Twilight studied the incantation over and over again, her desperation growing all the more fervent with each passing failure.

Although the words scrawled in blood were archaic and certainly not of pony origin, she was almost one hundred percent certain her pronunciation of the text was absolutely flawless.

So why wasn't it working?

This was her tenth attempt to reanimate Raven with no success.

Twilight was growing impatient.

Dispelling the bubbling darkness attached to her horn with a clench of her eyes, Twilight swung from the book to trot up to the cold lifeless corpse, her head shaking back and fore as her mind boggled with the latest problem that has come to hinder her investigation.

“I don’t understand what it is I am doing wrong. From what I have studied of the tome, the incantation alone should have an effect upon a corpse even hours after death, so, why isn't it working? Is her body too damaged? From what I can tell, the brain needs to be somewhat intact for the spell to take effect but, there seems to be no major damage to the cranium except for some fractures, if Nurse Redheart's preliminary investigation is anything to go by.”

Twilight rushed a hoof through her mane, impatiently pacing back and forth beside the operating table, muttering to herself. “What am I doing wrong?”

How else was she to discover the truth?

Who else would know of Raven's true purpose?

No pony, thought Twilight, except Silver hammer, but even then... he won't talk. He'd take the secret to the grave.

This, was the only way.

How else will she be able to properly understand just how far these black roots of betrayal snaked within Celestia’s kingdom?

Raven was the only one who would know the totality.

Twilight has to make this spell work, no matter the cost.

Frustration soon bled into anger as Twilight stomped a hoof down onto the cold red tiled flooring, bucking over the trolley to send the dusty old tome skipping across the ground until it struck the wall on the far side of the morgue.

“I cannot give up!” Twilight growled between clenched teeth. “I cannot fail the Princess—I will not fail her! I need to know the truth. I can’t turn back now; I have to make this work, somehow.”

Squeezing her eyelids shut, Twilight Sparkle replayed the tongue twisting mesh of words within her mind while her lips silently worded each and every awkward syllable over and over again, digging deep not into the well of magical energy she was used to, but tapping into something she could feel tugging at her soul.

Something she had felt when whispering the words previously, but was too afraid to willingly acknowledge its icy existence inside of her.

Eventually, she broke out into a hurried whisper as a powerful sensation bloomed like a dazzling rose deep inside of her heart, causing her body to sway on the spot and for that odd sensation inside of her to thaw.

A rush of emotions she was ashamed to admit pumped through her veins and thundered against her eardrums.

It felt… interesting.

Oddly empowering in a guilty sort of way.

“Cerebus tutore de Tartarus, seni Phastami Raven venire contri nihilim…”

Twilight’s horn erupted once again in an aura of abyss that consumed the lavender horn completely, chasing away the light and plunging portions of the room into total blackness, as she broke out into a loud and clear voice, feeling the need to fuel the incantation with the emotions that longed to bleed out of her tongue.

“Phatasmatis, radaiix quoda causca di vita! Comando adeo fhtagen adeo nihi meus e negotigm!”

Slipping open her eyes, Twilight Sparkle glared upon Raven’s corpse with glowing red irises, a soft sheen of green creeping in from the corners to consume her narrowed, concentrated glare completely as a pleasant smile washed over her lips.

It’s… it’s working! I can feel it… it’s… it’s, warm… kind of comforting. Why was I so afraid before?

“Gratia ago eyal, infernis da Cerebus! Tartarus ago ve Phastami Raven silenti ec transeic!”

Raven’s hoof trembled under the infernal words, catching Twilight’s attention before throwing more of her energy into the spell, pouring every ounce of emotion she had to spill behind her voice, her excitement rising as victory was but a few seconds away.

“Tartarus! Ago ve Phastami Raven pro iuntia nihil in meus!”

Twilight’s hot breath blew out from between her lips in the drastically freezing cold air of the morgue, black shapes of creatures and monsters often witnessed within the deepest mania of nightmares danced wildly along the walls, as an ethereal inky substance slithered from the tip of her horn and snaked into each and every orifice of Raven’s corpse, causing the once mobile pony to tremble and then to violently spasm upon the operating table.

“Tartarus! Ago ve Phastami Raven pro iuntia nihil in meus!”

Twilight took a step forward, her green tinted eyes manically wide as a purple slither of energy escaped her gaze, her smile so wide her cheeks began to ache as she watched the fruits of her labor blossom before her.

“IN MEUS, NIHIL, RAVEN!”

