The Page of Pride

by Tai Ichi

Chapters

Prologue - The current situation
Paragraph one - The rescue
Paragraph two - Nemo
Paragraph three - The signal from the Everfree
Paragraph four - Entering the forest
Paragraph five - Shadows in the sky
Paragraph six - Zombies in the Everfree
Paragraph seven - Get the Hell out of Here
Paragraph eight - Coming Home
Paragraph nine - The Lost Library

Prologue - The current situation

The pages of the Necronomicon

Page 1

Superbia

Prologue: The current situation

Welcome to Equis.

This little planet, it was ours. We were governed by the five super powers, and each had a special task that they fulfilled for the good of the other super powers and the smaller nations.

The Gryphon Empire—a country that lies far north and west of the meridian—was inhabited by the gryphons. Known as the masters of the skies—the gryphons were the best weather manufacturers of the world. You know how Pegasi manipulate the skies to maintain the stable weather in Equestria? Well, you’ve seen nothing; the gryphons had perfected the art of weather control to a level that they were able to use it as a weapon.

Making them a feared opponent to face in war. However, there was an old saying in the gryphon empire: “One sword is enough to cut every cloud”. It’s an old saying which was used by the wielders of the elements of honour. Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance; those four were the virtues wielded by the most powerful warriors of the Gryphon Empire.

Zebrica—the country which was situated south of the equator and west of the meridian—was home to the zebras. Living in perfect symbiosis with the savanna—the eco-system of Zebrica was perfect for its inhabitants, but deadly for everypony who dared to disturb its equilibrium. In times of war—the zebras were known to assemble whole armies of animals. Which enabled them to enforce respect of every smaller nation.

But they never used it, for they despised war.

Like the every other super power, the zebras also had a kind of elements. The metal spheres together with the Phaistos disc formed the elements of order. They were wielded by the sages of the different tribes and none had a name, for to name a thing is to distinguish it from all others, and the spheres were to remain equal. The disc—which one might associate with Equestria's 'element of magic'—was wielded by the emperor, who resided in Stone-water City.

Qilinesia—a mountain-kingdom found east of Equestria—was the home of the dragon-like equines called qilin. Despite their dragon-like appearance, the qilin were a lot like ponies. They even had a cutie mark-ish thing on their back (they used the same word for it like we did, still, it's something different and yet the same). But instead of a picture of what they’re good at, a qilinesian symbol appeared on their back. Of course it had the same meaning as cutie marks did. Despite behaving like ponies, their body—like the gryphons—were that of a chimera. They had the body of a deer, the hooves were pony hooves, they had the strong tail of an ox and two long horns on their dragon-like head.

Before the qilin settled—in what was known as Qilinesia—the kingdom had to struggle with earthquakes. Unlike unicorns—who got their magic from their mental sharpness—the qilin got their magic from their physical power. And with that power they tamed the earthquakes of Qilinesia and built their kingdom there.

The kingdom was governed by the five feudal lords of the five cities. Aoi tokai, Akai tokai, Shiroi tokai, Kuroi tokai and Kiiroi tokai.

Each city had a monastery in which one of the sacred crystal bells was kept. Those bells were the elements of Qilinesia. Known as the five Heavenly bells—each of the bells wore one of the sacred five colours. And each was—traditionally—wielded by the first born of each feudal lord.

Equestria—which is situated east of the meridian—was the prosperous nation of the ponies, reigned by the two royal sisters. The elder one made the sun raise and the younger one guided the moon and stars.

Like the other super powers, the whole world depended on those two—but it didn’t make them superior. The qilin could make the earth beneath their hooves shake, the gryphons could throw massive hurricanes at them, and the zebra’s would make everything wither leaving the nation defenceless. So there was a world wide agreement to use the powers for the good of everyone, instead of fighting each other.

The fifth super power lay in the volcanic area of the Dragon Dominion. It’s situated far south of the equator and east of the meridian. It was home to the two dragon races. The draco major—the big dragons who worked in the volcanic mines to gather minerals and metals from the deepest part of the crust of the planet or infuse gems with spells under the enormous pressure and heath—were proud on their strength and were considered the working-class of the nation. The draco minor—the engineers, scientist and mages ensured the rapid economical, scientific and magical growth of the nation—were considered the thinking-class of the nation.

In the palace—in the middle of the country—grew a tree. The Crystal mangrove as they called it, was the most feared weapon of the dragons—for on it grew the Crystal Fruits. Every dragon who could eat from that tree, would gain immense powers and even be able to breath white flames. It was eaten by the two presidents of the country. Split in half and shared. One half for the draco minor—chosen by the draco minor. And one for the draco major—chosen by the draco major.

Their relation with the other super powers and the smaller nations, though, was simple. Nopony messes with dragons. Upset them and they’ll eat your children and make it rain fire.

The gryphons would regulate the weather.

The zebra's would keep the eco-system in balance.

The qilin would make sure that the earth was quiet.

The sisters kept day and night in order.

And the dragons harvested the resources of the planet.

That was the status quo. Those were the five super powers that kept the world in balance. But everything changed… drastically.

In the year 1020 of Celestia’s reign, a massive zombie invasion went world wide—oddly enough, the dragons were the first who got affected by it. Frankly, we didn’t notice, until the last dragon migration. A massive wing of zombie dragons attacked Equestria. Their normal orange fire had taken a diseased green colour, bathing the cities of Equestria in green light. Their bodies had become rotten and the leather between their fingers were covered in holes. Everywere bones stuck out and when cut or shot, green goo would come out of their wounds. Ponies tried to hide but they were always caught in the fires. Yet death didn’t stop the agony, every burned corpse turned into a zombie itself.

First, unguarded cities like Cloudsdale and Baltimare fell victim to the fires of death. Ponyville—a city that had been growing since a princess took residence in it—fell, after the princess had to fall back to Canterlot. Canterlot itself withstood the attack and survived the three days that were from then on known as the days of the green death. However—after the third day—the royal sisters simply vanished, leaving the city helpless against the hordes of zombies.

The dragons simply left, leaving the broken country at the mercy of death.

After that, we didn’t know what to do, all our ways of communicating with the other nations simply ceased to exist.

As the royal sisters vanished so did Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Princess Twilight Sparkle. The kingdom was shattered, the Pegasi left the skies and searched refuge in small settlements leaving the weather uncontrolled and wild.

It didn’t take long until the small settlements fell due to famine, storms, zombie attacks and wars with other settlements for resources.

A few settlements, though, survived due to remarkable adaptation skills. They succeeded in creating fertile soil, finding water sources, and alchemical recreating medicine. Some even had a blacksmith and made their own guns and created gunpowder with alchemy. And even if they had to deal with zombies, they withstood them.

For five years, all looked fine, and then… something new appeared. We called them super zombies.

Zombies who were more violent and grotesque than anything anypony had ever seen. Eventually, the smaller settlements fell.

Mine was amongst them.

My name? I don’t remember.

Last thing I can remember—from before I forgot my name and lost most of my memories—is that I was heading for Canterlot, I had my gun, a bag full of bits that I had collected along the way, provisions and some medicines. I could deal with the occasional zombie but most of the time I simply fled. Thanks to my earthpony fitness, I was able to run faster and longer than other ponies.

Why I headed towards Canterlot? I have no Idea. Maybe I thought there were some survivors, who wouldn’t mistake me for a zombie or who wouldn’t try to kill me to get my stuff. Or maybe a small settlement or some guards who were still protecting civilians.

I didn’t find any of the above—In fact I had lost hope to find anything—but what I found was way better than anything I could’ve imagined.

Hope.

Paragraph one - The rescue

The pages of the Necronomicon

Paragraph one

The rescue

I was following the rails of the line between Ponyville and Canterlot. I was now walking for about two days, with a destination, yet I was walking without purpose.

“Five years of peace. And now everypony I ever knew is a zombie.”

Normally I am quiet when I’m walking the wastes. A zombie could sneak up and kill me. At least that is what the survival experts had thought me and my friends. I should use the quiet to observe my surroundings.

I don’t know about them, but a zombie isn’t a master in stealth, they could come with another horde and I just would have to sprint and they would soon lose track of me.

“Just keep on walking, we’re almost there!” I yelled.

Maybe I just want them to find me, it would make things so much easier. It’s not like I’ll find anything in Canterlot.

“Always think positive!”

Which means, shut up and keep on walking.

Nearby the rails I noticed a small shack. I looked at it for about five seconds until I shrugged and grabbed in my saddlebag. I took my shotgun and checked if it was loaded.

I had six bullets left which meant that I had to reach Canterlot quickly.

I walked over towards the shack and checked around it to see if there are any zombies roaming around. There was a small window through which I looked.

No visible zombies.

I kicked the door in and started checking if there was anything I could use.

“Jackpot! Canned food, TONIGHT I DINE!”

As I admired what I had found. I heard groans, so I looked outside to see if there were zombies approaching. But I couldn’t see anything, it was getting dark so I stayed inside the shack and locked the door. I opened the cans and started filling my empty stomach.

----[一]----

During the night I had stayed inside the shack. That is one of the rules you learn during a zombie apocalypse, don’t sleep outside. But you could also call it common sense.

The next day I had covered the rest of the distance and stood now in front of the gates of Canterlot. The once ivory-white city, now wore a deep-grey. Cracks covered every intact part of each building. The streets were littered by debris of destroyed buildings, shards of broken windows and burned pieces of wood.

I decided that I would first look for a weapon shop, get some more ammo, maybe get another gun, a knife, and who knows what more I'll find.

I started walking through the decaying streets, my focus completely at my surroundings. I held my shotgun ready, ready to blow off the head of the next unlucky zombie that crossed my way.

I startled a few times as some debris crumbled off the walls. But, surprisingly, I hadn’t seen any zombie yet.

“I’m going to jinx it, but this is too easy.”

I kept on walking, even as I felt like something was following me. At the moment I dismissed these thoughts as being the result of paranoia. So I kept on walking until I stood in front of the best know weapon shop. Mjölna’s weapons. A big wooden sign hung above the entrance with next to it a hammer and a lightning bolt.

I went inside and started to check if there were any dead inside. And there weren't, but as I checked I could swear that I saw something creeping across the room. Yet, as I checked, nothing was there.

After ten minutes, I decided that the place was safe and started searching for what I originally had intended to come here.

It was like Heartwarmings Eve. I found a bowie knife and a box filled with shotgun shells. Sadly all the guns were gone, I took the rest of the bits that were in the cash register and put my saddle bag back on.

But as I went outside, I saw three zombies standing in front of the shop. They growled at me, and with each growl drool drivelled from their half-rotten jaws.

As I took my shotgun out, ready to shoot the three their heads off. I noticed something strange.

They only growled at me, it was true that sometimes zombies need their time to register a new prey standing in front of them. But it never took them so long to attack. Even the blind ones could somehow detect their prey without any problems.

Normally, they should have attacked me the moment I took out my gun. And yet they didn’t. I tried to move, but the moment I tried to just walk away, the three took each an intimidating step forwards. As I recoiled at their sudden movement, their behavior 'normalised'.

“You want to keep me here? Why?”

They just kept on growling.

“Look, I don’t have to kill you guys… a second time. And well, if you’re not planning to eat me, you could also just let me go…" I motioned one of my hooves towards one of the streets. "How about it?” And there it happened. I grinned at a trio of zombies, negotiating about my life. “Oh come on! You can have my food, it is nice.” I took a conserve of peaches out of my saddlebag and held it in front of the zombies. “See? Nice food, good food and also dead food. So you don’t have to kill me.” But they just kept on growling at me. “Peaches, you remember peaches? Yummie... hey, Maggot Sack, I’m talking to you?”

The middle zombies took a step forward and barked at me, flinging strings of drool all over my face.

“Ok, no Maggot Sack. Geez, if I had known that zombies take offense to that, then I would have called you something else. Let’s see, your cutie mark is… a rotten hole in your flank… ok, I assume you take offense to that too.”

My question was answered as the zombie barked again, flinging even more drool at my face. As I wiped the drool away, I glared at the zombie. “I’m sorry, would you prefer if I just called the three of you zombie a, zombie b and zombie c?”

This time the zombie didn’t bark. “Ok then, so zombie a, zombie b, zombie c." I tapped at an imaginary hat at each of the three. "It was nice making your acquaintance. But I really need to go now.”

Of course, the three just continued to growl at me.

“Come on, ladies. You are ladies, right? It’s so hard to tell, since most of your faces have been mangled.”

A loud bonk went through the whole city. And the three zombies who withheld me from moving, winced and ran away in random directions.

“Should, I be glad that they left me. Or worried about what will come now?”

As the nearest advertising pillar was crushed by an enormous yellow arm, I decided for the later. Taken by surprise, I let my gun fall to the ground as one of the pieces of the pillar sent me flying towards the middle of the street.

I tried to ignore the pain that filled my chest and tried to stand up and run away. However, everywhere I looked, zombies where blocking my way. And as I looked up at the buildings, I could see zombies assemble everywhere, like fans for a hoofball game. They looked down at me. Like I was an animal at the zoo.

Or more like the poor critter they fed the animals with.

As I turned around I saw the animal that was about to devour me. A big yellow Minotaur with milk-white eyes and a rusty nose-ring hanging from his half-rotten nose, having lost one of his horns and gotten two extra arms—on which he rested part of his weight.

He stretched the two arms—which where free—in an intimidating manner. Causing to look like a gorilla trying to impose his opponent. Or more like a gladiator trying to win the hearts of the spectators, by devouring the heart of his opponent.

He let out a roar that was audible throughout whole Canterlot.

If fear had an appearance, this would be it. And I was paralyzed by it. I couldn’t move, not only because of how the Minotaur looked. But, also because of the behaviour of the other zombies. They looked—really looked at me. Not in the absent manner I’m used to see a zombie tear somepony’s flesh apart. But with genuine interest. Like they wanted to see blood flow out of a desire to see somepony die, instead of their desire to fill their empty stomachs.

This isn’t happening, this can’t be happening! I swallowed as I saw the Minotaur doing… nothing?

