Undead Raiser

Six blows were shot, breaking the silence of the night with their roars of death sentence. Their sound echoed outside the house and then through the now wrecked city. Their act was made more evident by the fume coming from his right hoof, being currently shaped as a gun. Cinder stood tall in his bipedal unholy form and his new powers with surprise. The blows were supposed to have ended the cursed life of Vesper, who had become a undead abomination.

But she wasn't there anymore. In her place, there are six huge holes being formed on the ground, in the middle of the blood pool that flowed out of the crazy undead, mutated unicorn's wounds. Cinder didn't expected that to happen. The only hint that he saw from what he can call as a trick was her horn briefly glowing in a black aura before instantly disappearing in a black flash, in the same time he shot the bullets.

"Instant teleport?" Cinder said baffled. "Seriously though, I'm not qualified as a magic expert but I can assume that this plague has amplified her magic." He looked around. "Even so, I doubt that she would had left the town." He then went wide-eyed. "I need to find her before she would do more damage."

Cinder was about to leave but not before turning his gun-shaped arm turned into a clawed black-iron hand, much like his other one. He couldn't help but examine his new appearance. He couldn't still believe that he really his old powers under a new form. His situation was still making him feel uncomfortable, but then remembered that he has something far worse to take care of. The undead Vesper was probably roaming free.

Without wasting anymore time, Cinder turned around and headed toward the doorway. But as soon he was could leave the bloodstained library, there was a black flash behind him, a moment before Vesper appeared behind him.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Vesper said with crazed and yet cold voice, chilling his blood.

Cinder turned around, but didn't had the time to react that four of her plant-like tendrils had already wrapped around his limbs, holding him tight. He was then made standing in a crucifix position to prevent him to even aim at Vesper. He struggle to release himself, but was only vain. The tendrils began to crush him, making him yell in pain. Trying to resist the pressure, he looked at the madmare that was almost towering at him.

Vesper was visibly angered, exuding a psychotic aura from his white, bleeding eyes. Her breath was raspy and her holed chest was still bleeding, with her heart being literally destroyed. The tooth-ringed plant-maws on her tendrils were already being near to the defenseless stallion, who looked at her in awe. She shook her head in disbelieve, not wanting to believe at what Cinder tried to do to her. The pain of her pierced chest was surely a real insult to her.

"You hurt me!" Vesper said dismayed, with her tone becoming slightly maddened. "I was making you a favor... I was making you part of me... Sparing you from a sad existence as mine... I was trying to help you..." She paused. "And you tried to kill me. You were determined to destroy me..." She then howled furiously. "HOW COULD YOU!!?"

Her scream surely chilled his blood. His mind even gave him the impression to freeze. Cinder felt his body trembling for the fright, but forced himself to stop and tried to remain calm despite his horrific situation. That wasn't so scary compared to his encounter with the Beast and any other worse scenario in his life as Brutus, but was still something to him.

Vesper pulled his body toward him while giving him a terrific glare. Her plant-like voracious maws got slightly closer to his head, testing his nerves. She was about to vent his rage in one second, in every possible nasty ways...

But her anger was then washed in one instant. She began to have some sort of awareness of her proclaims and the shuddered with a horrified visage. And a few moments after that, guilt took over her. Her voracious plant-like maws recoiled, as if they were in accordance with her feelings. Vesper looked away, looking ashamed, much to Cinder's perplexity.

"I won't even blame you for that," Vesper said apologetically. "I was so overtaken by despair that I ended up blaming everything for my misery. I have allowed the plague to get the best of me. I tried to devour you. S-so of course you had to kill me. I-I would had done the same in your place... Even thought that I was also venting my own personal weight on you."

Cinder looked at her dumbfounded. "What do you mean with that?"

"If I have to be honest... I hated you." Vesper replied, almost coldly.

"Why?" Cinder asked, nearly shocked.

"Is not your fault," Vesper responded. "Is my complex of inferiority that I had toward you. All because I was too insecure of myself. Don't get me wrong. I am grateful that you had encouraged me when I was following my dream. But the more you helped me, the more I loathed you, due to the fear to have become less independent. I suppose I am really this pathetic."

"You know what." Cinder said. "I had kinda suspected something like that," He partially shrugged due to the tendrils blocking his limbs. "But I didn't cared anyway," He assured, causing Vesper flinched in surprise. "Just because you were envious of me, doesn't mean that I would stop being at your side."

"That... Was... A very wonderful thing." Vesper said partially relieved.

"That is why I have to end you," Cinder remarked. "Now set me free."

