s return but also about what Midnight told her about the Order of Silence. The most important question was, was East Wind aware of the dangers of Shadow Magic?
But then Princess Luna stood and advanced toward East Wind. She looked at her right to the eye and then, channeling her magic power on her hoof, she slapped East Wind. She complained from the pain but accepted it giving the circumstances.
“You… YOU! How is this possible? All this time you were alive, and hiding? WHO ELSE KNOWS ABOUT THIS?!”
“All the High Council.” explained Spike. “Right after the battle ended we found a clue, a mirror. It was a message, she escaped to the other side of the Mirror to never come back.”
“And that was my intention but giving the circumstances I had no choice. If I show up in public again, it could cause lots of problems. And none of us want that.”
The Princesses nodded. If she appeared one more time it could cause a huge impact on Equestrian society. If East Wind showed up again as an alicorn the ponies could demand that she was crowned Princess or something.
Princess Celestia nodded thoughtful.
“Thank you for trying to be discrete, East Wind. But your return only makes us question your true intentions even more. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but you haven’t had contact with your Knights in all these years, right?”
“No, I haven’t. I have a new group of Knights to take care of now. I know that they are on capable hooves, right Irish?”
The Great Master Irish Coffee bowed before her teacher.
“Thank you for your words, Great Master!”
“Enough!” protested Applejack. “How did ya’ now about the creatures return?”
Sunset Shimmer moved forward. “This is what we came to discuss. These creatures are a threat in our side too. Their return affect us all.”
East Wind sighed.
“It all started with a visitor who came to my ‘study sessions’. We all know that the monsters exist due to a failed pact with the Devil. Well, He have come to claim what his rightfully His. Not directly but he sent somepony to finish his dirty job. Somepony else have returned from the grave to take revenge on the monsters who sent her to hell on the first place.”
Twilight shivered.
“This is precisely what I was worried about. Moon Dancer warned me about it, He would claim what is rightfully his. Not to mention Night Terror said something about protecting his mother from…”
“Glimmer” completed Pinkie Pie.
They all paled when they finally put the pieces together.
Spike frowned as he nodded.
“She is back and apparently is armed with some kind of weapon capable to kill an undead for good. But we all know Starlight Glimmer, she won’t stop by killing the undead. We all know who else is in her list right? Also, according to the Great Master, Glimmer had become an undead herself. And we all know that undeads always want to kill more. Their only desire is murder, murder and more murder.”
“We must get rid of the Undead Knights ourselves, but first we must destroy the two undeads sent form hell.”
“Two undeads?” asked Celestia.
Spike nodded. “They killed Starlight Glimmer twice, remember? First their timeline, and the second time when they traveled through time.”
Silence.
Finally Princess Celestia had to break it.
“Okay what do you suggest?”
Irish sighed. “My Knights have the Order to keep their distance until further notice, except for the High Council. Most of us are going through the other side of the mirror. We are going to fight no matter what it costs us. Anything if it means end this nightmare.”
Sunset nodded.
“In our side the Magic of Silence works without a problem, along with all of the regular Equestrian magic.” explained Sunset. “Since the Magic of Silence showed us to channel our magic through our hands. I am not a part of the Order, but I’ve learned a lot thanks to the Order. And I am willing to fight for them.”
The Bearers exchanged an uncomfortable look. Finally, Twilight dared to ask.
“East Wind, how much your Order have extended in your side?”
“More than here if that’s what you’re asking. Thanks to the internet we’ve managed to expand our Order through the world. I’ve uploaded hundreds of tutorials of Shadow Magic on the internet. Not to mention that digital copies make the document distribution easier.”
Twilight gulped.
“Any of my friends is in the Order?”
“Fluttershy and your other self are part of the High Council.” smiled East Wind. “Sunset Shimmer joined to me at first but given the dangerous nature of our actions she quitted. No hard feelings.”
“But I am helping until the monsters are defeated.”
It was too much to handle. Soon Celestia and Luna immobilized East Wind as Twilight prepared a mind reading spell. She had to make sure the Great Master was not aware of the accelerating aging caused by the Shadow Magic.
“I’m sorry East Wind but I have to make sure of your intentions!”
An aura of shadows pushed Twilight to the other side of the room. It didn’t hurt her too bad but still hurt. She looked at East Wind but she was as surprised as she was. Then she turned to Irish who was looking at Spike in awe. Finally she turned to Spike who still had an aura of shadows around his claw.
“Don’t you dare to touch the Great Master, Twilight!”
Twilight shook her head in disbelief. Spike have dared to attack her?”
“Spike, what do you think you’re doing?”
“That’s what I’m asking you Twilight. We are supposed to be together to fight the undeads. What is the idea of attacking East Wind?”
East calmed him down with a warm smile.
“Spike, it’s okay. I can take care of myself, okay? Besides, attacking your mother is not cool. Didn’t you join to protect her?”
Spike looked down, regretful.
“I am sorry Twilight, I’m sorry East.”
East Wind then turned to Twilight. “But seriously, wouldn’t be easier if you ask me what you want to know instead of forcibly reading my mind? As long as it doesn’t compromise my Knights, I would tell you anything you want to know.”
Twilight nodded.
“I’m sorry East Wind, but I don’t know if we can trust you after we learned about the Order. Spike, please you must understand. The Order endangers their members. I know you and Irish are innocent, but what about East Wind?”
Spike shook his head. “What do you mean? I know that stealing knowledge was a big problem and those who did it were exposing themselves but that’s all in the past.”
Twilight tried to explain herself before Spike got into real trouble.
“Spike you don’t understand. Thanks to the Undeads, we found out a horrible secret about the Knights of the Silence and we want to make sure if East Wind was clear. That she didn’t know what she did to you and the other Knights!”
Irish Coffee intervened, angry. “Hey! Why would you believe the creatures who tried to kill us? Those things are nothing but killing machines!”
Celestia nodded.
“Let us explain. Irish Coffee, how old are you?”
The girl shrugged. “What does my age have to do with anything?”
“A lot!” said East Wind. “We agree we did not act properly but we have to make sure. Can you please tell us?”
Irish rolled her eyes, annoyed.
“I am thirty-two. So what?”
The girls exchanged a confused look, she looked that she was at least thirty-nine or forty.
“Do you mind if I use a medical diagnosis spell on you, Irish? I have to make sure of how well you are.”
Irish raised an eyebrow but ended up shrugging and walked to the Princess as she casted the diagnosis spell. Celestia scanned every cell on Irish with a concerned look.
“Well, biologically you are thirty-seven.”
“Big deal! I have to take better care of myself. Between the Order, the Academy and my bar I’ve been too busy and stressed. That’s just life.”
Celestia did not answer, she was just concerned. Then she turned to Spike.
“Spike, you are twenty-six right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Do you mind I use the same spell on you?”
Spike was confused, but then he looked at his friends and family and let Celestia scan him. She shook her head mumbling.
“Just what I feared!”
“What do you mean?”
“Dragons usually live longer than ponies, this is why we haven’t noticed any significant change on you. But you are definitely aging faster than you should. The proof are your wings, they sprouted sooner and grew larger than they should at your age.”
The three Knights exchanged a look in confusion.
“So, what do you mean?”
“Shadow Magic is practically raw magic power, the most basic magic that exists. This is why the Knights of Silence are able to learn any kind of magic after they master the power of Shadows. But it puts too much stress on your body, and as a result you end up aging twice as fast.”
Irish shivered. “No, it can’t be true! Right? The undeads are just making things up! Think about it, we escaped from them and now the Order is finally accepted by Equestria. We’re not outlaws anymore but have the approval and protection of the Crown. They are obviously lying! Right?”
She tried to seem firm, but her voice trembled showing her fear.
Twilight then started telling them about the encounter with Midnight and the fate of Night Terror. About the Undeads’ little trip to the Griffon Empire and what they had learn from the old general.
“If you think about it, is only logical. An average unicorn can only master fifteen types of spells, most of them related with their especial talent. But Shadow Magic is Magic in its purest state, before decomposing into the Primary Elements. Magic is weaker after its decomposed, but it must be weaker if you want to use it without overstressing your body and suffer the consequences.”
Celestia joined.
“This is the secret that the Order of Silence have guarded since its origins at the Griffon Empire. They started to use Shadow Magic because that would allow their members to learn all the secrets of all the other Orders. But the result was that their bodies could barely resist it.”
“But Shadow is an element! Is not pure magic!”
“Is not but almost. Shadow equals emptiness, the beginning of everything.” said the Great Master with concern.
Sunset looked at her mane, only to notice the few silver hairs that started to show up not so long ago. She thought it was only natural, but then she realized that they started to appear after she joined the Order. And Twilight and Fluttershy looked older oto.
“No, this must be a coincidence!”
Twilight sighed. “This is what the undeads told us. At the beginning you don’t notice but the changes are subtle. But there’s no doubt you are changing. The longer you use the Magic of Silence the quicker you age.”
East shook her head.
“NO! This cannot be! The Great Master would never do something to harm his students! Just like me he was devoted to education; he would never do something like this! And he was very old when I met him, right?”
“The griffon immigrant Derrik Iron Feathers was only forty two years old when he died. I’m sorry.” said Princess Luna.
“But I am feeling fine! That’s a good sign, right?” asked East Wind.
“East Wind you turned into an alicorn! Your lifespan is longer than the average pony or human.” explained Celestia.
East Wind paled.
“I have to go to the other side. I must warn Emerald and the others! DAMN IT I HAVE TO GO BACK TO MY SIDE OF THE MIRROR!!”
She was about to escape to the shadows when she stopped. “Irish, Spike, I left the rest on your hooves and claws. Sunset, are you coming?”
She nodded and joined the Great Master. “East, can we go running? I don’t want to use shadow magic anymore.”
“Sure!”
Irish bowed. “Take care, Great Master. Sunset Shimmer. I hope we see you soon.”
