The Road Left Alone.

Cold raindrops were falling from the grey sky.

“I can’t believe that...”

Six days passed since Dawn and Lightning Reel escaped the Ironclaw massacre. The rainy weather followed them all the way from the southern Wilds till Trottingham. Usually warm and soft, the wind became freezing. Seemed like Equestria itself mourned the loss of a good warrior, kind friend and a brave griffon.

Many friends of Dawn died there, but only Reggie’s death shocked him so much. When he saw the blade from his companion’s body, he dashed through the building, trying to do anything, but there was nothing. A puddle of blood was the only thing that left of a brown griffon.

He hadn’t seen who did that either. Seeing something in the dark night, looking through the bright purple fire was almost impossible and he was ashamed himself because of that. Every night he has nightmares. Faces of his friends, their voices and happy laugh. It was just too hard to bear alone.

Lightning Reel was mostly spending his time on the clouds, understanding what happened back then. “How could I miss that? It was my fault that I didn’t notice this magic spell coming...” He woke up when everything was over. Dawn brought him to the Forsaken Forest and told a grim truth. Once saved Reggie’s life, he couldn’t do it again.

They didn’t knew who controlled the army of undead, but the magic reminded them about the old tales of dark sorcerers, who were able to use greatest spells and control the Death itself.
It was strange that the army hadn’t moved through the griffon or pony lands. It’s just disappeared. Although Dawn heard something about Talos being sieged. That might be another little war between griffon clans anyway.

Some ponies of Trottingham were terrified by the news brought by two travellers, but others just didn’t believe them.

“Undeads? Ha, you are just crazy! How could a huge army like that stay unnoticed? Likely story! You griffons are always trying to scare us, ponies. Not this time!”

Dawn and Lightning had to investigate this all on their own. They were heading to the Canterbury to find a wizard named Midnight Sun. He knew a lot about dark magic and necromancy. That is what made him the only chance to find out the nature of the threat.
The white griffon was standing on the road to the east. He used to be the one who helped banished griffons to get into Equestria. Now, he was just a half lion, half eagle, with no goal. His only wish was a revenge. Revenge for every soldier and civilian who died, trying to stop the killing march.

“Ready to go?” a blue pegasus asked.

Dawn sighed. “Midnight Sun won’t be happy to hear these news.”

********

He always enjoyed travelling across Equestria. Somehow the land of it was clear of aggressive animals and other darkspawns. Even winter here was soft and windless.

They decided to wait in the nearby undergrowth till the rain ended, hiding under the trees. His feathers were wet, same as his armor and pockets.

“We’re close to the Equestrian border.” Lightning once told him. “I can’t do anything with clouds here, it’s just useless.”

“The weather is alright. I don’t want to get our food rot.” Dawn answered.

As the rain stopped, they continued moving through the plains. Dappleshore was not far away from them, but it would be just a waste of time, visiting this town - they already had provisions for a few days and their equipment didn’t need any repairs.

It was a cloudy afternoon, Dawn and Lightning reached a little forest in a few miles from Canterbury. There was nothing special about it. Just simple Equestrian trees, green juicy grass and friendly animals around.

A light from a bonfire was warm. Pegasus ranger cooked some mushrooms on the fire and it smells very tasty. Nothing of that cheered Dawn, the dark memories were not going out of his mind.

Lightning glanced at him. “What did you think when he died?” he asked silently. It was too hard to tell these words.

“I’m not sure... I... I was shocked and tried to save him, it was too late...” white griffon stared at fire. He had no chance to bury his childhood friend, that hurt him. “They will pay. I promise that I will find out who was behind this attack. I will find out who killed him, and I will kill him with hardest violence you could ever imagine...”

“You are not alone. This wizard from the Canterbury surely knows something about what happened there. After getting some clues, we’ll be able to do what we must.” a pegasus laid on the ground. “Now we need some sleep, tomorrow will be a long day.”

“You sleep. I will stay up guarding our stuff.” was his short answer.

“But it’s Equestria, you don’t need to...”

“Just let me do this.” the tone of his voice was speaking for itself. Lightning nodded and closed his eyes.

********

Canterbury was a seaport near Bridle Seashores. Many ships and boats were making their stops in this town to resupply or sell some goods. The wharf was made of a stone and wood. There were many boxes and chests, because traders liked to make their business not going aways from ships. Many of them spent their free time between journeys in the Inns or Taverns around the town.

Being a popular place helped the city to earn big profits. There was all kinds of shops: armories, bakeries, magical stores, even libraries where travellers could buy interesting books or maps they needed.

