Spooks and Shadows

Ivan’s vision swam as he opened his eyes. He felt a sharp pain in his right front leg. Wait, right front leg!? As his head began to clear he realized that he was lying face down on what felt like leaves. He tried to stand up, but the pain in his leg nearly made him pass out.

“So, if I’m a pony, this must be Equestria.” he thought, “I know I should be freaking out, but I’m not. That’s weird.”

A white unicorn with a brown mane stepped out of the trees. As Ivan glanced around he noticed a sword leaning against a tree. Charter marks glowed faintly on the blade.

“Guess that unicorn’s Hayes, but what’s with the creepy glowing red irises? I never noticed those before.”

Hayes looked over at him.

“Oh hey!” he said, “You’re awake! Something tore your leg up pretty good. It’s a good thing I woke up, otherwise you would’ve bled out.”

“Where are the others?” asked Ivan.

“There’s a very interesting answer to that question…” Hayes picked up a newspaper that had been lying next to the sword and tossed it to Ivan. Ivan took a moment to read it.

“Wait, they went into space? Outer space? Like with little green men? When did that happen!?”

“Well, from my calculations, it took us a year to get here.”

“So what do we do now?”

“I don’t know…”

“We could always go after the necromancer.”

“Ivan, the necromancer is back in the Old Kingdom gloating about killing us. “

“The necromancer is a pony.”

“Damn it, that changes everything! Alright, don’t move. The less you strain it, the sooner your leg will heal. I’m going to go scout around. The necromancer probably has all sorts of Dead roaming around here. If something bad comes for you, just yell. I’ve already figured out how to teleport.”

Ivan nodded. Hayes levitated his sword and walked off into the woods. Ivan laid his head back down onto the leaves and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he fell asleep.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ivan’s eyes snapped open as he heard twigs break off to the side. Hayes stepped through the trees into the clearing.

“Well, I didn’t find anything.” he said, “So I guess we’re good for now.”

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have my spelled sword would you?” asked Ivan.

“Even if I did have it, I wouldn’t give it to you. It would just be an incentive for you to try and kill something. You’d just hurt your leg more.”

“So how long do you think I’ll have to wait?”

“It’ll heal quicker if you eat these.” Hayes tossed a bundle of plants to Ivan.

“Wait, eat them raw?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what they taste like since I’ve never had to eat them.”

Ivan took the plants into his mouth. His face contorted in disgust, but he managed to swallow.

“Did you just poison me!?”

“I don’t think so…”

“Thanks Hayes, that was very reassuring.”

Hayes’ horn glowed and Charter marks swirled around Ivan’s leg. The pain ebbed away and then disappeared. Ivan tried standing and found that he was able to.

“Will this be permanent?” he asked, “Or will I collapse after a few hours?”

“It should be fine now.”

“Then can I have my sword?”

“I think you’d be more suited to a bow actually.”

“Why?”

Hayes conjured a magic mirror out of thin air. When Ivan looked into it he saw a white pegasus with a short blonde mane. He had corporal’s stripes on his flank and a slight scar on his previously wounded leg. Hayes made the mirror vanish.

“Quick question. If I have hooves, how can I hold a bow and arrow?” asked Ivan.

“Really, you’re asking that now? After we watched Rainbow and Fluttershy use bows that entire time. Ivan, we’re magical ponies. Who knows what we’re capable of!?” replied Hayes.

There was a rustling noise in the trees to a left. Hayes quickly levitated a bow and a quiver of arrows over to Ivan.

“I got these from the magic bag.” he whispered, “The quiver will never run out of arrows and both the arrows and the bow are spelled.”

Ivan nodded and started hovering just a few feet above the ground. Hayes drew his sword and held it in front of him. Twigs cracked and branches shook, causing leaves to gently float to the ground. Then a chestnut pony with a spiky brown mane burst into the clearing, running straight at Hayes. Hayes managed to move his sword to avoid impaling the pony just seconds before he was knocked over. The other pony tripped and fell. He sprang to his hooves and turned back to Hayes and Ivan.

“Run for it, there are zombies chasing me!” He yelled. He went to run, but Hayes teleported in front of him.

“No one’s running anywhere. What the Charter is a zombie?” asked Hayes.

“You know, a walking corpse.” answered the pony. Ivan turned back towards the trees and aimed his bow at the place where the pony had come out. Then the sound of crunching leaves started again. Several shambling ponies emerged from the tree line. They screeched as they smelled Life, and began to move faster. Ivan shot one in the head with an arrow, and Charter Fire consumed it as it walked. Hayes fired a bolt of pure Charter Magic at another, leaving behind only a wisp of smoke. The remaining Hand went straight for the brown pony.

“Catch!” yelled Hayes. He threw his sword to the other pony, who caught it in his mouth. He swung it clumsily, barely managing to cut off the Dead pony’s head. The body stumbled around for a few seconds before Hayes burned it. When the chestnut pony had spat out the sword it was still a few seconds before he spoke.

“Who the hell are you people!?” asked the new pony.

“You want the truth?” asked Hayes as he cleaned off his sword with a cloth. The pony nodded.

“Ivan is a human who got turned into a pony when we got here and I’m a powerful magical being of pure fire and chaos, and would currently be destroying everything, except for the fact that I’m bound by this incredibly annoying leather wristband.”

The pony just stood there for a second. Then he spoke.

