At the Brink Of Eternityby Just another TieflingChaptersPrologue: The End...Chapter 1: ...And a New BeginningChapter 2: An Unfateful EncounterPrologue: The End...You know… I never thought it would end like this. The wind whips around my body as I fall, plummeting towards the ground. The world around me has somehow seemed to slow down to a crawl, like some kind of awkward movie scene. It might have been a result of some side effect of the huge magical explosion that had just occurred a few seconds ago, or maybe it’s just Equestria’s natural magic working in its wiley ways… It’s also a bit hard to believe that, after everything that I’ve accomplished, I’d end up failing them all… but I guess it doesn’t really matter at this point. To be honest, I’m surprised that I even lasted up until now. I mean, if someone would’ve told me twenty-five years ago that I would lead a rebellion of angry mages and farmers in an anthropomorphic version of the magical world of My Little Pony. -After, of course, I became one of said magical equines, (one of the female variety, no-less)- I probably would’ve called that person many, many, different words, least of all insane. I would’ve tacked on “Demented” too If they’d told me how I’d get there… It was about half past eight on that fateful Sunday night. I had finally gotten onto the road after a rather lengthy wedding reception. I was tired as hell and I just wanted to get back to my hotel room. I think I may have made a wrong turn or something because I was in the middle of a rundown back road with no sign of civilization in either direction. So, there I was; stranded in the middle of no-where, trying desperately to read a map while half-asleep, listening to old rock music on the radio… “Big wheels keep on turning! Carry me home to see my kin…” I truly wished that was the case, Lynyrd; but the ironic situation ended when the radio cut out to static, instantaneously. The sudden sharp ear wrenching noise caused me to drop the map. I fumbled around with the radio knobs until I turned it off. The map of course had to get knocked under the seat so I had to pull over to get at it. I opened the door and got out of the car, still wondering what the hell had just happened, and that’s when I saw it. The Aurora Borealis was covering the entirety of the night sky with colour. Now, I’ve seen the Aurora Borealis plenty of times… almost all of which were on T.V. But I had never seen it completely block out the sky before. I stood there, shocked. It was utterly beautiful. Only, I’m pretty sure that the “Aurora Borealis” wasn’t supposed to be visible from the middle of the Ontarian outback. I stood there, awestruck, until my eyes began to hurt from the strain of staring at it so long… And then the rest of me started to hurt. More specifically, it felt like my skin was burning. A wave of nausea wash over my head. I stumbled my way back towards the car, so that maybe I could grab my cellphone and call for help. My legs decided that now was the opportune time to betray me, causing me to trip over my feet and slam face first into the pavement. I tried to get back up, but I couldn’t move. My vision began to darken, and I was fricken terrified. I was still conscious mind you, during all of it… I think at that point I knew I was going to die, it was just a matter of time. I mean… It only took ten minutes… When I finally regained consciousness, if you could even call it that. I was in some sort of… warm enclosed space, and a moist one at that. I tried to open my eyes, but I was met with the same blackness as when they were closed. I opened my mouth to breath, and instead got a mouthful of some sort of weird tasting… water. I started to thrash around in panic. I was scared, I mean, who wouldn’t be? I had just died and now I was in… I didn’t know, Hell? a coffin? An underwater cave? After a few seconds of waving and kicking my limbs around I had to stop. My muscles were feeling like I had just sprinted a mile, uphill, in the snow. Heck, afterwards I didn’t even have the strength to move my fingers, which I could at the time thankfully still feel. I felt… weak. After a while, I fell asleep, purely out of exhaustion. This dark moist space would be my existence for the next… I don’t know how many days. I spent most of it trying to keep myself from going insane from the lack of… well, everything really, and the rest sleeping, at least what I assumed was sleeping... Eventually, I checked to see if I was all here. I couldn’t feel my toes, or feet, and there was a weird thing poking my forehead that hurt a little bit, but… that was about all I figured out at that point… well, besides the fact that I was alone. It’s safe to say that I was not a happy camper… Then one day I was awakened by the distinct feeling of being abruptly turned upside down. “What’s going on??” I remember thinking to myself, trying to resist puking my guts out from being suddenly flipped over. I felt a rush of liquid past my body before feeling my body impact a solid surface. Then the squeezing began. I could feel my head slowly get pulled downwards, followed by the rest of me. I was already scared from arriving here. I was silently screaming in my mind even before I could feel the walls around my body attempt to crush the life out of me. I resolved to try to remain calm and collected and just wait until it was all over. I was not calm. I started to hear distorted voices coming from the direction I was being forced towards. Then something that felt distinctly like hands grabbed on to my head, and then proceeded to pull me away from… wherever I was. A sudden rush of information from my senses took me by surprise and... I-I could finally breath again! smell, hear, a-and- I opened my eyes. And I saw two large, cartoonish eyes, situated above something that distinctly looks like muzzle. I screamed. I was hoisted up and given into the arms of one of the… things, despite my attempts at protesting. Between my screams and… the weird cooing coming from the one who was holding me, I managed to get a better look at the giant alien creatures in the room. They stood up on two misshapen and bent legs that’d look more appropriate on an animal than anything humanoid. They also had hooves, distinctly the kind you’d find on horses. Besides being covered in fur, or hair- or whatever, the rest of their bodies were relatively similar to anyone you’d see on earth, they had same torso, and arms, they were even clothed! In rather fancy looking attire even. But sadly, the similarities ended from the neck upwards. Their mouths and noses were combined in an almost dog-like muzzle. Surprisingly; now that they’re not right in front of my face, their eyes appeared to be more… human-esque than before, albeit only slightly bigger… Later, after I calmed down, I finally came to understand exactly where, and what, I was enclosed in for the past… however many days I’d also eventually realized that I now knew what it meant to be “born again” … Literally. I can’t believe it’s already been… what, twenty…six? I think, years since then… Heh, time really does fly… The distorted sound of battle starts to ring in my ear. Below me, the shattered remnants of my ragtag bunch of rebels are still fighting on, even though we’ve probably already lost… Although… I can’t really say that I envy them. I thought I had it all figured out: I’d beat the equestrian army with the help of the locals, and then we, together with my friends would all gone on to live happily ever after. The “perfect” ending. I thought I would be able to protect them, and save the world!... But now… they’re all going to die, and It’s all my fault. Heh, some “Guardian” I am… I wish that I’d never suggested that we leave Canterlot… maybe I could have convinced them to just go with the ban. I know they were angry… Heck, I was too… But, I guess… It’s far too late for regrets now. A part of me wants to blame Celestia and Luna for all this. I want to be angry at them, to hate them. But I just… can’t. While some of this is their fault, I don’t think they’d ever even consider it on their own. They were probably just acting on Starswirl’s advice… I could feel my body stiffen at that thought… We had spent six months in the cold, featureless icy desert known as the “great north”. “We” being a levied equestrian army led by the princesses, supported by the arcane university’s battlemages, including moi, and basically all the destruction magi. “We” were up there because a certain jackass, one that I had the displeasure of being classmates with, named Sombra, decided to usurp the crystal empire. And so it was that after one fateful assault during the sixth months in that hell-frozen-over, the princesses decided to charge into the crystal palace to finally end this, and kill that pompous jackass for good… and then of course because he cast some weird time curse or something the empire just… disappeared, poof, into thin air. And so it was that “we” started on the long trek to get back home; disappointed, angry, and completely exhausted. You’d think that’d be where the shit would start flying, but surprisingly the journey home was rather uneventful. When we got back home, however, was an entirely different story… I shuffled through the large group of ponies. I was walking to work when I saw them gathered outside of the gates of the university, arguing and murmuring. Most of them I recognized as fellow destruction mages, and was trying my best to make my way towards what ever had gotten everyone’s panties in a bunch… It had been two months since we had returned from the crystal empire ordeal. A lot of things had changed; chiefly (for me at least), was my promotion to the esteemed office of “Master Destroyer”, after the retirement of the previous owner of the title, a nice old stallion who I personally knew as my teacher back when I did my advanced classes, a week before any of the crap up north happened. It had only been six weeks after the war ended, and things had already started to go to hell. Now… Since… well… forever, according to some of the stories I’ve been told, “we who wield the power of annihilation” (also known as the destruction magi) have always had a… bad reputation. I mean… In the minds of most ponies, “destruction” means “death”. A correlation that, while basically true, isn’t exactly a cheery public image… and It’s worsened by all the superstitious rumors surrounding us. Did your annual crops Fail? Blame the destruction mages. After all, they “corrupt” any land they walk upon. Disease running rampant throughout your town? Blame the destruction mages, they “obviously” cursed the water or something. We’re basically the scapegoats for when anything bad happens… They feared us… It never bothered any of the others… maybe it was just me. But… back then I just… it just made me cringe every time someone gave me a “please don’t hurt me” look… And then of course, “King” Sombra happened. He “was” a destruction mage, and even though the magic he used to enslave the crystal empire was something… else, it was close enough that everyone “assumed” it was still destruction magic. All the ignorance, all the superstition and fear… it ignited into hatred. At first, it was just contemptuous looks, and idle gossip… But then it started to get serious… Shops and stores started “closing” when my colleagues would walk in. Inns and ponies alike would close their doors to us… and… there was the violence… An apprentice, a young colt not much older than fifteen, was attacked in the street. I heard about it several days afterwards, I think… it might have been Flash Freeze that told me about it, but… It wasn’t the only “incident” that happened… I had to do something, so last night I… I approached my old teacher, and current archmage of the university, Starswirl the Bearded, for help. We had drifted away over time, because of many… different, “other” issues. But I had hoped that he might be able to stop this from escalating any further. So that was why I found myself today teleporting to the front of the gates after trying, and failing, to wade through the jostling vocal mass of bodies. Another week passed by since I spoke to him. He assured me that he’d “look into my concerns”. When I pressed him for something more… specific, and after a little begging on my part, he replied that he would send out a research group to discern if Sombra was indeed using a different type of magic, as I suspected. I thanked him, and left, knowing for sure he’d find what I already knew and everything would thus be roses and rainbows… I looked up, and attached right in the middle of the gate was a large piece of parchment. Upon closer inspection, it was a… royal decree… “By order of royal decree by her royal Majesty’s Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and on the grace of blah blah blah Faust blah blah blah something something…” ugh, why do these things always have to be so long just get to the fricken point already… ah, here we go. “…the practice and teaching of destruction magic is hereby BANNED IN EQUESTRIA?!” I ripped the offending document off the metal bars and read farther down the page. It was a blanket ban. The battlemages, apprentices, all of us, we were all going to get shafted. Classes teaching destruction magic would be shut down, destruction battlemages were being discharged from service… I started shaking. They can’t do this. There are hundreds of us, they can’t just… just… SCREW us all over like this… this has to be temporary, i-it has to be… I read further down... and found something that made my blood boil. “-decided on the evidence given by archmage Starswirl- “ I didn’t even read the rest. I ran forward and slammed the gates open, charging straight into the university. Why? Why would he do this? The angry thought shot through my mind over and over again, repeatedly, as I stomped onwards… It was… I don’t know, maybe around ten in the morning? He’s usually in his… he should be in his office, so that’s where I started heading… No one tried to stop me, probably on account of me being one of the archmage’s apprentices, and being a sorceress to boot… I passed a couple of ponies on my way, but for the most part the halls were vacant. Everyone was probably already in their respective classes already… Before I knew it, I was standing outside the door to his office. I was still fuming, mind you, and muttering curse words under my breath. But, I managed to calm down enough to “compose” myself. I knocked on the door. Well, it was more along the lines of me pounding it, but really, at that point I was more concerned with trying to resist the urge to just kick the door down. I heard a sigh from the other side, along with the lock lighting up with a glow, and an audible “click” from the door being unlocked. A muffled “Come in” was the last thing I heard before I barged in through the door. He was sitting behind his rather sizable desk. He had a grim expression on his face, as if he was expecting this to happen. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even get a word out, I slammed the piece of parchment onto the desktop. “Care to…. explain this?” I manage to say, through gritted teeth. He sighed in response. “I did what thou asked- “ “I asked thou to help! Not to illegalize my school of magic!” I yelled shrilly. How does he think this constitutes as help?! All he’s done is confirm their ludicrous superstitions! “I’ve done all I could! There’s no evidence of any sort of “other magic”, contrary to what you believe.” He stood up from his chair, his grim expression changed and he looked... sad. “I’m sorry, but I was obligated to inform the princesses of the truth.” He gave me a look of… pity?! Was he seriously pitying me?! “There’s nothing more that I can do- “ “All you’ve “done” is made things worse! Now everyone is going to think that WE’RE responsible for the deaths of their loved ones!” I was beyond furious. His mouth started move in response to me raising my voice. But I just tuned out whatever he was saying…. This shouldn’t be possible! What sort of idiots did he assign the job to?! Even the most inept, brainless, jackass could see the magic’s base aura is different! And that the spells that were used had a different combination of mana! There’s no possible way that anyone with any shred of intelligence could’ve…missed…it… I stared at him. He was still talking, probably trying to justify his actions… He. Knows. I clenched my fists. He knows that it exists; and yet he’s lying to everyone, even the princesses, about it by deliberately placing the blame for all of Sombra’s atrocities on us! I wanted to punch him. How could he… Why would do this?! This makes no sense! If he knows everything that I do, then… then he’s screwing me… he’s screwing all of us! I can’t let him get away with this! There has to be some way to… I can call the rest of the other masters together. The Council of Magi can override the archmage’s authority. I’ll just get them all together and… Wait… I can’t, the ban stripped my… I’m not on the council anymore, I can’t… You planned this didn’t you?! You son of a-… I couldn’t do anything… I have no authority anymore, even If I am still a sorceress… They’d never believe… heck I’m willing to bet that Starswirl’s already presented his lies to them… and they probably believe him. He’s the one who helped unite the pony tribes… He’s practically a war hero! No one’s going to believe me, over him! I glared at him. No… No, no, NO! I can’t let him get away with this! I can’t let him just ruin everything! I-I…I need time to think… Starswirl had stopped talking somewhere during my mental meltdown, and was looking at me expectantly… “As you wish… Archmage.” I said, barely hiding my disgust… I turned one-hundred and eighty degrees abrupt about face, and stormed out of the office… and I didn’t look back. I don’t know what his reaction was… but I didn’t care. He might have outplayed me, this time at least… but I don’t think he knows that I know of his duplicity… I need to go talk with the rest of the gang, maybe they can help… I know I’ll need it… …That bastard, how could he just stab me in the back like that? I know we never really saw eye-to-eye, but I’m one of his… was, one of his students! Did I seriously mean nothing to him? Did he really think that after all his blatant lies, that I’d somehow turn my back on everything I care about? Abandon my friends and just… just stand by! As he sweeps everything under the rug?? Over ten years of tutelage and what do I get? The termination of my job, along with those of all my pupils, and- AND, making it illegal to cast a type of magic, one that’s been practiced and perfected ever since before Equestria even existed. All of it, in an effort to cover up his mistakes! … …And he called me the traitor… Heh... At least I got the chance to wipe off the smug fatherly grin that’s always plastered on his face under his stupid beard. Which looked like a dead sheep strapped onto his chin, might I add. It felt good to finally see his façade crack. Sure, it was a short-lived and completely pointless victory, but you know what? I needed it. Especially after everything he put me through... We had just routed their army after their first assault on the tower (a very piss-poor attempt at that) and they were running with their tails between their legs, in some cases literally. I had seen Starswirl amongst Equestria glorified tin soldiers, (also known as the royal guard). We locked eyes for a moment before he went off trouncing into the trees. I went in pursuit after the old codger… Darkness had fallen across the local forest. For a stallion whose supposedly over eighty years old Starswirl was surprisingly agile, however... After a mess of chain teleporting, I had managed to track him down to one of the many secluded glades that dot the forest. If he was simply fleeing, he would’ve simply teleported away the moment the equestrian lines broke. But he didn’t, which suggested that he was purposefully luring me away from everyone else, an ambush perhaps? I stepped out into the open, scanning the perimeter with both my eyes and a quick detection spell. Luckily, I didn’t have to search for long. The greying beige haired old windbag stood in the middle of the enclosure, wizard hat and all. His eyes where shut, probably in deep thought. Being the master of divination he is, of course, meant he probably already knew I was there, making a quick stealthy takedown kind of a moot strategy. Which of course meant that I had to do things the hard way… I cautiously approached him. I had brought my staff with me, along with my sword, both strapped onto my back in their respective sheaves. I had also started charging up a lightning