“We will see each other soon. Hopefully, we’ll stop the creatures once and for all,”
They ran back to their home to warn their loved ones as Irish and Spike faced the Princesses and the Bearers.
Twilight touched her son’s shoulder. “Spike I hope you understand that I cannot let you use your Shadow Magic anymore. Is dangerous.”
Spike lowered his head.
“Being useless it’s a sin. I am no longer a sinner; I won’t give this up now that I can protect you!”
Twilight hugged him.
“Spike please! Don’t repeat the horrible worlds of Night Terror. Protect you is my job, not the other way around! You are useful, you are and always been a great support for all of us!”
Spike took a look around, seeing his friends, his mother and the Princesses. They all thought the same.
“Alright, I won’t use Shadow Magic anymore.”
“Neither do I” said Irish. “I don’t wanna die this young, I love my cause and I would happily fight for the freedom of knowledge. But my shorten my life is not worthy.”
Everypony sighed in relief.
“But not until we defeat those creatures.” said the two Knights in unison.
And looking at their eyes everypony realized that they would not change their minds.
It was pass midnight, at the darkest hour. But the two girls were walking in the middle of a park without fear or doubt. They could see as it was the middle of the day, and if somepony approached they could subdue anyone with their magic.
“There she is!” said Fluttershy, charging a shadowy aura on her hands.
Sci-Twi nodded and moved forward charging her powers as well.
A figure dressed in a hoodie was waiting for them with her red eyes glowing in the darkness carving a Y-shaped cane. She looked at the two Knights of Silence and tilted her head.
“Huh… I was expecting the Great Master. What happened with her?”
Sci-Twi shrugged.
“We decided to accept your proposition of working together. She went to the Other Side to coordinate with our other selves and her original Knights. But I want you to understand, we agreed to work with you, but if you betray us, we’ll do anything in our power to seal you forever. Did I make myself clear, creature from hell?”
Starlight Glimmer simply nodded.
“I don’t care, once I finish those six, I would go back where I came from. Ugh, whatever. I’ll be going now.”
Fluttershy and Twilight stood firm.
“Wait!” called Fluttershy.
“What?”
“We know you are working with someone at the Other Side. She is an undead like you, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“She must be here when those things cross the mirror. Unlike you, we can die if we face them directly.”
Starlight Glimmer nodded. “That’s reasonable. Don’t worry, she’ll be here with me. And trust me, those six would forget about you when they see us.”
The undead took a mirror from inside her hoodie and asked.
“You heard them, right?”
“Of course! I’ll be on my way as long as I get a sign from the Knights of Silence.” Said the voice at the other side of the mirror that sounded just like Starlight’s.
“Satisfied?”
The two knights made a small nod and after putting on their capes, they fused in the shadows. Even if she was on their side they wanted to be as far from the undead as possible.
Starlight watched at them leave as her dead heart was struggling with all her emotions. She was furious, she was anxious, she was impatient, and mostly, she was terrified. Starlight was an undead monster and had a weapon that could end her enemies for good. But she still had the memories of her horrid death.
Flashback:
Starlight Glimmer was sitting on Twilight’s throne, when the six hooded ponies entered to the castle.
“Huh, so you finally came for more after ten years.”
Twilight Sparkle (or the pony that Starlight stupidly thought was still Twilight Sparkle) simply grinned.
“Yes we finally returned. Enjoyed your day so far? Good because it would be your last you piece of crap.”
“And what can you do against me, Cutiemarkless fools?”
The others laughed as Twilight’s grin grew wider. It was when Starlight noticed something was wrong. The Twilight Sparkle she knew did not have fangs or red eyes. And mostly, she did not have this murderous aura surrounding here.
One by one the Undead Knights removed their hoods revealing their new black Cutie Marks to Starlight. That confused her, and the confusion froze her for half of a second; a horrible mistake.
Before Starlight could realize, the six monsters jumped over her and started to kick her, bite her with their super sharp teeth, and breaking her bones. They kept her alive for two full weeks healing her wounds only to harm her over and over. Finally, they cut her all over and left her to bleed to death.
Back to the present:
“If I wasn’t an undead those memories wouldn’t let me sleep.”
“They killed us both, I had to see the dragon eat my body piece by piece.” said her other self through the mirror.
“Shut up! They ended you in a day, as for me I was kept alive for two weeks. Just focus on your part.”
“Don’t worry! We’ll finish them even if is the last thing we do!”
“And then we would enjoy them being tormented less than we are. Our revenge would finally be fulfilled.”
…
After the declaration from the two Knights, the girls did not what to do. Especially Twilight.
Twilight could only look at Spike holding back her tears.
“I seriously don’t know how to talk to you since you became a Knight. I understand that you have a duty with your friends, but please stop this while you can! Using Shadow Magic is potentially deadly, but fight the Undead Knights is suicidal. Do you want to die young?”
“Twilight, die for your friends is a worth death. You should know it better than anypony else, beside we don’t have time to lose. We have a plan, and in the end the Undead Knights would be defeated. Also, you know they would never kill me. I am the only Knight who can face them without endangering myself.”
The dragon hugged his mother and then he turned to the door.
“Let’s go, we have to arrange the last details with the High Council.”
Irish stopped him. “Spike, please this have to stop now. You cannot use the Order as an excuse to avoid talking to your family. I know you’re scared; and also know what you’re trying to do but seriously, we need everypony.”
She then smiled to Spike and offered him a hoof. “Let me help you, okay? Besides we made a promise and I’ll fulfil my part.”
Then she turned to Twilight. “Sorry about this, he is trying to push you away so you stay safe as he fights those things.”
Spike groaned in annoyance, but Twilight looked at him with a huge smile.
“All of this because you love me?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Twilight, you have to understand. I have to do something horrible and unspeakable, and I don’t want you to see me like this.”
Spike gasped when Twilight trapped him in a tight embrace with her hooves, wings and magic.
“Oh Spike you don’t have to protect me, or protect the rest of us. And I don’t have to protect you neither. Don’t you see? If we want to defeat the Undead Knights we have to fight side by side as equals.”
“As equals?” asked Spike.
“As equals!” assured Twilight.
Irish smiled proud of herself, when Princess Celestia gently taped her shoulder.
“So which promise are you two talking about?”
Irish winked an eye to her. “That we’ll spend together all the nights we have left. We know we have limited time now that those things are back.”
Spike held Irish’s hoof on his claw as he sighed.
“How’s that we needed to be involved in a life-threatening situation to confess our true feelings? I guess we have to thank the creatures to finally get us together.”
Twilight shook her head; it was too much information to assimilate at once. Still she had to focus on what was important.
“I don’t see nothing to thank those monsters Spike. You forced yourself to confess just because you’re going to die? That’s not cute, that’s messed up. Besides, they made you feel like a sinner and chose this dangerous way. In the end you ended up growing up too fast and that missing childhood is something you are never going to recover. I want you to understand that all these years you weren’t a sinner but a child. Neither you or your other self could understand that.”
Twilight flew to look Spike to the eye, and kissed him on the nose.
“You have to end what you started, and I know you won’t change your mind. I promised you we’ll fight as equals and I plan to keep it, but first I want you to stop blaming yourself for enjoying your childhood.”
Spike hugged Twilight back, as he let escape his last tears. “I’m sorry if I hurt you Twilight.”
“It’s okay, I hurt you first. I didn’t pay enough attention to you and this is why we ended up like this. But once we finish the undeads it would be a new beginning for us.”
Spike smiled at her and looked at the rest of the Bearers.
“What do you think guys? Ready for a last battle? A battle as equals?”
“As equals!” said Pinkie Pie.
“As equals!” smiled Applejack.
“As equals!” joined Rainbow Dash.
“As equals, even if I don’t like to fight.” said Rarity.
“Same here.” added Fluttershy.
Finally, Irish joined in. “Yeah, as equals. This is our battle. Ours.”
At the other side of the Mirror:
The girls have reunited in front of Canterlot Hight. It was Sunday afternoon and no one was there to be seen. It was he perfect time to receive their guests from the Other Side with no witnesses.
They were ready for the big battle, but in the bottom of their hearts they were exhausted. The Great Master East Wind have returned out of sudden and gave them some disturbing information about their Shadow Magic. But in the end, they were as determined as their counterparts on the other side. They would use Shadow Magic for the last time on their last battle.
And then, they arrived. Twilight and the Bearers, Eternal Wings, Cream Cone, Knight Spike, and Irish Coffee. Followed by a figure in a black hood. And finally, Starlight Glimmer from the timeline the undeads altered.
“I left an invitation to our undead foes. I hope you don’t mind.”
“We have to make sure they notice and come to this side to end this once and for all.” assured the Great Master East Wind.
…
In Equestria, after they finished their quick missions tyring to find more information about the Knights of the Silence, when they returned to the Castle. They found an old mirror lying on the ground.
“Can you guys feel this Magic Power?”
“Yes… what are they up tu?”
Then they saw the Y-shaped cane right in front of the mirror with a note.
I’M BACK BITCHES
Flesh Smile grinned as she sniffed the air.
“That bitch left a very clear trace. She wants us to go to the Other Side.”
Midnight nodded.
“This is obviously a trap. But who cares?! They just gave us a very generous invitation, why we don’t accept it?”
“We cannot let our old friend waiting, can’t we?”
“Let’s go!!” they roared in unison.
“And the best part is that she must have sided with the morons of Silence!” laughed Jack the Reaper.
Monday, the worse day of the week for mostly everyone. The start of a new tedious week of classes for both students and faculty. But for principal and sub-pricipal of Canterlot Hight, it meant a whole new week of opportunities and experiences. But that Monday in particular they weren’t in a very good mood neither.
That Monday they had to host the Friendship Games and they had to deal with a person that was particularly good in pissing them off. Abacus Cynch. Seriously, dealing with Crystal Hight have turned more tedious each year passed.
