Into the Light

by The Temporal Storm

Rating: mature
Tags: Slice of Life, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Adventure, Suicide / Self Harm, Twilight Sparkle, Violence
Length: 29802

All I ever wanted to do was help others. I wanted to be a medic, I wanted to save others from the cluches of death. Ever since I've gotten my cutie mark, I've been more than capable of doing just that.

For as long as I can remember, I've only ever wanted to be a healer. I only wanted to help. My cutie mark let me do just that. Maybe not in the way I ever expected, but who was I to complain?

Now I'm being hunted as a monster, but if they think they can crush my dreams or my spirit by killing me a few times, they are going to be sorely disappointed. I'm going to help them, whether they like it or not.

Cover art by the incredible ask-ray-relic on Tumblr.

Warning: spoilers in the comments. Seriously.

Published 2018-02-11 03:00:12 UTC
Last updated 2018-05-22 18:48:20 UTC

A Visit To The Hospital

I watched as all four guards passed below me. I would have thought, that with all their training, and with the knowledge that I was notorious for 'vanishing into thin air', that they would be a bit more meticulous in their search for me. All it had taken to escape them was turning down an alleyway and teleporting up to a fire escape.

Really, I'm suprised they ever caught anypony. I mean, there was snow on the ground! I could see where my hoofprints stopped! They walked right past that spot though, deeper into the darkness. I would never understand how these bumbling morons protected the capital of Equestria.

I shook my head. That wasn't important right now, I needed to leave before they realized I had given them the slip and doubled back. At least, I assumed they would. Maybe they would think I simply ceased to be, and would cheerfully go about their day of standing around, doing absolutely nothing productive. Whatever.

I teleported back to the ground, snowflakes blowing back slightly from the displaced air. I quickly checked under my cloak, looking at the three empty vials on my belt, as well as the dagger on my thigh. I didn't like using it, but sometimes ponies needed to be temporarily disabled.

Satisfied that they were all in place, I pulled the gray cloak tight around me again. It was the same color as my coat, and I knew that my mane was only slightly darker. With the hood pulled over my face, I was one of the most monochromatic ponies in the city, which suited me just fine. Not standing out was a good thing when you're the most wanted pony in Equestria.

I stepped out of the alley, and looked up and down the street. Not a soul to be seen. There weren't even any guards at the ends of the street. Again I shook my head, amazed at the level of stupidity. At least some three hundred years ago they actually gave a damn about the safety of the city. As soon as the guards realized they had lost me, they would report my presence in Canterlot, and then the whole city would be after me.

I had at least an hour before that though, so I began walking down the street.

Some shops I went past were open, holiday music and wonderful scents wafting out to the street, though most were shut tight against winter's fury. But tasty treats were not what I was here for. I only had one destination in mind: the hospital.

I had tried this before, three hundred and something years ago. The exact date alludes me, though that had been the day I decided I needed to learn how to fight, and it was after that day I had started keeping a weapon with me. After all, being killed in combat three times, then being hit with the sun was quite traumatic.

I suppose I understand their reaction. At the time, I had been known as a monster. I still was, to be honest. Nopony believed I wanted to help them. I was a creature straight from legend, an abomination of the highest magnitude.

I'm a natural-born necromancer.

Anypony could, of course, perform necromancy to some extent through the use of dark magic. Though not only was it extremely difficult to do that way, but their knowledge of the art was always incomplete, or their abilities limited by their magic, not to mention the fact that prolonged use of that kind of magic would eventually drive the user insane.

But natural-borns? We were few and far between, and for good reason. Our abilities as necromancers were expansive, and completely separate from our normal magical capabilities.

There had been, including me, four natural necromancers, and we were all branded the same way: a pony skull for a cutie mark. Even if somepony didn't know what that meant, they could probably guess it didn't mean 'professional cuddler' or something. So I always had my cloak on, no matter how hot, awkward or rude it was. Not when I showered, but you know what I mean.

Each of the ones before me had eventually died, permanently, at the hooves of the Princesses. After destroying cities and killing tens of thousands of ponies, that is. There were only three confirmed ways to kill a natural necromancer: using the full power of the sun against them, throwing them into a volcano, or killing them normally many times until they stopped resurrecting. Obviously, each method had been discovered with one of the previous necromancers, and I had no intentions whatsoever of helping ponykind find a fourth.

It was odd though, in my last visit to Canterlot, Celestia had tried to kill me the same way she had killed the first necromancer: a blast of fire so hot that it had melted the majority of the throne room in the castle. It had been such a spectacular display of power, that it had been rightly dubbed 'getting hit with the sun'. How I survived is still beyond me, but I know for a fact that if I ever come anywhere near her again, I'm teleporting myself off the mountain.

I looked up, and realized I had nearly made it my destination. Unsurprisingly, there were no guards outside the hospital.

I looked around me, still not a single pony to be seen. Not even the useless guards that should have been patrolling the streets. This was definitely a setup. There was no other reason for all the guards in the city to be missing after I had been spotted. There should have been more of the idiots, not less.

I shook my head again. I'd been doing that a lot recently.

I pushed the doors open, entered the warm room and quickly shut them again. There was a stallion at the reception desk. I began gathering power in my horn for a simple, well, relatively simple, spell that had gotten me out of many sticky situations. He looked up as I neared the desk, but before he had the chance to speak, I sent the spell flying at him.

The ball of silver magic hit him in the chest, though at first it didn't seem to have any effect. He looked up and down, panicked, trying to see what I had done, but he quickly calmed. When he looked at me again, his eyes where unfocused and his expression blank. I smiled, he would be like that for a few moments, with no memories of what had happened.

I stepped past the desk and through the doors deeper into the building. I moved to the right of the hall, hugging the wall. I closed my eyes and slowed my pace. I reached out, but not physically, or magically. I simply did, and felt the hearts of the ponies of Canterlot. Thousands of beating, living hearts. It was really too much to distinctly tell what was going on, so I restricted my senses to the hospital alone. I could feel the staff, with their strong hearts, and the patients whose hearts were weaker. Around them was also the feeling of death, like a shroud, constantly beaten off of them by the doctors and nurses who watched them like hawks.

Besides both of those, though, I could feel more hearts still. I knew they must be guards, laying in wait for me. There usually weren't any, but maybe they had finally caught on to what I did in every city I visited. Maybe they weren't quite as incompetent as I thought, knowing that I would make my way here eventually. But that didn't matter. I knew where they were, I would just have to avoid them.

I opened my eyes and picked up my pace again. There was an intersection ahead of me. The signs on the wall indicated that the Intensive Care Unit was to the right. As much as would like to help those ponies, I would never be able to get through the army of doctors to them. I would never be left alone long enough to help the them.

So I turned left, heading toward the pony whose shroud felt thickest, the pony who was closest to paying death's due. They, whomever they may have been, were on the second floor though. In a room to my right, however, was a pony in nearly as grave a condition.

I pushed the door open, unafraid of what I might find. I had seen many ponies in gruesome conditions. It was a normal room, the only occupant being the one on the bed. It was a pegasus, with an orange coat that was mostly missing, and their mane, whatever color it had been, was gone. It was clear they had been horribly burned. As I got closer to them, I restricted my senses to them alone.

Their heartbeat was weak and sporadic, their breath labored. If they had been awake, they would have been in great pain. I closed my eyes and focused on them, on the shroud that hung menacingly over them. I pushed it back, forced it, forced death, away from them. I opened my eyes and watched as the burns faded, their coat and mane grew back. Their heart returned to a normal rate and their breath came easy once again.

I smiled. There was nothing I liked more than helping others, even if they might never know I was the one who saved them. In the end, they survived, which was more than many did.

I turned away from them, and once again reached out to feel the rest of the hospital. My smile quickly faded. There were eight of the hearts that I assumed to be guards outside the door, and one that I assumed to be a doctor. Those of the guards were beating erratically, probably scared out of their skin of the thing they were waiting for. The doctor though, was completely calm. So it might not actually be a doctor.

Thinking about it, I really didn't want to know who would be calm in the face of the most feared pony in Equestria, so I decided to teleport straight to the pony I had originally intended on seeing first.

I gathered the necessary magic in an instant, then the world went white.

Vision came back with it's friend Pain, apparently.

I landed on my hooves, but collapsed to my knees immediately. My horn, lungs, and gut were having a competition for 'Most Painful Body Part', and I couldn't tell who was winning. I stayed like that for a moment, seething through my teeth, both from the pain and fear. There was only one reason something like this would have happened.

I looked up. Not a lot, just enough to see past my nose. There, in front of me, were the most terrifying set of white legs I'd ever seen in my life. Remember how I said that if I ever came face-to-face with Celestia again, I'd teleport myself off the mountain?

Well I tried. But that effort put my horn squarely in first place in its previous contest. I buckled over again, and my vision darkened. I thought I was still on my knees, though I might have fallen after that.

I didn't understand. She should have been in court right now. How had she gotten all this ready in time? She would have had fifteen minutes to set all these enchantments up, assuming she got here as soon as those first guards left the alley. Not even she was capable of doing something like this that fast.

I don't know how long it took, but I could eventually see again. Yes, I had fallen down. How humiliating. My breathing returned to something resembling normal, though my horn continued to be the unchallenged champion of pain.

"You should really calm down, Silver Lining. I would like to ask you for your help."

By being dead, right?

I had met literal demons that scared me less than that beautiful, melodic voice did. I knew how stupid, how useless it was, but despite the pain, I tried to teleport again. If she was going to kill me, I wasn't going to let her have any fun torturing me. And, if nothing else, I was not going to simply give up and surrender to her.

If she had me executed, I would simply wake back up. Hopefully she would actually kill kill me while I was still unconscious.

For the first time in a very long time, I welcomed the darkness.

A Visit To The Castle

The darkness had always been comforting for me. Maybe that was just because of how often it had saved me. Or maybe it was something to do with being a necromancer.

Maybe I was a monster, drawn to the shadows where ponies feared to tread.

But no matter what the case may have been, I was thinking, so I was alive. That could either be a very good thing, or a very, very bad thing.

A moment after I realized I was alive, I began to feel my body. Couldn't really tell much, but at least I was still in it. That was always a plus.

I opened my eyes. Or at least I tried to. They cracked open a hair, but I really couldn't see anything. So I let them fall shut, and decided to try moving.

One of my forelegs, I wasn't sure which, twitched some, then tried to move towards my face. It was being held down by something. Something soft.

Why would chains be soft?

Confusion was apparently enough to get my eyes to cooperate, and they shot open.

It was dark, but I could see in the dark. I was looking at the ceiling. It was white. Which was bad, because the dungeons were gray stone, and the ceiling of the throne room was much higher. So I had no clues as to my location yet. Assuming, of course, that I wasn't dead and this wasn't actually the afterlife.

I looked down, at the protest of my headache, and saw my forelegs were being held down by a silk sheet.

Oh, yeah. I was definitely dead.

Was there an afterlife? I had never thought so, since I should have gotten glimpses each time I died. Theoretically. But perhaps whatever higher being there was could tell I wasn't going to stay dead?

Well, afterlife or no, I might as well figure out where I was. I looked up, not at the ceiling, but at the walls. There were walls, actually. Not sure why that surprised me. They were also white. I could see things out of the corner of my eyes though. Things that were not wall.

So I slowly turned my head left. What I saw was probably what I was expecting, but definitely not what I wanted to see. It was a wood door. The very same door I remember seeing in the Castle halls during my last visit.

I closed my eyes and focused. My headache vanished, the pain in my muscles with it. I hadn't healed myself from the beginning since I had honestly thought I was dead, and I wasn't sure if it would have worked.

Now that I felt significantly less like a pony that had been beaten to death, I opened my eyes and threw the sheets, nice as they were, off of me. I also tried to teleport, but nothing happened. That meant I had a suppressor on. Not surprising. I reached up to my horn with a hoof and touched the infernal metal doughnut. Damn.

I slid out of the bed. Turning slowly, I looked around the whole room.

On the wall to the left of the door was a bookcase, then the bed I had just been in. The far wall had a floor-to-ceiling window, with a glass door in it leading out to a balcony.

Surely Celestia knew that even with a suppressor on, I would still resurrect, right? I could just throw myself off the balcony to escape. But if she managed to have anti-teleportation ward up in less than ten minutes, there was no telling what she had put up during the hours I had been out.

So that was probably a bad idea.

There was nothing of interest in the room, and certainly nothing to do. I wanted to stick my head out the door, just to see if the guards posted there would stab me, or run away screaming. It would be funny either way.

There were three knocks at the door.

Damn! Did she have enchantments to see when I woke up? I'm starting to see why ponies think she's omniscient.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to face her, or her guards, or anypony! I looked around for something, anything.

The bed. There was a space between it and the floor.

I dived under the bed. I could see my breath, just like I had been able to see it outside. I was panicking. I needed to calm down, or I was going to do something stupid.

Three knocks.

Nope! Buck calm! I'm about to actually die. I slammed my eyes shut. I was shaking. I had been in too much pain to be properly terrified before. Now though, there was nothing distracting my overactive imagination. She was going to kill me, but I couldn't even imagine how. Why would she have put me in a guest room in the castle? Why hadn't she put me in the dungeon? Or thrown me off the mountain, or in a volcano, or something?

I would like to ask you for your help

Did she mean that? Did she actually need me for something? What could I possibly do that she couldn't, or that somepony else who worshiped her couldn't? Not only that, but after everything she had done to me, why did she think I would help her?

"Silver Lining?"

My eyes shot open for the second time in as many minutes. The floor around me was covered in frost. That wasn't her voice. It was female, but it didn't belong to her. Was it a guard? I wasn't getting out from under this bed. It was nice, and dark, and comfy...

"I'm going to come in."

What? No no no, don't do that. For all you knew I was an insane monster that killed everything she saw.

"So please stay calm."

Calm? You wanted me to stay calm? I was in the abode and headquarters of the pony who I had been evading for literally my entire life, with a suppressor ring on, and you want me to stay calm?

An irrational part of me was screaming to jump off the balcony. The rational part shouted back that Celestia had certainly put measures in place to account for that. Irrational shot back, saying that even if that were true, the very worst that could happen was that I'd be forced to face the pony at the door anyway. Which sounded more rational than the part of me that I considered rational. I was definitly going crazy.

Buck this. Buck everything. I wasn't going to just go along with whatever the she-demon's plans were. I climbed out from under the bed, and sprinted for the window. I heard the door behind me open, and the pony started to say something.

I didn't hear it over the sound of smashing glass though, and then I was over the railing.

I saw the moon hanging in the sky, as everything slowed down, surrounded by tens of thousands of stars, all burning like candles. Or diamonds, or whatever poets described them as these days. Canterlot was aglow in much the same way, a few ponies milling about on the streets, despite it being freezing cold and midnight. So they must have all been inside on Celestia's orders yesterday. She claimed she didn't think I was a monster, then acted like I was one. Whatever. The gardens were below me, hundreds of beautiful flowers, many awe-inspiring statues, and lots of nice places to stay on a sunny day. To bad I'd never be able to enjoy it.

Surprisingly, nothing caught me on my way down. No enchantments, no guards meant to stop me from escaping. If she had predicted that I would do this, and this was all part of her plan, I was going to throw myself into a volcano, because there no way I could deal with a mastermind of those proportions.

I closed my eyes. Even if I was used to dying, I certainly didn't like seeing it coming.

I won't describe what hitting the ground felt like. I honestly hope nopony else ever knows what it's like to die.

When I woke up, the grass and flowers around me were completely frozen. Not the normal kind of frozen, but frozen solid. That happened when I died. I stood up, and I saw the suppressor ring on the ground. When I died, my body, or whatever was left of it, turned into a tiny but furious snowstorm, freezing everything around me. Then it reformed into a brand-new me, leaving anything I'd had on, cloak, dagger and belt, frozen and on the ground. It was bothersome in most cases, but occasionally, like when I had a suppressor on, it was very helpful.

"S-silver! Please, we don't want to hurt you!" The voice was above me, but didn't bother looking up at her.

One up-and-personal mountainside tour was coming right up.

At the bottom of the mountain, I took a moment to calm myself down, and considered my options.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my cloak or dagger, meaning I was extremly exposed. That was a minor thing though. I would find a way to hide my cutie mark or something, then I'd go into some town and get a new cloak.

