Necromancer High

A Boring Day

By: Leon Rojo

Edition by: Leon Rojo

It was dark and full of wind. The sun had failed to emerge from behind thunderous rain clouds, and the humid air carried a pestilence with it, unlike the world of Equestria had ever seen. It was autumn, late in the month, when the rain and biting winds were the most common, and outside a regular Equestrian Highschool, nothing was out of the ordinary.

The janitor, and old stallion with a graying beard and mustache, was slowly wiping milk stains out of the cafeteria floor. His uniform was badly torn and unwashed, and his cap had a large hole on its side. His eyes were dull and full of boredom. He looked like a soul ready to keel over out of sheer monotony.

Passing the janitor's pitiful frame, a long series of corridors and rooms made up the complex of the highschool. Fire alarms, tiled floors, hallway lights, and lockers. This was what made up the corridor through which hundreds of students walked daily, before entering one of the rooms. A metal doorknob, a slight twist, and a gentle push was all it took to open one of the many doors in the highschool, but not just any door was opened that day.

Marked with the number fifteen, and allowing entrance to the mathematics classroom, was the door of destiny, for not one, not two, but four Equestrian ponies, that were very well underway to become part of one of the strangest places in the universe's history.

"Alright class, please copy the exercises from the board, and answer them in your notebooks." Spoke an old mare, wearing a pair of even older glasses. "You have ten minutes." The old mare slowly walked to her desk, and sat down facing the classroom.

"Excuse me, Miss, but can we just write down the answer, instead of copying the whole problem?" Asked a slightly overweight colt. Fourth row, back seat. Bubblegum stuck under his desk, and a calculator hidden on his lap.

"No can do, mister." The teacher shook her head, arching an eyebrow. "And I expect to see the steps for each one too."

Her words silenced the young one, making him wish calculators would answer problems step by step.

The class was silent for a long time, as everypony went about their tasks. Some did fairly well, while most of them failed miserably, but even then, there were those few that had not touched graphite to paper for the whole day.

Third row, third seat. A young, unicorn mare. Black mane, olive green eyes, and a bored-dead expression on her face, stared at the blank piece of paper before her. The wooden desk seemed oddly uneven to her eyes, even if she knew it was nothing but an excuse to pass the time while the two hours of math went by. Her eyes flew from the desk to the clock on the wall, wishing it were over. 'As long as the teacher doesn't ask for the papers, I should be fine...' She thanked genetics for her dark-grey fur, as it seemed to melt into the graying walls of her classroom. Like camouflage, she hoped it would be enough to keep her from the spotlight.

Second row, first seat. A burly, young, unicorn colt had his eyes stuck to the paper before him, as his magic wrote down random numbers and formulas down on it. 'It's important to make it look like I'm doing something...' He thought as his magic kept on scribbling down furiously on the sheet. Twos and threes added to become the multiplication of five hundred times twenty four, and divisions between even numbers and two somehow ended up as decimals. He did not care. As long as the teacher turned to look at him and saw a full page, he was happy.

Last row, last seat. Being in the last place of the fifth row closest to the door, and the farthest away from the teacher is quite the blessing. 'The old mare can't even see me. Heh. Oh, Celestia, do I love this seat?' Hoof pumping, a slender, brown, young, unicorn stallion smirked happily. He was on top of the world as far as he knew. Last seat, last row, and a portable video game, one of the few that existed too. Not even a paper on his desk, as the teacher was much too old to keep a tired eye on the last row and its final seat. He simply laid back, and relaxed.

Third row, middle seat. A young, unicorn mare looked at the problems on the board, and sighed. 'Even if I tried to do them, I wouldn't be able to... Why bother, if it's just going to be another disappointment...' She sighed again, and laid her head down. Not caring much whether the teacher saw her or not. Her pale coat and light blue mane matching her mood, as they lacked luster, and looked badly out of color.

The teacher slowly started to doze off in her seat. The cold of the morning failing to keep her awake for long, as her age refused to allow her body the energy it once had. Her students slowly began to lose concentration as the minutes dragged on, and small talk, and idle chatting began to break out throughout the class.