As Twilight Sparkle screamed out the finale of the spell, Raven’s body writhed as her eyes flew wide open, startling the lavender mare and causing her to fall back onto her rump, staring wide eyed as she watched the once dead pony thrash and scream an inequine howl that caused the two guards that had escorted the nurse out previously to come rushing in.

Both of the stallions paused before the door, their mouths agape as they watched the corpse slip from the table and strike the ground hard with a sickening slap.

“W-what in Tartarus?” Whispered one of the guards to the other, the response little next to nothing as he too simply stared on in disbelief.

Twilight Sparkle; frozen to the spot, only watched on in horror as Raven pushed herself to her hooves; unflinching despite her broken leg pushing its damaged bone right through the flesh of her thigh.

The boiling aura of the darkened formation disappeared from Twilight’s horn as all thought of the incantation was abandoned, although, the green sheen and red coloration of her eyes had certainly remained for the most part, though in a lesser state of its former intensity.

She had done it.

Twilight had brought Raven back from the dead.

Rising to her hooves, Twilight moved around the table to approach Raven, only to pause and take another step back, gasping at what she saw.

Raven, although animate, regarded Twilight Sparkle with dead eyes, blood leaking from her ears, nose, eyes and even the corners of her mouth as a soft though droning moan passed her drool smeared, grey, lifeless lips.

As the guards pressed forward, one of them regarded Twilight Sparkle with worry.

“Stand back; we don't know what is going on here, but she may be dangerous.”

Twilight only nodded, retreating as she kept her eyes locked upon the reanimated mare as something deep inside of Twilight told her something had gone very, very wrong.

Of course, by the time the guards had approached the mare, it was already too late for Twilight to share her concerns.

Raven’s body, although damaged, moved with a swiftness of an athlete, quickly snapping her muzzle up to clench her blooded teeth around the throat of one of the guards and with a effective simplicity, ripped her head back and tore the flesh from his throat, dropping the guard instantly as he helplessly gripped at his throat, trying to plug the hole with his hooves before he could bleed out.

Snarling like a beast, Raven lunged down at the dying guard, plunging her teeth into his exposed stomach; ripping and tearing with her teeth until his soft gooey innards were exposed for her to noisily feast upon.

The remaining guard, although as terrified as the shivering Twilight Sparkle who had long since retreated into the corner of the room screaming, quickly broke from his stupor and flung himself into action.

"Monster!" He yelled.

Summoning a discarded scalpel that had been previously knocked to the ground by Twilight Sparkle, the guard quickly jabbed the surgical implement deep into the back of Raven’s head, causing the mare to sag heavily against the corpse of his dead comrade, convulsing in what Twilight could hope to be the mare’s final death throe.

The guard panted heavily, stepping back from the bloodbath with wide, disbelieving eyes. “W-what did you do?”

“I… I-I was just trying to…” Twilight looked up at the guard with guilt riddled across her face. “I-I didn't mean to…”

Approaching Twilight Sparkle, the guard shook his head as he moved to grasp at the mare’s hoof, dragging her towards the door.

“Save the explanations for later, Miss Twilight Sparkle. I am going to get you out of—aruuuuuuugh!” The stallion released Twilight Sparkle, his muzzle contorted into agony as he looked down and attempted to wrench his leg away from the two set of jaws that had clamped firmly about his thigh.

Twilight Sparkle screamed as she flung herself back from her savior, her hooves scrambling against the ground as she firmly backed herself up against the wall.

“HELP ME!” The stallion yelled as he fell to the ground, as both Raven and the recently deceased guard feasted upon his mangled leg while he reached out towards Twilight Sparkle with both hooves, desperately trying to claw his way towards her as he kicked out at the two assailants.

Twilight Sparkle placed her hooves against her head as she violently shook her head from side to side, sliding across the wall to keep far away from the guard's grip. “Th-this can’t be happening!”

Abandoning the pleas of the guard as the two monstrosities crawled up his body to feed elsewhere from his still living flesh, Twilight resigned herself to leave the poor stallion as bait, just so she could at the very least escape with her own life.

B-but what happens if these things escape?

Twilight paused mid trot, her eyes turning from the door to the monsters feeding from the still struggling guard, who looked upon her in his dying moments with an expression she could only describe as betrayal.

I have to stop them… this is my fault!

Scrambling across the room towards the discarded tome, Twilight used her magic to quickly flick through the pages as she skidded onto her haunches before it. “There has to be a counter-spell; a dispel—or something! Anything!”

