Chapters It was dark, very dark. Twilight felt afraid, it was so dark, but that is not why she felt afraid, she could feel evil.
Twilight woke with a start. She was sweating all over her body. She was shaking from her nightmare, but a lingering thought remained in the back of her mind. Dark Magic. She couldn’t help but being intrigued by the thought.
“Twilight, you look terrible” Spike said interrupting her train of thought.
As soon a Spike left Twilight sat down on her bed. She remembered just how powerful King Sombra had been. She wondered if she had a book on him or some of his magic.
“A little reading wont hurt, its not like I’m going to become a dark magician.” Twilight told herself trying to convince herself that reading dark books was okay.
***
“Howdy Twilight.” Applejack greeted her in her usual friendly fashion.
Applejack left her house. Twilight sighed a little breath of relief. She hadn’t realized just how interesting this book was. So many spells that she wanted to try out.
“No, I can’t use dark magic! I wont read anymore.”
She looked at her clock and realized that she had spent the entire day reading the book, and spike had not come home yet, but she was to tired to give it any thought. She crawled back into her bed, and before she knew it she was sound asleep on her bed.
“Do you now recognize the power of Dark Magic?”
***
The next day at noon Twilight headed to the park to meet her friends. She still felt uneasy about her dreams from the last two nights, and Spike had still not come home from the previous day, but this didn’t bother her since she was still thinking about her dreams and dark magic. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she did not realize she got to the park so soon.
“Hello Twilight, I missed you yesterday.” Said Rarity
They all turned their heads and saw Spike sprinting towards them.
“DRAGON!!!” Screamed Spike
They all saw a massive full-grown Dragon rise into the sky. The Dragon swept over Ponyville towards Spike. Without thinking Twilight jumped forward and cast a spell she had read in the dark magic book. Black light shot from all the plants around Twilight into her horn joining together to launch a very powerful beam of black light straight into the dragon’s chest. The dragon dropped from the sky lifeless. Twilight had never felt so powerful in her life! It was amazing, how had she not discovered this before?
But as Twilight looked around, instead of seeing awe on the faces of her friends she only saw horror. She was still glowing with a dark light and all the plants around her were withered and dead. Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna floated down to the ground clearly hunting for the dragon. They had looks of horror on their faces just like her friends.
“What is the matter?” Asked Twilight very annoyed at the lack of praise.
Twilight felt her limbs freeze up as light came from Luna’s horn.
“WHAT!? I just saved all of you from dragon! You should be thanking me!” Twilight screamed.
Twilight focused all her energy on Luna and Luna began to lose color and shake. Finally the spell broke and with a massive burst of energy Twilight teleported miles into the Everfree forest.
***
Twilight was enraged. She was using her magic to cause destruction, draining the life from all the plants around her.
“How could they do that to me!?!? I saved them! Celestia was just jealous and afraid of me!”
A jet-black unicorn came out of the forest interrupting twilights Rant.
“That was a very impressive feat of magic.” He said calmly
Twilight took a second look at the strange unicorn. She saw on his flank two white skulls for his cutie-mark.
“So then what is you name?” he asked
Twilight followed the necromancer to a huge library that he lived in.
“Your library is amazing.!”
***
Back at Ponyville everyone was in shock. Nopony ever expected something like that from Twilight. Luna had collapsed on the ground. She was weak from Twilight draining her life force.
“We… we need to go after h-her” said Luna weakly.
Celestia’s royal guards carried Luna off to Canterlot.
“No offense Princess, but how can we help?” asked Applejack
***
“You are a very powerful magician Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight focused again on a tree trying to drain its life force. She still felt anger from the events of the day before. She focused harder and black light bridged the span between her and the tree, it began to wither and die but she lost her concentration and the light burst and all the plants around her shriveled up and died.
“Concentrate Twilight Sparkle. You have to be able to control your life drain spell.”
Twilight approached another tree and began to focus her energy on the tree. The now familiar black light appeared and the tree began to die. After a few short seconds the tree was a withered and lifeless trunk. Twilight felt good, but the more she drained from plants the less it made her feel powerful. She needed that feeling of power again. She thought back to the voice from her dreams. Dark magic. It felt amazing, but something didn’t make sense.