He just stood there, observing my every movement. Looking like a predator, ready to throw himself at his prey. But waiting on the signal that would command him to do so.

And that signal was more than frightening. Three zombies—who wore the armour of the day guard—stood on top of one of the buildings, each holding a trumpet in their hooves. They blew and let the melody of it resound through the entire city. At the same moment, other zombie-guard ponies—who wielded the armour of the night guard—were on top of another building, playing a battle-rhythm on the drums.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” I yelled at the skies.

The Minotaur slowly moved towards me, yet kept a certain distant. He roared a second time at which the spectators reacted in a cheer-like manner.

In the meantime I had made peace with myself.

This isn’t that bad… actually. I was getting tired of running anyways. It’s not like I have anything left to fight for.

“What are you waiting for?!” I yelled at him, while picking up a rock which I flung at his face “You want me to resist?! I won’t. You want me to run?! I can’t. You and your FILTHY kind have already taken everything I’ve ever cared for! Everything I’ve ever loved! My family! My friends! You can’t take my life anymore, since your kind already took it! AND IF I HAVE TO DIE FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT! THEN I’LL TAKE FROM YOU THE LAST THING YOU COULD EVER GET FROM ME! The fun of killing me.” I took a step forward facing the beast in front of me. His rotten breath burned in my nose, but I didn't care. “Come on, I haven’t got all day.” I spat in his face.

The Minotaur looked dumbfounded for two seconds but then proceeded to do the thing I had begged it to do. He grabbed my throat and crushed me against the nearest wall. I coughed up some blood as the Minotaur inspected me. “What? You expected me to squeak? But then I would let you enjoy yourself, now would I.” Even as the Minotaur tried to press the life out of me, I could only grin. I was dying like a stallion should. Laughing death itself in the face.

As I laughed and smiled in my final moment, I felt the grip of the Minotaur loosen. I plummeted towards the ground and gasped for air as I felt—again—blood flowing towards my brain. “I told you—” The rest of the sentence got stuck in my throat as I looked around.

The entire city stood ablaze—in genuine red and orange flames, fire I hadn't seen in years. I saw charred corpses fall from the buildings, and everywhere ponies—in brown armour, with red stripes delineating each part of the armour—running around the place with flamethrowers, burning the dead alive.

As I looked back at the Minotaur I could make out what he was staring at. A dim-yellow coloured pony with a long-golden flowing mane—wearing the same armour as the rest of the ponies, yet without a helmet—he wielded an enormous broad sword with a burgundy handle. Looking with a determined frown at the Minotaur.

The Minotaur took the same posture as he had taken before he had approached me and let another roar resonate through the burning city. He charged at the pony and rammed his entire body inside the nearest wall.

The pony—the beast had tried to crush with his weight—stood with the same posture—showing his back at the Minotaur—five steps towards the left.

The Minotaur freed himself out of the debris and shook off the rest of the dust and small stones that sticked to his flesh, before looking back at the pony. Gritting his teeth he charged again, crushing himself into the wall—where I still laid, only five meters from me. Close enough to feel the impact travelling through the wall, far enough not to get hurt by flying debris.

I slowly felt my consciousness fading, but I could still make out what was happening. The pony had done the same thing again. He stood five steps to the right, back at his starting point—his broadsword was the only thing that had moved in his posture.

The Minotaur took longer this time to free himself from under the debris. But he did, and he looked angrier than one could describe. Yet he staggered, and as he opened his mouth to let out another roar, green goo started to spurt out of his face like a dam that was about to burst.

Slowly, cuts became visible over his face.

His face was cut into three slices, each slice slowly sliding of its face and falling onto to ground. The beast itself—still—managed to walk two steps until falling to the ground.

The pony walked over to it and cut off its limbs with professional precision. He then whistled, at the moment I couldn’t hear anything anymore, but it looked like he whistled.

Another of those armoured ponies trotted over with an armoured saddlebag strapped on his back. He took it of opened it, took a few test tubes and few Petri dishes out of it. He took some samples of the beast and stowed them away in his saddlebag. He then took a canister and drenched the beast in a dubious liquid. Then he assigned one of the ponies with flamethrowers, to burn it.

As I watched the beast—that had tried to kill me in an attempt to entertain itself—burn in blazing fire. I felt a combination of disbelief, confusion but most importantly, relief.

The pony—that had slain the beast—walked over to me and looked with his ocean-blue eyes at me. It took him a few seconds to confirm that I’m still alive—at least for the time being—but as soon as he got the hint, he smiled, turned around and started to yell. Like in a flash, four ponies with a stretcher appeared and loaded me on it. An armoured vehicle emerged from the flames and opened its trailer.

The ponies loaded me inside, and the pony that had saved me jumped in and sat next to me. I saw his mouth moving, but I couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying.

After the armoured trailer closed like the beak of a dragon and magical lights turned on—illuminating the inside of the vehicle—the pony probably realized that I had lost my consciousness. After that he probably checked my pulse and my breath to ensure that I hadn’t died from the shock. And I can imagine that—after he was sure that I was still alive—he grinned.

All after all… I had… survived…

Paragraph two - Nemo

The pages of the Necronomicon

Paragraph two

Nemo

I woke up in an infirmary bed. The magical light of the room flickered, and the quiet of the room was regularly disturbed by a beeping sound.

My eyes opened slowly, I blinked twice to remove the sleep from my eyes.

My head was bursting from a massive headache and every movement hurt.

I let my gaze slowly travel from the flickering light above me, towards my left hoof. Several tubes were connected to my hoof as were a few cables that were connected to a cardiograph and two other monitors.

My breath became laboured, and I started to feel less and less pain as adrenaline was pumped into my blood. I let out a scream of fear and tried to remove the cables and tubes as fast as I could. Yet, I was stopped as a butter-coloured Pegasus with a doctor’s coat spurted into the room and started shushing me.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to be afraid. You’re safe now.” I don’t know what it was. Maybe her voice? Maybe her eyes? I don’t know what calmed me, but it worked faster than anything else I had ever experienced.

“W-Who are you?”

“I’m Fluttershy." She smiled gently. "Please, stay calm for a second while I examine you, ok?”

I watched for the next minute as Fluttershy checked everything that could be checked. She checked pulse, breath, ears, eyes, hooves and rated the data on the monitors. She then turned around and smiled. “Ok, seems like we could stop the process before it could spread out too much.”

“What process?! Is something wrong with me?” I yelled, but I quickly softened my tone as I saw Fluttershy cringe away from me.

“I-I’m maybe not the best pony to tell you…” She tried to avoid to look at me. “I-I’ll go and get somepony, who’s better fit to do that.”

She was almost out the door as I realized that I had yelled at somepony who had probably saved my life. “I-I’m sorry that I yelled at you…” Now it was my turn to avoid to look at her. I felt so ashamed, I knew that—wherever I was, whoever had saved me—those ponies had saved my life, and they deserved my thanks and respect. Fluttershy, however, quickly spurted towards my bed and started to comfort me.

“Oh, no. It’s not so bad. You must have been through a lot. I completely understand that you’re scared." She once again smiled at me. "How about you tell me your name.” She gave a gentle smile.

“My… name…” I rubbed my head. “I…”

“Oh no,” She gasped.

“I-I don’t know…”

“Ok, let’s start small." She patted my back. "Can you recall anything about what happened yesterday?”

I thought for a moment, and pictures of the three zombies, the yellow Minotaur, the armoured ponies and the burning city rushed before my inner eye. “E-Everything.”

“Ok, do you know what you were carrying?”

“Um, A shotgun, munition, a saddle bag filled with bits, some provisions and medicine.”

The mare nodded. “You’ve survived a long time. So I assume you’ve lived in one of the successful settlements? Do you anything about that?”

I saw pictures of a settlement, ponies and what looked like my life. Yet, I could not make out faces, I couldn’t name places. The memories were there, but incomplete. My name? Friends? Family? “No… I can recall that I lived somewhere… but not where it was or who I lived with.”

“Oh dear. I’m afraid that you’re suffering from systemized amnesia.”

I just sat there. Thinking. Until I looked up and took a deep breath. “You said that something was wrong with me?”

“I-I—”

“It’s ok. Just get that pony that can explain me what's wrong with me, ok?” I forced a smile.

Fluttershy left the room and I let myself fall into my cushion. I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment.

----[一]----

As I opened my eyes again I saw that there were now three ponies in the room. Fluttershy. A lavender unicorn—with a violet mane with stripes of purple and pink. She wore a black coat—which covered near her entire body—and her deep-purple eyes absently looked at me. And lastly, a dim-yellow coloured stallion with a long-golden flowing mane—who wore the same armour he had worn yesterday.

“Are you finally awake?” The unicorn asked in an annoyed tone.

“Twilight! He has been through a lot! He is allowed to rest!”

“He is wasting my time, Fluttershy. My students are waiting.”

“Well, he could become your student. So, how about being nice to him for the time being?” The stallion spoke.

“He won’t survive if he doesn’t toughen up.”

“But can’t you just let him rest for the moment. If he isn’t completely healthy, he might not withstand your training, Twilight,” Fluttershy said in a worried fashion.

“You’re too kind, Fluttershy,” Twilight said as she shook her head.

“Well, we can’t be as cold as you, now can we? Princess.” The stallion said with that last word drenched in high molar acid.

You know as I said that the Minotaur was the embodiment of fear? Well, I was wrong. Trails of smoke emerged from her mane and the stripes in her mane were smouldering. As she opened her eyes, flames were bursting from her irises. “DON’T! EVER! ADDRESS ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!” She formed multiple purple darts in mid-air.

“Or what!” The stallion grabbed his waist and took a folded handle—which unfolded into the broadsword he had wielded yesterday.

The situation would have escalated, had Fluttershy not interfered. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!”

The two stopped midway and looked astonished at the Pegasus. “I’m very disappointed in both of you! If you have to break each other’s bones, do it somewhere else. This is the medical wing. Not a battlefield.”

The two huffed and looked away from each other. The magical darts disappeared into the void they had come from and the stallion’s sword folded itself back into a compact rectangle. “Fine!” The two said in unison.

Fluttershy coughed and looked apologetic at me. “I’m sorry for that. Those two tend to fight each other. Normally with words, but sometimes physically.”

“You’re… Twilight Sparkle? The princess?” I asked with disbelief.

“Here we go again,” The stallion sighed.

“Oh shut up, Clashing Steel.” She glared at Clashing Steel but quickly returned her attention towards me. “I was, yes.”

“Where have you been? Why did you disappear?”

Twilight sighed, “That’s a story for another day I’m afraid. What is more important now, is what has happened to you.”

“What do you mean?”

Twilight wanted to say something, but got cut off as a new voice entered the room. “Where is the new half-zombie?”

I saw a stallion hanging against the frame of the door. He was smoking. His hair was greasy and he had a rotten colour as coat. His eyeballs had a diseased-white colour and his eyebrows were missing. Part of his teeth were exposed due to a hole in his cheek and his teeth had a stained-yellow colour with black spots. He wore a brown coat—which was covered in holes, exposing rotten parts of his flesh. He still had most of his coat, but where his cutie mark should have been—a crusted wound crested his flank. “Oh… hehehe… hi!” He said in a hoarse voice.

I screamed.

“Crafted Shadow! Didn’t I tell you not to smoke inside the medical wing! Also, don’t scare the poor colt! He just barely escaped death, so it would be just too lovely if you wouldn't give him a heart attack!”

“But, I didn’t mean too~”

“Apologize!”

“But~”

“I said, apologize!”

Ok, apparently, fear has many faces. I couldn’t see the look on Fluttershy’s face, but it must have been terrifying, when even a zombie cringes away from it.

“O-Ok, just, stop staring at me.”

Fluttershy’s expression softened and the zombie straightened himself. “Good evening. My name is Crafted Shadow, I am the former right hand of lord Lucifer and am now the strategic advisor of Cerberus. Yes, I’m a zombie. No, I won’t eat you since I’m not a cannibal. I like to read, eat and smoke. And—”

“Y-You don’t eat ponies?” I asked with a tremble in my voice.

The zombie looked at the other three ponies in the room. “You haven’t told him yet, have you?”

The three shook their head in unison. “We were about to, but then you interrupted.” Twilight said.

“Told what?”

“That you’re a zombie now,” Crafted Shadow said with glee in his voice, “well, a half-zombie to be precise.”

I stared at Crafted Shadow for a while. “WHAT?”

“Smooth, very smooth,” Clashing Steel said while sarcastically stomping his hooves. In the meantime, Fluttershy had run over to me and started shushing me.

“Don’t worry, we contained it before the transformation was completed. You have to thank Clashing Steel for that.”

“You were lucky that we found you last minute. Any second later, and you would have been a zombie too.”

“BUT I WASN’T BITTEN! How did I—” My sentence died as Crafted Shadow started to laugh. “I’m sorry, could you explain me what’s so funny?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but you’re so cute at the moment. You actually believe that they have to bite you to turn you into a zombie?”

“Yes, how would they otherwise?!”

“Well, I wasn’t there at the time, but my master told me that the dragons burned your kind and—well—all the other races.”

“And your point is?”

“Oh wake up!” He yelled with his hoarse voice, “Don’t you see? They weren’t bitten either! They were burned. And even now, more and more ponies are converted into zombies. And I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen any dragons in a while.”

“But how do they…”

“A zombie has to show you death to start the process,” Twilight said, “If you die after you’ve seen death, then you’ll be reborn as a zombie. However, if you survive, you have twelve hours until the process is complete and you become a zombie too.”

“Luckily, we’ve found an inhibitor that stops the process. Unfortunately, it doesn’t reverse the process,” Fluttershy continued.

“However, we did find a way to use their curse to our advantage.” Clashing Steel ended.

“And what would that be?” I asked.

“Necromancy,” the three said in unison.

“B-But that is magic. I don’t know if you have noticed, but I’m an Earthpony.” He tapped his forehead to proof his point. "See! No horn, no magic."

“Details,” Crafted Shadow said, "don’t let that bother you.”