Casting a nervous glance over her shoulder, Twilight Sparkle had to clench her lips tight to restrain the nausea building up inside of her throat at the sight of two ponies actively devouring another of their kind—shredding and ripping flesh, swallowing whole mouthfuls of the still warm meat and guts, spreading blood across their grinning faces as they dipped their muzzles into the gaping wound.

Breathing heavily through her nostrils; fearing she would most certainly vomit all over the pages of the book, Twilight Sparkle eventually came to the spell’s original incantation, her eyes raking over the text before it and afterwards to discover…

“There… there is no counter-spell… there’s… there's nothing!” Twilight flicked through more pages, skimming their contents in a vain hope she would come across something... though in the end, she found nothing of use.

“No… no, no-no-no! NO! This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening! This—”

A groan from over her shoulder and the cold breath of something breathing heavily upon the back of her neck, caused Twilight Sparkle to rigidly sit up straight. Her body quaked as she whimpered, casting a tearful, fearful glance over her shoulder to witness the bloodstained face of a drooling Raven grinning wildly back at her, inches away.

“R-Raven… d-don’t…” Twilight pleaded, cautiously turning her body so that she could face the creature, forgetting about the book entirely. “S-stay back…”

Raven simply tilted her head.

The undead mare shambled backwards, as if complying with her demand.

Regarding Raven’s retreat with a raised brow and a growing, nervous smile, Twilight nodded slowly. “That’s it... just… sit there?” She almost laughed.

Surely that was just a fluke?

Raven slowly sat back on her rear, rocking back and fore as fresh blood seeped from between her teeth, staring at Twilight as if patiently awaiting her next command.

Glancing to her trembling hooves, Twilight Sparkle turned her gaze to the guard still feasting upon his now motionless comrade, then back to Raven who remained exactly where she was, as commanded.

Was this happening?

“I-It can’t be…” Twilight stood up to her hooves, looking between the two mobile corpses, unsure as to what to do with them.

If Raven was intelligent enough to understand basic commands, then surely...?

“Raven… Raven! Look at me,” Twilight Sparkle tried her best to push out the sounds of gnawing bone and the squelching of flesh gnashing jaws out of her mind, with little success, “who ordered you to kill Celestia? Why did you do it?”

Raven merely replied with a blood gurgling moan.

Twilight hesitantly lifted her hooves to place them either side of Raven’s bloodstained muzzle, shaking the mare's head lightly. “Raven. Focus! I order you to tell me why you tried to assassinate the Princess.”

The undead mare shook her head from side to side in an hypnotic sway, groaning still.

“Raven!” Twilight pushed past her fear, anger rising in her words that subsequently caused her red irises to spark into a deep crimson glow. “Tell me!”

Raven released yet another expected groan as she lifted her dead eyed gaze up to the ceiling, staring up at it as if something had caught her interest there.

Useless… Twilight thought. Who was I kidding? A dead pony being able to speak? Of course they wouldn't… I’m such an idiot.

Standing up, Twilight took in the chaos to which her actions had wrought.

Two ponies had died through her gross misconduct of magical incantations beyond her comprehension.

“When the Princess finds out… she’ll hate me… b-banish me…”

Biting at her lower lip, Twilight Sparkle felt a flare of rage eat her up inside at the mere concept of complete and utter failure in the face of what she believed to be a righteous act.

The truth to Celestia’s assassination was forever lost with Raven’s death and there was nothing Twilight could do.

Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes down at Raven who only stared up at her obediently, awaiting her next command.

Summoning every drop of malice she had towards the mare’s reanimated presence, Twilight Sparkle gathered her energies about the tip of her horn, manifesting her hatred into a darkened aura that caused the undead guard to look up from his meal and gawk towards Twilight Sparkle, while a chunk of flesh dangled from his bloodied maw.

“I gave myself to black magic; I gave myself to something that was forbidden… I have forsaken the trust of someone I love just to bring you back; to make you confess for all that you have done; and the result? You killed two innocent stallions and it was all my fault!”

With her eyes wide with fury, Twilight Sparkle swung her horn, summoning an ethereal blade that screeched through the air and sliced Raven’s head clean from her shoulders, dropping the undead creature instantly.

Turning to the undead guard and his reanimating partner, Twilight Sparkle lifted the bloodied magical blade up high into the air as tears streamed down her muzzle, striking them both down just as the morgue's door opened.

As their decapitated heads struck the ground, Nurse Redheart screamed as Twilight Sparkle lifted her red eyes up to narrow them upon the mare trembling in the doorway.

"M-MURDERER!"

Author's Note

Well, I don't know about you guys but I fucking enjoyed that! I hope you did too.

Like, hate, flame and/or comment! It is all good.