“Um… Tamerlane?”
Despite Tamerlane’s answer Twilight still felt very uneasy. It felt as though something had been pushing her to pick up that book three days ago. And try as she might, she couldn’t push those thoughts out of her head as the day continued. But that wasn’t the only thing worrying her, She was also uneasy as she thought about Princess Celestia and all her. Surely that had to be looking for her. How long until they found her? What would happen if they found her?
***
Even as Twilight thought about Celestia and her friends they were all thinking about her. The six ponies were walking through the Everfree forest, Celestia in the lead trying to locate Twilight while the other five were trailing behind. They had just set off the morning after Twilight stopped the dragon. They headed deeper into the Everfree forest and began to see traces of dark magic. They saw withered trees and dead animals all around them. Suddenly they heard a snap. They all froze. Suddenly rotting dead ponies came out of the forest surrounding them.
“Halt.” said the closest rotting pony. “This is the land of the necromancer. Leave now.”
The disfigured ponies closed in on them surrounding them on all side. Before any of them could react all of them charged in on them screaming a terrible yell!
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.
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?”
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.
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.
Zecora approached them, interrupting their conversation.
“Celestia and Rarity will have to stay quite late, lest they meet their fate.” Zecora rhymed.
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?”
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.
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.”
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.”
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! Are you ok?” She asked with concern
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
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?”
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.
Applejack just began to wake up. As she got in her feet she looked around disorientated.
“W-What Happened?” She asked with confusion
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 ran into the woods and teleported away.
“Twilight! Come back!” Dash screamed, but it was too late.
***
“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!”
Luna led the train of injured ponies away from the Everfree forest. Zecora looked back at the cloud of smoke that was rising up from the forest. Her home was gone. Rainbow Dash thought back to Celestia’s nine dead royal guards. They had been so brave. Applejack thought back as tears rolled down her cheeks. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The undead minions of Tamerlane had captured them, and Twilight was still nowhere to be found.
As they left the boundary of the Everfree forest they saw Shining Armor, and Princess Cadence along with a host of eighty royal guards.
“Guards, fly all the wounded to the hospital in Canterlot.” Shining Armor ordered his men. “Luna, any word of my sister?”
All the guards carried out their orders. Sixty-five of them remained. Luna and her small army headed into town.
“Applejack, Zecora. Head into Ponyville and prepare them to evacuate the town. I think a battle might take place here.” Luna ordered them.
Luna and her small host of guards headed into Ponyville. She was ready to take down Tamerlane, and end the necromancer’s life. She hoped that Twilight would come around and see the evil of Tamerlane. If not, then it was the end.
***
Tamerlane ordered all his undead minions to assemble by the charred remains of Zecora’s house. He grinned. With Celestia defeated it was only a matter of time before Luna and all of Equestria fell under his power. He also sent out a summons to all the dark magicians he knew of, only one loose end.
“Twilight Sparkle, where are you?” He asked himself.
He knew that she was the only one with the power to stop him. He turned and saw the three ponies he had captured being led towards him.
“What do you want from us?” Rarity said weakly, still recovering from her wounds.
He turned away from the three female ponies. Once he took Ponyville, nothing would stand in between him and the throne. Finally he would get the power he had always wanted. A lesser dark wizard got his attention.
“My lord Tamerlane, he have assembled 500 soldiers so far and thirty wizards.”
The lesser wizard walked away.
“Finally, my victory is at hand.” He said, laughing evilly.
***
Twilight ran through the forest with no thought to where she was heading. She could not think about her friends.
“They had betrayed her! They forced her to leave! This was all their fault!” She said angrily
Realizing this thought Twilight collapsed and started sobbing. Had her friends really abandoned her? Was she that terrible in their eyes? She continued to cry until tears would not come out. Then she sat in solitude for hours after that. Thinking. Brooding, her resentment began to grow again.