“Ok.”

“WHAT!? YOU AREN’T FREAKING OUT!?” yelled Ivan.

“No, I find that pretty reasonable.”

“HOW!?”

“I’m a Timelord from the planet Gallifrey, I have a blue box called the TARDIS that’s bigger on the inside, and I can use it to travel anywhere in time and space.”

“Oh I get it, sarcasm.”

“I’m being serious…”

“I totally saw that coming.” said Hayes, “So what’s your name?”

“You can call me Time Turner.”

“As a Timelord, do you have any combat experience?”

“I fight killer robots and evil statues. However, I don’t like weapons.”

“It’ll have to do. We need to find the necromancer who raised those Dead Hands and kill him. If we don’t he might threaten this entire world. Will you help us?”

“Sure I’ll help you! Saving planets is part of my unofficial job! Follow me, we can use the TARDIS as a base. I suggest hiding your weapons, the ponies might not react well to them.”

The Doctor walked off into the woods, with Hayes and Ivan following close behind him.

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“Is that it?” asked Ivan.

“Yeah. What’s wrong with it?” asked Time Turner.

“It looks like a small blue phone box…”

“It’s bigger on the inside, trust me.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

“Ivan, just get in the box.” said Hayes. Time Turner opened the door and let Ivan in. Hayes entered behind him, followed by Time Turner. Hayes just glanced around before moving on, but Ivan gaped at the giant control room. Time Turner closed the door and turned to Ivan.

“Impressed?” he asked. Ivan gulped and nodded slowly. He followed Time Turner up the steps to the control panels. Hayes was already spray-painting a pentacle on a large piece of cardboard.

“Alright, I’ll go through this in steps.” began Hayes, “Step one is to monitor everything. That way we’ll know where and when he’ll strike. Step two is to search all nearby cemeteries for clues that will help narrow down the list of suspects. Then step three will be to track him down and take him out. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Who are our current suspects.” asked Time Turner.

“Everyone except for us three, so don’t trust anyone. Is the door to this thing locked or something?”

“In more ways that you could possibly imagine.”

“Excellent. Come on, let’s go find a cemetery to search.”

“There can’t be too many graveyards around here.” said Ivan, “So the right one can’t be too hard to find.”

“Not true.” replied Hayes, “He could be carting in the bodies from somewhere else, and there are probably lots of uncharted gravesites in those woods. The right place is going to be a lot harder to find than you’d think.”

“So where do we start?”

“We ask around and see if there’ve been any grave desecrations lately.”

“Wouldn’t that have been in the paper?”

“Maybe, but I prefer asking my own questions. Let’s get started.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Hayes.”

“Yes, Time Turner?”

“We’ve been asking around for five hours. The sun’s going down and no one will even talk to us.”

“Are ponies usually chattier than this?”

“Some of them are, but they’ll usually politely answer questions.”

“Alright, you go find Ivan. I have something I need to do. Do you know where a pony named Rarity lives?”

“Yeah, but why do you want to know? Didn’t she go to space or something?”

“She’s my niece, and I need to break into her house and steal a set of magic bells.”

“She’s your niece!? How old are you!?”

“You don’t want to know…”

“Alright, just follow me.” Time Turner led Hayes to Rarity’s house. It was white with cloth drapes hanging from a central spire. The spire was surrounded by columns with pony statues on them. Hayes noticed that Time Turner wasn’t blinking.

“You go find Ivan.” said Hayes, “I’ll get the bells.” Hayes turned himself invisible and teleported inside. There was a young pony staring out the window at the stars. Hayes snuck past her and began searching the house for the bells. He spotted them in the corner, grabbed them, and turned them invisible as well. He was about to leave, but then the young pony walked over to the corner. Hayes had to dodge out of the way to avoid bumping into her.

“Huh,” she said, “I thought that Rarity kept her bells over here. Maybe she took them with her and I didn’t notice. I’ll just cast a quick reveal spell to see if they’re here.”

The few seconds it took Hayes to process what she said was just enough for there to be a dim flash of light and a gentle humming. The young pony and Hayes both froze, staring at each other.

“Hey!” yelled the pony, “Who are you!?” Hayes vanished in a flash of golden sparks. In a few hours the local Watch was on alert and posters describing Hayes were all over the town. It was like the week after Barhedrin all over again.

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“Wow, the great Calarenthor, beaten by the most basic of spells.” said Ivan smugly.

“Shut up. That Mordicant would have eaten you if I hadn’t blasted it.” retorted Hayes.

“This is serious!” said Time Turner, “Hayes can’t leave the TARDIS with the Watch looking for him. They’re using reveal spells too, so invisibility is out of the question.”

“What about a Glamour?” asked Ivan, “It’s Charter magic, so pony magic might not affect it.”

“Magic is universal.” said Hayes, “Humans just have to constrain raw magic into symbols since you aren’t magical creatures. It makes it easier to use. Even Free Magic has symbols. Unicorns are magical beings, so they can harness raw arcane power. I can too, but a Glamour is a symbol spell. Symbol magic is much weaker than raw magic. You two go look for the necromancer. I’ll stay in the TARDIS and provide technical support.”

Ivan and Time Turner left the TARDIS and stepped into the street. They were immediately surrounded by Constables. One of the Watchmen stepped forward.

“I need you to come with me.” he said, “The sergeant has something to talk to you about.”