For now I needed to look out for search parties. I was certain Celestia would have sent somepony out to search for me, and the moon was considerably lower in the sky.

I reached out, but felt no hearts near me. I could feel the ponies of Canterlot still, though they were faint at this distance.

I also needed to be ready for a bounty to be issued for me, and for every town and city near Canterlot to be on the lookout. It was going to be months, at best, before this died down. Well, down to what I considered normal.

I stood up, out of the frozen grass. For now none of that mattered. I just needed to get as far away from Canterlot as possible, and avoid all pony interaction. That was the safest thing.

So I began walking. Where didn't really matter. It never had before. I kept my focus on the hearts around me, or the lack thereof.

The sun came up at some point, and I still hadn't spotted a single guard. Maybe she had let me go. Why though? Why would she go through all the trouble of capturing me, just to let me get away that easily? I didn't understand. Why was she such a schemer? I could predict the actions of captains, soldiers, even regular ponies. But not her. She was always an enigma, and I hated it.

I came upon a street, running perpendicular to the direction I was walking. I decided I didn't want to follow it. I'd make my way to some town or other when I got farther away from Canterlot.

So I crossed it and kept walking.

I had seen ponies walking around the city as I fell from the balcony. Why had they all been inside yesterday? Had Celestia known I was in Canterlot from the beginning?

I would like to ask you for your help

She couldn't be serious, right? If she wanted my help, it would have been nicer if she hadn't been quite so intimidating and controlling. Thinking about it though, I realized that there was nothing she could have done or said to convince me she didn't want to kill me.

Maybe, in the unlikely event she was serious, she wanted me to resurrect somepony. But she knew just as well as I did that if I tried to bring somepony back without the proper preparations beforehoof, all I would get was a skeleton servant. Not a pony. Did she want me to raise a skeleton army, perhaps? I'd never had more than four at one time. I had no idea how that would even work. Not only that, but Equestria had the largest standing army in the world, so that was—

Thunk

I stopped and looked up. There was a crossbow bolt in a tree to my left. Wait, tree? I looked around. I was in a forest. Since when was I in a forest? I knew I was prone to zoning out while I walked between cities, but I usually noticed when I came across a new area. The street, for example.

"Don't move, or the next one'll be in your 'eart!" I turned towards the voice. I didn't care in the least if they shot me.

I heard the string snap taught, heard the bolt slicing through the air. I could have teleported out of the way, but that would have been too much effort. I spotted the pony who had spoken just before it hit me. He was standing behind a bush, with the crossbow in a blue aura. I took a step back from the impact, and looked down at the end of the bolt sticking out of my chest. At least he made good on his promise. I vaguely wondered when I would feel that, since I often didn't feel pain at first. Perhaps it's because I make a habit out of getting myself killed.

I looked back up at him. He wasn't a guard, so he must have been a bandit or robber of some kind. Not only that, but the guards knew better than to kill me. He seemed surprised I wasn't dead yet. I sat down on my haunches, and waited. For something. Either he would get closer and something would happen, or he would leave, and I would die in peace. I didn't care. I extended my senses to the forest. There were thousands of animals and insects, but as far as I could tell, no more ponies.

He stepped out from the bush he had been hiding in. "What in the bloody hell..." he breathed. I bent over a bit as he got closer. Pain had made its return with a vengeance. I grimaced; it was only going to get worse.

He was standing over me now, probably wondering why I still hadn't died. Well that would probably change soon. I grabbed the end of the bolt with magic, and pulled it out. Even if I was ready for it, that was not nice. He yelped and jumped back in surprise. "Crazy pony!" he shouted. I had two options, now that the bolt was out of my chest. I could heal myself, or I could just die and let that take care of the stallion.

Dying was easier. Since when was I so lazy? I didn't care. I collapsed into the snow and closed my eyes, taking comfort in the darkness. This was my fifth death today. Not a record, not by a long shot, but still more than I would have liked.

When I woke up, the pain was gone. I sat up, surrounded by frozen plants, grass, and one very surprised looking ponycicle. Getting up, I sighed. Why couldn't I just walk through the forest in peace? I looked up, trying to see through the canopy. As far as I could tell, it was sometime around late afternoon. I'd been walking for twelve hours. Funny, it had only felt like a few minutes.

I shook my head, that didn't matter, I was still way too close to Canterlot. So I started walking again.

I wondered why I hadn't noticed the forest. Usually I paid just enough attention to avoid things like what had just happened. What if it had been a guard? Or worse, Celestia herself, who would somehow know exactly where I was. I shook my head. She was a psychotic control freak, but she didn't know everything. I couldn't let her get to me like this.

If I let her drive me crazy, she'd win without even doing anything. That would be humiliating.

I glanced around me, trying to pay more attention now. Nothing but trees and snow. I would walk for a few days and see where I ended up. Whatever she wanted, I didn't care. I just needed to stay on the move, away from anypony that might be able to tip her off to my location.

Some small, out-of-the-way town would do nicely.

A Visit To A Little Town

Four days. I had walked for four days. I thought that would be enough distance. The most interesting thing during that whole trip was that bandit. And a branch fell on my head yesterday. I had nearly jumped out of my skin when it hit me.

Now I was standing on a hill overlooking a small town that glittered in the early morning light, the sun's rays reflecting off the snow covered roofs. It couldn't have had more than two hundred inhabitants. I'd been watching for a while, and as far as I could tell, there were no guards of any kind. That was good. I continued watching the town, looking for any sign of a military or police force within it that was not associated with Canterlot. While the tiny town was four days from the capital by hoof, it was only a few hours by train, and I could see a train station.

Aside from the station though, I had also noticed a tree that, strange as it may be, seemed to be a house. I could see a balcony sticking off of it. Who lived in a tree? And why was the tree not dead? I would definitely have to see what was up with that if I got the chance.

And then, there a building that looked like an enormous carousel. What the hell was with this place? Maybe they were all completely insane, and wouldn't mind me being here. I'd have to check that place out as well.

I started down the hillside, careful not to slip and arrive in town as a pony-sized snowball. As funny as that would be, it would also announce my presence and draw a lot of unwanted attention.

Arriving at the edge of town, there were several things I needed to do. First, get a cloak. Then, find out what this place was called. Finally, if it had no military or police force or any kind, find someplace to stay, help the locals, and then get the heck away. Staying in any single place for too long was dangerous. I'd be here for three days at most.

I knew I would probably be asked a couple of questions, such as my name, and definitely what was up with my cutie mark. I'd been in this kind of situation before though, and I had an entire persona I was ready to put on.

There were few ponies up at this hour, most opening shops or stalls, getting ready for the day's business. I could talk to one of them, they were bound to know all there was to know in such a small place. I didn't want to go to the square though, since there would be more ponies, and a higher chance somepony would recognize me. I eventually saw a stall with an earth pony in it. There were flowers on display. An earth pony also meant they posed less of a threat if they did know who I was.

I approached, but the pony, a tan mare with a cherry-red mane, didn't notice me at first. "Excuse me." I said. She started, and dropped some of the flowers she had been moving.

"Oh!" She said, moving up to the counter, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you."

"That's all right, I just wanted to ask you a few questions." I replied.

She smiled, "Of course! What would you like to ask?"

"Do you know if there is any place I could get a cloak in this town? Also, can you tell me what the tree and carousel building I saw on the way here are?"

She giggled at that. "Well, the tree building is the Ponyville Public Library. The carousel is Rarity's Carousel Boutique, and that is where you'll want to get your cloak at. Rarity is the local fashionista. She can make anything you need."

Ponyville? Was this place called Ponyville? What the hell kind of name was that? I wouldn't be able to come up with a more boring name if I tried!

I smiled, "Thank you," and turned away, in the direction of the Boutique. Why was it a carousel? What did that have to do with clothes? More, or maybe just as, importantly, why was the library in a tree?

What the hell was wrong with this town?! Called Ponyville!

I shook my head. I would get my cloak, and be the hell out of here in minutes. I walked through the town, wondering if everypony I passed was clinically insane.

Finding the Boutique wasn't difficult. On the contrary, it stood out from the rest of the town horribly. I walked up to the door, eyeing the "Closed" sign. Maybe, since the owner was clearly crazy, they wouldn't mind if I went in anyway? No, that was probably a bad idea. I looked at the timetable set for the public. It opened at eight o' clock. I had no idea what time it was. Earlier than that, certainly.

I looked around. Surely there was a clock tower or something.

Aha! There it was. It said it was... I squinted a bit. Six-twenty. Ish. I will admit my vision wasn't perfect. But now I knew I had about two hours before I could get out of this town. Ponyville, I thought. I just couldn't get over that dumb name.

I stood in front of the Boutique for a moment, not sure what to do. Oh! Maybe I would visit the library. It was early, but maybe the librarian lived in the library. It did have a balcony, after all.

With that thought I was off, continuing in the direction I had been heading. More ponies were out and about now, though they didn't seem to notice me. Nopony ever did. I guess I had learned how to stay out of sight after doing it for so long.

The trek to the library only took a few minutes. This town really was smaller than it seemed. The sign in the window said 'Open', so I went ahead and entered. The inside was quite a lot bigger than it should have been. All the walls were, well, not lined with bookcases, like normal libraries, but actually were bookcases that had been carved out of the wood that made them

While space-enhancing enchantments were not unheard of, they were very rare. So why the public library in a town called Ponyville had one was beyond me. I forced myself to actually look around, and not just continue to think about how insane this place was.

There was a door in the back of the room that was shut, a staircase going up to the left, and an open door to the right. I heard voices coming out of the other room. They quickly quieted though, then a purple unicorn with a multi-hued mane stepped out.

"Good morning..." She trailed off. That voice. That had been the voice outside the door at the castle. Why was she here? She must have known who I was. Why wasn't she doing anything? I guess it didn't matter. I didn't want to cause a scene, so I'd pretend nothing was out of the ordinary.

I smiled, "Hello. My name is Grave Case." Not my real name, clearly, but that was my fake identity. "I heard this was the local library, so I thought I might be able to ask some questions about this town." First thing I wanted to do was ask if it was called Ponyville. Then get out as fast as possible.

She stepped a bit closer, though her fear of me was almost palpable. "O-of course! My name is Twilight Sparkle. I-I live and work in the library. Here, that is." She laughed nervously, not looking me in the eye. I could smell something coming from the room she had exited. It must have been a kitchen.

My smile didn't waver. As far as Grave Case was concerned, nothing at all was amiss. "I'm sorry if I interrupted your breakfast. I've just arrived in town, though I don't know what it's called."

"Oh, no," She quickly replied. "It's no trouble at all. Umm, the town's name is Ponyville." I raised an eyebrow at that. Was she serious? It was actually called Ponyville. I couldn't believe it. I looked down, then back up at her.

"All right, I apologize again for interrupting. I don't want to intrude anymore, so I'll go ahead and take my leave." With that, I turned away from her, towards to door.

"W-wait!" She loudly exclaimed. I turned back to face her, somewhat rattled by her volume. "Err..." She looked down again. "I-I wanted to ask you a-about your cutie mark." Her expression told me her mouth had betrayed her brain when she said that.

I laughed quietly. "Ah, of course. It is a bit morbid isn't it?" I glanced at the skull on my flank. "I'm a pathologist. I do autopsies, and work with deceased ponies." She still wouldn't look at me, though see didn't seem willing to say more. So I turned to the door, and swiftly made my escape.

Once outside, I let out a breath, then began walking. Why the hell had the librarian from the town that was definitely called Ponyville been outside my door at the Castle? What the buck was going on? Who was she?

I decided I would ask the pony at the Boutique when I went to get my cloak.

I had decided to sit on the hill overlooking the town, rather than meet any more of the locals. When the clock struck nine, I teleported to the Boutique. I would rather draw attention that way than risk any more encounters. I knocked on the door, and sompony called "Come iiiin" in a sing-song voice. I did as told, and pushed open the door, a little bell announcing my entrance.

As I shut the door, a beautiful, white coated unicorn with a perfectly curled puple mane walked in from another room. She was smiling, though as soon as she saw me it suddenly became much more forced. Did everypony in this town know who I was?

"Hello! My name is Rarity, how may I help you?" She quickly moved across the room, grabbing sewing instruments and other things with her magic as she went.

"Well," I said "All I need is a cloak, as close to my coat color as possible." I moved forward slowly. I really didn't want to cause her to panic. She seemed like the kind of pony that could scream exceptionally loudly. I had no evidence of course, but better safe than sorry.

"Of course! Come right this way, I'm sure I have something that will suit you!" She turned to the door she had come from and quickly, very quickly, made her way there. I follow at a less enthusiastic pace. Almost as soon as I walked through the door there was something in my face. "What do you think of this?" she said.

I grabbed it with my magic and held it a little further from my muzzle. It was cloak. It looked exactly like my old cloak. Actually, if I hadn't known better, I would have thought it was my old cloak.

I smiled. "This is perfect."

"Excellent!" She walked past me into the main room, and once again I followed her out.

"How much will this cost?" I asked, already putting it on.

"Oh, that dreadful old thing?" She said, "I'd be happy to get rid of it! You can keep it." I raised an eyebrow, since I didn't have the hood on yet. I wasn't that much of an ass.

"Are you certain?" I asked, "Even if you don't like it, it's still merchandise."

"Yes, yes, it's no problem at all." She turned and went through another door. I assumed, since we had just been in the store room, that it was a living area of some kind. Did all the shop owners live in their shops in this town?

I sensed that I was no longer welcome, and did as silently requested. I was disappointed that I hadn't gotten to ask who the librarian was, but I decided it would probably be smarter not to push this mare.

The bell announced my exit.

Right. I had a cloak, but I doubted that a town like this would have daggers or vials like I needed anywhere, so I decided it would be a very good idea to get the buck out of this place.

I gathered power, and teleported back to the hill I had first spotted the town. Then I turned, and continued the way I had been going just a few hours ago.

A Visit To The Empire

I got about a mile from Ponyville before disaster struck.

No, calling it a disaster was the understatement of the century. This was the climax of my wild ride in life, and I was not ready in the slightest.

I had joked about what I would do if Celestia flew down from the sky and landed in front of me, but now that it had happened I was ready to faint.

She had landed a short ways in front of me, and was now walking towards me.

Maybe it had been that librarian, Twatlight Sporkle or whatever her name had been, that had told her my whereabouts. Of course I would come across the one pony in all of Equstria that could send a message directly to Celestia.

Maybe I had been doomed from the beginning. Maybe the universe had it out for me. Maybe I should just give up and go along with her. She hadn't killed me before, so maybe she really did need my help. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe I had actually gone crazy, and this was all some hallucination.

"Silver Lining."

Yeah, no, thanks. I fainted.

Was that how other ponies felt around me? Like there was nothing they could do to oppose me, as if I were invincible and unstoppable? But if I'm not, then maybe she wasn't either. How could I though? Assassins had had several millennium to kill her, but still she sat on the throne. If who knew how many generations of greedy and power hungry ponies hadn't managed it, what chance did I have?

Wait, I was awake. So I wasn't dead. That was good.

I opened my eyes. Slowly, because I was not panicking in the slightest over the fact that I had actually fainted in front of Celestia. I was going to remain calm and collected, because I was safe, and not about to be hit with a star.

Right?

I was looking at the same white ceiling I had seen last time. Well, it looked the same at least. I glanced to my right. The window was intact, so I wasn't sure. I pushed the sheets off of me, and tried to teleport.

I landed in the middle of the room. I was so surprised it had worked I nearly lost my balance.

No suppressor. Did she trust me not to go on a murderous rampage? That was progress toward a truce, at least.

There were several things I could do at this point. The first would be to wait for sompony to come and get me, which, if my last visit was anything to go by, would be in less than a minute.

I could also, theoretically, leave my room and explore the castle. I'd have to leave right now though, or else I'd simply walk into whoever was sent to get me. There were also no doubt guards outside my door, though they wouldn't have the courage to stop me. I felt kind of bad about that, but I that was the way ponies thought of me.

My last option was to run. Again. And not go to that insane town, Ponyville.

That probably wouldn't work out very well for me in the end.

Well, I thought I had about thirty seconds before somepony arrived, so I began walking towards the door. If nothing else, I would see how predictable this place was.

I gripped the handle with my magic, then, right when I thought I heard something, I pulled it open. There in the doorway stood none other than Sparkly (was that her name? It sounded closer), her hoof poised to knock three times.