“He is right,” Twilight said, “what matters now is that—as Fluttershy and I have discussed—you get one more day to regain strength. Tomorrow at six A.M., Clashing Steel will pick you up and give you a tour through our base. After that, you’ll join me and my students for your first training. Understood?”

“But, I’m not a soldier, I don’t want to fight!”

“Oh, grow up!" Clashing steel growled. "We aren’t babysitters. We’re mercenaries! You don’t want to fight? Fine, then take your stuff and leave!”

“But, couldn’t I help with something else?”

This time Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m sorry, my dear. But a necromancer is of too much value to waste his potential with the crops.”

“Listen…” Twilight wanted to say something, but couldn’t finish her sentence, “How should we call you? Fluttershy has told us that you’ve lost your memories and that you can't recall your name…”

It was silent for the next two minutes until Crafted Shadow spoke, “How about Nemo?”

“Nemo?”

“Yes, Nemo, no one in Latin. I think it is fitting since you’re literally a colt without a past. You’re no one.”

“Nemo…” I let the feeling of the name glide over my tongue.

“Ok then, Nemo,” Twilight continued, “I understand you’re scared, really I do, but you have to see that you have no choice. Besides, don’t you want this nightmare to end?”

“I-I—”

“YES OR NO?!” She pressed.

“Yes, your majesty.”

Twilight sighed, “Fine, then I’ll see you tomorrow and Nemo… don’t ever call me like that again.” She glared for a fraction of a second at me and then left the room.

I looked at Fluttershy, “You’re the element of kindness right?” – She nodded – “Was she always like that?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid no… Her eyes used to be… brighter. Now I can only see shadows in her eyes…” She let her ears droop a bit and sniffed.

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault. We’ve all lost many things, she is no exception. And I’m afraid that she blames herself for her losses…” She walked for the door and sighed, “Anyways, I have other patients to attend to. Welcome to Cerberus…” And with that she left the room.

“I have business to attend to too, you know, strategic advisor and stuff. Welcome to the family.” Crafted Shadow waved goodbye without looking back as he too left the room.

“Before I leave, I need your measurements for your uniform.”

I gave him my measurements and smiled as he too left the room.

I let my head fall on the cushion and sighed. Don’t you want this nightmare to end?

Twilight’s words spun around inside my head.

Hope? So, that’s what it feels like…

----[一]----

“GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!” I shot awake as Clashing Steel stood inside my room. He dropped a box on the floor and grinned. “Come on! Get up, get dressed and GET GOING! But please, take a shower first. You smell even worse than Crafted Shadow. You got two minutes! We have a busy day and Twilight will kill you and yell at me if we’re late for your first training.”

“Two minutes?”

“One minute and fifty seconds.”

I squeaked and dressed myself at record speed.

After we went to the cafeteria to get our breakfast—which was gigantic, considering what I had to live off of in the wastes—Clashing Steel showed me the base of Cerberus.

Apparently it was a bunker that the royal sisters had built inside the mountain of Canterlot in case that one of the other super powers decided to break the agreement. You know, better safe than sorry.

“Why didn’t they use the bunker during the days of the green fire?”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t in Canterlot during the attack of the dragons. You’ve got to ask Twilight if you want to know what happened in Canterlot during those days. But don’t get your hopes up, she doesn’t talk about it.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know kiddo. Ask Fluttershy or Applejack, they’re her friends. At least I think that they’re friends, they don’t behave much like friends if you ask me. Fluttershy and Applejack try to, but Twilight is always so… distant towards them—not cold like she is towards the rest of us—just… distant,” Clashing Steel said, “Anyways, we’re almost at the garage. You’ll love our mechanic.”

We stood on a twenty meter high industrial platform as we entered the garage. Beneath us, there were about fifty ponies working on ten vehicles like the one that had saved me yesterday.

“What are these things? They look like bugs.” I looked in awe at the massive brown-red vehicles.

“Well, we call them dragonflies, due to their dragon-like trailers. A bit farfetched, but hey, nopony complains.” Clashing Steel shrugged. “HEY SCOOTS! The new one is here, come and say hello.”

An orange Pegasus with purple mane flew towards us and landed next to us. “Clashing Steel! I told you to not drive the dragonfly through fire! If you get stuck, you’ll cook alive. Besides the armour isn’t designed to withstand those temperatures. We still need that special alloy before we can make it fireproof.”

“Yes, but we didn’t find any bits in Canterlot. Besides it was an emergency, we’ve defeated another super-zombie and freed another three hundred zombies from their agony.” He smiled proudly.

“Why do you need bits?” I asked.

Scootaloo—who finally noticed me—looked confused at me. “You’re the new one, right? Well, it seems that the alloy bits are made off—if correctly enchanted—has fireproof properties.” She sighed, which made a few strands of her mane fall into her face, she waved them away and looked back at me. “However, it seems that the dragons have eaten most of them and now we can’t find any of them…”

“How much do you need?”

She shrugged. “Not much, kiddo. Most of the fire resistance comes from the enchantments, which means that we only need a thin layer of the alloy.”

I took my saddlebag and threw it towards her. “Is this enough?”

She opened my saddlebag sceptically, but her expression quickly changed as soon as she saw the amount of bits that I carried with me. “H-How did you get these?”

Clashing Steel looked even more confused. “Why do you carry money? It is worthless in the wastes, didn’t that slow you down?”

I shrugged. “Mostly because of boredom, I guess. I didn’t really value my life out there. It seemed so pointless to struggle, so I guess I started to do some pointless things.”

“SWEETIE BELLE!” Scoots yelled down the platform.

“WHAT?”

“TELL BUTTON TO FIRE UP THE FORGE! WE’VE GOT BITS!” She then turned to me. “Thank you. This might be enough to coat two dragonflies.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and then took off to meet Sweetie Belle and Button so they could start melting the bits.

I watched for a few more minutes until Clashing Steel ordered me to follow him.

----[一]----

After seeing most of the base, we eventually went through orchards.

It was a gigantic field where everything grew. Powered by magical light and Pegasi and gryphons who regulated the weather in the gigantic greenery, everything grew—together with the agriculture knowledge of one of the best farmers in Equestria—at a maximum rate, producing enough food for everypony in the facility.

“Hey, Applejack?”

An orange mare with yellow mane and a cowboy hat—who was bucking an apple tree—turned around to greet us. “Howdy Clashin’. How was y’all last mission?”

“Good, we killed a super-zombie and saved the life of this one.” He stepped aside and motioned me to introduce myself.

“Hello.” I said awkwardly. Applejack, however, didn’t seem to share the same awkwardness. She sprinted forward, grabbed my hoof and shook it until I felt dizzy.

“Well, howdy-doo, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance… um…”

“N-N-e-e-m-m-o-o-o,” I stuttered while she shook me like a maretini.

“Well, howdy-doo, Nemo. I'm Applejack. And welcome to Sweet Apple acres two point O.”

She finally let go of my hoof but it took me a moment regain my posture.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“So, what fraction are ya goin’ ta join? Supply, combat, crafts or arcane?” She said with a giant grin?

“Um… well, apparently I’m going to be a necromancer?”

At the notion of what would be my profession, Applejack fell silent. “Oh, well, that is nice too.” She started awkwardly but got more confident with every word. “Twi is a good teacher but… she can be hard sometimes. Don’t let it discourage you, sugacube.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure, and if there is something you need. Just ask. Ya’ll can always find me on the orchard.”

The conversation didn’t take long after that. There were some facts on how the greenery worked and some attempts from Applejack to get to know me better. But she stopped as soon as I told her that I was suffering from amnesia… and as soon as I explained what amnesia was.

After that we left the greenery and continued our tour.

----[一]----

After the tour, we went for the hall of the necromancers.

The room itself was big but almost empty. In the middle of the room, there was a circle of ponies, meditating and in the middle Twilight sat with her eyes closed, muttering something in another language.

“Twilight! Your new student is here!” Clashing Steel yelled through the room, though he was quickly silenced as a purple dart shot in his direction. It was far enough from his face to not do any permanent damage, but close enough to scratch his cheek. “Argh. What was that for?!” He glared daggers at Twilight while she walked towards him.

“He is late.” She looked at me with her cold gaze. “But I’ll let it pass since it is his first day.”

“Sheesh, still, you don’t have to shoot darts at me.”

“Indeed, I don’t have to.”

“Fine, please continue with your sleeping session.” He huffed and left the room.

“It's called meditating! You imbecile.” She yelled after him while she summoned some more darts which she slinged towards the entraced, piercing the stone frame of it. She then calmed herself and looked back at me. “Welcome.”

“Um… Hello.”

“I hope your tour was informative?”

“Ye—”

“Since this will be your new home from now on.”

“I—”

“This will be your new family.” She pointed at the ponies behind her. “You will be assigned a room near our quarter, and they will help you if you have any questions.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” She shook her head.

“Why not?”

“Because I might feel guilty afterwards…” She sighed.

“Um… why would you—”

“Because the next step wouldn’t be necessary if you had been a unicorn.”

“Next step?” My question was answered as she levitated a blood-dripping bone next to her. “Where did you—” I couldn’t end my sentence as a sharp pain flowed through my body. I fell back to my haunches and looked at my right foreleg. It was covered in blood, and a chunk of meat was missing. I wanted to scream in agony, yet every energy to do so faded as I slowly lost consciousness. I dropped towards the ground. And as my blood left my body—and covered the tiles of the hall in crimson—Twilight just looked at me.

“Nope… no guilt… too bad.” She then stomped her hooves to get the attention of her students. each of them removed the cap of their black coat to uncover their faces, and gathered around Twilight. “It looks like we have a surprise pop quiz. You! Summon something to stop the bleeding. You! Go and tell Fluttershy to prepare the operating room. You! Summon a stretcher and bring him towards the operating room. If this pony dies than there will be consequences for everypony! SO. GET. GOING!”

Every student jumped and did exactly as told.

Twilight sighed as she removed the blood from my bone by polishing it with her own black coat, “You were right, Nemo. You indeed needed a horn…”

Paragraph three - The signal from the Everfree

The pages of the Necronomicon

Paragraph three

The signal from the Everfree

“And a stitch here, and a stitch there.”

“We need a little gypsum here.”

“I think he’s waking up”

“Well then, apply more narcotics.”

“You do that, I’m trying to make sure that that thing sticks to his skull.”

“I can’t, my hooves are occupied.”

“Well, I’m busy too.”

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

“See, bet…”

----[一]----

“Get out!” A soft female voice commanded.

“But I want to see his face when he wakes up.” This time, the voice came in a whining fashion. Even though the hoarseness made it difficult to hear that.

“Then stop smoking and put the mirror away! We had agreed to be tactful about it.”

“But Fluttershy~”

“No buts, mister. This is my medical wing and I am here the boss! Now put that away and be quiet, you’re going to wake him up.”

“Guyssss…” I groaned as loud as I could, without straining my lungs too much. “Please…”

I slowly tried to open my eyes, but my eyes had to adapt to the bright magical light first. And my right foreleg felt as if it had been torn apart and rearranged only to be torn apart again. As I tried to turn myself around, an alien pain shot through my head. I recoiled at the new feeling and shot straight up as ignored all the other pain I was feeling.

Fluttershy rushed forward and started to comfort me. “It will all be ok. You just have to get used to that. But believe me, it is not so bad and it was necessary.”

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” I checked my forehead to find where the pain had come from. And as I did, I could feel the thing where my headache was coming from. “Fluttershy?”

“Y-Yes?”

“What is that thing on my head?” I asked as calm as possible.

“I-It, well, you see… um, we had to…”

“IT’S A HORN!” Crafted Shadow sprung into my field of vision as he held a mirror to show me what he meant.

“CRAFTED!”

I looked at my new reflection, my skull was covered in bandages. And in the middle of my forehead, a sharpened piece of bone stuck out. I touched it in disbelief but regretted it as the same alien pain shot through my head. “What have you done to me?”

“YOUR CUTIE MARK IS GONE TOO!” Crafted grinned.

“Out!” Fluttershy stared at him, until he started wincing and covering his eyes as he ran for the door. Fluttershy then took a seat next to my bed. “Nemo, I need you to remain calm. I can explain everything.”

“Twilight tore a bone out of my leg, you guys attached it to my skull and removed my cutie mark. Good luck with explaining.” I spat in her face but—unlike the mare that cowered away from me yesterday as I had yelled at her—she didn’t even flinch. Instead she just stood up and lifted her coat to show her flank. It was common knowledge what the cutie marks of the wielders of the elements of harmony looked like. Yet as I looked at her flank—the three pink butterflies that should have crested her flank where nowhere to be found. Instead, I just saw a big patch of scarred tissue. She covered her flank again and took her place again.

“That is the same thing you’ll see if you check anypony else’s flank.”

“Why? Why did you do that to yourself?”

“We all had a life, a job, a family. We all had our special something that made us different from the rest,” She sighed, “But as Cerberus was formed, we came to the conclusion that we were all the same now. So, we all agreed to remove our cutie marks as a symbol of unity and that we now only lived for Cerberus. As you decided to not leave, you had officially joined us. And since we had to operate on you anyways, we also removed your cutie mark in the process.”

“That’s insane! You could have told me!” I yelled her in the face.

“I know… and I’m sorry.” Her ears drooped and she let her gaze fall to the ground, the last words had only left as a whisper.

“I—what?” My anger cooled down until I could only feel some icy thoughts in the back of my head. "I'm sorry... Is that all you have to say?"

Fluttershy just nodded absently.

"That cutie mark was the last thing I had left from my past. And now it is gone, I've nothing left."

“I’m sorry. But we had to do it. A necromancer is invaluable. And you needed a horn, but it had to be done with that ritual.” She straightened herself and looked at the ceiling as she cited a phrase. “The master has to steal a bone of the hornless. If he survives, he is worthy to learn. That’s what the book told us.”

"So, you tricked me into joining your little club to take the last thing that could possibly bring back my memories, and almost killed me because a book told you to do so?!"

Fluttershy didn't respond to that. She just stared at the floor, lost in deep thought.