“I can’t understand why she haven’t died yet!” whispered vice-principal Luna.
“Sister!” said Celestia.
Luna shrugged with a shrug. “Just kidding.”
Celestia giggled. “But I get what you mean. I wish she retire soon!”
Everyone at Canterlot High made a line in front of the school waiting for the students from Crystal High. They arrived, but only a few students to agree the terms of the next Friendship Games, lead by a couple of faculty members and of course Principal Abacus Cinch.
And as much as Celestia and Luna disliked the woman, they had to agree she was very well preserved. Time didn’t seem to pass through her. She was as strong-willed and firm as always even if she was confined to a wheelchair for the last years.
“Good morning Principal Cinch.” Celestia and Luna greeted politely.
“Good morning. Let’s get this over, okay?” said Cinch indifferently.
“Absolutely, please this way!”
Then the statue at the school entrance started to glow. Cinch’s eyes sparkled with joy, since her humiliating defeat she would not stop until she proved the existence of Magic in Canterlot High. Ironically she was closer as ever to prove it to the world thanks to the Knights of the Silence.
She began to record everything with her phone.
“I knew it! I knew that sooner or later you would try to cheat on the Friendship Games. And now that I have proof you have no choice but give me the victory.”
But Celestia were as confused as everyone else. Why would the other Twilight wanted to show up now that her friends and other self have graduated a few years ago?
Finally, they appeared. It was Twilight Sparkle and her friends… but something looked odd. First none of them seemed to age, second, those red eyes looked strange. And their instincts were warning them that they were dangerous creatures.
Abacus Cinch however did not seemed to notice. She simply approached to them in her wheelchair with a grin of victory on her face.
“You kind of look like one of my former students. Well, I don’t mind. You won’t have the chance to cheat on the Friendship Games since I’ll have this school shut down for good!”
Midnight looked at her with curiosity and she grinned at her.
“I don’t know you, but you look like a jerk who wants to harm a place that is especial to me.”
Abacus Cinch finally noticed that she was no normal teenager.
The faculty members started to move backwards noticing the aura of death coming from the group. But Cinch’s pride wouldn’t let her escape from a teenager.
Midnight grinned, and she took Cinch’s head on her hands, and before she could say anything, Midnight turned her head completely backwards breaking her neck in the process. Finally Midnight threw Cinch’s dead body away from her wheelchair and then stared at the other two faculty members from Crystal High.
“The old hag neck was as thick as a pencil. What about yours?”
That was enough for everyone to run away and calling the police since they just witnessed a murder.
When the were finally alone the Undead Knights walked inside the school.
“Are you sure Sunset Shimmer is a Knight of Silence?” asked Midnight to Gothic and Fleshy Smile.
“Yes, or at least she is close to East Wind. If we find Sunset, we find the other one.”
Midnight nodded and continued walking. They just had to check the school records to find any clue to lead them to Sunset and they could leave. They barely arrived to Celestia and Luna’s office when they heard police cars and sirens approaching to the school.
“POLICE! GET OUT WITH YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS!”
“YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR THE MURDER OF ABACUS CINCH!”
The Undeads looked at their leader, who shrugged.
“Keep them busy. But don’t kill them, after all they’re just law enforcement and we are breaking the law. Scare them away.”
“You got it!”
“Pin-Kill-Die, I need your help. You’re really fast when it comes to find documents.”
“Awwwww, I wanted to fight…”
“Later Pin-Kill-Die. The fastest we get over this the fastest you can fight the cops.”
Jack the Reaper, Undash, Gothic and Fleshy Smile walked to face the cops, who aimed their weapons at them
“Hands were we can see them!”
Fleshy Smile laughed.
“Okay, like this?”
She raised her hands, showing a silver object on them.
The nearest cop approached aiming his gun at the monster.
“What’s that?”
She showed him a spoon and before he could say anything, she took out her own eyes with the spoon much to the officer’s horror. Then she regenerated.
“Like it? It’s like a magic trick!”
The cop panicked started to shoot at her on the head twice. She regenerated immediately.
“Ta-da! What do you think?”
The cop continued shooting emptying his gun over the creature, but she regenerated every time.
“Why don’t we show them what we’re capable of?” said Undash as she jumped over another cop and took his gun of his hand.
She then proceeded to put the canon on her temple and began to pull the trigger over and over until the gun was empty. The sidewalk had now the disgusting mix of her blood and brains on it. And to make things worse she regenerated immediately.
“Ahahahahahahaha!”
Some cops started to move backwards horrified, but the others continued shooting not knowing what else to do.
One of them finally shot Gothic on her heart and the creature collapsed.
“To the heart! Aim to the heart!”
The others did as he told and shot the creatures to the heart and they finally laid on the sidewalk not moving.
One of them approached to the creatures carefully. “What are these things?”
Gothic’s hand closed around the officer’s leg.
“Did you actually though it would be that easy?”
The cop screamed in fear and tried to defend himself by hitting her on the head with his club, but Gothic didn’t mind and none of the other undeads who simply got back up and invited the cops to come at them
“Damn it, retreat! Retreat!”
“We need backup!” shouted someone at the patrol’s radio. “I don’t know what’s going on but we need help. Send a swat team or the army! HELP US!”
The school’s door opened letting pass Pin-Kill-Die and Midnight with Sunset Shimmer’s information under her arm.
“Thank you for buying us time girls! We have what we need, if it wasn’t for Pin-Kill-Die I don’t know how long I would spend there.”
“It was under the S! It was under the S!” giggled Pin-Kill-Die.
With that the Undead Knights turned their backs to the police as they walked to the city.
“So, did you harm them?”
“Of course not! We let them do as they pleased with us, and that was it.”
“The look on their face when I emptied their own guns on my head was priceless!”
But then they were stopped by Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna.
“You have something that doesn’t belong to you. Give it back.”
Midnight rolled her eyes, and took one of the clubs the cops left behind and knocked them out.
“Let’s go.”
…
Away from the chaos, in the suburbs, Sci-Twi guided Irish, Spike and her other self to her home.
“I’ve been living with my brother and Cadence since I started college, since their home is closer to campus. I have a part time job pay a small rent, but it is cheaper than living in the dorms, and I have my own space. Sometimes I also have to babysit Flurry but she’s great so is not much of a problem.”
The Equestrian Twilight smiled. “I’m glad you are this close with Shining and his family, wish it was that easy on my side. And what does Shining Armor do on this side of the Mirror?”
Twilight shrugged.
“He’s in the army. He is a colonel, and most of the time he is not home. Cadence used to feel lonely, but her mood improved greatly after I moved.”
“And are you sure she doesn’t mind us staying at your place?” asked Spike, a bit uncomfortable in his dog form.
“No, she already know I’ll have friends staying over.
“And she wouldn’t be weirded out for your ‘twin’?” asked Irish.
“She knows about the other side of the mirror, it’s alright.”
The equestrian visitors nodded as they entered the house. A big purple dog came to receive them waiving his tail.
“Twilight, you’re back! And you brought visitors from Equestria, right?”
The three visitors smiled at him.
“Hey, I’m your other self. Nice to meet you I think.”
“Nice to meet you too. Hey, is it true you’re a fire-breathing dragon on your side of the Mirror?” asked the dog.
“Of course! And part of the High Council of the Knights of the Silence!”
“Wait, are you serious?” asked Sci-Twilight.
“Yes, he is!” said Irish proudly, petting Spike’s head. “I am the Great Master and he is my second in command.”
“Second in command?” asked Sci-Twi.
“Yes, he is more powerful than I am, but he refused the title of Great Master, so here we are!” said Irish with a shrug.
“Cool!” said dog Spike waiving his tail.
“Not so cool if you know the price he had to pay.” said the equestrian Twilight with a frown. “Anyway, thank you for having us tonight.”
Dog Spike smiled as they entered. Twilight noticed the car on the entrance.
“Huh, that’s weird. Shining Armor is not supposed to be home yet.” said Sci-Twi thoughtful.
“You think something happened?” asked her counterpart.
She shrugged and entered the house. Cadence, Shining and Flurry were chatting as they ate some milk and cookies.
“Big brother? What are you doing here so early?” asked Twilight.
Shining just gave her a silent look and aimed at Flurry with his chin. They would talk after she leave. Something was wrong.
But Shining Armor managed to appear calm before his daughter. “Nothing important Twily. Headquarters called me for some business at the city, and since I had time I decided to pick Flurry at school. Isn’t that right dearie?”
“It was a great surprise daddy!” said the little girl as she finished her milk. “Can I go play now?”
“Sure dear! Go on!” said Cadence.
Flurry cheered, and she ran to her room.
When she left Shining and Cadence dropped the façade showing their fear.
“What’s going on here?” asked Sci-Twi.
Shining shivered. “Something dangerous is loose on the city. They sent the police at first, but they couldn’t stop them. I’ve seen the videos, at first I thought it was you and your friends in another magic mishap but then I saw that they looked younger and then… oh God, I don’t know what to do.”
“Can you show me?” asked Sci-Twi.
Shining Armor exchanged a worried look with his wife but ended up nodding. It was all over the internet anyway.
Shining Armor showed her the video of the police shooting at the monsters who only laughed as they regenerated and stabbed each other taking their intestines out and laugh louder at their horror.
“What are those things?” asked Twilight, horrified.
“We don’t know but we were sent to stop them. I’ll be honest with you Twily, I’m scared. I don’t know if I’m gonna make it home tonight.”
“You will.” said Irish entering behind Twilight. “The Undead Knights will not harm you unless you’re a target. If you notice they’ve been attacking each other just to prove they’re invincible and freak out their pursuers.”
They turned to Irish who awkwardly waved a hand.
“Hi, the name is Irish Coffee from Equestria. And yes, those things are coming from our side. They are called Undeads. Do you have those in here?”
Sci-Twi paled. “Are those the enemies the Order fought in your side?”