She seemed surprised. "Oh, uh...hello. If-if you would follow me please." Most ponies calmed down around me once I didn't kill them, or steal their soul, or eat their fouls, or whatever else ponies were convinced I did. Not her though. I mean, each time we've met up till now I was the one running for my life.

She turned and began walking down the hall at a brisk pace, and I followed. The guards that had been at the door began moving as well, bringing up the rear.

I wondered who this Sparkle pony was. She said she lived and worked in the that library, yet this was the second time she had been in the castle, and I was certain she had some way of getting messages to Celestia.

The only method of mail that fast was either teleportation, or dragon fire. Since the only pony I knew of that could teleport that far was Celestia, that meant she had access to a dragon. Where though? In that tree? In a cave nearby? What was with her?

I shook my head, and I heard the guards move suddenly. Were they that jumpy?

Sparkle stopped and turned to a door, and I barely kept from walking into her.
"The princesses await you inside." She said. Then she turned and walked past me, back down the hall we had come from.

This was bad. Princesses?! Ohhh, every time I managed to convince myself I wasn't about to die, something had to happen. Why couldn't I just be left alone?! All I wanted to do was become a medic! It's not my fault my damn cutie mark was a skull!

"Silver Lining." One of the guards spoke in a gruff, even tone. Most ponies wouldn't dare try to order me like that, but I suppose he was spurred but the fact that the most powerful ponies in existence were just beyond the door.

Right, that wasn't a reassuring thought at all.

So I turned to the door, and did my best to calm my nerves. Which just meant I tried not to throw up. It wouldn't matter if I did, I hadn't eaten anything in nearly two centuries. I stepped forward, and pushed open the door.

I stared at the floor as I entered. I at least wanted to be in the room if I collapsed again. The door shut behind me, then it was deadly silent. I was almost tempted to look up to see if I was alone, and this was all some elaborate prank.

I didn't move though, just listened for movement. Wings rustled as somepony shifted.

"Silver Lining, you needn't fear us." That was her voice. The last thing I had heard before I had passed out these last few days. I was really considering a third nap right then.

"Please, Silver, we need your help." Who was that? That was a knew voice. It wasn't Princess Luna, I'd heard her before.

The Princesses await you

There were three Princesses in total. Celestia, Luna, and Mi Amore Cadenza. Was that Mi Amore? But she governed the Crystal Empire, she shouldn't have been in Equestria.

Celestia should also have been in court that day, right?

So something was actually happening. Something was going on, something to do with the Crystal Empire. How did I have anything to do with this? Why had they gone to such lengths to get me?

"Sister, do you think she's all right?" A third voice said. My head snapped up. There were indeed all three Princesses in front of me.

"They." I said. Each of them looked taken aback. I'm sure I had surprised them with my sudden movement. "I do not identify as male or female." Right, now I was definitely going to be sent to another plane of existence.

Cadance spoke. "All right. Silver, I know you are very upset and frightened of us. But please believe me when I say that we don't want to hurt you." I clenched my teeth. It took all my self control not to sneer at her. "The reason we ask for your help is because of an ability you posses." You mean the fact that I can heal virtually any wound, and bring ponies back ponies from the dead? What I've been trying to do for four hundred and fifty years, impeded at every step by you three?

"If you want me to resurrect somepony," I snapped, "you're much too late."

Now Luna spoke. "Prince Shining Armor, Cadance's husband, has been missing for little under two weeks. He went missing somewhere in the fields near the Crystal Empire. Though search parties have been looking tirelessly since his disappearance, the area is huge, and the weather is treacherous."

I understood now.

"So you want me to find him." I said. "If he's been missing for two weeks in one of the coldest places ever inhabited, do honestly think he's still alive?"

"He is." Cadance said. "I can't find him, not the way you can, but I can feel his love for me. He is alive."

If anypony else had said that, I would have told them they were delusional. But she was an alicorn, so it was possible she really could feel him.

And now I felt terrible. I was possibly the last hope she had of finding her husband, and I had spent the last five days running from Canterlot. Nearly half the time he had been missing.

I sighed slowly. "If you believe he is alive, I'll look for him."

Her eyes brightened. I suppose she was expecting me to refuse to help. If Celestia had told me her husband was missing, or even Luna, I'd have told her to get over it. But I had nothing against Cadance.

"Thank you." she said. My eyes snapped to her. I still didn't trust her.

Cadance drew my attention again. "If you'd be willing, we could leave for the Crystal Empire immediately."

"Fine." I said. I looked back at Celestia. "If he's in a grave enough condition, I'm going to need my vials."

"Your belongings will await you at the train." She replied. Cadance stood, clearly eager to get thing moving.

"I have a few things to collect before we leave, but I won't be long." She said, confirming my belief. "One of the guards outside will escort you to the train." With that she teleported away, leaving me with Celestia and Luna.

"Thank you for agreeing to help, Silver." Celestia said.

I turned and left the room, niceties be damned.

I couldn't remember the last time I had been on a train. They were bumpy, and loud, and just generally annoying. But in situations like this, looking outside the window at the powerful storm raging just beyond the glass, I could see the appeal.

Celestia had kept her word though, and I now had my dagger and vials back. I had decided I didn't want the old cloak though. That thing was nearly forty years old. I liked the new one I had gotten from Rarity better.

We should be just a few minutes from the Empire now, but I couldn't see more than a few hooves through the snow. I was told it was a sight to behold though, and I wished I could have seen it.

I was also starting to doubt that Shining Armor was still alive. They said that this storm had started just after he disappeared, and hadn't let up in the slightest since then.

Maybe there was a connection between the two occurrences.

What? What the hell was I even thinking?

I shook my head. The train whistle blew, indicating we were arriving. I opened the window and stuck my head out, squinting against the wind. Just as I'd thought, I couldn't see a damned thing.

I pulled myself back in and shut the window. There was snow all over the cabin now, but that wasn't my problem.

I opened the door and stepped out to the corridor. There was nopony else. Aside from the staff, Cadance and I were the only ones, not even any guards. Which was odd. Even if they trusted me, the guards should have been standard procedure.

I was waiting by the exit, watching the storm as the the train slowed when I heard hoofsteps behind me.

"Silver." Cadance said. My ear turned to her. "Thank you for doing this."

"You're absolutely certain he's alive." I said. This was one of the worst blizzards I'd ever seen. It was kind of scary, and I didn't even feel the cold.

"Yes." She said, standing next to me now. It was odd, she wasn't scared of me at all.

The train lurched to a halt. The door opened, and the snow hit us like a wall.

I stepped out onto the platform, and nearly fell on my face when I sunk up to my knee in snow. Cadance followed me, but was either expecting the snow or had learned from my mistake, because she had no such trouble.

"Follow me." She shouted over the wind, and began walking. I had no idea how she knew where she was going, but wasn't about to question it.

I began to think about her as we walked. We had talked some on the way here, and I had learned a bit about her, and her, me. She had, apparently, been a pegasus before "ascending" to an alicorn. Then, her wedding was attacked by a race of shape-changers that fed on emotion, who had been previously unknown. I was going to have to verify some of that. Aside from those wild stories, she was a nice pony, and didn't seem to be at all afraid of me. That was probably the best thing about her. She treated me like any other pony.

It had definitely been nice.

I was beginning to wonder if we really were lost when something appeared out of the storm. It was...a bubble shield? Is that how the Empire survived these storms? A permanent shield? I couldn't imagine how hard that was to sustain.

Canance walked right through it onto a road. There seemed to be no snow on the other side.

I walked into a wall though. Cadance was still walking, apparently oblivious to my absence. I knocked on the shield. I couldn't hear anything over the wind, but maybe it was quieter on the on the other side.

It would seem not, since she continued to walk without me. Okay. I was literally being left out in the cold. Well, she would eventually notice I wasn't with her.

I turned away from the shield. I had been brought here to find a pony lost in the snow so...the sooner the better?

I reached out, and was surprised I couldn't feel past the shield. Whatever that thing was, it was extremely powerful and selective with who, and what, it let through. I could feel the hearts of hundreds of small animals, but nothing that felt like a pony. It would seem the train had left already as well.

The fact that I hadn't found him immediately wasn't concerning. I had been told the fields around the Empire were huge, so it was possible he was simply beyond my reach, or even on the other side of the city.

So I began walking. I was sure Cadance would be upset when she came back and couldn't find me, but I didn't want to sit around and do nothing. Actually, it probably wouldn't be too long, but I was already walking. Might as well keep going.

I decided that once I had made my way all the way around the shield, or at least when I though I had, since there were no real landmarks I could see, I would begin walking in a larger circle. It was possible he had been lost further out, and had taken refuge in a cave in the mountains that surrounded the Empire.

I was actually glad the shield blocked my senses. It would have been significantly harder to find him if I had the background noise of tens of thousands of other ponies. Telling the difference between a pony and an animal was much easier.

Around I went, never feeling anything but the animals beneath the snow. Honestly I was surprised there were any, given what was considered normal weather, but if they survived then who was I to judge. I also vaguely wondered where the search parties Luna had talked about were.

I don't know how long I walked. It could have been twenty minutes, or an hour. Eventually I felt a pony. No, three. I lit my horn; it was probably a group sent to find me. So I stopped walking and waited for them.

It was Cadance and two guards. "Where have you been?" She shouted over the wind.

"Looking for Shining Armor." I replied. "The shield wouldn't let me in, and you didn't seem to notice I wasn't with you, so I decided to start searching for him."

She looked upset at that. "What do you mean the shield wouldn't left you through?"

"Exactly what I said. You walked right through it, I hit it like a wall." I said. "Come on. Do you want to find him or not?" I turned around and continued walking the same way I had.

"Wait!" She yelled. "We know the general area he was lost in." I turned back to her. That would have probably been a better place to start. I knew I should have just waited for her.

Her horn lit, and the world went white. Well, more white. Then we landed in the snow again. I stumbled. I had never teleported with my senses extended, and it had been extremely disorienting. I had felt...something. Like millions of ponies. More than that. So many it had been overwhelming. What had happened?

"Are you all right?" Cadance asked. She was much closer than she had been. When did that happen?

"Uhh..." I started. "I think. I was reaching out to feel for hearts when you teleported us. I'm just...kinda dizzy."

She was clearly concerned, but didn't say anything. I shock my head, which was a mistake. I fell into the snow. Cadance said something, though I didn't hear it clearly.

I wondered if I was going to faint. What had happened? Why was I so nauseous? I just lied in the snow. I would just wait till it passed. Hopefully.

"Silver?" She said. I looked up at her. She looked worried. I guess that was understandable. She was so close to finding her husband, and the only pony who could help was laying on the ground.

"Hold on." I said. I slowly got up onto my haunches, and shut my eyes. Then I reached out, slowly. I could feel the three around me. Further. Nothing.

I reached as far as I could. I felt a blind spot at the edge of my senses. That must have been the Empire. There was something else though. It...well it felt like death. Like the shroud that fell over a pony when they died. I had felt it before. But it was only upon a pony for an instant, then it would vanish, along with them.

This wasn't vanishing though. That shouldn't be possible. That would be a pony in a state of permanent death. But if they were alive, that could mean they couldn't die, since they were dead.

Wow, calm down.

I opened my eyes. "Can you still feel him?" I asked.

"Yes." She said. "Why? Can you not find anything?"

I shook my head. Didn't fall this time. "It's not that. I can feel something, but I don't know what it is." I stood and turned toward the thing. "It's this way."

We walked in silence. Well, relative silence. The wind was still howling, the blizzard giving no indication of relenting any time soon.

It was directly below us now, deep under the snow. I turned to Cadance. "There is something directly below us. It might be Shining Armor, but I'm not sure. If it is, I'm going to ask you don't embrace him immediately. He could be gravely injured. If it's not, I ask that you help me contain it."

She seemed upset at that. "What do you mean you don't know what it is? You can tell the difference between ponies and animals, right?"

I sighed. "Yes. That's not the problem. I'm going to teleport it six hooves in that direction," I nodded to my right. "And just above the snow." I turned to the point I would teleport it to. I reached out to the thing. I could tell roughly how big it was thanks to the shroud.

Gathering power, I said, "Are your guards ready?"

"Yes!" Two voices replied. Excellent.

I released the spell. With a flash, something fell into the snow. Something white.

"Shining!" Cadance shouted. She began to move, but one the guards held her back by the shoulder. That was the most useful thing I'd seen a guard do in a long time.

I walked closer to it. The feeling of death was overwhelming. I retracted my senses, but I could still feel it, like a nasty taste on my tongue. Nasty and delicious, like a cake with way too much sugar in it. I only hated it because I told myself to.

It was a unicorn. White coat, blue mane. Male, from the looks of it. He had a shield for a cutie make. This fitted the description that Cadance had given me. He had a large gash on the back of his head, and his back left leg was twisted unnaturally.

Thinking of Cadance, she was next to me now. "Oh Shining." I grabbed her before she could get closer.

"Wait, please. This thing, I... I don't think this is Shining Armor."

She whipped around to face me. "What? How could it not be?"

"It's covered in a shroud of death. I only feel something like this when a pony dies, and even then it's fleeting, and gone within seconds. Just being near it is making me feel sick."

She looked back at it. "I...let's get back back to the Empire, and we'll see what's wrong with him."

I wasn't able to heal Shining Armor. I was afraid of the reason that might be. We had decided that it would be best to get him to a hospital at that point.

Apparently the reason I hadn't been able to enter the shield was because the Crystal Heart, which powered the shield, and was in turn powered by the love of the ponies within the Empire, had identified me as a necromancer. It seems it had considered that to be dark magic, and wouldn't allow me through. Once Cadance had made me a citizen of the Empire though, it had let me in.

I was kind of disappointed I had become all sparkly and stuff, but I guess that wasn't really important.

Once we had gotten Shining to the hospital, the doctors had done everything they could, but he didn't wake. They eventually declared that he was stable. After that, Cadance had been next to him for a while, crying the whole time. I had waited outside. I could still feel him through the walls. Distance seemed to be the only thing that diminished the effects.

Now though, I was sitting on the floor next to him, staring at a vial. One of the vials from my belt. It had a black substance in it. It flowed like a liquid, but took up the whole container like a gas.

It was his soul.

I had never seen such a dark and twisted soul.

Some ponies, in rare and extreme cases, could not be healed. In those cases, I could contain their soul in one of my vials, and use it to resurrect the pony when they died. It was unpleasant for them, but they usually forgave me since they were alive and well.

I had taken Shining Armor's soul as a precaution in case he died suddenly, but now I was sitting here wondering why his soul would look like this. Most ponies had very light silver souls. The worst of "normal" ponies had souls that were slightly darker. Psychopaths, murderers, and ponies that had no empathy had grayish souls.

His was black. It looked like smoke from a fire.

The feeling of death had not relented, no matter what I did. It was euphoric, wonderful, something I had denied myself my whole life. I shook my head, tried to focus. I needed to to focus.

I couldn't heal him. I was afraid that if I tried to kill him and use his soul to resurrect him, it wouldn't work. Or maybe I was just telling myself that.

I didn't believe he was such a twisted pony inside that his soul would be like this. I didn't think that was even possible. I thought that something had attached itself to him, to his soul, and was keeping him alive, but on the brink of death.

I had sent somepony to get Cadance a few minutes ago. I didn't actually know what I was going to tell her.

Yeah, hi, something has attached itself to your husband's soul. So I can't help him, and if he does wake up the thing will probably have complete control of him.

That was basically what I had to tell her. I really hoped I was wrong. But who would know death better than me? She would take anything I said as the truth in this instance, and I didn't want to say something that ended up completely false.

"Silver? You wanted to tell me something?" I looked up. She was on the other side of the bed, eyeing the vial in my magic.

"Yes." I swallowed. "You...do you know what this is?" I shook the vial a bit.

She hesitated. "It's a soul, isn't it? Is it Shining's?" How the hell would she know that?

I looked down. "Yes. Do you know what a normal soul looks like?"

She hesitated. "If that's not normal, then no, I don't." I took a second one from under my cloak, pulling the cork out of it. I whispered Cadance's name, then a string of words in an ancient language that even I didn't understand. I only knew what I had to say.

A silvery-white substance began to leak from Cadance's eyes and mouth, and quickly made its way into the vial. After a second it stopped, and I slammed the cork back into it.