“Friendship is magic? Of all the lies I heard that has to be the biggest one!” she told herself. “If they where real friends they would forgive her, but they haven’t, and they never will! I don’t need them! With my magic I am better than them! They are below me!! For all their faults I forgave them, time and time again! Then they go and do this? Ha! It’s a bad joke. I can prove that I am better than them! I will show them! They should be the ones begging for my forgiveness. The Princess herself should get on her knees and beg my forgiveness!”
An undead minion of Tamerlane approached her from the forest. She turned on it furiously. Not even Tamerlane was above her. He had been manipulating her into his servitude just like Celestia.
“Twilight Sparkle I bri-“
Before he could finish he sentence Twilight focused one the servant and obliterated him with very powerful magic.
At this display of power the little voice in the back of her head spoke up again.
“Don’t do this. Now is the time for kindness and forgiveness, if ever these things are important it is now.”
Twilight just shut this voice out of her head and started heading towards Ponyville.
***
Spike looked out the window of Twilights old home. So much chaos, ponies fleeing from their homes, an army gathering in the street, what was happening to this town? He then thought to Twilight. What had happened to her? Why was this all happening? He knew he had to find her as quickly as possible. He gathered up something and left his house.
“Hey Spike! Where are you going?” Rainbow Dash asked when she spotted him.
Rainbow Dash nodded and they two of them headed out into the Everfree forest.
Only after a short time Rainbow Dash spotted the army of the undead approaching.
“Spike run!” She yelled to him. The undead noticed the two.
Spike sprinted of into the forest. After only a moments pause she raced pack to Ponyville to warn Luna.
Spike ran as fast as he could, but he was still slower than the three rotting corpses that chased him. Spike looked back and saw them closing in. he turned his head and ran faster. He suddenly felt a terrible pain in his back and he screamed in pain. He lay on the ground bleeding, and a pool of blood began to collect as he lay there. The three undead left him to die.
***
Rainbow Dash got back to Ponyvlle panting and out of breath. She quickly began to look around for Princess Luna and finally found her in the town hall.
“Princess Luna! Several hundred undead are marching upon Ponyville. They should be here any minute!” She informed Luna
As she spoke those words she heard screams outside.
“Quickly! Charge out with me!” Luna yelled.
Her, Rainbow Dash and twenty royal guards charged out of the building. They had barely left the building and they were hit by a wave of undead ponies swarming them from all sides.
“RALLY AT THE TOWN HALL!!!” Luna’s voice boomed across the sky.
Luna’s guard started to push back the hoard of skeletal ponies. They heard Tamerlane’s voice boom across the sky giving orders to his soldiers
“PUSH THEM BACK!! OVERWELL THEM!!”
The undead minions of Tamerlane charged forward with unmatched zeal. Luna’s forces began to crumble around her as dark wizards spread death and mayhem across the scene of the battle. The coherency of her forces began to thin. Finally it disappeared. Out numbered and defeated the royal guards of Canterlot and the pegasi of Ponyville gave up and fled.
The battle was over. The slaughter began.
Luna and all of the pegasi flew away, many falling dead before the feet of the wizards in Tamerlane’s army. Luna looked back on the scene of defeat. She saw her guards being chased down and slaughter. Everypony in the now burning town was being slaughtered as they cowered in fear.
Rainbow Dashes attention was caught by the screams that came from the direction of the apple farm.
“No… “ She whispered in horror
A large column of smoke was coming from the farm.
“Luna, all the townspeople are at the farm. We have to go back.” Rainbow Dash said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
***
Tamerlane walked over the ruins of this town feeling some remorse. This had been a beautiful place. He had to glance away every time he saw the innocent dead. This had been a perfect victory, but a tragic one. He looked around at the scene of his victory once again. He sighed and walked towards the apple farm where he would overview the raising of the dead.
On his was he found a small tree house, it was labeled The Cutie Mark Crusaders. He smiled he had always loved small forts. When he stepped in his smile vanished. He saw a pool of blood collecting around the bodies of three young ponies, still without their cutie marks, huddled in fear. His smile vanished and a single tear rolled down his cheek. He remembered the time we walked in his home as a child to see his parents and sister dead at his feet. Brutally murdered by some drunken soldiers. He left the fort with a sigh and headed towards the farm with a heavy heart.
