A Dark Soul

Celestia stumbled away from the fight, bleeding. The undead had moved so fast she didn’t have time to react before they were already upon her. She had managed to cast a powerful spell obliterating all the rotting ponies, but it was too late. Celestia herself had lost enough blood so she could barely stand and Rarity was lying on the ground in a pool of blood screaming in pain.

“Rarity! Stay with us now! You’re going to be alright.” Applejack said to Rarity

Pinkie Pie was on the ground sobbing, afraid for Rarity.

“Rainbow Dash, get Rarity to a hospital fast. She may not have much time left.” Said Celestia.
“What about you? You’re bleeding a lot!” Applejack said, very concerned.
“I will be fine. Dash go! Now! She is bleeding horribly.”

Dash swept up Rarity who had just passed out from the blood loss. The undead had gone straight for the two magic users in the group, so Rarity and Celestia had been hurt the worst. Celestia knew she couldn’t keep going for very long.

“Applejack, how far away is Zecora’s house?”
“I think about two miles east, but I’m not sure princess.”
“We need to start heading that way, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep going. You can lead the way Applejack.”
“Yes ma’am.”

They began heading towards Zecora’s house. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had completely lost it and were sobbing the whole way to Zecora’s. Applejack knew she had to try to put on a strong face, but in honesty she was terrified and concerned for Rarity and the Princess.

When they arrived at Zecora’s the Princess was ready to collapse. They found Rainbow Dash already there with Rarity.

“I’m so glad you guys are ok.” Dash said as they walked in.
“I’m not so sure the Princess is ok.” Applejack responded.

Zecora came out of a back room and escorted Celestia into another back room. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were sitting down crying.

“We still need to find Twilight.” Rainbow Dash said with worry in her voice.
“I know, but I’m not sure what we can do.” Applejack said hopelessly
“If Celestia cannot come with us then we need to go after Twilight by ourselves.
“But Rainbow Dash, how can we hope to go against a dark magician?”
“We can take him! We have to do it for Twilight.”

Zecora approached them, interrupting their conversation.

“Celestia and Rarity will have to stay quite late, lest they meet their fate.” Zecora rhymed.
“So they are going to be ok?” Applejack asked Zecora.
“They will survive this crime, but only with time.”
“Thank you so much Zecora.” Said Rainbow Dash. “Applejack we have to hunt for Twilight. We can’t waste time.”
“Alright then Dash. Lets go.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash left Zecora’s home without another word. They set down their path alone, heading straight into the Necromancer’s kingdom.

***

Tamerlane paused, feeling the destructions of his minions. He frowned. This can’t be good. Twilight noticed the look on his face.

“Um… Tamerlane am I doing something wrong?”
‘What? Oh, um no. You are doing fine. Take a break Twilight, you have earned it.”

Tamerlane headed into his home. He focused inward and looked through the short memory of his minions. He saw Celestia killing his minions. His frown deepened. This isn’t good. If Celestia is hunting him then that means trouble.

“I have to check this out.” He told himself. “Twilight Sparkle, I am going to go out and gather some plants. I will be back soon.”

Before Twilight could respond he drained the life of three nearby trees and teleported away.

When he reappeared he saw an orange pony accompanied by a blue pony with rainbow colored hair.

“This is it? That’s who is coming after me? This hardly calls for concern, but all the same… “

He stepped forward towards the two ponies.

“What are two young beautiful ponies doing in such a dangerous place?” He said soothingly.
“We are looking for our friend. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?” Rainbow Dash said accusingly.
“Calm down Rainbow, we just met this nice pony. I’m Applejack and this is Rainbow Dash.”
“I am Tamerlane. What is the name of your friend? I may have seen her.”
“Her name is Twilight Sparkle, and you better not have done anything to her!” Rainbow said aggressively.

Tamerlane frowned. So they are here for Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle is too powerful of a unicorn for him to give up, however she had only been there a day or two…

“Yes I have seen her. She is at my home. She was lost and confused so I took her in.”
“Well that’s wonderful, when can we see her?” asked Applejack
“You cannot. She is unsure and angry. It would be best if you left.”
“WHAT?!?!” Rainbow Dash screamed “What do you mean we cant see her!? She our friend and we will see her no matter what!”
“No. You cannot see her.”

Seemingly out of nowhere seven undead and rotting ponies shuffled out of the dark.

“You have one more chance to leave. I suggest you take it.”
“NO!!”

Rainbow charged into the dead ponies without any thought and attacked before they could react. It took Applejack only a fraction of a second to react. Applejack charged in as well. Before they knew it they had killed the seven undead ponies.

Panting Rainbow Dash proclaimed “Ha! Is that the best you got?”

Tamerlane sighed beginning to drain Applejack and Rainbow Dash of their life. The two brave ponies began to shake and they eventually collapsed.

“STOP!!”

Nightmare Moon descended to the ground and approached Tamerlane.

“I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!”

