The Necromancer's Apprentice

Grogar and Katrina eyed one another, the latter wearing a patient smile as she waited for the necromancer's response to her proposal.

Her outward confidence belied a nervousness she couldn't shake that perhaps she might've gone too far with her request. Really, it was a nervousness she hadn't been able to fully quell since the very first moment she'd laid eyes on Grogar. Something about the demonic-looking ram both unnerved her and attracted her to him—a strange sort of malevolent charisma that Tirek lacked in comparison.

Oddly and embarrassingly enough, she found herself somewhat envious of the undead filly, not that she would've ever admitted as much.

Twilight, for her part, was watching Grogar as well, her face showing the same sort of nervousness Katrina felt. Resting beneath a tiny lavender hoof on the floor was the Black Compendium, a massive tome bestowed upon the filly by Grogar and a book full of dark eldritch secrets and lost arcane arts. Katrina did her best not to show it, but inwardly she was practically salivating at the thought of obtaining the knowledge held within.

After a long, tense silence, Grogar closed his eyes and let out a deep, rumbling sigh of weary exasperation.

"How have you even come to know about the book?" he finally asked, "I've held the tome in my possession for far longer than hundreds—thousands of your lifetimes. I've kept it hidden away with me during my countless years of exile, so how?"

"Believe me, dear, I was just as surprised as you are," Katrina said, folding her arms and levelling her intrigued gaze at Twilight, "I knew about the book, but never in my life did I ever expect to actually see it in person."

Grogar furrowed his brows impatiently.

"Explain yourself, witch."

"Very well, very well," she raised her hands placatingly, "as I told you before, my desire to transcend the limits of witchcraft led me down very strange paths, some of them darker than others. In my research, I happened upon some old records of a tome said to imbue the reader with untold control over magicks of all kinds."

"Magicks?" Twilight asked, the phrasing of the word sticking in her mind.

"An archaic form of the word 'magic' used long before even I was born," Grogar explained distractedly, "which would mean these records must be impossibly ancient."

"They are," Katrina replied solemnly, "I discovered them deep within the ruins of an ancient library buried beneath the sands of a distant desert to the far east of my homeland."

"And your homeland?" Grogar pressed.

"Well, she's an Abyssinian, right?" Twilight chimed in, causing the two adults to turn their attention to her. She hesitated a moment under their gaze, but continued on a second later, "w-well... if she's an Abyssinian, she would've been from Abyssinia," she looked at Katrina questioningly, "...right?"

"I'm quite sure I have no idea what you're talking about, dear," Katrina replied slowly, "my homeland was known as Et Myewpia. I know nothing of this 'Abyssinia', and am certainly no Abyssinian."

"Really? But..." Twilight looked the witch up and down as if seeing her for the first time, "Abyssinia is the only place I know of that has feline folk... unless you're not—"

"No... I've heard of this Et Myewpia," Grogar interjected thoughtfully. Realization shone in his burning red eyes as he looked at Katrina, "it was a small country that formed during the latter years of my reign, which would mean..."

"Which would mean that we might have existed in a different time and place, but share a common origin," Katrina finished with a nod, "yes, that's more or less the conclusion I came to when I first laid eyes upon that book earlier."

"I see..." Grogar murmured, "if we both exist somewhere on the same timeline, then it would stand to reason that you might've uncovered some knowledge of the Black Compendium..."

"And once I had that knowledge I scoured the world for the book, but never found it," Katrina sighed, "I suppose this explains why. By the time I was born, Et Myewpia was already a large country that had been around for well over a thousand years."

"And what about Ponyland?" Twilight asked tentatively, the gears in her own head turning as she listened to the two, "did you know about that?"

"Of course I knew of Ponyland," Katrina scoffed, "that was where I... well..." she faltered and her expression grew dark, "let's just say the citizens of Ponyland and I have a bit of a history."

"And yet you've not heard of me until now?" Grogar inquired, raising a brow, "if you know of Ponyland, then you should know my name, especially if you've done any kind of research into the darker arts."

"By the time I made my way to Ponyland I'd already put that kind of research behind me," Katrina said with a small shrug. She paused and a thoughtful hum escaped her lips, "actually though, now that I think on it, I might've heard the name 'Grogar' mentioned once or twice... or perhaps there was a passage written somewhere about the ruler of a lost kingdom?" she shook her head, "ah, but the memory escapes me, I'm afraid."