***
***
Luna and the survivors of the Ponyville slaughtering gathered around several miles outside of the town. She turned and saw a messenger pony running towards her.
“Princess Luna, Canterlot is under siege. A massive army of the undead is assaulting the city”
Luna froze. This was the end.
“How could this happen?” Twilight whispered weakly to herself.
Spike lay at her feet dead. Twilight did nothing but stare in disbelief, tears rolling down her cheeks. She felt as if a massive part of her life just shriveled up and died, leaving a big empty hole in her.
“Spike…”
She could do nothing but whisper his name.
“You were so young…”
So much pain. Just pain. She had always had Spike. And now… he was just gone. No warning, nothing.
“Please forgive me…”
Twilight continued sitting slowly coming to her senses. She knew she had to bury him. That thought hurt so much. Burying Spike. She weakly stood up and started to dig. She didn’t use magic. She needed to do this with her own hands. It just felt so final. This was it for Spike. It was hard to understand. Final. That word carried so much more weight than ever before.
When it was time Twilight lowered Spike into the ground. She stared at his body.
“I guess this is… goodbye.”
So many times in her life she had said goodbye, but never like this before.
“I… just…” she stared to cry again. “I’ve failed you Spike. I have failed everyone! My friends, my family, Princess Celestia.”
Twilight continued to sob. He didn’t deserve this, she was the one who deserved this. He was good and kind. He never failed her.
“Goodbye Spike.”
Twilight began to fill in the dirt. Finally she made a crude gravestone for him. Silently she walked away from the grave towards Ponyville ready to give up and let them do with her what they want.
Goodbye Spike.
Those are the last words Twilight ever said to Spike
When Twilight finally arrived at Ponyville she was shocked. The town had been wrecked. Buildings were destroyed and smoke was coming up from the distance. Twilight slowly walked through the town she had grown to love so much. It looked like a battle had taken place here.
“Why aren’t there any bodies?”
Twilight froze. Tamerlane. Tears once again began to come to her eyes.
“First Spike, now Ponyville…”
Twilight solemnly walked to her house. It was mostly in good condition. When she entered the library she saw a note sitting on a table. It was Spike’s handwriting.
Dear Twilight
I wrote this letter to you incase you get back to Ponyville before I do. You need to know, we still love you. We are still your friends. Just because you had some darkness in your heart doesn’t mean we gave up on you. We all have dark thoughts and dark feelings. We have to learn not to act on these feelings. Please Twilight understand that we all forgive you for what you have done. That is what friends do. We just want you back Twilight. Never forget your friends and family.
Spike
“How could I have forgotten my friends? They are always there for me, why did I think they had abandoned me? Now it may be too late. With everything that has happened, they may not be safe, or they might even be… dead.”
Twilight knew she had to try and make things right, before anything else happened, before anypony else died.
Leaving her house she made her way through Ponyville and eventually towards Applejack’s farm.
***
Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could towards the farm. When she arrived she looked around desperately but she didn’t see anypony. Not even bodies.
“Applejack where are you?” she whispered
She turned about to give up and saw a lone pony on top of a hill. She flew as fast as she could towards this new pony hoping desperately for Applejack. She stopped dead a few feet away from Twilight Sparkle.
“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight said quietly
At that moment they saw several ponies approaching them from the base of the hill they were on. Applejack was in the lead.
“APPLEJACK!!” Screamed Dash
She tackled the orange pony giving her a huge hug.
“I thought you died.” Dash said tears rolling down her cheeks.
Applejack turned to see Twilight. She paused for a moment.
“Oh Twilight! I’m so glad you’re ok!” She said giving her a big hug.
Twilight began to tear up again. How could she have thought her friends would be mad at her?
“I’m so sorry I caused this mess. So many terrible things have happened.” Twilight said to Applejack
Applejack turned and talked to the crowd of ponies who had escaped Ponyville.
“You all go back to Ponyville and start rebuilding. It should be safe there. Twilight, Dash, lets go save Equestria.
***
Princess Celestia awoke to find Discord and Shining Armor standing over her.
“What… Where am I?” she asked.