"I know Cinder, I know," Vesper replied calmly, a moment before her tone became a grim one, with her breath being hoarse. "But am afraid I can't allow you to get out of there alive. You are on the verge to go as Insane as I am... But what scared me most is your power."

"What are you implying?" Cinder asked nervously.

"Cinder, right now you are infected and condemned to feast on the others to appease your constant hunger just as I am now. My mutation had altered and incremented my magic but your own is another story. I studied magic, but I never saw anything like that. And your incoming insanity didn't help your case. I'm sorry... But you have to die first."

Upon hearing that, Cinder was about to panic. His heart pumping his cold blood stopped for a couple of seconds. He could tell that Vesper was serious, but unlike the time she was training to be a Royal Guard, her seriousness was dreadful, made more threatening by her bizarre lucidity.

"Shit! She seriously believe that I am currently a monster like her. And I don't even know how the hell did my powers came back in that way. How can I even convince her that I am not infected and that I was actually killed by cloaked ponies and then resurrected with the same power that some entity had bestowed on me?"

"This is not good," Cinder whispered with a grave tone.

Vesper opened her mouth when her insatiable hunger kicked in once more, making her growl. She instinctively stood on her two legs and wrapped her forelegs on his neck while leaning toward his face, looking more feral than before. The plant-like maws on her tendrils followed suit. And Cinder was having a hard time to not freak out.

As that wasn't enough, multiple, ungodly wails and growls coming from the outside echoed in the distance, steadily getting closer.

"Damn it! The whole ruckus that we made must have attired the undeads!" Cinder muttered.

"Is not... Good.... Grrrr! We don't have... Enough time ," Vesper said under her breath as her expression became crazed again, feeling the bites of her hunger becoming more unbearable. "And I... Can't resist... ANY LONGER!!"

"Let me deal with them, Vesper!" Cinder pleaded.

"No. They are the last of your problems," Vesper informed as she glowed her horn and charged in a huge black aura. "Before I loose my control, I will immediately... Incinerate... Your body and then doing the same with myself afterward."

"What!?" Cinder exclaimed horrified.

"I'm sorry but I have to do that for both of us," Vesper said apologetically. "Right now, you are going to be a danger for yourself and other ponies that you will meet in your way. I won't allow you to fall in my same situation. Trust me, I will save both us."

Hearing those words, multiple thoughts emerged inside his mind. Very tremendous ones returned to haunt him. The memories of his three previous deaths flashed in front of his eyes.

Death by car explosion as Walken.

Death by being stabbed by Romulus, Remus and Sylvia as Brutus.

And then death by being stabbed and mangled by hooded ponies before being resurrected as an undead Cinder.

In that moment, his brutal determination returned at full force in his heart, instigated by his refusal to die. something was burning inside him. Something seething and yet cold. Before he could question that strange feeling, something flashed inside his mind. The memory of the of horrific power that the Bloods wielded give him a very macabre idea. Something that he would had refused to do. Yet that didn't looked like a bad idea, in a situation like this.

His tranquil life that he craved for, like Vesper, was compromised, so he didn't cared at that point.

Cinder made a very dreadful smile..

"I'm sorry, Vesper. But I won't DIE TODAY!!" Cinder shouted furiously has he pushed his wrapped right clawed hand toward her with all of might.

The grip of the tendrils was strong, but Cinder proved to be strong enough to reach her face and grabbing it. Before she could even move a muscle, her body was suddenly engulfed by black flames.

She convulsed frantically while emitting a loud scream that was half-muted by Cinder's hand covering her mouth. Due toe her loss of focus, her horn stopped glowing and her tendrils loosened their grip on the undead stallion, releasing his hands and legs. He released her from his grip, letting her flopping on her side as the fire had dissipated.

Vesper remained motionless for a moment. Then she let out a disturbing growl before standing up. Without saying a word, she looked at Cinder in his eyes. There was not vitality in her face. There was a mark on her forehead, being a circular blue mark made of tendrils that covered her forehead and penetrated through her skull.

Cinder became struck with shocked horror upon noticing his resemblance with the same red scars that were present on the bodies of the zombified individuals that the Bloods took with their powers. He was completely taken aback by that. What he used on Vesper was the same horrifying power to zombify any creatures.

"How did that happened for real? How can I be able to turn undead monsters into my minions in the same way the Bloods have done with the livings?"

"What I have done?" Cinder murmured.