I just sat there—looking at Fluttershy. Her expression had shifted multiple times during our conversation and I just didn’t know what to make from it. At the moment I hated her, I hated Twilight, I hated Cerberus. "Could I make a difference?"

Fluttershy slowly looked me back in the eyes. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

"Answer my question! Could. I. Make. A. Difference?!" I glared daggers at her.

She looked me back in the eyes. She didn't flinch and just looked for a moment. She then gulped, "Y-Yes..."

"Don't even think that I forgive any of you for what you've done to me... But... If I can help other ponies survive, then fine. I trade my past for the future of our world." I looked back in front of me.

"Thank you..." was al she could utter, even if was barely audible.

"Don't thank me. Because I'm not doing it for you." I glared back at her for a second. "Now tell me, how long will it take for this to heal?" I pointed at my new horn.

“It should have healed by now. You can take it off.”

I slowly removed the bandage, still wincing every time I touched my horn. I just couldn’t help it. It felt like a crowbar was attached to my head and that tried to break my skull open. “Mirror?”

She took the mirror—Crafted had left behind—and pointed it towards me. As I looked at my face I could see that there was little scar tissue left. Only a small crest around the bottom of my horn. I touched it and looked myself in the eyes.

“I think, I better get used to this…”

----[一]----

“Ok. Two mares were walking the wastes, the first asks: are we there yet? To which the other replies:—”

“Shut up, Vinyl.”

“Oh come on! You ruin the joke if you already know the punchline, Octy!”

“Well, I’ll punch you if you keep on asking if we’re there yet. Because we’re not! We still have to walk like four days! FOUR DAYS!”

“Ugh, all that walking will be my death one day,” Vinyl groaned.

“It will be if you make that joke one more time!"

“Oh really?” Vinyl teased her as she lifted her shades to show her diseased-white eyes. Her stained-scarlet irises stared at Octavia—taunting her, challenging her to do something. Anything that could make her forget how bored she was.

Octavia just groaned, “Come on, Vinyl. As soon as we have completed our mission, we can go back home. So stop wasting our time.”

“You’ve become boring since we’ve died you know that, Octy?”

“I’m sorry but being dead and having to obey that flankhole up there, tends to drain my patience.”

Vinyl just flared her nostrils in a bored fashion as she looked in the distance without interest. “Fine… Let’s just wipe that settlement off the map and go back home...”

“Thank you.” Octavia resumed her walk. Vinyl kept staring for another five seconds until she ressumed following her companion towards the big mountain in the far distant.

----[一]----

Twilight spoke some cryptic words and made a rabbit—made of purple energy—appear in the middle of the room. “Everypony gather around. –” Which everypony did in a practiced fashion, forming an—almost perfect—half-circle around Twilight “– Today, we’re going to practice accuracy. You will all summon five darts and try to hit this moving target.” She motioned the bunny to start running and turned back towards her students. “Begin.”

As darts were shooting through the room—Twilight corrected every little mistake she could find by the students. This ranged from using too little force to throw the dart, to not focusing enough on the target.

The exercise ended as a green dart pierced the flesh of the bunny—making it squeak and then scatter into purple dust.

“Good job, Summer Song.” A dark-orange unicorn with a hay-coloured mane and bags under her eyes smiled proudly and bowed at the praise. “But next time, use less energy. It’s a bunny, not a Hydra.”

“Of course, milady.” She nodded and took the same disciplined posture as the other students.

“I take that you have survived, Nemo?” She turned around, where she saw me standing at the entrance.

I glared at her. "Not thanks to you."

“How about you finally come in, so we can start your training?”

"Don't you have anything to say?" I asked with a hint of disbelief.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Come inside so we can start practising."

I snorted as it seemed obvious that the mare—who was once loved by many—seemed to have lost every last trace of empathy.

She coldly inspected my new horn and injured hoof. “Well, you’ve got to admit. Fluttershy is an artist. Almost no scar tissue.” She mumble until she looked me back in the eyes and cleared her throat. “You know. Normally, I would have to teach you all the basics of unicorn magic before we begin with necromancing. But Instead I’m just going to do this.” She leaned in and touched my new horn with hers. And like a spark igniting a fire, everything became clear to me. Knowledge flowed inside my brain, filling my mind with ideas and concepts I only had heard of from before. I knew—I just knew, not only the basics, but also advanced magical theorems.

She threw a pebble at the ground. “Pick it up.”

I wanted to say something acidic, but realized that—if I wanted to help—the shortest path would be to learn instead of to seek vengeance for things that cannot ever be undone. So I leaned in to pick the pebble up with my hooves but stopped as she hit the back of my head. “Not like that, you idiot! Levitate it.”

I rubbed the sore spot for a while, but quickly resumed my attempt to pick up the pebble. I focused on it and felt a warm layer of magic engulf my horn. And as if by magic—which it obviously was—the pebble started to float—suspended in mid-air—covered in the same white colour as my coat, sparkling in the same black colour as my mane.

“Do you want to know how heavy it is?”

I looked confused. “It’s a pebble, a few grams maybe?”

“Float it towards your hoof and catch it.”

I did as I was told and dropped the pebble in my hooves. It was humoungusly heavy, weighing—what I estimated to be fifty kilos. “What is this made of?” I groaned as I let the pebble fall towards the floor.

“Irrelevant. All you have to know, is that you now know almost half as much as I do about magic.” She turned around and motioned the group to assemble.

“Isn’t that cheating?”

“It is,” She said flatly. “You know how much I care about that?”

I almost answered until I realised that the question was covered in acid and as rhetorical as it could be.

----[一]----

“Good morning everypony!” Crafted Shadow shouted cheerfully through the war room.

Everywhere ponies were rushing from one side to the other—carrying papers, maps and cups of coffee. The few who heard Crafted Shadow enter the room—and did care about it—saluted.

A green mare with a short army-like yellow mane ran towards him.

“Good morning, sir. Did you sleep well?”

Crafted Shadow met her gaze and smiled. “You know that I don’t sleep, and yet you always ask me the same question when I enter. I can appreciate that.” He took another cigarette and lighted it.

“I do that mostly because it is fascinating to see that—even though you don’t sleep—you’re always late.”

Crafted Shadow took a drag on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly. “Yeah, can’t help it. I got a lot of bad habits. I mean, these cigarettes would kill me if I wasn’t already dead.” He grinned as he waited for somepony to laugh at his poor excuse of a joke. After a few seconds he just huffed. “Sheesh, you could also just laugh to be polite. Anyways, Violet, get me a coffee and brief me on what has happened while I was gone.”

The mare saluted and brought the coffee. After ten minutes, Violet had updated Crafted Shadow on everything. The latest test results of the Canterlot super-zombie. The rating of the data they had gathered through exploration missions over the last month. Data about their weapon supply and medicine stock. And a new topic, pregnancy.

Crafted Shadow groaned a bit. “So, there are mares pregnant…”

“Yes sir. Three at the moment.”

“I hope none of them are warriors or mages?” He took another drag from his cigarette.

“Negative, sir. One is a mechanic and two of them work in the orchards.”

“Good… please make a note that any female warrior has to ask for permission to get a foal. And tell them that I’ll castrate any Stallion who doesn’t practice safe sex.” Crafted Shadow said while taking another drag.

“Shall I add that you’ll use the big scythe, sir?”

Crafted laughed exuberantly while he coughed out all the smoke he had inhaled. “You know I like your kind of humour, Violet.”

“So I shall add it?”

“Of course. Anything to keep them from multiplying, the facility is still not strong enough to carry foals. Besides, imagine mercenaries taking care of foals?” He shivered at the thought of it. He took another drag and looked back at Violet. “Anything else?”

“Yes, our sensors have detected a signal coming from the Everfree forest.” She handed over the paper but noticed the sudden serious look in Crafted’s face. “Is something wro—”

“Why wasn’t I informed of this immediately?”

“Well, the message stated that they had survived for about four years in the Everfree, without even seeing one zombie in there.”

“THAT DOESN’T EXCUSE WHY YOU DIDN’T TELL ME RIGHT AWAY!” The whole chamber fell silent as Crafted Shadow bellowed through the room. Some looked terrified, others annoyed that the zombie—who was always late and never seemed to care about anything—suddenly acted like that was somepony else’s fault.

Violet recoiled at Crafted’s outburst. “I don’t see why it is of importance, I mean yes we have to help them. But they haven’t seen a zombie in four years, so we assumed that it wouldn’t matter if we helped them a few hours later,” She gulped, “I-If I may ask, sir. Why do you suddenly... care?” She said due to lack of better words for it. It's not that he didn't care, but he never showed it as excessive as he did that day.

Crafted came closer and closer towards Violet’s face until they were only separated by a small space.

“Because, zombies can pick up those signals too.”

Paragraph four - Entering the forest

The pages of the Necronomicon

Paragraph four

Entering the woods

My first lesson was about to start and Twilight had ordered her students to form a half-circle around her.

“Let’s begin with the basics. What is necromancy?” Twilight’s voice echoed through the almost empty hall.

With practised ease, the students chorused, “The art of summoning, milady.”

“Where does a necromancer get his energy?” She walked like a drill master to the left. Luckily she didn’t yell like one, her voice was calm and yet firm.

“From the water-vapour of Lake Hades in Tartarus, milady.”

“How do we treat the dead?” She walked to the right in the same fashion.

“With uttermost respect, milady. We do not disturb the peace of the dead unless necessary.”

Twilight nodded in approval, but didn’t smile at her students’ ability to recite mere words. She came to a stop in front of me and looked me in the eyes. “These are the three most basic things you will ever learn about necromancy. Any questions?”

“We get our energy from a lake?” I cocked an eyebrow.

Twilight frowned at me.

“What?” I looked around—not knowing what I had done wrong—and noticed that the rest did their best not to move. They all just looked in front of them, avoiding to make any noise that could draw the attention of their teacher. The room was filled with complete silence. That was until the mare next to me whispered to me, “If you’re talking to her, always address her with milady.”

Sure, say princess and she’ll kill you on the spot, but milady is ok.

I asked my question again. “I’m sorry. How do we get our energy from a lake, milady?”

Twilight let go of her frown and huffed. “The lake is not filled with water. Lake Hades is the lake of the dead. When something dies, its soul will flow through one of the three Sanzu Rivers, which mouth into the lake, and is added to the soul-water. Eventually, the soul-water will vaporize and permeate through the dimensional wall that separates our worlds and enter our realm. Necromancers can absorb that vapour and get energy from it.”

So I’m basically breathing dead people.

I cringed internally at the thought of that and asked another question. “You said necromancy is the art of summoning. But what do we summon? I thought it was just about reviving the dead, milady”

“We can summon the dead, but we won’t! They have earned their rest, and we should respect that,” She said firmly, “However, we are allowed to summon them in battle. But only if we need them.”

“But, what else can we summon if not the dead, milady? Also, you summoned a bunny only for your students could practice shooting. How is that respecting the dead?”

“You can summon anything that can be considered a thing.” She let her horn glow and a purple blob appeared in mid-air. She waved a bit with her horn and made the blob take the shape of some geometrical figures and eventually that of a bunny. “Which means that I can also summon a puppet and enchant it with a simple golem-spell. You might not believe me, but I don’t take joy in torturing little animals.”

You’re right, I don’t believe you.

“Ok, everypony.” She stomped her hooves to get the attention of her students back, not that she had lost it. “We continue from where we stopped yesterday” – She pointed at the mare next to me – “Summer Song, you’re going to coordinate the combat training today.”

Summer Song nodded. “Yes, milady.”

The rest of the group formed two lines, one facing the other, and Summer Song signaled them to begin. Combat weapons, projectiles, and shields were summoned all over the place and beat against each other; filling the room with the sound of clashing metal and war-cries.

Twilight looked back at me as she saw that the training had started. “Nemo, we’re going to practice basic summoning. It is relatively easy in theory, but hard to master in practise. After an hour you should be able to form a blob of energy like I just did and after that you’ll learn how to shape it to your will. This should take roughly a day to learn and after that we’ll refine your methods until you can do it with maximum efficiency.”

The two of us sat down and she began explaining how to feel the magic, how to channel it and how to make it fill a part of space.

----[一]----

“They can what?”

Every last sound had died inside the war room. Everypony had stopped midway of whatever they were doing and focussed their attention at Crafted Shadow and Violet.

“They can pick up those signals too…” Crafted said again as he stared at Violet who wore a look of disbelief and fear.

“B-But how?”

“That’s irrelevant right now.” He jumped on the nearest chair and clapped his hooves. “Ok, everypony. I know most of you can’t stand the sight me, that’s ok since don’t like most of you either. But at this moment nopony in that settlement safe! No matter what has protected them for so long, the zombies will try to destroy it and wipe the settlement off the map. We’ve already lost more than a day, but we can still make it if we hurry.”

Most of the ponies had just dropped whatever they were doing—making some cups shatter and some papers fall to the ground—and had gathered around Crafted Shadow.

“I need three dragonflies, two dozens of warriors, one dozen of gunners and archers, and a dozen of wizards ready to leave in one hour. Get me every map of the Everfree. And somepony fetch me Twilight, Fluttershy, Clashing Steel, Applejack, Button, Noble Pin, Wanda and a new box of cigarettes. PRONTO!”

----[一]----

I tried to focus my mind on a part of space to make the energy flow towards. My horn became warmer and an aura formed around it. The aura reached from the tip of my horn, out towards that part of space and assembled there. A white blob formed, growing bigger and bigger as more energy flowed into it.

Another part of the knowledge Twilight had given me was another language. The dead language of Necromancy, which was an old and long forgotten Saddle Arabian dialect.

“Form,” I spoke in the old tongue as I motioned the blob to take shape of a dagger. First the handle formed and after a few seconds the blade emerged from the blob, forming an one-edged bowie knife.

“Harden.” The knife gained colour as I completed the spell. The blade took a shiny-grey colour of polished metal and the handle got wrapped in brown leather.

I let go of the knife and made it plummet towards the floor causing a small thump to be audible as the point pierced the wooden planks.