bolt in my left hand as I got closer, just in case. While I had no doubts that I could escape him should I need to, it didn’t hurt to be prepared. At first, he gave no reaction to my arrival. But as I drew closer, he finally decided to “grace” me with his attention… “Ah, Elenwyn, my ever-tactful student…” “I am no longer your student anymore, Starswirl” I interrupted, lacing as much venom as I could into my words. But, he kept up his serene expression. “…but thou art still in need of guidance. Tell me, why have you turned your back on everything I hath taught you?” he replied, with his trademark condescending tone, while I, as per usual, glared at him from behind my mask. “Starswirl, why exactly have you lured me here?” I shot back, I was sooooo not in the mood for more of his ceaseless philosophical chastisement. He frowned. “You are walking down a dark path, my student. But it is not too late. Surrender, and you- “ How dare he? After everything he put me through, all the lies and- AND after throwing me under the bus and murdering my friends, he thought that I would just throw down my arms and give up? Seriously? I hate him, his stupid holier-than-thou attitude and… “-and the princesses may yet show mercy on you- “ Is he still talking? Okay, I need to stop this from devolving into another one of his lectures… I’m already feeling the urge to rip my ears off… I reached up behind my back and drew my sword, which shut him up rather quickly. He looked down towards the ground with a… solemn expression. For a second I actually felt a little guilty about wanting to kill him, sad even. And I almost even considered letting him go… Keyword being “almost” … “Then… I am sorry, Elenwyn. But you leave me no choice.” He finished. “We always have a choice, Starswirl…” I said, unleashing the lightning bolt I’d been holding back from my right hand. He, sadly, blocked it, but It did stagger him. “…And you’ve Long since made yours!” I couldn’t resist, he set himself up for that one. And thus, our duel was on. We traded blows, firing off spell after spell at each other. He put up and hid behind a classic ol’bubble shield, while I gracefully dodged and teleported out of the way of all the incoming fireballs and other spells he continuously shot from his horn. As we continued, I was getting progressively more and more frustrated. None of my attacks were getting through, and he wasn’t letting me get close enough for me to swing at him or even get a “dispel” off to disable his invulnerability sphere. A disintegration bolt even got reflected back at me. I was just narrowly able to duck out of the way. The poor tree behind me, however, did not get that luxury. I stood back up… Only to see a much bigger ball of fire several inches from my face. Panicking, I tried to put up my own rather amateurish shield at the last second. I felt weightless as I was thrown backwards several feet by the impact. I wasn’t too badly damaged by the blast, although my armor did get pretty singed. I was utterly livid, at both myself and him. I crawled my way behind a nearby tree, and started trying to think up a functional strategy… Stupid bloody cheap invulnerability globe… I’m not running from this, I can’t run from this. This is the probably only opportunity I’ll probably ever get to finally have some… revenge… Wait… An idea popped into my head in that moment. A rather… fun, idea. I started scanning the local area with the same spell I used to track him, although with a much different target. I was looking for-… well, “bodies”. Corpses... I was searching for corpses. Anyway, for the past several months I had been practicing and performing a type of magic that I’d never even heard of up until before I translated the tome containing it. Necromancy My eyes had been glued to the page after I first read that word. To me, it wasn’t actually that much of a foreign concept. I was an avid Dungeon and Dragons fan back in my university days, so the idea of it wasn’t that much of a shocker. But what was shocking was that, up until that point, there was no record of anything even remotely resembling it ever existing on this planet… at least that I knew of. It was something completely new, and It fascinated me immensely… But… the name of the book itself did sound familiar to me, somehow, although I think that I would vividly remember reading something called “Shadow Puppets”. After I read it cover to cover, I decided to try out some of the spells described in it. When I first tried my hand at it though… nothing happened. I read the instructions word for word and tried to cast… Death Ray? Yes, that one, again. I focused my magic, envision it in my mind, aimed my hand towards the far wall, and… nothing. I tried again, this time, I tried to force the magic to work. I didn’t work, but I did manage to get a reaction. A “bowled over in nausea and pain” reaction, but it was something... at least. Upon further analysis, I realized that there was something physically stopping me from performing the spell. At the time, I thought it was no biggie, I mean, everyone has difficulty doing a new type of spell for the first time. So, I thought that If I just kept doing it I’d eventually be able cast it. Fourteen tries later, it still fizzled out. Here was something that could turn the tide of the war, and… maybe even bring my friends, a-and everyone else back. I might’ve been able t-to… Well… to say at the very least, I was beyond angry when, even when my only chance at saving what little I had left was literally right in front of me, and that no matter how many times I tried I still couldn’t even manage to cast even the most basic spell from the book after I’d spent months- MONTHS translating. I got so worked up over it that I tried forcing it. I poured magic into it, a lot of magic, way above the threshold needed to cast it. “Hide behind the nearest large object” level of magic. I woke up an hour later in the tower’s recently MacGyvered new infirmary. I found out that, after my little blackout, I was found in my room spasming on the floor lying in a puddle of my own, what one of my students informed me of, my “incarnadine bile”. I felt… wrong. I was cold but, I didn’t really… ‘feel”, cold. After assuring the nurse on hand that I was fine, and that I wasn’t feeling sick, and that no, I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I walked back to my room to see If I’d broken anything in my short severe lapse in competency… and to sulk over my growing list of failures. When I opened the door back into my room though. I could literally smell the magical residue left over from my attempt at casting. Thankfully, nothing was broken. but I checked everything afterwards. Normally, if you screw up a spell, it’ll backfire, and you’ll end up feeling a bit exhausted. Or… spasming on the floor, but still… If it does backfire, then the magic doesn’t even leave your body. Therefore, no invisible residue. But, there was. Which meant… that... I went through the mental steps again, aimed at the wall, and- A ray of sickly purplish black energy shot out from my palm, hitting the wall, and dissipating with squelch… I smiled After I tried some more of the spells out for myself, I decided to share my discovery with everyone. They were naturally afraid at first. But I eventually got them to warm up to the idea, albeit very reluctantly. When a few of them tried it out for themselves, they were even worse than I was. They couldn’t even start casting the spells. They just... couldn’t, for some reason… Looking back, maybe I should been more concerned as to why… But, anyway, back to the fight. before I lose my train of thought, again… more than I already have... Underneath me were… I don’t know how many, but the ground was practically chock-full of bodies to the point where I was stunned by the sudden rush of information. And… some of them were… more recent, than others. That… little detail, got me thinking some rather unpleasant thoughts… I never wanted this to happen. Well, no, I did, it’s just that… I never thought it would be… “like this”. When I convinced all the surrounding villages to declare independence… I don’t know… I never… “originally” intended to bring them into this. Heck, I brought the destruction magii here to stop anyone from getting hurt… They were about to get themselves killed marching to the palace to force the princesses to repeal the ban! I couldn’t just let them all die! I’ve known them for almost half my… well, half of this life. They’re. My. Friends! I will NOT lose them too! I c-can’t lose them… B-but now… So many innocent people have died because of this stupid war. From both sides… I started this, and now their b-blood is on my hands-… No! Focus! Kill Starwirl, you can feel sorry about yourself later. I blinked, my cheeks felt a bit wet. I wiped the tears from my eyes and gave my head a good shake to clear my thoughts. I turned my attention instead onto the more pressing matter behind me. I sheathed my sword and started to focus my magic. My horn slowly started to glow with a ghostly blue, almost cyan, light. My hands joined into the lightshow too, the two channeling runes tattooed on the back of them lighting up with the same colour as my horn. I took a couple of seconds for it to reach full power, but then, I let that sucker go. I watched the light flow from my three focal points, and coalesce into thin tendrils, then rush towards and subsequently disappear into the ground… And now, all I have to do is wait- And then suddenly, everything was on fire. I dove out from my hiding place, landing several feet away… and promptly faceplanted into the ground. Ow I looked back over my shoulder to see the tree I was just hiding behind being lit up like a bonfire. I barely made it out before I became pony flambé. I could still feel the heat from- … I’m on fire. … I hit the dirt and started rolling on the ground to put the flames out. I saved the “stop” part for last. I pushed myself up off the ground and got back up, pausing for a second to assess the damage. Luckily, my armor prevented most of me from getting burned. The only exceptions were my arms and my thighs… But, besides my fur-like hair turning a slightly darker shade in the exposed areas, everything appeared to be fine. It didn’t hurt, which was a good sign. Although… Ugh… I’m going to get so many immature comments from the guys about the new, “dark splotches” just below my waistline… sigh… I brushed off the soot from my legs, as best I could. But It looked like I’d still be due for a bath this evening- And that’s, when I felt it. The ground underneath me was starting to shift, like something was under it… Oh… right, they’re underground… so they have to dig themselves… out… I looked back up to see Starswirl approaching me. With the same super serious expression, as per usual. “I know you’re angry with me…” And there he goes again… He blabbered on trying to talk me down, again. I hid my left hand behind my back and fired up my magic again, to see how much longer I would have to deal with thi- They almost broke up through the ground, and with a flick of magic from my hand they stopped in their tracks. Starswirl hadn’t reacted to the not-so-subtle shift of the ground. Sooooo… either he didn’t know they were there, or he didn’t know what “they” ARE… Either way… heh. I think it’s about time to get some good, old fashioned, PAYBACK. “Your presuming a lot of things about me, Starswirl…” I said as I started circling around him. He frowned at my interruption, and for a second he almost looked, dare I say… irritated? “You presume that I’m somehow oblivious to all your machinations…” I continued, smiling giddily with barely constrained excitement. “Your presuming that I don’t already know the truth about who you really are…” “…And you presume that I have any intention of letting you leave here, ALIVE” He raised his eyebrows at me and scoffed. “And pray tell, how do you intend to- “ I didn’t let him finish. I lifted and lit up my hands, and commanded the dead to rise. And they did not disappoint. A skeletal hand burst from the ground under his hooves, grabbing his leg. He yelped at the sudden contact, and jumped backwards. More sinewy limbs broke the surface, hauling the rest of their rotting, rusted armor-clad bodies into the open air. When Starswirl caught sight of them, he blanched white with one of the most horrified and shocked faces that I’ve ever seen, especially from him… And I loved every second of it. “What… what have you done?” he hissed out, his face changing to furious almost instantly. So quickly that it made me pause my thoughts for a second. I’d… never actually seen him that angry before. I mean, I’ve seen him “frustrated” before, and he’s given me the “I’m disappointed in you” look more times than I can count… “Oh, you know, just a little something I learned from a book. You’d be surprised by what you can learn from reading ancient magical tomes.” I said, sarcastically. He stared at me, boring his eyes into my soul. I fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze. He was absolutely furious, at least that’s what I could tell from his expression at the time. “It seems thou art right, Elenwyn…" "I hath presumed that thou could be reasoned with, but It seems I underestimated how far you’ve fallen. I thought you were still a pony, but I had not anticipated thou having become a monster.” … Wow, that was… a little harsh… I Stared at him, slightly shocked. His words caught me off guard. I had expected him to be terrified or… I don’t know, just not… this... Regardless… While it was a little uncalled for, and hypocritical coming from him, it didn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter, because I think it’s about damn time that I end th- Wait… where did he go?! I saw a flash of light and then… Wait did he just... … Oh my god he just teleported away. I growled. I was so close a-and then that son of a bitch just… just… GAH. I turned around and loosed a pent-up lightning bolt from my hands, it cut through the air and crashed into the burning tree behind me, followed by another. and another. A minute later, after I had wasted a considerable amount of magic. I collapsed backwards onto the grass. ... Honestly… I shouldn’t be surprised… I would’ve run away too if someone pulled zombies out of their ass in the middle of a fight... I should probably get going. We might’ve sent the Equestrian army running for the hills, but they’ll be back… I need to get back to base and discus our next course of action. I got up from the ground. The undead soldiers that I had raised were still around me, spread out across the clearing. Simply standing there, and staring at me… They were… creepy, to say the least. The tree that was set on fire, and the one I subsequently took out my anger on, illuminated the clearing with an orange glow. They’re were at least twenty of them. I walked towards the one nearest to me... Shattered armor, rotten flesh, a couple of bones sticking out... It fit the description of “walking corpse” almost perfectly… It’d be a waste just to dismiss them all… I suppose I could take them with me. Although I’ll probably need to fix them up a bit… Then of course, Its arm fell off. I jumped back a little as the appendage unceremoniously flopped onto the ground… …I can probably just… sew that back on… Well then, let’s get you lot back to the tower and get you cleaned up. I turned around, and the forest was on fire. The fire from before had spread, sending several more trees up in smoke… … All right, before we do that. Let’s… put that out before it burns down the entire forest. I did… eventually, manage to suffocate out the flames. Although it did take a while. Wind magic isn’t really the most conventional fire extinguisher, for obvious reasons. Manipulating the air to starve the fire of oxygen isn’t that magically efficient, but it worked out well enough I guess… I stared downwards towards the ground below as I came to exit my thoughts. I was still falling, with gravity continuing to accelerate me faster and ever faster… … So… I guess this is it. I’m going to die… again. Normally I’d chalk this up to be just another one of my mistakes, that or fate just outright hates me… But… A smile worked its way onto my face. And I started to focus… What can I say? Old habits die… old habits… die… I looked toward my left hand. I was trying to access one of the latent spells enchanted into my staff. So I could shapechange myself- There was nothing in my hand, my staff was gone. Where is-?! Where did it…go… The rainbow wave shot itself towards me. The princesses had whipped out the oh so famed “El-er-mernts of Hermony “during our thinking they could end our ongoing stalemate by shooting their magical friendship beam of doom at me. They, however, were not the only ones with a powerful artifact… One month ago, using the vial stored in the head my staff, containing drops of blood from all thirteen of my friends and myself, I summoned my friends’ spirits back from the grave, and bound them to the blood in the vial. I nearly cried in joy when I realized the ritual worked. I-I had my friends back… and they were just as angry as I was about the Equestira’s growing number of atrocities... So, just like we’ve done a hundred times before, I used the blood as a medium to combine our magic together through the staff… Which of course leads us to the fight. I raised my staff level to the incoming blast, and met it with a continually sustained “Deathray” of my own, mixed in with a disintegrate from my horn. Sickly green, black smog and red lightning clashed with all the colours of the rainbow… And then of course, the rainbow started gaining ground, very quickly. So, I poured more mana into the spell, which only slightly slowed its advance towards me. And so, I poured more, and more, and more power into the spell. My head was pounding, my arm hurt like hell, but still, it inched towards me. Maybe I had exhausted too much of my, and the staff’s, magic during our fight. Maybe I had put it under too much stress by pouring all the magic through it. But when the tip of the rainbow beam made contact with my staff… it exploded. My expertly crafted, heavily enchanted staff, was blown apart into pieces. If the shockwave of the point-blank explosion wasn’t enough, the feedback of the spell suddenly failing caused me to feel like lightning was running down my spine. When my head stopped spinning. I opened my eyes only to witness the massive ball of congealed magic I had been gathering the last couple of months, go completely nuclear. It exploded, and I felt a feeling of weightlessness, and wind, rushing past my mane… Oh…right. And I guess the shockwave from its explosion must’ve destabilized the Mana Well I was prepping… Well… no matter, I’ll just teleport myself down and- *Bzzzt* … W-What?! I gathered my magic again, pictured where I wanted to go, and… it fizzled out again… Why isn’t it working?! What could-?! I turned inward and focused on my internal magic and… and there was nothing… Where is my magic?! Where the hell is it?! Wait, that means that… I looked down, I was getting closer and closer to the ground… I-I’m going to die… Oh god… I’m going to die! I screamed. The indescribable dots I recognized from the top of the tower as both my and the equestrian soldiers were becoming more detailed and larger… Please no! this can’t be it! Not after everything I’ve done! N-no, nononononono- Dirt, and rock filled my vision. NOOO- … I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, with a rather audible "thunk". In but a moment, I could feel almost all of the bones in my body utterly shatter as I impacted the ground. Amongst the agony, I felt a wetness begin to gather under me as I laid there, broken, on my side… My fall hadn’t interrupted the fighting around me, and the sound of clashing steel and shouting filled the air… I’ve failed them, they’re all going to die… I tried to open my mouth, to scream at them to run, to save themselves. But all that came out of my mouth was a whimpering gurgle, along with the irony taste of blood tickling my tongue… This is it, T-this is the end... I’ll never be able to have dinner with Jeeves again, o-or hear any of Red Thunder’s lewd jokes ever again… I’ll never be able to see Sunny or Moony again… It can’t end like this! No! My eyes whirled around frantically, desperately hoping that someone would help me, save me. Please! Help me! No one even seemed to be paying attention… Please someone, anyone please just help me! Darkness once again encroached on the edge of my vision… Please someone! I-I don’t wanna diiiiiie! Again! I felt dizzy and lightheaded. My cheeks felt wet as tears clouded my darkening