Before Cinder could explore that fact, a cacophony of moans and groans filled the living room outside the library. The chilling sound of the zombie's hoofsteps getting closer to them. Cinder turned toward the doorway, now being blocked by the creatures approaching the two.

There was no time to get distracted. Looking at the undeads slowly marching toward him, Cinder looked at them with a mocking smile. He pointed his finger at them, ready to make his first move.

"Vesper! Trash them!" Cinder ordered.

Immediately, Vesper glowed her horn in a black aura and shoot a tremendous beam that blasted most of the zombie's heads. Seeing other zombies getting closer, Cinder transformed his black-iron right hand into a gun again and shot most of the creatures in their heads.

When the horrid couple have finished the killing of the zombies blocking their way, they headed toward the exit and went out the house, only to be met by various undeads filling the streets of Stardust Marble, being unicorns, pegasi or earth ponies alike. Both Cinder and the undead Vesper made their way through the city while killing various zombies blocking their way and dodging other ones. While Cinder was shooting down many of them, the unicorn blasted other ones with her magic while letting the monstrous plant tendrils devouring a few of the living dead.

After a nine minutes of fights, they managed to get out of the town and leave it behind it. They stopped in front of a deserted meadow. Cinder looked toward the horizon and was greeted by the dawn illuminating both him and Vesper. He could finally take a break from that insanity.

But that wasn't the same thing for Vesper, who was now turned into his minion. The mark on her head may have put a halt to her hunger but completely removed her free will. For Cinder that was like killing her own soul. He know that the Vesper that she knew was no more. Only a shell who was subservient to his will. Cinder would had kept her with him, but not in this way.

"That day couldn't get any worse than this," Cinder said to himself, frustrated.

Cinder looked at his clawed and closed it in a fist. Anger filled him, motivated by what he lost. Just when he managed to start from zero and get the tranquil life he deserved, he saw it dissolve into pieces, along with that of his partner.

"I'm feeling really unclean right now," Cinder said disgusted as he gave a final look to his hollowed partner. "I hate to do that, but I have no intention to keep you as a mindless slave."

Regretfully, he pointed his black-iron gun shaped hand at Vesper's head as she looked him with a hollow face.

"Vesper, you can go straight to the heaven. But I remain here."

*BOOM!*

With that, her head was blown into pieces, causing the rest of her dead body to collapse on the ground, with the plant-like head tipped tendrils falling as well. Cinder looked at his gun-shaped arm as it reverted into his right black-ironed clawed hand.

He remained silent, staring at the devastated city in the distant that used to be his hometown. That sight frustrated him, reminding him of his time as Brutus. Cinder, mentally being still the human brunette boy that he used to be, was tired and fed-up of everything horrific that he was thrown on him since he died for the first time. His anger swelled inside him like not other. Cinder snarled, a moment before he punched the ground, furiously.

"TWELVE YEARS!!" Cinder shouted. "Twelve fucking years I suffered a pure hell in my life as Walken! After this and the life period as a pawn of the Beast, I have been reincarnated in this world... Just when I had got a new life, I died a third time, and after that, this plague happened and my powers had returned in a new form... And now I lost everything, again! WHEN THAT WILL END!!?"

"Certainly not by whining like a idiot, in the middle of this chaos." A stern voice said from behind him.

His eyes widened in shock upon finding that voice familiar. Cinder immediately turned around and saw a pony being the unicorn with that he meet in the town. He could recognize him by the red runic symbol covering his right eyes. The unicorn remained impassive, independently from Cinder's reaction.

"How long you were been spying on me? Cinder asked irritated.

"Strange," The unicorn responded nonchalantly. "I though you had no place for sentimentality in your quest to take what you really want."

"Is not of you damn business," Cinder retorted.

"Do you think that the zombies will care about your misery?" The unicorn asked.

"In this case, they will answer to me," Cinder replied codly.

"You can't do it all alone," The unicorn remarked. "You will need the aid of some of those undeads. That you like or not. And I know what I am referring to. After all... A enormous amount of blood is needed."

Cinder froze up upon hearing his last words. He heard them somewhere. A memory of his brief time in that limbo after his murder flashed in his mind, with the ominous voice talking to him. Slowly recovering from his brief trance, he slowly turned his head toward the unicorn. His face was now filled with seething rage.

"You!" Cinder screamed while pointing his finger at him. "You are the one who resurrected me!! You are the one who turned me into a undead monstrosity and probably forced me to this curse!!"

The unicorn remain silent for a moment, then he calmly spoke again. "Hmph. Not exactly, because I don't have the power of a devil to begin with."