Twilight pulled the knife out of the planks and inspected it “Not bad… Not bad indeed.”

“I'll take that as a compliment, milady,” I said as I tried to catch my breath.

“I said it was not bad, I didn’t say it was good” – She pointed at the knife – “the blade is dull, you’ve created iron not steel and the design could be better. But all in all, you’ve made progress, I cannot complain.”

Well, that would be the first time.

“Next I want you to—”

“Miss Sparkle!” A mare—wearing the uniform of the war room—galloped inside the hall towards where Twilight and I were sitting.

“I am teaching, make it quick.” She said coldly, not even looking at the mare.

She saluted at Twilight and spoke, “I’m sorry to interrupt, Miss Sparkle. But Crafted Shadow has ordered you to come to the war room.”

“Has he?” She asked with disinterest, “Has he given a reason why I’m supposed to interrupt my lessons for his shenanigans?”

She nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. We’ve picked up a signal coming from the Everfree. There is apparently a settlement there.”

Twilight’s ears perked up. She stood up and stomped her hooves. “Everypony, I’m gone for the next hour. Summer Song, you're in charge. See that they train hard, but don't let them kill each other. Don’t disappoint me!” Summer Song nodded.

I got back on my hooves. “What am I supposed to do, milady?”

“We still need to train a bit before you can start combat training… I guess you could just come with me to the war room. Just be quiet during the meeting.”

Joy, babysitter Twilight… I groaned internally but nodded as a sign of acceptance. We left the hall and went for the war room.

----[一]----

The motor of the dragonfly whirred deafeningly as we drove towards the Everfree forest.

“Focus!” Twilight pressed, “You have to master it in a day, otherwise you’ll be useless.”

“Yes, milady.” I focussed harder and harder on the part of space in front of me. “Fill…”

The magic reached out from my horn and filled the space in front of me.

“Spread!” The word was spoken under more strain than I had anticipated, but pressure of both time and my teacher had already taken their toll. I was now training for more than ten hours, forming shields and even more shields. I was almost at the end of my endurance.

The mass spread out and formed a pane in front of me.

I wanted to command it to harden, but as we drove over another boulder; my concentration popped like a bubble and the pane shattered into white dust, scattering into nothingness.

Twilight sighed, “You won’t be of any help if you lose your concentration by the slightest disturbance.”

“Hey, you ordered me to join this rescue mission.” I glared at her. “I can’t even summon a proper dart, let alone throw it right. How, for heavens sake, will I be of any help?!” I groaned in frustration.

“That’s exactly why I ordered you to come with me," She said in a controlled fashion, "Real life combat is more precious than any training I could give you. Besides –” She pointed at Summer Song “– She is here to ensure that you don’t die.”

Summer Song nodded but shifted awkwardly as she tried to open her mouth. “Milady, I don’t mean to lecture you but… he has been training for hours now, maybe you should let him rest for a while.” She looked down in an attempt to evade her teacher’s iron look.

“You’re right… Nemo, you have thirty minutes rest. After that we resume training.”

I let myself fall to the ground in exasperation. Twilight left this part of the dragonfly and left Summer Song and me alone. I looked at Summer Song and smiled dully. “Thanks, another hour would have killed me… again.”

“No problem. She is a good teacher, but she forgets that we’re not all geniuses like her. We can only learn so much at a time.”

“True…” The conversation just stopped. I had expected that she would say something more, but the longer I waited the more awkward it became to resume the conversation. After a while I just decided to break the awkward silence. “How long have you been a necromancer?”

She looked at me sceptically. “Why do you ask?”

“I just wondered. She treats you more like an assistant than a student. So I thought you must have already quite some experience.”

“Oh, well, I’m one from the first necromancers of Cerberus.” She stroked her chin in a thinking manner and scribbled some numbers in the air. “Five… twenty days… seven hours… almost four years.”

“You’ve endured four years of this?”

She chuckled and shrugged, which lead to the conversation dying down again.

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

“Only occasionally. I’m mostly training, so there isn’t much time to indulge in social activities.” She tossed a bottle towards me which I caught in my levitation field.

“Thanks.”

She just smiled as I opened the bottle and drunk it empty. I sighed in relief as I felt the water re-hydrate my body. “How long until we’re there?”

“A few more hours and then we still have to go through the Everfree.”

“Oh, well ok… do you mind if I go and stretch my legs for a while?”

She shook her head, so I decided to leave my awkward companion behind.

The dragonfly was big, but not that big. Only Twilight, Summer Song, Crafter Shadow and one dozen of the warriors were in this dragonfly.

Summer Song doesn’t talk that much, I should probably avoid talking to Twilight, I don’t know anypony of the warriors… So I guess I could try to talk to Crafted Shadow?

I shrugged internally and went searching for the zombie and went for the part of the dragonfly where the warriors were sitting.

As I entered, nopony batted an eye. They all just looked in front of them, not moving, not speaking and I wondered if they were even thinking. They all just sat there in their brown and red armour and each had two of those foldable weapons attached to their saddlebags.

“Hey, new one! Come here and talk to me. These guys are boring as buck.” I saw the half-rotting Crafted Shadow sitting at the end of the row, waving at me for attention. I shrugged and walked towards him—many times excusing myself as I tried to press me through. I took a seat opposite of him and looked at him.

“Hi, I know that I haven’t shown myself from my best side the first time we met, but I would like to welcome you into our little club.” I cocked an eyebrow as he stretched his green-ish hoof towards me, but as I saw his expectant smile I decided to return the hoofbump.

“Thanks… I guess?”

“No problem. How is training with Twilight going?”

I cringed.

“That bad?” He smiled sympathetically.

“I don’t even understand why she has ordered me to come along. I couldn’t summon a shield for my life. It’s like she wants me to die.”

“Well, a necromancer becomes stronger the more death he sees…” He said while lighting a cigarette.

“You think there are ponies going to die?”

He took a drag and exhaled the smoke. “Definitely. If not the settlers, then our own ponies…”

I cocked an eyebrow. “How can you be certain?”

“Because I know what will happen –” He came closer to me “– I know the enemy, and what he will send.”

“He?”

“Yes, he.”

“You think somepony is… wait, somepony is controlling the zombies? Why would anypony do that?”

Crafted Shadow facehooved. “NO! I mean, yes! Something is controlling them," He groaned and gritted his teeth, "Why don’t you know yet?”

I recoiled a bit at his outburst but retook almost instantly my posture. “Hey! I’m a member for like two days. And most time I was in a coma because you guys decided to implant a bone of mine in my head! So instead of yelling at me, you should explain me what I should know.” The other warriors looked at me in surprise.

“What?!” I glared irritated at them, and in almost perfect synchrony they looked back in front of them and I turned back towards Crafted Shadow.

“Hehehe, you’re right. I’m sorry.” Everypony looked in disbelief at Crafted Shadow but Crafted just looked back and frowned. “I’ll behead whoever loses a word of this! Understood?!”

They didn’t nod, but you could read from their eyes that they had understood the order.

“So, what I wanted to say is that yes, somepony is controlling all the dead you see outside. Ever noticed that they act in a too organized way? That they do way too complex things than you would expect from a bunch of brainless, rotting meat-bags?”

I remembered the three zombies that had blocked my way in front of Mjölna’s shop, the night- and day-guard zombies playing instruments and the spectator zombies watching me as the Minotaur tried to squeeze the life out of me.

“You can thank the zombie lords for that. They control the hordes of walking dead you see outside.”

“How do you know that?”

He facehooved. “I did introduce myself right? I was the former right hand of the master of pride, Lord Lucifer.” His expression intensified. “When I say that there's somepony who controls all the dead, then that means that I know. I was a part of that machine of terror. I too was a general. I too have killed. I was one of the zombies that brought this plague upon the dragons.”

My eyes shot wide. “You. Did. What?!”

“Oh, joy. Here we go again. The don’t-you-know-what-you’ve-done-expression –” He took another drag and exhaled the smoke “– you do realize that I know what I’ve done. That I know that I’m part of the problem. So, how about you relax.”

“Why should I?”

He groaned. “Because I’m sorry.”

I fell silent.

“Why do you think I joined Cerberus?” He asked, not expecting an answer. “I realized that I was destroying something beautiful. So I tried to find a way to fix it, a way to undo the damage that had been done. I collected every book I could find, every piece of art and every instrument to such an extent that Lucifer was joking about that I would be a better minion of Barbatos. Yet, my attempts seemed futile as most of the civilization had already been destroyed. I desperately searched for a settlement that I could protect, a way to silence my conscience. But instead I found Cerberus.” He smiled and sat back, relaxing as he continued his story. “I’ve spent months learning everything about Cerberus. Learning their rhythm, until I could predict where they would be next. So, I told my lord about a mission they were ‘planning’ and presented falsified information stating the same. I could arrange it so that he would send me, his loyal subject, with an army to privateer one of their precious little dragonflies, infiltrate their base and kill every last one of them.” His smile then turned into a grin and he chuckled a bit as he finished his telling. “Instead I killed the army he had given me and teamed up with the enemy.”

“And they really just trusted you?” I cocked an eyebrow.

He chuckled, “Let’s say I can be very persuasive.” He smiled ominously.

----[一]----

Twilight knocked at the door and entered, together with me the council room.

“Thank you for coming, Twilight.” Crafted sat at the head of the table. A map of the Everfree hung behind him together with a blackboard.

“Make it quick.”

“Why is that colt here?” A bulky, bearded, brown earthpony asked in a deep voice as he inspected me with a sceptical look.

“He's with me, Button.” Twilight spat.

“So? You know he is not allowed in here, only the members of the—”

“Enough!” Crafted slammed his hooves at the table, silencing everypony in the room. “Nemo, sit! We have much to arrange, and Tartarus knows how little time. So instead of wasting it on formalities, how about spending it on things that do matter?!”

Nopony replied.

Crafted coughed and lighted another cigarette. He turned around and pointed at the map. “The signal originates from the centre of the Everfree. It’s a loop that tells everypony that the Everfree is zombie-free. Which is a good thing, really. Except that telling the world is not a good idea. Quite the opposite. They are literally inviting the zombies to come and kill them,” He said in a controlled, more-or-less business-like fashion. “I don’t know how much time we have, which makes it complicated. But we have to leave as soon as possible and save those ponies.”

"But how do you know that they're in danger? They haven't seen a zombie in quite a while, why should they bother showing up now?" Royal Pin asked.

"Have I ever given you the wrong advice, Royal Pin?"

"Um..."

"And have I ever been wrong at predicting something when it came to the behavior of zombies?"

"No, but—"

"THEN HOW ABOUT YOU STOP WASTING OUR TIME AND JUST DO AS I TELL YOU?!"

"I-I... ok."

"Good." Crafted almost instantly calmed, leaving Royal Pin perplexed at his outburst. "Button, are the dragonflies ready?"

“We’ve finished the maintenance, so the three you ordered are ready to leave. They are fuelled, the armour has been restored and the arming is ready too,” Button said.

"How about the warriors?"

“My warriors are still checking their gear, but they should be ready in half an hour,” Clashing Steel said.

“The wizards are ready to leave. We’re only waiting on your sign.” A light-green unicorn with a long red mane and scarlet eyes said.

“Thank you, Wanda. Clashing, tell your soldiers to be ready in five minutes, they can check their gear on our way there." – Clashing waved one of the war room ponies over and whispered something it his ear – "Now, Royal Pin, I understand that you have the right to doubt me, but it would be nice if you could answer my question too. You know... for the settlers sake!” Crafted pressed.

This snapped him out of his little shock. “O-Of course. We only need to load our ammunition on the dragonfly, then we’re ready to go.”

“Good. We don’t need healers, since they have survived a long time. So we can assume that they have medicines and a doctor. Applejack, are the provisions ready?”

“acours’. We’re now loading them on the dragonflies.”

“Perfect, Twilight and I will lead this mission. We will take this route over the Rambling Rock Ridge and enter the forest at the side where the castle of the two sisters stands” – He followed the path with his hoof over the map right towards the Everfree – “We’ll enter the village, explain the situation, load all the ponies on the third dragonfly and leave as soon as possible. Any questions?”

“Why do you send so little soldiers?” Everypony looked at me.

“I told you not to speak in the war room.” Twilight said in a disapproving tone.

“No, you told me to be quiet, which I was. Besides he asked if there were any questions. I had one.”

“It’s ok, Twilight,” Crafted said, “Nemo, we have to be quick and subtle. If the zombies get to know that we’re coming, then they might counter-act. It is tactically advantageous to send a small force who can be coordinated more precisely and can move more quickly than an entire army. Besides, we can’t leave the base unprotected. I hope I don’t have to explain what could happen if we did.”

I nodded in understanding and apologized for the interruption.

“Fine, everypony.” Crafted clapped his hooves. “GET GOING!”

----[一]----

“Why did they listen to you?”

Crafted looked confused at me. “What do you mean?”

“In the war room. I just wondered, why does the entire Cerberus lay the fate of a few dozens of ponies in the hooves of a zombie? Why do they trust you?”

Crafted snorted and laughed exuberantly.

“What?”

He wiped a dry tear out of his eyes and looked me back in the eyes. “Oh, nothing. You really think that everypony in Cerberus trusts me?”

“Well, I assumed so?” I cocked an eyebrow.

Crafted calmed himself and shook his head. “Watch this –” He turned towards the pony right next to me “– Hey, you there.”

The pony in question turned towards Crafted and frowned. “What?”

“Do you trust me?”

The pony snorted. “Over my dead body.” He turned back to stare holes in the sky.

“You see, everypony hates me. Only the council trusts me. If I would tell the ponies to jump, then they wouldn’t even pay attention to me. If I told somepony of the council that it would be of benefit that everypony jumped at once, then they would jump until they were told to do otherwise.”

“But that doesn’t make sense, I mean you must have done something to earn their trust?”

“Yeah, there are some ponies that trust me. There is that lovely mare in the war room that always greets me in the morning. But majority just hates me because I’m a zombie,” He sighed, “It’s funny though, my words have no value unless somepony else verifies them. But I can't blame them. I mean I have betrayed my former master just to join Cerberus, it’s not like that shows my trustworthiness.”