vision… Please! I feel… I-I can’t feel my legs… Please… My vision turned completely black. Help me… ... Please… … Help… … Help… ... Help… … … … … … Author's Note I should probably mention now that the whole "magic system" I'm trying to go for is going to mainly draw its variety from Dungeons and Dragons, but will operate similarly to how magic works in a little game called Age of Wonders 3. Please, do look it up if your interested, its quite a fun 3X game. But anyway, its time for me to get back to getting the next chapter up and ready. Also, while this has been extremely edited by a very awesome person. I wouldn't be surprised if a few errors have escaped correction. If you spot any, please do point them out, it definitely will save me the embarrassment. Chapter 1: ...And a New Beginning... ... ... Huh, I never thought I’d be going through this again… Déjà vu aside, I’m… confused. I had regained my consciousness, that much was a given. One instant I had been bleeding out on the ground with most of my bones shattered, and then the next I’m just… here. Well, where ever here is… … I feel… strange. I can’t feel my body but… I can feel some form of… heavy mass, weighing down on me, but I… can’t feel what it’s weighing down on, I just feel… numb. I tried to open my eyes, but I was met with a black void. I couldn’t smell or hear anything either. It was just me, my thoughts, and a black, silent, unfamiliar void. Well… at least it’s not like last time I… … Am I dead? … No… at least I don’t think so. I gave a try at moving my arms, something I probably should’ve checked first, and found that the mass surrounding… probably where my arms are… shifted, as I assumedly wiggled said appendages. It felt like I was moving them through sand or something... I tried the same with my legs and the exact same thing happened. Oh joy, it looks I’ve been buried alive… Well, at least I’m all here- Wait, what’s that noise? I shifted my head and…It sounds like… whistling. It was faint, but I could still hear it, and It was coming from above me. That meant that wherever I am there must be a cavity above me with… Air Air! I rapidly started to make my way upwards. I haven’t taken a breath since I’ve woken up. I need to get out of here! I’ll suffocate! I pushed and dug my way through. The mass around me shifted as I crawled upwards, rapidly refilling the spaces where my limbs were, trying to entomb me, but I fought on. The whistling was becoming louder; clearer, as I neared what I assumed to be the surface. Come on, just a little bit farther… come on! I reach my right hand upwards once again, only to find nothing there. Yes! I brought my other hand up, and pulled myself upwards with all my might. My head broke the surface first, the sand or dirt or whatever I’ve been buried in started to cascade off of my head, and the sound of the wind howling filled my ears. Finally! I’m free- Whoa-! Suddenly, my mind went blank as gravity took over my body as I started tumbling down an incline. Eventually though, I came to a stop. Ugh… I shakily got onto my knees after my vision stopped spinning. “Eugh *cough* *cough*! I tried to take in a breath, only to find I couldn’t. It felt like there was something in my throat, causing me to burst into choking and sputtering. I flipped my mask up, which fortunately didn’t go flying off earlier, and fell onto my knees, leaned forward, and used my hands to brace myself against the ground, as I continued to hack and cough in a desperate attempt to breathe. “ACK” With a final convulsion, I could feel whatever blockage was in my throat began to come up and then… dark, grey… stuff, started to come out of my mouth. What… is that? Is that… ash? Did I just cough up ash? I brought my hand up to my mouth to see if my suspicions were true, only to do a double take as the ash fell through my spindly fingers. My hands… My hands are… literally all skin and bone, with some of said bone sticking out through tears in said skin. What…I don’t… how? I look up, only to wish I hadn’t. All around me there’s nothing but… ash. The ground was completely covered in it, with giant hills of the stuff piled up like sand dunes. Oh… oh my god… Everything’s gone, the trees, the grass… everything. What happened? What… wait… The explosion! With all the undead raising and destruction spells we did we must’ve over-saturated the land with negative magic… I turn around. Sticking up into the sky was what I called "home" for the last several years of my life… the tower… well, we never ever actually gave it a name or anything… anyway, its once marble-colored stone is stained almost completely dark grey, probably from wind erosion, although the rest of it seemed *relatively* intact. …and then of course the elements of harmony set off the giant mana ball to explode while simultaneously converting it all into creation magic… Both react together, triggering a purge, but because of the sheer overwhelming amount of positive magic released by the elements, it caused everything to… violently combust… although that doesn’t really explain how I’m… here, right now. Maybe some of the necro-magic stuff got forced underground or something, although in that event something would’ve needed to rile it up again. I looked back down towards my hands. I shouldn’t be this calm and collected about all this… I just died… again, I should be having a mental breakdown or… something... Maybe… maybe I’m just in shock… yeah, that’s probably the reason… … Well… what now? The question stumps me. For the first time in my life I… don’t really have a direction. I’ve failed my friends and gotten them all killed… and now, I didn’t really know what to do. There’s nothing to go back to, and I don’t know how long it’s been… It’s safe to assume that things have changed since I’ve last been here… I looked down towards my hands. I held them out and clenched them; I still couldn’t feel them, but at least I haven’t lost precise motor functions… I have a third chance, after everything that’s happened… I probably don’t deserve it, but… maybe I could make some good of it. … Well, in any case… I stared straight towards the top of the tower. Let’s go check the tower out, there might still be… something, anything, in there that might still be salvageable. I flipped up my mask, covering up my face again. Then I put one hoof forward, making my way towards the tower, and another and then… I fell face first into the ground, my armor resounding with a small clang from the impact with… something. What? I got back up on my feet, and looked downwards. A ashen grey ribcage laid right in front of me. Most of which, was buried under more ash. Probably with the rest of a body… … I stepped over it, and continued on my way. I shouldn’t be surprised that there’s bodies still here… With all the fighting, there’s probably a lot of them just scattered about. Although… considering how I was buried several feet under enough ash to fill a large swimming pool and then some, they shouldn’t be that close to the surface… I climbed up and over a sand dune, and I was at the entrance to the tower. It, in itself, was an impressive structure, the whole “tower” part of it was raised up on another sort of “star-fort” like structure. There were doors near the base that lead out to the battlements. That had proved extremely useful when under siege. The tower itself rose out of the middle of the fort, with five long stone support buttresses that connected to each of the points of the star fort, keeping it all stable. From there, the tower went up about ten to eleven stories, and then ended in a flat top with five wedge-like pillars sprouting out from the top, kind of like the petals of a tulip. Heh… my own miniature Isengard. Lord of the Rings similarities aside… I walked up the ash covered ramp, and came face to face with the tower’s two… now utterly shattered… wooden doors, both swung wide open. I took a step inside and came into the tower’s “lobby” area. The circular room had four archways, each leading to a different area of the fort; the kitchen, armory, barracks, and apothecary, along with a stairwell leading up to the actual tower portion of… the tower. I paused as I took one look around, mostly cause of the many armored skeletons cluttering the floor. All of whom wore the scaled and or chainmail vests over studded leather armor I had commission back before the rebellion even kicked off… They stood by me… right until the very end… Some of them had arrows sticking out of various points on them, some of their armor was bent, and the rusty swords, axes, spears, and shields, along with other assorted weaponry… probably theirs, were scattered all over the place. Strange that there are none of the royal guard or levies amongst the dead… I guess they must’ve been taken back to Canterlot. Probably for a “hero’s burial”. Funny how they seemed to act more like loot-happy marauders… I gave myself one last look at them before I turned away to move on. They… they all deserved better than this… I made my way towards the stairs. They’re about a meter and a half wide, and they spiral up the tower’s circular insides like a… spiral staircase. Redundancy aside… They appear to be intact, at least… I cautiously stepped onto the first stair, putting my weight on it. All right, first one down… I looked up. …only several hundred to go… My journey up the stairs was uneventful. The stairs were still in good condition, aside from the occasional creak, causing me to pause. I passed the battlements, magical training rooms, the ransacked library that’s been almost completely destroyed... Probably by the zealous goons of Equestria… until I reached my room. The door, just like the entrance, was completely bashed inwards. I guess that means that my wards got dispelled… that or they just kept throwing themselves at the door until the wards failed. I took a step into the reasonably spacious room. Back when we first got settled in, it was completely empty, which was strange considering it had a balcony opposite the door. I Claimed It as my own, and got in some furnishings. A queen-sized bed, bookcases, a desk, and even a- What the… The room looked like someone had ripped up and stolen everything that wasn’t nailed down. The Bookcases were all knocked over with some of them having their shelves broken. All the books were gone. My desk was overturned with all the drawers pulled out, and someone had ripped all the drapes. Jeez… They really did a number on it… I walked forward into the center of the room. Now then… where did I…? I scanned the room, drifting across the desk, bookcases, and- The bed! How could I have forgotten… oh screw it. I walked towards the bed- of which someone had stolen the mattress, for some reason…- and got down on my side so I could get a good look under it. I had stored my- Yes! They’re still here! For a second I was worried… I reached under the bed and grasped the first of the square objects. The black book of necromancy that’s written in the most backwards ass language ever, “Shadow Puppets”, caked in a layer of dust, but still intact. I reached back under the bed frame and pulled out my… old music player. It looked almost exactly like an old-fashioned record player from the 1900’s… back on earth. the difference being. It was entirely made up of a sort of bronze colored… metal. The exact alloy attributed to its construction is still a mystery... By the time I had found it, just knocked over on the ground, most of the parts had decayed to unusable scrap metal- Several thousand years without maintenance, I was surprised it was even intact,- that I ended up pulling out and replacing with far less advanced machinery… All right my little Jerry-rigged juke-box, let’s see if you still work… I gathered up my magic- … I tried again… and nothing happened. Okay… I don’t know how long it’s been since my fight with the princesses… guess my mana hasn’t been recharged yet… or has even begun to recharge yet… ... Welp, I guess I’ll just have to… put that plan on hold… I got up from the ground and turned around. I’ll come back for you two after I search the rest of the- A small flash of light interrupts my musings as I shift my head towards the door. What the… I whipped my head around and scanned the room. Standing right from the door was my five-foot-tall full body mirror. I shook my head a little. Wow a little jumpy today aren’t…. we? I took a step towards the mirror. Are… are my eyes glowing? A pale blue light was shining out of the four eyeholes of my mask, clear as day. That’s… not normal. I pulled my hood down, and then reached out behind my head again to slide the leather strap that was holding my mask on, up and over my head, letting it hang from my left hand. What the heck is… I was struck speechless. Like my hands, my face is devoid of any of the short black hair… fur, that used to cover my entire body, leaving the skin bare. And my skin… It looks like someone pulled it back from my muzzle and… I don’t know... shrunk it, leaving the skin to hug the bone and expose my teeth and gums like some sort of… of… And- and my mane! My long black mane has turned completely grayish white. Looking completely unkempt, with all the colour just drained out of it. And then… my eyes. In which, I had none. They were just… gone. Being replace by… two ghostly… blue… lights… I could feel the gears beginning to turn in my mind. And then, it finally…clicked. … I’m a ghoul, aren’t I? I raised a hand up and put it against the mirror and leaned forward, getting a very nice glimpse at the back of my eye sockets. …I am… oh fan-fricken-tastic… … ...Well I guess it could’ve been worse. I could’ve come back as a mindless zombie, shambling about in circles for hours on end… … I took my hand off the mirror, and took a step back. I died, I fell and I died, again, but… … …Well… shit… … I brought my mask up near my abdomen, holding it with both my hands. Looks like I’m going to need you a lot more, only now for an… actually not so different reason… I wipe my hand across the surface of my old mask, kicking up a miniature dust cloud from whatever crap had accumulated on it. While most of it seemed to be intact, the red triangles that were painted on its cheeks have since faded away. Yeah, like red ocher can survive being nuked… The rest of the oval shaped mask is bone white. A product of the alchemical paint I used, paint which surprisingly hasn’t faded… Where the eyeholes would normally be on any sort of helmet are replaced by four of the curved- or slanted depending on how you look at it- variety. And finally, there’s a wooden spigot thing sticking horizontally out from a small hole around where my mouth would be. I slipped the mask back over my head, turned around, and walked towards the door. I’ll come back and retrieve these two after I’m done, besides, I’ll need a backpack or something to hold everything… I reached the door, giving one last look at the mirror, before exiting the room, and continued to make my way up the tower. … The open sky came into view as I climbed up the last few steps. I had come across one of the tower’s many storage rooms- at least, one of the many rooms that we cleared out just to throw all our crap into- and I had found one dusty, old, leathery pack that would more than suffice to hold all the stuff I would ever need. I took one last step up onto the flat surface of the marble slab floor. Marble that was now stained pitch black. Ugh... I Shouldn’t be surprised, especially considering what happened. Though with the amount of energy released, it’s a miracle that it didn’t take half the tower with it… I took another step towards the center of the platform. Okay, during the fight I last saw it fly somewhere over- ah there it is. Laying lost, lonely, and forgotten against one of the top’s support pillars was my sword, Gladiator. A forty-two inch, magically enchanted, acid imbued, longsword of imminent death. I ran over to it, got down on one knee, and picked it up. It would have been a heartwarming reunion, only… It was broken. The blade itself is utterly shattered, leaving only three inches of actual sword left. I let out a dry, raspy sigh. Even you couldn’t survive through it all, could you? I gave it a few practice swings. Well, the hilt doesn’t seem to be loose… I wonder if- Just as I was thinking about it, the magical runes on… what was left of the blade lit up with a greenish light, causing me to jump only a little bit. …Welp, I guess that answers that… I put it away into my backpack. Another thing I had noticed on my way up was that my enchanted “sheath of sharpening” had flown off somewhere during... all that happened. Even If I did have it, it wouldn’t exactly be very helpful, considering its intended occupant is no more than an over glorified dagger now… Perfect, I have a record player I can’t even use, a broken sword, my staff exploded and I don’t even know where the hell it is, and a book, and to top it all off, I’m dead… and I haven’t checked my armor yet… … Well, It could be… actually no, this couldn’t get any worse. I got up, and walked back to the stairs, and began to make the long, boring, trek back down the tower… Again. For the thousandth time in my life. … I searched through the tower on my way down. The tower itself has, well, relatively, a lot of rooms. But, luckily or unluckily, they were almost all empty. I did however find some black robes in the upper barracks. I don’t actually have any other clothes so… yeah… I stopped by my room on my way down to pick up my record player, along with “Shadow Puppets”. While I was there I also decided to give my armor the once over I probably should’ve given it while I was there the first time around. And… it was not exactly in… “good” condition. The shoulder pads are dented, the breastplate is, also, dented in several places, especially near the abdomen… I’d be surprised if it could protect against bent, wooden clubs. After my little stop at my room, I searched the rest of the rooms. The kitchen, etc... They were all empty, save all the broken furniture and cobwebs… oh and the skeletons; they really added to the Feng Shui of the place, and really brings out the overall atmosphere of… death and despair… I eventually gave up the rest of the search, and ended up standing out on the ramp entrance to the tower, staring out into the wasteland. … … … So… what am I… I’m at a loss for words and thoughts and...everything. In every direction I look, there’s nothing but ash. Everything is gone, everyone is gone. What do I do? … I…don’t… … Everyone I care about is dead, and… even if they did survive… how long has it been since then? I don’t even… I can’t… … What do I do? … I put one hoof forward, and then another, and then another. I walked, I just… walked. … … … … … … … … …-what? I had only walked some short ways from the tower, having traversed several ash dunes, when I felt something… pulling me. From somewhere in the direction I was… actually heading in. I increased my pace. The pull was becoming stronger and stronger. I must be getting closer to… whatever it is that’s- *bzzzzzzzt* What? Some sort of a… buzz, almost like electric static. I wasn’t hearing it but… I could… feel it in the back of my mind… Where the heck is that coming from? My hooves kicked up the ash with each step I took as I climbed up and over another dune. I should be more concerned, it could be some sort of trap or… anything. Yes, why am I- *Bzzzzt-* not concerned about- *-Bzzzt- -what’s going-*Bzzzt on- why. won’t. it. staaaaaahp? The static is getting too loud… I can’t hear o-or think. I need to stop and turn around, this isn’t normal I need to stop and… And… … And… … It stopped, the pull, the sound, everything. What is?... I shook my head as I took stock of my new surroundings, surroundings which were… almost exactly the same as before, except now I could only see half the tower. Okay… so there’s nothing here, what was thaaaaaat- I interrupted my thought. There was some brown… thing sticking out of the ash. I kneeled down and grasped it in my now skeletal hand and… A stick. It’s just a stick… really? All that for… A piece of… carved… My staff! I ripped it from the ground, only to stop as I realize it’s only a foot long. It’s… broken too of course… guess it was too much to hope for… I turned it over, the piece itself has… surprisingly, been unaffected, other than looking like it had been snapped off. I do remember it getting blown apart, I shouldn’t be surprised it isn’t whole… So… are you what was causing the… uncomfortable, stuff before? I gave another scan around the area, there was absolutely nothing else around me but ash. Guess you were, although that begs the question along the lines of how… unless… I quieted my mind, focusing