“And the reason why the Great Master crossed to this side to never be seen again.” sighed Irish. “We knew we only bought some time when we sealed them, now is time to finish this once and for all.”
They looked at Irish, who gave them a sad smile.
“Unlike me, you don’t have nothing to worry about colonel. And Twilight, this is your change to back off. You don’t have to risk your life for nothing.”
“Irish is right!” said her other self. “We’ll take care of the Undead Knights.”
Shining Armor looked at his visitors.
“So you are Knights of Silence? I should know they came from your side.”
“You are not against the us by any chance, right?” asked Knight Spike.
“Of course not, we support the democratization of knowledge in this household, and are aware that Twilight is part of the Order.” said Cadence.
Sci-Twi blushed.
“Well, they give me my space. And they support me no matter what!”
“Good for you.” said Princess Twilight. “Now let’s hope you don’t lose your life for nothing.”
“I don’t think they would harm her, after all she is their counterpart too.” said Knight Spike.
Shining Armor looked at them.
“You have a way to defeat the monsters?”
“We don’t like it but yes we do.”
Shining nodded. “We’re going to make a military cordon around the area surrounding Canterlot High. If you want to sneak through it I’m your man. Just promise me Twilight would be safe.”
“She will, we’ll make sure that the Undead Knights won’t harm anyone again.”
“And I pray Faust that everything goes according to plan.”
XIII: What now? A bunch of immortals fighting for the rest of Eternity?
The military continued to make round around the perimeter as the patrols tried to subdue the monsters, but each one was equally unsuccessful. They ran out of ammunition as the creatures laughed and disappeared in the shadows.
At least they had evacuated all the civilians in the area. The creatures didn’t mind. No one understood what they were after. The only things that the soldiers knew was that they needed to stop them before they get it.
“General, this is Colonel Armor reporting for duty!” said Shining saluting his superior. “I just wanted to thank you for letting me spend a couple of hours with my family before I go to… you know.”
“You don’t have to thank me Colonel. After all there’s no guarantee we would see our loved ones after this. Did you see the footage of the monster fighting the police? None of us know what we’re dealing with.”
Shining Armor did not say anything. He just waved the General goodbye and reunited with his squad.
“Don’t worry, we don’t have to go inside the city. Our mission here is to keep the perimeter, but just because we got the easy part it doesn’t mean we can relax. It is probable that this is the last time we see our comrades. Remember, if the monsters come here we’ll have to contain them no matter what. We have to focus; I don’t want anyone making jokes even if it is to release the tension. This is no game. We’re dealing with real monsters here!”
His men saluted at him as Shining nodded.
Some of them started to mumble some prayers but Shining did not mind those. As a matter of fact he was praying himself but not for his own safety but for his sister and her friends. Oh God please let Twilight and the others come back alive. Let them defeat those six!
As he was speaking to his squad he could see some shadows sneaking into the cordon with the corner of his eye. It had begun.
The Knights of the Silence materialized as soon as they were sure no one could see them and started to run where they felt the aura of death.
In the meantime, a patrol was scanning the area ready trying to find the undeads when one of the soldiers spotted something on a roof.
“Hey there’s someone there!”
Another one took a megaphone. “You on the roof! You are on a restricted area! Surrender or we’ll open fire!”
The figure answered with a gesture, but it was too dark and they were too far to see what it was so they took their binoculars.
“She’s showing us her middle finger!”
“Open fire!”
They started shooting at the creature, but she shrugged it off an showed them a second middle finger.
“Is one of them!”
“Damn it, machine guns, grenades, anything!”
The soldiers then put on gas masks and threw them tear gas at her. But again she did not mind. Finally, Starlight Glimmer considered she have got their attention for long enough and jumped off the building, destroying her legs when she landed. She regenerated in less than a minute and started to run.
She never thought it would be that hard to find another undead. Unlike the others she did not possessed Shadow/Silence Magic and could not feel auras the same way the others could. Not to mention undeads were sensitive to life, not unlife.
She finally stopped in the middle of a park when she saw some shadows moving unnaturally. It was the sign from the Knights of Silence. They were near.
Starlight Glimmer opened her arms and laughed.
“Here I am bitches! Come out from wherever you are! Aren’t you going to greet an old friend?”
“SHOW YOURSELVES! I KNOW YOU’RE DYING TO SEE ME!”
Six pairs of red eyes appeared in the middle of the night.
“And I thought there was no actual way for you to come back. How the hell?”
Starlight grinned. “Exactly.”
Jack the Reaper was the first one to show her face completely. “Really? And A’ thought the ol’ fella would be proud of all the souls we sent to him the last yers’.”
“He was really proud, but He misses the jewels of his Crown. Six heroes who let themselves get corrupted by vengeance. This is why He sent me here. To retrieve what it’s rightfully His.”
The Undead Knights came closer.
“Come on, you want to destroy me again. I see it in your eyes. Go on, I don’t mind.”
She grinned. “Go on! I dare you!”
That invitation was too good to refuse.
Pin-Kill-Die was the one who took the invitation first and she took a bunch of knives and inserted them all over Starlight’s body.
Jack the Reaper took a large stick and inserted over her belly button.
The undeads giggled.
“So, this is how it ends? A bunch of immortals fighting to eternity?”
“Or you can give up.” said Starlight with a shrug.
The Undeads grinned and jumped over Starlight and started to rip her apart until only her heart remained. A heart that did not beat anymore and Midnight simply stepped on it.
Starlight regenerated in less than a second. It was Starlight’s turn to attack. She used her nails by ripping off Fleshy Smile’s abdomen to pull out the intestines and strangled her.
“Oh, I’ve done this several times!” said Undash. “But is funnier when the victim is alive.”
Fleshy Smile regenerated with a shrug.
“So Starlight, when are your helpers going to attack?”
A magic attack destroyed both Undash and Gothic at once.
“We were just waiting for an invitation.” said the Great Master East Wind appearing in front of the Knights. “And please don’t call us ‘helpers’. We are forced collaborators.”
Midnight raised an eyebrow.
“You? So this is where you’ve been hiding. How did you escape anyway?”
A big purple dog dressed in a black and blue robe materialized aside East Wind along with the other Great Master, Irish Coffee.
“I showed her the spell to travel between worlds your living self you created back when the Sirens attacked.”
Midnight frowned; she was not the type of ponies who showed her emotions, but this hurt her.
“Spike, why would you betray my other self’s trust by giving her that spell?”
“For the same reason that I gave the Knights the Alicorn spell. Because I believe that knowledge should be for everyone.”
One by one the rest of the Knights of the Silence materialized behind the Great Masters. Fluttershy, Sci-Twi, Sunset Shimmer, the two versions of Cream Cone, the two versions of Eternal, the two versions of Emerald and finally the second Irish Coffee.
“This ends here, Undeads. Tonight is the last night of your unlives.”
The Great Master Irish Coffee released the dark aura on her hand. “I never thanked you to show me my true destiny undeads. If it wasn’t for you, I would never take the title of Great Master. And the best way to thank you, is to let you rest in peace.”
The Knights charged a magic blast and attacked together destroying all the undeads, including Glimmer. But of course they regenerated immediately.
“Okay, what was the point of this? We cannot die, and you are dying by using Shadow Magic.”
Eternal shrugged. “We are going to die today if we don’t stop you so who cares?”
“Touché!” said Pin-Kill-Die as she took a bunch of knives and threw it to the girl.
The human version of Eternal Wings stopped the knives with her magic and threw it back to the undead. As usual Pin-Kill-Die didn’t mind to play pin cushion and opened her arms receiving the attack as she laughed. In less than a second the two Emeralds ran toward her and each one put their hands on one of her boobs and unleashed their full power. The beast exploded in a million pieces.
Jack the Reaper and Fleshy Smiled appeared before them and kicked them on their crotches.
“Molesting a helpless lady? Which kind of knights are you?”
“You disgust me!”
Emerald smiled weakly. “And I pity you!”
Their shadows came to life and made them fall.
Starlight ran and stabbed each one with a Y-shaped cane right on their faces as the Knights used fire magic to finish the creatures.
Midnight didn’t like where this was going. The Knights of the Silence knew that there was no point by killing them. What was this really about?
In the meantime, in the outside of the military cordon, the general have received the update from the scouts.
“The reports say that there’s magic in the battlefield.”
Shining saluted.
“Sir, my squad is ready to be in the front line!”
The general smiled, proud.
“Son if we survive this, I’ll make sure you and your guys get promoted. This is the bravery the army needs.”
Shining nodded and looked at his squad that saluted, and they ran to the battlefield. The general was looking at them proudly. The general was so worried that he didn’t realize that Shining’s ‘soldiers’ were slightly shorter than the rest, and that they were using the helmets to cover their faces.
“Twily, please hold! We’re coming!”
In the meantime, Midnight have grabbed Sci-Twi by the neck. She grinned.
“Goodbye, my little Knight of the Silence. Let me see your face. I want to see life escaping from your eyes.”
She removed the mask, only to see her human counterpart’s face. She groaned and freed her other self with annoyance.
“Mind your own business, go home with your brother!”
The fight continued. When Midnight released Sci-Twi she faced two opponents, the two Great Masters and Knight Spike.
“The most powerful Knights had come to face me. What an honor! It’s a shame that only one of you would live to tell the story.”
Irish and East used Midnight’s shadow to hold her. Spike closed his eyes and his aura started to make his aura grow.
“I don’t care how hard you try. I would never see you as a target.”
“And I thank you for that Midnight. But I am not your son, get used the idea!”
“But you are acting on his behalf, aren’t you? What did Night Terror told you to do? Or do you think I didn’t know he was the one who inspired you to join the Knights?”
Spike opened his mouth to shoot a magic beam that destroyed all of Midnight’s body except for her two legs. The two legs left laid on the grown as she started to regenerate.
Fleshy Smile took her chance when she saw the two Great Masters busy with her leader. With a demented smile she took a spoon from her pocket and ran toward the two girls who were busy holding Midnight.