“True…”

The rest of the time we had just a little chit-chat. No major things, just some few things about Cerberus and the base. After a while, Twilight entered the room and told me that the thirty minutes were over and that I had to resume my training. I nodded and said goodbye to Crafted, who just absently waved at me as I left the room.

----[一]----

The machines slowed down as we finally entered the Everfree forest. I can’t give you that many details of how it looked like since there were no windows in the dragonfly, the whole thing only had a camera and a few monitors in the cockpit.

Summer Song entered the room. “Milady, the driver asked for you to come in the cockpit.”

Twilight looked over to her and rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Fine… Nemo, you can rest for the time being.”

The blob I had formed popped and scattered into the void it had come from as I let myself fall to the floor and thanked the stars for releasing me of my agony.

Summer Song chuckled and brought me another bottle of water as Twilight left the room as she went towards the cockpit. “We’re almost there.” She smiled.

“Thank heavens for that.”

There will ponies die, one way or the other. I cringed at the thought of what Crafted had said, but I tried to drown those worries by hoping that the zombie was wrong.

----[一]----

“You asked for me?” Twilight entered the cockpit and one of the two ponies who were driving turned around to salute.

“We’re now at the top of the formation, ma’am. Crafted Shadow has suggested that you should make first contact as a kind of reassurance that we won't harm them.”

Twilight groaned. “I am not going to play the saving princess. Summer Song will make the first contact.”

“Crafted Shadow said that it would have a psychological effect on the settlers. They might cooperate much easier when they see that you're with us.”

Twilight mumbled something about that she will end the very existence of Crafted Shadow. “I'm not repeat—”

The dragonfly came to a sudden halt, making Twilight lose her balance and fall on the stallion she was just talking to.

She got back on her hooves and glared at the driver.

“What happened?! Why did you—” Her sentence got stuck in her throat as she looked at the monitor. A yellow mare with a long soft-red mane and freckles covering her nuzzle was waving at the machine. She wore a cowpony hat and a small pink ribbon that bound the tip of her tail together.

Twilight stared in disbelief as the mare kept waving at the camera that was recording her. She wore a grin of innocence and hope.

Twilight gulped.

“I'm sorry ma'am, but she just jumped in front of the machine. I couldn't just drive over her.” The stallion looked at Twilight and was surprised that she just stared at the monitor. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

“A-Applebloom…”

Paragraph five - Shadows in the sky

The pages of the Necronomicon

Paragraph five

Shadows in the sky

Now that the motors had stopped whirring, everything was drenched in silence. The drivers looked at each other and back at Twilight. “A-Appleboom?!” Twilight stared in disbelief at the monitors.

“Do you know her, ma’am?”

Twilight completely ignored the question and turned around. “Open the trailer!”

“Yes, ma’am!” The drivers saluted in unison.

“And tell my students that they’re to rest now! I’ll call them when needed, until then they are not allowed to do anything!” With that Twilight left the cockpit and made her way to meet a long lost friend.

----[一]----

On the top of a hill two ponies stood. Their coats had lost the colours they had once worn; both to be replaced with dull-green colours that covered their coats. Scars littered their body and bones were showing; their ribcages and jaws were exposed and most of their flesh was rotten. The spark of life in their eyes had long been gone, the white of their eyes had stained and their irises had become dull.

“So this is it?” Vinyl asked.

“We’re almost there…” Octavia replied.

Their gaze was indifferent and cast down as they stared at the forest. Both were aware what they had to do, and without a free will of their own they could not disobey their orders

“Did he really have to show off again? There is absolutely no need for so many zombies."

Masses of zombies filled the plains in front of the Everfree forest with the occasional super-zombie sticking out of the masses. The sky was covered in spots. Shadows of gryphons and Pegasi were whizzing around the skies, making sure that nopony secretly left the forest.

In the distance a few shadows were accelerating towards another trio of shadows. Chasing them from one part of the forest towards another.

“That one won’t make it…” Vinyl pointed at the third shadow who was considerably slower than the other two shadows. She looked closer and could see the other shadows coming closer and closer. “Yes…” She leaned in, expecting her prediction to come true. The third one got hit and fell down, falling through the roof of the forest. Vinyl stopped looking in the distance and sighed, “Lucky bastard.”

“Not for long I’m afraid.” Octavia shook her head. “This is the worst part, knowing what we’re about to do…”

“Well… at least we’re not doing it out of free will, right?” Vinyl grinned at Octavia in an attempt to lighten the mood of her companion.

“That doesn’t make it easier to sleep at night…” Octavia shook her head.

Both became quiet for a mooment until Vinyl spoke up again. “You’re silly… we don’t have to sleep…” Vinyl looked in the distant to see another horde of zombies approaching from Ponyville. She shrugged and resumed to walk towards the forest. “Come on, I don’t want to have to press through all those corpses…”

Octavia poked the ground. “You’re right… the earlier we end this, the better.” She then followed her companion down the hill, both heading towards their target.

----[一]----

The trailer opened and Twilight stepped outside. Applebloom was already waiting for somepony to come out but her face shifted in disbelief as she saw who exited the vehicle. Her eyes glistened from tears and her mouth hung slightly open. Slowly, the corners of her mouth curled up into a smile, she blinked the tears away and ran towards Twilight.

“Twilight!” A small tremor was audible as she spoke the name of the pony she had thought dead for so long. She threw her hooves around Twilight’s neck and hugged her intensively. “You’re alive!”

Twilight returned the hug with awkwardness, for in these years of pain and horror she had forgotten how a real hug felt. Not one of pity or sorrow like she had often gotten from Fluttershy or a reassuring one like Applejack would always give, but a hug out of happiness and relief that something good had happened. “Yes…” Twilight smiled slightly for a short time before breaking the hug, realising that she was wasting precious time. “I’m sorry, Applebloom, but we have not much time. You’re all in danger!”

Twilight explained her that Cerberus had picked up their signal, and that our strategic advisor knew that the zombies would attack the settlement if they would not evacuate soon.

Applebloom just sat there in shock. “Z-Zombies… are coming?”

Twilight nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

Applebloom lowered her gaze and cowered to the ground. “B-But… We were safe here…” She slowly slipped into a small sob.

Twilight sat next to her and patted her back. “Applebloom, I know that you’re afraid. But I need you to be strong for now. We have a base in the mountains of Canterlot. If we’re fast, we can evacuate the settlement and leave without having to deal with any zombies!”

“Why is this taking so long?!” Crafted Shadow walked out of the trailer, but before Twilight could react, the zombie was already in full sight. In the meantime Applebloom had looked up and screamed in terror at the sight of the zombie.

Twilight tried to calm her and hold her so she wouldn’t run away, but the farmpony was stronger and freed herself from Twilight’s grip. She ran until a purple screen blocked her path and formed like a bowl around her, leaving the only way to move towards Twilight. Applebloom desperately cowered against the screen in an attempt to make herself as small as possible and the distance between the zombie and herself as big as possible.

“You’re an idiot, Crafted!” Twilight glared.

He lighted another cigarette and looked dumbfounded at Applebloom’s fear reaction. “What?”

Twilight facehooved. “Are you really that insensitive, or do you just pretend to be?”

Crafted shrugged. “Hey, she would have seen me sooner and later.”

Twilight tried to move as slowly as possible towards Applebloom, fearing that any sudden movement would only scare her more. “It’s ok, Applebloom,” She whispered, “He belongs to us, he’s not dangerous… just an idiot!” She glared daggers at Crafted who couldn’t help but grin a bit.

“Well, I have to say that your sister is way more polite…” He took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled the smoke.

Applebloom lifted one of her hooves that was covering her nuzzle so she could see Crafted with one eye. She was shivering, but none the less tried to utter a sentence. “M-Mah, sister?”

“You’re Applebloom, right? Your sister has told me a lot about you..” Crafted started chatting with her like a genuine smoker: he waved his cigarette in every direction as he cited some things that Applejack had told him over the years. Some of the trouble she had caused as a filly, some embarrassing stories and a few things that only Applejack knew she had done.

“She’s… alive too?”

“Alive and well, as are your two friends.” Crafted grinned, which was maybe not the best idea since it distorted his already mangled face. “Now, little filly. Could you show us the way to your settlement before it is too late? Because the zombies that are coming are not as fond of me either, and I would like to avoid having to fight them.” He motioned everypony to enter the dragonfly and accompanied Applebloom and Twilight towards the cockpit. It was obvious that Applebloom didn’t feel comfortable next to the undead, but clinging to Twilights side seemed to calm her.

The motors were turned on again and we continued our way to the settlement.

----[一]----

The dragonflies halted in front of a clearing in the middle of the forest. The trailer opened and Applebloom jumped out of the vehicle.

“GUUUUYS! WE’RE ‘N PROBLEMS!” Applebloom yelled throughout the settlement, but she didn’t get a reply. “GUYS REALLY WE HAVE TO GO, ZOM—” Applebloom was cut off as a cry of agony resonated through the settlement.

A whole bunch of ponies and gryphons had gathered around a yellow Pegasus who was missing a part of his hind leg.

“Echo! What happened?!”

“Echo and his friends went out again. It looks like he was the only one who made it back. Unfortunately not in one piece… I’m afraid that he’ll turn into a zombie too…” One of the settlers had come over to Applebloom.

“Let’s see about that!” Again, before Twilight could protest against the impulsive decision of her undead companion, Crafted spurted out of the dragonfly and towards the group, pushing everypony aside. It took almost two seconds before somepony screamed and the group scattered. Crafted leaned in to Echo’s face and pulled his eyelids up to check his eyes.

“Lucky bastard…” He stood up and turned towards the group of ponies he had just scared away, only to see that multiple gun barrels were pointed at his face. He startled and took a careful step backwards. “Whoah, everypony calm down.”

“Don’t shoot him!” Applebloom threw herself in front of Crafted Shadow and looked with pleading eyes at the ponies who were wielding the guns. “He’s nice, really!”

“Get away from that monster, Applebloom!” One of the ponies commanded.

“No!”

“Don’t make me shoot you too!”

“And who will grow all our food then?!”

“I’m serious!”

“N—” Applebloom was cut off as Crafted pushed her gently away. He shook his head in a way that ordered the mare to not interfere and then focussed back on the ponies who wielded the guns.

“You’re right! I am a monster.” He quickly pulled the barrel towards his brow and grinned. “The question is… can you slay a monster?”

Beads of sweat formed on the brow of the gun-wielding pony and his breath became more and more laboured. He put his hoof on the trigger, ready to pull it and getting more and more uneasy as Crafted just kept on grinning.

“Before you kill me –” The trigger was halfway as Crafted interrupted the pony. “– I would like to say that you can still save that pony if you stop the bleeding. He’s not dead enough for the process to start.”

Everypony looked confused at the zombie and responded in completely silence… well, except for the pony who was screaming in agony.

Crafted deadpanned. “Look, if you’re not going to kill me you could at least start helping that pony there.”

The gunpony signed some of the other ponies to help Echo, yet kept his focus—and his gun—on Crafted.

Crafted let go of the barrel and walked towards us again only to be stopped by the gunpony again. “Y-YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!”

Crafted sighed so that everypony could hear it, and turned around to look the gunpony back in the eyes. “Look, I have stuff to do, and I already saw that you don’t have the balls to kill me.”

The gunpony got more aggressive and took a step towards Crafted. “You’re listening to me, maggot sack!”

Crafted smiled and encountered the behaviour of the gunpony by taking a step forwards himself. “Oh, is that so?!”

“CRAFTED!” Twilight interrupted the showing off of the zombie. “Zombie invasion! We have no time for this.”

“By the heavens, it’s the princess!” Everypony looked away from Crafted and realised that they were in the presence of a princess. Everypony bowed, which made Twilight feel more and more uncomfortable as they all seemed to wait for her to command them to do something.

“No, please, I’m not—”

“THAT IS RIGHT EVERYPONY!” Crafted jumped in front of Twilight. “YOUR PRINCESS IS ALIVE AND WELL! SHE HAS COME TO WARN YOU AND BRING YOU ALL IN SAFETY! THESE YEARS LEARNING THE DARK ART OF NECROMANCY, SHE CREATED A WEAPON AGAINST THESE ZOMBIES! AND I AM THAT WEAPON!!”

Twilight grinned awkwardly and leaned in towards Crafted and whispered through her gritted teeth: “Crafted? What the fudge are you doing?”

Crafted winked...kind of. his eyelids were not as lubricated as normal eyes which made it look weird and unnatural. “I’m accelerating things, you can kill me later.”

The gunpony stood up and came a little closer to Twilight. “Princess, we were not aware that this zombie belongs to you. We apologise for being disrespectful for your creation.”

“Right, my… creation…” She looked at Crafted and glared at him, but before Twilight could say anything more, Crafted jumped back in front of her.

“There is no need for apologies, my master is aware that it is more than normal to react to a zombie like that. She has even given me a free will as long as I do everything for the good of the pony nation, thus could you be so friendly and bring us to your leader!”

----[一]----

“Zecora!” Applebloom chirped when she, Twilight and Crafted entered Zecora’s hut. Zecora in the meantime was attending to the missing leg of Echo. The Pegasus was meanwhile in narcosis and Zecora had wrapped the leg in a thick layer of bandages. Zecora turned around to greet Applebloom.

“Welcome back dear Applebloom, may I ask why you’re here so soon?” However, her smile faded as she saw the two other ponies. She gave a dirty look as Crafted entered. But as Twilight entered all her emotions simply vanished. Her look didn’t suggest happiness nor rage nor surprise nor hatred, her look was ice cold and Twilight could feel those eyes inspecting her. Twilight looked down and averted those cold eyes.

Crafted looked back and forth between the two. “Whoah… normally I’m the one to get that look.” He settled on the first chair he could find and took out a box of cigarettes. “Do you mind if I smoke one?” Zecora shook her head. Crafted lighted his cigarette and took a deep drag of his cigarette and straightened himself, taking a more professional pose. “I assume you’ve heard my speech out there?”