She sputtered for a second, before I said, "Don't worry, I'll give it back in a minute. But look at it. This is your soul. It's relatively light. This is what the majority of ponies' souls look like. The darkest I've ever seen before today was that of a murderer, and his was a grayish color." Aside from mine, I didn't add. I pulled the cork back out, and her soul quickly made its way back to her, entering the same way it had exited.

I put the empty vial back in it's holster. I looked at the black vial. "I...I don't think this is Shining's soul. I think something attached itself to Shining as he died. I can't heal him, and I can't get the shroud off of him. He...as far as I can tell, he's dead, but not really, and I can't help him. If he recovers naturally, I fear that whatever it is that has inhabited his soul will have control."

I looked at Candace. She looked like she was going to start crying again. "I'm sorry Cadance. But that's the only thing I can think of that would explain the state of his body and soul."

She started sobbing, holding onto Shining's foreleg. I wished there was something I could do. Anything. But this was beyond me.

No. There was one thing. "Candace?" I asked quietly. I didn't want to tell her this. She looked up at me though, clearly hoping I could still save him somehow. "I know you won't want to hear this, but in the event that he has been possessed, and whatever it is that has possessed him is malevolent, I would recommend that you get the Elements of Harmony here. They might be able to clean him the way they did Luna." I swallowed. That wasn't the bad part. "In the unlikely event that they can't though...this vial can be used to kill Shining, and whatever it is that has him, no matter how powerful it may be. If you open it far enough away, the soul will be lost, dispersed into the universe. That will simulate the death of the individual, instantly killing him."

I looked down. The last thing I wanted to do was kill him, but if he was beyond help, that would be the best solution.

"Silver." I didn't look up at her. I was afraid of how angry she would be. Angry alicorns were generally bad for your health, even if you couldn't really be killed. "Thank you."

Now I looked up. 'Thank you'? Why was she thanking me? I just told her how to kill her husband if he had an evil spirit in him!

"Thank you for everything you've done." She continued. "And for the warning. But I think we'll be able to deal with it. If you'd like, you can stay in the Crystal Empire, or you can return to Equestria."

I smiled at her. "I guess I'll stay. I'll continue to help if I can, though this is beyond anything I've ever dealt with."

Now she was smiling too. I suppose this wasn't as horrible as it could have been.

I looked back down at Shining Armor. But maybe the horrors had only just begun. For now though, I needed to get the hell away from him before this feeling drove me crazy.

A Visit To The Fields

Absolutely everything went wrong. I told her this was gonna happen, and I'm still pissed!

Deep breath.

Let me back up. After leaving my room, Twilight and I went to collect the other Bearers, (which apparently all sleep together in the same room?) who were asleep, of course. After them, we went to get Cadance. From the state of her mane, I'm going to hazard a guess and say she needs at least two hours to get ready in the morning.

Every morning. What a pain.

Everypony gathered around Twilight and I, Rarity helping brush Cadance's mane, Orange was between Pinkie and Fluttershy, and Rainbow was hovering overhead.

Twilight spoke, "Silver and I got to talking, and I think we've figured out what is inhabiting Shiny."

"What?" Cadance cried, leaning forward. Rarity gently pulled her back, clearly displeased with the Princess's behavior. Cadance continued more calmly, "What is it? How do you know?"

"It's just a theory," I said, "but it explains everything observed so far." I looked at Twilight. "Do you want to explain, or will I?"

"I will." she said quietly. Speaking up, she continued, "Girls, you all remember how we defeated Sombra, right?" A general chorus of 'yes', 'yeah' and 'uh-huh'. "You all know that we assumed he had been defeated forever, and that we never checked to see where he was or what had become of him."

They glanced at each other, they might see where this is going.

"What's that got to do with Shinin'?" Orange said. I tried not to sigh. Of course they wouldn't see it.

"It's possible that he was not destroyed in that blast, simply reduced in power. That reduction might have actually been what allowed him to attach himself to Shiny." They still looked confused.

"Look," I said, "if you took enough of his power, he would have been little more than a shadow. That state of being, combined with his knowledge of dark magic, may have allowed him to capture and inhabit somepony. Whether or not he lured Shining into hurting himself on purpose or not is still up to debate, but the fact of the matter is this: we are hoping that the Elements can separate them, or that Sombra is still weak enough to be destroyed completely."

Cadance opened her mouth, hesitated for an instant, then spoke, "How did you come to that conclusion, Twilight? What evidence? We can't make rash decisions like this."

"Actually," Twilight said, "we talked about that. First, it is plausible simply because we never confirmed Sombra's defeat. Second, if Sombra had inhabited Shiny, it would explain almost everything regarding his situation." She looked at me. I suppose I should continue.

"The first and most obvious is his soul." I said. "It is nearly pitch black, as you all saw before. We took a look at Twilight's soul, and her is nearly as light as Cadance's, save for a few wisps of black because of her brief use of dark magic."

"U-under Princess Celestia's supervision, of course!" Twilight hastily added.

"Since Sombra was such an avid user of dark magic, his soul would be severely tainted."

I paused for a second. "Next thing: I can't heal him. That might be because of some innate magic Sombra has going to protect himself against foreign magic."

Deep breath.

"Then: there is the permanent feeling of death around Shining. Sombra would need to be nearly dead to pull off a stunt like this, which means I might actually be feeling Sombra, not Shining. That might be why I can't heal Shining. I'm trying to heal Sombra, but he has no body to work with, so it's not doing anything."

I looked at Twilight. "Is there anything else?"

"Well," she said, "I just thought of this, actually. Where did you find him?"

"Under the snow. Pretty far down, like he'd fallen in a crack in the ground."

Cadance spoke, "If he fell and hurt himself, that would have given Sombra an opportunity to get inside him."

Don't smirk. Don't laugh. Everypony here is very upset. That would be extremely rude.

"Right," I said with a perfectly straight face, "Sombra might have also kept him alive 'till we found him. I can't think off any other reason he wouldn't have frozen to death."

Silence reigned for a moment.

"What about the storm?" Rainbow said. I looked up, startled, she hadn't spoken much aside from threatening me so far.

"What about the storm?" Twilight said, also looking up at Rainbow.

"Well," Rainbow crossed her forelegs. "It started when Shining went missing, and it hasn't stopped since. What about that?"

She had a point. Hadn't I even thought Shining's disappearance was connected to the storm? How would Sombra be able to do something like that if he was so weak he needed a host body?

"I have no idea." I admitted. "But at this point, I don't think using the Elements could do more harm than good. We may as well try."

They nodded, some yawned, and began to get their respective Elements. I looked at Cadance. She looked...less like she had just lost a fight with a bush, which spoke volumes of Rarity's abilities.

"Are you all right?" I asked. I walked towards her while she nodded slowly.

"Yes," she said, "just still somewhat sleepy. I really hope you're right, and it's as easy as blasting Sombra out of Shining."

I shook my head. "It won't be. If there's anything I've learned in the last four centuries, it's this, and it's kinda the motto I live by: Life is a bitch, but fate is sadistic."

"That said," I continued, "being immortal helps. I can't imagine trying some of the stuff I do on a regular basis with just one chance."

She laughed, a tinkling little sound. "Well, I think that your worldview is a little skewered, given how often you get yourself killed."

I smirked, "That may be the case, but my point stands: nothing is ever easy. And if it is, life is just getting a good, long run up for the kick in your flank."

I heard the door open. Cadance and I both looked. The Bearers were already heading out.

"There in quite the hurry, aren't they?" I said.

"We should be too." Cadance replied, standing. She paused, then arched her back like a cat, stretched her legs, flared her wings and yawned. I had to duck to avoid a face-full of feather.

I stood up. Off we go.

As we got closer, I felt that something was off. Glancing at the others, they just seemed tired, though their determination was evident, especially in Twilight. They were nervous, but that wasn't it. Something was missing.

No.

I realized what was wrong. This couldn't be. I gathered power, then teleported. I only went down the hall, I could hear them suddenly talking loudly, confused at my movement.

I was in front of the door to Shining's room, but I couldn't feel him like I had before. Slamming through, my stomach dropped into my hooves.

He was gone.

The staff wouldn't have moved him without alerting Cadance, even in the middle of the night. They definitely would have alerted us if he was out and about. He was gone, though he hadn't just walked out. It may have been the middle of the night, but there were doctors and nurses everywhere. Somepony would have seen him, stopped him, and told us.

He must have teleported out.

The others had made it to the room by now, filing through the door and expressing their shock at his absence. I wasn't listening to them. I made my way to the middle of the room, horn lit, looking for the signature of a teleportation. It would only have lasted a few minutes, it was unlikely we had been so lucky as to show up as soon as he left.

There was no teleportation, but there was a whisper of dark magic. Just enough to confirm what we had believed. Bringing myself back to the world, I heard the others talking quickly. Concern, fear, anger.

I turned to them, moving slowly. "Twilight." I said. The conversation ground to a halt, all eyes on me. "Where is his soul?"

They looked at her. "I, uh, I..."

"We need to get it before he does. It may be our last option, but it is the single most effective weapon we have against him."

"I...left it...here." she squeaked.

Nopony moved. Nopony breathed. It took me an instant to really hear that.

"In this room." I deadpanned, a wisp of frost riding my breath.

"Yes."

"And now it's gone." I closed my eyes. I could hear frost crackling as it spread across the floor.

How could she– Why would– Uhh!

I was going to kill her. Then resurrect her, and kill her again. Multiple times.

Deep breath.

Deep breathe. Again. And again. Do not kill the stupid ponies. It's not worth it. No matter how much they deserve it, they are mortal and without centuries of experience. They make stupid mistakes. Do not kill them.

Deep breath.

"Alright." I said. "I'm going to go find him." Without opening my eyes, I teleported out of the room, then to the front of the castle.

I waited a second. Then opened my eyes. I could see my breath. Looking down, there was already frost on the ground, spreading from the point where my hooves touched the ground. Maybe I froze them in the room. That would be fine. At least as ice statues they couldn't make my life incredibly difficult.

I was just outside the main entrance of the castle. There were two guards, both behind me. One to my right, one to my left. The one on my right had jumped at my appearance, left had stayed still.

There were several ponies in the street in front of me. Two looked at me, none seemed to really care. Everything was slower than it should have been. I needed to hurry.

I reached out as far as I could, until I hit the dome. Thousands of hearts, thousands of lives, all unaware of the danger present. I could feel the ponies dying in the hospitals, in their homes, a few on the streets. Poor ponies. Any other day I'd jump to help them, but Shining-Sombra (Shombry?) was on the loose and an unknown enemy.

I could feel a few dying, but nothing that felt like him. He must have fled the city.

I didn't want to risk teleporting with my senses extended again. Reeling myself back in, I gathered the power I would need to teleport out of the shield.

Teleporting once, I saw a pegasus hovering over an earth pony frozen in mid jump. They were laughing.

Twice, I saw a guard in front of a statue, mouth open, facing a unicorn. He was pointing to something behind me.

Thrice, I saw a house. A window on the second story was open, a little filly leaning out to reach for a pegasus colt hovering in front of her. She was smiling.

On the forth, I saw a pond, a mare with a long flowing mane throwing bread pieces, frozen in midair, to the waiting swans.

With the fifth, I found myself face-to-face with a shield. Quickly stepping beyond it, as I didn't want to try teleporting through it, I felt the snowflakes hitting my face like a thousand fairy punches, carried by the howling wind. I reached out as far as I could, drowning out the world around me. Animals beneath the snow, one snuffed out in that brief second.

I pulled myself back in, made ready to teleport as far as I could away from the city. I needed to get close to the maintains. There was no reason for him to be anywhere here, he would have needed to find a refuge.

He might be in a crevice like he was before, or perhaps a cave. He might even have made his way all the way to the mountains. I needed to cover as much ground as possible as quickly as possible

There are two spells I have mastered over the course of the last four centuries: shield bashers, and teleportation. I've never been in a situation where some combination of those two, and my dagger, were not immensely effective.

That said, I can cast those two spells more quickly than most ponies could blink, using less power than I did for something as basic as levitation.

I was very glad for that. Otherwise, this next task might prove impossible.

I gathered power, then began teleporting.

One. It had taken me five teleportations to go from the center of the city to the perimeter.

Two. From some painting I had seen a long time ago, which clearly wouldn't be accurate,

Three. I guessed that the distance from the Empire to the maintains was roughly four Empires.

Four. As such, I would need to teleport forty times to get to them.

Five. However, since, in relation to the Empire, which is now a system of measurement,

Six. I can only sense up to 12 teleports, or one point two Empires,

Seven. And since I believe I could disregard the first half-Empire from the shield,

Eight. I would need to stop at seventeen teleports to guarantee I don't miss something.

Nine. If I keep the shield at the edge of my view, I would be able–

Ten. –to go around it, keeping at a constant distance.

Eleven. But I wasn't sure what I would do further out.

Twelve. Maybe I could feel further than I thought if I focused.

Thirteen. Barring that, it was likely I wouldn't find him anyway.

Fourteen. Since he seemed to be capable of blocking my magic–

Fifteen. –passively while asleep, he may be able to hide–

Sixteen. –completely while awake.

Seventeen. Arriving my destination, I reached out. I felt nothing but animal hearts. I focused in the direction of the Empire, trying to establish a connection. I couldn't feel it.

I pulled back from other directions, putting all my focus towards the shield. I thought I felt something. Just barely brushing it.

Right. If the Empire had a diameter of pi Empires (the diameter) than the circle I needed to do would be four point four Empires times pi...roughly one hundred forty teleports around. Given my range of vision, which at its maximum could reach back to the Empire, I would need to make nine checks.

To get from the center of one check to another, it would simply be the diameter devised by nine, or just over fifteen teleports. Good.

With that plan in mind, I put it in action, teleporting fifteen times before checking around me, then at the Empire in order to make sure I was still aligned properly.

That went on for a while, with nothing much happening, and no signs of Shombry.

Halfway to the eighth check, I nearly landed on Cadence. I actually teleported twice more before realizing that. Doubling back, I put myself at a respectable, not-trying-to-trample-you distance.

That is to say, about three hooves.

"Silver!" She shouted. Ow. Look, I get the storm is loud, but I put myself next to you for a reason.

"Yes?" I said as nonchalantly as possible.

"What the hell-" She flipped her mane out of her face. I was having much the same problem, but my mane was short enough it didn't bother me. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Looking for Shombry." I replied.

"Who?"

"Shombry. Shining-Sombra. I don't want to use either of their names, so I made a new one."

She looked incredulous, but I pressed on, "I'm about to finish the last check. After that, I need to head further out, to the mountains."

"I don't think it's worth your time." She said, not shouted, thankfully. "Sombra–"

"Shombry."

"Shombry is very good at hiding when hurt." How the hell would she know that?

"Do you want to head back now, then?" I asked. "What else are we supposed to do? Wait for him to gather strength so he can attack at his leisure?"

"We won't be able to find him!"

"Not with that attitude we won't!" I said, then teleported away. Not able to find him my flank!

I completed the check, then began to head toward the mountains. It took a while, but I went all the way around. I think. I hadn't found anything.

Maybe Cadence was right.

Even so, I took solace in the fact that I hadn't just given up.

That didn't change the fact that I was very lost now.

I had thought that simply heading perpendicular to the mountain line would eventually put me within sensing distance of the Empire, but that hadn't happened.

Sitting on a field of white, surrounded by lots of hateful white, I realized how much I appreciated the dark. It wasn't loud and annoying and boring like this.

At least while under my bed I could meditate and reflect on past mistakes and all that good stuff, but this blizzard was unrelenting in it's assault on my concentration now that I wasn't so panicked.

Anyway, I was completely and hopelessly lost. I'd have to wait for somepony to find me.

Since we had officially lost Shombry, I thought that I might as well go around the Empire and help some of the ponies I had felt before I left.

I really should have done that before, but the anxiety of having found Shombry, but not knowing what was wrong with him or what to do about it, had been eating me alive.

Now though? Now I might as well enjoy myself.

I scowled at the blizzard around me. Once I got back.

I kicked at the snow. Stupid snow.

A Visit From Some Friendly Neighbors

The storm was getting stronger. And angrier.

When Cadence and I had first arrived, it had seemed like little more than a particularly hateful blizzard, but now it definitely felt malicious. Did I mention I was being hunted?