"Hm," was all Grogar said in response.

"But wait," Twilight exclaimed suddenly, "I live... er, I lived in that same timeline. Grogar told me that Ponyland eventually became Equestria, so if that's the case, then maybe at some point, the country of Et Myewpia became Abyssinia?"

Grogar and Katrina looked at Twilight, then at each other.

"Well... I suppose that could be the case," Katrina conceded, "after all, it's been quite some time since I've even thought about my homeland," she turned back to Twilight with an amused smirk, "that little issue was really eating you up, wasn't it?"

"Well, I..." Twilight frowned and turned away, her ears folding back in embarrassment, "something just seemed off, that's all. I just wanted to know what it was."

"Is that so?" Katrina chuckled, "well, I'm glad we were able to shed some light on such a mystery for you."

Twilight went to reply, but Grogar cut her off.

"As... enlightening as this has been, I believe we've strayed far enough from the topic at hoof," he announced, returning his focus to Katrina, "you've answered my question adequately and so I shall give you mine own answer in return."

At that, Katrina's face stiffened and her tail twitched with nervous anticipation as she waited once again for Grogar's response.

"In exchange for your assistance, you wish to know the secrets held within the Black Compendium in order to open avenues of power that are yet closed to one of your kind," he began, "an understandable goal and an admirable ambition—one I can personally sympathize with... however, I can not allow such a thing."

Katrina frowned, her entire body seeming to deflate right before Twilight and Grogar's eyes. Grogar, however, held up a hoof, signaling that he had more to say on the matter.

"Do not be surprised, witch," he continued, "Twilight is under my tutelage, and not even she has access to the majority of what is contained within those pages."

He nodded to Twilight who was looking down at the book with a foalish pout. It was clear to Katrina that the filly wasn't happy about the arrangement, but she found she couldn't exactly sympathize. Not only did Twilight have access to at least some of that knowledge, but she could evidently call the book to her side anywhere at any time on a whim. It was hard to feel sorry for her when she had that kind of privilege, but Katrina kept that thought to herself as Grogar continued speaking.

"That said, I have thoroughly studied and memorized the contents of the Black Compendium," he raised his gaze from Twilight to look Katrina in the eye, "I am willing to share some of what I know should your solution prove sufficient for our needs."

"And... just how much is 'some'?" the feline witch dared to ask.

"Enough to bring you well beyond the threshold of what a mere witch can accomplish," Grogar replied evenly, "that is if this concoction of yours is as effective as you claim."

"As I said, there's no need to worry about that," Katrina purred happily, "it will take some time, but I'm certain I can at least mitigate the problem."

"Then we have a deal," Grogar said, nodding in satisfaction, "now, if you would show us to this knowledgeable demon you mentioned previously. Twilight and I have much to do in this infernal pit, and some guidance regarding the layout of the lower levels of Tartarus would not go amiss."

"Yes, of course," Katrina replied as she stepped away from her still boiling cauldron, "I'm just about done here for the moment anyway," she brushed off her form-fitting dress and began heading for the front door, "shall we?"

With a thought, Twilight sent the Black Compendium back to the study in Grogar's castle and the three of them left Katrina's home. The trip this time around was relatively silent, with each of the three lost in their own thoughts. It was also relatively short, as the next destination the witch had in mind hadn't been too far from her house. Before Twilight knew it, she was staring up at a large, multistoried building made of slate grey stone.

Like the temple atop the hill that had housed the ancient teleportation device, the building was mostly in ruins. Even as a crumbling ruin, Twilight could tell the building hadn't been anything particularly fancy or ostentatious, but there was one thing about it that caught her eye. The roof was mostly gone and there were several large holes smashed out of the walls.

Through a few of the holes, the filly caught a glimpse of what looked like rows upon rows of books lined up on ancient, dusty wooden bookshelves. Such a sight could mean only one thing in Twilight's mind.

"A library!" she cried, turning to Katrina with wide hopeful eyes, "that's a library, right?"

"You could call it a library I suppose," Katrina replied cryptically. Her tone was light, but her mouth was turned down in a somewhat unpleasant grimace as she spoke, "but it would be more accurate to call it a Domain."