"Psst! Hey, Shady, did you get number four?" Called the young mare that would not be bothered to even try and solve the problems. "I could use the answers." She said with a smile, as Shady Greywood turned her olive green eyes to look at her.

"Sorry, Amber, but I'm not feeling like math today..." She shrugged, looking at Amber with a nonchalant look. "Haven't answered nothing the whole day..."

"I know that feel, sister. I know that feel." Amber looked down and nodded, staring off into space, as if somewhere between her eyes and the floor lay the answer to all her problems. "At least it's Thursday, right?" Her eyes gleamed with slight hope, as a smile began to form at the corners of her lips.

Shady sighed and shook her head, patting Amber on the back. "It's Wednesday, Amber. I told you your calendar was off." Blowing her black mane out of her face, Shady Greywood returned to look blankly at her paper, as a saddened Amber sighed and turned to flirt the answers out of some colt.

'I wish it were over already...' Sighed Greywood for the fourth or fifth time that hour, and looked at the clock. The two hours of math went by slowly. Painfully so, and lethargic for everypony involved. When the bell finally rung, it was like a holy sign, heaven-sent to release them from the bonds of slavery.

Shady Greywood, Amber Goldenplank, a burly colt by the name of I.G. Graham, and a brown, young stallion by the name of Hayshoe Molina, walked down the corridors, stretching and yawning, as they tried to shake off the tiresome feeling of being half-dead from mental exhaustion.

"So, what's up?" Asked Amber, as she cracked her neck, waving it from side to side. "Anything new?"

"Meh." "Not really." "I passed level four on this thing, I guess..." Replied Shady, I.G., and Hayshoe. None of them said anything else, as they sat down on their respective seats in their next classroom, ready for an hour of history, another hour of literature, and then yet another hour of chemistry.

"The day stinks of fun..." Greywood sighed as all four of them sat down at the very back, to share the burden together if nothing else.

The door closed, and the history lesson commenced.

Not far from that very same highschool, on the alleys and dark corners of Canterlot. Where rats and pests writhed and thrived, deep within the filth of a growing city, a lone stallion covered in dirt and waste, walked among shadows. Keeping out of sight.

He looked from side to side as he moved, limping badly from a bleeding wound on his hind leg. The stallion passed pedestrians and carriages, none of whom paid him any mind. He crossed streets and causeways, going over bridges and under gateways, until he reached a section of the city's inner wall.

His tired eyes looked up at the sky, judging the time of the day. He smiled softly, and opened a bag inside his filthy clothing. The bag fell to the floor, spilling its contents.

Incense, candles, and a blood-dripping bag rolled on the ground, under the grim gaze of the stallion. His eyes never wandered after the contents fell. He looked at the spot, and collapsed.

Panting and sweating, the stallion closed his eyes and allowed his soul to escape the confines of his mortal body. His spirit left him, and his physical being perished from blood loss.

From the shadows surrounding the corpse, a figure emerged.

Covered in a dark cloak, and masked from any onlookers by a thick magical camouflage, the creature left the confines of the alley it had been hiding in and approached the dead body.

'Well done, little pony, well done.' He thought as he bent his knees and squatted next to the corpse, stopping to grab the bag and candles the stallion dropped, and place them inside his robes. The being extended a long claw and pressed it against the cheek of the stallion. 'Still warm. Good, this will do finely.'

Kneeling beside the body, the stranger looked sideways, making sure no one was following, or spectating him. Then, he used his claw to make an incision on the stallion's side. Arching a scaly eyebrow as he worked, the reptilian figure smeared a viscous, white substance on the opening, and the blood flow slowed down to a trickle.

His magical camouflage disappeared, as he was now too focused on the surgical procedure to keep muttering the spells needed to keep it up. His claws worked swiftly and efficiently, functioning as scalpels, as he cut through flesh on his way to the heart. He stopped to recognize his position after a few inches of his claw were inside the body, and the tip of his finger grazed the ribcage. Smiling, he pushed forward, until he held the heart in his palm.