Standing here, waiting to feel somepony, something, anything to give me a hint as to where the hell I was, I swore I could see ponies moving around me. Maybe not ponies, but things. That was impossible though, I had my senses extended completely. I would feel them.

Left. I whipped around to face it, but it was gone again. Like a shadow, no, not a shadow. Something that looked just like the snow around it, moving incredibly fast, uninhibited by the winds and snow. It left no track behind, no magic, no trace of its existence. I squinted against the raging snow, to no avail. Surely I was not succumbing to insanity this quickly?

It had first appeared a few hours ago, coming at increasingly frequent intervals. I noticed that when I teleported the winds were calmer, then they would pick up speed, and finally I would see it. So my theory was that they were connected.

I took a moment to gather power, glancing around me while I pulled my senses back. With a flash, I teleported. It didn't really matter where, I was still lost. Lo and behold, the winds were calm. Well, relatively calm. It was till a blizzard, sure, but at least I could see a few hooves in front of me. I didn't extend my senses, I needed to pay attention to the snow and wind. They were predictable, to a certain degree, but when it was nearby, they were much wilder.

A moment passed, but nothing changed. If it kept to its own pattern, it should be here any minute. After that, I wasn't sure. If it was a creature hunting me, it had made the mistake of its life. If it was Shomby, I would have to try and escape. Anything else, and I'd just have to come up with something on the fly.

The winds were picking up. My ears perked, swiveling to listen for something other than howling, eyes as wide as I could open them, darting to look for anything beyond the wall of snow. Perhaps I could capture it. I'd never done anything like that, I wasn't even sure if I could come up with a spell something to do that.

Behind me, to my right. A rush of air that didn't match, like a pegasus cutting through the air. Nothing should be able to fly in these conditions. I turn to look, just in time to see a pair of glowing blue eyes heading right for me. With no intentions of being beaten unnecessarily, I teleported behind it. When I looked behind me, I couldn't see it. Glowing blue eyes? It had to be magical. Maybe a construct? It was possible that Shombry had made this, but I couldn't believe he was already this powerful.

Left. I looked right, waiting until I was sure it was about to hit me, then ducked. It went right over me. It looked like a pony, an earth pony, bigger than normal. It was a blueish-white, and it's back half tapered off into wisps of nothing. I swore I recognized it from somewhere, but I couldn't remember.

But if I remembered it, that meant it hadn't originated from Shombry. So it was a natural, or perhaps supernatural, creature. But I still couldn't feel it. So was it a construct?

The winds picked up even more. I slowly stood, trying to see past my wildly flapping mane. I didn't think I would be able to hear or see it at this point. Well, nopony said I had to fight it.

I teleported. Then again. The scenery hadn't really changed, with the storm and all, but compared to what I'd just been in it was almost pleasant. I reached out, I had a few minutes before it reached me again. There was nothing...no. Something in front of me. Better, there was a spot of nothing, just at the edge of my senses. Could it be the shield?

I reeled back in, then teleported. I reached out again, and yes! I couldn't feel beyond it! I quickly prepared myself, then began my flurry of teleports.

The shield had been a vibrant blue when I first arrived, nearly opaque. Now though...it was dimmer, almost clear. Cadence had said it was powered by the Crystal Heart, by the Empire's inhabitants. Why would this happen? Surely Shining Armor's disappearance wouldn't cause them to suddenly hate their home. Not only that, but it would have been a gradual process, it wouldn't be this pronounced in such a short time.

I stepped through it into the calm air of the Empire. Goodness, that was amazing. The silence was deafening, but welcomed. I sighed, I just wanted to collapse, but I needed to find out what was wrong with the shield, then warn Cadence and the others of the thing I had seen.

I was getting sick of teleporting. I was pretty sure I had teleported more times in the last few hours than I had in the last century. Even so, I needed to reach the castle with all haste, so I cantered forward, I only needed to do it five more times.

One. As soon as I had the chance, I was climbing right back under my bed.

Two. Maybe I would grab some hot chocolate first. I may not need to eat, but that didn't mean I couldn't.

Three. I also needed to visit the hospitals and whatnot still.

Four. I could see the castle from here, there were a lot more guards than there had been when I left. What was going on?

Five. I landed right in front of the guards at the gate. I had decided to not try and teleport straight inside since there would probably be some sort of anti-teleportation shielding in place if they had raised security. That was just a headache waiting to happen.

The guards jumped, as they always did, and one pointed a spear at me. He quickly recognized me, it seemed, and put it back down. The other spoke, "Silver Lining, Princess Cadence awaits your presence in the throne room."

Of course she did. That was fine, I would have had to hunt her down otherwise. Opting to walk, I did as instructed, taking note of the buzz of activity around me. Everypony looked like they were expecting to be jumped on, and strangely that fear didn't seem to originate from me. I really wanted to know what was going on.

Finally reaching the doors of the throne room, the two guards on either side opened them before me. I nodded to them, I may as well try not to be an ass. Cadance was sitting on her throne, speaking quietly with a crystal pegasus holding a clipboard. She glanced at me before quickly waving the pony away.

"Silver," she said evenly, "did you find him?"

"No." I replied. "But I did find something interesting."

Her ear flicked. "What?"

"While I was out lost, and yes," I added quickly, "I was lost, that's why I was gone so long, I encountered a creature I vaguely recognize but don't remember." She didn't interrupt, so I continued, "It seemed to be an earth pony made of snow. It flew despite its lack of wings, completely uninhibited by the winds, and it's eyes glowed blue. While it was near, the storm was significantly worse."

"Windigo." She said, malice dripping from the word. "Of course they would be drawn to the Empire now of all times."

Windigo? I'd never even heard that word. Maybe I had seen a picture of it somewhere? Oh well.

"Why would they be drawn to the Empire?" I asked. "No wait, I have a lot of questions, let me start from the beginning. Why is the shield dimmer than it was when we first arrived?"

She sighed. "That's something I was hoping you could help with." I cocked an eyebrow. I didn't know jack about permanent or semi-permanent enchantments like the Crystal Heart. "This morning, while you were gone, riots broke out, there were several attacks on the castle in an attempt to get to the Heart, and three of my advisors were poisoned, along with myself."

I blinked.

"What?"

"We believe that an underground organization is behind this." She continued, oblivious to my immense confusion. "They have apparently been discreetly directing the opinion of the public since Shining's disappearance in an attempt to convince them that I was behind it, and that I had brought you to the Empire to...I don't know, somehow take control the way Sombra had."

I blinked again.

"What...time is it?" I asked. That could tell me a lot, surprisingly. Her brows furrowed. I don't think that's the answer she was expecting.

"Around eleven." She answered slowly. "Why?"

I didn't respond. So it was eleven, which means that sometime in the last five or so hours, a group of ponies managed to organize several raids, poisonings, and riots. That meant they had money to throw around, ponies in the castle, and were capable of public cohesion under their own selfish ideals. A group of ponies that had to have been planning this for a very long time. If the idea of 'let's take over the Empire!' had popped up two weeks ago, they wouldn't have been able to get all of this done. However, one of their selling points was me being evil, so if I went around healing ponies, as I should have been doing since I got here, that would fall flat. Okay, we needed to move on, I still had some questions.

"Right," I said, "what are windigos?"

"W-uhh..." Cadance sputtered, then cleared her throat. "Windigos are a race of creatures derived from Winter who feed on fighting and hatred. The more there is, the more likely they are to appear."

Of course. I still didn't remember that, but it would make sense. If there was sudden fighting, they would sense the discord within the Empire.

"Are they held back by the shield?" I asked.

"Yes."

"But it's failing because of the fighting that attracted them."

"It would seem so."

"One more thing," I said, "you said 'derived from winter'. What does that mean? Are they snow elementals?"

"No. According to legend, windigos were created by Winter, the King of Windigos. The legends are older than Celestia and Luna themselves, so nopony is sure how much about them is true, but Winter was said to be as cold and unrelenting as the season named after him. Immortal and unstoppable, he sent his wendigos to attack ponies, breeding the hatred and fighting they fed off of. Then he himself would sweep through and destroy anything that was left. Though none have ever seen him, or at least lived to tell the tale, the sudden final assault that leaves towns and settlements destroyed after a windigo attack are enough evidence to support his existence."

Okay. Everything was falling apart. Calm down. Think rationally, from the beginning. Shombry was gone, but he would most likely take a while to regain his strength. I didn't like the idea of fighting him at full power, but it gave us time to deal with this. Windigos were a problem, but they could be held back by the shield. Which was failing. That was fine, it was supported by the majority, which I could hopefully sway the opinion of in short order. While I was doing that, Cadance needed to try and find the organization responsible, take care of the Crystal Heart, and not let everything spiral further out of control.

"Right." I said. "I have a plan. Kinda. Dealing with things in order of urgency, we don't need to worry about Shombry. You need to find that organization, try not to get yourself killed, and protect the Crystal Heart at all cost. I'll try to change the public opinion on myself and you by healing ponies. Since the shield is supported by the majority, that organization shouldn't be able to collapse it. Then, thinking of them, we need to protect the Elements of Harmony. They may make a move against them as well." I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I could see a little puff of air. "As a precaution, I'll take each of their souls, and they can be stored somewhere safe. Not with the Heart. We don't need to lose everything at once if things go wrong." Which they probably will. "Given that the imminent collapse of the shield is a distinct possibility, have the guards on high alert, but don't let the public know. That will definitely cause it to fail."

I paused. Cadance looked surprised, her wings and ears twitching slightly. She didn't say anything though, so I continued, "First things first: where are the Bearers?"

"O-oh, uh, they're out trying keep ponies calm." She stuttered. Was she really this surprised about me coming up with a solution that fast? Or maybe she wasn't used to being told what to do. Either way, I'm good at both of those, so she better get a hold of herself.

"Call them back. I'm going to need six containers, as unbreakable and unsealable as possible. We don't need some clumsy fool dropping a vase and killing an Element, do we?"

"No, of course. Azura!" She called to her right. The same pegasus she had been talking to before came back in. "Get word to the Elements to came back to the castle. Also, tell Matrii that I require six vials, enchanted to be unbreakable and unsealable to any magic but my own as soon as possible."

She nodded, then bowed. "Right away, your majesty." I assumed that 'Matrii' was some sort of Royal Archmage or whatever bull they called themselves these days. Unicorns with a lot of power tended to be assholes.

Azura turned on a bit, then left at a respectfully urgent pace. Good, somepony understood the gravity of the situation.

"I'm going to begin immediately." I said. "If I'm attacked or opposed, I will use non-lethal force and return here as soon as proves convenient."

"Very well." She replied heavily. I turned and began walking, gathering power. It wasn't necessary, but it was less stressful than teleporting as fast as I could. "Silver," Cadance called. I turned, horn still glowing. "Please don't get yourself killed unnecessarily." I grinned, then released the spell. No promises in that regard.

Appearing on the street in front of the castle, ignoring the jumpy guards, I realized that could have ended very badly. If they had had an anti-teleportation ward around the place, that would have zapped me pretty hard. Actually, I should bring that up to Cadance.

Appearing right back where I had been, I landed right in front of Cadance. That was the second time today. I took a step back on instinct, but she jumped away from me, wings flared.

"Sil–wha–what are you doing?" She stammered once she had grounded herself.

"You really should have some sort of ward against teleportation in important areas like this, if not the whole castle. What would you do if I were an assassin?"

She raised a hoof to her chest. "I'll have you know I'm not completely helpless. I have trained with Shining and am capable of holding my own in a fight, with or without magic." I raised an eyebrow.

"The ability to fight makes no difference to a half decent assassin. Many heroes and generals that could take on an army have fallen by a single strike from a hidden blade."

"Did I mention that I was poisoned today? Alicorns are immortal, after all." I would have dropped it at that, but she looked very pleased with herself, clearly under the impression that she had won.

"And what of the other ponies that are not? What of the Elements, or the Crystal Heart?" I stared her down. Princess or not, logic would win out.

"The Crystal Heart does have protection around it. As for the Elements, I can't put a spell like that over the whole castle, and keeping them in a room with wards in order to protect them would be little different from a prison."

"Why can't you protect the whole castle? I mean," I gestured above me with a hoof, "there's a shield around the whole Empire for crying out loud!"

"The shield," she replied, "is kept in place and connected to the Crystal Heart in ways we haven't yet understood. We can't simply have any spell we want powered by it!"

"Uhh!" I conceded, "Whatever, just keep them from getting killed until their souls are safe." I teleported back where I had been. If she wouldn't even try, that wasn't my fault. In the end, I could say, 'I told you so' as we lower the casket. That...came out sounding more morbid than I thought it would. Anyway, I reached out until I hit the shield, trying to get my bearings and figue out where to start. I could feel three hospitals thanks to the concentration of sick and dying ponies, but I could also see the decay of the standard of living within the Empire. Further from the center there were more ponies in more critical conditions, particularly towards the west. Was that direction west? It might have been south. It didn't really matter. I had noticed a similar trend in a lot of cities throughout my life, but it seemed considerably more pronounced here than anywhere I had ever been. It might have been Sombra's doing, indirectly or not.

Well, considering my mission was to sway the public opinion, it would only make sense to hit them where they needed it most.

It seemed that opinions of some ponies regarding me had gone from mostly indifferent, when I had first arrived, to nearly as bad as the Equestria of several hundred years ago.

I'd taken off for the western side, walking, not teleporting, healing anypony I'd seen on the street; beggars, orphans, or just anypony down on their luck. The sick tore off bloody bandages, the weak and broken danced and sang, laughing all the way. They were thanking me, grabbing at my hooves, babbling incoherently, all that stuff. I'd been through it all before.

Even so, it was still nice.

All good things must come to an end though. A pony pushed through the crowd, shouting and shoving. When they got to me, I got a good look at them. It was a unicorn, looked like a stallion. He had a cerulean coat and a subdued amber mane. Even from here I could see it was beginning to turn gray though.

"YOU!" He pointed a hoof at me. "You want to turn these ponies into mindless slaves, necromancer!"

The crowd around us quickly quieted down, watching us. Watching me.

I was slightly taken aback, but replied calmly, "Do you know what 'necromancy' means?"

"Of course I do!" He shouted right in my face. He was either too stupid or too brave for his own good.

"Then you would know that it implies power over the dead, not the living. If I wanted slaves, I would be killing these ponies." I motioned at the crowd around us. "But as far as I can tell , and feel free to call my bluff, but I think I know what I'm talking about, I'm doing quite the opposite. These ponies are more alive than they've been in years."

He was silent for a moment, but I wasn't going to let him come up with some other crazy thing to start shouting about. I turned on the spot and marched through the ponies. They parted silently, apparently not sure whether to be frightened or not. Well, I'd fix that.

"Come on!" I cried out to them. "There are more ponies to heal."

The ponies who I could see broke into smiles again, moving out of my way. The impromptu parade continued on as we had been, and ponies began to bring out others from homes, perhaps because they were too weak to leave on their own. Either way, the crow only got bigger, louder, and happier. A sea of color and noise all around me, I ended up blocking it out completely to focus on the shrouds of the ones I wanted to heal. Walking slowly, the crowds were forming ahead of me, in areas I hadn't even gotten to yet. That was good, word was getting around.

I noticed at some point that there more ponies like the one that had yelled at me earlier, but the newly healed had formed a barrier against them, along with some of the guards, surprisingly. They were defending me. That's new. Watching them, I realized that they were doing more than standing in the way. Several of the unicorn's horn were lit, pegasi's wings were flared, and the earth ponies looked ready to charge. There was about to be a fight. I wasn't going to like that happen.

I weaved a simple spell to amplify my voice so I wouldn't have to shout.

"Stop."

Indeed, they did stop. The whole crowd around me ground to a halt, many looked surprised I had spoken, including the ones that were trying to get to me. I hadn't said a word since that unicorn, after all. I cancelled the spell before continuing.

"Do not fight them for me. If they believe I am a monster, let them come and see it for themselves." I turned to those around me, raising my voice some, "As for the rest of you, I don't want you hurt, so you might want to give us space."

They did as I asked, shuffling backwards until they had left a good distance in all around me. The ponies that were holding the protesters at bay hadn't moved though. "Let them through." I said. The guards glanced at each other, then did as requested, grabbing some of the more foolhardy of the civil defenders as they went.