“I could hear it loud and clear, but it didn’t explain what brought you here.” Her gaze didn’t leave Twilight.

“Your little broadcast.” Crafted nodded and sighed, “I have to say that you’re very noble. I can imagine that most settlements wouldn’t want to share their resources with outsiders. But, I’m afraid that by telling the world of this safe harbour, you’ve practically invited the zombies to come and destroy it…”

The zebra’s eyes sprung open, but soon they softened and she smiled knowingly. “The forest cannot be entered by the dead, the tree doesn’t allow their chaos to spread.”

Crafted took another drag and shook his head as he exhaled another cloud of smoke while he spoke, “I’m here…”

She looked at Twilight and back at the zombie. “I know that dark art well, and shadows here cannot dwell. Since 'tis Twilight who holds your chain that is the reason you remain.”

Crafted chuckled.

“What is this devil's brood? What has thou in such a mood?”

He pointed at Twilight. “She didn’t create me. I’m one hundred percent pure darkness.”

Zecora stood up and smacked Twilight in the face. “YOU LED HIM HERE WITHOUT DISGUISE, TO MAKE SURE OF OUR DEMISE!”

“I didn’t…” Twilight said as she rubbed the sore spot.

Zecora prepared for another blow, but got pulled back as tendrils of shadow wrapped around her hooves and barrel. The shadows immobilized her and turned her around so that she face Crafted whose expression had hardened. “What the buck is your problem?!”

“SHE LEFT US IN A TIME OF NEED TO SUFFER THE SINS OF YOUR KIND'S GREED!”

“SHUT UP!”

Zecora fell silent as Crafted lashed out. “You really think that she alone could have avoided this?! That she could have stopped my former masters if even the dragons couldn’t stop us?!”

Crafted stood up and let the shadows evaporate, making Zecora fall to the ground, and headed for the door. “Bring me every map you have, I need all knowledge you can provide of the terrain… we have to find a way out.”

“What are you going to do now, Crafted?” Twilight asked.

Shadow oozed out of his body forming two wings that he folded to his barrel. He looked back and smiled. “I’m going to clear the skies.”

Paragraph six - Zombies in the Everfree

The pages of the Necronomicon

Paragraph six

Zombies in the Everfree.

“Wake up, Nemo,” Summer Song stated softly, the lights blinding me as they pierced my eyelids, “Twilight wants to see us.”

Had it not been for the last sentence, I would’ve used words that I doubt I was old enough to hear. For the first time in...well, ever I was getting some real sleep, not the uneasy better-sleep-with-one-eye-open-unless-I-want-a-zombie-to-eat-my-face sleep you pick up in the wastes. Grumbling, I tossed the blanket from the bed as I rubbed the sleep crud from my eyes.

“What does she want?” I mumbled as I got out of bed.

“I’m not sure,” Summer answered with a shrug, “but the mages have established a barrier around the settlement. I guess something’s about to happen.”

Ponies will die. Settlers or soldiers, it’s all the same.

I shook my head, trying to dismiss the voice in my head. After waking up as much as I was going to, I turned to Summer Song. “Okay, let’s go,” I stated, exiting the dragonfly with Summer right behind me.

I remembered hearing rumors about the Everfree Forest being one of the most hostile environment known to ponykind. Tales were woven about how it was a horrible place filled with monsters that could devour ponies whole. It was right then I learned the fine distinction between fiction and reality.

The climate was pleasant; it wasn’t too hot, too cold, too dry, nor too damp. However, what was truly surprising was the notable lack of things wanting to eat ponies. In fact, not only were there no monsters, there wasn’t even any traces that there had been any attacks. It wouldn’t have been too far a stretch to call the settlement a town.

I guess every place is considered an oasis compared to a zombie apocalypse.

Looking up at the sky, I noticed the force-field Summer had mentioned. I tilted my head in puzzlement at the lavender bubble enclosing the settlement. “Wouldn’t it be smarter to make the force field invisible?” I asked no one in particular.

“Why bother?” A voice asked, causing me to jump, “They already know where we are.” I turned around, finding Twilight standing behind us.

Summer Song bowed her head in greeting. “We’re at your service, milady.”

Twilight nodded. “I need the two of you ready for combat. We’re waiting on Crafted to return to plan our escape route.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Where did Crafted go?”

“INCOMING!”

As the bubble shield burst magical shards everywhere, my question was answered. Crafted landed in the middle of the settlement forming a small crater in his wake, creating a massive cloud of dust. As the cloud cleared, Crafted was revealed to be standing atop a flying zombie, his shadowy wings extended above his head.

“WHY ARE YOU DEAD?!” Crafted shouted, punctuating each word with a punch to the deceased zombie’s face. Crafted gritted his teeth and glared daggers at the corpse. “EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU DIES AS SOON AS YOU TOUCH THE GROUND! WHY?!”

“I think he’s finally snapped for good,” Twilight said, giving a firm facehoof to herself.

A cruel scythe formed over his head, comprised of the same shadow-like substance his wings were. He grabbed the scythe with his hooves, preparing to bring it hurdling down upon the deceased corpse. “PERISH!”

Whatever he had been planning with the scythe was put to an abrupt halt as it was encased in a lavender magical aura.“Crafted Shadow!” Twilight stated firmly, “You will not use this victim for anger venting purposes! Is that clear?”

“Yes, mother!” Crafted spat.

Twilight’s eye twitched and she began to grind her teeth. She stomped forward, her eyes glaring as she was nose to nose with the undead stallion. “Now you listen here, you stupid corpse,” she said, practically growling her threat, “I have turned a blind eye to most of your behaviour because, in the end, they were justifie. But if you speak to me like that again, I will not hesitate to END you.”

Crafted’s face became completely void of emotion. For half a second, he seemed frightened. However, it passed as soon as it came, letting his gaze fall to his hooves like a foal after being scolded by his mother. “Fine,” he muttered, clearly not content with the situation.

Twilight huffed, releasing the scythe as it transmuted into shadowy fog and coalesced back into Crafted’s form. “Now, would you mind telling me what has you so hot and bothered?”

“They are everywhere,” he explained, massaging his temples as though he were assuaging a headache, “We’re blocked off from Ponyville, Manehattan; even the path over the rambling rock ridge is blocked. In short, we’re surrounded… but they just stand there! They don’t enter the forest! I’ve catapulted every sky-born zombie into the forest. By all rights, they should have survived the crash, but every time I checked, they were dead.”

Twilight sighed and patted Crafted’s back as though he were a slow child. “Remember what Zecora said: the trees don’t let the chaos spread. So it has to do something with the trees.”

“Impossible! Trees are just bundles of carbon fibres. There is no way that they could counter the entropy of the zombie lords…” his voice trailed off as his eyes opened in realization. “ZECORA! Where is that zebra?” With that, Crafted spun around and heading towards Zecora’s hut as though she had stolen his cigarettes. As he stalked towards Zecora’s, Summer Song and I stared in shock.

Twilight shook her head in disappointment. “That impulsivity of his will kill him one day,” she said, gesturing to Zecora’s hut, “We need to look through the maps. Maybe we can find some way out of here.”

----[一]----

As we entered the hut, we saw Crafted glaring at the zebra with a twitch in his eye and his teeth gritted. Zecora was calmly changing Echo’s bandages, attempting to calm the pegasus with soothing tones.

“There there,” she said, patting Echo’s head, “There is no reason to fret.” At this she pointedly turned to face Crafted in the eyes. “The tree will see to any undead threat.”

“AHA!” Crafted stated triumphantly, “SO THE FOREST DOESN’T DO ANYTHING ITSELF!” Zecora paid no mind to Crafted as she hummed a tune, calmly picking some herbs from a bundle and ground them in a mortar.

“This forest has many things that can heal and kill,” she stated, gesturing with a leaf and a root to emphasize her point, “but banishing evil it cannot fulfil.” She put both aside and returned to her mortar, adding a bit of yellow powder to the mix. Crafted sat down smugly, throwing another cigarette in his mouth.

“What do you mean the forest doesn’t do anything itself?” Twilight asked as she cocked an eyebrow.

Crafted lit the cigarette, taking a deep drag as he inhaled. “It means exactly what it means: There is nothing magical about this forest. No kind of magical shield protecting this village. Yet, the fact remains that when I made those flying creeps touch the ground, they all died on impact and the fact that no other zombies have tried to approach the forest aside from encircling it,” with this he paused a moment as if deep in thought. “Also, I’m getting the feeling that something here wants to kill me, present company excluded. I mean this forest is just a bunch of wood-” With this statement, his eyes flew open as he jumped forward, approaching Zecora with his cigarette butt hanging in his mouth “-Unless there’s something else keeping the order around here! I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Right you are, my undead… fellow,” Zecora stated, looking directly into Crafted eyes with something similar to genuine curiosity rather than worried mistrust,” Yet I sense that your voice is rather hollow.”

Crafted’s mood fell again as he sat down, crushing the spent cigarette under his hoof. “Now that means that there is something in this forest that we have to protect at all costs. Problem is, we don’t know what that is.”

“The tree…” Twilight murmured, her eyes flying wide, “You mean the Tree of Harmony?”

Crafted’s eyes shot open as he turned his gaze to Twilight. Before anything further could develop, a piercing scream outside shouted: “ZOMBIES!!”

As I was trying to process everything that was going on, everyone dashed outside as I brought up the rear.

----[一]----

As we arrived at the ring of trees, ponies were fleeing from a grey coated zombie wielding a cello. One of the ponies tripped as the zombie approached, looking up as the undead being raised the cello preparing to strike. Shadows darted forward, blocking the cello as it came down. As the zombie’s look shifted to one of puzzlement, Crafted darted forward and kicked said zombie in the face. Crafted then turned to the stumbled pony and uttered one word: “Run.”

The pony, needing no further prompting, ran for the dragonflies like her tail was on fire.

Turning back to the battle, Crafted saw two swordponies charging towards the zombified mare with swords drawn. “NO, YOU FOOLS!” Crafted shouted, “GET BACK!!”

The warning came late as the zombie surged forward with surprising speed. Two bows appeared in her hooves as she stabbed the approaching warriors, piercing through their armor.

“Brave,” Crafted muttered, “Stupid, but brave.”

As the field was becoming clearer, Twilight, Summer, and I noticed the numerous dead soldiers on the field in various states of disfigurement. Thick pools were forming around them as their blood seeped from their bodies. In spite of this, several more charged forward with weapons at the ready.

That was until a wall of shadows blocked their advance. “Get lost, boys,” Crafted stated, almost growling, “She’s mine!”

Twilight turned to face the settlement. “EVACUATE EVERYPONY FROM THE SETTLEMENT! I WANT THE DRAGONFLIES READY TO FLY ASAP!” Everypony present saluted crisply and set about their tasks.

“Nemo,” she said pointing to me, “assist the soldiers. Summer, see that he doesn’t die.”

“What are you going to do, milady?” Summer asked as Twilight bolted into the forest.

“Save this forest!” she shouted, her voice fading slightly.

“I’m afraid that I can’t allow that,” the zombie stated, attempting to charge forward only to get her head smashed into the ground.

“We aren’t done yet,” Crafted stated, smirking slightly.

----[一]----

Vinyl approached the cave where the Tree of Harmony stood, the headache she had becoming more unbearable with each step. As she entered the cave, the shining of the Tree filled the entrance. As she caught sight of the Tree and the jewel filled branches, she looked upon it with a combination of awe and disgust.

The most painful part about being a general was being aware of what she was going to do, but was unable to stop herself. What she was about to do was the most blasphemous thing a pony could do, one so vile that even a mare as rebellious as she felt stained at doing it. As she reached for her weapon, she gave a small bow. “Please forgive me,” she whispered, unable to do much else, “I am not choosing to do this.”

She removed the scroll, humming a peculiar tune. As the scroll was unfurled, a vial of purple liquid emerged from the cryptic symbols upon it. She unplugged the cork, levitating the vial to the roots of the tree. She hesitated for a moment, but the roar in the back of her mind reminded her of her task and so she emptied the contents of the vial on the roots. The liquid saturated the ground, quickly getting absorbed by the roots. Slowly but surely, the tree turned a sickly shade of purple and the brightness of the branches slowly dimmed, slowly plunging the cave in darkness.

As Vinyl’s headache lessened, she knew that the liquid was doing its job. Vinyl sighed wearily and lied down, waiting for further orders.

----[一]----

Crafted eyes widened slightly as he felt the draining energy that had been almost oppressing begin to weaken. Octavia feeling the same sensation backed away a few paces.

“Oh, Crafted,” she said, pulling her cello out once more, “Lucifer will be pleased to hear that you’re also here. He’s still angry about that army that he gave you.”

Crafted groaned as he turned towards the mare. “Oh, he can suck my—”

He got cut of as Octavia darted forward, her cello crushing into his stomach. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” she replied, shaking her head as she grinned victoriously, “Such language.”

Octavia’s grin quickly vanished as shadows engulfed her, lifting her into the air and slamming her into the ground once more. As the shadows rescinded, Octavia faced Crafted cloaked in shadows and wielding a giant scythe.

“Something you should know about me,” he said, walking towards her, “I don’t like getting interrupted.”

Octavia jumped up and formed another cello and bow in her hooves. She laid the bow on the strings threateningly. “Not a step closer!”

“Sure, he stated obligingly, swinging his scythe. A black wave surged forward, slicing through the strings of the cello.

----[一]----

On the edge of the forest, the zombies were growing impatient, their groans and screeches became louder and viler as time passed. Some of the super zombies felt the force that had kept them out of the forest becoming weaker and began to advance into the forest, crushing some of their own kind as they surged forward.

----[一]----

As Twilight entered the cave she saw that she was too late. The normally bright tree was now fading like a candle in the wind.

“I’m sorry…”

She saw a shadow lying in the middle of the cave. “Who are you?”

“Vinyl Scratch, your Highness…”

Twilight inwardly cringed at the title. Before she could tell Vinyl not to call her that anymore, she heard her cursing.

