...

...

...

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!