Tamerlane released the two ponies and turned on Nightmare Moon.

“Do you really wish to attack me? Very well.”

With a small flourish Tamerlane drained all the nearby plants and animals and shot concentrated dark energy at Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon let forth a burst of dark blue light, and the two spells met in the middle in a spectacular flash of light. Nightmare Moon was the first to start to shake. Applejack stood up shaking and charged at Tamerlane. The black unicorn turned and in a moment of fear lost his concentration as he was nocked to the ground by Applejack. The two spells exploded in a massive wave of energy that shot from the center flattening all of the nearby trees.

***
Tamerlane reappeared back in his home with a flash of black light and smoke. Twilight walked in just as he collapsed on the ground.

“Tamerlane! Are you ok?” She asked with concern
“I-I am f-fine.” He said weakly smoke still rising from his coat.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked no convinced.
“One of my servants saw some ponies in the forest. I went check it out and as soon as I mentioned you they attacked me and nearly killed me.” He lied.
“What? They wouldn’t do something like that. I need to go talk to them.”
“Twilight Sparkle be careful around them, they mean to take you back to Ponyville and put you in prison. You have practiced dark magic.”
I wont go back to them, but I will tell them to leave me alone, they abandoned me, so I will never go back to them.” She said, head towards the door.
“Be careful, they mean to hurt you.”

Twilight left his home and started heading outside. She used a dark spell she had learned to see where her friends were.

“I can’t believe them. They are supposed to be peaceful ponies.” She told herself. “I guess this proves I can never go back to them, if they hate dark magic users so much.”

Twilight drained the nearby plants of their life and teleported away in a flash of black light. The necromancer looked out of a window as she teleported away. He knew this was a dangerous gamble, but hopefully Twilight Sparkle could convince herself that her friends hated her. He tried not to think about what would happen if she joined them.

***

Luna stood up where Nightmare Moon had been. She looked around, a small amount of smoke was coming up from the ground where Tamerlane had been. Rainbow Dash was slowly standing up, while Applejack lay unconscious on the ground. All of the nearby trees were burned and flattened.

“Are you alright Rainbow Dash?” Princess Luna asked
“I-I’m ok. What about Applejack?”

Luna walked over to where Applejack lay.

“I think she should be ok. She just needs rest. Now where is my sister and the rest of you?”
“They are all at Zecoras house. We were surprised by a bunch of undead ponies. Celestia and Rarity were badly hurt. Fluttershy and Pinkie are a mess right now, so me and Applejack went on alone.”

Luna paused worried about her older sister. Rainbow Dash saw the look of concern on Luna’s face.

“She should be fine though, she just needs rest.” Dash said trying to reassure Luna.
“It was stupid to go after Twilight alone. She is with the necromancer Tamerlane. He is the most powerful dark magician in the world. If Twilight is with him he will teach her the art of necromancy. Combined with her natural talent she will be so powerful that even the combined powers of me and my sister won’t be able to stop her.”
“So then what should we do?” Rainbow Dash asked with growing concern for her friend.
“We need to befriend her and forgive her lest she fall under the influence of this dark magic.”

Applejack just began to wake up. As she got in her feet she looked around disorientated.

“W-What Happened?” She asked with confusion
“You were nocked unconscious by the shockwave from our spells. You were very braved and saved us all.” Luna said with a soft voice.
“Then what happened to Tamerla-?“

Before Applejack had time to finish her sentence Twilight appeared in a flash of black light. She looked furiously at them.

“Leave now!!” she yelled at them. “I don’t want you here! You abandoned me, so I’m not going back!”
“Twilight Sparkle, we do not mean to hurt you. We want you back with us, and we want you away from Tamerlane.” Luna said soothingly to Twilight.
“No! You are just afraid of him, so you attacked him!”
“What? We didn’t attack him. He attacked us.” Rainbow Dash said confused.
“That’s the honest truth Twi, he is manipulating you to turn him against us. He attacked us and seriously injured Rarity and the Princess. They almost died.” Said Applejack.
“No! That’s a lie!” she said starting to tear up
“Would I ever lie to you Twi?” Applejack said approaching Twilight.
“N-No! S-Stay b-back!” she said, tears running down her face. “A-All of y-you, just g-get back!”

Twilight ran into the woods and teleported away.

“Twilight! Come back!” Dash screamed, but it was too late.
“We cannot hope to stand to the combined powers of Twilight Sparkle and Tamerlane.” Luna said.

***
Tamerlane sighed and closed the magical window he had used to spy on Twilight. He needed to find her. She had run off into the forest and wasn’t heading back to him. He decided to take action. He ordered two of his servants to track down Twilight Sparkle, and sent fifty of his best guards to Zecora’s house. He planned to once and for all end Celestia.

“Once I have killed Celestia and the wielders of the elements of harmony, I can remove Luna and take over all of Equestria! I will take this opportunity to end this era and bring about a new one of darkness and death!”