on the piece in front of me. I was trying to see if the staff’s enchantments were still working, and low and behold, it still had magic in it. But, strangely, the magic inside of it was being pulled in multiple directions… almost as if… As if the other pieces of the staff are intact… and the magic is split between the pieces. The glass vial must still be powering it with magic. My and… my friends’ souls must still be in there… Wait… if I had all the pieces of the staff, and the enchantment stills works despite… everything that happened then maybe I can repair it… I twirled it in my hands. Of course, that would require getting the rest of the pieces… Guessing, based on how many directions the magic was being pulled in, I think there are around…three…four?... four other pieces, and they’re probably not going to be in the immediate vicinity either… ... But… having them back…they could help me and… I need to get them back… I stashed the shard in my backpack. …And besides… it’s not like I have anything better to do… and what better way to start an adventure than the obligatory fetch quest? … I looked up and stared out into the ashy wasteland, and started walking, again. Well… once more unto the breach then… for dear friends… heh… once more… … Author's Note Okay so... I know about the ellipse being off center at the beginning of the chapter. As far as I know, I cannot fix that. I've tried everything but it just. won't. line. up. sorry about it But, anyways, Its time for me to start working on chapter two. I don't know exactly when I'll get it done by, but, I'll try and aim for the second half of November. Anyway, Cheers! Chapter 2: An Unfateful EncounterA soft “phsh” resounded from each of my steps as they impacted the ash-covered ground, breaking the silence. Every few seconds the wind would pick up too, sending a cloud of grey smudge into the air; but otherwise, my soft hooffalls were the only thing I could hear as I trudged across the barren wasteland. It’s been… actually, I’ve forgotten exactly how long it’s been since I left the tower. I had stopped counting past five minutes, mostly because the wind picked up, and a cloud of ash blew in my face. So instead, I focused my attention on making sure I didn’t trip on anything… again. I had long since lost sight of the tower. It had slowly sunk over the horizon behind me until disappearing entirely. Now, in every direction I look there’s nothing but ash, ash, and more goddamn grey ash. The sky is no different either: clouds just as grey as the landscape completely block out the sun. I climbed up another dune, only to stop at the top. I almost fell forward down another steep slope and into some sort of valley area. It was, of course, just like everywhere else, entirely featureless. Out of the corner of my eye though, I spotted something rising out of the ash, off in the distance in… whatever direction I was going. I continued walking, and slowly the structures came into view. Half-buried in the ground were grey stone walls, rising eerily above the ash covered landscape, complete with a familiar gatehouse, and several rounded towers. Kislev, capital of the duchy of Kislev, and the namesake of the region. I can still remember back when I was sixteen, and it was nothing more than a recently settled hamlet. I was there with my old mercenary company, escorting would-be settlers to the newly discovered region. They had a little council on what they were going to name their new home, but every name they came up with was just a stupid pun of cities back on earth, just like literally every other city in Equestria. Like the “greatly” inspired name of Staliongrad… Eeeeugh… I, being there of my own volition… and because I helped with construction around the village, along with other things, could not let that happen. And so, after about five seconds of failing to think up anything original, I went with the first thing that popped into my head. Regardless of it being ripped straight from Warhammer fantasy, they seem to like it, and thus it was called so. I came back several times afterwards, whether it be for dealing with bandits, animal infestations, designing and constructing functional walls… … It was… strange. Seeing it again; the city I had helped build reduced to ruins, its walls the only thing left standing. It… made me think. Its fate might’ve been sealed back before I… died, but there were other villages surrounding Kislev, all ranging from small towns to hamlets. What happened to them? Did they get evacuated or… or were they… … I… don’t want to think about it… I eventually left my little spot on the hill, broken out of my nostalgia and could-have-been’s by the sudden darkening of the sky. While a part of me wanted to stay a bit longer, I didn’t have any desire to fumble around in the dark, especially here. Which of course, leads me to now. How is there more ash? I’ve been walking for what, Two hours, Three? Did the entire southern half of the continent spontaneously combust? I was still walking, having apparently made no visible progress according to the stagnant wasteland around me. The sky had switch over to “night mode” making it almost impossible to see anything beyond five feet in front of me. The normally starry night had been concealed by clouds, rendering everything pitch black, so it wasn’t much help either. I had tried lighting up my horn so that at least I could see where I was going. But apparently my magic was still down for maintenance… My magic should have recharged at least in some degree by now. Is something blocking it or… where is- My hoof hit… something causing me to stumble forward, thus causing me to wave my arms around in the dark until I regained my balance. …And of course, I still can’t see where I’m going… hell, am I even heading in the right direction? I stopped for a second. And after slinging my pack onto the ground, I reached into my makeshift backpack for the piece of my staff, and by “reached” I mean I awkwardly felt around for it. Come on where is- ah, there it is. I pulled the piece out, or, at least something that felt like the stick, and focused on it yet again. And I yet again felt a light pull from the direction I was heading in. I stored it in my pack and continued on. Of course, now the only thing I have to worry about is accidentally falling into a ravine or- My leg got caught on something, causing me to stumble, again. Oh, for the love of… I put my hands on my knees, and stood back up. Damnit, can I at least go five minutes without… huh? I saw something off in the distance, something… yellow, and glowing. Something that distinctly looked like a campfire, illuminating things that distinctly looked like trees… Fricken Finally! I rushed towards the new fiery light. But then, I slowed down my pace. Wait, that means… Campfires meant people, and people tend to want to either run away from, and/or destroy undead like...what I am now. I could probably disguise myself with the robes I found earlier… but I don’t know how much that will help… Well… it’s worth a try at least. I stopped and pulled the black robes out of my backpack, and proceeded to slip them on. While the robes were clearly made for someone much larger than me, the loose cloth just hung off of my shoulder pads, allowing the rest of the robe to fit snugly on my armored form. The… flowing length of the robe, goes all the way down past my ankles, hovering just barely a couple inches off of the ground. The sleeves, while a little bulky, cover me to my wrists, where each end with an embroidered cuff. The whole ensemble would be enough to cover most of my body; well, except for my hands. But… I still wasn’t very confident. I looked utterly conspicuous in my all black, masked attire. But, it was the only option… Okay so… either I can stay out here, stumbling around in the dark like an idiot… or, I can hope that whoever set up that fire doesn’t immediately figure out that I’m a ghoul… … Welp… Social activity ahoy… I resumed my fast pace, stumbling a few times along the way. Several trees passed my vision as I closed in on the campfire. With grass under my hooves, replacing the barren ground I had trudged across earlier on, it was a relief to finally be out of the ash desert. My eyes would certainly be spared staring at a constant greyscale… I slowed down to a walk as I came within ear-shot of the small clearing, and I could hear the crackling of wood in the fire, along with what sounded like shuffling… I shifted and moved around amongst the trees to get a better position on the campfire, ducking into a bush, all the while being careful to make as little sound as possible. I finally got sight of exactly who set up the joint in the first place… A young mare, at least telling by her rather… generous assets, well, “generous” by human standards, around… roughly twenty-five years old? give or take, was sitting down near the campfire, poking at it with a stick. I can’t see a horn, or wings, although the latter would be concealed by her clothes. Her mane and fur colours fall in line with what you would normally expect from ponies, vibrant red… hair covering her face and body, along with a deep blue mane, both being bright, and vibrant. She’s wearing… “basic” clothes; a brown shirt, pants, and boots, along with a cloak and hood ensemble hiding most of her face from view. A… shortbow, is strapped onto her back, along with small quiver to go with it, a well-stocked quiver at that. There was also some sort of… house wagon thing behind her… that I’m pretty sure I’ve seen before a long time ago... probably on TV or something, but I honestly can’t remember when. I ducked back into the bush. Okay… so how do I go about this… I needed to plan my course of action carefully. I mean, I couldn’t just barge into the camp; how would that look? Yeah, a walking horror cliché bounding into her camp in the middle of the night, that’s totally going to put her in a friendly mood… and get me an arrow to the face. Speaking of which, any attempt at diplomacy would hinge on her being the “friendly” sort to begin with… … Well… she seems to be out here alone, that would increase my chances of not getting robbed, if that’s why she’s out here… assuming of course that she doesn’t just shoot me immediately on sight regardless of what I do… I looked down at my hand. …and looking like I do now, that wouldn’t be far out of imagination. I looked back up. The night sky was still almost completely black, though now the dark clouds had parted enough for the yellowish moon to just barely shine through. It’ll be best if I can get her attention before she sees me… maybe I can play the “I’m lost” card. Maybe even pose as a traveling salesman or something. The chances of her being a bandit are… reasonably high, but the robes should be enough to at least let me get some words in, as long as I don’t show her my hands. After that… I’ll… I’ll improvise? It wasn’t the best plan, but it’d have to do. I readied myself to stand up and announce my presence to… hopefully not a bandit. Okay… on the count of three... One… Two… … Actually, you know what? This is a really bad idea. I’m just going to keep walking, I’ll eventually find a village or something and I can ask for directions there. Maybe, I don’t know… I backed away and stepped out of the bush. There’ll be other opportunities for me to- *snap* I looked down towards the source of the sound. … A stick, I had stepped on a stick. I could hear her getting up behind me. Shit. “Who’s there?!” Uhhhh, shit, shit, shit, what do I do? I stood completely still… maybe she won’t see me if I- “I can see you back there! Come out with your hands up!” Shit… okay, time to go through with the plan A after all… I turned around, hands raised to the sides so that the sleeves cover them from view, and slowly walked into the camp, making sure to make no sudden movements. She was standing four meters away from me, staring at me angrily, and with confusion. With her bow drawn and an arrow trained at my head. Now that I could get a better look at her, I was about right with my assumption about her age. She was also shorter than me, by several inches at least. Okay, I’m a traveling salespony, I’ve just came trudging out of the ash, and I’m looking for directions… all right, let’s do this. I opened my mouth, I wanted to tell her that I was lost, that I didn’t want to hurt her. But, instead of apologizing for startling her, and allaying any of her fears, what came out of my mouth was… “Eeuraaarrrr” …less than helpful. W-what? I stood there, stunned, I had expected my voice to sound raspy but- I only had enough time to hear a short “twang” before an arrow impacted my chest, splitting when it hit my armor underneath. While it didn’t pierce through, the force behind it was enough to cause me to stagger. I backpedaled, in shock… only, one of my hooves to get caught on something. I lost my balance and tripped backwards, landing on top of my backpack, surprisingly painlessly… The flimsy and poorly done up piece of leather holding it together promptly came undone, causing all my stuff to spill out. Oh, are you kidding me- I couldn’t run and leave my record player or anything else behind, all of it’s too important. I look up from the ground back at the mare, only to see that she’s already nocked another arrow. Instincts take over as I roll out of the way of the incoming projectile. It flies past my head, embedding itself where I had been, just a second earlier. I got up on one knee, and used my hands to push off the ground. I was more than a little stiff, most of it probably due to the marathon I had walked earlier. But I stood up despite it, never taking my eyes off of my assailant, leaving me to quickly think up a plan. Alright… close the distance, disarm her, and- She reaches back into her quiver, again. Shit. I rush her, closing the distance as fast as I can. I grab the bottom of the bow, jamming it upwards as she was just about to shoot me point blank, sending an arrow flying off into who knows where with a “twing”. I pulled the bottom of the bow with all my might, and so did she. Come on, you little... I give her a knee to the stomach, causing her to let go of the bow and stumble backwards, ending our grappling stalemate. I toss the bow off to the side, and cautiously approach her, hands raised in the closest thing I can do to a placating gesture. She looks at me, panic flashes across her face. Okay, easy there, easy- Then of course, it dawns on me what I had just done. She quickly reaches under her cloak, and- I jump backwards as she suddenly whips out a dagger from somewhere under her cloak. I barely manage to step out of the way before I see the metal blade flash across my vision, missing my head, but slashing the front of my mask. Okay, Diplomacy is not working. She starts wildly flailing in my direction, forcing me to backpedal and desperately try to evade her frantic swings. I can’t- keep on-… wait- maybe if I- For a split second I look over my shoulder. My stuff is scattered on the ground, but laying, there glittering from light from the fire, is Gladiator. I quickly turn back, looking forwards, barely dodging out of the way of another swing, and the tip of the dirk ends up nicking the bulky cloth sleeve on my left arm. Seizing upon the momentary pause after her swing, I turn and run, with her charging after me. I slide into the ground near my pack and wrap my right hand around Gladiator’s hilt, fumbling with it for a second in my attempt to firmly grasp it. “RRRRRAAHHH” I look backwards, blade in hand. The mare is almost upon me, dagger held above her head. Thinking quickly, I spring around. She plunges the blade towards my neck, and I parry; the cross guard of my sword catching the middle of the blade. Surprise breaks out on her face. Gotcha… I lunge off the ground, towards her, knocking her off her feet, and thankfully, knocking the dagger out of her grip. We both tumble back down to the ground, with me on top of her. Almost without thinking, I grip my sword and position it above her chest. Even though I knocked the wind out of her, she reacts immediately, grabbing onto my hands and trying to wrest Gladiator from my grasp, making me use all my strength to push her back. She starts to try and kick me, frantically thrashing and kneeing my sides, trying to throw me off. None of which blows actually hurt… I hold firm, her breath begins to grow heavy, gasping for air. Her face scrunches up in exertion. She stops thrashing all together. Then, her hands begin to give way. A moment of shock plays out on her face. Then, she looks up at me in absolute terror, tears forming in the corner of her eye’s. “No, no, please no-” Another inch… “No, no, no no…” Come… on… The shattered tip was just touching her shirt. She scrunched up her eyes. “No… please…” Almost… “Please… no, no-! “ Her hands give way completely. She lets out something akin to a blood-curdling scream as… what’s left of my sword, pierces through into her chest, causing me to recoil a little as my ears are assaulted by her high-pitched wailing. She renews her thrashing, weakly trying to twist out from under me, eye’s wide open and moving frantically. I yank Gladiator back up, and plunge my blade back downwards, this time aiming for her neck. “-AHHHHHgrk…” Her throat starts to gurgle, drowning her screams as blood oozes out from around my sword. Her thrashing begins to die down, her eyes stop moving, and simply stare forwards. The sounds coming from her throat faded, until the crackling of the fire was the only thing I could hear… … I rolled off of her, and got back up on my hooves. Well… that was an ordeal. I looked back down, where she was limp on the ground, blood pooling under her neck. It’d be safe to assume she’s dead, or, at least, close to it… Well, wrong place wrong time, I guess… ... … … Something’s… wrong… I felt… fine. Confused, but fine… but it wasn’t what I felt that was giving me pause, it was what I wasn’t feeling. Guilt. I felt nothing, not even a little twinge. Normally by now I’d at least feel something. Some form of Remorse, or even a little self-hatred… I shouldn’t be this calm… or okay, or… anything. I look down at my hands, droplets of blood dripping were through between my fingers. Some were soaking into my dry skin, staining it a dark red. I shouldn’t be this… … Emotionless… Suddenly, a thought struck me. … What if I can’t… … I tried… a test, to see if I was right. I thought back to all the times I talked with Starswirl, how he almost always talked down to me… Nothing, I thought back to his betrayal, how angry I was and… nothing… This isn’t… this doesn’t… I can remember… feeling it, but… I thought back all the way to when I was a foal, meeting up with Sunny back after- … Nothing, I feel nothing… I… suppose it makes sense. Well, at least scientifically. Emotions are caused by chemicals, cocktails of different compounds that are released into the bloodstream. Of course, me not having a bloodstream, since I’m… undead, would probably prevent me from feeling anything… if the organs that release said chemicals were actually working in the first place… But… that means… Back when I was… still alive, and the tower was being sieged by the Equestrian army, we were running out of food and water, quickly. Something had to be done, or we’d all start starving, which of course was exactly what they wanted. With no other option, and dwindling rations, we all agreed that some of us would have to become ghouls, to conserve what we had left. But, I thought they were just being… defeatist or something… Did I really take away their…? … That’s… bad... … I look back up. I was still confused, befuddled, but I couldn’t do anything to help it. The implications were clear, but… I gave my head a little shake. No, I shouldn’t get caught up in things I can’t change... My eyes slowly drifted back to the mare, by now most definitely deceased. I couldn’t just leave her body to rot… could I? I shouldn’t… My eyes changed targets, switching over to her… wagon house… Well, I should probably check in there regardless, she might have a shovel or something. I need to take everything I can get… I started walking over to it, catching a glimpse of her body as I walk past it. … it’s not like she’s going to need any of it anymore… Author's Note Welp, another chapter down, only... I don't know how many to go. Time to go through it all again, I guess. On a side note, I can post a picture of what our dear hero's mask actually looks like, if anyone's interested. I'll just have to drum it up from my steam screenshots. Anyways, cheers! Edit: Welp, here it is. I know its not really the best angle and everything but I'd need to do a full new playthrough in order to get a better one, sorry. (Also, kudos to whoever can guess where its from )