“Oh buck off, master,” she said vehemently, “I’ve done as you told me! Now let me address my former princess as I want!”

“Excuse me?” Twilight walked closer to look at the mare she was talking to, only to get startled as she stood up.

“Fine, I’ll fight her,” she said, pausing as though someone were answering, though no one else was present, “Yes I know that the poison is still reversible! - Ok, maybe I shouldn’t have said that out loud, but I can’t think with you yelling at me like that! - Who cares? - She would have to make me hum that bucking tune again! - Like you would let me do that! - Oh, she is a necromancer. - I’m sorry, ok?!”

“V-Vinyl, are you ok?”

Vinyl stepped into the light, revealing her rotten body. “I’m just fine…”

----[一]----

“Y-You cut my strings!” Octavia shrieked, disbelief in her voice.

“Oh please, you didn’t really think that I would believe that instrument was just good for bashing pony-brains, did you?” Crafted asked with a grin, charging forwards.

One kick sent the bow flying in one direction and a second one crushed the cello. Shadows oozed from Crafted’s body, engulfing Octavia. The shadows whipped her around and sent her flying into the nearest tree.

As Octavia recovered from the crash, she grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes at Crafted. Rising to her haunches, she retrieved a violin along with a new bow and placed it upon the strings. Before Crafted could react, she began to play, sending a shockwave towards Crafted. The force of the blast sent the shadow coated zombie flying into a makeshift shelters of the settlement, causing it to collapse under its own weight. Octavia sighed in relief, walking towards the centre of the settlement where she would finish her assignment. Or would have if a shadow hadn’t grabbed her leg and pulled her towards the debris where her buried foe laid.

“Are you for real?!” Shadows oozed once again from Crafted asked, shadows oozing from his body as his voice became distorted, “You seem to forget who I am! I am the one who destroyed Lucifer’s third division, I am the one who knows how to get to the Akashic records, and I am the Wielder of Shadows!”

As he spoke, the shadows were morphing behind Crafted’s body, starting to form a body. A horned head was formed and from the mass that was the body sprouted the wings of a bat. Arms of minotaurian might gripped a mighty scythe. All in all, the sight was unlike anything Octavia had ever seen.

She had been so shocked that she didn’t even see the shadow’s fist until it collided with her. When she landed, she looked up and jumped left to avoid the impaling scythe as it sliced through where she had been laying. Summoning a new cello, she played another series of shockwaves sending them towards Crafted.

Crafted vanished in a flash of darkness, appearing behind Octavia. With a quick movement, the shadow grasped her and tore off a foreleg, preventing her playing another note. He then smashed into the ground for good measure. She groaned in response, her remaining limbs feeling like leadened weights.

“I’m sorry,” he said, causing Octavia to look up at his somber expression, the shadows beginning to dissipate, “You’re just a victim. I should’ve gone easier.”

Hearing that, Octavia’s eyes did something they had been unable to for a long time: they watered up. “...Make them pay,” she whispered, her voice barely above a whisper.

Crafted looked at her, quirking an eyebrow.

“They took everything from me,” she said, the tears flowing more easily, “I know I’m not the only one they’ve done this to, but for some reason they decided to make me participate in this. I have done terrible things. I have seen ponies cling to their last breath only to die in the end. I’ve seen the eyes ponies in complete terror. If I didn’t obey, they wouldn’t just let me die. But that wasn’t the worst of it-” her voice began to quaver “-they broke my best friend and made me watch.”

“Our lord will fall,” Crafted said, his tone quiet as his eyes lit in determination, “and the rest will fail as miserably as he did. I am giving you an opportunity: I can let you die here and give you your final peace or you can join me and take revenge yourself.” The shadows shifted once more, letting Octavia stand on her three remaining legs.

Octavia smiled sadly, her fur still dampened where her tear fell. “I’m afraid that I’m not going to be much of a help anymore,” she said, gesturing to the gory mess where her leg used to be. It was then she noticed something, or rather the lack of something that caught her attention. “It’s quiet,” she said, noticing the oddity.

“I cut Lucifer’s connection, but once his influence is gone, you won’t be able to sustain yourself anymore,” he said, walking forward looking deep into her eyes, “So, it’s decision time: Are you joining me or not?”

After a moments thought, she had her answer. “I-Take me with you.”

Crafted smiled. “Then let’s seal this with a kiss.”

“Wha—” Octavia replied before Crafted pressed his muzzle onto hers. As the kiss connected, Octavia felt the death energy flow from her body into Crafted’s. As the kiss ended, Octavia’s body collapsed with a thump.

Crafted lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag from it. “Finally a moment to think.”

At that moment, as though the universe decided to mock him, a screech echoed through the forest.

“Never mind...”

----[一]----

Twilight looked at Vinyl’s rotten body, her face becoming neutral. “You’re a zombie.”

Vinyl snorted. “You really should have become the princess of the obvious.”

Twilight frowned at the statement causing Vinyl to cringe. “I’m sorry, your Highness, he made me say that.”

Twilight turned her gaze from Vinyl to the sickly glow of the Tree of Harmony. “What did you do to it?”

“Poisoned it,” she answered, “and the only way to get the antivenom is to make me give it to you.”

Twilight’s horn stood ablaze as she began to cast a spell. “I take that there is no way around it, am I right.”

“Afraid so,” Vinyl replied, tapping a hoof to the ground and causing large loudspeaker to rise from the ground. She hefted it to her shoulder, the cone facing towards Twilight as she said three simple words: “Drop that bass!”

A shock wave crashed into Twilight, causing her to slam into the nearest wall. Dust clouded the air as rocks fell from the roof of the cave.

“You are aware I was resting?” an unknown voice said, haughtiness clearly defined in her voice.

“I am very sorry to disturb you, but I had no other choice,” Twilight’s voice answered, echoing through the cloud of the dust.

“While I am aware that you are close to nothing without me, however I had thought the whole ‘necromancy’ thing going on, did you not?” The dust began clearing revealing two shadows in the cloud.

“We don’t have time for this,” Twilight said exasperatedly, “The last thing that could save Equestria is in danger and we have to save it. Please?!”

“Very well,” the haughty voice replied in a pouty tone, “Being dead is not nearly as exciting as saving Equestria. I shall help you.”

“Thank you.”

As the dust settled, an azure coated unicorn mare wearing a star covered sorcerer’s hat and cape leaped forward, rearing upon her hind hooves. Her pitch black eyes with violet irises bored holes into Vinyl.

“BEHOLD! THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRRRRRRIXIEEEEE IS HERE TO END YOU!”

“Hey!” Vinyl shouted indignantly, lowering her bass cannon, “Two against one ain’t fair!”

She quickly regretted that move as Trixie shot a spell at her that sent her flying into the ground. “And an army against a small defenseless settlement is fair play?” she asked, huffing a bit.

“Point taken,” Vinyl admitted begrudgingly, her horn alighting as she tossed Trixie off to the side. Smiling a bit at the petty payback, as she lifted her bass cannon and looked about for her lavender foe. However, she found her as several magical darts sailed towards her, dispersing them with a blast of bass.

“Damn, you almost had me there.”

“I’d say the decoy maneuver had served its purpose then,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Deco— Oh shoot…” she uttered, seeing Trixie as she was forming a giant fireball.

Trixie unleashed the inferno, which Vinyl had attempted to shatter with a sound blast. All it managed to do was spread it further, landing on .

“I hope she doesn’t burn too much, she could prove to be useful.” Trixie said with a smug smile. Seeing the forlorn expression on Twilight’s face though, she rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on Starbutt, it’s not as though the spell could kill her.”

“She’s innocent, Trixie,” Twilight said simply, the weight of the words hitting Trixie like a sledgehammer.

“Oh… I see.”

As the fire began to fade, a verbal firework of swears was audible from the charred stone. “OH, BUCK THE HELL OFF!!”

Twilight and Trixie shared a confused look as the now charred remains of Vinyl, her coat burned away along with several layers of flesh, making her seem more like a skeleton than a zombie.

“OF EVERYTHING YOU PUT ME THROUGH, THIS IS THE WORST!! - WHY DO WE EVEN HAVE THE ABILITY TO FEEL PAIN?!- MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET BURNED TO THE BONE!! - OR WHAT?! - YOU CAN’T HURT ME ANYMORE, THIS IS THE UNIVERSAL LIMIT!! - BY CELESTIA, I DIDN’T EVEN THINK THAT FEELING THIS MUCH PAIN WAS EVEN POSSIBLE!!”

“You spellbind her, I’ll silence him.”

Trixie nodded and began casting her spell. Vinyl was engulfed in a set of magical strings, making her unable to move. Twilight began murmuring some words in a forgotten language creating a cloud that sealed the cave off from the rest of the world.

“OH LOOK, NOW YOU ARE QUIET!! THIS IS THE FIRST BUCKING TIME IN, LIKE, FOREVER THAT YOU’VE SHUT THAT BIG MOUTH OF YOURS!!”

“He can’t hear you,” Twilight explained calmly.

“Huh?” Vinyl asked dumbly, her anger having cooled down a bit. She soon felt the cool soothing sensation of an anaesthetic spell that Trixie had cast. She looked at Twilight and bowed.

“Your Highness, I’m sorry! I’m so so sorry! Please, have mercy…” Vinyl’s voice began cracking, as she laid on the ground and began sobbing. She was genuinely shocked when she felt Twilight patting her back, the hoof gentle upon her burned flesh.

“Don’t apologise,” she said calmly, “and don’t call me ‘Princess’.”

“B-But, your Highness...”

“I would love to explain why to you,” she interrupted, looking at the dying tree, “but we really need that antivenom you were talking about.”

Vinyl’s mouth opened and closed a few time, her voice coming out in stammerings. “I-I—”

“Please, Vinyl, every second is precious.”

“I don’t know how!” Vinyl admitted, her voice crying in despair.

A chill ran down Twilight’s spine. “Y-You don’t know?” she asked quietly.

Vinyl cowered to the ground, covering her face as she waited for the rage of her former ruler. “What do you mean, ‘I don’t know’?”

“W-when you cut me off from Lucifer, you also cut me off from the Akashic records,” Vinyl explained, her voice tumbling over itself a few times, “Without that, I don’t know the tune…”

Twilight fell defeatedly to the floor, despair clutching at her heart. She looked helplessly at the Tree, the poison slowly making its way to the gems that were once worn by her friends.

“I’m sorry,” Vinyl said quietly, “Please, just make it end. Make the pain stop.”

“What in Equestria happened to you?” Trixie asked, her voice barely above that of a whisper.

“Hell,” she said simply, her eyes saying more than she ever could, “Every day. The smallest form of misbehaviour was punished by excruciating pain… Just pain…” She grabbed her head, attempting to squeeze the memories out as she squeezed her eyes shut. “Please, I just can’t take it anymore,” she whispered pityingly.

Vinyl almost panicked as she felt Twilight throw her hooves around her. When nothing more happened, she realized that she was getting something she hadn’t received in a long time: a warm embrace. Twilight moved her hoof to what remained of Vinyl’s mane, slowly stroking it as she shushed the deceased pony to a sense of calm.

“Nopony’s going to hurt you anymore,” Twilight said reassuringly.

“Please, let me die,” Vinyl pleaded, still in Twilight’s embrace, “I just want to cease to exist.”

Twilight frowned as she faced the zombie. “No.”

Vinyl bowed and started to beg. “Please, have mercy and end me!”

Twilight looked at the tree. “How long do we have?”

Vinyl sighed. “Maybe an hour, if we’re lucky.”

Twilight nodded. “Then we have to make the best out of the time we have.” She looked back to Vinyl. “Get on your hooves!”

Vinyl did as she was told, shaking slightly as she tried to keep her composure.

“You will get your deserved rest,” Twilight promised, “but not now.”

“B-But—”

“No ‘buts,’” Twilight said with finality, “We are at war and every soldier is valuable.”

“I’m not—”

“Do you know the zombie who is rampaging in the settlement?”

“Octy?” Vinyl said uncertainly.

“Do you really want to leave her alone?”

Vinyl was quiet for a while. “She—”

“Is probably defeated and recruited by now, knowing who beat her.”

Vinyl was quiet for a while before looking up again. “No… more pain?”

Twilight smiled the warmest smile she could conjure. “I promise.”

Vinyl shifted about uncomfortably for a second. “C… Could you please not tell her that I cried?”

Twilight chuckled a bit. “Sure.”

Vinyl took a deep breath and bowed a final time. “Your Highness, it would be an honour to fight along your side.”

Twilight sighed at the word ‘highness’ but let it slide. “Then rise.”

Vinyl did as she was told. “So… what happens now? Will I still hear him?”

“After we seal the contract, no.”

“And how do we seal it?” Vinyl asked confusedly.

“With a kiss.”

Vinyl would have blushed, if she still had blood… or cheeks to blush on. She didn’t get the chance as Twilight pressed her muzzle on Vinyl’s, their lips touching lightly. Vinyl’s body became heavy and finally fell to the floor.

A suggestive whistle was audible from Trixie who was chuckling at the scene.

“That is tradition.” Twilight said, resisting the urge to facehoof.

“Sure,” Trixie said knowingly, “I still remember my first kiss from you.”

Twilight blushed. “Oh, shut up! And… thank you.”

Trixie smiled gently. “No problem, but I’m getting a little tired…”

Twilight’s horn lit as Trixie slowly sank into the ground. “Have a deserved rest, and may I never have to call you again.”

“Oh, but I wouldn’t mind getting called again,” Trixie said suggestively with a wink, causing Twilight’s blush to blossom again.

“Till next time, Starbutt!” she called in farewell, sinking back into the soil. As Trixie’s presence vanished, the cloud in the cave lifted.

Twilight took a deep breath. “Finally, some time to think!”

A screech echoed through the forest.

Twilight sighed. “Never mind.”

Twilight took a deep breath. “Finally some time to think…”

A screech echoed through the forest.

Twilight sighed. “Never mind.”

Paragraph seven - Get the Hell out of Here

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Paragraph eight - Coming Home

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Paragraph nine - The Lost Library

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