Dead in civilization

The skeletons claw out of the large hole in the center town, most of the ponies who were outside ran back in except a brave few who wanted to see what would happen to their small town. The skeletons seemed to pour out endlessly, however there were only about eighty. Eighty skeletal dragons and griffons had clawed out of the hole and lined up in rows of ten.

Twilight and her friends resumed running towards Dead only to run into the invisible wall was still there. The group sprung backwards and landed in a heap.

"Alright troops!" Dead announced, she spoke like a drill Sargent of sorts. "It is time for operation Charlie Lima Echo Alpha November..." Dead paused for a moment. "Uniform Papa!" The skeletons froze after Dead had finished the announcement, and then a familiar skull flew up from the hole and floated next to Dead. Dead smiled. "Alright troops! CHARGE!" Dead shouted and the skeletons took off and flew to various points in the town and landed.

"Operation Charlie..." Twilight started mumbling to herself before Rainbow ran up to her.

"Twilight! What do we do! There everywhere!" A panicked Rainbow shouted.

A smile over came Twilight. "Nothing." She calmly said. "We do nothing at all."

"What!?" The group shouted as Dead casually walked pass them, almost going unnoticed. Applejack promptly grabbed Dead and placed her in the group.

"Now what the hay was that all about?" Applejack angrily asked Dead.

"Think about it, I am certain Twilight got it... Doesn't surprise me." Dead chuckled. "Just think about what I called the operation." Dead teleported out of the circle and slowly walked away.

"Now what was she talking about?" Applejack asked as she rubbed her head in confusion.

"The operation, she spoke using code, the Phonetic alphabet. It translates to... Operation C.L.E.A.N.U.P! She set the whole thing up, made it look like she was doing something sinister!"

"Sooo, she pranked us?" Rainbow said sounding incredibly confused.

"Yes, yes she did." Twilight sighed.

"And there I was thinking nopony could pull a better prank then me. I'm going to have to pull something big in order to catch up with that! She had the whole town pranked!" Rainbow chuckled happily as she realized what they had been saying. "We really fell for it..."

"That we did..." Rarity sighed happily. "Well at least she is not evil."

Thump!

A tree was thrown down the hole and made a large thump as it hit the bottom the ground that was carrying it let out a small silent cheer and then went back to work.

"It seems like they're having a fun time." Rainbow pointed out. "Well I'm not going to be outdone by a bunch of bones!" Rainbow shouted as she quickly flew off to aid in the clean up of the town.

"Well I'm going to go find Dead and see if I can't lend a helping hoof!" Rarity chirped as she happily walked off.

"Well I better go see if Big Mac needs a hand in the orchards. See ya all later!" Applejack announced as she went off in the direction of Apple Acres.

"I will go help some forest animals, a lot came in from the edge of Everfree..." Fluttershy quietly said as she slowly flew off.

"Well I will go distract all the ponies with a huge party! That way they won't be so stressed!" Pinkie shouted as she bounced off and began materializing invitations.

Twilight was now alone, save the skeletons flying around a dropping waste into the large hole, "Huh... I guess I should..."

"Greetings!" A familiar voice shouted out, Twilight turned around and saw the floating dragon skull slowly making its way over.

"Skullworthy! How are you doing?" Twilight said happily.

"All has been we at my end, how has Dead been?" The skull asked.

"She has been good, but she was asleep for two weeks." Twilight said, she noted the skull tilt slightly.

"Ah yes, I felt that. She started to lose grip on some of us, however we decided it would be best to stay."

"Lose grip?" Twilight sounded slightly confused. "What would happen if she lost her grip?"

"We are in Dead's 'grip' so to speak. We have free will, that is something she allows. Other necromancers in the past have kept us as mindless slaves. However Dead allows us our free will to an extent, we are unable to do certain things, I believe that Dead has a list somewhere." The skull informed.

"But what happens if she loses that?" Twilight quizzed.

"We can become unbound... We could lose control and go on rampages. Much like the skeletal nightmare, we will try and generate more undead by killing others." The skull said sadly. "However as her grip loosens we can choose to stay in her power, most undead creatures would not choose that. But most necromancers do not allow free will, which is why most undead become unbound when given the choice."

"So as far as necromancers go... Dead is a good one?"

"Yes, a very good one. Out of the four alive she is the nicest."

"There are four necromancers alive? Only four?"

"Yes only four. All immortal by their own means. One feasted on the essence of a lich, one is frozen in time, one feasts on the souls of the lost and the last one is a natural born immortal however we are uncertain if that is immortal of long lived."

"Wait with Dead that makes five necromancers... What did Dead do?"

"I said what Dead did in order to obtain immortality. However I will not say which one is hers."

"You can trust me Skullworthy, I don't think Dead would mind."

"You would have to ask her yourself. I cannot tell you because I am unable to, I forgot which one did what...."

"Oh, okay Skullworthy. Do you know where Dead is?" Twilight asked the floating skull as it started to orbit her. "Um Skullworthy?" Twilight asked as the skull glowed with a white energy. "Why are you doing?" The white aura flashed and Twilight was outside Rarity's house, dizzy and dazed she fell to the ground as was helped up by Rarity.

"Twilight? Are you alright?" Rarity asked as Twilight stumbled around.

"Uh I should be, just give me a moment. I think Skullworthy just teleported me here. Uh my head is spinning." Twilight stumbled and nearly fell over however Rarity caught her.

"Did Skullworthy teleport you here?" Dead asked as she came around the corner with a large boulder in her magical grip. She placed the boulder down and three dragons and two griffons came over and took it. "Sorry about that Twilight, I warned him that teleporting living beings confuses them."

"Teleports should not normally do that... What kind of spell is it?" A dazed Twilight half stuttered as she fumbled out of Rarity's grip and into Dead's.

"Its a special spell meant for teleporting undead creatures effortlessly, you see the stabilization goes out the window... Meaning that distance you travel..." Dead started as Twilight fell out of her grip and onto the floor. "You spent the whole trip spinning around... Anyway what brings you over here then, I don't expect Skullworthy just teleported you for no reason.