"Now, for the hard part." He muttered in a raspy voice, like dry leaves crunching beneath one's feet, and utilized his free arm to pull out a folded piece of paper from his robes. Words in an odd language were scribbled on the blank paper, illegible to anyone other than the one holding it. He put on a pair of spectacles with his tail, and began to mutter the words in a low voice.

Slowly, the words flowed into a halt after the last incantation had been spoken, and the creature removed his glasses, and looked intently at the body. The flesh slowly, but steadily began to rise and fall with the inhaling and exhaling of the body, and soon enough, muscles began to contract, bringing movement to the corpse once more.

'A work of art in every sense...' The reptilian necromancer thought, as he slowly stood from his position and admired his work.

The stallion had a blank look on his eyes, and the wheezing and panting of his breaths was horribly enlarged, but his injuries were gone. The cut on his side had disappeared, leaving behind a horrid scar to mark its passing. The injuries on his legs had closed in the same manner too.

The stallion stood and stared into the eyes of the reptile. The necromancer pressed a claw against his forehead and ran it downwards, making a sharp, vertical cut, followed by three horizontal ones that ran by the middle of the first.

"You are now my property." The reptile announced, smiling down on the body, with his claws tapping his legs rhythmically. "Property of Azcin."

The stallion nodded without so much as a hint of intelligence behind his glazed-over eyes, and followed the necromancer through the streets, hidden by the newly casted spells that kept them out of sight.

They moved through the same paths the stallion had taken, being guided by the memories that the reanimated corpse still retained in his brain. The necromancer and his pet reached the alley from which the stallion had departed, and they waited.

"This is the place? It doesssn't look like much." The reptile scowled at his slip of the tongue, and waited for an answer from the possessed stallion. "Oh, right. You can't talk..."

The speechless minion nodded his head gravely. "I guess we better get this over with then." Muttered the reptile, and his claws rapidly pulled out a green flask full of a transparent liquid. "Drink up, and go bite a few of the locals, yes?"

The stallion nodded once again, and took the flask between his lips. He arched his head backwards and gulped down the contents. Immediately afterwards, the necromancer smiled and vanished with a clap of his claws and a swift incantation, teleporting himself inside the school.

The stallion looked ahead at the wall, without so much as a care in the world. At least, until his bowels started to contort and hurt in a way that brought a sharp pain to his whole body. Spasming and convulsing on the ground, foam started to leave his mouth, and his eyes turned bloodshot. The need to attack became the only important thought inside his limited brain.

In a bright flash of light, the necromancer made his appearance. Inside an old maintenance room full of brooms and mops, the necromancer straightened the creases on his robe and checked his extremities, to make certain nothing was out of the ordinary. With a satisfied nod, he opened the door and undid his spells, leaving himself visible to plain sight.

Out on the street, screams and shouting could be heard plainly and clearly. What had started as one, soon became a dozen. The liquid was swift in its work, and with those affected being overly violent to the point of biting, it spread rapidly from host to victim, facilitating the process.

The reptilian necromancer walked slowly through the corridors full of shouting and screaming students. The agitation partially created from the sight of an alien, but mostly induced by the terrifying sight outside on the streets. It didn't matter. Azcin, the necromancer, had sealed every door shut, and reinforced the windows magically. Nothing would disrupt his mission.

Police forces moved from street to street, using magic and brute force to push back the affected population, while desperately trying to keep the unaffected safe and out of danger. It was rapidly becoming a losing battle, however, as the officers too started to fall victims to the increasing numbers of the infected.

Azcin kicked the principal's door open, and took hold of the microphone.

"All students report to the cafeteria. Emergency and evacuation teams have been arranged to teleport you to safety." Pressing a glowing claw to his throat, the reptile made a perfect emulation of the principal held beneath his foot. "Once inside the cafeteria, please allow unicorn students to the front, so that they may aid the emergency crew if need be. That would be all, thank you."

Smiling, Azcin knelt down and patted the principal's cheek. "Thank you for cooperating," He shrugged his shoulders. "and sorry it had to end like this. Nothing personal."

Walking out of the room, the necromancer made a swift calculation of things. He gazed out the window and looked at the mayhem he had created. The infected were beginning to fall back, as the officers were authorized lethal force, and pegasus teams had started to land on the school's roof.