Out of sudden Irish Coffee and East Wind turned to Fleshy Smile and immobilized her with their aura of shadows as Spike held Midnight.
“Let me go or you’ll pay double when I get free!”
A new figure appeared from the shadows running toward Fleshy Smile. Fleshy Smile was a bit surprised. She could not feel any life coming from the newcomer. Another undead?
The two Great Masters freed Fleshy Smile as the new challenger jumped right in front of her and stabbed her between the ribs with a dagger.
Fleshy Smile laughed, but he laugh froze halfway when she realized it actually hurt and that she was not regenerating.
“What?”
The new undead removed her hoodie revealing her face. Starlight Glimmer.
“Wait, what?”
She turned to see Starlight, who was being teared apart by Jack the Reaper and Gothic. What was going on?
“Let me answer your question, you altered the timeline remember? The one fighting with your friends is the Starlight from this timeline. I am the one you kept alive for two weeks.”
Fleshy Smile roared.
“Well, you deserved it!”
“I know, I realized when I was sent to fucking hell. It’s an interesting place, you’ll know soon enough!”
She showed the dagger at Fleshy Smile. “Do you like it? He made it especially for you, there’s not coming back from being killed by this.”
She stabbed the yellow undead on the thigs making her fall on he knees. Fleshy Smile looked at Glimmer to the eye and smiled.
“At least you won’t have the time to enjoy it the same way we did.”
“Your smile won’t last when we see each other in hell. Believe me, you’ll beg to have the same torture I have. My reward will be the pleasure to know that you’ll be in a worse place than us. Than me.”
She raised her hand with the dagger. The cursed weapon glowed as it was descending over Fleshy Smile’s dead heart.
Fleshy Smile closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable, when a large purple dog jumped out of sudden taking the dagger from Starlight’s hand and with his magic he cut her throat.
“What are you doing?” asked Starlight.
“This is Night Terror’s last wish. I cannot do anything for them, except to make sure they’re annihilated by a friend. Not you.”
He then stabbed Glimmer’s heart.
“Who made you think we would side with you? I have my own plan!”
Starlight lied on the ground dead for good.
Spike looked at the dagger and shivered.
“A weapon capable to kill undeads. It works, it actually works.”
Fleshy Smile stared at the dog with a weak smile.
“Thank you Spike.”
“Don’t thank me. I still have to finish you, I’m sorry.”
Fleshy Smile could see that the dog was crying, clearly didn’t want to do it. But she also knew he had to.
Midnight got rid of the two Great Master constantly destroying her body, and she casually turned to Spike.
The whole world seemed to be in slow-motion as she saw the cursed weapon stabbing Fleshy Smile on the heart.
Fleshy Smile could feel the pain, as she laughed uncontrollably but didn’t know what. She saw her whole life and unlife before her eyes. Her beloved pets, her beloved Angel. All the experiences she lived with her friends. Those were her golden years.
Then she saw their fall, and their pact with the devil. What she turned into. All the killings, the tortures. She regretted every single one of them, with the obvious exception of Starlight. Black tears ran through her eyes as the true Fluttershy emerged from her immortal prison.
“NO… please no! What did I become? What did you turn me into Starlight?!”
She looked at Glimmer’s corpse with the edge of her eyes. The idea of her having a worse time that she would have gave peace to her heart. She closed her eyes and fell.
With her death the whole battle stopped momentarily. Spike looked at the bloody weapon and then to the corpse that now was only that. A corpse.
Spike was trembling and horrified for what he did. But the Knights were celebrating and cheering.
But suddenly a powerful scream cut their celebration short. An angry shout claiming for vengeance from five infuriated creatures that would not stop to anything or anyone until they destroyed their new target.
The girls were walking carefully behind the human version of Shining Armor, running through the evacuated city. The situation itself was frightening. Being dresses up as the military in the middle of an abandoned city.
“You know? I know they don’t exist in your world, but this is the perfect setup for a zombie movie. I mean, we’re going to fight zombies, right?” said Shining Armor trying to lighten the mood.
It didn’t work, but the girls did chuckle nervously. Finally, the group stopped a few blocks away from Canterlot High.
The young colonel shivered.
“I am no expert, but I bet this strange atmosphere is coming from them. It is magic, am I right?”
The Equestrian Twilight nodded without a word and after taking a deep breath she walked forward. “Thank you for taking us here, Shining Armor. We’ll handle it from here.”
She tried to sound firm, but her voice was trembling.
Applejack held her hand. “It’s okay to be afraid Twilight. We all are.”
“But we’re in this together!” said Rarity holding her other hand. “We’re in this together, and we will save Spikey-Wakey no matter what.”
The whole group started to move forward ready to confront the creatures.
The soldier watched them leave. He really wanted to join them in battle, but he knew he would be little to no help against a magical threat. But he did pray for his little sister to come back safely, that world’s Twilight. Then he ran to find the first group who went into the perimeter hoping for them to be alive.
And then, in the middle of his running, he froze when a horrid shriek echoed all over the evacuated city.
“SPIIIIIIIIKEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
The girls froze because of the shriek.
Twilight shook her head furiously. Please no!
“Damn it! I warned him not to do anything reckless!”
“Let’s say it how it is. Something stupid!” corrected Applejack between scared and angry.
Nopony said anything else and ran as fast as they could to save Spike. But then Fluttershy collapsed.
“Fluttershy, Fluttershy! What’s going on? Talk to me!” said Rainbow.
The yellow girl didn’t answer. She was screaming and trembling on the floor as she was having a seizure. Rainbow Dash tried to carry her, but Fluttershy was trembling so violently that she ended up losing her balance and fell.
“You continue! I’ll take care of Fluttershy!”
The girls nodded.
“Keep her safe Dashie!” said Pinkie worried.
First the shriek, now this. What was happening?
Rainbow stroke her friends’ hair and put her hand on her cheek.
Fluttershy opened her eyes. “It’s so horrible. I don’t want them anymore. Take them back, take them back. Nooooooo pleaseeeeeee!”
…
The Undead Knights plus Starlight were approaching menacingly toward Spike. closer and closer.
The Equestrian Emerald, Irish and Eternal formed a protecting circle around the enormous purple dog.
“You are only delaying the inevitable. Move or face the consequences.” threatened Midnight with anger burning in her eyes.
Spike aimed the Dagger to Midnight.
“You mean you going to hell where you belong? Don’t you understand? The tables have turned. I have a weapon that can destroy you for good. I will not hesitate to use it.”
Jack the Reaper laughed. “Reeeeeeally? You won’t hesitate?”
“It is funny you mention it!” laughed Pin-Kill-Die.
“Because we will not hesitate to kill you. Not anymore.” finished Gothic, grinning.
Then the six monsters fused with their shadows and charged against Spike. The Knights of Silence were thrown away by the tremendous force of the undeads, and then they materialized right in front of him with knives on their hands that they used to attack the kid.
Spike rolled away right on time and managed to cut one of them, but he was injured himself. Luckily only superficial wounds, but still he was cut in his back leg and his back.
Undash fell on her knees touching the cut on her leg, and showed her fangs.
“Oh… pain… I had forgot how it was. And is so… enraging!”
As fast as she was she charged toward Spike. Irish jumped and shot a powerful attack destroying the undead’s lower half. Of course, Undash regenerated her body in less than a minute. But much to her surprise, the cut that Spike made with the Dagger was still there. She roared in anger.
Spike howled in response and stood there in combat position alongside with Irish.
“Time to put the time in motion!” said the Great Master.
“And let’s pray it works!” said Spike trembling.
Undash ran ready to finish the little traitor off. She did no have her wings in this side of the mirror, but she still was as fast as she was in Equestria.
Irish and Spike raised their hands and paws respectively and sent a powerful magic beam that reduced the monster to ashes. Irish and Spike exchanged a look, and fused with their shadows disappearing in the darkness of the night. The five remaining undeads roared and chased the two runaways by fusing with their shadows too. However they were pulled out by the other Knights of Silence.
Jack the Reaper roared and used her knife to cut her own stomach to pull out her lasso which was dripping blood.
“Okay, if that’s what ya’ll want!”
She threw her lasso catching Eternal, and then she kicked her on the face right on her prosthetic eye.
Eternal cried in pain, as the glass eye shattered a bit. Much to the Reaper’s delight.
“A’ll deal with ya’ later. Now A’ need to avenge ma’ friend and teach that dog to never betray his friends.”
Jack the Reaper fused with her shadow and resumed the chase for Spike followed by the other undeads. Getting rid of the other Knights of Silence was very easy for them.
They only had one thing on her minds, to get Spike. He had to pay no matter what!
East Wind charged her power on her hands and one more time forced them out of the shadows confronting the Undead Knights.
“Hey! Your problem is with me! Don’t you dare to touch my Knights!”
Midnight stared at her. “Oh well, if is attention what you want!”
The leader of the undeads charged against the first Great Master. East Wind took the Y-shapped staff from Glimmer’s death body and used as a spear to impale Midnight to the ground.
Midnight had no problem with removing the staff from her body and stand to face her enemy. She broke the staff on East Wind’s gut, and then kicked her to the ground.
“You know what? You are right! If it wasn’t for you and your shitty group Spike would have never do this to us. You made him betray my living self and the crown. You turned him against us!”
East Wind stood in front of her, determined to stop the monster.
“I was there when it happened. If someone is to blame for him joining us is your fallen lover. He is the one who gave Spike the motivation to protect his loved ones. And you know he was the one who gave us the Alicorn Spell? Lets be honest, he was the only one would could get it right in front of Celestia and get away with it!”
Midnight was about to reply when East quickly wrapped her legs around Midnight’s and spun her whole body to make the leader of the Undead Knights to fall. Finally East Wind disappeared inside her shadow and escaped enraging Midnight.