"What?" Cinder looked confused.

"By the way, Vesper may had some stain in her soul but you are no better than her. That mare became a monster, but paled in comparison to you. And I know why. I know who you are." The unicorn retorted before grinning. "Walken Jaeger."

Cinder gave him a death glare and pointed his hoof at him while turning it into a gun again.

"Ok, who the fuck are you and how much do you know about me?" Cinder asked with a inquisitive tone.

"The one who can read you like a book. A herald that you cannot avoid. I am Requiem. I came from the realm you once stepped into... the Void."

Cinder flinched, his teeth being clenched and his eyes being glued on him. He looked very astounded for his answer. Mostly because he knows what he was talking about.

"You are kidding me, right?" Cinder asked, taken aback from his declaration. "The Beast couldn't possibly known anything about this world, not even his heralds. I met a demon named Dagon and I'm sure as hell that he never had employed a unicorn as one."

"Let me share you a little," The unicorn replied with a unnatural calm despite the threat. "If I must be correct, the unicorn standing in front of you, Moon Shard, is a pony researcher who had contributed to the creation of the vaccine that Vesper talked about. When he had realized that the Necromyth twisted it's property, he disappeared from Canterlot in grief. During his escape, he fell into the abyss while he was chased by zombies. After he died, I, a wandering soul, hijacked this body."

"Are you trying to convince me that you are the spirit of a former herald in the body of a pony,," Cinder said sternly before taking a fighting stance. "So the Beast sent you to punish me because I had betrayed him."

"Don't worry about him," Requiem responded calmly. "Believe me. The Bloods managed to take him down"

"They did it!?" Cinder demanded.

"It seems like they got powerful beyond my master's expectations," Requiem pointed out. "His absence had left a power vacuum that affected even the Void itself. In the same moment he died, it loosed his power and the whole place became lifeless. As for the Bloods, dubbed from you as the Undead Knights, they went on their way to die, killed in battle by other knights. However, the Void's influence lived on in a small fragment, sent into Equestria... A fragment being me."

"Wow... I never thought they could actually do that," Cinder replied baffled, a moment before his gun transformed back into his right black-crystal hand. "But why you were following me?"

"There's something that you must know regarding the Necromyth, the plague responsible for this mess," Requiem replied with a disturbing grin. "There is a factor that you must consider."

"Just tell me what this pestilence is, demon." Cinder asked harshly.

Assuming a serious expression, Requiem took a moment of quiet before speaking.

"A secret group of seven ponies," Requiem started. "Called the Holy Pillars, traveled across the land to hunt down Dark Magic books, including an a horrific type of necromancy called Helknut. They brought them in a secret place and set them on fire. But their action resulted the book's magic being released and combining itself with the dark magic of the other books and the ashes of the Helknut in a fusion process. What followed was a pestilent aura, the Necromyth, that turned ponies into zombies and twisted any attempt to defy it against it."

"A bunch of books' ashes was able to cause this chaos?" Cinder said baffled.

"I suggest you to not blame the Holy Pillars, Because the cause of the plan having backfired was actually a sabotage."

"A sabotage?"

"The real responsible is a cabal called the Reverse Tree," Requiem state. "A bunch of craze cloaked ponies, the same ones being responsible for your current death. And one of the Holy Pillars helped them too."

In the instant the cloaked figures that had killed him were mentioned, his face contorted in shock. That was new for him. He remember them killing him but wasn't expecting them to be the responsible for the zombie plague. He could hardly believe that. And yet there was something that wasn't convincing him at all.

"Why the hell they unleashed this undead invasion?" Cinder asked.

"Strangely enough, they wanted nothing more than destroy this world's morality," Requiem responded. "However, their motivation remained completely unknown."

Taking his explanation in consideration, Cinder couldn't help but pondering with interest about the Reverse Tree, as if it was reminding him of something that he saw in the Land of Cavalier, in the dark medieval world that he was before being reborn in Equestria. That memory was giving him a hunch. There's so much that his assassins could have in common with that.

"So those bastards are leading a cabal named the Reverse Tree, and are responsible for the plague that is wrecking Equestria. I can't help but thinking about the cult of the Holy Tree that mad bitch Queen Fatima was leading in the Land of Cavalier. Could be those two groups being connected? By the way... Why is Requiem telling me that."

"If you are going to use me for some scheme, then you can forget that," Cinder said coldly. "I will not being used by the Beast or anyone else."

"And yet you need me to track down your assassins," Requiem remarked.

"Don't test my patience, bastard." Cinder retorted.