Prologue: The End...You know… I never thought it would end like this. The wind whips around my body as I fall, plummeting towards the ground. The world around me has somehow seemed to slow down to a crawl, like some kind of awkward movie scene. It might have been a result of some side effect of the huge magical explosion that had just occurred a few seconds ago, or maybe it’s just Equestria’s natural magic working in its wiley ways… It’s also a bit hard to believe that, after everything that I’ve accomplished, I’d end up failing them all… but I guess it doesn’t really matter at this point. To be honest, I’m surprised that I even lasted up until now. I mean, if someone would’ve told me twenty-five years ago that I would lead a rebellion of angry mages and farmers in an anthropomorphic version of the magical world of My Little Pony. -After, of course, I became one of said magical equines, (one of the female variety, no-less)- I probably would’ve called that person many, many, different words, least of all insane. I would’ve tacked on “Demented” too If they’d told me how I’d get there… It was about half past eight on that fateful Sunday night. I had finally gotten onto the road after a rather lengthy wedding reception. I was tired as hell and I just wanted to get back to my hotel room. I think I may have made a wrong turn or something because I was in the middle of a rundown back road with no sign of civilization in either direction. So, there I was; stranded in the middle of no-where, trying desperately to read a map while half-asleep, listening to old rock music on the radio… “Big wheels keep on turning! Carry me home to see my kin…” I truly wished that was the case, Lynyrd; but the ironic situation ended when the radio cut out to static, instantaneously. The sudden sharp ear wrenching noise caused me to drop the map. I fumbled around with the radio knobs until I turned it off. The map of course had to get knocked under the seat so I had to pull over to get at it. I opened the door and got out of the car, still wondering what the hell had just happened, and that’s when I saw it. The Aurora Borealis was covering the entirety of the night sky with colour. Now, I’ve seen the Aurora Borealis plenty of times… almost all of which were on T.V. But I had never seen it completely block out the sky before. I stood there, shocked. It was utterly beautiful. Only, I’m pretty sure that the “Aurora Borealis” wasn’t supposed to be visible from the middle of the Ontarian outback. I stood there, awestruck, until my eyes began to hurt from the strain of staring at it so long… And then the rest of me started to hurt. More specifically, it felt like my skin was burning. A wave of nausea wash over my head. I stumbled my way back towards the car, so that maybe I could grab my cellphone and call for help. My legs decided that now was the opportune time to betray me, causing me to trip over my feet and slam face first into the pavement. I tried to get back up, but I couldn’t move. My vision began to darken, and I was fricken terrified. I was still conscious mind you, during all of it… I think at that point I knew I was going to die, it was just a matter of time. I mean… It only took ten minutes… When I finally regained consciousness, if you could even call it that. I was in some sort of… warm enclosed space, and a moist one at that. I tried to open my eyes, but I was met with the same blackness as when they were closed. I opened my mouth to breath, and instead got a mouthful of some sort of weird tasting… water. I started to thrash around in panic. I was scared, I mean, who wouldn’t be? I had just died and now I was in… I didn’t know, Hell? a coffin? An underwater cave? After a few seconds of waving and kicking my limbs around I had to stop. My muscles were feeling like I had just sprinted a mile, uphill, in the snow. Heck, afterwards I didn’t even have the strength to move my fingers, which I could at the time thankfully still feel. I felt… weak. After a while, I fell asleep, purely out of exhaustion. This dark moist space would be my existence for the next… I don’t know how many days. I spent most of it trying to keep myself from going insane from the lack of… well, everything really, and the rest sleeping, at least what I assumed was sleeping... Eventually, I checked to see if I was all here. I couldn’t feel my toes, or feet, and there was a weird thing poking my forehead that hurt a little bit, but… that was about all I figured out at that point… well, besides the fact that I was alone. It’s safe to say that I was not a happy camper… Then one day I was awakened by the distinct feeling of being abruptly turned upside down. “What’s going on??” I remember thinking to myself, trying to resist puking my guts out from being suddenly flipped over. I felt a rush of liquid past my body before feeling my body impact a solid surface. Then the squeezing began. I could feel my head slowly get pulled downwards, followed by the rest of me. I was already scared from arriving here. I was silently screaming in my mind even before I could feel the walls around my body attempt to crush the life out of me. I resolved to try to remain calm and collected and just wait until it was all over. I was not calm. I started to hear distorted voices coming from the direction I was being forced towards. Then something that felt distinctly like hands grabbed on to my head, and then proceeded to pull me away from… wherever I was. A sudden rush of information from my senses took me by surprise and... I-I could finally breath again! smell, hear, a-and- I opened my eyes. And I saw two large, cartoonish eyes, situated above something that distinctly looks like muzzle. I screamed. I was hoisted up and given into the arms of one of the… things, despite my attempts at protesting. Between my screams and… the weird cooing coming from the one who was holding me, I managed to get a better look at the giant alien creatures in the room. They stood up on two misshapen and bent legs that’d look more appropriate on an animal than anything humanoid. They also had hooves, distinctly the kind you’d find on horses. Besides being covered in fur, or hair- or whatever, the rest of their bodies were relatively similar to anyone you’d see on earth, they had same torso, and arms, they were even clothed! In rather fancy looking attire even. But sadly, the similarities ended from the neck upwards. Their mouths and noses were combined in an almost dog-like muzzle. Surprisingly; now that they’re not right in front of my face, their eyes appeared to be more… human-esque than before, albeit only slightly bigger… Later, after I calmed down, I finally came to understand exactly where, and what, I was enclosed in for the past… however many days I’d also eventually realized that I now knew what it meant to be “born again” … Literally. I can’t believe it’s already been… what, twenty…six? I think, years since then… Heh, time really does fly… The distorted sound of battle starts to ring in my ear. Below me, the shattered remnants of my ragtag bunch of rebels are still fighting on, even though we’ve probably already lost… Although… I can’t really say that I envy them. I thought I had it all figured out: I’d beat the equestrian army with the help of the locals, and then we, together with my friends would all gone on to live happily ever after. The “perfect” ending. I thought I would be able to protect them, and save the world!... But now… they’re all going to die, and It’s all my fault. Heh, some “Guardian” I am… I wish that I’d never suggested that we leave Canterlot… maybe I could have convinced them to just go with the ban. I know they were angry… Heck, I was too… But, I guess… It’s far too late for regrets now. A part of me wants to blame Celestia and Luna for all this. I want to be angry at them, to hate them. But I just… can’t. While some of this is their fault, I don’t think they’d ever even consider it on their own. They were probably just acting on Starswirl’s advice… I could feel my body stiffen at that thought… We had spent six months in the cold, featureless icy desert known as the “great north”. “We” being a levied equestrian army led by the princesses, supported by the arcane university’s battlemages, including moi, and basically all the destruction magi. “We” were up there because a certain jackass, one that I had the displeasure of being classmates with, named Sombra, decided to usurp the crystal empire. And so it was that after one fateful assault during the sixth months in that hell-frozen-over, the princesses decided to charge into the crystal palace to finally end this, and kill that pompous jackass for good… and then of course because he cast some weird time curse or something the empire just… disappeared, poof, into thin air. And so it was that “we” started on the long trek to get back home; disappointed, angry, and completely exhausted. You’d think that’d be where the shit would start flying, but surprisingly the journey home was rather uneventful. When we got back home, however, was an entirely different story… I shuffled through the large group of ponies. I was walking to work when I saw them gathered outside of the gates of the university, arguing and murmuring. Most of them I recognized as fellow destruction mages, and was trying my best to make my way towards what ever had gotten everyone’s panties in a bunch… It had been two months since we had returned from the crystal empire ordeal. A lot of things had changed; chiefly (for me at least), was my promotion to the esteemed office of “Master Destroyer”, after the retirement of the previous owner of the title, a nice old stallion who I personally knew as my teacher back when I did my advanced classes, a week before any of the crap up north happened. It had only been six weeks after the war ended, and things had already started to go to hell. Now… Since… well… forever, according to some of the stories I’ve been told, “we who wield the power of annihilation” (also known as the destruction magi) have always had a… bad reputation. I mean… In the minds of most ponies, “destruction” means “death”. A correlation that, while basically true, isn’t exactly a cheery public image… and It’s worsened by all the superstitious rumors surrounding us. Did your annual crops Fail? Blame the destruction mages. After all, they “corrupt” any land they walk upon. Disease running rampant throughout your town? Blame the destruction mages, they “obviously” cursed the water or something. We’re basically the scapegoats for when anything bad happens… They feared us… It never bothered any of the others… maybe it was just me. But… back then I just… it just made me cringe every time someone gave me a “please don’t hurt me” look… And then of course, “King” Sombra happened. He “was” a destruction mage, and even though the magic he used to enslave the crystal empire was something… else, it was close enough that everyone “assumed” it was still destruction magic. All the ignorance, all the superstition and fear… it ignited into hatred. At first, it was just contemptuous looks, and idle gossip… But then it started to get serious… Shops and stores started “closing” when my colleagues would walk in. Inns and ponies alike would close their doors to us… and… there was the violence… An apprentice, a young colt not much older than fifteen, was attacked in the street. I heard about it several days afterwards, I think… it might have been Flash Freeze that told me about it, but… It wasn’t the only “incident” that happened… I had to do something, so last night I… I approached my old teacher, and current archmage of the university, Starswirl the Bearded, for help. We had drifted away over time, because of many… different, “other” issues. But I had hoped that he might be able to stop this from escalating any further. So that was why I found myself today teleporting to the front of the gates after trying, and failing, to wade through the jostling vocal mass of bodies. Another week passed by since I spoke to him. He assured me that he’d “look into my concerns”. When I pressed him for something more… specific, and after a little begging on my part, he replied that he would send out a research group to discern if Sombra was indeed using a different type of magic, as I suspected. I thanked him, and left, knowing for sure he’d find what I already knew and everything would thus be roses and rainbows… I looked up, and attached right in the middle of the gate was a large piece of parchment. Upon closer inspection, it was a… royal decree… “By order of royal decree by her royal Majesty’s Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and on the grace of blah blah blah Faust blah blah blah something something…” ugh, why do these things always have to be so long just get to the fricken point already… ah, here we go. “…the practice and teaching of destruction magic is hereby BANNED IN EQUESTRIA?!” I ripped the offending document off the metal bars and read farther down the page. It was a blanket ban. The battlemages, apprentices, all of us, we were all going to get shafted. Classes teaching destruction magic would be shut down, destruction battlemages were being discharged from service… I started shaking. They can’t do this. There are hundreds of us, they can’t just… just… SCREW us all over like this… this has to be temporary, i-it has to be… I read further down... and found something that made my blood boil. “-decided on the evidence given by archmage Starswirl- “ I didn’t even read the rest. I ran forward and slammed the gates open, charging straight into the university. Why? Why would he do this? The angry thought shot through my mind over and over again, repeatedly, as I stomped onwards… It was… I don’t know, maybe around ten in the morning? He’s usually in his… he should be in his office, so that’s where I started heading… No one tried to stop me, probably on account of me being one of the archmage’s apprentices, and being a sorceress to boot… I passed a couple of ponies on my way, but for the most part the halls were vacant. Everyone was probably already in their respective classes already… Before I knew it, I was standing outside the door to his office. I was still fuming, mind you, and muttering curse words under my breath. But, I managed to calm down enough to “compose” myself. I knocked on the door. Well, it was more along the lines of me pounding it, but really, at that point I was more concerned with trying to resist the urge to just kick the door down. I heard a sigh from the other side, along with the lock lighting up with a glow, and an audible “click” from the door being unlocked. A muffled “Come in” was the last thing I heard before I barged in through the door. He was sitting behind his rather sizable desk. He had a grim expression on his face, as if he was expecting this to happen. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even get a word out, I slammed the piece of parchment onto the desktop. “Care to…. explain this?” I manage to say, through gritted teeth. He sighed in response. “I did what thou asked- “ “I asked thou to help! Not to illegalize my school of magic!” I yelled shrilly. How does he think this constitutes as help?! All he’s done is confirm their ludicrous superstitions! “I’ve done all I could! There’s no evidence of any sort of “other magic”, contrary to what you believe.” He stood up from his chair, his grim expression changed and he looked... sad. “I’m sorry, but I was obligated to inform the princesses of the truth.” He gave me a look of… pity?! Was he seriously pitying me?! “There’s nothing more that I can do- “ “All you’ve “done” is made things worse! Now everyone is going to think that WE’RE responsible for the deaths of their loved ones!” I was beyond furious. His mouth started move in response to me raising my voice. But I just tuned out whatever he was saying…. This shouldn’t be possible! What sort of idiots did he assign the job to?! Even the most inept, brainless, jackass could see the magic’s base aura is different! And that the spells that were used had a different combination of mana! There’s no possible way that anyone with any shred of intelligence could’ve…missed…it… I stared at him. He was still talking, probably trying to justify his actions… He. Knows. I clenched my fists. He knows that it exists; and yet he’s lying to everyone, even the princesses, about it by deliberately placing the blame for all of Sombra’s atrocities on us! I wanted to punch him. How could he… Why would do this?! This makes no sense! If he knows everything that I do, then… then he’s screwing me… he’s screwing all of us! I can’t let him get away with this! There has to be some way to… I can call the rest of the other masters together. The Council of Magi can override the archmage’s authority. I’ll just get them all together and… Wait… I can’t, the ban stripped my… I’m not on the council anymore, I can’t… You planned this didn’t you?! You son of a-… I couldn’t do anything… I have no authority anymore, even If I am still a sorceress… They’d never believe… heck I’m willing to bet that Starswirl’s already presented his lies to them… and they probably believe him. He’s the one who helped unite the pony tribes… He’s practically a war hero! No one’s going to believe me, over him! I glared at him. No… No, no, NO! I can’t let him get away with this! I can’t let him just ruin everything! I-I…I need time to think… Starswirl had stopped talking somewhere during my mental meltdown, and was looking at me expectantly… “As you wish… Archmage.” I said, barely hiding my disgust… I turned one-hundred and eighty degrees abrupt about face, and stormed out of the office… and I didn’t look back. I don’t know what his reaction was… but I didn’t care. He might have outplayed me, this time at least… but I don’t think he knows that I know of his duplicity… I need to go talk with the rest of the gang, maybe they can help… I know I’ll need it… …That bastard, how could he just stab me in the back like that? I know we never really saw eye-to-eye, but I’m one of his… was, one of his students! Did I seriously mean nothing to him? Did he really think that after all his blatant lies, that I’d somehow turn my back on everything I care about? Abandon my friends and just… just stand by! As he sweeps everything under the rug?? Over ten years of tutelage and what do I get? The termination of my job, along with those of all my pupils, and- AND, making it illegal to cast a type of magic, one that’s been practiced and perfected ever since before Equestria even existed. All of it, in an effort to cover up his mistakes! … …And he called me the traitor… Heh... At least I got the chance to wipe off the smug fatherly grin that’s always plastered on his face under his stupid beard. Which looked like a dead sheep strapped onto his chin, might I add. It felt good to finally see his façade crack. Sure, it was a short-lived and completely pointless victory, but you know what? I needed it. Especially after everything he put me through... We had just routed their army after their first assault on the tower (a very piss-poor attempt at that) and they were running with their tails between their legs, in some cases literally. I had seen Starswirl amongst Equestria glorified tin soldiers, (also known as the royal guard). We locked eyes for a moment before he went off trouncing into the trees. I went in pursuit after the old codger… Darkness had fallen across the local forest. For a stallion whose supposedly over eighty years old Starswirl was surprisingly agile, however... After a mess of chain teleporting, I had managed to track him down to one of the many secluded glades that dot the forest. If he was simply fleeing, he would’ve simply teleported away the moment the equestrian lines broke. But he didn’t, which suggested that he was purposefully luring me away from everyone else, an ambush perhaps? I stepped out into the open, scanning the perimeter with both my eyes and a quick detection spell. Luckily, I didn’t have to search for long. The greying beige haired old windbag stood in the middle of the enclosure, wizard hat and all. His eyes where shut, probably in deep thought. Being the master of divination he is, of course, meant he probably already knew I was there, making a quick stealthy takedown kind of a moot strategy. Which of course meant that I had to do things the hard way… I cautiously approached him. I had brought my staff with me, along with my sword, both strapped onto my back in their respective sheaves. I had also started charging up a lightning bolt in my left hand as I got closer, just in case. While I had no