Finally, I could see them clearly. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, three unicorns. The one from before was not among their numbers. For an instant, we stood staring at each other, and I almost thought they would back off. Then one of the pegasi launched into the air, both earth ponies began moving and one of the unicorn's horn lit up.

Oh well.

The unicorn let off a spell that looked like a lance of light, directed right at my head. I created a shield the size of a dinner plate, angled so the light would glance off it at an angle. It missed my face by a hair, but an inch was a good as a mile. The other unicorns had moved forward, their horns glowing, and both earth ponies had made it half the distance to me. The pegasus that had launched itself was still above me, though I couldn't see it, and the other was still where it had been.

I telekinetically grabbed the front left hooves of the charging ponies, causing them to flip over themselves and tumble to a stop. The pegasus above me dived, I could hear it slicing through the air, and the second unicorn let out a blinding light from its horn. What was with them and light? Did they think it hurt me? Either way, I shut my eyes from the visual assault. That didn't change the fact that I could hear though, so I pinpointed the location of the pegasus, then teleported them. Almost immediately after, I created a bubble shield around me. I heard a splash as the teleported pony landed in the fountain nearby, then winced as a spell slammed into the shield. Just like I'd thought, the light was to disorient for a second spell, probably from the third unicorn. I opened my eyes again, just in time to watch all three prepare a more powerful spell. Were they in league then, if they were working together so well?

Something hit my shield, but it felt like it hit my horn. I gasped in pain and dropped the shield, just as they released their spell. It was significantly brighter than the one the second unicorn had used, but it was more than just a light. It was a projectile of some sort, and I didn't want to find out what it did. I tried to teleport, but between the pain and recent magical backlash, I didn't manage it in time.

The spell burned like the fire Celestia had tried to kill me with.

A Visit To The Society

Author's Note

Warning: in this chapter, things get a little bit darker than they have been so far, and will continue to get worse for a while. There are some descriptions of gore, but nowhere near grim-dark territory.

But honestly, if you can't handle some blood and death, why the hell are you reading a story about a necromancer?

A Visit To The Society

Somehow, I wasn't dead. Head hurt like hell, but I wasn't dead yet. Actually, everything hurt. I don't know why I was even surprised anymore.

I groaned a little as I stretched my forelegs. Like waking up from a nap. Long nap of being dead. Not-dead? Who knew. That was always fun. It was completely silent, and I could tell I wasn't on a bed, so I was neither on the street still or in a hospital. Fine, where was I then? The floor was hard, cold, and my hoof made a small scraping sound as it moved across it, so it might have been marble, or tile. I hadn't opened my eyes yet, but I was aware enough to tell that there was light. Bright light, just begging me to open my eyes so it could blind me. I decided there was still more I could discern about my surroundings without satisfying the light's sadistic wishes.

I groaned again, louder this time. I could hear a slight echo. So I was in a small room, the walls of which were probably made of the same material as the floor. If I had to guess, I'd say that the entire room was white, with several high-powered lights right on me. Just because that would be my luck. I moved to put a hoof over my eyes, then slowly opened them. Very slowly.

Lowering my foreleg as I got used to the light, I took a look at the room I was in. I was laying on a white marble floor, the walls were a stark white tile, save for one which was a mirror. No, more likely it was one-way glass. There were four electric spotlights, one in each corner, aimed right at me in the center of the room.

Damn, could I call it or what? Maybe I just got captured too often. Well, it was some sort of interrogation chamber, but there didn't seem to be the stereotypical metal chairs and table. Oh well, just one less thing I could use to beat the Harmony out of somepony.

I climbed to my haunches, squinting still. I reached for my magic, but unsurprisingly found it gone. I reached up to my horn with a hoof, and felt not one, nor two, but three different magic suppression rings on it. I also just noticed that my cloak was gone. A pity, but I could always get a new one.

Figuring that I might as well try everything I had, I tried to get rid of my headache, but I couldn't do that either. So there was a rather powerful magic suppression field around the room as well.

Gotta give them credit for preparedness, if nothing else. Even if I managed to kill myself to get the rings off, I still wouldn't be able to use magic. If the field failed because of some outside source, maybe somepony trying to break me out, I wouldn't be able to use magic. Fine. I'd play along with them. I promised Cadence I wouldn't hurt any civilians, specially of the Crystal Empire, but I said nothing about underground groups, or ponies who foalnapped. As soon as I had an opportunity, I was going to kill whoever was in charge of all this. Several times if possible.

I sighed. What spell had they used on me? It had hurt like hell. It couldn't have just been fire, it wouldn't have put off so much light. Not only that, but I would have woken back up on the street after dying, since it's kinda hard to contain or move a magical snowstorm. Some over-powered stun spell? Actually, why had my shield collapsed? What had–oh. Of course. That pegasus must have had a void-stone. The second pegasus hadn't moved throughout the beginning of the fight, but after the first bright light I hadn't seen them anymore. That meant that the spell that hit my shield after the light was also a misdirection. Damn. Well played.

Still gonna kill somepony.

There was nothing in this room. Honestly, I was surprised they didn't restrain me at all. I knew how to fight without magic. Whatever, it was their funeral. I stood up completely and turned to face the mirror. I didn't know what else to do, since I couldn't see a door of any kind. My mane was a disaster, windswept and sticking all over the place. Not even the cool kind of windswept like Rainbow Dash, either. My coat wasn't in much better condition. My eyes...well, I'd always thought they looked stupid, but others told me they were unnerving. The irises were nearly as dark as the pupils, so most of my eyes were black. I suppose that made me look soulless and dead, but all I saw were the ridiculously dilated eyes of some love-struck school filly in a badly drawn comic book. Whatever.

I suddenly went rigid. That was why everypony in Ponyville had recognized me! I hadn't had any sort of illusion spell hiding my eyes! I face-hoofed. How could I have been so stupid?! Sighing, I decided it wasn't really important. I was still stuck in here. In the Crystal Empire, not being hunted, on a first name basis with a princess...

Ok, fine, things had turned out relatively well. Still couldn't believe I'd completely forgot to hide my eyes though.

I forced myself back to reality. They better not leave me in here on my own for too long, or I was going to start trying to get through this glass. It couldn't have been magically reinforced because of the suppression field, so it would be hard to break, but not indestructible. A good enough exit as any.

Just to see what I was working with, and to get my mind off of my appearance, I reared up onto my hind legs, forehooves pressed against the glass. I took a deep breath as I brought my head back, then closed my eyes. This was going to hurt. My head whipped forward and I slammed my horn into the mirror as hard as I could. I stumbled back from the pain. Expected as it may have been, it still felt somepony had punched me in the horn. Well, I guess the glass kinda did.

I sat on the floor for moment, holding my head with my hooves. I didn't think that was the greatest idea I'd ever had. I took another deep breath, then looked at the area I'd hit. There was a minuscule crack, almost invisible. I smiled. If I could do that much with one hit, I could get through it easily. Well, relatively easily, and really painfully. Not now though, I was sure I'd scared the coat off of whoever was behind that mirror. Not only that, but I wanted to talk to somepony and find out what the hell they wanted with me before I left.

I didn't have to wait long.

Even with three magic suppression rings on, I felt the field shudder slightly. Not as if it were damaged, it was more controlled than that. It was being shut down. I think. I did have experience with such things. I sat patiently, making no physical reaction to it. I didn't want to let them know I could tell what was going on. When it finally wound down, then shut off completely, I extended my senses. Just a little. I couldn't feel beyond the mirror, but I could feel outside the room. There were nine ponies, one of which–

CLANK

I did not jump into the air, nor completely botch the landing. I simply reacted swiftly. So swiftly, in fact, that I head-butt the floor. With the back off my head.

I was very skilled.

While I recovered from my recent scuffle with the ground, a door sized section of the wall swung open slowly. By the time I got to my hooves again a pony had entered the room, and the 'door' was closing again. The field hadn't started again yet. I could kill this pony, and every one of them in a half-mile radius. No. Not yet. Didn't want to kill civilians. Had to know where I was first.

The pony in front of me was a unicorn. Not a crystal pony. An Equestrian. Looked like a stallion. He was slightly taller than me, with a...dark fuchsia coat. I think that's what color that was. I had never been good with stuff like that. His mane was midnight-blue, longer than mine, and clearly taken better care of. He looked...nice enough. He had nothing on, no armor, no robes, nothing that screamed 'rebel leader'. I knew he was the leader. He had to be. The leaders always came to talk to me personally. I flinched as another massive noise shattered the silence, then had to suppress a shudder as the field asserted its presence once again, abruptly cutting off my senses.

"Good evening, Silver Lining." He said. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I could already tell he wasn't the most cunning of ponies I'd met so far. He had just told me what time it was, so now I knew I'd been out of it for about seven hours. Not only that, but he sounded like Canterlot nobility.

I didn't respond, just continued studying him. There wasn't much else I could get from his appearance. To his credit, he didn't seem uncomfortable at my intense scrutiny, even when I looked him in his amber eyes. Amber? Really? That threw off his whole look. Whatever.

"I would like to start off with an apology." He said. An apology? For what? Foalnapping me? Ha! I didn't really care about that. When I didn't reply, he continued, "For own rather forceful method of taking you in. We did not believe you would be willing to–"

"Yes, yes," I cut him off. "You captured me, good job. What do you want? I have shit to do still." I said with some bite. My mood was beginning to show, it seemed. Stupid as he may be for facing me in pony, I had to admit he had no fear whatsoever. He did not flinch, or even really react to me cutting him off, or what I had said.

"Very well, I will be brief. We are the New Age, and–"

"Whoa, wait," I held up a hoof, "The new age, with a capital 'n' and a capital 'a', or just 'new age', also capitals, or what?"

"I–wh–" he sputtered. I suppose he had hoped to get into him monologue before I began questioning. "This organization is called 'New Age'. We represent the coming golden age of Equis, by–"

"Equis? Not Equestria? All of Equis?" Oh, I'm so glad I hadn't killed him. The look on his face was much more entertaining.

"All. Of Equis." He said forcefully. Goodness, what frayed nerves ponies had nowadays. He couldn't even handle my good-natured teasing, how was he going to lead a golden age?

"Very well," I said. "Please continue." I wouldn't interrupt anymore. I did want to know, and he was stupid enough to tell me outright. Fine by me. He seemed to relax considerably at my words, and just for that I was tempted to stop him just to see if I could make him combust. Maybe I shouldn't.

"We will usher Equis into a new golden age, one lead by mortal ponies. No Immortals to dictate our lives, to stagnate progress, or to hold back society." Oh no. My eyes widened. I knew exactly where this was going. He must have seen my reaction and taken it as encouragement, because he continued with more vigor, "We will lead a revolution against the tyrants who keep up under their hooves, and replace them with a government of ponies who have the population's best interests in mind." Ok, maybe not what I though. He was smiling now, a dazzling smile which only made me want to punch him in the face.

"Can you imagine a future without living in fear of the sun, Silver?" I didn't answer. I didn't fear the sun, I feared the pony that moved it. "All you need to do is help. When we move to destroy the oppressors, you would be necessary to keep our forces alive as we marched upon them. We wouldn't lose a single soldier. You wouldn't have to deal with any of the tyrants directly; we would never ask you to do something like that, not after one of them came so close to killing you permanently." He paused for a second, long enough to really hear what he had said, but not enough to think about it. "You would be instrumental in bringing about the greatest revolution in history; you would be a celebrated hero, known and beloved throughout the entire world. Isn't that all you've ever wanted?"

It was, actually. But he had no idea how strong they were. Individually, they were impossibly powerful. Together, they were unstoppable. Gods. That's what the Princesses were.

I blinked a few times, looking away from the stallion. All I ever wanted... I'd only ever wanted to help ponies. I wanted to be a healer, but I had been impeded at every step by Celestia. If we could get rid of her...

Suddenly my thoughts ground to a halt. I turned to look at him again. "And when they are gone, who will move the heavens? Who will watch over the dreams of ponies? Who will rule?"

"Long before the tyrants took control, the sun and moon were moved by the unicorns. We will take the reigns once again, restoring the world to its rightful order. A ruler will be decided upon by the majority of the population, democratically, as it should be. With this system, a corrupt or stagnant leader can be replaced, and progress is guaranteed."

I didn't respond for a while. He didn't seem eager to push me, luckily. Eventually, though, I spoke. "How will you destroy them? Their bodies are indestructible, their magic is limitless. Their souls are too strong to be used against them, even by natural-borns like me. They cannot be killed."

He smiled even brighter. "Each of them has a source of power. Celestia, the sun; Luna, the moon; and recently, even Cadence connected herself to a source; the Crystal Heart. When they are disconnected from these sources, they are brought down drastically. While they are in this state, we strike. Each has a weakness, just as you do. We can, and will, exploit this weakness to destroy them. You are necessary to help the ponies capable of casting these spells get near enough to use them; without you, they risk being killed, and then all must be done once again. That would be a waste, no?"

It would. It–

My thoughts froze. They wanted to kill the Princesses. They wanted to kill Cadence. They wanted to kill Celestia...I realized I didn't want that either. I didn't like her, not in a thousand years, but...she had hunted me my whole life, and suddenly I understood that she was completely justified. If this pony thought I would be instrumental in the downfall of the Princesses, I understood why she wanted me gone so badly. I was dangerous. Even if I didn't want to be, I was, simply be existing.

They wanted to kill Celestia, and Twilight would jump to her rescue, along with all her friends. Twilight...the pony who had willingly come into my room, alone, despite the fact that she knew exactly how dangerous I was. Could I consider her a friend? Could she ever consider me one? I realized I wanted to try. I wanted to be her friend. I didn't want ponies to be afraid of me.

But that was what this pony would bring about. When this...revolution of theirs was over, he would put himself in charge, a second Neighpolien. And nopony would dare defy him with me next to him. I would be the most feared pony in Equestria. All of Equis, if his plan fell through. I wasn't going to let that happen.

I looked up at him, then back down to his hooves. I took a shuddering breath. I wasn't really that emotional, I was faking for the sake of my next move. "I–" I choked. Wow, maybe I was getting too into this. "I don't know." I whispered. I closed my eyes and shook my head as I took a small step towards him. "The Princesses are..." Another step. "They're beyond powerful."

I bowed my head, "I don't think I can go near Celestia." He closed what little distance remained between up, and put a hoof on my shoulder. For goodness's sake this stallion was an idiot! I didn't let my glee break the act though.

"I know how powerful they are, but you don't have to be anywhere near the fight. You won't have to face them at all."

"No," I said with a small, deadly smile. "I don't think I will." Before he could do anything, I reared my head up as hard as I could, and felt my horn go right through the flesh where his neck met his jaw. I felt warm blood trickle down my face as he let out a little gurgling noise. I pulled my head back, blood spurt some more and I closed my eyes to keep from getting any in them. He hit the ground, but he wasn't dead. Not yet.

There was a mighty clunk as the door unsealed, and suddenly I could feel my necrotic powers once again. Finally. I held onto the stallion's shroud; I wanted him alive a little longer. As soon as the door began to open, though, I grabbed each of the eight ponies outside and killed them. No fanfare, I simply brought their deaths upon them like the necromancer before me had done to his enemies. I usually wouldn't kill like this, but, well, I could let go every once in a while. These ponies deserved it; they wanted to bring death to Equis like it had never know.

Now though, I needed to get out of here. I walked out the now open door, stepping over the bodies of the soldiers who had been awaiting me. I relished the feeling of the freshly dead, like a ray of sunshine in the middle of an endless winter. A breath of fresh air, a–a feeling I should notbe enjoying this much. I shook my head and considered the fact that I still had no magic. Well, while I couldn't take the rings off, somepony else could. I looked at the pony underneath me. They would do.

It didn't take much. I just had to attempt to bring them back to life without using the soul, after all. I watched as the red coat of the pegasus fell to the ground, shriveled and discolored. Then the skin melted and vanished. The muscles, now exposed, quickly followed, as did the organs. The heart, lungs, even the blood which had been spilling about simply evaporated into nothing. Soon only the skeleton was left, clad in the soldier's armor. It clanked and rattled as it stood, its eye sockets a deep and endless void; mine, but so much worse.