But a showplace in Canterbury was a big, ancient castle, which was founded by a pirate ponies hundreds years ago. An observatory was a part of one tower and was a house for a wizard and scientist - Midnight Sun.

A little group of two armored fighters was not an unusual picture here - many ponies wanted to become a bodyguards or sailors.

“Hello ponies... Oh, and griffons of course! What brought such a brave heroes here? Do you want to find some job? We have many contracts in War Guild these days!” said the grey unicorn with a cutiemark of a quill. “Or maybe you need to buy powerful weapons and mighty armor? We have everything here in a good city of Canterbury!”

Dawn turned to the old unicorn as he approached the gates. “We are looking for Midnight Sun, the local sorcerer. I guess he is in his tower as always. We need to get there right away.” he explained.

“Oh... “ was a silent reply. After a few minutes gates started to open.

“At least we don’t need to pay.” with a sigh of relief Lightning entered the town.

They walked through the streets, watching as many creatures including ponies, griffons, zebras and some unseen animals (which were really strange in Dawn’s opinion) doing their job around or just enjoying the sunny day.

“Are you sure that you want to go and talk with this oldman there? People say that he is a bit... crazy.” said the grey unicorn when they entered the castle. “My name is Yoshy by the way! It was nice to meet you.”

“Yoshy? Just that?” Dawn asked.

“Yup, Silver Star was not fitting my profession, so I changed it” Yoshy smiled to them.

“Thank you.” Lightning said, looking very bored. “Wait, is the entrance to the tower is in the next corridor?”

“It surely is!” grey unicorn smiled again.

Dawn waved to Yoshy and got upstairs.

He opened the door and the smell of brewing potions knocked his feelings down. Different noises were coming from all sides. A smoke from the boilers, the light from a crystals and spinning mechanisms made the room very mysterious.

White griffon saw Midnight Sun standing at the table in the corner. He was creating another strange magical item, seemed to be very busy.

“I was once known as farmer
Who knows that it’s not right.
When always liking alchemy
They wanted me to sow”

Lightning laughed, looking at the old guy singing. But red unicorn didn’t hear it.

“...then using bit of power
I crafted a new tower and made my way from there! Oh... What is this... Hm?” he turned and saw two warriors, standing right in front of him.

“A-a-a! Ohmygod they came for... Wait, Dawn, is that you?” he asked, rubbing his glasses.

Lightning was laughing, rolling on the floor. Dawn chuckled and said “Calm down, you old magician, it’s me”

“Well then! Next time try to knock at the door before entering. And please, tell your friend to stop laughing, it’s hard to concentrate.” annoyed by the laughing, he turned back to the table. “What do you want?” he asked. “You’re not comin’ only for jokes, if my memory still works as it is supposed to.”

The expression on Dawn’s face instantly changed. He squinted. “The Ironclaw was attacked by an army of Undeads. It fell. Reggie was there and he died, saving my life.”

“Oh no...” Midnight Sun looked at him wide eyed. “Tell me everything, please, if you can.”

Dawn took a deep breath and started his tale.

********

“Now we need you to tell us everything you know about Undead Army or Necromancy.” Dawn said as he finished telling the story of few last days.

“Wait, wait, wait... Purple fire... Hm... Aha!” Midnight ran to one of the bookshelves. He pulled a book with his telekinesis. “ancient... death spells, mhm... what is here?...” he turned to another table and opened another book.

“So, do you kno...” Lightning was interrupted by Midnight Sun.

“Silence! I need to concentrate.” red unicorn said and continued reading.

“I think we got to wait outside while he is doing his job.” Dawn offered.

“Yes, got it!” Midnight shouted and came closer to white griffon. “It’s a Death Mastery. Very ancient, powerful and dangerous magic. Sadly I don’t know much about it, only that it was created by a powerful mage called Soul Reaper. But I do know who might tell you more!” wide grin appeared on his face.

“Who?” Dawn asked suspiciously.

“Whoofdo shamans of Zebrica!” old unicorn grinned even more.

“Isn’t it like... On the other continent?” Lightning wondered.

“Yes! But you wanted to know something about it? So it’s your only way to do this.”

“...Once born, light lives till the darkness...”

It was cold.

“..Are you sure in this? What if he isn’t the one we are waiting for?...”

It was silent.

“...This power is not supposed to be controlled by the mortals. You are putting the whole world in a great danger...”

The feelings were gone.

“...The One is the danger for this world. ‘He’ is our salvation...”

And only darkness was around.

“...Of course he won’t be able to do this alone, but I know what to do....”

The burst of a white, warm light enveloped him.

“...Wake up...”