doubts that I could escape him should I need to, it didn’t hurt to be prepared. At first, he gave no reaction to my arrival. But as I drew closer, he finally decided to “grace” me with his attention… “Ah, Elenwyn, my ever-tactful student…” “I am no longer your student anymore, Starswirl” I interrupted, lacing as much venom as I could into my words. But, he kept up his serene expression. “…but thou art still in need of guidance. Tell me, why have you turned your back on everything I hath taught you?” he replied, with his trademark condescending tone, while I, as per usual, glared at him from behind my mask. “Starswirl, why exactly have you lured me here?” I shot back, I was sooooo not in the mood for more of his ceaseless philosophical chastisement. He frowned. “You are walking down a dark path, my student. But it is not too late. Surrender, and you- “ How dare he? After everything he put me through, all the lies and- AND after throwing me under the bus and murdering my friends, he thought that I would just throw down my arms and give up? Seriously? I hate him, his stupid holier-than-thou attitude and… “-and the princesses may yet show mercy on you- “ Is he still talking? Okay, I need to stop this from devolving into another one of his lectures… I’m already feeling the urge to rip my ears off… I reached up behind my back and drew my sword, which shut him up rather quickly. He looked down towards the ground with a… solemn expression. For a second I actually felt a little guilty about wanting to kill him, sad even. And I almost even considered letting him go… Keyword being “almost” … “Then… I am sorry, Elenwyn. But you leave me no choice.” He finished. “We always have a choice, Starswirl…” I said, unleashing the lightning bolt I’d been holding back from my right hand. He, sadly, blocked it, but It did stagger him. “…And you’ve Long since made yours!” I couldn’t resist, he set himself up for that one. And thus, our duel was on. We traded blows, firing off spell after spell at each other. He put up and hid behind a classic ol’bubble shield, while I gracefully dodged and teleported out of the way of all the incoming fireballs and other spells he continuously shot from his horn. As we continued, I was getting progressively more and more frustrated. None of my attacks were getting through, and he wasn’t letting me get close enough for me to swing at him or even get a “dispel” off to disable his invulnerability sphere. A disintegration bolt even got reflected back at me. I was just narrowly able to duck out of the way. The poor tree behind me, however, did not get that luxury. I stood back up… Only to see a much bigger ball of fire several inches from my face. Panicking, I tried to put up my own rather amateurish shield at the last second. I felt weightless as I was thrown backwards several feet by the impact. I wasn’t too badly damaged by the blast, although my armor did get pretty singed. I was utterly livid, at both myself and him. I crawled my way behind a nearby tree, and started trying to think up a functional strategy… Stupid bloody cheap invulnerability globe… I’m not running from this, I can’t run from this. This is the probably only opportunity I’ll probably ever get to finally have some… revenge… Wait… An idea popped into my head in that moment. A rather… fun, idea. I started scanning the local area with the same spell I used to track him, although with a much different target. I was looking for-… well, “bodies”. Corpses... I was searching for corpses. Anyway, for the past several months I had been practicing and performing a type of magic that I’d never even heard of up until before I translated the tome containing it. Necromancy My eyes had been glued to the page after I first read that word. To me, it wasn’t actually that much of a foreign concept. I was an avid Dungeon and Dragons fan back in my university days, so the idea of it wasn’t that much of a shocker. But what was shocking was that, up until that point, there was no record of anything even remotely resembling it ever existing on this planet… at least that I knew of. It was something completely new, and It fascinated me immensely… But… the name of the book itself did sound familiar to me, somehow, although I think that I would vividly remember reading something called “Shadow Puppets”. After I read it cover to cover, I decided to try out some of the spells described in it. When I first tried my hand at it though… nothing happened. I read the instructions word for word and tried to cast… Death Ray? Yes, that one, again. I focused my magic, envision it in my mind, aimed my hand towards the far wall, and… nothing. I tried again, this time, I tried to force the magic to work. I didn’t work, but I did manage to get a reaction. A “bowled over in nausea and pain” reaction, but it was something... at least. Upon further analysis, I realized that there was something physically stopping me from performing the spell. At the time, I thought it was no biggie, I mean, everyone has difficulty doing a new type of spell for the first time. So, I thought that If I just kept doing it I’d eventually be able cast it. Fourteen tries later, it still fizzled out. Here was something that could turn the tide of the war, and… maybe even bring my friends, a-and everyone else back. I might’ve been able t-to… Well… to say at the very least, I was beyond angry when, even when my only chance at saving what little I had left was literally right in front of me, and that no matter how many times I tried I still couldn’t even manage to cast even the most basic spell from the book after I’d spent months- MONTHS translating. I got so worked up over it that I tried forcing it. I poured magic into it, a lot of magic, way above the threshold needed to cast it. “Hide behind the nearest large object” level of magic. I woke up an hour later in the tower’s recently MacGyvered new infirmary. I found out that, after my little blackout, I was found in my room spasming on the floor lying in a puddle of my own, what one of my students informed me of, my “incarnadine bile”. I felt… wrong. I was cold but, I didn’t really… ‘feel”, cold. After assuring the nurse on hand that I was fine, and that I wasn’t feeling sick, and that no, I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I walked back to my room to see If I’d broken anything in my short severe lapse in competency… and to sulk over my growing list of failures. When I opened the door back into my room though. I could literally smell the magical residue left over from my attempt at casting. Thankfully, nothing was broken. but I checked everything afterwards. Normally, if you screw up a spell, it’ll backfire, and you’ll end up feeling a bit exhausted. Or… spasming on the floor, but still… If it does backfire, then the magic doesn’t even leave your body. Therefore, no invisible residue. But, there was. Which meant… that... I went through the mental steps again, aimed at the wall, and- A ray of sickly purplish black energy shot out from my palm, hitting the wall, and dissipating with squelch… I smiled After I tried some more of the spells out for myself, I decided to share my discovery with everyone. They were naturally afraid at first. But I eventually got them to warm up to the idea, albeit very reluctantly. When a few of them tried it out for themselves, they were even worse than I was. They couldn’t even start casting the spells. They just... couldn’t, for some reason… Looking back, maybe I should been more concerned as to why… But, anyway, back to the fight. before I lose my train of thought, again… more than I already have... Underneath me were… I don’t know how many, but the ground was practically chock-full of bodies to the point where I was stunned by the sudden rush of information. And… some of them were… more recent, than others. That… little detail, got me thinking some rather unpleasant thoughts… I never wanted this to happen. Well, no, I did, it’s just that… I never thought it would be… “like this”. When I convinced all the surrounding villages to declare independence… I don’t know… I never… “originally” intended to bring them into this. Heck, I brought the destruction magii here to stop anyone from getting hurt… They were about to get themselves killed marching to the palace to force the princesses to repeal the ban! I couldn’t just let them all die! I’ve known them for almost half my… well, half of this life. They’re. My. Friends! I will NOT lose them too! I c-can’t lose them… B-but now… So many innocent people have died because of this stupid war. From both sides… I started this, and now their b-blood is on my hands-… No! Focus! Kill Starwirl, you can feel sorry about yourself later. I blinked, my cheeks felt a bit wet. I wiped the tears from my eyes and gave my head a good shake to clear my thoughts. I turned my attention instead onto the more pressing matter behind me. I sheathed my sword and started to focus my magic. My horn slowly started to glow with a ghostly blue, almost cyan, light. My hands joined into the lightshow too, the two channeling runes tattooed on the back of them lighting up with the same colour as my horn. I took a couple of seconds for it to reach full power, but then, I let that sucker go. I watched the light flow from my three focal points, and coalesce into thin tendrils, then rush towards and subsequently disappear into the ground… And now, all I have to do is wait- And then suddenly, everything was on fire. I dove out from my hiding place, landing several feet away… and promptly faceplanted into the ground. Ow I looked back over my shoulder to see the tree I was just hiding behind being lit up like a bonfire. I barely made it out before I became pony flambé. I could still feel the heat from- … I’m on fire. … I hit the dirt and started rolling on the ground to put the flames out. I saved the “stop” part for last. I pushed myself up off the ground and got back up, pausing for a second to assess the damage. Luckily, my armor prevented most of me from getting burned. The only exceptions were my arms and my thighs… But, besides my fur-like hair turning a slightly darker shade in the exposed areas, everything appeared to be fine. It didn’t hurt, which was a good sign. Although… Ugh… I’m going to get so many immature comments from the guys about the new, “dark splotches” just below my waistline… sigh… I brushed off the soot from my legs, as best I could. But It looked like I’d still be due for a bath this evening- And that’s, when I felt it. The ground underneath me was starting to shift, like something was under it… Oh… right, they’re underground… so they have to dig themselves… out… I looked back up to see Starswirl approaching me. With the same super serious expression, as per usual. “I know you’re angry with me…” And there he goes again… He blabbered on trying to talk me down, again. I hid my left hand behind my back and fired up my magic again, to see how much longer I would have to deal with thi- They almost broke up through the ground, and with a flick of magic from my hand they stopped in their tracks. Starswirl hadn’t reacted to the not-so-subtle shift of the ground. Sooooo… either he didn’t know they were there, or he didn’t know what “they” ARE… Either way… heh. I think it’s about time to get some good, old fashioned, PAYBACK. “Your presuming a lot of things about me, Starswirl…” I said as I started circling around him. He frowned at my interruption, and for a second he almost looked, dare I say… irritated? “You presume that I’m somehow oblivious to all your machinations…” I continued, smiling giddily with barely constrained excitement. “Your presuming that I don’t already know the truth about who you really are…” “…And you presume that I have any intention of letting you leave here, ALIVE” He raised his eyebrows at me and scoffed. “And pray tell, how do you intend to- “ I didn’t let him finish. I lifted and lit up my hands, and commanded the dead to rise. And they did not disappoint. A skeletal hand burst from the ground under his hooves, grabbing his leg. He yelped at the sudden contact, and jumped backwards. More sinewy limbs broke the surface, hauling the rest of their rotting, rusted armor-clad bodies into the open air. When Starswirl caught sight of them, he blanched white with one of the most horrified and shocked faces that I’ve ever seen, especially from him… And I loved every second of it. “What… what have you done?” he hissed out, his face changing to furious almost instantly. So quickly that it made me pause my thoughts for a second. I’d… never actually seen him that angry before. I mean, I’ve seen him “frustrated” before, and he’s given me the “I’m disappointed in you” look more times than I can count… “Oh, you know, just a little something I learned from a book. You’d be surprised by what you can learn from reading ancient magical tomes.” I said, sarcastically. He stared at me, boring his eyes into my soul. I fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze. He was absolutely furious, at least that’s what I could tell from his expression at the time. “It seems thou art right, Elenwyn…" "I hath presumed that thou could be reasoned with, but It seems I underestimated how far you’ve fallen. I thought you were still a pony, but I had not anticipated thou having become a monster.” … Wow, that was… a little harsh… I Stared at him, slightly shocked. His words caught me off guard. I had expected him to be terrified or… I don’t know, just not… this... Regardless… While it was a little uncalled for, and hypocritical coming from him, it didn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter, because I think it’s about damn time that I end th- Wait… where did he go?! I saw a flash of light and then… Wait did he just... … Oh my god he just teleported away. I growled. I was so close a-and then that son of a bitch just… just… GAH. I turned around and loosed a pent-up lightning bolt from my hands, it cut through the air and crashed into the burning tree behind me, followed by another. and another. A minute later, after I had wasted a considerable amount of magic. I collapsed backwards onto the grass. ... Honestly… I shouldn’t be surprised… I would’ve run away too if someone pulled zombies out of their ass in the middle of a fight... I should probably get going. We might’ve sent the Equestrian army running for the hills, but they’ll be back… I need to get back to base and discus our next course of action. I got up from the ground. The undead soldiers that I had raised were still around me, spread out across the clearing. Simply standing there, and staring at me… They were… creepy, to say the least. The tree that was set on fire, and the one I subsequently took out my anger on, illuminated the clearing with an orange glow. They’re were at least twenty of them. I walked towards the one nearest to me... Shattered armor, rotten flesh, a couple of bones sticking out... It fit the description of “walking corpse” almost perfectly… It’d be a waste just to dismiss them all… I suppose I could take them with me. Although I’ll probably need to fix them up a bit… Then of course, Its arm fell off. I jumped back a little as the appendage unceremoniously flopped onto the ground… …I can probably just… sew that back on… Well then, let’s get you lot back to the tower and get you cleaned up. I turned around, and the forest was on fire. The fire from before had spread, sending several more trees up in smoke… … All right, before we do that. Let’s… put that out before it burns down the entire forest. I did… eventually, manage to suffocate out the flames. Although it did take a while. Wind magic isn’t really the most conventional fire extinguisher, for obvious reasons. Manipulating the air to starve the fire of oxygen isn’t that magically efficient, but it worked out well enough I guess… I stared downwards towards the ground below as I came to exit my thoughts. I was still falling, with gravity continuing to accelerate me faster and ever faster… … So… I guess this is it. I’m going to die… again. Normally I’d chalk this up to be just another one of my mistakes, that or fate just outright hates me… But… A smile worked its way onto my face. And I started to focus… What can I say? Old habits die… old habits… die… I looked toward my left hand. I was trying to access one of the latent spells enchanted into my staff. So I could shapechange myself- There was nothing in my hand, my staff was gone. Where is-?! Where did it…go… The rainbow wave shot itself towards me. The princesses had whipped out the oh so famed “El-er-mernts of Hermony “during our thinking they could end our ongoing stalemate by shooting their magical friendship beam of doom at me. They, however, were not the only ones with a powerful artifact… One month ago, using the vial stored in the head my staff, containing drops of blood from all thirteen of my friends and myself, I summoned my friends’ spirits back from the grave, and bound them to the blood in the vial. I nearly cried in joy when I realized the ritual worked. I-I had my friends back… and they were just as angry as I was about the Equestira’s growing number of atrocities... So, just like we’ve done a hundred times before, I used the blood as a medium to combine our magic together through the staff… Which of course leads us to the fight. I raised my staff level to the incoming blast, and met it with a continually sustained “Deathray” of my own, mixed in with a disintegrate from my horn. Sickly green, black smog and red lightning clashed with all the colours of the rainbow… And then of course, the rainbow started gaining ground, very quickly. So, I poured more mana into the spell, which only slightly slowed its advance towards me. And so, I poured more, and more, and more power into the spell. My head was pounding, my arm hurt like hell, but still, it inched towards me. Maybe I had exhausted too much of my, and the staff’s, magic during our fight. Maybe I had put it under too much stress by pouring all the magic through it. But when the tip of the rainbow beam made contact with my staff… it exploded. My expertly crafted, heavily enchanted staff, was blown apart into pieces. If the shockwave of the point-blank explosion wasn’t enough, the feedback of the spell suddenly failing caused me to feel like lightning was running down my spine. When my head stopped spinning. I opened my eyes only to witness the massive ball of congealed magic I had been gathering the last couple of months, go completely nuclear. It exploded, and I felt a feeling of weightlessness, and wind, rushing past my mane… Oh…right. And I guess the shockwave from its explosion must’ve destabilized the Mana Well I was prepping… Well… no matter, I’ll just teleport myself down and- *Bzzzt* … W-What?! I gathered my magic again, pictured where I wanted to go, and… it fizzled out again… Why isn’t it working?! What could-?! I turned inward and focused on my internal magic and… and there was nothing… Where is my magic?! Where the hell is it?! Wait, that means that… I looked down, I was getting closer and closer to the ground… I-I’m going to die… Oh god… I’m going to die! I screamed. The indescribable dots I recognized from the top of the tower as both my and the equestrian soldiers were becoming more detailed and larger… Please no! this can’t be it! Not after everything I’ve done! N-no, nononononono- Dirt, and rock filled my vision. NOOO- … I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, with a rather audible "thunk". In but a moment, I could feel almost all of the bones in my body utterly shatter as I impacted the ground. Amongst the agony, I felt a wetness begin to gather under me as I laid there, broken, on my side… My fall hadn’t interrupted the fighting around me, and the sound of clashing steel and shouting filled the air… I’ve failed them, they’re all going to die… I tried to open my mouth, to scream at them to run, to save themselves. But all that came out of my mouth was a whimpering gurgle, along with the irony taste of blood tickling my tongue… This is it, T-this is the end... I’ll never be able to have dinner with Jeeves again, o-or hear any of Red Thunder’s lewd jokes ever again… I’ll never be able to see Sunny or Moony again… It can’t end like this! No! My eyes whirled around frantically, desperately hoping that someone would help me, save me. Please! Help me! No one even seemed to be paying attention… Please someone, anyone please just help me! Darkness once again encroached on the edge of my vision… Please someone! I-I don’t wanna diiiiiie! Again! I felt dizzy and lightheaded. My cheeks felt wet as tears clouded my darkening vision… Please! I feel… I-I can’t feel my legs… Please… My vision turned completely black. Help me… ... Please… … Help… … Help… ... Help… … … … … … Author's Note I should probably mention now that the whole "magic system" I'm trying to go for is going to mainly draw its variety from Dungeons and Dragons, but will operate similarly to how magic works in a little game called Age of Wonders 3. Please, do look it up if your interested, its quite a fun 3X game. But anyway, its time for me to get back to getting the next chapter up and ready. Also, while this has been extremely edited by a very awesome person. I wouldn't be surprised if a few errors have escaped correction. If you spot any, please do point them out, it definitely will save me the embarrassment.