The rest of the Undeads were in a fight with the other Knights, holding them back for a few minutes and finally escape and materialize on a nearby building.
Sunset was tired. All covered with sweat and she was breathing heavily. But her eyes were full in determination. “We are going to fight until the end. Their mere existence is an insult to my friends!”
Fluttershy nodded. “And we won’t allow them to keep hurting the innocent. And the not so innocent either!”
The other knights nodded in agreement. They were exhausted, but really determined to win this once and for all. They were lying against the wall recovering the best they could, to keep fighting.
But then they were interrupted by a pair of red eyes and a sadistic grin followed by a demented laugh. It was Pin-Kill-Die.
“Your bravery is to be admired but it is useless! The only one who can help you now is that little traitor of Spike. But he ran away with the only thing that can work against us. He left you, don’t you see? You have no chance!”
East Wind looked at her right to the eye.
“We have our powers. We’ve been using Magic of Silence way longer than you in this world. You have no chance!”
The undead roared in excitement. “As you wish! You can play to distract us as much as you want. But in the end we’ll kill you all. And then I’ll go for my piece of Spike.”
East charged her magic on her hands, as Pin-Kill-Die aimed her knife toward her.
“Well, whatever. I wish I had more time so I can kill you as slowly and painful as possible, but I really want to go get him now. He has saved you a world of pain!”
East Wind smiled. “He is amazing, right? He is the only one who have managed to get rid of one of you. He is the one who have come closer to destroy you all, and he’ll finish what he started. In one way or another, this is the end Undead Knighs. NOW!”
The two Eternal Wings (human and pony) used their power to make all the cabling on the building to come to life and wrapped around the monster immobilizing them.
Pin-Kill-Die raised an eyebrow.
“Are you guys really trying?”
The monster started to struggle, reaping her own limbs that she regenerated and then she jumped on Eternal, wrapping her hands around her neck.
“Ahahahahaha!! Look at the bright side, now you’ll have something in common with your other self!”
She pressed one hand on her left eye.
The other Knights ran to help her friend, but the monster had time to rip Eternal’s eye off.
“ETERNAL!” shouted the human version of Emerald. “NO ONE TOUCHES MY BELOVED ETERNAL!”
And he used a magic beam to destroy the monster.
“Let’s do it now that she is reduced to ashes!” commanded the Equestrian version of the boy.
The Equestrian Knights of Silence took each other’s hands and began the rite. The human Knights joined in by lending their power to the others. It was the sealing spell for the undeads.
The ashes started to regenerate at great speed with the head being the first one to pop out of the pile of ashes. The monster was laughing as crazy.
“You guys are so desperate right?”
And she regenerated her whole body.
“Oh no you won’t!” shouted the human Emerald Horn and jumped over the monster taking a rock and stabbing her in the ye with it. The eye did not regenerate.
“Are you out of regeneration energy?”
“No idiot, I wanted you to feel bad for your girlfriend. Te-he!”
She slowly regenerated her eye. “Regenerating is like breathing for us. We’ll never get tired idiot, we are corpses. Corpses can’t feel tired.”
Emerald kept struggling with her, desperately trying to keep her still until the ritual finished.
“Move now!” Commanded East Wind.
The humans fused with the shadows and escaped as the equestrians finished the spell, trapping the monster inside the building.
Pin-Kill-Die laughed.
“This is not as effective in a whole building. For the next time try a small cell. Not that you’ll leave enough to do it again, but still…”
She comically shrugged and began using her own power to undo the spell.
The Knights of the Silence started to run away from the building.
“Dang it, how much time did we get?”
“Not as much as we need. Still, we did what we could. Now let’s go to help Spike!”
They nodded and ran following Spike’s shadow aura.
…
Irish and Spike have been running for a while, but in the end the dog could not continue.
“Are you okay Spike?” asked Irish.
Spike just nodded, but he was breathing heavily, and concentrated his power on regenerating his wounds.
“My fault. I should have healed before start running. But I was in an adrenaline rush!”
“Yeah, I should point that out too. Sorry Spike.”
Then they noticed the Bearers of Harmony approaching.
“Girls!” greeted the dragon.
“Spike!” said Twilight, running to hug her son.
The two embraced each other for a while, when Twilight finally released him.
“I was so worried! We heard them screaming. What did you do Spike?”
Spike only showed her the bloody dagger.
“What’s that?” asked Pinkie.
Spike was about to answer when a sinister figure materialized in front of them. Tall and threatening as they remembered. She still had the Y-shaped staff on her hand.
Rage was burning in her eyes.
“That is a dagger forged in hell. The only weapon capable to kill undeads such as myself and those six. It has claimed two victims already, one of them my other self.”
The girls stared at the girl.
“Starlight…”
Starlight Glimmer grinded her teeth as she walked toward the group, who have gathered in front of Spike in a protective way.
“My orders were very clear. Destroy those six and ignore you. But now the kid has ruined everything. Everything! I don’t care. I’ll kill you, even if this is the last thing I do with my unlife. YOU TURNED ME INTO THIS!”
The purple dog walked in front of the group with the dagger on his mouth.
“Don’t you dare to touch my friends, Glimmer. They have nothing to do with the Undeads. They killed you. Not my friends, but their other selves!”
Starlight roared but did not move.
Irish joined Spike, charging her power on her hands.
“Besides, they became the Undead Knights because of you. You decided to take their Cutie Marks away and then turn Ponyville into your new cult central. You did this to yourself!”
“I DON’T CARE!” shouted Starlight. “This was supposed to be my chance for revenge! Me and my other self were supposed to be the ones destroying them. Not you, me! Us! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING? DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO US IF WE FAIL?”
Spike nodded.
“All of your suffering you’ve been through, and the suffering the Undeads would face in hell would be nothing compared with what is in storage for you.”
Starlight nodded. “If I managed to succeed, at least I would have the thought that they would be way worse than me. But no, you made me fail! You denied me my prize!”
Spike nodded. “I could not let you win Starlight. My friends are still inside those things. And you know what? They deserve to be better than you. You may not be the one who succeeded but you had the same intentions. I am glad they killed you just in time!”
The girls gasped, looking at Spike in disbelief. But he did not back down and nodded.
“Yes, I am glad you’re dead! You deserved to die!”
Starlight started to laugh maniacally.
“Really? So, in the end you are still the same little kid obsessed with protect instead of being protected.”
Spike growled.
“Being useless it’s a sin!”
Starlight laughed again, and she threw away her staff opening her arms.
“Oh, what the hell! I failed anyway. Do what you have to do!”
Spike then ran toward the second Starlight Glimmer and jumped over her, making sure to stab her heart with the dagger.
She grinned. “Good luck stupid. I’ll see you again. If you insist on keeping this path I am pretty sure we will.”
She then expired.
Spike pulled the dagger out from the undead’s heart and looked at Twilight who looked at him with her hand over her chest.
“Spike…”
“I am truly sorry you had to see this. But this is the only way to save them!”
Twilight hugged him again. “Spike I don’t know what type of luggage you are carrying but don’t do it alone! You hear her, you may lose yourself. Stop it now that we are on time!”
“Sorry Twilight, it is a promise I made to myself. Or what was left of myself back then.”
Then Irish joined placing her hand on Twilight’s shoulder.
“And he is not alone. His second family is with him, helping him to save his first family.”
At this point Rarity lost her temper.
“You are no family to him! You are just a bunch of idiots who provoked the wrong ponies! We wouldn’t be in this predicament if it wasn’t for you!”
Irish glared at Rarity “Hey, Luna and Cadence started it by asking for those monsters’ help on the first place! If the Crown had listen when we sent the first letter nothing of this would have happened. All they needed to do is to change the education system for good, but they chose to ignore us instead!”
They were about to start a fight when they felt the presence of the Undead Knights.
Twilight and her friends held hands.
“Stop right there! You know how it works; friendship is magic!”
Midnight did not care.
“You’re missing two. Stop it already and give us Spike or you’ll face consequences. We may not kill you, but we’ll make sure this is the last time you are in our way. You ungrateful bitches.”
“Go to heck as where ya’ belong!” shouted Applejack.
Her dark counterpart, Jack the Reaper, shrugged.
“If that’s what ya’ll want…”
The Reaper jumped over Applejack.
Spike began to look for the dagger, but he did not find it.
“What?!”
Irish tackled Jack the Reaper, and the two of them fell on the floor rolling down. Spike barely had the time to react using his magic to throw rocks, cars, everything he could find to neutralize the other undeads.
Twilight and her friends joined in trying to neutralize their other selves.
Then the Undead fell on their knees and screamed in anger and agony.
They turned to see Irish and Jack the Reaper. Irish was covered in cuts, bites and bruises. But she was standing up victorious with the dagger in her hand still dripping blood.
Jack the Reaper’s lifeless body was lying down with a hole in her chest.
“I told you Spike, you don’t have to do this alone!”
There were not words coming from the monsters this time. Only a roar of pure rage scarier than anything anypony have heard before. Pinke Pie, Rarity, Applejack and Twilight moved forward to protect Irish and Spike. Things have turned out to be more dangerous now.
But then Applejack collapsed just as Fluttershy did a few moments ago.
“NO, STOP! PLEASE STOP! A’ REGRET, A’ DON’T WANT IT! TAKE IT BACK, GO AWAAAAAY!”
Applejack was squirming, moaning, and screaming as crazy. Begging it to stop. But to stop what exactly? Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie approached her friend as she tried to fight back the horrible pain. She was mumbling something about she doesn’t want the burden. But which burden she was referring to?
Behind them, Spike and Irish were watching the monsters who remained.
Irish aimed her dagger to the monsters, but she was trembling in fear.
“Spike, I love you. I should have tell you before, but at least I am telling you now.”
Spike smiled at her. “I love you to Irish. Great Master, my Great Master.”
Finally the Undeads and jumped over their living counterparts’ heads and landed right behind them to face Spike and Irish. Spike used his powers to throw Jack the Reaper’s dead body to the nearest one, Gothic.