Princess Celestia took a second look at the Discord and Shining Armor. Shining Armor looked exhausted with several cuts, while Discord had many bandages as if he had been directly in battle.
“What is going on?” The Princess asked
The Princess stood up and collapsed, her head spinning.
Shining Armor caught her “Easy, you lost a lot of blood before you got here.”
The Princess got on her feet, slowly this time.
“Don’t over extend yourself. As much as I hate it, we need you in good condition. We are losing this battle, and we need your help.”
At that moment a pony came running in.
“Princess, they have breached the outer walls!”
Discord and Shining Armor left to join the battle at the walls. Celestia took a position so she could see the whole battle and beyond the city.
“I am waiting for you Tamerlane.”
***
The Battle was going perfectly. Tamerlane watched as his soldiers broke through the walls of the city. Nothing could stop him from taking the city. He strolled into the city to watch the battle first hand.
“My lord” A lesser wizard approached him.
Tamerlane transformed into a cloud of smoke and mad his way through the city until he was directly behind Discord.
“Discord!” His voice boomed across the city, his magic amplified by dark magic.
Discord spun around, but it was to late. Tamerlane was already upon him. Discord collapsed in pain as Tamerlane assaulted him. Several of Tamerlane’s minions arrived and tied down discord. Three wizards then put him a state of magical stasis.
With Discord captured, the front line of Celestia’s army began to fall back. Tamerlane looked up to where Celestia was observing the battle. He grinned.
“Time for you to fall.”
He focused his energy and teleported himself behind the Princess.
“Tamerlane. Stop this, before I stop you.”
Tamerlane’s horn lit up with black light as he surrounded the two of them with black smoke, cutting the off from the world. With a flash of light he disappeared into the cloud of smoke.
“I am far more powerful that you Celestia”
At that moment he appeared behind Celestia, and cast a powerful spell. The Princess spun around and barely blocked it. She trembled.
“You are still weak Princess. I will destroy you.”
With a surge of power Celestia stood up and nocked Tamerlane back into the smoke. He was swept up and caught in the current of black smoke.
“I control the sun and the moon everyday and you think you can stop me?”
The wall of smoke closed in on Celestia and suddenly she was surrounded unable to see or move. The princess began to suffocate.
“I control the very forces of life and death. I am far greater than you!”
Off in the distance they heard a loud horn playing. Tamerlane saw a large army of crystal ponies led by Cadence.
“No!!” Tamerlane screamed. He left the princess lying on the ground.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack approached Luna and her small group of soldiers. They all looked wore down and defeated.
“Princess Luna.” Twilight bowed to her. “I realize I have cause a lot of trouble, but I am here to help fight Tamerlane.”
After final preparations the group made their way to the camp. They spread out encircling the camp. They would all get to the center killing any guards on the way and meet in the middle of the camp. In silence they waited until the signal was given. As the group went through the camp they cut down a small handful of guards but not nearly as many as they expected. When they arrived in the middle of the camp Luna spoke.
“Were any of you noticed?”
No one was. In fact only five guards had been killed. Suddenly a flash of light blinded them. When they could see again undead soldiers surrounded them. With a terrible yell the guards charged in. Twilight focused on the energy that kept the undead animated, using what she learned from Tamerlane, Twilight severed the flow of energy and ten undead collapsed lifeless. Encouraged by this, Luna and her soldiers charged in. With the help of Twilight the battle only lasted a minute and none of Luna’s soldiers died. After the undead had been defeated Luna turned to Twilight.
“When did you learn to kill the undead like that?”
As Twilight began teaching Luna the spell, all the other ponies with them began gathering up the prisoners. After a few minutes Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie interrupted Twilight and Luna by running and giving Twilight a big group hug.
“Oh Twilight, we have missed you so much.” Said Fluttershy
The group of them headed towards Canterlot with anypony who was willing to fight. The rest went back to their towns to rebuild.
***
“Lord Tamerlane! The crystal ponies are overwhelming us, they are behind us and we are out of position. The city has become a death trap for us!”
Tamerlane looked out onto the battle, taking place at the wall of the ruined city. The crystal army had completely caught him unprepared and had destroyed his reserves. Taking the opportunity, Celestia had rallied her soldiers into the inner city and were fortifying and regrouping.