Chapter 1: ...And a New Beginning... ... ... Huh, I never thought I’d be going through this again… Déjà vu aside, I’m… confused. I had regained my consciousness, that much was a given. One instant I had been bleeding out on the ground with most of my bones shattered, and then the next I’m just… here. Well, where ever here is… … I feel… strange. I can’t feel my body but… I can feel some form of… heavy mass, weighing down on me, but I… can’t feel what it’s weighing down on, I just feel… numb. I tried to open my eyes, but I was met with a black void. I couldn’t smell or hear anything either. It was just me, my thoughts, and a black, silent, unfamiliar void. Well… at least it’s not like last time I… … Am I dead? … No… at least I don’t think so. I gave a try at moving my arms, something I probably should’ve checked first, and found that the mass surrounding… probably where my arms are… shifted, as I assumedly wiggled said appendages. It felt like I was moving them through sand or something... I tried the same with my legs and the exact same thing happened. Oh joy, it looks I’ve been buried alive… Well, at least I’m all here- Wait, what’s that noise? I shifted my head and…It sounds like… whistling. It was faint, but I could still hear it, and It was coming from above me. That meant that wherever I am there must be a cavity above me with… Air Air! I rapidly started to make my way upwards. I haven’t taken a breath since I’ve woken up. I need to get out of here! I’ll suffocate! I pushed and dug my way through. The mass around me shifted as I crawled upwards, rapidly refilling the spaces where my limbs were, trying to entomb me, but I fought on. The whistling was becoming louder; clearer, as I neared what I assumed to be the surface. Come on, just a little bit farther… come on! I reach my right hand upwards once again, only to find nothing there. Yes! I brought my other hand up, and pulled myself upwards with all my might. My head broke the surface first, the sand or dirt or whatever I’ve been buried in started to cascade off of my head, and the sound of the wind howling filled my ears. Finally! I’m free- Whoa-! Suddenly, my mind went blank as gravity took over my body as I started tumbling down an incline. Eventually though, I came to a stop. Ugh… I shakily got onto my knees after my vision stopped spinning. “Eugh *cough* *cough*! I tried to take in a breath, only to find I couldn’t. It felt like there was something in my throat, causing me to burst into choking and sputtering. I flipped my mask up, which fortunately didn’t go flying off earlier, and fell onto my knees, leaned forward, and used my hands to brace myself against the ground, as I continued to hack and cough in a desperate attempt to breathe. “ACK” With a final convulsion, I could feel whatever blockage was in my throat began to come up and then… dark, grey… stuff, started to come out of my mouth. What… is that? Is that… ash? Did I just cough up ash? I brought my hand up to my mouth to see if my suspicions were true, only to do a double take as the ash fell through my spindly fingers. My hands… My hands are… literally all skin and bone, with some of said bone sticking out through tears in said skin. What…I don’t… how? I look up, only to wish I hadn’t. All around me there’s nothing but… ash. The ground was completely covered in it, with giant hills of the stuff piled up like sand dunes. Oh… oh my god… Everything’s gone, the trees, the grass… everything. What happened? What… wait… The explosion! With all the undead raising and destruction spells we did we must’ve over-saturated the land with negative magic… I turn around. Sticking up into the sky was what I called "home" for the last several years of my life… the tower… well, we never ever actually gave it a name or anything… anyway, its once marble-colored stone is stained almost completely dark grey, probably from wind erosion, although the rest of it seemed *relatively* intact. …and then of course the elements of harmony set off the giant mana ball to explode while simultaneously converting it all into creation magic… Both react together, triggering a purge, but because of the sheer overwhelming amount of positive magic released by the elements, it caused everything to… violently combust… although that doesn’t really explain how I’m… here, right now. Maybe some of the necro-magic stuff got forced underground or something, although in that event something would’ve needed to rile it up again. I looked back down towards my hands. I shouldn’t be this calm and collected about all this… I just died… again, I should be having a mental breakdown or… something... Maybe… maybe I’m just in shock… yeah, that’s probably the reason… … Well… what now? The question stumps me. For the first time in my life I… don’t really have a direction. I’ve failed my friends and gotten them all killed… and now, I didn’t really know what to do. There’s nothing to go back to, and I don’t know how long it’s been… It’s safe to assume that things have changed since I’ve last been here… I looked down towards my hands. I held them out and clenched them; I still couldn’t feel them, but at least I haven’t lost precise motor functions… I have a third chance, after everything that’s happened… I probably don’t deserve it, but… maybe I could make some good of it. … Well, in any case… I stared straight towards the top of the tower. Let’s go check the tower out, there might still be… something, anything, in there that might still be salvageable. I flipped up my mask, covering up my face again. Then I put one hoof forward, making my way towards the tower, and another and then… I fell face first into the ground, my armor resounding with a small clang from the impact with… something. What? I got back up on my feet, and looked downwards. A ashen grey ribcage laid right in front of me. Most of which, was buried under more ash. Probably with the rest of a body… … I stepped over it, and continued on my way. I shouldn’t be surprised that there’s bodies still here… With all the fighting, there’s probably a lot of them just scattered about. Although… considering how I was buried several feet under enough ash to fill a large swimming pool and then some, they shouldn’t be that close to the surface… I climbed up and over a sand dune, and I was at the entrance to the tower. It, in itself, was an impressive structure, the whole “tower” part of it was raised up on another sort of “star-fort” like structure. There were doors near the base that lead out to the battlements. That had proved extremely useful when under siege. The tower itself rose out of the middle of the fort, with five long stone support buttresses that connected to each of the points of the star fort, keeping it all stable. From there, the tower went up about ten to eleven stories, and then ended in a flat top with five wedge-like pillars sprouting out from the top, kind of like the petals of a tulip. Heh… my own miniature Isengard. Lord of the Rings similarities aside… I walked up the ash covered ramp, and came face to face with the tower’s two… now utterly shattered… wooden doors, both swung wide open. I took a step inside and came into the tower’s “lobby” area. The circular room had four archways, each leading to a different area of the fort; the kitchen, armory, barracks, and apothecary, along with a stairwell leading up to the actual tower portion of… the tower. I paused as I took one look around, mostly cause of the many armored skeletons cluttering the floor. All of whom wore the scaled and or chainmail vests over studded leather armor I had commission back before the rebellion even kicked off… They stood by me… right until the very end… Some of them had arrows sticking out of various points on them, some of their armor was bent, and the rusty swords, axes, spears, and shields, along with other assorted weaponry… probably theirs, were scattered all over the place. Strange that there are none of the royal guard or levies amongst the dead… I guess they must’ve been taken back to Canterlot. Probably for a “hero’s burial”. Funny how they seemed to act more like loot-happy marauders… I gave myself one last look at them before I turned away to move on. They… they all deserved better than this… I made my way towards the stairs. They’re about a meter and a half wide, and they spiral up the tower’s circular insides like a… spiral staircase. Redundancy aside… They appear to be intact, at least… I cautiously stepped onto the first stair, putting my weight on it. All right, first one down… I looked up. …only several hundred to go… My journey up the stairs was uneventful. The stairs were still in good condition, aside from the occasional creak, causing me to pause. I passed the battlements, magical training rooms, the ransacked library that’s been almost completely destroyed... Probably by the zealous goons of Equestria… until I reached my room. The door, just like the entrance, was completely bashed inwards. I guess that means that my wards got dispelled… that or they just kept throwing themselves at the door until the wards failed. I took a step into the reasonably spacious room. Back when we first got settled in, it was completely empty, which was strange considering it had a balcony opposite the door. I Claimed It as my own, and got in some furnishings. A queen-sized bed, bookcases, a desk, and even a- What the… The room looked like someone had ripped up and stolen everything that wasn’t nailed down. The Bookcases were all knocked over with some of them having their shelves broken. All the books were gone. My desk was overturned with all the drawers pulled out, and someone had ripped all the drapes. Jeez… They really did a number on it… I walked forward into the center of the room. Now then… where did I…? I scanned the room, drifting across the desk, bookcases, and- The bed! How could I have forgotten… oh screw it. I walked towards the bed- of which someone had stolen the mattress, for some reason…- and got down on my side so I could get a good look under it. I had stored my- Yes! They’re still here! For a second I was worried… I reached under the bed and grasped the first of the square objects. The black book of necromancy that’s written in the most backwards ass language ever, “Shadow Puppets”, caked in a layer of dust, but still intact. I reached back under the bed frame and pulled out my… old music player. It looked almost exactly like an old-fashioned record player from the 1900’s… back on earth. the difference being. It was entirely made up of a sort of bronze colored… metal. The exact alloy attributed to its construction is still a mystery... By the time I had found it, just knocked over on the ground, most of the parts had decayed to unusable scrap metal- Several thousand years without maintenance, I was surprised it was even intact,- that I ended up pulling out and replacing with far less advanced machinery… All right my little Jerry-rigged juke-box, let’s see if you still work… I gathered up my magic- … I tried again… and nothing happened. Okay… I don’t know how long it’s been since my fight with the princesses… guess my mana hasn’t been recharged yet… or has even begun to recharge yet… ... Welp, I guess I’ll just have to… put that plan on hold… I got up from the ground and turned around. I’ll come back for you two after I search the rest of the- A small flash of light interrupts my musings as I shift my head towards the door. What the… I whipped my head around and scanned the room. Standing right from the door was my five-foot-tall full body mirror. I shook my head a little. Wow a little jumpy today aren’t…. we? I took a step towards the mirror. Are… are my eyes glowing? A pale blue light was shining out of the four eyeholes of my mask, clear as day. That’s… not normal. I pulled my hood down, and then reached out behind my head again to slide the leather strap that was holding my mask on, up and over my head, letting it hang from my left hand. What the heck is… I was struck speechless. Like my hands, my face is devoid of any of the short black hair… fur, that used to cover my entire body, leaving the skin bare. And my skin… It looks like someone pulled it back from my muzzle and… I don’t know... shrunk it, leaving the skin to hug the bone and expose my teeth and gums like some sort of… of… And- and my mane! My long black mane has turned completely grayish white. Looking completely unkempt, with all the colour just drained out of it. And then… my eyes. In which, I had none. They were just… gone. Being replace by… two ghostly… blue… lights… I could feel the gears beginning to turn in my mind. And then, it finally…clicked. … I’m a ghoul, aren’t I? I raised a hand up and put it against the mirror and leaned forward, getting a very nice glimpse at the back of my eye sockets. …I am… oh fan-fricken-tastic… … ...Well I guess it could’ve been worse. I could’ve come back as a mindless zombie, shambling about in circles for hours on end… … I took my hand off the mirror, and took a step back. I died, I fell and I died, again, but… … …Well… shit… … I brought my mask up near my abdomen, holding it with both my hands. Looks like I’m going to need you a lot more, only now for an… actually not so different reason… I wipe my hand across the surface of my old mask, kicking up a miniature dust cloud from whatever crap had accumulated on it. While most of it seemed to be intact, the red triangles that were painted on its cheeks have since faded away. Yeah, like red ocher can survive being nuked… The rest of the oval shaped mask is bone white. A product of the alchemical paint I used, paint which surprisingly hasn’t faded… Where the eyeholes would normally be on any sort of helmet are replaced by four of the curved- or slanted depending on how you look at it- variety. And finally, there’s a wooden spigot thing sticking horizontally out from a small hole around where my mouth would be. I slipped the mask back over my head, turned around, and walked towards the door. I’ll come back and retrieve these two after I’m done, besides, I’ll need a backpack or something to hold everything… I reached the door, giving one last look at the mirror, before exiting the room, and continued to make my way up the tower. … The open sky came into view as I climbed up the last few steps. I had come across one of the tower’s many storage rooms- at least, one of the many rooms that we cleared out just to throw all our crap into- and I had found one dusty, old, leathery pack that would more than suffice to hold all the stuff I would ever need. I took one last step up onto the flat surface of the marble slab floor. Marble that was now stained pitch black. Ugh... I Shouldn’t be surprised, especially considering what happened. Though with the amount of energy released, it’s a miracle that it didn’t take half the tower with it… I took another step towards the center of the platform. Okay, during the fight I last saw it fly somewhere over- ah there it is. Laying lost, lonely, and forgotten against one of the top’s support pillars was my sword, Gladiator. A forty-two inch, magically enchanted, acid imbued, longsword of imminent death. I ran over to it, got down on one knee, and picked it up. It would have been a heartwarming reunion, only… It was broken. The blade itself is utterly shattered, leaving only three inches of actual sword left. I let out a dry, raspy sigh. Even you couldn’t survive through it all, could you? I gave it a few practice swings. Well, the hilt doesn’t seem to be loose… I wonder if- Just as I was thinking about it, the magical runes on… what was left of the blade lit up with a greenish light, causing me to jump only a little bit. …Welp, I guess that answers that… I put it away into my backpack. Another thing I had noticed on my way up was that my enchanted “sheath of sharpening” had flown off somewhere during... all that happened. Even If I did have it, it wouldn’t exactly be very helpful, considering its intended occupant is no more than an over glorified dagger now… Perfect, I have a record player I can’t even use, a broken sword, my staff exploded and I don’t even know where the hell it is, and a book, and to top it all off, I’m dead… and I haven’t checked my armor yet… … Well, It could be… actually no, this couldn’t get any worse. I got up, and walked back to the stairs, and began to make the long, boring, trek back down the tower… Again. For the thousandth time in my life. … I searched through the tower on my way down. The tower itself has, well, relatively, a lot of rooms. But, luckily or unluckily, they were almost all empty. I did however find some black robes in the upper barracks. I don’t actually have any other clothes so… yeah… I stopped by my room on my way down to pick up my record player, along with “Shadow Puppets”. While I was there I also decided to give my armor the once over I probably should’ve given it while I was there the first time around. And… it was not exactly in… “good” condition. The shoulder pads are dented, the breastplate is, also, dented in several places, especially near the abdomen… I’d be surprised if it could protect against bent, wooden clubs. After my little stop at my room, I searched the rest of the rooms. The kitchen, etc... They were all empty, save all the broken furniture and cobwebs… oh and the skeletons; they really added to the Feng Shui of the place, and really brings out the overall atmosphere of… death and despair… I eventually gave up the rest of the search, and ended up standing out on the ramp entrance to the tower, staring out into the wasteland. … … … So… what am I… I’m at a loss for words and thoughts and...everything. In every direction I look, there’s nothing but ash. Everything is gone, everyone is gone. What do I do? … I…don’t… … Everyone I care about is dead, and… even if they did survive… how long has it been since then? I don’t even… I can’t… … What do I do? … I put one hoof forward, and then another, and then another. I walked, I just… walked. … … … … … … … … …-what? I had only walked some short ways from the tower, having traversed several ash dunes, when I felt something… pulling me. From somewhere in the direction I was… actually heading in. I increased my pace. The pull was becoming stronger and stronger. I must be getting closer to… whatever it is that’s- *bzzzzzzzt* What? Some sort of a… buzz, almost like electric static. I wasn’t hearing it but… I could… feel it in the back of my mind… Where the heck is that coming from? My hooves kicked up the ash with each step I took as I climbed up and over another dune. I should be more concerned, it could be some sort of trap or… anything. Yes, why am I- *Bzzzzt-* not concerned about- *-Bzzzt- -what’s going-*Bzzzt on- why. won’t. it. staaaaaahp? The static is getting too loud… I can’t hear o-or think. I need to stop and turn around, this isn’t normal I need to stop and… And… … And… … It stopped, the pull, the sound, everything. What is?... I shook my head as I took stock of my new surroundings, surroundings which were… almost exactly the same as before, except now I could only see half the tower. Okay… so there’s nothing here, what was thaaaaaat- I interrupted my thought. There was some brown… thing sticking out of the ash. I kneeled down and grasped it in my now skeletal hand and… A stick. It’s just a stick… really? All that for… A piece of… carved… My staff! I ripped it from the ground, only to stop as I realize it’s only a foot long. It’s… broken too of course… guess it was too much to hope for… I turned it over, the piece itself has… surprisingly, been unaffected, other than looking like it had been snapped off. I do remember it getting blown apart, I shouldn’t be surprised it isn’t whole… So… are you what was causing the… uncomfortable, stuff before? I gave another scan around the area, there was absolutely nothing else around me but ash. Guess you were, although that begs the question along the lines of how… unless… I quieted my mind, focusing on the piece in front of me. I was trying to see if the staff’s enchantments were still working, and low and behold, it still had magic in it. But, strangely, the magic inside of it was being pulled in multiple directions… almost as if… As if the other pieces of the staff are intact… and the magic is split between the pieces. The glass vial must still be powering it with magic. My and… my friends’ souls must still be in there… Wait… if I had all the pieces of the staff, and the enchantment stills works despite… everything that happened then maybe I can repair it… I twirled it in my hands. Of course, that would require getting the rest of the pieces… Guessing, based on how many directions the magic was being pulled in, I think there are around…three…four?... four other pieces, and they’re probably not going to be in the immediate vicinity either… ... But… having them back…they could help me and… I need to get them back… I stashed the shard in my backpack. …And besides… it’s not like I have anything better to do… and what better way to start an adventure than the obligatory fetch quest? … I looked up and stared out into the ashy wasteland, and started walking, again. Well… once more unto the breach then… for dear friends… heh… once more… … Author's Note Okay so... I know about the ellipse being off center at the beginning of the chapter. As far as I know, I cannot fix that. I've tried everything but it just. won't. line. up. sorry about it But, anyways, Its time for me to start working on chapter two. I don't know exactly when I'll get it done by, but, I'll try and aim for the second half of November. Anyway, Cheers!