"Seriously, you won't follow me even if the fate of Equestria depends on it?"

"I could care less about the horrors that the survivors are going through. This zombie crisis doesn't concern me. And as for you, I will suggest you to fuck off."

"Let me tell you at least a way to reverse this whole thing" Requiem proposed.

"Wait... There is one?" Cinder asked distrustful.

"Vengeance is not the only thing that I am offering to you," Requiem pointed out. "You want to regain the tranquil life that this madness had robbed from you?"

"Just because I wanted that, doesn't mean that I will fall for that," Cinder retorted, almost about to charge toward him. "What are you trying to gain by helping me?"

"Nothing more than trying to get a artifact that this demented cabal had stole from me," Requiem replied calmly. "That's all."

Cinder glared at him, unsure about his intentions. He couldn't possibly trust him due to his demonic nature and connection with the Void. He cannot be trusted but was also true that he will get him to his assassins. Resigned, Cinder couldn't do anything but accept that. Mostly because he wanted to see what his real intentions are.

The body of the undead stallion was suddenly engulfed black flames and returned to his four legged form. Cinder then looked around to see if there wasn't any pony or zombie to disturb them. Since there was no one nearby, he returned his attention to the creepy, mysterious unicorn.

"What is your plan, exactly?" Cinder asked doubtful.

"Don't even rely on time traveling magic," Requiem said. "The incident and some of those crazed ponies destroyed all of the artifacts and formulas that were related to that. Which means that the only alternative to them are the Elements of Harmony."

"Are you talking about that gang leaded by the alicorn called Twilight Sparkle?" Cinder asked.

"Correct," Requiem replied.

"Why them?"

"That is something I will reveal after we met one of those six so called heroines. Although they are currently running from this zombie infestation. Which is why we have to investigate their whereabouts, and I know where to start."

"You know, I'm not exactly convinced about the story of your stolen artifact," Cinder insisted, impatiently. "What do you expect from me?"

Requiem remained impassive, a moment before making a sinister smirk. That sight gave Cinder a bad vibe, but couldn't complain since it fits the unnatural demonic identity that surrounded him. And after some moments of silence, The unicorn replied with something that deflected the question.

"I will remind you that we have to take down the Reverse Tree," Requiem reminded. "Not just kill a bunch of zombies and trying to reverse this disaster. So what you intended to do when you found them?"

"You don't have to ask," Cinder said almost gleefully. "I will just kill them and trash their spirits until their are not destroyed."

"You must know one thing," Requiem said mockingly. "The cabalsts, like the zombies, are quiet numerous, cunning and deadlier, so your powers won't be enough." He paused. "You will need a army." He then made a gleeful expression. "And you know very well were to get there."

Cinder went wide-eyed, grasping the hint behind his words in horror. Recalling the voice that he heard before being resurrected, he had saw something like this coming. He know what that means.

The world in which you were before was brought into chaos during your absence.

That is a crusade to restore the whole equilibrium that can be your opportunity to take back what was stolen from you.

"You are talking about create a army of marked zombies." Cinder responded.

"You hated that, right." Requiem asked.

"So I have no choice but doing the same thing as the Undead Knights did," Cinder said, briefly looking back at the devastated Stardust Marble being in the distance. "I guess I have to get one."

Having made up his mind, Cinder was about to make his return to his hometown when Requiem stopped him.

"Sorry for that, but I am just curious about one fact," Requiem said with a grotesque smug.

"Whatever you want. Shoot." Cinder replied annoyed.

"What name you prefer to use? Walken or Cinder?" Requiem asked.

Fairly enough, that was a very interesting question since that made him reflect about his situation. The life that he had experienced as Walken was pure hell, until his death. His second life that lived under the alias of the Beast's herald and traitor wasn't any better.

His third life as Cinder Work, however, was the only time that he lived a tranquil life, despite him having remembered who he really was. But now, not only he was killed a third time, but he was also resurrected as a undead pony with the powers being the same as the ones the he wielded and get to see Equestria falling prey of a zombie outbreak, with Vesper Camellia. That happy life that he craved for was gone. All because of his assassins.

Needless to say, his vengeance will be horrifying for them. Saving Equestria as it is and the survivors mattered a little to him. However, he would had give them a help, as long as that would lead him to his targets and possible valid ways for him to restore this word as it was before. If he can't even take back this normal life out of this crisis, he could at least destroy the cabal responsible for this chaos.

A cruel smile grew in his face as he was about to give his chilling answer.

"Call me Brutus."