“Damn it!!” Cursed Tamerlane.
He took back into smoke form and changed his face to that of King Sombra. He flew over the battle and in a loud voice boomed
“Crystal ponies! Bow before your rightful king!”
The ponies stopped fighting terrified. Some bowed to him in fear, while others ran.
“Give up your fight and surrender to your fate! I have come back to enslave you all!”
The morale of the crystal ponies shattered and they began to run. Tamerlane grinned a wicked grin. He began laughing, but was distracted by a bright pink light. He turned and saw Princess Cadence fire a powerful spell directly into him. He screamed in agonizing pain. The cloud disappeared and he fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The fleeing ponies stopped and reformed into an army, but the distraction lasted long enough for the hoard of undead to reform into a fighting force. The two armies charged and met head on.
Tamerlane stood up, weak and shaking. What magic was that? Never before had he felt so much pain. Still shaking he climbed onto the walls of Canterlot to look over the battle. His distraction had bought his army time and given them a chance, but it was still unclear who was winning. Another minion approached him.
“Lord Tamerlane, a band of warriors under Princess Luna has freed the main prison camp. Small groups of ponies are going all over the countryside stopping you forces.”
“WHAT!?” In his rage he turned and slaughtered the bringer of bad news. “This means Luna is on her way. I may not be able to handle the power of Luna and her sister.”
He thought to himself and realized he still did not know the whereabouts of Twilight Sparkle. If she were with them then his doom would be sealed.
***
Princess Celestia looked out upon the battle seeing more and more soldiers leave the city to fight on the plains. She looked back to her men who were resting and gathering their strength. She knew she needed to attack Tamerlane while his army was distracted.
“Brave ponies!” Celestia addressed her soldiers “I know you are all tired, but the time for one last attack.”
Celestia paused and glanced out onto the battle before giving the order.
“Attack! For Equestria!”
The remainder of her soldiers charged out into the battle, attacking the undead from behind. Her soldiers began pushing the undead towards the outer streets of the city. She made her way out onto a balcony to see the battle.
“Luna, where ever you are, I need you.”
A low growl caught her attention and she spun around to see Tamerlane.
“Have you come to finish me off?” The Princess asked, anger rising in her voice.
He lunged forward casting a spell at Celestia. The Princess dodged and charged in with her horn angled low at Tamerlane. The necromancer was not expecting for such a brutish and simple attack and barely had time to jump away. Celestia’s horn drove straight into his leg, piercing through bone and flesh. The necromancer screamed in pain and blinked away in a small flash of light. Blood dripping from her horn Celestia turned to Tamerlane.
“It is unwise to attack the ruler of Equestria alone”
He morphed back into smoke, though he still felt pain from his encounter with Cadence. He surrounded the Princess and began to suffocate her. Celestia collapsed, unable to breath. A voice boomed all around her
“I am truly deserving of the crown. Think about it Princess, all the people you have let down. You failed, and you deserve to die! You cannot even protect yourself, let alone your own people.”
Tears came to the Princess’ eyes and she stopped struggling. Maybe he was right maybe she should die.
“Hahaha, your time has finally come Celestia.”
With a brilliant flash of light all the cloud dissipated and Tamerlane was cast onto the ground.
“What!?” he gasped in pain
Luna stood over him, with Twilight Sparkle at her side.
“No, Twilight. Why are you listening to these peoples lies?”
Twilight merely approached Tamerlane and spit in his face. The black pony knew he had to escape. With a flash the unicorn disappeared.
“What! Were is he?” Luna screamed in frustration.
“T-Twilight…” Celestia’s weak voice interrupted Luna and Twilight.
A smile came to Celestia’s face.
“It is good you understand that, but we have for important things to do” Celestia spoke, regaining some of her color.
Twilight turned to the other ponies that came with her.
“Take care of the Princess. Luna, would you like to go finish up this battle?”
With the disappearance of their leader many of the invading armies wizards began to flee. Twilight and Luna systematically worked their way through the streets of Canterlot killing all the undead. Out on the main battlefield Cadence and her army overwhelmed the undead army as its leadership fell apart.