Chapter 2: An Unfateful EncounterA soft “phsh” resounded from each of my steps as they impacted the ash-covered ground, breaking the silence. Every few seconds the wind would pick up too, sending a cloud of grey smudge into the air; but otherwise, my soft hooffalls were the only thing I could hear as I trudged across the barren wasteland. It’s been… actually, I’ve forgotten exactly how long it’s been since I left the tower. I had stopped counting past five minutes, mostly because the wind picked up, and a cloud of ash blew in my face. So instead, I focused my attention on making sure I didn’t trip on anything… again. I had long since lost sight of the tower. It had slowly sunk over the horizon behind me until disappearing entirely. Now, in every direction I look there’s nothing but ash, ash, and more goddamn grey ash. The sky is no different either: clouds just as grey as the landscape completely block out the sun. I climbed up another dune, only to stop at the top. I almost fell forward down another steep slope and into some sort of valley area. It was, of course, just like everywhere else, entirely featureless. Out of the corner of my eye though, I spotted something rising out of the ash, off in the distance in… whatever direction I was going. I continued walking, and slowly the structures came into view. Half-buried in the ground were grey stone walls, rising eerily above the ash covered landscape, complete with a familiar gatehouse, and several rounded towers. Kislev, capital of the duchy of Kislev, and the namesake of the region. I can still remember back when I was sixteen, and it was nothing more than a recently settled hamlet. I was there with my old mercenary company, escorting would-be settlers to the newly discovered region. They had a little council on what they were going to name their new home, but every name they came up with was just a stupid pun of cities back on earth, just like literally every other city in Equestria. Like the “greatly” inspired name of Staliongrad… Eeeeugh… I, being there of my own volition… and because I helped with construction around the village, along with other things, could not let that happen. And so, after about five seconds of failing to think up anything original, I went with the first thing that popped into my head. Regardless of it being ripped straight from Warhammer fantasy, they seem to like it, and thus it was called so. I came back several times afterwards, whether it be for dealing with bandits, animal infestations, designing and constructing functional walls… … It was… strange. Seeing it again; the city I had helped build reduced to ruins, its walls the only thing left standing. It… made me think. Its fate might’ve been sealed back before I… died, but there were other villages surrounding Kislev, all ranging from small towns to hamlets. What happened to them? Did they get evacuated or… or were they… … I… don’t want to think about it… I eventually left my little spot on the hill, broken out of my nostalgia and could-have-been’s by the sudden darkening of the sky. While a part of me wanted to stay a bit longer, I didn’t have any desire to fumble around in the dark, especially here. Which of course, leads me to now. How is there more ash? I’ve been walking for what, Two hours, Three? Did the entire southern half of the continent spontaneously combust? I was still walking, having apparently made no visible progress according to the stagnant wasteland around me. The sky had switch over to “night mode” making it almost impossible to see anything beyond five feet in front of me. The normally starry night had been concealed by clouds, rendering everything pitch black, so it wasn’t much help either. I had tried lighting up my horn so that at least I could see where I was going. But apparently my magic was still down for maintenance… My magic should have recharged at least in some degree by now. Is something blocking it or… where is- My hoof hit… something causing me to stumble forward, thus causing me to wave my arms around in the dark until I regained my balance. …And of course, I still can’t see where I’m going… hell, am I even heading in the right direction? I stopped for a second. And after slinging my pack onto the ground, I reached into my makeshift backpack for the piece of my staff, and by “reached” I mean I awkwardly felt around for it. Come on where is- ah, there it is. I pulled the piece out, or, at least something that felt like the stick, and focused on it yet again. And I yet again felt a light pull from the direction I was heading in. I stored it in my pack and continued on. Of course, now the only thing I have to worry about is accidentally falling into a ravine or- My leg got caught on something, causing me to stumble, again. Oh, for the love of… I put my hands on my knees, and stood back up. Damnit, can I at least go five minutes without… huh? I saw something off in the distance, something… yellow, and glowing. Something that distinctly looked like a campfire, illuminating things that distinctly looked like trees… Fricken Finally! I rushed towards the new fiery light. But then, I slowed down my pace. Wait, that means… Campfires meant people, and people tend to want to either run away from, and/or destroy undead like...what I am now. I could probably disguise myself with the robes I found earlier… but I don’t know how much that will help… Well… it’s worth a try at least. I stopped and pulled the black robes out of my backpack, and proceeded to slip them on. While the robes were clearly made for someone much larger than me, the loose cloth just hung off of my shoulder pads, allowing the rest of the robe to fit snugly on my armored form. The… flowing length of the robe, goes all the way down past my ankles, hovering just barely a couple inches off of the ground. The sleeves, while a little bulky, cover me to my wrists, where each end with an embroidered cuff. The whole ensemble would be enough to cover most of my body; well, except for my hands. But… I still wasn’t very confident. I looked utterly conspicuous in my all black, masked attire. But, it was the only option… Okay so… either I can stay out here, stumbling around in the dark like an idiot… or, I can hope that whoever set up that fire doesn’t immediately figure out that I’m a ghoul… … Welp… Social activity ahoy… I resumed my fast pace, stumbling a few times along the way. Several trees passed my vision as I closed in on the campfire. With grass under my hooves, replacing the barren ground I had trudged across earlier on, it was a relief to finally be out of the ash desert. My eyes would certainly be spared staring at a constant greyscale… I slowed down to a walk as I came within ear-shot of the small clearing, and I could hear the crackling of wood in the fire, along with what sounded like shuffling… I shifted and moved around amongst the trees to get a better position on the campfire, ducking into a bush, all the while being careful to make as little sound as possible. I finally got sight of exactly who set up the joint in the first place… A young mare, at least telling by her rather… generous assets, well, “generous” by human standards, around… roughly twenty-five years old? give or take, was sitting down near the campfire, poking at it with a stick. I can’t see a horn, or wings, although the latter would be concealed by her clothes. Her mane and fur colours fall in line with what you would normally expect from ponies, vibrant red… hair covering her face and body, along with a deep blue mane, both being bright, and vibrant. She’s wearing… “basic” clothes; a brown shirt, pants, and boots, along with a cloak and hood ensemble hiding most of her face from view. A… shortbow, is strapped onto her back, along with small quiver to go with it, a well-stocked quiver at that. There was also some sort of… house wagon thing behind her… that I’m pretty sure I’ve seen before a long time ago... probably on TV or something, but I honestly can’t remember when. I ducked back into the bush. Okay… so how do I go about this… I needed to plan my course of action carefully. I mean, I couldn’t just barge into the camp; how would that look? Yeah, a walking horror cliché bounding into her camp in the middle of the night, that’s totally going to put her in a friendly mood… and get me an arrow to the face. Speaking of which, any attempt at diplomacy would hinge on her being the “friendly” sort to begin with… … Well… she seems to be out here alone, that would increase my chances of not getting robbed, if that’s why she’s out here… assuming of course that she doesn’t just shoot me immediately on sight regardless of what I do… I looked down at my hand. …and looking like I do now, that wouldn’t be far out of imagination. I looked back up. The night sky was still almost completely black, though now the dark clouds had parted enough for the yellowish moon to just barely shine through. It’ll be best if I can get her attention before she sees me… maybe I can play the “I’m lost” card. Maybe even pose as a traveling salesman or something. The chances of her being a bandit are… reasonably high, but the robes should be enough to at least let me get some words in, as long as I don’t show her my hands. After that… I’ll… I’ll improvise? It wasn’t the best plan, but it’d have to do. I readied myself to stand up and announce my presence to… hopefully not a bandit. Okay… on the count of three... One… Two… … Actually, you know what? This is a really bad idea. I’m just going to keep walking, I’ll eventually find a village or something and I can ask for directions there. Maybe, I don’t know… I backed away and stepped out of the bush. There’ll be other opportunities for me to- *snap* I looked down towards the source of the sound. … A stick, I had stepped on a stick. I could hear her getting up behind me. Shit. “Who’s there?!” Uhhhh, shit, shit, shit, what do I do? I stood completely still… maybe she won’t see me if I- “I can see you back there! Come out with your hands up!” Shit… okay, time to go through with the plan A after all… I turned around, hands raised to the sides so that the sleeves cover them from view, and slowly walked into the camp, making sure to make no sudden movements. She was standing four meters away from me, staring at me angrily, and with confusion. With her bow drawn and an arrow trained at my head. Now that I could get a better look at her, I was about right with my assumption about her age. She was also shorter than me, by several inches at least. Okay, I’m a traveling salespony, I’ve just came trudging out of the ash, and I’m looking for directions… all right, let’s do this. I opened my mouth, I wanted to tell her that I was lost, that I didn’t want to hurt her. But, instead of apologizing for startling her, and allaying any of her fears, what came out of my mouth was… “Eeuraaarrrr” …less than helpful. W-what? I stood there, stunned, I had expected my voice to sound raspy but- I only had enough time to hear a short “twang” before an arrow impacted my chest, splitting when it hit my armor underneath. While it didn’t pierce through, the force behind it was enough to cause me to stagger. I backpedaled, in shock… only, one of my hooves to get caught on something. I lost my balance and tripped backwards, landing on top of my backpack, surprisingly painlessly… The flimsy and poorly done up piece of leather holding it together promptly came undone, causing all my stuff to spill out. Oh, are you kidding me- I couldn’t run and leave my record player or anything else behind, all of it’s too important. I look up from the ground back at the mare, only to see that she’s already nocked another arrow. Instincts take over as I roll out of the way of the incoming projectile. It flies past my head, embedding itself where I had been, just a second earlier. I got up on one knee, and used my hands to push off the ground. I was more than a little stiff, most of it probably due to the marathon I had walked earlier. But I stood up despite it, never taking my eyes off of my assailant, leaving me to quickly think up a plan. Alright… close the distance, disarm her, and- She reaches back into her quiver, again. Shit. I rush her, closing the distance as fast as I can. I grab the bottom of the bow, jamming it upwards as she was just about to shoot me point blank, sending an arrow flying off into who knows where with a “twing”. I pulled the bottom of the bow with all my might, and so did she. Come on, you little... I give her a knee to the stomach, causing her to let go of the bow and stumble backwards, ending our grappling stalemate. I toss the bow off to the side, and cautiously approach her, hands raised in the closest thing I can do to a placating gesture. She looks at me, panic flashes across her face. Okay, easy there, easy- Then of course, it dawns on me what I had just done. She quickly reaches under her cloak, and- I jump backwards as she suddenly whips out a dagger from somewhere under her cloak. I barely manage to step out of the way before I see the metal blade flash across my vision, missing my head, but slashing the front of my mask. Okay, Diplomacy is not working. She starts wildly flailing in my direction, forcing me to backpedal and desperately try to evade her frantic swings. I can’t- keep on-… wait- maybe if I- For a split second I look over my shoulder. My stuff is scattered on the ground, but laying, there glittering from light from the fire, is Gladiator. I quickly turn back, looking forwards, barely dodging out of the way of another swing, and the tip of the dirk ends up nicking the bulky cloth sleeve on my left arm. Seizing upon the momentary pause after her swing, I turn and run, with her charging after me. I slide into the ground near my pack and wrap my right hand around Gladiator’s hilt, fumbling with it for a second in my attempt to firmly grasp it. “RRRRRAAHHH” I look backwards, blade in hand. The mare is almost upon me, dagger held above her head. Thinking quickly, I spring around. She plunges the blade towards my neck, and I parry; the cross guard of my sword catching the middle of the blade. Surprise breaks out on her face. Gotcha… I lunge off the ground, towards her, knocking her off her feet, and thankfully, knocking the dagger out of her grip. We both tumble back down to the ground, with me on top of her. Almost without thinking, I grip my sword and position it above her chest. Even though I knocked the wind out of her, she reacts immediately, grabbing onto my hands and trying to wrest Gladiator from my grasp, making me use all my strength to push her back. She starts to try and kick me, frantically thrashing and kneeing my sides, trying to throw me off. None of which blows actually hurt… I hold firm, her breath begins to grow heavy, gasping for air. Her face scrunches up in exertion. She stops thrashing all together. Then, her hands begin to give way. A moment of shock plays out on her face. Then, she looks up at me in absolute terror, tears forming in the corner of her eye’s. “No, no, please no-” Another inch… “No, no, no no…” Come… on… The shattered tip was just touching her shirt. She scrunched up her eyes. “No… please…” Almost… “Please… no, no-! “ Her hands give way completely. She lets out something akin to a blood-curdling scream as… what’s left of my sword, pierces through into her chest, causing me to recoil a little as my ears are assaulted by her high-pitched wailing. She renews her thrashing, weakly trying to twist out from under me, eye’s wide open and moving frantically. I yank Gladiator back up, and plunge my blade back downwards, this time aiming for her neck. “-AHHHHHgrk…” Her throat starts to gurgle, drowning her screams as blood oozes out from around my sword. Her thrashing begins to die down, her eyes stop moving, and simply stare forwards. The sounds coming from her throat faded, until the crackling of the fire was the only thing I could hear… … I rolled off of her, and got back up on my hooves. Well… that was an ordeal. I looked back down, where she was limp on the ground, blood pooling under her neck. It’d be safe to assume she’s dead, or, at least, close to it… Well, wrong place wrong time, I guess… ... … … Something’s… wrong… I felt… fine. Confused, but fine… but it wasn’t what I felt that was giving me pause, it was what I wasn’t feeling. Guilt. I felt nothing, not even a little twinge. Normally by now I’d at least feel something. Some form of Remorse, or even a little self-hatred… I shouldn’t be this calm… or okay, or… anything. I look down at my hands, droplets of blood dripping were through between my fingers. Some were soaking into my dry skin, staining it a dark red. I shouldn’t be this… … Emotionless… Suddenly, a thought struck me. … What if I can’t… … I tried… a test, to see if I was right. I thought back to all the times I talked with Starswirl, how he almost always talked down to me… Nothing, I thought back to his betrayal, how angry I was and… nothing… This isn’t… this doesn’t… I can remember… feeling it, but… I thought back all the way to when I was a foal, meeting up with Sunny back after- … Nothing, I feel nothing… I… suppose it makes sense. Well, at least scientifically. Emotions are caused by chemicals, cocktails of different compounds that are released into the bloodstream. Of course, me not having a bloodstream, since I’m… undead, would probably prevent me from feeling anything… if the organs that release said chemicals were actually working in the first place… But… that means… Back when I was… still alive, and the tower was being sieged by the Equestrian army, we were running out of food and water, quickly. Something had to be done, or we’d all start starving, which of course was exactly what they wanted. With no other option, and dwindling rations, we all agreed that some of us would have to become ghouls, to conserve what we had left. But, I thought they were just being… defeatist or something… Did I really take away their…? … That’s… bad... … I look back up. I was still confused, befuddled, but I couldn’t do anything to help it. The implications were clear, but… I gave my head a little shake. No, I shouldn’t get caught up in things I can’t change... My eyes slowly drifted back to the mare, by now most definitely deceased. I couldn’t just leave her body to rot… could I? I shouldn’t… My eyes changed targets, switching over to her… wagon house… Well, I should probably check in there regardless, she might have a shovel or something. I need to take everything I can get… I started walking over to it, catching a glimpse of her body as I walk past it. … it’s not like she’s going to need any of it anymore… Author's Note Welp, another chapter down, only... I don't know how many to go. Time to go through it all again, I guess. On a side note, I can post a picture of what our dear hero's mask actually looks like, if anyone's interested. I'll just have to drum it up from my steam screenshots. Anyways, cheers! Edit: Welp, here it is. I know its not really the best angle and everything but I'd need to do a full new playthrough in order to get a better one, sorry. (Also, kudos to whoever can guess where its from )