Grogar frowned at that and Twilight, suddenly feeling the sudden tension in the air, frowned as well, though more in bemusement than anything.

"Domain?" she asked, looking from Katrina to Grogar, "what does she mean? I-Is that bad?"

As far as Twilight knew, there was nothing inherently wrong with the word nor its meaning. To her, it simply meant the library—if that was indeed what it was—belonged to whomever was inside. Grogar's reaction at Katrina's words, however, seemed to suggest that there was more to the situation than Twilight could see. Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when the witch answered her questions.

"Tartarus is... or rather was full of all manner of demons," she explained, "some were weak, but others... others were powerful enough to claim absolute dominion over a space just by exerting that power within a given area."

Twilight furrowed her brows and her gaze fell to the ground as she thought about the true meaning behind those words. She didn't quite understand, but the description pulled at something in her memory and a few seconds later her ears perked up and she turned to Grogar.

"So... when she says 'absolute dominion', is that like the control you have over your castle, Father?"

"It is," he replied. His tone was grim, but also tinged with a hint of curiosity, "one who has absolute dominion over an area can shape and manifest all within its borders at will... to a certain extent."

"Oh..." Twilight replied, looking back toward the ruined building with a newfound sense of unease, "so... whoever is in there is just as powerful as you?"

"Perhaps... or perhaps even more powerful," Grogar answered with an idle scratch of his prominent goatee, "I know that there are others powerful enough to create Domains, but this will be the first time I'll have seen such a creature other than myself with my own eyes."

"Well, prepare yourselves," Katrina warned as she led them to the darkened hardwood door, "he's quite the character."

She raised a hand to knock but froze when the door suddenly creaked open on its own. Beyond the entrance past the open door, the trio could see only complete, interminable blackness. It was a darkness so deep and impenetrable that not even Grogar could pierce its depths, much to the ram's astonishment. While Grogar merely raised an intrigued brow, Twilight frowned in confusion and stepped back to take another look at the exterior of the building.

She could clearly see the inside of the dilapidated library through the crumbling walls. She moved closer to get a better look and, save for its age and ruined state, it looked like any other library she'd seen or read about. Contrary to what she saw beyond the walls, however, the entrance gave off a feeling of otherworldliness—like it wasn't connected to the rest of the building.

Twilight didn't understand it.

If this was like Grogar's castle, then why did this place feel so different? Is this what it meant to be in the presence of another's Domain? Did she not feel this way in Tambelon because she was already connected to Grogar through their soul bond? Whatever the case may have been, the vibes she got from the doorway made her nervous and wary. The sentiment only grew as her mind was invaded by the sound of someone's voice.

"I'm quite capable of introducing myself, witch," announced the voice in a deep and rather pleasant tone, "you two may enter, but the witch... well, I'm sure she has much to do. Isn't that right, Miss Katrina?"

The telepathic voice rang out not just in Twilight's mind, but in the minds of all present. Katrina clicked her tongue in irritation before stepping away and turning to the other two with a shrug and a sigh.

"It seems I'm not wanted here," she said with mock lament coloring her tone, "ah, but I suppose it's just as well. My other duties aren't terribly pressing, but I imagine it wouldn't hurt to get an early start on that 'solution'."

"Agreed," Grogar nodded, "I believe it would be in all our best interests to have your proposed resolution ready as soon as practicable."

"Well off I go then," the witch gave Grogar and Twilight a lazy wave and, with an elegant swish of her tail, turned to leave, "this is goodbye for now, but you'll see me again before long."

She gave one last smirk and walked away back toward her home. Twilight and Grogar watched her go for a moment before returning their full attention back to the foreboding entryway. It wasn't any less eerie than before and with Katrina gone, Twilight's unease was all the more prominent.

"Come now, no need to be afraid, little one," came the voice in a soothing tone, "I'm but a simple librarian, you've nothing to fear from me—especially given your... traveling companion."

Twilight looked up at Grogar, feeling the voice—though obviously untrustworthy—had a point. Grogar merely shook his head and stepped forward toward the darkened entrance, motioning for Twilight to do the same as he went.

"Come, child," was all he said before disappearing into the inky blackness.

Twilight hesitated only a moment, but the confidence in his command ultimately convinced her to press onward. Trusting that the necromancer knew what was best, she quickly scurried after him and into the Domain of the mysterious being that called itself a librarian.