"Get these rings off my horn." I said. It quickly complied, reaching up to pull at the suppressors. The first popped off easily, but the second took more work. As the skeleton pulled at the ring with its hooves, I realized that being so near it was nearly intoxicating. I began to nuzzle at its foreleg (forebone?), making the poor thing work harder to accommodate my movement.

A door behind me burst open, the noise startling me out of the bliss I had been in. It must have been the door to the room behind the glass. I reached for the pony fleeing, then smirked at the following thud. The second ring popped off and fell to the ground. As the skeleton began working on the last ring, I was careful to pay as little attention to the aura around it as possible. This was how a necromancer fell to the darkness. Harmless, at first, just a feeling. Until it became addictive. Then you started killing ponies and turning them into skeletons for the sake of the high that couldn't be achieved anymore. I was pulled out of my thoughts by the skeleton successfully pulling off the last ring, and it clattered to the ground.

Satisfied, I dismissed the skeleton. It collapsed into a pile of bones and armor on the floor. I would have liked to have a servant, but that would have definitely spooked the ponies, as well as act as the gateway to my insanity. Better if I didn't. Oh well. I turned back to the room I had been in. The stallion was still on the floor, now laying in a pool of his own blood. It had soaked into his coat and mane, turning both a rather nasty variation of their natural colors. He was, of course, still choking on the blood getting into his lungs; it didn't matter, as long as I held his shroud at bay, he could neither bleed out nor drown. That did not mean he was not in pain though. Well, that's what you get when you threaten the friends of a necromancer.

I grabbed him by the back hoof with my magic, ignoring his strangled cries and sputtering. I began back out into the hallway, pulling him behind me. Sure, I could have just levitated him beside me or something, but that was more effort than I cared to put into him.

Since I didn't know where I was in relation to...anything, I would have to find the exit normally, then teleport once I had a grip on my whereabouts. Here we go.

I had abso-bucking-lutly no idea where this was. I was at the edge of the complex, on a balcony, sticking off the side of a mountain. I didn't recognize the area around me at all. The complex, the majority of which was burrowed in the mountain, was actually really big. I had gone through it as if it were a maze, always turning left. At some point I had found a bathroom and washed the blood off my horn and face. Aside from that, and killing a few unruly soldiers and what I assumed to be stupidly courageous civilians, nothing really of note happened. New Age, as I'd decided to call him, was still bleeding on the ground. Don't know why that would change, but he had a name now, at least.

Still didn't know where I was.

A Visit To The Throne Room

The Crystal Empire was absolutely gorgeous. Now that there was no real imminent emergency I could actually stop and admire this place. Everything, as far as I could see, shimmered and reflected the light in beautiful ways. The shops, the streets, the ponies themselves! It was all so sparkly! I could stand here for years and never be able to describe how awe-inspiring this place was. I should go find a thesaurus and look up a few synonyms of beautiful.

I didn't have time though, the Elements of Harmony were set to arrive in a few moments and I wanted to meet them at the castle.

I had brought up that dreadful place, Ponyville, and that weird mare Sparkle just to see if Cadance had ever heard of either. To my immense surprise, not only was Sparkle Celestia's personal student, but she was also the Element of Magic. Meaning she had dealt with the majority of the evil-doers that had threatened Equestrian over the last few years. So why was she so afraid of me? Surely they didn't believe I was on par with the likes of Nightmare Moon and Discord. Right?

Then, as Cadance had gleefully continued to what she considered more important, Sparkle had also been foalsat by Cadance herself. I couldn't imagine how rich her parents were if they could hire a Princess to watch their filly.

So, I had heard all sorts of embarrassing stories of Equestria's savior, including how she would build forts out of books, and about her and Cadance's little dance. I would most definitely have to find a way to tease her about that later.

I had also learned that Shining Armor was Sparkle's older brother. Cadance's motives for watching Sparkle suddenly became much clearer.

Now that I thought about it, who were Sparkle's parents? They had to have been extremely proud. Their oldest married a Princess and their youngest was a defender of the land. Both of those were feats that entire families would pine after for generations, and they had achieved both at the same time. I might look into that later.

For now, I needed to get to the castle. I forced myself to focus on the world around me, instead of spacing out in the middle of the street like an idiot.

I looked at the ponies around me, and my stoic demeanor broke right there. I laughed. Well, more like giggled, but it was a lot for me. I couldn't help myself. The ponies passing me were all smiling, glittering just as much as the buildings around them. Everypony here was so happy, so inviting and friendly. Nopony feared me, or hated me. For the first time for as long as I could remember, I was actually happy. Once all this was over, I was never going back to Equestria. This was home. I would make this home.

I would need to actually get a house though.

That was future Silver's problem. Future Silver also needed to deal with Shining Armor still. But that's what the Elements were here for, in case things got out of hoof.

Hopefully they wouldn't.

I shook my head and spun on the spot. I really was going to sit here all day if I didn't get a move on. Passing more smiling ponies, I quickly reached the castle in the middle of the city. The guards let me in without a problem, which I still thought was amazing. I could just go wherever I pleased and they wouldn't do a damned thing. Well, I don't know if they would let me into Cadance's room, but any publicly accessible place, sure. Walking through the vaulting crystal halls, passing maids, servants, cleaners and who knew what else, I made my way towards the throne room.

Upon reaching it, I found it to be empty aside from a few sparkly guards. I tried not to giggle. Describing things in the Empire as 'sparkly' just sounded silly, even if it was true. The sparkly guards running around stopping sparkly bad ponies from terrorizing all the helpless, sparkly civilians on sparkly streets surrounded by sparkly buildings. I couldn't help giggling at that point, and I saw some of the guards glancing at me. The sparkly guards!

I burst out laughing, which probably didn't put them at ease at all. Getting myself under control, I moved to the center of the room. And sat. On the floor. That's generally what I did when I wasn't sure what to do. The Elements were due to arrive in a few minutes, but I didn't know what to do while waiting for them. Maybe I should talk to the guards! I don't think I've ever spoken to a guard while they were on duty. Usually they were trying to capture me. Made small-talk a little hard.

"Soooo..." I said to none of them in particular. "Are guards allowed to talk while on duty?" I heard them move a bit. Most would have missed it, but I'm use to noticing the little tells. It usually keeps me from dying quite so much. They were nervous, most likely didn't want to deal with me. Or maybe they were afraid. Even if I hadn't done anything in the Empire, reputation was powerful. Oh well. "I'll take that as a no," I said. We sat in deadly silence for a few moments, but eventually I heard something beyond the doors. Hooves. A lot of them.

I spun around on the spot to face the doors, the two ponies behind me startled. All the guards are so jumpy. And sparkly! I giggled again. I just couldn't help it, it was so funny, even if I was also equally sparkly still. Cadance assured me it would fade soon.

The doors opened slowly. There was general murmur of conversation, but that died as soon as they caught sight of me. Cadance led the group, six ponies fanned out behind her. They were the Bearers, each wearing their respective Element. Honestly, looking at them, I wouldn't be very intimidated if it weren't for their impossible track record. Six mares; two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies. Cadance had told me some about them, and as far as I knew none of them had any combat training. Which meant they were parts of a whole but useless on their own. That might be important later.

"Good evening, Silver," Cadance said. "I hope the guards gave you no trouble getting here." She stopped just in front of me, the Bearers a few hoof lengths behind her.

"I think they're too afraid to look at me, much less stop me from doing anything." I replied. "I assume these are the Element Bearers?"

"Yeah!" The blue pegasus jumped into the air and pointed at me. "And if you think you're gonna hurt anypony you've got another thing coming!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight hissed, and dragged her to the ground by the tail with her magic. Cadance moved to my right and turned to face the Elements.

"It's fine," I said. "Cadance warned me of her attitude. I'm used to this kind of thing. Now," I paused for a moment to make sure I wouldn't be interrupted while Cadance moved to stand next to me, "do you all know who and what I am?"

"Oh!" The pink one, Pinkie Pie, jumped up. "Twilight told us you're a necromancer and you have all these crazy powers and you're really scary but you don't seem that scar-" the orange one clamped a hoof over Pinkie's mouth.

"Err...sorry about Pinkie," Appleflap? said. "She kinda says what's on 'er mind without thinking."

"Again," I said as Orange took her hoof off of Pinkie's mouth, "I was warned." I reached under my cloak with my magic, to which both Twilight and Rarity flinched. I sighed to myself. I pulled out the vial with Shining's soul and held it up for them to see. "Do any of you have any idea what this is?" They shook their heads, luckily with no more outbursts. "All right, well...time for some explaining." I saw Twilight perk up at that. Ah yes, Cadance had told me how much she loved to study. She was definitely going to hound me with questions when this was all over. I was, after all, a completely unknown subject.

"As you all know, I am a necromancer. You would think bringing the dead back to life would be easy for me, but that isn't really the case." I brought a hoof up to rub at my forehead. "Uhh...so if I try to bring a dead pony back to life with no preparation before their death, it works, but not really. This is kind of gruesome, so prepare yourselves." All of them shuffled around nervously. They probably didn't want to hear me talk about death. "They don't just wake back up, sane and healthy. Instead, their skin, muscles, tissues, organs...everything except for the skeleton kind of...melts away, and I'm left with a magically reanimated skeleton servant." They looked about ready to faint at this point. "In order to properly bring somepony back, I need their soul before they die." The yellow one collapsed. Really, already? All of them rushed to her, shouting and panicking. I reached out and felt her heart, she was definitely still alive. I turned to look at Cadance. "Was that too much for her?"

"I think so." She said. "Can you wake her up?"

"Yeah." I said. "One second. What's her name?"

"Fluttershy."

"Fluttershy." I repeated. I focused on her for a second, then she gasped. The panic around her redoubled, all of them asking if she was all right. They helped her to her hooves, the blue one, Rainbow, glaring at me.

"If...I may continue?" All I received were glares. "With a pony's soul, I can reanimate them completely. I've only ever used it on hospital patients and soldiers in too grave a condition to heal." Heh, 'too grave a condition', and they're dying, so they'll be in their grave soon, right? Get it? Oh well.

"Wait a second," the orange one said, "you heal ponies? How?" Darn. They missed it.

"I do. That's what I've been doing for the last four hundred-ish years. A necromancer's abilities goes beyond raising the dead and being evil. I can heal ponies by doing the opposite of of I would normally do. Instead of consuming a pony's life-force, or whatever you want to call it, I just...use my magic to reinforce theirs. At a certain point they can sustain themselves again, and at that point they are healed. Umm...in extreme cases in which a pony can't be healed like that, like when they're missing a limb or have a terminal illness, I can take their soul and bring them back once they die."

I wasn't done. "Of course, since I don't have time to wait around while they die on their own, I have to kill them." I got mixed reactions from that. A few were shocked, some angry, and Fluttershy looked about ready to faint again. I let them go for a moment before continuing. "I can assure you that their death is painless, and once reanimated, they usually don't remember it. There are limitations to this though. Not necessarily that they can only be brought back a maximum number of times, but that it can only heal so much. Birth deformities can't be fixed. I don't know why. For example: a pegasus losses the tip of their wing in an accident. I can heal that. If they lose their entire wing, I can't heal it. I have to kill them to fix it. If that pegasus had a malformed wing from birth, and then they lost that wing, a malformed wing would grow back." Silence reigned. They glanced at each other, at me, at Cadance. After a few moments orange spoke up.

"Now, you said before that to heal a pony you do the opposite of what you normally do. So what is it that you normally do?" She looked like she was ready to run me into the ground if I gave a wrong answer. Well, that would be her funeral, not mine.

"An ability necromancers were hated and feared for more than raising the dead. Let me start at the beginning. In order to heal a pony, I focus on them. Not magically or physically, but with some other sense you don't have. I can feel your heart, your fear, and if I really look, your soul. Now, everypony has a sort of shroud around them all the time, which is the state of their health. Or more accurately, how close death is to taking you. For most, like you six, it's nearly invisible. You're all perfectly healthy. For a dying patient in a hospital, it's like smoke around them. That's how I find dying ponies: I look for the darkest shroud. I can affect that shroud, doing what I told you before, how I healed ponies. What I really do, what it feels like I'm doing, is shoving that shroud off of them. But what old necromancers did was bring that shroud down upon ponies, bringing their premature death."

Again, silence. Maybe we should take a break to let them think about all this.

"It's that easy?" Rainbow asked. She looked like she was trying not to cry.

"Yes."

"Is there any limit to it?" Twilight asked.

"Not that I've found." I said. "That's why everypony hated us. We're unstoppable and unkillable to normal ponies."

"But the ones in the past were killed." She said.

"Yes," I replied. "Taking notes?" I squinted at her foalishly. "Anyway, yes, the first was killed by Celestia. It was a show of such spectacular power that the ponies of the time said he was 'hit by the sun'. It's the same way Celestia tried to kill me."

"Tried to?" Rarity said.

"Hold on," I said. "The second was captured, and for reasons lost to history, Celestia was unavailable at the time. So Luna decided to see if she, the necromancer I mean, had a limit on how many times she could resurrect. It would seem so. The third was the one that caused the most damage. He appeared just after Luna was banished, so Celestia was unable to fight him. She did, however, manage to convince the dragons of the time to help her. Turns out a volcano is a good substitute for the sun, as far as making sure ponies stay dead goes. Then there's me." I waved my hoof at them. "I've been healing ponies ever since I got my cutie mark, but that didn't seem to matter to Celestia. She thought it was a trick, and decided that the best kind of necromancer was a dead one. When she did the whole 'hitting me with the sun' thing, it didn't work quite right. I survived, and everything that had been restraining me was destroyed completely, along with the entire throne room. So I teleported off the mountain, and I've avoided Canterlot and Celestia like the plague up until now."

"Wait," Twilight said. "You teleported off of Canterlot Mountain? But that's impossible!"

"Impossible if you plan on surviving." I grinned at her. "Luckily, that's a condition I don't really have to worry about."

She gaped at me for a second, then slowly closed her mouth. "But...that's still too far to teleport in one go."

"Normally, it is, yeah, but I'm very old. I've been teleporting since before your..." I stopped to consider. If most ponies had foals at thirty-ish, and I was around four hundred and fifty years old...

I took a deep breath."Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents were born." I gasped. That was hard. "I think I know what I'm doing." I heard a noise to my right. I looked, Cadance had a hoof over her mouth, trying to not giggle. "Just you wait till you're my age, Cadance," I muttered. "That said though, I didn't go down the entire mountain at once. I'm much better at teleporting rapidly."

I took a deep breath. "But we're getting extremely off track." I shook the vial in front of me. "Let's talk about souls, which is kinda the most important thing right now, and why you're all here. This is a soul, I told you that." My brow furrowed. "Wait, did I tell you that? I don't remember. Anyway, do you know who's?"

They murmured amongst themselves, but none spoke up. "It's Shining Armor's." That got their attention.

"Is it supposed to look like that?" Pinkie asked. Her mane was flat, she looked like she was about to start crying. Or maybe killing ponies. Possibly both.

"I was getting to that." I said. I turned to Cadance. "May I?"

"Sure." She said. I pulled another vial from under my cloak, uncorked it, and spoke the words I needed to. A silver substance began to leak out from her eyes and mouth, just as it had done in the hospital room. As soon as it was all in, I slammed the cork back on. I looked back the six. They were shocked, to say the least. I waited until somepony said something.

It was Twilight, or course. "T-that's Cadance's soul?" Her flickered between the vial and Cadance.

"Yes." I said. "As you can see, it's much lighter, almost silver. Her soul is damn near pure." I pulled out my last vial and repeated the process, but with my name this time. My soul was, unsurprisingly, darker than my coat. "Mine is much darker since I've committed nearly every atrocity possible. The color of a soul gives you a look at what they've done. Cadance here hasn't done much from the looks of it, though I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she's beat the hell out of a few ponies."

Now they were all staring at Shining's soul. "S-so..." Twilight said. "How did Shining's get so dark? He's not a bad pony!"

"I know. That's why you're here. I don't believe that this is just Shining's soul. I think that while he was out there, something found him as he died. It attached itself to him, and kept him alive, but not really."

"Not really?" Twilight pleaded. She didn't want me to tell her the Shining was going to die. Nopony ever wanted to hear that a loved one was beyond help.

"He is alive, clinically. He breathes, his heart beats, all that good stuff. But...remember what I told you about shrouds around ponies?"