The battle was won, Tamerlane’s advance had been stopped, and his army destroyed, but the wizard himself had still escaped.
***
Tamerlane limped into his home, his head spinning from blood loss. He quickly called over two servants to tend to his wounds. His army was gone. His wizards had abandoned him. Twilight Sparkle was on Celestia’s side. It had all fallen apart. He ordered his servants to start packing all his necessities.
“How had my magic failed me?” he asked himself “I am the greatest dark wizard in the whole world.”
A tear rolled down his cheek.
“I had a vision to build the land to untold heights. Was I wrong?”
He limped over to a mirror and stared at his tired and dirty face. He thought back to the three young ponies he had found dead in a tree house.
“No, I was right. For all great change sacrifices must be made. The world would be better with me in charge. Ponies would live better lives; the land would have been richer. I am not wrong.”
No matter what he did he kept thinking back to those three dead ponies, so much life ahead of them. So many good ponies had died. So much death.
“I am a necromancer, death is what I do. They are wrong to hate me so. I had so much good planned for them. A greater world for them…” He sighed
He thought back to all the innocent people who died. They did not want to be involved. They didn’t deserve death. So why had he given it to them? He did not understand why death bothered him so much now, when it had never bothered him before. He looked back into the mirror and understood
“I did not kill people before, I simply brought them back.”
In a fit of self-hate he disintegrated all his undead servants.
“No more death will be around me. Well, only one more.”
He turned and grabbed a sword he had always kept on his mantle and positioned it on the ground point up.
“The final words of Lord Tamerlane, the Necromancer: I wronged those least deserving of it, and for that I will pay the price.”
He remembered his parents, then the three dead ponies. He closed his eyes and threw himself on his sword.
***
Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Discord, and Twilight Sparkle walked through the Everfree forest. When they arrived at Tamerlane’s house they paused. A shiver went down Twilights back.
“Shouldn’t he have guards?” Asked Cadence.
The party continued on into the necromancer’s home. Upon entering they found twenty lifeless corpses. They continued onwards until reaching the final chamber. Tamerlane lay lifeless on the ground.
“It looks as if he killed himself.” Shining Armor commented confusedly
The group departed, leaving Celestia in the house alone with the body of Tamerlane. They waited for several minutes before hearing the sound of burning books. Twilght spun around.
“Wha-“
The group headed away from the town, but Twilight was still unsure.
Four weeks had passed. Ponyville was being rebuilt and all the funerals had already passed. Life was beginning to return to normal again. Twilight even thought once that she saw Applejack, who had been devastated by the death of Applebloom, smile at a joke. Twilight tried to forget her use of dark magic, and her friend never mentioned it.
As Twilight sat reading a book when she heard a knock on the door. She went and answered the door and found Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, hi there Twilight. I was just stopping over to see if you wanted have a get together with everyone at the park since before the incident.”
Twilight felt a moment of déjà vu. All those weeks ago it started just like this. Rainbow Dash didn’t see her discomfort and waited for an answer.
“Sure Dash, I will hang out.”
Dash hurried of to Rarity’s shop. Twilight sighed and closed the door. She spent the remainder of the night reading, but was uneasy. She remembered how she felt before all this happened. She knew life would go on, but it would never be the same. Finally she decided she needed to sleep.
***
It was dark, very dark. Twilight could feel a presence hovering over her.
“No, not again.”
“It has been a while Twilight Sparkle.” The voice boomed, the same one from before.
Twilight jerked awake. She looked out her window and saw that it was about midnight. She collapsed on her bed, her mind racing. But she was tired. So, so tired. She immediately fell back asleep.
***
When she woke up the next morning she remembered nothing of her dream. She quickly got started with her daily chores. When it was time she went to meet her friends. When she arrived Applejack noticed an expression on her face.
“Um… is something bothering you sugar cube?
The six of them spent the reminder of the afternoon playing in the park, not a care in the world. The played and laughed together, healing the wounds created by the invasion of the undead. To Twilight Sparkle and her friends, things were finally returning back to normal.