She lost her balance, and Spike took the chance to tackle her making them both roll all over the floor until they crashed to a wall.
Spike shook his head disoriented and lost, giving Gothic the chance to take him by the skin and raise him until they were eye to eye.
“You killed my friend. Do you know what I’m going to do about it?”
Spike started to balance putting all his weight forward, pushing Gothic who fell on her butt. Spike landed on her stomach and jumped backwards. Gothic laughed and stood up smiling happily.
“Aww, what’s the matter Spikey-Wakey? Don’t want to reap my skin with your little teeth? Nighty-Tighty would have done it. He would reap pieces of my body and make me watch as he swallowed. Don’t you want to try human flesh? Nighty never tried it but he loved pony flesh. It was his favorite dish. If there was something that he loved almost as much as fucking Midnight was eating our enemies. Ehehehe…”
Spike extended huis paw and concentrated his power on it, making a heavy wall to fall over the creature. Gothic was squished giving Spike time to turn around and run away.
Gothic finished regenerating and looked at her human body with nostalgia.
“Oh yes. Squishing me was Night Terror’s favorite way to end an argument. I willthank you for this little path through memory lane by not killing you slowly and painfully as I wanted. What do you think about my Generosity, Spkey-Wikey? I still have it, hehehehe!”
Spike kept running using his magic to throw every object he could find to Gothic.
“If you are so generous, why don’t you give me the wonderful gift of disappear?!”
Gothic laughed. “Nighty-Tighty used to tell me that too! You two sound the same, as you were the same dragon. But you are not. Nighty-Tighty would never have use the dagger on us. You disgust me, filthy animal. I am glad you are a dog because now I can skin you as such.”
Spike charged his magic on his throat and barked. A hyper sonic bark that threw Gothic away making go through a wall.
Gothic regenerated and walked toward Spike.
“How long are you planning to do this, Spikey-Wikey? You are exhausted, I can see this.”
Spike did not answer, but she knew he was right. The fight had been going for a while and he was at his limit. But he could not give up. Just couldn’t.
Irish was throwing blow after blow with the infernal daggers, keeping the undeads away, but only one meter. But she was as tired as Spike, and the Bearers could not help her since they were too busy helping Applejack still shacking on the floor.
The Great Master knew she wouldn’t last. She needed to take the initiative but she was stuck playing defense. She had to do something.
The undeads noticed Irish gathered all her and redirected it to her legs to make an extra-long jump, managing to cut Midnight’s leg. Only a small cut but more than enough to enrage the monster.
Midnight roared in anger and kicked Irish on the face making her fall and dropping the dagger. Undash smirked and kicked the dagger away.
“You are an idiot. You put all of your eggs in one basket and not it is over. You really thought that thing would be of any help against us?”
Midnight stepped on Irish’s hand. “You should die because of your stupidity. No problem, this is why we’re here!”
Irish used her power to regenerate her wounds.
“I learned a couple of things after the last time!” said the Knight of Silence with half smile.
She stood defiantly, staring at the Undeads.
“Maybe but you’ve been using magic, and you are running out of energy.” said Midnight ripping off her own arm and regenerating a new one. “As for us, we can do this all day without magic, without feeling tired. You are at your limit; I can feel that.”
The Great Master used her magic to levitate a small rock, and then she threw it straight through Midnight’s eye. Undash tried to get her, but Irish have fused with her shadow already and escaped just in time.
“Don’t let her get to the dagger!” commanded Midnight fusing with her shadow too.
Undash also jumped into the shadows to chase Irish. It was only a matter of time before they get her. But out of sudden the two creatures were forcibly expelled from the shadows as the rest of the knights joined the battle.
“Sorry for the delay, we took ages subduing Pin-Kill-Die!” said the Great Master East Wind, helping the Great Master Irish Coffee.
Irish smiled. “I’m glad you made it alive. That’s all that matters!”
Midnight rolled her eyes.
“Nice gesture but useless. In the end we’ll kill you all.”
Undash only roared in anger, but the two of them were destroyed by a magic beam from Sunset Shimmer.
“Take that, horrid creatures! You insult the memory of my friends.”
A howl of agony called everyone’s attention.
“Spike!” said Irish.
East looked at Fluttershy, who nodded and fuse with her shadow to go and help Spike.
Gothic finally had Spike on her hands, and she had her hands around his neck. He howled in pain but his voice was cut off by the hold. He was struggling to not to die, but Gothic was too strong.
“I told you, didn’t I? You could not keep going forever.”
But then something came out of the shadows cutting off Gothic’s hand.
Spike breathed in relief as the undead looked at her cut hand and tried to regenerate but nothing happened this time. It was when the two of them looked at the object lying right aside Gothic’s severed hand.
The dagger.
Gothic turned, only to see the human version of Fluttershy trembling, still assimilating what she has just done.
Gothic roared in pain and she was ready to kill her, but then she felt something piercing her back and making all the way into the heart.
“No…” she mumbled.
Spike, who have just used his magic to stab her with the dagger, looked away.
“I’m sorry.”
“Spikey-Wikey…” mumbled Gothic, right before collapsing.
Both Spike and Fluttershy covered their ears right before the undeads shrieked in rage.
Rarity and the girls were still attending Applejack when Rarity froze for a second.
And this time Twilight could see everything. A tear came out of her eye, and then she started to have an attack just as Applejack and Fluttershy.
What was going on?
Spike and human Fluttershy did not say anything. Spike just took the dagger on his teeth and with that, the two of them ran back to their friends. Everything had to end that night no matter what.
They arrived just in time to help Undash and Midnight who were acting possessed, trying to kill them. The last death made them lose their senses, and were behaving like real undead.
“Where is Pin-Kill-Die?” asked Spike.
“We sealed her. But you know it wouldn’t last.”
“It didn’t!” said a voice coming from Fluttershy’s shadow.
Pin-Kill-Die jumped out of the shadow, and slapped the human version of Fluttershy, as hard as only a corpse could.
“I saw what you did. Stab your friends can make you lose them foreverrrrrrrrrr…”
The human Fluttershy recovered and Stared at Pin-Kill-Die. The Stare worked better than anyone could imagine and managed to mesmerize the creature. Fluttershy then used one of the Knights’ basic spells, to control those who have a dark heart.
Pin-Kill-Die roared and then jumped to attack Undash, just in time to save Irish Coffee.
Fluttershy smiled.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep control over her. Hurry up!”
Spike then ran toward the two fighting undeads.
Pin-Kill-Die managed to hold Undash making her struggle and trying to escape.
“DAMN IT, WAKE UP!! WAKE UP STUPID!”
Finally Undash managed to punch Pin-Kill-Die on the jaw, making her recover from the surprise attack. Pin-Kill-Die released Undash just in time for her to avoid a fatal blow from Spike.
But Pin-Kill-Die was not as lucky, and the dagger went through her heart.
She smiled as she coughed blood.
“Hehe… the author had to kill us one way or another right? That is the problem when you conceptualize invincible characters.”
And with that final nonsense, Pin-Kill-Die expired with her last smile frozen on her face.
Undash would not let him walk away with killing two of her friends. She took Spike by the neck and threw him to the ground. Spike cried in pain, but then Undash grabbed Spike by the neck again.
“You’ve caused enough trouble already! This is the end!”
But Midnight stopped her. “No, he is mine!”
Undash sighed and handed the dog to her leader, who grinned.
“Now, this had been going long enough Spike. Now about your pesky dagger…”
But the weapon was nowhere to be found.
“Shit!!”
East Wind and Irish emerged from Undash’s and Midnight’s shadows and both of them shot a powerful magic beam that destroyed them with a single blow.
But they were pissed and regenerated in less than a second and they responded with an attack on their own.
The two Great Masters dodged the attack and then both of them threw a second blow, but this time there was a little surprised mixed in the shadow beams. The dagger.
The weapon pierced Undash’s forehead, and collapsed right in front of Midnight.
Only one undead remaining. It was now or never.
The two Great Masters prepared to attack, when Midnight released all of her power at once throwing everyone away. Irish Coffee got a direct impact from the attack and fainted immediately. But East Wind managed to create a barrier and protect Spike too since he was too weak to do one himself. But the attack was stronger than she expected and both her and Spike ended on the floor unable to move.
Midnight’s rage was almost tangible.
The Undead took the dagger from Undash’s corpse and walks toward Spike. He could not move anymore, and his most powerful protectors have finally been beaten. It was over.
Midnight then took the dagger and stabbed him on one of his paws.
Spike howled in pain but keep looking at her to the eye.
“Just finish this already. You want to avenge your friends, don’t you? Just do it!”
Midnight roared, showing her fangs, and removed the dagger from Spike’s paw. And she grabbed him by the neck and aimed the tip of the dagger to his heart. But she sighed and released him as she threw away the cursed weapon.
“Despite all you’ve done, all of the friends you’ve killed… I can’t. The others I wouldn’t mind, but you… I just can’t. I look at you and I look at him. WHY I CAN’T KILL YOU?”
Spike looked at her.
“Because your real self is still there. Deep inside of your dead flesh.”
Midnight struggled against her desired to strangle Spike. She put her hands around his neck but did not choke him. Not yet.
“It may be true, Spike. Yes, I think you’re right. But I can’t say the same about you. The Spike I know would have never harm us. He fought a lot with Gothic, but he wouldn’t have done what you did!”
“You mean freeing you?”
Midnight released him.
“What you mean?”
From the distance, Twilight recognized her monstrous self, standing before a defeated Spike. Her friends have passed out already, and she didn’t know what was going on. But she knew that she couldn’t help them and needed to focus on her son. Spike.
And then when she noticed Midnight standing right before him, she knew she had to do something.
“No… don’t touch him!”
She then noticed the cursed weapon right behind Midnight. Twilight took a deep breath, making up her mind and walking toward the weapon as silently as she could.