They all nodded. "When a pony dies, permanently, their shroud thickens until I can't hardly see them through it. It feels like death, it smells like death, and it reeks of death. It's..." I wasn't about to admit I liked it. "sickening to be anywhere near. Luckily, it's only there for a fleeting second in most cases. With Shining though...he's had it since we found him. The doctors say he's stable and he should be recovering, but as far as I can tell he's dead. He's been dead since we found him."

Six voices rang out, Twilight crying, Rainbow was angry. Rarity was with Fluttershy and Applejack with Pinkie, who was also crying.

"Please!" Cadance called above the confusion. "We are not done. Allow Silver to finish." The voices died down, but I continued to hear sniveling.

"He is getting better. But you haven't asked yourselves a very important question yet." I waited. They all looked around, confused, but I was focusing on Twilight, who was staring at the ground.

She looked up at me slowly. "Why haven't you healed him?" She said, almost in a pleading voice.

"I can't." More confusion. They should just accept the fact that everything I said was confusing. It would save them time. "And that's what has me worried. I'm not willing to try and kill him and bring him back. I fear that if I do, I won't get Shining back, but whatever it is that has attached itself to him." Now Twilight was simply staring at me. She probably didn't know what to think.

Cadance stepped forward, spreading her wings slightly. "We called you here in the hopes that you would be able to cleanse him the same we you did to Luna."

"And if we can't?" Twilight asked.

"All lot of things could happen." I said. "One of which is the case in which he is completely possessed by something malevolent and powerful. In that case, I can do more than heal a pony with their soul. Twilight, I'll leave the choice to you and Cadance, but I can kill a pony with this." I shook the vial.

She took a step towards me. "Nonono no no, we'll find a way. We always do."

"Fine." I said. "Since I'm sure you don't trust me, you can keep this." I brought the container closer to her, waiting until she took it with her own magic. "You won't be able to break it, I promise." I sighed. "If you do need to kill him, pull the top off while at least forty-ish hooves away. Any closer than that and it'll simply return to him."

Her mouth moved without sound for a second before she finally spoke. "How does that work?"

"I'm...not quite sure." I admitted. "As far as I can tell, the soul can't make a journey that long, so it ends up dissipating. Since the soul needs to exist for a pony to live, the target pony just...collapses, as if they'd died of fright."

She nodded. "I don't want to do that. We...we'll find a way to save him. We always do."

"Yeah!" Rainbow jumped into the air. "I don't care what's wrong with Shining, we're gonna beat the heck outta whatever's got him!"

"Rainbow," Cadance said, "please, I know you want to help Shining, you all do, but right now we aren't certain of anything. Silver may be completely wrong, but no matter what befalls us, we must remain calm and prepared."

Everypony was silent, though Rainbow was still hovering. Twilight was staring at her brother's soul, Fluttershy was ducked behind her mane, Applejack almost looked lost, Pinkie's mane was still flat, but she didn't look ready to try and kill anymore. Rarity was idly twirling a bit of her curly mane.

Cadance took a deep breath, then continued, "That said, would you like to see him?" All eyes snapped to her, mine included. A chorus of positive replies, and Pinkie's mane poofed a bit. I didn't want anywhere near him though. I had done all I could, being near him would just make me unnecessarily upset.

Cadance began leading the ponies out of the room. "I'll be in my room if you have any need of me," I said. "Specifically, under the bed." Rarity turned for an instant to give me an odd look, but I didn't mind. At least one of them had heard me. That way, none of them could say I just 'vanished' when they find my room seemingly empty.

It has been surprisingly difficult to find a room with a bed tall enough for me to fit under. The poor pony showing me around had given me the 'grand tour' of various rooms, highlighting some of their most impressive aspects, bowing and smooth-talking the whole time. I honestly couldn't tell if he was trying to seduce me or simply scared out of him mind. Either way, he didn't seem to understand that the distance between the floor and the bed was all I cared about, not the the magnificent view (thought it was pretty good) or the walk-closet, or the personal bathroom that was early as large as the room itself. Seriously. Why would somepony need a bathroom that big? What did they need to do in there? Host a party? I didn't understand.

Finally though, we found a bed I could get under. After that, I had asked for blackout curtains. He looked like I'd asked him to shove a broom up his rear end, but he got them for me. I promptly shoved him out, set up the curtains, then dived under the bed.

I had been left alone for a few days, but Cadance had come in at some point, telling me I needed to get out and do something. As if I were a foal! But she had continued, saying that since the ponies of the Empire didn't remember the necromancers from before, and had missed the one before me entirely, they had no idea about me. I was free to do as I pleased without the fear of being seen.

That got my attention. To be able to walk around in the light? Really? Nopony at all would recognize me, nopony would cower, nopony would treat me any differently. That was enough to get me out. We had gone around to some of the most important landmarks of the city, Cadance talking about everything we went past, ponies smiling and waving at us. There was no hostility, no fear, no glances and whispering. We had returned to the castle near sundown, Cadance went to see Shining and I went back to my room. It had been the night before the Elements were to arrive.

Now I was under the bed once again, thinking about the encounter I had just had with the Elements. It hasn't gone as well as I had hoped it would, but it didn't go nearly as badly as I had feared it would. I suppose that's as much as I could ask. I truely hoped that they would be able to help Shining. If they couldn't, I didn't dare imagine what would happen. He might be permanently broken, mentally, tainted by whatever it was. He might be possessed, and we would have to fight him. Who would win? Would I be able to kill him if I had to? Could Twilight? He was her brother, after all, and from what Cadance had told me they were extremely close. She might not be able to fight him, even if he had every intention of killing her. I would have to try and protect them, if nothing else.

The Elements of Harmony should work though. They were made to root out disharmony, right? What was more disharmonious than a soul that had been corrupted? That raised the question though, what would it do to him? Destroy the darkness within him? Would it be impossible to separate the two parts forcefully, so he would just be killed outright?

Wait, if the problem is his soul, them he'll have to have it when they use the Elements. Well...if we kept the soul out of him until we're certain he's not imminently dangerous, then give it back long enough to fix him...

I didn't know. Trying to plan for something with so many unknowns and variables would never work. We'd call the shots as necessary.

Three knocks pulled me back to reality. I opened my eyes, but the room was still dark. Not that I couldn't see, but it gave no hints as to the time, and I really couldn't hazard a guess with my tendency to blank completely for long periods.

"Silver? Can I come in?" Of course it would be Twilight of all ponies. At least I wouldn't need to throw myself out a window this time.

"Yes," I called out. The door slowly slid open, a beam of light sliced through the room from the hallway, and Twilight poked her head in.

"Uhh..." She drawled.

"Right," I said, crawling out from under the bed, "it is kinda dark." I pulled the curtains back, but it was dark, nearly as dark as the room. It seemed I had been under there for a while. Seeing as that probably wouldn't be enough light, I turned back to the door and flipped a switch next to the door. A magic light came to life above us and I squinted a bit. It was very bright after being in total darkness for so long.

Twilight stepped into the room slowly, then shut the door with her magic. She stood just inside the room awkwardly.

"Did you want to ask something?" I asked, still squinting at her.

"Er, well, it's just something I've been thinking about since you explained everything." She shuffeled some and rubbed one of her legs with a hoof. I couldn't tell if she was just naturally extremely awkward or permanently terrified of me.

"Do you want to sit on the bed or something? I don't use it anyway." Her brows furrowed. "I stay under it, like I was before. And before you ask, no, I don't sleep. Or eat, or drink for that matter. I honestly don't know what I run on. Probably terror and spite."

She opened her mouth as if to respond, but didn't say anything. I motioned towards the bed with my head, this time she obliged. I sat down where I was on the floor while she moved hesitantly, glancing around the room. "I don't know if I'm going to be here long enough to need to sit down."

"If it's anything personal or regarding necromancers, it'll probably be a long-winded answer with a lot of explaining." With that, she carefully climbed onto the bed. I had to suppress a sigh. Was she really so afraid that any offense or quick movement would send me into a rage? Come to think of it, if she was that scared of me, why hadn't she brought any of her friends as backup? Or all of them? They were only effective as a group, after all.

We sat in silence, I fiddled with the end of my cloak with my hooves. I didn't want to press Twilight. If she had come to talk despite being terrified of me, she must have something important to ask.

"Why..." I looked up, Twilight was laying on her belly, staring at her hooves. She took a deep breath. "Ok, this is somewhat insensitive. I-if you don't what to answer, you don't have to." She was shrinking into herself as she spoke.

"Twilight," I said, "please don't be afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you, or your friends. There's very little I won't talk about, and I promise I won't be mad simply because you ask a question." She still didn't look at me, but at least she looked less like Fluttershy.

She took another deep breath. "You...know the history of each necromancer before you. Know how they were killed, what mistakes they made. You have the potential to be an unstoppable villain, so why aren't you?"

I sighed. I swear, it's like these ponies wanted me to kill them. Also, what kind of question was that?

"I—," I sighed again. "I've always wanted to be a healer. And I don't like killing ponies." I rubbed my face with a hoof. "There's more to it than that, but it all boils down to those two main points." She was looking at me now, it was clear that wasn't what she'd wanted. She wanted more, but I knew this trick. I had been interrogated before. Leave the pony you want info from in silence, they'll feel awkward enough to continue. While I wouldn't normally fall for it, and I knew for a fact I could appear rather intimidating while sitting in silence, I figured that telling Twilight the truth would probably help with our relationship. I mean, if the Elements of Harmony, the very saviors of Equestria, said that I was ok, ponies might change their minds about me.

Plus, of course, Twilight was in direct contact with Celestia, and as far as I knew held a bit of sway with what the Princess thought. If I could establish friendly relations with her, she might be able to convince Celestia not to kill me, since I was sure she actually planned on getting rid of me when this was all over with.

"You want the long story, don't you?"

She nodded. I sighed. "Well, alright. Let's start with a few crucial details. I told you before that being near Shining and the feeling of death was sickening. It's not. It's actually the opposite. For me, and I know this isn't normal, death is like..." I couldn't think of the right word. "It has to do with my extra sense. The shrouds. I don't...feel them, necessarily, not the way you feel the bed right now. It's like I can feel, smell, and taste them all at once." There, finally.

"Knowing that, what do you think being near a pony that is perpetually dead and alive is like?" I asked.

She shifted, I could see her facial muscles twitching. Arguing with herself, trying to decide how to respond. Keeping track of what one pony was thinking was much easier than six. "It must be horrible to be able to sense it in so many ways, but you said it's not." She said. "If that's the case, do you enjoy it?"

I nodded slowly. "Mostly. That's why they all went off the deep end. Necromancers I mean. Killing ponies feels amazing, euphoric even. Being near death is like basking in sunlight on a beautiful, cloudless summer day. Surrounding myself with dead ponies would be like a permanent high."

Her ears were pinned back, she wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were flitting back and forth. "And I knew from the beginning that wasn't alright. I knew I couldn't lose myself, couldn't kill innocent ponies for the sake of a feeling. If I wanted that, I would just get into drugs. For the record, I've never done that either."

She hadn't moved much during that last bit, but her ears were more relaxed now. "So," she started, "being near Shining, who you said is-" She swallowed "-both dead and alive, would, would be," She clamped her eyes shut, her breathing ragged. She didn't need to finish though, I knew what she meant.

"Yes," I said. "And I don't like it. I wish it weren't true, but that's the way things are." I really did wish I was disgusted by death like everypony else. That would certainly make killing ponies that upset or annoyed me less appealing.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?" I said. She looked back at me and shook her head weakly.

"I wanted to ask about the shrouds as well, but you answered that." She took a long blink, and when she opened her eyes she looked somewhat more determined. "But I do have a theory. Does using dark magic affect a pony's soul?"

My ear flicked. That was an odd question. "I have no idea," I said. "Why?"

"Well, it has addictive properties, right? Can we take a look at my soul? I don't think I've ever done anything to merit having a dark soul. If it is dark though, that might give me an idea as to who has hitched a ride with my brother." Why would she be asking that? Has she used dark magic? I might as well ask.

"Have you ever used dark magic?" I asked.

She nodded. "I have. Princess Celestia wanted to make sure I knew what I was dealing with when we did our lessons on it."

I certainly had no idea why she would need to use dark magic, but I figured taking a look at her soul couldn't hurt. I pulled one of my remaining vials and uncorked it. I whispered Twilight's name. She gasped as her soul left her, watching it slide through the air. I slammed the cork back on.

"What did that feel like?" I asked.

Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. She swallowed and tried again. "L-like I just lost something I never knew I had."

I grinned and looked down at it. Silver, just as light as Cadence's, but with flickers of black deep within.

"It seems you were right." I levitated it over to her. "You're nearly as clean as Cadence, but black is visible within it."

She was too busy gaping at her own soul. At least Cadence had the courtesy to shut her mouth. "S-so, am I-"

"Going to hell?" I interrupted, "Eventually going to fall into the darkness and become a villain? I have no idea. But now that we know that dark magic does change a pony's soul, what does that prove to you?"

She started to bring the vial back to me. "Just pull the cork out." I said.

"Are you sure?" She looked dubious.

"Yes."

She did, her eyes crossed, body tensed and her magic flickered as it entered her again. I caught the vial and put it back in its place. "That felt weird." she said. She shook her head. "Uh, first, what do you know about Sombra?"

I raised an eyebrow. "The Shadow King? Not much more than myths and whatnot. He was the tyrannical ruler of the Crystal Empire before it vanished. He ruled with pain and fear, magically feeding off the hate of his subjects. When it reappeared the Elements..." I trailed off. "Wait!" I jumped up. Twilight flinched, though I think she was just surprised by my sudden movement. "Did you defeat Sombra? Seriously?"

She ducked and her ears pinned back. "Er, well, yeah, we did."

It was my turn to gape. How in the hell had they done that? Sombra was literally a legend, it had taken both Princesses to beat him down the first time! I took a deep breath and calmly sat back down. Suddenly that group of mares seemed somewhat more intimidating. Maybe a lot more intimidating.

"Okay," I said, "what does that have to do with anything, aside from the fact that you're suddenly really scary?"

"We're not scary! We just do what we have to. Anyway, Sombra was really strong. There is a chance we didn't actually manage to kill him. If that were the case..."

I realized where she was going, and the pieces began to fall into place.

"He survived, dormant," I said, "waiting for somepony to come along. He might have caused Shining to hurt himself, or maybe he just took advantage of the situation."

"And if he did survive," Twilight said, "He would only be a shadow of his former self. That would explain why Shining feels dead to you: Sombra was dead, to some degree."

"His dark magic may be protecting him from the magic of other's," I said, "which would be why I can't heal him. So I definitely shouldn't try to resurrect Shining, we'll probably get Sombra instead."

"But if that were true," Twilight said, "why would the Crystal Heart let him in?"

"Because Shining Armor is a citizen of the Empire."

We sat in silence for a moment, I was elated that we had found something important, something that might lead to a solution to this whole fiasco. Even if I didn't like the idea of fighting Sombra in the slightest.

"Should we tell the others?" I asked.

She gave me a funny look. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"None."

"Near midnight."

"So why are you here instead of sleeping?"

"I couldn't. My brother is dying and I had no idea why. I just kept thinking about it, about you, all of this," she gestured vaguely with a hoof, "and how I knew almost nothing." I nodded. Of course. I don't know why I thought that everypony was taking all this in stride. I had no connection to any of the ponies involved, so if everything turned sour I would walk off unfazed. But this was her brother, Cadence's husband. They loved him. They we're terrified they would lose him.

"So, we have identified the problem," I said. "Do we have a solution?"

"We have the Elements of Harmony," she said. "We should probably use those as soon as we can."

"So why not now?" I asked.

"What?" she said.

"Why do we not use the Elements on him while he's still unconscious instead of trying to fight him when he wakes up?" I said. Did she really want to have some sort of showdown with Sombra? I had been hesitant to use them before, since we didn't know what would happen, or even what was wrong with him, but at this point it seemed like the best course of action.

"That...yeah, let's do that."

Hopefully this worked. He could resist my abilities as a necromancer, which didn't even work like normal magic. Maybe the Elements of Harmony could simply overpower him.

Twilight hopped off the bed, a spring in her step. I couldn't blame her. We might just be able to fix all this before it became a problem. She opened the door and stepped into the hallway while I flipped off the light.

Closing the door behind me, I couldn't help but worry that Sombra was stronger than we thought.