'Tsk, tsk... The humans and venusians took less.' Shaking his head, Azcin scrawled a symbol on the wall nearest to him, and muttered a swift spell. Soon enough, the infected surrounding the building converged by the main entrance. Azcin muttered a few words, and the doors caved in.

With hungering howls and screeches, the school was broken into.

'This is going to lessen the student count by quite a bit.' The necromancer grimaced, and teleported into the cafeteria.

Gasps and screams broke out in full force, as he appeared by a lonely corner. Azcin looked around and noticed that he was not the cause of the student's fright. The cafeteria doors had been blocked with furniture and other heavy objects, but the makeshift barricade was swiftly collapsing without the necromancer's magic to sustain it. The pegasus teams on the roof had been  badly delayed by the infected, and despite making fast progress into the school, they would not reach the survivors in time.

Azcin then aimed a claw at the door, and with a few words, it was sealed completely. The echoing sound of the hooves battering against it could still be loudly heard, but it posed no threat anymore.

The remaining students and teachers shook and trembled, but their breathing seemed to calm slightly after a few minutes of the door being perfectly shut. They still had not noticed the figure behind them, as he slowly took position by the middle of the room.

"The door is sealed. You can let go of it now." The necromancer shouted in a booming voice amplified by his magic. "Help has come."

The ponies turned around the moment they heard his voice, and yelps of fright escaped their lips. Azcin pulled out a piece of chalk from his robes and commenced to draw symbols and words on the floor.

"Enemies of Equestria have planted chemical weapons around every major city in the country. This is happening to every city in the world." He said as he wrote. His hands travelled across the tiles of the cafeteria ground with swiftness, running the chalk down rapidly as more and more symbols appeared. "Your world is done. No survivors."

Collective gasps and frightened looks escaped from the students, while the teachers looked at the stranger in disbelief. One or two of the adults tried to question him, but they found themselves physically unable to speak. They could only watch.

"I am part of a group of mages and wizards. We have gone around your world, rescuing as many young ponies as we could find." His hands stopped, and he dropped the halved chalk into his robes once more. "You are the lucky ones from Canterlot," He said with a smile. "But you have to hurry. The infection is spreading quickly, and I won't be able to hold them off much longer."

'More like it's thinning...' He thought to himself, knowing full well that by that point the army would have stepped in, and his distraction would be gone in minutes. "I need ten unicorns to help me open this portal to a safe haven we have built in Equestria's north. Then we can start rebuilding the nation. You'll be heroes." He said with as honest a smile as he could fake.

The teachers were frozen in place, and not out of free will. The students looked from themselves to their fellow mates, and finally, ten young unicorns stepped forward. Azcin led them to his circle, and instructed them on what to do.

In a matter of seconds, the ten young mares and stallions were aiming their horns at the scrawled symbols on the floor, and the chalk dust was illuminated with green fire. Azcin took a step back, and raised a barrier between the rest of the students and the chosen ten. He then looked at the circle and barked a word charged with magic.

His concentration snapped. The door caved in. The teachers were released, and the infected launched themselves at them.

The chalk exploded fiercely, knocking the ten unicorns unconscious. Then, a portal opened next to the circle of chalk, and Azcin reinforced the barrier between his selected group and the rest. The unlucky earth ponies, pegasus, and unicorns that did not volunteer, swiftly met their ends, as the few infected that still remained alive in Canterlot city had their last meal.

Azcin locked the barrier in place, and turned to check on his new students.

'These will do finely, I suppose...' He thought, as he rapidly modified their memories into altered versions of the real ones. 'All you will remember will be a life of misery before I saved you all. You will give no trouble. You will only be grateful to us.'

Azcin looked at the portal, and one by one he tossed the unicorns into it, severing their final link to their home world.

"Welcome to Nekros Citadel, kids." He muttered as he watched the last one of them fall in. "Welcome, to Necromancer High."

The first of many special operations unicorn soldiers barged into the room, blasting away immobilization spells at the infected, and shooting a lethal magic bolt at Azcin.

The reptile leapt into the portal, and the bolt entered along with him.

Into another realm.