“I have to save Spike no matter what!”
Midnight was staring down at Spike, half angry half confused.
“Free us? From what?!”
“You forgot I can read souls. All of the Knights know the true. You may laugh as you keep committing atrocity after atrocity. But your real selves are crying deep inside you. The six of you keep most of their memories and personalities but they are not really you. You have no control. Your indestructible bodies are like prison where your souls are forced to take the back seat and watch what you do over and over. You can influence on your actions a little but is never enough. Your real you is trapped down there and is suffering, I know that for a fact.”
Midnight wrapped her hands around her hands around Spike’s neck. She would kill him and this would be the end. She smiled sadistically as she witnessed Spike slowly chocking to death. But tears started to come out from her eyes. It was the only thing her real self could do.
And then it happened. She felt the dagger stabbing her on the back of her head.
She turned around only to see Twilight holding the dagger, and she stabbed Midnight on the eye.
“No one touches my son.”
Midnight looked at Twilight with her remaining eye and Twilight swore she could see a tear of thankfulness. Finally the rest of her unlife abandoned her body.
She was dead. For real this time.
Twilight then rushed to hug the purple dog.
“Spike, Spike!”
He smiled weakly. “You saved me.”
“Always!”
Twilight cried in relief. It was over.
Or was it?
…
Twilight opened her eyes. She was on a big empty space.
She was back on her pony form completely alone, or that was she thought. She could see a pony crying on the distance. What was going on there? Twilight didn’t know, but she was sure that she needed to comfort that pony. It was a gut feeling.
“Hey, are you okay?” asked Twilight.
The crying pony turned around, and much to her surprise it was herself. Her face was distorted by the pain and lost, crying tears made out of blood.
“You… what is going on here? Who are you?”
“I am Twilight Sparkle. Or used to be. Now I am just Midnight.”
Twilight walked backwards, horrified.
“No! This supposed to be the end! What do you want from me? WHERE ARE WE?”
She shrugged.
“This is your soul. My soul, I don’t know. As for what I want form you, absolutely nothing. I am about to go to hell and pay for my mistake. When I was so blinded by rage and desire of revenge that I stupidly made the ritual.”
“I see. Yes, all of your atrocities started with that mistake.”
“Yes. They all started with one mistake. Do you know how it feels to be trapped inside yourself? Being forced to watch one horrid act after another but you have no control over it. It is like a nightmare where you can’t wake up. DO YOU THINK I WANTED THIS? All I wanted was to get my revenge on Starlight. Going straight to hell was preferrable to being trapped inside my own self, but there was nothing I could do about it. I wish I had just kill myself instead of seeking vengeance!”
Twilight looked at Midnight with pity.
“Why did you go back in time?”
“A foolish hope. I was tired, and just wanted to end everything. I saw an opportunity to kill myself. My body could not be destroyed, so I tried to change history to prevent you from making the same mistake I made. I wanted to erase myself from history. But it didn’t work like that. I stayed in the new timeline I created and had to witness how my own mind was used to plan genocide of a bunch of young ponies who only wanted education. And there was nothing I could do about it. And now I tried to kill my own son. I just want to go to hell already and finish this already.”
Twilight stood there speechless.
Midnight then looked at her and smiled. “So I guess that what I’m trying to say is ‘thank you’. You have freed me and I am glad it is finally over. I am going straight to hell, but at least I would stop harming others.”
Twilight nodded.
“So why we’re here? You just want to say goodbye?”
Midnight shrugged.
“Is just a stupid clause. There is a way to prevent me from going to hell, but I don’t want to. You have to accept it, and it is a burden too big for you to carry.”
Twilight finally understood what happened with her friends.
“So that’s what happened with them!”
Midnight nodded. “Yes, they decided to save their other selves. Idiots.”
“What do I need to do?”
Midnight shook her head. “Are you an idiot or what? I am telling you I don’t want it!”
“You’ve suffered long enough Midnight. Let me help you. If my friends could do it, I can do it too.”
“No! Let me go where I belong! You don’t know what you’re asking for!”
“You sacrificed everything for Equestria. Even your own sould. Come on, let me help you. You are me, right? I need to help myself!”
Midnight sighed.
“You need to accept me as a part of you.”
Twilight gasped. “You mean mix our consciousness?”
“No. I’ll disappear inside you, becoming nothing but memories. All of my memories. Massacres, intimate times with Spike… everything about me. The burden is too much, even for you Twilight. Your friends accepted it and regretted immediately. Don’t do this to yourself Twilight.”
Twilight gulped but accepted it.
“I’ll do it. I won’t be able to look at my friends if I refuse to help you. I’ll do it, you’ve suffered long enough.”
Midnight shook her head. “Okay then. But you’re going to regret it, as your friends did.”
…
Twilight opened her eyes, and just as her friends she started screaming and sobbing when all of Midnight’s memories started to flow on her mind.
It was just as Midnight told her. Everything she have done on her unlife was now part of Twilight’s memories.
It was painful, too much. Too many lives taken, she had too much blood on her hooves.
“No please, I know I asked for it but make it stop… STOOOOOOOP!”
Twilight was screaming, she wanted it to go away. But she also knew she agreed to this. There was no way out, and this horrid memories would be part of her forever.
Spike looked at her weakly.
“It is difficult, I know. But it would be over soon. Just have to remember who you really are.”
Twilight looked at him.
“How do you know what is happening to me? Are you reading my soul?”
Spike shook his head.
“No. In fact, I was the first one to accept my demons.”
With that the two of them faded into unconsciousness.
EPILOGUE: The final respects to the corrupted heroes
A large group of ponies have gathered at the Royal Sisters castle. Right before the Tree of Harmony where seven graves have been dug for the Bearers of Harmony plus one dragon. After a quick discussion everypony agreed this would be an ideal place for the Undead Knights to rest.
Despite all they’ve done, in the end of the day, they were protectors of Equestria too. Protectors who have sacrificed everything for Equestria, including their souls.
The Crown, Bearers of Harmony and the Knights of Silence have gathered to say their final goodbye to the corrupted heroes.
Celestia looked at the graves and proceed with her speech.
“Goodbye Undead Knights. I’m very sorry, you did not deserve this. This is the end of the darkest chapter in Equestrian History, your mere existence offended everything I believe and stand for. But you were victims too, and did the impossible to fight your dark nature by using it to protect Equestria. It was desperation what lead you to become this, and I am glad you finally rest in peace. I hope the Gods have mercy on you and allows you to find the peace you’ve been missing for so long. Thank you, and I’m sorry Undead Knights.”
Everypony stayed silent as they presented their respects to the Undead Knights.
Finally, they lowered their heads to the grave to dedicate a small pray.
It was the end. For real this time. The Undead Knights were gone for good.
Once they finished praying, everypony left one by one. The Knights of Silence put on their hoods and fused with their shadows, except for two who stayed behind alongside the Princesses and the Bearers of Harmony. The Great Master Irish Coffee and Spike.
Twilight hugged Spike and Princess Celestia and sighed. “Even after everything we’ve been through, I never thought I would be assisting to my own funeral.”
Celestia nuzzled her. “It’s okay my Faithful Student. Just remember, this is not your funeral. It’s Midnight’s.”
“It is easy for you to say it, Princess. I accepted her as a part of me!” said Twilight.
Spike agreed. “Yes, this feels like saying goodbye to ourselves.”
Celestia did not insist. Instead, the three of them stayed like that hugging each other in silence, until Irish checked on a pocket watch she had on her tunic.
“Spike, the last train to Canterlot is leaving soon.”
Spike nodded and broke the embrace and joined Irish. She smiled and cuddled with him.
Twilight looked at them and smiled sadly. “Spike, Irish, are you sure you want to leave? My home would always be your home. You know that, right?”
Spike chuckled. “Twilight, we’ve been over this. Children would have to leave their parents someday.”
But he came and hugged Twilight one more time, and then her friends joined in.
“Hey we’ll be with you as much as you need us!” said Rainbow with a smile.
“Yeah, wanna do a sleepover tonight?” suggested Pinkie.
Applejack nodded. “The kid is right, but it doesn’t make it less hard. Sleepover sounds like a great idea!”
Twilight thanked them from the bottom of her heart.
“I know, but why does it have to be like this? After all we’ve been through, do we really have to say goodbye?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Come on, is not like I’m dying or anything. I am just moving to my own place, and we’ll keep contact.”
Twilight nodded and finally she smiled.
“Take care Spike.”
“I’ll take care of him no worries! That’s a promise.” said Irish.
“You better!” warned the Bearers of Harmony in the unison.
Spike hugged Twilight for a third time and then he rejoined Irish Coffee.
Celestia smiled at them.
“Good luck Irish Coffee and Spike. Just remember, if the Knights cause too much trouble, you’ll give the Crown no choice but take action. This is your first and only warning.”
Irish giggled knowing she was half joking half serious. “If that happens I guess we’ll simply release the Alicorn Spell. Just kidding. See you all around!”
The couple fused with their shadows and went to the train station.
The Bearers looked at their counterparts’ graves one last time.
“And in the end, A’ must say the Undeads are to be admired. They lost everythin’ but kept fighting for Equestria until the end.”
Luna agreed. “Yes, but their acts became more violent as the time passed. It could be that they lost hope after their attempt to erase their existence and gave up to their dark nature.”
Fluttershy nodded. Now that everypony had their memories of their dark counterparts they could say Luna was right. “Yes, that was a part of it. They couldn’t hold it anymore.”
“At least we won, and they now rest in peace. Also, now that we have their memories we can anticipate some future threats. And make sure we deal with them properly. No massacres this time.” said Pinkie Pie.
Twilight agreed. “But never let our guard down since that was their first mistake.!”
“Anything that may happen, we’ll be there together.”
And with that they returned to Ponyville. The corrupted heroes have finally left. Now they rested in peace.
